After sealing his compact with the elders of Three Fields, the atmosphere had turned raucous and celebratory. Beer flowed like water, and the deer that he and Porkchop had slain earlier in the day was brought out for a great roast.
Normally, that would have been excessive for a group of seven, but with their eighth being a greater meles, it was only just enough. Kaius thanked his blessings that whatever magic supported a greater beasts frame allowed them to function on ...
2024-12-13 20:30:01 +0000 UTC
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They sat there, on that lonely hill that held Father’s final rest, until the sun started to go down.
It was cathartic in many ways, even if it was painful. He’d been given a certainty in Father’s passing, where previously there had only been likelihoods. While that certainty did not bring him peace, nor did it release him from the burden of grief, there was a weight of the unknown that had been removed from him.
He had sat there a...
2024-12-12 20:30:01 +0000 UTC
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It was a picturesque spot, his fathers final resting place.
Maybe a twenty minute walk from Three Fields, along one of the dirt trails that wound their way through the farms that flanked the village.
There was a hill there, one of many that graced the rolling grasslands and meadows of the frontier. It rose above the rest, but it was gentle. An easy walk over soft grass that wound its way through the many boulders that dotted the hill’s face.
...
2024-12-11 20:30:01 +0000 UTC
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Kaius slumped, leaning bodily against Porkchop as a wave of grief washed over him. He felt boneless, sapped of all energy.
Yet, it was almost a relief. To know. He’d suspected for so long, dreaded and ruminated on the ‘if’s and ‘maybe’s of it that to finally have it confirmed was like dropping a weight that he had held since falling from that cliff so long ago.
He took a breath, half surprised that his eyes remained so dry. He supposed he had ...
2024-12-10 20:30:02 +0000 UTC
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As soon as Kaius mentioned that he had become Observed by the system for consuming a Natural Treasure, the table erupted.
Each and every one started talking over each other, their responses ranging drastically. Sandor merely scoffed, rolling his eyes, while Eillish, Hurrin and Yanmi jumped to their feet, hammering him with questions. Illendra sat quietly, her jaw slack as she stared at him in shock.
Jekkar, on the other hand, howled with ...
2024-12-09 20:30:02 +0000 UTC
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Kaius stiffened slightly as he walked through the open door of the Stout Oak, though he did not break stride. He had a lot of memories in this place.
Of the leather wrapped benches and tables, nestled in cosy nooks that were recessed into one of the tavern’s walls. The tables buffed to a high shine, reflecting the candles that sat above despite being discoloured from many a spilled drink. He remembered falling asleep under one as a boy, lulled by the soft murmur of a ...
2024-12-08 20:30:02 +0000 UTC
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Kaius spun his old friend through the air, smiling in joy as he set her down on her feet. She didn’t let go.
Illendra clutched him like her grip was the only thing keeping him present. She buried her face into his armoured chest, uncaring about the jagged edges that must have dug their way into her skin.
“Where have you been, Kaius? I thought I lost you.” Illendra asked, her voice small and quivering.
A sad smile crossed hi...
2024-12-07 20:30:02 +0000 UTC
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*Ding! level 3 Red Deer slain - Experience Gained!*
*Ding! Runeblade Initiate has reached class level 3!*
*+3 End, Str, & Int, +2 Dex, Wil, +1 Vit, Free - from Class & Racial Traits!*
*Ding! Latent Glyph of Drakthar has reached level 4!*
Satisfaction thrummed through Kaius’s blood at the quenching of his Blo...
2024-12-06 20:30:02 +0000 UTC
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Kaius craned upwards, squeezing Porkchop with his thighs so that he could rise to his full height. From his vantage point astride his brother’s back, he was just able to see through the gap in the trees ahead. There, perhaps a half dozen leagues to the north, he could make out the thin line of the cliffs that he had fallen from.
Beyond them, way off in the distance, were the high peaks that separated them from the true extent of the Sea, and all the ma...
2024-12-05 20:30:01 +0000 UTC
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Some time in the near past…
Ianmus shifted his grip on his staff. Though its surface was smooth and comfortable to hold, it was still a little knobbly, and after so much walking those little aches grew tiresome if he didnt adjust every now and then.
He looked back, seeing the great wall of short mountains that sealed of Mystral’s peninsula from the rest of Vaastivar. If he squinted he could just make out the narrow gap between...
2024-12-04 20:30:01 +0000 UTC
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One moment Kaius was standing at the peak of a dwarven citadel deep below the earth, then the world shifted, blurring for a few mind-bending fractions of a second as he was torn along an impossible axis. Something moved within those depths, something large and curious, something that inspired a primal terror within him. Then he was snatched away.
His stomach lurched, and he stumbled forwards, kicking up a pile of loose leaf litter. For a moment he reele...
2024-12-03 18:30:01 +0000 UTC
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Kaius lurched towards his brother, laying his hands on the dense and gore drenched fur that coated the meles’ thick muscle-bound form. He felt his brother's physique straining, fibres snapping as they pulled away from bones that shattered of their own violation.
Panic surged through him, his heart racing as he watched Porkchop undergo some sort of metamorphic change, more akin to something he would have expected to see in the Fleshwarper’s Laboratory
2024-12-02 20:30:02 +0000 UTC
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Porkchop left the den, following closely behind the Matriarch as she led the way through the deep forest. It was identical to how he remembered it. Tree trunks, thick enough that it would take a dozen of him lying end to end to match their thickness, were spread wide with their canopies shading all that lay beneath.
The air was charged with magic, each little shift in the warm breeze bringing with it the electrifying scent of the arcane. When a particu...
2024-12-01 20:30:01 +0000 UTC
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Porkchop groaned, stretching as he felt the cold stone of the dwarven city disappear from beneath his paws, replaced in an instant with the familiar grit of hard packed dirt. If not for Kaius’s warning of what to expect, the sudden transition would have no doubt startled him. As it was, he took the moment to feel the simple comfort of earth once more.
He breathed in deep, smelling the deep scents of moss, moisture, and… home. Porkchop froze, nose tw...
2024-11-30 20:30:01 +0000 UTC
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The first thing Kaius noticed was the thick layer of semi-dried gore that was sticking to his skin and gumming up the fine joints of his scalemail. The second was the smell, the foetid stench of stale battle.
He groaned, eyes opening as he sat up. He was back on the plateau, leaning up on the same stone plinth that he had sat next to before selecting his class.
Porkchop lurched up beside him, whirling towards him to butt him with his head. “Kaius! You’r...
2024-11-29 20:30:01 +0000 UTC
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Still cloaked in a cowl dyed the colours of the forest, Kaius’s class guide had led him away from the split boulders that had held his class skill options. It was time for him to learn his first hymn for his new Drakthar rune.
His excitement made him impatient, and it was an exercise in will to match his guide's comfortable pace through the forest.
Thankfully that faded somewhat as they walked, the warm breeze and sunlight working in concert with the ...
2024-11-28 20:30:15 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 124: Long Awaited Destiny pt. 7
The final split boulder was a large thing. He recognised it, a perfect duplicate of another further across the base of the slope. The same one Father had used to teach him runes.
The shifting glyph on the boulder's face made Father’s master runework look like a child's drawing. It was jagged and aggressive, impossibly crisp lines cutting through stone, before they cracked into hard points and ran back through th...
2024-11-27 20:30:02 +0000 UTC
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After leaving the meadow that held the site of his class selection, Kaius and his guide had fallen into an easy silence. He appreciated that. As they walked through the giant old growth forest, working their way through the undergrowth, he started to feel at home.
It had been far, far, too long since he had been in the Sea, been graced by the radiant warmth of the sun, smelt the rich earth and vegetal notes of wood and leaves on the air, heard the chirping of birds, ...
2024-11-26 20:30:01 +0000 UTC
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Kaius rose from his soul-space with a gasp, his eyes snapping open to take in the dense ash canopy above. Warm sunlight filtered through the green leaves, comforting him with memories of home. He was still in his class selection.
He’d been told to expect that, but after all he experienced, it was hard to avoid feeling surprised.
His class construct, the system sheathed in an aged and scarred clone of himself, leaned over him with warm eyes and a soft ...
2024-11-25 20:30:01 +0000 UTC
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Enraptured by the sight of a potential future, Kaius focused intensely on the words that appeared before him as he focused on the carving embedded into the trunk of the last ash.
Runeblade Initiate:
Class - Tier I
Heroic
Relevant Feats:
Has slain at least 4000 foes of at least level 15 while unclassed. Has slain at least three Champions in singl...
2024-11-24 20:31:00 +0000 UTC
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Kaius took in the status of his first option. It was easy to see why he had been offered it. Warsworn Rune-Acolyte looked to be a brutal class. He could see it suiting him well, something that would lean into the rush of battle. The sheer savage joy of throwing yourself in harm's way to claim victory.
It also…alarmed him. There were several aspects he was unsure of. While it made use of glyph-binding, it seemed that it would be bent to mor...
2024-11-24 20:30:02 +0000 UTC
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Kaius stared at the aged clone across from him in bald faced shock. It wanted him to do what?! It couldn’t seriously be asking him to cull all classes lower than Heroic could it? That was utter insanity. While the rarity of your starting class was not the be all and end all, having a higher rarity class did drastically increase your chances of pursuing the sort of feats that were required to evolve them further as you developed through the tiers.
...
2024-11-23 20:30:02 +0000 UTC
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Kaius gasped, sitting bolt upright like he had been hit by lightning. He whirled his head around, disoriented and confused. A moment ago he had been sitting on the summit of the dwarven city, confirming his class selection. Now, he was…somewhere.
Craning his head back and forth, he gasped as he realised that he was in the Sea. It was unmistakable. The rich scent of earth and pine, the cold wind that rolled off the mountains, and the ever-present warmth of the sun. Jaw slack...
2024-11-22 20:30:01 +0000 UTC
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Kaius drank in the stream of notifications. They were unlike any other communication from the system he had experienced before. They demanded his attention, soaked in layered meaning and context, refusing to allow him to misconstrue their words.
Mana would rise, and the low density regions that had sheltered the vast majority of settlements would be no more. Nowhere would be safe. Especially not when beasts ruled the lands.
Of Tyrants and Crucib...
2024-11-21 20:30:02 +0000 UTC
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Kaius sat frozen, locked in the chair. His heart pounded in his chest, every thump straining to push blood through his system, like his vital fluid had turned to treacle. He longed to turn his head, to check on Porkchop. He felt his bolstering support flowing through the bond, and sent his own across in turn.
He dared not reach out with anything resembling real speech. Not here. Not in the presence of divinity.
Could it possibly be true? That he had potential...
2024-11-20 20:30:05 +0000 UTC
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The world quaked, foundational tenets of existence shivering. Kaius felt something deep and central to his being fall silent. For the first time in his life he couldn’t feel the omnipresent connection to the system, revealed to him only by its absence.
He gasped, heart skipping a beat as adrenaline dumped into him. He had no idea what was happening, but if it was enough to break his connection to the system it was bad. Locking eyes with Porkchop, he found ...
2024-11-19 20:30:01 +0000 UTC
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Kaius downed the healing tonic, feeling the alchemical heat bloom in his stomach as it bolstered his reserves of Health. Glass clinked on stone as he tossed the bottle to the side and readied his grip on A Father’s Gift.
That blow had nearly been the end of him, snapping bone and sending him to the ground hard. If Porkchop hadn’t dived in to tear away the guardian’s attention, he would have been dead.
Watching Porkchop...
2024-11-18 20:30:02 +0000 UTC
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Porkchop watched through the corner of his eye as his bond-brother tore into the achilles of the ogre, working to further disable it. The Guardian didn’t take the assault without a fight, its massive leg kicking and flailing as it tried to shake them off. It clawed at the ground with its massive hands, Pushing itself up in an effort to sit up and gain some measure of defence against them.
The heat of bloodlust rushed through him. Porkchop growled, punching his claws deeper ...
2024-11-17 20:30:01 +0000 UTC
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Kaius’s heart caught in his throat as the Siege Ogre flew across the open space between them. There might have been a stone statue between them, but the Guardian cared little, it may as well have been made of straw for all that it slowed it. Stone shattered into dust.
Every quaking step may as well have taken it another league forward. Something that large should not have been that fast.
His legs burned, legs pumping with skill enhanced alacrity as he pushe...
2024-11-16 20:30:01 +0000 UTC
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The ogre opened its tusk-ridden mouth wide and bellowed a cacophonous challenge. It stood in the middle of the carved plateau that made up the summit of the dwarven city, surrounded on all sides by a garden of lovingly carved statues.
Shimmering blue walls had sealed in the summit, linking the many columns that lined its edge. Kaius ignored the surprise barrier; it was always going to be do or die, a lack of escape meant nothing.
Like a physical wave, t...
2024-11-15 20:30:02 +0000 UTC
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