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Demesne Patron EX SS 19 – Cause And Consequence

As Shana sat in the warm pool of bathwater that had admittedly become something of an overindulgence, she tried to take what comfort she could from the heat. She and her guide Karina sat alone in the pool they had chosen, the other women in the baths seemingly reluctant to intrude on the place she had claimed. Sometimes other girls would join them, but never any adults.

The isolation was one familiar to her now, after all these months of being her demesne's Dungeon Binder. Men and women...

Weekly Digest 80- (#245 - #247)

Holiday Excitement

Shanalorre, Lori found, played very conservatively. She kept her pieces close to her core and mostly used them to keep Lori's own forces at bay, and deny her Horotract the ability to move freely. She was also very adverse to risk, opting to withdraw pieces that were threatened instead of attacking, and only attacking when there was no way for Lori to immediately retaliate.

Lori was far more forward, and would relentlessly chip away at t...

21/10/22 Status

This is a reminder that there will be no planned updates next week save for the Patron Exclusive Short story. Regular updates will return on the 31st.

The poll for this month's Patron Exclusive will be open for two more days, so if you haven't voted yet, you can still do so. If you've already voted, you can still change your vote. In the event of a tie, I will flip a coin and post to decide.

Also, we have over a hundred subscribers now, and a lot of non-subscribers. Do people want...

Demesne 247 - The Horrified Light Of Realization

"You need an office," Rian said as Lori paced back and forth. "You know, a dedicated room for discussing matters about the demesne's well-being in private, maybe with chairs for both of us, shelves to put all the notes and records on, maybe speak with people in private in it, that sort of thing."

"I don't need an office," Lori said dismissively. Step, step, turn, step, step, step, step, turn, step, step—

"If you keep pacing like that, you'll wear out the soles of your boots, and...

Demesne 246 - Worth More Than Anything

As Lori stared in shock, people started yelling and moving.

Lord whatever-his-name-was, the closest to Shanalorre, moved first, knocking the belt knife out of her hands. The sound of it hitting the ground and bouncing under the bench they'd been sitting on was strangely loud to Lori's ears .

"Medics! Doctors!" Rian cried as he leapt towards the other Dungeon Binder, taking hold of her forearm. Already blood was trickling down, painting her skin dark, almost brownish red. "We need ...

Demesne 245 - Holiday Excitement

Shanalorre, Lori found, played very conservatively. She kept her pieces close to her core and mostly used them to keep Lori's own forces at bay, and deny her Horotract the ability to move freely. She was also very adverse to risk, opting to withdraw pieces that were threatened instead of attacking, and only attacking when there was no way for Lori to immediately retaliate.

Lori was far more forward, and would relentlessly chip away at targets of opportunity among Shanalorre's militia, f...

Weekly Digest 79- (#242 - #244)

Cold Room Improvements

The river continued to rise, becoming more turbulent as it did, rising a third of the way up the flood barrier. This probably wasn't solely because of the rain, since the river had been low when they'd arrived the year before, and it had still been raining then.

Rian and Lord whatever-his-name-was checked the river every morning, debating whether it was safe enough to take Shanalorre back to River's Fork before reluctantly ...

15/10/22 Status

Regretfully, due to unforeseen matters, I will be unable to post from the 24th to the 28th. It's nothing serious, but I have not been able to find enough time to write recently, and so some things have fallen behind. Normal posting will resume on the 31st.

This shouldn't affect this month's Patron Exclusive chapter, though I AM a bit late in putting up the poll for it this month. I figured it's easier than trying to come up with a new POV by myself. 

Some of the more favored ...

Demesne 244 - Binder V Binder

On the day of the holiday, Lori woke up to the sound of a louder than usual din coming from outside of her room, immediately reminding her of the planned occasion. Sighing, she considered just staying in bed, imbuing bindings and expanding the demesne. It would keep her away from all her loud, annoying idiots and spare her poor ears from the noise that would probably be echoing across her Dungeon from having everyone holding a holiday in it.

Her stomach disabused her of that notion, how...

Demesne 243 - Cold Room And Holiday Preparation

In preparation for new food that would be stored in the cold rooms, Lori had been making more solidified and liquefied air.

Normally, making solidified air was quick, something she usually did every few days to replenish their cold rooms. She'd go into their cold rooms and check how many blocks of solidified air they still had, and they the walls and floor was kept free of ice condensing out of the air. When the number of blocks was sufficiently depleted, she made more.

She was va...

Demesne 242 - Cold Room Improvements

The river continued to rise, becoming more turbulent as it did, rising a third of the way up the flood barrier. This probably wasn't solely because of the rain, since the river had been low when they'd arrived the year before, and it had still been raining then.

Rian and Lord whatever-his-name-was checked the river every morning, debating whether it was safe enough to take Shanalorre back to River's Fork before reluctantly admitting it was still too dangerous. However, enough t...

Weekly Digest 78- (#239 - #241)

(Re)Securing Water

Work continued on as the water level of the river rose. Lori was informed when the river began to exceed its banks, and so she went out to see it for herself. The dock was properly underwater now, and the relevant working parts of the water hub shed were just barely above water. She hastily deactivated the building when she saw this, and began sealing the pipes leading from it again.

After checking to make sure that the exhaust vent lea...

Demesne 241 - Bug Repellent

Almanac in hand, Lori carefully followed the flow diagram for the binding to repel bugs from an area. She made it small for now, since it was just a test binding in her room, making a binding about the size of a door. After all, that was how big the binding needed to be for the water hub shed.

According to the flow diagram notes, the lightningwisps would charge the air in such a way as to irritate the delicate sensory organs of bugs, discouraging them from passing through the binding, w...

Demesne 240 - Forward Planning

The next day, after installing the cloth that Rian had managed to acquire over the opening of the intake pipe leading into her Dungeon's reservoir, Lori resolved to not think about the water issue once she finished installing the door of the new elevated water hub shed. After all, it had been boiled, evaporated, and then shone with unseen light to kill dustlife! Even just the evaporation meant the water coming from her reservoir could not have any hypothetical essence of dead bugs in...

Demesne 239 - (Re)Securing Water

Work continued on as the water level of the river rose. Lori was informed when the river began to exceed its banks, and so she went out to see it for herself. The dock was properly underwater now, and the relevant working parts of the water hub shed were just barely above water. She hastily deactivated the building when she saw this, and began sealing the pipes leading from it again.

After checking to make sure that the exhaust vent leading was her Dungeon wasn't being overwhelmed and f...

Demesne Patron EX SS 18 – "What If… Lori Was A Mentalist Instead Of A Whisperer"

Sometimes, Lori wished the other two hadn't died. Then she wouldn't be in this mess. Probably. Well, she'd be in less of a mess than she was now, though she probably wouldn't be the demesne's Dungeon Binder.

Whisperer Full-of-herself could have been using her Whispering to make them basic shelters out of stone, which was hardly in short of supply since the ground was right there. Deadspeaker Wants-to-be-a-farmer could have made them out of the trees that were growing everywhere, or grew...

Weekly Digest 77- (#236 - #238)

Not Her Problem

"All right, I think that about covers everything," Rian said, visibly sighing in relief. "Unless anyone remembered something at the last moment?"

In the crowd, someone tried to stand up. The man behind him grabbed the back of his shirt and pulled him down, and the woman next to him—presumably his wife, or at least a close relation—swatted him on the head. Another woman rose, stopped at a sort of half-crouch, then sat back down again. 2022-09-24 16:00:07 +0000 UTC View Post

9/23/22 Update

So, going on break next week, hence no updates except for the 'what if Lori was a Mentalist' short story. We resume on October 3rd. Hopefully I can restart Nightmaerangers that week. 

Demesne 238 - The Coming Of Spring

With the state of the river being what it was, and more and more snow turning into slush and mud every day, Binder Shanalorre and her militia had to stay over for an indefinite period of time, at least until the river became navigable by one of their boats. Fortunately, the laundry area hadn't started to flood yet, and thus they were able to wash the limited clothes they had available. According to Rian, their friends among her idiots also lent the visitors clothes.

One of Shanalorre's ...

Demesne 237 - Raining And Still Freezing

Over the next few days, Lori continued with the things she had to build to prepare for the thaw, whenever it came. A stone pipe was added to the corner where the two segments of floodwall met, with an opening at the bottom of a small recess on the landward side of the wall were water could gather, and the other opening at the top of the wall on the river side. She placed a binding of waterwisps at the base of the pipe—another thing she had to remember to imbue—which would only draw in liq...

Demesne 236 - Not Her Problem

"All right, I think that about covers everything," Rian said, visibly sighing in relief. "Unless anyone remembered something at the last moment?"

In the crowd, someone tried to stand up. The man behind him grabbed the back of his shirt and pulled him down, and the woman next to him—presumably his wife, or at least a close relation—swatted him on the head. Another woman rose, stopped at a sort of half-crouch, then sat back down again.

"No one? All right, then, I officially decl...

Weekly Digest 76- (#233 - #235)

The Winter Community Meeting

With her third so-called community meeting, Lori was resigned to the fact that she would have to attend. Unfortunately, she just couldn't see how she could reasonably get out of it. If she just left and told Rian to handle any decision-making that came up in the course of the meeting, he would no doubt indulge his strange fetish and put it to a vote. So, despite the fact that Rian already knew what he was supposed to inform people o...

Demesne 235 - Denied. Next!

Unsurprisingly, there were a few who had the nerve—or possibly complete lack of sense—to step forward and try to justify themselves to her. Also unsurprisingly, many were selfish idiots.

"You'll be able to farm a thousand square paces of farmland by yourself? With the restrictions I've placed?" Lori said flatly.

"It will be difficult, but with the assistance of my family—"

"Denied. Only you yourself are applying for land, not your family. If they will be working on the...

15/9/22 Update

Well, the poll is closed, so this month's Patreon special is a 'What if' chapter about Lori being a Mentalist. 

Also, regarding Nightmærangers, it looks like it will be a while before I can resume it again. Not only is the plot finding me, but my schedule has been a little erratic due to IRL stuff. Hopefully I can get back to during my break, or October at the latest. 

It's not dead, just sleeping, honest! When the stars align, it will awaken and rise up once more...&nb...

Demesne 234 - Land, Again

"… as seed crop for the next harvest, then," Rian concluded. "Speaking of which, now that she's done with the flood barriers, Binder Lori will probably need more people to roll rocks for her again so she can build more farm plots."

Lori nodded. Yes, all the soil in the third level had to be deal with, after all.

"And speaking of farming…" Rian paused, as he set aside the stone tablets he'd previous been referring to for different ones, "we will also be expanding the current fi...

Demesne 233 - The Winter Community Meeting

With her third so-called community meeting, Lori was resigned to the fact that she would have to attend. Unfortunately, she just couldn't see how she could reasonably get out of it. If she just left and told Rian to handle any decision-making that came up in the course of the meeting, he would no doubt indulge his strange fetish and put it to a vote. So, despite the fact that Rian already knew what he was supposed to inform people of, she still had to be there.

Her presence felt like a ...

Weekly Digest 75- (#230 - #232)

Basic Bricklaying

"Stacks?" Lori said skeptically.

"I'll explain over lunch," Rian said. "Since, you know, I came out here to tell you it was lunch time and all?"

Lori grunted, taking one last look at her unfinished wall. The segment she was working on has basically just a pile of softened stone that she'd plopped down and was looked like melted candle wax. It annoyed her just to look at it. "Fine. Come on."

She shouldered her stone shaping to...

Demesne 232 - Diagnose Shanalorre

Finishing the second flood barrier meant to protect their developed areas from being flooded from the back—or upriver, as it were—took another four days of work. Snow had to be removed, dirt dug up, a stone foundation fused to the bedrock laid, the actual built by piling up stone, and then finally finishing the wall to make it stop being unsightly so that Lori wouldn't feel disgusted with the quality of its construction every time she had to look at it.

For all of that time, Shanalo...

Demesne 231 - Stone Finishing

In the days that followed, the work continued on. Despite how… unsightly… the results were, Lori couldn't deny that simply pilingthe stone like that from the bottom up was getting the wall built a lot faster. Normally, simply piling up stone like that wasn't productive for her, since it would get unstable the higher she piled it up… unless she let it settle out naturally. Which made a pile that was wide at the base, too thick for the kinds of walls she usually needed t...

Demesne 230 - Basic Bricklaying

"Stacks?" Lori said skeptically.

"I'll explain over lunch," Rian said. "Since, you know, I came out here to tell you it was lunch time and all?"

Lori grunted, taking one last look at her unfinished wall. The segment she was working on has basically just a pile of softened stone that she'd plopped down and was like melted candle wax. It annoyed her just to look at it. "Fine. Come on."

She shouldered her stone shaping tool, trudging back towards the Dungeon.

"So," she sa...