While the kids and their new friends make their way down, I take a chance to look over the entrance to the labyrinth. I should probably do up the entrance a bit. As it is, it’s just like any other tunnel. It might look a bit twistier than usual, but that’s really it.

I should design a fancy entryway, probably fancy up the area outside, too. I think the delvers are going to take a break just outside before heading in, and I can probably wring a bit more mana from them without wringing any of their hp from them, too.

First, I should make a kiosk or something for the aranea. I can already see a group of three of them testing the walls, ceiling, and floor, looking for a good way to hide while putting out their little quest signs. There’s plenty to do in the labyrinth, so I’m not surprised the aranea want to have a centralized place for people to accept quests before heading in.

I doodle a few rough ideas, starting with a normal gazebo. I think that’ll be a bit too open for the aranea to really like, though. Sure, I can put in rafters, but they’d have no good sneaky way to get into them. Teemo could make a shortcut, but that feels a bit like cheating. I come up with a bunker design that might work well, though.

Slots on the floor will let them just stick through signposts with their quests, and pull them down to put fresh ones, all while letting the aranea keep hidden. I’ll need to take some time later to actually design how to hook them so they won’t just fall, but that shouldn’t be too hard. Probably just double hooks in the wall with a crossbar on the bottom of the sign, actually.

I should also put in a more proper rest area. Some benches or something would be good… maybe a few divots for healing slimes, so people can recover from getting here before going deeper. I want this area to be difficult, but I also want people to face those difficulties at their best.

Oh, I should also put in a few workshops down here, too. Not only will I get to see how the fancy metals are handled, but I bet they’ll give even more mana than mining if they smelt them here, too. I wonder if I can make little merchant stalls, too…

My musings are interrupted as the five arrive, so I shelve the ideas for now. I’ll probably see what Coda thinks about them later. For now, the kids and their new friends are ready to dive deep into the bowels of the lava labyrinth.

Oh, I should make a sign for it too.

“Alright, everyone on your toes. Once we round that bend there, we’ll be in the labyrinth proper,” says Gerlfi, to nods all around. Freddie mutters a little prayer, making his shield subtly glow. Rhonda digs through her pack with Lucas guiding her around the various bottles and vials.

“Swiftness, darkness, silence, thunderclap… I wish I could recreate that cold explosion thing Queen made a while ago. Ah! Perception!” She pulls the vial out of her pack and holds it out to Fiona, to mixed looks from the adults.

“Why for the spider?” asks Vieds, and Freddie answers.

“She has great eyesight. With the potion, she should be able to spot trap triggers well before any of the rest of us.”

Vieds mulls that as Wold nods. “And Gerlfi’s brownie can spot the magical traps.”

“Which Lucas and I can disarm!” finishes Rhonda. Gerlfi does his usual offer to the fey, and the little brownie soon hops onto Fiona like a mount. She looks tempted to web him up for his insolence, but lets it slide, this time.

Freddie and Fiona lead the way, each ready to keep the party safe in their own way. Wold takes the rear, in case of anything trying to sneak up on the party as they go. Rhonda, Vieds, and Gerlfi all hang out in the middle, with the changeling keeping a close eye on the map.

It doesn’t take him long to start grumbling as they pass through the various ways I have to mix the maze up, and he grumbles more when Fiona shows the mechanical method of doing so.

“Properly mapping the area is going to be a nightmare…” groans the changeling, though Gerlfi doesn’t look too bothered.

“We just need to mark the sections that can be changed. I just hope they don’t change while we’re inside.”

Tempting as it is to immediately make him eat his words, I don’t plan to change it while people are in there. Eventually, people might be able to run through and get the layout down before selling the info to people waiting to get in, but I’m not worried. It’ll probably still take half a day for someone to do that, and I expect a lot of people will prefer to just brave it themselves, at least once the basic layout is understood.

Their plan goes well, too. Fiona points out the mechanical triggers, and sometimes webs the traps in place for everyone to get across. Pressure plates are a little more of a challenge, but a silk rope swing is enough to get past them. The brownie points out the magical traps and triggers, letting Rhonda disable them. She even gets a vial of sleeping gas to put into her pack, after a delicate bit of work to get into the access space without tripping it and letting the vial shatter.

The fire resist potions show their worth, too, as my wyrms pop in to harass and test the group. Vieds shows off a bit more of what fire can do by basically hogtying one of my wyrms with that flame lash of his. I don’t think Rhonda is quite going to be able to gain kinetic affinity yet, but learning to move and put a bit of weight behind her fire is definitely going to be a big help.

They take a break when they reach what I’m starting to think of as the melting pot. It’s the area I put a bunch of nodes and crucible ants in, letting them alloy as they go. It’s mostly mundane alloys, but there’s an orichalcum node in there, too. I’m not sure if it actually alloys with the more normal metals, but there’s one hill that looks a bit like damascus steel, but with orichalcum and steel. It looks cool, even if I have no idea if it’ll be useful.

Wold and Freddie eye the damascus hill as everyone rests, with Vieds updating the map and Rhonda scribbling her own notes about what’s there. Eventually, Wold speaks up.

“Do you think we could claim that hill?”

Freddie looks thoughtful. “Maybe? They’re big for ants, but they’ll still swarm. I should be able to keep them at bay with enough help.”

“Help, hmm? What kind of help?” asks Gerlfi as he walks over.

“More fey,” answers Wold simply, and Freddie tries to give details.

“I think I’ll need at least three people, besides me and Fiona, to keep the ants at bay long enough for Rhonda and Vieds to handle the ants?”

Gerlfi hmms as he looks at the crucible ants wandering about. “I think it’ll be mostly on Rhonda for this one. Vieds can say all he wants about explosions, but there’s a good reason he doesn’t get to use them too often. If he blew up the hill there, the effort would all be wasted. Brownie, would you be willing to take a shield and help with this in exchange for some beer back at the guildhouse?”

The little earth fey stares for a few moments before nodding, and hops off Fiona as Gerlfi turns his attention back to Freddie. “He makes one, Wold will make two… would I be able to help with the shields?”

Freddie considers that for a few seconds, then nods. “I think so. The Shield will guide you, you’ll just have to listen.”

“I don’t need to swear myself to it or anything, right? No offense, but I try to stay out of the business of the gods.”

Freddie laughs. “No, nothing like that. You just have to be willing to be led in this, like listening to a veteran when they give you pointers.”

Gerlfi nods at that. “I can do that.” He waves Rhonda and Vieds over. “We’re going to try to defeat the hill with the weird alloy there. We’ll all keep the ants at bay, can you two deal with them?”

Vieds looks uncomfortable, but Rhonda looks confident. “I think we can, together. I can freeze them, I think, but I’ll also make a lot of excess fire when I do. Can you work with that, Vieds?”

He shifts to looking more uncertain as he thinks. “Possibly. It’ll take a lot of fire to overwhelm even one of those ants, but it sounds like that’s exactly what you’ll be providing?” At her nod, he nods as well. “Then I think so. I won’t be able to handle an actual swarm, but I should at least be able to deal with strays and stragglers.”

“Then that’s the plan,” says Gerlfi with confidence. “We’ll hold the ants, you two deal with them. Then Wold will carry the hill and we’ll head home.” Everyone nods at that, and moves into position.

Freddie and Fiona stride proudly towards the hill, with the brownie, Wold, and Gerlfi at their side. As they get near, Freddie raises his shield, and I can see his magic settle on his friends. “Phalanx Formation! Hem them in!” Translucent shields appear on the arms of everyone involved, as well as several additional that float at Freddie’s command. As one, they jog forward, and quickly encircle the hill.

The ants, of course, notice the threat, and start swarming over the hill as they prepare their answer. It comes quicker than even I expected, as tongues of flame lash out at the shield wall, but it stands strong. Gerlfi looks pretty uncomfortable, but seeing Wold and the others looking calm and collected helps him keep his cool, despite the rising heat.

A few ants march forward, which seems to have been what Rhonda was waiting for. “Siphon!” she exclaims, and I can see her pulling the fire out of the marching ants, quickly cooling them past the point where they can still function and earning me a decent bit of mana for her efforts. Vieds claims the rising ball of heat and forges it into a thin needle, before launching it at the last ant not on the hill.

“Searing Lancet!” The attack is hotter than even the crucible ant can handle, and it collapses as well. Lucas jumps from Rhonda’s hat to grab one of the cooled ants, before jumping back to land at Rhonda’s feet.

“Good work, Lucas! Now, get me a good focus.” He’s already dismantling the ant before she’s done speaking. She returns her focus to the hill as he works, and steals the heat from a few more ants.

It takes them some time, but they’re doing pretty well with the ants. My denizens try to focus and unleash a torrent of fire that would make a dragon proud, but the phalanx holds strong against the attack. Finally, Lucas holds up a little shard of obsidian he got out of the crucible ant, and hops onto Rhonda’s hat.

“Ah, perfect! Vieds, don’t take control of this heat, please, I have a plan!” The goblin girl grins wide as she works her magic. “Freddie, hunker!”

The orc lad nods and gives his own shout to the circle of shields. “Brace!” Wide stances are taken and shoulders pressed to the shields as everyone prepares for what Rhonda has in mind. Lucas helps guide the mana as the little shard resonates, and I can see my crucible ants looking a bit uncomfortable. It doesn’t last long, as Rhonda finally finishes her spell.

“Thermal Shock!” Heat is quickly drawn from all the ants in and on the hill, rapidly cooling them, before it rushes back in. My ants shatter from the rapid change in temperature, some so violently that pieces ping off the shields of the phalanx. Rhonda breathes heavily and grins in triumph at the result of her spell, and Freddie soon dissipates the shields, sagging from his own efforts.

Gerlfi and Vieds both give low whistles of approval at the results, and Wold steps forward to poke the hill with his weapon. “Looks empty.”

Freddie gives a weak laugh as he sits down. “Good, because I’m about empty, too. That many shields is hard to maintain, even with help.”

Gerlfi laughs and pats him on the back. “Rest up, kid. You earned it. I didn’t expect you two to be so good in a fight.”

Rhonda laughs as she sits next to Freddie. “Rare classes, and we delve a lot.”

“Well, you two have definitely earned your share. We’ll rest up a bit more before making our way out. We might have our prize, but we still need to make sure we can keep it.” They all nod, and I would, too, if I could. I’m not going to throw anything too terrible at them on the way out, but they still don’t get a free ride. They’ll be fine to take the hill and show it off, especially after a rest. Once they do, they’ll probably get the miners and smiths all in a tizzy again, too.

A bit more mana should make getting the entrance spruced up even easier. I poke Coda to come take a look at the designs once he’s back from the lighthouse, wanting his input. I could probably just buy the things I want with mana, but it feels better to put in a bit of effort for it. The discount doesn’t hurt, either.