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Chapter 26: That's Classy

Chapter 26: That's Classy

------------- Mountainthrone Castle Dining Hall -------------

The scroll had been delivered earlier when the sun was still high, but it still sat where it was placed, ignored. The lesser noble sat at the long table, with half-eaten dishes of one kind or another starting to attract more than its fair share of insects through the windows. A lack of glass at all, or installed shutters at this level, would do that.

He glanced at the scroll, seeing that it still had a flattened circle of wax, with a signet ring seal in its center. He couldn't peer into it, even if he tried. Not without breaking the seal. But, he had been hungry all day, so he grabbed a leg of roast fowl, which was already dry from exposure to air. Still, it was edible despite a few flies landing on it.

If he had any intention of eating that day, he'd have to eat what he could. He took another bite of tendon and dry meat as the maids started coming in and removing the plates that still carried something. As a maid walked by, he ripped a piece of bread off the side of its loaf, replacing what he took with the now bare bone.

A man came in as the final plate was cleared and the tables started getting a wipe-down. "Get enough to eat?", the man asked in a cruelly jovial manner.

"Yes, sir. Thank you, sir", he answered as he got up to leave. Once the lesser noble was out of the room, the greater noble sat down to open and read the scroll. After reading it, he raised his arm, and a slender man came from the shadows behind him.

"Make a quest to investigate and name the new dungeon overlooking Bogsreach."

The man stepped backwards back into the shadows. Whatever it was he did, the quest was set.

------------- Dungeon Termite Room -------------

'The room is actually starting to look okay. Well, kind of okay. Okay, I need a huge assload of wood to figure out if it's even the right size. Plus I need rats for the secret room that isn't actually there yet. What is in the queue?'

[ Construction: Coal Forge. Status: Researching. Time remaining: 8 minutes, 1 second

Resource: Moldy Pew. Status: Queued. Time remaining: 5 hours ]

'Holy crap, this took me that long? I seriously need to pay attention. Okay, uh, find more stuff to research. What was I going to do? Rats. Right. Rats and...' He trailed off even mentally, but walked, almost on autopilot, and remembered upon seeing the frogs. 'Mosquito eggs! I think that's what that film was. Maybe a few other things too. That's what I need! My phone. I need some music.'

He looked around for the mosquito eggs in the Storage room, but didn't find any. 'Oh duh, not like the zombie could pick it up. Right? Probably still in the other room. Hopefully no one stepped on it. Actually would it even matter? I'm pretty sure people step in mosquito water a lot and it doesn't matter.'

Before going into the cave mouth, he tagged some things to go into the queue. In the cave mouth, he tagged a few other things, then turned to finish what he had started and almost completed. He looked at the thwomp. 'You know, you should move out here. Like, watch people and not let them in the Storage room. Plus I'm pretty sure I'm going to need that space soon.'

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Deciding to move the thwomp's location was surprisingly as easy as thinking it. Instead of it being inside the Storage room just beyond the dirt doorway and losing the ability to see what was going on in the cave mouth, it was in the cave mouth room, and floating up would allow it to keep view of the room it was in, though it couldn't go up as far.

'Okay what's in the-', before he could finish thinking the question, a message dinged.

[Research completed: Coal Forge]

[Research begun: Moldy Pew]

'Nice. What's the queue look like now?'

[ Resource: Moldy Pew. Time remaining: 4 hours 59 minutes 55 seconds

Special Construction: Rat's Nest. Time remaining: 2 hours

Resource: Smartphone. Time remaining: 1 hour

Resource: Mosquito. Time remaining: 4 hours

Resource: Mosquito Eggs. Time remaining: 1 hour

Special Construction: Exit Door. Time remaining: 10 hours

Construction: Door. Time remaining: 1 hour

Construction: Abandoned Campfire. Time remaining: 5 hours ]

'Most of that stuff is just gonna breeze- wait, why is the exit door so ridiculous? You know what, I'll deal with it later.' It only took him a moment to glance again. 'The phone is gonna take like no time? Seriously?! Thanks!'

------------- Plainsheart Holding -------------

Leldro stood up, and flounced to the wooden wall's cutout window. "You know I didn't do anything wrong! Dungeons are monster nests and have to be destroyed! You've all fallen under its influence! Hear me and repent!"

The guard that had been walking by didn't receive the epiphany that Leldro had apparently envisioned. "I'm not the one you have to convince, acolyte." The guard put his feet up on the desk in front of him, lazily watching the door in case someone actually needed him for something, or someone with authority entered.

"Do you want another war on your hands?" Leldro's question was meant to be rhetorical.

"You mean a war that your city caused and roped us into? No. We don't have the manpower for it anymore."

"Then let me out! The dungeon has to die!"

"Quiet down in there! People are trying to sleep."

------------- Dungeon Entrance -------------

It was late enough at night that the sounds of various nocturnal creatures began to play. Most of them were in the distance, but some nearby. The keen eyes of the rogue scanned for any of the noisy insects from going into the cave entrance.

"So you thought this was an invitation to the dungeon?", Captain Sylde asked.

"I just said that because I was bored."

"I figured. In truth, what do you think it's doing? We'll need to give another report soon."

"I don't know. I'm interested in what we saw moving in that room the monster blocked us from seeing. If we could figure out what that was, it might give us some clues."

"I wouldn't mind doing an inspection in the morning. If we go early enough, I only have to miss an hour of sleep."

Branch thought of saying something, but held his tongue. "Then let's see if the room is cleared, shall we?"

------------- Dungeon Frog Room -------------

He stood on the ledge, looking at the frogs. After the spawner was activated, he hadn't paid any attention to it. But now with a half dozen or so frogs swimming around in the mud or resting on the ledges, he considered them worth his time. He got closer to the egg patch, and watched. The different eggs had things in them that moved, almost, but not quite tadpoles.

One of the eggs burst, and as the creature began to emerge from its egg, it instantly lost its tail and grew limbs. It was born an adult. 'No tadpoles?' He let his mind drift as he watched the hole where the egg had been fill in by one of the other eggs splitting in half and replacing the empty space, followed by both eggs reaching the same size as the others. 'So, what? I didn't find any tadpoles so I can't have any? What's that mean for the termites?'