Mato
“It’s ready for you, Mato,” Ali said, gesturing grandly at the humming edifice of stone flooding the grove with softly shifting green and gold illumination.
The shrine. Evolution.
Mato took a deep breath, wiped his palms on his thighs, and glanced about. His friends were all here, smiling at him expectantly. Lira stood quietly nearby, her face serene as always.
Let’s get this over with, he thought, but he kept his nerves to himself and ...
2025-05-12 14:00:13 +0000 UTC
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Aliandra
Ali’s chime sounded again halfway through the final scalding chamber, but she ignored it until she and her small army of minions were done seeding her domain throughout.
Grimoire of Summoning has reached level 40 (+3).
This will have to do, for now, Ali thought, surveying her work and deciding she was happy. It had taken substantially longer to claim the entirety of the Emberforge Mines than it had to wipe it out on their last ...
2025-05-11 14:00:07 +0000 UTC
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Aliandra
Ali walked over to the rift, inspecting it closely. “You can see through this thing?” she asked. To her, it was almost opaque. It repelled the mana of her domain – as if it was a barrier of clouded glass that could only permit physical objects to pass.
“Yes. A fair way in, actually,” Calen said. “I can see that whole cave we entered into. It’s clear right now, but I saw that imp easily.”
“That’s an impressive ability,” Ali said.
“It...
2025-05-10 14:00:06 +0000 UTC
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Mato
“Here you go, Mato,” Ryn said, handing him the book.
“Thanks, Ryn,” he said, glancing at the book she handed him.
How to cook a dragon. Callista Merriweather.
How to cook a dragon, indeed, he thought. Ali had told him that this cookbook had been moldering in Naia’s dungeon for years, discarded by an adventurer who had lost it in some scuffle with her oozes.
He grinned as he paged through the book, seeing the recipes inside. Ever...
2025-05-09 14:00:06 +0000 UTC
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Aliandra
The entire way back to the library, Ali wrestled with her discovery. He remembered… but, what does that mean?
By the time she entered the library and sat down, she was no closer to any sort of understanding. She had summoned the same witch doctor after unsummoning him – that much was true, but she didn’t even know how it had been done. Oh, superficially she knew – she had been thinking about him explicitly when she summoned a witch doctor, and ...
2025-05-08 14:00:06 +0000 UTC
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Aliandra
“Well now, there’s a thing,” Val’korr said, shuffling up to join Ali, staring at the newly spawned dungeon as if he were witnessing a ghost.
As far as Ali knew, nobody understood how the Blind Lich commanded dungeons, but she had just duplicated it here within her domain – she had a minion dungeon.
But the pain had not entirely vanished, and it took her a moment to realize that the excruciating sensation, tearing at her from within, came from the Affinit...
2025-05-07 14:00:10 +0000 UTC
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Basil
When Basil finally reached Eliyen’s home and shop, the sun had already dropped below the rooftops, and it was growing dark. He had once asked her why she hadn’t moved to a wealthier, safer part of town, but she had told him that she had lived here before this section of the town had even been developed, and that she had watched it grow and then wither under the oppression of the various criminal gangs and syndicates that had sprung up over the years. She had no desire to mov...
2025-05-06 14:00:08 +0000 UTC
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Calen
Name: Calen Avery
Race: Half-Elf
Titles: Rift Warden, [Tracker of the Dead], Savior of Aman Rak
Active Buffs: Blessing of the Dawn, Mirage Armor, Motes of Light, Blessing of the Wanderer, Well-fed
Class: Realm Hunter – level 100
- Radiant Archery – level 56
You are proficient with a bow and ranged combat. When fired, your arrows become partially anchored in the spirit realm, granting incorporeality and the ability to pe...
2025-05-05 14:05:01 +0000 UTC
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Calen
Calen shared the remaining paths. “Looks like a choice between Realm Hunter and Brilliant Assassin,” he said.
“Wow, your patron loves you,” Malika said.
“Yes, she’s pulling out all the stops, that’s a rare class path!” Ali said.
Calen went back and forth, trading up the advantages and disadvantages again and again, but he kept coming back to the same conclusion: he wanted Realm Hunter, but he felt he should take the damage path. He frowned. ...
2025-05-05 14:00:11 +0000 UTC
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Calen
Calen paused before the shrine, now an imposing pillar of black stone and glowing runic magic almost three times taller than the first time he had seen it. He controlled his nerves by quickly reviewing the notifications he had received from the battle against the Corrupted Fire Drake.
Archer of Light has reached level 100 (+4).
+40 attribute points.
Hmm. Calen spent just a few moments lamenting the inefficiency of wiping out an e...
2025-05-04 14:00:06 +0000 UTC
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Lydia
Lydia picked up the book again, for the tenth time. It was a book of trollish origin which Ali had translated for her, and it had many tips and cautions for those using a shrine to level up. But she put it down again, realizing she was just fidgeting because of her nerves. She hadn’t wanted Calen to risk himself and his friends unnecessarily, and she had no idea if their hair-brained scheme would work. Unfortunately, even though she had racked her brains, she had not come up w...
2025-05-03 14:00:07 +0000 UTC
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Aliandra
“Mato! Are you ok?” Ali screamed, darting down to where her friend sat amid the fading flames. She had just witnessed his throat being ripped out by the enraged cleave of the Corrupted Fire Drake – an attack of such incredible force that it had shredded through her barrier like a sword splitting a sheet. A barrier that had held firm against the elemental storm of the Inferno. She had never seen so much blood spraying from him, and when he had staggered, faltering, her h...
2025-05-02 14:00:16 +0000 UTC
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Malika
Malika ignored the strangely energizing flames that enveloped everything, unleashing a flurry of rapid punches into the drake’s resilient scales. This was ironically a somewhat difficult fight for her. She had so many abilities focused on resource management and defensiveness that, in a fight where she wasn’t being hit and she literally couldn’t run out of mana or stamina if she tried, she found herself less effective than she hoped. Second Wind and Clarity were both wort...
2025-05-01 14:00:10 +0000 UTC
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Worthington Glimmerbuckle
“I just wanted to stop by and thank you for your kind hospitality, Mr. Hawkhurst,” Worthington said. He was an expert at buttering up the local nobility or wealthy businesspeople, and he would never allow this Jax Hawkhurst to see just how much he detested him or his miserable little god-forsaken town.
For the last few days, he had been forced to smile at an endless, tedious parade of rundown houses and abandoned warehouses and subject himself to th...
2025-04-30 14:00:31 +0000 UTC
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A/N: I always enjoyed those attunement runs where the guild had to go back a tier or two and boost someone through a dungeon that used to be hard, only to learn just how much stronger the team had grown.
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Aliandra
Mato charged the first pack of elementals, and Ali’s minions tore into them with him, dropping frost breath whirling axes onto the fire monsters.
“Adds!” Calen yelled as a second patrol saw them and charged in.
“Frost ...
2025-04-29 14:00:16 +0000 UTC
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Aliandra
Ali stood at the entrance to the Emberforge Mines using a barrier to fend off the waves of heat billowing out from the dark tunnel, worrying incessantly about their plan. What if we can’t kill it? Or if we’re too slow? These thoughts, and others just like them ran around and around in her brain like a dog chasing its tail. It had all seemed so clear to her when she had proposed it up in the safety of the guild store, but now that she faced the mines… she knew w...
2025-04-28 14:00:17 +0000 UTC
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Aliandra
Ali sat on her barrier, watching as the group approached the shrine, led by Vivian Ross and Val’korr. It was again a small group for a class advancement, but Vivian seemed to think that the addition of the Domain Tithe and the Challenge Arena was going to dramatically accelerate the training of the recruits – at least for the combat classes. At some point, if it had not already, word would spread far and wide from Myrin’s Keep. She would have to trust Vivian to keep tha...
2025-04-27 14:00:07 +0000 UTC
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A/N: 2/2 today.
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Aliandra
Ali flew through her forest cavern, admiring the view of the thousands of glowing wisps among the trees and the little glitter dragonets swooping around among the branches hunting for insects. Nestled among the roots of the giant oaks were countless tiny glowing mushrooms creating a carpet that glittered like a sea of golden stars.
She wasn’t ready to expand her dungeon or upgrade her bosses without significantly more pl...
2025-04-26 14:05:04 +0000 UTC
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A/N: 1/2 today.
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Aliandra
After helping to dispel the remaining frogs, Ali found herself wandering the guild hall with not much to do. Malika was stuck in the guild store bargaining at great volume with an overly animated Weldin, and Mato was sitting on the couch telling the troll youngsters a hopelessly exaggerated story that had the adults rolling their eyes, but he had the kids completely captivated.
She drifted over to the jobs board, scanning the ...
2025-04-26 14:00:07 +0000 UTC
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A/N: 2/2 today
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Aliandra
Ali flew out of the office and into a scene of utter chaos. Battle lines had been drawn. On one side of the guild hall, adventurers held a defensive skirmish line with weapons drawn. On the other side, Zor’kan and Gara attempted to hold Val’korr back with little success. The aged seeker shouted curses in Trollish while brandishing his walking stick at anyone who moved, and every few seconds, someone turned into a frog.
2025-04-24 14:05:02 +0000 UTC
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A/N: 1/2 today
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Aliandra
Ali stepped through the door that Mato kindly held open for her and entered the guild hall, followed by Mato and Malika. Zor’kan and Val’korr entered, glancing about curiously. The other refugee trolls were being put up in an inn on Malika’s dime, and they were to meet up at the guild today to secure more permanent accommodations.
“Hi, Aliandra,” Mieriel called out. “Congratulations.” A hush spread rapidly throu...
2025-04-24 14:00:35 +0000 UTC
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Calen
The light of the breaking dawn spilled across the carefully tended grounds surrounding the illustrious Temple of Lunaré, creating long shadows where the trees stood as mute sentinels guiding visitors along the gently winding pathway to the center.
Fancy, Calen thought as he approached the white marble archway that served as the entrance to the temple. The Temple of Lunaré is always open should you have need of it, he thought, reiterating the most common...
2025-04-23 14:00:10 +0000 UTC
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Aliandra
The battle raged across the plaza as Ali spent mana in intense study, a clash between the level ninety-eight Soul Monk who could sprint on air and punch with her soul, healing whenever she needed against a ferocious troll warrior, fearless in combat, sprouting bone axes from his body whenever Malika took to the air, or blades for slashing and stabbing at close range. With his phenomenal regeneration stacked against Malika’s healing, the two of them were able to continue fig...
2025-04-22 14:00:10 +0000 UTC
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Mato
Mato’s mind drifted, but it wasn’t the drifting of inattention. The presence of the grand tree spread far and wide, emphasizing a diffused awareness that understood and experienced broadly, rather than the focused awareness of animals and humanoids, clutching to their petty goals and purposes – well, to concerns that in the ambit of this vast sentience, seemed of far lesser importance.
He found it to be a rather refreshing perspective, somehow knowing he sought it out...
2025-04-20 14:00:11 +0000 UTC
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Aliandra
The maelstrom of roaring mana hammered through her brain like an all-consuming torrent on its way to being devoured by the vortex of the Shrine of the Ancient Grove. And that was just what was happening nearby; Ali’s mind was crammed with every single ripple or wrinkle of mana happening across the full expanse of her domain. She gasped, drowning under the overwhelming pressure of the now vastly denser mana that poured relentlessly from her plants, even cascading up into the...
2025-04-19 14:00:16 +0000 UTC
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A/N: Chapter 2/2 today.
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Naia
Naia’s membrane shivered with the frustration of being forced to feel her entire array of slimes slowly crumbling against the onslaught of the plants. Sadness soaked through her being. For days, she had struggled to defend the passages and caverns below her dungeon, and every time she made new inroads, the strange fungus monsters, mutated trees, and aberrant flowers like the Mana Eater would slash and eat her slimes and oozes.
<...
2025-04-18 14:05:00 +0000 UTC
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A/N: Chapter 1/2 today.
These individually came out a little shorter that I typically release, so you get two at once.
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Vivian Ross
Vivian sat calmly, not allowing her satisfaction to spill out into her expression as she quietly studied the other council members while Bastian Asterford finished the formalities of explaining the process of voting for a new mayor. Idly she noticed that he had upgraded to a new suit with cuffs and linings done in Lydia...
2025-04-18 14:00:14 +0000 UTC
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A/N: Two releases today - one chapter and a status sheet. This is the second release - go back one if you missed the chapter.
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Aliandra
Name: Aliandra Amariel
Race: Fae
Titles: [Ancient], Rift Warden, Savior of Aman Rak
Active Buffs: Empowered Summoner, Well-fed
Class: Dungeon of Knowledge – level 100
- Arcane Insight – level 53
You can see mana.
Domain: Your domain is always in r...
2025-04-17 14:05:01 +0000 UTC
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A/N: Two releases today - one chapter and a full stat sheet (coming next).
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Aliandra
“What do you guys think?” Ali asked, having a hard time keeping the excitement out of her voice.
“You wanted something for your minions,” Malika said.
“Yes, but does the ego part mean she will lose control of them?” Calen asked.
“I don’t know,” Ali said. Honestly, that angle hadn’t even occurred to her – in the description, it even said...
2025-04-17 14:00:08 +0000 UTC
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Aliandra
Her notifications remained silent, so she returned to the list of paths and picked her second one. She tried to balance them out carefully, weighing up the pros and cons, and how much she used each trait, but it was a challenging balancing act, and in the end, she went with Arcanist. Her golden arcane mana was special somehow – notable to the powerful: Val’korr, Nevyn Eld, and even Nathaniel Sunstrider had all commented on it – but even aside from that, it was personall...
2025-04-16 14:00:09 +0000 UTC
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