Cornman8700 posts
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MT 127 - Monster Battle
MT 127 - Monster Battle“We don’t know what’s through this portal,” I said. “If it’s a Delve, we need to hit the ground running.”“We should still move with caution,” said Varrin. “But we should spend as little time looking at the scenery as possible.” He gave both Xim and me a pointed look.Xim cros...
MT 126 - Crafts!
MT 126 - Crafts!One might wonder whyour party valued the Training Expo so much. The short answer is that it was going to save us a hell of a lot of time. The long answer is:Arlo’s Treatise on Why Varrin Goes Bananas for Intrinsic Skill LevelsDelvers have access to three types of skills: actives, passives, and intrins...
MT 125 - Eldritch Doom and Scheduling
MT 125 - Eldritch Doom and SchedulingXim recoiled from the shared text, whatever desire she’d held for experiencing god-like secrets fleeing from her. Etja wore a grim expression like I’d never seen. Grotto’s eyes flitted from side to side as he read and re-read the notification, seemingly undeterred by whatever ...
MT 124 - Dread Star
MT 124 - Dread Star“Hot damn,” I said, looking over the massive space.The area was partially set up like an expo or swap meet, with fairly open regions exposed to a large central path running between them. Of course, the Delve’s Big Honkin’ Training Expo had booths several hundred times larger than one might se...
MT 123 - Beginning the Descent
MT 123 - Beginning the DescentThere was a tug at my gut and a sensation of weightlessness as the world blinked. An instant of darkness cut off my vision, and then a field of endless stars burst to life. The pinpricks of light shimmered in the black, turned a slight shade of blue, then began to slowly move in an arc. Ea...
MT 122 - Reaching the Descent
MT 122 - Reaching the DescentAs the heart hammered above us, Grotto’s eyes glowed and his tentacles wrapped tightly around Xim’s arm. The cleric’s forehead split and the obsidian horn that marked the transformation to her beast form appeared, but the rest of her remained normal. Tentacles sprouted from the heart,...
MT 121 - 'Confusing' Some Littans
MT 121 - 'Confusing' Some LittansWe returned to the strategy of keeping most of the party inside the Closet while Nuralie scouted ahead. The Operator moved with her, able to stealth using its own methods. Nuralie may have grown up in these swamps, but The Operator had called it home for much, much longer. It kn...
MT 120 - Damned if You Don't
MT 120 - Damned if You Don'tI leaned back against the gnarled trunk of a dark, contorted tree as The Operator spun its yarn, wishing I had a bit of popcorn to munch on. Kettle corn, specifically. I liked a little sweet with my salty.Despite the absence of snacks, I was still intrigued by what I’d heard so far. Mu...
MT 119 - Generations Past
MT 119 - Generations PastVines and foliage whipped past me as I sailed through the canopy in The Operator’s grasp. Its grapple had come so quickly that I was snatched from Shog’s tentacled grasp before he could tighten his grip. Varrin had drawn his sword, but even he couldn’t match the Architect’s Speed, and h...
Saturday's chapter and other updates
Hello and good evening,I have been dealing with a family emergency for a couple of days and I'm not confident that I'll be able to have the next chapter in a finalized form by tomorrow. I'm working when I can, but I also don't want to rush to get something out if I can't give it the attention it des...
MT 118 - Architect
MT 118 - ArchitectWhen I first noticed the powerful soul, it was little more than a glimmer along the distant horizon. Had I been using my eyes and relying on Soul-Sight as I had in the past, the entity would have been obscured by the thick vegetation of the Eschen swamplands. I wouldn’t have seen it until we were mu...
MT 117 - Delayed Evolutions
“But, before I decide anything, tell me more about the Delve,” Sakra said. “Where is it?”“It’s on the other side of the continent,” I said, trying to sound casual. “Between south Timagrin and Davah.”“In the ocean?”“Yes.”“It’s on the seafloor,” said Nuralie.“I don’t think we’ve conf...
MT 116 - Sakra Manar
MT 116 - Sakra Manar“Oh, and feel free to call me Sakra,” said the Zenithar of Deijin.“It’s an honor to meet you, Sakra,” I said, before introducing the members of our party.As pleasantries were exchanged, several more of the feathered Deijinon came through the portal. They looked around the interior with cur...
MT 115 - Vyxmeldo'a
MT 115 - Vyxmeldo'aA cool wind began to blow through the forest, the gentle rustle of a hundred thousand leaves helping to soothe my emotional hangover. I took a second to collect myself, then briefly checked in with Grotto and Nuralie as Varrin began his interrogation. Our prisoner was uncooperative and Varrin was...
MT 114 - Symbiosis
MT 114 - SymbiosisI hopped onto Gracorvus and headed toward Nuralie’s skirmish, evaluating the new combatants as I went. They were between levels 3 and 4, also Silver like their stealthy brethren, but with fewer Delves completed. As I watched, several of the souls enhanced one another, creating a multiplicative effec...
MT 113 - That Won’t Stop Me Because I Can’t Read
MT 113 - That Won’t Stop Me Because I Can’t ReadWhen I created Gravity Anchor with Sam’lia’s guidance, the process involved three main steps. This technique is what Grotto referred to as ‘forging’ a skill, though Sam’lia had called it “the old way of doing things.” It was a practice that required grea...
MT 112 - Shouldn’t Have Aimed for the Head
MT 112 - Shouldn’t Have Aimed for the HeadA damn popup ad appeared in my field of view, and a lance of anger ran down my core. I thought we’d moved past those things. I couldn’t even remember the last time I’d seen a popup ad that wasn’t just a computer virus that directed you to a scam call center. Nowadays ...
MT 111 - Camping
MT 111 - Camping“In my experience, most heads of state travel with a large entourage,” I said as we ran. The party traversed a span of grassy hills that spread for dozens of miles on our journey east of Eschengal. Some of the rolling mounds were the size of petite mountains, with ponds and small lakes nestled betwe...
MT 110 - No Time For Sightseeing
MT 110 - No Time For SightseeingEschengal, the capital of Eschendur, was a city of three identities. An elemental triad informed all aspects of its architecture, with water, earth, and air being celebrated in equal measure, each a tribute to one of the three gods of the Eschenden. The themes wove together like threads ...
MT 109 - Grotto Safari
MT 109 - Grotto SafariThe next morning I awoke to an unfamiliar tingle in my senses; the senses with designated values above five, that is. The extra ones. I sensed some weird soul shit is what I’m saying.Upon opening my eyes, the first thing I noted was not the source of the soul ping I was getting. Instead, it was ...
MT 108 - On Revelations
MT 108 - On RevelationsThe bark and gnarls of the enormous tree branch weren’t painful to lie on, but they were definitely uncomfortable. I’d discovered long ago that my best bet in such a situation was to set my mind on auto-pilot and allow it to ruminate until the world fell away in the middle of my thoughts. I t...
Small delay for MT 108
Howdy. Chapter 108 will be coming out later today, rather than in the next hour. Had some health issues last week (doing much better now) and some other work bled into the weekend, so it's not quite ready. I can't say precisely when it'll be, but it'll arrive before GMT says it's Tuesday.Not sure if...
MT 107 - Ownership
MT 107 - Ownership“The Inquisitor serves an important role during difficult times,” said Zura. She turned and motioned for us to follow behind her as she continued down the road. “It is important for Eschendur to present a united front in the face of major threats. While our triumvirate is effective at balanced g...
MT 106 - Cheer Up, You Got Levels!
MT 106 - Cheer Up, You Got Levels!We walked across the surface of the sea behind the languid steps of Zenithar Zura, but the water formed a channel that swept us to the shore in under ten seconds. No one spoke, and as I set foot on the dark sand of the beach I looked back over my shoulder at the scene behind us.The wat...
MT 105 - Geul's Embrace
MT 105 - Geul's EmbraceI didn’t mind a beach day here and there but I tried to stay out of the water as much as possible. All the salt made me itchy.I broke back through the surface of the ocean to find Varrin looking down at me, sword at the ready.“Arlo?” he said. “How did you-”“Teleported to the Secon...
MT 104 - Thunderdome
MT 104 - ThunderdomeCritical damage reduced by 40%!Bleeding negated!HP: 605 -> 381The pain was sharp and bright. My lungs constricted and spots danced in my vision. Vertigo overwhelmed me and the only thing that kept me upright was Gravity Anchor. Each beat of my heart brought fresh torment and an extra tick of damage....
MT 103 - Five (Four, actually) vs. One
MT 103 - Five vs. OneI cast Shortcut again to appear a hundred feet above sea level, scoping out the aquatic battlefield before me while standing on Gracorvus. I felt a tug at the back of my mind to turn and study the massive soul presence I’d seen, but I ignored it. There were more immediate problems than some dista...
MT 102 - One vs. One
MT 102 - One vs. One“Were you just… watching that whole time?” I asked.Yaretzi pulled himself up and over the railing, then surveyed the body of the Speed Delver. Etja had begun bombarding the northern caravel and its shield was beginning to fail.“Yaretzi did not see you kill this one,” he said, nudging the b...
MT 101 - Three vs. Sixteen
MT 101 - Three vs. SixteenEtja didn’t have the mana to fly us all to shore with Varrin’s legs disabled while dodging magic cannonballs and, even if she could, I had no idea what skills or tricks Yaretzi was hiding up his sleeve. I somehow doubted he was taking it easy on us because he had to or out of pity. If anyt...
MT 100 - Yaretzi!
MT 100 - Yaretzi!Varrin was somewhere near a retreating galleon north of our position and the four of us quickly flew over. Etja set Xim and Nuralie down on the ship’s deck both to give her mana a break and also to help me search for the big guy, which was distressing for the Littans aboard the vessel. The ladies gav...
