Z is for Zoe

The Players Are the Thing, at least I always thought so. I agreed to be part of Beatrix roleplaying campaign in order to get closer to Rhane, who is also in the game. I want to see what lies behind Rhane’s far-away gaze, why she’s so fixated, yet dreamy. I believe I’m beginning to understand. I’m getting far more attached to Rhiannon, my character than I thought I would. She’s so vivid and vivacious, even if she was once a non-player character of Beatrix’s. I almost feel like she’s whispering warnings to me about Beatrix, about certain dice a times. Beatrix seems a little sick, frustrated, and on edge after being in contact with hers for too long. I almost wonder if she’s enjoying herself, running this game. Maybe it’s time for a time-out, a break from our campaign. Somehow that feels like running away. I’m not sure what to do other than draw Rhane away from the dice for a while. Sometimes Mona watches me, us with sad eyes when I do this. Sorry, Mona. Isolde is the one having a romance with Amberwyne, not you. Why am I confusing Rhane with Amber? I’m not confusing myself with Rhiannon. Rhiannon would happily seduce everyone. She’s a bit of a flirt and then some. It is fun to play her. Sometimes Rhane, Mona, and I relax around each other playing our characters a way we never do when we’re ourselves. If only Beatrix could relax, have a bit more fun. I’ve got figure out ways to help her to do this.

Y is for Ylynessa

What cowards call Trouble at Caerac Keep, I call the first steps in bringing down the walls of isolation keeping us from the world. I dream our city transforming into a better place, a more honest place. A place where nonhumans don’t have to hide whom they are, what they are, or their appetites. My brother, William has hidden himself for too long. He won’t share his gifts with me because he’s ashamed of them. No more shame. I’m going to take down the walls between William and myself as well. Let the fanged, the shifters, all accused of being monstrous be welcomed. I have allies in this endeavor, allies whom encourage me. My brother would not approve of them. He’ll come around. Everyone will. If they don’t, well, I may have to make difficult decisions. Change can be cruel, but I musn’t let my fears stopped me. A villain can be more essential than a hero, even if she must strike from shadows, betraying those she cares about. Even as I tear down their world, I remind myself that it’s to build a better one for them.

X is for Xylanthe

I may recall A Suitor’s Challenge and the catastrophic change it brought to Ouroborous. A empire fell. Independent realms rose and monsters roared. Delicious times. I was part of a Circle of Thirteen in one of those realms before it split into Graeca and Aethyria. I was driven out along with the men, driven into the Dark Circle. This became my lair, my grief, my queendom. I was never lonely. I fed well. There was always a juicy adventurer willing to seek my head, my treasure, and his own glory. Sometimes they came in droves. I always made sure one escaped, to tell tales of monsters and riches waiting for the bold to claim. It lured many a would-be hero here. Only adventuring is no longer considered heroic. Slaying monsters and taking their treasure is considered wrong. Such moral questions have left me alone and hungry. Such an attitude has forced me to employ other methods to lure food into my lair. If these methods should cause Trouble at Caerac Keep, let its lord suffer it. Especially if it means he’ll be sending some tender morsels my way to stop me.

W is for William

There’s Trouble at Caerac Keep, even after I’ve worked so hard to make it a safe haven for humans in a land of monsters. People aren’t even calling us monsters any more. We’re nonhumans. Hunting and taking our treasure has gone out of fashion. I’ve done my best to encourage this. Not to mention I’ve made my own hunts discreet and non-lethal. I’ve been a good lord of Caerac Keep, better than many a human one. Why is someone disturbing the peace I’ve cultivated over a century? Why is someone crying vampire? I’d know if my master was back. The disappearances, the sickness, no. Something else is at work in this Keep. I’ll use these wide-eyed young fools, desperate to find their lost ones to flush the culprit out. Yes, one of those lost ones is Daeric Nevalyn, something which concerns me. I need him back. I need lure my enemy out. These tender morsels should do it, especially if my adversary is a vampire. Not that I believe they are.

V is for Varwyth

There is Trouble at Caerac Keep, but its trouble has another name than the one stammered by ignorant lips.

You suspect as much, my Rhodry. I come to you in this guise to help you uncover the truth. The lies being tossed around are quite irritating. I can see why poor Willie, excuse me, Lord William Caerac wishes to put this disturbance to rest. Why he’s getting Servants of the Unicorn and Aethyrians involved. We’re all being toyed with, Rhodry, offered as bait. As important as it is to catch the mischief maker, your blood is far too precious to be wasted in this trouble. I’m here to see not a drop of it is spilt.

After all, it belongs to me.

U is for Undine

There is Trouble at Caerac Keep. I am the cause of it yet trapped by it, at the mercy of a deadly mistress who misdirects everyone. I’m just hoping the young ones sent to find the source of the trouble find me. The true me, trapped within the prison where my mistress has enchanted me. I reach out to them in my dreams, reach out to their power. I only hope they hear my sad lament.

T is for Thomas

A Godling for Your Thoughts? You can’t have Seraphix, you fools. Nor Oleander, nor Danyel. They’re all mine. Stop looking at me like that, you pervert. Just because he’s My Tool, My Treasure, you’re thinking dirty thoughts. You’re so twisted. I’m not caught in any Web of Inspiration. I’m not that weird. Why would My Cusps Overfloweth? I don’t even know what that means. I don’t need to. I’m Jupitre’s son. I don’t need your approval. I’m strong and fast. See how far I can throw this rock? Who cares if I hit a squirrel, the nasty little beasts? If you’re going to complain, leave. It’s not like I’m following you around. Get back here! I wasn’t finished talking to you! Like I don’t have better things to do than talk. Just shut up already.

S is for Seraphix

We are the heart Stealing Myself From Shadows even if it’s a heart you no longer want. We are the essence of The Hand and the Eye of the Tower as well as the Voice’s. A Godling for Your Thoughts? We will manifest as whatever god you wish us to be. For you are My Tool, My Treasure, reminding of us of when we were one even though you rebel against me. You’re caught in our Web of Inspiration and My Cusps Overfloweth. For we are Seraphix, balancing and serving you with what you need, even as you remind us of when we were one.

R is for Rhane

The Players Are the Thing my character whispers in my ear, even as I lost myself in her and her world. Amberwyne has become so much more than simply my creation. I’m no longer seeing her just when I roll the dice, playing Beatrix’s game. Maybe it started out as just a game, a campaign Beatrix game-mastered for Mona and myself. No one is more absorbs by this game than Beatrix herself, although I wonder if she still enjoys it. Mona makes me uncomfortable except when she’s playing Isolde. When I’m Amberwyne, I can interact with Isolde. Through Isolde, I can interact with Mona. I enjoy Isolde’s affections for Amber in a way I’ve never enjoyed Mona’s feelings for me. Zoe’s entrance into the game has excited Beatrix’s interest and my jealousy, yet it breathes new life into Rhiannon. Once Rhiannon was a non-player character Beatrix ran, yet she’s become so much more. We’re finding ourselves in our characters yet why am I uneasy? Is it because I sometimes feel like Amber is worried about me? Worried about us all? Yes, our dice do sometimes act like they’re cursed, but they’re dice. Dice and be cruel. If not for this game, I never would have gotten to know Amberwyne. I’ve fallen in love with my own character, whether she’s real or not. As crazy as that sounds, I feel like she’s the best thing that ever happened to me. She’s helping me to love myself, to face myself. This has become more than a game, yet I’m not longer sure if I need the game. Only Amberwyne. If she’s warning me about something, I’d better pay attention. No matter how much I’d rather not listen. No matter how I’d rather just lose myself in a dream with her.

Q is for Quartz

Right. Here I am. Back at this Cauldron. Where I began. A secondary character in Fairest. A dwarf sleeping off a curse in a crystal coffin while his brothers pull their beards. Waiting for my fool of a scribbler to do right by me. To tell my tale properly in Of Cuckoo Clocks and Crystal Coffins. Shards, what a mouthful. Scribblers and their titles. At least I’m getting secondary characters to speak out once a month. Not that I’m about to let the scribbler forget me, even when she messes around with other characters. Don’t you forget me either.

P is for Phaedra

Just who am I? What am I, away from Pausania? Perhaps I’ll find out among the stars in my onw space ship. Perhaps the answers are waiting at A Symposium in Space. Pausania may be close than I think, also looking for answers. At one of Agathea’s gatherings, we’ll find ourselves speaking from the heart. Not to mention eating our own words.

Of what do I speak? Come with me on my journey and find out…

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O is for Oleander

A Godling for Your Thoughts? I am what Thomas cannot help thinking about. I am his heart’s desire. I emerge from his wish infusing with the Seraphix, making him one with his god. I will do everything Thomas is too cowardly to do, including making Danyel My Tool, My Treasure. Such words tremble on Thomas’s tongue, choking him with his own cowardice. He’ll get caught in anyone’s Web of Inspiration while I’m spinning one of my own. My Cusps Overfloweth for I’m everything Thomas wants to be. Why do I simply live for him? Taking him place completely? Deep in his heart he wants me to, not that his heart is a deep place. I’ll make it deeper than he could ever go. Just jump in.

N is for Nathalie

Wind Me Up, One More Time for the gears of industry are wearing me down along with the tragic march of reality. Like Mama Morisot, I tell stories to keep them at bay, to amuse and divert my little sister, Grace. Just as I amused and diverted her with a Theodora Bear. I tell stories to charm my Iama the Terrible even as she enchants me. How I long to be enchanted and taken away, but the one who decides the end of this fairytale is me. I just need a little help, a little push to remind of what’s important. Just what would that be? Find out in…

Mischief Corner Books/Shenanigans Press: https://www.mischiefcornerbooks.com/store/p161/Wind_Me_Up%2C_One_More_Time.html#/

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M is for Map

Stealing Myself From Shadows is no easy thing. I’m just trying to keep myself together, even though I’m scattered all over the place. Got to keep an eye on my boys, my girls, all of my children even if they’re not. No, I’m not explaining. I’m not about to let them by transformed and used as The Hand and the Eye of the Tower. A Godling for Your Thoughts? Not wise, trading godhood in Omphalos as if it was a market place for omnipotence. I try not think of anyone as My Tool, My Treasure, even though aspects of me obsess over certain individuals as if they were collectables. I’m also trying not to get caught in a Web of Inspiration, although I’m afraid I’m already part of it. My Cusps Overfloweth as long as I have my loved ones around me. Not that I’m ever sure how long that will last.

L is for Leiwell

I’ve been Stealing Myself From Shadows, but the shadows are stealing me back. I’m like Christopher in this, dancing in Damian Ashelocke’s palm, but The Hand and the Eye of the Tower are mine to protect. Not theirs. A Godling for Your Thoughts? I’ve offered myself to gods and masters, only to question their wisdom. The one I worship still calls me My Tool, My Treasure even as he wonders if I still serve him. I’m caught in a Web of Inspiration, but my spirit may poison the spider. It doesn’t matter. My Cusps Overfloweth as long as I can protect the ones I cherish.

K is for Kevin

There’s Trouble at Caerac Keep and I’m right in the middle of it. To think I came here to avoid trouble. Living with Maggie, ex-adventurer and mistress of The Tipsy Hedgehog tavern was a way to hide in plain sight. I could keep my eyes and ears open while serving drinks, watching and listening the clientele. Only that clientele keep disappearing or falling prey to a mysterious illness too many say is the kiss of a vampire. Not even the clerics of the Temple of the Unicorn are immune to this. As if I didn’t have enough problems of my own which might come find me. I was hoping for a more diverting distraction, like working up the courage to speak more with Rhodry, the beautiful Serpent-Born whom sometimes comes to The Tipsy Hedgehog, but never with anyone. Now he’s with three people, trying to find out what going on at Caerac Keep, who’s responsible for the sickness and the disappearances. If the Vampire Corwyth has truly risen to take his revenge or not. All I know is I wish to help Rhodry and allies along with this Keep which has given me shelter. No matter how terrified I am of what’s going on.

J is for Jupitre

Stealing Myself From Shadows, pah! Such a feeble path of persuasion is for weak women and mortal men. Why I was a god! The god! Why should I beg The Hand and the Tower for favors when I can batter the tower himself with my lightning? Why should I give A Godling for Your Thoughts? You stopped believing in me. You lost faith in me. You are My Tool, My Treasure no longer. Let my wife spin her Web of Inspiration. I’m too strong for such snares. Once My Cusps Overfloweth when a beautiful boy brought my cup to me. What a sour old man he’s become. Nothing is as it was. Even the wine has lost its savor. Once I would have punished you for mocking my pain. Now I must beg you for scraps of faith. If this is being humbled, it is too cruel for the gods. Save your humiliation for lesser men. I refuse to bow, even if my back is bending of its own accord.

I is for Iama

Wind Me Up, One More Time, for all my industry is for you, Nathalie. You and your sister. You’ve become my family, my home away from home. Or so that silly little girl flaunting her top hat along with my name might think so. Playing at being an artist, she knows nothing of my art, an art born of pain, loneliness, and a lost heart. Well, perhaps she knows a little. She and I both needed small heroes to save us. We also needed our love, our princess, our Nathalie. She brought me to life with her words. She saw my sadness and responded.

Of what do I speak? Read our tale and find out…

Mischief Corner Books/Shenanigans Press: https://www.mischiefcornerbooks.com/store/p161/Wind_Me_Up%2C_One_More_Time.html#/

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H is for Harold and Hector

Harold

Who is the Fairest of them all? It is I, Lord Harold Vinegarten, second cousin to the Lady of Clear Meadow on my mother’s side, second cousin to King Harold of Feathers Royal on my father’s side, heir to one of the most ancient families in the queendom of Dawn and Twilight. I mean kingdom! What’s all this nonsense my cousin blathers about our realm being created by two queens who fell in love? Such perversity to protect a princess’s perversity. Just because the Princess Rose is pretty, she has her way with a woman and a witch instead of marrying a fine man who’ll help her get over all that nonsense. How can she not want to marry me? I’m the best cure imaginable for all of that…what did you say? That dwarf over there has access to treasure? A lot of treasure? Do you think he’d be interested in a husband? How’s my hair?

Hector

Why I have to share a blog with that insufferable fop is beyond me. Why, I am Hector, prince and hero of Troy. I am the mightiest warrior standing between Troy and the Achaen louts. I will show no mercy upon them, no matter how much they whine that my brother stole their bride. To think their mightiest hero dares to woo my little brother? Not Paris, the one that ran off with Helen. Troile. He’s worth ten of Paris, even if he is a headstrong young fool. I’d better not catch him encouraging that brute Achille. What’s all this about Aissa and Polyxena? A couple of wayward maids Cressida has formed an attachment to? Why should I care about them? What does this have to do with Troile? My little brother had better not do anything silly or I’ll lock him up. Why do my brothers have to bring such shame upon me? Why do I bear the burden of their folly? No good will come of this, I’m sure.

G is for Grace

Wind Me Up, One More Time is what Theodora Bear growls in her silent stuffed animal way. Maybe I do, too. When I need to see things someone else’s way. When I need a story to make sense of something. I’m very fond of stories. My sister, Nathalie is good at telling them. A story a day keeps bad things away. Like gears that might grind you up. Or Iama the Terrible. Especially when Iama doesn’t know she’s being terrible. She may be just scared or lonely. Sometimes it takes more than story to wind her up, help her find her growl. Or her voice. It may take a miracle. Or a stuffed animal, like my Theodora Bear. We all need help finding our growl sometimes.

If you’d like to hear our story (mine, Theodora’s, Nathalie’s, and Iama’s), you can find it here…

Mischief Corner Books/Shenanigans Press: https://www.mischiefcornerbooks.com/store/p161/Wind_Me_Up%2C_One_More_Time.html#/

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F is for Faith

There is Trouble at Caerac Keep. My sisters are I are right in the middle of it, even if we are the Points of the Unicorn’s Horn. If the undead hunt within our city’s walls, we should be the ones banishing them. Instead one of my sisters, Hope, is one of the many disappearances happening in Caerac Keep. My other sister, Charity, languishes in an illness, a lethargy, and a lack of spirit, sporting two small red holes in her neck. The legendary kiss of a vampire. Nor is she the only one to suffer this kiss. Only the Serpent Born warlock I’ve been forced to work with insists this sickness is not the work of vampires. Hah! As if I could trust a word he says. Not that the creepy sorcerer or the disturbingly attractive Aethyrian are any worthier of trust. Still I’ve been commanded not only by Lord William Caerac and Lady Ylynessa, but by the Order of the Unicorn itself to work with these three. To find our lost ones and a cure for this illness. To find out who’s behind it all. For the sake of my sister, the Unicorn, and Caerac Keep itself, I will do so. No matter how much my stomach turns or my heart protests.

E is for Emma

Your Name Is Emma. You like the coffee so much in this cafe, you cannot leave it. Not even after your death. You’re not sure why you died. Here is where you drank cafe mocha after cafe mocha, scribbling bits of story in your notebooks. Now you’re part of a story yourself, a far less pleasant position. You can only drink coffee if you possess someone here. Your ex-girlfriend Esther allows you to use hers, but she getting tired of accomodating your ghostly needs. She was already tired of it when you were alive. You’ll have to hurry, figure out why you died, finish one of the snippets you were scribbling. Otherwise the Soul Catchers will find you. They’re already looking for you. Whatever happens, you don’t want to be caught by them. The Soul Catchers are the reasons there aren’t too many ghosts around. You’re not sure how long you can stay ahead of them. Not to mention there’s only so far you can run.

D is for Dyvian and Danyel, Not Tayel

Dyvian

I am the Voice which calls all of you to Seraphix. Including you, my little ones, The Hand and the Eye of the Tower. Stealing Myself From the Shadows was only the beginning. I called Leiwell, My Tool, My Treasure forth to feast upon my rebellious lord’s son. Caught in a Web of Inspiration I was feasted upon myself by my bride in the Gardens of Arachne. My spirit took flight into shadow rather than become trapped in stone. I became the hungry mouth at the beginning of all story, swallowing myth to become one myself. I’ve been god and devil, offering you A Godling for Your Thoughts? Yet I serve both. Greater than love, I’m always motivated by love. I’ve been both slave and master, whispering secrets and spinning my own webs. Denounced as a villain, never daring to be a hero, My Cusps Overfloweth. This is just a taste of what I am, little ones. Tell me, who are you?

Danyel

I chose my name just as Tayel and I chose to be The Hand and the Eye of the Tower. Yes, I’m Stealing Myself From Shadows by giving the shadows a little of themselves back. A Godling for Your Thoughts? Maybe there is a godling in what I give. A godling gave me life, showing me what life could be or was he a shadow? My Tool, My Treasure could be so many things, for I’m constantly them in so many people, so many objects. If I hand something back, even if it’s just a rock, I hope they’ll remember something they thought was lost. I can be caught in a Web of Inspiration, but I’m hoping I’ll learn something when I do. If only I can avoid getting eaten. My Cusps Overfloweth or one day they will. How is a cusp like a cup? There’s no answer to that. Unless there’s a lot of answers.

Tayel

People think I’m the strange one. You wonder why I won’t leave Danyel even though my name no longer starts with D. I won’t leave him when we’re The Hand and the Eye of the Tower. I may be Stealing Myself From Shadows for the shadows and I are one. No, I won’t explain as you divide us into a single self. A Godling for Your Thoughts? You’re just opening a Door with that question I’m struggling to close. My Tool, My Treasure are titles which fill me with fear even if they’re willingly claimed. All too aware we’re trapped in a Web of Inspiration, we wander a maze which takes us to the center where a monster awaits. My Cusps Overfloweth as do Danyel as they lock and enjoin. Ask me no more questions. I have no desire to see the answers lying behind them.

C is for Caerac

All I get is a bit as a resurrected corpse in Trouble at Caerac Keep. I’m there to tell these meddling young adventurers what they need to know. To think they don’t like being called adventurers! Why, adventurers shaped history when I was alive. Have they forgotten that the walled city they’re trying to save wouldn’t exist if I hadn’t built it? There wouldn’t be a Caerac Keep without me. No walls for humans to keep the monsters out from the wild, hungry land. No lair for vampires to lurk in plain sight, wearing a deceptive mask to fool their prey. No place for necromancers to ply their skills, stealing victims and resurrecting decent folk like myself to assist in their evil places. I even created my own mausolem where anyone could show up and bother me. Huh, a fair point. Shutting up now.

B is for Briar

She once called me the Fairest of them all. Searching her own reflection, she saw only me. The girl she loves and discarded for power. She crushed what she saw. She ended up cursing both of us. I rose from my curse no less the witch than she. Determined never to be alone, to isolate myself as she did, I sought a love of my own, even if I had to curse her to do so. I got more than I ever dreamed I would.

A is for Amberwyne

From Rhane’s imagination I was conjured to be her character in a roleplaying game. An enchantress’s protègè, cursed to counter her curses, undoing the evil she spread. Only the evil is spreading from my land to the dice in my player’s world, affecting her lover and gamemaster. Now it’s affecting all the players as well. I cannot let that happen. The Players Are the Thing. We characters wouldn’t exist without our players. My own loves and needs me as I love and need her. I must save Rhane and her gaming circle, even if I must defy reality to do it.