Althos may have happily grinned as the pair of wolves bounded towards him, but internally he wasn't as excited as he felt he ought to have been at that moment. While the wolves approached him, the deity prepared to "turn in" the very first quest he had ever gotten. He reflected on the knowledge of what came next in a surprisingly melancholy way.
And so with this, my final immediate responsibility to this world fades away doesn't it? I mean... I'll be back, I still have a so much to do here, but this was the final pressing task I needed to complete. What comes next? Is all that's left here me uniting the orcs who chose to leave with their friends and then taking everyone else back? Back into the tomb of Agowraith? What waits for us... deep in that darkness?
When the wolves bounded to a stop in front of him, he began to speak to them. He hid the melancholic emotions he was feeling and the dark thoughts he brooded on, instead choosing to keep his smile firmly visible.
"It's good to see you, friends. I successfully stopped and freed the dire-bears from the influence of the one responsible for all of this. I also subdued the ordinary bears who hadn't already fallen at the hands of my allies. I believe with this peace may yet return to this area. What do you think?"
Althos spoke to the wolves in their own tongue, his words coming across as a combination of barks, yips, and whimpers to his less linguistic allies. They watched him with a curious gaze and once he finished speaking to the wolves, their gazes fell to the wolves. They were clearly waiting to see if the wolves responded in kind, but they suspected that they would.
One of the wolves, the smaller of the two immediately responded in the same tongue, and despite the fact that she spoke in her native, lupine language, the humanoids and extraplanars in her presence felt that her tone was eager, energetic, joyful even. Though none of them understood what she was saying so they couldn't be sure.
"It's over... And judging from the fact that what you said reflects what our systems told us, I suppose we owe you an incredible debt."
Her words carried with them a heavy emotion. A palpable joy and legitimate relief that only came when someone truly believed that a dire emergency had passed. Deep, positive emotions.
The other wolf moved forward and also began to speak.
"This forest is a safer place because of what you did. Everything and everyone in this forest owes you a debt. They may not realize it, because the danger wasn't yet in their territory, but what you did saved... well hundreds of lives."
He had a deeper and quieter voice than his mate. He spoke slowly and deliberately. Similar to his mate, there was a deep emotion that could be heard in his voice, a powerful emotion that translated somewhat loosely even to those who didn't understand the animal's language of barks, whines, and yips.
Althos' companions watched the exchange with abject curiosity, and as they did so they were reminded that the creature they had joined up with was unlike anything or anyone else they had ever met.
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The scene before the party was a constant reminder of the absurdity of the deity who had entered and subsequently changed their lives over the course of the last few days. Their master, the creature who in many cases had almost ended their lives with but a handful of strikes, was an odd entity. A living deity. A creature who could speak with plants, fungi, animals, and extradimensional beings as easily as he could speak with any of the orcs who had joined him.
As their master openly conversed with wolves, each member of the party silently reflected on the sorts of adventures they may one day reflect on if they decided to continue to live with and serve the deity. Though the exact imagery that sprung to each of their minds differed from party member to party member, each of them effortlessly conjured incredible images.
Some of them envisioned diving deep into dark and dangerous oceans to either subjugate or slay massive ocean beasts. Others envisioned going into rain-forests and coming across lost tribes of amphibious humanoids and convincing them to praise Althos.
Some imagined the sort of exaggerated imagery that came with thoughts of the other planes, they imagined themselves and Althos clashing with demons, devils, and celestials alike. They pictured Althos, Tristan, and Ravernagos leading groups of assorted creatures and coordinating to successfully counter an advancing horde of demonic horrors.
They could imagine Althos on a battle field swinging a powerful sword, to parry the blow of a mighty Fey warrior. Or Gallow on an infernal plain going toe to toe with a fearsome beast from the depths of Infernius, while Althos holds back a crowd of devilish warriors with potent magic.
Althos had taken them on an adventure that brought them face to face with two mighty creatures born of demonic hate and they were still alive. With him, they had met dark elves, and they had become unusual comrades of those same mighty magical people. They had faced down a pack of bears and lived to tell the tale while aided by ghouls the deity had conjured specifically to help them.
The orcs had come to understand that being with Althos could mean a life of adventures and of impossible magic. It could mean a life of impossible myth-making adventures, and eventually maybe even an immortal existence, years from now.
The orcs wondered what life with the deity would be like if just two days had been this wild. They wondered what sort of wonders awaited anyone who dared to stay with the young deity. They wondered what Infernius would be like, what sort of horrors lurked in the so-called "Tomb of Agowraith" that had yet to be discovered.
They were divided as they considered what to do, and how to react to Althos' offer to gain some illusion of control over their lives again after even the events of the past few hours.
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Althos and the wolves had fallen silent. At that moment the young deity received a new and lengthy notification.
[Quest Complete.
You have successfully handled the aggressive bears, located and dealt with the source of the corruption, and you even turned an emergency on its head to rescue powerful and lesser bears alike from the grips of a malicious ability used by an even more malicious creature. To call this a success is an understatement. You have truly earned every one of the rewards you're getting.
Rewards acquired:
Progress towards the Animal sub-domain. You have aided 2 communities of animals with your actions here. To be able to exert the lowest tier of influence over the Animal sub-domain you must awaken and otherwise befriend a variety of animals.
Experience towards the Friend of Nature power. Due to the way you handled that quest, the system is awarding you half of the experience necessary to level up this power to its next level, which makes animals even friendlier towards you and greatly improves your chances of being approached by non-awakened animals who seek to become your familiars.
The special reward is still being decided. You will receive another notification when it has been decided.]
Althos willed the notification away, with a smile on his face. Then he spoke again.
"I am all too happy to be of assistance to you and the inhabitants of this forest."
There was a sincerity in Althos' voice that surprised the wolves. He followed it up by revealing a secret that he hadn't revealed to the wolves, but mixed that secret with a hint of deception.
"I was born here. In this forest. I am happy to be here again. Unfortunately, I can't stay long but I am happy that my presence here can change this place for the better."
The wolves were shocked to hear him reveal that this forest was where his life began. It was true, even if his particular wording was intentionally deceptive. Althos wasn't born. He merely sprung to life in the forest, a few kilometers from where he and the wolves stood at that moment.
There was another moment of honesty hidden in Althos' statement. He was telling the truth when he revealed that he was happy to change the forest for the better. But there were darker intentions to the emotions that Althos felt. Darker intentions the deity was keenly aware of, but that he willfully kept hidden from others.
This forest is more than where my life began. It's home to a variety of lifeforms, many of which would make useful allies or servants one day. Fungi, wolves, bears, goblins, and other creatures call this place home. One day, when I have the proper domains under my influence, I'll return here. I'll make this forest mine. No one here may worship me now, but eventually, they will. Until then I've just got to be patient. Looking like a saint or a hero is just useful.
At that moment the deity's inner thoughts revealed a lot of what he had learned from the memories and thoughts he had absorbed while in this world, completing the quest the wolves had asked him to do.
They revealed his patience which was a gift he had gained while absorbing elven memories, his understanding of what humanoids considered to be acts of kindness of compassion which he learned from Amelie's memories of exploring the settlements of humanoids, and his new ability to truly scheme, a gift he had gained after learning from Gallow's memories.
The deity was a skilled actor, which was in and of itself due to a mixture of his innately high charisma as a deity, and the various memories he had absorbed of his worshippers acting to get out of various situations. He had learned from those who served him, and he would use that knowledge freely. It was such knowledge that informed his decisions to be deceptive and to keep his thoughts to himself.
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The deity did several small acts while chatting with the wolves. One of them was willing away the spell that conjured and animated the ghouls he had conjured to aid his followers. He did this because he didn't feel like dealing with anyone who may have come across the carnage of the battle just to see ghouls standing alone in the desolate clearing, blood dripping from their claws and fangs.
This had an unexpected effect, which Althos was alerted too when the spell was prematurely undone by the deity himself.
[Alert!
Your minions observed the battle, even in the midst of enduring enemy attacks. Because of this, they have memories, and their memories will be automatically transferred to you. Please stand by while this transference happens.]
The deity practiced self-control and discipline when he was hit, seconds after willing away the notification, by the memories of his necromantic creations. The sensation of receiving new memories in this particular way was pleasurable, unlike the way he normally made copies of someone's mind and gained their memories that way.
It felt like someone was softly stroking his mind, and it took him exercising restraint to not let anyone know of the pleasure he felt at that moment.
At this point, Althos was idly chatting with the wolves and so he had the mental breathing room to relax and play through the memories the ghouls had of their fight with the bears, as well as what they could see of what the orcs were up too during this time. The deity took advantage of this to lapse in the action to mentally unwind and play through what memories were in the minds of the ghouls.
The memories themselves were quite fascinating. They showed a chaotic battlefield, while also highlighting key moments of the fight. One of the most distinct memories any of the ghouls had was of a thick arrow that sailed by the head of one of the ghouls and embedded itself deep in the eyes of one of the bears.
Another distinct memory was that of the orcish brawlers learning from Raverangos and throwing themselves at the bears, something that when they did it lacked the same explosive power, but didn't lack the grit, determination, or nerves of steel needed to do something as bold as charging at fully-grown bears.
The orcs were still able to produce results with such gritty actions, as they wore heavy metal armor and had toned physiques that were capable of executing incredible acts of physicality. The bears who were subjected to their armed tackles were knocked back and the few seconds such techniques gave the party were useful for the magicians in the back of the battle whose supporting magic empowered allies and treated wounds.
After assessing the memories for a few minutes the deity came to the conclusion that the memories the ghouls had of the orc's fight against the bears were more exciting than the ones Althos had of his encounter and in that regard, he felt a bit jealous of his allies.
The deity cleverly suspected that the orcs wouldn't have liked fighting against the dire bears though. And that thought brought a wicked smile to the deity's face.
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The deity and the wolves conversed for nearly half an hour. The deity learned from them though most of what they said related to local gossip.
The actual main thing the deity learned from them he learned by paying attention to more than just their words. He studied their bodies, paid careful attention to the ways their muscles operated, and diligently took mental notes on everything from the physics of their fur to the composition of their fangs.
The deity's reason for doing this was simple: he admired their sleek forms and knew that in time he'd want to morph into a wolf again. When he next took on the form of a wolf, the deity hoped that the mental notes he took during this conversation would help him craft a lupine body that was truly powerful and intimidating.
Eventually, though he ran out of words to say to the wolves, and they too ran out of words they felt comfortable sharing with him. When that happened the two sides bid each other a peaceful farewell and Althos gestured to his followers to follow him.
He led them away from where they were, and the group began a casual saunter in the direction of the river where they first met the wolves. For once Althos was quite chatty, asking his followers to recount their battle for him. They took turns recounting their participation in the clash and describing in detail the ferocity of the enemies they fought.
Althos was eager to listen to their exploits and unbeknownst to them the deity was able to tell when they embellished or exaggerated their glory due to the participation of his ghoulish minions. He wanted to see how their retelling of the battle compared to what the ghouls had observed. To the deity, it was a fun experience that allowed him to learn how they told stories as well as gave him a chance to observe their perceptions of themselves in a fairly natural environment.
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Althos's hike to the small river where he and his followers first met the wolves, as well as killed the first bear he met, took him and his followers about half an hour. After that, another few minutes passed while the rugged party set up what passed for a camp.
Their small camp consisted of a tiny fire pit that was lit and provided a minuscule amount of illumination in the grassy area near the river's shore, an area littered with bedrolls and camping kits, and a small pile of fish bones with scraps of fish-meat still clinging to the sharp bones thrown away not far from the dim campfire.
The mortals were universally in bedrolls, readying themselves for some shuteye after what felt like days awake. Althos had spoken to them already about this, but as they were gradually drifting off to sleep he took pains to remind them again of what would be happening tomorrow morning. He spoke to them, his voice soft and nonjudgemental, as they felt themselves struggle to stay awake.
"Remember, tomorrow when you wake up I need you to have made a decision about your future. Will you be staying with me, and venturing into Infernius, or will you be returning to your friends and rejoining Talvin? Your choice is yours, but you need to commit to it."
As he said "it" he felt the first of the orcs he had gathered to serve him, Bazur, drift off to sleep. His siblings and his the other orcs were quick to join him.
Within minutes only the extraplanars and Althos were awake. The five of them, the sentinel demon, the imp, the soul orbs, and the deity weren't chatty sorts, but the deity still had something he wanted to do while in the forest. Just one, relatively minor thing. So he issued the pair of his main servitors commands. One of the commands was quite freeing. The other wasn't.
"There's still something I can do while we're here. Salifinos, guard the camp. Raverangos, go on a hunt. I'm gonna go on a walk."
The demon heard its master, nodded, and then sulked off into the forest. The imp grinned at Althos, and then repositioned itself so that it was facing the warriors who served Althos. While the imp had stared at him, Althos had a careful, stoic expression on his face.
Once the imp looked away the deity began to smile, grinning as he felt free to do something he had wanted to do and waited to do for a while now, even though the night was already almost halfway over.
Althos walked into the greater forest as well, going off in a different direction than Raverangos had gone. And then, once he had just walked past the first tree in the part of the forest not dominated by the small river, Althos activated his teleportation ability and was gone.
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Deep in the forest, there was a deadly trap that had already resulted in numerous deaths that evening alone. The creature at the center of it all slowly searched its surroundings with a fungal tendril.
After searching for a few moments the curious tendril found a fresh corpse. It leisurely wrapped around one of its own kills and began to slowly pull it towards the fungal mass responsible for its death.
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The gruesome fungus responsible for this sat at the center of a dangerous trap that was responsible for causing intelligent creatures to avoid the part of the forest it laired in. Its trap was simple: the fungus was a mutant variant of a common type of forest fungus that had developed a potent lure in the form of a brilliant fragrance it could emit at will.
Unintelligent or just plain unlucky forest dwellers would be lured out by the scent, and upon bumbling into its territory would incite a reaction by the unintelligent fungal beast. The creature would either maw them with its titanic mass, or it would lash out at them with its thick tree-branch like tendrils until they passed away and then leave their corpses somewhere in its reach where it could consume them whenever it ran low on nutrients.
The gigantic fungal mass was unique in the forest. It was the only fungal creature to have evolved past its stationary phase and become a mobile being. And that made it of special interest to Althos.
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The deity reappeared in a deeper part of the forest, so as to conduct an investigation into something that he suspected waited in that area. The area he emerged in was a part of the forest that was neither a clearing nor a part of the informal path that led humanoids with relative safety through the forest.
He was in one of the deeper, more wild parts of the forest. An area not far from where he had watched his allies defeat one of the corrupted bears.
He was surrounded by thick trees on almost all sides. As he breathed in he could smell a variety of different scents on the chilly forest air. He smelled the scents of a variety of animals, and of some trees, but he also smelled the lovely scent of a particular type of fungus, one he didn't know the name of but it had caught his eye by being the lone green dot on his radar to move earlier.
The scent was positively alluring. And Althos could sense that that was part of the dangers of the creature he had entered this area to find.
He began to slowly and leisurely walk in the direction of the scent. He tracked it with the skill of a trained and experienced bloodhound. It led him out of the area where he was surrounded by thick trees and deeper into the forest proper.
As Althos examined this part of the forest he realized with a start that this was a popular spot for a variety of animals. He could smell a mixture of scents in the air, and on the ground, he could see a surprising diversity of tracks to follow.
The deity grinned as he realized that many of them led to the general direction green dot, at least according to Althos' radar. Even at that moment, the deity was beginning to feel his excitement growing.
The reason his excitement was growing was that something was in the forest. Something that he could sense, with his innate ability to sense fungi. But unlike the fungi the deity had seen with his own eyes, even the tiny fungi he had seen in the forest, this fungus was mobile. Which explained why Althos felt the need to see it with his own eyes.
As Althos began to walk deeper and deeper into the forest, he allowed himself to shed his disguise. In the wild area of the forest, especially while alone, the deity had no reason to walk in his human form. Each step was accompanied by his artificial form losing more and more of its pseudo-humanity and returned to a more naturalistic design.
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The new monster that lumbered through the deep part of the forest was an odd creature. At first, he appeared to be human, but it became apparent that he wasn't quite a member of mankind due to the unsightly nature of his new, transitory appearance.
He grew in height with each passing step, even as he took on a form more terrible and clearly monstrous than any other form he had taken on to date. He didn't fully understand this at that moment, but this new form had a reason and an origin.
He had gained the strange new form he was transforming into as a result of the new fungal worshipers the monster had gained while exploring an underground tunnel earlier that night, and the bioluminescent nature of those same creatures. Their nature didn't cause an immediate shift in his fungal form, but it would now.
As he walked closer and closer to the strange creature he sought to make contact with, entire meaty chunks of his divine skin peeled off of his mighty bones and fell to the ground he walked on. Where the skin had been, other things sprung up in its place. A lot of his body now looked to be made of underground soil, the sort of soil that was perfect for mushrooms that lit up such areas.
As he took more steps, mushrooms began to spontaneously grow out of his skin, emerging rapidly and growing to full height and width in seconds. The mushrooms seemed to serve as a sort of substitute to clothing, emerging and quickly covering areas where such plain visibility on a humanoid would have been deemed inappropriate though at this point incredibly little flesh remained for someone to make out anything untoward anyway.
This replacement to his skin was far from the only thing that marked this form as something very different from humans. His face changed as well. His skin seemed to retract and tighten to his skull, while a thick fungal plate emerged to serve as an odd naturalistic helm and that would have blinded someone who needed eyes to see, but Althos adjusted to his strange helm quickly thanks to his remote vision power and his other senses making up for his occasional lack of sight.
The deity was no longer just a walking hybrid of man and mushroom-like he had been in the tunnel. In the gloom of the forest, it was quite clear that the mushrooms that grew of his now very soil-like skin were now glowing mushrooms and he was becoming something far more monstrous. The glowing mushrooms illuminated his soil-like skin and also cast a soft green glow on the forest around him.
The deity made his way through the forest, carefreely exploring the area while feeling his excitement begin to mount. He knew he was getting closer and closer to the fungal creature he was seeking.
Eventually, he happened across the furthest corpse left behind by the fungal monster he had come to see. It was a corpse of a tiny bird.
The little thing couldn't have been more than 25 centimeters long, with a wingspan about twice that length. Althos examined it, gingerly touching its diminutive frame and exploring its body with his gilled fingers. He didn't rely on sight, but instead embraced his fungal nature and used his other senses to explore and learn about the creature.
His tactile investigation led him to believe that the creature died upon crashing into the ground, as an exploration of its final resting place alerted the deity to displaced dirt around it, and to the fact that there was a cut across its wing that was rapidly rotting away as if the thing was suffering from a necrotic venom. Althos touched the wing and felt it begin to disintegrate at his touch.
Althos quickly felt satisfied with his investigation, and quickly returned to following his mental radar deeper and deeper into the forest so as to find the mobile fungi he knew lurked somewhere relatively nearby.
In time he finally discovered the lair of the creature. He did this by following the scent of the massive entity, and stumbling across more corpses that gave him a general sense of where to go. The creature's lair was in the center of another dense group of trees, and the trail of corses led Althos to right outside of where it nested when the beast was not in motion.
Althos's unique deific vision and periodic usages of his remote vision power allowed him to see through his fungal-plate helm without any difficulty. What he saw beyond the natural armor was a dense cube of trees with one open space to allow entry into the actual lair of the fungal beast. Althos stepped to it and stepped beyond it with just a few steps.
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For the past few minutes, the massive mass had been acting strangely. The normally passive creature had begun to... feel something. And these feelings were causing its tendrils to sway and swing about, as if in a simple-minded dance.
Feelings beyond an imitation of rage at anyone who intruded on the territory it had dubbed as its own were alien to the fungal mass. But as Althos neared it, deep in its simple heart, it felt something better than its shallow imitation of rage. And it began to happily react to that.
This was due to the euphoria that Althos' proximity caused in fungi. His aura of fungal superiority gave any fungi in its presence increased awareness and intelligence, allowing them to gain the shallow mental faculties needed for worship and obedience.
Althos' nearing proximity caused the creature to become more and more active. Eventually, seconds before Althos appeared in front of the gigantic creature, it became so active that it even lifted itself off of its mass of tendrils as if to imitate a humanoid who was expressing shock or excitement after hearing a bit of important news, or to mimic a humanoid carefully looking for a loved one it was told would be arriving soon.
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Upon entering the lair of the beast Althos was shocked by two clashing scents. One was the thick, nauseating scent of animal corpses littered on top of each other that cluttered the floor. This particular scent was difficult to stomach, and Althos found himself envious that the fungi didn't have the ability to smell.
The other scent was the alluring fragrance that the fungal beast emitted. It was a much cleaner, far more pleasant smell that could entrance animals and creatures of lesser intelligence to follow it to its source. And its source was the fungal creature Althos could hear shuffling and perhaps even exercising atop a mound of bodies and its own mass of fungal limbs.
This smell fought against the sickening scent of animal corpses in various states of decay and Althos felt that the attempted escapes of the various corpses he had seen littered around the area was likely caused by the fight between the two scents alerting a few particularly perceptive animals to flee, but in some cases they were too late.
Althos looked up from the corpse-flooded floor and saw the fungal mass he had set out to find. He was surprised to see the massive thing acting as if it was waiting for him. It "stood" on its own mass of tendrils, and the way the creature's massive form was angled revealed that it was absolutely searching for something. And at its sides, a few tendrils writhed in what Althos interpreted as strange joy.
Althos examined the massive form of the creature with abject admiration. It was gigantic for any fungi coming in at just under 2 meters tall, and several more meters thick. Its mass resembled a massive purple rock riddled with holes and cavities with one notable exception. At the center of its rocky exterior there was a single area that was solid. It was situated roughly where Althos suspected the stomach would have been on a human or orc.
This single solid area extended for about half of a meter. It was the one place on the creature's hole-filled main mass that was solid-looking. Althos could tell there was something more to this weird area than it just looking solid.
It had innumerable tendrils that extended several meters long, most of which its mass rested upon but others of which danced at its sides. A handful of thinner tendrils extended forth from the cavity-like gills that riddled the body of the thing. Most of its thick tendrils seemed to connect to the rest of its mass in ways Althos couldn't quite make out due to the tendrils themselves obstructing his remote vision.
At the center of the creature's mass, there was an awkward area that Althos realized, after several moments of close examination, most likely served as the creature's maw. This was odd to the deity, who knew of incredibly few fungi like this, fungi that possessed redundant limbs. It was the strange, solid area Althos had noticed earlier.
Fungi consumed matter through the liberal usage of thread-like substances called hyphae, which they spread through their food. These substances broke down whatever they entered and sent the broken remnants of the matter to the fungi, who could more easily digest the broken remnants than the original structures the hyphae entered. Normally the hyphae extended from the fungi into the food-source, so to see fungi with this sort of physiology was odd.
The maw was a thick area in the center of the creature's stalk that seemed perfectly situated to spread energy through the rest of the body, whether it was fueling the tendrils down below it or the gills up above it.
After examining it, Althos stepped forward, moving closer to the creature and composing a message in his mind to send to the creature. Within moments he had a message he felt was suitable.
[Hello young one. I am the Fungal Lord. The guardian of all fungi.]
He sent the message to the creature and noticed that the thing seemed to back away a bit moments after receiving the message.
[Fungal... Lord?]
Althos chuckled at the thing and grinned kindly at it, though his grin couldn't be seen beneath the fungal helm that had naturally formed on his face.
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Fungi evolved in the presence of their lord. In the case of the fungal mass enjoying the benefits of its lord's proximity, Its mind was expanding and evolving far beyond its limited instincts and the very few things it had learned over the course of its lifetime.
This didn't mean that the creature was becoming smart. That would assume it was intelligent in the first place. Rather the creature was taking incremental steps towards becoming intelligent. It was gaining real awareness of itself and its surroundings, moment by moment. Its reflections were basic, accurate but only in the vaguest sense.
In front of Althos, the unintelligent creature regained control of one of its tendrils and used it to wrap around a corpse of a wolf. It dragged the corpse close to its cavernous maw and opened the strange thing. Then the creature transmitted a thought back to Althos.
[This is... food.]
After transmitting that thought, the creature was still for a second. Then it opened its maw, and Althos got a chance to peer into the eerie darkness that was the creature's gullet.
Althos watched as the creature's maw began to shake. This was followed by a forest of connected hyphae descending or ascending from well-obstructed gum-like substances within the tops and bottoms of the creature's mouth. The bound hyphae resembled a gruesome mockery of teeth.
Althos curiously gazed at the fungal mass as it tossed the corpse into its maw and "bit" into it with its false teeth. The bound hyphae worked like teeth would and easily pierced and crushed the creature's rotting meal. This created openings for the normally needle-like threads to pierce past the skin of the corpse and begin their work of breaking down the creature's body for consumption.
Another of the mass's tendrils latched onto a deceased forest deer, a creature Althos could identify thanks to the various memories that surged through his brain, and threw it in Althos' direction. The deity reacted to the move by using magic to effortlessly catch the flung corpse which would have otherwise sailed over his head.
He sat down and he brought the corpse to him, to rest it on his lap. Althos wondered why the fungi did this for a moment before the creature expressed its own thoughts.
[Eat. This... good... you... friend.]
Althos smiled at the odd fungi and pondered its proposal for a moment. He had never eaten before. It was unnecessary since he was a deity. But his thoughtfulness lasted for only a moment.
He shrugged his shoulders, and willed hyphae to sprout forth from his fingertips. His hyphae were thin, blue tendrils that seemed to sprout from somewhere underneath the soil-like skin of the deity's arms and burst forth from within him.
Once they were outside of his arms they shook off bits of his soil-skin, before beginning to grow as a form of movement to close the distance between them and the deer. Approximately 3 hyphae had sprung out of his arms and were sprouting in the direction of the deer.
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The deity's hyphae weren't natural parts of his body. They were constructed from magic and his connection to other fungi. Because of that, the thin fibrous things were preternaturally good at what they were intended to do. And their intention was to cut a path through the deer that allowed enzymes to spread and break down muscle, bone, organs, and anything else that could be consumed into easily digestible nutrients for Althos to feed off of.
The thin things quickly surged towards the deer and effortlessly penetrated the thing's skin using a combination of speed and penetrating power.
He felt the newest parts of his fungal form, his thin hyphae, sink deep into the muscles of the deceased deer, exploring the thing's body while speedily spreading digestive enzymes that were most likely going to make quick work of the creature.
Rather than be distracted by his odd form of "eating", at that moment Althos was mentally mapping the structure of the critter whose corpse was nourishing him. He was gaining a new understanding of the deer, an understanding that the goblin whose memories were responsible for teaching the deity what little he knew about deers until the moment he began to eat one, could have never had.
His mind was expanding as his hyphae carved through the muscles of the deer in his lap. Had someone watched the thing, they would have noticed that what little bare skin of the deer's was visible was rapidly changing color and decreasing in density, as the thing was rapidly being eaten.
The fungal mass that had tossed the deer to Althos asked the fungal lord a quick question.
[You... like?]
Althos turned to the fungal mass and grinned underneath the fungal helm that covered his face. He thought about how to respond and decided that the simplistic language the thing had employed would probably be the best way for them to communicate. He closely mimicked it when he sent the mass his response.
[Yes. I like. You friend. I... protect you.]
The fungal mass was quiet for a moment. Althos continued his rapid consumption of the deer, his own hyphae continuing their relentless exploration of the thing's corpse. When the response from the mass came it was quiet and solemn.
[Yes... You lord. What is... lord?]
Althos almost laughed as he spent the next few minutes, and eventually the next few hours having a philosophical and eventually theological discussion with the fungal mass. At some point during the conversation, Althos received two notifications.
[New Species Knowledge Gained: Fungal Lurker
Fungal Lurkers are mobile fungal masses that are one of the more common evolutions basic fungi can become. These are rare creatures who have low-levels of intelligence and often lurk in isolated, desolate locations far from civilization because when these creatures encounter humanoids, humanoids tend to kill them on sight.
These monsters attract diverse prey thanks to their ability to produce an incredible smelling aroma. Once prey gets close to them, entranced by the sight they give off, they tend to hide in plain sight until they can hit something with their tendrils. Some of them have paralytic tendrils, but usually, all it takes them are a few good strikes with their tendrils.
These creatures can be mutated quite easily and they can endure a range of magical or biological modifications. How they evolve can be modified through mutations they endure earlier on in their lifetimes and by where they spent their time prior to their evolution.
It's not difficult for them to be convinced of another creature's greater intelligence and they are more than happy to serve another creature if that creature feeds them or allows them to feed on unfortunate victims who come close by. They can evolve into a range of fungal creatures, into stockier fungal-humanoid hybrids.]
[Special Reward Announcement!
Minor override: The original author of this announcement didn't properly contextualize it. To clarify this and to ensure you are on the same page as the system, it's important you know that the tree wolves who gave you the quest are evolved, grey-wolves. And the dire bears you saved are mutant offspring of a powerful bear and an influential spirit. Hence why this notification refers to both evolved creatures and mutants.
Original announcement: As a reward for completing a quest that was given to you by evolved creatures and then whose contents were shaken up by the interference of mutants, the system believes that you deserve an unusual reward. So because of that, the system has chosen to unlock some special systems for you as a god.
Specifically, you are now gaining access to three special menus that are normally only accessible to high-level biologists and flesh-shapers, or gods with the right domains until their influence: the evolution menu, the mutation menu, and the templates menu.
These menus allow you to make use of templates, mutations, and to modify evolutions of creatures who serve or worship you. Though... if you become stronger and gain the ability to influence the right domains, you may be able to use evolutions, mutations, and templates even on your enemies.
Templates and mutations allow you to customize and modify creatures here and now. Though these things both modify creatures, how they modify them differs. Mutations are changes to a creature's genetic code specifically. Templates have far more diverse origins. Some templates are magical, temporary changes. Others are permanent ones that stem from non-magical sources. Some magical templates are permanent. Some non-magical ones aren't.
Modifications to a creature's evolutions are tricker than can or should be explained via system announcement. Long story short, they allow you to influence, limit, or even create evolutionary pathways for creatures capable of evolution. This menu also lets you see how close a living creature is to evolving, something that will be deeply useful for you if you decide to raise an army of super-creatures or want to examine your allies.
Take your time later and explore these menus. They are all influential and they all matter.]
Althos read through these notifications patiently and carefully once he noticed them. They intrigued him, but he didn't want to try them out here. He wanted to have more to play with before he took a lot at these menus. The second notification, the so-called "announcement" he received filled him with questions.
He saw it refer to someone, as the "original author" implying that more than a single... entity ran the system. He wanted to investigate, but he had absolutely no idea where to begin with that sort of universal questioning. He decided to content himself for now by searching through his memories, both those that were actually his and those he had access too from other people, to learn about the system.
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Eventually enough time passed that, the deity knew that he needed to return to where his allies were fast asleep. He politely bid farewell to his new friend, reaffirmed his decision to help and protect the thing, and began the journey home. He left early enough that he had time to walk there and arrive before his allies awoke. He left early enough that the moon was still in the sky, gradually beginning its descent.
While on his way to his makeshift home, he wondered what his allies and servants had dreamt of. He didn't know it, but they were dreaming of what their lives may yet hold, depending on what choices they made in the morning.
The orcs who were about to make one of the most important choices of their lives, to be reunited with their own kind, or continue to journey and adventure with Althos, were dreaming of the sort of adventures they may have if they boldly decided to stick by their master and join him in life-or-death battles all over the multiverse.
In their dreams their initial decisions were explored. In their dreams they inched closer and closer to where their hearts wanted them to go, one way or another. In their dreams they saw possibilities and consequences.
In hours they would make their choices.