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**Lechula**
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In the recovery ward of the kobold enclave, rests the female pale dwarf, and she’s not especially happy about it. That last combined attack still sticks in her mind, right alongside Master Harbinger’s admonishment. Her hands worry her beard, braiding and weaving it as she wrestles with what happened.
The attack itself was perfect, at least as far as she can tell. She’s prett...
2024-01-02 03:22:47 +0000 UTC View PostAh, this has always been one of my favorite places to camp, probably because we can never stay for long. No matter how much we reassure the beastkin, a orcish nomad camp in view of one of their towns is something to make them nervous. If the winter was harsher, they might have reason to be concerned, but it's been mild and the forage and hunting have been very good this year. I might even get to go down there tomorrow to do some trading!
Which reminds me of another dun...
2024-01-01 01:27:06 +0000 UTC View PostHarlenss is true to his word, and shows up bright and early at the ratkin enclave. A pretty big portion of the enclave shows up, too, all eager to learn a bit of clotherie from an expert in the field. He looks a little intimidated by the numbers for a moment, but that’s the only hint of weakness he shows the entire time he’s there.
He teaches at the… it’s still weird to call it that, but the open pulpit that Larx usually gives his sermons from. I can see his ey...
2023-12-29 02:50:12 +0000 UTC View PostHello, it's me, Khenal. I wanted to share with all of you a little of what I've been up to this Christmas Eve: making fruitcake. If you don't like fruitcake, I'd like to change your mind. If you've never had it, I suggest trying it. Just don't go out and buy one. Those who dislike fruitcake probably had purchased ones, which usually have citrin. That is the unpleasant bitter orange taste that overpowers most fruitcakes you can buy. They also have fake...
2023-12-25 02:44:06 +0000 UTC View Post___________
**Aelara**
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The elven woman can’t help but reflect on the last year or so of her life as she and her friends travel the winding tunnels, passages, crevasses, caves, caverns, and more. Born and raised in a city as she was, she’d usually find the minutiae of nature difficult to care too much about. Wild plants, for example, are obstacles, food, or dangers, and sometimes more than one, so it’s difficult for he...
2023-12-22 04:03:20 +0000 UTC View PostWhile I’ve been splitting my time between watching Jello and watching the baby scythemaws, others are still busy. For one, the few nests in the spiderkin enclave are starting to hatch, too, giving me a nice windfall of mana. I mostly push it into the ally pool for now. I want to grow that emergency pile of mana for when we need it, and to encourage the Southwood to make a second scion. Having a bit of a safety net should help him with the learning process of not real...
2023-12-19 02:42:24 +0000 UTC View PostIn the elven capital city, there are many who directly serve the crown. Those that do are often recognized as the pinnacle of their particular class, whether it's the Crown Chef or the Crown Sculler, it's a title with honor. Of course, sometimes the honor paid is mere lipservice, and sometimes the position would demand honors even without the association with the Crown.
Such as with the Crown Inspector. Most often, the position is filled by a retired Dungeoneer's Guild...
2023-12-18 02:26:36 +0000 UTC View Post_______________
**The Harbinger**
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Existence has been… unpleasant as of late for the Harbinger. The surface was supposed to be soft and ripe for the taking, and it seemed that was going to be the case, until that lich finally made its play. The Harbinger would have happily taken the simple lesson of killing the lich first, next time, but The Maw has other ideas.
The dungeon actually turned the Harbingerâ...
2023-12-15 02:53:16 +0000 UTC View PostViolet and I spend quite a bit of time just watching the babies hatch, and I keep moving most of the mana into the alliance pool. I mentally label it Violet’s college fund, and hope I’ll be able to designate it as officially hers later. For now, I should focus on the baby scythemaws.
The basic solution to what to do is fairly simple, at least: we’ll keep doing what we’ve been doing. The maws have been doing this for some time, and it’s been working, so we sho...
2023-12-12 02:04:19 +0000 UTC View PostIn a two-pump gas station in the middle of nowhere, Nebraska, a semi-truck pulls up. The white cab is a bit dirty, but well cared for, with the Peterbuilt logo looking freshly polished. In all the time the driver have been behind the wheel, nobody has pointed out the apparent typo. The driver wonders if anyone ever will.
He doesn't tend to interact with the mortals long enough for them to notice, and those he does, are usually more concerned with something else at the ...
2023-12-11 01:18:45 +0000 UTC View PostI watch my scions share some knowledge with the Stag, and it’s an interesting experience. I can feel Rocky latching onto wavelengths and the fact that infrared is thermal. It’s pretty cool watching the Stag gain the fire affinity, and funny to feel the Southwood’s reaction to it.
I think he was expecting it to take a lot longer, but Rocky isn’t an Affinity Savant for nothing. From what the Stag was saying, it also helped that he’s so experien...
2023-12-08 02:15:51 +0000 UTC View Post_______________
Fluffles
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The serpentine scion knows he shouldn’t find the Stag’s concerns so humorous, but he does. While he can understand where the Southwood’s scion is coming from, it’s not like they’re going to hurt him. He will probably be sore for a while, and likely fatigued in both mana and in mind.
He effortlessly glides behind the Stag as he leads the group to a different clearing. Having...
2023-12-05 03:06:57 +0000 UTC View PostCold mornings like this always makes Harlenss reconsider living in Fourdock. Not many snakekin live here, and the weather is a big reason. He stokes the fire and sets the heating stones from his bed near the hearth, the morning ritual helping draw him from the torpor of the cold night. The flames help warm him and recharge the stones, and after a few minutes, he makes himself some breakfast.
Eggs, bacon, and pan toast are a good enough meal to get him going, and he's a...
2023-12-04 01:02:05 +0000 UTC View PostIt feels a bit weird when the Southwood accepts the alliance. I can feel the new bond, and feel the old ones shuffling around a bit, and I can feel a bit more information flowing around now, too. I’m a bit surprised to see that Violet and Hullbreak are in it now, too, but looking closer, it seems more of a technicality.
As Violet’s mentor, I’m in charge of most outsider-related things, so while she’s in the alliance, it’s mostly because her mentor is in it. S...
2023-12-01 02:46:05 +0000 UTC View Post__________________
**Southwood**
__________________
Forge Alliance? Y/N?
The Southwood considers the prompt, and as he does so, he finds more and more worth considering about it. While it seemed to appear as all prompts do, something about it speaks of the weight of ages behind it, like an ancient pine. Or perhaps like a cicada with a much longer cycle; something that has not been seen for a ...
2023-11-28 02:46:39 +0000 UTC View PostAh, the rolling plains. The sky always seems so much bigger here, deep in the Wanderlands. It reminds me of a dungeon I once delved. Let's get these tents up and the cookfire going, then I'll tell you the tale.
Now, let me see... I suppose the dungeon liked the look of the skies. It's far to the south, near the southernmost tip of the elven kingdom, in a dungeon situated in a swamp. With a swamp around, I can't really blame it for wanting to expand up. &nbs...
2023-11-27 01:28:14 +0000 UTC View PostJust in case anyone is reading exclusively here and didn't get the note at the top of the reddit and royal road post: Only one chapter this week, as I'll be hanging out with family for Thanksgiving. Thank you all for reading. The support from all of you has been more than I could have ever hoped. I'll do my best to ensure the story continues to be worth your time to read for as long as I keep writing it. Once again: thank you all.
2023-11-21 20:09:35 +0000 UTC View PostIt’s a little disorientating to be able to watch the large group near the Southwood’s borders from the outside and from inside. Teemo, Slash, Leo, and Fluffles have more-or-less the same view. Honey is currently up in the air, getting a good vantage, while Nova’s current view is mostly rock. The disorientating part is watching through Rocky and seeing everyone approach. That looks like a lot more than it is.
It’s probably just the quiet of the Southwood m...
2023-11-21 03:11:25 +0000 UTC View PostPoe looks out over the yard from his perch near the chimney, more appreciative than ever for the warmth wafting up from it. Last evening, it started snowing, and it only stopped a couple hours after dawn. Taskmaster as he often is, even he couldn't bring himself to send out the usual expeditions. He did still have to send out some, as it wouldn't do to be fully blind because of a bit of unpleasant weather, but those expeditions were much shorter than usual, or involved hunke...
2023-11-20 02:06:31 +0000 UTC View Post_________
**Rocky**
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Rocky has been feeling… restless since the battle with the Harbinger. He had thought he could keep his skill subtle, practicing his affinities and supporting Leo and Honey. Almost all the subterfuge went out the window when the Harbinger killed his fellow scions. Even knowing they’d respawn, he still felt their loss.
And with the Harbinger broadcasting its smug superiority at their defeat… ...
2023-11-17 04:55:32 +0000 UTC View PostI doodle a few different designs for the labyrinth entrance while the group works their way back out. I could make it look like an obsidian tube, but I think it’d look a bit bland just like that. Some lava pools could spruce it up, and would even give some light, but I don’t think they’d be osha approved. I might make the actual entrance look like the delvers are walking into the mouth of a giant wyrm, though. That’d be cool, especially if I can get the mandibl...
2023-11-14 03:31:38 +0000 UTC View PostUp in the clouds and a little sideways is where the Angel of Prodigals likes to think of as her office. The nature of infinite reality makes that a little moot, as she can get from anywhere to anywhere, but she’s always enjoyed the idea of Heaven being literally in the clouds. It also makes her job easier to give the newly passed humans a bit of what they expect.
For those ready to continue on, they get a different sort of orientation. Those who have lived a...
2023-11-13 01:34:12 +0000 UTC View PostWhile the kids and their new friends make their way down, I take a chance to look over the entrance to the labyrinth. I should probably do up the entrance a bit. As it is, it’s just like any other tunnel. It might look a bit twistier than usual, but that’s really it.
I should design a fancy entryway, probably fancy up the area outside, too. I think the delvers are going to take a break just outside before heading in, and I can probably wring a bit more mana f...
2023-11-10 02:58:10 +0000 UTC View PostAt sunrise, I see Rhonda and Freddie enter my main gate, followed by those three that I watched in the labyrinth the other day. The three don’t seem very deterred, and the kids look pretty eager to test themselves against my tougher stuff. Even a Jakob’s Ladder snake has to attack to potentially endanger them. The wyrms can be a threat just by getting too close. They seem to have taken precautions, at least.
Vieds eyes a vial that looks like it contains liqui...
2023-11-07 02:55:36 +0000 UTC View PostAh, we can see the sun rise over the dwarven mountains, so it seems only fitting I regale you with the tale of an interesting dwarven dungeon, and its door of doom.
That's not just me being dramatic, either. Let me explain. Near the base of the mountains, where they transition to the nice verdant fields of wheat and other foodstuffs, there is the entrance to the Dungeon of Doors. It's one of the strangest layouts I've ever personally encountered, as it's just an endles...
2023-11-06 01:30:53 +0000 UTC View Post__________
**Freddie**
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In the Adventurer’s Guild hall, a young orc and his goblin friend relax near the roaring fire. They’ve been friends for basically their entire lives, and that friendship has only grown stronger in the last year. They were two of the first to delve Thedeim, where Rhonda was able to gather some mushrooms and secure an apprenticeship with her new mentor, Old Staiven. Freddie was able to join the church and...
2023-11-03 02:13:28 +0000 UTC View PostAranya sits atop the wall, waving and watching as her friends vanish into the shortcut, and she sticks around to send off all the denizens that are going, too. It’s not difficult to see she has complex feelings about everyone going, and she probably has complicated feelings about the dwellers wanting to go, too. I know I do.
She stays for a few minutes longer, after everyone is gone. The sun is fully up by now, but I don’t think she’s simply appreciating the view...
2023-10-31 03:18:01 +0000 UTC View PostInspection notes by junior inspector Berdol, overseen by both Inspector Tarl and Voice Teemo, of Thedeim.
The most direct route to Violet is via a short delve into Thedeim, Violet's mentor. By entering into the tunnels section of Thedeim, delvers can exit into unclaimed tunnels and eventually find Violet's caverns. If you hit the aquifer lakes, you've gone too far.
Violet's initial room is a large cavern with many gem nodes sprinkled around, tended by gremlins. W...
2023-10-30 02:51:14 +0000 UTC View PostThe sense of purpose I feel from Nova is encouraging. Not for the first time, I wonder if maybe calling her Nova wasn’t my best idea, but it’s too late for that now. I’m just happy she seems to have found, if not her true calling, something to strive for. Fighting wouldn’t be the worst thing for her to get into, either. Rocky and Fluffles are my heavy hitters for certain, but I bet Nova can work her way up to be their peers in combat prowess if she puts her min...
2023-10-27 02:36:32 +0000 UTC View Post____________
**Nova**
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Nova listlessly glides through the rock near the border to the volcanic area, trying more to gather her thoughts than to hunt the fire elementals that try to sneak into Thedeim. She feels a little guilty about that, about letting the other wyrms handle the brunt of the work there, but… well, it’s complicated.
It’s not that she feels bad for the elementals. She’s seen what happens if one ...
2023-10-24 03:07:06 +0000 UTC View Post