Alright, so, good news: Delvers have returned! Herbalists can handle the occasional low level thing, so I go fairly easy on them, especially since they tend to wander in solo. The bad news, though, is that nobody wants to try the hedge maze. It’s grown enough that they can’t directly see Tiny, but they can see the trees and webbing around his nest. He’s even been working on putting a web roof over the whole maze. Good thinking, Tiny. Don’t need cheaters in my maze.

Also good news: Queen was able to identify what goes into a healing potion! Also bad news: I need actual equipment to let her do her work. I’ve upgraded the secret lab a few times, and I’m pretty sure it’s allowed to have equipment now, but I’m having trouble getting it.

I haven’t been able to afford carpenter ants yet, but I might need to get on that. I’ve been trying to make at least some equipment for the lab, and… it hasn’t outright failed, at least? If I had fire ants, it might be simpler, but I don’t. I have lightning ants. I’ve been sending crows out on expeditions to try to get me some iron wire, but nobody has had any success yet.

With some iron wire, I could have the lightning majors zap it to make a heating element, and use the empty potion bottle for the various processing that it looks like Queen will have to do.

The kids have come back, too. They’re the closest anyone has come to checking out the maze. They looked inside from the entrance, but I think Lucas spotted one of the rat thieves, and the kids decided against looking inside. I’m pretty sure they’ve gained a level now, too. Low-level things aren’t slowing them down hardly at all anymore. They even handled a regular dire rat on their own.

The gate opens, and I expect it’ll be the kids again, but it’s elf guy! Heya elf guy! Long time no see! He glares at Poe as every single bird makes noise at him, and if I could, I’d give him a shit-eating grin.

“Dungeon clearly recognizes me. Avians making a racket. Not alerting other denizens, just making noise at me. No unusual staring.” There’s that mention of staring again. It must have been from when I moved the core and had everything on high alert. That’s the only time I’ve done much different.

“Still no obvious rooms. I see alchemical creatures, though, so it must have a secret lab somewhere…” He looks around before looking up to the belfry. “Perhaps in the belfry tower. Still no chests or anything up there. Acknowledged, investigating.”

Oh, elf guy is actually taking things seriously now. Doesn’t mean I have to, though I do still have my dignity as a dungeon. I toss some various moderate encounters at him as he explores the house. He manages to trip one of the rotten floorboards to the basement, and decides he doesn’t need to get a closer look. Yeah, that level 6 lightning venom swarm is quite a thing. Pretty sure he could take it, but he’s all business right now, no pleasure.

He obliterates the rat swarm in the attic, and I can visibly see him pause to ensure he gets his boss experience before he opens the chest. I’m not even sure he notices what he actually gets from the chest, he just stuffs it in a bag that should not be able to hold all of that.

“On roof. Raven scion is observing me, but not making any moves. Bats appear specialized for fruit bats, which helps explain why all the herbalist nodes.” He watches as a trio of crows land on the roof, one carrying a bit of iron wire. Oh hey! Good job, guys! Recover a bit, then head out to see if you can find anything else interesting.

“Confirm dungeon is sending Expeditions, must have a secret war room, too. Investigating belfry.” Pst, hey Coda. Make sure everyone’s awake. I don’t think elf guy has violence on his mind, but still be ready to bolt if it comes to it.

I don’t bother sending any encounters at elf guy while he’s on the roof. Partially because my birbs aren’t really focused on combat, and partially because… I kinda see the whole area as unfinished. Maybe I’ll make the belfry into a garden or something later. It’d make sense to have it close to the ones that bring me seeds.

He cautiously peers up the stairs and goes, but doesn’t seem phased by what I would consider a pretty big anti-climax. “Confirmed belfry is specialized towards fruitbats. I can see seeds on the floor, likely have been sent on expeditions at night. Sweeping for hidden rooms.”

Yeah, I think he’s gonna be there a while. I make sure my bats will bolt if he gets twitchy, and let him take a 20 searching for something that’s not there. I look in to see how Queen’s doing with the alchemy, and with the new iron wire. Right, I need to get that thing moved and shaped.

Hey! Who’s my closest spider? Ah, there you are. Go get that bit of wire and leave it by one of the mole/snake holes. My sneks don’t like being on the roof, and I don’t want to just drop the wire off and lose it.

Fluffles, take that wire with you into the tunnels and coil it up as much as you can. I don’t think my ants can bend that thing easily. Queen, make sure there’s a big enough tunnel for the ants to move it to the lab, and get ready to start rotating whatever electric ants through as you need them. I want some healing ants, dang it.

By the time the coil is in the lab, it looks like elf guy is about done with the belfry. He doesn’t look very happy. “Negative on secret room in belfry. I was sure it’d be hiding something up here.” And that’s why I’m not, bucko. The smart people look for areas being carefully ignored to wonder if that’s important.

And smart dungeons put their core in a place people walk past all the time. Who’s going to look under every brick in a road? Oh hey, he’s looking at the maze.

“Confirm odd bramble patch. Looks like Spider scion is in there, as well as several chests. They seem far lower level than they should be, though, especially with this dungeon. Acknowledged. Investigating.”

Finally, someone to check out the maze! He won’t be able to get the good stuff if he just picks a wall to follow, either. He carefully approaches the entrance and peers around before talking to his team back at the guild. At least, I’m pretty sure they’re at the guild. I’ve found a few guild houses from my expeditions, but I still don’t have specific names for them.

The adventurer delvers from the other day went to two different guild houses, so I can only assume one is from a guild for delvers, and one a guild for… I dunno, dungeon inspection? At least I know which church is Freddie’s, and which magic shop is Rhonda’s. I’ve been able to label things on the map, too, so that’s good.

But back to elf guy. “Confirm spider scion in bramble. It’s high enough level even I’ll need to be careful. Also looks like lower level dire rats in the area, but can’t pinpoint. Rat scion probably taught them a few tricks,” he says with a grumble as he rubs his hand. Teemo does great work.

“Heading in.” Yes! I just wish I could give a quest involving the maze. That’d be cool. Maybe one of the rooms would allow that? I’ll need to check that later. For now, I watch elf guy as he stalks the maze. He can definitely tell where the chests and nodes are, but looks like he doesn’t know the floorplan of the maze, which is good.

One of my rat thieves darts from the hedge, but elf guy has damn good reflexes. It doesn’t get very close before a knife finishes it with a single stab. “Dire rats are rat thieves. Don’t appear to be interested in combat. Spider scion appears to be slowly tracking me, but not in any particular hurry.”

Come into my maze, said the spider to the elf guy. Tiny was the best scion to put in here, since he can actually help change the maze layout a bit. If he webs an opening and tears down a different web, the whole maze basically shifts. And that’s what Tiny is doing. I don’t think he forgave elf guy like I have.

While Tiny slowly weaves his trap, elf guy explores the maze, gathering chests and nodes along the way. None of the thieves even get close to taking any of his stuff, and I feel like elf guy is starting to understand the maze a bit better. “Bramble is a different style of encounter than previously observed. Appears to be more of a race than a simple battle. Collect as much stuff as you can before the spider scion gets you, and before the thieves pick you clean.”

As Tiny closes the drawstring and traps the elf guy, he seems to notice. “Wait… something’s changed.” He frowns as he looks around, before realizing what’s happened. “I’ve lost this race. Extracting!”

That’s what you think, elf guy. Tiny’s webs aren’t going to be phased by your daggers, so no going up and over. Good luck trying to go through the hedges, too. I dunno exactly how much damage they do, but I don’t think you have that many hp, my friend.

Tiny finally rounds a bend in the maze, the two able to lay eyes directly on the other now. Elf guy dons his serious face and draws his daggers as Tiny simply slowly approaches. I can see his spinnerets slowly working on a web, too. Yeah, he definitely still holds a grudge from when elf guy killed him.

“Sorry big guy. You look too big for me to play around with now. Shadow Blade!” As elf guy melts into shadow, Tiny curls in a bit on himself, clearly remembering the attack that ended him last time. Several long gashes appear in his carapace, though not over anything particularly vital. As the attack comes to an end, though, Tiny tosses his web.

“Fu-!” is all elf guy gets out before the web envelopes him. Tiny! You never told me you had a brain! I guess you really did remember the attack that ended you, and remembered when and where elf guy is when he finishes it. Who’s a good spider? You are! Yes you are!

As Tiny approaches elf guy, I remind the big lug about how the maze works. He deflates a little, but he did still win. Elf guy looks terrified, though. Don’t worry, my dude. Good effort with the first run of the maze, though! Tiny moves one of his massive pedipalps over the delver, and elf guy closes his eyes, expecting a bite to finish him off. Instead, Tiny takes what I’m pretty sure is a bag of holding. He quickly weaves a larger bag, webbing elf guy up more in the process, and empties the magical bag into the more mundane one. He drops the bag on the floor and one of my rat thieves zips by to pick it up, and I can see the indignation in elf guy’s eyes.

With that, Tiny hauls him and his loot up and takes him outside the maze, depositing him unceremoniously just outside the entrance. Elf guy gets to stew for a few minutes before Fluffles can come by and levitate him outside the gates. Hah! I only wish I could see the reactions from everyone!

Hey! Birbs! Expedition!