Chapter Fifteen: Settling In

Thankfully, the rest of the night is much more boring, though a few other things happened that raise more questions. Not long after the kobold collapsed, I got a massive pile of mana, and I wasn't sure why. At least until I looked in on Tiny.

The scythemaw officially kicked the bucket, but I don't know why that'd give me so much mana. But then I start to think about some of the other stuff the Delvers have been saying.

I used to wonder why they'd think a dungeon would become murderous. I need Delvers to make mana at any decent rate, so why would I kill them? Well, because they apparently give boatloads of mana, if this scythemaw is anything to go by. I can definitely see other dungeons taking the quick payoff instead of playing the long game. I mean, it'd still be murder, but it'd make logical sense, even if it doesn't make ethical sense.

So… I guess I can't really blame the town for being concerned. I'll definitely need to do the next move at night, or some other down time. It's gonna need to happen soon, too. That big pile of mana has my core just barely fitting in the chimney now.

I also have a pending option with the kobold.

Resident Request. Accept/Deny?

It's not giving me any more details, either. What's a Resident? How's it different from a Denizen? Or a Delver? What happens if I deny? Well, best case is she eventually wakes up and just leaves, I guess? We both go our separate ways, even if only one of us is actually able to leave. Not really a fan of that option, to be honest.

And that's the best thing I can come up with if I deny her. The various other scenarios I can think of all seem to be various flavors of 'she dies'. Honestly, her leaving is probably in that category, too. She doesn't have any gear, she barely even has clothes. She might have magic or something, but it was clearly not up to handling that scythemaw. Hopefully it's a rare thing to encounter in the far tunnels, but still.

I don't know how I'd be able to help her if she stays, but I'll be able to do something at least, right? Still uncertain, I accept her request to be a Resident.

At least it doesn't trigger another quake. In fact… I'm not actually sure what has changed, aside from the fact my counters now show Resident: 1. Maybe I'll know more once she wakes up. I get some medical ants and check her hp, and see she's definitely had a rough time of it.

Not knowing what else to do, I try to anticipate some of her needs. She'll need food and water. Water isn't difficult, especially with the caves. There's a nice pond down here, so she won't dehydrate, at least. But what's she going to eat? I could try to send some expeditions to get her some bread or something, but I'm not sure that'll actually work.

I could have a spider web her a couple mice? Seems weird to me, but I don't know what else I could do. Without any better ideas, I do just that. I also have Teemo keep tabs on her between blazing trails. I think he's taking Jello's slowness as a personal challenge/affront, and wants to get her response time up to his standards, which I'm hardly against. With her being a slime, she should be pretty easily able to go anywhere he can.

With dawn comes the early Delvers, and I update the bulletin board to show that the caves are currently empty. I'm also reminded to put signs on my various tunnels for where I stop.

You are now leaving the dungeon

Simple and to the point. I have quite a few exits down there now, and I get the feeling I'll only gain more as I expand deeper. I also go ahead and spawn an ore node near the entrance in the lawn. Looks like tin, so nothing too extravagant. I advertise that on the bulletin board, too, and see if anyone is interested.

As slimes spawn, I set them mostly to the various underground exits. I doubt they'd be able to handle something like another scythemaw, but they'd at least slow anything else down. They actually do a fair bit of damage if they catch something, too. I think I should be using them more like easily-moved traps, rather than wandering encounters.

As the morning progresses, Delvers occasionally peek into the cave in the yard. I keep Jello just a little deeper than the tin node, so they know they can get that ore fairly easily, but meaner stuff awaits deeper in. I'm pretty sure the early herbalists tell whatever smiths and/or miners they know about the cave, but none come check it out by the time the kobold awakens.

Teemo alerts me as she stirs, and I see her eyes slowly open before she jerks upright, the memories of last night returning to her waking mind. She stares around the cavern, her eyes wide, as she seems to look for the scythemaw. Yeah, you don't have to worry about that thing anymore. I'd offer you a steak from it, but Tiny basically drank everything that wasn't the hide and the bones.

Queen has been experimenting with the bones to see if there's anything interesting to them. I'm pretty sure there will be, but she's the Alchemist, not me. I've made sure she'll leave the two mandible things alone, at least for now. Those could be a neat trophy, or maybe weapons or something? I dunno.

But I'm getting off track. The kobold seems to calm down as she determines there's no threat in the room. She doesn't seem to spot Teemo, so that's why she thinks there's no threat. Soon, her eyes settle on the mice, and she carefully approaches the webbed rodents.

She picks one up and examines it, before tossing the whole thing in her mouth. A crunch and a cut-off squeak signal to me that she recognizes a meal when she sees one. Probably not the fanciest meal she's ever had, but after encountering that monster, she's probably happy to be on the winning side of the food chain again.

As she starts to peer out of the cavern, I have Teemo quietly follow her as she explores. There's not all that much to see down there just yet, and it's only a matter of time before she discovers the corpse of her pursuer. Her eyes widen in fear when she first spots it, then they widen further in shock as she notices my various denizens working on the corpse. Rats and spiders work to extract the bones, dragging each out the mouth of the beast.

I don't want them to tear up the hide, and that's the biggest exit, even considering Tiny's bites. The ants are working on each bone, slowly chipping little pieces off to carry back to Queen. They're also working around the bite wounds, taking the damaged scales for experiments as well. Personally, I'm hoping for some earth elemental stuff. The monster was tearing through the rock way easier than claws should be able to.

"It is a Sanctuary…" she whispers to herself, seeming to be in awe. She mentioned that before she passed out, too. Does she know about Dungeons? It's not like I can ask her, even if she does.

She cautiously approaches my denizens as they busily work, and they pay her no mind. She tries to take one of the smaller bones, but a lightning major zaps her to get her to drop it. I think she's gotten the hint to not bother ants at work. She watches for a time, and even helps pull what looks like a rib the rest of the way out of the mouth. The spiders and rats had managed to get it wedged between some teeth.

She doesn't stick around much longer after that, though. The denizens have it more or less handled there, and there's more caves to explore. She eventually finds the little clear pond of water, and eagerly slakes her thirst there. That's probably the biggest reason why she left the denizens to play with the dead scythemaw.

She grows very cautious as she discovers the entrance to the yard, and I'm pretty sure it's more the sunlight than Jello standing guard in the tunnel there. Or maybe she is nervous about the dwarf there mining the tin node. He spots her and pauses in his work, and the two just stare for several long seconds before he returns to mining.

She looks around a little, before focussing on Jello and looking confused. I mean, Jello confuses me a bit, too, sure. No sense staring at her, though. Might give her a complex. She's been growing in power quickly, though, which is both nice and concerning. I'm worried things like that scythemaw might not be as rare in the deeper parts as I would have hoped.

The dwarf eventually finishes mining and leaves, and my little Resident cautiously follows to peek her head out to see the surface. If the mining dwarf was confusing to her, I get the feeling the surface is blowing her mind. Today's pretty busy. There's a few encounters in the yard, some herbalists are doing their herbalism thing, and it looks like a woodsman managed to run deep enough to get something decent before running out of the maze.

She takes in the whole scene, seemingly mesmerized by all the activity. She even spots Poe up on his perch over the chimney, calmly surveying the action and directing a few groups of expeditionary birds. She nervously slinks towards the house, and while the Delvers give her curious looks, at least nobody thinks she's a new encounter.

She examines the flier on the front door for a few moments before gingerly making her way inside. She steers well clear of the little party headed for the attic. I'm pretty sure they have a quest to go get some of the stuff Coda's growing, which would be cool. Quests give decent mana, on top of the stuff they actually do to do the quest. The kobold peers into the basement, and seems to relax a bit as she sees the tunnel in the wall near the chest.

I expect her to head back down, but instead she heads up the stairs to the second floor. She seems very interested in the lab there, though she doesn't have anything to alchemize with. She surprises me again as she quietly climbs the ladder to the attic.

She's got good timing, at least, as the party has already finished the boss, a larger venomous spider, and continued to the roof and garden beyond. She looks into the chest, just in time to see a packrat drop a coin off. She smiles at the rat, but looks confused once again as she looks around.

She closes her eyes and slowly turns, before she starts walking. It's my turn to be confused for a few moments before I realize where she's walking. She's headed straight for the chimney! Teemo prepares to attack her, but I tell him to wait. Maybe because she's a Resident? I don't think that's how she knows where my core is, though.

And she definitely knows. Her hand rests against the bricks separating her from my core, and she slowly opens her eyes with a peaceful smile on her lips.

"Sanctuary…"