Wraithvine's Wanderings

A 101-post collection

Challenge #03984-J332: Early Access

A young mage just learning her magic makes a set of lovely gifts for Wraithvine, Gikka, Lilbit, and their traveling companions. What are they? A special bracelet, or for Lilbit a collar, that scares away all biting insects, fleas, mites, and other such vermin. A great thing for traveling near waterways in warm months when the mosquitoes were getting bad. -- Anon Guest

"It's not much, but it's the best I can do in gratitude," they young mage presented a set of leather straps with brass buckles and softly glowing runes. "Thank you. Thank you for everything."

The gratitude was familiar, and the gifts Wraithvine received were generally received with grace. If ze didn't need them, ze passed them on to the next person who did. What was rare was the fact that Wraithvine had never seen the likes of these trinkets before. They were obviously handmade, and slightly rushed. Just as obviously, the young Wizard Aelinor had done her best.

Wraithvine plucked one from the handful for closer examination. It was an otherwise ordinary leather strap. Made to adjust to any size from the thickest bicep to the thinnest wrist. The runework had been imbued during the carving, and enforced with threads of silver.

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Challenge #03978-J326: Fel Fortunes

My fate is to be a demon king. Just like my father, and his father before him. But I don't want to be a king. I am a demon, but I just want to live a peaceful life. Kind wizard, what do I do? Can you help me change my fate? -- Anon Guest

[AN: There is a difference between Actual Demons, who would never say this thing, and Hellkin, who are called demons by the ignorant public]

"The one in Whitekeep

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Challenge #03964-J312: Stumbling First Step

A human noble family is holding a big birthday party for all the children of the unwanted peoples. They don't know the actual dates of the birthdays, so twice a year, they hold a celebration for all of them. Because these children are innocents, and the innocent should be celebrated, not mistreated. They ask Wraithvine to please come to help set up entertainments for the party. -- Anon Guest

You are cordially invited, said the ornate script, to the celebrations of the

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Challenge #03963-J311: One Fatal Flaw

They pretended to put shackles on Wraithvine's wrists, prodding him at spearpoint, they ordered him fiercely to move away from the camps toward a cave with metal bars where prisoners were being kept. Their leader smirking at the wizard. They grabbed Wraithvine's ear roughly to stop hir just outside the cave, holding them there as the leader unlocked the cave so their subordinate could shove them inside. A tiny key secretly slipped inside Wraithvine's pockets, and the whisper "sorry, please, save them.

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Challenge #03958-J306: My Little Friends

My skin is too strong for their stingers to penetrate. They don't even try anymore now that they realize I am very gentle and won't hurt them. They never attack anyone who is calm and gentle, and never go after kids. My little yellow and blue protectors have kept many the overzealous paladins from taking my horned head. -- Anon Guest

[AN: I tried some elementary diving into the interwebs to see if this was in reference to anything, but I couldn't

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Challenge #03939-J287: Running Scared

Some monsters are deliberately spreading the lie that Wraithvine is hunting down and killing hell-kin, and other unwanted peoples, to "purify the world". That would explain why these poor people, whom they want to help, are so terrified of hir. It's time to put an end to the rumors so that those in desperate need can be saved. -- Anon Guest

Ouch. That had hurt. A lot. Wraithvine focussed on hir breathing and wondered, not for the first time, if ze really

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Challenge #03927-J275: Visiting the Niblings

Wraithvine visits Amatu, the half-halloblood / half-hellkin that is his friend and adopted brother. Amatu has a wife, an adopted child, and a large family now. -- Anon Guest

Grey showed too early in mortal hair. Some lasted longer. Some were gone in a blink. For a friend and baby brother, it was... jarring to see snow settling on a far younger man's head.

Then again, everyone was younger than the immortal Wraithvine. Except a few other immortals, of course.

Baby Corbinian was

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Challenge #03912-J260: Games That Neophytes Play

A giggling toddler swipes Wraithvine's hat when it was set on the ground. They run around camp trying to wear it and, well, be a typical silly, happy, toddler. -- Anon Guest

Certain happenstances are universal. If you have a less-than ordinary accessory and put it down, the nearest toddler is going to steal it for laughs. Cane? A toddler is going to take it and run away laughing. Cloak? The toddler is going to become the campsite blanket monster. Funny hat?

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Challenge #03911-J259: An Interesting Question

A curious merchant asks Wraithvine and friends as they have joined the merchant caravan to the next town. "I know elves float and meditate instead of actual sleep as we know it, but what of elven infants, do they do the same?" -- Anon Guest

"That is a question I do not often face," said Wraithvine. "Most ask if the world is truly flat for us or whether we can actually drink wine and survive. Ignorant things. So thank you for a

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Challenge #03907-J255: The Weight of a Conscience

A prisoner, not condemned to death, but rather to years of hard labor for the killings they committed, met Wraithvine while on their knees in exhaustion. With pain-filled eyes they asked the ancient one, "You ever feel pain for all the deaths you've brought by your hands?" -- Lessons

Wraithvine did not immediately answer the question. Ze made sure Hurgnath the Bloody Butcher had water and shade before ze asked, "Why did you kill people?"

"I never said I killed anyone," said

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Challenge #03900-J248: Long, Long Memory

Sitting in a cavern waiting for a heavy rainstorm to pass so the large group can keep traveling, a child turns to Wraithvine and asks, politely, "what was your ma and pa like?" -- Fighting Fit

Wraithvine stared, not at the cavern wall, not at anyone here and how. Ze stared into centuries long forgotten and unnumbered. Back into the Age of Dragons and the Age of Gods, when the Elves were yet another scrappy little species trying their best just to

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Challenge #03869-J217: Enlightened Self-Interest

Even elves can catch a cold. Wraithvine comes down with a bad case of the sniffles. -- Anon Guest

[AN: This hits different now that I'm in the process of fighting one of them off]

One of the undeniable rules of the world is thus: Elves do not sleep. Well. The adult ones do not. As an Elf grows to physical maturity, they learn and adapt to a discipline of meditation that puts them into a peaceful reverie. It connects them to

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Challenge #03864-J212: To Cease Evil

A mummer kept a slave, beaten and terrified, in their tower. The slave thought this mummer was actually Wraithvine, for they did not know better. The mummer, outside the tower, was completely different from inside. Then the real Wraithvine heard weeping in the tower. -- Anon Guest

Would you choose to suffer for the betterment of the world? Would you sacrifice for people you've never met? Would you surrender comfort? Would you surrender warmth? Would you endure as much as you could

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Challenge #03846-J194: Sharp Choice

A being tries to tempt Wraithvine with a special wish, a test. Their ultimate dream would come true. But is the cost of an innocent soul worth it? -- Anon Guest

Immortals are truly hard to tempt, especially if they've been at it long enough. The wants of mortality fade away as time renders them irrelevant.

Mortals die. Oceans rise. Empires fall. Change occurs and little can stop it. Wants fade away as beauty can be found anywhere, friendship is temporary, and

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Challenge #03816-J164: Troublesome Oaths

During the day, they quietly shadowed Wraithvine's party where-ever the group went, the desire was only to protect them. During the night, they stayed up all night, guarding against any potential dangers. But it was not long before they collapsed from exhaustion. Sometimes, a person could care too much. -- Anon Guest

Wraithvine found Gruhaag on the second night. It wasn't as if she was trying to hide. Then again, it's difficult for a Bugbear to hide in most places when they

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