Michael Clark

Tunnel Rat Chapter 333

Milo shook off the stun from a near-miss with a cannonball and two falls. The damage was only from the explosion and three painful splinters, but he was running low on health. Strangely, no one was trying to immediately kill him. He climbed the short ladder and checked the hatch he'd fallen through, finding it hopelessly jammed.

Nearby, several dwarves were cursing as they slowly walked with heavy chests down a corridor. One glanced at him, squinting, and yelled, "Shake it off, girl, ...

Tunnel Rat Chapter 332

Vacation is lovely. Writing goes well. The only problem is a 15" screen when I'm used to working on a 32" at home. It makes editing more of a chore. So writing now, editing later. I hope you don't mind three Milo chapters today. Sleeping for 12 hours solid both nights has made writing so much easier.
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"Dammit, can't a man just haul in his nets and land a catch anymore? We've already had bad weather, pirates, and exploding ships today, and now the seas are goi...

VACATION TIME!!! Ideas for other stories.

I'm taking an actual vacation starting in a couple of days, and traveling less than 100 miles to Ocean City NJ. I rented a house sort of by the beach and boardwalk in the quiet part of time. All the grown kids will be there along with my first grandchild, Alice. I plan on spending lots of quality park and beach time with Alice. And most of the rest of my time will be sitting on a veranda, watching the ocean, and writing. And sleeping. I write better when I do the sleep thing.

I'm putt...

Butcher of Gadobhra 421

Quite aware that I left the last chapter ending on a cliffhanger, I bring you a second chapter today. This one may need fine-tuning on the numbers, but the mayhem is ready to go.
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Claudia saw the doors open and the quartet of cannons appear and knew what was going to happen. It was the perfect ambush for troops: Grapeshot ammunition with nowhere to hide. Her troops would have been shredded and her bodyguards gravely injured. She'd have survived, but not against the spel...

Butcher of Gadobhra Chapter 420

Claudia watched the preparations with some amusement as she ate a plate of food supplied by the Butcher. She had brought up half of her troops to the end of the narrow street, formed up and ready to charge. Behind them, the Butcher and Caldrius were stuffing their faces with smoked meat that had been produced from his curious storage bag. The first item to appear was a barrel of sausage, followed by a large ham, a side of bacon, and a few sizzling slices of Mage's Delight. The Butcher had han...

Butcher of Gadobhra Chapter 419

What had been an open-air market in a poorer part of the city was now a beautiful winter carnival, the tattered awnings, and fish stalls covered in a shining layer of ice and frost. The beauty was marred by the dozens of people huddled under blankets and cloaks in the streets leading to it, suffering from chills and frostbite. A few healers moved from person to person, doing what they could. 

Caldrius took a look at the first person he encountered, an older woman with an arm fully...

Tunnel Rat Chapter 331

Aboard the Iron Orca, Captain Annie swirled the rum in a half-finished bottle, drank down two inches of the potent drink, then cursed and threw it at the crow's nest. The lookout, a veteran of many voyages, not only avoided being hit with the bottle but snagged it in midair and yelled her thanks to the captain.

"Bad Rum?" Her first mate, Stompy, was a little concerned. Her captain drank anything from boot polish to fermented seaweed, and normally never turned down anything, le...

Butcher of Gadobhra Chapter 418

Two men and a wagon traveled through the busy streets of Wolfsburg, talking as they went. Cauldius had just finished telling Ozzy about his life in the Mage Guild and the highlights of his latest camping trip, including the native cooking traditions.

"Damn, they cook using fresh lava from a volcano? I know kobolds are fire-happy, but that's hardcore. What sort of food? Grilled meats, I assume?"

"Lava-grilled steak is always a popular dish, especially if marinaded correctly, but ...

Tunnel Rat Chapter 330

Horridragh hadn't slept well lately, tossing and turning in his muddy bed, partly wrapped around a rocky outcropping. Over and over he had fallen into an exhausted dream, only for the dream to turn into a nightmare where one of the Great Beasts was stalking him. The panic of the dread and the pain of his cracked tooth would combine to wake him up, bellowing in agony. His great coils would thrash against the rocky outcropping, kicking up clouds of mud and muck from the bottom of the bay.
<...

Tunnel Rat Chapter 329

Everything slowed to a crawl for Milo and things snapped into place. His annoyance with the Eel was recognized as the feelings of the great beasts in his dreams, and the lingering antagonism he felt toward the Snake, Ooblimilo, and the slaver's annoying little dragon. Especially the snake. And he had to admit that he wanted to test out some new runic arrays. But he was going to get that chance right now.

Arcing up from the two small catapults were smoking glass ammunition...

Tunnel Rat Chapter 328

The runic formation wavered as he lost some of his concentration, then firmed again. Milo had become distracted by the last two crew to come aboard. Both were female dwarves dressed similarly to the crew of Leviathan, and both were quite drunk. That seemed to bother no one. The two cheerfully hurled insults at everyone and moved to the bow of the ship where a large tarp covered a pile of cargo. Or what Milo had assumed was cargo. 

The two scavengers untied the ropes holding the ta...

Tunnel Rat Chapter 327

Pantsing vs. Planning
This discussion pops up in writing groups for web serials almost weekly. 'Pantsing' or 'Writing by the seat of your pants' means just tossing down the ideas as they come to you. I do a ton of that. Partly because I think about upcoming chapters a lot. By contrast, some people meticulously plan things out chapter by chapter for an entire book and then start writing.

Litrpg takes a little of both. And I'm rediscovering that as Milo returns to GENESIS, and begins...

Butcher of Gadobhra Chapter 417

"Master Rastfian! Another pulse of mana, and I've noticed something odd. Frost forms on the stone after each pulse. It was hard to see at first, but it lasted longer before melting this time."

Rastfian knelt by the stone and could tell it was slowly gaining mana. It was already mostly full, thanks to the generosity of the Baron of Gadobhra. However, this new surge of mana came from the Rift and bore a distinctive flavor of Ice Aspected Mana. The storm that was still raging in that area...

Butcher of Gadobhra Chapter 416

Once again, Arthamax struggled against his icy prison. It was increasingly frustrating to be trapped here. True, the temperature was ideal and the flow of mana through his body quite invigorating, but his lack of mobility was a source of growing anxiety. He'd repeatedly commanded the Ice Mages to free him from his prison of ice and stone, but the lazy things had one excuse after another. "We're starting at the top." "The Fire Mages are attacking." "We ran out of shovels."

This...

Tunnel Rat Chapter 326 RAW

Climbing to the rooftops, Milo stayed as high as he could to get the best view of what was going on. After climbing to the top of the highest house near the docks, a large compound with a seven-story main tower, he got his first view of the entire sunlit end of the city.

And it was chaos incarnate.

The harbor was clogged with row after row of ships blocking access to the docks, and keeping the closest ships to shore locked in place. But it didn't look like anyone was planning ...

Tunnel Rat Chapter 325

Milo is heading back to Shadowport. He hasn't been in the game much lately. Or has he? 
Knight of the Jackelope was a tongue-in-cheek story I started posting on Patreon where Larry and Milo visit Sedgewick. Some readers encouraged me to actually do it officially. And that's what happened over in Butcher of Gadobhra.

Chapter 380: Larry and Milo arrive in Sedgewick described as Knight and Squire.
Larry and Milo appear in the following chapters:
381, 382, 384, 385,...

Tunnel Rat Chapter 324

A short chapter, and then we dive back into the world of Genesis. I'm starting the next chapter immediately as well as a good Synopsis of the crossover for people who haven't read Butcher of Gadobhra yet.
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After food and a short nap, Milo went to find Belinda. She was in the middle of the park tossing treats to rabbits. As she saw Milo coming, she tossed the last dozen bits of food and showed them empty hands. The rabbits took one look at Mi...

Butcher of Gadobhra Chapter 415

Ozzy was up early the next morning, long before dawn. Sneaking down the stairs, he grabbed a loaf of bread from the kitchen and started to head out the door to the butcher shop. An angry voice stopped him and he heard someone coming down the stairs from above. "How many times have I told you? No eating my fresh loaves. If you're hungry, I'll cook you a proper meal!"

Ozzy stopped moving, as ordered. Emelda entered the room, expecting to see one of her children stealing a snack. Instead,...

Butcher of Gadobhra Chapter 414

"The beast is unhappy, complaining, and struggling against us."

"Of course it is. It's a Dragon. A Dragon hates to be confined, controlled, ordered about, or told what to do, even by another Dragon of greater rank. This one in particular has an overinflated hubris. It's pinned beneath hundreds of tons of rubble and can't move. The only food it gets is from us when we release a creature in front of it and it can grab it with its tongue. It's asking for barrels of caviar, veal, halflings...

Butcher of Gadobhra Chapter 413

The smell of chamomile tea tipped Ben off to his guest as he approached the door to his home in the livery stable. To be honest, he wasn't totally surprised. Diego came by to talk on a regular basis and often stayed the night rather than return to Rowan Keep. He'd become somewhat of a fixture in the area, taking long walks to visit with everyone in Sedgewick, the farmers in the Hamlets, and even some of the more colorful non-human residents. The unassuming old man seemed genuinely happy to le...

Tunnel Rat Vol 1. On November 12th.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D98Y54PL

And yes, the fur color is off. :) That was supposed to adjusted to grey when the yellow from the explosion tinted the fur.

Tunnel Rat Chapter 323

Everyone is tired. Milo, the Alphabet, and me. Somehow, the words start flowing the later it gets.
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Preparing Jeremy's pod took Milo an hour. His mobile batteries supplied power, although the pod's internal batteries lasted for at least a week. Milo didn't want to take a chance of failure. His little caravan made its way back to the higher levels and into Downtown with no problems. With Rusty in total control of the complex Milo didn't have to cont...

Tunnel Rat Chapter 322

Milo watched as Llama and Icarus got reacquainted. Hecate watched as well. She turned to Milo and Rusty, "What are your plans now?"

Rusty pumped his fist in the air. "Victory dance, and non-stop fun watching my favorite shows with friends. And, Milo is going to let me play Run, Run, Ramona."

"Nope."

"Please!? You let my brother play!"

"That was to slow him down, make him stupid, and let me gain access to his kernel."

"Right. So I get to play because you've a...

Butcher of Gadobhra Chapter 412

The Baron of Gadobhra dismissed the system message then stood and looked at the Knight. "Got a contract on you? And which one of you is a lawyer? You have to divulge your legal team when you come visiting, otherwise, they can be legally shot out of season."

The mages looked confused and the knight bristled, "We have come with an offer of alliance. We deal in ice and cold steel, not in words on paper."

The Baron stared down his nose at them, "Nice speech. How long did you practic...

Tunnel Rat Chapter 321

So much going on in this chapter. I'm going to have to read it tomorrow to remember what I wrote. I started it near midnight and it just rolled on out for the next two hours. Certain things happened that I have been thinking about for awhile, and snuck into the story. It moves us closer to a return of Tallsqueak to Genesis and some R and R for Milo.

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"We'll take my new chariot. She's a beauty! Made of ...

Butcher of Gadobhra Chapter 411

After the electrical storm of the day before, the skies over Gadobhra were clear and the air brisk. A strong wind out of the north brought the smell of snow and the temperature began to drop. The city cared little. Winter or summer was all the same to the creatures of the dungeons and the Beast Woods. Hungrytown had feared the coming winter, but the Baron's word had been good, and great supplies of boards, timbers, and cut stone had been supplied to rebuild the shanty town. Rather than rebuil...

Butcher of Gadobhra Chapter 410

Long after the rest of the family had gone to bed, Ozzy sat in the guest room, sipping on a bottle of Vassily's brandy. It was good stuff, and he was finally starting to feel the alcohol hit him. Regular beer and wine, and even something harder like brandy, had little chance of making him drunk unless he drank a huge amount quickly. Thirty large flagons of beer and two bottles of brandy turned out to be the point where he finally felt something. The huge increase in Poison Resistance...

Tunnel Rat Chapter 320

I've been trying to write this chapter all day. Didn't know where to start, only had parts in the middle. Finally started with Llama's perspective and things started rolling along after hours of not seeing how the puzzle fit together. This is RAW, I just finished, and need sleep. Will edit typos tomorrow.
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Llama told himself thirty-seven times that there was nothing to worry about. He was the System and Hades was the God of Death and Taxes. Both of them ...

Butcher of Gadobhra Chapter 409

"I bid,....I bid 125 thousand."
"126."
The auctioneer sighed. "Sir, as was stated in the rules of the auction: After bidding breaches the level of 100 thousand or more, all bids must be increases of 5000 gold pieces over the last bid. I don't wish to be here all day when you two start bidding a silver at a time."

"Right, well, 130 thousand."
"135!"

There was a pause. Chuck from Raxxon held the high bid. Both he and Jerry from Tesladyne were sweating, conferring with acco...

Butcher of Gadobhra Chapter 408

Ozzy got a few stares as he pulled the heavily laden wagon through the streets of Wolfsburg. Most people saw a man pulling a wagon, not unknown in a world where Teamsters and other specialized tradesmen could gain skills in hauling and lifting. But some had more knowledge of wagons and freight. They noticed the extra-wide wheelbase and the extra length of a Sedgewick-built heavy wagon, and revised their weight estimates by a factor of four. And a look at the long hardwood beams would show the...