1)
“I’ve never seen the like,” the thief whispered. “It’s bigger than my HEAD. Looks like a red beryl, and flawless, but…what’s that glow?”
“Magic,” said the dwarf. “And it’s the reason I’m staying right here, going NO closer.
…#epic fantasy

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) July 28, 2018

3)
…protective magics, or the plinth is a transformed monster, or all of such nastiness.”
…We dwarves heap gems in coffers or chests, or inlay them in useful things. When some human or other puts them on display, like this one, on a plinth, they’re always up to some mischief. Pressure-plate trap, or deadly… “So…how do we tell if it’s safe?”
“Well, we usually throw the thief in, like this,” the dwarf told the thief, snatching her off her feet…#epic fantasy

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) July 28, 2018

5)
…and hurling her bodily into the room. To land heavily, just shy of the plinth. Which rocked, causing the gem to shift and the glow to flare alarmingly. The air shrieked even louder than the thief, as a spell boiled out of……it to lash out in all directions, the plinth writhed and bulged and started to grow tentacles, scales, and fangs, and the floor sank as chains rattled ominously up above the ceiling.
“Ooh, all three,” the dwarf grinned,…#epic fantasy

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) July 28, 2018

7)
reaching into his belt pouch for a handful of salted nuts with one hand, and his handy flask with the other.
“This should be GOOD.”
“Aren’t you going to help her?” the cleric shouted.#epic fantasy “What, disturb a trained professional at her work? You’ll get me in trouble with the thieves’ guild, you will. Besides, I haven’t been able to scream that well for YEARS.”#epic fantasy

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) July 28, 2018

1)
“Old Snout,” the dragonling dared to ask, after a time of silence, “the life of a dragon, well lived, is…what?”
“Making a mark on the world that will last forever. In a way that mars not the world.”#epic fantasy

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) July 24, 2018

2)
“And…and how would a dragon know what to do, to make such a mark?”
“Watch humans, then do NOT do what they do. They hunger to leave a mark, but know nor care not about marring. Only about their own ease and enrichment.”#epic fantasy

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) July 24, 2018

The vampire smiles, and flies close, and charms
But shuns the full bright light of day
My blood it wants, and shall gleefully come into my arms
Where my holiness shall sear it into fading away

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) July 23, 2018

Then all fears avaunt upon the hill
For holy-bright paladins stand guard there still
The rest of the realm under darker shadow lies
All hopes dead or long fled, naught left but to memorialize

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) July 22, 2018

Many an adventuring career consists of breaking
into divers tombs, closets, and vaults
smashing their skeletons, ransacking them, and making
with threats of surgical removal of annoying rulers’ faults

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) July 24, 2018

1)
“Will the King survive?”
“Quite likely. The dagger but gashed him, and ’twas clean and free of poison. So we’re hunting knife-hurling traitors now. According to the Lord Seneschal, there’s a bumper crop of them to find.”#epic fantasy

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) July 29, 2018

2)
“Well, we all wanted steady work. Dead? Alive? Matters not?”
“Identifiable pieces, were my instructions.”
“Ah. The Royal Cook WILL be pleased.”#epic fantasy

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) July 29, 2018

1)
“Look! Floating above the pool! THE HORNED CROWN!”
“So it is, lass.”
“Well? Aren’t we going to…wait, what’s that smell?”
“Boiling acid. That’s what’s filling the pool.”#epic fantasy

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) July 29, 2018

3)
“Oh. Umm. So how do we get the crown?”
“We don’t, more’n’ likely. Didn’t you wonder, with all the bards singing of it for hundreds of years and all, how it happens to still be floating here? For us to find?” “WE may think we’re mighty conquering heroes, lass, but I tell you plain: the gods don’t bloody care. They’re sitting up there, eating snacks and quaffing nectar, watching idiots like us fall to their various waiting traps.
…#epic fantasy

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) July 29, 2018

5)
And yon crown is one of them.”
“That’s…mighty cynical.”
“Show me an adventurer who’s lasted long enough to be just a fool and not a blind, naïve fool, and I’ll show you a cynic. “I…that sounds profound.”
“I can write it down in a book if it’ll impress you more. If you want to have a try for yon crown, I can write your horrible death scene to go with it.”#epic fantasy

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) July 29, 2018

Above this haunted hill the starlight is still
All is drenched in cold bone-white
I draw near in the chill, awaiting the thrill
Of beloved vampire’s next loving bite

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) July 28, 2018

3)
“How do I AVOID a sword that can pass right through me?”
“Stay at home and don’t go adventuring. Stay out of haunted castles like this one. Wear holy armor. Don’t they teach ye ANYTHING at adventuring school, these days?” “What? There are adventuring schools?”
“How else did ye end up here? We’re nine days out from the city, remember? Ye didn’t just get lost in an alley and end up here!”
“Well, no, but…”#epic fantasy

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) July 28, 2018

4)
“But smile for the nice ghost, and mayhap it won’t cleave ye right away. Use that there diplomacy.”
“What’s that?”
“Lying prettily before ye take to yer heels and RUN!!! Like this, see?”#epic fantasy

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) July 28, 2018

1)
“Have you ever seen the like? There must be HUNDREDS!”
The old warrior nodded. “I’ve seen it once before. The dragons are swarming.”
“I can SEE that, but what does it mean?”#epic fantasy

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) July 24, 2018

3)
“It’s a huge mating, lad, every wyrm with every wyrm that’ll have it, and then they all fly away. Migrating…somewhere. No one knows where.”
“So there’ll be no more dragons?”#epic fantasy “For a season or two. Then they’ll start showing up again. Some look like humans and dwell among us, y’see. Until it’s time to reveal their true selves.”
“And what time is that?”#epic fantasy

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) July 24, 2018

5)
“When they get really hungry. Then they eat us, our oxen, our horses, and darned near everything else of meat that’s big enough for them to notice. EVERYTHING. They’ll start doing it now, the moment they’re done mating.”#epic fantasy “WHAT? What’ll we do?”
“Hide, deep under the earth, with food and drink enough to last you months. Or run, and get pounce-from-the-sky eaten ere dusk.”#epic fantasy

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) July 24, 2018

7)
“WHAT?”
“That’s IT? Those’re our only choices?”
“Well, ye could strip, lie down, cover yourself with hot sauce, and hope to get spat out in disgust from not too great a height. Though I hear dragon cuisine is advancing.”#epic fantasy “Oh, yes. Some of ’em LIKE hot sauce now.”#epic fantasy

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) July 24, 2018

1)
It seemed a very long time to the dragonling ere he summoned the courage to ask, “What mark do you know you’ve made, Honored Elder?”
“Ere I die, I can see only the brute-simple ones. Reshaping these peaks about us, for one.”#epic fantasy

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) July 25, 2018

3)
““You can DO that?”
“I can. But find your own mark, mind. After all, this one could be merely my grandest self-delusion.”
“Self-d…ah, you might be mistaken?”
“It’s possible. Unlikely. After all, I’m no longer a dragonling.”#epic fantasy I…I feel offended.”
“Hide that feeling. If others know they can offend you so easily, they will goad, and your life will be short. Theirs, too, possibly, but that shouldn’t be your concern. Yours is your only concern.”#epic fantasy

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) July 25, 2018

4)
“It’s not a concern I’ve felt much, so far.”
“I’m aware of that.”
Old Snout’s words were very dry.
“Oh?” the dragonling asked, nettled. “You know that how, exactly?”
“You stayed within my reach. So, unconcerned. Or very stupid.”#epic fantasy

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) July 25, 2018