As Gel began conversing with their new ‘friends’ (subjects?) and sharing the pair’s new plans for the hilltop’s future with those who would be enacting it, Sean decided it was time to review some of the more interesting prompts he had waiting on his attention.
He had initially planned on being part of the conversation, but apparently only the older one – who also happened to be the former chief – actually understood Beast. After learning that, the gelaton decided to just trust the slime to handle their business the way it needed to be handled. It wasn’t like Gel was going to steer them wrong here, after all…
He’s done a damn good job of it so far. Sean thought, pulling up the first prompt. It appeared in a flash of steel, its borders decorated with dozens of pairings of fighters circling one another and trading blows. Distinguished shouts of wordless challenge and cries that sounded suspiciously like ‘En Garde!’ filled his mind as he read..
CONGRATULATIONS, YOU HAVE EARNED THE TITLE: ‘DUELIST’! BOLD ARE THOSE WHO TAKE TO THE FIELD AGAINST THEIR ENEMIES, BUT BRAVER STILL ARE THOSE WHO GRACE THEIR ENEMIES WITH THE HONOR OF SOLO COMBAT! TRUE DUELISTS KNOW THAT WHETHER IT BE AN OFFENSE BEYOND APOLOGY, A CRIME TOO GREAT FOR REPARATIONS, OR AN AFFRONT THAT CANNOT GO UNCHALLENGED - THE BEST, AND PERHAPS ONLY WAY TO RESOLVE IT IS WITH AN HONORABLE DUEL!
This title grants increased focus and a small chance for sudden insight whenever you are facing down a single opponent in honorable combat that has been mutually agreed upon before it starts.
Now this… sounds like something I should have known about before I climbed up that rock. Sean resisted the urge to shake his head at himself. Of course there were titles for dueling! He had gotten one for burning down a stable for gods’ sake. Bet Mr. Big Smash over there had this one, too. Probably had it upgraded a few times too, if I’m understanding giant society right.
Going to have to be careful about that in the future. Sean resolved, realizing that he hadn’t quite taken into account the titles of others before going into battle so far. Between the rare procs of his own titles, and the fact that half of them hadn’t even been activated – something he was still kicking himself over – the thought just hadn't really occurred to him. Not to mention we’ve been fighting mostly low level monsters and other minions up till now. Stuff that likely hasn’t been around long enough to earn many. Nobody expects a cactus or scorpion to have a hidden ‘arsonist’ title.
The gelaton watched the massive humanoids arrayed before him, his burning orbs staring down at them as he considered what it meant to continue fighting sentients. What it would mean to fight higher level monsters… like if he actually had fought Rastegar back at the oasis for some reason.
We’d be dead now. Sean knew that. Auntie Ta doesn’t play… I wonder how many titles she has now?
Leaving those thoughts for later, Sean moved on to his next prompt. It was another title, which he had half-expected by now given everything else going on. It appeared with a border crafted entirely out of hexes, with a small caricature of himself stomping its way through them. There was a sound of kingly trumpets, only they were immediately cut off and replaced by a sinister clattering of jawbones that sounded suspiciously like his own laugh.
CONGRATULATIONS, YOU HAVE EARNED THE TITLE: ‘CHALLENGER’! FEW IN THIS WORLD HAVE THE STRENGTH, THE COMPOSURE, OR EVEN THE SHEER AUDACITY TO RULE OVER OTHERS. AS A CHALLENGER, YOU KNOW THAT RIGHT IS ONE THAT HAS TO BE NOT ONLY EARNED, BUT KEPT - AND SOMEONE HAS JUST FORFEITED THEIR RIGHT INTO YOUR MORE CAPABLE HANDS!
This title grants a bonus to intimidation and the ability to take over an additional hex (if available) when you are challenging a leader for the right to rule their territory.
Now this title made perfect sense to him. This is the kind of title warlords and conquerors would be crazy not to activate before every major battle. It lined up with many aggressive tactics he had seen in strategy games, particularly in the ‘4x’ genre which honestly the whole ‘hex’ system reminded him directly of in the first place.
Following that logic, there’s got to be economy-focused titles, too! Sean immediately wondered what sort of titles and bonuses a culinarian or agrarian-type civilization might have access to. Could something like that give them access to unique foods? Hidden recipes? Crops that could survive even out here in the desert?
Sean shook his head, trying to clear those thoughts out for now. He may have time for such things in the distant future, but right now he had more immediate problems. A fact which was only reinforced by the next prompt, which had come up in an almost painfully normal fashion.
Your title ‘Unstoppable III’ has activated! Damage received in excess of your minimum health has been neutralized. This effect now has a 3 month cooldown before it can activate again.
It was hard to read that prompt. It had only lingered around at all because he had immediately lost himself to battle-rage right after being injured. Sean closed it, and spared a glance at his health counter which he recalled had dropped down to only a single point remaining during the fight.
Current health: 3 / 29
What the-? Another prompt appeared, shining bright and resplendent as the noon-sun with transparent gold-with-silver marking its trim, immediately explaining what had happened in familiar, vicious black lettering.
Congratulations, by accomplishing feats remarkable even to the patient notice of Death itself, you have reached levels 15 and 16! As a Gelaton you gain 1 point of Might, 1 point of Adaptation, and 2 points of Toughness with every level.
You have gained two manasphere node points!
His new level-ups had brought an additional two points of health with them. It wasn’t much, true. But at this point every single point counted – especially with his Unstoppable title down for the count. Sean hadn’t said as much to Gel before, but ever since getting the ability to nullify death at least once – having that card in hand had played a part in his recently-more-cavalier attitude.
No problem, I’ll just keep it a little more cautious for the next three months. Sean thought about that, but then admitted the truth to himself. At least until we get to evolve again.
Not healing back to max on every level up was starting to feel like the biggest lie videogames had ever told him as a kid. Being able to just full-heal in the middle of some enemy-infested cave somewhere had literally saved some of his playthroughs on certain games.
Not that it ever made sense then, either. But damn if it wasn’t convenient.
Sean’s internal musings were interrupted by the tribe of giants - his tribe of giants, now - all breaking off to go different places about the camp.
“Finished already?” Sean asked, having expected that to take longer. If it had, he could have gone over his manasphere options. He still had Gel’s side to look at as well, thanks to the evolution and their bond, and that wasn’t something he had gotten the chance to do yet.
“Yep!” Gel reported brightly. “They’re on their way to go make us some more of that fabulous soup!”
“Uh-huh.” Sean noticed one of the giants had indeed grabbed a ladle. In its massive hands, the notched iron would-be-spoon looked like it was used to fill chemical vats at an industrial plant. “And the rest of it? Did you figure out who was behind the attack? Did they have any leads on who betrayed Auntie Ta or the oasis? What did the former chief have to say about my plan?”
“I got to the rest of it, don’t you worry.” Gel promised quickly. “Just wanted to make sure of the food situation before I did.”
“And how’s that looking?” Sean asked, perfectly willing to sidetrack the conversation for food if it brought new discoveries about what the inhabitants of this world ate. “Did you find their storehouse?”
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
“Sure did, and we can go tour it soon I promise but… we have a problem.” Gel announced, with great hesitation.
“Oh, what’s that?” Sean’s concern spiked, and he turned his burning orbs on the backs of the giants now milling about camp. His fingers were already around the hilt of their axe with his other arm retreating back into his pack for their final trump card, when the slime finally revealed the issue.
“I can’t eat any of it.” Gel said, sounding devastated. “They’re barely scraping by already, and we just ate what was supposed to be their victory feast before they left this region for good. They have almost nothing left! And while you might be surprised as to what ‘almost nothing left’ counts as for giants, let me assure you it will not be enough for their appetites. They don’t eat as much as I do, but it’s still a respectable amount.”
“Really? You’re not even going to sample anything?” Sean was momentarily taken aback by the idea, mostly because he had just stood still for what had felt like at least ten minutes so that his insatiable friend could drain an entire giant-sized cauldron.
“No…” Gel said, muttering the word like a curse. “We’re their chief now, we can’t just let them starve to feed ourselves. That’s bad omen.”
“Bad omen?” Sean asked, catching the special significance the slime had put on the words. It didn’t escape his attention that his instincts had indicated their agreement with that particular sentiment.
“Yeah, you know. Goes against nature. We do that, then something bad is going to happen to us in return. Probably soon, too.”
“Oh, you mean like karma.”
“What’s karma?”
“Nevermind.” Sean physically waved that debate away for later, not wanting to get into it right now. He chalked the topic up to inherent monster nature stuff, before shelving it. “What about the rest? What’d you learn?”
“Oh! Right. Turns out that Longbeard – that’s the older one, the former chief – was against Big Tasty’s plan when he first showed up. Fought against it, actually. Turns out going up against a druid wasn’t a real popular plan, so Big Tasty left the dissenters here before they left so they wouldn’t interfere. One or two of the survivors who were in on it, outside of the three we fought, were down below acting as guards… but apparently they’ve been killed already.”
“Warabe?” Sean asked, amused by, but not calling out, Gel’s swap of the dead chieftain’s name.
“Most likely.” Gel affirmed. “They still haven’t seen him, but you should’ve seen the look on Longbeard’s face when I mentioned him. Apparently that turtle has got a bit of a reputation.”
Sean recalled the grace with which Warabe had fought back at the oasis, even amidst so many opponents, and the turtle-man’s willingness to rush into the cave system all by himself. He must’ve gone back and taken out the guards once he got what we came for. Must already be headed back then.
The gelaton was relieved their new friend had survived the raid, especially since it sounded like Warabe had succeeded. Winning on all fronts right now, aren’t we?
“As for who sold out the oasis? Turns out nobody here actually knows. Big Tasty showed up with the plan already in mind, and so Longbeard thinks it was someone from Dervash. Said he could smell it on him when he arrived.”
“That would make sense. Auntie Ta did say she hosted a lot of travelers.”
“Yeah, but it’s not enough for her to pay out for the information.” Gel noted, a touch of sadness in the slime’s voice. “Anyone could have guessed that.”
“True, but we can look for answers to that little mystery when we get into town. Just gotta do some digging.”
“‘Into town’? What do you mean ‘into town’?” Gel questioned, curiosity plain in his mental tone. “I thought we weren’t going inside, only near it to meet Saren on that hill he mentioned. Are we digging in now? Because I want to make my feelings on sand perfectly clear if that’s what you’re–”
“No, we’re not digging in.” Sean said quickly, heading off that Biley-Coyote trope before it could even think to come into play. “I meant we can investigate once we’re in there, and yeah. Why shouldn’t we go? It’s an entire city full of people. Think of the food we could find, the cookbooks we could buy, or the spice!”
The gelaton was really getting into it, and clearly Gel was too, but the slime had an all-too-important question to ask, first.
“I’m down for all of that, you know I am. But how are we getting in? I know how Dry Run treated undead they came across, and you saw that entire group react when we happened upon them in the tunnels. We saved their lives twice and some of them still didn’t want to even make eye contact with us. With me! I have your eyes, Sean. They’re very friendly. But even that wasn’t enough! How are we going to just walk in? You cooking up another plan you haven’t told me about yet in that skull of yours?”
“It’s… still a work-in-progress.” Sean lied brazenly.
“How much in-progress.” The slime questioned, putting extra emphasis on the second word.
“Conceptual.” Sean finally admitted. “But look at what we just did! There’s got to be a way in there, and I don’t want to miss that chance. We’ll figure something out.”
“Of course we will!” Gel said brightly, as if the slime suddenly had full and total confidence in their ability to sneak into a city undetected. “And when we do I call dibs on as many food stalls as we can afford. Those are apparently the go-to for really good food, according to a few memories I have. Ooh! And we absolutely have to go to an apparel store. We need to update our look. The season’s are changing soon, and I will not be left behind when they do.”
“What’s wrong with our look?” Sean asked, giving his once-again pristine white self a once-over.
“It’s not a bad look.” Gel admitted. “But it lacks panache. Which is okay! We haven’t had many options yet, but once we do I’m going to need–”
Sean was spared any further commentary on that topic by the sudden and extremely welcome arrival of Warabe at his side. Well, more accurately by the arrival of another sandstorm very like the one he had used to sneak in here – but it was easy to guess who was inside it. Especially when the turtle-man dismissed the effect early somehow.
“I see you have been busy, noble creaker.” Warabe intoned respectfully, bowing to the extent that he could, given the many injuries the turtle-man was still sporting. His gaze leveled on Sean as he straightened, though the pair were no longer the same height. “Congratulations on acquiring your new territory.”
“And congratulations to you on retrieving your clutch.” Gel translated for him, returning the bow and nodding at the tightly wrapped bundle of aquamarine leaves Warabe held close to his chest. His two-tipped, emerald-green spear was nowhere in sight, however. “What happened to your spear though? Do you need a new weapon for the way back?”
Gel caught the cue, and a crimson dagger slid out of one of his whips to rest in the air before the turtle-man. Warabe took it immediately, and Sean noted again the casual fluidity of his movements.
“Thank you, noble creaker. I was hoping to find something like this I could use when I came up here looking for you. You did not respond to the signal we agreed on, so I figured it best to check.”
“Signal?” Sean’s respect for Warabe actually coming to check on them despite having already saved his clutch warred with his confusion. They had agreed on something ‘flashy’ or ‘loud’ before assaulting the camp, but he didn’t recall anything like that. “Gel, did you see it?”
“Oh, yeah. The whole hilltop shook.” Gel said immediately. “You were in ‘how-dare-you-touch-me!’ mode though, so that might be why you don’t remember.”
“What did he do?” Sean asked, moving the conversation along so he wouldn’t have to reveal to their new pal that he still went full undead lunatic anytime he took damage. Gel translated the question for him, tactfully keeping any further explanation on Sean’s behavior out– or at least, Sean hoped he did.
Warabe smiled the same wolfish smile he had given them back at the oasis as Gel spoke. “I used my spear.”
That was it. The turtle-man didn’t elaborate any further. Sean resolved to get a more detailed answer from him later, though he doubted much more would be forthcoming.
“Alright, well if he’s ready to leave… I think we are, too. Did you convince any to come back and meet with Auntie, Gel? Or are they too scared of getting spanked for acting out?”
“Longbeard is coming. The rest are staying back or going hunting for food. Since they’re not leaving any more, that’s probably what we want them doing anyway.”
“True enough.” Sean admitted, before making orb-contact with Warabe and jerking his skull back in the direction of the oasis. The meaning of the movement was clear, even without a translation: “Shall we?”
“Lead the way, noble creaker.” Warabe intoned gravely. “Or should I say, Chief Creaker.”
“Oooh.” Gel shivered. “I like the sound of that.”