Allow me to respond to each of you in order.
Massive ouch. I feel for you, there.
...fair enough.
I just took a quick look at TNM, and I'm pushing into the 120,000 word range. That's over a year and a quarter of work. 50,000 words in a month? I'd have to- shudder- actually sit down and *try* to do that! Like, not just slam out a page or two a day at work, but dedicate actual free time to writing.I applaud your dedication, sir, and the quality of your work!
Yeah, that'd do it. Adjusting to a bigger workload is ALWAYS a pain.Oddly enough, so is a horizontal groin stomp. Funny how that works.
**********
MOVE!
My first thought was to jump- to fling myself into the air, so that the soldiers would shoot under me. My second thought was to fling myself to the side, instead, simply to dodge.
I didn't do either of those, of course. Dodging would've just bought me a few seconds. Jumping would've made me a bigger target.
I didn't fling myself straight at them, either. Too easy to hit... and their armor was too thick for my Fencer's Blade to penetrate. I'd have gotten worn down that way.
Instead, I just flew backwards into the corner... and dropped into the hole.
Seconds later, three Devices poked around the edge, and immediately began charging up spells. Huh. Smart of them not to follow me in here. Each of them (and a few chunks of the floor, my aim being what it is) slipped from their owners' hands and fell up to the ceiling soon after, followed by a couple of chairs and a refrigerator.
I still had a few missiles left after disarming the men, you see.
The next response came in the form of ten Devices, all of them already glowing with prepared magic, being stuck into the hole blindly like the last three.
All I did was smile, chuckle a bit, and think to myself Idiots. You gave me time to prepare.
The Arcane Buster that followed took out their spells, shut down their Devices, and tore a hole through the ceiling of L8, all of L9 through L11, and... looks like I only sort of slagged the L12 floor. Drat. Was aiming to get through the last security floor with that one.
Time to clean up, anyway.
No further attacks were imminent, so I rose back up into the L8 breakroom under cover of shield... and was immediately slammed into one of the walls by concussive blasts, and then pelted with their own shooting spells.
Looks like six of them, I thought from behind my now-flickering shield. The other thirteen I disarmed are back there, one of them passing out Devices from a weapon rack; if I don't hurry, they actually stand a chance of taking me down like this.
Good thing I planned ahead.
With a thought, the two hundred Magic Missiles I'd prepared in the tunnel began to rise. They came in clouds of twenty, each cloud bearing down on a single target, starting with the- now ten- who were nearly done breaking down my shield.
Some of them dodged. Others shielded... but the majority of them were caught by surprise. All told, only two of those ten were still standing when the last Missile was done... and neither them nor the re-armed troops behind them had shot at me for a full two seconds.
One second was enough time for me to dismiss and start recasting my shield. Two gave me enough time to set up a gravity trap where the soldiers were standing... and another half-second later, before they could shoot me again, all eleven remaining soldiers were under a full three gees.
They're still moving. Must be some serious reinforcement magic going on there. Still, it's slowing them down well enough- I think I can afford to land. Deflecting a couple of shots with my shield, I proceeded to do just that, and begin charging up two more attacks.
The first one took ten seconds- ten long, tense seconds- to charge up. In that time, four of the soldiers split off from the rest, moving to flank me from both sides; the rest rearmed themselves, and started plinking at my shield to keep me busy. In another two seconds, they might've had me.
Instead, the seven soldiers in front of me got an Arcane Blast in the face. It was the smallest one I could prepare, but it still cleared half the room, and knocked out the entire group.The last four soldiers hit me with concussive blasts from two sides at once. Let me tell you, getting sent flying, and then getting knocked out of the air, and thrown in the exact opposite direction? Hurts like you wouldn't believe, at least until the pain editors kick in.
Their attack left me on the floor, bleeding from a couple of scrapes on my face. Heh. Let's see how they like it. I reached for the gravity trap I'd laid in the room, and began upping the power.
At 6.21 times normal Mid gravity, the last of the elite PMC troops joined me on the floor, gasping for air. Truth be told, I wasn't doing much better. Even laying on the ground, my joints ached, and I could barely wrestle air into my lungs.
The instant the last of them hit the ground, I backed the grav trap down to four gees, and just laid there for half a minute. I wiped my brow, rested my stinging eyes for a bit, and caught at least some of my breath.
Time to get back to work.
Once I could breathe properly again, I hauled my still-achy self to my feet, dropped the grav trap, and went around stunning everybody, just to be safe. That done, I sent an Area Search sphere up the next hole in the ceiling, brought my protections back up, and began to ascend once more.
My Unitarian Jihad Name is: Brother Atom Bomb of Courteous Debate. Get yours.
I've been writing a bit.
Massive ouch. I feel for you, there.
...fair enough.
I just took a quick look at TNM, and I'm pushing into the 120,000 word range. That's over a year and a quarter of work. 50,000 words in a month? I'd have to- shudder- actually sit down and *try* to do that! Like, not just slam out a page or two a day at work, but dedicate actual free time to writing.I applaud your dedication, sir, and the quality of your work!
Yeah, that'd do it. Adjusting to a bigger workload is ALWAYS a pain.Oddly enough, so is a horizontal groin stomp. Funny how that works.
**********
MOVE!
My first thought was to jump- to fling myself into the air, so that the soldiers would shoot under me. My second thought was to fling myself to the side, instead, simply to dodge.
I didn't do either of those, of course. Dodging would've just bought me a few seconds. Jumping would've made me a bigger target.
I didn't fling myself straight at them, either. Too easy to hit... and their armor was too thick for my Fencer's Blade to penetrate. I'd have gotten worn down that way.
Instead, I just flew backwards into the corner... and dropped into the hole.
Seconds later, three Devices poked around the edge, and immediately began charging up spells. Huh. Smart of them not to follow me in here. Each of them (and a few chunks of the floor, my aim being what it is) slipped from their owners' hands and fell up to the ceiling soon after, followed by a couple of chairs and a refrigerator.
I still had a few missiles left after disarming the men, you see.
The next response came in the form of ten Devices, all of them already glowing with prepared magic, being stuck into the hole blindly like the last three.
All I did was smile, chuckle a bit, and think to myself Idiots. You gave me time to prepare.
The Arcane Buster that followed took out their spells, shut down their Devices, and tore a hole through the ceiling of L8, all of L9 through L11, and... looks like I only sort of slagged the L12 floor. Drat. Was aiming to get through the last security floor with that one.
Time to clean up, anyway.
No further attacks were imminent, so I rose back up into the L8 breakroom under cover of shield... and was immediately slammed into one of the walls by concussive blasts, and then pelted with their own shooting spells.
Looks like six of them, I thought from behind my now-flickering shield. The other thirteen I disarmed are back there, one of them passing out Devices from a weapon rack; if I don't hurry, they actually stand a chance of taking me down like this.
Good thing I planned ahead.
With a thought, the two hundred Magic Missiles I'd prepared in the tunnel began to rise. They came in clouds of twenty, each cloud bearing down on a single target, starting with the- now ten- who were nearly done breaking down my shield.
Some of them dodged. Others shielded... but the majority of them were caught by surprise. All told, only two of those ten were still standing when the last Missile was done... and neither them nor the re-armed troops behind them had shot at me for a full two seconds.
One second was enough time for me to dismiss and start recasting my shield. Two gave me enough time to set up a gravity trap where the soldiers were standing... and another half-second later, before they could shoot me again, all eleven remaining soldiers were under a full three gees.
They're still moving. Must be some serious reinforcement magic going on there. Still, it's slowing them down well enough- I think I can afford to land. Deflecting a couple of shots with my shield, I proceeded to do just that, and begin charging up two more attacks.
The first one took ten seconds- ten long, tense seconds- to charge up. In that time, four of the soldiers split off from the rest, moving to flank me from both sides; the rest rearmed themselves, and started plinking at my shield to keep me busy. In another two seconds, they might've had me.
Instead, the seven soldiers in front of me got an Arcane Blast in the face. It was the smallest one I could prepare, but it still cleared half the room, and knocked out the entire group.The last four soldiers hit me with concussive blasts from two sides at once. Let me tell you, getting sent flying, and then getting knocked out of the air, and thrown in the exact opposite direction? Hurts like you wouldn't believe, at least until the pain editors kick in.
Their attack left me on the floor, bleeding from a couple of scrapes on my face. Heh. Let's see how they like it. I reached for the gravity trap I'd laid in the room, and began upping the power.
At 6.21 times normal Mid gravity, the last of the elite PMC troops joined me on the floor, gasping for air. Truth be told, I wasn't doing much better. Even laying on the ground, my joints ached, and I could barely wrestle air into my lungs.
The instant the last of them hit the ground, I backed the grav trap down to four gees, and just laid there for half a minute. I wiped my brow, rested my stinging eyes for a bit, and caught at least some of my breath.
Time to get back to work.
Once I could breathe properly again, I hauled my still-achy self to my feet, dropped the grav trap, and went around stunning everybody, just to be safe. That done, I sent an Area Search sphere up the next hole in the ceiling, brought my protections back up, and began to ascend once more.
My Unitarian Jihad Name is: Brother Atom Bomb of Courteous Debate. Get yours.
I've been writing a bit.