How should I proceed? I wondered, with a confident smile on my face, in the wake of introducing myself to one of the stranger cultists who has devoted himself to me in the wake of a series of events in the city of Undermoon. The aforementioned cultist knelt before me, having taken the submissive pose after realizing who I was.
I stared at him for a moment, studying his suddenly submissive position. He was so haughty before. I wonder if the other meetings I'm gonna have are gonna be like this... I thought, curious about what the future would be like since many of the leaders of the cults I was going to go and meet were not individuals I had met before.
It won't be boring that's for sure. I thought, causing a soft chuckle to escape my lips. And then I refocused on the matter at hand.
Before me knelt Rinor, one of the dark elves who hadn't met me yet became a convert to my worship. There were a lot of dark elves like him, worshipers of mine I hadn't met face to face, but not many went on to form their own unique cults.
Rinor's vision of myself and the nature of my divinity was centered around sex, sexuality, and pleasure. He and the cultists who had joined his cult, the "Cult Of The Sacred Spore" were debauched individuals that reveled in the pleasures of the flesh and sought to indulge in them. This wasn't hyperbole either, moments ago these cultists had been wallowing in a massive orgy.
I examined my surroundings with an exploratory eye. Every dark elf in the room had their eyes glued to me, and they gazed at me with awe, and in more than a few cases, their stares also revealed obvious lust. Their naked forms revealed their arousal as readily as their gazes did. I suppose I can have fun with this. I thought, after thinking for a few seconds about the possibility of turning this cult into a tool.
But I need to talk to some domains. I realized, with a mental smile. I turned inward to ask a few friends about how to proceed.
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In my mind, I retreated to that odd place where domains and subdomains lurked and laired. I wasn't alone there, even though whenever I first appeared there I always felt alone, even if it was only momentary.
[Corruption, deception, I need some advice!] I shouted calling out to two of the voices and sources of power that dwelt within me. Existing as a god apparently involves a lot of tenants taking up space in your mind. I realized, with a mildly annoyed mental expression. And at that moment the first of the two responded to me.
[Why hello there, primary will. You need some help? Some... advice? That's intriguing.] Deception, one of the powers with a rough voice, asked. I could hear the edge of excitement in its voice.
I chuckled. And then corruption chimed in, no doubt watching what was going on with open excitement. [You need help, in this deliciously corrupt place? Oh, boy, what can I do to aid you?] It asked, its voice dripping with enthusiasm.
[I'm glad the two of you are so excited to help me. You see I came here to meet the cults that have sprung up in my absence and to organize them. I want to organize them into things that aren't just spreading the worship of me but actually benefit me in concrete ways. I figured this was a good chance to work with appropriate domains and work to gain influence.] I explained.
[So trickery, what do you want me to do to be granted the first tier of influence over you? And corruption, how can I advance to the point where you grant me the second tier of influence over you?] I asked, directly stating what I wanted. Corruption was the first one to answer, presumably due to its excitement.
[This is delicious. I'll do this for you since you're giving me so much fun.] The thing said, shortly before I received a handy notification.
[New Quest Alert: Giving Into Corruption
Objective: Either directly or indirectly lead 10,000 people into corruption. If someone was directly led into corruption that means you persuaded them to give into a vice. People who were indirectly led into corruption were individuals who were led by your worshipers to give into a vice.
Reward: Completion of this quest, which is also a tiered quest like the quest to gain influence over the subdomain of necromancy, grants the second tier of influence over the subdomain of corruption.
Note: The subdomain of corruption is one of the only subdomains where each tier of influence beyond the first tier asks the deity gaining the tier to select something. In corruption's case, the subdomain will ask you to select one of the seven vices. Once you make your choice you'll gain incredible power over that vice in particular. You will gain powers related to that specific vice, and all of your corruption powers will increase in potency.]
Oh wow, very direct. I thought, smiling inwardly. And there's a clear choice for first pick here. Lust. Lust doesn't encourage lawbreaking or the destruction of knowledge, it can result in the creation of more members of my empire, and I can imagine it can be used to placate discontent. I thought, drawing on the knowledge and memories swimming through my mind, as well as my desire to build an empire and gain more knowledge. That was when the trickery domain interrupted my thoughts with its own.
[Personally, my favorite thing you've done to date was when you appeared in the jackaloid tribe and converted them into your worshipers instantly by transforming their memories and making them believe they were always worshipers of you. That's the sort of shit I live for. If you do that to another group of people, say a noble family, I'll grant you the first tier of influence over me.] It told me.
[I can do that.] I told it, a smile on my thought-form. And then I refocused on what was going on in the real world. And upon refocusing on the mortal world I immediately reached out and covered the ground around me in the potent blue vapor that weakened the ability of mortals and other beings to resist me.
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"My children... I am mildly disappointed in you." I told them, my voice neutral. I need to work on my lying. I thought, disappointed by my own lackluster attempt at deception. Nevertheless, my words caused a few of the elves to blanch, blood rushing out of their faces and flowing elsewhere. I hid my grin, even though noticing their reactions did make me want to smile.
Before I speak again... let me find a skill that could help me pull off this deception. I thought, before executing a series of quick, invisible actions. I started off by opening up my religion menu, tapping on the section that informed me about my worshipers, and finally, I finished this sequence by tapping on an icon that mirrored the codex icon in my ordinary HUD.
Good. Now I can find a skill that makes me more persuasive... I thought, hurriedly. What I wanted was simple: I wanted to use a skill that would aid my ability to be deceptive. That way I could convince all of the dark elves here that I was disappointed in them and that they'd work harder to do the sinful acts I was perhaps a few sentences from trying to persuade them to do.
Mining... blacksmithing... iron fists... craft jewelry... advanced tailoring... the plague of the dead... I realized now more than ever that the number of skills at my disposal was truly phenomenal. Having tens of thousands of worshipers across dozens of species, and gaining their skills the minute they start to worship you quickly leads to you gaining a startling diversity of powers. I remarked mentally, a wry grin on my mental face.
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It took me several seconds to find the first thing that was applicable to my situation, and it wasn't even a skill. It was a feat. I tapped it, indicating to the system that I was adding its benefits to myself, and smiled as I felt its powers wash over me.
[Alert:
As a god with a cult with a total number of worshipers above a certain number, you can use the powers and abilities of your worshipers. You can even use their feats. But for now, you can't use their feats permanently. So for now, the demagogue feat you're using will be active for an hour and then deactivated. Once you gain a million worshipers you can use any and all of the feats of your followers as long as you wish.
New Feat Borrowed: Demagogue
Benefit: Attempts to deceive a crowd of people into performing evil, sinful, or corrupt acts, are naturally more persuasive coming out of your lips. This feat greatly increases the likelihood that a crowd of people will be convinced to behave sinfully, violently, or in otherwise negative ways so long as you are the one making the argument.
Method of Acquisition: Use the promise of violence against perceived enemies to earn an elected position.]
I read over the benefit of the feat once and then once again, before willing the whole textbox away. And then I opened my mouth, with a smile at the edge of my lips.
"I am disappointed in you because you have been selfish." I said, ending my sentence with an emphasis on the word "selfish". As I spoke I realized this would also serve as a test to see how thoroughly the dark elves here were indoctrinated and addicted to the pleasure surging through them since I was preaching a utopian vision of the world to a species generally known for cruelty and viciousness.
"You see, you have received truly blessed teachings about me from your leader, my valued servant Rinor and you haven't shared it with your fellow dark elves." I said, with a touch of sorrow in my voice. Upon hearing this statement some of the dark elves felt heartbroken, due to both the power of the feat and the power of my familiar vapor. I took advantage of the existing conversational momentum and kept talking.
"I would have thought creatures who were blessed enough to hear this message of joy, would want to spread it to their peers. After all, a world of pleasure, hazy consciousness, and unity is a euphoric one, isn't it?" I asked, feigning confusion and even a touch of sadness. Some of the dark elves muttered words of concern to their neighbors, worried that I was distraught about all of this. Their concern was cute.
"Oh children, don't despair. I am not distraught anymore. I know now what I must do, what I needed to do. I needed to come here and converse with you. To reveal the purpose of the teachings I imparted to Rinor directly, and to share them with you myself." I told them, confidence surging into my voice as I began to subtly change my form into something more primal and more fungal.
"This world is filled with despair and hatred. Suffering and sorrow. But it doesn't have to be. I want to create happiness. And I have a plan to do that." I falsely confessed, as my dark elven form began to stretch and change, becoming something taller and more alien than before, with dark green skin and eyes the color of fireflies.
My worshipers were eating out of the palm of my hand, ready to hear my made-up plan. "I want to absorb all of the minds in the world and create one world-spanning hive-mind. This hive-mind would bring together the entire world and usher in a new age of joy, pleasure, and unity. In this world no one starves, no one suffers without their consent, and upon death people join me as fungal beings or, if they consent to it, serve the world as undead beings." I explained, as my form continued its transformation.
I had gone from being a strange hybrid of a dark-elf and plant-being, into a more solidly fungal form. The main mass of my body was made of dark-green vines and roots, while my face was vaguely humanoid but lacked features like a mouth, nose, or hair.
I took a second to gather divine energy within my shifting form and to push it towards my throat. I allowed my throat to absorb the power, having done this once before to prevent Paimon from attacking me. I now hoped that this would empower what I said next, and evoke powerful imagery in the minds of my servants.
"Imagine, children, a world where the people enjoying what you spent the last few days experiencing weren't just the people in this room. Imagine the sort of delights you could experience if everyone were free to indulge their lusts. I am promising you that joyous world. A world of true, sensual freedom." I told the sex-crazed addicts, joy and hypnotic power radiating out of my eyes and dripping from my words.
I took a moment to make eye contact with each of the dark elves present in the chamber. Their expressions slackened when I caught their gaze in mine, and I sensed them becoming putty in my hands. That's it. Surrender. I thought, grinning.
"I promise you, my dear children, that you will get to experience more bliss. But I need you. I need your help to spread my message. To bring others into our delirious fold." I pretended to confess, acting as if they were truly necessary and not just people who could make my ultimate goals easier to achieve. The dark elves looked at each other, confusion and doubt in their gazes. I sighed.
"You are important. You matter. You are among the first of my worshipers to hear the truth. You, along with the Order of Whispers are the only two organizations to hear the full truth." I told them, hoping to inflate their egos.
"Children, I am going to give you the power to bring your friends and families into my embrace." I told them, while charging my powers with divine energy.
"Your friends and families want to join the fold. They just don't know yet. So I have something that will help. My spores. Take this gift from me, your lord, and use it to bring your loved ones here and into my arms." I whispered, feeling their minds give into my sinister influence and the mind-numbing power of the vapor.
"My spores, when ingested by them, absorbed by their bodies, will expose them to the same joy you feel. They will know my kiss, and crave my touch. And yours as well. They will seek the rapturous joy you feel here, when you are in each other's arms." I said, promising to expose the families and friends of this odd church's membership to the lusty sensations that have driven this congregation into isolation.
This was the moment I activated the power I had charged earlier. Underneath me, the ground began to vibrate slightly. Had they been more alert and less sex-crazed they would have reacted to the sudden vibration of the earth at their feet, but they weren't which was probably for the best.
I rose into the air atop a massive pillar that emerged from the ground underneath me. The pillar rose until it was about 7 meters tall, and at the base of the thing was a small growth in the shape of a basin. This basin contained spores, my spores. I jumped off the pillar's peak and landed on the ground below after a short fall that lasted only a handful of moments.
"Children... all it takes to bring someone to me, to your true family, is to have them ingest a single spore." I told the gathered dark elves as I gestured to the basin. They excitedly rushed towards it, curious to see what my spores looked like.
I chuckled as they approached, and made a mental note to revisit this place in the very near future. But for now I wanted to visit someone else. A familiar face. As I readied my teleportation power, I once again transformed myself so that once more I had the appearance of a strapping young dark elf.
"Children... remember your true mission. Bring people to this place. To me. I know you want to make me happy. I know you want to spread the joy you feel. Do it. Go forth and expose others to me. To yourselves. Become evangelists and fulfill your destiny." I told them, passionately, as one final remark before departing from this place.
As dark elves got closer and closer, I wrapped my teleportation powers around myself and vanished, heading towards a familiar place and a familiar face: the private chamber of Qu'Ren.
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This time I wasn't trying to be stealthy. I teleported into Qu'Ren's chambers, laid eyes on the dark elf who was in the process of dressing herself and proudly announced that I was here. "Hello Qu'Ren, it's time!" I told her, loudly and singsongy.
She looked at me nonchalantly and questioned me. "What is it time for, Althos?" She asked, curious about what I meant. I grinned at her.
"Qu'Ren... you've been a faithful servant of mine for months. It's time I use my power to strengthen you once again. Except that this time I'm going to greatly increase your power, not just give you a taste of power. You're going to get the real thing." I declared, pride slipping into my voice. She froze, clearly shocked by this abrupt declaration.
"I'm going to make you a true witch of mine. The first of my witches." I told her, crossing my arms smugly and looking at her, all while radiating self-confidence. Her response was stunned silence, but it was quiet enough for me to hear her heart hammer in her chest as if to indicate shock and joy at what I had just told her.
I closed my eyes and began to explore my HUD, so that I could do this quickly and so that we could celebrate.