Day 204:
After returning from the latest night raid, Candy and I found out that Candy's father had evolved.
Unlike Candy and the rest of the Faze, this new race was not covered completely in pitch black skin emulating the moonless, starless sky.
Sokar, as he called himself, was about one point eight meters tall, or six feet tall. He had a lean body and the appearance of a late 40's men. He was still definitely a humanoid, but instead of possessing the said skin, he had a light grey skin and pitch black hair. The skin had patches of the pitch black pigment that moved on their own, molding and separating as if they had a life of their own.
[Sokar
LvL 65
Race: Phased
HP: 611
Mana: 50
STR: 260
DEX: 60
AGI: 299
END: 98
INT: 100
WIS: 265
CHA: 38]
This officially put Sokar as the second strongest member of the clan by pure stat's alone. It remained to be seen what he could do for his skills and techniques.
Still, geezus, he had over 600 points in HP! He was a meat tank for someone who was so thin... except his END kind of sucked.
"Is this supposed to happen?" I asked Candy as other Fazes and members of the clan swarmed around him, still amazed by his evolution. He was, after all, the only third evolution alongside myself.
"Father did say that our race would automatically evolve to his current form after living for more than a hundred years..." Candy remarked. "I didn't think dad was that old, though."
I blinked. "One hundred years?"
She nodded. "At least that's the age that he's supposed to be."
Our conversation came to an end when Sokar approached us. "Hello, Chief Ruto."
I grinned easily. "So you call yourself Sokar now?" I asked. "Congratulations on making it to the third evolution."
He smiled back to me. "Thank you, Chief Ruto."
"So I heard that you're more than a hundred years old...?"
Sokar chuckled. "Yes, I am. It's not a big deal for Veshta Nerada and Fazes to live a long time, considering the fact that we don't have many natural predators and we do not possess a true physical body."
I nodded. From my own observations, Veshta Nerada and Fazes were shadows given consciousness and will than a body mimicking shadows. Or at least, such was true with the Fazes. For the Veshta Nerada, no one quite knew what they were despite the fact that we lived with them for quite some time now.
"Chief Ruto, I was wondering..." Candy began.
"Yes?"
We decided to forgo night raiding tonight. Instead, we focused on our own.
Specifically, it was the New Race Show. A moral raiser, Sokar proposed, before the siege upon their city.
It was sort of like a tradition, I supposed, within the clan. Whenever a new race appeared among us, he or she was to show the rest of the clan their best in whatever field they excelled in. For example, when the Draenei came over, they took over the infirmary and went far to begin setting up a legitimate hospital.
The hospital was still only a building with few healers and beds but without any other equipment and material, so it was still a work in progress. They had also healed some of the injured members of the clan using a racial trait spell called [Naru's Blessing].
Sucks that I couldn't copy it.
Now, it was Sokar's turn to show off, only this time we made it officials as per Sokar's recommendation.
Sokar stood in the middle of the main training ground in the east of the city proper.
He looked like a grey-skinned human from where we all were ... if it weren't for the patches of pitch black pigments moving around and making their own shapes.
It started without a word.
Sokar raised his right hand up above his head and the black patches moved towards it as if answering to his will. They concentrated around his hand and arm until his hand and forearm was completely covered.
Then the most weird shit happened.
His hand began to change its shape. It grew longer and thinner until his fingers alone were longer than how tall he was and his palm was larger than how big his torso was.
SHI-SHICK!
Then they all grew thorns. Black thorns growing out of the fingers and palm and each other. It was a giant black thorn bush... that waved itself around.
'A huge HP pool and body capable of changing shape where those black patches of skin are,' I thought as I observed the thorns. 'Is there a limit?'
Sokar then returned his hand to its original size ... and then extended his forearm and petted Candy who was more than twenty or so meters away from him.
Candy grumbled.
I chuckled softly.
After the demonstration, I asked Sokar to take active part in the defense, which he agreed.
"I was going to anyway," he said.
I decided that for today, I would help in the making of passive defenses. I chopped down sturdy, straight trees for their trunks and made sharp points. After that, I staked down down Twin Peaks plateau.
Day 205:
The day had come.
I stood at the edge of the Twin Peaks plateau with my small chiefs beside me.
We saw Shkifield's army at a distance. They were now less than kilometer from the foot of the Twin Peaks.
Our defense against this invading army was such:
1) The natural fortification. Twin Peaks plateau had only five or so entry way for a large group like an army. Of them, only two were available to Shkifield's army.
2) The siege weapons. Shirou and his engineers -or were they apprentices?- had done well with the siege weapons. We now possessed 10 trebuchets, 5 hwachas and 4 ballistas. We also had enough ammo for each to last us a massive assault every single day for the next month.
3) Trench Stakes. I addition to planting stakes, I had dug a small trench in front of it in front of the only few ways such large armies can enter the plateau.
I had no doubt that with these preparations, we will win this battle and siege to come. My only problem, then, became the few stragglers.
If the enemy commander was smart enough, he would use his main force as a distraction while he would command a smaller force to go around and strike us in the back.
And as such...
4) Ambushers. I had several trolls and one Faze per other entries hiding between trees and bushes, in case a squad of the invaders decided to detour.
All I had to do ... was wait.
It was two hours before noon that they charged us.
Fools. I waited until half of them had passed the foot of the mountain onto the side of the mountain before I gave the orders.
"LET 'EM FLY!" I roared.
The trebuchets, which were in the back, swung and hauled their boulders while the ballistas and the hwachas in the front fired their arrows and bolts.
I watched as the boulders flew over me and struck down at the men climbing up. With the angle of the mountain, the boulder didn't stop at just rolling a bit and continued to plow through their men until it reached the foot of the mountain.
I tsk'ed when I saw that only fifty had died to the trebuchets' attacks.
The arrows and ballista bolts did better. They flew down and struck the soldiers without mercy. The shieldbearers in the front could not withstand the onslaught of arrows and pulled their shields up. Arrows peppered the shields, forming a porcupine out of those shields.
Actually, I was amazed that those shieldbearers were able to keep their pace up even with the arrows pounding against them.
But because they had pulled their shields up, they could not dodge the slower and much more noticeable ballista bolts.
Those bolts struck clear through the shields and their bearers with ease, leaving those behind them open.
Hwachas fired once more on my command.
This time, they struck hard and true.
Without a shield to protect them, the main force took the blunt of the arrows. Men fell by dozens with each volley consisting of more than two hundred arrows fell upon them.
When they tried to race to cover after the volleys were over, Shirou and his rangers fired Bomb Arrows, taking out covers and soldiers hiding behind them.
I could see their morale falling, and I grinned when I saw them eventually turn tail and run away.
"Oh ho ho, too scared of little monsters?" I laughed but it began to strain before it finally turned into a snarl. "But you've climbed so far... So close to my clan..." I turned and looked at the hwacha and ballista loaders. "Fire at will. That goes for you too, trebuchets."
I stared down at the valley where Shkifield's soldiers littered the ground by the hundreds. And even more joined their fallen brethren as my siege weapons shot them in the retreating back.
I had overdone this battle, if it could be called that, but in the end, I had kept my clan safe.
"Let's go hunt them!" I roared as the Highland Warriors of Iskan roared with me. We charged down the hill with a might battlecry, thundering across the valley.
They never told him that these monsters had siege weapons! His king-to-be never told him about how well organized these monsters were!
Quennarius told him-!
"You lied to me!" Count von Lo'Tenska roared in despair and rage. "You sent me here to die!" he shouted in vain in his anger at his liege's spymaster. He watched as his men, his levy from his personal barony, died by in droves. They had climbed too much, had been too confident.
He had been too confident in himself and what he had been provided. He had been sure that the strikes against army in the past week had been the best these tribal monsters could dish out. Why else would they depend so much on guerrilla fighting when they could meet in the field?
He and the others had trusted in Quennarius, the Spymaster for Erlen Shkifield, the duke-to-be.
No, they had misplaced their trust! Quennarius had betrayed them and the House of Shkifield!
Quennarius would pay, but he had to live right now!
The count watched as the monsters charged down like a tidal wave, even if they were so few in number. If he could gather all of his men together, rally them-!
Then he watched as the charging troll in the front killed his squire who he had allowed to lead this disastrous charge.
The squire had been his personal friend's eldest son.
"You son of a b-!" he roared at the troll, who turned to him.
The count's sentence cut off when a boulder flung by the monsters land on top of him and roll off.
I blinked before shrugging. I couldn't kill him. Bummer.
Still, even with this victory, it felt odd. Like something was missing...
Ah. "Don't kill all of them! We need few of them for exchange! Go for those armored knights!" I hastily ordered. "We can exchange for spice that Sholva brought two weeks ago! They have to be alive!"
For some reason, that seemed to make the morale shoot up.
Day 196-197 Casualty Count:
Ironwood City - 0 warriors
Shkifield Army(Ironwood City bound) - 219 soldiers
44 in the night raids
175 in D197 ambush
Day 199-203 Casualty Count:
Ironwood City - 13 warriors
Shkifield Army(Ironwood City bound) - 428 soldiers
134 in the night raids
90 in D199 ambush
204 in D202 night ambush/counter-ambush
Day 204 Casualty Count:
Ironwood City - 0 warriors
Shkifield Army(Ironwood City bound) - 1,079 + Count von Lo'Tenska, the Commander
Battle of Ironwood City - 1,080 killed, 23 caught
Total Casulties:
Ironwood City - 13/268
Shkifield Army(Ironwood City bound) - 1750/2000
X-*Near Annihilation*-X
(Chapter + Omake End)
(Extra information beneath Char Info and Factions)
(Answers to reviews will be in the bottom as well at the wayyy bottom)
Character Status by the end of Day 203:
Naruto
[Imp Ruto] [Troll Ruto] [Chief Ruto] [Troll King] [Baron Ruto]
LvL 79
The Gamer
Race: Mountain Troll
Class: N/A
HP: 168.5(+320.5) (+1.5 HP per hour regen)
Mana: 710 (+6.0 per minute regen)
STR: 641(+320.5 (SGM))
DEX: 115
AGI: 133
END: 174
INT: 140
WIS: 136
CHA: 94
Unused Points: 79
Spirit: 36
Magic: 25
Power: 34
Control: 102
Fame(Prestige): ? +210
Traits Taken + Earned:
Ambitious, Quick, Genius, Cynical, Stressed, Content, Teacher[Neutral] (Unavailable), Power Overwhelming, Strength is Key, Wroth, Strength of a Great Mountain (SGM)
Focus:
X
Racial Traits:
Beast Slaying (max)
Troll Blood (max)
Troll's Unarmed Mastery (max)
Unique Skills: (Pure Combat Skills marked by X)
Berserker (LvL 2)x
Clairvoyance (LvL 2)
Magic Resistance (LvL 2)x
Observe (LvL 48) + Structural Analysis
Projection (LvL 31)
Reinforcement (LvL 5)
Sonar (LvL 30)
Basic Skills:
Archery (LvL 19)x
Ambush (LvL 11)x
Baiting (LvL 28)x
Blade Mastery (LvL 19)x
Blunt Weapon Mastery (LvL 8)x
Charging (LvL 15)x
Crafting (LvL 16) - Construction (Subskill)(LvL 11)
Crushing Blow (LvL 7)x
Fireball (LvL 3)
Fishing (LvL 9)
Gamer's Body (LvL MAX)
Gamer's Mind (LvL MAX)
Intimidation (LvL 11)
Leadership (LvL 15)
Listening (LvL 18)
Mapping (LvL 5)
Negotiation (LvL 9) - Vassalization(Subskill)(LvL 1)
Persuasion(LvL 1)
Physical Durability (LvL 34)
Running (LvL 35)
Teaching (LvL 7)
Throwing (LvL 22)
Trapping (LvL 27)
Unarmed Mastery (LvL 11)
Background Systems (Hero-tier Update):
Life of a Gamer
Achievement System
Class System
Carpathi Ironwood Clan:
# (reference) (important figures) (x = evolutionary stage)
34 Trolls (WoW) (Ruto, Iskan)(xx)
22 Onis (Shirou)(xx)
8 Faze (Candy, Sokar)(xx)
15 Vashta Nerada(x)
17 Greater Fairy (Senna)(xx)
19 Kobold (D&D) (Dresa)(xx)
5 Mountain Dryad (xx)
38 imps (WoW + D&D)(x)
3 Hell Hounds (xx)
55 fairies(x)
16 Incubu/Succubi (Riddle) (xx)
23 Draenei (Na'Deri'in) (Race, no evolution)
Imprisoned:
31 humans
Ironwood City:
Fame: 500
cityPower: 14
Important Figures!
Ironwood Clan
Ruto - Great Chieftain of the Ironwood Clan
Iskan - Troll+Imp racial leader, small chief. In charge of training new recruits. Leader of the Ironwood Highland Warriors (warrior order).
Shirou - Oni racial leader, small chief. In charge of education, production, and strategy.
Candy - Faze+Vashta Nerada racial leader, small chief. In charge of scouting and intelligence.
Senna - Fairykin racial leader, small chief. In charge of food and recruitment.
Dresa - Kobold racial leader, small chief. In charge of mining.
Riddle - Yodr factional leader, a small chief.
Na'Deri'in - Na'sh factional leader, Draenei racial leader.
Vassal Tribes
Jeghal - Ruyure Tribe (tribalPower: 9)
Qreldo - Werwen Tribe (tribalPower: 11)
? - Nomore Tribe (tribalPower: 3)
Boulosu - Bouldon Tribe (tribalPower: 10)
Allies
Duke Christopher Zepolya of the Tranyl-Carpathi
Faction Standings:
? Orcs -300
Carpathi Ironwood Clan +1000 (cityPower: 14)
Carpathi Swamp Valley Bullywug Petty Kingdom -1000
Retvoa Trade Company +80
Nomore Tribe +600 (Vassal)
Ruyure Tribe +500 (Vassal)
Werwen Tribe +500 (Vassal)
Bouldon Tribe +500 (Vassal)
Erlen Shkitfield's Host to Reclaim Southern Carpathi -1000
Duchy of Transyl-Carpathi +500 (Ally) (nationalPower: 13)
House of Zepolya +800 (Ally)
Kingdom of Galburi -1000 (At War) (nationalPower: 30)
Personal Standings:
Andrews Maulta +65
Christopher Zepolya +120
Sholva z'Retvoa +100
Personal Equipment/Inventory:
Pollodium-Enhanced Ironwood Hammer (Rare)
Contract Emblem for the Barony of Upper Carpathi
Race Summaries:
Part 1
From the Official Imperial Encyclopedia of the Volreek Empire
Authored by:
Andrews Maulta, Soman Yun, Tobol Weisstein
It must be noted that the World of Andalusia is not the birthplace of any of these races. In fact, Andalusia is an adopted home of all the races after their ancestors found their way into this world.
Born vs. Evolved:
There are two types of races before their speciation can be discussed. It is being born into a race and evolving into a race. An example of this would be the humans. Humans as a whole are a non-evolving race. They are all born into their race by live birth. Elementals -if they could be considered a race- are human's anathema; they all have evolved into their current form from other races. There are races that are inbetween. Trolls, for instance, can be born or evolved into.
Those who are born into a "True Race" cannot evolve from their race without significant changes to their physiology.
True Race:
True Races are races that individuals can be "born-into," possess high enough base sapience and sentience, lack a wide-diversification, and a mysterious fourth reason. All four criteria must be met for a race to be considered True Race.
It is for this reason that races like imps and bullywugs are not considered a True Race because while they have high enough base sapience, sentience, and all are born-into it, they have too much diversification. Forest Imps, Fire Imps, Rock Imps, Shade Imps, Gas Imps, Swamp Imps, etc. Many nations in the world use the qualification of True Race as a basis for their Listed Race consideration.
Trolls:
Trolls are the fourth Race to be documented in the world of Andalusia. Measuring at an average of 2 meters with the males (6.5 ft) and 1.7 meters with the females (5.6 ft), they are one of the taller races to inhabit the world of Andalusia. Trolls' skin color ranges from green and blue to red and grey with the only missing colors being pink, orange, white, black, yellow, and purple. They have a pair of tusks that has an average reach of 8 centimeters (3.9 in). Males have a long nose while females have a nose similar to elves and humans. They have five fingers per hand and three toe per feet.
Considered to be more feral than the average True Race, they have been denied a lot of the privileges of other races despite the fact that in the continent of Tesbalta, they have developed a thriving and glorious civilization that shames many others. Number of troll sub-species has been last recorded to be around 90.
Racial Trait: [Troll Blood]
Average lifespan is unknown as no troll has been recorded to have died from old age.
Humans:
The second Race -and the second True Race- to arrive in the world of Andalusia, humans are the most populous of the True Races. Average male is 1.8 meters tall (6 ft) and average female is 1.6 meters tall (5.3 ft). Humans' skin pigment is either pink, peach, brown, and their variations.
While not the most arrogant, humans tend to be snobbish compared to other races due to how widespread their culture and civilizations are. They are considered the most average of the True Races, admitted even by their own scientists and magicians. At the same time, humans show a wide range of power, and occupy more than half of the top 100 most powerful individuals around the world at any given point in history.
Racial Trait: [Desire for Domination]
Average lifespan is around 90 years.
Elves:
Considered to be the most beautiful of the True Races, elves were the third Race -and the third True Race- to arrive in the world of Andalusia. Elves' have three skin pigments: purple, peach, and grey. Each skin color corresponds to the sub-race, respectively: Night Elf, High Elf, and the Drow. All sub-races have long pointed ears, glowing eyes of any one color, and general facial and bodily structure of the humans. Average male is 1.8 meters tall (6 ft) and average female is 1.6 meters tall (5.3 ft).
Each sub-race are associated with different aspects of their society. The drow are the evil ones, night elves are the hippies, and the high elves are greedy. Drows are also the most-warlike, night elves are the most powerful, and the high elves are the most resourceful.
Racial trait: [Blessed of Nature]
Average lifespan is unknown as no elf has been recorded to have died from old age.
Tauren:
The first Race -and the first True Race- to arrive upon the world of Andalusia, tauren are cow-like people. They possess a cow's head but the rest of their body structure is similar to that of humans, if you discount the hair-growth and hooves for feet. They have three fingers in each of their hand. They also have horns on their head. Average male is 2.3 meters tall (7.5 ft) and average female is 2 meters tall (6.5 ft), making them the tallest of the True Races. Their skin tone varies between peach, dark grey, white, and brown.
Most peaceful of all True Races, taurens are the keepers of history and wisdom. Even in kingdoms where human superiority reigns, taurens are respected and treated equally.
Racial trait: [Birthed of Nature]
Average lifespan of a tauren is around 120 years.
Kobolds:
There are three sub-races of Kobolds: the reptilian, rodent, and canine. Both rodent and reptilian kobolds are known to live in caves, but the former is considers all none-kobolds are meat. The canine kobolds are a distant relative of the reptilian kobold, and lead a tribal social and lifestyle in forests and plains. Average male is 1.5 meters tall (4.9 ft) and average female is 1.4 meters tall (4.6 ft).
Often looked down upon for their less-than normal civilized lifestyle, they are excluded from all kingdoms for both their lack of desire to communicate with most True Races and their habit of pillaging.
Racial trait: canine[Pack Hivemind], rodent[Rock Skin], reptilian[Mineralogy]
Average lifespan is about 60 years.
Draenei:
One of the True Races, Draenei are similar to tauren and night elves in their inward focus in many aspects of their life. Average male is 1.9 meters tall (6.3 ft) and average female is 1.7 meters tall (5.6 ft). Like the tauren, they possess hooves instead of feet and at the same time possess double jointed legs. They also have a thick meaty tail that has an average length of a 1.5 (4.9 ft) in adults. Males have tendrils in place of facial hair and forehead plates of varying sizes and shapes. Females lack facial tendrils and instead of a forehead plate, draenei females have a horn-like cranial extensions.
Draenei were once the most technologically advance people. However, they were driven off from their homeland with pieces of their technology, and arrived in Andalusia as refugees. Here in this world, they set up a civilization rivaling the culture and power of the humans. However, more than a third of their kind lie scattered throughout the world, unable to reach each other for variety of reasons.
Racial Trait: [Naaru's Blessing]
Average lifespan is about 150 years.
Review Replies + Author's Notes:
*Give a round of applause to kage88 for giving me a great idea. He suggested adding slime from Overlord. So I got the idea of a humanoid, shapechanging slime with the Faze to create the new race of Phased.
*I don't ever intend to make romance central to the story; romance is the smallest seasoning, not the main dish. It'll affect Ruto's actions very sparsely.
*Yeah, Ruto has been too busy with night raids and city fortification to look at class system. On top of that, it's unwise to introduce new things to soldiers right before the battle. Yeah, the battle was short, but that's how battles are. Short, sweet, and deadly.