Chapter 97: Bee Decisive

Chapter 97: Bee Decisive

The day went on. Belissar occupied himself by watching the karnuq expedition. They made their way down the tunnel until it opened into a much larger tunnel, complete with stalactites, stalagmites, and pillars. A full-on river flowed down the center with mushrooms and even mosses growing along its banks.

The karnuq stuck in a group and advanced slowly down the hall. Metsaitti explained that they hadn’t gone past the tunnel leading to his Tower, so Metsaitti wanted to scout that way first and ensure the area was safe. He led the way with Noiggakuq right behind him, sniffing the air while the digging bee sent out her mana pulses. Metsaitti was very pleased to have the two of them on the trip.

They didn’t find anything of note before it was time for the daily purification and Belissar turned his attention away. The purification was just a pair of wolf-shades this time around. They stumbled their way through the first floor Dirt Tunnels. Belissar waited to see if they would fall into the Pit Traps...before remembering that he completely forgot to add any traps to the new room. He very quickly scrambled to move the Pit Traps and Sticky Honey Traps he left behind in the third floor’s Dirt Tunnels down to the room they would actually see use in.

And then he ran into a problem. The transparent Pit Trap turned red as he moved it close to the shades.

Corruption detected. Please purify corruption before installing features in affected areas.

Belissar frowned. The wolf-shades left a trail of Hunger wherever they went that wouldn’t vanish until they were purified, so it appeared Belissar would not be able to place any traps anywhere the shades had been. He groaned and then placed what traps he could at the exit of the room. Well, it was good to learn this now during the usual minor+ purifications he knew the bees could handle regardless, but he still felt worried and embarrassed to have forgotten something so obvious.

What followed was a surprisingly, frustratingly long time of waiting for the shades to stumble their way through the Dirt Tunnel maze before finally finding the exit. The soldier bee army stayed a bit out of the way of the entrance to the Flower Meadow, since the wolf-shades had their breath attack, and so the two wolf-shades rushed forward.

They were quickly caught in the traps and then the bees struck. The purification was handled with the hardest part being waiting for the shades to arrive. Belissar sighed and then moved the rest of the traps to the front of the Dirt Tunnels before moving to prepare for the victory celebration.

And then, it would finally be time to decide what to buy with his DP.

The First of the Fifth ordered her workers to begin transporting the usual victory feast, and then made her way over to the third floor Flower Meadow. The bumblebees were just returning to their burrows as the day came to a close. The two queens turned and flew towards her. They didn’t give any sort of greeting dance, just flew around her once and then hovered in front of her.

...she supposed that was supposed to be a greeting of some sorts.

“King is assembling queens to celebrate victory. Please follow.”

She figured that the King would want his newest bees there, too, but somehow doubted these newcomers were aware, seeing as the first one hadn’t shown up last night. The two bumblebee queens looked at her, and then started to fly around her rapidly.

“Yes, celebrating, but not here. Please stop and follow.”

Belissar grinned as he watched his bees celebrate, now joined by the two bumblebee queens. Both the Flower Meadow and Orchard queens had surrounded the two newcomers, curiously inspecting them while the bumblebee queens drank their fill of honey. He was very grateful to the First of the Fifth for remembering to bring them along.

The Tower was growing large enough he was starting to forget things. It was a good thing he had asked the First of the Fifth to help organize the Apiary queens after all.

In any case, soon the celebrations came to a close and the queens and Chief Rohsuak gathered around Belissar to see if he had anything to talk about. And tonight, he did.

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“So, I wanted to ask you all...is there anything you want? Or anything you think the Tower needs?”

Beeswax Candles

- Type: Bee, Fire, Decoration

- Mana Upkeep: 1(0 if wax is regularly provided)

- Description: A beeswax candle that provides light, and a bit of heat. Effects may vary if special wax types are provided.

...well, that one was pretty straightforward. Belissar guessed that the candles would basically keep burning, like how the Sticky Honey Traps could replenish themselves if honey wasn’t provided or how the Beehives could produce honeycomb even without any bees, which could be convenient. Maybe he could use them to light up the Dirt Tunnels so his non-digging bees could operate there?

On the other hand, he could easy make candles of his own and he had digging bees for the Dirt Tunnels, so none of that was strictly necessary, so he moved on to the final option.

Grasping Vine

- Type: Nature, Trap

- Mana Upkeep: 2

- Description: A vine that constricts upon being touched. May trip or restrain a target.

Well, that was another trap, for sure. But, if Belissar was honest, he didn’t see a point to this one for his Tower. After all, he already had Sticky Honey Traps to slow down an enemy and Pit Traps to trip them up. What could these vines do that those two traps couldn’t? He couldn’t think of much.

“What does everyone think of these?”

Belissar looked out across the queens, but they did not have any strong opinions this time. Chief Rohsuak just smiled at him. He stared at her until she chuckled.

“Well, if you must know my opinion...more resources are always appreciated.”

Belissar sighed, but nodded.

“Well, that’s what I was thinking too.”

Basic Resource Minerals selected.

That one wasn’t really a contest. Basic Resource Minerals were the only option that could provide something his Tower currently lacked. Neither candles nor vines were worth the thousand DP he had spent on this.

Which led Belissar to the next choice...should he buy more feature choices, or call it for the night?