Just as he was passing out or dying in some hidden cave, Milo flicked his tail and logged out of the game. He had too much to do in the real world to be wasting time lying in a dusty cot. He did enjoy sleeping in the game now and then, especially when that would be what he was doing in the real world, but he'd pass on dying from poison or having horrible dreams for a day. He was either dead, or he wasn't. Dead was going to be real pain and dealing with spiders to get back some of his gear. Of...
2022-09-13 01:33:08 +0000 UTC
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Milo didn't like the idea of trying to just keep his two adversaries busy while his partner looted the rare mushrooms. Every scenario seemed to end badly for him. The spiders could use the ceiling and walls as well or better than he could. They were too big to draw them off the way he came, and he couldn't take them in the direction his partner had gone. Running around was a losing game against two opponents in a cavern that already had webs in part of it.
Better to cut down the odds...
2022-09-12 20:25:11 +0000 UTC
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When the situation was explained to them, Sven, Jon, and Cham volunteered to handle the task of hiding Ozzy's bag. All three of them had a STR score over 12, and Sven was at 15. His job was cutting and moving the huge blocks of granite and marble used in constructing the new fortress and most of his skills were based on strength. While Jon and Cham held the bag and pulled it back, Sven removed the paving stones and cut into the road until he had a bag sized hole over eight feet deep. The thre...
2022-09-12 18:20:47 +0000 UTC
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First, thank you all for the suggestions for building Billy and Layla. Greatly appreciated and I'll have their character sheets ready soon. This chapter is a bit out of order. I started it, stopped, started, worked on their character sheets with your advice.....and then somehow a big fight with a ghould happened. Really. Wasn't planning on sending Ozzy off to the smoke like that, but the coffee and keyboard made a decision. In the excitement of writing about the Great Smoke and Woodrat, I sor...
2022-09-12 15:25:29 +0000 UTC
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This story comes between the time Ozzy floats off after his fight with the Ghoul Lord in Gadobhra, and when the story picks up again with him in the smoke. It deals with a shipwrecked deck hand name Woodrat, trying to stay alive as he drifts across the smokey waves.
Woodrat looked at his collection of gleanings from the last two days. He had a half dozen small branches that had fallen from trees recently, some them still supple, and man-high piece of wood about 3" wide. The long strip ...
2022-09-11 23:55:08 +0000 UTC
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Milo passed through the large cavern, noting the types of common mushrooms and vegetables that were being grown here. All of the plants were grown in raised beds with water carefully poured in by the bucketful. A large water cart went to each field where water was poured into the buckets and then into the fields. Another field hand was spreading pungent fertilizer around the plants. Milo was glad he wasn't a farmer. He understood the process of growing things with hydroponics in the real worl...
2022-09-09 01:08:02 +0000 UTC
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I wasn't happy with the first version and the first half grew in revision. So here is the final version.
Work has begun on the Ozzy solo arc in The Smoke. I will be posting some new game mechanics up with some background soon.
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The fight had not gone unnoticed.
Rolly and Squirmie hadn't gotten to the village yet when Suzette's first spell lit up the pre-dawn darkness. They raced back up the road and arrived as Layla was trying to keep Suzette alive. Rolly...
2022-09-08 19:27:47 +0000 UTC
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After his third time telling Larry his story, Milo got away by promising to tell it again at the next meal. Larry was in a better mood, still singing the song from the story. The map showed the caverns that made up Limburger Hollow, and showed all the exits. The exit he needed looked to be in a cave past something called The Tower of Strife. He could circle around through the market place and maybe do a little shopping.
He was just about to step off the porch of the mess hall when a f...
2022-09-07 03:32:42 +0000 UTC
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Milo followed behind the Cheese-Master and a very nervous Riftkin. A small side room was unlocked, which turned out to have only a staircase in it, leading downward. Milo could smell all sorts of interesting scents coming from below: mushrooms, spoiled milk, damp earth, and many types of cheese. The stone steps went down over a hundred feet, and ended at a locked door. Both Riftkin and Bleusnout put a key in the door and turned them together. Milo heard the click of a mechanism and the doors ...
2022-09-07 00:14:58 +0000 UTC
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The fight had not gone unnoticed. Rolly and Squirmie weren't to the village yet when the Suzette's first spell lit up the early morning darkness. He arrived as Layla was trying to keep Suzette alive and threw himself into the effort of healing her. The huge gash across her back slowly started to heal as he fought against the bleeding. It was still touch and go because of the poison in the wound, but eventually, after two thousand points of healing were applied to the gash, it started to close...
2022-09-05 04:19:52 +0000 UTC
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This chapter just happened. I started writing, and didn't know all of this shit was going to pop it. It just did. Sometimes when I write, it just flows. Other times, especially with dialog, it gets down painfully a sentence at a time.
Today, stuff just leaped into the story unplanned. This is the raw chapter, no revisions. I need a sandwich and coffee and then maybe I'll take a look at it again. :)
It runs over 3200 words now. Comments welcome.
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2022-09-04 19:19:35 +0000 UTC
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Cheese class with Master Bleusnout was interesting. He had had no idea that cheese was as much a part of rat-kin culture as beer was in dwarven culture. It was an ingrained part of every rat-kin's life, and how a hollow managed their cheese determined much about it.
"Greetings young ones! I am Chef Bleusnout. You may refer to me as Chef or Master, for in addition to cooking meals for the Hollow, I am also it's Cheese-Master. My duties as Master of all things cheese include making sur...
2022-09-01 20:07:23 +0000 UTC
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The fighting arena was filling up as Milo arrived. Like the day before, some seemed to be players just starting up new characters. Several were sparring in the center area, punching and slapping with their tails. One of these approached Milo as he put his pack down. "Hey, want to get in a round before the drill sergeant guy shows up? I'm Blackwhisker."
Milo wondered if most players didn't start with an Identify or Appraise skill? He had known the players name already. This was probabl...
2022-09-01 16:35:01 +0000 UTC
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Finally, a day off! I lost my weeked to a silly trip to the beach where I endured salt, sun, saltwater taffee, pizza at Mack and Mancos, and other delights of the Jersey shore. Fun, and I wrote stories in my head while relaxing. I'll have at least one more chapter tonight/tomorrow. Lots more of the Hollow to explore.
Milo was having a dream where Justin and Brutus kept appearing out of nowhere and yelling 'Surprise!' He woke up in his cot in the barracks, muscles tight and tail coi...
2022-09-01 01:40:37 +0000 UTC
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Posting this, but it needs some work. First runthrough to get ideas down. I'm a bit behind from a trip to the beach. Needed my salt water taffee and macaroons. All my kids are tired and sunburnt. Successful weekend.
Your curse will have to be something special. Are you ready to receive it?
"Nope, because I'm not wrong. Lucien's father, Emperor Marius, died when Lucien was 42 years old. Lucien's mother, Agatha, quickly married a much younger man, Duke...
2022-08-30 04:40:05 +0000 UTC
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This takes place after chapter 177 of Butcher of Gadobhra.
It was sometime in the waning hours of night that a lone figure moved through the ruined city.
The Dregs in Hungrytown had settled into their crypts, fearing to be caught when the sun came up. The endless dance hadn't ended, but it had certainly slowed, settling into slow patterns with none of the energy seen earlier in the night. The Beastwoods was nervous, and all creatures hid from the wrath of the Great Beast. If o...
2022-08-30 00:44:42 +0000 UTC
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Sadly, character sheets go up poorly, and Billy and Laylas are only partially done. But for reference, lets reveal that ACME also had a special build for their 'Worker Liasons' like Billy, Layla, and Sammy. They didn't expect them to ever be players, just watch over the workers, and spend half their time pushing paperwork in the real world. A lot of their skills were traded for the following perks.
Healthy as a Horse: Bonus 1000 Health. Increased health to offset "accidents", "frie...
2022-08-30 00:42:16 +0000 UTC
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Apologies. Hard to make this work in Patreon. All the riddle answers will be hidden in spoilers in the regular story
Rolly could tell that something was wrong with his pet. Squirmie was hesitant to go into the Beast Woods tonight. "What's wrong bug?"
<The Beast Woods are frightening at night. We should go do another night of butchering. I'll cook all the livers up for you. Doesn't that sound good? Yummy in the tummy. Butchering is so fun!>
Rolly looked at ...
2022-08-25 22:44:57 +0000 UTC
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Milo felt a small bit of regret as Brutus tucked his cheese into a large pouch, but the sound of Larry begging for cheese was enough to convince him ten times over. "You mentioned some classes? I think I need those. But I've never been in a hollow before, can you give me some advice on what to do or not to do."
Brutus grinned at that. "Sure thing! One of a guard's duties is to help new people fit in. Lots of small nests out in the caves send us their young whelps for some schooling, a...
2022-08-25 04:10:49 +0000 UTC
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A hellish chapter to write, mostly dialog :) This will get at least one more look through before putting it up. If something bothers you, let me know.
Before the first time he logged into the game, Ozzy had done some research on his new manager, William Horvacs. He liked to know who he was doing business with. Ozzy had gathered and sold information to supplement his normal salary for over three decades. Suzette and Ben had often been the people who found information for him to sell. Ro...
2022-08-25 02:38:40 +0000 UTC
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About half of this was in the old chapter, some got moved elsewhere, and more got added.
A group of contract workers, finished with their daily chores, having labored from sunrise to sunset, were traveling through Gadobhra to do even more work for their Baron. Tonight, they were going to slaughter many strange beasts and dump the bodies into the Butcher's dungeon to keep him happy. It was a dirty, bloody job, but someone had to do it.
The road from the gates of the city to the A...
2022-08-23 00:37:11 +0000 UTC
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Pushing a couple of things off again to finish up the 'Fae Upgrades'. It seemed better to do them at once than to interspace them with other chapters.
Lord Hound had begun his busy day the in the realm of Alwyn, a minor Lord of Summer. His courier was sound asleep after a night of drinking and feasting. Lord Alwyn had not had such a huge reason to celebrate in some time, and the wine had poured freely. If either was awake and about by noon, the hound would be greatly surprised. He had ...
2022-08-22 17:39:44 +0000 UTC
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"Wow, I can smell the mushrooms from here! I'm starving. You've got to have worked up an appetite with that fighting. Nice job by the way. It's not easy laying a tail on old Gilad. That guy's was fighting for decades before he retired to teach combat to the new whelps. My grand pappy said he served under Gilad during the 3rd Spider War, and the Tail-Master was going grey even back then. Lousy food though, not enough cheese to feed the army. Makes sense I guess, since that's what the war was o...
2022-08-18 17:54:47 +0000 UTC
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A tough chapter, and will get a bit of polish. Try describing a fight. Now try describing a fight with tails.
Milo collected himself. The older rat-kin had said that they would go a few rounds, but his stance was neutral and non-threatening? Was he in a fight? Looking around he saw that he was in a small dirt sided arena and he rolled down one of the sides into the middle. A dozen or so rat-kin stood or sat around the sides. Some were standing at attention, while others...
2022-08-17 23:49:42 +0000 UTC
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I realized I wanted to get out a couple of small chapters before the bigger one that deals with Ozzy talking with Billy, and Layla having fun hacking meat. So what I had said was chapter 174 now gets pushe further off, and this is the new 174.
As he usually did each morning, Jasper Fentrix, mighty mage of the Sedgewick Mage's Guild, slowly sipped his tea and read a novel until a bit past noon. The sign on the door clearly said "Examinations of Magical Aspects begin promptly at sunrise....
2022-08-17 19:49:48 +0000 UTC
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To the north and west of the village of Sedgewick was a small forest of Ironwood Hickories. Long under siege by the mighty army of the oaks, they now dwelt in peace, guarded in part by their new allies in the village. It's easy to find their once hidden glade. Just follow the trail oak stumps.
Further from the village, and again North and to the West, dwelled the dryads of the Apples. More numerous, but not nearly as powerful as the Ironwoods, they fell under the dominance of the oaks,...
2022-08-16 22:27:59 +0000 UTC
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Milo wondered how his second life had gotten so hectic. After some thought he decided to blame the eels. They always seemed to be up to something. At least he got double experience and skill points from them. Being part of the group that killed the hydra had given him 10 more points. Of course, there were a huge number of things he wanted spend points on!
(This long list will be a more compact table on RR, showing all the Tier 2 abilities. Scroll down a bit to where the story continues...
2022-08-16 20:46:36 +0000 UTC
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Milo had taken advantage of the relative calm in Harry's area to attempt a visit to his Arcane Library. It was more difficult now. Instead of logging out and getting an option to go to the library, he now had to do a ritual in game that took roughly fifteen minutes. He inscribed a rough circle, and sat and meditated about traveling. Eventually his vision blackened and after a very small bit of queasiness, he was on the doorstep of his Library.
Conscious of how the slaver-mage had met...
2022-08-16 17:42:11 +0000 UTC
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Cham had gone to sleep, by himself, in one of the older trees at the edge of the glade. He'd learned the hard way that trying to get some rest anywhere near the younger dryads was impossible. Blossom or Petal or Honey would try to sneak over to him and get caught by one of the old women, and then he'd have to listen to them yell at each other for an hour. It was easier to sleep out at the edge of the glade, even if it did mean he might get ambushed by a squirrel.
He had woken with th...
2022-08-16 01:15:22 +0000 UTC
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It took a few days for Harry to grow until he was roughly human sized and his huge arm to shrink down to the point, he could drag it along behind him. A day later, he asked for Milo's help in taking it off. Despite Harry telling him it was just fine; Milo was a bit squeamish about the whole thing. Finally, he gritted his teeth, and cut off the huge arm with a saw Harry provided. Harry smiled and stretched, then tossed his abandoned body part into an empty mushroom bed.
"I'm glad that...
2022-08-15 02:15:47 +0000 UTC
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