I smile as I watch Rezlar collapse after the fight. He’s not hurt, just exhausted. I can’t really blame him, either. He did a lot of heavy lifting in that fight, which Freddie and Rhonda clearly appreciate. The goblin pulls a little blue potion from her belt and hands it to the supine elf, who eagerly downs it. He sighs as energy fills him, or at least his mana. I dunno if it’s technically a different thing from something like stamina.

He gives Rhonda a tired thumbs-up, to the laughter of all gathered, and I let them enjoy their victory. The twinsnake was a great challenge for them, and I’m glad to see it seems to be keeping the properties as it waits to respawn. I think it might need the occasional touch up, but they’ll be great as a wandering boss in the caverns.

I can feel Violet looking more seriously at the expansion, too. She seems to be a bit inspired by the show, which I didn’t even intend. Still, if it gets her to expand quicker, I’ll take it. Expanding gets a dungeon so much good stuff to play with.

I don’t quite cross off getting Violet to expand from my to-do list yet. Don’t go making checks before they’re cashed… or something. I also can’t quite check off Rocky’s new boxing arena, even if it’s progressing nicely. It does make me look at two of the other items on it that I should really get going officially on.

One is in getting Leo to go check on the Southwood and the progress of the trail there. I could just poke him to get going, but I instead poke Teemo to go check on him. He’s been gathering a few supplies and ensuring the tundra wolves will be ready to join him. As I focus in on him, I even see Honey buzzing around, which seems strange. Probably a good idea to get Teemo in there to see what they’re up to.

Only a minute or two pass before Teemo exits a shortcut in the library, where Honey is buzzing around, her bees covering Leo’s saddlebag things. The wolf scion stands stoically as Honey works, though he nods at Teemo as he enters.

“Heya Leo, Honey. She helping you get ready?” asks Teemo, unable to keep from smiling at the scene.

Leo considers for a moment before shaking his head and growling a response.

“Us?”

Honey does a little buzzing dance before returning to her work, and Teemo looks confused.

“Uh… Boss? Honey says she’s going with him.”

Huh. Why?

Teemo relays my question, and Honey starts doing an elaborate dance routine, which Teemo quickly interrupts. “The Boss doesn’t need an itemized list, Honey. He just wants to know why you’d want to leave the library, especially for something potentially dangerous like this.”

Her reply dance feels a bit curt, and I don’t doubt for a moment that she’s upset about not getting to actually dance out a detailed essay on why she should go. Still, she gives Teemo the tl;dr, which he relays.

“She says she wants to make sure Leo has all the information he’ll need. She can create maps and explore easier than he can… at least for a while. She has calculations to prove Leo and the wolves can keep her and the colony she’ll be taking warm, too, but I don’t think she’ll need to show them, yeah?”

Uh, yeah, I believe her. I’m not against her going, just a bit surprised, is all.

Leo yips with a grin, getting a laugh from Teemo.

“Leo says she just wants to get closer to the new information. There’s not much on the Green Sea, so of course she wants to be one of the first to actually provide details.”

Honey manages to huff and buzz at the same time, before returning to her packing.

“She’s probably loading up a few other wolves with stuff, too?” Teemo asks, and Leo nods. “That’s fine then. Bats and birds will still be sent out, too, so you should be easily in contact with the Boss. When will you two be ready to head out?”

Leo tilts his head as he things, before giving a soft wuff, which Teemo nods at. “He says not long after sunset. It’ll be easier to rally the tundras and make a quieter exit that way.”

Works for me. Do they need anything special?

Teemo asks and Leo shakes his head. “Nah, looks like they have everything they think they’ll need. Honey actually has some go juice and a bit of the metal elixir, too. I have no idea what she’ll use it for.”

How about healing?

“She says she’ll be bringing along a lot of healing ants. She’d like a healing slime, but they just don’t fit in a saddlebag.”

Ah, right. Did you and Thing ever figure out how to make bags of holding?

“Not quite, but I think we can manage. Probably not until after they go, though.”

That’s fine. We can send a wolf with a healing slime in one later. Heh, probably along with you, Teemo. I’d like to have shortcuts between the outposts, if you can manage that?

My Voice whistles at that. “That’s gonna be a thing. I should be able to manage, but it won’t be quick.”

Can you manage before the end of winter?

“Hmm… probably. Having a tundra wolf to ride would make it a lot easier, too. Winter’s supposed to be pretty rough, but at least it can’t snow inside one of my shortcuts.”

Cool. Well, if Leo and Honey don’t need any help preparing, I do have one other thing I’d like to at least get started on today.

“Sounds like you have another something big in mind, Boss.”

Yeah… I want to ask Aranya more about how she came here. She’s implied there are more kobolds, and that they’re not doing great. If I can, I’d like to be able to do something to help.

“Where is she?”

Looks like… she’s hanging out with Norloke, having a nice bit of tea and chatting.

“Then I’ll be there in a couple minutes, Boss.”

No rush.

I focus in on their conversation, and I see Aranya smile as she sets her tea down.

“Ah, Lord Thedeim is here.”

“He always is,” replies Norloke with a motherly smile, before realizing Aranya doesn’t mean it metaphorically. “Oh! The Weaver is paying us attention?” She looks around, and Aranya nods.

“He is, though I don’t think it’s anything too serious.”

“I should hope not! He considers things like the scythemaws and the attack by Hullbreak to be serious! I’ve had enough seriousness to last me a while, thank you.”

“Well, you know the Weaver, Norloke. He’s not happy if he’s not whittling away at something that most would just leave alone,” Aranya replies with a grin. She might be able to hide it from Norloke with her cup, but I can still see it. Are all High Priestesses so cheeky, or am I just rubbing off on her?

“The Boss says you’re being cheeky,” says Teemo as he enters the cozy room, and Aranya simply smirks.

“And yet I haven’t been smote.” Teemo laughs with her, though Norloke just rolls her eyes like a mother whose child refuses to be as reverent as they should be. “Does Lord Thedeim need me?” she asks with more seriousness.

“Yeah, but nothing dangerous. Well, nothing that he expects will be dangerous, at least. He wants to know more about how you got here, and how the kobolds are faring deeper down. He’s going to be expanding more eventually, and he wants to help more than just the people on the surface, you know?”

Aranya grimaces as several emotions flicker across her features. Not really a surprise that her past is complicated. She takes a deep breath and tries to focus herself, and nods.

“I… had been hoping He would be interested, but didn’t want to ask. He’s already given so much.” She sighs again and firms her resolve. “This is probably a good time to talk about it, too. May I ask the rest of the Triumvirate to listen, as well as Elder Larx? The enclaves may have to deal with more than just tunnel horrors if You expand much deeper.”

That’s fair. Teemo, you want to go get Larx?

“You want me to bring Larx here, or do you all want to go visit him at the ratkin enclave?”

“We can go visit him,” speaks up Norloke. “No need to make him walk all the way here, even if he uses a shortcut. I’ll gather the others and we can meet him at his enclave.”

Aranya nods at that. “Would you please tell him to expect us, Teemo?”

“Yeah, I can do that. See you there!” With that, Teemo slips into a shortcut, leaving Aranya and Norloke to prepare to get going.

I leave them to it as I try to not let my mind wander with the possibilities of what Aranya will say. I’ve been trying to ignore this partially because I didn’t think I could do much about it. With her state when she first got here, it’s easy to guess kobolds aren’t doing so hot. If I can’t change it, I’d rather not know the details. But after dealing with Hullbreak, or at least getting past the first hurdle, there’s a very real chance I could actually help them.