The Bee Dungeon

PONon-Bee 371.2 - Bee-orienting the Forces

After the battle, Wardmaster Varilold said she was going to rearrange the Compact’s forces so they wouldn’t have to retreat as easily next time. Belissar, meanwhile, decided to start preparing for Tower Guards to surrender, if they ultimately chose to do so. He discussed with his advisors and allies various ways to handle it before settling on a simple idea.

If the risk was that the Tower Guard would pretend to surrender in order to get around his defenses...then he wouldn’t let them. He added a new, empty Flower Meadow to the first floor and placed it to the side of the Abyssal Trench...with an environmental seal over the entrance, of course. It was not connected to any other room on the first floor, so anyone within it could only go back to the Abyssal Trench.

Belissar then went to place a shortcut between the new Flower Meadow and the Hall of Purification...and found he couldn’t place it by any of the Tower Guards there or on any of the structures they had built. But Belissar found he could place it by the statues of the gods, so he put it by the God of Light’s statue. He currently set it to be both hidden and forbidden to all outsiders, he’d just change it if and when the Tower Guards surrendered.

He was sure Wardmaster Varilold would be able to make better preparations, but now, even without any wards, any surrendering Tower Guards could be safely kept in the new room. They’d be separated from the rest of Starami’s army, but still in front of Belissar’s defenses where they could do no harm. Belissar was now ready for them to make their move.

As he finished, though, the hive of hives called for his attention. It turned out the Tower Guards were not the first to make a move after all...

While Belissar was working, Wardmaster Varilold gathered Duke Turuhave and Dungeon Master Nenavann and proposed a redeployment of the Compact’s forces. So far, she had prevented the Circle from deploying monsters from their dungeons for fear of emergency purifications while their defenses were weakened...though she had permitted them adding new monsters like Tarwantrad growing new monster seeds or Hesfalle raising the enemy’s corpses.

However, the recent battle made it clear the Compact couldn’t confront Starami’s army directly without taking casualties, casualties they could ill-afford. His power, as well as that of the dragon that Captain Karpakynne and her bee companion had yet to bring down, was great enough to constrain their actions, restricting their ability to do much besides some light harassment and waiting inside the Tower.

And while the fair folk had always preferred indirect combat, Wardmaster Varilold came up with a new plan to resolve the issue: swapping out the fair folk for their monsters. If she had the Silver Host, the battle wardens, and the other warriors of the Compact take up the defense of Nenavann’s dungeon, the dungeon master would be free to deploy his monsters to the field. And while Nenavann had no intention of sending his monsters to die needlessly...some casualties during defense had always been a given among the Circle’s defenders. Nenavann had built a dungeon of the sea and knew full well that life among sea creatures could be bloody and brutal, death was no stranger to his dungeon even outside of purifications. Deaths that would be replaced with new life should they occur, something that could not be said for the Compact’s army.

Duke Turuhave was not enthusiastic, protesting that the Silver Host would be greatly displeased if they were withdrawn from the frontline after immediately retreating the moment they met the enemy. But Wardmaster Varilold would not be moved, she could not fight the battle if she could not risk the soldiers under her command. She managed to convince him after agreeing to allow at least some of the Silver Host to continue fighting the Tower Lord...and after Nenavann noted he was due for a purification soon that the Silver Host would be needed for.

So, the Compact spent the rest of the day reorganizing their forces. But as Wardmaster Varilold was in the midst of the reorganization, one of Tower Keeper Belissar’s communers began dancing in front of her.

“Fourth of the Seventh’s scouts felt lots of things moving through Underway!”

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Wardmaster Varilold slowly began to smile. It seemed that Queen Vanieskon’s reinforcements had finally arrived.

While Starami besieged the fey fortress on the surface, he placed the surviving members of Starami’s Claw officially in charge of the main camp. But in truth, Captain Auschias was running the mundane management side of things, Starami’s elites being preoccupied with recovering from their wounds or training their skills or doing anything other than work that the captain could be entrusted with. So, Captain Auschias was currently inspecting the perimeter along with a captain that he trusted...which coincidentally gave them a chance for a private conversation. He knew that Lord Starami could see and hear whatever his Tower Guard did...but that required their lord to pay attention to them at that particular time. Given that Lord Starami was currently leading an assault, Captain Auschias decided to take the risk that the Tower Lord wasn’t paying attention to him at the moment.

His fellow captain frowned after Captain Auschias told him his current intentions.

“Captain Auschias...are you certain about this? Couldn’t it be a trick by the fey?”

Captain Auschias nodded without hesitation.

“I believe guardsman Beroura. His conviction was firm and he had always been devoted to the gods. But that is not the only reason I’m considering this, if anything those boys just forced me to acknowledge what we already know. Tell me...do you think our lord has been himself lately?”

The other captain furrowed his brow.

“Well, the fey have gotten to all of us, especially the night before...”

Captain Auschias shook his head.

“I mean before that, Kamchitis. Lord Starami was always cold, but he was never wasteful. We knew that if he spent our lives, it was to achieve something. Now he is throwing us against a wall with scarcely a plan at all. He is starting to feel desperate and we are paying the price.”

Captain Kamchitis narrowed his eyes.

“We’ve had bloody campaigns before, Auschias. The strong rise, the weak fall, it is the way of our lord and our god. What you’re talking about is to become an oathbreaker, to betray both our lord and our god at once.”

Captain Auschias turned to look his fellow captain in the eyes.

“Unless Lord Starami betrayed the gods first.”

He pressed on while Captain Kamchitis blinked at his statement.

“Even before this battle began, can you honestly tell me you did not hesitate when our lord brought out that secret monster army from rooms that we didn’t know existed? That alone would have the High Council declare him a rogue Tower Lord to be subjugated immediately. Then he had us attack a High Councilor, the general of the Dragon Banner Army himself.”

Captain Kamchitis...glanced away.

“That’s...a rumor, right? A fey imposter...”

Captain Auschias’s gaze didn’t waver.

“Do you really believe that? I spoke with the guards who first confronted him in the healer’s tent...they all confirmed he had one of the Oracle of Light’s brooches. Do you believe the fey could imitate the God of Light’s power like that? And do you believe they could imitate the dragonfire that burned through our own draconic blessings?”

Captain Kamchitis had no answer. Captain Auschias gave him a moment to think before dropping his own conclusion.

“I’ll tell you what I believe. Lord Starami has turned his sword against the Conclave, the High Council, and even the gods. And so have we, so long as we continue to follow him blindly. We swore oaths to Lord Starami...but we swore oaths to the Conclave and the good of humanity as well. I will not see our lives spent in an act of betrayal against all that we stand for.”

Captain Kamchitis frowned, giving no response. Captain Auschias turned his attention back towards the tunnels. He had said his piece, it was now up to Kamchitis to decide for himself what he believed.

But as the two men marched, they heard a piercing shriek like metal scraping metal. It was duller this time, as if far in the distance, but both men still winced. Captain Kamchitis scowled.

“I thought those Hunger-bitten mages were supposed to quiet the surface barriers! The only loud one was supposed to be in the tunnel, they said, where the fey couldn’t trigger it without a direct approach!”

Captain Auschias, however, narrowed his eyes.

“No...that one wasn’t from the surface, Kamchitis.”

Both men looked in the direction of the alarm...which blared continuously this time, not the sporadic and irregular triggers the fey had subjected them to previously. Captain Kamchitis rubbed his chin.

“You’re right...that’s the way below, isn’t it? So...it’s coming from the supply camp?!”

Captain Auschias turned back towards the center of their main camp.

“We better start mobilizing the guard.”

Kamchitis nodded and both men started marching back, sending out pre-arranged bursts of mana to alert the troops.

“Do you think it’s an actual attack this time? Or are they harassing us even down there? How did they get past us?”

Captain Auschias’s expression turned grim.

“I don’t know. But that squad we sent to investigate the missing supply convoy...did they ever report back?”

Kamchitis’ eyes widened.

“They...didn’t. They should have by now. They’re late.”

Both men went silent...and picked up their pace. They had the sinking feeling that this one might not be another false alarm after all...