Mind awash with conflicting emotions, there was only one thing Tyron could do to distract himself and he threw himself into it wholeheartedly. The thought that he might be responsible, even partially, for the potential disaster that was unfolding right in front of him was enough to drive him to absurd efforts. With his skeletal army in tow he rampaged through the woods, fighting every rift-kin he could find and lost two minions before he woke up to himself.
No matter how many of these l...
2022-03-22 20:00:53 +0000 UTC
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Corun, Torrina and Granin all stare at me with glittering eyes after they reveal that it's the Ancients who've stuck this hook in me rather than the Dungeon itself. At times like this I have to remind myself that despite their intelligence, these three are cultists who essentially worship a giant worm.
[So in your opinion, the fact that the ancients have done this to me, rather than the Dungeon itself, should change my view of it?]
[Of course,] Torrina nods seriously, [these are t...
2022-03-20 10:42:03 +0000 UTC
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I'm not sure what anyone on the other side of the gate was expecting to see, but catching a glimpse of 'the Eldest' as I soar gracelessly through the air probably wasn't it. After I hit the ground I roll several times, legs flailing wildly as I try to slow my momentum.
Dammit Tiny! Was it really necessary to put that much arm into it? That lousy ape piffed me like a baseball. Just how strong is that idiot? I weigh multiple tons at this point!
As I finally get my legs unde...
2022-03-19 11:53:04 +0000 UTC
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I strain. I push. I fight with every fibre of muscle and every strand of brain matter to get my body to move forward! Nothing. As an experiment I try to move backwards and find no resistance, but once I move forward again, no dice. I'm frozen in place as long as I attempt to move forward.
This is crazy! The Dungeon is basically refusing to let me walk forwards?! Are you telling me I don't have control of my own limbs?
Dammit, Gandalf! Get your scrawny wizard backside out here and ...
2022-03-17 10:00:18 +0000 UTC
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Hey there folks!
For those of you who've been hanging out for the audiobook of Volume 1... it's not ready. BUT Jeff Hays of Soundbooth theatre will be livestreaming his first read through starting in just a few hours!
This is also your first chance to experience the fully edited version.
2022-03-16 19:47:17 +0000 UTC
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"They found WHAT?"
Pulled aside by Sloan during a break in the fighting she drops some heavy ordinance on me.
"Tier eight demons," she repeats grimly, "fighting in the deepest layers of the third stratum, right beneath the land claimed by the Colony."
Pants. This is the last thing we need right now. We've got these termites to deal with, along with the kaarmodo pulling the strings as well as acting aggressive along our border in the third. There might be hundreds of thousand...
2022-03-16 09:41:37 +0000 UTC
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Bit wordy and heavy. Plenty of action coming up.
"I'm telling you kid, if I were you, I'd get the fuck out of here."
Dove's normally flippant manner was gone, replaced by this grim faced man who looked as if he hadn't rested in days. Tyron had a sense of the worsening situation by the frequency of rift-kin he was encountering in the forest, but he certainly didn't think it was this bad.
"Are you seriously suggesting there's going to be a ...
2022-03-15 06:58:12 +0000 UTC
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Burke skulked with all her Skills working to the fullest, her stealth enhancing mutations humming as she slipped from shadow to shadow, creating patches of darkness where none existed and blending into the rock behind her as her carapace shifted and moulded itself to match the surface she stood on. She was on high alert, every one of her senses strained for the slightest hint of stimuli.
When a pebble shifted and rolled down the tunnel wall, tumbling over the rocks on its way to rest on...
2022-03-13 11:59:37 +0000 UTC
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This period of history became known as the Great Expansion, the first of several large spans of aggressive land claims made by the Colony. What differentiated these from the manner of conquest utilised by the sapient races of Pangera was our unusual 'top down' approach. When the Colony claimed an area in the third stratum, they also seized the land above it in the second, and the first, and on the surface.
When we descended to another layer in force, we strived to ensure th...
2022-03-12 07:55:24 +0000 UTC
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So close to the halfway mark!
Arranging a meeting between two cult members wasn't easy, especially given the current conditions between the Colony and the Ka'armodo. Granin grumbled at a constant rate as he and he fellow triad members trekked across the dangerous terrain of the third stratum. It was a testament to how wild the land was in this layer of the Dungeon that even the Colony, with its enormous numbers, intelligent approach and absurd dedication hadn't been abl...
2022-03-11 11:06:48 +0000 UTC
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Checking in with a few other folks.
Magnin grit his teeth as a fresh wave of pain wracked his body. It was unimaginable agony. Every nerve was on fire, every inch of his flesh burned. It felt as if his eyeballs were mellting.
"How the fuck is it hitting my eyes?" he groaned.
Beside him, Beory spoke through gritted teeth.
"It's hurting your soul… not your body. Didn't we… talk about this?"
A low moan leaked out of her husband as he fell onto h...
2022-03-11 00:00:38 +0000 UTC
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It might be obvious, but Granin is one of my favourite side characters. Hope everyone is having a great weak! I'm hoping to get back to five Chrysalis this week. I've been too slack!
[I thank you for your cooperation.]
[To you as well. I hope that you're research if of some use to the Colony.]
[I wish the same. If you wish to view our published work, you can find it in the pheromone library. There are copies in every major nest.]
[Wonderful. I will rea...
2022-03-09 06:45:30 +0000 UTC
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He's on the march.
A bedraggled, wild eyed Tyron stood over four neatly arranged skeletons on the ground. His hair was messy and beginning to knot, the dark circles and the bloodshot streaks of his eyes evidenced his lack of sleep. For two straight days he had laboured. Without rest or pause for even a moment, he had continued to work toward raising the best possible minions he could, and finally he was done.
For a dizzying moment, he swayed on his feet before he ...
2022-03-08 07:15:27 +0000 UTC
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There weren't too many times in his centuries of life that Rassan'tep had truly feared for his life. He'd been outnumbered and surrounded during a wave defence in the fourth in just his fifth decade, barely out of the nest. Only the intervention of an Old One had saved him from the jaws of a ravening horde of Emerald Lizards. As he had grown, increased his level, power and prestige, he had not found himself in that situation again.
Until today.
The Ka'armodo found a nice shady spo...
2022-03-06 12:04:46 +0000 UTC
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Who can say, truly, how many termites were defeated, down in the dark? Amongst the roots of the world tree we hunted and were hunted in turn. The fighting was vicious, brutal in the extreme.
In some ways it was a good thing that our non-monster allies were unable to join us, despite the enormous help their auras would have been. Without them we were able to engage with the enemy on the same ground. Fight fire with fire.
We fought on the walls and ceilings. We...
2022-03-05 10:12:27 +0000 UTC
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Shocking developments.
The grind of an ongoing melee was a very different type of combat that the thrilling and domineering charge of the Immortals. The mass that had propelled them through the ranks of the enemy now bore down on their back. Leeroy welcomed it. It had taken her a long time to grow accustomed fighting with a second shell, but once she had, once her armour wearing Skill had risen to a sufficient rank, she had come to understand its power.
2022-03-02 23:38:42 +0000 UTC
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It was almost as if Leeroy had died and entered some sort of paradise. Except, frustratingly, she still clung to her mortal shell, along with the other Immortals. Despite this, she revelled in her current existence. The release she sought, the glorious end she strove to experience, had never felt as close as it did now.
As she strode back and forth before the massed ranks of her followers, her chosen sisters, the massive weight of her armour a comfort bearing down on her carapace. The I...
2022-03-02 05:04:18 +0000 UTC
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This one took ages and I would through several iterations of abilities and feats before I was happy. Hopefully it all makes sense and nothing seems out of place. Love to hear your thoughts on everything so make sure you drop a comment.
No promises of a second chap this week, though I will try.
Events:
You have forged relationships and felt emotion for your fellow humans. Race:...
2022-03-01 10:01:57 +0000 UTC
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Hey there folks. Nova reached out to me for an interview talking about Chrysalis and all things webnovels, something that he hopes to do with a series of authors over the coming weeks.
He's agreed to provide the video to you lucky folks a week before it goes live on his channel (this version is privated).
Apologies for my quiet audio.
2022-03-01 03:52:07 +0000 UTC
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Damn termites. What the hell are those kaarmodo doing over there? They seem to pop out reinforcements just as fast as we kill them. I refuse to believe they can spit out tier four and five monsters so quickly without incurring some kind of cost. After all, the Colony has been doing this for months and have honed the process to be as efficient as possible. We have an entire caste of dedicated teachers, an academy with a constantly adjusted curriculum and Queen's with the most beneficial mutati...
2022-02-27 08:16:49 +0000 UTC
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What? No! It can't be? But it is! BOD chap two for the week suckas!
Tyron collapsed with a groan, the bones wrapped in his old blanket rattled within his pack and slumped to the ground. He desperately wanted to sleep immediately, even for someone used to going several days without sleep, his activity over the last week had been especially draining.
Physically, he was a mess. He was never particularly unfit, he continued to be on the thin and unmasked si...
2022-02-26 04:14:06 +0000 UTC
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In the first place, what does it mean to be a monster? It's a question that has special significance on Pangera, a world under constant threat from monster attacks. Whilst the sapient races of the planet are fully capable of monstrous acts, visiting great violence upon each other for petty or worthy reasons, the term exclusively refers to those who were born from mana within the Dungeon itself. This definition has lead to tragic circumstances, such as what befell the Sophos, who came to b...
2022-02-25 11:31:20 +0000 UTC
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Back by popular demand. It's Isaac!
"Well, isn't this the plops."
Isaac Bird looked out over the vast, smoke filled expanse of the third stratum and sighed. After his first trip here, he wasn't sure he'd ever be back, and yet here he was, back fighting alongside an increasingly fanatic band of mostly human ant worshipers. His first battle in the demon layer had been a whirlwind tour of death that nearly got his head separated from his shoulders. The fac...
2022-02-23 23:12:52 +0000 UTC
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Sorry I'm late.
He couldn't do it, in the end. There wasn't much he could do, but he did his best to bury Cilla a short distance away from the site of her death. Even with the help of his skeletons, it took hours to shift enough dirt, not that their bony hands were much help. Once the hole had been dug deep enough that he judged scavengers wouldn't try to dig her up, he unceremoniously took hold of her body and placed her in it.
It felt wrong. As if he weren't tre...
2022-02-23 05:42:54 +0000 UTC
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From the floor of the third stratum, four giant pillars were rising. Compressed stone, marked with grooves, rotated upward from an enormous base of gathered material. Around the base of each laboured a thousand earth mages, combining their will to enable the great working, shifting thousands of tons of rock with their minds alone.
Hundreds of metres above, lashed with the burning wind and flecks of ash that filled the air of this layer of the Dungeon, yet more thousands of ants gripped ...
2022-02-20 12:21:06 +0000 UTC
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Death.
"Minerva, you're gripping too tight."
"Oh, damn."
The pressure eased just enough for Morrelia to gasp down a breath of air. The darkness receded long enough for her to raise her hands and pat her mother on the back.
"Nice to see you too, mother," she rasped.
"Aww, it's great to see you too kid."
With one final bone crunching squeeze, Minerva released her daughter and Morrelia fell on her heels. She absent mindedly rubbed at her arms. Just ho...
2022-02-19 03:52:29 +0000 UTC
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Bit of an odd one, but fun to write.
"She did what?"
"She cut ties between the Legion and the Ka'armodo, completely."
Titus nodded with a satisfied expression on his face as he confirmed the news whereas Morrealia could only sigh and bury her face in her hands.
"Isn't that, a bit, extreme?" she plead with her father. "Isn't everyone worried about a second cataclysm? Isn't the Legion being pushed on multiple fronts because we are und...
2022-02-16 10:04:50 +0000 UTC
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oof.
Three and a half thousand this time. Too long!
I might be starting to get used to this.
After another few days in the wilderness, sleeping in his bedroll and enduring the isolation his profession had forced on him, he was beginning to see that he might be more suited to this life that he'd originally thought.
Was he a spectacular outdoorsmen? Not even remotely. What he was, what he could do, was endure isolatio...
2022-02-15 06:32:19 +0000 UTC
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The door was shaking on its hinges.
A piece of Legion history, the door to the Consul Chamber had stood for three thousand years. Abyssal steel, forged during the Rending, formed the core of the massive doors, which stood over ten metres tall, covered in potent enchantments of hardening and regeneration powered by Mythic cores. Atop that unbreakable frame, layer after layer of compressed, living stone had been placed, bonded together to create an impenetrable bulwark that defended the h...
2022-02-14 09:46:47 +0000 UTC
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My father, and even at this early juncture I must apologise for every one of my writings circling back to the man who raised me, was the first to ever mention the fifth stratum to me.
He described it as a world of endless and profound noxiousness. A place where every particle of substance that filled it had been bio-engineered into a vehicle for death. A single breath could kill. A single touch, lethal. He spoke of rivers of poison that flowed through the air. He talked of ...
2022-02-11 09:45:14 +0000 UTC
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