When it was my turn to be the Dungeon Master, I began writing a scenario and I got to thinking about this problem. A powerful mage could bring down the city walls and decimate an army, but then had to go and have a rest to learn more spells.
This idea came to me when I had some trees pruned in my garden. One of the resulting branches got left behind and dried out in the sun. It, of course, looked like a wizard’s staff, although I have yet to produce a single fireball with it or make myself invisible. I came to the realisation that it was just a stick.
“Well now, lucky we found you,” she said.
“I wandered away from my companions, upstream somewhere. I don’t suppose you could get me down?”
“Have you down in no time, one of the kiddies has gone for an axe.”
This story involves brave women risking their lives to provide evidence of wrongdoing to the outside world. That simple premise was all I had to start with, and the rest just followed along. The ending came as a genuine surprise, although it made sense for the rest of the story, so I suppose it could have been subconscious.
Deities get bored just like mortal folk. But their pastimes are far more deadly. This short story is about Chansun, an adventurer who finds himself being used as a pawn in a game by some very powerful beings. “The woman spoke, and Chansun fell in love, more deeply and thoroughly than ever before.”
They’ll be dead before the end of the year, their bodies wrecked and their minds twisted into the worst insanity. After committing their foul atrocities they’ll eventually be brought down by the royal armies, hacked apart and burnt alive. But not before making more of their own kind, always more.
Technology is great. Humanity wouldn’t be in the position it’s in now if it wasn’t for technological advancements. You could argue that technology has brought nothing but trouble on us humans, but that’s down to human nature and the misuse of it, not the technology itself. Science should be used as a tool to improve the lives of every living thing on the planet, and beyond, but it should never be allowed to control us.
As you might have guessed by the title, I’d like to talk about Fantasy in all its splendorous variety. This might be a broad definition but let’s say if it’s got magic in it, it’s fantasy, if it hasn’t, it ain’t.
The news is all doom and gloom: a certain individual is being blamed for the actions of a certain terrorist group thousands of miles away, the Earth is half on fire and half underwater, and a “vegetarian” dog chose dog meat over salad live on camera. Now, there’s plenty of inspiration there for any writer, but I was looking for something a little more light-hearted to cheer us all up. Light-hearted triggered light entertainment, and this is what came out.
What tiny events could lead to a world-changing apocalypse? This fantasy tale about a mighty empire and the tiny pebble might be less of an adult tale in the beginning, but I found it much more amusing in this version. I also think it could be a great prologue for a novel, maybe even a trilogy, which maybe one day I’ll write.
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