Chapter twenty-seven
Harmony's social skills ached as she was dragged from social gathering to social gathering. [Poise and Bearing], [Style and Grace], and even [Beautician] throbbed inside her soul. Felt more like cramps than overworked muscles. She leaned on other skills, [Small Armor] and [High Kick], for balance, fo...
2024-08-09 14:51:49 +0000 UTC
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Chapter Twenty-Six
A thorough inspection of the attic revealed that the effect of the combination of her skills was weaker the further from where she cast it. While she didn't find any dust and Hyacinth didn't sense any vermin, the stacked materials at the far side hadn't moved.
"If they're not expectin...
2024-08-07 14:54:26 +0000 UTC
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Chapter Twenty-Five
Brooding was, of course, practical brooding for Harmony. It was how she handled the class negativity when she got hired, the tides of workplace politics, and Lord Tyler when it became necessary. Thinking about all the things that had gone wrong, are probably going wrong, and might go wrong always made her unh...
2024-08-05 15:19:17 +0000 UTC
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Chapter Twenty-Four
Tyler was pliable. Whether from the alcohol or the leftover effects of Hemlock’s skill Harmony wasn’t sure.
“Pack up. Then sit.” She told him as they entered the lodge.
Harmony went to her smaller room and shut the door. It was time to change her clothes. She willed...
2024-08-02 14:55:54 +0000 UTC
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Chapter Twenty -Three
The rest of the meal was a blur for Harmony. The party girl leaving took a lot of the energy out of the event and removed one of the barriers to Max and Tyler needling each other. The competition between them started to go towards who could drink the most.
"How much money will it cost to hire ...
2024-07-31 14:41:27 +0000 UTC
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Chapter Twenty-Two
Tyler's speechless gaping made all of the frustrations around her skills, stats, and the troubles surrounding them almost worth it. Instead of the normal ogling, it was him being stunned.
"I'm ready for this lunch if you are." She told him.
The carriage ride was quick and efficient, and...
2024-07-29 15:06:05 +0000 UTC
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Chapter twenty-one
Lord Tyler’s snoring greeted Harmony as she stepped out of the shadows. The lord looked peaceful, a state she wished she could join him in but knew her mind wouldn’t let her. The letter she left about taking a breather sat unopened. She picked it up and shoved it into her bag.
Instead, ...
2024-07-26 14:36:27 +0000 UTC
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Chapter Twenty
Harmony’s morning reset spell wiped away all the changes to her face, hair, and nails as she stepped out of the shadows and into the manor grounds not far from the staff area. She poked her head into the lady’s changing room. Between shift changes, it operated as a lounge for taking breaks.
It wa...
2024-07-24 14:35:52 +0000 UTC
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Chapter Nineteen
Colorful toy feather bits, scraps of prince masks, sticks from kabobs, and other remnants of the city-wide hysteria from the funeral procession lay scattered at the corners of the steps up the House of the Dead. The trash remained, the lines were gone, and the citizens moved on. The first few days, you h...
2024-07-22 15:09:25 +0000 UTC
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Chapter Eighteen
Harmony had to account for several complicating factors like any daring plan.
Legally, at least within the city, it shouldn’t be any more problematic than raising someone’s dead pet or even a person with legal loopholes for class-specific actions. Hazeldown made it simple in that respect. All u...
2024-07-19 15:18:51 +0000 UTC
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Chapter Seventeen
The necromancer and her toad stepped out to be greeted by the same booth the team had registered with before entering the dungeon. Outside Old Bones’s domain, she could feel her class shifting uncomfortably as the barrier to selecting a new skill and unlocking the stats dropped. Now was neither the ti...
2024-07-17 13:59:13 +0000 UTC
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Chapter Sixteen
Harmony's head throbbed as she regained consciousness to the extent that her vision blurred, and all she could see was a glowing fuzzy white aura. As her eyes focused, it remained fuzzy, the furry kind. A large white dog sat calmly in front of her, the kind that Ambrosia would declare "Adorbs." and name S...
2024-07-15 14:11:40 +0000 UTC
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I'm going to change the permission on the chapters that are live on royal road to be open to the pubilc here, at least the first five that are up.
2024-07-14 14:31:28 +0000 UTC
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Chapter Fifteen
Packs of first-floor guardians wore them down. Bone monkey kings throwing flaming lumps of coal, flesh walls that had to be ground through before they smashed the team. Rose was the first to need a restoration potion. A brown burrower snapped under her feet, crushing part of her abdomen and leg be...
2024-07-12 14:53:50 +0000 UTC
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Chapter Fourteen
The third floor made the necromancers’ words a lie and fears seem unfounded. Bone threshers, spinning balls of razor-sharp spines that rolled at the group, sat in pieces all over the floor. As they got absorbed, they left death-based alchemical ingredients as the floor’s base rewards. The semi-spectr...
2024-07-11 14:18:08 +0000 UTC
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Chapter Thirteen
Random encounters happened in dungeons, even safe ones like Old Bones beneath Hazeldown. The flesh cube on the third floor had been one, a creature rarely seen and stronger than expected. Harmony reasoned that the shambler-host had to be one, even if it had left a trash drop. Even if she'd never heard of...
2024-07-10 15:11:29 +0000 UTC
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Chapter Twelve
The day tested Harmony’s social skills, both the ones she acquired through her profession and those she’d learned through working at the manor. She was in her new armor, trying it out before she took it into more dangerous but hopefully less stressful situations. Tyler purchased three new items at the ...
2024-07-09 12:59:32 +0000 UTC
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Chapter Eleven
A rumbling weight on Harmony's chest woke her. "Hyacinth, you're too big for this. And are you purring?"
"Grrr-oak" he grumbled, and Harmony felt the chastisement through their link.
She focused on the shadow toad. Purring was inaccurate because Hyacinth wasn't vibrating. Inside, he worked on h...
2024-07-08 21:38:04 +0000 UTC
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Chapter Ten
Harmony sipped her wine, attempting to wash away the taste of half-digested food and death out of her mouth. At the very least, it replaced it. She didn’t want to think about how the wine cost more than her week’s wages. The longer she nursed it, the calmer Lord Tyler became. He’d stopped offering to ta...
2024-07-08 21:36:27 +0000 UTC
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Chapter Nine
Hunger, thirst, and the constant prodding to take care of those things from Hyancith through their bond woke her enough to sit up, take a bite of food and drink water before laying back down again.
She settled into accepting the new state of being. Her mana felt full, and while it usually stopped...
2024-07-08 21:34:25 +0000 UTC
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Chapter Eight
Harmony awoke in the tiny lodge room to a raspy, gasping "Grracck" from her amphibious partner. She might have cared a little more if she had felt his distress rather than annoyance through the [Familiar Bond]. As it was, she felt drained from staying up too late. A pair of Dig Boys had escorted her back.
2024-07-08 21:32:24 +0000 UTC
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Chapter Seven
Off went the maid’s uniform, and on went Harmony’s travel clothes. It was good to have pants on. The insistence that she trained in uniform was ridiculous. Whenever she felt she might warm up to Lord Tyler, he did something like that.
She still felt naked, even covered enough to be mista...
2024-07-08 21:29:44 +0000 UTC
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Chapter Six
Harmony had mistakenly dressed in her travel clothes the morning of her departure. Brown pants and a jacket she knew made her look more like a young boy than a girl.
"Why aren't you in uniform?" Lord Tyler asked with a tone of command.
This caused Harmony to spin on her heel and march straight...
2024-07-08 21:26:18 +0000 UTC
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Chapter Five
Over the next three days, the masters of Coodly manor only showed up sporadically, taking advantage of the spectacle that the prince's funeral had become. Never was there quite enough time for another golden moment for the staff. Lord Tyler was gone completely, which was unusual for him to be away so long from h...
2024-07-08 21:21:38 +0000 UTC
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Chapter Four
All the maids and one of the house boys rotated for the lunch service, and today was Harmony’s day. It was one of the few tasks that she could work on improving her [Poise and Bearing] Focus on that straight spine, smooth walk, pleasant smile, and without needing to stop herself from looking awkward. She e...
2024-07-08 21:20:17 +0000 UTC
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Chapter Three
Lord Tyler's room was a dungeon, the kind that used to hold prisoners. It was from a bygone era when keeping one's enemies on hand was fashionable. Tyler's collections kept taking up more and more space until he had the basement cells all remodeled so he could have the largest room. Tyler's rare and uni...
2024-07-08 21:18:50 +0000 UTC
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Chapter Two
With winter near the end, it was time to clean the east parlor. The room's door opened with a creak. Too drafty to use during the winter months, the manor closed it, and Harmony was scheduled to help get it ready for use during the warmer seasons.
A thick layer of dust covered the room, glasses sat ha...
2024-07-08 21:16:58 +0000 UTC
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Chapter One
Prince Adric died young and left a beautiful corpse. The details of his death were shrouded in mystery, but his prized pet, a rainbow feathered coatl, is said to have died with him, its feathery dragon-like body sharing his funeral bier. His funeral procession was a parade of mourning damsels, widows, and anyone ...
2024-07-08 21:14:51 +0000 UTC
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I had this shot story published for limited release in an Air and Nothingness Press anthology. The rights have reverted back to me, and a good fellow was interested in doing a podcast and working on their audio-resume, so here it is.
2024-03-21 16:43:18 +0000 UTC
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Chapter Three
Lord Tyler's room was a dungeon, the kind that used to hold prisoners. It was from a bygone era when keeping one's enemies on hand was fashionable. Tyler's collections kept taking up more and more space until he had the basement cells all remodeled so he could have the largest room. Tyler's rare and unique items were why he...
2023-04-05 22:42:34 +0000 UTC
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