Tsaimath

Chapter 303

 “Adra, Rai, care to share what you found on the body?” I called out, getting the attention of the other two. I managed to hear them grumble a little at the idea of moving from their comfortable spot in the sun, but they came over, sitting in a different sunny spot. 

“Take a look. There were two items, neither of them something I would voluntarily use.” Adra admitted, looking a little perturbed as she pulled something from her magic bag. I blinked at the appearance, ag...

Chapter 302

Reaching out with my hand, I let the chilly air created by Lenore wash over it. It was Ice-Magic, alright, and far from powerful enough to actually hurt me. Not that I had expected it to, I was rather resistant against it after all. But there was something else mixed in, hidden behind the cold, channelled with the magic just like my magic always contained a trace of Ice-Magic, unless I deliberately prevented it. It was Death-Magic, transmitted by the cold, giving it some extra bite. 

Chapter 301

The change Tzar Bolotnik’s death had caused were quite obvious, even if I wondered how long it would take for them to reverse. What had been a dreary place, right out of a horror-set, with withered trees, ever-present fog and strangely grey grass seemed to rejuvenate in front of our eyes, the trees seemingly straightening a little, fresh leaves appearing on a few branches and even a few animals were coming in from the outside. It was almost a little too extreme a change, too ma...

Chapter 300

The vision that greeted me, once I opened my eyes, was incredible. I wasn’t sure if it was because of the sheer density or some other effect but the strands of magic were visible, even without Lenore’s special sight. And what a sight they were, both Lenore and the Tzar Bolotnik were lit up like fireworks, a light-show unlike anything I had ever seen.

Lenore had somehow managed to get onto the staff after separating from me and that was where she perched, her wings flare...

Black Sky - Chapter 63

“Wake up…” a voice called out, while a hand gently shook my shoulder, causing consciousness to slowly return. Blinking open my eyes, I was looking into Airah’s smiling face, a smile that I reflexively returned, just before a pair of soft lips descended, kissing me awake. It was, at least for me, the best way to wake up and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

We had been away from Jake’s Place for a few days and our routine had changed quite a bit in those days. Before, we ha...

Chapter 299

For a moment, I felt utterly confused. Instead of the encounter ending with the death of the bolotnisa, it had only been phase one. At the same time, I felt a pressure settle around my mind, pushing inwards to the point that I was only barely able to mentally hold on, my senses shutting down and turning inwards. Thanks to Lenore, I was still able to get an impression of what was going on, albeit only a rough one due to the distance involved, and it looked like my Avatar was surro...

Chapter 298

We waited a little longer in the morning, letting the sun fully rise, even if part of me wondered whether fighting at night would be better. Even days after the new moon, I still gained a nice boost to my powers during night-times, something that might be useful. Sadly, it just wasn’t feasible, even with my low-light vision and affinity for Darkness-magic, I was hindered, to say nothing of Adra, Rai and Sigmir. On the other hand, we had no idea if the bolotnisa would be weakene...

Interlude: Forum - Holding out for a hero

Official Road to Purgatory-Beta Forum

• -Dargira, confirmed Beta-Account

I’ve heard the adage that you should never your heroes, it would only disappoint you. Luckily, there’s an exception to every rule. Enjoy. 

holdingoutforahero.avi

A group of stocky people, everyone clad in metal armour and with weapons in hand move through a swamp, taking care where they step. Around them, the trees look withered an...

Chapter 297

My magic managed to deal with my injured ribs well enough. I would be tender for a while, Blood Magic was very limited when it came to mending bones, but it would have to do. Not for the first time, I wondered if there would be some way to find a real healer, most likely some sort of divine-spellcaster, to join our group. They seemed to have a monopoly on the general purpose healing-magic, able to cure anything, if they had enough power and followed the right god. At the same tim...

Black Sky - Chapter 62

“You were my first, you know?” Airah asked, breaking the silence between us. I felt myself blush at the idea, partially because I had been too drunk to even remember what we did. What if my performance had been so bad that I had spoiled things for her, forever?

Not quite sure how to answer, I simply kept quiet, waiting her out. It didn’t take long for her to speak again, telling me about her childhood. It sounded about as lonely as I had expected, with her Mother the ...

Chapter 296

For a moment, there was a lull in the fighting, Adra was just preparing her next shot, but waiting for me to add my own attack, in an attempt to overcome the water-barrier. For a moment, I considered splitting the group, sending two people around the lake so Adra and I could coordinate our attacks to come from two directions at once. But it would mean that Rai would have to face the shambling crawlers on his own, even with his new strength, his fighting-style was not suited for t...

Black Sky - Chapter 61

I stored the last pack of fresh rations in the galley-cupboard, before pushing myself up, careful not to put too much strength into it, or I’d bounce off the overhead. Airah had helped carry in the large and cumbersome items but she had needed to deal with the paperwork, something I just couldn’t do, leaving me to take care our purchases.

After making sure that nothing had been left behind in the storage-locker, I walked into the cockpit, taking the pilot-seat next to A...

Black Sky - Chapter 60

•  AN: Another of those chapters I'm not sure of. Enjoy anyway. 

By the time I was on my fifth mug of tea, my head felt a lot better. I had even managed to eat some simple rations, the lack of flavour and texture a feature for once, and was now considering what to do. Part of me wanted to bury my head in the sand, hoping that Airah would simply forget about what happened, maybe think it was a dream but the idea seemed just wrong. It would be the coward’s w...

Chapter 295

With the introduction of Will-o-Wisps, we had decided to make sure we could easily handle them before pushing deeper towards the center. Partially because we gained a lot of EXP, partially because Lenore munched on them as if they were tasty afternoon snacks, partially because each Will-o-Wisp was counted as four Shambling Crawlers by the System and partially because we wanted to make sure that there were no surprises hidden, if whatever was deeper forced us to retreat. Over the ...

Chapter 294

Once more, into the mud.

That was my first thought, looking upon the misty swamp in front of us, unchanged from the state we had left it, just two days earlier. We, on the other hand, were rested and in high spirits, planning to finally push deeper, not just roam the outskirts, hunting undead and killing them for experience. It had allowed us a massive boost in power and level but the amount we gained now, with some fifteen level on the strongest undead, was just not worth ...

Black Sky - Chapter 59

Slowly, my consciousness started to return, bringing with it a splitting headache. I didn’t even want to open my eyes, afraid that the light would make things worse. When I tried to swallow, my mouth was completely parched with a vile taste lingering in it.

With a little more of my mental faculties awoken, I realised that something was missing, something I normally had around me at almost all times, my ship-suit, or really, any piece of clothing. There was a strange feeli...

Chapter 293

“Could you show me that again?” I asked Rai, trying to figure out what I had just seen. 

“Sure.” he nodded and, just like he had a moment earlier, cloaked his figure in dark, impenetrable shadow before it split into two, both moving away from the spot he had been in. Even with Lenore’s sight, it was almost impossible to discern which figure was the real one, the coat of darkness-magic hiding what was beneath.

It was our day off and I had asked Rai to sh...

Black Sky - Chapter 58

I tried to focus on the surroundings, to keep an eye out for trouble, even as Airah pulled me along. Somehow, speaking of a new name and a new identity had brought back the feelings I had right after leaving Celraph, the feeling of loss and confusion. I had thought that I had dealt with those feelings, that I had accepted the fact that my life had irrevocably changed the moment I had saved Airah but apparently not.

Not even the impressive and exotic environment was enough t...

Chapter 292

“This is a good spot.” Adra declared, observing the clearing she had found. Looking around, I had to agree, it was a nice place. A small, bubbling brook, not coming out of the swamp and clean of the strange corruption it was spreading, was flowing nearby, giving us fresh water and a spot to wash up. In addition, the blossoming plants all around filled the area with a fresh smell, as insects were buzzing all around. Idyllic was the first word my mind wanted to use to describe ...

Black Sky - Chapter 57

My first expression of a smuggler-habitat was incredibly mundane and boring. The flexible airlock was a little interesting, obviously designed to allow a variety of different ship-types to dock without problem but other than that, it might have been a random outpost in the Federation. There were a few, obvious cameras in the airlock and after a short walk through the lock, we could enter the habitat’s proper. Again, the only thing that stood out was that nobody had bothered wit...

Chapter 291

Looking at my character-screen made me smile in delight. The last week had been a gruesome grind, but it had been worth it. After being forced to retreat by the first encounter we had with the undead of the swamp, we had healed up and tried again, without much more success. Within five minutes of entering the swamp, another group of shambling crawlers had tried to ambush us, with a similar result. At first, I had been annoyed by their attacks until I reached level sixty-nine afte...

Black Sky - Chapter 56

Once again, Airah and I were sitting together in the cockpit, keeping an eye on the instruments. For a little over three days, we had been travelling through this star-system, following way-points Airah calculated from orbital elements in the database of the Tyton. Looking at them, I could make an inference that the habitat we were going to was based somewhere in the orbit of the gas-giant with many moons, which made sense. If you wanted to hide a needle, a haystack was a good pl...

Interlude: Interview

• AN:  Surprise Mass-Release. Enjoy

“Good afternoon, and welcome to Games Talk on GNN, with Jill Ankerton. Today, I have a very special guest with me, please welcome Leymar the mesmerizing rogue of Team Amarantine.” the popular host on the Gaming News Network greets the camera and sounds of applause reach the viewer. On the set, in front of a screen showing various scenes from Craft of War are two comfortable armchairs, one with the host, the other empty. Wit...

Chapter 290

From the outside, the swamp was looking strangely peaceful, at least as long as I wasn’t using Lenore’s sight. We had spent an hour in the morning with the dwarves, with me putting the finishing touches to my frozen Cottage and setting it as a respawn-point before heading out to the swamp. Now, the mid-morning sun was just visible above the mountains to the east of us, trying to burn away the mist lingering above the swamp. We considered waiting for the sun to do its job but ...

Chapter 289

Once I had an agreement with the Thane, the conversation shifted back to the dwarves and into dwarven, making me a passive observer. They made a plan that Helmaic would lead his man back to their town, while Gwynlyn, with a small group of guards, would remain at this place to escort my group and me back to the Ashenforge, as their home was called. It was interesting that Gwynlyn would remain behind, despite the wounded amongst the dwarves, but maybe they wanted the group staying ...

Chapter 288

There was a moment of hesitation before Gwynlyn placed the bowl she had carried with her on the table. I was able to get a good look and was intrigued. What had looked like a normal, earthenware bowl from the outside was inlaid with golden runes, all around the rim, forming a circle. When I looked closer, I realised that I knew most of the runes, some well, some not so much. They were very similar, almost identical, to the runes I had used quite a long time ago when I had taken t...

Chapter 287

After a moment of contemplation and looking up, at the dark sky, Dargira’s voice broke the silence, shaking me out of my memories.

“Honestly, it was more than just Amarantine. Sure, they are a part of it but it feels like half the popular streamers are now playing Road to Purgatory. Even quite a few pros have admitted that they are looking into it and will be part of the beta at some point.” she said and I felt as if a lightbulb went off in my head. 

“Tha...

Black Sky - Chapter 55

Part of me had expected that we’d be accosted by pirates, bounty hunters and similar troubles on every step of the way, getting to the habitat where Airah said I’d get a new identity. The reality was, as often the case, much more mundane, which I rationally should have expected. The truth, at least according to Airah, was that the fringe of the federation and the space between the stellar powers was a lot less wild than I’d have thought. Oh, there was no official law out th...

Chapter 286

Looking at the small cottage I had just created, I nodded in satisfaction. It looked quite solid, but I could do better. I still felt a connection to the ice I had created, allowing me to manipulate a little more. It took some focus, but I was able to turn most of the ice opaque, with a couple of panes turning nicely clear, like windows.

Walking inside, I added a nice chair for each of us, the others would need to cushion theirs against the cold ice, but I was happy sitting...

Black Sky - Chapter 54

Part of me was curious if the pirates behind me had twigged on what I was up to. It didn’t look like it, making me wonder just what they thought I was planning. I had slightly altered our vector while speeding up, but not enough to allow us to escape. The new vector carried us near a small asteroid but any idea one might have from popular fiction that hiding behind an asteroid was possible, would have to think again. Well, it was possible but it wouldn’t help in this scenario...