George barely managed to stay awake as he trudged from one wounded lizardman to the other, checking on the severity of their wounds, based on what little basic knowledge he had about wounds and anatomy.

Gaz’Ruk asked a question or two, mainly regarding what George supposedly did while he was away on his Deity interview. He wasn’t sure about that himself but had to hazard a guess that was a favour from Keroteon himself.

He was also unsure how many favours he would be given. Based on how short his stay in wherever was, he doubted there would be many more of them for the foreseeable future.

He wanted to take a look at the new and improved book that he held close to his person at all times but was just too tired for new revelations.

The few lizardmen that could walk, or shuffle awkwardly on two feet, dragged the rest of their living comrades towards the camp. He asked Gaz’Ruk about what would happen to the rest, and he stayed silent. Perhaps there were no funeral rites in this place.

The camp was sullen and almost empty. Kr’thra ran up to the group as they came, looked over them once, sighed audibly, then helped everyone lie down.

George considered his choices, opted to leave everything for tomorrow, then lied down on a piece of leather.

He wasn’t sure why or how he woke up, but he was certain he didn’t dream anything, which was highly unusual. Even his previous night he could swear he dreamt something, but this sleep was barren.

He looked around and the rest of the people lay about, mostly woken up and trying not to move because of their injuries.

He got up to look at the camp as a whole. If there were about thirty of them yesterday, today there were dozen people at best, and most of them were injured.

Kr’thra and Gaz’Ruk were off to the side, talking to one another. Considering they were the ones he had the most contact with so far, George decided to join them.

As soon as he stepped near the pair, they both turned towards him and the conversation halted.

“So,” George started meekly, “what now?” He was genuinely lost. He had no real way of imagining what these people felt. He wasn’t that knowledgeable about them or incredibly close to them. And he knew that there were many losses the day before, but he didn’t know how to approach the subject.

The lizardmen looked battle ready and somewhat hardened and untouched by this entire thing, but George was certain that they were mourning, somehow.

“What did you do, Grrrg?” Gaz’Ruk asked, again, and George felt he couldn’t evade the question anymore.

“I met the person that gave me the book. And the person that helped us yesterday.” George didn’t know if he should reveal that they were Gods or not. After all, Grolari had their own Goddess, but he was uncertain if the reveal that he was in the service of another one would alienate him from these people.

“I think I can be stronger now,” George continued, then looked over the camp, then back to Kr’thra. “Maybe we can avoid this from now on,” he said while gesturing towards the emptiness of the camp.

“I’m not sure if you trust me yet, or if you ever will. I know that the story about the Guardian and all that stands true, but I know that you have no real reason to trust me. So, I’ll just try my best to do my best.”

Kr’thra looked at him oddly, then stared into what George mused would be his soul considering her extreme focus, then just smiled. “You’re really different from other Humans, George.”

He smiled. “I’ve been told that before.”

George took a moment to think about all what had happened to him. He was suddenly in a different place, meeting creatures that should be impossible, doing magic which should be non-existent, and meeting Deities he has long before stopped believing in. Yet here it was all the truth and reality. He could see the lizardmen, he saw magic, he met the Gods.

He maybe could touch them even.

He dispersed some thoughts from his head and focused on the present. There was still something he hasn’t looked at.

George paced back to his sleeping area and picked up the book.

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The book no longer looked ragged. The covers were clean, the edges metallic —and sharp, as he cut himself on one quickly— and the emblem on the front of it, the same one he had on his chest, he could swear glowed slightly as he touched it.

He was greeted by the first page, now completely different from the sight he was used to.

To the glory of Keroteon, may he lead to victory.

Greetings mortal. You are now in perpetual service to the God of War. As a cleric, it is your duty to spread the belief and faith in your Deity throughout the mortal realm. Accomplishing this would lead to the strengthening of the Deity’s grip on the mortal realm and your personal growth. If you act against the wishes and beliefs of your chosen Deity, the repercussions will be severe.

Cleric - Divinity - Domain: War

Deity information: Keroteon - God of War, Victory and Bloodbaths.

This is an arcane book. It is a gift from the Deities to mortals they consider worthy.

There was still some writing beneath, but it was too smudged to read properly. George considered if that meant he’d need to get to know more before ‘unlocking’ the rest of it. The book apparently decided to come with a separate DLC, he sighed.

He wasn’t sure what this all meant to him. He met his Deity for a grand total of moments, and most of those he was stared at and stared back. In fact, he distinctly remembered that he ‘will do’. He wasn’t sure whether he was supposed to be happy or angry at that. Sure, he was grateful, but still, a little decency wouldn’t really have hurt there.

He flipped to the first page.

Quick Heal

Divinity Spell, War Domain

Activated by focusing on a wound that the caster wishes to close.

Must maintain sight of the target.

Effectiveness raised by the strength of the connection to the Deity.

War Domain:

Heal replaced with Quick Heal.

The user no longer has to touch the wound to channel the spell to it.

The user can focus the spell on a creature to close the most severe wound.

What the brief description didn’t cover was that there was no longer an incantation to perform the spell, which seemed like something radical and noteworthy, but George wasn’t the one writing the book in the first place. He wondered who was. Keroteon didn’t look the bookworm type. Then again, maybe being a Deity was actually boring enough and writing these books was a way to pass the time.

But these descriptions did look oddly like a game, too specific at times, or too… neat, he chirped. They even changed, the style of the ‘brief description’, as he called it, reduced to short sentences, while the rest remained flowery. He could probably spend the entire day thinking about that particular subject but decided to move on.

He flipped through the second page and read through the description of the Holy Light.

Holy Light

Evocation/Divinity Spell, No Domain

Activated by focusing on the object or creature.

Wards against weak undead for the duration.

War Domain: No further benefits.

The descriptions just… shrunk, even. George was a bit disappointed that the spell didn’t seem to get better because he got a Deity.

The paragraphs down below did have a singular change, though:

Required component: firefly, glowing gem, moss, or orb, or a piece of flame. The component can be replaced with a focus - see ‘focus’ in the glossary for more information.

George was confused. Why would whatever this book was use a separate glossary, and what was a weapon focus?

Somehow, his question seems to have been heard by whomever out there and the book flipped to the near end.

A golden glow surrounded the red letters of the capitalized word GLOSSARY on the top of the page.

The page started out blank, but quickly ink appeared from nowhere and sentences started to form.

Focus

As a Priest or a Cleric of the Divine, you may carry a focus. This is usually an object or a symbol that describes or is associated with your Deity.

Deity: Keroteon

Focuses available - one-handed weapon, blessed by Keroteon. Weapons include short sword, mace, spear, javelin.

Focuses available - any small to medium shield, blessed by Keroteon.

Focuses available - a preserved trophy of a notable slain enemy, blessed by Keroteon.

George didn’t understand how to get a weapon to be blessed by a Deity. Nothing more appeared in the glossary, and no further attempts to provide vague questions to the air yielded any change to the page.

Still, this wasn’t a bad thing. He didn’t need to keep a check on having moss or flames available when he wanted to cast a spell. He just needed one of the specific objects at hand, blessed by a God who didn’t really seem to like George much.

“Can I get some help over here?” He asked the air around him, not really considering what would be the proper way to commune with a Deity. After all, he didn’t really get a proper introduction to all this.

Nothing happened, as he expected, and George sighed, then went back to the book, looking over the remained of the Holy Light description and trying to jog his memory if anything else changed.

Maybe he should stick to gathering moss for now.