“Did you hear that?” She rose up on her toes, leaning toward the forest like a hound casting for scent.Įleukas mopped his brow, pushing sweat-soaked black curls aside. “Maybe I could-” he began, but Wendlyn cut him off with a sudden, intent look at the tree line beyond the lumber yard. And it was true that he volunteered to do most of the work, partly because he felt so guilty about letting their friendship lapse, even though she was the one who was supposed to be improving her character through labor. It really was only on these work details, when Eleukas contrived to get himself assigned to guard duty after Wendlyn’s latest arrest, that he saw her anymore. There was always some new technique to learn, or another bit of wisdom to pry from some grizzled veteran, and he was so full of questions about his new life that sometimes he forgot to keep up with the old one. It was true that since he’d joined the Otari Guard, he hadn’t had much time to sit around in taverns with his friends, even though-or maybe because-he was only a raw recruit and felt so far behind in his training. Eleukas contented himself with splintering the new log as he tried to think of a response. “When else do I get to see my oldest friend? Seems like these work details are our only chance to catch up.” To fill the silence, he began hacking at the log, splitting it neatly with a few sharp blows.īut Wendlyn just shrugged and went back to the reject heap for another log. It was the closest he’d ever come to openly chastising his friend for her unending larceny, and Eleukas held his breath for a beat, afraid he’d pushed their friendship too far. “What’d you get this time? A handful of coins from some drunk sailor? Was it really worth it?” A maul would have been more efficient, but efficiency wasn’t the point of punishment details. “You could always stop stealing things,” Eleukas pointed out, heaving the log into position and hefting his hatchet. Whereas with this, I’m out in the fresh air and sunshine, plus you end up doing all the work.” Wendlyn dragged another hollow log over to Eleukas’s stump and dropped it. “Well, obviously A night in the cells is a night in the cells. The need never ended, which meant the work never ended. Wood splitting was one of Captain Longsaddle’s favorite punishment details, since the Otari Garrison was in perpetual need of firewood, and whatever they didn’t use could be given to townspeople too ill or infirm to chop their own. “You were the one who opted for a work detail over a night in the cells.” Otari’s lumber companies gave away their split, hollowed, and beetle-weakened discards for firewood, provided people used their own carts to haul the loads away. “’One more.’ My arms are about to fall off, and he wants me to cheer up because there’s ‘just one more load.’” “’One more load,’ he says,” Wendlyn muttered, flexing her scratched and sawdust-smeared shoulders. So without further ado, I present to you: The Shroud of Four Silences.Ĭome on,” Eleukas coaxed. If they happen to also be relevant to the current chapter of Eleukas, Wendlyn, and their companions’ story, I’m sure that will be entirely accidental. We’ll still have Otari-related blogs coming out on Wednesdays for the duration of The Shroud of Four Silences’s release, but they’ll be encounters, No-Prep Characters, and other content you can use at your table. Instead, you can get each week’s chapter emailed directly to you by ensuring you have opted in to receive “Products, Offers, News, and Events” emails in your account privacy settings. This return to long-form Pathfinder fiction also gave us another opportunity to try something new, so after this week, you won’t see the remaining chapters of The Shroud of Four Silences here on the Paizo Blog. Like new players taking their first steps into the game and world of Pathfinder with the Beginner Box and our other Otari content, the heroes of this tale are new to adventuring, but quickly find themselves embroiled in a plot that could threaten the entire town. The Shroud of Four Silences takes place in the town of Otari, pictured here, which serves as the setting for not only the Beginner Box, but also the Troubles in Otari adventure and the Abomination Vaults Adventure Path. Today, to celebrate the release of the second-edition Pathfinder Beginner Box next week, we’re launching the first chapter of a serialized novella by fan-favorite author, Liane Merciel ( Nightglass, Nightblade, Hellknight). Hey, Pathfinder fans! It’s Mark Moreland, your friendly neighborhood Director of Brand Strategy, with a bit of exciting news about web fiction over the next few months. The town of Otari, as seen from the Inner Sea, by Will O’Brien
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