The release date for Conquest of Greystone Valley is only five days away! If you haven’t pre-ordered your copy yet, be sure to do so now so you can get in on the Great Greystone Valley Giveaway! In the meantime, here’s another glimpse of things to come.

The world of Greystone Valley is filled with strange creatures from myth and lore. Today, here’s a look at five fantastic beings who are bound to cross Sarah’s path. Some of them are familiar, while others are new to her.

Beast-Men

They had hoofed feet, humanlike bodies, and animal heads—though maybe calling them beast-men was a bit of a stretch, since about half of the group seemed female. They wore simple brown clothing and armor that had lost its sheen years ago. No two of them seemed alike—Sarah could see horse, goat, ram, and mule heads among them.

Creatures that sided with the warlord Baelan during Sarah’s last adventure, the beast-men have been pushed to the borders of the valley by those who would punish them for their role as aggressors. Despite that friction, they still gravitate toward Castle Greystone, where the giant statue of their former leader Aries now stands.

Fey

The more Sarah watched, the more she thought she saw figures in the distance. Shadows on the top of the hill seemed to move in some sort of secret dance that nobody else in the area knew about. Some of them skulked about, while others frolicked. They seemed to have a rhythm to them, but Sarah couldn’t hear whatever music they were moving to.

One of the few creatures that have always been able to pass into and out of Greystone Valley at will, the fey are frolickers and mischief-makers who follow their own agenda and seem to care for few others. Enemies of dragons, they are also allied with the strange spirit Sabrina, who watches Sarah with fascination during her second journey through the valley.

Dwarves

They looked like very short humans . . . or rather, humans who might once have been
normally proportioned but who had somehow been squashed downward. They stood barely over four feet in height and seemed almost as wide as they were tall. Despite their girth, they both seemed muscular, although the more sensible one had a pot belly in addition to his brawny arms. Neither of them had any sort of hair on their heads, save for very bushy eyebrows. The shrill-voiced one had chalky-colored skin and had a slender blade at his side in a gold-lined scabbard. The other one wielded only a staff and had glossy brown skin like polished cedar.

Guardians of the treasure beneath Greystone Valley’s mountains, the dwarves are cousins of the fey but much less prone to flights of fancy. They traditionally stay out of the way of humans, but there are some rogue dwarves who are greedy enough to rob travelers or even ally with the monsters of the deep.

Gremlins

A small gray-skinned creature had somehow managed to sneak into the area despite her careful watch. A little bit taller than waist height to Sarah, the little thing smelled like greasy fish and wore clothes that looked like they were probably fashioned out of moldy potato sacks.

Like the fey, gremlins are tricksters. The difference between them and the fey is that their tricks usually involve the pain and suffering of innocent people. The gremlins run thick in the tunnels under the mountains, where they attack travelers whenever they get bored. Unfortunately for Sarah and her companions, they get bored often.

Shadow Creatures

The two figures looked almost identical. They had chalky skin and pale blue eyes that looked almost ghostly white. They both had greasy black hair and grimy skin. Each had a long, narrow nose that almost resembled a bird’s beak, and their hands had jagged, claw-like nails.

Resembling short, pale-skinned men with long claws, these creatures are some of the few beings that are entirely new to Greystone Valley. The shadow creatures serve Melania, and some believe that they came into the valley with her. Others believe they have been hiding somewhere deep beneath the valley, waiting for a powerful leader to command them. Regardless, they, like their mistress, are at the heart of the conquest of Greystone Valley.

Image: Jessica Von Braun