SCM2814

Demesne 396 - Rian in Trouble

After sweeping her floor after dinner—Rian had insisted on doing it himself, since he said she probably wouldn't sweep under her bed, which… was fair—a promise of new footwear, and begging for Lori to not expand the demesne before he could measure how much the demesne had expanded, Lori went to bed.

"Five paces!" Rian declared cheerfully the next day as he finally arrived for breakfast. "Well, five paces lest a yustri, but still! I think that's a record for you!"

Lori gave h...

Demesne 395 - Resuming Expansion

At the end of the week, Rian had a gathered a small group of men who decided that working the whole day in a shaded mine was preferable to working until it was too hot to stay outside. The morning that they set out to River's Fork, there was another crowd at the docks, which caused the usual delay, though to Lori's surprise the delay seemed shorter than usual. While there was hugging, there didn't seem to be as much crying?

Were her idiots becoming… rational?

No, that was probab...

Weekly Digest 123 - (#392 - #394)

Ventilation and Boats

It was clear to Lori that the issue with the trees wasn't a Deadspeaking problem, but rather a cooling problem. After all, it didn't matter how much heat a process generated, what mattered was siphoning off that heat.

Really, if they had the infrastructure the best way to deal with this was to have misty sprays of water coming down on the leaves, which was cooling and irrigation put together. The lack of infrastructure meant...

Demesne 394 - The Sawmill And Trees

The work on the sawmill had progressed in her absence. The rest of the carpenters had mounted the water wheel on the fixtures she'd set into the stone foundation, as well as the wooden shafts that transferred the wheel's rotational force, and the frames to support the sawmill's doors had been raised and secured. Lori had been more than willing to let someone else take care of handling the sawmill's walls, even if it would take them a lot of wood.

Fortunately, near the site of the sawmil...

Demesne 393 - New Bound Tools

Since it seemed she'd be needing new bound tool cores—at the very least, Lori's Boat Two needed a driver to propel it—Lori began making the preparations to make them as soon as she got back home. She had Rian inform the smiths what she needed made, and then checked the amount of copper they had in her treasure room. They still had copper bar stock, but it was probably time to continue mining in River's Fork. She'd have Rian set that up.

Actually, given that mining will be i...

Demesne 392 - Ventilation and Boats

It was clear to Lori that the issue with the trees wasn't a Deadspeaking problem, but rather a cooling problem. After all, it didn't matter how much heat a process generated, what mattered was siphoning off that heat.

Really, if they had the infrastructure the best way to deal with this was to have misty sprays of water coming down on the leaves, which was cooling and irrigation put together. The lack of infrastructure meant that wasn't viable, but if Taeclas even put the meani...

Weekly Digest 122 - (#389 - #391)

There Be Fruit

The next several days fell into the same routine. Shana and Karina imbued the crops in the morning until it was too hot for them to work, then resting in the afternoon. Wizard Taeclas continued in her attempts at a hands-free sunshade, which went through several iterations as the older Deadspeaker tried to figure out a way it could be carried without hands. Shana assisted her when she was free, and because the thought of having something besides ...

Demesne 391 - Tree Adjustments

"Huh… that's a lot of people who'd need to be picked up from Covehold…" Rian said, sounding thoughtful.

"Picking them up from Covehold Demesne won't be necessary. The ship will make for the bay at the end of the river directly, and the colonists will make their way here as we did."

Rian frowned. "Wait, they know where the river is?" he said.

"Yes. We didn't start out from Covehold except to pass through and get the ship cleared of the colors. Koshay had us go along the c...

Demesne Patron EX SS 32 – My Next Demesne! I'm Happy With My Wife!

Taeclas woke up to another wonderful morning with her wife in her arms.

She wanted to stay right where she was until the mid-morning, but unfortunately, she had a job to do.

…

She had a job to do, time to get up…

…

Move Tae, move…

…

Oh colors, her wife was so warm and soft and lush and smelled so nice…!

She was in the middle of nuzzling the side of Rybelle's neck when her wife said, "I'm awake Tae, I'm awake."

Tae's morning bri...

Demesne 390 - The Return Of The Letter

The work on the sawmill had been progressing well over the past week. The foundation had been placed and leveled to Lori's satisfaction, and Lori had been able to raise half of a stone wall on the river-facing side of the site. The rest would wait until after the water wheel was installed. The carpenters would be taking care of that today as she and Rian went to River's Fork to talk to Yllian, with—Lori reached into her pouch, feeling around for the right shape before drawing them out, then...

Demesne 389 - There Be Fruit

The next several days fell into the same routine. Shana and Karina imbued the crops in the morning until it was too hot for them to work, then resting in the afternoon. Wizard Taeclas continued in her attempts at a hands-free sunshade, which went through several iterations as the older Deadspeaker tried to figure out a way it could be carried without hands. Shana assisted her when she was free, and because the thought of having something besides her hat to cover was very tempting. Eventually,...

Weekly Digest 121 - (#386 - #388)

Shana's Breakfast

Shana had a quick bath as Karina went to collect her brothers and sisters from Shana's house. The bath was mostly because Shana would be sitting next to Binder Lori this morning as the work hadn't been that intensive yet. Karina hadnt even broken a sweat. The baths were full this morning, as they'd been all summer. Many inside weren't taking a full bath, but rather simply pouring a few ladles of water on themselves and giving their faces a qui...

Demesne 388 - Shana's Afternoon

Shana ate at the table behind Binder Lori during lunch, as the children she was responsible for always needed her attention after coming back from River's Fork, and she had to make sure they ate and remained within acceptable limits of behavior. The latter was more for the benefit of the other tables around them, as Binder Lori didn't really seem to care how loud the children were, but adults would use the pretext of 'disturbing her Bindership' to try to get the children to behave. Best to ju...

Demesne 387 - More Of Shanalore At Work

After breakfast, it was back to work imbuing the fields.

Shana went back to her house to retrieve her reed hat and a towel. Unfortunately, the pale skin on her arms were going to burn under the sun—her skin didn't tan like Karina's, instead becoming more red, and then starting to peel—but that was what her meaning was for. The towel was soaked in water and laid over her shoulders dripping wet. Such a thing would be dangerously harmful in the northern demesne she'd been born in, but ...

Demesne 386 - Shana's Breakfast

Shana had a quick bath as Karina went to collect her brothers and sisters from Shana's house. The bath was mostly because Shana would be sitting next to Binder Lori this morning as the work hadn't been that intensive yet. Karina hadnt even broken a sweat. The baths were full this morning, as they'd been all summer. Many inside weren't taking a full bath, but rather simply pouring a few ladles of water on themselves and giving their faces a quick wash to remove morning oil and quickly cool the...

Weekly Digest 120 - (#383 - #385)

Prelude To Shana’s Holiday

Shana—Shasha to a few, Great Binder or Lady Binder to most, Shanalorre to Binder Lolilyuri—had quite enjoyed Lorian's Demesne's mid-winter holiday, at least up until the point she had needed to prove her seriousness to the other Dungeon Binder. While River's Fork had been well-prepared for the winter—after all, the winter had been quite mild—they hadn't the resources or infrastructure for such a thing, although some families...

Demesne 385 - Shanalore At Work

The children in her care would return by lunch the next day, happy at having spent the day and night with their families and whatever holiday festivities River's Fork had held. Shana knew that Binder Lori had sent them several rocks with lightwisps anchored to them to provide illumination for the night as well as some honey and meat so they could have a similar celebration as the one held at Lorian. There'd even been a note telling Wizard Lidzuga to rest for the day, and that his probationary...

January Poll

It's poll time again! And this definitely has nothing to do with me panicking because I realized I need to write a Patron Exclusive and couldn't think of anything to write about at the time. Nope, not at all. 

Also, February will come soon after that, so I need to write an anniversary special. I didn't write one in 2023, but I'm not going to forget this year!

So anyway, poll choices this month are:

Demesne 384 - Shana's Holiday

When the time for lunch came, there was no stew. Shana wasn't surprised, because Rian had announced the itinerary beforehand, but it was still a marked difference to the day's routine. She supposed that was the point. A holiday, according to the lord when she'd asked, wasn't just for the sake of rest. It was also important that a holiday be a break from the monotony of a normal day, so that people didn't just find themselves of thinking of the work they would be doing when the holiday was ove...

Demesne 383 - Prelude To Shana’s Holiday

Shana—Shasha to a few, Great Binder or Lady Binder to most, Shanalorre to Binder Lolilyuri—had quite enjoyed Lorian's Demesne's mid-winter holiday, at least up until the point she had needed to prove her seriousness to the other Dungeon Binder. While River's Fork had been well-prepared for the winter—after all, the winter had been quite mild—they hadn't the resources or infrastructure for such a thing, although some families had taken turns visiting each other.

She had moved int...

Magical Girl/Prototype Prologue 1 - v6 (Complete)

Happy New Year, everyone! Here we have the completed first Magical Girls intro chapter of the Magical girls VS Cultivators project. Hopefully I can get a few more done this coming week, maybe get started on the Cultivator intro chapters (currently resisting a STRONG urge to parody Beware of Chicken's first chapter). These intro chapters will serve both as an introduction to the two major factions of the story and to gauge interest. At the moment, I'm planning 4 Magical Girl intro cha...

2023-12-31 17:40:57 +0000 UTC View Post

17/12/23 Update

Well, that's the last entry of the year, folks! Thank you all for supporting me for another year, and I hope you've enjoyed the story I've written!

My break begins now... although since it's the Christmas season, it's... well, not really much of a break, is it? But it will hopefully be a change of pace?

Well, after I've gotten my fill of video games during the times I'm not running around needing to do IRL stuff for the season, i'm going to TRY to write ebook-exclusive stuff for D...

Weekly Digest 119 - (#380 - #382)

Not Completely Useless

At dinner that night, Lori handed Taeclas—she'd checked her now-triangular rock just a moment before—the nicer of the two river rocks she'd found the afternoon. Like Rian's, the rock fit easily in the palm, rounded and smooth, with a flat side that would let it lie evenly on a surface. The opposite side glowed from the heavily imbued being of lightwisps, shining brightly. "Here," she said as she held out the rock to the Deadspeaker. 2023-12-16 16:00:07 +0000 UTC View Post

Demesne 382 - Accelerated Harvest

Rian looked up from the almanac Lori had handed him, having apparently finished reading the entry on the typhon beast. “And you want to kill one of these things?”

“It’s necessary,” Lori said. “Its presence has disrupted the hunting in the vicinity of River’s Fork, impacting the available food supply. Until—” Lori reached into her belt pouch and felt around for the rocks there, glancing between them to find the note signifying gender, “—Taeclas can signific...

Demesne 381 - Projects

Lori gestured towards the Lori's Boat. "As I said, you are to study that. As a probationary project and assessment of your skills, you are to build at least five boats to the same dimensions and quality during that period." She paused. "Well, not the exact same modifications. Speak to Rian, I'm sure he'll have modifications in mind."

"And that's my cue!" Rian said cheerfully as he entered the conversation. Given the fact he'd finished with removing the outriggers some time ago,...

Demesne 380 - Not Completely Useless

At dinner that night, Lori handed Taeclas—she'd checked her now-triangular rock just a moment before—the nicer of the two river rocks she'd found the afternoon. Like Rian's, the rock fit easily in the palm, rounded and smooth, with a flat side that would let it lie evenly on a surface. The opposite side glowed from the heavily imbued being of lightwisps, shining brightly. "Here," she said as she held out the rock to the Deadspeaker.

"Oh! For me? Thank you!" Taeclas said as she reach...

Weekly Digest 118 - (#377 - #379)

A Room For Honey

Taeclas spent the rest of the afternoon in the dungeon farm ensuring that all their new seedlings and other plants had been properly moved to farming plots, even taking wooden scraps from the carpenters to build a small fence around the plots to discourage people from walking through them.

Lori, meanwhile, inspected the side tunnels she'd made looking for one that was convenient for her purposes. Thankfully, most were empty and none smell...

Demesne 379 - More Tales of Adventures In Mercantilism

They moved on to the rest of the list.

The merchant house asking for regular shipments was… to be expected, even if Lori didn't like it. As to more regular deliveries… well, Rian had promised another delivery before winter, so they would do that, though she wasn't sending her lord right away. She needed him in her demesne, after all, and there wasn't anyone she could send in this place.

"I think we can do with fewer shipments a year if we're carrying a lot of beads," Rian said...

Demesne 378 - Tales Of Adventures In Mercantilism

"So… about you kicking me yesterday? What was that about? You usually have a good reason for committing violence on anyone's person, and I feel I deserve to know what it was in this instance as the person in question."

It was the following day, and they were in the alcove on the second level that Rian slept in when there was a dragon passing overhead. Once more, Lori considered setting aside a space to act as her office, and once more violently rejected the idea. If she had a room for...

Demesne 377 - A Room For Honey

Taeclas spent the rest of the afternoon in the dungeon farm ensuring that all their new seedlings and other plants had been properly moved to farming plots, even taking wooden scraps from the carpenters to build a small fence around the plots to discourage people from walking through them.

Lori, meanwhile, inspected the side tunnels she'd made looking for one that was convenient for her purposes. Thankfully, most were empty and none smelled of either piss or waste, although she found th...