Mecanimus

The Calamitous Bob 94: Green Edge

Kordok brought Viv back to her cage, then he took her cover.

“Compliance leads to peace; resistance leads to pain. Please follow me.”

It would be more annoying to Viv if the man had any emotion in his voice. Instead, the tall asshole was sort of subdued. He proceeded to poke Viv to wake her up every two hours then limited the food and water she got. He was shily trying hard to be the world’s shittiest butler.

Although annoying, it wasn’t enough to ruin Viv’s day ye...

175. The Great Escape

“You need to evacuate while I hold them off,” I tell Sinead.

“We’ll rappel down the cliff, walk along the wall. Meet at evacuation site one?”

“You got it.”

“And be careful, poppet. The plan will work without them,” he whispers, “but not without you. You must return.”

“I will. Now go.”

With one last nod, the Prince of Summer races out in his warm coat, herding the weakened Likaeans towards the main keep. I am left alone in the deserted, i...

The Calamitous Bob 93: What goes around

Viv expected much from the aftermath of the Herald’s death, most of it bad. The village had lost almost one person in five. It was a tragedy, one that should logically lead people to be dicks and blame her for not doing more. It did not happen, however. In fact, the villagers were abjectly grateful and treated her like a complete hero. She was blessed in the name of every god and called a champion of good and civilization.

It felt nice.

The villagers did not stop to grieve. Whil...

174. Grand Theft Faerie

My feet land on snow without a sound and I take a deep breath. It smells of cold and of pine sap. The air is crisp with only the lightest wind.

Tonight is a good night. Fluffy clouds cover the sky, not yet heavy with snow yet thick enough to protect our progress from the view of mortals. The forest here is dense and wild. The trees count their age in centuries. We are but trespassers.

Truly, we are trespassers not just in the forest but in the entire valley. A village far to our r...

The Calamitous Bob 92: Besieged

Viv’s rage did not evaporate when something heavy smashed through the palissade, but it did take a hit when she saw the culprit.

[Siege Tarantula]

“Holy shit.”

The creature plowing ponderously through the fence was a massive beast with large fluffy legs ringed black and white, and a head apparently designed for ramming into things. Large, chitinous plates covered most of the sturdy body particularly towards the front. Viv charged a few bolts and let out, fully expectin...

173. The setup

October 1870

“The Council welcomes Ariane of the Nirari. Please check your talismans, thank you.”

The White Cabal council has changed a lot since my first visit. Frost has been replaced by his granddaughter Margaret who has dark hair except for a single white strand near the front. Cornelius, who did not appreciate me much, died during his attempted coup. I almost expected the White Cabal to exile the insurrectionists in a bleeding heart moment, thus creating a hostile faction...

The Calamitous Bob 91: SO MANY SPIDERS

“We’re under attack!” Marruk bellowed from the wall, where Viv had left her.

“Gods dammit.”

The witch ran and swore, pushing aside the last scrambling villagers making their ways to safety. She saw Ardek the young hunter and Romus the veteran shoot arrow after arrow at something out of sight. The alderman stood nearby, hands clutched around a quarterstaff. Those were the three people in the village who wouldn’t be completely useless. Viv grumbled against everything and...

172. Guns and Glory! Winterfall.

The Crew clumped around the Gatling gun like ants around jam fallen from a scone. We could hear vulgar laughs from here, though the general noise remained low. They didn’t seem to be in a hurry.

“I bet I could pick off the Gatling servants from up here,” Felicia whispered from the side. The two of us had taken the balcony directly facing the horde as the defenders’ best marksmen. I considered her offer but declined quickly.

“We want them to commit first. This gun is powe...

The Calamitous Bob 90: SPIDERS!

“No, out of the question. I’m not here to assist foresters with their pest problems. Spiders happen in the forest. It’s normal.”

“Please, great one, I see you are a mage! Sardanal himself placed you on the path.”

“Solfis, isn’t Neriad the one who rescues people?”

//The god of plentiful harvests is a good choice when your life depends on it.

“People… are DYING!” The man screamed.

Viv glared, annoyed that someone would focus...

Holidays announcement + new releases.

Alright so I love writing and I have plenty of projects but I'm feeling fatigue right now, especially since Christmas is coming and I can't see my mom and sis for the second year in a row. I shall depart for two weeks. There will be one more Bob chapter and then I'm out for December. Both the previous Journey chap and the Bob chap are shorter as a result of my lack of mojo.

So that's it. Thanks everyone for allowing me to live from my passion. It feels longer but it's only been a few ...

171. Guns and Glory! Steelborough never dies.

“You could solve this entire situation in a week,” I remarked.

The blonde woman reclined in her seat, hands together and fingers twined in a demure pose that would fool many a man. She studied me with eyes as blue as a summer sky but infinitely colder.

“I have worked for decades to be able to solve a situation in days.”

“I suppose that it is up to me?”

“If you abandon your project and return to New York to board the first ship, then I will take over.” 2021-12-16 16:59:00 +0000 UTC View Post

The Calamitous Bob 89: The Pull of Fate.

Viv rode on the back of a galloping horse, cursing every moment she had spent thinking pony girls were uncool. If she had learned to ride better, she wouldn’t be feeling like a potato bag strapped to a roller coaster right now. At least, she took solace in the fact that Marruk had it even worse.

“Damn. Stupid. Beast! Gah.”

It was cultural. Probably. The pair clung to their saddles on the mad dash to a large dirt road lining the forest that surrounded the farmland. Once there...

170. Guns and Glory! The West is not Enough.

Just as I reached the end of the circle of light, Ariane’s voice interrupted my mad dash.

“Alexander! Your guns.”

Her glacial voice cooled down my urgency. She was right, of course. I was running blind and unarmed into the maw of danger, and as my father always said, the line between courage and temerity lies in self-control. I quickly passed by my cot and grabbed my weapons, tying my belt as I moved.

I ran the first yards blind as an owl anyway, relying on the path’...

The Calamitous Bob 88: In Enoria

Traveling through the Enorian spring was the closest Viv had felt to being on Earth since landing on this weird planet. Fields of flowers and copses of trees shone a vibrant green on either side of the dirt road. Sometimes, they came across an abandoned field or the ossified remains of a stone building that could have been an abandoned shepherd's retreat, and she almost expected to crest a hill and find an asphalt road and a board announcing Carmaux or Marvejols in twenty kilometers. Frequent...

169. Guns and Glory! Pearls are Eternal

The establishment known as the Pearl greeted me with a massive room vibrating with the din of conversations even so early in the day. A few steps up led to a central square covered in tables, couches, and chairs where men and their hosts socialized without reserve. A long counter extended to my left with a collection of bottles and glasses sitting in well-ordered rows on a shelf that covered the entire wall. Stairs and doors surrounded this pulsing heart of sin, passages to — I assumed — ...

The Calamitous Bob 87: Gone

Humans were capable of performing an amazing amount of mental gymnastics for the purpose of belonging, whether they were aware of it or not, Viv thought. She was no exception. When Solfis had made his speech on the plaza, the roars of so many throats had carried her away and she had not stopped to think, to criticize. It was normal. The sort of myth that sent people to war and possibly death could only be embellished. Some of the elements had to be glossed over, like the fact that the empire ...

168. Guns and Glory! Or a Surrey Gentleman's Guide to Bringing Law to the Wild West, by Alexander Bingle

In September 1968, my strange mentor oversaw the last of my training to ascertain that it was conducted to her satisfaction. The ever youthful woman’s languid manners changed drastically as soon as the smell of spent powder caressed her dainty nostrils. She became focused and determined, accepting no less than perfection from every movement.

“You must strive to relax. Contracting too much will make you rigid.”

Embarrassment stopped me from admitting that it was her presence ...

Chapter 86: Loose Ends

AN: has mistakes because I'm late and tired, sorry. I'll go over it again.

Viv stood in the command tent, idly watching the map in front of her. It was of no use, of course, she could redraw it in her sleep. The strange circumstances had led to a very long, very narrow operation area where the center was as thin as a few men, and on the edges, there be dragons.

Possibly literally.

The pristine work made by Farren was now criss-crossed with lines and notations. Pins...

167. Maturity

September 1869, near the vampire fortress in Boston.

A blur. I use a thorn root to try and hamper him but the man reacts immediately.

“Magna Arqa.”

His soul weapon splits into two identical axes. Their edges glow an ominous crimson. A wolf-like cloak covers his head, only leaving a braided blond beard visible. He bellows. The axes bite and shred through the roots I send after him. It hurts. I lunge and push him back with a carefully aimed, miraged attack. We exchange a s...