Cassius Lange

Midnight Bounties 4 - Chapter 22

“Well, this is fucked,” I muttered under my breath.

I was still tense from the fight. The dark energies were swirling through my body and shedding a purple light over the laboratory. It only added to the madness of the place Wolf and I found ourselves in.

Massive glass tanks stood to either side of a large room filled with wrecked, rotting machinery. Metallic cranes with disturbing cutting and poking tools hung above several torture reck-like tables. Silvery shelves full of vi...

Riftside 3 - Chapter 4

A calm settled over me as soon as I stepped through the doors of the Steel & Scale. My party’s house was home, but in many ways, so was this. An old home, but one that would never cease to be so.

The heat of the forge felt most familiar, the rhythmic clanging of hammer on steel a song that pushed out the memories of combat, and the hard labor one of creation, not destruction.

Pa and I were preparing materials when Torsten joined us in the smithy, the fruits of my previous ba...

Midnight Bounties 4 - Chapter 21

“I’m not allowed past this gate, sir,” Butlee said.

I cracked my neck. The few hours of sleep had done wonders to fix me up. My metallic buddy woke me up on time and led us to what he said was the research and development part of IGORF 12, whatever that meant. From what I’d gathered, that would lead us to Morgefah’s chamber, or as Butlee put it, the central administration hub.

“So, you’re staying here?” I asked.

I’d much prefer to have the little helper acc...

Riftside 3 - Chapter 3

Sausages, scrambled eggs, butter, bacon, ham, cheese, and a dozen other toppings were laid out on our dining room table, the wood cool beneath my arms. A breakfast fit for kings, or at least a party of adventurers. Ma and Pa had joined us, which was only fair, considering they had brought most of the food.

The meal and the company made the battle, the duel, the breakthrough, all of it feel like longer ago than if it happened just yesterday. More like a brutal fever dream I was only now ...

Midnight Bounties 4 - Chapter 20

Wolf scoffed and shook his head as we entered the eating area. The smell was fouler than an Ogre’s sock drawer, but we endured. The room was large and round like the previous arena but smaller. A long circling table sat in the middle above which a kind of orb hung suspended in the air and slowly turned, giving off a faint buzzing sound that rose and fell in pitch.

There were more paintings of distant, strange places hanging from the walls and I took a moment to try and understand what...

Riftside 3 - Chapter 2

“Fifty percent strength?” I said, once again, barely able to believe it.

“I told you prioritising my breakthrough would be worth it,” Roq said smugly. “It was high time we unveiled my glory to this world, and let the Hive Mind tremble before my new, magnificent form!”

After I checked Roq’s stats, we’d returned home. Knut complained the entire time about not having a soul weapon of his own, and I was just in shock from the boost he ...

Midnight Bounties 4 - Chapter 19

I put up my (Demon Skin) and clutched Traitor and Mercy hard, already expecting the worst when the second door hissed open. Another waft of decaying air blew through me and Wolf and out the corridor we came through. At first, there was only blackness and the sense of a great open space before me.

Then, a soft chime rang in the distance that made both Wolf and me tense up. More snaking lights suddenly spread from the door we came through and branched in every direction, lighting up a vas...

Riftside 3 - Chapter 1

I stared at Roq in his new form, shock passing through me as he spoke.

“What do you exactly remember, buddy?” I asked again.

He turned and held up one of his bladed arms, staring at it.

“I remember everything, Ash. Where I'm from. What the hive mind did to my family and my kin, to my world...”

He looked up at me and I understood in that moment where my hammer’s bloodlust and rage had all come from. His singular focus on killing and growing stronger had all st...

Midnight Bounties 4 - Chapter 18

Arstemion’s mane fluttered in the hot, cinder-rich wind blowing over the mountain top. He spread his giant black wings as if stretching them and pointed at the gargantuan chain anchored to the mountain peak.

“This is your way in,” he said.

The iron chain was large enough to drive two carriages side by side up to Morgefah’s prison. I couldn’t grasp how it was even supposed to work with the chains being perfectly flat yet round at the same time and not moving under weight....

Riftside 2 - Free eBook

Hello,

So, because I had to stupid Riftside 2 from patreon (because it released in meanwhile, I'm adding both 1 and 2 for a week here for everyone to download, then it will only be available for the higher tiers. Adding book 3 in a day or two.

Midnight Bounties 4 - Chapter 17

My Deeproot chimed like a fairy in heat. I only managed to glance at my ever-growing experience bar as I hacked through the bastard legions of the Dhozen Fires. Blood rained down from the sky as winged abominations circled the field of war. I couldn’t tell who was killing what, so I stuck my sword into the mouth of whoever opened theirs wide enough.

I rode Wolf through a line of human-sized demons with white shields and spears as fireballs and bone spikes flew past me. Some I dodged, ...

Midnight Bounties 4 - Chapter 16

You didn’t see flying duergar that often. They liked their feet firmly on the ground which was all the funnier when I watched Wolf send them tumbling through the halls of the auditorium.

The armor they wanted to stick to my unwilling deviltail, was a dark blue, heavy, spiked, and beautifully forged, but Wolf couldn’t have cared less. He almost bit off one of the smith’s heads when they tried to put a helmet on my mount.

I stood there in my underpants, smoking my cigar and wa...

Midnight Bounties 4 - Chapter 15

Ancient dwarven letters were chiseled into the obsidian rock of the Redmaw’s entrance. They read ‘Redmaw’ for some reason. Curious. It wasn’t like anyone could mistake the largest black mountain of the region that caused a cataclysmic shift in our history for something else.

Even more curious were the letters below written in the common tongue. “The only hole deeper than your mother’s twat,” I read and grinned.

Beneath those and a bit to the side it said ‘Threelegs...

Midnight Bounties 4 - Chapter 14

The yellow southern forests gave way to the desolate plains of Vanderbeard’s Plateau. Dry winds whipped across the endless rocky flats forcing us to ride through most of it in silence. I could barely keep my eyes through the gale that swept up sharp sand and dust, then kept throwing it in our faces.

Tyfus was cussing and complaining through much of it. He had his mage’s hat pulled over his face, throwing a fireball here and there out of sheer frustration. The explosions were swallow...

Lit Forge Press - Going Live!

So, I have started on a lot of admin work, from all the Patreon stuff, to work on website, keeping up with chapters of various series, and am thoroughly enjoying all the business of it all. I do have a torn muscle in my left upper arm, so i am in horrendous pain as I'm writing this, but screw it! I can rest when I'm dead, right?

What does this mean for Patreon: I have renamed and altered the patreon ranks:

1. Clean rank, litrpg, cultivation, gamelit...pure progression fantasy. It ...

Midnight Bounties 4 - Chapter 13

“I never really heard myself breathe. I mean I did, we all do when we start panting or it becomes coarse from sickness or deep when you want it to be deep. But the regular, everyday breathing that you don’t really notice, you never really hear it. It’s strange isn’t it?”

“Strange? It’s fucking boring,” Tyfus muttered, scratching his head.

He had lost his robes, his hat, and staff somewhere and was now walking around with a bushel of leaves tied to his crotch like m...

Midnight Bounties 4 - Chapter 12

I spent the rest of that day sitting on that cold temple floor and trying not to fall asleep. That proved especially difficult with a belly full of meat and weird fruit, but now that I knew it worked, I had to make an effort. Since I was sure that taking a bath would only make me even sleepier, I decided to skip it for now and stew in my own stench for a bit longer.

However, as the night slowly set in, I found no great revelations, no stat increases, no wailings that I could understand ...

Midnight Bounties 4 - Chapter 11

Tyfus sat down next to me breathing hard like a dog in heat. What little hair he had was messy and disturbingly clotted. He looked at me with tired, milky eyes, reaching out a hand towards my shoulder to steady himself,

“Frank,” he began.

I swiped his hand away and he hit the soft grass nose-first. The gnome got up and reached for the log I was sitting on. 

“Rude.”

“Those dirty little hands of yours were in gods know what places. Did you even wash ‘em?...

Midnight Bounties 4 - Chapter 10

We had found the passage that unfortunate brigand spoke of with relative ease. After half a day’s ride, just as he said, we came upon a small rock formation that looked like a gate or portal of sorts. It was covered in vines and mossy rocks and stood out against the rest of the landscape by how lush everything around it was.

The south was not a forgiving land, and yet beyond those three large slabs of stone, it seemed a jungle awaited whoever dared set foot inside. Just as we were abo...

Midnight Bounties 4 - Chapter 9

“Did you hear that?” I asked Tyfus.

The gnome didn’t even look up from his book. A soft warm wind rustled the golden leaves of the strange forest path we were riding through. I could see the muscles on Wolf’s neck tense. The deviltail seemed to have picked up on something.

“Tyfus, eyes off your book. There’s something out here.”

“It’s probably just goblins,” he muttered, waving me off.

“Goblins,” I grumbled to myself.

I highly doubted gobl...

Midnight Bounties 4 - Chapter 8

Hezak prepared the mugs of moonshine and Garfor brought a bucket of blood that almost drove Opius insane. Luckily, Ragul was there to keep him in check, though even my perfectly mannered bartender was licking his lips in a disturbing way. They both removed themselves to the farthest corner, their red eyes glowing in the dim light.

The orcs and the Midnighters formed the traditional circle. A dozen of the eager green fellows mixed with Wort, Matis, Derek, Korvan, and me. Hezak moved some...

Midnight Bounties 4 - Chapter 7

The chuggadig’s head atop the entrance door of my club stared down on me with a judging sneer. Or at least that’s how it looked like from where I stood.

“One year,” I muttered with my cigar in my mouth.

I licked my teeth, trying to remember how many I had lost in the various Mok’feras I had taken part in. Seven? Eight?

It had been a whole year since I found Fey and Spif in that mine. One year since I took over the club and left my bounty hunting days behind me. Bac...

Midnight Bounties 4 - Chapter 6

“Finally,” Tyfus said as I entered the Lusty Lion.

He was dressed in the purple and gold of Sankta Varathian nobles. His moustache and beard looked impeccably groomed and his receding hairline was drenched in expensive oils.

“Listen, Tyfus, I don’t need your sarcasm—”

“No sarcasm, Frank. I’m just glad to see you.”

I looked about the club. It was mostly empty since it was still early. Only a few drunken soldiers sat at the far corner of the first floor...

Midnight Bounties 4 - Chapter 5

The thick white snot bubble in Korvan’s nose popped when I grabbed him by the arm. He slept while leaning against the wall of our club. He opened his eyes slowly, then sighed realizing it was his boss.

Me. 

“Always vigilant,” I said, grabbing the doorhandle.

“Long day, boss.”

“Tell me about it,” I said and just as I was about to swing the door open, I stopped, pulled out my cigar, and lit it. I wasn’t ready for the ruckus and crowd inside. Not yet....