Bacon Macleod

B2 Chapter 225: Payment, pt. 2

Kaius grinned as he looked at the stacked boxes on the table—the first of their rewards, and a source of gear they would otherwise likely not have the funds or connections to get ahold of.

He’d hoped that they would be able to get some today, but after Ro and Rieker had warned them that it might take more than one mission, Kaius hadn’t wanted to get his hopes up.

A quick glance at his team showed him they must have been feeling similarly excited, both Ianmus and Porkc...

B2 Chapter 224: Payment, pt. 1

Watching the guild administrators across from him, Kaius tried to work off some of his tension by balling his hands on his trousers. They’d done it. Shared that they had Aspects.

It had been tough, but the right decision. Now he was just waiting in silence for the guildmaster to deliver his verdict.

Rieker was silent, staring at them with a stoney intensity as he digested his words. His expression was schooled, not giving them the slightest hint on whether he was thrilled, shock...

B2 Chapter 223: Growing Problems, Finale

The common folk were getting desperate, Kaius realised.

It wasn’t so much their looks. Most seemed well enough fed, and as clean as anyone could expect to stay in a city.

No—it was the pervasive tension that seemed to seep from their very pores, suspicion and anxiety hanging over the city streets like a contagious miasma.

Where before people had gone about their business with single minded focus, weaving their way through the crowds and brushing shoulders, now people...

B2 Chapter 222: Growing Problems, pt. 2

Snapping to the left, Kaius planted his weight and brought his blade up into a hanging guard. 

The dog-beast that had been trying to rush him yelped, cutting itself deep on the angled edge of A Father’s Gift.

Focused and calm, he reset his blade, and slashed through its skull.

*Ding! Savage Hound - Level 30 Slain, Experience Gained! Reduced Experience for slaying an enemy of Insignificant Strength!*

They were weak. Eas...

B2 Chapter 221: Growing Problems, pt. 1

The morning sun was low on the horizon, shining brightly in their eyes, as they made their final approach to Deadacre.

With Truesight fortifying his vision against the glare, Kaius could comfortably see the smudge of brown that was the circle of cracked earth that surrounded the small Frontier city’s walls. 

The fortifications themselves were jutting over the horizon—standing out in a thin grey line.

Whooping in excitement, Kaius urged them forwards, h...

B2 Chapter 220: Looting and Leaving, Finale

Kaius stared at Porkchop with a slack jaw, trying to process the words that had just been said.

Did he just hear him say they should tell Rieker? 

Sitting in silence, his mind raced. While he had intended to tell the guildmaster about their aspects eventually—he’d meant to do it after they had all acquired one, and secured an Honour for themselves.

If they told him now, he’d have questions. Namely, why it was so important for Porkchop to found his Aspect ...

(UPDATE) Edited/pinned: Apple IOS surcharge warning

B2 Chapter 219: Looting and Leaving, pt. 2

Reading through the descriptions of the reagents that he’d discovered in the shaman’s tent for the second time, Kaius focused on the Least Nature Condensate. It was by far the most valuable of the bunch.

Condensates were rare. Only in the perfect conditions would they manifest, requiring unnatural mana density with an unusual bent to a single affinity—on top of needing something to encourage it all to crystallise, though no one had ever discove...

B2 Chapter 218: Looting and Leaving, pt. 1

Kaius carefully picked his way between the chunks of boggling strewn across the cavern—the remnants of Ro’s earlier devastation of a full two thirds of the plague. While he didn’t hold overmuch respect for their dead, nor was it possible to completely avoid getting his boots coated in all varieties of unmentionable, feeling his weight pulp flesh beneath his boot was still disgusting.

So he did his best, relying on supernatural dexterity and strength to hop between is...

B2 Chapter 217: Cold Bodies, finale

Edit: Patreon went straight to posting instead of queueing because of a faulty double click, so this one in 9 hours early (sigh.). I'd ninja delete and requeue, but as I learnt the last time this happened, people get the full email either way.

Sitting on the warchief’s throne, Ro gave them a look as she sprawled out lazily—one leg crossed.

It was calculative—stern and judging.

Kaius struggled to respond, his mind still rooted in the spot by the simple ...

B2 Chapter 216: Cold Bodies, pt. 1

Giving his pan a last good shake to flick off as much water as he could, Kaius dipped back into the tent. 

While he’d asked Ianmus if he’d noted anything about the strange pinpoint of energy that had radiated from his mind during the founding of his Aspect, the mage had only been confused—and voraciously curious. 

The lack of answers was a shame, but hopefully with more time and experience they’d discover something more concrete.

He’d been thinking throug...

B2 Chapter 215: Decompression

Kaius scrambled up the hill, battling against the scree slope as he used one hand to hold Ianmus secure to his shoulder. Loose stone gave way with every step, sending him a stride backwards for every one he climbed.

He wasn’t the only one having a rough go at it, Porkchop’s weight was working against him, making his journey to the lip of the valley even more arduous.

Shifting in his stupor, Ianmus let out a soft moan—though he did little else. Kaius frowned, concerned at hi...

B2 Chapter 214: Siege, Finale

Kaius watched a rage of outrage and despair roll through the back ranks of the bogglings, the loss of the shaman hitting those who had seen its smoking body fall like a hammer blow.

A blow to their morale—a small victory, but one he was unsure on how effective it would be at turning the tide in their favour. Afterall, it was still what felt like an unending tide. The rough cavern floor was a veritable mire of blood and viscera, yet still there seemed to be no end to them.

Fortun...

B2 Chapter 213: Siege, pt. 3

The shaman sneered at him from deep within the press of bogglings. Standing head and shoulders above the lesser boggarts, its nature was obvious. Even if he excluded the sickly mana that hung around it like a cloak, its grisly skull-topped staff and bone-charm woven hair were dead giveaways.

It wasn’t alone—flanked by two more empowered bugbears. Much like their predecessors, they were hulking things fueled by primitive magic—mana burning in their eyes and wafting from their skin....

B2 Chapter 212: Siege, pt. 2

The minutes burned by the score, a steadily growing exhaustion welling up inside him. Kaius knew what it was; battle fatigue, the heavy strain on one's senses as they were pushed to their limit, operating at their full capacity as Resources flowed like wine at a noble’s party. 

Not that the constant assault was without its benefits. The unending horde of bogglings had brought gifts—skill and class levels galore. Even without significan...

B2 Chapter 211: Siege, pt. 1

Kaius pumped his arms, keeping an easy pace as flickering oil lamps washed them with light. 

He longed to stretch his gait—to push himself to the full speeds he was capable of. If they did that, Ianmus was dead.

The mage was ahead of him, sprinting as fast as he was able—a speed that was genuinely impressive considering his distinct lack of Strength and Dexterity, the man clearly considered running to be a vit...

B2 Chapter 210: Fear, finale

Reaching the split in the cave, Kaius hurriedly peered down the tunnel that led to the surface. Straining his senses, he was relieved to hear no sign of howling panic or anger—the boggarts they had slain on their way in had yet to be discovered.

Just ahead and to the right, the cave split—angling downwards. The path they had yet to take. It was mostly similar to the other routes, a natural cave that had been roughly chipped at until it was mostly uniform...

B2 Chapter 209: Fear, pt. 1

The noise cut through the silence like a knife.

It was shrill, high pitched, and desperate. Hells, it was barely loud—a squeak of surprise that had been stifled quickly. Far from anything that could be described as a clamouring rallying cry, bringing down the whole warren on their heads.

That didn’t stop the wave of dread that rushed through his chest, binding his lungs and throat in barbed wire. 

Heart racing, Kaius lurched t...

B2 Chapter 208: Infiltration, finale

They pushed on, Ianmus hanging just behind them as they moved from shadowed stretch to 

shadowed stretch. Passing beyond where they had already cleared, each long-stride was hard earned. Each of the roughly hewn openings in the tunnel wall—sometimes common enough to come every fifty strides—had to be checked thoroughly.

They were diligent, sweeping the rooms without fail.

Shifting in width regularly, the cave made for a tense ...

B2 Chapter 207: Infiltration, pt. 7

A faint rattling gasp slipped out of the boggart’s throat as his blade burst its eye and slid into its skull. Firelight played off the ashen tones of his blade, haloing the crystal set in its form.

It shuddered, falling limp.

*Ding! level 55 Boggart - Skulker slain - Experience Gained!  Bonus Experience for slaying a foe of Significant Strength!*

Kaius breathed easy as he pulled his blade free, and glanced tow...

B2 Chapter 206: Infiltration, pt. 6

Kaius reacted instantly to Porkchop’s warning of movement coming their way. 

He spun, holding a finger to his lips as he grabbed Ianmus by the shoulder. Jumping at his sudden movement, the mage froze. Shaking the man to get his attention, Kaius took off with a low, loping, jog—waving at his companions to follow.

There’d been a room a little ways back, one large enough that they could hide within.

Every step felt like someone bangin...

B2 Chapter 205: Infiltration, pt. 5

Kaius lunged to the side, shouldering a boggart to the ground as he narrowly avoided a hosing spray of blood as Porkchop tore another’s head free. He stepped through the movement, booting the boggart that was desperately trying to scramble back up.

A Father’s Gift swept out, a twist of his hips driving the power to ram it through the throat of a boggart that tried to rush him with its grasping claws held out. It fell, choking—though it would heal, if given...

B2 Chapter 204: Infiltration, pt. 4

The squabbling boggarts kept wailing on each-other, slavering and howling with maddened fury. The lump of bone and gristle they were fighting over spun across the floor of the cavern, launched by a stray kick.

Both boggarts paused, staring at their distant prize. A moment later they both lunged, flying into a tangle of grasping and clawing limbs as they yanked each other back.

One squirmed its way free, desperately reaching for the bone. 

B2 Chapter 203: Infiltration, pt. 3

After deciding to wait for nightfall, Kaius had returned to his watch upon the ridge. Seated quietly in the shadow of the boulder, he kept his eyes on the valley. As the early autumn sun had tracked its way down towards the horizon, more boggarts had appeared.

Raiding parties—more than one returning with the carcasses of their hunts. 

Each and every one had a bugbear or two in their midst, directing their lesser siblings with disturbing intelligence.&n...

B2 Chapter 202: Infiltration, pt. 2

Watching the boggarts and larger bugbears loiter outside of what must have been their dwelling, a heavy ball curdled in his stomach. A shaman. That was…not great.

Ianmus had been more than happy to expand on the specifics of boggarts on their journey out of Deadacre. Apparently, beyond a certain group size, boggarts started changing. At first they just got bolder, more headstrong, and meaner. 

Soon though, more dangerous figures would appear in their t...

B2 Chapter 201: Infiltration, pt. 1

Shifting a little closer to his cover to keep the sun out of his eyes, Kaius crouched next to a prominent boulder jutting up from the ridge line. True Sight did much to improve his vision, including preventing the glare from blinding him, but that didn’t mean he would deal with the discomfort if he didn’t have to.

Barely a few strides ahead of him, the ridge rose to a precipice before sharply falling away. It gave way a steep curve of scree that gradually tr...

Interlude 3: Rumours

Jorn coughed weakly, trying to clear the thick wad of mucous that seemed to be choking him alive. Leaning one hand against the greasy stone wall of the alley, he doubled over—his head spinning as a ka-thunk rocked his chest. His heart skipping another beat, it had to be. 

They were getting closer together.

He needed more shard.

It…it would be his soon. Even with the fucking beasts ruining the supply lines—even the thi...

B2 Chapter 200: Second Mission, pt. 3

Mid-morning sun streamed in from the windows of the fifth floor meeting room, blanketing the richly stained wooden table where Kaius and his team were discussing their upcoming rewards for their next mission.

Kaius cleared his throat at a lull in the conversation, drawing the room's attention. Sharing the nature of his sword was inherently risky, but if he could secure an oath from Ro, he would be far more comfortable.

“Rieker, Ro, I have a question for you...

B2 Chapter 199: Second Mission, Pt 2

Pausing as he met the guildmasters’ eyes, Kaius considered the responsibility that had been offered. Taking out a boggart swarm of once in a century's strength? That was vital, and the fact that they had been offered the task showed a level of trust he didn’t expect to receive so early.

“Given the risks, and the importance of this task, we won't force you to take it on.” Ro said, drawing Kaius’s attention away from Rieker. “Take a few minutes to th...

B2 Chapter 198: Second Mission, Pt. 1

Kaius looked around the room.

They were back on the top floor of the guild—one that was totally reserved for the guildmaster’s roof. However, rather than return to his personal office for this conversation, they had exited the stairs and taken a door just off the foyer before his quarters.

Ro had led the way with confidence, having met them in the common room of the guild just as they had entered. Thankfully, it didn’t draw too much attention. The guild...