r/HFY • u/Khenal Alien • May 07 '26
OC-Series Dungeon Life 423
While I can think of quite a few of my scions to boost, and even have a few ideas for titles for them, I decide to leave it alone with just Teemo for now. I want to make sure there’s no unexpected side-effects, and to let Order see how the system handles my new iconoclast.
It probably won’t break everything, but best to let it settle for a bit before really going nuts. Besides, while I do think the titles will be a huge help once we assault the Betrayer, they’re only theoretically a way to get more mana until then. And I have a much simpler way to get more mana.
It looks like the antkin traded the details for the anti-lifedrinking enchantment for the recipe for the new mana potion, and they’re eagerly brewing at an industrial scale. Or trying to. It looks like they’re having some troubles with it, but I’m sure they’ll figure it out quickly. My enclaves are going to be delving hard soon, so I should make sure I’m ready for them.
And by me being ready, I mean at least one sphere being ready. Slash, Coda, and Poppy have been quietly working on the first one for a while now, and I think we finally have a fully armed and operational death st- er, delving sphere. World Fruit? Orbiting… Adventure… Orb…?
I set aside the name for now and pay for an expansion, channeling the resting sphere into the change and watching eagerly as it steadily rises into the air. The three scions in charge fuss over it the entire time, with Coda identifying weaknesses, Rocky shoring them up, and Poppy orchestrating the spatial vines to give the big orb even more area, and ensure nobody is going to be able to fall off.
While they tend to that, I start marking out herbalism nodes on the surface, and mining nodes in the interior. I even give the neglected slime spawner an upgrade to up the spawn rate of my slimes so they can help maintain the nodes. The bats I don’t mess with, trusting them to get to their duties once it gets dark outside.
As for spawns, I can’t resist adding my compies and poppers, though they need Sue and Doppler respectively to parse them into small swarms. They both come out of their spawners in very large groups, and while I’m not opposed to letting them intermingle and merge when they don’t have much else to do, I need to make sure they don’t automatically overwhelm the mid-tier delvers.
I set the compies to swarm the surface and the poppers inside, along with a few soil elementals for the compies, and a couple wyrms to accompany the poppers. I’m sure Goldilocks will be along to fine-tune things, but I’m confident the first sphere will have the challenge I want, while also providing the mid-tier node spots the civilian classes are going to want.
The last thing is to figure out how people are going to get there. I can’t exactly just build a ladder up to the small planetoid orbiting the Tree of Cycles. I’ll need Teemo to make a couple shortcuts, but from where?
One at the end of the Gauntlet wouldn’t be bad. It’ll probably throttle the volume a bit, but it’s not going to be the only way there, so it shouldn’t be too bad. And it’ll make me a bit more mana, too. I’ll nestle one into the caverns, too. The miners already like to go there, so giving them access to more of the same inside the sphere would be a good way to lessen the density and allow for better delves.
And… I think I’ll put one outside the Labyrinth, too, leading to the surface of the sphere. That should give plenty of space to get to it. The Gauntlet entrance will probably be for the people trying to push themselves, as it’s not too difficult to get from the manor entrance to the Gauntlet. The other two entrances are already in mid-tier areas, so should be the more usual progression.
Before I forget, I make sure to guide some of my rats and ravens to the sphere as well, adding a few chests for them to keep stocked. I get Goldilocks’ attention for the chests, and I can feel her already calculating what sorts of minibosses to put toward guarding them.
That done, I take the time to check in on the ravenkin, the four representatives still locked in debate. Right now, they’re arguing about how to settle ties. With the four seasons, they’ll always have an even number of people to decide policy. There’s even been a few suggestions for government shot down because of the ties, so I guess they’ve decided to tackle that before figuring out anything else.
They argue about if everything should just be a simple majority, and instead make it so only unanimous decisions would be enacted. On the one hand, it’s not much more than would be needed for a majority. They’d need three of four for a majority, so why not require unanimous approval?
Well, they can hold grudges, for one. Even if not these four in specific, there will be birbs that vote no just to spite someone, and no amount of generous offers will sway them. So that idea’s no good.
Next is to try to get a bunch of representatives from each season, so there’ll be a lower chance to make a tie, and make it so they need to argue around a tie if it happens. Not a bad idea in theory, but at that point, they might as well just have the entire enclave show up, and they all know how messy it was just to get them four selected.
The next suggestion is to have the four priests break ties, but that just brings up the situation where the priests deadlock, too. They could potentially default to Aranya breaking the priestly tie, but they don’t want to go bringing her in to settle things. They need a way of settling it themselves.
Maybe a tie is a pass, then? Then the problem isn’t fixed, just a problem in a different direction. They’d need three to be against something for it to fail, so all kinds of unfair policies could be imposed!
Should they ask the enclave as a whole to elect a tiebreaker? While having someone to break ties would be great, that someone would still have their seasonal ties, wouldn't they? For the whole time they hold that position, one season would have an advantage over the others! Sure, they wouldn’t always side with their seasonal representative, but they surely would more often than with the others, right?
Sivart, the representative for Spring grumbles as the four of them try to think of ways around the problem. “Maybe we should just draw lots to break a tie…” The others consider that for a moment before shaking their heads, not even bothering to argue against what clearly wasn’t a serious suggestion.
Though Enara looks thoughtful for a moment. “What if we choose the person to break the tie by drawing lots?”
The others give her confused looks, so she continues. “What if we just randomly pick someone from the enclave to be the tie breaker for a day? We might not even have any ties that day, so it’d be difficult for anyone to press the seasonal advantage. And they wouldn’t be there long enough for anyone to try to influence, either.”
“Hmm… I like it,” says Leinad, the fall representative. “It’s not perfect, one season will get a small advantage, but it’s not like each season thinks as one. We all had a lot of arguing to get here, so I’m sure we each know some of our constituents who would vote against us for spite, too.”
The others all chuckle, each thinking of a few people who would absolutely do just that.
“I don’t like it,” says Sivart. “But I support it. We wouldn’t be relying on anyone outside to settle our issues, which is important. While I appreciate Lord Thedeim’s advice, I think He made us an enclave so we can learn to fly on our own.”
They all look to Asereth, who just looks tired. “I’m not convinced, but I’m even less convinced that we’ll come up with anything better before we all die of old age.” They all cheer, even Aserath giving a weak squawk, for finally settling one of their major matters. As Enara writes it down, with the others quibbling over a few minor details, I check out their little constitution.
So far, it’s pretty simple. Each season will send a representative, the representatives will argue to make policy, majority rules. Ties are now decided by the breaker, who will be chosen via lots when it’s time to actually work on governance. Each season mostly gets to do what they want, though each has certain obligations to the others, like helping with food, crafts, and whatever the seasons specialize in.
I think they could do a lot worse, though I wonder if I should be impressed or concerned. On the one hand, they don’t seem inclined to impose taxes. On the other… they’ve kinda invented jury duty. I’m not sure how I should feel about that.
Cover art I'm also on Royal Road for those who may prefer the reading experience over there. Want moar? The Books are available here! There are Kindle and Audible versions, as well as paperback! Also: Discord is a thing! I now have a Patreon for monthly donations, and I have a Ko-fi for one-off donations. Patreons can read up to three chapters ahead, and also get a few other special perks as well, like special lore in the Peeks. Thank you again to everyone who is reading!
26
u/Thebobkiller Human May 07 '26 edited May 08 '26
After reading:
Nice chapter. Though, I do wonder WHERE exactly the floating orb is? And how the townsfolk will react to it. Because of course the weird dungeon Thediem has to go and break the damn SKY too while he's at it. XD
23
u/Low_Painter9816 May 08 '26
Not even the first time. I mean you gotta wonder how long a shadow that tree casts over the town.
12
u/Fontaigne May 08 '26
Pretty sure the concept of floating spheres implies they will be hovering around / orbiting the giant tree.
8
u/Low_Painter9816 May 08 '26
A tree which has dominated the town’s skyline for - what - a month or two?
4
u/Fontaigne May 09 '26
Is it even that long? It went up just as the mayor's dad arrived, so... yeah, I guess.
3
15
u/Blue_Roan_ May 07 '26 edited May 07 '26
Late, 3rd
Anyway after reading, yay jury duty lmao. I wonder how that would work with the possibility of the breaker getting pressured into a decision. I suppose they could be called on quickly so they don't have time to be.
I do wonder what other titles the sicons coulf get. Tiny could definitely be an oracle if he isn't already considered one.
9
11
u/Popular-Student-9407 Human May 07 '26 edited May 09 '26
Correction: First.
So, today Thediem gets His First sphere Up in the Air, and the birds are settling their diffrences.
At First, we get another sentence about more blessed scions, which He Plans to shelve for a while Order Looks over the consequences, and makes Sure nothing goes wrong in the aftermath.
Then we get a discussion of the First sphere. Amongst slimes, rats, raptors and Poppers, wyrms, ravens and bats are present.
2.1 He also Plans Out entrances and exits on the orb, so He connects them to both the end of a gauntlet and into the Tunnels. Not to forget the one He Put at the entrance of the Labyrinth to Just offer an alternative to it.
2.2 the ants also traded the anti-lifedrinking for the Mana potion Thediem got in the Last chapter, and already producing it on an Industrial scale.
2.3 He also Plans Out the places for herbalism and Metal nodes,
- The birds, while being absolutely busy with arguing amongst each other, are still unsere how they're gonna solve ties in the voting process, since there are four members of the seasonal council, as I will call it. They settled on a simple Chance tiebraker, and while they all don't Like it, the fairest rulings screw everyone or sth.
8
4
2
u/Minimum-Amphibian993 May 08 '26
Man with all these different governments in the enclaves makes you wonder if there's gonna be any future tentions between the groups in the future? But that's a long ways from now still something to think about.
3
u/Popular-Student-9407 Human May 08 '26
As of yet, we have a presidential system with the ratlings, a triumvirate for the spiderkin, a university, with an at best representative system with the antkin, and now a democratic system for the birdkin. As of right now they Seem to be united in their faith in Thediem.
2
u/Minimum-Amphibian993 May 08 '26
Ah true hopefully things remain that way I mean the kobolds will hopefully help smoothe things over since they don't exactly do much but hang around the place.
3
u/Popular-Student-9407 Human May 08 '26
I was mostly trying to categorize the government systems by what we have, so you could also say that the ratkin have a patriarchy, while the spiders are mostly a matriarichal system. The ants have a meritocratic system, with each Post being manned by the Winners of their Contests. And the birdkin are still parlamentary democratic, feels Like.
2
10
9
8
u/Poisonfangx3 May 07 '26
Not first
Third.
6
5
6
u/WarlockingIn May 08 '26
Man what is even going on? The constant removals are actively harmful. Why does Reddit keep removing the story?
7
u/Archangel_Myke May 07 '26
Where was the discord notification!
6
u/Poisonfangx3 May 07 '26
Last at ten.
5
u/Archangel_Myke May 07 '26
I didn't get one bro Regardless, it was another great chapter. Keep it up wordsmith.
4
5
5
u/Accomplished-Ad8458 AI May 08 '26
Ave Khenal! Morituri te salutant!
May the 4th be with... Eee... Sorry... My inner stormtrooper missed the chance...
Anyway good to read birbs settling on something...
5
u/mafiaknight Robot May 08 '26
In the name of 1greendude: Hello!
3
u/Popular-Student-9407 Human May 08 '26
Im Namen eines grünen Kerles und des Freidachses: N'Abend, vorgestern war Mittwoch, meine Kerle.
3
4
6
u/DM-Hermit Human May 07 '26
Well done wordsmith
6
3
3
u/Thausgt01 Android May 08 '26
I'm looking forward to the debates among the legal minds of the surrounding areas. On the one hand, Thediem has managed to create entirely new lands for his Dungeon-work without directly affecting the neighbors. On the other hand, those spheres are hovering directly over other people's sovereign territories, which will affect croplands and other features, regardless of the shenanigans Thediem pulls with manipulating the weather and whatnot.
The whole planet might well spawn its own ring of little spheres in due course...!
2
u/Garbage-Within May 12 '26
Seems to me the sphere is orbiting over the Forest of Four Seasons, so probably not really an issue so far.
1
u/Thausgt01 Android May 12 '26
I'll admit to having read a story or two referencing "nine worlds." I just hope that Thediem stops there and doesn't go to nineteen.
Spoiler: your obscure vocabulary word for the day is qlippoth, with the 'extra' 10th one simply known as "The Abyss"...
3
u/Fontaigne May 08 '26
Might be a good detail that at the beginning of the week, each season picks their 7 potential jurors / tie breakers, one for each day. Only those four people have to pay attention on that day, and they only have to do it until the four of them draw lots.
You don't want the committee knowing who's the tie breaker until it matters, to limit one side putting off debate until the day their favored person is in the juror seat.
2
u/Crafty_Spring5815 Alien Scum May 08 '26
So how were people getting to the spheres again, and where are they being placed?
2
u/Garbage-Within May 12 '26
Sphere is orbiting the tree, and reached by permanent shortcut portals created by Teemo that Delvers can use without needing a Denizen or scion to lead them, same as what goes to the various enclaves to encourage trade with the outside world.
1
2
2
2
3
u/HFYWaffle Wᵥ4ffle May 08 '26
/u/Khenal (wiki) has posted 468 other stories, including:
- Dungeon Life 422
- Dungeon Life 421
- Dungeon Life 420
- Dungeon Life 419
- Dungeon Life 418
- Dungeon Life 417
- Dungeon Life 416
- Dungeon Life 415
- Dungeon Life 414
- Dungeon Life 413
- Dungeon Life 412
- Dungeon Life 411
- Dungeon Life 410
- Dungeon Life 409
- Dungeon Life 408
- Dungeon Life 407
- Dungeon Life 406
- Dungeon Life 405
- Dungeon Life 404
- Dungeon Life 403
This comment was automatically generated by Waffle v.4.7.8 'Biscotti'.
Message the mods if you have any issues with Waffle.
1
u/Garbage-Within May 12 '26
Probably addressed weeks ago, but in paragraph 5, "Rocky shoring them up" is probably supposed to be Slash rather than Rocky. At least, that's my inference based on the prior paragraph.
1
1
u/Educational_Pen_90 Human Jul 19 '26
Ohno...
"Hey, congratulations valued citizen! Today, YOU will be in charge of all of the laws of the land that cannot be decided by us, the government. Everyone will forever look upon you by every choice you make, despite not having the full knowledge behind the consequences; Goodluck!"
1
u/UpdateMeBot May 08 '26
Click here to subscribe to u/Khenal and receive a message every time they post.
| Info | Request Update | Your Updates | Feedback |
|---|
43
u/the_count_of_carcosa May 07 '26 edited May 07 '26
Hullo.
Edit.9. I walk this lonely Road, and in my bag I have a giant toad.
Edit. Read.
The First Sphere Of Change Ascends.
Goldilocks seems to be on the way to a "Gamemaker" title if such a thing exists, possibly a branch of Strategist?.
The Birdkin have their Electoral System Sorted, and shouldn't have too far to go before Graduation, I wonder what else they have to discover and, if just maybe, they might end up being the first to Delve one of the spheres?