The Bee Dungeon

The Tower’s mana surged and passed in a wave out into the world beyond, reclaiming even more territory from the Hunger. The karnuq glanced around in a daze. Even Chief Rohsuak had a curious look on her face as she turned to Belissar.

“Is it over, Sacred Den Master?”

Belissar nodded.

“Yes, sorry you all came this way without doing anything, but fortunately the bees handled it.”

Chief Rohsuak slowly shook her head.

“It’s a good thing we didn’t have to fight. You will not hear complaints from me about a lack of danger.”

Some of the other gave pointed stares towards Chief Rohsuak’s back but she didn’t respond so Belissar decided not to mention them.

“Yes, that makes sense. I normally hold a celebration for the bees now, would you all like to join?”

Chief Rohsuak smiled.

With that, Belissar asked some of the karnuq to come with him. Their eyes widened upon entering the Orchard, and again when they reached the Apiary. They were stunned into silence when Belissar started gathering the vast trays of mana honeycomb he had stockpiled. He placed the trays in the karnuq’s hands and had them haul the honey back down to the Flower Meadow, with the Apiary hives assisting. Soon, all the bees and the karnuq gathered by the Flower Meadow Shrine of Bees. Belissar turned to the bees.

“Great work everyone! We won again, thanks to you, and didn’t lose a single bee!”

The karnuq watched in silence as the entire soldier bee army broke out into celebratory dances in the air, and then began to swarm the honeycomb trays. Belissar broke off a few pieces and handed them to the karnuq as well. Chief Rohsuak and Metsaitti couldn’t help but make massive grins as he did.

The other karnuq hunters soon understood why.

Since Belissar had conducted the purification in the morning, it was barely midday by the time the celebrations finished. Most of the bees returned to their work, while Metsaitti led the karnuq hunters back to report their victory. Meanwhile, Belissar requested that Chief Rohsuak and the bee queens remain.

Because now it was time to discuss the rewards.

Expansion successful.

Reward: Floor limit increased to 3. Receive one perk choice, and two random reward choices.

Belissar had told Chief Rohsuak that they’d discuss the karnuq moving inside the Tower after the purification rewards, so it made sense consult with her on those rewards. And once Belissar had decided to do that, there was no way he wouldn’t also consult with the bees on the choices. They had helped him make his last round of choices too, after all.

“Ok, so, first things first, we have a new floor. That means we can add two more rooms. Additionally, we have a perk choice and two random choices, let me check them now.”

Please select a perk:

- Enhanced Toxins (Rarity: Common)

- Boosted Beehouses (Rarity: Uncommon)

- Bee Specialist (Rarity: Common)

Belissar rubbed his chin as he read the choices for Chief Rohsuak and the bees. The perk choices were all ones he had seen before. That…should have been a good thing, right? It meant he could now pick up something he had missed before. Yet, for some reason, he couldn’t help but feel…disappointed. But he had two more choices to read out so he continued on.

Please select a reward:

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

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

- +1 Room Limit

Please select a reward:

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

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

- +100 max mana

Belissar stared at the choices for a bit. A rare choice! The first he’d seen in a while! He didn’t recall perfectly since he was a bit confused at the time but if he remembered correctly the monster bee queens themselves were a rare choice, right?

“Sacred Den Master?”

Belissar flushed a bit as he remembered everyone was waiting on him to actually read the choices. He also had to explain a bit about what each type of choice might provide.

“So, um, what do you all think?”

Niobee was, of course, first to respond.

“Whatever King chooses!”

The rest of the bee queens soon followed, though they had some additional suggestions. More bees, more flowers, and more beehouses were the general trends. Belissar then turned to Chief Rohsuak, who was chuckling at the display. She then noticed his gaze and rubbed her chin with a hum.

“I will admit I’m a bit out of my depth here. It is fascinating to learn how the Sacred Dens function, but I cannot claim to have ever built one. More resources, new rooms, and stronger defenders all have their own appeal and I cannot tell you which should be your priority. As for my people: food, water, and shelter are our immediate concerns. You are already capable of providing those, however, so I would prefer you do what serves your Sacred Den best. You have led it well thus far from my perspective, you should continue forward with your vision for it.”

Belissar couldn’t help but frown a bit, as he had hoped Chief Rohsuak would have had a stronger opinion. If he thought about it, though, she was a relatively normal person just before this. She was like he was when he was first put in charge of a Tower…and taking it far more calmly than he did. So, perhaps he was more experienced when it came to Tower affairs at this point. Not that he felt like it.

But ultimately, he was the one who had to make the decision, so he got down and thought about it. At the moment, he didn’t feel like his Tower had any urgent needs in particular. The bees had a bunch of new flowers, the karnuq apparently wouldn’t trigger remnants now that they were sworn to him, and the soldier bee army had dealt with a new shade type easily. The bees’ requests were fairly general, and overall they seemed happy with their current situation. The karnuq may have more needs, but for now just having a safe place to stay and food to eat was plenty.

As far as the shades went, the Dirt Tunnels proved they were worth their weight in mead. They slowed the shades down and gave the bees time to prepare, as well as allowing Belissar to observe the shades before the actual fighting began and so warn the bees about their speed. The purification may not have gone as well without that extra forewarning. It seemed there was significant value in having some rooms ahead of the bee army.

So, what would help his Tower most? What would give him new options that could help him face the next new trick of the Hunger, like the Dirt Tunnels had? What would best prepare them for the future?

Belissar slowly began to speak as he continued rubbing his chin.

“I think…we should take the extra room slot. That will give us an extra room for each floor, as well as three rooms on the new floor. We could make a floor for the karnuq with three whole rooms. Then, we could add a new Dirt Tunnels room for the Apiary bees to gather from while leaving one by the entrance so we don’t have to keep moving the current one? And it should give us plenty of space for new rooms, since new room choices are cheaper than new room slots in the DP store.”

Chief Rohsuak’s eyes widened slightly and then she bowed her head.

“We would be honored you would offer so much to us, Sacred Den Master.”

Belissar rubbed the back of his head and decided not to mention that he just didn’t want his bees to have to share their rooms or flowers. The Apiary queens also thanked him, and began a long dance detailing just how much they liked the new flowers that made Belissar grin.

Room limit increased! Room limit is now three per floor.

He then rubbed his chin as he considered the next decision.

“Any opinions on the perks? Ah, let me read the descriptions for you.”

Chief Rohsuak and the bees listened attentively as Belissar explained what each perk was supposed to do.

And then, for the first time ever as far as Belissar was aware, the bees disagreed. The Flower Meadow queens favored Enhanced Toxins, while the Apiary queens preferred Boosted Beehouses. Which, made sense. The Flower Meadow queens were responsible for the soldier bee army, and so would naturally want anything that would strengthen their attacks. The Apiary queens devoted themselves entirely to honey production, which Boosted Beehouses would assist them with. Belissar could see the argument for either, which was why this choice was so difficult. He turned to Chief Rohsuak, hoping she might have some advice. She took on a thoughtful look before speaking.

“Any of the choices would seem to help you. As a warrior, however, I must note that poison seems to be your Sacred Den’s most potent weapon. There is both danger and opportunity in specializing in a single field, but maximizing your strengths is generally not a bad call. You’ll find the further you commit down a single path, the more options it will grant you to overcome its own weaknesses. And, of course, we will now offer our assistance should you face a foe your choices are ill-suited to deal with. In my opinion, Enhanced Toxins will grant your Sacred Den the most power if that is your concern, and should open additional doors down the line if you wish to continue down that path. On the other hand, Bee Specialist is an apt description for your current Sacred Den and fits your patron, so reinforcing that will not disappoint. As far as the beehouses go…”

She gave him a grin and licked her lips.

“I, personally, would not mind more honey.”

Belissar hummed and maybe groaned a bit. Part of him wanted to move onto the next choice and see if that would help…except that Bee Specialist itself might affect the next choice, so if he ended up choosing that it would best to have it before the next choice, right?

Belissar looked towards the Shrine of Bees and then nodded. He decided that when in doubt, he would choose bees.

Bee Specialist selected.

Bee Specialist would help all of his bees with the boost to their stats. And, as Chief Rohsuak had pointed out, it fit the God of Bees and his vision for the Tower. He hadn’t thought about it before, but when she mentioned a vision he tried to imagine what his Tower might look like in the future, what he might want it to look like.

He saw a Tower full of and surrounded by happy bees.

Bee Specialist would work with the Blessing of Bees to guide future choices in that direction, so that is what he chose. Though, he’d see what he could do to improve the beehouses and maybe find some more poisonous flowers if possible to address his bees’ requests.

And now came for the final choice. Belissar couldn’t help but be a bit excited…

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