When the next day dawned, I woke with sore muscles but otherwise, I felt good. Immediately after waking up, I went into the bathroom, to take the third shower during the brief stay at the Mountain Lodge, this time I even invited little Vio to share with me, before heading out to talk a little mor...
2022-10-11 21:14:01 +0000 UTC View PostTears were still ...
2022-10-11 16:00:15 +0000 UTC View PostWith the cry of a raven and the howl of a wolf, the next phase of our battle was started. Now, there were no longer four individuals fighting, it was only us, united in common purpose as a pack, willing to do whatever was necessary to break through the elvish encirclement.
The Protector, no...
2022-10-10 16:00:13 +0000 UTC View PostThe cats we had appropriated from the elves were quite impressive sprinters. Sadly, their ability to cross long distances at that pace was less sufficient, after only ten minutes of dashing at their fastest pace, their speed started to flag rapidly and no matter what Sigmir and Ria did, they just...
2022-10-07 16:00:14 +0000 UTC View PostFocus, as so often, was the bane of concealment. It was relatively simple to remain undetected if your opponent wasn’t actually looking for you. You just had to trick their eyes and blend into the environment and they might never know that there was something to look at. But the moment that arr...
2022-10-05 16:00:12 +0000 UTC View PostDinner was an interesting affair. The food was simple but incredibly good, the bread fresh from the oven, a hearty stew and salad fresh from their vegetable patch all came together for a great taste. In addition, the conversation was quite entertaining, especially after Lisa’s brothers realised...
2022-10-04 21:26:09 +0000 UTC View Post“I’m getting worried,” Sigmir quietly admitted, whispering into my ear as I was held in her arms. Normally, these moments were reserved for those delicious, sweet nothings that made my heart beat faster and still managed to bring a blush to my cheeks, so her confession of worry was not some...
2022-10-03 15:59:50 +0000 UTC View PostAfter a brief shower, a mere twenty minutes of gloriously hot water pouring down on my body, I dried off and left the bathroom for Claire. After a quick look around the room, I decided to get to know our hosts, at least one of them. Walking across the hallway, I knocked on the door Lisa had indic...
2022-10-02 19:33:15 +0000 UTC View PostOnce again, a bunch of trees were consumed by the black flames of Nidhogg and power was being siphoned off by the soul prison. Lenore and I kept incredibly close watch, making sure that no portals were opening nearby and the moment the drain from the Soul Prison faded, I pulled the remaining Astr...
2022-09-30 16:00:16 +0000 UTC View PostSomehow, travelling down the mountains was just as exhausting as hiking up the mountains. Or maybe a different kind of exhaustion, instead of having burning thighs from constantly pushing yourself uphill against gravity, our knees and calves hurt from the strain of having to permanently cushion o...
2022-09-29 18:34:36 +0000 UTC View Post“Well, damn,” I muttered, looking out of the forest, the wet boundary before us stopping our progress.
“Yes, a dam would help here,” Adra snickered in reply, making me let out a soft growl of annoyance at her joke.
“Harharhar,” I grumbled, shaking my head at the idea of da...
2022-09-28 16:00:11 +0000 UTC View PostWhy couldn’t the elves be less competent?
That question flashed through my mind, just as yet another wave of magic washed around us, kept at bay by the combination of wards cast by Adra and myself. By now, we were reasonably confident that the elves wouldn’t be able to detect us with th...
2022-09-26 16:00:11 +0000 UTC View PostSometimes, you don’t just walk along your Road to Purgatory.
Sometimes, you are the hunter on the road, sometimes you are the prey.
Bare, grey rocks reach into the clear, blue sky, some of them capped with snow, others comp...
2022-09-23 16:00:15 +0000 UTC View PostIt was early morning when Lenore and I managed to get back to the others, the first rays of the sun just hitting the canopy high above. It would easily take an hour, maybe two, for those rays to filter down to the gloomy shrubs near the ground and that twilight was something we had to use.
...
2022-09-21 16:00:12 +0000 UTC View PostI was mostly rested when Cliff woke me up for the last watch of the night. Vio was still snuggled against my chest, making a few discontent noises when I started to move, at least until she fully woke up.
Outside, I looked around, noticing a dim glow in the sky, indicating that somewhere be...
2022-09-20 21:14:46 +0000 UTC View PostOnce again, I felt a pulse of magic in the distance, the elves communicating amongst them in their hunt for us. They hadn’t been able to find our tracks, the combination of Adra and my magic enough to ward them off so far, but they were trying to create a net to trap us. The magic they used to ...
2022-09-19 15:59:03 +0000 UTC View PostMaybe there was some sort of male survival instinct that made Cliff and Lucas aware that Claire and I were in a cold, slightly murderous rage. When we walked up, I noticed that a few beads of sweat were forming on Cliff’s forehead, while Lucas was affecting a look of innocent confusion.
...
2022-09-18 20:57:21 +0000 UTC View PostAfter the Avatar state ended, I staggered for a moment, my mind needing those few seconds to catch up with my body. Around us, the smell of blood was thick in the air, the elves all lay dead while their mounts were either dead or dying, none of them had managed to escape.
“Adra, renew the...
2022-09-16 16:00:12 +0000 UTC View PostLuckily, the sudden storm passed as quickly as it appeared. We didn’t have to stay in the small cave Myna had found for more than an hour, just enough time to sit down, make some tea and relax, watching the pouring rain outside. With Charm’s tail-flame giving off light and warmth, things were...
2022-09-15 20:08:47 +0000 UTC View PostWe closed our eyes, for a brief moment of stillness, to bring our concentration to the maximum. The positions and expected actions of the elves below filled our mind and our plans to deal with their conditioned reflexes were checked once again before the moment to strike had come.
Silently,...
2022-09-14 16:00:12 +0000 UTC View Post“Okay, Yo, that’s enough,” Claire called, ending the sparring match between Aura, my Riolu, and Yo, her Meditite. Since leaving Celestic Town three days ago, we had let the two of them train with each other every chance we got. Their training was very limited, with no actual moves being use...
2022-09-13 19:00:17 +0000 UTC View PostIf nothing else, the third feeding of the Soul Prison managed to stoke a fire in the elven realm. While we, in the field, didn’t notice all of it, mostly increased patrols and magical activity sweeping through the forest, the forum gave me additional insights that I wouldn’t normally have. Fr...
2022-09-12 16:00:14 +0000 UTC View PostTo keep things unpredictable, I had waited for one night, before Lenore and I headed back out, this time travelling multiple hours to the northeast, essentially travelling back in the direction we had come from. That way, it hopefully would obfuscate our speed and give a false impression of our d...
2022-09-09 16:00:11 +0000 UTC View PostDinner at Professor Carolina’s place had been a wonderful affair. Amusingly, the addition of four younger people made it a little less lifely, with Cynthia and Joyce acting as responsible elders, not their usual, playful selves, while Claire, Lucas, Cliff and Wera were utterly cowed by Cynthia...
2022-09-08 19:59:52 +0000 UTC View PostArmed with a few keywords and ideas, I did the obvious thing. The writers at Pantheon Entertainment had obviously taken a lot of inspiration from various Greek and Norse Myths, so looking at those to gain a few ideas in regards to the inmate of the Soul Prison was an obvious idea.
If my mem...
2022-09-07 16:00:08 +0000 UTC View Post“So, where have you taken shelter these days? The attendants at the hostel let slip that you haven’t been staying there since you left over a week ago,” Claire asked, looking at me with that half-teasing, half-curious expression as if she expected that I would tell her some salacious story....
2022-09-06 15:26:01 +0000 UTC View PostLenore and I continued to move around the forest randomly, trying to create multiple false trails, if the elves could even find those. To disrupt things further, we kept switching in and out of each other's Hallow, at times I stepped through the shadows to interrupt the trail I had been on and ev...
2022-09-05 16:01:04 +0000 UTC View PostAddi and I took up position behind Kodra, while Claire and her opponent went at it for another round. This time, it was a battle between Twiggy, her Grotle, a Haunter, the evolution of Ghastly, the Pokémon that had given us such trouble in Eterna Forest. Luckily, there was no gloom around, nor t...
2022-09-04 21:31:12 +0000 UTC View Post“Today, we have four challengers seeking to earn the Oracle Badge. Two are currently in possession of three badges and the other two are in possession of four badges. Are there any trainers at the appropriate level willing to help me test their mettle?” Kodra’s loud voice echoed across the ...
2022-09-02 20:06:58 +0000 UTC View PostJust as expected, Sigmir’s enthusiasm for the idea that I would head off in the middle of the night for some magical experimentation with the ability that had brought our current troubles was… impactful. She didn’t even try to talk or let me explain, instead she simply said no, before grabb...
2022-09-02 16:00:08 +0000 UTC View Post