The CHALLENGE chugs on!

[Glass Mouse]

Status for the week October 6-12!


Glass Mouse passes with a comic, and 3498 words of rpging.

Lycunadari passes with seven flower/plant photos.

TheWombatOfDoom will be back on October 19 with 6 weeks worth of stuff.

Neoriceisgood has technical difficulties; will upload later.

'Neath the Moon passes with a Dracula, petroglyphs, a necromancer, two pencil drawings and a charcoal intruder.

Allan Dotson passes with a comic page, a centaur barbarian, a beetle steam-bot, a rat swarm, Eddy from Critters, a babau demon, a barghest, and Redcloak.


Thus, no one FAILS this round!

Glass Mouse, Lycunadari, ‘Neath the Moon and Allan Dotson PASS this round!


Current standing:

Spoiler

Show

Glass Mouse
Current run: 207 weeks
Longest run: -
Themes: -

Lycunadari
Current run: 93 weeks
Longest run: -
Themes: -

TheWombatOfDoom
Current run: 56 weeks (pending: 4)
Longest run: 3 weeks
Themes: -

Neoriceisgood
Current run: 54 weeks (pending: 1)
Longest run: 32 weeks
Themes: -

'Neath the Moon
Current run: 4 weeks
Longest run: 25 weeks
Themes: -

Allan Dotson
Current run: 6 weeks
Longest run: -
Themes: -

This week's theme, chosen by me, is Unlocking.

Next week's theme is chosen by Lycunadari - let me know in PM or this thread, and I'll include it in the next status.

['Neath the Moon]

This week I've got more sketches than usual. I had another charcoal still life, but it's being graded at present.

Two Color Sketches for joke characters:
Little Red Robin Hood
Little Seán

A Pencil Drawing:
Some sort of pointy-eared semi-human

A rough Conte Crayon Drawing:
Character portrait

Two Charcoal Still Lifes:
Reflective Stuff
Baking Stuff

[Allan Dotson]

This week on a monster a day: Gronk from Critters, a couple jungle kids, a kraken, Alien biotypes, chalkboard humanoid monsters, a treehouse animation, and Xykon.

And a new page of my Critters webcomic.

[Glass Mouse]

Sorry, guys, I went down with a migraine attack yesterday, which means no computer time at all. So, a little delayed: Status for the week October 13-19!


Glass Mouse passes with a comic, and 3843 words of rpging.

Lycunadari will send hir works to me as soon as possible.

TheWombatOfDoom will be back on October 26 with 6 weeks worth of stuff.

Neoriceisgood passes two weeks with six comic pages and too many sprites to bother counting.

'Neath the Moon passes with three character drawings, a portrait and two charcoals.

Allan Dotson passes with a comic page, Gronk from Critters, a couple jungle kids, a kraken, some Alien biotypes, chalkboard humanoid monsters, a treehouse animation, and Xykon.


Thus, no one FAILS this round!

Glass Mouse, Neoriceisgood, ‘Neath the Moon and Allan Dotson PASS this round!


Current standing:

Spoiler

Show

Glass Mouse
Current run: 208 weeks
Longest run: -
Themes: -

Lycunadari
Current run: 93 weeks (pending: 1)
Longest run: -
Themes: -

TheWombatOfDoom
Current run: 56 weeks (pending: 5)
Longest run: 3 weeks
Themes: -

Neoriceisgood
Current run: 56 weeks
Longest run: 32 weeks
Themes: -

'Neath the Moon
Current run: 5 weeks
Longest run: 25 weeks
Themes: -

Allan Dotson
Current run: 7 weeks
Longest run: -
Themes: -

This week's theme hasn’t been chosen yet, so it’s up for grabs.

Next week's theme is chosen by TheWombatOfDoom - let me know in PM or this thread, and I'll include it in the next status.

[TheWombatOfDoom]

Next weeks theme will be Autumn! Because tis the season in the northern hemisphere!

Getting stuff together for my return next week! Trying to get pictures of all the stuff I made.

[Neoriceisgood]

Neoriceisgood passes two weeks with six comic pages and too many sprites to bother counting.

First time I managed that description.

['Neath the Moon]

This week I actually have a full six without having to scramble for it at the last moment.

Charcoal on toned paper:
Still Life with Glass Objects

Charcoal on White Paper:
A still life, including a creepy bust and several decorative pumpkins/gourd-things (my theme piece)
A self-portrait
A Stereotyped steampunk scene
A character portrait

Digital:
Same character portrait, digitally colored

[Allan Dotson]

This week on a monster a day: a winter wolf, koaleopard, mutant sketches, The Mavens (superheroine team), dead things on the chalkboard, a marilith, and Tsukiko.

And over at Critters, a new chapter begins!

[Neoriceisgood]

I think I'm gonna take a break from the challenge.

I've been quite occupied with things lately and in recent weeks I've realised I'm having a hard time keeping track
of what art I've done over the week.

I'll probably jump back in when everything's a bit easier to oversee, but struggling to remember what I've done &
trying to put stuff together is taking my enjoyment out of it recently.

(I bet I still would've qualified if I dug up all my art from this week, but laaazy & confused )

[Glass Mouse]

Status for the week October 20-26!


Glass Mouse passes with a comic, and 711 words of urban fantasy story.

Lycunadari passes with three flower photos and a piece of Rain fanart.

TheWombatOfDoom passes the past 7 weeks with so, so, so much wedding stuff and also 83k of OoTS transciptions.

Neoriceisgood is out due to… laziness and confusion? ;)

'Neath the Moon passes with five charcoals, three of which are portraits (one of which is coloured).

Allan Dotson passes with a new comic page, a winter wolf, a koaleopard, some mutant sketches, The Mavens (superheroine team), dead things on the chalkboard, a marilith, and Tsukiko.


Thus, no one FAILS this round!

Glass Mouse, Neoriceisgood, ‘Neath the Moon and Allan Dotson PASS this round!


Current standing:

Spoiler

Show

Glass Mouse
Current run: 209 weeks
Longest run: -
Themes: -

Lycunadari
Current run: 95 weeks
Longest run: -
Themes: -

TheWombatOfDoom
Current run: 63 weeks
Longest run: 3 weeks
Themes: -

Neoriceisgood
Current run: -
Longest run: 56 weeks
Themes: -

'Neath the Moon
Current run: 6 weeks
Longest run: 25 weeks
Themes: -

Allan Dotson
Current run: 8 weeks
Longest run: -
Themes: -

This week's theme, chosen by everyone’s favorite wombat, is Autumn.

Next week's theme is chosen by 'Neath the Moon - let me know in PM or this thread, and I'll include it in the next status.

This week I actually have a full six without having to scramble for it at the last moment.

‘tis indeed an amazing feeling

I think I'm gonna take a break from the challenge.

I've been quite occupied with things lately and in recent weeks I've realised I'm having a hard time keeping track of what art I've done over the week.

I'll probably jump back in when everything's a bit easier to oversee, but struggling to remember what I've done & trying to put stuff together is taking my enjoyment out of it recently.

(I bet I still would've qualified if I dug up all my art from this week, but laaazy & confused )

While sad that you’re leaving us (again), I gotta say I understand. And a 56 week streak is definitely nothing to scoff at!

I still owe you some prizes, I think. I owe quite a few people prizes. I’m gonna round everything up and get back to the relevant people about that.

[Neoriceisgood]

While sad that you’re leaving us (again), I gotta say I understand. And a 56 week streak is definitely nothing to scoff at!

I still owe you some prizes, I think. I owe quite a few people prizes. I’m gonna round everything up and get back to the relevant people about that.

As is probably obvious, I generally have no difficulty reaching the 6 pieces a week limit; but handing it in should feel like a little celebration looking back on the week rather than a chore.

I actually remember now what I've drawn this week (it was a whole bunch of character sketches in sai, lol); but usually when I have so much on my head that I can't remember it, I need a break.


I'll probably be back when I have fewer things on my head.

['Neath the Moon]

Theme for next week: Bones and stones.

['Neath the Moon]

These are a few hours late. I still had them all done a couple days ago, I just forgot to post here last night. I might be switching my submissions to writing this month in part, what with NaNoWriMo.

Charcoal:
Drapery
Self Portrait with Ponytail
Self Portrait with Loose Hair

Pen with Digital Coloring:
Elvish Battle-Dance
Madman/Wizard

Origami:
Red Dragon

[Allan Dotson]

This week on a monster a day: a cat in a tree, Sally from Critters, Ilona of the Jenci, ink wash ghosts, drow fighter (pencils and inks), and General Tarquin.

And a new page of Critters.

[Glass Mouse]

Status for the week October 27 - November 2!


Glass Mouse passes with a comic and two statue life drawings.

Lycunadari passes with three flower photos and two Circle of Magic fanarts.

TheWombatOfDoom passes with 1922 words of OotS transcriptions

'Neath the Moon passes with a charcoal, two self-portraits, an elf, a wizard, and a red origami dragon.

Allan Dotson passes with a new comic page, a cat in a tree, Sally from Critters, Ilona of the Jenci, ink wash ghosts, drow fighter (pencils and inks), and General Tarquin.


Thus, no one FAILS this round!

Glass Mouse, Lycunadari, TheWombatOfDoom, ‘Neath the Moon and Allan Dotson PASS this round!


Current standing:

Spoiler

Show

Glass Mouse
Current run: 210 weeks
Longest run: -
Themes: -

Lycunadari
Current run: 96 weeks
Longest run: -
Themes: -

TheWombatOfDoom
Current run: 64 weeks
Longest run: 3 weeks
Themes: -

'Neath the Moon
Current run: 7 weeks
Longest run: 25 weeks
Themes: -

Allan Dotson
Current run: 9 weeks
Longest run: -
Themes: -

This week's theme (November 3 - 9), chosen by ‘Neath the Moon, is Bones and stones.

Next week's theme (November 10 - 16) is chosen by Allan Dotson - let me know in PM or this thread, and I'll include it in the next status.






I think there’s been some confusion about when different themes apply. The ones I announce in the status post are the ones that apply to the [i]current[/] week, not the one that has just passed.
So last week (the one we just wrapped up) was Autumn. This week (starting today) is Bones and Stones. Next week is Allan Dotson’s choice.

From now on, I’ll include the dates in the status post, just to make things 100% clear

[Allan Dotson]

Let's make the theme ... The Future.

[Duck999]

I will join the challenge.
I will probably be doing only writing. Also, I'm kind of doing NaNoWriMo right now, So I should be writing many more than 1500 words each week. According to the rules, I begin next week, correct?

[LuckyStrike]

I'd like to get the juices flowing again, after a long time of inactivity. Sign me up! Mostly drawings at first I think.

Uploading might be a problem, I have only my iPhone at the moment. Anyone have ideas on how to get it airborn for your viewing?
-Never mind. There was a handy FAQ in the OP.

[Glass Mouse]

I will join the challenge.
I will probably be doing only writing. Also, I'm kind of doing NaNoWriMo right now, So I should be writing many more than 1500 words each week. According to the rules, I begin next week, correct?

Woo, welcome! NaNoWriMo is a great starting boost, and we definitely don't mind people going above and beyond.

You can start this week, if you'd like. I'll add you to the list and start counting as soon as you pass your first week.

I'd like to get the juices flowing again, after a long time of inactivity. Sign me up! Mostly drawings at first I think.

Uploading might be a problem, I have only my iPhone at the moment. Anyone have ideas on how to get it airborn for your viewing?
-Never mind. There was a handy FAQ in the OP.

Oh hey, the FAQ came in handy!

Also welcome to you! We've got quite a lot of artists right now, so you'll fit right in!

[Duck999]

Well, since I'm doing NaNoWriMo, should I just send you what I write each week, the entire story so far (which could get large), or can I just share the google document with you?
Edit: Or I could share my NaNoWriMo account page which gets an updated word count daily.

['Neath the Moon]

Sorry, the theme mixup was probably just me... Here's my submission for the week, a little late:

NaNoWriMo, for whatever it's worth:
Prologue
Chapter 1*

Charcoal:
Self portrait on green paper
skulls on black paper*
Digital:
Color chart for Gaelic

Misc.:
Started rebinding of Lord of the Rings

* Denotes a theme piece.

[Neoriceisgood]

I did 19 comic pages over the last couple of days, clearly the contest was holding me back.


(just kidding, but man am I glad I got a couple of days off from schoolwork. Last period was way too intense.)

[Duck999]

I'll just put this here... Spoilered for Too many words. Also, cut off for too many characters. It does not fit in one post. I need to fix that. It is also too long for DeviantArt. Some formatting got messed up in the transition. I will try to fix this next time.

Spoiler

Show

Darkness.
Only darkness.
Simple, sweet darkness.
But not for long. Darkness never lasts long. I know that. Tonight, though, the darkness did not last as long as normal. There was a flash of light past my window. I shot out of bed, landing on my feet, running to the window. I looked outside and saw light. Fire. There was a fire. I ran out of my room, getting to my parents room as fast as I could. My parents were not there. Good, I thought, they probably escaped. I ran to my grandfathers room. He was lying in bed. I shook him, and he groggily woke.
“Grandpa! We need to go! The town is on fire!”
His response was quiet, “I am too old for this, I can not escape in time. Take this ring, and go without me.” He slipped off his ring, and held it out to me. He had worn the ring for as long as I could remember. It was silver, and on the top, there was a design in the shape of a falcon. He had always told me about the magic of the ring, and the seven others like it. Not that I believed any of it. I took the ring, and with a parting word to my grandfather, left the room. As I ran out of the house, tears were streaming down my face. I wanted to take my family with me, but I knew my grandfather would not budge. At least my parents were out.
I looked around. No parents, no one in sight at all. This was bad. Bad, bad, bad. I ran around my house, still no one. I start to leave the town, hoping they had the sense to leave the flame behind. As I sprinted away, I saw two figures on the ground. What are they doing, resting? I thought. As I got to them, I saw who it was. My parents. Not resting. Dead. And not from fire. That was obvious from the markings on their body. Someone’s technology had killed them. The kind of technology that only exists in the capital. Their arms both were covered in red rings, and there were pinpricks covering their backs.
I knew I didn’t have much time. The fire was spreading, and whoever killed my parents was probably looking for other survivors. I heard a scream from the town. One of those two was right. But then I remembered something. Someone. Cecilia. Cecilia was the little girls that lived next to us. She was only two. I could not bare to leave her behind. I wiped a tear from my eye, and turned back to the town. I ran, as quick as I could, back to my home. As I ran by my house, I heard screams, probably from my grandfather. But the house was not on fire, so it was probably, no it had to be, the men who killed my parents. I knew I was defenseless against them, so I strengthened my resolve and ran past. At my neighbors house, the door was open. Two bodies lay directly inside. Cecilia’s parents, killed in the same way as my parents.. I searched the entire house for Cecilia, but could not find her. As I was giving up to leave, I heard a crying noise from the door. I walked towards it, but saw no one. I then realized it was coming from the parents.
But they were dead, I had checked! They couldn’t be crying. I listened, but it was definitely coming from one of them. I lifted their bodies, and found Cecilia nestled in their arms, safely protected. Her blue eyes gleamed at me, begging me to comfort her, her mop of blonde hair messed up from what must have been an ambush. I breathed a sigh of relief, took Cecilia, and ran. I ran out of the city, across the plains, and into the forest. I ran in the direction that I was told the nearest city was. I ran until I collapsed, little Cecilia still in my arms. We slept there that night. In the middle of the woods, shelterless and foodless.
I awoke, the sun already high in the sky. Cecilia sleeping soundly beside me. I gathered some leaves, and made a soft area for Cecilia to sleep. I gently lifted her, and placed her against a tree, on a pile of soft leaves. I went to gather food nearby, never going too far away from Cecilia. I came back with berries. Plenty of berries, but only berries. Cecilia awoke not long after. Immediately, she started crying. I picked her up and rocked her, then fed her some berries. As she ate the first one, a large grin spread across her face. She grabbed a few more berries before I stopped her.
“We have to save some for later, alright?” Cecilia nodded, and her grin faded a little. “Okay, one more, but that is it.” Her grin came back as I gave her another berry. I would not do anything to make her mad at me. She was like a little sister to me. As I started to head on again, I realized I had not made any markings, so I had no idea which way to go. I chose a direction, and started walking. Using my pocket knife, that never left my side, I marked the trees that we passed. Eventually, we made it to a small clearing with a large rock in the center, and we stopped for lunch. As we ate out berries, I wondered how we would know if we were going the correct direction. If only we had something to help us, I thought. That is when it happened. That is when my ring activated for the first time.
The falcon on the ring started to glow, and I threw the ring off. Suddenly, the ring disappeared, and was replaced by an actual falcon. “Birdy!” Cecilia exclaimed. I was too shocked to respond. The falcon flew up, and perched on my shoulder as I stood completely still. Too stunned to move. Then foreign thoughts entered my brain. I was not thinking things, but thoughts went through my mind. I shall scout for you, master. I was stunned and near fainting as the bird took off. As I sat in stunned silence, and as Cecilia stared at where the bird had gone out of sight, the bird returned.
The falcon flew down, and landed on my shoulder. The nearest city is east. I was relieved. We were not going the right way at first, but at least we were not going backwards. The falcon then dropped to a perch on my hand, and morphed back into a ring. As it glowed and shrunk, Cecilia started to cry. The crying snapped me out of being stunned. I ran over to comfort Cecilia, lifting her and rocking her in my arms.
“It’s okay,” I murmured, “Everything is okay. Nothing to be worried about.” I despised myself for lying through my teeth like that, but I knew it was to keep Cecilia happy. Then it was time to go. But I could not. All of the events of the last 24 hours were catching up to me. The fire, the killers, the deaths, the falcon. All of it hit my brain at full force, driving me to the ground. Well, I was not doing any more traveling, so it is break time. I laid Cecilia down on a pile of leaves, and decided to stock up on more berries.
When I returned, Cecilia was sound asleep. I lay some berries out for when she woke up, and decided to take a nap right beside her. When I woke up it was dark. Because we were in a clearing, I could see that Cecilia had awoken and eaten all her berries. I got up, despite it being night. Both Cecilia and I had gotten enough sleep for the day, and were ready to head off. That means we will be doing most of our traveling by night, it seems. I lifted Cecilia, and started heading off to the east, still marking trees and plants as we passed. Traveling by night was much slower and more difficult than traveling by day. You constantly have to watch out for obstacles upon the ground that you could trip on, or obstacles hanging from above that you could walk into. Especially while carrying a two year old. If any branch hit her, or if I stumbled, she would start crying, and it would take a while to quiet her down again.
By the time day came around, I was exhausted. Carrying a two year old and nonstop walking really tires one out. I settled down in nice cove among a tree’s branches and leaves, and fed Cecilia some berries. After both she and I ate, I made her a leaf bed, again, made sure she would stay, and fell sound asleep.I woke up to the sound of Cecilia’s pleading cries at what must have been near noon. I was still groggy, but Cecilia needed feeding. After feeding her some berries, I decided to go back to sleep, despite my obvious need to readjust to night time sleeping. Cecilia nestled up beside me, and I fell back asleep.
When I woke again, the sun was low. I got up. Cecilia was not next to me. I panicked. I came fully to my senses, and my eyes darted around my surroundings. I saw no one. I ran around the trees, looking for Cecilia. Still nothing. I heard a cry not far off. I sprinted towards it, hoping Cecilia was okay. As I came closer, I heard water. I saw a stream, water flowing, but no rapids. I frantically searched for Cecilia, but could not find her. I heard cries again. This time, I was closer, so I could hear which way they came from. I looked, and Cecilian was clinging on to a branch overhanging the water, her feet being washed all around in the water. She was slowly losing her gripped as I ran for her. As I reached the tree branch she was hanging on, she slipped.
I launched myself over the stream, catching onto the tree branch Cecilia had been hanging on. As I reached for Cecilia, the branch bent down. Cecilia caught onto a rock, and was not moving, but she was clearly not going to be able to hold on for long. I moved down the tree branch, hoping to be able to reach out a tiny bit farther. As I moved, the tree branch swung lower and lower. Then I got close enough. I reached out, and so did Cecilia. I grabbed her hand, and as I lifted her up, The tree branch broke, launching both of us back into the stream.

At first it was not going to be all that bad. The water looked shallow enough, and the rate at which the stream was flowing was awfully slow. But I was wrong. The stream was much deeper than I anticipated, and, with what little we learned about swimming at our village, I could barely keep my head above water, let alone Cecilia’s. I slipped, reaching for the rock that Cecilia had held. My fingers brushed it, but found no solid hold. I yelled as we started downstream, holding Cecilia on my chest, as we hopelessly floated. There were rapids ahead. White water. And rocks. Lots and lots of rocks. There was no escape from the bone crushing rapids and rocks.
As we neared them, I wrapped myself around Cecilia, hoping to at least protect her. As I braced for impact, I felt myself being lifted. Then I felt a thud as we were dropped neatly on the ground on the opposite side of the stream. After the initial shock and panic wore off, I got up, looking around for someone who must have been our savior. I saw a shadow move among the trees, and then it was gone. A person who sticks to the shadows, strange, I thought. I had heard stories about people called ninjas, but they do not exist anymore, now that humanity is so perfect. That was when I realized I was wrong. Humanity was not perfect. People from the capital had come set fire to my town and killed all the inhabitants. Except Cecilia and I.
I was snapped out of my thinking by Cecilia’s crying. I reached for my berries, but they had all been washed out in the stream. I picked Cecilia up and gently rocked her to comfort her. As the crying stopped, I looked around for a possible food source. The most obvious was upstream away from the rapids where we might be able to catch fish, but that would be dangerous. Then I remembered my falcon. I focused hard on my ring. Nothing happened. I thought about falcons. Still nothing. I thought about how great it would be if we had a falcon to help us catch fish. That was it. The ring started glowing again, and soon, it was not a ring, but a falcon perched on my hand.
Cecilia grinned. “Birdy!” She reached towards the bird, right as it took off from my hand and perched back on my shoulder.
I will catch you fish. That was unnerving. I do not think I will ever get over having something else’s thoughts in my head. The falcon took off and flew up stream. Before long, it returned with a fish in each claw. It dropped them on the ground, then flew off.
“We do not need more fish!” I called out, but got no response. Soon, the falcon returned, carrying twigs in it’s claws. “Oh,” I said as I realized what it was doing, “Thank you.” It dropped the sticks in a pile, and perched back on my hand. Soon, there was no falcon, and it was a ring once more. I gathered some stones from the streambed and placed them in a circle around the sticks. How do I start this fire? I remembered my survival classes I had taken for fun a few years ago. I remembered how they had told us to make fire. I After what must have been at least an hour, I got a fire going.
I made a small spit and cooked both the fish. I was starving, and I supposed Cecilia must be too, after eating only berries for so long. As the fish cooked, I lay back and relaxed. The events that had happened recently were unbelievable. A burnt down town, capital enemies, a magical ring that turned into a falcon, and a hidden savior who save both our lives. The smell of cooked fish brought me back to reality. I sat up, and took the fish off of the fire. I took one, and broke it into small, meaty pieces for Cecilia. She ate them rapidly, nearly choking on some pieces. She then fell over and went to sleep. I chuckled to myself, then ate my own fish, slowly, savoring every bite. When I was done, I snuggled up next to Cecilia, and went to bed.
I woke up with a gasp. I launched to my feet, finding myself soaking wet from head to toe. I looked around, Cecilia was also soaking wet, but somehow still asleep.The ground around us was soaked, all the way up to the fire pit I had made. Around the fire pit the ground was scorched, along with the nearby trees. I mentally slapped myself. Did I really forget to put the fire out before going to bed? If the water had not splashed up onto us, it looks like it would have caused the forest to burn down. I looked over at the stream. But the stream was too far away to splash us. The natural rapids could not have hit us over here. I remembered our mysterious savior. It must have been him, or her.
“Thank you.” I hoped I was speaking to someone. I did not want to look like a fool thanking myself, even with no one around to hear.I tried to go back to sleep beside Cecilia, but I could not. The fact that we both would have been caught in a forest fire if not for an anonymous savior was too much to handle. I just lay on the ground beside Cecilia, thinking of what we would do tomorrow. Eventually, I must have drifted off to sleep, because I woke up the next morning to the sound of voices.
Thankfully, Cecilia was still asleep, or she might have made some noise to alert the people to our presence. I gently lifted her, and, watching where I stepped, walked slowly into a more dense section of trees. As the people got closer, their voices got louder, and I could make out some of what they were saying.
“Are you sure this is where you saw the smoke?” I could not make out the reply, but it must have been yes, because the next thing I heard was from the same voice as the question. “Okay. Well, so far, we’ve found nothing. I may give up soon. You can keep looking alone if you desire.”
“I found something!” This voice was much closer than the others. I heard heavy footsteps, as they probably ran to catch up. “A fire pit, and scorched earth... and fresh footsteps leading into these trees!”
Oh no! They will find us! was my immediate response. As the footsteps got louder, I wondered how I could escape. If I was just a regular boy, why would I have run. For that matter, why did I run? I was looking for help, was I not? I thought about climbing a tree, but that would make noise, and I would not be able to run away. What about my mysterious savior? Where did he go? He would be really useful in this situation. No, he has his own needs. I can’t expect him to get me out of everything, I thought.
But apparently, I could. As the men got close enough for me to see, a darkly clothed figure swooped out of the trees, kicking one of the men in the head. The other two, I could now see there were three total, drew their weapons. I nearly gave myself away from my gasp of shock. More capital technology. What were these men doing in the middle of the woods, looking for someone, while using capital technology? The ninja, since I thought that was all he could be, disappeared back into the trees. The men’s weapons glowed red, as green bolts launched into where the man had disappeared.
That did not help them at all. The man dropped from above their heads, landing on one’s shoulders. As the man fell to the ground, the other spun and shot. As the bolt was about to hit the man in black, his hand glowed, and the all three attackers, along with the midair shot, were crushed under a hulking mass. A spellcaster? I found myself questioning, before thinking those don’t exist. I looked at what must have fallen from a tree, only to see that it was a whale. The man had summoned a whale, and used it to crush his attackers. What kind of guy was he?
I darted out of the trees to thank the man, in the hopes that I would find out who he was. But when he saw me, the whale disappeared, and his hand glowed. He ran away without a word. I looked down at Cecilia to find that she was crying. All of the loud sounds of the battle must have frightened her. I gently rocked her, and looked around for anything edible. I found a berry bush, and fed Cecilia a few berries. That seemed to quiet her down, but I kept rocking her. As I stood there, rocking Cecilia, I realized something. The man, his hand, the whale: it must be another ring! I nearly dropped Cecilia in surprise. Eight rings. One falcon, one whale, six more. If these fell into the same hands as those that burned down my town, there will be much more damage done than one town.
I need to get them all. I nearly laughed at the thought. It had just suddenly come to me, out of no where. I had no basis of how I could get the rings, and if any of the owners had skills as good as the ninja’s, I did not have any plan for how I would achieve this goal. Then I almost burst into laughter. I had had an insane thought, and I worked on it, and thought about it in an almost normal fashion. I was clearly going crazy, but life alone with a two year old and some stranger just seems to do that to you, does it not? I almost went off in a random direction, but then I remembered my falcon. Then I realized that was a waste of time, I could just retrace the footsteps of the men that had hunted me down.
I set off, Cecilia in my arms, back to my make-do campsite. As I walked, I looked at where the whale had been, and saw the remains of the three men. I nearly dropped Cecilia again, this time out of disgust. The crushed remains lay strewn about the ground. I keeled over, laying Cecilia on the ground. What I had of my last few meals left my body as I retched on the ground. When I was done, I lifted Cecilia and ran to our campsite, then to the stream, and washed my mouth out. As I backed from the stream, I saw three sets of footprints by our campsite that were not mine. Upon closer inspection, there was a fourth set of footprints, very light, but visible nonetheless. Those must be our savior’s.
I followed the footsteps back into the woods, and kept following them until they started to fade. By the time I got to a point where I could not see the footprints, I decided it was time for sleep. I once again made Cecilia a bed of leaves and fed her berries. She fell asleep quickly, obviously tired from the day’s events. I ate some berries, and lay awake thinking, before eventually drifting off to sleep.
And I was again awakened by voices. I was really hoping that would not happen again. Dang it. I leapt to my feet, scooping up Cecilia. I retreated slowly, carefully, making sure not to step hard enough to make footprints, which is awfully hard to do when carrying someone. I backed into the trees, hiding behind a particularly thick one. It had a small hole to look through, which was perfect. Too perfect. Upon close inspection, it was clearly cut by human tools. I could not focus on it for long, though, because the voices had made it to our bed.
“The ground here is crushed. Someone was here.” A voice stated.
“So we are on the right track?” A second voice asked.
“Definitely.” Responded a third voice. “That ring and it’s holder can not hide for much longer.” That made me shiver. So they were after the ring. The horrible things these men could do if they got the ring… I shivered again. The men stepped into view. They were all fairly large, and each had a weapon. One had a sword like weapon attached to his belt. Another had a large mechanism on his back that looked too similar to pictures of guns I had seen for comfort. And the third was carrying… something. It looked like a mix between a scythe and a gun. Hopefully that is not what it is.
“We have to be on the look out. Something happened to our other men, and we can’t let it happen to us,” The scythe man stated, “Choose an area and search it.” They each went to a different nearby area, looking for any track of anyone. Of me. There was a muffled gasp from one of them. I looked over just in time to see the gun man disappear into a tree. Up into a tree. That was not normal. The sword man spun around.
“Jim?” A shadow crept up behind him. Something glinted in the shadow, and the man spun. His sword came out of his belt in a flash, deflecting the knife that would have entered his heart through the back. “Rufus! Help!”
The scythe man, Rufus, spun, and pulled his scythe off his back. The sword man’s sword pulsed red as he swung it at the shadow. But it was not a shadow anymore. The man had taken form, a blade in hand. The blade came up to deflect the technology that was the red sword, but red pulsed strongly, and cut the defending sword it half. The ninja, as I could see now, slid around the sword man, and brought a knife to the back of his neck. he fell on the ground, clearly dead.
The Rufus was upon the ninja now, his scyther pulsing a dark blue. The ninja threw his dagger with more force than should be possible, and the scythe got knocked back. As the man staggered backwards, the ninja’s hand started to glow. His whale! I almost forgot. As a whale began to take form above the man’s head, he spun his scythe around, top facing the ninja, and shot. With no time after the shot, an energy burst collided with the ninja’s chest. He was knocked over, blue circles pulsating around his clothing, contrasting the redness of the blood seeping from his chest. The whale disappeared, and a ring dropped to the ground. As the man leaned over to pick it up, I yelled. For no reason at all, I yelled. Cecilia started crying, and the man turned his head to where I was hiding. My ring transformed into a falcon, who dove toward the man.
“The ring!” My voice came out louder than I expected, but it worked. The falcon redirected itself towards the ring. As it flew by, it grabbed the ring and flew it back to me. I put my hand out, and it placed the ring on my finger, once again becoming a ring on another finger. Whale. And there was a whale. The whale appeared above the enemy’s head, falling from the sky. It seemed to be in mid-thought when it appeared, seeming to finish a thought from when it disappeared last time. -ster why? Then a new thought came. Are you my master? the whale fell, crushing the man, his scythe and friends with him. Well, there goes my chance of getting capital technology, but at least I have a whale. I walked over.
“Yes. I am your master. Call me Will.” I reached out to touch the whale as it transformed into a ring on my finger. Cecilia started to laugh instead of cry. I felt dizzy, then sank to my knees, still clutching Cecilia. I laid her gently on the ground beside me, then fainted, welcoming the rest with my entire being.
This time, thankfully, I slept without interruption. I woke up in the morning. The sun was just rising, and Cecilia was crawling slowly away. I smiled to myself. It almost seemed normal, until you thought about the situation. I got up, and walked over to Cecilia, redirecting her back to where we slept. As she crawled back, I stretched out. It was such a nice day, or it would be, if we were not in a life threatening situation.
I decided I would talk with my rings a little bit, see what they could do. Well, not the falcon, the whale. I felt like I already knew enough about the falcon. Then I rethought that. Probably not the best idea to summon a whale with no large body of water around. Falcon, then. I summoned the falcon.
“Should I call you something other than falcon?”
Falcon is fine, master.
“Call me Will.”
Yes, Mas-Will.
“Anything I should know about you?”
No. Well, he is straight to the point, okay. I unsummoned him. That was a great conversation. I joined Cecilia, who had lain back down on her bed.
“Breakfast time!” Cecilia smiled, and so did I. The sight of her being happy, having no clue how bad our situation was, made me happy. I fed her some berries, which she stuffed into her mouth. “Time to go.” i picked Cecilia up, and carried her with me in whatever direction I chose. I no longer cared if we went to a city. If we got to a city, I at least hoped they would be kind to us, unlike those men hunting us. If we just wandered, I was fine, as long as we kept finding food to eat, and no more people tried to kill us. After all, our savior was no longer alive.
I held back tears. I did not want to make Cecilia sad or angry. I tried to keep the situation bright. I walked on through the woods, occasionally stopping to stock up on berries, since Cecilia kept managing to find a way to steal them. Carefree, Cecilia and I, walking through the woods just like any day, except one thing was different. We were vagabonds, with no family or friends except each other. And to go with that, many people had already tried to hunt us down and kill us. And all of them almost succeeded. And we no longer had anyone to help us. I stopped that train of thought. Look on the bright side, I reminded myself. We were happy, Cecilia was happy, and we were going to be okay.
Then I heard voices.
God damn it.

I wanted to run, but I wanted to hear what they were saying even more. After all, if they were not hunting me, they could be useful. I climbed a tree and hid, deciding I could use my whale if I needed to. As the voices neared, I could start to make them out.
“Are we sure we want to do this. We have sent six men who have not returned.” Damn it. They were looking for me, it seemed. I almost jumped out of the tree before the two men came into sight. I caught myself, Cecilia in one arm. If I jumped down now, they would see me.
“We can do this, I have a ring, everything is fine. This guy sounds inexperienced. Our reports say it was some kid who ran away from the town. We cannot worry about some kid.” They were right. With no one here to save me, I was likely to lose if they found me.
“Even so, he managed to evade six of our men and their tech.” Yup, I was going to lose.
“Okay, then I will just have to use my ring.” I snapped to attention. Ring? Here? Him? As I said, I will lose. I looked at the man’s hand just to make sure, and he did, indeed have a ring, but I could not make out what animal design was on it.
I decided my only choice was a surprise attack. I held out my whale finger. As my hand glowed, the two mens’ attention snapped to my hiding place. As the whale took place above them, they both jumped away to the side. They whale crashed to the ground, cushing only bushes.
Whale! I might want to do something about this whales manners. It just screams whale at me? Really? Oh yeah, the fight I Unsummon the whale, getting my ring back on my finger. One of the men pulled out a pistol, firing it at the tree I hid in. I lept to the ground, holding Cecilia above my head to protect her. The bolt from the pistol hit the tree which disappeared.
That seems mildly dangerous, I thought, well, not mildly. More like deadly. I ran, sprinting between trees, jumping roots, and ducking branches as the man shot at me. It was challenging to hide, since the trees and hiding spots disappeared as they got shot. Eventually I got deep enough into the woods that the shots could not keep up with me, and the sound of shots stopped. I stopped for a second, feeling lucky. Then the other guy popped up.
Forgot about him. He swung a knife at my head as I ran away, I felt the wind brush my neck, but I did not stop. I kept running, Cecilia cradled against my chest. The other man kept following me. He did not seem to be getting tired, but I was almost fainting. I held out my hand, holding Cecilia in the other.
Falcon! Help! The falcon materialized on my hand, and immediately took off, flying behind me. I heard a yelp of surprise, and the footsteps stopped. I risked a look behind me, and saw the falcon flying around my attackers head. He was waving his knife. It looked like he was waving his knife randomly, but when I looked longer, the knife was swinging at all times at the falcon, and when the falcon moved, the knife did too.
This man was dangerous, and I wanted to get as far away as I could. I ran, holding Cecilia tight, trying not to make too many jolty movements.After running for a while, I realized I left the falcon behind. I started to panic. I needed that falcon! It was useful, it was my grandfathers! Then something dove down from above. The falcon. It dropped onto my hand, immediately morphing back into a ring. That taught me something, it appears that the rings can get tired. No time for distractions, I kept running. I could not let these men catch up to me. I needed to avenge my town. I also could have sworn I was going insane. All of these crazy thoughts kept going through my head. I am no hero. I can not save people, let alone avenge their death. When I felt I had gone a long enough distance, I resummoned the falcon, hoping it would be rested. It looked completely fine, so I asked it to scout out the surrounding area.
After a little while, and after I had fed Cecilia and myself, the falcon returned. It reported that it had found no people in the surrounding area, and there was nothing that looked dangerous. I offered the falcon some berries, but it responded that it did not need to eat. The falcon glowed on my hand, and turned back into ring. Cecilia frowned at where the falcon used to be.
“Birdy?”
“It will be back, do not worry. There is nothing to worry about.” I mentally slapped myself. I knew telling her the situation would change nothing, and she probably would not understand it, but I lied to her anyway. I did not want to lie to Cecilia, but I felt it was the right thing to do. I am just confusing myself. I should stop thinking about morals and think about the task at hand.
We were lost. Somewhere. I could use the falcon to find out where, but I did not really care. We had two men chasing us. One had capital tech, and the other’s knife was probably tech too. Also, the knife guy had a ring. I have no idea what kind, but he had one. These people were definitely threats, and I needed to do something. However, I am, as they said, just a boy with no training, and only two magical rings to save me. This situation was looking very nice, with happiness and rainbows all around. Yay. Bed time.
I figured someone should keep watch, but Cecilia could not really, and I needed sleep. Either way, I would not be able to stay up long. I thought about summoning the falcon, but I was worried about what would happen while I slept. While pondering it, I eventually just fell asleep. I had a dream. It was my first dream since my town burned.
I was back in my town. There was no fire. Everyone was fine. Three strangers came to the town. As I was playing with Cecilia, Cecilia ran to the strangers. I shouted at her, but it was too late. One of the men pulled out a knife and cleanly cut off Cecilia’s head. I saw it fall to the ground in slow motion. I ran to her side, knowing I could do nothing. One man looked at me with a look of disgust. He shot me through the chest with his gun. As I lay on the ground lifeless, I could still see. The third man leaned over and pulled a falcon ring off of my hand. He threw something into the center of the town, and walked away. As the other two turned to walk away, the town exploded into flames, and I could hear the cries of my family and friends screaming through the day.
I woke with a gasp. It was still night time, probably near morning if I had to guess. Cecilia was asleep next to me, but crying as she slept. I picked her up gently, trying not to wake her, and rocked her slowly back and forth. The motion was not only comforting Cecilia, but me as well. I was comforted by the fact the Cecilia was still alive, and so was I. I instinctively checked my hand, and my ring was still there. I lay Cecilia back down after she stopped crying, and I twisted the ring around my finger a few times before falling back asleep. This time I slept with no dreams again.
I woke in the morning refreshed with no voices nearby. Cecilia was still asleep, but woke up as I sat up. I gave Cecilia some berries, but then had to gather more for myself. As I came back and sat down, Cecilia looked up to me, her face happy. She must have been having a nightmare, which would explain the crying in the night. She probably saw me and was happy I was still here. At least that is what I thought it was. But who was I to guess what a two year old is thinking.
I stretched out my limbs, and Cecilia imitated me with a smile on her face.. It was so nice to see her so clueless of what was going on. I kind of wish she understood though. I would have someone to talk with, and to share my sorrow with. But as it was, I carried the sorrow alone. I put on a happy face for Cecilia, lifted her onto my shoulders, and started walking. It became hard to duck tree branches with a two year old on my shoulders, so I took her down. She started to cry, but I rocked her to quiet it. Then I heard more voices. The same voices as before.
“I think I heard something over there!”
“Go investigate, I will stay here in case he tries to escape.”
Ugh.Why did they always need to show up at the most inopportune moments. I felt so normal for a second there, but they ruined the illusion. I looked around. No trees easy enough to climb with Cecilia, and hiding had a small chance of success, especially against the capital tech. I decided my best chance was run. I sprinted away from the voices.
“He is running! Come here” I heard footsteps behind me, but they quickly quieted down. I stopped for a breath. Someone dropped from a tree above me, hanging upside down from his knees.
“Hi there!” It was the man with the pistol. This was bad. I backed away, but his pistol was out in a second. “Do. Not. Move.” Wow. That did not take long. They found me and captured me with less than a minute in between. The man with a ring caught up quickly.
“Look what we have here.” I strained my eyes to see his ring, but the ringed hand was behind his back. He stepped in between me and the pistol man, holding up his knife. “Put the baby down and your hands out in front of you. No funny moves.” I leaned over to put Cecilia down, and thought of something. While my hand was behind Cecilia, I activated my whale. Light glowed above the men, and I lept back, Cecilia in my arms. The pistol man shot, but could not hit me around his own companion.
I was hoping that would be that, but they both jumped out of the way. I lifted Cecilia up, put her on my back, and ran. As I left, I unsummoned my whale. As soon as it disappeared, trees started to disappear behind me. As soon as I felt like I was out of sight, I spun around. Still hiding behind a tree with Cecilia on my back, I prepared to summon the falcon or whale. The tree disappeared, and I summoned the falcon. It flew directly into the face of the pistol man, distracting him, but only for a second. He slapped the falcon away with the butt of his pistol.
The falcon fell to the ground. The man turned his gun on it, but I summoned my whale again. It dropped from the sky, barely missing the falcon. The man lept back, again, but I had distracted him. I spun and ran, unsummoning both of my animals. I suddenly felt very fatigued. Summoning two animals at once apparently does that to people.
I tried to keep running despite being tired, which was probably a bad idea. I was feeling faint. I nearly lost my footing many times, and eventually I did. I crashed to the ground, face first. Cecilia landed on my back, laughing and thinking it was just a game. The men must have found me at some point, because I did not wake up where I fell.

To be continued... Dun Dun Dun!

[Allan Dotson]

This week on a monster a day: Chalkboard seacreatures, mandiblephant, fire giant, treehouse game animals, water beetle pirate, a robot, and Malack.

And a new page of Critters.

[Glass Mouse]

So, so sorry, I… genuinely forgot that yesterday was Monday. I am not good with disrupted routines.
But here we go, status for the week November 3 - November 9!


Glass Mouse passes with a comic and a two bones-and-stones inspired character designs.

Lycunadari passes with six pretty autumn photos.

TheWombatOfDoom passes with 1673 words of OotS transcriptions.

'Neath the Moon passes with a self-portrait, a colour chart, charcoal skulls, a book binding, and 2655 words of NaNoWriMo including skull-crushing demons and a bone desert.

Allan Dotson passes with a new comic page, Chalkboard seacreatures, mandiblephant, fire giant, treehouse game animals, water beetle pirate, a robot, and Malack.

Duck999 passes with ~7200 words of NaNoWriMo.


Thus, no one FAILS this round!

Glass Mouse, Lycunadari, TheWombatOfDoom, ‘Neath the Moon, Allan Dotson and Duck999 PASS this round!


Current standing:

Spoiler

Show

Glass Mouse
Current run: 211 weeks
Longest run: -
Themes: 1 week

Lycunadari
Current run: 97 weeks
Longest run: -
Themes: -

TheWombatOfDoom
Current run: 65 weeks
Longest run: 3 weeks
Themes: -

'Neath the Moon
Current run: 8 weeks
Longest run: 25 weeks
Themes: 1 week

Allan Dotson
Current run: 10 weeks
Longest run: -
Themes: -

Duck999
Current run: 1 week
Longest run: -
Themes: -

This week's theme (November 10 - 16), chosen by Allan Dotson, is The Future.

Next week's theme (November 17 - 23) is chosen by Duck999 - let me know in PM or this thread, and I'll include it in the next status.

Well, since I'm doing NaNoWriMo, should I just send you what I write each week, the entire story so far (which could get large), or can I just share the google document with you?
Edit: Or I could share my NaNoWriMo account page which gets an updated word count daily.

Oop, sorry about the late answer. Sharing your NaNoWriMo page might be the easiest way to go about it, yeah. But either way is fine by me as long as it is transparent what is written in a given week

Sorry, the theme mixup was probably just me...

Definitely not just you, I’ve seen other people mix it up. Either way, as a former Communications student I’ve learned that any miscommunication is always and forever my fault, so...

I did 19 comic pages over the last couple of days, clearly the contest was holding me back.

Damn! You are on one serious freedom rush here

[Duck999]

I could share a link to a page that gets an updated word count separated by day, but it would not have the actual writing on it.

Next weeks theme can be the mythical.

[Glass Mouse]

I could share a link to a page that gets an updated word count separated by day, but it would not have the actual writing on it.

Next weeks theme can be the mythical.

I'm willing to trust NaNoWriMo's software, so that's fine. Your nifty signature counter doesn't lead anywhere though, so... link?

[Duck999]

Link!
That shpuld work. How do you get a picture in your sig to link skmewhere?

[Glass Mouse]

Link!
That shpuld work. How do you get a picture in your sig to link skmewhere?

Awesome, thanks!

You make image links the same way you do text links. Just wrap the IMG tag in the URL tag, and you're set.

['Neath the Moon]

This week:

Charcoal:
Sketch of Sleeping Kittens
Self Portrait
Still life

Pen:
A Painful Weapon to Wield

Colored Pencil:
Some stray thoughts for a coming project

Photo:
Thrice Widdershins & Away...