PANIC!
The situation has become dire. Confusion, darkness, and the unknown surround you. You dig deep into your bag, hoping for something useful, knowing that the bag will give you whatever fate decides.
Will you find help?
Will you find confusion?
Will you find glazed nuts?
This is the chance you take with BOTTOMLESS BAG!
Close your eyes
Reach inside
FROM WITHIN
This grouping was selected at random from a communally generated master list of four hundred. It is my hope that these ten items can be used as a forecast or guide to your week ahead. You can also use a ten sided dice to turn each weeks items into a miniature oracle. Whether you choose to take these items literally or metaphorically, it’s up to you to find how these things may help. For a more thorough overview go to Introducing Bottomless Bag and Bottomless Bag 01.
Item 191
#221: PAIN PILLS
To dull it all
Item 192
#272: TIRED
The burden of exhaustion
Item 193
#58: FEMUR
The longest and strongest
Item 194
#38: SIDEWALK CHALK
Maker of temporary marks
Item 195
#243: AIR FILTER
Clearing the air
Item 196
#246: HARD HAT
Protect your head
Item 197
#109: DANCING RAT
The rodent expresses joy
Item 198
#44: FLECKS OF FOOD
Messy mastication
Item 199
#306: CLOUD
The shapes above
Item 200
#127: STOPWATCH
Minute details
DIGGING DEEPER
Usually this space is used to take a deep dive into one of this weeks items but not today. Today we hit not only hit the halfway point of these BOTTOMLESS BAG articles but it’s also the day the BOTTOMLESS BAG oracular book releases!
The book is 467 pages long and contains the entire oracular experiment. It features a foreword by We, the Hallowed’s own Revalator Keats Ross.
I’m including an excerpt of the text this week. The writing is sparse in this one. I wanted to leave as much space as possible for people to use their own imaginations as to how BOTTOMLESS BAG can be used. I created a short piece of fiction for the introduction and that’s what I want to share here.
—
The only light in the corridor comes from your waning torch and it only gets dimmer with each passing moment. Distant drips patter against cold stone, echoing through the unknown passageways.
You can’t remember how long you’ve been down here.
Has it been days?
Hours?
The dungeon has been nothing but long hallways and stairways that lead to the deeper and deeper descent into the unknown.
You know you must go on, though.
Dreams of treasures and riches lay at the core of this underground fortress. They gird you and drive you on.
Suddenly, you hear a new sound in the shadows.
Footsteps?
Instinctively, your hand clutches at the bag hanging at from your shoulder.
The shopkeeper said to not let its size deceive you and he was not wrong. You have put item after item inside of the bag and it has never gotten full or weighed an ounce more.
You’ve never been sure what it was constructed from. The leather has always had a strange sheen to it and there is a faint glow inside when it is opened. Curiosity sometimes brings you to theories and ideas of what magic makes this bottomless bag work but you think better of it.
Perhaps figuring out the magic that makes this miracle work will break the spell that makes it such a boon?
The sound is getting closer. They are footsteps and that is all you can be sure of now. You think you see movement in the darkness but cannot be sure if your eyes are playing tricks on you, making your fear into ghosts in the darkness.
Sweat beads on your forehead and panic gathers in your belly.
Are they allies or enemies?
Perhaps some kind of strange beast?
It is impossible to know but you must prepare for any eventuality.
You reach your hand into the bag and hope that it will provide you with the aide you need for whatever hazard might lie ahead.
Your finger brushes against an unknown item.
Will this be the help that you require or will it only prove to make matters worse?
Take the chance and find out.
—
I’m incredibly proud of how this project has turned out. I hope you check it out. It feels like a true culmination of my oracular work.
Now that we’ve hit the halfway point I’m going to take a couple weeks for myself. I may pop in to do a more thorough release post for the book but otherwise I’ll be spending the holidays with my family. I promise I’ll be thinking about all of you. Seriously. Not a single one of these drawings exist without you and you’ll see me here again just before the new year to start the second half.
That’s all for now. Come back in a couple weeks for another dig into the BOTTOMLESS BAG.
As always:
SEE WHAT’S INSIDE
DIG DEEP
AND
HAUNT ON
ABOUT ERIC J. MILLAR
Eric is the artist and writer behind Outlet Press. He has published over 20 books over the last four year with VACA: Outlet Illustrated, Volume 5 being his most recent publication. He is also the creator of The Disruption Generator, the randomly generated bibliomantic oracle, and The Impossible Game, a cleromantic oracle, both published in partnership with We The Hallowed.
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