Two demigods sat at a table, in a booth protected by a privacy field. Tinkerson looked at the demigod across from him. He was fairly certain that he was a student like himself. However, one that was more closer to the end of his 25 years, of this he was certain. The man had played that last game masterfully. He would most certainly be an asset. So why hadn't he joined up with anyone yet? Tinkerson decided to introduced himself and did so.
"I know who you are. You have been making a little bit of a splash. I imagine more trades for information about you has been made this last month then anyone else. Despite this, remarkably little could be found out. I have gone over what I could find out and decided a conversation was in order." The powerfully built demigod shifted in his seat. He seemed to place importance in what was happening. Tinkerson himself was feeling something. He realised it was one of his skills trying to tell him something, but it was dampened by the supression in this place. Nontheless, he dug deep to make a connection. A spark was made. The seeker skill was activated and it was telling him that this was a moment that would make or break Tinkerson and his plans.
"Let me introduce myself. My name is Kusog. I am the son of a unusual pairing. A god of war and a goddess of reason. It was a one time coupling that resulted in me. As I grew, both parents seemed to be happy with the fact that I had seemed to inherited traits from both sides but not actually seem to be dominated by one side or the other. For the first 50 years of my life I lived with my mother and learned the skills of a scholar and how to use logical thinking. I then spent the next 50 years with my father and learnt the ways of a warrior. But I seemed to excel in the fields of being a orchestrator of war rather then a fighter. While my father seemed to be a bit disappointed at first that it didnt seem I would be a warrior supreme, the fact that I was able to beat many of his generals in games, seemed to improve his feelings immeasurably. I then entered the academy, did my first 25 years and have to date spent 20 years here. I have five years to open up the guildhall." Here he fell silent. I listened and thought about what he said and decided to ask some questions.
"You seem very competent at what you can do. I wager that you would have been able to get on a combat team if nothing else. So I have to ask, why haven't you taken that option yet?"
"I have learned much about myself in these 20 years. I could have done it as a warrior, you are correct. It is not what I want to be known for however. I do not know the details as to what happens after we past through those doors. But I have a feeling that our position will be important at that point. So I was seeking to start my own faction. However, I have come to find out that although I am brillant at handling the details of war and combat. Plus seeing to the overall aspect of a combat team, I would not make a very good faction leader." He fell silent.
This explained much. However he had spent 100 years learning from two gods. Then 25 years honing his mind. 20 years here learning about himself and playing the games. He didn't have equipment apart from the basic stuff that was sold by the market. But I am willing to bet he had an army for the under halls that could not be beaten by many others. Time to ask the next couple of questions.
"If we were to join forces, where would you see us going? What are your intentions for the future?" Kusog took a moment to think about this before answering.
"I will answer the second one first. My intentions for the future is to lead exploring missions and possibly missions to help people in remote places. If I join a faction, I hope they will allow me to do this. I hope to move to godling rank. I am uncertain about god rank." I blinked at this. That was unusual. People were usually wanting to go all the way. "As for us, I can tell you what I hope for, but you will have to reveal more of your own plans before I will agree to anything." Reasonable.
"In that case, I shall tell you now as to my plans to the extent I have them planned. Like you I am hoping to stay more out in the boonies, but trade will also be something that I will probably be involved in, which will help with the supply of your exploring missions and the selling of goods from that you may wish to sell plus identification. As to the helping people, I am definitely very open to this. I have some plans involving setting up a base of operations, that may be of interest to you. But this I will not expand upon til we reach that level. We could do this in a group, but I wish to set up a faction." It was my turn to fall silent and wait for the answer.
"I agree to the group. As to the faction....... Tell me, do you know about the team games they put on here once a month?" I shook my head to this. "There are three stages to it. First we gamble in the gamblings halls. It is dangerous because the wagers we have to put up beside a certain amount of under hall credits are the game pieces we have built up for here. Once that stage is concluded, with us playing seperately for that, we then go into three table top games. One each of those will be played by one of us, with the third being a joint effort to team up on the tabletop. Once that part is done, we play in the dreamscape, teamed up, with only the pieces that survived from the tabletop games."
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"If we win this we will get rewards, once of which I have been working towards for a long time. If we win this, I will agree to making a faction with you and seeing where it leads. I reserve the right to leave if I think it deviates from my purposes." I thought about this. It would be a good way to find if we could work well together. I was amendable to this. I then asked when was the next one to happen. Two weeks time. Perfect. enough time to make some prep and gather some resources. I signalled agreement and Kusog agreed to take care of registering us for the competition. I decided to go see Kekemozz. Time for some guidance.
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I had begun to think of these halls as home. But I knew that it was not really that. It was just were I lived for now. Nonetheless, I have spent a lot of time here. Sitting in the library again, having a chat with Kekemozz about the slot that had opened up and the possibility of summoning something to fill it.
"I would normally advise you to wait, as you never know what you can get around these part, and the power supression makes it hard for a summoning to happen. However, I have a window. For my own purposes I had planned to have the supression lowered in my quarters so that I can contact some others through the universe. This will enable you to do a decent summoning. With me to hand, we should be able to make sure nothing goes wrong. However, be warned. This place does have enemies, and it possible that one will through slip through and kill us. It unlikely, I have done this a few times, but the summoning adds to the danger. However, I would be excited to see what you could pull in."
To put it simply, Kekemozz just loved to see what would happen. There was a popular meme for it back in my old life. It involved the phrase, 'Hold my beer.'. For a demigod of knowledge he was surprisingly cavalier about how he learned his new knowledge. But this was what made him stand out as teacher I felt, rather then shooting up to the levels of a knowledge god.
So we made our preparations. and I ended up having to get some materials towards the ritual. Kekemozz supplied some of it, but apparently the summoning ritual was individualistic to a certain degree on who was summoning. I had to get the keypoint materials. so I splashed out to this and ended up spending 30 demis towards it. Not a cheap sum. But it would improved his chances. They set up the ritual in preparation. the suppression was lowered and Kekemozz did what he had to do. Once that was done, he gave the nod to Daneom to start the ritual.
"I call upon the universe to show me the way. To open the spaces between and spread the word. A summoning is enacted and the clarion call goes out. A champion rank is offered in the games of the gods and more will be offered in time. I offer my soul to examine."
This was the dangerous part. While I could only be examined by someone seriously thinking of taking the position, I was vunerable to a certain point. I felt pressure on my soul as several entities looked at it. It was very unpleasant. Suddenly there was only a few left looking. Suddenly I heard a snarl and Kekemozz raising power beside me. "You are not welcome here," He said most firmly. I guessed something tried to come through that did not have good intentions.
All of a sudden there was only pressure from one point of my soul. All of a sudden a pair of eyes looked into mine. The eyes were the of the colour gray. I saw a mountain in those eyes. A meeting of sky and stone. In front of me suddenly was a bird. It reminded me of a raven from earth, but there were differences. For one, this bird was about 3 times the size. It was also grey. wordless communication started between us. He would come when called. He acknowledged that at the moment there was no spot for him currently as I was undergoing my training. However, he was curious to explore the mortal realms and from the looks of me, I would be going to the kind of places he preferred. So he would be content to wait. In the meantime, he would occasionally commune with me and look out through my eyes. I agreed to this and so he finally shared his name. It was most unexpected.
"Jack? Jack?!" I said incredulously The bird nodded. Well, at least it would be easy to understand. The pact was made and he disappeared back to whence he came. Whereever that was. I suddenly felt the supression of the academy go back up and the space was rendered safer again. I saw Kekemozz looking at me thoughtfully.
"Interesting. A Dimraven. It a bird that can travel through dimensions. Most familiars need to be dismissed when you travel through dimensions. He won't have to be. You are not likely to be lost either. They always know where they are and he will always be able to find you, so long nothing is blocking your bond. I leave you to find out more then that." I knew more thanks to my studies. Some of what was mentioned in those studies was very interesting indeed. It might be that kusog and me would have better luck exploring then most.