Dungeon Life

Chapter Three-Hundred Twenty-Four

The atmosphere in the antkin enclave is tense while they wait for the hunters to return. Aranya, Larx, and Folarn stick around and try to ease everyone’s nerves, but they can only do so much. It’s a big risk they’re taking, and vital for them to succeed if they’re going to finally fill those bars and become dwellers.

The castes all try to keep themselves busy, trying to kill time with tasks that aren’t too important, lest they cause a mess by working while so distracted. Even the Deans are nervous, each trying to distract themselves in their own ways. When the hunting party finally returns, relief washes over the entire enclave before a cheer follows behind.

They have some kind of weird buffalo thing with a coat a lot shaggier than I would have expected from something living in a volcanic region. They eventually drop it off with other workers for them to start butchering, before the hunters are called to the Deans to tell the tale of their hunt.

They seem a bit embarrassed about how simple the hunt was, but I at least am glad things went smoothly. Their explanation of the incredible body heat of the beast makes me wonder if the coat is actually a thermal conductor, letting the bison draw in the ambient heat and store it for later, probably to be used by the tail in some way.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

The gear did well, but there’s a lot of room for improvement. It sounds like the sleeping spores could be a lot more potent, though that’s going to be a fine line to ride between making them more effective and not making them so effective that friendly fire becomes a big problem. The boar spear needs the guard lowered another foot or so, though Nik the Engineering Dean suggests utilizing the quick swap heads to be able to put on a longer blade for larger foes. They’ll probably test both options more in the future.

More pouches are requested, too. There’s apparently a lot of potential things to gather, yet everyone was only able to bring back one sample each. They all look interesting to me, though a quick scan of my warehouse shows my bats have already brought back those samples and more from their own expeditions. I should add a couple molten gardens or something to the labyrinth, see if I can get the herbalists as obsessed as the miners and smiths with the area.

It takes them a couple hours to go over everything, and a couple hours for the workers to butcher the big bison for food. The butchery manages to finish first, and the bars tick up again, causing another cheer to echo through the enclave. The bar isn’t full just yet, but they’re making progress once more! Emboldened, the other hunting groups are sent out, with either Aranya or Larx blessing each one. I give a drop of power to each just as I did with the first. I’m not sure exactly how it’ll help them, but I seriously doubt it’ll hinder them, so I’m more than fine with helping out like that.

The hunters that aren’t sent out redouble their training, while the crafting castes work on improving their equipment. As the hunting groups start returning, none have another big bison to show, but there’s plenty of forage to bring back. One group even has a large serpent of some kind that they somehow fished out of a lava flow! Apparently, they spotted something in the lava and decided to test how well the suits insulate against heat. They weren’t crazy enough to try to dive in, but they were able to get close enough to get a better look, though they can’t look into the lava like they can with water.

Still, they could see fins occasionally breaching the surface, so it then became a matter of finding what a lava fish might like to eat, and how to actually reel something like that in. They found a good candidate for bait in the black teardrop fruit, noticing several mushrooms with the vines dangling over the pool. They tossed one in to check, and were happy to not only see it didn’t immediately burst into flames, but also to see it sucked under the surface by something.

A bit more testing showed that, though the vines will quickly burn in the lava, the mushrooms seemed much more resistant. They took some time to carve a long and thick pole out of one, even managing to attach a few hunting arrowheads to the end as a kind of hook. It sounds like the pole was about as rigid as a pool noodle, but they didn’t have much else to use. With the hook baited, they tapped the surface a few times before the serpent came to take the bait, and it became a tug of war. Even with how big the serpent is, it wasn’t a match for the hunters, especially not after they glued one of the workers to the floor and to the pole, giving them an anchor the thing couldn’t beat. Once it tired itself out, they hauled it to shore and quickly dispatched it, before freeing the worker and coming home with one heck of a fish tale.

After that, some of the crafters start focusing on trying to make better fishing gear, and the ranchers even start drawing up plans to create some kind of habitat to try to raise lava fish. I have no idea if it’ll be easier or harder than the cave lobsters the spiderkin domesticated, but judging by how steadily the bars are progressing now, it seems to be just as viable an option.

Within just a few days, the bars are nearly full, which gives Teemo just enough time to explain to the spiderkin about a style of hat for the antkin, and get enough made for everyone. Because if my college of ants are going to graduate to antkin, they should get to wear the traditional mortarboards.

They still prefer what are effectively togas to traditional robes, but I think they all look great as they gather before city hall, with the Deans standing at the doors, along with Aranya and Larx, as well as Folarn, Norloke, and Vernew, too. My High Priestess steps forward and the murmuring of the crowd quiets as she starts to speak.

“I’m so happy to have been able to help a third of Lord Thedeim’s enclaves along their path, and to see the new and unique challenges you faced and overcame. As your castes show, you all have a wide range of talents and skills, but the thirst for knowledge is one of many things you all share. Please never lose that thirst. As Lord Thediem has shown, there is always something new to discover, some mystery to uncover, some new path to explore. I and the other enclaves are eager to have more friends to do all that and more with.”

Polite applause follows as she steps back, letting Headmaster Ed come forward. “The details of our time as Lord Thedeim’s magmyrm have faded, but the lessons we learned are ingrained in our souls. Cooperation. Curiosity. Compassion. We could not have achieved this without working together, and I think our points of stagnation showed this. We struggled to find a way to organize our cooperation at the start, and at the end, we had to all work together, playing to our strengths, to be able to find a way to sustain ourselves and not starve.

“Our College is testament to our curiosity, our drive to figure out how things work and apply that knowledge to the betterment of all. Ranching, Engineering, Enchanting, Medicine, Alchemy; each to discover new wonders, and the Workers to apply it. Once again, we wouldn’t accomplish any of this without each other.

“And we must never forget our compassion. Many would use vile methods to discover some secret, some new morsel of knowledge, excusing to themselves that they would help so many more with just that one sacrifice. A single ant may not matter to the colony, but we are not mere ants any longer.” He looks to the Deans to see if they have anything to add, but they each smile and shake their head in turn, letting the Headmaster attend the entire college, as is his duty.

He reaches up to the tassel hanging from the scholarly hat, swapping it from one side to the other, with all the antkin doing the same. The bars wink out once they finish, and the Headmaster smiles with his mandibles wide as he proclaims: “We are antkin! We are dwellers! We will ever seek out the new and use it to improve for all!”

Every new antkin cheers and throws their hats into the air, and I couldn’t be prouder of their well-earned graduation. Some antkin pick up the hats, while others leave them be, more interested in mingling than in a souvenir. The other two enclaves soon join them and see about having a party fit for a college, too. There’s also a smattering of kobolds in the crowd, enjoying the atmosphere of triumph, and I even spot Parm as he picks up one of the hats.

I’m looking forward to the day he can toss his own into the air to celebrate his graduation, too.