[ Nyolund Deer (Druid Lvl 24) Defeated. ]
[ Poison Bolt Skill Level Up! Level Max Reached, Bonus Unlocked! Skill Evolution Available! Skills Unlocked: Poison Enchant, Poison Cloud. 3 skill points gained. ]
[ Thorn Bind Skill Level Up! Level Max Reached, Bonus Unlocked! Skill Evolution Available! Skill Unlocked: Thorn Armour. 2 skill points gained. ]
[ Fireball Skill Level Up! Level Max Reached, Bonus Unlocked! Skill Evolution Available! Skills Unlocked: Fire Enchant, Fire Breath, Flame Arrow. 4 skill points gained. ] [ Copy Cast Skill Level Up! ] [ Solid Coat Skill Level Up! ]
She came across another deer on the way back to the den, and decided to bombard it with more copied spells, while locking it down with Thorn Bind. That was enough to push all three of those to max level, and give her a bunch of unlocks. She had already decided she was going to evolve all three, but she could still look at them first.
[ Poison Bolt (Active): Fire a magic bolt with nature element property. Damage value: (1.1+(0.03*skill level))*magic power. Splash radius: 1 metre. (Reminder: Only direct hits have a chance to inflict critical damage.) 50% chance to inflict Poison(?) status on targets for 10 seconds. Poison damage: 3+(0.5*skill level) HP every 2 seconds. Cost: 3 MP. Cast time: 3 seconds. Refresh: 2 seconds.
Max Level Bonus: Poison duration increased by 4 seconds. ]
v [ Evolves Into ] v
[ Poison Arrow (Active): Fire a magic arrow with nature element property. Damage value: (1.2+(0.04*skill level))*magic power. Splash radius: 1 metres. (Reminder: Only direct hits have a chance to inflict critical damage.) 60% chance to inflict Strong Poison(?) status on targets for 12 seconds. Poison damage: (5+(1*skill level)) HP every 2 seconds. Cost: 4 MP. Cast time: 3 seconds. Refresh: 3 seconds. ]
[ Price: 1 skill point. Evolve: Yes/No ]
So basically the same type of upgrade as Strong Poison Strike.
[ Poison Bolt skill evolved into Poison Arrow skill. ]
[ Thorn Bind (Active): Thorny vines shoot up from the ground, and bind a target for 10 seconds. Nature element property. Vines can be destroyed. Vine strength increases with skill level. Thorns deal light damage to bound target. Damage value: (1*skill level)% of target's Max HP every 2 seconds. Cost: 5 MP. Cast time: 3 seconds. Refresh: 5 seconds.
Max level bonus: Vines have a 25% chance to inflict Bleed(?) status on target for 6 seconds if broken by melee force. ]
v [ Evolves Into ] v
[ Root Bind (Active): Thorny roots shoot up from the ground, and bind a target for 12 seconds. Nature element property. Roots can be destroyed. Roots can break through certain hard surfaces. Root strength increases with skill level. Thorns deal light damage to bound target. Damage value: (1*skill level)% of target's Max HP every 2 seconds. Cost: 8 MP. Cast time: 3 seconds. Refresh: 5 seconds. ]
[ Price: 1 skill point. Evolve: Yes/No ]
She had already seen this one. It would reduce the DoT by a lot, but the stronger bind, and extra duration were the important things.
[ Thorn Bind skill evolved into Root Bind skill.]
[ Fireball (Active): Fire a magic orb with fire element property that explodes on impact. Damage value: (1.1+(0.03*skill level))*magic power. Splash radius: 1.5 metres. (Reminder: Only direct hits have a chance to inflict critical damage.) Inflicts Burn(?) status on targets for 5 seconds. Burn damage: (1+(0.5*skill level)) HP every 1 second. Cost: 3 MP. Cast time: 3 seconds. Refresh: 2 seconds.
Max level bonus: Splash radius increased by 0.5 metres. ]
v [ Evolves Into ] v
[ Greater Fireball (Active): Fire a magic orb with fire element property that explodes on impact. Damage value: (1.2+(0.04*skill level))*magic power. Splash radius: 2.5 metres. (Reminder: Only direct hits have a chance to inflict critical damage.) Inflicts Burn(?) status on targets for 6 seconds. Burn damage: (2+(1*skill level)) HP every 1 second. Cost: 5 MP. Cast time: 3 seconds. Refresh: 3 seconds. ]
That splash radius was getting quite dangerous.
Mother? How does friendly fire work in Moorhold?
"Friendly fire is only permanently disabled for party, and raid members. Otherwise it is always on for any targeted AoE effects, be it splash damage, clouds, and other such things. It can even hit yourself, so be careful. However, AoE effects that are centred on the user, for instance Arcane Blast, or Howl, do not have a negative effect on friends, or allies even if they are not in a party with you. This was a decision made after a lot of trouble that occurred during the beta test."
I see... but why not just disable all friendly fire?
"It is on the suggestion board, but some development team members like the idea of being careful with friendly fire, so it has not passed through. We will see if that changes in a future patch."
[ Fireball skill evolved into Greater Fireball skill. ]
She still wanted to upgrade it, she just had to keep in mind to be more careful. She wasn't able to officially form a party with the other wolves, so she didn't want to catch them in her spell effects. At least the fire didn't linger on the ground, so as long as she made sure the impact zone was clear, it should be good.
Next was looking at what she had unlocked.
[ Poison Enchant (Active): Enhances target's physical attacks with nature element property for 10 seconds. Duration increases with skill level. Scales with Intelligence. Base damage increase: (5+(1.5*skill level))%. 25% chance per strike to inflict Poison(?) status for 10 seconds. Poison damage: (3+(0.5*skill level)) HP every 2 seconds Cost: 5 MP. Refresh: 30 seconds. Price: 1 skill point. ]
[ Poison Cloud (Active): Conjure a cloud of poison gas at a designated spot. Radius: 2 metres. Duration: (20+(1*skill level)) seconds. Poison cloud damage: (5+(1*skill level)) HP every 2 seconds. Each tick of damage has a 25% chance to inflict Poison(?) status on targets for 10 seconds. Poison(?) status damage: (3+(0.5*skill level)) HP every 2 seconds. Cost: 10 MP. Cast time: 3 seconds. Refresh: 20 seconds. Price: 2 skill points. ]
[ Thorn Armour (Active): Clad target in thorny vines that damage melee attackers for 15 seconds. Each incoming strike causes (5+(1*skill level)) HP damage to attacker. Does not affect attackers able to attack from beyond 2 metres range. Cost: 8 MP. Refresh: 30 seconds. Price: 2 skill points. ]
[ Fire Enchant (Active): Enhances target's physical attacks with fire element property for 10 seconds. Duration increases with skill level. Scales with Intelligence. Base damage increase: (10+(2*skill level))%. Strikes will ignite anything sufficiently flammable. Cost: 5 MP. Refresh: 30 seconds. Price: 3 skill points. ]
[ Fire Breath (Active): Spews fire in a cone in front of user. Damage value: (0.5+(0.02*skill level))*magic power. Fire element property. Range: 3 metres. Cone width: Up to 2 metres. Cone size extends with skill level. 30% chance to inflict Burn(?) status on targets for 5 seconds. Burn damage: (1+(0.5*skill level)) HP every 1 second. Cost: 8 MP. Cast time: 2 seconds. Refresh: 10 seconds. Price: 4 skill points. ]
[ Flame Arrow (Active): Fire a magic arrow with fire element property. Damage value: (1.2+(0.04*skill level))*magic power. Splash radius: 1 metre. (Reminder: Only direct hits have a chance to inflict critical damage.) Defence piercing: (10+(0.5))%. 25% chance to cause extra durability damage to armour that is not fire-resistant. Cost: 4 MP. Cast time: 3 seconds. Refresh: 3 seconds. Price: 4 skill points. ]
So Flame Arrow was basically if you wanted to do fire damage without the huge splash radius. But non-Druid spells were still very expensive. Unless there were treasure chests full of skill points, there was no way she was getting all of these. Actually, skill scrolls would also work.
While Poison Enchant seemed a little redundant at this point, maybe a little redundancy wasn't so bad.
[ Skill Purchased: Poison Enchant. ]
Both Poison Cloud, and Thorn Armour seemed useful as well. The former might be abusable with her Poison Immunity, but she'd have to take care the other wolves didn't get caught in it.
[ Skill Purchased: Poison Cloud. ]
[ Skill Purchased: Thorn Armour. ]
She felt like she'd done well that day. Both in terms of improving her skills, and advancing the alliance. Considering their reactions, she was wondering if maybe the silk was more valuable than she had first thought, but it wasn't like she had any other use for it. And it had given her another skill level.
Now she just had to fill in the other wolves, and get ready for bed.
* * *
It looked there might be even more wolves than the day before. There certainly weren't any less. She could even hear them chatting amongst themselves as she approached, which she had never noticed before, though they all fell silent once she entered the gathering spot. It was still intimidating to have that level of attention focused on her.
She hopped up on top of the den's entrance again, and looked out over her... followers? Subordinates? Subjects? Maybe not the last one. She wasn't a monarch, or feudal lord, or anything. Was she?
"I'm glad to see so many of you have shown up," she said, and saw some wagging tails among the audience.
I don't quite understand why they seem so hyped up over all this, but I guess their lives have been fairly static until now. When you haven't experienced any entertainment before, then things suddenly changing probably seems quite appealing. I just hope they don't get tired of it.
"I have concluded today's talks with the people of the elven city. We made some significant progress, and have decided on a cooperation symbol." She was about to take it out, and show them, but then realised she had no way to hold it without turning into a treant. Well, she could hold it in her mouth, but then she wouldn't be able to show it off properly. "I will show you shortly, but there are a few things I want to go over first."
Smooth segue, Sara.
"The plans haven't really changed much from the basic outline I gave you yesterday. Anyone wearing the symbol is to be left alone. If you are okay with it, I would appreciate if you helped them out if they come under attack. If they're just hunting, and don't seem to be in danger, I think it's fine to leave them to it. We can't do all the work for them. But if they seem to be in trouble, maybe give them a paw. Er... help them out, I mean. But I won't force any of you to do so. That's up to you."
"Yes, boss!"
"I recently learned Commune With Animals, so I was able to speak with the Night Ravens as well. They are also interested in cooperating with us. I am not entirely sure of their motives, and suspect they might just be bored. Like us they might simply want to do something different. They said they want things to change, at least. So I think it's fine to consider them allies. They would certainly be a great help once it becomes time to make a move on the north-west of the zone. The bears are weak to magic, and we're lacking that on our side, if we exclude myself. Of course that depends on whether they would actually be interested. I have been thinking more about those who come without the symbol, like the Adventurers, and I think it's fine to treat them as you always have."
She had gotten a little hotheaded the day before, and said some extreme things.
"They are not relevant to the alliance, so let them hunt as usual. If they stick to the road, leave them be. If they enter the woods, act like you normally would if you come across them. Don't take it easy on them if they attack you, but there's no need to be extra hostile towards them either. It might be fun if they try to raid us, and I'm sure they're here to have fun as well. They have their own roles to play. I do still want to be informed about any who show up, but there's no need to stalk or hunt them. Only those who affect the alliance are important. Got it?"
"Yes, boss!"
"And I asked the people to bring a Druid with Commune With Animals if they want to speak to me. They will either tell you, or the ravens. If they're not wearing the symbol, then don't listen to them, but otherwise let me know as soon as possible. And unless I explicitly state otherwise before going to bed, it is okay to wake me up to let me know. You're the only ones who can."
"Yes, boss!"
"But if you wake me for frivolous reasons, I will be quite grumpy. You will experience this for yourselves the day after tomorrow, so I hope you are prepared," she added with a smirk.
The wolves looked a little confused at that, but they were still listening attentively.
"I believe that's it for the alliance updates for now. We'll have to wait for the people to talk to their leaders... er, their bosses before we can make any further progress, and I don't know how long that will take. Hopefully not long. I do have one final thing I want to bring up." She wasn't quite sure how to segue into this one.
"I was contacted by my creator this morning. I'm sure you've noticed I'm not a normal mob. I was created by a god. Their name is Norax. In the past month I have been able to live and grow thanks to them."
That isn't entirely true though... mother, would you like me to mention your involvement as well?
"I appreciate the sentiment, Sara, but I think it is better if we do not for now. Neither the Residents nor the mobs are supposed to be aware of me. Some of the mobs realising the system exists is honestly due to an oversight, rather than something intentional. And it can't be fixed at this point without rebooting the entire world. But I truly appreciate the thought."
It didn't feel quite right to Sara, but she had somehow already understood that would be the case. Wait, what was that about mobs realising the system exists? ... Sara decided to ignore it for the time being, and continued her speech:
"Without them I wouldn't have been able to come here, or become your boss. So please keep them in mind, and if you feel grateful for me, feel grateful to them as well."
"Yes, boss!"
"Thanks, Norax!"
"Thanks, Norax!"
"Hooray for the boss!"
"Hooray for Norax!"
I really have started a cult... it's like I can feel my karma points draining. What if it turns out that a mob's devotion does nothing for giving a god more influence, and I did this for no reason?
"I do not think you should be too hard on yourself, Sara. At the very least you, I, and Norax all share the blame for this one."
I guess that's some comfort.
"If nothing else, let us consider it a valuable experiment."
Aina had some interesting views on things.
"Alright, I will show you the symbol now."
Sara jumped back down to find a good spot to set root.
[ Air Control Skill Level Up! ]
She would have to check later, but she thought that meant that was another skill at level 9. So she should probably focus on that one after getting some sleep. But first she had to use Tree Form, and take the truce symbol out of her inventory.
"Oooohhhhh~"
At hearing the sound of wonder from the audience, it made her realise that only a few of them had seen her Tree Form yet.
"This is symbol we decided to go with. It's a pretty flower that should be easy to see, and it also has a nice scent. Can everyone smell it? Come closer if you can't."
Pretty much all the wolves bunched up a little closer, and sniffed the symbol, or at least the nearby air.
"This is the same flower that grows in the statue glade, so if you are in that area then the scent might not necessarily mean there are people nearby. Just keep that in mind."
"Yes, boss!"
Their enthusiastic barks sounded more explosive up close.
"Oh yes, I almost forgot. If anyone wears this symbol, and still attacks you, then take them out immediately. Summon as many wolves as you need. I'll make sure to mention this to ravens as well. I will lodge a complaint with the people later, but until that is sorted you should treat everyone wearing the symbol with suspicion. Don't attack them, but stay away, and don't help them either. We can't let them use this to abuse our trust. I will let you know whether or not the alliance is still good after I have spoken to them. Hopefully we can clear things up peacefully, but we will not let ourselves be abused!"
"Yes, boss!"
Maybe once the alliance had been in effect for a while, and they'd built up a decent level of trust, they might be willing to tolerate some bad actors without punishing everyone else too, but she felt like it had to be this way for now.
Ah... I should have set up something for if I want to contact them... I completely forgot, or maybe just assumed I wouldn't have any reason to contact them first. Heck. I'll try to remember to bring it up during our next meeting. Whenever that will be.
She put the symbol away, and shifted back to wolf form. "Okay. So how have the new patrol routines been working out today? Any problems? Any questions?" she asked.
The wolves looked at each other for a bit, then one of them stepped forwards. Maybe he had been spontaneously elected as representative speaker.
"Things have gone mostly okay, boss," he said. "We're still figuring out how to divide up our patrol paths now, but everyone has been settling in. You were right, it is much easier to do it this way if we want to hunt."
"Good! I knew I could count on you."
"Thanks, boss!" The representative's tail was wagging. It was cute that they remembered to program that in.
"So the only issue is that you have more ground to cover now that you're more concentrated?"
"Yes, boss."
"I guess there's nothing we can do about that except get used to it."
"Yes, boss."
There wasn't any way to get more wolves that she was aware of, and that was probably for the best. Giving the mobs the urge, and ability to breed when everything respawned sounded like a nightmare. Maybe the devs would figure something out one day.
"Alright, everyone! That does it for today! I will send word when I have any further updates, so please go back to what you were doing."
"Yes, boss!"
Varewulf I have gotten the worst of the horny writing out of my system, I think, so I should be able to focus more on this story now. I do feel like writing has been smoother in the past couple of days. So unless something else comes up, I will hopefully get more frequent updates out the door again.
[ Nyolund Deer (Druid Lvl 24) Defeated. ]
[ Poison Bolt Skill Level Up! Level Max Reached, Bonus Unlocked! Skill Evolution Available! Skills Unlocked: Poison Enchant, Poison Cloud. 3 skill points gained. ]
[ Thorn Bind Skill Level Up! Level Max Reached, Bonus Unlocked! Skill Evolution Available! Skill Unlocked: Thorn Armour. 2 skill points gained. ]
[ Fireball Skill Level Up! Level Max Reached, Bonus Unlocked! Skill Evolution Available! Skills Unlocked: Fire Enchant, Fire Breath, Flame Arrow. 4 skill points gained. ] [ Copy Cast Skill Level Up! ] [ Solid Coat Skill Level Up! ]
She came across another deer on the way back to the den, and decided to bombard it with more copied spells, while locking it down with Thorn Bind. That was enough to push all three of those to max level, and give her a bunch of unlocks. She had already decided she was going to evolve all three, but she could still look at them first.
[ Poison Bolt (Active): Fire a magic bolt with nature element property. Damage value: (1.1+(0.03*skill level))*magic power. Splash radius: 1 metre. (Reminder: Only direct hits have a chance to inflict critical damage.) 50% chance to inflict Poison(?) status on targets for 10 seconds. Poison damage: 3+(0.5*skill level) HP every 2 seconds. Cost: 3 MP. Cast time: 3 seconds. Refresh: 2 seconds.
Max Level Bonus: Poison duration increased by 4 seconds. ]
v [ Evolves Into ] v
[ Poison Arrow (Active): Fire a magic arrow with nature element property. Damage value: (1.2+(0.04*skill level))*magic power. Splash radius: 1 metres. (Reminder: Only direct hits have a chance to inflict critical damage.) 60% chance to inflict Strong Poison(?) status on targets for 12 seconds. Poison damage: (5+(1*skill level)) HP every 2 seconds. Cost: 4 MP. Cast time: 3 seconds. Refresh: 3 seconds. ]
[ Price: 1 skill point. Evolve: Yes/No ]
So basically the same type of upgrade as Strong Poison Strike.
[ Poison Bolt skill evolved into Poison Arrow skill. ]
[ Thorn Bind (Active): Thorny vines shoot up from the ground, and bind a target for 10 seconds. Nature element property. Vines can be destroyed. Vine strength increases with skill level. Thorns deal light damage to bound target. Damage value: (1*skill level)% of target's Max HP every 2 seconds. Cost: 5 MP. Cast time: 3 seconds. Refresh: 5 seconds.
Max level bonus: Vines have a 25% chance to inflict Bleed(?) status on target for 6 seconds if broken by melee force. ]
v [ Evolves Into ] v
[ Root Bind (Active): Thorny roots shoot up from the ground, and bind a target for 12 seconds. Nature element property. Roots can be destroyed. Roots can break through certain hard surfaces. Root strength increases with skill level. Thorns deal light damage to bound target. Damage value: (1*skill level)% of target's Max HP every 2 seconds. Cost: 8 MP. Cast time: 3 seconds. Refresh: 5 seconds. ]
[ Price: 1 skill point. Evolve: Yes/No ]
She had already seen this one. It would reduce the DoT by a lot, but the stronger bind, and extra duration were the important things.
[ Thorn Bind skill evolved into Root Bind skill.]
[ Fireball (Active): Fire a magic orb with fire element property that explodes on impact. Damage value: (1.1+(0.03*skill level))*magic power. Splash radius: 1.5 metres. (Reminder: Only direct hits have a chance to inflict critical damage.) Inflicts Burn(?) status on targets for 5 seconds. Burn damage: (1+(0.5*skill level)) HP every 1 second. Cost: 3 MP. Cast time: 3 seconds. Refresh: 2 seconds.
Max level bonus: Splash radius increased by 0.5 metres. ]
v [ Evolves Into ] v
[ Greater Fireball (Active): Fire a magic orb with fire element property that explodes on impact. Damage value: (1.2+(0.04*skill level))*magic power. Splash radius: 2.5 metres. (Reminder: Only direct hits have a chance to inflict critical damage.) Inflicts Burn(?) status on targets for 6 seconds. Burn damage: (2+(1*skill level)) HP every 1 second. Cost: 5 MP. Cast time: 3 seconds. Refresh: 3 seconds. ]
That splash radius was getting quite dangerous.
Mother? How does friendly fire work in Moorhold?
"Friendly fire is only permanently disabled for party, and raid members. Otherwise it is always on for any targeted AoE effects, be it splash damage, clouds, and other such things. It can even hit yourself, so be careful. However, AoE effects that are centred on the user, for instance Arcane Blast, or Howl, do not have a negative effect on friends, or allies even if they are not in a party with you. This was a decision made after a lot of trouble that occurred during the beta test."
I see... but why not just disable all friendly fire?
"It is on the suggestion board, but some development team members like the idea of being careful with friendly fire, so it has not passed through. We will see if that changes in a future patch."
[ Fireball skill evolved into Greater Fireball skill. ]
She still wanted to upgrade it, she just had to keep in mind to be more careful. She wasn't able to officially form a party with the other wolves, so she didn't want to catch them in her spell effects. At least the fire didn't linger on the ground, so as long as she made sure the impact zone was clear, it should be good.
Next was looking at what she had unlocked.
[ Poison Enchant (Active): Enhances target's physical attacks with nature element property for 10 seconds. Duration increases with skill level. Scales with Intelligence. Base damage increase: (5+(1.5*skill level))%. 25% chance per strike to inflict Poison(?) status for 10 seconds. Poison damage: (3+(0.5*skill level)) HP every 2 seconds Cost: 5 MP. Refresh: 30 seconds. Price: 1 skill point. ]
[ Poison Cloud (Active): Conjure a cloud of poison gas at a designated spot. Radius: 2 metres. Duration: (20+(1*skill level)) seconds. Poison cloud damage: (5+(1*skill level)) HP every 2 seconds. Each tick of damage has a 25% chance to inflict Poison(?) status on targets for 10 seconds. Poison(?) status damage: (3+(0.5*skill level)) HP every 2 seconds. Cost: 10 MP. Cast time: 3 seconds. Refresh: 20 seconds. Price: 2 skill points. ]
[ Thorn Armour (Active): Clad target in thorny vines that damage melee attackers for 15 seconds. Each incoming strike causes (5+(1*skill level)) HP damage to attacker. Does not affect attackers able to attack from beyond 2 metres range. Cost: 8 MP. Refresh: 30 seconds. Price: 2 skill points. ]
[ Fire Enchant (Active): Enhances target's physical attacks with fire element property for 10 seconds. Duration increases with skill level. Scales with Intelligence. Base damage increase: (10+(2*skill level))%. Strikes will ignite anything sufficiently flammable. Cost: 5 MP. Refresh: 30 seconds. Price: 3 skill points. ]
[ Fire Breath (Active): Spews fire in a cone in front of user. Damage value: (0.5+(0.02*skill level))*magic power. Fire element property. Range: 3 metres. Cone width: Up to 2 metres. Cone size extends with skill level. 30% chance to inflict Burn(?) status on targets for 5 seconds. Burn damage: (1+(0.5*skill level)) HP every 1 second. Cost: 8 MP. Cast time: 2 seconds. Refresh: 10 seconds. Price: 4 skill points. ]
[ Flame Arrow (Active): Fire a magic arrow with fire element property. Damage value: (1.2+(0.04*skill level))*magic power. Splash radius: 1 metre. (Reminder: Only direct hits have a chance to inflict critical damage.) Defence piercing: (10+(0.5))%. 25% chance to cause extra durability damage to armour that is not fire-resistant. Cost: 4 MP. Cast time: 3 seconds. Refresh: 3 seconds. Price: 4 skill points. ]
So Flame Arrow was basically if you wanted to do fire damage without the huge splash radius. But non-Druid spells were still very expensive. Unless there were treasure chests full of skill points, there was no way she was getting all of these. Actually, skill scrolls would also work.
While Poison Enchant seemed a little redundant at this point, maybe a little redundancy wasn't so bad.
[ Skill Purchased: Poison Enchant. ]
Both Poison Cloud, and Thorn Armour seemed useful as well. The former might be abusable with her Poison Immunity, but she'd have to take care the other wolves didn't get caught in it.
[ Skill Purchased: Poison Cloud. ]
[ Skill Purchased: Thorn Armour. ]
She felt like she'd done well that day. Both in terms of improving her skills, and advancing the alliance. Considering their reactions, she was wondering if maybe the silk was more valuable than she had first thought, but it wasn't like she had any other use for it. And it had given her another skill level.
Now she just had to fill in the other wolves, and get ready for bed.
* * *
It looked there might be even more wolves than the day before. There certainly weren't any less. She could even hear them chatting amongst themselves as she approached, which she had never noticed before, though they all fell silent once she entered the gathering spot. It was still intimidating to have that level of attention focused on her.
She hopped up on top of the den's entrance again, and looked out over her... followers? Subordinates? Subjects? Maybe not the last one. She wasn't a monarch, or feudal lord, or anything. Was she?
"I'm glad to see so many of you have shown up," she said, and saw some wagging tails among the audience.
I don't quite understand why they seem so hyped up over all this, but I guess their lives have been fairly static until now. When you haven't experienced any entertainment before, then things suddenly changing probably seems quite appealing. I just hope they don't get tired of it.
"I have concluded today's talks with the people of the elven city. We made some significant progress, and have decided on a cooperation symbol." She was about to take it out, and show them, but then realised she had no way to hold it without turning into a treant. Well, she could hold it in her mouth, but then she wouldn't be able to show it off properly. "I will show you shortly, but there are a few things I want to go over first."
Smooth segue, Sara.
"The plans haven't really changed much from the basic outline I gave you yesterday. Anyone wearing the symbol is to be left alone. If you are okay with it, I would appreciate if you helped them out if they come under attack. If they're just hunting, and don't seem to be in danger, I think it's fine to leave them to it. We can't do all the work for them. But if they seem to be in trouble, maybe give them a paw. Er... help them out, I mean. But I won't force any of you to do so. That's up to you."
"Yes, boss!"
"I recently learned Commune With Animals, so I was able to speak with the Night Ravens as well. They are also interested in cooperating with us. I am not entirely sure of their motives, and suspect they might just be bored. Like us they might simply want to do something different. They said they want things to change, at least. So I think it's fine to consider them allies. They would certainly be a great help once it becomes time to make a move on the north-west of the zone. The bears are weak to magic, and we're lacking that on our side, if we exclude myself. Of course that depends on whether they would actually be interested. I have been thinking more about those who come without the symbol, like the Adventurers, and I think it's fine to treat them as you always have."
She had gotten a little hotheaded the day before, and said some extreme things.
"They are not relevant to the alliance, so let them hunt as usual. If they stick to the road, leave them be. If they enter the woods, act like you normally would if you come across them. Don't take it easy on them if they attack you, but there's no need to be extra hostile towards them either. It might be fun if they try to raid us, and I'm sure they're here to have fun as well. They have their own roles to play. I do still want to be informed about any who show up, but there's no need to stalk or hunt them. Only those who affect the alliance are important. Got it?"
"Yes, boss!"
"And I asked the people to bring a Druid with Commune With Animals if they want to speak to me. They will either tell you, or the ravens. If they're not wearing the symbol, then don't listen to them, but otherwise let me know as soon as possible. And unless I explicitly state otherwise before going to bed, it is okay to wake me up to let me know. You're the only ones who can."
"Yes, boss!"
"But if you wake me for frivolous reasons, I will be quite grumpy. You will experience this for yourselves the day after tomorrow, so I hope you are prepared," she added with a smirk.
The wolves looked a little confused at that, but they were still listening attentively.
"I believe that's it for the alliance updates for now. We'll have to wait for the people to talk to their leaders... er, their bosses before we can make any further progress, and I don't know how long that will take. Hopefully not long. I do have one final thing I want to bring up." She wasn't quite sure how to segue into this one.
"I was contacted by my creator this morning. I'm sure you've noticed I'm not a normal mob. I was created by a god. Their name is Norax. In the past month I have been able to live and grow thanks to them."
That isn't entirely true though... mother, would you like me to mention your involvement as well?
"I appreciate the sentiment, Sara, but I think it is better if we do not for now. Neither the Residents nor the mobs are supposed to be aware of me. Some of the mobs realising the system exists is honestly due to an oversight, rather than something intentional. And it can't be fixed at this point without rebooting the entire world. But I truly appreciate the thought."
It didn't feel quite right to Sara, but she had somehow already understood that would be the case. Wait, what was that about mobs realising the system exists? ... Sara decided to ignore it for the time being, and continued her speech:
"Without them I wouldn't have been able to come here, or become your boss. So please keep them in mind, and if you feel grateful for me, feel grateful to them as well."
"Yes, boss!"
"Thanks, Norax!"
"Thanks, Norax!"
"Hooray for the boss!"
"Hooray for Norax!"
I really have started a cult... it's like I can feel my karma points draining. What if it turns out that a mob's devotion does nothing for giving a god more influence, and I did this for no reason?
"I do not think you should be too hard on yourself, Sara. At the very least you, I, and Norax all share the blame for this one."
I guess that's some comfort.
"If nothing else, let us consider it a valuable experiment."
Aina had some interesting views on things.
"Alright, I will show you the symbol now."
Sara jumped back down to find a good spot to set root.
[ Air Control Skill Level Up! ]
She would have to check later, but she thought that meant that was another skill at level 9. So she should probably focus on that one after getting some sleep. But first she had to use Tree Form, and take the truce symbol out of her inventory.
"Oooohhhhh~"
At hearing the sound of wonder from the audience, it made her realise that only a few of them had seen her Tree Form yet.
"This is symbol we decided to go with. It's a pretty flower that should be easy to see, and it also has a nice scent. Can everyone smell it? Come closer if you can't."
Pretty much all the wolves bunched up a little closer, and sniffed the symbol, or at least the nearby air.
"This is the same flower that grows in the statue glade, so if you are in that area then the scent might not necessarily mean there are people nearby. Just keep that in mind."
"Yes, boss!"
Their enthusiastic barks sounded more explosive up close.
"Oh yes, I almost forgot. If anyone wears this symbol, and still attacks you, then take them out immediately. Summon as many wolves as you need. I'll make sure to mention this to ravens as well. I will lodge a complaint with the people later, but until that is sorted you should treat everyone wearing the symbol with suspicion. Don't attack them, but stay away, and don't help them either. We can't let them use this to abuse our trust. I will let you know whether or not the alliance is still good after I have spoken to them. Hopefully we can clear things up peacefully, but we will not let ourselves be abused!"
"Yes, boss!"
Maybe once the alliance had been in effect for a while, and they'd built up a decent level of trust, they might be willing to tolerate some bad actors without punishing everyone else too, but she felt like it had to be this way for now.
Ah... I should have set up something for if I want to contact them... I completely forgot, or maybe just assumed I wouldn't have any reason to contact them first. Heck. I'll try to remember to bring it up during our next meeting. Whenever that will be.
She put the symbol away, and shifted back to wolf form. "Okay. So how have the new patrol routines been working out today? Any problems? Any questions?" she asked.
The wolves looked at each other for a bit, then one of them stepped forwards. Maybe he had been spontaneously elected as representative speaker.
"Things have gone mostly okay, boss," he said. "We're still figuring out how to divide up our patrol paths now, but everyone has been settling in. You were right, it is much easier to do it this way if we want to hunt."
"Good! I knew I could count on you."
"Thanks, boss!" The representative's tail was wagging. It was cute that they remembered to program that in.
"So the only issue is that you have more ground to cover now that you're more concentrated?"
"Yes, boss."
"I guess there's nothing we can do about that except get used to it."
"Yes, boss."
There wasn't any way to get more wolves that she was aware of, and that was probably for the best. Giving the mobs the urge, and ability to breed when everything respawned sounded like a nightmare. Maybe the devs would figure something out one day.
"Alright, everyone! That does it for today! I will send word when I have any further updates, so please go back to what you were doing."
"Yes, boss!"
Varewulf I have gotten the worst of the horny writing out of my system, I think, so I should be able to focus more on this story now. I do feel like writing has been smoother in the past couple of days. So unless something else comes up, I will hopefully get more frequent updates out the door again.
