The birds were singing, the sun was shining and there was a giant wolf head laying on her chest. She should get up. But she was just so comfy and snuggly. BANG, BANG, BANG. “Rose I need to talk to you” came her party leader’s voice.
Rose groaned. Then huffed out a breath and shifted Toby off her body. Wait a minute. Her muscles no longer ached. In fact, she felt brand new, like she could run a marathon and still be okay. BANG, BANG, BANG. Martin’s voice echoed again. Then Brandson’s voice also echoed out, “What the!” he shouted clearly in panic. Then he screamed. It wasn’t exactly a girly scream, but it wasn’t a manly one either. Rose felt third hand embarrassment for him. Finally reaching the door after stepping over one of the two [BLOODFANG WOLFHOUND]s in her lounge room, she opened it to find an eight-foot-tall blue giant with a navy, dark blue horn growing out of its head like a rhino standing where Martin should have been standing. Unfortunately, Rose soon joined Brandson in embarrassment as she let out a shrieky squeak of her own. “Hey, calm down its just me” a voice similar to Martin’s but several octaves lower tried to calm her with his arms held out soothingly in front of him.
Oh, it was just Martin. A slightly dark blue and several decades younger looking Martin that was also a bit wider and a lot more muscular. “H H Hi Martin, you sure grew up overnight” she teased after getting over her fright.
“I need to head out and talk over the situation with Larry. I don’t feel like getting stabbed or shot today so I need you to chaperone me to the common room.”
“Oh, sure. Just let me get ready for the day and I’ll be right with you. Also, I have a few suggestions of my own.”
As Rose dashed around the apartment with Zen and Toby chasing her around, Urgle was clutching Oras on the couch while staring at Martin in fear. Oras just glared at the wall, stone faced, while his body slightly trembled. Half an hour later Rose was finally ready to head out the door. Zen had clearly decided to join her today as he jumped up on her shoulder with a dead mouse in his jaws. She froze and the ogre just looked on in amusement. Disgusted, Rose grabbed a rag and pried the thing out of her cat’s mouth before throwing it straight in the bin, as fast as she could. Unable to hold back any longer at her reaction, Martin chuckled. Well now she knew how Zen had gained that level.
“Alright let’s head out” Rose said trying distract everyone from her previous predicament.
“M, M, Mistress. Are you sure you want to travel with a being from one of the [CONQUERING RACE]’s” Oras asked.
The action had caused him to tremble more visibly as he glanced at and away from the blue giant several times. “Huh? [CONQUERING RACE]?” Rose asked.
“Y, Y, Yes mistress. All races war and conquer. But only five races do it lots and do it best. They are the [GREAT BLUE OGRE] race, [ASHBOUND GORGON] race, [WILD FLEETFOOT CENTAUR] race, [LABYRINTHIAN MINOTAUR] race, and the [CELESTIAL HIGH ELF] race. These are the most feared. If they come, it is best to stay away and hide, or hope they take you as slave. They slay all who resist. They have also fought many wars between each other. There used to be eight [CONQUERING RACE]’s, but three are gone now because of fights with other [CONQUERING RACE]'s. So only five left.”
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As Oras gave his explanation he constantly glanced between Rose and Martin. It was as if he was waiting for the apparent [CONQUERING RACE] to go off. “That’s very scary Oras but we don’t need to worry about any of that at the moment. Martin received the [GREAT BLUE OGRE] [BLOODLINE] as a reward from the nexus thing yesterday. Before that he was human, just like me.”
At an affirming nod from Martin the [IMP GOBLIN] breathed out a sigh of relief “this is good to hear. Mistress stay safe and get stronger. We will continue to investigate this… diz nae moo vee. It tells us of your world. Now all your humming makes sense. Tell me before you leave, do all humans sing throughout the day, or only those with titles?”
For the second time that day Martin broke out into chuckles. Red faced, also for the second time that day, Rose set Oras straight. “Singing isn’t done in general day to day life. Its something that’s done to entertain others or done in private. Those random bouts of song in the movies are just added to make them more entertaining.”
Oras nodded seriously with an ‘uh huh’ and a look that showed he thought all the dots in the world had finally connected. Urgle who had finally calmed down as well just sat beside him, even more confused than before. Giving up on the topic Rose said “you two behave while I’m gone” then walked out the door, a cat on her shoulder, a dog at her heels, and an eight-foot ogre that had to bend down to get through the doorway.
Poor guy. That height was probably going to haunt him for the rest of his life.
Rose led the way as her entourage followed from behind. Entering the common room there were a lot of stares making her feel sorry for the big guy. Glancing back she read his tag, her eyes widening in surprise.
Humanoid – [HUMAN] – [LEVEL 5]
[BLOODLINE ACTIVATED]
Instead of saying his race was a [GREAT BLUE OGRE] it said he was still human. The only difference was that there was now extra line stating that his [BLOODLINE] had been activated. Letting the thoughts about what all that meant run through her head she continued to walk forwards and found Larry holding a meeting with all the party leaders. Even the guard team and newer party leaders were present. After a moment she noticed Jason standing a step behind Larry. Weird. He’d been standing right there but it took her a few moments to even realise it. Now that was scary. Studying him more closely she found the black streaks now took up almost half his hair, the once dark brown irises were now pitch black making them blend perfectly with his pupils to the point you couldn’t differentiate them, and his fingers now had sharp, black, point tipped nails that grew half an inch from the fingertips. After another moment she finally noticed he was staring back at her, grinning. The young university student now had four sharp canine teeth that slightly protruded from the rest. Show off. She knew he’d done it on purpose just to be edgy and cool. He’d totally succeeded.
“So, in summary half of each scouting team will be heading to the shopping centre and the rest of us will be taking the preplanned routes to continue clearing the suburb. Any questions?”
A few people raised their hands, including her. “Yes Rose?”
“Not a question but a request. I suggest that we reroute some groups to get to schools faster, especially daycare centres. I know we’ve all just been focused on making our way through this as best we can ourselves, but I think we need to focus on the whole. Now that our group mostly has itself in order, we should go help those who can’t help themselves, the younger children being the main point of interest. I have a feeling most high schools will be just fine. I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if it was the teens protecting the teachers” she finished with a laugh.
Hands went down as people had thoughtful expressions and Larry nodded. “Thanks Rose, you’re always thinking about the tracks ahead. It keeps all our plans on the right line. Let’s take this into account and rework things.”
The conversation went on, but rather than wrapping up, the plans were once again only just starting.