Here is part 2 of the pilot chapter, now renamed with the new story title. Once I'm sure there's not going to be a part 3, I'll delete this and the other one and combine them into one chapter. In the meantime, enjoy!
Commuting with only rubber sandals on was an experience Loren didn’t want to repeat. Harmony had to pay for everything since they were doing to get his wallet back, which he’d thanked her and apologized for in equal turns. Thankfully, they’d g...
2024-09-10 15:11:54 +0000 UTC
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Hey, everyone! Finally got the pilot chapter of Haunted House Flippers ready. I should be starting full-time writing of it soon, which means throwttling back on the Demesne snippets (another one this weekend, hopefully). I'd love to hear your reactions, comments and questions. Some questions I might not be able to answer, as I want to present them organically in the story, but I'll answer what I can.
As to mood and genre, this is meant to be... what, horror-adjacent so...
2024-09-06 14:07:45 +0000 UTC
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"Hey, Umu. Let me help you with that."
"Oh, Rian! It's fine, I can carry it all by myself."
"Nonsense. I'm pretty sure I have clothes in there, so it's only fair I help you carry them."
"…thank you."
"No problem. We all have to help each other, after all. How are your shoulders?"
"They're a bit sore. I didn't have time to put my chest wrap on the right way…"
"Why didn't you ask—ah, never mind. Do you want me to give you a massage when we get back to t...
2024-09-04 09:19:40 +0000 UTC
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Even a small village needed a lot of metalwork done everyday. Not all of it was forging. There was a lot of honing and straightening, because someone was always hold something the wrong way and bending the blade or the edge. Knives and saws, they all needed to be sharpened, and it wasn't the sort of thing anyone could do with a whetstone. Every so often they needed to make a replacement, like new scissors or needles, but mostly it was keeping what tools they had working.
"All right, eve...
2024-09-01 17:03:43 +0000 UTC
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Set before chapter 417
"So, how's married life, Riz?" Mekari said as they worked on stripping the branches off the tree they were working on. "Still having fun?"
"Married life?" Riz said, bemused as she used her voro to hack at the branch she was working in, the heavy work blade slowly but surely chipping at the wood. "I'm fairly sure I'm not married, Mekari. The Great Binder hasn't done any marriages since last winter."
"Well, this is the l...
2024-08-29 16:03:11 +0000 UTC
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Riz had been avoiding her family ever since she'd started sleeping with Rian—and Mikon and Umu technically, since they all shared the same bed. This wasn't out of any sort of dislike or personal issue, the way the Great Binder was always implying she had some sort of disagreement with her mothers. Mikon had been much the same, clearly avoiding her cousins and aunts unless it couldn't be helped—such as when she was weaving—although not her uncle for some reason. Umu… well, Riz didn't r...
2024-08-26 07:34:00 +0000 UTC
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Riz woke up when she felt the bed shifting underneath her. For a moment, she was confused, since the pillow she was laying one was firmer than she was expecting, and surprisingly warm—
Oh.
Moving carefully so she wouldn't wakeup Mikon—she was still getting used to the idea she had a woman as well as a man, but every day she found was enjoying the idea more and more—Riz raised up her head from the weaver's chest. Mikon was wearing her blouse, though only the but...
2024-08-21 14:35:50 +0000 UTC
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There was nothing a doctor liked more than not having anything to do.
At least, not having anything to do as a doctor. All of them had little things to do when they were either waiting for people to come in or were off-shift. Many spun thread, then wove that thread to make gauze and bandages. One can never have enough gauze, especially since there was no other way to get it out here until Lord Rian went back to Covehold Demesne again.
Most would have assumed Daising would have bee...
2024-08-19 10:57:41 +0000 UTC
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So, a short update everyone! The rewrites and slightly expanded segments of volume 1 are finished, so I just have to write some Amazon exclusive short segments and commission some artwork and then it's off to Amazon. As I have no idea how long it takes to commission art, this "We'll be home by Christmas"-like comment and attendant "Mission Accomplished" banner are probably going to bite me in the ass. As I promised way back when, I'll make the exclusives available here for 48 hours, then dele...
2024-08-17 10:15:47 +0000 UTC
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I stood under one of the few trees near our village—I refused to call it 'Lori's Village' or anything like that—looking up at the branches above as I held open a sack, one of the canvas sacks that had gotten progressively more beat up as the year had gone on. The happyfruit tree was heavy with fruit, but because of the heat, the only ones picking at the moment were me, Karina and Shana.
Karina was nearby, holding out her skirt in the unabashed immodesty of children as she used it ca...
2024-08-16 13:55:34 +0000 UTC
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"Are you sure you want to do this? We've never really done this before…"
A hand slapped down, making a meaty sound. "Come on. I have years of militia debauchery I need to catch up on."
"Erzebed… you're shorter than me."
"Only by a few yustri. Now come on, it's your turn to get on my lap."
A chuckle. "Well, since you put it that way…"
There was the creak of weight being put on wood.
"Wait, wait, let me straighten out my legs. The bed is too ...
2024-08-14 15:00:01 +0000 UTC
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So, a minor note about the tech-levels in this story. I've come to hate how in some stories the isekai protagonist is always the ONLY person who somehow makes technology progress. Magic and technology have somehow remained stagnant for hundreds, sometimes thousands of years, then this guy comes along and suddenly they're having a cultural, scientific and industrial revolution as somehow he puts together common knowledge that every wizard—heck, every STUDENT wizard—knows to make railguns, ...
2024-08-12 14:38:02 +0000 UTC
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Because they had so much, the number of people in the demesne grew and grew. Even with plenty, the people of the demesne would not be content. They wanted more. Those who wanted more began to build metal boats, big enough to be cities and dungeons, with many levels so they could fill it with food for the journey, as well as for the things they wanted to bring back.
But why metal, though? Don't we use wood and ice to make boats?
Perhaps they had so much they could afford to make th...
2024-08-09 16:22:16 +0000 UTC
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Shasha, tell me a story…
What kind of story would you like?
Something boring. I can't sleep.
Well, as of today, all the meat we have in the cold rooms amounts to—
Not that kind of boring story! An interesting boring story!
Then how about I tell you about before the sea of stars?
There's a before the sea of stars?
Of course. After all, to cross the sea of stars, people had to come from somewhere, right?
This doesn't sound like a boring story....
2024-08-07 14:16:21 +0000 UTC
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There were always some fruits left over, too bruised or ripe by the time they'd been picked. It wasn't a lot, and they were still perfectly edible. In times past, no one would have thought twice about eating a too-soft, bruised happyfruit as long as the skin was intact. If it wasn't some would have hesitated a little, but there were a few who wouldn't have even thought twice about it. Food was food, after all, and if there were some bugs in it… well, that was meat right there.
But bet...
2024-08-05 15:05:20 +0000 UTC
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It Will Always Be Waiting
2024-08-01 16:00:08 +0000 UTC
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While Shanalorre knew practically nothing about Deadspeaking, becoming the Dungeon Binder of River's Fork had given her the ability to perceive all life in her demesne, in the same way that Lori was able to perceive as wisps in hers. Perception, memory, and a functional mind had allowed Shannalorre to be able to differentiate the differences between the life of the living and the dead. And while she had never been taught, This enabled Shanalore to be able to tell if the Coldhold's wo...
2024-07-30 16:00:04 +0000 UTC
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Two days proved sufficient to relieve Lori of the urge to check her notes. The act of having to decipher and in some cases correct her own notes had made her stop wanting to do so, and while her hands were no longer injured, she didn't want to possibly burn them again. Perhaps in a few days. A week at most. Maybe two weeks…
…
Probably when she'd forgotten she'd burned her hands.
So she set aside her notes for the moment, keeping them pressed with a tablet on one corner o...
2024-07-28 16:00:07 +0000 UTC
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"Don't you have something you need to be doing?" Lori said as she imbued the binding of lightwisps she'd formed. Technically, she already knew how to make piercing light. However, the one she'd learned only made a little red dot on walls, didn't go very far, and wasn't really useful for anything besides making petbugs chase it wound the floor.
"At the moment, that's making sure you don't go into an enclosed room and make a binding that gets hot enough to set the air on fire," Rian said ...
2024-07-25 16:00:58 +0000 UTC
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It had been a very nice day. Everyone had played in the dungeon, climbed trees to get happyfruit that was growing fast thanks to Wiz Tae and Shana, they played in the river while Karina had gotten some of the boys to help her catch some seels, and there'd been some excitement when Wiz Lori had started setting the river on fire. Or trying to, at least. Since the river was water, it didn't burn, but Wiz Lori seemed to be doing her best to make it happen anyway. Lord Rian had told all the childr...
2024-07-24 18:38:28 +0000 UTC
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After literally days of being pressed, Lori's notes were finally mostly flat, although little lines from where they'd been curled or folded had become weak points on the sheets. She carefully separated the sheets from between the blank papers Rian had placed between them to keep the ink from transferring between pages. Clearly that hadn't been necessary, since if her notes hadn't rubbed off on each other when she'd been keeping them together in a sheaf, but she supposed it was good that Rian ...
2024-07-23 16:00:05 +0000 UTC
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"I'd like to apologize for what I said yesterday, and for being tardy with my apology. While I still believe my course of action was prudent at the time, despite later events, how I went about it was needlessly cruel and deliberately hurtful. While I don't expect you to forgive me, know that I deeply regret my words."
Lori looked blankly at her lord, then sideways at Shanalorre, whom he was facing. What?
The other Dungeon Binder regarded Rian coolly as her cousin looked between th...
2024-07-21 16:00:04 +0000 UTC
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The Abomination
Once they arrived in the dome of River's Fork, work began quickly. Yllian had met them with a large group of able-bodied men that had been sent yesterday to prepare for today, as well as—Lori checked the rocks in her belt pouch—Lidzuga. Kolinh and Yllian briefly spoke with one another as the arrows and stones were removed from one of the boats, then spoke to Shanalorre. A boat was loaded with people before crossing the river to the opposite ...
2024-07-20 16:00:05 +0000 UTC
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It turned out that Shanalorre could not, in fact, confirm that the abomination was dead, at least not this soon.
"While the abomination might technically be dead, most of the life in its body is still alive," she explained once she had set foot on land once more and given a moment to think after the question had been posed to her.
"But it's dead?" Lori pressed.
"Its heart isn’t beating, its lungs aren't breathing, and many of the life in its head are inert," Shanalorre sai...
2024-07-18 16:00:03 +0000 UTC
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When the typhon abomination moved, Lori expected the ground to shake and a vibration like a deep bass drum to spread with every footfall… which was silly, because such things were merely theater conventions meant to convey size and drama. That thought came later, and it took an embarrassingly long time to do so. So when the abomination stepped forward, Lori was momentarily confused as to why it was moving so quietly.
All around the prepared ground, the militia stood in their tranches ...
2024-07-16 16:00:04 +0000 UTC
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Once they arrived in the dome of River's Fork, work began quickly. Yllian had met them with a large group of able-bodied men that had been sent yesterday to prepare for today, as well as—Lori checked the rocks in her belt pouch—Lidzuga. Kolinh and Yllian briefly spoke with one another as the arrows and stones were removed from one of the boats, then spoke to Shanalorre. A boat was loaded with people before crossing the river to the opposite bank. Seemingly unarmed, not even carrying bow o...
2024-07-14 16:00:03 +0000 UTC
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Not Actually Trying To Procrastinate
As much as she wanted to, Lori wasn't able to test the enlarged lightning ball on a living subject. Trying to put a seel into the binding wouldn't be demonstrative of the results of the binding on a dry subject, and trying to put the binding underwater would fundamentally change it. Given how busy everyone was, there wasn't time left in the day to catch a choker to use as a test subject. However, her tests had concluded to h...
2024-07-13 16:00:07 +0000 UTC
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So, a quick announcement. Looking on how much is left, this volume of demesne is likely to end this month or early to mid next month. At that point, I'm going to take a little break as I once more try to get a new cover for volume 1, write some bonus segments for it, and finally get it uploaded to Amazon and stuff.
In that time, there will be no more story updates, but I do plan to write much shorter segments, things that i couldn't fit into the regular story and such. Worldbuilding, ...
2024-07-13 04:59:54 +0000 UTC
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When Lori woke up the next day, she felt strangely miserable, and it had nothing to do with the loud knocking on her door. That was its own, separate misery.
A third misery was added as a loud voice called out, "Your Bindership, wake up! You told me not to let you sleep in, remember? It's time to get to work." Rian's voice, and with it came memories of last night telling to do exactly that, UGH!
Making a sound between a groan and a growl, Lori reluctantly sat up on her bed, rubbin...
2024-07-11 16:00:02 +0000 UTC
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Lori hadn't stayed up late to work in a while. That period when she'd been taking notes didn’t count, as she barely remembered it as anything but a haze of tiredness. Most days, she'd just go straight to her bed after dinner, do one final check of the reduced number of bindings she now maintained for ones she needed to imbue, maybe take another bath if she wanted to feel cool instead of warm, and go straight to sleep. Maybe she'd read her almanac for a little stimulation, reading over uses ...
2024-07-09 16:00:02 +0000 UTC
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