2)
The reply, out of the darkness, is sour.
“Is that some sort of trick question?”#epicfantasy

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 21, 2020

1)
“I’ll bargain with you,” Wolf tells the darkness. “Give us your lantern, and we’ll let you go. No desperate fight, no slow death, no dying agony, no fear. Just set your lantern down on the passage floor, unbroken. Deal? 2)
“You must need a lantern.”
“Obviously.”
“You won’t follow me?”
“No. You have my word.”
“And just who are you?”
“An unfamiliar, anonymous stranger who keeps his word.”#epicfantasy

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 22, 2020

3)
“Hunh. That’s candor for you.”
“It’s an occasional indulgence of mine. Enjoy it while it lasts.”#epicfantasy

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 22, 2020

What looms yonder, blotting out the lovely green scenery?
Why, ’tis the latest alchemist’s black-smoke-belching diabolical machinery
Doth it work? Not quite, but promise it shows
So more coin in its direction every local greedy fool throws

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 18, 2020

In this vale, all that glitters is loudly proclaimed gold
And the stream of arriving adventurers daily grows larger and odder
But wise local dwarves let their forges grow dusty and cold
And speak of the adventurers as naïve and doomed fodder

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 20, 2020

And though the augurs are more than a little wobbly
We’ll survive the tentacled horrors this time. Probably.

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 21, 2020

1)
“Besides, I had to get him out of the way. He was standing right on top of what I came here to get.”
“Which is?”
“A rather useful state secret.”
“Hidden right here.”
“Indeed.” 2)
Wolf turns the lantern, and his three companions behold a crude stone bench against the wall: a slab set atop two chiseled-flat boulders.
“The secret is a BENCH?”
“Never underestimate the gullibility of kings.”#epicfantasy

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 24, 2020

The eldritch pseudopods were reaching high
In the cellar of the abandoned hotel
That bears no surviving name, and clings to no fame
And has elevators that reach down into Hell

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 22, 2020

It sprawled dead and shriveled, that monster grotesque
Quite dead, its decay dribbled, across its corner office desk

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 23, 2020

Slyly amorous promises are softly lipped
As her knife into his guts is gently slipped

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 24, 2020

There was no villager as could place the dead king’s face, though we searched ourselves for a clue
But the dragons flew down, and by the fire that flared in their eyes, we could tell at least two the dead man well knew

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 26, 2020

1)
“I am DISPLEASED. What’s the good of being king if you don’t get the best food and wine, the brightest baubles, and the easiest road through life?”
“Well, from time to time conquerors need someone to behead—and there you are.”#epicfantasy 2)
“WHAT?”
“Oh, Elvar, haven’t you been paying attention? AGAIN?”
“Er, YOU be king!”
“No, thanks. Do I look stupid enough to want to wear a target?”#epicfantasy

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 28, 2020

1)
Standing in the open door to the wide and sunny world outside are two stern warriors in full and massively magnificent plate armor, gleaming swords drawn. Six more stand in the rearguard outside, surrounding two cruel-faced, …#epicfantasy

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) March 26, 2020

3)
“Shut up, Wolf, you’re not a courtier of MY realm anymore. I had quite enough of your cleverness when I was young. Offer me any more of it now, and I’ll take great delight in ordering your tongue torn out by the roots.”#epicfantasy

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) March 26, 2020

5)
“Another of your indiscretions, coming back to haunt you, Elvar. You’re really making a habit of this, aren’t you?”
“You can SHUT UP any time about now, Wolf!”#epicfantasy

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) March 26, 2020

1)
“Fascinating in its candor as this converse is, Sire and Lords, I feel I must interrupt it to point out that the door into the rose garden is OPENING.”
“Palonder, take a firm grasp of the mad prisoner’s collar.”
“Er, which one?”#epicfantasy

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) March 25, 2020

2)
“The one who’s mad enough to think he’s a KING. Got it?”
“Why are you winking at me, Lord? This is hardly the time for—”
“Well, well, what have we here? Why, I do believe it’s the King of Neverune! 3)
“No, no, he just THINKS he’s the King. He’s a poor, deluded old m—”
“He’s the KING, Lord Wolf. I should know my own father!”#epicfantasy

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) March 25, 2020