Khall woke, groaning. The air was choked with ash, smoke, and soot. She wasn’t sure where exactly she was, but it was sure that she was no longer in the Second Step. The air was no longer rich with the feeling of arcanite, and the smog was again keeping her vision clouded. Maybe it wasn’t so bad that she couldn’t see around herself, though, since she had evidently been able to escape the flying beasts. She could feel the branch still impaling her shoulder and keeping her from settling c...
2024-05-30 06:10:39 +0000 UTC
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After I’d left the specifics of the planning to Sybil, I stepped out of the den where I’d been talking to the assembled Alphas. I didn’t have much in the way of trust in their abilities, but if they were able to find out more about the movements and locations of the humans, then they would have done enough. It took me a moment to realize it, but I didn’t care if these packs were generally wiped out. If these weaklings had to die to give my pack a greater advantage in the inevitable co...
2024-05-29 03:23:20 +0000 UTC
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[Sybil POV]
“Now, tell me what you know of the packs that have disappeared.” The True Alpha’s voice rang out over these, his newly assembled subordinates. Sybil listened to his questions while glancing over the rather… unimpressive showing of supposed Alphas.
The more time passed by, the more Sybil realized that she and her brood had been exceptional. She wondered if, just like how Ashlani’s mere presence elevated his pack to try harder and strive onward since he h...
2024-05-28 07:59:18 +0000 UTC
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After days spent with my hosts, I finally felt that the Kha I had convinced to allow me to stay with them were comfortable enough around me that I could finally ask the questions I was most interested in asking. Even so, I had been sure to begin my questioning with more mundane questions, though those answers had been worthy of complete entries on their own. For example, one of the most intriguing aspects of the New Empire’s husbandry is how many predators they raise as livestoc...
2024-05-24 22:35:36 +0000 UTC
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Sorry for the lateness! I've been super busy today. Thanks for the patience!
If it had been any other member of the swarm, I might have refused to go down, or been snide in my response, but with Rulac here, I immediately understood the severity of whatever was the reason for my summons. As I stepped forward, I looked to Sybil and clacked my teeth in denial. Her frills flared in acknowledgement of my command, and then I was walking down the cramped tunnel towards the dee...
2024-05-24 05:52:56 +0000 UTC
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Nothing coherent crossed my mind as I felt my body respond to Sybil’s unexpected touch. I breathed deep, and the slightly familiar, attractive smell filled my head. My attempt to calm myself had served to cloud my thoughts further, and I exhaled before speaking. My voice had become throaty and husky without my conscious thought.
“Do you wish… to join me?” The double entendre in my words was deliberate as Sybil remained with her head near my own. In response to my question,...
2024-05-22 23:20:55 +0000 UTC
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Occasionally (I know, that's less than ideal), such as today, I have chapters done before the time that I would post them (8PM for me). Would you, as a patron, prefer that I post the completed chapter early, if I have it done early? Or would you prefer that I, instead, wait and post it at the usual time?
2024-05-22 22:45:44 +0000 UTC
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I had thought ever since my evolution that while I had struggled against Wisterl before, I would now be able to dominate her were we to spar once again. In the past days, I had come to learn that I was completely mistaken when thinking that.
It was obvious that I was bigger and stronger than Wisterl, and there was a good chance that I was faster than her too. Even so, without relying on my magic, I still was wholly unable to defeat her. The few sparring matches that we had had end...
2024-05-22 02:37:16 +0000 UTC
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In this “Second Step”, Khall began to feel small. She had been small before, but she’d never felt that way since she’d been quite stupid before she’d evolved. Then, she’d evolved and had since been larger than any other creature she’d seen, the only thing taller than her being the occasional hill or bush. While it hadn’t been conscious, she had taken some pride or comfort in being larger than the things that were all around her. The larger something was, the more difficult to ...
2024-05-21 21:14:45 +0000 UTC
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As more days passed, the wolfstag pups and hatchlings grew more competent and comfortable with each other. Initially, both sides had snapped at each other, but now, as the keelish continued to mature much more quickly than the pups, Joral and his appointed assistants began to teach them how to communicate with their scaled companions. The keelish quickly grew, and now had passed at least their third or fourth growth spurt. They had nearly reached the halfway point to “adulthood”, though I...
2024-05-21 04:48:17 +0000 UTC
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Swimming forward through the magma, Khall snapped idly at fry. The little fish weren’t really worth eating unless she was hungry, and instead of hunger, all she felt was elation at taking action and changing. All around her, the magma cooled slightly, becoming thicker, harder to traverse, and a bit less welcoming. It was still simple enough to swim through, but it was changing. A grin began to spread across Khall’s face at the change, the difference, the struggle. The volatility.
Ah...
2024-05-20 21:35:38 +0000 UTC
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Marata POV
Marata wasn’t sure if she was so methodical as a result of her years spent Earthspeaking, or if she had become so proficient with Earthspeaking as a result of her methodical and cautious nature. Whichever of the two it was, though, Marata observed and investigated every last bit of the surroundings of the den. Since coming to this far-flung corner of the Holy State over twenty years ago, she’d enjoyed the frequent rains and resilient nature of the flora a...
2024-05-18 03:12:35 +0000 UTC
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It was fortunate that there was a Windspeaker prudent enough to send a message to us after they initially found keelishsign. Though they were sure of their own competence and mentioned that they had a True Earthspeaker in the village, I long had prepared a squad to march at the earliest needful moment. My only regret with regards to how I acted is that I did not ignore the messenger’s insistence of the little village’s own strength. I should have sent my squad at the fir...
2024-05-17 03:28:48 +0000 UTC
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The pack whose den we walked into was already at each other’s throats before we got there. A male and female were wrestling in the dirt, snarls and screeches echoing off the enclosed walls, and the rest of the pack simply watched as both sought to gain advantage over their foe. There was a certain level of control in the fight, and I could tell that there were no lives in danger, but blood was flowing freely from both of the two fighters. We watched for only a moment before I looked at Took...
2024-05-16 03:18:37 +0000 UTC
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Foire and Vefir had taken the eggs to a corner near my personal quarters and hollowed out a little space to lightly bury them, and as I looked at them, Vefir sent a brief burst of his magic into the sunken eggs. I couldn’t tell what exactly that would do for the small fetuses, but I could be sure that it wouldn’t harm their growth. With my steps sounding my approach, Vefir looked up at me. Foire, though, remained unresponsive and simply stared with dead eyes at where the eggs were buried....
2024-05-15 05:09:35 +0000 UTC
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With a comfortable sigh, Khall settled into her home of the past week. She didn’t know how she could tell it had been a week, she didn’t know why she knew what a week or a day was, and there was nothing that let her know that time had passed, yet she knew, and was confused by her confusion. The more time went by, the more she questioned what anything and everything was, and it made her uncomfortable to think about it for long, so instead she thought about her home.
It was stra...
2024-05-14 22:21:07 +0000 UTC
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The introduction of biologically altered creatures into the environments surrounding and within the borders of the Holy State of the Veratocracy was a prophetic move by the Gran Verat. With His ascension to the position of Gran Verat, there were many actions taken that could have, in the hands of a non-omniscient and clumsy mortal, left the ecosystems surrounding the fledgling country in shambles. Instead, due to His divine prescience and wisdom, he tasked some of the original Hig...
2024-05-14 04:25:47 +0000 UTC
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The flames dancing over and sticking to her didn’t bother her any longer. In fact, they didn’t even bother her eyes once she opened them. Whereas the heat before had attempted to scrub the flesh from her bones, now there was a light tickling. Instead of any pain, there was, in fact, comfort in the heat as Khall subconsciously pushed against the gouting flames as their subtle pressure soothed her before ceasing to exist. The agony of her seared flesh had disappeared through her evolution, ...
2024-05-13 20:11:47 +0000 UTC
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As we forced ourselves to carry instead of drag the bodies to the abandoned wolfstag den, I found myself almost regretting the decision. We were miles from our destination, and though I was strong enough to carry a body over each shoulder for a time, I couldn’t carry them for an extended period of time. Beyond that, Took carried Treel’s body and one of the smaller humans, while Shemira somewhat easily carried the largest human, and Sybil struggled with the final corpse.
Though...
2024-05-11 03:00:06 +0000 UTC
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Different from when I’d killed the Earthspeaker in the throes of battle just minutes before, I didn’t have the thrill of battle or the detachment of [Combatant’s Bloodlust] as I killed Farrah. I’d known her name, I’d spoken with her, and though I called it a warrior’s death, the “opportunity” I’d offered Farrah had never been anything more than a different way to say that I was going to execute her. I stood by my decision, and recognized that her death was necessary and the ...
2024-05-10 03:33:06 +0000 UTC
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Foire’s mourning keens cut me to the core as he stood over Treel’s cooling body. I’d never realized they were mates, or that they had even thought to do so. Keelish didn’t seem to be monogamous, so where did the idea of “mate” even come from for these two? I stopped myself from thinking further on it, instead reaching out a hand and laying it on Foire’s shoulder as he mourned. With my seeming approval of the mourning keens, Took, Vefir, Sybil, and Shemira joined in the piercing ...
2024-05-09 03:19:37 +0000 UTC
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I commanded Vefir to take cover and keep himself safe as I rushed forward into combat. I activated [Combatant’s Bloodlust] and watched the two humans in the front as their Callings finished and earth began to flow up their bodies to cover their forearms, chests, and thighs. Thankfully, neither were full Earthspeakers, because between the augmented strength granted by Earthspeaking and the armor they displayed now, there was more than enough to render most of our attacks ineffective.
2024-05-08 03:33:29 +0000 UTC
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Explanation: I recognize that Khall’s understanding of what a stone is is demonstrably incorrect in a variety of ways. She’s dumb. I know it. You know it. Just let it go, because it’ll be ok.
A stone is what it is–so too was Khall. If an egg was thrown at a stone, the egg would break, and if a fuzzy, cowardly pest entered Khall’s home, she would rip it to pieces. So, even though this lavaline was absolutely more dangerous than anything she had ever seen before...
2024-05-07 22:53:18 +0000 UTC
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The Speakers’ College of the Red Abbey will now implement mandatory self-defense courses for all students and faculty. The focus of the new self-defense courses will consist of descriptions and practices of specific and efficient approaches with how to deal with and potentially when to flee from humanoids with natural armor and weapons, as well as mediocre magical talent. As stated above, these new courses are mandatory and will take place one a week. Any individual, staff or st...
2024-05-07 02:17:20 +0000 UTC
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Khall rolled over, comfortable. She figured that rolling in the dirt should help her figure out what would help her form her stone core essence, and she liked it anyways, so it was good twice over! With a chuff of contentment, she turned to look at the tiny exit from her little burrow. A few embers drifted by every so often, but they didn’t light up the dark den, just how Khall wanted–too much light reminded her of the death river. She rolled back onto her back and scratched her scales ag...
2024-05-04 06:25:36 +0000 UTC
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My mind was finally recovering enough for me to really work through this new [Skill], as well as everything else that had changed. Firstly, I wanted to better understand this new [Skill] even better. Did [Imperial Bearing] mean that every one of my Sonilphon related [Skills] would be improved, except [Quaking Claw]?
[The Skills: Debilitating Diatribe, Innate Leadership, and Innervating Address are unconditionally improved and strengthened in every facet due to the user’s acquisition o...
2024-05-04 02:54:08 +0000 UTC
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The Lavaline cub, Hsui, slowly slunk forward into the stupid lizard’s hole. He couldn’t believe that it was so dumb that it was coming down here again. Maybe it was thinking that this time, just like before, he wouldn’t be able to finish it off? The lizard was bigger than him, stronger than him, tougher than him… but slower, newer, and, most importantly, dumber. A wicked smile spread across Hsui’s face as he stopped to let his eyes adjusted to the deeper, more complete darkness of t...
2024-05-03 04:32:31 +0000 UTC
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While there were a dozen small contacts made before that day, true first contact with the rogue swarm was far more volatile, explosive, and shocking than even the most pessimistic of the Veratocracy had ever dreamed possible. Until that moment, respect and credence had been given to the Gran Verat’s prophecy that had precipitated the Great Purge. After that small group of the scaled menaces made their response to our presence, there was not a single doubter of the Gran Verat’s...
2024-05-03 03:06:13 +0000 UTC
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Hey there free members! There have been more of you joining, which 1. I really didn’t expect, and 2. I’m not sure what I can do for you. Even if you aren’t paying for anything, I think you’re pretty cool and would like to provide something for you here. But that raises the question: what?
I am so unsure as to what I could do for you without taking away from the paying patrons (which isn’t going to happen, sorry) that I can’t even thing of questions to put in a poll. Have any...
2024-05-02 14:15:09 +0000 UTC
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The next days after my initial attempt to look into finding some humans passed without any noteworthy occurrences except for the hatchlings’ first hunt and my first address to them that came immediately after. That and disconcerting information I gained exclusively through my [Status].
Their first hunt went without any incident, without any of the excitement that had filled my own. Took and Foire had found a small herd of the pygmy deer, and with enough of the pack cornering the...
2024-05-02 03:01:35 +0000 UTC
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