PierceGrey

Descending Dragon - Prologue and Ch 1

Prologue/Intro

Truth is, I was supposed to be dead now anyway.

When I was fifteen I’d started coughing something fierce, waking up drenched in sweat, and damn near lost my whole appetite. It went on and on until Pa brought round a healer who poked and prodded until he gave me a smile and a pat on the knee. He only talked to Pa when he thought I couldn’t hear.

“Sorry, Mr. Hardin,” he’d said, “but your boy’s a lunger”.

Pa had held himself...

One week off TGG, interim chapters, Update

Hi guys, three things:

1. I'll be taking next week off posting The Great Game for kiddo birthday/holidays/catch-up. However!

2. I'll instead be posting five chapters from my eventual novel 'Descending Dragon', which is a totally unpublished story. This one is actually first person POV, fantasy but not harem. Probably eventually published under my 'Richard Nell' name rather than Pierce Grey. Would love to hear what you think.

3. Also Audio for The First Great Game #3 is out (...

Chapter 530: Hard things

The ‘Abyssal Hunter’s’ room was somehow built like a spinning gear, or the world’s worst fair ride. The walls and the attached chains turned around the central platform, the dangling metal links sweeping towards the players.

If they didn’t move, or at least get under or over the chains, they’d be pushed and dragged into the gaps in the floor, and down into the lava below.

But there was some kind of magic crackling around those chains. Mason had a bad feeling about tryi...

Chapter 529: Abyssal Hunter

Mason and the other players slowly slaughtered their way to the open cavern and connecting halls. Everything around them and behind them was coated in demonic ‘mud’ and ichor. When he looked back to see how they were doing, he couldn’t help but smile.

“You look like you just came out of a mine,” he said.

Becky was the only exception, her personal shield keeping her completely clean. But the blue aura flickered and died, and she didn’t look at all pleased.

“Fuck...

Chapter 528: Don't worry, pretty girl

Mason’s sword-Claw cut straight through the first mud demon’s face, somewhere around where its nose would be. It growled and slammed a fist into his chest. He staggered back a step and ripped the blade out the side of its head, raking his claw down its torso with a sloppy mess of falling goop.

It punched him again. He kicked it, sending a foot-sized chunk of demon goo spraying out the back, and caught his foot through the thing’s body. It tried to bite him, and he ripped off its h...

Chapter 527: Arrogance

Turned out goblin forts taken over by demons didn’t smell great. Mason wasn’t sure if abyssals or infernals were worse, but it was a bit like choosing if you’d rather drown or starve.

Drown, Streak ‘thought’ beside him, licking his lips. Wait, what’s ‘drowning’?

Sometimes Mason forgot his ‘wolf’ was really a mutant apocalypse monster with gills, and that was before it became a shapeshifter. He shook his head and pointed at a staircase leading ...

Chapter 526: Ready for anything. Again.

Mason and Blake had once gone with their adopted parents to Japan. Well, at least the airport. A subway station, then a hotel.

They were supposed to stay a week but their father had ended up having to come back in a day. Which meant they’d been in the air flying longer than they’d been in the country. It was how most Nimitz family holidays went.

Blake and Mason had been seven or eight years old at the time, and they hadn’t known but it was right after some tsunami and a nucl...

Chapter 525: Goblin City

Mason’s new goblin friends weren’t interested in any talk of ‘not’ becoming their king.

“Is decided,” said one of their leaders, whose name might have been ‘Uck’. “Is wise.”

He and the others led the players of Nassau down the black tunnels with speed and ease, even lighting torches to help the humans navigate the dark.

“Demons guard commons,” said Uck. “Guard dwellings and market and vaults, like human say. Take women and children, so gobl...

Chapter 524: Long live the king

The giant, angry spider dropping from the ceiling started casting a spell. Possibly several spells.

Welcome to the post-apocalypse, Mason thought wryly, almost activating his Earthsoul gem. Then he realized it would probably shut down and confuse half his players. The only Nature affinity player besides him was Demi. He’d knock out Alex and Becky’s shields and maybe get someone killed.

Instead, he yet again relied on his new Essence of the Stag—isolating himself and...

Chapter 523: Sixth Sense

Mason and the others stepped through surprisingly cool, dark passageways, doing their best to follow Wayfinder and the king’s map. The only sounds were dripping water, and the breaths and footsteps of the players.

“Fuck me.” Seamus half tripped again, straight into Demi, who shrieked then looked mortified, even in the gloom of the fire mage’s light. “Sorry, miss.”

It was a surprisingly polite thing to say for the Irishman. Mason had to assume he was too focused to be a...

Chapter 522: The Captives

Mason stopped when he heard a rasping breath from near the goblin throne. He turned and stepped over, not sure he wanted to see, knowing what he’d find.

The near dead goblin king lay on the stone, half stripped of flesh, pale and shaking with suffering.

“Is she…dead?” the creature whispered, staring up at Mason with glassy eyes. He nodded, and the goblin lay back and coughed, or maybe laughed. “Tricked. Tricked. Many promises.”

Mason had intended to ask the creat...

Chapter 521: The Watcher

Even Mason couldn’t block four swords. He parried two and stopped a third on one Sleeve, but the fourth slashed into his hip with a wet thud. He growled and attacked, ignoring the pain and grinning when the demon pulled back in surprise.

Transformation went to work, and in the back of his mind he pictured his bones hardening like a skeletal shield. All the thing had was slashing blades. He didn’t give a shit how much skin and flesh it cut, as long as it couldn’t finish him.

...

Chapter 520: Take a pounding

The goblin king’s throne room was even crazier than Carl’s description. The first thing was the color and tabards—big, cloth curtain-like coverings hung from the ceiling separating the hall into parts.

Next was the stink of death and alcohol. Dozens of goblin corpses lay about the room in different stages of decomposition. Some were stuck with arrows. Others were half eaten. All wore animal skins, just as Carl said, like they’d been dressed up as pigs, deer, rats.

Fat gobl...

Chapter 519: No more mercy

‘Ikit’ the goblin turned out to be a wealth of information. His geographic descriptions were exact enough it actually filled in some outlines in Mason’s Wayfinder power; his knowledge of the demonic forces was like a professional scout. At least of the common creatures.

Who ‘Ikit’ was to the goblin tribes he carefully avoided saying. But he was more than happy to tell Mason all about the ‘Razor mountains’.

“Shit, I didn’t know a special dungeon would mean a damn ...

Chapter 518: The pretender

Every platform across the ‘lava cavern’ had some kind of challenge. But after the demon under the grate, they definitely got easier. It felt more like…shock troops. Filler. Trash. Just something to wear the players down. And it was working.

“Phuong, six o’clock!” Mason pointed with his longer sword-Claw, leaving the other as an actual claw on his shapeshifted hand.

The swordsman spun and swiped two smaller demons right off the platform before turning back to h...

Chapter 517: The Optional

Duality of Strength flared as Mason pulled at the demon’s chain. Phuong ran past him and jumped into the pit, and he could hear Garet and Carl shouting and the demon roaring as he heaved and strained.

Only then did he remember his Essence of the Stag—his ability to focus a creature’s attention and limit its effect on others. Would it work on this demon? He had no idea. But it was too late and he was already pulling the damn chain and Jesus Christ he’d maybe fucked up badly.

The First Great Game #5 released today on Amazon/KU

Just an FYI for anyone who's been waiting! Link below. A great time to re-read on Kindle Unlimited...

https://www.amazon.com/First-Great-Game-Book-five-ebook/dp/B0F92WR3ZM

Chapter 516: A forgotten power

Tommaso’s acid potion burst as it hit the iron grate. Mason listened to the liquid drip and hiss, the growls grow from underneath.

“It’s coming,” he said. “Get ready.”

The players were in two ‘rings’ around the grate—Phuong, John, and Becky on the inner circle, the other melee a bit further back, maybe ten feet of space behind them before a straight drop into lava.

Mason and all the ranged stood along the narrow walkway where he really didn’t wan...

Chapter 515: Here we go

Mason’s series of shots blasted away chunks from the demon-dog’s left head, his scatter-burst of Crippling Strike lacerating a leg. He could hear the small ‘explosions’ from his Reverberation augment, too, which seemed to multiply with his Cripple. So that was a thing.

The beast slowed, but not much.

Seamus and Tommaso were loosing their own shots behind at the other dog, but Mason couldn’t afford to pay attention. They had two teams for a reason. They each had their own...

Chapter 514: Razor Mountain

In a last minute change of plans, Mason decided to do a quick check on the animals in his menagerie before the teleport and dungeon ahead. He found the elven beastmaster, Kitya, relaxing just inside on something like a sun tan bed.

Her dark skinned body was just uncovered enough to be distracting, and Mason forced himself to look away. She hopped up as he walked through.

“Baron!” She came running with a grin, her clothes even skimpier than he’d thought on first glance. She n...

Chapter 513: Augments

It’s not real, lord.

Dariya’s voice echoed over a burning grassland of smoke and ash. She sounded close to an eye roll. Mason had to admit he was disappointed.

“This is ‘hell’? Where the infernals come from?”

Once of the places, said the seer.

Mason frowned and walked, feeling like he was moving as he did in the fey. Every step seemed to take him a hundred paces, the fire and smoke shifting around him in winds he couldn’t feel. It vanish...

Chapter 512: Beneath the mists

Mason, Carl and Phuong debated ‘teams’ for the third round. It was mostly just for organizational purposes, and possibly a few ‘group’ buffs like Mason’s Strength of the Pack. He didn’t even know if it would work on two full teams of players. Either way, they all hoped they didn’t have to actually separate and handle things in their own groups.

But when things got crazy in a fight, the Neutral Zone especially had taught them they needed more than one person capable of maki...

Chapter 511: The Whispering Wood

Mason was so busy chasing Stag through the winding paths of the fey, he hardly realized everything had changed. The ‘Unseelie’ lands were a shock to the senses.

Just as Stag said, the surroundings of perpetual spring life transformed to a dark, cold winter. Mason was leaving a trail of footsteps in shallow snow, his breath misting in the air. The trees were barren and still, asleep to his senses and powers.

But it wasn’t a disturbing place. In fact, it was beautiful. He saw ...

Chapter 510: More like your Patron every day

Mason stood around the map of the world in his Scout’s Enclave, listening to his human, elven (and goblin) scouts argue.

“Elves so stupid about simple things,” Cliknik the goblin grumbled and glared at Orlon. “Underground goes under big sea. Seen maps of far-lands. Mountains are here.” The goblin jabbed a finger at the mostly grey-filled continent on the elven map. “Have cousins. Maybe second cousins. But there is mountains! And goblin tribes.”

“My people lived on ...

Chapter 509: For the sake of others

Mason found his key players and civilians all in the Nexus meeting room. Or at least milling around outside of it, eating Haley’s cookies.

“There he is,” Carl said around one said cookie, some crumbs falling out of his mouth. He was a bit pink and had a nervous, twitchy kind of energy. More and more Mason was getting worried telling Sylvie he was getting an elven wife might kill him. Or maybe she would.

Haley saw him and smiled, brow furrowing in question as she met his eyes...

Chapter 508: Looking stupid

“Demi?”

Mason warped into the young great tree of Nassau where he’d left his newest player, and hopefully newest girlfriend. He and ‘mushroom girl’ had met in the Neutral Zone. He’d promised to come find her, then they’d slept together when he tracked her down and took care of her after she was forced to flee her home.

She was definitely joining Nassau, so that was amazing. But their ‘relationship status’ wasn’t exactly clear. All he knew for sure is that he re...

Chapter 507: We're coming

Mason walked along the Nexus paths a hundred feet above the settlement of Nassau, his mind busy with thoughts of the future. Yet again the game had changed, ‘roboGod’ rattling humanity’s cage. Or maybe taking away the barrier between his pet ants.

The continental divide was over. The teleportation beacons placed strategically around the world were finally active to anyone, and it seemed like you couldn’t even stop it unless you had a Nexus. Mason and his main players went up to ...

End of book 11, and moving to 4 chapters a week

Book 12 begins Monday! We have some big things coming up, including the mixing of the continents, a large new dungeon, the progression of the phase/planes...

I mentioned this before as a possibility, but for the foreseeable future I will officially be moving to four chapters posted per week instead of five. The word counts have slowly increased, and between the editing required for publication and just the complexity of a series 11 books in, it's a bit too much for me to upkeep.

Chapter 506: Destiny

[Congratulations, players and civilians, on surviving the first wave of phase 3. You have made it to the main portion of the Great Game.]

Blake glanced up from his latest project—a delightfully dangerous construct made up mostly of swinging blades. In theory it was designed as a wedding gift to Ilya’s distant relatives, but he was starting to think it would send the wrong message. He read the text and frowned.

[Initial planar invasions are now ended. Randomized minor planar e...

Chapter 505: I left a woman in a tree

Mason waited on the slow lift down to the ground level, mostly as an exercise in patience. The urge to leap off the side and climb, or maybe just fall, was a lot like the urge for a woman or something to eat. He figured maybe his road to self-discipline could start with baby steps.

The thought of food didn’t help. He was apparently starving again…which wasn’t at all a good way to lead a meeting full of men. At least he wasn’t exactly giving bad news…

He paused when Billy...