B.F.HUUPS

Update

The next update will be released soon. I've had a big week.

Chapter 63. Attack

Not waiting for his new crew to follow, Abe shot down from the ship, hooking onto the ship and trees below with his tendrils as he swung himself down.

Moments later, ropes were lowered, and ghouls and skeletons began their descent, but there would be quite some distance behind him by the time he reached the camp.

Five towers about four stories tall dotted a clearing in the trees at the center of the shardworld. Atop them were ballistas, and when the banshees had made a close swoop...

Chapter 62. Chased

They had lost a few clan members, but the raids had proven successful. Every day, their pursuers fell further behind, and after nine days of chasing them through the Vale, they had escaped.

Several banshees followed the ship as flying escorts as it weaved through the starry darkness of the Vale. It wasn’t just about security. The ship was crowded.

Abe had been directing them based on the memories he held of the Vale—a map of the stars that was expanded every time he took hold ...

Chapter 61. Ship

Gliding down to the little jetty, the flying galleon, plated in steel, made its approach. 

Abe’s brow rose at the sight. The vehicle was more impressive than he had imagined. 

In his pocket, he thumbed his acorns. Selling them would have to wait. The dreamer army amassing was far beyond what they could deal with, and escape was the only answer.

“Not bad,” Viara said at his side. She had remained close to Abe over the last couple of days. She was serving as a ...

Chapter 60. Kingpin

“Is all this really necessary?” Abe said as zombies carried furniture through the wall.

“It’s a tiny sum in the grand scheme of things, Abe. And it’s good for morale. The girls need something. They lost their home, remember?” Viara replied as she directed the zombies through the camp.

“Fine. I just hope it’s worth it.”

“Oh, it will be Abe. We’re not like your second-rate ghouls and skeletons.”

“You better be,” Abe said and returned to his ro...

Chapter 59. Reunions

“So, where did you go back on the shardworld?” Viara said, looking Abe up and down. “And what happened to you? You’ve… changed?”

“Is it that obvious?” Abe smirked. “I evolved, but its conditions were a little strange. It’s a long story,” Abe shrugged.

“Well, if you’d be willing to share one day, I’m all ears.”

“Yeah, maybe,” Abe replied, glancing around at the battlefield. “Do you want to move this somewhere a little less; battle-worn?”<...

Chapter 58. Collision

Charging through their tiny, concrete camp, Kilik led a group of several lightly armed banshees.

Addressing a small group at the other end of camp, Viara turned at the sight of her comrade—surprised to see them back so soon.

“We may have lucked out,” said Kilik with a broad grin.

“What do you mean?”

“Word on the street is that there’s a war brewing. Some clan of wererats is getting ready to attack. This is the opportunity we've been waiting for. I say we ...

Chapter 57. Gang

With the wall in place, Abe sent zombies out searching for unaffiliated undead. It would be no easy task since most would sign up as Reavers since it was one of the few ways for the unaffiliated to earn coin. But what choice did he have? He didn't feel comfortable leaving the alley until he had someone to guard this place.

At the alley’s far end, he surveyed the starry sky of the Astral Vale beyond. The alley itself was entirely exposed to the darkness of the Vale, as were many. The f...

Chapter 56. Foundations

“You sure this is the place? Looks like a rundown lot of brainless,” sneered a clumpy-haired rat behind the shadows of a street corner that overlooked the alley where Abe’s zombie accomplices put together the finishing touches on his wall.

“100%, rot breath,” a furred hand reached out and pointed. “My contact assures me he’s in there. Some dumb wight who sold serious treasures about town.”

“He strong then,” another hissed.

“So are we, cretin. Have some ...

Chapter 55. Slayer

Finding an empty alley just before the surface, Abe transformed into his walking mushroom form. There were no official restrictions for either dreamers heading below ground or the undead above it, but it was known to be far more dangerous.

The handful of living dead he spotted on his final ascent up to the surface eyed him suspiciously, but none attacked. Most of the weaker creatures around would no doubt rely on ambushes to attack prey like himself and, without warning of his coming, w...

Chapter 54. Wealth

“So, how much exactly are you looking to sell this for?” The appraiser said, eyeing the acorn in his hand.

“I dunno; I suppose that depends on what you can give me,” Abe shrugged, not wanting to let on he was aware of its value. He didn’t trust the guild, and he tried to keep a low profile with enemies already after him. Hopefully, they wouldn’t make too much of this if he were just another naive Reaver.

The appraiser's eyes glimmered, and his thick lips curled into a ...

Running late

Sorry everyone. Things came up today. I'll try to get an update out soonish.

Chapter 53. Vale

A handful of sporelings and passengers had led an assault, but the pathetic attack hadn’t even resulted in injuries, and since then, they had learned their place. But Abe could sense them gathering beneath, plotting against him.

Eyeing across the blanket of stars dotting the darkness, he knew they could be a problem. Lantern was primarily a dreamer shardworld, after all. But where else was he to go? And stopping to deal with them wasn’t an option. He could sense the ship that had ta...

Chapter 52. Vessel

Dozens of eyes stared up from the deck as Abe stood atop the wooden bulwark. It had been too long since he had taken his true form in all its glory, and the sensation filled his veins with pulsating delight. 

Unclipping his magnum, Abe eyed the shroomking captain at the rear of the deck. There were at least a dozen mushroom sailors between them and just as many guests of various dreamer species.

Twitching forward, Abe watched the crew flinch and the passengers gasp, tightenin...

Chapter 51. Escape

The sporekings’ reactions seemed slow compared to his own movement, he thought as he watched them turn toward him as he propelled up through the branches toward the acorn. 

He knew his body was more physically capable, but they seemed sluggish as they turned lazily toward him, their bodies slowly unraveling from their hunched stances.

As he reached the branches just below the energy-rich acorns, Abe increased his speed further and, within seconds, was within reach of the cl...

Chapter 50. Acorn

Even though nobody had said anything, Abe was starting to get the impression that the sporeking guards were growing suspicious of his wandering about. 

He had tried to play it cool over the last couple of days, walking around the highest levels available to him and into any of the open branches. But he often found himself unwelcome, wandering into what were living quarters, and even on the occasion that the doors were unlocked and open, there was an expectation that strangers didn�...

Chapter 49. Tickets

It was a relief not to have to worry about carrying sacks of gold coins around anymore, and hopefully, they would be easily accessible and waiting for Abe when he finally got to Lantern.

He had learned that there was a ticketing booth beside the giant tree that sold seats on the ships. Fortunately, they had started selling tickets with the news of the ghoul's corpse being found; unfortunately, the first ship wouldn’t be disembarking for a week. The fare cost 50 ducats, and Abe begrudg...

Chapter 48. Bounty

A discomforting number of eyes were set on Abe as he returned to down. However, since none of them questioned or confronted him, he ignored them and continued toward the Slayer branch.

The woman behind the counter wore a startled expression when he entered, no doubt surprised to see him hauling back the corpse after just receiving a question that entire companies of sporelings had failed to find for weeks now.

“Job complete,” Abe grunted as he dropped the fake corpse on the fl...

Chapter 47. Tree

Trying to remain inconspicuous, Abe made laps around the strange town, circling near the giant tree at its center.

The closer he got to it, the more mushroom-men marching two abreast and armed with spears he spotted. The standard mushroom spearmen gave off weak energy signals, but the way they marched gave off an impression of strict training and discipline.

Even though none had seemed particularly suspicious of him, at least not enough to warrant concern, Abe made sure...

Chapter 46. Mushrooms

Abe shook his head as he walked toward the rolling hills dotted by paddocks, with a small town nestled between farmsteads in the distance.

It was time he tested his disguise, but the swell in his stomach told him that it was a very bad idea.

“Calm down,” he muttered to himself. “It’s all going to be okay. I’ve been practicing my dreamer energy circulation for weeks now.”

He knew that wasn’t the issue, though. This place didn’t exactly look like some kind of s...

Chapter 45. Part 2.

Several weeks passed as Abe familiarized himself with his new body. It was stronger than he had expected, and he constantly found new mushrooms throughout the forest.

Within his reserves, he now carried 162 Jade Caps, 327 Lance Stems, 146 Sponge Buttons, 43 Speckled Mantles, and 8 Ninth Stalks. The Ninth Stalks added transformation to his growing list of mushroom essences he could absorb and turn into abilities. 

He had tested them all briefly despite his senses telling him w...

Chapter 44. Wight

Abe could hardly control himself as he dug his claws into the beast’s skull, cracking it apart and ripping pieces out as he exposed the brains to his fangs. Strength surged like never before as the bone cracked beneath his fangs, exposing the sweet brain to his lapping tongue. The familiar thrill of consuming power was coupled with something else. Something within him was awakening and breaking through. He could feel the monstrous core deep within—a theoretical heart of his power and cata...

Chapter 43. Beast

Every step closer to it brought fresh waves of its scent. Whatever it was, its dream energy was stronger than the whales.

Hesitation played in Abe’s thoughts. He was still in poor condition but was strong enough to use his abilities and deathly energy if his outer shell held up.

Not only that, but trying to hijack a ship might bring him to blows with the inhabitants of this place, and even if this section of the Vale was weak in energy, the fact that they could defend their home...

Chapter 42. Dreams

Abe could feel Mor’kel’s body healing around him, its mushroom fibers growing and recovering, thickening around his skin until his curves and ridges faded beneath rounded edges.

He could sense both his body and the worm's aversion to the dream energy that washed across him, but the energy seemed to be consumed by the fungi capsule of Mor’kel’s flesh and didn’t cause any harm.

He hoped that the weird mushroom would wake soon. He did not particularly miss its company, but ...

Chapter 41. Freedom

Crouching low against the ground, Abe lowered himself into a sprinters pose. 

He eyed his path up and out of the cave, noting every rock and foothold he would use for his escape. 

Since he couldn’t risk wasting what little deathly energy he had recovered by attempting practice runs, he could mentally drill the route. 

Tomorrow, I’m getting out of here.

Returning to the clearing where he had made his temporary accommodation, Abe sat. He had d...

Chapter 40. Stuck

“I know how it sounds. Just shut up for a minute, and let me explain. No, I know that’s what they’re saying. But… Please, listen,” Anita paced the alley, trying to keep herself from talking over the person on the lines. “No, fuck—I mean, sorry. But you’re not listening. I’m not, I don’t need fucking help. Not that kind of help, at least. You know what, go fuck yourself,” she squeezed her thumb against the end call button. 

“Fuck fuck, fuck fuck fuck, fucking...

Chapter 39. Beneath.

Hazy gray filled his vision as his eyes flickered open. Abe could feel his body crying out to him in agony. 

Looking down, he eyed his broken body. His gray skin and blue veins were entirely hidden beneath a blanket of red. He could see the worms lining his limbs, desperately keeping them from falling apart.

He couldn’t move, and the worms were entirely consumed just keeping him from falling apart and becoming chunks of meat scattered across the ground.

Not only that,...

Chapter 38.3

The worms strained under his command, but they obeyed as he forced them to make the whale turn sharply again, cutting off three sharks as he drove deathly energy into the beast’s crackling spheres, and beams burst out across the sky—disintegrating the sharks.

Up until now, Abe hadn’t had much reason to think about his deathly energy reserves as he didn’t have any means of tapping into the raw energy. But charging the whale’s beams was quickly draining him.

Several of the...

Chapter 38.2

“So, how do we do this?” 

“Turn around and keep quiet,” Viara heaved.

“Got it,” Abe nodded and turned.

Viara’s arms slid beneath him a second later, and she lifted him into the air from behind.

He could hear her labored breaths, but it didn’t seem to matter much as they rapidly gained altitude, reaching the height of the whales within several seconds.

“How close do you want to get?”

“As close as possible. Only got five shots.” 2024-05-06 20:28:50 +0000 UTC View Post

Chapter 38.1

Stabbing through one dwarf, Abe threw its lifeless body aside as another drove a sword into his side.

The dwarf immediately realized its mistake as it tried to pull its sword free to no effect. Abe could feel the worms wrapping their tendril-like bodies around the blade, refusing to let go.

Bringing his sword down and over his head, Abe split the skeleton’s skull in two.

The waves were coming consistently, but since Xer had joined Viara’s effort to attack the flying crea...