49. Doors NOW
The tunnel into the larder sits, dark and foreboding, as you pace in the moonlit hallway.
“Sapphire, would you be able to find Mercy please? And then Feathers?” you ask, keeping most of your attention on the skittering noises from within.
“Sir.” is her only response as she vanishes.
The skin on your back seems insistent that it's not safe over there and is trying its best to crawl to your front. The skittering noise at the edge of hearing, glistening chitin lurks, just beyond your vision. A foul smell rises in your nostrils, the smell of burning and the unmistakable scent of death aligned magic as you fly, drift over a blasted, infected swathe of forest and come across a great tree, boughs bent with rot-
You shake yourself back to the present as heavy footfalls approach. “Hey Red, The little one said you – Oh. Oh HELL no!”
You half turn, keeping an eye on the darkness.
“Hello Mercy. How are you tonight?” you ask with false cheer.
“What did you DO!?”
“It's not as bad as it sounds. No plague, I swear. Just... large, potentially aggressive bugs. I've already sent for some doors. But I would really appreciate it if you could watch the other tunnel?”
Mercy stares at you in silence for some time before shaking her head and walking away towards the kitchen. “Next time you pass out and then summon a phobia, target someone else! Amanda is afraid of trolls, summon THOSE next time!”
“Thank you!” You call after her. You get no response.
It's another few minutes until a rather bedraggled looking Feathers stomps up to you, accompanied by the thump-smack of her wooden leg. She looks you over carefully for a few seconds, then nods to herself. “All OK? After you sleep?”
“Yes, thank you.”
“Good.” she says, and smacks you in the chest. Not as hard as she could do, but enough to sting. “No do it again.”
You chuckle softly. “Got it.”
Apparently satisfied, she lets out an exaggerated yawn. “What want? Could have told me you awake in morning.”
“About that. I need the two doors in the workshop to be completed. Now. Would you please go and smack the new goblins around until they do it?”
Feathers' eyes light up with sadistic glee. “Always.”
After a seconds thought, you manipulate the menu until you place an order for a sign next to the new doors. On the one in the entrance hall you write 'Warning. Bugs.' and in the kitchen you write 'Warning. Food.'. Hopefully that will be enough to keep your minions out unnecessarily; and even you aren't cruel enough to send an unsuspecting adventurers into that cave without warning. Although maybe it would just make them think he didn't want them to go that way and draw them in?
After a moment's contemplation you shrug. It's not my job to police the actions of fools.
You turn your mind to more productive things while you keep watch.
Ten wood and five scrap for each reinforced door, and then five wood per sign. That leaves me with fifteen wood and three scrap above what I need to save for the level upgrade...
Browsing your traps menu, you find that most of the options need stone, which you currently lack, or more obscure things. In the end, you decide to just give the kobolds the same treatment you gave the goblins, disgorging the wood in the middle of their village. To follow that up, you nearly half the furs in each, leaving yourself with ten, then split the clay between them too. You have to real need for it at the minute and maybe seeing what they do with it will spark some ideas of your own.
Following that, you scan through your building menu for anything else that might need your attention. It's quite a long list and takes some time for you to find anything. The goblins are goblinhandling the first door into place by the time you spot something.
Treasure room... I needed one of those for something. What was it? You muse, before remembering. The cloak! The cloak of that rouge that nearly- that we killed. The interface said something about not being able to store “Treasure items”.
Initially you wince at the cost, but then think it over. Apart from the stone, you have everything you need. And, while attracting adventurers isn't something you ever thought you'd want it would obviously feed into your fame and new animus scores. You shelve the idea for now, but keep turning it over in the back of your mind. It's tempting but wont matter until you have more stone anyway.
It's not long after that you get the notification that your doors and signs are complete, and you head to bed.
You dream of stinking chitin, and awake unrested, with a worried looking kobold poking you. It's the kobold who kept getting thrown into walls.
“Uh, boss?”
“What?”
“Can you, uh... Can you use your menu thingy to add locks to those doors you put in?”
That gets your attention, and you sit up fast enough that you sway.
“WHA- ugh,” you shake yourself as your menu flashes dozens of notifications in your face. “What's happened?”
“Nothing boss! Nothing bad at least! Those new goblins are scared of Chiefteness Feathers and stayed up all night on the new stuff after she went to bed is all. And um, well boss, morning shift found one of the doors wide open. They tracked it down, giant centipede thing, dead now. It was pretty tasty boss, we saved you a dozen legs. So yeah, all contained, but best avoided if you can boss?”
He hasn't finished speaking before you've used four of your five actual iron on two locks. You get a half dozen keys for free, popping into existence in front of you.
One goes back into your personal inventory, and you send the kobold away with instructions to give the others to Feathers, Sapphire, Mercy and Amanda, and after a few seconds of consideration, the goblin chef.
Only a moment after he leaves, you hear a muffled exclamation from the northernmost wall of the cave. Turning, you see that one of the small tunnels you built as shortcuts is disgorging Sapphire. A very filthy, wide eyed, and cobweb covered Sapphire.
“GIANT SPIDER!” she shouts, spitting web from her mouth. “In the tunnel!” She staggers drunkenly towards you, and you examine her with worry.
Poisoned (Paralysis)
“Thought you ought to know...” she manages to get out, before collapsing to the floor.
Oh bugger. If it's not one thing it's another...
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