Phoenix and Gletta Talk to a Bored Prison Guard

                                                        Click here to see the first post in the series 

I decided to do another response to Ginny Di's POV (Point of View) RP (Roleplay) videos. There are now more videos to choose from: such as bard, a prison guard, and a mage. This time I decided to respond to  the prison guard . In my last responses, I had my characters talking to a villain. 

You can also watch it here

To give you some background this event happens to Phoenix sometime in book one. But of course, he was not arrested for the reasons he says he was. 

You can also watch it here

For Gletta, this happens in the prequel before Eyes in the Night takes place. Note, that I could not find a wig that matched her hair in canon, but, this doesn't mean her hair suddenly became shorter...It just means I do not have a wig that looks like her hair.  

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------What would your characters (or you) do if they got arrested? Have you ever dressed up as one of your characters? 

-Quinley 

P.S. My YouTube Channel just reached 3,000 views!! 

Using Polls to Create Art #5

                                                    Previous parts: #1, #2, #3, and #4 

Greetings Adventurers! 

Here are some more drawings I made using polls, I had a lot of fun drawing these, unless otherwise stated the drawings in this post came out of majority votes: 

I wanted to draw Marigold because I don't have many drawings of her, so I did a poll. And Marigold with a dragon ended up winning the majority vote. This is my favorite drawing of her, because I feel it really captures her personality. 

Felix pictured at a masquerade. I had a lot of fun making his mask, because I wanted it to hint at something that happened to him in his story. It was also fun to draw Felix in clothes other than his black suit. 

Vallara, a character from the same world as Annabelle (but in a very different part of it) at an archery contest. The last time I drew her was in this post, I felt it was about time to redraw characters from that post, but I was unsure which one so I had the voters vote on who I should redraw and Vallara ended up winning. 

Matilda with a ghost (girl). I feel the voters were a lot more nicer to Felix than they were to Matilda, but I know she would enjoy meeting a ghost, so I doubt she would complain. 😊

A drawing of Ophelia and Horatio. I decided to do a drawing inspired by Howl's Moving Castle, and had the pollers vote on which two characters would take the places of Howl and Sophie, Horatio and Ophelia ended up winning. 

This wasn't a majority vote, someone had an idea of a crossover, and thought it would be fun if I drew the scene from Howl's Moving Castle but with Ophelia and Gletta. Though Gletta and Ophelia live in completely different worlds, the idea of them ever meeting each other seemed fun to me, so I had to draw it. 

My idea for what happened and how they met was that Ophelia used her magic (given to her by gods) to rescue Gletta from being nearly killed in a battle. Gletta is just a bit upset that she was pulled out of the battle when she thought she was going to defeat whoever was trying to kill her. (Hence the reason she is so annoyed at Ophelia). 

I also find it interesting that Ophelia takes the place of Howl in both drawings. She isn't like him in terms of personality, but in abilities she is. After all Howl is a wizard and Ophelia has magic, and could be considered a sorceress. (The only thing she doesn't have is a moving castle. 😉) 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Which drawing is your favorite? And which would you rather meet a ghost or a dragon?

-Quinley 

The Importance of Character in Acting

  

I have found that acting itself has helped my writing, and writing has helped my acting and characters in general. While this post isn't about characters in writing (it is about characters in acting and theatre), I do want to show that there is a connection between the two. I have found that I got to know my characters better in acting and writing using these techniques. 

There are many different ways to act, and not all of them fit everyone. I have found that these techniques have helped me greatly with getting into character in acting, but not everyone finds every technique helpful, so think about which ones would work for you.

I even ended up teaching a workshop about this. So, I thought it was time to get some of the things I taught in that class into a blog post. While in that workshop we weren't developing characters from monologues, (we were developing original characters we had created on the spot (and wrote monologues for later)), I still believe these techniques can apply to characters from monologues.  I learned most of the character building questions and tips involved in this post from different acting (or writing) classes I took over the years; so I would like to thank my teachers for teaching these to me. 

Character sheets 

Like with writing, in acting I end up creating sheets for my characters. I find they help me understand the character better. In filling out a character sheet, I feel I have to start with the information I'm given from the source material. This can be done by scanning and annotating the script or monologue.

Once I'm done with everything that is apparent from the monologue or the script itself, I start adding on my own details, making the character mine within the realm of the script. This is where making the character in acting is very different from writing your own character because you aren't fully in control, and you aren't the creator; instead, you're the one interpreting the character. And while in some cases you may be confined within what the director wants the character to be, you can still be free to interpret stuff, like "what happened in the moment before?", "what is my character's family-life like?",  or "what is my character's favorite color?" (assuming none of these appear in the monologue or script).

(Side note: if the character is from a play/movie/TV show where there is a performance done by another actor, I try not to take the choices they made, because otherwise I am copying their character and not creating my own version of that character). 

(Image from wiki, https://dragonshavern.fandom.com/wiki/Benjy_Woodbush?file=Benjyw.jpg)

Just like with writing characters, I have found it helpful to search for a painting or picture that reminds me of what I think my character looks like. I find it easier to get into their mindset if I know what they look like. Above is a picture I used to get into the mindset of Puck from A Midsummer Night's Dream when I played him in a monologue. 

 I also sometimes find a single song or create a playlist that reminds me of the character, and I listen to the song before filming/performing because then I feel more energized. These are both things you can include on your character sheets.  For example, here are some playlists I created for characters I have been working on: 

 

 You can also, if you wish, include things like what your character's archetype is, or what their Hogwarts House or Camp Half Blood cabin is, if you think those things will help you understand the character even more. 

Character interview 

If you have anyone in your family or friends that can particape in a character interview with you then that may help. This one activity both writers and actors can do. Basically you sit down and ask questions to your character and respond in character to them. It is not only a good way to get to know your character, but it also helps you figure out stuff you may not have noticed before. 

One of the resources I used for the workshop I taught was this video/list of questions by Ginny Di, in which she lists of a number of questions to ask your (D&D) character to help expand on their personality and backstory:  

You can also watch it here

While it was originally intended for D&D characters, I do believe it works for any characters regardless of the genre. All you need to do is change "tavern" to "bar" or anything else if your character isn't from the Fantasy genre. There's also a text version of it if you need it. 

In my workshop, I had participants respond to the questions given in the video/doc. I suggested they choose some at random (taking turns being the character and interviewer). The person playing the character would improvise on the spot to answer the questions. 

I didn't use the following POV RP videos in the workshop (though I mentioned them to the participants). I have found that if you don't have anyone around you (or you don't feel comfortable doing interviews with family members and/or friends) that these are really helpful: 

   

If you don't have someone around you can still basically play the game with a person (Ginny Di), and think about how your character would respond not only to the questions but the various situations they are put in. (You can also make your own response video, if you feel excited about it).

Also, you should keep in mind that there may be some questions your character may not answer (or answer fully), because of discomfort around the question or a desire to be secretive about themselves. Your character could end up answering a question with another question, if they wanted to.  

 If anyone wants questions beyond those that Ginny Di created, I have included my own list of questions to ask your character at the end of this post. 

Status 

Statuses aren't just about class in society, though they can play into that. They are about knowing your character's status in a scene:  How much control do they have in the scene? And how does their status change? 

The status of your character is often affected by those around them. If a (bad) rumor is spread about your character, they could go down in status. If they are popular, they will have a high status. There is also middle ground between the two, which would be middle status. They can also be a high status person pretending to have low status, or a low status person fighting to get high status or pretending to have it. It all depends on the situation.

 Also, their status can be affected by their religious beliefs, general beliefs, gender, race, etc, and they can have a low or high status in any given situation based on any of those. Some people may treat them differently (and make it low) because of their identity, but if they are around people like them it may become high again. If their status stays the same all the time then there is a lack of a sense of realism, because no one's status is ever low or high the entire time.  

One way to experiment with status, is to randomize it, and try the scene with that status. Use a random number generator with 1 being low status, 5 being middle status, and 10 being high status.  Then see how that status affects your character's actions and how they walk or even talk. While the status you are playing around with may not be the one you ultimately use in the scene or monologue, it is still a way to see how your character's status affects your character. 

Stakes and Goals

There is a reason why your character is saying these things in the scene, and it isn't just to say it. There is a goal behind it. Maybe your character wants to get a reaction out of whoever they're talking to. And also they're probably fighting for something related to their long term goal in the rest of the play and/or movie. 

The stakes might depend on interpersonal conflicts, the plot, the characters, etc. This makes you want to say whatever you're saying more, because there are consequences if you do say it and consequences if you don't. And in doing this monologue and/or scene are you ready to face these consequences? Good or bad? 

Object work 

The premise of this activity is that you take five minutes or so to find an object that reminds you of your character. Once you do, wear the object, hold the object, or figure out why the object is important to your character. (It can be as important as something they need or something they cherish.) Some questions to consider are, how often they carry the object around with them, is it something they keep in their pocket or something they wear, or do they hide it in a bag? Can it be hidden or it something everyone would be able to see? Do they like it or is it just a necessity? Continue asking questions like this and you will figure out your character even more. 

One random object I grabbed in this exercise was a sheep tea cozy. This ended up creating a character that was a possessed librarian, interestingly. 

This same exercise can also be used to create a character as well as develop one. If you have a piece of clothing, an accessory, or an object that you pick at random, you can try and figure out what type of character would have that object, and what the character's liking or disliking of that object says about the character. 

Finding a personal experience (from your life) to associate with the monologue/scene  

If you find a common experience between you and the character (it doesn't have to be the exact same thing as the character has experienced), you can use it to relate to your character even more. Let's say you are performing Hamlet and are playing the lead role of Hamlet. 

One major life event Hamlet experiences is finding out that his uncle murdered his father in order to marry his mother. Now, you don't need to have experienced the exact same thing in order to understand or relate to him as a character. You could have experienced loss (of anyone: a pet, a friend, or a family member) and relate to Hamlet that way or have experienced betrayal and relate to Hamlet's discovery of what his uncle did that way. 

Walking like your character

In this exercise you walk around the room as your character, and you try to figure out how they walk. Do they walk with a slow pace or a fast pace? Do they walk with their head held high, or do they look towards the ground? Do they have a straight back, or do they walk with a slouch? As you walk around the room do that, and try different ways to walk. Keep trying: you're not likely to get the walk the way your character walks the first time. 

Dressing up as your character

I would say this is the last thing to do, given that you go through several performances before you get around to filming or performing the monologue (assuming you're performing it on stage). Knowing what your character wears can be useful in understanding their personality too, but unless you're filming it yourself, you may not be fully in control of what you wear in character. You can still figure out the importance of the clothing to your character, though. There was one show I acted in where I wore a green scarf, and as I was performing in the show I began associating it with one of the characters I was playing, Hortensio (from The Taming of the Shrew). Often I used the scarf as a way to get into character before the scene I acted in. I would fiddle with the scarf before acting in the scene, because I saw that as something Hortensio would do with it. And for my other characters, I tried associating different costumes pieces with what they'd wear. For Maria (from Twelfth Night), I remember associating the leather bracelet I was wearing with her, because it seemed like something she would like. So, even if you don't have full control over the costumes, you can still make character choices. 

This is a costume I wear for a monologue I am working on filming. 
The character pictured is Sherlock Holmes, and this is my take on him.
I decided he would choose to wear this normally (through character development). 

But if you are in full control (because you're filming it or for another reason), you can have a lot of fun in designing your character's outfit and finding wigs to match their hair color, supposing their hair is a different color or style than yours. You can also figure specifics involving these clothes, other than just that they wear them. Does your character set up clothes they wear each night? Do they match? Or do they wake up and just put on whatever they can find? If so, is it mismatched? 

Two more costumes from my two other video projects. While Phoenix (left), Gletta (right), are original characters of mine (and not from any monologue), the characters are from Fantasy novels, so there is world-building behind what they wear. 

Also depending on the genre they're from you may also have creativity with the clothes. If it is historical, you can find clothes that match with the time period. But if they are from Fantasy or Science fiction world, there is a reason world-building wise behind what they're wearing, and it may be made of materials that we wouldn't be able to access in our world, like dragon scales or phoenix feathers. 

Here is a character sheet to use when keeping track of your character: 

You can add on as much as you want or take stuff away, but this is just a starting point for you. 

Name: 

Gender: 

Age: 

Status: 

Religion/beliefs: 

Personality: 

Likes: 

Dislikes: 

Prized possession(s): 

Goal(s) in scene/play/monologue: 

The stakes: 

Who are they talking to?: 

What happened before this monologue/scene?: 

Favorite color: 

Least favorite color: 

Clothing style: 

How they walk: 

Other: 

Image that reminds you of them/what they look like: 

Questions to ask your character during an interview: 

Here is a list of questions I created for a character interview, so you can ask them to your character during the interview: 

1. What is your name? 
2. Do you like your name? Would you change it if you could? 
3. What is your family life like? Do you have a good or bad relationship with your parents or siblings, if you have any?  
4. What’s your dream job? Is there anything you’ve wanted to be for a long time? 
5. What’s your current job? Do you like it? 
6. Do you have many friends? 
7. Do you believe in magic or the supernatural?
8. If not, why don’t you? What experiences shaped your not believing in it? 
9. If so, why do you? What experiences have shaped your belief in it? 
10. Are you religious? 
11. Do you have any hobbies? 
12. Do you listen to music? 
13. Can you play any music? 
14. Is there anything in the world you want to change? 
15. What was your childhood like? 
16. Do you have any fond memories from your childhood? 
17. If you could have any magical power, what would you have? 
18. If you were stranded on a desert island what item would you take with you? 
19. Do you read? If so, what is your favorite book? 
20. If you could visit any fictional world, where would you visit? 
21. What is one thing about yourself, you don’t want anyone to know? 
22. What is one thing about yourself, you want anyone to know? 
23. Do you want to be famous or would you prefer to remain unknown? 
24. If you had a blog or YouTube channel, what would you post/blog about? 
25. What would your Hogwarts house be? 
26. If you went to Camp Half blood, who would your godly parent be? 
27. Who is one person whom you confide in, if you’re upset or angry? 
28. What’s one thing that really upsets you? 
29. What’s one thing that really makes you happy? 
30. What is a book or movie that you turn to when you’re upset? 
31. What is one song you play when you’re sad? 
32. What is one song you play when you’re happy? 
33. If you came across a ghost, how would you react? 
34. If you came across a dragon, how would you react? 
35. Do you have any pets? If not, do you want any? 
36. If you were a mythical creature what type of creature would you be and why? 
37. How old are you? Do you care about your age or does it not bother you? 
38. Do you like birthdays? Or do you just try to ignore them? 
39. What is your worst nightmare? And why? 
40. What is something you really want to happen to you? 
41. Do you dream at night? Or do you sleep without dreams? 
42. What is one goal you want to achieve? And why? 
43. What would you do if you achieved that goal? 
44. What would you do if you failed to reach that goal? 
45. Is anyone or anything trying to stop you from reaching said goal? 
46. Do you have any enemies? And if so, why are you enemies with them? 
47. If you were a D&D character, what class(es) would you be? 
48. What subjects in school are you (or were you) interested in? 
49. What styles of clothing do you like to wear? And why? 
50. What types of clothes would you never wear? And why? 
51. Do you like make-up? And if not, why? 
52. Is your hair long or short? And do you like styling it? 
53. Do you like going to the theatre to see a show or a play? Why or why not? 
54. What song(s) would you say best describe your personality? 
55. Is there anything you would change about your appearance?
56. How well do you sleep? Are you a light or heavy sleeper? 
57. How do other people feel about you? Do they like you, dislike you, or are their feelings toward you somewhere in the middle? 
58. What is the worst thing anyone has ever said to you? 
59. What is the best thing anyone has ever said to you? 
60. Are you good at trusting people? Why or why not? 
    
61. How would you describe yourself in three words? 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------If you do acting what is your favorite part of it? And how do you get into character? 

-Quinley 

Using Polls to Create Art #2

                                                       Click here to read the first post in the series if you haven't already. 

This post was meant to be published earlier. The drawings in this post were drawn in 2020, but the post got lost in the drafts on my blog, and I forgot about it until now. (One of the answers on the survey reminded me about this post). 

Anyway, the basic premise of this series is using poll responses to create drawings, using majority votes to decide aspects of the drawing. Unless otherwise stated all these drawings came out of majority votes. 

And here they are: 

This is a good character turned villain. It represents the majority vote in this particular poll (where the choices were between Gletta and Tirfendiel).  Gletta won and poll respondents wanted me to do an evil version of her like I had done with Phoenix and Annabelle. I wonder if her goth style made people think "oh she'd be a cool villain." I ended up changing her appearance as a villain and making it so Gletta is more aligned with what her parents wanted her to be. I imagine she wouldn't be happy this way and perhaps she would use her power (as queen) for bad rather than for good. 

I notice people tend to like to see characters who usually don't dress in fancy clothes, wear fancy clothes. Oak, who is a huntress of Artemis, wouldn't usually wear something like this because she is in the wilderness and it would be bad to get her clothes dirty.  Given that I drew this before I learned how to do figure drawings, I may decide to redraw it in the future using what I learned from figure drawing. 

This is a drawing of my version of Ichabod from a retelling of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow  that I may decide to write one day. I did the poll for this a while ago, around Halloween, and the choice of him going out trick or treating in a halloween costume was what won the vote. However, in 1790s America (which is where his story takes place) trick or treating wasn't established as part of the celebration for Halloween. But even so this was very fun to draw.  I also thought it would be fun to dress Ichabod up as a vampire, because why not? (I'm guessing that Aurinda (a main character in my retelling) probably convinced him to do it). 

The poll that produced this happened around the same time. I decided to have Oak dress up as Medusa, but have everything she wears be made out leaves like her normal outfit is. 

For this one I had people vote on what medium (digital or pencil) I should draw the picture in. Pencil won.  Also, as with the drawing of Gletta, the option of drawing Oak as a villain won. In this alternate universe, I imagined what would have happened had she not joined the Hunters of Artemis. 

Based on the same poll as Gletta's drawing, I ended up with a different result for Tirfendiel. The majority vote here asked to see him celebrating whatever winter holiday exists in his world. Since people in that Fantasy world are fascinated with the spirit world, it is common during the winter months for people to seek guidance from the spirits about the months ahead. 

And though the drawing medium was not voted for on either the drawing of Ichabod or Tirfendiel, I thought I'd play around with using a photograph as a background while having everything else be drawn. (I also played around with the transparency of the layers).   

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Which drawing is your favorite? 

If your character was going to a costume party, what would they dress up as?

-Quinley

The Terrible Idea (Short Story rewrite)

Happy Halloween, everyone!

I first posted the story here back in 2017, now three years ago. It was very short, and the characters were still growing at that time. I didn't know that much about them, but now...

(2016/2017 version of Gletta)

Gletta went from being like Tauriel from The Hobbit to being a very Goth elf (she wears black armor that is really sharp, black eyeliner and lipstick, and has nose and lip piercings) with some elements of Tauriel remaining,

(2019/2020 version of her)

(Another drawing of the 2019/2020 version of her, though her face should be less thin) 

This is interesting because I don't know of any elves who are really Goth in Fantasy. As it turns out in my story, there is a sub-culture of Goth elves, which Gletta is a part of. She also became someone you probably wouldn't want to get into fight with (physical fight, not verbal fight)...at all, you would probably leave with a broken nose and possibly broken ribs.

(here is a progression shot of it) 

I am currently working on the personality of Mr. Short. At the moment, he is still very similar to Bilbo Baggins in terms of personality. So, I am still working on making his inner and outer character unique.

(2016/2017 version of him)

  As for Tirfendiel, he was never really like Thranduil by any means. He resembled Pippin more in terms of personality and is very clumsy for an elf. (Gletta also has come up with the theory that Tirfendiel is not an elf, but a very tall Halfling who lost the hair on his feet.) In the picture above I, for some reason, decided to make him look almost identical to Legolas. 

(2019/2020 version of him) 

 Tirfendiel now has black hair instead of blonde like his sister, but that was a smaller outer appearance change compared to Gletta. Also unlike the elves in Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit who have perfect hair, Tirfendiel usually has very messed up hair, which has leaves tangled in it. He repeatedly reminds Mr. Short that it is a myth that elves have perfect hair, and he doesn't know where Mr. Short came up with the idea.

I should say that before I began the story I took a little inspiration from this short film when rewriting "The Terrible Idea." And I also tried to add more aspects of Nordic culture into it, even if the characters themselves are not Norse but are from a Fantasy world with Nordic and Tolkien elements.

Shall we Begin the story?:

                                  The Terrible Idea 

Tirfendiel opened his eyes, blinked a few times, and stared upwards. There was nothing as far as his eye could see, only darkness, black engulfing darkness. He let out a long sigh and reached down for his sword. Finding it in the darkness was rather difficult. He touched the hard stone ground a few times before actually getting ahold of it. As he gently pulled it out, green light emerged. 

He groaned, Great! There must be some beast still around waiting to kill him in the midsts of the darkness. That's absolutely wonderful, he thought, and pulled his sword fully out. 

The green light shone around the carven, all he could see from the light of his sword were rocks. There were rocks of many different assortments, but even so rocks, no monsters, thankfully. That still didn’t explain why his sword was glowing, if there were no monsters around…strange, something must have happened to it, but what? He had never known there to be a time when swords glowed when no monsters were around, so then, it had to be that there still were…monsters. He looked around, and gulped he hoped none of them wanted to eat him. If they did he would, would…stab them! That was what he would do! Thump! 

Tirfendiel gulped and looked around. “W-who g-goes t-there?” he asked, his voice coming out more shaky than it meant to. “S-show y-yourself.” 

He realized after having said that, that telling someone in a dark cave to show themselves was very difficult if they didn’t have a torch. He hoped there would be a way to know who it was, without having something sneak up behind him. He had heard stories about creatures sneaking up on people in the dark, most of them ended quite horribly and in death. He clenched his hands more tightly around his sword and looked around in its dim light, hoping whatever it was would answer. 

“S-show y-your s-self, I-I…” he whimpered, “command you!” 

There came another thump within the darkness. 

“You know that logic only works if the person who you are commanding to show themselves has an torch or a sword—“ began a voice, which sounded surprisingly familiar. Tirfendiel walked hesitantly towards where the voice had come from...and slowly raised his sword, it was Gletta. Her long braided blonde hair hung over her shoulders, but it was tinted slightly by the green light of his sword. She was wearing her battered and spiky armor. 

“That’s really bright.” she muttered, putting her armored hand over her eyes. 

Tirfendiel let out a long sigh of relief, and moved his sword away.  “Thank goodness it’s you, and not some goblin or troll lurking in these caverns!” he said, still looking around and shining his light in any crook or cranny he could find. And then turning back to Gletta with his sword in hand, “for there might be one, perhaps, even behind you or me.” 

Gletta looked around. She walked around the small chamber as best as she could, tripping a few times here and there. As far as she could tell, there were no goblins in it, let alone rock giants or any cave dwelling creature you could imagine, perhaps a few very faint glow worms or two, but no goblins. 

“Tirfendiel.” she said. 

“Y-yes?” he said, clumsily dropping his sword on the ground with a loud thump. The sword flickered slightly but continued to glowed even brighter. He picked it back up and grasped onto it even more tightly than he had before. 

“Do you think…” she began, “..that something happened to your sword?” 

Tirfendiel looked over at her, something couldn’t be wrong with his sword, could it? He looked down at the sword, and it was still glowing uncomfortably, so perhaps there could be something wrong with it. But what exactly? He shook the sword, hoping that it would stop glowing but nothing happened...

 

“Tirfendiel! You are going to poke someone’s eye out if you shake your sword around like that!” said Gletta. 

Tirfendiel groaned and lowered the sword, “but you're the one who wears incredibly spiky armor, not me! So why do you critique my waving my sword around—“ 

“I don’t throw my armor around, that is why I am critiquing you.” she replied, and then looked around in the darkness, “anyway, at this point, I’ve decided your sword is broken.” She ran her fingers through her braided hair, which hung about her in a stiff manner. 

“How, do you know it’s broken?” he asked. 

“I know because I haven’t seen any goblins here, and besides this part of the cave is too small for any such gob—“ she began, but before she could even continue she heard screaming from deep inside the cave it echoed around, and seemed to be coming from every direction. 

“And how is that not a goblin?” asked Tirfendiel, hoping that it was, so he would have a chance to use his sword in a way that wasn’t merely a torch. 

Gletta groaned, “…it sounds more like a Halfing, a goblin’s cry would make your blood curdle….” She picked up her bow, and walked into the darkness towards the cry. She stood there for a moment and then looked over at Tirfendiel, who was standing there almost like a statue, not moving and not even making a sound. “Aren’t you coming?” she asked. 

“No.” 

“Why not?” she asked. 

“I would rather…stay here.”

 

“That’s not an excuse!” 

“Gletta! I have a strong desire to stay here.” 

“To be a coward?” 

“No— No, I’m not trying to be a coward, I just…would rather stay here…thank you very much.” 

“But you said you wanted to chase after a goblin!” 

“I changed my mind.” 

Gletta groaned, there was no use trying to argue with him, she had to go alone then, “but at least give me your sword.” 

Tirfendiel’s eyes widened as if in fear. He had a strong desire not to hand his sword over to his sister, but he decided to, and then quickly followed her, “…I sort of changed my mind again.” 

Gletta sighed, and grabbed onto her brother’s hand as they both walked deeper into the cave. While Tirfendiel muttered under his breath that if it was a goblin he would be very much prepared, Gletta cautiously investigated holding the sword in front of her, and the light soon fell upon a small figure huddled in a corner, who was whimpering rather loudly. She walked over to the figure, handing Tirfendiel the sword. She kneeled down to the figure’s height, and could see through the green light that the figure was not a goblin. Unlike what her brother ever so fearfully imagined, it was in fact a very lost Halfing.

 

“Mr. Short?” she asked, leaning closer to him. 

He looked up at her and into the green light, “If this is some spirit coming to taunt me—“ 

“If it was, I’m sure the spirit would taunt you with more than merely green light coming from my broken sword.” replied Tirfendiel, who moved the sword around in various ways, casting shadows on the rocks around them. This was meant to prove to Mr. Short that the light was coming from his sword, however he wasn’t sure how much of it Mr. Short actually understood. Mr. Short covered his face as the light seemed a little too bright for him, he glanced up at Tirfendiel and then at Gletta, “you could still easily be spirits—“ 

“Tirfendiel, do something else with your sword, you really aren’t helping—“ Gletta moved his hand down so the sword lit their faces in a much less blinding way. “See? We aren’t spirits, I'm Gletta and this is Tirfendiel, who should really learn how to control his sword.” Gletta than crossed her arms and stared down at the ground, hoping that Mr. Short would realize who they were and perhaps stop worrying about being taunted by spirits. 

Mr. Short looked at them, studied them for a moment, and then slowly ever so slowly stood up. He let out a sigh of relief. “Thank the gods, it is you!” he shouted, and then ran over to Gletta and tried to hug her. His attempt failed most miserably as her armor got in the way. He stood back, luckily only his one pinky finger had been wounded from touching the armor. 

Gletta let out a frustrated sigh and then turned to Tirfendiel, “Well, we found the halfling—“ 

“Who you nearly killed with your armor.” he replied. 

“I didn’t nearly kill him, he has to learn to control himself and not rush headlong into an elf wearing armor.” she replied. 

“If, he ever tries that again and gets killed, I'd hate to write the letter home, ‘Dear Mother and Father, Gletta accidentally killed the halfling with her own armor—‘“ 

“You do know I can hear you, don’t you?” asked the voice of a very worried Mr. Short. Gletta looked over and groaned, Tirfendiel looked over at Gletta they shared a look of deep concern.

 

“I can't believe you made me say that out loud. That is going to deter him from the quest.” she muttered.

“I didn’t—“ began Tirfendiel, but his protests were not noticed as Gletta and Mr. Short talked. Their voices echoed across the cavern and Tirfendiel was left alone holding his sword trying not to shake it. He hadn’t meant to cause trouble, and he certainly had not meant to bring everyone down to that cavern to begin with. He had hoped to figure out what was controlling the weird behavior of the goblins, who were usually not hostile and left other creatures alone. Now they were violent, and it didn’t make sense. His plan had not worked and had almost gotten everyone killed. The idea had seemed better in his head than the reality, because if he hadn’t acted on it, they wouldn’t be in the cave to begin with. But on the other hand what would have happened if he had not led them into the cave? He wasn’t sure. He fingered a strand of his black hair, and looked over at Gletta and Mr. Short, perhaps he could prove that his ideas could work after all. He had plenty of ideas for how to get out of here, most of them he was sure would work. Gletta and Mr. Short seemed to be deep in conversation, but he didn’t mind interrupting them. They were probably talking about something boring like the polite way to eat at the table, or why he shouldn’t have come on the adventure to begin with. After all, Gletta had taken a liking the halfling, he had not however… 

“This sword…” she said, lifting up her own sword, which had a spiky scabbard for its protection. Gletta said it was to fend off monsters from taking it, but really it was used so Tirfendiel didn’t try to steal her sword as he did when he was younger “…was used in a battle long ago to fend off—“ 

“I have an idea!” Tirfendiel interrupted, seeming to have missed what Gletta and Mr. Short were even talking about. 

Gletta and Mr. Short looked over at Tirfendiel. The look on their faces wasn’t a very good one, it was a cross between a warrior about to rush into battle and an annoyed sibling. 

“Yes?” asked Gletta, pulling herself together, deciding that it was probably better to listen to Tirfendiel, even if it was his idea that got them here to begin with. 

“Well…” said Tirfendiel, “…You know Ariel always contacts spirts when we are in a time of need?” 

“Yes.” nodded Gletta, hoping that this would go somewhere and not verge into trying to find Ariel who at the moment was missing, and have them begin calling her name to an intolerable extent. 

“I was thinking…” said Tirfendiel, “…there are actually some bones lying around the cavern, which you both seemed to not notice.” He beamed a little at being the only one who noticed them. He was the only one who felt pride at seeing the bones lying around in the cavern, everyone else looked dismayed.

 

“So?” 

“So, if there are bones lying around there is sure to be a ghost…of sorts.” 

“But how big are the bones?” asked Mr. Short. 

However his question was heard as Tirfendiel interrupted, “So I thought, you know, Ariel does a seance every now and then, and I thought ‘why don’t we?’ do it alone and all…so, perhaps we could all try to contact whatever spirit may be lying around in this cavern…” 

“Lying around?” muttered Mr. Short. 

“Or floating around, whatever spirits do for fun.” said Tirfendiel, who had decided that some spirits probably jousted for fun, or did some sort of sport-like tournament. “Shall we do it?” 

Gletta and Mr. Short were silent, they didn’t speak a word, which caused Tirfendiel to let out a frustrated groan, “Shall we do it?” 

“Yes, YES!” exclaimed Gletta. 

“Good.” muttered Tirfendiel. He slowly and dramatically sat down on the ground and held his hands out for Gletta and Mr. Short to hold. Gletta and Mr. Short, who had been very upset that their conversation had been interrupted, and were now even more upset that they had to perform a seance without the assistance of their beloved Ariel, grabbed onto Tirfendiel’s hands. Both Mr. Short and Gletta held hands. Tirfendiel closed his eyes and muttered words that Ariel had said many times before with a few adjustments, “I suggest you don’t leave the circle, I don’t know why exactly that is a rule, but the circle is protected because we are all holding hands, so I suppose something bad will befall you if you leave…” 

“I know, I know…” muttered Gletta. 

“And if you sneeze, perhaps try grabbing Mr. Short’s pocket handkerchief with your foot, so you don’t leave the circle, and die…” 

“Ariel never said you would die—“ 

“—but she never got into the details…anyway, spirts, or spirit who dwells in this cavern, please come to us…come to us!” Tirfendiel paused. Did Ariel usually say anything else besides talking directly to the spirits? He couldn’t remember, but he continued headlong into it, “Spirit or spirits, we really need your help as we are really nice elves—“ 

“And halflings.” 

“Two elves and a halfling.” he added on, “and I suggest for members of this seance, do not speak unless you want to be dragged headlong by a spirit to your death—“ 

“I know Ariel never said that!” replied Gletta. 

“Gletta, do you really want to die? Anyway, spirits despite the other rather boisterous people around me, I am a safe person, so…speak through me!” 

The cavern was silent for a moment, there was nothing to be heard but the breathing of the members of the seance as they waited for something to happen. Then there came a soft sound of foot-steps, was it foot-steps? Tirfendiel wasn’t entirely sure, but it seemed to be coming closer whatever it was. Hopping even closer, he felt a cold feeling around him, like a new energy had leapt onto his shoulder. He felt the touch of something against his hands and then whatever it was came towards his mouth. He felt energy go all along through his body, but this energy felt very hyper, and not like what he imagined most of the ghosts were like. 

He felt his mouth open this time against his will— “Humans, do you really wish to disturb my peace?” The voice echoed from inside Tirfendiel’s mouth. It sounded like a squirrel would sound, if it could speak in their tongue, 

“I’ve lived for so many years in this cavern, after one of your hunters chased me here.” 

“Tirfendiel is this a joke?” asked Gletta. She almost releasing her hand from the circle, but Mr. Short grabbed more tightly onto hers. He had taken Tirfendiel’s joking warning very seriously, perhaps a little too seriously, 

“And, I watch you now with bows running around and fighting in battles hoping to die in battle, die a glorious death! Well, it is not quite fair that we squirrels don’t get that. We are shot with no fight whatsoever, it is not so glorious, is it?” 

“Tirfendiel?” shouted Gletta. The figure, who appeared to be Tirfendiel looked over at her. His eyes were wider than usual and his nose was twitching more than usual.

 

“Oh, you mean that human? He’s still in here. Don’t worry, but you humans most know—“ 

“We aren’t humans!” exclaimed Gletta, “Me and my brother, who you are holding captive right now, are elves. I am an elf, and Mr. Short is a halfing.” 

“You all look like humans to me. As I was saying I was left without a glorious death, no fights, whatsoever, just a gloomy death. But, your brother requested assistance to get out of the cavern?” 

“Yes.” replied Gletta. 

“I have been stuck here, for years and years, and there is no way out. Food will run out for you soon enough—“ 

Mr. Short gulped, he hated those six words… 

“And then it will start getting dark and cold, you three warriors will meet a non-glorious death like me!” The energy that had been trapped in Tirfendiel’s body slowly began to move out, and he felt himself coming in control again. He blinked for a few moments and then looked over at Gletta and Mr. Short. He cleared his throat, and then cheerfully said, “How did that go?” 

Gletta and Mr. Short looked at one another, the answer was terrible. When Ariel had contacted spirits, they usually weren’t animals, and usually they didn’t talk about how they hadn’t met a glorious death. Usually the spirits offered words of wisdom to help them on their journey. But all the only information they had gotten was that they were likely to die alone in the cavern and soon would come to be with that angry squirrel spirit. This was not a comfortable thought. 

“Terrible.” said Mr. Short.

 

Gletta nodded her head, “I hate to agree, but yes, it was terrible.” 

“But why?” asked Tirfendiel. 

“Ariel thinks about it before she contacts some random spirit, and most of all she isn’t an amateur. She has been contacting spirits for years and years, and you…thought it might be fun to do five seconds ago—“ 

“Five minutes—“ 

“Whichever! I am sure that if Ariel was here, she could teach you how to do it correctly!” There was a silence, no one in the group had any desire to talk about Ariel. They didn’t know what happened to her, or if she was alright. Gletta, feeling guilty, sighed and looked over at Tirfendiel, “Sorry.”

“Well, since that idea didn’t work...” said Tirfendiel, awkwardly trying to make the situation better. It didn’t help much. Gletta looked down at the floor, and Mr. Short looked in the other direction, “I have a second idea, we could contact the god of war, and have an army help us out—“ 

“Wouldn’t you be praying for a war?” asked Mr. Short. 

“Well, yes.” replied Tirfendiel. 

“How do we know that the army wouldn’t kill us—“

“I haven't figured that part out.” 

“That seems very unwise!” both Mr. Short and Gletta exclaimed.

 

Tirfendiel sighed, “Idea three...” Tirfendiel picked up his glowing green sword. He bent down to the ground and carefully picked up a small rock which was lying on the cold stone floor, and then went down on hands and knees placed the sword on the rock, “I use a catapult to get out of here—“ he placed a pebble on the sword and launched it. It flew through the air and seemed like it was going to make a wonderful landing— 

“Ow!” muttered Gletta, as the pebble hit her smack in the face, “Tirfendiel, you could knock someone’s eye out with that!” 

Tirfendiel groaned, “Well, you see that was not the end goal. I wasn’t planning to knock any of your eyes out, but I was thinking if we found some wood, we could create a huge catapult and catapult ourselves out—“

 

“And do you see any wood?” asked Gletta, looking around the dimly lit cavern, she had seen no wood or even bones when she first walked in, but perhaps Tirfendiel had noticed something that neither of them had. 

“Well…no.” replied Tirfendiel. “But I was thinking, we could tie all our bows together and create one.” 

“We only have two bows.” replied Gletta. 

“Yes…but—“ 

“Therefore how on earth do we catapult ourselves out? And through what hole?” asked Gletta. 

“…Um…I didn’t really think about it that much.” replied Tirfendiel, realizing that he hadn’t thought that much about his other ideas either, which wasn’t exactly a good thing. 

“Tirfendiel.” replied Mr. Short, “Really, I don’t know how your idea is going to get us out of here—“ 

“I don’t know either…” replied Gletta. “…and I am quite worried some of these ideas will have a terrible end…”

“It’s not my fault that is how most of my ideas end…really, it is just fate that causes most of it, I blame fate!” Tirfendiel moved his hand angrily up at the sky, “And if it hadn’t been for fate, surely the seance would have worked, we would have wood, and the god of war would be more reliable…” he paced around, leaned his hand against the wall. He leaned back even further. He was very discontent, why had most of his plans not worked out? He still believed fate was the cause of most of it. A god must have written some terrible things about him and made it so his plans didn’t work out. He let out a groan, “It’s fate, it’s fate’s fault!” After he said that, he heard something, a cracking noise, a long cracking noise. He took a step away from the wall, part of the stone was moving, moving and making itself into a door form. 

“Oh, OH!” Both Gletta and Mr. Short stared with wide eyes at the door that had not been there before. It was now creating a gaping hole in the wall. 

“I…suppose fate created a way out!” he said, pointing over to the door rather clumsily, “shall we…go in?” 

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What are some of the wildest things your characters have done? And have your characters ever held a seance? (If so, then did they succeed in connecting with the spirits of the dead or did they just connect to a spirit of a squirrel like Tirfendiel?)

-Quinley