Lessa

Raven Hollow Church Midnight Over a dozen community buildings made up the town of Raven Hollow. The livery stable, with its musty horse and hay scent. The boarding house and it’s five tiny rooms for rent. Doctor Henry’s office and the Fisher’s General Store. The jailhouse, the schoolhouse, and everything in between, all spread beneath the towering maple trees. None stood as tall as the church, as if the structure itself required a closer connection to the heavens. The bell within the tower tolled, a haunting sound that silenced the forest’s natural night sounds. Once, twice, over

Raven Hollow Jail Midnight It was the perfect night. A sheet of stars blanketed the black sky, twinkling prettily, their light rivaling that of the thin, crescent moon. The breeze that meandered through the woods was cool, but not unpleasant as it rustled the trees’ crimson leaves. In the distance, a whip-poor-will trilled its familiar three-note melody. It was the sort of night that featured prominently in poetry and love songs. A night teetering on the edge of eternity, where anything was possible, and everything could change for the better. And none of that mattered within the

Raven Hollow Schoolhouse Sunset The schoolhouse stood silent among the trees, and the lack of sound was strangely unsettling. For so many years, the schoolhouse had been alive with laughter, voices raised in song, and the merry clang of the bell signaling the day's beginning and end. But there was no laughter, and no voices; the final rays of the dying sun shot straight through the gap where the bell once hung. Now the tower stood empty, as empty as the rest of the building's single room. Shattered glass turned the school's windows into the gaping maws of sharp-toothed monsters, and t

Raven Hollow Cemetery Midnight Once, Raven Hollow's cemetery had been beautiful. Perhaps it was strange to call a field of buried bodies beautiful, but no other adjective fit it quite so well. Each headstone gleamed, scrubbed until the carved letters seemed to shimmer as they reflected the sunlight. Wildflowers swayed between the rows, bees and butterflies alike flitting between the brightly colored blooms. Tall, healthy trees cast their shade, their leaves aflame with the colors of an eternal autumn. It was a resting place befitting the lives of lost loved ones, thanks entirely to Da

Welcome back to Raven Hollow. The rumor mill tells of a haunted town, hidden deep in the forest of Floor 28*. Originally, it was shared as a sort of joke, discussed while planning pranks and secret get-aways. But the tale darkened with stories of players venturing to the town, and never returning. With Halloween approaching, there will no doubt be a steady stream of players going to celebrate the season in this festive location. Some go out of curiosity, true believers in the strange phenomenon that are said to have happened there. Others, who are more skeptical, plan to debunk these rumo

Approved.

Approved.

Approved.

Helpless, Lessa watched the vines snag Jomei, then drag him up beside her. His body bumped against hers like some horrifying human windchime, but instead of the sweet twinkle of wind through steel, the only sound she made was a guttural "oof." He hung quite a bit lower than she did, and realizing where her face ended up, she did her best to twist away from him. All her attempt earned her was a slow, lazy spin on the end of her green rope. "Listen," she began as she came around to face him, moving at a glacial pace, "I don't mean to be offensive or anything. But we look really, really stupid ri

She was ready for this to be over. Casting another stern glance at both Jomei and Riker, Lessa hefted her enormous sword, then arched it through the air, sprinkling the gathered party in tiny gems of light. They lit the dark night, shimmering among the raindrops, as they splashed across the players. Yet another damage buff. The harder they hit, the sooner this would be over. And that was all that mattered to her. A cold breeze whipped across the beach, chilling the soaked Lessa through. If the sand weren't already sopping, the wind likely would have kicked the sand up into their eyes

His words soothed like aloe on a bad sunburn, and she felt her shoulders relax. It wasn't as if she lived in constant fear that Jomei might leave her - what a sorry existence that would be - but the reassurance that he was stuck on her was always nice to hear. "No returns," she echoed, nodding her agreement. "I'm good with that. More than good, actually." At Jomei's mention of Oscar, Lessa's shoulders rose and fell in a quick shrug. "I gotta believe I'd have gotten there eventually. He just called me on my bullshit, and made me realize that I didn't really have anything to lose. The worst

She was moving before Belregor's attack finished. Heat, light, and energy washed over her, and though they were only a fraction of what Jomei and Riker experienced, every muscle in her body screamed. Her hair blasted back from her face, now flushed with pain and panic, but her steps didn't slow. By the time the effect faded, allowing darkness to spill back across the beach once more, she was running. Jomei squared off against the boss, his shredded clothes hanging limply from his muscular body. Later, she'd look back on that moment, and decide that he looked just like Hercules after the H

"No way," Lessa cut in, shaking her head. "I'm glad you didn't make your move sooner. I think it all worked out perfectly, exactly the way it was supposed to." She gave his hand a tight squeeze. "Not that I would have minded more time with you, like this, but I love how it happened. I wouldn't change a thing." At Jomei's confused expression, Lessa loosed a quick laugh. "Glue, yeah," she echoed, giving Oscar few seconds to walk away before giving Jomei her full attention. "Before our Clash of Blades fight, I had a long talk with Oscar about... well, about you. And us. And just kind of wher

"Lighthouses are endlessly suggestive signifiers of both human isolation and our ultimate connectedness to each other." — Virginia Woolf Thunder boomed. It coincided with the opening of the lighthouse's front door, giving the entrance a little extra pizazz. Not that it needed any extra theatrics, as the wind ripped the wooden door from Lessa's hands, and slammed it into the adjacent wall. "Holy shit," the woman muttered, shoving her body behind the heavy door, and bracing her foot against the wall. Once her companion had followed her inside, she pushed off, snarling against the wind,

His voice came from behind her, and her food-induced excitement was fully eclipsed by her joy at his presence. The contented smile she wore split to bursting, and she tilted her head back to grin up at him. "Merciful and generous!" Parroting his earlier words back at him, she let her eyes drift closed as he pressed a kiss to her forehead. Seriously, was there anything better than forehead smooches? Eyes still closed, she turned in her chair to face him. "So you're just-" Her eyes opened, and when they focused on Jomei's shirtless torso, they nearly fell out of her head. Her brain short-ci