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thebard490 · 1 year ago

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Paladins: Order Undivided Chapter 2: Into the Unknown

I am the Bard, who has seen light and darkness from whence they were still entangled, and has seen them shifting between one another.

The rest of the colony caravan finally arrived along with Yndri. They found a small hill of dead hobgoblins, some rather bloodied Paladins, and a roaring fire that Peregrin had gotten to work setting up.

”Ladies and Gentlemen of this fine colonization effort. It is my privilege to welcome you at last to the Northern Garden!” Peregrin chirped to the leaders.

”Quit clownin around an’ help me move this anvil.” Kazador grumbled good-naturedly as he hauled the anvil back into its place on the shrine.

The caravan moved into the old camp for now and they disposed of the bodies, equipping themselves with what armor and weapons they could find. Senket, Julian, Kazador met with the caravan leader, filling him in. After some serious discussion, it was agreed that the Paladins would work as scouts and outriders to investigate the forest and try to find a good place to set up.

Meanwhile, Peregrin and Yndri set out to scout the forest at the base of the hill and do a bit of hunting. There, Yndri spied and brought down an elk with her bow. Peregrin found a running stream to lay his net and line in. While he reclined and waited for a bite, he heard a sound in the brush on the opposite side of the stream.

He climbed up a tree and balanced across a limb to peer through the other side. There he spied a troupe of halflings carrying a canoe quickly and quietly through the bushes. He shouted a greeting in halfling, and was promptly answered with a hail of stones and darts which sent him stumbling off his branch into the stream with a loud splash. Yndri heard the sound and rushed to help, only to find Peregrin, and a large number of fish, tangled up in his net. She hauled the waterlogged wanderer out along with his catch.

”For such a slippery swordsman you’re remarkably clumsy little one.” She remarked with a wry grin on her face.

”I didn’t fall I was pushed! From a distance. By a lot of pebbles and darks. There’s other halflings here!” He burbled out, his unexpected bath doing nothing to blunt his joviality.

”Well that explained it. They clearly knew how much trouble you’d be if you followed them, and probably didn't have enough food for another mouth, especially one as big as yours.”

”Harrumph. Curl their hair if that’s what it was. Not sharing food is just plain selfish. I’d make it back in quality anyways.”

”Of course. Let’s get back so we’ve time to report and you can back those words up.”

The two headed back and made their report. Nobody was particularly concerned, for halflings are most always goodly folk, and with a goblinoid horde blighting the land, it stood to reason that they’d be particularly cautious.

As the day dimmed, the fire was built up and Peregrin got to work cooking. As he was roasting the elk, a stiff breeze blew ashes up towards his meat, only to switch at the last second and instead sweep up wild herbs into the fire, filling the air with a delectable aroma. Everyone enjoyed the meal, Kazador in particular thoroughly enjoyed the meat, drawing a few grins from Senket and Yndri. However, a problem arose when Julian suddenly realized to his horror that he couldn’t eat due to still having his helmet stuck on. Several minutes of yanking, pulling, and general neck wrenching ensued before Peregrin devised the idea to lube it off using grease from the meal.

One batch of screaming later, the party finally got to see what Julian looked like. It was somewhat disappointing to say the least. The nephilim’s skin was a pale sea green, with strange indigo eyes that had no pupils whatsoever. His features were very plain, and not exactly the manliest figure. He looked younger than his years, with a smooth face, slightly rounded, better suited to study rather than swordsmanship. His hair was cut short, and styled messily, a raven black mop adorning his crown.

As the feast wound down, Peregrin got out his pipe and began to smoke, hand on his belly as he digested. ”It’s only right and proper that we have a tale to aid the digestion. And as the only properly sized fellow here I suppose it falls to me to tell it. What sort would you care to hear?”

Senket piped up. “I’ve never seen that crest you wear. How did you come by it?”

He smiled. “Ah, these are the swords of Jaborah, halfling god of war. Not many know him since we’re not the sort to go conquering. Wars are nasty business, make you late for supper. But sometimes war came to us, despite the goddess’s best efforts. So it was in Jaborah’s day, when Tiamat still walked this plane.”

Faces scowled and more than a few harsh glares were thrown Kazador’s way at the mention of the Dragon Queen and mother of monsters. “The dragon queen’s avarice was so great that all the world would be her hoard, the villages of the halflings included. So, her armies came, and for a while, Jaborah beat them back, armed only with a stout staff. Until she herself came and slew the valiant warrior with her fell breath of every color. He awoke in that golden shire the goddess prepared for us, and there at once sought her out. He begged her to teach him where to find the weapons to save his people and defeat this evil. She told him, and so out he went. Down, down, down, into that darkest of places. The abyss. To the dominion of Indabatu, prince of undeath. He snuck into that mausoleum palace to where the unliving lord slept and stole his front two teeth. In his hands the rotted fangs became two swords sized for him. With these, whom he named “Dragon Biter” And “Drake Muncher”. He cut his way back into the world of the living and drove Tiamat and her legions back to the six peaks, stealing away a portion of her godly essence so that he might watch us forevermore.”

“A fell tale, and such wicked weapons. Not something I expected from the little folk.” Yndri admitted.

“I said much the same when the priests first told it to me. But there’s a lesson in it, like all proper tales. Every weapon, no matter how pretty it is or how righteous the cause it strikes for is a tool for death.” He turned his cloak, and in the fire light all could see his shortswords have hilts of bone. “For this reason, all we who follow Jaborah carry swords with bone hilts, to remind us how great and terrible a thing we carry, and to not use it lightly.” With that, the story closed, and the evening with it. Soon guards are posted, and beds gone to.

In the dead of night, Peregrin awoke to find Yndri tossing and turning in her sleep. Also, Yndri was actually sleeping, not entering trance. The very confused halfling quickly shook her awake and got a dagger at his throat for the trouble.

”Easy Yn I’m just the cook! I know the deer might’ve given you some indigestion but killing me is a gross overreaction!”

The pale haired elf relaxed as she slipped the dagger back in her boot. “Sorry little one, you startled me.”

”It’s okay. I didn’t realize elves had nightmares. I didn’t think you even slept really.”

”Most of us don’t. We enter a trance where we relive our memories, and those of lives long past.”

”Oh. So why weren’t you doing that?”

She frowned. “That’s... that’s rather personal little one.”

”I promise I won’t tell a soul. You can trust me, honest.”

”I’m sorry little one, but this isn’t for you. It’s not for anyone but me and my own goddess to puzzle out.”

Peregrin was somewhat sad and confused, but he nodded with acceptance. “Alright. I won’t tell anyone.”

Meanwhile, Yndri wasn’t the only one having bad dreams. Senket was in a forest. It was dark there, dark without moon or stars, only her diabolical vision saw. The trees were strangled, countless vines like a billion grasping arms, pulsing with life like black veins throttled them. She called for her light, the light of the sun she bore. Her morningstar flared and the dark veins slipped away from her. In the distance, she could see a similar light. She headed towards it, walking an ancient and forgotten road past a long-abandoned chapel. She came through the clearing and saw a building, wreathed in solar flames, an ancient abbey burning as a beacon, though like the last embers of an untended fire. Above the gate a lone tiefling stood, holding a mighty sword in his hands against the pulsing dark. He turned and looked directly at her, one word burnt into her mind as she awakened, the light of dawn burning her eyes.

”At last. We are returned.”

After a successful feast and some strange dreams that either came from divine intervention or severe indigestion, the paladins awoke. Senket explained her dream and suggested that they seek this abbey in the forest. Yndri voiced her support for this. Kazador was somewhat skeptical. “Ah’m nae exactly one fer chasing after strange dreams.”

Julian countered “I’m inclined to believe the dream. Ancestors and spirits talk to people on a fairly regular basis don’t they.”

“Ah’m nae saying it nae happened, but even if it is an ancestor or a spirit, it’s nae exactly a guardian angel, nae offense Sen.”

”Eh, I’m used to it. I doubt it’s an ancestor though, my family has always lived in the southwest. We’ve certainly never come this far north.”

”It’s the rest of the dream that concerns me the most.” Peregrin muttered. ��Wicked vines strangling the forest? A dark without star or moon? That reminds me of a few too many stories.”

”A halfling actually scared of something? Ye gods this is new.” Julian remarked dryly.

“Not scared, but not foolhardy either, especially since I encountered my rather hostile brethren the other day. Something’s not as it seems here, but we won’t get any answers sitting around. I say we seek the abbey.”

“Agh. Well, the wee laddie has a better head on him than most. Ah’ll seek it with ye, an’ if it’s a trap o’ a trick ye’ll be needing my axes, so I cannae let ye go without me.”

Thus determined, the party gathered supplies from the camp, only to find that several people, including the original leader, had fallen ill. They debated staying, but the new leader told them that they needed scouts to possibly someone to go find other settlements more than they needed more guards. They’d hold in the tower.

With rations, water, and other supplies in hand, the paladins marched into the forest. They briefly considered taking horses, but without any known paths, they decided traveling on foot was better for the sake of silence and better suited for the brush. Yndri took the lead, with Peregrin taking up the rear. They followed their old trail back to the stream and followed the stream down, westwards through the forest, hoping that they might perhaps encounter the halflings again.

After about an hour, Yndri heard rough voices speaking in goblin and called a halt to listen. There were harsh voices, speaking in the gothic tongue of the goblins. With them came many a scream and a thing half like a growl, half like an eagle’s cry.

”Goblins ahead, an’ better yet something killing goblins.” Kazador said as he got out his axes.

Yndri wasn't sure what they were dealing with. “Give me a moment to get closer and see what’s going on. Peregrin, I’d appreciate your help.” She pulled a whistle arrow from her bag and showed it to the group. “If we’re spotted, I’ll fire this, and you engage, otherwise hold back.” The two snuck ahead, while the others followed much further behind. Eventually they were stopped, when a goblin corpse went flying past them, flung by a particularly large and angry hawkbear.

Yndri took to a nearby tree to try to see more and saw a goblin on a wolf bossing around the others, occasionally riding in and slashing at it, but mostly staying behind his dozen or so remaining troops. Peregrin snuck around, getting into position to lunge out at the leader. Unfortunately, the warg smelled him and turned, growling. Yndri drew her bow and fired the whistle arrow into the leader’s back. The sound of a high whistle and an even higher and most unmanly screech echoed into the morning.

Peregrin lunged forwards, driving back the warg with a pair of swift slashes, laying open its hide. The goblin looked at him with astonishment, then turned to see Yndri and his jaw dropped. “An elf? An elf! Scramble! Get that elf! Get that elf!”

Several of the goblins turned, which is a bad idea for a goblin within the reach of an angry hawkbear. One paid for this by having his head swept from his shoulders by a mighty paw. Highly inaccurate ranged fire rained down on Yndri’s location, arrows glancing off branches and her armor.

Hearing the signal, the paladins charged forwards, coming into visual range. Kazador picked up a fallen javelin and hurled it, punching through an unfortunate goblin’s petty excuse for armor and nailing him to a tree. Julian and Senket dashed forwards, Senket leading with her shield to send another goblin flying out of her way.

The warg turned and snapped at Peregrin, tearing a chunk of flesh from the halfling’s shoulder. It licked its lips as it savored the taste. “I assure you, raw is the worst way to have any kind of meat.” The cook joked calmly as his sword became wreathed in flames. “I personally prefer warg blackened!” The warg slunk back with a whimper as the blazing blade pierced though its black hide, producing a most horrid stench. The stench intensified after Peregrin ripped it free, sending scorched flesh and black blood erupting onto the forest floor, which seemed to almost drink it in.

The goblin commander turned to the halfling and swipes downwards, only for the darting blades of Avoree’s chosen to slap it aside. He struck again and the nimble halfling dances to the side as he overextends and slipped from his mount.

The goblin group rushed forwards to try to overwhelm the strange group that so suddenly rushed them. Axes slashed, glancing off shield and armor, but a few lucky blows carving narrow stinging rivulets in weak points. Meanwhile, the archers continued pouring poor fire into the general area where Yndri was. She dropped from her perch to behind the tree, leaning out from behind her cover to nail another goblin in the throat, dropping him with a garbled curse.

The hawkbear, still stinging from its earlier abuse, hurtled into the goblin archer line. It crushed one under its paw before its iron beak lunged forwards, caught a goblin by the head, and crushed her skull like a nut. Yndri noted the sudden drop in arrow fire due to hawkbear and decided to assist it by putting a silver arrowhead inside the last archer’s brain. “Two!”.

Kazador charged into, swiping once with his axe at the downed goblin Senket threw aside, smearing his internal organs across a nearby tree. Then he kept on, hitting the mob and burying his other axe in the back of one of their necks. “Three!”

Senket bashed one goblin to the ground with her shield and then swiped across with her morningstar, bashing the jaw out of another’s face. Meanwhile Julian cleft downwards, the superior steel, weight, and strength of his greatsword shattering through a goblin’s axe before rending its wielder from shoulder to groin. He followed through and caught the next goblin over in the side, splitting open his belly and throwing him to the ground.

The warg, sensing which way the wind was blowing, abandoned its rider and fled into the woods, catching a shortsword to the hamstring as it ran. Peregrin turned from the cowardly mongrel and leveled his blade at the fallen goblin leader. “Surrender.” Hecommanded, eyes glowing with mystic authority. The wretched creature’s hand shook for a moment, before he shook off the spell and launches himself at the halfling with a sudden fury. “I do not knee to slaves!” he roared as he carved a slash out of Peregrin’s cheek.

With the nearest batch of goblins a fine paste, the still very angry hawkbear hurtled into the tattered remnants of the mob attacking the paladins, bowling through one and then lashing out at Senket, who caught the beak on her shield.

Kazador hewed the creature with one axe and the sole surviving goblin with the other. “Four! An’ the beast is worth triple to whoever slays it!”

”Not the time.” Senket growled as she dug in her cloven feet and shoved back into the Owlbear. She knocked it back and down before applying her mace to its face. Julian lunged forwards, shifting his grip on the greatsword he swung it like a batter in a home-run contest, rending the Owlbear’s ribs asunder with a horrid cracking ripping sound.

Peregrin and the goblin boss continued their duel, he landed a blow directly above the heart, but it was deflected by the ill-fitting mail shirt. He then palmed his sword to cut hit foe just above the knee. The goblin responded with two deadly but inaccurate slashes that struck the air centimeters from the halfling’s limbs.

Yndri looked from the badly wounded owlbear to the whirl of blades between the two miniature duelists, drew back her bow, sighed, and let go. A silver arrowhead punched through the goblin boss’s armor, split his spine, and emerged through his sternum. The arrogant commander looked down in disbelief, then fell dead. “Three.”

“Nae lass, that’s worth double, four.” Kazador conceded as he struggled to overcome the hawkbear’s tough hide, landing no telling blow, though the creature labored for breath. In a last desperate struggle, it rained claw and beak upon the dragonoid, leaving bloody rents in his scales, crimson blood running on scarlet hide and dwarven mail as he took a single step back and shook his head at the monster’s tenacity.

All for naught though, as Senket lunged low and pushed upwards, muscles straining as she smashed the owlbear under the chin with enough force that it stood up on its back legs. The horned knight took the opening and smashed her Morningstar through the softer underbelly and ravaged ribs into its heart, turning it into a sort of red paste not unlike strawberry jam. The huge beast finally dropped, dead. “Alright. Next one of these we find we go around them.”

”Agreed.” Kazador grudgingly admitted as he patched his wounds with a combination of divine magic to close the rents, and a drink from his flask to dull the pain. He wiped his mouth and offered Peregrin a swig as the halfling mended the cut in his face and the gash in his arm.

”Thanks, but I don’t fancy being carried. That stuff is strong enough for someone your size, let alone a lightweight like me. Anyone else hurt?”

”Going to be sore later after throwing that beast, but I’ll be fine.” Senket said as she rolled her shield shoulder and stretched her arm.

”Just my pride. Goblins are terrible shots.” Yndri said as she placed her bow back on her back. “Four all, a draw this time beardless.” She said with a grin.

“I’ve got a beard, it’s of bone an’ scale, nae hair. More than any elven pretty laddie can say.” The dragonborn dwarf said crossly as he cleaned off his axes in the stream and sheathed them.

The party regrouped, recovering arrows and checking for loot. Kazador compulsively acquired any and all gold and silver coins, while the rest of the party claimed some gems from a bag at the leader’s side. Peregrin committed the bodies into the river and said a brief prayer before they moved on, following the blood trail of the warg. Following said blood trail led them on a somewhat winding path before it crossed back into the river at a shallow ford. From here the trail ceased. After some debate, they decided to continued following the river until dark.

As the sun dimmed, Senket started a fire. Peregrin set his lines and net. Julian dragged dead trees to form an improvised barricade around the camp. Kazador set to work on repairing and maintaining the party equipment, buffing burs and mending tears and dents with industrious hands. Yndri maintained her own bow, and once that was done, she looked up to the heavens and pulled out a sheet of parchment and quill.

Peregrin looked over curiously as Yndri began to chart their position and their path through that day, marking the river and the watchtower, slowly but steadily creating a map. She paused briefly, before marking the point where they fought the bugbear and the goblins and creating a small note of where the Warg led them.

”You’re a cartographer?” He asked curiously as he suddenly noticed one of his lines ad a bite and hurried to reel it in.

”Yes. Since we are in an uncharted land, I thought it might be wise to record where we have been.” She replied, pulling a series of small triangles and rulers from her bag to measure against the stars.

”How do you keep distances?” Julian asked as he continued his fortifications.

”She’s using the stars, I’d imagine. Those tools aren’t that different from the ones the navigators used when I came to this continent.” Senket hypothesized as she tended the flickering flames.

”That, and I’ve been counting our stepps.” She said as she continued her work. “Multiply that by the length of our stride and we should have a fairly accurate measure. We’ve traveled twenty miles today. A good start.” Yndri looked upwards, slightly below the moon to see if the moonbow was shining, not tonight it seemed. She sighed as she put away her tools and map. Peregrin has managed to draw in two large trout to add to tonight’s dinner, soon they were roasting on a pair of spits. Spirits were high as the paladins dug in, set watches and drifted off to sleep.

The night passed by quietly until Senket’s watch. As she kept a careful eye on the dark forest around them, it passed by the witching hour, when the moon had set, and the stars were all that watched the woods. In the dark distance, at the very edge of her vision, she saw once more, black vines pulsing like dark veins. Unseen ebony ichor flowed at the uttermost edge of her diabolical sight, where the dark was deepest. She moved closer, looking over the edge of the barricade, but the veins were only ever at the tip of her sight, but they were always there, in every direction she looked.

Senket, somewhat perturbed by this, roused Yndri and Julian, somewhat surprised to find that Yndri was once again truly sleeping and not in trance. She filed it away for later thought as she asked them if they saw what she saw. Yndri looked out into the deep of the woods and indeed saw them at the very border of her sight. Julian on the other hand saw only dark woods and went back to sleep, muttering about the halfling’s cooking again.

The two women agreed that this was definitely not just a side effect of spicy trout. Yndri took to the trees to get closer, but just as with Senket, the vines seemed to retreat, staying only ever where she could just barely make it out where the dark met the edge of vision.

As an experiment, Yndri cast a gleaming enchantmenton an arrow and fired it into the dark. Peering out, her elf eyes saw the vines again only existed at the outermost borders of the light, vanishing and reappearing seemingly at an instance. Somewhat disturbed by this eerie phenomenon, the two agreed to hold the rest of the watch together. As they stood there in the dark, they began to chat in quiet tones.

”So, do elves in this part of the world actually sleep?” Senket asked curiously.

”Generally, not, but I do.” She responded.

”Hm.., are you a diviner?”

”What? No, what gave you that idea?”

”Looking at the stars, wearing the moonbow on your back, and trying to dream.”

”How did you know I was trying to dream?”

”Lucky guess. The oracles would do something similar. Drink a special brew, smoke a certain plant, and look for the divine in strange dreams. Occasionally they’d find something.”

”That’s not a tradition I’ve heard of. Where are you from anyways?”

”It’s a continent called Muab, several weeks sail south and west from the southernmost ports.”

”Quite a long way then. What made you decide to leave?”

“That’s somewhat personal. I’ll tell you if you tell me why you’re trying to dream.”

”Bargaining run in the family?”

”Only about as much as randomly swapping sexes runs in yours.” Senket noted, referring to an odd ability of the elves to change their sex at a whim.

”Point taken, sorry.”

”I’m used to it. So, are you going to tell me?”

Yndri considered it for a few moments, and then sighed. “Seems I’ll have to tell someone at some point, may as well be someone who’s willing to fight alongside me. Do you know what happens in trance?”

”It’s basically a better version of sleep, right? You’re more aware and get rested in half the time, right?”

”Not exactly. Well, not just that. In trance, an elf relives memories, memories of both our current lives, and for the oldest and the youngest amongst us, memories of our past lives.”

”Hm, I’d heard that Oberon spat elf souls back out into new bodies, never realized they can remember the old bodies they had.”

”A bit cruder than I’d have put it, but more or less that’s how it’s supposed to work, yes.”

”You say supposed to work, I take it that there are times when it doesn’t?”

”Yes.”

”And you’re one of those times, so you dream hoping you’ll remember an old life.”

”Yes.”

”Does it ever work?”

Yndri grimaced, rubbing the back of her head through her pale hair. “Occasionally, either that or they’re just normal nightmares. Nothing good, but at least there’s something. Alright, your side of the bargain now.”

”Long story short, religion and family issues. Do you remember the plague that happened about twenty years ago?”

”Right, I was just finishing my training when that whole mess ended. Wasn’t it started by some wizard trying to become a god?”

“That’s the one. I was twelve when they destroyed him. That was all that anyone talked about, of course not everyone looked at the soul monger’s death the same way. Some people thought that it posed a remarkable opportunity to gobble up the rather huge number of souls that were released.”

”I take it this is where the family issues came in.”

”Right. To make a very long story short the same people who destroyed the Soul Monger wound up dealing with this particular cult, including a certain Paladin by the name of Sir Arvidor. It was him who wound up taking me in after that whole mess. He trained me, and eventually he left me in charge of the small shrine to Sigurd we’d built there.”

”I take it something happened to the shrine?”

“Muab happened.”

”The continent?”

”And its god, a primordial thing of old power, old pantheons long forgotten. A divine gravekeeper, watching the land where gods go to die. After the whole soul monger incident, it offered the people who destroyed that monster rather remarkable amounts of power. They all accepted, except Arvidor. Muab held a grudge. So, one day an earthquake struck, wiped out the shrine, and then about twenty odd dinosaurs show up to make sure the shrine stays wiped out. I was smart enough to not stay on a continent with an angry god, and was on the first boat out of there, admittedly without a ticket. Wound up working my way out of there, and from there just kept traveling northeast, kind of hoping I can find Arvidor.”

”Any trace?”

”None. Every lead I had seemed to suggest he’s on another plane, whether he’s traveling or dead, can’t be sure. Still, I’ll figure it out eventually. For now, the gods have me here, and here’s where I’ll keep fighting.”

They passed the rest of the night in silence, Senket eventually bedding back down at Yndri’s insistence. The paladins awoke slightly groggy, Senket particularly so. To deal with the grogginess, she began boiling water, and then added a packet something that looked like dirt yet smelled rich and bitter.

“What in the nine hells is that?” Julian asked.

“Coffee. It’s a bean that grows where I’m from and a few other places on this continent. When you ground it up and boil it, it gives people the equivalent of a few extra hours of sleep. You’re welcome to some.” Senket explained. Julian and Kazador declined, but Yndri and Peregrin took her up on the offer. Both were slightly horrified at the taste, but Sen casually sipped hers while they discussed the strange visions of last night and determined their next course of action.

The paladins decided to continue following the river, and Peregrin suggested that they create a raft to speed their travels. After a few hours of work, they were successful and rode along their merry way, Peregrin acting as captain while Kazador, Julian, and Senket handled poling.

Around midday they were busy eating their midday meal when Yndri and Peregrin’s ears perked up at the sudden sound of rushing water. Looking ahead the party saw the land begin to fall away and the river running in a series of rapids and cataracts down with it. Kazador leapt to his feet to try to get to the pole, unbalancing the raft and falling out for his troubles. Julian tossed him a line while Senket seized the pole and tried to push them ashore. Peregrin secured the food in his pack and Yndri tied a second line to an arrow, firing it into a nearby tree.

Kazador floundered slightly, cursing loudly in dwarvish as the rapid current started to pull him and the raft into the cataracts. Julian pulled for all he was worth to try to pull the angry dragonborn in, while Senket pushed just as hard against the current. Peregrin grabbed the tree line to try to hold them fast but instead began being pulled from the raft. Yndri dove to catch him and began sliding off as well, holding onto his ankles as he held onto the rope.

Despite their best efforts, the raft went over as did Kazador. Julian, in desperation, flared his wings and took flight, unable to haul the dragonborn out of the water, but able to keep his head above the spray. As Senket realized the futility of trying to break free, she swiped outwards with the pole and managed to push Yndri aside into the shallows where the tall elf could stand upright. Thanks to this, Yndri and Peregrin managed to use the rope to pull themselves ashore, and Julian kept dry in the air. Kazador took a few bashes to his legs and one to his manhood, prompting a wheezing cough.

Senket, on the other hand, held on for dear life to the raft as it rolled and pitched before her grip slipped. She went flying, but by sheer luck she landed on the bough of a nearby tree, her tunic caught in the branches. Peregrin offered a small prayer to the goddess in thanks as the raft leapt from atop the nearby rocks and crashes off the stream, breaking upon a rocky bar.

Kazador limped out of the steam. “Take a raft he said, it’ll be easy an’ peaceful he said. Bloody halflings!” He cursed as he sat down and judiciously applied some healing magic and equally judiciously applied alcohol to his throat.

One minor throttling of Peregrin later, the party got Senket down from her tree and spent a the rest of the day retrieving their supplies and drying off. They continued on for the next few hours until the dark set in and they set up camp. Fortunately, Yndri’s map and cartography supplies were in their case, so the map continued.

Another night haunted by shadow vines passed without incident, though the party can hear the howling of wolves in the distance. None could tell if this is more goblin riders or just wolves being wolves. In any case, they doused the fire and slept with one eye open.

In the morning, they marched onwards, until they saw the woods beginning to thin, and spied a bridge in the distance, with two towers on each side. Yndri approached stealthily and observed that the old bridge, most likely of dwarven and human make, had been occupied by yet more hobgoblins, though lacking their usual fortified encampment.

The party considered how to deal with the problem. They fully intended to take the bridge, but they could not assault one side without the other being able to send for reinforcements. As such, Julian devised a scheme to attack from three sides. Yndri and Senket would attack from one side of the river, while Kazador and Peregrin attacked from the other. In the meanwhile, Julian would swim though the river, fly onto the bridge from the center, and strike into the back lines of whatever side seemed weaker. From there, their full forces would converge on the center, and hew the foe down.

Julian loaned Kazador his crossbow, then Peregrin and Kazador swam across the river. There were two crossbowmen, one in each tower, a guard at the foot of each tower, and two guards in the center of the bridge who had sat down and started playing cards. On the opposite side, Senket and Yndri saw a similar scene, although the guards on the bridge proper were busy discussing something in their oddly academic tongue.

Julian hung back at the tree line, waiting for things to start before he started swimming. The rest of the party took aim. A stone flew, a bolt loosed, an elven bow sang, and a bolt of hellfire screamed through the late morning light. Kazador’s shot went wide. Peregrin’s stone cracked across a crossbowman’s hand, leaving broken bones and a stinging welt. The recipient of the silver arrow fell quietly (one). The unfortunate woman set ablaze did not go quietly, but rather began screaming as her hair was engulfed in indigo flames. Julian took that for his signal and plunged beneath the chill waters towards the bridge.

The confused hobgoblins turned towards their screaming comrade, but the one struck by Peregrin’s stone barked a warning that they were being flanked. Peregrin confirmed this by hitting him in the mouth with another bullet. Yndri finished the blazing hobgoblin, muttering “two” under her breath. Kazador took more careful aim and picked off the unwounded hobgoblin with a lucky shot to the eye. “One!” Julian continued closer, swimming forwards to the bridge until its shadow passes over him, then he surfaced. Senket left the cover of the tree line, charging forwards into the very surprised hobgoblins and smashing one of the tower guards over the side of the head.

The surviving crossbow hobgoblin ducked back into the tower away from the stinging missiles. Across the bridge, the bludgeoned hobgoblin took a swipe at Senket, which she caught on her shield. The others began moving in, but only one got close enough to take another strike with his halberd, which her mail turned aside. Yndri finished the wounded hobgoblin, expertly placing an arrow through the melee under Senket’s arm directly into his abdomen. “Two.”

Meanwhile, the rest of that side leapt to their feet and began advancing in a phalanx towards Kazador and Peregrin. Peregrin spotted s young hobgoblin who hadn’t yet had time to properly link up with the phalanx and charged him, two swords opening two long cuts in his legs.

Julian erupted from the river; wings raised in all their angelic glory as he dove towards the hobgoblins attacking Senket. The rearmost one turned in utter shock, just barely able to get his shield up in time to deflect the greatsword falling towards him. Senket sidestepped, putting the wall at her left side to keep from being flanked as she laid into another soldier, the crude scale mail keeping his ribs intact.

Kazador smiled at the phalanx and punished their tight formation with a gout of flame from his jaws, scorching their shields and forcing them to scatter. Wary now, the phalanx scattered, one breaking off to aid his comrade, who very successfully murdered the ground next to Peregrin. The other two circled Kazador, cautiously striking, one from each side, and each repulsed by dwarven armor and skillfully wielded axes. Kazador laid into the weaker Hobgoblin, the one who took more of a burning from his breath. The first axe splits the shield, the second, the skull. “Two!” The last hobgoblin launched a desperate assault on Kazador’s turned back, laying it open and breathing easier for just a moment before Kazador turned around growling.

Across the bridge, the blue nosed hob realized he’d been pincered, and in desperation launches an all-out assault on Julian, forsaking his shield to use both hands on his arming sword. He was rewarded with the sudden red stain blossoming upon the nephilim’s tunic. Meanwhile, his minions proved unable to break through Senket’s iron defenses. Yndri kept the pressure on, catching another goblin in the shoulder. Senket followed through, breaking his guard, then his neck.

Julian struck the hob leader right in his blue nose with his pommel, stunning him just long enough to slip around his guard and lay open his side with a lunging stab. The hobgoblin leader looked across the bridge and saw that there was no escape to be found there, so he took his chances, disengaging and fleeing, clutching his wounded side. Across the way, the crossbowman poked his head up and saw just about all his friends were dead. He ran the numbers, and then took aim with his crossbow, and fired. His former commander lay dead with a crossbow bolt in his back an instant later.

Peregrin rolled under the hobgoblin’s legs, cutting them out from under him and then executing the downed soldier with a stab through the back of his neck. The other fellow kept his distance, shield warding him, and reach giving him an edge. He landed a cut on the smaller swordsmaster, opening a narrow cut across his forehead. Peregrin swiped, the blood flowing into his eye ruining the strike. The hobgoblin smacked it down and trapped the blade under his foot. However, the goblinoid failed to realize the orientation of the sword as he went to trap it, and accidentally cut his own foot in half. Peregrin moved in, striking him with the flat of the blade and knocked him out.

Yndri was surprised to see the blue-nose go down, and her eyes tracked the shot’s likely path back to the traitor. She knew she should feel disgust but couldn’t help but feel a certain strange respect for a well-executed backstab.

Kazador made the surviving loyal hob regret striking him in the back. And ever being born for that matter. Blood was not the only of that poor bastards’ fluids pooling out around his newly headless body. Julian flew up to the treacherous marksman, who threw down his weapon and placed his hands behind his head. “I surrender.” He said in rough akarian.

The two hobgoblins were sat on the side of the bridge as the paladins interrogated them. Peregrin had mended his captive’s foot, and once again made them tea. His drank it, the other did not. “Well, let’s begin where we begin. I am Peregrin Bar-Peregrin. With me are Kaz, Julian, Yndri, and Senket.” Peregrin introduced himself. “Who are you?”

“Septimus Septimus Decius.” Peregrin’s captive explained, earning a glare from the other one.

“Still clinging to that I see then? You really are honorless.”

“You shot one of our comrades in the back Octavian, I don’t want to hear any of it.”

“Right.” Octavian noted, switching back to common. “You can ignore him. He’s Octoginata Decius Primus. I am Octavian Decius Primus.”

“Seven seven ten? Eighty ten one? Eight ten one?” Peregrin repeated incredulously. “Those are numbers, not names.”

“They’re hobgoblins.” Julian noted. “They have legions, not families. Designations for the grunts, and names only for the commanders and nobles. Generally though, they’ve got nicknames to help keep them distinct from the previous one in their slot.”

“I see, so what’s the nickname then Septimus?”

“He’s an eighty. He doesn’t know shit, and he’s going to lie to you. He already lied about his name.” Octavian grumbled. “Pitch him, I’ll tell the truth.”

Peregrin turned on Octavian with a glint in his hazel eyes that made the hobgoblin turn pale, then returned to the other. “So, what’s your name? Your actual name.”

“Jort.” Jort replied. It wasn’t much of a name, a slang term for short messages and orders, typically written on scraps of metal.

“Well then, Jort, sorry about your foot. Let’s see if we can’t get to know one another eh? There’s never too odd a time to make friends.”

#creative writing #i wrote it #writing #paladins #Bard #Order Undivided

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northernplainslubesusa · 2 years ago

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bedlamgames · 5 years ago

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Q&A #103

Today we have the Twine conversion, lesbian training mantras, social lube, a bunch of random stuff from the discord, and a whole lot more.

[Anonymous said]: I'm really curious what the tally means for your twine conversion posts. Can't seem to figure out what its suppose to represent progress wise...

- Answered this last Q&A. Because of you asking I’ve now also added the explanation to what it’s about to every stream post so I hope that helped with understanding what’s going on with that.

[Anonymous said]: Suggestion: For races that start with a random corruption (ie: Succubi), have an option in full custom to spend points to either narrow what that corruption is (to be one of the four types, for example) or to outright pick one (for a much higher cost).

- That’s a good idea. Being able to pick specifically I think would be too much. There are ALOT of corruptions so that would mean many many menus to be able to select everything. Being able to pick one of the four types seems fair to me as something to spend points on in Full Custom. Added it to my notes.

[Anonymous said]: Have a succubus slaver who used to be a lamia. On level up, she had the option to get the Fleet trait, which I thought was off-limits for Lamia due to their body shape. I think it's a bug?

- Good spot and should be fixed as of the last update.

[Anonymous said]: Noticed a bug with No Haven 0.903: If you select a human (or once-human) for your character, and then quick restart, your next character will keep the human's Racial aspect Social Lube. On the topic of that Racial, it says " includes one human, and three other different races/subtypes gain an additional Success" Does that mean one human and three non-humans, or one human and three slavers each of a different race from each other?

-Took me awhile to work this out as going from human to human seemed fine. However you’re right that those with a heritage like demi-angels or succubi will incorrectly keep the previous racial.

The second so as long as you have at least one human you can get the buff by say having a northerner, noble, wastelander, and convent.

[Anonymous said]: hi bud, xfto/x421 here, its been a long time i guess. wanted to ask about the status of the no haven/twine conversation. i joined your picardo lately but couldnt post some reports since you dont allow guest-posts. well anyway, the report is about something ridiculous i have found after some restarts, the chosen main charakter (lamia) starts as male with the hard carry aspect(immense shaft) and different description than the ones the perks would give. 1/2

another question, feels like i asked something similiar in the past, how about the integration of different artpacks/access to older pics, or deletion of those that never get used? i guess that would requiere some more access to the game than you allow atm. maybe with twine? do you have a roadmap on tfgames or somewhere for the future of no haven? i know there are some more races you want to implement and improve some systems, but thats it, hope you are doing well in these times. 2/2

I do an update on the patreon every two weeks which is linked on the twitter. You do not need to be a patron to read these and is the best way to stay informed about what I’ve been up to. That includes the status of the conversion. To quickly sum it up;

It's at a stage where all the RAGS to Twine code conversion is basically done. What I need to do now is translate all that work into something playable and there's currently big logic issues with a bunch of the conditions and passages. So what I'm currently doing is trying to tidy up the visual look of the code with a bunch of idents with the theory that will make finding the errors easier.

Alas it’s not me disallowing guest posts... Picarto had some massive stonking issues and so they locked things down hard due to that preventing guests from chatting. I suggest a throwaway email site to get around that.

I don’t think there’s any art in the game file that’s not used as I try to keep on top of deleting the old ones. Not really down for doing art packs of the old ones as due to that not being my art so I see them as placeholder only until they can be replaced by commissions.

I probably do need to do some kind of roadmap sometime. I’m less keen as it’s kind of a dirty word these days as due to the miss-use of them by others it’s got some bad connontations, but I’m also aware the alternative which is me randomly mentioning stuff on discord/picarto streams leaves the vast majority of my audience in the dark which is also really not ideal.

[Anonymous said]: [no haven 0.903] [Crit no longer grants Bimboborn] okay, but how do I get bimboborn now?

- It’s a corruption. Specifically Blessings of Perversion.

[Anonymous said]: With the change to training where hypnotic slavers can fully embed the relevant mantras for blowjob, bimbo, and sissy training, could we also get that for lesbian training?

- Yes that’s the plan when I do the third part of lesbian training. Got a set of commissions planned just got to sort the funding and work out who I’m getting to do it.

[Anonymous said]: hey bud, x421 here, again, might be already fixed because thats from no haven .903, but i recently had the witch queen super rare quest, you might want to proof read the quest and results, there are a few typos. i really did enjoy the writing nonetheless, just a quick question about that quest, as far as i understood this one, you only change your odds of the final result depending on how good you do on your way to the final, but the reward in the end only depends on the final result? 1/2

2/2 it just dawned on me that its been a while since you made an Q&A post so i guess i ll go and lurk on the tfgames forum in the next days, just one last question: i asked early in development about camp upgrades and you were not that convinced about that stuff, i understand you want the slaver camp as some bandit camp and not some castle/bastion or whatever, but since you added camp upgrades, maybe add proximity to a certain region? or something to spend supplies and gold in a 13month+ run?

- Hah! Okay will give it another read through.That’s correct yes. There’s also rewards on the way if you Critical those parts.

There is a new gold sink coming soon in an upcoming update. I’ve also got plans for more camp upgrades coming later.

[From the Patreon]: I'm that guy you replied to about the patch notes in Q&A 101. Solid updates. Bugs in the outfit system has driven me nuts since like, 2015, has it been that long already? I think it has. I like collecting them and something always blows up. This time, I ended up with a slaver wearing both the ooze outfit and ponygirl outfit. So there's that. Also I was disappointed the new Quicker then You'd Like wasn't interactive. Solid in any case though, thanks!

- I'll get them all one day I swear! Don't suppose you remember the chain of events that led to that? New QAYL was a patron requested one with the idea of having a big pay off for playing submissive which often involves playing sub-optimally.

[From the Patreon]: 1-ive been noticing when you choose to repick choices for an slave training assignment the slave gets added to the list of choices 2-also just how rare is the post-slave princess city assignment, cause i can never seem to get it even after selling multiple slave princesses 3-another thing is that the nightly puppet-leader stat is almost impossible to get again(either that or i have bedwarmers incapable of usurping me even thought i my current stats mean i couldnt win against even the subbiest slave)

- Will check 3 as you've not been the only person to mention that. 2 I know exists for sure as other people have definitely got it. Should be no rarer than any other rare City assignment, and thanks for the spot on 1.

[From the Discord]: Top 3 Animes of the 2010 to 2020

Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica the series was staggeringly good. Just redefined what anime could be to me. Film is a... well it was a thing. A beautiful thing with an ending which I still quite know how to feel about.

Shirobako. It’s about creativity, craft, and about how people can come together to make something. It might not be something good, but dangit it’s been made and that’s worthwhile. It’s also from personal experience by miles the most accurate depiction of working in an office I’ve ever seen.

Oh man this is very very hard deciding on the third so pick one of the following and I could probably make a strong case for it.

Kobayashi-san Chi no Maid Dragon, Darling in the FranXX (yes really, yes even the ending), Lupin III: Part 5, Kill la Kill, Monster Musume, Flip Flappers, Demi-chan wa Kataritai, Zombieland Saga, or Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai.

Also while I was taking the question to mean series both Your Name and Promare are absolutely phenonemal films.

[From the Discord]: Best recent Eurovision Act

Lena. Always Lena.

[From the Discord]: What's the agricultural technological level of No Haven like

It’s not hit industrialization yet. What makes the difference is and allows cities like Aversol and even bigger to exist is that the organization of the human empire is far better than it has any right to be for the other levels of development being able to keep an incredibly complex supply chain constantly flowing even if on the ground level it barely seems to be moving at all. There are also some much, much larger farms both on the Great Plains and further to the north compared to the much more isolated single/couple of households ones that your slavers raid.

[From the Discord]: What have been some of your all-time favourite assignments, both in terms of working on them and how they turned out?

Love When Week’s End Comes for a recent one. Writing all the results in colour commentary (and all the variations for weather, events and outcomes) was a real challenge and I do like how it came out.

Witch-Queen and Arisin’ for being the first times I tried to go for a different, more potentially disturbing/freaky mood, and I’m pleased with the results.

Sable Masquerade as I really like the ‘bad end’ I came up with. Actually I like the whole thing as while the pitch from the patron obviously helped, a lot of it was inspired by a random superhero bondage party picture I saw on HF, which I decided to run with, and had a bunch of fun exploring.

[From the Discord]: Weirdest bug and most difficult bug

The one that resulted in a male wisp riding a griffon was a fun one.

Most difficult has to be the clothing management which as a previous question suggests I’ve still not entirely solved.

[From the Discord]: If No Haven was an MMO, what race/class would you play?

Kreen rogue mainly as I really like the edit I did for the portrait which MidnightonMars later translated into a commission.

If not definitely a lamia.

[From the Discord]: Knowing what you do now about the design of the game, are there any game mechanics you wish you'd have implemented differently?

Clothing management. So very much clothing management. I’ve redone it entirely twice now, and it’s still not where I want it to be.

[From the Discord]: What was your inspiration for creating the setting of No Haven? Has the direction the game has gone varied from your initial idea? If so what has been the biggest change?

- It started off with adapting the chan game Deeper Dungeons which was basically a certain popular mmo with nothing different about it outside of it being porn along with some possibly unwise options of personal abuse. I first changed it by ditching gnomes for neko which to my mind was a clear upgrade. There even used to be an examine refference in the RAGS version to suggest they’d been in the region of the dungeons before being driven out.

Then it was a gradual process of adding with the occasional subtractions to get it closer to a more Warhammer feeling setting which has always been a major love of mine when I was still doing Whorelock’s in RAGS.

With No Haven it was a case of building on what I’ve done there and expanding upon that with the race lore and assignment descriptions. Biggest was probably when I did the favoured/unfavoured stuff and added a ton of extra backstory to various races to justify the choices made there.

#Q&A

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shannrussell-blog1 · 5 years ago

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Travelling to Thailand is a cultural norm for many Australians. But the experience of Thailand doesn’t have to be limited to Phi Phi Island, Krabi and Phuket. If you want to take the path less travelled, divulge in traditional Buddhist culture, camp on the world’s most beautiful beaches and experience the remote areas of Thailand, then cycle touring is for you.

My partner and I are cycle tourists and have been travelling from Malaysia to Europe by bicycle. Thailand was our second country of “residence” and we still reminisce the beautiful smiles, beaches, food, temples and endless one-dollar coffees.

You might think cycle touring is difficult, but it is very easy in Thailand with its endless flat plains, food stalls every few kilometres and free camping everywhere. All you need to do is start pedalling!

Thailand is the perfect country to cycle tour in.

The basic south to north route

We took a route from the southern city of Satun, near the Malaysia border, to the northeast Laos border crossing in Chiang Khong. This is a simple south to north route where you will pass many key attractions and cities.

Our route took us through the east coast of southern Thailand towards Bangkok. We caught a ferry in Surat Thani to the Island of Koh Tao before re-entering the mainland at Chumphon. Through these areas, we were able to camp often on the beach and have leisurely swims during the day.

In the north, we cycled through some of the more remote farmland communities on small dirt roads, visiting many famous temples and national parks.

We took a simple south to north route.

Alternate routes

It is common for cyclists to fly into Bangkok or enter Thailand from one of the northern land borders. From there you can choose to head in any direction depending on what you would like to achieve. For example, the beaches in the south, animals in the north, or travel east towards Laos or Cambodia.

Many cyclists travel part of the east coast before crossing west towards Phuket and Krabi or they will head into Myanmar. Other routes might include hugging the southeastern coastline around Pattaya City to head towards Cambodia, or, there is an option to go northeast towards Vientiane in Laos.

Our advice for planning is not to think too much about it and just start riding! A great experience will follow.

Plan your route by what you want to experience.

Climate

The climate in Thailand is basically separated by the northern and southern regions. However, in both regions, the climate consists of a dry season and a wet season. The daytime temperatures are usually between mid-20 degrees to mid-30 degrees year around.

The best time to cycle-tour Thailand south to north is between February and early May. However, it’s very easy to travel to Thailand in the wet season too (May to October or September/December in the east coast of south Thailand), as we did.

The rain usually lasts one or two hours each day and the rest of the time it’s hot and humid. It is also hot in the dry season but a little less humid.

The weather is quite warm in Thailand.

Food

One of the best things about exploring Thailand by bicycle or backpacking is the food. Even better is that as a cycle tourist, you will have an endless appetite to eat as much of the amazing, spice-covered, carb-loaded and mind-blowing taste explosions the Thai’s serve up.

The food in Thailand is always spicy, particularly in the local areas. Be prepared to have spicy food for breakfast, lunch and dinner. As you are outside of the tourist areas, make sure you mention that you only want a small amount of spice because the food is hotter than in any other country we have cycled through.

You will be lucky enough to experience a range of local foods varying from boiled pork soup for breakfast, to spicy green papaya salad, the classic pad Thai or a range of noodles and curries. One of our favourite things in Thailand was their traditional stir-fried basil pork (Pat Krapao Moo Sap), which is usually very cheap (A$1 or $2) for a huge cyclist sized portion and incredibly tasty.

Additionally, if you are a vegan or vegetarian then Thai people can cook nearly all their meals to fit with your diet choices.

It’s easier and a whole lot tastier to eat locally instead of cooking.

Learning the language

There will always be a Thai person in proximity to you that speaks English, even if it’s just a little. However, we would recommend that you learn some basic words because every country appreciates travellers who do this. Otherwise, it’s down to using your best hand gestures which will always get a laugh.

Note: in tourist areas, you will likely have to barter for prices in the market but outside of these areas we wouldn’t worry too much about it.

Try to learn a bit of the local language to help you get by.

Attractions

Thailand is one of the most tourist-driven economies in the world and there is something for everyone. You can experience diving, rock climbing, white water rafting, animal encounters, massages, full moon parties, Buddhist culture or beers and cocktails after a hard day of cycling. As a cycle tourist, you can be lucky enough to experience most of the big attractions and a few lesser known ones only accessible to the adventurous.

The southern regions of Thailand are famous for the tropical Islands, beaches and full moon parties but most of all diving. The islands and towns of the west coast are the most well known such as Phuket and Krabi. However, as a cycle tourist, you may be inclined to experience the slightly less tourist populated east coast.

Scuba and free diving are just a couple of the fun things to learn.

These areas are some of the most famous dive spots in the world and close to the cheapest place to obtain your diving tickets. We spent 7-days on the island of Koh Tao learning to both scuba dive and free-dive. We loved free-diving a little more because of the personal challenge and after two days we were able to dive down to twenty meters on a single breath!

You’ve probably heard the phrase “you’ve seen one temple, you’ve seen them all” but honestly, we loved each one we visited. Each temple is designed by a different artist or a collaboration of artists, who bring their own flair to the place, or there are also ancient temples in the old capitals of Ayutthaya and Sukhothai.

Thailand has some of the most famous diving spots in the world.

Our recommended top five temples to see in Thailand are:

Wat Arun, (Temple of Dawn), Bangkok

Wat (Temple of the largest Reclining Buddha), Bangkok

Wat Chaiwatthanaram (Temple of long reign and glorious era), Ayutthaya

Wat Mahathat (Buddha temple head in a banyan tree), Ayutthaya, and

Wat Rong Khun (White Temple), Chiang Rai northern Thailand

The northern regions are famous for their artists, hill tribes, temples, mountains, hot springs, jungles, mountain trekking or jungle flying fox adventures and animals such as tigers, cobras and elephants. We didn’t visit the animal attractions for personal reasons and would urge you to do good research if you wish to visit any of the animal attractions to ensure they’re appropriately managed.

Finally, you must have regular Thai massages to relax those sore, tired muscles after long days of cycling. You can get a massage in most villages and they are usually very cheap outside of the tourist spots.

The temples of Thailand are a must visit when you’re there.

Required gear

We travelled with more gear than required because we were on a long-term cycle touring trip. If you are only travelling to Thailand or South-East Asia, then you can travel very light as it’s warm and the food and the accommodation is very affordable.

Our recommendations for a basic bicycle touring (not an extended tour) list would include:

Camping

A lightweight tent, swag or just a good quality Sleeping mat and a lightweight sleeping bag.

An air or compressible Head torch

Toiletries

Medical kit

A gas or multi-fuel stove (if you really want to cook, then you will need the below items too).

One chopping knife

Utensils

Small chopping board

buff

The length of your trip will determine how much gear you’ll need.

Electronics

Smart-phone for mapping

Small battery pack in-case you couldn’t find a powerpoint (unlikely though)

Camera or GoPro or both

Universal adaptor

Various cords and charging ports for electronics

Bicycle gear

A multitool

Spare spokes or a Kevlar universal spoke

A hand bicycle pump

Tyre repair kit

Small tyre levers

Spare inner tube

Chain lube

To carry your gear, you’ll need pannier racks and panniers.

Extras

A book or tablet with e-books

A travel diary

Playing cards

Water bottles x2

Chocolate

Obviously, you will need a bike with pannier racks and panniers to carry your gear. If you try and pack light you might be able to get away with two back panniers only.

Costs may differ depending on how touristy the area is.

Costs

Thailand’s currency is the Thai Baht which, at the time of our trip, was at A$1 to 20 Baht. Thailand is still one of the cheapest countries to travel to in the world, particularly when you are outside of the tourist hotspots.

Generally, we spent for two people between A$10 to $20 per day when we were able to camp and $13 to $30 per day when we paid for accommodation. It was about double that price in the tourist areas and on the Islands.

For food, you can get meals between 20 Baht to 60 Baht (A$1 to $3) with beer/wine/soft drinks/coffee costing between 10 Baht and 100 Baht (50 cents to $5) depending on where you are. We only cooked once or twice and then realised it was so cheap and time effective to eat out.

Accommodation varies significantly but we were able to find cheap, basic accommodation in most villages between 60 Baht ($3) and up to 300 Baht ($15). However, be aware that it can increase significantly in tourist areas so it’s worth researching and comparing prices beforehand.

Thailand is such an affordable place to visit.

Camping/accommodation

Depending on your trip and budget, you can camp or find very cheap accommodation. In Thailand, you have the opportunity to camp nearly anywhere you like. We put up our tent on beaches, in temples and our favourite was camping at the friendly police stations. All these spots offer a rich experience and it’s usually worth braving the hot overnight temperatures for that beachfront sunrise or sunset.

If you can’t handle the heat at night, then there take up shelter in an air-conditioned/fan room or bungalow for just a few dollars. Accommodation can be found in any village and usually, it is very affordable.

If you are lucky you might be invited in by a family to share a meal and stories.

If you are staying in a bigger city, the accommodation will cost more.

Visas

Australians obtain a 15-day visa free on arrival in Thailand at any of the land or sea ports or 30 days at any airport. If you need a longer stay you can apply for a visa at an embassy in another country or in Australia a month before you leave which can give you either 60-days single entry or 60-days multiple entries. It usually only takes about 2-5 business days to process this visa.

Safety

Some people worry about thievery but in our experience, the risk is usually low if you take some simple precautions such as locking your bike up at night. We were always very cautious about our valuables in tourist areas and in busy marketplaces.

The wonderful people we met was what made our trip so amazing.

Favourite experience in Thailand

The Thai people were our favourite experience. As in most countries, the people you meet can make or break your trip.

Towards the end of our trip, before the border crossing at Chiang Khong into Laos, we stayed at our last temple. The monks here spoke a little bit of English and we decided to give them some Australian small lightweight souvenirs that we gave to our friends we met along the way. This was to say thank you to all the kind monks that had let us stay in Thailand. However, in return, they gave us two books in English that detailed the story of Buddha and two buddha pendants that can be worn on a necklace or bracelet.

This last stay at a temple summed up the mentality of the Thai people we met while travelling. Always giving and always kind.

Have you ever been on an overseas cycling trip?

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beet-rootesoupevodkabanya · 8 years ago

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Nightmare (part 2).

2nd part as I promised to dear Feli.😉✨ I swear I'll write more about Eros/Agape/etc theme.😅😉 ************************ First thing he felt after waking up was caressing warmth over his silver locks. At night he ended up falling asleep on Yuuri's chest. Kay's words and heartbeat were too lulling to resist. And now he felt a bit guilty for that stupid scene. But still happy. Snow King moved to the side of caress, leaned to soft hand, not opening eyes and kissed the palm. - Доброе утро, мой Снежный Король. /Good morning, my Snow King. - Yuuri's breath touched ear. It sounded not very clear and with messed up pronounce. But full of love. Finally Victor opened eyes. And all traces of sleep faded away immediately. Near the bed stayed a small table with coffee and cookies. Breakfast in bed? It's adorable, Yuuri, thank U, but... His boy was still naked! Normally they slept naked together, if it wasn't too cold for Yuuri, often without special intentions, just enjoying each other's warmth and simple closeness. But never before Yuuri stayed undressed out of nowhere. Snow King's perplexity was interrupted with careful arms pulling him to sit on the bed. - Coffee? - boy pecked husband's lips and gave him a cup. With creams but without sugar... He made a sip and shivered for a second - what if it all is really a dream?.. Isn't this simple happiness too good to be real? Black abyss looked in Northern sky. - I did wrong? Coffee isn't good? - in such moments Yuuri sounds like a child. Little kid who needs approval of precious adult much more then any exact result. (And stubbornly rebels if doesn't get it.) And this childish, possessive affection always made Snow King feel loved. Much more than anything else. He pulled his boy into a kiss, nearly splashing coffee away from cup: - My Yuuri did great... Light blush on his milky skin, honey sparkles in black Arctic depth and a small, shy smile... First time Victor saw this expression on Yuuri's face when jumped on him with a kiss right on the competition. This smile always meant: I'd kiss U from head to toes again and again. But right now we have no choice but to do things... If only he knew it back then... [Whom are U lying to, Snow King?.. If U knew it, U'd just collapse on that fucking rink. Exactly laying on poor Yuuri.] Although Kay didn't give his King time to think too much. He just set on husband's laps to make feeding him from hands more convenient. ********************** - I thought since night... - Yuuri moved the table aside and hugged Snow King tighter. - Your nightmare... I guess it's time to remind U how it really works - if we make love almost without foreplay. Last words were not said but whispered into Victor's ear. Warm Yuuri's fingers slid porcelain skin from neck to waist over shoulder blades and backbone. Legs squeezed Snow King's hips. He gasped weakly burring face into curve of boy's neck. Blushing. Yuuri cautiously touched Victor's lips with a tongue. Still warm from coffee. Just a soft caress but it caused a gasp and boy slid tongue between parted lips feeling shadows of coffee and creams and moaning from gentle bites of sharp teeth.. Victor didn't even notice when Yuuri took out lube from messed sheets. [Did U really planned it, little, sweet devil?...] Boy put some lube on husband's fingers, smiled and kissed him again. Without words encouraging to continue. Unsurely Snow King reached to caress tense muscles. Of course they did things like that before. But it was in a complete heat. When it's impossible to wait, head spins from desperate kisses, and need to feel lover closer makes the entire world to disappear. Not to mention - most of that moments costed Victor a suit because Yuuri kept a tendency to simply tear everything he couldn't unbutton on his husband immediately. But now it was different. Instead of suffocating, passionate rush, it was soft, gentle tension. With too clear head and too tender care. [What are U doing to your Snow King, Kay?...] Victor leaned to boy's neck with kisses. Still stroking thin, hot skin with lube but not making a slightest move inside. Yuuri hugged him tight, pressing his head to the shoulder and pecked messily parted hair with lips: - Move your fingers in. Ice splinters blinked with doubts. Boy kissed him reassuringly, and black abyss sparkled with dubious, honey drops: - Trust me, ok? My beloved boy. Every time this overprotective tenderness left Snow King blushing furiously. Embarrassed, lost but still happy. He slowly moved finger through tight muscle ring. Yuuri made an impatient sound meeting his hand with a move of hips: - Don't be afraid. Do more. Do rougher. Just hold onto me tighter. Burring face into boy's shoulder Snow King fastened the pace, added one finger, then another one... Honestly he was afraid to cause pain. Despite of what Yuuri said. But his Kay dug nails into his back, moaning and almost violently moving towards his hand... This way... Shivering of boy's body and hardness between their abdomens left no doubts. He touched right spot. But after some moves with four fingers, Yuuri slightly pushed Victor's hand. - Stttop... Teasing... Fuck me. - heavy breath and hoarse voice... Perplexity obviously blinked in Northern sky... He leaned in biting husband's ear and added with a soft whisper: - I love U. - I love U too... - Snow King's answer was almost inaudible, more felt with a breath on skin than heard. Holding Yuuri with both hands he tried to put it in slowly but boy just forcefully rushed forward, almost growling, warm fingers stuck into silver hair, keeping Snow King close as he began to move. This intimacy felt different from everything before. Insanity of a foreplay didn't cloud mind as much as usually. And it all felt more clear. Warmth of each other's body, hard breath, tight grip of arms, heartbeats... Moving through tense heat in and out, Snow King tried hard to do it the most gentle way being afraid to cause pain to his boy. But Yuuri intentionally didn't let him to slow down. Just held him tighter, twinning arms and legs round his body, scratched his back and whispered simple "I love U" in his ear, repeating it again and again. Plain moves seemed to be gathering all the affection in one knot, tangling them both with red thread. Body felt dizzy already... Drops of sweat. Lack of air. Wetness and twitches under hand. Snow King pressed his Kay even closer: - My boy... Are U...? Can I...? - Do... As... U... Feel... It's... Perfect... - cracked moans heated his neck. No, Yuuri... It's impossible to last longer when U toss your head like this... Almost suffocating hold onto each other. Yuuri's scream as a response on heat splashing inside. Frantic moves of hand and hot liquid covering palm and abdomens of them both. And only then, falling head on husband's shoulder, Victor realized he was screaming too. Still in mess they fell on the pillow. Everything could wait. Deals, cleaning, shower, proper breakfast... What really mattered now - were tight embrace, intertwined legs, heart race and sloppy kisses without any purpose. And ultimate feeling of possession. [Yuuri, my beloved devil, how did U guess what to do?...] Too material need to concentrate on physical side made their closeness less ethereal than usual but at he same time saturating. And it didn't leave a place for nightmares at all. - Солнышко моё... / my sunshine... - Victor tiredly buried face unto Yuuri's chest. Boy immediately pressed him closer, stroking winter silk. - U know... U're associated with physical side of love for reason... - he softly kissed milky skin and smiled - ...for very serious reason... Kay snorted laying a knee on Snow King's hip and ruffled silver hair: - It's your fault, did U forget already? After some minutes of relaxing embrace Yuuri remembered something: - Vitenka... I wanted to ask for a long time already. - He pushed husband to lay on his back and crawled on top of him, hugging lean body with both legs and laying a chin on crossed arms on Victor's chest. Black abyss splashed with playful curiosity: - Ok, U wanted me to be an "Eros". Yurio was "Agape". But U? What would U be? He pocked husband's lips: - Agape as Yurio? Unexpectedly Snow King turned away and blushed. Hugged his boy tighter, leaned to dark, silky locks and muttered: - No... Actually... I could be only "Mania".

#Hope it can work as a kind of antidote from that very we-both-know-what...#have fun dear feli!😉😘✨

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