The caverns are coming along nicely. It’ll probably be a week or more before they’re truly ready for delvers, but they’re not barren anymore. The access tunnel is going well, Slash is being a great help, too! I can’t help but hum sixteen tons to myself as they work and they seem to be working to the beat. I’m pretty sure he’s trying to sing along or something, it’s difficult to tell. His rumblings are changing in pitch, so I think he’s at least trying.

It makes me wonder what I can do to make progress on my plan to basically make him a bard. I need to figure out how to make an electric guitar for him, and how to combine that with an axe. The puns run deep with him, even if nobody here will understand them. I also need to get him a top hat, but the axe is the more important thing.

I’m pretty sure I can at least get the basics for an electric guitar, though I might need to give Slash some go juice to give him electrical affinity. Heh, that’ll be a good surprise for anyone who fights him. Who expects an earth elemental to sling lightning? I look into the stores of go juice, and it seems Slash will need a way bigger dose than the more ordinary denizens do, but that’s fine.

I’ll probably need to ask Teemo to talk to the ratkin about actually forging the axe for him. I don’t think my ratlings can manage the kind of quality I want for it. Grim’s scythe is fine to be a bit rough. Slash’s axe needs some style to it… and needs some specific detail work done to make the guitar part work properly.

For one, I need to actually make the guitar stuff. The basics are simple: strings with adjustable tension to change the pitch. The first thing is that guitar strings are not simple wires. They’re really long springs, basically. I think my ratlings can manage that. It’s fine work, but once they draw out wire thin enough, they just need to wrap it around a stiff separate piece of wire, so I don’t think I’ll need to bother my dwellers with it.

I wonder if silk would vibrate right? Eh, I’ll put it on the list to test. I don’t think it’ll do the job, but it should be simple enough to test. Which makes me glad Honey’s library expansion/lab is up and running. It’s still not officially a research lab, but there doesn’t seem to be anything actually stopping us from using it as one.

Strings planned, now I need the pickups. A normal guitar uses the hollow body as an amplifier, basically, to make the small vibrations of the strings actually loud enough to hear at any distance. An electric guitar uses pickups to change the vibrations into an electrical signal. I might be able to just get Thing to enchant something, but I also want to try something there.

I’m pretty sure actual electric guitars use magnets to get the electrical signal, but I want to try using quartz instead. I’m pretty sure it’s piezoelectric, which means pressure will get it to squirt out a bit of electricity. It’s not a lot of electricity, but it’s the principle that sonar works on, and I think quartz watches actually use it for power? Maybe?

Either way, sound waves are pressure waves, so it should make electricity. My hope is to use some magic to grab the electricity, amplify it, and transmute it back into sound. So yeah… probably going to take a lot of work to actually make viable. Maybe I can get the aranea to trade something for some instrument, just so Slash has something to practice on until his actual axe is ready.

Still, I do my best to explain the concept to Thing and Honey. The little bee just seems to adore any new information, while the hand is looking happy to have a direction to take his studies in. He’s hit a wall in trying to come up with some counter to lifedrinking, aside from just overwhelming it with healing magic. As far as I can tell, that’s the only accepted way to deal with it. Considering the level one needs to reach to be able to drop that kind of magic, I don’t think it’s a very viable counter.

He’s tried attacking weak points in the spell, but it looks like it tends to go off like a bomb, rather than just collapsing into rubble. I’m sure he’ll think of something eventually. Maybe playing with electricity and sound will inspire him. At the very least, he should be able to confirm if Slash will even need the electrical affinity to use the axe. I’m not going to force either on the guy, but if he really has been singing along while digging, he’ll probably be more than happy to help introduce the world to some rock music.

Tarl

The seasons are certainly turning. Down in Fourdock, it’s a bit less extreme, but further inland and higher up, it feels like winter is already preparing to bully autumn out of its place. There’s already been some snowfall, which has not helped his trek at all. At least he doesn’t need to inspect the Southwood this time, so that’s a good week trimmed off the trip already.

He’s a bit surprised the White Stag didn’t meet him at the border. It seemed like Southwood wanted the information more than usual, but it’s not making it any easier for him to deliver it. He mentally shrugs and exits that train of thought. He’s almost at the clearing, so the Stag should be making his entrance soon anyway.

As if on cue, the soft sound of chimes drifts on the wind, and soon the White Stag steps forth from the trees. “Inspector Tarl. My Lord bids you welcome and hopes you have brought news of the new dungeon of Fourdock.”

Tarl takes a few moments to straighten himself and let his breathing calm a bit from the rough journey. “Indeed. As representative of the Dungeoneer’s Guild, I have come to complete the quest: to exchange information for information.”

The Stag regally nods, sending more chiming music from the lights adorning his antlers. “Then proceed, Inspector.”

“The dungeon is named Thedeim, and has been officially recognized as a cooperative dungeon. Each of his spawners has a scion, and he shows little sign of straining under their costs. He has a Voice now: his rat scion and Scout. He has a ratkin enclave, who are peaceful and cooperative, still feeling out their place in the larger world. He has a Conduit, gained from subsuming Neverrest.”

“So Neverrest is truly gone?”

“Indeed. What’s more, he has remade the cemetery to allow its intended use. Heh, he’s even assigned a scion to care for it: the skeleton scion, Grim. Despite having inherited several undead spawners and having created scions for each, his outlook appears unchanged.”

Tarl starts to continue, but the Stag tilts his head, clearly listening to Southwood itself. The elf waits patiently, knowing how displeased the Voice can get if his lord is interrupted in communicating with him.

“This Thedeim truly subsumed Neverrest while so young? The same Neverrest that has consumed other young dungeons?” asks the Stag once more, and Tarl nods.

“Yes. He planned with the local Adventurer’s Guild to help. He feinted with his denizens in the tunnels below Fourdock, while sending three of his scions along with what adventurers were available on the surface. One of which is now his second Resident.”

The Stag listens to its lord again, before speaking. “My Lord would entreat with this Thedeim. Something is stirring in the Green Sea. If this Thedeim can defeat the likes of Neverrest, perhaps he can defeat whatever is out there. My Lord has been forced to upgrade his spawners to deal with the influx of invaders from the north, and is uncertain how much longer he can manage. His mana gains are up, but so are his expenditures.

“Bring his Voice, so we may speak.”

Tarl just stares for a few seconds, before his brain kicks back into gear. “I will try, but winter is not far off. I don’t think he’ll be able to send anything until the spring at the earliest, if he’s even willing to help at all.”

The Stag looks unconcerned. “My Lord should be able to hold out that long, at the least. The orcish nomads slow their wandering in the winter months, and so tend to delve more often. But that is later. For now, tell me more of what you can of this Thedeim. If my Lord is to ally with him, I would hear his measure.”

Tarl chuckles and nods. “I can do that. He’s told me not to reveal too much of his current strengths, but even if I were to tell you everything I currently know about him, he’ll have many new tricks to spring, besides even the ones he’s kept secret.”