My “Master the art of knife fighting” strat ran into an immediate snag.
“I don’t want to.” Versai shook her head helplessly.
“You DON’T want to or you don’t WANT to?” I asked, hopefully.
“Both? Either? I get what you are asking, but I really, really don’t want to teach you how to fight with a knife. Like… in the sense that you would ever use it, really teach you. On any level.”
“It’s literally my...
2024-04-22 16:00:09 +0000 UTC View Post“Wait- Wait just a moment!” I held my hand up.
“My training dummy is quitting already?” Versai’s voice was deceptively calm.
“No, I just need to get my head right.” I breathed slowly, in and out. This wasn’t damaging me. Even if it was, Pammy is right here to heal me. Even if I don’t pick up anything in terms of knife fighting, it’s worth it to teach my body that it can endure pain.
I had spent my entire life avoidin...
2024-04-19 16:07:51 +0000 UTC View Post“Breaking the rules of the world? I’m sure that’s not a thing.” Versai shook her head, even as she sat down next to me.
I rolled my eyes at her. “So what would you call what Sebastian and Jim were doing?”
She thought about that for a moment. “Taking advantage of a hitherto unknown feature of how the world worked?”
“Ah, it’s not cheating, it’s just using the entire rulebook. Spoken like a true Patriots fan.” I grumbled....
2024-04-18 16:00:15 +0000 UTC View PostI dove back into the loot pile. I briefly debated- was it time to rub my hands together and chuckle? I think so. The rubbing went fine, but the chuckle?
“Ohohohohohohoho!”
The chuckle needed work. I was going to have to workshop that chuckle a bit. No matter- the loot awaited.
Ah, the difference time and perspective made. Resource packs, yes, a good stack of them but, more importantly, there were a few that had bronze tinges to thei...
2024-04-17 16:00:14 +0000 UTC View PostI needed… more than a minute to recover. I made my way to the Records Room, on the basis that it had a chair and a desk. I sat in the chair. I stared at the loot box and bags on the desk. And I didn’t move for a long while.
What the hell was that? What the actual Hell was that?!
My hands shook. I tried to bury my face in them, but my face was shaking too. The barriers of dissociation had been crumbling for a while n...
2024-04-16 16:00:11 +0000 UTC View PostBullies never fight fair. I was numb, looking around at the brothers crowding in. They don’t. They cheat. They use your reliance on the rules against you. They use your fear and hope against you.
Bullies love games- it makes them powerful, and makes you weak. You keep thinking that, if only you play by the rules, you can win. You can be free of the bully. But that’s not how the game works. The house always wins.
The sons of Crusher Jim slowly presse...
2024-04-15 16:00:18 +0000 UTC View Post“Attention all summons! Cheer for Vinnie, the fighter in the black shorts, boo Pershing, the fighter in the blue shorts. Before the fight starts, make a point of saying the most distracting, hurtful things you can think of about Skullcrusher there. Get loud!”
Did my Awakened Souls have content specific dialog? Let’s find out! Because I’m damn certain the devs didn’t shell out for voice actors. AI is a curse on the working stiff.
Rakim nodded calmly ...
2024-04-12 16:05:01 +0000 UTC View PostI apologize- I usually give a lot more lead time that forty eight hours, but... next week, April 15-19, I won't be posting new chapters of Slumrat Rising. Short version- school vacation week plans just got ever so slightly blown up, and my usual strat (write like a crazed hermit over the weekend) is getting uncerimoniously blocked by an out-of-state wedding ceremony. How the weather in Minneapolis MN is going to be warmer and sunnier than here is a genuine mystery to me, but it is. So. Yay? 2024-04-12 16:04:01 +0000 UTC View Post
Truth was elbow deep in the guts of the commercial cold box. A device that looked nearly as old as its owner, and that little senior looked as old as the hills. Or at least a hundred.
It was a combination of factors that led to the cold box blowing out. The most obvious was the air circulation tubes. The air circulation tubes, enchanted with a wind spell that pushed cold air out and sucked up the hot air, were badly damaged by intermittent cosmic energy spikes shorting out th...
2024-04-12 16:00:07 +0000 UTC View Post“How?” I breathed, barely able to believe what I was seeing.
“Got good.” Jim shrugged.
“But…”
“All there is to it.” Jim went back to throwing his casual punches. The thuds took on a new feeling- dangerous, yes, but hopeful.
“Scram. Figure a way out, or see me later. That’s all.”
I tried to force my brain back into gear. I could see the basement getting darker. Colder. Jim’s fac...
2024-04-11 16:05:01 +0000 UTC View PostTruth looked around the big box store with the apathy of the truly exhausted. His magical reserves were on the low side, but not panic-worthy. His physical condition was, essentially, fine. One day, with the support of friends and faith in the Almighty, he would find the strength to get up off the sofa and do something useful.
Not now, obviously. Possibly not even today. But someday. Faith is wonderful that way.
His brain ached. Trying to figure out how to us...
2024-04-11 16:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostI faced death in that toilet stall. The furious horror of Versai, concentrated on fingers that could pass as industrial clamps. She managed to lift me off the ground by my throat. Not my neck- her fingers had cinched around my esophagus and lifted from there.
She was very obviously deciding what the most suitable way to kill me was.
“Ghhhakk CCGGhhhhggk!” I pointed desperately at her cheek. This did not seem to have the desired effect, as s...
2024-04-10 16:05:01 +0000 UTC View PostShape their perception and you shape their reality. Truth listened to the furious racket of private guards sweeping through the neighborhood- demons summoned, angels summoned, police summoned, all trying to track him down. A lot of the neighbors were having their doors unexpectedly kicked in, as all the summoned beasts searched the surrounding properties.
At this point, the process felt quite comfortably familiar. He kept jogging, letting the expanding search radius bec...
2024-04-10 16:00:08 +0000 UTC View PostI told my Awakened souls to hang out and watch the fights, waving over Versai for a consult. I felt like this conversation really should be taking place around a sticky little table, but I made do with what there was. Which was a sticky corner. Dimly lit.
Low key wondered how many people were conceived in this corner. Just… had a feeling it was more than one.
“Alright, so, not a combat type dungeon, exactly.”
“They did say we would need to f...
Radz Sung’s poker face was justly legendary. Even so, he couldn’t quite restrain a certain crinkling at the corners of his eyes and a subconscious throbbing of the veins on his temple.
“I do always like more power. It’s never free, though.” The old man’s voice remained mild as milk. Things hadn’t quite risen to the level of actual strong emotion.
“Oh yeah, you could potentially be out… I want to say as much as twenty, or even thirty th...
2024-04-09 16:00:10 +0000 UTC View PostThe Bloody Pit was accurately named, on several levels. On the one hand, it was the dive-iest of dive bars. On the other hand, there was a big pit in the ground who’s smooth round walls were stained black with caked layers of blood.
Truth in advertising, in this day and age? Gradden Marche really was a nice place to live. Before the monsters came, anyway.
There was a long, brass topped bar running along one wall. There weren’t any stools or chairs. Not eve...
2024-04-08 16:05:01 +0000 UTC View PostTruth let himself vanish from the guard’s perception, then found himself a nice spot on a wall across the street to sit on. The wall was four meters tall and covered with broken glass jutting from the cement, but at this point that wasn’t any sort of issue. A quick pass with his hand smoothed everything flat, and he had a nice spot to watch the show.
The key lesson of terrorism, he had learned, was that it wasn’t about the atrocity itself. It was about the reaction. Tha...
2024-04-08 16:00:13 +0000 UTC View PostIt's been a thing for a while now. It's not good for you guys, and I feel like crap about it. Unfortunately, there is no way to schedule tier unlocks for already published posts. If I missed something, if there is a way to do that, please, tell me. Otherwise, rather than a daily unlock, how would you feel about unlocking all the chapters for the week on, say, Monday? This would just be for Awakened Tier readers of Slumrat. I would amend the terms of the tier to reflect the change.
2024-04-05 17:04:01 +0000 UTC View PostI gave Pomoroi her new costume. No cutscene triggered. I guess that a “mere” One Star like her didn’t rate one. I couldn’t tell if she was happy or not. She looked pleased when she got it, but…
I gave my cheeks two quick slaps and got my head back in the game. It was fun seeing the new rooms, but what was vital was collecting the rewards. The Fifth Wave was coming, and it wasn’t going to be anything nice to play with.
Up to the Thro...
2024-04-05 16:05:01 +0000 UTC View PostTruth waited and watched. The site supervisor frantically hit a gem. Then again, changing a little light on the glass “stone” from blue to orange. Then he clumsily dumped far too much expensive oil into the communication altar and gripped the sides of it hard enough to turn his knuckles white.
Truth was trying to just exist. Coasting along the waves of chance and connection and seeing where his path was leading him. Embracing his inner fool, perhaps. The supervisor was sw...
2024-04-05 16:00:16 +0000 UTC View PostFleeing the squeaky voiced metallic tree stump, we ran into the next room on the right.
“The Steel Egret?” I read the sign over the door.
“There’s another sign here- Hattie’s Hat Shop.” Versai pointed.
“Let’s start with The Steel Egret.”
We walked into what I can only describe as a hat-universe. A tiny sealed dimension that consisted only of women’s hats and means to display said ha...
2024-04-04 16:05:01 +0000 UTC View PostTruth kept an eye on Thrush. There didn’t seem to be any particularly dramatic changes going on, but he could feel a sort of whispering, a sense of pieces shifting slightly. The little black bird was drawing the mass of gore and corruption into itself, seemingly shivering in pleasure.
What the hell am I going to do with all the kids? Truth tapped his fingers on his leg, trying to think it through.
<<Let me save you some time. You di...
2024-04-04 16:00:12 +0000 UTC View PostVersai and I stood shoulder to shoulder. I had the Judiths clean up the battlefield, looting the bodies. Repairing everything would take an order or three. Might be best to rebuild from scratch. Well, most of the stuff was still usable. Just have to figure out the right way to use it.
The night sky here was… beautiful, actually. The sky was speckled with endless stars. Deep in a way I had never seen before. A bright, round moon hung proudly in the sky, shining down on the n...
2024-04-03 16:05:01 +0000 UTC View PostTruth found the building quite easily, but rather than storm through the back door, he went around the front. He wanted to see just what the place was. It was… nothing. A six story concrete box that took up a third of the block by itself. It had a front door with no markings, a small wagon loading dock which only had the usual safety markings, and that was it. There were a few indiscreet recording talismans arranged around the building, but that was standard everywhere in Jeon.
...
2024-04-03 16:00:12 +0000 UTC View PostThey hit my defenses like a wrecking ball. The subtle slope deflection around the hedgehog walls worked a bit. Which means that it worked on some of them. The others just smashed into them, and kept right on smashing. More armored monsters piled up behind the first. Slowly, they opened gaps in the line. I caught a few of them in the fire traps, but it was a bare few.
“Radz, Pomoroi! Focus fire on the largest clumps of monsters!”
No more time t...
2024-04-02 16:05:01 +0000 UTC View PostTruth strode out into the regrettably necessary city of Gamphe. The immense concentration of raw concrete everywhere failed to inspire feelings of warm affection in him.
Must be miserable in the winter here. I can practically feel the wind freezing my bones even now.
The news was interesting but lacking. His interests were domestic at the moment, not international. He needed to get a sense of where Jeon was and where it was headed. If he was going to...
2024-04-02 16:00:12 +0000 UTC View PostThanks to Rakim’s alarming efforts, the trap situation had progressed from “reasonably effective” to “bad for you on a spiritual level, never mind physical.”
“Wait till a clump of the armored monsters hits the trap, then pop it! Pomoroi, hold fire until ordered!”
The lead monster was coming fast for the first gap in the stakes. It hurt to let him through, but I needed to make those traps count.
The des...
2024-04-01 16:05:01 +0000 UTC View PostTruth had the bartender switch on the scry. The shows being broadcast were all local and crummy, cheap thing that it was. Still, the scryball managed to pick up a long running propaganda channel masquerading as a twenty-four hour news station.
First up was a clip, an older man, still vigorous, dressed in a neat suit, addressing the viewers. Truth didn’t recognize the flag on his lapel pin.
“We strongly condemn the unilateral, unprovoked invasion of Jeon b...
2024-04-01 16:00:20 +0000 UTC View Post
2024-04-01 12:49:44 +0000 UTC
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The sun raced for the horizon. The fourth night was on us. They would throw a curveball at us, I was sure of it. But I had a sneaking suspicion that we hadn’t reached the intended noob filter yet. Versai’s experience with the Third Wave not withstanding.
No, the real screwing over was still in the works. Tonight, they would introduce a new enemy type. I could smell the villainy in the air. They had already introduced the Monster Alpha. Now it would be time for a ...
2024-03-29 16:05:01 +0000 UTC View Post