Author: Séa

Ace, the dragon-phoenix-human hybrid, soared into Dragonwood, a few minutes late. He landed on the grassy knoll and pulled the blue flame banner from his bag. He hoped that his new clients would see the flame and join him soon. Ace had recently opened a travel agency, renting space at the Hopping Horse from Zaroth the Bar Keep. He was eager for his first tour group to arrive.

It was not long before Thomas, who had grown up on a pirate ship, arrived with the half-human/half-elf Lizzy. Soon they were joined by the human-dragon-morph Lightning and Sonny, a very responsible human boy who likes to play in his free time and go on adventures. Ace rolled up his sleeves, picked up his banner and headed out at the lead for a grand tour of Dragonwood.

The tour visited the Field of Reckoning, Hidden Trail, Troll Road, Leaches Pass, Blue Gnome Hill, Pigs Hollow, the Path of Destruction, and stopped at the Armory where the group practiced their swords skills in the training facilities. Unfortunately, Ace killed his clients, Lightning, and Sonny. Fortunately, despite the lack of any medics, they both revived.

Lightning developed a winning strategy. He went into a small castle and hid in a small space with holes. Whenever Ace tried to strike him, Lightning could block him easily with his sword. When Ace tried to enter the castle, Sonny fended him off. However, they both died anyway. Except for the one time that Sonny killed Ace.

While they were dueling, they saw some green zombies burning in the field, ignited by the burning sun of Dragonwood.

There was a war between the heroes and the villains.

“HEY! Who said we were villains!”

The HEROES stayed on one part of the island known as the Kingdom or the City. The villains (“HEY!”) went to the other part of the island on the outskirts of the City. Fisherman, Lightning, and Himself were dragged off by evil spirits never to be seen again.

Both heroes and villains (“Excuse me!!”) devised plans. As the villains (“NOT!”) approached the heroes, they took formation.

Doctor Sille was once a villain who had became a hero. This world renowned biowarfare expert (and creator of the Mutalis virus which mutates creatures into zombie-like monsters) now provided the heroes with horse tranquilizers. The heroes used these to knocked out the villains (“WE were not the villains!”). However, in the battle, Doctor Sille lost an arm to gunfire. Fortunately, field medic Lieutenant Dan was on hand to repair the damage — and also to use his deadly aim to tranquilize nearly everyone, including at least one other hero.

The heroes now went all the way down to one villain (“That’s libel!”) that was still moving, but they shot him as well. The heroes then brought all the unconscious villains (“Stop it!”) to jail: Sylvia the Princess with a scarred face. She had been was betrayed so often that the darkness had consumed her and turned her villainous (“Hey!”). Janis had been trying to help the her friend the dark princess, but was tranquilized by a horse. Agatha had been a thief and a rebel all her life but now there was a bounty of her head for her villainous (“Well …”) crimes. Ace had been possessed by an villainous spirit (“Okay.”). Also on the ground was the assassin Edward Kenway, a hero and one of the main leaders of one of the sides, but he doesn’t always remember which.

An alien ranked number 112 (name unknown) landed there. People tried to kill, so it left. That is its side of this story.

Scoutbird slept through the LARP, spectating in his dreams.

It was a sunny day with a brisk wind. The adventurers gathered to discuss their options as they had been offered several possible missions for the day. Present at the gathering were Ace the Dragon-Phoenix-Human Hybrid, AG1O5 the Experimental Sentient Android, Zane the Field Medic, Link the Hero of Time, Clyde the Assassin I-Mean-Messenger, Jarg the Innkeeper, Scoutbird the Demigod, Bacon the Delicious, Mr. C and a Small but Very Brave Knight.

Ace’s dragon stomach growled. So did Ace. The rest of the merry band fled in fear, especially Bacon. Ace devoured dragon handfuls of innocent anchovies, procured from Jarg. Ace felt much better … and much calmer. But during the time he was eating, five of the adventurers had been assassinated. Clyde had nothing to do with it! Bacon knew who the assassin was, but he kept his own council. All five of the unfortunate were magically and stealthily revived by Zane, who had a pistol.

AG1O5 is capable of things a human cannot do. AG1O5 refers to anyone who is not a robot as “Squishy.” One  “Squishy,” aka Link, was acting erratically. Something appeared to be wrong with his programming, so AG1O5 opened fire. It was the logical response. Link responded with time warping speed, so fast he was almost hit by the gun not the bullet. AG1O5 backed up. He reran the diagnostics. Link’s programming appeared to be reset.

Ace was captured. He remembers nothing of that time.

Then the zombie apocalypse happened. It lasted 3 minutes. Bacon declared, “Instead of zombies eating me, I eat them.” That sums it up.

Scoutbird, in the form of an abnormally large bluejay, will carry messages and do reconnaissance work in exchange for shiny things and crackers. To summon him, say, “Scoutbird, I need you, so get over here.” Scoutbird found a stash of rupees. He was happy.

Without warning, out of the local tavern, a turtle tank burst forth and attacked everyone. The turtle tank was a fearsome two-headed monster that breathed fire and nerf bullets. It had four arms and swung its sword with deadly accuracy. In spite of its power and size, it was outnumbered by brave warriors and was thus quickly defeated. It limped away to tend its wounds and plot revenge.

The adventures decided to get their skill up in case the monster returned and engaged in a friendly game of capture the flag to hone their combat and stealth skills.

The wind wailed while the sun fought clouds for its share of the sky. Ace braced himself against the cold breeze and turned to the Demolition Expert. They had been distracted by their tests of their new winter weaponry, but Ace knew that too much time had passed. “Where could the others be,” he asked his trusted companion.

The Expert stomped his feet for warmth and gazed out over the frozen plain. “There!” he cried, sweeping his arm up and pointing to the top of the distant hill. Two figures struggled in the deep snow, making their way towards the frozen encampment. Four more appeared on the other side of the hill. A lone figure followed them. Soon, they were all gathered in the swirling snow.

“We’ve got to get to the North Pole,” exclaimed a bundled warrior. “There’s a laboratory there that we’ve got to reach before sunfall or the world may not survive the night!”

The team quickly assembled their travel gear and set out towards the North Pole, but were confused by evil magic which turned them southwards. After trekking for leagues, they found themselves not at the North Pole, but at the South Pole. Confused and dismayed, they stumbled into a frozen dungeon. While searching for the way out, they were suddenly beset by zombie penguins! Weapons were drawn, blood was spilled, and the warriors vanquished the dreadful flightless beasts.

Wearied from their efforts, they tumbled into a local tavern. Demanding hot cocoa and board games, they immersed themselves in strategy. Feeling refreshed, half the band set out again, only to be stopped by a bombardment of snowballs! Was it the zombie penguins? No. They had been attacked from within by a small but brave knight! Exhausted and bewildered they returned to the inn only to learn that the dreaded North Pole Laboratory had never even existed. It had all been a giant ruse!

Two young warriors stumbled through the biting wind seeking their lost companions. The wind tried to tear them from the bridge, but they clung on for dear life. Find the island deserted and forlorn, they fought their way back over the bridge and into the forest. The paused at the forest lookout for some sparring practice, and then continued on to the shelter of the Dire Garden where they worked on snow runes and battle plans until they heard the shouts of their lost companions. Overjoyed that they were not popsicles, they ran down to the great lawn and then led the expedition back to the Dire Garden to test the snowball launcher of doom. It did not work, unless your enemy happened to be very lightweight and within 3 feet of you. Undiscouraged, the group trooped down the local inn for hot beverages and a new type of battle: table top games. 

Nine. There were nine of them and that perhaps is where the trouble started. The vampires took control of half of the mystical isle. The other inhabitants, both old and new, maintained a shaky hold on the other half. There were intense negotiations regarding the Rules of Warfare and in the heat of the battle, the honorable warriors followed them all.

Then the vampires called for a council, and all nine attended. Before they could begin negotiations, the bloodshed started. It was a slaughter. All the vampires were destroyed within minutes. “We tore right through them,” a weary victor said, “It was kind of scary.”

Ace showed the Red Knight a very nice seat made by elves in a tree. All looked peaceful, but it was deceiving for the defeat of the vampires was not the end of the danger, for the vampires had allies. Allies who mounted an attack against the island’s defenders. Again there were nine. Again the defenders defeated their foes.

But those foes had allies of their own and again the defenders faced danger in battle. Each side had a champion with a dauntingly large sword. The champions began to duel. The ferocity of their attacks was terrifying, but the battle lasted less a minute and then both champions lay dead. Soon all the warriors on both sides were utterly destroyed. Of the nine, not one remained standing on the battlefield.

All sense of cohesion, of group loyalty, of friendship evaporated. It was of a war of all against all. Everyone was attacking everyone, even themselves. A brave warrior shot himself with his own weapon and then lay dead upon the field. His friends wailed and mourned but battled on.

Soon all was lost, all was hopeless, there was no remaining option but to go home and tend to one’s own wounds.

Ace and his two companions awoke to discover that they had crashed landed onto a mystical island. They quickly discovered that their ship was destroyed, and they were stranded. They also discovered that the island’s inhabitants, the Multitude, were trying to protect a tree that guarded a treasure. Of course, they decided to obtain the treasure for themselves. They attacked and soon drove back the tree’s guardians but then discovered that the treasure within was useless to anyone but the Multitude. They were horrified to also realize they had seriously damaged the Guardian Tree, but Ace had a potion that he used to repair the damage.

Soon they found themselves engaged in a massive battle to determine who would rule the island. Ace and his compatriot soon claimed control, but before they could settle in to their new roles as rulers, they were attacked and defeated. The new ruler took control of the island and called herself the Queen of Hearts. She ordered her minions to execute everyone who had opposed her.

The executed rebels soon reanimated as zombies, but they were quickly defeated. After that, all the rebels who had not yet been executed escaped from jail and were chased by some knights.

Suddenly, there was a shout from the Mothers of the Realm and the brave adventures found themselves torn asunder and transported away from the mystical isle and forced to study under the tutelage of the Great Mothers.

It was a sunny day in the village outside the Fields of Fatality. The dragon-phoenix-human cross Ace was enjoying a meal with his good friend the Shapeshifter when they were approached by the proprietor Mincarnom offering to sell dragon treats and magic potions.

Mincarnom reported that he had overheard from Mr. Normal that Balrog the Demon was possessing people to add to his demon army, but Mincarnom had a cure that only a shapeshifter could wield. Also, the cure was a bit nasty, as you first had to kill the possessed person and then reanimate them, demon-free, using the magic potion.

Staff Sergeant Aiden, always interested in a battle opportunity, walked over with the Paladin to see if their services would be needed. Of course, they were.

The group of adventures recruited Mr. Normal for his extensive information on demonic activity in the area and set out towards the Soaring Summit. They had not gone far before they were joined by Lydia the Dark Elf and master of the art of being dragon borne and  Janis the explorer archeologist. They were followed by Lam the documentarian.

Unfortunately, distracted by his filmmaking, Lam was quickly possessed by the demon. Every weapon had the reverse effect on him. He drank his own poison, and it healed him. Fortunately, the demon grew annoyed and perhaps bored by the relentless attempts to drive him forth and de-possessed Lam in order find a more reliable host. Lam then immediately collapsed from the poison. Thankfully he was healed by Mincarnom who reversed the polarity on his weapon and set it to poison gas and shot him with it.

Ace and Staff Sergeant Aiden decided to patrol the village perimeter to ensure it was secure. They set out to do so, but were soon missed by the Shapeshifter and Paladin, who set out in search of them. When the four of them returned, the discovered that Mincarnom had found a space ship and was going to lead an expedition to find valuable resources on alien worlds.

They arrived on an alien world and headed down a path to try to find some resources worth selling. They were disappointed, so they returned to their ship and headed back to Central Terra.

When they returned, they learned that the Confederacy of Dragons was attacking the village. The Confederacy meets once a year and all dragon rivalries are set aside so that the dragons may band together against their common foes, which turned out to be the merry band of adventures, for no particular reason but that they were not pure-blood dragons. A double-headed dragon with a remarkably long spiky and poisonous tongue descended upon them, nearly wiping out the entire band. Staff Sergeant Aiden was able to cut off the dangerous tongue but he died moments later. The dragons then left believing that all were defeated.

Then Ace regenerated and grabbed the healing potions and revived most everyone else. Lam and Staff Sergeant Aiden remained dead or so it seemed. Sadly, it turns out they were actually petrified zombies, and the entire band was zombified while trying to revive them.

The group of zombie shuffled off to find brains.