Not one to which a sword is a foreign object in your hands, you race down the path into the melee and begin swinging the sword you were handed in practiced strikes, taking down a goblin in only two strokes, removing the head of the next with one, then stabbing it quickly through the heart of a third and then ripping the bloody blade free before it hits the ground.  Those two years of training with the ranger are not wasted; in fact they soon prove to be a deciding factor as you battle your way to the pie pavilion where Hailyn is fending off four of the short, ugly bastards, while Ciana huddles behind her, though helping much more than fighting by providing a magical combat protection that proves effective in turning aside goblin blades and allowing Hailyn more freedom to strike the filthy beasts down.

You arrive just in time to block a goblin spear from piercing her ribs, your powerful downward stroke splintering the wooden shaft almost in two, the useless bladed end sagging off the shaft.  You stab the evil creature in the face, and it drops the spear as it clutches at its bleeding eyes, before staggering back into a tub of boiling water.

"Thank the gods you're alive!" Hailyn says.

RATE THIS BRANCH!

Click to View Author Guidance

A basic, typical fantasy style story with all the classic elements - elves in the forest, dwarves underground, old wizards in towers and the like. It's largely just to experiment with the form more than anything, although the idea formed ages ago before I got depressed.

The idea is that about a dozen characters meet each other along the way on a perilous journey north into the heart of evil/darkness/symbolic force thereof.

Arrith and co head north-west to the capital, Pasaveer, a day or two out from their home town of Terris. Kemvar accompanies them. They are looking for information about a cursed armour, shield and weapon that one of the goblin leaders mutters something about. On your trail is the men with wolf tattoos, and behind them is the rouge Hailyn has been waiting like a lover for.

updated Jul 8 by UltimaDan