Peek: Gofnar Pond

The feathered not-invader is acting strange. Why is it sometimes attacking the denizens? The other not-invaders leave the denizens alone, which makes it easier for them to deal with the actual invaders. The dungeon even takes a few minutes to check on the other not-invaders, making sure they're still acting like they should.

They are. They are gathering the tigertail reeds from the shallow water and producing mana for the dungeon. It's glad they produce mana like that. The first not-invader was a terrifying thing, attacking the denizens. But the mana from it made the dungeon reexamine what the not-invader was. It's still not certain what the not-invaders are, it's just glad it doesn't have to try to fight them off.

It's not sure it would be able to.

It doesn't like fighting in general. The denizens are good at dealing with invaders, so the young dungeon is happy to keep upgrading the reeds to draw more and more of the not-invaders, which make it more and more mana. But they're supposed to ignore the denizens, and this one is not.

It makes mana, which is good, but the dungeon doesn't understand why this one is suddenly taking it upon itself to slay a few denizens between each patch of reeds. Is it upset? It doesn't seem to be. It has seen upset not-invaders slash at the reeds and growl, acting like the nodes are actual invaders that need to be attacked. It doesn't make sense to the dungeon, but it has seen it enough times to recognize the signs.

And this not-invader doesn't have any of them. It makes its own little tweets as it works, seeming happy with both the gathering and the slaying. It needs to figure out what is happening. It orders its scion, a large catfish, to investigate. It's still not a Voice, but the dungeon accepts it is better able to understand the not-invaders.

It watches as its catfish follows the not-invader as it delves, quietly making music as it gathers reeds. The scion waits for the feathered not-invader to finish not only with the node, but with catching and dispatching two fish denizens, before it announces itself with a splash. The not-invader looks on curiously while the catfish uses its whiskers to hold up the defeated denizens, tilting itself to its side to communicate curiosity and confusion.

"The denizens? What about them?" it asks, and the catfish motions at the reeds.

"The reeds? Oh! Why am I killing a few denizens while I gather?"

The catfish bobs in place, a move the dungeon has seen the not-invaders do sometimes, though it still doesn't quite understand the gesture.

"Well, over winter, I traveled to a different dungeon to gather herbs. He encouraged people to take from the nodes, but also expected them to fight at least a little to have access. So... I guess it just became a habit. Uh... should I stop?"

Fight and gather? It likes gathering a lot more than fighting... but the not-invader is making more mana than a normal not-invader. Would it need to upgrade its spawners to keep up? Not with just this one... but if the others started doing this, it might need to. Oddly enough, if they do, it would probably have the mana to afford the upgrade, too.

The catfish wiggles back and forth before slipping back beneath the water, leaving the not-invader to resume its delve, and leaving the dungeon to think. It doesn't like fighting, and until now, only one not-invader seemed interested in fighting at all. But it also can't deny the extra mana is good. Should it try to encourage some fighting? Fighting the invaders is one thing, but it doesn't want to fight the not-invaders. They provide so much mana! It might scare them off!

The allure of more mana is hard to resist, though, so it decides to try to get the attention of some of the other not-invaders, ordering the fish to bump into their legs and otherwise get their attention. They don't seem to understand the offer of a fight.

It may need to wait for the first not-invader to return, as it often does. It can understand the dungeon better. Maybe it will realize the extra mana the dungeon will get if some of the fish are attacked between the beds of reeds. Yes... harvesting the fish along with the reeds will make more mana! It doesn't matter if they're nodes or spawned denizens, the not-invaders give mana for each!

It orders several fish to keep bothering the not-invaders, glad to see the cost isn't more than the expected gain. If the not-invaders don't realize what the dungeon wants, that's fine. But if it can train them to harvest like the feathered one, it will be more than worth it.

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Inspired by Dragons & Disaster, who wanted to see how other dungeons would react to people who have delved Thedeim. In short: the delvers stand out a bit, and change slowly propagates.