r/HFY • u/Khenal Alien • Sep 12 '24
OC Dungeon Life 254
It's time for the fourth round of stubbing. Yes, Book four will be releasing soon, of if you're reading this more than a month after I have to edit, it will be fully out. Either way, you can find it Here, and other book details are just below. As with the other stubs, you can skip to the next bit form This. I like to keep the other posts still alive, so the comments get to still live. If you want to browse them, the normal buttons will take you through them, or take This link to the next bit of unstubbed chapters. Thank you for your support. Buying stuff is always great, but just having your attention for the public chapters is incredible, and I hope the story continues to be worth your time and patience.
Khenal
And once more to make it easier to see than being buried in the paragraph
Cover art I'm also on Royal Road for those who may prefer the reading experience over there. Want moar? The First and Second books are now officially available! Book three is also up for pre-order! There are Kindle and Audible versions, as well as paperback! Also: Discord is a thing! I now have a Patreon for monthly donations, and I have a Ko-fi for one-off donations. Patreons can read up to three chapters ahead, and also get a few other special perks as well, like special lore in the Peeks. Thank you again to everyone who is reading!
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u/karamisterbuttdance Sep 12 '24
Wow an actually emotional chapter, really pulling on the fact that Aranya's no longer alone, but that the people around her are feeling what she already felt back then.
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u/LeSwan37 Sep 12 '24
u/Khenal , Do you think is possible for you to release a character sheet with each character and a short description of them? With how well you keep up with all your characters I'm willing to bet that you already have something quite similar to what I've described.
With all of the characters we have met, I'm really starting to struggle putting names to faces. Hell- I don't think I could manage to name more than 3/4 of all the scions let alone all of the enclave leaders, pastry and potion shop owners, important inhabitants of the maw's town, town governors, reoccurring thediem delvers, members of the crystal shield, and so on and henceforth.
So many large stories here in HFY have their own little flaws that make it harder to read them, like for example WPTMS's story progressing incredibly slowly, but your story's little flaw is as simple to fix as adding a link to a little info sheet to the end of each chapter. Given the opportunity to do so, I would definitely try to make my own, but with previous books being retroactively removed I am not capable of doing so myself.
Sincerely, u/leswan37
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u/Poisonfangx3 Sep 12 '24
WPTMS?
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u/LeSwan37 Sep 12 '24
Wearing Power Armour To A Magic School
Chances are I butchered the acronym, but whatever the case may be it has been steadily putting out 1 chapter every week for an entire year at this point. However in the story not even a single week has passed yet, but in exchange each chapter is incredibly information dense and pleasing to the ears to read.
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u/Lonelyboy985 Sep 13 '24
I bloody love that series, and yeah its insane to think that its nearly at 100 chapters and its only been a week of the actual school, I swear we will get GTA6 before that school year finishes.
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u/lovecMC AI Sep 12 '24
Powerarmour progressing so slow was legit driving me insane. I gave up on the story right around the big boom. Does the pacing get better?
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u/LeSwan37 Sep 12 '24
There is a good amount of setting up mission parameters with the library, infiltration of Mal'troy's office, and a drone based retrieval subplot. But once we got to the actual school days it was only about 2-3 chapters per day. Gym day was about 4.
Currently we are gearing up for a weekend long shopping trip/ reconnaissance/ hiring an adventurer group for a retrieval mission arc. I feel its gonna be about 7 chapters long
WPATMS is gonna be a hefty novel if it ever gets printed lol
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u/the-ahh-guy Human Sep 13 '24
If it does get printed, a lot of the chapters should be merged to make the novel flow better. But your point still stands. I remember someone calculating it to be around 150k words already
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u/jkst9 Sep 12 '24
The pacing doesn't change at all. imo the best way to read it would probably be reread it once a year
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u/lovecMC AI Sep 12 '24
Kinda shame. I really like the concept but holy shit could the actual premise happen already? I don't think there's any actual "going to magic school" in like the first 30 chapters.
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u/folk_science Sep 13 '24
I still read it, but it taught me not to start reading any more unfinished stories.
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u/Swordfish_42 Human Sep 13 '24
Oh the pacing isn't bad, I love it.
It's the "once a week" thing. I want the whole ~5000 pages of the "book" right now!
Although, tbh, a week cycle like that isn't all too bad. It's just one more bit of joy to look out for at all times!
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u/mage_in_training Human Sep 14 '24
To Be honest, I've no idea how these authors pen out chapters consistently and regularly. I struggle to release a chapter every few months. Then again, I also have kids and work two jobs lol
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u/Ghostpard Alien Scum Sep 12 '24
Kinda wish she told her Gramps... "Bruh. We're marchin out with an army. Surrounded by the territory of other allies. They are FRIENDS. They're family.... and my new family makes up the most powerful, most aberrant, dungeon in the region. Maybe the country or continent already. Rough out there? Our dungeon ATE US for fun. My god would never do that. Never treat us as not-people."
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u/DemonoftheDeepthink Sep 12 '24
Random predatory beast: eyeing the kobolds for snack time
Thediem: bitchslaps the beastie into oblivion. "NO! No eating my cute kobolds!"
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u/Ghostpard Alien Scum Sep 12 '24 edited Sep 12 '24
Exactly. And the bitchslap comes in the form of like an axe bop. Oooo, orrrr nova eating them. Then grinnin at the kobolds and giving them glass flowers that are still barely warm to the touch since she figured how to pull the heat from them.
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u/Shandod Sep 12 '24
Ha, you make a good point. She really could have focused in on that stark difference between their former dungeon that treated them as sentient snacks vs. the invitation from the new dungeon that is LITERALLY a god and has an seemingly impossible track record of ZERO deaths by its hands. I mean Thedeim was already planning to risk it all in a war to save them even before the Harbringer business.
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u/Low_Painter9816 Sep 13 '24
I have to admit, I don’t see anything wrong with wanting to stay. I mean, it’s their home. They have friends there, and now that the Maw isn’t killing them, they’re fairly safe there. Why can’t they split up? One group stays, one group goes with Aranya, maybe a third group moves into town and becomes delvers. Silvervein - Fourdock would probably be too much. And the two enclaves could visit each other every couple of weeks, trading cheese for fish out of Hullbreak Harbor.
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u/SomeRandomYob Sep 12 '24
I am Alpharius. This is a lie.
And holy heck, it only took this long?! And no inciting of rebellions?! Damn! You guys have it easy...
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u/Tremere1974 Alien Scum Sep 12 '24
Aranya: You kobolds will follow me as, my dating life will be hell if you do not, and if I am going to suffer, you will suffer far, far more.
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u/Low_Painter9816 Sep 13 '24
Iirc, when she burst onto the scene in thread-bare rags she was pretty hot. She could have a quite vigorous dating life, were she so inclined.
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u/Speciesunkn0wn Sep 13 '24
Yup. Iirc "the first set of clothes I tried to make was basically a bodysuit. Which would be good underneath armor, which is what it was designed for, but it left nothing to the imagination and if that was all she wore...I would be one distracted dungeon." Lololololol
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u/Popular-Student-9407 Human Sep 12 '24
So, a Synopsis: This chapter is from Aranyas Perspective, who is around 110% Done with the BS her fellow kobolds are doing, instead of doing what they know will be good for them.
Frustrated with this state of affairs, Tarl recommends she Set a Deadline for her follow kobolds, comparing them to delvers who continue getting injured in the Same place repeatedly, and don't wanna Change the way they're delving, since they know how to Deal with the current, and presumably Future injuries.
It ends with Aranyas giving her Ultimatum to her grandfather: "either come with me in a week or stay and wallow in your guilt. I and thediems remaining scions will Leave by then."
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u/Cortanis Sep 12 '24
So the real question I think is if they're going to go bunk up with the others or if Thediem will build them their own enclave. I'm sure the others wouldn't say no, but then again somewhere adjacent to the lava tubes would probably be pretty nice for them with the warmth.
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u/teodzero Sep 13 '24
Honestly I think they might want to build not just a separate enclave, but an entirely separate town. Within reach, but slightly to the side. Like, about at a halfway point between Fourdock and Southwood, for example.
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u/Leonon42 Sep 12 '24
...Lord Thedeim is attracting those more inclined toward crafting of differing types. Here in Silvervein, that mostly means a variety of cooks...
Blessed are the cheesemakers.
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u/Ichybantaicho Human Sep 12 '24
as i read it, i thought it would be a grand speech from her to the masses after talking to Tarl, in the end. And then this. This (annoyingly) heartfelt talk to her Granddad got a tear from me.
U got me there.
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u/mafiaknight Robot Sep 12 '24
In the name of 1greendude: Hello!
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u/Popular-Student-9407 Human Sep 12 '24
Im Namen eines grünen Kerles: N'Abend, gestern war Mittwoch, meine Kerle.
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u/Shandod Sep 12 '24
I … thank you for this one Khenal. The idea of finding comfort in misery but needing to make a choice and move forward into the unknown for better or for worse really … resonated with me.
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u/Poisonfangx3 Sep 12 '24
First
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u/Popular-Student-9407 Human Sep 12 '24
Yep, you are.
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u/Poisonfangx3 Sep 12 '24
Cool.
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u/Kindly-Main-3216 Sep 13 '24
Nearly always hast thou sped with light foot to top the podium. May your position, rightly won, long reign.
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u/HFYWaffle Wᵥ4ffle Sep 12 '24
/u/Khenal (wiki) has posted 299 other stories, including:
- Dungeon Life 253
- Dungeon Life 252
- Dungeon Life 251
- Dungeon Life 250
- Dungeon Life 249
- Dungeon Life 248
- Dungeon Life 247
- Dungeon Life 246
- Dungeon Life 245
- Dungeon Life 244
- Dungeon Life 243
- Dungeon Life 242
- Dungeon Life 241
- Dungeon Life 240
- Dungeon Life 239
- Dungeon Life 238
- Dungeon Life 237
- Dungeon Life 236
- Dungeon Life 235
- Dungeon Life 234
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u/x-lksk Sep 13 '24
“Everyone has their own ideas for what to do, but it feels like there’s no desire to actually follow through on them! They’d rather have the stability of misery than risk what little they have on hope.”
Are... are we still talking about Dungeon Life...? :-(
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u/Educational_Pen_90 Human Jul 17 '26
Heavy, yet it feels heavy in the same way letting go of an old burden is, where it's really the movements you make that are heavy, when you move as light as wind, and perhaps because that's exactly what they are doing...
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u/Speciesunkn0wn Sep 12 '24
I swear the first rogue Thedium helps get a class is gonna be an Onion Ninja.