Dungeon Life

Chapter Thirty-One: Biting the Bullet

With my two Residents full of resolve, they set about exploring the various other rooms around the enchanting workshop, and it doesnt take long before they find the library. Its not a gigantic library, but it still definitely deserves the title. Its got shelves on all the walls, several rows of shelves away from the walls, and what looks like a lectern or something to do your reading on. Bleh, no couches or anything to be comfortable?

I suppose it makes sense. The lich probably wouldnt lounge on a couch reading a comic or something. Yvonne doesnt seem to care about the lack of comfortable reading spots, though, and simply grabs a random book off a shelf. She glances inside the cover before putting it back, and grabbing the next book. She frowns when she looks inside, and sighs at the contents of the third book in line.

Theyre not organized at all. The first was a book on trade routes from a century ago, then a book of poetry, and this one seems to be a cookbook, of all things. She gives the room a wary eye, and I have to agree with her body language. Thats going to be a lot of work to transform into an actual usable library. At least it means theres probably not much actually dangerous in here.

It looks like theyre both going to be poking around the library for a bit, so I leave them to it for now. I still have a mess in the graveyard to sort out. I dunno if anyone is going to want to use the place for burying bodies anymore, but I want it in presentable condition.

I dont need no rubble and dismembered corpses littering the resting places of whoevers buried here. I dont need wandering corpses, either, so I set them all to the mausoleum and have Tiny web the door closed before letting him head back to the maze. I think he liked the field trip, but the big lug is definitely more of a homebody than a scion like Teemo.

Speaking of scions Im in a bit of a pickle. At the house, everything is running nice and smoothly because of all my scions. But I dont have any scions over in the cemetery or in the caves. I mean, I have Jello in the caves, and she seems to be just having a ball down there. Its hard to tell with slimes, but Im pretty sure shes enjoying herself. At the very least, shes patrolling and keeping things from getting too far in.

But she cant handle both the caves and Im gonna call it the crypt complex, for now. It seems like it was more or less the lichs stomping grounds. Theres a bunch of rooms and such. Maybe I should try to move my ratlings in here? Theyre doing well enough in the caves under the house, but its a bit crowded over there.

Additionally, theres still the whole surface cemetery. I never had much reason to think about how to care for one before I died, so Im not sure what Ill actually need. The more I think about it, though the more I think Ill need to unweb the undead mausoleum after all.

Alright. Lets take an actual look at what these spawners can do. First: the zombie spawner. Technically, its Fleshy Undead, because thats more comforting than just calling it a zombie spawner, I guess. Pretty much all the options are unsavory, in my opinion. Ghouls, ghasts, wights, skinwalks I never thought zombies would be my best bet, but there it is. Ill leave it for now.

The skeleton spawner has a few options, but they boil down to various flavors of fighting or magic skeleton. I dont really want either. Though come to think of it, my scions basically grow into whatever role I seem to assign them, so maybe it wont matter, at least for the scion? I do have an idea for what I want him to do. Id love to not have an undead scion, but I think I have to work with what Im being given. Ill check the other spawners before I do, though. I want to make sure I have enough mana for everything.

I had expected the bee spawner to act like the ant spawner, but it seems like it will let me spawn a scion without much fuss. I wonder if any of the books in the library has info on bees. I thought they would form new hives like ants form new hills, but apparently not. I have an idea for what to use a bee scion for, too, and looks like it wont cost too much, either. Still, on to the next spawner.

The second rat spawner doesn't let me have a second rat scion. Lame. At least with packrats over here now, too, I can get loot running and so get more mana.

The hand spawner has all sorts of options for hands, which I wasnt expecting. Theres the skeletal hands that seem to be scouts. Theres zombie hands that seem to be ambush attackers, maybe similar to my spiders? And then theres just hands. They seem to be gifted with magic, but thats all the info I can get without spawning a scion.

I take a moment to make sure I have plenty of mana to spend on these, and I do. Neverrest really did give me a boatload of mana. Ive been kinda burning through it, but I think Ill be able to slow things down a bit after getting my new scions spawned.

I go for the hand scion first, and I of course dub it Thing. It doesnt seem to have the cheekiness Thing on TV has, but thats fine. I send it to the enchanting lab to get acquainted with the tools there. I had considered having Fluffles be in charge of my enchanting, but I like him being more able to wander around and deal with trouble. Besides, Im not in any real rush to get magic stuff, so I can let Thing take its time. Ill need to spend more mana later to upgrade the secret enchanting lab, but that can come later.

Next up is the bee scion, who Im calling Honey. I send her, and her little swarm, to the library. Looks like Aranya and Yvonne are exploring around the complex by now, so they dont get to greet the new scion. I tell Teemo to prioritize a few trails from the library to the surface when he gets a chance. Honey is going to be a busy bee, but if Queen can handle leafcutter ant stuff and alchemy stuff, Im sure Honey can handle a library alongside bee duties.

The last scion, though, I have a unique plan for. Im glad the ratlings can kinda make things, because Im going to need some things. I need my spiders to help with this, too. Thankfully, it doesnt cost much mana, since its not really anything they havent done before. Well, except for the dye, but thats just coal and water. Not exactly a complex process.

My skelly exits the crypt and closes the door behind him, not seeming to be bothered by the odd task I have for him. From the tunnels come a few ratlings, carrying what I asked them to make. Firstly, a long, black, robe. Even if Im in good standing, I get the feeling I shouldnt parade around naked undead. Insert boner joke here. Also insert joke about inserting boners here, too.

The second thing is a scythe. My ratlings dont seem to have mastered steel just yet, but they can handle iron. Its nice and sharp, and he looks nice and sharp in his getup. Ima call him Grim, the grounds-reaper, and I set him to his first task: using a scythe for its intended purpose. The grass here is way too shaggy.

He barely gets started before I have two delvers, and Im pleased to see its Aelara and Rangar. Theyre back in their regular duds now, too, so I think things are more or less settled. They give Grim wary looks, which fade to confusion as they see him mowing the lawn. Ragnar seems to be the first to gather his thoughts about what theyre seeing, and he laughs.

Ach! This dungeon as a sense a humor!

Aelara can only shake her head and chuckle in agreement. Indeed. Come, let us see if we can find Yvonne, or a scion to lead us to her. We need to talk about the guilds response to whats transpired.

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