Crimson Quill Quarterly

Glamr: Damir Salkkovic - Aided by a cunning mercenary and a mysterious seer, a young warrior seeks revenge against the outlaw who destroyed his village. But the hunt leads to a devastating revelation about himself, forcing him to decide what it means to be human. The Great Beast of Kalthesk: Andrew Milbourne - A terrible beast has made its lair atop the mountain of Kalthesk and placed a horrible curse upon the city of Derora. No man has seen the monster and lived, save for the lecherous priests who worship it. Now Derora must sacrifice its daughters to sate the monster’s hunger and stave off its wrath. Eager for fresh adventure, the mighty barbarian Thelreif resolves to slay the creature and rescue the innocent maidens…only to discover that things are not as they appear, and the Great Beast of Kalthesk is closer than anyone dared imagine. Ashes for the Hollow King: Rod A. White - Ashes for the Hollow King is a dark fantasy horror tale of cursed sovereignty and inescapable legacy, following Kevaran, the last Reaver tasked with ending a king who will not stay dead. Each night, the burned monarch rises, not in rage but in grim inevitability, drawing Kevaran into a confrontation that shatters his understanding of death, power, and purpose. The Voice of the River: Rab Foster - Halym believes he’s found peace as a ferryman in a bucolic river valley after a long and bloody career as a soldier. “Why,” he muses, “would trouble come here?” But one day trouble arrives in a particularly evil form and, to thwart it, he needs not only to rediscover his old, soldiering skills but to enlist the help of the most sinister inhabitant of the river. The Rot Eater: Chris W. McGuinness - In a small, out of the way village, a young prepares to become an apprentice to the Rot Eater, a mysterious old man who can see the future and talk to the dead using a strange, disgusting ritual. The Cup Runneth Wehrza: John Gorman - Maps, Magic, and Mayhem. Argol of Esre gets more than he bargains for when he steals an old map. The rogue is hellbent on finding a golden goblet buried in King Bel Ahm Haneradi’s tomb, but when he arrives at the crypt, he meets the shapeshifting wizard, Wehrza, who seems to spawn trouble. Can the pair pool their resources to overcome the perils of their adventure, or will they perish out on the road? A classic Sword & Sorcery tale for those who dig Fritz Leiber and Karl Edward Wagner. The Headhunter of Taltopek: Gregory Mele - Taltopek would be just another forgotten village in the Imperial heartland, were it not for both its location near an important pilgrimage site and the growing number of pilgrims whose headless corpses are found lying on the road. No one is sure if bandits or demons are the culprit, but the townsfolks turn to Khalkeos of Punumket, a sorcerer-inquisitor of the Refulgent Order of the Smoking Mirror to find out!