Octophobia

Spire's Spite Chapter 25

The world lurched and Fritz woke, this was one of the better ways to wake. What with the luxurious conditions of the carriage but also the fact he wasn’t in immediate danger. He hoped. Stretching into the suitably soft seat. He groaned as his ac...

Spire's Spite Chapter 24

The Dawndove kneeled at Bert’s side, a grim expression on her exquisite features as she inspected his wounds. She nodded once.

“The curse is not particularly potent but it is persistent, it would interfere with the most basic of healing ...

Spire's Spite Chapter 23

The open door led into a darkness that was suddenly banished, it lit up as a host of golden lanterns bathed the entrance hall in orange and yellow light. The hall was large, far too large to fit the manor’s outside dimensions and hung with brigh...

Spire's Spite Chapter 22

Fritz scrabbled and struggled on the uneven stone, the dark making it far harder to pick out a clear path to where he had seen the lavender light. Even with his amber stone, it took some minutes to reach and stand where he was sure the light had b...

Spire's Spite Chapter 21

Sid’s hand grasped the collar of Fritz’s increasingly ragged shirt and pulled him up, choking him in the process as Fritz was dragged to his feet.

“What are you grinning at you bloody fool! Get up we have to get out of here,” Sid gro...

Spire's Spite Chapter 20

“A bit rich coming from you, arsehole,” Fritz drawled out exhausted, far too tired to say something witty. What he wouldn’t give for one of those stamina potions they had found, he should have gotten Jane to leave him one. Anger burnt at the...

Spire's Spite Chapter 19

Fritz pursued the glimpse of silver, up and down the small jutting ridges and across the difficult broken ground. He wiped off the budding sweat on his forehead and ran on, the room wasn’t hot per se but that bright pyramid burned overhead like ...

Spire's Spite Chapter 18

Fritz leapt out from behind the stone pillar he had been using to keep out of sight.

He was loath to do so, as sneaking around and stabbing the monstrous men in the back was likely to lead to better prospects. For him, but not the...

Spire's Spite Chapter 17

Fritz’s boots scraped against the gritty stone as he ran up the spiralling ramp. He saw the exit. Bright white light poured from the next floor onto the ramp almost blinding him. He kept running forward embracing the cleanness, the untinted norm...

Spire's Spite Chapter 16

They were packed and ready before the five minutes were up. Fritz led the way, scouting the darkness ahead with his amber glowstone. The tunnels were labyrinthine, Fritz ran into abandoned goblin's nests, still active pit and alarm traps and the o...

Spire's Spite Chapter 15

A rushing tide of grey, wrinkled, stick-thin figures began streaming out of a recently burrowed hole opposite the Stinkwall, catching his crew completely off-guard and unequipped. The goblins carried a multitude of scavenged weapons and mining too...

Spire's Spite Chapter 14

The hours melted away as Sid and Fritz focused on their study of the technique book, pointing out interesting passages and committing to memory the useful weapon drills and the pages that displayed them. The book was surprisingly short as they wer...

Spire's Spite Chapter 13

Fritz tore his eyes away from the ‘problems’ and took in the details of the chamber. It was a large circular room, around sixty feet across and its dirt roof was suspended eight feet overhead, supported by many rough wooden columns. There was ...

Spire's Spite Chapter 12

The object of Sid’s interest seemed to be a long length of wood with a subtle curve. On closer inspection was definitely an unstrung short bow. Right by the bow were some lengths of what must be bowstring and a leather quiver with nine arrows, a...

Spire's Spite Chapter 11

Fritz didn’t know how long he was asleep, but no one had come looking for him yet so it couldn’t have been more than fifteen minutes. He looked around his eyes a bit blurry at first, when they cleared, he was fully able to see the room cast in...

Spire's Spite Chapter 10

Dread seeped into Fritz’s limbs, his quick, quiet pace slowed to a stealthy trudge. The dark of the dirt tunnel was near absolute but there was a soft orange glow up ahead emanating from a side passage, painting the red-ish dirt a vibrant orange...

Spire's Spite Chaper 9

Sid nudged Fritz, glancing in the direction of the trio of women who were surreptitiously listening on. Well, now is as good a time as ever.

“Might as well talk to them now,” Fritz conceded. He turned, then strolled up ...

Spire's Spite Chapter 8

Fritz sat and closed his eyes, then he relaxed. He pulled his attention away from his aching body and the sensations of the room thinking at the tiny star in the centre of his chest. Focusing on it its cool light, paradoxically freezing and warm, ...

Spire's Spite Chapter 7

Fritz led the way slowly through the ancient gnarled trees and the shadows they cast, fish blade in hand and his crew following stealthily behind. Occasionally he would hear a snuffling, or a single bark or whine but nothing disturbed them under t...

Spire's Spite Chapter 6

Fritz walked up the gloomy stairway and immediately noticed a change in climate, the dry heat of the previous room had vanished replaced by the cool humidity of night. The still air was suffused with the stale scent of decaying leaves and old soil...

Spire's Spite Chapter 5

Fritz awoke, this wasn’t the worst way to wake. For one he was significantly warmer than he had been when he passed out. “Ah is this paradise? It’s so warm and my aches are fading. Is this an avatar of the beautiful Goddess Alestria I see be...

Spire's Spite Chapter 4

The lake was freezing, Fritz’s muscles cramped as he sunk through the darkening gloom under the eldritch waves. His chest heaved and he had to resist letting out his lungful of air as the icy cold sank deep into his flesh. Fritz made sure to clu...

Spire's Spite Chapter 3

Waves broke below Fritz, the sound of splashing echoing oddly in the too-smooth dome. Before anyone had time to gather their wits and ask anything of their captor-guide, Jagged Nic spoke up, cutting off any questions before they began.

“I ...

Spire's Spite Chapter 2

Meals of bread and dried fish came to Fritz and the other prisoners sporadically, carried in by gruff, vicious and short tempered gaolers. As the hours wore on, more and more people were brought into the cellar. There was no sun to set the time by...

Spire's Spite Chapter 1

Waking up with a black bag over your head and a foot in your gut has to be one of the worst ways to be woken up, maybe not the worst way but it's up there. He struggled at first but it turns out fighting while blind and outnumbered were still no s...