Dungeon Life

Chapter Sixty-Seven: Progress

I watch the terrible trio as they balance precariously on the salmon ladder bar. They still havent figured out they can do pull ups to raise it, so theyve been working on their terrible trio tower technique. Theyre actually at a point where they can all get on the bar, so now they just need to finish the maneuver and cling onto the ledge.

The three all take a deep breath and start counting to three together.

One says Mlynda, her eyes locked on the ledge thats currently out of her reach. She shifts her feet only slightly, confirming to herself that Vnarl has her properly in hand.

Two continues Vnarl, feeling a bit awkward as the center part of the tower, but hes the best suited for it.

Three! finishes Hark and they all three stand and start falling towards the ledge, and Mlynda manages to catch it this time!

I got it! she exclaims with excitement. She has her hands on the ledge and is clinging as best she can, but it will get a lot harder once they start the next part of the plan. Shell have to support Vnarl and Hark at the same time. It shouldnt be for too long, but its still going to be quite a strain.

Vnarl adjusts his grip on her feet as Hark carefully prepares himself. The elf speaks up one hes ready.

Let me know when to start, Mlynda!

She takes a few more breaths to calm herself, then tightens her grip on the ledge. Ready!

With that, Hark steps off the bar and the trio swing to the wall and hit with a dull thud. Its not too much of an impact, but they need to work quickly if they dont want to end up in the drink again. Hark quickly climes Vnarl and reaches the ledge. He transfers his weight there instead of on the troll, before climbing up. He grins in triumph at being on top, before turning and hauling up Vnarl. The troll gives Mlynda a shove to get her up onto the ledge before Hark gets him all the way up, the leader seeing the smallest member struggling to keep her grip.

As I thought, the cargo net conveyor barely slows them down. They take a few minutes to recover, before Vnarl goes and tests the cargo net. Once he sees it move, he just holds it and Hark and Mlynda climb up, and then they hold it for him.

They all just kinda stare at the wedge wall for a few moments before Mlynda voices whats on everyones mind. What are we supposed to do with that?!

Vnarl looks just as lost, but Hark squints as he gazes upward. I think we climb it.

Mlynda rolls her eyes as a bit of her venom from before seeps into her words. Oh really. How?

Hark doesnt rise to the barbs, and instead points at the wall. You wedge yourself in and climb up like that. Ive had to climb a few trees like that before. Here, watch. He steps forward and jumps at the wall, and splays his limbs as he gets inside, wedging himself in place. He wiggles a bit to get himself into a comfortable width for climbing, before looking over his shoulder with a grin. Then you just climb! He demonstrates, and the other two look impressed.

Mlynda goes next, and though she almost flubs the landing, she manages to keep herself from falling. It takes her a bit longer to get into a comfortable position, but she starts climbing. Hark helps her up as she nears the top, and I can see her arms are looking pretty weak. I dont think shell be getting back up there today.

Vnarl follows suit and wedges himself in, though hes lanky enough he has to climb using his elbows and knees, instead of his hands and feet. Before long, though, Hark hauls him up, and all three are sitting on top of the ledge, which is revealed to be yet another platform, though the challenge is different than theyve seen before. Theres no handholds or weird walls or other things that would fit with the other challenges. Instead, there are two large pots, and an obvious pressure plate. One pot sits on either side of the plate, with the pots labeled three and five, with the plate between labeled with a four. Additionally, in the wall, is a little fountain.

Im actually a bit proud of this puzzle, even if I did steal it from Die Hard. Using the two jugs, put four gallons of water on the plate. Mechanically, its a modified flood trap. If they dont put the correct weight on the plate, water will push them all off the platform and into the drink once more.

The three look around, wondering if theyve missed anything, and Hark speaks up first.

Wheres the four jar?

Mlynda frowns. Well, its not here. I dont think there were any pots at the previous obstacles, either. She looks back the way they came, but the position makes it difficult to see much.

Vnarl thinks as well and shakes his head. I dont remember one either. Maybe its hidden in the water? Hark looks in the fountain and shakes his head as well.

Not in here, unless you meant the water down there? he asks, pointing over the edge.

If we go looking, well need to do it all at once, points out Mlynda, and none of them are especially eager to throw away their victory so soon. They spend a few minutes looking around, and even pick up the pots, but dont make the connection of what to do with them just yet. With no other ideas, they collectively sigh and dive into the water, and I let my mind wander to other things.

Honey has been getting a bit frustrated with the library. Shes got it cataloged and organized, but she is starving for more books to put in it. Shes been asking to be able to send expeditions to get more, but Ive been telling her no. I get the feeling something isnt translating through the empathic bond, though, because she keeps requesting.

I poke Teemo to go and talk to her, and its fun to watch him talk with Honey. The other scions make their various sounds which he seems to just hear as words, but bees dont really communicate with sounds. They either use pheromones or they dance. Im pretty sure she uses some pheromones, too, but she mostly dances to talk to Teemo, which I find to be just too adorable.

When he gets to the library, shes working in the hive, laying some new eggs for new workers, but hes able to get her attention easily enough. She comes out and dances for him. He says she and Queen call me the Emperor, and Teemo is my Emissary, and no matter how many times we try to get them to drop the formality, they refuse to.

The Boss wants to know why you keep asking about expeditions, despite him telling you no.

She dances and he translates after a few seconds. She says she doesnt want to go stealing books, but to get knowledge.

Ok, but how does she propose to do that? He relates my question, and she dances her answer back.

...She wants to write her own books from her own knowledge, gathered from expeditions.

Oh? Now that sounds like a good plan. Tell her to start coordinating with Poe and Leo for her bees to join their expeditions. I might send an aranea along with them, too. Theyre not the most dextrous, but they have facsimiles of fingers at least, and can make bags to bring back samples. Ill probably try to get them to offer trades of silk stuff for blank books, too. I have my notebooks, but I dont think I can just make blank books for her to use in the library. Does she have anything in specific she wants to study?

He chuckles at her response. Shes very interested in plants, but she says she wants to gather pollen from all the flowers of knowledge.

Hmm. I wonder if I should try to teach her what I remember about math? Algebra is pretty simple, all things considered, but theres also a lot of stuff that I dont know what the function actually is. Trigonometry is all about sin, cos, and tan, but I dont think Ive ever had to actually try to do those functions without a calculator. In fact how do you even do a square root? I can work backwards and guess, but that feels awkward.

Well, shes a clever bee. Maybe she can derive that stuff?

Honey

The Emperor is wise and possesses an endless garden of knowledge! The Emissary speaks of things of such wonder, and Honey only wishes she could ask her Emperor her questions directly! Even if she has to respawn a thousand times, the pain would be worth it for the knowledge!

Though the Emperor also trusts her to find knowledge herself. He is willing to share some, but there is so much for her to learn on her own! Thats why she had kept requesting to have her workers join the expeditions. There are so many plants and creatures to discover and learn about! The Emperor had been wanting his scions to expand their aspects, after all, and she thinks this is her best option.

She sends workers to communicate with the Marshal and the Warden. They each have their duties to attend, but perhaps later that night she can ask about joining them, as well as about having an aranea along, too.

She still feels a sense of horror when she thinks of them. No, not because they are arachnids, nor that they can be simply unpleasant to look at. No, her sense of horror comes from their senses of spelling and grammar! At least shes been able to get through the thick chitin of their heads the fundamentals of writing. They still prefer three-word do-the-thing style of signage, but they now do so properly, and so dont insult the Emperor.

She doesnt dwell on that thought for long, though. No, she still has eggs to lay and plans to make. She has a few ledgers and such she can write in. Perhaps she can make a proper presentation to the Marshal and Warden? The Emperor had managed to gift her with a flash of a bearer of knowledge projecting an illusion to help illustrate their points, writing and pictures created on a large curtain for all to see, rather than the smaller print of an individual book.

Could her aspect allow her to do that? Perhaps. She idly flexes her magic as she works and plans, following in her Emperors footsteps and delegating what can be delegated as she works towards her goals.