I mentioned earlier that I would need to go on a break after Chapter 20 to rebuild my backlog. While that break is still happening, Chapter 20 ran really long, so it got split up and no longer acts as a good stopping point. You'll get Chapter 21 in a few days on-schedule before I descend into the darkness of the writing mines, where all serial authors reside.
External Link for ...
2023-10-12 04:02:20 +0000 UTC
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Hoo boy. Imagine my surprise when I sign on tonight to post the next chapters and find that Patreon has changed a bunch of shit, including fucking with their HTML to the point where italics no longer work. Even with posts that were already posted.
Italics, as you probably understand by now, are slightly important for conveying certain aspects of a story. I do not want to post more chapter...
2023-10-05 03:48:33 +0000 UTC
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Important Author's Note:
Patreon fucked with its HTML, so now all italics got erased. Might have to manually change them to unicode. In the meantime, I strongly recommend reading this chapter via either the attached pdf, or by viewing it at this external site:
https://justpaste.it/ls/...
2023-09-25 03:35:58 +0000 UTC
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After speaking with all of the suspects, Adam couldn’t shake off the distinct feeling that he may as well not have bothered. Despite taking his time each of them, he didn’t get much out of them aside from a word here or there – although he was still willing to take something over nothing.
Serena, the Master of Communications, had precious little to offer about the crime itself. The...
2023-09-23 00:23:45 +0000 UTC
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Adam swept his eyes across the room, watching for unusual reactions. Unsurprisingly, he found none. Everyone present seemed intelligent enough to understand the implications of what he’d said. Now that Adam had declared his lordly intentions, this wouldn’t end without someone’s head rolling. And considering the grisly nature of these serial killings, they knew it could end with his death ...
2023-09-19 23:26:02 +0000 UTC
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Thankfully, Ragnavi was smart enough to recognize that people needed time to cool off after her outburst. She sequestered herself elsewhere in The Village – alone – as everyone waited for the Dragonkin retinue to arrive.
Small comforts.
With the Village tour canceled, and Rob taking a well-deserved breather, he was left with little to do except review his Character Sheet in pr...
2023-09-14 04:08:30 +0000 UTC
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Inside his dream, Adam was awake.
The mysterious voice jolted him to awareness. A second later, he located its source – a strange gentleman, standing tall and seemingly unbothered by the heavy downpour falling on him. It’s raining, Adam noted absently, studying his hand. Water fell on him, so persistent that they were less like raindrops and more of a greasy mist. The liquid...
2023-09-12 22:47:30 +0000 UTC
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The street erupted in a line of dirt and cobblestone, as if a tornado had rushed straight down. Dozens of pitch-black tendrils – each over fifteen feet long – were whipping through the air in a blender of destruction. The Blight-creature had become a shifting mass with no discernible shape, nothing remaining of its original Elven likeness except for a mannequin-esque face lodged at the cent...
2023-09-11 04:05:01 +0000 UTC
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Not long after speaking with Ferrero, Adam got his chance to talk with Serena, the master of communications. However, this conversation was far more brusque and rushed than the previous one. It started when the heavily-cloaked woman suddenly approached him, holding one arm to the side as if brandishing a powerful weapon.
With a crow atop her shoulder.
“My lord, a moment?” Serena...
2023-09-07 19:30:45 +0000 UTC
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The Village was exactly as Rob remembered it. Once-bustling streets were empty and quiet. Buildings lay crumbling, like they'd been abandoned for decades, the result of unchecked Corruption degradation. Distant memories of the Elves that used to live there – many of them now dead – were swept away by a cold breeze. Rob shivered from the chill, and even that seemed out of place, as if showin...
2023-09-06 23:09:41 +0000 UTC
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Two Days Later
The teleportation energies faded around them.
Rob stumbled for a moment, yet only a moment. He was well-accustomed to the aftereffects of teleportation magic. His allies...less so. A cacophony of unhappy groans serenaded him, and several pairs of eyes glared at him accusingly, as if asking why he was never affected too badly by this.
2023-09-04 04:15:01 +0000 UTC
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“You’re the detective,” Adam said, after a long pause. “You tell me. What do you think happened to those missing people?”
Valeria tapped her lips with her index finger, then looked upwards in a parody of deep thought. “My lord, my lord...how could a humble peasant such as myself know what you do not?”
“Skip the dance, Puppet,” Solara cut in. She crossed ...
2023-09-03 02:50:34 +0000 UTC
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<"The man you’re trying to reach is unavailable right now. Please, leave a message and – okay I can’t do this bit. You can hear me, right?">
Rob's legs trembled as he leaned his back against the alley wall, letting himself gradually slide down into a sitting position. All the strength in his muscles had been sapped by hearing the voice that was unambiguously, indispu...
2023-08-31 03:52:09 +0000 UTC
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“How much of that was an act back there?” Adam asked Solara once they were alone in their cabin. “The constant insulting of Dragon Puppets, I mean.”
Solara didn’t immediately respond. Instead, she closed the latch of their door, then began to walk around the cabin, seemingly checking for any abnormalities on the wooden walls.
Her investigative march only paused twice. On...
2023-08-29 22:08:11 +0000 UTC
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The next few days were spent on last-minute preparations. While it would've been nice to stick around the capital city for a bit longer, help rebuild its fractured government, the Blight wasn't inclined to wait for them to unfuck Elnaril's handiwork. They'd just have to trust that the remaining coalition members, Celiane, and Zephial would right the ship before it sank.
Rob was actually ...
2023-08-27 23:22:17 +0000 UTC
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Detective.
That single word was enough to momentarily send Adam into a state of shock, although only just for a moment. So what if she’s lying about her profession? he reasoned. I didn’t come here on a casual visit – I came here expecting tricks, treachery, and backstabbing. This is par for the course.
With that in mind, there was still a ...
2023-08-25 23:29:17 +0000 UTC
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Author's Note:
Chapters 4, 6, and 7 all ended up much longer than average, so I split this one to give myself and the backlog more breathing room.
--
Riardin's Rangers went looking for Meyneth and Vul'to as soon as they got back to the capital city. Diplomacy met up with them on the way, immediately asking for details about everything tha...
2023-08-24 04:11:10 +0000 UTC
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Level 92.
Level. Ninety. Two.
WHAT. THE. FUCK?
All sense of noble propriety was flung from Ragnavi's mind. She could only stare in utter disbelief as her worldview was forcibly altered into something fundamentally different. The Human was here, and he was Level 92.
And worse – he was smiling. Not externally, but Ragnavi was distressingly familiar with that...
2023-08-21 03:03:51 +0000 UTC
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Two things left to do before leaving to meet with the Dragon Puppets.
Adam wasn’t sure if he trusted Solara or if he trusted his paintings – but either way, the result was the same: he’d confirmed her support. She was, for the moment, extremely unlikely to betray him. It was a solid piece of information to base future decisions on.
However, Solara’s support wasn’t...
2023-08-19 05:16:47 +0000 UTC
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So my cover art guy came back with some sketches for a possible Book 6 cover art. Wanted to ask you guys which version you thought looked the best. Here's the framing possibilities they gave:
Cover Art 1
Cover Art 2
2023-08-17 03:15:16 +0000 UTC
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There are few worse sensations in the world than feeling rage – pure, unbridled apoplectic rage – and having no outlet for it.
Rob produced a longsword from Spatial Storage. He held it in his left hand, knuckles turning white as he clenched, imagining that his fingers were tightening around a divine throat. The desire to take that sword and drive it into an acceptable target...
2023-08-16 07:16:38 +0000 UTC
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