Rickith had his spoils from the evening before, when him and Jinyel had gone out to find some medicinal herbs. The questions left was, what exact type of herbs were these? He was hoping that someone with a better eye could help him identify them. So, he made his way around the castle, asking around...

The previous evening had been interesting. Not only did Rickith learn a lot about fieldcraft from the demonstrations that Jinyel had given, but he also seemed to get to know Jinyel a bit better as well. He was a quiet type, who liked to listen, more than he enjoyed talking, which Rickith didn't...

When Cylus came to its halfway point, there was a moment the people of the Eternal Empire grew spiteful of the dark. They could not control the moon, but they could control themselves, and their wish for sunlight took form in bonfires and hearths stoked to burn as hot as possible.

The Imperial...

Finding out who Sir Kraig really is.

Woe wasn't watched too closely by Kraig. For Woe's convincing speech the carnifex was thoroughly convinced of Woe's intention to submit himself to the judgment of their new Sovereign, whether he was worthy to join as flesh into their gestalt consciousness. So when the mortalborn announced his...

By daylight, it was easy for Jinyel to follow his own trail. With the dead deer slung across his shoulders, he found his way back to the ravine where he and Agnis had been kidnapped. “Cutter’s Rut,” the young woman called it, before she had agreed to lead Agnis and the young boy back to her...

Agnis was a woman of secrets. Jinyel didn’t know why, and sometimes those secrets felt like a snake laying in wait to bite him, but she was also… not his friend, but friendly. To most dwellers of the medical headquarters, Jinyel was a decoration. Silent. Unobtrusive. Occasionally useful, but never...

Live bird wanted. Any species. Must be delivered without injury. Pays well.

It was an odd bounty. Or perhaps “request” was the better word. Most hunting was done independently, and requests were usually for the spoils. Someone wanted a deerskin, or the bones of a thairoch, or some other piece of...

The prior few days had proceeded, and despite their initial resistance against the bone men of the Bone Yard , the Northern Reaches Fortress had been nearly overrun. And now, the civilians and soldiers holed up in the highest bastion off the Fortress, only sallying out through the bridges that...

(Continued from here. )

The first four bandits had been easy, drugged and isolated from one another. The last three bandits were only one of those things. They shouted and argued, still mostly drugged, but at least half-aware of their surroundings. Jinyel didn’t know how much longer the drug would...

When Rickith and Jinyel had gotten back from the wilderness of the Sacred Forest, they had parted ways, Rickith to find some place to stay, and Jinyel to get some medical assistance. Rickith ending up meeting some of the people there, and getting a guest room to stay in, at least for the duration...

(Continued from here. )

The night watchman showed the first effects. Perhaps he had eaten more stew than the rest, or perhaps he simply had more things to look at. Either way, Jinyel knew the drug had begun its work when the watchman began talking to nothing, and held out his spear in warning....

Jinyel had always imagined something different for his first deer. It was proof of skill, that a hunter was more than the rabbits and birds it took to stay alive and off the edge of poverty. If Jinyel had come from a family of hunters, or just from a family at all, he suspected this would be an...

Stretch. Hold. Relax.

Stretch. Hold. Relax.

The slingshot was an obedient weapon. The cords were strong, and the prongs flexed smoothly at his pull. To aim a slingshot was not terribly different from a bow. He lifted it straight, sighted down the length of his arm, and pulled the string back....

Noon. Afternoon. Evening. Every break passed at top speed, slicing against Jinyel’s nerves like knives. He perched on his hill, the tallest hill in two miles, and peered through his borrowed spyglass a hundred times for every inch the shadows moved. As if it would help. As if the lack of knowledge...

Agnis was a woman of secrets. Jinyel had suspected it for a long time, and she had proven him right more than once. Something was always a bit off about her, but from the idle chatter of the headquarters, that seemed a common trait in mages.

He didn’t know if forcing strangers to eat rotten meat...

Being in the deep forest of the Empire stirred something in Woe, as she strode along, her booted feet treading the snow-caked forest floor. Even here, beneath a voluminous canopy, some snow found its way to the floor, which obscured some of the herbal specimens, many of which had long gone dormant....

Continued from here.

Cylus was a time of darkness. With the darkness came scarcity, and with scarcity came risk. Anyone wishing to survive the harsh season had to gamble with their health to gain any sort of reward. Sometimes they won prey. Sometimes they lost their health. Sometimes they did...

Timestamp: 9th of Cylus, Rebirth, Arc 725

It has only been a few trials since his mother had passed, and Rickith was still feeling the weight of emotion encircling his mind. He couldn’t get it out of his mind, how she had passed, and the illness that had taken her, and part of him just wanted to...

Type under here

It was dark outside, typical for the season. Luvi was rooming in a remote town along with a group of other soldiers. She had fallen into a routine over the past couple seasons, going with the flow and dealing with basic threats that threatened her country. She hadn’t actually done...

Woe had abided in the frontier of the Empire, the area that Raskalarn had opened up to expnsion, in the hopes of conquering more land to feed the faces of her legion of loyal butchers. There'd already been much bloodshed, on the hands of soldiers as much as the bandits and farmers who put up a...

Once Rickith had the necessary information from the nurse, it was time to put that information into practice. But first he'd need to find a bit of water, as well as a place where he could work on the project. It shouldn't take too long to do, but he still wanted to find a quiet place after he got...

Cylus crystal, winter grass,
Something something, freeze my ass.

There was an echo of it in the halls, or perhaps Jinyel just imagined it. Like everywhere in the Empire, the medical headquarters had its obligate collection of soldiers, and every collection of soldiers had their obligate bawdy...

Small Favors pt. I

Jinyel encounters a water anak and sees that its stream has been clogged by a fallen tree.

The young hunter put away his bow and examined the tree. The trunk was wide enough that his arms couldn’t reach all the way around, and its branches had furrowed into the earth. There...

From the Spirits Primer:
12th of Ashan
A widespread phenomenon that allows, over the course of the day, even unmarked mortals the opportunity to partially see the Spirits that surround their world. They form as translucent flickers of light and darkness to those without the ability to see them...