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 the lava 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 planning out the extra routes and turns I want them to create for the labyrinth. The hedge maze was pretty simple to make, since its really only in two dimensions. This labyrinth, though, I want to be fully three dimensional. I might even be able to have Nova and the wyrms occasionally 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 the lava labyrinth. I hope to make use of all the main categories of trap that I have access 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 accomplished 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 planning to use these traps to make the labyrinth really live up to its name.
Pitfalls can land people in different sections, though I might need to upgrade the slime spawner and keep some stationed underneath those particular traps. I dont need a crushing wall, but moving walls can change the layout, and I could even make sections of floor flip up to become 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 a combo 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 the labyrinth.
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 place them just yet, I check in on Thing and Queen and see them both excitedly working in their labs 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.
Archery isnt as popular 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 classic 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 more complicated to design. The bow needs to curve forward near the ends, giving more bow to bend for power, but in a compact 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: the compound 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 place 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 a compound. 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 blade 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 place 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 access 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.
