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Song Of Obsidian
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Post by Song Of Obsidian » Wed, 3. Dec 14, 04:46

These near-death experiences are making me want to play again. I might have to stop reading your stuff if this keeps up :P

blackmilan
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Post by blackmilan » Thu, 4. Dec 14, 22:48

You know there is a saying "All good things are three". 42 percent, 23 percent and 4 percent hull integrity.

You do actually know that you cannot get much closer, do you? :P

Take care man

Idleking
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Post by Idleking » Sun, 14. Dec 14, 20:07

I just noticed the "active" DiD in your signature in the LU thread and decided to check by.
Nice story so far - just hope that 4% hull integrity made you learn the lesson this time :D

One does not simply do a Partol Mission in only an M3 class vessel :roll:

Any plans on making a pdf of this?

Btw: moar? :P
As the size of an explosion increases, the number of social situations it is incapable of solving approaches zero.

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Litcube wrote:Don't succumb to the "I figured it'd be ok".

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Zaitsev
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Post by Zaitsev » Mon, 15. Dec 14, 11:22

Welp, I promisted an update by the end of the weekend, and I'm only a few hours late :p

@Song Of Obsidian: One never know what will happen next, y'know ;)

@blackmilan: Tehcnically I can go down to one hull point, but I don't think I want to stretch my luck that far :p

@Idleking: One does what one must, although I found out when I started [shameless self plug] Sun and steel[/shameless self plug] that using the Damyath Trader start, tune up your starting Caiman and scoot over to Teladi space to get the Trading system software Mk3 was just as, if not more effective than doing combat missions when it comes to cash flow. Apparently the Teladi don't give a damn who they sell equipment or weapons to, so I could start training a UT right off the bat.

I've never made a PDF out of any of my stories before, but I can give it a shot. And moar is coming right here ->

--------------------

Chapter 6 - Diamonds (and other things) in the sky

Next stop was the shipyard in Ianamus Zura, and I got a lot of wide-eyed looks from the local Teladi mechanics when I arrived.

"Praissse Gunne the Sssplit didn't ssskimp on the paint," the chief mechanic remarked dryly. I just looked at her and sighed, knowing very well how damn lucky I had been. And knowing that it would cost me a fortune.

"You might want to get that patched up," she continued, pointing at the hole in my suit and the blood dripping down on the floor. I had been so high on adrenaline I hadn't noticed, but now I was starting to feel the sting, so to speak. Guess I had to find the local sick bay, then. And fix my space suit, which would probably cost me even more money. Guess that drink will have to wait til after I get paid for this nightmare.

Speaking of which, I got back in the fray as soon as my ship was fixed, but since I was in a core sector and there were plenty of capitals around I was more than happy to leave the heavy lifting to the Teladi military. Let's just hope those greedy bastards don't charge me for missiles spent and shots fired.

In Homily of Perpetuity the local OWP became my new best friend, to put it that way. Since my Mamba was faster than any significant threat it was quite easy to pick off the chips fast enough to keep up, and then watch as the rest died in a hail of energy discharges from the OWPs weapons. I did have to hunt down some idiots – if you can call an AIG idiotic – who didn't follow suit, but since they spread out instead of ganging up on me they were relatively easy to pick off. Still, I was very glad the whole thing was over when I took down the last of them. Also, I found out that I'm not getting paid nearly enough for this shit.

After that I decided to head 'home', as in 'find an Argon sector and turn in for the night'. I wanted to get rid of the last satellite I was carrying before I went to sleep, so I headed north to Eighteen Billion to drop it there.

Oooh, a mission to defend against invading Xenon. And apparently an easy one too. Eh, what the heck. Can't be that bad, right?

It 'just' gave me a bunch of fighters, and with some help from the OWP guarding the eastern gate I took them down with relative ease. The weapons platform also kept them from ganging up on me, which was nice. I kinda wished I could buy one, but they were strictly military hardware, and the only thing you could get was laser towers. Quite scary in their own right, but not as scary as a hulking metal colossus hovering in space, bristling with weapons. Anyway, home sweet home.

I decided to fly west from Eighteen Billion, through Unknown Sector Beta and into Legend's Home, a shortcut my explorers had be nice enough to chart before they decided to fly off into a Xenon sector and get them selves killed. Yeah, it still irked me.

Legend's Home, and the drink I had wanted after that Xenon patrol turned to several. It also attracted some … attention.

"'Ello, luv. Why the long face? Y'look like y'sold argnu butter an' dint get paid."

I looked at him, raised my eyebrows and blinked slowly a couple of times. I'd probably have trouble understanding him when I was sober, and now I was about halfway down a bottle of space fuel.

"Ye look like y'ave a lot on yer mind." he said slowly.

"I do," I said, my whiskey-soaked brain finally being able to understand him. He snorted and smiled at me. Quite charming fellow, actually …

"Y'mind sharin'?"

"Eh, it's what all fresh spacers worries about, I guess. Money. Or rather ways of making them that doesn't put me in the sights of lots of angry Xenon or pirates."

"Aaah. Thought ah saw ye in d'shipyard down in 'Zura. Pretty banged up, that fighter o' yers."

"Yeah, I had about four percent hull integrity left before going kaboom."

"Owww … Hate t'see such a cute gal go down in flames."

I can't remember right now, but I'm pretty sure I blushed.

"But," he continued. "How 'bout ah make ya a prop'sition? Ah know a bit 'bout makin' money, and nobo'y has t'get shot."

My 'con man' alarm went off, but I decided to hear him out just in case.

"How so?" I asked.

"Minin'. Mobile minin'. Sure, there's a bit o' luck involved, but ye can make tons off o' it."

Now that he mentioned it there were several minerals and crystal types for sale, and the rarest ones would be sold for several millions per unit.

"All right," I said. "You got my attention. Now, what's the catch?"

"Oh, straight to d'point, eh?" He flashed that charming smile of his again. "Let's just say ah wan' a job out of it. Y'see, a've got d'same problem as ye 'ave, an' getting' shot at ant me type o' fun."

"Tell ya what," I said. "If you're still around tomorrow I'll give you that job."

He grinned at me, then he raised his glass.

"Here's to t'morrow, then."

"Here's to tomorrow."

I went to bed late that night, to put it that way.
I'm sorry, I can't hear you over the sound of how awesome I am :D

DiDs:
Eye of the storm Completed
Eye of the storm - book 2 Inactive
Black Sun - Completed
Endgame - Completed

Ferenczy66
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Post by Ferenczy66 » Fri, 27. Feb 15, 03:50

Highly suggest "EMS Module" for this also

Idleking
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Post by Idleking » Sat, 28. Feb 15, 11:32

I'd highly suggest Zaitsev actually continues this :D
As the size of an explosion increases, the number of social situations it is incapable of solving approaches zero.

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Zaitsev
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Post by Zaitsev » Wed, 9. Sep 15, 22:02

Idleking wrote:I'd highly suggest Zaitsev actually continues this :D
So do I. C'mon, Zait - hey, wait a minute ...

Bad jokes aside, I'm back. First of all I would like to apologize for my very lengthy absence. To make a long story short I needed some time off, and then real life sneaked up on me and made my absence much longer than I had planned. I also would like to thank/blame Song of Obsidian for spurring me into action again. ;)

Anyway, I guess you ain't here to read my ranting, so I'll just post a new chapter instead.

**********

Chapter 7 - Sixteen tons and a gun

"Oi, Lexa! Y'there?"

The hammering on my door, combined with a rather hefty hangover, made me feel like I was sitting inside a giant drum just as someone started pounding it.

"Hold on, Aaron." I growled as I reached for my clothes. I might be hung over as hell, but somehow my whiskey-soaked brain still remembered his name.

"Lexa, c'mon! Get yer arse out o' d'sheets, will ya?"

"All right, SHADDAP! I'm coming!" That little outburst right there almost turned my room upside down. Or, I'm pretty sure it was just my head spinning, but right there it felt like the world did stuff it wasn't supposed to do.

The hammering stopped, and my world straightened itself enough for me to get dressed and answer the door.

"Whaddayawant." Apparently my tongue hadn't quite sobered up yet.

"Ah, there y' are. Ah thought y'had forgotten 'bout me. Or ran off with that Split ya were talkin' with last night."

"A Split." I didn't remember much after the first bottle of space fuel, but my headache suggested there had been more. Many more.

"Yeah … Ya were both hammered outta yer minds, tho. Now, 'bout that job we talked 'bout …"

"Straight to the point, eh?" I rubbed my temples, trying to get rid of the cobwebs inside my head.

"Ah had a good teacher." He winked at me, and I felt like I was missing something important. I did remember him talking about mobile mining, though.

"Yeah, I remember. Mobile mining, wasn't it?"

"Yep."

"Well, I did promise you a job if you stuck around …"

"Mmm-hm!"

"All right, let me get some breakfast and a shower, then we'll go shopping."

"Ah'll just wait in d'hangar, then."

I might have promised him a job, but he wasn't going to get anywhere near anything valuable before I had checked him out. So, while the local cafe whipped up something edible I called in a few favors and had our would-be prospector checked from head to toe.

"Hm," I said to myself as I sipped my coffee and read through his file. He was apparently clean as a whistle, if one ignored his talent for getting drunk and ending up in the can. He had even worked as a miner, which eased my mind a little as I had kinda been worried he was all hat and no cattle. My gut feeling told me he might be a bit too clean, but since I was kinda desperate and needed to get some cash flow going it would have to do. All right, let's put the man to work …

"Hey, Aaron! Time to go!" I caught him slacking in the hangar deck and waved at him as I headed for the Blackheart. He almost bounced across the hangar, and I could see anticipation in his eyes.

"So, where to?" he asked.

"Light of Heart. I've got two nice, shiny Mercury Miners waiting for you there." I swear, the smile that spread across his face threatened to split his head in half. Then it disappeared and got replaced with confusion.

"Hol' on. Ya got two o' 'em?"

"Yeah. I decided to think big, so you're hereby the new chief of my mining operation. You'll be responsible for day-to-day operations, maintenance and whatever crew you need, and you get five percent of whatever you make during the day. How does that sound?"

"Uh …" I could almost see the cogs churn in his head. "Good, ah guess."

"All right. I'll drop you off at the shipyard, then I want you to round up a crew and head for Home of Light. It might not be the most exciting sector out there, but it has plenty of debris and the patrols there should keep you relatively safe. Got it?"

That skull splitting grin returned in an instant.

"Yessir! Uh … Ma'am? Captain …?"

"'Lexa' will do just fine, but you can call me captain if you want to."

"Aye aye, captain." He was almost jumping with excitement, and for a moment I worried that he was gonna take my miners, smack them into the nearest roid and turn himself into an impact crater out of sheer joy. He would have to frak up real bad to manage that, as mining ships were slow as maja snails and carried corvette-level shielding, but people have managed unbelievable things before.

I drop him off at the shipyard, and then flip through the bulletin boards looking for work. A couple of interesting options turn up, although that patrol could mean trouble. The security mission is easier, partially because they always seem hellbent on wrecking the station instead of worrying about their surroundings. Besides, it would net me almost half a million, which I needed.

"Oh … Frak …"

Yeah, those Xenon jumped in almost on top of me, vaporized my shields and blew away a good chunk of my hull before I managed to jump away. Good thing I remembered to fuel her up before I left. Down to seventy six percent hull, that's just swell. Damn Xenon frakkers. Guess I had to warm up the repair laser again, once I had cleared out this sector.

Local patrols had stuck their noses in my business long before I managed to fix the damaged armor plating on the Blackheart, but I won't complain as they basically saved my ass this time. And they left a few stragglers for me too, so I guess it wasn't all bad. Oh well, on to Montalaar.

Y'know, sometimes I wonder if I'm playing with a full deck, so to speak. Cause I took on this Xenon patrol against my better judgment, and I might have bitten over more than I can chew. I might find out in the near future, but in the meantime I get double pay so I'm not going to whine too much.

"Ow! Hey, watch where you're shooting!" The ship shook as a HEPT volley hit my port shields. Then another volley flew right by my cockpit, and sensors told me I had an LX on my tail. I fired the ventral thrusters to get out of his line of fire, then pulled the stick and gave the rudder a good kick, sending the Blackheart tumbling nose over tail. Within a few seconds I had the Xenon in my sights, and responded with a volley from my own guns. Try as he might he couldn't shake me, and since his friends were busy with the sector patrols I had him all to myself …

He didn't last long, and while sector defense had pretty much cleaned up everything they left me a nice Disco to capture. I flew over, and after making sure I didn't have any nasty surprises lurking around I climbed into my EVA suit to do my thing. A few minutes later I had claimed it and fixed the dings, and now it was on its way to the shipyard in Light of Heart to become rivets.

With the Disco on its way I moved south, and as I entered Rolk's Legacy I got a message telling me the mission was complete. In total I probably made around six hundred grand off this little adventure. Not a bad way to start the day. Not bad at all ...

**********

PS: Survived chapter 7. What are the odds ... :D
I'm sorry, I can't hear you over the sound of how awesome I am :D

DiDs:
Eye of the storm Completed
Eye of the storm - book 2 Inactive
Black Sun - Completed
Endgame - Completed

Song Of Obsidian
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Post by Song Of Obsidian » Thu, 10. Sep 15, 12:17

Zaitsev wrote:
Idleking wrote:I'd highly suggest Zaitsev actually continues this :D
So do I. C'mon, Zait - hey, wait a minute ...

Bad jokes aside, I'm back. First of all I would like to apologize for my very lengthy absence. To make a long story short I needed some time off, and then real life sneaked up on me and made my absence much longer than I had planned. I also would like to thank/blame Song of Obsidian for spurring me into action again. ;)
In my best indomitable Paranid marine imitation voice...

"The writers of the X universe bend to my will."

Moar moar moar!

Idleking
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Post by Idleking » Thu, 10. Sep 15, 13:28

I don't want to be a showstopper here, but don't you have to write a story of your own, Song? :twisted:
As the size of an explosion increases, the number of social situations it is incapable of solving approaches zero.

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Litcube wrote:Don't succumb to the "I figured it'd be ok".

Song Of Obsidian
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Post by Song Of Obsidian » Thu, 10. Sep 15, 13:53

I've written five posts in the last two weeks. Where have you been?

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Zaitsev
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Post by Zaitsev » Wed, 11. May 16, 23:13

Aaand MOAR!

**********

Chapter 8 - This used to be a funhouse

With the patrol completed I scanned the stations for more missions. No rest for the wicked and all that. The Disco reached Light of Heart, and gave me six hundred and twelve grand plus change to work with.

I decided to put my hard earned cash to work by buying a lightly banged up Sturgeon military transporter. They were basically TS-class ships with expanded cargo bays and corvette-grade shielding, which meant it could survive the odd stray shot without much trouble and still be able to get the hell out. More importantly this one would be worth about ten million once I got rid of all the dings and fixed the leaks in the hull. So yeah, I was planning on selling it, as I needed the money more than I needed the cargo space right now.

After fixing the Sturgeon I sent it north and started hunting missions again. Yeeeah … Xenon patrol? Apparently I'm unable to learn from previous mistakes, cause I grabbed it and went hunting.

(beep)

It took me exactly two mizura before I had Xenon on my scanner. It was only a handful of fighters, and since this was an easy mission it would most likely be just this one wave. My prediction held true, cause after blasting two Ns and an M I got a message telling me the mission was over and that I had earned a hundred and fourteen grand plus change. Joy!

Getting tired of shooting Xenon I turned to my satellite grid and checked the closest sectors. Lo and behold, there was some leftovers in Light of Heart. And a disabled L and an LX in Aladna Hill to boot. Double joy!

Heading north I cleaned up Light of Heart, then set my sights on the two Xenon ships in Aladna Hill. Unfortunately I only got the LX, but since that was three to four million depending on what it was carrying I didn't care all that much.

Now things really started to heat up. Atreus' Clouds was stuffed to the gills with loot, and while I was there I managed to grab two prisec missions which ended up giving me a Buster and a Mistral TS in addition to my payment. I also spotted a Mamba in Thuruk's Beard, but since the Split appeared to have a pirate problem at the moment I decided to wait a bit. In the meantime I managed to sell both the Sturgeon and the Buster, netting me a hair under thirteen million in total. Just a little bit more, then I would go shopping for a bigger stick.

Since the local forces in Thuruk's Beard had cleaned up the pirate mess I moved in to capture the Mamba. It was in surprisingly good shape, and fixing the few dings in it was pleasantly easy. With the Mamba safely on the way to the shipyard in Ceo's Sprite I jumped to Cloudbase South East to up the size of my stick. That is, I went a bit bonkers with the credit chit and bought a Heavy Centaur. It wasn't the best, nor the latest, but it would have to do until I could afford an upgrade. Now I just had to get someone to run it …

Yeah, getting a crew for a ship with nothing but fairy dust and promises of future riches can be a real pain in the neck. However, I did manage to dig up some misfits who would work for nickles and dimes at the local bar, so now I have a pilot, a navigator, an engineer, a mechanic and three gunners. We were still a couple of people short, so I had to manage sensors and communications for the time being.

"Where to, captain?" Rita, my new pilot, looked at me and apparently expected me to have all the answers. Yeah, I might have to work on that one.

"Hold on," I said. A mission had just popped up. Some Argon named Kaylen Poler had just sent out a distress call, claiming that some shady people had threatened "her" station. I doubted she actually owned the shipyard, but since she was willing to pay and we were almost broke I accepted.

"Kit, Jim, Kara! Man the guns! We got a mission, so look sharp!"

My gunners got into their seats, and the turrets swung into action as they tested the controls. Everything was green, so I ordered Rita to head toward the north gate. Hostiles had this habit of coming in through the closest gate, mainly to minimize flight time in enemy space. I knew, cause I had used the same tactic when I flew for captain Amira. Quick in and quick out, with minimal exposure.

Anyway, my new 'stick' proved far superior to my Mamba, and the handful of fighters that jumped in got cut down as soon as they got within gun range. Speaking of which, I made a mental note to upgrade my guns as soon as I could afford it, cause even though they were effective against fighters they would probably struggle against bigger targets.

Now things were speedingreal fast. We had two more private security missions dropped in our lap, and when we flew over to Ore Belt to refuel at the Solar Power Plant there we got an offer for a patrol to Elena's Fortune. We also picked up two Ns and a Rapier along the way, which got us a very welcome cash injection.

I did screw up in Home of Light though, as I picked up a Xenon patrol there and kinda forgot the whole thing when the other patrol I had going pointed me to President's End. Having to slink back to finish it I gave myself a 'penalty' by picking up a local patrol in Elena's Fortune. It wasn't as much of a penalty as a chance to grab some extra money, but hey, who cares.

After that we took a break at the Military Outpost, and while my crew got some shore leave I flipped through the reports from my satellites to see if I could find something valuable.

Holy crap …

Yeah, Black Hole Sun was stuffed to the gills with loot. Same with a few other sectors, which meant we were in for a very busy day.

As my crew returned I ordered Rita to make the jump to Black Hole Sun, and we spent the next half hour or so picking up loot. It was ridiculous, and when we dumped the load in Thuruk's Beard, making the local weapons dealer somewhat elated, we had earned twenty eight million eight hundred and twenty two thousand three hundred and twenty four credits, boosting our account up to a hair over forty three point two million. Yeah, baby!

After that I … #& 2§! … 3€...

*** File corrupted ***

**********

Unfortunately that's all she wrote, so to speak. One of my hard drives died a while ago, and sadly this game, along with the saves and most of my screenshots, went down the tube. I could probably recreate it up to the point where I left off, especially since I'm hardly out of the starting blocks. However, LU has gone through some significant changes since I last played this, and since I'm a real stickler for consistency the result would most likely just end up irking me to no end because I would be unable to get it "right." So Triaxx2, I guess you can add "hard drive failure" to your list of my causes of death :p

I've been cooking up some new stuff over the last couple of weeks though, so you definitely haven't heard the last of me. And this time I'll have backups, so stay tuned. ;)
I'm sorry, I can't hear you over the sound of how awesome I am :D

DiDs:
Eye of the storm Completed
Eye of the storm - book 2 Inactive
Black Sun - Completed
Endgame - Completed

Triaxx2
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Post by Triaxx2 » Wed, 11. May 16, 23:27

I don't know. Hard Drive Failure sounds like yet another Xenon trouble spot to me. :D
A Pirate's Revenge Completed Now in PDF by _Zap_
APR Book 2: Best Served Cold Updated 8/5/2016

The Tale of Ea't s'Quid Completed

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Zaitsev
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Post by Zaitsev » Thu, 12. May 16, 00:35

Triaxx2 wrote:I don't know. Hard Drive Failure sounds like yet another Xenon trouble spot to me. :D
Well, they are both computer(part)s ...
I'm sorry, I can't hear you over the sound of how awesome I am :D

DiDs:
Eye of the storm Completed
Eye of the storm - book 2 Inactive
Black Sun - Completed
Endgame - Completed

Song Of Obsidian
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Post by Song Of Obsidian » Sat, 21. May 16, 01:33

You brought the story back just to give us...
Zaitsev wrote:After that I … #& 2§! … 3€...

*** File corrupted ***
...THAT?!?!? You evil tease!

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Zaitsev
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Post by Zaitsev » Sat, 21. May 16, 20:21

Song Of Obsidian wrote:You evil tease!
Oh, you have no idea. :twisted:

Seriously though, I dislike having to leave behind unfinished work, and rather than having this fizzle out into nothing I wanted to wrap it up as best I could.

And ... Would it make it better if I said I'm working on a new story? ;) And yes, that's a shameless plug and a blatant attempt at bribing you all rolled into one.
I'm sorry, I can't hear you over the sound of how awesome I am :D

DiDs:
Eye of the storm Completed
Eye of the storm - book 2 Inactive
Black Sun - Completed
Endgame - Completed

Song Of Obsidian
Posts: 305
Joined: Wed, 19. Jun 13, 19:46
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Post by Song Of Obsidian » Sun, 22. May 16, 13:57

Leaving behind unfinished work, huh? That's something I would never do.

You better pop out the new story pretty quick if you want any forgiveness.

Bribing me? Toward what end?

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Zaitsev
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Post by Zaitsev » Sun, 22. May 16, 14:43

Song Of Obsidian wrote:Leaving behind unfinished work, huh? That's something I would never do.

You better pop out the new story pretty quick if you want any forgiveness.

Bribing me? Toward what end?
Forgiveness for being an evil tease, of course. *smile sweetly and flutter eyelashes*
I'm sorry, I can't hear you over the sound of how awesome I am :D

DiDs:
Eye of the storm Completed
Eye of the storm - book 2 Inactive
Black Sun - Completed
Endgame - Completed

Song Of Obsidian
Posts: 305
Joined: Wed, 19. Jun 13, 19:46
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Post by Song Of Obsidian » Sun, 22. May 16, 17:10

In my mind your squeeeee's just got a lot higher pitched. Just saying.

But I won't promise forgiveness. We'll see what happens IF you deliver.

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