Instant Story

Challenge #04619-L235: Spot of Rest

Wraithvine was meditating when a human child snuggled up near the ancient elf to nap. The parents was a little embarrassed, but as the elf's meditations didn't seem to be effected, quietly went along with setting up their encampment nearby, and when Wraithvine and hir friends were awake, were offered a meal and a ride to their next destination in the carriage, for thanks for letting the family settle here for the evening. -- Anon Guest

There's formal rest stops on long roads, and then there's informal ones. Formal ones are: inns, roadhouses, riverhouses, and the occasional hostel. Of the informal ones, they can range from semi-organised campgrounds and caches, to clearings large enough for a couple of wagons and a campfire.

In this one, the fire was already burning inside a circle of stones, and the only occupant was an Elf meditating under a rudimentary shelter. One inch above the cushioned mat that was hir landing pad for when the meditation was done.

Ari was glad of the fire. It made it easier to get a quick dinner going for her toddler, Gree. Who, once told to stay in sight of Mama, immediately clambered into the Elf's lap. Where they curled up in that small space and began sucking their thumb as a prelude to going to sleep. Small mercies, considering the whining and activity periods on the way there.

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Challenge #04618-L234: Low Down by the River

Lord Brickhead was, INDEED, the job that needed to be done sooner than expected. Their decisions lead to a disaster. A disaster the Army of Mercy were more than capable of helping alleviate. Brickhead, pantaloons a'mess at seeing what they caused, turned over a new leaf. The place they ruled now offered freely as a home base for a segment of the Army. No lives were lost, the lord of the land learned a harsh, but fair, lesson, and the future was

Challenge #04617-L233: Salvaged From Doom

They helped the being as they mourned. Helped find the last of the deceased, gave a gentle burial. Then, with magic, a ton of precautions in both spell and item, began to help clean up the "burning, glowing rock" that gave off such toxin, and help clean the land. Life would come back here one day. But right now, healing one so badly hurt, and helping this place heal from those ancient evils, was the priority.

https://peakd.com/fiction/@internutter/challenge-04437-l053-the-buildings-left-intact

Challenge #04616-L232: Disaster Relief

It was the summer harvest on a massive planet. The human colony was very small, but they had several Gyiik friends who were more than happy to help. After all, while some can be left to go to seed for the next year, it's all but a crime to let all that abundant good food go to waste. -- Anon Guest

What to do when the farm machines that had made everything easier were out of commission thanks to a rogue solar

Challenge #04615-L231: No Expectation of Reward

You are an elf, why should you help us?

"It has been a millennia, and you still believe the war rages?"

After what WE suffered? Our people have kept hidden here since our ancestors came to flee your chains!

"I was not one who chained you, ones like me let you free."

You're going to have to prove it.

"I think my friend and I can help. Please, it's time to let the hate finally end and come back into the light.

Challenge #04614-L230: Recovering Lost Information

The Machine was defeated. The all-seeing eyes, gone. The mouths now open, all of them, but silent. Prisoners, slaves released. The dying, saved. The Oppressors, stopped. Their children? Taught a new path. The Faith in the Machine, now Faith in the Future.

https://peakd.com/fiction/@internutter/challenge-04594-l210-general-ludd-returns -- The New Guy

The Machine provided everything. That was what they knew. It provided food, shelter, work... and a swift death. The mouths of The Machine no longer ate them. It no longer

Challenge #04613-L229: Adequate Warning is Insufficient

Some doors should remain closed. Woe befalls those who do not heed that wisdom. -- Deathshead419

There was a dread portal. It was large, and a very strange shape. Around its frame were images of skulls and bones. Depictions of disease. Predators with snarling mouths and bared fangs. Horrible monsters poised to attack. There was a bar across the door of immensely heavy granite. It was chained into place with D'varuv eternal steel. There was also a massive stele, also of solid

Challenge #04612-L228: Save Other Souls

A being villagers are calling a lich is stalking the deserts where the weave between worlds wears thin. Yet it is more like a living ceramic doll, the bones baked inside the clay. It withers crops, summons alien horrors, and steals the souls of the old, the sick, and children during the long nights leaving them comatose.

Wraithvine finds hirself frustrated trying to deal with this bizarre threat, but a gruff mercenary wielding a cursed sword who was tracking the lich may

Challenge #04611-L227: Carcinisation Supremis

Geologists have discovered that old continents are not dissolved, but sink down to near the center of the earth. And now a dead continent is rising back to the surface, sending up alarming signals, as though something trapped for a billion years is stirring. -- Deathshead419

[AN: The mixture of science and unadulterated bullhockey in this prompt is going to be fun to balance]

Geology doesn't usually happen quickly. Sure, there's volcanic events, but those are, in geological terms, freak occurrences. Continental

Challenge #04610-L226: Irredeemable Security Measures

A pair of down on their luck ne’er-do-wells try to rob a bank during a blackout, hoping the cash will set them up until the good lady of fortune smiles upon them. Neither expected to find a monster in the vault, and, well, you can’t really call the police for help in the middle of a heist, now can you? Oh dear… -- Deathshead419

They'd been in the bank late to try begging the manager for leniency on their loan

Challenge #04609-L225: Unattended Children Will Be Stolen By Adventurers

How did young Oakroot fall in with a bunch of Heroes? It goes back to an uncaring family that blamed him for everything, and anything, that ever went wrong, a child who internalized self blame, and self shame, and a kind fighter who picked them up out of the midden, where the child was tossed when money grew scarce.

https://peakd.com/fiction/@internutter/challenge-04586-l202-unexpected-hero -- Anon Guest

It had been a long and bloody exhausting journey just getting through these woods.

Challenge #04608-L224: There's a Song About Smiling For Them

Galactics learn about some of the large predators that still live on earth. Including enormous reptiles like the Nile Crocodiles. Which are not only known to eat humans, if they can catch one, but are among the largest reptilian predators on the planet next to some snakes. -- The New Guy

The Alliance Guide to Galactic Wildlife has this entry on Terran reptiles: Most of them are venomous, poisonous, or otherwise dangerous. Do not approach unsupervised. Not even if their owner has

Challenge #04607-L223: Ultimatum Solution

All Wise and Glorious King Nydon has a problem. His daughter was (allegedly, cough, cough) turned into a goose, and while a magician duo has restored her form, the poor girl still has a bird brain. The magic twins tell the king only a quest with the one who found the goose-girl can restore her memories, the irritated pair being tasked with taking her to Wraithvine (who’ll get a few choice words in private).

Sequel to this: https://peakd.com/fiction/

Challenge #04606-L222: Nonviolent Defeat

"You WILL tell us how to undo this ship's lock-outs!" / 5...

"You know we'll find your crewmates before too long an FORCE them to tell us if you don't!" / 4...

"Playing ignorant Human??" / 3...

"What... why are you counting down like that?" / 2...

Good night.

(Immense amounts of gasses flood the system, no one, pirate or human, is left awake.) -- Anon Guest

[AN: This prompt was edited for better brevity shorter prompts are better for me]

There's an ancient -and very

Challenge #04605-L221: Murder by the Seaside

A seaside town is plagued by crows. Dark birds nesting in the roofs by the hundreds, cawing at all hours of the night, and ominously following the residents. They call Wraithvine {who might bring someone along if ze feels like it} to save them. For surely this is an omen of impending doom. --Deathhead419

Murder was afoot in Shorevale. It was also a-wing, nesting, and being a general pest, because crows had decided to infest the entire little fishing village. They

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Flash fiction fresh from my fingers to your mind!

Challenge #04619-L235: Spot of Rest

Challenge #04618-L234: Low Down by the River

Challenge #04617-L233: Salvaged From Doom

Challenge #04616-L232: Disaster Relief

Challenge #04615-L231: No Expectation of Reward

Challenge #04614-L230: Recovering Lost Information

Challenge #04613-L229: Adequate Warning is Insufficient

Challenge #04612-L228: Save Other Souls

Challenge #04611-L227: Carcinisation Supremis

Challenge #04610-L226: Irredeemable Security Measures

Challenge #04609-L225: Unattended Children Will Be Stolen By Adventurers

Challenge #04608-L224: There's a Song About Smiling For Them

Challenge #04607-L223: Ultimatum Solution

Challenge #04606-L222: Nonviolent Defeat

Challenge #04605-L221: Murder by the Seaside