I really hope I can teach my aranea how to write better. Or rather; I really hope Honey can teach my aranea to write better. She sure seems like she’s going to try, at least. I had her send a few bees over to read the sign, and what she saw clearly upset her. I did my best to calm her down, and told the spiderpug to head to the library.

Not before someone managed to accept the quest, though. So yeah… the aranea are giving out quests. If this was an MMO, I’d say they’re something like a daily quest. They’re not very complex, but it does net me extra mana, and I assume it nets the delver extra experience.

While the first one makes its way to the library to learn how to write properly, the spider lair spits out another aranea, who immediately heads for the little crawlspace. I’m just glad it doesn’t try writing another sign. Actually…

Aw, can’t bypass the ban on general talking with people through anything but Teemo. I wanted an Eat at Joe’s sign. The attic-aranea doesn’t seem to think of any new quest by the time the delver returns, though it does toss down a sock woven from silk as a ‘reward’.

The delver looks pretty confused at the singular sock, and seems to wait for a second one, but it soon becomes obvious one is all he’s going to get. He just shrugs, pockets the sock, and heads back to the town. I’m not sure what his actual business was, but he seems satisfied.

Once he goes, though, the aranea slips out of the crawl space and out into the yard. I guess this one is more of a trapdoor spider than a ceiling spider, because it digs a little hole and puts a simple camouflage cover over it. And then it goes and gets a stick with a bend in it, and another plank of wood. It plants the stick and scribbles on the plank, before hanging its new sign and hiding in the little hole it made.

Git sum erb

I think Honey is going to be even busier than she was. And speaking of busy, I need to get busy with my undead stuff. I don’t think I’m actually going to be able to get the new path from the mausoleum to the complex finished before Teemo finishes Ascending. Who would have thought digging through stone would be so difficult?

It’s probably a good thing, though. I want to get my zombie scion at least a little settled in before the rest are unleashed. And he’ll need some gear to do the job I need. I’m not sure where I managed to get some leather, but I know what I’m going to use it for. I get my spiders working as I spend the mana on my new undead scion.

Uh… maybe? The mana is spent, and he exits the mausoleum as quickly and as quietly as a zombie can be expected, but he’s listed as Undead(?). Yeah, with a question mark. I check on Thing and Grim, and they both have question marks now, too. I’m pretty sure they didn’t have that before. I can’t check on Yvonne at the moment. I think she and her party are off doing some kind of adventuring elsewhere, but they should be back in a day or two. They seemed to want to test out how far she can go from me, and how much time she can stay out, too.

But back to my zombie scion and his role. I want him to be my first actual boss scion. I like the idea of being kind of a training dungeon, helping delvers prepare to go deal with murderous dungeons like Neverrest and whatnot. If I’m going to be helping delvers prepare for nastier stuff, they’re going to need to actually face nastier stuff. But that also doesn’t mean I’m going to just sic a super stronk ghoul or something on them. I have my own pride and creativity to consider, too.

So, with that in mind, my spiders and a ratling come to give my zombie scion his gear. Red padded gloves slip over his hands, and a roughly carved bit of wood goes into his mouth. He’s understandably confused by this, but seems to enjoy chewing on the mouthpiece, and I don't try to stop him. I’m pretty sure most boxers like to play with their mouthguard when not in a fight.

Ok Rocky. I don’t have any montage music for you, but let's get them dukes up. A bit more… that looks good. I’m not sure you actually need to protect your head, but form is important for boxing. So is footwork, so no more just shambling around, got it?

The Dungeoneer’s Guild, AKA: The Office of Dungeon Affairs

Telar enjoys her job as the accountant for this area of the country. Last couple months aside, it’s a nice and boring job. Even with the advent of the new dungeon, it’s been more interesting than hectic. Well, mostly. The issue with Neverrest had her worried, but the Fourdock dungeon handled itself with aplomb. As long as it stays cooperative, her job shouldn’t get much more difficult.

With the new developments, she absolutely hopes it stays cooperative. It has a Conduit now, it has Dwellers, it will most likely have a Voice sometime soon. It’s also going to keep doing weird things, she has no doubt about that. Cooperative dungeons are always a bit… eccentric. Some behave like toyboxes, but still have strong denizens to enforce whatever rules they fancy. Some are almost belligerent, but their monsters and traps have pathetic strength.

With Fourdock being cooperative, it’ll need to be inspected more often, whenever possible. Hullbreak Harbor still shows no interest in expansion, and with it being mostly open water, there are few adventurers who care to delve. It hardly needs a yearly inspection, just enough to make sure the status quo is maintained.

Even the Southwood doesn’t need inspection often. It seems pretty satisfied with its current situation… or at least it had. Something in Tarl’s report makes her suspect something is going on, but she doesn’t know what. If it weren’t for the dwellers and likely impending Voice from Fourdock, she’d have sent him back out to deliver the information it seems to want. But it’d be a poor exchange to give information that will be out of date before you even open your mouth, so he’s taken the week off to do whatever he wants.

She’s also taken the chance to research the cooperative dungeons that are known, as well as how to handle Dwellers. It hasn’t been as helpful as she would have hoped, with how different cooperative dungeons tend to work, but it does at least give her something to go on, instead of pure guesswork.

Her tea and musings are interrupted by a changeling entering the guild. While some people find the shapeshifters to be disturbing in their normal forms, their strangeness doesn’t even register for her anymore. Once you’ve accepted you’re overseeing large swaths of land and/or sea that have opinions, you grow an appreciation for how relatable problems are for entities with legs.

He nods at her and she sits up a bit more straight, getting the feeling this is not simply a social visit.

“Uh, hello. The dungeon is… kinda being weird,” he says, uncertain how to actually talk about a dungeon. This is why they have inspectors. She just gives him a professional smile and motions at the chair on the other side of her desk.

“I take it you mean Fourdock Dungeon? I’d almost be more concerned if it’s not being weird,” she says with a small smile, which gets the delver to smile as well, before she continues. “But please, what is it doing now?”

“Well… I’m not an adventurer, so maybe it’s normal? See, I wanted to try to get some pelts and whatnot. I’m a tanner and leatherworker. Anyway, I checked the notice board at the front there, and noticed a little rough wooden sign hanging down from the rafters. It wanted me to kill five rats,” he explains, and Telar takes notes.

“So I go ahead and decide to do that and accept the quest. Like… an actual quest. Not a complicated one, but still a quest!” Telar simply nods like it’s nothing out of the ordinary. It is unusual, but acting like it is tends to make non-adventurers a bit nervous.

“So… I killed and skinned the rats. Rats make nice slippers, actually, and returned to the porch. And this dropped down from the rafters.” He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a simple silken sock. “Yeah… just the one.”

Telar looks at it like the puzzle that it is, before returning her focus to the changeling. “While that is unusual, it’s not especially concerning. I’d need Inspector Tarl to confirm, but it sounds like the dungeon has likely maxed out its spider spawner and gotten access to aranea.” She leans back as she explains.

“The max rank for any spawner gives access to semi-intelligent denizens. The ratlings the dungeon has, for example, are more interested in gathering and stockpiling than they are in fighting. I wouldn’t be surprised if the aranea have decided the best way to help the dungeon is to give quests.”

The leatherworker still looks a bit confused. “Doesn’t that mess with the dungeon?” Telar shakes her head.

“As far as we understand, dungeons gain even when their denizens are killed by delvers. This is partially why Inspectors are instructed to defeat whatever encounters they come across, as well as gather whatever resources are available, too. This is also why Neverrest was locked down. If delvers don’t go inside, they can’t beat the denizens and so help the dungeon. But killing anything that leaves the dungeon will actively harm it, as it doesn’t gain anything.”

“That seems weird.”

Telar just smiles. “That’s dungeons.”