While my enclaves are having a nice social gathering/party, the delvers are having their own kind of fun. In fact, I notice a particular group has just arrived, and they have an extra friend along this time. Rhonda, Freddie, and Larrez, along with Lucas and Fiona of course, are also leading along an elven girl probably about Larrez’s age who looks like a scribe who got lost.

It’s pretty apparent she knows she’s in a dungeon by the way she looks around even just the yard with wide, nervous eyes. Teemo heads there as the group takes their time, chatting and trying to put the scribe at ease.

“See?” says Freddie, gesturing at the calmness that is the walkway to the manor, and the front yard. “No crazy traps or brutal denizens. Thedeim likes to let adventurers choose just how much adventure they want.”

The elven lady doesn’t look too convinced, but she’s at least following everyone to the porch. She doesn’t step onto it, though, as she spots the aranea and freezes in her tracks as she stares. Teemo picks that moment to pop out of a shortcut behind her and speak up.

“Never seen a questboard before?” he asks, startling the poor thing as she whips around, but can’t find the speaker. “Down here,” he helpfully provides. She fearfully glances down, probably expecting some horror, but looks confused when all she sees is Teemo.

“A talking rat?”

Teemo puffs himself up and stands on his hind legs. “I’m the talking rat, lady.”

The scribe only looks more confused as the others laugh at Teemo’s antics. “Tula, that’s Teemo. He’s Thedeim’s Voice,” informs Rhonda. I can practically hear Tula’s train of thought derail multiple times as she tries to process that.

“The dungeon? The same dungeon that’s supposed to have an undefeated scion? Has a rat for a Voice?”

Teemo nods before slipping through a shortcut to land on her shoulder. “Yep, there’s only one Thedeim, thankfully. I don’t think the world could handle two of him, heh. First time in a dungeon, hmm?”

Tula nods at that, still trying to process what she’s learning as Rhonda takes her hand and guides her onto the porch. “Don’t hurt yourself trying to figure him out, Tula. I’m pretty sure even Mr. Tarl has given up on that, and he’s an Inspector!”

Freddie and Larrez chuckle as Tula absently moves a finger to rub Teemo’s chin, who accepts the tribute with zero grace and leans into it. “That’s the stuff.”

“But he’s so… cute! How can a dungeon have a cute little rat for a Voice and also have some crazy powerful zombie scion, too?”

Teemo pulls himself away from the pets with visible effort to answer her. “The Boss doesn’t standardize us. I’m his Voice, so I’m good with people and I tell it like it is. Rocky is his fighting scion, so he’s a monster in a fight, and a good teacher for anyone else looking to learn their way around combat. Pretty much all of us have our own niches, and the Boss lets us be ourselves.”

Tula resumes petting Teemo as she thinks, earning a happy squeak from him as the others look over the quests.

“Did you want to get a quest, Tula?” asks Freddie, eyeing a couple kill quests.

“Um… no? I’ve never done much fighting, and I don’t really do gathering, either…”

“Do you know any runework?” asks Larrez as he peruses the mining quests. “There’s a lot of ways to get reagents for it here.”

“I… can do scrolls and other inscriptions, but I haven’t really practiced it,” she admits, earning a smile from Rhonda.

“Herbalism is probably the best way to get ingredients for magical ink and dyes. I’ll show you the basics, if you want?”

Tula still looks uncertain, but she doesn’t refuse, so Rhonda points her at a quest to gather some ochredill. “Ochredill is a staple, great for neutral bases for all kinds of things, and easy to gather, too.”

The elven woman cautiously reaches for the indicated plank, and finds it easy to pull down and claim for herself. “Are you going to gather anything, Rhonda?” she asks.

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“Nah. I need to talk with Rocky and probably Norloke, Freddie needs to visit Aranya for a couple minutes, and looks like Larrez wants to do some mining.”

The indicated elf absently nods as he continues looking over the mining quests. “Freddie mentioned having a piece of an odd anthill from in the labyrinth, layered with steel and orichalcum. I think if we can get more, I can convince the mayor’s armorer to try to do something with it.” He pauses as he spots a plank that sticks out. “Hmm… damanascus? Is that what it’s called?”

Freddie shrugs. “I dunno. I don’t have enough right now for anything, so I didn’t bother taking it to a smith.”

Larrez shrugs and takes the plank. “If it’s the wrong thing, we can sell it.”

“I’m pretty sure that’s what you’re after,” supplies Teemo from Tula’s shoulder. “That’s from one of the crucible anthills in the labyrinth. Anyway, what brings you all here today? Just showing your new friend the fun of adventuring?”

Rhonda shakes her head. “That too, but we’ve been cooped up all winter and they said we should get out and have some fun. And I need to get some new robes.”

“The ones Rocky gave you already don’t fit anymore?” asks Teemo, giving her a look over. I don’t think she’s grown that much, has she?

Freddie perks up at the mention of that robe. “Oh yeah! That robe looked cool. It’s too small already?”

Rhonda looks bashful before replying. “I uh… haven’t really checked. They just look so good! I wouldn’t want to ruin them on a delve!”

Teemo hops to her shoulder as Lucas moves to the other, and both flick her ears. “They’re made for delving, Rhonda, just like Freddie’s hatchet. You should go grab them. If they fit properly, great. If they are a little small, I’m sure Norloke can let them out a bit, especially if Thing and Queen come help.”

“Speaking of the other scions, how’s Jello with armor?” asks Freddie. “I’m outgrowing mine, which is why I’m looking for materials and a smith.”

“I’ll be right back, guys. I’ll get my robes,” interjects Rhonda before she rushes off while everyone else keeps talking.

Teemo smoothly transitions over to Larrez’s shoulder before answering. “I’m sure she’d like a new project. I think Queen and Thing are going to have her occupied, though. The Boss has a new kind of armor that they’re still prototyping. It worked well enough against the Maw, but it has issues with lasting longer than a couple battles still. You could help test if you want, but I’d probably stick with the guy Larrez knows if you want something reliable.”

“Maybe I could do both? Gather materials for a traditional set of armor, and volunteer to test whatever you’re making. How is he making special armor, though? I’ve seen the weird bows. Is he going to put a bunch of ropes and pulleys on the armor, too?”

I briefly wonder if I could do something with that for mechanical advantage, like a medieval power armor, but Teemo laughs and shakes his head. “Nah, the Boss is just making it out of weird stuff. I’ll see if I can’t get a sample for you to look at later. How about you, Tula? Anything you were hoping to get done in here today?”

“I… I want to meet Rocky,” she admits, surprising me and Teemo both.

“Yeah? You want to learn to punch things?”

She shakes her head. “No. It’s… his magic is strange. From the accounts I read, it’s like he can switch affinities on the fly. It should be impossible, but there’s way too many reports for people to just be making things up. If I could figure it out, I’m sure the Great Mother would be happy with me.”

“Great Mother?” echoes Teemo.

She nods, and pulls out a little pendant of open hands from her robe. “Laermali, the Great Mother of magic.”

Oh? Oh. Ooohhhhh…

Teemo has a better pokerface than I do. “Ah, makes sense. Did she send you to talk to the Boss?”

Tula looks confused. “No? Why would She?”

“Because the Boss showed Rocky how to do it. He showed all of us, really. It’s just that Rocky is really good at it.”

“But… how…?” stammers Tula, trying to wrap her head around how a dungeon of all things could start breaking magic like I have. Then Teemo goes in for the kill.

“That’s why I thought you would be here to talk to the Boss. She sounds like she’d be too busy to come chat with her newest coworker herself, so sending an acolyte would be the obvious step.”

Tula looks equally confused and offended, and Larrez interrupts. “Uh… I don’t think Thedeim counts as a… ‘coworker’? The enclaves revere him, sure, but he’s not-”

“He is,” corrects Teemo, to the confusion of the elves. Freddie, though, looks like he’s figured it out. “He apotheosed and everything after the Maw. The Raven himself visited and we had a chat, the Boss went a bit sideways and I exploded in orange.” He smirks at the reaction to his description of events. “I got better, but the Boss is stuck with being fully fledged now. Poor guy.”

Tula and Larrez stare, jaws slack, while Freddie chuckles and shakes his head. “No wonder Torlon wanted me to welcome Aranya back. I bet the Shield wants to make sure everything is still fine between you two.”

Teemo nods at that. “Oh yeah. While the Boss wants to officially keep a bit of daylight between himself and any other gods, the Shield has good people working under it. He’s happy to continue working together like that.”

“I’ll make sure Torlon hears that.” Freddie smiles as the elves continue to stare, not even reacting as Rhonda bursts through the gates with her robe in her arms. She hurries to the group, oblivious to the bombshell Teemo dropped.

“Whew, I’m back! The robes might be a little tight in the chest or shoulders? I’ll definitely want to ask Norloke to check the fit. Anyway, what’d I miss?”