I spend much of my morning watching Coda and my ratlings working on Rocky’s ring, though I do check in on Violet, too. I’m trying to not get impatient and rush her, especially after Rezlar saying I’ve been growing way faster than other dungeons.

She’s actually sending centipede expeditions to scout the area before she expands, being cautious. To be fair, I don’t know what will happen with the scythemaw eggs in the area when she expands. They scythemaws proper are delvers, so would they become Residents? Dwellers? Delvers? I think Tarl said the townsfolk would become Residents if I expanded… or did he say Dwellers? I’d think Dwellers, since Residents seem a bit more connected.

Violet doesn’t seem too concerned about them, though, and seems more like someone looking to buy a house, and wanting to make sure they don’t discover the pipes are garbage or something. Whatever the eggs do, I just have to be patient and not push her too hard. She’ll get there.

Around noon, I feel familiar feet, with an unfamiliar set joining them. I smile to myself as I see Freddie and Rhonda, along with Fiona and Lucas, as well as an elf who feels familiar, but I can’t quite place him. I don’t need to send Teemo to go say hi, as he’s already on his way.

The kids are looking eager to do some delving, while the new elf is looking a bit nervous, but doing his best to hide it as Rhonda points at the porch.

“And there’s the notice board and the quests from the aranea!”

“We should get a quest. It’ll be a good way to help him get used to how Thedeim works,” points out Freddie. Teemo walks out from under the porch and grins as he sees the new elf.

“You guys snagged a newbie, eh?”

The kids look a little confused at the term, and the elf blushes a bit in embarrassment, so Teemo continues. “Nothing wrong with it. Everyone has to start somewhere. And with these two, you’ll be just fine.”

“He’ll be a great help to us, too,” points out Freddie. “He’s a fencer. We’ve been missing a good damage dealer.”

“Could have fooled me and the Boss. You kids can pull out some serious hurt when you need to.”

Rhonda waves that off. “We have to do a team up attack to do most of that kind of stuff. I only beat Rocky that one time because I tripped him up and basically made him hit himself.”

The elf’s eyes widen at that, as does Teemo’s grin. “You think the new guy could go toe to toe with Rocky?”

Freddie and Rhonda exchange a look, before Freddie shrugs. “We haven’t really seen him in action yet. I think the three of us together could at least give him a proper challenge.”

Teemo is definitely enjoying the poor elf’s misery at that idea. “What’s your name, anyway? Sorry about talking about you like you’re not here. Freddie, Rhonda, Lucas and Fiona are friends of Thedeim, and any friend of theirs is a friend of his.”

He looks even more terrified at that thought, but Rhonda and Freddie smile and motion for him to introduce himself, so he tries to steel his courage. “I’m Re- er… Larrez. Uh… just Larrez,” he manages, tripping over his words a bit.

Teemo eases up on him a bit at that and nods. “I’m Teemo, Thedeim’s Voice. Just Teemo’s fine, heh. Anyway, you kids were looking for a quest?” he asks of the whole group, and everyone, even Larrez, nods. “There should be one to do something down in Violet. You kids could take that one and take the long way. You know, show him the ropes and what all the Boss has to offer, maybe introduce him to a few of the other scions.”

“Is Rocky available for a sparring match?” asks Freddie, clearly wanting to actually test if he’s right about how they’ll fare.

“Eh… kinda. The Boss is working on a new arena for him. The big lug won’t say no, of course, but he might be a bit distracted by the call of his new ring.”

Freddie looks interested at that, and Rhonda speaks up. “Maybe we’ll just stop by to say hello, then. I’d love to learn more magic from him, too, but I wouldn’t want to interrupt.”

Teemo shrugs. “I don’t think he’ll mind if you drop in. Anyway, I’ll let you get to it. It was nice to meet you for the first time, Larrez. Just take it slow and learn to work together, and you’ll all be fine.” Larrez pales at Teemo’s exit, which makes me certain I’ve seen him before, but I still can’t place him. Teemo chuckles as he heads down a shortcut, and I decide to keep watching the young party as they look over the quests.

As they peruse the hanging pieces of wood, Rhonda speaks up. “Oh, this reminds me!” She levels a finger at both Freddie and Larrez. “You two should get a gathering skill!” Larrez looks confused, while Freddie looks thoughtful.

“We probably should, yeah. I don’t think I’m interested in any crafting skills of my own, but gathering could be useful. What do you think, Larrez?”

The elf, still looking a bit uncomfortable after having talked with Teemo, slowly nods. “It… would probably be smart, yes. I do not know if I would be any good at a crafting skill, but gathering is a good way to supplement adventuring income.” He gets a little more confident as he speaks, and I can practically see him reading it out of some book or another on adventuring.

“Anything stick out to you two?” asks Rhonda, excited her suggestion is getting followed through on. Freddie shrugs.

“I think the classic for a paladin would be mining or maybe lumberjacking. I even have an axe. But… neither really sounds that interesting to me. Larrez?”

“Um… I have always been intrigued by mining,” he admits, to the curious looks of his party. After a few moments, he continues. “It just seems… relaxing? Slow and methodical, nobody around to bother you while you work?”

Freddie nods at that. “You could even take up smelting to turn your ore into ingots. It’s not the most glamorous crafting job, but there’s no shortage of demand for metals.”

Larrez looks relieved for the support, and is even bold enough to ask his own question. “And you, Freddie? If not mining or lumberjacking, what gathering skill would you like to pursue?”

Freddie considers as his eyes wander the quests, before he picks one. “Field dressing is interesting. There’s a lot of magic in the herbs Rhonda gathers, but there’s also a lot of stuff in the things we fight, too. If nothing else, most skins and hides are worth something to a tanner. And… maybe cooking as a crafting skill.” He chuckles as he nods to himself, and smirks at Rhonda. “If we’re going to be a party, someone should learn to cook. Alchemy doesn’t count.”

She sticks her tongue out at him. “Alchemy soup totally counts,” she says with mock seriousness, before giggling and not arguing the point. She grabs a quest plaque to gather mushrooms in Violet, and Freddie shows his to skin three cave bunnies.

“How about you? Violet doesn’t have any mining nodes… I think, but Thedeim has ones all over in the tunnels and caverns,” says the goblin.

“I… do not have a pick,” admits the elf, but Rhonda doesn’t accept that excuse.

“We can get one from a ratling. Or, if they don’t want to let us have one, you can use your water affinity to erode the rock and get some ore, right?”

“...in theory?”

“Great! Then grab a mining quest, and we’ll give you the grand tour of Thedeim!”

He reaches out and takes a quest to mine some tin, then looks confused as he looks over at what the other two accepted. “Why do your quests say Violet?”

“Ah,” says Freddie, realizing they haven’t been explaining things very well, and motions for Larrez to follow him off the porch. “Violet is another dungeon, one pretty deep down. Thedeim found her and has taken her as his protege.”

His eyes widen in concern. “Another fast-developing dungeon!?”

Rhonda giggles and shakes her head. “Nah, she’s a lot more mild than Thedeim is, at least as far as Freddie and I can tell. Though she was kinda stuck behind the scythemaws for a while, so there wasn’t much expanding she could really do anyway.”

“But now the tunnel horrors are gone,” points out Larrez, still looking worried. Freddie smiles.

“Sure, but she’s still young, and Mr Tarl says she’s still acting like it. Thedeim is helping guide her and giving her advice, but if she was like him, she would have expanded as soon as the maws were gone. I’m pretty sure she still hasn’t.”

“She’s also looking like she’ll be a toybox,” points out Rhonda as they round the house and head for the simple herbalism nodes. Her quest might be for mushrooms in Violet, but the simple herbs seem to be a base for a lot of things, so might as well get some on the way.

“A deep toybox,” emphasizes Freddie. “Apparently, most deep dungeons are belligerent at best. If she keeps this up, the Dungeoneers will probably expand their guild here to ensure she’s safe and happy. The kind of resources she could provide could end up putting Fourdock on the map, even if Thedeim wasn’t here. With him here…”

Larrez sighs and I finally recognize him as he speaks. “With them both, the Mayor is going to have his hands full.”