IanFlat

68 - In a Hole

The wooden floor shattered beneath me and I dropped.

Sparks faded. The world tilted. I heard Kathina gasping and panting.

Stones blurred to both sides as I fell, illuminated by the fain...

67 - Depart

I made a shitload of noise as I fled the wraith, but I didn’t care. I just moved.

Well, I also ate every one of the pearl beads in my domain. There weren’t enough to make a gold but I sti...

66 - The Faintest Touch

Still under Princess’s control, I shambled across the narrow edge of the fallen walkway toward the exit. Not, however, toward the exit to the traguld neighborhood. We’d already stumbled the wro...

65 - Tapestry of Soul

One of the soldiers tried to flee the lighthouse, to escape this untouchable, unkillable horror. She managed to dart to the side of the wraith, following the curve of the outside wall, and was movi...

64 - Pressure

The spark-shield roared down at us, solid as a brick wall, electric as sticking my tongue in an outlet. I took the brunt of the impact, because I was standing in front with Wren, and was six inches...

63 - White Noise

I nodded to show Wren that I understood, then mouthed, “Wraith Pits” to Tansy and Usim.

“Plus, an entrance into the kobold crater,” Princess sleepily informed me, tugging my attention...

62 - This Is the Pits

“There’s movement,” Princess said. “Approaching.”

Except she didn’t say that, she didn’t even think it. She sort of made me think it, so my eyes sprang open in...

61 - Sleep Knits the Raveled Sleeve

While Wren flailed at the ceiling behind me, I hustled down the slope. Debris slammed and clattered, dust billowed, but I didn’t turn. I scanned the gloomy, subterranean street for Tansy and Usim...

60 - Embrace the Avalance

As I ran up the slope toward the fallen walkway and the exit, the loose shale of the crater floor crunched beneath my boots. Kobolds growled and yipped behind me and I heard the thud of Wren’s ta...

59 - Ripping Teeth

In a fraction of a second, the walkway collapsed from horizontal to vertical, and I tumbled ass-over-eyebrow down the incline. ‘Walkway,’ hell. That was a goddamn booby trap. The kobolds had at...

A Quick Note on a Slow Subject

I'm going to slow my release rate to 3-5 chapters a week. I'm happily working away on Book 2, but I want to be sure that I don't burn out.

So I wanted to flag the change here, in case you don...

58 - The Lighthouse

When I dropped inside the apartment building, the pain in my leg flared. Not too badly, thank fortitude. Still, I sucked in my breath--and the interior of the air tasted faintly mineral. When I ten...

57 - From the Pit

I turned to follow Wren into the corridor when Usim told Tansy, “It’s okay, I can walk now.”

“Are you refusing to ride on ollieback?” she demanded.

“Um, no, I just--”

56 - Upwards

Holding my hatchet blade to the throat of the injured twin stopped his brother--and all the other soldiers.

It didn’t stop Kathina. Her shield sizzled through the air toward me. She could s...

55 - Arched Throat

The kobold’s skin cracked like shatterproof glass beneath my boot. It didn’t break apart, but a spiderwebbing of lines spread across its rocky skin. My kick sent it flinging away, and it squeal...

54 - A Wrong Turn

Usim cut the argument short by limping over to Tansy and letting her lift him onto her back. He wrapped his arms around her broad neck and she held him in place with one hand and left the other fre...

53 - A Beating

<Maybe notifications shift, modulate, or change as your Support level increases,> Princess said, in my mind, for absolutely no reason.

I frowned toward a skinbear corpse. <Huh?> 2023-11-03 19:03:23 +0000 UTC View Post

52 - Skinbears

“Don’t let him in there!” I yelled to Tansy, and started running toward her voice. “Keep him out!”

Wren raced past me, growing two inches with every step. “Usim! Usim!”...

51 - Into the City

“Shit,” I said, hesitating there in the archway. “Shit! Okay, follow me.”

Usim shouted at Wren, “Mom, this way!”

She was already coming, charging at us like a bull, and I di...

50 - Earlier

EARLIER ...

After I woke from my nap--with Princess’s advice about traps at the forefront of my mind--I trotted across the basement and cornered Chetty.

“Don’t bother looking for ...

49 - Commander Wren

After only a slight hesitation at the corner, Commander Wren turned left toward the door at the end of the hallway in the Central Building. She balanced her tray in one hand, reached for the key .....

48 - Gallows Square

I paused just inside the archway to check what was in front of me.

Gallows Square was--shockingly--a square. It reminded me of a smaller version of the square outside the Six Coves administra...

47 - Lay of the Land

I told Hollis that I was going to waft through the bottleneck, and then didn’t do anything except check my sheet. Well, at least the important part:

Health: 55/55

Mana: 2...