Chapter Three-Hundred Fifty-Nine

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The Bear

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The Southwood’s new scion thinks he’s doing rather well for himself, even if he’s not able to take things as easy as he’d prefer.  If he had his way, he’d be relaxing in or near a stream, idly munching on fish or tearing apart a log for some honey or ants.  But the Southwood made him for a reason, and though it’s a lot more work than he’d prefer, it’s at least not the imposition he had feared it would be.

He’s looking forward to the Stag coming back for more than a few days at a time, though.  Sure, Vanta needs guidance, but the delvers are descending on the Southwood like bees on a field of flowers.  Between the shortcut from Fourdock and the orcish tribes on the move, delving activity is the highest the Bear has ever seen.  Not that that says much, but he gets the feeling from the Southwood that even he’s impressed with the numbers so far for spring.

A big part of those numbers are the Rangers, which are quickly becoming the Bear’s personal favorite group of delvers.  The adventurer types don’t stick around, and the orcs are reliable in the warmer months, but the Rangers actually help with the Bear’s personal duties.  Any excuse to offload some of his work is a welcome one, and the Rangers are very good at their jobs.

He sits heavily in the cave he took over once Leo and Honey finished helping the Southwood, glad to have the map and vague organization to follow.  If he had to try to figure out something like that on his own, he’d have never managed.  But seeing the grid they made, it’s not hard to expand it, and to keep the system at least roughly in place.

He can’t help but reminisce as he looks over the map, remembering the reason he was created.  The Southwood had a lot of strange invaders over the fall and winter.  At first, it was simply a grand variety, but when the least started showing up, the dungeon grew concerned and asked for some help.  That help eventually lead to the conflict with the Maw, and with the Bear’s creation.  He’s glad he was occupied with the home front, rather than actual combat.  While he’s pretty confident he could handle his own, a fight just seems like such a hassle.

Once things settled down, the Southwood gave the Bear his purpose: to manage expeditions and figure out why the invaders were so unusual.  The Southwood and the Stag think the invaders were effectively fleeing the influence of the Maw and the Harbinger, like wildlife before a fire.  The Bear isn’t so sure.

And with the reports from the Rangers, he’s slowly coming to a different conclusion.  The Stag had been in charge of expeditions before the Bear was made… along with being in charge of practically everything else.  No wonder he was so uptight.  All that stuff to do, no time to relax?  Anyone would get unhappy.  But the Bear refuses to accept that the Stag could be so bad at running expeditions that he’d let the nearest reaches of the Green Sea get overrun with so many stagnant snarls.

No, the Bear thinks they’re all relatively new, only formed after the Southwood had to hunker down.  He doesn’t think they were fleeing a forest fire, he thinks they were a population boom after a perfect spring.  The Maw was supposedly messing with stagnant mana, thanks to the Harbinger.  If it was somehow stagnating instead of helping with the flow of mana, it could have made the area a hotbed for snarls.

The Maw was to the north, if deep under the ground, and the snarls are to the north.  It’d be a simple answer, and he does like simple answers.  Still, he’ll need to keep an eye out to see if more tangles of stagnation appear to the north.  A couple would be fine, but if they keep appearing at the rate it seems they must have, there could be something else to worry about.

But that can come later.  For now, the map is all but cleared of the snarls, and what few remain are being dealt with as he sits.  He loves the quest system.  He can give the Rangers a quest, earn the Southwood mana, and he doesn’t even need to leave this cave if he doesn’t want to!  Well, aside from giving the quests, but that’s way easier than going out to deal with the things himself.

He should try to figure out how to make a quest station or something.  He’s heard Thedeim has a couple places for that, but he doesn’t know how it works.  He’ll need the Stag to ask, unless Teemo comes by.  Though considering the maintenance needed for the shortcuts to Fourdock and the one to Silvervein, he might not have to wait all that long.

As he considers the viability of scratching quests into trees, he feels the Southwood direct his attention to a delver who’s just entered from the Silvervein shortcut.  It’s not an order to do anything, which is still odd to the Bear, but he’s not doing anything else important.  Why not go greet the Inspector?

It takes him longer than the Stag would, he’s not nearly as fleet, but he feels he makes pretty good time.  He does have the time to wonder why the Stag didn’t come with him, however.  Maybe the Inspector will explain.  He lumbers into view of the elf, who stops walking and gives the Bear a formal bow.  He lumbers closer and snorts in the elf’s face before sitting back on his rear.  The Stag might be one for formality, but the Bear doesn’t have the energy for it.

The Inspector laughs at the welcome and straightens himself before speaking.  “Not one for formality like the Stag, eh?”  The Bear shakes his head.  “Fair enough.  Even the Stag is mellowing about it lately.”  The Bear lazily waves a paw at the space beside the elf, giving him a curious look as he does so, and is glad to see the Inspector is able to guess his meaning.

“Ah, he’s still with Vanta right now.  The Dungeoneers finally sent a proper guildmaster and inspector for the area, and the Stag wanted to help Vanta understand why he’ll be seeing less of me.  Oh, and you’re going to be under their jurisdiction going forward.  I’ll probably still be visiting and delving, though.  The Southwood’s a lot of space for a new Inspector to handle on his own.”

The Bear exhales at the news the Stag will be delayed more.  He wants to leave the delvers to him again.  He doesn’t hate dealing with them, but being able to talk with them would make things so much simpler.

“Do you know when the Rangers are returning to Fourdock?  I was hoping to travel back with Yvonne and her group, if they haven’t already left.”  As far as he knows, they’re still camped out, and he can feel the Southwood highlight Yvonne’s presence in his awareness.  Still no order, but it’s pretty clear the dungeon wants him to help the Inspector meet up with his friend.

He shrugs and gets to his feet, giving the elf a grunt to follow as he leads the way to the Ranger encampment.  The Inspector doesn’t try to make small talk, which is a relief.  Growls and gestures can only do so much, and they’re annoying to do while trying to walk.

He notes the archers in the trees, and notes that the elf notices them, too.  He’s not a good Inspector for nothing.  The Bear could probably head back to his cave now, but instead opts to lead him right to the birdwoman.  He’s not especially busy, and maybe he’ll get them to tell him a bit more about the snarls or about Thedeim.  Maybe he can even manage to ask them about the quests Thedeim gives out.

Either way, the Inspector spots his friend hanging out with the rest of her party by their tents, and hurries on ahead while the Bear continues at his own pace.  He can hear them just fine as they greet each other.

“Tarl!  It’s been a while!” greets Yvonne, with Ragnar and Aelara echoing her sentiment.

“It has been, hasn’t it?  We’ve both been pretty busy over the winter and spring,” admits Tarl, with the Bear snorting at the understatement.

“How goes setting up the guild in Silvervein?” asks Aelara while Ragnar eyes the Bear like he’s considering challenging him to arm wrestling.  He’s not opposed to the idea.

“Essentially finished.  The Guild’s people finally arrived and they’re going to be taking over for Vanta and also the Southwood.  I’m sure they’ll still want my help at least with inspecting Southwood.  It’s a lot of ground to cover.  How about you guys?  I’ve heard the Green Sea is a lot messier than it should be?”

Yvonne nods.  “Yes.  The Rangers are still looking into the cause of so many snarls, but the explored reaches of the Green Sea forest are looking much better now.”  The Bear grunts and nods his agreement as he takes a seat.

“Ah, that’s good to hear.  So are you three headed back soon then?”

Yvonne shrugs.  “Possibly.  The known snarls are all accounted for.  We’re staying to make sure the ones sent all return.  Once we know everything is actually handled, there’s no reason for us not to return.”

Aelara nods.  “It’ll be nice to have a proper shower again.  The Rangers have far more amenities than an ordinary campsite, but…”

“It’s still a campsite,” finishes Tarl with a smirk.  “I know what you mean.  I don’t mind camping, but the amount I have to do to delve the Southwood makes me glad I don’t need to inspect him more than twice a year.  Would you mind terribly if I stuck around until you head back?  I wanted to ask more about what the Rangers know of mana flows, if you don’t mind.”

Yvonne smiles.  “I don’t mind at all, if you don’t mind getting dragged along with us if any snarls need our attention.”

Tarl nods.  “That’s fine by me.  It’d give me a chance to watch you work again.  If you’re not busy, could we compare notes on mana now?  I’ve been tracking Vanta’s growth, and it looks fine by Dungeoneer standards, but it makes me curious how a young dungeon compares to a stagnant snarl.  I’d expect them to be opposites, but if the Maw really was somehow able to integrate one into a spawner, there’d need to be more to it.”

The hawkwoman nods and starts explaining, and the Bear settles in to listen.  He doesn’t get a chance to ask about setting up a quest-giving area, but he does end up with a better understanding of mana flows.  He’s not sure if the Southwood knew everything already, but he doesn’t interrupt until after the elf turns in for the night.

At the least, it’ll make it easier to track down any other snarls, possibly even before they have a chance to properly form.  He returns to his cave to look at the flows, not caring that to the outside observer, he appears to be a diligent Marshal.  He’s lazy and he knows it, but lazy and efficient both reduce the work done, and only one gets you yelled at.