Worthy looked down on his nephew, asleep in a cot, and brushed the boys’ hair back from his forehead. Not that he was just a lad anymore. A grown man now, Tyron had proven to be every bit as special as his mother and father had believed.
At rest, his features softened to the point he looked much like he had in the last few years he’d lived in Foxbridge. Straight, raven-black hair, cut short and orderly and too-pale skin from a life lived indoors with books. His brow, normally...
2025-04-10 08:08:06 +0000 UTC
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The number of troops on the platform just keeps going up. Even the front lines, which usually have a reasonable bit of space to prevent too many getting covered in mucus spew at once, are getting a bit squeezy. The number of mages and support troops back there is absurd. I don’t know how many battalions are on here, but it’s probably double what we had before. More ants, more humans and various other species, including more of the priests, we have ant cavalry, even some of the Immo...
2025-04-09 07:21:08 +0000 UTC
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Every platform was under siege by the Krath. Solant stood in the centre of the command post as messages came thick and fast, a flurry of information that she needed to process rapidly, slot every puzzle-piece into its appointed place before making a decision.
It wasn’t easy. There was so much going on around the fortress that even her message-relay network was struggling to keep up with the demand. Construction crews were still hard at work at all levels of the fortress as mana...
2025-04-09 06:27:22 +0000 UTC
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When my brother came back to us, I knew better than to be happy. If anything, it plunged me into a deeper grief. My brother was no longer with us, the thing that shambled back to the camp wasn’t him. He would never have said those things, never have done those things.
The creature that came back to us was a twisted portrait of the man I’d known all my life. Honour turned to treachery, integrity turned to deceit, purity turned into something foul and depraved.
2025-04-07 05:49:19 +0000 UTC
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Every now and again, another bomb is launched at the platform, forcing me to intervene by firing my own bomb to counter it. I can’t tell if they really expect to actually do some damage, or if they’re just trying to wear me down.
It is tiring, having to constantly be ready. I need to keep mana in reserve at all times. Not even in reserve, I need to keep a bomb partially formed basically permanently. It occupies a chunk of my sub-brains, causes mental fatigue, and I can’t ev...
2025-04-07 01:04:55 +0000 UTC
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Worthy’s heroics had helped bring down the massive kin, but there was still a lot to do in order to secure the site.
Shaking his head at his uncle’s antics, Tyron mentally directed his horde forward. Although the majority of kin had been dealt with, there would always be more, a constant flow, forever. If the rift could be closed, then perhaps there would be a future for this world, but that would also mean that magick would disappear, along with the Unseen.
He couldn...
2025-04-04 22:56:01 +0000 UTC
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Worthy looked up as his sense of danger surged. A useful feat, to be sure, but at times like this, it was a constant distraction. This was a massive battle! Of course there was danger everywhere, he didn’t need the Unseen tugging on his blasted ear trying to warn him about it.
In this particular instance, he was grateful for it.
“Somethings coming through!” he bellowed, then swung his warhammer in a blistering arc.
The monster in front of him...
2025-04-04 07:27:37 +0000 UTC
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It took time to agree to terms. As it turned out, the ants were very attached to their ‘Eldest’. Even the slightest concession was weighed like gold, and yet Chyron felt that she was getting the best possible deal, since no ant other than Solant would even think to agree to a trade like this.
[Now,] the little general said, still as calm and unruffled as ever, [what do you have to share with us.]
[Are you willing to share this information with your mages?] Chyron asked,...
2025-04-03 07:49:09 +0000 UTC
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Commander Chyron felt better than she had in months. Dense mana pulsed through her body, reforged in baptism, infusing her muscles, electrifying her nerves, invigorating every cell.
She moved better than she had in years, bonded to her armour, power flowing down her arm, into her sword and outwards, stabbing, slicing, cutting down the hated beasts of the fifth in swathes. All around her, the brave men and women of her Legion fought by her side. The shield wall was unbreakab...
2025-04-03 06:51:55 +0000 UTC
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The production capacity of the Colony, along with its non-existent labour costs, could have annihilated all commerce within the Dungeon if not for the quick thinking of the Brathian Island Conglomerate.
Fixed prices, controlled volumes, putting a hard floor on what the ants could charge for their wares allowed the rest of the commercial interests to compete. Many attempted to have the Colony produce goods on their behalf, ship in raw goods to the vast workshops and foundrie...
2025-04-01 06:16:27 +0000 UTC
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“I never thought I’d see you again, Goszi,” Zluth grinned, showing all of his fangs. “You found your happy retirement, why would you ever leave?”
The old slug extended an eye socket up through the grill that covered the hole he’d been locked into. A Krath could compress their body to extremely small sizes, and they had to, to fit inside a hole like this. The grating over the top was sharp as a razor on the inside, but blunt on the outside, meaning if Goszi were to rel...
2025-03-30 05:31:16 +0000 UTC
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Magick poured out of the rift so powerfully, Tyron felt he was wading through water. He could see it, could feel it. The hairs on his arm were raised, he could feel tiny shocks rippling over his skin, points of flashing heat. It was too much energy, even for his body, as absurdly resilient and soaked in power as it was.
From atop the platform, he turned and shouted to the students.
“Move back!” he yelled. “Stay at the very rear of the column!”
It had bee...
2025-03-28 10:27:27 +0000 UTC
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Even walking in a straight line was a significant challenge inside the Broken Lands, let alone coordinating an army of thousands of undead. Thankfully, the simple skeletons were largely unperturbed by the disjointed laws of reality in this place. They weren’t ‘smart’ enough to perceive the world in a sophisticated way, they simply acted based on their relatively simple inputs, which weren’t affected much at all.
It was the wights and demi-lich’s that suffered the ...
2025-03-27 07:24:38 +0000 UTC
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Another burst channel. Another one. How many would fail? Cobalt ground her mandibles in frustration, staring at the energy flowing in front of her. There wasn’t the slightest variation or tremor, the enhancements were functioning perfectly. Or did she only think that was the case? There had been sections approved by carvers that had failed. Two, to be exact. Even the tiniest flaw was enough to send the energy awry, to degrade the system and make it vulnerable t...
2025-03-26 07:39:10 +0000 UTC
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Moving through the Dungeon during a wave wasn’t something Goszi ever expected he’d have to do again. It certainly wasn’t something he’d had to do since he was a much younger slug.
His first problem had been getting off the fortress at all. Being able to access the outside wasn’t the same thing as being hom free, oh no. The gap between the fortress wall and the rest of the fifth was substantial, much too far for a neat jump. He’d been forced to do somethi...
2025-03-26 05:22:30 +0000 UTC
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The monsters of the fifth are unique, as far as this scholar is aware, in both their unusual resilience, and also their irresistible offence. Other monsters might fight with claws, or magic, or fangs, and the monsters of the fifth do this also, but they don’t have to. Their very presence is a deadly weapon. Every touch has the power to kill.
The mana of the fifth is an almost flawless creation. Capable of consuming even other types of arcane energy, corruptin...
2025-03-26 04:03:28 +0000 UTC
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“Lock it down!” Smithant roared, her pheromones blasting away the doubt and confusion that hung heavy in the air. “Get your mandibles in there and work!”
If there was an invitation that no ant was likely to turn down, this was it. Rushing forward as a unit, the carvers applied themselves in the most direct and ant-like way they knew how. Mandiles to the rock, they dug and shaped, clearing space, demolishing rooms and opening a path to the outer wall.
“Keep pushing...
2025-03-25 06:08:46 +0000 UTC
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News of the damaged channels reached Solant as she settled into the command post, though she didn’t expect to hear it from the Eldest.
[How are you communicating with them? Are you really able to extend a mind-bridge that far into the fortress?]
[Ahhh,] the Eldest says, evasively. [Sure. Let’s go with that. No, you cannot use me as a message relay.]
[I wouldn’t dream of it,] Solant lied. [Thanks for letting me know about the issue. I will dispatch the build teams as qu...
2025-03-25 04:14:07 +0000 UTC
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“So how is the fortress handling the mana from the vents?”
“BADLY, JERN! BADLY!” Tungstant roared as she continued to turn a valve with her mandibles.
“Oh, I’ll help,” the human male said, stepping forward to grab it with his hands and twist.
Although designed for ants, he did a good job of it, clearly he was getting quite strong doing whatever it was humans did to get stronger.
“I need five more of these turned,” Tungstant snapped, makin...
2025-03-21 03:24:06 +0000 UTC
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The sublime joy of tea and biscuits was one thing. In fact, Goszi had only grown in his appreciation for the things that so many Krath ignored completely. The ants had continued to work on making his cell more comfortable, despite his contemptuous insistence it wasn’t necessary.
As a result he now had a leaf-shaped hammock, as it he was told it was called, that snugly fit his form and wrapped over to enclose him while he slept. Goszi had never felt so warm and safe, trapped in ...
2025-03-21 02:20:57 +0000 UTC
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Of course, the knowledge that massive quantities of tainted mana are being pumped into the fortress is causing me a little stress. Why wouldn’t it? The Colony has it under control, I’m sure. I mean, what would I even do if I were to go in there? Nothing, that’s what.
I’m just worried!
“You’re worried,” Jern said from beside me.
“Gah! When the heck did you get there?”
“I’ve been here for ten minutes.”
Probably didn’t notice him bec...
2025-03-21 01:43:19 +0000 UTC
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Solant was deep in reflective meditation when she perceived a messenger was fast approaching. Not for the first time, she considered implementing a network of mind-mages for near instantaneous delivery of messages, but again had to shelve the idea. Even though the Colony could provide the number of mages to create such a network through the fortress, their expertise was far better spent on battlefields, where their spells were capable of inflicting tremendous damage from a relatively s...
2025-03-20 06:28:28 +0000 UTC
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Pushing out of the camp was easier said than done. With so many undead within, and the constant threat of roaming kin, it was necessary to evacuate in stages, with the first to leave forming a perimeter to keep the rest safe. Once everyone was out, he had the last remaining skeletons gather up the tents and cots, pack them into the baggage train at the back of the column, and then they were off again.
This time, Tyron took the lead himself, no longer walking in the middle of the ...
2025-03-20 00:23:33 +0000 UTC
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With his status confirmed, Tyron destroyed the paper, ripping it up and chewing the pieces to destroy any remnant of writing on the page. Task completed, he stepped out of the tent and into the open air of the camp. The sky boiled overhead, the air mixed with so much magick that the sky no longer looked like it should. It was eerily similar to what he had seen beyond the rifts, if not quite as violet.
Clouds rolled like colossal waves, bolts of coloured energy rippling acro...
2025-03-18 10:33:25 +0000 UTC
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Sorry for the wait, these always take me ages. I've left a summary of the new abilities at the bottom so you don't have to pick over the status with a tooth-comb
Despite the constant noise around the camp, Tyron was able to sleep well. He’d been reliant on magickally induced sleep for years at this point, using the spell to blanket his conscious mind and sink into a dark and dreamless rest.
The battle continued without him, his untiring wight and demi-lich comma...
2025-03-17 06:16:31 +0000 UTC
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The lich hung silently in the air, unmoving, unblinking, unspeaking. To anyone else, it would appear as if it were simply irresponsible, but Tyron knew better. Through the connection they shared, he could feel the Lady Recilia Erryn furiously battering at the restrictions that bound her, trying to direct her thoughts as she willed. Her mind reached for vengeance, for hate and anger, but she was not allowed, the walls Tyron had built resided within her very soul.
Disloyal th...
2025-03-14 03:43:01 +0000 UTC
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As it turned out, it was possible to work with a native, undamaged core from the fifth. It was just a massive pain in the backside for all involved. Led by the fearless Formo, Bella and Ellie worked hard with the battalions fighting on the platform to secure what they needed.
Namely, a monster core that had never touched the cleansed mana.
As it turned out, they were already feeding Biomass from defeated monsters into the intakes on the platforms, allowing the...
2025-03-14 00:32:16 +0000 UTC
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The Dungeon Hearts of the fifth have been known to the Legion for centuries. They are one of the most closely guarded secrets of the Krath and, it is theorised, the source of the corruption that plagues the stratum.
For the Hearts sit at the core of the fifth. All the tunnels, passages, shafts and spaces originate from them, and return to them. The mana flows through the entire stratum in an endless cycle, with these massive, beating organs providing the impetu...
2025-03-13 03:00:31 +0000 UTC
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Desperate to catch onto something, anything, Zluth flailed wildly, trying to use his arms or foot to grab the walls, except that every time he managed to grab something, it was coated in extremely viscous slime and he couldn’t hold on. He plummeted dozens of metres, mind spinning, before he found himself wrapped up in something soft and sticky.
A web?!
There weren’t many creatures in the fifth who used webbing in their traps, and all of them were dreadful monsters to fa...
2025-03-13 02:31:41 +0000 UTC
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Zluth had never felt anything like this before. He knew about the hearts, every Krath knew about the hearts. They could feel it’s vibrations anywhere in the fifth, could determine the flow of mana through the arterial tunnels by the pulse of its movement, but he had never been this close to one before. Not remotely.
The pounding rhythm was all consuming, the mana rushing past, so dense it was visible to the naked eye, with every pulse. The walls vibrated from the strength of it...
2025-03-10 05:38:47 +0000 UTC
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