Calista pulled her blade free of the giant’s neck and wiped the blood on his hauberk. The giant’s flaming hair still burned, leaving scorch marks against the stone as burning blood sent smoke trails into the air. However, before she thought to loot the body, an explosion shook the room and she turned. Above, two robed figures were dancing in the air as electricity, fire, and ice flew between them. Lefty! That brave idiot is fighting Severin one on one.
She raced across the ...
2023-09-06 17:00:01 +0000 UTC
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Severin’s laughter filled their ears. “I can see invisibility, you fools!”
Yeah, but your minions probably can’t. And without them, you’re just a spell caster floating in mid-air without a tank. Without a moment’s hesitation, she turned and ran around the black building. To her left, the fire giant was climbing up while the first of the trolls had just reached the top of the stairway. She didn’t know where Lefty had gone, but she couldn’t worry about him now. He...
2023-09-05 17:00:01 +0000 UTC
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The trolls back on the ledge shouted curses and taunts as they worked to drag their fellows off the fallen bridge. Beside them, the fire giant raged and bellowed. Fortunately, Lefty and Calista were out of arrow range, so the climb was little more than a formality. Even Lefty found easy footholds in the rope. So when they finally reached the top, Calista helped her friend up onto the ledge where they looked out at the cavern.
Vevic and Severin were still locked in a deadly struggle. The...
2023-09-04 17:00:01 +0000 UTC
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A blast of blue dragonfire lit the air above them as they fell. Feet first, they landed on the stones below and Calista deftly tucked herself into a tumble. Beside her, she heard Lefty cry out in pain. As she bounced to her feet, she found him rolling on the ground and clutching his leg.
“Dammit!” He shouted. “I twisted my knee!”
“Quit whining you big baby,” she grunted as she grabbed her partner by the shoulders and began to drag him. “We have to go or we’re going...
2023-09-01 17:00:01 +0000 UTC
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It was the damnedest summon Calista had ever seen. No portal. No sound. Just a big, old giant in banded mail armor with flaming hair, flaming beard, flaming axe, and flaming shield who appeared between the petrified trolls. He looked down at them, drew in a deep breath, and let out a deafening battle roar.
Above, Severin laughed maniacally.
“Fly spell?” Calista asked.
“Fly spell,” Lefty nodded.
However, as Lefty touched her shoulder and began his incantation, S...
2023-08-31 17:00:01 +0000 UTC
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“Quickly,” Lefty said as he knelt next to her. Touching her arm, she heard him mutter not one, but two spells. “There, that’s a fly spell to get us to the final level.”
They both flew then, floating up from the second level and onto the ledge of the third. There wasn’t much here but for a handful of petrified trolls and a half dozen of the stone pillars that reached up to the cavern ceiling. Trolls were everywhere. A squad of them was running up the nearest stairway from the...
2023-08-30 17:00:01 +0000 UTC
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They watched the little dragon as she flew away and then landed in the cave where they had entered. The dog-sized serpent then disappeared into the rock as Calista turned to Lefty.
“How are you doing on mana?”
“I lifted a few potions off the medusa along with the rest of her loot. I should have plenty to last until we either get out or I die horribly.”
“That’s … encouraging,” she replied.
“Yeah, problem is I only have the one healing potion left. So I...
2023-08-29 17:00:01 +0000 UTC
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Calista lifted the Emberblade off the dead body of the medusa and slung it onto her belt. Replacing the short sword in her inventory, she then pulled the Emberblade free just as Lefty came into view.
“The dragon is in serious trouble,” he said.
“And why do we care if Vevic lives or dies?” she asked.
“Not that dragon,” Lefty said as he pointed, “that dragon.”
That dragon? Oh no, that dragon!
It was the juvenile. The same little creature sh...
2023-08-28 17:00:01 +0000 UTC
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A gout of blue flame lit up the third level as they reached the bottom of the bridge. A moment later, one of the knights screamed. They had reached the second level of the strange fortress that Severin had built here and they were scurrying across the stone as they made a beeline for the nearest stairway.
“Over here,” Calista whispered as she spotted the stone railing.
Running, with Lefty behind her, they hurried toward the stairs, but then a massive shadow appeared, looming o...
2023-08-25 17:00:03 +0000 UTC
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WUMP!
The room bent and folded again and then it was dark. Calista’s eyes adjusted slowly. They were in a small cave with a pair of tables against the opposite wall and a set of shelves to their left. Herbs, plants, powders, and potions decorated the long table while the smaller, shorter table was decorated with carved runes and a single unlit candle. Sitting on the ground beneath the shelves was their gear.
Without a word, she and Lefty gathered their things. Before eq...
2023-08-24 17:00:02 +0000 UTC
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“You know how before I passed out I was telling you guys about my bug collection and everything and after Lady Miranda told me to come get you, I got to thinking that after this is all over that if the two of you were still interested …”
Robert narrated their entire climb from the first step to the last as he told them about every bug, insect, moth, mantis, and dead thing in his collection. Calista and Lefty, both knowing better than to interrupt him with the truth, listened dutif...
2023-08-23 17:00:02 +0000 UTC
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The statue of the pit fiend met them in the next room. As Calista walked around it, she noticed it seemed different somehow. The huge stone statue loomed over the room, its stone eyes seemed to pierce the darkness with an inhuman glare. Its expression has changed. It’s almost as if it's angry. Why is it angry?
She turned to find Lefty still and staring at his mouth agape. For a moment, she almost panicked, worried that he, too, had frozen. However, when her eyes followed his,...
2023-08-22 17:00:01 +0000 UTC
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Calista emerged from the wall and found Lefty’s shadow. Then she closed her eyes and rubbed them with her fingers as she released her [dungeon sense] ability and left the ethereal.
Lefty sat up from the wall, “Oh hey, you’re back.”
She let out a long breath as she sat down. The lone torch was still burning and it sent flickering shadows against her face. “Yeah, I found where they went. Severin’s there too.”
The mage almost looked tired, “Wher...
2023-08-21 17:00:04 +0000 UTC
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There was a sound like a sandbag being sucked through a vacuum as her consciousness left her body and entered the ethereal, a plane of existence parallel to all worlds in the Sable Unlimited multiverse. It was a dark, intangible place where one could peer through a veil of mystical mist and shadows to view the physical world. Illuminated by a thing called ‘dark light, the ethereal was a dark place, unknowable to all but the highest level players. Epic level mages, warlocks, and witches freq...
2023-08-18 17:00:02 +0000 UTC
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She accessed her H.U.D and was greeted by a notification.
[Congratulations: level up available!]
Surprised, she opened the tap to access her character sheet. Sure enough, she had over fifty points she could spend on advancing her skills and attributes. She laughed, “Hey, I just leveled up. How about you?”
“Twice, but not for a while now,” Lefty said.
Calista was shocked. “Twice?”
Lefty’s never left the ceiling as he nodded. “One o...
2023-08-17 17:00:01 +0000 UTC
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She slumped against the wall as the door slid shut behind her. The stone swirled around her and she suddenly felt as though she were drowning. Her wound was a dull, biting pain as something sick was growing inside her.
“I think I’m done,” she groaned.
“Not so fast,” Lefty said as he leaned over her, grasped the arrow, and broke off its tip. Then he turned her onto her side and with a jerk, the arrow was free of her back. Impossibly, the wound now hurt even more and she g...
2023-08-16 17:00:02 +0000 UTC
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“Why would we not murder him?” She asked.
“Because he might be stuck here too,” Lefty replied.
“But why would that bother us? What does it matter if he’s stuck here? It’s a game. We’re all stuck in a game and I … I need to kill him for … like … the obvious reasons and stuff.”
“But what if we’re actually here?”
“What do you mean?”
“What if we’re actually here and this isn’t all just a bug that some engineer is going to fix?...
2023-08-15 17:00:02 +0000 UTC
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Narene shut the cage door in front of Calista and locked the latch.
“Look, I’m not sure what to do about the two of you yet, so I’m just going to leave you here while my daughter and I cook Severin to a crisp and take this place over. Outside of the fact that you turned me into a goblin, you’ve both been fairly polite and useful so far. So keep that up and I might let you live for a little while.”
The little goblin woman then threw all of Calista’s gear onto the dragon...
2023-08-14 17:00:02 +0000 UTC
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They descended into the dark. There were no torches here. There were no doorways, no windows, no portals, only stone, mortar, and dark. As she had followed the other two through the broken wall, she had noticed that no other door or hallway connected the room, but now as the stairwell descended into nothingness, she began to suspect why. This was a leftover set piece from the last time Severin had re-arranged the dungeon. This meant that more than likely, their escape had been made possible w...
2023-08-11 17:00:02 +0000 UTC
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Calista went first as she dove toward the front of the spider with her sword ready. Eight crystal eyes and a pair of steel mandibles met her there. Here goes nothing … Her first swing was a success as it struck the spider-golem’s largest eye and shattered the crystal. Shining red shards fell to the floor as the monster recoiled. Calista took the opportunity to strike at the monster’s other eyes, shattering two more of the smaller ones. This time, the monster struck back, snappi...
2023-08-10 17:00:01 +0000 UTC
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The roll of thunder echoed against the stone wall. The storm elemental was still blasting away, while behind them the sharp, shining metal legs of the spider-golem had begun to punch through the giant bookshelf. Wood, paper, and carpet were flying everywhere as the monster shrieked in anger and rage.
One eye on the spider-golem, Calista wondered if they could fight their way through the trolls. Probably not, she thought to herself, but we’d have a lot better odds of livin...
2023-08-09 17:00:02 +0000 UTC
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Before she could strike again, the troll with the sword and shield was on her. Swinging his sword and then bashing with his shield, the troll beat her back into the next row of desks. To her left, she could see more trolls rushing across the open study area. Some were running toward her, but most were running toward Lefty and Narene inside the giant rotating bookshelves.
She parried a sword blow and then another shield bash. Then, when the troll tried a thrust at her chest, she stepped ...
2023-08-08 17:00:01 +0000 UTC
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She heard the mage call out from behind her, “How much time do we have?”
“Little to none,” she called back. Reloading again, she kept an eye on the bookshelves before her. There were three openings for the trolls to rush them and while only a few of the monsters had appeared, the flames were now licking the ceiling on the far end of the room and so she figured they were like to move soon. Why they are lighting everything on fire is beyond me. Then she looked closer at t...
2023-08-07 17:00:02 +0000 UTC
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Something crashed as the sound of the troll voices began to get louder and closer. Benson, however, was moving quickly between the shelves. Left and then right he weaved between the shelves as his eyes traveled over the lettered signs.
“Do not concern yourselves with the intruders. Any damage they cause will be instantly repaired by our inversion sigils after they leave.”
They followed him in single file as the little ghost led them out of the forest of bookshelves and through...
2023-08-04 17:00:02 +0000 UTC
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Calista stopped and pulled a random book off the nearest shelf. Flipping it open, she turned to the last page. Sure enough, words were appearing on the book’s final page as though they were writing themselves. There was even the sound of a pen scratching parchment, though no instrument was visible. She looked up to see Lefty standing next to her, his mouth agape, as he stared down at the same page. The mage was following the writing as it appeared, silently mouthing each word. When the writ...
2023-08-03 17:00:02 +0000 UTC
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Behind them, the talking door closed itself and they found themselves walking over rich gold and burgundy carpet. Before them lay a library that one would typically associate with the mansion of a murder mystery or perhaps the ancient castle of a villain in an over-the-top spy movie*. The bookshelves were twelve feet high and filled with hardbacks, parchments, leatherbound tomes, and everything in between. To their left, a giant globe towered over them, while to their right w...
2023-08-02 17:00:02 +0000 UTC
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The barred door rattled behind them as the angry curses of the trolls echoed into the room.
“Ho there! Open up! We only want to talk to you and then cut you up into little pieces before we cook your carcass over our fires.”
“Don’t tell them that, they won’t open the door if you tell them that.”
“They’re not going to open either way, you nitwit. They’re adventurers and we’re the troll guard. What do you think we’re doing down here.”
Meanwhile, at...
2023-08-01 17:00:04 +0000 UTC
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Two hallways later, they rounded a corner and came face to face with a small patrol of trolls on the opposite end of the hallway. Before Calista could draw her bow or Lefty fire off a spell, the nearest troll grabbed his war horn and sounded it. As the horn bellowed against the stone walls, the entire troop drew their weapons and charged.
Lightning crackled past Calista’s shoulder as she charged forward, blade in hand. The bolt ripped through three trolls and Calista wall jumped past ...
2023-07-31 17:00:05 +0000 UTC
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Narene smiled at the hidden room, “However, all that’s just the lore of the place. What you’re really standing in is a …”
Calista cut in. “A dungeon built on an experimental mechanic they call ‘morphic’ which means the owner of the dungeon can change almost anything inside it at almost any time. We know.”
“How did you know that?” Narene asked.
“I’ve been playing this game since its release date. Oh, and before I hooked up with Blake, I was dating a ...
2023-07-28 17:00:03 +0000 UTC
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Their argument finally over, Narene activated a hidden button on the wall and a secret door slid open. Narene leaned out and looked left and then right. Satisfied the coast was clear, she gave Calista and Lefty a nod and walked casually out into the hallway. Calista followed behind Lefty.
“So, how exactly do we get into this guy’s lair?” Lefty asked.
“You’ll see. The only way to get in is to collect five different keys and then talk to a painting,” Narene replied.
<...
2023-07-27 17:00:01 +0000 UTC
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