Luckily, the Smith spotted the problem immediately and prevented further damage.
During his attempt to activate all of the enchantments at once, and only managing to activate eight of the hea...
2025-06-04 18:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostThey sat down with Sarah at the head of the table, and her parents on either side facing each other. Sarah instinctively recognized the pincer formation, and that her parents had her boxed in away ...
2025-06-03 18:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostAfter his latest near-death experience, it took some time for James to get back into the swing of things.
The crabs crowding the edge of his ward made for a good warm up.
As usual, the ...
2025-06-02 18:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostJames walked unsteadily along the cliff wall, away from the snowy passage and back towards camp.
The bird monster nesting cliff, blessedly, was still empty. James had no idea how long his ill...
2025-05-30 18:00:12 +0000 UTC View PostSarah found herself sitting up in bed and her breath caught in her throat. She was unsure if she had yelled out that last sentence out loud, or if it had only been in the dream world. Her mother ga...
2025-05-29 18:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostThe Smith paused a moment to catch his breath and observe the opening. It was hard to see very far into the passage, as it was dark, and snow blew around fiercely within the passage. He turned a fu...
2025-05-28 18:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostSarah instinctively noted her surroundings as her eyes reopened. A smooth floor, wide open space with no walls, dull grey sky with no sun, but also no clouds, flat lighting.
And a multitude o...
2025-05-27 18:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostThe next morning James awoke and cleaned up around the campsite, storing away the smoked meat from the day before.
Today James was going to clear the nesting area. He put on his armor, took h...
2025-05-26 18:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostThe walk back to the wards at the alcove entrance was uneventful, and quickly James found himself just around the corner from the bird monster nesting cliff. He took a deep breath, mentally prepari...
2025-05-23 18:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostTwo and a half years later
Sarah sat on the hard packed dirt, blindfolded, extending her senses outward. She could feel the firmness of the soil beneath her, and the sun’s warmth o...
2025-05-22 18:00:02 +0000 UTC View PostJames froze momentarily, staring at the unexpected flock of bird monsters flying about the wall of nests. He took a step back…
Crunch
His boot made just a faint noise on the ...
2025-05-21 18:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostSarah sat down at the dinner table with her parents and was struck by how different everything felt. Her father was sitting next to her mother, close enough to bump elbows with her. Normally they s...
2025-05-20 18:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostAfter a quick breakfast of porridge and some of the new smoked crab meat, James armored himself and took his Green Iron War Hammer in hand.
Walking out of the alcove, James stopped just shy o...
2025-05-19 18:00:26 +0000 UTC View PostJames turned, peering through the visor of his helmet out beyond the edge of his wards. Two crab monsters were posturing at each other with a bird monster carcass between them.
Right, the bir...
2025-05-16 18:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostSarah awoke to her father shaking her shoulder gently. “Sarah, wake up, it’s morning.”
She sat up from the edge of the bed, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.
The first thing she sa...
2025-05-15 19:03:01 +0000 UTC View PostJared explained what had happened since roughly mid-afternoon: how he had sent James on an errand to fetch water from the river, how several hours later, around dusk, Helen had shown up at his home...
2025-05-15 19:02:01 +0000 UTC View PostSarah had barely understood her mother’s shouted message when she heard a thump and groan coming from the direction of the kitchen. She set down the plates and walked to the door to see her fathe...
2025-05-15 19:01:01 +0000 UTC View PostJames had no chance of reacting to the unbelievably fast water spear flying at him. It struck his shield with a loud ping and was reflected back to the lake before he knew it. The next thing he kne...
2025-05-14 18:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostThe night that Sarah’s life changed forever followed a day much like any other. Her older brother, James, had left in the morning for his apprenticeship with Jared, the village smith. Sarah herse...
2025-05-13 19:01:03 +0000 UTC View PostFirst, James took some of his Blue Iron, not the Blue Iron that had absorbed undine essence, and forged a new pair of boots. This time, rather than spikes, he had designed a pattern of short, round...
2025-05-12 18:00:09 +0000 UTC View PostThe world was a tumbling swirl of water, bubbles, and the steep slope of the pond bottom as James fell head over heels towards the center of the pond, where it was deepest.
But although water...
2025-05-09 18:02:12 +0000 UTC View PostThe clatter of pebbles announced the arrival of a crab monster when James was about halfway to the pond. He turned to meet it and it ran sideways up to him with no hesitation, claws waving in the a...
2025-05-07 18:00:10 +0000 UTC View PostThe crab monster repeatedly waved its clacking claws forward, as though it were banging them against the ward. It skittered side to side as it did, as if looking for any weakness in the invisible w...
2025-05-05 18:00:09 +0000 UTC View PostAfter an hour of frozen terror and scanning for approaching monsters with nothing else happening, James calmed down enough to take stock.
A spider monster had sneaked up on him, and it was on...
2025-05-02 18:00:07 +0000 UTC View PostWith the last of the Blue Iron James smelted, he forged a pair of tongs, the better to work with hotter metals without themselves melting and becoming damaged. Quenching them was something of a cho...
2025-04-30 20:57:05 +0000 UTC View PostFirst, the Smith smelted and reforged his Green Iron Bucket Helmet into a Green Iron Visor Helmet, putting as much care into it as he could while he waited for his mana to recover. After two days, ...
2025-04-28 18:00:16 +0000 UTC View PostJames awoke, full of vim and vigor. After a quick breakfast, he set up his enchanting tools and the two helmets.
He ground up one of the Water Magic Crystals, reducing it to fine dust, and ca...
2025-04-25 18:00:09 +0000 UTC View PostBut first, his shield. He inspected it as closely as he could using [Enchantment Analysis] and [Enchantment Testing], trying to activate the enchantment as he usua...
2025-04-23 18:00:16 +0000 UTC View PostA lot of things happened at, effectively, the same time. First, there was a loud pinging noise from the Smith’s shield. At the same time as the ping, James realized that he had seen what...
2025-04-21 18:00:47 +0000 UTC View PostJames stood frozen for a minute, thinking. He hesitated to take even one more step, because although he didn’t know much about Dungeons, he knew that Dungeons had traps. The traps were w...
2025-04-18 18:00:12 +0000 UTC View Post