January Vignette

Welcome to the January Vignette!


Prompt

Your character has experienced a significant change in their life, something never faced with before. What is it and how do they respond?


Vignette Close Date

February 5th, 2021 at midnight EST


Rules

1. One submission per character.


2. All entries have to be within the declared period. Editing your post and completely changing your submission is okay as long as all the edits occur before midnight EST on the closing day.


3. The moderator judging the monthly vignette contest may post a vignette at the end, but will not be eligible for first or second place.


4. Only on-topic vignettes are liable for rewards. The topics are broad enough that no character should be particularly limited.


5. PCs must be involved in all vignettes. How "canonical" you choose to have the events of the vignette is up to you.


6. All participants receive EXP. The top two finishers also receive GP. (Clarification: this excludes off-topic submissions, as per Rule 4).


7. Entries are assessed on the following merits:


Use of topic: Did the writer use the topic, or write something completely random and off topic?


Creativity: Did the writer make something unique out of the topic or was it more cliche?


Mechanics: Basic writing mechanics: spelling, grammar, punctuation, word usage, etc.


Notes: Additional comments.

I was in my meditation pose. I was breathing in through my nose, and out my mouth. I started to feel my mind shift gears, and the sensation of falling hit me. This was where I should feel my unconscious mind start passing through the layers of the world, except that I didn't! I couldn't feel the eldritch energy that passed through the omniverse through everything, alive, dead, never alive everything!

And I could not feel it.

That snapped me out of my meditation, I was concerned this shouldn't have happened. I found a near by stone, and reached out to it with my mind, and I could not feel it. I pulled a dagger, and ran a line across my hand. I felt the pain, and I watched. My hand did not heal. In short for the first time in a long, long time I had no connection to the energies that permeated the omniverse.

Over the decades that I have been...blessed with my abilities I have put my body through punishment, after punishment, and have become physically stronger because of it.

It would take quite some time for me to adapt, I was not as young as I used to be after all. I couldn't throw my self into a fight, I couldn't count on surprising my enemy with a telekinetic throw, or grasp. I was now for all intents and purposes normal. Even being as strong as I was didn't mean too much as anyone could work their body to the point of being twice as strong as what might be considered as average, most miners were that strong after all.

I had to focus not on my knowledge of eldritch might, or my ability to heal my self, now I had to focus on straight martial skill, and explore my more human side of things.

“You said it’s called what? Drastic? Kind of a weird name for like a thing isn’t it?

“No Elliya, it’s called plastic.”

Elliya paused and rolled the word around on her tongue just as she twiddled with the strange bauble between her fingers.

“So where does it come from? Does it come from trees or something? Like sap?”

Urwin’s laughter bellowed out of the workshop as he shook his head emphatically.

“No, it’s made- like a metal, almost? To be honest, I don’t totally understand either.” Urwin stroked his chin as he stared at the object twirling in Elliya’s hands.

“Now be careful, don’t-”

THUNK

“Oops.”

Urwin bent down with a sigh and picked up the strange white cube, placing it firmly on Elliya’s worktable.

“Luckily for you, it’s very durable. But do try to be careful. Anyway, have at it, I’ve got my own chunk.”

Elliya nodded meekly and then sat at her workbench, pulling out her hand lens to take a closer look at the structure of the thing.

Huh, it really is like a hard wax. Or amber maybe?

The cube simply sat on the table, unaware it was the object of so much confusion and focus.

Pulling her smallest razor out of the drawer, Elliya carefully shaved a paper thin section and held it up the light, making a mental inventory of its properties.

Pretty translucent. Not terribly rigid. Doesn’t smell like much. Tastes. . .

Elliya licked the shaving.

Okay, ew, somehow worse than wood but maybe better than metal?

Urwin hadn’t given her terribly specific instructions on how to work with it. Apparently, it could be melted and molded like glass, or shaved and carved like wood. She had been warned, however, to under no circumstances set it on fire.

Easy enough!

Elliya got to work slowly heating the cube and working at it. For a brand-new material, she wanted to start with something very simple, just a small jar with a lid. Plastic, she reasoned, might have some advantages in this way. More durable than glass, less work than wood.

A short time later with her work complete, Elliya bounded into her mentor’s work area to show off her handywork.

“Hey Urwin, check this out-”

She stopped dead in her tracks. Sitting on Urwin’s bench was the most intricate, delicate carving of a lily, each petal a pale white and completely smooth.

“Wha- I mean, how? There’s no way you made that this fast!”

“Well, I may have gotten a little practice on the road,” Urwin grinned. “This old man still has a few tricks up his sleeve!”

Elliya rolled her eyes and quickly hid her simple jar behind her back.

“You know, your cup is really nice too,” Urwin chuckled to himself.

“Well first of all it’s a jar, thank you very much.”

“Mine is a lily-”

“I know what yours is! It’s amazing! If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go back to my bench and start all over again.”

Urwin’s warm laughter followed her back to her workbench as she tied her hair up, staring at the jar with a determined look.

Okay, I can kinda see the cup thing. Whatever. One day I’m going to be the one going on adventures and bringing weird things back and telling stories and-

She didn’t know how right she was.

Time after time, it was the same dream.

For a moment, there would only be the darkness of oblivion. Then, he, Shinsou, would step from the frigid void onto the cold streets of Radasanth. A ceiling of cumbersome clouds hung there for what seemed like an eternity, and straight away it started to rain in sheets. The droplets bombarded the cobbles beneath his feet and kicked up spats of loose mud and grime.

As the water drenched his skin, the Telgradian looked across the road to two others who occupied the space. The giant skeleton known as Elite Optic, fighting Rayse Valentino in a brutal melee. And, beyond that...

Storm Veritas.

The rain glistened on walls of polished Radasanthian stone, and on the blade poised high over the skeleton's head. Time after time, he watched Elite Optic's bone-hilted sword fall, and Rayse Valentino set the revenant ablaze. Time after time, Shinsou watched as Storm Veritas, his friend, tried to kill him over and over with that vicious lightning. The Telgradian could only observe from a cosmic third person perspective as the electric struck him each time, burning a hole clean through his heart before the dark lances he conjured pierced Storm Veritas's flesh. As the electromancer's screams echoed without sound, clenched fists drew blood from the Telgradian's palms.

Wait...

This dream scene wasn’t the one the Telgradian remembered. The bustling streets suddenly morphed and twisted. They were devoid of life, seeming cold and numb in the drab shadows of the clouds. As with the uncertainty of this strange, ethereal place ahead of him, there was the same uncertainty again about what was happening. With one final glance from the mouth of the alleyway where he had last remembered being lay, his heart blown out, Shinsou's soul left his body .

it was only a matter of moments before he realised the road ahead was now littered with corpses.

What the fuck?

The soul suddenly snapped back to a corporeal body. Shinsou, shivering, shook his soaked brown hair as he stumbled out of the cool alleyway in which he thought he had died. A smell of burning flesh hung on the air, putrid and potent. As he sauntered into the street, his golden eyes veered through the rain and across empty, bloodstained buildings not so far away. Shinsou could see the something ahead of him, something that seemed like pieces of broken stone pillars placed in formation on an obsidian pedestal.

What is that?

As soon as the Telgradian had noticed it, the stench of rotting flesh wafted into his nostrils. It almost made him heave. Suddenly, the rain got heavier once again, but instead of water, twenty thousand droplets of blood pounded their snare patters on the roofs of the buildings around him. Second by second, new beats joined them, turning single, meaningless droplets into a never-ending cascade that washed over roads and down windows in rivulets of red.

Suddenly, a feeling crawled up Shinsou’s spine. It was the unmistakeable cold tinge of dark power. There was no creature alive in this place, so why did he feel like he was being watched?

The raindrops were now dropped by their tainted millions from the imposing tangle of clouds overhead, forming a pool of deep, thick red that covered more of the street’s floor than Shinsou’s eyes could render. The bitter odours of the blood rain mixed with the scents of rotting meat made Shinsou almost wretch.

Suddenly, with a mighty electrical crackle, a mirror image appeared before him; the negative of Shinsou Vaan Osiris, naked and salivating. This version of the Telgradian had skin that was as black as jet. The whites of its eyes were accented by fierce gold irises, and its fingers were replaced by black claws.

..The FUCK?!

"Shinsou," The being growled, turning to face his counterpart "We're not the same. Deep within us lies this instinct to dominate, and to rule, and to achieve greatness. It was what made you feared and revered in Telgradia, and in Corone. But what happened? You don’t have that anymore. You rely too much on Veritas. You rely on your emotions instead of the cold facts. You’re weak."

In a single smooth stroke, the edge of a razor sharp claw sliced through the hundreds of falling droplets and slit the Telgradian’s throat. Shinsou’s dishevelled hair tumbled about the wind in heavy, saturated strands as his physical form in this place began to dissolve. There were no words from the Telgradian, but one last glaring look of shock and dismay.

"I refuse to play horse to a king who’s weaker than me. If you aren’t willing to assert your strength and retain the crown, then I’ll destroy you. Which means…I’ll be king.

After a moment, the scenery of the nightmareish Radasanth suddenly tore back into focus, though once again askew. The cobblestone street that expanded out from the mouth of the alleyway still levitated on a thirty degree tilt. The sodden, cold stone of the passageway rested against the beast’s now blackened right cheek and the bitter odours of rotting garbage coalesced with that of the grime and rotting meat. Ribbons of dark energy lashed and tore at the stone surroundings, violent sparks of electricity smashing into the brickwork and scattering plaster shrapnel in all directions.

The only sound in that moment was that which echoed from the passageway. It was a blood curdling scream, one no longer of man but instead of beast; a beast fuelled with anger and hate.

Vignette closed for judging.

Thank you all so much for your participation!

January Vignette.


Prompt

Your character has experienced a significant change in their life, something never faced with before. What is it and how do they respond?


Vignette Close Date

February 5th, 2021 at midnight EST


Rules
1. One submission per character.

2. All entries have to be within the declared period. Editing your post and completely changing your submission is okay as long as all the edits occur before midnight EST on the closing day.

3. The moderator judging the monthly vignette contest may post a vignette at the end, but will not be eligible for first or second place.

4. Only on-topic vignettes are liable for rewards. The topics are broad enough that no character should be particularly limited.

5. PCs must be involved in all vignettes. How "canonical" you choose to have the events of the vignette is up to you.

6. All participants receive EXP. The top two finishers also receive GP. (Clarification: this excludes off-topic submissions, as per Rule 4).

7. Entries are assessed on the following merits:
Use of topic: Did the writer use the topic, or write something completely random and off topic?
Creativity: Did the writer make something unique out of the topic or was it more cliche?
Mechanics: Basic writing mechanics: spelling, grammar, punctuation, word usage, etc.
Notes: Additional comments.


Dracon
A short and sweet vignette that is very on topic! Very nice!
Use of topic: The topic was spot on! Your character's struggle is right there, simple.
Creativity: Gaining unwanted powers or losing powers is a trope old as time. Not that you wrote it poorly, by any means. You did a good job, but losing power is a age old trope. I did enjoy your character's reaction, however. He panics, then he realizes he has to work on his human skills instead of going into denial.
Mechanics: Spelling is good, but there's a problem of run on sentences throughout. Some formatting is off as well, such as an ellipsis without the word being spaced afterwards.
Notes: Cliche does not mean bad. I really like your entry, Dracon! You kept to the topic and wrote a solid piece.


Elliya
Plastic? In Althanas? Okay, your story was a thrill to read! It was very amusing and fun. It is such a charming piece of writing.
Use of topic: Sometimes massive changes can come in little, curious packages. Such as a cube of this strange substance called drastic - or plastic.
Creativity: The concept of dealing with plastic, the two different works the two tinkers come out with, and the beautiful narrative along the way were all very creative and enjoyable! Seeing Elliya being warily curious of the plastic, even licking it, and creating something simple; only for Urwin to create something advanced, had me smiling in amusement. This is truly a creative and charming read.
Mechanics: I hardly see any issues here, though the "THUNK" could probably have an exclamation point.
Notes: I truly do love this story. It's creative, sweet, and fun.

Shinsou Vaan Osiris
PTSD? Nightmares? Foreshadowing? Oh my!
Use of topic: A PTSD style trauma nightmare fueled by Shinsou’s struggles and defeats. The "change" very much seems to be an internal one, with Shinsou letting his inner monster go primal in response to the stress of life. Very nice!
Creativity: A love your descriptions of the nightmare. Setting and action is warped in a truly terrifying night terror. The use of the topic to display Shinsou’s personality becoming more unhinged in the face of trauma is brilliant! However, a character becoming more unhinged and primal in the face of trauma is a very human, but still cliche, set up.
Mechanics: One or two structural errors, likely due to this being written on mobile, I'd guess. For the most part mechanics are solid though.
Notes: A terrifying story of strife and trauma warping an individual into a monstrous stage. A very gripping read.


Elliya wins! Shinsou comes second place!

• Elliya wins 200 EXP and 200 GP.
• Shinsou Vaan Osiris wins 1,280 EXP and 150 GP.
• Deacon wins 100 EXP.

Congratulations to the winners and thank you all for participating!

Rewards added.