Chapter Three-Hundred Sixty

Busy busy busy.  I’m so glad I have my scions and my friends to help with all these projects.  Even with a list, I’m sure I’d forget some.  Arguably, I’m still forgetting to give Thing and Queen more details on the speaker project, but they’re busy, too.  I could try talking them out of working on the cathedral Sanctum, but I already know it’d be a waste of time.

That project is producing very smoothly now, too.  With the quartz thoroughly tested, it’s simple to grow and cut it as needed, with Thing and Queen adding their own enhancements and enchantments before shipping them off to be installed.  I even see a couple masons from the town helping out.  Apparently we got a few recruits there, too.  I probably shouldn’t be surprised, considering how much they like the lighthouse and the hold, but I still am.

Speaking of the lighthouse, Hullbreak is starting a project of his own, or rather, his dwellers are.  I don’t think he’s quite put the old disaster of the collapsed trade hall behind him, but he’s definitely taking steps in a good direction.  His dwellers are starting construction on a new pier and hall on the outskirts of his borders, and he’s helping them as he can.  He’s upgraded his seaslugs to produce a binder that works under the ocean.  I think concrete will still set under the sea, but I dunno if it takes a special formula or what.  Either way, the seaslugs will let his merfolk build a pier and hall that won’t collapse from a boat crashing into it.

He’s even made a small quarry in the clifface where his eels are putting the finishing touches on his own expansion.  The delvers have poked around a little, but Hullbreak isn’t as experienced with building around delvers, so I think the area is going to be mostly a surprise.  Lots of water puzzles and mixed encounters.  Hopefully his water temple won’t be a nightmare.

Violet’s project of cleaning up the sewers is just about done, too.  While sewers only get so clean, the place was a disaster without a dungeon like Violet to regulate everything.  She’s looking at her spawners, considering what upgrades to pursue, and experimenting with turning the waste into nutrients instead of straight to mana.  She’s given a few bags as loot to some of her delvers, and though they seemed confused about the reward, none seemed too disappointed in it.  We’ll probably have to wait for some herbalist or something to flip his lid over the new fertilizer.

Southwood is also wrapping up his project with the Rangers, now the nearest parts of the Green Sea are a bit more charted and tamed.  There’s probably going to be more stagnation to deal with eventually, but it’s easier to keep a garden weeded once you finish the first heavy pass.

His Bear writes pretty good reports, too.  Leo and Poe are a tough standard to match, but he’s got a good efficiency with writing and I think he has a good nose for trouble, too.  He thinks the weird invaders were like a wild field after the first rain of Spring; life popping up everywhere because the conditions were finally right, rather than fleeing a catastrophe.

I’m leaning toward that theory, though there’s a few little details that we’ll just have to keep an eye on and watch out for.  No matter how fertile the soil and fresh the rain, it still takes seeds to grow.  I think there’s more to the Green Sea than anyone knows yet, but we don’t have the resources to try to explore deeper.

My project with the Tree of Cycles and the Forest of Four Seasons is going great, too.  The spawners are probably ready for another round of upgrades, but I’m going to wait until there’s a few less irons in the fire.  It’ll also give the army and the adventurers a chance to catch up to the difficulty.  There’s only a couple groups who can get past the minibosses to reach the branches, and even they don’t tend to stick around for too long.

I’m glad the minibosses are doing the trick, too.  Most groups challenge them once or twice before finally understanding they need to head back and grind a bit.  Hopefully they won’t need to learn the hard way against other dungeons for what they can handle.  I also think the illusions and other trickery with more natural traps has been a good teacher for the delvers, too.  I get the feeling a lot of them are used to delving close enough to a town they don’t need to learn too much about plants and such.  But to get through the Forest, they need to know what to look for, both in terms of opportunities and dangers.

I should have Yvonne take a good look once she and the others return, see if I can do anything to help the Rangers with their own training.  From what I can gather, they do a lot of stuff with mana as well as the wildernes, but I’m not sure many of them have delved me.  Or they’re sneaky enough I don’t even notice.

And then, there’s of course, the Hold.  Miller’s fun with rooting out the moles seems like a huge success, and with the wyrms and rockslides in position, I’m feeling pretty good about having identified all the thieves guild agents.  For now, we’re trying to get an idea of what they want by seeing what they’re paying attention to, but that progress is a bit bumpier.

Tupul wasn’t kidding when he said the handlers wanted everything they can get their hands on, as far as information.  I wonder if even the handlers know what the grand scheme is.  Cappy’s infiltration of the main guild is going well, but even with all the information going in, there’s very little being sent back out.  Either they already know exactly what they want to do, and are keeping the gathering going to not rock the boat, or they’re getting information before actually making their move.

The thieves guild doesn’t exist by accident.  The leader is skilled and knows how to keep information close to her chest.  A plan unspoken is a plan unheard.  It’s frustrating to still be mostly in the dark about what they want to do, but at least I’m confident we’ll know the orders once they’re eventually given.

As for the actual work on the Hold, it’s going smoothly.  I would have expected the guild to maybe try to subtly sabotage something, but any slowdowns in the work or accidents seem to genuinely be because of their lack of actual skill at hauling and such, rather than deliberate malfeasance.  They’re not the only ones to occasionally make a mistake, so while the schedule is a little tight, the construction proceeds apace.  The first floor is finished with the rough mining, so now the detail work begins, which the masons are all too happy to get to.

The miners are expanding their work both up and down.  Upstairs from the main entrance is basically for entertaining guests and other temporary residents.  Even with it ‘empty’, once built, there’s going to be people in and out as they maintain the place.  There’s enough miners that the upstairs portion can’t actually hold them all, so they’re splitting up and tackling both at once.

The more experienced ones are headed up, since there’s going to be a lot of rooms to carve out.  The newer apprentices are getting the chance to prove themselves downstairs, where it’s going to be a bit more open for the next floor, planned to be a staging area for everyone if a sudden evacuation is to happen.  With the more open floorplan, if the apprentice miners dig a bit too far, it shouldn’t mess anything up.

And then there’s one last project I’m working on, though this one is a lot less stressful to plan.  Tarl is finally on his way back, and I’m looking forward to seeing the sarcastic elf once again.  He’s a good Inspector and just fun to have around.  Even more, Southwood says he’s going to be returning with Yvonne, Ragnar, and Aelara, who’ve been chasing stagnation with the Rangers.

With all of them coming back, I want to throw a welcome party!  My enclaves are fully into it, too, preparing food and drink to make a proper festival.  I even hear murmuring of them treating the festivities as a practice run for the dedication of the cathedral Sanctum.  I’d be fine with just quietly moving my core, but my dwellers are looking forward to a good party, and probably to get to see me again.  My Sanctum has been Secret from practically the beginning, with my dwellers only having a vague memory of the swirling orange depths of my spherical core.

Being at the center of attention is enough to make me wonder if I could get away with changing my mind, but that ship has kinda sailed.  Maybe don’t go through apotheosis if you don’t want attention, dummy.  Still, social anxiety aside, it’ll be good to let my dwellers celebrate.  They’ve been an inspiration to me, an encouragement to be the best me I can be.  I fall short a lot of times, but they make me want to keep getting back up and trying.

I’ll leave the bigger party to them to plan out, while I work on the reception for Tarl, Yvonne, Aelara, and Ragnar.  I don’t know exactly what it’s going to involve just yet, but I know I’m going to need a lot of birbs for this.  I wonder if Hullbreak will agree to lend me his gulls, and maybe the Quartermaster, too.  I can’t welcome Tarl back without a proper avian cacophony, and the volume should be proportional to the time of absence. He hasn’t seen the dire ravens yet, either.  That’s going to be fun.

I bet Teemo could even get Yvonne in on it.  I can just imagine the look on Tarl’s face when even she starts squawking at his return.