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Challenge #04866-M117: Dredging Up Blessings

Eons ago, a temple with ten divine statues sank into the sea and then were pulled into the mantle of the planet itself. Now they have come to life, trapped below the crust of the world. Only Nalani and Vykoria can plunge down a lava plume and guide these divines into the light, though a path no human has ever walked will be treacherous and full of dangers unknown to mankind.

Sequel to: https://peakd.com/fiction/@internutter/challenge-04849-m100-stolen-mercy -- Deathshead419

Vykoria was resigned to her new god-name. She couldn't keep insisting at people and remain sane at the same time. She had even become resigned to gaining her godly assignments in strange and unusual ways.

This one was a vision while she was in the middle of growing her worshipper's crops. In one moment, she was unfurling leaves to the sun, in the next, she was watching a temple sink into the ground and then into an immense pocket of lava. In that boiling sea of rock, the ten statues within the temple were crying out for a rescue. She got the impression that the temple had sunk a long time ago, and it was only now that the gods in question were able to reach her.

She came back to the same moment that the vision whisked her away from. Nice to know that these things didn't interrupt her work, but they could have warned her. Nevertheless, she had an urgent plea for help. Vykoria eased her powers away from the field, only explaining, "I am summoned elsewhere."

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Challenge #04865-M116: End an Angry God

An ancient inscription upon a Stele has brought Wraithvine to another monument upon the shores of a primordial lake. Here ze finds an aged icon of a long forgotten god and the pronouncement upon his pedestal which has waited all this time… -- Deathshead419

Wraithvine should have become used to finding quests in museums. People left messages for hir to unriddle long-term problems, or seers put things in hir way. Ze could never tell. Either way, they were very good at leading

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Challenge #04864-M115: Always Welcome

Dex was taking a vacation from the palace with his family. Unfortunately, it becomes quite stormy. But, fortunately, his parents' place wasn't far, and it'd been quite a while since they'd visited the farm. -- Anon Guest

They had been on their way to Waelrin's capital and castle when the threatening storm started to beat their carriage around. The good news, for King Kormwind Arachis Felbourne Whitekeep, tenth of his name (Dex to his friends), was that they were close to Dromlynne.

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Challenge #04863 -M114: Love of Perfection

A skilled Sculptor has created a beauteous statue of a woman. It is so beauteous that the sculptor has fallen in love with her. And so the Sculptor implores the Gods to bring her to life so that she might become the Sculptor’s wife. Boons from the Gods always come with a price, especially ones reflecting love. And it may be that the Beauteous woman will wish to sculpt the Sculptor into her vision of an ideally aesthetic form… -- Deathshead419

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Challenge #04862-M113: Fearsome Hero Hunvug

In a Tavern on the outskirts of Pildile, four men gather around a table for drinking, dicing, and a night away from the troubles of the world. Only, all four saw a hero’s exploits first hand, yet, none of them have the same story of what really unfolded… -- Deathshead419

Three beers in, Vaelin muttered, "Bloody heroes..." He took another swig before taking his turn at the dice.

"Aye," rumbled Goran. "Breaking in where they don't barge in, sticking their noses

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Challenge #04861-M112: The Path to Fates

Deep in the vales of the Winderwrung Crags, legends speak of a beautiful figure whose serenade echoes across the range. Some say this singer leads climbers to their doom, others speak of surviving blizzards by that heavenly voice. One has at last set out to see if the legends hold any truth or are only traveler’s tales… -- Deathshead419

The valley is plentiful, and those who live there know well why every building stands on stilts or pillars. Even the horses

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Challenge #04860-M111: A Little Mercy

At the end of the siege of Kaldorn, when the walls fell, young Jrodha Nosin sought shelter from the invading armies. Jrodha found it in the temple of one of the city’s most prominent gods. Yet while the rage of the invaders faded with Jrodha safely behind the barricade, safety always comes at a price… -- Deathshead419

When the world ended, a child ran for the shelter of Boreas' temple. Her name, when she entered the stone structure, was Jrodha Nosin.

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Challenge #04859-M110: The Haunting of Stelgi Manor

Countess Vermyr Stelgi has inherited a substantial tract of land after the death of a distant cousin who had no other heirs. She moves quickly to spruce up the palace, hoping to make it into a summer home owing to the northerly quiet. That involves properly disposing of the departed cousin’s eclectic (some might say ghastly) collection, though some things in that palace might not appreciate being removed… -- Deathshead419

Like most buildings that had been in a family for generations,

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Challenge #04858-M109: Hated Unreasonably on Sight

Life's most valuable lessons often come from the strangest places. -- Prompty.

Viscount Kormwind Arachis Felbourne Whitekeep, ninth of his name (aged seven), had been kept busy learning all the things a young Viscount needed to know. Dressage, Dancing, Diplomacy, Archery, Arts, Economics, it went on and on. He was allowed some hours free to spend in his own pursuits. Which, until he needed to replace some art supplies, Kormwind he had spent in the Dojo's library.

He carried his papers, of

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Challenge #04857-M108: Domesticity

Leave that for somebody else to do. They came, they saw and they left it. -- Prompty.

Some warlords operate on Veni, vedi, vici. The Harukh'ai approached the Elven settlements with, Veni, vidi, ruinam reliqui in mind. At least, they did when the Ormani got around to writing epic poems and studies around it. Several centuries after the the conflicts settled down into hardy perennial territory disputes.

The Harukh'ai had a reason. Taslanae had to wonder why Yinmanou approached the kitchen with

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Challenge #04856-M107: Second Chance for Stuff

Tip Shops. Everything from from over-ordered new clothing, 2nd hand furniture, building material and odds and ends. "One person's rubbish is another's treasure." -- Prompty.

Places like this had a Smell. Somewhere between dust, old makeup, and the Stygian depths of an Escherian book emporium. Regardless of whether the items for sale were new or recovered in one way or another, they all had the scent of too much time.

Maebe thought of it as the smell of second-hand dust. It made

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Challenge #04855-M106: Learning Experience

Trying to get a group moving in the right direction. Pick one of these. Schoolchildren on a trip. Visitors to a 3 hour specialist sale event. Agreeing to go anywhere. -- Prompty

"Stop, look, and lis-ten," chanted Educator Dees, primary teacher for the newly literate and numerate class.

There were five kids to each educator, not that that did anything to prevent the inherent chaos of fifty children on the field trip. Some were talking animatedly at each other, some were play-wrestling,

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Challenge #04854-M105: Call of the Favour

1: "You are aware, of course, that where you are going is more than far beyond us?"/ 2: "Yes. There's no horse that will be able to make the journey." 1: "Then how do you plan to get there?"/ 2: "We'll need something more than a simple horse." 1: "What do 'we' have in mind?" -- Anon Guest

"It's ten thousand leagues, and we have to get there in a handful of days. We don't have horses for all of us. We

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Challenge #04853-M104: No Need to Fret

Let me tell you of a bard I once heard sing. The voice had a strength and depth that no magic in the world could recreate. I felt the desire to steal them away and keep them for myself, but I knew the world needed them more. And so I became their patron.

https://peakd.com/flashfiction/@internutter/challenge-04840-m091-fey-touched -- Anon Guest

Legends tell of a Bard who can charm savage beasts with the sound of hir voice. One who can make

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Challenge #04852-M103: Queen's Gambit

For 60 long years Queen Essarea has held her kingdom together through sheer force of will. But at long last her strength is flagging, old clans once subdued are preparing to open old feuds for power, and her heirs lack the careful combination of ruthlessness, charisma, and measured kindness which Essarea employed during her time on the throne. What will become of six decades of relative peace once her eyes close for the final time…? -- Deathshead419

It's not unprecedented, but there's

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