Community

Or more like, letters from the future. I hope you all enjoyed the in character updates during the campaign! WE FUNDED!!! And hit some stretch / community goals to boot. I’m working with BackerKit to figure out how to send the survey to get your rewards, which is much more involved and confusing than I first imagined. So sorry that is taking so long to send. Also, my partner Shiloh will be sending out the cross collab reward on my behalf so don’t worry when it’s not in your package! More updates soon, including a date for a livestream! And since the carnies won the trivia challenge, I’ll have something special for you all soon as well.

Time is of the essence, matron, so I’ll make this message quick! Your gold was safely delivered via portal, giving me the resources to survive in Crownhill. For that, I am most grateful.

I will host a magic lesson, as you commanded, once I am home. And yes, yes, I give you permission to record it too.

I’ve been in touch with a fellow traveler, Shiloh Walker, who will share her most popular assassin manual with our coven and any new recruits before I’m scheduled to return home five days from now! *** (Current backers and backers within the final week will get a FREE eBook). It is always a pleasure to support other Sisters of the Sword.

Mark my words, matron, Jacob Mosley will be in his grave before midnight strikes and this ghost town will be freed.

For now, I lie in wait for the opportune hour one week from today. Until then, wait for me.

Your Faithful Servant,

Nicolette

A week in the White City, but I’m no closer to rescuing Nicolette. Thankfully, Wolfgang and his men were able to secure some extra firepower for me before I enter the vampire’s blood den. But if I can get more… maybe Webster’s head can be skewered on a pike sooner rather than later.

In the meantime, Ms. Button has brought me my target’s suitcase. It’s filled with some rather… peculiar items, and many volumes of literature. Some more entertaining than others. Most with a hint of romance, and all featuring their fair share of action and adventure.

I’ve thumbed through them for clues, and must say Ryan’s spectacular tale of time traveling to the Middle Ages kept me entertained. Brown’s grotesque horror was almost as thrilling as slaying real monsters, and a much safer thrill.

Sheng is foreign born, but his artwork delights, a dark fantasy filled with maidens and magic I would have killed for as a boy. Finally a heart-pounding romance featuring gangs and werewolves. This one was more to Nicolette’s taste, I reckon, but gave me insight into her desires.

The final item in the suitcase was the most baffling of them all. A metallic feather 🪶 bookmark left at the scene of the crime. A distraction or a clue? I would think it belonged to Nicolette, but Button doesn’t recognize it. Her whole disappearance is a mystery yet to be unraveled. For now, I’ll keep the bookmark and all her possessions handy, and have a werewolf track her scent.

(Backers OR followers who answer all the polls correctly between now and the end of the campaign will enter a raffle to win a metallic feather bookmark created by my collab-partner! Are you Team Carnie or Automaton? The winning team at the end of the campaign will also get a secret special perk!)

I’ve arrived. If I’ll survive is yet to be determined. 

Thankfully, my smugglers got what I needed just in time. But it’s only enough to find my target, not carry out my secret mission—eradicating the vampires too far gone to be tamed, under the control of R. W. Webster and his demented carnies.

For that, I’ll have to go underground, and work my connections.

But Chicago isn’t too bad, I suppose, despite the roving werewolf gangs, blood-drunk vampire junkies, and other oddities on the streets.

And while I don’t trust little Ms. Button, the freakshow’s leader, she’s been more helpful than I imagined she’d be.

She’s small in stature, but has a big heart. Button’s also a surprisingly talented artist, as well. She’s provided a sketch of Nicolette that has proven very helpful.

Let’s just hope I get to her before Roadkill kills her first.