WanderingLeaf

B3Ch3: Farm Life

Alex was partway through packing her clothes when her father knocked on the door behind her. She glanced back over her shoulder in surprise; she’d left the door open, after all. Eric was leaning up against the doorjamb, his eyes filled with half-hidden worry. “So?”

She sighed. “It doesn’t seem like it’s entirely a trap. Not yet, at least.”

“That’s hardly reassuring...

Iron Kingdom B3Ch11: Oaths and Games

A short while later—barely enough time to bathe and change clothes—Matt found himself eating with Angru and some members of his court.

The room where they were feasting was dominated by a long table, one where the various nobles of the Hard Scythe Clan had gathered to meet their monarch personally. Unlike the table in Heartlight, however, the table had been built wide enough for both ...

Common Clay B3Ch11: A New Choice

The return to Pellsglade proved a bit more taxing than Clay had expected.

It turned out that whatever the blade had done to Orn’s foot, it wasn’t repairable by the tools Taylor had available. As a result, he was stuck dragging the man all the way back to Pellsglade, one excruciating stretch of road at a time. The fact that Taylor spent most of the trip pestering him for whatever notes...

Team Player B3Ch2: Onboarding

It didn’t look like an evil lair; that had to be a good sign, right?

Alex wearily tried to tell herself that as she stood in front of the Royal Purple base. It was a fairly large complex, bigger than she’d been expecting. Of course, it probably needed more space, given that the portal at its center was bigger than the ones she had seen before, but it was still surprising to see exactl...

Iron Kingdom B3Ch10: Harvesthold

“You’re sure you don’t want me to come, sire?”

Melren seemed genuinely worried, but Matt waved him back. “You’re in the middle of something important, Melren. I’m not going to pull you away from it now.”

The advisor looked a little wretched as he nodded, but it was the truth. Matt had already written down all the mantras that Melren had available, and if he advanced ...

Common Clay B3Ch10: One Final Strike

With Clay clearing the path for them, they made it back to their camp easily. He barely felt tired by the end of it; [Corpsebane] made things significantly easier.

All the same, it was a relief to rest and prepare for their mission in the morning. He knew the others were still skeptical, so he needed at least one more push to convince them of what he was doing. Then he could go back to Pe...

Team Player B3Ch1: Family Introductions

“So, you’re sure this is a good idea?”

Alex didn’t look at Sam immediately. Instead, she glanced up at the roof of the bus stop. It was some kind of see-through plastic, with a greenish tint that made it hard to see the rainclouds overhead. The weather in this place was not nearly as pleasant compared to where they had lived before, but her transfer to the new company had made it ...

Iron Kingdom B3Ch9: Warning Signs

Early the next day, partway through his rounds, a messenger from the sentries along the south walls came to get him.

Matt cut his inspection tour short and rushed to the wall, wondering if the Alliance had come early. Instead, he found something much, much worse.

“They say they are refugees, sire.” Creps seemed incredulous of the idea; Matt supposed that there probably hadn’t ...

Common Clay B3Ch9: Student to Teacher

By the time that Clay returned to camp, a rainstorm had blown in across the corrupted forest.

It had taken him a little by surprise; there had been such good weather recently that he hadn’t really taken the possibility of rain into account. Fortunately, he’d already been on the way back when the drops had started to fall, but it hadn’t made his outlook any brighter as the rain had a...

Team Player Bonus 4: Analysis

Physiological Analysis of People Influenced by Selected Portal Substances: Abstract

Since the beginning of the Fracture, the pernicious effects of the energy emanating from the portals, commonly known as ‘magic’, has been both consistent and obvious to any observers. Exposure to an S rank portal is lethal to nearly every person within a two kilometer radius within minutes, with a stea...

A Full Year of Publishing

How time flies. It was about a year ago that I decided to start publishing things again. It had been quite some time since the last time I’d put my writing out there in public, so I wasn’t entirely sure how things would turn out. If none of them ever took off, I’d just let things continue for a year and then close things down with no regrets.

Fortunately, it seems like plenty of peo...

Iron Kingdom B3Ch8: Recovery

The day after the battle, Matt managed to complete the difficult task of dressing himself with one arm in a sling, only to stagger out into his antechamber and find Melren waiting for him.

“Melren.”

“Sire.”

The Imp’s expression was serious. He watched as Matt moved towards the door. When Matt reached for the handle, he cleared his throat.

Matt sighed. “Yes, M...

Team Player B2Ch26: For Zach

Alex stepped out into a quiet portal room.

Always before, there had been some kind of commotion there. She’d usually caught snatches of conversation, quiet laughter, even the occasional argument.

Now it was just silent. No one else was there. Just her—and Chief Wells.

He stood, hands behind his back, his eyes wide. It was the most shocked that she’d ever seen the man; it...

Common Clay B3Ch8: Monster of Monsters

Without the need to travel with the others or conserve his energy, Clay loped along at a fairly good pace. He was past Sarlsboro and into the beginnings of the corrupted forest within an hour.

The first Undead tried to ambush him only ten minutes after that.

It was only a small group of foragers, coming out of the trees as he moved along the road. They sent their dogs to catch him w...

Iron Kingdom B3Ch7: Second Bridgeton

The rain lasted another few hours, pattering down across the roofs of Bridgeton in a steady barrage of water. His troops took shelter in the fort, or among the houses of the serfs-turned-freeholders in town. Though the townsfolk had remained wary at first, their fears had were turning to optimism as they spoke with the soldiers. As Matt walked the walls, some of them were even starting to cheer...

Team Player B2Ch25: Bringing It All Down

The discussion continued for a while longer, but in the end the other Surveyors agreed. Alex wove her way back out of the compound, careful to stay hidden until she had made it out and into the night beyond. She was walking down the alley, aiming to join the crowd and meet up with her dad at the rendezvous further down the street, when she heard voices ahead.

Alex froze as she recognized ...

Common Clay B3Ch7: Lesson Nine

{Malus received from the Curse of the Legion of the Unliving! All Stats decreased by 2 for 24 hours.}

Clay shivered as he felt the power drain from him. It was a miserable way to start an already terrible experience, but there was no way to avoid it.

The corridor they had entered seemed to be the same as before, all darkness and dust. Once again, they set out through the maze in sea...

Team Player B2Ch24: Regroup

Grue patrols found her, of course. At times it was almost like they came after her with two patrols at once, the Brutes snarling and the others howling along with them. Killers shot at her, avarice in their eyes as they sensed the Talismans she carried. She cut them down, left their remains to litter the ground, and returned to running. The further behind her she put the city, the better it wou...

Iron Kingdom B3Ch6: First Bridgeton

It took a few moments to convince the lifeguards to let him try again, and even then they only agreed to escort him a few steps onto the bridge. Matt grudgingly let them stand in front of him again—although he privately thought they were being entirely reasonable about not going any further, especially when he remembered the feeling of the bridge going unstable beneath his feet. Then he sunk ...

Common Clay B3Ch6: Another Chance

Their escape from the Dungeon was not as memorable as their entrance had been.

Syr Katherine led them through the corridors with an impressive grasp of navigation. She seemed to know exactly where they were, and they came back to the stone archway without meeting any further monsters aside from the serfs.

Emerging from the Dungeon was like coming up from under a river of filth. The ...

Team Player Bonus 3: Crimson Legacy

Perspectives on Great Surveyors: The Crimson Blade by Red Blade Securities

There are few Surveyors who have left as much of an impact on the work of other Surveyors as the woman known as the Crimson Blade.

At first glance, the woman who would become the Crimson Blade was not particularly impressive. The only daughter of a schoolteacher and a soldier, Moira O’Hare had lost...

Team Player B2Ch23: Enemy Action

Whatever plot Wells had going, he didn’t spring it on her immediately. Instead, he simply took her report, gave her a list of cleaning assignments, and then dismissed her.

Normally, she would have gone straight to work, but Alex didn’t even hesitate before she went to the barracks instead. It didn’t matter if Wells was angry about the delay, not if her mother came to burn down the c...

Iron Kingdom B3Ch5: Drawing Boundaries

“All told, we captured almost five banners of Knights, sire, and if more than half a banner of them managed to get away, I’d be surprised.” Captain Creps seemed stunned by what he was saying, but he continued on in an even voice. “It’s the kind of victory they write stories about, to be sure.”

Matt nodded and looked at Melren. “Have any of the prisoners been talking? How man...

Iron Kingdom Bonus 4: Sources

A Summary of Magical Theories and Traditions, by Melren, formerly of House Ndai

Given the number of possible Foundations available for a mage’s Source, and the broad number of spells available through each, a student of magic can easily become overwhelmed by the various possibilities. This fact can be worsened by the utterly common magics available to even the Low Folk througho...

Common Clay B3Ch5: The Dungeon

The moment Clay stepped through the archway, he knew something was wrong.

It was like he’d forced himself into a pool of oily filth. Each breath seemed to be clouded with the stench of death. Grey dust floated into the air with every step along the darkened floor, and the howling wind in his mind increased to a continual dull roar against his ethereal senses. Worse, it was as if somethi...

Thanksgiving Update

So, I fell into a trap that usually seems to happen. I go into the Thanksgiving weekend with dreams of high productivity and progress. Then I come out the other side with a lot less done than I'd hoped, and all the headaches of the holiday season waiting for me. Happens every year, and I still make the same mistake each time. Oh well.

I am probably two thirds of the way done with the init...

Team Player B2Ch22: Upping the Ante

[D Rank Surveyor Alex, Gatekeeper]

[Ascension Level: 7]

[Role: Porter (Role Skills: None]

[Role Level: 2]

[Experience: 60/3600]

[Attributes: Strength -> 7, Speed -> 10, Life -> 4, Devotion -> 0, Control -> 0]

[Current Skills: Combat Balance(19), Motion Trance(21), Combined Arms–Axe/Shield(18),

Holy–Storm(16)]

[Permanent Skills: ...

Iron Kingdom B3Ch4: Setting a Trap

A brief night and a quick march later, Matt found himself crouched inside of a jumble of rocks, peering at a disorganized camp a few hundred meters away.

If they hadn’t been his enemies, he would have been ashamed of the bandits. Gwelfed had mentioned seeing patrols, but it was clear they hadn’t been very motivated to do their jobs that morning. Nearly his entire force was already in ...

Common Clay B3Ch4: Clearing a Path

The Undead found them again, only a short distance from the first battle. Once again, Syr Katherine kept them moving forward, ignoring the groups of monsters that trailed in their wake or shadowed them from the sides. She didn’t stop until they were once again surrounded, and once again, they only paused long enough to annihilate the enemy before moving on.

It seemed like his companions...

Iron Kingdom B3Ch3: The Sortenmoors

In the end, it took another four days to reach the borders of the Sortenmoors.

It would have been quicker, but unfortunately, Snolt’s hopes for good weather were ruined by an early rainstorm that had reduced the roads to slush and clinging mud for two full days. The initially high spirits of the soldiers had slowly dampened as they continued to forge their way through the resulting mire...