Queer Fantasy and Weird Tales for the People
“You all know why we are here,” Reva proclaimed, and the empty walls of the warehouse echoed her words back to her. “We are here to free Phyreios from the tyranny of the Seven Ascended. The festival has given us a chance to act. I need to know that all of you are with me.”
Continue reading “Beyond the Frost-Cold Sea: Chapter X”I awoke just before sunrise, and after only a short while I abandoned my futile attempts to sleep again. It was for the best that I would not compete this day, as I had not rested well. My thoughts were churning like the icy mountain streams in the land of my birth, fed by snow-melt in the spring. I feared that the banks of my mind would be flooded if I remained by myself in the quiet. I rose and left my room to light the fire. In these dry climes, the early mornings were cold, even in the summer.
A fellow competitor, Rhea of the Golden Road team, had been attacked and nearly killed by a man in a mask. Reva had assured us that we would be safe during the Cerean Tournament; that it was forbidden to attack any of the contestants and that fairness in the games was sacred. She had been counting on that principle to keep Khalim safe, so that he and his god would not be at risk from the Ascended even after he made his presence known in the contest of magic. Now all the people of Phyreios knew his face and his name and what he could do.
Could I keep him safe? I was unable to protect Fearghus, all those months ago.
Continue reading “Beyond the Frost-Cold Sea: Chapter IX”It had been a fine day, despite its inelegant start. Garvesh and Khalim had performed admirably, and the Iron Mountain team had maintained its lead. Aysulu would compete the next day, in the contests of skill, and she was confident that she would carry the day. Among the warriors assembled here, only the Tribe of the Lion and the Wolf had any reputation for horse archery. It would be a good test of her abilities before the time when she would face them on a real battlefield.
She found Jin facing a stand weighed down with dumplings, each filled with meat and spices. He pored over them, brows furrowed, as though they held some great mystery that he was required to puzzle out.
Continue reading “Beyond the Frost-Cold Sea: Interlude One”I parted from my companions for the afternoon and met Heishiro at the Flower of the Mountain to share a drink in the hours between the contest of poetry and that of magecraft, and passed the time there, trying to learn of the secrets of the eastern smiths. Heishiro was no craftsman himself, though he was an accomplished wielder of the weapons they made, and he could only give me a broad description of how steel was made. The tall stalks of grass that grew in his homeland and reached many times the height of a man were burned, and the charcoal left behind forged with iron to make a metal that was stronger and harder than any of the weapons and tools of my people. I asked him if I could replicate this process using what hardy plants and evergreen trees grew in the lands of my birth, and he told me he did not know.
I returned at sunset to find Khalim praying again, his bare feet slowly digging furrows into the sand under the first row of the stands as he paced. Darkness fell, and torches went up around the arena.
Continue reading “Beyond the Frost-Cold Sea: Chapter VIII”
The time of the summoning grows closer and closer. Can the investigators find the cult’s base of operations and stop the ritual?
(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: kidnapping, murder, blood sacrifice, potential mob violence, eldritch horrors.)
Continue reading “Chapter Two: Green Grows the Lily (Part Three)”The next day was to be the day of the contests of oration and magecraft. I awoke to find the house in disarray, Garvesh having spread out his books on every available surface. With an exaggerated sigh, he sat down at the table before one of his tomes and placed his chin in one hand, the other tracing the rows of characters on the page. I was tempted to close my door again and see if the scene was any more comprehensible upon opening it a second time, but instead I strode into the common room and wished everyone a fine good morning.
Garvesh gave me a look sharper than a javelin, but I paid him no heed. I was still in a good humor from my victory the day before, having won my team a lead over even the Ascended’s own champions, and despite a narrow loss to the warrior Heishiro in an arm-wrestling match outside of the games.
Continue reading “Beyond the Frost-Cold Sea: Chapter VII”The cult of the Great Mother is well-established here in Oxmoor, and the investigators need to find out whom they can trust. The notes written by Professor Ragnarsson’s murderer indicated that the cult is seeking a book at the Westmont estate. Finding that book will be the key to the investigators’ next steps, but time is of the essence: the cult is preparing to summon an eldritch horror from ages long forgotten.
This section includes the Westmont Estate, notes on the book, and other locations around Oxmoor.
(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, death, murder, cult activity including blood sacrifice and implied forced pregnancy.)
Continue reading “Chapter Two: Green Grows the Lily (Part Two)”I woke to find Aysulu and Khalim in the common room, Khalim with his head down on the table and his arms folded over it.
“How are you feeling?” I asked.
He made a pained noise. Aysulu passed me a bowl of rice and the last of one of the cuts of dried meat.
I sat down opposite Khalim. “Couldn’t you just heal it?”
He looked up, squinting painfully. “I did this to myself. It’s a lesson I’m learning.”
“The way I see it,” I argued, “if your god doesn’t want you to heal yourself, he won’t let you. There’s no harm in giving it a try.”
Continue reading “Beyond the Frost-Cold Sea: Chapter VI”The investigators have discovered the murderer of Professor Ragnarsson and brought to light the terrible cult he belongs to. They now have their next lead: the village of Oxmoor, where Ragnarsson’s former assistant is now living. She was entrusted with one of the artifacts the professor removed from the island, and has more information about the ill-fated expedition. In a stroke of phenomenally bad luck, the cult is also gathering there to seek out an artifact from the island and a mysterious text. The investigators must travel to Oxmoor, find Jasmine, and put a stop to what the cult has planned next, which seems to also be putting Eloise’s young cousin, Aurelia Westmont, in danger as well.
In this section, the investigators will visit Jasmine and find out what she knows about the cult and its practices, and have their first encounter with the dark magic of the island.
(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 sexism/racism and suicide, forced pregnancy, body horror.)
Continue reading “Chapter Two: Green Grows the Lily (Part One)”“How is it that you can do that?” I asked. I would not have believed it, had I not seen it with my own eyes, and felt the heat of Jora’s fever and smelled the putrescence of his wound. He had surely been close to death, and now he walked back to his house under his own power.
“Khalim has a gift,” Reva said. “When the time is right, the people will follow him to the ends of the earth.”
Continue reading “Beyond the Frost-Cold Sea: Chapter V”
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