nrsearcy

Weekly Check-In (7/9)

Another week has come and gone, and Saturday has arrived.  As always, that means it's time for the weekly check-in, which is everyone's opportunity to ask questions, make comments, or let me know if you don't think something in the story is working.  I'll try to respond as quickly as possible, so let me know what you're all thinking.

As an aside, I'd also like to request once again that any of you who haven't left a review on Royal Road do so.  I know it's a hassle, but i...

Chapter 102 - Training

Talia’s claws scraped against Zeke’s shield, digging deep furrows in the hard chitin. At one point, Zeke had thought that The Bulwark of the Drachnid Champion, as well as the rest of the armor that Luigi had made for him, was nigh on indestructible. The fight with the zombie horde, and then the confrontation with its master had proven otherwise. And though the damage had mostly been repaired over the past two weeks that they’d spent traversing the mountains, the shield and the most heav...

Chapter 101 - A New Plan of Attack

“They’re not after us anymore,” said Abby, materializing out of the brush. Zeke knew she didn’t have anything like a camouflage skill, so her ability to slip in and out of concealment was even more impressive than it seemed at first glance, even if her effort was aided by the evening shadows. “In fact, it looks like the whole of the undead horde are going south.”

“He’s going after Beacon,” asserted Tucker, who sat across the fire from Zeke. They had been traveling for ...

Chapter 100 - A Different Path

Talia sat on the floor, her knees clutched to her chest as she rocked back and forth. Tucker’s soft snores echoed from where he slept in another corner. The mysterious cottage, which had sprung up out of nowhere, only had two bedrooms, one of which was occupied by the bearded man and his blonde companion. The bear had taken the other as his own, which left Tucker and Talia to make their own accommodations in the common area. Due to the grueling pace they’d set through the mountains, Talia...

Weekly Check-In (7/2)

Alright - so we've got another week in the books, and we got to see the first big fight of this arc.  More importantly, we got to see the two plot lines come together and see everyone together.  Hopefully, you all enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it.  But there's more to come!  Let me know if you have any questions, comments, suggestions, or concerns.  I'm going to be in and out of the house all day, but I'll try to address whatever comes up as thoroughly a...

Chapter 99 - Was That a Goat?

Zeke adjusted his shield, hefted his mace, then stepped outside. The sight that greeted him was far different from what he had expected. For one, there wasn’t a horde of zombies waiting for him. Aside from the mounds of rotting flesh that they’d left behind in their fight before entering the tower, there wasn’t a single mundane zombie in the area. And even those had begun to lose cohesion; compared to other monsters, it seemed that zombies decayed far more quickly.

Instead of the ...

Chapter 98 - A Confrontation

Zeke raised his shield, batting aside the heavy blow and sending the flesh golem’s fist crashing into the wall. He followed up with a vicious blow to the monster’s knee, which rewarded him with the sound of crunching bone. However, as devastating as the attack should have been, the undead behemoth was largely unaffected, and Zeke was forced to dodge the creature’s other fist, which came down in a crushing strike from above. It clipped his shoulder, sending him spinning into the tower wa...

Chapter 97 - Emerging From the Abyss

Talia floated in nothingness. All around her, endless black stretched into eternity. It was peaceful – or it would have been, had she not been tethered to reality by a thin strand of green light that ran from the center of her chest, flowing off into the distance. The connection was taut, stretched to its limits and tormenting her with awareness. Intuitively, she knew that if she could somehow sever that connection, she could finally know peace.

But it was not to be.

No matter h...

Weekly Check-In (6/26)

I apologize for not getting this posted yesterday, but this weekend has been incredibly busy for me.  For one, today's my birthday (yay me for surviving another year), and for another, my nephew had a baseball tournament out of town that I wanted to go to.  So, posting the check-in just sort of slipped my mind.  I'll try not to let it happen again.

Anyway, we're coming up on a really fun part of the story, and I'm excited to see how everyone reacts to it.  As always,...

Chapter 96 - A Devoted Husband

“And that brings me to here,” Tucker said, having just summarized the path that had led him to being enslaved by Micayne and forced to work on the man’s obsession. “I’ve been trying to make it work for…for long than I care to admit, and she’s as close as I’ve gotten to success. Still doesn’t work, though. Which is probably gonna start a war.”

“W-what?” Zeke muttered, having dropped his guard a little, but Tucker was still wary. Anyone who could not only participa...

Chapter 95 - A Devoted Wife

Abby dipped under Zeke’s arm so she could support his weight. She wasn’t sure about the details of what he had done to that door, but she could infer that it had completely drained him. All the symptoms of mana drought were there, plain as day. And she’d felt it enough times early on during her time in the Radiant Isles that she could easily recognize them. Even now, more than seven years since she’d felt those effects, she had to suppress a shudder. She’d never felt weakness as com...

Chapter 94 - Against a Wall

“This…was…a huge…mistake,” Zeke spat, swinging his mace in short, overhand bursts. Interspersed between swings was the occasional shield bash, but for the most part, his kite shield was used to block the zombies’ raking claws. With a mighty push, he sent a pair of the undead monsters flying backward, making a little space.

Beside him, Abby had already given up on her bow. Instead, she’d been hacking away with her hatchet. The effect, which would poison her enemies, was use...

Weekly Check-In (6/18/22)

Another week's in the books, and we're coming up on something of a climax in the next few chapters.  I'm really excited about it because it's been a long time coming, and I'm eager to see how everyone reacts to what's coming next.  Anyway, if there are any questions or comments, just let me know!  Also, as always, I'll beg for reviews on Royal Road - the more positivity there is about the story, the better it is for me!  

Anyways, thank you all for your support, and ...

Chapter 93 - Goats, Goats, Goats!

“God,” Zeke panted, his hands on his knees. They’d been running through the mountains for what felt like an eternity, and despite his massive stamina, fatigue was very near to overwhelming him. “It wouldn’t be so bad if they didn’t scream the whole time.”

As if to punctuate his point, a loud, bleating scream echoed through the mountain pass, announcing the presence of their pursuers. A dozen more answered, cutting through Zeke’s eardrums.

“They’re a little furt...

Chapter 92 - Totemic Tribunal

Zeke rested his hand on Pudge’s furry back as he inspected the camp below him. Calling it a camp might’ve been a little generous; aside from the yawning mouth of a nearby cave, there was nothing by way of a shelter, and the caprids swarming the area looked disorganized and animalistic.

“You sure there’s no chance of diplomacy?” he whispered.

Abby shook her head. “Really?” she asked. “From you? Not what I expected.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” came...

Chapter 91 - A Talented Alchemist

Tucker took one last look at the girl on the table before turning and leaving his laboratory. She was progressing well, but the infusion took an incredible amount of time. On top of that, it would be longer still before her body stabilized and they could progress with the rest of the process. He’d gone through it often enough that he could easily subvert his impatience. His employer – or jailor, really, considering that Tucker couldn’t leave – was not so understanding.

The heavy...

Weekly Check-In (6/11/2022)

Another week's in the books, and we're rolling into one of my favorite arcs I've written so far.  So, hopefully, you all will like it as much as I've enjoyed writing it.  As an aside, I got some great news over the last couple of weeks, and I'm eager to share it.  However, I'm not quite sure if I'm allowed to do so yet.  In either case, I'm very pleased with the state of the story, and I'm channeling that excitement into my output.  I hope you'll all continue to enjoy...

Chapter 90 - The Morning After

As Zeke got dressed, slipping on his tight-fitting, padded under armor, he couldn’t keep a grin from spreading across his face. He resisted the urge to look back at the still sleeping Abby. Instead, his mind reached back to his memories of the night before. It had been urgent and, though he hadn’t realized it before, wholly necessary. The encounter with the goddess had been the cherry on top of months of relentless stress, and the night with Abby had worked wonders to alleviate the heavy ...

Chapter 89 - A Long Time Coming

They made camp a few miles away from the valley where they’d met the goddess, Aja, but neither Abby nor Zeke were comfortable enough to completely let down their guard. However, it was extremely dangerous to travel the mountains at night, so they’d been forced to acknowledge the need to settle in. For his part, Pudge seemed completely at ease to the point where he radiated a sense of contentment. Abby hated him a little bit for that.

The meeting with Aja had been discomforting, and ...

Chapter 88 - A Glimpse at a Bigger Picture

Zeke’s heart beat out of his chest as panic gripped him. He had never seen so many complex runes before; it was as if the entire valley was blanketed in the complicated assortment of glyphs, patterns, and symbols. And through his artisan path, Zeke could feel that they went far deeper than his senses could comprehend.

The light faded, leaving only a faint luminescence behind. It reflected off the mist, exacerbating the party’s limited vision. Zeke gripped Abby’s arm, saying, “We...

Weekly Check-In

I fully intended to post this earlier today, but I kind of overdid it last night and was up way later than I expected.  So, I've been a bit lazy today, and I completely forgot to post the check-in.  But I'm rectifying that mistake right now!  So, if anyone has any comments, concerns, or questions, this is where you should voice them!

Also, for those of you who haven't seen me begging for reviews before, I would be extremely grateful if anyone who hasn't posted a review on...

Chapter 87 - A Quest

“Should we say something, maybe?” asked Abby as Zeke deposited Tabby’s remains into a hastily dug hole. There really wasn’t much left; even the girl’s bones had crumbled almost entirely into dust. They had walked for a little more than an hour from where they’d made camp earlier that night, and they’d both agreed that they had found as good a spot as any to bury what was left of Tabby.

“Like what?” Zeke asked, climbing out of the pit. He immediately started pushing the...

Chapter 86 - Mistakes Were Made

Zeke finished tying the knot as Abby asked, “Are you sure that’ll hold her?”

He shrugged, replying, “I have no idea. I never really learned much about knots. I think it’ll be fine, though. Besides, where is she going to go? That place seals when I dismiss the cottage.”

“You think she’ll be okay, though?” asked Abby, glancing at the young woman. Tabby had ropes tied tightly around both her ankles and her wrists, which were behind her back. She was as bound as they...

Chapter 85 - Aftermath

Zeke clutched his shoulder, which still bore the wound from the crossbow bolt which had taken him unaware. “I hate poison,” he muttered. He couldn’t be sure, but the bolt seemed to have been coated, either magically or with something more mundane, with a poison that had simultaneously weakened him and caused excessive bleeding. However, his new resistance to poison had reduced the effects to the point where they were little more than a nuisance.

The woman, Shonda, had been a diffe...

Weekly Check-In

Another week come and gone, and we had a fun trio of chapters posted.  I hope you all enjoyed them, and I think you'll enjoy next week's as well.  As always, if you have any comments or questions, I'm all ears; I'll try to answer anything you all post before the end of the day.

Chapter 84 - The Wrong Target

Abby sprang to her feet and darted away from the porch, trusting that Zeke could take care of himself. She had seen him shrug off much more horrific wounds than an arrow to the chest, no matter how much momentum it had carried. As she dipped into the shadows, she noticed Pudge going in the other direction. The bear, despite his ever-increasing size, could be incredibly stealthy when he put his mind to it. Also, seeing the bear’s reaction told her that Zeke wasn’t in any immediate danger; ...

Chapter 83 - Team

As Zeke went through the training exercises given to him by Silas, he focused entirely on the man’s lessons. It wasn’t enough to simply push forward with his shield. He had to do so with purpose. With intent. Every movement, whether it was a simple shield bash, or a more complicated motion intended to intercept an incoming weapon, had to be under control. It was a lesson he’d forgotten while fighting with his mace, the lack of control a bad habit which he needed to unlearn.

It was...

Chapter 82 - Necessary Sacrifices

Tucker rifled through the cabinet containing his collection of valuable alchemical ingredients, but as he did so, his mind invariably wandered to the girl strapped to the table in his laboratory. He knew who she was, and he knew that because of her identity, his life was over. Not yet, but he wasn’t so optimistic or naïve as to think that Lady Constance would restrain herself when avenging her last remaining daughter. The barely sane woman had gone literal scorched earth when her husband h...