It took a day.
A full day of laying almost perfectly still, trying to suppress his nervous fidgeting in the silence of his tunnel. Hour after hour passed, the gentle burble of the lava bath his only companion as Sam quietly munched on woody milklight gill to pass the time.
At so...
2021-06-25 16:15:37 +0000 UTC View PostThe next hour or so was more of the same. Kat sniped the frog monsters with Overpressure while Dorrik slowed their advance with Ego Shards. Meanwhile, Kaleek enthusiastically ripped apart anything that came close enough to threaten them with their dewclaws.
She lost tra...
2021-06-22 19:39:06 +0000 UTC View Post“Remember to chew the meat thoroughly,” Dorrik lectured, handing a fist-sized hunk of well seasoned steak to Kat. “You’ll need to hold the juices in the back of your throat for as long as possible so the enchantment can go to work.”
“This still seems like it's a lot less e...
2021-06-22 19:31:22 +0000 UTC View Post“I just feel like we’re wasting time right now,” Kat opined, slouching against a stone column next to Kaleek. “The entire galaxy is descending into flaming chaos around us, and here we are shopping.”
Kaleek didn’t even open his eyes, instead flicking his whiskers as he lea...
2021-06-18 03:43:03 +0000 UTC View PostKat flicked her eyes to the side, sending the e-mail. She settled back into her chair, trying to focus on the pressure of the wood against her back in a vain attempt to relax. A single bead of sweat formed between her shoulders and traced a trail down her back.
She flinched. Hea...
2021-06-14 17:29:37 +0000 UTC View PostKat grunted, pulling her knife from the crumpled dent in the Guillotine Tortoise’s hide. She wiped the blade on her thigh armor while grimacing at its hulking corpse. Dark green blood seeped from the razor sharp chunks of shell lodged in its flesh.
Some ten or so paces to the ...
2021-06-10 14:07:21 +0000 UTC View Post“What are we looking at?” Kat asked, shifting slightly as she crouched behind a dumpster. Dawn was only a couple of hours away and she’d been wearing her infiltration suit all night. The same properties that prevented her from leaving behind DNA evidence meant that the wat...
2021-06-06 03:00:53 +0000 UTC View PostSamazzar’s tail swished violently back and forth in the dark, a smile splitting his scaly muzzle. In the distance, the tunnel gleamed golden-red in his magical vision as heat poured off rock walls. Sam couldn’t tell the source for certain, but the massive churning pillar of warmth...
2021-06-02 16:33:37 +0000 UTC View PostKat slipped the datastick into her pouch and sheathed her knife. “Deal. I have a safe house in Chiwaukee where we can stash you until I can buy you a new identity. I have contacts in GroCorp that would be more than happy to trade a stack of credit chips and some new paperwork for th...
2021-05-30 18:03:18 +0000 UTC View Post“Are you sure about this?” Kat asked, glancing worriedly at the submachine gun clutched in Whip’s hands. The gun was on the smaller side, but in Whippoorwill’s awkward grip it looked giant and out of place.
“For the twentieth time,” the other woman replied with a rol...
2021-05-22 13:25:34 +0000 UTC View PostSamazzar scuttled forward, doing his best to avoid thinking about his empty stomach. He’d finished the last of his rat jerky yesterday, and already his still growing body was screaming for more protein.
Hungrily he glanced at the milklight mushrooms as he passed through the grove. &...
2021-05-20 08:04:26 +0000 UTC View PostKat ducked under a stream of acid, not even bothering to watch it splatter against one of the fake wooden pillars that were strewn about the dungeon. As far as she could tell, the wood cylinders were designed to resemble trees in order to give the rooms a ‘forest’ feel, but in practice,...
2021-05-17 17:56:16 +0000 UTC View PostKat knocked on the metal reinforced door, smiling at a security camera as it paused its normal sweep of the hallway to swivel and observe her. A second later the door clicked as its lock released itself. She pushed it open, having to strain for a second against its ancient hinge...
2021-05-16 00:28:25 +0000 UTC View PostBad air puffed out of Samazzar’s muzzle as he clambered down the cave wall, a worried frown on his muzzle. The floor of the chamber was covered in scratch marks and the dull red-orange glow from the swarm of cave rats that had stripped it bare last night.
With the millipede encounte...
2021-05-12 16:39:17 +0000 UTC View PostKat stumbled on the indoor track as her smartpanel chirped at her, indicating a phone call from an unknown number. She jogged past a man and a woman in the middle of their morning cardio in the college gymnasium before grabbing her towel from where she had left it next to her school clothes...
2021-05-07 17:12:11 +0000 UTC View PostDREAM 1 IS MOVING TO KINDLE
I have to take Dream's chapters down for the kindle release next Wednesday (10/11/22) so this is your 24 hour notice that chapters from Dream 1 will be coming down. You have until Friday Morning (10/7). If you need to talk to me about chapters you mi...
The breath burned in Samazzar’s lungs. He fought the urge to struggle against the claw holding him beneath the water’s surface. He knew from experience that Crone Tazzaera would keep him under for a set amount of time, and struggling would only burn up the reserves of good air in ...
2021-05-03 05:55:36 +0000 UTC View PostTakkla, Dussok and Samazzar’s saved merits were more than enough for them to rent their own modest cavern about halfway between Center Cave and their former creche. With a little help from Dussok’s increased strength, the three of them built a trio of small huts around a fire pit so tha...
2021-05-03 05:54:52 +0000 UTC View PostSamazzar returned to the creche in a fog. Dussok walked next to him, a large claw on his shoulder gently steering him back on track every time he missed a turn on his way back.
The words from their guide flowed past him as Sam stumbled back. There was some sort of speech congrat...
2021-05-03 05:54:12 +0000 UTC View Post“Stand in line and wait your turn,” the kobold that spoke practically glistened in the firelight.
Her delicate red scales, free of any dirt or blemish, glowed like rubies. Sam’s eyes grew wide as they traveled over her body. Her tail was covered in stylish ribbons, laced u...
2021-05-03 05:53:29 +0000 UTC View PostThe water burbled in the polished stone bowl hanging over the fire. Samazzar kept both his normal and magical gaze trained upon it as the bubbles hit the surface and released small puffs of steam.
Dussok and Takkla both sat next to him, their legs folded underneath them and their eyes...
2021-05-03 05:52:40 +0000 UTC View Post“I killed someone,” Takkla stared at her claws like she expected to see blood on them. “I just remember thinking that he was going to hurt Dussok, and everything went red. The next thing I knew, there was a leg in front of me and I bit down.”
“You didn’t kill anyone,...
2021-05-03 05:51:28 +0000 UTC View Post“Come on Takkla,” Sam grunted under the weight of the millipede’s corpse. The sharp ridges of its chitin biting into his scales as he plodded across the dark stone of the cavern.
Now that the adrenaline had faded from Sam’s system, the massive insect pressing down on his bony ...
2021-05-03 05:50:44 +0000 UTC View PostThe millipede clattered to the cavern floor, the sound of its chitinous bulk slamming into stone echoing throughout the otherwise silent cave. It reared back, a dozen or so of its armored segments raising off of the ground, its body curling back into an S as it prepared to strike.
For...
2021-05-03 05:50:03 +0000 UTC View Post“It’s really dark down here Sam,” Takkla whispered, stumbling as she reached out for him. He winced as her claws scraped noisily against the rocks of the lower tunnels.
“I still do not see how you plan on accomplishing anything without a torch little dragon,” Dussok bl...
2021-05-03 05:49:06 +0000 UTC View Post“Crone Tazzaera!” Sam’s voice echoed through the creche cave as his clawed feet clicked rapidly against the stone floor.
He burst into the creche cave, a toothy smile painted across his muzzle. A dozen or so of his brothers and sisters were running back and forth, playing tag. &...
2021-05-03 05:48:31 +0000 UTC View PostThe sound of claws on stone click clattered through the dark cavern, pausing only to be replaced by deep sniff. Samazzar blinked his yellow eyes as the scents of the cave flooded into him. Minerals, Fungus, wet fur, and the acrid sulfur bite of fear.
A smile spread across his to...
2021-05-03 05:46:55 +0000 UTC View Post“Feel it on your scales Sam,” the Crone’s voice seemed to surround him as Samazzar stared into the roaring inferno that had been the cave’s simple fire pit.
“Everything has some heat,” her words were almost swallowed up by the roar of the flames. “You, the rest of your l...
2021-05-03 05:46:06 +0000 UTC View Post“Crone Tazzaera, I collected the twigs and firemoss you wanted!” Samazzar called out cheerfully as he trotted into his creche’s cave, arms heavily laden with the dry green lichen.
It had taken him hours to collect the substance from nearby caves. He scaled sheer rock faces and w...
2021-05-03 05:45:12 +0000 UTC View Post“Come hatchlings,” Crone Tazzaera’s rheumy voice crackled, silencing the cave full of rambunctious youngsters. Their play fights wrapped up, leaving a pair of doglike kobold pups, their scales still tiny and soft from their recent hatching, snapping at each other over a piece of meat....
2021-05-03 05:44:02 +0000 UTC View Post