[Announcement! from the 4th, I'll be switching at long last to a 3-day release cycle. It will be Monday/Wednesday/Friday. Also, I'll do a double chapter drop on the 4th, as one final little boost before we go to 3-days-a-week-forever (hopefully)]
Nicolai rose, slowly, painfully, ...
2024-02-01 17:03:00 +0000 UTC View PostNicolai crouched and peered over the crenellated wall on the outside of the castle, the sun shining down on him, wind whistling past. He would have been watching the archers hovering over the bridge and working out a plan, but his eyes had been drawn to something else.
On a bridge lower dow...
2024-01-31 17:03:00 +0000 UTC View PostNicolai went on a wide route, outside of the areas he typically travelled, because the undead seemed quite upset in response to him killing some of their patrol. As he'd left they had been spreading out and searching for him. He wanted to find a place to settle down for a bit and practise using t...
2024-01-30 17:03:01 +0000 UTC View PostNicolai was quick to check his UI, hoping it would tell him what was wrong with his Seed.
User Interface 376 | Player #53,217
- Cultivation
> Seed Progress
Soul: 15%
Oma: 12%
Warning: Seed is imbala...
2024-01-29 17:03:00 +0000 UTC View Post[I got the chapter names mixed up yesterday - this one is the Soul Sense one lol]
‘If my memory serves, the tunnel should lead to the prisons. The prisons and the mines,’ said Kleos. ‘I don’t know how it’s all looking now, but that’s where undead who’d lo...
2024-01-28 17:03:00 +0000 UTC View Post[You may have forgotten that this is, in fact, a story featuring cultivation and not just one messed-up dude trying to survive and be slightly less messed-up. Well, in todays and tomorrows chapter there will be a look at what the cultivation will be like and the sorts of things it can do for our ...
2024-01-27 17:03:01 +0000 UTC View PostPeering around the corner, the boy saw dark shapes strewn over the floor, blood on the walls, bits and pieces everywhere.
‘He’s gone,’ whispered Perro, turning back to the others, looking to the big man who was crouched behind him. John met his gaze, gave him a nod. Everyone looked ne...
2024-01-26 17:03:00 +0000 UTC View Post[This chapter is a love-letter to Joe Abercrombie]
Nicolai moved quickly over the supports. A little risky but if he slipped, he would catch himself. He always did.
He’d intended to simply cross over, but his gaze was drawn to a dark form splayed out on one of ...
2024-01-25 17:03:01 +0000 UTC View PostThe itching faded. Nicolai moved, and expected pain, but there was only a fading echo, his mind generating the predicted agony then realising there was no reason for it. Putting his back to the statue, Nicolai ran his hands over his stomach and felt for the hole amongst the build-up of dried bloo...
2024-01-24 17:03:01 +0000 UTC View PostThat’s not good. Nicolai’s lips pulled back, baring his teeth in a grimace as the archer’s whistle washed over him. Why did it come down? Why now? There was no way to know and now was not the time to think on such matters. Giving his shoulder a shake and finding i...
2024-01-23 17:05:01 +0000 UTC View Post[Note: Today is a double-chapter day! Next one goes live a minute or two after this. Enjoy ^_^]
Nicolai padded through the tunnel to the end then stopped, his eyes widening as he looked out. Kleos had said this route would take him to the exterior of the castle and Nicolai had un...
2024-01-23 17:03:01 +0000 UTC View PostThe first dog to come around the corner received the business-end of Nicolai’s polearm to the top of its head, crunching it into the ground. The blue light in its eyes puffed out through its smashed skull. The next one was right on the heels of the first and unfortunately it saw the fate of its...
2024-01-22 17:03:01 +0000 UTC View PostAs Nicolai charged into the room he veered right, heading for the edge of the room, looking to get between the stone columns and the wall.
The moment he’d emerged the looming skeleton creature let out creaks and crunches as it began moving, slowly turning.
Nicolai’s eyes flicked l...
2024-01-21 17:03:00 +0000 UTC View PostReturn of a Disgraced Knight?
You have entered into an agreement with Kleos the Traitor, to procure him a body. You may complete this quest either by fulfilling your agreement and finding him a suitable body, or by finding a way out of the agreement and slaying Kleos, ending hi...
2024-01-20 17:03:01 +0000 UTC View PostNicolai’s eyebrows rose as he read Kleos’ description after Examining the head.
Severed Head of Kleos the Traitor
Once known as the Seven Winds of Torment, Kleos was renowned for a ruthlessness and cruelty in battle only matched by that he displayed to those he was gi...
2024-01-19 17:03:01 +0000 UTC View PostNicolai was half-asleep, half-awake, when a flicker of light and a crackling sound ripped him from his doze. He sat up, clutching at the polearm, watching as the torch on the wall spluttered into life. The flame grew stronger and firmer, a bright, warming yellow that reminded him of a sunrise. 2024-01-18 17:03:01 +0000 UTC View Post
Nicolai finished unscrewing the metal lid capping the jar containing the undead head, placing it aside. A strong chemical smell rose from the opening. The head stared up at him as he carefully dipped the very tip of a finger into the liquid and then quickly pulled out, a drop glistened on his ski...
2024-01-17 17:03:01 +0000 UTC View PostNicolai grinned when another skeleton stepped out through the door. This one had a decrepit wooden shield in one hand and a club in the other, and it looked a little more sprightly as it stepped out towards him.
He advanced on it and it raised the shield jerkily. Nicolai slammed a kick into...
2024-01-16 17:03:01 +0000 UTC View PostNicolai looked himself over. He wore the ragged rotting cloth he’d taken from the rat and the thug, using it as a wrap around his waist that hung to his knees, ragged and open in places.
He’d created a little belt of the cloth which was also around his waist, the knife pushed through it...
2024-01-15 15:53:36 +0000 UTC View PostApproaching the statue with its outraised arms bearing gifts, Nicolai recognised a blue water bottle in one hand and a radio in another. Of the remaining two, in one palm there was a clump of what looked like seeds (mundane seeds to plant in the ground, not special seeds like his own), while the ...
2024-01-15 15:52:20 +0000 UTC View PostNicolai watched his Seed eat its way into the centre of knife-rat’s Seed and then club-thug’s (putting his head close, he could hear it chewing), until it had eaten whatever important parts it was after then it began to shimmer brighter than the two it had consumed, lying limply on his palm i...
2024-01-15 15:51:18 +0000 UTC View PostAs Nicolai slipped towards them, knife-rat dropped the body and went for the knife while club-thug said: ‘Hey there now—‘ Still apparently operating under the belief that words could have any effect on Nicolai. By the time his words cut off Nicolai was already threateningly close, and he sa...
2024-01-15 15:50:39 +0000 UTC View PostNicolai struggled pointlessly, his body reacting as any animal would, even as his more rational side kept his eyes and mouth closed and held his breath. The sand was everywhere. Something heavier tumbled against him and pressed tight. Nicolai couldn’t open an eye to try and see what it was, but...
2024-01-15 15:48:40 +0000 UTC View PostThe path ended and the mist dispersed and now Nicolai was in a desert, the sun pouring down on him, dazzling his eyes, and there was another statue.
He glared at it and it glared at him.
‘The Trial of Combat,’ it uttered. ‘Your opponent has been chosen. Kill them.’
Nicol...
2024-01-15 15:48:08 +0000 UTC View PostNicolai found himself a pitiful mass of quivering, cramping, burned, dehydrated flesh. Pitiful, yes, but as he woke from his fugue he was grinning hugely and the reason why lay in the stone beneath him.
He was on the far side of the monkeybars, and for a moment victorious joy and exhilarati...
2024-01-15 15:46:53 +0000 UTC View PostAs the woman with no eyes strode towards him, Nicolai dove onto the ground. He lay down with his body tight against it, and spread his arms and legs either side, dangling off the edge of the walkway and clinging tight to it.
His actions were calculated. If she thought he might be any kind o...
2024-01-15 15:46:01 +0000 UTC View PostNicolai imagined how someone might normally react, then managed to twist his features into one of upset embarrassment, and put a degree of defensiveness into his voice as he spoke. ‘I told you, my communications implant is malfunctioning at the moment.’ He let out an angry little snort and ad...
2024-01-15 15:44:50 +0000 UTC View PostNicolai was about to walk away from the woman when he realised that would be odd and rude. ‘I’m gonna have a look around,’ he said lamely, not entirely certain why he was even trying. He moved, rapidly stepping towards the nearest rise and climbing hand over foot upwards until he crested th...
2024-01-15 15:43:29 +0000 UTC View Post‘-ghh!’ said Nicolai, peeling his eyes open. The screaming wind was gone, replaced by an echo of his yell, a sudden burst of confusion all around him.
He was staring down at a floor of white, unlined stone. Jerking his head around, he realised he was floating, and as though that realisa...
2024-01-15 15:41:18 +0000 UTC View PostAfter a moment, Nicolai opted to ask the robed being the obvious question.
‘What is the Great Game?’ He spoke the words slowly, taking care, sounding them out. His mouth felt heavy, like he was chewing the words, and he disliked how slowly he was forced to speak. Though he mangled the w...
2024-01-15 15:40:29 +0000 UTC View Post