Leering skulls, purple light burning in their hollow sockets and black mist rising from their bones, the skeletons were a fearsome and unnerving sight. Elinon suppressed the urge to physically recoil from their grim visage, his discipline not allowing such a thing.
Blades smoking with dark magick and plates of armour formed of human bones, every skeleton was a unique horror, a twis...
2025-11-25 00:40:33 +0000 UTC View PostHow were we supposed to know they would turn on us? After so long, fighting side by side, building up our communities together. We trusted them. They trusted us.
Even though they told me why, I still can’t wrap my head around it. It’s madness. The whole world is mad.
- Excerpt from the private notes of a lost brathian Satrap.
Nice to be ba...
2025-11-25 00:33:39 +0000 UTC View PostSometimes, a monster needs to be taken care of. This is a universal truth for everyone who makes their life in the Dungeon. By their very nature, monsters are territorial and eternally hungry for growth and power. Eventually, one will rise above the pack, stand head and shoulders over the others and establish its own place in the winding tunnels. And, on occasion, that place runs a l...
2025-11-25 00:22:19 +0000 UTC View Post“A wise investment,” Merchant nodded sagely, her glasses glinting in the dim light of the ship's stateroom. She gathered up the documents from the table in her front claws, stacking them neatly before placing them in her satchel. “The delvers of Green Mountain are a force to be reckoned with, who could possibly place a price on such exceptional and dedicated servants of their home city?...
2025-11-21 01:00:07 +0000 UTC View PostJust how much magick did the damned Necromancer have access to? Fire roared into the sky once more, arcing high overhead before plummeting down to vanish into the darkness. Plumes of golden flames burst from the miasma, able to be heard even from kilometres away and searing into the eyes of all who saw them. Even so, Elinon could pay no attention to the bombardment of Foxbridge. Overhead...
2025-11-20 01:00:14 +0000 UTC View PostGreen Mountain is both more, and less impressive than I thought it might be. I mean, it’s hard for these places to not be impressive, given the way they're built on the slopes of mountains so large they literally hold up the roof of the stratum.
Combine that with the ambient mana of the fourth, being filled with life, light and water, looking at just about anything cre...
2025-11-20 01:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostTurns out that word has leaked from Green Mountain that we are taking delvers alive as much as we can. As a result, this lot were happy to throw in the fight after witnessing the power of the singularity up close and personal. With the majority of their preparations destroyed and their ambush obviously discovered, they had no confidence going ahead with the attack, leading to the rather patheti...
2025-11-19 01:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostOnce again, the remote town of Foxbridge was enshrouded in a thick miasma of darkness, blocking all sight of the horrors within. Mage Captain Elinon, gathered with his regiment at the rear of the gleaming formation, had no fear of the shadows that concealed their foe; his fear was reserved for something else entirely.
To his left and right stood his trusted officers, Mage Attendant...
2025-11-18 01:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostSingularity is a heck of a spell, if I do say so myself. Earned for reaching the next rank of gravity mana speciality, it’s definitely one of my personal favourites and packs a heck of a punch. To offset that absurd damage potential is the mind-cracking difficulty in casting the lousy thing.
Not only is the pattern more complex than a sculpture carved from jelly, it’s just plain hard ...
2025-11-18 01:00:04 +0000 UTC View Post[Master, the nameless have found something. A large ambush. Hundreds of delvers have gathered and laid traps for you. Would you like me to reach out and destroy the FILTH?]
[Uh, no, that’s quite alright. Just let me know where they are and I can take care of the rest.]
[... Fine.]
I mean, I suppose I could let Crinis loose, but that would involve unleashing horrors ...
2025-11-17 01:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostHello all!
Hope everyone has been well! I know that's not a guarantee with so much unpleasantness all over the place but at least here I can endeavor to keep things light. Unless I'm posting bod, things get dark over there.
Apologies for no post today, I spent the weekend down in Tasmania visiting friends (mostly authors :O) and having a jolly good time. I've returned from travel as...
2025-11-10 08:36:27 +0000 UTC View PostThe nameless one wasn’t used to being out in the tunnels in this way. Some of her sisters, those who served as soldiers and scouts during their hours in the light, were doubtless more comfortable in these environs, but the nameless one had not emerged from the shadows for many weeks now. Perhaps her identity among the waking had been completely lost at this point, an ant gone missing, ruled o...
2025-11-07 01:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostMerigold didn’t especially want to be part of the discussions around the table in general Crow’s tent, but as the representative of the Imperial Court and head of the Special Administration, she was obligated to be. As always, Honoured Stennis stood by her shoulder, an imposing and indomitable presence, silent and staring, his face a mask.
On the table, the general and his officers di...
2025-11-06 01:00:07 +0000 UTC View Post“Ah, if it isn’t my favourite resident of Green Mountain. So nice to see you again, Ms Alice. Or is it Mrs?”
Once again, in the boat, greeted by obsequious, yet somehow mocking brathian merchants, here to meet this infuriating creature.
“I am married,” she replied stiffly, taking her seat.
“Oh, how wonderful. I must say, as a terrifying and frightful monster 2025-11-06 01:00:03 +0000 UTC View Post
Frederick felt like his heart had locked solid in his chest. Every nerve in his body screamed in terror as the giant beast loomed over him. With such overwhelming power, he could feel the monster’s might within every cell.
Against something like this, there could be no victory and he’d been a fool to even entertain the possibility. This wasn’t work for delvers, they needed to get th...
2025-11-05 01:00:08 +0000 UTC View PostThe delver economy is an interesting case study in and of itself, since there are so many possible revenue streams and an inexhaustible demand for their services.
To start with: cores. Cores are, in many ways, the item more than any other that makes Pangera turn. Needed for any and all enchanted items, they are a fundamental fact of life for nearly every person who lives in t...
2025-11-04 01:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostTyron was furious. More than furious, he was incandescent with rage. Were he not occupied with the coming battle, he would have been kicking and spitting, lashing out to try and find a way to vent his anger.
Of course, it was difficult to fully find an avenue to direct his fury since it was largely directed at himself.
After what he had done to Filetta’s soul, the visions o...
2025-11-03 06:43:02 +0000 UTC View Post[Oho! Almost got me there!]
[Wow! Nice try!]
[You’ll get there one day, champ! I believe in you!]
[If you fully believed in yourself, you would have got me there. That’s motivation for next time!]
There’s something about messing with these delvers that I just don’t seem to get tired of. Look at them dance! Look at them wail in despair as I yoink them up into the ...
2025-11-03 01:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostA sighting of the Necromancer didn’t interest General Crow as much as she thought it might have.
“We were already fairly sure he was in there,” he told her, brows raised as he and his officers continued to pore over maps of the region and debate strategy. “Go and get some sleep. We’ll have more to say in the morning. I’m not sending my men out there at night, so n...
2025-10-31 02:38:19 +0000 UTC View PostMerigold was never happy when she was summoned by General Rasmus Crow. A competent and incorruptible soldier of the Empire he might be, and she didn’t believe he held any ill will towards her, regardless of what might be happening in the imperial court, but he was still a daunting presence. For someone who had spent her life in the capital, in schools and academies, and then working wi...
2025-10-31 02:37:47 +0000 UTC View PostOf all the organisations separate from the free cities, kingdoms, empires, trade federations and territorial associations in the Dungeon, the most well-known and impactful is the Abyssal Legion.
Almost as ubiquitous is the Church of the Path. Its origins are lost to time, though the Church itself claims to have arisen during the Rending. To some, it seems absurd that a ...
2025-10-31 01:00:20 +0000 UTC View Post“What are those fools doing out there?” Frederick demanded. “If any of you are planning some sort of hairbrained, idiotic assault, you better tell me right now so I can kick you in the face!”
Before him stood the heads of every team who remained in this section of the Dungeon, but all they gave him were shamefaced looks and sideways glances. Except for Shamus, who raised his hand....
2025-10-30 01:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostIt wasn’t easy for Merchant to get in touch with people from the Church of the Path. It wasn’t easy for Merchant to find someone willing to admit that such a person even existed on Green Mountain.
Which was so obviously absurd, with them having an entire cathedral dedicated to the faith in there, that she honestly respected their dogged refusal to speak.
Of course, that di...
2025-10-29 01:00:11 +0000 UTC View PostAnother negotiation with these ants. They were relentless, Alice had to give them that. Diplomats, as if monsters having diplomats wasn’t an utterly absurd notion, had been sending daily messages via their brathian merchant contacts despite being rebuffed every time. Green Mountain had, with some reluctance, rejected their price, and that was that.
Hunting monsters was the right o...
2025-10-28 01:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostJust… what is going on here?
The ant in front of me is unlike anything I’ve seen before. Fancy-looking clothing, gold jewelry, glasses. It’s not over the top, but it’s enough to create an image of affluence and sophistication that… unless I’m mistaken… an ant simply does not need.
“What’s your deal?” I ask this strange little creature.
“...
2025-10-27 01:00:06 +0000 UTC View Post
So much happening in the world of Chrysalis right now, my head is spinning!
Again. WIP.
The merch guild, who are working on the Chrysalis line, are giving me basically total control on this stuff, so if something here is bugging you (heh), then let me know I can veto. We've already made a ton of changes to get to this point and we are in a much better, more accurate state than when ...
2025-10-24 06:20:41 +0000 UTC View Post“Eldest, do you really intend to sell the delvers back to Green Mountain?”
“Of course, why wouldn’t I?”
Sloan seems to have reservations about my strategy.
“Won’t they just come back again?”
After putting up with the priests for a few weeks? Probably not.
“If they do, it’s good,” I say.
“Why would it be good?” the general repli...
2025-10-24 01:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostThe first thing Tyron felt when he opened his eyes was a rush of anxiety. Had the Empire come as he slept? Was the horde intact?
After a few moments to gather himself, he was reassured. Not only was the horde intact, it was larger and more powerful than it had ever been.
It had been a mistake for the Empire to leave the western province abandoned like this after killing so ma...
2025-10-23 05:24:27 +0000 UTC View PostWhat should I do? Should I cook him? Slowly roast this priest while turning him over a spit? Or boiling? Boiling is good! The flavour of evil and corruption will permeate the water and we can use it to poison the wells at Green Mountain. Oh, I haven’t felt this… this alive since the traitorous worm was captured!
I’m… I’m so free!
MUAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
[...
2025-10-23 01:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostI’m sure they expected me to retaliate, but I’m not sure they expected something like this.
My chomp sucks in the gathered dust, eliminating the cloud and revealing the scrambling delvers in front of me. They’ve got a bit of space, and a shield up by the looks of things. Hopefully, it’ll be enough.
BOOM!
The forming sphere of light shatters between my...
2025-10-22 01:00:03 +0000 UTC View Post