The train was necessitated by the fact that we didn’t have a better way to get to the Boundless Pit. There was a touchstone only about twenty minutes’ walk from the Boundless Pit, but using our teleportation key to get there would have basically required us to kill a dozen guards and make ourselves conspicuous, […]
Worth the Candle, Ch 81: Musings on the Elder God
With seemingly nothing left to do — a full 90% of Essentialism seemed locked behind various exclusions — I tried transferring some of my points from Essentialism back into my other skills, only to find that the game still seemed to count them as points transferred for the purposes of the Skilled Trade malus. This […]
Worth the Candle, Ch 80: The Princess and the Pea
When I returned to my soul as I knew it, the creepy black umbilical cord that had led to the Dungeon Master’s void was gone — and somewhat distressingly, so were two of the white lines that I’d been assuming would reveal the other two companions. Had he changed something? Had I changed something in […]
Worth the Candle, Ch 79: Rule Zero
“You’re the Dungeon Master,” I said, looking him over. “I prefer ‘DM’,” he replied. He was smirking at me. “Less of a mouthful.” “You’re … not me,” I said. I was staring. There were similarities between us, not just in the jeans and hoodie he was wearing — a pretty classic outfit for me, back […]
Worth the Candle, Ch 78: The Sacrifice
It took a day of training to get my skills up high enough for what I started thinking of as the Sacrifice. I kind of hated going over the annotated paper copy of the character sheet with the group, because it was my character sheet, but I could see the wisdom in it, and resisted […]
Worth the Candle, Ch 77: Lies and Damned Lies
“Are you upset with me?” asked Val as soon as our group meeting had broken up. She didn’t wait until anyone else was away, and I could see Grak and Amaryllis share a look. “Come on, let’s talk about this in my room,” I said, gesturing for her to lead the way. We walked through […]
Worth the Candle, Ch 76: Date Night
Fenn was dressed to the nines, in a black dress that hugged her figure and revealed her legs, back, and intricately scarred arms in a way that got my heart pounding. She was wearing a pair of black heels, and dazzling earrings that drew attention to her pointed ears. I hadn’t been completely clear on […]
Worth the Candle, Ch 75: Stats for Nerds
PHY 8 7 POW 20 Unarmed Combat 21 One-handed Weapons 21 Two-handed Weapons 20 Improvised Weapons 7 SPD 20 Thrown Weapons 20 Dual Wield 2 Stealth 15 Bows 7 END 21 Rifles 20 Parry 20 Dodge 21 Athletics MEN 9 8 CUN 12 Engineering 1 Shields 3 Unarmored 9 Medium Armor 8 KNO […]
Worth the Candle, Ch 74: The Mouth of a Long River
“How long are we going to wait here?” asked Fenn after an hour had passed. We’d had a late supper, a cold meal of shredded meat and crumbly cheese between slices of yambread that was almost, but not quite, what I would call a sandwich. I forced the food down; with Fallatehr dead, fixing my […]
Worth the Candle, Ch 73: Amaryllis
Amaryllis watched the car leave, tracking it until it was out of sight. She had memorized the glyph sequence as a matter of course, back when they’d purchased the farmhouse and taken stock of what was available to them, but it never hurt to get a confirmation. It was difficult to imagine a scenario in […]
Worth the Candle, Ch 72: Tripartite Talks
Amaryllis brought the soulcycle to a rest fifty feet from where Fallatehr stood, closer than I would have liked. He was basking under one of the farmhouse’s outside lights, smiling faintly at our arrival, that smile wide enough to reveal the sharp teeth in his mouth. I wasn’t frightened, per se, but I was wary. […]