Tora Steals Things

“Yeah, actually, yeah it is! At this point I’m half thinkin’ this Rakak character’s gonna be using Bolli’s amulet as a fuckin’ coaster, and we’re never gonna find the bloody thing. And I dunno ‘bout you, but I’m not leavin’ this damn lab without somethin’ fer my troubles,” he snatched the knife.

“Miss Bandi, I must protest—”

He could keep protesting, Tora was done. The exasperated thief turned to make for the door—and froze mid-turn. FPS babbled off something about “an honest life of a dog walker” but Tora wasn’t listening—he’d found the source of the thundering.

There, to the right of the counter, hidden between a shelf and a pantry, was a shockingly beautiful sword made of metals Tora didn’t recognize. “Shockingly” was the key word—from tip to hilt to the sculptures of dragons dancing across its length, the entire sword coursed with electricity. Its sparking form was mounted to a small space on the wall, tied up with a variety of wires that fed suspiciously into the floor.

And sitting atop a shelf just above the sword, was a tiny dog golem doing its very best to tug that majestic sword off the wall. It thundered at every tug.

“Shit—” was the only word Tora managed before the dog succeeded in its quest. The sword came off from the wall, the wires popped off it, and the floor went out from under him.

What followed next went too fast for Tora to fully register: one second he was in the kitchen and the next he was in the sky beneath it. The air turned violent as he dropped through it, roaring in his ears and tearing at his skin. He only saw a glimpse of the kitchen falling away from him before he was forced to close his eyes. What little he saw was that of the tiny golem dog holding the sword on the shelf, and FPS hanging his head over the edge, yelling after him.

Maybe he was saying “I told you so.”

Sap pounded in his ears alongside the howling wind, working together to drown out all thought. Despite their efforts, one made its way through:

Ah, what a stupid way to die.

The wind howled louder to the point of deafening.

Then suddenly it slowed into gentler gales. His motion followed suit, slowing till it felt like he was floating. He risked one eye to peek, and confirmed he was, indeed, floating. Unseen winds swirled around him and pulled him back upwards. The kitchen drifted closer. A fierce wizened adventurer stood near its edge with his staff outstretched—FPS.

It had been a damn good idea to bring him after all, though Tora would never admit it out loud.

Hey guess what? Volume 2 of Tora Steals Things the ebook is finally out! You can pick up a copy over on my Gumroad here!

Volume 2: I’m Wilting covers the Warden and Thief arc, some of the darkest work done for the series! There’s two versions of the ebook Standard and Deluxe:

• • Standard Edition features: 80 comic pages, 10 illustrated short stories, and 4 pages of extra art done for the comic over the years 2018-2020
• Deluxe Edition features: all of the above, along with 17 pages of concept and design work/notes, an 18 page preview of the upcoming original webcomic Apocalypse Child, and author commentary throughout

Did you miss volume 1? It’s available for purchase here

Highly recommend reading Volume 1 before Volume 2 as the story Terin and The Three Saplings leads directly into the stories of this one.

Back to today’s update:

working out a puzzle.
“Beats me. I can’t even read the keys.” They were all asuran script after all. “Hmm.” FPS leaned over Tora’s shoulder, observing the keys for himself. He pointed to a pad on the side. “I’m fairly certain those are numbers.” He pointed to another just below it. “And that’s the ENTER key. We press that when we’re done.”

↓ Read the rest of this entry…

“We’re not gonna find the amulet in there,” Tora finally responded. He said it more to himself, trying to convince himself to leave well alone. This whole hallway had been abandoned for a reason—a reason that was none of his business, probably dangerous, and certainly had nothing to do with the amulet they were after.

Damn his curiosity though, he opened it anyway: 1-2-3-4.

The door slid open and the two cautiously stepped inside. They were barely in the room before they froze, startled and wide eyed.

They’d finally found living staff.
Sort’ve.
Before them was a lab seemingly trapped in time: showcasing a living snapshot of

what appeared to be some kind of accident. A dozen or so asura in inquest uniform populated the lab, most of which appeared to be making a frightened dash for the door. The few left were pouring over documents and lab equipment, indifferent and unaware to the panic before them. All of them were frozen in place, like statues made of flesh rather than stone.

“They’re not breathing,” FPS said sombrely as he checked the pulse of one.

Disturbing.

Every cell in his body was screaming to leave, but Tora fought it, working his way to the back of the lab. He weaved about the frozen asura, the upturned tables and chairs, the papers and beakers and tools stuck mid-flight, and stopped at a wall of glass containers. Each container held someone in it: a charr, a sylvari or two, and a lot of humans. No asura. They all were naked, seemingly asleep, and suspended in some kind of purple liquid.

“Oh I don’t like that,” Tora said under his breath.
“It appears our Rakak here has been studying time magic,” FPS called behind him. “Yeah? No shit.”
“There’s reports here.”
“Yeah?” Tora glanced back to see FPS shuffling through a stack of paper on a

nearby table. Apparently this room hadn’t been gutted like the others. Perhaps it was deemed too risky to. “Readable?”

“Asuran script, but I think I can get the gist of it. Looks like they were experimenting on some subjects.”

“These guys, no doubt. Anythin’ new there, detective?”

“I think they’re all mesmers. I suppose that’s where they were getting the time magic from.”

Mesmers, time magic, and a lab room stuck in time—Tora half expected to see

”This doesn’t bode well, Miss Bandi,” FPS stated, watching with deep concern as Tora paced up and down the hall. They were outside the frozen lab room now, having seen far more of it than either cared for.

“Yeah? No shit!” Tora shot back. Panic and frustration was making an ugly cocktail in his guts. “This obsessive rat’s been workin’ on time freezin’ battle golems this whole time! Shit, this is probably been old boy’s life’s work! He’s been tinkerin’ at this shit fer years!”

“Using Bolli’s research.”

“No,” Tora stopped. “Failin’ without her research. I mean, this is it, ain’t it? This is the result of what his own work got, ya?” He gestured at the abandoned halls around them. “A fucked up lab stuck in time, a hall of rooms hastily emptied and locked away, and not a damn livin’ soul left t’work fer em cause he can’t get any help willin’ t’risk this shit!”

“Right,” FPS nodded, thinking. “The Inquest from earlier—they said they wouldn’t give him more krewe.”

“Fuck I shoulda known when we saw Inquest. Course they’d be keen t’get their hands on a time warpin’ golem! If they get one that works…” The thief returned to pacing.

“Perhaps they’d use it against the dragons?” The elementalist offered. He didn’t sound confident.

“And then use it ‘gainst everyone else.”

FPS didn’t argue—they both knew enough about Inquest to know they had nothing but ill intentions when it came to other races. Subjugating the rest of the world was exactly the kind of thing they’d use a weapon like this for.

Tora stopped at the end of the hall, peering through the doorway leading out.

“And now old boy’s had Bolli’s amulet fer days. If that thing has her research, we got bigger problems than just stealin’ it back. Damn, now I’m really wishin’ he only wanted a new coaster.”

He sensed FPS beside him, peering out into the next hallway along with him.

“Miss Bandi, I fear this is too big a job for a humble dog walker,” he said. “I’ll need to contact Headquarters—”

“Headquarters?”
“…I’ve said too much.”
“Right. Ya think ya got time fer that?”
“No.”
“Didn’t think so.” Tora walked out into the next hall. There wasn’t any use standing