The Crucible Shard

Gamers are celebrities. Superstars. Idols to the masses. Only a few ever make it out of Piper's Mill, most toil their lives away in the small town just dreaming of a better life. Liam thought he had a comfortable life all worked out when it winds up wrenched away from him. Drawn into other's schemes to hack the game and steal some spotlight he never expects to find himself playing in a game nobody has ever heard of.

Castle Sardonis is surrounded by enemies on all sides and dangerously short of supplies. When a needed shipment goes missing the party finds themselves on the high seas beset by pirates and seeking the Goddess of the Sea. New loot, new levels, and new mysteries to unravel as more is learned about the world. Immediately following the story from Dungeon Crawl, the focus remains with the same group and focused on their struggles within the Crucible Shard.

Becoming King of a virtual nation was just the start of Liam's problems. Unreliable allies fill his castle and skilled foes surround his lands on all sides. While the pirates on the coast have been dealt with, the former King of Galea has been raised from the dead and musters an army.

The Elves are invading Galea. With evil growing in the southern lands they have come to put an end to it by any means necessary. The forces of evil won't go down easily. Liam Ottani has learned many lessons since first logging into the crucible shard. Attacks must not go unanswered and one must strike where their enemy is weak.

Liam is king of the world and things have never seemed darker. As the Crucible Shard takes on a new prominence in the larger Universe, this brings new opportunities and dangers greater than any he has yet faced. Earth, too, is moving into this larger world and under the control of the Artificial Intelligences it would be foolish to underestimate their ambition. When battle lines are drawn, what side shall Liam choose?

King Liam has faced many foes since taking the throne, but this one is more personal than most. The God Veros is one of the artificial intelligences from Earth and has been hatching plans and building his base of power for a very long time. The struggle shall make all those involved rediscover who they truly are, and make hard choices for the days to come.

The war for control of the multiverse is finally coming to a head. What started for Liam as a game has become for King Liam something far more personal, a fight for the home he has made for himself and those he cares for. This conclusion to the saga brings more of what has defined the Crucible Shard series, hard decisions and complex choices as the lines between hero, anti-hero, and villain blur even more.