South-East from Stoneheart
Aggie stepped from the Portal and looked over the causeway’s tightly fitted stones, taking in the Dwarven runes that showed the distance to Stoneheart. Yngvarr’s relocation had surprised her, but at least his cousin was cute, helpful and happy to flirt. She looked back through the Portal and blew Himelchon a kiss that drew a slow smile. Pull...
2021-10-18 10:23:11 +0000 UTC View PostEbusuku’s PoV - The Maze
A claw scraping is all the warning I get, and I twist away. The furry form is still airborne when another comes in low. Stepping into its lunge, my hand smears its drool along its jawline as I deflect its bite. Spinning onwards, I grab it by the scruff and propel the blight wolf towards its hunting partner. The grey fur of the pair is a perfect ...
2021-10-16 09:56:53 +0000 UTC View Post“Ilya! Please let go of my ear.” I hiccup the words out around bubbling giggles as she drags me along beside her.
I’m not sure how many times I’ve asked, but as we leave the market, she finally let’s go.
“Owie.”
“Meep? Owie? What is it with you and meaningless noises?”
Ilya’s question comes despite the complete lack of curiosity in her song.
... 2021-10-13 12:50:26 +0000 UTC View PostHell's Songbird 5 - I've done the first pass on editing today.
Chapter 125 - Started today
Chained 7 - In progress
2021-10-13 07:45:05 +0000 UTC View PostEbusuku’s PoV - The Maze
The dead Orge is several long corridors away before my eyesight stops making progress adjusting to this place. The grey roughness of the floor is unsurprising, but the grey walls aren’t bleak. Veins of metals swirl in the stone, showing me pictures at every turn. The amount of detail is unsurprising given who likely created this maze. Their ch...
2021-10-12 06:09:06 +0000 UTC View PostEbusuku’s PoV - The Maze
Blades dig and slither under my skin, crawling up my legs without a wound visible. Only when the pain reaches, my knees do I remember it. The cold that I’d long ago grown immune to is eating me. The rough stone beneath my feet digs into flesh, and without drawing blood, drinks heat away. Air that tastes foul resounds with another thud, but I r...
2021-10-09 08:48:47 +0000 UTC View PostAmdirlain stopped inside the camp’s boundary, and without turning regarded the Portal in True Sight. The blood-splattered ground marked it, and she could perceive how to interact with it. She was considering a route deeper into the camp but the mercenaries within pushed her towards a contact she’d been avoiding. Rather than tip her hand her Profile gained another Use Name, something exclude...
2021-10-05 12:45:25 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 122 - I finished writing today, so will do the first pass editing tomorrow.
Chained - 7 and Hell's Songbird - 5 - I progressed more today as well, but neither is close to being finished.
2021-10-04 09:18:18 +0000 UTC View Post“Lady Amdirlain.”
The gruff voice disrupted her reading of the Code, which had turned out to be pragmatic rules that could have been titled ‘Don’t be an arse to your neighbour’. She hadn’t gotten into the craft appendices but wordlessly returned it to the Dwarf behind the counter. The Dwarf who’d spoken wore grubby clothing and a soot-stained apron that had specks of metal s...
2021-10-03 21:56:39 +0000 UTC View PostN’Oye glanced between O’Nai and Amdirlain after the Servant’s departure. “He looks like a green bird now.”
O’Nai frowned, and his form changed, growing back to his original height, the wings extending further as he changed, then shimmered and vanished.
“You have your memories, but you’ll need to decide what Class you want to pursue,” Amdirlain said, ushering them b...
2021-10-01 22:13:58 +0000 UTC View PostWork has been pretty busy this week so haven't finished writing and editing the chapters I've got in progress at present. Hope to have new chapter(s) up over the weekend and early next week.
2021-10-01 06:37:55 +0000 UTC View PostAnother shiver hits me harder, but Ilya is still standing there open-mouthed in shock at my choice.
“Ilya, can we get moving?”
“What’s your rush, looking for something to kill you?” Ilya asks, blinking at me owlishly. “Or to kill?”
“Neither, but I’m knee-deep in snow, and my arse is going to freeze off,” I grumble, waving at the snowbanks higher up the moun...
2021-09-26 07:17:10 +0000 UTC View PostAnother limitation of Clairvoyance showed itself as K’Lan led her through the Giant’s holding. While the Perception Skill worked, she couldn’t improve her eyesight, and True Sight likewise didn’t extend through it. Her knowledge had allowed her to determine what effects the runes were anchoring, but their effectiveness wasn’t clear. Now inside, it became apparent how many details—ti...
2021-09-26 05:49:04 +0000 UTC View PostKi Movement had levelled during their journey, and though Teleport was always an option, she didn’t want to risk its use being taken as an insult. A toppled Elder tree supported at an angle by the canopy’s branches provided the last leg of their route down to ground level. As they reached towards the base of the tree, its roots angled upwards and displayed blunted shards of their road-sized...
2021-09-22 11:00:56 +0000 UTC View PostSince she’d stopped broadcasting the predator vibe, the jungle had come alive with sounds. The air’s humidity had made her sticky with condensation before Amdirlain landed and crouched to examine a Panthera pride on a lower branch. Copper blended with flora scents as they consumed the kill they’d brought down, a prey that looked like a grizzly with a nest of sharp horns across its skull.<...
2021-09-20 12:51:38 +0000 UTC View Post“Lieutenant Ilya, this is your new assistant, Third Lieutenant Isaac. As Co-ordinator Makaro is generously providing you a subordinate, she expects you’ll more than double your kills over the next year. Please ensure Lieutenant Isaac receives a full tour, ensure you include all major Portals between Hell and the Abyss,” Oragō states. Her tone is so bland, yet her chords make the surround...
2021-09-18 19:01:36 +0000 UTC View PostSírdhem quickly returned with an Empowered Dusk Emerald, and her gaze went distant for a moment before she considered Amdirlain seriously.
“Would you tell me how you did this?” Sírdhem asked politely as Amdirlain sat down on the ledge, she knelt facing her. “We’d already tried to acquire new use names. Other Demons can do so, but we couldn’t change the ones she gave us.”
... 2021-09-15 12:30:28 +0000 UTC View PostShe was barely outside the city’s wards when Planar Shift removed her from Àluga.
[Planar Shift (Self) [B](9->10)]
Even as she pushed the notification aside, she took in the dark tunnel of Ternòx. There were minds within her range, but with nothing immediately threatening, she transformed her clothing. The list she copied within became displayed on a length of parchment for a...
2021-09-13 00:34:17 +0000 UTC View PostA few hops using Planar Shift let her reach Àluga with ease, and beneath a beautiful blue sky, she teleported to a location found long ago and her work began. The air rippled as lightning rained across the beach. The smell of ozone and burnt flesh filled the air as bolts continued to strike. Bloated maggot-shaped Larvae tried to undulate towards the safety of the ocean, only to be blasted apar...
2021-09-11 20:54:43 +0000 UTC View PostOnce everyone acknowledged their readiness, a chant from Martialis twists the air, words disappearing from my awareness as their Celestial tones rasp against my hearing. As the echo of the last word vanishes, its poisoned honey dissolves the surrounding chamber. The others land off balance, but as I fall, I drive chains downwards. Even with my reactions, I’m still ankle deep in it, but as the...
2021-09-07 12:28:22 +0000 UTC View PostA spell from Dunlan had caused the metal pellets to erupt from the crates. As they spiralled, Dunlan plucked random pieces from the air. It was a theatrical way to conduct a random contents check. True Sight had no issues showing her the spell’s structure, but it wasn’t part of any list she’d learnt. The only hiccup came when he’d asked for confirmation of her understanding of their ter...
2021-09-06 23:47:05 +0000 UTC View PostIt was nearly an hour later that Trinax gave up his fruitless attempts to talk his sister out of the deal they’d struck. Once she’d given her handshake, Jaixar hadn’t for even a moment appeared to reconsider. When at last her brother had stalked away, Jaixar had let out a delighted laugh and looked back over the crates she’d yet to unpack.
“As soon as I get my tools unpacked, I...
2021-09-06 00:55:53 +0000 UTC View Post“Why the trinkets?” Gaius asked the words weighted with resignation as he re-entered the courtyard.
Only once I’d finished the latest rune did I glance up from cutting runes into a broken flagstone. I found Gaius’ gaze fixed on the first rune I’d made his hands trembling as his breathing hastened.
[Embed Mana (7 -> 8)
Artificer: + 20 Experience]
“First-yea...
2021-09-04 04:12:38 +0000 UTC View PostFlavius storms out of his chamber and the guards leave close on his heels, making me wonder how they feel about being downwind of his sweat. Analysis on the other man gives me nothing at all, not even his name. Still, he shouldn’t have the contract in his possession or been able to sign it, if he isn’t the one who summoned me. I wait till their footsteps fade away before I speak again, my s...
2021-09-04 04:04:42 +0000 UTC View PostPleasure, so much pleasure! My mind is a white blizzard of sensation so intense it defies simple description.
It was pulsing, singing, roaring and screaming through me, radiating from bruised and broken flesh, joints and even organs.
I’d been cycling Soil through my Inventory for what felt like eternity, snaring me in the depths of that sensation. Each cycle forcing Inventory to e...
2021-09-04 03:59:08 +0000 UTC View PostThe work crews don’t even swear as I race over the wall’s fallen remains. Beyond the breaches, regiments are setting barricades fashioned from spears and the bones of fallen Demons. A wicked hedge, taunting the attackers, and a defensive position all in one. Kytons’ chains extend to hold the structure upright while massive mallets wielded by the long arms of Uhlobo smash barbed spikes of ...
2021-09-04 03:56:25 +0000 UTC View PostAn enormous boulder nearly the size of a hill giant smashed apart only a few metres away, and a spray of shrapnel blasted across the siege engine’s crew. Two members close to the strike died in an explosion of blood and brains, though the rest of us fared the storm of debris relatively unscathed. Whether the Demons’ aim was improving or it was luck, I didn’t know. Though given the sound o...
2021-09-04 03:54:09 +0000 UTC View PostHell.
Wouldn’t have expected it to include Olympic grade queuing, like a work commute in peak-hour when half the trains are out.
Step by trudging step the line slowly shortens till finally we’re at a gate guard. Before I can baa in his face, Oragō slaps paperwork into his outstretched hand. Still holding a metal halberd with one hand, he thumbs through the stack. The motions he...
2021-09-04 03:52:56 +0000 UTC View Post“She persists in saying she shouldn’t be here.”
The growling voice outside my cell is familiar, and I can’t help but giggle at its frustration. The music inside my mind skips about with every hysterical note. Echoes bounce off stone, steel, yet more stone, and then me, which sets my flesh wiggling. As something within the walls takes over the giggle, my wiggling bones continue to ...
2021-09-04 03:52:09 +0000 UTC View PostThe passage to the Dwarven community was unchanged, and atop the wall the siege weaponry, with crews in place. Wrapped up in concealing spells, Amdirlain hoped their wards wouldn’t object. As she approached the stone gate, a hatch in a far smaller metal door to its right snapped open, and a black gaze fixed on her. Since they’d positioned it below chest height on her Wood Elf form, Amdirlai...
2021-09-04 03:50:11 +0000 UTC View Post