Fritz woke from nightmares, a knot sitting heavy in his stomach and his muscles aching. A feeling of unease rippled down his back and he sat up quickly and searched the campsite for dangers. He saw nothing, yet his paranoia grew.
...
2024-08-08 03:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostFritz awoke with a shiver and the sounds of whispers. It was a worrying way to wake. The beginnings of frost were crystallising on his blanket and he could hear a low conversation drifting between Lauren, Rosie and Cal.
"So you th...
2024-08-04 03:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostThe domed, black crabs skittered over the softly illuminated white sands, towards Fritz and his team as they set down their packs and readied their weapons.
"Aim for the joints connecting their claws and legs to their main shell,"...
2024-08-01 03:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostOn their separate sides, with pillars and the Well blocking the view between them, the team proceeded to bathe. Fritz split his, now empty, hollowed-out soap with the men around him, wishing he kept some of its centre contents even if it would hav...
2024-07-28 03:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostIgnoring his burgeoning headache and the waves of heat washing over him, Fritz strode up to his resting team. He wiped the sweat from his brow, and looked over their tired, miserable faces as they sat in the dark of the tunnel. They also dripped w...
2024-07-25 03:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostThe lizard watched Fritz with glowing red eyes and he returned its slited glare. A burst of boiling air blistered through the tunnel behind, streaming past the alcove. Both monster and man ignored it, standing as still as stones and waiting for th...
2024-07-21 03:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostThere was a lot of heat actually. The black stone under Fritz's feet was uneven and cracked, but still slick like glass. He made little sound, creeping out into the dark mountain pass and ducking behind one of the jutting, jagged stones that litte...
2024-07-18 03:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostWhen looking over his offerings Fritz was immediately disappointed by the Abilities on display. Lacerate again, and a water-based strike and some, admittedly interesting, Boon Ability? They just didn't feel right, nor did he think they would help ...
2024-07-14 03:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostThe darkness of the night was near total. So much so that even Bert, with his Night Vision Award, had trouble seeing more than a couple of feet in front of him. Eventually he brought out the amber glowstone from his pack and shone its bright swirl...
2024-07-11 03:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostThe conversation as to which Door to take was brief and somewhat boring.
Fritz described them a second time, highlighting the first as somewhat dangerous, the second as very dangerous and the third as barely dangerous.
<...
As Fritz passed into the cool stairway the feeling of being stalked receded, gradually easing as his steps took him higher and higher. Though the dread was still there, a small niggling in the back of his shoulders but he put it to the back of his...
2024-07-04 03:00:35 +0000 UTC View PostWith a sack full of magic lobster eyes and their monster meat boiling away in an iron pot, thankfully brought along by George, Fritz mused on the fight only half an hour before.
He wasn't lying when he said it was easy but he trie...
2024-06-30 03:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostFritz strode up the red sands, upwards into a tunnel lit at the end by the bright light of a cloudless day. Something he had too soon forgotten in the murk of Rain City's overcast sky. The coarse grains beneath his feet crunched despite his attemp...
2024-06-27 03:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostFritz motioned for his pair of recruits to follow him out of the Anchorwrought smithy. They walked the steam district looking for any provisions they may have overlooked or missed. Seeing some bargains, Fritz purchased a small whetstone and an old...
2024-06-23 03:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostFritz left the smithy with Rosie and Carter, who now looked like proper Climbers to be. He ordered the armed and armoured pair to follow him to his hideout, where he left them by the door and attired himself in his fine coat, pants and shir...
2024-06-23 03:00:03 +0000 UTC View Post"Damn it, how are we late?" Fritz complained to Bert as they ran through the darkening, drizzling streets.
"I dunno, we left early, took the right shortcuts and barely lingered for a few drinks," Bert recounted.
<...
As it turned out the silver Hound bones were a fantastic material for a hilt and Bruce said so with gusto.
"Where'd you get moonsilver from?" He demanded before he shook his head and said, "Never mind, don't want to know I suppose...
2024-06-20 03:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostFritz strode to the shark's bare underbelly with his dagger outstretched. He found a seam that ran the length of its budging stomach and plunged the bone-blade deep. Then he walked along the shark's length gliding the dagger along and through its ...
2024-06-16 03:00:06 +0000 UTC View Post"I can't believe we agreed to this," Lynn groused.
"You took advantage of us in our intoxicated state," Veronica lamented insincerely.
It had been hours since he enlisted their help and made their way here, the da...
2024-06-13 03:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostAfter and hour of trudging through the light rain, Fritz reached the seawall gates and wound his way around the fishers and labourers who were shuffling to their boats or work like a slow tide.
Standing in the open-sided wooden gu...
2024-06-09 03:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostAll told, telling the tale of his Climb only took Fritz around fifteen minutes.
His audience of Thea and Jess responded just as he hoped with gasps, laughs and cheers as he told of his fights, friends and victories. Even Eli who s...
2024-06-06 03:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostNow that the birds were waking, quacking and chirping their songs in concert with the pattering rain Fritz knew that people would also be getting up and getting prepared for the day's toil.
It was something of an odd feeling to jo...
2024-06-02 03:00:02 +0000 UTC View Post"What?" Fritz said staring incredulously at the clothier, in her peach, silken shawl and heavy, pink, woollen bed robe. There was something about her lined face and grey eyes that felt familiar but he couldn't guess where he knew her from, or rath...
2024-05-30 03:00:02 +0000 UTC View PostFritz reflected that the streets in the Upper Ring were far more orderly and far less flooded. There weren’t any dingy alleys he could hide or sleep in as that’s where the drainage canals lay. The rainwater rushed down the canals to the wall b...
2024-05-26 03:00:02 +0000 UTC View PostThrough the still-open doorway, Nic watched the two new levelers go splashing through the rainy alley. His cautious instincts didn’t quite know what to make of them. Potentially useful? Maybe. Cunning schemers? Possibly. Complete idiots? Absolut...
2024-05-23 03:00:03 +0000 UTC View Post“Get up here,” Nic growled through his scarred lip.
Fritz and Bert quickly complied, scrabbling up with the last of their gear. It was hard work getting up the small stone outcropping, what with Bert and his great glass horns slung over...
*Author's Note * I think this is a good a place as any to be the start of the next arc. A big thanks for reading. I really appreciate the support and the feed back! :)
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Fritz stood there at the precipice,...
2024-05-16 03:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostFritz woke, and it was one of the best ways to wake. He found Sid still sleeping under his arm and he smiled softly. Until a shadow moved and standing above him, grinning from ear to ear, was Bert his eyes dancing with mischievous delight.
Frustrated and flustered Fritz retreated into his Sanctum, but not before reinforcing Bert’s parentage as a half-breed of a gutter rat and a skulg who had drunkenly conceived him while cavorting in a barrel of limes that had gone to rot.
...
Fritz, Sid and Bert promptly stopped celebrating, breaking their embrace and staring at the flaring of golden light within the crystalline, orb-like Well.
“Golden Climb,” Sid intoned reverently.
“What do we ...
2024-05-05 03:00:00 +0000 UTC View Post