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Serenity followed the young man through a maze of identical-looking corridors to a door near the end of a hall; just a little farther on was an exit. Serenity knew he’d want to find out where that door led when he left, so that he could find the room on his own next time.
The young man rapped on the door, then opened it without waiting for a response and shooed Serenity in before leaving. The talking Serenity had heard through the door was stilled as ...
2022-04-09 22:56:19 +0000 UTC
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It took Serenity six hours to cleanse the rest of the Sterath memories the next day.
Each Sterath was faster than the humans that were his only previous experience, because they were far younger. Sterath grew up quickly, but they didn’t usually live very long; they were a prolific race, and most died in conflict. If they weren’t killed before they were Tier Three, there was a good chance they could live for decades, possibly even a century; their life...
2022-04-08 23:03:05 +0000 UTC
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Neither Ita nor the Scout Strike Group’s memories had any information on where Tranquil Conviction might be; none of them had known he was present on the planet.
Ita simply seemed to accept that Serenity could remember some things from the Sterath he’d killed. Serenity almost wanted to ask her why, but he wasn’t certain that he wanted to hear myths about the Shameful Ones. Even if they were true, he’d need time to pick out the facts that mattered, ...
2022-04-07 22:54:01 +0000 UTC
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Serenity looked down at himself and saw a carapace clean of rank-marks and achievements; the only mark on it was his own Lordship symbol. It was more complex than he’d realized when he looked at Ita; not only was it his own wings, from his dragon or chimera forms, colored in the bluish-purple of his scales and glittering with moving motes, but the wings rose to either side from a circle that Serenity knew represented the darkened new moon.
It was obvio...
2022-04-06 23:00:03 +0000 UTC
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Serenity walked up to the policeman and the military liaison discussing where the Sterath should be taken. The soldier seemed to be the older of the two, and appeared to be winning the argument.
Neither of them seemed to notice Serenity consciously until he spoke. “The first place they really should be taken is the hospital, regardless of who has custody.”
The soldier - whose last name was apparently LEWIS - glanced at Serenity then stared at t...
2022-04-05 23:12:01 +0000 UTC
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Her Lord turned to the two humans and asked something. Ita couldn’t understand it and she also couldn’t understand their response, so she didn’t understand why he grumbled something and became fluid again, turning into a human again! That ability to masquerade as something he wasn’t was still deeply disturbing.
Serenity reached into a bag that appeared on his back when he shifted and pulled out a potion. Ita was astonished when he handed ...
2022-04-04 22:52:21 +0000 UTC
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Serenity didn’t care that he’d lost his ax somewhere in the melee; it would come when he called, and he had weapons at the ends of his fingers anyway. He clenched his right hand around the Sterath’s throat; there wasn’t chitin there, and it was the easiest vulnerable point, similar to a human. Blood had to get to the brain somehow, and both humans and Sterath kept their brains in their heads. “My claws are at your throat. Surrender.”
The “or...
2022-04-03 22:49:49 +0000 UTC
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Battlelord Flameheart frowned. Any of his Scout Strike Groups should be back by now; they could all move quickly. That was the point of having Strike Scouts; all Strike team members had movement Skills. They should have been able to do the distance discreetly in less than ten minutes each way, yet it’d been more than an hour since the portal explosion.
“The Scout Strike Group is still missing.” The aide would have already said something if they were...
2022-04-02 23:05:59 +0000 UTC
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BattleLord Flameheart turned to his aide. “What were the results at the portal site? Were they able to clean it up enough?”
The aide shook his head. “They’re not back yet.”
“Odd. It must have been more difficult than I expected. Let me know when they arrive; I’d like to get their impressions firsthand.”
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Serenity was low on both Essence and Mana; far lower on Essence than Mana, since he’d saved some Mana for f...
2022-04-02 23:01:00 +0000 UTC
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Ita tza’Unkaa shivered as she huddled in the dimess and mist her new Lord had suggested she make. She couldn’t very well see out of it; hopefully no one else could see in.
Only she wasn’t Ita tza’Unkaa anymore, was she? Unkaa had fallen; they had to have failed for the Kaelitha to treat her the way they had. As though she were nothing, with no one who cared. At first, they’d been careful, but that had changed.
More than that, she’d change...
2022-04-01 23:30:07 +0000 UTC
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April will continue the schedule we've had: 8 chapters a week for Chimera and an extra chapter every other week for Pathed.
In May, we'll start at 17 chapters ahead for Pathed. I'm planning to stop expanding Pathed at 20; I can either reduce it to 1 bonus chapter a month starting in May to line it up with when Chimera will hit 50 (which is my goal for Chimera) or keep it at 1 every 2 weeks (2 in May, 1 in June).
I'm not sure which to go with, so I figured I'd ask. Any prefer...
2022-03-31 23:08:06 +0000 UTC
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The poll closes at TONIGHT!
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Serenity glanced around the room. He’d checked it out before, but mostly paid attention to the portals instead of the room itself. It had four entrances; other than the one he stood at, there were two pairs of double doors in the far wall and a single interior door on the left wall. There were also two windows on the wall to the right.
The double doors were all glass and led outside, but were grimy enough that unle...
2022-03-31 22:57:54 +0000 UTC
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Have I used this title before? I might have. Ehh, it doesn't matter. It's still a good title, right?
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“Battlelord?” The messenger panted, barely able to express the single word after his dead run into the Battlelord’s presence.
Battlelord Flameheart hoped this wasn’t yet another unexpected problem, but he was certain it was; this entire invasion had been nothing but unexpected problems. “Catch your breath, then report.”
The messen...
2022-03-30 23:01:01 +0000 UTC
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She spoke in a strange, mode-less version of Sterath. Serenity could understand it, but it was only used when you didn’t know the relative relationship to use the correct mode; even then, it was an unusual mode. Serenity somehow hoped she’d used it on her captors, but it was more likely she was using it here because she didn’t know who he was.
“I’ll send you back through the portal you used to enter this room.” There were a lot of other opti...
2022-03-29 23:00:03 +0000 UTC
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If the portal had just disappeared, chances were that any magical residue would be gone fairly soon; waiting would simply make it harder to find. If it was regularly used, that wouldn’t be as much of a problem, but they didn’t know what was there at all.
If it was created by a person, that person might still be there. Probably not, but who was to say?
There was only one way to find out.
Serenity hopped out of the van. “I’ll be back shortly;...
2022-03-29 00:09:21 +0000 UTC
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Today's chapter will be out soon.
Sorry for the delay; my cat had a vet appointment this afternoon. I thought an hour and a half would be plenty, but here we are two hours later ....
The cat's fine. Pissed at me and needs a dental cleaning, but fine. So yay?
2022-03-28 23:23:06 +0000 UTC
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Reminder for the Pathed: Please vote in the Chapter Schedule Poll if you haven't already. I'm planning on shutting it down after this weekend based on the results.
Right now, 'space out the bonus chapters' is winning.
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Althyr looked up from his book to find he had a new visitor. His study certainly had been busy lately; not only did he have an overeager young trainee and a visit from his good friend Coyote, but now someone else was here.
It ...
2022-03-27 23:01:01 +0000 UTC
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Excerpt from the second draft of An Earthling’s Guide to the Larger Universe
Training Abilities
Training abilities are abilities that are given as part of your Path to help you learn what’s needed to follow the Path. For example, a warrior might get ‘Basic Sword Use’ while an herbalist might get ‘Basic Useful Plants’. Later on, the warrior might get ‘Sword Combat’ or ‘Basic Melee...
2022-03-26 23:12:42 +0000 UTC
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Excerpt from the third draft of An Earthling’s Guide to the Larger Universe, as revised for the tenth draft
Experience
Your Path requires experience to advance. That’s obvious; what’s less obvious is how to get it.
In the Tutorial, it’s fairly obvious: the Trials and the Great Tutorial Dungeon straight up say that they give you XP - lots of XP. This lines up with many people’s expe...
2022-03-26 23:02:01 +0000 UTC
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Serenity stared at the numbers. They whipped by almost too fast to see. Serenity kept his eyes on the numbers anyway, hoping he’d notice a pattern. After a moment, the only thing he’d noticed was that there were spaces between some of the numbers.
It was a start. He’d need to get a good long sample to work from; Aide seemed like the best way to record the sample.
Aide, can you record this? And translate it to English while you’re at it...
2022-03-25 22:56:26 +0000 UTC
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Excerpt from the second draft of An Earthling’s Guide to the Larger Universe
Common Utility Path Abilities (Continued)
Party
The Party skill (also often known as Group or Team) provides a semi-customizable interface with limited Status information on yourself and others in your ‘party’. The amount of information and level of customization available vary widely. There ...
2022-03-24 23:06:11 +0000 UTC
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Excerpt from the second draft of An Earthling’s Guide to the Larger Universe
Common Utility Path Abilities (Continued)
Equip
Equip is like Inventory in that you must have access to whatever you are wanting to “equip”. While “equipping” an item doesn’t give any direct benefit, it is often more convenient than trying to quickly don armor - and it’s a great way to p...
2022-03-23 23:14:26 +0000 UTC
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Excerpt from the second draft of An Earthling’s Guide to the Larger Universe
Common Utility Path Abilities (Continued)
Inventory
Inventory is an odd skill, because it requires the use of an external item or location. All it does is allow for a more convenient interaction with storage - whether this is a dimensional bag or simply the contents of a trunk. It seems to be mo...
2022-03-22 22:40:21 +0000 UTC
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Excerpt from the second draft of An Earthling’s Guide to the Larger Universe
Common Utility Path Abilities (Continued)
Identify
Identify allows the identification of the properties (and sometimes characteristics or history) of an item. It is commonly available to crafters of the appropriate type, though it’s still common for others to get a more generic, less detailed...
2022-03-21 23:00:04 +0000 UTC
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Excerpt from the second draft of An Earthling’s Guide to the Larger Universe
Common Utility Path Abilities
There are many different abilities that are available from different Paths; one thing to remember is that many Paths overlap. This is especially true for what are called ‘utility’ abilities; these are abilities that the Voice seems to want to give to almost everyone. Many of them are ava...
2022-03-20 23:06:36 +0000 UTC
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[Select your mode for the Round Two: Dungeon Manifestation, Avatar, or Core (Unavailable - protected by Avatar)]
Dungeon Manifestation had worked well; Serenity decided to see if he could try out some other options. He hoped something would change; if they could both just keep doing the same thing over and over, all it had to do was not surrender. Surely that wouldn’t be allowed?
Dungeon Manifestation
[Phase...
2022-03-19 23:14:35 +0000 UTC
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It wasn’t long before Echo pointed at the corn next to the stalk that held the core. “There. And there. I can’t tell what it is, but it’s there.”
Serenity’s voice was cold; danger in the dungeon core room was a sign of an excessively dangerous core. The standard action was to destroy any core that moved monsters past the final boss. “Morwen, lightning please.”
Her lightning struck the corn-wall and three trapvines became obvious as ...
2022-03-19 23:10:36 +0000 UTC
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After the trapvine, they all tried to stay near the center of the cleared area of the path, where the vines couldn’t reach. It was all too easy to get close enough to one of the sides, though, and they quickly found out that this dungeon really liked trapvines, at least in this section.
Fortunately, no one else was caught by the neck, and a grabbed arm or leg was easily freed.
Echo’s music-countering ability was clearly not effortless; indeed, i...
2022-03-18 23:02:39 +0000 UTC
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Serenity’s eyes flicked from the words “Growth Available” to “Contained”. This was a disaster waiting to happen. “Well, hell.”
Morwen’s “What’s the matter?” overlapped with Doyle’s “What?”.
“It’s a contained dungeon, growth-contained at that. They’re one of the few dungeon types that is routinely destroyed. The plant and animal specialties aren’t normally too bad, but -” Serenity stopped and shook his head. “...
2022-03-17 23:07:48 +0000 UTC
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Excerpt from the fifth draft of An Earthling’s Guide to the Larger Universe
Dungeon Types (Continued)
There are a few competitors for “most dangerous dungeon type,” but the one that is probably the most dangerous to the surroundings is called “contained growth”. Any “contained” dungeon can pose a serious risk, but when a “growth” dungeon is also “contained,” the dungeon must...
2022-03-16 23:04:56 +0000 UTC
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