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You completed the Quest: A Skeleton’s Request, and may claim a reward.
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You completed a Challenge: form your first self-made Node, and may claim a reward.
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2024-10-25 16:03:01 +0000 UTC View PostJo stood near to the door, observing the outside with her Soul Sense. She’d just seen Nicolai pass by, heading to his room. His Soul Sense was something constantly roving, something which had definitely seen her watching, but he hadn’t showed any reaction. He seemed distracted, focused… upset.
‘What was that?’ she muttered, staring at his door through her Soul Sense.
‘Huh?’ came Beth’s voice.
Jo glanced at her sister. Beth was sitting on the bed, a focused ex...
2024-10-23 16:03:01 +0000 UTC View PostIt was raining when they returned from the library.
The downpour washed the world out, turning everything dull and grey, darkening the stone, water forming puddles and running in streams.
The castle was quiet in response, all the groups and gunfire gone to ground. The rain only grew as they crossed bridges toward the safe-place, and by the time they arrived Beth and Jo were thoroughly soaked. Nicolai had avoided that fate by taking his poncho out, for once using it for the more ty...
2024-10-21 16:03:01 +0000 UTC View PostPaxolnaz bobbed gently in the currents of the Interior, part of its being focused, as always, on preventing itself from reaching equilibrium.
The other part was focused on what had just happened. The significant problem it was facing.
The human was not easy prey. Paxolnaz had been whipping the entities forward harder than ever this time, and for a moment it had seemed like victory was at hand. But then the human’s will had firmed and it had actually worked out how to use its Gif...
2024-10-18 16:03:01 +0000 UTC View PostThe things in the Hole reached for him, and Nicolai charged. His Soul was a thing of sharp teeth, tearing nails, and buzzing discs.
But as he rose to meet them he felt the heat of danger, the stench of wrongness, stronger than ever in his life. The occasional, inexplicable impressions he’d always gained, that warned him of danger and other things, activated in a way that seemed for the first time complete and true. An instinct within him that had always been turned to purposes seconda...
2024-10-16 16:03:01 +0000 UTC View Post[Author Note: Hey guys, I've been less talkative than usual and wanted to say sorry about that, it's cuz I got a wisdom tooth extracted a couple weeks ago and it's been a nightmare, I have dry socket + infection + etc and it just sucks. Wanted to let you know that's why I'm not really liking comments or replying--just don't have energy to do much more than lie in bed--and probs won't be for another week or two since it's taking ages to heal and is really painful. But I will be back eventually...
2024-10-14 16:03:00 +0000 UTC View Post‘No sign of that misty-thing,’ said Jo as he approached the doorway, still watching the exit.
‘I imagine it’s waiting for us,’ said Nicolai.
‘So… what’s the plan?’ asked Beth.
Nicolai clicked his teeth. ‘Might be there’s an easy answer.’ He thought it unlikely but it wouldn’t hurt to check. He moved towards the edge of the upper floor where it opened up, a balcony from which one could see the entrance far below. The girls followed him. Reaching the ...
2024-10-11 16:03:01 +0000 UTC View PostMaric had betrayed him. The dark urges pulsed, demanding its death, calling up an image of him throwing the skeleton to the floor and stomping on its skull until it was broken splinters, then tearing its Soul apart. His hands twitched, wanting to reach out.
No. He grit his teeth, pressing the urge down. It was foolish to kill the skeleton. He needed more information, on everything, and he’d found Kleos increasingly limited in that regard. Kleos’ understanding of things was ...
2024-10-09 16:03:00 +0000 UTC View PostAs they entered the final room, Jo paused at the doorway and turned to watch the exit the undead had vanished through. Nicolai shook his arm as he moved, finding it now half-numb and half infected by a painful buzzing like pins-and-needles. He pried his clothes open and pulled his shirt up to look at his flesh, and saw that his arm was pale and clammy, but didn’t seem otherwise damaged. However, he still struggled to move it, and it was difficult to reload his weapons. In the end, he decide...
2024-10-07 16:03:01 +0000 UTC View PostHe opted to do the looting himself, sparing Jo and Beth from the grisly task as he picked over the messy corpses. He found several weapons, all the types you could get from the F Tier human tech Market; presumably this group were either Chosen deserters or had looted all this from the Chosen at some point. There were also Oma crystals and some points tags. All in all a decent haul, though there were no Imbued. He also found dead Seeds, some quite advanced, though none of these people had been...
2024-10-04 16:03:00 +0000 UTC View PostThey reached the library after half an hour of travel, managing to avoid any encounters on the way. The Chosen were active in the space nearby, and it took some careful manoeuvring to avoid them. Nicolai didn’t want to get in any fights with them, as he’d observed that they were now significantly more aggressive and tended to call in massed reinforcements the moment their groups had any encounters. The Chosen had departed from their previous methods of robbing people then demanding they j...
2024-10-02 16:03:01 +0000 UTC View PostAs they moved through the corridor Nicolai worked to build a rapport with Daksh, asking him about what he’d been through, what he’d done on earth, and telling the man of his own experiences. He’d also lightened his load by having Daksh carry one of the bags.
‘Didn’t you appear here with a number of other people? That seems to be how most groups started.’ Nicolai had no actual interest in this subject, but he had to find something to talk about. This was how people bonded. 2024-09-30 16:03:01 +0000 UTC View Post
Where are they? asked Nicolai.
One moment, said Cyberwarfare, and he sensed the new unit in his skull running harder, triangulating over local. Here, said Cyberwarfare, and Nicolai’s Mark activated, the map appearing and immediately zooming on a place not far from the safe-place. His eyebrows rose at Cyberwarfare’s control of the Mark. It was getting good at using its own tiny Soul.
They’re seeking to hack into the Network Hider. They detected ...
2024-09-27 16:03:00 +0000 UTC View PostThe listing that drew Nicolai’s eye was called a skin suit.
Skin Suit - 40,000p
This suit provides various functions. It has hypersteel plating over vital points and reinforcement throughout, providing good defence against lower-calibre guns and melee attacks, and is resistant to tearing, cutting, and crushing.
However, its intended use is environmental protection. The skin suit forms a perfect seal around the body, regulating the user’...
2024-09-25 16:03:01 +0000 UTC View Post(Author note: Please let me know what you think of the formatting - it isn't quite how I intended it to look (patreon messes with it when I upload) but I think it kinda works? Let me know if you like/dislike it.)
Nicolai stepped over the bridge and into the cool blue room of the Trade Link, alone. He’d wanted Jo and Beth to come with him to help with any carrying he needed to do, and as back-up in the event of a fight, but to his surprise Beth had refused. She’d demanded, of ...
2024-09-23 16:03:00 +0000 UTC View PostVikrum considered the terrified prisoner, a member of the group calling themselves the New Start Communists. They had been quite a thorn in the Chosen’s side—and therefore Vikrum’s side—since early on, but recently things had gotten even worse.
This was largely because the New Start Communists were now armed with the same weapons as his people; primitive submachine-guns, shotguns, and pistols. Vikrum didn’t need Cornwall to tell him that these people had access to another Trad...
2024-09-20 16:03:01 +0000 UTC View Post‘Keep control of your people,’ Nicolai began to Pot Helmet, his voice a rising snarl, only to pause. Cool and calm. He forced his mind away from the vision, refocusing. Nicolai cleared his throat and adopted a smile.
‘I didn’t do anything. What is the matter with her? Is she okay?’ He twisted his features into an expression of concern, guided by his Mask.
Pot Helmet glanced back at the others and let out a sigh. ‘She’s, uh, always been like that. Sorry. In t...
2024-09-18 16:03:01 +0000 UTC View PostTwo days later found Nicolai along with Beth, Cait, and John, standing on one side of a long bridge that let to a fortified outcrop, separated from the rest of the bastion. Elena wasn’t with them. She’d refused to come. Nicolai hadn’t gotten all the reasons for this, as she’d refused to interact with him. He got the gist, anyway. She blamed him for Karl’s death. She hated him.
It was fine, he deserved that hate far more than she realised. He’d done what he had to do and he w...
2024-09-16 16:03:01 +0000 UTC View PostAfter leaving the others, Nicolai headed out through the prisons. He didn’t head straight to the exit, because he had another aim in mind.
His first time in the prisons, he had been far too weak to tangle with one of the Wardens. The most recent time, he’d been busy and hadn’t wanted to spend time doing so.
Now, he had a little time. The Imbued chains each Warden carried were powerful tools, and he could imagine a multitude of uses for them.
As he walked, he was thinki...
2024-09-13 16:03:00 +0000 UTC View Post‘What do you want?’ asked the woman, once they were some distance from the others. She was terrified but trying hard not to show it. That was the correct move, but fruitless. She couldn’t hide her emotions from him.
‘Like I told them. You’ll be prisoners,’ he said. ‘Keep moving.’
She threw a sullen look over her shoulder, and stumbled on.
Nicolai was pleased that she seemed to understand the situation well.
In an unusual reversal of the norm, his ...
2024-09-11 16:03:01 +0000 UTC View PostWhile the others headed back to the safe place, Nicolai opted to take a quick detour. He headed to the tunnel, as by now the three in the prisons should’ve sent up another batch of Oma crystals, and likely their drone would be running low. He’d left the fully charged one there that morning, ready to be switched.
In the tunnel, he found the drones and checked them over the moment he drew close, in the same manner as always. First reaching out with his Soul Sense to investigate for ta...
2024-09-09 16:03:01 +0000 UTC View PostThe echoes of Azure’s cry rang dully off the stone walls. Fuck with us… gonna fucking die!…
He laughed. ‘Is that right?’ He made a frightened face and held his arms out and made a show of looking around. ‘Oh, oh no, they’re gonna get me!’ He paused expectantly. He looked at Azure, who was giving him a tremendous scowl. ‘Where are they?’ he asked, in a puzzled voice. ‘Aren’t they coming? No?’ He peered around again. ‘Nah, doesn’t seem like it. No on...
2024-09-06 16:03:00 +0000 UTC View PostJo, alongside Perro and Azure, moved up and down the length of undead miners and guards.
The undead didn’t react as the three of them put the loops of rope that Nicolai had sent them over the undead’s heads. They tied each loop tight enough that it wouldn’t fit around the skull, a collar around the undeads neck-spine.
Each undead paused, staring with apparent confusion for a moment. They then turned away and resumed their job, except for one which was fixated on the sight of...
2024-09-04 16:03:00 +0000 UTC View PostThey’d all turned to stare out at the jungle as the elevator rattled upward. The dull thumps, footsteps of something big and heavy, were still audible.
Nicolai’s eye was drawn to where he’d seen trees shaking, and then they were abruptly torn open as something thrust itself out from amidst them.
A heavy head, jaw filled with serrated teeth. Two evil red eyes. Great horns. Huge legs. Stumpy arms.
‘Holy fuck, holy fuck, that’s a fucking dinosaur,’ chattered Beth. 2024-09-02 16:03:01 +0000 UTC View Post
Nicolai responded without thought as he was dragged through the canopy by the mysterious force, an overriding sense of danger whining through him and telling him where to look as he worked to orient his body, clinging tight around his shotgun.
He activated his Pegasi rings but they were all-but useless, lacking the power to resist the pull, so next he activated his Blue Hornet and electricity began to crawl over him. His Soul Sense was unable to help, broken as it was, but his eyes dart...
2024-08-30 16:03:01 +0000 UTC View Post‘Chosen are busy today,’ Maxine had spoken that morning, over the Radio. ‘Real bee up their bonnet. Dawns just broke but they’re all streaming out across the bridges. I hear shooting already. I’d recommend people stay indoors today… not a good one to be going wandering.’
Not a good day for trading, he’d told the others. This lent credence to his decision that instead, they would go on a little extra-curricular trek outside the castle. John had told him ...
2024-08-28 16:03:00 +0000 UTC View PostLater that day Nicolai returned to the safe-place, alone, a spring in his step and a weight of Oma crystals clutched in a bag. It was almost night, the torches he passed a dull orange.
He’d spent most of his time hunting for other groups to trade with (with mixed success), and at the end had gone to the tunnel into the prison where he’d found that the Oma-crystal delivery method was a rousing success. The small transport drone he’d left them had been waiting there, its storage com...
2024-08-26 16:03:01 +0000 UTC View PostPerro followed after Azure and Jo as they filtered through a tunnel, following after a small group of skeletal miners.
The miners stopped at a mined out gap in the wall, resting their cart as they set to work.
‘These ones,’ said Jo, looking back to Perro and Azure.
Perro swallowed, staring past her at the eight skeletal miners and the three guards with them.
‘Isn’t there quite a few of them?’ he queried, worried.
Beside him, Azure scoffed. ‘Don’t be...
2024-08-23 16:03:00 +0000 UTC View PostThe other Cultivator, in the midst of activating a Symbiote, was stopped by an outraised arm, held up by the leader of the other group. She shot a warning look at the man, and he subsided with a grumble, shooting another irritated look at Nicolai. The pulsing through the Aura faded, telling Nicolai that the man had deactivated his Symbiote. Nicolai did his best to wipe the smirk from his face, realising as he did so that it wasn’t entirely faked.
Petty as it was, he’d found winning ...
2024-08-21 16:03:01 +0000 UTC View PostAs the ringing of the alarm bell in the prison grew fainter, Nicolai having made his escape, he listened attentively to his Mask as it ladled out the expected recriminations; he had not cared whatsoever about the titan’s clear issues. In fact, the moment he’d noticed them he’d simply tried to make use of its forgetful and confused state. Not Better Man behaviour, there was no denying that.
It was quite smug as it told him that if he’d shown some pity toward the titan—as it had...
2024-08-19 16:03:01 +0000 UTC View Post