21 May 2024

Yeah, I missed Monday. I plan to catch up soon enough; I still need to write my poem for the week, after all.

This was a tricky scene to write in some ways; I wanted to smooth things out, include foreshadowing bits, and make the conversation fit the reality of the situation better now that i’ve prepped more and have a deeper understanding of what that is. I think it turned out well, though, and I really got in the groove here.

…towards the ship. They halted, and one of them stepped forward. “I am Commander Slepoy of the [unit name/title]. I apologize for the inconvenience, but would you mind accompanying me for a few minutes? I have a few questions for all of you.”

From behind Maranys, the sailor girl muttered a phrase–one Maranys recognized as the spell “prestidigitation”–and the next moment an absolutely fold stench started wafting from the commander, like sewage that had been sitting in the sun for hours. A number of Sunkeepers turned and glared at the girl, but to the commander’s credit, he (mostly) kept his composure.

The tiefling–Shaxes?--stepped forward. “If you mean to inquire about the status of the ship, we were attacked by a kraken. The good captain and a number of other, powerful passengers dealt with it, while we helped fend off its sahuagin followers. Is there anything else you needed?”

Maranys noticed one fellow, a young man with warm brown hair, first eyed Shaxes’ horns, then his holy symbol, and sneered. The tiefling himself didn’t respond; if anything, he seemed more resigned to it than anything.

The commanger replied, “That is helpful, thank you, but that is not why I am here. I don’t intend to take much of your time; would you mind following me?”

With narrowed eyes, Maranys studied the commander. What did he want, then? She noticed that his eyes flicked over everyone who left the ship. Was he looking for someone? A passenger, perhaps? Since when did the Sunkeepers have this kind of authority in Oileanda, anyway?

She decided it would likely be more trouble than it was worth to get away, so she accompanied the commander into a nearby warehouse. Both Shaxes and George, an axe-wielding mercenary who’d drawn the attention of a sahuagin attacking her during their previous fight, joined them, though george looked a little green in the face. Was he still feeling seasick? Or maybe he just ate something that disagreed with him. Maranys also thought she caught sight of the water genasi from the ship slipping in with them.

It wasn’t until they were inside that she realized Myst hadn’t joined her. She looked out the window and found him out there, flashing that same infuriating smirk, next to the sailor girl who’d stunk up the commander’s collar. Fortunately, the girl had decided to undo her spell before slipping away.

Commander Slepoy cleared his throat. Maranys turned his attention back to him, and he asked, “I apologize if this seems strange, but we heard a troubling report, given the circumstances. Do you know if, among the passengers aboard your vessel, any of them may have been a vampire?”

Maranys immediately thought of the heavily cloaked shadow monk that helped them fend off the kraken. Except, well… She didn’t know for sure, and this was definitely more trouble than it was worth. So it was with no guilt that she beamed at the commander. “Nope. Haven’t seen anything.”

Shaxes shook his head, and poor George just looked more nauseous than ever. The tiefling asked, “If I may, why are you asking?”

The commander grimaced. “There’s… been an incident at the Temple of the Rose. We believe it is related to vampires in some way; if we are correct, evidence indicates the mastermind is not local. We figured they may be coming in person to move the work forward or some such, and wanted to prevent the issue from escalating.”

Shaxes raised an eyebrow, but he only said, “I am not aware of any vampires aboard the ship.”

The commander sighed and nodded, then excused them. Maranys turned to leave, but nearly ran into the unpleasant Sunkeeper from before. He’d approached for the sole purpose of spitting at Shaxes’ feet. For his part, though, the tiefling merely sighed.

Once outside, Maranys made a beeline for Myst. “Where have you been? Why didn’t you write me to let me know where you were, or that you were okay, or–”

In Elvish, still smirking, Myst cut her off. “I take it you missed me then?”

Maranys wasn’t sure if her cheeks were flushed with embarrassment or fury, and she started getting after Myst, absentmindedly following Shaxes deeper into the city.

10 May 2024 part 2

This is a poem I wrote introducing one of the major antagonistic factions in my D&D campaign. Kind of a blend of Greed and Gluttony, with ties to both vampires and the fae and faewild shenanigans, like the Pied Piper of Hamelin. Quite macabre, to be honest, but that’s part of the fun, isn’t it?

Welcome! Welcome!

Come, dance the night away!

Won’t you join our Revel?

Throw all your cares away!

Mind not the smell of rot

Nor dear guests, now deceased

Just listen to my music

And partake our glorious Feast

With luck, you may be chosen

To spread our Feast abroad

To bring folk to our Revel

And sip their precious blood

20 December 2022

For my birthday a few weeks ago, my family got me a little 3-4 inch cube book called The Writer’s Block. It’s full of a bunch of different writing prompts and idea generators, and I decided to take a break from my usual stuff and try it out. The first page I flipped to was only a single word; “Gossip”. By itself, that didn’t appeal to me. But I randomly turned to a few other pages, and got one with “Superstitious”; the two started fermenting in my brain, and I had a thought. Superstitious/supernatural entities that are likely to gossip or be affected by rumors… why not vampires?

Most modern media depict vampire society as being focused around the “elite”, of it being a branch of high society. Makes sense; it’s quite the wonderful metaphor, isn’t it? But while considering that, I was thinking about what they might gossip about, and I had a question. How would they react to some unrefined country bumpkin joining their society?

If I ever do more with this - and I’m not sure I will - I’d want to pull in more of the characters vampiric nature. What I’ve got written here could just as well be some ordinary rich girl dating a farm boy. Also, Alucard would only be a stand-in surname.

“Have you heard about the young heiress of the Alucard family, Druscilla?” The speaker was a short, plump woman named Edith. If I hadn’t already known it, I’d never have believed she was a vampire.

“Oh, yes. What a scandal! Not only did she run of with some mortal and turn him, she didn’t even have the decency to choose one of the wealthy, well-groomed ones. Instead, it was some boy from the countryside.” Druscilla herself had a thin face, in sharp contrast to her talking companion. If you told me she’d never smiled in her life, even before her Change, I’d believe you.

“What was his name again? Spencer?”

“No, no. It was Shawn, I believe.”

That’s me. Shawn. Fresh from Burhill, Idaho, and fiancee to Leah Alucard. Also a freshly-minted vampire. Still kinda on the fence how I feel about that. Unless Leah’s around; then I remember what a no-brainer the decision was.

I approached the two women. “Did you need me for something?”

Both women seemed shocked at the sudden intrusion. “No, we’re fine, thank you.”

I tipped my hat to them–an old baseball cap from the mill I worked at during my high school days–and said, “Best be careful what you say, ma’am. Prob’ly best not to offend the lady of the house, especially if she’s invited you as a guest.”

For a moment, both just stared at me. Then Druscilla said, “Indeed.”

I tipped my hat again and walked away. Behind me, I heard them debating who I was, which was curious as they’d been talking about me just moments before. Not that I felt like going back and introducing myself.

I passed by a few more groups of people, each one twittering away, mostly about my engagement with Leah, or about the way she changed me without some big boss’s approval. Made me wonder what I was doing there and how I was going to deal with this mess.

Before long, too much was too much and I retreated upstairs. Didn’t really want to spend time with the in-laws; my first meeting with Leah’s dad had just about come to blows. So I headed up to the attic and looked out the window over their massive backyard.

A little while later, Leah came up and joined me. “Figured I’d find you here, once I realized you’d left the party.”

I gave her a wry smile. “It’s pretty nice up here. Got quite the view.”

“Hmm.’ She came and sat down next to me, then leaned her head on my shoulder. “So what’s really going on? And don’t try to tell me everything’s fine. I know you well enough to know something’s up.”

I grabbed herr hand. “It’s really not much. Just… Been hearing a lotta people talking. Are you sure this is what you want to do?”

“Of course!” She raised her head and looked me in the eye. “Are you? Do you regret it?”

I laughed and shook my head. “Nah.” I glanced out the window. “It’s just… I’m a farm boy from Idaho. What the heck do I know about fancy parties or things like that?” I turned back to Leah as I said, “Guess I’m just worried I’m gonna make things harder for you with everyone else, since I don’t know how to look presentable to all the snooty-tooty folks downstairs.”

Leah snorted with laughter, then shook her head. “Don’t worry about them or what they think. And if they’ve got a problem with you, they can go through me.” She kissed my cheek. ‘You’re worth dealing with all that crap for, I hope you know.”

I grinned. “You are, too.” I tickled her side a bit, making her squeal, then stood up. “C’mon. Probably ought to head back downstairs before someone wonders where we scurried off to.”