Khenal
patreon
Chapter Three-Hundred Sixty-Nine
🕑 Added 2025-06-20 02:22:03 +0000 UTCViolet and Onyx are trying not to panic, while Teemo and I are having a good laugh. The little oozes really are a good beginner encounter, but Onyx needs to learn to ramp up the groups slowly, instead of sending practically every last one all at once. The kids are strong, sure, but that kind of horde is going to be difficult for anyone, especially when delvers try not to get touched by the putrid oozes at all. It’s not like they’ll dissolve a delver in mere moments… they’re just kinda gross.
I pat the link with Violet as Teemo works on calming down Onyx. Mistakes happen, and it’s good to learn with people who can handle the mistake. The kids are fine, they got their fertilizer and should be on the way to the forest now, so no harm, no foul. Just take it slower in the future.
Onyx is still embarrassed, with Violet feeling uncertain about the whole thing, but I think they’ll be willing to try again with the next group, just scaling a lot more slowly. I let them make their plans while I check in on the forest, seeing how Goldilocks is setting up for the attempted taming.
Titania likes to act like she owns the whole forest… which reminds me that I should probably let her have a chance to be a raid boss in the canopy once that’s ready. Anyway, she might claim the crown, but Goldilocks is the one that keeps the trains running on time. It’s probably going to be the toughest delve for the kids yet, though mostly because they’ll need to keep Tupul from getting captured. The basic spawns should be enough to keep them on their toes while still giving him a chance to gain some levels, and I make sure Goldilocks can feel my approval as I look over the expected encounters.
The group soon enters the cemetery, where they spot Grim tending the flowers placed on the graves. He can keep them nice and in bloom for longer than normal, but he still needs to change them out every couple of days. They wave at him and he nods back. Even Tupul gives a small wave, still looking like he’s not sure if it’s alright to just wave at the representative of death. Seeing him tending flowers probably helps take the edge off the intimidation factor, at least.
They don’t talk much in the cemetery, being respectful of the mourners, but their steps get more energy once they exit the graveyard and enter the Forest of Four Seasons. Rhonda addresses the group, who listen intently.
“Alright, first thing: find some invaders! Boring beetles are the main invader in this area, and they like to attack the trees. Just grab them from behind, right where their heads meet their body. They won’t be able to get away, and you can put them in these jars.” She hands out little crocks to everyone, each set with a wide cork stopper. I wonder if she got them from her lab, they look like the sort of things that would be great for storing dried herbs.
“Once we have some, we’ll give them to Larrez, and work on finding a vine. Be on the lookout for denizens, though! This is still Thedeim’s territory, so he’s not going to let us get stuff for free, and he might pull some mischief on us, too!”
I would never.
The group nods as Lucas and Fiona chitter, earning a smile from Freddie. “Do you have a spare crock for them? Fiona says they’ll catch more than all of us combined.”
Rhonda giggles and pulls out one more crock. “I brought an extra incase we were really lucky, but they can use it, sure.” Fiona accepts the crock as Lucas hops off Rhonda’s hat, and the two quickly rush into the underbrush.
“Let’s get going,” says Larrez with a smile. “We can’t let them have the victory too easily, right?” And so, they set off into the forest, most looking confident and Tupul looking like he regrets his life’s decisions.
Still, despite how ill at ease he looks, he keeps from panicking as the encounters start. Goldilocks starts them off simple with a handful of bumblebees. The hardest part of dealing with them is landing a hit, but nobody needs to pull out any special moves to deal with them just yet.
Things get trickier with the next fight, where a fox gets added to the mix to make it harder to tell which bees are real, and which fox is real, too. Larrez has a good solution for that, though. With a few flicks of his rapier, he sends a splash of water at each of the foxes, while the others defend from the bumbles. If it was a mischief fox, it’d probably have realized the problem sooner, but the basic fox doesn’t realize it needs to make the illusions look wet after getting hit, which makes it easy to find.
Once identified, it just takes a quick icicle from Rhonda to finish the fox and dispel the illusions, leaving Freddie and Tupul to clean up with Larrez. After that, they find a tree with a bunch of beetles trying to make trouble. I can see the sprig inside wanting to skewer the invaders, but Goldilocks has told it to only attack them if they fly off on their own. If the kids manage to let too many escape, they might have an angry fey to deal with, too.
They take a few minutes to get a good look at the tree, with Tupul especially giving the beetles a confused look. “They look like ordinary beetles?”
Freddie nods. “Most other invaders look pretty normal, too. I don’t know what makes them want to attack dungeons. Probably something about stagnant mana, but I’ve never really looked into the details.”
“I have, a little,” explains Rhonda. “There’s subtle magical differences that yeah, I think are related to stagnation. Most of the books I’ve read just say they don’t work as familiars, though one did detail experiments on some. Or at least the experiments he tried to do.”
“Like what?” asks Larrez as he watches Tupul pluck a beetle from the tree. The single-minded invader doesn’t even realize anything is wrong until Tupul has it pinched between his fingers, and getting tossed into the crock confuses it long enough for him to jam the cork in place.
“Mostly that they seem to be really unstable. They might look like a beetle or a rat or something, but they’re basically pure mana that mimics a creature. He even theorized that changelings could be from stagnation, but it’s pretty well established they come from mimic spawners,” she explains.
“Do you think Thedeim will ever get mimics?” asks Freddie as he tosses a beetle into his own jar.
Larrez chuckles at the idea as he adds a beetle to his own. “I can only imagine what He’d do with them. His normal denizens are tricky and strange enough, let alone the type specifically known for strange trickery.”
Tupul looks uncomfortable as he silently adds to his own beetle jar, even as Rhonda continues.
“I think it’d be cool if he got a changeling enclave. Veids is a great teacher and a great pyromancer, and Vernew has made friends with Jen, too.” That makes the young rogue almost miss stuffing a beetle in his jar.
“You know some changelings?”
Freddie nods. “There’s a few open about it in the guild. A lot of the adventurer changelings are upfront about it. I’ve seen a leatherworker around, too, though he always looked too busy for chatting when I’d see him delve.”
“Don’t people… hate them?” asks Tupul, his attention more on his friends than on the tree. Larrez shrugs.
“They get seen with suspicion in a lot of places, but I think Fourdock is far enough out that most people don’t really care. Someplace like the capital, it’s easy to see a changeling and think they’re working for the assassin’s guild or something, but who’s going to maintain a guild like that out here? Who would they even target?” He pauses and chuckles as he holds a beetle, recalling he’s probably the target of just such an action, though not from any big guild.
“The point being, there’s not a lot of point to the kind of infiltration changelings are capable of, so I think a lot of the local changelings don’t bother trying to hide. It does make me wonder if Veids is just bad at it, if that’s even a thing.”
Freddie smirks at the idea. “Maybe he’s fine at changing, but his magic gives him away too easily? Pyromancy isn’t really subtle.”
Rhonda giggles at that. “He has a lot of nuance in some of his spells… but yeah, why focus on pyromancy if you’re not going to let loose with the fire sometimes?”
Tupul looks thoughtful as they chat, and soon resumes gathering beetles. It doesn’t take him long to speak up, as he has to be quicker and quicker with each new beetle to the crock. “I think I’m about full.” He holds out the jar to Larrez, who can hear the beetles scratching against the crockery.
“Yeah, I think you are. Good haul, Tupul. I think this’ll be enough for now. Rhonda?” He offers it to the goblin for her opinion, which she quickly gives.
“I think we have plenty then, yeah. Let me just seal these, and we can go find a vine!” She forms a thin seal of ice around the corks, creating a small orb of flame as she moves around the energy, before she consumes the orb to levitate the jars into her pack.
It takes them a few more encounters before they find a field of living vines, though Goldilocks keeps things pretty simple. I get the feeling she’s testing Tupul more than the rest of the group, seeing how he handles a variety of denizens. The answer is… pretty well, actually. He’s not squeamish about spiders or snakes, though he is careful about the venom and follows directions from the group so he doesn’t get bit by either.
A few ravens get knives thrown at them, with Rhonda using kinetics to bring the misses back. There’s not much he can do about the rockslide, but he can still keep an eye out for any additional denizens while the group dislodges and dismantles the one that Goldilocks sends.
The field isn’t free from dangers either, as the living vines are interspersed around dreamblooms. They’re not placed dense enough to make it impossible to get to the vines, but the group does have to carefully maneuver if they don’t want to take a nap.
They go slow and steady, and soon they enter a little clearing among the blooms, where Larrez can see several vines to choose from. He silently accepts a crock from Rhonda and uses a bit of water to melt the seal, loosening the cork as he slowly approaches.
“Hey living vines. I have a little treat for you…” He opens the jar just enough for the beetles to stick their antennae and legs through, but not enough to escape. Most of the vines are wary of him, but a few cautiously approach. They get close enough for their little climbing tendrils to brush against the protruding beetle parts, which makes the invaders retreat back to the safety of the jar.
“Heh, here. Let me help.” He pulls the jar back and sets it down, letting him remove the cork and grab a beetle, before recorking it. He holds the beetle out once more, and this time only one vine gets close. Its little tendrils brush against the beetle for a moment before the vine lashes forward, coiling around the invader like a snake and crushing it, before burying the squished bug in the dirt.
“That’s right, mana and nutrients,” encourages Larrez as he offers another beetle, and I can see the taming bar slowly building. It goes smoothly until he finishes with the jar, and accepts another one from Rhonda. However, instead of continuing to hand feed the vine, he sets the crock down and pours the fertilizer from Violet into it, burying the invaders in the rich plantfood. He then offers the whole crock toward the vine.
“Here you are. Invaders and fertilizer, and even a bit of water,” he says, adding a bit of moisture to sweeten the deal. “Everything a living vine needs to grow big and strong. And with your help, I can grow bigger and stronger, too.” It brushes against the crock, seeming to think about the deal, and I watch with interest.
It accepts and burrows into the soil, happily crushing the beetles and raising its stem to look like a potted plant. It even forms a small bud at its end, and Larrez smiles as he stands.
“Thank you… Rose. I’ll take good care of you.” He brushes a hand along the stem before it moves to his rapier. The rest of the party tenses as they hear the bushes shift, preparing for a fight.
Instead, Fiona and Lucas come into view, looking sheepish. It’s only after Rhonda accepts the empty crock from the larger spider that the reason becomes clear, both spiders looking a bit pudgy. It looks like they captured more beetles than the others, but none made it to the crock.
Comments
Lisa
Not all of the living vines have Spatial affinity, and nowhere in this chapter does it mention if this particular vine does. I expect it does, for the plan, but it would certainly be an interesting twist if it doesn’t.
you wish
It would of been funny if Tupul would accidently tamed something like what happened to Freddie.
