Michael Clark

Tunnel Rat Chapter 411

This chapter was not going to go this way. At all. It was going to be something else entirely. But when I write Milo and Wally, I try to keep in mind what they are. Especially when they talk to each other. I knew Wally was surprised by what Milo did...and from there, things took a left turn at Albuquerque and Milo ran off with the chapter.

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"You wanted to talk?"

Milo was sitting in a sealed conference room in ...

Tunnel Rat Chapter 410

As most of the gods prepared to leave the new galaxy, the God of War asked a question in a calm voice. "And what do we do about Milo?"

Hecate turned and stared hard at Ares, going over the question he had just asked, and trying to divine why he had asked it. "What do you mean?"

The God of War looked at her and the other assembled gods, "Mean? It's a simple question. What do we do about Milo? I feel it needed to be asked."

Hecate knew it was not a simple question at all, an...

Butcher of Gadobhra Chapter 501

Ben greeted Marcy as she arrived. He was armed as usual with his shimmering estoc, a whip at his side, and a sleek, miniature crossbow on his arm. She was wearing plate armor, carrying a thick shield, with a mace, sword, and two daggers in sheaths on her belt. Ben noticed three more daggers strapped to a forearm and slid into both of her boots. He approved. In his swashbuckling days, he'd packed twice as many. A pirate couldn't have too many knives.

"I am ready for my fencing lesson. I...

New Chapters: Bog493,494,TR 402,403

Two chapters from each story.

Butcher of Gadobhra Chapter 500

We last saw some of these people in chapters 412, 414, 439, and 446. This is a catch-up chapter. I'll be posting another Bog and TR chapter today/tomorrow.
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Bronk was looking forward to a mug of herbal tea and a haunch of beef. It had been a long journey from the lands ruled by the Maple Priests. This was the twelfth day of his journey across the frozen landscape. He had leaped across icy crevasses, trudged through waist-high snow on the frozen ...

Tunnel Rat Chapter 409

Milo flipped the top of the pod open and bounded out. He had so much to do and a burning desire to investigate the mysterious staff. The desire to know more had almost kept him in Genesis, but his body there was exhausted from the strain of dealing with so many AIs.

Not that his mind wasn't still feeling the strain, just the opposite. He was in one of his most efficient modes, where creativity and the need to work were pushing him forward, and the stress of too much work overrode his ...

Tunnel Rat Chapter 408

A long time in coming. This arc technically started in chapter 36 with the first appearance of Philistron the Benevolent Sage. I will probably do another pass of this chapter. Dialogue is always tough, especially with this many people.
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Milo looked at the assembled gods. He didn't think of them that way, of course. To him, they were some of the original quantum artificial intelligences, artificial beings created to...

Butcher of Gadobhra Chapter 499

Marcy, Vernon, Ricardo, and most of the new recruits reappeared at dawn. Marcy stretched and smiled, then noticed who else was there and put on her more serious expression as she looked at the rest of the newly-alive. None of them looked happy, and many glares were turned on Vernon. Even Ricardo looked annoyed with him. Marcy overheard bits of the story as they complained. Vern had led them deep into the Lair of the Under Rodent until they were completely lost and surrounded and subsequently ...

New Chapters Up

Tunnel Rat 400 and 401

Butcher of Gadobhra 491 and 492

Butcher of Gadobhra Chapter 498

A few of you had comments on the last chapter. Trust me, I take all the feedback seriously. It gives me more perspectives, especially from readers. I'll be revisiting the chapter before it goes to RR. As always, thanks for the thoughts.

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Ozzy awoke, manacles on his wrists, hanging from a chain fastened above him. He was naked except for a rope belt and tattered pants. Fifty feet below, waves rolled over a narro...

Butcher of Gadobhra Chapter 497

It was midnight at the corral, and half of the local herd had shown up to watch the fun as two humans beat on each other and rolled in the mud for hours.

Marceline was geared up in her best armor and festooned with weapons. More were leaning against the corral. Her prep work had included an hour of meditating on the word 'Unyielding', and a five-pound porterhouse steak from the local butcher that gave her +10 STR and +500 Stamina for the next hour. It was expensive, but worth ...

Tunnel Rat 407

With nothing else to do, the Gods talked. Several sat around Kepler and Zeus, listening to the two banter back and forth, discussing their shared adventures. Other groups formed, talking of their current work or catching up with friends who had decided on a simpler life as a mortal. Several people laughed as Marduk told his stories about 'The fish that got away', always bigger than his last story. Milo moved from group to group, listening and saying nothing, gathering information. He watched ...

TR 398,399 and BOG 489,490

Weekly chapter release for the Butcher of Sedgewick Tier

Butcher of Gadobhra Chapter 496

The Baron of Gadobhra greeted his guests warmly in their own language and urged them to take food and make themselves comfortable.

"You traveled far to get here. I offer you limited and revocable guesting rights in my city as family of my family."

Scalesofgray, Smallwebbedfeet, and Curiouscamoflage were very satisfied with their status. It recognized the bond between them and Uncavarn, as well as the bond between Dammitbilly and Uncavarn. They were family for their visit, only o...

Tunnel Rat Chapter 406

Things are so hectic, but luckily, today was easy at work. No lost shipments, no damaged boxes, and our merchandise stock-ups are done. We got what we could. Being a game store in the US with half our games coming from China is rough right now. Might get better, might get worse. Warehouses are emptying and restocks are in limbo, but I've got enough in to ride it out for a few months. Luckily, a lot of our dice are from Germany, Games Workshop, and Bolt Action out of the UK, and comics don't s...

BOG 487, 488 and TR 396,397 available.

Tunnel Rat Chapter 405

Hectic weekend. Sunday we travelled to my inlaws and had a good visit with my wife's father. In his 90's and just home the day before from a month in the hospital. Big family get together. Then a trip home, and another trip to take one daughter back to school. I was determined to get today's chapter up. It was a long time in coming together.
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Milo did his best to keep up with the pack of dogs following Hecate. But ...

Tunnel Rat Chapter 404

You may want to take the time to reread the Interlude after chapters 223 and 302. They give some of the background on Star Command Six. There are New Stars in the Sky
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Astaeus was pleased with his work. He stood in front of a small model of his new galaxy, double-checking his calculations and the placement of each element. The engine would generate most things somewhat randomly. How many planetoids orbit a sun, the resources on each, a...

Butcher of Gadobhra Chapter 495

Billy's team was now holding two meetings per week. The first was at ACME Corporate HQ in the real world, where regular progress reports were filed, projections made for the higher-ups to ignore, and TPS reports were filed on time by underlings. Having made their point and gotten the rest of the team on board, Billy, Layla, along with everyone else, showed up in proper corporate attire and behaved in a proper corporate manner. They were starting to produce money and make progress, ahead of ev...

Sidestory: Dorey and Orrick

I've got a lot of odd ideas at times, little things I want to explore, but at the same time, that delays the main story from progressing. And they aren't necessarily long stories. So when I get the urge, I'll be writing side stories for Patreon. They won't be something you need to read for the main story, and won't be on RR. Patrons in the Lonely Lass Tavern and Simple Shepherd will have access to them. They do not count as part of the 20 advanced chapters. Just a small bonus for those tiers....

Butcher of Gadobhra Chapter 494

Probably some typos. Had a lot to do today, a little family drama, and a dog that needed a lot of walking and cuddling. The writing bug hit me late, and this chapter just rolled out.

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As night fell, the undead gathered, their rotted or non-existent noses smelling tasty prey. The smell of brains and dark mana began driving them into a frenzy and urging them to run toward the strange nest on the hill. One by one, and ...

Tunnel Rat Chapter 403

Whew, catching up on stats, skills, perks, etc is exhausting. I've been working on it for several days, going back through chapters and wishing I'd have kept up as I went. But fun to reread all the old chapters, and fixed some typos. Milo is moving to Tier Four, a huge increase in overall power as he spends points on stats, and each stat is worth more. He'll need them.

There was one change in his class. I always meant for it to be 75 Health and Stamina, but I think earlier I left Healt...

BoG 485, 486 and TR 394,395

These Chapters are now available to the Butcher of Sedgewick Tier

Butcher of Gadobhra Chapter 493

As evening arrived, the pace of digging and chopping down trees became frantic as Corporal Thune drove the recruits to do as much as they could to prepare for the evening. They had a vague idea of what was about to happen, but that was enough to make everyone work as hard as they could. Piecing together any bit of information gave Thune the picture: As darkness fell, the rabbits would leave, and the undead would claw their way out of the ground, made strong by the endless death of their kind....

Tunnel Rat Chapter 402

What a pain this was to write! Mostly because the power kept going out. All the new ones they put in after the last blackout were popping, one after another. They must have been shifting power to different routes because at first it wasn't long until power came back on, but later there was a big sound, a flash that lit up the neighborhood, and they told us it would be hours. I drove to work to get things done, and then finished up this morning. I'm sure putting up with a failing electrical gr...

TR 392, 393 and Bog 483, 484 are up.

Apologies for getting these up late in the day. The new transformer they installed in the neighborhood gave a loud hum and bright flash before going dead. They routed around it, resulting in another one blowing a fuse. After waiting and finally finding out power is 'maybe' coming back at midnight, I decided to drive to work and sit in an empty store so I can write and upload today's stories.

Butcher of Gadobhra Chapter 492

"So tell me, Commander Vernon, how was the experience today?"

"I hated it. It was hot, dusty, and no one followed my orders."

Marcy hated working with non-gamers. "How many Experience points did you get and in what skills?"

"Oh, that stuff. I don't know, you figure it out."

He brought up his sheet, and Marcy scanned down through his pathetic stats and skills. He'd made a little progress, but nothing like prior days. Enough to get him to rank two in Lead From the...