The Bee Dungeon

PONon-Bee 375.3 - Hard Bee-cisions

Before Starami could even question what happened, one of his Tower Guards cried out.

“My lord! The fog is toxic!”

Starami scowled.

“Then blow it away! And get a healer here now!”

Fortunately, Starami still had Renoros the Dragonwing, his elite who focused on Air and flying. Renoros extended spell-wings from his dragon cloak and gave a mighty flap, pushing the fog away from their position. The rest of his Air-aligned Tower Guards and drakes soon joined the elite to keep the fog from returning, buying Starami time to figure out just what had happened.

Though, his blood ran cold as soon as he turned his attention back to his true dragon. The situation was bad. His true dragon was a reward from High Councilor Konilias, raised from an egg over centuries. It was the one asset Starami could not replace, even more so than the elites of Starami’s Claw. The one trump card he had that the fey had declined to challenge directly.

Or so he thought. And the worst part was...Starami had no idea what had happened. He had no idea when or how the fey had struck at his dragon. Had the water spirit struck it at in the chaos? Had the fey infiltrated their ranks?

His available healers ran over and began to analyze the dragon with their mana. That was yet another problem: his best and most capable healers had been left behind. The first wave he brought with him consisted of his most powerful combatants, as they would be the ones most vulnerable to ambush while Starami and his elites swam back to pick up the rest. Therefore, they had only brought along battlefield medics, warriors first with some healing ability who supported the frontline in active combat. The dedicated healers, those who turned all of their attention to Recovery magic...were only to be picked up once a perimeter had been secured, lest the fey target them while Starami’s forces were too few to protect them.

That plan had assumed Starami and his elites could return through the Water room to pick up additional waves after the first. But as it turned out...they could not.

Starami therefore was not surprised when his available healers grimaced.

“My lord...the dragon is full of poison!”

Starami narrowed his eyes.

“How? We were not in the fog long enough to harm any of us. How did it spread to my dragon so quickly?”

The lead healer furrowed his brow.

“It’s not the poison in the air, the poison has spread through its blood. I do not know how that occurred...but for some reason the poison has just become more active. And...the dragon’s mana reserves are much lower than I expected...”

Starami frowned. It was true the dragon just had to spent a decent chunk of mana enduring the Water room...more than expected thanks to that water spirit. But a short trip like that shouldn't have drained the true dragon's reserves...unless they were already low to start with.

“Can you cure it?”

The lead healer hesitated, so Starami barked at him.

“Out with it! We have no time to waste!”

The lead healer glanced down towards the ground.

“I...cannot. My cleansing spell relies on the target’s mana and the dragon’s mana is already losing. I do not have the mana to make up for it and the mana density in this room is too weak for the dragon to absorb more. We have some antidote potions for individual use, but not enough for a dragon...”

Starami gnashed his teeth and clenched his fists. Recovery had always been a low priority for his Tower, dragons and those blessed by them had naturally powerful regeneration on top of their tough defenses. Normally, he could simply pull back an injured elite and let their natural healing do the job. If they required additional help, supplementing the injured elite’s own mana was generally sufficient. Direct healing magic was usually only needed for those Tower Guards with blessings too weak to heal themselves.

So, without his dedicated healers, he had few tools powerful enough to help a true dragon. His weaker Tower Guards simply didn’t have the mana to affect something so powerful. The only ones who could were himself and his elites.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

But could they afford that? Neither he nor the current members of Starami’s Claw focused on Recovery, all they could do was a direct mana transfer to beef up the true dragon’s flagging reserves. But that would be inefficient, they would spend far more mana than the dragon would receive. Even if they were able to transfer enough to counteract the poison, the dragon would not heal right away...they would have to stay here and try to defend it while it recovered...all while he or one of his elites had to try and regenerate their depleted mana...when his present forces had no supplies besides those they carried on their person...

Starami’s stomach dropped. That...would be the death of them. If they stayed here, Renoros and the Air assets would be constantly draining their mana just keeping the toxic fog away...and even if they retreated to the relatively safer volcano room behind them, they’d give the fey all the time in the world to tighten their defenses and arrange further ambushes.

As if to answer his concern, one of the Air guards at the perimeter shouted.

“Ambush!”

A school of fish with razer-like fangs jumped out of the swampy water all around them, biting at their legs and feet. Blobs of acid and poison flew from enemies hiding in the fog, though Renoros blew most of these away with another gale. A counter wind began to blow, pushing the fog against the Air mages’ barrier, straining them further.

Starami realized...they couldn’t stay here. He stood in silence for a good moment, even as his Tower Guards shouted and rushed to respond to the ambush. He whispered to himself.

“The strong do as they please...the weak suffer what they must...”

He slowly turned around to his true dragon.

“You will be returned to the Fire room we just passed. Remain there and recover if you can. If you are healed, fight your way to us.”

The dragon growled, but Starami turned away from it. It was a dragon, it would live or die upon its own strength. As would Starami, now that he would be the only true dragon among his forces.

“Ansari, drag the dragon back to the other room. Afterwards, we march.”

Starami then stepped forward, took a deep breath, and unleashed a fire breath upon the room ahead of them, along with an anguished shout. A waste of mana perhaps...but he could not help it.

And at this point...against the powers of the fey that could apparently bring down dragons entirely unseen...he was not sure whether it would even matter...

Captain Karpakynne slumped over like she was hanging from her wings as she flew back into Belissar’s Tower and made her way to the command tent. She hoped to slip in unnoticed...but, unfortunately, Tower Keeper Belissar turned towards her the moment she flew into the tent.

“Hi Captain Karpakynne, welcome back!”

His smile and cheerful greeting stabbed her right where it hurt.

“Oh, hi, Tower Keeper. I...wish I had better news to report, but I failed. I spent days stabbing that stupid lizard and it still wouldn’t die!”

The Tower Keeper, however, tilted his head in confusion.

“It’s dying, though?”

Captain Karpakynne froze.

“...what?”

Wardmaster Varilold gave her a small smirk.

“Tower Keeper Belissar just informed us, the dragon collapsed upon entering the Bog. We believe the vaporous hemlock poison we spread there triggered the Tower Keeper’s Venom-Poison Mixtures perk...all that venom you and the bee left in its body suddenly became much deadlier all at once.”

Captain Karpakynne blinked a few times and then clutched and pulled her hair.

“YOU MEAN I COULD’VE JUST STUCK ANY OLD FLOWER POISON INTO THAT STUPID LIZARD AND KILLED IT AT ANY TIME?!”

Wardmaster Varilold chuckled lightly before adopting a serious expression.

“Well, not exactly. The dragon is still alive, right Tower Keeper?”

Tower Keeper Belissar frowned.

“Yes, it collapsed but it’s still breathing. The Tower Lord’s healers are looking over it now.”

Wardmaster Varilold narrowed her eyes.

“The vitality of a dragon is not to be underestimated. Days’ worth of enchanted venom, elevated all at once thanks to your perk, and still it lives. We may need to launch an assault to finish it off before they can heal it...”

But then, Tower Keeper Belissar’s eyes suddenly widened.

“Huh? They’re...leaving it?”

Wardmaster Varilold blinked.

“What? They’re leaving it, you say?”

Tower Keeper Belissar furrowed his brow.

“Yeah, they just carried it back to the Lava Field and left it by itself. And now they’re pushing into the Bog.”

Wardmaster Varilold stared in silence for a moment.

“...this is unexpected. Do they not have competent healers with them? Or antidotes? Why would they leave one of their best assets to die?”

Neither Tower Keeper, beastkin, nor fair folk had any answer to that. After it was clear no one had any ideas, Wardmaster Varilold rubbed her chin.

“Perhaps cutting them off with the undine is hampering them more than we thought. Hm, it could be a trap...but it’s an opportunity we can’t afford to miss. Approaching a cornered dragon will still be extremely dangerous though...”

She turned to Captain Karpakynne...and then made an amused smile.

“Captain Karpakynne...I will have to ask you to continue your duty of the last few days.”

Captain Karpakynne...sighed.

“Ugh, fine. An actual battle going on and here I go, doing dumb, repetitive, and very boring labor. Stupid undying lizard and your stupid regeneration. Tower Keeper, where’s the bee?”

Tower Keeper Belissar smiled.

“She’s already ready, right outside.”

Captain Karpakynne sighed again, then pulled out the lance of the Order of Hive and Stinger once more and slowly flew out of the tent.

“Ok, assassin bee, I hope your ready for more work. It looks like we’re going back to sting that stupid lizard again, just the...two of us?”

Captain Karpakynne stepped out of the tent to find the digging monster bee assassin...who was no longer alone. Another monster bee assassin hovered alongside her, while a small swarm of toxic bee workers hovered behind them both. The digging monster bee assassin danced a salute.

“Hive of hives ready to sting now!”

Captain Karpakynne found herself smiling. Maybe that stupid lizard would finally die after all.