Khenal
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Chapter Three-Hundred Sixty-One
🕑 Added 2025-05-23 03:31:00 +0000 UTCMy denizens scramble to ensure I have eyes in the shortcut between here and the Southwood. Sure, we keep an eye on it, but I want to know exactly how far away my friends are, so I’ll know when to start the ruckus. It’ll also be a good test for my plants and their spatial upgrade. Making the tree as safe as possible is the priority, but they’re finally spawned in numbers to let me start shoving them down the trail.
The living vines are slower than even the tunneling rockslides, but I have wolves to easily move them, which Leo and Poe are quick to use. I wouldn’t be surprised if they feel responsible for the lapse, but I’m not bothered. I’m pretty sure we’ve been able to keep enough of an eye to know the rough numbers of people coming and going, but I just wanted detail for Yvonne and friends. I’m sure Leo and Poe are going to be wanting to station more plants and other denizens outside my borders, too. The initial trailblazing to the Southwood was a good practice run for something like that.
They’re really only limited by spawns right now. My plants have the lair upgrade, so they’re pumping out quickly, but demand is high right now, and that’s without delvers needing plants to play with, too. I have the mana to give it another upgrade, so I do, but I make sure I don’t get another spawn just yet. I want to show Tarl what I already have and get his opinion on things.
Olander has been giving his opinion on the stronger fights, and he really seems to like the idea of the minibosses to gate people out of the stronger areas. I’ve looked over adding them to my other areas, but there’s a lot of other traffic that I wouldn’t want to cut off. If the miners had to deal with a boss every time they head down to the quarry, they’d never get any work done.
The Crown Inspector has been having fun tearing it up through the branches, and I know he’s looking forward to some real fighting in the true canopy. I’m looking forward to letting my scions get to play at being raid bosses, especially Fluffles and Poe. Rocky has his arena, and I think those two will be a great fit for the Tree’s canopy.
That gives me an idea, actually. I check the reports on the shortcut, and am glad to see there’s still a bit of time before they arrive, so I poke Teemo to go check in with the Crown Inspector. I get the feeling he’s getting bored, and I might have a solution for him.
Olander isn’t difficult to find. He has his little suite at the inn, but what time he doesn’t spend delving or sleeping, he tends to spend in the Slim Chance’s library, hanging out with Tula. The two are getting pretty close, though I try not to pry. I wouldn’t be surprised if Zorro knows the details of how close they are, but if he does, he keeps it filtered out of what gets to me. The delicate balance of security and privacy is a complicated thing, so I’m glad Zorro is doing his best to stay on the correct side of the distinction.
Teemo pops into the library atop a shelf, where the bees have their expeditionary hive set up. They dance in greeting, which he returns, before he starts hopping across the top of the bookshelves to find Olander and Tula. The two are sitting at a desk together, chatting while going over what looks like some notes from Rhonda. I dunno if Tula is able to expand her affinities or not, but she seems pretty excited about what details she’s been able to get from the perky little goblin.
Olander isn’t as interested, but he’s happy to ask questions and try to poke holes in things, helping Tula expand her understanding, if not her affinities. He looks up at Teemo as Tula reexamines a part of the notes, with the elf smiling at my Voice.
“Ah, Teemo. I was wondering if Thedeim had forgotten about me.”
“Nah, he was just giving you two some space. He wanted to ask you about something, though.”
“Oh?” asks the Crown Inspector, looking intrigued. “Thedeim asking something seems like a surefire way to cause some upheaval.”
My Voice snorts. “Probably. He doesn’t think it’ll be too much, but he doesn’t have the best track record with predicting that sort of thing. Anyway, he wanted to know if you could help train the army guys.”
Olander frowns at that, taking a few seconds to consider his response. “Technically yes. The Crown Inspector holds a very high rank in case of needing to command a garrison to help deal with anything. But actually pulling rank is not something to be done lightly. Why?”
Teemo shakes his head as Tula puts down the notes, listening to what we’re talking about. “He doesn’t mean in taking them over, but more to help give them some more practical knowledge, especially when it comes to dungeons. They’re progressing, sure, but they’re being pretty slow. The Boss was wondering if you could help them get better into the groove, and even give him any advice for how to structure encounters for them. Ideally, he’d like to see them be able to challenge one of his scions as a raid boss before winter.”
Olander hmms at that. “Have you talked with the Knight-Captain about this?”
“Nope. We figured it’d be best to run it by you first.”
“It’ll give you something to do, Olander,” points out Tula. “You’ve been a bit restless lately. Maybe this’ll help?”
Olander sighs and nods. “It would be nice to have a vacation from this vacation. I’ll go have a chat and see if they’re open to it.”
Tula laughs. “I can’t imagine them turning down training from the Crown Inspector himself, especially when it comes to dungeons.”
Teemo nods his agreement as the elf shrugs. “Ross seems like a good man, but that could be the reason for him to turn me down. It’s not exactly along regulations for something like that, and he’s rather fond of them. On the other hand, training in a dungeon isn’t the standard procedure, either, so we’ll see.”
“Cool. Let us know if we need to do anything else to help with their training. Oh, and there’s going to be a lot of squawking before too long. The Boss is going to be welcoming back Tarl and Yvonne and her party here soon. Nothing to be worried about, now matter how loud it gets.”
Olander brightens at that. “Ah, I’ve heard good things about Tarl. I’ll check in with the Dungeoneers after talking to the army, and hopefully meet him there.”
“You wanna come meet him with Thedeim’s welcoming committee?” offers my Voice, with Olander shaking his head.
“No, I’ll let you two catch up and meet him at the guild. It’ll probably be more official than… whatever you’re going to be doing with your birds.”
“And Hullbreak’s birds. The Boss likes to make a racket to welcome Tarl when he delves or inspects. With him gone so long, he needs a proper welcome.”
Olander chuckles at that. “Then I’ll definitely leave you to your welcome without me, though I hope I’ll be able to hear it all the way to the hold.”
“We’re going to try!” confirms Teemo, with Olander and Tula both smiling at the impending mischief, before the librarian makes shooing motions at the both of them.
“Then you two go do what you’re going to do. I have books to shelve.”
Olander and Teemo both nod ,and make their separate exits, and none too soon. They’re not far now, so it’s time to get everyone into position. Teemo goes on ahead, and I watch through his eyes as he pops into the shortcut, letting me see Yvonne, Tarl, Ragnar, and Aelara. My Resident spots Teemo first, though Tarl isn’t far behind. He nods while Yvonne picks Teemo up.
Tarl smirks at the rat on her shoulder. “Ah, and here I thought you might be coming to see me. I should have known.”
Teemo whispers into Yvonne’s ear, earning a snort and a nod, before he turns his attention to the elf. “Oh hey, didn’t see you there, Tarl. How’ve you been?”
He chuckles and shakes his head as Yvonne whispers to Aelara and Ragnar, the two smiling conspiratorially. “Am I not good enough for you? You got a big important inspector from the capital and now you don’t need me?”
Teemo pretends to entertain the idea for a few seconds before chuckling. “Naw, we missed you. How was Silvervein? Everything good with Vanta?”
Tarl nods as they all resume walking. “Everything seems fine with him, yeah. He already recognizes that delvers don’t respawn, but he still likes his swarms. I think he’ll end up following a similar path to you, with carefully measured encounters for training.”
“Oh yeah? That’s cool. The Boss’ll need to have a chat with him once he has a Voice then.”
“I agree. I don’t think he’ll be able to match your record with regards to survivability, but he would still be an invaluable training dungeon if he progresses like I think he will.”
“How’re your replacements? You had to wait for them to be able to leave, yeah?”
Tarl nods again. “Yeah. They’re siblings, foxkin. Fresh out of the academy, but they’ll do fine. What’s this I hear about a new affinity?”
Teemo goes through the explanation as my and Hullbreak’s birds get into position. Between the two of us, we have enough to obscure the Tree from where the shortcut gets out, so Poe and the Quartermaster are coordinating to keep enough birds in the air to do just that, without any mid-air collisions.
Tarl and group exit the shortcut, and they’re all momentarily stunned by the numbers of birds around, before the cawing and squawking starts. I can hear the noise from my own territory, and I can just barely hear Tarl trying to speak to Teemo.
“Really?”
Teemo and Yvonne both grin as Yvonne opens her beak and gives a hawk cry as well, cutting through the din. Tarl dons perhaps the most flat expression I think I’ve seen, but he cracks after a few seconds, shaking his head. “It’s good to be home.”
“There’s more,” speaks Teemo, and the loud birds part, revealing the Tree of Cycles. Tarl stares for a couple long seconds before chuckling and shaking his head.
“I should get to the guild. Between that and the new affinity, Telar’s going to stab me with a quill and drown me in an inkwell if I don’t show up to offer help.”
“I think she has the paperwork settled by now,” points out Teemo, only for Tarl to shrug as he starts walking.
“Then she’ll probably need a refill on her tea. I need to do something so she’s not upset with me about being left to deal with your nonsense, Berdol’s training, and a visit from the Crown Inspector.”
Teemo laughs. “I’ll get you a fresh jar of Honey’s honey to help soothe things with her.”
The elf pauses and smiles over his shoulder, even with the loud birds flying everywhere, making a racket. “It really is good to be back. I didn’t realize how much I missed all this.”
Comments
Ben Bass
TYFTC! Love how Thediem leans into his running gag with Tarl. Now imagine how different things could be if it wasn't Tarl who did the initial inspection?
Ayyyy_Korn
I mean, its not like they fell off the tree
Blue Trooper
Grammer nazi here: "Hullbreak and I" would be proper.
William Anderson
TYFTC! I've been so excited and looking forward to this and it delivered everything I was hoping and more!
13L00D13ANE
Hullbreak*, but yes
Ethan Barrow
TFTC!! I absolutely love the welcome Tarl got. Fantastic!
you wish
They going to be thinking Thediam is about to attack them
you wish
You know you are good at what you do and respected when a literal God does a special welcome just for you.
Art Dragon
Yes! Yvonne in on the action lmao
Juno Tubolino
Hooray, Tarl is back! Plus Yvonne & the Gang!
Demonlord
Thanks for the nice chapter 😊 It's good that tarl is home again. He has much to catch up to... And Thediem is brewing new stuff while showing Tarl the whole banquet of already existing new things he'd done 🤭
o0 hazzy 0o
I’m hoping Thedeim makes velociraptors as his first dinosaur so he can get more birbs
LinaBoeckwurm
*Giggles* the running gag with the birds is the best, and this is so fitting for the long awaited return!
King Jerkera
There was a misspelling of hullbreaker’s name in the early part of the chapter with hullreaker.
Butternut
Caw caw
brennon Petersen
Tftc!
Nomadtheus
I wonder if the birds spooked any body in the tree and messed up their run. Also I'm pretty sure the Earl will be a buzz kill over this.
Win Rar
The birds for Tarl is always nice to read. Always gives me a good laugh. I hope we get a glimpse at some adventures who have a third eye witness without understanding why it's happening. Maybe it scared the thieves guild unintentionally.
Anthony Felscher
...as my and Hullbreak’s birds get... > ...as Hullbreak and my birds get... Between the two of us, we have enough to obscure the Tree from there the shortcut gets out,... "there" should be "where"
fanfan8000
Typo? Between the two of us, we have enough to obscure the Tree from there(where?) the shortcut gets out, so Poe and the
Anthony Felscher
TFTC!
Herakilla
Thanks for the chapter! I wonder what the town thought of the racket
BrokenLord321
YES THE BIRB RAPTURE HAS ARRIVED!!!
Endicar
I die happy
Rick Delallata
Love it
Caue f
So cute, nice to have Tarl back
architectural engineer
i was wondering where this was! thank you for posting! i appreciate your efforts!
