The Bee Dungeon

Chapter 97: Bee Decisive

Chapter 97: Bee Decisive

The day went on. Belissar occupied himself by watching the karnuq expedition. They made their way down the tunnel until it opened into a much larger tunnel, complete with stalactites, stalagmites, and pillars. A full-on river flowed down the center with mushrooms and even mosses growing along its banks.

The karnuq stuck in a group and advanced slowly down the hall. Metsaitti explained that they hadn’t gone past the tunnel leading to his Tower, so Metsaitti wanted to scout that way first and ensure the area was safe. He led the way with Noiggakuq right behind him, sniffing the air while the digging bee sent out her mana pulses. Metsaitti was very pleased to have the two of them on the trip.

They didn’t find anything of note before it was time for the daily purification and Belissar turned his attention away. The purification was just a pair of wolf-shades this time around. They stumbled their way through the first floor Dirt Tunnels. Belissar waited to see if they would fall into the Pit Traps…before remembering that he completely forgot to add any traps to the new room. He very quickly scrambled to move the Pit Traps and Sticky Honey Traps he left behind in the third floor’s Dirt Tunnels down to the room they would actually see use in.

And then he ran into a problem. The transparent Pit Trap turned red as he moved it close to the shades.

Corruption detected. Please purify corruption before installing features in affected areas.

Belissar frowned. The wolf-shades left a trail of Hunger wherever they went that wouldn’t vanish until they were purified, so it appeared Belissar would not be able to place any traps anywhere the shades had been. He groaned and then placed what traps he could at the exit of the room. Well, it was good to learn this now during the usual minor+ purifications he knew the bees could handle regardless, but he still felt worried and embarrassed to have forgotten something so obvious.

What followed was a surprisingly, frustratingly long time of waiting for the shades to stumble their way through the Dirt Tunnel maze before finally finding the exit. The soldier bee army stayed a bit out of the way of the entrance to the Flower Meadow, since the wolf-shades had their breath attack, and so the two wolf-shades rushed forward.

They were quickly caught in the traps and then the bees struck. The purification was handled with the hardest part being waiting for the shades to arrive. Belissar sighed and then moved the rest of the traps to the front of the Dirt Tunnels before moving to prepare for the victory celebration.

And then, it would finally be time to decide what to buy with his DP.

The First of the Fifth ordered her workers to begin transporting the usual victory feast, and then made her way over to the third floor Flower Meadow. The bumblebees were just returning to their burrows as the day came to a close. The two queens turned and flew towards her. They didn’t give any sort of greeting dance, just flew around her once and then hovered in front of her.

…she supposed that was supposed to be a greeting of some sorts.

“King is assembling queens to celebrate victory. Please follow.”

She figured that the King would want his newest bees there, too, but somehow doubted these newcomers were aware, seeing as the first one hadn’t shown up last night. The two bumblebee queens looked at her, and then started to fly around her rapidly.

“Yes, celebrating, but not here. Please stop and follow.”

Belissar grinned as he watched his bees celebrate, now joined by the two bumblebee queens. Both the Flower Meadow and Orchard queens had surrounded the two newcomers, curiously inspecting them while the bumblebee queens drank their fill of honey. He was very grateful to the First of the Fifth for remembering to bring them along.

The Tower was growing large enough he was starting to forget things. It was a good thing he had asked the First of the Fifth to help organize the Apiary queens after all.

In any case, soon the celebrations came to a close and the queens and Chief Rohsuak gathered around Belissar to see if he had anything to talk about. And tonight, he did.

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“So, I wanted to ask you all…is there anything you want? Or anything you think the Tower needs?”

The bees…mostly remained still. There were a few calls for more flowers, but that was about it. Eventually, one exclaimed that “King’s Tower best Tower” at which point they all just started repeating that dance while the two bumblebees just rapidly circled around him. Belissar chuckled and turned to Chief Rohsuak. She smiled and shook her head.

“I am certain we will have plenty of requests for you once we are more settled, but for now you have given us plenty. Please, do as you will, Sacred Den Master, and do not concern yourself with us.”

The bees danced their agreement with that settlement. Belissar frowned slightly but nodded.

“Ok then. I’ll be making a choice now, or maybe several.”

Well, it turned out he was making the choice anyways, so looked like he was going with his gut. So, he went about with the option he had thought about earlier, and chose a room feature choice. He wanted to see what other kind of traps or resources might be available, since he had rare and uncommon monsters and rooms, but common room features for the most part. Besides, he could afford up to three room feature choices for the price of one monster or room, so there should be a good chance he got something helpful. Alternatively, if he stuck with just one room feature, he should be able to afford a monster or room just a bit later.

And with that, it was time to see what he got!

Extra room feature choice purchased. One room feature choice now available.

Please select a room feature:

- Basic Resource Minerals (Rarity: Common, Type: Ground, Resource)

- Beeswax Candles (Rarity: Common, Type: Bee, Fire, Decoration)

- Grasping Vine (Rarity: Common, Type: Nature, Trap)

Belissar frowned. All common options, apparently. Which…probably made sense? They were called common, so it would make sense that they were common. But still…most of Belissar’s other choices had included at least one uncommon or rarer option, so it wasn’t unreasonable to be disappointed that everything was common, right? Especially when Belissar had chosen room features specifically to get an uncommon or better one…

He sighed and shook his head. Complaining about it now wouldn’t help, so he started to read out the descriptions for the bees and Chief Rohsuak.

Basic Resource Minerals

- Type: Ground, Resource

- Mana Upkeep: Depends on resource selected

- Description: A spot where useful mineral resources may be found and mined. Compatible minerals will depend on the Room. Existing compatible minerals may be converted to nodes.

Belissar could help but nod as he read the description. That option was a good one, common though it may be. All sorts of useful things could be found in the ground, after all. If they were lucky, either salt or iron would be extremely useful to the karnuq. He even caught a glimpse of Chief Rohsuak’s eyes light up as he read the description, though for now she held her tongue. And even in the worst case…even just gatherable stone would allow them to build significantly more enduring structures, and so significantly more enduring defenses. This option shouldn’t be a loss no matter what it gave.

On the other hand, though, it wouldn’t help his bees much in any way he could think of…unless they needed salt? Did they need salt? Belissar wasn’t sure. In any case, he had two more options to read.

Beeswax Candles

- Type: Bee, Fire, Decoration

- Mana Upkeep: 1(0 if wax is regularly provided)

- Description: A beeswax candle that provides light, and a bit of heat. Effects may vary if special wax types are provided.

…well, that one was pretty straightforward. Belissar guessed that the candles would basically keep burning, like how the Sticky Honey Traps could replenish themselves if honey wasn’t provided or how the Beehives could produce honeycomb even without any bees, which could be convenient. Maybe he could use them to light up the Dirt Tunnels so his non-digging bees could operate there?

On the other hand, he could easy make candles of his own and he had digging bees for the Dirt Tunnels, so none of that was strictly necessary, so he moved on to the final option.

Grasping Vine

- Type: Nature, Trap

- Mana Upkeep: 2

- Description: A vine that constricts upon being touched. May trip or restrain a target.

Well, that was another trap, for sure. But, if Belissar was honest, he didn’t see a point to this one for his Tower. After all, he already had Sticky Honey Traps to slow down an enemy and Pit Traps to trip them up. What could these vines do that those two traps couldn’t? He couldn’t think of much.

“What does everyone think of these?”

Belissar looked out across the queens, but they did not have any strong opinions this time. Chief Rohsuak just smiled at him. He stared at her until she chuckled.

“Well, if you must know my opinion…more resources are always appreciated.”

Belissar sighed, but nodded.

“Well, that’s what I was thinking too.”

Basic Resource Minerals selected.

That one wasn’t really a contest. Basic Resource Minerals were the only option that could provide something his Tower currently lacked. Neither candles nor vines were worth the thousand DP he had spent on this.

Which led Belissar to the next choice…should he buy more feature choices, or call it for the night?