Dungeon Life

Chapter Three-Hundred Twenty-Seven

Chapter Three-Hundred Twenty-Seven

I’m impressed with Gerlfi and Titania both. I knew he summons fey, but I just never connected the dots that he might like to summon my fey. I’m also proud of Titania for her deal. She’s going to be double dipping to make a ton of mana whenever she gets summoned, which is great for me, and she’ll get to see more of the world, at least if Gerlfi and his party ever wander on to a new dungeon, heh.

I’m also glad she didn’t go for some of the nastier stuff out of fairy tales. No stealing someone’s day of birth, or dooming them to die by pricking their finger on a spinner’s wheel, or things like that. I mean, Gerlfi wouldn’t take a deal like that, but I’m still glad she didn’t even try.

Fey fun aside, the forest is coming together nicely. Titania and Goldilocks are working incredibly well together. The fey queen is great at keeping the denizens operating smoothly behind the scenes, and Goldilocks is developing a great eye for detail when it comes to what delvers can handle. It’s great that she’s been stepping up in that role, too, giving Poppy more time to focus on the tree and her garden.

I think she’s putting the finishing touches on the one I’ll use to expand. She’s been carefully trimming and adjusting it like I’d imagine someone with a bonsai tree. The roots are looking good and strong, the symbiosis between the yew and willow seems stable, and I can feel Poppy’s pride in her accomplishment, even as she worries something might go wrong when I do the expansion. I make sure to encourage her through the bond. I’m feeling pretty confident in the design and in the smaller tree that’s going to be the centerpiece of the forest soon.

Right now, I’m more waiting on the last results of the surveys, and to build up a bit more mana before I pull the trigger. If I was just expanding up, I’d probably have enough to get some things going, but with the plans to go down, too, I’m going to need more mana than what I have now. I could dip into the emergency fund, but no matter how much I want the tree up and running, it doesn’t qualify as an emergency.

Even if I really want it.

I can be patient, though. Even with the forest running at basic capacity, the mana income is pretty significant. With Titania and Goldilocks making adjustments, things are only getting more efficient, and it’ll probably only get better as we go.

The antkin enclave is only getting better, too. With them now their own people, they’re diving into working with my other enclaves and trading with Fourdock. As I understand it, merchants are technically supposed to wait until an official treaty to trade, but there are loopholes to be abused. There’s still taxes getting paid, so I’m not worried about causing a stink.

The enchanters have Thing’s anti-lifedrinking enchantment, and basically every armor creating crafter is begging them to enchant this or that with it. A lot of delvers are interested, too, but the ones planning to stick around probably don’t see too much need to have it now. I bet the crafters are looking to make a mint selling the gear to someone elsewhere. I don’t mind, especially since it should help the antkin build a reputation and the wealth to do even more.

The alchemists seem like they’re on the verge of a breakthrough with the go juice, too. When Queen’s is used on a denizen, it just flat out gives them a new affinity and a bit more speed. The version the antkin are trying to adapt for non-denizens looks like it adds electric damage to their attacks, and gives a good amount of lightning resist, too. The only problem with it right now is the duration.

In their testing, they barely get enough time to deal or receive a single attack. I think their goal is for it to last similarly as long as the aqua affinity potions that Staiven makes. They have the formulation for it on a board while they talk shop, and though most of it goes over my head, that’d be the obvious connection.

The engineering caste is working closely with my ratkin as they do a joint venture to produce what people are starting to call dweller bows, the compound bows. The metalworking required is well within the ratkin’s ability to do, while the engineers constantly work on improvements to the design. The worker caste helps as well, putting everything together and letting everyone focus on their specialty.

It makes me worry a little about overspecializing and people thinking their particular part is the most important one, but they all seem to be getting long well and enjoying the camaraderie. The engineers are also working closely with the alchemists and the spiderkin to continue to refine the composite armor. They’ve seen how Jello makes the metal honeycomb, so now they’re trying to replicate it in their own way.

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Working together, they’ve even had limited success with recreating it. While a lot of the antkin have lost their magma affinity for a variety of others after the bars winked out, there’s still a lot with it. That, combined with the number of ratkin with metal affinity, lets them smoothly weld the sheets together. It’s still a lot of work to cut and especially to shape, but I’m confident they’ll streamline the process as they get more used to it.

I watch them all work together for a little bit before I feel Aranya and Teemo both wanting my attention. They’re sitting in the public war room, and it takes me a moment to recognize the figure sitting with them as Rezlar. Where his Larrez persona is pretty plainly a fencer, this outfit makes him look like a rogue of some variety. Instead of the tan of Larrez, he’s sporting a skin tone more like the ash gray of Miller, who I am certain is around here somewhere.

Before I can get distracted trying to find him, Teemo speaks up. “Ah, the Boss’s here.”

Aranya nods with a happy smile. “I feel Him too. Would you please repeat your question young… sir,” Aranya says to Rezlar with a knowing smile, playing along with his disguise despite nobody else being around.

Rezlar inhales to build his courage, then explains. “I need to tell Freddie and Rhonda who I am, but I don’t know how to do it.”

“Just tell them,” suggests Teemo before I can give an answer. Usually, I think that’d be the best way, but something like this isn’t so simple, I think. Just sitting down at a table and blurting it out is awkward and forced at best.

Teemo shakes his head, but speaks up for me. “That’s not the Boss’ advice though, just mine. He says it’d usually be what he’d suggest, too, but it’s not the sort of revelation to just drop on someone out of nowhere.”

Aranya nods before adding her own opinion. “Perhaps you should invite them over and ease them into it?”

Rezlar sighs. “Have the lord mayor call them to a dinner? That feels like trying to impress them with status, or imply they’ll have to acknowledge it.”

Teemo winces at that idea, though it does give me one of my own. “Why not have Larrez invite them to a guided tour or something? You could hang out, show them a couple cool things, and have lunch or something at a normal table, instead of the big one. Make an excuse to go help get the food from the kitchen, take off the disguise, and come back in with the food.”

Aranya smiles at that idea. “They’re clever enough to probably realize, though if they don’t, it’d be reasonable enough to explain at that point.”

Rezlar chews that over. “No airs, just showing them around… and bring in the food like a friend, instead of sitting at the table and having it brought to me like a lord. That… I think that could work?”

“Definitely,” encourages Teemo. “Especially with your butler around to make sure everything goes smoothly. There’s probably a lot of moving parts in an idea like that, but he seems pretty good at making sure things mesh.”

Rezlar looks more and more confident as he considers the idea, and soon gives my Voice and my High Priestess a thankful smile. “Thank you Teemo, Aranya, and… and Lord Thedeim.”

Teemo quirks an eyebrow at him for me, even as Aranya beams with a bright smile.

“You’re going to follow Him?” she asks, and Rezlar gives a nervous nod.

“Yes. I’m not sure what all it entails, but… He’s changed so much of my life for the better.”

Teemo blows a raspberry, making Rezlar look worried while Aranya titters with controlled laughter. “That’s fine, the Boss doesn’t really know what following him entails, either. Just don’t go bowing and scraping, please? It’s embarrassing for him.”

Rezlar’s worry turns to confusion as Aranya speaks up, still trying to contain her mirth. “Leave the bowing and scraping to the priests and priestesses. It’s our job to embarrass Him at least a little. Just act with love and kindness, and be vigilant for things to improve, and think through what improving them would entail. Knocking down a wall might seem like a path to freedom, but don’t let the roof above collapse on your head.”

Rezlar looks relieved to hear that, and I feel a burst of energy from him as he dedicates himself to that sort of philosophy. I take a peek at his status, worried he might have changed class to a cleric or something, but I’m relieved to see he’s still a kind of fencer.

“Though speaking of big changes, is He ready to commit His denizens to helping with the hold? The snows are melting and the trails are clearing. I believe the surveyors are still narrowing down the best sites, but we can get started on the road out of town at least.”

I poke Coda to come, and even though he’s relaxing right now, the idea of planning a road has him grabbing his blueprinting stuff and flying for the war room. I leave them to it, still feeling a bit awkward about gaining another convert. It’s nice to help take a bit of weight off his shoulders, but I worry about his faith being misplaced. I think all I can really do is try to live up to his expectations, as well as my other followers. It’s a bit of weight on my own shoulders, but I have my own faith to keep me strong and hopefully walk this tightrope without falling.