After finishing off the dwarves and stripping them of all their gear, I left their corpses to rot in the hot Texas sun. It's all the bastards deserved after attacking. Coming after me was one thing but attacking my friends was another.Despite my desire to immediately go after the perpetrators of this little plot, I was forced to curtail my emotions. I had no way of locating my target, although, I had a few ideas. First I needed to intercept my new captains and get the other barge out of Houston.After returning to the fortress I moved south of the Spine and around toward the coastal city. I really should find out what that city called itself.My arrival didn’t go unnoticed as I plopped the fortress down in an empty shipping yard near the docks. I hurried out to prevent any misunderstandings among the locals.A few of the town militia had already shown up but they quickly spotted me and lowered their weapons. But I noticed they didn’t put them away.“I thought you said you would be go

It took Timothy a week to finish fabricating the last of the disks for my project. It was good timing because the dry dock was almost complete. I thanked the man for his work and told him to take off until the dry dock was ready and the barge was in place. I paid him with the money I earned from the town. I essentially signed a contract to build the wall and add other fortifications. The money wouldn’t be paid all at once, as to not bankrupt the town. Instead, I agreed to installments as well as free room and board for my employees until the work was complete.It gave me a steady flow of incoming capital to continue to pay my small workforce but it was enough. If I needed a cash infusion, I could sell some runic items. My employees were happy to finally be out of living in the warehouse, especially Maria who was forced to live with three other guys. Although, I think she liked the attention of being the only female, the other guys treated her like a daughter. Timothy was the only marr

The rest of New Mexico was a boring wasteland, not improved one iota from its pre-System state. Just brown rock and sand as far as you could see. Most cities were dead husks, sand already beginning to cover over the remains. People were long gone, dead or scattered to easier climates, unable to survive after the luxuries of the modern world were gone. I wondered why anyone would ever want to live in such an inhospitable place. It did give me a newfound respect for early settlers and the harsh environment they dealt with just to survive day-to-day.One of the instruments attached to the fortress was a thermometer and it read one hundred and twenty-two degrees. This trip would have been a death sentence if I hadn’t replaced the broken climate control units in the fortress. Even then they were running constantly just to keep Ska and me from sweating to death. Thermal insulation hadn’t been a big concern when I had created the fortress.Crossing over the border into Arizona was like cross

After that unprovoked attempt at my life, my interest in watching the matches waned. If it wasn’t for the fact that I was sequestered in with the other participants I may have just said screw it and walked out. I was fine with testing myself against the people with a duel, but I wasn’t here to fight to the death. Earning access to the Bazaar wasn’t worth that much in my opinion. I had other places I could access if I needed to.***“Well… looks like that moron Henrich nearly died,” The Don stated dismissively.“Yes, the man was always a bit of a hothead, but to try and kill someone after he lost is truly low. We will have to get rid of him, can’t go having people like that ruining our tournaments.”The Don nodded, “want me to take care of it now or after?”Charles Lemont rubbed his chin in thought. “Go deal with it now, he is still injured and will make less of a fuss.”The Don nodded and was about to leave before his boss spoke up.“The two fighters you brought in are quite something

Even before I could see the contestants, I could hear the stomping and chanting of the crowd. It appeared Hegar the champion had made it to the Semi-Finals, it was also my first chance to see the figure.Out of one side of the arena stepped a comparatively short man. Maybe a head shorter than I was. What he lacked in height he made up for in girth. The man was like a solid slab of muscle. His bulging arms poked through the sides of his breastplate, being the only part of him unarmored. From head to toe, he was festooned in full enchanted plate mail. It was colored a macabre dark red but seemed to glow with power. At least I hoped it was paint and not blood. Going by the dull grey scratches that cut through the paint I assumed it was mithril.His opponent turned out to be the large man with the massive hammer, and while he didn’t get as many cheers as the champion did, he got a fair share.The fight was a clash of monsters as both men charged in and just started swinging. Hegar with a