The Bee Dungeon

In the end, the slime queen, swimming queen, and a newly evolved toxic queen wanted to move to the bog. The slime queen and swimming queen both loved the terrain itself, while the toxic queen grew interested once they began testing the vaporous hemlock. Belissar moved the swimming and slime beehouses to the bog and built a new one for the toxic queen near the hemlock, making the legs extra long to keep the structure dry.

Belissar smiled as he watched swimming bees dive in and out of the water while slime bees crawled along the bottom. His cooperation with the Circle was paying off after all, and this was only the beginning. With all the new bees, flowers, and rooms on the horizon, his Tower’s growth was about to explode. And with the karnuq receiving blessings, the Circle promising aid, and Chief Rohsuak negotiating an alliance with the sigmaka, his bees would soon have all the help they needed. He was feeling better and better about his chances when the Tower Lords finally returned. Yes, it was all going…

Warning! Corruption levels surging! Emergency purification required!n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Belissar had no time to act shocked, however, so he shouted across the Tower.

“Everyone, the Hunger is incoming! Get ready to fight!”

Belissar himself rushed to the mustering point by the Orchard’s wall of shortcuts. He clenched his teeth as he ran. This purification came at the worst possible time. Captains and Assassins were on the horizon but the bees hadn’t raised any just yet. There was all of one wax golem ready. He had only just made the bog and the bees hadn’t had the chance to spread the vaporous hemlock beyond the single node he placed. The Death room had barely been started.

And, worst of all…Chief Rohsuak and Metsaitti weren’t in the Tower.

Because Belissar had wanted to limit the scope of the alliance, Chief Rohsuak and Second Queen Berbiya had to spread out their negotiations over several days. They each needed time to report the others’ proposals to Belissar and King Ratuatapi before they could continue the discussion, so it couldn’t be helped. And, unfortunately, Chief Rohsuak was in one of those talks at this very moment, with Metsaitti as her escort.

So, there would be no big fireball this time if the incoming shade was more than the bee army could handle. Belissar would just have to hope that the preparations they had made would be enough.

At the very least, the bees were ready. The soldier bee army immediately ceased its training and assembled together. Two squads of lancers, a full squad of archers, and two squads of Beero’s battlecasters flew in their center. Paloiku, another one of the hunters, assembled the karnuq in Metsaitti’s place. They may not have had their chief or their best warrior, but they were still an impressive sight with the big metal shields Toivenaq had made, and they now had a full team of hunters with blessings including Tyhgak and Noigakkuq. Hirkolos arrived as well and gave Belissar a resolute nod.

And just in time as the Hunger began to coalesce in the first floor Dirt Tunnels. Belissar’s eyes widened.

Emergency purification begun. Remaining hostiles: 1.

A huge boar stepped out of the mist, growling as it stamped its hooves into the dirt. But unlike the one before, this one was coated with flames. The monster let out a roar before charging down the tunnel it could barely fit through. It barreled over the first pit trap with its size, relying on its bulk to push through the Sticky Honey Trap without slowing down. The flames slowly burned away the honey clinging to it.

The boar picked up impressive speed for a creature of its bulk as it barreled down the tunnels. The first digging soldier bee squad ambush failed as they misjudged the timing. The second attacked when the boar crashed into a corner and came to a halt. They grabbed onto its sides and began stinging, but were forced to let go as the boar slammed its body into one of the walls. They got some stings in, but the boar had not slown down in the slightest by the time it reached the end of the Dirt Tunnels.

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Belissar grimaced. This was exactly the situation he wanted assassins for…but they weren’t ready. They would have to make do. Pailoku hoisted her spear and saluted.

“We will stop it, Tower Keeper. We can gather up at the tunnel exit.”

But Belissar frowned and eventually shook his head.

“It’s as big as the one you fought before. Won’t it just toss you aside? You had to dodge the one before, right?”

Pailoku frowned.

“That’s…true, but that’s the best place for us to stop it. If we don’t fight there, it’ll get out into the open…”

Belissar shook his head again.

“If it does, the bees can attack it.”

Pailoku looked unsatisfied but she slowly saluted.

“As you command, Tower Keeper.”

And so, the boar burst out of the Dirt Tunnels’ exit hallway unopposed, emerging out onto the Lava Fields. The soldiers of the burning hives set upon it immediately, undeterred by its flames. The boar squealed and charged across the fields, undeterred by the bees in turn. The burning hives had a reasonable soldier force but hadn’t yet evolved lancers or archers. They got some stings in, but the boar again ignored them and soon was charging at speeds the bees couldn’t keep up with. Boulders from the mini-volcano crashed down around it. One nearly struck, landing right by the monster’s left. It staggered to the right but kept up its charge.

The boar was soon through, remaining at top speed as it charged into the first floor’s Fairy Grove. The first test of the room’s capabilities.

At first, the room didn’t seem to slow the boar down at all. It charged forward straight into the brush, trampling bushes, knocking over trees, and leaving black flames on every plant it touched. But as it did, a gust of wind began to blow through the grove. A tree seemed to shift to the right, knocking against the boar’s side and pushing it slight to the left. The ground shifted; a slight depression drew the boar further in that direction. Roots knocked against the monster’s right hooves, forcing them to shift left as well.

By the time the shade was a quarter way through the room, it had veered to the left, running straight for the side wall.

Straight for one of the fairy circles. The twisting ball of mana began to hiss and bubble as the shade approached, brown and blue light began to stain its rainbow hue. The ground beneath it began to rise and break.

The shade stamped right on top of it…only for the ground to erupt beneath its feet as a huge plump of water knocked it a foot into the air. Water hissed as the boar’s fire cloak turned it to steam. The boar squealed and fell to the side. It quickly climbed back onto its feet.

But that single moment had been enough. Soldier bees hiding in the canopy dove down on its sides and back. Chromatic bees led Tyhgak’s squad through the brush, arrows and spears coated with stingers of mana stabbed into the monster’s side. The canopy above moved itself to the side, giving a clear view for a squad of archers overhead, who rained their stingers all along its back.

The boar squealed and charged randomly, swinging its head about as the fire surrounding it flared up. Soldier bees retreated from the flames while Tyhgak and Noigakkuq dove away from the monster’s tusks. It crashed its way through the forest once more, leaving the bees and karnuq behind.

But it was slower this time and the forest continued to drive it in circles. On the other hand, the karnuq and bees found their way clear, trails appearing before them as bush and branch seemed to move aside. They repeated the ambush twice more and the wounds mounted.

But then, the boar burst out into open ground. The Fairy Grove had spun it about in a circle and now it returned to a path it had already tread. Everywhere it had gone, trees and bushes had burnt to ash in corrupting flames, leaving the route unobstructed. The shade rushed down its former steps before turning back on its original trajectory. It left the karnuq in the dust, and now rushed forward in a rage, swinging flame coated tusks left and right as it stampeded forward. Bush and root and branch had no chance to knock it aside as they were swept, burnt, and crushed.

And the bees…let it. They fell back into the brush and the canopy and made their way towards the nearest shortcut.

Eventually, the shade found the exit and stormed through, squealing and swing its tusks all the while as it burst onto the battle meadow.

And was immediately struck by lightning stingers from two battlecaster squads.

The battle meadow queens had pulled their soldiers back from the fairy grove for they had done enough. They had provoked the shade and learned how it would respond to crisis. They had wounded and slowed it to speeds they could manage.

And so, they were ready for the final confrontation.

The shade was no longer faster enough to evade and squealed as lighting surged across it. Several shadows fell over its side before Hirkolos, riding his wyvern once more, flew with the bumblebee soldiers as they all crashed into the shade’s side. Their combined mass and speed succeed in tipping the boar over, knocking it into the ground.

And then the lancers came diving down.

All hostiles defeated. Emergency purification successful.