astenvale monastery

Pale pink, sugary sweetness dripped down her red-stained fingers onto the thick wooden cutting board. A tessellation of juice and white and black seeds were pushed to the side with the blade of a sharp knife. Long, green smiles with stretches of darker stripes rippling through fleshless slices...

Ah, drills. He heard many gripes about them in hushed voices, but Nacht was actually thankful for them. However high stakes, life at the monastery could seem almost idyllic at times, so much so that it was easy to relax and just do nothing every so often. At least, he assumed it would be, but...

Today was the beginning of the rest of her life. How grandiose of a statement for how little fanfare greeted the start of it; the day's idle humming of birdcall hardly did justice to the tumultuous years leading to her arrival at the gates of the Astenvale Monastery. The abode of misfits and...

Nacht woke up with a fever and generally felt like shit. He looked around before realizing that the entire room was unnaturally dark. Barely mustering the strength to hold up his hand, he attempted to absorb in the darkness and quickly lost focus, becoming queasy and gagging. However bad his...

Armed with a veritable pile of snacks, Nacht was determined to spend his class off training Shade to do…something. Actually, he had just the thing to try to make a trick. See, the only thing he had ever been able to notice Shade hated was a hand slowly moving to pet her. This lead to a bat meant...

Syr Theros stood at a corner of Sanctum Ops, a bound ledger filled with pages of information on their crop of squires. Details on their studies and mannerisms. The sorts of things needed when considering assignments. Quests. Missions. Bebin hated it. Flipped through the papers all the same...

Nacht clambered down the tree he was hiding in, his dark aura toning down the light from the sun and making the rays simply irritating as opposed to unbearable. As he did, he wondered why he was there in the middle of the woods in the first place. As a person that had to be somewhat shrouded in...

Early spring Down in the bowels of the Knoll, in the kitchens after the morning rush, suds bubbled and popped and gathered about in little clusters of froth amidst a washbin. Green hands worked a bristly scrub with and a splash. The drainage was corked, and Roki was glad the soap was scented...

Nightmares of nightmares. In the shelter of darkness, horrors aplenty be conjured and remembered. A battlefield, omens of impending loss, an eldritch monster come forth from sepulcher or woodland. A red glow. Terror, imposed, so vivid the impression that there was no mistaking it for mere...

Roki was busy packing his things. His brow knit with frustration as he shoved what little knick-knacks and garments he could into his ruck. "It'll be alright, Roki, you... I mean, it's just a month!" Lemock tried to console his bunkmate. Roki but grumbled, going on with his furious packing...

art by Kris Kukko Winter of 373 Astenvale Monastery, Within the Valen Wilds In the Sanctum of Operations "I understand your misgivings, Syr Damir, but Lord Dunstable would have been left in the wind had we sent none to support," Helena's eyes were trained on the map of the Valen before them...

Clack. Clack. Clack. Fragment by fragment, In little puffs of dust, stone gave way from before the chisel. Slowly, a yet another block would have its facing, ready for when the weather permitted building again in the Spring. With the first snow having arrived only a couple weeks ago, it’d be...

A storm blustered, inside and out. But the cool drops of rain that soaked clothes, and clung to curled tresses and warm skin did help damp the fire in her belly. A thing that twisted and turned with doubts, even as the sound of all the cold shower about her filled her ears. What a fool she...

A glance left, a glance right. A long ear bobbed, a shortened ear twitched. No one in sight. No one he could hear. He blinked, felt his cheeks full with blood. Felt his head hot and abuzz. Stomach tight and giddy with the tension of a nervous laugh. Suppressed it to a pleased little smile...

“ Shit! “ A hiss, immediately followed by a wooden clatter, something heavy playing the yet exposed roof slats like a xylophone. The noise ended into a thunk and shift of dry grass, but neither was loud enough to announce a person having fallen. Aarno merely glanced past his shoulder, getting...

The Knoll was quiet this time of night. A place where knights and squires went to unwind and share tall tales, the Knoll was one of Astenvale's busiest locales. During breakfast, lunchtime and dinner, at least. Now, though, the hour of the owl was upon them. How lonely it felt. It ain't all...

Osuin had just finished his lunch at the mess hall, consisting of simple meat and potato stew. It was a simple meal composed of the leftovers of yesterday’s dinner – and was just as bland, to boot. Osuin was prepared as ever for that, with an addition of spices that helped with the taste of the...

THE BLIGHT DRINKER. A SWORD MADE TO CUT THE ROOTS OF GODS. LONG HAVE YOU SUPPED ON THE CORRUPTION OF THIS LAND, AND WAITED FOR ME. Astenvale Monastery was quiet, the night air flat, Dusk knights making their rounds on patrol as the Dawn rested. Below the dewy earth, within the guarded...

The trees were shaking in the sturdy wind, the pattern of sunlight on the narrow path tossing and turning, disrupted. Above, great old branches whipped against one another in a loud crackle and pop, drowning out voices and footsteps. They’d taken this way, straying from the paved paths of the...

It was a fine day at the Astenvale Monastery and Tulgan had whiled away the morning busying himself with his studies in the Pursuit of Life. Although he had only taken his oath to become a knight sworn no more than two years ago, he was determined to become a Knight Pursuant before too many more...