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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 music to forge peace using the weapons of soldiers and archers. And one who, for reasons known only to that Bard, sought out a Faerie ring.

Hir name was Haness, and in the times when Faekindred in the mortal realm kept some Humans captive, ze was not merely a Bard.

Haness had made a deal with a Faerie, and thus was also a Warlock. The first known to do so. Haness was fortunate that ze had won the favour of a Seelie Fae. That would be... me. You may know me as Betel, and for a time, Haness was my dear, beloved pet.

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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

Challenge #04851-M102: With Adequate Reason

Trudy enters her awkward teenage years with a new obsession. Haunted by dreams, she begs and cajoles her parents until they bring her to a lake in the middle of a swampy waste. Here she finds the source of her begging dreams, a human prince who had been turned into a swan. Just the sort who’s magic curse would reach a girl who used to be a goose…

https://peakd.com/fiction/@internutter/challenge-04708-l324-from-menace-to-midwife -- Deathshead419

The Will o' the Wild

Challenge #04850-M101: Treasure Trouble

Menson V'lek has inherited a map where his father buried a pirate fortune. The story goes that after a shipwreck during a great sea chase, the old man buried the gold he could not carry and high tailed it out of there. But something doesn’t quite add up with the old man’s story or his map, leading Menson to travel to the isle to unravel the truth. -- Deathshead419

[AN: Had to change a little spelling because found a real

Challenge #04849-M100: Stolen Mercy

Victoria Constance Emilia Stanford has become a goddess, enjoying her new form and her husband. Alas, it seems that some desperate folks from a drought stricken land would like to enjoy her powers, for they kidnap her from the shores in the dead of night whilst her husband and father in law slept.

This is unlikely to end well for anyone involved…

Sequel to: https://peakd.com/fiction/@internutter/challenge-04815-m066-bride-of-the-son-of-the-volcano-god -- Deathshead419

There was a new goddess, though few in Arunem could

Challenge #04848-M099: Sorely in Need of...

You get to be the Avatar of the local Goddess/God for a year, you have a certain freedom of how you do that. But at the end of that year you are back to being mortal and have to face any consequences. So watch how you rule. -- Prompey

It's an odd little town, to say the least of it. For a start, there's a large temple to Zeb centrally located near all the other important public services. Devotees of the

Challenge #04847-M098: Mnemonic Intervention

Their plumage was red, black, and yellow. Beings thought they were either venomous, or poisonous. But they've never heard of the false coral snake, or other such pretenders. -- Anon Guest

"Red then yellow, kills a fellow. Red then black, venom lack." -- Terran Mnemonic.

It's rather shocking that truly dangerous creatures bear the same rough colour scheme. So it was no shock that the dangerous things became marked in a similar fashion... and then dangerous people. The code was well established

Challenge #04846-M097: Passing (it) On

Elderly and Kobold don't normally go in the same sentence. But since this village protected their kobold neighbors, and vice / versa, it was not unusual to have one, now, die of old age rather than other circumstances. Some were even being born to other warrens with the memories of tunnels reinforced so they would not collapse again. Before too long, around the world, kobold tunnels collapsing due to lack of proper reinforcement was starting become a rarity rather than commonplace.

https://peakd.

Challenge #04845-M096: Mineral Health

They found a dragon who made a deal with them. Scrub my scales and you can keep whatever loose scales fall off. The family was shocked at such a boon. Now, four generations later, they had a full service spa for dragons of ALL sizes. Loose scales scrubbed, claws polished and trimmed, wings massaged, oils rubbed in to help with loose skin, the works. Loose scales that fell? Those were kept, polished, and made into jewelry and sold in a gift shop

Challenge #04844-M095: All Welcome Inn

They opened an Inn with a restaurant less than a half-mile from the opening to tunnels that lead to underdark cities. The rules were simple. Don't be an arse, everyone was welcome, and if you were too poor to afford food and shelter, no problem, you'll still be fed. The staff consisted of both sunsiders and people from the underdark working together, with the shift changing as the sun set and rose so that the place was always open for those in

Challenge #04843-M094: Healer's Helper

Healing halls across the land hear of a miracle wine that allows healers to see broken bones and other internal injuries so they can treat them. While some lands, mainly those of greedy rulers who think such wonders should ONLY be for the nobility, forbid their healing halls to have it, most refuse such orders and beg Wraithvine to help them set up deliveries. This will greatly aid them in their work. Just like the invention of the vermin-repelling bands did.

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Challenge #04842-M093: Multi-Level Marketing

They were a "sunsider", but they went to the Everdark quite frequently for trade. They were viewed and treated as unwelcome for quite a while, until it became clear they held no prejudice against any cognizant species. They always traded fair, and had no qualms of paying even a higher rate charged due to them being a sunsider. After all, most of these individuals were treated poorly up top, they couldn't blame them for acting such toward those that came from the

Challenge #04841-M092: Breakout Event

"Are there any who are not human among the Pax Humanis members?"

They're rare, but there are. Let me tell you about the best hunter I ever met. A havenworlder whose first target had pushed too them far. -- Anon Guest

He had been selected for his bright plumage, and kept in conditions meant to maintain his health. Little else but that. He learned to be clever by playing dumb, just to get his captors to relax and get careless.

It took

Challenge #04840-M091: Fey Touched

They sat to think and dream. But dreaming too close to a faerie circle can be dangerous. Fortunately, these beings were kind, and they got the person safe before they went too far into the maze. -- Anon Guest

It can be a terrible thing to have the soul of an artist. Especially if, like Haness, you were born into a woodcutting and herb-gathering family. Ze found hirself hoping for something more than ze had, but not knowing what it was or

Challenge #04839-M090: Waif and Stray

A human, an older teen, screamed in terror when the mix of avian and reptilian havenworlders found them. They were thin, alone on that barren rock, injured, and shaking. They very gently helped the youth learn they were safe, no longer alone, and deserved kindness. -- Anon Guest

Hal knew that they were lucky to survive. They were also rather lucky that they had had an obsession with surviving seemingly impossible accidents. How to survive on a desert island. How to survive

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Flash fiction fresh from my fingers to your mind!

Challenge #04853-M104: No Need to Fret

Challenge #04852-M103: Queen's Gambit

Challenge #04851-M102: With Adequate Reason

Challenge #04850-M101: Treasure Trouble

Challenge #04849-M100: Stolen Mercy

Challenge #04848-M099: Sorely in Need of...

Challenge #04847-M098: Mnemonic Intervention

Challenge #04846-M097: Passing (it) On

Challenge #04845-M096: Mineral Health

Challenge #04844-M095: All Welcome Inn

Challenge #04843-M094: Healer's Helper

Challenge #04842-M093: Multi-Level Marketing

Challenge #04841-M092: Breakout Event

Challenge #04840-M091: Fey Touched

Challenge #04839-M090: Waif and Stray