Khenal
patreon
Chapter One-Hundred Fifty-Three
🕑 Added 2023-05-12 02:42:57 +0000 UTCJust because there’s technically no snow on the ground right this moment, doesn’t mean it’s not cold outside. Early delvers are pretty sparse, mostly just the miners with their escort heading down the access shaft. There’s a few on the ground and in the manor, but not much else. The catacombs are mostly empty right now, too. I think most of the Shield people are turning their focus on more spiritual than physical pursuits with winter here.
There is one big exception to this, as I notice a certain elf step through the gates and get greeted with the traditional clamor of caws. I smile to myself as I spot Tarl, looking like he’s here on official business. Hopefully not too official, I don’t want to need to recall Teemo already. He seems to be in the middle of making a shortcut, and deep in thought besides.
It doesn’t look like I’ll need him, though, as the elf simply gives the birds an exaggerated scowl before shaking his head with a smile and taking a look at the noticeboard.
Hey Fluffles, would you go greet him, please?
My wingnoodle nods and makes his way up from the tunnels, moving at a quick but not rushed pace. I think he just likes zipping through them at speed, makes me think of riding a roller coaster. He makes his exit via the cave mouth and lazily glides to Tarl, who watches his descent with vague interest.
“No Teemo?” he asks, curious, but not concerned.
Fluffles shakes his head and motions for Tarl to follow, and the elf comfortably falls in behind him. I don’t bother sending any encounters, though he does notice the hands. He pulls out his little recording stone and talks as he follows.
“Appears crawling hand spawner has been upgraded, can see arcane hands in the manor. No change in hostility. Without the Voice present to confirm, would speculate they are to be a new challenge to broaden the experience of new delvers. Lightning resist potions unlikely to be the only way to protect from magic anymore.”
He glances to Fluffles for any other input, but my noodle simply nods once more. Tarl accepts that and continues making notes.
“Currently following Conduit, Voice is apparently indisposed at the moment. Likely being taken to something that will shed light.”
Fluffles leads him down to the public war room, and Tarl looks surprised at how much bigger it is than the last time he looked at it. “Public map is greatly expanded and detailed since last inspection.”
Fluffles gets his attention before he can go into much detail for the stone, and points at Teemo, out on expedition. Tarl’s eyes follow the tail tip as Fluffles shows him the route, and he speaks as he watches.
“Voice appears to be on expedition towards the Southwood. Thedeim appears to be making good on his word to contact and potentially provide support.” He pauses and squints at the map for a moment. “Appears Warden and Librarian are checking the route while the Voice solidifies it with shortcuts. Odd… Thedeim has marked several small locations as territory, but they can’t be actually part of him… right?” He looks to Fluffles, apparently not willing to bet against me finding some way to claim those little spots. Fluffles shakes his head, and Tarl sighs in relief before continuing.
"Conduit confirms locations not officially claimed. Appear to be designated resting and possibly planning locations once Thedeim starts sending actual support to the Southwood.” His eyes follow Fluffles’ tail as he points out my new expansion.
“Ah, it appears Thedeim has expanded again. Map dubs the area ‘lava tubes’.” He lowers the rock for a moment before addressing Fluffles. “Will I need specialty gear to delve?”
Fluffles shakes his head, but does point at the volcanic area past the tubes. Tarl considers that for a moment before nodding and bringing the stone back up. “Territory doesn’t require specialty gear, but is in close proximity to more active volcanism. Preliminary estimate that the far reaches of the tubes be avoided, but nearer portions should be fine. Will inspect with caution.”
He shakes his head and pockets the stone. “I actually came here to inspect Violet, since Teemo said she recently expanded. Looks like I might as well inspect you some, too. I didn’t expect you to expand, though, considering the…” he trails off as he tries to find a subtle way to put it, and instead decides to start a new train of thought. “That’s why the map is bigger now, right? Looking around to find that other dungeon?”
Fluffles nods, and I have him tap the expansion, then Rezlar’s home. Tarl frowns as he thinks for a few seconds, then seems to get the gist. “You want me to tell him about the expansion? You haven’t already?” Fluffles nods and shakes his head, respectively, in reply.
“Alright. From what I’ve heard, the dungeon isn’t in that direction. So why expand?” Fluffles just stares at him for a moment before Tarl shakes his head at himself. “A question for Teemo once he gets back, then.” He takes a moment to trace out the route to the Southwood with a finger, then shakes his head again. “Probably will be a while, too.” He changes his attention to Violet’s location and taps it, looking like he’s making a mental note, before turning his attention towards the cavern layer.
“I’d like to take a look over here before going down to Violet, if you don’t mind? The miners have said there’s a bunch of small stone nodes, and I’ve heard there are rare snake monsters?
Fluffles nods and motions for Tarl to follow, and the elf pulls out his stone once more. “Proceding to caverns to confirm reports of new nodes and new denizens.” He follows my Conduit in comfortable silence, and my snek seems to be pretty satisfied, too. It’s been a while since he’s had to step up for something like this, and I’d say he might have missed it. If he could talk, I might see if I could have him organize tours or something, but I don’t know how that could even work.
Maybe if I make a museum or something. Could be interesting. Or he could be a good escort for caravans or something to the various enclaves. I have no idea how we’re going to try to organize any kind of commerce at that kind of scale. It feels weird to just let caravans through without a few tests, but I also don’t want to mess with the trade of my enclaves. Probably something else to talk about soon.
It doesn’t take Tarl long to examine the various little stone nodes. “Can confirm variety of stone nodes, though inspector lacks the qualifications to tell precisely what each node is. May require a contractor to provide official appraisal of nodes, but no true reason to suspect error in the initial reports for what the nodes contain. Will now attempt to verify new denizen reports.”
He lowers the stone and looks to the Conduit-turned guide. “He has some kind of new snake?” Fluffles nods and leads the way once more, and I make sure the nearest Jacob’s Ladder snake is prepared to play nice.
Tarl’s eyes widen as he sees it. He draws his daggers immediately, though his tension slowly drains as the snake calmly observes him. After a few more seconds, he sags in relief and sheathes his daggers, and pulls out the stone.
“Twinsnakes confirmed. While there are certainly ordinary ones around as well, there is an alchemically-enhanced version, too. Appears to have metallic scales and increased size…” he trails off as an arc of electricity travels up between the two heads.
“...as well as lightning affinity. Designating Arcsnake. Level too high for inspector to safely challenge solo, recommend for seasoned groups only. Others should take care to avoid.”
He lowers the stone and gives Fluffles an incredulous look. “The kids really handled one of those on their own?” At the nod, he simply keeps his incredulity apparent. “And how much did it hold back?”
Fluffles manages a shrug, and I can see Tarl adding another item to the list of things he wants to ask Teemo. Maybe he’ll even try to catch up to him on the trail soon. For now, he pockets the stone and lets Fluffles lead him to Violet.
“Confirm expansion for Violet. Appears to have gained mole and… shadow spirit spawners.” He watches a few of the gremlins, despite them doing their best to stay out of sight. “Appear to be gremlins already. Odd, will need to confer with Thedeim’s Voice when convenient, but not concerning. Unknown if new scions.”
He looks to Fluffles, who gives another snakey shrug, and I gently nudge Violet with a suggestion to show off her new scions, if she likes. I kept Queen a secret for a while, so I can’t really demand she put all her cards on the table. I can feel her thinking it over as Tarl wanders around, gathering as he goes. He takes a peek into her first room, too, and does a little gather in there as Violet comes to a decision: she’ll show him her scions.
Fluffles taps his shoulder to get his attention, and Tarl smiles as he spots the scions gathering. “Confirm centipede, mole, and gremlin scions. Also confirm… appears to be a true metalworks, rather than Thedeim’s simpler forges.” He eyes the metallic pieces attached to the legs of the centipede scion before continuing. “Centipede is Guardian, and is likely one of the scions will gain a title for the metalworks soon, too.”
As he makes his notes, I can feel Violet asking if she could test Tarl. Feels like her gremlin might want to follow in Rocky’s footsteps to be a boss. I do my best to gently dissuade her from that, at least for the moment. Her gremlin being a fighter is fine, but Tarl is strong enough that I don’t think she’d gain much from fighting him. She could probably test the kids the next time they show up, though.
She seems to accept that, and soon Tarl heads out with Fluffles to see the tubes. He immediately pulls out the stone once they enter them. “Fresh expansion, likely in the last day or two. Appear to be volcanic tubes of some variety, hence the designation on the map. Little actual volcanic activity apparent, judging by some very basic herbalism nodes,” he notes as they walk. He stops as he spots one of the ant nests.
“Interesting. Cinder ants. Speculate Thedeim will lean heavily into them, but too early to tell just yet. Only single small nest observed yet. Will continue inspection.” He notes a few more nests before he notices on of my new metal nodes. He brings the stone up slowly, as if sudden movement will somehow scare the node off.
“Mythril node,” he says solemnly, as if that’s all that needs to be said. I have Fluffles take him to an orichalcum node, too, and he just glares at my conduit once he spots the node.
“And orichalcum?!” He sighs and pulls out the stone. “Orichalcum node, too. At least that explains why the cinder ants. Thediem appears to be preparing to lean heavily into more advanced metals production, which means the local mining, smelting, and smithing guilds will be able to, too.”
He lowers the stone and gives Fluffles a flat look. “What’s the new denizen, then? And I can only assume scion, too. He’s not going to just give this away for free.”
Fluffles manages a smirk and motions for Tarl to follow, and leads him to the wyrm den. Tarl furrows his brows as he spots the hole in the wall, but it seems to take him a little longer than usual to figure out what he’s looking at. Once he does, he gives a short bark of a laugh, before bringing up the stone.
“Wyrm den in lava tubes, magma affinity, looks like. Will need proper protection to challenge for the new nodes.” He pauses to think. “Will need to confirm new invader. With rare metal nodes, invaders could be danger to delvers.”
Fluffles nods to that and leads Tarl deeper into the tubes, where he can see the wyrms, or at least the signs of their passage. He also spots a smear of soot on a wall, a sign of a piece of a fire elemental, and I see him frown at it as he stops. He seems to glare at it for a few moments, until Fluffles hisses to get his attention to keep following.
After a few more smears of soot, Tarl sighs and pull out the stone. “Signs of fire elemental invaders. Attempting to confirm,” he says, sounding very unhappy about it.
Fluffles tilts his head in curiosity, and conveys a bit of concern, too. Tarl waves him off and motions for him to keep leading. “No, they’re nothing actually concerning. I just don’t like them. They move all wrong,” he says, suppressing a shudder. At least I’m not the only one that doesn’t like them.
I help steer Fluffles towards one making its way up an adjacent tube, and I even see Nova stalking it. I gently nudge her to not get it just yet, and do my best to get the idea of a guest though the bond to her. The idea seems to be a bit confusing to her, but she accepts the direction.
In the tube, Fluffles grabs the elemental with his telekinesis, not needing to worry about how hot it is since he’s not actually touching it. Tarl eyes the floating blob warily as he speaks into the stone once more. “Fire elemental invaders confirmed. Shallow depths in the tubes may not need proper fire protection, but deeper will.”
His note done, I let Nova know she can eat the invader if she likes, which she does with gusto. Tarl shouts in surprise, losing grip of his recording stone as Nova bursts from the ceiling and eats the elemental in a single bite, before diving through the bottom of the tunnel.
Fluffles hisses in laughter at Tarl’s undignified response to my newest scion, and levitates the lost stone to the elf. He glares at my noodle, but his voice is the epitome of professionalism as he speaks into the stone.
“Wyrm Scion confirmed.”
Comments
SciGuy75
Thanks for the chapter! I look forward to the conversation between Tarl and the mayor, about Violet's expansion, the arcsnake, new metal nodes, and wyrms
BrokenLord321
I feel for Tarl I remember being much younger and the Tremors movies scaring me, imagining one pop out in front of me would make me jump.
Aqazix
Such a good noodle.
Blue Trooper
Just what I needed after a long and sad day. Perfectly written. Thank you!
