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Thursday Prompt - An Unexpected Encounter with The Bear Mage
For this week's 
Thursday_Prompt. So this is an interesting one. This story takes place in the world of my tabletop games and actually specifically deals with an event in a failed novel I tried writing a few years ago. These scenes would not have been in the novel itself, but rather was something that would have happened on the side. As such, in many ways I've had the basic plot down in my head for quite a while and when the prompt was Underneath I knew it was time to write this down.
Now seeing as this is the first proper story I'm sharing in this universe I thought a lot about how I wanted to introduce and present it. The characters of Beor, Viola, Howard (different Howard to my poor cheetah), and Victor are all reoccurring characters within my tabletop setting so I knew exactly how to write them since I've had to role play and act them out so often. The thing is that my players only ever saw glimpses into them and so they were always kept vague and mysterious to varying degrees. I kind of wanted to keep that, especially for Beor, Viola, and Victor (Howard tends to be much more of a straight man), and so I ended up creating a cast of other characters to act as the lens to experience this world through. Ones who are kind of ignorant of how deep the mysteries go so the reader can learn with them.
I also was pretty worried about trying not to bog people down with a ton of exposition, but giving people enough hints as to the universe and how it works. The actual tabletop games I've ran are all full of hidden societies, conspiracies, forgotten and hidden lore, misunderstandings on how the universe works, and so much more. As someone who has lived and breathed within the universe for nearly eight years now it is hard to know what is too much or too little. To anyone who does read through this little monster (I just kept writing) let me know in the comments what worked or didn't. Also, I couldn't figure out a way to work this in naturally, but if you are curious as to the time frame, this takes place sometime in the 90s.
I don't know if I'm going to reuse these specific characters again and write more about their adventures, but I did really start enjoying them as I came to the conclusion. Especially, Lily. I just wanted to give her a hug by the end. Beor, Viola, Howard (both this one and the one from the other story), and Victor will definitely get more tales in the future, but I don't know if I'll continue the tales of these junior agents or not.
Prompt: Underneath
Length: 5.9k words (I'm so sorry, the words were just flowing so easily)
I've read over and reviewed this twice. I really hope there are no egregious typos this week.
Thursday_Prompt. So this is an interesting one. This story takes place in the world of my tabletop games and actually specifically deals with an event in a failed novel I tried writing a few years ago. These scenes would not have been in the novel itself, but rather was something that would have happened on the side. As such, in many ways I've had the basic plot down in my head for quite a while and when the prompt was Underneath I knew it was time to write this down.Now seeing as this is the first proper story I'm sharing in this universe I thought a lot about how I wanted to introduce and present it. The characters of Beor, Viola, Howard (different Howard to my poor cheetah), and Victor are all reoccurring characters within my tabletop setting so I knew exactly how to write them since I've had to role play and act them out so often. The thing is that my players only ever saw glimpses into them and so they were always kept vague and mysterious to varying degrees. I kind of wanted to keep that, especially for Beor, Viola, and Victor (Howard tends to be much more of a straight man), and so I ended up creating a cast of other characters to act as the lens to experience this world through. Ones who are kind of ignorant of how deep the mysteries go so the reader can learn with them.
I also was pretty worried about trying not to bog people down with a ton of exposition, but giving people enough hints as to the universe and how it works. The actual tabletop games I've ran are all full of hidden societies, conspiracies, forgotten and hidden lore, misunderstandings on how the universe works, and so much more. As someone who has lived and breathed within the universe for nearly eight years now it is hard to know what is too much or too little. To anyone who does read through this little monster (I just kept writing) let me know in the comments what worked or didn't. Also, I couldn't figure out a way to work this in naturally, but if you are curious as to the time frame, this takes place sometime in the 90s.
I don't know if I'm going to reuse these specific characters again and write more about their adventures, but I did really start enjoying them as I came to the conclusion. Especially, Lily. I just wanted to give her a hug by the end. Beor, Viola, Howard (both this one and the one from the other story), and Victor will definitely get more tales in the future, but I don't know if I'll continue the tales of these junior agents or not.
Prompt: Underneath
Length: 5.9k words (I'm so sorry, the words were just flowing so easily)
I've read over and reviewed this twice. I really hope there are no egregious typos this week.
Category Story / Fantasy
Species Unspecified / Any
Size 120 x 120px
File Size 152.1 kB
Glad you enjoyed it. Beor and Viola are two of my favorite characters to play in my tabletop games. They just always end up finding trouble and getting themselves involved where they don't belong.
As for this story, Lily was by far my favorite. When I started writing this I really only conceived of Dylan to act as the grounding character and I didn't know how I wanted to end it. It wasn't until I got to them entering the cave that I knew what the final line would be. I then went back and did a lot of rewriting to make it all flow a bit more naturally to reach that point.
As for this story, Lily was by far my favorite. When I started writing this I really only conceived of Dylan to act as the grounding character and I didn't know how I wanted to end it. It wasn't until I got to them entering the cave that I knew what the final line would be. I then went back and did a lot of rewriting to make it all flow a bit more naturally to reach that point.
I wouldn't worry about the length, the 14 pages were a quick read and a nice introduction to this setting, and its interesting and fun characters, Victor seems like a scary kind of guy!
And poor Lily, can she at least glide?
"The four junior agents looked at one another as they wondered who was going to stay or go.
Rick was the first to dash down the tunnel. Not to be shown up, Lily was quick to follow. Dylan was third to leave, but Steph remained where she was."
Isn't peer pressure a wonderful thing? It takes more courage to say you aren't going along.
“Fine, but don’t bring him back if he’s already changed.” Howard shook his finger at large mage.
“You know I will. Now would any of you like to join us. I can’t promise your safety or that you’ll
return.” He looked at Dylan. “Or that you’ll even remain human. What I can promise is that it will be an experience beyond any other.”
Man why wouldn't you volunteer for an adventure like that? Though on reading the story a little further I suspect I'd rather be certain the portal actually went to where they believe it does! ;)
Also the rights organisations would justifiably be all over keeping someone under restrictions like that just because of what species they are :/
And poor Lily, can she at least glide?
"The four junior agents looked at one another as they wondered who was going to stay or go.
Rick was the first to dash down the tunnel. Not to be shown up, Lily was quick to follow. Dylan was third to leave, but Steph remained where she was."
Isn't peer pressure a wonderful thing? It takes more courage to say you aren't going along.
“Fine, but don’t bring him back if he’s already changed.” Howard shook his finger at large mage.
“You know I will. Now would any of you like to join us. I can’t promise your safety or that you’ll
return.” He looked at Dylan. “Or that you’ll even remain human. What I can promise is that it will be an experience beyond any other.”
Man why wouldn't you volunteer for an adventure like that? Though on reading the story a little further I suspect I'd rather be certain the portal actually went to where they believe it does! ;)
Also the rights organisations would justifiably be all over keeping someone under restrictions like that just because of what species they are :/
Thanks for the fav. I'm just a little worried that the page and word count might make these intimidating for people to want to read. At the same time, I do want to tell a completely story so a lot of times I'm not satisfied in writing just a single scene.
"Victor seems like a scary kind of guy!"
What's funny is I generally just describe him and my players immediately just get a feeling they don't want to mess with him. I don't think any of them ever actually learned his name.
"And poor Lily, can she at least glide?"
No, gryphons (along with a lot of other winged creatures) are entirely ground bound on earth. Their wings are basically large feather appendages that get in the way and require extra cleaning. It's actually very sad for them and I continuously felt terrible for Lily as I wrote this.
"Isn't peer pressure a wonderful thing? It takes more courage to say you aren't going along."
Yep. It is so easy to just go with the flow even if you really don't want to.
"Man why wouldn't you volunteer for an adventure like that? Though on reading the story a little further I suspect I'd rather be certain the portal actually went to where they believe it does! ;)"
I know. I'd be going even if I didn't have knowledge of how the setting worked. Though we might be going to to the realm of demons is probably not the most welcoming thought.
"Also the rights organisations would justifiably be all over keeping someone under restrictions like that just because of what species they are :/"
True, but if the organizations don't even know of their existence then how can they fight for them? Furthermore, a lot of it is self-imposed. I'll probably cover this stuff later, but the magical creatures have actually taken votes if they do want to lift their veil of secrecy and they've always come back a resounding no. Especially at the time this story takes place which is pre-internet. In the campaigns I've run, which take place in the 2010s (basically I start each campaign in the actual current year), the internet has started having an effect on the youth who are questioning if they need to remain hidden although all of the older folk still believe they should.
"Victor seems like a scary kind of guy!"
What's funny is I generally just describe him and my players immediately just get a feeling they don't want to mess with him. I don't think any of them ever actually learned his name.
"And poor Lily, can she at least glide?"
No, gryphons (along with a lot of other winged creatures) are entirely ground bound on earth. Their wings are basically large feather appendages that get in the way and require extra cleaning. It's actually very sad for them and I continuously felt terrible for Lily as I wrote this.
"Isn't peer pressure a wonderful thing? It takes more courage to say you aren't going along."
Yep. It is so easy to just go with the flow even if you really don't want to.
"Man why wouldn't you volunteer for an adventure like that? Though on reading the story a little further I suspect I'd rather be certain the portal actually went to where they believe it does! ;)"
I know. I'd be going even if I didn't have knowledge of how the setting worked. Though we might be going to to the realm of demons is probably not the most welcoming thought.
"Also the rights organisations would justifiably be all over keeping someone under restrictions like that just because of what species they are :/"
True, but if the organizations don't even know of their existence then how can they fight for them? Furthermore, a lot of it is self-imposed. I'll probably cover this stuff later, but the magical creatures have actually taken votes if they do want to lift their veil of secrecy and they've always come back a resounding no. Especially at the time this story takes place which is pre-internet. In the campaigns I've run, which take place in the 2010s (basically I start each campaign in the actual current year), the internet has started having an effect on the youth who are questioning if they need to remain hidden although all of the older folk still believe they should.
Yeah, people have done the calculations on kind of the generally agreed upon visual wingspan of things like gryphons, dragons, etc. and they just wouldn't be able to create enough lift to fly. So when I've run this setting as a tabletop RPG I actually have had a gryphon player character who was able to fly in the magic realm of Almain, but not on earth. How did a gryphon get back in forth between the two worlds when there's this magical seal in place is a different story that I might write in the future, but there are alternative routes to say the least.
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