Black Hole: The Book of Iratus, Episode 49

Chapter 481

Three days passed, and on day 88, Iratus was alone on the communal kitchen floor of the tower. Any time one of his lovers entered the room, crying children or the regular chores pulled them away. He gave a sigh and finished his soup, but after he washed out his bowl, Venatio walked in.

Venatio, "There you are."

Iratus, "Uh, yeah?"

Venatio, "Well, I couldn't find you last night."

Iratus, "Ah, well, I've been working, and now I finally have some free time."

The old fox woman held up a chuck of rock with tin and copper ore in it.

Venatio, "That mound is artificial. The whole thing is just tin and copper."

Iratus, "What do you mean artificial?"

Venatio, "Remember, not everything here is exactly from history. I highly doubt that thing is naturally occurring."

Iratus grabbed some jerky and handed it to the fox, who took it and nodded in thanks.

Iratus, "So, what about it?"

Venatio, "What the? We have a large cache of tin and copper. We can make ourselves a forge, a smelter, and start melting them down."

Iratus, "Sure, but what for? We already have many tools, and we can grab more by looting the desolate places."

Venatio, "You lack imagination. I'm interested in seeing if bronze bullets are manageable—maybe not firearms themselves, but I could cook something up. I'd like some help setting up a proper digging spot."

The mouse boy gave a sigh.

Iratus, "I was hoping to finish my wooden wall, but I guess another side quest will do for now." He finished with a smile.

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Chapter 482

Iratus's cart was full of tools, jars of preserved food, and jars of water. Instead of his gambeson, he instead wore sturdy blue jeans and a straw hat, all scavenged from various locations a while ago. Iratus Venatio, and sometimes some of the others.

They took some of the charcoal lumber down and found a spot in the castle mound to start digging. Then they spent a few days trying to setup a reliable digsite to start tearing down the castle hill from the top to the bottom. The ores from the dig would be placed in the tower temporarily when they began stripe mining.

Another project the the tower folk began was stacking stones to construct a primitive forge, while a smelter was found in Last Mistake. The smelter was a tall one, and it was an advanced smelter for its time. The smelter was leaned up against a cut-out hole in a hill with the party being able to find bellows to make it work better.

After a few hours of trial and error, the group of Venatio, Victoria, and Resonantia managed to craft their first bronze ingot.

Venatio, "Ninety percent copper, ten percent tin. Perfection."

Iratus was handing out jerky for the three.

Venatio, "Well, I'd prefer aluminum bronze, but this is still the best we can do until we can melt other stuff down."

Iratus was made to join the hammering process with the group, which spent a few days crafting a whole new bronze sword. From melting down the bronze and pouring it into a mold to using anvils to achieve the desired shape of the blade, all found, of course, at a blacksmith's house in Last Mistake. The next step was heat treatment to improve its hardness and strength, which was followed by tempering to reduce brittleness and enhance flexibility. The last step was grinding the edges, which took two days all on its own, but soon enough, a whole new bronze-long sword was made, and unlike steel, this sword had a distinct golden-brown hue.

Venatio, "And thus, our first bronze item has been made."

Resonantia, "Excluding all the ingots."

Back at the tower, the novice blacksmiths showed the rest of the tower folk the bronze sword. After some congratulations, Iratus returned the bronze long sword to the well-made sheath, another item from the blacksmith house, and placed the sword on the table. The new blade wasn't too much of a looker, as it was just a regular blade made by people with very little blacksmithing experience with a handle of leather straps.

Iratus, "I've talked to the others, and we decided to give Aestus the blade."

Aestus, "Yeah! Alright!"

Venatio, "Consider it an early birthday gift."

Aestus, "Birthday?"

Venatio, "You know, the anniversary of the day you were born."

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Chapter 483

On day 96, Venatio and Ignis came into the communal kitchen as Iratus held Tenacitas, his baby racoon daughter, and watched as Victoria finished her lunch. Victoria was clearly tired and just finished saying that she was heading back to bed.

Victoria continued, "Back in my world, rich people could just hire someone to tend to your children at night."

Venatio, "Stop everything; we have a problem."

Victoria gave a loud sigh.

Victoria, "Give me back, Tenacitas."

Iratus handed over his child to her mother.

Iratus, "What's going on?"

Venatio, "Someone else is trying to steal our hill of resources! They are creatures that match your pale samurai."

Iratus, "Ah, so let's go assert our territory then."

Venatio, "I don't think that will be possible, even more so since they are most likely another type of monster in here."

Iratus nodded his head.

Iratus, "Then a fight we shall expect."

Venatio, "Yeah...I don't know about that."

Once Iratus, Venatio, and Ignis showed up to the destroyed Japanese city, all in combat gear, they saw a lot of workers digging at the mound where the burned-down castle was.

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Chapter 484

Sneaking closer, the group saw many pale laborers, mostly shirtless or in various forms of decayed clothing. The pale beings were mostly human, though a few eelkind and various other kinds of furred folk were in their ranks, but all of them had no hair or fur as it was all bare.

The group backed up to talk.

Iratus, "I mean, we can't just kill indiscrimitiously."

Ignis, "While a good heart is incomparable enough for all to lust for, how about we make a backup design for the almost one hundred percent inevitable skirmish?"

The group debated for a minute on an exit strategy, and when they made their escape route, they began planning to intercept a worker. Ignis had the crossbow this time, while Venatio had a small bag with only a handful of bullets left for her bolt-action rifle, but they both also had other arms as well as Iratus. Once everyone was ready, they began their plan.

Five laborers were dumping dirt onto a pile not too far away from the mound. Iratus walked out of a gatehouse and waved at them.

Iratus, "Friends, I know you can't understand me, but I am waving my hand so you know I am innocent and won't kill you."

The five pale creatures, with their bright blue eyes and human-looking appearance, stood for a second before one of them pointed at the other pale people. He was looking at the others, essentially ordering one to go back, and one of them did start running towards the other pale creatures while the others charged at Iratus, mining picks in hand.

The messenger didn't get far when a bolt shot it in the back, dropping the creature, seemingly dead. Iratus backed up some, and Venatio came around the corner to impale one of the runners onto her spear. Iratus managed to get a strike in, but the other foes slammed their weapons into him, and while his padded armor held up, the thin point where the force was delivered caused such immense pain in Iratus that he buckled over and walked back into the gatehouse.

Ignis fired another shot and slew the wounded pale creature Venatio, harmed. With that, Venatio and Ignis, who dropped the crossbow, ran to Iratus's aid, who was now dodging and weaving out of his foe's attacks. Once the mouse boy got enough clearance from his allies, he went back into combat by countering and launching an attack that cut into the arms of his attacker.

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Chapter 485

Ignis kept stabbing one of the creatures with her spear, and to her side, Venatio was pushed to the ground and was trying to block the incoming attacks. Iratus countered his foe one more time by sidestepping and slamming down his sword into the creature's neck and pulling, slicing open its neck, and then quickly tackled the pale creature attacking Venatio. Iratus now stood at the second pale creature and basically did the same thing. Attack when it overreaches, slicing its wrists, and then counter again by side-stepping and slaying the fiend.

Ignis killed her foe, and the party had won their combat. Unfortunately, Venatio had a hard time standing up; blood was dirtying her red hair.

Iratus, "Oh, snapped chains, are you alright?"

Venatio, "Uh...what? Oh, yeah, yeah."

She slowly got back to her feet.

Iratus, "Should we head back?"

Venatio, "No way." She held her head for a second. "We need to get rid of these things."

Ignis, "These things fought back. We don't fight monsters who are combat-minded."

Iratus, "Yeah, almost always we've had mindless drones, but when they can fight, we have a problem."

Venatio, "I'd say the mindless ones are worse because they touch you and you die."

The party started to head back down to the city.

Iratus, "Except now they have range."

Ignis, "And they are intelligent."

The party took cover in a hollowed-out, burned building for a moment to recover and hide. Ignis and Iratus were constantly looking out for danger, and in a few minutes, Iratus saw the horde of pale skins pouring out of the castle area.

Iratus, "Escape route time!"

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Chapter 486

While the party got to the edge of the city, they had no choice but to stall their escape and hide in the burnt timber as the pale workers ran through the city. This is the reason the party had to hide, as the pale creatures, the human ones with their limitless stamina, outran them. After a minute, Iratus could hear the creatures searching, but luckily nothing more than a glance, and the noises would soon fade. The party spent fifteen minutes waiting before they moved out of their hiding spot and back into the open city.

Iratus, "And that's why we have hiding holes in this place."

Ignis, "To be fair, we is a strong word, for it was I who requested they be made."

Venatio, "Look, people, can we get back on point? We have monsters in need of being slain."

Ignis sighed and started to look around quietly while Iratus and Venatio checked out the road out of the city.

Iratus, "I ain't fighting all that."

Ignis, "Maybe we could prep for something?"

Venatio, "If they are intelligent, then they are mining the ores for a reason. I say we don't let them. They must be stopped!"

Iratus, "I see. Alright, how about this? Venatio, you got a bad head wound. Head back to the tower and grab some reinforcements. Ignis and I will see if we can't thin some of these guys out."

Ignis walked up.

Ignis, "We won't be escaping that tidal wave. The human things evolved to pursue prey; we won't be running away again."

Iratus, "We may have to wait for the others, but we can still see if we can't find some stragglers to assassinate."

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Chapter 487

A few stragglers were found, and Iratus and Ignis silently agreed on taking them out, using their tails and body language to speak.

A group of three pale creatures were about to pass by when Iratus and Ignis popped out from around the corner. Ignis was first, as she shot a bolt into the chest of one monster while Iratus got into the faces of the other two. Iratus did well to lock the two in engagment just long enough for Ignis to come over and use her spear to cover for him. When she pinned one creature, Iratus managed to parry and slay the second one.

The pale creature opened its mouth and let out a weezing exhale. The creature seemed like it was trying to speak, so Iratus waved at Ignis, who released the creature.

Iratus, "Alright, you abomination, how about we start talking instead of warring?"

The creature was thin, had lanky arms, was shirtless, wore greatly damaged brown shorts that had long since faded in color, and was completely hairless. Iratus leaned in to give a sniff, and while it was faint, the creature did smell like a buchered corpse did.

The creature looked back and forth at each of them before it looked at Iratus and tried to say words, though only that hazy weeze of breath came out.

Iratus, "Ah, right. Sometimes I forget that not everyone speaks the best language ever."

Ignis, "Pfft, ha!"

Iratus, "Well, I don't feel good about killing prisoners."

Ignis, "Love, you have to."

Seeing the two turn to face each other, the monster ran off. However, the pair were quite vigilant, with Ignis throwing her spear and Iratus sprinting right after it. The monster never had a chance to flee.

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Chapter 488

Iratus and Ignis managed to slay another group on the far reaches of the city and one more near the mound. Soon enough, he and Ignis were resting near the edge of the city when Resonantia and Aestus came down the road.

Iratus, "Alright, the rest of the army has arrived."

Aestus, "Heck yeah! Let's go knock some heads."

Resonantia, "I believe we are still quite outnumbered."

Aestus handed Venatio's rifle and ammo bag to Ignis.

Iratus, "As if we have ever fought against fair numbers."

The group gave a few chuckles at that. Ignis checked the chamber of the rifle.

Ignis, "Ah, familiar weaponry. It feels normal for once."

Iratus took the crossbow and bolts, and then the group headed for the mound once again. Like last time, a plan was set to run away from the fight if the engagement didn't go well. With everything set in place, they snuck up on the first gate house.

Things had changed with the castle, with miners heading out with carts full of ores while two aligatorkind guarded the gatehouse. However, the aligators had a red magma core in their torso that ignited their viens to such a degree that they almost looked like the blazeborn. Both of these blazeborn wielded two-handers, each about seven feet long, and the monsters themselves were slightly taller than that.

Iratus, "Pale things and born, what a dirty alliance."

Resonantia, "If we assume the pale creatures are from a sin lord, then yes."

Iratus, "Alright, just like we planned then."

Everyone backed up, with Aestus hiding in a building nearby. Once everyone was ready, the party walked out onto the long road and unleashed their volly at their enemies.

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Chapter 489

The blazeborn wasted not a single second being confused, as they just immediately bolted as soon as the gunshot rang out. A small wave of pale monsters also ran at the group once they figured out what was going on. Arrows, bolts, and bullets laid waste quickly into the group of enemies. One of the blazeborn was clipped by a bullet and fell to the ground, from which it quickly bounced back up to continue its warpath.

The pale runners almost got to the group, but Iratus fired the last shot needed to finish them off. Ignis fired her last bullet into a blazeborn, but it continued unflinchingly. She dropped the rifle and readied her spear, and as soon as the first aligator reached her, Aestus came out of a building and, together with Ignis, impaled the creature from the front and back at the same time. Iratus sat the crossbow down and pulled his sword out to cover Aestus as the other monster came to her side.

An arrow skitted across its skull as Iratus stabbed into its tough skin, which took its focus away from the otter girl and onto the one who stabbed it. Iratus soon found himself completely on the defensive as that insane reach made sure he could not engage, and even if he did take advantage of an opening, Blazeborn ignored their injuries, and these guys also have a tough hide, which means any non-killing blow would surely mean he would get countered with a lethal blow. Another arrow came in and stuck into the shoulder, which of course didn't even phase the monster, even though it bled its glowing red blood.

Iratus tried to get in close when the monster left itself open after a swing, but it just bodied Iratus into a building. Iratus only had a second to get back on his feet and roll out of the way of another swing, which tore apart the already-destroyed building. Such an attack also greatly chipped the blazeborn's sword, and thanks to Resonantia firing another shot right below its right breast, Iratus stood back up and managed to get out of the creature's range. That shot actually made the creature stop—not for a second, but enough.

Iratus took a glance at the other two to see their two-pronged attack successfully tear apart into their foe, with Aestus resorting to her longsowrd and imitating Iratu's stances to fight. Iratus focused back on his fight and decided to do something similar. The monster actually used some reasonable two-hander techniques to stab Iratus, who channeled as much rage as he could and dove past the tip of his foe's blade. The blazeborn tried to use its bulk to once again knock the mouse boy down, but Iratus left a lot of room to spare and even got a nastey cut into the monster. Once he was on the other side, he yelled at the monster and went back on the defensive, and with its back turned, another arrow slammed right into its neck.

The monster stopped for a few seconds this time, and when Iratus finally had a thought, it was already back on the move, turning to Resonantia and running towards her. The shark girl fired a wild shot that did graze its leg and almost hit Iratus, but she quickly got out her short sword and tried to block the swing, which left a large dent in her breastplate and sent the girl down to the ground. Iratus stuck his blade far into the monster's side, right where the kidney would be, and the monster finally buckled. Iratus was struggling to pull his blade free, and the monster was slowly regaining its functions, but now Resonantia was back and stabbing the monster, which forced it back on its knees. Finally, Iratus took his blade out of its body and slit its throat. 

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Chapter 490

Iratus cut into the second creature's leg and made it fall to one knee, where he and the three girls quickly tore into it and killed the beast.

A few more pale runners were coming at them, but Iratus and Resonantia went back with their ranged weapons and thinned their numbers to a point where the remainders either fled back, dying from more ranged attacks, or were slain by Aestus and Ignis.

If all the pale monsters had attacked as a group, things would have gone differently, but they only came in line to be slain, and thus the small horde of miners were thinned to a small group that fled into the back of the city, leaving behind their bounty.

The party did manage to catch up with the remaining pale monsters, who were halted and were fighting against another group of people. Once Iratus's group arrived, the pale creatures left the fight and headed off into the woods instead of the plains. The two groups fought the trapped pale monsters left behind, and when they were all slain, they faced each other.

This second group was just two people: a male wolffolk and a female naga creature. The wolffolk was a mostly normal 6'8 (203cm) tall man with quite the buff build as well as having black fur and white hair. His eyes were a bright gold, and he had a large facial scar across his face. He wore tattered common clothes covered by a breastplate, while his legs were just jeans.

The snake woman had a humanoid body with a long snaketail lower body. Her build was a strange mix of light and muscular. She had no hair as her head was that of a cobra, complete with a hood, and faded yellow scales with some red mixed in. She had basic gold snake eyes, though they weren't too different from a biped's eyes with Scalia and irises. Her torso was covered in gambeson and breastplate combo; the padded armor was a dark gray color and looked quite fresh and new, as was her breastplate.

Both of these strangers wore backpacks and had several small arms on their belts, with an arming sword being the wolf's main weapon and a halberd, the axe and hammer version, being the snake's. The snake lady was quite on guard and was straining not to lash out, while the wolf was quite lax and his guard was almost non-existent.

Ignis, "Ah, fresh new strangers. My personal favorite."

Iratus, "And probably don't speak our language. If they don't respond, we will have to grab Venatio and get her out here."

Wolffolk, "No, no. We can both understand this language."

Snake Lady, "We have been over this; stop getting friendly with everyone or you'll end up dead."

Iratus, "You know, I can see we are causing some problems. How about we just leave you two alone?"

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EPISDOE 49: END

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EPISDOE 49: Extras

Extra Story 1

(Some time ago) Clamor's white fur was quite ragged, with his blonde hair growing past his shoulders now. His segmented armor covered his regal attire, which has seen three years worth of patchwork repairs. As he sat in the metal folding chair, he looked from the campfire to the gray-furred, black-haired tiger woman.

Clamor, "Vacillent, was it?"

She nodded her head.

Clamor, "I think that is a bad idea."

The tiger lady wore torn blue jeans and a stitched-up black tank top. Her feet had cloth wraps, and she had a belt with several small melee arms.

Vacillent, "My intel says a special key is down there, and I need all the help I can get."

Clamor, "And is that why you are traveling with Eelkind? How did you even get them to listen to you...or not kill you?"

Vacillent, "Listen to me? You don't understand my situation."

Clamor, "I think I prefer not to get involved."

The tiger girl handed Clamor some cooked beans in a styrofoam bowl, which the old rabbit took.

Vacillent, "This has to do with the summoners. Don't you want to make a big change in the world?"

Clamor. "I just want to live in peace these days."

Vacillent, "By heading back to your previous home?"

Clamor, "Look, if I can't say no, then don't ask me a yes or no question."

Vacillent, "I..fine. You don't have a choice, same as me."

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Episode 49 End Character Sheet
Name: Iratus Lionheart
Species: Mousefolk
Age: 15
Coverings: blonde fur, white gambeson (many repairs, some leather patchwork), leather gloves, tactical vest, tailorcraft backpack, leather plate helmet, delicate gold chain with a small pendant shaped like a lion's glare, flashlight
Weapons: Long Sword, 3x Knifes, Short Sword, Hammer
Equipment: belt, belt bag, water skin, leathercraft backpack, 2 bags, 29 oval copper coins, 6 small silver bricks, 20 fine silver coins,15 fine gold coins, metal keycard

Wounds: slightly burnt legs, brused back

Relevant Community Stash: a fire starter, whetstone, several leather items, 2 glass jar, 12 empty bottles, 1 fish net, primitive sewing kit, a bunch of small wooden figures, wooden dice, metal scrap, lots of rusted metal, several small fish nets, sextant, some bedrolls, a tent, a large barrel, writing material, 73 cloaks and other clothing materials, some fabrics, 5 carts, 8 tattered tents, skin drum, beautiful arts of tropical scenery, floatation devices, wildlife figures, lots of tropical clothing, ancient era hyenafolk clothes

Armory: 10 wooden spears, 45 short swords, 47 knifes, 23 daggers, 31 metal spears, 21 rusted weapons, many armor pieces, semi-automatic rifle (no ammo), 3 hunting traps, 3 snares, 4 backpacks
Aestus: leather vest, leather helmet, metal spear, short sword, bronze long sword.
Victoria: scrap metal breastplate, leather helmet, metal spear, short sword, crossbow, flashlight
Resonanita: breastplate, metal helmet, metal spear, short sword, compound bow, flashlight
Ignis: leather helmet, metal spear, crowbar

Treasure: 52 oval copper coins, 19 oval silver coins 44 ancient metal coins, 8 fine silver coins, a tarnished silver brooch, a small ornamental figurine, a handful of sparkling glass beads, a few antfolk tapestries, some antfolk art, 46 copper lion coins, 5 silver lion coins, 2 gold lion coins, 57 wolfen metal coins, bronze lantern, bronze idol, some jewled trinkets, iron lantern, several large blocks of various metals.

Home Base, Tower: Large Storage Area (many crates, clay pots, and wooden chests), Basic Workshop Area (lots of tools, woodcarving tools, glue, sandpaper), Kitchen Area (many tools, many cutlery items, pots&pans, makeshift grill), Library, Armory, Infirmary Room (surgery tools, first aid kit, plenty of medicine and equipment), Guest Quarters, Master Bedroom (proper bedding, sensual antfolk sculpture), Six Bedrooms (proper bedding)

Outside Base: Butchering Hut (modern butchery kit, smoking rack), Tannery Hut, Underground Storage Area, Garden Area (fenced in), Tool Shed (fishing gear and supplies, trowel, woodcutting axe, woodworking tools, lots of rope, rope ladder, plows, hoes, sickles, rakes, shovels, scythes, chisels, anvils), Partially Built Wall, Small Cabin

Books: 3x woodworking books, weathered leather-bound journal, war game booklet, sketch book (from warband), Bathhouse Reviewers (entire 80 book series), cards, Fractura's Notes, Tempestas's Notes

Year 1, Day 96

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TOWER FOLK:
Iratus of House Lionheart
mouse, male, blonde fur, blonde hair, gold eyes, 6'4 (193cm), age: 15
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Victoria
raccoon, female, gray fur, black hair, brown eyes, 6'2 (188cm), age: 15
-
Aestus of clan Riversinger
otter, female, red fur, red hair, blue eyes, 5'11 (180cm), age: 14
-
Ignis Yang
red panda, female, reddish-brown/white fur, black hair, golden eye, 6'3 (190cm), age: 15
-
Resonantia Diamond Heart Steel
shark, female, blue-gray hue skin, white hair, blue eyes, 6'3 (191cm), age: 15
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CHILDREN:
Negligere
shark, male, steel gray skin, white hair, gold eyes, age: 0
-
Ruina
otter, female, orange fur, vibrant orange hair, blue eyes, age: 0
-
Gula
red panda, male, brown fur, dark brown hair, gold eyes, age: 0
-
Tenacitas
raccoon, female, silver fur, dark blonde hair, amber eyes, age: 0
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NEIGHBORS:
Venatio of Wise Storms, Mother of House Black Jewel
fox, female, red fur, red hair, brown eyes, 6'6 (198cm), age: 71

Studium of Winter Winds
fox, male, gray fur, black hair, blue eyes, 5'6, age 12

Fuligo
otter, female, black fur, blonde hair, blue eyes, 5'4, age 12
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THE COBALTS:
Commercium Jade Blue Cobalt
rabbit, male, white fur, black hair, gray eyes, 6'8(203cm), age: 24
-
Abrasione
hyena, female, tan fur, blonde hair, gold eyes, 6'5(196cm), age: 20
-
Kuxatura
hyena, male, tan fur, black hair, gold eyes, age: 0

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