There are some who see an approaching storm as an omen of doom, but the wise seafarer accepts the ocean in all her forms. To battle against the changing tides is a war you cannot win.
-Excerpt from “The Divine Encyclopaedia, Volume 3” published by the College of Divine Studies at Tidespire Keep
They sailed into the oncoming storm during the night, and Rose woke to the frantic shouts of the crew as they rushed to prepare the ship for the furious winds and torrenti...
It was gratifying to hear that she had done well, despite missing out on the finale. Evelyn could care less about what the tower thought. All that mattered to her was how damn fun the World Event had been.
She did spare a few minutes of remembrance for the eleven thousand people who had fallen, but many of them were her enemies– they deserved little of her kindness. She gave it anyway. If they had been worthy of the challenge they may have lived to see another day.
Evelyn was ...
Every kid these days wants to set sail in search of fortune. Most of them can’t even tie a bloody knot.
-Excerpt from an article in the ‘Minenblum Herald’ by Commodore Saff
Rose hadn’t realised how much learning was involved in piracy. The story books tended to leave the boring bits out.
To start with, there was the name of each part of the ship. Which was important to know, because if someone told you to tie a rope to the poop deck or the sail would te...
2024-08-06 10:45:42 +0000 UTC View Post~ Anthony Han POV ~
He had been curious about Kayla’s plans when he saw her carrying his little menace into battle, despite her being asleep. Her plan had certainly been a shock.
Despite the odd nature of her strategy, he had to admit it was an effective one. He knew just how tough Evelyn was, and he was confident she could withstand a few rounds with the hyper boss while they carved it to pieces.
Against the combined might of his wi...
I want to draw a map. I don’t like the way the oceans are portrayed by most cartographers. She is wild and untamed. There are intricacies to the craft that most don’t appreciate. It is my belief that the sea should not be defined by the language of the land.
-Excerpt from ‘Cartography, Oceanography and the influence of the Tide’ by Delmoor Hobb
She sat in ponderous silence. The atypical introduction had thrown her off, and she was second guessing eve...
You can get a worthwhile measure of a man by listening to how he talks of his ambitions. Someone who loves the journey and isn’t just craving the destination makes a better acquaintance than one who has no love for the little moments.
-Quoted from Baron Valian Dourgate, founder of the Aughold Spirits & Ales Corporation
Felix didn’t flinch; he opened his mouth wide and caught the slice of raw onion. He crunched it and swallowed it without making a face.
...
2024-08-01 15:39:53 +0000 UTC View PostIt is often when we least expect it that we make a chance encounter with a lifelong companion. The legends say that Saltbeard met Deadeye Hannigan while getting a shave at the barbers. And we all know how that tale ends.
-Excerpt from ‘Lesser known misadventures of Castell Saltbeard’ by Grolsh Wright
Rose woke with a start, jolting upright and smacking her head into a wooden beam, sending a flash of pain through her head and making her vision blurry for ...
Her eyes were glued shut and she had to open and close them quite a few times before her vision returned. Returning to her body after watching so many strange visions was disorienting.
It was made worse by the fact she had learned little more than she already knew. It had been enlightening to see her current enemy grow and to know why it was here before her, but it didn’t explain much.
Although it had not been entirely fruitless– Evelyn had gleaned much about how to further ...
Never set sail without a navigator, or at least a map and compass
-Excerpt from ‘The Ten Laws of the Sea’, author unknown
Rose didn’t know when she had fallen asleep. It was hard to tell time without the moon and the stars, when the only view was the pitch black of the ocean.
She thought that the boat had been going towards Smuggler’s Rest, but perhaps her course had altered while she slept.
In the sky above, the clouds were still thick. ...
2024-07-30 18:56:10 +0000 UTC View PostFor a brief moment there was only darkness. She was floating in a void. And then colour exploded around her and she was sucked into a new environment. An underground cavern– or was it a black hole?
Things were murky and difficult to make out. She resigned herself to simply observe and figure the conundrum out as she went.
Slowly but surely, the explosion of colours settled into a clear picture and Evelyn realised she had been pulled into a memory, the same way she had been on ...
Her steps were lighter and she sailed across the beetle’s back faster than she had ever moved before. It took moments to arrive at the beginning of the familiar chain of runes.
A few curving lines ending in a sort of spiral hook. It was beautiful. And she was saying that as someone with little to no knowledge or real appreciation of language - or art.
Evelyn smashed it to pieces with a mighty swing of her hammer.
I’m pretty sure I wasn’t strong enough to smash t...
An occupation is for life, so choose wisely
-Excerpt from ‘Charting the Tide: A journeyman’s guide to skills and occupations’ by various contributors
Emerlan Isle was a poor nation. No one would dare to claim otherwise, not even its most staunch patriots.
All it had to offer was the doori, a few scattered evergreen forests and a meagre population of wolves and bears.
Like many small countries the world over, the staple diet consisted of fis...
2024-07-26 09:49:28 +0000 UTC View PostHi everyone, I felt like I need to get this out of my brain and into the world. I've been writing Incremental Torture for almost half a year now. When I started I had no plans, no outlines and little idea of what it was going to become - save for the fact it was going to be based on an idle game, set in a tower and the main character was a tenacious woman called Evelyn. I've loved writing the story. I think 'book 1' or perhaps the first 60 or so chapters are incredible, I wrote them fairly we...
2024-07-25 12:44:01 +0000 UTC View PostThere is no greater meditation than a day spent casting the rod
-Excerpt from ‘Fishing and More’ by Ronald Westwind
There was a tug on her pole, startling Rose from her daydream and spurring her into action.
After the initial struggle for dominance was won, she yanked the rod from the choppy waves and jumped from her stool to catch her prize as it fell from the air, grimacing as a speck of salty water splashed on her tongue.
A silver scaled f...
2024-07-25 12:41:18 +0000 UTC View Post~ Evelyn POV ~
She knew that her actions weren’t making much real progress towards defeating Zork’Karu, but there was no way that her devastating hammer blows weren’t causing the creature some measure of pain. And that was as satisfying a reward as any.
It was enough to keep her swinging well beyond the point a saner person would have stopped. It was only when Kayla grabbed her arm that she realised she needed to use her brain a little ...
The minor cracks exploded outwards and pieces of chitin were blown away when her mighty swing struck true.
Kayla had to lean to the side to avoid one errant piece but her wild grin never left her face. Now this was the angel of fury she had learned to love. It had been a while since she’d seen Evelyn like this. Haven had tamed her, dulled her edge.
It had been difficult for her to watch. It had even led to her spending far more time alone, contemplating why she continued to cl...
What followed was mesmerising to watch. Mei had never seen Kayla in action before. She had known the woman was athletic and likely powerful just from her muscular build and the confidence with which she carried herself, but seeing her flash and vanish from view before reappearing twenty metres away was mind blowing.
And she knew it wasn’t some kind of teleportation skill, because there was no magic in the air afterwards. She would’ve seen the trail.
No. The woman was just th...
It took her a moment to adjust to the fact such a huge monster had so little strength behind its blow. Her stats weren’t that impressive. She even stole a sideways glance at her father to see how he was handling it and her brow creased in perplexion when she noticed he also remained unmoved.
The world exploded in white and red, and a million searing daggers tore apart every facet of her mind, reaching into even the deepest, most hidden recesses.
Unbearable pain ricoch...
“Am I the only one with a headache or are all of you feeling this, too?” she asked.
“It feels like someone is pounding my skull with a sledgehammer,” groaned Anthea. She was riding Antoinette while petting her, but she leaned into the ant’s neck and grimaced as she spoke.
“There’s a little ringing in my ears, dear. I can’t say it’s that troublesome at the moment though,” replied her mother.
“I’m in the same boat as you, darlin’. This is killing m...
Something hot and wet flowed down her face, but Evelyn was unable to see what it was until it started to flow down her shoulders and using her still working eye saw herself coated in blood. With her battle cry she had activated Soul of the Unstoppable Conqueror and already the pain of the venom was receding and her wounds knitted themselves together.
She was no stranger to pain and even though this was on a different level than most of the torture she had experienced at the hands of th...
She could see the carnage along the walls. The assassins hadn’t just targeted Defiance directly and using their overwhelming numbers had sabotaged the defences she had installed along their outpost, leaving most of them destroyed or unable to fire.
“Most of the monsters were being funnelled towards us thanks to your mother’s efforts and Anthea’s fabulous distractions. However, when they began to attack we were forced to shift our focus and that meant far more monsters were slip...
~ Evelyn POV ~
She was able to spare a moment to observe Anthea and her new pet monster, aptly named Antoinette, before another armoured mole flung itself at her. The two seemed to be getting along brilliantly and the ant had even slaughtered one of its own to defend the girl. Maybe she would try to tame one herself. Though she didn’t have the same love for the creatures that Anthea did, so her efforts may not bear the same fruit.
Spinebrea...
~ Anthea POV ~
She had first developed a love for ants when she was just two years old. It started as all great love stories do, between enemies.
Anthea was playing in the park, wandering through the grassy fields and exploring the magical expanse of the world she had only recently been exposed to. She had started walking later than most but had found her stride rather fast. It was hot and sunny but it had rained the day before, so the ground was still a litt...
I added a new membership tier to the patreon today, offering 10 advanced chapters of Incremental Torture for 10$! If you've been waiting for this so you can binge even more then now is your chance to upgrade and dive right in. It's only 10 chapters for now, but my goal is to increase that number over the next month or two and hopefully hit 15-20 advanced chapters, so you'll be getting way more bang for your buck. Happy reading!
2024-07-03 14:19:45 +0000 UTC View Post“Oh. My. Gosh.”
“What’s the matter, dear?” Mei asked Anthea, noticing the girl was frozen and staring out into the distance.
“BABIES!”
Her sudden exclamation shocked both Mei and Anthony, as well as confusing them a great deal. Curious to know what made her so excited they followed her gaze, but upon seeing the approaching wave of what seemed to be monstrous ants they only grew more perplexed.
“Do you know what she’s talking about, Anthony?”
<...
She had continued to walk down the wall, claiming more and more sections and adding the full suite of defences with the exception of the Sentinels which she only purchased for every other section, but that would not be possible for much longer.
With the last section Evelyn had just claimed, the total number she had purchased on her stroll was brought to nine.
Including the repair costs and the investment for the defences, she had sunk over half her saved essence into the venture...
Dealing with the combined force of the endless worms and the vicious armoured moles was a real struggle. However, every time Evelyn felt herself faltering she would have a peek at her menu and the numbers would give her a fresh burst of energy.
Her stars were increasing with every monster they defeated and a few minutes ago her income had ticked over, giving her enough essence to purchase the building for the bank outright. Ten times over.
Essence: 54358969『+5409792...
The mole pulled back its claws and gave her a brief respite. Soon after however, it renewed its assault with increased fervour. Strike after strike pounded against her and Evelyn struggled to keep up.
She parried most of the blows with Spinebreaker, though a few slipped through the cracks. Each time the mole struck her body it sent her reeling and the monster gained more ground. The situation was looking grim, but Evelyn wasn’t fighting alone.
Kayla slipped under the beast’s...
A glowing arrow whizzed past her ear and buried itself into the worm’s flesh and a moment later there was a muffled explosion from inside the wound, followed by a large amount of yellowish blood leaking out onto the walls.
Her mother followed it up with a few spears of ice, not letting loose with her most powerful skill just yet as they still needed to get a feel for the strength of the worms. And with two days left to go in the event, this would be a marathon and not a sprint. Conse...
It was a difficult climb, more so than they had been expecting. The walls were smooth and there were few hand and foot holds available. However, with their attributes they were able to climb at or beyond the level of olympic athletes from Earth, with the exception of her mother and Anthea. However, they helped each other out and after ten minutes they made it over the top of the wall, breathless and sweaty.
Kayla was still as relaxed as she had been on the ground. The woman had yet to ...