{"id":5186,"date":"2021-12-01T14:00:44","date_gmt":"2021-12-01T19:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/?p=5186"},"modified":"2021-12-01T14:00:44","modified_gmt":"2021-12-01T19:00:44","slug":"3-realms-5-13","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/3-realms-5-13\/","title":{"rendered":"3 Realms 5-13"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Rokanth practically had a ship on every hill, even the ones inhabited by Halflings. The <em>Endeavor<\/em> made it out of the vortex and got a visual on the situation. When it was displayed on screen, everyone\u2019s eyebrows went up. \u201c\u2026Handrem wasn\u2019t kidding,\u201d whistled Arsha.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve got the landing site\u2019s coordinates,\u201d reported Nazay, \u201cbut it\u2019s gonna be a tight squeeze.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cSet us down as best you can manage,\u201d ordered Arsha.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p>The <em>Endeavor<\/em> slowly maneuvered itself over the site, situated between a pointy <em>Falchion<\/em>-class vessel and a bulky <em>Imperial<\/em>-class transport. It descended at a snail\u2019s pace, Nazay not wanting to scratch the other ships or the <em>Endeavor<\/em> herself. It was almost agonizing at how slow it was. After three minutes, the ship\u2019s landing struts finally touched the hill. One could almost hear it sigh in relief. It then settled down\u2026and scraped itself against the <em>Falchion<\/em>-class vessel\u2019s prow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p>On the bridge, Endea cried out as the scraping echoed throughout the ship. She clutched her side and fell to her knees. Marshii and Thangred rushed to her. Once she could manage the pain well enough to muscle through it long enough to glare at Nazay. \u201cKeelside starboard bow!\u201d she snarled. \u201cReally, Nazay?! Not three minutes in the Mid-realm and you scrape me up?!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cSorry!\u201d gulped Nazay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThangred, get some engineers to fix that,\u201d sighed Arsha. Marshii led Endea to Sick Bay as Thangred hurried off to assign the repair teams. Arsha turned to Nazay. \u201cScrape up my ship, hm?\u201d Nazay\u2019s face went as red as his tail in embarrassment. \u201cAll right, we ribbed him long enough. We need to discuss the situation with Skain.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p>Handrem and a Halfling man in a mayor\u2019s suit, Mayor Thenthar Hulmbark, met with Elgrad, Hanako, Arsha, Foresna, and Denstra. \u201cElgrad, my old friend!\u201d cheered Thenthar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThenthar, you old rascal!\u201d chuckled Elgrad as the two hugged one another. Foresna then noticed something.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cEr, pardon my saying so, Lord Mayor, but you look a little thin for a Halfling,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat\u2019s going on?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe better talk in my home,\u201d replied Thenthar. \u201cThis way.\u201d He led everyone down a street through the landing struts of the ships littering Rokanth. They made their way to the highest hill and approached a circular door, painted blue. Thenthar then took out a key ring, found the key, and put it into the door to open it. His taller guests had to duck their heads as they entered the house. Inside the hill, though, wasn\u2019t just dirt. It was a rather luxurious home. Once they entered the door, the guests saw the various coat hooks. All down the hall\u2019s left side were the parlor, the dining room, the study, the sitting room, and the bedroom Thenthar and his wife used. On the right side were the drawing room, the kitchen, the cellar, the pantries, and three more bedrooms, one for each of his children. At the end of the hall were the family\u2019s closets. \u201cMy house is open to those that wish to make it a home,\u201d greeted Thenthar in the Halfling manner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe shall treat this house as a home,\u201d said Elgrad in the usual reply. Thenthar then led everyone to the parlor. As she maneuvered herself around the home, Hanako bumped into the chandelier. She steadied it, then nodded once it stopped shaking. She turned to follow everyone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cLow bridge,\u201d warned Foresna. The warning came too late as Hanako bumped her head against the ceiling beam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cNow what is all that racket?!\u201d came a woman\u2019s voice. A Halfling woman then came into the parlor. \u201cThenthar, I swear, if you conceded to-!\u201d The woman\u2019s eyes rested on the Royanas. \u201c\u2026Your Majesties?!\u201d she whispered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cMrs. Hulmbark, I presume?\u201d asked Arsha. Thenthar\u2019s wife beamed with joy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cYour Majesties, Your Highness! It\u2019s so wonderful to see you! And Little Foresna! Thenthar, you should have told me we were having guests! I\u2019ll get a meal going!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cJust tea, thank you,\u201d replied Foresna. \u201cWe have a situation to discuss.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cConcerning the Mid-realm throne and the Pretender on it?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s it,\u201d confirmed Thenthar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThen let me get the kettle going! You lot need some tea after that fright!\u201d She dashed off to the kitchen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cSkain took our staff,\u201d explained Thenthar. \u201cHe\u2019s put them to work as guards demanding passes to go through Rokanth.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cPasses?\u201d asked Arsha. \u201cWhen did Halflings need passes to go through their home?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cSince Skain took over,\u201d replied Handrem. Mrs. Hulmbark then came back in. \u201cHe\u2019s passed a number of laws that are encroaching on a citizen\u2019s rights, even my own.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe Mid-realm\u2019s gone to pot!\u201d grumbled Mrs. Hulmbark. \u201cThat slaver should never have sat on your throne! He claimed that YOU made that proclamation, Your Majesty.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI most certainly did not!\u201d growled Elgrad. \u201cHe owned my ancestors; I didn\u2019t let him anywhere near that kind of power!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201c\u2026I\u2019m sorry, he OWNED your ancestors?\u201d asked Foresna. \u201cI know the Royanas were slaves before the Great Uprising, but a HUMAN from that time is on the throne now?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cSkain\u2019s not human,\u201d corrected Arsha. \u201cThat\u2019s just a disguise to fool everyone. He\u2019s actually an Elf, and a very vindictive one.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cHe once owned the Royanas as his slave labor,\u201d continued Elgrad. \u201cMy ancestors were whipped whenever they didn\u2019t get enough of the crops, they were raped, they were killed for talking too much, they were separated from their children, any injustice you could think of, They suffered. Mortak decided that they suffered enough, so she organized a slave revolt against Skain and his family. Skain never forgave the Royana Family for that or forgot. His vendetta led to his family abandoning him.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWhy is he still around?\u201d asked Foresna.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe Royanas wanted to reform him,\u201d replied Arsha. \u201cOver time, he\u2019s become less and less blatant about his desire to possess other people as property, but I see that it\u2019s all just an act.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAn act we wanted no part of,\u201d said Thenthar. \u201cMy wife, bless her, has been getting those of darker skin tones out of Largandra and trying to find homes for them. Because of that, we Halflings limited ourselves to just three meals instead of our usual seven.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThat explains why the Halflings look so thin,\u201d remarked Elgrad. \u201cThey\u2019re not eating enough. Mayor Hulmbark, King Handrem, you have my word that these atrocities will stop!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cYou ever need support, just say the word!\u201d declared Handrem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAnd you\u2019ll have my militia as well!\u201d promised Thenthar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThen we need to plan our siege,\u201d said Elgrad.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rokanth practically had a ship on every hill, even the ones inhabited by Halflings. The Endeavor made it out of the vortex and got a visual on the situation. When it was displayed on screen, everyone\u2019s eyebrows went up. \u201c\u2026Handrem wasn\u2019t kidding,\u201d whistled Arsha. \u201cI\u2019ve got the landing site\u2019s coordinates,\u201d reported Nazay, \u201cbut it\u2019s gonna [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4448,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[97,238],"tags":[482],"class_list":["post-5186","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-three-realms","category-the-three-realms-book-5-the-final-fight","tag-fantasy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5186","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5186"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5186\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5187,"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5186\/revisions\/5187"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}