Yvonne’s back from her questing with her friends, and she looks glad to be able to relax for a bit. Teemo, in contrast, is pacing in one of the shortcuts, mumbling to himself. I think it’s equal parts adorable and touching.

After all, it’s pretty awkward to just say “Hey, sorry you died. I tried my best.” Well, when not talking to a gravestone, at least. I am starting to get a bit concerned about him, though. I guess survivor’s guilt is a thing, even when both parties are technically alive.

Hey, Teemo. Settle down, man.

My Voice squeaks in surprise. “Boss! I’m sorry, it’s just… what do I say to her?”

Well, you can always start with hello. I don’t think he appreciates my advice.

“And then what?!” he snaps at me, before remembering I’m technically his creator. He sighs deeply and deflates a bit. “Sorry, Boss. It’s just… what do I do? What if she doesn’t like me, now I can talk?”

Why wouldn’t she like you? Seems like every moment she’s not actively doing something while here, she’s relaxing with a book and petting you.

“But she didn’t know I could think! I think? What if she blames me, now that I can actually talk to her? What if she doesn’t want to pet me any more?”

Teemo, she doesn’t blame you. If anything, she appreciates how hard you tried to save her. As for petting you… well, just ask her to. I don’t think she had any problems petting you before you could talk. Just don’t make it weird, heh.

“How do I do that?” he asks with genuine concern. All I can do is mentally shrug. I dunno how to do that. I’ve never really been petted. Humans are more built to give the pets, rather than receive them.

Teemo looks confused. “Whats?”

What?

“What’s built to give pets, but not get them?”

Oh, humans?

“Yeah, that. That doesn’t come through. It’s like… I dunno what it’s like, but I get no meaning at all from it.”

Huh. That’s weird. I’d have expected it to have almost a crippling amount of meaning behind it.

I mentally shake my head. While interesting, humans, or lack thereof, isn’t the point of the conversation. The point is: go talk to her, Teemo. Not an order, just advice. She’s not going to be upset with you.

He still looks uncertain, but he knows he can’t just dodge her forever. Well, he probably could, but he shouldn’t… and he doesn’t want to, either. He starts heading for the secret base, which is where she’s headed, and I go ahead and focus my attention elsewhere. I feel like he’d be embarrassed if I was deliberately listening in while they talk.

Instead, I watch my various delvers, doing their delving. The house and maze are always relaxing to watch, for me. The newbies and crafters are… well, I get the feeling most dungeons don’t really cater to them. Most of them really are terrible at fighting. I’m hardly an expert, but even I can notice when they unbalance themselves with a swing, or put themselves in awkward positions to defend.

But the ones that gather various things show their skill there, which is interesting to watch. Gently handling herbs to get them gathered without messing up whatever properties they need, chopping at the trees to quickly and efficiently get enough wood to cart out of the maze, or the intricate measuring and mixing in the public lab for making potions. I still pay attention to the people who make stuff in there, but Queen actually has ants in there watching, and she’ll ping me if she sees something she’d like me to write down.

I’m just glad my handwriting is way better as a dungeon than it ever was when I still had hands.

I shift my attention to the caves and tunnels, and am glad that things have been smoothing out down there nicely. The fruitbats and ants have gotten that glowing moss just about everywhere down there. I probably wouldn’t want to try to read by the light in there, but it’s bright enough that just about everyone can see and fight properly.

The occasional widows from the spider spawner are almost like wandering mini-bosses, which helps keep the lower level groups on their toes. I’ve had to save a couple groups with the healing ants, but most groups are prepared enough to either fight or run away. Thankfully, the lessons of being beaten seem to stick, and I haven’t had to save any particular group more than once.

The nodes down there are getting good use, too. Plenty of metals and gems that the delvers love. There’s actually a group of dwarves and gnomes that seem to be trained for mining in dungeons. Their picks have two sides, like I picture a normal pick, but they have one side that’s designed for digging, and one side designed for fighting. I’m always happy to see them show up, since they make me a bunch of mana.

Jello has also acquired a bit of a fanclub, it seems. After Torlon ran the maze, other crystal shield folks have come to do a bit of delving. Most of them are newbies, but there are real fighters in their ranks, too. They wouldn’t be able to train Freddie to be a paladin if they didn’t. Anyhow, one of them noticed my slime scion’s title, and now I sometimes get a small group that will follow her around while she’s patrolling, and they’ll help her as they can. One of the aranea even sometimes gives out a Help Jello quest. Jello, of course, is over the moon to have delvers helping her.

The tougher crystal shield folk have been more focused on the crypt complex. The fungal zombies and green skellies are actually resistant to being turned, probably because of all the plant/fungal life that’s part of them. They seem to be a great way for them to practice their stuff, and they also help spread herbalism nodes in the crypt complex, as well as often dropping alchemy ingredients for the delvers when defeated.

Rocky has been having plenty of action, too. Like Grim, turning just doesn’t seem to work on him, and he’s tough enough that the occasional party that wants to tangle with him has their work cut out for them. I haven’t been able to get him to throw a fireball or do an actual dragon punch yet, but he has been getting very good with his boxing. My spiders are working on making a speedbag for him to practice on, to go with the heavy bag.

Elsewhere in the complex, Coda and the ratlings have been making quick progress on the gauntlet, and I’ve been setting traps in there. Technically, the entire thing is going to be a water trap. The description more talks about the potential for soaking clothes and people, making them chafe and such for the entire delve, which yeah, it will. It will also be a lot better to fall into the water than just onto stone.

The traps to knock people off are all a bit of a mishmash, which is fine by me. Some are more like ninja warrior: tests of strength and such, though I do my best to keep them from all being over-complicated pull-ups. I don’t want my delvers to skip leg day. There are tests of balance, and even a few simple puzzles. And, of course, various padded things to surprise and push people off the various platforms, just to keep people on their toes. Well, planned, anyway. It still needs to be dug out more, and I have to spend the mana for all the traps.

The ratkin have started to head into the town to trade, too. It’s been small scale so far. Most businesses don’t want to do official trading with my dwellers until after the Office of Dungeon Affairs makes official contact, but commerce waits for no bureaucracy, no matter how it complains.

I peek in on Teemo and Yvonne, and smile at the two. Yvonne is on her bed, a book in hand, and Teemo on her lap, her other hand idly rubbing his belly. See, Teemo? You were just overthinking it. Enjoy the break, you two.