Queer Fantasy and Weird Tales for the People
As they left the industrial district, Reva split off to head through the back alleys toward the slums, and Aysulu and Garvesh went on to the noble quarter. It was almost fully dark, with only the faintest glow of the setting sun casting light on the hills beyond the city walls. Phyreios itself did not sleep during the festival, and already it was lit up in an array of torches and lanterns that outshone the glittering stars above.
Continue reading “Beyond the Frost-Cold Sea: Interlude Two”Noah Gundersen, “Oh Death”
Happy Monday! The sun is shining here, but I’m hesitant to say that it’s spring yet. (Groundhog Day has always been an odd experience for me, as a person who lives in a place where “six more weeks of winter” and “an early spring” are two ways of expressing the same idea).
I’ll be back on Wednesday with a short-ish chapter of Beyond the Frost-Cold Sea, where we’ll be setting up for the chariot race and the end of the tournament. See you then!
The investigators and their allies have faced the summoned creature and the cult in Dublin. They are left with a number of bodies in an abandoned barn and a black scar on the earth in someone’s field, or with the city crumbling in the horror’s wake. If the investigators failed to defeat the summoned creature, they will receive no more help from their allies in Dublin. All efforts will be redirected to mitigating the damage and saving as many people as possible. Even if it and most, if not all, the cultists have been killed, arrested, or otherwise put out of action, the repercussions of their activities continue. Specifically, there has been a bombing in the city followed by quite a lot of gunfire just outside it. It would be reasonable to assume that both the British and Irish governments will conclude that the local IRA members have broken the terms of the treaty and the previous ceasefire and restarted a pattern of sectarian violence.
(All page numbers refer to the Seventh Edition of the Call of Cthulhu Keeper Rulebook, published 2015 by Chaosium, Inc. I am in no way affiliated with Chaosium or the writers of the Call of Cthulhu roleplaying game system. Content notes for this chapter: mentions of terrorism/bombing, cult activity, forced drugging, a general sense of doom.)
Continue reading “Chapter Four: A Home Without Joy (Part One)”Phildel, “Afraid of the Dark”
Happy Monday!
After some deliberation, I’ve decided to divide Chapter Four of The Well Below the Valley into two parts. Part One will be up Wednesday. It’s a bit shorter than these parts usually are, but I think getting all the setting up out of the way before I take you into the final dungeon will work better than doing it all at once. This also means that I’ll be on my alternating schedule of The Well and Beyond the Frost-Cold Sea for another few weeks yet.
I hope everyone has an excellent week!
Aysulu kicked her horse forward, nocking an arrow to her bow. I followed, keeping Khalim and Garvesh behind me. The salamander looked at us with one eye, small and shiny like a glass bead, and then turned its head to examine us with the other. Steam poured from its nostrils.
It was customary, I learned, for the entire team to face their beast, even those who had no skill for combat. Khalim’s value to us in this fight was obvious, but I was less sure about Garvesh.
He soon proved his worth. “I have read of these creatures,” he said, peering out around my shoulder. “They live in caves—it will be nearly blind in daylight. And watch for its tail! That will trip you as sure as its breath will burn you.”
Continue reading “Beyond the Frost-Cold Sea: Chapter XV”Loreena McKennitt, “The Lady of Shalott” (poem by Alfred, Lord Tennyson)
Emilie Autumn, “Shalott”
Happy Monday!
Here are two very different musical takes on the same figure in Arthuriana. I hope you enjoy them.
I’ll be back on Wednesday with another chapter of Beyond the Frost-Cold Sea. See you then!
The investigators are in Dublin, seeking an artifact and some information from the late professor’s demolitions team. The cult is here as well, and they are planning something even more terrible than they attempted in Oxmoor. A young woman, Grace Callahan, has already gone missing. The investigators are running out of time.
(All page numbers refer to the Seventh Edition of the Call of Cthulhu Keeper Rulebook, published 2015 by Chaosium, Inc. I am in no way affiliated with Chaosium or the writers of the Call of Cthulhu roleplaying game system. Content notes for this chapter: violence, kidnapping, murder, blood sacrifice, eldritch horror.)
Continue reading “Chapter Three: The Singer of Tales (Part Two)”The Silent Comedy, “Bartholomew”
Happy Monday! Please enjoy this song. You might recognize it from the trailer for Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition.
I’ll be back on Wednesday with the rest of Chapter Three of The Well Below the Valley. We’re coming to the end of the module! When it’s done, I may start posting another project, or I might just post chapters of Beyond the Frost-Cold Sea until it’s also done. I’ll have more updates on that later.
Have an excellent week.
The contest of oratory was a quiet reprieve from the activity of the day. When it concluded, there was a rush to find something to eat and to heal those who had been injured in the duels. A greater test of strength and skill was coming. Aysulu slipped out to fetch her horse from the Darela estate, accompanied by a few of the house guards, who wore surcoats of sapphire blue. She returned, horse in tow, as the crowd applauded the last speaker.
I waited until Khalim woke on his own to get up. When I came back with food for the team, he was pacing the length of the bench restlessly.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“There are others who are hurt,” he said. “I should help them.”
Continue reading “Beyond the Frost-Cold Sea: Chapter XIV”Shona Foster, “Oh Patience”
Happy Monday! We have survived January, here in the semi-frozen North, and a small rodent has declared there will be an early spring. I’m off to get the next chapter of Beyond the Frost-Cold Sea ready for you, so I will see you here Wednesday!
Have an excellent week.
Space Whales Press 