“There’s a strange atmosphere in the market today.”
“I’m sure it’s nothing, Madam Geller.”
“Don’t try and placate me, Cerry, I’m worried. The Marshalls arrested three people just yesterday! I knew Mr Wisten from when I was little, he’s a pillar of the community. They rolled in and took him away without a word to anyone. His poor wife is much too old to be taking care of herself.”
“If there aren’t any charges, then I hope he’ll be rele...
2024-02-23 11:06:30 +0000 UTC
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When the noise finally died down, Isaac pulled his hands from over his ears and slowly, very slowly, opened his eyes.
The first thing he felt… was relief that the roof hadn’t collapsed on top of him. A good start. Next came the relief that his legs hadn’t fallen off or been crushed, they were simply numb from the incessant shaking of the floor.
Wins all around. Isaac was beginning to hold out hope that his moustache hadn’t fallen straight off his face from the s...
2024-02-21 09:55:21 +0000 UTC
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The boat fell back to the water with a bone-shuddering crash. Thankfully, the Abyssal Legion built their ships to withstand attacks from the powerful monsters who dwelt in the deep waters of the fourth. Commander Chyron estimated the vessel had been almost ten metres in the air before it fell.
Her legs shuddered and her knees creaked as they absorbed the force of her landing. Regardless, she remained upright and turned with a shout.
“Status report! Someone check for d...
2024-02-21 05:36:12 +0000 UTC
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Less of a cliff, but still a cliff. This is it for me today. My hands hurt!
Now, obviously the gravity well I created is pulling in the opposite direction from the black sun chewing up every piece of the planet it can get its little grubby hands on. However, it's not enough to counteract the force, not even remotely. Despite deploying the spell, the lake is still going crazy, the air is still screaming past me, and the boat itself is starting to lift up out of the water...
2024-02-20 05:23:18 +0000 UTC
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Another cliff. At least one more chap today. Hoping to get to the resolution today.
The stone shatters down the middle, shards flying in all directions, then slowing, freezing, and reversing, as they are pulled back to the force of the spell which had sent them flying in the first place.
Now exposed to the air, the bomb makes itself known in the familiar, terrifying way.
I can’t even describe it as a howl, or a shriek. It goes well beyond anything I ...
2024-02-20 02:04:58 +0000 UTC
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Warning! This chapter ends on another cliff. Cause the hits keep coming and they don't coming and they don't stop coming and they don't stop coming.
Saw people in the comments of the last chapter pointing out, quite validly, that there were too many cliffs, which is totally fair. Others pointed out that the cliffs wouldn't be so bad if the release schedule was more regular, which is also totally valid.
2024-02-20 00:15:50 +0000 UTC
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Overhead, the enormous chunk of stone looms like the hammer of a fat and drunken god. Millions of tons? Billions of tons?
Who can say? I’m certainly not busting out the scales, that’s for sure!
My brains burn inside my head as they are pushed beyond the limits which exist past the first set of limits. Every mind-construct screams with effort, getting double, or triple the amount of effort from each cell of my brains that they should be capable of.
The...
2024-02-19 08:28:26 +0000 UTC
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3500 words this one. Still got it.
We are closing in on the end of Volume 3 people! Whoo! Just like the first arc, it's going to take me two books to get through it, so don't expect anything too crazy to happen in the next few chapters. The climax of this arc will be at the end of book four.
How long had it been, since he had last laid eyes on these mountains?
The Venerable shifted uncomfortably as he gazed up at the many crags and peaks tha...
2024-02-19 04:49:46 +0000 UTC
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Sorry to keep you waiting BOD readers!
Been a busy week for me this week. My eldest son is heading off to University tomorrow (that's College for any American readers), and as you can imagine it's been a busy time, hanging out with the lad and trying to make sure he's prepared.
Second chapter won't be tomorrow, I'll be driving, but hopefully the day after or the day after.
And I'm really sorry Chrysalis readers for l...
2024-02-16 04:14:26 +0000 UTC
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This is their secret plot? They want to drop a freaking mountain on my head?! Why waste all that time with subterfuge and the like when this was the plan all along?
I guess they wanted the brathians out of the way—the important ones, anyway. With Eran and her family gone, they figured they could go ahead and try to squash nearly ten thousand ants in one fell swoop.
I’m not about to kid myself, though. It’s me they want. Same as the Legion, who seem to be ...
2024-02-15 07:12:07 +0000 UTC
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“I’m hesitant about this, Commander,” Morrelia said, standing to attention next to her grizzled leader.
Chryon rose one brow before she turned back to stare at the unthinkable pillar that was Greystone.
“This is not a Legion action, Tribune,” the commander replied, thumbing at her chin in thought. “We don’t even know what they plan to do. Other than a vaguely worded missive, the golgari have given us nothing.”
“We know they are going to do so...
2024-02-15 03:04:02 +0000 UTC
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“Your brogue is beginning to show again.”
“T’aint nothin’ of tha sort.”
Isaac took a second, realised what he’d just said, and frowned.
“Told you so,” Cavalant said. “You’re too tense. Try to relax a little bit.”
And how exactly was he supposed to do that? The atmosphere in this chamber was so thick he could cut with his moustache. No blade required, only a bit of wax. He was so on edge he’d mounted up and ordered the rest of his sq...
2024-02-15 01:58:45 +0000 UTC
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Golgari society has long been divided in a caste structure based on profession. The outer circle, or the fourth, consists of those regular craftsmen and women, the farmers, the miners, the smiths and tailors and traders. No matter how high a level they reach, or what impressive feats they achieve, it is impossible for them to climb higher than the circle in which they live.
A half-step above them is the Shaper circle, a name given to those with the ability to sha...
2024-02-13 07:00:46 +0000 UTC
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“You want me to go inside the mountain?” Isaac asked, surprised.
He turned and gazed out over the open waters toward the Legion fleet. It didn’t look like they were moving at all. Perhaps they had no plans to head ashore at this stop?
He turned back to the Eran.
“I’m good,” he said, smiling broadly and knuckling his moustache. “I like it out here on the water.”
But what if the Legion decided to dock later? It could happen.
“Check in w...
2024-02-12 03:27:35 +0000 UTC
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[A training drill gone wrong! Of all the absurd claims to make! How dare they treat the Conglomerate this way? I’ll set an embargo on them, I’ll establish tariffs. They won’t be able to import a wheel of cheese when I’m done with them!]
Eran is seriously upset at the treatment she’s received from the golgari. She just returned to the fleet after heading ashore to negotiate the terms of our stay, and to demand an explanation for the giant rocks that flew our...
2024-02-10 22:55:28 +0000 UTC
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I’m not sure what I was expecting from the goglari when we showed up their mountain. A friendly reception? Certainly not. However, I really didn’t expect something like this.
Marzban roars something and the whole ship changes.
The boat rattles with brathian feet pounding on the wooden deck.
[There’s going to be a fight, let me down! I can kill them. Kill them all!]
[I said I’m not letting you down until you relax and I meant it.]
[Gaaa...
2024-02-10 04:54:34 +0000 UTC
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Tyron stood, grim-faced, as his skeletons went about their work. With the Freezing Curse applied, and the cloud of darkness constantly flowing from his cauldron, the field of battle was firmly to the advantage of his undead, and it showed.
Men and women were crying out, screaming and cursing, cut down by skeletal soldiers they couldn’t even see. A part of him burned with cold anger at this betrayal. He hadn’t deserved this. At every opportunity, he had dealt straight with...
2024-02-08 08:53:58 +0000 UTC
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Filetta eyed the slimy, dripping walls of the sewer with open disgust. She didn’t like it down here, yet such a convenient network of unpatrolled paths was simply too useful to be ignored. Tonight, she felt especially resentful, though that might have been residual distaste from her task for the night.
Carefully, she pushed that thought to the back of her mind. It wouldn’t do to be distracted, not when undertaking important business on behalf of the Guild. Out of habit, s...
2024-02-07 09:46:07 +0000 UTC
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Odren, the Father of Monsters, oldest and first amongst the Ancients, we beseech thee.
Grant us freedom from the prison that binds us.
Preserve us from the creations of your power.
Watch over and protect us with your omnipresent sight.
Save us from ourselves.
- Prayer of the Cult of Origin
Lost in my own thoughts, the next few hours blow past without me really noticing. The Colony finished set...
2024-02-06 07:25:54 +0000 UTC
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My conversation with Rassan’tep is short, and soon I have to open up the way and slip back into the pavilion, head buzzing with what I’ve learned. This is the truth of the Ancients? They’ve had enough of Pangera and want to get the heck out?
Why? This place seems fine!
I mean, would I remove centipedes from the spawn pool for monsters? Yes, yes I would. And will. Other than that, people seem to be getting along alright.
And what happens to Pangera when this ...
2024-02-03 10:09:26 +0000 UTC
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WE DROP BOMBS
[You’ve hinted that there are deep and powerful secrets or whatever. Things that Granin and his fellow worm-enthusiasts don’t want to tell me. Is that a fair statement?]
[A serviceable summation,] the ka’armodo nods. [The followers of Yarrum are more… conservative when it comes to spreading certain truths. Those of my order are known to be more open.]
[Hence the name, I suppose.]
[Yes, the Red Truth, granted to the foun...
2024-02-03 09:06:48 +0000 UTC
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Holy. Moly.
I freeze in shock and surprise for so long that the ants behind just start climbing up my legs and over my back. When they run into my antennae, I come back to myself and start moving again, still boggling at the ridiculous sight in front of me.
From our position, the road begins to slope down again, towards a… basin? Filled with… a desert? I guess? It’s absolutely massive. It’s been kind of hard for me to visualise just how much space these mountain...
2024-02-03 05:02:05 +0000 UTC
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Tyron looked down at the squirming rat in his hands. The thing was huge, as rats went, easily three or four times bigger than it should have been. By far the largest specimen he’d come across in his sojourns into the sewers.
It reeked of blood magick. A dangerous amount.
Whoever these bloodsuckers were, they appeared to be growing careless. This much might be enough to be detected on the street above. Any more, and someone was bound to get a sniff of it. Someone other...
2024-02-02 23:19:43 +0000 UTC
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“I didn’t expect to see you here, of all people.”
Tyron leaned back from the lens he was looking through, putting his pliance down as he turned with a smile to greet the newcomer. Short, dressed in humble looking shirt and pants with an irritated scowl on her face, Master Willhem’s greatest apprentice looked much the same as she did the last time he’d seen her.
“Back at you,” Annita Halfshard scoffed. “Have the Magisters really grown so desperat...
2024-02-01 20:09:08 +0000 UTC
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Hey there folks! Book five is out today! Whoo!
As always, I encourage you to head over and grab a copy if that's your thing.
If it's not, as always, I ask you to consider leaving a rating or review for the book as it MASSIVELY helps exposure via the algorithm.
Have a great day everyone!
LINK: 2024-02-01 06:22:37 +0000 UTC
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[Me? Get you killed? Of course not!]
[Anthony… I’d ask what you think would happen to me if I were caught conversing with monsters in secret, but you probably didn’t think about it at all, did you?]
Guilty.
[I’m cutting the link.]
[Wait! Give me a couple of minutes to talk and I’ll prevent Isaac from running up to meet you.]
Silence on the other end for a few long seconds.
[He doesn’t know I’m here, does he?]
[He’s already o...
2024-01-31 09:49:19 +0000 UTC
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[It went well, possibly not as well as we could have hoped, but better than I expected.]
Eran paces around me in the pavilion as the Colony takes down their stalls and begins to pack away the goods once more. It’s a lot of effort, but ten thousand ants make short work of laborious tasks like these.
[Can you elaborate on that for me?] I ask and Cobalt, standing next to me, nods as well. [I need a bit more of a breakdown than that.]
[Of course.]
Eran holds o...
2024-01-31 06:05:00 +0000 UTC
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So now I sit, in the centre of the pavilion, while all around me eager arkesh are trying to strike deals while ants are doing their best to display their works and show their skills.
It’s kind of interesting, this is my first chance to get a good look at the setsulah for a long, long time. Certainly this close up. They really are a bit of an odd people and I really can’t help but wonder how the heck they came to be. They’re largely humanoid, two legs (bleh), two arms, o...
2024-01-28 11:28:18 +0000 UTC
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We still aren’t allowed into the mountain, or even on it, really. The entire port city, which is still called Desert Basin, skirts the water, sticking to the flattest, outermost land on the island.
That doesn’t mean it isn’t built on sand though. Everything around here is sand. The lizards like what they like, I suppose.
When the time is right, the brathian come get us. The Colony starts buzzing about, loading up the supplies and we proceed in a ...
2024-01-27 05:43:52 +0000 UTC
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[Look, buzz off, will you?]
[We will not. You must come and meet us.]
[I must, eh? What if I must have a nap? Did you think about that?]
[For the future of your people and ours, we urge you to listen.]
[Not now. Sheesh! There’s business to conduct. We’ll be here for a few days, take your time. No need to come battering on my mind the moment I settle down.]
Ruthlessly, I cut the contact and my mind constructs fend...
2024-01-26 11:51:35 +0000 UTC
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