POG 440.1 - Please Bee Patient

At that time, the God of Bees was currently dancing in front of the human residents of her realm. Mrs. Imkomos and her husband were happily showing Belissar’s parents how to construct their son’s signature beehouses while the God of Bees danced.

“Belissar thanked by God of Light, helped design new dungeon feature.”

Mrs. Imkomos stopped working, breaking out into a massive smile.

“That boy was thanked by the God of Light herself?! I can’t believe it, the boy I raised…wait, does that mean he became an oracle?! I thought only High Councilor Heigiosa could speak with the God of Light!”

The God of Bees danced the negative.

“God of Light visited best dungeon master!”

Mrs. Imkomos froze again…and started to tremble.

“The God of Light…descended to the world? Like in the ages before the Hunger?”

“Did!”

Mrs. Imkomos’ husband caught her as her legs gave out and helped her sit on the ground. Belissar’s parents, meanwhile, were simply staring with their mouths hanging open.

But the report came to a close when a tray full of burning honey suddenly burst into flames, which then formed into the God of Fire. He was burning blue, with a bright smile on his face.

“Bee! Another of my dungeon masters finally did it!”

The God of Bees happily spun about.

“Amazing, incredible!”

The God of Fire let out a booming laugh.

“Right! So…I was thinking…your dungeon master seems to be putting even more effort into mead lately…”

But the God of Bees cut him off.

“Still have two more masters?”

The God of Fire cooled off a bit, turning back to a red-orange blaze.

“Come on, Bee, that’s more than half! I’ve helped Belissar a lot, right? Doesn’t that count for something!”

But, before he could say anything more, a gust of wind began to blow through the God of Bees’ realm, making the God of Fire flicker and wave. The wind began to spin around and speed up until it became a visible cyclone…and up out of the top formed the God of Air.

“Bee! Your dungeon master is making a mead room now, right?! I want some, gimme!”

Some new nectar brought in by the foragers, not yet dehydrated down, pooled together and rose, expanding into the God of Water’s body.

“Oh, is there more mead? I wouldn’t mind some more, myself.”

The God of Fire crossed his arms.

“Get in line, you two! I was here first!”

The God of Air’s cyclone picked up and she growled.

“That’s exactly why! You’ve had enough, Fire! It’s my turn now!”

The God of Bees turned towards the nearest patch of flowers, but to her surprise nothing happened. Maybe the God of Flowers was busy right now, the God of Bees did see Flower’s oracle walk off with one of her dungeon masters. In any case, the God of Bees had the soldier bees from Belissar’s Tower come and guide the humans away from the bickering gods, the elemental gods were not known for restraint once they started to bicker. Indeed, the wind was picking up, making it hard for the foraging worker bees to fly, the temperature was rising, forcing the cooling bees to work harder, and rainclouds were gathering overhead, making all the bees fly back to their hives. The God of Bees started to buzz.

She didn’t care if the other gods fought, but she very much cared if they interfered with her realm’s workers!

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But, before she intervened, a bumblebee worker minding its own business flew in-between them all…and spun into the God of Mischief’s usual form.

“Gentlegods, lady-gods, please! Bee is more apt to sting you than humor you if you keep this up, so let us discuss this like the elder gods we are! In fact, I have a proposal I feel will satisfy all parties!”

The God of Fire raised an eyebrow, but glanced over at the God of Bees and let out a sigh of smoke.

“Well then, let’s hear it. What’s this ill-concocted proposal of yours, Mischief?”

The God of Mischief grinned.

“None of you request any mead for the foreseeable future!”

The God of Mischief stood tall with his hands on his hip and a proud smile as he was battered by fire, wind, and rain. The God of Air swung at him with her hands and screeched.

“What about that would satisfy anyone?!”

The God of Mischief spun around, using the fire to dry off the rain and then the wind to put out the fire, then chuckled.

“That, Air dearest, is simple! There’s someone else the mead should go to, someone we can all agree needs the mead more!”

The God of Water raised an eyebrow.

“And that would be?”

The God of Mischief inhaled bit by bit, puffing up his chest as slowly as he could until the God of Fire flared. Then he held his breath for a few more seconds until the God of Air’s cyclone began picking up. Only then did he deign to speak a single word.

“Revels.”

All three of the elemental gods blinked. Their eyes went wide…then the fire and wind died down while the rain clouds began to clear. The God of Fire nodded his head.

“Ah…if Belissar through a banquet with all the mead he’s making now…that might just bring Revels back.”

The God of Mischief grinned again.

“Exactly! And…I’m sure that anyone supporting the dungeon master who brings him back will have an invite to the first party, with all the mead that will be offered up to him in the process!”

The God of Mischief then waved his hand around.

“Unless, of course, his return was intentionally obstructed by gods making excessive requests of Bee’s master while he’s trying to build up the necessary mead stocks.”

The three elemental gods all glanced at each other, conversing with their eyes. One by one, they each nodded at the other. The God of Fire sighed again.

“Fine, Mischief, you win this round. But I better not see you drinking mead before us.”

The God of Mischief just kept grinning.

“Got it. I promise you won’t see me drinking any!”

The God of Fire flared up…but huffed and turned to the God of Bees instead.

“All right, Bee, I’ll check in on the last two first then. Let’s talk when they finish up.”

Then he took his leave. The God of Air and God of Water both left as well, and the God of Bees turned to the God of Mischief.

“Thanks! Was going sting if didn’t stop bothering workers.”

The God of Mischief gave her a bow.

“My pleasure, Bee! Though…if you’d like to thank me…”

The God of Bees immediately danced the affirmative.

“Ok, what need?”

The God of Mischief blinked, then shook his head.

“Ah Bee, you make this so easy! Now then, this can wait until after Revels, but there’s another god I think you should have Beely help out. A god that’s gone a bit neglected in these meetings up here…”

The God of Bees kept dancing.

“As long as helps best dungeon master!”

***

The God of Fire checked his masters…and was a bit surprised to find it wasn’t the Inferno Empress who had completed the mission next. The bee she found had settled in, but had not evolved yet. Instead, the one who completed his mission was a master who was a bit isolated from the others and who had only recently just found a bee…

***

In a field of flowers stood an elf woman wearing armor made of reptilian scales, with bright red hair and eyes. She was currently working on a wooden box filled with trays…and buzzing bees. Another elf man, also with red hair and eyes and similarly dressed, marched up to her.

“You wanted me to see something?”

The elf woman smiled and waved to the box.

“Check this out.”

The man glanced over and nodded.

“Ah, you finished that mission for the God of Fire about a new god? The bee one? I thought you were having trouble getting them to forage magical flowers?”

The woman chuckled.

“I was…so I cheated. I just imbued them with mana directly until they evolved.”

The man raised an eyebrow.

“That worked? Do they even have blood?”

The woman shrugged.

“Not exactly, but something close enough to it. It worked, so close enough. But…”

The woman smiled.

“That’s not what I called you here for. What I wanted you to see is this, my reward from the God of Bees. It’s called…Belissar’s Beehouse.”

The man furrowed his brow.

“Belissar…that’s not a name we know.”

The woman’s smile grew.

“No, it is not. But it is certainly no fey language, nor any language that the beastkin developed. It is closer to the old Sorcerer King’s tongue than anything else, it could very well be a derivative…or a direct evolution.”

The man sighed.

“This again, Unsathos? You know as well as I, nothing of the Sorcerer Kings’ old empire survived. Not to mention the part where it’s been a thousand years. Humans barely manage a tenth of that, if they’re lucky. He’s long dead.”

Unsathos was not deterred.

“Not necessarily, Tagavgi. We’ve confirmed the dungeons extend the life of mortal species, haven’t we? If he became a dungeon master or sworn defender, then he could have survived, both the Hunger and old age. And if there’s another evolved form of the old Sorcerer King’s tongue out there, then there are more human survivors out there. There’s a chance.”

Tagavgi sighed.

“A very, very small one.”

Unsathos bared her teeth.

“But still a chance, nonetheless. And if there’s any chance at all that General Rippotis of the Dragon Banner Army yet lives…then it’s the duty of the last blood elves to find him, isn’t it?”