In a huge cavern, home to only a swarm of giant large bats for many years, the stillness of the underground was broken as new people moved into the area. A dwarven drill machine broke through the wall of the cave and advanced unsteadily on its tracks, belching too much smoke and making too much n...
2025-02-09 19:12:00 +0000 UTC View PostThe sun rose on a bleak and dreary day, mostly obscured by clouds and rain. Marceline grinned, it was perfect for drilling the new troops. They'd last longer with the rain cooling them down, and be twice as miserable. She and anyone else who wanted breakfast before they started was heading to the...
2025-02-06 20:59:37 +0000 UTC View PostButcher Volume 1 is heading to the narrator. It's slated to come out in July.
But...I need a tagline! A clever quip. Something niftier than "Welcome to Sedgewick." Much as I felt that was appropriate, it's not going to work for Amazon.
I immediately thought of "Have Cleaver, will Trav...
The old caverns that had been silent for almost a millennia were now disturbed by the loud sounds of enthusiastic children stacking fifty-pound ingots of Deep Copper. They had diligently practiced making letters for as long as they could hold themselves still and then ran off to play. Currently, ...
2025-02-04 00:52:51 +0000 UTC View PostVern didn't run, he could only sort of lean forward and shuffle along faster.
The short distance to the hill exasperated Marceline with his constant need for breaks. "No one is this out of shape. Let me see your character sheet."
With Ricardo's help, Vern managed to share his charac...
2025-02-03 06:22:26 +0000 UTC View PostAfter their latest adventures in the Pit of the Butcher, the group split up. Rolly and Squirmie were off to play Shepherd to the growing flocks around Sedgewick. Ozzy was heading to the Butcher's Guild and Suzette to her tavern.
Ben was escorting Ricardo to Hungrytown for coffee and pecan ...
"Back it out! The drill head is overheating again! We melt another one and we'll fall even further behind!"
With much cursing and arguing, the Tunnel Tyrant crew disengaged the drill head's power and reversed the treads, slowly backing their machine into the large cavern a hundred feet beh...
Milo had a million thoughts running through his head, and so much to do, but...his foot itched! The pain from losing his foot had been terrible, but he had focused on it and shoved it to the side. The itch was another thing altogether, cutting through his defenses.
Brutus had put a sor...
Keep rollin', rollin', rollin'
Though the streams are swollen
Keep them doggies rollin'
Rawhide
Vern was woken up at six in the morning by the sound of whips cracking, and the rolling guitar melody of the theme song from Rawhide...
There may be a second half to this chapter coming, or it might become 475 on the length, but here's this part for now.
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The Many-Drinks tribe of goblins had traveled for many weeks through the wilds to the North of Gadobhra, into the swamps where wyverns and ...
Milo ran back to the group. "We have Snake trouble. It's not as big as the last one I fought, but it's been corrupted and mostly transformed. Looks old and clunky, but that could be deceiving. And Copperheads have a nasty poisonous bite. Although..." Milo looked at the girls, "It shouldn't affect...
2025-01-19 19:52:21 +0000 UTC View PostAfter making thoroughly sure that nothing was left alive and no more of the things were coming out of the hole Milo went to the small camp where Brutus and the girls were recovering. Buttercup was sitting in a bed of pillows while Brutus examined her legs. "These are deep cuts. I'm going to clean...
2025-01-17 04:16:05 +0000 UTC View PostCuriosity got the better of Milo and he waited to see what emerged. He should have been able to see what it was, darkness didn't affect his sight. But something was keeping the outlines of the creatures hazy and indistinct. The scratching of metal on stone and the squealing screams as metal was r...
2025-01-14 00:26:51 +0000 UTC View PostThe surviving minions that worked for Grinder argued as they scraped what was left of their boss off the floor and tossed him into bags to haul over to Oink. Oink didn't like working with cooked meat, so there wasn't a lot to haul. After some consideration, they passed out the cooked sausages to ...
2025-01-13 11:57:17 +0000 UTC View Post
Grinder, Sausage Beast of the Pit, Monstrous Level 20 Butcher Boss
(Minions, Monstrously Strong, Extra Health, Physical Resistance to punctures and bludgeoning.)
Grinder didn't waste time talking after his opening shout. He stalked toward Oz...
2025-01-11 02:55:11 +0000 UTC View PostSorry for delays, still sick, but can at least write now.
Senior Engineer Milo was seen everywhere for two hours before he hopped on board a fast train to the Uptop. He visited each of the teams working on new variations of tunnel drillers, making cryptic comments and dropping hints ab...
Ozzy surged forward towards Grinder, noting that while the other Butcher looked like a large, ungainly monster, he didn't move like one. He kept his balance while kicking minions out of his way and swung his two-handed 'hog splitter' in a sweeping figure-eight arc as he moved across the smoke-fil...
2025-01-09 19:01:19 +0000 UTC View PostI'm thinking of making changes to my Patreon Tiers, and wondering if people in the Free tier were interested in these options.
2025-01-08 22:58:02 +0000 UTC View PostAnd no, despite Patreon constantly telling me to keep up with inflation and raise my prices, I'm not thinking about it. (They really do, it's annoying.)
Currently, there's some work in having different tiers for the same story, and I know it annoyed some people. I went from 5 to 10 chapter...
Milo found himself hustled off to the pre-surgery scrub room and given a crash course in scrubbing for surgery: Rhebus style. The first step involved a shower using a decontamination booth that not only cleaned him but took off three layers of dead skin cells. Protective eyewear kept the chemical...
2025-01-08 04:27:56 +0000 UTC View PostSorry for the delays. Still sick, but can at least write now.
Ozzy was leaning against the bony carcass of Hungry Dog and catching his breath, thankful that he no longer had holes in his lungs. Rolly had done what he could to patch him up and Suzette had given him three of her best healing...
Back to my regular schedule. This one took forever, I kept getting distracted with dives into the internet researching odd things and suddenly it was nearly the next day.
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Mama got the explanations she needed and got to work organizing parts of her extended family t...
Had fun with this one.
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Ricardo was trying to come up with a day that had sucked worse than this one but was drawing a blank. Granting, his thinking process had a lot of distractions right now, like seeing one of his teammates slowly lowered head first into a grin...
The change in the alphabet from excited children having fun to focused professionals happened in less than a minute. Part of Belinda watched as all of them began to focus and work together. Onyx proposed a new project: Study the new batch of data and find a way to cure Belinda. The study woul...
2024-12-29 23:38:34 +0000 UTC View PostPlans were not finalized until Christmas Eve when it was finally decided that we would rise at 6 am, pack up everything under the tree and the five of us would drive to Baltimore, unpack the car, and open presents with the rest of the family. Only an hour late in leaving, which is on time for my ...
2024-12-27 03:08:03 +0000 UTC View PostThis time of year is a bit stressful for me. I own stores, and the workload gets hectic and goes right up to Christmas Eve. Thankfully, not in a mall anymore. Used to work 6 am to midnight for a couple of weeks.
I was on a good roll with the stories up until the last few days when the fa...
The last part. Squeezed it out tonight.
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VP Belmont held up a hand, "Let's back up a bit. You and Vernon have been feuding for months, you've proven to us your worth, we remove Vernon to a place where he can't interfere, and you want him back?"
Layla...
Whew! Didn't expect this one to go so long, and still not done!
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A smiling security guard and large nurse met Uncle Vern as he left the room where his career at ACME had taken a sudden turn right turn at Albuquerque and stranded him in Nebrask...
The ACME Corporation had seventeen different board rooms of varying sizes, importance, and age. When part of the Board of Directors met, the room used gave clues as to what was being discussed and who was in attendance. The Grand Board Room was used once a year to celebrate the yearly increase in...
2024-12-19 03:20:56 +0000 UTC View PostLong after the evening had set, two dozen workers set out from their homes for Gadobhra. It was time to butcher. The recent 'upgrade' in the Barony only formally announced what the butchers and hunters of Gadobhra had seen happening for months: The critters were getting bigger.
The enchante...
2024-12-17 02:22:56 +0000 UTC View Post