Pulled from a hopeless (if powerful) future back to the moment of Earth’s integration to try to improve the outcome, Serenity has met unexpected threats and unexpected allies - even friends. Everything is different this time.
It’s been six weeks since the first Tutorial.
It’s been one success after another; humans have discovered how to find portals and even found out that they can use the same technology to locate large-scale spells. The Sterath in Washington, DC have been ...
2022-05-02 23:26:57 +0000 UTC
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Author’s Commentary on Finding Convictions
Did you know that GDocs has a file size and character limit?
Well, I found it for this Arc. For some reason it didn’t kick in until a few chapters from the end, but I ended up having to move somewhere between a third and half the arc to another gdoc to get it to stop complaining at me.
Which takes me to the first comment on the arc: It was long. Very long. Longer than any of the arcs before it and longer than I want to ...
2022-05-02 23:24:54 +0000 UTC
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Given how much of a pain posting Serenity's ability list is on Patreon (no tables), I'm trying something different. Please let me know if you think it worked or failed (or ignore it if you don't care, that's fine too).
If this works, I'm debating moving them out of the table entirely, for RR as well as Patreon. The Status panels will be staying in the tables, but they're much easier to deal with.
General
2022-05-02 23:21:01 +0000 UTC
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Character List of Finding Convictions
This list includes people mentioned in all Arcs to date.
It does not include people with only a single mention or the “people” from the Story Dungeon; they are specifically for that Story. If I missed anyone more important than that (I often do), please let me know in the comments.
Agent Price - Agent of an unknown agency, currently planted in the staff for the portal detect...
2022-05-02 23:10:47 +0000 UTC
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“Ellie’s Place?” Serenity stared at Janice. “We’ve already had dinner, and I’m trying to keep Ita’s presence quiet for her safety.”
Janice sighed. “Ellie’s has excellent desserts. You don’t have to have dinner if you aren’t hungry. This is part of the plan to leak Ita’s presence; they have a private entrance to the private room; that’s why I scheduled it so late tonight.” When Serenity’s doubtful expression didn’t change, J...
2022-05-01 22:54:32 +0000 UTC
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Timing was everything for the plan Ita proposed. It might work or it might not, but the sooner he started the more likely it was to work.
It was all going to hinge on Serenity’s acting ability, wasn’t it? And he couldn’t act worth a damn. On the other hand, all he had to pretend to be was a Shameful One, and he definitely didn’t follow the Sterath Path of Honor. Maybe it wouldn’t be as hard as he was afraid it was going to be.
“Rissa, yo...
2022-04-30 23:06:00 +0000 UTC
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One of the SWAT team members was keeping a lookout. His eyes widened at the sight of Serenity, but Rissa put her finger over her lips and winked and he stayed silent.
Most of the others were watching the card game, even Ita. Serenity hadn’t realized she’d gotten out of the van until he saw here there, but he knew the others were aware of her presence. He’d made sure to introduce her so that no one would think she was on the other side.
“I...
2022-04-30 23:01:01 +0000 UTC
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Tranquil Conviction loomed over the defenseless BattleLord. “Not the fight I was expecting, nor the winner I thought it would have. Unless … who are you?”
:SERENITY! WAKE UP!: The shouting in the back of the former BattleLord’s mind shook him. It was … it was talking to him.
And using a name other than FlameHeart. A Name that sounded right, somehow. FlameHeart still sounded wrong.
So he replied to the Shameful One using the Name that ...
2022-04-29 21:13:16 +0000 UTC
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“BattleLord?” The aide’s words echoed in BattleLord FlameHeart’s aching head as he picked himself up off the floor.
“I’m fine,” he grated out. Nothing back here seemed damaged. “Go back to what you were doing.” The last thing he needed was to deal with his aide when he felt this poorly.
What had just happened? He remembered calling on Tranquil Conviction, but all he’d gotten was a cryptic remark followed by darkness overtaking him...
2022-04-28 21:24:00 +0000 UTC
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Serenity stayed as still as he could in the shadows. Tranquil Conviction knew he was here, and that was completely unexpected.
As he waited, Serenity watched the BattleLord. Either he was a better actor than Serenity expected a warrior to be or he had no idea Serenity was here, even though Tranquil Conviction spoke directly to Serenity.
Was he not helping his own side?
Serenity knew that gods weren’t always helpful; that was one of the reasons...
2022-04-27 23:17:48 +0000 UTC
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They started earlier the next day. No one wanted to end up running into something as bad as temporarily taking a Metro station down at rush hour again, and the best way to prevent that was to find the rest of the locations before the end of the day.
Serenity hoped that they’d be able to capture someone who would cooperate. Records would be at least as important - that was probably how they’d actually find people - but someone who could order groups t...
2022-04-26 23:00:02 +0000 UTC
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[Global Quest: Permanently deal with all Invasion Portals and remove the threat of the invaders]
[Quest Status: 32/512]
Serenity frowned. The number of portals closed hadn’t gone up when he closed the portal. That had to mean that the Voice wasn’t counting the Sterath invasion as complete. At a guess, he’d have to at least deal with the BattleLord. Serenity hoped that was all there was to it; if he had to actua...
2022-04-25 22:53:28 +0000 UTC
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Serenity slipped through the Metro building, moving from shadow to shadow unnoticed. He could feel the invasion portal in the distance, though without stopping to concentrate, all he got was a rough feeling that something of significant magic was nearby. With concentration, he could get the direction and something of the distance.
So far, he hadn’t seen anything other than humans; the evacuation of the Metro station had started and there were more peop...
2022-04-24 23:01:00 +0000 UTC
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The escort turned out to be a SWAT team. They weren’t there to fight, supposedly; they were there to guard the two civilians.
Serenity didn’t ask why it was police instead of military; he already knew that the answer had to be politics, and he didn’t want to get involved in that.
It meant there was a caravan of vehicles making their way through the streets, searching for the source of the signal. It was a boring morning, which Serenity spent l...
2022-04-23 22:53:14 +0000 UTC
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BREAKING NEWS: Three blocks have been evacuated around an apartment building in Washington DC this morning after a terrorist threat against the President was traced to the building!
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BattleLord FlameHeart stared at the message from his subLord. “Can allow no further assistance”? He hadn’t sent any. He hadn’t even sent as much as he’d committed to before the attack began.
“Consider when the time to cut your losses an...
2022-04-23 22:51:11 +0000 UTC
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The fight downstairs had spread into the entire front porch once one of the Sterath had the bright idea of going through a window. Unfortunately for them, that didn’t really matter; Ita didn’t really have good direct attack spells, but what she had was perfect for the situation: she reflected Katya’s armor onto Rissa. It was a channeled spell; she had to concentrate on it to hold it in place. It was completely worth it.
With Katya’s excellent armo...
2022-04-22 22:55:58 +0000 UTC
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The Sterath were already alerted, and the second house - the one with the child - was quite a distance from the fifth house. That meant there was no reason not to call for help for the Sterath child. Serenity debated how best to handle it and decided that it would be best if he worked through Lieutenant Smith.
Call Lieutenant Smith
Three rings later, Serenity heard the answer. “Smith.” This time there wasn’t a lot of noise on the othe...
2022-04-21 22:49:12 +0000 UTC
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With the first house taken care of, there were still five left to clear. The same approach wouldn’t work on the next house, even though it was fairly obvious they hadn’t been alerted yet; not only was the house not abandoned, they’d have to approach from the house they’d just taken care of instead of crossing a field to get to the door.
Like the first house, there were three entrances to worry about - the front, the back, and the garage. Only one...
2022-04-20 22:55:00 +0000 UTC
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“Rissa?” Serenity frowned. “What didn’t you expect to work?”
“It’s - my Path. I finally figured out how to use one of the skills. And that seems to have pushed me to the end of the Path?” Rissa shook her head. “It’s all about timing and making things line up together and - I’m explaining it poorly. Um. I’m going to pick a more combat-y Path while you clear out the rest of the house?”
Was that all it was. It must be a very spe...
2022-04-19 22:56:02 +0000 UTC
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It was a group of houses set along the river. They were large, but looked like they’d seen better days; two of them looked like they’d been abandoned for a while, while the other four seemed to be in better shape. From what Serenity had seen, they were all completely filled with Sterath, possibly as many as the gym, but the houses didn’t have the large rooms of the gym.
Two of them seemed to have been cut up into multiple smaller apartments at some...
2022-04-18 23:06:32 +0000 UTC
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Ita was cheerful and bright, but she still seemed tired. Serenity frowned; a Path Skill wouldn’t take that much energy out of you; it limited itself to mana, and at low Tiers, you were fine with low mana.
Well, except for Serenity himself; he already knew he wasn’t fine at low mana.
Cast magic also didn’t allow enough control of a spell to deliberately exhaust yourself, though it could happen if the spell was difficult enough. Serenity hadn...
2022-04-17 22:48:12 +0000 UTC
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[Poison (Neurotoxin) Resistance unlocked]
Serenity didn’t have time to check on Ita while fighting the swordsman; he was actually stronger than Serenity. Serenity was a little faster, but he wasn’t just watching the swordsman; he had to block the fireboths that would have otherwise hit the others.
Several of his feathers were scorched, but other than that, they weren’t particularly a problem for what they did to him. They were ...
2022-04-16 23:06:31 +0000 UTC
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Serenity led the way to the second exit from the womens’ locker room; it was a ways down the hall. The second door to the mens’ locker room was directly across the hallway.
Serenity checked to both the right and the left; there were no Sterath visible in the hallway. Good enough. He waited until Katya was in position; she silently nodded that she was ready and he repeated the same entrance he’d used on the other locker room.
It went just as smoo...
2022-04-16 22:59:25 +0000 UTC
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Serenity grinned at the dark room, then carefully looked at each of the Sterath. The taunt had worked exceptionally well back at the house; he might as well try the same thing. “Why do the seven of you hide in the shadows? Do you think you are too weak to face the five of us?”
It wasn’t fair to taunt them like that; they’d clearly been ordered to hide. Serenity still didn’t feel all that bad about it. Yes, they were soldiers; no, they hadn’t...
2022-04-15 22:44:48 +0000 UTC
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A reliable source has leaked that not only are there kangaroo aliens, they are slave owners! An escaped slave is helping the DC Police find the other illegal aliens…
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Serenity stepped into the suite and looked around. Compared to the suites in the Whale of a Time Inn, it was tiny; just two bedrooms and a small living/kitchen area. It was still a huge step up from the motel they’d had Ita in until the previous day. “Are you...
2022-04-14 22:52:18 +0000 UTC
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Serenity and Rissa didn’t pay attention to Ita until they were startled by the door opening behind Serenity. It was Janice with the food, and it couldn’t have been more than five minutes since she dropped Serenity off. Once they were out of the doorway, Serenity turned to her and asked, “If it was that close, why didn’t you just take me with you?”
Janice was carrying a large sack with an image of a dog on the side; there was a red logo as well, ...
2022-04-13 22:35:24 +0000 UTC
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While he waited for Janice, Serenity tried to figure out who his team should be. Rissa was obvious, and he’d certainly invite both Raz and Katya as well. Russ would be good, but he was still busy with the Decay-creatures, and Serenity was just as glad not to have to deal with Phoebe.
She was the distinct matriarch of the family, and Serenity didn’t think she’d be happy to have Serenity take Russ away from her, even without the whole “Guardian” thi...
2022-04-12 23:11:31 +0000 UTC
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The Sterath officer attempted to hop away from Serenity only to scream as the landing jostled the broken bones of his shoulder. His hop also seemed more off-center than before, so Serenity took a good look at the Sterath’s injured left leg while he called the ax back to his hand. The shoulder was smashed enough that the ax came free easily.
It was bleeding freely; the injury Serenity had done while the Sterath was still on the stairs must have been a...
2022-04-11 23:09:03 +0000 UTC
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The stairs took up the side of the large open room, starting to the right of the front door. The entire stairway was open all the way up, with only a wooden banister preventing people from falling off the side. The far side was a blank wall; at the top of the staircase, it met a hallway lined with doors on the left, a series of long, skinny rooms that covered the giant room below. The only room to the right was the bathroom, directly above the bathroom on the f...
2022-04-10 23:00:03 +0000 UTC
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“Die.”
Lieutenant Smith spoke from the driver’s seat as he started the SUV. “I do have some Perception, but I didn’t see Nguen as he walked back. If someone like us attacked while he was gone, one of us would die. What does it take to see through an ability like that?”
Serenity shook his head. Even here he was acting as a teacher. “Either an ability that counters it - the way I can tell where he is without depending on visible light - o...
2022-04-09 23:02:06 +0000 UTC
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