Omnixius

DKP 9-10 Not where you belong

` Gersius stood in an open field looking at the mountains on the distant horizon. Somewhere in those cold peaks was an army of his enemy waiting to strike at his empire. Through a supreme act of recklessness, Lilly had discovered the truth that they were closer to the keeps, planning to strike from behind. If she was right, that attack was coming soon, and the war was about to take on a whole new level of bloodshed.

He searched that distant land, hoping to find them and draw that army i...

HTN 6-28 The danger of secrets

“This is neat!” Quinny said as they stood in the hall, looking at the doors that linked every home. “We are all living in the same space now.”

“It does feel odd,” Breanne agreed as she studied the hall, taking in ornate statues and several fierce-looking tiger men standing guard. “Rajeen wants us all to treat her inn as part of our lairs.

“We should go see the harem,” Quinny suggested.

“Is that what interests you most?” Breanne asked with a roll of her ...

DKP 9-9 A very different culture

Lilly found it difficult to enter the dream and struggled to remain asleep. She no longer felt safe closing her eyes as the Doan wise ones kept her under close watch. When she was finally able to enter the dream, she was surprised to find Ayawa waiting.

“Lilly, I was afraid something had happened to you,” Ayawa said in a rush as her hairstyle changed. It was her lack of focus that was causing the changes to match her emotions.

“It's hard to sleep,” Lilly sighed. “I have ...

HTN 6-27 One big family

“Sneak. Sneak. Sneak,” Heather said as Frank rolled his eyes. For the past two days, the woman had been practicing being a rogue and was nearly constantly invisible. Now she was playing with him by whispering the word sneak whenever she was nearby, causing him to wonder if rogue was a good choice.

“You do remember I can still see you,” Frank replied as they turned to stare into her eyes as she hung from the ceiling.

“You wanted me to embrace the world and what it had to ...

DKP 9-8 A warriors heart

Alayse led a reckless charge across the countryside, pushing man and animal to the breaking point. The discovery that the Doan were planning to step up their attacks and hit the village of Dullan that night sent chills down her spine. She had rushed back to her advancing army and collected enough women to form a strike force of a hundred strong. This force was pressed into her mad dash to rescue the seekers who might be face-to-face with the Doan. Now she stood in the saddle to get a better v...

HTN 6-26 Technomancy

“Why aren’t you working on the mount?” Umtha asked as she looked around the busy workshop. Dozens of her goblin engineers assisted Legeis with several projects, but it didn't seem to be the promised mount.

Legeis was tired of answering that question and didn't want to explain it again. He was more concerned with finding a way to uncover Heather's polymorph effect and gain some answers. He knew Heather was putting on a brave face, focusing on her new city and the relationship with ...

DKP 9-7 Two families, two pains.

“It explains why we can’t find them,” Sarah said with a voice that dripped with anger.

“But this must have taken years to prepare,” Thayle said as she looked at the faces gathered around the table. Ayawa was there with her family, as were leaders from every faith represented in the camps. In addition, dozens of sub-commanders were on hand, as well as representatives of the seekers. Gersius wanted them all to hear Ayawa's report so the entire army could understand just how shoc...

HTN 6-25 Spider rogue

Heather's brilliant plan paid off as Umtha led them to the plant with ease. It took a little time to walk to it as it grew on the stony hills at the base of the mountains. It looked a bit like holly with a much longer leaf and a striking silver tint. The plants were sparse, but Heather had no trouble singing to them, and as expected, the plants began to grow. Minutes later, the slope was covered with them, and they began to pluck hand fulls to stuff in bags.

They took the haul back to t...

DKP 9-6 No honor in peace

Lilly spent the night in her tent, but she didn't sleep at all. Instead, she watched the aura of two nearby women who walked around her tent in wide circles. She realized she was being watched, and the two women were her captors. Despite the promises of the Doan wise ones, the rest of the camp didn't share their opinion of Lilly's presence. To many, she was their enemy and a means to inflict a terrible blow on the empire. Certainly, there were those who would love to slit her throat while she...

HTN 6-24 This is fun?

Heather crept forward with dagger in hand, waiting to strike. A toad, the size of a large pumpkin, stood unaware with its back to her as death approached. Every step had to be placed carefully as she crossed the muddy ground. She finally got into range and activated her dash ability screaming a war cry as she rushed in. The toad looked back as the dagger came rushing down and suddenly spit in her face.

“Arrrgh! Gross!” Heather yelled and danced back, waving her arms.

“I told...

HTN 6-23 Rivals

Frank leaned on the balcony railing as the night sky twinkled over the graveyard. His mind was a storm of mixed emotions, from fear to absolute joy. Behind him were four women soundly asleep in bed, with only Webster's squeaky snores to break the silence. Heather, Breanne, Quinny, and Umtha were side by side, sharing pillows as they slept in the cool night air. He couldn't believe it had come to this, and yet he prayed it never ended. How had he gone from the man not interested in women to th...

DKP 9-4 The shame of truth

Ayawa hurried across the encampment with Gedris holding her hand. She had woken from the dream with Lilly's warning fresh on her mind to only Gedris in their tent. Tavis had been called to a meeting with Gersius and the others just moments before, and the timing couldn't be worse.

“Are you sure it wasn’t just a dream?” Gedris asked as they rushed through the darkness.

“I am sure,” Ayawa replied in a dire voice. “She was at the location we agreed to meet and pleaded wit...

HTN 6-22 No time to change

Frank and Breanne stood in a market square as he added some fanciful trees to a small garden area. The city was almost complete, and players had started coming to his graveyard. The addition of an NPC at the bridge encouraging players to explore the lower tunnels had done wonders. Now players were working hard to find the entrances to these tunnels and plumb the depths. Of course, it helped that the NPC provided players with a rumor that a great treasure was hidden in the depths.

He wan...

DKP 9-3 Warning of things to come

Lilly spoke with the wise ones for an hour while they waited for Valindra to return. She was given some salty biscuits to go with her tea and instructed in the purpose of the wise ones. The Doan were made up of over thirty major clans and a dozen smaller ones. Each clan provided a woman of at least forty summers who was seen as a voice of wisdom. Their true purpose was to deal with conflicts between the clans, which were rather common. Once a woman became a wise one, she was no longer conside...

HTN 6-21 so hard to say sorry

“Why are we doing this?” Umtha asked as she and Heather looked through a narrow crack in a mausoleum.

“Because it's fun,” Heather replied as she watched some of the first players to reach the graveyard kill a few skeletons. A dozen players had arrived in the last couple of days, tentatively exploring the edge of the graveyard. Many were careful about wading too far in and used the bridge as a safe haven to pull monsters to them.

“It looks like they are going to pull from...

DKP 9-2 taking the bait

Gersius wiped his eyes as Sarah flew at terrible speed across a dark sky. He struggled not to tremble as the sensation of his wife grew fainter and fainter over the bind. Thayle sat before him, having an emotional breakdown as she struggled to focus on what needed to be done. The empire took precedence over having Lilly in their arms. She had made her decision and asked them to honor it. If he went after her now, not only was it putting their empire at risk, but he was saying he didn't trust ...

HTN 6-20 Frenemies.

Heather tensed as she looked across the table at the people she had left behind weeks ago. Lydia smiled curtly as if amused by their meeting again, but Frank wasn't at all happy.

“What are you doing here?” he demanded and went right to the side of the table. He leaned on it and glared at the three intruders to ensure they knew he wasn’t happy to see them.

“Your hostility is not warranted,” baron Durmont replied as Frank turned his gaze on the man.

“None of you ar...

DKP 9-1 Among the Enemy

The wind swept the cold plains as a gray sky threatened to rain. It was a reflection of the sorrow felt in the hearts of those gathered. Gersius stood in absolute silence as he read the note Lilly had left on the saddle. He couldn’t believe what it said as his heart filled with sadness.

“This is my fault," Sarah cried as she turned her head away in shame. "She tried to talk to me about this, but I shouted her away."

“We have to go after her,” Thayle said. “She was here l...

HTN 6-19 Old Friends

“Why are you so tense?” Heather asked as she rubbed Frank's shoulders. He sat on a bench in his human form, looking into the park, trying to make sense of how quickly things changed. Hours ago, they had gone swimming, and he found himself in a situation he was not prepared for. Still, Heather was proud of him for warming up to the occasion and eventually joining them in the water. He even took his ghoul form so he could throw them into the air to splash into the water, playing like they w...

DKP 8-35 Please don't follow me

Lilly's heart fluttered as she followed the pack of women as they approached a massive camp of tents. From the advantage of her long neck, she could see the people in the camp had already noticed her. They were gathering by their hundreds to greet them, and she wondered if this was the moment she made her mistake. Gersius had tried to warn her about being so reckless, but this was too good an opportunity to pass up. These women had accepted her and offered to let her speak under their protect...

HTN 6-18 A display of affection

Heather slammed the book closed and rubbed her tired eyes. She had been reading for hours, searching for some clue as to how the necrofidiax was made. She was also hoping to glean something about why her experiments to blend necromancy with technomancy were failing. Unfortunately, all she had found thus far was a hint that undead spirits could be used to animate alternate objects but no information about how.

“This is boring,” Heather groaned, waking Webster from a nap on the couch ...

DKP 8-34 A act of desperation

Lilly sniffed through the aftermath while men dragged away the bodies of their fallen brothers. The Doan had retreated out of sight thanks to Gersius's display of power. Gams felt it was safe to risk men to gather their dead and give them proper burials. This boosted morale, but Lilly didn't feel all that comforted by it. She walked through the area blasted by fire, stirring clouds of ash in her wake.

“All of this because they hate Balisha?” Lilly asked to no one in particular and c...

HTN 6-17 The three witches

Heather rolled over and pulled the covers tighter as she listened to the faint snoring of a spider. She opened one eye to look across the bed and discovered her husband was already up and about. Webster was curled into a ball on a pillow placed on a nearby chair. He wasn't allowed into the bed now that Frank shared it because he insisted on sleeping between them. With a stretch, she rolled to her feet and sat on the edge of the bed, wondering what the day had in store.

There was one tas...

DKP 8-33 Test of our defenses

Lilly stood at the wall looking across the lower plains, trying to see the Doan. Somewhere beyond her sight was an army waiting to crash on these walls and bring ruin to the empire. All around her were men and women of the empire gazing at her in awe. They all knew she was Lilly the ice dragon, first wife of Gersius, High priestess of Balisha, and empress of the dragon empire. They had a reverence for her presence there as it instilled some sense of hope. The hero emperor Gersius had come at ...

HTN 6-16 A mad encounter

“Run!” Heather yelled as they dashed out of the way of a flying metal table. It crashed into the wall just above their heads as she and Umtha tried to get to the door.

“What went wrong?” Umtha asked as they huddled behind a rack of shelves in Legeis’s workshop.

“How should I know?” Heather asked as she dared to peek around the corner. Legeis was in his armor, swinging a massive wrench like a club as he tried to stop the metal monstrosity they had unleashed. It was me...

DKP 8-32 Will she survive?

Gersius stood on a hillock looking at the dark mountains that lined the north. The sky above was gray, with storm clouds casting a somber pall over the landscape. His mind was a storm of conflicted emotions as he struggled to understand Lilly's recent encounter. Once again, Lilly had taken a terrible risk to try and avoid bloodshed, and knowing it chilled his soul. He couldn't fathom how he would go on had she been killed, but one thing was certain. The bloodshed would have been catastrophic ...

HTN 6-15 the work advances

“Are you sure you’re doing this right?” Quinny asked as she, Breanne, and Umtha leaned over Heather’s interface.

“I have never built a city before,” Heather exclaimed and studied the options for the hundredth time. They had been working on this for hours, with all five women struggling over the various details. Everyone had some idea of how it should look, and those opinions started to conflict minutes after they started.

“Maybe it would be easier to create the build...

DKP 8-31 A lack of trust

“Do'an,” Lilly whispered as she understood the slightly different pronunciation of the name. She was shocked that the empire knew so little of these people they weren't even saying their name right. She lifted her head high and tried to look impressive as the women suddenly fell to a knee and bowed their heads.

“Mother of the ancient blood, why have you come to us?” Ithica asked.

Lilly didn't know what to do with this situation or how to respond. She had met people of the ...

HTN 6-14 The foundations are strong

Quinny lay in the sun, stretching her arms as Heather lay beside her on the blanket. They were dressed in thin bikinis to take advantage of the warm glow as two skeletons stood nearby holding trays. One tray was covered with cakes and cookies from the kitchen, the other a pitcher of iced tea to refill their glasses. A gentle breeze blew across the sweeping green, ruffling the rim of Heather’s sun hat as she sipped her tea.

“Shouldn't you be helping?” Quinny asked as she rolled to ...

DKP 8-30 The Do'an

Lilly crossed her blades to catch Tavis's thrust, instantly realizing her mistake. His free sword came under her guard and raced for her belly, forcing her to jump back or be struck. He pressed his advantage, keeping her dancing back as Ayawa looked at Gersius and shook her head.

“You say she has your skill, but her reactions are still slow,” Ayawa stated.

“She knows the moves but doesn't have the experience to put them to use effectively,” Gersius replied. “That is why ...