The Bee Dungeon

The First of the Fifth was just hovering in the air, staring as scouts from all the different hives flew in and out of the new door. This…changed everything. The bumblebee soldiers could now fly right from their nest to the Flower Meadow. The Apiary queens had but to fly to the closest wall to make their honey deliveries. Her foragers could access every flower in every room nearly as easily as the mana flower patch next to her hive.

Her mind buzzed with the implications. Resources could now be pooled and shared between all the King’s hives. Specialized honey could be produced anywhere and delivered to anywhere. Hives far away from the Flower Meadow could contribute soldiers to the army as easily as the queens that dwelt there. Queens and messengers could meet at will.

She was truly proud of her daughter for this suggestion. And now, as the queen the King had tasked with organizing the others, it was her turn. She would have to see this wonder come to fruition.

She started to fly once more as she began to plan…

After setting up those shortcuts, Belissar made his honey-gathering and tribute rounds, then headed out for the karnuq floor. Chief Rohsuak was waiting to greet him when he arrived. The first thing they did was set up shortcuts for the karnuq as well. He placed two shortcuts in the karnuq’s flower meadow, setting up the doors next to the regular room exits. One led directly to the Tower’s exit so that the karnuq could come and go at will, while the other led to the Orchard to connect the karnuq with the rest of the Tower…and the bees.

After that, Chief Rohsuak, Metsaitti, and Juosiutik all gathered with Belissar in Chief Rohsuak’s house to discuss their encounters with monster plants…

“It, um, drinks…blood?”

Metsaitti nodded.

“The roots were covered in thorns and wrapped around anything that approached. We saw a bunch of desiccated animal corpses in their grasp. We saw one wolf-mole get caught…it wasn’t pretty. Ultimately, we took a detour around the area. Never saw what it looked like on the surface.”

“Seemed to have acid running through it, extremely corrosive. Any wound would cause it to spray out. There were also these bulges on the roots that would explode with even the lightest touch. We didn’t see any corpses, but I presume the roots would drink up any liquified remains.”

Belissar gulped as Chief Rohsuak spoke.

“I…see. Um, anything else?”

Chief Rohsuak shrugged.

“They were highly flammable, acid included. We had to wait a while for the fumes to clear up, though. There was some pool of liquid that smelled terrible, but we avoided it, so I can’t tell you more.”

Belissar guessed he was ruling that one out too.

Juosiutik shook her head.

“There’s very little in the records I have about monster plants. I did find this excerpt regarding some swamp flowers, but it’s more about preventing monsters than raising them.”

Belissar shrugged.

“Well, I guess anything might help? I don’t really know what I’m looking for, to be honest.”

Juosiutik nodded.

“Says here there are flowers in the bogs that would start attracting slimes if left for too long. This could be avoided by draining nectar from the flowers on a regular basis.”

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She let out a sigh.

“That’s all, though. If there was more about those flowers, those notes were lost. I don’t even have a picture of them. If I had to guess, though, I would guess the slimes like to drink the nectar?”

Belissar tilted his head.

“Huh, sounds like the slime flowers.”

Juosiutik froze.

“Slime…flowers?”

Belissar nodded.

“Or flower, since there’s only one right now. It, um, apparently spawns the slimes itself, rather than attracting them, so maybe it’s different?”

At that point, Juosiutik approached Belissar in such a way that Niobee responded. The conversation quickly derailed to Belissar describing the slime flower in as much detail as he knew… ℝÂ₦ỖＢĘꞨ

In the end, none of the karnuq’s encounters held any concrete leads for Belissar. He moved on to discussing negotiations and diplomacy with Chief Rohsuak, and then instructing the karnuq on beekeeping.

After that came the daily purification. Belissar swapped the Lava Field back behind the battle meadow and let the soldier bee army handle the purification as usual. The options weren’t particularly notable so he went with mana.

And then, finally, he was back with the queens and Chief Rohsuak, ready to make a purchase. He nodded at everyone.

“I think we should go with room features this time.”

With no particular leads on monster flowers from either the gardeners or the karnuq, Belissar was left deciding on his own. Room features were a catch all that could include anything from traps to resources to geographical features, so he figured there’d be a decent chance that something there might help flowers become monsters. A new room was another option, since a new environment could lead to new flowers, but Belissar decided to hold off on that. He was still waiting to see what became of the Fairy Grove, and there was a chance he might want to add a second one with the last empty room slot, so he figured he may as well wait for the next expansion before expanding the room options. Additionally, since he didn’t actually know what he was looking for, going with the cheaper room features and so getting more options may increase the chances of getting something useful.

And if all else failed, and the room features didn’t help with monster plants at all…well, more resources would give them more products to trade with the sigmaka, while more traps could improve his defenses in general.

The bees, of course, praised him for making a choice as they did for…well, practically everything he did. Chief Rohsuak simply smiled and nodded. And with that, Belissar brought up the DP store.

He could only hope it wouldn’t be all commons this time…

Extra room feature choice purchased. One room feature choice now available.

Please select a room feature:

- Dirt Trails (Rarity: Common, Type: Utility, Decoration)

- Beeswax Candles (Rarity: Common, Type: Bee, Fire, Decoration)

- Boulder (Rarity: Common, Type: Ground, Decoration)

Belissar glared at the message in silence for a moment. All commons, and two he had seen before. But, well, glaring at it wasn’t going to change the choices, as far as he knew, so he heaved a sigh and then started reading them out.

Dirt Trails

- Type: Utility, Decoration

- Mana Upkeep: 0

- Description: A trail of packed dirt. Slightly boosts speed of ground movement.

Belissar shrugged at that. It still didn’t help any of his flying bees. He guessed it was a little more useful than last time he saw it now that he had the karnuq…but he had also just installed a bunch of shortcuts, so faster movement wasn’t really a concern for him right now.

Beeswax Candles

- Type: Bee, Fire, Decoration

- Mana Upkeep: 1(0 if wax is regularly provided)

- Description: A beeswax candle that provides light, and a bit of heat. Effects may vary if special wax types are provided.

Beeswax candles were the same as before. Again, maybe they would help light the way in the Dirt Tunnels, but he could also make candles himself if he really wanted to. There was that line about special effects, though, so maybe it was worth taking as a feature.

And then, finally…

Boulder

- Type: Ground, Decoration

- Mana Upkeep: 0

- Description: A big rock. Can hold certain features that require rocky or Ground-attribute terrain.

…it was a rock. A big rock, sure, but a rock. Maybe it would have been useful if he didn’t have basic resource minerals to provide useful stone but otherwise…it was a rock. Maybe he could put it on a hill and roll it down on a shade? If he could make hills steep enough, that was, as the Flower Meadows only allowed gentle slopes…

Belissar rubbed his chin. Come to think of it, he was able to make vertical entrances to Dirt Tunnel rooms. They could hypothetically drop rocks down those. Or down a Pit Trap as an alternative to fire. Now that he thought about it, big rocks were surprisingly useful…

But the question was, did it justify taking as a feature? Hypothetically, Muuraqi could cut big rocks for him from the mineral nodes, so he again didn’t necessarily need the feature to implement those ideas. In fact, which, of these three choices, was worth taking?

Belissar shrugged.

Beeswax Candles are now available!

When in doubt, Belissar chose bees. The line about special waxes, in particular, drew his attention. Perhaps his bees could do something with these? He would, however, ask the karnuq about the dropping rocks plan at some point.

Belissar glared at the DP shop before making the next purchase. He may not have known what he actually needed right now, but he sure would like to get something other than a repeat common option…

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