Chapter One-Hundred Sixty-Six


    Fluffles and Poe seem to have the tour well in wing? Yah, they both have wings, that counts. With them focusing on the tour, I focus on working theva tubes. At the moment, things are at a decent baseline. The interesting fiery herbs are growing well, my wyrms are wyrming through the rock, fire elementals are being devoured at breakneck speeds, and my cinder and crucible ants are doing their things to make the entire area be a candy store for anyone who works with metals.


    My tunnelbore ants are carving out various rooms, too, and I start nning out the extra routes and turns I want them to create for thebyrinth. The hedge maze was pretty simple to make, since its really only in two dimensions. Thisbyrinth, though, I want to be fully three dimensional. I might even be able to have Nova and the wyrms asionally block off certain routes like Tiny does in the hedge maze.


    And I cant forget the traps. Ive done that enough already. I aim to make up for lost time with thevabyrinth. I hope to make use of all the main categories of trap that I have ess to: mechanical, alchemical, and magical.


    The mechanical traps are mostly standard fare: pitfalls, crushing walls, rolling boulders, falling cages and so on, things that can be aplished with good old physical force. Ill probably see if Coda can help with them to give a discount, but I think most of his attention will be on the lighthouse. Im not hurting for mana, so I dont mind if he works on that instead. Im nning to use these traps to make thebyrinth really live up to its name.


    Pitfalls cannd people in different sections, though I might need to upgrade the slime spawner and keep some stationed underneath those particr traps. I dont need a crushing wall, but moving walls can change theyout, and I could even make sections of floor flip up to be walls and mess with people like that. Id like to get a surprise express elevator trap going, too, but theyre incredibly expensive for ones that would be safe.


    Air jets are an interesting way to move people up, but I dont like them for safety. Too easy for someone to get hit off-center and just cartwheel into a ceiling. Oh, I could do abo trap to lift people. Combine a cage with a winch system, and I should be able to move people upwards as well as downward with minimal danger. Well, physical danger. Parties are going to be split and people will be in great danger of being lost. Ill probably have either Jello or Fluffles patrolling to remove people who are defeated by thebyrinth.


    And thats just for the ones who can still walk around. The magical and alchemical traps are going to be the real way people lose, I expect. Both types focus on various debilitating effects, they just deliver them differently. Most alchemical traps have mechanical triggers, while the magical traps are well, you get the idea.


    I pick out a lot of things like slows, blinds, deafening, numbing, immobilizing, and more. Even though I dont ce them just yet, I check in on Thing and Queen and see them both excitedly working in theirbs to prepare what theyll need. Thing has several books out on his research table as he makes notes for what specific rune arrays he wants to use for the traps, and Queen has her workers swarming her notes as she also prepares and organizes.


    I think itll be good to give them both a big project like this. Its been a while since I had anything specific for them to do, and it looks like theyre both eager to put their individual research to the test for this. They both do great work, so Im not worried at all for how thebyrinth will turn out.


    I even upgrade the anthill to get some more tunnelbores, as Im pretty sure Im going to need a lot of digging to make this work how I envision it. I resist maxing out the hill just yet, not wanting to adjust to the final variety of ant right now. Theres a lot going to be happening in the tubes, so I should wait until the dust settles a bit before maxing out the hill, let alone assigning the enve.


    Speaking of enves, my current ones are being busy little ants, too. The ratkin are happily ying with the new metals, and seeing the efficiencies the new materials give their processing. The limestone flux seems to be working like a charm to give them better yields, and using the coke to fuel the furnaces increases their speed. Even more, theyre working with the spiderkin to produce armor and weapons.


    The tarant spiderkin are getting set up with heavy te armor and pronged spears, and Frn has been having them drilling in formation. It looks like they are going to be using their own silkens with the spears, and are more there to be defense than offense, focusing on being big tough targets and ensnaring foes in thes.


    The smaller, jumping spiderkin are going to be more of the assault troops, or basic infantry? Theyre going to be doing damage, darting around. Vernew has her hunters training with razor-sharp short spears, and showing them how to put the entire force of a jump behind the point. It looks like theyll be carrying many spears each, as that kind of stab attack can easily get them stuck.


    While most of my ratkin arent very martial, they dont intend to let my spiderkin have all the glory when we inevitably have toe to blows with that dungeon from the depths. While the spiders are very good in melee, my rats seem to prefer ranged attacks.


    Throwing knives are popr enough to start bing a sport among my ratkin. It looks a lot like darts, but the target isrger and it ys differently. Instead of just trying to get to 301 points, yers call their shot. If they make it, they get points. If they miss, they lose points equal to the number they hit. Big numbers are grouped together, so theres a lot of risk and reward built in.


    Unfortunately, throwing knives are not too effective in big battles. Some of the ratkin are sneaky enough to be able to keep the daggers in their hands and slip in to sh at the training dummies, but I think most of the ones intending to participate on the front lines are going to be archers.


    Archery isnt as popr as knives, but the range and power behind them already makes them the preferred weapon for the ratkin hunters. At the moment, theyre using the ssic bow design, and Im wondering if I can share any of the more interesting designs from history.


    Like the I think its a Japanese bow thats taller than the archer, so it has an asymmetrical design. While they look cool, Im not so sure theyll be useful in the caves. Recurves would probably be more useful, but are a bit moreplicated to design. The bow needs to curve forward near the ends, giving more bow to bend for power, but in apact space. The problem is, if you dont get the curves just right, the whole thing can shatter from the forces put on it.


    While Im pretty sure we can manage to get it right, theres another option: thepound bow. With pulleys, it gives the archer mechanical advantage, letting them use stiffer and stronger arms for the bow. Even better, with the proper shape for the cams of the pulley, holding a shot while aiming is a lot easier, too, as they almost lock in ce and help handle some of the tension.


    Im going to need to make one for Yvonne, too. She does great work with her recurve bow, so I can only imagine what shed manage with apound. I might be able to do something special for the jumping spiders, too.


    Watching them practice, their spears sometimes get stuck in the training targets, which is part of their training: to recognize when its stuck and abandon it for a fresh spear from what is basically a spear quiver on their back. The problem is that they can only carry so many spears because of both the weight and the simple size of even a short spear. It gives me two ideas, but I only start scribbling designs for the simpler one. The spears get stuck because of the wide barbed head of the spears. While that design is great for ensuring a kill when hunting, its not great for quickly removing. While they could just change to a more leaf-shaped de for easy in and out, Im not certain even that will guarantee they won''t need some spares.


    So my idea is to make the heads easily-swappable. Theres a ton of different designs for quick-change heads to draw inspiration from: from simple snug fitting to more mechanical locking systems, theres a lot of options. I want something that actually locks in, though. I dont trust a snug fit to stay in ce every time until the wielder wants the head free.


    I think I can manage something for that. Lots of folding furniture uses the little rounded sping rods that click into position when in use, and then you just need to press them down to be able to fold it back up. Something like that could work, especially if I use the shape of the barb to help! Well, maybe. More moving parts in a weapon is usually a bad thing, and this design would need to let the head basically unfold and pop off the haft when it gets stuck.


    Well, thats what testing is for! My ratlings arent as good at forging as my ratkin are but I know someone who has ess to a better metal crafter than I do. While Im pretty sure Ill need to wait for Teemo to get back to be able to try to trade for a metalworks, I dont mind sharing until I get my own. Besides, I think Legs will like having a challenge.