An hour later I found myself reflecting that this, finally, must be what it truly meant to be the Dark Lord.
All this time I’d been mostly working with my own two hands, facing my enemies head-on, and when I had to involve others, leading from the front. Now that I thought of it, that was mostly Hero stuff, righ...
2021-09-14 03:24:08 +0000 UTC View Post“Wait!” Auldmaer rose abruptly from his chair, holding out a hand to forestall me as I started to turn toward the door. “This doesn’t add up. There’s always time to think, Lord Seiji; give me a moment to lay this out.”
The rising surge of incipient violence was practically tingling in my li...
2021-09-10 00:28:25 +0000 UTC View PostI handed my new minions off to my older minions while accepting Junko’s customary exuberant greeting. Minifrit, as usual, was up and about and in control bright and early; she smoothly swept up the new arrivals and ushered them off in the custody of herself and a few girls she had designated her helpers to get somethi...
2021-09-07 02:35:12 +0000 UTC View PostOf course, it couldn’t be that simple.
Time was dragging on and the hike back to North Watch wasn’t insignificant, so after a relatively short exchange of words in which I figured out that my questions were going to take some time to get answered, I opted to put that aside and prepare to move out. Well, the ma...
2021-09-03 03:44:48 +0000 UTC View Post“My…tale.” The bandit boss’s eyebrows drew together in confusion.
“Not many people are born bandits, I imagine,” I said in a genial tone. “Even fewer aspire to it. You don’t see many children scampering through the farms, villages, and city streets, dreaming of one day slowly s...
2021-08-31 01:00:15 +0000 UTC View PostThe thing about vengeance is the “best served cold” part; there’s a lot of fiddly, detail-oriented and frankly boring prep work before you can get to the grand catharsis of seeing your enemies kneeling broken at your feet.
Which is why, at the end of the week, I found myself leading a small team through the pitch-...
2021-08-27 02:09:23 +0000 UTC View PostI watched the slime sail away into the sky, arcing down into the khora forest, and frowned.
Holding out my hand, I cast Slimeshot several more times, sending more of them flying into the wild blue yonder. It was easy; casting the spell without a target was nothing.
“Considering we’re planning to normaliz...
2021-08-24 01:41:45 +0000 UTC View Post“All right, everyone’s tired, so let’s make this quick.”
I had always wondered why my fortress, a former military outpost built on what had been the frontier of civilization and was now well beyond it, contained a formal dining room. Fortunately I’d never asked anyone, so I only had to be embarrassed in ...
2021-08-20 00:43:25 +0000 UTC View PostSo, as you all just saw, this month's voted bonus chapter is 12 days late. Coming as it did during my much-needed break, which I just barely managed to limp to in a state of burnout without having missed an update in OVDT's first book (except the one from when I got the second covid shot), I probably should have suspend...
2021-08-12 23:08:06 +0000 UTC View Post“Are you sure this goblin is trustworthy?” Flaethwyn stage whispered for the third time in those exact words in the last fifteen minutes. This was the better version; the other two she had called their guide “this creature.”
Yoshi appreciated that about her. Really, he did. Ephemera ha...
2021-08-12 23:01:09 +0000 UTC View PostIt was easily my best landing so far, which wasn’t much to brag about considering how many shingles I’d crashed into and through in the last few minutes. Thanks to the Surestep Boots I hit the ground in a perfect roll and came up on my feet, neat as a professional stunt actor. All the impacts and near-misses r...
2021-07-20 01:41:36 +0000 UTC View PostLady Gray did not have the courtesy to acknowledge or react to my catchphrase. Her face was half in shadow due to the night’s darkness and most of the illumination being from the blue and orange lights of Cat Alley below us, but I saw her eyebrows draw together in confusion as her eyes flicked down to examine my feet....
2021-07-16 01:17:14 +0000 UTC View PostFor once, I didn’t waste time shooting off my mouth, not when I had better things to shoot.
Slimeshot!
I was focused right on Lady Gray’s grinning face with my hand still extended from trying to cast Immolate, but the slime did not emerge. In fact, the spell did nothing; there was no sen...
2021-07-13 02:29:56 +0000 UTC View PostI got no end of grief from Sakin and Aster and even Gilder for putting it that way. Quietly, while we were on the move, and only once we were out of earshot, because none of them were idiots. And sure, okay, “betray me” might have been a more grandiose than accurate way of phrasing “create a diversion,” bu...
2021-07-09 01:17:53 +0000 UTC View PostIn a story, the thing that makes the protagonist snap always seems to be a thing. Some deeply personal trauma, readily identifiable as a tipping point and sufficiently over-the-top to impress the audience. And sure, I still believed there was truth to that; I’d seen firsthand the effects a traumatic exp...
2021-07-06 01:40:49 +0000 UTC View PostAfter all my recent frustrations, it felt good to finally be kicking down doors. Literally.
The latch was already loose; it wrenched free of its moorings under the impact of my boot, tumbling to the ground in pieces as the door banged inward. I stepped into the room beyond, already spreading my arms in a gra...
2021-07-02 00:48:23 +0000 UTC View PostA/N: This was already posted on RR, but apparently some folks only read Patreon notifications and I'd hate for you to miss it. Sorry the chapter wasn't early for patrons this month, I'm having burnout issues and it wasn't finished until right before posting deadline on the 30th.
*** 2021-07-01 22:44:07 +0000 UTC View Post
Needless to say, we did not make good time on the return trip. Having the kids along slowed us considerably, especially once their energy ran out and we had to carry them. I was in much better shape after a couple of months on Ephemera and Aster had been active and athletic for basically her whole life, but neithe...
2021-06-28 23:24:52 +0000 UTC View Post“It’s pretty bad, m’lord.” Olyc didn’t beat around the bush. “Seems like Lady Gray’s pulled almost her whole organization to focus on Cat Alley. Gotta be near every gang operating in the Gutters is hanging around there, either right in it or just outside. Me and the lads can still get in ...
2021-06-25 00:59:45 +0000 UTC View PostCaptain Norovena wasn’t best pleased to return to his guard post and find I’d turned it into happy hour, but that was what he got for not being there when I came calling. Surely a guard captain was more of a desk job; they wouldn’t ask him to go out patrolling, right? I didn’t know where he was and didn’...
2021-06-22 02:55:23 +0000 UTC View Post“Good morning, ladies!”
Though it was early for breakfast, still before dawn, everyone had gathered in the mess hall and they all looked a lot more chipper than upon arrival, which was really saying something for a bunch of people who had until very recently been nocturnal. Taking an all-day hike from midnight...
2021-06-18 01:10:43 +0000 UTC View Post“All right, all right, I hear you!” Maugro emerged from the darkness of the tunnel into my kitchen, wearing a sour expression and followed by one of his omnipresent goblin bouncers. “Future reference, Lord Seiji, I always got somebody holding down the fort. You can shout once and be a...
2021-06-15 01:58:13 +0000 UTC View PostIt was hard to say how impressed they were with North Watch. The place looked a lot better than it did when I’d arrived—internally, anyway. Cleaning out the dust and clutter we could do, but I wasn’t equipped to rebuild the broken masonry. Even so, by the time we reached home, the new arrivals were too...
2021-06-11 01:11:11 +0000 UTC View Post“D-did you just say...” one of the street soldiers stammered.
“Fuckin’ lunatic,” muttered another.
Cauth pivoted to face me fully, his battleaxe braced in both hands, ready to swing, though the look on his face told me he knew his chances against me in a fight. His voice was tense with it.
...
2021-06-08 03:44:47 +0000 UTC View PostI knew, though,I’d be following whatever advice he came up with, purely because I had no other options here.
“Get to the guitar,” Biribo whispered in my ear, “and sing. Sing something in your own language—anything these people won’t understand. And you gotta really sing...
2021-06-01 03:14:43 +0000 UTC View Post“Thanks for comin’ in early, Nagoun.”
“No sweat, boss. Specially since you always make it worth my while. And speaking of…”
“Yeah, yeah. There’s a whole pot of tea ready. Strong-brewed, in that spicy Fflyr blend you like, ya freak.”
“Hey, I’m not gonna take that ...
2021-05-31 09:22:11 +0000 UTC View Post“Oh, it is sparking off,”Gilder said with all the ghoulish relish of a young boy describing violence and chaos. “Everybody’s talking about how Lady Gray’s over a barrel now. This Healer shit’s got her combing the Gutters to find his ass, and with the Olumnach bandits still pressing in, she’s...
2021-05-28 00:54:31 +0000 UTC View Post“So, the Void can refer to two things: shapeless magic, and the realm it comes from.”
“Shapeless magic?”
Sakin nodded, and I couldn’t help noticing how unusually focused he looked. Maybe because we were deliberately going behind Biribo’s back; he only ever seemed to get serious when ther...
2021-05-25 01:07:32 +0000 UTC View PostSo obviously, I made magic my project of the week.
I was at it again the next morning, immediately following a solid night’s sleep and a hearty breakfast of crawn stew. Because, oh yes, here on Ephemera we ate crawns. Lowborn did, anyway; in fact, they seemed to be the chief source of protein for the lower...
2021-05-21 01:21:33 +0000 UTC View PostAfter that performance, someone tried to follow us home again. I assumed Lady Gray’s people, but depending on how big a stir the Healer had just kicked up, the possibilities were innumerable. In any case, nothing came of it; Blessed with Wisdom are exceedingly difficult to track when they don’t want to be, and...
2021-05-18 02:46:46 +0000 UTC View Post
