The wagon kept getting stuck in the mud. It was infuriating, having to hop out of the almost comfortable driver's seat, trudge around to the back of the wagon through the churned up mud, only to then have to then lift the damn thing out of the cloying earth. By itself, it wasn’t a particularly ...
2021-07-30 10:12:33 +0000 UTC View PostOver the next few days, life settled into a comfortable rhythm for the two of them. Typh would leave their camp soon after sunrise to collect their tithe of suitably levelled monsters from the ratlings, which she would then bring back to their little arena for Arilla to kill. The fights were brut...
2021-07-27 18:03:00 +0000 UTC View Post“If you hadn’t come back with fresh underwear, I swear to all of the Gods both above and below that I would be even more pissed with you,” Arilla said coldly as she tugged on a fresh pair up her athletic legs.
“I’m glad you approve,” Typhoeus said with a wry smile, casually enjo...
2021-07-23 19:34:00 +0000 UTC View Post“And this is the foundry,” Halith said, the ratling woman gesturing to the wide room filled floor to ceiling with furnaces, crucibles and countless barrels and pallets of unrefined ores, powdered charcoal and gleaming ingots of freshly skill forged metals.
The sheer quantity of mana -sa...
2021-07-20 20:04:00 +0000 UTC View PostTyphoeus watched from the lip of the pit, sitting down with his bare legs dangling over the sides kicking up at the air as he tried his best to look nonplussed. Watching with his two human eyes was entirely unnecessary; his skill [Sovereign's Perception] had more than enough range to see the enti...
2021-07-16 21:04:00 +0000 UTC View PostThey set out an hour after at dawn, a small mercy that Arilla seemed immensely grateful for as she blearily wiped the sleep from her eyes and followed Typhoeus out past the ring of glowing wardposts that marked the boundary between their camp and the ‘monster’ infested wilderness of the footh...
2021-07-13 20:04:00 +0000 UTC View PostIt was a cool, cloudless afternoon amongst the foothills of the Dragonspine Mountains, and the clear blue skies were promising yet another chilly night after the sun had finally set. Where the cold air would once again ‘force’ them to snuggle together for warmth inside their small hut, not th...
2021-07-09 11:01:14 +0000 UTC View PostTyphoeus finished etching the last rune into the icebox, his iron chisel easily carving the short, sharp line that subtly varied in depth as it rose with the wood grain to form an angular point beneath the sweeping arc above. Satisfied with his work, he pushed a drop of his mana through the worki...
2021-07-06 12:00:21 +0000 UTC View PostArilla’s boots skidded around another dusty corner of the dead halls moments before Typh’s magelight revealed what was yet another long-abandoned hallway for them to traverse. As soon as she could see the way ahead was clear, she began sprinting again, cursing the heavy weight of her mail shi...
2021-07-04 16:01:11 +0000 UTC View PostThe opening was wider than he had expected. It looked more like a horizontal slit in the earth where the ground outside essentially formed a dirt shelf a good twenty or so feet above the large flagstones that made up the subterranean floor of the dungeon. Peering in from the outside, he could tel...
2021-07-02 11:01:03 +0000 UTC View PostTyphoeus awoke inside an unfamiliar tent to find himself completely restored. If it wasn’t for the oversensitivity along the front half of his body indicating the presence of newly healed flesh, then he would have assumed that he had imagined the searing flames that had so nearly consumed him. ...
2021-06-29 11:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostGetting ready to meet the other adventurers at dawn required waking up at a truly ungodly hour. The only silver lining was that [Alternate Form] had levelled up to 38 during the night, giving Typhoeus a welcome System message to wake up to. The pair threw on their gear by his golden magelight. Ty...
2021-06-25 11:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostTyphoeus and Arilla left the training grounds without incident, but as they passed through the Guild's main hall, they were approached by a familiar looking clerk who had clearly been waiting for them. Typhoeus recognised him as the same Guild official from two nights before who had helped defuse...
2021-06-21 11:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostTyphoeus shed a single tear as he consigned his dress to the flames, the metallic golden fabric shimmering brightly as the spreading fires within the shallow pit rapidly consumed the delicate garment. "I will miss you," Typhoeus said, his voice wavering with emotion.
"Typh, that dress stank...
2021-06-18 11:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostAfter Galen's departure, their evening picked up for a while and Typhoeus made an exaggerated show of waiting on Arilla hand and foot before it took an abrupt turn for the worse. Contrary to what the young noble had said, neither of them had ever had a problem with sexually aggressive adventurers...
2021-06-15 11:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostWhen I was writing the first draft of this book, Normal People by Sally Rooney had just been adapted for the BBC in the UK and across the board, it was being praised for its explicit sex scenes both in print and on the TV adaption. It struck me then, that I had never once heard of a fantasy novel...
2021-06-13 11:25:46 +0000 UTC View PostThe Old Roads were a relic from humanity's distant past, pretty much the only thing besides the great wards, the odd weapon of mass destruction, and humanity’s grand mutilation to have survived intact through the ages. They were an immense construction, spanning almost the entirety of Astresia ...
2021-06-11 11:00:02 +0000 UTC View Post*Congratulations, you have reached level 5. You must now rank up your Sorcerer class before you can absorb any more experience.
Sorcerer - You possess a potent magical bloodline, and as a result, you are given the option of strengthening your...
2021-06-10 11:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostThey watched the monster tear its way through the goblin's camp in silence. The spidersnake, enhanced by the same magic that had allowed Arilla to stand toe to toe with an ogre, turned the unholy abomination that was the fusion of spider and snake into an unstoppable force of destruction that wou...
2021-06-09 11:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostThe goblin could finally remember the war. He found it funny how the memories had slowly come back to him, first as a trickle and then as a flood, neatly slotting into place in his mind filling a vacant spot that he never knew was there. The old thoughts, although new to him, gave purpose to his ...
2021-06-08 11:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostTyphoeus was not enjoying himself. As physically relieving as performing one's necessary biological functions was, there was no amount of condensed water in all of Creation that could substitute for toilet paper. A true luxury that he had taken for granted during his brief stay at The Huntsman’...
2021-06-07 11:01:01 +0000 UTC View Post"So why are you even doing this?" Arilla asked, her brow raised in question as they walked along the wild fields surrounding Rhelea.
The late morning sun was beating down on them both. The cool breeze from the mountains to the west was notably absent, and without the benefit of shade from t...
2021-06-04 11:00:04 +0000 UTC View Post*Congratulations on defeating a level 12 Adolescent Ogre, experience is awarded.*
*Congratulations, you have reached Sorcerer level 2.*
*Congratulations, you have reached Sorcerer level 3.*
...
2021-06-03 11:01:01 +0000 UTC View PostArilla had always liked stories. From as far back as she cared to remember, she had been sneaking out from behind the relative safety of the orphanage's thick stone walls in pursuit of her one vicarious pleasure. Rhelea was a big town, dangerous to those who didn't know their way around it, but t...
2021-06-02 11:01:02 +0000 UTC View Post"I don't see why I couldn't have picked a sword. This hammer is too heavy." Arilla complained as she collapsed in the sand exhausted. The warrior having long since pushed past her empty stamina pool, meagre as it was, by repeatedly swinging her new weapon at the straw-filled training dummy for th...
2021-06-01 11:22:00 +0000 UTC View PostTyph led Arilla by the hand slowly up the flight of stone steps. It wasn’t that late in the evening, but between the tears and her labours of the day, she was beyond exhausted. Her legs felt more like lead weights dragging her down than functioning limbs as she made the short climb up the stair...
2021-06-01 11:20:00 +0000 UTC View Post"So that's three obols for the goblin ears and a further five drachma for handing in the notice. Is there anything else I can help you with today?" The attendant asked from behind the thin pane of clear glass as he placed the heavy coins on the polished countertop between them.
"No, not re...
Typhoeus stood alone in the main hall of the Adventurers Guild. All around him, people were conducting their business as they flitted back and forth between the large notice boards and the staffed counters on opposite sides of the room. His return from visiting the class stone had initially attra...
2021-06-01 11:16:00 +0000 UTC View Post*You have 1 class with an additional 3 open class slots available.
Would you like to take a second class?*
The Great Systems words were innocuous as they were terrifying. It still wasn’t too late for him to back out; while a second class would...
The morning came without fanfare as Typhoeus slowly climbed down the steps of The Huntsman's Rest, his bare feet padding softly against the cold stone that transitioned sharply into smooth lacquered wood as he entered the main taproom where the innkeeper Julian could already be found wiping down ...
2021-06-01 11:11:59 +0000 UTC View Post