Freewriting - Session Four

The dragon sat calmly upon his mountain of treasure, idly tapping at a chain with one of his talons. His gaze was focused on the group of adventurers before him, a group that was trying to start to climb up his mountain of treasure. He rolled his eyes, annoyed once more that he was being awakened by some troublesome band of do gooders. Why did they never let him rest on top of his treasure. He would be content here for a few centuries or so. After that they would have something to worry about. But nooooo, they just kept coming.

The mighty dragon pondered hiring security and laughed, his great booming voice filling the hall. Udarn! Udarn! Deal with these pesky people and then go find me some sort of security beyond yourself. Traps perhaps. Or maybe undead that you can raise. I don’t really care so long as they don’t disturb me as well.

…

Udarn where are you? … Udarn? The dragon frowned, an impressive feat for such a being and an absolutely terrifying one as well. Uggghhh. Typical halfling. Never around when you need him. The dragon yawned as he surveyed the group more closely and then focused his full gaze upon one person in it. If Udarn wasn’t here to deal with this he would just recruit someone else to deal with it.

The dragon teleported then, certain in his observation that the group was staying in one spot and was not going to move. The leader of the group, a human warrior of some kind, suddenly found himself face to face with an enraged red dragon and the entire group suddenly found themselves to be wreathed in fire. An arrow struck him in the nose and then he responded with a short stoppage of time. Another teleport to above the group of explorers and a usage of his personal magic to create a ring of fire around them and then the stoppage of time ended.

The colossal dragon collapsed his wings then, dropping like a rock down onto the adventurers and squashing them all under his weight. Another teleport and he was back at the top of his mountain of gold. The red wyrm glanced at Udarn’s phylactery and snorted. When your body reforms halfling you will clean up the bodies and acquire some sort of security for me. I am going back to sleep now.

Good day.

Freewriting - Session Three

And here we are, drop point two. You’re up John. Enjoy the view.

John snorted as he pushed himself out of his chair. The view? This place will look the same as the last drop and the next drop and every other drop that we’ll be doing. The only exciting part of this trip will be reaching the end of this and getting away from this ship and you.

Ouch man. Can’t you be a little bit happy about helping millions of people stay in contact? A muffled grunt was the only response the pilot received. Alright then. Local area looks clear. Absolutely nothing within ten light years except buoy number one.

Just the way I like it. A minute passed. Depressurizing the cargo bay. Another minute passed. Unloading buoy number two.

Good luck. The pilot idly twirled a pen as sensors showed the progress that John was making. Unlike her companion she was enjoying herself out in the void, thrilled to bits over the very likely possibility that she was the first living to be here ever. It was possible that other life forms had been here at some point but she doubted that. This was the void and in the two centuries of interstellar travel with expansion to five other planets absolutely nothing had been seen that indicated intelligent life was out there.

Entering the cargo bay.

The pilot blinked, startled out of her thoughts by John’s return. Copy that. Starting up the engine. See anything interesting?

Just the same stars that shine everywhere else.

Pity. She waited in her chair, still twirling her pen, until John got back up to his chair. Alright, off to drop three now.

Free writing - Session Two

She felt hollow inside now. Death would soon be upon her here. Of course, she didn’t particularly care at this point about the matter of her life at the moment and was unlikely to develop any concern for it ever again. She had been here seventeen days now, holding this mountain pass against the invaders of the land that she and so many held dear.

She and five others had been here at the start of the attack. Now there was only her still alive in the fortification… well, not only her. There was the army camped outside that could count technically. She grimaced as she looked down at her wounded leg again, wondering if she could get to the battlements of the small fort without too much pain. From there she could fire her bow at the enemy a few more times. Down here, she could only die or be taken as a prisoner. She wasn’t really sure what would happen to her if the enemy came across her like this, there being few solid facts on what happened to those who clashed with the enemy beyond vague rumors.

She shouldered her bow then and stood, using her sword as a support for her wounded leg. At a crawling pace she moved across the small courtyard, her voice as soft as the wind that day as it offered up a prayer for assistance. She doubted anything would come of it but it couldn’t hurt could it. She reached the stairs and paused, taking a moment to gather herself before moving up one step at a time. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack.

She was halfway up when she heard the sound that had been her nightmare for the past seventeen days. The horns of the enemy were being blown. They were coming. This was it. Clack. Clack. Clack. The names of the four others who had died her ran through her mind and she smiled. Soon she would be with them but first, she would take a few more of the enemy to the grave with her. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. She wondered whether or not the soldier she had sent to warn others had succeeded or not. She hoped he was okay as she reached the top and looked out and down the mountain pass at the enemy.

She calmly counted the banners that were displayed and smiled. There were three new ones down below and they did look quite fancy to her. She wondered who they represented and then shrugged. She took her bow off her shoulder and drew an arrow. A glance at the flag to her right and then she lifted the bow and fired. Everyone froze then as it fell back to the ground, everyone watching the arrow as it stated how far exactly the forts defender could fire at the moment.

She eyed the distance and nodded to herself then frowned. The enemy was moving forward now in a completely new formation compared to what she had seen the previous sixteen days. Shields were everywhere, covering everyone. She blinked as she pondered this development. She doubted her arrows could get through a shield and armor unless the enemy was really close and then it would be somewhat pointless.

The shielded formation passed by the arrow she had fired and then steps later she fired, another shot coming every second. She knew that the arrows couldn’t do anything but perhaps she would get lucky. Either way, the arrows falling amongst the formation would slow it to a crawl and indeed they were. It felt so good to get respect.

One of the enemy fell at last, a small victory for the lady on the battlements but it was just one fish in a sea and all present knew it. The formation pushed on and despite the now dangerous arrows raining down on them reached the walls. A ladder was put up, a ladder the lady could not push away, and the group started to work their way up one by one. The first to reach the top got an arrow to the throat, the second an arrow to the leg, the third an arrow to the chest, and the fourth received no arrow.

It was over now. The lady laid there, what was left of her life slowly draining away, a smile on her face. She blinked as someone knelt in front of her, as someone examined her. The person stood and the words he spoke were a strain for her to hear. Give this woman full burial honors. Burn the rest.

She shuddered and then closed her eyes, hoping that others had received a warning.

Free writing - Session One

A man stood alone in the darkness, the wind rustling everything around him. He knelt then and poked at something in the dirt beneath him. The object was hard and cold in his fingers and he brought it up to examine it carefully. There was little doubt in the man’s mind as he ran his hands over the coin that his quarry had indeed come this way though whether or not they knew they were being pursued was another matter. Perhaps the coin was a trap. He looked around with suspicion but did not see anything out of place. Two steps back were taken into the shrubbery as a voice sounded out close by.

"This way, it’s this way."

"No, we’ve been that way before. Face it, we’re lost here." The sounds of someone sitting reached the man in the shrubbery.

Well even if we are lost we can’t stop. There has to be someone hunting us. The man shifted his foot then and froze as a stick cracked beneath it. Everything froze then and the man had to strain to hear the whispers. "There’s someone out there… What we gonna do?"

The man slowly drew a shortbow as he waited to hear a response and then blinked as the darkness vanished, the light of a ball of flames illuminating the area. He muttered something under his breath as he switched out his bow for a club, his eyes tracking the ball of flames as it flew by his right side. He could see them clearly now, the one he was hunting and his companion. It had complicated his mission when he had run off like this into the wild after accidentally burning down a house or two.

He sniffed, excited that this mission was close to its end and watched as another ball of flames flew by him. A quick prayer to the Maker and a spell to hasten his actions and then he charged, erupting from the shrubbery. The distance between him and the pair was quickly covered, far too quickly for the pair to react in any meaningful way. He casually swung the club in his hand into the girl’s stomach, propelling her backwards into his target. The hunter watched as the pair tumbled to the ground and then swung again, this time at his target.

He smiled under his helm as he saw that both of his strikes had knocked out his targets and quickly went about binding their hands. The girl he gagged as well for her ability to speak was irrelevant here, the boy was the target. The hunter dragged the pair over to a tree and sat them up underneath it. A second later and his right hand clasped the boys shoulder and a blue light glowed in the flame light clearing. The boy jerked awake and the hunter smiled as he stepped back. "Jarvius of Redwater, you have been called to present yourself as a possible for becoming a Magister of Auctor. How do you answer?"

"I errr what?"

"You have the talents necessary to become a Magister. You displayed those talents quite recently." The hunter looked over at the charred brush then back at the embarrassed face of the boy.

"But… but… Auctor is thousands of kilometers away, in the north."

"We do not discriminate. I have a teleport scroll to use. What is your answer?"

"I… can my friend come with me?"

The hunter looked over at her and then back at the boy, "Does she have any useful talents?"

"She’s quite useful in a fight." The hunter nodded. "Alright, I’ll come then."

The hunter looked once more at the charred brush and then pulled out a piece of paper. He recited the words on the paper and then the trio of humans vanished from the forest.