Zaichus awoke with a groan, immediately smelling the scent of dead things and dried blood, almost retching he shakily stood up, feeling substantially better than the day before.
He threw off his armour and sunk into the small, stagnant lake that he been tended to by the shaman, the spirits of water within were languid and tired, from lack of movement in the water itself.
Using the spirits of wind he spun the pool into a gentle whirlpool, energising the spirits within, amused he dunked his head in, the spirits of water immediately swarming him to remove the gunk of the day from him.
Being cleaned by spirits was a really weird sensation, and having air spirits make bubbles around one's head even more so.
He emerged from the water and took a deep, calming breath, feeling lighter than before, without all that crap on him.
Looking down he saw his reflection and blinked several times.
His previously green eyes held a near-constant glow to them, and his pupils slit like a cats, though the left was was more a faded teal than actual green.
His hair had several streaming brushes of dark green within it, and a pair of short horns jutted out of his head.
[Insight]
[Due to your nebulous ancestry, your Blessing of the Thunder God has altered your body.]
[Bloodline - Highborne Thunderlord Human (Variant)]
[Thunderlord - Job Unlocked]
[Heroic Thunderlord - Job Discovered]
[Heroic Thunderlord requires Max Rank in Thunderlord and Great Weapon Fighting to Unlock.]
Well now I have a goal, that's cool.
Zaichus was pleased with himself to be honest, he left the pool, and looked at himself for a moment, before looking at the spirits stuck within, frowning he stuck his hand in and made a sort of 'come on' gesture.
He didn't know if it'd do anything but they rushed into his flesh.
[Hydrokinesis - Unlocked]
[Produce Water 5 - Learned]
[Thunderlord Job has mutated into Stormlord]
[Heroic Thunderlord Job has Mutated into Heroic Stormlord]
[Alter Weather (Create Rain) - Learned]
[Alter Weather (Create Storm) - Learned]
Fuck me drunk I was just trying to be nice!
Looking at his hand he could see the three dozen or so sprites of blue rushing around beneath his skin.
Sighing Zaichus re-dressed himself and loaded up the corpse of Arguntis onto Scud. Hopping into his saddle he clicked his tongue, urging the beast on, with a slight job Scud left the camp behind.
[Insight]
[Your Weapon(s) Are Ready for Evolution]
[Would you like to evolve your Organic Katana(s)]
[Organic Katana(s) have evolved into Storm Seer(s) (Unique)]
[Storm Seer(s): A pale blue katana capable of channeling the power of the storm, each attack first splashes the target with high-pressure water, before releasing a jolt of lightning.]
Vague bloodline for the win!
He almost turned Scud around to collect more of those weapons but figured spreading himself thin - time wise at least - across several weapons to see what he'd get each time they leveled up, would be more a hindrance that a help.
Job Change, Stormlord.
[Your Job has changed from Warrior to Stormlord]
[Summon Stormlords Armour - Learned]
[Stormlords Fury (Passive) - Learned]
[Stormlord's fury increases Accuracy, Critical Strike Chance, and Critical Damage when poor weather.]
Probably something similar to the Bound Armour from early Elder Scrolls games, noice.
Duiran Adventurers Guild
Zaich slid off Scud's Saddle, and pulled out a kobold arm he'd stuffed into his bag of holding for the giant beast to chew on, "We'll get some food after I put this in, eh?"
Scud huffed affirmatively, pleased with the idea.
Pulling Agruntis off and throwing him over his shoulder Zaich walked into the guild hall and rang the bell at the counter.
Adam appeared as though from thin air, Zaich flashed his badge and threw the goliath onto the floor, "Here to collect the bounty on this fella."
Adam adjusted his glasses and accepted the bounty slip, smiling the smaller human said, "Marvelously done for your first task, Mr. Alexandros."
Zaichus just nodded, though internally feeling smug about complete a Silver Tier Mission, if only to rub it in the horned woman's face.
"I'll go fetch your payment." Adam disappeared into a back room.
"Still alive then newbie… eh? What happened to your head?" Zaich rolled his eyes, turning to the horned woman who looked at him puzzled, before a grin grew on her face.
"Ah! You were a Dragonewt all along!" She grinned brightly.
"No." Zaich dismissed immediately, "Got a blessing."
She grimaced, something about that upset her more than reasonable, "A blessing, eh? Hm. Good for you, I guess…" Her eyes fell down to the corpse on the table.
"Wait so you- you finished that bounty alone!?"
Zaichus looked up to the ceiling for a moment, awaiting the Thunder God's smiting prowess to banish this wench.
It did not come.
"Look I'm usually a non-confrontational kind of person but is this just a thing you do? Bother people who clearly want nothing to do with you?" Zaichus asked with a pointed stare, making her look like someone smacked her with a fish.
"If you're under the impression I've been quiet because I'm 'shy' or something, I haven't. I genuinely have no interest speaking with you, please leave me alone."
She opened her mouth only for him to lean forward and put up his hand, "Shh~ no talking, only leaving." He made a shooing motion and gestured her away.
"Bye-bye, now. Bye-bye."
Blessedly, she did.
Zaichus leant against the counter and waited a few more moments for Adam to come back with a sack of coins, "Your pay, Mr. Alexadros. I hope to see you in the future."
Taking the bag and stashing it into his Bag of Holding, Zaichus gave him a nod in thanks. Swinging past the board again he figured it'd be best to get a new quest before leaving.
Monster Extermination
Sightings of Giant Spiders in the caves east of Duiran.
Extermination required, 10 gold for each confirmed kill.
Silver Tier Quest
He grabbed that one and decided on a few others in that direction.
Collection Quest
Alchemist Hulio Zjun requests three bundles of Briar Root.
Located in the eastern caves of Duiran.
Bronze Tier Quest
Well that would explain the first quest.
Reclamation Quest
An outpost to the north has been overrun by renegades.
Eliminate the bandits and release a flair found in the outpost tower to alert the guard of its security.
Silver Tier Quest
Grabbing all three he figured he'd take a swing up north and then loop back into the caves before entering town again.
"Hey, mind if I bother you for a minute?" A voice asked, Zaichus turned and looked down to see a trio of young adventurers.
One was male, he wore a simple suit of armour with a metal shoulder-guard and gloves, the rest being basic leather, he had fair skin and wheat-blond hair.
Another being female, dressed in clerical robes with a heavy mace and a shield, she had a placid expression on her face and bore a religious symbol around her neck, her hair was black as ink and her eyes were a warm honey brown.
The last being an androgynous looking person with hard to place features, a rogue from the looks of it, with two daggers on their hip and dark leathers, a hood and mask - though not up at that time - with short red hair and bright blue eyes, a few freckles across their cheeks.
"My friends and I are Bronze adventurers as well, we noticed your badge and thought you'd want to team up for a quest or two." The young man asked, looking a little nervous.
To be fair, Zaichus was a head and a half taller than the guy, and at least a foot or so wider.
The scar probably didn't help.
Zaichus looked away for a moment and thought about it, he'd only fought one proper sentient and that went to well because of his bullshit Stormstrike + Windfury + Storm Charge combo, perhaps having a few extra eyes would help out if the bandits had traps.
Then again, Bronze Tier women made him think back to that cave.
"Are you prepared for anything?" Zaichus asked curiously, getting a confused look from the male.
"Goblins actively kidnap female adventurers, and butcher males. Bandits are human and just as likely to do so, are you prepared for the worst?" The young man looked a little sickly but nodded.
Though the one to answer was the rogue, "Both Felicia and I carry poisons on us if the worst were to happen."
Ah, female then.
Felicia, the cleric, gave a small frown, "Though one would hope they're unneeded."
Zaichus agreed, "Indeed… well I've got these if you want to join in. I'm Zaichus Alexandros, Stormlord job."
They looked surprised at that, though given the half-thunderlord in the corner probably not so surprising.
"Mikael Iron, I'm a Fighter." Mikael accented this by strapping a buckler to his off-hand wrist and gesturing to his longsword.
"Felicia, I'm a Cleric of Life." The dark haired woman said, a small smile on her face.
"Aria Ivy, Rogue." Greeted the redhead.
"Pleasure." They all exchanged handshakes and Mikael finished looking over the quests. "I figured I'd start with the outpost north and then on my way back swing east."
"That works, do you have a mount?" Mikael asked curiously, Zaichus grinned and gestured outside to the giant Thunderlord Wolf.
The three Bronze Tiers paled at the sight of the giant beast.
"His name is Scud." Zaich said with a chuckle, "He's a big softie."
"What in the name of the gods is that?" Felicia asked, bewildered.
"A Thunderlord Wolf, he evolved from a normal… giant timber wolf." Zaichus informed with a grin on his face, Scud huffed questioningly at him.
"They're coming with us." Scud leant on each forepaw for a moment in thought before nodding.
"I promised him food before we headed off, is the guild's food decent or should we go elsewhere?" Zaichus asked his new group.
Mikael pondered for a moment, "The guild is cheap, and decent. I'd suggest it over a restaurant."
Northshire Outpost Outskirts
The outpost consisted of three small houses to fill act as barracks, an open air mess tent for feeding the inhabitants, and a tower made of wood.
The whole thing was surrounded by a fence of sharped wooden stakes, about two metres tall.
Something that Zaichus noticed was that even with this fact, he was taller than the fucking wall, so he had to crouch down to avoid his horns poking over, alerting the brigands.
The plan was simple, much like his attack on Agruntis, Scud would approach the front and draw attention, going full ham, befitting a creature made of thunder and rage.
While this happened Zaichus would put down Totems to act as back-up for the creature, whilst Felicia stayed nearby but out of sight, to heal him.
Aria and Mikael would follow Zaichus through the opposite side of the camp, killing anyone they could from behind in a simple, but effective, pincer maneuver.
The ear-splitting howl alerted them to Scud starting his assault.
With a whisper he commanded the skies and felt the effects almost immediately.
[Alter Weather (Storm) Activated]
[Stormlord's Fury Activated]
"Felicia, if you need us, use your Light spell." Zaich instructed as he led the other two away, the black haired woman nodded severely, brandishing her mace and shield.
Quickly running around the corner and towards the northern exit - Scud attacking the southern entrance - Zaichus peered over and saw two men with bows standing atop the tower, quickly he pulled out his bow from his B.o.H and drew it taunt.
[Insight]
[Critical Strike]
A bullshit way to score a headshot if ever there was one, firing the second shot he removed the two men from the equation.
Aria and Mikael rushed forward, all but jumping behind one of the houses for cover, Aria looked through the window to see a man getting his armour on and pulled down her mask, putting a blowpipe to her lips and shooting him in the neck.
The man fell down like a puppet without strings in seconds.
Mikael kicked the door in and slashed another man across the throat with his longsword, whilst parrying a strike from a man with a shortspear.
Aria used her blowpipe again and caught this man in the eye, giving him a little agony before horrific death.
Doing a quick check for any other brigands Mikael turned to Aria and nodded, "Clear."
Aria gave a silent thumbs up and slipped down the side of the house, two men came out in a rush to meet Scud head on, she threw her daggers, a sleek glinting in the air following the motion, as the men cried out in agony she pulled back.
Thing wires were tied into the pommel of the daggers, forcing them back into her hands.
A small mechanism on her belt rewound the wires so they didn't get in her way.
Zaichus ran directly through the centre of the outpost towards the backs of the brigands attacking his mount, ripping his Storm Seers free from their sheaths as lightning began to spark around him.
[Storm Charge Activated]
[Stormstrike 5 Activated]
Two grown men were bisected as Zaichus cleaved through them, leaning into the momentum of his right arm he spun and managed to fire off a Frost Shock at another man, making him seize up into a large icicle.
The dirt had turned to mud as Scud crushed a greatsword wielder underfoot, the great beast roaring and rearing up as several globes of lightning shot out and acted like heat seeking missiles.
As this happened Zaichus used the frictionless mud to slide beside a man and hew off his left leg, coating both the Stormlord and the ground in blood.
The man screamed in agony, only for Scud to charged him, goring the poor bastard with his horns and slamming him into another man, and then a wall.
Zaichus spun in the mud and staked his blades into the ground, summoning a Flametongue Totem to cover him whilst he activated his Lightning Shield.
Sparks flashed across his body, and as he stood up he towered menacingly over the heads of three, pant-shittingly scared brigands, who dropped their weapons and held up their hands.
Zaichus sneered, "No."
With a punch that could bend steel the Stormlord sunk his arm into the chest of one of the men, and headbutt enough with enough power behind it to crush his skull, lifting the one he'd staked he cast Earth Shock, shattering the ribcage of the final man.
Zaichus pulled the brigand off his arm and flicked his wrist a few times to get the blood off.
Rain kept pouring down as the sky flashed with lightning, he stared unflinchingly at the corpses of his fellow man.
"Area clear." Mikael said over the squall, "Felicia, come inside or you'll catch a cold!"
"Uh-yes, of course!" The Life cleric said, hastily getting out of her hiding spot and into the house.
Scud smoothly prowled his way across the muddy ground like a majestic green and gold stallion, bumping his head against his human's shoulder the massive beast was rewarded with a hand rubbing his chin.
[You have Leveled Up]
Stormlord 1 - 12
Str 216 -230
Dex 140 - 154
Con 192 - 200
Wis 203 - 209
Int 101 - 111
Cha 157 - 170
[Summon Stormlords Armour 2 - Learned]
[Summon Minor Elementals (Water/Lightning)]
Zaichus took a deep breath through his nose as he nodded to himself and climbed up the guard tower, kicking the bodies out of it barely listening to the wet splat of mud and blood as they fell to the ground.
Grabbing one of the flare canisters he used a spark from Produce Flame to ignite the base, tossing it out and watching it fly into the sky, piercing the clouds and releasing a brilliant red flash.
"I used to be such a people person." Said the Highborne Thunderlord to himself, in a moment of reflection.
"Why don't I feel the need to be around others anymore?" He asked himself, at times he needed solitude to sort his thoughts but more often than not he liked to be around people.
In this world it almost seemed, against instinct to be around others, chumming it up with the plebs.
"Suppose it's the new biology." He mused, leaning over the railing and listening to the pitter patter of rain.
"If Highborne were social, they wouldn't be so rare… or at least rare enough to be of note." He rubbed his chin for a moment.
"One does get distracted by the grind, I suppose. Looking at numbers slowly rise so I can use my numbers to beat other peoples numbers… though I doubt they can see them as well as I. What with [Insight] and all." A small grin tugged at his lips.
The quiet trill of rainfall against a wooden roof was oddly soothing, the spirits within his hand bubbled to the surface of his skin, pulling off his glove he held his hand out, the spirits bounced like excited children, rain summoned not only through magic, but by magic bestowed upon a mortal by a god.
That magic, that intrinsic magical signature would forever be burnt into his body, and the spirits within craved it, each blue spirit turned a deep azure. Feeding off the magical energy provided by the rains.
Zaichus sighed in content.
Sure, he may have many questions, but he required information to answer those.
'I'll find you Parabellum. If it kills me.' He thought, a grimace marring his face as he stared out into the middle-distance.
'As soon as I find the elves…'
End.
A wee bit shorter but I still think quite alright.
Lemme know what you think.
If you have questions a review generally works because then they become FAQ answers instead of me having to repeat something over and over.
Zaichus Alexandros
Str 230
Dex 154
Con 200
Wis 209
Int 111
Cha 170
Raxychaz.