Chapter 4
Age of the Godlings - Year 0 - Kroonensnoob - Day 2
Waddling onwards for hours, I headed towards the anomaly. Braving the dangers of the swamp one at a time.
As I waddled, I noticed that the local wildlife was being quiet again, remembering the Perytons. I quickly looked around for a larger pool of water to hide in, if the random encounter proved too much for me.
There was a larger pool, but I couldn’t know the depth of it, until I was in it.
With my big hippo silhouette wielding 2 antler weapons, I tried creeping behind bushes and trees, but the attempt at stealth was laughable.
The swamp stench was enriched with another source of sweet rot, carrion. And in this case as I leaned out from a tree to spy, carrion being fed on by a large hyena.
I froze, and reviewed my options. The hyena had dirty grey fur, with brown patches across the body. Behind its head spread a wild chestnut colored mane, going back over its hump and thinning on its muscular back.
The hyena clearly demonstrated its capable bite, tearing off large chunks of meat and gnawing through bones with a quite disturbing crack sound,
This seemed like the perfect opportunity to practice my Soothe the Beast spell.
I had saved bits of the Peryton for just such an opportunity, and they were beginning to whiff as well, so perfect for a snacky little carrion doggie.
I was not entirely sure about the singing and dancing part, that could be fun.
Peeking out from the tree, I activated Electro-Metavision. The hyena had the telltale colors of a living being, but was also quite different from the colors of the vegetation.
I looked around, if this went south, it was okay with one hyena, but not a whole pack of them. It seemed like it was solitary, no other big animals.
[You have inspected 216/500 lifeforms with Electro-Metavision]
I deactivated the vision spell, and focused on the feasting beast again.
The hyena looked pretty mean, but one antler behind my back, my other hand held a stick with a lovely piece of Peryton offal spiked on it.
“Soothe the Beast” I uttered, and then felt a pleasant surge of lightning through my body, I started to jig around on my feet while singing “Here little carrion doggie, have some flying deer meeeeaaaat”.
The hyeana growled when I started singing, and looked up at me, then smelled the sweet offal on a stick, and walked over, tongue lolling out of its mouth, panting like it had just been through a carrion eating contest, with the associated sprinkle of blood and viscera decorating its rich grey fur and accenuating the numerous brown spots.
Its eyes locked with mine, and seemed to look deeply into my soul to determine if I was indeed a Sandwich or a Bringer of Sandwiches.
Then its nostrils started to flare, and it went cross eyed at the offal.
It sniffed at the meat lump on a stick, then took a bite, then another one, that chewed right through the stick. Swallowed, then held eye contact with me for 1,2,3 seconds. It lifted its head as if to look at the sky, then let out a startlingly high pitched laughter, then turned around and started to poke at its initial carrion feast.
A new notification was blinking at me.
[Through a combination of Luck and random chance, the spell in conjunction with the morsel provided to the Ghostfur Hyena was the best snack it ever had, this has increased the Ghostfur Hyena’s reaction towards you to Loyal]
[You have earned 375 XP for taming a Ghostfur Hyena]
You have completed the quest : Beast Godhead I, and have gained 500 XP and The Beastmasters furry undies, which has been added to your inventory.
[New Quest chain offered : Beast Godhead 2/?
"Help your new pet reach a new level of experience.
Your pet must survive for you to complete this quest."
Quest completion reward : 500 XP, a random item of meager quality, equippable by your pet.]
I felt a bit like making an evil villain laugh, this was awesome, my first companion, though stinky and would probably eat me if I become mortally wounded. A dog was a bit too little for a Hipponian, and I guess a Hyena could be a Hipponians best friend.
Okay am I being too happy about this I thought, and not paranoid enough, what if it starts to eat me while I sleep ? or just when I have my back towards it ? in what way am I going to trust something called a Ghostfur Hyena ?
Then looked at it.
The Ghostfur Hyena was sitting on its haunches, tongue lolling out of its mouth, and looking at me. “Uh thats a good boy” I said timidly, and had weird hipponian goosebumbs running up my thighs.
While I would not let it lick my face, it felt nice not being completely alone, and it kinda was just a big doggie.
I then summoned my charactersheet, and took a look at the inventory grid, and gazed upon my newest quest reward. Just what kind of creepy bastard did you have to be to make furry underwear.
But then again the tabernacle had already been in a close encounter with some thorns, the Perythorax being a hoodie didn’t really protect his groin.
No it would also be good to end the constant swinging of Hipponian cock while trekking jungle swamp. And with that thought I concentrated on equipping them, while hoping they weren't cursed or trapped or something like that.
They actually felt surprisingly good. Hipponian were maybe not as sensitive in their nether regions as human. And I was pretty sure I could use all the armor I could get. These underpants gave more than half the armor points of my vaunted Perythorax hoodie, so it was cool !
Beastmasters furry undies : +2% to interacting with Beasts, Armor 4, Durability 90/90, Quality : Wellmade, Part of a set, Beastmasters Alpine Garb
“Ok, time to go, come along Scooter”, I whistled and walked along. If I just showed a lot of confidence then everything would maybe be alright, maybe.
I had to stop once in a while to get to a higher position where I could view the terrain, to use my superman vision making sure I was still moving towards my objective, and not just waddling circles in the swamp.
My new doggie kept up, and was ok company, it sort of fitted that when I started my antics to get a high vantage point to spot the anomaly, Scooter would run around smearing its butt over features of the landscape, depositing some sticky substance on grass stalks and whatever upright feature there was.
When I was done getting my bearings, I would crawl down, and Scooter would stand proudly in front of me, signaling a job well done.
So as we stopped in the late afternoon, I was trying to get my not so apelike body up on a boulder to farsee. Suddenly Scooter made a weird yip noise, and laid down low, while baring its fangs. I had just come up on the boulder, when I noticed Scooter and froze.
Scooter laid completely still, only its ears were moving like circling radar antenna, scanning for hostiles it seemed, good doggie.
I thought that a hippoman with a eagledeer carcass hoodie, would probably stand out, even when trying to look very small on top of the biggest terrain feature.
I contemplated trying to slide as stealthy as an oil slick down the side of the boulder, but my short experience of hipponian life told me that the thud of me hitting the ground would in best case be audible and worst case a loud splash and me slipping in the mushy swamp muck ending up with the Peryton antlers lodged in my skull.
Suddenly I could see what Scooter had heard or smelled, a band of humanoid lizard primitives were chasing something fast and small, running hard, to my suprise it was a humanoid sprinting for his life, a small one, and no oh my god
It was too much for me, and the swamp started to rumble with a deep hipponian belly laughter.
The small gardengnomish creature looked in my direction, face all screwed up, and then veered towards the boulder I was standing on, the lizardmen in close pursuit.
Uh oh, well I had given up my advantage by stupidly laughing, but the sight of the little guy, legs pumping and all.
Even when contemplating the gruesome fate of the gardengnome being the buffet prize, and just hoping the lizardmen would kill him quickly and not snack over several hours, it was still funny.
It might have looked cartoonish, but the deadliness of the situation did not escape me, and someplace inside me had lent a certain hysteria to the laughter, possibly the fear of myself ending up as the main meat dish of the buffet.
I scrambled down the rock, noting that Scooter had either scooted or had gone into tactical ambush mode, I hoped for the latter.
I picked up the antlers from the rock, and turned to face the lizardmen who had slowed down, and showed some surprise in seeing such a fine specimen of the hipponian race.
What I did next, was mostly out of knowing that in order to avoid a violent confrontation I had to make a powerful statement, I had zero idea of what that statement should be, and was a bit scared, but mostly just thinking that a hippoman in a eagledeer hoodie either looked awesome or very stupid.
“Only the Peryton Man shall pass” I shouted with forceful conviction, while brandishing the antlers.
Yipping laughter from Scooter echoed my performance.
All the lizardmen took an involuntary step back as Scooter jumped up on the boulder and regarded the lizardmen with an open jawed panting, saliva slowly dripping sort of look.
That's my Scooter.
I regarded the prize, the garden gnome, who looked less like a garden gnome now, he had white beard alright but also a thick white mustache growing out into sideburn whiskers which again grew into typical male pattern baldness, which was long in the back, a bit hobo style.
His skin was brown, and he was clad in next to nothing, some woven short trousers, quite nice, but nothing like my splendid Perythorax hoodie.
But the little critter couldn’t have been more than 3 feet tall, oh and also he had adorable little sandals on.
The lizardmen looked like the headhunters of some primitive tribe, they had spears, loincloths and a tight satchel cloth around over one shoulder and down the back. I noted the spears being with stone tips, and not just sticks.
“Kind stranger, we have no quarrel with you, your beast, nor a being known as the Peryton Man, we would like to continue our hunt, and not have any unsportsmanlike display of feral slaughter, if you would kindly step aside” one of the lizardmen said with a cultivated accent.
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
“Well I do declare, that we have never heard of this Peryton Man character” one of the other lizardmen offered
It seemed like I could walk out of this one, if I left little whiskers to feed the fish.
But he was the closest thing I had seen to a human, since dying and being ripped through some intergalactic astal plumbing, formed into a hippoman god triangle, and going walkabout in the swamp. I had glimpsed my own shape and visage in water surfaces, and this guy was way more human than me, and I felt a kinship with him.
And what was up with these lizardmen looking like headhunters but talking like some stiff upper lip British character from a Jane Austen drama.
I had to keep the initiative and momentum, so okay, if they want to play the worldly diplomats then I can be the ignorant barbarian god.
“Only the Peryton Man shall pass, the Peryton Man kneels for god” I intoned while pointing to the gnome. For a second his eyes filled with fury then he calmed himself, and knelt in front of me. I tried to not ponder on that character cue, and get on with the show.
“I am Perun the Stormlord God, This one is of my favored people, I shall rain lightning and beasts shall feast upon you and your tribe if you lay a hand on him”.
Just to take it to the top I did, what I hoped looked like an imposing martial arts stance with the twin antlers while threatening them.
Instead of attacking or fleeing, the lizardmen did a group huddle, stuck their heads together while murmuring, and casting glances my way.
Remembering the furious look of the gnome, I started thinking what a lone gnome might be doing in lizard territory, he could be lost from his tribe, but there was yet another possibility.
I activated Electro-Metavision, and as usual the nature in the swamp stood out in a hallucinogenic pattern of disco light.
I looked at the gnome, and nearly jumped. Multicolored filaments danced inside a skin of semitransparent silver, the forearms and hands were golden, the filaments in the hands seemed to be dancing to a tune with a higher BPM, or maybe more they were more densely weaved.
I hadn’t seen a god before, as I didn’t see these filaments on myself, but this was not a natural gnome, and not just a magic gnome, this must be a god. Wait, a gardengnome god ?
[You have inspected 231/500 lifeforms with Electro-Metavision]
[By inspecting another god with Electro-Metavision you have exceeded the quest parameters, and have upgraded the quest. Find other remarkable lifeforms to further enhance this quest.]
I whispered to the gnome “Nod if you understand me ?”
The gardengnome bobbed his head.
“Listen, I know you are a god, i’m not going to attack you, unless you start something.
Which I would be rather offended by, as I just put my ass on the line for your sake”.
The gnome god started to say something, but by then the group hugging lizzies had broken up and another spokesman moved a few feet forward and began speaking slowly and with purpose, any fear of the confrontation clearly not showing.
“It is known to all inhabitants of Glenhalla that a new era is upon us, the Era of the Gods.
We all received the system notification 5 days ago. If you truly are a god, then the Whispering Tongue tribe will not interfere in your affairs as long as you do not harm us.
We are one of the few lizardmen tribes who value trade and communication with other races, and we are sure our tribe will want to conduct trade negotiations with your august self and your favored people.
To further show our good faith, we know that the gods have only been here for the last 5 days, and know next to nothing about the fair world of Glenhalla, if you have any questions, we would try to answer them to the best of our knowledge, as long as we don’t compromise the wellbeing of our tribe.
[You must have a civilization center or acquire an envoy to initiate advanced diplomacy with tribes and city states.
* Basic diplomacy available with envoys and faction leaders face to face]
I quickly dismissed the notification. While a civilization center and an envoy sounded interesting, I had more immediate fish to fry.
I wanted nothing more than to finish my chat with the God of Gardengnomes, but information was too important to pass up, and while there might be merit in bluffing about your All Seeing Eye of God, now was not the time.
I quickly looked at the little god, pale but with a gruff look on his face.
He was studying me as well, and held my gaze, and made an almost imperceptible nod after our brief eye contact.
“Have you seen any people who look like me or my faithful worshipper here” making a vague gesture at Whiskers.
The spokesman of the lizardmen answered quickly “We have traded with both on previous occasions”.
To be clear, this is our territory, and solitary wanderers are usually killed on sight when entering uninvited. Of course these are exceptional times, and just having this meeting is an exceptional opportunity to deepen diplomatic ties between our people for the greater common good.
To the north, beyond this valley lies a majestic waterfall of great beauty known as the Zakkaramuni Falls, there a bloodthirstytribe of violent and undiplomatic lizardmen called the Stygian Axlotl, they have been locked in a conflict with a tribe of Hipponian living on the other side of the waterfall.
The waterfall feeds two wide rivers which combine, leaving a big island landmass in the middle.
As I understand it, they mostly keep clear of each other, with the middle island as neutral ground
You may think I overstate the nature of these lizardmen, but most tribes are rather different from each other, though still being of the same racial template. The Stygian Axlotl lizardmen are savages”.
I pondered that for a bit, then asked “what about my small favoured people, where do their tribes live ?”
The lizardman spokesman replied “The great waterfall which I mentioned earlier feeds a great river running all the way to the sea. Along the river and further down at the delta your small favoured people have camps, also they have a floating camp on a big lake, the lake is also fed by this river.
This valley runs parallel to the river, at the northern exit you can either travel north up the river to the great Zakkaramuni waterfall, where the Stygian Axlotl and you kindred favored people live. The long way, is all the way south through the valley, out of the exit and south with the river current to the swamp gnomes camps, river delta and eventually the sea.”
Without skipping a beat, the spokesman went on “Mylord Stormlord, to further assist you, we have decided to offer you a boon. One of our junior tribe members will guide you, and show our worth, he will be a valuable companion for you and your cause.
While the last was said, the group of lizards standing behind the spokesman, pushed out a smaller, maybe younger specimen of their race towards Perun.
The small lizard sighed, then straightened himself and looked Perun in the eye.
“Mylord, I am Kerthax, and have yet to gain enough fame in lizardkin society to gain a surname. I offer my services as a headhunter and natural diplomat to your cause, I have unlocked our clan class of Headhunter Negotiator which may help you form binding deals and treaties with other parties.”
“Well, Kerthax, I would be a fool to not appreciate a companion from such a bunch of smooth talkers as you. So welcome as my counsel.”
[You have expanded your Retinue with Kerthax a lizardman Headhunter]
[Creamy cupakes, through hard work you have learned a new skill.
Skills are the butter of civilizations!]
[Your skill in “Diplomacy” is now 1.04]
I was pleasantly surprised at the notification, this Retinue sounded like some kind of headquarter staff, a good place to start.
The rest of the lizardman looked on with stoic proud faces, expect one who was sulking a bit and his eyes often wandered to the gnome.
They seemed a bit too happy about sending one of their own away..
Feeling that these Englishman lizards could prattle on all day, and now that I had the local outcast with me, I thought it prudent to get out of their territory, and continue my chat with the little god.
We quickly bade them farewell, I whistled a couple of times, and Scooter reluctantly stopped digging in some insect hive while slobbering up the insects with his flexible tongue.
We walked almost for an hour and then Kerthax said we were out of Whispering Tongue tribal proper. It was almost dark, so we made camp,
Then I told all to sit down, And we got down on a dryish place on the swamp.
“Kerthax, to be blunt, the guy over here, which you and your tribe fellows wanted to eat is also a god”.
Both lizardman and gnome god dropped their jaws, the lizardman quickly looked at the gnome, and while I could not quite yet interpret the facial patterns of the lizardman, it could have been a look of terror.
The gnome then started speaking.
“Stormlord Perun, I Shikman Obad the Creator have had some time to think about it, and I do trust you, and I am grateful for you intervening against the other lizardmen. The information about where I can find tribes of my favored people is also valuable to me, so I believe I am greatly in your debt.
I am not quite sure of your motivation to spare me,but i’m thankful and hope to grow this into a mutually beneficial relationship. If both our tribes survive, we will end up being close neighbors, and have to share the region. And I would rather do that with someone I can trust.”
It was a bit pompously delivered. But it was a thank you, an acknowledgement and an outstretched hand. I deliberated for a bit.
“Kerthax, what say you ?”, I thought that this could maybe level Kerthax up even more, if I dragged him more into the conversation.
“Noble Stormlord Perun, and Shikman Obad the Creator” he nodded at both of us.
“As the chief negotiator of the Stormlord, I present the following terms [Settlement].
A notification popped at me, at the look on little Shikman’s face he got one as well.
[Treaty of Hippo Gnomo]
- Diplomatic proposal between Stormlord Perun and Shikman Obad the Creator
* Non-aggression pact - Tresspassers are spared, Thieves are killed.
* Trade pact - Trading missions are allowed into territory, accompanied by local guards.
I liked that it was simple and didn't commit to anything in particular, other than not harming each other. But Shikman also made sense when he said, it would be beneficial for both of us to develop a good standing with each other.
I would have to question my new henchmen about his Settlement ability, if magic diplomacy is a thing I want in on it.
“Shikman, I think Kerthax has made good basic terms, but feel we could add something, how about 10 people from each of our tribe go to the other tribe to act as ambassadors, that way we will get to know each other and share basic knowledge.”
“Perun, you are smarter than you look” Shikman said with twinkling eyes.
I laughed as well “yeah it doesnt take much looking like this”.
Kerthax coughed “If I may present a slight revisioning [Settlement]”.
A slightly amended notification came up again.
[Treaty of Hippo Gnomo
- Diplomatic proposal between Stormlord Perun and Shikman Obad the Creator
* Non-aggression pact - Tresspassers are spared, Thieves are killed.
* Trade pact - Trading missions are allowed into territory, accompanied by guards.
* Cultural exchange program, exchange of a number of tribe members between 10 members and 3% of tribe population
(revision 0.2)]
“Shikman, I can agree to this, do you see any need for further revisioning ?”
“Honorable Perun, I can also agree to this, but I do however want to ask another boon of you.
When we reach your tribe, please have 2 of your warriors escort me downriver, and give me one of the antlers. My component identifying talent has recognised the antler as high purity iron from a Peryton, I believe with the help of 2 hipponians to work a set of bellows we could craft a mighty weapon for the Stormlord”. Shikman stated.
“Shikman, take both antlers, we shall both wield an iron weapon to symbolise the relation between our people.”
“Very well, I believe that we may unlock a technological world accomplishment if we can forge an iron weapon. With two of your warriors working with me, I hope that we both will receive the accomplishment, but I cannot be certain that you will get it.”. Shikman said while shrugging.
I could see Kerthax concentrating, then he made a gesture uttered [Settlement] and suddenly looked drained of energy, and he sat down, scaly tail lying flat next to him.
“I don’t have any more mana points to make new settlements tonight, this last one uses advanced diplomacy, which takes up double points in the total cost of casting the settlement”.
[Treaty of Hippo Gnomo - Diplomatic proposal between Stormlord Perun and Shikman Obad the Creator
* Non-aggression pact - Tresspassers are spared, Thieves are killed.
* Trade pact - Trading missions are allowed into territory, accompanied by guards.
* Cultural exchange program, exchange of a number of tribe members between 10 members and 3% of tribe population
* Perun will provide a bodyguard of 2 Hipponians to escort Shikman to his people.
* Joint Research Project - Advance in the Metallurgy branch of research by successfully completing a tier II technology process related to Iron Working
(revision 0.3)]
“I agree” I quickly said, with Shikman also concurring.
[Settlement accepted by both parties, and is now in effect.]
[Your skill in “Diplomacy” is now 1.84]
Kerthax suddenly started coughing, he grinned a me in a friendly way, at least I hoped it was a friendly grin, hard to be sure with a lizardmans facial cues.
He banged himself on the chest and still smiling said “I just gained a Skrox manure heap of xp and diplomacy skill points, my very first inter deity diplomatic agreement”
It was getting late and we took turns keeping watch.
.
Avatar of Perun
Species : Hipponian
Level: 1
Sex : Male
Age : 32 years
Renown : 0 (Truly a nobody !)
XP: 1875 (3000 to next level)
HP : 133/133
(2 HP/hour)
STA : 200
MP : 160/160
(+6 MP/hour)
Holy energy 160/160
(+6 HE/hour)
Attributes
Strength 20
Wisdom 16
Charisma 16
N/A
Dexterity 13
Intelligence 16
Luck 20
N/A
Constitution 20
Spirit 16
N/A
N/A
Classes :
Avatar
Combat Skills
Clubs 1.02
Short Spears 1.02
Unarmed 1.34
General Skills
Diplomacy 1.84
Leatherworking 1.21
Skinning 1.09
Woodgnawing 1.16
Magical Skills
Electro Metamagic 1.57 (#)
Lightning Magic 1.03 (/)
Holy Skills
Perunian Clerical Magic 1.00 (@)
Beast Shamanism (¤)
Talents
Excessive Force
Semi-Aquatic
Militaristic
Sweet Luck
Abilities
# Electro Metavision 2.74
/ Stun 1.06
@ Consecration 1.00
¤ Soothe the Beast 1.00
Inventory
Perythorax
Armor: 7 Durability : 14/14 Quality : Exceedingly low
Peryton antlers
Durability 49/64 Quality : High
Peryton Scalpel
Durability 4/11 Quality : Exceedingly low
5 Peryton claws
2 Clubs
3 Stakes
The Lightning Masters left Sandal
Mana regeneration x1.09 Arrmor 2: Durability 40/40 Quality : Wellmade - Part of a set : Lightning Masters Tropical Vestments
Beastmasters furry undies
+2% to interacting with Beasts, Armor 4, Durability 90/90, Quality : Wellmade, Part of a set, Beastmasters Alpine Garb