‘Seafoam’ Stratagem
(17:3:22:7:23:49.0)
Bombi boldly walked backward. Her feet hit water. The bandits followed for a moment but stopped at the water’s edge. Perhaps they’re afraid of bathing. Bombi kept going. She let the sharp cold of the seawater eat up her ankles. Further and further she went until it seeped into the bottom of her clothes. She was up to her knees. Chagrinn gave her no clue as to how she could encourage the blade to take shape, so she made her best guess. Continue reading
‘Pen Destroyed’ Stratagem
(17:3:22:7:00:18.5)
Timorrow was the only one who wanted her to have a real life. This new man, Chagrinn the speed runner, insisted there were no real lives to be had. Logically, the realest one of all would be the one with the most defiance, the one that cursed the sky as well as the ground, the one that cursed parents as well as children. Continue reading
‘Pen Kept’ Stratagem
(17:3:22:7:00:18.5)
She would need Timorrow’s comfort if she was going to make it in this new, rushed, terrifying world. The pen bounced against her hip with every step and she tried to cherish it instead of worrying. Continue reading
(blurb)
A speed run is an attempt to beat a video game as fast as possible, for glory and personal satisfaction. Speed reading a book has never carried quite the same appeal, but perhaps that can change, with the addition of choice.
Here is a challenge, set in a fantasy world based on the principles of the speed run, where you the reader must guide the protagonist to her destiny, and perhaps a world record time. At crucial points you will have to make her decisions, and you should do so quickly, lest she careen into the void while waiting for you!
Through the Bottom of the World:
A Choose-your-own Speed Run
By
Blaine Arcade
Instructions
Even if you are familiar with speed runs, the subtitle of this piece of interactive fiction will likely confuse you some. For those of you who aren’t familiar, a speed run is an attempt to complete the story campaign of a video game, or some subset of goals within a video game, in the shortest amount of time possible for a human player who is not using any machine or program to interfere with the game’s function. Continue reading
(reading time: 1 hour, 2 minutes)
A Beast Fights
The tables for the feast had buckets crafted into them because bergfolk celebrations often devolved into dancing right where you ate; this way they could not be kicked aside. The buckets were filled to the brim with all sorts of strange refreshments: spiced green cleansing water, warm red oystie sauce, pure blue toil water, and a foaming drink called scrub-throat that kept its bubbles for days. The bergfolk swished them about in their mouths and noses, sometimes holding one nostril closed so they could blast a fountain of it out the other. Alast watched as a woman gladly opened her mouth to accept a jet of cleansing water fired from a neighboring nostril. It might’ve been rude not to join, but Alast couldn’t bring himself to do it; he let any liquid that came his way splash across his shirt instead. Continue reading
(reading time: 34 minutes)
Cracking the Knuckles
Captain Rob moved through abandoned streets. The folk of Dhonshui had been evacuated from the part of town near the gates, a district called Quig, before the assault began. The closed mint was there and Rob made his move as soon as the last rows of soldiers came through. Luck was on his side, as Inguin had not done anything about the bronze disk Alast had hidden the piece of the Reflecting Path inside. The search Rob had endured for the supposedly swallowed piece was not his favorite thing, but it was far better than anything Yugo had planned. Continue reading
(reading time: 1 hour, 26 minutes)
Trespassing Reflections
Second Stone Door was now out of their reach, according to the information they received at the next ekapad station. Yugo’s only stated goal was the tiles, and he did not seem happy about one slipping from his clutches. His forces moved faster than ever, off the established roads and into any territory they saw fit. There were not enough aker shortcuts to keep them ahead of bonepickers indefinitely, so a change of course was required. Continue reading
(reading time: 1 hour, 45 minutes)
Yugo’s knuckles
“Damr told you to what?” Roary hissed just as he hopped up and closed the door. The current and former cabin boys were in the school’s kitchen; Rob had ordered them to earn their keep by peeling and washing vegetables for Oobla’s cooks before they stepped in to prepare dinner. Alast stood behind the slate counter with an oddly-curved blade in his hand perfect for skinning squish-squashes. The pile of vegetables and their leafy tops was so towering that Alast and Roary had quickly turned to conversation to stave off boredom. Continue reading
(reading time: 1 hour, 21 minutes)
Crosstahl
It was the boy’s first city, and it could have easily been his last if he hadn’t overpowered his awe and remembered to breathe. The ground before their party was an ancient split: a crevice of stunning depth and length that ate up the horizon just as well as any ocean.
“In the time before the Age of Building, four tiles met here,” Rob proclaimed. “Nature has eaten them away, turned them to soil and dust, but their convergence remains, hollowed by rain and river. Feast your eyes upon Crosstahl: the city of crossroads.” Continue reading
(reading time: 1 hour, 11 minutes)
The Greasy Skull
Tunka tuhunk tunka tuhunk tunka tuhunk. Alast was woken by the sound of a hundred footsteps on deck while enjoying a brief half-drop nap between his chores. He’d been onboard long enough to know those weren’t the sounds of hauling in fishnets or the dancing that sometimes accompanied Herc’s melodies.
He dropped to the floor. The only other occupied hammocks had gravefolk in them, their thin arms slipped through the holes in the ropes, hanging down like broken branches. Quietly navigating between the rows, he saw Manathan’s face turn towards him, but couldn’t tell if the skeleton was asleep or not. Continue reading
Blaine Arcade 