Leland woke up with a shock. He sat straight up, his vision going wide. A groan escaped his lips, pain still drifting around his mind.
“Ah, you’re awake.”
Turning, Leland found Alkin sitting in a rocking chair with a book in his hands. “How long have I been out?”
“Two days.”
They were in an unfamiliar plain room. It was smaller and less opulent than anything in Onryo mansion. From a glance out of the window, Leland saw that there was no fog. In fact, ther...
2023-03-07 20:16:35 +0000 UTC
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The Huntress sat with her elbows on a table and slowly thumped herself in the forehead. How did it come to this, she wondered, eyeing her most recent capture.
More specifically, she wondered just how dumb three boys could be. Did not one of them have any sense? Why was the smart one so blind? Why was the big one so juvenile? Why was the quiet one so… so…
“Ugh,” she spit.
What did I expect? she asked herself. Three children, babies as fa...
2023-03-07 20:15:20 +0000 UTC
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Leland took one final look at the shivering form of his best friend and accepted his summon’s gift. He touched the soul of the Damned, pulling the lost soul it held into his body. He breathed in, combining his soul with the Witch’s he killed hours ago.
Grimacing, Leland expected his headache to redouble, but nothing of the sort happened. The green mist entered his body and didn’t fight for dominance inside his body. It accepted its new life as a fuel source, giving itself willingl...
2023-03-07 20:13:26 +0000 UTC
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“Guys,” Glenny muttered with a shiver. “I’m hearing whispers again.”
Both parties looked at each other, or rather, facedeach other. From the amount of crimson liquid pouring from the cowls of the intruders, Leland took a wild guess that they were eyeless.
“They’re blind, right?” he asked, summoning forth his grimoire.
Each figure held an arm out and palms up. They waited there, silently praying for fuel. Red soon sparked along their open hands, like ...
2023-03-07 20:12:47 +0000 UTC
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The group didn’t stick around the Smuggler’s Guild for long. With Poppy’s information freshly on their minds, they quickly found an exit. Boor led them to an elevator, one the four of them had to squeeze to fit into. It moved slow and rough, like an old train riding across handmade tracks.
Glenny broke the silence, “I think this is the time for you to explain who you are, Boor.”
The butler signed. “Not much to tell. I’m old, I’ve lived. I suspect that you three wil...
2023-03-07 05:14:47 +0000 UTC
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The Huntress was annoyed. It wasn’t the fact that there was a “city” below the city of Shoutwell, one that decisively dealt with crime. Nor the fact that it had remained hidden even after a full scale Royal Inquisitor investigation. It wasn’t even the fact that her marks, Leland and his two friends, had found it before her.
No, her seething irritation didn’t have anything to do with the Smuggler’s Guild, at least, not directly.
She scoffed at the body...
2023-03-07 05:11:47 +0000 UTC
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“Kneel before me!”
Creeping groans marked the start of the curse, the start of damnation. They came from underground, like tiny flower stems poking out of the soil. Jagged nails came first, each broken and ghostly, each fervently digging upward. Wrists and hands were next, followed closely by elongated forearms.
They flailed, like a crowd swaying off beat to live music. The groans deepened as the first few heads breached the stone floor. Violet eyes cast with diabolic...
2023-03-07 05:09:32 +0000 UTC
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As the blade of Boor’s rapier clashed against a short sword pulsating isolated gales of wind, the boys readied themselves. Glenny was first to move, slipping invisible and rushing forward. He ignored the sparks of wind, his daggers quickly finding flesh against an unsuspecting woman holding a crossbow.
Blood gushed high into the air, taking to the swordsman’s tempest and littering the battlefield with crimson rain. Glenny didn’t let up his assault, twisting his daggers deeper into...
2023-03-07 05:08:06 +0000 UTC
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Through the sea water rusted door, the group came eye to eye with the mountain of a man who opened it for them. The man was dirty with grease and sweat, long dark streaks crossed his stubble where his working hands scratched himself. His fingernails told the story of years of manual labor, constant abuse to unload or load the city’s many ships.
The man didn’t look twice at the group nor did he care that three young men, kids really, had entered. In fact, the man didn’t seem to car...
2023-03-07 05:07:25 +0000 UTC
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Dinner was fish and potato.
“So how did the meeting go?” Leland asked the now returned Lady Onryo and her daughter Lady Mavi.
The younger of the two sighed deeply scrapping at her plate unenthusiastically. “The guard has no idea what they are doing. Everyone is scared.”
“Did you mention the sewers?”
Lady Onryo answered, “Yes, and they sent teams to investigate. Nothing. Six teams entered at different points and all returned without any worthwhile informat...
2023-03-07 04:35:22 +0000 UTC
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Jude didn’t notice Leland was “awake” until a purple grimoire appeared out of nowhere and flopped open.
“How’d it go?” he asked.
Leland stopped and suddenly found his eyes flooding. “The Lord of Spirits is one of the most beautiful beings I’ve ever had the luxury to know.”
Jude made a whistling sound. “Did you ask her to marry you?”
“What- no. Just no.” Daggers blasted from Leland’s eyes. “Beautiful as in she’s special. A kindred soul to...
2023-03-07 04:33:10 +0000 UTC
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“Alright, I don’t know how long I’ll be gone… or if I’ll be gone for that matter,” Leland said, laying on a soft bed. “It’s probably going to be like the Dream Ceremonies, and my body will remain here.”
Jude set the barrel of beer down next to him. “Then how is this thing going to come into play?”
“Ah… that is a good question.”
“You don’t know?”
“This is unmapped ocean here. I have no idea what I’m doing.”
Glenny, ...
2023-03-07 04:32:13 +0000 UTC
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Jude didn’t release his grip until Glenny stopped struggling, and even then he was cautious. He laid the unconscious young man on the couch, making sure to prop his head up with a pillow. Meanwhile, Boor and Alkin looked horrified. Lady Onryo on the other hand watched with mystique.
“Sigil Sickness I assume,” she asked no one in particular.
Leland, forcing himself not to throw up, nodded. “Do you have a copy of Brix’s Guide to Defending Magic here?”
The ...
2023-03-06 21:56:42 +0000 UTC
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“What was that, Leals?” Jude asked, on the walk back to Onryo mansion.
“What do you mean?”
“Have you never talked to a stranger before? Why’d you talk without any subtlety?”
Leland frowned. “Didn’t you see the way they looked at us? The whole tavern was looking to eat us.”
Jude stared incredulously. “You’ve stared down monsters and fought with a murderer, yet some drunkards worried you?”
“Well when you put it that way…” Leland sigh...
2023-03-06 21:55:49 +0000 UTC
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After a full night’s rest in warm and soft beds, Leland, Jude, and Glenny made their way through the quiet streets. They ignored the hastened pitter-patter of civilians feeling as they neared, they ignored the shadows watching them. They were outsiders here, Shoutwell simply didn’t have the need for adventurers compared to Liontrunk.
There were no monsters the city guard couldn’t handle, no nearby ruins to pillage, no dungeons to supply endless alchemical research. The ci...
2023-03-06 21:54:22 +0000 UTC
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“You have a cult problem, yes. The Sightless, if you want to be specific, ” Leland corrected, receiving four frowns from the four people in the study.
Lady Onryo pursed her lips. “See? Already you’re helping! Isn’t that great? You made some great friends, Munchkin!”
This time Leland frowned. “And now that we’ve seen our friend home, we best be leaving.”
He started towards the door but stopped when he saw Jude and Glenny’s feet planted. They both ...
2023-03-06 21:53:23 +0000 UTC
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A glint pulled Leland’s eyes to his slung hand. The crow tattoo craned its neck, staring back at him with its rounded emerald eyes. It opened and closed its mouth like a repeating silent alarm.
Nearby, Shoutwell’s city guardsman sputtered in confusion and nonwords. “N-no that c-can’t- I-I don’t… T-that makes s-so much s-ense…”
“It's okay,” Leland said, burying his hand deeper into his sling. “Just contact the Inquisitors. They’ve dismantled the Cult before,...
2023-03-06 21:51:46 +0000 UTC
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Deep within the sewers of Shoutwell, likeminded people were gathering. Most wore red robes and obscuring hoods, carried ritual serrated knives, and hummed muted chants. They walked in pairs, shoulder to shoulder through the twisting foul tunnels. Muck and ichor dripped from the ceiling and leaked down the walls, but they didn’t care.
They couldn’t, not when something as grand as the Calling was due to start soon.
They walked in low flickering candlelight, eventually r...
2023-03-06 21:51:04 +0000 UTC
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Travel to Shoutwell was decently eventful. There, of course, were monster attacks, often leaving them a hair away from death. They came from the trees or hid within the streams, often surprising the group from decisive flanks. But the simple monster was no match for Leland, Jude, and Glenny.
Jude and Glenny were simply impossible for the monsters to ever touch, and if one ever bit or mauled Leland, the others would wreak havoc upon its life. And that was a large if. Leland’s ...
2023-03-06 21:49:43 +0000 UTC
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Leland was the first on guard duty after the boys reached their inn. They didn’t believe thieves would be so bold as to attack them in their room but who knew at this point. With all the absurd things that had happened lately, Leland decided they couldn’t be too careful.
While the others were sleeping, it gave him plenty of time to see how his spells progressed after the lion-toad battle. Grimoire in hand, Leland read through the new entry and its accompanying spells.
...
2023-03-06 21:48:45 +0000 UTC
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“Thank you for the appraisals,” Leland said, paying Joy for her services. “If we decide to auction any of the items, we will be back.”
Joy nodded and pocketed the coin. She held open the door, allowing the others to leave. As they exited, she gave a final bow and spoke, “It was wonderful to make your acquaintance. Please come again.”
With that, they were back to the streets. It was nearing dinner at this point and a restaurant was quickly chosen. They asked to be seate...
2023-03-06 21:47:23 +0000 UTC
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“I think they are too tight.”
Jude hesitated a step, reaching down and smudging his new boot laces. He then stomped and caught up with the others. A few steps later he repeated the process, all the while holding a look of disgust.
After the sixth or seventh lace correction attempt, Glenny had enough. “Come on man. The first three pairs were too big, then the next four were too small. And now you are saying the only pair that remotely came close is sligh...
2023-03-06 21:46:30 +0000 UTC
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Deep within the town of Liontrunk, well past the market square and alchemy laboratories, was a unique building. A constant flow of traffic entered and exited the armored doors, sporting weapons or iron shackles. Some came with their heads high, others befell the lowest lakes of sorrow.
This building catered to a certain type of person, the kind that thought of the law only as a hindrance. The building was for the worst of the worst, the kind of person who committed more than petty...
2023-03-06 21:45:30 +0000 UTC
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The monster’s hulking size left plenty of things to remove. Hide, scale, leather, eyes, teeth, organs, even its tail for proof of kill. Leland watched Glenny skin the most usable parts of the lion-toad , most of which were peppered with small cuts and gashes.
While the monster parts would surely catch a large price, the real treasure was the item it dropped when it died. Monster drops, while strictly a dungeon phenomenon, were vastly known.
Stories of valiant knights sl...
2023-03-06 21:43:41 +0000 UTC
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They ran, a house sized lion-toad floating after them. Leland only managed to cast Fracture twice before the beast noticed. When it did, it turned right to Leland and Jude and crouched down. A moment later, it was sailing through the air with a harsh updraft following closely behind.
“Bad plan!” Leland yelled, the wind scattering the nearby animals as well.
Goats and gazelles became running hazards as everything scampered away from the mutated Mana Lion. Jude twisted his neck,...
2023-03-06 21:42:39 +0000 UTC
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“How do you even know there is another boss?” Onryo cried. “What if we are already at the end, there’s no reason to not head back to the entrance.”
Leland spared him a glance but didn’t stop walking. “Because all dungeons have three bosses. The first was inside the lion’s den and the second was the Mana Lion Alpha. That means there’s a third. And judging by the lack of enemies, it must be close.”
Ahead Glenny scouted. His invisibility had not ranked ag...
2023-03-06 21:40:55 +0000 UTC
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Leland was the first to awaken. He sat up, his body feeling like mush that had been ground in a mortar and pestle. Slowly he looked around, feeling the wind in his hair, smelling the iron of blood.
Oh right, he thought. The battle.
Slowly he looked around, finding Glenny and Jude both breathing easy but not yet conscious. Leland slipped his ring of regeneration off Jude placing it on Glenny’s finger. He wasn’t sure if the Chameleon Lord’s internal organs we...
2023-03-06 21:40:13 +0000 UTC
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Leland’s eyes opened to a dull and dour, naked forest. Spindly trees made up the landscape, petrified, white and lifeless. There was not a hint of green, no leaves, no grass, only muted brows and bone whites. That didn’t mean the forest wasn’t alive, on the contrary in fact. Crows replaced the leaves, each branch housing dozens.
They watched Leland, their amethyst eyes rounded and large like thousands of security cameras watching a prisoner. Leland felt small in that moment, like ...
2023-03-06 21:39:15 +0000 UTC
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Glenny took the opportunity of the Mana Lion attacking to move. Despite being nearly invisible, Icewillow had followed his movements since his initial reveal. He cursed at himself for failing to kill the man. He had him, he had killed him. Yet the murderer still walked.
Jude abruptly slowed, nearly impaling himself on one of the red spikes that burst from the grass. Glenny cursed again, dashing to intercept the killing blow leveled at his friend’s neck. His dagger took to the...
2023-03-06 21:37:55 +0000 UTC
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“Kill or capture?” Leland asked, pulling hesitant gazes from the others.
“I don’t think we can capture. Look at how he’s fighting the thing.” Jude replied, pointing.
Icewillow twisted and contorted his lean body, moving around the Mana Lion’s attacks. He summoned and moved a frozen puppet of red, making it fight for him as he kept behind it. Together man and construct battled to a stalemate with the beast, finding the lion’s agility too hard to nail down.
The...
2023-03-06 21:35:50 +0000 UTC
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