The Bee Dungeon

Belissar spent some time pondering and processing his conversation with the God of Light. The God of Light wasn’t perfect or all-powerful? The gods weren’t united to save the world? The God of Light favored him?! The God of Light APOLOGIZED to him?!

His first conundrum was deciding which revelation to be utterly shocked by first. He felt as he did at the beginning, when he was just a peasant stumbling into a Tower of the Gods, completely out of his depths and learning things he felt like he shouldn’t know.

But fortunately or unfortunately, he had a lot of experience with that sort of feeling by now. So, he took a deep breath and tried to narrow down his thoughts, focusing on what was immediately important.

Once he did that, he realized there were no immediately urgent conclusions at all. The God of Light was pleased with what he had done so far so he could just…keep doing what he was doing. Nothing needed to change as the result of these revelations, even if it really felt like something should.

He briefly considered if he should show more reverence to the God of Light or something…but at the end of the day, he was a Tower Keeper with a patron. His priority now was to the God of Bees, something the God of Light herself admitted. If there was anyone he should show more reverence to, it was her.

So, he had no need to change anything he was doing just yet. He could just keep on his same path, doing his best. Only…now he need not have any further doubts. The path he had chosen was the right one, no matter what the Tower Lords or anyone in the Conclave would have said about it, for who among them could argue with the God of Light herself?

Satisfied, Belissar stopped his pondering and went to check on his bees…at least until a new visitor arrived.

***

Hesfalle marched into his Tower, carrying a big sack over her shoulder. Niobee made her return as well, accompanied by Tarwantrad, Urubran, and Finnakynne. Belissar arrived and Niobee zipped over to his head. Belissar smiled and brushed her back first.

“Welcome back, Niobee. Everything ok?”

Niobee happily danced about.

“Ok! King ok?”

Belissar’s smile grew content.

“Yes, yes I am. Especially now that you’re back.”

Niobee danced another happy dance and Belissar brushed her once more. He then turned to his guests. Hesfalle grinned at him.

“Sorry it took so long, Belissar, but I have something your bees should like!”

Belissar grinned right back. The group made their way into one of the meeting rooms the fair folk had in the nexus door room and gathered around a table. Hesfalle wasted no time in dropping her sack on the table, spreading it out into a cloth.

Belissar stopped grinning as he was assaulted by the smell of rotting flesh. Finnakynne gagged.

“Ugh, Hesfalle! Warn us before you dump a corpse on the table!”

Hesfalle blinked and tilted her head for a moment.

“Hm? Do these smell? No one in Gyrthskog seems to mind them…”

Finnakynne gave her an unamused stare.

“That’s because everyone in Gyrthskog is a dusk elf and naturally Death-aligned, Hesfalle. Anyone who’s not a dusk elf doesn’t like the smell of corpses, Hesfalle, we’ve talked about this! Ugh, honestly this necro-girl pulls as many pranks by accident as I used to on-purpose!”

Hesfalle turned to look at Tarwantrad and Urubran. Tarwantrad had a cramped smile.

“…I’ll admit, the smell is quite pungent. I’m used to strong smells since my flowers need their fertilizer, but most people aren’t…”

Urubran shrugged. His nostrils were glowing red and had bits of smoke coming from them.

“I’m using Fire mana to burn anything trying to enter my nose right now.”

Hesfalle shrank on herself.

“Oh. Sorry, Belissar, I didn’t realize the smell would bother you…”

Belissar shook his head. Niobee crawled down to his forehead and started fanning her wings across his face, trying to blow the smell away. It actually did help a bit.

“It’s fine, I think I can handle it. You said this would help the bees, right?”

Niobee managed to weaken the smell and stop Belissar’s eyes from fully tearing up, so he was able to take a good look at what was in Hesfalle’s sack. To his surprise, it was not actually a rotting corpse, but instead a bunch of seeds and bits and pieces of flowers. Roots, stems, leaves, vines, and even a flower head or two. The stems, leaves, and vines were a pale green with bits of black and gray, while the flowers were big, with thick, fleshy petals. The petals were a dark purple on the outside and a sickly yellow on the inside. Some of the flowers were purple buds, with the petals still wrapped together, while a few had bloomed into sickly yellow stars with light purple centers.

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All of which continued to smell like a rotting corpse. Some of Hesfalle’s smile returned, despite the smell.

“Since you’re giving me a monster, I thought I’d give you one too! This is a corpse flower, it’s a monster flower that feeds on corpses! When threatened, it can consume the corpses to heal itself, or even raise them as undead! It’s a perfect flower to go along with your reanimating bees!”

Tarwantrad’s cramped smile twitched.

“What Hesfalle hasn’t mentioned…or maybe never noticed…is that said monsters also have a noxious aura that smells like death. They can make it powerful enough to poison anything living that’s unfortunate enough to be nearby.”

Hesfalle nodded.

“That too! But it doesn’t hurt Death-aligned creatures or the undead, so your reanimating bees should be fine!”

Tarwantrad started rubbing her chin.

“Hm, I wonder about the butcher bees? The smell might end up attracting them? But they’re not Death-aligned…”

Hesfalle’s eyes lit up.

“We should try that, Belissar! Or maybe the butcher bees can become Death aligned, they should be able to! Weren’t you going to try and evolve them first, actually?”

Belissar blinked.

“Oh, right. That was the original plan…but the butcher bees were too good at hunting and ate all the corpses they killed.”

Hesfalle nodded along.

“Right, I remember that. Maybe if they eat a corpse that’s rotted for a bit? Or you can have a corpse flower give them one after its Death mana imbues it a bit!”

Belissar then felt a tap on his shoulder. Finnakynne was hovering next to him and lightly pounding him, while holding her nose with her other hand.

“Beely, absorb now, talk after!”

Belissar blinked. Hesfalle nodded to him.

“It took me a bit to gather the clippings, but there should be enough for you to gain the spawner! I brought the seeds too, in case you wanted to raise them the normal way.”

Belissar smiled at her and then absorbed the various pieces of corpse flower, minus a few seeds. The smell of corpses finally faded and Finnakynne took a big, relieved breath.

Sufficient samples gathered.

Corpse Flower Spawner is now available.

Belissar brought up the corpse flower’s details for review.

Corpse Flower

Vitality: Average+

Strength: Average

Speed: Minor

Magic: Above Average

Defense: Below Average

Resistance: Below Average

Special: Above Average

Notable Skills: Necrotic Vine Whip, Necrotic Stench, Consume Corpse, Raise Undead

Spawner Upkeep: 30 (60 with Blessing of Bees)

Description: A flower that sprouted in a land of undeath. The corpse flower feeds upon the dead, drawing both nutrients and Death mana into itself. To continue its growth when the corpses nearby are spent, the corpse flower has learned to walk upon its vines, traveling through fields and graves in search of more corpses.

When threatened, the corpse flower imbues its scent and pollen with Death mana, turning in into a poisonous aura that is deadly to the living. Its vines, while only moderately strong physically, can further concentrate its aura and deliver it directly to anything they touch. Should this prove sufficient, it can imbue the corpses it feeds upon with its own Death mana, reanimating them as undead guardians. When wounded, it can consume the corpses outright, repairing all damage.

Corpse flowers need a steady supply of corpses to grow and for their abilities and will weaken greatly if they ever run out.

Belissar smiled.

“Thanks Hesfalle, hopefully the reanimating bees will like them! Is there anything I should know about corpse flowers before spawning them?”

Hesfalle beamed and shook her head.

“No, you should be fine! The corpse flowers will seek out corpses, but they don’t actively hunt the living unless threatened! They’re one of the safer Death monsters out there, in fact.”

Finnakynne gave her a stare with half-lidded eyes.

“Except for the incredible stench that can also be actually poisonous to anyone who isn’t a dusk elf.”

Hesfalle…averted her gaze.

“…as long as you keep them in the Death room, it should be fine. And…keep it away from any corpses you don’t want it to eat. Maybe keep it away from your memorial, too…”

Belissar decided he would wait a bit before placing a corpse flower spawner.

“Got it, we’ll wait until all of the Second Third of the First’s hive become reanimating bees, then. Still, thanks Hesfalle, more flowers always helps! I’ll let you know when she’s done, she should be able to raise another reanimating queen soon after!”

Hesfalle turned back to him with a grin.

“I’ll look forward to it, Belissar! Thank you!”

Belissar smiled at her, then turned his attention to the rest of the group.

“So, did the rest of you just come with Hesfalle, or is there something else?”

Tarwantrad nodded.

“There is, actually. Belissar, would you like to visit Compact City again with us?”

Belissar tilted his head.

“Sure? What for?”

Tarwantrad made a soft smile.

“No particular reason, Belissar. We’d just like to hang out with you for a day, have some fun together.”

Belissar blinked. That…was not something he expected. Now that he thought about it, he hadn’t been asked to have fun with anyone in years…and the last time someone did, it did not turn out very fun for Belissar.

But he trusted that Tarwantrad was sincere in asking him, she had long proven he could trust her.

“Oh…sure? I…haven’t really done that before, but I’ll go with you.”

Tarwantrad’s smile twitched a bit before growing even softer.

“I see. Don’t worry, Belissar, we’ll make sure you enjoy it!”

Hesfalle blinked, but then smiled. She opened her mouth…

Only for Finnakynne to cut her off.

“Yes, Hesfalle, you can come too. But no, Hesfalle, cleaning corpses and discussing how they died in detail is not the kind of fun we’re looking for.”

Hesfalle closed her mouth. Finnakynne just sighed.

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