As everyone gathers on the far side of the cemetery wall, I watch through Teemo’s eyes the growing throng in the pre-dawn light. Every last basilisk of mine is there, and I’ll probably keep sending them as they spawn. It’s still pretty slow, and I’m tempted to upgrade the dragon spawner again to increase the speed, but I hold off. A couple dozen more basilisks could be nice, but I want to make sure Fluffles has plenty of my mana to throw around when the time comes.

My own denizens and scions are the first to show up, unsurprisingly. Queen has her lab packed up and secured to several tunnelbore ants, and I watch through her eyes occasionally to make sure things are going well. Sensing her pheromones is kinda weird, but she’s calm and collected through the apparent chaos of the ants moving around. Thing’s senses are even weirder, I don’t even know how to describe it. Maybe touch, but at a distance? Anyhow, his lab is also strapped to several tunnelbores.

I think he and Queen are trying to see if they can make their labs functional on the go, but I wouldn’t hold my breath, even if I still had any. The ants are pretty stable as they move, but there’s still a bit of motion to them. I think they might be able to get used to working in that kind of conditions, but I don’t think they want to waste the materials to learn. They don’t have the most resin to play with right now, but they should have plenty once they get to the Southwood.

The medics gather as well, my magmyrms looking a bit nervous about being on the surface, but also eager to put their training to work. More tunnelbores carry their equipment, as well as empty baskets and bags for gathering. Quite a few aranea are riding along, too. I think some are hoping to make some quests in the Southwood. I don’t know if that’ll work, but I like the initiative. If it doesn’t work, they can help make silk for the composite armor.

Aranya shows up at the same time the first couple adventurer groups do, and she happily chats with them. I wonder if the timing is an adventurer thing? I can’t imagine them keeping to a rigid schedule, but I can imagine them having a rough idea of the best time and way to prepare to go on a long journey. As dawn nears, I think the entire guild is here, except for Karn. There’s probably some unlucky group staying with him, but it’s not one I recognize as absent.

The Shield worshipers start showing up only slightly later, and they mingle with the adventurers. I think everyone is a bit nervous, but also looking forward to doing their part. They all know it will be messy, but they also know the mess won’t clean itself. Teemo chats with a few as he wanders, checking in on everyone and relaying info to Aranya when needed.

Just as the sun is getting ready to actually rise, I see two people I wasn’t expecting to show up. The birds in the cemetery do their best to give them the appropriate welcome, but there’s just more around the manor than the cemetery. I don’t even need to poke Teemo for him to dart through a shortcut to greet the surprise guests.

“Tarl! Berdol! The Boss didn’t think you guys would be coming!” exclaims my Voice from a bush, before hurrying out.

Tarl smirks at my scion. “Really? Did he actually think I wouldn’t want to do an inspection of the Maw? Besides, a hostile inspection will be good training for Berdol. Facing a matching affinity can help lessen the danger for a first run.”

While Tarl looks confident, the tabby catkin looks a bit more nervous. I’d probably be nervous, too, bringing that much metal to this particular fight.

“Yeah? Is he strong enough to resist the influence of the nastier denizens, then?” asks Teemo, eyeing Berdol. The apprentice gives a small shrug.

“Matched affinities are pretty complicated, especially when they try to directly control the same piece of their element. It’s usually too much of a hassle to try to directly grab something under someone else’s control. It’s better to just use your own blade to engage, like a sword fight.”

The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Teemo doesn’t look too convinced, mirroring my own worries for the catkin. “You’re sure? I’m pretty sure Rhonda did that to Rocky to get her class.”

Tarl snorts at that. “To get a very rare class that’s all about examining magic. Berdol should be fine. I’d give details, but it’s rude to give away the secrets of some else’s class.”

Teemo looks to Berdol with curious eyes, and I can practically feel him channeling Honey to get some more info out of the inspector in training. He can’t stand against such an onslaught, and soon elaborates.

“My personal style of metal magic is… well, very personal. It works best with my stuff, and anyone else will have a hard time taking my stuff from me. Tarl’s been talking about those denizens since you dropped the info on us, and I think the biggest threat to me will be the rust elementals. I won’t quite be a counter to a sliverstorm or something, but I should be able to slow one down enough for someone else to finish it off.”

“Which will be my job,” interjects Tarl. “A friendly inspection should be done solo, so the inspector can better bond with a dungeon. But against a hostile dungeon, a partner is practically required. Metal is a little more difficult for me to deal with, but with Berdol able to interfere with the denizens, I should be able to land hits on weaknesses a lot easier than on my own.”

Teemo nods at that. “Fair enough. Do you want to try some of Queen and Thing’s new armor, Tarl? I’d offer some to you too, Berdol, but there’s no metal in it. Heh, they’ll probably want your input on a few designs that incorporate some, though.”

They both look intrigued by that, and the senior inspector speaks up first. “New armor? What madness has Thedeim cooked up this time?”

Teemo smirks and hops up onto Berdol’s shoulder and motions towards the gathered crowd, letting the two continue walking as he explains. “It’s basically a thick silk weave encased in lacquer. It will scratch and gouge pretty easily, but getting fully through it is hard to do. The Boss is still working on improving it, but they should last for at least one battle, which is hopefully all we’ll need for now.”

“What does he want to know about adding metal to it?” asks Berdol as Tarl considers the benefits of a good ablative protector.

“He mostly wants to know how much metal you need to get a grip on something, and if that’s a general limitation, or a you limitation.”

“That’s… a bit complicated. I can pull metallic buttons off of someone’s shirt, but I won’t think to try to grab a hidden blade if I don’t know it’s there. I’ve met a few that could sense metal better than I can, but it’s not very common.”

“Can you grab thin metal? Like really thin?”

Berdol thinks it over as they join everyone else. “I’ve never had thin metal to test against, at least not thinner than a blade. Would metal that thin help with armor, though?”

Teemo nods. “It seems weird to me, but the Boss is pretty confident in it, so I’m not going to doubt him. Do you think you’d be able to tear metal out of a layer of lacquer and probably silk, too?”

Berdol slowly shakes his head. “Even if I knew it was there, I doubt it. If you, for some reason, put a bunch of blades into the armor, I might be able to get them to cut free, but more blunt metal would be… pretty difficult to tear through something like that.”

“Would you be able to immobilize someone wearing it?”

“...maybe? I’d have to try it. I don’t think anyone has ever had to test it.”

Poor guy, he just said the secret word. Every ant and hand within earshot looks at him, with the ones further turning their gaze on him like a tide of eyes and… fingers? I still don’t understand how the hands sense things. Berdol, at least, can sense the danger he’s in, but he’s in too deep now. Teemo gives him a sympathetic look before turning to Tarl.

“Queen and Thing want to borrow him for the trip, and probably for the entire time up until the attack.”

Tarl solemnly nods, regretting having to give his assistant away like this, but he has no other choice. Poor Berdol. When they say curiosity killed the cat, I don’t think they usually mean it like this. I’m sure he’ll be fine.