Back in September, I had the great fortune to write a piece of fiction for my current favorite game, Pathfinder 2nd Edition. The piece received good reader feedback, so I crossed my fingers that I’d be asked to write more.

Then, mid-January, Paizo reached out and said they had another writing opportunity, but it was a fast, 11-day turnaround. Was I interested?

To me, the only possible answer to this question–regardless of circumstance–is “HECK YES!” Not only is writing fantasy fiction for my favorite game tons of fun, I want to establish myself as a reliable, solid writer who is part of Paizo’s regular line-up.

So Mark Moreland at Paizo sent me the image that would be the basis for the story, along with a PDF of the upcoming sourcebook that the story was meant to promote. The image was amazing, and Mark had several notes–The beastkin looks too much like a werewolf. The lady in back shouldn’t be a zombie, but a “fetchling” (a descendant of the Shadow Plane). Don’t make the piece from the adventurer’s viewpoint. It should probably be a comedy bit, based on a mistaken belief that these helpers were monsters. Good luck. Have fun.

The art is very clearly Halloween-y, so I leaned into those themes hard in the story. Something I thought of after submitting it to Mark was that the Tricksters should have been a band of halflings, making them even more like trick-or-treaters. Anyway, I’m happy with the result, hope Paizo is too, and fingers crossed this is a path to even more Pathfinder writing.

Here is the story and art: https://paizo.com/community/blog/v5748dyo6shkl?Tales-Of-Lost-Omens-Clues-In-The-Moonlight