Today’s snippet, titled “Nothing Good”, 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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      “See? Shiny!” Mira pointed to the base of the ramp.
      Rhiallis squinted, shielding her eyes with her hand. “Maybe.”
      “Its there. Some little glints,” Sadie said, pulling a wand from her belt. “Amongst all the rice.”
      “I don’t see anything moving.” Cole’s eyes were apparently much better than his friend’s had been. “But I dunno – what’s rice?”
      “It is like zizania. They had this friend called Kumiko- Oh, that’s not important, Cole. Anyway. Let’s send a fireball down there and see what comes up. Go on – Mira. Boom it.”
      Mira boomed it.
      The wand’s spell was not as powerful as one cast by Aimsley, but it seemed to do the trick. The corpses and the carpet of ‘rice’ burned briefly, brightly, and then all was quiet. Crispy. Like the succarat at the bottom of that seaside dish Matron Missean always tried to replicate with the zizania (Note: wild rice) that grows in the region.
      “Let’s scout it – Mira and me will go down first. You guys come up behind us.”
      Sadie and Mira moved down the gentle, sloping ramp forty feet ahead of the rest of the party. Cautiously, they approached the singed field.
      A thousand thousand maws opened in unison the instant the halfings were within their grasp. Before Rhiallis could even comprehend the sheer horror of that sea of wriggling carnivorous maggots, one of the girls used a wand to cast another blast of fire at the swarm. They retreated, but Celeste stood her ground, protecting the rest of the group from the rotgrubs’ advance.
      Those same, teensy grasping mouths chomped upon her as well, slipping like water into the chinks of her armor to get at the soft pink flesh beneath. Loathe to get close to them, for though the fire slowed them it had not yet stopped them, Rhiallis knew that her only choice was to aid Celeste.
      An instant before she made up her mind to move in and lay hands on her friend, a third fireball blasted the area. Celeste was at the epicenter and the maggots chewing on her – burrowing into her – died by the thousands.
      “Iomedae, remove the blight of this swarm from her body, cleanse her and once more, let this Paladin’s body be free of disease.”
      Rhiallis’ prayer was brief but effective, and Celeste’s flesh – warmed by Iomedae’s power – rejected the grubs.
      When their tiny gaping mouths were all still – mostly burnt to a crisp – the party paused only briefly to be sure that there was nothing notable or valuable amongst the remains in the crevasse.
      “Let’s keep moving,” Korael said, shivering despite the warmth of the wintery day.
      “Yeah.”
      Cole bounced from one foot to another, antsy to get moving and merely nodded his assent. Celeste plucked one last maggot from her breastplate and flicked it away. “Yuck.”
      “There’s no reason to linger,” Rhiallis said. “And who would want to, in this awful place?”
      Mira pulled a face, her palm on Agnes Forthright’s pommel. “Demons, I guess. Psychos. Weird blue crystal things.”
      “Nothing good,” Sadie added.
      Rhiallis chuckled. “Nothing good, except us.”
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Note: Image is “King Jagiello Statue Central” by (Mulligand) from SXC.hu; edited by me