Blizz

A Journey Through Space - A DnD story

Grask had elected to tune most of the inn out and wait patiently. The holy princely boy had seen himself out when one of the Tiefling women vomited all over him, and it was just an utter bore for him after. Frankly, Grask preferred boredom in these situations. No shootouts, no "investors" looking for a moment of his time, no thieves. Just a man and his rabbit and grouse stew. When the food hit the bar, he might've grinned if he didn't have a snout. He picked up a fork and stabbed at a piece of meat, savoring it. Pretty damn good, it was fresh. "Appreciated." He wasn't complaining tonight. Warm food always lifted the soul.

And then... The bowl rattled.

Thump.

Grask went still, then turned to look at the door to the inn. Other people inside noticed too.

Rumble.

The floor shook, dust from the ceiling fell. The stool Grask was resting on shook beneath his weight.

CLANG.

The whole damn building quaked. The sound was reminiscent of an earthquake, following by the clattering of wood against wood, as Grask was thrown out of his seat and sent straight into the floor. The stew he ordered and was looking forward to packing away had been tossed like a rotten apple in the direction of someone's heaved alcohol from moments ago. Now, on any other night, that'd have him more than a little disgruntled. But right now, something just wasn't fucking right. So Grask managed to get to his feet, and hearing the screams and shouting outside past the windows, he withdrew his Manablaster and kicked the front door open.

Outside, it was a hellscape. The tower in the distance, which he had heard was dormant for a long, long time, was active. The top of it was spinning, energy was roiling off it, tremors razed the town all around and laid waste to all that breathed. Because of fucking course. Grask was no warrior, but he was trained to fight in his own ways. For him, that meant picking battles and knowing how to work out a solution in the middle of things. He didn't know how to stop that, and realistically speaking, no one here was going to, so the only sensible conclusion the Dragonborn could come to within the three seconds he stood there was to ride the chaos out.

"Hells..." People were running, getting away. Grask's vision snapped to a woman and an infant, being shielded by some large construct.

“Don’t just stand there!”

Grask charged forward.

His gauntlet cracked with a purple energy. He jumped over a boulder that had been tossed from a retaining wall and swung his arm in the direction of the woman. A small projectile expanded in his hand, rapidly forming into a rectangular shape. A lilac-colored, translucent barrier that shielded the woman from the debris. It was an odd angle, but it deflected the rocks falling down towards her and her child.

BANG. Grask shot one of the rocks falling from the sky, which nearly clobbered the back of Edwina's hand. Small pebbles and bits of ash were all that landed, as the pistol in his hand launched a telekinetic that shattered the debris. "Stay close to me!" He bellowed, as the pistol broke in half around a hinge. He reached under his cloak and pulled out a glowing bullet. "To the inn! Let's go!"

Recollections: Moon (Off-Urban Fantasy/Horror)

first

Strange Academy: Journey into Mystery

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Location: Haven, Strange Academy
Grimoire:
Skills:
Current Outfit

---

---

Franklin wasn't wrong about the secrecy being a problem. Though, Rohan had plenty of time to figure out the situation. His approaches, his predicament, his limits. The Forest of Ghosts did a number on him mentally, but he liked to think he wasn't so bad off he developed some kind of aversion to trust. Granted, Connie or even his own familiar might disagree, but Connie wasn't here right now, and Root was snoring. It sounded like branches creaking. The old creature just went ahead and elected to take a nap, unbothered by the world.

"Back up a moment. I have notes stashed away somewhere, I can find them. I might take you up on that offer, Frank." Rohan nodded. "If I do, I'll find some way to make it up to you. I don't know about no longer being human completely, but embracing it isn't easy. When I leave the school, I go into the woods. Sometimes, I end up far from here. Out there, I can let it loose. Those places are where my curse thrives. Out there, I can hunt and roam free, and all the Wrong Things of Nature come out to play. I'm like a fugitive to them, the longer I stay in a place where the natural world is in control, the more the monsters hunt me. The more the grass and soil under my feet try to kill me. I don't stop being me, but it's more like losing a few tenths of a percent than just losing everything at once."

Rohan watched Sariel pick up a glass of what he could only assume was magic whiskey. He didn't recognize the language on the bottle, the label was an archway draped in moss. It threw sparks as she sipped away at it, and he couldn't help but notice the look in her eyes. She was thinking of something. Maybe she didn't think it would work, or maybe she'd think about it and get back to him. Odd.

"...It's when I come back to places like this, that I shove it under the bed. That's when the monsters my little Ki no Kami throws at me have no choice but to run away." He drummed the fingers of one hand over the other. "I usually do some field experiments, before coming back. I've tried some grizzly rituals a few times that just seem to give a bit of breathing room, I've made artifacts I had to abandon after they backfired. I'll find the notes and research I did a week or so ago, but that's what I'm working with. It's always easier to just push back."

Avengers Academy: X of Swords ⚔️

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Location: Margaret Carter - Winter Carnival
Magic Items: Thousand-Faced Rose, Rune Stones
First Day Fit: Letterman jacket, baggy pants, sneakers.

---

Leah picked up her sword and trotted off with Sabine. She scanned the battlefield (the carnival) for any signs of the enemy (the headmaster atop a platform suspended over a water tank), and yet there was no sight of such a foe. (He had more important shit to do than get hit clothes soaked.) So, unfortunately, they had to find other things to do. There was a lot of stuff, actually. The giant wheel in the sky offended her due to how high above the ground it'd suspend her with zero access to the Earth. She passed the snowball arena and witnessed Vicky raising holy hell like she deserved to, and elected to ignore Gideon doing a bad Matrix impression.

"Hmm... Can't drown Coulson. How about..." Oh shit.

Leah spotted a temporary ice rink on their way, with people happily zipping around. That was pretty damn fun when they were in New York for that shopping trip last month. She grinned, and looked down at Sabine. "You thinking what I'm thinking?" And that was a rhetorical question, because Leah let go of Sabine's hand and strode forward. Like a golden retriever eager to be let out of the house for walkies, Leah stopped at the entrance, planted Sjafnamarr axe-blade down in the snow and secured some blades that could fit her.

---

---

Location: Margaret Carter - Winter Carnival
Magic Items: _{She’s no magician but you know she’s got that magic wand.}
First Day Fit: Floral button-up, slacks, converse shoes.

---

Okay, so maybe this day wasn't perfect so far. But no day ever really was. That was fine, Marlena could work with that. There was so much going on here, it looked fun. But that sense of dread had to be squashed first, she really didn't want to spend all day dreading every little encounter. So Marlena just kept walking to the table with the clubs. At least, she was until someone got her attention. She turned around and... Right, that Broadway girl was going to the same school as her. Because of course Marlena Evans was now going to school with superheroes, why not pop stars too?

"Hey." She flashed Millicent a smile. "Yeah, I'm chilling. I don't really worry about someone else's baggage, and I'm new here, but hey- Highs and lows." After all, there was an opportunity to make a lot of friends, even if she got her way and avoided the hero thing. "Between us new girls, I'm not looking forward to putting on a cape. 'Side from that, though? I am live. What about you, you miss the big screen?"

Strange Academy: Journey into Mystery

---

Location: Haven, Strange Academy
Grimoire:
Skills:
Current Outfit

---

---

Being dragged off by the ear left Root to haul tools out of the entrance to the Neverish. The owl packed things into the toolbox and hoisted it out, fluttering along as his master was led to a rather impressive “office.” Rohan’s attention was immediately grabbed by the lighting-struck table. The wood wizard took a great interest in the way it was carved to preserve the damage in such a way that one could tell where the lightning made contact. He fell into a chair and felt like he could get used to be in a room such as this. Root plopped his toolbox down at his feet and then perched up in another chair, standing on business.

”Pass.” Rohan did not dare drink around wizards and witches he didn’t know as well as Connie, or outside of particular occasions. He liked having his mental faculties in order.

As for what they were doing… Well, he already dropped the reveal earlier. Rohan wasn’t thrilled about getting into it, and Marino seemed like she was a few cards short of a full deck. But he was in a coven now, if there was a way, he wasn’t going to find it on his own at this rate.

”If we’re sharing… Yeah, I’ve got a few.” Rohan sunk into the chair. ”Mystery aside, I came to this school to find a way of controlling the curse I have. Can’t get rid of it, that’ll kill me. It’s more important than whatever’s in the Neverish, but that’s a close second after today. I want to stop the spread, and find some balance, keep what I’ve got left.”

“While reaching the understanding will be tricky, I'd be happy to offer the tools and insight on how to proceed. What steps have you taken to explore the curse thus far, what have your results been, and how did you adjust from there? Have you kept notes on your processes and have you rotated what has been effective?”

”A friend of mine can use her magic to reverse some of it, but that’s temporary. Most of what I do is just reject it. Being here in a place where the woods have no authority makes it angry, which makes me more like me in the process. It's the human things that push back, like building fences to keep animals out. Only problem is that it won't stay out forever. All just temporary fixes."

“Sounds like you need more information in general. All curses can be broken - we just need to understand the tether and the method. Do you know what creature cursed you and what region it is from? If so, I can give you limited authorization into more esoteric literature and artifacts that may help you understand your affliction.”

Rohan frowned. Even if it could be broken, that wouldn’t work for him.

”A very, very long time ago, before the inventiom of swords and paper and even bronze, there was a man named Namiki. Some people say he was born out of the foulest sins man ever committed, some say he was never human to begin with,” He began. ”He was native to where I grew up, way back home. The simple explanation is that I killed him and he got the last laugh. He was a monster, perverted the woods for so long that the woods became another world anchored around him.”

There was a dark look in his eyes. That was the day he died and was reborn. ”The curse makes me more like him, more wrong. There’s a reason I’m not very open about it.”

Avengers Academy: X of Swords ⚔️

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---

Location: Margaret Carter - Winter Carnival
Magic Items: Thousand-Faced Rose, Rune Stones
First Day Fit: Letterman jacket, baggy pants, sneakers.

---

Leah didn’t need to be neurotypical to understand that things were complicated between Percy and Chase. On one hand, she felt a little bad about being snarky towards him back in New Orleans. On the other hand… She didn’t know him. Any progress he may or may not have made was on him to prove, and it wasn’t Leah he had to prove that to. She liked Percy, respected him and considered him a friend. That meant that if, by some miracle, Percy was cool with him, then he was cool with her. Though, she made a mental note to kick him for a field goal if he made Percy regret giving any amount of slack. She elected not to say that out loud.

So when the walls went up around them, Leah stepped around to the scuffed one and looked over her shoulder at the test of Excelsior.

”I’ll wait outside,” She said, ducking her head low and squeezing out from between the overlapping walls. Then she posted up and planted Sjafnamarr blade-down in the snow, leaning on the hilt. She sighed and shut her eyes.

Sometimes, the best move was to abstain.

---

---

Location: Margaret Carter - Winter Carnival
Magic Items: _{She’s no magician but you know she’s got that magic wand.}
First Day Fit: Floral button-up, slacks, converse shoes.

---

So the snow was real. Huh. Neat.

Marlena looked at the ground when Chase and Percy both started bawling. She barely knew one of them, and the other was a complete stranger to her. This was not the sort of thing she needed to be witness to right now, certainly not when this day was supposed to put her nerves to rest. The walls April put up were a smooth move to give the boys some privacy, and she was going to take the out.

”Yeah, this isn’t my business. I’m bouncing.” She turned over to April with the barest trace of a frown, running a hand through her hair. ”I’ll be around.”

And then she slipped out after Tall, Dark and Nordic, looking around. Sure enough, there were cameras and flashes. Even at their own school, they could’t get a lick of privacy, could they? The frown became a bit more overt. One hell of a carnival this was.

Marlena turned on her heel and darted off in an uncertain direction, hands stuffed into her pockets and fidgeting. Dread was bubbling up in her stomach again, she imagined it’d be like this more often, with people exploding on each other and everyone stopping by to post about it on SuperLink. Fuck, she didn’t want to deal with all that, and she probably didn’t have a choice.

There was a snowball fight happening, but it looked like people were using powers and another fucking gigantic sword. Nah, she wasn’t up for that right now. She didn’t want to get clobbered and ruin her fit.

So she kept walking.

Don’t catastrophize, Marlena thought. It won’t help, and it’ll be harder to stop the more you do.

It’s not even noon yet. You’ll be okay.

Stuff to do… Stuff to do… There were club signups. Maybe that’d be fun? She swung by the tables, where parents were yammering at teachers and other clerical work was being done.

Avengers Academy: X of Swords ⚔️

---

---

Location: Margaret Carter - Winter Carnival
Magic Items: Thousand-Faced Rose, Rune Stones
First Day Fit: Letterman jacket, baggy pants, sneakers.

---

Thank god that Leah had a hot girl she could distract herself from the other hot girl. An arm went around Sabine as Leah stooped down and planted a kiss on her forehead. It seemed everyone was converging on the hot chocolate. And, notably, on her. Danni wasted no time in latching onto her like a leech on a bleeding wound. Both he and April were all over her sword, and Leah couldn’t help but crack up at the thought of either of them trying to lift it off the ground. It was heavier than a person, taller than her, and she only had the ability to swing it around because of how damn strong she was.

”When I first held it, it spoke to me. Not with words, exactly, it just… I just knew. Calls itself Sjafnamarr. Thousand-Faced Rose. Thor’s got Mjolnir, I’ve got this.” The blade of the sword caught the sunlight in weird ways, like a kaleidoscope. Every glint was a different expression of the same image. Leah drummed her fingers on the hilt, watching that Chase boy stack a hot chocolate cup to heaven. How the fuck did someone drink that?

She didn’t get to ask, before Danni fucking burst into flames.

”Fuck-“ Leah took a step back, she really didn’t want her hair burning. Certainly not her fucking jacket, either. Chase, being so chummy with Danni, also got lit up. For a moment, she considered dumping hot chocolate on them both since April seemed to be slow today. Then someone came in with a fire extinguisher, because of course, in a school full of superkids, why did no one ever just grab a damn fire extinguisher?

”Damn, good save.” She waved a bit of smoke out of her face. It smelled like microplastics. ”Okay, shit, anybody get burned? I got some healing magic worked out lately.”

---

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Location: Margaret Carter - Winter Carnival
Magic Items: _{She’s no magician but you know she’s got that magic wand.}
First Day Fit: Floral button-up, slacks, converse shoes.

---

Marlena froze up when one of April’s brothers fucking exploded. Holy shit, holy shit- Thank god someone else swooped in to put fire out. Ben swooped in and stuck Chase’s fire in the snow. Which probably wasn’t the best move, but Marlena wasn’t sure what she’d do, the snow around them was fake probably made of polystyrene or some glitter-adjacent plastic. It was a surprise, Danni seemed to have a handle on his powers when he was in the Contest last month. Or maybe he didn’t need control when he was busy kicking ass?

”Heh, hey Ben-“ Marlena chuckled out of nervous tension. She glanced between him and Chase. It seemed like there was a bit of drama going on that she wasn’t aware of. Chase apparently had some cards he didn’t set down on the table. ”Okay, that’s enough surprises for one day, you think? Anybody wanna show me around, throw a snowball or two at me?”

She didn’t know those boys long, but Marlena liked them. Liking people was easy when you were Marlena Evans. Maybe they needed a bit of privacy to sort out whatever they were dealing with. And the short guy seemed like he was about to have an aneurism if he didn’t get away from Chase right now.

Avengers Academy: X of Swords ⚔️

---

---

Location: Margaret Carter - Winter Carnival
Magic Items: Thousand-Faced Rose, Rune Stones
First Day Fit: Letterman jacket, baggy pants, sneakers.

---

”Yeah, let’s find them. I wanna see the look on April’s face when she sees my sword.” Leah wheeled around and followed him. Lots of new kids here, Leah ignored the stares of some of them. There was some boy not much older than Percy who she could’ve sworn was staring at her huge arms. A lot of them probably never saw a giant before. It was easy to find April and her gaggle of gays by the sound of high speed yammering over the din of other people just going about their days.

There they were. Dorian, Danni, and… April.

April, who made Leah stop in her tracks. Her eyes widened, jaw going slack for a moment. April had gotten a haircut over the break, it seemed. Like a frizzy mohawk, only shorter. Leah did a double take, then a triple take. It looked good on her, made her look very nonconforming in gender, almost like completely different person. A very cute, very hot person who Leah already had so many messy feelings for.

Oh no.

Ohhhh no.

Fuck.


It was at that moment, surrounded by her found family and her ex who she was never normal about, that Leah forgot her impeccable ability to pull a pokerface.

And then April started talking to her.

”Oh- Um. Yeah, hi April…” Fuck, why did she have to get hotter?! ”Hi Danni. Hi Dorian. Uh- That’s a lot of stuff on a cup of hot chocolate.” She distracted herself by grabbing herself one. Leah was feeling incredibly grateful that her rocky skin couldn’t betray the heat in her face. April always set her eyes and heart alight when they were within the same general vicinity of each other, she always looked up to her in some ways (despite being taller) and she was just so nice.

She inhaled a whole cup of steaming hot chocolate in a single gulp, and cleared her throat.

Get your shit together. Stop this shit once, Jordan!

”I missed all of you.”

She didn’t know it was Percy’s birthday. But knowing him, he probably didn’t like celebrating it any more than she liked celebrating hers. So she didn’t say anything.

---

---

Location: Margaret Carter - Winter Carnival
Magic Items: _{She’s no magician but you know she’s got that magic wand.}
First Day Fit: Floral button-up, slacks, converse shoes.

---

It was so nice to see these people enjoying themselves. April’s brothers gave Marlena the impression she had a family full of love. It made her heart swell in small ways, and made her feel slightly jealous. (Not nearly as jealous as she felt of that hair color comb though. God damn! That was dope.) Things weren’t great at home right now for her, they’d probably mend in time, but it was going to be awkward. But she didn’t let that stop the smirk on her face.

”Yeah, this shirt’s my own work. Had this sweet roll of some cheap fabric pattern from a hobby store, came out nice. The rest is just store-bought, but I’d love to find something sturdy enough to make a belt with some secret spaces in it.” Marlena had started collecting little trinkets more after she got her powers, beads and baubles that went on the ends of necklaces made for good fodder if some punk took offense to a transgender mutant walking down the street. ”Not sure exactly what I’m gonna do with that piece I showed you, just yet.”

Marlena tilted her head around and caught sight of the shortest king since Napoleon, and… God damn she was tall. And stammering like crazy, no less. And that sword- Holy shit, she didn’t have that sword in the Contest. It must’ve been nasty to get cut by.

”Sup. Name’s Marlena,” she said, with all the cool that Leah didn’t have.

”Leah.”

”Sweet sword. Where’d you get it?”

”Long story.”

Marlena just nodded and turned back to April and her brothers. ”Anyway, no. Got no idea what I’m doing today, except figure out what’s where and who’s what. Gotta check class stuff, but I’ll worry about that later. Figured I’d just enjoy the carnival. I’ll tag along.”

Strange Academy: Journey into Mystery

---

Location: Haven, Strange Academy
Grimoire:
Skills:
Current Outfit

---

---

Magic was a great and terrible thing.

In the hands of his dear friend Connie, it was something Rohan owed a great deal to. In the hands of Finley, it was a cruel joke to be played on others. The Macleod brothers used it to wild away the centuries, and Rohan used it to survive. But Sariel’s magic, when it hit him? He didn’t know what the hell to make of it. His hand had gone to a knife, with most of body stumbling into a table as his first instinct was to cut someone. Lightning shooting into him, all the noise, it set his senses on fire. He gripped the hilt of his bone dagger and tossed it to Root, his mind winning out over the spooked animal in him.

Their work was complete. Something under his skin was happy.

”Damn… Warn a guy, next time.” He stood up straight, and rolled his shoulders. That felt like hell. He glanced over at Annika, who looked to be bleeding. ”That doesn’t look good.”

Avengers Academy: X of Swords ⚔️

---

---

Location: Margaret Carter - Winter Carnival
Magic Items: Thousand-Faced Rose, Rune Stones
First Day Fit: Letterman jacket, baggy pants, sneakers.

---

For three years, Leah was always the first person of her class to be back in the dorms. The process was very simple for her, she’d be kicked out by the first teacher that caught someone loitering after break, she’d head to somewhere warm, and then be back a bit before the next semester to get a physical copy of the schedule. Then she’d move her stuff back in, get settled, and stay behind the door until such a time that no one would bat an eye at a student appearing in a school at an early hour. That was the only time out of the year when sleeping within four walls and a roof was an option to her. This year was different. This year, Leah had the privilege of family. This year, stability was an option again. She Hulk had done her thing, and here Leah was, waking up at six in the morning within the apartment of an Avenger.

It was time for another semester.

Leah walked over to a closet and pulled her letterman jacket off a hanger. She gathered up her backpack, her runes, her pens and notebooks, everything she needed. She had to actually make a trip to the school, and she made sure to pack well for it.

This year would be different. She’d make it so.

Her charm bracelet fit snuggly around her wrist. There were only two so far, but she was hoping she’d decorate it quite thoroughly in the future. Lastly, she reached under the bed she slept on, and slid Sjafnamarr out. The seven foot long sword thrummed under her touch. As she raised it, she made sure to keep it close to her body.

Time to go.

She left the room and made her way to the kitchen. Her… Sister. for lack of a better word, couldn’t cook an ice cube if she lived in an igloo. Granted, Jen was also busy as shit. So Leah prepared some eggs and bacon for her, and then fixed herself a breakfast burrito loaded with chorizo and bell peppers. And she was out the door before the other strong woman in the building was properly awake.

It wasn’t a long walk to school. Leah was quite the sight, with her monolithic axe-bladed sword hanging off her shoulder. Some people saw her, stopped and waved. She waved back. When she got there, the familiar sight of the carnival actually made her smile. The last time she attended a carnival, she and Sabine nearly broke a bed frame and then got into a relationship.

As she walked through the snowy field, she spotted a certain antiquated, axe-brandishing twink that she had bonded with a lot before today. _{Hmm… His mom’s kind of hot, actually.} She banished that thought and waited for him to be relieved of the parenting, then she walked up to him.

”Hey, Percy,” She greeted him. ”Sure snows a lot for California, doesn’t it? Nice being back, missed you guys over break.”

---

---

Location: Margaret Carter - Winter Carnival
Magic Items: _{She’s no magician but you know she’s got that magic wand.}
First Day Fit: Floral button-up, slacks, converse shoes.

---

Today marked a change in Marlena’s life. A time when passing as an ordinary human was no longer on the table for her, a time when she got the privilege of traveling across the country to learn how to use her powers for good and rub shoulders with Earth’s mightiest heroes… Unfortunately.

She still wasn’t responding to messages from her dad, and she was dreading going to these classes. As she got ready in her dorm room, yet to meet her roommate, Marlena had to ask herself why she was feeling so nervous. She loved meeting new people, even if these circumstances weren’t very favorable for her. It was a change she didn’t get much say in, so there was only room to control how she approached it. Marlena was banking on a good start to the semester making things easier.

She decided on one of her cute button-ups. Black fabric, red floral prints all over it. It went well with the minimalist belt and black slacks she put on next. Her knife holster clipped onto it, she made sure it was okay to keep so long as things stayed boring. Next. she through a few bracelets onto her arm. A few minutes in front of a mirror, and her hair was nice and bouncy. Her nails had been painted cherry red last night, and they were looking sexy in her professional opinion.

Then came some sharp, winged eyeliner. Marlena didn’t usually go for makeup, but she wanted to look back on this day in a few hours and be able to say she gave it a hundred percent.

Phone, wallet, small notebook and pen… Check.

”You’ll be fine.” she told herself. ”You’ve redone your identity before. You’re not alone.”

And she was out the door. Down the hall, out the main entrance and into the main carnival area. It was pretty. She immediately took a picture and started walking. The smell of winter-appropriate confections was the first thing that caught her attention, so Marlena made her way to the hot chocolate… Where she caught the sight of April Kingston-Gray sporting a damn fine haircut. And that smile. That smile.

Oh, yeah. This would be a good few months after all.

Securing a cup of hot chocolate with a bit of whipped cream over the top, Marlena let out a cliche whistle to signal her arrival. ”April? Love the hair. It suits you.”