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I'll mostly just be posting one short story as I finish the chapters, so it's not like a real thread where I'll post a whole bunch of different stuff. Anyways, I like mixing genres, and I had this idea for a mystery story set in a fantasy world, so I went ahead and stuck it in an existing world I've been workshopping called Diranell. Here's the map of said world: Spoilers for size This world is definitely the one I've spent the most time on, and I'm very proud of it. But it's expansive, and as such, the story does have an Appendices, which I'll have to add somewhere, and footnotes, which I'm sure I'll have to figure out how to fit in there. Anyways, I'm rambling. Here's the prologue(along with a note to the reader): Prologue Relevant Appendices Pages: Let me know what you think and if yall want more, I guess

introduction: you are all park rangers guarding a protected forest near an important city. you all arrive on your first day of the job at different times. you all have different reasons for wanting this job and for how you got it. what you do know is that each of you got your job because of your gifts. a form of nature magic that manifests in each person differently. for some, it manifests as plant control, for others animal communication. no two people have the same gift. however, once they all get the job they realize that the turnover rate is pretty high for an unusual reason. This is not a normal forest and it houses lots of secrets. this forest and its inhabitants seem to bend the laws of nature all types of strange cryptids and weird magic reside within these woods then to top it all off your superiors are either no help at all or acting very strange why did the monarch of the land protect this torest who knows but it is the Monarch's Forest they can't just go burning it down.

So, I started writing this story for a creative writing class at my school. As such I was on a time crunch, and the story was much shorter than I had originally planned. This is my first foray into the mystery genre(I usually do fantasy series, but I don't feel comfortable publicly sharing my future profession online), so please offer any criticisms or praises. Anyways, I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I loved writing it. Spoiler for length Yall might have noticed the 2 at the end of 'Maxwell Sterling'. Well, fun fact, this is actually the second story in a series of short stories/novellas I plan on writing some day in the distant future. I've tried writing the first one before, but the pieces never clicked, so I wrote this one first instead. Just a nugget of trivia.

How would you be interested in an RP where you all are some villagers trying to save their town? It would be pretty rigid, think the Hunger Games, I have a plan for how it will go, but if make something makes enough sense, then it could work. Make your character if you're interested. For influences, think minor, lingering, magic, whether its a physical change or a magical item. (also like, give me tips on how to run this; I have no idea what I'm doing.) You are the people of the trading town of Thornwood, deep in the Valley of Mist. The Valley is an important pass between the Thousand Lakes of the south and the City of Jade to the north. In the valley is an ancient forest, some say older than the valley itself. The forest was a strange and enchanted place for a long time, where the elves danced, and an unearthly light seemed to illuminate the forest. A month ago, the forests changed. The lights stopped, and the music stopped playing; the forest was quiet for the first time in a thousand years. For a while, that was all that happened. For a while, the forest was still, holding its breath. Then it began to scream. The trees contorted, twisting themselves into grotesque knots and leaves sharp as knives. The ground shook beneath the town, and the ever-present mountains began to fade into the distance as if the forest seemed to expand. The sky flashed black, and when the light returned, the road into and out of Thornwood was gone. Luckily, several bands of adventurers were in the town at the time, and they all volunteered to go into the forest and find the source of the change. Few returned, and those that did were… broken inside. They spoke of stag-horned men dragging them through the forest and bringing them to a place where the stars were gone. Now a strange sickness has begun to spread, and you decide to do something. Form parties, investigate, talk to other villagers and end this madness. Character sheet Example one Example two

Verity Warren sat in her chair by the fireplace and felt herself getting older. It was a subtle, creeping thing - a poison working slowly through her body, killing her. Day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute, Verity was dying. They all were. Well, most of them, anyway. Immortals had their own problems. But Verity Warren had more pressing problems than age. More pressing indeed. ”Have the candidates arrived yet, Cobalt?” ”No, ma’am.” Cobalt stood by the fireplace, posture as ramrod-straight as a coat rack, and checked a pocket watch. “The doors will open in ten minutes precisely.” Verity nodded, trusting him to manage all that. This blasted house… it had been bad enough before the Forgery. Now, after all the damn chaos of the world falling back into its previous pattern, Verity had a rather terrible problem on her hands. There was something very, very wrong with Wickwillow Manor. It was growing, and growing things were hungry things. She had sent out the notice a week ago; it has been Cobalt’s idea, and a good one too. That had been after Willa had gone missing on the third floor. The poor maid had just gone off to change the sheets in the spare bedroom. They still hadn’t found her - or the spare bedroom. What they had found was… well. Not what someone wished to find in their house. Luckily, Verity still had enough staff left to keep this small section of Wickwillow running. The kitchen, the front parlor, the small dining room and one hallway of bedrooms seemed to behave normally. It was the rest of the house that kept changing itself. Adding, removing, scrambling… and the new house guests. So many. Usually not the sort one invited on purpose. She put that from her mind. The parlor had been set for guests, and soon perhaps she’d have the group she needed for this task. By every god she hoped she would. Then maybe she could stave off death a little longer. Delay him. Outwit him. At the very least, outwit this damned house. ”Go open the doors, Cobalt,” Verity said, feeling the weight of years pressing on her soul. “No point in keeping them waiting. Or us. It’s time we got this problem fixed.” Cobalt looked at her for a long moment, then inclined his head and strode from the room. He stepped quickly over thick carpet that turned to marble once he entered the main hall. Then, with a short sigh, he opened the front door. @mathiau @Ookla the Quark @Ookla the Nerdy @Ashbringer@Ookla the Headmuncher

It's a quiet night in Alleycity. For the last few months, all it's been are quiet nights. The days of heroes fighting spiked demons and ancient abominations are over, and the heroes won. New guilds have sprung up where the old ones fell, and the Big 3: the Ghostbloods, DA, and TUBA, remain ever-present in the public consciousness, working in the background, never drawing too much attention to themselves. And why should they? Times are good. The economy is booming. And for once in its tumultuous history, Alleycity seems to be at peace. Good for you. You were always someone who stood out from the rest, either through your Investiture, your tools or your personality. In a world of NPCs (), you itch for adventure, wish that you hadn't been born too early to fight evil. Maybe it was the drinks that attracted you. Maybe it was the thought that you'd meet a special someone. Or maybe you just had nothing else to do on this quiet night. No matter the reason, come midnight and you find yourself in one of Alleycity's many entertainment venues, surrounded by bustling nightlife chatter, the clinking of bottles and the deep bass rumblings of the jukebox in the corner. Maybe you're seated at the bar trying to con a mark, or perhaps you're watching the live-entertainment from an out-of-the-way table. That's when it happens. "Oh - hey!" "What's he doing?" "Get off the stage!" A thin man with wide eyes clambers onto the stage and lurches for the head musician's microphone. There's a high-pitched squeal from the speakers as he snatches it from the singer and tweaks the setting. The music abruptly stops. People start yelling at them. The man ignores them and grasps the microphone with trembling hands. "I - I need to warn you," he says, his voice amplified by the mic. "You have no idea what's coming. Please! I need to say this before they -" The bouncers begin climbing onto the stage, but their work is cut out for them when something small flies out of the shadows and into the man's neck, dropping him. A figure clad in black can be seen in the corner, holding some sort of ranged weapon, and they run to try and escape the building. Screams begin to erupt, and some people begin to rush out of the building. To them, their bubble of safety is popping. For you, however... maybe this a chance to be like the heroes you once heard about. To utilize your skills, to have an adventure, and - if you fancy yourself good enough - to solve this midnight mystery. Once and for all. Now... what do you do next?

So, I wanted this to be my 4,000th post, but I won't get there for a few weeks and since I just finished Part One of this thing it seemed like a good place to post it. My book! Or the hopes and dreams of one. This thing has gone through so many versions; the plot has changed, the freaking basis of the thing has changed, but I think this is the best version of it. I'm 22k words in, so it had better be :P. Yes, that is a working title that is prone to changes. Might need one. It makes sense to me, who knows why it's called that, but it's not of huge significance until later so idk. Also it's kind of stereotypical, in a way? So yeah working title. Constructive criticism and/or grammar spelling check would be appreciated I don't actually care if anyone reads the whole thing or any at all but just thought I'd share anyway (Hopefully) enjoy Project Rosette! Prologue: One: Hope I got all those italics right after copying it over lost them all :P. I'll post more at some point, obviously that's not the whole thing (there's five more chapters, each about that long) but I both want to see if anyone is willing to actually read this thing and also I don't want to dump a lot onto someone who does. I want it to be approachable. And it takes a long time to reformat these and I don't want to do five more right now. Anyway, that's all for now! It gets more interesting I promise Two:

I’ve alway wondered what has been here, whenether I search online there are no answers, does anyone know anything

Clue! The Cosmere Mystery Game! Here are the rules: Game 1: The Death of Hoid Hoid has been found dead, and you have been hired to find out who is responsible! Player List: Player Order:

BREAKING NEWS Pandemonium has broken out in the Clans of Ursa. The looming threat of the newly formed Clan is beginning to boil. Rumor has it they have been gathering weapons. It's up to the Bear Knights of Ursa Regno to take them down... More will be revealed as information is found by our Researchers.

I've kind of had crime stories on the brain lately, but good ones are hard to find. any recommendations? I enjoyed Bones are Forever by Kathy Reichs but I found her other book to be lackluster.

I wanted to get some feed back on my short mystery story and I thought "hey why not on a site dedicated to books" its still a work in progress and im not releasing the ending YET but I just wanted some feed back. by the way sorry about editorial issues this is the unedited copy. also its called prologue because I was originally going to write it in parts but did it all on one doc. mysery proluge.docx

This is Chapter 9 from Shrouds, a fantasy mystery. This chapter closes act 1. Brief recap: Mahau, a god of vengeance, and his priestess Neda have been asked to investigate three gods disappearances which turned into murder investigations. The third body is yet to be found when other gods disappear, menacing the balance of the whole pantheon. I intend to stop submitting the book there. I might submit the synopsis later. If you have special comments on this last installment, or questions about where the book goes from here, don't hesitate to ask.

This is chapter 8 from Shrouds, a fantasy mystery. In the previous chapters, Mahau - a god of vengeance - was asked to investigate three gods disappearances. After visiting two temples and uncovering two gods bodies, he concludes someone is killing off gods. The whereabouts of the third disappeared god are still unknown. Arlon - a disinherited god - joined forces with Mahau in order to prove his own innocence. In the last chapter, he barely escaped a murder attempt made against him. In this chapter, Mahau goes to report his lack of findings to his superiors. I hope you'll enjoy it. All comments are welcome.

This is chapter 7 from SHROUDS, a fantasy mystery. In the previous chapters, Mahau - a god of vengeance - was asked to investigate three gods disappearances. After visiting two temples and uncovering two gods bodies, he concludes someone is killing off gods. Arlon - a disinherited god - joined forces with Mahau in order to prove his own innocence. In the last chapter, he barely escaped a murder attempt made against him. In this chapter, Mahau goes to visit the third and last temple, expecting to find another body. I hope you'll enjoy it. All comments are welcome.

Hi, This is the sixth chapter from Shrouds, a fantasy mystery. What happened so far : gods have been disappearing and Mahau was asked to investigate. So far, he found two murdered gods. Arlon joined forces with Mahau in order to prove he wasn't involved with the disappearances. I'm interested as always in any comments you might have.