Belissar took a deep breath.
“Ok, here we go.”
Now was the mont that would decide the shape of this fight. Now was the mont that could completely change the coming conflict.
Extra feature choice purchased. One feature choice now available.
Now…Belissar would brave the DP shop feature choices once again.
A key point that erged from General Rippotis’ explanation of the Tower Lords’ thods was the existence of external shortcuts. The Circle had been aware they existed but were not permitted to deploy them within the land of the fair, only now did they co to appreciate the significance of the feature. General Rippotis confird these shortcuts could allow a Tower’s defenders to exit the Tower from within any room in any floor of the Tower and arrive anywhere within the area the Tower had purified.
A feature like that would open up countless new options for the coming conflict, not least of all would be allowing them to reach the sigmaka and vice versa if either side was cut off. And General Rippotis confird they were only an uncommon feature! Belissar presently had over eleven-thousand DP saved up, so he had eleven chances to acquire it. He and his allies all agreed that the very first thing they should do was have Belissar try to gain the feature now, whether or not he could would then decide how they would arrange their defenses.
And the first choice…was a miss. Belissar quickly picked a feature, barely even considering the choices.
Treasure Chests now available!
Well, at least he’d have regular treasure chests to go with the ones filled with bees now.
The second choice…
Random Resource Mineral selected.
Gold is now available!
Under different circumstances Belissar might have been excited and sowhat intimidated to be able to create gold, that precious tal he had never even seen himself. At present, he could not help but feel disappointed instead.
The third choice…
Fountain of Healing now available!
Fountain of Healing
- Type: Recovery, Utility
- Mana Upkeep: 10
- Description: A fountain with healing powers. A drink can cure many ailnts and status effects, while subrging in the water can heal even grievous wounds. The water loses potency if removed from the fountain. ℞ἁ₦ổᛒЕś
That one…wasn’t bad. But it still wasn’t what Belissar wanted this ti.
The fourth choice…
Random Animal selected.
Deer is now available!
Well, the butcher bees, bloodsucking bees, and spiderkin would be happy about that one.
The fifth choice…
Random Resource Mineral selected.
Coal is now available!
Belissar was starting to wonder if he was just taking the random options because he didn’t have to think about them. Well, more resources was probably better than Dirt Trails, which seed to be the most common of the common options given how many tis it showed up…
The sixth choice…
Manchineel Tree now available!
Manchineel Tree
- Type: Poison, Nature, Trap, Resource
- Mana Upkeep: 3
- Description: One of the most toxic plants possible without the influence of mana. Every aspect of this tree is toxic, to the point that even standing under it in the rain is dangerous as the toxins will leech into the water that falls from it.
Tarwantrad burst into cackling when she heard the na. This was a tree so toxic the Tower classified it as a trap instead of as a resource plant. And, the most frightening part, it wasn’t even magical. It was a completely mundane plant that just naturally grew that deadly.
Belissar figured the toxic bees would appreciate the new plant. The incoming Tower Lord army might not…
The seventh choice…
Rolling Boulder now available!
Rolling Boulder
- Type: Trap
- Mana Upkeep: 5
- Description: A boulder that will be propelled forward when triggered.
It…was a big rock. But a big rock that would at least magically roll in a direction Belissar decided. Still better than a dirt trail.
The eight choice…
Stone Road now available!
…the choice had been between Dirt Trail, Stone Road, or Wooden Boardwalk. Belissar decided not to dwell on it.
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The ninth choice…
“YES! I got it!”
Exterior Shortcuts now available!
Exterior Shortcuts
- Type: Utility
- Mana Upkeep: Variable, depends on distance and location
- Description: A shortcut that may link to areas outside of the dungeon but within its area of influence.
Belissar couldn’t help but shout. Finally, finally, he got the shortcuts! He was down to two thousand DP from over eleven thousand to start, with only two chances left had this last one not worked, but he had managed to acquire it in the end!
Wardmaster Varilold grinned.
“Excellent. In that case, Tower Keeper Belissar, Queen Vanieskon, let’s start setting up so exit points imdiately. Our opponent is aware of the possibility so we will need to conceal them well, General Rippotis, please advise on what we will need to conceal an exit from a Tower Lord’s patrol.”
Belissar nodded and imdiately got to work. Starami’s Tower Guard were combing the Underway where they had t General Rippotis. For now, Queen Vanieskon’s glamour was diverting them, and there were more direct wards to block the way once the Tower Guard overca the first obstacle, but Wardmaster Varilold warned they shouldn’t expect either of those defenses to last for much longer.
Now that they knew they’d be able to move to and from the Tower even if Starami surrounded it, Belissar and his allies began preparing to fight out in the purified area. Belissar thought of using the Fourth of the Seventh’s mini-hive at first, but she ended up evacuating it on the fair folk and General Rippotis’ advice. It was set up in the ruins just beyond his Tower, a location far too close and far too obvious for a glamour to conceal it without raising suspicion.
Instead, the Fourth of the Seventh cooperated with the digging bees to set up more mini-hives in the Underway. Starami’s forces wouldn’t search the Underway to the sa extent that they would the Tower’s imdiate vicinity, it simply wasn’t practical given that the Underway could spread out nearly endlessly, both horizontally and vertically.
So exits remained on the surface, hidden amidst the forest along the south of the purified zone, and in the ruins to the north, including in the big fortress where the Fourth of the Seventh’s hive found the plant-hybrid seed. As Queen Vanieskon put it, it was too good and obvious a location not to place one and forcing the Tower Guard to besiege two locations simultaneously would spread their efforts…while also diverting attention from the concealed exits. The bees thus cooperated with the fair folk to scout the location for dangers, after which the fair folk began repairing it as a base of operations for their external forces while the Fourth of the Seventh set up an above-ground mini-hive for the bees, though she did not lay any eggs there.
An additional exit was placed in the sigmaka’s territory to keep them connected to the alliance proper, though they would avoid attacking out from sigmaka territory so as not to alert Starami’s forces to their presence.
Queen Vanieskon and Wardmaster Varilold went around with the Royal Pixie Guard and the wardens to secure each of these exits personally, with all the knowledge at their disposal, while Forgemaster Ughlarer and the silver elf contingent cooperated to repair the damaged fortress. In the anti, Belissar was left in his Tower, coordinating the bees…who honestly didn’t need that much coordination after he had told them the overall plan. And so, later in the day, Belissar found himself face to face with General Rippotis, with a lull in the preparations when neither of them were needed. General Rippotis noticed as well and stepped towards him, stopping as soon as Niobee began to buzz.
“Tower Keeper Belissar, we haven’t had the chance to speak together. It’s good to speak with you…and I must apologize again for all that you have suffered at the Conclave’s hands.”
Belissar frowned. General Rippotis, thus far, had fully cooperated in planning the defense and the God of Bees was vouching for him. And yet…Belissar could not feel comfortable around the man. He had been planning to push his feeling down for the sake of the defense…but now the general was approaching him directly.
So, Belissar gave up, and decided to ask the man the questions welling up within him. He narrowed his eyes.
“General Rippotis…do you really feel bad about that?”
General Rippotis’ expression fell.
“I do.”
Belissar made a full-on scowl.
“Then tell …why all the lies? Why did you tell us that we were unworthy and the gods would hate to even see us in their Towers? Why did you lie to us about beastkin and magic and potions and blessings?! Why did you refuse to save us from a plague you could have cured?!”
General Rippotis let his head hang and made a deep sigh. He slowly lifted his head back up to look Belissar in the eye before he responded.
“All of that was our choice. I am sorry for your suffering and your losses, Tower Keeper, you are right that I am ultimately responsible for the current state of affairs. There is no excuse. If you wish to know the truth, I will tell you.”
Belissar just kept glaring at him. General Rippotis continued a mont later.
“What you should know first is that…I originally served the Sorcerer Kings, the wicked kings of old, along with my entire army. Most of us did, High Councilor Konilias was even one of them before he sided with us, though he was a low-ranking one and not permitted to participate in their ultimate ritual. We saw firsthand what the Sorcerer Kings did and we participated ourselves, willingly. Oracle of Light Heigiosa and the followers of the God of Light she led were the only ones who did not. She tried to warn us of what was coming, but no one listened to her, not until it was far too late.”
General Rippotis eyes turned away from Belissar, the general gazing off into the distance.
“Only when I saw the Hunger did I understand. And the Hunger…resulted from sothing the Sorcerer Kings called the ultimate ritual. No one beyond the upper echelon of the Sorcerer Kings was privy to the details, but the rumors were that it would grant them endless power, eternal life, and usher in a new golden age for humanity. It did not.”
He stopped to take another deep breath.
“So…after we had managed to escape, after the Sorcerer Kings dood the world, after the God of Light intervened and gave us the Towers…we were afraid. Once we noticed that we weren’t aging, we realized that…the Towers gave us everything the Sorcerer Kings desired. Eternal life, imnse power, endless resources, and armies of loyal monsters. We could be the new Sorcerer Kings, we could be everything they wished to beco.”
General Rippotis shook his head.
“So…we panicked. We resolved never to allow another Sorcerer King to rise, ever again. We chose to seal away most of the powers of the Tower, to forbid raising monster armies or blessing our Tower Guards with immortality. The Towers themselves were to be restricted to those we fully trusted, our disciples, our lieutenants, and our kin. We exerted every effort to prevent any Tower Lord from becoming a new Sorcerer King. We destroyed all knowledge of the Sorcerer King’s ways, we restricted the use of magic entirely. And whenever we encountered anyone using the Towers as we feared…we stopped them, by any ans necessary. We destroyed the beastkin for this reason, because we believed them still loyal to the Sorcerer Kings, still following in their footsteps.”
General Rippotis’ expression turned sorrowful.
“And for the sa reason we permitted everything Starami did to you. We did not let you use magic, even during plagues, because we were afraid of mages growing too nurous for us to watch. We told you to stay away from the Towers because we didn’t want them in the hands of anyone we didn’t know. Even when his son burnt down your village...we were more concerned about losing a Tower than we were about killing our own people. Everything we did, we did out of our fear of repeating the past.”
He looked at Belissar and frowned.
“But now… I’m beginning to think we already have. We have certainly caused grave harm to you, soone we were supposed to protect, and none of our reasons can excuse it. For that…”
General Rippotis bowed his head.
“I am truly sorry.”
Belissar just stared in silence for a mont. How exactly was he supposed to react to that? The Tower Lords did everything that they did because they were scared of becoming Sorcerer Kings? General Rippotis and High Councilor Konilias were Sorcerer Kings, or at least their servants?
Then he heard Niobee buzz.
“Hurt King, making feel bad now. Can sting?”
Belissar closed his eyes. Did he want Niobee to sting General Rippotis now, for all he and his Tower Lords had done?
…part of him said yes.
But the other part of him…
Belissar opened his eyes and glared at the general, his mana buzzing and forming angry spell-bees. They hovered around the general and waved their stingers at him…but did not move to attack.
“I don’t really know what to say to that. Niobee wants to sting you and part of wants to let her. I don’t understand why my parents had to die just because you were afraid! But…the God of Bees, whom I owe everything, has asked to listen to you. And above all, I don’t want any more of my bees or my people to die. So, if you’re really sorry, then stop your Tower Lords from killing anyone else!”
General Rippotis slowly nodded.
“For that, you have my word. I will give my utmost to stop them, here and now.”
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