Blake and Ilya walked along the wall of the orc city like countless others. They seemed far less empty than before, and Blake wondered if the tower orcs were starting to get tired of their permanent state of martial law.
If the ‘economy’ of the place was anything like human cities, he e...
2024-01-11 15:00:04 +0000 UTC View Post[Apex Predator activated: Arcane Affinity]
Mason blinked and wiped his hands across his face, but still couldn't see.
"Streak?" he called, hearing only a muffled version of his own voice. The pain was relatively minor, as far as Mason getting blown up and nearly kille...
2024-01-10 15:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostBlake learned a considerable amount over the next twelve hours. First, he'd made his old constructs…very stupidly.
His 'defender' form had taught him just as much from what it couldn't do as what it could. At first it had seemed just vastly superior in every way—it was muc...
2024-01-09 15:00:08 +0000 UTC View PostIt took less than a minute to get Streak and the rest of the players up and into the metallic tunnel. But that was plenty of time for the bomb-throwing engineers to make a clean get-away, and Mason didn't bother trying to chase. It didn't bother him much.
"What the hell is there exactly to ...
2024-01-08 15:00:08 +0000 UTC View Post"So," Ilya tried and failed to push Blake's construct away at the bottom and straightened her...robe. "We're both in a pit." She looked at the corpse of the dead demon and shivered. "What do we do now?"
"Now, my dear, we go back to the orc tower." He pointed to the altar. "That little rock ...
2024-01-05 15:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostIlya watched the demon fall with wide eyes. It roared in fury and scratched at the stone, beating its mangled wings uselessly until a huge crash made Ilya jump. Then nothing.
[Hidden Objective completed: Assist Blake Nimitz to destroy your captor. Reward: The line of Vori becomes a Highborn...
2024-01-04 15:00:05 +0000 UTC View Post[Event complete: Dueling Duos. Experience gained. Please wait for the other duels to be completed.]
After a few seconds of wallowing in the pain and feeling sorry for himself, Mason groaned to a sit and checked his wounds. Not only were they closing, with a confused squint Mason saw the wou...
2024-01-03 15:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostBlake still couldn't exactly see the demon, and his attack command was tied to sight. A mistake, no doubt, but there wasn’t a terrible amount he could do about it now. First things were first. He mentally commanded all his constructs to leap off the platform and start flying.
They obeyed ...
2024-01-02 15:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostMai looked vaguely panicked, but Seamus just grinned. "Easy on our end. Mai and me got this in the bag, don't we darling?"
She nodded but the movement was too fast, her skin a little pale.
"We'll be alright," Mason said, trying to calm her. He winced, not sure if he should offer to br...
2024-01-01 15:00:12 +0000 UTC View PostBlake mostly hid until he heard the spider's blood curdling shriek. Then he stepped to the edge of the platform and watched as his constructs dove at the thing like sparrows fighting a house cat.
The spider was out of 'hell' now, climbing the edge of the stone trough that carried the boilin...
2023-12-29 15:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostMason led the others back to the main cavern. They met a few wandering goblins on the way, but hacked them down in a few seconds and without a word exchanged. Then they were again looking out at the strange, crystal covered hollow center of the great tree, deciding the best way up.
"Should ...
2023-12-28 15:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostIt took basically all of Blake's remaining half mana pool to 'animate' one of the Maker constructs. Yet another 'presence' entered Blake's mind, though this one was far less intrusive. He grinned and looked at his constructs, still debating how many to use and exactly what to say.
He didn't...
2023-12-27 15:00:07 +0000 UTC View PostTrees. Trees everywhere. Smoke and the coppery tang of blood filled the air, familiar and welcome and…good.
Mason felt danger but wasn’t afraid. He stepped over tree roots and swept branches until he found the clearing he knew would be ahead.
A giant of a man with antlers...
2023-12-26 15:00:06 +0000 UTC View Post
Mostly just wanted to say thanks for the support. It truly makes all the difference in the world to have people waiting to read what you're working on, and to be paid a bit of a 'salary' as you do it.
As a writing update - I've got around 20 chapters now written of book 5. So everything is ...
2023-12-25 19:00:54 +0000 UTC View PostIlya watched Blake fade from her dream, so desperate for him to stay she woke in a cold sweat. She blinked awake and slowly turned to look from her cage, and found the demon's red eyes staring from the closest bars. She covered the scream with her hand, heart sprinting as the demon smiled.
...
2023-12-25 18:40:20 +0000 UTC View PostTurned out every little thing Blake did to his creations had a cost. There was something like a 'mean' in terms of size, and if he made something...unshapely, it would either tell him it didn't work or warn him the thing would spend most of its time falling over.
Anything he made 'permanent...
2023-12-22 15:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostMason came from the darkness screaming, Claws out and ready to kill, ready to die. He had gone from a ‘cave’ and a meeting with Blake, to a rotting forest filled with monsters. For a good long minute it was like watching a horror flick on acid, then it pulled him away.
“Well, you look...
2023-12-21 17:37:25 +0000 UTC View PostBlake opened his eyes in the gloom of the Maker’s Hall, feeling empty and alone. But also unafraid. You couldn’t fix a problem until you knew what it was, and now he did.
Blake wasn’t good enough.
He’d been living on charm and luck most of his life, unable to face his childhoo...
2023-12-20 15:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostBlake entered the 'Maker Hall' with careful steps, inspecting his surroundings. There were busts of bearded men, more portraits and little stacks of coins, all squished under a low ceiling with plain, stone walls. It made Blake feel like he was in some dwarven billionaire’s panic room.
Bu...
2023-12-19 15:00:04 +0000 UTC View Post"Don't know!" the goblin squealed and squirmed uselessly in Mason's increasingly terrifying grip. "Just worker. Don't know secrets!"
"There's tunnels in the walls," Mason hissed. "Behind bed sheets or flags or whatever they are. Don't tell me you've no idea. Where do I get in the tunnels?"<...
2023-12-18 15:00:07 +0000 UTC View PostMason led the others through a series of similar rooms to the first dining hall. Small numbers of the same, relatively weak goblins were spread throughout a place that seemed like communal housing more than anything.
Mason and Phuong took point. And with Alex's shields, as well as Mai, Seam...
2023-12-15 15:00:06 +0000 UTC View Post"Just wait a bloody second, I killed your critter!” Blake tried and failed to seize Lumiere with Telekinesis as the little bugger sped off. “What's my damn reward?"
The floating lantern was practically at the gate before it stopped and turned, clearly small enough to zip right through t...
2023-12-14 15:00:04 +0000 UTC View Post"Continue the tour!" Blake shouted as he ran. "Is there anywhere that critter can't go? Take me to that!"
Tree-limb-acid-face started loping forward like the ugliest gorilla known to man.
"Apologies," said high tech Lumiere. "But I've no idea where the critter can go or where it can't...
2023-12-13 15:00:06 +0000 UTC View Post"You've got three seconds to drop that bow, mate, or you'll cook like a fecking kebab."
Getting hit by fire spells historically didn't feel great, but it also didn't hurt Mason much. And Nassau desperately needed ranged players and mages. It was time to think like Blake a little. Maybe he c...
2023-12-12 15:00:06 +0000 UTC View Post[Dungeon puzzle event completed. Experience awarded.]
The door clicked open with a very smooth, and very satisfying beep. Despite the somewhat ancient looking dungeon, the metallic door and hinges seemed freshly greased and perfectly made, swinging wide to reveal...
Yet another corrid...
2023-12-11 15:00:08 +0000 UTC View PostBlake and Ilya walked through the growing chaos of the orc warrens with hoods over their heads. It still hurt a little to walk, but Blake decided getting flayed alive would probably hurt more, so he did his best.
“I can’t see anything,” Blake complained. “Is anyone looking at us?”...
2023-12-08 15:00:08 +0000 UTC View PostBlake lay down on his furs and groaned. He knew he should try and Dreamwalk and talk to the others, but he was tired and in pain after the long walk and just wanted to sleep.
Anyway, what the hell was he going to say? 'Yep, still trapped. Super trapped. Oh apparently I'm here because a rogu...
2023-12-07 15:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostAlex, it seemed, was a man who knew how to suffer.
Mason ran them all day and into the evening with hardly a pause, and the older man endured all of it. When they finally stopped he was red and drenched in sweat, leaning against a tree with closed eyes before apparently healing himself.
... 2023-12-06 15:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostIlya eventually returned to Blake's tent with a basket full of food. She set to work cooking in silence, expression difficult for Blake to read. Again he was tempted to gain her trust and smooth things over with Mental Influence, but took a deep breath and decided against it for the moment.
Mason let Streak into the house after supper (and a fairly grumpy bath), and they all cuddled up on the couch and watched old movies on the settlement's digital storage system.
They ate popcorn, talked about their lives a little, but mostly just enjoyed each other's company in silent touch....
2023-12-04 15:00:08 +0000 UTC View Post