a_man_in_black

Updoots:)

First off i want to thank all of you guys for your support of Skyclad. Even though things have been hectic at home yall have stuck by me, and that's awesome.

We're closing in on the end of the first book. It doesn't feel as satisfying as a traditional book, but i'm hoping with a professional editing deal and some chapter shuffling that we can alleviate that before publishing on amazon. Just so everyone knows, all patrons will receive an ebook copy directly from me, regardless of tier. t...

Skyclad - Chapter 38: Impact Duality

Terisa Aras lay prone on the top of the western corner tower above the walls of Castra Pristis, propped up somewhat comfortably on the bed of a wagon that had been temporarily commandeered for Dana’s current endeavor. The Worldwalker was attempting to teach Terisa how to use something she had called a rifle, and Althenea’s new form was proving less than easy to adjust to for both parties involved. Her sister’s soul was no longer emanating agonizing pain and sufferi...

Skyclad - Chapter 37: Reunions

Morgan Mackenzie found herself in a dream. She knew it was a dream. She stood at the entrance to Dina’s Diner, the same tiny shop where her parents had taken her to lunch every Sunday through her entire childhood, the same place where her father had continued to take her to lunch every week after her mother finally succumbed to the ravages of a cancer the doctors couldn’t save her from. 

The creaky sign hanging below the awning, swaying in a late-morning breeze; th...

Skyclad - Chapter 36: Thunder and Mud

Calvin Descroix looked through a spyglass at the refugee encampment. Practically a fort already, he thought, despite less than a quarter of a day to dig in. Angled trenches marred the direct upslope approach, the only one workable for his forces. Splitting to either side of the fortifications would expose them to withering fire from the Battlemaster’s mages and archers. Worse, the clearer terrain and broad, comparatively shallow slope would make an excellent k...

Skyclad - Chapter 35: Aspect of the Harbinger

Millie Thatcher sat on the back of a wagon, happily eating her breakfast of a thick slice of fried bacon and a biscuit. She washed them down with water from a skin before replacing the stopper with a twist of her hand and fingers that was now only slightly awkward instead of truly difficult. The signs of the Deskren encampment could be seen to the southwest, and the caravan buzzed with nervous whispers from the more doubtful civilians. She no longer counted herself among them, an...

Updoots and Future Plans!

First off thank you, everyone, for your support! I'm fully moved into my grandmother's old house! No more homelessness! The inheritance included the inconvenience of the remaining balance on the mortgage, and it took some negotiating with the bank. They were nervous about my income being from Patreon since it is unconventional and not well known in such a small rural town, but they finally agreed to let me take over the note as long as payments are made on time.

As those of you who hang...

Skyclad - Chapter 34: The Devil's Drum

Millie Thatcher sat on the back of a wagon, cradling the nub that was all that remained of her left arm. The rest of her felt as empty and numb as the now-lost limb. The General’s wife had made a cleaner amputation than any but the most skilled and high levelled healers or priests could have managed -- a far better result than she could have expected given the circumstances. Simply stopping the Bloodsear poison at just her arm was practically a miracle all by itself. Others had...

Skyclad - Chapter 33: Under Ashen Skies

Morgan Mackenzie was burning. So too was everything around her. Faintly, as though from a distance, she could hear pained screams and high-pitched whimpers that barely cut through the roaring wind and flame that swirled around her and inside her. She had always been afraid of her fire, in a small way. For the first few weeks after she landed in the Tree, her magic had burned its way out of her body every time she worked any spellcraft that used fire or lightning. Those memories h...

test post pls ignor

just testing something, nothing to see here:)

UPDOOTS!!!

Finally! I has the intarwebz at my own place. I have two chapters on deck for yall this week, and they'll be coming up in a day or two. just please be patient with me a short while longer, so i can get all caught up and back on schedule without sacrificing quality:)

Third Interlulude: Filth!

Lulu knew that something was terribly wrong.
Someone had stepped forwards from the friendly gathering around the mealtime campfire, and sent out a pulse that had pushed all but the strongest into unconsciousness.
The scrubby had only had the barest forewarning, and the man’s magic had a strange tang that she couldn’t identify -- oily, greasy, forceful, wrong -- and couldn’t counter. Lulu struggled to retain her consciousness.
She hung onto Morgan’s shoulder by instinct, her m...

Skyclad - Chapter 32: A Fireside Chat

 

Terisa Aras sat on a stool a short distance away from the firepit where her husband was cooking supper. This wouldn’t ordinarily be remarkable, but he was cooking supper for the third time in one evening. A few hours ago, Dana and Morgan had disappeared into the former’s workshop to discuss matters amongst themselves. Dana had appeared quiet and withdrawn, a stark contrast to her earlier eagerness upon meeting the other Worldwalker. When they had emerged, the newcomer had sa...

Second InterLulude: Hello!

It had been a long journey.

Her mistress had been running flat-out for two days and two nights, barely stopping to eat and rest, and the loyal scrubby had come along for the ride. Sometimes she had clung tightly to her mistress’ shoulder, flattening herself down so the great winds couldn’t find enough purchase on her form to push her off of her perch. Other times, Lulu had quickly scurried downwards to hide in the strange airless void that she found at her hip, napping ...

Skyclad - Chapter 31: A Slight Miscalculation

Morgan Mackenzie was running again. This, in itself, was not a new occurrence. In fact, she had spent most of her waking hours since arriving on Anfealt running; she was either running towards something she wanted to eat, or away from something that wanted to eat her. She had spent her share of time walking, but rare had been the day she had not, at some point, needed to run for one reason or another.

Today was a day where the [Skyclad Sorceress] ...

Skyclad - Chapter 30: Entrenchment

Terisa Aras stood atop the western gate of an ancient stone fort, watching the last few wagons of the Expedition’s caravan finish their journey across an equally-ancient bridge. The fort was named Castra Pristis, and the bridge spanning the three-mile long gorge was known as Pontem Praetor. Nobody could remember where those names came from; not even Terisa’s mentor. The old Ma’akan Badger had known many legends, but she had told Terisa more stories about t...

Skyclad - Chapter 29: Bounty of the Wilds

Morgan Mackenzie, flush with pride at her latest accomplishment, was eating honey. In addition to being delicious, the honey also carried medicinal properties, which ended up being a happy discovery after she fought a swarm of [Sting-Flinger Bees] to claim her prize. Welts adorned her left flank and backside, and while her healing abilities meant the wounds wouldn’t be life-threatening, the toxins had proven persistent -- and quite itchy. The itching was the worst, and unfortun...

More Updoots

First off I want to thank all of you for your support. If this keeps up, I may very well manage to support myself by writing. If you had asked me a year ago where I would be today, I would have laughed sadly and said "living in a cardboard box under the bridge." Our stories take strange twists and turns, and I'm glad my friends helped me muster the courage to share my words.  All the family drama and my grandmother's passing hasn't been easy, but you guys have been patient, and I'm deepl...

Skyclad - Interlude: The Dreamer

Noah Rowland sat in a laboratory, making minute adjustments to a piece of equipment that, to him, bore striking resemblance to an advanced medical scanning machine from Earth. One had to, he supposed, make allowances for the difference in available material; in place of computer chips and circuit boards, glowing runes controlled it. Instead of surgical steel, crystal styluses allowed for manipulation. Rather than plastic, bronze and silver crafted its outer shell. It was beautifu...

Skyclad - Chapter 28: Crimson Ruin

Lord-Commander Terrick stood on the uppermost balcony of Wardenholt, the Warden’s traditional headquarters, looking down over the city of Stormbreak. A nervous pall lay over the entire city, an aura of uncertain dread over what was to come. From his vantage point he could see where several rows of tenements had recently been demolished and the rubble cleared away to expose the lines of an ancient section of the Stormbreak Array. Over the course of the two centuries since the la...

Skyclad - Chapter 27: Shattered Fates

When Rella awoke, she was surrounded by darkness, and she was floating. More importantly, she was well and truly alone. For the first time since accepting the Mantle, she didn’t have a constant flood of visions gnawing at the back of her mind. For the first time, she didn’t have the constant sensation of presence, of past [Oracles] riding along with her.

For a long time, she basked in the emptiness, luxuriating in the silence.

Suddenly, something reached out of th...

Updoots

My grandmother died today. She'd been on full time hospice care 24/7 as it had gotten to where I simply was not enough to do it alone, and she passed amid family and friends in her own house shortly after noon.

The next chapter will be delayed and the schedule may get a bit wonky as i deal with services and the inevitable family drama over the next week or so. The writing actually helps, so don't worry, i'm not going on hiatus or anything. I just have a lot of things on my plate i'm jug...

Skyclad - Chapter 26: Territorial Disputes

Morgan Mackenzie crouched atop the corpse of a [Rockmaw], carefully applying touches of superheated flame with her fingertips. The last tendrils of flesh and gristle had finally been seared away, allowing her to pry up the large chunk of Mana Crystal that had once protected the neck and upper back of the beast. With its connection to the remnants of the dead beast’s Mana removed, her own Mana was able to take over the massive glass-like plate. Standing back up, she levitated he...

Morgan's Status Sheet

By popular request, here is a very quickly thrown together version of Morgan's status info as of the end of chapter 25. it's a working document, changes frequently, and the background math gets wonky a lot more than i thought it would when i started this project. dunno how well this sheet embed is gonna work, if it doesn't display right i'll nix it and try something else:)

EDIT: embed didn't work, here's a link to the published sheet

2019-03-07 01:45:48 +0000 UTC View Post

Skyclad - Chapter 25: Wanderings

Morgan Mackenzie had lost track of just how long she had spent aimlessly wandering the forest. The flood of notifications, experience, and more than one level up would have been bad enough, given what she’d just done to the dungeon. Worse, however, was the mental assault from the not-spider. It had left her dazed, drifting, in a dreamlike state of unreality that didn’t seem to fade. She remembered the fire, of course; the taste of ash and cinder in the air as the greenery of ...

Skyclad - Chapter 24: Bitter Tears

Constable Zizzy stood before yet another crime scene, yet another display of pointless brutality serving no purpose higher than pain and suffering. Echoes of the raw agony suffered here dragged across her nerves like nails across a chalkboard. She found herself constantly surprised by this feeling; ordinarily, the pain and suffering of mankind failed to move her. After all, the Hells she was summoned from -- and by extension, she herself -- existed for the sole purpose of cleansi...

Skyclad - Chapter 23: Expedition

Terisa Aras stood on the observation deck of the northeast tower of Fort Expedition, sipping a steaming cup of kaffen and ignoring the murmurs of the small gathering behind her. Calling it a fort was truly an exercise in masterful understatement. It was either an epic wonder of fortified construction, or a mad engineer’s worst nightmare, depending on who you asked.  Stone walls over a hundred feet tall formed a curved barricade stretching almost eight leagues to seal off t...