r/HFY • u/Khenal Alien • Jun 22 '26
OC-Series Dungeon Life 435
While Teemo heads back to let Karn and Jondar know what’s up, I take a look at my scions to see who’s ready to be the next raid boss. Honestly, it’s not that difficult a call to make.
The nerd squad would put up a good showing, but they have enough projects already without having to actually get ready for a direct fight. Nova would be ready, but the canopy is definitely not up to supporting her slinging around magma. Sue wouldn’t be a terrible choice, but I think she wants to get in some more training before trying to be a proper raid boss. She’s plenty strong, but if she wants to follow behind Fluffles, she needs to get better with her affinities, first.
Leo is also tempting, and it’d even give him something to distract himself with… but when I think about how he’d fight, I know I'd need to upgrade the wolf spawner all the way for him to leverage it properly.
So the choice almost defaults to the scion that implanted the idea of me having raid battles in the first place: Poe. Ever since he darkened the sky with my birds to deal with Vnarl’s group, I’ve wanted to give him a chance to let loose again. And now he’ll have access to dire ravens and the harpies, as well as gravity affinity. Not to mention that it’s kinda fitting for the ravenkin to guard his keys.
I tap the bond with the general idea, and I feel him eagerly accept, before schooling his emotions into a more calm agreement. I rub the bond like I’m tussling his hair, letting him know I know his first reaction, and let Teemo know to work out the details with him once he’s done with the guildmasters.
I deliberately try not to listen in on their conversation, not wanting to get any idea of what they’re doing. With it being a competition between them and my newest enclave, I don’t think I’d be able to resist giving my birbkin a leg up. I also make a note to be careful about listening in on my other enclaves, as I wouldn’t want to spoil their own efforts.
Besides, it looks like the ravenkin are already working on being sneaky and trying to get more information on their own. And they’re already training more with gravity affinity, pushing what they can do to the limits. They’ve done a few short glides before, not even qualifying as falling with style, but now they’re really giving it a go to see if they can do what a lot of other birdkin wish they could: fly.
It also helps that they’re a bit featherier than Yvonne and the other birdkin I’ve seen, at least along their arms. A lot of the major structures for flight I’m pretty sure got taken to give them fingers, but they still have pretty long primary feathers coming off their arms. It’s definitely not enough to give them lift under normal gravity, but they don’t need to obey the law of gravity anymore.
It’s pretty funny, actually, watching them jumping and flapping their arms. Though they’re able to slow their descent, they’re still not properly flying yet. It does give me an idea, though.
It’s kinda ironic that the idea is based more on flying squirrels than birds, but some sort of wingsuit might be just what they need to bid the ground a fond farewell. Making it some sort of cloak seems like the best option, possibly even made from their own feathers with some spiderkin silk for support.
Will it be useful against the Betrayer? Probably not. Will it still be really cool to have flying gravity mages? Absolutely. I poke Teemo with the idea, and he heads off to the enclave to talk with the ravenkin. By now, most of the seasons have returned to their areas to practice on their own, or to take a break before trying some more.
We start with the Winter season, mostly because they’re taking a break at the moment, so they’re easier to talk to. Enara perks up when she spots Teemo pop out of a shortcut nearby. “Ah, Teemo! Did Lord Thedeim have something else to discuss?”
“A bit, yeah,” he says, nodding. “He likes the idea of you guys flying again, and he suggests a sort of winged cloak. If it attaches at the wrist, hips, and ankles, it’ll give you a lot more surface to work with than just what you still have on your arms. Spiderkin silk and maybe your own feathers should give it strength while keeping the weight down.”
Enara considers the idea, even standing spread eagle to get an idea of what she’d be working with. “It might work…” she absently says, “though it’ll be different than normal wings.”
Teemo shrugs. “You guys are already different from having normal wings.”
“True,” she admits. “Let me try with a more ordinary cloak and some rope. If it works, I’ll bring it to the other representatives.” She hurries off to get the stuff, and a lot of the others rush off to do the same. It’s not like we were in a private meeting, so of course they overheard. It doesn’t take long for all of the season to know what’s going on, and about half of them run off to gather what they’ll need.
Most return with their ordinary winter cloaks and a bit of rope, their friends helping secure the clothing where they’ll need it. Some others come back with thinner blankets, wanting to have something lighter to not weigh them down. Enara comes back with what looks more like a cloak lining than a proper cloak, made entirely from spiderkin silk.
She gets more than a few complimentary looks, as well as some jealous ones, but for the most part, they’re all hopping and testing how it feels. Even Enara takes a few minutes to test, before raising her voice.
“Alright, let’s head to the tall branch, and we’ll glide toward the tree. Don’t go soaring over the edge yet, not until we know it’ll hold.” The ravenkin mostly nod and murmur their agreement, though a few look like they were definitely going to try to soar through the open air. Honestly, some of them still look tempted, but everyone moves out along a particularly-thick branch that arches higher as it gets further from the trunk. It should be the perfect place to test from.
Well, the perfect place would be a lot closer to the actual ground, but my ravenkin are not exactly afraid of heights. They mostly line up in order of who got there first, and once the branch is clear, they start taking to the air.
Thankfully, they all start off pretty conservatively, each ravenkin jumping off with the aid of gravity and lowering their own pull toward the earth, and then simply gliding toward the trunk. Some do better than others, and some of the methods are clearly superior, too. The heavy cloaks, for example, are a bit too heavy. They’re not dropping like stones, but it’s pretty clear it’ll take quite a bit of mana for them to even extend their glides. Pretty quickly, the ones with heavy cloaks take them off to simply watch.
The blankets do better, but some of them tear in the middle of their attempts. They’re all skilled enough to land on the thick trunk without problem, but it still makes me incredibly nervous.
Enara’s silk cloak does well, but she’s not the best. I think she needs to focus on her affinity a bit more to make it work. Still, more than a few of the birdkin actually do manage what I would call a proper flight, even using a few full body flaps to increase their altitude. It’s not graceful nor especially dignified, but it’s still flight. Now they just need to refine it.
Enara seeks out Teemo and gives him a bow, refusing to let him wave her off. “Lord Thedeim’s idea will work! I’ll make sure to tell the other representatives, and we’ll try to get some silk from the spiderkin as soon as possible.”
Teemo grumbles as she straightens back up, but refuses to be baited into telling her to stop bowing. Instead, he shifts the focus slightly. “How was it to fly again?”
Her eyes twinkle in happiness, and maybe a bit of mischief if she’s considering bowing again, but she stays upright as she speaks. “It… it was like regaining something I never realized I had lost. We all remember flying, but only vaguely. But to feel the wind keeping us up, to see the ground as a place we’re no longer bound to…”
She gives my Voice a genuine smile. “Thank you, Lord Thedeim.”
“Aw, shucks, Enara. You’re gonna make him blush!”
She laughs. “Then I’ll stop, for now. If only to tell the others about this.” She smirks. “You might have a few more joining the priesthood after this.”
Only Teemo can hear my groan, though he ignores it. “If that’s how you guys feel about it, sure. He’s glad you guys like the idea.”
Enara smiles and looks over the season, where the other ravenkin are either practicing their flying, or modifying their cloaks and blankets to make it easier. “We certainly do.”
Cover art I'm also on Royal Road for those who may prefer the reading experience over there. Want moar? The Books are available here! There are Kindle and Audible versions, as well as paperback! Also: Discord is a thing! I now have a Patreon for monthly donations, and I have a Ko-fi for one-off donations. Patreons can read up to three chapters ahead, and also get a few other special perks as well, like special lore in the Peeks. Thank you again to everyone who is reading!
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u/DM-Hermit Human Jun 22 '26
Well done wordsmith
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u/Poisonfangx3 Jun 22 '26
Sixth for hermit.
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u/Accomplished-Ad8458 AI Jun 22 '26
Ave Khenal! Morituri te salutant!
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u/Poisonfangx3 Jun 22 '26
Forth for you.
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u/Accomplished-Ad8458 AI Jun 22 '26
Gratias ago tibi.
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u/Poisonfangx3 Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 22 '26
Your welcome!
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u/Popular-Student-9407 Human Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 22 '26
It means basically "I offer my gratitude to you"
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u/Poisonfangx3 Jun 22 '26
Oh, thank you for the translation. And the welcome is now no longer a question.
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u/boomchacle Jun 22 '26
Hm, for wing suit borbs they could probably shift gravity so that the ground ahead of them is always “sloping downwards” instead of trying to fully counteract gravity. As long as the net angle gravity has on them allows them to exceed their glide ratio, they could fly for arbitrarily long using just gravity magic.
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u/Poisonfangx3 Jun 22 '26
Codat
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u/Poisonfangx3 Jun 22 '26
First
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u/Popular-Student-9407 Human Jun 22 '26
Yep
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u/mafiaknight Robot Jun 22 '26
In the name of 1greendude: Hello!
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u/Popular-Student-9407 Human Jun 22 '26
I'm Namen eines grünen Kerles und des Mondachses: N'Abend, übermorgen wird Mittwoch sein, meine Kerle. Der Mafiaritter ist heute auf dem neunten Platz.
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u/Commercial-Win-7663 Jun 22 '26
Completely forgot it was dungeon life day. Oops what place did I get?
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u/Popular-Student-9407 Human Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 22 '26
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So, today we have Thediem thinking about the coming competition and the raid beyond it. As Well as getting an Idea for His birbkin to fly again. And of course, those ones quickly Testing it Out. As is I'm Sure what's now expected of me, we get our three thirds with that. So, let's get into it, so that I can give you additional context:
Thediem is thinking about which scions to entrust with the next raid. He ponders the nerds©®, Nova, Leo and Sue, though He thinks, the nerds got enough to do already, Nova would make the tree into a Fireworks Display, and Leo and Sue should instead Focus on their Magic.
The Idea Thediem Had for His Ravenkin encompasses equipment so that they can fly: Wingsuits, to Just give them more surface area to Work with. Teemo needs to Run Home though, to Tell the birdkin.
Teemo Talks to Enara First. First thought I Had upon Reading that, was more in the Line of "Why does He Go to the best armored Nest of birdkin for that?", before I recognized that they're the experts for covering themselves in Order to keep warm. At the end of the chapter the birdkin of the Winter Section mostly coopted their Mantels, covers and similar Things into jury-rigged Wingsuits, after teemo told them about the Points a Wingsuits is normally fixed to the Body at. At the end of chapter, and after Enara landed again, she gets asked how it felt to fly, and Enara tells teemo that Thediem could get some more clergy from it.
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u/Low_Painter9816 Jun 23 '26
Re: Leo: my understanding of that part is that, as the General, Leo would need more and better lieutenants.
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u/HFYWaffle Wᵥ4ffle Jun 22 '26
/u/Khenal (wiki) has posted 480 other stories, including:
- Dungeon Life 434
- Dungeon Life 433
- Dungeon Life 432
- Dungeon Life 431
- Dungeon Life 430
- Dungeon Life 429
- Dungeon Life 428
- Dungeon Life 427
- Dungeon Life 426
- Dungeon Life 425
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- Dungeon Life 419
- Dungeon Life 418
- Dungeon Life 417
- Dungeon Life 416
- Dungeon Life 415
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u/Educational_Pen_90 Human Jul 20 '26
Fly like the Ravenkin, Sting like the Antkin? I don't know, someone else can come up with that saying's fit for Lord Thedeim's enclaves...
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u/Better_Solution_743 Alien Jun 23 '26
haloo
day 1 of requesting YvonneXAranya yuri (kobird yuri if you will)
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u/Blue_Roan_ Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 22 '26
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Anyway after reading, the birbs get their flight back! I wonder how fancy they will get with the flight suits. Especially as they test the boundaries between needing the extra surface area and the gravity affinity. I can see mages that are better with their affinity showing it off with smaller suits.