Petefeet's 13th Adventure

[petefeet]

Greetings all!

 

For those of you who know me (poor devils) this is mostly a re-hash.

 

A little about me... I'm 41, live in Nova Scotia (east coast), Canada, unattached, no kids (one cat), have WAY too many books and proud of it.

 

I'm a boiler and refrigeration operator by trade, though my dream is to have a "bricks & mortar" used bookstore. I currently, have a part-time one that I run out of my basement in my spare time and my whole inventory is science fiction & fantasy (my passion). Should be a link to my stores facebook page in my signature.

 

I'm also a Freemason and quite active in my lodge, which has helped offset my normal "hermit" habits and given me a new confidence in myself and abilities

 

 

In August 2013 I weighted 267 lbs, and something "clicked" in my head and I decided I needed a change. The pic on left was me on August 23, 2015, pic on right was me in August 23, 2013.

 

 

 So, I started trying to get healthy and since I'm a type "A" person I use www.loseit.com as my food log and calorie counter. I hit my goal weight.

 

The holidays and other life "stuff" put me above my goal weight of 175lbs and the first challenge of the new year was less than successful for me.

 

Main Quest: For this challenge my main quest is too get to 180lbs, I've gained too much weight these past 6 weeks.

 

To do that I will be doing the following...

 

Side Quests: 

 

1. Keep my daily food log and weigh-ins with my loseit.com account, and stay below my calorie limit. I'm allowing 1 cheat per week.

 

 2. Do at least 2 Cardio workouts a week (min 20 minutes), even if its just walking around my sub-division or playing on recumbent bike.

 

 3. Do the following Body Weight exercises during the week. I used to try for more, but am making my goals reachable and plan on building from here.

 

                                             50 Push-ups 
                                             75 Squats 
                                             50 Leg Lunges (combined total of both legs)
                                             75 Dumbbell Rows (combined total of both arms with 25 lb weight) 
                                               3 Planks (as long as I can hold it, usually 30 - 40 seconds)
                                          100 Jumping Jacks 
                                            40 Bicep Curls (combined total of both arms with 25 lb weight)

                                            20 Triceps drips

 

4. No eating or booze after 8pm when I work dayshift or on days off. 12 midnight when working nightshift. I'm allowing myself 1 cheat per week. Late night eating is the worst for me, this works if I can stick with it.

 

Life Quest:  My MAJOR life quest is to finish my basement and turn it into rec room/bookstore, though I'm going to add some minor life quests for this challenge for those days I need to do something else.

 

I'll be adding mini-life quests as well. Each week I will spend an hour doing at least ONE of the following things I enjoy.

       1. Work on a short story

       2. Work at updating my used bookstore in some way (inventory, ads, etc...)

       3. Work at exploring my family history

       4. Work at my Masonic interest (reading, learning lines, etc...)

 

I also like to write, what I have been doing for the past while is mirroring parts of my real life into a story featuring a halfling named petefeet. More of this in next post.

[Emma]

Hi! Welcome back! Hoping all is well with you!

[RES]

Woot! I'm here my friend

[RMDC]

Glad to see you around again!

[Jett]

Hiii~!

[fleaball]

There you are! I was thinking of you earlier and wondering when we'd see you. Hooray! 

[spooky]

Hi hi hi Following again!

[Swampling]

Found you!  

[petefeet]

When last we saw petefeet...

 

     Finding a comfortable spot up off the snow covered ground, petefeet seats down and places the tome upon his lap, it's mirrored cover reflecting his tired face back at him. Taking a deep breath, the halfling leans back and casts his gaze skyward, looking for any patterns in the stars that dim memories tell him he once knew. After several minutes petefeet thinks he sees something that tickles at an old memory. There in the west, just above the treeline, that group of stars, they were called the "Sunset Rose" maybe? Not taking a moment to think about his actions, petefeet tilts the tome on his lap until it reflects the constellation and using his finger traces the pattern upon the glassy surface.

 

     No sooner doing so, a bright light builds from within the bindings of the tome, the light stabbing in all directions. Petefeet shields his eyes as best he can but it seems like the light can't be stopped and the brilliance drowns out everything culminating in a flash brighter than lightening. As quickly as it happened, the light is gone, along with petefeet the halfling... 

 

And now...

 

     The blinding light slowly fades, afterimages dance on the edges of the halflings vision as he shakes his head in an attempt to clear them.

 

     Slowly his surroundings come into focus. It is night and petefeet finds himself sprawled on a cold  stone floor, an icy wind blows through a  hole in a crumbling stone wall, the scent of mold and bird droppings fills the air. Raising to feet, the halfling keeps one hand on the wall to steady himself and makes his way to the hole. Petefeet finds himself high in a tower set within a massive fortress that has fallen into decay, the fortress walls are breached in a dozen places and thick vines snake their way along the remains. Staircases are crumbling and the roofs of some buildings have succumb to the weight of time, but the ancient fortress is far from deserted. 

 

     Dozens if not hundreds of fires dot the complex, from his high vantage point, petefeet can almost believe them to be stars in the night sky, the knowledge that he is not alone quickly turns to fear as his halflings ears pick out the guttural language of Orcs. The forms of the evil monsters is almost a tease as the creatures are briefly cast in light as they walk from campfire to fire, the glint of bared steel further confirms their evil purpose.

 

     Knowing that they can't see him high up in the crumbling tower, petefeet never the less steps back from the hole and crosses his arms partly due to the cold and partly due to fear. Trying to get a handle on his nerves, petefeet scans the room as best he can in the weak starlight and doesn't much like what he sees. It would appear that the room is quite bare expect for bird droppings, the bones of several rodents and wooden hatch set within the floor. With his options limited, petefeet grabs the iron ring set within the hatch and pulls it open. The old lumber is soft with rot, and is warped, but with a little effort he is able to cast it open. A black pit greets the halfling, the feeble starlight doesn't make it this far into the room. Taking the risk, petefeet sticks his hand into the pit and finds a iron rung set within the wall, his hand covered in flakes of rust confirms this. Though with no idea what might be below or even if the iron rungs would hold his weight assuming there is more below the first, petefeet isn't willing to chance it without light. With no other option open to him, the halfling draws his rabbit skin cloak tighter around him, tries to find a spot out of the wind, as the guttural sounds of Orcs drifting up to him from below, the halfling tries to sleep. 

 

     When dawn breaks, our little halfling finds that his situations has become worse. This ruined fortress is littered with hundreds of armed and dangerous Orcs all around his tower, he's so cold that the feeling is all but lost in his hands, the sharp pains in his belly remind the halfling he hasn't eaten in a very long time and to top it all off, the fortress is ringed by a wide, weed filled moat.

 

     Cursing himself for playing with the mirrored tome, knowing that he has no control over where the magic within it can transport him, petefeet wonders how he's going to get himself out of this when his eyes catch something below. Mixed in with the shifting masses of evil Orcs, there also appears to be numerous slaves, all goblins except for one. While the distance is great, petefeet can clearly see that one of the beings that is part of a chain gang is a human, and something about the way the figure moves seems familiar to the halfling.

 

     Shelving that mystery until later, petefeet does what he can to see to his own survival and once again investigates the hatchway set within the floor. With the light of day aiding the cause, a series of iron rungs can be seen studding the wall, they appear to travel through several floors of the tower the top being the floor petefeet finds himself on. Options limited, petefeet curses himself for a fool and hopes the iron rungs can hold his weight, the halfling slowly climbs down.

 

     The fear of falling and the physical activity do seem to fix one of petefeet's problems, his hands now have feeling in them and that feeling is pain as his grips the rusted iron rungs until his knuckles pop. It seems like forever, though in all likelihood it is less than 10 minutes before petefeet reaches ground level of the tower and finds the entrance a jumble of fallen timbers and stone blocks which seems to have mostly blocked the way. What it hasn't blocked though is the sounds of countless feet shuffling just yards away, the ugly guttural language of the Orcs, the smell of dozens of cook fires and the stink of unwashed bodies.

 

     Careful to be quiet, petefeet drops down and wiggles his way through the jumble of timbers on stone until he can get a real view of what awaits him outside the tower. Praying that the weight of wood and rock just above his head doesn't decide to fall upon his skull, petefeet peeks out and scans the area.

 

      This ruined fortress seems to be the permanent home for the Orcs, a maze of tents, workshops, clotheslines, and cook fires dot the area. While the majority of the Orcs appear to be male and armed, several females can be seen scurrying around the camp, the only creatures that seem to be treated worse than the females are the goblin slaves and the lone human.

 

     Her fancy armour gone, her clothes tattered and filthy so that barely a trace of the original red can be seen, it is never the less the Red Knight that petefeet met and adventured with several months ago. How she became a captive to these Orcs is surely a tale worth hearing, but that will have to wait until she is free. With full day outside and hundreds of armed Orcs between himself and the Red Knight, petefeet can do nothing but watch as she is forced to labour with the other slaves as they cart rocks from ruined buildings to crudely reinforce the fortress walls.

 

     Hours later, the sun has set and the camp has noticeably quieted down as the majority of the Orcs now appear around cookfires, even their crude cooking causes petefeet's stomach to growl so loud that he's convinced the Orcs can hear it.

 

     Whether for her safety, or of that of her fellow slaves, the Red Knight is kept away from the others and is tied to a post at the limits of the firelight. Summoning what meager courage that lives within him, petefeet wiggles his way out from the rumble of limber and stone, throws the hood of his homemade cloak over his head, carefully walks into danger.

 

     Skirting the light of campfires as best he can and along with his innate skills at stealth, petefeet the halfling is able to work his way up behind the Red Knight.

 

     "Shh... Don't make a sound, I'm here to set you free." says petefeet

 

     "Took you long enough, I watched you peek out from that tower base for the past hour, if these Orcs had a brain, they would have seen you as well!"

 

     Biting back a retort, petefeet feels the blood rush to his face, grateful that she can't see him, as his hands frantically try to undo the rawhide bindings holding the Red Knight to the post. After a nerve-wracking moment of terror as a group of Orc warriors walk past, forcing petefeet to hide behind the Red Knight, he is finally able to loosen the bonds enough to slip free. For all her bluster, it's clear to the halfling that the Knight is near the ends of her limits as she leans heavily upon petefeet. 

 

     "There's a storeroom that meets the wall this way, we might get lucky and find a way out of this cesspit."

 

     With no better ideas and willing to trust her judgement, petefeet and the Red Knight cling to the shadows and do their best to avoid those fires with blusterous Orcs around them, and creep past tents with thunderous snoring coming from within. Shaking with nervous energy and lack of food, the pair make it to the storeroom without the alarm being raised.

 

     What the room might have been used for by the original owners of the fortress is unclear, but as the Red Knight said, it appears that the Orcs currently use it as a storeroom. The fact that it butts up against the outer wall is clear, since the moat on the other side has leeched it's way through the stone placing the back third of the room underwater, the cold water creating a thin band of fog around their legs. While water might be able to get in, the two can't get out and slump down in defeat.

 

     "We can't stay here, what if the Orcs come for supplies? Dawn can't be far off, I suggest we try to make our way back to the ruined tower, the Orcs don't seem to realize there is a way inside."

 

     With only a nod of the head, the Red Knight agrees, but stops the halfling before he leaves the storeroom.

 

     "Grab what you can, who knows when we might eat again." And with that, she grabs a wheel of cheese, some hard bread and a couple wineskins from the storeroom and loads down the halfling.

 

     With the smell of decent food filling his nostrils, they are over halfway back to the tower before petefeet remembers to be scared. Luck is once again with the pair as they make it back to the tower and petefeet watches the Red Knight wiggle under the collapsed entrance to the tower, takes her hand and guides her to the ladder. Tired and panting, the duo make it to the top room where petefeet found himself yesterday and collapse in exhaustion, their nervous energy spent. Barely able to make out the Red Knight in the feeble light of the stars, it never the less appears that she is smiling as she passes petefeet the wineskin.

 

Hey kids,

 

This is the first bit of a much longer post that I hope to finish tonight.

 

As some of you know I was away last week and couldn't start the challenge on time, and this is my attempt to chronicle that week off. Last Monday I headed into the city for my planned time away with Red Knight/Cardinal. I checked in early, set up the room in the hotel (Tower) the I wanted (wine, candles, treats, etc...) and waited for her train to get in. I met her train and we dropped off her bags in the room before heading to the "Foggy Goggle" (store room). It's a nice little pub and the place that we met back in November, so I thought going there again seemed a bit romantic. We enjoyed some amazing Lobster Mac & Cheese, several drinks and each others company before heading back to the hotel.

 

Last week was a write off food wise, and while I'm a week late to the challenge, I'm going to try and be smart for the next three weeks.

 

Next part of the story tonight.

[TheFatFriar]

Hi there! I was just wondering where you've been. Amazing before-after photos *salutes* Following as usual.

[Ahyar Dreamspark]

Welcome baaaack! Looks like your vacation was epic

 

Looking forward to reading the rest of the story!

[missrackl]

Newbie here. Excellent story! Good luck in this challenge.

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

[Jett]

*munches popcorn*

 

This gonna be good.

[NeverThatBored]

Following!

[petefeet]

     With a groan, petefeet slowly awakens as the sun streams through the opening in the towers wall and falls upon the halflings face. His pounding head, achy joints and dry mouth are completely forgotten when he realizes that the Red Knight is asleep against his side.

 

     Blushing deeply, petefeet carefully slides himself away from her, forces stiff muscles to work and quickly adjusts his clothes before looking back at her only to see that her open eyes have followed his every move.

 

     Uncertain what to say, our little halfling wanders over to the hole in the tower wall and carefully peers out, taking in the camp below.

 

     "We NEED to find a way out of this place..." petefeet mutters to himself

 

     "I've been here weeks and that store room was the last place I thought of looking for a breech in the wall. That just leaves the main gate and the ramp over the moat and a dozen Orc fighters protecting it, and I don't know about you, but I don't like our chances."

 

     "Brute strength won't get us out of here, we need to think...wait, who are they?" whispers petefeet as he leans out of the tower opening.

 

     "Fool! you want to get us caught!" as the Red Knight pulls the halfling back inside. "Oh them, they're priests of the bone cult or some such rubbish, they think they're pretty tough in their skull masks and heavy robes... I think I see where you're going short one."

 

     "Short one?" mutters petefeet to himself as he privately basks in the faint praise from the Red Knight. 

 

     "Now we just have to wait until dark, oh whatever shall we do?" as the Red Knight winks at the embarrassed halfling.

 

     Hours later the sun has set, the Orc camp has once again settled into a routine of cook fires, yelling and the occasion cry of pain. Petefeet and the Red Knight slowly inch their way out of the collapsed entrance of the tower and allowing the Red Knight to take the lead, the halfling follows her through the maze of crude tents and clothes lines.

 

     Before long the pair come to an area of the camp that is separate from the rest, the tents are dyed red, and tent poles are all topped with skulls and bones from various animals.

 

     Uncertain how to go about with the next stage of their plan, petefeet turns to ask the Red Knight what they should do, and finds her creeping towards some tethered horses and a pair of Bone Cultists who seem to be on guard. With barely a sound, the Red Knight explodes into a flurry of blows and attacks the guards from behind, the first one receives a blow to his throat and sinks to the ground as he tries to breath through a ruined windpipe. The second cultist is a little luckier and starts to draw breathe to cry out an alarm when petefeet suddenly finds himself charging in to help the Red Knight. The Cultist much have seen the halfling since he turns away from the Red Knight and pulls a massive scimitar from his belt, it's blade gleaming in the flickering torchlight. Frozen in place in fear, petefeet just stands dumbfounded as the scimitar slips from the hands of the Orc Cultist and bubbles of blood issue from the creatures mouth. Seconds later, the Orc is face-down dead at the halflings feet, as the Red Knight pulls a dagger from the creatures back.

 

     Of all the possible questions he could/should ask petefeet settles for: "Where did you get the dagger?"

 

     "A lady never tells." and with a quick wink she begins stripping the dead Orc in front of her.

 

     It takes longer for petefeet and the Red Knight to calm the spooked horses, likely due to strong smell of blood in the air than it does to dress in the vile outfits of the dead cultists. It makes the halflings skin crawl as the soiled coarse wool touches his skin, but he allows it and before long he and the Red Knight are dressed as Bone Cultists, complete with bone masks and are slowly walking their stolen horses through the Orc camp as if they own it.

 

     "When we get to the gate, keep your mouth shut and follow my lead."

 

     Shaking in his stolen clothes, the unfamiliar scimitar slapping his thigh and a horse under him that he can barely control, petefeet starts wishing that all this was just a dream and is startled when the make it to the guarded gate.

 

     They are stopped by a massive Orc dressed in patchwork armour and wearing a tasselled helmet holding a ugly polearm, a dozen other guards lounge around fire pits watching their leader confront the "Bone Cultists".

 

     "Nadal! Lat Bartom Kala?" says the Orc sergeant.

 

     Petefeet can barely see what's going on through the limited eyeholes in his stolen skull mask, but the tone of voice from the Orc doesn't seem very friendly as the Red Knight just sits there upon her horse staring down at him. Things go from bad to worse as the Red Knight slowly draws her scimitar which causes the lounging Orc guards to start to take notice as they look to their leader for direction.

 

     As the Orc sergeant goes to reach for the horses bridle, the scimitar flashes almost quicker than the eye can follow, and the tassel on the sergeants helmet falls to the ground, the Red Knight completes the movement by pointing the blade at the gate. The Orc's face is now pale in fear and turns to his underlings and starts yelling at them, and soon the raised gate is lowered across the moat with a muffled bang.

 

     Slowly, the Red Knight sheathes the blade and calmly causes her horse to walk across the bridge, a fear stricken halfling in her wake, their escape from the Orc fortress complete.

 

Hey kids,

 

The above is the next installment of my adventure last week with the Red Knight/Cardinal.

 

After a quiet day spent in our hotel room on Tuesday, the Red Knight and I dressed up like real grown-ups 

 and went out for supper at an amazing four table restaurant called  "Stories" . I've never done something like this before, and must admit I was a little nervous/excited, but we really enjoyed ourselves and had a terrific meal.

 

On Wednesday we checked out of our hotel and hopped into my truck and headed more my house, but that's the next bit <g>.

 

There is still much more to the story and I hope one or two more "installments" should get me up to date.

 

 

Main Quest: For this challenge my main quest is too get to 180lbs, I've gained too much weight these past 6 weeks.

                        

                      I weighted in at 184.6 lbs when I got up today.

 

Side Quests: 

 

1. Keep my daily food log and weigh-ins with my loseit.com account, and stay below my calorie limit. I'm allowing 1 cheat per week.

 

Monday:  Pass

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

 

 2. Do at least 2 Cardio workouts a week (min 20 minutes), even if its just walking around my sub-division or playing on recumbent bike.

 

0 of 2 this week

 

 3. Do the following Body Weight exercises during the week. I used to try for more, but am making my goals reachable and plan on building from here.

 

                                            20 of 50 Push-ups 
                                            20 of 75 Squats 
                                           20 of 50 Leg Lunges (combined total of both legs)
                                             0 of 75 Dumbbell Rows (combined total of both arms with 25 lb weight) 
                                           10 of 50 Leg Raises
                                           40 of 100 Jumping Jacks 
                                             0 of 40 Bicep Curls (combined total of both arms with 25 lb weight)

                                           10 of 20 Triceps drips

 

4. No eating or booze after 8pm when I work dayshift or on days off. 12 midnight when working nightshift. I'm allowing myself 1 cheat per week. Late night eating is the worst for me, this works if I can stick with it.

 

Monday: Pass

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

 

Life Quest:  My MAJOR life quest is to finish my basement and turn it into rec room/bookstore, though I'm going to add some minor life quests for this challenge for those days I need to do something else.

 

Nothing yet this week.

 

I'll be adding mini-life quests as well. Each week I will spend an hour doing at least ONE of the following things I enjoy.

       1. Work on a short story

       2. Work at updating my used bookstore in some way (inventory, ads, etc...)

       3. Work at exploring my family history

       4. Work at my Masonic interest (reading, learning lines, etc...)

[petefeet]

     It has been the better part of a day since petefeet and the Red Knight escaped the Orc encampment in their stolen Bone Cultist outfits. The filthy robes were discarded hours ago, though the Red Knight kept her scimitar.

 

     By unspoken agreement, the pair has stayed together even sharing a single horse and leading the other unburdened. Wherever they are, this land is also under the firm grip of winter with trees laden with snow and ice underfoot. With little sign of civilization, the pair travel away from the Orc encampment and do their best to travel to lower ground in the hope for better weather and easier travelling.

 

     As the horse they share carefully picks it's way down a particularly steep trail, the granite walls loom above them echoing the sounds from below. Their horse is the first to recognize it for what it is, as it's head comes up and it quickens it's step. Water, and a lot of it from the sounds that soon become clear to the halfling.

 

     A short time later as petefeet and the Red Knight leave the rocky trail the source of the sound become clear. A massive waterfall with pond at it's base is spread out in front of them. It's hard to tell who is faster, the horses rushing for a drink or their riders hoping off with similar thoughts. The ice cold water sits like a solid lump within the halfling, but he doesn't care, his thirst overshadows this thoughts. Maybe it's because of this that it is once again the horses who sense that something is different, though this time instead of seeming eager, their ears fold back and their eyes go wide in fear.

 

     Holding onto the reins of the horses, petefeet and the Red Knight scan their surroundings and before long the source of the horses fear becomes evident. A massive mountain lion slinks out from the rocks near the top of the waterfall and looks down upon the trespassers. An ugly memory from his time as a slave in the gladiator pits forces it's way to the surface and petefeet knows that those huge paws can crush and rip a person apart faster than the eye can follow. Right now the beast seems to be making up it's mind as it watching the group below, but how long that might last is unknown.

 

     Expecting the Red Knight to take up her stolen scimitar, the halfling is instead surprised to hear her say:

 

     "Remain calm, it won't attack unless we run or we act threatening. Take both the horses reins and slowly walk away, I'll distract the cat." 

 

     Uncertain what the Red Knight has planned, never the less the halfling does as bid and slowly leads the horses away, careful that they don't bolt in fear. Risking a look back at his companion, petefeet is surprised to see the Red Knight is searching the shoreline of the pond as well as talking to the mountain lion. The halflings heart leaps into his throat as he sees the mountain lion gracefully bound down the rock face and settle not 25 feet from the Red Knight. Uncertain what to do that won't make the situation worse, petefeet can only watch the scene unfold, and the wait isn't long.

 

     Instead of taking up her sword like he would expect a warrior to do, the Red Knight once again surprises the halfling. The reason she was searching the shore now become clear as she starts skipping flat stones across the surface of the pond. At the first throw, the hackles of the mountain lion rear-up, but as the cat sees the stone skipping across the water creating tiny splashes in its wake, it settles down. After the third such stone is thrown, the mountain lion can take it no longer and with three massive bounds jumps into the icy pond at the base of the waterfall and starts chasing after the bouncing stones.

 

     After a couple more minutes of the Red Knight skipping stones and the mountain lion trying in vain to catch them, the Knight slowly stands up, waves to the large cat still playing in the water and walks over to the halfling. Taking the reins of one of the horses from the dumbfounded halfling, she smiles and says...

 

     "Big or small, all cats are the same."

 

     Hours later as the sun starts to dip below the treeline, the faint smell of a working hearth, smoke mixed with the scent of food reaches the weary travellers. Before long the faint traces of a trail can be seen and the pair, through unspoken agreement, follow it, neither of them keen on spending a night in the open. The trail leads through the woods and opens up into a small farmstead, with fields, outbuildings and even a chicken coup.

 

     All thoughts danger are dismissed as a elderly man comes around from one of the out buildings with an armload of wood, sees the ragged pair of escapees and says... 

 

     "I'll see to the horses in a bit, hitch them to that there post and com'in to meet the misses, this is your lucky day, she's been a bak'in!"

 

     So without a care in the world, the old farmer and his wife make petefeet and the Red Knight welcome into their little home and before long each has a hot drink and sweet treats to restore them. After explaining their recent adventurers though with neither the halfling nor the Red Knight explaining how they found themselves trapped within the Orc Fortress, the old man speaks.

 

     "Aye, I's knows there be Orc's around, but they rarely come down this way, they seem to be scared of an old temple nearby, what with all those snakes and carvings being around it."

 

     Seeing that the Red Knight has leaned forward and is paying close attention to the old farmers tale, he continue's...

 

     "It be only a half days walk from here, I'lls give yeah directions in the morn, for tonight you and your horses can bed down in the barn."

 

     The next day is cold and clear, and petefeet and the Red Knight bid farewell to the old farmer and his wife and head out in search of the old snake temple the farmer talked about. After getting turned around in the thick woodland, the pair finally leave the massive trees behind and enter a tiny gorge. The granite walls reach up high and seem to be funnelling the heat of the sun overhead down into the area, along with the lack of wind, it is almost warm and both petefeet and the Red Knight breath easier.

 

     The temple is just as the old farmer described it, a pillared structure made from granite and covered in engravings of hundreds of snakes. The carvings almost seem alive with the wild ivy growing up through and around them, there is almost something magical about the place. When petefeet turns to speak to the Red Knight he sees her attention is upon a statue in front of temple.

 

     At over 7 foot tall, carved of the native granite, it's of a female warrior. She's dressed in snake motif armour, armed with sword and shield, and her helmet resembles a snakes head complete with fangs.

 

     "The Sisterhood of the Fang, I've heard tales of this mysterious order but never thought I would ever see proof."

 

     "Fierce warriors, as good or better than any man, known for their ruthlessness and loyalty to each other. It's said that they became too powerful in some cities and were slaughtered." 

 

     After a minute the Red Knight gives her head a shake, gives petefeet a weak smile and enters the temple.

 

     It's clear that no one has been here for years, maybe even decades based off the amount of leaves and snake sheds that litter the stone floor. Seeing the weariness of the halfling at the snake sheds that are almost as big as he is, the Red Knight grins and says...

 

     "Have no fear, it's likely they are hibernations to the stone walls of the gorge for the winter, soaking up what heat they can, though I'm sure it would be a different scene once spring rolls around."

 

     The playfulness in her voice is instantly gone as the Red Knight sees a glint of metal in the heaps of rotted leaves on the temples floor. Seeing how important this is to her, petefeet carefully helps the Red Knight expose her find. It is an old set of armour. Very much like that worn by the stature outside, scales carved in the thigh guards and bracers, with intertwined snakes on the breastplate, the only remains that one of the Sisters of the Fang was here, her bones long since gone.

 

     Leaving the mesmerized Knight to her find, petefeet sees to the care of their horses and clears an area to prep for a fire. Using the couple tiny sticks that have fallen from the ivy outside, petefeet has a campfire ready to be lit, though needs proper firewood for it to last. By this time the Red Knight has gathered up all the scattered pieces of the armour and using a scarp of cloth is trying to clean the worst of the dirt off it. 

 

     "If we're going to stay here for the night, we're going to need some firewood, I'll be back soon ok?"

 

     With a distracted nod from the Red Knight, petefeet leaves her and with a tiny smile on his face ventures outside the tiny gorge and hunts for dry firewood. On his third such trip, our little halfling notices that the wind has really picked up and that flurries are in the air, the knowledge that a storm is on the way seems clear.

 

     Dumping off his armload of firewood back in the temple where the Red Knight has now got their fire burning brightly, her newfound armour neatly stacked against the wall, petefeet speaks...

 

     "Unless I'm really mistaken, there's a massive storm on the way and we might be snowed in here for a while, if that's the case I'm going to make a couple extra trips for wood, who knows how long we might be stranded here."

 

     In the brief time that the halfling was within the gorge, the weather has turned worse even faster than he thought it would and the waves of fresh snow are building up fast within the forest. Knowing that they will need all the firewood that they can gather, petefeet hurries to gather as much as he can. He arms laden, his chin against his chest to cut the stinging of the freezing wind, our little halfling stumbles upon a snow covered root and falls. Bruised and frozen petefeet starts to pick up his spilled firewood when he starts to look around and realizes that he isn't quite sure where he is. While he had been careful to keep within sight of the gorge, the blinding and blowing snow now restrict his vision to no farther than the next tree, even his footprints have been wiped away by the wind and snow.

 

     Quickly becoming fearfully of his fate, petefeet abandons his firewood and using his arm as a shield against the blinding snow, tries to find his way back to the Red Knight.

 

     His sense of time lost, knowing nothing but cold and exhaustion, petefeet starts to think that if he just lays down in the snow for a couple minutes to rest, everything will be alright when he awakens. The part of the halflings mind that knows this would mean death is quickly being muted by the call of sleep.

 

     Just as petefeet is about to surrender to his fate, the halfling is able to see a faint light through the slashing wind and snow. At first assuming that it's the Red Knight out looking for him with a torch, petefeet realizes that this light is pure white and moving towards him faster than a running horse. Uncertain what it means, the halfling uses the last reserves of his strength to flee from it, but the light overtakes him in seconds.

 

     Blinding him, a dizzy and confused petefeet slowly comes to his senses as the light fades away, only to find himself a top his pile of firewood not 20 feet from his lean-too within the abandoned Pryde family estate, the mirrored tome laying at his feet. Knowing that whatever magic he had unleashed almost a week ago has faded, that he and the Red Knight are once again separated, causes our little halfling breaks down in tears...

 

Hey kids,

 

This is the final part of my story of my week away with the Red Knight last week, I'm glad this past week has been calm since I'm so far behind.

 

Let's see...

 

Last Wednesday RK/Cardinal and I checked out our hotel and headed the hour and a half to my place where she and Mickey (Mountain Lion) met for the first time.

 

 

I'll be honest, it went MUCH better than I hoped. Normally he doesn't take to new people (more so women) very well, but before long they were friends and Mickey has already trained RK/Cardinal in how to give him a bath in the sink <g>.

 

We also briefly visited my folks (Old Farmer and Wife) since it was my Mom's Birthday and I wanted them to met her and her met my folks. We also went out for supper to my favorite place since I was too tired to cook and my cupboards were bare <g>.

 

On Thursday we packed up again and drove the 4 hours to her sister's place (stone statue) where we picked up the RK's vehicle (where she picked up the train). Then with me following her, we drove another 1.5 hours to her place where I meant her snakes (Temple). 

 

 

I spent Friday and Saturday with her at her place, were snowed in one day and I tried my hand at Cosplay. RK is going to Cosplay Wonder Woman and we started making her armour (Sisters of the Fang armour). It's not something I've ever done before, though I've seen the results that such creative people can make, I can't wait to do some more.

 

With a heavy heart I left the RK on Saturday and drove the 5.5 hours back to my house, but we already have our next adventure planned.

 

We also "Formalized" our relationship as bf & gf, so please meet Petefeet and Red Knight.

 

 

 

Main Quest: For this challenge my main quest is too get to 180lbs, I've gained too much weight these past 6 weeks.

                        

                      I weighted in at 181.2 lbs when I got up today.

 

Side Quests: 

 

1. Keep my daily food log and weigh-ins with my loseit.com account, and stay below my calorie limit. I'm allowing 1 cheat per week.

 

Monday:  Pass

Tuesday: Pass

Wednesday: Cheat (Lodge night and refreshments)

Thursday: Pass

Friday: Pass

Saturday: Pass

 

 2. Do at least 2 Cardio workouts a week (min 20 minutes), even if its just walking around my sub-division or playing on recumbent bike.

 

1 of 2. Fail: Only one walk in this week

 

 3. Do the following Body Weight exercises during the week. I used to try for more, but am making my goals reachable and plan on building from here.

 

                                            55 of 50 Push-ups 
                                            75 of 75 Squats 
                                           50 of 50 Leg Lunges (combined total of both legs)
                                           80 of 75 Dumbbell Rows (combined total of both arms with 25 lb weight) 
                                           50 of 50 Leg Raises
                                         100 of 100 Jumping Jacks 
                                           40 of 40 Bicep Curls (combined total of both arms with 25 lb weight)

                                           20 of 20 Triceps drips

 

4. No eating or booze after 8pm when I work dayshift or on days off. 12 midnight when working nightshift. I'm allowing myself 1 cheat per week. Late night eating is the worst for me, this works if I can stick with it.

 

Monday: Pass

Tuesday: Pass

Wednesday: Cheat (Lodge night and refreshments after)

Thursday: Pass

Friday: Pass

Saturday: Pass

 

Life Quest:  My MAJOR life quest is to finish my basement and turn it into rec room/bookstore, though I'm going to add some minor life quests for this challenge for those days I need to do something else.

 

-Got second coat of paint on basement bookcase #4 (first effort I've done since Christmas)

 

I'll be adding mini-life quests as well. Each week I will spend an hour doing at least ONE of the following things I enjoy.

       1. Work on a short story

       2. Work at updating my used bookstore in some way (inventory, ads, etc...)  Worked on catching up on new listings DONE

       3. Work at exploring my family history

       4. Work at my Masonic interest (reading, learning lines, etc...)

[Sloth the Enduring]

Congratulations Pete.

[Swampling]

Congrats Pete!  

[fleaball]

Woohoo!

[Emma]

Congratulations! Yay!

[spooky]

Congrats, Peter!!!

[Jett]

Yay! I hope you two have a wonderful time getting to know each other better and better. Sounds like your relationship is off to a great start!

[RMDC]

Congratulations, and excellent entry in the story!

[RES]

That's wonderful news Peter!

[Chris-Tien Jinn]

You look so happy together!!!  And I'm glad your cat approves.