Cornman8700

MT 127 - Monster Battle

MT 127 - Monster Battle

“We don’t know what’s through this portal,” I said. “If it’s a Delve, we need to hit the ground running.”

“We should still move with caution,” said Varrin. “But we should spend as little time looking at the scenery as possible.” He gave both Xim and me a pointed look.

Xim crossed her arms.

“Hey, I only waste time looking around for research purposes,” she said.

I mirrored her body language.

“And 2024-05-25 16:21:28 +0000 UTC View Post

MT 126 - Crafts!

MT 126 - Crafts!

One might wonder why our party valued the Training Expo so much. The short answer is that it was going to save us a hell of a lot of time. The long answer is:

Arlo’s Treatise on Why Varrin Goes Bananas for Intrinsic Skill Levels

Delvers have access to three types of skills: actives, passives, and intrinsics. I like to think of the relationship between these three as that of a murderous jazz trio.

Actives are...

MT 125 - Eldritch Doom and Scheduling

MT 125 - Eldritch Doom and Scheduling

Xim recoiled from the shared text, whatever desire she’d held for experiencing god-like secrets fleeing from her. Etja wore a grim expression like I’d never seen. Grotto’s eyes flitted from side to side as he read and re-read the notification, seemingly undeterred by whatever force was impacting the others. When I glanced at Nuralie, she looked between the others with unease.

Varrin batted at the air, physically dismissing the sha...

MT 124 - Dread Star

MT 124 - Dread Star

“Hot damn,” I said, looking over the massive space.

The area was partially set up like an expo or swap meet, with fairly open regions exposed to a large central path running between them. Of course, the Delve’s Big Honkin’ Training Expo had booths several hundred times larger than one might see at their local crafts fair. I could also spot several areas that were completely walled off, possibly for skills or professions that didn’t play well wi...

MT 123 - Beginning the Descent

MT 123 - Beginning the Descent

There was a tug at my gut and a sensation of weightlessness as the world blinked. An instant of darkness cut off my vision, and then a field of endless stars burst to life. The pinpricks of light shimmered in the black, turned a slight shade of blue, then began to slowly move in an arc. Each left a trail of light in its wake, and soon the universe was a mass of glowing azure circles.

I was frozen, unable to move for several minutes. A chill in...

MT 122 - Reaching the Descent

MT 122 - Reaching the Descent

As the heart hammered above us, Grotto’s eyes glowed and his tentacles wrapped tightly around Xim’s arm. The cleric’s forehead split and the obsidian horn that marked the transformation to her beast form appeared, but the rest of her remained normal. Tentacles sprouted from the heart, c’thonic feathers replaced by crimson fire that swayed hypnotically. The heart drummed, and the Littans around us cowered, eyes wide and glistening.

Xim g...

MT 121 - 'Confusing' Some Littans

MT 121 - 'Confusing' Some Littans

We returned to the strategy of keeping most of the party inside the Closet while Nuralie scouted ahead. The Operator moved with her, able to stealth using its own methods. Nuralie may have grown up in these swamps, but The Operator had called it home for much, much longer. It knew exactly how to move through the terrain.

We made it close to the encampment without running into any further trouble. Between Nuralie’s advance scouting and my ...

MT 120 - Damned if You Don't

MT 120 - Damned if You Don't

I leaned back against the gnarled trunk of a dark, contorted tree as The Operator spun its yarn, wishing I had a bit of popcorn to munch on. Kettle corn, specifically. I liked a little sweet with my salty. 

Despite the absence of snacks, I was still intrigued by what I’d heard so far. Much of it added detail to suspicions I’d already harbored, or theories pieced together from the information we’d gathered. One thing that surprised me ...

MT 119 - Generations Past

MT 119 - Generations Past

Vines and foliage whipped past me as I sailed through the canopy in The Operator’s grasp. Its grapple had come so quickly that I was snatched from Shog’s tentacled grasp before he could tighten his grip. Varrin had drawn his sword, but even he couldn’t match the Architect’s Speed, and his blade cleaved through empty air behind us. We hurtled through space until gravity took its hold, and we landed amidst the water and mud with enough force to sen...

Saturday's chapter and other updates

Hello and good evening,

I have been dealing with a family emergency for a couple of days and I'm not confident that I'll be able to have the next chapter in a finalized form by tomorrow. I'm working when I can, but I also don't want to rush to get something out if I can't give it the attention it deserves. If I can't get it out tomorrow, I'll aim to have an extra upload day next week.

Tangentially, upload times have been a bit sporadic lately, which I know can be annoying. My targ...

MT 118 - Architect

MT 118 - Architect

When I first noticed the powerful soul, it was little more than a glimmer along the distant horizon. Had I been using my eyes and relying on Soul-Sight as I had in the past, the entity would have been obscured by the thick vegetation of the Eschen swamplands. I wouldn’t have seen it until we were much closer. However, I’d learned a few lessons from my recent experience of having a vacuous head.

One curiosity after the headshot was that, while I hadn�...

MT 117 - Delayed Evolutions

“But, before I decide anything, tell me more about the Delve,” Sakra said. “Where is it?”

“It’s on the other side of the continent,” I said, trying to sound casual. “Between south Timagrin and Davah.”

“In the ocean?”

“Yes.”

“It’s on the seafloor,” said Nuralie.

“I don’t think we’ve confirmed that,” I said.

“There’s nothing else there,” said Nuralie. “No islands. The waters have been well traveled.”

“...

MT 116 - Sakra Manar

MT 116 - Sakra Manar

“Oh, and feel free to call me Sakra,” said the Zenithar of Deijin.

“It’s an honor to meet you, Sakra,” I said, before introducing the members of our party. 

As pleasantries were exchanged, several more of the feathered Deijinon came through the portal. They looked around the interior with curiosity, their heads moving in swift tilts and bobs. Sakra also did a lap of the room while listening to the introductions, and I noticed that h...

MT 115 - Vyxmeldo'a

MT 115 - Vyxmeldo'a

A cool wind began to blow through the forest, the gentle rustle of a hundred thousand leaves helping to soothe my emotional hangover. I took a second to collect myself, then briefly checked in with Grotto and Nuralie as Varrin began his interrogation. Our prisoner was uncooperative and Varrin was working the “good cop” angle, so I suspected it might take a little time to get anything worthwhile out of the man.

The sniper had fired his shot while Nura...

MT 114 - Symbiosis

MT 114 - Symbiosis

I hopped onto Gracorvus and headed toward Nuralie’s skirmish, evaluating the new combatants as I went. They were between levels 3 and 4, also Silver like their stealthy brethren, but with fewer Delves completed. As I watched, several of the souls enhanced one another, creating a multiplicative effect that created power greater than the sum of their parts. If the level 7 party was specialized around stealth, this group appeared to be specialized around buffs.<...

MT 113 - That Won’t Stop Me Because I Can’t Read

MT 113 - That Won’t Stop Me Because I Can’t Read

When I created Gravity Anchor with Sam’lia’s guidance, the process involved three main steps. This technique is what Grotto referred to as ‘forging’ a skill, though Sam’lia had called it “the old way of doing things.” It was a practice that required great care and intense concentration, and I’d been hesitant to try it out alone for fear of the potential backlash. It was possible to brick a skill by making a hast...

MT 112 - Shouldn’t Have Aimed for the Head

MT 112 - Shouldn’t Have Aimed for the Head

A damn popup ad appeared in my field of view, and a lance of anger ran down my core. I thought we’d moved past those things. I couldn’t even remember the last time I’d seen a popup ad that wasn’t just a computer virus that directed you to a scam call center. Nowadays we had cookie banners that demanded your consent every fucking time you visited a website, not popup ads inviting you to spend $9.99 a month on scand...

MT 111 - Camping

MT 111 - Camping

“In my experience, most heads of state travel with a large entourage,” I said as we ran. The party traversed a span of grassy hills that spread for dozens of miles on our journey east of Eschengal. Some of the rolling mounds were the size of petite mountains, with ponds and small lakes nestled between them. “Yet, between Zura and Dal, not a single groupie.”

“Our interaction with the Zenithars was”–pause–“unusual,” said Nuralie.

“...

MT 110 - No Time For Sightseeing

MT 110 - No Time For Sightseeing

Eschengal, the capital of Eschendur, was a city of three identities. An elemental triad informed all aspects of its architecture, with water, earth, and air being celebrated in equal measure, each a tribute to one of the three gods of the Eschenden. The themes wove together like threads of a fine tapestry, circling the churches that made up the city’s center and converging upon a central park of unparalleled beauty and splendor.

That’s w...

MT 109 - Grotto Safari

MT 109 - Grotto Safari

The next morning I awoke to an unfamiliar tingle in my senses; the senses with designated values above five, that is. The extra ones. I sensed some weird soul shit is what I’m saying.

Upon opening my eyes, the first thing I noted was not the source of the soul ping I was getting. Instead, it was Grotto staring at me from a distance that I would describe as close, but not intimate.

[Were you watching me sleep again?] I thought...

MT 108 - On Revelations

MT 108 - On Revelations

The bark and gnarls of the enormous tree branch weren’t painful to lie on, but they were definitely uncomfortable. I’d discovered long ago that my best bet in such a situation was to set my mind on auto-pilot and allow it to ruminate until the world fell away in the middle of my thoughts. I turned away from my physical experience and focused on the cerebral, contemplating Zura’s guidance and the nature of my revelations while I struggled to fall asle...

Small delay for MT 108

Howdy. Chapter 108 will be coming out later today, rather than in the next hour. Had some health issues last week (doing much better now) and some other work bled into the weekend, so it's not quite ready. I can't say precisely when it'll be, but it'll arrive before GMT says it's Tuesday.

Not sure if this is the best format to communicate this type of update, but it's the best way I'm aware of to let everyone know since not everyone is on Discord. Figured I'd err on keeping everyone inf...

MT 107 - Ownership

MT 107 - Ownership

“The Inquisitor serves an important role during difficult times,” said Zura. She turned and motioned for us to follow behind her as she continued down the road. “It is important for Eschendur to present a united front in the face of major threats. While our triumvirate is effective at balanced governance during peaceful times, our forebears acknowledged that such a three-pronged structure was less nimble than monarchies or empires, which possess a more ve...

MT 106 - Cheer Up, You Got Levels!

MT 106 - Cheer Up, You Got Levels!

We walked across the surface of the sea behind the languid steps of Zenithar Zura, but the water formed a channel that swept us to the shore in under ten seconds. No one spoke, and as I set foot on the dark sand of the beach I looked back over my shoulder at the scene behind us.

The waters that had so violently churned and frothed as battleship-wide tentacles rent the Littan vessels had calmed. The only evidence of the devastation was scat...

MT 105 - Geul's Embrace

MT 105 - Geul's Embrace

I didn’t mind a beach day here and there but I tried to stay out of the water as much as possible. All the salt made me itchy. 

I broke back through the surface of the ocean to find Varrin looking down at me, sword at the ready.

“Arlo?” he said. “How did you-”

“Teleported to the Second Layer,” I said, then cast Shortcut to appear next to him on the half-sunk caravel. Shog floated above the water, unperturbed by the sudd...

MT 104 - Thunderdome

MT 104 - Thunderdome

Critical damage reduced by 40%!

Bleeding negated!

HP: 605 -> 381

The pain was sharp and bright. My lungs constricted and spots danced in my vision. Vertigo overwhelmed me and the only thing that kept me upright was Gravity Anchor. Each beat of my heart brought fresh torment and an extra tick of damage. I waited for death, certain that even I couldn’t survive my fucki...

MT 103 - Five (Four, actually) vs. One

MT 103 - Five vs. One

I cast Shortcut again to appear a hundred feet above sea level, scoping out the aquatic battlefield before me while standing on Gracorvus. I felt a tug at the back of my mind to turn and study the massive soul presence I’d seen, but I ignored it. There were more immediate problems than some distant demigod, avatar, or outrageously leveled Delver. Whatever it was, it was firmly within Eschen territory. I doubted it was Littan.

I also resisted the temp...

MT 102 - One vs. One

MT 102 - One vs. One

“Were you just… watching that whole time?” I asked. 

Yaretzi pulled himself up and over the railing, then surveyed the body of the Speed Delver. Etja had begun bombarding the northern caravel and its shield was beginning to fail.

“Yaretzi did not see you kill this one,” he said, nudging the body with a boot. “Yaretzi came back up when you struck Lintiel.” He gestured at the archer.

“Why not help them?”

“Yaretzi...

MT 101 - Three vs. Sixteen

MT 101 - Three vs. Sixteen

Etja didn’t have the mana to fly us all to shore with Varrin’s legs disabled while dodging magic cannonballs and, even if she could, I had no idea what skills or tricks Yaretzi was hiding up his sleeve. I somehow doubted he was taking it easy on us because he had to or out of pity. If anything, it looked like he was having some fun. Regardless, the Delver caravels would destroy the galleon before Xim could finish her healing, so the caravel...

MT 100 - Yaretzi!

MT 100 - Yaretzi!

Varrin was somewhere near a retreating galleon north of our position and the four of us quickly flew over. Etja set Xim and Nuralie down on the ship’s deck both to give her mana a break and also to help me search for the big guy, which was distressing for the Littans aboard the vessel. The ladies gave the crew a few mean looks and they backed off without much trouble.

Varrin had taken a burst of damage while I felt for his location earlier, which indicat...