The team of reinforcements tore through the sky, racing toward the battle as the roar of flame reached them from up ahead. Thick smoke from burning grass billowed in a grey cloud. Something was moving through it.
A lot of somethings.
Alex’s potion-enhanced vision began picking out details as the supporters closed the distance.
“Oh hells!”
Monsters were everywhere. A pair of hills on a hilly region up ahead—he and his surveying team had often passed it—had rup...
2022-03-23 22:46:07 +0000 UTC
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“A double dungeon, that’s some bloody rotten fortune!” Cedric said as the group rushed to the centre of camp.
Alex quickly glanced at him. “Double dungeon?”
“Aye, two o’ them right on top of each other! The bloody monsters from each dungeon start workin’ together in all sorts o’ nasty ways! They get harder to predict: lots o’ surprises nobody needs.”
“And more surprises from the enemy, means more dead allies,” Hart said.
Alex exchanged a look ...
2022-03-22 23:00:39 +0000 UTC
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“I hate this,” Theresa muttered, angrily checking over her equipment. Her light armour suddenly felt stifling and the cloak she wore seemed to crush down on her shoulders like it was made of stone. Everything felt uncomfortable. Everything was terrible.
Even her great-grandfather’s swords…
…they were the only things that felt comforting.
From the moment her father had given her the second blade on her birthday, it felt like a key had been placed in a lock; like som...
2022-03-19 23:30:58 +0000 UTC
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“That face…I think I know your face.” Cedric was walking toward Alex; his brow was creased and he seemed to be appraising the taller young man. “I’m thinkin’ that I’ve seen ya before.”
The crowd was parting, looking between the Chosen and Alex as the broad-shouldered Hero approached. Professor Jules’ looked over at Alex with one eyebrow raised, her mouth opened like she was ready to ask something, but the Sage said something, distracting her. The older woman dragged he...
2022-03-18 22:20:49 +0000 UTC
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“If they try to take you, I’ll gut all of them.” Theresa whispered, her grip tightening on both blades.
“Whoa, whoa, now,” Alex whispered back, glancing around the room.
Their group was off to one side and thankfully, no one else was in earshot.
“Let’s try not to gut the Heroes today, okay?” Alex suggested. “…not right away, at least. I’d say not at all, but like your father told me: ‘the foundation of any good relationship is conversation and comprom...
2022-03-18 00:05:22 +0000 UTC
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“Don’t tell me you’ve been drinking, Rand.” Gario glared at his companion.
“Shhhh!” Randal—the other guard—shushed him. “Just had a bit, mate, don’t say it so loud.” He glanced around the darkness, holding up his lantern and pressing his ear to the stone wall. Only silence met the night patrolman. “If someone was passing close by, I’d be in so much bloody trouble.”
“Then maybe don’t drink when it’s time for duty.” Gario made a face. “And...
2022-03-16 22:59:44 +0000 UTC
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“Th-the Heroes are coming to the encampment?!” Alex stammered; images of Saints and priests ran through his head accompanied by sounds of rattling chains.
“Indeed.” Baelin read the rest of the note. “It would seem that the church and king have arranged for them to greet us in prelude to eventual partnership. In some ways, that seems reasonable: we will be purchasing dungeon core samples from them, after all. However, Professor Jules suspects their visit might be more along the...
2022-03-16 00:21:51 +0000 UTC
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Alex returned to experimenting.
He cast the Summon Small Water Elemental spell carefully, slowing down where the spell array touched the elemental plane of water. The strange power always emerged there, right at that part of the magic circuit, eager to assemble the circuitry and reach across the planes.
In some ways, it was as if that part of the circuit had developed a mind of its own and was trying to put itself together.
So, maybe he should just ...
2022-03-12 23:49:34 +0000 UTC
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The water elemental shuddered like a dog shaking off rain. Of course, that didn’t make any sense since it was made of water, but Alex didn’t have time to worry about all that. He couldn’t believe what he’d just been able to do: from the time he’d started learning spells, he’d never learned one so quickly before, not even back in Thameland…and that was before The Mark.
A sudden surge of jealousy hit him.
“Is this how easy it is for unMarked wizards?” he b...
2022-03-12 00:22:10 +0000 UTC
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“Is something wrong?” Selina asked, looking at her brother closely. “Your face looks funny.”
“N-no!” Alex cried, trying to keep his expression neutral even as he felt his cheeks turning red again. Thundar’s rope question had been conjuring all kinds of images in his mind for hours. “Y-your face looks funny!”
Selina gave him a look that seemed to say: ‘I regret that we’re related’.
“You’re thinking you regret that we’re related, aren’t...
2022-03-10 22:15:11 +0000 UTC
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A wizard’s staff was one of the most iconic tools a wizard could carry.
And there was a good reason for that.
Versatile, powerful, expensive to craft, requiring a high degree of skill in alchemy and lots of mana to make, wizard’s staffs served as not only tools and weapons, but as status symbols. In both Alex’s first year potions course and magic theory, he’d learned that in ancient times almost all wealthy wizards carried a staff to show off their riches and power, just a...
2022-03-09 23:51:46 +0000 UTC
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“Simply put,” Professor Hak explained. “Warp Flesh establishes a strong connection between your mana pool and either your own lifeforce, or someone else’s.” A strange light entered her eyes. “From there, a blood mage can use the connection to apply mana manipulation techniques to a lifeforce directly-”
Alex froze. The rest of the class went quiet.
“-and as the lifeforce is manipulated…physical changes manifest in the body. In short? What this means is flesh, bloo...
2022-03-09 00:35:09 +0000 UTC
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Alex had never taken a class in the basement of the university’s castle before, but he wasn’t really too surprised that blood magic was being offered there, in one of the darkest, creepiest places on campus.
Deep underground in the bowels of the castle seemed just about right for the subject matter.
His imagination went rogue, conjuring images of a class with sinister undertones down in a dungeon complete with torture instruments, blood filled tanks and terrifying devices half...
2022-03-05 23:14:54 +0000 UTC
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Fwooosh!
Alex’s sleeping potion erupted in the beast-goblins’ burrow, catching the creatures off guard as they feasted on suspect chunks of meat.
Coughing and sputtering, the little monsters tried to scramble to their feet, but the gas filled their lungs with every intake of breath. Their growls faded, turning to quiet groans then muted snoring as they collapsed on the dirt floor.
“Well, I’d call that a successful field test,” Alex said, stepping around th...
2022-03-05 00:41:10 +0000 UTC
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“Any scouts about?” Hart whispered to a nearby ranger.
The stocky woman was crouched behind a pine tree as she peered over the ridge at the encampment below.
“No, Champion, no scouts, but there’s sentries keeping watch.” She said in low tones, pointing to an oak rising on the north side of the camp where a small wooden platform was supported by several thick branches. A figure crouched on it, and the metal on their crossbow glinted in the grey light.
“They’ve a...
2022-03-03 23:13:15 +0000 UTC
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The Champion, knights and rangers made good time traversing the countryside. Most were mounted, but Hart was on foot; with The Champion’s power filling his long limbs, he was able to tear through the distance like a charging bull. He kept pace with the mounted knights and rangers as they crossed the wilderness following the trail. Though he’d been running hard for close to an hour, he felt as energised as if he’d just awaken from a refreshing afternoon nap.
Hart smiled, keep...
2022-03-02 23:01:50 +0000 UTC
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“We have been been over this, Cedric.” Merzhin smiled politely, though there was irritation in his eyes. “I might be small, but please don’t think of me as a child who forgets your words so quickly. I have been committing Uldar’s scriptures to memory since I was knee-high to my parish priest.”
“Aye, I don’t doubt ya, but this is a dire thing that we’re about to do,” Cedric said, planting the end of his staff into the ground, then leaning on it. “Fae’re no triflin...
2022-03-01 22:47:23 +0000 UTC
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“Oi, don’t be steppin’ on the pixies now!” Cedric caught Merzhin by the shoulder. “Don’t want to be startin’ off negotiations by crushin’ a few babes, now do we?”
“What?” The Saint paused, looking down at where his foot was about to fall. Each grass blade glowed with an inner light: tiny green sparkles drifted from each one like sparks from a campfire. Among the sparkles a single flower bud shaped like an egg rose with golden light seeping through slight gaps betwe...
2022-02-26 18:35:36 +0000 UTC
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“Have the Generasians arrived?” an aged voice asked in the darkness.
It crackled like old parchment yet boomed through the entire chamber.
The holy lights that illuminated the room seemed to flicker as it spoke, causing them to cast shadows over the statues towering in a circle at the perimeter of the room. There were six of them, each so ancient that Ussex—Thameland’s capital—had been nothing more than an empty field when they had been completed. They w...
2022-02-25 23:25:24 +0000 UTC
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“This place has been my home for a hundred years.” Gwyllain bit into some of the soaked rations that Alex had handed him; if the bog-water ruined the taste, he didn’t say. If anything, he looked positively thrilled.
He sat on the edge of the hag’s table—his legs kicking idly like a child’s—while Isolde, Khalik and Thundar examined the table’s contents. A few items had made Isolde grimace while Khalik and Thundar shook their heads at some of the more gruesome ones. Grimlo...
2022-02-24 21:39:21 +0000 UTC
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The creature ground her teeth so hard, that one of her fangs nearly broke.
It had gone so wrong, so quickly!
In past times, taking someone from travellers worked as good leverage to get what she wanted; her beautiful Crich-Tulaghs would take screaming humans to store away in her lair or in one of her many hiding places throughout the moors. Their companions were always caught unawares and were left surprised and screaming.
Then the begging, the demanding, the threateni...
2022-02-23 21:23:48 +0000 UTC
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Murky water enveloped Alex, pressing against his Orb-of-Air. His breaths came fast and shallow as a moss-covered tentacle tightened.
It constricted—squeezing—whipping him back and forth. He fought the pain that built in his gut and reached for whatever it was that had him, and pulled.
What was it?
His head turned in every direction, searching frantically for his attacker.
Down there.
A hulking…thing loomed in the depths, like a giant underwater mound of con...
2022-02-22 23:58:52 +0000 UTC
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Brutus’ barking shattered the silence.
All three noses had been sniffing the air in different directions when he’d stopped and alerted Theresa, pointing his heads toward the water.
His barking persisted.
“What is it boy?” Theresa said. “What do you smell?” She sniffed the air and frowned. “I can’t smell anything except ‘bog’.”
“I’ll check it out,” Grimloch said, wading in the direction Brutus was looking. Moving closer, he suddenly stopped a...
2022-02-19 19:48:05 +0000 UTC
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The wind cut across the moors, chilling the air, bringing the stench of festering flesh to the expedition. As a group, they had gathered in a circle around a bloated, decaying man dressed in the tatters of homespun clothing and a gambeson. Some grimaced and looked away—fixing their eyes on anything but the corpse—while others watched as the medical staff crouched around the cadaver, like crows in a field.
Their long, beak-like masks completed the image.
“Well, whoever he was...
2022-02-18 23:36:39 +0000 UTC
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The expedition team whispered to each other as those closest to the knight leaned forward, examining the symbol of the grinning jester.
“That looks stupid,” Grimloch growled. “I’d hate to be the one with that stupid face branded on my body.”
Through the greatest force of will Alex had ever mustered, he managed to keep his screaming inside. Thankfully, his friends kept their faces stoic: none of them gave a single twitch to reveal what they knew.
“I see,...
2022-02-17 23:57:47 +0000 UTC
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Ancient pronouncements whispered from within The Ravener. The usurper had reappeared after so long.
What measures were needed?
Reaching across great distances, it inspected certain energies, processes and paths. Ones of key importance. It examined them with great care, searching for patterns that were unusual…or any that should be long inactive.
It found nothing abnormal. All was as it should have been, and all proceeded as it had dictated. Good. The worst had not come to ...
2022-02-16 22:57:55 +0000 UTC
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“Our first few days in Greymoor will be a deep dive into our territory.” Baelin floated in front of a wall-sized illusionary map of the region. “For three days, we will be setting up the main encampment and investigating the region. Each team of surveyors will have their own assigned area to begin investigating and clearing out: you will be camping there each evening—rather than returning to Generasi—and ensuring that you get a feel for the terrain during both daylight and nighttime...
2022-02-15 22:24:20 +0000 UTC
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“And there they go,” Alex said as the ship disappeared into the horizon. “I hope they get back alright.”
“Let’s just say they will,” Theresa said. “And not invite trouble.”
“I’ve been praying to The Traveller that their trip’ll be easy,” Selina said. “…I hope it’s a lot easier than ours was.”
“I hope so as well,” Khalik said. “I will pray to Zat-Ashtar that their journey will be quick, easy and comfortable, and that all they f...
2022-02-12 19:42:45 +0000 UTC
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“Father, you forgot your pipe,” Theresa said, waving the pipe as she poked her head in from the balcony.”
“Hoo! I would’ve missed that!” her father said, taking the prized pipe, then tapping it in his palm. “All those fine herbs Alex gave me would’ve gone to a right waste if I’d left this behind.”
“Oh, Alex, tell me you didn’t!” Mrs. Lu looked up from organising their clothing. “You know how much I hate the smell of that stuff!”
<...
2022-02-11 22:39:31 +0000 UTC
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“Good, very good, everyone!” Professor Mangal congratulated her students.
All throughout the chamber, students stood beside summoning circles, and within each crouched a slavering Bu’Bu; a demon like Baelin had summoned. The monkey-cat-goblin-like demons peered around while waiting for orders from their summoners.
“Congratulations, you have successfully summoned your first demon,” she said.
Sighs of relief went through the class. Alex glanced around to make sure no...
2022-02-11 00:17:58 +0000 UTC
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