Khenal

Chapter Eighty-Six

Thankfully, it doesn’t seem like the scythemaws are gearing up for anything just yet.  My spoderfolk wanted to confirm if the scythemaws were even a thing, so they started baiting the shoreline.  It would have been quite a fight if they weren’t prepared, but they were.  According to their retelling, the thing was pretty much dead before it even knew it was under attack.  And now that they have a corpse to poke and prod at, they seem to be coming to the same conclusion ...

Chapter Eighty-Five

The birds are making a racket, so that can only mean one thing: Elf Guy is back!  I should get the aranea to make him a hat or maybe a shirt that says Elf Guy on it to give to him.  It looks like he’s the one bearing gifts today, though.  He’s got a backpack on, and I can tell there’s books and stuff in there just from the shapes.

Heh, I should get Poe to teach the ravens how to say Elf Guy, too.  But that can come later.  The birds settle down and get bac...

Peek: The Eye of The Tiger

Rocky idly chews his mouthguard as he eyes his opponent.  The match hasn't started yet, so he is free to let his teeth and mind wander.  How did he ever get into a position to be sparring with Coach Thedeim's Conduit, let alone being securely in the lead for matches?  A foe like Fluffles should be as far out of his reach as the sky.  He thinks back to how he got here.

Rocky never really considered himself to be particularly bright, even for a zombie.  T...

Chapter Eighty-Four

I have an idea for how to help Violet.  It’s not exactly the kind of thing I think my scions would expect of me, which is actually kinda hilarious.  They’re all expecting something big and complex, or some strange concept that makes no sense to them.  My idea is probably going to disappoint them for how simple it is… and maybe for how long it took me to come up with it.

It’s a door.  Just build a big stone door at the entrance to her main cave.  It won�...

Chapter Eighty-Three

“Hey Telar,” says Teemo, deliberately waiting for her to start to take a sip of her tea before he speaks up.  She jerks to a more attentive position and looks around, but doesn’t bless him with the spit-take he so desperately wanted.

“Voice Teemo!” she says as she stands and gives a small bow, which makes her miss him rolling his eyes at her formality.  “What can the Dungeoneer’s Guild do for you?  I’m still working on that information packet you asked abo...

Peek: A Life and Death Situation

Grim enjoys his work as the Groundsreaper.  At first, he did the Master's bidding because he is the Master, so he must obey.  The graveyard was a mess when he first got put in charge of it.  Corpses strewn about, graves open, tombstones cracked and shattered, and possibly worst of all: grass overgrown and unruly.

But he did the Master's will, and has come to take pride in what he's wrought.  The grass has been brought into line, graves have been properly filled, corp...

Chapter Eighty-Two

I watch as Yvonne’s head emerges from the cave lobster pond, quickly followed by the rest of her.  She stands by the pond as she considers what I’ve asked her to look into.

“What do you think?” asks Teemo, and Yvonne hums in reply.

“I think I’m better at stuff that lives above ground.  Still, it’s an interesting challenge.  I think it’ll work, though they’ll probably have an easier time of it if they just section off a small part of the underswamp....

Chapter Eighty-One

Teemo lounges on Yvonne’s lap as she reads by the light of my core.  It’s kinda adorable, watching the two interact.  I’m tempted to just let them relax some more, but I really do need to ask her what she was doing with her ‘ranger duties’.  They sound important, but I don’t actually know what they are.

Alrighty Teemo, break’s over.  You two can relax some more later, but I really want to ask Yvonne about what her ranger duties actually are.

Teemo...

Peek: Queen, Mad Alchemist, or Both?

Moving parts... so many moving parts.  Denizens, invaders, mana... her.  The nuptial flight is just a blur, but the new queen ant has time to gather her thoughts as she rides the rat scion towards the core.  She can feel the attention of the Emperor upon her.  He must be an Emperor, as there is no other rank above hers.  He even has a vital task for her: guard his core.

While she is a queen, she is still so very new.  Is she up to such a task? &nbs...

Chapter Eighty

Yvonne is back, and so she and Teemo are relaxing a bit.  He demands belly rubs, and she’s more than happy to give them.  I want to ask her about what her ranger stuff actually entails, but that can wait for now.  She’s been on the road for a while, so I want to give her at least a bit of time to just relax with Teemo and not need to do anything.

I’ll also probably ask her to look around in the caverns and in the area by Violet that I’m going to call the aquifer. ...

Chapter Seventy-Nine

Mana Gained!

Woah, it’s been a while since I got that popup.  Last time was… the last time I got a new invader!  I have a new invader!  I have a new invader?  I thought I basically already had all the invaders I was going to get.

Mana Gained!

Again?  Ok, what’s going on?  I start looking around in the caverns, as it’s my newest expansion, wondering what could be my new invader.  It’s been...

Peek: Hard Scales and Soft Wings

Energy, endless... swirling.  Filling the bar... filling him.  Full.

Fluffles opens his eyes inside the snake den spawner, and his first thought is that this is only the second time he's actually been in there.  The first was his creation, when the Denmaster brought him into being.  He had expected to need to respawn many times, especially in the fight with Neverrest.

But he was able to track down and consume that vile core for the Denmaster.  Now...

Chapter Seventy-Eight

Most of my current projects are proceeding nicely.  The access tunnel from the caverns up to near the tunnels entrance should be done in a day or two.  Sure, I could have just dug a straight line, but that’d hardly be useful as a way up and down.  It kinda spirals and loops and wanders, and I’ll probably have Coda and his crew dig out a few rest areas, maybe with some aranea trading/quest posts.

The easy gauntlet and the hard gauntlet aren’t the major draw that the ...

Chapter Seventy-Seven

“Over twelve…” says Vnarl, peg in hand at what looks to be the final puzzle for the gauntlet.  Each previous room gave part of the solution, and now they just need to decipher the clues and put the pegs in the correct hole.  The only problem is that the final chambers are all covered in holes.  Still, I think they’ve managed it.

“Up five,” says Mlynda, confident in her answer.  I’m still surprised at how much they’ve all grown just from the gauntlet. ...

Peek: Jello

Oh hey, stuff!  Oh hey, me!  I'm a thing!  When'd that happen?  Right, dungeon.  Protect the core, stop invaders, got it.  A Voice!  That's the dungeon!  He sounds kinda busy, but he still gives me a name: Jello!

That's a fun name!  Jello!  I hope I can say it more often!  Wait... how often do you get to say your own name?  Only when introducing yourself, right?

She wanders the tunnels as the thinks, trying to fi...

Chapter Seventy-Six

The aranea/spiderkin are developing a lot differently than the ratlings/ratkin.  I don’t know why that surprises me.  Basically the only thing they have in common is that they come from my spawners.  I guess the biggest difference is the dimorphism… and trimorphism?  Have I mentioned I’m not a biologist?

The ratkin ladies gained boobs as the bar filled.  Not enough to go bouncing around me, but enough to feed their children like the mammals they are.  ...

Chapter Seventy-Five

The caverns are coming along nicely.  It’ll probably be a week or more before they’re truly ready for delvers, but they’re not barren anymore.  The access tunnel is going well, Slash is being a great help, too!  I can’t help but hum sixteen tons to myself as they work and they seem to be working to the beat.  I’m pretty sure he’s trying to sing along or something, it’s difficult to tell.  His rumblings are changing in pitch, so I think he’s at...

Peek: Through the Tangled Web

The threads vibrate and move into form... Existence.  A small spider, in a small room under some stairs.  A voice, muffled.  It can only try to weave its intention with imperfect tools and materials

Yes... the Weaver.  It has need of the unnamed spider, scion though he is.  He must work with the other scion to secure the Weaver's core.  He has been entrusted with its care, and he is greatly honored to do so.

The rat scion is quick, and once the spider...

Chapter Seventy-Four

I was a bit surprised to get a notice to be a Mentor, but I accepted it without difficulty.  What I had Teemo propose really was a mentorship, more or less, and Violet accepted.  So now I have a Protege, which is interesting.  I can take a look in on Violet’s territory, and it seems like any denizens and even dwellers are seen as friendly, so they can wander in and do stuff and generate mana.  A couple ratkin have already gone and picked a mushroom or two.  Probably...

Chapter Seventy-Three

While Teemo and Aranya walk and chat, I use the time to go over what I want to do with the new expansion.  One of the big things is to get the aranea Enclave going.  I’ve been sitting on that for a while now, and now I actually have the room for them to grow.  I’m also going to need to upgrade some of my other spawners to help fill in the caverns a bit.

My snakes have an upgrade or two before they max out, and they’d probably do pretty well down there.  I spend...

New Nudge Topics!

I still go back and check the other Nudge posts for suggestions, so please do keep them coming!  I also have a bit of a leading question for everyone: would you like to see other Peeks involving the various scions?  If so: are there any particular events you'd like to see from their perspective?  And of course, other suggestions for Peeks are more than welcome, too!  I've noticed several smaller questions that may not merrit an entire Peek on their own, but I may gather th...

Peek: Grim

Existence.  A mausoleum.  The skeletal figure lays still for a few seconds, concepts forming in his skull, certainties and suppositions muddling together.  The known is accepted: He is a scion.  He is a skeleton.  He will serve and protect the Master for his existence, and do its bidding.  The supposed are left for later: what does the Master wish of him?  Will he be able to serve his duty properly?  What duty does the Master have for him?

The las...

Chapter Seventy-Two

Teemo and Aranya get ready to head to Violet, and I tell him they can loot a couple potions, just in case.  Aranya also needs to go get the sword, so it’ll be a little bit before they head out.  In the meanwhile, I look in on what Jello’s up to.

She’s been hanging out with Leo ever since they got that mole together, and she’d had to get a couple more since then.  The moles act kinda rabid, or at least what movies say is rabies, just minus the foaming.  They l...

Chapter Seventy-One

I don’t know what I was expecting when I asked Leo to capture and try to turn a mole, but I’m pretty sure I wasn’t expecting him to get Jello’s help.  The two barked and burbled at each other before she followed him, and now she has a mole in a little pocket of air inside her.  The mole looks pretty upset about it, too.  I have no idea how Leo will turn it, but I’m sure he’ll figure it out.  Even if it takes a few practice moles to learn.

Jello has starte...

Peek: The Tragedy of Hullbreak Harbor

Preliminary Inspection

Mana flows suggest nascent dungeon.  Have tracked likely source to Hullbreak Harbor, so named for the large coral reefs that dot the northern portion of the bay.  Any ship large enough to warrant a sail must be careful to not run aground on the reefs and break their hulls.

Have tracked likely location of core, but cannot visually verify.  Was unable to obtain an aquatic pendant, potions, or other means to stay under the water ...

Chapter Seventy

Man, have I really not expanded since I ate Neverrest?  I had forgotten how much goes into actually making the new space livable.  I didn’t forget about the new spanwer I get, but I’ll focus on that in a moment.

For now, I’m just taking a few minutes to get a feel for what I’ve got now.  It’s one thing to be able to list off the volumes of moveable space, gallons of water, and raw volume of area I gained with the expansion, but it’s another to actually underst...

Chapter Sixty-Nine

Having all this mana just sitting in my proverbial pockets is making me a bit antsy.  I wonder if that’s a dungeon thing, or a me thing.  Having a big bank account doesn’t make me want to spend it, but in games, I tend to spend my resources as I get them so I can get more resources.

Whichever the case, those expansion options are calling to me.  I’ve been upgrading the alchemy and enchanting labs so Queen and Thing can do their things, but I still have a good chunk ...

Peek: A Look Beyond Fourdock

Here we have an example of why I write instead of draw, heh.  Fourdock and Thedeim are located in the Kingdom of Harlon, founded by Kind Roldow Harlon The First.  The Lindow River is named for the queen of the founding king.  It is a majority-elven kingdom, though the other races are well-represented and have the same rights and responsibilities as the elves.  It is only technically not a constitutional monarchy, as it doesn't have a constitution, but it does have a counci...

Chapter Sixty-Eight

Looks like Honey’s working hard to prepare to talk with Leo and Poe.  She’s doing something with her magic, but I can’t really tell what.  Whatever it is, I don’t think it’ll be ready by the meeting, but I'm glad to see her practicing.  I’m not sure that the graphs and such she’s writing down will do much to convince the two to bring her workers on expeditions, but it probably won’t hurt her chances, either.

Especially since I can see the two have kept a f...

Chapter Sixty-Seven

I watch the terrible trio as they balance precariously on the salmon ladder bar.  They still haven’t figured out they can do pull ups to raise it, so they’ve been working on their terrible trio tower technique.  They’re 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 led...