Chapter 26
Problems.
“They are a four-man group,” Wesley told the assembled soldiers as they stood outside the bunker and looked over the empty expanse of sand at the still-burning fires slowly dying away and leaving charred corpses and smoke in their wake. “They are tight, well-coordinated, and strong.” He swallowed, “I haven’t known them long, just a single mission that lasted only a few days.”
“That bear-headed fella has a lo...
2024-06-22 08:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 25
Besieged
“Up! Up! Up!”
Wesley tumbled out of the alcove he had been asleep in as someone banged the ladle against the giant pot over the fire.
“Everyone Up!” Peterson yelled as soldiers and civilians alike scrambled to get dressed and ready. “We’re under attack,” Peterson yelled. “If you’re fighting, get out there. If you’re not, get ready to run if we fall.”
“How bad is it?” The alchemist ...
2024-06-21 08:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 24
Go.
Wesley took a deep breath, closing his eyes for a second and calming his rushing heart. When he opened his eyes, the sights were lined up on the first of the men leaning over the table. Letting his breath out slowly, he squeezed the trigger twice; seeing the man fall, he kept his breathing slow and steady as he sent another two bullets into the head of the stunned man across the table. He jerked but didn’t fall, so Wesley added two t...
2024-06-20 08:10:01 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 41
The Battlecry.
“What’s the final count?” Nellie asked Salem as they watched the Imperial Line ship depart the station.
“Fifty-three,” Salem tossed a small metal box on the console.
The idea of their new trading partners having placed bugs as they were escorted from the airlock to the meeting room and back again might have seemed strange to some. After all, they had been watched the whole time. It was that kind o...
2024-06-20 08:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 23
Ready, Set…
Looking out over the expanse of white sand in front of him, Wesley had to admit it was damn near impossible to see the safe route, but he trusted the locals knew it well enough to tell the difference.
His guide led him off to one side and rechecked his notes before confirming that this was the place and that the city did not claim the tile.
Wes walked into the middle of the hex and thought about activating h...
2024-06-19 08:00:09 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 22
Bad News.
Wesley dropped the wisp form the moment he entered the range of the Outpost. He had no idea what kind of defenses the place had, but he didn’t intend to trip any of them accidentally and end up smeared across the landscape merely a few feet from safety.
The door opened when he was still a few paces out; the familiar face of the keeper shifted from curious to pissed in a matter of seconds.
“You!” He came ou...
2024-06-18 08:10:00 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 40
A Held Breath
Salem sat in the center of the long conference table while Nellie sat on an elevated chair off to one side. At one end of the table sat Carter, a man she would dearly love to show the inside of an open airlock, while at the other sat Duke's holoprojection.
Hadrian and Brenda stood behind Duke, within pickup range, while Carter was flanked by the Assessor and a woman in what appeared to be an exosuit rather than power ar...
2024-06-18 08:05:01 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 39
A deep breath
“When was this recorded?” Nellie asked as she watched the woman she hated being throttled. The scene was rendered in a visual spectrum that most would find impossible to understand. To Nellie and her enhanced senses, the complex overlapping images were what she always saw. It provided excellent detail, not only telling her that three figures in their expensive camo suits were on all three open sides of the bed while the t...
2024-06-18 08:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 21
Third Floor
Wesley stepped out of the portal and into a very familiar-looking alley. He could even see the same poster stuck on the walls around the place. It was an immediate and unpleasant reminder of where everything had gone wrong. Following the others out of the alley, he saw the same street he had fought on, although this time, the lights were out, and the sun rose over the buildings behind them.
“Well, that is new,” Alber ...
2024-06-17 08:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 20
Ch-Ch-Changes
Wesley smiled at the sight of the safe room. It was nearly identical to the one at the end of the first floor, and the place almost felt familiar now. The first thing he did was check out the whole place, noting the differences between the two rooms.
The beds were identical, and he couldn’t wait to crawl into the thick, warm furs and sleep… but first things first. The tables were the same, but there was a pair of tu...
2024-06-16 08:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 19
Party of One
Wesley found himself standing on a pillar, all alone. Below him, a thick fog obscured everything from sight. Far in the distance, he saw more pillars, one with a large, hairy form on it that had to be Mace. Hawk Eye showed its value again, allowing him to pick out the others, each on their own pillar.
The pillars themselves were made of smooth grey and white marble, but other than that, he cou...
2024-06-15 08:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 18
Orientation
The pamphlet itself was painfully cheerful. It seemed designed to be as irritating as possible, but he imagined they were more likely going for optimism. A drawing of a happily grinning trio decorated the front cover. A woman in a lather apron and holding a blacksmith’s hammer was standing beside a proud-looking warrior with a massive grin, while on his other side, a person of indeterminate sex wove circles of magic lights.&n...
2024-06-14 08:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 17
Wavering
Wesley didn’t even try and say anything, just leaving it to Pris.
Mace had seemed to be a really friendly guy up until they entered the dungeon, but since the moment he stepped aside in the first encounter and threw Wes in the deep end, it had seemed like the man’s entire personality had switched.
To make matters worse, Wes had no idea why it had happened. He went over everything that had happened in those fe...
2024-06-13 08:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 38
Repercussions continued
“Councilman Hadrian,” Crush smiled into the comm pickup. “What can we do for you?”
“There are serious matters that we need to discuss,” Hadrian frowned. “I would much prefer to have this meeting over a secure commlink.”
“Alas, we are not quite up to that as yet,” Crush was well aware the very machinery he claimed not to have was clearly visible behind him, but he had no intention of u...
2024-06-13 08:00:02 +0000 UTC View PostChapter Sixteen
Party Time
The Wyrd Watchmen were dropped into what appeared to be an alleyway. Wesley immediately noted the similarity to Earth, but the others didn’t seem too surprised by their surroundings, so it was clearly something they had seen before.
Looking closer, Wes noted several differences. The walls may have looked like those from Earth, but the bricks were rounded at the corners, and the writing on the poster slapped on the w...
2024-06-12 08:01:01 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 14
Don’t let the door
Wesley was dumped out the other side of the portal and into a grubby stone room. The windows were boarded up, and for a moment, Wes was sure Gem had done something to get him marooned in the middle of nowhere. Then the old wooden door creaked open, and a man gave him the most assessing look over he had ever experienced.
“You here for the Wyrd Watchmen?” He asked, a warm smile coming over his face.
“Th...
2024-06-11 10:27:00 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 15
Taking Risks
“Bullshit!” Pru yelled.
Wesley had thought quite a bit about how to answer Mace’s question before he actually started talking. His first instinct, and second, and third, was to lie.
Malia’s warning, Gem’s betrayal, and worse, a clear attempt to shove him out to a distant area to protect herself, even if it cost him his life, all argued to follow the safest and most sensible course of action. 2024-06-11 08:06:00 +0000 UTC View Post
Chapter 37
Repercussions
Nellie sat back and stared at the space so recently occupied by the hologram of a man she had considered a friend. Tapping her fingers on the arm of the chair, she ran the memory of the discussion through a couple of times, trying to convince herself it was anything other than a complete change of character for the man.
Eventually, she saw it.
The way he stood, the way he moved back on the farm. It had been there,...
2024-06-11 08:05:00 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 36
A Warning is Issued
The Council room had been cleaned up, and a new table found by the time the comm call came in from the Bly’s Rest. Duke had spent the time in between calming down and then spending almost a full day turning the entire Colony upside down in the search for ‘the child.’
Brenda and her crew had been especially helpful, offering to continue the search well into the night in apology for the actions of their ...
2024-06-11 08:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 13
Delver’s Guild
Wesley Lancaster did his best not to look like a tourist while navigating the busy streets of the Unnamed City. He kept his head down, hands in his pockets, as he strolled, pretty much aimlessly, through the city's main thoroughfares.
The trick was not to be one of the ones staring wide-eyed at everything and everyone, normally while pointing and saying things like ‘wow’ and ‘What the fuck is that thing?...
2024-06-10 08:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostChapter Twelve
The Road to the City
The old covered cart was not the most comfortable place to sleep, but it had the advantage of being something close to safe. It was the first time he had slept since the dungeon, but Wes was awake within a few short hours. Only a few Tiers gained, and he already felt like a different person.
His mind was on the changes to his body as he dropped off the back of the cart and stretched a little. It was one...
2024-06-09 08:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostChapter Eleven
Swamp Walker
The portal dumped him out in the exact spot he had left a few days earlier. At least the sun was up, giving him a fighting chance to orient himself and come up with a plan for the immediate future.
The dungeon was not an experience he would have chosen to have, but he was the better for it in the end. Wesley had entered the silver portal as a lowly Tier One with seconds left to live and now exited again as a Ti...
2024-06-08 08:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostChapter Ten
Easy Mode.
Wesley Lancaster grinned as he leaned around the corner and fired off a Healing Flare. Okay, so maybe it didn’t have a tattoo, but he considered it a separate skill, so he named it.
Ducking back into the corridor again, he waited for the sound of explosions. Six rattling explosions sounded out, followed by hollow groans as the two elites burned and finally a rattling and clanking as they fell...
2024-06-07 08:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 35
Plans and counter-plans.
“Tell me again,” Duke's voice was tinged with frustration as he sighed and leaned his arms on the council table.
“I can repeat it as many times as you like; the report will not change,” Hadrian’s voice was grave.
“Don’t make him ask twice,” Brenda's voice carried a hint of threat hidden in the cheerful tone. Duke, however, was past the point of caring about his fellow Council members. If...
2024-06-06 08:05:01 +0000 UTC View PostChapter Nine
Onward
The next big room seemed to be a carbon copy of the one before it, right down to the boss itself, sat with a mace across its knees. Normally Wes preferred a little innovation and creativity in game dungeons. It turned out that if you were actually in one, what you wanted was precisely the same shit you did last time. At least that gave you a chance to improve.
Improvement was exactly what he wanted this time, so W...
2024-06-06 08:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostChapter Eight
Dungeon Wes
Wesley Lancaster slowly came back to himself. His mind was shattered, and while something had woken up a while ago, it took a long time before it was actually him again.
His soul ached. Wes was unaware a soul could ache and was never sure if they existed until that moment, but now he was sure as hell was. Wesley had a soul, and it had a massive headache. That was far from the only part of him that hurt. I...
2024-06-05 08:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 34
What a difference a week makes.
Crush grunted as he swung the hammer with everything he had, already knowing he had lost.
“Yeah, that isn’t going to do it, Boss,” Cara offered helpfully.
“You think you can do any better?” Crush huffed as he took aim at the next pin and readied another swing.
“No, but then I’m not trying to actually race a machine,” Cara grinned far too smugly in Crush’s...
2024-06-04 08:05:01 +0000 UTC View PostChapter 33
A whole new Nellie.
“How’s our passenger doing?” Nellie called over her shoulder as the Indomitable lifted off the Caldera's surface at long last.
“I am doing very well, thank you,” Robot replied.
After much discussion, they decided not to choose a name for themselves. Too much was unknown, and they wanted to experiment a little first. So, for now, it was Robot.
“Glad to hear it,” Nellie smiled to hers...
2024-06-04 08:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostChapter Seven
The Ick Factor
Entering the swampy landscape around the village was like walking into a steam room full of rotten meat and plants. Which, as it turned out, was not too far from being an accurate description of the place anyway. Within a few steps, Wes felt sweat running down his back.
“Isn’t it wonderful?” Gem asked as she took a deep breath and sighed happily.
“Not exactly my thing,” Wes equivocated. Telling...
2024-06-04 08:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostChapter Six
Loaded
Wesley stared down the sights, trying vainly to see anything in the gloom. Sundown in this world was no joke. First, the sky changed to a vibrant red and orange color, and five minutes later… pitch black. He had wondered the last couple of nights if people would have been so upset about light pollution if they had ever actually seen what it was like outside without it.
A noise from his left made him flinch, activating