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Fantasy encounter idea(s) needed

 
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Chinaren
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 24, 2020 8:47 am    Post subject: Fantasy encounter idea(s) needed Reply with quote

Hello IFians, assuming anyone is still alive here.

I realise I've put this up in the SGames section, but if I use an idea here, I'll post the chapter it was used in haha.

I'm currently bashing one out (a story that is) and looking for inspiration.

Ideas needed for a random encounter in an outside setting. (I'm thinking forest or grassland but it could be anything really).

This could be a character idea, a setting of some sort, or a whole bloody scene, I don't care. Just in need of some external inspiration, and this place used to be so good at that. Shocked Sad

Anyway, thanks in advance!
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PostPosted: Sat Nov 28, 2020 1:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I think I can dig up some Idearium from the old stockpile. Let's hope it still burns...

How about:
- A bureaucratic forest elf/fairy, who won't let anyone pass without the proper paperwork.
- Ruins of a castle that's been torn apart and is now covered with vines. But the castle was intact last week, and the vines are still growing...
- A vicious bear with a second mouth in its stomach.
- A wizard whose magic eats sound to gain power, so the closer you are to him, the greater the silence, and the more you try to make noise, the stronger he becomes.
- An insect that burrows into your ear and controls your brain.
- An kindly old traveler seemingly at the end of his life, who's actually an immortal soul who moves to a new body whenever his old one dies.
- A cave whose depths have broken through to the underworld, allowing dead souls to escape.
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Chinaren
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 30, 2020 9:50 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

WooOOoOooo!

This is what I'm lacking! Great stuff Key, I thank you.

I'll post the stuff when I've done it here. The last one fits in quite well with an idea I have actually...

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PostPosted: Fri Dec 04, 2020 8:31 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Chinaren wrote:
This is what I'm lacking! Great stuff Key, I thank you.


Happy to help.

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PostPosted: Sat Jan 09, 2021 9:33 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

So, how's it going along Chinaren? Did inspiration strike at all?
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 12, 2021 4:23 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

It wasn't so much a strike as a slow appearance. Like being constipated maybe. Shocked

I've not actually finished the bit mentioned above yet, as I've been busy trying to sell various stories to various websites (with not any large amounts of money at this point, sadly).

However, I hope to squeeze some more out soon. Watch this space.

(BTW - This is for book 2 of my new follow up to Tired of Death - "The Necromancer's Chronicles" - Now available on my website: http://www.NeilHartleyBooks.com )

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PostPosted: Wed Jan 13, 2021 6:42 am    Post subject: Fantasy encounter - Preview! OOooh. Reply with quote

Here's a random section from the current writing. I thought I'd give you a taste. This is what I was trying to get ideas for (although that bit isn't in here).

Mild spoiler alert - This is near the start (but not at the start) of Book 2 of Necromancer's Chronicles, so there are things in here that may give things away from earlier. But hey ho.

As usual, all feedback welcome. No, no explanations haha
.

.....


“Tell me again why we're not heading back to Groan?” asked Horace through the gap in the bag that Lucy carried.

“Because I'm not going to be coddled and trapped again,” snapped Reckless.

They were on the road once more, still heading west, Reckless pushing the horses as fast as she thought they would go without exhausting them.

She was fuming. Something had gone horribly wrong, that was for sure. She was no uneducated child. She had protections against this sort of thing. The fact that she was suddenly, in her vague and unsure estimate, about four months pregnant smelled of something that was, as if it wasn't obvious, not normal. She could think of only one being that could be responsible.

“I swear I will...” she started, but had to stop. Leaning over, she spent several minutes retching all over the road. At least Horace didn't make any comments this time. The last instance had nearly cost the zombie head his unlife. Only the fact that Reckless had been so unsteady had saved him, although it had cost several nearby trees their existence.

Finally she stopped throwing up and pulled herself back upright. Wiping her mouth with a cloth that she had on hand for this very event, she swore with such force that there was a minor earthquake.

“Are you alright mistress?” asked Lucy, pulling up alongside her.

“No. No I am very much not alright,” she snarled. She looked down at her belly. She couldn't be sure, but it looked larger. “Damn and blast! We need to find somewhere to stay.”

“Yes mistress. Should we go back to the inn?” Lucy asked.

No! No. We are not going back. Forward.”

“Yes mistress.”

Reckless kicked her horse in the sides to spur it on once more, wincing at the mount's gait. She grit her teeth and endured as her small group carried on once more.

The next four hours proved to be the hardest of her life. Her stomach was now definitely larger, and she had to use all her strength just to stay mounted as they pushed on. Even Horace realised the seriousness of the situation and kept quiet, with only the odd interjection of encouragement.

Finally there were signs of life, with fields along the sides of the road. Soon after, a sign heralded a village with the unlikely name of 'Pickle'.

Now about five months pregnant, by her estimation, Reckless pushed her horse along the road that had morphed into a high street until she came to an inn. Turning into the small courtyard, she slid of her horse in an ungainly fashion and staggered into the main building, leaving Lucy to follow.

“Miss, are you alright?” said a friendly looking older man, from behind the counter of the clean but sparse lobby.

“I need your best room, maybe a midwife too,” she gasped, leaning heavily on the counter.

“I'm not sure...” the man's complaint was abruptly silenced as Reckless slammed several gold pieces down on the surface.

Now!” she snarled.

“Of course.” Spurred into the prompt action that only copious amounts of money can achieve, the innkeeper signalled a young boy to lead her up to a reasonably clean and spacious room.

Reckless threw the boy a coin and collapsed into the bed. “Bring me food,” she said.

“You don't look well.”

Suddenly her pain was gone, and she was no longer in the inn.

Wiping sweat from her brow, she sat up and looked around. She found herself sitting on a massively oversized couch made from the finest material she'd ever seen.

Ondeus!” she spat, looking up at the blurred, but somehow still handsome, face. “Is this your doing?” She pointed at her belly.

“Me?” Even without visible features, the god managed to convey an expression of total innocence. “What makes you think it was me?”

“Who was it then?” she gasped, relishing the absence of pain.

“I would think you would know where babies come from by now,” the god replied, sipping from a magnificent golden goblet that hadn't been there a moment ago.

“You know what I mean!” she screamed back.

“Alright, alright!” the god held his hands out. “I may have had something to with the facilitation of such.”

“But why?”

The god took one more sip from his goblet, and then offered her a drink. When she just glared at him, he shrugged and took another draught before replying. “Your brother was right, you will need some help on this journey,” he said.

“And you thought this?!” Reckless gestured at her swollen form. “I mean, why? You could have just directed me to some mercenaries or something!”

“No, this is better. Your son will be imbued with my energy.”

“Wait, this is your child?”

“No, no, it's Reginald's, but I just added a little... extra.” Ondeus waggled his fingers. “Mind you, I wouldn't mind a go after you've had the baby, I certainly made you a very fine body, don't you think?” The god's eye was suddenly visible enough to see a rather lecherous wink.

What? Didn't you say you were my father? Isn't that, you know, a bit creepy?” Reckless wrapped her arms around herself.

“Oh no,” the deity waved a hand in dismissal. “The rules are different for gods. Happens all the time. Nothing creepy about it.”

Reckless made a face, but decided to shelve the issue for the moment. “Well,” she said. “I still think there could have been a better way. I'm assuming that the kid will grow up just as quickly or something? Me carrying a baby along isn't going to help anyone. Goodness knows what Reginald is going to think of all this.” She shook her head in bewilderment.

“You'll see, it will be fine. I need you safe to save mortality.”

“Yes, and I thought you said that you didn't care about that much?”

The god shrugged. “After your last visit I found myself looking down at this world again, and decided that it was more interesting than I remembered. Plus a few of my gods are more involved here than I am, and were complaining. We're still not going to interfere directly, but perhaps we can do a little more than I had planned. No guarantees though.” He wagged a finger at her. “Don't think this means you're going to win. It's still up to you.”

“Great,” Reckless said.

“One more thing, the small zombie with you, she's a spy for another party. I've interfered with her connection to her real controller, but you need to be careful not to turn your back on her.”

Reckless raised her own eyebrows in surprise. “Lucy? Really? Does Urt know this?”

“He may suspect something, but I don't think he understands what the link was. In any case, be warned.”

“Thanks for that at least,” Reckless said. “Now, what about...”

She stopped and sighed. The abode of the gods had vanished, and she was back in the inn. Her nausea returned with a vengeance, and she was busy throwing up when Lucy rushed into the room.

“Mistress!” she said.

Reckless managed to hold out a hand to stall the small zombie as she finished making a mess on the rug. Finally, after several more heaves, she struggled upright.

“What is it Lucy?” she asked, wiping her mouth.

“It's Horace mistress,” she replied. “He's been stolen.”

“Who would steal a dead head?” Reckless said, slumping back on the bed.

“He was in my bag. I think the stable boy stole it.”

“Wait.” Reckless sat up again, with some difficulty. “Your bag? I hid most of our funds in that bag. You need to go and get it back, at once!”

“Me mistress?” The young zombie looked confused.

“I can barely stand,” Reckless replied. “By the time I can they'll be long gone. You're small, but you're a zombie, you're much stronger than you appear. I order you to track down my money and get it back to me. Understand?”

“Yes mistress. What about Horace?”

“Well, if you can save him too, fair enough. Go, now.” She waved a hand as she slumped back again on the bed. “Do whatever you have to do to get my gold back.”

“Yes mistress.” The zombie left the room, leaving Reckless alone with her misery.

~ * ~


Lucy strode steadily through he under brush. She had been tracking the thief for a while, long enough that it was now dark, although to her mind this was an advantage. The small, sharp plants she waded through bothered her not at all, and neither did the night. Horace was always saying how zombies were superior to living humans, and she wondered, vaguely, if this is what he meant.

In any case, she was beginning to have strange, well, urges, if zombies could have such. A gnawing at her belly was growing, a feeling that she'd never experienced before. It was as if something had been lifted from her recently. She'd always felt as if someone was watching over her, or maybe through her eyes, but now that was gone. In its place was a... a... hunger! That was it. It was a hunger.

There was a light ahead. She slowed her pace a little. The mistress had told her to do what she had to, but she knew enough to be careful. The living, inferior as Horace said they were, could be very dangerous. Especially as she was so small.

Creeping forward, she peered through a bush and took in the scene beyond.

Around a small campfire, over which a rabbit was roasting on a spit, were two men, talking in urgent, if slightly hushed tones. One was younger and thinner, whilst the other was greying, with a beard. Both wore fairly sturdy, although well used, garments. The older had a short sword strapped to his hip.

The cause of their excitement was evident. The bag, stolen from the mistress, had been emptied out. Horace was there, lying inanimate on the ground. He looked like he was playing it dead, which wasn't hard to do for him.

The two men were going through the mistress's pouch, excitedly counting and sorting into piles the coins and gems that she had brought along.

Lucy smiled to herself. Her stomach rumbled.

She waited. The men finished counting the loot, and then put it all back in the pouch. They avoided Horace, possibly scared of the head, and then took some bottles of something out from another pack.

The older one opened the bottles whilst the younger tended to the rabbit. Lucy stood there, still as the night, watching and waiting as they drunk the beer and consumed the rabbit, speculating as to what they would spend their newfound wealth on.

Eventually, as Lucy knew would happen, one of them, the younger, stood up and made his way, slightly unsteadily to the treeline, not far from where she was standing. Adjusting his breeches he faced away from her as he relieved himself against a tree. This made it easy for the small zombie.

“Mister?” she whispered, from behind him.

He whirled around, and, with a growl, Lucy leaped up and tore his throat out. As he fell, she ripped at his flesh, tearing strips of skin and muscle from his neck. Blood coated her face, and splattered the surrounding area as she gorged as she'd never done before.

So this was what it was to be a zombie! She knew now, her power. Biting a finger off her victim, she snarled, a bestial sound, and looked around. The second man was still lounging in front of the fire, sipping at his beer.

With bone crunching in her jaws, she crept forward, a predator after her prey...

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