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Guiding someone else’s spell without a Skill of his own, even with an Incarnate instead of an Aspect, was like trying to type with mittens on. Sure, you could make it work, but it was slow and clunky. Serenity could remember what it was like to have the support of a Skill. Sure, it conflicted with using the Aspect for an Aspect Form, but it wasn’t like he had an Aspect to use here anyway.
Serenity was absolutely going to claim that was why the next D...
2023-05-03 23:16:23 +0000 UTC
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Serenity shifted his awareness back to the body he had on the surface. He leaned into the information available from the ritual circle, only to find out that it was less informative than expected. Whatever stealth Skill the Viper was using also confused the ritual. It wasn’t enough to completely erase his presence, but it was enough to blur it.
Serenity could tell the Viper was in the area and fighting; he could even tell that the man was moving around....
2023-05-02 22:53:56 +0000 UTC
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Raz chipped away at the stone floor under the ritual circle’s outer ward. When he used the Skill properly, it was more like stone slowly melted into the configuration he wanted, but he wasn’t able to use it that smoothly right now. He was far too worried about the fighting outside and couldn’t maintain his attention span.
For these purposes, this was good enough. Raz maintained that to himself even though he knew Aki would be nagging at him to do be...
2023-05-01 23:07:23 +0000 UTC
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There is now a Discord for this story.
If you link your Discord to your Patreon account, it will automatically give you the correct roles when you join (and I believe it'll add the server as well, as soon as you link it).
If you just want a link to the server, here it is:
https://discord.gg/8AdytrBdqE
2023-05-01 02:38:08 +0000 UTC
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The feeling that came from the figure made of shadows was familiar. It wasn’t Death, but it was something Serenity felt almost every day.
The figure felt of Potential. There was more than a hint of Essence as well, but Potential was the primary feeling, a feeling that faded slightly as Serenity stared in surprise. The figure didn’t move or react; if anything, it seemed to be content to simply stand in the spot it was summoned to.
When Serenity lo...
2023-04-30 23:06:21 +0000 UTC
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Legion spoke while Serenity was still trying to understand enough of the ritual to actually do something. “Zanzital is fighting the Viper outside their assigned room. Raz is tearing up the metal plates on the floor of the room; he says they’re difficult because they’ve partially merged into the rock. Daryl is fighting in the other room, but doesn’t expect it to take long.”
The Viper heading to the escape room was not a surprise. The metra meld...
2023-04-29 22:48:11 +0000 UTC
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Today's late post is due to a pair of SpaceX launches (the second one scrubbed again - it was weather delayed from yesterday, not sure what caused today's delay to tomorrow) and my parents' desire to watch them with me. So ... yeah, I was having a good time with family instead of writing and posting.
Enjoy!
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Serenity doublechecked the ritual. The guard at his entrance was still standing less than a foot inside the opening and the door was still open. That was part...
2023-04-29 02:04:37 +0000 UTC
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“I don’t think they’re going to go back to the old search routines.” Daryl stared at the images Ita projected on the wall. “I don’t think I can take out another group without making it obvious I was feigning weakness. Plus, they’re starting to look in other directions; they’ll look here before long. We need to move camp.”
Serenity shook his head. “Not much point in that; this camp’s as good a location as we’re going to be able to f...
2023-04-28 01:00:47 +0000 UTC
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The first attack didn’t draw out the Viper. No one expected it to, but it was still somehow a disappointment.
Daryl waited three days before the next attack, just long enough for the guards to relax and stop moving around in double-strength patrols. They were still searching the wrong direction; what little searching they did in the direction towards the actual camp didn’t get close.
The second attack went nearly identically to the first, with a...
2023-04-27 00:33:10 +0000 UTC
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“Why won’t you let him know you’re here? You know he’d come to see you. He’s supposed to be in New York City again soon.” Red set her hands on her hips. The fact that she had to keep covering for her cousin was wearing her down; Phoebe’s husband and daughter hadn’t even done anything wrong. Phoebe just didn’t want to talk to them. At first it seemed reasonable but this was far past reasonable.
“That’s why.” Phoebe didn’t look up ...
2023-04-25 22:29:59 +0000 UTC
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The trap was far more effective than anyone expected.
The flashes were seen soon after the soldiers moved into the forest the next morning. The scout who found it stayed out of range of the trap; the moment he saw it, he turned around and headed back to the soldier waiting with a squad in the clearing.
The entire squad headed to the tree to investigate. Like lemmings, they headed directly for the light without considering anything more than that it m...
2023-04-24 22:39:50 +0000 UTC
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The Viper was the person they needed to draw out of the base. The information from Amily only made it more important; while Serenity could lay Hollow Ones to rest even if they were as nasty as they could be from a Tier Ten ritual, he could only manage it one at a time. There were far too many people in the base for that to be viable; they’d be overrun if they were found.
The best option was to prevent the Hollow Ones from being created. That meant deal...
2023-04-23 23:02:26 +0000 UTC
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The skid gave the guards behind Serenity some time to reduce the distance they were behind him, but they weren’t willing to run headlong over the scrap that covered the floor. Even though they yelled for other guards, no other guards had yet appeared and they were less than a quarter of the way to Serenity when he reached his feet again.
Serenity slowed down a little and tried to choose where he put his feet more carefully when he resumed his halted run a...
2023-04-22 22:25:56 +0000 UTC
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Blood from the man Amily murdered soaked into Amily’s pants as Serenity sat where he’d absorbed her. The man’s heart sat on his other side; he knew Amily had planned to carry it all the way to the Viper’s “way out”, but Serenity didn’t need it.
Did he?
Amily knew the Viper far better than Serenity did, and she was convinced he was going to be ready to make peoples’ hearts disappear soon. For a moment, Serenity wondered if a fire-heart w...
2023-04-21 23:14:29 +0000 UTC
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My sister came into town and I spent the day with her ... and it seems that I forgot to put the chapter out on time. Oops!
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Amily became the Viper’s secret blade. She didn’t mind killing and he always gave such nice rewards when she took care of an issue. It led her down a Path that wasn’t the one she’d intended to take, but she was content with it.
Serenity could remember none of the killings. He didn’t even remember the Path. What he did rem...
2023-04-20 23:55:08 +0000 UTC
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The lights near Serenity were still on when the biplanes were all damaged and unflyable. Serenity deactivated the ritual at the camp that watched the base as Rissa stepped out of the tunnel into the field; however much he wanted to continue to see what was happening in the areas he couldn’t directory observe, he was supposed to be underground, so he couldn’t afford to be seen.
He walked into his tent, then shifted to his Sovereign form; there were plen...
2023-04-20 02:40:36 +0000 UTC
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The first step of the plan went off without a hitch. Serenity took his time. There were plenty of shadows to hide Serenity’s Sovereign form, but hurrying would still get him caught. While there were patrols and they did have proper attention to detail, including both looking up and examining the shadowed areas, they couldn’t tell the shadows were deeper where he hid.
The ward on the room that probably held the communication device was well-designed, but ...
2023-04-18 23:20:46 +0000 UTC
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Straightening out the confusion caused by the Guildmaster’s lack of knowledge took hours. It wasn’t helped by Zany’s insistence on learning more about Serenity’s reason for coming to Asihanya. The Guildmaster spent more than an hour asking Raz questions about what he saw on the day his clan died until Raz grew sick of it and stormed out of the tent.
Fortunately, there wasn’t an airplane overhead at the time.
Serenity didn’t learn much f...
2023-04-17 23:08:37 +0000 UTC
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In a way, Lex was actually grateful for the timing of the latest worldwide earthquake. Yes, it left him unable to head to the island he now called the Appearing Island for weeks, but it also meant that when he was finally able to go, his wife would be able to travel with him. In fact, she was already available and the repairs weren’t yet complete on the helicopter; apparently, being knocked around in an earthquake meant certain large parts had to be replaced.
2023-04-16 22:26:38 +0000 UTC
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“He’s awake,” Blaze announced. It wasn’t necessary for Serenity, but it drew the attention of Gabriel and Daryl. “Probably still confused about what’s going on, but awake.” Blaze stood just long enough to make his way over to one of the nearby chairs; unlike Serenity, he would be sore after kneeling for so long.
Zany looked puzzled and terrified at the same time; Serenity half-expected another attack. It only made sense; the last thing Zany reme...
2023-04-15 15:09:28 +0000 UTC
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Serenity ate the massive amount of Death-attuned mana Zany emitted at the end of the fight. He pulled it towards each of the three sets of armor he was being to help Blaze, Daryl, and Gabriel masquerade as Imperial soldiers, but he was careful to stop it all before it reached them. It was significant but somehow hollow; at a guess, Zany had a very high Affinity but only a middling Concept at best. He definitely didn’t have an Aspect.
Serenity wasn...
2023-04-14 23:00:02 +0000 UTC
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On time! Whoo!
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Zanzital reached out for the dungeon again. He didn’t understand why it kept disappearing. The fact that he hadn’t been able to bind it yet was more annoying than surprising; even a Tier One dungeon was far easier to bind at its central node, and this one didn’t feel Tier One despite how young it had to be. The continual disappearances were simply weird.
This time felt different. This time, it was oddly closer. Perhaps the dungeon...
2023-04-13 22:48:42 +0000 UTC
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One ritual followed another over the next two days. Each time, Serenity felt the Guildmaster’s presence; several times, it seemed like he was reaching out towards Serenity, but they never actually touched. The rituals weren’t intended for communication and Serenity didn’t see any need to change that.
He didn’t actually want to talk to the Guildmaster yet; he didn’t entirely trust the man and he wanted to finish gathering all of the informatio...
2023-04-12 23:11:39 +0000 UTC
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I was supposed to make up time today ...
...and then life happened. The good news is that I'm fine, but it was a bit of an exciting evening.
I think I can guarantee at this point that the next chapter will be late, but I think I can also say that it won't be THIS late. At least, barring further "excitement".
Enjoy!
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Preparing for the trip took more than a week. There were all sorts of people to notify and coordinate, even among just the Silver Blad...
2023-04-12 00:46:55 +0000 UTC
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Wednesdays are usually bad because I have to get up early and stay at work late.
This week is extra annoying because by those standards, I have three Wednesdays this week - and today and tomorrow are extra Wednesday, even later than usual (and more draining because I'm actually an introvert and this is spending the whole day dealing with people). I will probably get to take the extra time I'm working as time off later, but that doesn't help this week.
With that said, tomorrow's ch...
2023-04-10 22:28:25 +0000 UTC
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Serenity was well-rested and cheerful when he showed up at the Mercenaries' Guild the next morning with Rissa, Blaze, Raz, and one of Legion’s bodies in tow. Legion was there to brief them with what she’d found out over the past few days, while Raz insisted on coming because they were going to plan an attack on the people who killed his Clan.
Blaze was there because Serenity had mentioned Gabriel’s cousin Daniel, who needed healing because he was blind...
2023-04-09 23:00:02 +0000 UTC
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“Are you sure?” Russ Latimer tamped down his hope; simply because Dr. Jones thought he’d found another Solomon vase didn’t mean it would lead anywhere. The last two were complete dead ends; one was useless because there was no one to talk to about it and the other didn’t lead anywhere because the woman didn’t remember anything and the “drug dealers” didn’t have any real information.
“Fairly confident. I’d like you to look at some of...
2023-04-08 23:03:50 +0000 UTC
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Exploring old ruins was not a common job; it was, however, definitely one Vengeance had done. How dangerous it was varied highly, from world to world and even ruin to ruin. How lucrative it was also varied and didn’t always correlate with the danger. The problem was that you didn’t know if it was going to be dangerous or valuable until you tried.
Some ruins were good places for someone who worked with undead, but at least as many had wards that were sp...
2023-04-07 15:14:40 +0000 UTC
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The bead even had the symbol of Order’s Guild on it; it was subtle, but it was there. This was one of the ones anyone could use, with the hand closed into a fist holding a knife. They could be used by almost anyone, but they could only find members of the Guild; they could be restricted to avoid or find specific members, but that was all. The bag Tirmanak gave Serenity also contained some that simply had an open hand symbol, but those could only be used by a Han...
2023-04-06 23:00:02 +0000 UTC
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Before she started, Emery described each step in excruciating detail, including all sorts of tips on what to do and not do with each tool she was going to use. Serenity was glad he had Aide recording everything; otherwise, he’d have been lost after the first minute, much less the solid half-hour she took to walk him through the process she was going to use.
Talking was definitely something Emery was good at. Serenity listened, but a lot of it simply was...
2023-04-05 23:10:54 +0000 UTC
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