Showing results by author "Terry W Ervin II" in All Categories

Glenn, a college sophomore, has a Sociology 102 paper that requires spending time with an unfamiliar group or culture. Luckily, two hot girls from his class have the same idea: Attend the university’s game club to get material for their papers. A creepy game moderator shows up, ready to start a game of Monsters, Maces and Magic. Glenn doesn’t fret over the GM’s disturbing vibe, figuring it’ll lead to potential fodder for his paper. Moments after rolling up his character and beginning the adventure, Glenn, his two classmates, and three other players are drawn into the game - literally.

Jack Fairbanks made it through the initial wave of attacks, but now the Mawks have seeded the Earth with dozers and crawlers, tracking beasts that crave human flesh and are bent on hunting the remnants of humankind to extinction. Joined by Lucia, a hardened urban survivor, Jack finds himself caught up in a secret plan to turn the course of the invasion. Can a college sophomore and a ragtag force of soldiers survive when the Mawks descend from orbit and begin their final assault?

Young Enchantress Thereese lays stricken and silent, her vital essence sapped by the Shard Staff, edging ever closer toward death. Supreme Enchantress Thulease refuses to allow her daughter to fade beyond recovery. To that end, Enchantress Thulease recruits Mercenary Flank Hawk to accompany her as she seeks the legendary Sleeping Sage, and confronts the secretive Svartálfar, known only for their magical prowess and for their menacing cruelty.

Eighteen years ago, Tom, a barber college student, got trapped in the Monsters, Maces and Magic game world as Josiah the thief. The first two adventures saw all of Tom’s party members, also trapped within the game world, perish within the fetid depths of the Dark Heart Swamp. His subsequent stint adventuring with NPCs proved short lived. He preferred survival. Over time, Tom became Josiah, adopting a life blending in with the game world’s NPCs. But life, even one lived as a faux NPC, can get interesting.

Stephi, Kirby, Ron, Derek, and Glenn survived their first adventure into the Dark Heart Swamp and are approached to once again enter the dismal marshland. An elf maiden has been taken captive by a band of goblins, and gold is offered for her rescue. Gold is needed, not only if the party hopes to escape the game world, but to live and survive its perils. Glenn and his party take the mission, even though they weren’t the first choice. Beyond that, the foul swamp and its evil denizen may not be the greatest danger. A seer warns that their greatest threat lies in betrayal.

The Necromancer King has been defeated and his surviving forces are in retreat. But a new threat marches against the Kingdom of Keesee, promising destruction. Scouting along the western frontier, Flank Hawk and Grand Wizard Seelain discover an army massing, the army of Fendra Jolain, Goddess of Healing. Weakened and battle weary, Keesee and her allies cannot withstand Fendra Jolain's powerful army of men and beasts arrayed against them.

What happens when fire-breathing dragons battle Stukas for aerial supremacy over a battlefield? Can an earth wizard's magic defeat a panzer? Krish, a farmhand turned mercenary, witnesses this and much more as he confronts the Necromancer King's new war machines resurrected from before the First Civilization's fall.

Higslaff the Pawnshop Owner needs a job done, but the Guild War has taken a toll. Those he’d normally call upon are engaged in some other vital assignment, or dead. He decides to hire Gurk, Jax, Marigold, Lysine, and Kalgore instead. The adventuring party has proven themselves resourceful and effective on previous jobs, not only for himself, but for the local silversmith, and the Church of Apollo. This particular assignment shouldn’t be a problem.

With Stephi, now transmorphed into a fairy, the party must do the leprechaun’s bidding. Otherwise, Stephi will remain a diminutive fairy with no hope of returning to her former elf self. But leprechauns aren’t known for their straight dealing, and neither is Higslaff, a manipulative pawnshop owner who possesses what the leprechaun desires. Glenn, Kirby, Stephi, Ron, and Derek - RPG players trapped in the game world as their characters - set off on a mission to Riven Rock, a city rife with cruelty and corruption, and where danger and deceit threaten the party at every turn.

From the best-selling author of Outpost and Pawn! Kirby is going on his first date, ever, but in the body of his RPG character, Gurk. When vengeful danger rears its ugly head on the nighttime streets of Three Hills City, will the chivalry of a half-goblin thief suffice?

Intelligence picks up Security Specialist Keesay's contract, hoping to direct the Relic's tenacity and skills against his nemesis, the Capital Galactic Investment Group. But the rogue corporation has its own plans concerning Keesay: a bounty on the security specialist's head. Time is running out for mankind, with the Crax striking deep into human territory, targeting colonies on Pluto and Io. Keesay knows whatever plans others might have, fighting the Crax is more important.

The Silicate War has been over for 15 years, and the tension among the dominant galactic races is growing. Many fear that the Umblegarri, the ancient alien race that ushered humanity into the interstellar galactic community during the Silicate War, have been targeted for conquest by the Crax and their allies. It's no longer speculation. The invasion is underway and Kra finds himself strapped to a hospital bed, critically injured and surrounded by hostile corporate lawyers, high-ranking military and intelligence officials, ambitious members of the criminal justice apparatus, and an Umbelgarri diplomat.

Minutes after being drawn into the Monsters, Maces and Magic world as their characters, the unsuspecting players fell under attack. Kim, having become the warrior monk Byeol, didn’t survive, thanks to a rampaging ogre. But the party’s quest to obtain a Revive the Dead Spell for Kim proved futile. Fortunately, rather than departing, her soul entered the party’s vacant soul gem.

This collection contains all of Ervin's published short stories to date. It includes tales of science fiction, horror, mystery, suspense, and inspiration. "The Scene of My Second Murder" relays the tale of a wretched man seeking forgiveness while confronting revenge from beyond the grave. "Tethered in Purgatory" tells of a trapped soul's struggle to escape its cryogenically frozen body and reach heaven. In "Drug Dogs" a falsely accused student learns you can't always trust those who should be trusted.