Khenal

Peek: Old Staiven

Staiven happily moves around his alchemy lab, glad to finally be able to put it through its paces after what feels like decades.  Sure, he was able to shake the dust off when he tried to examine the so-called go-juice, but that didn't get him any interesting results.  This new concoction, though, is.  He just has no idea what these results actually mean, which is why he's a happy and busy ratkin.

He's met with Queen a couple times now, and each one has been an interesting...

Chapter One-Hundred Four

Is it Christmas morning?  Because it feels like Christmas morning.  I don’t see any presents, but I can still feel that kind of tension in the air.  I even make sure things are going smoothly for the two big potential problems, in case I’m reading this energy in the air wrong.

The scythemaws are… well, as behaved as I can hope for, really.  There’s definitely some magic involved in their reproduction, because I can see the ladies are full of eggs.  The m...

Chapter One Hundred Three

There’s something in the air today, but I can’t place what it is.  The bakery across the street isn’t making anything too special, as far as I can tell, though the delvers are of the opinion that everything there is special.  I wonder if the spiderkin are still wanting to try their hands at baking, once the maws clear out?

But whatever the situation is on my dwellers learning to bake, I can feel something in the air.  I’m pretty sure it’s not H...

Peek: Answers to Questions

Before I get started, I just want to take a quick moment to thank you all for reading and helping support me.  When I first started writing Dungeon Life, I wasn't even sure I'd post it anywhere.  Seeing the response has been almost overwhelming, and I hope to continue to tell the story until it's done.  Now, on to the questions.

Michael Schiff asks is all spawners have sentient things at the end, and what they all are.  Yes, they do, but I'm not going to l...

Chapter One-Hundred Two

I watch through Leo’s eyes as he explores the woods, looking for a good spot to set up his FOB.  It’s a bit of a grandiose name for what’s probably going to be a glorified hole in the ground.  There’s quite a few divots in the sides of hills, and hollows in some tree roots, but he hasn’t managed to find anything quite to his liking just yet.  That hasn’t stopped him from sending a few orders, though.

The latest batch of skeletons are to stay near the beach and...

Chapter One-Hundred One

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Leo

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Leo thinks as he prepares to go on his expedition.  This is the most important thing the Alpha has asked him to do, and is possibly the most important thing he’s asked any of his scions to do, and so the wolf wants to do the best job he possibly can.  He first checks with Poe to see if there’s any extra information he can get.

There is, but not much.  It’s mostly topography of the area, but...

Nudge: Q and A

For next sunday, I think I'll try answering various smaller questions people have.  I've seen a lot of nudge suggestions that would be interesting to answer, but I don't know if I'd be able to write a full peek for.  I'll keep looking at the other Nudges, and will probably make a fresh one next Sunday, but for this one: ask your questions!  I don't know if I'll be able to get to them all, but I'll get to as many as I can manage next Sunday.  Have a good week!

Khe...

Peek: Violet

The young dungeon wonders if life is usually this eventful.  She didn't get to experience very much time before her mentor showed up, and showed her how complicated existence can be.

At first, her mentor terrified her.  Even that rat scion of his could have easily subsumed her for him, but he didn't want to do that, which was one of the first strange things.  Being offered his mentorship was perhaps the second.

Thankfully, he doesn't seem to demand too much of her. ...

Chapter One Hundred

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Hullbreak Harbor, First Mate

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The great white prowls the waters, efficient movements seeming to be lazy with how easy they are for her.  She watches the Invader as it defiles her home and her Captain with its mere presence, but she takes her time lining up to charge.  The skeletons are slow and clumsy, but can still do a lot of damage if they manage to grab on.  She spots her chance and charges forward, and th...

Chapter Ninety-Nine

After they recover and get some people down to deal with the scythemaw body, it starts to feel like scythemaw mania is about finished.  Those three are considered pretty dang stronk and cautious, and if even they had to be bailed out of a hunt, it makes the other delver groups reconsider their options.

And speaking of delver groups: Aranya is officially part of the Adventurer’s Guild!  She’s been getting to know everyone there better, and hanging out with Ragnar a...

Peek: More Freddie

Freddie does his best to keep his nerves in check as the wolfkin leads him through the church.  It's made a bit easier by the curious and friendly looks of the various people going about their business.  Some are praying, some cleaning, there even seems to be a small group quietly chatting and joking.

He's lead through a door, down a hall, through another door, up some stairs, down some stairs, through a kitchen (where the cook passes him a sweet roll with a wink), until the w...

Chapter Ninety-Eight

Everyone stands around the dead scythemaw, trying to figure out the answer to Ragnar’s question: How will they get this thing out of here?  It’s too big and heavy for them to lift, and even if they manage to cut it into pieces, there’s still the matter of all the other scythemaws between them and my territory.

“Maybe a shortcut?” suggests Aelara, but the others don’t look too sure of that.

“Even if Teemo made one, we still wouldn’t be able to lift the...

Chapter Ninety-Seven

I let the Trio enjoy their loot and look back at Aranya and the others.  They’re still waiting, with Yvonne giving a bit of a play-by-play of the shifting hierarchy among the scythemaws.

Most seem to be more or less settled into their spots, but there’s one that seems a prime candidate for them to draw out.  It’s a bit skinnier than the others around, but a whole lot meaner.  I’d probably try for one of the others, but from how Yvonne talks about that one’s posi...

Peek: Freddie

On a quiet night, a basket is left on the doorstep of the orphanage.  The larger orc considers if this is the right thing to do... and has to conclude it is.  The wrecked and raided caravan he found the baby in can't care for it, and he has no experience with trying to raise a child.  Delving is too dangerous a task for a serious parent.  The little bundle in the basket looks at him with a smile, tempting him to try it anyway... but no, this is what will be best for the ba...

Chapter Ninety-Six

Aranya, Yvonne, Ragnar, Aelara, and even Teemo are all for luring a scythemaw into Violet (who is also onboard, tentatively), but as they all sit down to plan, they realize something: how will they actually lure the scythe maw in?

“They dinna seem ta be hungry,” points out Ragnar as the group carefully peers out of Violet’s doors.  A couple various wild critters scurry by occasionally, and the maws don’t seem to care about chasing them down to eat.

“We could try hav...

Chapter Ninety-Five

Maybe a day after the dweller ceremony for the spiderkin, the scythemaws start leaving the water.  It looks like the ones in the underswamps are a bit ahead of the schedule of the ones in the aquifer, or the aquifer ones are a bit slow.  Either way: Happening level is raised to It’s.

The spiderkin are as prepared as they can be, and mostly watch the scythemaws from high up the walls and from the ceilings.  They’re only in danger if they slip, and I don’t think I’v...

Peek: It's a Living

In the hours before dawn, the tabby catkin enjoys a bit of quiet with a pipe and a book.  Berdol feels he has a pretty good gig, especially now that Fourdock has a proper dungeon for people to gather in, rather than having to make long trips out to the Southwood, or try to nab a few scraps from Hullbreak before fleeing.

Thedeim has definitely made his job a lot easier, and a lot more profitable, too.  It's strange the dungeon decided to name itself, instead of just staying as ...

Chapter Ninety-Four

“Your minds are all made up, then?” asks Teemo of the aranea triumvirate, and the three spiderladies all nod.  Folarn speaks first.

“Not just ours, but all of us in this Enclave.  My fellow tarantulas are no stranger to difficult fights, and we understand the desire to protect.  But we must have the room to grow to become better protectors.”

Norloke speaks next.  “The weavers are also in agreement.  We all appreciate the intricate and robust web ...

Chapter Ninety-Three

With the route to Hullbreak being scouted, you’d think the home front would be nice and quiet.  Or at least I’d hope it’d be nice and quiet, but there are two things looking to ramp up.  Firstly: we’re starting to see more scythemaw activity.  None are wandering out of the water yet, but we’re definitely seeing more of them closer to shore.

So not quite defcon 1… or is it defcon 5?  I always forget if it counts up or down.  I’ll just say w...

Peek: The Sewer Dungeon of Rest

Gather, and hear the tale of how Rest came to be, and how a strange dungeon helped that.  For you see, while many of the cities of the other races develop sewer dungeons after their founding, only Rest had a sewer dungeon before there was a city!

It all started so long ago.  While Rest was not always a settlement, it was always a good place to recover in.  The lake has plentiful fish, the beasts are generally more sedate, and the forage is bountiful.  Countl...

Chapter Ninety-Two

Tarl eventually calms down and heads home to recover.  A good cry, er… rain shower can take a lot out of someone, but it’s good to let it all out sometimes.  I can’t blame him for having complicated feelings about Hullbreak.  Honestly, when he started his story, I was making vague plans to kick in Hullbreak’s door and give it the Neverrest treatment.

But in the end, it’s a bit more clear what the situation is.  Neverrest was rabid and had to be put down. &n...

Chapter Nintey-One

Leo’s been working with the tundra wolves to get them into shape to actually go and help the Southwood, and I’ve been slowly absorbing the information Tarl gave me on it, as well as everything else.  It takes time to properly process all that, and I’ve been busy trying to not freak out over the scythemaws.

At least the stupid swordgators seem content to be on my backburner for now, thank goodness for small blessings, even if they feel like a sword of Damoclese hanging over my...

Bat, hammer, or wrench?

Coda thinks about his title as he flies around in the tunnels, constantly checking and rechecking as progress on the scythemaw bypass continues.  He probably spends more time considering his title than any of the other scions, with the possible exception of Honey.  She doesn't count, though.  She's always thinking about something, so titles must be in the rotation somewhere.

He even sometimes thinks about his thinking about his title, which is oddly more clear to...

Chapter Ninety

Teemo goes and gets Staiven so he and Queen can talk some shop.  I’ll leave them to it, too.  Queen knows what she should and shouldn’t relay, as does Teemo.  She’s tried to talk some with me about alchemy, but it’s a bit outside my wheelhouse.  I understand the concepts of mixing things, and most of the technical terms, but I’m a mechanical engineer, not a chemical.

It kinda makes me understand how Teemo’s been getting better at just relaying information...

Chapter Eighty-Nine

The new day brings a new delver, and thankfully not of the scythemaw variety.  It feels weird to have the old ratkin delving, but it sure looks like that’s what Old Staiven is planning to do.  Looks like he’s warming up by checking the herbs in the back yard first.

“What’s your secret…” he grumbles to himself as he gathers quite a bit of ochredill, and I mentally smile at that with equal parts humor and relief.  Looks like the master alchemist wasn’t able to...

Thedeim Map First Draft

People have been asking for a map of Thedeim's territory for a while now, so I figured I should deliver something on that front.  The scale and perspective are quite a bit off, but it should give a good idea of where everything is.  Even if it's very difficult to map a 3D space in 2D, heh.  The dotted orange line is to help with what Thedeim actually owns.  Hopefully it's clear.

1: The house.  I've always pictured it much like the Addams' Family house...

Chapter Eighty-Eight

I’ve been trying to get Tiny to help narrow down the window for the scythemaws to do their thing, but the big guy can’t get much of a read on them.  He agrees that it’ll be soon, but he also says it seems like it won’t just start instantly.  So the best he can do is say it’s not imminent, but still should happen soon.  Ugh, it’s like waiting for a patch for a game that forums insist will ruin the whole thing

If I had an actual time, I could accommodate the stu...

Chapter Eighty-Seven

Aranya and Yvonne exchange a look when Teemo leads Tarl out, and it’s not difficult to tell what they’re thinking.  Something spooked him, and spooked him good.  I just can’t imagine what.  He was unhappy about the affinity broadening, but I think this is something well beyond that.

Teemo quickly returns one Tarl is gone, and he doesn’t waste any time.

“What do you think has him worried?” he asks my Residents, but they can both only shrug.

“Whate...

New Nudge Post!

Title.

Ok, more detail than that, heh.  I jsut wanted to take a moment to thank everyone for their support, and to put up a fresh nudge for more peek suggestions.  It's been a while since the old one, so it's difficult to keep up to date with ideas and what you guys would like to get a look at.  I do plan to do more scion peeks, and wonder which ones you guys feel could use a bit more development, or whose heads you want to wander around inside a bit...

Peek: Under the Sea

It's been a long time since any outsiders came.  Only the adults remember what they look like in person.  The children, and the teens, only have tales to go on, and even those tales are whispered.  The Captain doesn't like talk of the outside... and the First Mate doesn't like when the Captain is unhappy.

He's unhappy right now, but there's not much the First Mate can do about it at the moment, thankfully.  The dwellers have been feeling it for a while now, and have ...