As enlightening as the autopsy turned out to be, there’s still a lot of questions to be answered, and not just about the weird invader. Well, not directly about it. I still don’t know who sent it, why, or from where. It seems like the Southwood doesn’t know, either.

I feel like this is a good example of the difference in quality of scouting with a Marshal and without. I’m a bit tempted to get Poe up here to organize a few of my own avian expeditions, but I don’t think my birbs will enjoy flying in the cold like that. Besides, they don’t call it the Green Sea just because it sounds cool. From the air, it’s just a dense canopy from horizon to horizon, though there’s quite a bit of white on it right now, too. The main point is: birds just aren’t going to cut it to get information on what’s happening on the ground.

Thankfully, I have other options for scouts. I upgrade the wolf spawner a bit to up the spawn rate, so Leo should be getting enough wolves to send a few out to explore to the north. If we ever want to get some kind of counter-offensive going, we’ll need to know where to actually go off to and offend.

Much as I’d like to let Teemo stick around and try to learn more with the Stag, I probably should get him home. The stopgap with Poe worked well enough, but it’s definitely a bandaid on something that will require stitches: better than nothing, but not an actual solution.

My own voice speaks up from atop Leo’s head, preferring to get to look the Stag in the eyes when talking together.

“Well, seems like the Boss is ready for me to come home. Honey will get first dibs on whatever seeds and such your expeditions bring back, and in exchange, the Boss will do his best to help deal with whatever’s going on with those invaders.”

The Stag nods. “We have an accord, then. Is there anything else my Lord can offer in return? A few handfuls of seeds seems hardly enough to offer if you can truly fight off this threat.”

Oh, that actually reminds me.

Teemo tilts his head as I explain my idea to him, and nods when he realizes where I’m going with it. “Actually, what rooms do you have access to? The Boss knows of at least one he doesn’t have, so he’s wondering if there’s a way to trade rooms or something.”

The Stag looks a bit surprised at that, but listens to his own dungeon before answering. “With each passing year, more options will open up for your dungeon. My Lord has access to everything, in theory. While something like a magma forge is available to him, it would take a lot of effort for him to actually utilize it. My Lord has few rooms actually built, as he has little use for them. To gain access to a new building yourself, you will either need to be patient, or utilize a scion.

“If a friendly dungeon has a room you would like, you would need to send your scion to utilize that room and gain a title, which would then give you access to the room.”

Teemo’s nod mimes the one I want to do. “Ah, like with Leo. He joined the Boss, and Thedeim made him a scion, but he didn’t have a wolf spawner at the time, so he gained access to it.”

The Stag nods. “It is quite the investment, however, to utilize a precious scion to gain something that will eventually come with time.”

My three scions there exchange glances, but don’t argue. I have scions coming out of my non-existent ears! Interestingly enough, they also mostly all have their own jobs to do already, so I’m not certain I have one to suggest that to anyway.

Teemo gives a little bow to the Stag. “Thanks for the information. The Boss will be sending more wolves in the coming days, too, so you should have a bit more breathing room from the attacks.”

The White Stag gives a more elaborate bow in return. “Thank you for your aid, and for your forgiveness of my… earlier rashness. Your unorthodox approach may be just what my Lord needs to weather this storm.”

Teemo just smiles before turning his attention back to Leo, and Honey as well. The bee scion has her swarm buzzing around a wolf besides Leo, the tundra wolf weighed down with saddlebags full of notes and samples.

“Is that everything you want to send back for now, Honey? Yes, I know, I won’t try to shelve your notes. I’m sure the bees back home can keep them organized until you get back. Yes, and preserve the samples, too.” He laughs as he hops onto the other wolf, and motions for him to get going. “You can send more stuff back later, so stop fretting! There’s going to be plenty of wolves in and out. Yes, I’ll make sure Grim gets that flower, too, don’t worry.”

Honey keeps buzzing and dancing as Teemo leans into the wolf’s ear and whispers “Just run, or we’ll never get out of here.” The wolf eagerly takes off, with Teemo laughing and waving at Queen and the others, my bee scion in a bit of a huff at the sudden departure.

While I think the visit could have gone better, it certainly could have gone worse. The Southwood could have been overrun by the time we got there, for example. Still, I’m pretty happy with how it went. I’d rather have knowledge of a foe than be surprised by it, even if I’d prefer even more to not fight in the first place. I at least have an idea for how to deal with the weird invaders.

I’m pretty sure bugs don’t do well in the cold because of the open nature of their circulation, though their size definitely plays a part, too. Stagnant stuff freezes a lot easier than moving. But I also think that’s partially why poison works so well on them, too. It might just be that bugs back home are small, so a lethal dose is small, too, but the various sprays seem to work really quickly, and I think it’s because of the open layout of their insides.

In a human, a poison has to follow the veins to get where it wants to go. In a bug, it can just diffuse through everything more or less all at once. I’m hoping that will mean Queen can whip up some aerosol alchemical things and make fights with these invaders nice and short.

I also should consider maxing out the anthill, too. The Lava Labyrinth is looking like a big tangled mess, which is exactly what I was hoping it’d be. I even made sure to put the elevation changes in places that would prevent just being able to follow a wall to get to the prize. Or prizes, there’s going to be a lot of things to entice delvers. I’m going to be spending a bit of mana to reorganize the nodes in there, so the best stuff is deeper in. I’ll leave one or two of the mythril and orichalcum nodes more towards the entrance, but they’re going to be in sections I can easily reroute with the moving walls and other options, so even those won’t be simple to get.

Yeah, I should max the anthill and give it the chance to populate the labyrinth with whatever the new ant is. If it follows the pattern of the last two, the planned ant enclave will claim some or all of the ones that exist and they’ll start actually making the enclave. It’ll take a bit of time to let them build up the numbers for that.

I spend the mana to max it out, and wait with bated breath to see what I get. One of the smaller ant holes gets widened from the inside, and I see my new ant isn’t a giant like the tunnelbores, which is a relief. Amazons… antazons(?) might have trouble literally fitting in down here.

As it makes its entrance, it looks sleek, almost spindly, despite the glowing grooves of magma I can see at the seams in its carapace. It’s rather low-slung, making me think more of a wind scorpion than an ant, though the head looks like a normal ant head. It has two crude graspers on the frontmost set of legs. It’s not as ugly as the aranea are, but this magmyrm, as the little window calls it, isn’t exactly going to be winning any beauty contests. Or maybe it will. Maybe this is the Fabio of magmyrms, I dunno.

Unlike the ratling or aranea, this one doesn’t seem like it has anything in specific in mind as it wanders the labyrinth. I watch it as my mind wanders to the information the Stag shared about getting new rooms. Do any of my scions have the spare time to try to pick up some kind of metalcrafting title in Violet’s metalworks? Most of my scions I can dismiss pretty easily, as just about everyone is rather busy with their projects, or just wouldn’t fit in the small room (sorry Tiny).

In fact, I think I only have two who could even remotely have the time for it, though I’m not certain they’ll have the inclination. One is Fluffles, who may not have the time for it, after all. He’s been trying to train a lot more recently, and I think he’s gotten to a point where he doesn’t feel like he’s wasting my mana when he uses it anymore. Still, it can’t hurt to suggest it to him. Worst he can do is say no.

The other would be Jello. While she’s definitely been keeping herself busy with keeping the tunnels clear, they wouldn’t suffer if she picked up a hobby. I’m not sure she has the temperament for it, but she does like trying new things.

I mentally shrug and ask Violet for permission for my scions to use her metalworks, and she readily accepts. I think she’s actually happy to have something to potentially teach me, which is kind of adorable. I tap the bonds with the suggestion to give metalworking a shot, and it seems like both Fluffles and Jello are willing to at least check it out. I expect I’ll probably need a new scion before I get a metalworks, or maybe hope the system or whatever it is will give it to me for my birthday.