I focused on the big purple giant to see just who or what he was.
Discernment: Minor Success!
Name: Unknown
Race: Ogre
Class: Barbarian
Insight Level: 7
Strength: Unknown
Agility: Unknown
Dexterity: Unknown
Constitution: Unknown
Will: Unknown
Intellect: Unknown
Charisma: Unknown
Holy crap…so this is what a true Ogre looks like? He had to be close to twenty feet tall, and was as thick as the boar I had just killed. Packed with muscled, his biceps looked as big as my head! I guess I didn’t really know what to expect, when finally seeing the full-fledged male version of Phee.
Admittedly, and despite knowing Phee, the word Ogre still conjured images of grotesque two-headed giants in my mind, and although this guy’s face was heavily scared, he was actually quite handsome, even cool looking, with his completely bald head—like Thanos straight out of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Albeit minus the ball-sack chin and with the addition of a single curved horn protruding from his forehead.
His chest was bare, save for a necklace made of teeth and bone and his loincloth belt held other trinkets and bits of chain. But my focus was drawn to the one-handed axe that he held in his bear-like hand. Its head looked as big as Phee’s two-handed version…or what it used to look like, anyway.
He pointed the large axe at me threateningly. “So how will you pay, little human?”
“He paid already, Rheghar,” Phee said. “By saving my life.”
The ogre smiled. “Little Phee. Why does it not surprise me to find you here with the likes of him?” He took several steps forward, closing the distance between us with ease. He then looked down and studied me for a moment as if examining my stats. “By the Ancestors…you’ve gone and done it, haven’t you?”
Phee lifted her chin towards him defiantly. “I do what’s required of me. And there’s no shame in it.”
The ogre scoffed. “And this is the one you pick? This weakling?”
I didn’t know what kind of clan dynamics were at play here, but I knew an alpha male challenge when I saw one. Not that I had any chance against a behemoth like him physically, but I just had unlocked a new power and was feeling pretty confident about myself. “For your information, I picked her, not the other way around. And while I won’t be challenging you to an arm wrestling match any time soon, I can handle my own…” I then gestured to the dead boar. “…as you no doubt can see.”
I lightened my statement with a smile.
Oratory: Failure!
-50 Relationship with Rheghar.
Failure? What the hell…?
“Don’t assume that my clan will accept you just because she does,” he said, drilling me a stare. “You owe me for that crystal you stole.”
I examine him again…focusing on this reputation stat. I’d never seen it before.
Discernment: Success!
Name: Rheghar
Race: Ogre
Class: Barbarian
Insight Level: 7
Strength: 28(+10)
Agility: 6
Dexterity: 5
Constitution: 25(+10)
Will: 11
Intellect: 7
Charisma: 4
Current Relationship: -550: Dislike
Whoa, that was a new one. Perhaps this amulet let me see deeper into people’s characters depending on what I was looking for. I tried it out on Phee, again focusing on relationship.
Discernment: Great success!
Name: Phee
Current Relationship: 950: Trusting
Trusting… wow. It was like night and day compared to Rheghar, but I wish I knew where this scale topped out, especially when it came to the stats. Was the max around 18 and 20 like D&D? Or did they scale up to 100 or more?
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
“He owes you nothing, Rheghar,” Phee said, taking a step in front of me to place herself between me and the ogre. “It was your sloppy hunt that was responsible for this in the first place. Why would you let a wounded boar roam so far from you? That was dangerous.”
He huffed out a little laugh. “It wasn’t my hunt.”
As if to emphasize his point, two more ogres came barreling through the trees behind him. They were both close to him in height, perhaps coming to his shoulder, but were nowhere near as well built. One was male and had a Mohawk of purplish hair. The other was female and looked like a taller, more muscular version of Phee. As they ran towards us, clearly out of breath they eventually saw Phee and I, and I froze not knowing what to expect.
Their eyes lit up with huge smiles.
“Auntie Phee!” they both cried.
The two Ogres dropped the spears they were carrying and pushed me aside to hug Phee, the male Ogre lifting her right off her feet.
“Rheland, Rhela!” Phee said with a laugh as she did her best to hug the both of them at the same time. “It’s so good to see you!”
The male Ogre, Rheland set Phee down and up close I could now see that his face did indeed look quite young. Like a teenager perhaps. And the same went for the female. And they were very similar as well.
“Are you two twins?” I asked with a smile.
The two Ogres looked at me stunned, as if surprised I was even there. Perhaps they hadn’t even noticed me before when running to Phee.
“Are you him?” the girl, Rhela asked me. And then, before I could answer she looked to Phee. “Is it him, Auntie Phee? The one you spoke about? The great sage?”
“It is,” Phee said with a proud smile as she stepped next to me and draped her arm about my shoulder. “Rheland, Rhela, this is Cole Jacobs, the human from Earth. And he is our new Guildmaster. And he is a great mage too. Just look what he did to my axe to kill the boar.”
The two teenaged Ogres ogled at the ‘T’ shaped piece of metal.
“He did that to your axe?” Rheland said in disbelieve. He then looked at me with wide eyes. “How powerful are you? What level?”
“Can you do that with any material?” his sister Rhela jumped in.
“Probably,” Rholand said. “Can you make the liquid stone, like Grandmother Ul’gret used to tell us about? Can you remake the great walls?”
“Uh…I don’t know…” I said overwhelmed by their questions and enthusiasm. The fact that they were both literally twice my height and looming over me didn’t help matters either. “I’m…just starting out really,” I said honestly. “But, it’s nice to meet you both, Rheland and Rhela.”
“My favorite niece and nephew,” Phee said with a grin. “And yes they are twins.” She then pointed to Rheghar. “And you’ve already met their father, my older brother…Rheghar.”
“Half-brother,” he corrected curtly. “Rheland! Rhela!”
The shout caused the two young Ogres to spin about to face him, their smiles instantly dropping from their faces.
“Yes, father,” they said in unison with a tone of reverence and respect.
“The hunt is not yet over,” he said sternly. “And you both dropped your weapons.”
“Sorry father,” Rhela said. “We were just excited to see Autie Phe—”
“You’re not in the city here,” he cut her off. “This is the wild. You must respect it. Or it will kill you. Now fetch your spears, truss the board and let’s get it back to the village.”
His sour tone drained all the mirth from the short lived reunion and the two young ogres obediently did what their father had commanded. As they went about lashing together several pieces of bamboo to create a pole strong enough to sling the pig under, I examined them in turn.
Discernment: Success!
Name: Rheland
Race: Ogre
Class: Novice
Insight Level: 1
Strength: 16
Agility: 5
Dexterity: 4
Constitution: 13
Will: 4
Intellect: 6
Charisma: 7
Current Relationship: 1500: Awe
Discernment: Success!
Name: Rhela
Race: Ogre
Class: Novice
Insight Level: 1
Strength: 15
Agility: 6
Dexterity: 7
Constitution: 14
Will: 5
Intellect: 6
Charisma: 8
Current Relationship: 1500: Awe
Holy crap…these kids think I’m awesome…literally!
My head spun a little at the thought of it—that two people I’d just met could have so much respect for me and admiration for me. But it caused a bit of anxiety as well. For the first time since I got her, it struck me that this wasn’t just a fun adventure where I got to have sex with a goddess like Phee and figure out some stupid job just so Devena can cure me of my cancer.
These two young kids were literally looking at me like their Superman. A legend of old come to save their village. And right now I felt completely unequipped for it.
Unworthy of it, even.
I glanced up a Rheghar and suddenly understood his disdain for me. In his eyes I was a fraud, and right now, his assessment was absolutely right.
I need to stop thinking of this as just as game and competition, I thought. There were real people, besides just Devena, Yunni and Phee, who were counting on me to pull this off. And I owed it to them to give it my best shot. I looked down at the T shape piece of metal that used to be Phee’s axe. I was on a steep learning curve here and on the clock.
I needed to figure out what powers I had and quick.
“Are you coming back to the village with us, Auntie Phee?” Rhela asked as she hoisted the bamboo pole now lashed with the giant pig onto her shoulder, the other end supported by her brother. She then grinned. “We have fresh boar.”
Rheghar didn’t say anything but the frown he gave Phee said it all.
“I’m afraid I can’t,” Phee said graciously. “The Guildmaster has just arrived and I need to get him back to the city so he can begin his work.”
“That’s right,” I said with a smile. “House Velmar is going to win the Canal competition. And when we do, we’re going to rebuild your village next. With huge walls, just like in New Haven.”
The two twins grinned with delight.
Oratory vs Rheland: Great Success!
Oratory vs Rhela: Great Success!
“I want to help!” Rheland said.
“Me too!” Rhela joined in. “Can we, father?”
Rheghar’s face however, remained nonplussed. “The Rheghar clan will have nothing to do with Guild business. Such are matters for humans and their like. Not us.”
Oratory vs Rheghar: Failure!
Relationship: -50
“Bid your aunt farewell, children.”
The somber tone crushed the twins’ spirits and my heart ached as their smiles once again fell from their faces. Phee embraced them both in turn, each of them hugging her with one arm as they held the boar effortlessly on their shoulders.
“Goodbye, Rheghar,” Phee said. “Please give my regards to the rest of the clan.”
The big ogre didn’t even look at her as he turned his back. “Phee.”
A fog hung in the air as the three ogres departed, Rheland and Rhela giving us waves. Finally Phee let out a rattled sigh when they all disappeared.
“I’m so sorry about that,” Phee said shaking her head. “Of all the damn people to run into, in the middle of the jungle...”
“Hey.” I took her hand into mine. “Family is complicated. No need to apologize. But your niece and nephew seem amazing. I love them already.”
Phee smiled with pride. “Yes, they are…Rheghar is too, really…he’s just…”
She sighed again.
“Don’t worry, I get it.”
“It’s nothing personal,” Phee said. “He just has a deep mistrust for Humans and the guilds.”
“Ah I see.” I pondered a moment. “Does he blame them for not killing that Flame Monitor sooner? For allowing the village to be destroyed?”
She blinked at me, looking surprised I had put such pieces together. “Probably…that and a lot of other things. One in particular.”
I waited for her to say something else, but her eyes became distance, perhaps looking into the past. I didn’t want to push her so I just squeezed her hand to bring her back to the present.
“Don’t worry, Phee. I’ll win him over. I’ll prove to him that I’m worthy of being Firstbonded to his little sister.”
I gave her the biggest smile and her eyes shimmered with a laugh.
“Thank you, Cole,” she said and clung to my arm as she rested her head against my shoulder. “I’m so happy that you’re here for me.”
A warmth spread between us and I didn’t need the +100 Relationship notification to know that our bond had just deepened. I was really liking this woman and I wanted to make her life better in any way I could.
“Now, let’s get to New Haven,” I said, feeling a newfound sense of urgency and purpose. “I want to check those books Yunni has for me. I need to figure out how to become this Guildmaster.”