After the second draught, Astrid’s hands started to jitter. It’d been a possibly stupid choice, but if she had to choose between an unnatural need to move or falling flat on her face at the first signs of resistance, she knew which she was going to choose. The taste in the back of her throat was deeply unpleasant, but she’d take that over ...
2025-05-31 04:18:02 +0000 UTC View PostSvana
They were all going to die. The moment a warg that had crossed the level 6 watershed appeared, she knew it was the end. Her soul screamed at her to flee, to hope for even another minute still living, but she forced that down. Astrid’s face got eaten, Petr was about to die, and he’d already lost an arm. Then, when...
2025-05-31 04:17:17 +0000 UTC View Post“There’s another pack coming on the east!”
“How!” Astrid more as an expletive than a question. As she spoke, she raised the hammer again and feinted high at the warg on her right. The two being precariously held back by her shield weren’t her concern right now. They’d managed to kill most of the initial wave of six, but then ...
2025-05-31 04:16:21 +0000 UTC View Post***
With a question for my goddess and a [System] message to check, I spent the rest of the meeting deferring to the comments and questions of the rest of my people in the meeting. Sybil drilled down on the specifics of how food would be brought to us while Took and Percral learned the general patrolling patterns of our enemy. Brutus wonde...
2025-05-31 04:13:25 +0000 UTC View PostTJ didn’t have anything to add or say to the family as they hashed out their issues. After feeding Luz, he did interrupt, though.
“These are conversations that you need to have. I need to get this child to sleep. So go, have those conversations, but leave me to take care of Luz. Okay?”
They all filed out of the dorm room, and T...
2025-05-30 15:00:14 +0000 UTC View Post***
Starting this day, the Red Abbey’s focus shall shift from mere education for the future ruling class of the Veratocracy. Instead, our goal shall be to strengthen the basics of each attendee so that they may be able to protect themselves in a world that grows ever more turbulent day by day. All curriculum wholly unrelated ...
2025-05-30 04:49:16 +0000 UTC View Post“Nah, this isn’t Junior.” TJ forced a smile. “This is Luz. I’m taking care of her for a while. Maybe until she gets to be an adult. But she’s not mine.”
“Are… you sure?” Molly asked. “She smells and feels like you to my Bloodline.”
TJ had to force down the explanation he wanted to give of how other fo...
2025-05-29 15:00:11 +0000 UTC View PostSix wargs rushed out of the brush, their mouths wide open and ready to tear into flesh. Astrid rushed forward and slammed into two, but a third circled around and caught her armored calf in its jaws. She roared as she struggled to keep her feet, but the monsters didn’t slow down. Two more turned away from Petr and rushed to her. Petr, Svana, a...
2025-05-29 07:42:54 +0000 UTC View PostShe shifted back and forth as the sun rose fully over the trees of the forest. The dim light of spring’s dawn was enough to illuminate the trees, and for the first time, Astrid fully saw the first stage of the influence on the world by the surge. The trees, previously bright and lively from the advent of spring, were darker. They weren’t nea...
2025-05-29 07:42:06 +0000 UTC View PostUnsurprisingly, it’d been Tobias that’d managed to piss off the Dungeoneer and their party. Though Astrid wanted to learn more about what was about to happen and why, she needed to step forward between Tobias and his impending death or dismemberment.
“I apologize for this Healer’s idiocy.” She bowed before the other delvers, look...
2025-05-29 07:41:15 +0000 UTC View Post***
“Hello, Tar.” I replied as I looked down at the rat. He stood on his back legs and was fastidiously grooming his whiskers in that unmistakably rodentlike way. “I’m sure there’s a reason that you’re approaching us today. Would you accompany me to my meeting room while my counsel assembles?”
“If you would prefer tha...
2025-05-29 03:21:55 +0000 UTC View Post“You’re damn lucky that we’re letting you in, looking like a fucking creep, Stinky. You’re not getting a fucking apology for calling a damn
“You’re damn lucky that we’re letting you in, looking like a fucking creep, Stinky. You’re not getting a fucking apology for calling a damn spade what it is. Now walk in or walk off. I ...
2025-05-28 15:00:16 +0000 UTC View PostTwelve years before
“You’ll get right up and you’ll kill the bastard that challenged you, that’s what you’ll do! Victory before death and blood before affection!”
“Victory before death and blood before affection!”
The echoing voices of the little ones brought a fierce smile to Hrackthan’...
2025-05-28 07:32:06 +0000 UTC View PostDays passed, and Astrid spent as much time as she possibly could in the Dungeon. No party had decided to fully abandon the post and their futures as delvers, so it wasn’t hard for her to find someone to delve with. Even so, it wasn’t long before she could see the difference. The parties she hadn’t ever seen in the Dungeon, like Lariche’s...
2025-05-28 07:31:12 +0000 UTC View PostJust a week. And she was already level 2. Astrid leaned against her hammer as she placed it on the ground. After the days she’d spent delving so far, she knew enough to never let her guard down while in the Dungeon. Even when Grom was nearby to make sure that she never drew too many wargs to her at a time, this wasn’t a training ground. She...
2025-05-28 07:29:49 +0000 UTC View PostAs soon as they were within the bounds of the city, Astrid’s minders split off without a goodbye. She wanted to say something, do something, but… she was alone. The few delvers nearby nodded at her but kept their distance. Her excitement about being a quarter of the way to level 2 was pushed back. These people had heard that she attacked her...
2025-05-28 07:28:50 +0000 UTC View PostIn the morning, Astrid did much the same as she had the day before. After she was fully outfitted in her armor, she made her way down the stairs. To her surprise, an unarmored Petr was eating, and she had to respectfully stay back in the hallway while he continued. After a short while, though, he stood, looked at her, and bowed his head. Stark, ...
2025-05-28 07:27:08 +0000 UTC View Post***
Though I’d made my people go to make the preparations necessary to ensure that the Misti Hawar didn’t take us all by surprise, I was far from idle myself. Discounting my daily visits to the nursery to tend to our eggs and bolster the rest of the young that lived there, there was something that I knew I could do well. All of my Keel...
2025-05-28 04:00:06 +0000 UTC View Post“You wouldn’t… I mean, could you? It… I just… But…” Astrid’s trail of thoughts trickled off as the possibility of a life incarcerated filled her mind.
“Go ahead and show me your Status, Astrid.” Grom spoke gently. She didn’t say anything as she willed it to appear in front of her so Grom could see it.
Though she tried to protest, Svana obviously was on Tobias’s side, and Petr quickly chose his party over her. Astrid didn’t know what to do except to collect the warg ears and place them in her pouch. When she stood up, done with collecting the ears, Svana held out her hand.
“Why would I give you our spoils? I’ve carried all ...
2025-05-27 07:53:07 +0000 UTC View PostIt took the better part of an hour for Tobias to be ready. Petr had quickly changed and sat beside her in what Astrid could only assume was solidarity. His armor was layers of overlapping leather covering his chest, shoulders, and thighs. Heavy boots and a helmet completed his armor, but a stee-wrapped shield as large as Astrid’s was strapped ...
2025-05-27 07:52:16 +0000 UTC View PostAs soon as it refreshed, Astrid activated Quick Recovery. The wound that continued to ooze blood down her leg and into her boot mostly scabbed over at that, though she could tell that the wound was far from healed. Even so, she didn’t make a sound or any indication that she’d gotten a little better. Grom kept an eye on her every step of the ...
2025-05-27 07:50:39 +0000 UTC View PostThe second engagement went much like the first, a single warg attempting to ambush them and being summarily slain without difficulty. Seeing another level 1 monster just rush them and get killed, Astrid couldn’t help but ask, “I was told that monsters are stupid, even if they’re smart. Is this what people meant by that?”
“Yeah, i...
2025-05-27 07:48:35 +0000 UTC View Post***
[Cupun POV]
He followed a scent, the faintest memory of a crushed acorn on a paw. He hopped through the undergrowth, his nose leading him to the planned place for the meeting. Cultulut had commanded that the entirety of the Corps gather in one place and they would listen to the command. As soon as he drew clower,...
2025-05-27 04:06:06 +0000 UTC View PostHey! I'm glad to have had a break, but I'm equally glad to be back! Hope you enjoy! 154 should be out in the next day or so.
As they trailed through Mesa and into Tempe, TJ wanted to rush forward, to just push them all to getting to campus as soon as possible. After all, he had gained some levels and needed to kee...
2025-05-26 15:00:11 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello! I mentioned a book I've been
2025-05-26 07:08:36 +0000 UTC View Post***
[Shraal POV]
“No, the Altar cannot be such a limited item. It will be filigreed and we are waiting until Her divine alloy is prepared to decorate it. The Sanctum is coming along nicely, but it lacks the trophies necessary to capture Her will. I suspect that once our victory is gained over the Misti Hawar, there...
2025-05-25 04:31:51 +0000 UTC View Post***
Sorry, I forgot to schedule this yesterday. Another one coming in 10 hours!
“I would guess that there are materials that are needed for their continued sustenance on the surface.” Sybil agreed with my general idea. “Even so, it isn’t something that is needed to be seen or done by each individual,...
2025-05-24 18:04:22 +0000 UTC View Post***
Surprisingly, as the “royal” ant disappeared back into the depths of the hole, all the ants scurrying around me also pulled back into the hole. It wasn’t more than two minutes before the only movement around the hole came from my people. No ants ventured out, and while I looked down into the dark cave that the ants lived in, I de...
2025-05-23 04:08:06 +0000 UTC View Post***
As soon as I arrived at the hole where we accessed the ants, I could see the changes. Instead of lethargic and reticent, the ants were more alert, and whenever one of my people came near, they snapped at them. There was no threat of further violence, but the insects were obviously being helped to resist or otherwise becoming immune to ...
2025-05-22 03:49:00 +0000 UTC View Post