Dungeon Life

Chapter Thirty-Five: Adjusting Normalcy

So, this last week has somehow managed to be both interesting and kinda boring at the same time. I dont mind some boring after all the excitement with Neverrest, but still!

My new scions have been adjusting and growing into their new niches. Honey has started slowly working on organizing the library, and I do mean slowly. It takes a ton of bees to move a book, and it takes her a while to read it to know where it should go. Im not sure if I should be surprised that she can read or not.

I gave her what vagueness I could remember of the dewey decimal system, and shes been working on it. Aranya sometimes goes in there just to watch her work, too, when shes not busy.

Thing has picked up at least the rudiments of enchantment, and it looks like most of the application for me is in trapmaking. No wonder Neverrest had so many traps. I had been avoiding the things a lot since all I had access to were either so minor that the mana gain didnt make much difference, or potentially lethal.

Magical traps seem to be a lot more versatile. The first trap hes managed to make is a slowing trap, which is very helpful around the entrances in the tunnels. He takes a crystal, a bit of honeycomb, a ball of web, wiggles his fingers around, and I have a little slowness trap. I can get behind traps like this. Jello loves them, too. Shes taken to wandering from entrance to entrance to catch whatevers been slowed. I hope Thing figures out an entangling trap, or something similar. Thatd be even better for Jello.

Grim seems to enjoy tending to the graveyard, and Ive even seen him coming over to the yard around the house to keep the lawn a bit more managed. The Enclave ratlings have been gathering the cuttings, too, to feed their little mushroom farm, and weave a few rough little baskets.

Aranyas been spending a lot of her time in there with them the last week. Her eyes seemed to light up when she noticed the Enclave, too, and shes been trying to help them get their society started.

Yeah, a society. Theyve been changing a lot over the week. Theyre still listed as Ratlings, but the Advancement bars are almost full. I bet theyll get a different name once it does. They only have a passing resemblance to the ratlings anymore.

Theyve also started wearing clothing. Its a lot rougher than what I made for Aranya and Yvonne, and they seem to have used a bit of the grass cuttings as reinforcement and/or decoration. It keeps their modesty, at least.

Theyve even gone on a few small expeditions on their own, and returned with some dead critters from deeper in the caverns. My little ratlings are getting along just fine, it seems, and I think I have Aranya to thank for that.

As for my other Resident well, she hasnt been around very much the last week. She comes back in to rest, changing into the silk robe and such once in the secret base, and gives Aranya her reading lesson for the night, and is off again in the morning. She doesnt sleep, though. The first night she tried, but after tossing and turning for over an hour, she got up and wandered. I get the feeling that she cant sleep anymore. Shes taken to helping Honey organize the library instead, which seems to help clear her mind. I hope she can get some more hobbies eventually. The library wont be able to keep her forever.

Shes also mentioned that most of the quests shes been getting have been from various mages and clerics in the city, wanting to study her. Its apparently been a bit awkward, but she wants information as much as they do.

She seems to be almost stuck in the state she died in, which makes her a pretty intact corpse. From Things studying, it seems Lifedrinking basically just sucks the hp out of someone. Since Aelara and the ants healed her as well as they could, shes in as good a condition as shes ever been.

Shes also not breaking down like most undead do, which is weird. I think its because of the upkeep I pay in mana. The experts say shes been suffused with different energy than what powers other undead. They even did a little test with a pinprick and healing spells.

That would have hurt a normal undead, but she said it felt a lot like getting healed before she ever became undead. There was a lot of technical talk that she didnt understand, but she was at least able to get them to stop nerding out long enough to tell her that shes in no danger of becoming a rotting walking corpse.

Her mind also seems to be unaffected, which makes both of us relieved. She doesnt want to lose herself, and I dont want to have done something like that to her. Its still something to keep quiet, though. Nobody wants to learn theres an intelligent undead walking around. Thats the kind of thing that draws crowds with torches and pitchforks.