History Literature / TheWanderingInn

** [[TheOlderImmortal Teriarch]], the [[spoiler:Dragon Lord of Flames is one of the very few old Dragons left, assumedly predating the [[{{Gotterdammerung}} death of the gods]]. He served as the champion for species that no longer exist, and has met elves]].

* TheCavalry: [[spoiler: A very personal version. At the climax of Volume 5, with Liscor besieged by the Goblin Lord and the human armies of Tyrion Veltras poised to follow once the city falls to the goblins, the free goblins Erin has befriended over the course of the entire story--the Redfang Five, the Flooded Waters tribe, and the cave goblins--come to her and ask her what she wants them to do. Moved to tears by their self-sacrificing offer, she begs them to save Liscor. And they do so, decisively turning the battle around and saving the city from Tyrion's scheming--all for Erin's sake.]]

* DealWithTheDevil: The [[spoiler: creatures that appear on the Solstice]] seem very eager to make trades. The actual consequences of accepting one of these trades is unknown.

** Ryoka gets the nickname [[spoiler:"Wind Runner of Reizmelt", making many potential clients take notice of her, wondering if she's going to become a Courier soon]]. In actuality, [[spoiler:she just got the nickname from the local kids because she often let them play in her winds, not through any great act. It stuck when she was actually made a Courier though]].

* NotoriousParent: [[spoiler:Wiskeria's estranged mother Belavierr]] has sizable bounties from many major world powers, and a habit of making [[DealWithTheDevil deals]] with desperate people. Becomes a full-on [[spoiler:EvilMatriarch when she kills Califor to give Wiskeria a purpose in life ([[CreateYourOwnHero to stop her]])]].

* TheFairFolk: The annoying little vicious pixies hate ColdIron and go as far as calling an avalanche to punish whoever dares to show them disrespect.

* TheOlderImmortal: Although both are "immortals" and they acknowledge each other as beings of a similar standing, Az'kerash is shown to only be about two centuries old and have only died and been revived ''once'' — by contrast to [[WickedWitch the Witch Belavierr]], who is a bona fide TimeAbyss who had a personal hand in the ''creation'' of one of the sentient races of the setting (the String-People).

* AntiHumanAlliance: The Drakes and Gnolls of Souther Izril have a loose military alliance opposing the humans to the north. Justified by the fact that the humans conquered the land from them and colonized it.

* ZombieApocalypse: Since zombies arise naturally on their own if people remain unburied for too long, this is a constant, low-level possibility. Considerring the types of undead that arise become exponentially nastier the more corpses there are, battlefields are a big concern. Because of this, sometimes entire companies are tasked with disposal of the dead between battles.

* LoadsAndLoadsOfRaces: [[InsectoidAliens Antinium]], [[BeastMan Beastkin]], [[OurCentaursAreDifferent Centaurs]], [[OurDemonsAreDifferent Demons]], [[OurDragonsAreDifferent Dragons]], [[DraconicHumanoid Drakes]], [[FishPeople Drowned Folk]], [[AnimatedArmour Dullahans]], [[OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame Dwarves]], [[{{Lilliputians}} Fraerlings]], [[BirdPeople Garuda]], Gnolls, [[OurGoblinsAreDifferent Goblins]], Half-Giants, Half-Elves, Humans, [[LizardFolk Lizardfolk]], [[ALoadOfBull Minotaurs]], [[PuppeteerParasite Selphids]], [[ArtificialHuman String Folk]], and [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Vampires]].

* BeastMan: The aptly named Beastkin, of which there are several tribes based on different species. Rabbit, [[FoxFolk Fox]], Squirrel, Jackal, Owl, [[CatFolk Cat]], and others. These are each considered distinct from the other animal-adjacent races like Gnolls, [[LizardFolk Lizardfolk]], [[BirdPeople Garuda]], and [[ALoadOfBull Minotaurs]].

* ALoadOfBull: Minotaurs are a species of ProudWarriorRaceGuys native to The Isle of Minos. Minotaurs must prove themselves to be honorable and capable in order to be allowed off of their home island.
* ActionBomb: Acid Flies use their flesh-dissolving acid to eat carrion. If hit, they explode that acid on their would-be predator.

* {{Plaguemaster}}: Typhenous of Griffon Hunt is known as "The Plague Mage".
** "The Putrid One" is was an infamous [Necromancer] specialized in this. In Volume 8, it's revealed [[spoiler:he was a half-elf who destroyed several kingdoms in plague, had multiple crusades fought against him, and had a truly horrific [[BodyHorror true form]]. A simple touch from him was incurable even for a high-level Paladin]].

* {{Cyclops}}: Gazers are an enigmatic, sentient species that have one large, magic-augmented eye in the middle of their face and smaller, less clairvoyant ones all around the main one. Most species find them to appear alien ([[spoiler:they may be descended from [[EldritchAbomination Eldrich Abominations]] from beyond the edge of the known world]]), and they are largely isolationist.

* NonHumanUndead: The undead that populate Liscor’s dungeon are all Drakes. Additionally, crypt horrors are made up of several corpses and Pisces uses bear skeletons to fight where the use of Human, Drake, or Gnoll corpses is outlawed. [[spoiler:Az’ Kerash is creates many types of undead, including Kerash, a gnoll skeleton.]]

* AgentPeacock: Wall Lord Ilvris loves fine wine, fashion, and gemstones. He's also a high-level, well-equipped leader who [[spoiler:is leading a force to covertly take on [[TheDreaded The Necromancer]]]].

* {{Gotterdammerung}}: The gods are dead. This is an undisputed fact known by seemingly ''everyone'' in the world. People told any information about the gods [[spoiler:seem to have collapse, and forget what they've been told]]. The gods are [[spoiler:not happy about this, and some are actively trying to [[ComeBackWrong come back]]]].

* TheOlderImmortal: Although both are "immortals" and they acknowledge each other as beings of a similar standing, Az'kerash is shown to only be about two centuries old and have only died and been revived ''once'' — by contrast to [[WickedWitch the Witch Belavierr]], who is a bona fide TimeAbyss who is millennia old at the least and had a personal hand in the ''creation'' of one of the sentient races of the setting (the String-People).

* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: Towards the end of Volume 7, [[spoiler:members of the Liscor Army, several Gold-Rank adventurers, insubordinate elements of the Antinium, and thousands of [[ArmyOfThievesAndWhores regualar citizens]] all band together to attack the Hectval Alliance over the death of Erin Solstice. RealityEnsues when the undisciplined mob ignored orders for restraint and overextended into a trap]].

** Skinner, oh so much. Where to begin? This gigantic bundle of concentrated NightmareFuel is [[spoiler: an undead FleshGolem thing that steals people's ''skin'', ripping it from their living body, and integrates it as part of its gigantic self, with the victim's frozen face still visible on Skinner's patchwork "skin". He achieves this by throwing an outstretched arm from inside his ''mouth''. And his eyes (if you can call them that) [[RedEyesTakeWarning glow red]] and give off an unshakeable aura of fear.]] …Gasp.

** Snatcher qualifies as well. A strange nigh-invulnerable headless beast who patrols Liscor's dungeon that seems to enjoy cutting people's heads off and putting them on sticks, then leaving those sticks around to watch his next victims.

* BeastMan: The aptly named Beastkin, of which there are five tribes: Rabbit, [[FoxFolk Fox]], Squirrel, Jackal, and [[CatFolk Cat]]. These are, however, considered distinct from the animal-adjacent races like Gnolls, [[LizardFolk Lizardfolk]], [[BirdPeople Garuda]], [[ALoadOfBull Minotaurs]], and so on.

* DraconicHumanoid: The drakes are distantly related to dragons. A few of them, titled Oldbloods, have some draconic abilities, either a breath weapon or wings. In extremely rare cases, one will be born with both. [[spoiler:Eventually it is revealed that young dragons are very similar to oldbloods in appearance]].

* BeastMan: The aptly named Beastkin, of which there are five tribes: Rabbit, [[FoxFolk Fox]], Squirrel, Jackal, and [[CatFolk Cat]]. These are, however, considered distinct from the animal-adjacent races like Gnolls, [[TheReptilians Lizardfolk]], [[BirdPeople Garuda]], [[ALoadOfBull Minotaurs]], and so on.

* HorrorHunger: A condition that can be inflicted by horror ranks. The [Florist] of Esthelm was one such victim.

* HappyRain: Liscor's area has incredibly dismal rains in the spring, leading to heavy flooding in the valleys and general annoyance for the population. This trope comes into effect after [[spoiler: the second defense of Liscor, when a magically summoned rain storm drives off the horde of Face-Eater Moths attacking the city, allowing the defenders to celebrate and relax in the rain.]]

* HijackedByGanon: [[spoiler: The Necromancer is actually the master of the Goblin Lord]].

* HiveMind: The insect-looking Antiniums possess a hive mind of sorts, which makes them all mentally connected to each other. However, they are not quite a ''true'' hive mind like the [[''True'' Antinium of Rhir]].
* HiveQueen: The gigantic hive queen of the Antinium is able to change the memories of the hive mind. [[spoiler:When Klbkch died, his memories were still present in all Antiniums, but if the queen had just wished it, no Antinium would have known he had ever existed.]]
* HonestJohnsDealership: Stitchworks Alchemy Shop is known for cheap, lower-quality potions, and the owner, Octavia, always trying to make a quick sale. By Volume 6 she's [[spoiler:gotten her hands on a source on higher-quality ingredients, toned down the aggressive sales pitches, and generally [[TookALevelInKindness Taken a Level in Kindness]]]].
* TheHorde: This is historically the natural culmination of Goblin-kind: They form small tribes of dozens to hundreds, which given time to grow or conquer and absorb other tribes, will lead to armies of thousands under a Goblin Lord. And if a Goblin Lord and their armies are allowed to grow even stronger, they can become a Goblin King commanding hundreds of thousands or even ''millions'' of Goblins. These ultimate hordes are so powerful that Goblin Lords are purged whenever found, and the entire world has treaties agreeing to unite against a Goblin King (exceptional in a world almost continually at war).

* HumansAreNotTheDominantSpecies: Played with, while humans are the only species to have a notable presence on every continent, the size of the world and number of species means that no species is truly dominant.

** The Captain of the Watch of Liscor, Zevara is one of "the Oldbloods", who can [[BreathWeapon breath fire]] in addition to being a skilled swordswoman.
** "The Seven" of the King of Destruction are the commanders of his armies, each one is an expert specialized in a certain field.

* BackupBluff: When confronted by several human guardsmen, [[spoiler:Ksmvr]] claims DiplomaticImpunity, and that arresting him would result in war between their species. [[spoiler:Being exiled from his Hive, he had no power to enforce any of this, but they were too terrified of kicking of another Antinium War to question it]].

** Taken to it's LogicalExtreme in Volume 7 when [[spoiler:[[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} Bird]]]] attempts to do this to [[spoiler:the City of Pallas while on a live, world-wide broadcast. A new Antinium War ''would'' have started if they'd attacked him because even the watching Antinium Queens assumed he was speaking for them]].

** Orthenon, [Steward] and Left Hand of the King of Destruction is a powerful warrior and military commander on the same level of the Seven. He spends most of the time managing the kingdom.

* TheBeastmaster: [Beast Tamer], and it's Class variations tame and fight alongside various creatures, often forming a psychic bond or shared Skills in the process.

* BewareTheNiceOnes: Erin is very friendly, and hates killing, even when it's necessary to save lives. But when she ''does'' decide to fight, she doesn't hold back.

** Volume 5: [[spoiler:The Goblin Lord's forces are forced to attack Liscor by Tyrion's army. The Solstice Goblins, and the Painted Antinium join the defense of Liscor]].
** Volume 6: [[spoiler:An [[TheDreaded adult Creler]] and it's horde ambush the Horns of Hammerad, the Wistram team, and several Silver Rank teams on a routine guard job. When reinforcements finally arrive after an hour]], [[spoiler:13 of the adventurers are still alive, the Adult Creler is dead, and The Horns are deemed undeniably Gold-Rank]].

* BreakTheHaughty: [[spoiler: Lyonette faced the very real threat of starvation if she didn't willingly do real work for the first time in her life. She eventually becomes the manager of the Inn, a loving adopted mother to Mrsha, and good friends with Krshia (a victim of her earlier thefts) and Zevera (the Captain of the City Watch that exiled her)]].

* CharacterLevel: A mechanic built into the world. Most intelligent beings gain Classes, Levels, and Skills based on what they do, how they do it, and how they are perceived by themselves and others. The fact that Goblins and Demons ''do'' level does not stop them from being viewed as monsters however.

* ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve: [Shamans] derive their power from the shared belief and latent magical power of a group, usually a tribe. [Priest]'s Miracles are similarly powered.

* {{Courier}}: True [[{{Courier}} Couriers]] are Gold and Named-rank Runners who securely deliver anything anywhere via some combination of SuperSpeed, magic, or just being a OneManArmy that ''cannot'' be stopped.

* DegradedBoss: As befits a world built around dungeon crawling, though played with. The initial foray by Silver-ranked adventurers into the dungeon near Liscor [[spoiler:accidentally unleashes Skinner, a [[EldritchAbomination horrific monstrosity]] that results in a near TotalPartyKill and proceeds to escape and lay siege to Liscor itself.]] Some time later during [[RotatingProtagonist a different POV]] we discover that [[spoiler:the dungeon has long been breached by the Free Antinium who have been constantly fending off waves of monsters spilling into their own tunnels, of which Skinner is [[DegradedBoss merely one of]] ''[[DegradedBoss many]]'' such monsters known as Crypt Worms, albeit significantly more ancient and well equipped than the run of the mill ones.]]

* DueToTheDead: [[spoiler:After Zel Shivertail is slain by the Necromancer at the battle of Invrisil, the Goblin Lord forbids his army from desecrating his body and withdraws, recognizing Zel as a WorthyOpponent]].
* DungeonBypass: Entering a dungeon from an unintended route can bypass dangerous traps, but usually only at the cost of leaving an Adventurer party attacked from multiple sides with no cleared escape route. Disabling, and even selling parts of [[DurableDeathtrap Durable Deathtraps]] is highly recommended however.

* EyeScream: [[spoiler:Erin gives one, when she pokes out Gazi's eye]].

* FaintInShock: When Jelaqua Ivirith, a Selphid, which are basically parasites that inhabit dead bodies, ''literally'' opens her stomach to show Erin her true form that is located in that region? Erin faints, when she sees Jelequa waving to her, inside of...well, Jelequa.
* TheFairFolk: The annoying little vicious pixies hate ColdIron and go as far as calling an avalanche to punish whoever dare to show them disrespect.

* FlamingSword: [Burning Blades] is a skill that allows this. When [[spoiler:Rags]] gets it, she sees it is as near-useless for actual battle, but uses it's MundaneUtility to great effect.
* FoodChainOfEvil: The High Passes. Ryoka is attacked by [[spoiler:Goblins, who are promptly attacked by [[CanisMajor Carn Wolves]], who accidentally chase her into herd of Flesh-Eater [[KillerRabbit Goats]], who then all stumble into a nest of [[RockMonster Gargoyles]], who are then ''all'' scared away by Teriarch,]] who is later revealed to be [[spoiler:a [[OurDragonsAreDifferent Dragon]]]].

* GivingRadioToTheRomans: {{Deconstructed}} and PlayedForDrama. Ryoka actually has some knowledge about how a lot of Earth's technology actually works, but she's so afraid that it will fall into the wrong hands that she can't reveal any of it. Not everyone is so concerned, though, and progressively we get things like noblemen eating ice cream and even a millenia-old dragon marveling at a smartphone's game apps.

* GratuitousNinja: Averted. The half-Japanese Ryoka jokingly claims she should get a katana to fit the stereotype, and Magnolia notes on several occasions how absurd the idea of ninjas are.

* ActionBomb: Acid Flies uses flesh-dissolving acid to dissolve carrion. If hit, they explode that acid on their would-be predator.

* ArtificialHuman: The String-folk were created by a human at some point in the distant past, but are nonetheless a fully sentient independent species.

* VampiresAreRich: Played with. The [[spoiler:one Vampire family we've seen is relatively well-off, but mostly because the once-Human mother in it is part of a well-respected [Herder] family. While she likes to wear a nice dress, play up her accent, and refer to their castle as their "ancestral estates" to impress Ryoka, they actually all work full-time managing their herds]].

** The Watcher Trees of the Blood Fields are actively predatory. They stab anything that comes into their range with their widespread roots, and often leave the corpses sitting out to attract more prey.
* WhiteWolvesAreSpecial: On rare occasions however, a Gnoll's fur will turn white [[spoiler:when exposed to a truly horrific tragedy. The poor Gnoll and it's decendants are then shunned as a BadLuckCharm]].

* WizardingSchool: Wistram Academy, is renowned as the best magic school. Tt's also a sociopolitical force to be reckoned with.

* DisappointedByTheMotive: The Half-Seekers to [[spoiler:Garen Redfang for why he betrayed them. Their teammates were in the wrong, yes, but he ''killed family members''. Nothing can excuse that]].

* RunOrDie: Ryoka while trying to make her delivery to the High Passes. She tries to fight off the goblins and Carn Wolves. But when the carnivorous goats arrive and start to eat the wolves and then the gargoyles arrive and start to eat the goats it becomes apparent that she is the very bottom of the food chain.
** [[spoiler: A much more dramatic run in the fourth volume, when Ryoka has aroused the Necromancer's ire [[HeKnowsTooMuch for learning he survived his defeat years ago]] and can only hope to survive by running to and begging for Teriarch's help and protection.]]

* Treants: They fled the land long ago and now live underwater as massive moving coral reefs.

* UnequalRites: [Mages] and their various specialized Class progressions generally look down on all other magic Classes. [Shamans] use the collective magic of their tribe to perform large-scale, if inefficient magic. [Hedge Witches] and [Sorcerers] are magic-users with little or no formal training. [[[{{Druid}} Druids]]] are very dangerous users of nature magic. [Witches] are a Class that relies on RitualMagic, emotions, and their chosen "craft" to practice their strange magics.

* UnreliableNarrator: The "Antinium Wars" Chapters follow the in-universe history books written by Krsysl Wordsmith. Unfortunately, the fame from his first book [[TookALevelInJerkass corrupted him]]. His book on the second war is a RoseTintedNarrative filled with PurpleProse that the various readers frequently cut away from to give their accounts of what ''really'' happened.

* WeHaveReserves: The Antinium as a whole, with the biological castes every individual Antinium belongs to defining what kind of reserve they belong to. The Individuals among them are the subversion, being the equivalent of officers to common foot soldiers.

* WhenTreesAttack: An unusual example, as the aren’t actively malicious, but the Krakk trees near Liscor that explode at the slightest disturbance are most certainly dangerous.
* WhiteWolvesAreSpecial: Gnolls are never born with white fur. On rare occasions however, one's fur will turn white [[spoiler:when exposed to a truly horrific tragedy. The poor Gnoll is then shunned as a BadLuckCharm]].
** Defied by Rags. When offered a white Carn Wolf as a mount, she refused, saying that such a unique coloration would only make for a target in battle.

* WizardingSchool: Wistram Academy, is renowned as the best magic school. Tt's also a sociopolitical force to be reckoned with. Even a nation that strikes fear around the world is wary of them.

* WoundThatWillNotHeal: Weapons enchanted with [Evercut] or [Bloodletter's Curse] deal wounds that continuously cut deeper if not removed, and wounds immune to healing potions respectively. Wounds inflicted by spirits also seem to not heal.
* YouAllMeetInAnInn: Generally played straight in the story, as the inn is a place for most characters to meet Erin — which is {{Justified}} by the story being generally about (and named after) Erin's inn. Averted in the first chapter where Erin finds an inn and stumbles into it hoping to find people, only to realize it has long been deserted.

* ZergRush: A well-tested tactic of the Antinium; one of their bynames during the Antinium Wars was ''the black tide''. Goblins often use similar tactics, lacking individual strength but explosive numbers.
* ZombieApocalypse: Since zombies arise naturally on their own if sufficient numbers of people remain unburied for too long, this is a constant, low-level possibility. On battlefields there’re soldiers tasked with removal, burning, burial and what not of all dead before they can start to rise. On Baleros with its plenty mercenary companies there are whole companies whose sole job is disposal of the dead and those companies are, for the purposes of the battle, essentially non-combatants.

''The Wandering Inn'' began in July 2016 and updates regularly on Tuesdays and Saturdays. The author put out the first volume on Amazon Kindle, and it clocks in at [[Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire A Song of Ice and Fire]] levels. Each successive volume is even bigger than its predecessor; in total the web serial [[{{Doorstopper}} exceeds 6.5 million words]] as of October 2020.

* BrickJoke: The Antinium seem to have developed an in-universe CatchPhrase, all thanks to Ksmvr trolling the Celum City Watch. Bird hears about it and assumes it is a perfect GetOutOfJailFreeCard, unfortunately making his attempt [[spoiler:on the Inn-World's equivalent of live television]]. Escalates even *further* when some individuals notice the pattern of its usage and try to [[YouWouldntShootMe call their bluff]].