With a tremulous meow, Komachi took out a shiny new instrument from her Inventory.
When Sam was on death’s door, and stayed that away for a while, she stopped eating. She stopped playing any kind of music.
Not intentionally. She couldn’t help it. Sam was her best friend, and she couldn’t cope with the possibility of him going away for good.
It didn’t make any sense to the cat. She knew about death, to some extent, but Sam? Dying?
That didn...
2024-02-02 04:00:02 +0000 UTC
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The hours went by as Sam went over his skill ups, of which there were plenty. Nearly everything he had used in holding the line between the Dungeon Core and the ghostly crew working on the Mana Engine saw significant growth.
However, the first things that caught his attention were not his skills, but his affinities. They were harder to acquire, and as a result, harder to improve.
It didn’t hurt that they made a rather substantial improvement to any mana, whether it ...
2024-02-01 04:00:04 +0000 UTC
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“My hero,” Sam said, looking up starry-eyed into Kai’s now grumpy face.
“I could drop you off the edge,” he told Sam.
“Yes, you could. But then you’d have to pray really hard that I actually died. And there’s a damn good chance if those monsters didn’t kill me, a little drop wouldn’t either.”
“I’ll stab you, Kai, if you even dare,” Raiko threatened from somewhere behind. She seemed to be especially prickly a...
2024-01-31 04:35:33 +0000 UTC
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Author Note: Voidknight is back, baby! Thanks for your patience and understanding about our two week break. We're all rested up and ready to go full-bore on Voidknight now!
Sam had seen many wondrous and horrible things since coming to Il’dran, but this took the cake. He blinked and tried to rub his eyes, but his arms didn’t want to move. At least he could blink without much pain.
“Uh, are either of you guys seeing this?” Sam ask...
2024-01-30 03:36:29 +0000 UTC
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Sohmer and I loved this one so much we wanted to showcase the full art before we plaster any sort of typography all over it. Unfortunately for the ebook the serpentii won't be visible, but we plan on doing physical editions if the demand is there (or at least privately for ourselves b/c we absolutely adore this book!).
With Voidknight Book 2's impending release in February and Shrubley's first book done, we can now look toward it's future and the release on Amazon.
Later in the we...
2024-01-30 01:00:03 +0000 UTC
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With the second book of Voidknight wrapped up, and Book 3 underway, the 2nd book's Amazon release is coming in roughly a week's time on Feb 2nd.
You can preorder here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CTGQLT8T
We both absolutely love the way the cover came out, Sam in his armor, Raiko, Komachi, and even Sir Chompers the Third all managed to make it onto the cover this time!
2024-01-29 04:00:02 +0000 UTC
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Author Note: Beastborne chapters are now going to be released in 3 chapter bundles weekly on Sunday!
Chapter 48
Durvin was a dwarf on fire.
The rage inside burned with an incandescent heat that Hal was surprised he couldn’t feel.
Aside from some opportunistic monsters-turned-memories, there really wasn’t that much for Hal and Mira to do. They cleaned up what Hal thought of as “adds”, monsters that aren’t the m...
2024-01-28 22:33:36 +0000 UTC
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While Sohmer and I both loved the vibe of the first cover (and we might use it for a physical/hardcover variant) we didn't think it captured the essence of Voidknight as well as this remade version featuring Sam and Komachi in all their epicness.
We hope you like it as much as we do! Later today we'll be sharing the cover for the 2nd Voidknight, coming out in Early February and tomorrow (Monday, January 29th) Voidknight Book 3 will begin posting on Patreon!
2024-01-28 22:14:52 +0000 UTC
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Remal’s graceful dancing had long since been replaced by a drunken stupor. The majority of the serpentii had eventually realized that it was taking too long to kill the Bard and decided to break into the town, anyway.
I kept them away long enough. Please let it be long enough, he thought wearily as another twin point of pain stabbed into his shoulder.
“He will take sssome time to die,” one said to the other. “But he will die. Look at the way the poiss...
2024-01-27 05:00:01 +0000 UTC
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“Not a monster!” Shrubley protested. “I am a Hero!”
Any moment now, the mage would be set free and as much as Rykal was at least a full Rank above Shrubley, Steel was two ranks above Rykal’s strength. And from what little Shrubley knew of ranks, that was roughly six times or more his power. The only way he was able to deal with the adventurers was to trick them.
In a straight fight, the Snake Lord would be defenseless.
The canvas melted, the p...
2024-01-26 05:00:02 +0000 UTC
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“What have you done?” Rykal snapped at the paintings in his study.
They were up to something. He knew it. There was entirely too much silence in the manor for his tastes. The few guards he had posted were sent to scour the grounds for the interlopers.
Clearly, some adventurers had gotten loose and come looking for him. Well, they’d find him all right. And then, if they were lucky, he’d add them to his collection.
No sword, spell, or trickery cou...
2024-01-25 05:00:03 +0000 UTC
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With curious yet shaking hands, Cal opened the creaking mailbox and took the contents from within.
What he found confused him even more. Inside the mailbox was a simple match and a lump of coal tied to a handwritten note. The note was written in vibrant ruby-red ink with a curling copperplate hand.
Witch Hut Warranty:
Congratulations! Your house is covered under our comprehensive Witches, Wizards, and Warlocks warranty. Kindly start ...
2024-01-24 05:00:01 +0000 UTC
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Rykal frowned at the well, then turned his displeasure on a hooded figure in green. “Summon them again!”
Instead of offering excuses, which had gotten the last two recently promoted (then demoted by way of exsanguination) High Priests killed, the robed figure slithered over to the others and began whispering.
The last of the prisoners had been tossed inside hours ago, those odd but humorous cows along with them. And yet the portal wasn’t giving them new family t...
2024-01-23 04:00:00 +0000 UTC
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With the last of the serpentii dealt with, Cal stepped up to the lip of the well. The stone and wood platform that surrounded it was quite a bit cleaner than the one he remembered from the manor.
They had fought so hard to get here, and no one knew for sure that the well would truly work.
It all hinged on the amulet, and then what awaited them on the other side.
“Somebody will have to go first,” Cal said quietly to himself.
Shrubley stepped up onto the...
2024-01-20 04:00:01 +0000 UTC
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Outside the manor, another battle raged.
Those serpentii that hadn’t gone after Shrubley’s group were contending with the bulk of the forces that were left behind to defend Shrubley’s back.
Many of the sick, the young, the old, and the wounded were still huddled inside Cluckley. Which, until now, was the safest place in the entire realm.
Sose watched the Countess, unable to tear his gaze away. She might have been faking it earlier, but his mistress was wel...
2024-01-19 05:00:02 +0000 UTC
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As they approached the manor, Shrubley thought about how often he’d traveled this road recently.
His very first adventure had set him on this road to the farms near the Haalften manor, and his second sent him to the manor proper. Both times, he had been accosted by misguided adventurers.
This time was different.
Nobody was willing to stand up to Cluckley. Without breaking stride, she booted snakes and serpentii hundreds of feet into the air or crushed them int...
2024-01-18 05:00:01 +0000 UTC
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This is bad, the Countess thought, making her way to the unconscious Shrubley. He was the only thing holding these two peoples together. Without him, they’ll start to fight again.
The Countess had grown up through generations of people. Seen their quirky little ways and judged them accordingly.
She had seen parents and grandparents raised from the cradle to the grave. There was very little about humanity that surprised her anymore.
But what s...
2024-01-17 05:00:02 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 47
A young dwarf, barely more than a scrub of fiery red hair on his bulging cheeks, stood firm against a group of five or six heavily armored dwarves. There were human men with them.
That was something Hal didn’t expect.
“That’s me,” Durvin said, stepping up and, to Hal’s surprise, into the memory of his younger self.
The older Durvin disappeared into the younger. He looked over his shoulder at Hal. “I been thinkin’ about this day for a...
2024-01-16 15:30:40 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 46
Behind the screen of trees, the Dungeon entrance loomed. It was a massive skull the size of a house. Little fires flared in its eye sockets, but its wide mouth was open, dark, and inviting.
At least for a certain type of person.
The sort that enjoyed spelunking and diving deep into dangerous territory, hoping for the glint of gold to be revealed by lantern light at the end of a trap-filled hall.
People like Mira, for starters.
And me, Hal th...
2024-01-16 15:29:51 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 45
The days passed quickly after Hal’s display of fiery prowess.
Each [Iron Ingot] was of such high purity that Hal didn’t need to create nearly as many ingots as he did. Exceeding the quality limit for any building material meant a reduced need for that material. But seeing as he took it as both an opportunity to train his Copper Sigils and his Dragonfire, Hal was more than happy to be used as a one-man furnace.
Ashera got her [Mythril Frypan] and McDervish go...
2024-01-16 15:29:21 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 44
True to their word, it only took ten minutes to get everything set up. Hal managed to find something to eat in that time and waited patiently while the dwarves were setting up long complicated troughs of sand and precisely cut holes and lines in the oddly dark mixture.
Hal knew enough about metal to know that you couldn’t just throw some ore on a fire and hope they’ll melt.
After that, however, he was out of his depth.
There was something he remembered...
2024-01-16 15:28:30 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 43
Though it had been Hal’s intention to find Athagan and Bardan first thing in the morning, it was actually Ashera who found him.
“Hal,” she said, looking more disheveled than he could ever remember her of late. “I have a favor to ask. A big one.”
Checking the buckle for his sword, Hal motioned her to lead on as they walked out from his cottage and into the burgeoning settlement of Brightsong. Where the grass hadn’t been flattened into a beate...
2024-01-16 15:27:45 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 42
Hal looked around, realizing that while he had let his feet do the walking, his mind hadn’t paid the least bit of attention. They had walked out of the gates and away from Brightsong. Far enough that they were almost at the exact spot where Hal and fought the dragons.
The chewed-up earth of the clearing was just ahead through the trees.
“Do you want me to?” Hal asked her.
She drummed her fingers against the outside of her thigh. “I might have said ...
2024-01-16 15:27:06 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 41
The pair of Beastbornes were still walking along the inner circumference of the wall that kept the rest of the valley apart from the settlement.
Hal looked over at the longhouses, most of which were already up. One stood out like a half-made skeleton, a dark prow of timbers standing against the starlit night.
The dwarves were making good progress on the longhouses. Those were needed to keep people housed and safe before the snow came. With that new guy, what was...
2024-01-16 15:26:01 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 40
That night, Hal lay in bed, unable to sleep. Noth was hogging his arm, using it instead of her pillow. He slowly, and with great care, managed to slide his arm out from beneath her and put her head upon the much softer pillow.
Rubbing some life back into his arm, he wondered about how his higher Vitality still didn’t seem to do anything about losing feeling in a limb when it was immobilized for so long.
Slipping out of bed, Hal tucked Noth in, got dressed, and...
2024-01-16 15:25:21 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 39
Hidden Quest Complete: Mercy Me
Against your better judgment and those of your peers, you have chosen the path of mercy and forgiveness for those that had wronged you. However, you understand that their actions were not entirely their own. A soldier may be blamed for their actions, but that goes double for the one giving the orders. You understand that by turning the Kinslayers to your allies, you have struck a more grievous blow to Rinbast than if you ha...
2024-01-16 15:24:01 +0000 UTC
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Author Note: Beastborne is back! I plan on releasing more than the usual chapters as well instead of the slower drip it's been recently. This is partially to catch up to where I wanted to be, and to pay back the debt of Dec not having any chapters. I'm tentatively aiming for a launch window in the next couple of months depending on how other projects go. So far Q1 2024 is looking to be pretty full.
A note a...
2024-01-16 15:23:22 +0000 UTC
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“Do you hear that?” Cal asked, cocking his head to the side as they neared Taamra.
Nobody was pleased by the news that they would be traveling near the mirror realm’s version of Taamra. It had been crawling–or rather, slithering–with serpentii before and they had only just barely managed to survive escaping.
Even the catacombs, heavily warded and protected as they were, had been breached. They were chased out into the hills and forests surrounding the town. ...
2024-01-16 05:00:02 +0000 UTC
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Lord Rykal stood on the balcony of the Haalften Manor in his evening dress, his hair oiled and slicked back with a prominent V-shaped widow’s peak courtesy of a little paint.
How he hated the disguise! But people expected it. Everybody knew that the Haalftens were vampyrs, but nobody really cared.
“Oh, them? They’ve been vampyrs afore I was born!” They would say. When asked if they wanted to call in the Guild to deal with them, they’d say stupid pea...
2024-01-13 04:00:01 +0000 UTC
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I've mentioned it before, but after every novel is complete we'll be taking a short break to rest up, recharge, and decide what we'll be doing next. To be completely honest, I never originally intended to have 2-3 series on a single Patreon. And even with 2 authors, posting here, RR, and continuing to keep on top of writing not just Voidknight, but Shrubley, Scale & Sea, Beastborne, and various other projects we're stretched thin as it is.
And though it pains me to say, the support ...
2024-01-13 02:00:02 +0000 UTC
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