The walls of Beroh Keep rose against the twilight sky.
Constructed from dark, imposing stone, the keep stood tall and formidable, a mighty presence atop the steepest hill for miles around. Beroh Keep had the aura of a battle-hardened soldier, whose walls no doubt knew countless tales of war and siege and endurance and defiance throughout the ages. It dwarfed the original Häerz Castle, though now that it had grown into Castle Redmane he supposed they were about equal in size.
Whic...
2024-11-11 18:00:13 +0000 UTC
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Just when Lar Tathvaal thought he was working out a solution, Redmane went and made things easier for him.
Evidently he had just come into armed conflict with another Faction, the creatively named ‘Defenders of Volos.’
The notification made him drop what he was doing and return to his desk, to call up the atlas of Volos and see what was going on. There, near the center of the continent at a place called Mount Merkuur, were a cluster of icons representing Imbued. Three live one...
2024-11-10 18:00:08 +0000 UTC
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Kamil Velibor, silhouetted against the sun, descended on Redmane at terminal velocity.
Redmane decided he’d rather not be there when he landed.
He leapt backward, and when Velibor impacted on the ground it kicked up a wave of rocks, grass and dirt which pelted Redmane in the face, spraying outward from a newly formed crater.
Velibor streaked out of that crater, straight at Redmane.
Howling like a beast, eyes wild with berserk fury, he swung his greatsword as if it we...
2024-11-09 18:00:08 +0000 UTC
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Redmane watched, with a certain satisfaction, as Aerin Morholt and his companions processed the sight before them.
Aerin's grip on the hilt of his sword tightened, his knuckles white. His eyes were wide, pupils dilated as he took in Redmane's presence. The air around him seemed to still, his breath caught in his throat.
Redmane could smell the fear on him.
He also noted that the sword he gripped looked very much like the sword of the Sicarius he’d recently fought, and ea...
2024-11-08 18:00:13 +0000 UTC
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Aeric Morholt embarked on his journey to Mount Merkuur with four companions, in the fashion of the Five Heroes of old. He felt it was auspicious. And appropriate, as he recently learned that the Five Heroes themselves made this very same journey a long time ago.
At his left and right rode Ser Bogdan and Ser Grimgarl, steadfast friends since his youth, when he’d first come to Asgoph from the land of the Morholts. Bringing up the rear were Ser Velibor, a newcomer to their group, amicabl...
2024-11-07 18:00:10 +0000 UTC
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The hammer came down, and Redmane caught it.
Specifically, he caught the invisible nimbus of force surrounding its head. It smacked down into his palms, and his claws dug into it, as if it were a physical substance. Redmane gritted his teeth as he felt the heat of it searing his hands, making them begin to glow. But worse than that, he felt the concept of his hands coming apart, as if the God Breaker were capable of obliterating them at the abstract level.
“You should have staye...
2024-11-06 18:00:11 +0000 UTC
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As Redmane walked into the darkness, lights sprang into being all around him.
They were torches on the walls, lit one after another by some spell which sensed his presence in the tomb. They gave off a golden radiance, a stark contrast to the black stone. It illuminated a carved mural on those walls, similar in style to the depictions of Vos at the Abyssal Wells.
This mural seemed to tell a story.
It began on the left side of the chamber, with a familiar image. Vos, standing ...
2024-11-05 18:00:09 +0000 UTC
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Redmane ate until his Corpus was at a satisfactory level.
Corpus: 9657
He explained his intentions to Vang and the demi-humans, had them remain in the village to clean up any leftover Gill-Men.
And then he was off, to the Abyss.
Submerge
He sank into the profound darkness of the world beneath all shadows.
Transit from Kenvik to the Abyssal Well was brief and surreal in its beauty, a walk upon still dark waters under a sk...
2024-11-04 18:00:15 +0000 UTC
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Freydis of the Deep was mighty, to be sure.
But she wasn’t especially bright.
Redmane didn’t know how long this creature had lived, or what had drawn it up to the village of Kenvik from the depths. The Blight, more likely than not. But it had just made the final mistake of its life.
Walls of flesh pulsed and contracted around Redmane, coated with a slick, viscous slime that clung to his skin. The air filled with the stench of decomposing flesh and the sharp tang of gastr...
2024-11-03 18:00:10 +0000 UTC
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As with Vang, Redmane made the process quick and painless.
Warlock Dobrogost Slain
Tasks Complete: 3/3
Level Up
Level 86 —> Level 87
Level 87 —> Level 88
Level 88 —> Level 89
Zone Tasks Completed
Cleared Zone: Skalla Mountains
Level Up
Level 89 —> Level ...
2024-11-02 17:00:15 +0000 UTC
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Helmold Brecht laid his plans and carried them out, but he failed to account for something.
There was a little bird watching him.
The little bird followed him on the night he smuggled Aric Morholt out of the castle. From a distance the Magister wouldn’t have been able to see, if he had the presence of mind to check high places for anything watching him in the first place. He did not. Helmold seemed like he was barely holding it together.
The bird observed all this impassiv...
2024-11-01 17:00:21 +0000 UTC
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As it turned out, only three demi-humans were brave enough to join their leader. Their names were Zorn, Nuk and Throk, and they volunteered for their communion with something like religious fervor in their eyes. All three looked to be stout warriors. They had wiry muscles, scarred bodies and battle hardened faces.
Redmane made it quick.
And when he Spawned them anew, he gave their Corpus right back to them.
As for the rest, Vang called them all a bunch of chicken-shits a...
2024-10-31 17:00:18 +0000 UTC
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A growing crowd of demi-humans formed around Redmane and Vang.
More and more of them emerged from concealed tunnel entrances up and down the mountainside road. There were so many Redmane raised an eyebrow at them, wondered where they’d all been when their kin were down in the Gruu burrow trying to exterminate the Great Grandmother. Perhaps they too had been down there in different places, and he’d run into Vang by happenstance.
He’d been a victim of stranger coincidences.
2024-10-30 17:00:10 +0000 UTC
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In what the Numantians called the center of Astral space, a consciousness arose.
It had no name, no identity, no sex. No sense of itself beyond simple self awareness.
‘I am,’ it observed.
And then it observed everything else.
The consciousness dwelt within a vast nexus of power which had been channeled to this single point, centralized, an effort of untold millenia and ingenious magical engineering. It understood that this nexus was created to power a civilization ...
2024-10-29 17:00:09 +0000 UTC
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The Gruu Glutton rose to its full imposing height, and the ground beneath Redmane’s feet trembled with the sheer mass of the creature as it stood. Two more arms grew out of its torso, and it raised all four with claws glinting in the sun.
It then began to fill its lungs with air, drawing in a huge breath.
Redmane’s eyes widened when he realized what the Gruu was about to do.
It was going to roar. And the roar would call the rest of the burrow.
If that were to happe...
2024-10-28 17:00:15 +0000 UTC
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Lar Tathvaal watched ‘Häerz Castle’ become ‘Castle Redmane,’ and he grinned from ear to ear.
An ‘anomaly’ indeed.
He’d bet on the right chariot.
No normal Faction could have upgraded their Sanctuary so swiftly. Not even in a Blight this massive. It had been mere days, but Redmane had transformed the very land, invested it with something which enhanced its Gnosis generating properties greatly. He’d never seen anything like it. Every Zone under the control of...
2024-10-27 17:00:11 +0000 UTC
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In the small hours of the morning, Redmane and Flora lay together in the Lord’s bed. He held one of them close under his arm. Another lay against his other side, dozing. Two stood, one dressing for the kitchen, the other pouring wine from a decanter beside the bed. Two cups, one for Redmane, one for herself.
The one under his arm looked up at him, smiled.
“Thou hast a Kingly constitution,” she said.
The one with the wine sauntered over and handed him a cup, which he ac...
2024-10-26 17:00:08 +0000 UTC
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From the heights of Rollo’s Pass, it was a surprisingly short flight to Häerz Castle.
The fighting had drained his Gnosis, and lacking any innate way of recovering it he decided the best course would be to make a return trip now, before trying to engage with the next Zone. There was also the matter of the rescued children. It wouldn’t do to send them to the castle by themselves, even if the area were clear of monsters.
And so Redmane had to fly carefully, as he ca...
2024-10-25 17:00:14 +0000 UTC
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My lord, Pietr called out. Master, can you hear me!
But there were other voices crowding his out. Voices full of malice, smothering Redmane in body and mind.
Your defiance is pathetic, a futile gesture against the inevitable. Surrender to despair!
Your strength is a lie, a fleeting illusion. You will crumble beneath the weight of your own failures. Surrender to your weakness!
You are nothing but a shadow of your former self...
2024-10-24 17:00:08 +0000 UTC
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Captain Solveig bounded forward like a giant ape, and Redmane met him in the center of the bridge.
Huge arms whooshed just over his head, or out to the side, and every time he evaded, Redmane felt how much air those limbs displaced. Being struck by one would likely knock off half his Corpus, and send him flying from the bridge. Solveig was far nimbler than his stature would suggest. Redmane closed the distance and he would angle out or hop over his head, use his vast reach advantage to...
2024-10-23 17:00:09 +0000 UTC
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Redmane and Fedor ripped into each other, and blood, flesh and fur sprayed all over the inside of the shed.
He couldn’t see it well, but he could tell by the stench that the entire interior of this room was painted with blood.
Redmane felt his heart thundering faster and faster against his ribcage, his muscles hot and his skin slicked with blood as his claws became a blur of slashing death. He felt Fedor’s claws ripping his own body apart at the same time. A race to th...
2024-10-22 17:00:08 +0000 UTC
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Redmane took a few deep breaths. And then one long one, inhaling slowly, filling his lungs all the way up with air.
Then he dove back down into the water.
The Abyssal Well had no bottom he could see. Not that he could see anything in water this dark to begin with. It occurred to him as he swam that he didn’t know how to return to the Abyss at all. He had no Skill for it. But perhaps it was simply a matter of swimming deep enough.
He closed his eyes and checked through his ...
2024-10-21 17:00:09 +0000 UTC
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Redmane sank into nothingness.
He moved his arms as if to swim upward, and his hands indeed felt substance resisting them, as they would if one were truly underwater. But if he were moving, he could not tell. There was no visible surface above, nor bottom below.
After a time he gave up wasting energy and floated in place. Trying to think his way through the problem.
Barba used a Skill which resembled the magic of Samo, the Keeper of the Well. His System tag classified him as...
2024-10-20 17:00:09 +0000 UTC
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Dirge of the Devourer
Gnosis: 619
Redmane began a chant, in a sonorous voice. He sang a song older than the line of the Stahlmen kings. A song once sung to pacify the beast within, to offer praise to the primordial gods of forgotten antiquity. He didn’t remember the song from his former lives, however. The words and their meanings were imprinted on the Skill itself, which he’d eaten.
Today it made Bartosz stop and sway in place, as if he...
2024-10-19 17:00:09 +0000 UTC
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Helmold Brecht’s attention went straight to the Pharos when it sounded, hoping it was the Dicentis Lar Tathvaal.
When he saw who it really was, he went pale for a moment.
He straightened himself out before answering, took a deep breath, and answered with a smile.
“My Lord Redmane,” he said. “How fares your journey.”
Even the ghostly image of Redmane’s gaze was unsettling.
He looked at people the way a curious predator looks at a prey animal it just ...
2024-10-18 17:00:11 +0000 UTC
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Blazh and Vasili charged at Redmane from across the church, smashing aside pews and sending prayer books and votive candle holders hurtling through the air on their way.
Redmane broke out into a sprint, happy to meet them in the middle.
Blazh’s stature gave him a monstrous stride length. He outpaced his stout comrade immediately, met Redmane with a downward blow of his fist. For a beast his size, he was fast. Deceptively so. Redmane saw his hand come down, thought he had time to...
2024-10-17 17:00:11 +0000 UTC
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Redmane leapt through the doorway after Samo, the wings of the Manticore unfurling behind him.
Too late.
The Keeper of the Well had already jumped from the edge of the stairs. Whether by accident or on purpose he couldn’t know, not that it mattered. But now he fell toward the dark water below, and the many arms of his minion, his body sheathed in flames and trailing smoke.
Redmane would have to follow him.
He ran to the edge, crouched like a diver, and shot straigh...
2024-10-16 17:00:11 +0000 UTC
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Four more monks emerged from rooms adjoining the main chamber, drawn by the sound of Samo’s voice. There were a total of ten then, not including the Keeper of the Well himself.
The monks were all at or around Level 80. Their bodies were huge, and freakishly muscled. Many had re-fashioned their ruined robes into kilts, and Redmane didn’t have to wonder what might have happened to those who hadn’t transformed. The monks’ faces and bodies were spattered with dried blood, and...
2024-10-15 16:32:09 +0000 UTC
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Lar Tathvaal heard a door bang open, and he knew precisely whose door it was.
He hustled down the hallway toward Jarel Craith’s offices, intercepted him when he came around the corner.
Lar smiled. “A moment of your time, Praetor?”
Jarel looked as stressed as was possible for his wooden face. Which was to say he contained it well. On the best day of his life and the worst day of his life, Jarel Craith would look exactly alike to most people. But Lar knew the man well e...
2024-10-14 16:42:34 +0000 UTC
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Redmane quelled a stirring of panic.
He wasn’t truly Level 55. Not anymore. Unlocking the Seal of the Manticore put him on this thing’s level, or so the numbers suggested.
He could fight it.
[First Generation Imbued] Marked as Prey
Blessing of Might
Rockskin
Gnosis: 980
Redmane felt the Gnosis flow into his muscles and harden his hide.
The Sicarius fixed Redmane with an unb...
2024-10-13 15:45:12 +0000 UTC
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