The cave dripped with ooze, reeking of mildew and slimy death. For most, this faintly lit cavern would be seen as a fairly uninhabitable portion of Tob, especially when one took into account the now barren surroundings. For an undead however, such matters were trivial.
The lich gently picked up a rotting slime core, staring it into its cloudy eye with his own eye sockets. This marked a second of his experiments to be destroyed this year. Once is coincidence, twice is happenstance… and well, the lich doesn't plan on letting it happen a third time.
He stared around the room, ignoring his entourage of skeletons as well as his personal scribe as he investigated the room.
"Lacerations among the thaumaturgy ducts… intentional attacks. Highly intelligent individual amongst the attackers, intelligent enough to deduct weakness…" he peered around the rest of the room and noticed something. If there were still slimes around then maybe he could have excused it, but the complete lack of remaining slimes in the area pointed to one thing. "No bodies… either they carried their dead or none died to begin with. Sufficient numbers necessary either way in order to execute such an attack with minimal enough casualties… Scribe, take note"
And take note the skeleton did, reiterating the past statements of the lich into quill and scroll before waiting for additional commands.
"Numbers… twenty? Thirty? Possible they were particularly skilled individuals, significant lack of collateral damage in cave suggests that the trolls aren't involved…"
The lich caught the glint of something in the light, something that shined a metallic green. It was almost like oxidized copper, except it carried a clean sheen and smelled faintly of magic. That same magic smelled of evergreen trees and snow, much like the signatures that wiped out his corpse hydra. He grimaced in realization.
"Whoever's been eliminating my experiments is a skilled caster and knowledgeable of arcane arts, even using ancient thaumaturgical forging methods seldom seen in the modern day. They've attacked two of my experiments now, and have come out on top twice. A disgruntled hero to be? Or could it be that one of my colleagues is using a third party to discredit my findings… I cannot rule either option without further evidence, but it seems as though I must take precautions against further attacks, possibly put field tests in this region on hold… Scribe, take note"
As the skeleton jotted down the words spoken by the lich, the necromancer couldn't help but give a fleshless grimace. Whoever was responsible for this was intelligent enough to be a threat, regardless of how strong they are from a combative perspective. It wouldn't hurt to watch from afar for a while, maybe search the other demihuman tribes for clues. Not in the open, obviously. But from the shadows.
Kukri sighed into his claw. Nothing had gone right since he became the tribe's leader. When the previous chieftain stepped down, it was during their exodus to Tob forest. So already, he had taken over in a tumultuous time. He'd sacrificed a lot to make sure the survival of his tribe was ensured when they made it to the swamp, and even that wasn't enough. The sacrifices had merely kept piling up from there, from the toadman skirmishes to the beasts of the forest, all the way up to a few who'd risked their lives to fish in other territories only to be captured and killed by the vicious Yellow Speckles.
And then that human came. Magically, he seemed to turn the tribes luck around, providing new food sources and teaching new magical techniques to gather resources from the surroundings, and even showing how to best make use of those resources. It sickened him, to see his tribe whom he'd sacrificed so much for to turn to the human and accept such help. Those damn things were responsible for so much of the tribe's suffering, had they truly forgotten what had happened already? To cast off their roots in exchange for so called gifts that would only weaken the lizardmen in the long run? It was as if he was one of the few sane ones left.
The only good thing that human done, stupidly enough, was show them how to make weapons of metal. That act alone proved that the human was not only poisoning them with his 'ideology' but was genuinely mad. A madness that would spread to the others if it wasn't stymied soon. One thing at a time however, some of his scouts reported that the Yellow Speckles had turned their eyes on his village, his people. Now that they were plump with resources and weapons, it seemed as though they were planning to strike before they could consolidate too much power.
'I just wanted us to be left alone…' Kukri thought. 'At least with the famine and the lack of resources we would have scarcely been considered a worthwhile target. Certainly, I would have had to kill some of our own to preserve what food we had back then, but at least we would have staved off a potentially immediate annihilation'.
A knock came at the door of his hut, and he couldn't help but hope for at least some good news. "Come in"
An albino came in through the doorway, cloaked and covered in gauze. His copper mask, hiding his face. A familiar albino, the one that he'd had assigned to accompany the human on their expedition to keep an eye on things.
"Ah, Hashi, so you've returned. Tell me, what has the human and his pet goblin been up to"
The lizardman seemed to let the air flow through the hut. This pause alone was enough to inform the chieftain that nothing good came of his spying. Kukri felt his temper rise, but held it down for the sake of hearing his fellow, pure lizardman out.
"It… seems as though the human has been sharing knowledge of a religion from his homeland, and as a result it seems to have an effect upon the goblin. I don't know how else to put this but… the goblin is capable of casting holy, human magic"
Kukri couldn't help but scoff at that. "You mean to tell me that a human god has granted a goblin the ability to cast holy magic? Preposterous!"
"I… wish it weren't the case, but it does seem to be. From my investigations, this 'All' as the human refers to it, seems to view all life as its own children. This would corroborate with a goblin being capable of such magic, and I can confirm casting of the spell 'Blessed Strike'. Considering my lack of knowledge in the field, I cannot say for certain which tier it is of. Usually, first tier would be the only position one could start off at, but the strength of the spell would lead me to believe it is potentially even of the second. With holy magic, it is significantly more difficult to tell"
The chieftain groaned in pain, feeling a headache swell at the though of even a first tier caster that could make trouble for them, let alone second tier. He sunk into his chair, facepalming as he weighed the situation.
"Has… anyone else shown interest in this… religion?" He asked slowly.
"Er, not quite sir. The goblin hasn't exactly gone out of his way to preach of the belief, but I believe that there are a couple of individuals around the human whose interest has been captured by his personal beliefs. It would be best to keep an eye on them, should they too be converted"
The chieftain sighed in relief. He could potentially salvage this.
"I want you to gather some lizardmen loyal to what it truly means to be a lizardman, and inquire about 'joining' this religion"
The albino, though his face was hidden by a mask, couldn't help but pause for a blink before considering the suggestion. "... Sir?"
"Think about it, this human is spreading a religion on top of his ideas. If we can at least establish some of our own in the ranks of this faith early on, we can be privy to potential secrets and keep information held on their activities. At least this way we could even have some control over how others interpret the beliefs. Who knows, maybe we can even turn this around. I hate to say it, but one of the most powerful things about humans is their religion. It drives them to commit such atrocities in the first place, giving them the strength to do things that few regular humans would have the courage to, and even make them pliable and willing to die for their cause. Maybe… I have a few things to meditate on, Hashi. I would like to be left alone for the time being"
"At your word, chieftain," The albino replied, slinking off into the shadows. Now alone, the chieftain carried a manic glint in his ruby eyes as he thought about his plan to handle the human.
"Soon… I'll finally have the peace my tribe deserves… no matter the cost…"
The group of lizardmen that trekked through the swamplands was a large one, but very much fitting of a union of representatives for their three tribes. Green Claw, Small Fang, Razor Tail, all of them marching towards the home of the Red Eyes, hopefully with them as allies as well. Zarusosa marched with his sons by his side, both of them coming along at the request of the Green Claw chieftain. However, were it not for the request they may have very well asked to come along instead, to meet the human that introduced such revolutionary ideas.
Though the late summer sun beat down on their group, it did little to affect the mood of the cold-blooded demihumans. In fact, with their current destination being within a days time, they were left with a significantly more jolly mood. Though that isn't to say they weren't nervous, especially with so much to happen tomorrow, but they carried on with hope. A word that still made Zarusosa chuckle when he thought about it, having almost run dry of it himself ages ago. Would have gone completely without it were it not for the human.
"So, Green Claw," Kyuku of the Razor Tails began. "What is human like?"
Though simple, it was impressive the chieftain could string those words together with such a cursed set of armor. Such was the position of the wisest among the Razor Tails, minds sharp as their namesake. As long as they weren't donning the treasure of the tribe of course.
"He is… interesting. It is hard to put in words on how to describe him, his actions and temper are something one can only see for themselves, less they believe I am describing a madman"
"Hng, crazy or no, he'th thmart enough that he had a couple trickth up his thleeve to share with uth," The chieftain of the Small Fangs commented, grimacing at his tongue and making a swallow, pulling it back into his mouth. "Sorry, that's been getting worse lately"
The old Green Claw chuckled at that. "You're in friendly company Sukyu, no one here thinks negatively of your speech impediment"
The yellowish orange-spotted lizardman merely grunted at that, shaking his head. "It's still proper form to at least maintain myself when speaking with those of a different tribe. I do appreciate your words at least"
"So, father, what is the plan once we reach the Red Eye village?" Zaryusu asks, hoping to finally meet his father's savior.
"Ah, that's simple enough," Zaru responded. "If everything's gone the way I believe it will have, and I'm fairly certain it may have if I've read the human right, then we should be able to hopefully ally ourselves with the Red Eyes. Barring that, at least providing one another with resources to trade"
"Kyuku remember, Red Eye in bad shape," The simple chieftain grunted, to which Sukyu nodded along.
"While they hold the most magic casters out of any of our tribes, they can hardly be considered all that powerful, nevermind having anything worth trading for"
The Green Claw chieftain merely chuckled, shaking his head. "You forget, this human can just as easily turn chum into chowder. He's already been capable of quite a few feats, nevermind his own prowess as a third tier caster. We'll have a most interesting sight on our hands upon arrival, enough to prove you wrong"
The others believed the old lizard, but only Kyuku still felt apprehension. His mind may have been dulled by the White Dragon Bone, but that didn't mean he couldn't see something unusual in this picture. Not necessarily with Zarusosa's word, Kyuku knew to trust the old lizard's intuition, being one of the few oldest enough to remember what the huntsman was like in his prime. No, what the Razor Tail was apprehensive of was his hope.
"Green Claw… Zaruso-saa… not like this many times. Why?"
The Green Claw seemed to consider the words of the Razor Tail chieftain carefully. "Whatever do you mean old friend?"
"You have… happy… hope," The dull Razor Tail spoke, and there was a brief glint in his eyes that caught the Zarusosa's attention. He was concentrating. "You've never been… so hopeful… before… Is this… human… truly… such a… good omen?"
The Green Claw chieftain merely shook his head. "Like I said, you'll just have to see it to understand it. He defies any expectations, so all you can really do when you meet him is just… consider him with a clean slate. No prior perceptions, purely as an individual rather than a human. You'll find it much easier otherwise"
Kyuku could only nod in understanding, lumbering along with the rest of the group. There was nothing more that could be immediately spoken aside from idle chatter, but Kyuku wasn't much for it even before the treasure whittled his mind. He merely marched in silence, listening to the jokes, jabs, and other various conversations the group had. Something he drank in with a soft smile. After all, tomorrow was going to be an important day, and there was no telling when things would calm down afterwards.
Nolan Potts, Human (Karma: 70 [Neutral]) [20/24 Spell slots used]
Classes: Brawler (6), Ranger (3), Druid (5), Clothier (3), Translucer (1). Total Level (18).
Spells (Druid): Frostbite, Entangle, Create or Destroy Water, Guidance, Jump, Cure Wounds, Dust Devil, Protect from Poison, Hold Person, Spike Growth, Lesser Restoration, Water Breathing, Darkvision, Sleetstorm, Ice Knife, Lightning Arrow
Spells (Ranger): Animal Friendship, Speak to Animals, Ensnaring Strike, Conjure Animals
Items of Note: {Humble Beginnings}
Party Members are as follows…
Member One: Todone, Son of Kodrotti, Toadman (Karma: -10 [Neutral])
Classes: Toadman Warrior (9), Brawler (9), Martial Artist (1), Total Level (19).
Member Two: Yulg (Karma: 50 [Neutral])
Classes: Goblin Marauder (1), Brawler (8), Warrior (4), Cleric (1), Total Level (13)
Member Three: Crusch Lulu of the Red Eyes (Karma: 50 [Neutral])
Classes: Awakened Elder Blood Lizardman (1), Druid (6), Spirit Shaman (3), Summoner (1), Scientist (2), Total Level (13)
AN: A little on the small end, I know, but at least we're pushing things forward. Things will start to go from the lukewarm stir we've been at the past few chapters to something a little hotter, we'll see how it turns out