It feels kinda weird to watch through Teemo’s eyes while he talks with the ODA lady. I’ve gotten so used to just knowing what’s going on around me that just having the directed senses of a rat is strange to me now.

“The Boss is pretty sure it’s a dungeon, at least,” says my Voice. “The expedition can taste it, but it’s really small. The Boss was most of the entire manor when he started, but the little cavern this one is in is barely bigger than the main entrance room.”

The lady’s eyes widen slightly at that. “You really did find a nascent dungeon, seems like. What have you done with it so far? What do you plan to do with it?”

“Well… the Boss isn’t sure yet. He doesn’t want to just eat it like Neverrest, but he doesn’t know if that’s even an option. And if peace can happen, he has no idea how to start.”

She nods and starts digging through her desk. “Dungeons can peacefully coexist, though it’s usually more a matter of them being too far apart for attacks to be viable. I know I’ve heard of ones coexisting, but I don’t know if I have any of those records handy…”

Cool, so we can give peace a chance. But how? I’m almost positive any denizens I send in will be labeled as invaders, and probably won’t make the dungeon trust me much. And sending a scion could be even more dangerous. Teemo might be alright, a Voice is for talking, after all. But sending someone like Fluffles would probably be a declaration of war.

I don’t even know if my dwellers would count as neutral parties, or as delvers for the little dungeon.

Teemo listens to me thinking to myself while the lady digs through her stuff, and speaks up. “Would the ratkin be fine to send inside? The Boss hasn’t asked anyone to go in yet. In fact, he’s been pretty explicit that everyone stay out.”

She nods as she digs through a cabinet. “Good. Dwellers count as invaders in other dungeons, as they are at least implicitly on the side of a foreign dungeon. Keeping everyone out of it is a good idea for now. Ideally, we’d wait for Inspector Tarl to return, but he’s likely to be gone for at least two weeks, more likely closer to three.”

“Yeah, that’s a lot of time to just let the thing sit on the Boss’ doorstep.”

She sighs as she seems to accept she doesn’t have the references she’s been looking for, and she sits back in her chair. “We’ll need to get some delvers to go take a look.”

“How about Rhonda and Freddie? They seem to be pretty interested in dungeon stuff, and that one seems pretty weak, so they shouldn’t be in much danger,” suggests Teemo.

The elf considers that for a few seconds. “That could work. If I give them a quest to check it out, that should keep them listed as delvers, even if you help them get down there. They’ll need to check it often, every few days at the worst, daily if they can manage.”

“Alright. You make the quest, I’ll go see if they’re interested.” With that, my Voice hops off his perch and heads out. He doesn’t make any shortcuts while outside my borders, though. That was one of the first things he tried, and while he can, they’re a lot harder for him to keep hidden outside. I don’t think my outside friends will appreciate shortcuts into their homes, so it’s the long way for us.

Thankfully, Teemo is still a rat, so it’s not exactly difficult for him to move around unnoticed, even without him actually using his various stealth tricks. Closest to the ODA is Old Staiven’s shop, so he heads there first to check in on the nerdy little goblin.

“Is the dungeon doing some delving of its own now?” asks Staiven with a grin as Teemo enters. My Voice is a bit surprised the old ratkin noticed him, but he probably shouldn’t have been. I bet Staiven has enough wards and stuff on his shop that he’d even notice a fly that enters without his explicit permission.

“Actually, the Boss wants to talk with Rhonda. We found something and the dungeon guild people thinks she and Freddie might be a good fit to check it out.”

“Ah, interesting. Rhonda and Freddie have taken quite the interest in dungeons… She’s down in the lab right now, taking inventory. There’s a few things in there she probably hasn’t seen yet, so it was going to be a bit of a test, but it can wait for her to look into this thing for you.”

“Er… it’ll probably be a daily thing for her to look into,” informs Teemo, but Staiven just waves that off.

“If it’s something dungeon, she can do it on her off time each day. Goodness knows she’ll make any excuse to go delving in her free time anyway.” He inhales and raises his voice. “Rhonda! Upstairs! You have a visitor!”

A muffled “Coming!” comes from the open hatch behind the counter, and soon comes the goblin herself, hat and spider on her head. She looks around the shop, confused for a few seconds, before she speaks up. “Where’s Freddie?”

Staiven just smiles at his apprentice. “I didn’t say it was Freddie. The dungeon’s Voice is here for you.”

She gasps at that and looks around, and Teemo takes mercy by hopping up on the counter and squeaking at her.

“Right here, kiddo. Thedeim found a ‘nascent dungeon’ in the deep tunnels, and wants to make peaceful contact. The dungeon folk say that pretty much anything he tries to send would be treated as an invader, though, so he needs delvers to do it, and suggested you and Freddie.”

Rhonda’s eyes shine with curiosity at that. “A nascent dungeon?! Why us? Shouldn’t Mr Tarl be sent for that?”

“He’s off to go do a quest for the Southwood, so he’s going to be a while. So, you want the job?”

“Yes!” she shouts, before blushing and calming herself. “I mean, uh… Master? May I?”

He rolls his eyes and chuckles at the goblin. “That’s fine with me, Rhonda. This will be on your own time, though. I’ll not have you skipping your lessons to go gallivanting down dangerous tunnels.”

She whoops and thanks him, and Teemo speaks up after she calms down a bit. “Alright, let’s go talk with Freddie, then, and see if he can go, too.”

She nods vigorously, and her hat doesn’t move as much as I’d expect. Lucas, her spider, is looking happy with himself, so I think he’s webbed it to her head. Doesn’t seem like she minds, at least.

Teemo hops on and nods to Lucas, who gives him a little bow in return. “Alright, to the Church of the Crystal Shield!”

It actually takes a few minutes before they can go, as Rhonda needs to mark her spot in the inventory process. Once Staiven is satisfied she’ll be able to pick up where she left off, he lets them all go. It’s much faster riding Rhonda than Teemo walking on his own. A rat on his own needs to be stealthy. A rat on a girl’s hat, who she is actively talking with, is just another curiosity that the townsfolk just chalk up to the dungeon being weird.

At the church, Rhonda walks up to one of the priests that’s simply sweeping the steps, and asks if her friend is available. It seems Freddie is in the barracks behind the church, doing some training. She thanks him and heads there.

Inside, Freddie has his shirt off and has a wooden axe and training shield and is facing off against one of those spinning wooden dummies. He’ll hit one of the ‘arms’ of the thing and it’ll spin, so he has to put his shield up to block the counter. Rhonda takes a few seconds to enjoy the show before Teemo speaks up.

“Hey, Freddie! You busy?”

The orc stops and steps back and looks over his shoulder at the trio in confusion for a moment, before recognizing his friend. His look of confusion returns quickly, though, as he doesn’t spot my Voice. “Did you learn a new spell to change your voice, Rhonda?” he asks. She giggles and shakes her head, and points to the rat on her hat.

“Nope! Teemo’s here! He has a quest for us!”

“Actually, I don’t. Technically, if me or the Boss gave you the quest, it’d mess the whole thing up.”

Freddie just looks a bit lost. “You have a not-quest for us?”

Teemo chuckles as Rhonda walks to her friend, who is moving to towel himself off and have some water thanks to the break in his workout. “The Boss found a nascent dungeon, which is like a baby, or something.” Teemo shrugs. “He wants to try peace with it, but anything he’d send would be an invader. So he needs delvers, and they need to be not technically working for him. The lady at the guild says she’ll make a quest for it.”

“Why not send Mr Tarl? Isn’t that his job?” asks Freddie as his own spider descends from the ceiling and plucks Lucus from Rhonda’s hat. The kids don't seem concerned about that, so I guess the two spiders will just do spidery things together when their masters hang out.

“He’s off to the Southwood, or we would leave it to him, but the dungeon is too close to just let it grow on its own.”

“Hmm. Let me check with the High Priest. I’d be happy to explore, but I want to make sure it won’t mess with my training.” Rhonda and Teemo both nod at that, and Freddie gets his shirt back on while Teemo hops back onto the hat. It looks like the spiders are busy chatting or playing, so they get left to their own devices in the rafters.

Getting to the High Priest is pretty simple. He runs a pretty chill ship, seems like, and nobody tries to stop the group from knocking on his door. Maybe they just know Freddie and Rhonda well enough to know they wouldn’t bother him for something silly.

I can’t help but smile to myself as they’re let in and I see the battered shield above the gnome’s desk, and he smiles warmly at the two over some paperwork he had been working on. A bit of surprise crosses his expression as he notices Teemo on Rhonda’s hat.

“Rhonda and Freddie, how’re you two doing? And the dungeon’s Voice, too?” he asks jovially, glancing above himself at the shield with its new chip.

Freddie takes the lead. “Well sir, Thedeim has found a nascent dungeon, and the Dungeoneer’s Guild would like us to check it out and keep an eye on it. Mr Tarl is out on business, so he can’t do it.”

“It’ll pretty much be a daily thing, too,” adds Rhonda.

High Priest Torlon nods at that. “Ah, I see.” He taps a finger against his desk as he thinks, then continues. “I don’t see any problem with that. You go delving often enough in your free time, so I don’t think it’ll interfere with your training, Freddie. It’ll need to be on your free time, though.”

The young orc nods at that. “Yes sir. I’d like to try this, sir. Dungeoneering is… interesting.”

Torlon smiles at that. “Good! Maybe you and Rhonda will be able to join the Dungeoneers instead of the Adventurer’s guild when your apprenticeships are done. Paladins are encouraged to go out into the world and spread the word, rather than sit in the temple all day and do paperwork,” he says with a wink, before waving the two off. “Away with you two, unless there’s something else? This sounds like a great opportunity for you two, so no sense delaying.”

The kids nod and bid their farewells, and get a quick blessing from him as well, before making their way back to the barracks to collect their spiders, then to the ODA. Inside, it’s changed slightly. Instead of only the lady’s desk, there’s now two smaller ones pulled out as well. The kids exchange a glance before the guildmistress speaks up.

“Have a seat, you two. I don’t mind sending you two off to investigate the dungeon, but I refuse to send you two off without at least some basic training.”

Rhonda eagerly takes a seat and pulls out her notebook and charcoal stick. Freddie whispers to her and she giggles before giving him a few loose pieces of paper and his own writing implement. I wonder if they’d have been so interested if they knew they’d be in school for a bit before getting to go look at the shiny new dungeon.