Remaining Hostiles: 0. Wave 2 completed.
Remaining Waves: 0. All waves completed. Expansion successful.
Reward: Floor limit increased to 7. Receive one perk choice, and two random reward choices.
Belissar let out a light sigh and then smiled as the cleansing light of the Tower burned away the Hunger left within it before pushing out to the world outside. There was a lot of scrambling this time and they had suffered losses, but the expansion was a success in the end. Belissar’s chest tightened at the thought of the soldiers and sprayers that had perished, but, thanks to the assistance of the fair folk, the powers of the rooms and traps, and the resilience and adaptability of the bees and karnuq, they had managed a victory with far fewer losses than he had feared. He could only imagine what those wasps might have done if the bees had to face them alone in open air…
But the bees did not have to in the end and that was in large part because of the people around him. So Belissar turned to them with a big smile.
“Thank you both, Wardmaster Varilold, Captain Karpakynne. Your help was incredible.”
Wardmaster Varilold crossed her arms, though she had the hint of a smile on her face.
“This is only the start, Tower Keeper. We must remain vigilant if we want more victories of this sort.”
Captain Karpakynne’s shoulders drooped.
After that came the cleanup, starting with the injured. Belissar made his way over to the Second of the Sixth’s hive, where the bees had brought their wounded for treatment. Fortunately, the Second of the Sixth had the situation under control. Not only were there far less wounded than some previous battles, but her hive had grown immensely. A medicinal or healing sprayer could cover a whole soldier bee squad in a single spray now. The spray wasn’t enough for serious wounds, but it could heal any light wounds the squad had suffered, taking care of them all at once so the rest of the hive could focus on the more serious injuries.
The Second of the Sixth herself and those of her hive she had evolved into healing variants were working on those serious injuries. Belissar watched as a healing bee injected a wounded sprayer with a mana-packed healing sting, only for the sprayer’s chitin to visibly regrow and seal up a gash. The Second of the Sixth drank from a cell full of swirled honey and then crawled over to a soldier who had lost a foot. She stung the soldier’s foot and then her whole body began to glow with a soft white light. Belissar watched with his mana sight as the Second of the Sixth took hold of the mana from her sting and attempted to direct it. His eyes widen as he saw chitin extend down from the wound.
She was regrowing the soldier’s foot.
But all too quickly, the light and the mana faded. Only a tiny bit of the soldier’s chitin had regrown. The Second of the Sixth buzzed and began dancing towards her nearest communer.
“Contact First of the Fifth, need to talk.”
Belissar left her to it once he confirmed there were no injured his spell-bees could help with. He might have been able to help provide a bit of swirled honey himself, but decided to leave it to the Second of the Sixth and First of the Fifth, as they would know better than he what they needed. He glanced up at Niobee.
“Niobee, let me know if the Second of the Sixth or First of the Fifth need anything, ok?”
With that, Belissar set about on the hardest part of the purification. The bees guided him to each bee that had fallen. Belissar gently picked up their remains and took them to the Memorial, placing them within as the Memorial recorded their queens and added them to the tally. Soon, a memorial for the fallen began, observed by fair folk, karnuq, human, spiderkin, and bee alike…
Afterwards, Belissar met with the wardmaster and captain once more.
“Will you join us for the victory celebration?”
Captain Karpakynne immediately zipped through the air, her eyes sparkling.
Wardmaster Varilold, however, shook her head with a regretful look.
“I would love to, but I need to check on Tarwantrad’s dungeon, the rest of the Circle, and the wards in the Land of the Fair. We need to make sure they weren’t affected negatively by this purification, we cannot delay any longer.”
Belissar frowned but nodded to signal his understanding.
“Hm, I would like to thank you and your wardens, though.”
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Wardmaster Varilold made an amused smile.
“Well, you’ve invited us to the celebration you hold every day, so do not worry on our account, Tower Keeper. I’ll ensure all of my wardens have a chance to join one.”
And so, Wardmaster Varilold departed with a bunch of grumbling wardens while the Royal Pixie Guard zipped and danced and shouted in glee. The bees had barely brought out the honey trays when the pixies dove down upon them. Captain Karpakynne was later found drenched in honey and holding a piece of honeycomb in either hand, saying this.
“Best. Dungeon. Ever!”
This time, Belissar decided to delay the rewards to the next day, as he hoped that Tarwantrad and Wardmaster Varilold would be able to join them. Both elves arrived first thing the next morning. Tarwantrad greeted him with a smile.
“Belissar! I’m glad you’re alright!”
Belissar returned her smile.
“You too, did anything happen to your dungeon?”
Tarwantrad frowned slightly.
Tarwantrad let out a sigh and hung her head.
“Well…nothing appeared or anything…but I did feel a slight reverberation of the Hunger. Ah, it’s fine! No shades showed up and I also felt my dungeon react when yours purified everything so it’s fine! It’s just that…”
Tarwantrad glanced over at Wardmaster Varilold, who responded for her.
“I’ve ordered Dungeon Master Tarwantrad to tighten her defenses whenever you undertake a major purification. She will not be permitted to provide your Tower with reinforcements, lest she weaken her own in the process. I’d ask you to do the same, Tower Keeper Belissar, if and when Dungeon Master Tarwantrad faces major purifications of her own. I will split the wardens to reinforce you both at those times.”
Tarwantrad sighed again.
“I’m sorry, Belissar. I wanted to help you, but the wardmaster is forcing me.”
Wardmaster Varilold fixed Tarwantrad with a stern look.
“This isn’t about you helping your friend, Dungeon Master Tarwantrad. You and he are both responsible for the survival of the Compact now. You both must do whatever is required to ensure your dungeons and the nexuses doors within them remain standing. In turn, I will do everything I must to make it so and will muster any resources of the Compact either of you require. I do not believe it unfair, therefore, to ask you to take your own defense seriously.”
Tarwantrad huffed but didn’t say anything more. Belissar just rubbed the back of his head.
“Thanks, Tarwantrad, I’m glad that you want to help. But…you don’t need to worry. The wardens and pixies were really helpful, so we managed to handle things.”
Tarwantrad sighed again but ended up nodding.
“Well, I am grateful that at least someone in the Compact is finally helping you, so I guess I’ll leave it alone if you’re fine. Let me know if there’s anything I can do to help, though, Belissar!”
Belissar then treated them both to a breakfast of honeycomb while the council gathered. Captain Karpakynne was still present from last night, though it took some work to make her presentable. The council then gathered in the nexus door room, using the command tent the wardens had prepared for their own planning. The bee queens, karnuq leaders, humans, and First Spiderkin Queen joined as usual, but they also had a guest Belissar had not expected. Princess Finnakynne finally left the bumblebee soldier’s back for the first time since the battle had begun to join them. When Belissar glanced at her, she made a serious expression.
“Let’s make sure the bumbles stay safe.”
Belissar could only agree with that. And so, he wasted no time in starting the meeting.
“Ok, here we go. We have a new floor to work with, a new perk choice, and the two random choices. The random choices are…”
Please select a reward:
- Rare Room Choice (At least one rare or better option)
- Three random common room features (guaranteed common or better)
Belissar paused at that.
“Huh, that’s new. Two options in one…and random? Does that mean we don’t choose?”
Tarwantrad nodded in response.
“Yes, random options are chosen for you. It’s…always a bit of a risk.”
Finnakynne rolled her eyes.
“Daddy loves giving those, God of Mischief and all. I can say, though, that you do get something in exchange for not being able to pick. Like in this one, where it’ll give you three features instead of one. Or it might give you a rarer option than you’d normally get for that kind of purification. So, it’s high risk, high reward. You might get something that doesn’t fit your plans at all, but you might also get something amazing.”
Belissar hummed as he considered that. In any case, he needed to open the next set of choices so he could evaluated all the options together.
Please select a reward:
- One random epic room feature (guaranteed epic or better)
- Rare monster choice (At least one rare or better option)
Belissar noted the other type of random choice Finnakynne mentioned appeared in this selection. An epic room feature…he had trouble even imagining what that might be. Perhaps a truly incredible flower?
But on the other hand, he’d have no say in what it gave him. He had to weigh that against getting a new kind of bee that they’d get to pick, or getting another room slot. Which, now that he was up to seven floors, meant getting another seven rooms on top of the four he got from the next floor.
And there was still the perk choice to go as well…
Please select a perk:
- Flammable Nonflammables (Rarity: Epic, Type: Fire)
- Natural Incense (Rarity: Uncommon, Type: Flower/Fire)
- Venom-Poison Mixtures (Rarity: Uncommon, Type: Bee/Flower)
Belissar fell silent. The perk choice had been normal as far as he could tell, but when he opened it all the options were glowing in either red, purple, yellow, or some combination thereof. Clearly, his patrons had all intervened in these choices.
On the one hand, Belissar was all too happy to receive divinely empowered perks. On the other hand, though, with all the quests and oracles he and the fair folk had received lately, Belissar couldn’t help but worry. Did the gods perhaps believe he needed more help against the Tower Lords?
Well, all he could do now was pick the best of these choices to secure his defenses and hope that it would be enough…