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 concept of empathy. I don’t want to downplay that...

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’t really know anything about the gods, Torvald. C...

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’d had a light assignment on patrol in the Craftin...

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 Bernt was concerned, even if the supporting legs wer...

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 the first time he’d done it. Instead of going whe...

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 think you have a talent for this sort of thing, o...

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 distracted by the large, heavy creature pinning him to th...

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 hellfire at the dwarf, who was still on the groun...

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 his new hellfire-based derivative spell.

At f...

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 room over a cup of tea as Bernt caught her up on w...

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 their parents sat out in front of their doors and goss...

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 finally get his next investiture, and with access to...

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 that, I do have something for you.”

Th...

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 spellform that he’d been working on for the past two...

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, while the others left to catch a good night’s sl...

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 assume that the gates would be locked down for a wh...

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-embellished bow and nodded graciously to the assembled le...

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 apparently an amateur when it came to socializing....

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 light was from the tunnel’s illumination. 

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. Once they were out, they simply walked the dwarf...

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 spot.”

“Yes, I’m aware of that,” the ...

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 every time. He was trying to think of new and creati...

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 way back down into the Undercity – it was one of t...

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 day. Don’t worry too much about the cost. You ca...

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 headquarters. It made sense, since there was no way that n...

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 lot of stonework.

What had pre...

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 parchment, adorned at the top with the elaborate crest ...

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 fly would take too long.

Deciding to take the...

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 on him in the mornings. It was one of the reasons ...

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 outside the gates, at his favorite studying spot do...