Reverie comes easily, but more from exhaustion than the peace of mind I usually have at night. When I wake, the house at first seems quiet, but relaxing the restriction on Resonance reveals Phile tossing and turning in her room.
I don’t want to leave, but I also don’t want to stay where I’m not entirely welcome.
Taking apart the wards I set last night, I feel for the oath link...
2022-10-20 20:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostAfter watching Tove spin excitedly, Imhotep clears his throat, and I have to feel sorry for him. I’ve mishandled things in the last two days.
“My apologies again, Imhotep.”
“I’ll see what the senior team says about the building. Would you and Tove provide more Class information?”
“Tove knows a greater variety of information than I do.”
“No problem, Guil...
2022-10-18 02:12:12 +0000 UTC View PostAmdirlain’s PoV - Culerzic
After her throat healed, Amdirlain almost sent another message but stopped herself in time after remembering the chamber's original purpose. Collecting all the papers, she teleported away from the quarantine station, leaving the items Lorrella had provided in the racks they’d sat in since she’d memorised their songs.
Intending it onl...
2022-10-16 11:24:26 +0000 UTC View PostAmdirlain’s PoV - Culerzic
Isa’s panel remained focused on the Firestorm’s target site and showed the celestials cleaning up the glowing landscape. With Amdirlain having emptied her Mana pool into the ritual, she watched the continuing celestial inferno she’d unleashed. The millions in experience it had netted her were bitter as the ashes from kilometres of burnin...
2022-10-11 17:38:25 +0000 UTC View PostAmdirlain’s PoV - Culerzic
When Torm appeared, Amdirlain had to cut off the explicit lyrics she’d been experimenting with, but they echoed back to her in the sudden silence.
“Interesting song choice,” offered Torm.
Amdirlain gave a bashful smile. “I was trying to get the inflections and emotions right for maximum impact on Isa.”
“I find it ...
2022-10-09 00:44:22 +0000 UTC View PostA link snaps into existence, signalling my first royal guardsman, and much more—the echoes through the oath cascade higher with smashing blasts of thunder when he takes a second class. The world seems to take a breath, and explosions rock along the link when he takes another two.
“What happened?” Phile asks, drawing my attention away when Nikias’ song explodes.
Nikias’ eye...
2022-10-07 14:42:46 +0000 UTC View PostAmdirlain’s PoV - Culerzic
When the Gate closed behind Nûr, the chamber dimmed, and Amdirlain slumped cross-legged to the ground. The hours they’d spent had left Amdirlain emotionally numb from the toll of continually dredging up unpleasant emotions. She didn’t shift position when she heard Torm behind her, simply taking in his concern. Without a word, he knelt in ...
2022-10-05 21:31:16 +0000 UTC View PostAmdirlain’s PoV - Culerzic
The flat plains stretched for thousands of kilometres,; only scattered patches of gravel dropped haphazardly by the powerful winds disrupted its wind-polished surface. Far from her hidey-hole, Amdirlain took each item from Lorrella’s storage bag and listened for unexpected elements.
Though she was positive she’d caught all the tracke...
2022-10-03 20:17:38 +0000 UTC View PostAt Tove's antics, Phile gives me a questioning look. “You two seem like old friends.”
“Yeah, when she was younger it took a few celestials to keep Gail out of trouble. Even that didn’t always prove enough,” laughs Tove, and I catch her teasing tone. “Such a handful, even after she started going with the family’s strike teams.”
“Hey, don’t go telling tales, Tove, ...
2022-10-01 11:31:05 +0000 UTC View PostAmdirlain’s PoV - Culerzic
The form and clothing had been the most comfortable part of her preparations, and Amdirlain pushed herself to stop procrastinating.
Steading herself, she recalled Viper’s taunting words and twisted desires. She distilled years of snipping and provocations down and fed the attitude behind them into a False Mind. As it bloomed into life,...
2022-09-29 01:28:08 +0000 UTC View PostAmdirlain’s PoV - Culerzic
Amdirlain caught Sírdhem’s hesitation when their training session ended. “I don’t want to give you these, but Erwarth and Sarah asked me to pass them along.”
A metal strong box appeared in her hand, Amdirlain caught the pulse from the storage amulet at Sírdhem’s wrist. The box was nearly a half-metre cube, and Sírdhem held i...
2022-09-25 01:04:58 +0000 UTC View PostAmdirlain’s PoV - Culerzic
The electric notes of Ilya’s fear slowly chilled. With Ilya settling, Sírdhem waved before slipping back through the Gate, and the circle’s internal pressure eased. Though the Gate’s continued presence confirmed she was nearby, she moved out of sight. Amdirlain restrained a wince at the erratic spikes of pain and grief that suddenly gou...
2022-09-21 16:19:17 +0000 UTC View PostIpy’s hut is tidy, despite the bare brick walls and hard-packed dirt floor. Unshuttered windows allow the breeze flowing in the west gate to swirl around the table and five mismatched chairs before exiting to the east. He has a few rough wood shelves secured straight to the bricks between the interior framework, holding some carved plates and bowls. Unlike the roughness of the building’s co...
2022-09-20 14:44:34 +0000 UTC View PostThe first stop is just a dozen houses away, a two-story place like Zosime’s house. A middle-aged man’s hazel gaze locks on me through the open window, and his face hardens until he spots Phile. Barrel chested, I couldn’t have encircled his biceps with both hands unless I cheated, and his arms show plenty of battle scars. Carefully setting aside a thick spindle he was varnishing, he ignore...
2022-09-16 21:43:42 +0000 UTC View PostAmdirlain’s PoV - Culerzic
Amdirlain wasn’t sure how many times she’d traced the fey tree’s complex symphony when she finally released the memory. After focusing Resonance on such beauty, it left her sensitive to the biting sounds of the Abyss’ vile rage. Shuddering in disgust, Amdirlain opened her eyes and found Torm hadn’t even moved.
“Not going to d...
2022-09-16 14:29:09 +0000 UTC View PostTorm waited until the glow left it before hefting the latest hand axe. “You'll soon be producing a journeyman’s quality at this rate.”
The notification appeared as Amdirlain gathered some to stack them in the crate she’d been filling this session.
[Crafting Summary (Category: simple weapon) - experience by item grade:
Apprentice: 20 each (x480)
Total experience g...
2022-09-12 22:07:00 +0000 UTC View PostWhen we get to the Guild Master’s office Phile lets the door gently shut behind us and, if we were in any other room, I might have surroundings to appreciate. Instead, it's just white stone, no matter the swirling patterns in the marble. It makes the place so bland except for the desk and three chairs crafted of polished cherry wood. Imhotep’s office no longer has the sweet smell of burnt w...
2022-09-12 16:38:36 +0000 UTC View PostAmdirlain’s PoV - Culerzic
As the Mana hardened the last of the silver filling the runes, Amdirlain took in the chamber's silence. Focusing on it through Resonance provided her with a steady orchestra rather than the rough and off-tune music she’d heard from the previous two attempts. There were some apparent weaknesses in the song’s components—themes tha...
2022-09-08 07:17:36 +0000 UTC View PostThe wards I’d set around the room are undisturbed when I wake from reverie and take in the night's calm—the busy music of the day is now but a gentle lulling noise from the slumbering residents. Stretching Resonance brushes it against the orchestras of both pleasant and nightmarish dreams. Sharing a few delicate notes with the latter has most quickly shifted into calmer themes.
... 2022-09-06 21:26:23 +0000 UTC View PostAmdirlain’s PoV - Culerzic
With the stone from the fourth attempt at the circle vaporised, Amdirlain forcefully released the salvaged chunks of alchemical silver from Inventory. It was a spray of metal that clattered off other scraps in the side area she’d constructed after the first failed attempt. The lip of that chamber now sat nearly a full metre above the shaft f...
2022-09-05 21:25:00 +0000 UTC View PostAmdirlain’s PoV - Culerzic
Resonance had slowly improved, allowing her to isolate individual beasts among the Abyss’s mind-piercing racket. Lairs she found were saturated with the malevolent vibrations of drakes, spiders, and dozens of other predators. In need of a break, Amdirlain drew back the Resonance’s perception range and signalled Torm to leave. Before she co...
2022-09-01 22:08:09 +0000 UTC View PostAmdirlain’s PoV - Culerzic
Gail’s questions took hours and ranged from various types of songs to what ‘good’ meant to Amdirlain in different situations. With each question, Amdirlain could hear her listening to internal music that spun her trails of concepts, from the meanings of unfamiliar words to philosophical viewpoints.
An Anar’s memories are with...
2022-08-29 07:11:09 +0000 UTC View PostAmdirlain’s PoV - Culerzic
After setting some delicate wards in place on the approach to the whirlpool’s Gate, they’d moved onto the second location, a broken tower perched on a hillside. The debris within the tower showed minimal signs of use; there had been no one present in days. From the impressions Amdirlain could draw, it was simply the demons’ version of a ...
2022-08-25 09:49:35 +0000 UTC View PostLast week was crazy with things that were going on, so didn't get the time I wanted to write on the weekend.
Released Fluid - 3 to the treasury tier folks this morning.
Fluid - Prologue and Fluid - 1 I've also now released to Ascended Tier (Hope you enjoy them.)
Like the other two side stories, I plan for Fluid to be at least five chapters ahead in that story on the Treasury T...
2022-08-22 21:39:34 +0000 UTC View PostEven if the colour wasn’t clear enough, the sound of the loom within chattered at me from houses away. The mechanism’s busy wooden pieces contrast oddly with the house’s empty song, speaking of children grown and years gone. It's not a grim mourning theme, only the sorrow of absence and uncertainty that lays tight across the sole occupant within.
It was a two-story house with wide s...
2022-08-22 21:17:57 +0000 UTC View PostThe powerful metallic notes had been surprising, but with surprise fading, it’s clear he’s a mature Gold Dragon. Though there is power in his chords, it’s nowhere near the ancient wyrms that accompany Bahamut on visits to my mother.
“Good afternoon. What can I do for you?”
So not what I’d expected a Dragon to say, and my mouth runs away from me.
“You’re just go...
2022-08-19 11:08:15 +0000 UTC View PostAmdirlain’s PoV - Culerzic
With the last room finished, Amdirlain returned its page to the roll of designs. It had taken four days of effort to carve the hideout exactly according to the plans Erwarth had provided. Having committed them all to memory, Amdirlain stored the rolled plans in Inventory, before she re-checked all the rooms. Only when she completed a ...
2022-08-17 21:17:36 +0000 UTC View PostThe metal’s song bursts with energy, and even expecting it, I’m still too slow to avoid the sudden scalding heat. My fingertips had barely brushed the plate’s surface before the energy cascaded within the enchantments and overflowed the divination’s loop. Even with my hand well away, the rune-etched steel sears its way into the guild master’s desk. While the scent of burning cherry wo...
2022-08-16 08:34:06 +0000 UTC View PostYou need to learn to manage, not complain.
The words offer no support and make it clear Ilya is still testing.
Now I wish now that I’d gotten into Julia’s roleplaying games. I barely know where to start with magic, but I remember a few things. “Do you know any invisibility spells?”
“Yes, I do.”
“Could you cast one for me?”
“I could, but s...
2022-08-14 21:40:39 +0000 UTC View PostBefore I open my eyes, I’m aware of music humming through my bones and tickling my ears.
It makes my fingers and toes twitch and wiggle. I have a fleeting thought, wondering when I changed my alarm. Then I’m trying to remember what an ‘alarm’ is, let alone why I might change one.
Blinking causes a haze of golden light to stab my eyes, and I close them tight. A little peeking...
2022-08-12 06:19:10 +0000 UTC View Post