Dungeon Life-Chapter Four-Hundred Ten

“Stop pouting, Boss.”

I’m… mostly not pouting.

Teemo chuckles as he sits atop my core, as if I could somehow move it without him knowing, or relaying the order himself. “Oh, ok. It sure looks a lot like pouting, which is pretty impressive, all things considered.”

I suppress the chuckle at that, and try to keep up my definitely-not-a-pout. We don’t even need a fancy ceremony for the move anymore. The cathedral’s consecrated, the former Earl is enjoying misery in a proper dungeon cell, Rezlar’s alive and public about it. Why not just move the core?

“Because they want to make a big deal out of it. Like it or not, people are paying attention to you, and a lot of them even like you. Just think of it as a party!”

My inclination for parties is to be as unnoticed as possible. Have some food, have some drink, have some chat. Being the center of attention is… uncomfortable, you know?

Teemo smiles and pats my core, which looks pretty ridiculous considering how big I am now, but it still helps me feel better. “Yeah, I know. But that’s what you signed up for when you decided to actually try to guide your followers, instead of making them fend for themselves.” His gentle smile shifts to a smirk as he continues. “There’s worse fates than being the reason for a big party.”

I grumble and finally accept that I’m being unreasonable, even if I still feel reality was unreasonable first. Expecting it to apologize for that is too unreasonable for even me. I mentally sigh and get on my big dungeon pants, and look over the plans for moving my core into the cathedral.

Let’s see… construction’s complete?

Teemo nods. “Coda gave it the full green light, and the shortcut from here to there is ready. We even have the safe room finished, just in case something happens and you have to bug out.”

I check that off the list. Decoration’s finished?

My Voice snorts. “As finished as they’re going to be, at least. Everyone’s always getting better at their crafts, and so want to go over and improve things. They can do that once you’re all settled in.”

Fainting contingencies?

Another nod. “We still don’t know how many people might get visions from your core. Tarl and Rezlar did, but Aranya and Yvonne didn’t. It might be because they’re Residents, maybe because they have Fate affinity… there’s a lot we just don’t know about it yet. Still, even if we assume everyone without fate affinity will have a vision, dealing with everyone is all set. Healing slimes are on standby and the ratlings should be able to catch anyone who manages to topple over. They should all be seated when you roll in, but still. After that, we’ll have a better idea of why the visions happen, and how often.”

Procrastination options?

Teemo grins. “Pretty much depleted. Your only real options are to reveal Doppler and Sue, and their spawners, as their own thing, but then you wouldn’t have any good excuses to shift attention from yourself at the core reveal.”

I grumble at that, but don’t argue. Tempting as it is to put this off a bit more, I’d rather do it now and still have some good distractions than to have to go out there all on my own. Of course, Doppler and Sue are more than just distractions, and if they wanted their own reveal party, I’d give it to them. But they’re more than happy with being revealed along with my core. None of the other scions got to have a party, after all.

Any signs of the Betrayer?

Teemo shakes his head. “Nothing yet, though Poe, Leo, and Zorro have been keeping a wary eye out for it. Hullbreak, too, but nothing yet. You’re not going to use that as an excuse to delay, are you?”

No. With no news on it, delaying won’t help anything. How many are coming for the reveal?

“Only everyone you know,” Teemo answers with a grin, teasing poor little me. “The enclaves are coming, of course, as are all of your followers in Fourdock. A bunch of people who aren’t followers are expected to come, too. Tarl, Berdol, and Telar are coming, as is Olander. Basically the entire Slim Chance will want to be there, including Aranya’s and Rezlar’s teams. The army is going to have a presence, but with the crowd, they’ll probably only send the Knight-Captain and a few of the higher-ups. What little space is left will be the normal people of Fourdock.”

Sounds like standing room only, sheesh. No pressure. How’s everyone holding up? Doppler and Sue are going to get special attention, but I would like to give all the other scions a chance to make themselves known, too.

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“They’re all looking forward to it, even the shyer ones like Coda and Poppy. Violet is planning to send Onyx while Hullbreak will be sending the Quartermaster. He would send the First Mate, but we don’t have the waterways for her. I think Southwood wants to send the Stag, too, but he’s pretty busy with orc delvers this time of year, not to mention the extra activity from Silvervein.”

Heh, save him some cake or something. Which reminds me: how’s the food? We’re not straining anyone by doing this so soon after Rezlar’s funeral party, right?

Teemo snorts at that. “I think most of the cooks took that as a warm-up. Wake food should be simple, but this will be proper party fare. If you’re not careful, you’re going to make a local holiday out of this.”

I think it’s a bit late for that. I could get in my own head about all this, but I refuse to have that existential crisis ahead of schedule, darn it! It can wait! I’m gonna have a party and do my best to not bring down the mood!

“That’s the spirit, Boss!”

Alright, most things look to be in order, but I think it might be a good idea to get the Dungeoneers introduced to Doppler and Sue before the party. Them and their spawners are going to be actually new things, so it’d probably be a good idea to have them help calm any nerves people might have about unknown spawns.

“Probably a good idea, yeah. I think most people are pretty used to you by now, but better to be safe than sorry. We still have a couple days before the party. I’ll go see if they have the time to come meet them and check out the spawners, too.”

With no time like the present, Teemo heads through a shortcut and navigates the complex web of twisted space he’s created, and soon exits atop a bookshelf in the Office of Dungeon Affairs, or as it’s actually called: the Dungeoneer’s Guild. It’s his favorite entrance, and it looks like Telar has actually set up a little bell for him to announce himself with. He rings it, earning the attention of the two elves and the catkin that all work there.

Telar smiles up at Teemo. “How can the Dungoeneer’s help, Teemo?”

“Are you guys especially busy? Boss has a few things he’s gonna show off at the reveal party, but we’ve both kinda realized it might be a better idea to clue you guys in on it first.”

Berdol looks curious while Tarl shakes his head, chuckling. “What have you done now?”

“Gravity constructs and… we got that thing working, too.” The catkin goes to the shelf to look into constructs while Tarl looks confused for a moment. Once he remembers what ‘that thing’ is, his eyes widen.

“That sounds like something we should look into before it goes public, yes.”

Telar gives Tarl a questioning look that he ignores as he continues. “Have you shown Olander?”

“Not yet. We’re not against inviting him along, but he’s probably got a lot of things to write the king about, yeah?”

“Probably,” agrees Tarl, “but he’ll need to write about this once he hears of it, too. Might as well help him out by only sending one letter, right?”

Teemo shrugs for me. “Sure. When are you guys available? Hopefully before the party, and it’d probably be a good idea to do it as soon as possible, so you can prepare for the public reaction.”

“Will this be an official delve?” Telar asks Tarl, who can only look to Teemo for the answer.

“Probably not? They’re both situated in the roots, which are not set up for delving right now. It’ll mostly be new stuff that’ll be showing up in and around the tree.”

Telar nods and deftly grabs a form to fill out. “A supplementary delve, then. Usually, we do these when delvers report something new that needs swift attention, like an unexpected affinity in a scion or boss denizen. That sounds like the current situation?”

“Close enough,” agrees Teemo.

“Then Inspector Tarl and Junior Inspector Berdol will be free to do the supplementary inspection at their discretion, once I finish this form. It will also be their own prerogative if they wish to involve Crown Inspector Olander, as he’s not under my jurisdiction.”

Berdol snorts from the bookshelf, where he’s nose-deep in a book about constructs. “Like he’ll say no.”

Tarl smirks. “You never know. He and Tula might have another date scheduled.”

Even Telar cracks a faint smile at that. “Indeed. Either way, I believe it will behoove us to get this done quickly, inspectors. We all know how quickly Thedeim moves.” She turns a mostly-joking glare on Teemo. “I’m not sure I’ve ever had a report to give the delvers that wasn’t obsolete by the time the ink dried.”

Teemo holds his hands out placatingly. “Hey, it’s not my fault the Boss finds the inspections inspiring!”

“Hmm,” she answers, not looking convinced, but also not looking bothered. “Perhaps we’ll be able to get ahead of the game with a supplementary inspection, then. It would be nice, for once.”

Tarl snickers and nudges Berdol to put away the book. “You heard the woman, Berdol. Let’s go see if Olander can come out and play, and by the time we get back, she’ll be done with the paperwork.”

“I’ll meet you guys at the cathedral?” offers Teemo, and earns a nod from Berdol and Tarl. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

“Sounds good! Maybe we can get a few encounters before we reach you,” muses Tarl. “Berdol can always use the practice.”

The catkin shrugs and nods, knowing he’s no match for Tarl, let alone Olander. “I’ll never turn down a chance to get better. Not all dungeons are going to be like Thedeim.”

“Thank goodness,” jabs Telar with another faint smile, earning a laugh from everyone before they all go their own ways. Tarl and Berdol have Olander to gather, and I’ll need Teemo to help direct a few choice encounters for the trio. I feel like something heavier on statuses would be a good test for Berdol, and keep the other two on their toes.

I smile to myself as Teemo helps guide the encounters, with Goldilocks even making an appearance to ensure the little details are perfect. After all the stuff with the former Earl, it’s nice to get back to business as usual… or at least as usual as things get around here.