The next day, the grounds were upgraded by the System. Getting my ship took a bit longer, but that was to be expected. I had to wait two whole days for an actual warship. Considering that it would have taken weeks even at the best System-enhanced shipyards if it was done manually, with people who had skills to improve the speed and quality of construction...
2021-07-16 21:53:45 +0000 UTC View PostThe doors swung open at their approach, and the black shield faded away. They didn’t know what the shield would have done, but none of them were willing to test it, so it was well worth sacrificing someone they didn’t care about to bypass it. The hallway beyond was made of dark stone, and lit with purple-flamed torches, giving the whole area an unearthly, othe...
2021-07-15 23:09:22 +0000 UTC View PostObviously, you couldn’t be involved (even as an observer) in the most high-profile assassination attempt in the last hundred years and not expect some of the craziness to try and follow you home. Of course, it wasn’t the Irish rebels that were her concern. They didn’t have overseas resources, afterall, being too focused on their (far more local) troubles....
2021-07-12 01:31:49 +0000 UTC View PostFirst thing to do was making sure the properties were actually mine, according to the System. While I was at it, I decided to grab the huge empty space behind the house I wanted, too, so I could set up some actual defenses. Going through the interface in my Tablet, that was easily handled, and, for the price of just 3.8 million gp.
Once I had the...
2021-07-10 21:33:49 +0000 UTC View PostContrary to Mark’s opinion, Father Jacobs decided not to use one of the annoying religious types that had tried to condemn their faith in Lord Kuronoth as the sacrifice. There had been a few who were pushier, and more vocal, than the rest. A capture ball removed the problem, provided they could throw it without being caught. And no one looked too hard when a ...
2021-07-08 20:19:03 +0000 UTC View PostLewd Dungeon 22 and Into the Black 29 have been sent to Amazon. Should be live in a day or two.
(Magical World Disharmony Server, General Chat)
UsualSuspect, manoutoftime, muon, MewTwo, Avariel, Chummer, Golddigger, CrazyCelt, Blaze, DoYouEvenLyft?, MarcoPolo, MightMakesRight, MacD, Inquisitor, OrangeQueen, Lizard, RedFox, SemiSolidSnake, B...
2021-07-04 00:29:57 +0000 UTC View PostThe alpha staggered back as he dropped his axe, hand at his throat, trying to stop the bleeding. One of his pack cried out, attempting to cast a healing spell. Unfortunately for him, he was making a production out of it, reciting the words of a prayer to some god or power that I didn’t care enough about to listen to their name.
I pointed at him, a...
2021-07-03 01:00:32 +0000 UTC View PostThe Dark Necropolis had been restricted ever since the people of Fort Myers, Miami, and surrounding areas completed the consecrated barriers and wards. It was necessary to keep the out-of-control ritual from overflowing the entire peninsula with undead. Ironically, it was that restriction that sped up the conversion of the Necropolis from a simple site that re...
2021-07-02 00:45:23 +0000 UTC View PostFirst step in finding a place to play bait for the pirates when they finally came to Earth was in choosing a neighborhood.
Obviously, since this place was going to be bait, I wanted to find a place that was going to be far enough away from heavily populated areas that a stray orbital strike didn’t accidentally kill a bunch of people. That would no...
2021-06-25 14:57:24 +0000 UTC View Post(Adventurer’s Guild Official Forums, Miami Branch)
SunnyBunz, MightyMouse, ImAPally, DontYouWantMe, AsaAkiraIsBae, BestGirl, LatinHeat, Salty, Backpage, Craig34, l33tpally, Anonymous3, Anonymous4, RedFox, Kimiko, DonnyJuan, Crusader, BadCompany, HurricaneGal, Ambassador, Scholar, Righteous, Id10t, Satyr, DarkEnchanter, RangerMiguel, ScoopGirl, VenusFlyTra...
2021-06-23 19:30:45 +0000 UTC View PostMy eyes snapped to the door, even as I rose from my chair. Quickly, I looked through the eyes of my knights. Nothing outside. The guards weren’t even reacting as though there was anything wrong. Inside, however? That was another story.
The human guards outside the door were down. Looking through the Knight’s eyes, I could see that four were dead, with two...
2021-06-18 18:09:14 +0000 UTC View PostThree months until the aliens started showing up, and I needed to be ready. Really, I wanted it done in two, just in case they showed up early. I didn’t know the exact time and date the aliens would show up, obviously. If they spent some time stealthily scouting before landing, and I wasn’t ready when they entered the system, that could mess up my plans to draw ...
2021-06-17 18:37:38 +0000 UTC View Post“What will you do with her, Master?”
Dana was standing next to me, looking at the newest addition to my menagerie. The fearsome Tier 4 dragon had, on command, been able to tap into her magic, and transformed into a girl with blue hair. Except she looked like she was about two or three years old.
I quickly made her some clothes, and got Dana to help h...
2021-06-16 20:03:11 +0000 UTC View PostIn the end, it was decided that the meeting would be a formal, though ostensibly private, affair, at Buckingham Palace. Instead of going low-profile, however, they would be announcing that a new, unique piece was being added to the crown jewels. So, a formal gown fit to my undead frame, with my own crown jewels, was the outfit of the day.
When I stepped off ...
2021-06-12 18:55:36 +0000 UTC View PostBook 6 of Dark Fate is now LIVE on Amazon! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0971RWMWR
Bringing my time-traveling adult daughter home with me from the State Park had had some unforeseen consequences. Oh, nothing crazy like people suddenly disappearing like in Back to the Future....
2021-06-11 20:31:42 +0000 UTC View PostThe fight with the dragon was over. For Miguel, and the other people standing on the roof of the Adventurers’ Guild building, watching the projection that one of the guild’s scryers managed to put up in time to show the battle, that was a cause for relief. But it was also a cause for growing concern, and Miguel wasn’t the only one to think that way.
Gotta say, I'm really enjoying writing this story, as it is a big change of pace from my normal stuff. Hope y'all enjoy it as well!
With the amulet complete, I then turned to making arrangements for delivering the item. The contract did not say how the amulet was to be delivered, and I was not about to simply send this thing through ...
2021-06-04 20:14:46 +0000 UTC View Post(Community Building and Civil Defense Chat, formerly Life in the City Chat Room)
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2021-06-03 15:20:11 +0000 UTC View PostI was not surprised by the dragon’s mobility, and the nimble way it evaded Bloodhawk’s ion cannon. That was the difference between firing a ship’s weapons at another ship, and at a living creature. Living creatures are much better at evasion than starships, and creatures with a snake-like body, like this dragon, were better at it than most creat...
2021-06-02 16:36:49 +0000 UTC View PostThere were four pieces of any enchantment. First, you had the materials, which would hold the enchantment, and conduct mana into it. Second, you had the symbology, which could strengthen or weaken the enchantment. Third, you had the inscriptions, which ‘programmed’ the enchantment. And finally, you had the magic, which ‘installed’ the enchantment.
...
2021-05-29 23:51:30 +0000 UTC View Post“Target in sight.”
Sheila Darrows, Anointed of Kuronoth, smiled as Cara Grehan spoke up from the gunner’s seat in the Bloodhawk’s cockpit. The elf had been cross training to serve as a gunner on the ship. She’d even unlocked a skill to use her ranger abilities with ships’ weapons!
Leaning back in her captain’s chair, Sheil...
2021-05-27 20:12:21 +0000 UTC View PostSo, the first part of designing any item was picking the materials. The materials decided what kind of things you could do with the form of the final piece. The materials determined the piece’s strength, how hard it was to damage or warp. The materials determined what kind of detail you could put in.
Of course, those more functional concerns weren’t the o...
2021-05-22 18:58:53 +0000 UTC View PostMiguel Sanchez, Grandmaster of the American Adventurers’ Guild, frowned as he looked out towards the sea from the rooftop of the Miami guild, using every visual enhancement spell to gaze further out to sea. He’d been in a meeting just two minutes ago, when the eastern sky blazed with light. By the time he’d rushed to the rooftop along with Bethany, the c...
2021-05-20 18:41:19 +0000 UTC View PostHey, guys, just letting you know, Book 1 is up on Amazon! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B094YR8JTD
However, since I'm not putting it in KU, the chapters will be staying up here.
Chapter 15 – Studio
Finally, after two weeks of working with Phantomline to develop the prototype mass production foc...
2021-05-15 19:23:23 +0000 UTC View Post(Atlantic Ocean)
Deep below the ocean’s surface, the object that had been quietly growing since the world had changed shifted, rocking slowly back and forth in the darkness. The object, an egg, had weathered the centuries without the mana necessary for it to grow by sheltering in the eternal warmth of the vents at the utter depths of the abyss. There, in...
2021-05-13 18:23:53 +0000 UTC View PostThis should have come out yesterday, but I started playing Stellaris for the first time, and, well...
Fortunately, we were in a magic R&D lab, and all the necessary equipment was close at hand. Rigging a magic scanner to perform the same as the brain scanner for CAD calibration was easy enough. Jury-rigging the software to per...
2021-05-09 15:40:36 +0000 UTC View PostLooking at my two pets, I nodded in approval. “You two will be my sword and my hand, for when I act openly in the outside world. You will not be the only ones I call on, of course. There are adventurers who have pledged themselves to me, and mercenaries who I have enthralled. But you two, you will be the symbol that the outside world looks to.”
With a wa...
2021-05-06 21:23:46 +0000 UTC View PostThis took a long time to write, for some reason.
We relocated to a testing chamber, where several devices were set up for testing. The chamber itself was built to try and contain any ‘mishaps’, but I doubted it was rated to handle an explosion the likes of which would happen if my power ran out of control. After all, the bui...
2021-05-02 18:07:34 +0000 UTC View PostSeeing the two women make their choice, I nodded. “Good. Now, strip for me, so I can see what I’m working with. I think that, since you came to me as a pair, a matching or mirrored placement on your brands would be the most pleasing.”
“Yes, Master.” Both of them knew their place, at least, and appeared eager for their new roles. This was good. ...
2021-04-29 13:24:00 +0000 UTC View Post“Ah, Frau Akagawa! It is so good to see you!”
I smiled at the man. He was Kaspar Oesau, the research chief of Phantomline’s R&D department. Headhunted from one of the universities that created the first experimental CADs after the Awakening, he was the brains behind the R&D department. Fortunately, he also had a reliable office manager, so ...
2021-04-25 03:59:55 +0000 UTC View Post