A commotion at Tenich Outpost - story one
Welcome onboard. Get settled in your preferred seat on Drewp. Relax and let the real world fade away. This is a place where anything can happen and flights of fancy are encouraged!
Welcome fellow Road Trippers to a tiny dimension of escapism and fancy. Today we’ll begin our road trip into our fantasy world of maps and stories.
This armchair road trip is like no other. Our uncrewed airborne people carrier (UAPC) affectionately known as Drewp, offers top of the range comfort whilst it silently cruises the pink skies above our fantasy world, giving us front row seats to the unfolding story.
Welcome onboard. Get settled in your preferred seat on Drewp. As we take off, relax and let the real world fade away. This is a place where anything can happen and flights of fancy are encouraged!
Our road trip starts at the isolated, impenetrable outpost of Tenich, overlooking the Bay and Cliffs of Tenich to Leftward and guarding a mysterious landform to the Highward. You can see where this is on the larger map at the bottom of this letter.
A commotion at the Leftwards Portal draws a small but curious crowd of Tenich Outpost personnel. They’re excited - it’s a treat to see something actually happening here in this isolated place.
“Where is Kriliah?” a hive of voices buzz. Personnel nervously look around and chatter spreads.
“Here. No need to fuss. I’m ready.”
Kriliah had been ready since yesterday.
Yesterday, the heat over the parched and desolate Tenich Peninsular had quivered like a faulty electronic sign . A smudge of movement in the otherwise clear pink sky had altered Kriliah to an incoming message from the great winged beast Haki who was returning from the latest airborne scouting patrol over the Tenich Peninsular, Bay and Cliffs. Kriliah had wearily thought to themselves “Another boring shift, I bet there’s no news of any travellers coming in from this direction. There never, ever is.”
Kriliah, pulling on a face covering, had stood well back from the edge of their fortified ledge, guarding the Leftward Portal of the outpost. Haki’s landings were notoriously messy and ungraceful. Before the clouds of gritty dust stirred by Haki’s impressive wings had time to settle, Haki’s diminutive rider had uncoupled from the beast and hopped over to Kriliah.
“The Trekkers are coming for you. They’ll be here before the next sunset. They don’t look very friendly.”
“Coming for me? How’d you know that?”
“We received a direct communique from them whilst we were out surveying. ‘Tell Kriliah we are coming. They’d better be ready.’ That’s all it said. Now we’re off to check in at Hub Central.”
Kriliah took a deep breath and let it out real slow. “Well, I guess I knew it would happen at some point. I’d best get ready.”
Decide what happens next
This is the fun part where you as a subscriber get involved in the road trip. It’s time for you to decide where Kriliah will go next and why. Remember that this road trip is a quest to find a key (although we have no idea what the key is for just yet).
Have a look at the two options below:
Vote in the poll to let me know which map of the two maps you’d like to see in the next story
Look at the two maps below. What at the first words that come to mind?
Leave a few words in the comments
I may choose one of your words for the story (and give you credit for it)
As this is the first time we as a collective are choosing the next step for this story, I am leaving the voting open to all subscribers (both free and paid).
Option One - Visit the City of Hexton to gather essential supplies
What at the first words that come to mind? Leave a few words in the comments
Option Two - Visit Leopine Isle to collect energy crystals
What at the first words that come to mind? Leave a few words in the comments
Vote ➡️
Update your map
If you’ve downloaded and printed the free map for this make believe road trip, you can update it with the position of the Tenich Outpost.
Well, that’s it questers! I’ll be welcoming you back onto Dwerp next Tuesday for the next episode. I can’t wait to see which map you’ll choose!
Background to this Road Trip
Most of these stories will be micro fiction, so I’ll be attempting to keep them under 500 words if I can. This one is 285 words.
Part One
Part Two
Definitely the city of Hexton, nobody can adventure further without supplies, ie nourishment and essential equipment to enter Leopine.
Idea for continuing - Kriliah also has to find something (another map maybe, or a daemon like in Phillip Pullmans epic Dark Materials - I love the latter idea but it’s not really mine...) in the complicated streets of Hexton for which he needs a hexipass... perhaps he knows where to find it, perhaps it entails a diversion to the Carillion Cave ?
Up to you from there Debs... this is brilliant, once again, the work you’ve put into this is truly awesome!
Option 1 -- spacious and connected
Option 2 -- protective and watery
(I hope this is what you were looking for!)