Around sunrise, Yvonne, Teemo, and Aranya go to meet up with Aelara and Ragnar to take a look at the forest and the planned shortcut, so I take a chance to talk with the dwarf through Teemo and see what he thinks about making a move soon.

It takes Teemo most of the walk out to the treeline to explain the basics of the situation, and the dwarf looks contemplative as he takes it all in.

“I dinnae envy ya for this one, but I’d try t’ get more info a’fore attackin’. Some sieges can be avoided by a quick attack, but more just fail and lead t’ a longer fight.”

Teemo chuckles at my reply. “The Boss says that’s the feeling he’s getting from Leo, too. He’s just getting antsy about waiting, I think.”

Ragnar nods. “Aye, he’s still young an’ new t’ this. Patience is th’ key to most wars, lad.”

I grumble to myself for a few seconds before taking a metaphorical deep breath. Crafting an attack plan is just like crafting anything else: it takes a lot longer than most people think. And it will take even longer when the inexperienced keep second guessing the ones who know more about it. It feels kinda weird that Leo would know more about this kind of thing, but Ragnar taking his side helps reinforce that I just don’t know that much about waging war… which this kinda is. It’s not the grandest war, but it’s definitely more than just a big fight.

Teemo smiles as he hears me coming to terms with the advice. “I think he knew that, but it’s good to hear it out loud from someone else. Makes it harder to make excuses, heh.”

Gee, thanks, Teemo.

“Always got your back, Boss,” he replies with a grin, deliberately ignoring my sarcasm. I chuckle and try to focus on the delvers, letting Teemo and the party work without me hovering. A watched pot never boils, and me staring through Leo’s eyes won’t make the reports come in any faster. I’ll just have to trust him to let me know if anything new develops, or if he gets any ideas about potential gaps in the defenses.

Actually, checking in on Violet wouldn’t be a bad way to pass the time. I’d still need Teemo to actually talk with her, but some bare basics can still be done with just the protege bond. I’ve only done the basics of checking on her since the scythemaws showed up, mostly just making sure she’s doing alright and isn’t in any trouble with them.

She’s got a nice stash of mana now, even with the upgrades I can see to her two scions. I’m not sure if she’s named them or not, but they’ve both made good progress. Her centipede is a bit bigger than when he first spawned, but I don't get the feeling he’ll be rivaling Tiny for size. Something about it strikes me more as a mage of some kind, rather than a big brute. Still, it’s a Guardian now, so maybe I’m wrong? Or maybe Guardians have a lot of room for their own growth.

The mushroom scion is the kind of weird I think the Office of Dungeon Affairs would expect me to get up to. I wouldn’t have expected something without legs to be so knowledgeable about what’s going on outside Violet’s borders. I probably should have, though. Fungus can cover huge areas, like square miles, if I’m remembering some random thing I read on the internet right. Because everything on the internet is true, and my memory is iron-clad.

Either way, I can feel how far he’s spread, and where. It looks like he’s growing more towards the aquifer lakes than into the hunting tunnels, which suggests to me which way Violet might want to expand next. I poke the bond to see if she wants to start expanding, and I get a feeling of her being in no hurry. She very clearly doesn’t like the scythemaws, and I can’t really blame her. I don’t think they’re much of a threat anymore, but better safe than sorry. It feels like she’ll be expanding out into the cavern past her door, then start working towards the water. She seems to like the idea of getting some mining nodes of her own, and eventually some aquatic animal nodes.

She seems to think she’ll get either water mushrooms or water bunnies, if I’m reading the impressions from the bond right. I just smile and leave her to it, glad she’s doing just fine.

First Mate

The great white shark scion of Hullbreak Harbor is restless, because her Captain is restless. Neverrest is slowing in its attack, but not stopping. The gained mana is slowing, too. Has it realized it’s been strengthening the Captain?

Probably not. If so, it’d just retreat and let the Captain starve himself again. Which only leaves one option: it’s building up its forces. The Captain’s no fool, he knows a concerted attack from the undead could overrun him and the dwellers. So he’s been sending expeditions.

It’s not too difficult to track the undead from the treeline to the beach with the gulls, but the woods have been impenetrable so far. Even more, the expeditions sent to the town have not been able to get far without getting destroyed by the accursed ravens the cemetery dungeon has picked up.

Still, they know the beach the undead are using, and so some fish expeditions can shed some light on the situation. The initial reports have started coming in, and it doesn’t look good. It could look worse, but it would at least be a change of pace for them to look better.

The undead are fortifying a rocky beach, dotted with spires and a reef. It’d be a terrible place to try to launch a boat from, or to try to swim, but as far as defensible positions go, it’s a dream come true. Or a nightmare, for her and the Captain. She and most of the shark denizens could probably clear them out, but it’d take a lot of the Captain’s resources, and it would be a lot closer than they’d prefer.

It’d also leave the dwellers and the Captain undefended. He has an idea to make it worthwhile, but the risk to the dwellers if it fails is one of the big reasons he hasn’t tried it yet. Of course, the risk to the dwellers is also why he’s considering it in the first place. They need something to be able to bring the fight to Neverrest and keep the dwellers safe.

“When can I return to the enclave?”

Speaking of dwellers. The First Mate sighs and changes her route, heading towards the shipwreck, rather than just swimming around it. The merman has been confined there for quite some time now, stuck in the brig with only her and the occasional merfolk to come give him food.

“When you tell me what you were doing, swimming away from the group like that,” she repeats for what must be the hundredth time.

“I thought I saw a big fish, and I wanted to get it,” he repeats, sticking to his story. She still doesn’t believe him. She sighs and swims lazy laps in front of the window to his cell in the brig.

“Which you only happened to spot when I was on the other side of the school that you were supposed to be hunting with the others. What were you really doing, Yendo?”

The merman gives her a long look, and she wonders if he’ll finally give her the truth. She decides to try to bait the hook a bit. “We know you did something, Yendo. You slip away on a hunt, and not long after, we start getting raided by Neverrest. I know you wouldn’t harm the Captain on purpose, but you must have done something to attract its ire.”

Yendo deflates a bit, looking less like the dissenting voice that he’s always been, and more like the tired widower that he is. “I… was after a big fish.”

The First Mate sighs and moves to resume her path around the wreck. He’ll tell her eventually, she knows. Maybe after the Captain finally deals with Neverrest. She doesn’t like the Captain’s new plan, but she has to admit they wouldn’t have much other way to strike back at the cemetery. She nods to herself as she continues her patrol, unaware that the rocks had ears for the conversation.