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Demesne 117 - No One Died

After Lori had sat down for a little while to recover from her completely understandable and appropriate surprise, and then resigned herself to not getting River's Fork's core this time, things had to be arranged. Their people, whose tenure at River's Fork had become almost double what they had expected, were all taken to be taken home by Rian, the most qualified at controlling Lori's Boatat high speed, while Riz and the others stayed with Lori to free up room on the boat and to watc...

Demesne 116 - Responsible For Fourteen

Improved defenses needed more stone than they had right then, but Lori was at least able to rebuild the kitchen exhaust vents and build the 'water valve', as Rian put it. There was no need to make the water at the end of the pipe boil, not when it wasn't needed right them, but all the air building out certainly made it look like it was boiling.

Naturally, the first thing they had to do was to have someone check the water every day because people would throw things in it, even when told ...

Demesne 115 - Improving Defensive Measures

They didn't find whatever had eaten the bug abominations. Rian suspected that perhaps they had killed or eaten each other, while the dillians had swallowed the evidence. Certainly at least one of the dead things with a still-intact stomach was full of bug parts. Despite ebing awkwardly shaped to move on land, even worse than the seels, the undead dillians were aggressive as the islandshell had been, and unlike the islandshell could right themselves when turned on their backs.

Clearing o...

Ainōryoku Sentai Nightmærangers #26

The Statement Of Jaselle Alhambra, Part 3

Jas stared at the little circle lying on the cement of the building's roof. A little pink cube, a small squat plant, what looked like a bag of clear jelly, and a little furball that seemed all mouth and nothing else.

"It's not like we can carry our phones," Ate Sanny said. "If nothing else, none of us have pockets. So we use the drones to talk to each other. We leave them here and pay attention t...

Demesne 114 - A Mess To Deal With, Again

The next day, once Rian had rested to correct for the night shift and Lori had gotten back the sleep that had been interrupted, they prepared to move out in force out of the Dungeon. The former militia who had volunteered—Riz among them—were armed with spears, and there were a substantial number of volunteers as well, armed with the tooth spearheads. Others carried clubs and axes, in case of beasts too small or too close to use the spears on.

This time, Lori remembered to check for ...

Demesne 113 - Just Barely Not A Dragon Shelter Party

When Lori woke up from a dreamless sleep, she discovered that in her bed she had not been turned into a dragonborn bug abomination.

Instinctively, she checked the dome above and sighed as she found it still holding. Unfortunately, the dragon was also still there. She could feel its oppressive presence over the demesne, a pressure on all her wisps like a strong wind, even though the air itself seemed dead and still as a hot summer.

…

Lori turned to go back to sleep, as no o...

Ainōryoku Sentai Nightmærangers #25

The Statement Of Jaselle Alhambra, Part 2

"I really wish we could look more alike," Tammy sighed as Jas carefully folded up her blouse around her underwear so they wouldn't be seen, then as carefully wrapped her slacks around them, her cellphone and coin purse secured in the pocket. She had to remember to keep pulling her heat in constantly, and to be careful with how she moved since her sense of touch was almost non-existent. The points and a...

Weekly Digest 35 (#110 - #112)

Timekeeping

The Dungeon was different from the last time a dragon had passed. For one thing, it was lit now.

In the meantime, while that was being done, Lori filled one of the pots with water for the morning stew—if it wasn't morning already, it would be soon—and set down bindings to radiate heat, Riz following her as ordered and going off to look for people if Lori needed it. It was a simple combination of lightwisps, to define the area you most defi...

Status 10/29/21

So, short reminder, there will be no update on November first due to local holiday stuff. Next break will be the latter half of December, because Christmas and stuff. We we still be updating regularly the rest of the time. 

Demesne 112 - Into the Night Shift

Lori managed to resist the urge to plunge the Dungeon into darkness again. She didn't need any more darkwisps, after all.

The militia and assorted people Rian had scheduled kept watch over the air slits, occasionally killing the few dragonborn abominations that now managed to make their way in. They seemed to be flying bug-derivatives of some sort, and hot golden dragonborn blood and greenish bug blood intermixed before Lori pushed them out.

With defenses and necessities secured a...

Demesne Patron EX SS 9 - The End of Umu's Day

Another day of weaving, and Umu was tired. The bright, unchanging light of the Dungeon made one lose track of time, but there was always someone who called down the end of the day, or at least the approach of sundown. When the call came, everyone stopped working to relax, take a bath, have a hot if slightly repetitive dinner and then spend the rest of the night as they pleased. Was it petty to think that, after all the hardships, all the deaths, all the beads spent to cross the ocean, all the...

Demesne 111 - Day Shift

The brat had been given a bucket of water and admonished not to drink from it, another bucket to catch the water that dripped out, some stones to count how many times the waterclock had gone empty, and orders to yell out the time before refilling the water clock. Lori had her sit where the people guarding the air slits could hear her but not be close enough to distract her. The brat had sat down, head bowed to stare at the fired pot, a binding of lightwisps at the bottom shining to help her m...

Demesne 110 - Timekeeping

The Dungeon was different from the last time a dragon had passed. For one thing, it was lit now.

In the meantime, while that was being done, Lori filled one of the pots with water for the morning stew—if it wasn't morning already, it would be soon—and set down bindings to radiate heat, Riz following her as ordered and going off to look for people if Lori needed it. It was a simple combination of lightwisps, to define the area you most definitely shouldn't stick your hand in, and fir...

Ainōryoku Sentai Nightmærangers #24

The Statement Of Jaselle Alhambra, Part 1

Jaselle Alhambra had always considered herself a heavy sleeper, even if she'd always woken up early so she could do her chores and get ready for school in the morning. When she'd slept, she had slept, dead to the world and not to be roused until the stars were right and it was time for her to wake.

That had changed.

And so, as Jas jerked awake in the middle of the night from dreams...

Weekly Digest 34 - (#107 - #109)

Prepare As You Did The Last Time

The ice boat was… successful. For a given value of success, at any rate. It floated and, despite appearances, it wasn't actually that cold to the touch, and it didn't make your skin adhere to it on contact like some really cold ice did. It didbecome extremely slippery, almost frictionless, when wet, hence why it needed a layer of something to let people maintain their footing.

They didn't keep it as a block of i...

Demesne 109 - From The Core

Lori didn't dream. It seemed like she'd barely closed her eyes before Rian was gently shaking her awake, the light on top of his head shining down on her. "It's here," he said, even as she felt it, the wave-like feeling practically on top of them…

She sat up, and he handed Lori her boots, which she quickly put on. "Everyone inside?" she asked.

"Checked four times," Rian said. "We're all in here. The houses are all empty. Not just people, everything. I had people go back to sleep...

Demesne 108 - Yes, There Are Still Dragons

Lori changed quickly, pulling on her clothes and rushing down the stairs from her room, barely remembering the seal the way behind her. It was still dark outside the dungeon, and Lori wondered how long she'd managed to sleep… no, no time for that. She hurried towards the one shelter left, noting that the Um no longer had a line in front of it. Was anyone inside…?

Shaking her head, she reached out and altered the bindings on all her lightwisps, diminishing their glow and leaving only...

Demesne 107 - Prepare As You Did The Last Time

The ice boat was… successful. For a given value of success, at any rate. It floated and, despite appearances, it wasn't actually that cold to the touch, and it didn't make your skin adhere to it on contact like some really cold ice did. It didbecome extremely slippery, almost frictionless, when wet, hence why it needed a layer of something to let people maintain their footing.

They didn't keep it as a block of ice, of course. Some things had to be added. Struts of bone protru...

(Bi)Weekly Digest 33 - (#102 - #106)

Thank You

"—and

Status 10/15/21

Okay, so trying to write The Apocalypse Survival Chronicle of a Magical Girl Mecha Pilot has been a bit of a failure. I made progress, but haven't actually managed to write anything. 

So I'm going back to writing  Nightmaerangers and finishing the first major arc before going back to it. That means Red's Arc, Blue's Arc, a final arc or two to round it all out and get it to a good place to end the 'season', so to speak. Then I...

Demesne 106 - The Ice Boat Prototype

Building the ice boat prototype did not, in fact, take all morning.

They needed a place they could use to assemble the ice and form the boat, and for ease Lori opted to use the area directly in front of the dungeon. It was in front of the river anyway, it was relatively flat, and it needed to be compacted anyway.

"Your units of measurement are atrocious," Lori said, as she peered down at the piece of wood Rian had handed her with a sketch and large scrawled dimensions on it. The d...

Demesne 105 - Waterworks and Ice… Actually Works?

The ice actually didn't break. With the binding in place, it was hard as stone, and seemingly as difficult to damage, especially with the binding reinforcing its physical properties beyond what it was normally capable of naturally. Still, for her own peace of mind, she built stone pillars at the corners of the reservoir pool to hold the ceiling up, and repaired the gouge in the process. The material seemed to be holding, at least. The reservoir and basins had been filled after the sluices had...

Demesne 104 - Making Better Plumbing

Lori decided to finish the third bath house first before she went about altering the plumbing in the other two already in use.

Making the pipe from the river to the third bath house that would supply the bath water took some time. Fortunately, the area was far enough from the Dungeon that she didn't have to worry about this affecting excavation that would happen in the immediate future. It still took a day, most of it spent excavating the pipe itself. She spent most of that time with he...

Demesne 103 - Obvious, Insight and Brilliance

Lori didn't want to get out of bed. She really, really didn't want to get out of bed. Her bedroll was thick and soft and warm, and despite what the fabric looked like, it was so very smooth and comfortable and she didn't want to leave. She just wanted to lie down and make up for all those months she'd been sleeping on her laundry on top of a plank of wood…

Groaning, she sat up, then almost groaned again at the lack of stiffness on her back. It felt sogood…...

Demesne 102 - Thank You

"—and the Um will be closed every fifth day for cleaning," Rian said cheerfully. "Let's all follow these rules so that we do not have any more unfortunate accidents, shall we?"

Rian was being very parental again. Lori was just glad that this time it wasn't at her. No, this time the air of 'I'm not angry, I'm disappointed, you were idiots, you know you were idiots, I know you were idiots, but I'm not going to call you that and somehow that makes it worse' he had wrapped around him was ...