Dong Qihu sat at his desk in the largest pavilion in the entire Jiapin Sect. He was an older gentleman, the leader of the sect, and currently staring at the numerous messages spread about his desk requesting assistance, funding, advice, or numerous other things from the many people both mortal and immortal who would send him correspondence. What Dong Qihu wouldn’t give for an assistant that could actually sort through the messages and decide which was worthy of his time. But no, he was stu

It was a peaceful afternoon in the village of Crestings. The local farmers were finishing their daily tasks, the village carpenters were setting out some choice woodcarvings for sale, and birds flew overhead, crying to each other as they sought fallen grain in the fields.

Dana Fieldman had finished hauling the cart in from her father’s fields, setting the brake and turning towards her sister Heather, who had already begun to assemble the signs as the other villager

The man drew his bow back and let the arrow fly, smiling as the sharp projectile buried itself solidly in the hart. The thing managed a few staggering steps as its lifeblood poured out, and then it collapsed. Shouldering his bow, the man crossed the hundred or so meters so he could start field dressing his kill. He took a knee, drawing a large knife from his side, when a growl from somewhere above him made the man halt. Looking up, the man identified two enormous feline forms perched among the b

The Bespectacled Manticore was a tavern known for its rum, its breakfast sausage, and its owner, Ahvain, a large, robust elf who bore rather horrifying scars across most of his body due to the encounter after which he named his tavern. The Manticore was a common place for the adventurers and passers-by to gather information, decent drinks, and perhaps find a way to earn themselves some extra coin. A job board sat just inside the entrance, and numerous scraps of parchment dangled from cheap dagge

“Ha! Good job, Floatzel!” Akari yelled, pulling a pokeball from her belt and unsummoning the water pokemon. In front of her, the defeated Graveler faded away, vanishing from view and leaving a few iron chunks behind as leftovers from the mineral node it had been hiding within.

Akari pulled her notebook from the standard-issue satchel and jotted down a few details from the battle, including the Graveler’s weakness to water attacks and just how her Floatz

Ensign Katerina toed through a pile of rags until she found a decent sized one, and picked it up. Pulling a roll of duct tape off her utilibelt, she added the scrap of cloth over a newly opened hole in the patchwork repair job she had done all over the airship.
As a proud member of the Royal Air Fleet, she had gone out on this re-supply mission with a normal crew of 6, a week-long voyage that was supposed to make a half-dozen stops along the edges of neutral territory, ensuring that the gun-runn

The night was growing
dark, but the crickets were not yet chirping. Up ahead they saw the
bandit camp. Each of the adventurers readied their weapons, creeping
closer through the woods. The encampment was just a few tents, with a
central fire and a single night-blinded sentry roasting some
unfortunate creature over it.
The trio snuck closer,
keeping to the shadows. Lanna stopped by one of the outlying trees,
taking an arrow from her quiver. The moonlight glinted off her long,
dark hair as she loo

The hoof-steps echoed from a distance. Raising a snout to the air, the reptilian scales shifted around the beast's nose as the scent of human reached it. Another adventuring party approached. It could smell horse. It could smell elf. It could smell human. No aroma of sweaty metal yet, so likely a group of casters or thieves. Many had come previously to the beast's territory by the river, but none had left.
 
The hoof-steps approached slowly. The intruders were taking their time down the f

A knock at the door woke the Archmage from a nap. He lifted his head from his desk and realized that he had fallen asleep while watching a few of the students dueling in the dining hall via scrying orb. Sure, he probably should have stopped them, but those young first-termers weren't likely to cause any permanent damage anyhow. The knock repeated, and Archmage Brentor swiped the orb to standby as he blinked himself to a better level of consciousness.
"Enter!" he called out, vaguely an

*birrrrrk?*
 
Carol opened her eyes and found herself staring into a pair of yellow, reptilian irises.
 
 
Carol yawned as she blinked a few times and patted the small raptor on its head, looking up at the sky. The sun was just beginning to rise, and she could see the A.N.S. Prerequisite was on its morning patrol over the neighboring city of Jacquestown
 
Cabbage's sister dashed over upon hearing Carol's voice, nudging at her unoccupied hand for attention as well.
"A

The group had been
adventuring for the past few days in the mysterious woods. Not much
in the ways of the warlock had been seen. As dusk approached on the
fourth day, the group stopped to set up camp. The elven druid,
Mylana, approached the leader of the group, Darin.
“We have been
traveling with not much in the way of clues. Perhaps we can find some
denizen of the forest to help us out?” As though on cue, a man
seemed to materialize from behind a nearby tree. The rogue, Kratos,
was immedia

It watched the pair walking along the pathway. The male was taller, with a shaved, shiny head that reminded it of a billiard ball. The female had blonde hair and a gray sweater, with her hands in her pockets, head down as she responded to him. It looked ahead to the perfect point, and scampered along the sides of the path, preparing to strike. The male looked at just as the being leaped forward, a flash of metal across his throat as it collided with the female, knocking her over. The male gurgle

Megan checked her spell
components once more. All her ingredients were prepared, now she just
had to go find this unique lizard that her teacher had been talking
about, and bring back some of its scales for research. Archmage
Brentor had been telling her that this lizard had some special
scales, which would be of immense use in a future experiment. Still,
Megan couldn't help but wonder why she'd been sent out to retrieve
them. She hadn't been doing too well in her studies, and most of her
classm

Ahh. The smell of those
delightful young humans, fresh from cheer practice. As the girls left
the field, individuals would always separate from their herd, to
meander home in their varying directions. His good eye flitting back
and forth across the cheerleading team, Darius settled on one of the
blondes, presumably an alpha since he could smell hints of her
aggression and dominance even from his hideout in the nearby woods.
Trailing the group from a distance, the canine waited for his prey to
de