She could hear its slavering maw clicking just beyond the corner as she inched along the pillars, doing all she could to get away. The locust made a weird retching noise and retreated, whilst Zefaris finally slipped past the patrol when they at last continued their route.
Ever so slowly and ever so cautiously, the markswoman progressed thr...
2020-12-11 17:21:09 +0000 UTC View PostWith a sigh, she stepped into the maze. A part of navigating it was her gut, but she also marked her path using the filth that covered her forearm, and when it was clean, she took to just spitting wherever she went. The sound of chattering mandibles and stomping feet resounded as she navigated the maze, its winding paths an obvious concession to...
2020-12-10 18:27:30 +0000 UTC View PostA twitch of the eye, a sharp inhalation, a sudden assault of strikes. Makhus could feel and see them coming, but he lacked the inhuman speed bestowed by Fog-breathing. He blocked some, dodged others, backpedaling through the alleyway as he watched for any gap in the Pursuer’s savage assault. With his senses entirely overtaken by sensory overlo...
2020-12-09 18:28:16 +0000 UTC View PostThe vast majority, Strolvath struck down personally, caving in their weakened chitin with the strength of his clockwork leg.
All the while, Strolvath just kept playing, sing-screaming the lyrics to a song that he rarely had reason to perform for anyone but himself. They were lyrics to a song the man in the photo had once played for him, ba...
2020-12-08 14:06:16 +0000 UTC View PostAs disgusting as it was on a surface level, seeing as it was a half-digested slurry of animal flesh and plant matter, Zel didn’t particularly care. All it took to push past the initial stench was a long, long drink of mead elixir.
By the time her hunger vanished, the basin was no emptier, yet the slurry had noticeably lost color - in the...
2020-12-07 21:06:24 +0000 UTC View PostThe difference was that she knew when to use such a stance - the Warrior’s stubby legs top-heavy build naturally rendered its lower half a target. Even still, it wasn’t stupid. It knew its weakness was being targeted, even if its intent to pound her into the ground with a downward piledriver punch was broadcast clear to see by the upward mov...
2020-12-06 15:21:14 +0000 UTC View PostIt would be just sticky enough to apply. Unsure of how quickly the Doorman of this hive would react, Zelsys made sure to dig out the entire vial’s contents so she could quickly apply and ignite it.
It wasn’t much, but she hoped it would be enough. With a short breath of Fog and a brief sprint, she ran up to the Doorman and smeared the ...
2020-12-05 14:02:44 +0000 UTC View PostThe scuttling stopped, only to resume seconds later - now swiftly approaching, two sets of heavy footfalls thumping from beyond the corner. Knowing there was no point to hurriedly trying to find a shank, Zel stood to her feet and breathed, filling one lung whilst emptying the other.
“Unarmed it is…” she sighed inwardly, chan...
2020-12-04 15:04:40 +0000 UTC View Post“It won’t open to anywhere lower than the first floor,” Zel sighed.
“Hard way it is, then,” the veteran laughed, slowly but steadily rising to his feet. “I‘on’t look forward to clearin’ a fuckin’ dungeon, but what can ya do.”
He cast his gaze to each of them in turn, the levity in his face replaced by a grim det...
2020-12-03 12:35:12 +0000 UTC View PostThe Red Mantis felt herself lose purchase, her right leg severed at the ankle and gushing hemolymph even as she began to stumble into the Fog Gate. Pivoting her arms and pulling the scythes back in an attempt to at least rip at the creature’s neck, she felt an arc of searing white lightning score her chitin.
Fog suddenly shrouded the ski...
2020-12-02 15:01:59 +0000 UTC View PostAssuming the hive queen had a significant measure of control over the swarm, the only question was the reason behind her decision to let them enter the dungeon instead of just killing them before they could get in. A mischievous spirit made her want to prod and poke the bug-woman, to try extracting something, anything that would help lead her to...
2020-12-01 12:27:31 +0000 UTC View PostThey departed soon after, and saw that the battleground around the shack was all the same. Even this far along they still followed the path plotted out by the map, for it once more led them into a tunnel of nigh-impenetrable brambles.
It only took a few dozen meters into the last stretch of their trek for the incessant sounds of locusts to...
2020-11-30 14:54:03 +0000 UTC View PostIt had only been a day since Zel and Zef left on their first major beast-slaying contract, but to Makhus it had felt far longer than that. Not because they were gone - because of all the work it had taken to get the store ready for opening. By the time Riverside Remedies finally opened, a furious storm had passed over the entire valley. Sig had ...
2020-11-29 22:15:43 +0000 UTC View PostShe sat on the cot with her eyes closed, leaning against the wall, resting her head on Zef’s shoulder while she sipped the golden nectar. A breath of Fog in, a breath of Fog out, and the pain faded a little more. The silvery threads snaked their way through the air, drifting towards the ground as they slowly faded out. But a few of them reache...
2020-11-28 15:34:48 +0000 UTC View Post“Hrrgh… Victory Echoes!” he roared, and fire issued forth from his mouth. Twitcher’s blowtorch of a left arm was met with his fist, plugging shut the muzzle then splitting it wide open until the insect’s forearm fell apart at the seams. Somehow, the essentia sac remained intact even as it fell to the ground and spilt its volatile, noxi...
2020-11-27 15:01:50 +0000 UTC View PostHaving just barely managed to fully awaken the Brass Eye before the Black Swordsman disappeared into the treeline, Strolvath discerned a short snippet from the train of thought that the man was constantly broadcasting.
It wasn’t even an internal monologue. Just raw emotion interspersed with fragmentary snippets of words that began as abr...
2020-11-26 14:15:29 +0000 UTC View PostShe’d already figured out that it was faster to place a cartridge in each chamber and then simply ram them all down in sequence, but it still took precious seconds - an eternity in the blazing inferno of combat.
Just as she reached a tree and ducked behind it her ears filled with the mighty roar of a high-powered shell being fired, the g...
2020-11-25 13:29:03 +0000 UTC View PostStrolvath knew by heart the tones to resonate a locust drone’s carapace. He also knew they weren’t the greater threat here. He needed to put that gigantic beast of a warrior out of commission. To start with, he murmured his prayer to the dead gods and began throat-singing, and from there started tuning his voice in an attempt to find the fre...
2020-11-24 17:03:33 +0000 UTC View PostWith every ounce of vitriol, every bit of mean-spirited mentality she could muster, Zelsys put on an act to try and provoke the Red Mantis into making a mistake, into striking out in anger so that she could exploit it. Alas… The Mantis didn’t fall for it. Her blank expression turned not to one of anger or hurt, but to one of concession, of g...
2020-11-23 17:02:37 +0000 UTC View PostA small puddle of off-yellow excretions was already forming beneath him as long strings of caustic spit poured forth from his perpetually slavering, chittering maw; lamprey-like teeth filled the gaping hole that had once been a mouth. His head was covered in spiky hairs, a pair of truly insectoid eyes bulging out of visibly human eye-sockets. 2020-11-22 16:02:40 +0000 UTC View Post
Unlike back there, they couldn’t cut through. Even without superhuman instincts such as Zel’s, they all smelt the sour miasma that suffused the forest, they all heard the distant beating of wings and chittering of human lower jaws that had turned to mandibles. The only smell that managed to punch through the odor of massing locust-men was th...
2020-11-21 17:01:31 +0000 UTC View PostHow curious. She couldn’t wait to see what it would do if she poured it down the barrel before firing at a locust. Around her thigh it went.
She took the rest of their brief break to fully and properly go through the Tablet, having forgotten to even check her Attributes last time.
NAME - ZELSYS
SEX - ...
2020-11-20 16:01:58 +0000 UTC View PostBoth Zel’s Strol’s pocket watches rang mere minutes after they finished eating. They walked and walked through the forest until noon, with this part of the forest being a surprisingly mundane juxtaposition against the desolation of the battlefield or the density of the locust-infested areas.
As they made their way onto a relatively wel...
2020-11-19 15:59:43 +0000 UTC View PostZel blinked a few times, filing the revelation away in the back of her head to be dealt with later. She put on her usual smug grin, and instead of accepting the apology properly just said, “It’s not as if I died, is it?”
The Singer returned a bitter chuckle.
“I’ve a request, if you don’t mind. Show me your breathin’ met...
2020-11-18 16:34:25 +0000 UTC View PostA torrential downpour of raging white-hot lightning came crashing down on the dome. The dome held, and surprisingly, so did the plug - for about half a second. That half a second was more than enough time, however.
All at once she emptied her lungs and swung her Cleaver skyward, right into the gap in the barrier, right as the plug finally ...
2020-11-17 17:36:10 +0000 UTC View PostHis long years in the service even before the war had taught Strolvath to sleep with one eye open, much to his frequent annoyance. He could fall asleep to the pounding of artillery, to the perpetual roar of thunder, but even a minor irregularity in that noise would wake him, as it had just now.
Even through the rain, he could discern what ...
2020-11-16 15:54:20 +0000 UTC View Post“Thunder n’ fury, did that just hit us?” Strol wondered.
“The circle deflected it,” Zelsys replied.
“Whoever built this place was a better aethermancer than a cabin-builder. Did any of the stones go boom?”
“One cracked, it’s still glowing though.”
“Damn, this place has better wards than most bunkers....
2020-11-15 15:39:52 +0000 UTC View PostA clearing among the trees, old stumps still visible littered among the grass. Its centerpiece was, surprisingly enough, a small log cabin. It was built from roughly-hewn logs and even had a latrine out back, sure, but it was still miles above a tent. Small stones were embedded in the ground in a continuous line surrounding the cabin, rough glyp...
2020-11-14 14:52:45 +0000 UTC View Post“Pretty sure it’s a holdover from the first pattern, when these used to have full knuckle dusters,” Zef explained with audible uncertainty, making more of an educated guess than anything else. “Good for keeping hold of it while reloading, not much else. Feels heavier than I remember.”
After a short delay, Strolvath couldn’t hel...
2020-11-13 15:11:41 +0000 UTC View PostGiving him no response, Zelsys began walking, taking in her surroundings. Amidst the mud and trenches, the razorwire and makeshift graves, there were paths - narrow, only made visible by wide gaps in the barricades and plank bridges over the trenches. This place was dead, deader than any carcass or graveyard. Even with the sky draped over by sto...
2020-11-12 14:22:18 +0000 UTC View Post