novelzi 116- Escalation
116- Escalation
Vraxious-Kingdom Sanctuary
The god's-eye view Vrax was pulled into was different from the ones he was used to at this point. It had always been the cloaked man in a forest glade, but now it was a section of the ancient city swarming with his creations and dotted with the natural life of the Forsaken Lands.
The vision focused over a tall three-story manor Vrax recognized as being where he had given Duchess her Apex improvements. The cobblestones around the building practically burst with quivering grass and lilies.
As the vision continued, it focused on a single, bladed lily unadapted, from what Vrax could tell. A rabbit rushed near the lily, and its poisonous leaves sliced a narrow groove into the creature's flesh as it fled past. It dropped dead a few strides later.
The vision continued in fast forward, showing the lily taking lives and feeding on their blood as it did naturally in the grove. It killed just a few more than its neighbors over time. Growing taller and more vibrant. Eventually a small mark of the cycle appeared on the single lily standing tall over its neighbors.
Suddenly after it killed an especially large mole that had boldly nibbled on its roots, the mark flashed a brilliant divine green, and the lily abruptly pulled itself from the ground.
Legs of thin roots and a sinewy torso of knotted stem carried it forward as it unsteadily wandered towards its next prey. It waved its arm in a sharp motion towards a bird that had perched above it its whole life, and leaves fluttered like daggers through the air, knocking it from its immutable perch.
The vision faded away and began to replay, this time showing a particularly clever owl who hunted and survived longer than his peers, growing strong and bold until he also gained a mark and was suddenly elevated to something more.
That might be the single most amazing and potentially problematic Talent I have ever seen in my life. It takes mundane creatures and chooses the strongest to turn into a new monster. I would choose that in a heartbeat if I only had myself to worry about.
But with other adventurers and settlers having a new potentially catastrophic monster species pop up every other day with no forewarning, it might be just a bit too much. At least for now... If I got the knights trained up and had a decent guard regiment to at least deal with them if they attacked the noncombatants like alchemists I hope to eventually have reside here... Aghh, this one is painful. Let’s see what’s next.
The next vision was completely different; it showed the cloaked man from the glade walking down the steps of a vast roofless amphitheater that was utterly overrun in blindingly white wildflowers. The cloaked man gently prodded around in the flowers for a few minutes before rising up with a wicked smile peeking from under his cowl and a small ladybug on the tip of his finger.
Vrax watched as the man seemed to draw mana from the very ground, a massive symbol of the cycle branding itself across the fields of flowers. The room whipped with power as more and more pure life swirled into the coliseum, gathering like a crackling cloud above the cloaked man.
It kept going; first the flowers, then every scrap of life teeming around the man shriveled inwards, and its very essence was cast into the ever-building cloud above. Just when it looked like the man himself would be consumed next, he cast a hand up, tracing his fingertips into the volatile clouds. Power began to trickle down his hand and light his veins as he channeled [Adapt Life].
The entire structure lit up as life whipped like a gale-force wind around the man. The very ground began to tear apart as the luminescence built to the point that the vision was nothing but green-white light and its reflection within the man’s manic eyes.
Suddenly the light began to ebb and reveal the results of such a powerful ritual empowered by a king’s claim. The humble ladybug had been twisted, transformed into a true horror that nearly filled the vast space within the amphitheater.
Its chitinous back was a shell of sweeping blades and grasping fangs that merged seamlessly into massive plates of near impenetrable darkness that shuddered and split apart to reveal wings that blossomed out in sickly dripping pairs.
The horror soundlessly screamed its dominance from a head that looked like a defiled, twisted mockery of an insect and a dragon; its fanged mandibles gnashed with enough force to cause the cloaked man to stumble.
Then it exploded upwards, the force from its ascent knocking down the few teetering ancient walls of the amphitheater in a shower of stone and promising the death of all those it set its many eyes upon.
Ahh alright, so apparently Vurune is on my side after all. That or the system has decided that I’m its favorite person today, and why yes, we should custom make the perfect talent for Vrax. I'm sure it's a good idea to let him make horrors the size of a dragon with a ritual. What could go wrong... I don’t know if I’ve been this happy since the day I bought Duchess.
No, Vrax, dear gods, no, do not super-adapt Duchess or whatever the ritual is called; if she were actually the size of a dragon, she would end a city... or kingdom before some nigh immortal monster like the king came to snuff her out personally.
Vrax restrained himself from immediately choosing the Talent shown in his vision and waited as his view reset again. He knew it would be foolish to just select the second choice without even seeing the third. Even if he was already certain he was going to select that one.
This time the gods-eye view shifted jarringly down to the cloaked man crouched in the top of a half-fallen tower peering out from the shadows at his domain. There were a few moments of almost eerie stillness. The city seemed dead below him other than the gentle movement of skittering spiders down the side of the tower he was on.
Suddenly his head snapped towards something in the distance, and seconds later a pillar of light like a beacon from the gods shone down on something nearly half a league away on the outskirts of the city.
The man smirked and gestured with a hand; the tower he was on came unmade as the plants holding it together dripped free serpentine creatures of blade bone and leaf, which poured from the collapsing tower and followed him as he dashed from rooftop to rooftop towards the distant light.
The vision went by like a fever dream before slowing as the man and his swarming serpents crested the last rooftop before the beacon of light. Below the man, a small group of golden armored figures were in a desperate last stand. The light shining down upon them had acted like a dinner bell for all the creatures nearby.
The armored men desperately fought off nightmares that lurched from alleys to lunge at them. Adapted birds circled above, diving down to harry the enemies. Even the grass nearby sharpened to a point and leaned towards them, just hoping one would stumble and fall.
The serpents following the cloaked man joined the assault upon the enemies of Vurune who had trespassed and been marked for the hunt for their transgression.
Alright, dammit, that one is also amazing. That would make defending this place a whole lot easier. I am a bit worried about what Vurune would count as an enemy, though. He seems to be more of the ‘if they don’t work for you or with you, then fuck ‘em’ mindset. To be fair, I kind of agree with him there, but I don’t want some poor merchant to walk into the grove and immediately be eaten by carnivorous hummingbirds I make on my next ill-fated bender.
Honestly, this choice is blessedly easy. Dinner bell beacon for enemies, fantastic. Monsters that stand out being elevated to a new species for their own shot in the food chain? Also fantastic, and I probably want it at some point later.
But all of that versus a talent that seems like it was tailor-made for me by an oh-so-benevolent system. Not even a contest.
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Vrax selected the second talent.
[Kingdom Talent Granted]
[Colossus Of The Grove]
Raise a beast of immeasurable might to haunt your lands. Use [Adapt Life] in a place of great power and life within your borders, calling upon the blessing of Vurune to create a masterpiece of predatory power far beyond what you could manage alone. This creature's unending hunt within your lands will become the source of legends. Capacity for the grove to support Colossus increases with the reach of the grove's power.
[Colossus 0/1]
There we go! Limited to one for now, but that makes sense... A half dozen of those roaming around in an area as small as this city would quickly kill off damn near everything. Alright, let’s get back to my burgeoning town and see if there’s anything else I need to do.
I will have to seriously consider what I will choose for my first colossus. If I rush that and make a mistake, I don’t think I can undo the oopsie unless I feel like hunting down the building-sized horror I just made to get that colossus slot open again.
The world faded back to normal around Vrax as he opened his eyes. He nearly fell over as he stared straight into dozens of hellfire green eyes staring at him from a handspan away. Apparently while he was focused on his kingdom sanctuary, the Nightmare conductors had come and perched on him by the dozen.
Cuddles gave a mischievous too wide smile and sailed from Vrax’s arm, a small flock sailing after him. Vrax turns to Hans, who looked a bit guilty.
“I did tell em it twas a bit mean...” He half apologized.
“But you didn’t stop them...”
Hans turned back to his work. “Nuu...I dunnut. 'Twas too funny...”
Yeppp... He will fit right in.
Vrax wandered away from the square to unleash most of the creatures from his menagerie and let them roam around. He stopped suddenly when he remembered that he still had Gobbles in his menagerie, and most of his friends had no idea that abomination even existed.
Okay... I'll go let everyone else run around and play. Gobbles needs to make at least one person cry before everyone knows it’s a thing, though...
***
Gregory-Hopes End
Gregory stared at the broken window with a longsuffering sigh. He stroked his beard and took another puff of his pipe, letting the smoke whisp along his face, its gentle caress a comforting ritual.
Gregory's eyes wandered over and down onto the diminutive halfling shopkeeper. His frazzled hair added to his normally deranged look. Today he was extra frantic, having had his shop window smashed by an errant...something... They still weren’t clear on what had actually broken his window.
Gregory’s money was on a wayward spell from the training yard. The window was cleanly punched through in a too-perfect hole and had glowing purple spiderweb cracks strewn throughout it. He leaned farther away from Ulfric as the man visibly began winding himself up again.
The irate shopkeeper started in again. “Look at it! Look at what they did to my property! Gregory, as a town guard, it's your job. Nay, it is your duty to find the perpetrators and, most importantly, make sure they pay for a new window.”
Gregory’s face creased in weariness, but he just nodded. “Yup, on it.”
He strolled away, the shopkeeper still sputtering something at him as he left. Honestly, he didn’t have the energy for it these days. The skirmishes with unknown assailants in the woods had started up again.
Folks leaving town had pretty fair odds of ending up in a fight if they headed towards the forsaken lands; brigands that were no doubt paid for by the duke were haunting the edges of the forests.
Gregory wasn’t sure how he kept finding people stupid enough to be willing to do that. The forest got most of them, and the few that actually ambushed people were solidly sent packing or, in one rather dramatic instance, vaporized.
He mumbled to himself as he walked aimlessly. “It’s got to be a distraction; they are gearing up for something. The crusade into the forsaken lands was an utter failure, mostly due to Vrax feeding the assholes to his pets.”
Gregory stopped his mumbling and looked up as a procession of horses galloped down the road towards them, the heraldry of Duke Darmit trailing its gaudy red and black from the riders' capes.
Gregory's frown grew even more as he watched longer; there were more than a few riders—there were easily forty armored and mounted men, professional soldiers from the look of them. A single very ornate cart rumbled along in the middle of the procession with the symbol of the bowing man glowing on its side.
And behind that cart came a veritable wall of glimmering gold. The carriage was flanked by nearly a dozen paladins, and based on the color scheme, they were not the fun kind.
Gregory tilted his head back and looked up into the sky, silently cursing at most of the gods he could think of. He glanced side to side, praying to the few he hadn’t cursed out that Cedric was somewhere in eyesight so this wouldn’t be his problem to deal with.
Astoundingly, Cedric was very much so in sight; he had rushed towards the front gate fully armored in his imposing plate mail, his great sword nearly dragging along the ground behind him. Cedric gave Gregory a stern nod and put on his helmet.
A small crowd gathered around the front gate as the procession rumbled in. William Vrax’s father and the de facto mayor stood front and center with Cedric to receive them.
The warriors of the duke and Rembrand filled the streets, circling protectively around the carriage as it rolled to the front. William frowned violently as he saw the wizened, hateful figure climbing confidently from the carriage. It was Archbishop Candor.
They both stared at each other for a moment before Candor launched into a very official-sounding greeting laced with just the barest traces of disdain and disgust.
“Greetings, esteemed members of Hope’s End, I am Bishop Candor, and I have come to help you at the request of the duke and carrying his writ of authority. We will be your guests until such a time as the border of the forsaken lands is pushed back to a more manageable distance.” He let that sink in and smirked almost excitedly at the near revolt that caused in some of the townsfolk.
William leaned on his cane hard and looked across the assembled warriors. They weren’t random men-at-arms; the archbishop had come with full paladins and an honor guard of the duchy’s finest. This wasn’t just posturing; they intended to dig in like ticks.
The crowd was growing more and more restless by the second. Gregory and Cedric looked around nervously; if anyone told them to go fuck themselves, this would get bad fast. William took control of the situation, stepping even farther forward from the crowd and squaring up with Candor.
In a strained voice that held only hollow hospitality, William greeted Candor back. “As loyal servants of the king, we graciously welcome you to our humble town. I’m sure accommodations can be set up for you in the square or in the field beyond the walls. If you really are here to face the monsters within the forest, it might be better to have direct access to them.”
Candor's smile twitched slightly. “Ahh, thank you for your hospitable greeting, but as loyal servants of the kingdom, you understand such shoddy accommodations would not befit warriors of God and loyal troops of his grace. The soldiers will be staying at that quaint inn you all seem so fond of—the hog’s trough, I think it was? Charming name.”
Angry curses roiled through the crowd once again, and Cedric flared his skill over the crowd, stifling the outbursts with an aura of danger, reminding everyone how tenuous this situation really was.
William barely hid his grimace. “Ahh, of course, wouldn’t want the soldiers to be uncomfortable after all or to get their fancy uniforms dirty...”
Candor strolled slightly past William and gestured towards the chapel at the other end of the street. “As for myself and the faithful paladins behind me, we will be staying with you at the chapel. If I’m not mistaken, it’s a church open to all faiths.”
“It is...” William hissed through clenched teeth, knowing where this was going.
“Wonderful, wonderful! Then as its steward join me I heard there was an open plinth that still needs a shrine to Rembrand placed! Of course you wouldn’t have an issue with that, would you? I mean, you were his adherent for, what, nearly fifty years?”
William turned and followed the bishop; his temper flared so much he forgot to pretend to lean on his cane. Cobblestones trembled slightly as he marched after Candor towards the chapel steps. “Yes, I in fact was before I realized his teachings aren’t meant to help anyone other than himself.”
Candor’s unkind smile drew up with a genuine glimmer as he made his way towards the chapel, and he climbed its steps unnecessarily slowly. The nearby candelabras in the entranceway shifted slightly from a healthy yellow to an angry, sickly red flame. “That’s not entirely true,” Candor spoke in nearly a whisper so only William could hear him as he marched across the stone floor. “His most powerful faithful have plenty to be gained; the sheep are the sheep for a reason.”
Candor stopped at an empty alcove along the wall and looked at the other small godly statues in other alcoves. He raised his hand, and a mote of fire slowly dripped down from it, cascading into a small carving of a bowing man. It finished solidifying with a pulse of power throughout the room.
William closed his eyes as the very air grew more stagnant in the chapel; his breath hitched slightly as he tried to calm himself, but the new presence was a foul, smothering thing that took and took until there was nothing left for anyone to give.
Candor stood back and looked towards William. “There, that’s much better, isn’t it? So tell me, I'm curious, what class does one get after becoming an Oathbreaker Paladin?
The candelabras in the room shifted from the hateful red back to a normal yellow before all smothering out with a starlike twinkle of mystical sparks. “If I’m lucky, you will get to find out before this is all over. I promise you it’s something pretty fucking memorable.”
Candor let his fake dignified expression drop, and the unhinged resentful expression trembled in desire. “Please, oh great cleric of Hopes End... I would love nothing more.” He sounded almost hungry, taking a half step towards William.
William bunched his hands into fists, gathering himself and forcibly pushing away the mana he had begun to gather on instinct. He knew that was exactly what this monster wanted: a reason. An excuse to murder everyone he could and then cry rebellion to the king.
Instead of lashing out, William gestured down the hallway. “Let me show you and your men to your accommodations. Mind the plants; a few of them are a bit grabby.”