Weekly Digest 44 - (#141 - #143) (Patreon)

More Chimneys

As Lori dug for stone in what would become the third level, she wondered if there would be time to convert it into a farm like she wanted before winter. Farming, from what she could tell, was mainly throwing seeds at the dirt, making sure they were watered, and keeping verminous little beasts from eating them. The farm being in the Dungeon protected the crops from the latter, and people would have plenty of time to tend to them over the winter. Not that tending to them ever seemed to take a lot of time.

It would probably involve a lot of talking to people, though. Best to wait until Rian got back so he could deal with it. competent as she was becoming, Riz was unlikely to be able to handle all the organization involved.

Lori had to wonder what a glitter crawler was, though. Was it some kind of vulgarity? Hmm, she'd have to hear it used in more contexts, she didn't want to get it wrong.

She continued excavating, waiting for Riz come down and tell her it was time for lunch. By then, Lori had excavated a decent pile of stone, and the cleared space was just barely large enough for it to fit. Because of the height of the ceiling she was excavating, she was getting a lot of stone. Even with the chimneys she was planning to build, she should still have enough stone in the pile to make the changes to the front entryway of the Dungeon. Actually, if she didn't build something that needed a lot of stone soon, she was going to have to stop digging in here, since she would have a significant surplus with nothing to use it on.

…

Maybe she shouldmake more homes… ah, but only if those who wanted it applied as a group like she had told Riz. Having a single person having a house to themselves was far too excessive. Rian didn't count. He was her lord, they were expected to be excessive. Perhaps some expansions though? Another floor could be easily done, and it was probably faster to disassemble a roof and reassemble it than it is to cut everything into shape in the first place…

"Great Binder? Time to eat."

Lori looked up to find Riz coming down the stairs. At least she still hadn't begun asking Mikon to do this in her stead. "Understood." She glanced at the stone pile, but there was no need to bring it up now. She could just take it up after lunch. She walked toward her temporary Rian and began to climb up the stairs. "Are the houses ready for me to begin construction?"

"Yes, Great Binder," Riz said, waiting for her to walk past before following. "And they've been told not to talk to you. I've checked myself, and the walls opposite the front door have been cleared of anything that would get in your way."

Lori nodded. "Good. Hopefully, I can do three, maybe four before dinner. Five, if I'm lucky."

"If I may ask, Great Binder…" Riz said hesitantly. "Why build it yourself? We have stonemasons."

"Oh? Do we have a store or mortar somewhere I wasn't aware of?"

"The clay from the clay pit would do, Great Binder. Even mud would do. It will start hardening enough once people start lighting fires in them."

"And how long will that take? A day? Two? For every house? No, much faster if I do it myself. It will let people to focus on gathering food for winter." Lori waved a dismissive hand. "If people want to work, have them do something about all the windows. Are the carpenters beginning to make shutters for all the houses to keep the warmth in, or are they waiting for me to tell them to start doing it?"

"They're already working on it, Great Binder." Riz coughed. "Rian told them to get started on it before he left."

"And you didn't mention it to me?"

"It wasn't a problem, Great Binder, and it didn't need any decisions on your part yet. Rian specified they should find a way to affix the shutters without you needing to use magic, so you wouldn't need to intervene."

Lori considered that. "Fine, as long as they can manage it. I can always seal the windows later if needed."

"If you say so, Great Binder."

"Go get lunch, I'm going to my room."

This time, Riz just nodded, heading for the kitchen while Lori went up to her room to get the sunk board. Routine, that was what she needed. Repetitive, mind-numbing routine so that she wouldn't have to think, just perform the same actions over and over again. And building several chimneys was sure to let her do just that…

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She won against Mikon again. If nothing else, she could tell she wasn't winning the same way every time, or was being allowed to win. Mikon always made the best moves available to her when it was her turn, it was just that Lori was better at making moves that also benefitted her not just on her next turn, but also on the turn after that, something that Mikon hadn't seemed to grasp yet. She was, at best, only looking one turn ahead.

After lunch, Lori went to work, Riz in tow. The first house was standing with its door open, some woman standing there looking nervous, but Lori ignored her, just going in. Thankfully, the woman didn't try to slow her down by greeting her or any such nonsense, just stepping out of her way with a jerky bow. The back wall was, as ordered, bare so Lori didn't have to be distracted by anything. Lori knelt down and began construction, knocking a hole though the wall…

As expected, with no one talking to her, building the chimneys was simple and repetitive. All the houses were built by her to the same dimensions, so there was no variation for her to adjust for. There was a lot of standing up and kneeling, which was a glittering pain on her knees. By the third house, she'd made a little stone stool that she had Riz carry around for her (since she'd gotten the shape exactly the way she wanted it, and making the stone flow to follow her would ruin it), which helped.

She managed to make four chimneys that afternoon. Lori told Riz to have people light a fire in it that night, but to stay back in case any of the stones exploded. It shouldn't, since she'd altered the stone so that there were no bubbles or cracks, but if it happened, she'd have to repair it. Oh, and possibly send anyone who'd been hurt to River's Fork, provided they didn't bleed to death on the spot.

"Put that with the rock pile," Lori directed Riz as they approached the Dungeon. "I'll be using it tomorrow."

Riz sighed. "Yes, Great Binder."

Lori nodded, then paused. The door to Rian's house was open, and she could see the outlines of two people inside, clearly cleaning hurriedly. Riz followed her gaze, putting down the stone stool.

Inside the house, a dark outline looked up, paused. They raised a hand and waved at them. Riz waved back awkwardly. It was probably Mikon, since it was the taller of the two outlines in the house.

"I, uh… better help them," Riz said. "So the house is clean faster…"

Lori rolled her eyes. "It's not like Rian is going to ask who's been cleaning his house while he was gone. Honestly, given the history of how effective it was, you're better off just kissing him as soon as you see him if you want his attention instead of volunteering. It's never worked for Umu."

Shaking her head, not bothering to listen to whatever reply or excuse Riz made, Lori went up to her room to take a quick bath before dinner.

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Days passed, and Lori made new chimneys. She got better at it, going from being able to finish eight a day to twelve a day. Thankfully, Riz was able to ensure that not one tried to talk to her. It was a pleasant surprise, not having to deal with deviations of her plans from people not being ready or following the directions she'd provided. She'd almost expected at least one idiot not following orders and needing to be made an example of, but no such thing happened.

She did see Umu though. Unfortunately, the blonde weaver had made enough of an impression than even after two weeks of not sitting in the same table as Lori, she still remembered the woman's name, and seemed unlikely to forget any time soon. Umu was there waiting for them when Lori had to build the chimney for what was probably her family's house. The weaver didn't speak, didn't make eye-contact with Lori, just bowed and stepped aside to let them in. She did stay in the house while they worked, but that wasn't unusual.

The woman hadn't been back to the table since Rian left, which was understandable, since without Rian the weaver had no reason to be there. Lori fully expected her to come back when Rian did.

The Dungeon Binder put the encounter out of her mind, and continued making chimneys.

Slowly, more and more houses got chimneys. She never saw them in use during the day, but then, no one cooked at home. All the food was cooked in the kitchens of the dining halls. Still, she saw some people beginning to carry firewood out of the storage shed as the days passed. At night, when she passed the entrance of the Dungeon, she faintly saw smoking rising from the chimneys of some of the houses, the flickering firelight through some of the windows.

Well, she supposed it was good that people were making sure their chimneys were working, but honestly, it wasn't that cold. The night air, while cool, was still perfectly temperate.

"People are taking a lot of firewood from storage now that they have chimneys," Riz said at dinner when Lori was halfway finished with putting in the chimneys. Next to her, Mikon was glaring thoughtfully at the chatrang board. "I don't think they're using them, it's more likely people are getting a stockpile at home, but I'm having people concentrate on gathering more firewood for now."

"Good," Lori said, nodding in approval. She'd also started to notice people were stockpiling firewood in their homes when she'd gone to put in the chimneys. "I'll set up more storage once I finish with the chimneys."

"May I suggest not putting the new firewood storage near the sawpit, Great Binder?" Riz said. "Put them near the houses. That way, come winter, people won't have to walk as far. I'll find people to keep the storage full of wood at all times."

"I'll leave that to you, then. Include firewood among the things for people to gather on the other shore, in addition to food and ropeweed."

Riz pursed her lips, then said hesitantly, "I… don't think that's the best use of time, Great Binder. We're barely managing to get the ropeweed collected in a day across the river as it is."

"Then just have them gather the wood in one spot and we'll collect it later. It's wood, it's not like it's going to fly away."

"Yes, Great Binder."

Slowly, Mikon took one of her militia that Lori had taken out of play and placed it next to her Deadspeaker, reviving it and using it to block Lori's Mentalist. The weaver leaned back, looking satisfied.

Lori tapped her Whisperer, then took the militia out of play again since it was within her Whisperer's range. Mikon groaned, muttering recriminations about how she should have seen that. She glared at the board as she was back in the same position as before.

Humming pleasantly to herself, Lori ate her dinner, listening to the pleasant hum of the dining hall around her.

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The Dock On The Other Side

It took several days to put fireplaces and chimneys on every house in her demesne. At some point, Riz started carrying around a little wooden stool instead of a stone one, probably freshly made by the carpenters. Lori had to admit, it was more comfortable to sit on since the seat was wider. Eventually though, all the chimneys were complete, even with Lori needing to go back and make some of the early chimneys taller.

When Lori finished the last chimney, she just stood back and looked over it all. No smoke rose from any of the chimneys save the ones she had just completed that day, to test if the chimney worked. She had made clear—well, had her temporary Rian make clear for her, but it was the same thing—that even if everyone had fireplaces now, meals would still be communal in the dining rooms, since that was more efficient all around, and it would hopefully prevent people from hoarding food and food going to waste from subpar storage facilities.

To her surprise, most people seemed to be not be testing her on this. At least, people were putting food into the stores, and only the kitchen workers were taking any out. And Lori turned a blind eye to the occasional small verminous beast—what people had taken to calling chokers, from the sounds they made when hunted—roasting in the bonfires outside of the bath houses and even in front of Rian's house. The little things barely counted as a snack, especially when shared among so many, and it wasn't like that they had found any more happy fruit.

Ugh, she wanted happy fruit. She wanted something sweet…

"You and everyone else, Great Binder," Riz said over dinner, looking like she meant it. She'd taken to carrying around a plank of wood and a burnt stick, just like Rian had. Did. He was probably still carrying it around right then… "The only sweet stuff left in the demesne that's edible is honey, and that's being stockpiled in case of injuries or midwinter, whichever comes first."

Lori blinked at that, looking up from the chatrang board. "Why would…" She sighed as she realized. "Rian?"

Riz nodded, a small, fond smile on her lips. "Rian. He said by the middle of winter, we'd all need it to feel better, and if we ate it before then, we'd regret it. And related to that… the sweetbugkeepers say they need to move the sweetbugs somewhere indoors for winter soon, for safety's sake, and so that if we have a winter dragon, they won't have to try dragging the sweetbug's hive through however much snow or mud we get."

Lori considered that and nodded, glancing back toward the board, then moving her Horotract to block Mikon's Mentalist. On the opposite side of the table, Mikon made a frustrated sound in her throat. Ah, the pleasure of knowing you'd made the move someone was hoping you wouldn't. Had she gotten better at this game, or was Mikon just that bad? It was probably the latter, but it felt like the former…

"I'll build something," Lori said. "How big does it need to be?"

"They didn't say—" Lori translated that to 'she didn't ask', "—just that it needed to be indoors and safe from dragons." Lori looked at her. Riz sighed. "I'll ask for more details, Great Binder."

Lori nodded. Good. "Good. What else?"

Riz checked her plank. "Uh… oh, Clowee—uh, the ferrywoman who operates the boat—" Riz suddenly cut off, glancing at Lori. Mikon, who'd been about to make her move on the board, also paused, hand outstretched.

"Yes? Go on. What about her?" Lori said.

Riz and Mikon glanced at each other, confused. "Ah… she's asking if it's possible for you to build a dock on the other side of the river, since it would make loading the boat…" Riz trailed off for a moment, eyeing Lori, before continuing, "…so that… loading the ropeweed will be easier."

Lori considered that, then nodded again. "Yes, I see her point. I'll build it tomorrow. Tell her to expect me so she can bring me across." Lori hummed in thought. "After breakfast should do. Tell her."

"Uh… yes, Great Binder…"

Lori nodded, then turned to Mikon. "You were going to move?"

Mikon blinked. "I was… Oh!" Mikon moved one of her lords. Unlike the militia, it could move two spaces instead of one. With her Mentalist blocked, the weaver seemed to be trying to either bait Lori or threaten her.

Lori resisted the urge to shake her head. Mikon was too focused on a particular area of the board. She responded by moving her own Mentalist diagonally to threaten both Mikon's Deadspeaker and her Whisperer.

Mikon made another frustrated sound in her throat.

Riz glanced sideways at her, then sighed and reached out to pat the weaver on the shoulder. "You can do it.cJust… remember to look at the whole board, all right?"

Mikon turned to look at Riz imploringly.

"No hints," Lori said flatly.

"No hints, no hints," the temporary Rian said hastily. "Just… giving general advise!"

Lori gave her a suspicious look.

"I'll just eat," Riz muttered, pulling her hand back and focusing on her bowl of food.

Lori kept looking at her, then nodded and focused back on her game and her food. Mikon sighed but did the same as well. Or at least focused on the game again instead of flirting with Riz. Lori couldn't be sure that was the weaver's intention, but Riz had touched her, so it had probably been intended flirting…

Well, not her problem. Lori just had to keep her Binder alive and keep other wizards away from her core to win.

Which was exactly like her life right now, actually.

Perhaps she hadn't given chatrang enthusiasts enough credit. Now that she was a Dungeon Binder, a lot of its mechanics were making more sense…

…

No, no, it was still overrated. Even ignoring the fact that players took turns and knew exactly where everyone's pieces were, the fact that you couldn't bribe any of your opponents' pieces over to your side, use your Deadspeaker to secretly control one of your opponent's pieces as an undead, or have to worry about one of your other wizards trying to kill you themselves and take your core as their own made the game extremely unrealistic. That wasn't even getting into the fact that with a Horotract on both side, the battlefield should be far more malleable…

Still, it was fun to play, especially when she was winning.

Well, only when she was winning…

But she was winning right now, so she was going to enjoy it as long as she could!

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The next day, after breakfast, Lori went to build the dock on the other side of the river. In hindsight, she probably should have done that sooner. The river cut her demesne… well, not exactly in half. From what she could tell through what she perceived of the wisps in her demesne, because of the river's bends and curves the half of the demesne on the other side of the river was actually bigger, in terms of land area.

There was a cleared space on the other side of the river, almost directly opposite her Dungeon, here the ropeweed and most anything else had been cut down, though there were browning stalks sticking out of the dirt. It was as good a place to put the dock as any.

Lori started by compacting and levelling that path of dirt so that she'd have someplace to stand on and stack her stone. It didn’t need to be perfectly level, it just needed to be stable. Then she got to work excavating the river.

This side of the river was about the same as the other side. There was a layer of cold silt with a few rocks mixed in, held down by a mix of roots and having been shaped by the river to provide the least resistance for the water after the silt settled. Lori ignored that, focusing on what was beneath, more solid. The bedrock.

It wasn't that deep, but it would certainly be time-consuming and difficult to reach if anyone tried to get at it without some kind of preparation. Still, as Dungeon Binder, it was simple for her to bind the earthwisps of the stone through her core and deform it to pull it up to the surface. She bound the bedrock over a long, wide area, sinking several spots so that the stone there could flow towards the spot she was raising up above the water.

In stories, when Whisperers or Dungeon Binders made stone rise out of the ground to form walls or whole buildings, the stories never mentioned where they got the stone from. You couldn't use Whispering to create stone, after all. At least, not in the same way that Whispering could create light, darkness, lightning and heat. The stone had to come from somewhere. Whenever Lori heard those stories—at least, after she started learning how to Whisper—she always wondered if there was now an airless void underground just waiting to collapse into a pit. At least most history books would mention where the stone came from when Whisperers made walls. Usually, there was suddenly a dry moat on the other side, which made good tactical sense.

The spot next to the riverbank that she'd compacted sank, the soft silt moving down with it as Lori excavated the new dock. It was, in her opinion, quite elegant. After all, the water next to the dock needed to be fairly deep so that the ice boat wouldn't scrape along the bottom, and given the length and width of Lori's Ice Boat (the second), that meant a reasonably large area had to be sunk, which just mean more rock for her to build the dock with.

The dock itself couldn't be a solid wall of rock blocking the river, or else the interruption of the current would cause an eddy where silt would quickly build up. She'd learned that the last time she'd made one. Instead, under the wide stone platform were wide openings under the surface that allowed the river to pass through, with stone arches to support the weight of the platform and send it down into the bedrock.

It was a relatively simple but time consuming thing to build, since Lori couldn't actually see what she was building. She had to rely on using her perceptions of waterwisps and earthwisps, comparing the shapes she felt to her perception of the shapes of the other structures she'd already built.

This was so much harder without Rian. When they'd last built the dock, she had Rian to dive down into the water for her and even measure the exact curve of the arches under the water…

Still, the dock was still sturdy for all that the understructure wasn't as exact as she'd have wanted. It was solid under her feet when she stomped on it, with no concerning shifts or vibrations. She reluctantly declared the dock complete, and had to resist the urge to put a binding on the stone's earthwisps to reinforce its structure as she made a hole for a wooden post that the boat could be tied to so it wouldn't drift off.

It took her all of that day to complete, stopping for lunch along the way, and she rode with everyone else on the Lori's Ice Boat when it was time to eat, sitting alone in the rear corner of the boat opposite the ferrywoman operation the tiller and waterjet built into it. No one sat next to her or tried to talk to her beyond bowing when they passed her.

The ferrywoman took her back to the other side once she'd declared the dock finished at about midafternoon, along with a partial load of ropeweed and firewood. Lori acknowledged the bows of the people coming to unload the boat with a negligent wave, and was glad they knew better than to offer their hands when she stood to get off the boat.

She found her footsteps taking her to Rian's house. It stood empty, the door closed, the little binding of lightwisps glowing on the outside wall. The fire pit in front of it was clear of ashes, and someone had already stacked a few pieces of wood there for later that night.

For a while, she stared at the empty house. Then she sighed, shook her head, and went to off to find something else to do until dinner. There was always something that needed to be done, at least…

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Beginning Improved Defensive Measures

"Erzebed," Lori said at dinner, "I will be making improvements to my Dungeon's front entrance tomorrow. Inform everyone that after breakfast, no one is to pass through my Dungeon's entrance, as I will be building and do not intend to be inconvenienced."

Riz had the look of someone who wanted to groan and was trying very hard to hold it inside. "Tomorrow, Great Binder?"

"I just said that, didn't I?"

Riz looked around and sighed, but didn't argue. "Yes, Great Binder. I'll let people know…"

Mikon reached over to pat her shoulder. "Don't worry, I'll help you. If we work together, we can get the word out quickly."

The temporary Rian sighed in relief. "Thanks," she said. "That would be a big help."

The hand on the shoulder gave a brief, comforting squeeze. "Don't worry about it," Mikon said, smiling gently. "Relax, finish your dinner. Why don't you take a bath, that way you can relax and tell the women there. I'll just finish my game with her Bindership. Unless there was anything else you needed to tell her Bindership, or something she needs you for?"

Riz glanced at Lori, who waved a negligent hand in dismissal. "I'll need you close by tomorrow to run errands or tell off people thinking they should be allowed to pass through, so make your arrangements." Lori tilted her head as a thought occurred to her. "Do you still manage the Um?"

"Only when I have nothing else to do," Riz said. "So, not tonight."

Lori nodded. "All right. Well, do as you've been told and finish your dinner. I have a game to win."

Riz glanced down at the board. It wasn't quite all of Lori's pieces surrounding Mikon's lone Binder and core—that was a product of satirical drawings and adults humiliating children—but Mikon was clearly going to lose soon. "Uh…"

"No hints," Lori said sharply.

Riz glanced at Mikon and gave a defeated shrug. "Good luck then," she said, giving the hand on her shoulder an awkward pat of consolation. She stood up, taking her bowl and eating quickly as she walked, moving to talk to various people.

Lori ate her dinner at a more leisurely pace as she waited for Mikon to admit defeat. To her credit and Lori's own enjoyment, Mikon kept at it, but it mainly resulted in Lori simply taking one of Mikon's pieces almost every turn until the weaver finally had to admit defeat.

"You seem to be progressing well with Erzebed," Lori said idly as the other woman symbolically handed her their core piece in surrender, her voice soft so as not to be heard among the other tables. "Try not to distract her too much. She's competent, but she's still not as good as Rian."

"She's trying," Mikon said mildly, voice equally soft.

"Yes, she is," Lori nodded. "And just barely succeeding. I wonder how much of that is because of you?"

A cheerful, unreadable smile answered her. "I'm just helping, your Bindership."

Ugh. She and Rian were made for each other. "Hmm…" Lori fixed Mikon with an intent gaze. "Do not try any of that with me, understood?"

The smile didn't waver at all. "I understand, your Bindership."

Lori gaze didn't waver. "I mean it. Whatever nonsense you get up to, keep me out of it, understood?"

The weaver blinked at the vehemence, then slowly nodded. "Understood, your Bindership."

Lori eyed her suspiciously, but nodded. "Good." She began to put away the board and its pieces.

Mikon continued to watch her. "Well… good night, your Bindership. Shall we play again tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow," Lori said absently, waving her off as she continued to put away the game board. She paused, staring down at the board, then up at Mikon suspiciously.

"I'm not flirting with you," she said hastily. "It's just… it's fun to play."

"You keep losing," Lori pointed out.

"Yes, that's frustrating…" Mikon sighed. "But until then, it's fun. If you must find an ulterior motive, Rian likes it when he sees you playing with me."

Lori sighed. "I will never understand that man."

"I'm sure the feeling is mutual, your Bindership."

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The next day, after breakfast, Lori got to work. Fortunately, Riz and Mikon had managed to notify everyone as she had ordered, and after a rush to go out the door—or in the case of the weavers, ropers, carpenters and kitchen workers, go in—people avoided the entrance to her Dungeon, leaving only Lori and Riz, who was standing with the little wooden stool next to her, not that Lori felt like she'd need it.

She and Rian had spoken about modifications that would allow fresh air to continue to circulate through her Dungeon even during a dragon while keeping dragonborn abominations out. It had been just after the last dragon had visited, and while not enough time had passed for another dragon to be due, it was enough time to start thinking of the next arrival.

Lori hoped it didn't come any time soon. She didn't want to think of what could happen to the Coldhold if it encountered a dragon out in the open. She didn't want to, but the thought stalked insidiously on the edges of her thoughts, like a beast waiting for fallen prey to bleed out.

…

Lori began to work.

Unfortunately, she couldn't just start excavating the stone above the door to raise the height of the ceiling there to make room for an air vent to let more air into her Dungeon. For one thing, it was dangerously close to her room and her bathroom. And she was fairly sure she had a pipe passing through there, so she would have to build outwards to construct the modifications she wanted. No, despite what she wanted, she would have to build outward from the current entrance of her Dungeon, which was why she'd been excavating so much stone from what would become the third level. Right now she didn't have nearly all the stone she needed, but she had enough for the basic structures, with the rest simply being protective mass against impacts from things falling from the sky.

Lori started by marking the ground with lines to map out what she wanted to build, using darkwisps to for the purpose so that the lines wouldn't be disrupted. A hallway here, about as wide as the door they currently had so that they could reuse the door… no, wait, wider, that was better… a little side area here so she could build some stairs to reach the upper area with the opening where their air would be coming in through… the door would be reinstalled here, so the opening to let in fresh air would be above it, one level up… Walls along here, which would support a roof so that dragonborn abominations couldn't come down from the top of the cliff and climb into the air intake… and opening would be over here, no door, just an opening… stone would fill the hallway to either side so that there were be a bulwark between the Dungeon and the dragon…

The last line of darkwisps was laid out on the ground and she looked up to see the final dimensions she had come up with. The tube-like lines of darkness along the ground cast no shadows as she began to properly measure with her staff. All in all, the current front door would need to move three paces, though she could probably cut hat down to two… ah, and if she moved the alcove with the stairs to the other side of the entryway… the intention has always been that the smithy would be inside the Dungeon, with an opening to vent out heat and smoke, so she could make a passageway towards the smithy past the stairs…

She finished adding in the new lines and releasing the darkwisps on the ones that were no longer relevant and looked at the arrangement she'd made again as Riz sat down on the wooden stool in the shadow of the Dungeon, looking bored. All in all, it would extend the entrance of her Dungeon out by about five, six paces, which would cut into the open area they had in front of the Dungeon. She would cut it short, but if she did, the pit meant to deal with dragonborn abominations might not be as effective at deterring the things. Such a small pit would hardly inconvenience a beast, much less an abomination. Still, there would still be plenty of room, so they wouldn't lose the open area entirely. And there was no reason why she couldn't extend the pit past the opening…

Lori paused and looked down, then groaned. If she did that, she'd be cutting through various pipes that carried water from the water hub shed to the baths. She'd have to sink to pipes down deeper, or at least divert them around where she planned to dig the pit…

She sighed. Well, one thing at a time. For now, she'd build the walls, just to start getting some work done. Fortunately, the thickness of the walls wouldn't matter because she wasn't going to have space on both side, so they could be as thick as she felt like making. Lori walked toward the pile of excavated stone and bound the earthwisps there, pulling a third of the current mass out of the pile. The stone flowed like a thick paste as her binding made the stone more viscous and fluid, and she pulled the stone towards the line she had marked out for a wall.

Lori soon lost herself in the familiar work of raising up a stone wall: clearing away the dirt, bonding it to the bedrock, making sure it rose up strait so all the weight was supported, and making sure the wall itself was straight. She should probably make the ground stone too and not just packed dirt, so that it would be easier to make a defensive pit later, and so she could give it better drainage for when it started raining. Their experiences when they arrived showed them that this area experienced a lot of rain early in the year.

Lori had managed almost the who length of wall when Riz approached her. "Er, Great Binder? Can we start letting people into the Dungeon now? It's coming on noon."

It was? Surely not, it wasn't that hot yet, and Lori had been standing out in the sun all morning. But when she looked, the sun was high up and the shadows were short. Huh… "Fine, let everyone in," she said. "I'll meet you at the table."

Riz nodded, walking quickly towards her Dungeon's door and swinging it open, gesturing for people to come in. Now that she was paying attention, Lori found she was a little sweaty. She should probably get her hat after lunch to protect her head from heatstroke…

Shaking her head, Lori stepped back and inspected her wall. It stretched out the whole length of the line she had made, and rose to about chest height. She might be able to get it up to six or seven paces high by this afternoon, though it would need more mass behind it. And she supposed it would be shadier when she worked on it after lunch…

For now though, it probably just looked like a strange wall in front of her Dungeon.

Lori stood there, examining her wall but mostly waiting for people to stop crowding around the front of her dungeon. She wondered if she should make it smoother, make it harder for abominations to climb… No, she could just coat it with wet ice when the time came, that should be enough…

"Great Binder?"

Lori glanced sideways at her temporary Rian, who was looking curiously at the wall. "What is it, Erzebed?"

"What exactly are you building? N-not that I'm questioning you, it's just I don't know what it is… "

Lori hummed. "Rian and I once discussed improvements that could be made to let the Dungeon better survive against dragons." She patted the wall. "This is one of them."

Riz frowned. "I… see?"

Lori sighed. "I'll explain it to you at dinner. Perhaps you'll be able to provide insight." She hadn't the last time, but then Rian had been distracting her, and it hadn't been her job to provide insight them.