Before I can process the memory of my own name, bask in the glow of success, or break down with relief at the sound of a familiar voice, I’m hit simultaneously by a boatload of Worship Points and the sensation of a crowd all shouting at me at once.
Those are prayers. You're new to this Level, you won't have experienced them before.
They sound scared! There's too many to seperate individual voices, but the general impression is of “Help! Save us!” Someone or something is threatening my Worshippers. Again!
I look in the direction of the village, and I see trouble storming my way. Almost literally. The sky grows darker. Clouds congeal overhead, in a strangely localised area in the distance that is steadily drawing closer. I sense in that direction and recoil in pain. I may as well have plunged myself into a furnace. The power that radiates from whatever-it-is is enough to char my senses and leave me half blind and reeling.
My vision clears somewhat as it comes into view. It's a bipedal figure with a strange and jerky gait. Its head seems birdlike with a beak glinting like steel. It is heavily armoured, and so caked in blood that the original colour of that armour can no longer be seen. Somehow I know that none of the blood is the creature’s own.
A flock of terrified villagers and farmers trail behind at a cautious distance. I can hear crying, and wails of fear. I don’t see Dee or any of her family. I should probably be glad of that. I don’t think this can end well. The reek of the armoured figure hits me as it gets within speaking range. It’s the stench of the abbatoir.
When the figure stops before me, I realise that the reason for its strange way of walking is its legs and feet. They are like those of a bird or a dinosaur. Its arms are short, with a thumb and two fingers that are elongated and skinny. It flicks them, and two more digits swing away from where they lay along the forearms. These glint like the creature's beak, black and sharp-edged, locking forwards into twin swordlike blades.
It looks deadly. The embodiment of a predator.
DEATHBRINGER THE INVINCIBLE
GOD LEVEL 203
Sovereign of Death
Deathbringer? Did this guy choose that name right from the start? Is this the sort of person who kills new players in games, and complains about having to do anything except beating stuff up? Is this my brain resolutely ignoring the fact that I am less than an ant compared to the new arrival?
It does a complicated, impressive and intimidating… thing with its sword-claws, swishing them around itself in a complex pattern. Pretty sure anyone walking into that space would become steak tartare in under ten seconds.
It speaks, removing any possible thought that this might only be someone's overgrown pet chicken. Its voice is harsh and serious as the grave. “Sandy the Compassionate! You have Challenged me!”
I… what? No I didn't! I think I'd have remembered!
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I'm afraid you did, dear, the schoolteacher tone of my new Voice Guidance System says in disagreement, when your powers directly affected his Domain without accepting his authority.
Other-Voice said I’d need to kill loads of stuff before it would make any difference! I don't suppose “I didn't know what I was doing” is going to be an acceptable excuse?
I doubt he'll take excuses. You've embarrassed him.
The bird-dinosaur-death-god struts up and down before me. “Let us meet in battle, and the strongest shall prevail!”
Mrs Voice? Am I right in thinking this guy has Dominion over Death?
Correct.
And… because I don't have Death as a Domain, I don't come under his authority.
Not quite.
It must be possible to cause death with Powers, because how else is a numen going to gain Death as an Influence? But… what if the Power is linked to a different Domain? Is Sacrifice linked to Life instead of Death? I used Life to cause Death. Which he thinks was a dick move?
Very well reasoned. I suppose, given your Influences and Domains, your language is to be expected.
I squash my sudden annoyance at essentially being told to mind my tongue. Apparently Voices are annoying even when I make my own. Voice, battle means actual fighting? Which I can't do on account of being a rock, without hands or legs.
What else would it be?
Any contest. A game of dice or cards. A riddle contest, except I don't have a voice, and… is Death about to just start hitting me?
Deathbringer has taken up a martial arts sort of stance. It's head tilts a bit, making it look very birdlike. The sort of bird that kills you, then pecks your eyeballs out and eats them like pickled onions.
Perhaps you should select a few of your Advancement Options, dear.
My… what?
I suggest the Path of Harmony, Gift of Voice.
ADVANCEMENT OPTIONS
Advancement Points: 2
Path of Battle
Path of Knowledge
Path of Harmony
Why didn’t I know about… never mind. Path of Harmony!
ADVANCEMENT OPTIONS
Advancement Points: 1
Path of Battle
Path of Knowledge
Path of Harmony
Gift of Voice
Spirit of Community
True Vision
Gift of Voice,
“Wait!”
The villagers give a collective gasp. Deathbringer snaps its beak, and they fall back into terrified silence. “‘Wait!’ The coward cries. You issued the Challenge, yet now you cringe away from its inevitable conclusion.”
I know nothing about this guy's personality. Honourable? Psychopathic? I need to bluff, and I have zero cards in my deck. I need something that will appeal to either possibility. Preferably that won’t also lose me all my Worshippers. “Time is nothing to you. Death is timeless.”
I must avoid obvious false flattery. Genuine flattery, however… plus a genuine apology… and another dose of Shakespearian improvisation… “In my unseasoned enthusiasm, I overstepped my authori-”
The Death God's sword-claws fall. I chose wrong. I'm out of time.
I Sacrifice once more. Only this time, it's my own life I take. I throw everything I have into the land, its waiting seeds, its people, its animals. The fields here will be the most productive in the world, its people the longest lived. Before the claws reach me, I willingly slide into oblivion.