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 open for like a week now, so it’s probably something sneaky. Hopefully not too sneaky. I don’t see anything down deeper in the caves, so I try to backtrack the notification.

I’ve never really had to do this before, and it’s weird, like trying to remember something that’s on the tip of your tongue. So I do what works for me when that happens: I try to go over what I was thinking, or what I was doing, looking for something that will make the thought finally click.

So I zoom out and try to only focus on areas with activity. It was something active, that ping happens when my denizens kill some new invader. So who’s looking busy? Well… everyone, more or less. Who’s doing something different, then?

Rats? No. Snakes? No. Stalactsprites? No, and I should probably upgrade their spawner again, come to think of it. Spiders? Hmm… maybe. Something feels weird with them. I zoom in on the webs nearest the caverns, and after a couple minutes, I finally track it down. My spiders have caught a mosquito!

Just when I thought wasps were the worst, mosquitoes had to show up and remind me who’s throne it is. Ugh, I hate mosquitoes! Thankfully, they’re pretty small, so I start nudging my various small spiders to head into the caverns and keep the little vampire bugs at bay.

Speaking of spiders, I check in on my spiderkin Enclave, and notice they’ve nabbed a few mosquitoes, too. But these ones are about the size of Teemo! Thankfully, the denizens-for-now are handling the dire mosquitoes well. I listen in for a few minutes, and the general consensus seems to be: not bad, needs a bit of pepper, kinda gamey. Cave lobsters are tastier.

I think they’re going to hunt and eat them as a backup to the lobsters, as they’re still getting them all settled in and trying to work properly. I’m probably going to ask Yvonne to give them a hand with that once she gets back. I think she’s more an expert on life above the ground, but she’ll probably know at least something about domestication.

I reluctantly take a closer look at the dire mosquito, and yep, that’s a big mosquito. Oddly, though, I don’t think it was one of the mana pings. I get mana from the technically-still-aranea killing them, but I guess the notifications just count them as big mosquitoes… or it counts the smaller ones and tiny dire ones.

Before I can try to track down the other ping, I can feel my Protege having a bit of a panic attack. When I look over at her area, I can see why.

One of my wolves has dispatched a… I don’t know what. It makes me think of an amalgamation of a ferret and a badger, with just a dash of fox in there for flavor. Whatever it was, I’m pretty sure it’s the new invader, seeing as there’s several dead cave bunnies around Violet’s little area, too.

I take a few minutes to focus back on the notification, and I’m pretty sure these things are the largest mana per kill invader I’ve encountered so far. It looks like I got the lion’s share of the mana for that, but it’s still a good windfall for Violet, even with my cut taken out.

I don’t bother Teemo with trying to talk to her right now. She’s a bit shook up, but not in any danger. She is a bit sad about the bunnies going without producing her any mana, though. I just give her a quest to upgrade her centipedes a bit more, at least to where she can choose a specialization. I also try to impress on her that expanding would be a bad idea, even with the discount from Coda. She’ll be getting another invader when she expands, so she’d better be ready to handle this one before she goes and adds another.

Part of why I don’t bother Teemo is because I have him setting up for a couple experiments to try to figure out how his shortcuts work. I actually drag in Leo, Grim, and Poe to help. I have an inkling of what might be going on, but I need bigger people to be able to test it.

The three aren’t upset about being asked to join the experiment, but they all seem a bit confused at what I want them to do.

“Yes, guys. That’s what he wants you all to do. Just go through this shortcut together, and I’ll come get you each after, one by one,” repeats Teemo, also clueless as to what I’m trying to discover here. I’ve tried to explain it a bit, but his attention wanders pretty quickly. I’m not sure if the concept is one that he wants to let slide off his brain without thinking about it, or if it’s boring for him. It could even be both, honestly.

The three scions all nod their understanding for their parts, at least, and take the shortcut down to the training room. I wonder if that room will eventually become an official training room if I keep having Fluffles and Rocky work in there. I still want to make Rocky’s boss chamber look like a boxing ring, but I’d still need a place for a boxing gym for him to practice. And if he’s getting to practice, I should accommodate the others, too.

Anyhow, back to the experiment. I tell Teemo to take a separate shortcut and tell Leo to come back using the shortcut he took to get to the training room. My Warden still looks confused about what I want, but doesn’t argue. Once he’s back in the war room, I get Teemo to ask him a couple questions.

“The Boss wants to know how much room you had when traveling as a group.” A couple growls and yips later, Teemo translates for me.

“He says it felt like the wall was just slightly further away than he could reach, and same with the ceiling.”

And when returning by himself?

Leo tilts his head when Teemo relays my question, and clearly thinks for a few moments before answering.

“He says it was the same, like the walls and ceiling were just out of reach?” relays Teemo, now looking really confused. I’m trying to not groan at that revelation, and instead ask him to bring Grim back.

He gets the same questions, and gives the same answers, which only confuses Teemo and Leo more, but confirms my suspicions all the more. I have my Voice go get Poe, and tell him to fly through the shortcut instead of just walking, and then he gets the same questions, and gives the same answers. That leaves me with four confused scions, and one annoying result of the test.

I think distance in the shortcuts is subjective, rather than objective. That means, instead of something being a definitive x feet away, it is simply over there. That’s why I couldn’t get Teemo to notice the change in pressure and temperature when he makes his shortcuts. He’s technically not messing with the volume at all! Trying to consider the math makes even my non-existent head hurt, though, so I don’t think too hard about it.

“Is teaching me new magic a dud then, Boss?” asks Teemo, a bit disappointed.

Heck no. It just means we need a different approach. I’ll find a hat and figure out how to eat it if a bag of holding isn’t spatial magic, and they definitely do have a defined interior volume. I think the shortcuts are more like balloons, but with a constant volume, instead of a mostly-constant pressure. It makes me glad we didn't get one to pop while anyone was inside. I don’t know if them popping is even a thing, but I’m in no rush to try to test the limits and find out.

Anyhow, Teemo. You’re going to be spending a bit of time with Thing. Ask him to get a good schedule going so you two can work on making a bag of holding. We still have that one from Tarl to compare with. I want you to feel that thing out and how it works, and how it’s different from your shortcuts. I don’t need them to become more defined like the bags of holding, but I do want you to be able to make a defined space into a larger defined space. Once you do that, I’ll be able to teach you some serious stuff.