Rogue · Investigator
Nyx
Find the exits. Count the lies. Save the idiots.
The Flagship Realm
Commonly Known as the Rusty Tankard
A fantasy mystery-comedy series where the same party tackles systems that work too well, and every escape costs something.
Every inn has a rumour. Every village has a rule. Every rule is about to become their problem.
The Quest Journal
Follow the party into trouble
Each mystery stands on its own. Start at the beginning for every bad decision, recurring grievance, and goat-related vote.
- Fantasy Mystery Book 1
A broke adventuring party, a furious giant, and a succubus who is definitely not who she seems - this free prequel mystery throws the Rusty Tankards into a tavern full of liars and one very bad night.
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Fantasy Mystery Book 2A comedic fantasy about a village that's too perfect — where everyone is kind, everyone is calm, and no one ever leaves. The Rusty Tankards are about to find out why.
View book → - Recently Released
Fantasy Mystery Book 3When a notorious blackmailer dies at dinner in Babbington Manor, Nyx and her misfit companions must solve a locked-room murder where everyone already tried to kill the victim.
View book → - Recently Released
Fantasy Mystery Book 4They traded a fortune for a leaking boat, two jobs, and the worst deal anyone has ever called a good deal. On Venara, every beach is perfect, every smile is constant, and Nyx does not trust a single thing.
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Meet the Company
Four adventurers.
One goat. No good plan.
They rarely agree on the plan, the name of the party, or whether the goat gets a vote. They do agree that leaving each other behind would be rude.
Open the party journal 
Paladin · Paperwork Pending
Rolan
Sandy-blond, sincere, and already halfway into a speech.
Pyromancer · Hazard
Fizzle
Every fire is educational if you stand far enough back.
Barbarian · Poet
Bash
Carries the gear. Writes the haiku. Breaks the door.
Goat · Deciding Vote
Gerald
Eats the evidence. Rejects the grass. Usually knows first.
Other Realms
Step through another doorway
Different worlds. The same fondness for institutions that are functioning exactly as designed—and should not be.
- Recently Released
Comic FantasyDante wanted to be somebody. He should have been more specific. Now he owns the worst bar in Asura, employs a workforce that does not strictly qualify as living, and owes a debt that cannot be settled in money.
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Comic FantasyIn a hidden retirement community for defeated dark lords and mad scientists, a newly deposed emperor refuses to retire and triggers a crisis that could collapse the only place built to contain them.
View book → - Recently Released
Comic FantasySix wiseguys. One medieval city. Zero questions asked. When six New York mobsters walk out of a Hell's Kitchen basement into a city of knights and guilds, they do not look for a way home. They look for the angles.
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A Letter from Beyond the Map
Free stories for fellow travellers
Receive lost adventures, new-release announcements, and occasional news from the Rusty Tankard crew. The first short stories are being prepared now.
No daily ravens. Leave the list whenever you like.
About the Author
Julian Herschel
Darkly comic fantasy mysteries where strange systems look polite on the surface and rotten underneath.
Julian Herschel writes fantasy-mystery adventures centered on isolated places that seem to work too well—until the cracks show.