Afternoon all.
So, Chapter One of 'Fate's Despair' will drop tomorrow and then will follow the usual Mon, Wed and Fri publishing schedule of 'Chance's Gambit'. Of course, if you fancy getting ahead of the game, there's 30k and growing already up on my Patreon. The chapters there will stay at least a month ahead of Royal Road.
Before diving back in tomorrow, here's a little recap of where we left things.
Our heroine, Lorelei Norton, finds herself dumped, fired and homeless on the same day the Earth becomes the latest planet integrated into a haphazardly-maintained universe-wide System. However, due to a failure of due diligence as to our state of readiness, this integration rapidly goes off-piste, and all sorts of highly violent issues start to occur. At the same time, keen to take the opportunity to be something more than a 'good girl who does what she's told', Lorelei selects the Fortuna's Herald Class. Whether this choice was brilliant, a colossal mistake or a little bit of both remains to be seen.
This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.
Across 'Chance's Gambit', by hook or by crook, we follow Lorelei as she slowly comes to terms with the random nature of her luck-based Skillset. Kobolds are maimed, Wolves are skinned and, eventually, she gets embroiled in all the tasty PvP going down. Along the way, she picks up a motley crew of hangers-on, and the System gives her a quest to escort them to a safe haven. This journey is not universally successful - mainly because Lorelei's Guide appears to delight in royally fucking with her. Nevertheless, despite . . . shenanigans (oh, and the bitter rivalry of the Goddesses of Luck and Fate), the party manages to reach its destination, defeating the Big Bad, and Lorelei gets a satisfying chance to put her Guide in its place.
Book One ended with the Goddess of Fate re-marshalling her forces for another attempt to wipe our gal, and Lorelei realising that the group's Healer - who she was holding a candle for - was actually a Charm Leech feasting on the group's admiration.
Book Two kicks off tomorrow!