The Bee Dungeon

General Rippotis pulled a wooden tray out of a small wooden house on stilts. He cracked a smile as the bees covering the tray all began to dance salutes to him. They had far too much enthusiasm for soldiers undergoing an inspection, but they also kept their home in order without any prompting, so perhaps they had reason to be happy.

"At ease, keep up the good work."

The bees danced another salute. The general gently put the tray back into the house and let them get back to their business. He then let out a sigh.

This…Belissar's beehouse feature the God of Bees had rewarded him with had given him much to think about. The trays encouraged the bees to build their combs in neat and orderly rows of squares, with just enough space between them that the bees wouldn't seal them up or build comb over them. They made for easy inspections and easy harvest, allowing the general to simply pull out a tray when needed, make sure it didn't contain the bees' brood, and then replace it once he had removed the comb. No permanent damage done to the hive or its residents. A beehive organized both for better efficiency and comfort for the bees as well as ease of work for the keeper.

All of this spoke of experience, the care and attention to detail gained over long familiarity with a craft. General Rippotis was no beekeeper, but he knew the work of an experienced hand when he saw one. Whoever made this was dedicated to their craft, a level of dedication the general could respect. A dedication that the God of Bees herself acknowledged, even.

What troubled him, however, was the name Belissar. For that name…was one from the modern tongue of the Conclave. After over a thousand years, the Conclave's speech had drifted from their original tongue, a phenomenon only encouraged by the High Council to further distance their people from the wicked kings of old. The average person in the Conclave wouldn't be able to speak or read the old language anymore, even the younger generation of Tower Lords couldn't. It took those, like General Rippotis, who had been there in days past to understand just how different their languages had become.

As such, he knew that this Belissar was a contemporary human, one who had lived within the last few decades most likely, maybe a century or two at most. He also knew that Belissar was a human specifically from the Conclave's territory. Thanks to being separated by the Hunger for hundreds of years, every rogue Tower they found and the people living around it had their own tongue, languages that had all gone off in different directions from the Conclave's own as a result. It was highly unlikely the name Belissar existed in the tongue of a rogue Tower.

The problem was…General Rippotis knew for a fact that no Tower Lord was dedicated to the God of Bees. None of them even knew she existed until the general received a mission from her…and so neither did their people. Belissar didn't have to be a Tower Lord to earn the God of Bees' recognition in a feature name, but he should at least have been a disciple of hers to some degree. And while there were small villages with peculiar means of worshipping the gods here and there, General Rippotis could find no hint or mention of a group dedicated to the God of Bees in the modern Conclave. Notably, not even the beekeepers he had requested help from had any idea there was a God of Bees, they were most shocked to learn of that fact.

So, how, then, did a contemporary human of the Conclave earn the recognition of a god that, by all accounts, he shouldn't have known existed? In the midst of all this, General Rippotis' mind was drawn to a one possible answer in particular, a single theory that he couldn't push away. The High Council had thoroughly investigated the circumstances by which Lord Starami lost a new Tower, General Rippotis had personally reviewed the findings several times over. So, when he considered that Belissar might be a contemporary human of the Conclave but not any known priest or Tower Keeper…he couldn't help but think of the Tower they lost. And the testimony of Lord Starami's son Ruckanos, his escorting Tower Guards in training, and the augur Sehfitis…that a wounded villager had been caught up in the Tower when it vanished.

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And the more he investigated…the more plausible the theory became. The villager in question…had attempted to flee from within the village's apiary when he was wounded. It had been in the field just beyond the beehives where the Tower appeared and vanished. Moreover, only one Tower Guard in training had actually identified the location as an apiary…because the beehives there had been unlike any the group had seen before. They had been wooden structures rather than woven skeps, the soldier in question only identified them as beehives because he noticed the bees flying in and out of them.

Wooden beehives built like little houses…just like the beehouse feature General Rippotis had just received. A design invented by a human of the Conclave, yet previously unknown among any other beekeeper of the Conclave General Rippotis had spoken with.

This was a coincidence the general could not ignore. He could not say for certain but the idea was now plausible enough that the general had to consider what contingencies he should prepare in case it was true. And if it was…it would likely mean that the rogue Tower Lord would be completely hostile towards the Conclave specifically, given that his home was destroyed and his life nearly ended by Lord Starami's son, by soldiers under his banner and bearing his crest.

General Rippotis heaved a sigh, Lord Starami's actions reflected extremely poorly on them all, and now they all must face the consequences. Perhaps he needed to have further talks with High Councilor Stadvolous on the discipline of his subordinates' forces, General Rippotis was not one for internal affairs, much less the internal affairs of another High Councilor's subordinates, but wiping out their own people was not a matter he could ignore. Perhaps…he needed to pay more attention to what was going on in the rest of the Conclave as well. If there were more Tower Lords running their territories like Lord Starami…

But that would have to wait…because if Belissar was the wounded villager from the reports and also the lord of the lost Tower, then General Rippotis' mission from the God of Fire to preserve that Tower had just gotten both a lot more difficult and a lot more urgent. Lord Starami was already on the warpath for the Grand Subjugation and now it was also possible that the lost Tower Lord had bad blood with him specifically, and every reason to attack the moment Lord Starami approached. They had already lost all contact with Lord Starami's son, Ruckanos, after the boy found the lost Tower, so the lost Tower's lord was likely already considering this an active war…and Lord Starami himself may seek vengeance upon them in turn. General Rippotis really needed to get the High Council to act on this, they needed to move very quickly to have any chance of concluding the matter without the death of at least one of the Tower Lords involved.

And now he had an inkling as to the stakes of this mission, and the reason the God of Fire assigned it in the first place. If the lost Tower's master was Belissar, a name recognized by the newly discovered God of Bees…then it was possible the lost Tower was now dedicated to the God of Bees. It was possible it was the first, and only, Tower in her name. If Lord Starami assaulted the Tower and killed its master, they would have vanquished the only Tower Lord of a newly discovered god and devastated her only known place of worship, likely killing whatever followers she had in the process.

That would be an outcome General Rippotis could not accept. Heigiosa wouldn't stand for it either, and neither would the God of Fire, apparently.

General Rippotis began to march out of his apiary, giving tower orders for his subordinates to send word to the High Council and request another urgent meeting. Their stalled discussions had, thus far, been monopolized by the topic of the fey, so they had not even addressed his mission regarding the lost Tower yet. Apparently, though, the other mission the God of Fire had given him was no less important. They needed to make a decision and act upon it now. It was up to him to make it so…before it was too late…