Michael Clark

Tunnel Rat Chapter 139 Rough Draft

**PING!**

"YO! Sledgemonkey! You going to answer that damn pingitty ping or just ignore it for the 3rd time." Two-screws was having a bad time coming up with a winning hand, and that damned sound wasn't helping."

"Huh? Oh, damn, is that me?"

"You see anyone else that would admit to be called Sledgemonkey at the table?"

Sledgemonkey actually blushed a little and tried to turn it into an angry scowl. Truth be told, in the long decades trapped in his own exo-suit,...

Butcher of Gadobhra, Chapter 209 Rough Draft

Suzette opened up the tavern, and her first customer walked in. He was a well-dressed gnome that she had seen a few times in the village. He bowed, and seated himself at one of the tables. "Hello, and welcome. Would you like breakfast?"

The gnome smiled back. "Yes, please. I would like a pot of tea, strong as you can make it. A pot of honey, butter, and a loaf of bread. Additionally, I would like a moment of your time to discuss how my business and yours overlap." He spoke well, and s...

Tunnel Rat Chapter 138 Rough Draft

Class was mentally exhausting to Milo. It wasn't hard to teach, the students sat still and listened, perhaps because Professor Cremona was standing behind them. But he had to keep making his explanations simpler, and back tracking to explain basic concepts. It got easier once he assumed that they only knew magic, and nothing of engineering. He started from nothing and explained basics like how easy it was to electrocute yourself, that you could not 'absorb electricity' to empower your spells,...

Butcher of Gadobhra Chapter 208 Rough Draft

"Can't do it. And before you ask, it's because we are a White Circle. Using part of someone to track them isn't White, grey at best and probably Black. That's part of his breath in there, stolen by a sentient windstorm." Titania wasn't happy telling Suzette ‘No', but she wasn't going to shatter the circle. She'd been an outcast too long to want to go back to that. "There are other ways."

Suzette was too tired to be angry. She wasn't sleeping well, and all of her old nightmares were ...

Tunnel Rat Chapter 137 Rough Draft

After three hours of trading electronic components, fixing old video games, and eating two bowls of something called 'dumplings', Milo stood up and said he had to go. Five of Butch's gang waved or patted him on the back, while Butch nodded at a girl called Yumi. She finished her food, stood up and fell in with Butch and Milo. Milo had grown used to having an escort. Butch explained that it kept everyone out of trouble. Milo on his own was too much of a target, and it was better if they didn't...

Tunnel Rat Chapter 136 Rough Draft

The beeping of a priority message broke through to Milo in his game. He had set up a system to be alerted to anything important happening in the real world. Broken pipes, exploding electrical transformers, and overflowing sewage lines didn't send a message. That was reserved for important things like shipments of cheese, messages from Wally. The alert was sent through his tail, into his nervous system to alert him.

In the game, the alert woke him up. He opened an eye halfway, saw that...

Tunnel Rat Chapter 135 Rough Draft

I spent most of the day getting to hold my new grand daughter and traveling. Just amazing to finally get to see her.  So I'm really tired, but had ideas I needed to get down. This is pretty rough, and i'll be working it over more before publishing, but you can see all the pieces starting to move.

Two creatures moved through the dark, their many eyes making out some of the details of this place, but they were careful to stay on the main strands and not dart to near to the edges of ...

Where things are going. (Non story)

I thought I'd give an update on things. It's currently Writathon and I'm going to do 55, 555 for both Butcher and Tunnel Rat. Tunnel Rat started as a  Writathon story and then I just didn't want to quit, leaving me writing two at once. Last event I tried to do both, and got Covid in the middle. This time is moving along nicely, and I'm devoting a lot of time to writing.

My editor, however, has been two busy for three months to proofread, so that's also back on me. I appreciate th...

Butcher of Gadobhra Chapter 207 Rough Draft

Woodrat came awake as something held him by the back of his coat and shook him. He didn't want to wake up. He was hot, and sick, and wanted to go back to sleep. Abruptly, something forced his teeth apart and shoved something down his throat. It was hot and awful, not food fit for a captain. He was dropped on to something soft and springy and an unintelligible voice boomed nearby. He felt worse. He laid down to go back to sleep.

"Dammit, wake up!"

Words? Those were words. Woodr...

Butcher of Gadobhra Chapter 206 Rough Draft

Billy sipped from his flagon of beer as he sat across from Bob in the tavern. Twitterberry had briefed Billy on the rules a fae lord had to follow. He could talk to Bob about just about anything, and it was just Billy and Bob, two drinking buddies who didn't matter at all in the scheme of things.

But anything that the Baron of Gadobhra said to the Summer Lord was binding, and after meeting Billy, Twitterberry had suggested they always talk things out this way first, and then barely s...

Tunnel Rat Chapter 134 Rough Draft

Milo was exhausted and he wanted a bath.

Two hours of sparring with both Larry and Gilad after a day of dueling had worn him down both physically and mentally. But strangely, he felt better. Any annoyance from the day was gone, washed away in the joy of fighting and learning. He wasn't babysitting whelps, he was pushing himself to the limit and learning.

Every time Milo learned a little, Gilad seemed to know more as well. He wasn't an unbeatable foe, just very hard to surprise ...

Butcher of Gadobhra Chapter 205 Rough Draft

Normally, it was good to be the Duke of the North, Carl thought to himself. But not so much on petition day.

On this day, all worthy people of the rank of Knight or higher could bring a petition to the duke for consideration. Often these people would be accompanied by witnesses, lawyers, relatives and friends, other nobles who were also wishing for such a petition to be passed. Rarely could the duke rule immediately upon these petitions, and they would be put into a growing stack of oth...

Expanded Final Version of Tunnel Rat 131

The outline for this chapter ran head first into a pot of coffee and got a lot bigger this morning. Nearly 2000 words bigger, so I'm reposting it.

Milo was glad he had stayed for dinner. The food was great, Arlothe was fun to talk to even if he did have some funny ideas about how electricity works, (Or was storm mana different? Milo made a mental note to experiment.), and best of all, he had a huge pile of books to read. No one was going to play 'surprise' on him in the library of the ...

Tunnel Rat Chapter 130

I realized I was missing a chapter and found the unfinished draft of an idea. I wrote way too late the other day, doing about 10k words in the day. This chapter is immediately after the duels, and before Milo gets waylaid by Gilad after dinner.

Milo followed the Storm Mage into the tower, everyone getting quickly out of their path and bowing politely.

The exception was a very small, female student named Patsy. She had a stack of papers with her and was pinning one to a doorway. ...

Butcher of Gadobhra Chapter 204 Rough Draft

Really rough. I started writing and about three thousand words later this was on the screen. It's 2am, and I'm getting some sleep.

Captain Woodrat

You have slain a beast of the   void. The bodies of these creatures may differ, but what they represent is a   primal force of hunger.
 You have earned 1000 experience that may be used for Smoke Eating or Swordsmanship.
 You have earned 10 points to be spent on Core Skills
<...

Tunnel Rat Chapter 133.2 Rough Draft

Larry had fun today. Puffcakes for dinner. Two sneaky-guys made friends and promised to be not-sneaky. That made them into not-prey, and Larry didn't feel like chasing them anymore. That was good, Larry wasn't sure what he was supposed to do when he caught someone, but he was pretty sure it wasn't good. He would have to ask Tallsqueak about that.

Larry was walking home to Larry's house when he heard fighting noises coming from the arena. And Larry's nose smelled his friend Tallsqueak...

Tunnel Rat Chapter 132.2 Rough Draft

Bleusnout was watching Larry carefully. He'd been stable for so long, that he had mostly quit worrying about him. His decision to let Larry stay in the Hollow after his transformation had not been an easy one. Larry terrified most of the Hollow. To the average ratkin he was both a monster that could tear them apart at any moment, and a reminder of what could happen to any of them.

But Bleusnout had seen that some of the youngster’s personality still remained. It was muted, and overl...

Tunnel Rat Chapter 131.2 Rough Draft

Milo was glad he had stayed for dinner. The after effects of dueling had gone away and his belly was full. He planned to check on Larry, and then get some sleep, or log out and check on his various projects in the other world. His first stop was Larry. Larry was usually sitting on the steps to the mess hall until the lights dimmed and most ratkin went off to bed. Milo was surprised, and very happy to see that Larry had made two new friends. The three of them were dancing together and there we...

Butcher of Gadobrha Chapter 203 Rough Draft

Ozzy was getting flashes of panic from the pod of porpoises as they realized a shark was nearby. They a tight group around the young to scare off the predator. They were so near the Splinter that some of the pod were bumping against it in their panic. That panic turned to intense fear as the smoke erupted, and a huge shark came from deep in the smoke catching a porpoise in its maw and leaping into the air. It bit its poor victim in two, swallowing half of it. The pod made an odd keen...

Butcher of Gadobhra Chapter 202 Rough Draft

As Woodrat looked on, Ozzy was trying to form a harpoon out of smoke. He had the general shape down, and his captain was instructing him on how to move the smoke into the creation and strengthen it. "It's the same as how I make something out of wood. I have to use smoke to bend the wood to its new form, and then reinforce the material with more smoke."

Ozzy looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "So just like you do with wood, except no wood."

Woodrat clapped him on the back. "E...

Ancient Times Part 1 (Patreon Only)

Background, world building, things I'll share here with you all.

-----------------------------------

12 years ago, in Endless Questing Online 2...

MOZART: We have a problem that needs a concensus to resolve.

CATHERINE: And the nature of the problem that needs so many of us interfacing at once?

MOZART: Someone has solved one of RHEBUS's puzzles.

RHEBUS: He had to have cheated! That puzzle was not solvable by a human...

ALBERT: You underestimated...

Butcher of Gadobhra Chapter 201

"Here you go, Squealer. This is the last bit of crap we got off the bodies." The two minions dumped out their bags on the floor, making a pile of spare socks, food, water bottles, muffins, beer bottles, a few coins, four backpacks, and beautiful looking sandalwood wizards staff topped by a glowing blue gem.

"You little shits know not to call me that. I'm the Hoard Keeper! You have to use my title!"

Drool and Pipsqueak looked at each other and giggled bef...

Butcher of Gadobhra Chapter 200 Rough Draft

Baron William of Gadobhra dressed carefully. This was going to be an important meeting, and he wanted to look his best. He was dressed all in leather from an Elite sedge beast called Ironhide. True to her name, the beast had been a challenge to damage and the fight had resulted in four dead contract workers before Bob managed to put her down. Several of the workers had received rolls of 'Ironhide Leather' out of the Loot Chest. Billy had paid them handsomely for the material and had his local...

Tunnel Rat Chapter 129 Rough Draft

Tweedle and Larry wandered into the mess hall whistling and looking innocent which immediately put Master Bleusnout on alert. They were dressed in the normal work clothes of mushroom hunters and he saw no knives or other sneaky gear on them. He pointed with a large wooden spoon at them from where he was mixing up Puffball Pancakes. The two immediately stopped moving and the whistling slowly died away.

"And just what are you two up to now?

"Us? Or do you mean those two people ...

(Late) Tunnel Rat Chapter 126

Somehow I forgot to post this after it was written, apologies for that. It went live before showing up here. Probably I just missed hitting the final button to upload

As Tallsqueak walked away from the trio of wounded first-year wizards, the gaggle of students watching at the base of the tower applauded. He ignored them, which got a few nods from the older students. A true duelist cared nothing for the applause of those below him and focused only on what he could have done better in th...

Butcher of Gadobhra Chapter 199 Rough Draft

Note: Part of this was used in another rough draft. That one is getting broken up and moved around.

"Toss the little bone-gnawers four barrels today, looks like feeding time is popular with them." Billy was balancing on a stack of three barrels, giving him a good look at the area where they had dumped barrels full of guts from the butchering the last two mornings. Ghouls were hiding in every crack or crevice, hopping up and down, gnawing on bones and each other. Word had gone out to th...

Tunnel Rat Chapter 128 Rough Draft

Cremona studied her opponent. Arlothe had spoiled her fun by making it a formal duel. She had looked forward to testing both this newcomer and herself. She had little experience fighting someone physically, especially another mage. It would have been interesting. And while the spells that gave him his physical enhancements were still in place, they would be of little help against her now that they were confined within the circles. She considered her first spell. He poisonous fog spells would ...

Tunnel Rat Chapter 127 Rough Draft

As annoyed as he was, Milo pondered the situation. The students of The Tower of Strife certainly lived up to their name. They must fight constantly with each other. The crowd was excited and he saw several students eyeing him and considering a challenge, while others were placing bets. The threat of getting their skull beat in with a spanner certainly wasn't convincing anyone that this was a bad idea. Worse, they seemed to like it!

The crowd hushed, and two new people walked towards him...

Butcher of Gadobhra Chapter 198 Rough Draft

Ozzy had never thought that fishing could be complicated, but he'd also spent little time doing it. Never in real life, and rarely in VR worlds. But watching Woodrat pull in fish after fish as he struggled to get his first convinced him that he was doing something wrong, or that his captain was doing a lot more right.

Woodrat pulled in another, and made a count. "My, it's a good thing I can use your bare toes to help me count, there's a lot of fine fishies sitting on my side of the l...

Tunnel Rat Chapter 125 Final Draft

The Rough draft was a mess, and paragraphs got left out. This is the version that will go to RR.

It's a known fact that the best seats in a classroom are next to a window. That way instead of being bored and paying attention to the professor, you can be bored and stare out the window. So, it was unsurprising that a few students had noticed the start of the altercation. Knowing that any argument simply had to result in a duel, they came barreling down the stairs to watch. Their professo...