Chapter One-Hundred Forty-Five

When someone asks if you’re a god, you say yes, right?  Not to argue with Winston’s wisdom, but there’s some valuable context to keep in mind.  If you’re staring down a 7-foot tall freakshow flanked by monster dogs and a weird extra-dimensional pyramid/staircase behind them, probably a good time to build yourself up, maybe avoid having to fight a giant mascot.

But when you’re sitting at someone’s table, someone who is a bit prone to overreacting, maybe go with some more humility.  It’s kinda hard to just say no, though, with my High Priestess sitting at his left.  It’d ring a bit hollow, even if I don’t think I actually have anything to do with her magic?  At least no drain that I’ve noticed.  I may or may not have been trying to not think too hard about it.

Teemo also seems to be uncertain how to respond.  Thankfully for the both of us, or all three of us if you count Rezlar, Aranya speaks up smoothly.

“It wasn’t important at the time.”

“How is something like that not important?!” exclaims Rezlar, avoiding a screech only by not being particularly loud about it.

Aranya sighs and looks Rezlar in the eyes.  “Because Lord Thedeim doesn’t like to throw His divinity around.  He could have chosen Tiny or Fluffles to be His voice, to present an imposing or majestic front to those He interacts with.  Instead, He chose Teemo.”  She gestures at my Voice, who gives her a flat look.

“Thanks, Aranya,” he says, dripping with sarcasm, though the twitch of a smile at his lips shows it for the act it is.

The kobold smiles.  “Any time, Teemo.  I fully agree with Lord Thedeim’s choice, too.  Fools look and see just a rat, even a rat that talks, and assume Lord Thedeim is simple or weak.  But just like you, He has hidden strength.”

She shakes her head and turns her focus back to Rezlar, who is looking pretty lost.  “Sorry, sidetracked.  The point is that you engaged with Teemo like a person, instead of as some jumped up noble talking to a rodent.  How you treat the least is a show of how a person is.”

Rezlar fidgets in his seat for a few moments before Teemo steers the conversation towards the actual reason we’re here.

“You two can talk theology later if you want, but the Boss wanted to keep Rezlar informed on what he’s doing.”

The elf continues to look uncomfortable, but at least he looks like he’s in familiar uncomfortability.  “What is he doing?  I understand Hullbreak just had an inspection, did something go wrong…?”

Teemo shakes his head as a salad is brought out for each person, including a smaller version for him.  “That seems to be going as well as can be hoped.  Delvers can delve there again, but should take it slow and not push things.  Mostly, they’ll be fishing.”

Rezlar looks relieved at that, though only momentarily.  “Then… what else?  Has he learned something of what’s bothering the Southwood?”

“Nah, but he has sent Leo and Honey to go investigate and secure the supply line for actual support.  I’ll probably be going that way fairly soon, too, to make shortcuts.  What the Boss needs to talk about is… well, about the depths.  The deeper tunnels and caves, where Aranya came from.

“See, there’s other dungeons down there, not a shocker, right?  Well, they don’t seem to treat kobolds right, or anyone for that matter.  Her old dungeon would sacrifice kobolds and whatever else the local town there could get their hands on.”

Rezlar looks horrified at the idea, and even Miller looks displeased, but neither interrupts as Teemo continues.

“As you can imagine, the Boss doesn’t like that.  We don’t know exactly where this dungeon is, but the Boss figures he should let you know he’s probably going to be picking a fight with a dungeon that actually has its act together.”

“Does he know when?” asks the mayor, his concern shoving aside is unease for the moment.

“Not yet,” admits my Voice, shaking his head.  “Like I said: we don’t know where it is.  Aranya crossed the underswamps to get to the Boss, but before that, she basically wandered without knowing where she was going.  We’ll keep you informed, though.  There’s a settlement of pale elves and pale dwarves, too, so just trying to sneak in and go for a decapitating strike is probably off the table.”

Rezlar thinks for a few moments, before looking to his ‘butler’.  “What do you think, Miller?”

He bows before answering.  “I think it will be a most delicate situation, young master, but not one that can just be left to continue.  My humble advice would be to try to expedite the construction of the hold in the mountain as much as possible, and perhaps offer quests to gather materials in Thedeim.  Having a stockpile for the spring will make the excavation and construction go quicker, and if I understand dungeons correctly, it will help Thedeim have the resources to prosecute his war in the depths.”

Rezlar perks up, his eyes bright as he seems to feel much more comfortable with logistics and planning than in dealing with people.  “Ah, excellent idea, Miller!  Teemo, does Thedeim have the kinds of nodes we’d need for something like this?”

I take a moment to consider my nodes, and what would be useful for a vault, or a hold, or whatever you want to call what amounts to a panic room big enough for an entire town.  I have plenty of metal, and Violet can even get in on the fun once she upgrades her own.  She’ll probably need to expand again to be able to provide the kind of volume they’ll want, but every bit helps.

Timber is probably going to be a big deal.  I’ll probably see about removing some of the hedge walls around a few of the wood nodes and let them atrophy a bit.  Right now, they’re fancy wood that seems to be used for crafts and maybe furniture.  The difficulty of getting to them helps make them easy to rank up and maintain at that level.  If they need beams and stuff, though, I don’t want Tiny chasing them through the maze the entire time.  I can probably aim for some volume upgrades, instead of value, once they’re free of the maze.

My various stone nodes are similarly more focussed towards value than volume, but the caverns should have easily enough room for me to expand one into a true quarry.  I’ll just need to ask what stone they need.  I’d think granite for strength… or we could do like the Romans do and try some cement… concrete?  I always forget the technical difference, but we should be able to grind limestone, add gravel and water, and make something good.  I think volcanic ash is also a part of it, but normal ash might work?  Sounds like something for my ratlings and maybe even Queen to experiment with.  Honey is going to be sad she missed this.

For food… I don’t think I have much.  My herbalism nodes are more for alchemy and enchanting than cooking, I think.  People can cook some of my denizens, but I don’t think most of them are very good eating.  We did just get Hullbreak set up for fishing, though.  I have no idea how edible the fish are, but they sure look like mostly-normal fish to me.

I nod to myself and Teemo speaks up.  “Between him, Violet, and Hullbreak, the Boss thinks he can provide a lot of supplies for this.  He and Violet have metal nodes, he can adjust the maze to make some of the lumber nodes more accessible, Hullbreak has fish and Violet has bunnies for food… and the Boss has a weird liquid rock idea.”

The others gathered all look curious about that, but I’m more mentally patting Teemo on the back for remembering Violet’s bunnies as another source of food.

Aranya eventually breaks the silence, as Teemo is refusing to elaborate without someone asking.  “Liquid rock?”

“Yeah.  The Boss says you crush limestone, mix with gravel and maybe ash, then add water until you make a thick mud.  Once it dries, it’s supposed to be incredibly strong, and since it starts out liquid, you can shape and apply it easily.”

“Is it really that simple?” asks Rezlar, to which Teemo shrugs.

“The Boss says there’s probably more to it, but ground limestone and gravel are the two big parts.  He’ll test on his own to see if there’s anything else, and if you can give him a few samples of the stone that would normally be used, it’d help him have a goal to beat.  If he can get it to work, it has uses beyond just making holds.”

Aranya and Miller both look politely interested, but Rezlar looks almost enthralled by the idea.  I’d bet he’s learned more than just a little about infrastructure and how much of a pain it is to actually make big projects.  If nobody has been able to make actual concrete here, it’ll be a quantum leap forward for cities.  Stone and mortar can only do so much, can only last so long.  Literal magic has to help a lot, but I seriously doubt it comes cheap.  But a proper concrete is why Roman stuff is still around on Earth, and is arguably one of the big reasons they were so successful.  A good army will get you land, but things like concrete improves the lives of people, and so lets you keep it.

And it looks like Rezlar understands that.  While the topics drift to more ordinary things as they all start to eat, I get the feeling Rezlar is chewing on that idea more than he is the food.  I wonder what he’s imagining making, and just how much he’s underestimating what it can do.