Tora Steals Things

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

They followed the serving golem carefully from afar, watching it wobble its way to its destination. It lead them down several winding hallways, multiple stairwells, and finally down a narrow hall at the lowest level of the lab. The two watched as the golem turned into a wide open room and waddled across its electric generated floor.

The floor was exactly the same as the one in the kitchen Tora had fallen through. He winced at the sight of it. It didn’t help that the back walls were built in much the same manner, just massive gaping holes of sky covered in a thin translucent electric field Tora did not trust. Without the stone beams holding it all together at its edges, the room would just look like open air with floating furniture. As it was, it more gave the impression of a giant glass pyramid. A fragile pyramid—in his mind’s eye, Tora couldn’t help but see himself breaking right through it.

He’d have to deal with that unease later though, for now he and the elementalist were carefully hidden back at the edge of the entranceway and out of sight. They watched quietly as the golem found their target: old Rakak, working diligently at some kind of console/desk that took up the wall on the left side. He cursed and spat, fidgeting with the various buttons, knobs and levers spread out over the console. Numerous holographic screens hovered above him, displaying all kinds of graphs. A prominent one in the middle displayed a screen FPS and Tora were quite familiar with at this point: the password screen awaiting input.

The serving golem clumsily placed its tray of delights on an empty space of the desk as Rakak tried another password. A loud beep sounded as it failed. He snarled, nabbed the sandwich off the tray and scarfed it down in a huff, ignoring the golem entirely.

The golem cleaned a number of empty trays beside the angry asura—seems the guy was stress eating—and waddled away. In a panic, Tora readied another stealth spell as it approached the hall. To his surprise though, it turned and walked the opposite way down the hall. He let out a sigh of relief and turned his attention back to Rakak.

“Damn you, Bolli,” Rakak growled between bites. He tried another password. It failed. The shrivelled asura stomped his feet in frustration. “Must you get in my way even in death?!”

FPS and Tora exchanged looks—had he not gotten as far along in his work as they’d initially feared? The thief scanned the rest of the room more shrewdly. Beyond the desk and holographic screens, there wasn’t much else in the room besides a big stone pillar in the centre. On the desk itself, however, at the far end of it, was a glass tube, and floating within that glass tube was a very familiar bit of jewelry: Bolli’s amulet.