HankTheMoose

2.32 Clean-Up Duty

“Sir, don’t you think this is too much?” Josie asked, putting the note down on Radast’s desk. “You’re framing her as a cute, friendly neighborhood mascot. She’s a hellfire-throwing demon who seems to have just barely discovered the c...

2.31 Sorcery

“I just don’t know what to do.” Torvald complained. “We’re fighting a powerful enemy here, but I’m still just a guy with a sword. I don’t understand why I haven’t gotten a calling!”

Bernt shrugged noncommittally. “I don�...

2.30 Light Reading

My editor has been on top of things, so, surprise! We are officially 6 posts ahead now! Cheers.

Bernt felt worn out as he climbed the steps in the Mages’ Guild toward Pollock’s office. The day had been uneventful – he�...

2.29 Experiments

“I don’t think it’s normal.” Jori said, staring at Bernt’s arm. She was squatting on Bernt’s table, the result of one of his most recent stone shaping exercises. It was mostly round and level, which made it a great success as far as Be...

2.28 Playing With Fire

Bernt watched as a glowing thread of his spirit slowly wormed its way out of his open palm in a loop, curling a little as it emerged.

Carefully, he tried to push more of the damaged channel out, but it didn’t work quite as well as it had t...

2.27 A New Flame

Pollock peered at the spellform over the top of his glasses, shuffling around the rune circle slowly as he examined it.

“Well. I don’t know that it’ll work quite yet. But it won’t blow up in your face. That’s a fairly good start. I...

2.26 A Bad Day

Bernt activated his thornskin amulet as something large and furry bowled into him. They hadn’t made it to the breach in time, and now the enemy was in the tunnels. Kustov shouted something, but Bernt couldn’t understand him. He was too distrac...

2.25 Family Reunion

Surprise! Double feature today, which very briefly brings us up to 5 advance chapters. At least until the release in a couple of hours. Enjoy!

Jori broke through the circle of incapacitated underkeepers and flung a handful of...

2.24 A Demon on Patrol Duty

Bernt closed his eyes and rubbed at his temples. On the page in front of him was a vastly simplified spellform that he’d cobbled together from examining Jori’s blood. The first thing Pollock had tasked him with was choosing the best base for h...

2.23 Treatment Plan

“That seems like a needlessly restrictive solution.” Josie said, shaking her head. “Why don’t you just use your other hand to cast? Why haven’t you been doing that this whole time?”

They were sitting in the Underkeepers’ break ...

2.22 Expert Opinion

As he turned off of the main tunnel thoroughfare and into the smaller one that made up his street, Bernt was struck by just how different the Undercity felt compared to the surface. There were goblin children here, playing in the street while thei...

2.21 Catching up with a Friend

Bernt left the Mages’ Guild with a spring in his step, taking a left toward the Gateside Market. He still had something to take care of beffore he headed home.

Things were finally moving along – with his new guild membership, he could fi...

2.20 Magister Pollock

“I hope you actually have something for me.” Iriala said as Bernt entered her office. “My receptionist seems to think you’re just trying to go over his head.”

Bernt shifted uncomfortably. “Uh. no. I mean, It's not just&n...

2.19 Banefire

“Three, two, one, now!” Kustov barked, backing away from the fist-sized hole he’d been making in what looked like a random spot in the tunnel connecting the Undercity to Halfbridge proper.

Bernt stepped forward and activated a new spel...

2.18 Hostilities

Aand here's the second one for the day! I'm back home and updates will now be returning to their regularly scheduled programming. Cheers!

By the time they returned, Bernt had made up his mind to tell Ed what he’d seen. So, ...

2.17 Patrol

The news spread through the city like wildfire. Bernt led the group back down toward the Undercity, leaving the mostly full cart parked at the side of the street for later. The incinerator was located outside the walls anyway, and it was safe to a...

2.16 Siege

Hi all, this still hasn't all been edited, so keep in mind RR might deviate slightly, but I didn't want to make you guys wait any longer. Cheers!

Iriala kept her face carefully neutral as Radast gave the count an over-embelli...

2.15 A New Recruit

Nirlig, as it turned out, was a true people person. Bernt thought he’d done reasonably well, getting to know the names of a few of the newbies and helping Lin, the matronly goblin witch, to heat her tea the previous morning.

But Bernt was ...

2.14 New Neighbors

Bernt woke to a quiet whimpering noise. It was mostly dark, with just a bit of light coming in through one of the open windows. He blinked and rubbed at his eyes, trying to get his bearings.

He was in his new house, in the Undercity. The lig...

2.13 Interrogation

Getting the dwarf out of the Paladins’ Hall discreetly was difficult, but they managed. They had to – the paladins likely would have objected to a demon, a solicitor, and a suspected warlock apprehending another enemy warlock in their basement...

2.12 Pursuit

“We need to find him, now!” Fiora insisted to the exasperated guard officer. “He might be carrying an alchemical device like the other one, there’s no way to know – and no telling how much damage it could do if it was used in the wrong s...

2.11 Fire

Bernt slowly made his way down from the Upper District, sore and exhausted from a late afternoon sparring session with Therion. The other mage said he was getting better, but Bernt wasn’t sure that was true, not judging by the beating he took ev...

2.10 Infiltrators

Hi all, I spent most of the day at the hospital due to a medical emergency in the family. This might slow me down a bit on the writing in the next week, but we'll have to see. Enjoy!

Jori waved to the guard as she made her wa...

2.9 Meeting with an Archmage

“I would hire a professional if I were you.” Kustov said with a shrug. “There’s really no way around it. An improperly installed door is a nightmare – the kind of minor nuisance that will ruin your peace of mind just a little more every ...

2.8 Moving In

Sorry for the late post, I'm aiming to get the next one up today as well -- it's been written for some time, I'm just waiting on my editor for it. Enjoy!

The new complex was massive – at least compared to their old headquar...

2.7 The Undercity

Bernt was still cramming the last bits of soggy, soup-drenched bread into his mouth when they arrived at the breach. Uh. Former breach. Sometime in the past week, the place had been transformed – probably by Kustov or maybe even Janus. It was a ...

2.6 Follow Up

Bernt sat in his room at the Minotaur’s Head and read the letter again – the pertinent part, not the introductory word salad. Someone had slid it under his door and he’d found it when he got up this morning. It was written on expensive parch...

2.5 Skinwalker

The monstrous beaver creature barreled toward them like a runaway horse. Conjuring fire here was a bad idea. But he wasn’t fast enough with anything else. Clearing the incendiary influence of his investiture out of a spell on the f...

2.4 Warlock Underkeeper

Bernt shuffled into the Underkeepers’ headquarters early the next morning, still trying to rub the sleep out of his eyes as Jori skipped along behind him. The little demon didn’t need to sleep very much, and her chipper attitude always grated ...

2.3 Paperwork

Bernt visualized the spellform in his mind, tracing it in the air from memory for the first time with a finger. He kept his eyes closed, both to help him concentrate and to keep himself from peeking at the scroll in his lap.

He was sitting o...