The team had been aware going in that there were locations within the city that were more than just empty ruins. A number of trial-goers had reported such locations to the Magic Society and EmirÂ’s people, who had undertaken a large-scale debrief of the iron rankers who survived the trials. In addition to monsters unlike those found elsewhere in the city, such locations held unusually va...
2020-04-20 23:01:00 +0000 UTC View Post“Those vampiric monsters were a bit disappointing,” Jason said. “They didn’t seem so much vampiric as hung over. A bit peaky, bloodshot eyes. They didn’t even summon any bats.”
“They’re spider vampires,” Neil said. “Why would they summon bats?”
“Well they didn’t summon any spiders, either.”
“I don’t think that’s how it works,” Belinda said. “Didn’t t...
2020-04-17 23:00:02 +0000 UTC View PostClive stood up from where he had been crouching to examine one of the empty web sacks. The clearing turned out to only be the beginning, with empty web sacks hanging from trees or fallen to the ground, extending well back into the jungle. Clive had gone over them all, carefully examining the interior of each one.
“Unless there are some other people here that we werenÂ’t aware of,Â...
2020-04-16 23:01:00 +0000 UTC View PostWith a fully-fledged bronze ranker in their number, the team felt more secure as they made their way to the cityÂ’s interior. They progressed more swiftly than any of them had during the Reaper trials, for two main reasons. The first was confidence. Rather than scattered across the city and forced into makeshift teams, they had allies they knew and could rely on. Even a powerful ally lik...
2020-04-15 23:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostThe team congratulated Jason as another of his abilities reached bronze rank during his evening meditation. As they were all perpetually using the party interface, they had shared the notification.
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As they anticipated, they reached all twelve towers without encountering the cultists.
“Shouldn’t the pillars be central to what they’re trying to achieve?” Jason asked as they team stood atop the final tower. “Whether it’s trying to sever the connection to the world, or do something with the giant golems inside them, the towers should be key, right?”
“Yes,” Clive sa...
2020-04-13 23:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostClive tossed out some glow stones that floated up into the darkness, illuminating the huge figure that occupied the interior of the tower.
“A giant statue?” Neil postulated.
“Not a statue,” Clive said. “There are articulation points on the ankles and knees. I can’t see clearly from down here, but likely all the other joints, as well. This is some kind of golem. A ridicu...
2020-04-10 23:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostThe astral space was an island city of ancient stone buildings, reclaimed by jungle. Broad boulevards were covered in vines, grass growing up between displaced pavers. Buildings that were three, four, even five storeys tall, ranging from nearly intact to little more than rubble strewn around the lush, verdant greenery. Strange, magical plants could be seen. Bulbous, purple growths, adher...
2020-04-09 23:01:00 +0000 UTC View PostIn their hidden lair in the ruins of the Vane Estate, the leader of the local Builder cult, Zato, was fuming. One of the cultists had used a stone-shaping power to construct rooms in the subterranean cavern, of which ZatoÂ’s personal quarters was the largest.
Timos, who had risen to his second-in-command, was waiting out the rage. He knew that while Zato seemed consumed in fury, on...
2020-04-08 23:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostAs EmirÂ’s team came closer to opening the portal, the decision was made to move the team to the site under the lake. JasonÂ’s ongoing availability would be useful for the final push to open the portal and the team needed to be ready to go. They werenÂ’t exactly sure when EmirÂ’s researchers would finally succeed and the team had to be packed and waiting.
Even if they navigated the...
2020-04-07 23:01:00 +0000 UTC View PostJason and his team made preparations for their entry into the astral space, with some preparations being more important than others.
“I just can’t make that much crystal wash,” Jory said. “A lot of my workshop is tied up in making the lesser miracle potions, now.”
“We’ll be spending months in that place, hunting down these abominations,” Jason said. “There’s hundred...
2020-04-06 23:01:00 +0000 UTC View PostJason sat on the roof of his houseboat, cross-legged, with the rest of his team sitting around him. They all had their eyes closed, concentrating on forcefully projecting their auras. His team all pushed against Jason, while he pushed back in turn.
Humphrey, Neil and Clive had the most training and experience with aura control and their projections were stable and consistent. Their...
2020-04-03 22:01:00 +0000 UTC View PostOne of the ways Jason had made positive use of his recovery time was to get himself back into a training pattern. Rufus, Gary and Farrah had worked to instil good habits during his initial training, but the eventful life of an adventurer inevitably led to him letting things slide.
Rufus, Gary and JasonÂ’s team had often felt helpless at their inability to help Jason after his ordea...
2020-04-02 22:01:00 +0000 UTC View PostThe ordinary people left in the town werenÂ’t inclined to come out after JasonÂ’s display. From their perspective, the shadowy figure with the monstrous companions was demonstrably more dangerous than the bandits. Jason left, leaving the heroic-looking Humphrey and their local guide to come in and play rescuer.
There was a floating barge coming to take the townsfolk away. It moved ...
2020-04-01 22:01:04 +0000 UTC View PostThe town was little more than a cluster of stone and clay buildings along a single main street. It was not the better for its new residents, with unrepaired signs of essence abilities being thrown about. Walls were cracked with impact rings and scorched with the flash-burn signature of fire powers.
All seemed quiet, with no sign of Jason. There were bandits around the town, along w...
2020-03-31 22:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostElizabeth Silva stirred when she felt something press down on her large, canopy bed. There was a young man in a dark suit sitting on the other side, cross-legged. She opened her mouth to call for her guards, before stopping herself. If they could have helped, they already would have. Her bronze rank aura senses couldnÂ’t detect the manÂ’s aura at all, which meant that he was dangerous. 2020-03-30 22:00:02 +0000 UTC View Post
The return of JasonÂ’s familiars went a long way to helping him feel better. With his improved soul sense he could feel their comforting presence within him much more strongly than before, even retaining a sense of connection when they were out of his body. It didnÂ’t match the connection of a bonded familiar, like Humphrey had with Stash, but it was enough to give him a confidence that ...
2020-03-27 22:00:02 +0000 UTC View PostIn the wake of Cole SilvaÂ’s arrest, his organisation fell into chaos as SilvaÂ’s cousins fought to seize control. At first it was restricted to carefully feeling out key people and quietly garnering loyalty. As days passed into weeks without a definitive leader rising up, it started causing trouble with street level operations and the conflict became bloodier.
In the midst of all ...
2020-03-26 22:01:00 +0000 UTC View PostJason didnÂ’t go straight back to adventuring, instead spending his time in training and recovery. His team spent their days participating in the hunt for Killian Laurent, whose possession and use of the star seed had made him a priority in the efforts to locate and fight against the cultists. He potentially had valuable information and unlike the suicide-prone cultists, he might be poss...
2020-03-25 22:01:00 +0000 UTC View PostCarlos worked with Clive, directing Clive to draw out a ritual circle on the rooftop.
“This is a damage echo ritual,” Carlos explained. “It will let me examine the history of physical damage to Mr Asano’s body.”
As Jason stood in the middle of the circle, a man-shaped image of light appeared above him, with red and blue lines running through it like veins. Carlos waved h...
2020-03-24 22:01:01 +0000 UTC View PostA group of people made their way along to the marina toward the houseboat. It was led by Danielle Geller, along with Rufus, his mother, Arabelle, plus Clive and Vincent Trenslow, the Adventure Society official with the grandiose moustache. With them was a gold rank priest from the church of the Healer, freshly portalled into the city.
“How is he?” Danielle asked. It had been a li...
2020-03-23 22:01:01 +0000 UTC View PostThe rest of JasonÂ’s team arrived in the three skimmers, with Clive driving one and a somewhat shaky Jory and Belinda driving the others, both for the first time. Everyone poured off the vehicles before they had even fully stopped, clamouring around Jason. He met their looks of concerns with easy confidence, assuring them that he was fine.
Clive had so many questions he didnÂ’t act...
2020-03-20 22:00:03 +0000 UTC View Post“Where the hell are the bad guys?”
Still hanging from the ceiling, Jason remembered that his torture had come with torturers. They might have seemed inconsequential when he was facing off against the Builder but now that fight was over and he was still strung up like meat on a butcherÂ’s hook.
Even if he wasnÂ’t and if instead of the suppression collar he was wearing at lea...
2020-03-19 22:01:00 +0000 UTC View PostThe pain of the tiny objects digging into his flesh was something Jason could endure well enough. In the last six months he had endured enough suffering, mental and physical that he could take the peppering of wounds in stride, even as he dangled, helpless, from the ceiling. Below him, the magic circle shone with a silver light.
“The star seed implantation process is not a swift o...
2020-03-18 22:00:02 +0000 UTC View PostKillian began the elaborate preparations to use the star seed. He started by conjuring up skeletal arms that he used to hammer a spike into the ceiling, which he then hung a pair of manacles from. He unlatched the chain from JasonÂ’s suppression collar and then used the skeleton arms to force JasonÂ’s wrists into the manacles. Jason didnÂ’t bother to struggle, saving his strength.
...
2020-03-17 22:00:02 +0000 UTC View PostThe room was almost entirely bare of features, a dark stone box with no windows. There was a heavy steel door, a recessed glow stone in the ceiling and a metal chain staked into the hard floor. The other end of the chain was affixed to a power suppression collar around the neck of a naked body. Jason was unconscious, laying on the hard stone.
On the other side of the door were Kill...
2020-03-16 22:01:00 +0000 UTC View PostThe criminal culture in Greenstone was in a state of extreme flux. The Builder cult purge had turned over every rock in Old City, exposing many criminal enterprises. That the cult had attached themselves to many such clandestine operations only made things worse. Old CityÂ’s criminal leadership thrived on being ignored by the Island, but now the powerful Island factions had placed their ...
2020-03-13 22:01:00 +0000 UTC View PostThe cloud house had taken the form of a large two-storey building of desert stone. Jason found Clive and Belinda out front, working on the scattered collection of parts that used to be the skimmer. After getting JasonÂ’s cry for help over voice chat, Clive had used a quick and dirty ritual to overcharge the skimmer. It had brought them to village in the nick of time, but also taken a tol...
2020-03-12 22:01:00 +0000 UTC View PostJason returned to consciousness to find a small face looking down at him.
“GRANDPA!” she yelled at a brain-rattling volume. “He’s awake!”
“He’s also a little delicate,” Jason croaked as Hiram’s granddaughter skipped off to find her grandfather.
He brushed aside the system messages for the moment to push himself into a sitting position and look around. He was in...
2020-03-11 22:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostJason extended his shadow arm to the roof of HiramÂ’s house as his shadow cloak appeared around him. He reduced his weight and retracted the arm, pulling himself lightly onto the roof. He looked around the village and saw people scrambling to get their families and go. They knew what a monster manifestation meant and none of them had seen anything as large as the rainbow vortex now shini...
2020-03-10 22:01:00 +0000 UTC View Post