Several minutes had passed since Samyaza and M.A. met formally. The two had been chatting pleasantly for a while before Samyaza requested that Althos hear what it had to say.
One of the first things that Samyaza the orb angel did when it had the focus of Althos in the darkness of the forest night was congratulate the godling.
[Your first awakened creature is a poisonous animal... Althos I'm proud of you.]
The godling could have sworn he heard tears in the angel's mental voice. This caused the deity to snicker, though in fairness he had tried to suppress it.
[Don't laugh at me! Jerk!]
The angel reacted when the godling mentally snickered at the emotional state the angel found itself in. After a few seconds Samyaza regained its composure and then spoke again.
[In all seriousness, having a poisonous creature is very useful. It makes hunting a lot easier. But it does also make it so that the orcs now have to cook each of their meals, at least if they want to eat something they brought down with a poisoned weapon. Remember that, because they might not.]
Althos nodded at this advice, and then the angel went back to chatting with M.A.
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Althos's demon would come back to the mini-camp they had established a bit aways from the other orcs just minutes before the sun began to rise. The creature came back smelling of blood and entrails, It's face was covered in a thick mask of blood, only some of which had begun to dry. When it was questioned about it, the demon simply said that it was a messy eater, suggesting that the blood belonged to the animals it had hunted. Then another hour would pass before anything of note began to happen.
Althos had been sitting still for several hours when the first of his sleeping servants began to stir. The first of his entourage to wake up was the orc Bazur, who was also the very first creature to join the god's small army. Bazur was second only to Samyaza in joining Althos, and one day Althos suspected that the orc might be one of his greater servants. It was roughly 6:30 in the morning when the orc began to stir.
Althos had been awake the entire night, not needing or wanting sleep. He had introduced the two dissonant voices in his head to each other and asked them to interact with each other. The conversation that came after the pleasantries had been exchanged was, for Althos at least, a fascinating look at how other creatures saw him.
Althos was gently holding onto the newly awakened great-frog Silander, who had been frightened by another pet of his: the towering demon known as Raverangos. She had turned to him and clung to him in fear, and he had merely accepted it. To another creature that might have been dangerous, since she was a poisonous frog with skin that could paralyze many living creatures. But Althos was a god and was immune to poisons.
Bazur began the day by shuffling in his bed and turning over. The orcish brawler kept his eyes closed, but his stirring did begin to help his siblings and the other members of their encampment gradually begin to fight off that most seductive of succubi, sleep.
Despite Bazur being the first of the orcs to awaken, the first to get out of bed was the loyal orc Ragnor. He was a fanatic about orcish culture and a traditional adherent to it who had no qualms about serving Althos.
Ragnor got right out of his bedroll and opened his eyes. He laid his eyes upon the new form of his lord and was surprised to see the tiny frog-girl who had fallen asleep clinging to the deity she worshipped. Her naked body was thin and its colors contrasted sharply with the uniformly tan complexion of the strange master the orc served.
Althos nodded at the orc, and smiled at him. Ragnor began to speak, questioning whether or not the gigantic humanoid in front of him was actually his master.
"Master? Is that you? You look so... different."
Althos sighed and responded to his inquisitive servant.
"Hello Ragnor, it is actually me. The experience from yesterday helped me boost my powers. This new form is one of the consequences of that."
Althos looked at the face of his most conservative of servants. He could still see the skepticism on it, and in fairness, the deity had undergone a significant transformation. So the deity quietly sighed and then continued to speak. His mental assistant also silently stepped in and aided him by activating one of the godly powers the deity had but wasn't conscious of.
"If you don't believe me, here's further proof: the order of your family's subjugation to me was the following: I defeated Anthus with a kick, defeated you with a punch, spoke to Bazur and made him my first servant. Then I gained you and your brother at once, as well as the archer, Ranthor. Gallow joined us last, after I healed him from a wound inflicted by something called a soul-trident."
His voice was smooth, steady, and deep. It was one of the deepest voices the orc had ever heard, and the orc had encountered a dragon once.
It was also thoroughly convincing, not only because of the correctness of the statement but because Althos was using a skill that M.A. quietly helped the deity use in order to smooth this over. The deity, of course, was unaware of this fact.
M.A.'s reasoning was simple but accurate. She knew that any fighting would awaken Silander, and Silander was showing the earliest signs of one day walking down the path of a zealot. If such a creature woke up and heard their god being questioned it wouldn't end peacefully.
Silander would lose a fight against the orc as is, but not without inflicting some damage of her own given her poisonous skin. M.A. had basically made a snap judgment and thankfully her judgment was solid.
Within minutes the entire crew was awake, including the newest arrival to the forces of Althos the young great-frog Silander. She woke up and kept herself wrapped around her master until he peeled her off of him. This evoked the great-frog version of a pout from the animal-humanoid-hybrid.
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Minutes later Ragnor was sitting close to his master, his eyes relaxed and his mind distracted by wondering when breakfast would be. Silander was in front of both of them, off to the side, standing but hunched over. She was clearly nervous and feeling shy since all of the orcs were considerably bigger than she was.
Althos began the day with an announcement. He could hear that all of the orcs were awake now, and though a few of them were still in their bedrolls and hadn't yet turned to see their master, he planned to inform them about their newest ally.
"Now that everyone is awake... say hello to Silander. I was walking through the forest last night and I happened to find her when she was just a poisonous subterranean frog. I awoke her and she is now a part of our team. I'm hoping in time we'll be able to use her poison on our weapons and make them that much stronger. Silander, introduce yourself."
The sound of Althos changed voice made the orcs turn to look at him and they also saw the small frog-girl he had with him. They were visibly shocked by the changes to their master's form, but Ragnor took a second to reassure them that this was in fact their master.
The orc decided to just say that Althos had evolved into a new form, and Althos decided to roll with that. He'd question Ragnor and M.A. about that later.
Then Silander rose to her full height. She was still very short, and Althos wondered if she'd always stay this small or if she'd one day evolve into a new form that was as tall as the orcs were.
"Hello friends, I too am a servant of the awakener. That's what I call your master. As it relates to what he spoke about earlier, I believe we can find a way for me to envenom your weapons. We'll no doubt be exploring that possibility soon. I know nothing about fighting, but my skin is poisonous to the touch and I'm eager to learn every way of fighting that I can!"
The nature of Silander's awakening changed everything about her. That included her voice, which was now a melodious whisper even when the girl wasn't confident. The orcs listened to her and nodded at her statements. Althos grinned at her, though because she was in front of him she couldn't see his facial expression.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
The other orcs had turned around while she was speaking and then began to cheer for her when she was done. They liked that she wanted to learn every fighting style she could, and Althos made a mental note to begin her training today if possible.
After this a few minutes passed of idle conversation. It was only disrupted when Bazur decided to say what the other orcs were thinking and asked:
"What's the plan for breakfast?"
The orcs all grinned at him for having the balls to ask. Meanwhile, Raverangos, Silander, and Althos all looked to each other. Althos wanted to take advantage of the awakened frog's presence in their crew but he wasn't sure what to say next. That was when M.A. stepped in and advised the god.
[ALTHOS, ASK IF THERE'S A SMALL RIVER OR SOMETHING NEARBY.]
Althos mentally nodded at his assistant and then turned to Silander.
"You're a native to this forest... is there a river or something nearby that we could use to get food?"
The frog beamed with pride in being of use to her awakener and said, matter of factly;
"Actually there is. Let's go!"
Althos chuckled at this and then turned to his servants. He began to speak, confidently and eagerly.
"I suppose this is where we begin to depart, slightly anyway, from our comrades. Hopefully, we'll stay close and I doubt we'll... vanish or anything." He exclaimed, cheerfully. The gathered orcs gave him a look of mild amusement, but also curiosity as to why he felt like exploring a river. One of them, Ragnor, even asked him about it.
"Althos, why do you want us to go to a river?" The orc asked, acceptance of the human-looking creatures' whims visible in his gaze as well as curiosity. Althos heard his question and then replied to it very simply.
"Because rivers have fish, and fish are food." He explained, parroting something Samyaza told him, speaking to the god via their mental connection even while Ragnor was speaking.
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The increasingly diverse group of creatures made their way through the forest in a direction that Althos hadn't yet gone in.
They walked over soft grass, and occasionally hopped over random fallen trees and while doing so Samyaza decided to try and scan plants through the eyes of Althos. Surprisingly the orb angel was able to do so and began identifying plants, including a few that could be useful in poison-making. Althos collected the ones that the angel asked it too, and in exchange, the orb angel promised to teach the deity about poison-making.
Despite being in the forest and having the natural cover of the canopy of trees above them the sun's light began to increasingly pierce through the trees to the forest below in the direction they walked in. It was a curious thing to observe, and Althos didn't mind it. It was a chilly autumn morning and it'd be useful for them to get additional warmth via the sun's light.
Within a few minutes of walking, Althos began to hear the sound of lightly moving water and realized that they were near the river. Soon enough the soil they were walking on began to get muddy and insubstantial. Althos enjoyed the feeling of mud underneath his bare feet and stewing between his toes.
Within moments of their beginning to walk on mud, Silander climbed on top of Althos and turned to her allies behind the two of them so that she could be heard more easily.
"We're nearing it, friends! Just a bit longer."
Then she swiftly climbed back down. Althos kept walking throughout her swift excursion up his body and could sense that she'd likely clamber on top of him whenever she felt the need to make an announcement since she was smaller than the rest of the group he had assembled so far.
Behind them and behind the orcs, barely within sight, was Raverangos. The demon could barrel through the forest at breakneck speeds when it felt like charging, but when it wasn't promised a conflict it was a slow and heavy creature.
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The hike had taken less than an hour, and soon enough they came across a small river filled with clean and transparent water cutting the forest in two. The river was beautiful and flowed on for longer than they could see in either direction. It was also filled with a variety of fish, and so a few of the orcs swiftly decided to wade into the water before them and see if they could quickly wrangle up breakfast.
The river was unencumbered by trees right beside it, due to the thickness and depth of the water itself. This caused the river to be bathed in sunlight casting the scene before them in the sun's soft glow, and if they looked in the distance they could faintly see animals drinking from the river. This allowed Althos to lay his eyes on a diversity of life he hadn't seen yet.
The river wasn't perfect for the godling though. It was a unique area that had ground that differed from that of the forest, which limited his tremorsense ability and confined it to a long but narrow area of the river. The noise of the flowing river also served as a poweful barrier that inhibited his ability to hear much of anything that happened beyond where he and his allies were.
His eyes were still powerful though, and had he been paying much attention to the other side of the forest he might have been able to see the goblins that were stealthily watching him and his small party. But instead, the god found himself distracted by the diversity of life that was in or around the river.
He could see wolves and bears on opposite ends of the river, the wolves on the same end as the orcs and Althos and the bears on the other end. He could see rabbits and a variety of insects either on the ground by the water or floating lazily above it.
[LOOK AT ALL THOSE ANIMALS...]
Remarked M.A., and the deity nodded, as amazed by the sight of it as she was. Seeing them was quite the feast for his eyes. The deity was tempted to walk over to them and see how they reacted, but Samyaza made a quiet remark that made the deity think.
[Animals act oddly around watering holes like this river. The area around a river like this is most likely considered an odd neutral place where hunting doesn't occur and animals seek to fulfill their one overriding need: the need to stay hydrated.]
That statement explained the behavior of the animals now compared to how they were behaving when he first indirectly encountered them. He could tell by the sounds they made while in motion that the bears and wolves he had heard in the forest yesterday were these animals right here. Back then they had interacted with each other defensively, but now they were seemingly neutral towards each other.
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Gallow and Ranthor seemed to have fun as they use their weapons and their kinetic vision to catch fish at an impressive pace as they tried to swim past the two orcs and down the river.
Gallow was especially effective at catching fish as the rogue could toss caltrops at fish as a way to spook them or as a weapon itself and he freely made use of the karambit knife he wielded to stab fish trying to sneak by him.
Ranthor was patient and he caught a fish every minute or so he worked on it. He only fired an arrow at his intended targets when he was sure it would hit them and so his aim was fairly spot-on. Gallow caught more fish than the archer did, but the archer's fish were more uniformly injured; a single arrow usually through the face of the fish.
The other orcs and Silander were watching their allies catch breakfast, and looking out across the river. Both sides of the river had a mini shoreline complete with muddy soil and rocks to walk across. The orcs were having a conversation in orcish about whether or not to volunteer to teach Silander to fight.
They knew that if they didn't volunteer, eventually Althos would ask them to teach the frog-child how to use her limbs to fight. But if they volunteered they might be looking overeager. They had their pride after all. But ultimately the discussion was between Anthus and Bazur, who were the two who planned on resisting. Ragnor was already thinking up ways to practice with the great-frog because he planned to take initiative and teach her.
The large sentinel demon Raverangos had more or less stopped approaching once it reached the muddy soil. It was within sight of the others but not quite at the end of the treeline. The creature seemed content to be where it was, so Althos didn't say anything to it and allowed it to relax in the shade and bask in the muddiness of where it stood.
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On the other side of the river, beyond that portion of the forest's treeline lurked a few small naturally green-skinned humanoids. Goblins were normally a skittery bunch filled with carefree motion and bouts of hyperactivity but this group was a skilled exception to that rule.
Each of the goblins that watched over Althos and his allies was a carefully trained scout. They specialized in staying hidden and out of sight while tracking enemies and waiting for opportunities to sneakily bring down impressive foes. And as they watched Althos's minions and Althos himself they were wracked with anxiety.
They weren't just in the treeline, they were hiding within the shade provided by a few of the smaller trees and risking glances at the newcomers to the forest. If any of the nearby creatures looked in their direction with any level of seriousness it wouldn't have been the most challenging thing in the world to spot them, but Althos and his allies were too distracted to glance across the shore and into the forest.
One of them spoke, her voice quiet so as to not carry out into the open air where it might reach the newest apparent inhabitants of the forest.
"What are they?"
Her question was a logical one, and the goblin wasn't actually questioning what sort of creatures they were looking at. The potential enemies they were looking at was a shockingly diverse group.
They could see Althos staring in the direction of the wolves on his side of the river, they could see two of Althos's orcs in the river catching breakfast for the group of warriors, and they could barely make out Silander and the other orcs off in the distance. Raverangos was too far for them to see, due to the fact that the demon was currently sitting in mud and was bathed in the darkness of the cover provided by that side of the river's treeline.
The scouts maintained their vigilant watch over the racially diverse party for nearly forty-five minutes, before beginning to back away from the godling.
"The ogres and the others are gonna wanna hear about a group of racially diverse adventurers in our forest. Especially ones that are traveling with a bipedal frog."
Those words were spoken by the goblin named Olizeo, the informal leader of the group and the goblin with the farthest vision of them all.
The goblin's vision was a product of its class: the scout. As a scout it had the ability to magnify its vision, granting it extreme accuracy and the ability to make out even distant sights clearly.
The goblin had spotted the demon Raverangos but was playing it cool as to not alarm its squad-mates. For now it was focused on reporting this matter to its superiors. The goblin had never laid eyes on a demon and had absolutely no idea what that small building of a monster was.
Olizeo spoke again, fear and anxiety coloring his tone.
"We should leave. If we... get caught it could be bad."
The other goblins nodded at him and the group began to quietly back away from the forest's newest group of inhabitants.