We continued on our way for a few hours, when Lenore returned and went straight into her Hallow. She reported that she had been unable to get a good idea how many wolves there were, but was guessing that the answer was, a lot of them. According to her, the best chance to get to terrain that we could use to our advantage was to head towards the northern end of the mountain-range and looking there.
If we hurried, we would be able to get there tomorrow, so we would have to dri...
2019-03-22 17:01:01 +0000 UTC
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Over the next few days we continued our travels east, using the mounts with Sigmir and me running alternately. I still wanted to make Adra give me a ride, but the glare she had given me when I suggested it the first evening had suggested that it would not happen, unless there was a life-threatening situation. And maybe not even then.
During our travels, we tried to keep our dried supplies as high as possible, mostly by asking Adra or Sigmir to go hunting during the ev...
2019-03-20 17:00:03 +0000 UTC
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My lesson with Rai continued for a while longer, touching upon a few ideas I wanted to impart into him. A big one was that anything could be used in combat. If I threw a pretty flower at my opponent, distracting him for a moment and I used that moment to attack and kill him, then the pretty flower had been a lethal weapon. He needed to learn to not only focus on his opponent but also everything around him. It was that lack of awareness that had led to both of his injuries against...
2019-03-18 17:00:03 +0000 UTC
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As I watched Rai take off towards the cursed hunters, I wondered if he would pass my impromptu test.
“You want him to kill those four, don’t you? Even if they are people he’s known all his life?” Adra asked with a slight frown.
“Yes. Once they attack with intent to harm us, they are no longer friends, neighbors or even people. They are enemies to be killed.” I answered while watching Rai disappear from my sight.
“She’s right. I shoul...
2019-03-15 17:01:01 +0000 UTC
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AN: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental
“Good Afternoon. This is Jill Ankerton and today, we have a special treat for you gaming fans out there. I am honoured to moderate a panel-discussion about the future of gamin...
2019-03-13 17:01:01 +0000 UTC
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Our time in Adernas was heading towards its end. Yuka had finished the blades for Rai and Giro was done with the leather armour for Sigmir and me. I had watched Kallik and Tulak, to make sure that they did not try anything while we were in town, or worse, gave information to the Jonari, but neither of them seemed to be interested in open conflict with Adra, Sigmir and me. Tulak gave me the impression of a coward, the few times I talked with him, but Kallik might become a problem....
2019-03-11 17:01:00 +0000 UTC
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A few days after we had returned to Adrenas, the moon was once again full, shining high up in the sky. To me, that meant my Ice-Magic was greatly strengthened and I planned to remake my Frozen Butterfly Wings, I had learned a lot about the magic and my abilities had grown since I’d originally made them. Hopefully, I would be able to create a better item than before.
I told Sigmir about it and she agreed to watch over me, if I wanted to do the creation right, I would be co...
2019-03-08 17:00:03 +0000 UTC
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The next few days, we stayed in Adernas and made plans to go forward. But not all plans were well-received, the evening after the demonstration for Giro, he had formally asked me to take on Rai as my disciple. It was mostly for show, as I had already accepted him, but he did it in full view of his wife. For a moment, I wondered if we were all going to die when the mother wolf started to defend her cub. But Rai proved his mettle, by standing up and calmly explaining to his mother ...
2019-03-06 17:00:04 +0000 UTC
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After Rai had his outburst, Giro was looking pensive. I hoped that he would accept his son’s decision, so everything remained in harmony because, if he rejected it, I would still let Rai accompany us, as I had given my word. And if I denied Giro’s outlook, things in Adneras would get tense, even if I doubted that there would be bloodshed, which would make the whole idea of Rai going with us to avoid conflict, meaningless.
He took a few moments, staring into empty air, b...
2019-03-04 17:00:06 +0000 UTC
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At my question, Giro looked as if someone had punched him into the gut and heavily sat down. Yuka was scowling in distaste but joined us nonetheless.
“It’s old business. I thought it was long over, over and forgotten.” Giro started. “The chief of Adernas is simply the first amongst the elders, the one who voices their consensus and can act as a tie-breaker. My father was highly respected and a great warrior and hunter. It is because of him that I am the chief but I...
2019-03-01 17:00:05 +0000 UTC
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Rai let his mother continue her fussing for a few minutes, before he realised that she was not winding down and broke in.
“Mother, you are being rude. Let me introduce the people who kept me alive the last few days. I doubt that I could have managed without them. Meet Sigmir, Adra and Morgana, each of them a formidable being in their own right.” We all gave a polite nod to our hostess. We had spent a night here, but nobody had ever bothered to introduce us. <...
2019-02-27 17:00:03 +0000 UTC
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We reached Adernas around midday but did not enter until late afternoon. My paranoia was acting up, so only Adra and I entered the town proper, while the others stayed back, due to a bit of uncertainty with Rai’s banishment. The only thing Giro had said was that Rai was no longer welcome after the New Moon, an event that happened almost two weeks ago, so I had proposed that two of us went ahead and ascertained things. I doubted that it was some sort of trap, using the banishmen...
2019-02-25 17:00:04 +0000 UTC
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Over the next couple of days, we made our way back towards Adernas, actively looking for groups of nymphs and dryads on the way and happening upon two more groups. Both were small and easily dealt with, when we changed our approach a little, sending Adra off to the side before the encounter and letting her strike into the other groups flank, once they engaged with the rest of us. My own first strikes worked out well, to the point that I started using two icicles at once, wi...
2019-02-22 17:01:01 +0000 UTC
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As we moved on, after the fight, I was considered the relative trouble we had with the fight against a clearly weaker group. Only one of them had crossed the first divide, compared to three of us, and while another was quite a bit higher leveled, I felt that we should have won a lot easier. The obvious reason we had problems was that our usual tactic heavily relied on our first strike, and without that, Adra had been rather useless, due to the fact that firing arrows into a chaot...
2019-02-20 17:01:00 +0000 UTC
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The group we had decided to ambush was consisting of five nymphs and a dryad, the nymphs were all equipped with their standard garb of soft, bark-like armour and a long spear, the dryad had a staff in hand, a staff that was glowing in an eartheren, brown light when I took a look with Lenore’s vision. With a short word to Adra, I designated the dryad as our first target, I was unsure what the deal with the staff was, but I would rather not find out the hard way, so even if it wa...
2019-02-18 17:00:03 +0000 UTC
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We spent the rest of the night below the same tree we had used before, relying on its position and the previous measures to keep us safe. Adra asked to be exempt from keeping watch, as she needed some time to digest the energy she had taken in during the fight, directing it to do what she wanted it to do. I offered Sigmir and Ylva a chance to sleep first and sat down to a silent vigil.
A few steps away, Adra sat in a meditative pose with a strange, white branch in her...
2019-02-15 17:01:01 +0000 UTC
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With the fight over and the remaining nymphs scattered in the winds, I took a moment to look at the notifications I had ignored since entering the valley and there were a lot of them.
- Bound Nymph of Tegi died
- You gain 2500 EXP.
- For killing an opponent without a Traveller in your party, you gain Bonus EXP
- .
- .
- Tegi - Dryad of the G...
2019-02-13 17:01:01 +0000 UTC
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My mind went into overdrive as the blade was whistling towards me, activating bullet time, but there was little I could do to stop it. Even the vines of the Eisblumen-accessory wouldn’t be in time to help, let alone anything else. My magic was currently focused onto something else, even with bullet time, it would be no help. My blades were uselessly held in my dangling hands, my focus had been fully on my magic, ignoring my physical body. Maybe, I would learn what the respawn-m...
2019-02-11 17:01:01 +0000 UTC
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Following Sigmir through the short stretch of trapped forest was rather easy, even with most of my mind focused on the crystals I had placed within. There were five crystals, roughly equally interspersed across the stretch, each floated into place with my Ice Magic
I had done my job right and Sigmir had followed my instructions, allowing us to circumvent the traps, without triggering anything problematic. The others had to make sure I didn’t trip a wire, but I had warned ...
2019-02-08 17:00:03 +0000 UTC
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We had spent the day after Rai and I had scouted the dryad’s defenses resting and experimenting, I wanted to make sure my idea would work, I believed it would, but finding out that it didn’t, right when enemies were trying to kill us, would be a bad thing. So, experimenting was necessary.
During the night, it was time to move. Part of me wanted to wait longer, wait until the moon was full and I got the maximum strength from it, but each day we waited gave Mr. Murphy a c...
2019-02-06 17:00:03 +0000 UTC
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Rai and I spent the night and most of the next morning watching the mouth of the valley harbouring the dryads, taking note of their movements and trying to figure out how their magic-defenses worked. The mundane defenses at the easily traversed regions were tight to the point that I did not see even the slightest chance to circumvent them without a lot of luck, something I was not willing to risk.
On the other hand, the magic-defenses were a lot less sophisticated, at...
2019-02-04 17:01:21 +0000 UTC
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AN: No dalmatians were harmed in the making of this chapter.
Once I had seen the fight, I was quite sure that we had managed to achieve our goal. Both sides were poised for a larger conflict, the Jonari had very good reason to believe that it had been a dryad-party that had attacked and killed their chieftain and the dryads had been attacked by the Jonari on their turf. Adding to that the fact that they had to know that one of their parties had vanished, it wo...
2019-02-01 17:01:05 +0000 UTC
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AN: Chapter 100. Well, kinda. Wooohooooow!
Adra and Sigmir quickly woke up, once I started shaking them, Rai needed a moment to realise just where he was. As soon as he realised that during the night, Adra had imitated an octopus and wrapped herself around him, as if he was a hug-pillow, he could not get out of bet quick enough, blushing all the way. I shared an amused look with Sigmir, but both of us were aware that teasing the two of them would have to wait u...
2019-01-30 17:00:03 +0000 UTC
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During dinner, Rai was rather quiet but both Adra and SIgmir told their own stories, trying to help his mood. Especially Adra’s story was similar in some ways, she had made mistakes when she was on her own and ended up in rather big trouble. I was grateful that she never truly explained just where and from whom we had saved her, just explaining the overall circumstances. There was no need to give him the information that, in a roundabout way, we had caused their problems with t...
2019-01-28 17:01:01 +0000 UTC
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I almost wanted to ask who he was and what he had done to Rai, I was that surprised. After we had saved him for the first time, he had acted as if he was entitled to it and the world revolved around him. Now, in a situation that he easily could have blamed on us, he turned courteous and grateful? Something had prompted a massive change in him, but I was unsure what. If it was the torture, maybe I should keep it in mind, a way to unspoil brats would be useful to be aware of. ...
2019-01-25 17:00:03 +0000 UTC
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As most of you probably have realised, I write Jaded Life exclusivly in first-person, from Samantha's Point-Of-View, with the sole exception the Interludes which are watched by her, as it is described by me, so all information given in those, Samantha knows as well.
At the moment, I'm thinking about writing a few chapters from the point of view from other Characters, for example a chapter from Sigmir's point of view before and shortly after she met Samantha, or a similar chapter f...
2019-01-24 23:33:08 +0000 UTC
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With the defeat of the hunter that was rushing in, I had a little extra time to make sure that Rai would not die in the next minutes. It would be a shame to lose out on the quest he was involved with. And there was a small, nagging voice in my head, reminding me that at least some of his wounds were because of his association with Sigmir and me.
“Are you severely wounded anywhere or just the superficial cuts and probably bruises?” I asked, bending down to pull him...
2019-01-23 17:00:03 +0000 UTC
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Seeing Jongarn in the dim torchlight, I tried to meld deeper into the shadows, hiding myself from him. Luckily, his gaze had been fixed on Rai, ignoring the entrance so I had not been discovered. In the shadows, I froze, asking Lenore to tell Adra and Sigmir to wait with their attack. I was not certain about Jongarn’s combat prowess, so a frontal assault was not appealing. The only estimation I could use was Sigmir and that was a sobering thought. Sure, she had told me th...
2019-01-21 17:00:04 +0000 UTC
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There was a strange lightness to my steps, as I moved through the forest, sneaking up on the two guards at the entrance of the gorge we had left Rai in. It was as if my legs did not have to carry as much weight as they were used to, but at the same time they were weaker, less substantial. The feeling was slightly discombobulating, forcing me to step carefully, to keep my balance. That forced me to slow down and step carefully, which in turn gave me time to check each step for loo...
2019-01-18 17:01:00 +0000 UTC
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After waking up Adra, it was time to break camp. We discussed to change the spell we used to evade tracking, as I was now awake again, but decided that it might attract suspicion if we did so. Even if the spell Adra used, a spell she called “Pass without trace” just made it harder to track, not impossible. In a way, that might even be better, letting them think that they were able to track us, just to lead them onto the track of a group of dryads.
“There are horns beh...
2019-01-16 17:35:25 +0000 UTC
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