Guardians of the Glacier #11: The Witness

            Born with the unfortunate gift of being observant, the Witness always found herself seeing things she should not have seen; things that had no desire of being seen, and she, no desire of seeing them. But nevertheless they always seemed to find her, imprinting themselves in her eyes and tormenting her weary soul upon those sleepless nights she found herself having all too often. Why couldn’t people just keep their discretions and secrets to themselves? And why did they always have to be so violent and dark? Didn’t anyone slink off into the night for love anymore?

Fires, Follies, and Sacrifices (Part 3)

“This Shadow Demon stories praise,

To defeat him is no simple thing.

The Pestilence and I bested him once,

Long before I became the King.”

- The Poet, A Ghost in the Frost: Diaries of the Lost

Fires, Follies, and Sacrifices (Part 2)

“The Frozen Abyss is all they say,

And all that I say as well.

But Kaltbury, in particular

Is the closest place to hell.”

- The Poet, A Ghost in the Frost: Diaries of the Lost

Fires, Follies, and Sacrifices (Part 1)

“When all seems lost the desperate pray,

Hoping through faith they’ll escape the fray.

They think somehow it’ll all go away,

But death never hears a word you say.”

- The Poet, A Ghost in the Frost: Diaries of the Lost

Urges of Heroism (Part 3)

“With eyes red it is said

The Frozen Abyss awakens.

From its hell it casts a spell

And the poor lost souls are taken.”

- The Poet, A Ghost in the Frost: Diaries of the Lost

Urges of Heroism (Part 2)

“To fear the darkness around you,

That is how it daunts.

To feel the darkness inside you,

That is what it wants.”

- The Poet, A Ghost in the Frost: Diaries of the Lost

Urges of Heroism (Part 1)

“When mayhem comes it’s soon to fade,

But to be at ease is to be played.

It will come back, it always does,

It will come back, greater than it was.”

- The Poet, A Ghost in the Frost: Diaries of the Lost

The Sinking Cadaver (Part 3)

“The fear comes, the fear goes

Like a footprint in the snow,

It will fade, the question though

Is will you last long enough to know?”

- The Poet, A Ghost in the Frost: Diaries of the Lost

The Sinking Cadaver (Part 2)

“The ice is cold, the night is dark

The moon and stars sink into black

A threshold of warnings for turning back,

But when the heart is cold, the mind is dark.”          

- The Poet, A Ghost in the Frost: Diaries of the Lost

The Sinking Cadaver (Part 1)

“Beware the dark and snowy drifts

Lurking shadows bring destiny’s shift

Those who enter face the reaper’s bliss

Or end up prisoners of the Frozen Abyss”

Guardians of the Glacier #10: The Thief

            Growing up under the cover of darkness and embrace of shadows, the Thief was cloaked from the world’s view. Rumors had him connected to all four Realms, but no one knew for sure which one he came from, nor which one he was in at any given time. He was a mysterious man with a mastery of pickpocketing. Outside of that there is virtually nothing known about him or his past, thus there is very little to be said on this subject.

Guardians of the Glacier #9: The Saint

           Outside the temptations of Earthly pleasures, the Saint grew up a near perfect embodiment of the church. He was compassionate with his faith and inconsiderate of others’ beliefs, making him the ideal candidate to lead their cleansing efforts in an attempt to purify the world. And unlike the Martyr, the Saint accepted the role the church assigned him and became the instrument he was destined to be. He was a demon slayer and a very good one at that. And because of how loosely the church used the word demon, he always had work to do. His journey to the Frozen Abyss would be no different.

Guardians of the Glacier #8: The Scholar

           Under the vast wealth of draining knowledge in the world, the Scholar grew up absorbing as much of it as he could before it would become lost forever. Thus he spent the entirety of his childhood achieving the highest level of education money could buy, learning from the most respected minds the world could offer. For eight hours a day he would listen intently to the scholars he wished to someday be, while spending the remainder of his free time in the library and visiting history museums. He was a boy with an appetite for information and a retrospective hunger that slowly began to starve.

Guardians of the Glacier #7: The Swordsman

           Brought up under the teachings of an all but worn out blade, the Swordsman grew up a fighter. The ways of discipline and combat were all he knew, having been trained by a legendary sparring master, one who was renowned for his feats both as a warrior and as a nobleman. Thus the Swordsman felt extremely grateful every second of the fifteen years he spent under his master’s guidance, having started his training whilst he was but a boy. His teacher was a man of great poise and stature, and he wished to someday be a man of equal resolve. Such a dream would take a lot of hard work and persistence to achieve he knew, but his master would expect nothing less.

Guardians of the Glacier #6: The Sage

          Growing up in the crowded, city streets of the Eastern Realm, the Sage somehow still managed to always find herself alone because of how she viewed the world so drastically different than the rest. Whereas they saw with lapses in both reason and sense, she was wise beyond her years. Nobody understood her logic and thus she lived almost unnoticed. Some, however, did come to pay her visits in the lonely shack she called her home, though that was only due to the fact that she had a bit of a talent for predicting people’s futures. She was a seer and offered her services as such. Unfortunately though, this gift of foresight was also what ultimately forced her to abandon her home.

Guardians of the Glacier #5: The Prince

        Amongst the vast deserts of the Southern Realm there is little life to be found, though it has nothing to do with a lack of population. After all, there is no shortage of people to be found here. Hordes of all kinds of folks bear the uncomfortable heat of the region simply to live within close proximity of the King’s palace, which rests at the center of the sand’s only city. Thus the Prince grew up surrounded by wealthy, boring nobles who sat sweating in their chairs, unable to define excitement. The heat may have contributed greatly to their lifelessness, but the Prince honestly believed that their actions wouldn’t have changed much had it not been so hot. They were pathetic Lords in his mind, living under a truly magnificent King.

Guardians of the Glacier #4: The Witch

        Born the child of a succubus and a politician, the Witch grew up feared and hated by the abomination that was her birth. Such disgust was seen most strongly in the eyes of the clergymen who took great lengths to antagonize her and her family, demanding she be burned at the stake. Thus, the locals began calling her the Witch, blaming her for any misfortunes they suffered while yet she still breathed. Her curse was rumored to be the root of all hardships the town faced, including drought, illness, and even the urge to sin. Although  the last one may have had more to do with the fact that she was extremely beautiful. Nevertheless, the church-led townsfolk began to form mobs in order to chase this evil from their land. And so, her and her father were forced to flee the town in order to save their lives. Her mother, meanwhile, stayed in hopes of someday convincing the town to let her husband and daughter come back. However, the Witch has now been away twelve years and is yet to hear back from her. 

Guardians of the Glacier #3: The Ranger

        In the deep and untamed forests of the Western Realm there are more top predators than there are prey on which to feed. Thus, the region remains relatively undisturbed by the outside world. Even the most renowned hunters and ruthless poachers neglect these woods because of the dense underbrush and uncertainty of what lurks just out of sight. The only ones able to brave this dangerous wilderness are the local warrior tribes, which are scarce to say the least. The Ranger was born amongst the greatest of these tribes, the Kahtoree, who live off of the pinpoint precision they posses with either the bow or the blade and their unmatched tracking skills. But still, survival is a challenge that they battle every day. One wrong move and you’re lost to the forest forever. It’s as simple as that in the harsh reality in which they live. Every aspect of everyday life is a trial in and of itself. To survive here, one must be quick with both the mind and the body,  and such are the qualities that define the Ranger most accurately.

Guardians of the Glacier #2: The Martyr

       Under the guidance of a mythic light the Martyr grew up in a world that didn’t exist, following a glorified path that led nowhere but to her own grave. Abandoned by her parents at birth, she was taken in by the church and brought up believing in divine intervention and salvation in God. For His influence was found in everything good and missing from all that was evil in the hearts of man. The nuns and priests preached this every day in an attempt to mold her into their own personal vessel to serve God’s will. But whereas she proved to be an easy vessel to obtain, they struggled getting her to set sail.

Guardians of the Glacier #1: The Bard

        Growing up under the solitude of a mansion’s only child, the Bard had more than enough time to perfect his art. He, however, never mastered anything outside of songs of mischief. His parents tried everything to help him excel in his love for songwriting and storytelling, but no amount of money or tutors could steer him away from his true passion. And so at the age of fourteen he left the life of nobility and began performing his style of the traveling bard for all the world to hear. The world, however, held a bit of a deaf ear to his talents. Night after night he was thrown out of tavern after tavern due to the melody in which his spirit swayed. Apparently no one longed for songs of ridicule, nor appreciated his witty insults and foul tongue. 

Guardians of the Glacier (prologue)

In the small town of Kaltbury there was little for lodging outside of Jazmin’s Tavern. Thus it became the very breath of the town, the only warm place to rest amongst the frozen region in which the town was located. Very few people lived here due to the desolate climate, but it was never so lifeless as to be called barren. Travelers flocked here in surprising numbers, seeking the desires missing from their empty souls. Some came for love, others for merely pleasure. Some wanted revenge, others merely treasure. But whatever their reasons for coming to Kaltbury, they always ended up here in Jazmin’s Tavern.