Potato Nose

A Bad Name advance release

Just to keep you all updated, I'm planning on a back to back release of 2 chapters of A Bad Name. I'm still working on the second chapter, but here's the first of them just in case it takes longer to finish the second than I'm happy with.

---

New Game+ Chapter Two

I'm still a light sleeper; I wake up almost instantly at the sound of feet thumping on floor and the scrape of loose carpet. My eyes snap open, searching the darkness for moving shapes. Observe.

[QUOTE]...

Wild Card 20

This snippet is no longer canon, although it's being saved for possible reassembly into a future scene.

---

We're only two days out of Demos when I feel a sickening sensation around mid day; a nauseous tugging at my soul that feels like it's prodding at my strictures - specifically, the one to protect Sparhawk. For a few minutes it feels like I'm teetering on the edge of a wire, and to fall to either side would invite a nameless dread, an unknowable disaster, and all I can do wi...

Wild card 19

Looks like the last post of 2024 is going to be Sparhawk and company, rather than Peter Gardner. Not really what I'd planned or hoped for, but this is what wanted to be written. I apologize for this, and hope to have more of A Bad Name for you all within a week. In the interim, I hope desperately that 2025 is a better year than any of the eight that preceded it, despite what common sense tells me otherwise.
---

Count Gerrich was a slender, tall man with long, dark hair, a face of n...

Wild Card 18

Proof that I haven't been derelict in my responsibilities to keep writing, just in my responsibilities to keep posting where you can all read it. Which I apologize for also.

---

Unsurprisingly, when you spend the better part of a week being smuggled in someone's pocket while they're riding a horse, it's a lonely and boring journey. If I had to make a comparison, I imagine it's a lot like being a stowaway in a sailing ship, never daring come out where it's visible during the day...

Wild Card 17

... Apologies for the earlier mispost. I reposted old content by mistake and erased it once I noticed. Here's the ACTUAL next part.

---

Sparhawk glared at the sky as the clouds overhead spat a spiteful sprinkling accompanied by gusty winds that made oiling his armor difficult and time-consuming. Finally, though, the onerous task was finished.

The group of them made a formidable display, in his estimation - He and Kalten in Pandion black, complete with silver surcoat and...

Wild card segment 16

Sorry for the two week delay; I've been down with Covid. Getting back to writing now that I can breathe and focus again.

---

"Vanion, you're forgetting something: I can't afford to tell a lie." Admittedly, it was something I hadn't given much consideration before, but of course having a cover story would carry the expectation of me speaking to corroborate it. And my geas 'Let no lie pass my tongue' expressly forbids me from using any form of communication to directly lie, even w...

Wildcard 15

They'd set up camp on the road. With almost half of their number injured, it was a dolorous setup, and Sparhawk noticed that Berit had taken it on himself to pick up most of the slack, working himself to exhaustion to get the tents up faster and curry the horses. Sparhawk made a mental note to talk to him later; he was obviously feeling misplaced guilt for everyone's injuries after his horse had been wounded, and that was the sort of self destructive tendency that should be nipped in the bud....

Wildcard chapter 3

Partially edited. Should be ready and up by Wednesday.

---

Sparhawk watched Vanion escort Anthony inside, his opinions on the whole situation being mixed.

He could feel the general direction and distance to the man, the more so when he closed his eyes and focused on the strange connection. He found himself wondering how quickly the man could traverse long distances. Anthony had already intimated that the ability to sense direction went both ways. It was an uncomfortable...

Wild card 14

I'm woken up by a hammering pounding on the door to my private sleeping chamber slash workspace. I yawn heavily, wiping the crust out of my eyes, an unpleasant taste in my mouth. That means I was snoring, and sleeping with my mouth open, two things my wife has made very clear are a problem. Her solution being to poke me until I roll over, which isn't often because our usual sleep schedules have about an hour and a half of overlap, and according to her I usually don't start snoring until I've ...

Wild card 13

It seemed to Sparhawk that his head had no sooner hit the pillow than Kurik was shaking him awake.

"It's about midnight," the squire said.

Sparhawk sat up in the bed, groaning a little under his breath. "All right. I'm awake."

"I'll go wake the others." Kurik patted Sparhawk on the shoulder. "Once everyone's awake, Berit and I'll go saddle the horses."

Sparhawk dressed himself quickly, more to keep himself from the temptation of resting his eyes, and went downs...

Wild Card 12

By evening, the chapterhouse blacksmith has already delivered several iron ingots to me, rough poured and slightly rusted; I can only assume that for his purposes, they're probably low quality enough that he won't much miss them. I don't particularly NEED high-quality iron or steel to start with, though, because I can make it higher quality with Alter Object. I take a moment to smear the iron bar onto a soot stain on the wall of my penitent's chamber, now workshop, to get a little bit of carb...

Wildcard 11

"There's a roadside inn up ahead," Kalten said as the long day's ride was settling into evening. "Do we chance it?"

The horses' strength was flagging, now, clearly in need of feed, water, and rest. Sparhawk took the opportunity to pull up next to Sephrenia. "Will we be safe to stop here?"

"Only for a few hours," she said. "Just long enough to feed the horses and give them some rest. The Seeker knows we're not with the column by now, and it's certain to be following our trail. We...

Chapter 2 Wildcard

Only partially edited. Sick as a dog. Gonna try to keep writing through the chills and hot flashes.

Plan to release on QQ on Friday or Saturday after a bit more editing.

---

Despite his jest towards Anthony, Sparhawk's mood wasn't entirely a light one. Looking past Berit, who still looked as though he was considering trimming Anthony's beard below the chin with his axe, Sparhawk got a good look down in the courtyard of the chapterhouse, where he could see Kalten and Kur...

Wild Card segment 10

Much as I expected, I crashed out around mid morning. What I hadn't expected was that the members of this order were not only tolerant of my sleeping schedule, but surprisingly understanding; it seems that having different sleeping schedules was necessary for an order of active military simply to ensure there were people alert and on duty at nights in case of unfriendly trespassers. Not everyone welcomed this schedule, which was why they often rotated waking schedules - that, and the necessit...

Wild Card segment 9

Sparhawk watched Vanion escort Anthony inside, his opinions on the whole situation being mixed.

He could feel the general direction and distance to the man, the moreso when he closed his eyes and focused on the strange connection. He found himself wondering how quickly the man could traverse long distances. Anthony had already intimated that the ability to sense direction went both ways. It was an uncomfortable breach of Sparhawk's sense of privacy, even if it was to someone who was c...

Wild Card segment 8

I am not, as a rule, a violent man, but when I was younger I had certain problematic tendencies that could have made me so. My patience has been worn extremely thin, and while I sympathize with their caution I feel immense frustration; I don't feel like I'm being given much opportunity to even prove my sincerity or use. Then again, given certain dark implications made by several of those present tonight, I might be suffering severe culture shock. There's a certain brutal pragmatism which all ...

Wild Card segment 7

Sparhawk related the tale of the ball of fire falling from the sky, the damage to the Rose Street Inn, the guards' pursuit, and Sparhawk's decision to follow and question the man who he'd come to learn called himself 'Anthony'. "... and after we left the hideaway he seemingly created from nothing, he carried me from alley to roof top, then from roof to roof without either of us moving through the space between."

Sephrenia blinked at him. "That's... are you sure you didn't just lose co...

Wild Card segment 6

I don't know what I expected of wherever we were going to be all meeting up. I can say with certainty that I wasn't expecting a relatively normal looking study with brown carpeting. Sparhawk, Berit, Kalten, and Kurik surround me on all sides; Berit remains quite faithfully at my back and I'm pretty sure he doesn't once relax or sling his axe. Others join us; one a younger looking man with narrow features and build in chain mail so well polished it looks almost like silver. His curly, dark hai...

Wild Card Chapter One

The full, amalgamated first chapter. It'll be going up on Questionable Questing (due to graphic descriptions of violence that go beyond what SB allows) on Friday. You guys get it a few days early while I check it over for any last changes. Segments 1 through 4 entail the first chapter, segment 6 will be posted soon after I do a little polishing.

---

It was well after midnight, and a dense gray fog had crept in off the Cimmura river to mingle with the pervading woodsmoke from a ...

Wild Card segment 5

Despite his jest towards Anthony, Sparhawk's mood wasn't entirely a light one. Looking past Berit, who still looked as though he was considering trimming Anthony's beard below the chin with his axe, Sparhawk got a good look down in the courtyard of the chapterhouse, where he could see Kalten and Kurik marching with purpose towards the stables, half armored and accompanied by several novitiates carrying lanterns. He was fairly certain that the pair of them were probably gearing up to go lookin...

Wild card segment 4

It's official. Sparhawk is a dick.

Not that I can blame him, I suppose. The restrictions placed on me mean he's PROBABLY not evil, but he's certainly rude, mistrusting, and about as sociable as a baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire. Plus, he's obviously under a lot of strain right now, judging by the dark bags under his eyes and the obvious tension in his temples and his jaw. "Hey," I ask softly. "When was the last time you ate?"

"It's the middle of the night," Sparhawk points ...

Wild card segment 3

Sparhawk eyed the middle aged man dubiously. Part of him felt it was probably a good idea to just kill the man swiftly and silently and be done with it; he couldn't afford witnesses tonight of all nights while he made his escape from Cimmura. On the other hand, Sparhawk had wanted to interrogate the man, and now he had him.

"Who are you?" Sparhawk asked quietly. "And keep your voice down."

The words the man spoke in reply held no meaning for Sparhawk; a language that wasn't El...