Mason ran behind Streak, bow at the ready. The huge wolf filled half the wide corridor, his head practically as high as Mason's. He felt Mason's fear for his friends, his knowledge of danger in multiple directions, his eagerness for a fight.
They were of like-mind now. Their senses had told them enough—this place was hostile and filled with evil things. There was nothing left but the hu...
2024-06-19 14:00:08 +0000 UTC View Post[Congratulations! You have discovered the Central Hub of the Western Continent. This is a combined collection of communication, teleportation, trade, and other beacons, designed to foster player interaction across the world. The first patron to complete the associated quest can claim the Hub.]
[Title gained: Desert Leader. First Patron to discover the Western Hub. Hub event a...
2024-06-18 14:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostMason had almost expected some kind of 'druid dream' that night, but he slept like the dead. When he woke up he set up his teleportation beacon, deciding to bring the other players before he took a step inside the Hub. He didn't want any kind of nasty surprises, or for some reason getting locked in alone.
After testing the teleportation device to actually figure out if it worked (it did),...
2024-06-17 14:00:09 +0000 UTC View PostUrgent, passionate kissing was a little tricky when your woman had fangs. Or tusks. Or whatever the hell you called the big, sharp teeth jutting from an orc’s lower jaw.
Blake did his best.
Ilya was literally tearing at his recently made clothes, practically growling when she found his pants were held up with a belt. The metal buckle was obviously unfamiliar, and for a moment she ...
2024-06-14 14:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostBlake was lost in a giant, spinning pool of magical creation. Both halves of his mind were filled with True Making, the details of his constructs moving like 3d computer models as he turned and inspected, considered and changed. They had to be perfect.
He'd decided on several variants for Ilya's tower. Most were pure brute force—a typical base model Arcane with some combination of arms ...
2024-06-13 14:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostBlake stood with Annie and Seul-ki at the huge double doors of 'Clan Ambereyes’ white tower, a small army of goblins behind him. It did occur to him that there was a small possibility he literally couldn't bring the goblins inside…
This was a 'dungeon', after all, with whatever rules of physics their wise robot overlord decided on. And maybe goblins just couldn't enter orc dungeons. 2024-06-12 14:00:07 +0000 UTC View Post
Mason ran through open plains with Streak at his side, watching the open horizon. It was strange to be out of the trees—to be able to see so far in the distance, to mountains looming in three directions except the way he was running.
He was heading south following Kiaan's mapped out territory. It was a visible clear line in the unexplored darkness, the scout's entire journey 'uploaded' ...
2024-06-11 14:00:07 +0000 UTC View Post
Book 7 begins tomorrow! At long last it's time for the 'Central Hub', and everything that means. The continuation of the orc/goblin 'alliance'. More player upgrades. And perhaps a marriage...
A piece of very good and rather exciting news - I have now signed with a publisher to create the audiobooks for this entire series. I don't want to release any details until there's more progress, bu...
2024-06-10 14:05:01 +0000 UTC View PostMason couldn't stop smiling as he walked towards the center of Nassau. He and Naya had made-out a little like teenagers, kissing and touching as they moved to the bed. For a second he thought it was going to go further, but when his hands got increasingly curious, Naya had stopped him.
"I'm sorry, but…we should still be married first. Though I'm...very eager," she said, kissing him agai...
2024-06-10 14:00:10 +0000 UTC View PostNaya could hardly believe what she'd done, and asked her ancestors for forgiveness. Yet she knew it was right. She and the remaining elves in Nassau clung to their traditions as the elves of Shirass clung to theirs. Mason was right. They had to adapt, or die.
All around her women wept, or sat on the floor, or stared with dead eyes at the walls.
"Have we failed you so utterly?" said ...
2024-06-07 14:00:06 +0000 UTC View Post[Practice Test 142: Brawl complete. Completion level: Conquest. Risk level: Minimal. Please consider a test with a higher level of difficulty.]
Mason stepped out of the training court with a deep sigh of satisfaction. It seemed he hadn’t actually ‘gained’ anything, but he’d sure as hell enjoyed himself.
Then he noticed the onlookers and lost a bit of th...
2024-06-06 14:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostMason found a few players inside the training hall already. It looked like Tommaso and Garet were in a kind of square-tiled basketball court, moving from square to square as they attacked pop-up bullseyes and other targets around the 'court'. They flashed with green or red at hits and misses, making various beeping and screeching sounds.
The whole place was filled with similar 'courts' an...
2024-06-05 14:00:09 +0000 UTC View Post"Wait, please!" called a voice from the stairs, and the elven princess rushed out and stood awkwardly. "We didn't mean to offend you. It isn't unusual to exchange soldiers between elven houses. But..."
"Well you have offended me," Mason said sharply. "I won't be giving you my people's 'loyalty' under any circumstances. Not if you held a knife to my throat. Do you understand?"
"I apo...
2024-06-04 14:00:05 +0000 UTC View Post"He was supposed to be here some time ago," Dariya complained, glancing out the window of their new home. "He said he'd return immediately."
"He's an important man here," Naya said, trying not to show her anxiety. "No doubt he's deeply engaged in some pressing issue."
The human settlement of 'Nassau' was actually incredible. The druid said it had been 'blessed by Gaia', which at fir...
2024-06-03 14:00:08 +0000 UTC View PostAfter a very, very satisfying morning with his girls, Mason decided he should probably get a few things sorted.
Haley ruined all that. She caught him outside the bedroom, dragging him into a spare while the other girls were probably both still sweat-soaked and comatose.
"Let’s talk about those elves,” she said, closing her robe when Mason’s eyes drifted, and slight...
2024-05-31 14:00:08 +0000 UTC View PostNaya walked towards the incredible Gaian temple in the early morning light. She had heard of such things from the elders and ancient legends, but she had never seen one with her own two eyes. She couldn’t think of a better place to contact the council.
The last time had obviously been…a disaster. She had demanded their attention, ignored protocol and politeness, and spoken with ...
2024-05-30 14:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostMason dreamed of a red, swirling sky. He stepped out from the safety of his forest, seeing nothing but desert into the horizon.
A hot wind howled ahead. The blurry mirage of heat and sand curved forever in endless dunes like waves in a dry sea. It felt lifeless and desolate. Unwelcoming. And also important.
He knew he had to go forward. That something waited for him the...
2024-05-29 14:00:09 +0000 UTC View PostRosa stepped slowly towards Mason as Haley and Rebecca pressed themselves against his sides. He slid his hands down their backs, groping their asses as he watched Rosa walk.
"What's this?" she said with an eyebrow raised. "Some kind of initiation thing? Am I about to get hazed?"
He knew she was just being playful. Just as he knew he should have just laughed and been less...
2024-05-28 14:00:09 +0000 UTC View PostSurreality met weird reality as Mason led the elves to the gates of Nassau.
He glanced back at the human-ish creatures forming up behind him, looking up at the walls and treetops sticking up from inside with wonder. They'd impressed him during the journey. Only a handful of players could have gone as far and as quickly to keep up.
He could see the relief and excitement ...
2024-05-27 14:00:08 +0000 UTC View PostBlake hadn’t waited long after Phuong and the others left, or indeed given the goblins nearly the time he promised. He re-entered the dungeon, this time at the front, with Seul-ki, Annie, and all his constructs.
"Don't worry," he told them, as the assassins again circled and Seul-ki clutched his arm in terror. "I know what I'm doing."
It was mostly true. And at least the assassins...
2024-05-24 14:00:06 +0000 UTC View Post"Uh. My...what?"
[Objective: Complete your marriage contract with the elven princess Naya of House Anshan: Earn Powerful Patron and Lineage rewards.]
[Temporary Title gained: Betrothed to the fey. A strong symbol of trust…but sometimes distaste…for most elves.]
Mason glanced at the system text and just about choked on his spit. Co...
2024-05-23 14:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostMason learned the elf's name was Naya. After the...vomiting, she tried weakly to apologize and walk beside him, but she stumbled like a newborn fawn, and pretty soon he was carrying her. He suspected even pre-apocalypse Mason could have done it easily enough, but now he hardly noticed her weight.
"There is much to tell you, Patron," Kiaan said, jogging at his side. "I should reproduce my ...
2024-05-22 14:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostNaya ran for the rocky ground, heart pounding, knowing now she would die in this place. She had watched her brave scouts fall one by one, their impressive speed eclipsed by the four-legged beasts, their arrows almost useless. Elves were not meant to fight in open terrain against such a foe. They had no other strategy, no way to adapt, and no chance.
"I'll kill at least one of you!" she sc...
2024-05-21 14:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostNaya ran her hands through her hair and cursed her elders for the thousandth time.
“We have. No. Time,” she hissed through the feywild stone. “We need warriors. Now. Or a portal to the godpaths. I cannot request formally because my people are all about to be trapped and killed!”
“You will not raise your voice at us, daughter of Anshan,” warbled the disj...
2024-05-20 14:00:12 +0000 UTC View PostCliknik, Chief Scout of the Greenblood Order, had seen better days. For many days now he had trekked south through the great woods with few supplies, his bow lost, no weapon remaining but a knife. The forest was almost ended. Next it would be plains and desert unless he circled around to the coast.
When things had turned at the settlement battle, especially as the giant wolves had begun h...
2024-05-17 14:00:05 +0000 UTC View Post“I don’t like deception,” Mason said, watching the old elf with renewed suspicion. She nodded and locked her hands in front of her like a naughty child who’d been caught.
“I’m sorry, druid. But you must understand—we elves cannot trust easily. I had to see who you and your tribe were. I meant no harm, I was only protecting myself, and my people.”
Mason nodded because...
2024-05-16 14:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostMason walked through the further areas of the beautiful Temple of Gaia to be alone, scrolling through his patron choices. He had a few ideas in mind but still wasn’t committed enough to actually pull the trigger.
The list of buildings were endless, though the vast majority were unavailable, reserved for larger and larger settlements with way more people and size than Nassau. Mason wasn...
2024-05-15 14:00:07 +0000 UTC View PostMason woke from his post-post coital nap, Haley’s blonde hair covering his chest. She was stretched out and naked, taking two thirds of the bed, eyes closed and beautiful face slack in deep sleep. He grinned and kissed her forehead.
But he felt Becky’s absence on his other side, or else twisted and tangled up with the sheets, and with Haley. It reminded him just how high the stakes we...
2024-05-14 14:00:08 +0000 UTC View PostBlake sat outside the Prospector's Guild on a stolen chair eating stolen rations. He designed and sometimes created with True Making, restoring himself to a full complement of deadly constructs.
"I have finished identifying and listing the full assortment of items taken from the engineers, Master. Do you want me to describe them for you?" Navi smiled with her customary pleasure, and Blake...
2024-05-13 14:00:06 +0000 UTC View Post