Peek: Water Temple

Hullbreak is glad his Voice has so many teeth to smile with. It almost does his happiness justice with the finishing touches on his cliffside expansion. He's finally charted the tides and how they work with his new territory, and with a few of his own attempts to do things differently like the Admiral, he's very happy with how it's turned out.

Designing the passages to fill and drain with the tides was one such attempt, but his pride is in coming up with floating chests. He may not have dedicated scions to create such intricate things, but he's experienced with navigating the options to customize what he has available. With that, he's created a chest that will naturally float, but not only that, the chests won't open unless they're on solid ground!

He had to make them naturally turn over when floating, but now he has them working perfectly. Once he made those, it was simple to design sinking chests as well, that will only open when fully submerged! Those, and a few other water traps, should have him enjoying his new expansion like the Admiral does his lava labyrinth!

He should probably wait for some of the lubbers to come delve it first, but he can't wait to see what the Admiral thinks! He pokes and prods at the bond, even earning the attention of the Southwood and his distant protege, so he knows the Admiral must have noticed.

He feels curiosity from the Admiral, then interest, then pride... and a hint of concern? Did he do something wrong? His happiness morphs to worry as he goes over the expansion, wondering what he could have missed. The Admiral doesn't demand he follow in his protection of the lubbers, but even then, the area should be fairly safe? If a lubber enters his domain in general without a water breathing potion of some variety, they're already in trouble, much less entering a maze.

Before he can get too caught up, he feels Admiral Thedeim trying to soothe the bond, and can tell he's dispatched Teemo to explain. That he's not upset is a relief, but Hullbreak is still concerned. He thought it would be a good thing! Isn't it just what the Admiral would have done?

He sits in the doldrums of his thoughts as he waits for Teemo, and is relieved once the Voice finally arrives. The ever-loyal First Mate is waiting for him.

"Teemo! Did the Captain do something wrong?" she asks, putting to words Hullbreaks fears. Fears that Teemo is quick to try to belay.

"Not at all. Boss really likes the way you guys have set up the flooding and draining, and the special chests are really cool."

"Then... why is he concerned about the area?"

Teemo chuckles, looking and sounding a lot less worried than Hullbreak. "Ah, how do I put this... the Boss has seem similar water features and puzzles before. He likes your take on them, but he also thinks you might have fallen into a pretty common trap with them. People might get stuck or get frustrated. But it shouldn't be a hard fix, at least. We'll give you some sleeping stuff for you to leave out so the delvers can signal when they're 'defeated'. Then you can just drag them out and probably tax an item or two like the Boss does."

Frustrated? Hullbreak looks over the puzzles, unsure how people could get frustrated or lost. He's being efficient with his space, hiding the answers in rooms the delvers have already gone through!

Teemo laughs. "Yep, trust me on this one, Hullbreak. You'll want to have some sleeping potion handy. It'll give you a bit of extra mana for 'defeating' delvers, and your chests will naturally tier up the longer they're out there."

While the tiering up of chests makes sense, as does the bonus mana for defeating delvers, Hullbreak still doesn't understand how the lubbers could get stuck. But he'll follow the Admiral's course on this one. He's shown, time and time again, to understand the lubbers better than he himself does.

"Thank you Teemo, Admiral. The Captain will do as you ask," relays the First Mate, happy to see the Captian's concerns were mostly a misunderstanding.

Teemo smiles at the great white. "Awesome. The Boss really is happy with the designs, too. He says fluid dynamics are tricky to get right, but look great when you do, and he thinks they look great. Keep up the good job!"

Hullbreak beams in pride at that, relieved his idea wasn't flawed at the core, but just needed a little adjustment to do what he wanted. It does make him wonder, though, if he and Violet should reveal her plans for the sewers sooner rather than later. He's been helping her with the designs. They had been wanting to surprise the Admiral with them once she's ready to put them into use, but maybe they should reveal it early?

While he's confident the lubbers will like his water maze and Violet's sewer section maze, the Admiral might have advice to give to his protege like his did for his Vassal.