Alfarell

A 70-post collection

Challenge #03915-J263: Two Kind Hands

They HATED the damn teufs with a passion!

They were shocked when they awakened in a medic tent, bandaged heavily after thinking they had died during that rock-fall, surrounded by teuf medics who'd worked hard to save them and their entire band from dying of the injuries.

Note -- Yes I know that's a derogatory term used by those who hate hellkin. It's how the person views the individuals, sadly. -- Fighting Fit

They should be dead. The avalanche had crashed down on them and that hefty, bruising end should have been the last of it. Emryn didn't expect to wake up at all, and if they did, they expected a lot more pain than this. They expected rocks under their back and at least a Kobold gnawing on a limb.

There was a bed. Soft and comfortable and scented with herbs. Sheets that smelled of sunshine. A curtain between them and the rest of the world. A simple ceiling. The smell of healing balm and the itch of splints and bandages.

Alive. Aching and mildly uncomfortable, but a vast improvement on expectations.

Emryn tried to give voice to a prayer of thanks, and found the ability lacking. Their voice was weak and breathing deeply was painful. They fell to panting and gasping. Still better than a death by crushing and suffocation.

That's what they were wont to believe until they saw what had rescued them.

The Cleric wore the sunrise symbol of the Dawn Lord, but that was not Emryn focussed on. What gained Emryn's attention were the horns on their head, the ruddy hue of their skin, and the claws on their hand. A Hellkin! Corrupting a Cleric's sanctified robes.

"Fucking teuf," Emryn spat, and coughed so hard their ribs. "Get away from me! Don't you dare get your corruption on me!"

"My the lightbringer forgive you," said the devilborn. "I take it you have an objection to people of colour."

"I have an object--" cough cough gasp. "An objection... to filthy Hellkin stealing... air from decent people."

"I see," said the fiend. "I will find someone you will be amenable to."

Thank the gods that beast left. Emryn could relax. They could sleep. The next figure over their bed was a half-Elf with a frown on their nearly-perfect features.

"You're an idiot," said the halfbred.

"And you're a mutt," said Emryn. "At least you're miles better than the damn dirty teuf."

"Say that word again and lose an eye," threatened the mutt.

"What?"

"You're in a village full of Hellkin, dipshit. They busted their tails digging you all out of that pass and spent half of everything they had just to keep you alive. I can't heal a fucking mosquito bite, but you'd rather get treatment from me than the best healer in the entire valley."

"Devilborn only want to kill. They're not..." cough cough, "...gonna eat my blood."

The halfbred said the most insulting words that Emryn had ever heard, "They would never want your blood. Not so much as one drop."

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Challenge #03909-J257: Found Family Speedrun

Five youngsters are found by a massive dragon when they wander into the dragon's cave searching for food. They are adopted by the dragon, for they no family save for each other, and people learn what happens when you deliberately abuse a dragon's family. -- Anon Guest

"But it smelled like baking," said a small voice, echoing in Hardscale's lair.

"It smelled like heat," corrected a second voice. "And farts. I told you it wasn't real cooking."

A third little voice sighed.

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Challenge #03905-J253: How to Not Die

There’s no such thing as an immortal body, but immortal spirits exist. Those who carry on the lessons and history of the past from one generation to the next can be considered immortal. Immortality isn’t out running death; it’s outlasting it. -- Anon Guest

[AN: Link leads to Overly Sarcastic Productions' take on the Epic of Gilgamesh. I can recommend]

What is death, the philosophers asked, when you get down to it? The true and absolute elimination of a

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Challenge #03899-J247: A Killer of Character

"Why are you here drinking and crying?"

"I had to take up a blade and kill."

"Why did you have to kill?"

My entire family was in danger."

"So why are you crying?"

"Because killing hurts." -- Anon Guest

"I looked into their eyes," said the killer. "I had tried every other method to stop them, but they refused to be swayed. So I had to stop them with a blade."

"You got to know them," said the barmaid. "Many who come

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Challenge #03894-J242: Visibly Strange

An elf ended up with a health problem that, after they recovered, made them unable to grow back their hair. It was intensely rare, but not completely unheard of. People remind their children not to stare, it's rude. And the kind elf doesn't deserve people to be rude. -- DaniAndShali

The common name was Nahripox, and it doesn't kill. People therefore believe that it is harmless. What it can do, especially to Elves, is scar. Some lose the whole or part of

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Challenge #03891-J239: Your Threats Are Empty

I'm a coward, and I am well aware of this fact. Many things terrify me. But, you have made a grave error. One thing I am not afraid of is death. -- Anon Guest

"Unlock it or die," said the brigand, knife at Mort's throat.

"Kill me. You won't be able to unlock it even when I'm dead," said Mort. The Hellkin courier seemed cooler than ice under the threat of death. "The only way to open it is when it arrives

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Challenge #03890-J238: Between a Rock and...

A human child hidden in a small cubby made of stone throws fireballs at the powerful wizard and hir friends. The child is calmed, the ones there are not the hunters. When they come out, everyone sees what they're protecting. Skinny, frightened, other children, some wearing chains, who've been on the run far too long. -- Anon Guest

It looked like a small crack between the stones of the pass, with just enough room nearby for a band of travellers to stop

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Challenge #03888-J236: Actionable Correction

"I noticed there was a lot of loud noises coming from your family's quarters."

"Oh, yeah. I yelled at the kids a bit."

"You shouldn't yell at your children."

"And my children shouldn't roughhouse in the kitchen while I'm using sharp things to prepare ingredients next to an open flame. We're all working on it."

"...ah. I see." -- Anon Guest

It's not merely yelling at children. It's how or when one chooses to raise one's voice. One who yells in fear

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Challenge #03887-J235: Kind Hands of Faith

In the center of the town, a huge Temple of Helping Hands. An Academy of Magic is within the town, and children are brought to the temple starting at the age of 5 for baptism and to learn the ways of the Helping Hands. And who is it this entire rare town worships? The living god known as Wraithvine. His words are their codes of life itself. -- Anon Guest

These are the commandments of Wraithvine the Wanderer, so that we may

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Challenge #03886-J234: A Joke Too Far

An adorable little fae-dragon is quite the trickster. Imagine how much fun it is to drop glowing little rainbow scales down the back of people's shirts and be able to flit away and giggle. -- Anon Guest

Nanogh, otherwise known as the Plane of Magic, is home to many strange creatures. Sometimes, it takes things literally. Like dragonflies. Or rather, Fly-Dragons. In the primary mortal plane, intelligent Dragonkind gets no smaller than Kobolds. The smallest of Dragonkind in the mortal plane is

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Challenge #03885-J233: Forewarned is...

The person had the power to predict the future. Sadly, it usually only worked when it was predicting disasters. Yet, each time they warned a village, or city, or kingdom of it, they were usually laughed at and told to go away. Only to be blamed when the disaster struck. Why won't people listen? It always broke their heart. -- Anon Guest

Cassandra Syndrome: The condition of exact prognostication, with the inherent curse of not being believed about it. -- The Multiversal

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Challenge #03883-J231: Not Available in This Location

The difference between cultures aren't just the things they show off, but the things they assume everyone has, and are baffled that to discover that you don't. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5A3gR6f9TM -- Anon Guest

[AN: Offensensitivity warning for swears in the video]

They had been in the service of a devilborn lord for two months, and things had settled down somewhat. There was a routine to the days, and Venn had ceased being so nervous about being so close

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Challenge #03879-J227: Ill Met by Stormlight

They met with a family at the inn. The children were coughing with colds, and the parents were tired, trying to get their children to nap. -- Anon Guest

Hellkin deal with the animosity they face in several ways. The most eloquent way of putting it was oft repeated between the elder and the younger ones.

"There's two ways to go when the world hates you for being alive. You either be worse than what they say you are, or try yourself

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Challenge #03878-J226: Battlefield Truce

"Grit your teeth and bear it."

The wounded individual screamed out in pain as heated alcohol, not hot enough to burn the flesh but very uncomfortable, poured over the wound.

"I won't let you die. I know you feel like you want to die right now, and I know we're enemies, but you're hurt, and you saved those innocent civilians. We soldiers fight, but sometimes, compassion is more important than this damn war." -- Anon Guest

There is no glory in war.

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Challenge #03871-J219: Learned the Wrong Lesson

A strange malady strikes a village, everyone under the age of 12 starts dancing every single night from midnight until 1 in the morning, unable to stop until they collapse. Even infants moving in the rhythm. They need help, soon! -- Anon Guest

They tell cautionary tales about a little hamlet in the middle of nowhere. The piper rid the place of rats and, when they refused to pay, rid the place of their children. The lesson should be, "pay those who

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