The Bee Dungeon-Chapter 272: Coordinating Bee-fenses

Tarwantrad rushed up to Belissar as soon as the signing was over with a big smile on her face.

“Finally! Belissar, want to see the rest of my dungeon now?! I can show you the Compact too!”

Only for an armored hand to clamp on her shoulder.

“Sorry to interrupt, but I’m going to have to cut in, Tarwantrad.” ƒrēenovelkiss.com

Wardmaster Varilold stepped forward with a serious expression, silencing Tarwantrad’s objections before she even spoke them. Even the other signatories, some of which had begun making their way towards Belissar, stopped.

“Tower Keeper Belissar, I apologize if you had other plans, but I’d like to begin work on your defenses immediately. Could you show me your Tower and brief me on the likely threats and timeframe?”

Belissar immediately nodded.

“Yes, please.”

Tarwantrad frowned and sighed, but ultimately stepped aside.

“Ah, that’s right. We better make sure you’re safe first…”

Wardmaster Varilold then dropped her intense look and gave Tarwantrad an amused smile.

“Indeed. Once we are prepared, there will be plenty of time to meet with the new signatory…for all of us.”

She glanced around at the other signatories and they nodded back. Wardmaster Varilold gave a glance to other armored fair folk around them and they all formed up behind her.

“Lead the way, Tower Keeper.”

Belissar led them, the bees, and the karnuq back through the nexus door. Wardmaster Varilold glanced around the Fairy Grove holding it.

“This is the room we can set up in, correct? Any traps or monsters we should be concerned about?”

Belissar shook his head.

“No, no traps in this room…besides the fairy circles and the room itself. It…tries to get people lost, from what I’ve seen.”

The edge of the wardmaster’s mouth curled up a bit.

“That shouldn’t be a problem for us, though I’ll ask for your help if any of my wardens get careless. Could you set this as a safe room?”

Wardmaster Varilold pointed her hand out to the side as she spoke. A magic circle formed over her hand and a spear made of light shot to the side, impaling a small shade that had just formed. The Wardmaster hadn’t even looked at it.

Belissar’s eyes widened both at the display and in realization of his oversight.

“Ah…I’m not sure about safe rooms but I do have rest zones?”

Wardmaster Varilold inclined her head.

“Appreciated.”

She then turned around and began barking orders to her subordinates.

“Set up a perimeter around the door, then start scouting out the room. I want a preliminary ward layout planned by the time I get back. Do not begin until I return and we go over it with the Tower Keeper.”

The wardens saluted her and got to work as Belissar placed the Rest Zones, making them as big as possible and then covering the entire room with them.

Remnants can no longer spawn in this room.

Remove Rest Zones and set room as safe for 20 mana upkeep?

Belissar smirked and shook his head. Yet again, another Tower function that would have been nice to know. He had it now, though, so he confirmed.

Wardmaster Varilold had finished giving orders and returned to his side. Belissar filled her in on the safe room and she thanked him for it.

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“So…what do you need to see?”

Wardmaster Varilold replied immediately.

“As much as you are willing to show me, the more you do the more I can help.”

Belissar nodded.

“Got it, let’s start from the beginning, then? Ah, some of the rooms might be dangerous…”

The wardmaster waved her hand over her armor, causing a bunch of carvings he hadn’t noticed to light up briefly before disappearing.

“I have numerous wards already in place for defense, but please inform me of any specific threats.”

And so the tour began. Belissar showed Wardaster Varilold the entire Tower, though with only brief overviews of the karnuq floors to respect their privacy. The entire point of the new compact in Belissar’s mind was so that he could trust the Compact, so he wanted as much of the wardmaster’s help as he could get. Wardmaster Varilold quietly observed for the most part, asking some questions on his intentions with different features and room layouts here and there, but she did not offer any specific recommendations. When he asked about that, she said she wanted to understand his defenses as a whole, as well as to respect his authority as the Tower Keeper over his domain.

After they finished with the Tower, Belissar took Wardmaster Varilold outside. They didn’t stray too far from the Tower, but Belissar did give her an overview of the areas beyond courtesy of what he had learned from the Fourth of the Seventh’s hive.

Once they had finished with that, Belissar and the wardmaster returned to the nexus door room. Belissar explained what they knew about the incoming Tower Lords and the possible spiderkin threat, then waited for the wardmaster’s verdict. She stood silently for a bit, until Belissar got uncomfortable enough to break the silence.

“So…what do you think?”

Wardmaster Varilold hummed…and then gave him a small smile.

“I think I will need to rethink my approach entirely. For the last thousand years I have been focused on channeling the power of dungeons through wards in order to seal off the land of the Fair from the Hunger. Now, I must design a ward defense against sentient armies…as well as to help you fight the Hunger without cutting you off completely from the rest of the world. It’s certainly been a while.”

She then shook her head with a chuckle.

“That is my business, and my challenge, however. I think your defense layout has promise. Underground tunnels full of traps, a lava field with an active volcano, a bog with poisonous mist, and a mystic forest filled with nexuses possessing defensive intent will all do well to bottleneck and delay any sentient army, which would give us time to send you reinforcements in a crisis. On the tactical scale, there are many wards we could add to increase the potency of your traps and the difficulty of your environments. And if we stationed wardens there…we could do much to pick away at an invading force before any pitched battle.”

She then turned thoughtful.

“Larger scale…I’d like to set up some detection and misdirection wards both on the surface and in the Underway around your Tower. I’ll likely focus any external wards on the sentient threat, then use tactical wards to support your own defenses against any internal intruder, Hunger or otherwise.”

Belissar nodded…largely because he didn’t know enough about wards to do otherwise.

“…sounds good to me. Though, if you’re setting up wards outside, you might need to avoid the sigmaka’s territory? We’ll have to ask them, I think…”

The wardmaster let out a light sigh.

“Yes, I suppose we’ll need to negotiate with them now as well. I’ll take that into account for the short term. Speaking of which…”

She waved over to one of her subordinates who brought her a scroll. She opened it up and examined it for a minute before presenting it to Belissar.

“Here’s our preliminary plan for this room.”

Belissar took it and opened it up…and furrowed his brow trying to decipher something out of all the circles and symbols on it. Wardmaster Varilold made an amused smile.

“I take it you are not familiar with wards. How about I walk you through what we’re planning?”

Belissar quickly rolled up the scroll.

“Ah, yes, that would be helpful.”

The wardmaster chuckled a bit as Belissar handed the scroll back. Belissar then had a thought.

“Also…could I have the bees watch when you set them up? That way they’ll know what to look out for.”

Wardmaster Varilold nodded.

“Yes, of course.”

Niobee then began dancing on his head.

“King! Should ask Beero to watch?”

Belissar’s eyes widened a bit.

“Ah, that’s a good idea!”

Wardmaster Varilold looked at him and waited. Belissar eventually noticed.

“Ah, Beero is the leader of the battlecasters…bees that can cast magic. We think she’d be the best one to watch. Would that be alright?”

The wardmaster raised an eyebrow.

“I see. Do those bees instinctually manipulate mana to create magic-like effects, or do they conduct formal spellcraft of some kind?”

Belissar blinked a few times at the unexpected question.

“…I think the latter? They make honeycomb patterns out of mana to make mana stingers…oh, here, I can show you.”

Wardmaster Varilold motioned for Belissar to continue and he made a mana stinger like the battlecasters did. Wardmaster Varilold rubbed her chin.

“Bee monsters capable of spellcraft…do they cooperate with one another like your escorts do?”

Belissar nodded.

“Yes, they normally work together to cast bigger spells.”

Wardmaster Varilold began to smile.

“How interesting…yes, I would be happy to show your battlecasters our craft. In fact, if you wish it, Tower Keeper, I would be willing to try and teach them. I believe a beehive capable of creating their own wards would greatly improve your defenses…and ours. If I succeed, would you be willing to loan some of them to the wardens from time to time?”

Belissar frowned. Beero and her hive learning to make wards sounded good…but he didn’t like the idea of sending them off elsewhere.

“That…depends on what you’d want them to do. Could I see you set up wards first?”

Wardmaster Varilold didn’t seem bothered, however.

“Very well, we can discuss the specifics later. I am willing to teach your bees even if not, so do not feel pressured to commit now. In any case, we have work to do first. Inform me when your bees have arrived and we’ll begin.”