Annals: Year 9
A story fragment and a codex entry from the Dustsong Cycle
From the Annals of the Vaporous Realms
A party of valley-folk foragers below the waste-ward Fangs stumbled upon a sizable hole in the foothills. Upon further investigation, they discovered it was the entrance to a burrow, which led in turn to an extensive warren. The inhabitants were not critters of the usual sort, but diminutive, spritely folk who seemed thoroughly riled by the intruders—or so the valley-folk reported to their kin. Upon returning to the subterannean labyrinth, they found it abandoned.
Codex: Creeper-Folk
Creeper-folk were a barbaric people alleged to have lived in isolated corners of the Elder World. Whether they were earthly or spirit in nature has been widely disputed. The earliest reports of their existence originated in the first epoch, in the valley beneath the Fangs of Livyat. Tales of the creeper-folk, however, arose chiefly from the Nordling wastes during the second epoch. The most famous of these stories are the sagas of legendary creeper-folk heroes contending with cave-folk, demons, and sundry other monsters for dominion of the frost-barrens.
Author Note
Getting out of my comfort zone to promote the “Watchers” Kickstarter on Instagram and with ads—learning processes for certain sure—have consumed a lot of my time and energy of late. The campaign is currently at 14% with twenty-three days left to reach full funding. I’ve added a bunch of bonus rewards for early backers, mostly involving a unique character each backer helps customize.
But I also found time to read a couple of worthwhile Tolkien-related posts on Substack, which I’m happy to recommend:
Happy reading!