Chapter Four-Hundred Fourteen (Patreon)

I’m feeling energized after the party, and while most of the town sleeps, I try to organize myself.  I’m happy with my plans so far, I just need to remember to actually do the planning in the quiet times like this, where people are asleep, instead of secluding myself away from everyone when they’re awake.

My scions are more than happy to get to work on their projects, returning to testing and experimenting, pushing the boundaries of what can be done.  There’s a few priests and priestesses burning the midnight oil around the enclaves and in the cathedral, and their presence reminds me of a project for Doppler: training the poppers to speak for the other scions.

Luckily, he’s a lot more focused than I am, and is already in the Lecture Hall, teaching them how to properly synthesize voices.  They sound more like opinionated modems right now, but I’m sure they’ll get it eventually.  So, with my own house looking in good order, I think now would be a good time to visit Hullbreak and ask him about dinosaurs.

Teemo’s already ahead of me with a dose of water breathing and darkvision from Queen, and me just thinking about going is all he needs to head through a shortcut to the sea.  Eager to do some swimming?

“More like I’m looking forward to seeing more of those dinosaurs.  I could see them when you were making them, but I want to see them actually moving around.”

That’s fair.  You think Hullbreak will want them?

Teemo snorts.  “I think everyone who can afford them will want them.  Violet is already sending Nose around to look for good directions to expand into to get her own dino spawner.”

I smile to myself at the idea of her looking for a good place to put some scaly behemoths.  Maybe she can manage an expansion to the surface or to a connected cave and get the flying ones?  She’s so used to underground, I think the sky would blow her mind.

Teemo laughs at the idea.  “She’d definitely love it, yeah.  I’ll suggest that to Nose and Onyx, see if they can’t coordinate with Leo and Poe to find her a way to the surface that’s outside of town.  We wouldn’t want pterodactyls bursting out of someone’s basement at all hours of the day.”

I could be more opposed to the idea, but yeah, you’re probably right.  You don’t think Hullbreak will want fliers for himself, though?

Teemo shrugs as he pops back into normal reality near the cliffs that house Hullbreak’s latest expansion.  Mechanically, he’s built a classic water temple, even though it looks more like a secret pirate’s treasure cave.  I’m pretty impressed with what he’s managed, and with the aqua affinity potions available in town, the tedium associated with such puzzles should be lessened.  It’ll even smoothly transform the challenge from a puzzle into a combat gauntlet if people decide to swim instead of think.  I should try to figure out something similar for one of my own areas…

It’ll be difficult to figure out something without just stealing Hullbreaks whole water aesthetic, but I can probably come up with something eventually.  For now, Teemo hops from the cliff and shortcuts his way to the waves below, slipping into the water with hardly a ripple.  He’s quickly met with the large toothy smile of the First Mate, the large great white and Voice of Hullbreak, appreciating his entrance.

“Hello Teemo, Admiral.  I take it you’re not just here for a midnight swim?”

Teemo shakes his head.  “Nope.  Hullbreak’s aware of the dinos, yeah?”

The First Mate bobs up and down in a nod.  “Aware and intrigued.”

“Has he had a chance to look through the options?”

“Not as much as he’d prefer, but the aquatic versions certainly have his attention.”

“Do you guys have room for them?” asks Teemo as he swims up to grab her dorsal fin, letting her carry them to a better place to discuss.

“Not as such, but he has an idea he wanted to run by you first, Admiral.”

“Yeah?  What’s he thinking?”

“He’s seen your efforts at scouting the surface and the air, and he feels he could do the same with the deeps,” she explains as she swims through the dense kelp forest that hides the more proper water temple that houses Hullbreak's tetrahedronal core.  “He likes the ones that look like a sort of water dragon.  Powerful fins, sharp teeth, size enough to handle the sorts of things that live deep enough that the only lights are lures from predators.”

Teemo nods for me at that train of thought.  “They’re definitely the sort of things that can survive an ambush in the dark.  So they’ll be more out on expeditions than hanging around to be encounters?”

“Yes, like your birds and wolves,” confirms the great white shark as the temple comes into view, Hullbreak's merfolk dwellers idly swimming or floating guard at the entrances.  They salute her as she passes, an arm level against their chest, before returning to their vigilant watch.

“How’s the price then?”

She winces as she enters the temple.  “Steep.  He can afford it, and it even looks like the upkeep should be manageable without needing to dip into the ally pool, but…”

Teemo nods as the First Mate navigates the corridors.  “He’s still used to scraping and saving every last drop of mana.”

She bobs in a nod.  “Yes.  It’s weird for me to get used to as well… actually having a steady stream of mana.  We were living in a drought without even realizing it.”

“And now you have a river flowing to you and are trying to adjust.  Oh, good work with the cliffs, by the way.  Boss really likes the versatility of it being both combat and puzzle, depending on how the delvers take it.  Good use of resources.  That’ll get you even more mana as the delvers get more used to it.”

She doesn’t answer until they get into the central chamber with Hullbreak’s core in a pedestal in the center, one point down and resting inside it.  It’s a good five feet along each edge now, looking a lot healthier than when I first saw it.

“The Captain’s glad you approve, Admiral.  He tried very hard to follow your design philosophies with it.”

“Boss says he nailed it.  So, about the dino spawner.  Scouting the deeps is a great idea, especially if the Betrayer might come from that direction.  You should definitely use some ally mana to buy it, but we also might be able to get a discount, but Boss isn’t quite sure if it’ll work.”  Teemo releases the fin he’s been holding onto, letting him swim around to look the shark in the eyes and have a proper discussion.

“What’s his idea?”

“To try the same thing he did with the Southwood, but this time he’ll be the one selling.  We can definitely get a compy swarm to trade to you, but what we don’t know is if they’ll be able to transform.  Leo, Goldilocks, and Zorro didn’t really change any, but Boss also didn’t need them to.  But there’s the risk of trading you some compies and them staying compies.”

I can feel Hullbreak mulling that over, even as the First Mate swims in lazy circles as she considers as well.  “How much will it be to buy a swarm?”

“There’s a minimum that seems to be pretty well enforced, but from what Boss can tell, still a long ways off from the cost of buying a spawner outright.  Though you’ll have to make the swarm a scion, too, and have that upkeep,” my Voice reminds them.

The First Mate chuckles, mirroring Hullbreaks amusement.  “Before we met, that would have been an impossible cost.  But now, with learning how to guide without always ordering… it hardly seems like a cost at all.”  Hullbreak makes his decision, and the great white scion nods to herself before speaking it.

“He wants to try the trade.  He is confident he can reassign the spawner to an appropriate type if he needs to.  If it works, he might be able to trade some of his own denizens, if Violet or Southwood are interested.  He says some of the non-water affinity shark types are intriguing, and learning if they’re available to the others would be worth having to pay more to respecialize a compy spawner.”

Teemo nods to that for me.  “Then I’ll be back soon with a volunteer!”  He waves before vanishing into a shortcut, making a stop at the beach before coming back home.  Not that Hullbreak or I would mind a more direct path, but it’s safer for the both of us to not have something like that open.  In only a few more short paths, he’s sitting on Sue’s snout, who looks amused by him using her as a perch as he looks over the veritable sea of excited compies.

They’re not excited to see him, or to volunteer to join Hullbreak.  They’re just kinda excited in general, like a gaggle of kids after getting into a bunch of cookies.  “Alright, I need a volunteer!  Sue has told you about it, but just to remind you: we need someone to trade to Hullbreak.  You’ll be dealing with lots of water and with exploring even more water.  You may or may not still be compies by the time he’s done with you, so keep that in mind!”

Most of the compies act like they don’t even hear him, most of them still running around, but one swarm eagerly runs up before Sue and makes compy noises at Teemo.  I don’t even need him to translate to know they’re asking a bunch of questions without giving him a chance to answer.  Sue snorts, knocking them down and giving Teemo a moment to try to figure out how to answer them.

“No you can’t come back.  Yes, you’ll probably be out on expeditions a lot, or organizing them.  I dunno if Hullbreak is looking for something like with Poe or like Violet and Nose.  Fish are tasty, I guess?  Swimming is pretty fun, yeah.  Uh… you’ll probably get to play with the merfolk?  I can’t imagine Hullbreak expressly forbidding it, at least.  As long as you play nice, that is.”

They scramble to their feet, quiet for the first time as he answers them, before making another racket and jumping around in excitement.  Teemo shakes his head with a chuckle.  “I dunno how Sue handles them.  They’re on board with going overboard to Hullbreak.”

Alrighty, good luck herding these cats all the way to him.

My Voice smirks at me.  “That’ll be easy.  Watch.”  He prepares a shortcut as he raises a hand, the theatrics getting the attention of the swarm.  Then he reaches forward, skipping the long distance to let him boop the snoot of one of the compies.  “Tag!  You’re it!” he announces before dashing through the shortcut.

The swarm is stunned for a heartbeat, before springing into action.  They swiftly climb onto Sue’s snout and chase through the shortcut, following Teemo’s laughter all the way back to the ocean, where the First Mate is waiting.  Teemo leaps onto her back and proudly declares “Safe!” much to the chagrin of the chasing compies.

The First Mate, for her part, chuckles in amusement before speaking.  “At least they’re energetic.  Come, little ones.  Onto my back so we can get back to the Captain, and see how you handle this.”

The prospect of riding the First mate has the compies excited once more, and they eagerly swarm up onto her back and head, yapping and squeaking as they look at the waves.  Their energy goes still as they cross the threshold into Hullbreak’s territory, the compies recognizing that now is the time for something important.  I send Hullbreak the offer, and after a few heartbeats, he accepts.

It feels weird, letting the little swarm go.  Is this what it’s like, watching a kid go off to college?  There’s a sense of loss and gain that’s more than just losing a denizen and gaining a bunch of mana, but… I’m happy for the little guys.  I think this’ll be good for them.

It’s also definitely transformative for them, and I watch their little arms and legs shift and flow like clay, changing into flippers while their tails get much beefier.  They start tumbling off the First Mate with excited trills, splashing into the water to dart around the large shark, and I get to see what they’ve become: a swarm of micropleasiosaurs.  I also feel the name settle on them, followed by the spawner forming near the edge of Hullbreak’s sea border.  The First Mate smiles at the excited swarm before giving a whistle, prompting them to school in front of her in a loose semblance of order.

“Lookout, your first duty to the Captain is to organize expeditions out to the deep sea.  Go yourself or organize them to go on their own, either way, the Captain and the Admiral need information.”

They take off like a shot once she finishes, leaving her and Teemo chuckling at the display.  Meanwhile, I’m fighting a grin as I put the cost of the trade into the ally pool.  Teemo catches what I’m doing and grins as well, elbowing the First Mate to get her attention.

“Make sure Hullbreak gets his money back out of the pool, yeah?”

We both laugh as he slips into a shortcut, appreciating the look of a shocked shark as we get around the minimum cost for a trade.  Good luck patching that one, Order.  I try not to break things too much, but how can I resist being able to actually gift something to a friend?