So, like everywhere in the Dungeon, there are pockets that have been ‘claimed’ by the biggest and baddest monsters as their own personal hunting ground.
It makes sense, really. The monsters who manage to survive long enough to form their cores, evolve a few times and get their Skills ranked up have a massive advantage over the fresh spawns. If they avoid the other monsters who managed to do the same, then they’ll have an easy, if slow, path to progress by preying on creatur...
2024-09-06 02:00:01 +0000 UTC
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“Twelve hours before you go out again,” the healer scolded, “not a second sooner.”
“I heard you the first time. AND the second time, alright? The third just feels insulting.”
“We’ve been instructed to warn at least three times, since our patients are so determined to make their injuries worse.”
“Hey, I’m not in the Immortals! You think I like having my eyeballs melted?”
The healer looked at me suspiciously and clacked her ma...
2024-09-05 02:00:02 +0000 UTC
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Morrelia was frustrated.
“Tribune, you need to relax a little, you look like you’re going to bite someone’s head off,” her fellow Tribune, Joshen Aurelis noted.
She narrowed her eyes at the man, irritation bubbling just beneath the surface. Joshen wasn’t someone that Morrelia was able to get along with. He was too stuffy, too… clean. Being in the Legion was a career of being ankle deep in blood and guts, so how was this guy always so spotless? It should...
2024-09-04 02:00:02 +0000 UTC
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It took far too long for anyone to recognise just what the ants had achieved in the fifth stratum. Specifically in regards to the fortress, or nest, they constructed.
Building a secure base within the fifth had been done before, many times, over the centuries. Almost every attempt to cleanse the fifth, or merely secure territory within it, had created a base, or fort, of some sort or another during their stay. Indeed, the Legion is rumoured to maintain a facility the...
2024-09-03 02:00:02 +0000 UTC
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“Ah, that sweet, Undermist scent. Did you miss it as much as I did?” MacRielly asked.
Feolin wanted to scowl and curse, but she was so pleased to see the Keep again she couldn’t keep the smile off her face.
“I never thought I’d be happy to see this place,” she said. “I mean, really, never.”
“I know what yeh mean,” MacRielly grinned. “I was so happy to get away from this place, I drank until I couldn’t stand up.’
“You drank li...
2024-09-02 14:00:11 +0000 UTC
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It is difficult to piece together a specific theme or guiding principle for the naturally occurring monsters of the fifth. This may be due to how poorly studied they are, for obvious reasons. Expeditions to seize cores from the fifth do take place, but they are extremely risky, and therefore monstrously expensive.
Should the Krath catch wind of poachers, those poor individuals will suffer a truly terrible fate, but even without the intervention of the Slug Trib...
2024-09-02 02:00:03 +0000 UTC
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Even if the slugs aren’t attacking me anymore, they still watch. I can feel them slithering about on the edges of my gravitational awareness, tiny little eddies in the field I can barely sense. In some ways, it’s a shame. I really do want to capture one and have a chat with them, but they seem keen to avoid such an exchange.
Ah well. If the slugs aren’t shooting stuff at me, there’s still plenty for me to worry about. The further I progress in this near-vertical tunnel, t...
2024-08-30 02:00:03 +0000 UTC
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Sadly, that encounter was only the beginning of my Krath concerns. I start to see signs of them everywhere I look. Slime trails on the walls, but when I try to follow them, there’s a little crack they’ve slithered into, which inevitably launches poisonous spikes, or clouds of toxic gas. There was one which just erupted with a massive font of sludge that blasted fifty metres past my head after I dodged out of the way.
So, they’re being tricky. Hey, fine. You want to lead me into th...
2024-08-29 02:00:03 +0000 UTC
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A ro’klaw was, at its best, an ill-tempered brute of a semi-monstrous bird. It had a beak capable of cutting through steel mesh, claws that could shred a human's flesh with casual ease, and tough, layered feathers that could stop an arrow. Combined with their surly attitude, they were a nightmare to train and keep. Workers in the rookeries were frequently injured, and it wasn’t uncommon for there to be deaths, especially among the younger trainees.
Yet, the beasts had m...
2024-08-29 02:00:02 +0000 UTC
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Well, well, well. I’ve been cleared by the docs, and the vents have fallen silent, which means it's time to get back down to the depths as the Colony continues to take territory.
Yay.
Back into the burn, baby! Ah, the sweet sensation of my eyes being melted by acid, how I missed it! No matter how I try to force cheeriness, it’s deeply unpleasant to be exposed to the toxic mana. It’s difficult to think of anything else while I’m out in it. I mean, it literally burns m...
2024-08-28 02:19:51 +0000 UTC
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This wasn’t the sort of assignment Leon had anticipated when his Commander at House Greyling had called him in. As was his habit after years of hard training, he scanned the surrounds, using his enhanced senses to search for any sign of danger, but found none. He hadn’t expected any, not this close to the capital, but he was a professional Soldier, a warrior of the Noble Houses, and he would do his job.
Not that he could trust the rest of the group to do the same. The Priests...
2024-08-27 02:44:48 +0000 UTC
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It was slow at first, but accelerated quickly. The vents, which had been spewing mana directly into the heart of the Colony’s claimed territory and surrounds, reduced their output, and eventually stopped.
Solant was somewhat pleased.
“We return to the standard timetable immediately. I want alternative plans to handle vents within our marked borders drawn up within the hour. Juliant and Subutant, you’re on that.”
“How do you want them handled?” Juliant soug...
2024-08-27 02:00:02 +0000 UTC
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We are back! Whoo!
“We need more meat for the beasts,” Jozish gurbled at Zluth, her tone flat and angry.
“Of course we need more meat for the beasts,” Zluth snapped, “we need more meat for everyone! Our hunters are working as quickly as they can, but these are unfamiliar hunting grounds. These things take time.”
The rage was bubbling up in him, but he controlled it with difficulty. It wouldn’t do to start chomping on the members...
2024-08-26 06:41:30 +0000 UTC
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WHOO!
I promised I would post about this ages ago, but better late than never!
The folks over at voyce.me, who make the Chrysalis webcomic, have put together the first ever Chrysalis merch to ever exist (because I'm lazy and they are not), so if you are at all interested in this, you can go and check out the range here: https://shop...
2024-08-20 00:34:24 +0000 UTC
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Sometimes it’s nice to have so many brains. Also, it’s occasionally useful when those brains are capable of thinking in many directions at once. As the scary wave comes racing towards me, my newly empowered ability to think divergently kicks into gear. In no time at all, a force shield is spun together and I start to sink down into the rock even as it raises up before my head to protect me.
Can I make myself blast proof in a few seconds? Of course not, but I can absolutely ma...
2024-08-16 02:00:02 +0000 UTC
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Crinis and I hold down the tunnel, with some difficulty, I’ll admit. For my part, I cast an empowered gravity well and use it to press down everything in front of me. Any monster who attempts to make a charge toward this position ends up slamming face first into the ground as the incredible suppressive power of gravity flattens them. From there, it's a simple thing for Crinis to finish them off, or we just leave them. I mean, what are they going to do?
However, creating a well ...
2024-08-15 05:27:12 +0000 UTC
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“Tyron, lad,” Magnin said, shaking his head while his mother, sat nearby atop the stone fence, shook with silent laughter. “What are you doing?”
Flushed with equal parts embarrassment and anger, Tyron waved his sword through the air.
“I’m doing the exercise you showed me. What does it look like I’m doing?”
They hadn’t been out long, but already his shoulders ached and sweat ran down his brow. How his father was able to do this for hours and hou...
2024-08-15 02:00:03 +0000 UTC
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Purifying the mana of the fifth was not an idea that hadn’t been tried before. In fact, there had been dozens of attempts, throughout the millennia. In fact, historical records indicated that the Folks had made an attempt using specifically designed pets to handle the process, but were eventually driven out by the Krath.
So why did the ants believe they were going to be successful where others had failed?
First, they were able to bring a level of labour and...
2024-08-14 02:00:03 +0000 UTC
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“What in the name of The Queen are they doing now?” Tungstant demanded.
Cobalt turned to look behind her. The edge of the safe-zone had drawn close, much closer than either of them had expected it to be, and that meant there were thousands of ants in position up and down the width of the tunnel to defend it.
Not only were they defending it, there was all sorts of activity—loud, distracting activity. Monsters roared, squelched and gurgled over and over again as the ant...
2024-08-13 03:55:12 +0000 UTC
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Solant had built her entire campaign around one central principle: adaptability. The fifth was an unknown quantity. Who could say what the Krath were capable of, or what conditions may arise down there?
That didn’t mean playing it safe, moving slow, absolutely not. That approach would only give their enemies time, time to gather and organise, time to muster their forces. If the Colony didn’t establish an impregnable clawhold within the fifth before that happened, all would be...
2024-08-13 03:52:41 +0000 UTC
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Lady Recillia Erryn sat, hands folded in her lap, her posture unthreatening and cooperative, yet the look in her eyes revealed fire and ambition raging out of control within. The very picture of what a Noble should be, a child of The Five Divines and ruler of the lands.
She would never win any beauty contests, and had lost the allure of youth some time ago, yet that wasn’t what was compelling about her. Dressed simply, almost plainly, in a green dress with little lace or decora...
2024-08-13 02:00:02 +0000 UTC
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Neutral ground in the fifth wasn’t really something the Krath did. The tribes were always at war, and meetings between them were always tense affairs. No tribe wanted to reveal the location of their Slimegrounds, so the open tunnels were the preferred place to come together. However, the open tunnels were the most treacherous locations, filled with danger and perfectly ripe for ambush.
“Are you sure they aren’t surrounding us?” Goszi muttered softly.
“Shut up, you...
2024-08-09 02:00:06 +0000 UTC
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The kin was a small, chittering thing, the size of a dog much like the ones he’d grown up around on the farm. Except this was no dog. Its face was covered in little claws, at least eight of them, each designed to hook into flesh so the little horror could go to work with its razor-sharp fangs. With six insect-like legs, the creature was fast and mobile, not easy to pin down.
Difficult prey for a zombie, but Georg had found a few methods that worked.
The kin advanced in st...
2024-08-08 06:18:15 +0000 UTC
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A thick aura of Death Magick permeated the Ossuary as Tyron continued his work. Words of power flowed from his lips and his hands weaved the arcane sigils required to give shape to the magick, each a necessary component of the intricate structure he was attempting to build.
On one side of the Ossuary, recesses filled with bones writhed with energy as they mirrored the ritual he cast upon the bones resting on the altar. Power flowed from Tyron, from the hidden reservoir within him...
2024-08-08 04:47:08 +0000 UTC
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How do the Krath regard each other? There’s a very simple answer to that question: we don’t know.
As far as the Magio-Scholars of the Tower are aware, there has never been a successful capture and interrogation of a Krath. Not even a cursory mind reading, since such things are impossible to perform through the mana of the fifth, which degrades everything that attempts to move through it, even magic.
As violent and as brutal as they are, we have to ...
2024-08-08 02:00:02 +0000 UTC
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“I told you I could make you the next Krath’lath,” Goszi spat. “All we needed was for the Slee tribe to be brought right to the edge of extinction.”
Zluth eyed the older Krath, one of his stalks turning to track the slug.
“Are you regretting the bargain?” Zluth asked.
Goszi burbled out a harsh laugh, his voice sounding as if it were rising through a dense bog.
“Of course not. The last Krath’lath was a disaster. All fury, no cunning. She w...
2024-08-07 02:00:03 +0000 UTC
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Despite all the work the Colony has put in, there are still several sections of our territory that have been cut off. I go and inspect a few of the vents myself, and the pipes are doing a good job syphoning the energy away and feeding it to the wuffers.
The problem is, if the wuffers are happily munching away on the toxic energy from the vents, then they aren’t eating it from outside the safe-zone and expanding our turf. Naturally, this means our controlled area is starting to ...
2024-08-06 02:29:33 +0000 UTC
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I report back to Solant, and as always, she accepts the bad news with equanimity, as if she were expecting it all along.
In any case, I’m happy enough to leave her and the rest of the boffins to work out what they want to do going forward. I mean, this is going to throw a serious wrench into our time frame, there’s no way around it. Continuing to expand will be more difficult than ever, due to the thickening toxicity around us, and more dangerous than ever, as a result of the...
2024-08-06 02:29:06 +0000 UTC
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Elsbeth was marching down the corridor of Woodsedge Keep with apparent confidence. Internally, she was very stressed, but it wouldn’t do any good to show that on the surface.
“What do I know about managing Slayers?” she muttered to herself. “I’m a Priestess, I’m supposed to help people connect with their gods, not order human death machines about.”
“You need to be a little more careful what you say around us ‘human death machines’,” a voice said ...
2024-08-02 13:16:17 +0000 UTC
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“Yessss! Look at them burn! Burn them all!”
Coolant watched as her fiery sibling unleashed her devastating magic upon the encroaching slime monsters. As she channeled her spells, Propellant herself burned red hot, flames rising from the mini-volcano on her back as she launched gobs of lava and bars of almost liquid blue fire at the creatures of the fifth.
“I would estimate that your spells are only twenty percent effective,” Coolant observed in her usual, clipped, chilly t...
2024-08-02 07:14:27 +0000 UTC
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