Phouka

On a small farm in one of the many verdant valleys in the land that now belongs to the Tuatha dé Danann there once lived a farmer named Phadrig. He was a kindly old soul who had been a generous neighbor, a good father, and a gentle husband. Now, as his days upon this earth…
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Tales of The One True City - Part I

Watching the snowflakes descend slowly from the soft gray clouds filled Arthur with a serenity greatly at odds with the destruction of his beloved city all around him. Looking through the window of the last remaining Stormwatch Tower, he could almost forget for a moment that he was Arthur, Sword Brother and King of the…
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Tales of The One True City - Part II

Settling carefully into his Memory Walk, Arthur was now a much younger man. He was boyish in appearance, as though untouched by the decades of bitter experience that had etched the faces of all other survivors of the Breaking of the World. The year he now Walked burned in his memory like a signal fire…
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Tales of The One True City - Part III

The passage was well-hidden in a niche behind a massive pillar in the corridor outside Arthur’s sleeping quarters. It was so narrow it was almost invisible unless you knew it was there. Or unless someone with the curiosity and razor-sharp senses of a Cait Sith happened by. The couple made their way into the dark…
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The Coming of the Emissaries - Part I

This is the story of the end of the world and its rebirth. Some worlds are destined to die in fire, some in ice. A few worlds last until their sun or their resources are exhausted. This world’s end was caused by something quite different. Although the source of destruction was unusual in the grand…
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The Great Depths Raid - Part I

A Gathering of Delvers Now I will tell you a tale of The Depths, a place that has been shrouded in mystery for uncountable centuries. If you ask a scholar, he’ll tell you this living home of horror and madness first appeared soon after the Piercing of the Veil. If you ask an old man…
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The Great Depths Raid - Part II

Enter The Depths The gathered Delvers broke camp quickly the next morning, which dawned grey and cold, unlike the previous pleasant weather. Hidduk nodded his furry head in the direction they had to go; further up the valley and above the ridge, to the cave where he had found an entrance. A gateway into the…
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The Great Depths Raid - Part III

The Great Gullet No matter how the Delvers scratched, slammed, or slashed at the thing that gulped them down, the glowing faces behind the semi-transparent walls merely laughed. Mocking the Delvers silently, it seemed, for their helpless tumble into the Great Gullet. The thunderous swallowing threw the six of them into that strange place, a…
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The Great Depths Raid - Part IV

A Strange Collection The Depths rumbled in anticipation, sensing the violence about to break out in its Great Gullet. All throughout the twisting tunnels and weird chambers, its servants paused and listened, feeling a shake in the tunnels and caves; signs of the excitement. Laughter bubbled up from the deep places, carrying dread magic. It…
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The Great Depths Raid - Part IX

The Whispering Dark Where does evil begin? In the heart, yearning for something it should not? In the hands, eager to do wrong? Or does the source lie in something else, somewhere else, a supernatural force that reaches out to clutch at the innocent, miring them and remaking them as Innocents -- No Longer? In…
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The Great Depths Raid - Part V

The Sudden Plunge The river thundered through that place of living nightmare called the Depths, its powerful waters rushing past lurking horrors unknown and unseen. The swirling liquid surely had an intelligence all its own, hurrying to an unpredictable destination deep below the world and its malevolent evils. The waters were dark, hiding secrets; and…
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The Great Depths Raid - Part VI

Suspicion Blooms Deep in the bowels of The Depths, in the dim light of the rows of jars that lined the Collection Room, the Delvers were ready. Even as one of their number fell toward the deadly, churning waters below, the rest sprang to their places. Hidduk smiled grimly at the enemy, the Collector; a…
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The Great Depths Raid - Part VII

Madness and Memories The stone pathways that wound and twisted through the heavy dark of the Collection Room seemed to have a will of their own, a desire to lead Xedric astray. Every step he took led to confusing falls and deadly endings. The Senior Flame Warden had little idea where he was going, and…
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The Great Depths Raid - Part VIII

The Cautious Climb The towering rows of jars looked on like pale yellow eyes, peering into the abyss. Though so much had been scavenged here over the years from so many lost and discarded souls dashed against the sieve and crushed by the mighty waters, this was the first time anyone had survived so long.…
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The Great Depths Raid - Part X

A Priceless Gift As the Delvers crossed into the dark lair, warning behind them and shadows ahead, they sensed rather than saw the nearness of an exit, a thin place, where The Depths led at last upward and out. The message over the gate, however, weighed heavily upon their minds, revealed through blood and battle:…
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The Great Depths Raid - Part XI

Rush of Shadows The looming, awful tower watched unmoving as the tiny figures of the Delvers began to make their way through the titled maze. It had seen many come this way, but very few that managed to climb its stairs and leave this place behind. The other presence here, one of gleeful destruction and…
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The Great Depths Raid - Part XII

The Tilted Maze and the Tower From the throat, to the gullet, pulsating blood-red; from there to the collected stars above the roaring river; and then through a tunnel of darkness to the tilted maze. So the Delvers had journeyed, fighting together, bleeding together, braving the mysteries and dangers of The Depths together. And now,…
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