It's another round number, boys and girls. hopefully, nothing terrible happens. Minus the Bastards that burned down Hylsdal of course may all the terribleness happen to them.
The editing duo reports the following chapter fit for reading with only a mild chance of mental distress. Hopefully, this report is accurate. So let's get on with it.
ko-fi For having a pretty picture commissioned.
Sapphire
Wiki
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Chapter 80: Drawing Up Plans
Well, they hadn’t blown anything up yet, admittedly because they hadn’t managed to make anything even close to ready for testing. So they had packed up the three things that were sort of ready to show off. Dakota wasn’t entirely pleased that Tink hadn’t waited until they had proper prototypes ready. Not to mention they weren’t here to play at being inventors. It wasn’t hard to argue it was good for their schedule though. They hadn’t expected to have this meeting for days or possibly weeks.
It hadn’t been much more than 24 hours, yet they now found themselves standing outside a very impressive looking building. It was very tall, and had all kinds of strange things cluttering its exterior. There were windmills of different kinds, weather vanes, cranes, hoists, and a fair few things Sapphire had no clue what were.
Sapphire had left her bow at Tink’s workshop as it might provoke some questions around here.
It also begged the question: if this was where the engineering guild was located, why did Tink seem to live in his own workshop, a fair distance away?
“Oh this is going to be marvelous. Come along now,” the clearly excited Tink went as he approached the door guards. “Hello my fine fellow, I’m here for an appointment with Craftmaster Jakolev.”
“My my, got another brilliant idea have you?” One of the guards responded slightly sarcastically. It didn’t seem to faze Tink though, that was for sure.
“No, three,” He replied triumphantly. “And he is gonna love them.”
“Well, go on in. I’ll escort you since you're bringing friends today.” The guard turned to look at the trio, clearly slightly surprised as he gave them each a once over. Eyes lingering in certain places. “Where did you find those beauties?” He asked as he turned to open the door.
“They found me in fact,” Tink replied, completely unfazed by the guard's attitude as he slipped in the door. The inside was decently decorated and definitely well kept. It was a rather stark contrast to Tink’s cluttered up workshop, with its nice corridors and clean floors. Sapphire peeked in the few open doors they passed, which seemed to lead to offices or something of the like. There were certainly both parchment and tables in there.
“So how’s it going lately, Junior?” The guard questioned. the two of them bringing up the rear.
“Oh, you know, the usual… until those three showed up.”
“Am I allowed to know what it is our new huntress friends have come up with?”
“Oh, they aren't the designers they are messengers, and unfortunately no… not yet at least”
“Darn it, I’m guessing it’s quite something to get old Tink to stop chasing his own crazy ideas.”
‘Oh I’m sure you would like to know, also “sorry Tom” we definitely found a crazy one,’ Sapphire thought to herself, sending the mental apology to Tom.
They had arrived at a set of nice double doors. Two guards stood here as well. 'Well, whoever this guy is, he’s important, that’s for sure,’ Sapphire thought as the guards swung open the doors following them inside.
Inside was a very nice room with large glass windows on the far wall, looking around there was shelving all around, most of it filled with models of different kinds. There were model buildings, wagons, siege engines, and many other odd things that Sapphire had no clue what were. In front of them at a very large desk, a male dragonette of around Nunuk’s age was sitting. ‘He has spectacles!’ Sapphire thought to herself. She knew those cost a small fortune, and she hadn’t ever seen someone use them before. Usually, you would get a healer to fix any kind of eye problems.
“So Tink, what did you come up with this time?”
“Ohh, greetings crafts master. First off, on the insistence of my companions, I must have you sign this before we continue. Your guards too if they are to stay.” The old dragonette, who Sapphire assumed must be Craftmaster Jakolev, tilted his head downwards a little to peer over the top of his spectacles, sighing slightly.
“Bring it here. And yes, they are staying. You may go Werner.” Tink handed over a copy of the non-disclosure agreement, the guard who had escorted them leaving the way they came. The two other guards moved up to the desk.
“I see, quite unlike you to not want the world to know what you have been working on,” Jakolev replied, signing the document, the two guards doing the same. “So what you got?”
Tink gestured for them to bring forth the things, first presenting the drawings Tink had copied down and then the prototypes. It took a bit to explain what it all did, Jakolev didn’t say anything other than ask questions here and there.
“So it will not make your hand dirty when using it?”
“Oh gods no. This is just the core. I wrapped it up in a bit of leather for the time being, but it should just be wood. It would revolutionize design work, not to mention save a lot of parchment in the drawing departments. It’s cheap too, and can be carried wherever you go. Excellent for note-taking or possibly map work. Imagine not having to carry ink with you or relying on charcoal and chalk.”
“I’ll grant you it’s rather brilliant. But can you make it?”
“Certainly, it shouldn't be hard to do. It's just clay, that ghastly grey stuff, and cheap wood.”
“Very well, what of this self-lighting lamp. Why not just carry a flint and steel?”
“Oh we want to make it smaller, so it can fit in your pocket. And you can carry it at all times, it would become your flint and steel. Isn't it brilliant?!” Tink was clearly barely restraining himself. Jakolev though was a lot more calm and thoughtful.
“Agreed, but what of prices. This looks to be a rather complicated piece of kit.”
“We talked about perhaps making the first ones more like jewelry. You know, a status symbol for the rich.”
“That could work, I certainly want one if you can make it nice and clean, it would make lighting a pipe so much easier. The lamp might be easier to make for general use.”
“Excellent, so would you agree to produce these under license?” Dakota went, cutting to the bone of why they were here.
“If Tink here can come up with some proper designs for a finalized product I don't see why not. Except for the fact, the most complicated little things we make are locks. We will need some more jewelers too. I’ll see what I can do about that. What sort of licensing are we talking about?"
“Quarter of sales price,” Dakota answered calmly. Sapphire had been working that out. If a golden lighter ended up costing say 20 gold they would be getting five. That meant that if most of the people in the council bought one they would make hundreds of gold… from a drawing.
‘I can see why Tom was so damn well paid back home and that’s just the lighter,’ Sapphire thought.
“One-fifth.” Jakolev retorted leaning back in his chair.
“Uhh-uh, not happening, quarter on everything. Those are our terms as per the contract we brought. Remember, we’re just the messengers.”
“Then I want exclusive rights for no less than five years. With a clause for renegotiating the contract once it expires at my discretion,” That sounded like rights forever to Sapphire.
“With a twenty-five year maximum, only extendable upon agreement of both parties,” Dakota replied, seemingly very pleased. “Oh and before you consider breaking our agreement. Should this venture prove profitable for both sides, which I'm sure it will be, these will not be the last inventions you can expect from us.” Jakolev looked at Dakota quizzically at that, seemingly trying to figure out what exactly he was dealing with here.
“Done. Tink, get yourself in gear. I want those things ready yesterday. We need to know if they could do any harm before we send them for approval.”
“Sir, yes, sir” Tink replied beaming with pride.
“Approval?” Sapphire questioned, that was a new one to her.
“Yes, of course, any such radical invention must be approved. We can’t have some craftsman who knows nothing of how to handle arcane inscriptions trying to sell them to the wider public. That would be disastrous. I can only imagine the harm done to our reputation if we started selling items that turn your hand black or grey.”
“How long would that take?” Dakota questioned.
“Normally that would take weeks, perhaps even months. Luckily I might be able to help speed that process up a bit. Not to mention, there is hardly anything dangerous here. There isn’t even a hint of magic in fact. It should be no problem.”
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“Now, now, don’t worry. You're safe here, I promise,” Lothal went as he rocked his little sister back and forth gently. The baby still hadn't stopped crying yet. Unkai had checked her over finding nothing wrong, incredibly. Tom guessed what had just happened wasn’t a pleasant experience in the least.
They had moved the 4-year-old girl over to try with her. Kalestine requested a minute before they continued, this was clearly not easy on her. Lothal moved away with the baby, going over to the other kids to stay clear of what was about to happen. Tom repeated the cut, drawing fresh blood in the same manner as before.
As with little baby Jinaro, when the blood hit Vibexa’s mouth it seemed to burn through, Kalestine’s breathing growing laboured as she strained greatly. The bright white light pouring forth from the young girl as she too let out an ear-piercing scream. Tom stood back this time as she thrashed around on the ground. It looked horrible. Just like with Jinaro, the light began to fade and eventually cut out. Then there was silence.
Jackalope leaned down to jostle the kid, to no effect. Jinaro had been screaming and crying right off the bat.
“Tom, she’s not breathing,” Jackalope went, looking at him with a horrified expression. Tom turned to look at Kalestine who was face down in the grass.
He quickly moved her head so he could hold a hand in front of a nostril.
“Well, she’s still breathing. Unkai get over here!” He replied, slightly relieved. He could guess at what the punishment was for killing a unicorn after all. “I think she fainted?” He went as Unkai arrived, sprinting over.
“Does that mean...” Jackalope trailed off, looking down at the girl, the spark of hope in her eyes fading.
Tom didn’t want to say it, but he knew. She was dead, very dead by now in fact. He didn’t know how long it had been, at least an hour though that was for sure. Short of some miracle magic, there was nothing to be done now.
He had believed this was all going to be fine… Why wasn’t it fine! He didn’t even know what god to curse for this. The old man from back home could hardly be held responsible. But why? Why give them hope. Twice even! Just to snatch it away like that. Most of All Tom just wanted to chuck his helmet for distance right now or go punch a tree. This wasn't fair, It was the excatch goddamn opposite of fair!
“Unkai do you think she could… you know later?” Jacky tried looking to Unkai.
“I know jack shit about unicorns other than ‘do as they say,’ and ‘be polite.’ ” His tone was hard, though there was clearly hurt in there. He would have expected it to work too, Tom guessed. Why wouldn't he have?
“Right,” Tom replied somberly, not quite sure what else to say right now. “I’ll... grab a blanket,” he continued, getting up.
Jackalope held out an arm to stop him for a second. “Tom, you're sure you can’t... You know?” she tried, clearly putting on a forced hopeful smile.
“We couldn’t save her now even if she was in a hospital bed in my home’s capital… I’m sorry,” Tom replied, looking down. “And I’m not even a doctor, healer, whatever… I can’t help her.” Jackalope’s smile faded as she looked back to the girl. Tom for one couldn’t stand to look at the girl anymore right now, so he walked away.
Jarix had laid down and curled up into a half-moon shape, with Zarko and the rest of the kids within the half-moon. Tom made his way over towards Zarko who was sitting with the twins. He almost felt sorry for Zarko as she was trying her best to comfort them. They weren't stupid; they knew they had just lost a sister, for the second time today.
The twins were damn near shaking with fear as they looked around despite Zarko’s efforts. Lothal was sitting with the crying Jinaro, Revo was lying on his back, head turned to stare at his dead sister.
Tom couldn’t even imagine what it must have felt like down there. Not knowing how long it had been. He hadn’t seen any food either, they might have eaten it of course, but there was a good chance they were starving too. Tom sat down between Revo and Zarko. Gesturing for Lothal to come over.
He took his backpack off to get some rations out. Sugar probably wasn’t the right thing right now, but he did have a rather large bag of trail mix of the local variety, and they could use all the distractions they could get right now. “You hungry?” he tried, holding out a handful for the twins.
It took a bit before one of them reached out a hand to gingerly take some of it not saying a word. “No need to be shy, it’s yours. Would you mind Zarko?”
“Of course,” she replied, holding out her hand. Tom giving her the handful of trail mix to let her feed the two of them.
“How’s he doing?” Tom said, looking to Revo who was lying on his back.
“Unkai said his lungs are dirty, but he’ll be fine.”
“Somebody was brave protecting your little sister, hey?” Tom tried, in his most encouraging voice. The boy turned to look at him, giving a meek smile, which quickly vanished as he looked back to where Jackalope was sitting. Tom could hear her sobbing from here. “Lothal, do me a favor and hand this out, would you? Take as much as you want.” Tom went, giving the young man the bag and getting back up again.
“She’s not coming back is she?” Revo questioned, clearly on the verge of another breakdown.
“I’m sorry, but no I don’t think so.” Tom could feel the air vibrate with the growl that came from Jarix. The kids ducking for cover on instinct. “Welcome to war, Jarix. I hope you like it,” Tom went as he walked over to him to retrieve a blanket from his pack. The growl almost turned out a whimper at that. Maybe that was too rough, Jarix had done extremely well thus far. He needed to learn though, and he would hopefully never get a better lesson than this.
“But she’s dead, Tom. Why didn't she make it!?” Jarix protested. Clearly very distraught. Yeah okay, that was too rough, this wasn't his fault after all.
“Shs shs shhh, big guy. You did all you could. And we would never have found them without you. Hell, we wouldn’t even have made it here without you. And we didn’t lose a kid, okay?” Tom went, waiting until Jarix finally looked at him. “We saved five. You. Helped save, five kids. And you should be damn proud.”
“But I wanted to save six.”
“We all did, but that's another fact of war, Jarix. You don’t always win.” Tom grabbed a blanket from one of the bags low slung on Jarix’s harness, giving him a pat on the side. “And there is a big difference between losing a fight and losing a war.”
It would seem Jarix got what Tom was talking about, his head swiveling around to look at Tom. “We were told that if we find the enemy we are to return to the keep.”
“We haven't found them yet,” Tom replied in as hard a tone as he could muster right now. He mostly just wanted to scream for vengeance. That wouldn’t do though, not right now at least.
Tom moved over to the sobbing Jackalope, wrapping the kid up in the blanket before sitting down with her and giving her as much of a hug as he could manage. “They die for this!” she finally sneered out.
“What do you say we see about making that happen. Come over here, we have something to discuss,” he went, releasing her. She didn’t need to be told twice, shooting to her feet and turning to flank Tom as they walked over.
“Zarko, it was four hours to Deriva, right?”
“Yes, but it will be night by then… and what about the kids?”
“We leave them here with Unkai and Kalestine, we will give her some time to wake up. I don't want to get there before nightfall anyway. Are we sure we are dealing with Darklings here?”
“We shouldn't be talking about this here... We will be right back. Jarix, watch them. He is big and friendly so don’t be scared. No one hurts you while we are here. ” Tom had to agree with that assessment. Probably better to leave them be alone for a bit, rather than rub their noses in this. The three of them walked by the water's edge for a bit, until they were confident in being out of earshot. Well except for jarix.
“They took the bodies Tom, there must be darklings among them,” Zarko started. “That door was no darkling though.”
“Do they need to sleep?`”
“Yes, just like we do. They are essentially us… you know.” She sounded ashamed of that, it was just what Tom wanted to hear though.
“Excellent, can they see in the dark better than you can?” That took her a second to respond to.
“Don’t think so. I think I would have heard of that if they could.”
“Very good. I say we go to Deriva, you drop me off then you get some rest. I have some fun with them in the night.”
“You want to go in there alone?!” Jackalope questioned, clearly not happy with that idea.
“You people can’t hide at night, you're white and there will be moonlight. I can.”
“Tom, that is a stupid idea,” Zarko agreed. “And we would lose the element of surprise. If you insist on us trying to help them, then I say we dive in, take some shots at them and climb out. With luck, some of them will follow us and we can draw them off.”
Tom had to think on that for a second. “Can you hit them in the dark though?”
“Whatever broke down that door and did in Kalestine cannot be a small target. If we can handle that, the keep might have a chance. Or at least hold out for long enough to get help.”
“Think Jarix can outrun whatever it is they have?”
“He might be brash, but he’s fast. It’s not without reason he flies without a combat crew.”
“What if we do both?” Tom then asked, looking at the two women. “At night they won’t see you until you're right on top of them. Then when I start blowing shit up, you dive on the bastards. Then I slip away in the confusion.”
“Tom, Deriva lies on the edge of a canyon. There is not much to hide behind and you can only come from one side,” Jackalope protested. That would be a problem, with his cloak though he should be fine so long as he could maintain a decent range.
“Do they have sniffer dogs? Or anything like that?” The two of them just looked at him confusedly, clearly not having a clue what he was talking about. “Something that can find me using smell.”
“A vargulf can do that I’m fairly sure,” Jackalope replied, clearly thoughtful on the subject. Tom guessed it made sense if you hunted from the air that you wouldn't use smell much. From his understanding, though the Vargulfs were more like hyenas, they wouldn’t pass up a carcass. So it made sense they could find it.
“Zarko, will they be organized enough to search for me, or do I just have to not be seen?”
“Depends on who’s giving them orders. With beasts like whatever broke down the door present, I say there is a very good chance they have someone telling them what to do.”
“So it’s just one dude telling them what to do?”
“Maybe. There is no saying if there is more than one. Not to mention, they took the bodies from Hylsdal; they must have something with them which can corrupt. A regular darkling can't do that.”
“Another dark knight then?”
“Quite possibly.”
“Then I say this just turned into an assassination mission.”
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So then you win some you lose some, unacceptable as it sometimes is. What did you think, too rough to kill another kid? I know some of you were even rooting for a dead baby. If you think I'm an arsehole for my transgressions, then do let me know down below. I'm sure you can come up with some very colorful language.
Until next time have an awesome day. Hopefully more awesome than Tom and company at least.
ko-fi For having a pretty picture commissioned.
Sapphire
Wiki
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Synopsis: After hoodwinking Darkos, a holy priest, into escorting her back to her castle, Dark Enchantress Geela has one item left on her list: revenge on her ex-husband. With a confused Darkos in tow, she sets out. However, Geela isn't the only one with secrets. And Barney isn't the only old enemy who's about to get a visit.
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Geela sat in her cabins, furiously screwing magical latches into a pair of boots she’d been tinkering with on and off throughout the voyage. Darkos had wanted—no, demanded—that they stop at the next port for supplies. ‘Supplies’. Geela knew what he meant. He wanted to be able to walk without falling over. She understood, she really did. And she sympathized. Empathized, even, a sensation she rarely felt and rarely wanted to.
But she didn’t have to like it. Nor did she have to go ashore herself. So instead she fiddled with the instrument that, when complete, should help counter some of Darkos’s wobbliness. Given Darkos’s general deftness on land, she wasn’t dealing with fixing something internal. Providing him with a little stability should, at least, reduce his clumsiness to some staggering. Much better than having him scootch around the ship. It was a bad look for both of them. Besides, while Geela was more than capable of taking out merchants on her own, she was going to need him by her side when dealing with the twins.
As Geela finished an incantation on the laces of the boots, her eyes fell to the small satchel that she’d banished to the far corner of her room. The one she’d come to know as The Barney Bag. The one with the correspondences between her ex-husband and Nefaria. Darkos had, months ago, when they’d first started out, dreamt of a connection between Noire and Barney, and though Geela had since tried to dismiss the omen, she really couldn’t anymore.
She’d only read through a few of the letters but they made her stomach churn. The way Barney talked about her, the disdain, the mockery, the divulgence of personal secrets… It was enough to make her want to scream. It was also, apparently, enough to make Nefaria want to scream, as the woman had, several times, begged Barney to stop insulting Geela’s bedroom performance.
Barney,
Thank you for your latest update on how to spot Geela’s illusions. I’ve long been watchful of the couple that stops by so frequently with heavy suspicions about the Church of Celeste. With your information, I’m almost certain the woman is Geela in disguise. I’m speeding up my plan a bit and will continue to sow suspicion around the church. Let’s see if we can’t get her to break their faith ahead of schedule.
Meanwhile, there is something I must ask of you. Please please PLEASE stop giving me such in-depth descriptions of your ex-wife’s lack of proficiency in certain intimate settings. I cannot stress how little I care. As I do not plan on bedding her, these details literally could not be lower on the list of things I want to know. Please stop. I get it. You two have issues. I’m really not interested.
Cordially,
~ N. S. Keem
Nefaria had kept such detailed records that she’d even kept copies of her sent letters, which was endlessly helpful to Geela, even if it pained her to read them. She could only tackle them a bit at a time, but it had been a few days since she’d read any, so she really ought to…
But. Not today. She got seasick reading when the boat wasn’t moving. Besides, the sooner she got these boots working, the better.
They weren’t planning on staying at port very long, anyway. They planned to set sail an hour before sunset. The First Island Region was actually the smallest of the island regions, so even their capital city, Breezeport on the Island, was pretty tiny. With such a small city and such a short period of time, even Darkos couldn’t get in that much trouble.
--
“You said you paid for it!”
“I’m a pirate, lad! We lie and steal. It’s in our blood!” A series of explosive noises sounded as Geela watched Darkos and Saleman racing down the dock towards The Scilatia. “Just keep your little legs running!”
“My legs—” bang “Aren’t—” pow “Little!” crash.
Darkos could barely keep said legs moving as he and the burly pirate landed on the boat, about three minutes after their scheduled departure time.
“Geela! Get the boat going. Go go go!” Darkos panted the words before flopping down on the deck, beside a significantly less winded Sal.
“Poor man.” The pirate had a light blue bag slung over his shoulder and Geela cocked an eyebrow at it.
“What’s inside?” she asked, tapping a foot like a displeased parent.
Sal eyed the bag and then eyed Darkos, before smiling broadly. “The boy wanted to do some shopping. He likes his trinkets. I said I’d cover it.”
“That means pay for it.” Darkos’s words were a tad muffled given he was still facedown on the deck.
Geela rolled her eyes and looked up the ship at where Bob Grok was fidgeting with a spoke on the ship’s wheel, eager to get going.
“Alright, Bob!” she called up to him. “Let’s get this thing going!”
“Not so fast. These men— hey!”
Geela looked up from Darkos to see a unit of guards planted on the docks, their captain, the one who had spoken, looking furiously at the withdrawn gangplank.
“You can’t just— alright, stop your boat!” he ordered as the ship began moving, slowly at first, through the harbor. “Someone, stop them!” He started walking down the dock, never losing eye contact with an amused Geela.
“Something the matter, sir?” she asked, leaning on the rail so that she was spitting distance from the man.
“Your men stole several valuable items from the Artisan's Market!” The guard, saddled down by a good amount of armor, had broken into a jog, lifting his knees up high, to keep pace with the accelerating boat. “By the laws of the First Island Region—”
“We’re not in the First Island Region,” Geela said. “We’re not on the islands, after all.”
“You are still in our legal jurisdiction, ma’am!” His voice rose as he increased his gait to a run. “Our laws still apply.”
Geela scowled. “Well, I can’t claim to know too much about these legal minutiae. I tend to not pay much attention to them, personally. I can go below deck and do some research, but I fear by the time I get back up, we’ll be well out of your territory.”
He was starting to look panicked as the boat continued its acceleration and he was forced to sprint. “You must turn them over. Let me speak with your captain.”
Geela threw back her head and cackled. “Oh you poor, dear man. I am the captain.”
At this phenomenally timed revelation, the captain of the guards, eyes still fixed on Geela, reached the end of the dock and dashed right off. For just a moment, his eyes widened and bulged as he flailed through the air before landing with a great splash. His guards frantically began yanking their armor off as they dove in to rescue their misfortune leader.
A few stayed on the dock, shouting after the boat to come back, while Geela let out another peal of laughter.
“Let this be a lesson to you about dealing with pirates!” she shouted. “And consider yourselves lucky. Not every soldier who comes face to face with the Dread Pirate Ja’Eel lives to tell the tale!”
She wanted to add more, but they were too far away, and it would start to look embarrassing if she kept shouting when no one could hear her. So instead she waved and gave another laugh, before turning to Darkos, who was still face down on the dock.
“Well? What did you get?” she asked.
His voice, still muffled, wasn’t loud enough to be heard over the sound of the creaking boat, so she looked to Sally.
He grinned. “Well, you’re going to like some of these things, I think. Darkos got some specifically for you and your girl.”
Geela wrinkled her nose at the idea of Jane being her girl. “Eurgh. Probably another hat. Just show me the interesting stuff.”
This finally roused Darkos enough to pull his face from the floor. “No! I want to show her those over dinner. I’ve got a— remember? The presentation?” He eyed Sal dramatically before jerking a head at Geela.
Darkos really was a sweetheart. He knew how much she liked a show.
“Alright, alright, I’ll wait.” By now they were pulling out of the harbor and it had gotten dark out. “Dinner’s going to take a little longer tonight than usual. Mazy and Ru picked up some specialty items.”
“Making us some real fancy goop tonight?” Darkos sounded excited about the goop, something Geela could never quite manage. As good as it tasted, she just didn’t understand how the chefs could throw together tomatoes, pheasant, peanuts, coriander, noodles, fish sauce, shrimp, and bread and end up with grey goop.
Still, her stomach gurgled at the idea too. “I want to do a quick round before dinner anyway. Make sure everyone that I care about got on board.”
“Did the doctor make it?” Darkos asked. She knew he was still scared of the woman, but Doc Chop was an essential part of their crew, partly cause she kept them running and partly cause Geela had yet to find a way to investigate the woman’s enchanted prosthetics.
“Of course she did,” Geela said. “Heard her tapping around on deck earlier.” The sound of the woman’s left foot, which she’d replaced entirely with an onyx spike that ended in a fine tip, had been unmistakable.
Darkos shuddered. “I’d hate to meet whatever did all that to her.”
Geela exchanged an eyebrow raise with Saleman, who let out a burly laugh.
“You already have, lad,” he said.
Darkos looked startled at this. “Did one of the pirates… oh. Oh yikes.” He wrinkled his nose. “Yikes.”
Geela laughed, watching Darkos’s face as he slowly realized that every single one of Doc Chop’s modifications had been elective.
“Feels like that would hurt,” he said, voice quiet.
“Yes, well, I’m sure she knew what she was getting into.” Geela looked around the ship as the lights blinked on, one by one. “I suppose I’ll go to a round of the ship before dinner. Mazy said they’d be done just after sunset, which looks like it’s upon us.”
Sally squinted up at the sky as he reached down an arm to help Darkos off the ground. “Bit early, eh?”
Geela paused at this, looking around the boat. Yes. Yes, it did seem a bit early for sunset. She’d planned on leaving an hour before it grew dark, and while the two had delayed her slightly, it hadn’t been my more than a few minutes. They’d only been out of the harbor about ten or fifteen minutes.
Why was it so dark all of the sudden?
The shouts of her pirates, just a few at first, then more and more, louder and louder, pulled her attention to the right flank of the boat.
“Look, in the water!”
“Oh gods, it’s a whirlpool.”
“Idiot, whirlpools don’t work like that.”
“Something’s coming out of the water!”
This last shout was the closest to true. Geela reached the rail in time to see, only about a hundred or so feet out, the hull of a ship rising from the depths. With no time to lose, Geela raised a hand, triggering the transformation of her own boat. Whoever they were facing wasn’t going to catch her unawares.
“Man then cannons!” she shouted. “Bob, get them in place.”
By the time her transformation had completed, another ship had risen from the depths. Then another. And another. Soon a modest fleet of a dozen or so boats had risen up. They didn’t look much like The Scilatia, with its high masts and large hull. These ships were flat, low to the ground, with only their thin masts poking high above the water. They shifted in color as they made their way towards The Scilatia, camouflaging well with the sea.
Geela’s heart raced in her chest. It was time for a real fight, the one she’d been itching for for weeks now.
Atop the ship closest, stood a figure, near the front, holding onto one of the masts. As the boats grew closer, Geela pulled out her spyglass to make him out in better clarity.
The man looked to be in his late thirties, dressed lavishly in dark ruffles and a flashy hat, complete with more feathers than was really fashionably reasonable. His dusky skin was marked with thin, well-groomed facial hair, and he examined his nails disdainfully, even as the two boats grew closer.
“So that’s the void spawn?”
Geela turned to see the ship’s doctor by her side, staring intently at the oncoming armada. The bar that pierced the bridge of her nose emitted a sheen of light over her bronze eye.
“You can sense magic?” Geela asked.
“Through my enchantments. Yes. Yes, I can smell the stench of void magic as strong as on your frail friend.” Doc Chop fidgeted with a ring on her nose, nostrils flared. “He’s on one of the boats.”
Geela opened her mouth to say that she was pretty sure which boat Hari was on, when the man called out to the ship, his voice far louder than any natural human’s should be.
“Hail to you, Ja’Eel. And what brings you to my part of the ocean?” The ship was close enough that Geela could make him out without her spyglass, and now she saw the reason behind the doctor’s note.
Hari’s image flickered aboard the ship, as he spoke. It was an astral projection, a tear in the fabric of reality that allowed the man to press his soul through the tear, and to appear anywhere within a small radius of where he was.
“Can you tell which boat?” Geela asked.
The doctor shook her head. “No. There’s a mask. You can feel that I think?”
Geela could, actually. It was a feathery, smokey feeling, like cobwebs. Obscuration magic, a subset of illusions. Gross.
“Each ship has its own mask,” Geela said, as her eyes darted from boat to boat. “How many would we need to take down before you can identify the boat he’s on?”
The young woman fiddled with the bar, her pinkies tapping against them, a strange, whirring sound emitting as she worked.
“Wouldn’t work,” she said, after a moment. “My magic sensing is not that strong. The void magic, it’s just a smog over the boats. Would need a soul search. To pinpoint the location of an individual soul. That could break through the mask, yes?”
Yes. Yes she was right. Geela would need to search directly for Hari. They’d have to take down a couple of the boats in the meantime, weaken the mask, but searching for an individual’s soul would be targeted enough to pierce a breached mask.
So the plan was simple, then. Sink a boat, weaken the mask, search for Hari’s soul. Rinse and repeat until the obscuration was thin enough that she could see where he was. Then obliterate his boat and let him drown a fiery death.
Geela kinda liked it. It felt very high seas, very dashing pirate, very in line with the books her father used to read to her and Nelly when they were kids.
“Well?” Hari was close enough now that Geela could make out the thin wisps of hair that had escaped from the long black ponytail down his back. It wasn’t a bad look, so more likely than not, he’d let those strands of hair out on purpose. Oh, this man knew what he was doing. “I asked a civil question.”
“Get below deck,” Geela said to the doctor, voice quiet, lips still. “But pass a message to Bob to have his men fire as soon as they’re ready. Do not wait for my order.”
“As you order,” Doc Chop said, before vanishing from her side and limping off to the staircase.
“Ja’Eel—”
“Oh hush, would you?” Geela asked, tossing a lock of spectral hair over her shoulder, where it floated just an inch above her dress. “I’m trying to talk to my crew. Didn’t Noire teach any of its children manners?”
Hari blinked at her a few times, more amused than surprised. “No. I guess it was too busy teaching us all the crafts necessary to destroy the world. While you were busy learning—” he laughed, “manners, we were busy learning dark, arcane arts, the likes of which no mortal could ever contest—”
“Your sister died choking to death on a sandwich.” Geela sniffed. “I wasn’t all that impressed.”
“Well, Sinistrina was always—”
“Malevelo died in his sleep.” Geela picked at a nail, no longer looking at the pirate king. “That was after a sixteen-year-old girl crushed his energy crystal with a rock, sending him into a coma. Embarrassing.”
“His ambition was tempered by the need to harvest enough energy to bring the rest of us through.” Hari sounded annoyed now. “And he was—”
“Nefaria—sorry, ‘Fairy’—was eaten by a blood witch.” Finally, Geela let her eyes slowly look over the well-groomed, clearly-interested-in-theatrics void spawn. “I wonder how you’ll go.” A smile crept up the side of her lips. “Eaten by a fish, maybe? I think that would be fitting.”
Hari had just about had it with Geela, and he raised a fist in the air. A long spear of dark energy materialized in his hand.
“Super Void Death Spear… Atta—”
He almost got the word finished. Gosh, the boy was so close. But just as he wound back to throw the spear directly through Geela’s chest, the boat erupted with a series of explosions so loud that Geela was pretty sure she’d never hear again. And the worst part was that she couldn’t cover her ears as the cannonballs smashed into the ship a mere dozen feet away. No, that wouldn’t be a good look, and if this void spawn wanted to duel her in dramatics, she had to stay impassive.
Geela had definitely won this particular duel, and she allowed herself a sympathetic wince as a cannonball plopped through Hari’s outraged astral projecting, causing him to sputter out and vanish. The fleet, apparently uncertain of what quite to do now, began to tuck tail and run. As they picked up speed, still peppered by Geela’s cannons, and leaving their downed comrade behind, Geela sprinted down the length of the ship, til she had reached the very tip of the long bowsprit at the front of the boat.
“Hari!” she called, letting her own augmented voice echo out over the dark seas. “Where are you going, Hari? Not ready to play yet?”
“Curse you, Ja’Eel!” cried a voice back, cracking through the sky like thunder. “Curse you and your damned crew. We shall return.” With this, his fleet bucked and submerged, and within a few minutes, nothing left of the fleet other than the one sinking ship remained.
“Excellent,” Geela said, rubbing her hands together, eyes fixed on the spot where the ships had vanished. “We’ll be waiting.”
HUGE news everyone, for those who didn't see it on my subreddit...
GEELA IS GETTING PUBLISHED!!!
I've been working with a press over the past few weeks, negotiating a contract, but I signed the deal! Come April, The Extramundane Emancipation of Geela, Evil Sorceress at Large will be a traditionally published novel.
This has been a real goal of mine since I was ten years old. It honestly hasn't even fully sunken in yet.
I really owe you all a lot for your support, kind words, comments, reviews, and just for sticking with me this whole time, through two moves, a surgery, and so so so many more trials and tribulations.
I hope it's been worth it for you. I know it has been for me <3

Will try to keep this short but who knows. I semi sometimes live with my boyfriend and his family as my own home life isn't the greatest. We've been dating for about 6 years I'm a 22F and he 22M. He has told me that all his life he has experienced strange things from time to time examples include having horrible dreams about hell fire and skeletons, seeing full bodied apparitions as a child, and also shadows always lurking in the corner of his bedroom. I could honestly create a whole very long post about everything he's experienced but I'd rather ask about what has been happening more recently. I noticed that about 2 years after me and him had been dating, according to him, the activity had been ramping up and becoming more common than before when he was younger.
I noticed that sometimes his house gives off a creepy vibe but this was hard to detect because honestly the place is decorated and arranged very pleasantly and it's located in a beautiful part of where we live which is somewhere in the PNW. Well, especially in his bedroom is where I noticed the creepiness coming from which we think is also the center of all the activity. Actually, so, the house was built in the 60's (it's a double wide with an extended room built in after if that helps) and there used to be an older couple that lived in his bedroom and one day the wife died from natural causes in his bedroom. For awhile me and my boyfriend had the theory that the activity was being caused by the spirit of this woman who wasn't happy that a teenage/ young adult boy had been living in her room for years, oh yes by the way he has lived in this house all his life. Buuuttt that theory got debunked when his mom brought in a Catholic medium/ psychic over to the house. She said she detected a presence that was actually male, and she didn't want to say if she felt the spirit was human or.. something else, which I find odd, honestly though this women wasn't very helpful.
However I do think she's right, whatever it is it has a "male" presence. I know this because one of really the only times it's ever messed with me personally was about 2 years ago. It was the morning, I didn't have anything going on that particular day so I stayed in my boyfriends bed to sleep in while he got up for work. Eventually him and his dad (the only other 2 people there that morning) went outside to get things ready for their job, they work together doing construction. So to set the scene, I'm laying in his bed somewhere between sleep and awake while him and his dad are outside, in the bedroom there is a window to the outside where they get things ready, it was closed but it allows me to hear them chatting outside sometimes. It's really, really important to note that when they were talking to each other outside their voices sound muffled and distant. Ok so, all of a sudden I hear a voice, INSIDE the room with me it's a deep male voice, and he goes "I used to be great" I kind of starting to get up and look around while still laying in bed. Now I have to say this isn't usually like me, I do kind of get scared easily but, I think because it was the morning and not night time I felt braver, and another weird thing was that.. I didn't even care which is very very strange of me, because I'm always fascinated by evidence of ghosts existing maybe it's because I was so tired on top of it, I'm not sure. Anyways, I don't think it liked that I was ignoring it for one bit because then, I feel as though something has just rushed up to my face like.. whatever this thing was got up in my face while I was laying in bed and said... something else, unfortunately I can't remember :/ but it was still in this guttural scary, deep male voice and they sounded angry and I could even feel cold air being blown into my face like as if you felt the breath of someone on your face if they/re talking really close to your face. So.. once again this is so strange of me, what did I do? I just rolled over and tried to get more sleep.. completely just trying to ignore what was going on, I guess maybe at the time I felt that was my only option.
I eventually did fall asleep after a couple of minutes and when I did, I had the first and hopefully only sleep paralysis dream I've ever had. It was a typical SP set up I wake up to find that the surroundings looked just like the room I'm sleeping in except I can't move. The only different thing was that .. there was a cat on my chest, a calico cat to be specific I only stayed like this for a couple seconds because in my head I was just like fuck this and started to try to sit up and then when I did, my perception of reality started to shake and rattle like, if you were looking at things through the view finder of a camera and then you start shaking the camera .. kind of hard to explain :/ but it just looked like all of my surroundings were starting to fall apart and then the cat on my chest starting to hiss and meow and it swiped at me in the face and then I woke up laying on my back in my boyfriends room, totally normal.
So yeah, other strange things happen like, for a long stretch of months in the summer to be specific, we would hear scratching everywhere in the walls, wasn't always dedicated to one particular wall or room or anything just randomly, whatever room you were in (this especially happened to me in particular) you would just hear scratching, right wherever you were like as if it was trying to be as close to you as possible. I know know, could be just animals living in the walls buuttt in the summer that makes no sense as it can get so incredibly hot in my opinion no animal would want to be living in those walls in the summer, and it would happen at all different times of the day. Another thing is that my boyfriend has 2 dogs and every so often they both freak out and bark at nothing, it also gets particularly scary when I notice that their eyes seem to be looking around at something we can't see.
For example once my boyfriends vizsla was coming over to give me some love, I was sitting in the middle of the floor beckoning her to come over to me, she was exiting out of my boyfriend's parents bedroom and she had to pass by my boyfriends bedroom in order to come over to where I was. His bedroom door was open and as she passed by she looked inside, she had a stuffed animal in her mouth and when she looked over into his room she dropped it and just started starring, she became visibly more agitated and as soon as I said "Sami, what do you see in there?" she started barking like mad like, so aggressive and not like her at all as she's very gentle but protective. Her gaze starts to shift forward, now looking ahead as if whatever she was looking at in the room came up right over to the front of her face she then starts attacking the stuffed animal she dropped on the ground as if it was alive biting at it viciously and snarling at it. Her eyes are crossed in front of her like she's looking directly in front of her face and I could see this look in her eyes like she was starting to get really scared and shakes the stuffed animal around in her mouth violently and then suddenly throws it really far up in the air and against a wall almost hitting the ceiling. I know that dogs throw things around with their mouths sometimes but she had never done anything like that before, and then she came over to me with her head down looking for comfort, it was so strange.
There's three more big things I need to bring up and then I can get into my theories and questions. 1.st about two months ago, and very important to note when I wasn't there, my boyfriend said that he felt something grab his ankle while he was sleeping, this is big because this is the first instance of whatever this is physically touching him. 2nd. about a week ago I had his house all to myself as him and his family went on a little get away at a casino and I stayed at their house to watch their dogs. That night I wasn't in a good mindset at all but was trying to have a good time by myself. I was hearing the scratching again and frankly just being annoyed by it, it was coming from the large pantry in his kitchen and the scratching would get louder every time I would get closer and examine the inside of the pantry. I just tried to get my mind off of it so I brought out my tarot cards ( I know probably wasn't a good idea if I'm trying to avoid activity) but the tarot cards keep my mind busy, it's a hobby I've been working on and developing my skills on for the past 7 months. I started out by arranging them in an arch shape on the table like as if you took the deck and just spread the cards out in a smooth arch all face down. Now, to be honest I partake in the devils lettuce from time to time and this night was no exception as I was not in good spirits so to sum it up it was making my awfully sleepy and it was late and I had to go to work the next day anyway so I just left my tarot cards out like that, no intention behind it whatsoever other than laziness. The next day I come to the table to find that... somehow... a card had been pulled from the arch right into the middle of it. Now you need to listen to me when I say that I DID NOT DO THIS it wasn't a situation where I figured.. well maybe I did pull a card and I forgot or something, NO, I remember being immediately freaked out but also.. excited. I figured, what's next to do other than flip the card over and see what it is.
The card was.. the 5 of cups which, if you do tarot you would know that is probably in the top 5 most negative cards you can get. It is a card that signifies grief, loss and despair and abandonment, typically people get this card when they've experienced a death of a loved one or an intense break up or some other traumatic event. And the thing is that I have experienced all of those things recently. Soo if this situation wasn't coming off as too complicated, let me add that both me and my bf are actually polyamorous so I had been in a relationship while also being with him, and that person dumped me and the situation was frankly awful and I was lied to and I had felt abandoned. On top of that, this summer I experienced the loss of another guy I used to date, he died of an overdose and I'm still grieving him even though we weren't together anymore when he died I still considered him a friend. So about this card, it's strange because when I told people in my life about this they all asked me, did you feel threatened by this card being somehow magically pulled from the deck? And honestly, I didn't because I felt whatever it was was just telling me.. this is you. Now see if it was the death card, then yes I would feel threatened but this felt different like you could say the 5 of cups already represented me, so seeing that wasn't new information. I wondered if possibly the idk.. spirit or whatever of my dead ex had been the one who pulled it but, I don't know the more I think about it the more I feel like a crazy person.
Lastly, this only happened about 2 days ago and is the reason I've come to the internet for some advice. I was out late but planning to arrive back to sleep at my bf house. I noticed he messaged me "where are you??" at about 11:30pm which I thought was odd because he's not very clingy and just in general lets me be me so this made me worry. I wasn't able to get back until 1 am unfortunately. When I come home I find him sleeping in the guest bedroom, he says I'm not sleeping in my bedroom tonight and when I ask why he proceeds to tell me that earlier while he was laying in his bedroom he was watching something on his phone and he was noticing shadows out of the corner of his eye but he tried to ignore it. He then felt like something was on the bed and when he lowered his phone down he full on sees a completely dark figure so like an outline of a large figure that was all black with no details standing on it's knees(?) at the end of his bed looking at him with it's arms outstretched.
Lets just say, this really really bothered me because in my mind this thing is getting braver and bolder and it's behavior is escalating and me and my boyfriend don't want to wait around until.. one of us gets possessed or something!! So let me get into some leads, well just one lead:
So.. the area where both me and my boyfriend live in my opinion is like the skinwalker ranch of the PNW I mean the town we live in inspired the show Twin Peaks and some of the first and much of the third season of that show was filmed here (another hint at where we live). So on top of all of this activity something else I've been noticing is that my boyfriend has a neighbor who very late into the night is always shining really really really bright lights, in fact so bright that people up to 10 miles away can see them, that's how through small town networking I had met a man who also was seeing these strange lights. He's actually like the towns little paranormal investigator and he invited me to do an interview for him to tell him what I saw. This man is older and has been around and knows a lot of history about our town and the area and he's worked very very closely with the native tribe in our town as if you live in the PNW you are almost guaranteed to be living on native land. He had told me during that interview that where my boyfriend lives is said to be an ancient burial ground for noble native people as it's located on the side of a large mountain which they thought of as sacred. He said he's heard of many strange things happened where my boyfriend lives but didn't explicitly say that it could explain what we experience within his home.
This got me to thinking that perhaps this spirit is of a long dead noble indigenous man of high honor, could that explain why he told me "I used to be great." Some people I tell this story to don't think that as they don't think a native spirit wouldn't be malevolent but I'm inclined to think white people who stole your land and now live on top of your grave would maybe make someone like that pretty angry.
And, frankly that's all I have for an explanation. Some questions I have would be, could this possibly be a actual demon? Or a malevolent spirit? Another thing I wonder is that, my boyfriend is always the one mainly seeing and experiencing the activity while sometimes it messes with me in really weird ways, he seems to not like me and stay away from me, why could this be? Because if demons/ bad spirits are attracted to people with trauma and baggage and depression then I should be the target as I have those in spades, while my boyfriend is a relatively happy guy all the time.
Sorry this was actually really really long but please, anyone have any advice at all? And please please don't suggest saging while I have done saging rituals of my own many times I think it's too far gone in this situation and yes we have saged this house about twice now.

2005

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Increasing violence between NPK and Shankstarz
The conflict between Shankstarz and NPK from Tottenham began to intensify in 2005. That summer an NPK member was attacked and stabbed by four Shankstarz near the Texaco petrol station forecourt on Montagu Road. This was much more serious than the minor slashes and flesh wounds that were common-place in gang fights, on this occasion the male received multiple stab wounds resulting in more serious although non-fatal injuries.
Gang member of Shankstarz, Fatboy, was a suspect in the stabbing of an NPK member.
Article: NPK vs Shankstarz violence at Texaco petrol station
A few weeks on from the Texaco stabbings, a mass brawl between the Shankstarz and NPK ensued in Edmonton Green shopping centre. Two large groups from each side involving up to thirty plus 14-20 year olds began fighting near Woolworths, there were no weapons on show at this point as the brawl descended into a bunch of fights between smaller numbers of individuals. Melee objects were being thrown and some of those involved began chasing one another out of the north end of the shopping centre and the short distance up Hertford Road to the junction with Bounces Road. It was by the Jet petrol station that two NPK members came toe-to-toe with a couple of Shankstarz. The two Tottenham boys, aged 15 and 18 at the time, were stabbed and suffered serious injuries. There was a brief news article to highlight the incident that appeared in the local paper although there was no mention that it was 'gang-related'. The conflict between the two sets of former friends reached a new level now that the Shankstarz had seriously injured three NPK members in the stabbings at the Texaco and Jet petrol stations.
​
Warring violence elsewhere in Enfield and Haringey
The Broadwater Farm branch-off of TMD were now known as NorthStar and Star Gang and known by their chosen colour red and they went onto become Bloodline. Wood Green Firm became Wood Green MOB. From the mid-2000s, the main beef were these below:

• Star Gang/NorthStar, Tiverton Mandem and Ida Rydaz (SG/NS) (TM) (IR) v Shadow Kings (SK) (Up until 2004-05, when SK members were sent to jail)
• StarGang/NorthStar (SG/NS) v Wood Green MOB (WGM)
• Northumberland Park (NPK) vs Shankstarz

​
Death of Danny Bantin
In October 2005, an associate of the gang was murdered in 2005, Danny Bantin. Ashley Goodridge from Canning Town plunged a hunting knife into the chest of Danny after being confronted by three men in the street in Edmonton. Goodridge had been called to help resolve a dispute between Shean Griffith and her ex-boyfriend Hughroy Nelson over a £20 drugs debt. Goodridge brandished the knife to protect himself, it was claimed, and caught Danny Bantin in the chest. The incident occurred on Fore Street outside Edmonton Police Station in October 2005. Danny Bantin had taken no part in any of the argument with Griffith and it appeared that he had simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time. Danny had never been in trouble with the police and was described by many as a very decent young man. A former teacher of his from Eldon Primary School by Bounces Road said "He was a cheeky chap when he was young. He was a really likeable little fellow. It is just very sad".
​

• Article: Men held for Bantin stabbing

2006

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More shootings between Tottenham and Wood Green/Edmonton
In 2006, Jerome Vassell was shot by Tottenham members, he was a Wood Green MOB member and then a youth worker. His death later came as a result of brain damage.
​

• Article: Vassell dead from shooting

​
Aiden Palmer's ordeal with Tottenham also took place in the same month that Jerome Vassell had been shot. Palmer had been staying with a girl from south Tottenham not too far from the Ida estate. Late one evening at the end of October 2006, whilst he had been in bed with the girl, several members of Ida had broken into the house and the couple were woken up face-to-face with firearms. One of the males present was the father of the girls baby. Aiden Palmer had alleged that allsorts of violations had been carried out against him by the Ida members, then provided witness statements to the police claiming that they had threatened to shoot him in the legs whilst claiming others laughed as the trigger of the pistol was pulled to make a clicking noise, he said he lied scared on the bed. His phone, car and money were taken afterwards. The statements he provided to police secured an 8 year sentence for one of the defendants and acquired Shankstarz a reputation as snitches. Aiden has since been labelled as “Stormer the Informer”. His witness statements were published on the internet.
​
Edmonton and Wood Green had a shared hatred of Tottenham, they both had particular issues with south Tottenham, a subsequent alliance with one another was soon formed. With an upsurge in American gang definers playing a larger part in London gang activity at the time, symbolism and colours started to be used more frequently by gang members. The Wood Green MOB and Shankstarz both identified with the colour green and began sporting green clothing and bandanas. Wood Green to Edmonton Green became popularly glamorised as the ‘Green City’ alliance, Shanktown to Mobtown (as Wood Green was known). Their main rivals NPK now identify with purple bandanas whilst Ida (Bloodstarz) identify with the colour red. Club KO on Wood Green High Road became a regular hangout for the gang members now they were in their late teens and approaching their twenties.
Whilst the Shankstarz were starting to divulge into different activities away from the street battles conflict was being played out more so through gang music. The next year in 2007, Duane Fitzroy Tomlin, affectionately known as Fatboy, was shot dead. He had been travelling from an address in Enfield when he allegedly received a warning call. The cab then travelled to an address at Dendridge Close near Turkey Street in Enfield. As the cab was going to Dendridge Close it came under fire from a van which left the cab full of bullet holes. It is believed that upon exiting the cab Fatboy was shot at and killed, it is alleged he had been in possession of a Mac-10 sub-machine gun and a bullet proof vest.
Fatboy had been a suspect in the earlier stabbing of a Tottenham boy at the Texaco station on Montagu Road back in 2005 although this wasn't believed to be a retaliation for that. According to a few people in the local area, the Shankstarz had been supplying an increasing amount of drugs. The rumour goes that Fatboy had taken drugs from an older dealer without any intention of paying for them. No-one knows for certain how much but it was rumoured to be in the region of £20,000, some people say £50,000. The media have never really covered the story of Duane's death and so far no-one has been brought to justice. The murder was revisited briefly during a Crimewatch appeal in late 2010 where the main police suspect Robert Bernard, a 28-year-old man of Caribbean descent from Edmonton, was being hunted by police who believe that he may have travelled to Thailand on the day of the shooting.
​
Formation of the Dem Africans
Dem Africans formed around later 2006 when a group of predominantly African youths, many who had come over to London from the Congo and other African countries, begun to make a name for themselves in Edmonton throughout 2007. They were one of a handful of youth gangs who were emerging at the time in Edmonton. The others were the Red Brick Thugs (detached from the older Red Brick Crew) and the Grey Gang. At this time many of those associated to these gangs were all of a school or college age and lived alongside one another across the N9 and N18 postal districts that made up Edmonton. Because members of these gangs were all part of the same friendship circles they co-existed without too many problems, some of them even liked to see themselves as one big gang sub-divided into different sets.
Some of the Dem Africans members had a few years earlier been part of a gang from Tottenham called the ‘Tottenham Foosie Thugs’. Some of the Congolese olders from north London aged in their early twenties were arrested and sentenced for a number of crimes including shootings, drugs offences and robberies in 2005. The Foosie Thugs gang moved away from Tottenham and began to occupy areas such as the new Barbot estate redevelopment close by to Edmonton Green in the mid-2000's. The gang was known by the acronym BMW, understood as 'Boydems Most Wanted', before becoming DA.
Dem Africans claimed Edmonton Green as their turf and they were prominent around The Green where the three tower blocks are situated and also behind the train station on the revamped Barbot estate. They branded the towers as 1-2-3 blocks and the Barbot estate was always known as 41st Side. Dem Africans formed independent of the Shankstarz, they were not a spin-off or associated younger generation. Dem Africans begun in much the same way as the Shankstarz, street robbers carrying on the Shanktown reputation being responsible for a large amount of knife crime in the area.

2007

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Rise of the Dem Africans
Originally, several of the major Edmonton estates had their own individual blocks that formed the Edmonton Mandem.
By the 2007 those sets were now based on certain estates , and the two main sets of Edmonton were now Shankstarz and the recently created Dem Africans and their youngers the Younger Dem Africans also then later known as the Dark Green Riders. Other groups within DA and Shankstarz included the now extinct sets the Sunrise CrewNorth Camp and the Edmonton Young Gunners. Collectively these sets were known as the '9'. They were all linked against South Tottenham, Enfield Island Village and Hornsey.
Alliances and rivalries
DA main war was with the EIV, a gang headquartered in Enfield Island Village and controlling the Enfield Lock area. Their other major conflict was with Grey Gang. They were allied with Shankstarz and Hounslow based Aim For Riches.
Legendary members
DA members included Choppz, Usher, Black H, G-Man, Y.Choppz (Negus) (r.i.p), Krimminal, Puncher, Mega, Riddler and others.

2008-2009

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Divide of Edmonton
In 2007, the four younger gang generations co-existed, by the end of 2008 Edmonton became divided. Edmonton had been somewhat peaceful and close knit amongst this new generation, much in the same way that Edmonton and Tottenham had been close throughout the 1990's. This was about to change however. On the 1st of January 2008 18-year-old Henri Bolombi, also known as Black H, was stabbed to death on Plevna Road near Edmonton Police station.
The media glamorised the murder as “post-code” wars. But Henri was killed during a normal gang activity that happens every day. He was “caught slippin” (off-guard; in the wrong area; on your own..). Youths involved in gangs get caught slippin’ by rival gang members on a regular occurrence, either when they are in enemy areas or when enemies come looking for a fight. Gang members don't necessarily have to live in the area where their gangs territory is, and it is not uncommon for gang members to live in rival areas.
Sometimes, it’s just a matter of circumstances that bring the groups into contact. This was the case with Henri. There had been an earlier altercation between Henri and members of a gang known as EvaStrap who are young Yardies from the Tottenham area. Although predominantly of Caribbean descent most had grown up in London. They had a loose relationship with the Red Brick Thugs from Edmonton. Later after the altercation when Henri had been on his way home following New Year celebrations he was spotted by members of EvaStrap in what many people described as a chance meeting. It was nothing to do with postcode beef, he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Others say he had violated people from their ‘team’ in past incidents. He was chased after getting off a 279 bus and was found with stab wounds on Plevna Road near Edmonton Police station. The EvaStrap boys who were suspects are believed to have fled the country to Jamaica and the case has never been solved. Another member of the EvaStrap gang was convicted in July 2009 for killing an Edmonton teenager, 17-year-old Annaka Pinto, at the Swan public house in Tottenham in 2007.
Exactly three weeks following Bolombi’s death Edmonton was rocked by another teenage murder. Louis Boduka, also known by his street name Usher, a member of the Dem Africans gang was stabbed to death on Silver Street near the heart of Red Brick Thugs territory. As was said before, Red Brick were associated to the EvaStrap gang who had killed his fellow friend and gang member Bolombi and even after Bolombi’s death they had kept the link with EvaStrap. Red Brick historically linked with Tottenham which had meant their relationship with the rest of Edmonton was always contentious. The murder of Usher was reported by the media as being sparked over a dirty look. The background was more complex. Kevin Lewis from Edmonton was an associate of both the Red Brick Thugs and EvaStrap gangs who had killed Bolombi. At the time of the murder Boduka and another Dem Africans gang member ‘Mega’ had spotted Lewis and got off the bus they were travelling on along Silver Street. They approached Lewis to attack him with Boduka throwing a punch at Lewis, knocking him to the ground. In court Lewis argued that he had feared for his life when he produced a knife with which he stabbed both rivals. Boduka died from his wounds and Lewis planned to flee to Jamaica. He and his girlfriend stayed at a hotel in Northamptonshire for a couple of days in the run up to their planned flight although police became aware and Lewis was later arrested.
Rumours and speculation surrounding the murder by young people in the area had blamed a different gang for the murder. Whilst 'Mega' was in hospital being treated for chest and arm wounds, and Boduka had died, N18 gang members were being blamed by Dem African’s. There was a lot of distrust between the two sides and Dem African’s began attacking the Grey Gang, Edmonton gang relationships became more volatile. It was no longer Edmonton, it was clearly N9 (Dem Africans) versus N18 (Grey Gang and Red Brick areas).
Dem Africans grew to be the largest gang in the area and they began to recruit a younger generation who became the YDA (Young Dem African’s). Unlike the core group of Dem Africans, YDA were not solely African or Congolese. They were used as send outs by Dem Africans to do robberies and run up on their rivals the Grey Gang (who also had a small younger contingent that were Grey City Youngers) and Red Brick. Whilst the YDA took to the street Dem African’s moved into more sinister criminal activities. Many of the DA members are currently serving custodial sentences. Mega, who was mentioned in the earlier incident surrounding Louis Boduka's murder, was one of five Dem African members jailed for trying to conceal a firearm in the doorway of a building opposite the MI5 headquarters in Millbank central London in January 2009.
The MI5 incident happened when six youths ordered a taxi to pick them up from an address in north London on January 21st 2009. The youths ordered the taxi to take them to a number of addresses where they got out and back in the taxi. On their way to a final address in Vauxhaul the taxi driver alerted the police after the youths spoke about killing someone. Believing he may have seen a firearm the taxi driver drove towards Millbank against the instructions of his passengers stopping in what turned out to be a government security zone. Ousainou Leone was caught on CCTV removing a plastic bag from the taxi and dumping it in a nearby doorway, which was Thames House the MI5 headquarters.
CCTV operators tracking the youths alerted police and they were all arrested at the scene. The weapon found at the scene was a hammer action sawn-off barreled shotgun complete with seven 12-bore cartridges. The suspect Anthony Adamillo and Lema Nsimba were found to have photos of themselves on their phones posing with the weapon. The other youths jailed included Silvino Domingos and John Hernandez; all aged 18-21
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Decline of the Shankstarz
Since the prison sentences arising from feuds with the NPK gang and the manslaughter of Iyke Nmezu by a member of the Shankstarz the gang has become largely inactive as a street gang and many of the current younger generations in Edmonton align themselves with the Dark Green Riders (formerly known as the Young Dem Africans). Some members are now focused on music or individual money making ventures leaving the street crime and gang conflicts to the young generations. The Shankstarz were allied to their age generation of Wood Green MOB and P-Town (One-Tray) (Palmers Green). Younger members of the Shankstarz began to refer to themselves as North Camp.

2009-2010/2011

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Decline of DA
Many of the remaining original members, Olders, moved away from the roadside conflict leaving that to their new recruits YDA. The YDA generation are composed of a wider range of youths including African, British and Caribbean born youths. YDA, who changed their name to Dark Green Riders (DGR) have been left to run amok.
Throughout 2009 they expanded their membership prematurely when they recruited their own Youngers, Edmonton Young Gunners who have since disbanded with some becoming part of DGR. DGR claim to have taken Grey Gang and Red Brick off the roads. They see themselves as the dominant gang in Edmonton. Although there were no murders between late 2008 and early 2011 a handful of DGR members were lucky to have escaped with their lives after suffering gunshot wounds during an incident that occurred in November 2009 near West Green Road, in south Tottenham, that involved gang members from Wood Green MOB, DGR (YDA), Tiverton Piru’s and Ida Bloodstarz. The shooting, said to have been carried out by a prominent member of the Ida Bloodstarz, took place after an earlier stabbing incident in the area. Following this incidents Young Dem African’s started to come into more frequent and serious conflict with a newer gang on the outskirts of Enfield.
The Black Bandana Gang from Enfield Island Village, and their younger counterparts the Get Money Gang from across the EN3 postal area, had been establishing themselves in the north of the borough since 2007. Since the YDA/DGR had been recruited they have constantly violated the new Black Gang and GMG by travelling in great numbers up to Enfield to rob the new gang and disrespect them. After claiming to have ran the Grey Gang and Red Brick into hiding they needed someone else to go at. Their conflict with Black Gang and GMG got more serious and a game of cat and mouse ensued.
YDA/DGR would travel up to Enfield to attack, and they would mock Black Gang and GMG if they didn’t come down and retaliate. Most of this conflict gets played out over the internet on YouTube videos and comment boards, but its happening on the streets too.
The reporting has been much less active since 2008 when Edmonton was in the spotlight across London and even nationally. Of those incidents that were reported shortly after the Tottenham shooting one was whereby a 16-year-old member of DGYDA suffered a serious although non-fatal stab wound in an attack by the Black Gang that occurred in Edmonton Bus Station. A day later there were reprisals in Enfield on the main Hertford Road near Turkey Street where a teen was stabbed and two suffered serious head injuries. The conflict between Black Gang and GMG from Enfield against YDA/DGR in Edmonton is still the main violent gang activity in Enfield although there has been a resurgence from the Grey Gang (also known by the acronym GMD) who have linked up with the Black Gang and GMG against YDA/DGR.
The YDA generation began to refer to themselves as DGR - Dark Green Riders, owing to a new rule of era. Their main rivalry continues against the Black Gang and Get Money Gang. In April 2011, a young boy was stabbed to death in Lower Edmonton. Negus McLean's death is rumoured to have been carried out by members of the Black Gang / Get Money Gang from Enfield. It is claimed that Negus, whose nickname was Y.Choppz, was an associate of the Dark Green Riders and following his death a number of photo's and videos with him and other gang members were uploaded onto YouTube and Facebook sites. A number of comments on these sites are made by young people vowing revenge against members of the Black Gang / Get Money Gang for their alleged involvement in the murder of Negus McLean.
​
Death of Negus McClean
Negus McClean, of YDA, suffered multiple stab wounds after being ran down by GMG gang members - described in court as a "hunting posse" in April 2011.

• Article: Y.Choppz (Negus McClean) stabbed to death by Enfield gang members

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2013

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Natnice killed EIV member Mohammed Hussein, better known as Mo/chicken was found collapsed in Bounces Road in Edmonton in 2013.
Paramedics battled for half an hour to save him but he died at the scene from a
Article: Natnice killing
Natnice received a life sentence and current 3x3 member E1, is known for saying ''free Natnice he got birded off''.
​

2014

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DA was reported to controlling the streets of Edmonton in 2014
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Article: DA are controlling the streets

2015

DA twins lifed off for 22 years

2016 and 2017

In 2016 and 2017, A1FromThe9 began to take a foothold in drill and he dropped a Mad About Bars tune on Youtube and was the leading drill rapper for Edmonton. Soon later, he was unfortunately deported back to Germany.
​

• Audio: A1fromthe9 MAB
• The collaboration 'Kenny' is notable for A1Fromthe9. Despite mixed reaction in drills, some of the verses was popularly received by fans of Edmonton.

2019

E1, Tion Wayne, ZT and Rowdy
These 4 members have been stellar artists for Edmonton, Tion Wayne has done tunes with Dutchavelli and Stormzy and has been very successful and is an Edmonton older. Tion has long gone commercial and done numerous shows in the United Kingdom.
E1 is known for his rude songs dissing dead opps of NPK and OFB.
Rowdy is very much known for his cold flow.
ZT is arguably the most promising in 3x3.
Fore Street Macdonalds stabbing
On January 24th 2019, officers have discovered that at around 5.15pm a group of around six or seven men entered the fast-food restaurant armed with large knives.
They approached four men already in the restaurant and ambushed them, suggesting a targeted attack.
While all three men have now been discharged from a North London hospital, police are concerned that an innocent elderly bystander was almost caught in the crossfire and wish to speak to him about what he witnessed.
Allegedly the altercation was between Edmonton gang members of 3x3 and rivals from other areas......
PS altercation with Edmonton
PS (Zone 2/YPB/Hitsquad) got into a series of well known 'altercations' with members from Edmonton in north London. In 2019, footage emerged of E1 and ZT (3x3) confronting PS, and posted outside PS mother's yard in Edmonton. These confrontations flamed tensions between the two sides, with Peckham letting off shots in Edmonton.
PS and Trizzac referenced the incidents in the track 'Cheeky Snaps' released in August:

Yeah I lacked innit. They just want clout cah I rap, innit. That's why them man came round snappin' it, innit. Me I just came round slappin' it

Kwengface (Zone 2) referenced the incident in the track 'No Censor' (more on that song later):

PS just shot up the 9, now man's doing up cheeky snaps

E1 (Edmonton) responded them in the 2020 in the track 'Enfield or Tottenham'.
​

2020

FSM member rapist attacked by Wood Green members in prison
A man of Sudanese origin was sent to prison after raping a minor. He was attacked WGM members since they have a zero tolerance on rape. The video is filmed on the prison wing, and features several WGM members attacking and shoving his head down the toilet:
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• Video: FSM member has head shoved down in the toilet

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4oreside are under control of the AFG gang, operating merely as just a batch of AFG.
Younger members 3x3 claim the AFGO (Afghan Only) title. Deadmonton have made music, they are based on the Dover Estate called 1Block:
Deadmonton - Demons Only
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Deadmonton and FSM are mainly trappers who don't actively ride out to score on disliked gangs.
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N9 = AFG, O9B, 900 and 3x3
4oreSide is from N9 and are trappers from 4 blocks on the Beaconsfield Road Estate = Alma House, Penn House, Blenheim House and Chiltern House, which are the blocks on the bend of Sebastopol Road
The rest of this estate is AFG
Two gangs are in N18 = Deadmonton and FSM
Deadmonton are linked to N9
FSM are not, and they chill with DC8 and NPK but only on a friends ting
FSM are just trappers and do drill so they don’t really beef N9, but cuz they fw NPK and DC8 they don’t like each other
WG GMs beat up a FSM GM in prison (HMP Pentonville where loads of WG members are serving time)
He was one of the FSM guys who got bagged from raping a girl
Ape Huncho made a vid about it but didn’t mention the guy being beat up was a FSM member
Here is a better vid of what they did to him
This is pretty much the only thing either WG or N9 has done to FSM, cuz they’re just trappers and not drillers and it’s really a popping beef, it’s just FSM fw DC8 and NPK so N9 abs WG don’t rate them for being friends with their opps, but they’re basically civilians who just trap
Sparkz from NPK trapped for FSM before he joined NPK and his mum lives in the N18 part of Edmonton
NPK’s Mali members having links and being friends with Malis from DC8 and FSM is pretty much the only reason TPL and FSM started to fw NPK and started chilling with them, making FSM and DC8 calm with the rest of NPK and Meridian
So N9 (AFG, 3x3, O9B and 900), WG, Deadmonton, 4oreSide and SmokeSquad/OTP are all linked (only N9 and WG and OTP actually drill and beef other areas tho)
FSM, DC8, NPK and Meridian are all linked (Only NPK and DC8 beef other areas, FSM and Meridian just trap)
And OFB and N15 are linked
Essentially there’s 3 alliances in North:
Woody and Eddy (WG sets, N9 sets, OTP plus 4oreSide and Deadmonton who chill with them)
North Totty + Malis (Totty North of Bruce Grove and Mali majority gangs. NPK and DC8 plus FSM and Meridian who chill with them)
South Totty (Totty South of Bruce Grove, so N15 and OFB)
​
This article here that I have provided you is quite a detailed background of Edmonton and its sets. It should give you readers an understanding of the beginning of rivalries and formations of new sets.
Hope you found it interesting sameway.

Part One
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I was standing at the door to the underground bunker again, checking the time. The sun was setting, so I didn’t need much confirmation, but it was a habit. I was on the outside, but that was soon going to change. I steeled my nerves and opened the door. It was like walking into a room where they store frozen meat, except the meat down there is very much alive. I know. I’ve seen it.
I had a metal baseball bat clipped onto my backpack, and it was too cold against the skin on the back of my neck.
As I stepped inside, I heard a voice behind me. I recognized it and turned around to see Sarah standing there, hands in her coat and looking at me like I was some sort of psychopath. Considering that I was about to willingly go back into a shutdown, underground government office with a monster roaming around inside that might’ve already eaten my friends, maybe I was.
“You’re going back down,” she said.
“Yes. I can’t let Ryan and Hurley be killed because of my inaction. It goes against everything that I am,” I clarified.
“Well, then. That makes two of us,” Sarah replied, picking up the backpack that had been lying next to her.
“What? No, you can’t come back in with me. It has to be me,” I told her, but she wasn’t stopping.
“Why is that?” she asked.
“You made your choice, that’s why!” I yelled. I hadn’t meant to, but it just came out.
Sarah was stunned.
“Jay couldn’t’ve made you leave if you didn’t want to. You let him drag you out of that bunker and go home like our friends aren’t stuck down there. Maybe they’re dead, but I’m not taking that chance. I need to make sure that they aren’t hurt. If they’re dead, then I’ll probably be killed, but if they’re alive, I can make sure they stay that way, and I’m not passing up that opportunity!” I rambled.
“I understand. I’ve come to make amends with you, Ryan, and Hurley. I feel horrible about what I did, and I want to correct it if I can. That means going with you, so I’m coming whether you like it or not,” Sarah said, locking eyes with me.
We were the same age, but her emotional maturity sometimes made me think she was a few years older. Jay was also very stable, but that was because he had the emotional range of a two-year-old, and he was disqualified from compliments tonight.
The twins, as similar as they were, were also quite different, more and less mature, and ultimately, I got along better with Sarah. That said nothing of their interests and hobbies, simply that Sarah was more agreeable and more likely to come to a compromise instead of arguing the point for hours until we both lost.
I clicked my stopwatch to time our adventure and we went in. It was cold, maybe even colder than before, and it only got worse as we went further, deeper into the building, descending via the stairwell into what was my personal heaven and hell at the same time. It was a beautiful chance to see something similar to the urban legends and creatures that I studied like a religion, but it was also a prime chance to be killed by an amalgam of beings that were simply not supposed to exist in the same body.
After about half an hour of walking down the stairs, we came to a stop at sub-level thirty, the place where we had been trapped the night before. I opened the door to the office space and saw it exactly as it had been. We made our way, making the exact opposite turns that we had last night to get back to the door to what I assumed was a decommissioned elevator shaft. We had entered through this elevator shaft last night, and our two missing party members had gone missing from the platform outside of sub-level thirty, so that was our first stop.
We reached the locked door that had split our group, and I was still unable to open it by myself.
“You got any ideas on how to open it?” I asked, looking around for long, thin objects.
Sarah got closer to the door and inspected the lock. While she did that, I was walking around trying to spot something I could pry the door open with, like a slat or something.
“From the looks of it, this lock is pretty old. If you hit it with your bat it’ll break,” Sarah said, stepping away from my target.
I rolled my eyes as a thought came to me.
“Great, Jay’s idea was right. I feel cheated,” I said, clasping the bat with both hands.
I raised it above my head and brought it down hard. I heard the sprinkling of metal on the floor before I could turn my head down to see it. It shattered like glass, the steel having eroded over the forty years between when it was last used and now.
Carefully pushing the door open, I saw that Ryan and Hurley’s things were gone. There wasn’t a sign that they were ever there, and I thought that maybe they had taken the chance to get out and climbed back up, but there would be crumbs since I knew that Ryan was spilling them all around him while he ate some of the food we brought with us. There wasn’t anything. Someone or something had cleaned it.
That caused me to start a small freak out session on that platform. Was that monster intelligent? Were there still people down here? Did the boys clean it before they left, and are currently hanging out at an ice cream shop, wondering where I am? That seemed right, given my luck lately.
I showed the scene to Sarah, and she was stumped. I pulled a flashlight from my backpack and shined it around, trying to look for anything that might help, when I saw it. The monster. I almost missed it, but I saw that it was clinging to the wall in front of me, looking at me with a sly grin, almost like it was expecting me.
Shining my light back on it, I saw what it looked like. Before, I had only seen its face, but now I was seeing all of it, and it was absolutely horrifying. I had the head of a man, barely, and the unhinged jaw with yellow, rotted fangs was the same as before. I saw that most of it was normal human biology, only the limbs had been further modified.
The thing had scars running along its body. The four most prominent scars ran from the corners of its mouth along its cheeks, and down its neck in the case of the bottom ones. It looked like they were barely staying there, like keeping his jaw on his face was a conscious effort.
It had claws, sharp enough to cut through steel to allow it to cling to the wall like that. Its hands were far larger than any human could be, and its feet were the same. I guessed that it allowed the creature to move faster and, hopefully not, hit harder.
The rest of it was lanky and pale, as you would expect from a creature that had been locked underground for four decades. We made eye contact and I froze. It had the same blue eyes as Ryan. I distinctly remembered that the creature had glowing, powerful yellow eyes, but this thing’s eyes had the exact same shade that I had never seen anywhere but in my friend’s eyes.
The thing that used to be Ryan skittered away, climbing further down the elevator shaft and retreating into the darkness where we couldn’t see it. My legs gave out. I dropped to the ground and my hands were shaking.
“Ryan, come back!” I mumbled, but Sarah heard it just fine.
“What? You’re not making sense. You need to calm down and breathe, Caleb. Breathe,” Sarah said, holding my hands still.
“I saw it last night, and the thing’s eyes were yellow. This new one has blue eyes, Ryan’s blue eyes!” I told her once I had calmed down from my panic attack.
“Shit. What do you think that means?” Sarah asked, dumbfounded.
“I don’t know. Maybe this thing is a mimic or something,” I offered.
“What is that?” she asked again.
I sat up and leaned against the wall, pulling my backpack onto my front and rifling through it.
“It’s a creature that, once it kills something, can mimic aspects of a living thing. It might be a few individual parts of that being, or it could simply change its shape into the thing it killed. It could’ve killed Ryan and Hurley and mimicked some of their traits, like Ryan’s eyes, but I didn’t see any other differences in it from last night to now. It’s skinnier, I guess, but …” I trailed off.
“Ryan was practically a twig,” Sarah recalled.
I didn’t like where this was going.
“You aren’t saying that you think that’s Ryan and there are two of those monsters running loose in this bunker, are you?” Sarah asked, standing up.
“No,” I answered.
“Good. I’d think you’re going crazy if you did,” she said, chuckling slightly.
“I think there’s three,” I clarified.
Sarah groaned and started walking back to the stairwell.
“Well, then. I think the best thing we can do in this situation is to leave and never come back,” She told me, lingering at the doorway.
“I need to know,” I said back.
She paused.
“What? I’m sorry, could you repeat that? I thought you said that you want to stay, like a crazy person,” Sarah called me out.
“I know it’s insane, and I know that you don’t want to stay here anymore. I don’t want to either, but I need to know what’s happening here. If I don’t it’ll eat me alive until I come here again, and I don’t want to explain to my parents when I’m caught sneaking out a third time in less than a week,” I explained.
She seemed conflicted, but I didn’t and couldn’t know what was going on inside her head. I wasn’t some supernatural creature, able to lurk in the dark and invade peoples’ minds. I was me, and I was going to do what I could to find out what they were so I could end them, finally putting the bunker to rest properly.
I voiced that thought, and it got Sarah to resign herself to accompany me on my journey deeper into the bunker. I stood up and we hugged out our frustrations. It was kind of awkward for me, to be this close to a girl twice in as many days, but I was able to get over it.
We got to the stairwell, and I knew that the sun had set all the way, and it was now as dark as it was in here as it was out there. I cracked a glow stick and we started going down the stairwell.
We got another ten levels down before realizing that we still couldn’t see the bottom. Sarah and I stopped and discussed our options for sleeping. We could either sleep on the cold, hard floor or we could find a staff room somewhere and use the couches they could have. I would definitely like a few pillows over laying down on steel or linoleum, so we agreed to find a staff room and camp out in there. Their food wouldn’t be good if there even was any, but we were lucky that I brought food.
The problem about that was, as we came to find, I had only packed for me, so we only had enough food for one person to last them a week, if they were practically starving themselves. What we had was enough to last the both of us three days if we ate even a few bites of it each day.
On sub-level forty, we got the door open and quickly rushed inside. We barricaded the door with a few couches and cabinets. Once we were sure that none of the monsters could break-in, we got comfortable. We made sure to make as little noise as possible as we set up our sleeping places.
We sat on the ground and I pulled out all the food we had so that I could properly ration our portions.
“What do you want out of this?” I asked, pointing to my Snickers bar, a bag of Skittles, a can of already baked beans, and an apple.
Sarah stroked her chin as if she was thinking. I knew she was disappointed in my planning skills, but she couldn’t be more disappointed in me than I was, since now I had to provide for a second person, something I hadn’t even begun to plan for when I was thinking the previous night.
“I think I’ll be fine with Skittles, chef!” she joked.
I laughed, but only to distract myself from the fact that Sarah was going to starve for the time we were going to be down there. I didn’t know how long we would be there, and I was sure that we were going to run out of food before we were done.
“Yeah, well, I’ll be over here with my Snickers bar, so take that!” I said, snatching the bar from the pile. It was probably the second most nutritious thing in the room, after the beans.
We sat like that, me eating the Snickers bar and Sarah eating half the bag of Skittles until we were ready for sleep to come. I think she hoped that she would wake up at home with this whole adventure having been a really bad dream. It wasn’t a dream, though. It was a nightmare.
Sarah woke up with a start at about eleven o’clock. She was sweating, and it was likely that she had a nightmare, but I found it hard to believe her mind could supply something worse than this. I guessed that she could’ve been simply reliving her own memories, but that only happens in movies and stuff.
After a while, I noticed that Sarah wasn’t going back to sleep, so I decided to try and help, however awkward it was going to be. I sat up, which startled her, which I immediately apologized for.
“Do you want to talk about what you dreamed?” I asked, leaning forward.
“Yeah. I had the worst nightmare. I imagined that we hadn’t found a place to sleep and that we had gotten found by the monsters, except there were so many of them. There were easily twenty of them. When I looked up, I saw that Jay had come with us. He was ripped apart, and then I watched you get torn to shreds,” Sarah told me.
I was horrified, to say the least. I felt some adrenaline work its way through me and fade as quickly as it came. I pictured myself actually trying to fight those things and being ripped apart, limb by limb until I was a bloody stump, watching them eat my legs until I died of blood loss or shock, whichever came first.
“I’m sorry you had to see that, even if it was just a bad dream. I promise that will never happen. Jay isn’t even here, so it can’t happen like that,” I said.
“It wasn’t scary because I care about Jay. It was scary because I care about you, too. You’re kind of my best friend right now” she shot back.
“What do you mean? We’ve only been talking because of your brother. If Jay and I weren’t friends then we wouldn’t be friends either,” I told her, slumping down into my makeshift bed.
“That isn’t true! You’re awesome! You risked your life to help your friends. I mean, they’re dead now and mutated into some weird chimera but that was still cool for you to even think about. Nobody I know would’ve one this purely out of selflessness except you. That’s incredible! I think you’re definitely friend material!” she reassured me.
“You think all that? I’m just a guy,” I said.
“Well, let’s agree to disagree. You think you’re a greasy nerd, and I think you’re a hero,” Sarah plainly stated.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. I never said the words ‘greasy’ or ‘nerd’!” I argued.
I regretted talking so loud after an extremely loud SCREEEECH right outside the door. It made Sarah cover her ears, and it sounded as if it was inside our heads. The door shook and with it the massive barricade we had made. It didn’t look like we were going to be getting any more sleep.
Sarah packed up all of our things and I looked around for a weapon. I saw a few things I could use to impale the thing with; a pool stick, a few regular kitchen knives and I still had my baseball bat, so that was more than a few weapons that were immediately available to me.
The door was ripped off the hinges and tossed aside, which was impressive since it was all steel. Heavily aged and probably rusty steel, but it was more than a human could do, so I was still scared shitless.
I saw that it was a different monster than the others, because of the creature’s piercing green eyes. It was also a couple of shades darker than the others, which made me believe that it was younger, and had less time to settle into its new form and fade from the tan color that Hurley’s skin was to the absolute white that the other two had.
It was also a bit thicker than the others, which fit Hurley to a tee. I watched as this new monster ripped our barricade down in one try, utterly crushing whatever confidence I had in myself. The creature was in the room, but I had hidden Sarah in a bathroom in the back, so she was safe as long as she was quiet.
It lunged at me, but with my bat in hand, I swung. I landed that swing on the thing’s head, and it sprawled on the ground for a moment, trying to regain its bearings. Using the distraction, I ran to the knives and picked up two, keeping my body facing the monster and sheathing one for later use.
The creature jumped at me, and I attacked. I jabbed at the monster with my knife, but the blade broke in half, which also twisted my wrist at an angle that it was probably sprained. I dropped the handle and clutched my wrist.
“Well, that was a bust,” I muttered.
The blade hadn’t affected the creature at all. It was like it was iron or steel, and not the crappy old military base variety, but the good stuff. I simply couldn’t hurt the thing. The monster knew this and got ready for the kill-shot.
The monster stood tall and opened its mouth. When I say ‘open’ its mouth, I mean that the thing’s jaw unhinged and the scars on its face, the same as the creature that once was Ryan, opened and unfurled to let me see the true horror of the monster, and I came up with the perfect name for the creature that I could put in my bestiary for paranormal entities.
The Splitters.
These monsters could unhinge their jaws and open up their mouths and throats to allow them to swallow a human whole. They were big enough to do the deed, and it was likely that their bodily fluids were corrosive, allowing for a smoother meal. They could apparently transform humans into another version of them, though how they did this was unknown to me at the time.
While it had its face open, I got distracted and impulsively poked the Splitter’s exposed flesh with my baseball bat. The Splitter jerked back and seemed to be in pain from the shivering that wracked its body.
I realized the Splitters’ weakness. Their skin was pretty much indestructible, but if you can bypass the outer shell and get straight to the flesh inside, then they were fragile. I guessed that the creature had adapted to be resistant to attacks, but it never was attacked from the insides, with things like poison, or a bomb implanted in the Splitter’s brain. Something like that.
The Splitter’s jaw hinged itself again and it roared at me. I had never heard a sound like that in my life. It sounded like it could have been words, but it was in a language that I couldn’t understand, and like multiple people were talking at once. It was very disorienting.
That allowed the Splitter to pounce. It tackled me and we both fell to the ground. The Splitter was drooling on my face. I guess it was time to test out that ‘corrosive bodily fluids’ theory of mine.
It stang.
Badly.
The stinging was unbearable, and I screamed bloody murder as I slid myself out from under the Splitter and let it fall to the ground. I could feel my skin peeling away as I pulled out the knife and stalked toward the Splitter with what I could only guess is an aura of murderous intent.
I felt the corrosion subside as I finally managed to get a good hit on the Splitter, sinking my knife upwards into its brain from the inside of its own mouth. It felt great to know that I killed such a powerful creature, but my hand was also burning even worse than my face, which was already fucked.
I screamed, victorious, and I passed out.
​
Part Three

Today i have a confession to make: i'm a little bit of a minmaxer. And honestly, i think that's a pretty desirable trait in a DM. The minmaxer knows the rules, and exploits them to maximum efficiency.
"But wait, what does that have to do with spell use in society?" - someone, probably.
Well, the thing is that humans are absolutely all about minmaxing. There's a rule in the universe that reads "gas expands when hot", and suddenly we have steam engines (or something like that, i'm a political scientist not an engineer). A rule says 1+1 = 2, and suddenly we have calculus, computers and all kinds of digital stuff that runs on math. Sound is energy? Let's convert that shit into electricity, run it through a wire and turn it back into sound on the other side.
Bruh. Science is just minmaxing the laws of nature. Humanity in real life is just a big bunch of munchkins, and it should be no different in your setting.
And that is why minmaxing magic usage is something societies as a whole would do, specially with some notable spells. Today i will go in depth on how and why each of these notable mentions has a huge impact on a fantasy society.
We'll go from lowest level to highest, keeping in mind that the lower level a spell the more common it should be to find someone who has it, so often a level 2-3 spell will have more impact than a level 9 spell.
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Mending (cantrip).
Repair anything in one minute. Your axe lost its edge? Tore your shirt? Just have someone Mend it.
Someone out there is crying "but wait! Not every village has a wizard!" and while that is true, keep in mind any High Elf knows a cantrip, as can any Variant Human.
A single "mender" could replace a lot of the work a smith, woodworker or seamstress does, freeing their time to only work on making new things rather than repair old ones.
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Prestidigitation (cantrip).
Clean anything in six seconds. Committed axe murders until the axe got blunt, and now there's blood everywhere? Dog shit on your pillow out of spite? Someone walked all over the living room with muddy boots? Just Prestidigitate it away.
This may look like a small thing, but its actually huge when you apply it to laundry. Before washing machines were a thing housewives had to spend several hours a week washing them manually, and with Prestidigitation you can just hire someone to get it done in a few minutes.
A single "magic cleaner" can attend to several dozen homes, if not hundreds, thus freeing several hours of the time of dozens of women.
Fun fact: there's an interesting theory that says feminism only existed because of laundry machines and similar devices. Women found themselves having more free time, which they used to read and socialize. Educated women with more contacts made for easy organization of political movements, and the fact men were now able to do "the women's work" by pushing a button meant men were less opposed to losing their housewives' labor. Having specialized menders and magic cleaners could cause a comparable revolution in a fantasy setting, and help explain why women have a similar standing to men even in combat occupations such as adventuring.
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Healing in general (1st-2nd level).
This one is fairly obvious. A commoner has 4 hit points, that means just about any spell is a full heal to the average person. That means most cuts, stab wounds, etc. can be solved by the resident cleric. Even broken bones that would leave you in bed for months can be solved in a matter of seconds as soon as the holy man arrives.
But that's nothing compared to the ability to cure diseases. While the only spell that can cure diseases is Lesser Restoration, which is second level, a paladin can do it much more easily with just a Lay on Hands. This means if one or two people catch a disease it can just be eradicated with a touch.
However doing that comes with a cost. If everyone is instantly expunged of illness, the populace does not build up their immune systems. Regular disease becomes less common, sure, but whenever it is reintroduced (by, say, immigrants or contact with less civilized humanoids) it can spread like wildfire, afflicting people so fast that no amount of healers will have the magic juice to deal with it.
Diseases become rare, plagues become common.
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Continual Flame (2nd).
Ok, this one is a topic i love and could easily be its own post.
There's an article called "Why the Falling Cost of Light Matters", which goes in detail about how man went from chopping wood for fire, to using animal fat for candles, then other oils, whale oil, kerosene, then finally incandescent light bulbs, and more recently LED lights. Each of these leaps is orders of grandeur more efficient than the previous one, to the point that the cost of light today is about 500,000 times cheaper than it was for for a caveman. And until the early 1900s the only way mankind knew of making light was to set things on fire.
Continual Flame on the other hand allows you to turn 50gp worth of rubies and a 2nd level spell slot into a torch that burns forever. In a society that spends 60 hours of labor to be able to generate 140 minutes of light, this is a huge game changer.
This single spell, which i am 99% sure was just created as an excuse for why the dungeon is lit despite going for centuries without maintenance, allows you to have things like public lighting. Even if you only add a new "torchpost" every other week or month sooner or later you'll be left with a neatly lit city, specially if the city has had thousands of years in which to gather the rubies and light them up.
And because the demand of rubies becomes so important, consider how governments would react. Lighting the streets is a public service, if its strategically relevant to make the city safer at night, would that not warrant some restrictions on ruby sales? Perhaps even banning the use of rubies in jewelry?
Trivia: John D. Rockefeller, the richest man in history, gained his wealth selling kerosene. Kerosene at the time was used to light lamps. Gasoline was invented much later, when Rockefeller tasked a bunch of scientists to come up with a use for some byproducts of the kerosene production. This illustrates how much money is to be had in the lighting industry, and you could even have your own Rockefeller ruby baron in your game. I shall call him... Dohn J. Stonebreaker. Perfect name for a mining entrepreneur.
Whether the ruby trade ends up a monopoly under the direct supervision of the king or a free market, do keep in mind that Continual Flame is by far the most efficient way of creating light.
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Gentle Repose (2nd).
Cast it on a corpse, and it stays preserved for 10 days.
This has many potential uses, from preserving foodstuffs (hey, some rare meats are expensive enough to warrant it) to keeping the bodies of old rulers preserved. Even if a ruler died of old age and cannot be resurrected, the body could be kept "fresh" out of respect/ceremony. Besides, it keeps the corpse from becoming undead.
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Skywrite (2nd).
Ok, this one is mostly a gag. While the spell can be used by officials to make official announcements to the populace, such as new laws or important news, i like to just use it for spam. I mean, its a ritual spell that writes a message on the sky; what else would people use it for?
Imagine you show up in a city, and there's half a dozen clouds reading "buy at X, we have what you need", "get your farming supplies over at Joe's store" or "vote Y for the city council".
The possibilities are endless, and there's no way the players can expect it. Just keep in mind that by RAW the spell can only do words, meaning no images. No Patrick, "8===D" is not a word.
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Zone of Truth (2nd).
This one is too obvious. Put all suspects of a crime into a ZoT, wait a couple minutes to make sure they fail the save, then ask each one if he did it. Sure its not a perfect system, things like the Ring of Mind Shielding still exist, but it's got a better chance of getting the right guy than most medieval justice systems. And probably more than a few contemporary ones. All while taking only a fraction of the time.
More importantly, with all the average crimes being handled instantly, the guards and investigators have more time to properly investigate the more unusual crimes that might actually involve a Thought Shield, Ring of Mind Shielding or a level 17 Mastermind.
There is a human rights argument against messing with people's minds in any way, which is why this may not be practiced in every kingdom. But there are definitely some more lawful societies that would use ZoT on just about every crime.
Why swear to speak the truth and nothing but the truth when you can just stand in a zone of truth?
Another interesting use for ZoT is oaths. When someone is appointed into an office, gets to a high rank in the military or a guild, just put them in a ZoT while they make their oath to stand for the organization's values and yadda yadda. Of course they can be corrupted later on, but at least you make sure they're honest when they are sworn in.
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Sending (3rd).
Sending is busted in so many ways.
The more "vanilla" use of it is to just communicate over long distances. We all know that information is important, and that sometimes getting information a whole day ahead can lead to a 40% return on a massive two-year investment. Being able to know of invasions, monsters, disasters, etc. without waiting days or weeks for a courier can be vital for the survival of a nation. Another notable example is that one dude who ran super fast for a while to be the first to tell his side of a recent event.
But the real broken thing here is... Sending can Send to any creature, on any plane; the only restriction being "with which you are familiar". In D&D dead people just get sent to one of the afterlife planes, meaning that talking to your dead grandfather would be as simple as Sending to him. Settling inheritance disputes was never easier!
Before moving on to the next point let me ask you something: Is a cleric familiar with his god? Is a warlock familiar with his patron?
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Speak With Dead (3rd).
Much like Sending, this lets you easily settle disputes. Is the senate/council arguing over a controversial topic? Just ask the beloved hero or ruler from 200 years ago what he thinks on the subject. As long his skeleton still has a jaw (or if he has been kept in Gentle Repose), he can answer.
This can also be used to ask people who killed them, except murderers also know this. Plan on killing someone? Accidentally killed someone? Make sure to inutilize the jaw. Its either that, being so stealthy the victim can't identify you, or being caught.
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Note on spell availability.
Oh boy. No world-altering 4th level spells for some reason, and suddenly we're playing with the big boys now.
Spells up to 3rd level are what I'd consider "somewhat accessible", and can be arranged for a fee even for regular citizens. For instance the vanilla Priest statblock (MM348) is a 5th level cleric, and the standard vanilla Druid (MM346) a 4th level druid.
Spells of 5th level onward will be considered something only the top 1% is able to afford, or large organizations such as guilds, temples or government.
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Dream (5th).
I was originally going to put Dream along with Sending and Telepathy as "long range communication", but decided against it due to each of them having unique uses.
And when it comes to Dream, it has the unique ability of allowing you to put your 8 hours of sleep to good use. A tutor could hire someone to cast Dream on him, thus allowing him to teach his student for 8 hours at any distance. This is a way you could even access hermits that live in the middle of nowhere or in secluded monasteries. Very wealthy families or rulers would be willing to pay a good amount of money to make sure their heirs get that extra bit of education.
Its like online classes, but while you sleep!
Another interesting use is for cheating. Know a princess or queen you like? She likes you back? Her dad put 400 trained soldiers between you? No problemo! Just find a 9th level Bard, Warlock or Wizard, but who am i kidding, of course it'll be a bard. And that bard is probably you. Now you have 8 hours to do whatever you want, and no physical evidence will be left.
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Raise Dead (5th).
Few things matter more in life than death. And the ability to resurrect people has a huge impact on society. The impact is so huge that this topic needs topics of its own.
First, diamond monopoly. Remember what i said about how Continual Flame would lead to controlled ruby sales due to its strategic value? This is the same principle, but a hundred times stronger. Resurrection is a huge strategic resource. It makes assassinations harder, can be used to bring back your officials or highest level soldiers over and over during a war, etc. This means more authoritarian regimes would do everything within their power to control the supply and stock of diamonds. Which in turn means if anyone wants to have someone resurrected, even in times of peace, they'll need to call in a favor, do a quest, grease some hands...
Second, resurrection insurance. People hate risks. That's why insurance is such a huge industry, taking up about 15% of the US GDP. People insure their cars, houses... even their lives. Resurrection just means "life insurance" is taken more literally. This makes even more sense when you consider how expensive resurrection is: nobody can afford it in one go, but if you pay a little every month or year you can save up enough to have it done when the need arises.
This is generally incompatible with the idea of a State-run monopoly over diamonds, but that just means different countries within a setting can take different approaches.
To make things easier, i even used some microeconomics to make a sheet in my personal random generators to calculate the price of such a service. Just head to the "Insurance" tab and fill in the information relative to your setting.
With actual life insurance resurrection can cost as little as 5gp a year for humans or 8sp a year for elves, making resurrection way more affordable than it looks.
Also, do you know why pirates wore a single gold earring? It was so that if your body washes up on the shore whoever finds it can use the money to arrange a proper burial. Sure there's a risk of the finder taking it and walking away, but the pirates did it anyway. With resurrection in play, might as well just wear a diamond earring instead and hope the finder is nice enough to bring you back.
I got so carried away with the whole insurance thing i almost forgot: the possibility of resurrection also changes how murders are committed.
If you want someone dead but resurrection exists, you have to remove the vital organs. Decapitation would be far more common. Sure resurrection is still possible, but it requires higher level spells or Reincarnate, which has... quirks.
As a result it should be very obvious when someone was killed by accident or an overreaction, and when someone was specifically out to kill the victim.
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Scrying (5th).
This one is somewhat obvious, in that everyone and their mother knows it helps finding people. But who needs finding? Well, that would be those who are hiding.
The main use i see for this spell, by far, is locating escaped criminals. Just collect a sample of hair or blood when arresting someone (or shipping them to hard labor which is way smarter), and if they escape you'll be almost guaranteed to successfully scry on them.
A similar concept to this is seen in the Dragon Age series. If you're a mage the paladins keep a sample of your blood in something called a phylactery, and that can be used to track you down. There's even a quest or two about mages trying to destroy their phylacteries before escaping.
Similarly, if you plan a jailbreak it would be highly beneficial to destroy the blood/hair sample first. As a matter of fact i can even see a thieves guild hiring a low level party to take out the sample while the professional infiltrators get the prisoner out. Keep in mind both events must be done at the same time, otherwise the guards will just collect a new sample or would have already taken it to the wizard.
But guards aren't the only ones with resources. A loan shark could keep blood samples of his debtors, a mobster can keep one of those who owe him favors, etc. And the blood is ceremoniously returned only when the debt is fully paid.
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Teleportation Circle (5th), Transport Via Plants (6th).
In other words, long range teleportation. This is such a huge thing that it is hard to properly explain how important it is.
Teleportation Circle creates a 10ft. circle, and everyone has one round to get in and appear on the target location. Assuming 30ft. movement that means you can get 192 people through, which is a lot of potential merchants going across any distance. Or 672 people dashing.
Math note: A 30ft radius square around a 10ft. diameter square, minus the 4 original squares. Or [(6*2+2)^2]-4 squares of 5ft. each. Hence 192 people.
Getting hundreds of merchants, workers, soldiers, etc. across any distance is nothing to scoff at. In fact, it could help explain why PHB item prices are so standardized: Arbitrage is so easy and cheap that price differences across multiple markets become negligible. Unless of course countries start setting up tax collectors outside of the permanent teleportation circles in order to charge tariffs.
Transport Via Plants does something very similar but it requires 5ft of movement to go through, which means less people can be teleported. On the other hand it doesn't burn 50gp and can take you to any tree the druid is familiar with, making it nearly impossible for tax collectors to be waiting on the other side. Unfortunately druids tend to be a lot less willing to aid smugglers, so your best bet might be a bard using spells that don't belong to his list.
With these methods of long range teleportation not only does trade get easier, but it also becomes possible to colonize or inhabit far away places. For instance if someone finds a gold mine in the antarctic you could set up a mine and bring food and other supplies via teleportation.
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Major Image (6th level slot).
Major Image is a 3rd level spell that creates an illusion over a 20ft cube, complete with image, sound, smell and temperature. When cast with a 6th level slot or higher, it lasts indefinitely.
That my friends, is a huge spell. Why get the world's best painter to decorate the ceiling of your cathedral when you can just get an illusion made in six seconds?
The uses for decorating large buildings is already good, but remember: we're not restricted to sight.
Cast this on a room and it'll always be cool and smell nice. Inns would love that, as would anyone who always sleeps or works in the same room. Desert cities have never been so chill.
You can even use an illusion to make the front of your shop seem flashier, while hollering on loop to bring customers in.
The only limit to this spell is your imagination, though I'm pretty sure it was originally made just to hide secret passages.
Trivia: the ki-rin (VGM163) can cast Major Image as a 6th level spell, at will. It's probably meant to give them fabulous lairs yet all it takes is someone doing the holy horsey a big favor, and it could enchant the whole city in a few hours. Shiniest city on the planet, always at a nice temperature and with a fragrance of lilac, gooseberries or whatever you want.
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Simulacrum (7th).
Spend 12 hours and 1500gp worth of ruby dust, and get a clone of yourself. Notably, each caster can only have one simulacrum, regardless of who the person he cloned is.
How this changes the world? By allowing the rich and powerful to be in two places at once. Kings now have a perfect impersonator who thinks just like them. A wealthy banker can run two branches of his company. Etc.
This makes life much easier, but also competes with Continual Flame over resources.
It also gives "go fuck yourself" a whole new meaning, making the sentence a valid Suggestion.
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Clone (8th).
If there's one spell i despise, its Clone.
Wizard-only preemptive resurrection. Touch spell, costs 1.000gp worth of diamonds each time, takes 120 days to come into effect, and creates a copy of the creature that the soul occupies if the original dies. Oh, and the copy can be made younger.
Why is it so despicable? Because it makes people effectively immortal. Accidents and assassinations just get you sent to the clone, and old age can be forever delayed because you keep going back to younger versions of yourself. Being a touch spell means the wizard can cast it on anyone he wants.
In other words: high level wizards, and only wizards, get to make anyone immortal.
That means wizards will inevitably rule any world in which this spell exists.
Think about it. Rulers want to live forever. Wizards can make you live forever. Wizards want other stuff, which you must give them if you want to continue being Cloned. Rulers who refuse this deal eventually die, rulers who accept stick around forever. Natural selection makes it so that eventually the only rulers left are those who sold their soul to wizards. Figuratively, i hope.
The fact that there are only a handful of wizards out there who are high enough level to cast the spell means its easier for them organize and/or form a cartel or union (cartels/unions are easier to maintain the fewer suppliers are involved).
This leads to a dystopian scenario where mages rule, kings are authoritarian pawns and nobody else has a say in anything. Honestly it would make for a fun campaign in and of itself, but unless that's specifically what you're going for it'll just derail everything else.
Oh, and Clone also means any and all liches are absolute idiots. Liches are people who turned themselves into undead abominations in order to gain eternal life at the cost of having to feed on souls. They're all able to cast 9th level wizard spells, so why not just cast an 8th level one and keep undeath away? Saves you the trouble of going after souls, and you keep the ability to enjoy food or a day in the sun.
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Demiplane (8th).
Your own 30ft. room of nothingness. Perfect place for storage and a DM's nightmare given how once players have access to it they'll just start looting furniture and such. Oh the horror.
But alas, infinite storage is not the reason this is a broken spell. No sir.
Remember: you can access someone else's demiplane. That means a caster in city 1 can put things into a demiplane, and a caster in city 2 can pull them out of any surface.
But wait, there's more! There's nothing anywhere saying you can't have two doors to the same demiplane open at once. Now you're effectively opening a portal between two places, which stays open for a whole hour.
But wait, there's even more! Anyone from any plane can open a door to your neat little demiplane. Now we can get multiple casters from multiple planes connecting all of those places, for one hour. Sure this is a very expensive thing to do since you're having to coordinate multiple high level individuals in different planes, but the payoff is just as high. We're talking about potential integration between the most varied markets imaginable, few things in the multiverse are more valuable or profitable. Its a do-it-yourself Sigil.
One little plot hook i like about demiplanes is abandoned/inactive ones. Old wizard/warlock died, and nobody knows how to access his demiplanes. Because he's at least level 15 you just know there's some good stuff in there, but nobody can get to it. Now the players have to find a journal, diary, stored memory or any other way of knowing enough about the demiplane to access it.
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True Polymorph (9th).
True Polymorph. The spell that can turn any race into any other race, or object. And vice-versa. You can go full fairy godmother and turn mice into horses. For a spell that can change anything about one's body it would not be an unusual ruling to say it can change one's sex. At the very least it can turn a man into a chair, and the chair into a woman (or vice-versa of course).
But honestly, that's just the tip of the True Polymorph iceberg. Just read this more carefully:
> You transform the creature into a different creature, the creature into a nonmagical object, or the object into a creature
This means you can turn a rock or twig into a human. A fully functional human with, as far as the rules go, a soul. You can create life.
But wait, there's more! Nothing there says you have to turn the target into a known creature on an existing creature. The narcissist bard wants to create a whole race of people who look like him? True Polymorph. A player wants to play a weird ass homebrew race and you have no idea how it would fit into the setting? True Polymorph. Wizard needs a way to quickly populate a kingdom and doesn't want to wait decades for the subjects to grow up? True Polymorph. Warlock must provide his patron 100 souls in order to free his own? True Polymorph. The sorcerer wants to do something cool? Fuck that guy, sorcerers don't get any of the fun high level spells; True Poly is available to literally every arcane caster but the sorcerer.
Note: what good is Twinned Spell if all the high level twinnable spells have been specifically made unavailable to sorcerers?
Do keep in mind however that this brings a whole new discussion on human rights. Does a table have rights? Does it have rights after being turned into a living thing? If it had an owner, is it now a slave? Your country will need so many new laws, just to deal with this one spell.
People often say that high level wizards are deities for all intents and purposes. This is the utmost proof of that. Clerics don't get to create life out of thin air, wizards do. The cleric worships a deity, the wizard is the deity.
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Conclusion.
Intelligent creatures not only can game the system, but it is entirely in character for them to do so. I'll even argue that if humanoids don't use magic to improve their lives when it's available, you're pushing the suspension of disbelief.
With this post i hope to have helped you make more complex and realistic societies, as well as provide a few interesting and unusual plot hooks
Lastly, as much as i hate comment begging i must admit i am eager to see what spells other players think can completely change the world. Because at the end of the day we all know that extra d6 damage is not what causes empires to rise and fall, its the utility spells that make the best stories.
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Edit: Added spell level to all spells, and would like to thank u/kaul_field for helping with finishing touches and being overall a great mod.

This is quite a long read so buckle up, each part has 2 or 3 chapters and there are 3 parts to the story so about 9 chapters all together all of which will be atleast this long. Enjoy!
Prologue
Part 1: The Chosen
Creed
Sir Astor Creed rode on horseback through the woods with only one thought on his mind. He had to get to the village and stop the massacre. He had been riding for hours now and his body grew weary with exhaustion. He kicked his horse again hurrying her. He knew she could take it, she was the best mount a man could ask for.
Wether riding into battle or venturing across the lands, Margo was dependable, rock solid and at times downright extraordinary. She had been with him for most of his life and she had never failed him, not even once.
As he rounded the corner Creed saw a sight that he knew he would never forget for the rest of his days. There was a battalion of the royal army, the most trusted and experienced knights of the king, lighting torches and hurling them through the windows of the cottages in a small fishing village. There were villagers running in the streets, screaming out for their loved ones.
The members of the royal army, maybe 50 or 60 of them, rode on horse back, trampling innocents in their way. Creed saw a young boy fall beneath the hooves of a warhorse and watched in horror as the boys skull was crushed by the horses stomping hooves.
He kicked Margo again this time with intensity and they lurched forward full speed into the fray. As he approached, several of the royal army members called out to him to stop, but he had not come this far and done this much just to be stopped by these men.
They might have been experienced knights but he was Sir Astor Creed, the kings most trusted advisor and right hand man. The greatest knight in all the lands as some called him. Creed was a humble man, even with all of his accomplishments and accolades he still just saw him self as a soldier, a grunt in the kings army.
He felt as if the only reason he had been raised as high as he had was because he and the king had grown up side by side. He had been the kings squire as a boy when he was just a prince, only two years older then Creed. They had formed a bond, not unlike brothers, and had been at each other's side ever since.
They had rode to battle together, defeated army's together, they had even ended a rebellion when they were only young men. Since his coronation however, the king had been a different man. As it usually does power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. The prince that he had known was gone, only the king remained and Creed held no love for the king.
The royal army saw him approach and turned in shock. They would not of expected him, he was last seen months ago when he escaped his execution. As the light fell over his face he saw recognition dawn on their faces and heard weapons being drawn.
One member launched a spear so close that creed heard it cutting through the air as it whizzed by his ear. Several arrows scattered the landscape as Margo weaved in and out of them at top speed as only she could. Creed unsheathed his sword, the metallic sound echoed back to him as the members of the royal army did the same.
Creed launched from Margo’s back and tackled one of the nearest Knights to the ground. He knew he was ridiculously out numbered but he could not let these men kill any more innocent people, he was the only one who could stop them. He stabbed the man in the heart with his sword as they fell, impaling him into the ground. He landed roughly on top of the mans corpse and had to immediately roll to avoid being trampled.
He leapt to his feet pulling his sword from the ground and slicing off an approaching members arm. He screamed in pain as blood squirted from his shoulder painting the cobblestone path red. Creed had no time to react, he was surrounded on all sides by hostile men, incredibly trained men at that. He ran through the battalion slashing and ducking and blocking, killing many men. He saw villagers cowering under the wreckage that had once been their homes and felt another surge of anger towards his adversaries.
He jumped out of the way as a mace came flying from overhead missing him by inches. He reached down to his hip and extracted a dagger and threw it end over end as hard as he could in return. It was a direct hit, straight into his right eye. The knight screamed in agony as he fell from his horse and was trampled by his own men. There was nothing for creed to do, he knew he was fighting a losing battle.
He was exhausted from the long ride and he was only one man. He fought valiantly but he could never defeat this many men, this was a fools errand yet his honour would not allow him to leave it lie. He had to defend these people, he had sworn an oath. He got slashed by a passing spear on his left shoulder, causing him to cry out in pain and miss a step in his current battle. It was all the other man needed as he spun, slashing creed’s sword arm and across the front of his body.
Creed fell too his knees as his sword clattered down to the ground in front of him. He picked it up but was Immediately kicked in the back by yet another member of the royal army. His head collided with the path as he felt the breath flood from his chest. Creed knew this was his last dash, his run of good luck had come to an end. The royal army all dismounted surrounding him, swords drawn. As they approached Creed suddenly had an idea, it was crazy, but just maybe it could save his life.
The royal army were laughing as they approached, sure the battle was over and that they had won. Just as they closed in on Creed, he rolled on his back and pulled his fingers too his mouth, whistling as loud as he could. The soldiers moved a little quicker towards him, not knowing what was coming next. Just as one of the royal army reached down to pull Creed off of the ground, Margo burst into action.
She galloped from out of nowhere rearing on her hind legs and kicking a nearby soldier in the face with such ferocity that he sailed through the air collided with a nearby cottage. He lay in the ruin, unmoving and surely dead.
The soldiers turned their attention to Margo, trying with everything that they had to bring her down. She was too fast though galloping in and out of ruined and burning cottages, dodging everything they threw at her and kicking the occasional soldier. Creed leapt from the ground and several nearby soldiers, noticing this, turned back to him ready to attack.
Before Creed could even raise his sword, Margo galloped over and booted the closest man in the chest with her hind legs sending him flying into his companions knocking six of them to the ground. Creed didn't hesitate launching onto Margo’s back, throwing another dagger at a nearby soldier as he did, killing him. Margo galloped lightning fast through the village, leaping over corpses and burning wreckage as she went.
Creed held on for dear life as spears, arrows, chunks of wood, and any other objects the remaining members of the royal army could get their hands on came flying passed them. Margo got clipped on her right flank by an arrow but it didn't even slow her. Creed spun around on her back and saw that only 10 or 15 men remained. He knew that at least 4 or 5 would have to return to the kings palace and relay the news of the attack, even more would surely follow him, the massacre was over.
He patted Margo on the head thanking her for her help as she sprinted even faster straight for the ancient mountain. The royal army would pursue them but she knew she had a lead on them now. They would never follow her where she was going anyway, they just had to make it to the mountain.
As Creed saw where they were headed he tried to turn Margo but she was stubborn. She galloped on at top speed straight for the one place that Creed never thought he would go. They were headed towards the Jungle of the Damned...
Raymond
Raymond Skurt was a lonely man, and that was exactly how he liked it. He had been alone his whole adult life and most of his childhood. Raymond had never been a fighter. He would much rather spend his days curled up in bed reading then out on some battlefield risking his life.
He was not a coward, he would fight if it was necessary, but he preferred to just stay clear of the fight and mind his own business. Raymond was a mute. He had not uttered a word since he was 14 on one fateful day at his fathers homestead.
He had been hiding in the attic reading his favourite book for the umpteenth time when his twin brothers Duke and Chad burst in out of breath. Raymond's brothers were much older then he. They were already men at this point, roughly 18 years old.
They had always picked on Raymond for his tentative ways. They would often drag him from his hiding places and make him there practice dummy in the training yard belting him with wooden swords and lashing him with whips. Raymond did not like to hate, but if he hated anyone in this world it would be the twins. They approached Raymond smiling and grabbed him roughly pulling him too his feet.
He remembered feeling helpless as Duke grabbed him, squirming, by the scruff of the neck and tossed him over his shoulder like a bag of manure. Raymond kicked and screamed but his brother was just too strong. As they left the attic he stopped resisting and let himself be carried, knowing there was no point in resistance. Chad walked by Dukes side smiling wide as they headed to yet again harass their younger brother. As they rounded the corner both brothers lost the colour in their face and Duke dropped Raymond roughly to the ground.
There, striding towards them, was their father with one of the most important looking men Raymond had ever seen by his side. He wore plum coloured robes and many golden chains. He didn't know much about royalty or citizens from the royal city, but Raymond was certain this man was a lord. He got too his feet dusting himself off and saw his father grimace as he noticed Raymond was there.
Raymond’s father had always been ashamed of him as a son. He was a smith, one of the best in all of the lands, and he had hoped Raymond would follow in his footsteps. Once he had shown no joy in battle or training, Howard Skurt had brought Raymond into his business as an assistant, hoping he would have a hand at smithing. Unfortunately however Raymond had shown no skill in being a smith and with that his father had given up hope and basically disowned him as a son.
Howard and the lord approached the three boys, conversing with one another as they did. The twins bowed low to the lord but Raymond, not knowing the usual courtesy when addressing such a man, hesitated a second too long. Raymond realised his mistake and quickly bowed hoping that the lord hadn't noticed. As the two men drew close enough however, he heard his father apologising to the man. ‘He is a simple boy my lord,’ he heard his father say, ‘ he knows not proper courtesy please forgive me for his stupidity’.
As they got closer Raymond noticed that the lord was quite young, younger even then the twins, only slightly older then himself. He felt awkward watching his father address this boy with such fear in his eyes, like he was addressing the king himself. ‘I forgive you Skurt but the boy must be punished,’ he heard the lord reply, making his blood run cold. ‘Of course my lord, whatever punishment you see fit,’ he heard his father reply, his voice unusually high, ‘he has always been a disgrace’. He emphasised his point by spitting on the floor inches from Raymond's face.
Raymond felt an uncontrollable rage, one he had never felt before that day nor a single day since, boiling in his stomach. His father had treated him like dirt for too long. Raymond sprung too his feet with a scream startling both his father and the lord who took a step back, a look of fear on his face. Raymond ran screaming not for his father, but for the young lord. He would prove to his father he was not a disgrace, he was planning on attacking this lord and showing his father he was not a coward.
He approached the lord screaming, flailing his arms like a raving lunatic. The lord back peddled so fast he tripped over his own feet falling to the floor. ‘GAURDS!!’ He screamed as Raymond got close, preparing to dive for the man cowering on the floor. As Raymond reached out his arms, preparing to wrap his hands around the lords throat, he was grabbed roughly from behind and hoisted into the air.
The lord regained his feet and smiled as Chad, holding a flailing Raymond in the air out of reach, slammed him against the stone wall. Raymond felt his head crack against the hard stone and instantly felt the warm blood trickling down the back of his neck. His head spun and all of the anger that was coursing through him disappeared, being replaced by fear as he saw the hopeless situation in front of him.
Chad held him with his forearm up against his throat choking the air from his lungs. Duke stood behind him, a smile on his face, ready to inflict some damage of his own. The lords guards came racing down the corridor and withdrew their weapons, surveying the scene. Howard stood off to the side, a look of mingled anger and shock on his face staring at his son and shaking his head. The lord dusted himself off and with a great smile pulled a dagger from his belt as he approached Raymond.
Over the years Raymond had blocked most of the next part out. All that he remembered was the lord asking why he did what he did. When he didn't respond he had tortured him, slicing him with his dagger in front of his father and brothers. None of them lifted a finger to help. Eventually the lord had removed his tongue saying that if he wouldn't talk today then he would never talk again. When Raymond thought back to that day now he couldn't remember why he didn't talk. Why he didn't just tell the lord why he had attacked him. It didn't matter now.
Raymond had run away as soon as he was healed. He stole one of his fathers horses in the night and escaped while his family slept. He rode until he found this small village half a world away from his fathers homestead on the side of the ancient mountain. It was a place of legend, one that it was told harboured a great evil. At the peak of the mountain sat the jungle of the damned, a cursed place from which men never returned.
Raymond had never heard those stories, more intent on burying himself in his books then hearing the stories outside in the real world. He had settled in the little village and lived a simple life. He could no longer speak but he could still work and he worked hard in the fields to keep himself fed. He spent his free time reading or fishing down at the lake, life was peaceful. Raymond closed his book and put out the candle on his window sill.
He yawned and stretched his arms wide as he walked across the room and dis robed, preparing for bed. As he fluffed his pillow he heard a noise outside his window that made him glance out. He saw smoke rising from the base of the mountain, someone had set a fire down in the fishing village off the lake. Raymond thought that maybe he would go down there in the morning and make sure everything was ok.
The noise Raymond heard was getting louder, it was a noise he hadn't heard in some time. The sound of hooves on pavement, moving quickly this way. Travellers rarely ventured this far up the mountain. Raymond didn't know why, he assumed it was just too far out of the way, it was for this reason that Raymond had settled here in the first place. Less travellers meant less chance his father could ever find him.
Raymond walked back across the room and put his robe back on securing it tightly as he made for the front door. He was a curious man and he wanted to know who was coming up the mountain, something told him it was important. As he opened the front door Raymond saw the last thing he ever expected to see.
A man in full armour, the best armour Raymond had ever seen, rode into view. He slowed to a canter and dismounted beside a horse trough sticking his whole head in and drinking deeply. The horse walked up beside him and began to drink as well. Raymond stood at the door of his cottage watching, his mouth hanging open at the sight.
It wasn't the man that interested him, it was the horse. He looked back to the man in the trough and felt a burst of courage flow through him. He didn't care who this man was he had Raymond's horse, and he wanted her. By the end of this night Raymond vowed to himself that he would have Margo back...
Eliza
Eliza Wolfe scurried around her room collecting her belongings at breakneck speed. She shoved everything she needed into her pack and scoured the room for anything she might have missed. A tear trickled down her face as she picked up the dagger she had hidden under her mattress and tucked it into a hidden sheath in her belt. It had been her brothers, the last thing he had ever given her before his death many years ago. Eliza was not what you would call a proper lady. She was a beautiful young women with shoulder length brown hair which framed her pretty face. She had always been a gorgeous girl but she had never wanted to be a lady, not in the proper sense of the word.
Her virtue remained intact and even though she had spent almost half of her life in prison, she felt as if she would still be a virgin even if she hadn't. She did not want to be a wife nor a mother and the thought of any man inside of her made her sick to her stomach. She was happy spending the rest of her life without knowing the touch of a man if it meant she never had to be a mother or a wife.
Eliza had always wanted to be a warrior. Despite her size and unassuming appearance, Eliza was blessed with the skill of an archer. She was a natural, from the first time she picked up a bow she had shown great skill. She had trained, wether alone or with her brother for years now and her skills had become incredible. She could out shoot even the best of her fathers archers and her brother had always told her she was the best natural archer he had ever seen, and he had seen plenty.
Eliza's father did not share her enthusiasm for archery. He was a high lord in the kingdom, Lord Edmund Wolfe, son of the last wolf king Hector Wolfe and he would not have his daughter wasting her time on some archery range. He had always wanted Eliza to be a lady, to take some man in marriage and father him some grandchildren. With her brother dead she was his last hope for any male descendants to pass his seat to. If he were to die right now the seat could be claimed by any other high lord.
By the rules of the lands women were not fit to sit on a lords seat so Lord Edmund demanded from Eliza the one thing she would never give him, children. As Eliza packed the last of her belongings and secured her pack to her back she thought back to the day years ago that had started these events in motion. The day her whole life changed. It was the day after her brothers death and Eliza was grief stricken, hiding in her chambers. She was only 13 years of age but she had the heart of a lion. She feared no one, but her brothers death had shaken her more then she ever could of imagined. Her father had come to see her to explain that they were surrendering to the king.
The prince and his men had made short work of her brothers rebellion, catching him and his men from behind with a sneak attack. Despite all of that however, her father being the coward that he was, was going to bend a knee to the king. Eliza was incensed, she told her father she would not bow to the man that had her brother killed. Her father had called her a stupid child and slammed the door as he left her chamber, locking her inside. Eliza had been furious, trashing her chambers and destroying her possessions. After some time she began to calm and had come up with a plan.
For years Eliza's father had been locking her in her room from time to time. When she wouldn't comply to his orders or when she would get caught practicing at the archery range. She had escaped many times and she knew exactly how to get out and back in without getting noticed. She would not let the man who ordered the death of her brother just go on living like it had never happened, even if he was the king. She had loved her brother more then she had ever loved anything in this world and the king and his son had taken him from her.
She demanded justice and if her father was too much of a coward to administer it, then she would. She rushed to the window with a plan forming in her mind. She had to get close to the king without being recognised. She knew that if her father saw her he would have her taken back to her chambers and locked up, this time for real. She had only one chance and she wasn't going to waste it. As she climbed down the vines which grew along the out side of the castle walls Eliza knew exactly what she had to do.
She knew her father and she knew that he would not simply bow before the king. He would go above and beyond to prove his loyalty, he would hold a tourney and have the kings men face off against his own. The ‘Wolf Pack’ as her fathers soldiers were collectively known were skilled, fiercely trained warriors, but they were nothing compared to the members of the royal army. The tourney was more or less her father sending his own men to die to appease the Kings wrath.
As Eliza clambered the rest of the way down the wall and jumped down to the ground she saw people making their way towards the stadium in enormous crowds, proving her theory about the tourney. She knew she had to conceal her identity if her plan was to work so she pulled the hood of her cloak up to cover her face as she made her way through the swelling crowds in the streets towards the armoury. Eliza was determined to right the wrongs committed against her family and nothing would get in her way, not even the royal army.
As she got closer to the armory she noticed more then a dozen members of the royal army standing guard around the front door. They wore robes of plum which hung around gold plated armour. Engraved on the chest piece was a purple crown surrounded by bright orange flames, the symbol of the royal family. Every member had the visor down on his helm making it impossible to make out their faces. They all stood completely still like sentries observing the crowd as they passed searching for any kind of disturbance.
Eliza pulled her hood a little tighter at the sight of them and veered off in the other direction heading for the rear door. As she approached she found it unguarded which she had expected. She was the only person in the world who could get through that door, even her father didn't have a key. Her brother had stolen it years ago and given it to Eliza so that she could go down and practice archery without having to explain herself to the wolf pack.
She approached the door and moved the stack of crates her and her brother had placed there obscuring view of the door. She fit her key into the rusted old lock, doing her best to keep out of sight and silent. She managed to slip through the door without being noticed and headed straight for her bow which was hidden in the far back corner of the room behind a rack of maces.
After retrieving her bow and a full quiver of arrows she continued to the next room where she knew the armour was kept all the while making sure her footsteps were as quiet as possible. She saw her normal leather archers armour on the rack on the left but continued past it knowing that her father would recognise her in it. She instead chose a full set of low weight metal armour from the rack usually reserved for soldiers in training.
She adjusted it as tight as it would go but still it hung loosely around her thin body. The armour, being designed for a young man, hid all of her womanly shape from sight and as she picked up the helm and pulled down the visor she felt sure that she would not be recognised. She looked exactly like a young warrior and no one, not even her father, would see through her disguise so long as she did not lose her helm.
She quietly sneaked back out of the rear door locking it behind her and re-joining the now dwindling crowd. Everyone in the city and many people from other parts of the kingdom had come to see the great Wolfe dynasty bend and break under the foot of the crown. Most of the people and combatants were inside the stadium, taking their seats.
Eliza had been to many of these tourneys throughout her life and she knew that the archery competition would be the first event. It was the only event in the tourney where no one would be killed, it was more a matter of pride then anything. Eliza headed to the back gate of the stadium with the rest of the warriors and competitors, praying she would not be discovered. To her relief the stadium guards waved her through, proving to her that her disguise was working.
She was ushered in and bustled over towards the other archers who all looked at her oddly. It was customary for archers to wear leather armour, especially in a tourney, as it was lighter and easier too manoeuvre in. Wearing a helm also was not only risky, it was down right stupid if one wanted to win, her line of sight being majorly affected by the visor. Eliza wasn't in the tournament to lose however and she did not need her entire line of sight to beat these men. A horn sounded and the archers were all shoved forward by the guards.
Eliza joined them and was ushered out onto the archery range where she took her place in front of a target side by side with the other archers. The tournament began and Eliza quickly earned the respect of the crowd with impressive shots each round, every one in the bullseye. Even with her visor down Eliza outshot every man in the tournament with ease eventually being declared champion. The crowd went ballistic jumping to their feet and cheering louder then Eliza had ever heard a crowd cheer for an archer. She bowed low to the crowd, a sign of respect, and they roared even louder.
After a minute or so the king stood to his feet and the crowd slowly fell silent. He signalled to his guards to bring Eliza forward and they ushered her silently towards the podium where the winners were declared champion by the king. She looked up to where the king stood and saw her father sitting beside him. His head was down, he looked like a broken man. On the other side of the king stood the prince.
His long unkempt hair hung in curtains around his face. Eliza thought he might have been a good looking young man if he cut his hair and shaved the peach fuzz from his face but the prince had a look on his face that made her resent him even more then she already did. It was a look of smugness. This whole tourney was held in the honour of a victory that the prince had achieved, a victory over her brother. She boiled with rage as she stood there in front of them, the two men that she hated most in this world. Two men who if Eliza had her way would soon be dead. The crowd finally silenced and the king raised his hands to address them.
‘ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the victor and new champion of archery, I ask now that he please remove his helm so that I can look upon the face of the finest archer in all the lands!’ He finished his declaration and sat back down on his throne, clearly not really caring who Eliza was. The prince however had not taken his eyes off of her since she had taken her first shot in the tournament. She could feel his anticipation as she slowly reached up, grasped her helm and pulled it from her head, throwing it too the ground.
A loud gasp spread through out the crowd as they all saw her long hair fall down from underneath the helmet. Several people even recognised her, she heard her name being whispered throughout the crowd. She took a step forward on the podium as the king, regaining some interest, stared down at her from above. She knew she only had one shot and she would surely be killed as soon as she took it, but it was worth it to get revenge for her brother.
Eliza turned to the king, her heart beating so fast in her chest she thought it might explode. ‘I am Eliza Wolfe, descendant of the wolf king and rightful heir to my fathers seat,’ Eliza began, the crowd growing silent at her words. ‘I came here today and deceived you all for two reasons,’ she continued as her father looked up with fear in his eyes, silently begging her not to do what he knew she was about to do.
‘The first reason was to prove to the king and to the people of all the lands that women are not second rate and with the right training they can not just be equal but even better then some men’. She heard a disapproving murmur spread throughout the crowd at her words but she also saw several women nodding their heads in agreement. ‘ the second reason,’ continued Eliza steadying herself, preparing for what was surely her final act, ‘was to avenge my brother’.
At these words several things happened in a matter of seconds. Members of the royal army burst in from all sides and began to run for Eliza, determined to stop her at all costs. Eliza reached back and drew an arrow and notched it with surprising speed aiming directly for the Kings heart. She was tackled to the ground as she let the arrow go, praying that her aim was true.
She looked up as she was roughly slammed into the ground and saw her arrow sailing straight for the king who had a look of utmost fear on his face. At the last possible second a young knight who Eliza had not noticed before stepped out from behind the king and slashed the arrow in two just as it was about to pierce the Kings skin. Eliza felt defeated as the members dragged her too her feet, blood dripping down her lip from the impact with the ground. The young knight stared down at Eliza with a look of mingled pity and understanding.
She didn't quite understand that look, ever since that day she had thought about that look and what it had meant. The events that happened after she took a shot at the king had surprised her more then anything else in her entire life. The king had laughed once he had regained his composure. Instead of killing her right there and then or having her hung to set an example he had declared that she would be imprisoned until she was of age to marry when he would marry her to his son the prince. He knew that having her killed was what she expected, this was her worst nightmare.
Eliza would much prefer to have the crows picking at her dead flesh then have the prince lay a single finger on her. In the years that passed the king had died and the prince had taken the throne. He had never once called on Eliza or tried to get her to marry him, he had no interest in her what so ever. So he left her to rot in her fathers prison cell for almost 10 years, always keeping a watchful eye. She had tried to escape several times from her cell under her fathers castle but had always been prevented by the royal army who now inhabited her fathers city. That was of course until tonight.
She had finally escaped, avoided the members and snuck back into her chambers. She knew she only had minutes to gather her things and leave before someone realised she was missing. She climbed down the vines on the side of the castle as quickly as possible, praying she would get to the stables without the alarm being raised. As she reached the ground she saw a small group of approaching royal army members and hid in the brush as they passed.
She noticed one of them had a bow and full quiver of arrows on his back. She knew it was risky and that she would be better off making a run for the stables, but she also knew that if she did not have a bow when the alarm was raised, she was going back to her cell. She crept up behind them hoping to steal the bow before they had any time to react. These men were constantly vigilant however and as she crept closer one of them spun around with a sword holding the tip directly too her throat.
The other two men spun around as well and smiled in delight at the sight before them. None of them seemed to recognise her and we're pleased simply because a pretty young women was at their mercy. Eliza hated her self for what happened next, but in a desperate situation one must act desperately. She slowly, with a smile started to unbutton her bodice, revealing her breasts underneath.
The member lowered his sword ever so slightly as he took in the sight before him, the other two moved in a little closer. As they approached Eliza turned her attentions too the man with the bow. She stroked his cheek and allowed him to fondle her, giggling as he did like some whore in a tavern. She kissed him full on the mouth as the other guards began running there hands all over her. She pulled back from the kiss and quickly extracted her brothers dagger from her belt hiding it in the palm of her hand as all three men started pulling at her clothes breathing heavily as they did.
Eliza let them work, holding the dagger tightly in her hand waiting for her moment. Just as the last layer of her clothes fell to the ground Eliza spun around digging the daggers tip into the throat of the man behind her. The other two watched in shock as their friends neck opened up like flood gates and blood poured down over Eliza's arm and on to the ground. Before either of the other men could react Eliza burst into action.
She threw the dagger straight into the shoulder of the man with the bow distracting him and making him cry out in agony. She then smashed her elbow into the bridge of his nose shattering it and removed an arrow from his quiver as she left him laying in a heap on the ground. She launched at the third man with the arrow stabbing it as hard as she could straight into his eye sending him too his knees screaming in agony. She stood over them, three members of the most elite fighting force in the world, dead or dying at her feet.
Her naked body was covered in blood and as she approached the man with the bow he looked up at her with a dying look, fear beyond any fear Eliza had ever seen before. ‘Who are you?’ He whispered as she leaned in close extracting her dagger. ‘I am vengeance’ she whispered back as she plunged the dagger directly into the mans heart. He stared back silently coughing and gurgling up blood and then eventually he remained still.
Eliza withdrew her dagger just as the rain started to pour. She stood, naked covered in blood in the pouring rain and couldn't help but smile. She would avenge her brother, if it was the last thing she ever did...
Part 1, Chapter 2
Part 2 Chapter 1