cornixt:
To save having any last minute scramblings for stuff to fill the space, I’m writing a few short fluff pieces that should be able to fit into half a page or less. I think most of these are a quarter page, but spacing out the speech onto lines properly will expand them a bit. I could easily add a couple of extra lines to each. They are tiny snippets of events, so some leave the reader on the edge at the end. I’ll probably reuse the characters in future snippets. Feel free add some critique, I haven’t spent much time on them so they are a bit rough. Add your own to this thread too.
1:
Drukh looked round, stroking his coiled beard. This cage of newly-caught prisoners was suspiciously quiet. He looked deep into the eyes of the female human closest to him. Her deeply tanned skin suggested that she came from the far south, and her clothes were that of a poor trader. No one would be coming to rescue her, not out here in the wastes far from her home, so why did she have so much hope in her glare. “Transfer these slaves to another cage.” Drukh growled at his Hobgoblin servants. Immediately, her expression of hope was gone, replaced by sudden fear.
“Oi boss, da weldings broke!” screeched the smallest Hobgoblin pointing at the base of the cage. Drukh peered down at it; there was the source of her hope. The large crack in the welding would allow a couple of the cage bars to be removed if worked on overnight, and the prisoners knew about it. The Chaos Dwarf chuckled, “They’ll be no escape tonight for you lot.” and spat into the cage before turning to the grinning greenskins. "Get me that other cage, you maggots!"
2:
The room was silent. Slowly, the circle of powdered bone on the floor began to glow. The rat in the center of the circle squeaked loudly as the light grew brighter. The fur on the rats back grew longer before bursting into writhing flames, engulfing its whole body. The fire quickly extinguished to reveal a strange six-limbed creature that changed colour every second.
“Well done, my apprentice.” said the old sorcerer to the dwarf next to him, tapping a staff against his stone foot. "This daemon looks very interesting. Now we can proceed onto the binding ritual."
3:
The plain was cool in the evening light; a breeze blew dust in large swirls around his feet. Zharrgred frowned, “The test will proceed as planned.”. His underling, a Chaos Dwarf twenty-years his junior, spluttered “But sir, if the wind increases just a little…” “As planned!” Zharrgred spat back. He didn’t like it either, but the deadline meant that he needed results before tomorrow morning. This test would make or break him, a full engineering commission or being kicked back down to slave control. The mere thought of returning to the stench from the slave pits made him shudder. His voice crackled with apprehension, "Light the fuse."
4:
Ratgob left the tent with his dagger drawn. There were too many other Hobgoblins out there who would want a piece of him before sun-up. The camp was reassuring empty as he hurried to find somewhere to hide his winnings. It wouldn’t be long before word spread. He could hear the sore losers in the distance, already leaving the tent, but they were out of luck to see where he went. No revenge would be forthcoming the following day, as long as he could get to the Orc encampment and hire some protection. At least you could trust some of them a bit and they let you know before they hit you, rather than a knife in the back. With his stash of gold and gems safely concealed under a tree root, he snuck back through the camp, hoping his wolf hadn’t been stolen in the meantime. It had been.