Work in Progress: Elfshot

Progress report:

Last time looked at: 4/12/18

Last actual wordage added: 4/12/18

Pages added, 4/12/18: 2

Current page count: 17

Estimated final page count: 300? I don’t really have any idea.

Deadline: None. Purely speculative.

Word count: 3,951

Comments: I skipped a couple of updates, I’m afraid. Sorry about that.

Anyway, the body’s been taken to the Watch House and Hyacinth is rejoining Lily.

For those coming in late: This is a murder mystery in a vaguely Tolkienian setting. Our protagonist, Hyacinth Undercliff, is one of the Folk, small, delicate humanoids who live in a community called the Vale. To the north of the Vale is a riverside highway elves use; to the south are cliffs, and atop the cliffs is human territory. North of the highway is forest which has its own mysterious inhabitants, and under the cliffs to the west is the underground home of the delvers.

Hyacinth is granddaughter and heir to Poplar Forestedge, the town’s hereditary librarian and historian, but alas, Poplar is no longer able to carry out his duties, so Hyacinth does the job.

Linden Watchhouse is the Vale’s constable, aided by his wife Marigold.

The story opened with young Lily Riverbend finding the body of her murdered boyfriend Mulberry Thicket, and Hyacinth hearing her screams and coming to her aid.

And here we are.

5 thoughts on “Work in Progress: Elfshot

  1. Any chance this takes place on the other side of the mountains in Hanner’s Refuge from “The Unwelcome Warlock”? You gave just enough of a description of the world where the tapestry exits to make almost anything possible, the refuge is at the very least a vast territory and I would love to here about its qualities/geography. The way you left off the forests and fish along with the exotic nuts which grow on the native trees are becoming valuable exports for the 300 residents renting from Hanner the Generous and his second wife Rudhira of the Refuge. With it being in Ethshar of the Spices and becoming known from the stories of people who have visited it I could easily see adventure minded young men wanting to explore its forests, mountains and sea which are far easier and more comfortable to adventure in than heading across the Eastern Desert trying to see if there is anything on the other side, or going to Aldagmore where the new settlements are being built by former Warlocks. A World where the sun is always at about mid afternoon in the sky is an interesting setting. Ethshar World appears to be a spherical shape from the description with winter being harsher in the north than the south but the Refuge could be a disc or endless flat expanse where the sun looks the same from every location. We know wizardry works in the Refuge so you might even get a research minded Wizard seeking unique ingredients like the blood of that strange creature spotted in the woods.

    1. That possibility had not occurred to me. I don’t think it’s the case, though; the Vale definitely has a day/night cycle.

      Now you have me thinking about maybe setting a story in the Refuge. It wouldn’t be Elfshot, though.

      1. In my estimation Any Ethshar novel is a Great Book, I was just amusing myself imagining how humans from Ethshar might react to Elves who are also able to speak and do magic of their own sorts. All of their dates are based on Year of Human Speech. So far we have Humans, Dragons and Spriggan’s wandering around talking. I imagine someday a wizard will develop a spell using essence of Spriggan the same way they use Dragon Blood, If they are truly indestructible they could still be the source of saliva, tears, excrement, urine or even something like the ‘blond hair off a Spriggan’s head” which has to be an extremely rare thing to find with them being described as a frog half way transformed into a human. In a way Spriggan’s are kind of like Irith the Flier, they are magical and immune to most if not all wizard magic, they don’t have to eat but they like food and drink including alcoholic beverages, and they are even unable to reproduce in the normal biological manner. I know they can only be killed when the mirror is in a zone of no wizardry but at least some of them were killed during that period. If a mountain lion ate a Spriggan just a day before the others dragged the mirror out of the no wizardry zone how might the digested spriggan effect the the mountain lion? Would the Spriggan slowly recombine into a live spriggan? Would the mountain lion gain some special immunity to wizardry?

        Yes I am rereading the entire series for the I don’t know how many times through and these question pop into my head. Thank you for the immense quantity of entertainment you have provided me for what really is a bargain price!

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