grandgame

Chapter 38: A Miserable Death

The dark-clad figure staggered back, then righting herself clapped sarcastically as she looked me up and down.

“Well, well,” she sneered. “If it isn’t the poor quarter’s girl wonder herself. How nice of you to show up. Saves me the trouble of hunting you down.”

I stared at the woman across me blankly, trying to place her. Her hair was long, black, and wavy, with a silken sheen to it that no one who’d ever lived long in the poor quarter could claim. Her voice was cult...

Chapter 37: Searching For Revenge

“Cantos has a house in the center of his gang’s territory,” Eoman said. “Ordinarily, he doesn’t have much use for the place, but since you wreaked the Devils’ main base—the Black Sewers—I have it on good authority that he spends his nights at the house. It will be significantly easier to get to him there than the Black Sewers themselves.”

I bit my lip. A house. Eoman was right. Getting in and out would be much easier than infiltrating an underground complex. 2024-01-27 08:59:42 +0000 UTC View Post

Chapter 36: The Show Must Go On

I didn’t return to the safe house until hours later.

With no meaningful amount of money remaining in my pockets, I whiled away the time browsing the many shops in the district. Everything was expensive—at least by poor quarter standards.

Eventually, though, I tired of my explorations and headed back to the safe house. Thankfully, I’d remembered the knock pattern correctly and had no trouble gaining access. Even better, when the door swung open, it was Urfak’s smiling face ...

Chapter 35: In Bed with Insurgents

Despite my earlier nap, I slept like the dead.

Too much had happened yesterday, and I’d been both emotionally wrung out and physically exhausted when I’d gone to bed.

In spite of this, I still awoke in the morning with a searing pain behind my eyes. It’ll pass, I told myself. Sitting up, I looked around the room I hadn’t cared enough to inspect the previous night. It was homey and small, but with plenty of storage space. Unusually, there was a mirror too. Quality ...

Chapter 34: Missing in Action

We walked in silence for another ten minutes before Odenna came to a sudden halt before a decrepit manor house that had obviously seen better days.

Roots had pushed up from the surrounding brickwork to wrap around the rusty fence enclosing the property. The windows were boarded up, the walls were crumbling, and silence lay like a thick blanket over everything.

“This is a safe house?” I asked skeptically.

“Hmpf. Looks can be deceiving,” Odenna replied cryptically. Ste...

Chapter 33: Unfolding Secrets

Despite my confident tone with Adalinda, I knew returning to Odenna’s shop was a long shot, but it was not a plan without merit. The elf and my family went back a long way, and she would help if I was desperate.

Which I was.

Then, too, there were the questions Groff and Glenda had asked. They strongly suggested Odenna was more than the simple old woman she made out to be. I’d guessed as much myself. But their repeated reference to ‘the resistance’ had struck me as odd. The...

Chapter 32: Evil’s Soft First Touches

My arrow flew unerringly towards its mark, burning as brightly as my fury. The elf tried to dodge, but hampered by his earlier injury, he moved too slow to avoid the projectile entirely.

You have grazed your target, dealing fire damage!

“Get him Ada,” I snarled.

No less wrathful, the fire lizard surged in from the elf’s left flank, her jaws opened wide.

Adalinda has cast fire-breath.

Flames roared out, enveloping t...

Chapter 31: A Prole’s Fate

I smacked the axeman’s chest—hard.

“Oow. What did you do that for?” he protested.

“Idiot! What were you thinking? We’re in the middle of a battle. I could’ve killed you!”

“I was thinking you needed help,” he retorted. “And we’re not in the middle of a battle, that’s an exaggeration. The fight is all the way over there,” he said, gesturing behind me. “You’re welcome, by the way,” he finished, with a self-satisfied smirk.

Despit...

Chapter 30: Death of a Player

The half-orc had obviously been reborn and, from the looks of it, was out for blood. “You,” he sneered as he drew closer. “How fortuitous that we meet again.”

“For me, perhaps,” I said bravely. “Not for you.”

He laughed, not bothering to retort. Resisting the urge to flee, I stiffened my limbs and renewed my buffs.

You have cast witch armor, increasing your damage resistance by 10% for 2 hits.

Braced for a charge, I waited, but...

Chapter 29: The Council Hall

The old council hall was only a short distance from the Raccoon base. Everyone called it the ‘old council hall,’ though no one knew if it had ever been used for such a purpose. The ruins were certainly old, but no government had ever graced the poor quarter—and the thought of the likes of us ever having anything so grand as a council was laughable.

Still, it was a name, and an easy one too, so it stuck.

In recent decades, the council hall’s last remaining walls had collaps...

Chapter 28: The Home I Once Knew

As Adalinda and I stepped outside, the sun caught my eye and blinded me. I had been in the dark too long, and it would take some time to get used to the brightness again. Shading my eyes, I looked around.

Now that it was morning, the streets were bustling with people again. Mothers pulled children along, laborers headed to work, and guards patrolled the streets. It felt… normal. Surreally so.

“Ada, you better unmanifest,” I said, glancing at my companion. “The...