Side Stories Poll -- August 2025!
The brain fog rises!
Once again, our poor [Writer] is trapped in the eternal seas of clouds, in their temporary home, surrounded by the dark waters of uncertainty. One day, there shall be sunlight of clear intellect and clarity and focus again, and they shall rise to the promised land of their new house. For now, they languish in the darkness.
With the creeping deadlines and unfinished chapters writhing up the slopes out of the fog, held back only at bay by frying pans, coffee mugs hurled from the windows of contempt, and the occasional broom. Because you should clean up.
In the dark abyss, pirateaba sits in their deepening madness and a thought reaches them as they build another chapter out of scraps of ideas and dusts, like dust upon the floor.
Once again, it is time for the poll...the blood moon is rising. The hour is coming. Which shall it be?
Erin? Erin would sweep every other foe to the abyss in a heartbeat. A hodgepodge of characters? Seborn? Each arc is a good one but they might be so...long. The Lyonette chapter is not yet finished and though it was glorious--!
No, no. Something new this time. Something different. Perhaps it's the brain fog talking. Or a worm that they picked up in Iceland. Does Iceland have worms? A mind-controlling puffin, then. pirateaba thinks, and then says it:
"This time, I'm sure I could write a bunch of short chapters."
Silence. Then they start laughing hysterically. The fog is laughing. The house is laughing.
pirateaba begins writing the poll. The choice is made. The die is cast.
'Short chapters'. Whatever wins this poll will have...
Short. Chapters written about it. Which sounds like less until you remember it's me. A chapter a day? Can I even do it like I did years ago? Or will it become 80,000+ daily words of madness?
Oh, the consequences. The hubris. But is it madness if you stare into the abyss before you drop? Vote carefully this time. All roads lead off the cliff, but you can at least pick which pit you're trying to fall into.
Comments (72)
Blast! Missed the poll. I would have voted silver swords.
I feel like you just want to write at your own pace again. Do it. Write what you want, when you want. Until you are satisfied or regret it.
I’d vote Fetohep, he’s seems to be for me the main force that makes his continent more interesting.
A little bit of everything please
Rise for Eternal Khelt! Let all others fall beneath the endless sands.
Peace in our time, end the war! (Vote Olesm)
definitely Olesm and the others(like Calruz) for me. i am starting to forget about him like Erin did in book 1. I wish a Selys sidestory was on the table though, she would be my first choice
Haven’t heard from him in ages!
Halfseekees!!! (Although Kelt is such a close second)
I agree I want to see how to react to new Moore
Khelt always :D. but do we need to have side stories? I’d prefer to focus on the main storyline for now, especially since most of the recent stories have been side stories anyway. I know this is part of Patreon tier but the main story is stagnating a lot.
Yeah, but I feel like part of the reason Halfseekers is up top is thanks to the tease of the Mother of Graves finally making a move and may lead into another epic fight. (That as well as slice of life reunion drama. My only question is if Seborn finished his treasure hunting.) :D Khelt Always! <3
Fetohep...rises
Amen!
It has been said by pirateaba on discord that the seven days of bullshit contains tolv (the undead half elf) boygnancy. Vote for seven days of bullshit
Man i would “LOVE” to know how he is dealing with his poisoned chalice.
This was a harder poll for me than most, but ultimately Moore cinches it for me.
Forever Halfseekers
I went with 7 days of bullshit because I want all of it.
Anything, everything, love it all! Let us glimpse into the abyss of madness, random bullshit go! Love everything you write, can't go wrong any of the ways. Don't know if I'm biased and it's just cause I'm reading it right now from when you recommended it a while back but this survey description gave me Katalepsis vibes.
How the hell am I supposed to choose just one of them.
Khelt, only Khelt!
If Random Bullshit includes the Unseen Empire, I'm all for it
I'm all for side chapters but I'm in extreme need of some more Horns of Hammerad, that stuff is fantasy cocaine for me.
Write in option: Take an extra week off. It sounds like your "holiday" was just sick days, so you're owed one.
I really want to see Fetohep again but I need to know what’s going on with the halfseekers first
I want them all please
Need Olesm and Belgrade! Let’s get this war over with!
Halfseeker for the win!
Khelt is long overdue for it's chapter. But I also really want to see jel and seaborne to meet Lord Moore.
I'm with Ged. Unconstrained pirateaba yesireeee!
Jeeze i want all of them.
Let Pirateaba write what they want! Random Bullshit for the win!!
K H E L T
As much as I want to see what poor old Fetohep is up to in Glorious Khelt I want to see what pirateaba comes up with when not constrained to a specific thing.
fight the fog! skill obtained, a light in the darkness
It is time for Khelt. My bones shiver for Khelt. Khelt has been waiting, and Fetohep expects your vote.
Fetohep won’t be upset if you don’t vote for him, But Khelta wont be so nice. Vote for Fetohep or else!
I've had enough chaos for a year or two after the palace of fates arc.
What ???
I liked the week of goblin chapters and the week of chocolate chapters. I'm voting for a week of BS. I love those, I'm sorry.
Honestly these all seem like good concepts, but I'm going to have to secede from Liscor and not vote for it.
More Olesm content!!!
Most importantly, good luck on your recovery. As to the poll — these all sound great . . . but honestly, what is a non-side story these days? Options 1-4 seem no more or less “side” than any of the chapters since the end of the roots epic (or, truly, the vast majority of the chapters before then). It’s entertaining and well-written but there have been only vague, intermittent hints about a main plot for well over a year. At least TWI will prosper for decades at this pace.
The Halfseekers for sure! Didn't Erin tell little grumpy Seaborn about some treasure in the ocean? Has Jelaqua given up being a good wifey and beaten up her "in-law" community yet? Also, loved OG Moore, was devastated when he you-know-what you-know-when, so would love to see how Lord Moore is settling into his own place in the Innworld. Also how he feels being in a living Wandering Inn. Light some spooky candles for ambiance pirate! To help with the deepening madness and dark abyss and such. Tis the season for it soon anyway!
In case its helpful metformin might be helpful for (preventing) long covid symptoms and is pretty easy to get https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(23)00299-2/fulltext
What kind of poll is this!? Do i cut off my hand or a foot!? Do i need lips? Aaaiiigghh!
I'd love to hear more of the Halfseekers as well as Lord Moore. More Silver Swords would be good too. I'd just prefer it not be Fetohep, I feel like his arc peaked in Vol 9 and I'm not that invested in him right now. But maybe the side story will fix that.
Man, he's my #1. Khelt is falling, zealots at the gates, how will Fetohep manage? I hope he's able to somehow convince our crazy cleric (who's really not so crazy considering what he dealt with at the solstice) how great a ruler he is for his people. But damn do they hate the undead. I really want to know how that shakes out.
In the ashes of this pained writers madness, Glorious Khelt shall arise anew.
Khelt khelt khelt!!
Fetohep or we RIOT!
*stares* *finger slowly approaches the random option*
[//(O_O)\\]*Jiiiiiiiiii* silently stares at you.
Avast ye mateys. Chapters are on the horizon. What will they be?
KELT TIME
We need the halfseekers, we failed them volumes ago. They never played as big of an impact as they should have going forward from the garen situation. Jelaqua got a shitty wedding, Moore died, and Seborn, his characterization has been all over the board in the background simply bc we haven't given them the spotlight in so long
Agreed, as much as I want to know how Fetohep is doing, we need a Halfseekers reunion. At least between Moore and Jelaqua. Even Lord Moore is going to need help taking on the Mother.
I’ve been desperate to see the Khelt /Prophet conflict forever. Please let’s have a Fetohep chapter :)
Any chance we could get a story about the chemist. Rhodan I think it was.
I hope he goes with Saliss to the New Lands.
I just voted for everything…
HALFSEEKERS!!!!
You guys need to understand something. If you ask for one of the other chapters pirate will probably write 50-60k words. But if you ask for random bullshit then paba will try to write 7 5k word stories but fail epically and release 7 15k words stories instead.
ahahha, I love the madness, Pirate!
It has to be Random!
I want more Teriarch yapping
Justice for Drath, may we someday hear its stories
Fethohep please!
Love this post
I'm going to pop like a snail in a microwave if I don't get more horns SOON
Hi Pirate!