The Bee Dungeon

The day moved on, the afternoon purification and the celebration meal came and went. Belissar now found himself with his Tower’s council, joined by Tarwantrad and Hesfalle. He had just informed them about the God of Light’s new mission, but there wasn’t much they needed to do about it yet. Everyone was already doing their best to help the Tower grow and to strengthen its defenses, so all they needed to do was remain ready for a purification and wait for Wardmaster Varilold to contact them.

So, Belissar was free to move onto the next order of business.

“Thanks to the Second Third of the First’s evolution, we completed one of the God of Death’s mission and he…is the God of Death a he?”

Belissar glanced at Hesfalle. Hesfalle shrugged.

“Gender is irrelevant to the God of Death, for death belongs to all…also, no one can actually tell and they haven’t specified one way or another. I use they since it would be disrespectful, but the House of Lore has records of cultures that used either he or she and were not punished or anything. Suffice to say the God of Death doesn’t seem to care.”

Belissar tilted his head.

“Huh…in any case, the God of Death gave us a reward for the mission, even though we haven’t gotten a blessing yet. So, here we go!”

Please select a room feature:

- Field of Hands (Rarity: Uncommon, Type: Death, Trap)

- Necrotic Compost Pile (Rarity: Uncommon, Type: Death, Nature, Magic, Resource)

- Corpse Bomb (Rarity: Common, Type: Death, Trap)

Belissar didn’t know what to make of most of those from the names alone, so decided to just read the descriptions first.

Field of Hands

- Type: Death, Trap

- Mana Upkeep: 10

- Description: A field where the dead lie buried…and waiting. When an enemy steps within the field, the hands of the dead burst from the ground and latch onto them, clawing at them and holding them in place. If they fail to free themselves and the terrain is soft, the victim may even be dragged down into the ground. If undead are available, they may be buried in the field and emerge when it activates.

Belissar glanced over at Hesfalle and she smiled.

“A classic Death trap. A lot of undead tend to lose speed compared to their living counterparts, you may have noticed that with the new zom-bee. Having a way to slow down opponents is essential.”

Belissar nodded along, he could see the appeal. The problem was…he already had pit traps, sticky honey traps, thorny roses, stingless sprayers that shot wax and propolis, sedative bees, stunning bees, and monster bee trappers who could make silk traps. There were even the spiderkin children who could weave webs if he would let them. Belissar’s Tower already had a lot of traps that could potentially slow an enemy down.

“How does this compare to the sticky honey traps, or propolis sprayers, or spider webs?”

Hesfalle furrowed her brow.

“Ah, you already have slowing traps. And your bees…”

She thought for a moment.

“It would be mostly redundant for you, then. It might work better in a Death room and you can combine it with your own undead, but it’s probably not as necessary for you as for a Death dungeon.”

Belissar nodded, feeling much the same, and so moved on to the next feature.

Necrotic Compost Pile

- Type: Death, Nature, Magic, Resource

- Mana Upkeep: 10

- Description: A compost pile being decomposed by Death magic rather than natural processes and scavengers. The breakdown of decaying material by magic releases additional Death mana that is contained within the pile, this can be drawn out and utilized by Death mages. The fertilizer produced is imbued with mana and highly nutritious, making it an excellent resource for growing magical plants. The amount and quality of mana and fertilizer can be improved by adding external organic matter to the pile, especially mana-imbued matter.

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Natural detritivores and detritivore monsters will have an easier time adapting to Death mana within the compost pile, though the mana will still be dangerous to them until they adapt. Other beings should take care when gathering mana or fertilizer from the pile.

Tarwantrad smacked her own face.

“Detritivores! I forget to give you detritivores!”

Belissar tilted his head at the unfamiliar word. Fortunately, Tarwantrad noticed his confusion and explained.

“Scavengers, like worms! Mushrooms too, which thankfully you have, but there’s a whole bunch that the Tower is compensating for! You need them to nourish the soil for your plants!”

That, Belissar understood. His eyes lit up.

“Ah, so this feature would be really good for flowers? Even more than just getting normal fertilizer?”

Tarwantrad grinned.

“Yes, yes it would.”

Hesfalle joined in.

“It’s the circle of life and death. Dead things are processed by detritivores into nourishment for the next generation of plants, which then feed all other life.”

The bees all began to dance once they heard that the feature would be good for flowers. Frelis, in particular, was zipping about.

“Amazing, incredible! Want give to flower!”

Belissar smiled.

“Well, I think we know the bees’ opinion.”

Still, they had one more feature to review, so Belissar moved on for the time being.

Corpse Bomb

- Type: Death, Trap

- Mana Upkeep: 5

- Description: A corpse bloated with gas and mana. Death mana holds the corpse together until disturbed, at which point the corpse explodes, spreading noxious gasses, rotting flesh, and Death mana all over.

This feature may be applied to corpses within the dungeon. The strength of the explosion and the mana upkeep will change depending on the size of the corpse and the strength of its flesh.

Belissar hummed to himself. He glanced over at Tarwantrad, recalling her deeds during the battle with Starami.

“Well, bombs are always useful.”

Tarwantrad rubbed the back of her head with a sheepish smile.

“Well…yes. They are.”

Belissar laughed and then crossed his arms.

“We do already have bombs, though. Juosiutik made some.”

The First of the Fifth’s Third Daughter began to zip around.

“King! Dangerous one making new bomb! Wanted bigger one after flower one blew up hive-burners. Should be ready soon!”

Tarwantrad glanced away. Belissar just chuckled.

“I should check on that, then. But point is…we do have bombs. So we can already do this sort of thing, unless these are different from normal bombs?”

Belissar glanced over at Hesfalle, who nodded back.

“The explosion part is the same. The main difference would be the Death mana, it’s not only harmful on its own but can be used by Death mages for further attacks. The biggest advantage is that if you use the feature on an existing corpse rather than having it generate one, you can still raise that corpse after…”

Belissar’s eyes widened.

“Ah, so you can make an undead that explodes?”

Hesfalle grinned.

“Yes. Though, I should mention that making corpses and undead explode is also a necromancy spell, so it’s not strictly necessary to rely on the dungeon for that. And if you already have bombs…you could always make the undead carry them.”

Belissar’s eyes widened even more.

“That’s…a good idea.”

Belissar glanced around, but no one else had anything more to say.

“I think we should go with the necrotic compost pile then, since we can already do the other two ourselves.”

The bees started happy dances, while Tarwantrad and Hesfalle nodded, so Belissar went ahead and confirmed the choice.

Necrotic Compost Pile selected.

Up in the Hall of Judgement, the God of Death stood behind their desk. There was a flash of light deeper in the hall, spilling out a bunch of humans, a handful of dragonkin, and a small swarm of bees. The group began to glare at each other, but skeletons moved in to separate them. Afterwards, ethereal bees appeared and joined each being waiting, then guided their charge towards the front of the hall. They joined the lines of humans and dragonkin already waiting, while the God of Death waved a bony hand.

“Yes, yes, get in line, no fighting in the Hall of Judgement or I will dump you in the frozen hells until you cool off. Bees, go to the God of Bees’ realm, she’ll handle you while we sort out your claims. Now then…”

A human stepped up to the desk. An ethereal bee flew up to the God of Death and began dancing. The God of Death nodded before addressing the human.

“Guardsman Tokros, you died fighting against the gods, but you did so to honor your oath before the God of Dragons, so we’ll consider it a wash. The God of Dragons hasn’t claimed you, so you’ll proceed to the underworld. We will conduct a more detailed accounting of your life there. Next!”

The human vanished and a wyvern crawled forward. Another ethereal bee began dancing.

“Ah, you were Guardsman Tokros’ mount? As dragonkin, you have the right to enter the God of Dragons’ realm if you wish but…”

The wyvern looked at the spot where Guardman Tokros once stood and bumped the ground with its snout. The God of Death nodded.

“You wish to remain together? Very well, you will proceed to the underworld and join Guardsman Tokros. Next!”

Another human stepped up, but had no ethereal bee hovering around him. The God of Death let out a deep sigh.

“What do you want, God of Mischief?”

The human laughed and then changed into the God of Mischief’s young man form.

“What, can’t a god come to greet his peers?”

The God of Death waved a hand out towards the hall.

“In case you haven’t noticed, I’m very busy processing the casualties of the war you convinced the God of Light to let rage. If you have no business, then begone.”

The God of Mischief waved his hands around and shook his head.

“No, no, I do have a question! A very important one!”

The God of Death sighed.

“Then speak it and go.”

The God of Mischief leaned in.

“So, I was just spying on, I mean, gently watching over Beely down there and they brought up a very interesting point. Something I’ve been wondering about for a couple eons now. And I think it’s high time we got an answer…”

The lights within the God of Death’s empty eye-sockets flared. The God of Mischief grinned.

“Right, so…what gender are you, actually?”

The God of Death replied by swiping their hand. A trap door full of fire opened beneath the God of Mischief, who quickly turned into a pixie form and flew off cackling. The God of Death let out a sigh…and then glanced down at their own body after they were sure the God of Mischief had left their realm.

The thing was…even they themselves weren’t sure. They were born as a featureless skeleton, after all...

But the God of Death quickly put it out of their mind. After all…they had a lot of work, to do.

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