The Bee Dungeon

After greeting the new flowering bumblebee, Belissar was about to have Niobee ask her what sort of hive she’d like. But before he could, the divine bumbledryad came hurtling towards them at her maximum speed. She didn’t slow down in the slightest as she began zipping circles around the new flowering bumblebee.

Belissar just watched in confusion and a bit of amusement as the divine bumbledryad flew around as happy as could be. The divine bumbledryad then came to a sudden halt in front of the flowering bumblebee and started to glow with a pulsing light that shifted between golden yellow, light purple, and verdant green. The divine bumbledryad then tapped the flowering bumblebee’s antennae and the glow transferred to the other bee for a moment, before settling into her body and vanishing.

The flowering bumblebee perked up and took off, now zipping circles around the divine bumbledryad. The divine bumbledryad turned towards Niobee and made her antennae glow.

Niobee started to dance a moment later.

“King! Divine bumbledryad says new bee will make joint hive with her. Can make divine bumbledryad’s hive bigger?”

Belissar smiled.

“Sure, we can do that.”

Belissar used his Tower powers to expand the burrow under the Heart of the Bee Forest, though he immediately ran into an issue. The Heart of the Bee Forest’s roots tunneled into the walls of the burrow and the divine bumbledryad apparently laid her eggs within the roots, so Belissar couldn’t simply carve out the walls.

Instead, he took some inspiration from the Beecity and its multiple chambers. He dug out a tunnel between some of the roots and carved out a second chamber for the new bee, complete with its own exit. He then went to add a Bee Nest feature to the chamber…and found the mana from the first feature extending towards the new chamber.

“There you go, there should be space now. Let me know if you need more room, or anything else!”

The two bumblebees flew happy circles around Belissar in response.

That evening, Belissar received word from Wardmaster Varilold. She had finished her preparations as best she could and was ready for Belissar and Tarwantrad to attempt the God of Light’s mission.

Belissar realized he hadn’t made any preparations himself, so he spent the evening adding some extra defenses. As it turned out, along with the God of Light’s apology, he now had over seven hundred mana to spare, so he could afford to be a bit more cavalier with his spending.

The first thing he added was a second and third miracle lighthouse. He was keeping the first in the last room of his defense set up, as a fallback for a final defense…but that meant that the bees would fight without it in all but the most dire of circumstances. The second miracle lighthouse would instead be moved to the first room of each purification to save the bees that would first engage a shade and find out what it could do, as those were the bees most likely to die. The third lighthouse would be moved to the room they would use to fight a purification in earnest, so that the first real confrontation would be fought within a lighthouse’s glow.

Next, Belissar added new healing fountains to the Tower. He added one to the karnuq’s settlement and another to the spiderkin’s home in the Orchard…which he should have done a while ago, now that he remembered. He placed a third in the memorial Flower Meadow connected to the Beecity, close to the Beecity entrance used by the Second of Sixth’s hive. He still wasn’t sure if the bees would use it much, but bees did need to drink anyways and it was only ten mana.

Finally, he added a mirror dome to the sparkling desert on the first floor. He wasn’t sure if the shining bees could use it just yet, but decided it was worth adding now just in case. The fair folk apparently knew some light magic, so they might be able to use it if the bees couldn’t.

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With the new defenses established, Belissar sent word to Wardmaster Varilold he would be ready the next morning, then let the bees know he was going to skip the night purification and have everyone rest. The next day might be a difficult one…

The next morning, Belissar was to meet with Tarwantrad, Wardmaster Varilold, Captain Karpakynne, and Duke Turuhave in the nexus door room. Belissar brought Niobee, the First of the Fifth’s First Daughter, and Chief Rohsuak along with him.

They walked through the nexus door room and found it emptied. The tents and structures the fair folk had built up had been removed and all fair folk save the wardens and the warriors of the Silver Host had evacuated. The room was covered in ward patterns made of glowing mushrooms and vines.

Belissar found Tarwantrad, Wardmaster Varilold, and Duke Turuhave standing in a circle. He and his companions joined them and exchanged greetings, then Wardmaster Varilold began the meeting.

“The God of Light described this as a stress test, so we should be prepared for a difficult battle. As such, we will do this in steps. Tower Keeper Belissar, you will move your nexus door room to the front of your Tower, trigger the purification, and let the Hunger corrupt the room, while Dungeon Master Tarwantrad remains on standby. We will observe what happens to the rooms in both of your dungeons when one of the nexus doors is corrupted, for this to happen, so you will need to hold or delay the purification without defeating it, Tower Keeper Belissar.”

Belissar gave a grim nod. Delaying a shade without defeating it would mean many chances for bees to be hurt, but this was a mission from the God of Light herself. Belissar would trust in his bees to do their part.

“We will assess from there, if the situation is manageable then Dungeon Master Tarwantrad will trigger her own purification and let her own nexus door room become corrupted. Both dungeons will hold the line while we observe what occurs with simultaneous corruption. Only after we confirm if there are any ill-effects will you two move to finish the purification.”

Wardmaster Varilold looked each of them in the eye.

“Be warned, this could be extremely dangerous. If the Hunger can pass through the doors, the purifications could link up and storm one of your dungeons with far greater force than anticipated. For this reason, we will reinforce both of your dungeons. I am duty-bound to protect the land of the fair, so I will take the wardens and assist dungeon master Tarwantrad. Duke Turuhave and Captain Karpakynne will take the Silver Host and the Royal Pixie Guard to defend Tower Keeper Belissar. Be warned that, should this go poorly, you could be stuck in the land of the mortals for quite a while.”

Captain Karpakynne shrugged with a grin.

“It’s more fun here, anyways!”

Duke Turuhave gave a resolute salute. Wardmaster Varilold made eye contact with each of them, then gave a final nod.

“Then, let’s get into position. Tower Keeper Belissar, wait for everyone’s signal before you begin.”

Belissar nodded, then the group broke apart. Wardmaster Varilold led Tarwantrad and the wardens back to Tarwantrad’s dungeon, taking with them a communer bee from the First of the Fifth’s First Daughter. An army of silver elves then marched on Duke Turuhave’s command, setting up in the Orchard with the shortcut wall where the bees and karnuq gathered their own forces. Belissar took a small monster flower from Tarwantrad for communications in addition to the communer bees, then set about making some last minute adjustments to the Tower.

He moved the nexus door Fairy Grove to be the first room in the Tower, then moved the first contact miracle lighthouse to the battle Bog, the third room. The Dirt Tunnels with all the traps was technically the first room after the nexus door room…but the miracle lighthouse couldn’t be placed within it, unfortunately. None of the caverns were tall enough for it to fit.

He then checked on his Tower’s defenders. The bee army hovered in the Orchard, ready to fly through the shortcuts at his command. The karnuq had put on the armor they received from the Compact and stood in formation. The Silver Host stood with them, their armor shining in the light of the sun. A group of sigmaka challengers lead by Fourth Queen Pezuya had volunteered to help after being informed of what was happening.

Belissar turned to the First of the Fifth’s First Daughter.

“Ok, we’re ready. Can you check in with the others?”

The First of the Fifth’s First Daughter danced a salute and her antenna glowed. Tarwantrad’s flower monster spoke directly to his mind.

“The Flower Tender is ready and says that the others are ready. You may begin, Bee Tender.”

Belissar took a deep breath.

“Ok then, here we go.”

Mission: Expose the nexus door connection to the God of Flowers’ dungeon to the corruption requires a special purification. Begin purification attempt?

Belissar fixed his eyes on the entrance to his Tower.

“Begin.”

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