Yeah… this is still about a week prior…
Somehow Vagan had cleared a way through the district after singlehandedly defeating the twelve smiths that had tried to mob him. Afterwards he had stuck to the shadows and relied on his powers as a Shadestrider to keep him safe. The area around the Union Shed was heavily guarded by the identical sub-humans that had started the rebellion against the Toadkin masters of the city.
By covertly using the shadows of the many guards, Vagan had traversed the open space unnoticed and gotten to the Shed that seemed the root cause of the entire insurrection, given that it was run by a Union of pro-freedom, pro-equality, and anti-Toadkin rebels.
As he slunk through one of the windows of the primitive building that was adorned in flags and banners full of slogans, he came into a dark interior. He had scarcely had enough time to look around, when a bright flame lit up the room and dispelled all shadows around him.
Vagan instinctively looked around for an escape, but found that all doorways and windows were barred by mobs of the sub-humans who had surrounded the building.
“A trap…” he said, sighing.
“…and you fell right for it!” said a female voice, as the crowd parted and she came walking in. It was the first female inhabitant of the city that Vagan had thus far seen, given that the rest of the city was crowded by androgenous sub-human men and Toadkin.
He used his Appraising Eye to inspect her stats, but she was too high level for him to discover anything except her Occupation.
“…a Therapist?” he asked out loud, before someone knocked him unconscious with a hammer-blow to the back of his head.
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My forces had pushed through the few holdouts of rebels in the eastern district, while Toadskandarr and his contingent began their foray into the western quadrant. Our forces had been bolstered by a concerted breeding effort of all available minions, but it still seemed that several hundreds of minions served the Insurrection.
We had passed by Viola’s Buffet on the way here, but she had confirmed that she would stay put until the fighting was over, firmly taking the side of the Pacifists like Toadcaller. I realised that she was only able to take such a position because there were few in my city who could challenge her and actually match her strength.
When the last of the rebels were slain, I hopped over to greet the Mad Scientist, Fleshcrafter, and Arnold the Copper-Shield Tortoise. The Fleshcrafter had made good use of the many bodies they had piled high during their defence, and the area around their buildings were crawling with his ‘children’. Some were like six-legged stalk-limbed spiders and others were like twelve-jointed centipedes, but the general theme was ‘creepy insects’ it seemed.
The Scientist came up to my vessel and put a hand on my forehead, then said, “Twitiliii, bring an Adventurer to miii!”
Luckily, there were a few in Toadskandarr’s retinue, so I called one of them over and he arrived fifteen minutes later, out of breath and croaking out sputtering coughs.
The Scientist looked at the Adventurer sceptically. “Twitilom, this guy is in bad form!”
“What are you gonna do with him?” I asked.
He patted one of my eyeballs and then took the exhausted Adventurer by his hand, guiding him into the strange domed building. Before they disappeared from sight, I saw that the Scientist clutched a giant goose-feather in his other hand.
After a series of terrified croaking and maniacal laughter, alongside a lightshow that emerged out of the hexagonal plates of the domed building, the Mad Scientist flew out of the top of the domed shell, followed by a new creature that swooped down through the air and skated to a halt in the earth in front of me.
I beheld the new creation, which stood almost three-metres-tall despite its back being arched as its bizarre goose-like head looked around, while it flapped its huge wings. Its lower-half, around where its navel would have been, was a transition from steel-hard feathers to spiked reptilian scales that ended in clawed webbed feet.
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
Name: Baest
Occupation: War Beast
Species: Toad-Goose Gryphon (Chimera)
Level: 55/100
Alignment: Calamity-of-the-skies
Faction: Toad Town
“I think we need something a bit stronger that can deal with a lot of enemies at once,” I commented.
“I can make something,” the Fleshcrafter offered. I glanced at his creations and then decided that it was best to pretend I hadn’t heard his offer.
The Mad Scientist scratched his chin, then an idea seemed to come to him and he patted Arnold on his copper shell and pointed him into the domed building, before flying off to catch one of the many-legged creatures the Fleshcrafter had made.
When he had the creature in his arms he flew up to the top of his dome and dropped it inside, before nosediving inside as well.
Moments later, a loud crunch of bones and snapping of limbs followed and from the large door of the building came a new and transformed Arnold:
Name: Arnold
Occupation: War Beast
Species: Copper-Shield Stalker (Chimera)
Level: 80/100
Alignment: Feels-a-bit-uncomfortable-with-all-his-new-limbs
Faction: Toad Town
“This is more like it!” I exclaimed, as I looked at the many metal-coated limbs that grew from the copper shell of the giant tortoise. It combined impenetrable defence with a terrifying reach of many-jointed ten-plus-metres-long spiked limbs, which moved around with skittering speed atop the tortoise’s back.
After evolving a bunch of newborn minions to Footmen, the Toadkin genes strong within them as they were all the offspring of Toadkin prior to their evolutions, I also evolved another Commander and more Archers and Guards.
With my two-hundred-strong force of soldiers, I had Arnold and Baest push ahead with me, as my army followed in our wake and began the arduous task of checking every building we passed on our way to the southern district gate.
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Vagan was lying on a sofa-chair as the Toadkin Therapist was making him tell her about his childhood as an orphan in the slums of Lillebrünnr.
Between her droning monotone and the concussion from the blow to his head, Vagan was rapidly beginning to slip into the magic of her brainwashing, which slowly eroded all inhibitions he had and removed all the things that held him back from blindly following her every word.
But then a massive explosion rocked the minimalistic interior of the consultation room and the Therapist shot up from her chair, just as an enormous horned rabbit smashed through the backwall and sent a surge of electricity into the woman.
Vagan rolled out of the sofa-chair lamely and sent out spikes of shadow that pinned the Therapist to the spot, and a moment later a tall dangerous-looking figure leapt from the back of the rabbit monster and chopped off her head with a single swipe of his two-handed sword.
As the Toadkin Therapist fell to the ground, headless, the man came over and helped Vagan stand. Using his Appraising Eye, he realised just who it was that stood before him: the Lord of Toad Town, Toadskandarr. He was more terrifying to behold than any Lord that Vagan had set his eyes upon before.
“Nicely done, Adventurer. Come to my kwastle after we have wiped out the rest of these rebels, so that I can hand you your reward personally.”
“I’m not sure I did much,” Vagan replied, standing up uneasily.
“You kweared the way for my troops to follow and without your instigation, we would never have diskwovered that the true Mastermind behind this uprising was none other than a Toadkin traitor!”
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As we fought our way to the Union building near the Quarry of the southern district, there was suddenly a change in our foe and they became disorganised and panicked, as though the fighting spirit had been extinguished from them. Regardless of their altered mental states, we showed them no mercy and wiped them out to the very last man.
No sooner had we reached the Union’s hideout than Toadskandarr came striding towards me with a head in his grip. Behind him trotted Él the Jackicorn and a human Adventurer, who seemed to have shadows dogging his heels like vexatious cobwebs that was stuck to his boots.
“I found the Leader!” he announced and all the assembled soldiers chirped cheerfully.
I inspected the severed head and was surprised by what I saw:
Name: Grace’s Head
Occupation: Brainwashing Therapist & Violent Mob Instigator
Species: Toadkin
Level: 1/1
Alignment: Missing-its-body
Faction: The Flayed Lady
“Why does she have the same faction as my Fleshcrafter?” I wondered.
Toadskandarr looked at me, then quickly sent a dozen Cavalry men to find the Fleshcrafter and imprison him on suspicion of aiding the enemy.
Suddenly System came running with the other half of the Therapist’s body raised above her head.
Congratulations! For quelling a rebellion with the goal of achieving rights for the oppressed workers of your settlement, you have gained the [Tyrant] perk!
[Tyrant] – Sedition in settlements where you or any of your Ruler-type minions are present is 99% less likely to occur, as your minions are too frightened by the consequences of openly opposing you and your oppressive regime.