Suffering Marriage Problems
After installing the mounts for Shanalorre's shelves for when the carpenters finished building them, it was back to River's Fork after breakfast. Handing Yllian his rock—she'd carved his name on it so he'd know it was his, although it ...
2023-02-04 16:00:04 +0000 UTC View Post"If she's volunteering, it would be a good idea to take her up on the offer," Rian said after Lori had finished choosing bowls and Shanalorre had related the matter to him. "I didn't want to bring it up, but people didn't really enjoy trying to go seeling late in the year. From what I gathered—...
2023-02-02 16:00:02 +0000 UTC View PostSo, on the subject of the 'What If’, it looks like it might be a four- or five-parter. When it's done, I'll compile it together into a single post to make it easier to read for everyone.
Most of the length is a result of the show-don't-tell nature of the writing, as well as the fact we're...
2023-02-01 09:50:25 +0000 UTC View PostLori had a specific image of what life on the edges of a demesne was like. It involved flimsy buildings in some degree of disrepair, uneducated masses, poverty, and lords or ladies who were either lazy, corrupt, or incompetent. There'd be a militia camp nearby, to give the edgeward settlement a r...
2023-01-31 16:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostThere were, as expected, people waiting for them at the docks.
Lori didn't know why people did it. It had only been four days! Surely not seeing someone for that was no cause for this kind of commotion. And all the hugging! Yes, she understood that it was nice to be held, she'd enjoyed rece...
2023-01-29 16:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostThe continuing work excavating the dragon shelter was repetitive, the sort of repetition where time lost meaning as a result of the monotony. Lori had finally managed to dig the ramp upwards to the dragon shelter, as well as start clearing a space. steps on the ramp to make them proper stairs wou...
2023-01-26 16:00:02 +0000 UTC View Post"You need my help?" Karina said.
Shana nodded, even as she glanced sideways to make sure her cousin was nearby. The younger girl was still sitting on the bench Shana had put her, swaying impatiently. "Binder Lori asked me to plant some tubers so we can transfer them over to River's Fork. Ho...
2023-01-25 16:04:37 +0000 UTC View Post"You… want me to be your lord?" Rian asked.
"Yes, that's what I just said."
"Uh… why me? I mean, there are other people…"
"I need a leader. Someone people listen to and can convince them to work."
"Again, there are other people," Rian argued. He seemed well aware tha...
2023-01-24 16:00:02 +0000 UTC View PostAfter installing the mounts for Shanalorre's shelves for when the carpenters finished building them, it was back to River's Fork after breakfast. Handing Yllian his rock—she'd carved his name on it so he'd know it was his, although it probably wasn't visible to him because of the glow—Lori th...
2023-01-22 16:00:02 +0000 UTC View PostA Little Girl And A House
As Rian made the arrangements, Lori put lightwisps on the outside of the Coldhold. She had to use lightwisps from her eyes so she could keep it imbued even when it was outside of the demesne, but when she was done, she was reasona...
2023-01-21 16:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostSo... the What If chapter has... undergone development.
For one, it's now probably going to be at least a three-parter, because right now it's about 5k words and still counting. So... I guess there's no need for a poll in February? Normally I'd have stopped a lot sooner, but the ch...
2023-01-19 16:16:03 +0000 UTC View PostThe rest of the day was unremarkable as Lori cured the wood in the shed. Nearby, people were moving in and out of the firewood dehydrator shed—though in practice it was a wood drying shed—putting in cut but wet branches and deadfall, and taking out dry pieces to bring back to their homes. Whe...
2023-01-19 16:00:05 +0000 UTC View Post"This is your house now," Lori told Shanalorre the next morning after breakfast. The bed Shanalorre had been using in the shelter up to now was being carried inside by four burly men and Rian. He… honestly didn't seem to be of any help whatsoever. "Once the bed is inside, I'll build you a table...
2023-01-17 16:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostAs Rian made the arrangements, Lori put lightwisps on the outside of the Coldhold. She had to use lightwisps from her eyes so she could keep it imbued even when it was outside of the demesne, but when she was done, she was reasonably sure that the Coldhold would have enough ligh...
2023-01-15 16:00:02 +0000 UTC View PostThe next day started as a perfectly ordinary morning for Lori. Specifically, it started with her in her demesne. When she finally came down, it was to a full dining hall, as she had come to expect on mornings, and which she found she had actually missed in the last week and half. Everything was a...
2023-01-12 16:00:01 +0000 UTC View PostAfter dinner, Lori should have been sleeping. Her bedroll was on her bed, and her pillow and blanket atop it, ready to give her a good night's rest. The only one she'd have for some time, given where she'd be going the next day.
Instead, she was restless.
Try as she might, Lori couldn...
2023-01-10 16:00:02 +0000 UTC View PostLeaving should have been simple. Rian should have only needed to tell some people they were going, everyone would have gotten on the boat in an orderly fashion, and she'd have been on her way back to her demesne. Even if she'd be leaving again the following day to get back to work on her new ...
2023-01-08 16:00:01 +0000 UTC View PostIt took Lori several more days to sufficiently excavate the mine and shape the excavated area such that it was fit for storing food. While she couldn't control earthwisps at a distance anymore as she could in her demesne, she had been a skilled Whisperer even before becoming a Dungeon Binder. It ...
2023-01-05 16:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostLori was able to finish the stove and the roof over it by late afternoon. The lip of the roof was just under the roof of the dining hall, and with a raised lip on the outside curve of the roof, any rainwater shouldn't fall on the food as it was taken out. That night, the demesne was called out to...
2023-01-03 16:00:02 +0000 UTC View PostSo! To get ready for January, I'm going to put up the poll for the Patron Exclusive chapter now. Here are the choices for this month.
And wow. Despite my best efforts, we now have a whole bunch of named characters, don't we?
EDIT: Sorry, I had to delete the previous poll, as I forgot ...
2022-12-31 11:11:06 +0000 UTC View PostAnother year is coming to an end and in two month we'll be coming on Demesne's 2nd Anniversary. I wasn't able to really do anything special earlier this year, but I'll see what I can do next year. Thank you all for thinking my work was worth shelling out for, and I'll try to continue providing a ...
2022-12-31 10:49:23 +0000 UTC View PostSo, here's the poll for the 'What if' options for January. By demand, some of the otions are to continue previous ones.
Feel free to give suggestions for other what ifs, and I might include them in future polls.
EDIT: so , the poll has ended, and combined with the results ...
2022-12-29 08:28:33 +0000 UTC View PostCassan sometimes wished he'd stayed in Covehold Demesne.
For all that it was barely even with a fairly prosperous rural backwater, Covehold Demesne had been a large town trying to grow into a small city, full of modern conveniences even if they were in diminished form. It had libraries, mar...
2022-12-21 16:41:49 +0000 UTC View PostThe Core Of River's Fork
The core was where Shanalorre said it was.
Or rather, the pile of rocks and dirt that supposedly blocked the way to the core was where Shanalorre said it was, under the first steps of the spiraling stairs shaped into the trunk of the ...
2022-12-17 16:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostIt rained just long enough to be wet and annoying, but not long enough to justify not working.
Lori was reminded of the year before, when they'd just arrived at the location they had to settled, and it had rained as they had worked. At the time, they had been glad for the rain, which had wa...
2022-12-15 16:01:00 +0000 UTC View Post"What have you done?-!"
Shanalorre turned towards him as Lori gave him a disapproving glare. "I have surrendered and submitted to the authority of Dungeon Binder Lolilyuri," the other Dungeon Binder said, her voice still pitched to carry her words to the crowd. "It is she who now r...
2022-12-13 16:00:07 +0000 UTC View Post"I would like to begin," Shanalorre began, "with an apology for my absence. I was not here to act as your Dungeon Binder and lead you over the past several weeks as winter ended. For that, I apologize." She stood on one of the higher steps on the spiraling stairs built into the central tree of Ri...
2022-12-11 16:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostLori sometimes wished that Rian had agreed to be her lord when she had first asked him. It would have made things so much easier in the long run, but he had been firm in his refusal… and then had started running away from her whenever he'd seen her coming in his direction when she'd kept trying...
2022-12-08 16:00:08 +0000 UTC View Post