The Bee Dungeon

Chapter 238: Bee Fired Up!

Tamosmed was somewhat less enthusiastic upon arriving at the bog but marched through the mud to meet with the First of the Fifth’s Seventh Daughter. She was even less enthusiastic to meet him, if the stingers shaped from slime poking out from her golem hive were any indication. Belissar was able to calm her down, though, especially after explaining that Tamosmed would teach her about more advanced golems.

For today, Tamosmed just observed for a bit, smiling as he watched slime workers dredging the bottom of the bog. That was apparently something regular slimes did too, confirming that the slime bees resembled them in that regard. Afterwards, Tamosmed left to clean up, promising to meet the Seventh Daughter on drier ground later, as well as to visit the karnuq smith.

Belissar was just cleaning the mud off his own feet when he saw a queen bee flying straight towards him, distorting the air around her. The Third of the Sixth didn’t lose any speed as she pulled straight from her charge into a flying dance.

“King! Queen of All Fire wants pick blessing! What pick?”

It took Belissar a moment to process that.

A bit earlier in the day, as Belissar was discussing golemcraft with Tamosmed, Chief Rohsuak met with the Third of the Sixth in her home lava field. She took a deep breath of the burning, sulfurous air, letting out a breath full of sparks and smoke. The heat resonated with the God of Fire’s blessing and the Fire mana flowing through her, granting her a surge of energy that was rare these days. She was glad she had the opportunity to visit the room.

Now that the situation with both the sigmaka and the fair folk had begun to settle, Chief Rohsuak could devote herself entirely to new bee disciple. And it was well that she could, for she found this task trickier than she had first assumed. She watched as the Third of the Sixth stood right in the middle of a bonfire, occasionally pacing about with her antennae twitching. Eventually, the bee began to dance.

“What next?”

Chief Rohsuak took another deep breath as she considered the question. It turned out that her primary methods of training new disciples of fire wouldn’t work here. For a karnuq, exposing oneself directly to the flames was an act of great will, a sacrifice to the element of fire. An experience of the flames that would carve itself into their memory as well, assuming it didn’t traumatize them outright.

Chief Rohsuak considered the other option, spreading the flames around. Unfortunately, that was not an option they could pull off at will. Simply making a big bonfire wasn’t enough, they had to burn something for the God of Fire to notice. But the only things around were the Tower, its purified zone, and their allies. Setting any of those ablaze wasn’t an option. So, unless Belissar would approve of them setting off on a warpath to indiscriminately burn anything they came across in the Underway, they couldn’t spread the flames until an enemy came to them.

So, what could she have a burning bee do to show her devotion to fire…

Chief Rohsuak paused, then chuckled and shook her head. She rose to her feet.

“Let’s try something different. How about you make an offering to the God of Fire and try devoting yourself to him directly?”

The Third of the Sixth immediately took off and danced about in the air.

“Ok!”

And with no further ado, she flew off back to her hive, no doubt to gather honey. Chief Rohsuak chuckled once more. The Third of the Sixth reminded her of her youth, fully content to charge off with hardly a plan at all. Which made her wonder if she was overcomplicating things in her old age. If the Third of the Sixth already lived and breathed fire…then perhaps she had no need immerse herself in the flames at all. An offering of that burning honey and devotion by one already full of fire might be all the God of Flames would require. And if not, perhaps the god himself would show the way. The God of Fire was not one to make his worship overly complicated.

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So, they’d take the direct approach and see how things went from there. She took another deep breath of the hot air, creating a small flame that danced around her fingers as she made her way to room’s shrine.

The Third of the Sixth beat her there, soldier bees helping her carry an entire tray of the burning honey. She had them slowly lower it into the God of Fire’s brazier…which immediately burst into a column of flames reaching for the sky as soon as the burning honey touched it. Even the fireproof wax of the tray was consumed.

The Third of the Sixth wasted no time beginning to dance, Chief Rohsuak somehow unable to decipher her steps as the bee spoke with the gods. Given the huge column of fire next to her, though, Chief Rohsuak couldn’t imagine it going poorly. She was not overly surprised when that column grew too bright to look at.

When the flames calmed down enough for her to open her eyes, she saw the Third of the Sixth glowing red. The bee queen flew to her and zipped about in the air.

“It worked! Queen of All Fire asked to join Hive of All Fire! Thanks karnuq queen! Need to go ask King what pick!”

Chief Rohsuak didn’t even have a chance to respond before the bee zipped off towards the nearest exit. She chuckled and shook her head.

The Third of the Sixth was quite the suitable apprentice for the Blazing Berserker, that was for sure…

And so, the Third of the Sixth zipped off to find Belissar. Belissar’s mind finally caught up with the situation and he smiled.

“Congratulations, I’m happy for you.”

The Third of the Sixth zipped about in a “King best king!” dance, giving Belissar a chance to think on the options she described.

“So…blessing of the pyromancer, the hearth tender, the blazing berserker…or the queen of fire, was it?”

According to the karnuq, normally a god offered a collection of suitable generic blessings that could be acquired from nearly any of them. If the devotee was exception suited as a champion for the god in question, they might also offer one of their own unique blessings, once drawing directly on their power. Juosiutik’s honey herbalist, Hirkolos’s bee-fender, and Frelis’s floral druid were all the latter option.

The God of Fire had apparently offered the Third of the Sixth four fire-related blessings. He was apparently quite enthusiastic about the Third of the Sixth drawing on his power. Belissar…couldn’t help but agree.

He looked up at the Third of the Sixth. He knew which one he liked, but unlike Frelis the Third of the Sixth was a queen. She was much more independent than a worker was, so he hoped she might be able to decide on her own.

“What do you think of them?”

The Third of the Sixth barely slowed down as she danced her reply.

“Amazing! Incredible! Can be like Beero! No tiny lightnings, though. Or can make more honey! Not as much as First of the Fifth, though. Or can fight like karnuq queen! But…am queen? Not supposed to fight!”

The Third of the Sixth paused for a moment.

“How karnuq queen fight? Why workers let?”

Belissar had to pause at that question.

“Hm, you see, karnuq are different. The…queen, as you call her, isn’t the only karnuq who can have kids. All karnuq woman can…I think. Well, until they get too old…if they’re the same as humans that is.”

The Third of the Sixth hovered still in the air before bursting into a dance.

“All karnuq queens?! Then…where workers?! Who work?! Who fight?!”

Thus followed a very confusing discussion where Belissar tried to explain some of the differences in the division of labor and reproductive strategy between karnuq and bees. Not made easier by the fact that Belissar himself was no expert on any of that…and was assuming that the karnuq were the same as humans. Or, at least, assuming they were closer to humans than bees. He decided to let Chief Rohsuak clear up any misunderstandings if it turned out he was wrong on that point.

By the end, the Third of the Sixth was swaying about, clearly confused. Niobee tried to intervene but she had apparently also gotten confused. Belissar decided to try and bring things back onto easier topics, like the blessings of the gods.

“Ahem…you can just think of it like this. Karnuq…hives have more than one queen, so it’s fine if some of them do dangerous things.”

The Third of the Sixth immediately began zipping about.

“Oh! Like Fourth of the Seventh and First of the Fifth’s First Daughter’s hive!”

Belissar decided to just nod along.

“Sure…I think. Um, in any case…what about the last option?”

The Third of the Sixth picked up even more speed.

“Amazing! Incredible! Give fire to workers, soldiers!”

Belissar smiled.

“That does sound amazing.”

The Third of the Sixth stopped immediately.

“King likes?”

Belissar blinked and had to hold back a sigh. He had apparently expressed too much opinion.

“I…think they’re all great. But yes, I do like that one. A queen of fire sounds good for a queen, right?”

The Third of the Sixth resumed her full speed dance.

“Ok! Will pick!”

Before Belissar could say anything more, the Third of the Sixth began to glow as she was wrapped with white hot mana, and a message from the Tower appeared before him.

Mission: Help one bee queen receive a full blessing from the God of Fire completed!

Reward: One rare monster choice

Belissar could only smile helplessly and shrug. Well, the Third of the Sixth, the God of Fire, and the God of Bees were clearly all happy about that choice, so he may as well accept it.