The Bee Dungeon

Chapter 378 - Bee-viding the Loot

What few Tower Guards remaining in the Muddy Seabed or lost in the mana storm Fairy Grove quickly decided to surrender. The allied forces took their weapons, patched up their wounds, and then sent them to join the defectors for the time being. A few of Starami’s monsters within the Tower fought to the bitter end or attempted to escape, but these were easily isolated and dealt with.

Between the Fourth of the Seventh’s scouts both high in the sky and hidden in the Underway and the mundane honeybees in the purified area, Belissar was quickly informed that the remaining Tower Guards had elected to retreat. The tunneling nomadic bees also reported that the spiderkin had followed after them, though they were still present in the tunnels near the Tower. The spiderkin also kept some scouts watching the tunnel Starami had dug up to Belissar’s Tower, so Belissar would have to be careful for a while longer. Additionally, some of Starami’s monsters apparently stopped listening to the Tower Guards after his death, these were now spread out in the purified zone and the Underway. Belissar and his allies would have to deal with them in the coming days, but they were no longer organized into an army.

Tower stragglers and spiderkin scouts aside, it was clear that neither group intended to resume the siege anytime soon. The battle was officially over.

And thus began the cleanup. Bees, karnuq, fair folk, and sigmaka worked together to gather the dead, counting their own losses while taking stock of the fallen enemy and the equipment they left behind. Belissar, however, left that all to the bees and the karnuq. As for him, he now gathered with all the leaders of the alliance, as it turned out the end of the battle would require as much negotiation as the start. Belissar never realized it before, but distributing the loot and gains of a battle was apparently quite important, so he had been called into yet another meeting.

All of the signatories had arrived in-person, the only one who sent a representative in their stead was Queen Vanieskon. King Ratuatapi arrived as well with all of his queens and General Rippotis’ liaison was invited as well. For his side, Belissar brought Niobee, the First of the Fifth’s First Daughter, Chief Rohsuak, and the First Spiderkin Queen. He wanted to bring Sehfitis or Hirkolos, but both of his human sworn defenders were busy with the prisoners and stated they trusted his judgement.

The group gathered in a large tent in the nexus door room, all seated around a large table. Belissar brought out refreshments, much to everyone’s delight. After everyone had a taste of the delicious tea and settled into their chairs, Loremaster Anyadre began the proceedings.

“Let us begin with the shade in the room: according to Tower Keeper Belissar’s report, we have taken several thousand prisoners in this battle. Guardsman Fahlaris, does the Conclave of Tower Lords have any norms regarding prisoners we should take into account?”

General Rippotis’ liaison, Guardsman Fahlaris, shook his head.

“You’ve subjugated a rogue Tower Lord and a traitor. By rights, any captured assets are now yours to handle as you please.”

Henilett made a big grin.

“Are you certain, Guardsman Fahlaris? You would not mind were we to treat your fellow humans...however we pleased? You would not object if we were to punish them for this assault?”

The First Spiderkin Queen chose that moment to hiss and clack her fangs.

“Should kill Sorcerer Kings!”

Guardsman Fahlaris hardened his face.

“Those who follow a rogue Tower Lord have turned their back on the Conclave and humanity. Those traitors lost any protection or sympathy the moment they pointed their blades against the general.”

Henilett began to chuckle to herself, but Belissar frowned.

“We’re not going to kill them. Their Tower Lord lied to them for a long time and they surrendered once they realized it.”

Second Queen Berbiya of the sigmaka glanced over at Guardsman Fahlaris.

“Not to mention, we are still allied with half the Conclave, aren’t we? Perhaps it would be best to show some restraint?”

Guardsman Fahlaris gave her a nod.

“Restraint is unnecessary, but the general would appreciate it. We in the Dragon Banner Army do not slaughter those who surrender willingly...though we might make an exception for these traitors...”

King Taranskare of the silver elves took a sip from his cup before speaking.

“Would the Conclave be willing to offer a ransom for their return, then?”

Guardsman Fahlaris blinked.

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“...I had not considered that. I will have to ask the general, to my knowledge we don’t really do that. We’ve...never really had to recover prisoners from anyone outside the Conclave, I’ll try to ask the general about it.”

He narrowed his eyes once more.

“But...these are the guards of a rogue Tower Lord who’s now dead, and whose superiors have gone rogue as well. There isn’t really anyone left who would be responsible for them. The Tower Lord who subjugates a rogue normally appoints a new Tower Lord to take over so... I guess it would be someone you choose who would be responsible for them?”

The table fell silent, with everyone glancing around at each other, holding silent conversations. Forgemaster Ughlarer, who had been dragged out of his smith for this meeting, crossed his arms and frowned.

“I don’t like the idea of bringing humans into the land of the fair.”

Tamosmed, who was sitting next to him, cleared his throat and gave the forgemaster a stern look. Forgemaster Ughlarer grunted.

“I mean...I don’t much like the idea of bringing these humans, who just tried to kill us, into the land of the fair. I don’t think they’ll quietly submit to the Compact.”

Henilett perked up but Nenavann cut her off with a sigh.

“Representative Henilett, please do not suggest that we enslave them via magical contract.”

Henilett kept smiling.

“Enslavement? Why, I would never dream of it, Dungeon Master Nenavann! But a bit of voluntary atonement to demonstrate their sincerity would hardly be unwarranted, now would it?”

King Taranskare shook his head.

“I agree with Forgemaster Ughlarer. No matter how we arrange it, bringing several thousand mortals into the land of the fair would be disruptive. We already have many changes we must address, this may be one too many.”

All the signatories began to glance at Belissar. Belissar glanced over at the sigmaka to see if they had anything to say. First Queen Nyoyanke spoke on their behalf.

“We of the sigmaka would prefer additional material in lieu of any share of the prisoners. We will need to secure the borders of our alliance against the spiderkin threat.”

All eyes turned to Belissar. Belissar, meanwhile, was conferring with his own advisors via Tower message.

“They want me to take care of all the prisoners, right?”

Chief Rohsuak replied.

“Yes, Tower Keeper, they do. They are hoping to get a greater share of the recovered weapons and monster corpses as well.”

Even as they discussed, First Queen Nyoyanke continued.

“Tower Keeper Belissar, you are the most familiar with humans and have already stated your concern for their fate. Perhaps you would like to lay claim to the prisoners for your share? King Ratuatapi would be willing to cede all authority regarding them to you if you would grant us some of your share of the recovered material instead?”

Belissar furrowed his brow. At this point, he’d been to enough of these discussions to know they were just trying to pass him something they didn’t want to deal with and get him to pay them for it too. But, it was true that he was the only one who cared about the surrendered Tower Guards. If he didn’t take care of them, could he really trust the sigmaka or the fair folk to do so?

...Henilett’s smile and talk of punishment and enslavement told him that no, no he could not. So, the question was: would he be willing to give up the rest of the loot for it? They had recovered a few thousand sets of enchanted armor and weapons and Belissar could always absorb monster corpses to unlock new spawners. He didn’t know if he’d actually use any of them, he still hadn’t made a wyvern spawner after all, but the monster corpses could also be used by the karnuq to make more weapons and armor and even food.

He also got the sense everyone was trying to trick him and disliked that. Part of him wanted to resist just because of that sense.

“Tower Keeper, if I may?”

Fortunately, Chief Rohsuak understood all of that as well...and had an idea Belissar found fair. He gave her his mental agreement, so she replied on his behalf. Chief Rohsuak gave everyone a smile.

“Tower Keeper Belissar is willing to make that exchange, though we would still like a reasonable set of the recovered armaments and corpses. I must point out, though, that if Tower Keeper Belissar is accepting responsibility for all of the fallen Tower Lord’s people, then he should also receive the right to appoint the Tower Lord’s successor. Or one additional Tower’s successor, should someone else claim the Tower in question before it is practical for us to do so ourselves.”

She glanced over at Guardsman Fahlaris, who nodded back.

“It is your right as the rogue’s subjugators.”

The signatories of the fair folk and the queens of the sigmaka both began glancing amongst themselves, each having animated, if silent discussions within their own groups. The sigmaka gave up silence and just started whispering to each other. Belissar politely decided not to use his Tower senses to listen in. Over amongst the fair folk, Henilett even dropped her smile. She seemed unhappy in the end, but King Taranskare spoke up nonetheless.

“The signatories of the Calwaskon Compact can accept that arrangement.”

First Queen Nyoyanke nodded at King Ratuatapi, who gave the sigmaka’s reply.

“I agree as well.”

And with that, Belissar could now handle the captured Tower Guards however he pleased, without worrying about the Compact or the sigmaka. And he could apparently pick a new Tower Lord for Starami’s Tower. That...was a big decision he had no idea how to approach, but Starami’s Tower was very far away, so he’d worry about it later.

He did have to give up some of the other loot from the battle, but he was ok with that when he thought about it. Neither the bees nor the karnuq could make much use out of human-sized equipment and he could already get new weapons and armor from the pixies and from Tamosmed if he needed any, they might even give him some of looted gear back if it would help him! It would only hurt him if any of the captured Tower Guards ended up wanting to join him like Hirkolos had and then needed their gear back...but he had no idea if any would. Besides, if the weapons helped the sigmaka or the fair folk, that helped Belissar too. It was beneficial to him either way.

As for the monster corpses, Belissar didn’t really plan to make more dragonkin spawners besides the light dragon one, so he didn’t really need them. All he’d do with them would be give them to karnuq, the spiderkin, and the butcher and blood bees to eat, so he only wanted a few for a victory banquet anyways. Maybe the other Circle masters would absorb them, then Belissar could just trade for any monsters he wanted later on!

Now all he had to do was decide what, exactly, to do with all those surrendered Tower Guards...