I thought through the problem and turned back to Grotto. “Can you handle this alone?” I asked, nodding to the melee between his golems and the relentless blade weasels. He waved a feeler dismissively, so I turned and ran back towards the palisade. I had the floating half of my shield drop down to my feet, and I stepped onto it, letting it rise and take me flying over the wall. I felt clean enough, but I still worried about contaminating people with any leftovers that Grotto’s scouring had missed. I’d been fully marinated in ...
2025-12-20 11:22:22 +0000 UTC
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Yo, happy holidays.
I made a post on RR the other day talking a bit about stuff and things. I'll touch on what I said there and add some extra stuff here.
First, I've been taking some time to reconsider certain events happening in the latter third of book 5. Sometimes I get the sense that something isn't quite working and it stops me in my tracks for a bit. That's more or less what happened here, and after taking some time to let everything marinate I feel that we've got a better way to get to where we're going.
Second, I'...
2025-12-19 08:12:32 +0000 UTC
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The ‘further details’ we’d been promised were not quick to follow Baltae’s warning. Team Pio’s mage had obviously uncovered something alarming with his investigation skills, but the Great Mouse Detective wasn’t ready to unveil the trap we’d fallen into.
Then again, it wasn’t really a trap we’d all fallen into. As I surveyed the battlefield, I was the only one drenched in gore at our camp. I could only see about half the Littan defenders from where I was, though. Surely somebody else got some blood on them. I ...
2025-12-18 11:22:13 +0000 UTC
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My cabin shuddered in time with a series of nearby booms, ejecting me from my sleepytime with such a jolt that I teleported out of bed rather than taking the time to stand. I took a two-second stroll through a Closet portal to let Grotto animate my armor and have it equip itself to me, then took care to open my door without accidentally breaking the knob. The place was thrown together from ordinary materials, so my careless grip strength had already cost me one door the night prior.
It was mid-morning, and the Littan camp was wide awak...
2025-12-11 13:33:32 +0000 UTC
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We walked several miles through tight corridors crowded with roots, keeping our pace measured to ensure we didn’t wind up isolated. Eventually, we began to hear a soft ringing noise, and a few hundred feet later, came across a slightly wider section where the tunnel bulged outward to form a small chamber. Roots lined its curving walls, growing in a vertical pattern that was less organic and more intelligent than the mess we’d been passing so far. On a close inspection, the roots had little crystals buried in their tough outer skin that w...
2025-12-06 12:00:13 +0000 UTC
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About two-thirds of our Dimensional group was Silver and would remain behind to guard the second perimeter. Ishi flew off to the Woodworking Dungeon, whereas Madel would accompany Clown Car and me to the Smithing Dungeon. She didn’t have Smithing–she didn’t have any crafting skill at all–but she had to pass through a crafting Dungeon of some kind. Thus, she was being carried by the nearest crafting expert.
Madel flew ahead while the mysterious Level 26 used a movement aura to give him and I a jaunty sprinting speed. I ...
2025-12-06 11:30:52 +0000 UTC
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The Level 26 with a clown car soul wasn’t the last of our Dimensional cadre to arrive. A Level 21 Gold moved between the other groups, using the spell Gate to open long-range portals to their entry locations around the Forest’s perimeter. The Forest was a mass of wilds as large as the Empire itself, and the border Dungeons were wide, but shallow.
Krimsim sat near the center of the region dominated by a Divine Dungeon. The Mystical Dungeon began about one hundred and fifty miles to our southwest. Another three hundred miles away fro...
2025-11-24 21:17:39 +0000 UTC
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“Gooooooooood morning New Krim-sim! Hey, this is not a test, this is psychic comms! Those of you who know me know me as Master Sergeant ‘Earworm’ Elodi, but those of you who don’t can just think of me as the voice insiiiide your heeeaaad! If you’re new to this intrusion, then I’m gonna need you to pay attention because I’m only gonna be thinking this stuff once!
“First things first, everyone who’s got a psychic side thang going on needs to link that shit up with me, pronto, because I am gonna be ...
2025-11-15 06:50:56 +0000 UTC
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Then I would know their deaths were not justice.
I sat in silence, feeling the heat of Kai’s judgment, rolling the major’s words around in my head. I didn’t regret what we’d done, but it was a grim reminder of the cost of our decisions.
My ultimate conclusion from taking time to mull it over was that the man was hard as fuck. Misguided and understandably emotional, sure, but his position was reasonable given the information he likely had. Fortunately, Major Kai also seemed quite self-aware.
“If history we...
2025-11-13 08:10:02 +0000 UTC
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In a bit of role reversal, Nuralie had challenged all of the adversarial Littans to a game of hide and seek, which she was currently winning.
Presumably.
It’s not like I knew where she was. I assumed that meant she hadn’t been caught.
Meanwhile, Etja had migrated to the other side of the arena and was now chatting it up with the rest of the people who were trying to kick our asses. Nobody was interested in challenging her, which meant that I caught a couple more fights than I might have otherwise. I ha...
2025-11-11 05:23:49 +0000 UTC
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While there was some discussion going on between the group of soldiers who seemed to represent the anti-Folly faction, I jogged to the sidelines and hopped up onto the bleachers. My party had taken up a position near General Connatis, who was himself surrounded by some other high-ranking brass. A Level 26 colonel gave me a polite nod, but didn’t bother to introduce himself.
Seeing the man made me wonder how good the general’s intuition about this whole thing was. After all, what if one of the top-tier Gold parties decided we were t...
2025-11-07 06:52:53 +0000 UTC
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“I was wondering how he’d handle the issue of morale,” Varrin thought to us. “That he’d already considered it is no surprise.”
“Feel free to assume I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I thought back.
“If we were to walk in here and easily crush every Delver presented to us, soldiers might lose faith in their leadership, or even their own capabilities. However, General Connatis portrayed us as selfless heroes, while portraying our detractors as angry and egocentric. In his ...
2025-11-03 13:57:25 +0000 UTC
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“Please come in, General,” I replied. Regardless of the situation, if Connatis had wanted to harm us, then he didn’t need my permission to walk through a gate that wouldn’t have stopped a reasonably determined mundane soldier, much less a demi-god like him. The general politely opened the panel, stepped through, then closed it shut behind him, treating something thrice his height with the same ease as a simple garden gate. He strode to us casually, moving at ordinary speed, then gave our group a bow upon arrival.
“Princess Is...
2025-11-03 03:28:53 +0000 UTC
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There were virtually no consequences to airing all the world’s dirty laundry and then mic dropping a deific portal on the way out.
Mm-hmm.
Of course, that’s all a complete lie. Folks were rabid. We were insulated from most of the resulting trouble because, well, people couldn’t get to us. They could fuck right off with their demands for an in-person meeting. We did get a lot of very firmly worded letters passed along through Varrin, which Grotto scanned and then incinerated. He said he’d let me know if there was ...
2025-11-01 07:35:21 +0000 UTC
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A/N: 2 of 2 for today.
*****
SYSTEM ADDENDUM ADDED BY USER NAME: SC2
ADDENDUM NOTE: Continued from Ayamari infodump 798A.
*****
Celeritia ceased his examination and looked momentarily confused, then he leaned over to see past Ayamari’s tall frame to the ‘Empress.’ The Littan had not yet meaningfully moved since their conversation started.
“That’s a very impressive illusion,” said Celeritia. He leaned back to fac...
2025-10-28 21:31:18 +0000 UTC
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*****
SYSTEM ADDENDUM ADDED BY USER NAME: SC2
ADDENDUM NOTE: Continued from Ayamari infodump 798A.
*****
Ayamari’s encounter with King Xor’Drel was one of the most entertaining things to happen to her that year. The man’s shameless info dump secured that much. His subsequent confirmation that his portals and teleports were indeed inexorable was something else entirely.
The realm between the ‘here’ and ‘there’ had not been an ordina...
2025-10-28 21:27:13 +0000 UTC
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*****
SYSTEM ADDENDUM ADDED BY USER NAME: SC2
ADDENDUM NOTE: Continued from Ayamari infodump 798A.
*****
The leader of Fortune’s Folly did have one or two interesting things to say, although his attempts at humor were uninspired. The only redeeming quality to his ‘jokes’ was how willing he was to commit to them, and how often he considered the use of sensory skills beyond the ordinary.
The papers he held were obscured from normal ...
2025-10-27 06:48:07 +0000 UTC
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“Well, I haven’t heard of you,” said the youngest Timan council member. The cocksure man leaned back in his chair, arms still crossed. The empress had really put the guy in a grumpy mood. Before I could respond, though, his elder companions came to my defense.
“No, no, you’ve heard of him,” said a raisin-skinned Timan woman. “Stop being combative.”
“No, I haven’t!” the younger councilman protested. “I’ve never even heard of Closetland, much less its king.”
“Oh, I’ve never heard of Closetland ...
2025-10-25 05:58:31 +0000 UTC
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“...which is why the Littan Empire will begin combat operations within the Less-Than-Habitable Forest beginning in one month’s time, at the beginning of the Forest’s ‘dry’ season.”
Empress Rona Littae had spent an hour explaining the circumstances and events of the Battle of Krimsim, and I noted that it was only mildly propagandized. Namely, the army’s response was given more credit than it was due, which I understood. No one would want the world to know that their military got caught with their pants down, nor that one o...
2025-10-23 04:40:30 +0000 UTC
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a/n: Chapter 2/2 for today
*****
SYSTEM ADDENDUM ADDED BY USER NAME: SC2
ADDENDUM NOTE: Mined from infodump 798A from Ayamari. Ayamari added the following context note: “Do with this what you will.” This is identical to her previous 797 context notes. Perhaps we should remove that as a mandatory field. I’d prefer to eliminate all barriers to obtaining her unique perspective on events.
*****
Ayamari had little...
2025-10-20 17:45:15 +0000 UTC
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Congratulations on establishing your very first benevolent dictatorship! It’s efficient, stable, quick to adapt, and burdened by the inevitability of corruption. Every day that you wear your crown, you’re telling every single one of your subjects that your judgment is better than their own!
Luckily for the peons, you’re a wise and mighty philosopher king.
Your deeds and disposition have unlocked the intrinsic skill Statecraft!
Statecraft: The art of conducting...
2025-10-20 12:07:10 +0000 UTC
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I left the Princess party behind as Ishi began to organize their team-building exercises for the next month. All of them had a decade or more of Delving experience under their belts, but it took time for a group to become cohesive. Their experience would certainly help, but a month was still a short length of time to nail down all the party’s disparate personalities, identify where they might clash, and figure out how best to manage everyone’s egos and eccentricities.
In that regard, Fortune’s Folly had been lucky in a few ...
2025-10-13 08:14:49 +0000 UTC
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I looked between the four of us standing up range, then turned around to see both Vaulty and Nuralie watching with keen interest. Nuralie looked slightly disturbed, and her tail twitched from side to side while she studied Ember’s back.
“Range is clear,” I said. Grotto teleported down to the misty remains of his minion and its gear, dropped to the ground, and kicked at a puddle. He bent down and took a sniff, then gathered some of the liquid into a small glass vial. He held it up to the light, shook his head, then vanished it to ...
2025-10-08 09:22:45 +0000 UTC
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“He isn’t a psychopath,” said Ember, with a dangerous look in her eye.
“Arlo,” said Drift. “That isn’t a very kind way to characterize someone else’s chosen deity.” I scrutinized Drift’s mild look of disapproval, then took a mental step back and thought about what I’d just said.
“Okay, I can see how calling someone’s god a psychopath could be deeply offensive to a person who worships that god.” I opened my mouth for the next part of that statement, but Ishi’s eyebrow went up a touch and I hesitated. ...
2025-10-07 11:05:40 +0000 UTC
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I sniffed, noticing the smell of smoke, caramel, wine, and the various other odors that four additional people would bring with them. My enhanced perception could pick out individual heart rates and breathing cadences. The temperature in the room had even gone up a degree or two from the extra body heat. None of that had been noticeable a few seconds beforehand.
“To answer your question as to how everyone avoided your notice,” said Drift, “various auras and Stealth evolutions. I’m very good at making my party members a...
2025-10-04 09:14:43 +0000 UTC
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After Ishi’s oopsie with her Dragon breath, Grotto kicked us out of the training space. The portal barrier surrounding it had been annihilated, and the damage had caused several mana weave blowouts between the training hall and the nearest obelisk, which had been supplying the portal with its mana. The obelisk was fine, but Grotto was amply grumpy about having to redo the weaves and told me to figure out where to host the rest of the tryouts myself.
I thought it would be best for everyone if we took a little recess and decided to tel...
2025-10-02 04:24:34 +0000 UTC
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“You’re in, obviously,” Ishi said to Joma. “You did an excellent job interrupting my movement, which kept me from triggering my Unstoppable buff. Your build can adequately address almost anything I can send your way, and what weaknesses I identified were immediately covered by your companions.”
“Yaaaay!” shouted Cloaky. “I’m useful!”
“You’re worthy of love regardless of personal utility,” Joma said softly to the garment. “But good job.”
That was oddly wholesome coming from the normally bitter p...
2025-09-29 17:56:58 +0000 UTC
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307 - The Princess Posse Team Princess
As the Littan world summit rapidly approached, I took some time to lay down the Closet’s reality anchor in Hiward’s capital city, Foundation. Hiward’s Central Delver Authority had kicked the question of whether placing the anchor at my old penthouse was chill or not over to border control. Border control was very confused, since Foundation was at the center of Hiward, and as such was not anywhere close to Hiward’s borders. This led to a series of misunderstan...
2025-09-25 10:26:26 +0000 UTC
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*****
SYSTEM ADDENDUM ADDED BY USER NAME: [BIG PAPA]
ADDENDUM NOTE: Can’t beat the taste of a 1,000,000 K sear. Leviathan meat barely cooks at a temperature any lower.
*****
Papa Junior spent the rest of the day working with Varrin. The epiphany brought on by witnessing Kazandak’s soul drove the old smith to new connections, new possibilities and methods.
The lad’s preening party leader had come and gone a couple of times, watching Ealdric...
2025-09-20 20:32:10 +0000 UTC
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I’d been struck by some Smithing inspiration and had an idea for creating armor inserts for the new versions of the Zng armor that Vaulty and crew were developing. While the base set would be designed with non-magical protections and intended for use by a mundane human, we also planned on handing these out to Delver candidates heading into our Creation Delve. Once they came out the other side, they would be in need of some upgrades, and having ready-made modular plating that could be dropped into their existing Zng suit seemed perfect to m...
2025-09-20 16:32:03 +0000 UTC
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