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THE WORLD OF HOLDER STONE
Post-apocalyptic, in the sense that the world has ended. California has all but fallen into the sea, while a new seven-island Archipelago springs up and into life just past the sunset. These are the myths of an early era, 100 years after the jackpot Fall, employing a folkloric, ?Tall Tale? rhythm.

Holder Stone is one of these Tall Tales, a far-walking ass-kicking avatar of Stone who never saw a villain or a boor she didn?t teach a lesson. She drinks hard, laughs harder, and seems impossible to embarrass or frighten.

Holder and her home hearth comprise four to seven wandering scavengers and a farm which includes one donkey, Balaam, who speaks rarely if at all.

The home hearth sits on a fertile piece of land in the middle of Mainland, bordered on the east by lands once known as Arizona, Nevada and Oregon and by the Risen Seas to the west.

The former Arizona is currently said to be occupied by slave trader colonies, called ?skinwalkers? and sometimes ?skindancers? for the way they can change shape. But it?s also said that they?re a myth to scare babies with; there is not presently a known answer to this conundrum.

Not much is known about the areas further northwest, where mutation has created mysterious, untraversable forest growth.

To the west is the Risen Sea, and not far past that the Archipelago: seven independent Lands whose leaders squabble for power and resources by day while playing deadly games of cloak and dagger at night. The seven Lands are to be named as Holder experiences them so don?t worry about that yet. Just know they run from the Dark Ages to steampunk to 1776 to cyberpunk.

HOLDER STONE
Holder Stone is a millennia-old healer, shapeshifter and vicious assassin who lives peacefully alongside the younger others in her home hearth. They?re aware of her as a sort of native spirit but give her all the distance she could want. In return, she protects them and cares for their wounds. She is expert in the body, molding and shaping flesh as easily as kneading bread.

Holder?s time is spent on improving infrastructure ? first with her experiments on Mainland as she tries to reconstruct life a century prior, later with her futile attempts to democratize one island?s technological advances ? but eventually she?ll bring light, power and connection to all seven lands of the Archipelago.

In the early stories especially, we can usually find her working on a community project. But when Holder hears a story of a woman in trouble, or any cruelty within a day?s ride, she undertakes to solve the problem. She?s as fast and as strong as she wants to be, full of magic and wisdom, and not without mercy? Or any aversion to killing the offenders to accomplish the mission.

Of all the jobs she?s held, ?Goddess? was the one Holder liked best, and that?s really the hole she?s looking to fill. There is some ambiguity in the way Holder feels, exactly, but it seems pretty obvious that she wants to be a goddess again ? and that she?s accomplishing it through her works this time. The tragedy of this first 12-story cycle is that she almost achieves divinity again? until that last-minute betrayal by her closest ally.

STORY GUIDE
The stories are meant to be read at the moment of the Full Moon each month, and so there are twelve chapters to this first book in the Holder Stone saga. Their working breakdowns are here.
1. Howl Wolf Moon
01/25/24 1154h

?Some say Holder Stone rode her donkey right up to the gates of the skinwalker city, callin? LET ME IN with a holler so loud it shook the walls ?til they fell apart. Others say she got in by night thanks to her old friend the Moon, hiding her scarred and beautiful face. But honey, truth is she came to the gate and said her name, all tall and proud like always, and that vermin said they?d have a turn with her if she didn?t mind. Holder Stone did not mind ? just asked to take on all of them at once, to save time. And that?s the truth. Holder Stone went right up to those walls and she did shake them down. She whipped ?em so bad they tied their women up tighter once she left, promising to return and finish the job.?

To help rescue a woman in chains, Holder Stone must infiltrate a community of skinwalkers on the border with what was once Arizona. Was the woman ever real, or was this a trap to get Holder Stone out of the way? She?s shocked by the luxury and technology of the skinwalkers, and wonders how long it will be until they attack her Mainland communities. Things get more dangerous when she accidentally sees a group of Wives being mistreated. Will she be able to hold her tongue? Or will she be chased out of town for trying to protect their women and herself? You already know the answer to that. But after a short visit to the mountains to salve hurt feelings, Holder returns in man?s form ? and receives a wildly warmer welcome this time. He?s able to infiltrate and arrange a transfer of Wives that includes his bounty, but things go sideways when a contact gets cold feet and turns on him. Using his wits instead of power is a dreadful drain, but after all ? it?s a muscle he tends to neglect once he?s pissed.

2. Snow Drop Moon
02/24/24 0630h

?Holder Stone and her donkey Balaam didn?t need to hear more about a child-selling dead-drop a few hundred miles from the home hearth before settin? forth on that road right into the Sun. And she met a man who walked in fire, a woman who walked in water, and a woman who sang the wind. And she met the Bard of the Doom, although she didn?t know that yet and neither did he. He was just her friend Sam in those days, the nice man she met on the road. Sam with his one eye the color of the sand, and the other the sea. Sam, her friend ? not yet the man who?d help her end the world.?

Holder learns of a child-trafficking dead-drop a few hundred miles away from her home hearth. She sets out on her donkey Balaam and in a stylish picaresque meets a cast of unique characters, many of whom will return ? and one who (unwittingly?) shares a twisted destiny with Holder herself. Also contains a structural nod to the nested, discursive Canterbury Tales. The people Holder meets have their own stories to tell, ranging from headscratchers to the mythopoeic and so on ? some even containing storytellers with their own agendas, telling their own stories...

3. Old Crow Moon
03/25/24 0200h

?Well Holder Stone?s no more likely to get out of bed than her donkey Balaam will be speaking any time soon, at least where anybody else can hear. She drank down the Moon last night and the girl can?t help herself now, much less anyone else. But the Bard of Doom has come a-ridin? in and this is the tale he tells: A group of skinwalker Wives in former Arizona are about to get themselves slaughtered. Now Holder?s riding her donkey East once again to help women who can?t help themselves. And this time, she?s bringing backup. What was a training mission?s about to go live fire, and the Bard has nothing to lose ? and everything to prove.?

Miserably hung over after a friend?s birthday party, Holder must pull herself together when a raggedy messenger arrives. The skinwalker Wives are about to start a dangerous war in their walled city ? one they have no chance of surviving. Holder and the Bard set out to turn these women into soldiers, in the hopes that they can turn the tide on their own. Along the way much is revealed about the Bard, about Holder?s biography, and exactly what it is to be Stone. When they arrive, the Wives have already begun the War: what was a training mission goes live-fire, calling on the best of Holder and Bard themselves.

4. Great Pink Moon
04/23/24 1849h

?Love can make a man or a woman do anything at all. Bend a star, run to the Sea and back, teach a dog to read. But it can grow bad things too, like sadness and anger and pain. Love can do anything at all, it can power any engine. But for one unlucky pair out in the wilds of the Archipelago?s southernmost tip, love has driven at least one of them quite mad? And when Holder steps into this deadly dance, she finds herself in worse danger than ever before.?

Once again riding solo, Holder heads to the Western Archipelago looking for something he can?t name. While it feels self-indulgent at first, he quickly finds himself in the middle of an electrifying game of cat and mouse ? with no way to figure out which is which! Holder?s not against hard work, or danger, but he doesn?t like bullies: Someone will pay. What was professional became personal, Holder is now playing two roles in this bizarre drama, and now it?s something a lot bigger even than that: Holder realizes she?s in over her head and must make a blind trust fall, hoping that she?s chosen the correct Mouse. Because if this femme fatale lets her fall, it?ll be the last thing she sees.

5. Gunflower Moon
05/23/24 0853h
Holder and Balaam make it to the next island, a media-obsessed paradise the Bard would simply love. But there?s a dark underbelly to this port town, and a silent killer stalks its streets. He?s killing women in increasingly brutal ways, and the newscasts are eating it up ? which means for Holder Stone, we?ve got two separate problems. First she shapeshifts through the night, trying to get herself attacked and acting more and more desperately out of control. And when that doesn?t work, she goes on the hunt?
6. Strawberry Moonshine
06/21/24 2008h
As CEO of Holderstone LLC, Noel Shorted is a fan of giving the people what they need, not just what they want. He projects a classic luxury that most of his viewers and shareholders will never understand? But away from the office, she?s in way worse shape: Holder Stone is hiding out ? and running out of time. She?ll have to use Noel ? among several other old identities ? to solve her murder before it comes to pass. But she?s never done so many overall reskins in this short amount of time, and they say the rush of memories and sensations when you fully change form can be addicting?
7. Buck Hart Moon
07/21/24 0517h
When she has trouble finding work on her next island, Holder joins forces with the Bard to relearn her power and become Stone again. The Bard is convinced it?s because she spends too much time as a woman, but as she?s particularly sensitive to male magic, even in his own male form, she can feel this island is full of it? And sick with it. As part of a not-entirely-voluntary initiation ritual, Holder accepts the worm into himself and immediately becomes toxic. He knows there?s something wrong, but he can?t figure out how to fight it ? or even really want to. It?s up to the Bard to save Holder Stone from himself this Buck Hart Moon, and maybe save a whole culture in the process.
8. Red Corn Moon
08/19/24 1326h
Alone again, Holder and Balaam take a few weeks off to travel the mainland. Holder meets a mesmerizing woman on her trip and remembers when she last allowed herself any kind of romance. There?s an energy with the Bard but not necessarily the kind she needs, for example, but in any case here she is, laughing like a schoolgirl... They soon begin a tentative affair, unsure of every footstep. But a chance meeting with an old friend reveals a side to the bewitching woman that Holder?s unprepared for. A late-night fight escalates, masks drop on both sides, and Holder rides like the wind, back to the Archipelago ? with a Wendigo in her wake!
9. Harvest Moondance
09/17/24 2134h
Nobody remembers when Holder Stone was born. It was so long ago nobody human ever could have. Witch, goddess, man, woman, liar, monk and squire are just a few of the jobs she?s had over the millennia. Mostly she?s learned to use her power to protect her town, and any women that may need her... These oldest memories are stirred by an inquisitive child?s visit to the House of Stone, who quickly falls into danger once they?ve made their impact on Holder. The displaced men of one skinwalkers tribe are back to their old ways: specifically, kidnapping. What begins as a fairly typical Holder tale goes completely sideways, and Holder is captured.
10. Lone Hunter?s Moon
10/17/24 0626h
Fair play, that?s what Holder Stone thinks about her situation: Behind enemy lines, caught changing shape, tied up in a stinking hovel. Her worst nightmare ? that the Bard would somehow come and save her ? is starting to look like a reasonable alternative to whatever cruelty the skinwalkers have on their agenda. And of course, that?s exactly what happens ? just as she?s face-to-tip with a very big knife ? for about ten minutes until his crowing gets them chased and they end up locked in a room with no way out ? or in. Now it?s a twisted game of Battleship with their captors, as the skinwalkers slowly realize how much of their troubles and inconveniences and cataclysms can be laid at her door. Holder and the Bard barely escape with their lives, but Balaam dies in the chase.
11. Frost Fall Moon
11/15/24 1528h
Grieving her beloved donkey and nursing rage at her loss to the skinwalkers, Holder is in no mood for another problem. But almost immediately, one walks in the door: A stoic, bright girl who is too young to buy a gun but wants someone killed. In just this one moonlit night they?ll explore their town, nearly get murdered by skinwalker spies, and meet up with the worst of Holder?s contacts with Holder out of costume. She can?t change shape in front of everybody but she?s unable to leave the girl alone with them: that thing with the fox and goose and grain. In the end, Holder does a very Holder thing which is to convince everyone she?s a Goddess and then form a Crusade to take on the skinwalkers.
12. A Long Night?s Moon
12/15/24 0302h
The war comes to an end with some decisive victories, and Holder is able to get the infrastructure on the mainland working again. She knows it?s her duty to visit and rehabilitate the Archipelago next, but she?s saddled with thoughts of Balaam and mourning the life she dreamed of with her wendigo lover. When the Bard mysteriously reappears in her life, she takes it as a sign and invites him on the peaceful journey. But when they reach the shore, a nasty little spell-song built on prophecies of their union triggers, and they are both swept away in a deluge as kaiju erupt from their ocean homes and the world starts ending, all over again. The bulk of this story, as they clean up this mess, turns on finding out the Bard knew of this possible prophecy/spell, and just wanted to see what would happen. Holder swears vengeance on him for the lives and homes lost and he disappears, dejected. The next morning, just as the sun is peeking up, Holder sets out to walk the Archipelago on foot.

HOLDER STONE
STORY BREAKDOWNS

The stories are meant to be read at the moment of the Full Moon each month,
and so there are twelve chapters to this first book in the Holder Stone saga.
(All times Central US)

1. Howl Wolf Moon
01/25/24 1154h

1. Setup. Home hearth ways, the animals and Balaam, who rarely talks. They?re an interesting tribe, an interesting group of loosely associated wanderers. To gain entry into a hearth home takes a whole vetting process, but after that, you have access to their house or houses whenever you need shelter. Rents are figured on quarter days but due on arrival, and careful books are kept to make sure you get in the black when you arrive. These funds ? and the housekeeps they employ, a role the members themselves take on a rota, in some homes ? keep the hearth home clean, stocked and powered year-round.

And then there?s Holder Stone, up on the high hill. Something between swamp witch and uncanny goddess, house mother and stern truth-teller, but always in the distance, ready to come when called upon or needed. Just give a whistle and she?ll ride up on her swift donkey, whom it?s said can talk, but won?t if there are people around. Holder?s proud of her rambunctious kin and loves healing their scrapes, and when she?s gone they worry about her. But she seems pretty much indestructible, she?s fought on their personal behalf more than once, so they don?t worry too much. Each night one of them hangs a lantern on her hut to welcome her home.

2. Now do Holder from her own perspective: what she does, what she?s done in the past, what her power is. She is a shapeshifter, healer and assassin. Messenger arrives: To help rescue a woman in chains, Holder Stone must travel to the border with what was once Arizona?

3. And infiltrate a community of skinwalkers. She?s shocked by the luxury and technology of the skinwalkers, and wonders how long it will be until they attack her Mainland communities.

4. Things get more dangerous when she accidentally sees a group of Wives being mistreated. Was the woman ever real, or was this a trap to get Holder out of the way? Will she be able to hold her tongue? Be chased out of town for trying to protect their women and herself?
You already know the answer to that.

5. After a short visit to the mountains to salve hurt feelings, Holder returns in man?s form ? and receives a wildly warmer welcome this time.

6. He?s able to infiltrate and arrange a transfer of Wives out of Old Arizona that includes his bounty, but

7. things go sideways when a contact gets cold feet and turns on him. Using his wits instead of power is a dreadful drain, but after all ? it?s a muscle he tends to neglect once he?s pissed.

8. Holder and Balaam return to the home hearth and lantern, and bed down for the night, exhausted.

2. Snow Drop Moon
02/24/24 0630h

Holder learns of a child-trafficking dead-drop a few hundred miles away from her home hearth.
She sets out on her donkey Balaam and in a stylish picaresque meets a cast of unique characters, many of whom will return ? and one who (unwittingly?) shares a twisted destiny with Holder herself.
Also contains a clear structural nod to the nested, discursive Canterbury Tales. The people Holder meets have their own stories to tell, ranging from headscratchers to the mythopoeic and so on ? some even containing storytellers with their own agendas, telling their own stories...

Holder meets four strangers on her journey, each of whom tell three stories in a roundabout.

Bard 1 - bad sensation?feeling in motion: A man afraid of ghosts falls in love with one.
The beloved ghost tells a story about a woman who was murdered here.
F 2 - bad thinking?intuition in motion: A woman?s memory palace falls apart at work.
Her boss remembers a time she saved the day in a particularly professional way.
F 3 - bad feeling?sensation in motion: An angry man finds solace in physical bondage.
M 4 - bad intuition?thinking in motion: A psychic woman is sent images of her own death.
Each photo is accompanied by a Softer Earth-style poetic threat.
Bard 5 - feeling in motion: A man must choose between his lover or the last known unicorn.
He tells the story of the last person to see the unicorn, before they see her.
F 6 - sensation in motion: A kind woman develops a destructive physical power.
She tells her story to the person she?s fighting back against.
Her enemy tells her a nearly opposite story about the same event, at which
Their coworker told a story about someone who was writing
A story about an amnesiac girl and a girl tattooed all over.
The writer hates his work and throws it out, but
The enemy coworker grabs it out of the trash and loves it, which
Causes our heroine to reconsider hurting them, even after everything.
M 7 - thinking in motion: A foolish man eats an entire library and gains the Sight.
Multiple quotations from unwritten books are scattered around the text.
F 8 - intuition in motion: A lonely woman calls forth a friendly pet dog from dreams.
The dog, who can talk among other things, tells of his first day in the world.
F 9 - intuition in motion?good feeling: A father creates a world-class wonder in his grief.
M 10 - sensation in motion?good thinking: A woman so good at yoga she turns invisible.
All the little lives and stories she spies upon.
F 11 - thinking in motion?good sensation: A cold man meets a warm woman.
This is presented as a tale twice-told, overheard by a long-ago wisewoman who sounds a lot like Holder Stone?
Bard 12 - feeling in motion?good intuition: A once-mute woman, inspired to sing at soldiers.
She gets the soldiers to come out with some of the facts of their lives.
One soldier sings a story about a story he heard about once.
Another soldier sings about home and his home hearth, or whatever he calls it.
Finally the soldiers? Queen approaches and commands the army to destroy her.
They rebel, singing in her name, but the mute shows mercy to the Queen: instead of taking her head, our girl just takes the crown and puts it on her own.

Who are the four strangers? One is the Bard (both sand and the sea) and then two women, one who?s associated with the wind and who doesn?t like her; the other has water witch vibes and is transfixed by her. She?ll be a friend and ally in the trials to come. There?s also an interesting Intuitive man with fire energy, with whom she shares a mutual disinterest at this time. All four of them we?ll see again, in wildly different circumstances.

3. Old Crow Moon
03/25/24 0200h

?Well Holder Stone?s no more likely to get out of bed than her donkey Balaam will be speaking any time soon, at least where anybody else can hear. She drank down the Moon last night and the girl can?t help herself now, much less anyone else. But the Bard of Doom has come a-ridin? in and this is the tale he tells: A group of Skinwalker Wives in former Arizona are about to get themselves slaughtered. Now she?s riding her donkey East once again, trying to help women who can?t help themselves. And this time, she?s bringing backup. What was a training mission?s about to go live fire, and the Bard has nothing to lose ? and everything to prove.?

1. Miserably hung over after a friend?s birthday party,
2. Holder must pull herself together when a raggedy messenger (of the Wind?) arrives.
3. The skinwalker Wives are about to start a dangerous war in their walled city ? one they have no chance of surviving.
4. Holder and the Bard set out to turn these women into soldiers, in the hopes that they can turn the tide on their own.
5. Along the way much is revealed about the Bard, about Holder?s biography, and exactly what it is to be Stone.
6. When they arrive, the Wives have already begun the War:
7. what was a training mission goes live-fire,
8. calling on the best of Holder and Bard themselves.

4. Great Pink Moon
04/23/24 1849h

?Love can make a person do anything at all. Bend a star, run to the Sea and back, teach a dog to read. But it can grow bad things too, like sadness and anger and pain. Love can do anything at all; it can power any engine. And for an unlucky pair lost in the wilds of the Archipelago?s southernmost tip, love will drive at least one of them mad? And when Holder steps into this deadly dance, she finds herself in worse danger than ever before.?

1. Once again riding solo, Holder heads to the Western Archipelago looking for something he can?t name.
2. While it feels self-indulgent at first, he quickly finds himself in the middle of an electrifying game of cat and mouse ? with no way to figure out which is which!
3. Holder?s not against hard work, or danger, but he doesn?t like bullies: Someone will pay.
4. What was professional became personal,
5. Holder is now playing two roles in this bizarre drama,
6. Holder realizes she?s in over her head and must make a blind trust fall, hoping that she?s chosen the correct Mouse.
7. Because if this femme fatale lets her fall, it?ll be the last thing she sees.
8. Holder decides to stay on the Archipelago, and we may notice she?s female in the end.

5. Gunflower Moon
05/23/24 0853h

?Holder Stone and her donkey Balaam find a strange techno-paradise on the next island in their tour??

1. Holder and Balaam make it to the next island,
2. a media-obsessed neon paradise the Bard would simply love.
3. But there?s a dark underbelly to this port town, and a silent killer stalks its streets. He?s killing women in increasingly brutal ways, and the newscasts are eating it up ? which means for Holder Stone, we?ve got two separate problems.
4. First she shapeshifts through the night, trying to get herself attacked
5. and acting more and more desperately out of control.
6. And when that doesn?t work, she goes on the hunt?
7. She tracks the killer to his lair for a little chat before she kills him ruthlessly but painlessly.
8. Bedding down for the night, readers may notice Holder making arrangements for a full reskin.

6. Strawberry Moonshine
06/21/24 2008h

?Noel Shorted, CEO of Holderstone LLC, has quite a problem on his platter??

1. As CEO of Holderstone LLC, Noel Shorted is a fan of giving the people what they need, not just what they want.
2. He projects a classic luxury that most of his viewers and shareholders will never understand?
3. But away from the office, she?s in way worse shape: Holder Stone is hiding out ? and running out of time. She?ll have to use Noel ?
4. among several
5. other old identities ? one connected with Water, who lives here ? to solve her murder
6. before it comes to pass.
7. But she?s never done so many overall reskins in this short amount of time, and they say the rush of memories and sensations when you fully change form can be addicting?
8. She is victorious, of course. And swears off full reskins for a while. If she had any friends they?d be worried about her power having limits, but she?s been on hard times before and this is certainly not them.

7. Buck Hart Moon
07/21/24 0517h

?Even Holder Stone needs a break from reuniting the Western Archipelago ? but she?s not one to rest in her stirrups, either. Her magical training with the Bard unleashes dangerous forces once Holder infiltrates a sacred society on the latest island ? with only the Bard to help her stay in control.?

1. When she has trouble finding work on her next island,
2. Holder joins forces with the Bard to relearn her power and become Stone again.
3. The Bard is convinced it?s because she spends too much time as a woman, but
4. as she?s particularly sensitive to male magic, even in his own male form, she can feel this island is full of it? And sick with it.
5. As part of a not-entirely-voluntary initiation ritual,
6. Holder accepts the worm into himself and immediately becomes toxic. He knows there?s something wrong, but he can?t figure out how to fight it ? or even really want to.
7. It?s up to the Bard to save Holder Stone from himself this Buck Hart Moon, and maybe save a whole culture in the process. This becomes much harder when they reencounter Fire from ?Snow Drop Moon,? whom they met on the road along with Wind and Water.
8. And so it comes to pass, with Holder regaining consciousness at just the right time.

8. Red Corn Moon
08/19/24 1326h

?Holder Stone has met a most bewitching woman during her ski trip across the Fifth Island. But there are secret sides to everyone, and none are born without a shadow. Holder?s oaths are put to the test in this latest tall tale about the World-Chained Goddess.?

1. Alone again, Holder and Balaam have taken a few weeks off to travel the fifth island on their journey.
2. Holder meets a mesmerizing woman on her trip and remembers when she last allowed herself any kind of romance.
3. There?s an energy with the Bard but not necessarily the kind she needs, for example, but in any case here she is, laughing like a schoolgirl...
4. They soon begin a tentative affair, unsure of every footstep.
5. But a chance meeting with an old friend reveals a side to the bewitching woman that Holder?s unprepared for.
6. A late-night fight escalates,
7. masks drop on both sides, and
8. Holder rides like the wind, back to the Archipelago ? with a Wendigo in her wake!

9. Harvest Moondance
09/17/24 2134h

?Nobody remembers when Holder Stone was born ? nobody human could. Witch, goddess, man, liar and monk are just a few of her jobs over the years. She?s not one to moonshine about the past. This changes with the visit of an inquisitive child who drives Holder to distraction and enlightenment with her nonstop questions. But eventually, she?ll be driven further ? right into a trap she can?t escape.?

1. Nobody remembers when Holder Stone was born. It was so long ago nobody human ever could have. Witch, goddess, man, woman, liar, monk and squire are just a few of the jobs she?s had over the millennia. Mostly she?s learned to use her power to protect her town, and any women that may need her...
2. These oldest memories are stirred by an inquisitive child?s visit to the House of Stone,
3. who quickly falls into danger once they?ve made their impact on Holder.
4. The displaced men of one skinwalkers tribe are back to their old ways: specifically, kidnapping. What begins as a fairly typical Holder tale ? electrifying her sixth island.
5. goes
6. completely
7. sideways,
8. and Holder is captured.

10. Lone Hunter?s Moon
10/17/24 0626h

?That old Holder Stone hasn?t gotten herself captured since the oceans were in a different place than they are now ? therefore, she has to give her captors a little credit. But when a familiar face appears, the game utterly transforms ? and the stakes couldn?t be higher??

1. Fair play, that?s what Holder Stone thinks about her situation: Behind enemy lines, caught changing shape, tied up in a stinking hovel.
2. Her worst nightmare ? that the Bard would somehow come and save her ? is starting to look like a reasonable alternative to whatever cruelty the skinwalkers have on their agenda.
3. And of course, that?s exactly what happens ? just as she?s face-to-tip with a very big knife ?
4. for about ten minutes until his crowing gets them chased
5. and they end up locked in a room with no way out ? or in.
6. Now it?s a twisted game of Battleship with their captors, as
7. the skinwalkers slowly realize how much of their troubles and inconveniences and cataclysms can be laid at her door.
8. Holder and the Bard barely escape with their lives, but Balaam dies in the chase.

11. Frost Fall Moon
11/15/24 1528h

?Holder Stone?s lost her best friend to the skinwalkers and entirely blames herself. It?s going to be quite a long journey back home, if she can survive a night full of spycraft, danger??

1. Grieving her beloved donkey and nursing rage at her loss to the skinwalkers, Holder is in no mood for another problem.
2. But almost immediately, one walks in the door: The stoic, bright girl whose questions once drove Holder crazy has aged into a young lady, still too young to buy a gun. wants someone killed.
3. In just this one moonlit night they?ll explore their town,
4. nearly get murdered by skinwalker spies, and
5. meet up with the worst of Holder?s contacts?including Fire??with Holder out of costume.
6. She can?t change shape in front of everybody but she?s unable to leave the girl alone with them: that thing with the fox and goose and grain.
7. In the end, Holder does a very Holder thing which is to convince everyone she?s a Goddess
8. and then form a Crusade to take on the skinwalkers.

12. Long Night Moon
12/15/24 0302h

?Holder Stone??

1. The war
2. comes to an end ? Wind and Water are working as lieutenants
3. with some decisive victories, and
4. Holder is able to get the infrastructure on the mainland working again. She knows it?s her duty to visit and rehabilitate the Archipelago next, but she?s saddled with thoughts of Balaam and mourning the life she dreamed of with her wendigo lover.
5. When the Bard mysteriously reappears in her life, she takes it as a sign and invites him on her peaceful journey.
6. But when they reach the shore, a nasty little spell-song built on prophecies of their union triggers, and they are both swept away in a deluge as kaiju erupt from their ocean homes and the world starts ending, all over again. The bulk of this story, as they clean up this mess, turns on finding out the Bard knew of this possible prophecy/spell, and just wanted to see what would happen.
7. Holder swears vengeance on him for the lives and homes lost and he disappears, dejected.
8. The next morning, just as the sun is peeking up, Holder sets out to walk the Archipelago on foot.