《Nandemonogatari: The Story of Something Else》Chapter 16 - The Story of the Sleepover
Advertisement
After cleaning up their assorted mess at the beach, the Paranormal Club find themselves riding on the train to Katsuki’s house. The ride back is mostly silent, with the members sitting near the end of a train car. Mayumi is stroking the head of the passed out Kirika on her lap. Yuuri and Katsuki have their own hushed conversation while keeping an eye on the two from across the aisle. Yuudai and Saito hide in the back discussing the girls kissing. Akina’s sitting across from them, reading a manga and making sure she doesn’t look at anyone. Cerys is sitting by herself in front of Mayumi eating an ice cream cone and kicking her legs up on the seat.
Mayumi looks back at Akina with a scowl, “Man, that bitch is a 13-12. She’s 31 flavors of fucked up.”
Yuuri hears this and acts quickly trying to defuse the situation by changing the topic, “That's a good idea! As soon as Miss Komori is up and moving we can go get ice cream, Mayu… Miss Asuka.”
Mayumi looks up at Yuuri, her face flush with embarrassment. “You can call me Mayumi, Vice Prez,” she rubs her head and finishes, “Nobody actually fucking calls me Miss Asuka. Not even teachers.”
Yuuri blushes and does a goofy laugh, “Are we really that close already…? Can I call you Yumi?”
Mayumi cuts her off as quick as she can, not even giving Yuuri the chance to entertain that thought, “We ain’t that close, Vice Prez. Only friends and dudes who pay get to call me ‘Yumi’.”
Yuuri giggles and smiles back, “Alrighty then Mayumi." Katsuki leans forward to look over at Mayumi and asks, “Someone actually paid you just to call you Yumi?”
Yuuri lets out a much less cheerful giggle, “Katsuki, I don’t think that’s what they paid for…”
Mayumi digs through her pockets looking for her cigarettes. “Long story Katsuki,” her voice taking on a gravelly tone, “a real fuckin’ long story.” Her shoulders slump when she can’t find any smokes.
The group returns to the silence from before. The only sounds are of the train and Cerys lightly snoring. Kirika stirs in Mayumi’s lap saying things that Mayumi doesn’t understand. She blinks a few times, notices her surroundings and looks up at Mayumi, “W-What happened?”
Mayumi smiles down at Kirika, “You saved my ass.” She then frowns and scratches her head. “At least I think that’s what happened, I don’t really fucking know.”
Yuudai pokes his head over the seat. “Some... water thing came out and healed Mayumi. I guess?” his face giving off the picture of confusion.
“Yeah shit went down,” adds Saito.
Yuudai frowns, “Either way it saved Mayumi.” Akina looks up from her manga, takes a short look at the others, frowns, and returns to her manga.
The train speaker dings loudly, followed by a message alerting the passengers that the next stop is close. Katsuki brightens up, “That’s our stop, guys!” She starts hastily putting her things in her bag.
Mayumi begins to gather her things as well, looking over to see Kirika shuddering in her seat. Her face tenses up as she mumbles to herself, “Oh shit, what’s up with her? Is she actually alright?” She leans over to her, “Hey, kid, you look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
Kirika slowly turns her head to Mayumi, still shuddering, squeaking out, “M-m-maybe I did…”
An awkward silence falls between the two. Mayumi, lost in thought, finally blurts out against her better judgement, “Well, wanna talk about it?”
Advertisement
Kirika smiles weakly. “Sure, Mayumi-senpai!” Despite her enthusiasm she looks almost too weak to have a prolonged conversation.
Mayumi waits for Kirika to continue, but after a period gives up and realizes she needs to coax the problem out. “Tell me what’s wrong, Kirika?” Mayumi still looks a bit out of her element.
“W-well,” Kirika starts, “You got stabbed in the eye, and it looked so bad, and I was so scared, and… and…” falling back into Mayumi’s lap, hugging her this time, “I’m just glad you’re okay!”
The train comes to a stop and from the loudspeakers comes a ding and, “The train has arrived at the destination.” Mayumi quickly pats Kirika and stands up, grabbing both of their bags and looking back with an awkward smile, “Hey, you didn’t have to see the worst of it and I’m all patched up now! Now come on kid, before we leave you on the train.” Kirika looks a bit disappointed but nods and follows along as Mayumi quickly gets in the aisle with the others.
Yuuri stops near the door, remembers something, and turns back to wake up the sleeping Cerys. “Hey sleepyhead, we’re here, sleep too much more and you won’t be.” Cerys grumbles, but collects her things quickly and follows Yuuri off the train.
After they make sure nobody was left behind, and that nobody left anything behind, Katsuki cheerily points forward, “Follow me, it’s not a long walk at all.” Katsuki starts moving forward while the group talks about nothing the entire way there and eventually getting to a dimly lit street with some two story homes on it.
The conversation continues as Katsuki turns and talks to the group, “So as I was saying, we'll just sleep here for the night then head to the school in the morning.” She begins walking again, “My dad is a doctor so I’m sure we have what we need to check on Mayumi and Kirika tonight before returning to our dorms.”
She leads them to the gate of one of the houses. “This is my house, what do you think?” The rest of the Paranormies look it up and down before Cerys speaks up, “This seems kinda small, Katsuki, will we have enough room for everyone to sleep alone?” She looks toward the two boys of the group to emphasize her point.
They frown back as Saito yells out, “Hey, why you sayin’ that like we’re a problem, mang? We ain’t nothin’ bad!”
Cerys ah-hems, “Katsuki, you know what boys do at night. We can’t be having them do -those- kinds of things in the same room as one of us delicate ladies.” She shudders and adds, “I don’t want them doing it even under the same roof, but the circumstances force it.”
Yuuri giggles and pats Cerys on the head, “You’re silly, Cerys. I fully trust these two, they wouldn’t do stuff like that.” Cerys shoves Yuuri’s hand off of her and steps away frowning.
Katsuki finally gets the gate to her house open. It's a small 2 story townhouse sitting on the corner of the block, secluded away from the hustle and bustle of the city. She then turns around to say, “If they do anything weird, I’ll just kick them out.” She laughs then motions them inside. The two boys walk slowly past her, keeping their eyes on her and making sure not to touch her.
Katsuki shuts the door behind her as everyone stands in the entryway and takes off their shoes. Mayumi sits her bags down and takes a good look of the inside. “Are you sure that you live here? It looks like a haunted house or somethin’.”
Advertisement
Katsuki smiles, “It’s where that writer killed himself a few years ago! We got it cheap!” Katsuki looks at the group with a proud expression that quickly fades once she sees blank looks staring back at her.
Yuuri reads the situation and gives a smile, “That’s... paranormal!” She gives Katsuki a small clap.
The other members don’t share the same enthusiasm. They just look around the house with worried expressions. They see the living room, which is drab to say the least. There are multitudes of books on the paranormal, alchemy, and conspiracy theories placed neatly on the bookshelves that adorn the walls. Mayumi looks them over and says to herself “I take shit to not be on this level of crazy, it’s like a lending library for nutjobs.”
“So, you’re all alone often now, Katsuki?” Yuuri asks curiously.
Katsuki smiles and responds, “Yep! Mom’s busy with her law stuff and dad’s busy saving lives or whatever. I can never remember what kind of doctoring he does.”
“If these are his medical manuals, I’d say quack doctoring,” Mayumi yells from her corner.
Katsuki ignores the jab and says to Yuuri, “But that just gives me more freedom to step between the boundary of this world and the next!” She then strikes a seriously nerdy pose.
Saito gives Katsuki a odd look and then steps away. “...Sure thing pres.”
Kirika asks Katsuki “D-do you have any small pajamas? I don’t wanna sleep in my underwear…”
Katsuki turns to her, “I should have something from when I was younger in my room if you want to try it on!”
Kirika gets stars in her eyes, “How much younger!? Wait, don’t tell me, I’ll go see if it fits, then.” Kirika goes to retrieve them.
Yuuri goes to follow Kirika, but then realizes she never asked and says, “Do you mind if I borrow some too?”
Katsuki looks at Yuuri and flatly says, “It’s not like any of mine are gonna fit you anymore, Yuuri. We’re a bit older now, you know?” There’s a little venom in her voice as her eyes lower towards Yuuri’s sizable chest.
Mayumi rolls her eyes at Katsuki and company. “Sharing pajamas? What is this, middle school?”
Kirika walks away, embarrassed. Her ears droop. Yuuri, too enchanted by the library of grimoires to react to Mayumi’s bitchiness, eagerly browses books. “I may have to borrow some of these~”
“Wait, you’re into this shit?” Mayumi giggles. “I guess you’re fit for the Paranormal Club after all,” her giggle turning into a full blown cackle.
Kirika’s ears perk up at a chance to get closer to Yuuri. “You like books, Yuuri-senpai? You should come to my house! We have a lot of books! Interesting books!”
Saito looks up from his phone, slipping it into his pocket. “Yo Prez, where’s your shower? Unlike you guys, I actually swam today. Gotta wash off the salt.”
Mayumi nods. “Yeah, I need one too. I’m all sticky and salty and don’t wanna wash myself off in the sink again.”
“Good thing there are two showers here. Saito you can use the one upstairs and Mayumi take the one downstairs. I might have some pajama bottoms you can wear.” She then rubs her chin. “I don’t have anything for you to wear though, Saito.”
“I was smart enough to bring a change of underwear.” Saito says, starting up the stairs.
Katsuki mumbles out “Ok weirdo,” then looks over to Mayumi. “Just follow me while I help Kirika get some pajamas.” She stands up and starts walking towards her room getting the other two to follow her.
“Knowin you, Prez, you probably use that industrial soap. You got anything that has a more...vanilla scent?”
Yuuri chuckles as she calls after them, “Even delinquents have to smell pretty, right Mayumi?”
Mayumi keeps walking and responds with a laugh, “‘M still a chick, Vice Prez. Can’t come off like a dirty bitch, even if I AM a dirty bitch, ya know?” Mayumi then ducks off into Katsuki’s room.
Yuuri sits on the couch and says to herself, “It’s good to see you still have some ladylike traits.”
Cerys poofs next to her and gives her a questioning look. “Who are you talking to?”
Yuuri says nothing as Cerys sits next to her and gives the room another look over, “This house is like every bad thing I've said about Japan coming to life.” Yuuri stays silent not wanting to fall for obvious goading.
Before too long Katsuki returns, holding a book in her arms. “I’m glad to have all of you here. I wanted to show everyone the origins of the Paranormal Club.” She puts the book down on the coffee table and asks the members in the room to gather around.
Yuuri is the first over to Katsuki. She looks at the book with a look of genuine wonderment. “What do you mean the origins of the paranormal club?”
“It’s my moms old scrapbook, the one she kept all the photos of the her old club in.” Katuski opens the book and the club can see two girls front and center, flanked on each side by a mix of guys and gals. Katsuki points to the two in the middle. "That's my mom on the left, and Auntie Kyouko on the right." The red and brown haired, respectively, girls have wide smiles upon their faces.
Yuudai rubs his chin while looking at the picture, “Looks like we have the same mix of guys and girls as before.”
Katsuki flips the page to show a new set of photos, the two girls Katsuki pointed out before are still there but are surrounded by brand new members. The number of members are noticeably smaller. “Mom said they had trouble keeping members year-to-year, not a lot of students joined after the first year. They didn’t do a lot to interest anyone into joining, and people left because of that.”
Yuuri laughs and says “With what we’ve had happen already this year, I’m sure we can interest people into staying.” She pauses for a second, thinks, then finishes with “Unless all the action scares them off.” She laughs and looks around the ones that are left in the room, Cerys and Yuudai’s mostly disinterested faces are all that she sees.
Before she can continue Kirika walks into the room wearing the pajamas that Katsuki gave her. They’re much too big for her and the string around them look like one on a garbage can. She walks slowly to a chair holding her pants up with one hand. She quietly mutters out “T-this is embarrassing.”
Katsuki remembers something when she sees Kirika walk over. “Yeah I got some pajamas out for you two, I left them on my bed. When you’re ready to shower, just grab them on your way. Yuuri yours on the left and I left Cerys’ on the right.” Katsuki looks away from Cerys “Sorry its kinda childish but it should fit.”
Cerys frowns at Katsuki “What do you mean by that?” Katsuki doesn’t meet her glare and that leads to Cerys getting up and walking into the room. The ones left in the room sit in silence until a very angry Cerys walks back in holding a pair of blue pajamas with cartoonish bees and small dolphins. She looks at Katsuki and furrows her brow even more, “You don’t think very highly of me do you?”
Katsuki looks away from the other redhead while Yuuri covers her smile with her hand as if to not anger the small girl any more. “What’s your problem with it, it’s cute.” she manages to mutter out.
Cerys holds the pajamas in front of her shaking them lightly “Cute? I would look like a 10 year old wearing these!”
Mayumi totters back into the living room wearing only the pajamas bottoms given to her and a bra. Her hair and most of her upper body is still visibly wet, she is still wiping her face with the towel. After she finishes she looks at the group, “What’s goin’ on here,” she slurs. “When’d we pick up a kid?” Cerys marches over and punches her in the arm, almost causing her to drop the towel. “Oh, it’s just the lil’ bitch.” She smirks then turns to Katsuki. “Yo, Prez. You got something I can actually fit or am I gonna have to charge y’all for this all night striptease?”
Akina opens one eye and looks at Mayumi “You’re still acting like this? I’m going to leave before you molest my mouth again.” She steps out of the back door.
Yuudai begins to sweat, actively resisting the urge to turn around. Katsuki thinks for a second, then responds “I could always put a watermelon in one of my tops to… er, make it fit better.” Mayumi shrugs, indicating that it’d be good enough.
Saito comes down after his shower, hair hanging back still wet, wearing light blue pajamas he brought himself. "Yo, shower’s available."
Yuuri turns to Yuudai. “It looks like everyone’s out, now. It’s our turns, Yuudai!” She quickly continues, “But I’m taking the one Naoyuki was in, so I don’t catch whatever Mayumi has.” She immediately scampers up the stairs before Mayumi can respond
Yuudai shrugs and walks into Katsuki’s room just to find the door locked. He hears Cerys yell from behind, “I’m using the shower! Go away!” He shrugs and walks back into the room just to find that Yuuri has already gone to use the other shower. He sighs and sits back down where he was before.
Yuudai checks over his shoulder to see Mayumi still only half dressed. He snaps back around and yells “Mayumi! You do realize we’re here, right? You still haven’t put on a shirt yet?”
She giggles, then stands up and walks behind him. "I know. I thought teenage boys liked tits, unless there’s something we don’t know ‘bout ya.” Yuudai can feel her smirk on his back.
Saito, who’s been digging through his backpack for a distraction, finally pulls his hand out with a dissatisfied grunt. He stands up, walks around Mayumi with his back turned to her the whole way.
She reaches out and grabs the scruff of his collar. “Oho, you avoidin’ me? What, you sneakin’ off to get some creepshots in?”
He tries to slap her hand off his collar “No, I left my phone upstairs, and I need to do my daily challenges.”
She laughs and puts her hand on her hip.“Sure, laike beatin’ off to the Vice Prez?” She roars in laughter.
“Like getting away from you.” He slithers away from Mayumi and up the stairs to collect his lost cellular device. He gets to the top of the stairs and spots his phone on the left arm of the couch. He sits down, throws his headphones on, and plays his games, quickly losing track of time. He is brought back to reality by loud shrieking.
Yuuri hurriedly jumps back into the bathroom, pulling the door behind her. She opens it a fraction and peeks back out. “Y-you didn’t see anything did you?”
Saito puts his game down and looks over to the embarrassed girl behind the door. “Don’t worry. I was focused on my game.”
“What are you doing sitting up here? Are you waiting for me to come out or something?” She says it with a sense of uneasiness in her voice.
Saito shrugs. “I didn’t want to be around that half naked bitch down there anymore. So I came to play my game in peace. I didn’t expect you walk out fully naked.”
She gestures to the other side of the couch “I left my clothes out there, could you pass them to me?” Saito grabs the clothes and puts them in Yuuri’s outstretched hand. She thanks him and closes the door, he can hear her begin to get dressed behind the door. “You should really try to get along with Mayumi, Saito.” She says through the door. “She’s really abrasive, but she’s got a good heart. Don’t be so quick to write her off.”
“If you say so, Vice-President.” He collects his stuff and heads back downstairs.
Once she hears his footsteps going downstairs, Yuuri opens the door to make sure he’s gone. The coast clear, she pulls the door back and tries to pull Katsuki’s too-small top over her chest. “Oh come on…” She struggles to get the top 3 buttons together, “I bet she did this on purpose.” Her battle with the buttons over, she stomps down the stairs and points to Katsuki. “You did this on purpose didn’t you!” She points to the buttons on her pajama top clinging on for dear life.
“Ah yes Yuuri, I purposely prevented my chest from developing the entire time we’ve known each other so that at this very moment I could embarrass you.” Katsuki deadpans.
“Sounds like a conspiracy,” Mayumi laughs and gestures to her chest. “Why don’t we go topless together!”
Kirika looks down, her hands keeping her pants up.“M-my pants are falling off and my top is too loose…”
Cerys scoffs, “At least you don’t look 12 in those things…”
“Is that worse than… e-exposing myself, Cerys?” Kirika replies to a Cerys who is no longer listening.
Mayumi turns her attention to Cerys and mocks her again “You always look 11, so 12 is an improvement.”
Cerys furrows her brow and replies to Kirika “Yes, as you can see.” She takes a breath. “At least around druggie whores.”
“At least my johns wouldn’t be kiddyfiddlers, you little bitch!” Mayumi replied, starting to get offended by the banter.
“Trust me, I’d never stoop so low,” Cerys smirks. “I don’t want to ruin myself for marriage. Nobody would ever want to see your roast beef on the bridal bed.” is Cerys rebuttal.
Mayumi growls, and says “That’s it, Cerys you little asshole, it’s on now!”
Katsuki gets between them. “No, it’s not on now. It’s late as hell and we have to go back to campus tomorrow. All of you find somewhere to sleep.” With some grumbling, each club member finds a place to settle down for the night.
Advertisement
- In Serial102 Chapters
Returning to No Applause, Only More of the Same
Kreig was summoned to the other world 130 years ago, the last 30 of which were spent in a constant, vengeful war against any army that would attempt to subjugate him. Once he returned, he found out that only 10 years had passed. He was given the title of War of the North but he never even knew about it. After all, nobody could get close enough to tell it to him. But that all changes one day when a portal opens, allowing Kreig and a small band of soldiers to enter one of many portals that leads to Earth. As it turns out these portals have been opening ever since he was summoned, giving the people of Earth abilities that the world he was summoned to only used to have. But now... now, he has returned. Longing for his former life of peace and understanding, he allows authorities to capture him on the spot, only to be faced with deeply personal questions, such as "who are you?" "what have you been doing for the past 10 years?" and "why is your level so high?" -------- ...Have you ever read a story where the main guy who got isekai'd returns to Earth. Say, for example, FFF-class trashhero or the necromancer of Seoul station? Say, what if the authorities actually became aware what kind of monster had returned to Earth? What if they actually tried to use them for something? Kreig's been in the other world for 130 years, has experienced three great wars, and he isn't okay. Mentally speaking, that is. He's been imprisoned, gained and lost comrades, been betrayed... The whole lot. By now, all he wants is to put it all behind him, something the world doesn't seem to want to let him. (Irregular updates, mostly written for fun, no strong planning)
8 295 - In Serial301 Chapters
Tales From the Terran Republic
We tried, you know… We really did. We tried so hard to be… better… We actually were better once. No, seriously. We were enlightened, generous, peaceful… Stop laughing! We were! We were peaceful, dammit! No, I’m not “tugging your winglets.” It’s true! Look, if you’re going to be like that, I’ll just push the launch button right now. See ya, don’t wanna be… Oh, you ARE interested after all? Ok. Hey, I just got word that your captain will be ok. We were able to get him into a med pod quick enough… Of course, we tried to save him. Just what sort of people do you think we are?... Now that was harsh… completely accurate, mind you… but harsh. Anyway, like I was saying, we were a prosperous, peaceful people, and war had been nothing but a distant memory for over five hundred years before it happened... Before Yellowstone happened! You don’t mean to tell me that you didn’t know about that… massive supervolcano? Blew the Hell out of our planet? Two years where nothing grew?… Anyway, that’s what started it, the Sol Wars… Oh, you have heard about those, huh? Well, needless to say, all that enlightened, generous, and peaceful didn’t exactly make it through the two years of complete famine and the wars that followed… Maybe it’s more accurate to say the enlightened, generous, and peaceful among us didn’t survive… (laughs)… You’re right. It does explain a lot, doesn’t it? Probably for the best, though. “Enlightened” and “peaceful” aren’t really all that useful out here in the galaxy at large, are they? That reminds me; thanks for the ship. You guys did a great job with this one. Oh, don’t be like that. At least it was us what got you and not one of the really messed groups like the Harlequin or the Black Angels. We’re just going to take your shit. It could be worse… trust me... Well, anyway, we loaded the life pods down with some good food, and you guys can drink alcohol, right? We put in a couple of fifths in there, too. It’s about forty percent ethanol, so be warned. Most species will want to dilute that. We’ll drop your wounded off somewhere safe once they are stable. Your fleet patrols this area fairly regularly, and we’ll drop the distress beacon right before we jump… Well, It’s been fun and no hard feelings, right?… Oh, you want to know some more? Sure. I got time to kill… Let me tell you about this one pirate and her crew. They’re Terran scum, but they are still… Why do we hate the Terrans? Hoo Boy… How much time you got? *** It’s the thirty-second century, and humanity is now part of a galactic civilization comprised of hundreds of worlds. Humanity has been savaged by natural disaster and war and has been fractured into several separate populations, all of which loathe each other (some things never change). This is a gritty drama-driven rambling tale that swings between action, drama, horror, and plenty of very, very dark comedy. Warning: contains adult situations, absolutely horrible language, bathroom humor, implied ultra-violence, actual ultra-violence, drugs, alcohol, pirates, mercs, xeno prostitutes, moral ambiguity, deranged AI's with identity issues, giant commie space slugs, and a poor little frog girl who just wants to sell coffee. Updates twice weekly on Tuesday and Friday. *** Note: This story can get rough. Those warning tags? They aren't for show. I recently received a review and as a result I want to make one thing clear. Portraying something is NOT endorsing it! Many "heavy" topics are touched upon and just because a character says or does something does not imply that the author feels the same way. I selected the "Anti-Hero Lead" and "Villainous Lead" tags for a reason. Rule number one of this story is "no good guys". A good description of the story is, "bad people doing bad things to worse people". There are a few good characters, here and there, but they are the exception to the rule. If you want a hard-hitting, exciting, gritty sci-fi story that doesn't pull any punches, or shies away from "difficult" concepts, welcome! If you are set on a pure and noble knight that runs around and slays conveniently evil monsters and rescues totally innocent princesses... or your sensibilities are easily offended... You're not going to be happy with this one.
8 684 - In Serial47 Chapters
The Helena Chronicles
Espers are really no different than humans; they look like any normal human and in general behave like any normal human. However, there are a few key differences. The max life expectancy of espers ranges from forty-five to fifty. They naturally have a knack for mathematics and are extremely intelligent in general, this is because their abilities rely on the subconscious and conscious calculations. They also have a mysterious energy source they call Focus that is generated naturally by all espers. The continent of Elestveeve is populated by three major factions, each a governing force. On the west of the continent, there is the Noble Houses that subscribe to the Deity Faith. The Houses ruling with the Deity Faith as council since the religion's founding four-hundred years previous. Controlling most of the northeast is WITCH, an organization ruled by powerful espers; claiming the mysterious Genesis as their capital, they are a whispered myth among much of the continent's less technically advanced residents. In the southeast you have Tech City, a towering monolith of a capital with four sky layers and metropolis' leveled deep underground; it is a city brimming with technical advancement and cyber integration. Each faction contends with one another for their evolutionary ideology, by devout religious worship to receive miraculous gifts, unique genetic lineage to obtain ESP, and technological integration to become something more than human. Helena, a young genius and esper, awakes in a dark room with only fuzzy memories and the company of seven other children. She must determine how she got there and how to get back to where she came from. Warning: Due to time constraints, I don't have the time to keep up on my three stories; therefore, Helena will need to go in a stasis chamber until I can find more time to write between work and life. I love my first girl so much! however, it seems she is the least popular among the fans (the poor girl T_T). This world is much bigger than my other two novels and I'm not giving up on it, but simply having to put her on ice.
8 164 - In Serial6 Chapters
Wayward Soul
A kid who just wants to live his life gets caught up in more than he ever could've imagined. Time gets loopy and the world goes crazy. Whatever shall he do?Rating: M 18+ Strong Language
8 98 - In Serial17 Chapters
[Don't Die!]
Our tale of thrilling heroics starts with one of our heroes face down in the dirt.It gets worse before it gets better.
8 206 - In Serial9 Chapters
NEVER SPLIT THE PARTY: The Adventures of The Creeping Bam (BOOK TWO: One Cold Trail)
After their fateful misadventure in the mountainous Norther Reaches of RUNDAO, a dark new threat to all of RUNDAO has been revealed to the mercenary band of THE CREEPING BAM and their newest member, half-orc bandit SHAYLINE SWIFT-KILL. Returning their hard-won cargo to THE SILVER ORDER in their city stronghold in BAVAT, they find their well-deserved rest will have to rest – half-elf wizard GAEL FOXTAIL’s father has disappeared while performing an investigation in the coastal city of UNTERMER, and it’s up to our motley crew to find him. As a son of Untermer, wily bakaneko thief ART OF SHADOWS is the perfect choice to lead the way, but he has ghosts of his own to face as their investigation brings them into the orbit of the THIEVES GUILD. But there are daker forces at work here, and as they uncover a dark conspiracy and form an uneasy alliance with a trio of tough sellswords with their own stake in the game, led by dwarven warrior THELGAEWYNN FROSTFORGE, the Creeping Bam begin to suspect this may be connected to that unfinished business they started back up north … This is a love letter and homage to the high-fantasy worlds of the tabletop RPGs like Dungeons & Dragons, Pathfinder and Warhammer and the sword & sorcery cinema and literature I fell in love with as a kid growing up in the 80s, from Robert E. Howard’s Conan the Barbarian (and the awesome Schwarzenegger movie, STILL my favourite fantasy film EVER), The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit and Ron Howard and George Lucas’ Willow, to the more grown-up and edgy worlds of grimdark masters George RR Martin and (my all-time favourite) Joe Abercrombie, as well as a BIG DOLLOP of Terry Pratchett’s immortal Discworld series. IMPORTANT: This story contains material which some readers may consider to be mature, such as battle violence, some strong language and occasional mild sexual scenes. If this is not your kind of thing, this story is not for you. I am also serializing this story on Tumblr, Wattpad, Quotev and Sweek.
8 135

