Chapter 310: Chapter 310
Belissar paced around the room, humming and groaning to himself. He had checked, double checked, and then triple checked the burning honey mead jar, but he couldn’t find anything out of the ordinary compared to the others. By all accounts it should have worked.
What really drove him mad was that it hadn’t failed in any of the normal ways. The mead hadn’t gone bad or gotten contaminated or over-fermented or anything like that. It had failed to ferment at all. That was extremely rare, limited to only a few cases. Once where he filled a jar with barely any honey and a ton of water and a second time where he tried to ferment it during winter. But he had made sure he had a good ratio of honey to water and the temperature of the Tower never…
Belissar’s eyes widened. The temperature. If the temperature going too low could stop mead from fermenting, maybe the temperature going too high could do so as well. The burning honey itself generated enough heat to kill a person if they ate too much of it. The bees themselves, magical monster bees even, couldn’t make too much of it without threatening their own hives. It took burning bees evolved off the honey and the fireproof wax they made to make and store in any noticeable quantity.
Belissar groaned and held his head. If that was the problem…then what was he supposed to do? The point was to make mead from the burning honey, so he couldn’t not use it, and he wasn’t sure if diluting it with other honey types would count. The jar itself didn’t seem to be an issue as it had survived the heat without a problem. The only other ingredient in this mix was the water…was there a problem with the water?
He then tilted his head. Maybe…there was? Burning honey required wax made by burning bees to store…so maybe burning honey needed some sort of…fire water to ferment into mead? Maybe the lava? That was basically fire water…
Belissar shrugged and grabbed an empty jar. It was worth a shot. He headed over to the nearest Lava Field, walking over to one of the lava rivers. He bent down and carefully scooped some of the lava into the jar. The jar seemed to hold it. Belissar smiled.
Until the jar began to melt.
Belissar frowned and furrowed his brow. Ok, apparently the lava could melt pottery. In that case, how could he actually hold and store the lava? Not to mention that if the lava was hot enough to melt pottery…how could it ever be safe for anyone to ever drink?
…besides him, who was somehow protected from the heat by Tower magic, he guessed.
Mission: Make and offer meads made of honey sourced from five different flower types completed!
Reward: Flower-type perk choice
Additional reward granted for: Completing mission before God of Fire’s mission!
Reward: Minor Blessing of Flowers strengthened to Small Blessing of Flowers
Belissar’s eyes widened and he froze solid. The additional reward was entirely unexpected…and not in an entirely good fashion. He was aware that not all of the gods got along with one another, so he couldn’t say he was comfortable with the implications of that particular reward. The last thing he wanted was to offend any of the gods, much less one of the three blessing his Tower.
In the end, Belissar just thanked the God of Flowers for her rewards while resolving to figure out the burning mead situation as quickly as he could. He could only pray that none of the gods would be offended when all he wanted to do was thank them for their help.
There was nothing else he could do about it now, except maybe ask Chief Rohsuak and Tarwantrad for advice later. Tarwantrad was friends with Urubran as well, so he hoped that meant the God of Fire and God of Flowers weren’t completely at odds…
At the post-daily purification victory celebration, Tarwantrad and Chief Rohsuak both crossed their arms with thoughtful expressions. Belissar had pulled them to the side and explained the situation. Chief Rohsuak shook her head with a sigh.
“I apologize, Tower Keeper, but I know little of the God of Flowers. I cannot say anything regarding my patron’s relationship with her.”
Belissar turned to Tarwantrad with hope, and perhaps a little desperation, in his eyes. Tarwantrad tilted her head.
“It is a surprise to me as well. The God of Flowers and the God of Fire were not at odds as far as I, or Urubran for that matter, were aware. I wouldn’t have thought they were particularly close or anything, but the God of Flowers has never gone as far as to have me compete with Urubran…except for…”
Tarwantrad’s eyes slowly widened.
“…except for when I received the mission to find your dungeon, at which point I was informed specifically not to involve Urubran…”
All three of them frowned at that. Silence hung over them for a good minute before Belissar whispered.
Tarwantrad took a deep breath.
“I will consult with Almablom…that is, the Oracle of Flowers…as well as the Circle and the Compact’s loremaster. Perhaps you should consult the Oracle of Bees as well? For now, I would recommend you do not delay on fulfilling the God of Fire’s request. The gods should not interfere with a dungeon master solely because of the reward of another, but only so long as you did not intentionally seek it out.”
Belissar gulped but nodded. In his panic, he had forgotten he could’ve asked the God of Bees through Velebee, so he turned to Niobee. She had already flown off to retreat her queen mother. He turned back to Tarwantrad while they waited for Velebee to fly over.
Tarwantrad gave him a confident smile…though her face still seemed a little strained.
“It…should be fine. You had no knowledge of this beforehand, so the God of Fire should not take offense to you making using of the reward now. It is a passive blessing in any case…”
Niobee returned with Velebee after that, so everyone immediately turned to her.
“Hi Velebee…um, could you ask the God of Bees if something is going on between the God of Flowers and the God of Fire?”
Velebee almost immediately began to glow and dance.