Enjoy!
* * *
Felix leaned back, letting the stove warm him. The water had cooled him down enough that his overheating body had grown comfortable, but the howling wind of the chasm just outside the dilapidated hut had turned that chill into something more bone-deep. He nursed a mug of mulled wine, holding it close, and watched the owner of the hut over the chipped rim....
Enjoy!
* * *
Zara raced through the lower Wards, riding a wave of her own power across chasms and ledges as she circumvented the simple stairs and switchback trails around her. Her Mind blazed, working ahead of the problem as she advanced, chewing over what she had seen down below.
Isla's base had been violated, but not by the Urge's lackeys or the Counc...
2022-02-28 13:00:07 +0000 UTC View PostEnjoy!
* * *
"Sacrifice?" Felix grunted.
"Mhm, oh you're all still conscious. Curious." Grandmaster Kel'lyv leaned over the edge of his bench, peering down at them upon the smooth stone flooring. "I see. Llathyn, your truth array has fallen apart."
"What? That's impossible!" The ruddy-faced Master leaned over his own bench, but the moment his eyes caug...
2022-02-26 18:38:24 +0000 UTC View PostEnjoy!
* * *
Layer after layer, doggedly pursuing the meandering Marks of her associate, Zara had delved truly deep. While above the ramshackle huts and destitute streets had been atrocious, here in the true slums, it was one step away from starvation and death. Lean shanties were constructed in hollow nooks along the rugged passageways, and huge chasms tore through a...
Enjoy!
* * *
Zara stepped carefully, keeping her boots from the fetid water. The underbelly of Ahkestria was as ruinous as she had heard. Potholes studded the pathways, sewage filled broken gutters, and the dwellings turned from well-appointed, if modest homes to ramshackle huts. The people were dressed in serviceable clothes, sturdy tunics and breeches hemmed at mid-...
Enjoy!
* * *
Felix walked up a mountain, and the winds tried to tear him off.
This is... He was astounded at the detail all around him. After using his Cardinal Flame and Fiendforge to peer into Vess' core space, he hadn't quite known what to expect. Something to do with the spear, he imagined. But this...
Everything looks and feels r...
2022-02-21 13:00:07 +0000 UTC View PostEnjoy!
A longer one this time.
* * *
Felix blinked blearily into a beam of golden sunlight. He groaned.
"Not nearly enough sleep," he muttered. "Pit?"
Beside him, the large bed was empty. It was also fully on the floor, the mattress perched precariously on the shattered remnants of the overstressed bedframe. Across their bond, Felix sensed his ...
2022-02-19 16:36:22 +0000 UTC View PostEnjoy!
* * *
"Almost...there!"
The entire hundred foot long stone wall ahead of Felix exploded. Rock and dust and Mana expanded outward in an eruption he had handled three times before. Once again, he flexed his Will and seized it all. The explosion stopped, the stone and even misplaced air frozen under the force of his regard. Felix marshaled his Intent and bur...
2022-02-18 16:19:51 +0000 UTC View PostEnjoy!
* * *
The Claw left the large industrial elevator and found themselves within a squat building at the very edge of the Risen Ward, as Atar informed him the topmost layer of Ahkestria was called. The building itself was simply a series of empty storerooms and service hallways that led out onto a shallow portico. Columns of orange stone rose all around them, ...
Enjoy!
* * *
"Close the gate!"
Felix hollered with all of his Journeyman lungs as the Dustwights threw themselves at him. He paid them little mind. They couldn't penetrate his Armored Skin, let alone his transformed hide, and his Blade of the Fang reaped them like wheat. The Wraiths were more of a concern, but that was why he was still running his Adamant Di...
2022-02-14 17:01:15 +0000 UTC View PostEnjoy!
* * *
Chthonic Tribute!
A storm of Essence and Mana thundered into him as he ran, massive Blade of the Fang slick with molten sands and granular ichor. The blade of the weapon glowed brilliantly with an acid-green virulence, which proved immensely useful in mowing down dozens of the Wraiths at a time. He had killed almost a hundred by that po...
2022-02-12 17:58:09 +0000 UTC View PostEnjoy!
* * *
"Hiyah!"
The avum squawked in fear and distress, but Atar snapped the reins regardless. He had no choice.
"Can you see them?" he called out.
Atop the covered wagon, Alister perched precariously with his rapier drawn and extended for balance. He peered into the darkened distance, where Felix and Pit had went to take on the undead.
"...
2022-02-11 15:47:53 +0000 UTC View PostEnjoy!
* * *
"How did you come to the Blades, Pava?" Vess asked.
The two of them ran in the back of the column, and along with the rest of her squad, were meant to keep an eye on their rear. Two other squads were nearby, spread out so that they could better canvas the Latticeway with their Perceptions. Pava was panting, but her Endurance was decent and her R...
2022-02-09 15:57:35 +0000 UTC View PostEnjoy!
* * *
Aside from being out of sight, the Latticeways greatest feature was their utterly flat design. No more rolling dunes to contend with or constantly shifting sands. The solid footing let the Claw move with blistering speed. So fast, in fact, that Atar had to bring them to a halt several times to consult the Mana flows in the earth.
The speed of th...
2022-02-07 16:01:46 +0000 UTC View PostEnjoy!
* * *
Two hours later, Felix saw the Henaari and mage off to a meal and bed, the lot of them too drained of Stamina and Mana to do much more than shovel in food and pass out. Palin was still up, serving her food and ensuring everyone had gotten something. That included Felix, apparently, as the stout woman shoved a bowl of stew roughly into his hands before...
Enjoy!
* * *
Stone Shaping is level 79!
Rime Shaping is level 29!
Green Shaping is level 28!
The Cursewinds had well and truly fled by the time Felix finished his protective enclosure. The wild, chaotic Mana had dissipated and run out of energy, fading into the blazing midday sun. Here and there Felix could make out withered pieces of...
2022-02-04 16:10:44 +0000 UTC View PostEnjoy!
* * *
Relentless Resolution!
Felix was atop the Wraiths before they had dropped the first Yttin, yet their claws met Felix's own talons in a shower of brilliant sparks. His greaves vanished, retracting to thickened metal anklets and revealing clawed and scaled feet that swung in a horizontal arc into another Wraith's gut. That, at least, did ...
2022-02-02 16:43:21 +0000 UTC View PostEnjoy!
* * *
Evie's Acrobatics (Common) Has Evolved Into Fleet of Foot (Rare)!
Level Is Retained!
...
Fiendforge Active!
Evie's Fleet of Foot (Rare) Has Evolved into Undine Grace (Epic)!
Level Is Retained!
Evie's Scorpion's Tail (Uncommon) Has Evolved Into Silver Stinger (Rare)!
Level Is Retained!
...
Fiendfor...
Enjoy! Next chapter up Monday!
* * *
The frozen waves of Evie's core were like mountains, grown somehow in the few minutes he'd been gone, and Felix's every step scaled them. Leaping from the crest of one, he soared through the air on the Strength of his legs alone, while the only thing preventing him from shattering the glacier beneath him was a hastily summo...
It's a cold one today, -3 as of right now. Weather, I suppose, can also imitate art. Enjoy!
* * *
Felix took off just as the next wave of ice-born giants charged. Chains descended, combining into spike-studded shields that stabbed and bashed in equal measure. The giants took the attacks head on, too dim to swerve or dodge, merely swinging their conjured weapons in...
Enjoy!
* * *
Icy water exploded all around Felix as he landed, absolutely soaking him. He stifled a gasp at the chill, which somehow bypassed all his resistances.
"It is a chill of the Spirit, not the Body."
Felix wiped his face, finding Zara standing right beside him, unruffled and entirely dry. She was even standing atop the ankle-deep water as if it...
2022-01-26 15:42:19 +0000 UTC View PostEnjoy!
* * *
Atar's Focus (Rare) Has Evolved Into Lens of the Magus (Epic)!
Level Is Retained!
Atar's Imbued Sparkbolt (Rare) Has Evolved Into Stars Of The Sovereign (Legendary)!
Level Is Retained!
Atar's Field of Flames (Rare) Has Evolved Into Incendiary Vortex (Epic)!
Level Is Retained!
Enjoy!
* * *
Felix landed among the desolation seconds before Vess herself. The sand around Atar and Evie had half frozen into undulating waves, while the other half was charred and slagged into streaks of glass. An incredible combination of temperatures emanated from them both, and in his Manasight their orange and purple-white Mana splashed and coiled against on...
Enjoy!
* * *
Stone Shaping is level 78!
Extended from the dun-colored bluffs that the Warren was built into, Felix had formed squat structures that ran alongside the skeleton. Mostly they were walls, curved up and designed to block as much of the savage wind as they could. The rest were choke points around the more wide-open sections of the blac...
2022-01-21 16:53:48 +0000 UTC View PostEnjoy.
* * *
"Is that...what is that?" Loquis asked, staring into the east. The Half-Orc stood with Pava and Asaad atop the ridge, one of several squads that had been set as lookouts. Henaari scouts were prowling the sands somewhere nearby, but the top of the bluffs had the best sight lines. Loquis shaded his eyes against the rising sun, just barely peeking over t...
Enjoy!
* * *
The "Devouring" wasn't as bad as it sounded.
The shaman led their people in an impromptu feast—celebrating his new, curse-free existence. The Yttins cavorted and clicked joyously as they shared their roasting meat and savory flavored dishes with Felix's people. Felix's Eye worked overtime, quickly confirming that none of the meat on offer had ever ...
2022-01-17 19:13:13 +0000 UTC View PostEnjoy!
* * *
Felix woke still atop the hot sand of that antechamber, and he scrambled madly to his feet though everything in him wanted only to lay down and sleep. Notifications blinked at him, but he forced them away. Instead, he swept the chamber, looking for the monstrosity that had attacked him.
He found instead a frail-looking Yttin huddled in the cente...
2022-01-15 13:01:11 +0000 UTC View PostEnjoy! Another 3k word one.
* * *
The others tried to protest putting himself in danger, but Felix ended the arguments by simply walking toward their creepy bone house. They needed information, and aside from the doom and gloom of the skeletal remains, Felix knew he could handle himself against most things. So what if the place looked like death's vacation home? He'd ...
Enjoy!
* * *
They rode out into the sands as true night fell on the Expanse. Atar led them as before, his Mana Gauge finding the secretive trail to the City of Embers after only a few minutes. The rest of the caravan trundled on in his wake, though Felix imagined the quiet was more contemplative than a day ago.
It was odd. He felt as if everyone's guard was ...
2022-01-12 13:00:07 +0000 UTC View PostEnjoy!
* * *
Felix found two squads battling an altogether different sort of enemy. Greater Ratlings, each one as big as a tiger and just as fierce, they were accompanied by a swarm of their Lesser brethren. Blades and Bones engaged them directly while Henaari used their polearms to stab over their shoulders. A small number of Fists were weaving through the mess of small...