Chapter 204: Chapter 204
The First of the Fifth was just hovering in the air, staring as scouts from all the different hives flew in and out of the new door. This…changed everything. The bumblebee soldiers could now fly right from their nest to the Flower Meadow. The Apiary queens had but to fly to the closest wall to make their honey deliveries. Her foragers could access every flower in every room nearly as easily as the mana flower patch next to her hive.
Her mind buzzed with the implications. Resources could now be pooled and shared between all the King’s hives. Specialized honey could be produced anywhere and delivered to anywhere. Hives far away from the Flower Meadow could contribute soldiers to the army as easily as the queens that dwelt there. Queens and messengers could meet at will.
She was truly proud of her daughter for this suggestion. And now, as the queen the King had tasked with organizing the others, it was her turn. She would have to see this wonder come to fruition.
She started to fly once more as she began to plan…
After setting up those shortcuts, Belissar made his honey-gathering and tribute rounds, then headed out for the karnuq floor. Chief Rohsuak was waiting to greet him when he arrived. The first thing they did was set up shortcuts for the karnuq as well. He placed two shortcuts in the karnuq’s flower meadow, setting up the doors next to the regular room exits. One led directly to the Tower’s exit so that the karnuq could come and go at will, while the other led to the Orchard to connect the karnuq with the rest of the Tower…and the bees.
After that, Chief Rohsuak, Metsaitti, and Juosiutik all gathered with Belissar in Chief Rohsuak’s house to discuss their encounters with monster plants…
“It, um, drinks…blood?”
“The roots were covered in thorns and wrapped around anything that approached. We saw a bunch of desiccated animal corpses in their grasp. We saw one wolf-mole get caught…it wasn’t pretty. Ultimately, we took a detour around the area. Never saw what it looked like on the surface.”
“I think we should go with room features this time.”
With no particular leads on monster flowers from either the gardeners or the karnuq, Belissar was left deciding on his own. Room features were a catch all that could include anything from traps to resources to geographical features, so he figured there’d be a decent chance that something there might help flowers become monsters. A new room was another option, since a new environment could lead to new flowers, but Belissar decided to hold off on that. He was still waiting to see what became of the Fairy Grove, and there was a chance he might want to add a second one with the last empty room slot, so he figured he may as well wait for the next expansion before expanding the room options. Additionally, since he didn’t actually know what he was looking for, going with the cheaper room features and so getting more options may increase the chances of getting something useful.
And if all else failed, and the room features didn’t help with monster plants at all…well, more resources would give them more products to trade with the sigmaka, while more traps could improve his defenses in general.
The bees, of course, praised him for making a choice as they did for…well, practically everything he did. Chief Rohsuak simply smiled and nodded. And with that, Belissar brought up the DP store.
He could only hope it wouldn’t be all commons this time…
Extra room feature choice purchased. One room feature choice now available.
Please select a room feature:
- Dirt Trails (Rarity: Common, Type: Utility, Decoration)
- Beeswax Candles (Rarity: Common, Type: Bee, Fire, Decoration)
- Boulder (Rarity: Common, Type: Ground, Decoration)
Belissar glared at the message in silence for a moment. All commons, and two he had seen before. But, well, glaring at it wasn’t going to change the choices, as far as he knew, so he heaved a sigh and then started reading them out.
- Type: Utility, Decoration
- Description: A trail of packed dirt. Slightly boosts speed of ground movement.
Belissar shrugged at that. It still didn’t help any of his flying bees. He guessed it was a little more useful than last time he saw it now that he had the karnuq…but he had also just installed a bunch of shortcuts, so faster movement wasn’t really a concern for him right now.
- 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.
Beeswax candles were the same as before. Again, maybe they would help light the way in the Dirt Tunnels, but he could also make candles himself if he really wanted to. There was that line about special effects, though, so maybe it was worth taking as a feature.
- Type: Ground, Decoration
- Description: A big rock. Can hold certain features that require rocky or Ground-attribute terrain.
…it was a rock. A big rock, sure, but a rock. Maybe it would have been useful if he didn’t have basic resource minerals to provide useful stone but otherwise…it was a rock. Maybe he could put it on a hill and roll it down on a shade? If he could make hills steep enough, that was, as the Flower Meadows only allowed gentle slopes…
Belissar rubbed his chin. Come to think of it, he was able to make vertical entrances to Dirt Tunnel rooms. They could hypothetically drop rocks down those. Or down a Pit Trap as an alternative to fire. Now that he thought about it, big rocks were surprisingly useful…