Search Worlds Without End

The sun grew dark. A winter's wind blew out of nowhere... This was an ill omen. The Empire's great fleet had set sail in search of a legendary treasure island, leaving the Haven unprotected. The vision meant the fleet had been tricked by a treacherous enemy. And the purpose? A scheme to force Stacy, the Empire Princess, to confront her archenemy in the faraway and mysterious island of Kuba -- a dark and forbidding place where no one ever went willingly.

To become renowned adventurers, this party needs to survive their first job...

Tessalynde is an ambitious young rogue who dreams of leading Faerûn's foremost adventuring party. While the crew she's gathered isn't the stuff of legend yet, she's confident her guidance can get them there.

The team: Anson, a fighter too stubborn to stay down, even when the odds are stacked against him. Cazrin, a self-taught wizard determined to test her theoretical mettle against the real world. Baldric, a cleric who refuses to tie himself to a single deity when he can trade favors with them all. Lark, a bard with as many secrets as songs. And, of course, Uggie, a monstrous pet otyugh who loves giving hugs and eating trash.

Their first job: recovering a mysterious spellbook from a lost temple for a hefty payout. Tess hopes this assignment can turn her group of fledgling freelancers into a true team. But when their client is killed, their coin and his murderer both vanish, leaving the party to take the fall.

Stuck with a sentient, bloodthirsty grimoire and pursued by mercenaries and the undead, this is hardly the mission Tess envisioned. Her crew must save the day, get the gold, and clear the party's name--which they haven't even agreed upon yet! With the threats against them mounting, a single mistake will see this party over before it even begins.

Can this band of mismatched misfits stay together in the face of danger? Or are they bound for ruin?

The Fallbacks rush to balance the scales before a draconic foe reaps their cleric's soul...

When the day is threatened by tyrannical foes or monstrous fiends, the people of Faerûn place their trust in the realm's mighty heroes. When the mighty heroes don't show up, they get the Fallbacks.

The team: A flamboyant bard with a bandstand's worth of secrets. A wizard whose thirst for knowledge leads her to triumph and trouble. A virtuous fighter with a family that's anything but. A cunning rogue just trying to keep everyone together.

And then there's the party's cleric. Baldric has always had an unorthodox approach to divinity. While other folk of faith hitch their wagons to one god or another, this cleric figures that if his magic and might can serve many gods and reap the rewards of the entire pantheon, everyone wins. But there's a price to be paid for the power to protect Faerûn. And every debt must one day be collected.

Baldric finds himself cut off from his connection to the divine when a mysterious and otherworldly entity starts to invade his negotiations. And this entity wants more than Baldric's service--it wants his soul.

The Fallbacks race to free their cleric from his shadowy debtholder, but the heat is on--in more ways than one--because the being trying to lay claim to Baldric isn't exactly a god. Forget striking bargains with deities. To get out of this jam, the Fallbacks will have to deal with dragons.

Imprisoned in the void of a ruined universe by vengeful gods, Tharizdun--the Chained God, the Elder Elemental Eye--shares his exile with the Progenitor, a pool of liquid crystal that is all that remains of the Abyss that destroyed his universe.

Enter our heroes Albanon, Shara and Uldane--all three adventurers readers will know from The Mark of Nerath. They thought their quests were over and done with, but danger still burns like the embers of a smoldering fire in the tall grass. The Progenitor was locked safely away, guarded by Albanon's dead master, but early on our heroes realize it was stolen and released in the presence of the green dragon Vestapalk as he fell at Shara's sword.

Now, alerted to the danger of the liquid crystal by a mysterious cleric who claims allegiance to an order that has protected the substance for time immemorial, they must go in search of the dragon's body, to ensure his demise has not been exaggerated. What they discover has consequences that could change the world...

Following directly in the wake of The Temple of Yellow Skulls, our heroes face the totality of the destructive and pestilent forces presented by the Abyssal Plague. The disease of the liquid crystal Voidharrow spreads throughout the land, transforming unsuspecting creatures into plague demons. Shara, Uldane, and the unlikely drow hero Valmaggar join forces with Tempest and Rohgar from The Mark Of Nerath, and together they set out in search of the green dragon Vestapalk, or the creature Vestapalk has become--the patient zero of this abyssal plague.

Meanwhile, Albanon and the mysterious cleric Kri Redshal--the last remaining member of the Order of Vigilance, an order dedicated to guarding the Voidharrow--go in search of answers to the disease that sweeps the land. While their search takes them deep into the heart of the darkness that is enveloping the land, the answers they find are truly in need of new questions. As they become aware of the true scale of the tragedy at hand, they see the forces behind them are more powerful than they had ever dreamed, and perhaps more seductive.

In the aftermath of the plague demons' attack on Fallcrest, Roghar's inspiring optimism has played a significant role in the rebuilding of the town. Albanon, meanwhile, has not recovered so well. Tormented by his experiences and his near-transformations first by Vestapalk then by Kri, he has retreated to Moorin's tower, where he immerses himself in books. He is the last member of the Order of Vigilance, touched by both the Voidharrow and Tharizdun--he feels as if he stands on the brink of madness.

The Nentir Vale has been ravaged by the abyssal plague and the plague demons. The area is lawless and suspicions run rampant. Only safe as long as they hide, the heroes scout as close as they dare. But with Vestapalk growing ever-stronger and plague demons on the rise, they know they have to act soon. The world cannot afford to wait any longer.

As they journey toward the greatest concentration of demons they learn they are on the right path and they gain an ally. Kri, believed dead, resurfaces with wisdom garnered from the Chained God. It seems even Tharizdun himself is against Vestapalk.

This short story originally appeared in Lightspeed, October 2016.

Read the full story for free at Lightspeed.

In a world where trans-dimensional portals from RPG universes have intruded upon and devastated the real world, children and teenagers are the defenders against the monsters and further encroachment. But the dangers in dungeonspace are real: Rash, who was an expert monster slayer, never came back from his last mission a year ago – one of many who have died trying to close down the portals. His younger brother, Flip, has secretly become a crawler in defiance of his mother’s grief – and with his inexperienced team, Flip has been taking on progressively more dangerous portals in the hope of finding and rescuing his brother. What’s more, a mysterious voice has been talking only to him inside of dungeonspace, its motives unknown.

This novella originally appeared in Lightspeed, October 2017.

Read the full story for free at Lightspeed: part 1 - part 2.

The last thing she remembers is seeing her friends die... Now it's her turn.

Eldritch and forgotten arcana wait within its vaults. Twisted accidents of magic prowl its halls. Sinister forces lure the unsuspecting deeper into death or madness. Its victims don't remember how they got there. No one remembers how to get out...

Explore some of the most dangerous places in the Forgotten Realms -- The Dungeons!

An orphan mage returns to the only home she's ever known to find if transformed into a dungeon, her former master missing or trapped within. To make matters worse, the thieves that hold the dungeon won't let her leave --not for supplies, not for help. It will take all of her courage, skill, and magic to survive long enough to figure out what happened to her home.

The deeper you go, the more dangerous it gets! Explore the Dungeons!

All Kiril Duskmourn does is run away--from guilt, from her past, and from her responsibilities. But she can't run any longer. She lost everything stopping the Traitor from loosing his unholy revolution, and now the bindings on his cell are weakening. She alone holds the key to his release or further imprisonment. But does she still have the strength of will and arm to make the right choice?

Explore the terrifying depths of the dungeons of Faerun with the merriest band of misfits to ever dig a tunnel!

The Siegebreakers are a tight-knit group of eccentric mercenaries who boast they can safely bring down the walls of any fortress, and will do so for the right amount of coin. But when the walls of their latest job crash down on their heads, trapping them in ruins treacherous with magic, monsters, and ever-rising water, it's all they can do to stay alive. Undaunted, the Siegebreakers are determined to escape and finish the job. If only the camel hadn't eaten their breakfast.