The Bee Dungeon

The next day, the bees told Belissar the First of the Fifth had reports to make during his morning briefing, so he moved over to her Bee Apartment first. He smiled as he saw the queen waiting for him at the entrance, along with one of her daughters and a worker.

“Hi there, First of the Fifth. I heard you wanted to show me something?”

She danced happily and then brushed antennae with her daughter. The smaller queen stepped forward carefully.

“H-Hello, King. Am First of the Fifth’s Third Daughter.”

Belissar gave her a nod and a smile.

“Hello, nice to meet you.”

Her dance picked up speed and she nearly tripped.

“N-Nice to meet! Have new bee!”

The worker with them flew forward. At first, Belissar though she looked like another medicinal worker…but on closer inspection, her color was a bit greener than normal. Belissar checked what the Tower had to say.

Vitality: Minimal

Strength: Minimal

Speed: Average

Magic: Minimal+

Defense: Minimal

Resistance: Minimal

Special: Minor

Notable Skills: Antidote Shot, Poison Sting, Brood Offspring, Brood Tender

Description: A monster bee worker raised on the nectar of healing herbs and the pollen of snakebane. It produces healing compounds specialized in neutralizing toxins and its stinger is optimized to deploy them. These changes make it poor, though not entirely incapable, at combat, though its venom is more potent than the base medicinal bee worker's.

Belissar’s smile grew.

“Excellent work, new bees are going to help out a lot.”

The Third Daughter and her worker broke out into a happy dance. The First of the Fifth then slowly stepped forward.

“King…have request.”

Belissar nodded.

“Sure, what is it?”

The First of the Fifth paused for a moment before beginning her next dance.

“Want…to give honey to karnuq, the dangerous one. Dangerous one helped figure out way to raise new bees, want to help in return.”

Belissar tilted his head. A dangerous karnuq…who helped figure out how to raise new bees? That had something to do with honey, he thought, so he figured there was only one karnuq who fit.

“By dangerous one do you mean Juosiutik?”

He shook his head. Ultimately, it didn’t matter which karnuq she was referring to.

“In any case, that’s fine. You can give honey to the karnuq whenever you like.”

The First of the Fifth stood still for a moment before breaking out into a rapid dance.

“King best king!”

Belissar just chuckled as usual.

After that, Belissar set off for his task for the day, and made his way to the Lava Field. It turned out that the First of the Fifth was not the only bee preparing to make a deliver to the karnuq today. As discussed in the meeting, the Third of the Sixth had now prepared trays of Fire mana honey and was ready to deliver them.

They ran into a slight issue, however, in removing the honey trays from the Lava Field. The Third of the Sixth had not yet raised any soldiers, while the new burning queen from the Flower Meadow was still converting her hive over to burning types, so there were no burning soldiers available to carry the trays. Even if there were, the linen ropes made by the Orchard bees started to smoke on contact with a tray full of Fire mana honey, so the bees’ normal method of carrying trays wouldn’t work.

Belissar headed over to assist, seeing as he seemed to be immune from the Lava Field’s heat. He hoped that, maybe, he might just be able to carry the honey safely as well. Well, if it worked he wasn’t exactly looking forward to carrying trays made of stone all the way to the karnuq, but at least they had the shortcuts now to help with that.

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He arrived to find the Third of the Sixth waiting for him and gave her a smile.

“Hello. Thank you for giving up your honey like this.”

“All honey King’s honey!”

Belissar wanted to object but knew it was pointless, so thought of something else.

“…and I want all of you to enjoy the honey too. So, thanks for making it, and making enough for other to enjoy.”

The Third of the Sixth’s happy dance picked up speed. When it finally came to an end, she led him inside the alcove where she built her hive. Belissar could see the air in the alcove distorting from the sheer heat within, but the burning bees didn’t mind in the slightest. Belissar himself just thought it was quite toasty as he stepped inside and moved to the entrance of her hive. As per usual, he saw three glowing slabs on the rock door in front of her hive. He tapped one and the stone tray slid out, holding a tray of bright red honey held in red-orange wax. The air seemed to glow and distort around the honey as the temperature somehow rose even more.

Belissar gingerly touched the edges of the stone tray with his fingers and let out the breath he was holding. It was warm…but it didn’t burn him, so he’d be able to carry them after all. He gripped the edges of the tray as best he could and prepared to lift. Now, all he had to do was handle the weight of the stone trays all the way to the karnuq…

Belissar blinked as he lifted the tray in one go…and held it without any strain. He tilted his head. Were the stone trays…always this light? He distinctly remembered the one Muuraqi first made being much heavier. Maybe the Tower was helping since this one was generated by the beehouse feature?

Well, in any case, it was convenient, so Belissar put it out of his mind, stacked three trays on top of each other, and then carried them through the shortcut he placed by the Third of the Sixth’s hive. It did not cross his mind that the Tower’s assistant only applied to initially gathering the resources and did not make them any lighter once removed from the Tower feature…

Chief Rohsuak stood before a stone table. Six trays of delicious, delectable honey were spread out before her, but she kept her eyes up and away from them. She instead focused on the entire clan gathered on the other side of the table, most of whose eyes were focused completely on the honey. She took a deep breath while everyone was distracted, steeling herself to do what must be done.

“First of all, let us thank Tower Keeper Belissar for his generosity.”

She had discussed it with the clan heads and they had decided to begin using the name the Tower Keeper had decided for himself. He wished to break with the Tower Lords he knew, while the karnuq wanted to forge a different relationship than they had with the Sacred Den Masters they had known, so it was appropriate on both ends. Since the whole clan had gathered now, it was a good time to make the change.

Though, that was not the reason they were gathered.

“Metsaitti, Paloiku, step forward.”

All eyes turned to the two hunters. Chief Rohsuak looked at the man and the woman, the oldest of the active hunters remaining.

“You, as the hunters who once braved the Sacred Den of Fire and received blessings from the Shrine of Fire, may each take one of the fire trays, if you are willing. You must consume the entire thing as quickly as possible, preferably in one sitting. Do not begin until I am ready and present.”

She locked eyes with each of them.

“You must steel yourselves for this, for it will not be pleasant. I have spoken with the Tower Keeper and he has described what happened to the bees that consume this honey. Fire mana will spread within you and attempt to burn every inch of your body from the inside out. I shall also burn you from the outside at the same time. You must not only endure this, you must allow it, so that you may be changed from the ground up. You must embrace the flames even as they burn you down to your core. Only then may the God of Fire approve of you. Are you willing and prepared for this trial?”

The two hunters both held her gaze and spoke in turn.

“I am.”

“I am.”

Chief Rohsuak nodded. She then pointed to the third tray of fire honey.

“The third tray shall be for the collective use of the clan. Juosiutik will take a quarter section of it to assess and determine its uses. Further allocations shall be decided by Leijaliuk.”

The honey herbalist and the quartermaster both nodded their heads, Juosiutik trying and failing not to look too excited. To be honest, Chief Rohsuak should have been the one with authority over the rest of the fire honey…but she did not trust herself. This was the delicious, delectable, and powerful mana honey, only now attributed with the same flames that stirred within her. It was only the need to raise new champions that kept her from sampling some as it was.

And then, finally, the last two. The Tower Keeper had offered them three more trays of honey for the sake of raising champions, hoping that it would encourage some of the karnuq to accept blessings from the God of Bees. A fair concern, since if Metsaitti passed the coming trial then both the chief and the lead hunter of the clan would be blessed by the God of Fire.

“The Tower Keeper would offer these to those who are willing to devote themselves fully to his patron, the God of Bees. The patron of our home, the one we shall rely upon most going forward. Who among you is willing to commit to her now?”

“I am.”

Chief Rohsuak made a slight smile as Noigakkuq stepped forward. Well, the girl was already committed to the God of Bees with a unique blessing no less, so she expected this much. Chief Rohsuak nodded and motioned to one of the trays, one full of purple honey.

“Be warned, this one is toxic. We have learned that at least one of the invaders survived a full day drenched in it, so most likely not lethal, but you will be ingesting it directly. Do not attempt to do so without informing us.”

“I will too.”

Chief Rohsuak turned to the next speaker and made a smile. Tyhgak had stepped forward.

“Are you certain? You are still young and have many options open? To commit now will mean to decline all other paths, including that of Fire.”

Tyhgak nodded, his gaze not wavering.

“I want to follow our Sacred…um, Tower Keeper?”

Chief Rohsuak nodded and pointed to the unattributed mana honeycomb.

“So be it. Tyhgak, you shall take this tray.”

After two trays had been claimed, a bunch of the karnuq all volunteered at once for the remaining one. Chief Rohsuak chuckled as she watched Juosiutik jump, the girl realizing she had missed her chance poring over the fire tray. But well, the Chief had other plans for this last tray.

“Laaniasiu, step forward.”

All eyes shifted to the karnuq man, the clan's doctor.

“This is medicinal mana honey, with healing properties. If you accept this, I want you to use it on yourself and not on your craft.”

Laaniasiu nodded.

“I will, Chief.”

Chief Rohsuak nodded and then turned to the rest of the clan, milling about and looking down at their feet.

“Don’t worry if you were not chosen today. This is our home now, we are here to stay. If you missed your chance today, then renew your efforts and seek your opportunity tomorrow. The Tower Keeper and his bees continue to grow and continue to make more and more honey. Let us grow with them.”

And so, five karnuq received full trays of mana-packed honey. Chief Rohsuak couldn’t wait to see what would result…

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