Looks like Honey’s working hard to prepare to talk with Leo and Poe. She’s doing something with her magic, but I can’t really tell what. Whatever it is, I don’t think it’ll be ready by the meeting, but I'm glad to see her practicing. I’m not sure that the graphs and such she’s writing down will do much to convince the two to bring her workers on expeditions, but it probably won’t hurt her chances, either.

Especially since I can see the two have kept a few expedition groups in reserve. They seem to have already decided to at least to a few test expeditions with her. I hope they let her do her presentation despite that. She’s looking like such a happy little nerd bee, heh.

I decide to watch the terrible trio while I wait for evening, but they’re not doing much today. I think they’re all grumpy about the puzzle. They still haven’t found the pot labeled four yet, because it doesn’t exist. I think they’re starting to realize that, too.

Fine, if they’re going to be boring, I’ll check in on Aranya and the ratkin. She’s been hanging out with them even after the whole ceremony that made them officially dwellers. I think she’s just glad to have company. There’s not a whole lot of chance to socialize in the deep tunnels, after all.

She hasn’t joined any of the hunting expeditions, but that’s mostly because she’s not a very good hunter. That, and her only weapon is still the sword I gave her. She practices with it every day, but it’s still something more designed for self defense, rather than hunting. I’ve tried to have Teemo tell them they can hunt and eat the stuff in me, but they don’t want to be a drain on me like that.

It’s not exactly a drain, but I can appreciate their desire to be able to support themselves. While delvers killing and gathering will give me mana, and invaders give me nothing, my dwellers doing stuff is basically a zero-sum. I get back some mana, but only enough to cover the cost. I guess it’s technically a drain on me to wait for stuff to respawn, but that’s no big deal. But my dwellers don’t want to impose even that much, and I’m not going to force them. Besides, I’m proud of them for being able to find their own path and have the strength to walk it.

But back to Aranya, she’ll usually talk philosophy with Larx, or whatever crystal shield guys the ratlings allow to visit. Interestingly, the former head acolyte has been coming down to talk a lot. It looks like his demotion and punishment has taught him some humility. He’s still pretty gung-ho about the shield, but now he’s willing to actually debate and listen, instead of smite and exorcize. I wonder if I should suggest they do a couple public debates? My dwellers interacting with the delvers earn boatloads of mana.

There are several different merchants that come by over the course of the day, and trade for stuff. They mostly want hides and meat and such from the various things the ratkin hunt, and the ratkin mostly like to trade for cloth, though one of the merchants is looking for crops that might grow underground.

With the feel of winter on the way, thoughts turn towards making sure everyone has food. Nobody is exactly worried about making it through the winter, but everyone would like to have more food. Besides, with underground stuff, crops can grow basically year-round. Temperature doesn’t change much underground, so there’s no real single growing season.

Hopefully they can get a bunch of spores for stuff before the routes basically lock down for the winter. Listening in on their conversations, it seems we’re not usually snowed in for all winter, but there’s generally a couple weeks with too much snow to make it worthwhile, and it’s not a consistent few weeks. Besides, in the depths of winter, there’s not a whole lot of new things to get to trade. That might change with my ratkin, but they’re not established well enough to really be able to do much this year.

By the time the last merchant leaves, it’s about sunset and so most of the activity dies down. There’s more night delvers than I used to have, but that’s still not saying much. It’s mostly a group or two of lower-leveled people doing stuff in the manor, which gives Honey her chance to talk with Poe and Leo. I poke the two to let them know she’s ready, and I poke Teemo to go translate for me.

Honey seems surprised to see Teemo along with my two expedition leaders, but he quickly explains.

“The Boss mostly just wants to listen in on the presentation, Honey. He likes your idea, and wants to be able to offer any assistance or ideas. And he can tell you’ve been working hard on the presentation, so he wants to hear what you have to say.”

I don’t need to speak bee to know that’s her happy dance. Teemo takes a seat a little further away than Poe and Leo, mostly because he’s going to be quietly translating for me the entire time. Honey passes out a few small packets of information before she starts.

“Esteemed Marshal, Warden, and Emissary; thank you all for your time and presence. I’ve asked the Emperor to allow my workers to join your expeditions. Our library should be overflowing with combs full of knowledge, but our stocks are practically bare! So, I would gather knowledge like pollen: by going out and obtaining it directly.

“I’ve made several graphs to show how I expect our stores of knowledge to increase, but I also want to get into a few details. While I don’t think we’ll be able to get much information in fields like history or mathematics, there is a wealth of information to be gathered on biology! There are numerous plants, animals, insects, and arachnids and more to discover and study!”

“How do you propose to do that, Librarian?” asks Poe. He looks interested, but he’s ever the pragmatist, so wants details.

“If you’ll refer to the packet, I can help explain,” starts Honey, who gives the two a chance to take a look before she continues. “For the surface expeditions, plant and insect samples should be simplest for the ravens to gather. They may be able to gather specimens of smaller birds and animals like rodents, too, but I want to start a bit more simply.

“For underground, Emperor Thedeim has offered the service of several aranea to accompany the expeditions. I’ve calculated a wolf should be able to carry one with little difficulty, can you confirm that, Warden?”

Leo thinks for a few moments before nodding. “There are some spots they’ll have to get off and walk on their own, but my wolves should be able to carry them to wherever we’re going to get samples from. You’re not going to use the ratkin?”

Honey wiggles her rear in negative. “While they are very helpful to our Emperor, he doesn’t want to impose on them for this. If the first expeditions go as well as I hope they will, there also simply won't be enough ratkin to keep up, too. The aranea can weave some kind of packs for the wolves to be able to bring back samples, too. I’ve included a diagram of what they may look like, and the design can be improved with field testing.”

Teemo speaks up at that. “Heh, sounds like the Boss is going to need to expand the tunnels around here, then. If you’re going to be getting that much stuff, you’re gonna need a lot more room to examine everything. He’s also going to need to have the aranea offer trade quests for blank books.”

Honey does a little embarrassed shuffle. “On the back of the packet, I have projections for those, yes. I don’t wish to impose on the Emperor like that, but I couldn’t think of any other way to get and keep the knowledge. That is, if the Warden and Marshal are willing to allow this?”

Poe fluffs himself up and nods. “I think it is a great opportunity to extend our Lord Thedeim’s knowledge, and it may be just the thing to whip my ravens into proper shape. I’ve been having trouble getting them to pay attention to the details. With your workers wanting samples, they may finally start to understand that shiny things are not the only valuable things.”

Leo speaks up directly after. “I also think it would be a good thing to do. The ratkin have some knowledge of the deeper tunnels, but there’s a lot of room to keep track of, and a lot of stuff in there besides. And with that Violet down there, too, I want to know as much as possible. The Alpha says a Warden is supposed to protect his territory and his charges, and I need to know what I need to protect them from.”

Honey looks like she might explode from how hard she’s doing her happy dance, but Teemo can still translate for her. “Wonderful! If the Emperor could get the aranea to weave the packs tonight, we can start the first expeditions in the morning then?”

Nobody has any objections, so I spend a bit of mana to get the aranea to do the weaving. The first pass is basically just a pair of open saddlebags, though they’re designed more to lay across the wolf’s withers than the side. I can’t wait to see what interesting stuff Honey discovers.