The Bee Dungeon

Belissar paced around the room, humming and groaning to himself. He had checked, double checked, and then triple checked the burning honey mead jar, but he couldn’t find anything out of the ordinary compared to the others. By all accounts it should have worked.

What really drove him mad was that it hadn’t failed in any of the normal ways. The mead hadn’t gone bad or gotten contaminated or over-fermented or anything like that. It had failed to ferment at all. That was extremely rare, limited to only a few cases. Once where he filled a jar with barely any honey and a ton of water and a second time where he tried to ferment it during winter. But he had made sure he had a good ratio of honey to water and the temperature of the Tower never…

Belissar’s eyes widened. The temperature. If the temperature going too low could stop mead from fermenting, maybe the temperature going too high could do so as well. The burning honey itself generated enough heat to kill a person if they ate too much of it. The bees themselves, magical monster bees even, couldn’t make too much of it without threatening their own hives. It took burning bees evolved off the honey and the fireproof wax they made to make and store in any noticeable quantity.

Belissar groaned and held his head. If that was the problem…then what was he supposed to do? The point was to make mead from the burning honey, so he couldn’t not use it, and he wasn’t sure if diluting it with other honey types would count. The jar itself didn’t seem to be an issue as it had survived the heat without a problem. The only other ingredient in this mix was the water…was there a problem with the water?

He then tilted his head. Maybe…there was? Burning honey required wax made by burning bees to store…so maybe burning honey needed some sort of…fire water to ferment into mead? Maybe the lava? That was basically fire water…

Belissar shrugged and grabbed an empty jar. It was worth a shot. He headed over to the nearest Lava Field, walking over to one of the lava rivers. He bent down and carefully scooped some of the lava into the jar. The jar seemed to hold it. Belissar smiled.

Until the jar began to melt.

Belissar frowned and furrowed his brow. Ok, apparently the lava could melt pottery. In that case, how could he actually hold and store the lava? Not to mention that if the lava was hot enough to melt pottery…how could it ever be safe for anyone to ever drink?

…besides him, who was somehow protected from the heat by Tower magic, he guessed.

Belissar crossed his arms. Maybe lava wasn’t the answer. Was there another way to try and get some sort of fire water? Out of curiosity, he began checking the room features he could place in the Lava Field…and almost immediately froze.

Apparently, he could place a Pond in the Lava Field.

He had no idea how or why a pond full of water was allowed to be placed in the barren, molten landscape, but he didn’t question it. He went ahead and placed the pond in a relatively clear stretch of rock a bit further away from any of the lava rivers. A depression formed in the rock and filled with water, which immediately began to steam.

Pond modified into Hot Spring due to environment.

Hot Spring is now available!

Belissar stood there blinking for a few moments. He got a new feature, just from placing a Pond in the Lava Field? He had no idea why, so he took a closer look at the steamy water in front of him.

Hot Spring

Mana Upkeep: 10 (5 due to compatible environment)

Description: A body of water heated by nearby geothermal activity. The warm temperature, mineral content, and abundant mana promote healing and health for those who ingest or soak in it. Chemical content can be adjusted to become harmful instead. Can be upgraded into a steam geyser.

Belissar shrugged. He didn’t understand most of that, so he figured he’d ask Chief Rohsuak about it later. Or maybe Urubran or Nenavann might know something? In any case, maybe naturally hot water would work for the burning mead, so Belissar left to acquire another jar. He could only hope so, otherwise he’d have to try and find a way to store lava…

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

While Belissar felt bad for the God of Fire, the new mead attempt wouldn’t be ready for over a week even if the hot spring water worked. He didn’t want to make the God of Bees or God of Flowers wait that long, so he went ahead and took the mead he had to the bumblebee meadow shrine, the closest room where the God of Flowers had a chest as well.

First, he placed ten jars into the God of Bees’s wax chest. They shouldn’t have fit…but somehow, they did. Belissar didn’t question it as he had already bowed his head after placing the jars.

“Thank you, for everything. None of this would have been possible without you, I can’t thank you enough that I can make mead again, much less the best mead I’ve ever tasted. I hope you enjoy this, and please let me know if there’s anything else you’d like.”

Belissar had barely spoken the last word when the shrine lit up so brightly it pierced through his closed eyelids.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

Mission: Offer ten jars of mead to the Shrine of Bees completed!

Reward: Rare Bee-type monster choice

Belissar grinned as wide as he could and laughed as well. The reward was exactly what he had been hoping to get. The God of Bees really took good care of him.

He thanked her for the reward for a bit, but then the light of the shrine faded. Belissar took that as his cue to move on, so he repeated the process with the flower chest, bowing once he had placed the five jars of different mead types within.

“Thank you as well, God of Flowers. My bees couldn’t do what they do if it wasn’t for your flowers. Please, accept this offering, and let me know if there’s anything else you desire.”

The flower chest lit up as brightly as the Shrine of Bees had.

Mission: Make and offer meads made of honey sourced from five different flower types completed!

Reward: Flower-type perk choice

Additional reward granted for: Completing mission before God of Fire’s mission!

Reward: Minor Blessing of Flowers strengthened to Small Blessing of Flowers

Belissar’s eyes widened and he froze solid. The additional reward was entirely unexpected…and not in an entirely good fashion. He was aware that not all of the gods got along with one another, so he couldn’t say he was comfortable with the implications of that particular reward. The last thing he wanted was to offend any of the gods, much less one of the three blessing his Tower.

In the end, Belissar just thanked the God of Flowers for her rewards while resolving to figure out the burning mead situation as quickly as he could. He could only pray that none of the gods would be offended when all he wanted to do was thank them for their help.

There was nothing else he could do about it now, except maybe ask Chief Rohsuak and Tarwantrad for advice later. Tarwantrad was friends with Urubran as well, so he hoped that meant the God of Fire and God of Flowers weren’t completely at odds…

At the post-daily purification victory celebration, Tarwantrad and Chief Rohsuak both crossed their arms with thoughtful expressions. Belissar had pulled them to the side and explained the situation. Chief Rohsuak shook her head with a sigh.

“I apologize, Tower Keeper, but I know little of the God of Flowers. I cannot say anything regarding my patron’s relationship with her.”

Belissar turned to Tarwantrad with hope, and perhaps a little desperation, in his eyes. Tarwantrad tilted her head.

“It is a surprise to me as well. The God of Flowers and the God of Fire were not at odds as far as I, or Urubran for that matter, were aware. I wouldn’t have thought they were particularly close or anything, but the God of Flowers has never gone as far as to have me compete with Urubran…except for…”

Tarwantrad’s eyes slowly widened.

“…except for when I received the mission to find your dungeon, at which point I was informed specifically not to involve Urubran…”

All three of them frowned at that. Silence hung over them for a good minute before Belissar whispered.

“What should I do?”

Tarwantrad took a deep breath.

“I will consult with Almablom…that is, the Oracle of Flowers…as well as the Circle and the Compact’s loremaster. Perhaps you should consult the Oracle of Bees as well? For now, I would recommend you do not delay on fulfilling the God of Fire’s request. The gods should not interfere with a dungeon master solely because of the reward of another, but only so long as you did not intentionally seek it out.”

Belissar gulped but nodded. In his panic, he had forgotten he could’ve asked the God of Bees through Velebee, so he turned to Niobee. She had already flown off to retreat her queen mother. He turned back to Tarwantrad while they waited for Velebee to fly over.

“And…the rewards?”

Tarwantrad gave him a confident smile…though her face still seemed a little strained.

“It…should be fine. You had no knowledge of this beforehand, so the God of Fire should not take offense to you making using of the reward now. It is a passive blessing in any case…”

Niobee returned with Velebee after that, so everyone immediately turned to her.

“Hi Velebee…um, could you ask the God of Bees if something is going on between the God of Flowers and the God of Fire?”

Velebee almost immediately began to glow and dance.

“Is!”

Belissar fell back a step, his face paling and his knees starting to buckle. Tarwantrad and even Chief Rohsuak paled along with him. However, Velebee continued glowing and then followed up with another dance.

“Queen of All Bees says handled!”

Belissar, Tarwantrad, and Chief Rohsuak all explosively exhaled their breath at that. Belissar’s legs gave out entirely and he didn’t bother resisting falling to his backside.

Now that he was no longer at risk of immediate smiting, he could only wonder…just what was going on between the gods?!