Today’s snippet, titled “Herman”, is a piece I wrote about my PC in Mark’s new (Good) Pathfinder Campaign.
      Be forewarned, there may be mature themes and naughty language below.
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      “Shush, beautiful girl,” Rhiallis cooed, brushing Emerald’s mane with a boar bristle brush she kept in her pack. “I know, this cave is making you nervous – but it makes us all nervous. A few more hours in here, and we’ll be back in the open. Not that that is much of an improvement, really.”
      Emerald leaned against her, lightly crushing Rhiallis between her flank and the big bay that had been Niro’s and now bore his name as well. The nearness and the ritual seemed to have calmed the buckskin mare and Rhiallis had to admit that it did much to ease her mind as well.
      She was glad Celeste had offered her watch over the horse line. The back of the main chamber was filled with their sleeping friends – and the air over there was at least fifty percent fart – while the horses were close to the opening and thus, within reach of fresh air.
      The cavern Korael had located was spacious, with a passage that ran around a corner and opened up into a small, still pool with drinkable water. Or at least – it would have been so were there not dismembered demonic arms floating upon it. Despite that teensy downside, the Valorous Order of the Golden Sword had chosen to stay inside the cavern – it was surely safer in here than exposed to the demonic elements of the Worldwound.
      Emerald knickered and pressed her moist nose into Rhiallis’ shoulder. She lay her head against the mare’s neck and smiled. “Been together a long time, haven’t we, pretty girl? Nearly ten years, is that right?”
      Rhiallis remembered the day she met Emerald quite vividly. She had never owned a horse before, and in fact preferred to think of her horse more as a willing friend and companion than property or chattle, but the moment she saw Emerald Rhiallis had fallen in love.
      Perhaps it had been because she was a gift from Viggo. Perhaps it had been because the young buckskin, with her dun coat, rich chocolate points, and deep brown mane, had been the most beautiful horse she had ever seen. Perhaps it was because they had connected instantly, the inexperienced rider and the strong young mare.
      Whatever the reason, when Viggo pulled his hands from her eyes to reveal Emerald, hitched to a post outside his home, Rhiallis had been touched. There was a ribbon woven through her dark tail – green as the fat emerald on Viggo’s finger – and to this day, Rhiallis made sure to keep up the tradition.
      “Did you hear something?” Celeste whispered, approaching as quietly as one can when wearing full plate armor.
      Rhiallis frowned, pausing to listen. “No. What did you hear?”
      Celeste shook her head, moving closer to the entrance. Rhiallis followed, motioning to Emerald to stay.
      “I don’t see anything,” Celeste said. “Too dark.”
      Rhiallis felt her breath catch in her throat as she stepped up beside Celeste and looked out into the eerie Worldwound night. “…holy hells.”
      “What?”
      She wet her lips shaking her head. “Be glad, for once, my friend, that you do not possess eyes like mine.”
      Across the wasteland, a few hundred feet, there was a spider. Big enough to be identified at such a distance, that was terrifying enough on its own. But it got worse, because it was bigger than it appeared at first. It was dragging something behind it. She paused, leaning forward. Something big. Something…enormous. Suddenly – she realized that the thing was much bigger than she thought. Not a dog-sized arachnid, not even horse-sized. It was at least as tall as an elephant; massive with eight multiply-jointed legs and what seemed like a thousand eyes blinking at random.
      “Rhiallis?”
      She shook her head and held a finger to her lips, backing away slowly. Once they were closer to the horses, she leaned her head close to Celeste’s ear and whispered.
      “It was a spider – bigger than anything I’ve ever seen or heard about. At least ten feet tall, maybe half again as wide. And it was dragging something bigger than a human – maybe horse-sized.”
      Her friend’s face grew a bit gaunt. “That big?”
      “At least.”
      They stood in silence for a moment, two paladins as unalike as could be for two with so much in common, and then shared a pointed look. In tacit agreement, Celeste moved quietly back to the other end of the cavern and Rhiallis stepped back to the horse line. She put her arm around Emerald’s neck, leaned her cheek into the mare’s flank and closed her eyes. Better no one else sees that thing, it is enough to give any of us nightmares and at least I don’t have to sleep if I don’t want to…
      She shuddered. And I sure don’t want to now…

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Note: Image is “King Jagiello Statue Central” by (Mulligand) from SXC.hu; edited by me