Teemo gives me a mental poke to get my attention, pulling my focus out and away from toying with some composite ideas. I’ve seen Queen working on what looks like a composite using spidersilk and lacquer, and I’ve been doodling ideas for how to get some carbon fiber going. I’m pretty sure that’d all be on Queen to manage anyway.

“You probably want to hear this part, Boss.”

Sorry, right. What do I need to hear?

“The Maw’s denizens.”

That certainly gets my attention, and Teemo chuckles as he motions to Lechula and Merrik. “Could you repeat that? The Boss was busy with something else, but now you have his full attention.”

The female dwarf looks a bit uncomfortable at that, and reaches her hand towards her beard for a moment before forcing it down. “Uh… the Maw’s denizens. Well, almost everyone in SIlvervein has fought at least a couple of them. They pretty much need to to get their class, right? Even the crafters. It has two types of spawners, and I think has multiple of them, too? It has fey and elemental spawners, and at least one of each is maxed out.”

Merrik speaks up to give a bit more information. “I have personally seen at least three spawners, and I don’t think they’re maxed. I’m not an expert, though. I saw two elementals and one fey, but from the numbers in and around the Maw, I’d expect at least one more fey spawner. The Redcap was his first scion, and I don’t imagine it would invest in a fey spawner like that and not keep its numbers on par with the elemental spawners.”

“They keep a lot of the details pretty secret,” admits Lechula. “I’m pretty sure I saw a different fey spawner than Merrik, but we didn’t get our classes together, so it’s hard to say.” She pauses as Honey scribbles, letting my Librarian catch up. She soon moves to a new sheet and buzzes her readiness, and Lechula continues.

“I’m pretty sure the weakest of the fey are needleslinks. They always make me think of weird beetles, but… there’s not much resemblance. They have four legs and one little weird arm thing, with their needle-like head on a long neck. They have a smooth shiny body, but just stepping on them is usually enough to finish one off. They don’t do much damage on their own, but they like to smear the needle with dirt and other things. They’re usually not dangerous immediately, but it can take days to recover from a delve if you encounter a swarm of them, and they do usually swarm. They don’t fly, at least.

“Bladesprites do. They have small, thin bodies and one weird foot/hand thing. On their backs, they have bladed wings, shaped kinda like axes, but a lot thinner. The whole thing is about hand sized. They sometimes swarm, but I think a swarm is one of the higher spawns from the spawner. They like to charge at targets, flying in a straight line, then close their wings and flip over and hit like a throwing hatchet. The swarms sometimes try to surround someone and slice them up like that, but I think they tend to get in each other’s way when they do that. Or they weren’t trying too hard to kill anyone when I delved.”

Lechula gets lost in thought at that for a few moments, wondering if the Maw was being magnanimous, or if the bladesprites are just kinda stupid. I’m going to assume any bladesprite swarm will be similar in power to that bladewall spell Merrik showed off, and from Honey’s notes, I think she’s on the same page. My bee finishes her notes and buzzes to get Lechula back on track.

“Oh! Sorry. Uh… I think the bolties would come next?” she asks, looking to Merrik. He shrugs in response.

“In rough order of estimated power, I’d say so.”

Lechula nods at that and returns her focus to Honey and the other scions. “Bolties then. I’m pretty sure they’re a type of brownie? I don’t know enough about fey in general to really say. They’re around two feet tall and are pretty thin and wiry, but with oversized clawed hands. Instead of getting into melee to slash, they launch their claws like darts. They sometimes will taint them like the needleslinks, but they’re big enough to be dangerous even without that.” She pauses again to think.

“I only fought a couple. They’re thin enough to be able to hide in cracks and crevices and stuff, but tend to just stand there and shoot if they have the option, once the fight is started. Then… I’d put the bladesprite swarms…” She shudders as her thoughts land on the next threat.

“Then the pricklethorns. They’re only a little shorter than a dwarf, but just as stocky. They’re covered in small hooks and barbs, and have weird wide forearms, like small shields. Their hands are too stubby to really hold a weapon, but they make good fists. I’ve never fought one, but I heard about a couple people who tried. It uh… it sounded like you should try to keep your distance.

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“The last ones are the thinlinks. They look like a really lanky elf covered head to toe in chains. I’ve only ever seen the chains, but I’ve only seen one once, and I didn’t want to get its attention by staring. The rumors say they use the chains to grab and choke, or sometimes pull, and just one can be a threat to a full party.”

Honey scribbles as I take that in, comparing it to my own spawners. It sounds a bit like the progression for my spiders, and they’re probably physical focused like mine. I consider my potential countermeasures as Lechula leans back against the wall, letting Merrik step forward with what he knows.

“I’ve dealt more with the elementals than the fey. The weakest, easily, are the living caltrops. They like to lay in wait rather than actively attack, though they will sometimes try to trip someone to make them fall onto the little spikes. Metal boots don’t hinder them much.

“After those… the lode wisps. They’re floating rough spheres of metal and can attract or repel metal at will. They probably won't see much use in this fight, though. When I encountered them, they were always alone. I believe they can’t exclude anyone or anything from their influence, so deploying them in the fight would disrupt the Maw’s forces at least as much as your own.

“Rust elementals I would put next. They look like a roiling mass of scrap, and while they can hit hard if given the opportunity, their main threat is in their ability to rust metals with a touch. The guards are always complaining about their new sword getting ruined after encountering a rust elemental. If you don’t have anything metallic, they’re not much to worry about.” He pauses and frowns before moving on to the next elemental.

“Sliverstorms are a threat. They look like a gnashing maelstrom of needles and razors, and if that’s all they were, that’d be bad enough. But they feed on metal, making themselves bigger. An armored opponent would find himself minced as his own armor unravels like a cheap cloak to feed the sliverstorm. Keeping them away from metal will lessen the threat, but they are still dangerous even without making themselves bigger.

“Then there are the iron maidens. I don’t think they’ll be on the battlefield, but they will be abundant within the Maw itself. As far as I know, they can’t move around, but they can be exceptionally dangerous. They will camouflage themselves to look like the floor or wall, or something else innocent, and usually leave a bit of gold or other valuable metal as bait. When a hapless delver thinks they’ve found a nice treat, they instead become the treat as the maiden snaps around them. They come in a lot of varieties, too, and I’ve heard them sometimes called steel mimics. I’ve heard of ones that disguise themselves as chandeliers, or even as chairs or doors, only to rapidly engulf their victim when they reveal themselves.”

He sighs before continuing. “But I think the most dangerous of the Maw’s denizens are the forgemasters. They look like crude statues of dwarves, or maybe dwarves in crude metal armor. They are metal affinity mages, and tough to kill. They will support and repair the denizens, manipulating the metal directly, without needing any fire. They will also hinder or even kill opponents wearing anything metal, twisting armor and weapons to terrible effect. They are rare, but the Maw will certainly use every single one it has if a fight comes to it.”

I digest that as Honey scribbles, and Teemo has a question before either I or Honey can come up with a response.

“What about the weird leech-headed things?”

Merric and Lechula exchange a glance, with Lechula looking a bit embarrassed and Merric looking uncertain as he answers. “I’ve only heard rumors. Everyone knows the Harbinger has a spawner, but I don’t know anyone who’s actually tried to fight what it spawns. The rumors call them least, but don’t say much. Dergol said a friend of his heard a drunk ranting about ‘monstrous lessers’, but the guards showed up before he could give any details. I don’t know how much I’d trust that as a source, but there you go.”

That doesn’t sound good. The rest of the info sounds great, though. Most of my denizens shouldn’t be outright countered by anything, and I think the wyrms and basilisks will be a great counter to the swarmy things. I’ll need to watch through Leo’s eyes as he and Honey start working on our plan to deal with everything. Those pricklethorns and sliverstorms both sound pretty nasty, especially if they have foregemaster backup. We’ll also need to be aware of the least getting used as sappers and tunnelers to get behind our positions, or collapse them outright.

Before all that planning, though, I think it’s time to officially change the status of Lechula and Merrik. Teemo hops onto the Stag’s head to whisper to him, and he nods.

“I and my Lord agree, Voice Teemo. While it would be wise to await confirmation from other sources, these two have been very cooperative. My Lord would like to offer them the chance to stay as delvers for as long as they wish.”

Teemo smiles at that. “Sounds like about what the Boss would like, too.” He turns his focus to the two refugees. “If you’re up for it, I’ll lead you out to the Boss’ dwellers and the adventurers. I’m sure they’ll love to chat and maybe fill you in on what your options are now. You can stay here with the Southwood if you really want, or maybe try to join one of the enclaves back with the Boss. We can even try to get in touch with the mayor of Fourdock if you want to try to seek refuge somewhere that’s not a dungeon. I’d ask you stick around somewhat close for a bit before taking off to explore the whole continent, though. We wouldn’t want the Maw to somehow find you.”

I mentally nod at that, and am glad Teemo left the other reason unsaid. I like the two, but I can’t give them full trust just yet. If it was just me, I might give them the full benefit of the doubt, but there’s a lot more people than just me involved in this. One source is good to start, but I want as many as possible before I start actually making any decisions. And if they’re an unreliable source, I’ll need to be able to ask them more questions to see if they’re deliberately lying, or just wrong about the Maw’s forces.