https://reddit.com/link/qd3daw/video/fx8lvcx7tvu71/player
“Cleff’s dead.”
Jason nearly stumbled. Which admittedly, wasn’t that hard to do, given that he’d practically limped his way here with the rest of the survivors of Underground Attack Group One.
What few there were.
He’d barely made it a few feet inside the metal fencing that delineated the outline of the Mining Nexus before Avilla had come striding up to him.
“Dead? How?” He turned to look at the plant woman who looked almost as rough as he felt.
The young lieutenant looked warily over his small group of stragglers as they limped inside the perimeter before turning back to him. “The Alliance pulled the same trick on us that we tried to pull on them. Only difference is, they succeeded.”
She deliberately glanced back toward the center of the base toward a plume of smoke that was wafting carelessly into the windy skies.
One of several.
“The cunts used a nearby cave system to get close before blowing a hole basically right out from under the MCV.” She paused thoughtfully. “…Though, credit where credit is due, the colonel didn’t take the unexpected invasion of her command unit lying down. From what I saw before the generator-core melted down, she and the other officers made a bloody mess of the first team into the commander center.”
Jason was barely listening, most of his mind was focused on the fact that Cleff was apparently dead.
Just like that? The thought came to him numbly. It just seemed so… anti-climactic? Wasn’t there supposed to be a big battle? One that he’d actually see? Epic last words and final blaze of glory? Not this… impersonal recounting.
“I thought we had sentries beneath us to guard against tunnelers?” His voice came out as more of a croak.
“We did.” The plant-woman emphasized the past-tense. “Unfortunately, the Edixi are apparently better infiltrators than our people are guards. First indication we got that anything was wrong was when the skies-damned ground opened up.”
Jason nodded slowly.
“Still not entirely sure whether they chose to retreat after the bloodbath in the MCV, or if we drove them off, but we’ve collapsed the tunnels beneath the facility.” She paused, as if in thought. “Which was something I suggested we do when we arrived at this dump, but you know how Cleff is - or was - never eager to close a possible avenue of attack if it meant it was a possible avenue for counter-attack.” She gestured to where his people had more or less sprawled out near the gate. *“*You know, despite the fact that she insisted on
... keep reading on reddit ➡
Hi fellas. I compiled a list of all hidden Interlude unlocking conditions and decided to share it in a post.
Each Interlude contains one hidden node which has to be unlocked in the combat stages. Sometimes the unlocking requirements span both combat stages, sometimes it's just the 1st or 2nd one. The only general advice I can provide if you want to solve the puzzles on your own is to pay attention to any audiovisual clue. The camera usually pans to points of interest related to unlocking the hidden node once you enter a combat stage. Sometimes it's just a subtle audio or textual clue. Try to interact with anything and follow any hints or clues given in-game.
I will keep updating the post as new Interludes are added. Plume's is still missing as I haven't played her Interlude yet. Helpful Redditors provided instructions in the comments in the meantime.
Lucia: Lotus
Once you reach the 2nd stage, "Lingering Warmth", with a lot of Musashi IX spamming sword waves, the hint tells you to save Luna on the other side of the room. You need to Matrix-dodge between their attacks and reach the door with the special icon. Alternatively, you can turn around and speak to the "Other Lucia" twice to become immune to damage and complete the hidden objective easily.
Lucia: Crimson Abyss ("Alpha")
Keep the allied constructs alive and dispatch the Corrupted asap in the first stage, "Falling". Don't get detected in the 2nd one, "Escape". Roland will be there and detect you if you failed the previous objective.
Lucia: Plume
The hint tells you to find a deeper path in "Twin Blades of Will". Once you play the stage again the hint changes to "endurance is required to reach the final end". You need to finish all four battles with more than 50% health before you reach the final encounter. You fail the hidden objective if "the power of the M.I.N.D. heals you". The 1st and 3rd groups were the most dangerous ones for me, so I switched to Arctic Form on the first group and used a partial Signature move after using some orbs. I switched to Arctic Form on the 2nd encounter but only used orbs. Full Signature move on the third encounter and a combination of Orbs + Signature on the fourth encounter and final fight. You know you succeeded if you fight Plume as the final boss. Good luck.
Liv: Eclipse
Search for a room with a mirror once you obtain the dress in "Collapsed Pride" and interact with it. You'll notice you've succeeded once you engage the final ene
... keep reading on reddit ➡Previous | Interlude | Interlude II | Interlude III [1/3]| Interlude III [2/3] | Interlude III [3/3] | Interlude IV [1/2] | Interlude IV [2/2] | Next
---Disclaimer: This story may be triggering to people who suffer from simple/complex anxiety and/or PTSD. Please read on at your discretion. I didn't [] Tcakqaal's use of 'hell' because I thought it would break emersion, know that she is using an equivalent of 'hell' in the abstract sense, not actually referencing the Abrahamic afterlife of torture---
---Loneliness---
---[13 years] BF (Before Fluffy)---
The galaxy… is vast!
It contains fourteen billion terrestrial planets, of those, half are lifebearing, of those, one in a hundred are currently host to a permanent sapient population, of those, only a little over thirty thousand are cradleworlds of sapient species, of those, one… is a deathworld.
Lightyears separate stars! The size and quantity of objects that can move through the void without being detected is immense!
This was a lesson my polity, the Galactic Union, learned hard… all too recently!
Around [20 years ago] we discovered that our society had been cohabiting the galaxy with another domain…
This wasn’t the normal First Contact situation, where we’d find a species bound to one planet, maybe with a few extrasolar colonies!
They had a territory that already made them the most numerous single species in the galaxy.
Hundreds of planets and 1.7 TRILLION souls!
And they’d been hiding… right under our eyes and, yet, in the last place we’d look for them!
On deathworlds!
Worlds where the gravity is high enough to crush our silicate
... keep reading on reddit ➡The Harlequin show 'mercy'. Grace and Alan have a little explaining to do.
The rest of the series can be found here
***
Mjrrr huddled in her cage clutching her son.
Not that long ago, the K@sir station came under attack and from what she could tell, it was, in complete defiance of all suspension of disbelief, falling…
...and falling quickly.
Something was tearing the mighty C@gr’an apart.
How did they get past their massive fleet? This station was in orbit above their very homeworld!
The market was abandoned save for the slaves themselves, abandoned in their display cages or left shackled along a wall or at one trader’s shop or another.
Why would they leave them?
Who were they leaving them to?
A hatch opened from deeper inside the station and brightly dressed humans with strangely painted faces charged in…
She didn’t know much about them. Only that there were a few of them among the unfortunates in this market.
They seemed like a nice people, though. One even shared some food with her son even though he was clearly hungry himself.
She felt hope for the first time in a very long while. She recalled that the human that shared his food said that his people hated slavery. Maybe they were liberators?
The humans were shouting and barking in some strange guttural, sibilant, alien sounding tongue as they moved impossibly quickly across the large market, many leaping, flipping, or cartwheeling as they did so.
Groups ran over to the cages and groups of chained slaves.
They were going to be freed!
She looked over at the nice man who had shared his food who was in the same large cage with her expecting to see joy on his face…
...There was no joy…
only… Terror
Moments later, one of the humans tossed a small cube in front of their cage which flashed and surrounded them with swirling, glowing holographic walls.
As soon as they were concealed, the human approached her.
He was trembling?
“Ste’hen?” she asked. “What is...”
He touched her arm, a signal to be silent, as he brought his head close to hers.
“Mjrr...” he whispered as he pressed something into her palm.
It was sharp!
She glanced down to see a small piece of… something… ground to an edge… A weapon!
“Ste’hen, what is this?” she asked in alarm. A weapon was grounds for the most severe of punishments. Where did he even get it?
“It’s for your boy,” he said grimly.
“My boy?” Mjrr whispered in conf
... keep reading on reddit ➡A cartographer sets out on a mission of discovery, mapping a strange, foreign continent full of exotic beasts and mysterious natives at the behest of his employer. The further he heads Westward, the more bizarre his journey gets, the very land itself somehow becoming twisted and blighted. Despite the danger, he is compelled to press on by a plea for help from a stranger who believes that he may be her people's only hope of salvation.
Longhunter is a fantasy western that features action, romance, and horror elements.
Please note: this story contains adult content which will be tagged on a per-chapter basis.
CHAPTER 1: INTO THE UNKNOWN
“Over here!” George shouted, clambering his way up the rocky outcrop. He turned to glance back at his companions, loose pebbles tumbling down the slope behind him as he dug his boots into the loose earth for purchase. They were an expedition thirty-strong, mostly trappers and traders, clad in the rough leathers and furs of their profession. The men were laden with backpacks and gear, guiding a procession of horses along with them, the animals similarly encumbered. One of their number broke ranks, scaling the grassy hill to join him, George reaching out a hand to catch him as he lost his footing for a moment.
“Careful there, Sam,” George chuckled as he steadied his friend by the tasseled sleeve of his jacket. Sam looked out at the view beyond, a rolling plain of grassland that stretched as far as the eye could see. It was pristine, untouched by the industry that was slowly encroaching Westward. They were out in the wilderness now. They hadn’t encountered so much as a homestead or a fort for days.
“Well I’ll be,” Sam muttered, reaching up to straighten his wide-brimmed hat. “Just how long do you reckon it goes on for?”
“Guess we’re going to find out,” George replied.
Another of the men climbed up to join them, pausing for a moment to take a swig from the canteen that was hanging from his belt. He narrowed his eyes as he looked out over the sun-baked plain, squinting against the sunlight. Dawes was the leader of their group, a grizzled veteran who had spent more time on the frontier than all of the other men combined. His face was as leathery as the coat that he wore, tanned and wrinkled by the elements, his bushy beard reaching the fur lining of his collar.
“Lotta open ground,” he grumbled, reaching into a leather pouch on his hip. He withdrew an ornate compass,
... keep reading on reddit ➡Previous chapter: https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/rt9i1l/longhunter_ch4_part_1/
First chapter: https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/rqyezp/longhunter_ch1_part_1/
(Continued from part 1)
They stopped by one of the many streams that wound through the area, replenishing their canteens and getting a bite to eat. Even the water here somehow tasted better. It was cooler, fresher, like drinking directly from a mountain spring.
“What are you doing?” Legs asked, making her way over to him. George was sitting beneath one of the trees, his journal open in his lap, his pen moving back and forth along the pages. She leaned over to get a look, taking a sip from her waterskin.
“I’m sketching the flowers,” he explained, showing her his work. “Part of my job is documenting what I see, and I’ve never come across any exactly like these before.”
“You made those?” she asked, admiring his work. George passed her the journal, and she began to leaf through it. He had drawn the trees, the different kinds of moss that he had encountered, the different varieties of flowers. He didn’t know how artistic her people were, whether they made engravings or paintings, but she seemed impressed by his work.
“My style is rather clinical,” he admitted as she handed it back to him. “I’m mostly concerned with documenting them as accurately as possible. I’m not much of a creative artist, but I learned to draw well enough during my studies. We would make diagrams of plants and animals as part of our work.”
“Then...you already had an interest in nature before you came here?”
“Oh, a great interest,” he replied enthusiastically. “I’ve always loved the natural world. I’ve always wanted to study it, to understand it. You should see the academy of natural sciences back in Douvrend,” he continued, resuming his sketching. “Imagine thousands upon thousands of books like this one, stacked on shelves as high as these trees, each one containing information on plants and animals from all corners of the world.”
She glanced up at the canopy as though imagining what that might look like, but she was unlikely to have any frame of reference.
***
The setting sun was staining the sky above the treetops in rich shades of pink and orange as they made camp once again, finding a suitable clearing. There was so much water here that they were never far fr
... keep reading on reddit ➡As always, thanks to BlueFishCake.
Part 3: Crumb
Chapter 21: No Bars
Isaac sat at the big table, glaring at the flat brick of glass before him. If his father could see him with a phone inside his own house… He grimaced. This was one of the costs of keeping his little community free and unmolested. Another, far worse price was dealing with the other party of the conversation.
“My dear lady,” he had no idea if the speaker was a man or a woman, but given they were Shil’vati, it was easy to assume, “it’s not a matter of whether I have the product or not, or even if I want to give it to your people. I am telling you, quite simply, that you cannot have it tomorrow. I need time to prepare it for transfer. Do you really think I leave it sitting around on pallets waiting to be shipped out?” The truth was, of course, he did keep it on pallets, and it would take very little time to ship it out, but that wasn’t the point. Give in to an unreasonable demand, just once, and that became the new expectation, and next time she’d make a new unreasonable demand. Besides, he wanted all traces of their visitors long gone before he let any of her scum into his valley. He waited.
“You misunderstand.” The neutral tone of the translation program grated on his ears. It was bad enough talking to an object like it was a person. Having some soulless automaton relay his words and the response back and forth, converting to and from the alien tongue, was almost more than he could stand. “I only need a sample of the product. Enough to fit in one small Human transport. I swear on the throne of the Empress, you will have ample warning before I require the bulk transferred.”
“And I am telling you it is impossible. We do not like outsiders here and my people are especially distrustful after the last incident with your… employees. When we are ready for you, I will let you know, and you will be on your way before anyone even knows you were here. But mark my words, your friends will be killed if they arrive without warning.”
“Oh, Isaac, but what about the warm welcome you gave to the man and woman, and my sister Shil’vati today?”
Isaac swallowed hard. Of course the alien would know, somehow. He kept his voice level, just in case emotion might come through on the translation. “They’re dead. As I just told you, my people don’t like outsiders, especially outsiders who arri
... keep reading on reddit ➡Scramble all fighters! Here'll be my fist go at a proper fighter battle. Bigger ships are sure to follow...
Credit for the Universe of Between words goes eternally to u/BlueFishcake. I'm just playing with their toys.
Any criticism, commentary and spelling fixes are always appreciated.
Hope you enjoy.
-----
Arkira pulled up on the controls, curving the trajectory of the strikecraft to level off just below the clouds of dust. As the ship levelled after the sharp dive, the point defence turret peaked through the surface layer, like a shark fin cutting through the surface of a vast sandy coloured ocean.
“WOAH! YEAH!” he hollered, continuing with the verse from kickstart my heart. The turret turned to point into the dark of space as it tracked the incoming projectiles. Light flashed in the lense, a powerful burst of photons lanced out into the void, crossing the distance to its target in less than a second. A small flash lit up the black as a missile was seared through by the heat and detonated.
The turret moved to track another target. Tight beams shot out repeatedly but failed to hit their target until another five seconds had passed, its subtle jink’s and twirls throwing off the aim of the incredibly precise weapon. But more were coming, not for lightning-2, but lightnin-1 as well. All the time Diavolo had been picking out the estimated targets of the missiles and preparing countermeasures.
‘8 at us, 7 at L-1, 15 missiles total. 2 down for us, PDC not cutting it,’ He thought to himself. His training kicked it. Not missing a beat, Diavolo selected 3 particular missiles on the console and glanced towards the incoming threats. Raising a hand at the space between him and the hostile fighters, he tapped and drew a circle in the air around the group of missiles. His HUD and neural implant interpreted the display. The targets were selected.
He thumbed the launch button.
On the left side of the strike craft, a rectangular port snapped open. Three Ordinance intercept missiles (OIM’s) were magnetically flung off their launch racks and into space. Each listed amongst the light debris before their propulsion systems ac
... keep reading on reddit ➡Name : > Hilda Felforgerr
<>
Race : > Harpy
<>
Sex : > Female
<>
Age : > 105 years old.
<>
#Level : 1 > Quests done : 0
- Level 2, 4 quests done.
- Level 3, 10 quests done.
- Level 4, 18 quests done.
- Level 5, 28 quests done.
- Level 6, 40 quests done.
<>
Role : > DPS, High AOE Damage.
<>
Occupation : > Cafe waitress.
<>
#Skills :
Flight, hunting, charismatic, but mostly flying.
<>
#Racial :
Harpy :
Being a harpy, Hilda has large wings which are used for obvious reasons but to do so, they've sacrifice the ability to use hands and instead have talons.
> - Have 60% HP. > - Winged, doubled movement during flight. > - Having talons, Hilda is able to graps her target by via claws and uses them for fighting— each claws deal 2d8% physical slashing damage twice.
(-1)
<>
Expansion of Wings :
Hilda expands her wing whilst attacking using 'Supersonic', increasing the length of attack by 4 metres.
<> #Flaws/Weaknesses [5/5] :
- Feathered :
Hilda is a feather being— an avian, or a bird which also means she is weak against water and at ground level.
> - While wet, weakens Hilda by ¾. > - At ground, weakens Hilda by ½.
(-2)
<>
- Winged, but no Arms :
Though having the advantage while airborne— having wings as arms, she doesn't have hands which is quite important for doing most things.
> - Hilda can't use any type of item. > - Hilda can't casts any kind of spell unless the process of casting only uses verbal.
(-2)
<>
#Core Abilities [19/19] :
- Winged One :
> - Travelling by flight increases distance of movement by (dex. profiency + str. profiency + con. profiency). > - When being attacked, grants (3) profiencies on evasion rolls for this and the turn forth— attacker must roll at disadvantage. > - At flight, calculate acceleration (dex. profiency×evas. profiency=%) as the base damage for all of their attacks'. > - Increases () bracketed numbers by 1 per 3% of acceleration.
(4)
~
- Supersonic :
> - During flight, double their dex. profiency and deal (1d4%per=4% of acceleration) to anything hit whilst so— damage cannot be add or subtract, applies to target too. > - After 'Supersonic' is used, gain (1) profiencies on evasion roll. > - Ability cooldown : 2 turn.
(3)
~
++ Rocketman :
> - Charges for 1 turn, doubled
... keep reading on reddit ➡Of Men and Dragons, Book 2 Chapter 45
As usual, I'm grateful for any and all input you all might have to give, the good and the bad. From the beginning, all of you have been helping to make this a better story. From your thoughts and input to simple grammatical fixes, it all helps this story be the best it can be. All that being said, thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoy!
Where it all started: Book 1, chapter 1
S'haar Or maybe that's a better Em'brel? Lacking a bit of muscle mass I imaging S'haar to have.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tel'ron was working on another belly bow in his forge when one of the metal workers burst in. He didn't look up from his work, though he directed a question toward the new arrival. "Where is everyone? We've got a dozen bows that need their trigger mechanisms finished, not to mention all the wood workers' tools and guard weaponry that need maintenance. Even I can't handle this all on my own."
The metalworker looked at the master of his discipline with exasperation. "Lord A'ngles is outside the outpost and all but declared war on Jack and S'haar!"
That got Tel'ron to put down his tools as he looked up at the worker. "Why?"
The worker looked exasperated. "Why? Why does it matter? This is Lord A'ngels! The Lord of our village! If he declares war on the outpost, we have to leave immediately!"
At this, Tel'ron looked even more confused. "Again, why?"
The worker looked as if his master had started speaking in another language. "Because you just do... He's the village Lord. We owe him our allegiance!"
Tel'ron looked at the worker as if he was a particularly slow student. Then, after a moment, he shook his head. "We owe the village lord our allegiance because he looks out for our best interests, but how is this in anyone's interests? Do you understand what we've been learning here? What all this means? What it could mean? If we'r
... keep reading on reddit ➡Based on the r/HFY story ["There Will Be Scritches"] by u/YukiteruAmano92 and set in the same universe. Used with permission.
The Arrival at Iseon (Scritchesverse)
Part 2
----- Sergeant Miller -----
Security Officer (formerly Sergeant of Marines) David Miller found another good tree and tagged the exact location on the trunk for the next perimeter sensor, before slinking off into the underbrush again. After a few meters, he stepped into the lee of an exposed tree root nearly two meters tall and over a meter thick, and surveyed the immediate approach to his position while he checked in on the lieutenant’s security feeds.
Where the actual hell did she get milspec combat droids? He wondered as he checked the live feeds. Did she have a permit for them? Did she need one? He didn’t know, but intended to find out. Sure, they were older, surplus models, and spec’d to gardenworld military standards, but there were four of them, and they had surveillance radar and could post perimeter sensors according to a radio frequency tag, saving him precious minutes.
And every minute counted. Damn those oblivious researchers. Dr. Trrbin, the Svikkthian researcher at the head of the entire operation, had aligned each day’s landing zone and time to coincide with shipboard day cycles, arguing that doing so would maximize the field team’s effective working time with minimal risk of adversely triggering any of the team’s species-specific circadian rhythms. Never mind that this planet’s day was 30 hours. He already had the ground team setting up meteorological and environmental monitoring equipment near the shuttle, hoping to start passive recording by midday, and have a ground camp set up before dusk. The idiot even wanted to sleep dirtside, and had convinced the captain to grant the go-ahead, in spite of vehement protests from both Miller and Sydni.
They had been on the ground less than thirty minutes, and Dave had already startled six crepuscular predators investigating the commotion. At less than a meter long and barely half a meter tall, the small reptilians were likely ovivorous, and not much of a threat. Sydni and the combat droids could deal with them easily, and any scratches they caused would likely not be life-threatening, even to a gardenworlder. Dr. Trrbin found Miller’s report on them to be more exciting than concerning, and had asked for both a live and dead specimen to be collect
... keep reading on reddit ➡
Night. Finally, a chance to rest. I’d spent a whole day walking and a whole day fighting. I was done. I laid down on a sheet of rusted corrugated steel and let out a long sigh, trying not to move too much to prevent my makeshift bedding from making an awful noise.
We’d found a safe spot within the ruins of a building. The whole thing must have been a factory at some point because we sat on a floor made of rusted corrugated iron that had creaked and crinkled as we’d tip-toed our way to the centre of the rubble. Surrounding it was equal parts steel, concrete, and grass that had shot up through the cracks. It seemed counterintuitive to rest in a noise place, but that noise worked both ways: we could hear any incoming digressers as they slithered across the steel, or demons for that matter.
It was getting hard to see by now. We weren’t going to light a fire—no need, since demons didn’t actually feel heat or cold until it got to the point where their corporeal forms would be broken by it—so I was a little chilly and struggling to see around me.
Toll had taken watch atop a fat column that jutted out of the ground. Their eyesight was keen and worked well enough at night. Add that to the fact that demons never slept nor rested and it was a natural choice to have them perched up on high, scanning the distant trees and ruined buildings.
Enzi and I, on the other hand, sat within a parapet formed by fallen steel and piled up concrete. I was able to make out Enzi’s bright red dress. The enepsi was sitting on her shins, uncomfortably close to me. As in, she was close enough that she could reach out and touch me. She drew a circlet from her inventory and placed it on her head, then turned to me and smiled.
“Please, tell me what you think.”
She was still playing games, and I was too tired to play along. I had no choice, though: there were so many ways that an enepsi could hook their claws into you, and if I’d misspoken even once and asked a question, even a rhetorical one, I’d owe Toll another question.
Though Enzi had given me half a vial of Rise and Shine, which had reversed my body’s state to a moment a couple hours earlier, it had done n
... keep reading on reddit ➡See the horror of the dracolich on Dump Stat
Ah, the Dracolich. The best type of lich in existence. What could be more fun than taking an ancient evil dragon and combining it with the powers of a lich? Pretty much nothing if you’re a DM. Players, on the other hand, maybe have a slightly different take on the creature when they stumble across it. That is if they survive.
While we started this Deep Dive in 1986, the creature was conceived way back in 1979 with the module White Plum Mountain. An arrow pointed off the map with the following note:
> "Beyond to the lair of Dragotha, the undead dragon, where fabulous riches and hideous death await." > >White Plume Mountain, 1979
Next to this ominous note is a picture of a foreboding skeletal dragon. While that’s all we get, it lays the groundwork to introduce the Dracolich in a few years.
AD&D - Dracolich (Night Dragon)
>Frequency: Very rare > >No. Appearing: 1 (unless called by a ring of dragons) > >Armor Class: -2 > >Move: As per former dragon type > >Hit Dice: As per former dragon type > >% in Lair: 20% > >Treasure Type: B,H,S,T > >No. of Attacks: As per former dragon type > >Damage/Attack: See below > >Special Attacks: Breath weapon and spell use > >Special Defenses: Spell immunities and spell use > >Magic Resistance: See below > >Intelligence: As per individual dragon > >Alignment: Evil (any sort) > >Size: L (dimensions vary) > >Psionic Ability: Nil > >Chance of: Speaking 100%, Magic Use 96%, Sleeping 0% > >Level/XP Value: Varies/As per former dragon type, plus 1000 + 10/hp (if destroyed, along with host)
The Dracolich is first featured in Dragon #110 (June 1986) in the article The Cult of the Dragon by Ed Greenwood. The Dracolich begins with an evil cult, whose mages are attempting to take over the world. It seems quite apropos for an undead creature to have its origins with an evil cult focused on utter world domination. Besides, we all know at this point that evil wizards are constantly plotting and scheming, creating such horrible monsters like the owlbear and hook horror.
This cult was first formed by Sammaster, a wizard turned lich turned destroyed by a group of paladins who fought and destroyed him in The Gates of
... keep reading on reddit ➡“It’s not much farther”, Kalaela tells me as we pass into the forest.
We’ve been walking for about twenty minutes since leaving the little cave, and her mood improved when I offered her some food I’d brought with me. Nothing special, just some store-bought cookies… But she enjoyed them so much I actually felt a little bad telling her that I didn’t have any more to give her.
I’m also not really sure what to expect of this ‘hideout’ she mentioned. I’m kind of picturing a Robin-Hood-esque, roughed up campsite strung up between some trees. A band of merry men, all with antlers hanging out in the woods...
The truth however, is quite different.
“Damn”, is all I can say when I first lay eyes on it. On the ‘hideout’.
“Here we are”, says Kalaela, and she spreads her arms.
Before us and nestled in the trees are a series of narrow wooden houses. They lean into and against each other at unusual angles, but aside from this they look remarkably stable, and indeed, very liveable.
What I’m seeing is less a basecamp and more an intricate little village. The inhabitants are antlered, sure, but that’s about all I got correct with my prediction. They are of all ages, and they stare at me as we pass them by. There are modest market stalls here, stone wells surrounded by leaves at their bases, and signposts grown into the trees.
“Kalaela”, comes a gruff voice to our right. Kalela stops and I do likewise, watching as a tall and wide-set man puts down his tools and walks right over to us. He’s massive, and his antlers go out further and wider than Kalaela’s do. “You’re back early”.
“Hey, I did what I was supposed to, Lurdae”, she retorts, pointing up at him. “Delena’s heading out to cover the watch right now, and look, you see what I did? I brought back a boy from the other side! Safely! I saved him!”
The man she called Lurdae looks down to me and raises an eyebrow.
“…Good” he says, after a beat. “The machinefolk have no respect for natural life. Every death in this valley is a stain on the spirits’ own land”.
“It’s uh, good to meet you”, I say to him. “My name is Stan”.
“Hm”, he replies. “Stan. It’s been a long time since a human has crossed over the bridge. You chose a less than opportune time to pass”.
Behind him are a group of antlered children. I can’t hear what they’re saying, but one of them points to me, and the others gawk and stare.
“I di
... keep reading on reddit ➡For context I'm a Refuse Driver (Garbage man) & today I was on food waste. After I'd tipped I was checking the wagon for any defects when I spotted a lone pea balanced on the lifts.
I said "hey look, an escaPEA"
No one near me but it didn't half make me laugh for a good hour or so!
Edit: I can't believe how much this has blown up. Thank you everyone I've had a blast reading through the replies 😂
Prolog
Doctor Mark Ruthgar, MD, PhD, Specialist in Astrobiology stepped into the comfortable Copenhagen Summer night, crossed the street into the park, and with the trees partially shielding him from the city lights, looked up at what few stars he could make out. After another long day of teaching, advising, and trying to coordinate some research on new microbes brought back from the colonies, Doctor Ruthgar needed a break.
Humans had developed Faster Than Light (FTL) travel almost fifty years before, but the vast distances of space meant that they still hadn’t spread all that far. There are only about eighty three stars within twenty light-years of Earth, and only a handful of them are orbited by colonizable planets. Even traveling at fifty times the speed of light, it still takes a month to get to the nearest colony and four months to get to the farthest, creating a situation not unlike exploration by sailing ship centuries before. The colonizable worlds found thus far had oxygen-producing life, but nothing more sentient than moss.
As Doctor Ruthgar breathed in the cool Summer air and stared up at a group of stars in the vicinity of the constellation Cygnus, he had no way of knowing that he was looking right at the first contact between humans and another sentient species, taking place in the vicinity of a small yellow star twenty five light-years away. It would be another six months, before news of the "Dawnflower incident" reached Earth.
Dawnflower
Master Sensor Operator Gnolder is sitting in his cabin pondering a framed picture of his daughter Nala. The picture, taken some six years earlier, shows her standing on the porch of their home back on Rladan. Gnolder’s home was typical of single family residences all across the rladii home-world: a mostly underground structure accessed through an above-ground cupola surrounded by a covered porch. The railing along the east side of Gnolder’s porch supported a vine called "dawnflower". Gnolder came up to the porch nearly every morning to watch the flowers on vine slowly unfold into the light of the rising sun. When fully opened, the eight violet petals formed a flower the size of Gnolder’s hand with his four fingers and two opposable thumbs spread out. The flowers tracked the sun until mid-morning when, in the rising heat, the petals rolled back up again until the next morning. Since Rladan has no axial tilt, it has no seasons and the dawnflower blooms anew every sunny day, all year long. For this rea
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At the edge of Coalition space, a kingdom of desert pirates launches a surprise attack against their former allies, plunging the territories of Borealis into a brutal civil war. As the cruel Matriarch deploys her armies to take control of the planet's trade routes, the UNN lands an armored battalion on the surface in an attempt to restore order. Little do they know that she has more up her sleeve than ramshackle technicals and stolen anti-satellite weapons. On one side, a multi-species scout vehicle crew tries to find common ground, while on the other, the newly appointed Fleet Admiral wrestles with the weight of her duties.
Please note: this story contains adult content which will be tagged on a per-chapter basis.
CHAPTER 1: PREEMPTIVE STRIKE
The sound of claws scratching against the metal deck echoed through the cramped corridor as the Crewmaster made his way to the bridge, ducking under exposed pipes and bundles of electrical cables. This warren of winding passages was made for humans, not Borealans, his eight-foot stature requiring him to hunch over to avoid hitting his head. Their smell still permeated the vessel, but it was fading now, overcome by the scents of oil and alien machinery.
His furry ears brushed the doorframe as he emerged into a more open space, finally able to stand upright. Before him was a room occupied by half a dozen console banks, more of his kind hunched over before the glowing, holographic displays. They waved their clawed fingers through the projections, adjusting their course, and tracking radar contacts. The bridge was a little more homely than the rest of the ship. As the command center, the bare hull had been decorated with crimson drapes in the traditional style, the flowing fabric cascading from the ceiling to the carpeted floor. A large window wrapped around the room, occupying his entire field of view. The glass doubled as a monitor, displaying information in small boxes that the crew were moving around with gestures from their furry hands, the angular hull of the frigate visible beyond.
It extended into the distance like an artificial horizon, tapering into a dull point a good two hundred meters in front of them, the subtly raised conning tower giving them a fine view. It was broken up in places by the streamlined blisters that housed the ship’s railgun turrets, and the closed hatches of the torpedo launch tubes. The vessel bristled with weaponry, but it
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Pilot on me!!
'Welcome to Siberia, where late summer means the temperature is below freezing, the mud's halfway turned to ice, and snow is falling so thick that I'm blind without my thermals,' Horok "Bolter" Ra complained to himself. He was a Woodland Scout, in the 909th Regiment. In the past year - the first of his service in the Imperial Armed Forces - he had endured the full gamut of nasty weather conditions that the Governessship of Russia could throw at the young Scout.
The thing was, he had been through all that while running, hooked up to a thermoregulator rig the whole time. That was why he loved the Scouts, and tolerated the heavy gear, the midnight sprints through snow-covered, rocky terrain, and the piss-poor management from the higher-ups that being a Scout entailed.
Now, though, as he crouched in a foxhole, ankle-deep in the mud that his body heat had thawed over the course of the better part of a day he had spent there, he was loathing every second of it. His regulator was powered down, so that the plume of heat it kicked off would not give away his position. That meant that the man's skin beneath his armor felt unbearably hot, and a persistent chime was going off in his helmet, alerting him to the fact that his regulator was, indeed, offline. It was enough to drive a person mad.
As the thick, just-below-freezing flakes of snow accumulated on the top of his head, the barrel of his KPF-03 anti-tank gun, and all over the camo netting obscuring his position, Horok again scanned the sparse forest with his thermal vision. To his delight, he saw a faint thermal signature, far off in the distance and slightly to his left. He marked the hot-spot on his HUD, pulled his bipod-mounted gun to his shoulder, and sighted the object of interest.
Through the much higher-definition sight of the weapon, Horok could make out the foe. It was a fearsome sight to behold: a full Shil'vati mechanized infantry regiment, the 67th Heavy Breakthrough, to be exact. It was some thirty IFVs strong, and backed by a smattering of other state-of-the-art tech.
There were a half-dozen Exos leading the charge, their high-tech, probably-classified armament clearly identifying them as Deathshead models. At the rear of the formation, easily identifiable by their colossal rocket launchers, were almost twenty Kuturish-780LAR fire support vehicles. At least, that's what the docket said.
Holed u
... keep reading on reddit ➡So, some of you are aware that I'm in the draft-editing stage of writing a book (some of you have been wonderful enough to help me sort out what needs editing!).
I just thought I'd share where I am on formatting etc:
https://twitter.com/KathleenDePlume/status/1480341827433549830
(yes, because I'm proud of myself; I feel awkward sharing that, because I've been told my whole life that I should be less arrogant, but stuff it, I *am* proud of this!)
I've been doing formatting while waiting for feedback, though I now have enough feedback to be doing a bunch of rewrites while I'm waiting to hear back from the last couple of beta readers (thank you so much, by the way! You know who you are :) )
What do you think? Does it look professional and polished? Is it pretty? Or am I just deluding myself?
Oh, just because I didn't post it with the original "pls help me!" post, here is the blurb:
"With her betrothal imminent, the beautiful Princess Ava has gone missing. Where has she fled to? Why has she gone? And why is the dragon stirring?
Enter our hero. Gwen has been hunting wanted criminals for years, collecting their bounties to support her mother and brother since their father died. The promise of an armful of gold for bringing the Princess home is too good to ignore.
But bringing her home doesn't solve anyone's problems. Gwen still has family to support, and Ava still has a miserable marriage to look forward to. How will they get over these hurdles? And what new ones will they create along the way?"
Dad jokes are supposed to be jokes you can tell a kid and they will understand it and find it funny.
This sub is mostly just NSFW puns now.
If it needs a NSFW tag it's not a dad joke. There should just be a NSFW puns subreddit for that.
Edit* I'm not replying any longer and turning off notifications but to all those that say "no one cares", there sure are a lot of you arguing about it. Maybe I'm wrong but you people don't need to be rude about it. If you really don't care, don't comment.
First : Previous : Next : My Other Stories
Halo: Burners, The Light of Sargasso
Chapter 11
Sheila walked out of the bridge, her feet carrying her through the massive ship while her mind whirred. She didn’t pay attention to where she was walking until she was surrounded by over forty childish faces on bodies far too large for them. The baby spartans wore expressions that were a mix of trauma, distrust and affection. Looking around, Sheila spotted Lucy and quickly gave her a wave to catch her attention.
The young girl looked up for a brief moment before bolting, practically tackling Sheila in a hug. Even though she didn’t fall over, the collision still winded Sheila and she took a deep breath before laughing. Everyone, including Sheila was still in their armor and Sheila noted that while her armor didn’t weigh very much it did get in the way of relaxing which was something the kids desperately needed.
“Let’s get you kids out of your armor alright?” Sheila whispered and the kids nodded, tensing when a few huragok floated in but nobody attacked the aliens. A few even giggled at the trilling and chirping aliens as they worked in teams to remove the armor strapped onto bodies far too young for battle. Sheila didn’t miss the fact the adorable aliens clearly had some form of telekinesis and decided to talk to Dan and Mike about it later.
‘And it only gets worse,’ Sheila thought as the children’s bodies came into view, many of which sported scars. It was clear from Char’s behavior and words that Spartans had been abused with the intent of conditioning them against trauma but seeing the physical evidence on children roiled Sheila’s stomach. ‘Gods, these poor kids. At least I had a choice.’ Sheila thought, withdrawing into herself and allowing her face
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The rhythmic clang of metal hitting metal rang out through the forge, not escaping the building it was created in. The steady but slow hits of the tired blacksmith managed to maintain their proper timing, but it was slower than would be ideal. There was a short pause, and then the steady puff of the bellows replaced the clanging. There was a moment's rest as Vency heard a familiar clatter of claws that told her which group was approaching.
"Hey," Vency called out as Ceralla's head snaked through the doorway, shortly followed by Lafalla and then James.
"How are you doing Ven? Not going all out on it are you?" Lafalla asked as she saw the large copper rod in the fire.
"No, I'm keeping things reasonable, I've had a long few days after all, I have so much to try out," she told her as she let go of the bellows, satisfied that the fire was hot enough at the moment.
"What are you making?" Ceralla asked as she inspected the rod, careful not to disturb it even though the heat didn't phase her.
"A little something in preparation for one of James's machines. We're going to need a big piece of copper to make all that wire, especially as it has to be a single piece. I thought I might as well make it into a size and shape we can work with easier later. Then I can get started on the machine that turns it into wire. A proper one, not that wood and stone prototype we made to test the idea out," Vency told them, gesturing to the small contraption with two grooved stone wheels sitting on one of the tables.
"Steel wheels are going to be quite an improvement, it's easier to make them more consistent and last longer, leading to better wire," James stated. "I do wonder though, is there not a rust proof version you can use? I know you don't exactly have stainless steel, but is there not an alternative?"
"I thought we'd discussed this before," Vency replied as she checked the state of the metal. "Yes and no. W
... keep reading on reddit ➡| ---------------------------------Table of Contents------------------------------------- |
|---|
| Chapter 7 l Chapter 8 l Chapter 9 l Chapter 10 l Chapter 11 l Chapter 12 l Chapter 13 |
| Chapter 14 l Chapter 15 l Chapter 16 l Chapter 17 l Chapter 18 l Chapter 19 l Chapter 20 |
Dei
Mimi’s Club - Basement
23 Years After YFC
Naberious carried a sickly Jasmin over his shoulder, heading down several hallways.
“Is this how Pandora feels all the time?” Jasmin cried, “Oh Guardian, why doesn’t she just end it?”
“You won’t get off so easy,” Naberious paused as she spoke, then continued down the halls until he reached a dark doorway. Naberious knocked twice.
A slat in the door opened, “If the will is too strong…?”
“Then the flesh has to be made weak,” Naberious responded.
Several locks were undone behind the black door as it opened, revealing an imp twice as tall as most imps. His horns were longer and he grinned wide as he saw Pandora over Naberious’s shoulder.
“Oh, you’ve brought me a present…?” The imp snickered.
“Yes, I did, Lincoln,” Naberious said as he walked inside the room with Lincoln, the Imp.
“What do you n
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Part Nineteen: Vermis pt2
The lyrics project throughout the dark maze of hallways, echoing like a summoning chant from another realm just beyond the mortal veil. Cold smooth walls carry the challenge to all of the worm infested silent inhabitants.
The lone Terran eyes the only visible entrance feeling her heartbeat rise up into her throat.
“The fuck are you doing…?” she whispers to herself, “This is a no-win situation for you… power armor or not, you’re probably gonna die.”
The distant cacophony of roaring sloppy feet slapping the ground is now heard, growing ever closer like an incoming tide.
“You don’t want to die… right? Tell me you don’t…” she urges, searching every corner of her mind for an answer. It’s not until the first of the tumbling monstrosities come stuttering around the corner to her does she find it. It’s a cold feeling, an empty… void. Kinda like a barren shelf on a wall where something important should be, but instead, anything you try to place there… just slides right off… over and over again, no matter which way you turn or twist it. The shelf is just so worn compared to all the others around it. It’s off kilter because the screws holding it to the wall have been ripped out and pushed back into place so many times, there’s nearly no traction or security to the wall whatsoever. It’s been so long, Simone can’t even remember what's supposed to be on the shelf in the first place. However, one thing is more than clear;
“Oh… you just don’t care… when did that happen? Nah, who am I kidding… I know.”
The Terran fires her colt rapidly into the charging crowd, watching the mobile termite mounds crumble as searing plasma scorches through like shooting stars of defiance. She lays down the fire, disregarding the overheating the poor pistol starts to undergo.
Plumes of confetti-like flakes of dried flesh plume into the narrow passageway, giving her helmet’s sight enhancing features a little trouble.
Gritting her teeth, Simone carries on blasting away at the mounting foes, gradually losing the range advantage.
“But you’re not gonna die here… not yet… not till you make it count.” she orders herself, as her mind abandons the empty motivation of self preservation for another.
*There’s a shelf right next door, it’s a brand new one and it’s so beautiful in it’s construction as well. More stunning than anything else in this room, that’s for sure. In addition, it could bear the entire universe upon it if need be. However the seeming
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Do your worst!
Name : > Hilda Felforgerr
<>
Race : > Harpy
<>
Sex : > Female
<>
Age : > 105 years old.
<>
#Level : 1 > Quests done : 0
- Level 2, 4 quests done.
- Level 3, 10 quests done.
- Level 4, 18 quests done.
- Level 5, 28 quests done.
- Level 6, 40 quests done.
<>
Role : > DPS, High AOE Damage.
<>
Occupation : > Cafe waitress.
<>
#Skills :
Flight, hunting, charismatic, but mostly flying.
<>
#Racial :
Harpy :
Being a harpy, Hilda has large wings which are used for obvious reasons but to do so, they've sacrifice the ability to use hands and instead have talons.
> - Have 60% HP. > - Winged, doubled movement during flight. > - Having talons, Hilda is able to graps her target by via claws and uses them for fighting— each claws deal 2d8% physical slashing damage twice.
(-1)
<>
Expansion of Wings :
Hilda expands her wing whilst attacking using 'Supersonic', increasing the length of attack by 4 metres.
<> #Flaws/Weaknesses [5/5] :
- Feathered :
Hilda is a feather being— an avian, or a bird which also means she is weak against water and at ground level.
> - While wet, weakens Hilda by ¾. > - At ground, weakens Hilda by ½.
(-2)
<>
- Winged, but no Arms :
Though having the advantage while airborne— having wings as arms, she doesn't have hands which is quite important for doing most things.
> - Hilda can't use any type of item. > - Hilda can't casts any kind of spell unless the process of casting only uses verbal.
(-2)
<>
#Core Abilities [19/19] :
- Winged One :
> - Travelling by flight increases distance of movement by (dex. profiency + str. profiency + con. profiency). > - When being attacked, grants (3) profiencies on evasion rolls for this and the turn forth— attacker must roll at disadvantage. > - At flight, calculate acceleration (dex. profiency×evas. profiency=%) as the base damage for all of their attacks'. > - Increases () bracketed numbers by 1 per 3% of acceleration.
(4)
~
- Supersonic :
> - During flight, double their dex. profiency and deal (1d4%per=4% of acceleration) to anything hit whilst so— damage cannot be add or subtract, applies to target too. > - After 'Supersonic' is used, gain (1) profiencies on evasion roll. > - Ability cooldown : 2 turn.
(3)
~
++ Rocketman :
> - Charges for 1 turn, doubled
... keep reading on reddit ➡What did 0 say to 8 ?
" Nice Belt "
So What did 3 say to 8 ?
" Hey, you two stop making out "
Previous chapter: https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/rqyezp/longhunter_ch1_part_1/
(Continued from part 1)
The company continued their journey across the plain, but although they found evidence that herds had frequented the area recently, they didn’t encounter a single tatanka. It was as if they had all fled. After a few days of travel, they finally sighted something in the distance, a mountain range that rose up above the flat terrain, capped with white snow.
As they neared, they saw that the foothills were carpeted in dense forest, the wealth of timber reinvigorating the tired men. This was exactly why they had come out here, to scour the land for natural resources just like this.
The plains gradually gave way to woodland, the trees straight and tall, the sound of a gurgling brook soon drawing the group in. Fresh meltwater from the mountains beyond made its way down into the valley, crisp and cool, the men filling their canteens as they stopped a while to let the horses quench their thirst.
It was nice to be beneath the shade of the trees again, the familiar terrain setting George more at ease. He glanced around, taking in his verdant surroundings. The trunks of the trees were coated in a covering of green, fuzzy moss, and the floor was carpeted in a sparse layer of ferns. There were felled logs here and there, covered over by more moss, sporting colonies of impressive mushrooms that would probably go down a treat in a soup. There would be game here, and lots of it. They had been living on jerked meat and dried beans for long enough that George was developing a hankering for something red and juicy.
The company was settling in for a longer stay, it seemed, starting to unpack some of their gear as Dawes gave out orders. It was as good a place as any to rest. There was shelter, fresh water, and plenty of firewood to be had.
George sat down on a nearby log and fished inside his pack, pulling out a small roll of leather bound by a hairy string. He unfastened the bow, then unfurled it, revealing half a dozen fountain pens secured in small loops. There was also a bottle of ink, as well as a leather-bound booklet. He opened the latter, then checked the inkwell of one of the pens, beginning to write on a blank page in looping cursive.
“What are you writin’?” Sam asked, approaching George with his rifle resting over one shoulder.
“I’m making a record of what we’ve found,” he r
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