Alfarell

A 404-post collection

Challenge #04964-M215: Her New Pet

I love your monster -- Luna

[AN: This accidentally got me thinking of the followup to Purchased Loyalty ]

Alle devoted herself to learning everything she could about animal care. How to feed, train, and care for a Hellkin. Or a Human, which Hellkin came from.

Wars were still raging between Elvenkind and many others about how Hellkin came to exist. Amongst other nonsensical objections.

Some of the books were contradictory, so Alle chose the kinder options and blended them with her babysitting experiences. This was, after all, a baby monster. All babies needed gentler care than the growing ones.

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Challenge #04963-M214: Purchased Loyalty

My life for yours -- Luna

Beware walking alone in the wild places, the elders warned. And if you must go, give no food nor drink to any creature that finds you there.

Alle presumed it was a caution against bears and wolves. If they viewed someone as a source of food, they might view that someone as food. It was better that the wild things of the wild places feared those who walked upright, and may have blades in their favour.

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Challenge #04959-M210: Made With Feeling

“I was taught that what you approach your work with, it will be infused by. Food made with love, clothing woven with care.

“I think I may have too much fury in me to make what is good for others, for all I care for them.” -- Weirdlet

Rage. Wrath. Fury. There is not much time between when I wake and when I encounter something to be mad about. Not that I'm looking for it, it just... happens that way.

News from

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Challenge #04958-M209: A Grab at Destiny

Eons after the Kingdom fell into ruins, a lost and bastard line scion feels called to return. What will this lost branch of a dead family find in city which became the overgrown crypt of the line? -- Deathshead419

This was where hir dreams lead hir? A set of ruins almost overwhelmed with the invading wilderness. Empty windows or doors peeked out between trees or had trailing vines in the place of ancient curtains. Some streets were throttled with weeds. Some buildings

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Challenge #04953-M204: See Him Face

They say that black cats crossing your path is bad luck. However, black cats mean no rats, and that's good luck for the farmer. -- BKF

Maaten Baurbrand knew there was something out there in the night. She couldn't see it, couldn't hear it, couldn't even smell it, but she knew it was there.

Every time she went out in the dark to be sure the cow shed was shut, there was the sense that something else was out there with her.

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Challenge #04951-M202: The Only End

The saint encounters the creature-held body of the deceased prince, and thus begins the battle to stop it, and return the prince's remains to his family.

https://peakd.com/fiction/@internutter/challenge-04943-m194-something-wicked -- BKF

Ganlen was able to pass easily through the crowds and city traffic as a hound,and thanked his gods that he had listened. His usual means of travel - a local bird - was being hunted by teens with slings. If he'd flown, he might have met impediment

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Challenge #04949-M200: Battle in the Bedroom

A small child has an imaginary friend, a favourite stuffed toy, and a puppy. The three do not get along — the puppy has tried to eat the toy many times, the toy endlessly needles the imaginary friend for not being real, and the imaginary friend has learned a piercing whistle to annoy the puppy. But now they must put aside their differences and work together… to defeat the monster that lives in their child’s closet. -- Tergon

Everyone who knows about

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Challenge #04948-M199: Last Days of a Saint

A dying elderly woman's final wish. She had spent her entire life helping others. And while that life had made her very happy, a tiny little piece of her wishes she could be spoiled a little and treated like a queen. Just for one day, though. -- BKF

A Saint for Wraithvine had reached the point where she was no help to anyone. A lifetime of charitable action had worn her near to a whisper, but she was happy.

"It is our

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Challenge #04947-M198: A Most Useful Weed

An alchemist has been brewing a potion for three months, and after taking meticulous care, it’s finally ready for the final step: the addition of a locally grown, fresh-picked herb.

Unfortunately, a combination of overzealous weeding by locals and imperfect weather means that the usual crop is not available.

The alchemist now has forty-eight hours to find the missing ingredient, and is becoming increasingly unhinged. -- Tergon

Months of steeping, fermenting, careful additions of each ingredient according to the instructions. The

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Challenge #04945-M196: The True Impediment

A hellkin runs a special school for those who are disabled, helping them learn how to overcome the prejudices and misconceptions people have of those who are not considered "normal". None of those there are treated as lesser, but instead, shown just how strong they can be. -- BKF

There were two entrances to the place, depending on what kind of parent wanted their child there. One side was bright, open, colourful and soft. The other side was stark, dark, and oppressive.

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Challenge #04943-M194: Something Wicked

The royal family are faced with a terrible burden. The boy that was their son has long since died. What was within the body was pure evil. Now came the most painful part. Casting out the evil, though it would mean having to bury their son. For the sake of many lives, there was no other course.

https://peakd.com/fiction/@internutter/challenge-04898-m149-what-rude-beast -- BKF

The thing that inhabited Prince Crevith's body drove it relentlessly Eastward. To what goal, it did not

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Challenge #04941-M192: Slow, Slow Progress

A person who studies plants, but is not a druid, just a normal human, works with her elven husband to develop Harukh'ai crop plants that grow more quickly, grow larger, and are more nutritious. Others may sneer, but they truly believe the way to world peace, is by making sure no one goes hungry. -- BKF

[AN: Possibly in relation to Had a Bad Day ]

Hard-root in its natural form is a slow-growing tuber that, like most things that grow in the

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Challenge #04940-M191: Give Your All

They were poor, but at time of offering at the temple, they gave their very last coin with a wish. Not for wealth for themselves, but, of all things, for the children of the local lord who was not unkind, would survive their illnesses. And the poor who gave their very last? The gods always know. -- BKF

See a copper, pick it up, and all the day you'll have good luck. So the saying goes. The truth of the luck of

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Challenge #04939-M190: Justice in the Snowfall

A child’s tradition- the shadow dance, to summon and welcome Kinderfreund and Helpmeet -- Weirdlet

Kid culture is a heck of a thing. Nobody knows who invented the floor being lava. There's no recorded instance of step on a crack. Nobody knows who first determined how to use a dandelion clock.

Nobody knows who created the Shadow Dance.

Just like nobody knows who thought of leaving out offerings for Greatfather Langeven and the unicorn that draws his sled. All around Alfarell,

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Challenge #04935-M186: Legal Rites

Invited to a dwarven wedding, and you’re not sure if this is a joining ceremony or a courtroom proceeding. Either way, you hope you brought the right gift. -- Weirdlet

The ceremony was in a beautiful cavern, where stalactites and stalagmites were decorated with glowing crystals and fungi. The surface world had its traditions. Flowers. Manner of dress. Vows. On the surface, the marrying partners met each other in the middle and there were portents regarding how quickly they did it.

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