IMPORTANT
If you read chapter 27 here on Patreon when it came out, please read the last segment of it on Royalroad/SH, as I added a whole new section with Beulah that wasn't there before! =)
2022-06-28 18:52:49 +0000 UTC View Post“I need to talk to you,” says Sockel.
Hineni, holding a ladle full of pancake batter, turns his head towards her. “What’s up, Sockel?” he asks. “I’m making breakfast.”
“Exactly,” says the elf. “That’s the problem,” she says, laying down a ledger onto the counter.
Hineni rolls his eyes, pouring the batter onto the pan. “We’re on track with the weapons, Sockel,” he replies. “Can you let me have this?” he asks...
2022-06-27 18:54:34 +0000 UTC View PostI am a moonflower.
Burch steps to the side, avoiding a hole.
Is this not a most curious thing for me to be?
Has anyone ever heard of such a silly thing as a moonflower?
— I think not.
With my petals spread out wide, I bask in the light of the full moon.
It washes down over us like cascading water.
The moonlight paints Burch’s features with a softer, kinder tone than the h...
2022-06-26 19:21:18 +0000 UTC View PostHineni wobbles the new ladder, checking if its sturdy.
“I don’t know about this,” says Rhine.
“It’s fine,” replies Hineni. “Made it myself, after all.”
Rhine nods. “Sure, but you’re… you know, not a carpenter.”
Hineni shrugs. “If I had made it out of metal, would that be better?”
The boy thinks for a moment, looking up towards the open windows of the forge tower. “I mean… I gue...
2022-06-26 17:30:22 +0000 UTC View PostI didn't manage to make a Weaponsmith today. Apologies. Instead, you can have this first chapter of a super edgy story that I honestly have no explanation for. It was supposed to be a short story with 10 chapters, but I only ever made 1 and a half.
Weaponsmith will come tomorrow, together with tomorrow's chapter of Final Core or Sunflower =)
Tags: I don't know. Edgy ghost fantasy. Short-story and uh, hmm... *shrugs* 2022-06-25 19:43:58 +0000 UTC View Post
Day of the bite:
My fever takes me as I lay here on my bedroll, spread out over the stone floor of the dungeon.
It has been a day since I was bitten by the creature. I killed it. But my body is too hurt to walk with. I am drained. I am stuck down in the very dungeon that I have spent my entire childhood in.
Venom courses through my blood.
So, instead, I lay here and I... 2022-06-24 19:10:01 +0000 UTC View Post
With roots that dig towards the heart of the world, the stoic giant, known as the world-tree, sits. Its boughs rise up so high as to scratch the clouds above. Its roots reach from the western shore of the continent, all the way to the eastern one.
And all around its massive base, a trunk which acts as a pillar strong enough to hold the heavens themselves up in the air, sits a city like no other.
The world-tree was given to us by the gods, during the season of...
2022-06-23 19:17:01 +0000 UTC View PostLots of new abilities to choose from this time! We have 4 points to use, so please vote for up to 4 things that you like! =)
Ascension – The landscape encompassing the dungeon’s territorial radius separates itself from the sinful world, causing the tower and all of its lands to float up into the air.
Divine Will – Wild, HOLY monsters will begin to make their way from across the world to live, nest and...
2022-06-23 15:46:39 +0000 UTC View Post“Boy, do you think this is some kind of game?” asks Hineni, leaning over the table.
Rhine leans in towards him, narrowing his eyes. “It’s over for you, old man.” He looks down at the game-board, pushing his piece forward to corner Hineni’s.
Hineni narrows his eyes, grabbing the dice and rolling them.
They clatter across the board, coming to a noisy stop between the two of them. Rhine lets out a distraught cry. Hineni smugly picks ...
2022-06-22 18:36:53 +0000 UTC View PostThe lore of the world tells us of many great men and women who have wandered through the days of our past.
Great champions and craftsmen and spirits of many kinds and forms, taking many shapes and using many methods. These people have achieved things of incredible note in our world. Whether this is because of a divine seed, planted in their spirit at their time of birth, or because of who they simply grew to be, or even through direct intervention by the gods themselves, is...
2022-06-21 19:13:56 +0000 UTC View Post“So? What do you think?” asks Sockel.
Hineni looks at her and then looks around the corridor behind the kitchen; the one that connects to the library.
“About what?” asks Hineni. Sockel had told him to meet her here.
The elf nods, pleased. “Exactly.”
“…What?” asks Hineni. “Sockel. What are you talking about?”
He looks around the corridor. Behind him is the kitchen, which is closed for tod...
2022-06-21 16:18:09 +0000 UTC View PostHineni stands down in the ice-cellar, looking around himself at the assortment of things that has begun to collect down here. Meats for the kitchen that Obscura has hunted hang strung from strong hooks. Crates full of tubers and perishable vegetables sit stacked in orderly collections. Between all of that, strong crystals of ice fill the room.
He shudders. It’s gotten colder down here lately.
“Eilig,” says Hineni, knocking on the door of the small doll-...
2022-06-20 08:44:57 +0000 UTC View PostGentle.
My friend, Burch, lowers herself down to the ground with a slow, gentle demeanor that is far different from the brash recklessness of her younger days.
It seems that in her years, she has practiced well the nature of the things I have taught her.
Grace.
Calmness.
Serenity.
— Gentleness.
In her hands is held a trinket, some odd bobble she had torn off of the corpse b...
2022-06-19 19:11:49 +0000 UTC View PostHineni takes a step back, holding her hands in his and she follows his movements. Soft moonlight shines in through the vaporous midnight air as they sway in a well practiced dance. He holds his gaze low, looking at her and she returns the same to him, as they move through the open room together by themselves.
“We’ve gotten better at this,” says Hineni, looking at the owl-god.
“Who~,” hoots Obscura. “Graceful Obscura does not even need to fly anymo...
2022-06-18 18:43:51 +0000 UTC View PostWhat has never been understood is the connection between the dungeons and the gods.
We know, from our scriptures and the teachings of our faith, that the gods reside in the heavens, far above our world. Yet dungeons are the antithesis of this fact. Dungeons dig down deep to where the worms sleep and where the light can not reach.
So are we to assume then, that these things, these dungeons, are the opposite of the divine?
If this is the case, th...
2022-06-17 19:28:14 +0000 UTC View Post“I’m so tired.
I’ve been here for too many years. I’ve seen too many young faces vanish into the clawing dark.
— It’s always the young ones. The old people, the ones who made it to maturity, they never die. There’s a cut-off period. I think that if you manage to get past twenty-eight as an adventurer, you’re likely to make it all the way to retirement. You know the ropes, you know the game that’s being played, you know how much you can bite ...
2022-06-16 19:12:42 +0000 UTC View PostSoft rain falls from the sky, striking against the roofs of the hundreds of houses around them with supple, percussive strikes. The air is damp and refreshing and the gray sky, mixed in with the falling water, removes any remaining vapors of lingering, spring heat.
He’s still used to the gnawing cold of the winter, so this sudden shift in temperature from winter to spring has been almost unbearable on the worst days. Despite the fact that the weather is, in reality, very mi...
2022-06-16 11:43:16 +0000 UTC View PostHineni stands outside on the city plaza with his hands in his pockets as he stares up towards the gargantuan construction before the three of them.
The dungeon-gate.
It’s an ornate, towering, stonework creation that seems to have been impossibly hewn out of a single rock of incredible scale. Depictions of monsters and people of varying origins and creeds can be seen all over its surface, all of them clawing and tearing at each other in an image of a despera...
2022-06-15 19:02:59 +0000 UTC View PostWhen I was lowered into the water by my father’s hands, I was just a boy.
The water was so calm and so serene. I wasn’t expecting it to happen. We were just walking like we would have on any other day. He grabbed me by the collar and just pushed me down beneath the surface of the lake.
I wasn’t really afraid. I was just… I was just calm. I was like the water.
I laid down there, beneath the surface, just staring up towards what lay on th...
2022-06-14 19:24:45 +0000 UTC View Post“So what’s with all of the skulls?” asks Rhine, looking at the frozen skull that Sockel has placed beneath a glass bowl from the kitchen for now, since they don’t really have anything better to secure it with until the vault is done.
“What’s the matter twerp?” asks Sockel. “Don’t you like skulls?” she asks.
Rhine blinks, looking at her and then back to the skull. “I don’t know,” says Rhine. “I mean, I like the way it looks,” he e...
2022-06-13 16:12:24 +0000 UTC View PostHineni wanders through the stone corridor, leading towards the forge. It is dark and everyone is asleep. The air is cool and crisp and it carries with it a smell of freshness that wasn’t present during the hours prior. The house is light-less and he stands there, staring up towards the yellow eyes that watch him from above, from the shadows. There, no body is visible.
The eyes spin around in a circle, vanishing for a moment as the owl looks into all directions, her crooning...
2022-06-12 18:39:04 +0000 UTC View PostI only managed to finish half of today's Weaponsmith chapter, so here's a Mirabelle to tide you over until tomorrow morning!
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Mirabelle holds onto the edge of the hole of the tree, staring out at the young man with the nice hair as he gets up, stretching and yawning.
It’s early in the morning. Sister-sun is just starting to rise up into the sky and to set the world alight ...
2022-06-11 18:52:23 +0000 UTC View PostLet’s assume that you are alone on a very small island and that you have to fight a swarm of ants.
They’re unusually aggressive beasts and are very intent on crawling up your legs and nibbling on the tasty fruit that you hold in your hands. Running away isn’t an option, as the island is too small. So what remains then, is to fight.
But how do you fight ten-thousand ants at once in a limited space? Even the largest man would be swarmed by them, should he...
2022-06-10 19:01:14 +0000 UTC View PostI feel its breath blowing past myself, as I stand alone in the darkness, my feet planted firmly and strong.
It whispers into my ears.
My sword is drawn and I look over my shoulder, but I see nothing there in the full shadow all around me. I hear scampering, as rats creep over the brickwork. There is a smell in the air and I try to remain calm. It is the smell of old meat.
— It is the smell of its breath.
Slowly, steadily, I wal...
2022-06-09 19:02:33 +0000 UTC View PostHineni flips through the pages of the book that Seltsam had found for him on his request. Pages flutter as he quickly swipes through them one after the other with his fingers, damp with sweat. With each turn, a new distortion of an image is revealed, depictions of monsters and ghouls and animals of various state and origins. Some are more in the grisly state of things and others are more calm and peaceful in their appearances.
“What are we looking for?” asks Rhine.
...
2022-06-09 17:22:24 +0000 UTC View Post
Here is a new concept piece of Isaiah! This one was done by GreenNGreen#8633! =)
What do you think? Which one do you like more? =o
2022-06-09 07:52:05 +0000 UTC View PostWeaponsmith delayed till tomorrow. Apologies!
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— The thing that is different.
Mirabelle sits on the branch of her tree, staring down at the world around herself. It’s the middle of the night and she’s returned from her work at the shoemaker’s house. But there is something different tonight.
Her eyes rise up towards the sky, in which not a single star shines alight. ...
2022-06-08 18:46:10 +0000 UTC View PostOfficer Walundra: “Huh? What do you mean their trackers went dark?”
He pokes the crystal on the table, trying to get it to light back up.
Senior Scryer, Rank A, Blick: “They’re dark, sir.”
Officer Walundra stares at the table for a moment, before looking around the room.
Walundra: “We haven’t had a lights out since… gods, I don’t even remember. Are you sure this thing is on?”
Blick: “The scryi...
2022-06-07 19:18:17 +0000 UTC View PostTeamwork is the most important thing inside of a dungeon.
You might be some powerful hotshot, who thinks you can just grind it out alone with enough piss and vinegar. But what will your plan be when the dungeon fields an encounter that requires cooperation to complete?
What if you find a timed mechanic that requires that two people be at different locations?
What if you overestimate yourself and bite off more than you can chew in a fight?<...
2022-06-06 18:35:22 +0000 UTC View PostHineni stands in the forge, leaning back and watching Rhine work.
Fire crackles noisily in the room, the air letting out a quiet, constant roar as heat presses out of the furnace next to them.
Rhine rubs his face free of sweat, exhaling for a moment before returning to his work.
Now with spring having come, the temperatures have risen considerably in contrast with the freezing winter. This makes working in the forge, which was previously almost pleasant...
2022-06-06 16:52:39 +0000 UTC View Post