The Bee Dungeon

With no deaths and only a handful of wounded soldiers to deal with, the cleanup was handled swiftly. The Second of the Sixth looked over the digging soldiers with burned abdomens, fortunately, the Fire-Resistant Bees perk had done its job and they were all expected to make full recoveries. To Belissar’s surprise, some of them looked disappointed at the news, at least one of them turned their gaze to Beero and her battlecaster squad.

But Belissar himself could not be happier with the situation and hummed a tune to himself as he moved to grab some of his honey supplies for the celebration. He was halfway back to the battle meadow when he felt a strong source of foreign mana enter the Tower. He immediately sent his gaze towards the source.

Tarwantrad had burst through the nexus door. She appeared to be wearing a bush covering her entire body with leaves and flowers, though he caught glimpses of leather and metal armor hiding underneath. She held a staff that still had its branches, complete with leaves and blooming flowers. A gigantic flower had begun to crawl through the nexus door using its roots as legs.

“Belissar! Are you alright?! Tell me you’re alright!”

Ah, he hadn’t told Tarwantrad they won yet, had he? Belissar made his way over to the nexus door’s Fairy Grove, waving as soon as Tarwantrad came into view. She rushed over to him.

“Oh, thank the gods! We didn’t hear from you after you started the purification so I feared the worst.”

Belissar blinked a bit.

“Oh…um, sorry? I didn’t realize you were waiting. But yes, we won.”

Tarwantrad nearly dropped her staff as the tension drained from her body.

She turned and swung her staff and the flower monster began returning through the door once more. She turned back to him and shook her head.

“Don’t scare me like that, Belissar! But I am truly glad to hear you’re well, and that you were victorious.”

Belissar took a moment to respond. Tarwantrad’s reaction to this situation puzzled him somewhat. But, well, it was true that she said she would be ready to provide help and then he forgot to tell her everything was fine. He rubbed the back of his head.

“Ah, sorry. I’ll try to keep you informed, next time.”

Belissar then rubbed his chin for a moment before nodding.

“Would you like to join the victory celebration?”

Though she hadn’t fought, Tarwantrad had apparently been ready to come to his aid, and had armed and prepared her monsters for that purpose. Belissar figured that he should include her in the celebrations as he did everyone he helped defend the Tower.

Tarwantrad tilted her head.

“Are you certain? That is for your defenders, is it not?”

Belissar nodded and pointed to her staff.

“You would have joined them if we got in trouble, right?”

Tarwantrad slowly nodded, and then broke out into a wide smile.

“I suppose that is true. Very well, I would love to attend.”

Tarwantrad had her monsters fetch a bottle of flower wine, much to the cheers of the karnuq. Belissar was shocked into silence for a bit, having not realize that such a thing was possible. Seeing the karnuq’s joy, however, he resolved to expand his mead production, as his currently fermenting batch was reserved for the gods.

Tarwantrad also removed her bush, which was apparently grown into a cloak, revealing her armor of silvery metal and dyed green fabrics. She passed some of her mana into it and made the flowers bloom and overflow with nectar for Belissar’s bees. That, alone, earned Tarwantrad an invite to all subsequent celebrations from Belissar.

But soon, the celebrations came to a close as the karnuq staggered off back to their homes, while Belissar gathered with the karnuq leaders and bee queens to review the battle and the rewards. Tarwantrad glanced around, her eyes lighting up as she observed the situation.

“Ah, you are going to discuss the purification rewards now? In that case, shall I take my leave? I do not wish to intrude.”

Belissar was about to thank her for that when he paused, a question passing through his mind. Did he want Tarwantrad to leave before having this discussion? On the one hand, he had initially resolved to keep some things under wraps from the Compact, including her, after accidentally showing her the entire Tower. One point of the expansion was to acquire new options that they were unaware of, so the initial plan would require Tarwantrad to leave.

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On the other hand, Tarwantrad had just rushed to his aid before she even knew whether he was in danger or not, ready to risk her life and her monsters’ lives to help him. She, at least, had his Tower’s best interest at heart. That was why he had invited her to the celebration, wasn’t it? So, perhaps she could be trusted to hear the rewards?

Belissar considered it. As he thought more about it, he realized Tarwantrad’s presence could really help him. She was an experienced and presumably trained dungeon master who ran a dungeon in an entirely different way than the Tower Lords, sworn not to use her powers the way they did and that Belissar now hated. She could answer all of the countless questions Belissar wished he could have asked in the past and provide the kind of insight that no one in his Tower possessed. And as the one arranging his boons from the Circle, she could let him know if he was picking something one of their dungeon masters could provide instead.

So, did the potential benefits of bringing her into the loop outweigh the risks of letting a member of the Compact know everything new he was adding into the Tower?

Belissar’s eyes widened as realized his own answer was yes, at least if it was Tarwantrad. Beyond all the ways she had enthusiastically helped the Tower, she had even offered to swear an oath in the name of her patron god to keep things confidential if Belissar was truly concerned. He might just be able to trust her.

“Ah, could you give me a moment?”

But he was not the only one in the Tower, so he turned to Niobee and Chief Rohsuak.

“What do you think?”

Niobee immediately started dancing.

“Whatever King chooses!”

Belissar chuckled and raised an eyebrow.

“Really? You aren’t worried we’ll have to sting Tarwantrad?”

Niobee hovered in place for a moment before starting a slower dance.

“Sting anyone who hurts King. Flower one didn’t hurt King, didn’t make King feel bad, so don’t need to sting. If King trusts, then bees trust.”

He found Chief Rohsuak rubbing her chin.

“Hm. There are great risks to trusting a foreign Sacred Den Master, but from what we have seen Tarwantrad has been perfectly agreeable. She is helping to develop the Tower and is even prepared to fight on our behalf. She also possesses experience that we do not and could inform your choices in a way that I cannot. I cannot say I am comfortable revealing everything to her, but it is also true that we could benefit greatly from her knowledge. As this concerns Tower matters you and she are more familiar with, I leave it to your judgement how much you wish to trust her, Tower Keeper.”

She made a self-deprecating smile.

“My gut instinct is not to trust anyone too far, but my people have benefited much from our decision to trust you completely, so I cannot tell you which may be better.”

Belissar nodded, crossed his arms, and hummed to himself. It did not take him long to decide.

He turned back to Tarwantrad.

“Would you mind if we consulted you on our next choices? If you’re willing to keep them secret from the Compact, that is. Ah, and if you don’t need to return to your dungeon now.”

Tarwantrad made a bright smile.

“It would be my pleasure! And of course, I have already promised to use my knowledge of your tower solely for your benefit. I shall not reveal the choices you have made unless you wish me to.”

Belissar returned her smile.

“Thanks. In that case, we all meet together over by the Memorial.”

Tarwantrad happily skipped over to join the assembled queens and karnuq leaders, glancing around and smiling as she took in each of the bees hovering around her. Belissar turned his attention to his bees, and especially to Chief Rohsuak and Metsaitti.

“Thanks everyone, we did a great job today. Thanks especially to you two and your hunters, we had no losses as a result. But we know the Hunger won’t stay the same, so let’s keep growing the Tower.”

Chief Rohsuak smiled as both karnuq and all the bees saluted. Belissar smiled back and checked the rewards.

Please select a reward:

- Uncommon Monster Choice (At least one uncommon or better option)

- Uncommon Room Feature Choice (At least one uncommon or better option)

- +150 max mana

Please select a reward:

- +1 Room Slot

- Rare Room Feature Choice (At least one rare or better option)

- Uncommon Room Choice (At least one uncommon or better option)

Belissar knew almost immediately what he wanted to pick, but as usual he turned the question to the bees first.

“Anyone have any ideas what the Tower needs?”

Amidst the usual “more bees, more flowers” dances, the Firstborn and the First of the Fifth both remained strangely still. They looked to one another and both danced a confirmation dance. They approached him together and danced as one.

“Stronger queens.”

Belissar raised an eyebrow at that.

“Stronger queens? You all are doing great.”

The Firstborn danced to the First of the Fifth and so the Apiary queen replied.

“Queens only bees not evolving. Can’t stay same while children grow.”

Belissar furrowed his brow for a bit before slowly nodding along.

“I see. So, you want to get stronger, is what you’re saying?”

Both queens danced the confirmation, and all the rest joined the dance as well. Belissar nodded.

“Got it. Let’s see if we can get anything to help with that.”

As usual, that set off a wave of happy “King is best king!” dances, to Belissar’s amusement. He turned his attention to the karnuq and Tarwantrad.

“So, I was thinking a monster choice and a room slot. We’re already pressed for room slots and they’re expensive in the DP store, so I figure we’d best make room now rather than take even more rooms, especially now that we know we can unlock some ourselves. And, since the Circle is giving mostly flowers and room feature sort of stuff at this point, I think getting new bee types is the better option.”

He glanced at Tarwantrad at that and she nodded.

“It is not that we cannot offer monsters, but I, Urubran, and Nenavann felt that offering boons that can support your bees would be most beneficial to you. I could, however, request otherwise from the other members of the Circle if you do wish to diversify your monsters.”

She then gave him a knowing grin and wink.

“You are not wrong, however, that more flowers are incoming. Regardless of what the rest of the Circle offers for their boons, you will certainly gain access to more once we set up our exchange nurseries, so your reasoning is sound.”

Belissar nodded in thanks and checked with his defenders. The bees obviously had no issue with his plans, and the karnuq had no objections either. He did hesitate to give up a rare room feature, but hoped that all he had and would receive from Tarwantrad and the Circle would make up for it. He really, desperately needed those room slots.

And so, he made his choice before he could change his mind, and selected the uncommon monster choice and the +1 room slot.

Now all that was left to do was to see what sort of monsters and perks they would have to choose from…

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