#toleuk

[thequantumlyunstableman]

Tendrils like Tree Trunks 15-21 May

Toleuk's eyes slowly opened, but only half-way. She was still very groggy. The tendrils had sucked out too much of her lifeforce. "Come on," I told her, trying to pull her up. "You have to get up. We have to get out of here."

"Huh...?" she mumbled.

"We have to go! We have to go right now!"

"Go...?"

"Yes, we nee..."

Then tendrils began to erupt from the ground! They were larger tendrils, thick like tree trunks, and they began to tear the ground beneath us apart as they bursted out into the surface. "Up! Up! Up!" I yelled at Toleuk and thankfully she started to get to her feet. "Come on! Come on!"

"I am, I am," she said. Her voice was barely more than a whisper. Her movements were almost in slow motion. I looked to the others. They weren't doing much better. Tam was trying to get Domoban to his feet. Crag had one of the deputies up, I couldn't see which. We were all so weak, but the tendrils they were going strong and the ground was being pulverized from below. It would be gone soon enough.

"We need to move," Tam said, coming toward me, holding Domoban up. "What's our plan to get out of here?"

"Our plan?" I replied.

"Yes. Where's that magician friend of yours? Or Kink? Do you have a transport?"

"Are you kidding me?" I said. "We have a gerbil, that's it."

"A gerbil?" Tam growled. "You came to rescue me with a gerbil!?"

"It's a really large gerbil." I pointed over to where the Sheriff amidst the tree trunk tendrils had crawled over to Gnomenasher.

"Oh, great another thing we have to carry!"

"We need to go!" Crag yelled, two deputies leaning on him. "We have to get out of this cave."

"I don't know if climbing is going to be enough"

"There has to be somewhere on this island that is safe."

"I doubt that," Tam said. "I don't think this is an island at all."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Crag asked.

"It means," Tam said, "that I'm pretty sure that this creature is actually the entire island."

to be continued next week

or everyday on @QuantumUnstable

[thequantumlyunstableman]

The Floating Island 23-29 Jan

"We have to run!" one of the deputies exclaimed. "Swim. Whatever. We have to go now!"

"No," the Sheriff told him. "If it's going to attack us, it's going to attack us. We can't outswim whatever that is. We need to stand as one to fight it."

"But we can't stand," Toleuk said. "We're stuck in the ocean and the ground is far beneath us."

The Sheriff gave her a side eye that would have been far more effective if we weren't all be splashed by giant waves.

As it got closer and closer, it got bigger and bigger. Escaping it seemed more and more impossible. It wasn't a single rowboat that we could separate and stay away from. It was...it was...an island? A floating...island?

The Sheriff began to swim toward it. There was a small rocky outcropping before you reached the beach. The sheriff climbed it. When he reached the beach, he sat down and waved toward us. "Come on," he said. We needed no more encouragement.

We all began swimming toward the floating island, but I was quickly caught in the wake of the trolls, pushed back and forth. They were all bigger and stronger and I could not compete against the length of their strokes. I could barely stay afloat against their wake. I almost drowned again as the swam past me.

I finally was able to resurface as they trolls began to climb onto the floating island. I watched them as I caught my breath. They climbed up it with ease, just a few handholds and they were onto the island.

I swam over as the last one was climbing up. I looked up at the island. From down here, it looked a lot higher. I was tired and my arms were fatigued, but I started climbing anyway. One hand on top of the other. I pulled as hard as I could. But I was tired and my feet couldn't find any purchase, not with the waves crashing down on me. I didn't think I was going to make it.

And then I saw a massive hand appear in my line of sight. I looked up at Toleuk leaning down above me. "Come on, little guy. Let me help."

to be continued next week

or everyday on @QuantumUnstable

[thequantumlyunstableman]

So Many Holes to Choose 2-8 Jan

"More than one!?" a farmer exclaimed. "How will we know which one will take us home?"

"There's really only one way to find out," the Sheriff replied.

"We've got to try them all?" Toleuk asked.

"No," I said. "I've got to try them all. My friends are at the ends of the others. The rest of you just have to wait for me to come back. Either I'll have returned to the bar and I'll come back immediately or I won't have."

"And I'm just supposed to let you do all of that?" the sheriff asked. "You could be jumping off to your death."

"Maybe, but you've got more than a dozen people to worry about. You can't abandon them."

"That's why Darmuk invented deputies."

"And we're supposed to just let you go all by yourself?" Toleuk said. "We're your deputies, sir. It's our job to protect you."

"No, Toleuk," he said. "It's your job to do what I say and, yes, a lot of times that's doing the dangerous stuff. But more often, it's doing the stuff I don't want to do. But when it's something that needs to be done, well, that's when I have to do it."

"Sheriff," said another of the deputies, "we can't just let you go alone."

"Don't worry I'll be going with this human. And I'll be taking Gnomenasher with me."

"No offense to anyone, but neither of them are trained to help you out. You need a deputy."

"Or two," Toleuk added.

"Fine," the Sheriff conceded, whoever wants to come with us can come with us, but atleast 2 deputies are staying behind to watch the civilians." After three deputies volunteered to stay, the sheriff said, "Anymore questions or are we finally ready to get moving?"

"Let's get moving," I said. "Every second we wait..."

"Agreed. You want to take the lead or should I?"

"I think it should be me. Because if the first thing they see is you suddenly appearing..."

"Fair enough," the Sheriff admitted. "Then go on ahead. We'll be right behind you," the sheriff said. "Do your best not to die before we get there."

"I'll do my best." I jumped randomly through a portal because it didn't really matter which one I chose at that point. I just hoped it led me to my friends.

to be continued next week

or everyday on @QuantumUnstable