Honour Rae

B4 Ch18: He Who Dealt It

Arthur landed, with knees loose to absorb the impact, on unpleasantly soft ground. Wisps of toxic gas still drifted from the corpses, most of which were unrecognizable from the scourgeling they once were. Aside from the effects of the toxic gas, the adventurers had thrown everything they had into the pit during that last final push, leaving behi...

She of Many Dragons

This story might look familiar to some of you. I uploaded about 15 chapters onto Royal Road for fun last summer under an alt name. Then, when I realized I wanted to seriously publish it I took it down for edits. Since then, I've b...

B4 Ch17: Greed

The problems started where they usually did, with greed.

While the toxic green gas appeared heavier than air and mostly stayed in the pit, looking like a pea soup. It took time to dissipate. Tendrils curled up over the edge, and no one risked going too close.

There was still a lot of work to be done, and clean-up to do. Many adventur...

A Discord Whoops

So the good news is I finally, finally, FINALLY got discord and Patreon to play nice so members automatically get access and a role.

The bad news is I thought it would be for new members -- as in people who signed in from today on forward. 

I didn't expect it to back date my existing membership. 

Sorr...

B4 Ch16: Pit Fighting

As the ground collapsed, a cloud of dust rose up a thick that Arthur could not see through it. But he could hear growls, yells… and screams. Movement flashed – a shadow in the dust, and it was bigger than any of the Uncommons.

This was one of the Rares. There were no doubt more. Once more, they’d set and sprung ...

Totem: 23 - Memory Trip

So, our fight against the third corrupted beast was a complete disaster.

Annika and I decided that because Russell was going nowhere fast, and we both had our totem cores running on empty, it would be pretty dumb to face something else today. No matter what Ash said.

We spent an uneasy night out in the forest away from the ruined vil...

Totem 22: The Trickster

"Wait, before we leave, I need to check something," I said, and then walked over to the roadrunner. It had been dead for forty-five minutes, tops. But it already stank as if it had been dead for days. I think it had something to do with the fact that it was a corrupted beast. Emphasis on corrupted.

Either way, I wasn't going to fi...

Totem 21: My Mentor Is An Ass

MAOR TOTEM!!!!

(Give me about 20 minutes and all previous chapters of Totem should be in a collection, or you can click on the Totem tag for backreading.)

Ash stared at us, taking in the scene. He had taken his sweet time showing up — arriving just as we were about to get to harvesting t...

B4 Ch15: Maniac Kludger

Brixaby dropped down right in front of the adventuring groups, startling a few people.

Lopez and his men had been leading the way, with the rest ranged far to the right and left on either side. Arthur got the impression that healthy competition had turned to active dislike among the different adventurers, and the solution was to stay far a...

B4 Ch14: An Honest Conversation

Because Arthur could only access the Call of The Heart card through the link with his dragon, it required a different sort of effort. Something akin to the difference between Arthur simply walking from point A to point B, and trekking up a steep hill where he had to check every position of his foot for accuracy.

However, Arthur made it wor...

B4 Ch13: The Adventurers

A few hours later, fully dressed in his own clothes and feeling completely whole again, Arthur approached the sheriff's office. It was easy to spot, being one of the newest, largest buildings in the city capped with a gleaming dome of glass panels.

After a quick scan at the door to determine that yes, he and Brixaby s...

B4 Ch12: New Party Member?

Come morning, there was a knock at the door.

Arthur snorted awake, confused, because he didn’t remember falling asleep. Embarrassingly, he suspected he had slipped off while speaking to Brixaby. Hustling the displaced kids and annoyed Sheriffs out of his room had taken some time, and he’d been suffering backlash from the 20 Point Spree...

B4 Ch11: Revenge Served... Immediately

Arthur woke up.

Unlike when he had been put in Brixaby's Personal Space, he instinctively knew that time had passed and he had not been there for it. It helped that the window he’d first seen the sunset through was now curtained off and shut. A soft card anchor lit the room.

He heard his dragon snoring, loudly and enthus...

B4 Ch10: The Trap Springs

Happy New Year!!!

"What's going on?" a voice asked from in the dark pit below. The arm retracted, and a face flashed into view. About Arthur's age, female, with accusing, suspicious eyes.

She asked, "What's happening?"

Arthur didn't answer. He levered himself up to the top to look out. There were sev...

B4 Ch9 - It's A Trap

Note: I could not stop myself from using that title. :)

Arthur was torn. Time was of the essence, and he truly did not give one fig about the local rules about card harvesting... except that he knew exactly what would happen the moment he and Brixaby were out of sight. He had once been in these people's...

B4 Ch8: Scourgeling Skirmish

Note: Second chapter of the day! Hot off the press! Ignore the fact Arthur jumped like three levels of dragon riding skill in 1 chapter. The skill # two chapters ago was in error, not this one. :)

Brixaby suddenly dived, and for a terrible moment, Arthur felt his rear lift off the dragon's scaly neck.

"Bri...

B4 Ch7 - A New Mission

Two chapters today! As some of you know, I work a day job still and the week leading up to Christmas is by far the busiest of the year. I'm going to aim for one more chapter this week, but it's not 100%. I'm a little dead on my feet.

Following the ghostly green arrow that hovered over the card anchor, Arthur and Brixaby headed to the east....

B4 Ch6: Deputized

Brixaby circled around the top of the tower a couple of times to give himself and Arthur a view of the people waiting for them. As he did, he fanned out his extra set of wings in what anybody who had been used to working with dragons would know was a display of aggression. Judging by the unimpressed look of the authorities and some curt gestures...

B4 Ch5: Flight Around The City

Note: This should have come out yesterday, but then I got a better idea for the second half of the chapter. It be like that sometimes. 

Once Arthur and Brixaby had finished with the card and returned it to Dannill, tension noticeably loosened among the guards.

Dannill turned to Arthur, all smiles on his sly face...

B4 Ch4: Foundational Language Class

Arthur had to push every one of his skills in his stealth class –- especially Silent Movement an Evasion -- to the limit to make it up, undetected, to the top of the wall. Then there was the matter of avoiding the guards who were patrolling there.

It hadn’t been his first choice — and certainly not his best choice. But he’d been un...

B4 Ch3: Biggest City In The West

With only some lingering apprehension for Brixaby, Arthur headed into the city.

Just past the wall, he stepped into a busy, crowded, twisting street filled with a multitude of shops — all in different, often clashing colors. Most were strung with banners in eye-popping colors, as if every single one was trying to outshout the other for a...

Book 4 Chapter 2: Mega Scourgeling

There were four scourgelings in total. 

Arthur started forward with the intent to help, but a heavy hand landed on his shoulder. 

Domingo pushed him back. "Don't bother," he said, almost boredly. "We have professionals to handle this." 

Arthur looked wildly around. "But those are scourgelings! There's an eruption...

All The Skills Book 4 Chapter 1: Faberge Man

Woo! Start of book 4! Hope you're as excited as I am. :)

(I had a good lol on some recent comments here and on discord about languages in this world... hope you guys enjoy this one.) 

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Arthur and Brixaby stood on a hill and looked out at the city ahead of them.

It was… hard to miss.

Entirely en...

ATS B3 Epilogue

And here's the epilogue! :D Thanks for reading through, guys. Book 4 starts on Wednesday!

Arthur and Brixaby arrived, a few moments later, well outside Mesa Free Hive. Right on top of the pebbles they had keyed to during the battle with the Mind Singer's dragons.

It was nighttime in this part of the world. Just after sunset.

Ar...

B3 Ch65: Final Goodbye

Two chapters today!

Arthur was unsurprised to see a purple courier dragon with a golden sash waiting for him right on the other side.

Well, they hadn't come in quietly. Hive leadership would have been alerted by the portal and the missing dragons spilling out.

"What do you want?" Brixaby demanded to the purple....

B3 Ch64: Messy Aftermath

The next few hours were a blur. Arthur did his best not to walk through them in an unthinking fog. Later, Brixaby insisted he had conducted himself as well as any Legendary rider should.

Arthur wasn't sure he agreed, but he appreciated the attempt to cheer him up.

Most of his attention was spent on rescue, organization of remaining r...

B3 Ch63: Hive of Horrors (Part 3)

Quick reminder: I'm re-editing previous chapters and uploading them in ten chapter batches. Here's some easy links if you're doing a re-read.

Chapter 1

2023-11-17 01:14:35 +0000 UTC View Post

B3 Ch62: Hive of Horrors - Part 2

Arthur’s Mental Shield - Area of Effect skill snapped up into place.

That was all that kept him, and everyone else, from keeling over.

The sharp drilling pain stopped. Arthur glanced at his mental block anchor card and saw that the bar was rapidly running dry. Perhaps ten percent left.

As he watched, it dipped by another smal...

All The Skills Updates

Hey guys!

Sorry for the silence. I wanted to get the next chapters out, but ended up having to retreat into my writing cave to get some meaningful work done for the end of ATS-3. Sometimes, despite all the outlining and planning, stuff does not work when it hits the page. And trust me, version 1, 2... uh... even 3 and 4 were n...