While Althos and his pet batrachian humanoid were off in the denser part of the forest the elves who were had taken up a temporary residence in front of the cave controlled by the dark unicorn stayed where they were. They didn't dare antagonize the powerful-looking demon who was evidently either under the control of the mysterious druid or working with him so they were rendered momentarily powerless.
The dark-elves may have been physically silent but they were having a lively conversation amongst themselves in the safety of their own minds.
One of the dark-elves, the younger female who in the light of the sun had eyes that looked to be a warm shade of brown, sent a message to her comrades.
[A druid and a demon... do you think he's lying?]
The other elves considered their compatriot's speculative thoughts and gave each other grim gazes.
They didn't really want to consider the implications of the human-like creature lying about the source of its powers, because they knew too little to be able to come to sure conclusions about the being whose powers had made them freeze up. If they thought Althos was lying they'd have to take a risk and stay in the area until they had more information on his powers.
One of the males spoke up a few seconds after the younger female said her piece. His tone was firm, direct, and the argument he made was something the others didn't disagree with so they ignored the rudeness of his directness in favor of acknowledging the wisdom in his words.
[For now... when the druid returns keep your eyes on him. Don't let him leave your sight. We will have to make a decision about him and how to deal with him before we leave.]
The other male, the elf named Mianthus nodded at his senior. The two women, one a witch and the other an alchemist, glared at the elf but didn't disagree so they merely allowed him to experience the power of their gazes, gazes which would have paralyzed lesser elves.
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Althos's abilities were mighty but since he was born with them and he was so young he lacked a legitimate understanding of how lucky he was compared to other people. What happened in the forest shortly after he was reunited with his infernal allies was solid evidence of that.
Silander, the young great-frog Althos the young deity had awakened in that forest the day before, moved forward to introduce herself to Althos's infernal allies. She boldly approached them and waited until both the half-devil and the imp were looking at her before she spoke.
"Hello! My name is Silander. I am a newly awakened great-frog who is one of the awakener's... Althos's first worshippers. He awakened me and I am very happy to be able to serve him. The other servants of Althos, mostly orcs, for now, are nice as well. I hope we can work together and become each other's dependable allies."
After she finished speaking an awkward silence fell over the area. After a few moments, Salifinos shed some light on the situation by commenting and sharing his insights.
"Althos... She's speaking the common tongue of this region, but Tristan can't understand her. I can, and I'm even speaking in this language so that she can understand me, but it'll take Tristan establishing a mental connection with her for them to be able to communicate."
Salifinos's tone suggested this was something that Althos should have seen coming, but the deity in his youthful naivete didn't have the knowledge base needed to realize that the humanoid-looking Tristan would be incapable of speaking the language the majority of humanoids Althos had met had spoken. The deity laughed off his mistake and corrected it by sending a mental message to Tristan.
[Hey Tristan, can you establish a mental connection with Silander? That way you two can chat!]
Within seconds of sending the message to Tristan, the young-looking half-devil priestess responded with a grin and locked eyes with Silander. Shortly thereafter the great frog began to grin back. Althos watched all of this with a grin of his own.
The group was quiet, chatting mentally for a few minutes before Althos refocused and told his companions that it was time for them to return to the wider group.
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The sentinel demon known as Raverangos leered out at the dark elves who silently stared back at the demon and his allies. For several minutes Althos had been gone there had been an awkward silence that had fallen over the area where his group and the group of dark elves had met.
Without Althos's quirky and loosely diplomatic attitude and his inclination to communicate with everyone present, there were no people present who were particularly chatty. Althos's display of his power had left an impression on the power-hungry dark elves but since he was gone and had left his demonic pet tasked with ensuring that the elves didn't go back on their word there wasn't really much to say.
The elves respected Althos's decision to not trust them because without the bloodhound like sentinel demon glaring at them they knew they would have been tempted to actually go back on their word. Some dark elves were plagued with faulty notions like "trust" and "honor" but not this particular group. They had an objective and were planning on fulfilling it.
The orcs who were beside the demonic hybrid of an ape and a pig occasionally turned and spoke to each other, in the uncivilized language the "civilized" people spoke. The dark unicorn had long since sauntered past the dark elves and placed itself in a place where it could protect the goblins it knew would soon bring it money.
The dark unicorn glared out at both groups but said nothing. It was quiet because it didn't think it had anything of importance to say, and because anything it'd say it'd just be saying out of anger which was a risky move in the presence of dark elves.
Pointy ears on one side, and a demon with some monsters on the other... what a freaking day.
The unicorn's mind was filled with derogatory thoughts aimed at both factions of interlopers who were intruding on one of the tiny camps the beast had established throughout the forest long ago. The beast hated people and to be exposed to so many different people, at least some of whom were stronger than it was wounding its pride and angering it.
Within the unicorn's small cave the goblins it captured quietly began to awaken from their unconscious state. One at a time, until all five of them, were awake. They woke up right as the orcs and the elves heard the sounds of nearby foliage being disturbed and pushed out of the way. Both groups listened intently as the sound got louder and more distinct.
Moments later, Althos and Silander reappeared from within the forest, something which didn't go unnoticed by the dark elves. And they weren't alone. They were joined by a winged imp who was visibly shaking as it drew closer and closer to the rest of Althos's group and a woman who wore a strange outfit that one might have seen on priestesses in the age of the old gods.
The dark elves noticed the imp that flew next to the young druid who had stopped them from running rampant earlier, and as soon as they confirmed what it was the group of them instantly hopped back, preparing themselves for the typical explosion of violence that occurred whenever a demon and a devil stumbled across each other in the wild.
The dark unicorn saw the imp coming out of the more wild part of the forest and readied itself for what it saw as an inevitable conflict between the demon and the devil. It backed up and inched closer to the cave where its new prizes were waiting, and unknown to Qut, now awake and silently watching this strange event.
The scouts simply lacked the knowledge that the unicorn and the elves had and though they noticed the body language of both the unicorn and the strange elves, they had no idea why the stranger they saw earlier had suddenly emerged from the forest and why it was that his odd companions provoked such a strong reaction from all of the creatures involved in their capture.
No explosion of violence occurred. The demon glared at the imp, sure, but the creature didn't lunge forward. The imp's decision to move to the same area as the demon was every bit as odd as the demon's apparent restraint. But they owed their unity to Althos and his influence over the two.
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Along the way to back to the rest of the party, Althos had used his mental powers to inform the demon of the devil's proximity and he also informed the devil of the demon. He had done so quite quickly and quite effectively. In doing so he was making sure his two allies found a way to not attack each other, relying heavily on his own strength and his ability to punish Raverangos as well as his ability to protect Salifinos.
The demon hungered for the devil, but Althos put Raverangos in its place quite forcefully and informed the hulking beast that it wouldn't be having imp for dinner but that he'd let it go hunting again if it behaved. Althos also reassured Salifinos that the imp would be safe so long as he served him.
Althos had been ready to spring into action the whole time he and his companions inched towards the rest of his party but he was surprised to find that no intervention was necessary. His demonic pet behaved and obeyed the firm commands of its master and in doing so earned a smile and the swift mental promise of a reward from Althos later on.
The deity's two soul-orbs left the side of the deity's infernal companions and returned to his side when the deity was steps away from his orcish servants. The two creatures of strange, evil light floated next to their master and wandered about around him, cavorting freely and proudly now that they were once again reunited with their master.
Althos's wondered why the two creatures who were at the lowest rung of the devilish hierarchy were so energetic as the various creatures he had been approaching looked at him in wonder due to the light-show he had accidentally performed for them.
It was at that moment that Althos looked beyond the dark unicorn or even the elves watching him, and into the cave once again. He was delighted to see that the goblins were waking up, and that meant that he'd be able to question them soon.
This knowledge compelled the deity forward and he moved quickly. Seconds after his awakened orbs joined their master, the deity resumed his approach to his orcish allies.
When the deity was once again next to his companions, the orcs looked at and introduced themselves to his infernal allies. Salifinos made use of his knowledge of the languages of mortals and audibly returned their greeting, but Tristan took a bit longer to use her telepathy to communicate with the orcs. In time all of them were briefly acquainted, and Althos grinned.
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In that moment, as Althos watched all of his allies in one place and interacting with each other, the deity felt powerful. This was the first time since he had gone to Infernius that he was with all of his allies, and in the strange world of his birth, he felt far from the one legitimate enemy he had: the mysterious true-devil Paimon.
For a moment Althos wondered what the strange devil was up too. But after thinking about it, he realized that it was one of the many areas where he was ignorant. And after reflecting upon that for a few moments the deity quickly contented himself by thinking about the things he did know: like that before him there was a chance to gain even more knowledge by questioning the goblins, who were themselves watching him quite openly.
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Once his followers were all acquainted the deity began to walk again, wordlessly striding past the dark elves and the dark unicorn until he was just inside of the cave and mere steps away from the goblins. The suddenness of his actions caught everyone watching him off-guard, but to him, such directness made perfect sense.
He stepped all the way into the cave and kept walking until he was right in front of the cage that contained the goblins. When he stopped he looked into the cage and made eye contact with all five of the goblins that Qut had captured. He was silent as he did this, taking time to note their physical conditions and the discomfort they felt.
The deity's silence was strange, but as he made eye-contact with the goblins they could sense that he desired something the deity felt they may have had. The mere intensity of his gaze made the goblins want to recoil from him, but they were stuck where they were due to the narrowness of the cage they were stored in.
The deity quietly considered how to proceed in dealing with the goblins and was unsure of how to begin to converse with them. This was something fairly new to the deity, a conversation with a stranger who had no real idea or impression of the deity. Perhaps the only time the deity could think that he had done that was with Tristan, or with the wolves.
At first, his mind was focused on diplomatic approaches. He pondered the possibilities that required words to be exchanged and possibly resulted in new allies or even servants and worshippers. Althos, being the opportunistic sort was quickly learning to see possibilities wherever they hid, and liked those approaches but wasn't sure how to talk to the goblins. Sooner rather than later he impatiently turned to other approaches he could take.
Eventually, the deity began to consider ways that he could get what knowledge he needed that didn't involve spoken communication. His mind turned to the assortment of magic that made up a healthy part of the deity's arsenal. The young deity was actually quite fond of this idea and began thinking about how to act upon it.
He wondered if he had the right sort of magic stored away somewhere within the already somewhat considerable knowledge he possessed locked away in his mental codex. But he didn't begin to search for whatever spell would allow him to go into someone's mind and learn what they learned just yet.
Instead of being proactive and doing that the deity even began to ponder the possibility of doing nothing, and letting the cards fall where they may. He considered the ramifications of merely allowing himself to be seen by the goblins and waiting to see if this eventually caused something handy to happen.
But when he began to think about how that could help him he realized that it was too reliant on others outside of his awareness doing things in response to him. He didn't like that this would force him to remain ignorant and that it relied on others. The deity wasn't sure if he liked others having the option to prepare for and react to him, rather than him having the option to prepare for and react to them.
Altogether the deity must have spent several minutes in this strange state of silence. It wouldn't last.
The deity's quiet contemplation was eventually shattered by Samyaza, with the orb angel doing away with the silence in the space by providing an easily actionable suggestion.
[Althos... just talk first.]
Upon hearing the angel's suggestion, Althos chewed on it for a bit. After nearly another minute of awkward silence, silence so odd that even the creatures behind Althos who were watching him were mystified by it, Althos finally grew frustrated with himself and gathered the mixture of courage and frustration needed to be outspoken to someone who wasn't a servant of his or a creature he had intimidated.
He finally spoke, his voice not only reaching the goblins in the cage but the others who had inched closer to the cave so as to observe the exchange.
"Hello, goblins. Are you locals to this area?"
His voice was soft, and he again channeled the power he had that allowed his speech to be understood by any creature capable of speech. The goblins heard his question and one of them, a smaller one dressed in a thin layer of armor covered in green soil and leaves, approached the edge of the cage and spoke.
As she spoke she also starred openly at the deity, in a move that had her companions predicted she was going to do so freely they would have warned her against.
"Hello, I am Amelie. We are locals to this area, who are you?"
The goblin who approached Althos was perhaps the youngest goblin in the group. Althos looked her in the face, his own eyes were unforgiving pits of inky darkness and eventually, he saw that hers were tiny blue orbs, a color that Althos wouldn't have expected the eyes of a goblin to be given that the skin color of the species appeared to be light green.
After making eye contact with her Althos felt a bit mischevious and wanted to take advantage of the chance she had given him by looking at him to barge into her mind. She didn't pull away from his gaze, and she didn't seem particularly distressed by his gaze either. That was useful to Althos, whose mischevious mind was moving at a mile a minute to come up with a plot that moved him closer to his goals.
Althos recalled the illusionary magic he used to enter into Tristan's mind when persuading her to become his servant but then the young deity had an even better thought; mental magic. He realized that though the majority of the targets of his mental magic to date had been people who he was already aligned with, there was no real reason he couldn't creep into or even invade the brains of people who were neutral or even hostile towards him.
He mentally tapped the strange codex icon that was part of his H.U.D. which contained the spells he could freely wield. He began a search for the right type of mind magic and wondered how long it'd take for him to find it. It took him but a few seconds to find something that was exactly what he was looking for.
[Spell type: Mind
Spell name: Mind Walking
Effect: Causes the caster to enter the mind of the target. The spell can be resisted, but attempts at resistance can fail if the caster is overwhelming more magically powerful than the target is.
Once the caster is inside of the mind of the target there is little the target can do to resist but the spell can be interrupted by outside influence or ended whenever the caster runs out of mana or undoes the spell with but a thought.
The interior of the mind of the target is known as a "mindscape" and each is a unique reflection of the person whose mind it is. Exploration of "mindscapes" gradually increases the power of mind magic, and can eventually result in the acquisition of mind-centric feats.
Cost: 200 magical energy right after being cast, and another 50 magical energy per 15 seconds the spell is in effect.
Notes:
1: This is a "concentration" type spell. As in it is one that takes your full attention, and it can be interrupted by things that disrupt your focus. During the time it is cast it will
2: The caster can decide to render the target of the spell unable to remember that their mind was invaded, or afflict them with a powerful status condition that causes them to experience intense pain if they try to tell others that they were hit by the spell.]
Althos wordlessly activated the spell and aimed it right at the eyes of the goblin girl who had locked eyes with him. Upon activating it Althos could feel the effects of the spell taking hold, and he felt his own mind slowly disconnect from his body, which to the deity was odd sure, but much to the deity's surprise it wasn't unpleasant.
One surprising consequence of this decision was the sudden acquisition of two powerful feats even before Althos entered the mind of the goblin.
[Feat gained: Disembodied
Benefit: Your ability to change your shape now includes the ability to do away with a physical form altogether. This means that you can will away your physical body and explore the multiverse as a being that lacks a physical form if you so chose and due to your nature as a god you can at any time reconstitute your physical form.
Method of Acquisition: Leave your physical body behind in a way that doesn't grant you a new, equally physical body.
Notes:
1: For many creatures, this is one of the most difficult feats to gain before they truly master shape-shifting, though among shape-shifting circles it's not exactly a secret feat.
2: Currently, you are the only creature in existence who can do this.
3: If you gain the ability to exert a level of influence equal to the greater tier or higher over the shapeshifting domain you can grant other creatures this feat as part of your blessing.]
[Feat gained: Dual-Willed
Benefit: You can do more than one thing that would otherwise require all of your attention. Here are some examples: with this, you can continue to cast "concentration" type spells while doing other things such as talking or even moving around. You can craft items while attacking or even using magic without risking a drop in the quality of the item.
Method of Acquisition: Have cast multiple spells that require concentration. Possess an overall magical energy of at least 25,000.
Note:
1: There are others who have this feat. A quick scan of the multiverse suggests that there somewhere around 2,000,000 people with this feat. All things considered, that's an incredibly small number of people.
2: The dual-will obeys the commands of the primary will and is dormant while not in use. This feat does not create a second personality or consciousness, merely a puppet that handles easy tasks. Each time before the feat activates the secondary will asks for a basic command to follow while the primary will focuses on the primary task.]
As Althos was being transported to the mindscape of the goblin he was surprised to see a menu pop up before him.
[How should I, the secondary will, act while you are in the mindscape of the goblin?
Talk, kindly
Talk, rudely
Be silent and possibly hostile
Retreat back to allies
Please note, these options are rough but once I've been used several times I'll begin to gain a greater grasp of your personality and be able to better tailor my responses to your personal style.]
Althos quietly and quickly selected the first option. Immediately upon selecting that option, the young deity was whisked away to the mindscape of the girl goblin who had boldly decided to look at him eye to eye.
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Althos quickly opened his mouth to respond to Amelie's question.
"I am Althos. I am a druid and I was tasked by some of the animals on the other side of the river to address some problems that some bears from this part of the forest have been causing. It seems that for some reason bears who are believed to be from here are acting very aggressively and even crossing the river. Can you help me find out why?"
The voice of Althos, whose physical form was being controlled by the brand new secondary will of the deity was unusually kind and gentle. He smiled at the goblin, and somehow the gesture made the other goblins feel a bit more secure. After all that was, almost exactly their mission as well.
There was a softness to Althos's voice that appealed to the frightened and fatigued goblins. It wasn't enough to make them drop their guards, but the goblins would be lying if they said they weren't somewhat relieved to have found someone with a bit of sympathy.
They exchanged wary glances at each other and considered how to proceed. Olizeo silently decided that it'd be best if he monitored his companions. His companions, on the other hand, adopted a range of other attitudes.
Brutus, the third oldest goblin of the five, moved towards the bars of the cage and looked at Althos. His amber colored eyes didn't look directly into Althos's black ones but rather starred at the deity's clothed chest. The goblin may not have had the courage or foolishness needed to look into the deity's eyes but he did have the courage to directly ask the young deity something.
"Althos... this cage is really tight. Can you find a way to open it?"
Brutus's deep, for a goblin, voice rang out and carried all the way to the mouth of the cave. The unicorn and the elves heard this request, but only the elves understood it. They quietly wondered what the deity would do in response to it, and spread out in such a way that exiting the narrow cave-mouth would be tough even for a goblin. They wouldn't allow their own ignorance to be their undoing.