IrateRapScallion

Chapter 20 (updated)

[I realized that somehow, through all the writing and editing, that I'd somehow forgotten to put one rather small but important part in this chapter.  I've added it in now.]

Looking out at the vast empty clearing and mountainside that was supposed to be Krose, Stragma’s summer city, Arlette Faredin realized with some discomfort that this whole “disappearing metropolis” thing was beginning to feel rather banal.  At least this time more than just a crater re...

Chapter 19

Arlette Faredin grabbed hold of the side of the wagon as one wheel hit a large rock and the entire side lurched precariously into the air before smashing back down with a massive crash.  She readjusted her makeshift shield, really nothing more than the top of a broken barrel, getting ready to block as many of the incoming projectiles as possible.  She batted away a stone the size of her fist, then dropped to the floor to avoid the spike of ice flying in just behind it.  The icicle...

Chapter 18

“Morning Leo, how goes running the country and all that?” Blake asked as he put down his latest project, a small worm-like robot about the diameter of his fist that he’d been working on to drill small underground passageways for his upcoming sewer systems, and turned to the man standing in the doorway to his workshop.  He made sure to express a welcoming tone, since his mask hid the warm smile on his face.  Leo Feldmanis was the greatest thing that had ever happened to him.  ...

I am not an artist...

...but here's a map.  Sorry for the lack of updates, there was a family emergency that overlapped with my editor moving, so things got pushed back suddenly.  On the plus side, several chapters will be coming your way faster than normal because I have a backlog now.

Anyway, this is a recreation of the map I made when I first planned out the overall world and plot.  I thought it might help hold you all over for a little until I can get the next chapter edited and rewritten.  ...

Chapter 17

Three hundred and twenty eight.  That was how many stones made up the walls of Leo Feldmanis’s home.  He would know; he’d counted them hundreds of times.  There wasn’t much else to do when you spent your every day in an Otharian prison.  Each day blurred into the next, the passage of time told only though the movement of shadows and the arrival of the occasional meal.  The ex-Voice had no idea how many years had transpired since the start of his incarceration. &nbs...

Chapter 16

Small metallic blades spun about miniature rotors, slowly gaining momentum until they whirled about their axes faster than the eye could see.  Slowly, unsteadily, the drone rose into the air, stabilizing itself using all four propellers and then climbing into the night sky.  There it hovered, twenty feet above Blake’s head, correcting itself against the wind using its autopilot routines.

Blake watched the energy flow from one of the three crystals stored in the central fuselage out...

Chapter 15

“Samanta, can you make sure the items on this list are all properly packed in the second wagon?  We need to make sure it’s all ready to deliver as soon as we arrive at Nont.”

“Okay, Daddy!”

“Honey, have her brother do it.  We must not have problems with this shipment.”

“Maritha, have some faith in our child.  If she can’t at least read a ledger and count after ten years of being raised by merchants, then we would be the worst parents in the world. &...

Chapter 14

Arlette Faredin ambled down the well-maintained desert road, lost in thought.  Harsh winds beat against the wrappings covering all of her face save a small gap for her eyes.  Such weather was commonplace as one neared Begale, the area’s sandy dunes doing little to slow down the powerful gusts as they battered her body and screamed into her ears.  It was enough to give anybody a headache, but Arlette’s head already hurt for other far more significant reasons.

In between gusts...

Chapter 13

“We made it?” Sofie gasped with disbelief as the group looked down upon the rocky wasteland known as the Deadlands, the border between Kutrad and Eterium.  “We made it!  Oh thank god, we made it.”  Tears of relief began to drip from her eyes.

It had taken another seventeen days of travel, several battles, and one very unlucky run-in with local wildlife, but they had finally made their way out of that accursed country.  Against all expectations, their initial plan to...

Chapter 12

“No!  Wrong!  What did I just tell you?”

“Stab upward instead of downward.”

“That’s right.  If you stab downward, the only force you get is from your arms.  Stabbing upwards allows you to power the strike using your entire body, straight into the heart.  Now try again.”

“...okay...”

Arlette Faredin rubbed her forehead as her hapless subject attempted the saddest attack on a tree trunk in history, the girl’s hands fumbling and limbs...

Making a change to the $3 tier.

After looking at how other people do it, and looking at how I work, I have decided to change the $3 tier to be one chapter ahead of the public chapters.  This way, instead of posting a chapter and then having to wait to put it up elsewhere, I can post a chapter here and then immediately post the previous on RoyalRoad.  Given that I have a backlog atm because DemiImp went to Mexico over the holidays, this actually means a few chapters will be posted sooner.  Nobody is a patron of t...

Chapter 11

Arlette Faredin stared out into the forest, keeping watch in the darkness for threats of every sort.  Danger could come in many forms, emerging out of the blackness without warning.  There were the bounty hunters, of course.  Arlette wasn't expecting to see any of them tonight — they were likely still tearing the town apart looking for the three mercenaries.  The hunters would catch on quick enough, though.  Arlette and company had ditched the road rather soon after es...

We're live!

Hey everybody!  Thanks for checking out my page!  Chapter 11 will be posted here in the next few days and three days later on RR.  I'm working hard to write more as fast as I can but various other temporary concerns are taking up lots of my time.  Moving sucks.  Things will pick up soon enough.