“You’re like an uncut gem… The potential to shine brightly is there, but it needs some work before it’s ready to show itself,” Moxy explained as they ate breakfast. Asher hadn’t been surprised when Loratta had given him a small room and requested he start living within her strange bunker, but the morning visit fro...
2025-05-27 16:00:09 +0000 UTC View PostAs pleasant as the meriders were, Vin was eager to get on the road again after spending only a single day with them. The spider-folk were just so… happy. To the point where it was exhausting to chat with them for any extended period of time.
Part of Vin wanted to chase after Alka and make sure she was okay wh...
2025-05-27 16:00:08 +0000 UTC View Post“Rosh!” Asher cried, ignoring Loratta and rushing over to his friend. Grabbing his limp wrist, he quickly checked for a pulse. After a few seconds, he let out a sigh of relief as he finally felt the man’s heartbeat. It was weak, but still there. Ignoring the fact that he was standing in the center of her compound and co...
2025-05-26 16:00:12 +0000 UTC View PostOnce they’d finished chatting with Neurol and tucked away his letter, Vin and Shia spent the rest of the afternoon wandering about the web and chatting with the locals. They tried to speak with the other new merider, whose upper torso looked like that of some sort of scaled lizard, but the man refused to meet with them. Cle...
2025-05-25 16:15:00 +0000 UTC View PostOh man I am screwed.
Asher stared at the warrior’s unblemished leg, the limb not showing so much as a scratch for all his efforts. Despite all his skills, after going a few rounds with Moxy, he didn’t think he had what it took to strike her a lethal blow. And if whittling her down wasn’t an optio...
2025-05-23 16:00:09 +0000 UTC View PostIt turned out, Kark hadn’t been kidding with that last comment about Neurol being an artist. After giving directions to Alka as to where she could find the monsters and dropping Scule and Reginald off with Bourges, a rather spindly looking merider with colorful dots all along his spider abdomen, Kark brought Shia and Vin ov...
2025-05-23 16:00:09 +0000 UTC View PostIt only took Francis a few minutes to find what he was looking for, and the battle-scarred guard quickly returned with a burly woman in tow.
[Warrior] - 3/3
The new woman looked almost like a female version of Rulfar, standing at least half a head taller than Asher and wearing a loose assortment o...
2025-05-22 16:00:07 +0000 UTC View PostThe room went silent, save for the harsh coughing as Scule choked on the water he’d been drinking from the far-too large cup in front of him up until that revelation. Vin stared at the chipper merider in shock, wondering if he’d heard correctly.
“So… You weren’t always half spider?”
“Not at all, I us...
2025-05-22 16:00:07 +0000 UTC View PostIt seemed Kark had intercepted them a short ways from the actual village, because it was only a few more minutes of trailing along behind the happily humming merider before they stumbled upon the village proper.
Though it would have been more appropriate to say they stumbled under the village proper.
Vin ...
2025-05-21 16:00:11 +0000 UTC View Post“What?” Asher exclaimed, forgetting all about his fake voice. “What do you mean? What happened?”
“Exactly what I said,” the tavernkeep shrugged, finally pulling back a bit. “You want more information, you gotta pay for it.”
Gritting his teeth, Asher slapped another handful of shards down, ignoring ...
2025-05-21 16:00:10 +0000 UTC View PostVin stared at the runic spiderweb that had just spoken to them, wondering what the correct move was here. With Whispering Wind under his own belt, he was no stranger to speaking at a distance via magic. But somehow he got the distinct vibe that they weren’t just being listened to, but being watched as well....
2025-05-20 16:00:09 +0000 UTC View Post“’What are classes?’” Wilna repeated, looking at him with a raised eyebrow. The cracks in her face seemed to shift slightly to make such a feat possible. “Do you mean in a philosophical sense, or are you looking for a detailed list of all the classes we have on record?”
Asher looked at the librarian sitting ...
2025-05-20 16:00:08 +0000 UTC View PostThe next few days fell into a familiar pattern. During the day, Asher would spend his time in the library, pushing his Incorporate and Comprehend skills to the limit as he conducted research about this world and did his best to shore up any of the obvious holes in his knowledge. While he read all about this new world and impr...
2025-05-19 16:00:14 +0000 UTC View Post“Why spiders? We already did spiders!” Vin lamented, staring at the practical wall of webbing stretching around the treeline. Their group had pulled up short on the edge of Alka’s fragment, but hadn’t dared step across just yet. The next fragment was so densely covered in webs that in order for any of them to move acr...
2025-05-19 16:00:13 +0000 UTC View PostHissing in pain, Asher sheathed his blackened dagger and cradled his still smoking arm. Despite his Complete Resilience and the fact that his arm was only in the fire for a split second thanks to Distortion, he’d still suffered what looked like horrific third-degree burns all along his right arm.
Astral Dip - ...
2025-05-18 14:28:01 +0000 UTC View Post“So, find everything you were looking for?” Rosh asked, blowing on his stew before popping a spoonful of it into his mouth, all but moaning at the rich flavors.
“I think so… That and more if I’m being honest,” Asher admitted, helping himself to his own dinner. To his surprise, the near scalding heat of the s...
2025-05-18 14:27:15 +0000 UTC View PostThe library was just as impressive on the inside, and Asher couldn’t help but stare at the massive shelves of books lining the walls. Each stack ran from the ground all the way to the ceiling, and people were using everything from massive ladders to various skills to sift through the stacks.
While he was distrac...
2025-05-18 14:26:01 +0000 UTC View PostAsher walked calmly down the road toward Whikoga, his new hireling by his side. Honestly, he hadn’t understood just how rough Rosh’s situation must have been until the man jumped at the offer of a job, even after everything that had just happened. He was clearly strapped for shards, and when Asher promised him he wouldn...
2025-05-18 14:25:01 +0000 UTC View Post“Please don’t kill me! I didn’t want to help him but I didn’t have a choice!” The man screamed, scrambling backwards until his back was pressed against the invisible wall. Holding his hands up placatingly, he began begging. “I’ll do whatever you want! Do you need shards? I can get you shards!”
“Just ca...
2025-05-18 14:24:02 +0000 UTC View PostThe three men clearly had experience working together, because as soon as they realized the sharpener’s surprise attack had failed they sprung into action.
The boxer immediately darted toward Asher, activating some sort of skill as his body blurred forward, his speed greatly enhanced as the distance between them...
2025-05-18 14:23:02 +0000 UTC View PostThe next few days flew by almost as fast as Asher did as he made his way toward Whikoga. Without having to continuously stop and dodge trees like he’d been forced to do in the forest, running on an actual road allowed him to use Distortion to craft longer and longer tunnels of shortened space, effectively launching himself ...
2025-05-18 14:22:01 +0000 UTC View Post“Sam, there was a big fire last night!” Brian exclaimed, barely touching his breakfast as he bounced up and down in his chair, excited to be the one to break the news to his sister. Almost immediately after he’d woken up, one of Brian’s friends had swung by the cabin to let him know the news. Apparently it was all any...
2025-05-18 14:21:00 +0000 UTC View PostAsher yawned, squinting at the early morning sunlight streaming in through the cabin window. Evidently it didn’t matter which side of the bed he ended up sleeping on, the vengeance of the sun’s first rays was impossible to be avoided.
“Finally up then?”
Turning onto his side, Asher took in Samantha’s sle...
2025-05-18 14:20:01 +0000 UTC View PostAsher stared at the dead merchant lying at his feet, surprised that he didn’t really feel much of anything if he were being honest. He’d just killed a man in cold blood, yet he didn’t feel so much as a hint of nausea. If anything, he was almost happy to have rid the world of such a deplorable man.
Just li...
2025-05-18 14:19:01 +0000 UTC View PostTrellis leaned back in his chair, happily sighing as he went over the profit reports the various merchants making up his caravan had given him. It was common practice for merchants within a caravan to pay a percentage of their profits to the caravan leader in exchange for using their connections and protection, and Trellis ha...
2025-05-18 14:18:02 +0000 UTC View PostOnly the passive benefit of Comprehend allowed Asher to react in time to save his life, and with a startled curse he slipped into the astral realm while the panther’s claws of pure ice were still a hair's breadth away from his neck. Rather than take his head off with a single slash, the awakened beast flew straight through ...
2025-05-18 14:17:01 +0000 UTC View PostSprinting through the forest, it took all of Asher’s concentration to keep his breakfast down as the world bent and bled around him. He’d gotten better at using Distortion for movement over the past few days, but he’d never tried using it like this before. There was a big difference between using his skill to shift a fe...
2025-05-18 14:16:01 +0000 UTC View PostGod damn it Samantha, Asher thought, weaving his way through the hundreds of villagers as he tried to find the green and blue striped tent Elaina had told him about. Not only was it located in the center of the throng of people, but it apparently belonged to the man who was both the caravan’s hide salesman and the ...
2025-05-18 14:15:01 +0000 UTC View PostDespite his desire to unlock the rest of his skills, Asher ended up joining Samantha on her hunts in the forest over the next few days. Now that he knew he’d be leaving the village and the two of them as soon as he’d sold his tusks, he decided he wanted to spend a bit more time getting to know the hunter.
The fact t...
2025-05-18 14:14:02 +0000 UTC View Post“Sam!” Brian shouted, running over and giving the bear a big hug. “Asher used one of his skills on me! It’s sooo cool!”
“Oh did he now?” The bear asked, removing its head and revealing the missing hunter wrapped within the thick bearskin. Raising her eyebrow toward Asher, she patted the top of Brian’s he...
2025-05-18 14:13:01 +0000 UTC View Post
