Michael Clark

Butcher of Gadobhra Chapter 323

"If I'd known some of you would take vacations before returning, I might not have waited for you. Next time, fill out the paperwork first." It had taken all of Billy's willpower to hold off getting his loot from the Gopher War. Suzette had mentioned to Layla that waiting for the dead people to return and doing it together could raise morale before the raid on a crypt full of flesh-eating ghouls. Layla pitched it to Billy as a team-building exercise, and he agreed. It tested his patience when ...

Tunnel Rat Chapter 230

230? You didn't miss anything. A huge chapter got split in two, and I forgot to update numbers, resulting in two chapter 224s. I adjusted the numbers up one to fix the problem. 228 became 229 and now you get 230.

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Rogarth wondered how much the approaching people had drunk. They had linked arms and were hoping forward together, stopping for little kicks and sidesteps while singing a drinking song. The little guy in the center was so drunk the other two h...

The Scrapyard Dungeon WIP

This is prep work for something down the line. Too much work right now keeping up with the two stories, but I want to have a place to organize some thoughts when something odd bounces out of my head. I'm not sure when I'll get to more parts of this. It will be a stub on RR with just the first chapter, but if I write more, I'll toss it up here.

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In dark, abandoned places, strange events are happening, and things not from our wo...

Tunnel Rat Chapter 229

An odd day or two. I and the family all have light cases of Covid, and I'm sleeping a lot. Like 16 hours a day. But my normal days off are Sun/Mon. Then today I have off, and next Thur. I'm skipping Wed since I might still be contagious. So I get to sleep a ton, cook chili, and write when I can pry my eyes open. Strange 5 day vacation of sorts.
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Four hours later, Milo had successfully navigated the maze of mine tunnels and finally found the staircase that le...

Tunnel Rat Chapter 228

Instead of dodging, Milo sprinted at the first lurker emerging from the ground and leaped high. He bounced off its head, leaped at the next one, and then was behind them both and running. "Keep a look at Georgie and warn me if they're getting close."

Rather than skirt around the broken walls and large boulders covering the cave floor, Milo bounced from one to the next as much as possible, thinking he made a tougher target to any lurker moving through the ground. This worked for a few ...

Tunnel Rat Chapter 227

Waking up for the second time in his camp on the top of the tower, Milo made his plans for the day while he heated water for tea and chewed on some slightly stale bread with a thin slice of cheddar. He still had some snail meat stored away that he gave to his watch lizard. Georgie had worked a double shift and deserved a big breakfast. The lizard agreed. Milo took a good look around the large cavern, planning his route. He saw two more large, open pit mines, both filled with buildings. If he ...

Tunnel Rat Chapter 226

Milo pushed aside his anxieties about dealing with Belinda to the back of his mind. There was no use worrying about things until they next talked, and he had to focus hard to erase the shame of dying in a sewer trap. He was mostly successful, beating her five out of seven games, despite Minerva insisting he needed a "scouting partner." She sat beside him, pointing and yelling, "Lookout! Sewer Monster!" whenever she spotted an open manhole. When Milo glared at her, she only giggled and said in...

Butcher of Gadobhra Chapter 322

Myrna hopped down to the front of the wagon. "Follow this street for half a mile until we get to a statue of silly human riding a wolf. Look for two buildings with green roofs and go down the alley between them. Then take third left turn after first right turn. Find the big building that looks like a circus tent. Myrna needs to go there." Ozzy nodded, not worrying about directions. He was sure she'd repeat them a half dozen times on the way. Traveling through the city with Myrna was like trav...

Butcher of Gadobhra Chapter 321

From inside the burning building came screams of rage and pain. The assembled butchers and apprentices backed away from the heat. Ozzy strode toward the closed doors, preparing to break in, when one of them pushed open, and a man with his clothes on fire staggered out. Stavros was badly burned and in pain. Ozzy grabbed him as he went by and pulled all the heat from around his body, instantly extinguishing the flames. Ozzy carried him away from the fire and set him down on the cobblestones. 2023-06-29 23:26:59 +0000 UTC View Post

Tunnel Rat Chapter 225

Milo was playing a game of DeathRace2020 with Belinda. The two of them were racing ramshackle vehicles through a plague-zombie-infested city where the inhabitants huddled inside their homes. Milo ran over an open sewer hole in the middle of the road, and a large clawed hand reached up and ripped off one of his tires. His vehicle tumbled end over end before a horde of zombies ate his brains. Belinda looked at him with annoyance and then went on to finish the mission for an easy win.

"W...

Butcher of Gadobhra Chapter 320

Ozzy raced out the door, trailing smoke and fire in his wake. Several people got large flagons of beer and followed behind his obvious trail. Something interesting was going to happen, and they were curious.
"Did you get a good look at those axes? I've seen Orc Warlords with smaller cleavers."
"I was more interested in the sudden expulsion of exotic mana into the room. I can detect stray bits of both Heat and Smoke. How many mages do we have in the order with two compl...

Butcher of Gadobhra Chapter 319

Ozzy looked around quickly. He didn't see people who were angry or threatening. What he saw were people who were interested in seeing what was going to happen next. He needed to delay, at least until he got to his pie. Doris had just come out of the kitchen, humming some tune he didn't recognize. She ignored everyone and set down a platter with a huge porterhouse steak in front of Ozzy. Next to it, she set not one but two pies. "You look like an apple pie sort of guy, but I'm not always the b...

Butcher of Gadobhra Chapter 318

Ozzy had never realized how loud a kobold could snore. As he pulled his wagon through the streets of Wolfsburg, Myrna was wrapped up in a blanket in the wagon bed, using a pile of coins for a pillow. Ozzy wondered how closely related kobolds were to dragons. His mentor in grilling had been delighted in the buckets of coins she had won and didn't seem to care that they were silver and copper. He'd mentioned going by a bank and exchanging them for a smaller stack of gold, and she'd hissed at hi...

Knight of the Jackelope Part 4

Like all the chapters of this story, I make no guarantees any of it ever enters the main story.
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(You know damn well I'm going to use some of it. )

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Three brave heroes made their way into the haunted city of Gadobhra, it's broken towers casting long shadows as day fled away and night took over. A string of bright lights appeared, beckoning travelers to journey to a sinister-looking tower emblazoned with...

Butcher of Gadobhra Chapter 317

As the sun came up over Wolfsburg, the last of those celebrating the Emperor's Birthday took it as a sign that the party was over. Most went home to bed, and a few went off to have breakfast. The city guard helped the people asleep in the streets find a comfortable spot, safe from being run over by a wagon. One enterprising cleric was charging a modest sum for curing hangovers and had a line of people waiting to see her.

But sleep was a long way off for the people in the throne room o...

Level Up: Professional Writer

Exciting news! My books are going to be published by Aethonbooks, who work with the authors of great books like Vanqueur the Dragon, Primal Hunter, He Who Fights Monsters, and Defiance of the Fall. They will be putting my books out on Kindle, KU, and Audiobook.

To be honest, I was amazed when I had 50 followers on my story on Royal Road. And then astounded when you fine people started supporting my stories.

 Publishing seemed pretty far away, and I had no clue about how to m...

Tunnel Rat Chapter 224

The high-velocity train that connected New York to Paris was expensive but an essential expense for some people. Especially people who bored easily and to whom boredom was a form of torture. Nina hated the trains more than any of them. Anything that confined her movement felt like a cage, and she was done with cages for the rest of her life. The others picked up on her anxiety and did their best to help, but only Onyx had an understanding of the psychological torture they had been through. Bo...

Tunnel Rat Chapter 223 (RAW)

Finishing up vacation and swapping back to a full-sized computer soon for editing. But here is today's chapters that got done while it rained on us. Quite Raw, and no need to point out the many errors. Editing later this week.

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Climbing out of the hole, Milo found the lump of silvery metal easily. He stayed a few feet away and tried to identify it. What he learned was interesting.

Duram Argenti nugget
Estimated size: 3 lbs.
Partially enc...

Tunnel Rat Chapter 222

It was peaceful at the top of the tower. Milo had eaten and rested, and now his mana was back to nearly full. Casting spells from scratch took much more mana than normal spells; the ancient runes, in particular, seemed to pull deep on his resources. The trade-off was versatility and raw power. Other downsides were the increased to build the array before casting and the possibility of blowing himself up if he made a mistake.

Milo knew why he liked this new magic system so much. It chal...

Tunnel Rat Chapter, Raw

I got some sleep, and a story popped out of my head. Putting it up here before I head to the beach. I'm unsure of my wifi there. No need to point out errors, this needs a complete proof reading.

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It was snowing in Takayama. The thin, white layer coated the traditional wooden buildings and the swirling flakes obscured some of the details of the modern world. It was a lovely illusion and Julius sat in front of his small house's largest window...

Beach Time (not a chapter)

Going to the NJ shore for a few days. I think I have wifi down there to connect to Royal Road and Patreon. If so, nothing changes, except I get more time to write while watching the ocean. If not, I'll just be writing in Word and uploading it all at the end of the week. 

The Butcher of Gadobhra Chapter 316

"Push! Fat Fingers! Push!" Myrna shouted excitedly as she cooked sausages and hot peppers; the heat from her grill charred parts of the wagon and forced hungry customers to step back. She slapped another six sausage and pepper sandwiches together, and a brave soldier rushed forward, grabbed them, and retreated to safety. Another soldier tossed a handful of coins into a half-full bucket nailed to the wagon's side. The kobold threw more food onto her grill, infused heat into the metal, and star...

Tunnel Rat Chapter 221

Went to work, came home stressed. Fell asleep. Family woke me up to feed me a Rib-eye steak and a salad. Played with puppy, went to bed. Work at 4am, and at a friends suggestion, watched Deadwood. I love westerns. Slept. Work up on my day off and a couple of Milo stories were in my head. I may have to repeat that day more often.

The cavern was large but far longer than it was wide, stretching in both directions. Everywhere was evidence of mining. He skirted around large, open ...

Slow Week of Writing...(Non Chapter)

Apologies, things happened this weekend that resulted in a huge amount of stress and an itty bitty amount of sleep. Simply could not write a single word today with what is going on, so I'm going to bed early and starting over in the morning.

I have the next BOG story ready to  edit and to post here, and the next three tunnel rat chapters are outlined. I'll probably get the next part of the Emperor's Birthday out tomorrow and then devote some time to Milo.

At the end of th...

Butcher of Gadobhra Chapter 315

While official Imperial paperwork could take months or even years to work its way through the system, rumors and gossip flew quickly. The news of a Legion of Gnomish Lawyers toppling the Emperor from his throne over an overdue bill spread to the entire city in only half a bell. It was such an outlandish bit of rumor that half of those hearing it simply laughed. Knowing the Emperor's fondness for joining the Legion in his youth, others decided it must be an elaborate birthday joke. A few scram...

Butcher of Gadobhra Chapter 314

Great Court was a sight to behold. Upon a huge stage, the Emperor held court, sitting on a throne that had followed him from city to city. On either side were four smaller thrones for the four Dukes and Duchesses. Seating for a thousand nobles filled the room, and a thousand more people lined the walls or watched from the balconies. Added to that were a hundred guards, including the personal bodyguards of each noble. At each of the other three courts, the citizens of that duchy had presented ...

Butcher of Gadobhar Chapter 313

The Emperor's Birthday was an event that would drive Guard Captains, Castellans, and Chefs to the brink of insanity. The pressure to entertain not only the ruling noble of the empire and his family but also a hundred other Barons, Counts, Dukes, Generals, and Heroes was a daunting task. This year, instead of forcing such pressure on one of the Ducal households, the Emperor was visiting all four, leaving in his wake exhausted staff and a long trail of dignitaries who were all trying to tag alo...

Tunnel Rat Chapter 220

Milo felt a sense of relief as he entered the hidden tunnels. As much as he loved being in the Hollow, he missed exploring the dark corners and tunnels of the world. Solitude didn't bother him at all, and for all he was learning to be around people, he still needed his time alone. His friends in the Hollow understood his need to go to new places and explore. The council had insisted that he keep his ring and remain the official Master of Scouts. Bleusnout had taken him aside to explain.
2023-06-07 23:23:00 +0000 UTC View Post

Tunnel Rat Chapter 219

It had been a tiring night for Gendifur. Cleaning the girls up had been a chore after they played tag with Tallsqueak. It took forever to comb out their burned fur and get all the soot and dirt cleaned off of them. Rosie and Buttercup were still excited about the game. No one had ever thrown explosive spells at them before. At first, it had scared them, the way the loud noises in the big fight had frightened them. Tallsqueak had explained things to them, and they had clapped with childlike gl...

Butcher of Gadobhra, Chapter 312

Claudia strode into her private chambers, leaving her guards outside, shut the door, and collapsed into an overstuffed chair her husband had made. It was made from the leather of a mountain Naga the two of them had killed twenty years ago when they were both knights. The tough Naga hide was nearly impossible to damage. They'd trapped it in a pit and drowned it, then carted off the body to the dwarves living in the mountains to skin and turn into furniture. After Claudia had destroyed three of...