This Adorable Lady

WLC 6.2: Amber

Deputy Tanglepork steps inside, but hesitates. "Is that safe?" she asks of the glowing crystals lighting the room.

"Yeah," says Ling, "Ya want to stay outside?" Ling gestures and a bubble forms around the pair, both in and out of her house.

"What is this?" The deputy looks about in awe of the shimmering shield and the distorted view of the world outside.

"Privacy bubble: people can't see or hear through it."

"That sounds threatening," says Tanglepork, "And probably illegal."

"Not yet it isn't," says Ling, sticking her hand out and in the bubble, "But I get it. Fortunately, my own invention; haven't taught a soul." She returns her focus to the deputy. "Now, why ya here?"

J: She really called that one. L: Strewth, I'm impressed ya figured it out on your own.

"I need to know who's entered and exited the Underdank."

"I gave those file to the sheriff," says Ling, irritation rising in her voice, "I just said that."

"There are children missing, Ling," says Tanglepork, looking her dead in the eye. "The sheriff is blaming you."

"Sprogs on walkabout and that c**t's playing blamsies?" growls Ling, "What are your leads? Macca's way or Splish-Splash?"

"Can you... repeat that?" asks Tanglepork.

Ling takes a deep breath, "If the sheriff's not looking for the kids, then I will. So, what are your other leads? Could they have gone past Old McDonald's farm or Splish-Splash River? Whose tykes are missing, too?"

"You wanna help?" says Tanglepork, taking out a notepad, "Okay, yes, it's six kids, maybe seven."

"Maybe seven?"

"Sheriff's not counting Matches."

"Who's that?"

"Homeless orphan, lurked around the other side of town for about half a month. May be unrelated."

Ling sighs. "Next time ya know someone who might be starving, send them my way."

"Will do." The deputy begins reading her notes. "First, we have Hanzy and Grater, Toothfist's kids; last seen leaving school last week. Never made it home."

"Goblins," says Ling, "That's why it's taken this long to notice. Hanzy's the one with the weird spiky growths."

"Second, Graupel and Rosen Rotweiss, twin kobolds, allegedly assisting 'a dwarf' every couple days, disappeared earlier this week."

"Any I.D. on this 'dwarf'?"

"Not yet. Vague enough to be in any direction too... including the Underdank."

Ling shakes her head; it's not worth commenting on.

"Third, Gene Geneson Jr., parents claim he ran away a few days ago."

"Genette? Yeah, I can take a swing at why she'd do that."

Tanglepork checks her notes, "She?"

"Not your business," waves Ling, "Shouldn't have said it. Regardless, possibly our 'dwarf.'"

"Uh, finally, Loxi Goldberry, mayor's niece, went out looking for Gene yesterday."

J: Oh, Loxi... A: Who is she? J: Nothing, no one really. L: Jevoi's first crush. She was in tatters when Loxi and Genette started dating. J: I was not! D: I thought it was Gank. J: That is also false.

"There we go," says Ling, "The reason the sheriff's acting now. Have anything from the kids? Hair or nails?"

"I know what your thinking," says Tanglepork, pulling a pink hairbrush out of her bag; it is covered in blonde elven hair, "We already tried this."

"That's curious," says Ling, snatching the brush, "But let me try first."

Ling focuses on the girl's discarded hair and sends a pulse of magic through the world. There is no reaction from anything.

"Told you," says Tanglepork.

"This is a big clue," says Ling. Noticing the deputy's confusion, she continues, "If the location pulse isn't detecting her, it means something, or someone, is actively blocking it."

"Or she's not on this plane of reality."

"Both directions worth looking into," says Ling, handing the brush back, "Anything for the other kids, just to be certain?"

L: We checked; no signal for any of them, not even Matches.

WLC 2.1: Licker Bar

Sitting in a tavern, a gecko in a ratty wig sits alone at a booth in the rear. Dressed in a red shawl and leggings, she swirls her drink while watching the crowd hounding the flame-haired bartender. He pours, shakes, and passes drinks in an effortless dance.

L: It was a few months after I moved here to Rankedge. I's at Libby's having a pint.

J: Of course, you were. You were always at Libby's. So glad that place burned down.

L: How can ya say that? Weren't ya friends with Jr.?

J: Yes, and she hated working there. She didn't want to be saddled by her dead dad's dream.

Her wandering gaze is suddenly pulled by the sound of the door. A knight in shiny armor steps inside, looking about. The gecko slips out of her seat and sneaks across the tavern.

L: She looked like a scaly elf. A real beauty, too: skin blue like lapis and hair of water. Too soft in the face and too fancy a suit to have seen much action.

Ignored by most of the drinkers, the knight makes her way to the bounty board and attempts to pin her own parchment to it. "Come on," she says, "Get in there you... tack."

L: Naturally, I had to take a chance.

D: Were you always looking to help people, Nana Ling?

L: Y-yeah, I'd been helping everyone and their mum.

"Problem, mate?" asks the gecko, taking the page, "Going questabout, eh?" Her eyes dart back and forth from it and it's poster.

"Yes," says the knight, annoyed by the audacity, "But I have need of a guide into the Underdank." She looks the gecko over. "Doubt you'd be of any help."

L: The undine was in pursuit of her missing "roommate" from St. Chastity's. And ya know how the girls from there are.

J: St. Chastity's School for Lady Paladins?

L: The very same. Never been a straight lady in that building.

"Well, ya'd be wrong," says the gecko, "Name's Dr. Ling, local wizard and probo'solver." She hand the page back. "If your mate's up a gumtree, I can help. Ya got a name, lovely?"

"Maraja," says the knight, placing her fist over her heart, "Champion of Vanessa."

J: Vanessa? Really?

D: Who's that? Do you know her too?

L: I'm getting to that. Hold on.

"Champion? Then why ya looking for aid in a pub?" asks Ling, "We got a shrine up the way." She tilts her head at Marja's continued distrust. "At least let me show ya that far."

Maraja sighs, "Sure then." She shoves her paper into her bag. "Lead the way."

WLC 2.A: What's in the Box?

L: The rest of that day was relatively uneventful. We eventually found a place to camp. Maraja went straight to sleep while Kalyani and I... communed... about Vanessa. J: We don't need to hear about that, Mum. D: Sure is a lot of boring adult stuff in this story. L: One day you'll want to know about "boring adult stuff." J: Still don't, Mum.

Maraja took the second watch. She made no fuss about her companions; she would simply pretend that she hadn't noticed. Between the two of them, the spells and wardings would likely be enough without an actual guard, but Maraja couldn't allow herself to become complacent; she will not always be traveling with such magicians. She kept her ears open to the faint distant echoes: things burrowing, skittering, even flapping. While the earlier worm shocked her with its size, the fauna she's met since is small and mostly harmless.

Maraja kept eyeing the passages forward and back. While she had lost track of how far the group have traveled, she trusts Vanessa's eyes to guide them. If they kept following her, they'd find Kirono. The wizard was convinced that the paladins were dating. 'Insanity,' thinks Maraja, 'We're just friends and I'm not about to abandon her.' Her thoughts drift to and fro. 'We are friends, right?' she worries, 'It's not like those Vrow.'

L: Anyway, when we woke, Maraja was really distracted: deep in thought. But we got our things together and continued on. That day, we found a suspicious box. So naturally the first thing we did was make sure they wasn't anyone hiding nearby before we carefully approached it.

The iron chest has a single hinge and a simple lock. It appears tightly clamped and relatively clean. It is clearly out of place here, all three women know that; no one just leaves a container like this in the middle of a tunnel in plain (dark)sight. The real question is: what kind of trap is it?

"Bomb?" asks Kalyani, "Perhapss, a cursse or poisson?"

"It looks koboldic," says Ling, "So poison is most likely, if anything."

"Should we just ignore it?" asks Maraja, "Just raise a little wall around it?"

Kalyani points her staff at the chest. "Jusst give thhe word."

"Hold," Ling raises her hand. "If you see anything appear over the box, sink it down." She points at it and thinks loudly. An image of a dog 🐶 appears over it.

As commanded, Kalyani shapes the stone beneath the box to lower it down and cage it with forcefully formed stalagmites. For a second, she thinks it may have twitched.

"What manner of spell was that?" asks Maraja, "A dog?"

"That's a mimic, no doubt," says Ling, she looks at her armored friend, "Say something, mate?"

"Thhe sspell, dear," says Kalyani, "What wass thhat?"

"Oh that," laughs Ling, "That's my own invention; I call it Detect Consent. I think of something and the idea enters the target's mind then I get a reaction for if they're in favor, against, or unable."

"So what is 'dog'?" asks Maraja, leaning closer.

"Dog is non-sapient," says Ling, waving a few illusions for dramatic effect, "There's also 🧠 brainwashed, 🍾intoxicated, 👻 possessed, ⭐ cursed, 💤 unconch, and 🐣 minor. If none of those trigger, then it'll give a ✅ yes or 🚫 no."

"What about imposssible?" asks Kalyani, "And can you teachh me thhiss?"

"Impossible actions default to no," says Ling, "And I'd love to teach ya."

"So if that were a normal chest," asks Maraja as the group approach the trapped mimic, "It wouldn't have given any response?"

"Nailed it," Ling slaps Maraja's shoulder, "I just realized it'd out these b****rs."

D: Why did you make that spell? L: To keep kids from places they don't belong. Almost every bartender in Inner Glow ended up learning to cast that cantrip. J: And then it spread amongst travelers and drove non-sapient mimics into extinction. L: Can't say anyone's mourning those. J: The propagation of smart mimics that led to was disastrous.

"But the question remains," says Maraja, poking the mimic with her sword, "Where did this come from? Mimics hide near people."

"Sso people," says Kalyani, keeping her staff ready as she leads the group forward, "Musst be hiding near it."

WLC 6.4: They're on a Path in the Woods

Adjusting the tie on her red hood, a young lycan, barely a gnome tall, looks down the trail into the woods. The birds are singing, bugs are buzzing, and sun shining through the canopy. She picks up her picnic basket.

"Do you really have to follow me?" she asks the dark-hooded figure behind her, "It's just my bunica's house; I go every week."

The masked figure nods. "It's not safe to go alone," she says.

"You're shorter than me," says the lycan, "I'll have to protect you if anything is actually out here."

"Not the poi~ent~," sings the masked figure.

"Don't do that." The lycan skips along the path and her shadow drags behind.

"Just keep your eyes open for any queer sights."

"Like a pond that wasn't there last week?"

"Right~io~," sings the shadow, "Wait, is that it?"

The two stop and cautiously approach the waterfront through the grass. Because of their tall boots, the two feel safe from ticks and other bugs.

The shadow skips a stone across the pond. "Seems like real water to me," she says, "But where's it from?"

"Oh, you two, right there," says a sweet voice from the lake, yet unimpeded by the water itself "You wouldn't have happened to drop a sword in here recently?"

"No?"

"Are you sure?" asks the voice, sounding closer to the girls, "There are a few down here; one is iron, one is steel, one is silver, and one is gold."

"Not ours, sorry," says the lycan.

"But the silver could be useful," says the shadow, "Can we borrow it? Just for today?"

A light shines from the lake as an elf-like woman emerges. Her skin shimmering silver, her hair gold. The water flowing around her as a shawl, barely concealing her dignity. She stares down at the children. She attempts to smile warmly to them, but it just creeps them out.

"Greetings, honest travelers," she says, extending out an open palm, "You may call me Argentalms Aurocor. May I have your names?"

"I'm using it," says the lycan, stepping back, "Sorry."

"Mine was a gift," says the shadow, stepping forward.

Ms. Aurocor rolls her beautiful pearlescent eyes. "Then what may I call you, travelers?"

"You can call us Loomy and Bacon," says the lycan, "It's nice to meet you, I guess."

"Really nice to meet you," says the shadow presumably called Bacon.

WLC 3.1: By Dawn's Early Plight

Melandria, the Shadow Queen, oozes out of the darkness into the sleeping town of Rankedge. The sun, what the Inner Glowians call that weird rock floating in the center of the planet, shines its light on the lands to the east. No matter how many times she sees this inner world it still unnerves her; the bending of the land into such an unnatural state.

The goblin town has recovered since last she was here, but one building is largely unchanged: Dr. Ling's brutalist brick apothecary. The placards on the side identify it as the Wizard Lizard's Pharm.; they also direct people seeking the Lizard Wizard, Lang Cantor, to the other side of town, by the Gizzard King, a local restaurant.

Melandria, as beautifully dressed as ever, takes a deep breath and knocks on the door. While she waits, she looks about the empty roads, at the the simple stone huts that line this side of town. Her mind drifts into nostalgia, only to be pried back to reality by the sound of the door unlocking.

The door creaks open and a child peers out. The little gecko, almost a miniature Ling wearing a pink smock, stares at Melandria for a second, then says, "Mum's not home." She closes the door suddenly.

J: The end. D: What that's it? J: I'm kidding. There's more.

Melandria knocks on the door again. When the little one opens it again, the darkness grabs it and holds it open.

"Let's try this again," says Melandria, "I am the Shadow Queen and I am looking for Dr. Ling, who I assume is your mother."

"Yes," says the gecko puffing out her cheeks, "She's not here."

"Then, where is she?"

"Get out of my house."

Melandria conjures her magic orb, black like all her things, to her hand. She calls Ling and hears a faint buzzing come from within the house. "Did she leave her orb here?" asks Melandria, pushing her way into the building. "Ling, I need you."

The apothecary is in a sorry state. Contraptions of various types line walls, while a cluttered counter blocks the way into the backroom. The backdoor is actually several threads of beads. A small hammock hangs near a messy dresser in the corner.

"Get out of my house," says the gecko, "You, big titty w***e."

"Child," gasps Melandria, " Where did you learn that word? You shouldn't say things like that."

"Jevoi, what's that racket?" calls a groggy voice from the backroom.

"Ling, it is I," says Melandria, "The Shadow Queen."

"Bl'ell, Mel," says Ling, audibly rummaging around the other room, "Why didn't ya just call?"

"I did," says Melandria firmly, "Several times." She enters the backroom.

The super king sized bed takes up most of the room. It's blankets are crumpled to the side and the pillows are scattered. There are a ludicrous number of shelves along the walls, most of them supporting water bottles. So many water bottles. The rest of the shelves hold an assortment of wands, amulets, scrolls, and books. There is a second door in this room with a plush alligator sitting over it.

Ling is sitting naked on the side of her bed, flicking her magic orb. "What's the problem?" she asks without taking her eyes off it, "So I can prepare."

"Ecological disaster."

This happened when I ran Age of Ashes too. She got a great scene showing up to help in the sixth book.

Also she has a friend called Belmazog. She was a big bad villain who tried to summon a dark god of death and destruction to slaughter indiscriminately but she’s alright now.

While all the other demons and angels chose to work with humans, Satan said, "I'm getting a dog."

Pekomaru and Satan from Daemon Bride

Mikado Mirror

There are so many death animations in Bushido Blade 1 and a few in the sequel. For some reason (probably demons), I recorded Mikado ending herself for more than six minutes straight.

Just screaming and dying for six minutes.

The Good, the Bad, and Their Little Cat Too

is this for anyone? or just me lol

WLC 1.5: A House Divided

"You think I'll let you keep her in this hovel?" asks Jevoi, her eyes scanning the broken shelves and piles of refuse in the corners.

"As much as ya'd think I'd let ya take her to your fortress," says Ling.

"I'm willing to let YOU in," Jevoi's voice rises as small flames sparkle around her briefly, "I have a lab and a library."

"And I do not care."

Jevoi pauses. Her face slipping back into a smug malevolence. "There's also a pair of half-orc-"

"No."

"-Vrow twin-"

"NO."

"-Princess assassins-"

"n-n-no."

"-and their girlfriends are just dying to meet you."

The old lizard hissed and rasped. "Ya- ya- ya can't get me that easy." Ling pulls her hat down over her face.

"What else do you want?" Jevoi swings her arm into air. "Why would you rather live in trash?"

"This trash," seethes Ling, removing her hat, "Was your home. I spent half my life in this house and ya spent most of yours." She hops to her feet. "I built it. My life's work was done here." The room itself begins to shake. "Work ya destroyed."

Jevoi's eyes track Dalini, scurrying toward the back door. "Let's stay calm, Mum," she says, "We can still fix this. It's not too late. You don't know how many of your old friends are working for me now."

"Like who?" Ling scoffs, "Melandria? You think she's good for a brain?"

"She kept your old notes," says Jevoi, gesturing over to the glowing pod, "But there's so many others."

"Fine," says Ling, sitting down as the room stops shaking, "But first I need to tell ya 'bout how I met her."

"Why?" asks Jevoi.

"Story time!" shouts Dalini, racing back toward the fire.

"She's the first one to fund this," says Ling, "And we promised Dalini a yarn. So, sit down."

Jevoi summons an elaborate cushioned black throne to sit on; Dalini lies on the floor. "Oh, no," says the Empress, "Don't sit on the floor." She summons a matching stool which her daughter throws herself onto.

"Righto," says Ling, puffing up the fire, "Here's how I met the Shadow Queen."