Legacy of the Overlord Chapter 2: The Days, They're Getting Stranger, an overlord fanfic

CHAPTER EDITED: Chapter has been checked for spelling mistakes and plot mishaps.

Thanks to 'samurai89' and 'Dragonal01' for their reviews and their plot ideas, please keep them coming. Like I stated in the last chapter I might not use them in this story but if your idea grabs my attention enough I might turn it into a one shot story or interlude, so don't get discouraged from leaving ideas.

Thanks again.

I own nothing to do with the Overlord games, I only made Briar and if CodeMasters or Triumph Studios want to use her they can.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Legacy of the Overlord

Chapter Two: The Days, They're Getting Stranger

It was strange having company on her farmstead again, or at least having talking company. While Grim and his pack, a herd of goats and a donkey that thought he was a goat were enough for young Briar when it came to companionship it was amazing how much she missed a talking voice, even if it was the clipped, childlike voices of the brown minions. The days that the browns had first joined her on her farm had turned into a week and Briar was thankful that they had stayed. Though she would never say it aloud.

Her working routine throughout the days had not changed, it was the same every week, of every year. Wake early, graze the goats in the pastures, bring them back and go to bed late. But now the browns had joined her, she found the routine easier. They had somehow befriended her dog pack during the days they had first started helping around the farm and the browns riding around on their backs were now a common sight. Grimjaw, Fang, Riptooth, Jagger, Dark Lace and Bubbles all had their favorite riders. Bubbles, a huge, particularly bad-tempered female which Briar believed may have been dropped on her head a few times as a puppy... and had a face to match, only allowed Gash to ride her. The browns also protected and herded the goats with the pack; they seemed just as good as the dogs at taking orders. Their strength came in handy too when it came to moving things and packing her cart with goods to take to the settlements around her farm.

It was a clear, chilly morning, mist and dew clung to the grass and made the vibrant green blades glisten before they were promptly covered by a goat mouth and subsequently eaten by said goat. Briar was once again stood upon her boulder watching her herd graze on the pastures around the farmstead; she could see her dogs roaming around the edges of the eating herd, making sure none strayed too far and got into trouble. For once, the browns weren't riding any of them since they were busy securing her produce in her old cart and harnessing Brum, her donkey, to the front it in the barn. "Mistress Briar, cart is ready." She heard Gloob say behind her. Briar jumped down from her vantage and followed the tattered eared minion into the barn.

There stood Brum with a full cart of goat meats, pelts, milk, balls of wool made from goat fleece and even horn castings, there was also a separate pail of water for her and Brum as they walked to the towns and villages, along with some dried meat for Briar and a feed bag of oats for Brum when they got hungry. The other minions stood around waiting for Briar's approval.

"Are the straps done tight?" Briar asked going other and checking them. Most of her trade was done via orders, and the minions had strapped all of the different orders together. The shanks and two pairs of horn casts for Miss Joiner in the town of Crosskeys and a bag of wool balls and two pails of milk for the Smith family in Travellon village.

"Tight, Mistress." Rasp said as he held out Brum's reigns. Taking the long reigns she led the laid-back donkey outside into the sun, the cart following along behind obediently, most of the minions had dashed outside already so they were waiting for her.

"Minions no able to go with Mistress." Torn explained sadly, his ears drooping. "Minions got something to do."

"See you soon, Mistress!" Briar wasn't able to see who had said the last sentence as the minions had run off before she could get a word out to ask what they were doing; it had sounded like Pummel, with his annoyingly high voice. Briar decided it was probably better if she didn't know what they were doing; some of the adventures they had got themselves into were enough to make even a hardened war veteran think twice about doing some of things they had done while they searched for a new Overlord, and even some of the things they had done in the service of the old Overlord. Walked the firey land of the Infernal Abyss itself, retrieve something called a dark crystal from inside the stomach of a dragon, fighting Queen Succubus with no details spared on just how they killed their prey, an army of the undead (most worrying about that was that it was at Heaven's Peak), great carnivorous worms in the vast deserts far, far to the South across the sea and, worst of all to Briar, the giant slugs in the dwarfen mines to the North. Briar cringed at the very thought.

Deciding it as better not to think about the damage giant, dwarf-eating slugs would do to her vegetable patch she climbed onto the cart and eased Brum into going forwards. Her first stop was the town of Crosskeys.

------ LoO ------

The ruins of the arcane gateway were not very far away from the farm but you had to know the way across the small bridges and pathways that led to the stone ruins to get to them. The minions knew the way like they knew the sound of a rat skull being crushed under a club, they knew it by instinct, drawn to the residue of its power and the power of the Great Cataclysm that had leaked through the magical link the gateway had to the Old Tower and to the rest of the world. The minions clawed, three-toed feet pattered against the ground which was covered with faintly glowing grass and even the leaves in the trees which hid this place so well seemed to glow with their own inner light; magic power the vegetation had absorbed from the leaking gate.

Gloob, Gash, Rasp, Torn and Pummel searched the ruins and observed the fallen stones as they made their way to the center of the gateway, the circular stone power plate was devoid of light and the minions let out a collective sigh in frustration. The plate should be working.

"Gateway not working."

"Speak obvious, Torn." Pummel said kicking a stone at the plate as if it would somehow get it to work. "Why not working? Master Gnarl send power surge by now."

"Only Gnarl show Briar to safety. Gnarl teach Mistress magic too." Gash said, knowing enough to know that Briar had to be taken away from Mellow Hills. The Shinnies were too close and the next Overlord would not like a dead mistress; if the next Overlord could be found that was. "Mistress Briar not safe, got to take her to Minion Burrows. Away from Shinnies." His brother browns agreed with him and each went silent as they tried to force their tiny minds to think up a plan as to what might be wrong with the gate. Their heads were hurting badly when Gloob saw Rasp was looking around the ruins again paying attention to the power plate mostly.

"What you thinking Rasp? You got plan?"

"Yeah, tell us. Tell us." The others demanded. Rasp could remember that the light that had once emanated from the arcane gate had been blue, the same as Briar's glowy eye. He knew that the ruins could draw power from things around it, that was why only magical persons could use the gateways. If Briar's glowy eye was the same as the magic of the arcane gate then...

"Briar can power gateway." Rasp explained to the others. "Then one of us run through, get Gnarl." The minions allowed the plan to run in their heads for a second and then they cheered their brother brown, but realized they would have to think of a way to get Briar here. After the long day she might not follow them if she was tired.

"We ask Grimmy and other doggies to bring goats, Briar come to take them back to farm." Gash said and now he was cheered by the rest of his group.

Browns were not known for their brains, so having come up with this little idea was something of a miracle for this low-rank group. Gnarl had sent them back to the old lands ill-prepared as he didn't think they would find anything. Not that they knew that. But for now, they had the rest of the day to try and convince Grimjaw and his pack to herd the goats to the ruins. They wasted no time in returning to the farm to set their plan in motion.

------ LoO ------

Briar was blissfully unaware of this little scheme as she came close to finishing off her trading day. Her last stop was the village of Spree and Spree was as it always was, the sewers, or rather lack of them, stinking to high Heaven, the villagers not too far behind the drains when it came to their personal hygiene and, of course, the sneers and taunts as she directed Brum over the village's small drawbridge and moat, then along the path that took her to the front door of the Happy Mule Inn. The young girl paid no attention to the rotten food goods that were hitting her cart, it was the norm, and the villagers knew that if any of it struck her she would raise her prices. Briar was the only shepherd nearby that had the knowledge to raise goats, her herd was the only one close by, every other farmer specialized in sheep. The throwers were most likely children, and they couldn't aim to save their life's; Briar was sure of it.

The taunts stopped very suddenly only a few yards from the front door of the Happy Mule, Old Archie was already waiting for her outside giving the children a terrible glare as they quickly past him. He was the only person that ever smiled at her after her mother died and her aunt left. The Ruborian man was portly, but strong and his black hair was starting to pepper with grey as he patted Brum on the rump when Briar stopped him a few feet short of putting his furry head and long ears through one of the Inn's windows.

"Briar! I thought it was about time you showed up." A large smile graced his features as he helped her down from her near empty cart, his deep, friendly voice a nice change from all the viciousness she often got. Her orders were all gone, only Archie's order for six pails of milk was left and most of her loose items had been bought too. Spree was her last stop before she went home and judging by the crowd that was already gathering around her cart, Briar was hopeful of selling the rest of the pelts, wool and horn castings. "Hey! Looks like you've done some good trade today, Girl." Archie commentated when he saw some live chickens in cages and some high quality beef and lamb meats tucked away from the produce she was selling.

"I think the guy that sold me the chickens gave them away cheap because they were stolen, and the butcher in Stratton village gave me the meats as payment for several balls of wool." Briar explained, setting the pails the Spree mayor had ordered onto the ground at his feet.

"All that meat, just for some wool?" Archie asked amazed. Goat products were a novelty here in Mellow Hills and everyone was prepared to pay the higher prices for a bit of luxury. But every person in every nearby town and village knew what Briar had and used it as an excuse, or tried to use it as an excuse, to get things cheap. If they did try Briar would just tell them to find another trader. But still, even if Briar didn't have her... eye condition... a few balls of wool simply wasn't worth that amount of very high quality meat, goat wool or otherwise.

"The butcher is having an affair with the Blacksmith's widow." Briar explained, a smile could be heard in her voice at the memory of them seeing her after a rather intense necking session. She had been looking for the Blacksmith's son he had taken over the forging business after his father's accident, who had ordered a couple of milk pails and some horn castings. "He bought the wool to lead his wife off the trail and paid extra for my silence. His wife likes the softness of goat wool and knits with it."

"Ha ha! Clever girl, well done." Archie said patting her roughly on the back with his large hands and almost sending her into the mud, and with that, Old Archie began to take the pails down to his cellar and cold store still chuckling from mirth at the unfortunate butcher. He then kept Briar company through the short time she could sell, making sure no one gave her any trouble.

------ LoO ------

Briar returned home about two hours after the sun had set, the stars and the moon were the only light she had to see the road and the path that led to her farm. She was surprised to see her goats weren't still in the fields but then realized something must have been wrong when she reached her pens to see the dogs hadn't got them in. The farm seemed to be deserted. Everything was still in place so it probably wasn't raiders or thieves. This was not what she needed after a day like today. Getting down from the cart and taking the harness off Brum, she pulled her sword from its scabbard, she always kept it with her on trade days in case someone decided to get nasty with her, and began to search her homestead with the donkey, not wanting to leave him on his own.

She found Grimjaw sitting near her boulder waiting for her, his tail wagging, happy she was back. He stood and barked and she hoped that it wasn't just for one goat. Since Brum was with her she mounted his back, the donkey hardly battered an eyelid at her weight, and gave Grim the order to take her to the herd. Brum followed the dog without needing Briar's heels in his side.

Grimjaw led them in a direction she had never known her goats to go before. An area of rough land that no one had any use for, it was too hard for crops to grow and the grass was not very good so no flocks grazed here, why had her goats come here? There was nothing for them to eat except perhaps some berry bushes but they would be devoid of any fruit this time of year. Grim continued and Brum followed the large dog across a series of bridges and small paths until Briar at last saw her herd roaming around what looked like a circle of stone pillars, well hidden from view by tall trees. Goats were surprisingly good climbers and some of the goats were grazing on the leaves on the trees and groups were eating the tall weeds growing out of the crevices and broken mortar in the pillars. It struck Briar how much the moonlight seemed to cause the grass and leaves to glow; she had never come here before... she didn't know.

"Mistress!" Briar looked closely at the ruins to see the browns were standing beside its pillars and fallen stones waving their arms at her and jumping up and down.

"Yay! Mistress is here!" Briar returned her sword to it scabbard and went to the minions who were now circled around a stone plate dug into the center of the ruin. Briar felt her eye begin to tingle, it was glowing. The minions became more excited.

"Mistress use magic on plate!" Briar couldn't believe what she had just heard. She didn't want anything to do with magic, it made her different, had been the bane of her very existence her entire life, she wouldn't cast a spell for a load of brown creatures that had only been helping her about her farm for a week; even if she did know how to cast a spell.

"What?" it was all she could say, she was too stunned by their request to say anything more.

"Mistress make gateway work with magic," Torn explained "Torn go get Gnarl from Snowy Lands."

"Mistress Briar no stay here." Gloob said, his child-like voice sounding serious for once. "Shinnies coming, they kill Mistress when find you." She couldn't fault them there; they were probably right. If these 'Shinnies' were the Empire soldiers, yes they probably would kill her when they discovered she had a glowing magical eye and if she could do magic, which the browns think she could... she didn't want to think of what the Empire might do to her.

"Gash likes Mistress Briar. Briar is BEST Mistress. Gash no want Briar to die."

"Torn don't either." The other minions agreed and Briar was genuinely touched by their concern, especially when you considered the fact that they were evil creatures. But the fact remained, she didn't know how to cast spells. The sensation in her eye grew, and then started in her right eye. The minions gasped as both her eyes began to glow with that pretty blue light. Around them, the ruins began to pulse.

"Wow! Mistress has arcane magics!" they yelled in delight.

Briar felt hot, a strange burning sensation began in her fingertips before spreading up her arms, glowing markings appeared on her skin getting brighter and brighter. The minions cheered as the lights began to course through the carvings on the stones.

Briar could see her dogs and her herd had gathered around the outside of the circle of stones and she again found herself amazed at the tricks her mind and the moonlight played on her, she thought she could see that her goats had glowing eyes. But she was not able to ponder this. She screamed as a bolt of blue fire came rushing out of her right arm and she aimed instinctively at the power plate; scattering the minions and causing the ruins to burst into life. White light shot up into the sky from the circular stone plate in the ground and Torn rushed forwards after picking himself up off the ground.

"Yay! Mistress done it! Me bring Gnarl soon Mistress!" The minion shouted as he ran into the light, it disappeared with him a second later and the ruins went quiet again.

Briar fell to her knees and felt the sensation in her eyes dim to nothing as the minions and her dogs came close. Grim licking her face to rouse her from her stupor. The minions were beside themselves with excitement, their plan was working and Briar could use magic. And not just any magic, but arcane magic. As far as they knew, only Overlords could use arcane magic.

The browns helped Briar back to her feet and Gloob bought Brum over to her but before mounting Briar checked the eyes of several goats. "It must have been a trick of the mind" she reasoned as she looked into the eyes of her top billy, Ramrod, no glowing. She mounted Brum and the minions mounted the dogs so they could return back to the farm.

Goats were not known to be a very intelligent animal and Briar's goats were no different, to them Briar was something that kept them safe from predators, who led them to food and generally increased their chances of survival. If Ramrod did think about anything concerning Briar it was "Stay close to tall Thing. Stay out of predator stomach."

But something had changed. Goats were surprisingly good creatures at absorbing magical energy, it was why goats were used so often as religious sacrifices, especially old religions where magic played a big part. But no one however, had fed magic grass to a goat before.

Now, as Ramrod fell in line following Briar and Brum back to the farm he thought something different, many others of his fellow goats were thinking different as well, the same different that he was thinking. "Stay close to Shepherd. The Shepherd keep me safe."

Briar's flock would never be the same again, they would become something more.

------ LoO ------

Another couple of weeks past as they waited for Torn to return with whoever this Gnarl character was, the minions had been with her for nearly a month now. The weather was getting colder all the while but her routine still did not change, it was the same whatever the weather, whatever temperature. There had been one change, however, seeing the browns begin to shiver in the early mornings one day Briar had used some left-over goat pelts to make them simple tunics and trousers in their sizes, there was one waiting for Torn when he got back. Needless to say the minions were elated with them.

It wasn't all good however, there had been some strange incidents around the farm that had the young girl worried. Some of her old woolen blankets had been taken from the barn, including a red one her beloved aunt had given her, but Grimjaw and the rest of his pack hadn't noticed anything, they weren't even getting agitated from a possible thief on their territory. But she had got them and the brown minions to scour her farm for any intruders when she realized one of her crooks had gone missing from inside her round house one day when she had returned from collecting the chicken eggs, nothing else was missing just her old crook, that wasn't how a thief or worked, thieves weren't usually this picky. Neither the dogs or the minions had found anything. A thief, or a raider, or a rustler or any other thing that tried to steal from her she could deal with; but an intruder that her dogs couldn't smell worried her and she slept with her sword tuck into the straw of her bed.

That had been a few days ago and with nothing else going missing the young girl began to calm down, though her sword did stay with her wherever she went. This morning, Briar did not wake until late in the morning but she awoke refreshed and light, feeling like she didn't want to get out of bed, but she had work to do and that work wouldn't do itself.

Ever since coming back from the ruins she had felt... better. It was a strange word to say but it was the best way Briar could describe it to herself. It was like she had been sick, but she hadn't known she was sick until whatever happened at the ruins cured her. She got up dusting herself off from the hay and straw her bed was made from and rubbed the sleep from her eyes as she stretched. Looking around at the state of her little home with her remaining crooks strewn about the place and the fleece carpets covered in dust, along with the lack of fresh clothes to put on having neglected her washing for a few days, she decided that today was a clean-up day. Her mother would've gone ballistic at her if she were still alive.

With a resigned sigh, Briar searched out her large cauldron-like pot, which she used to wash her clothes in, and set it on the steel holder in the fireplace beside her simple stove lighting a fire underneath it once she had finished. The young girl watched the flames get stronger for a while before she picked up a bucket near her front door and left to start filling the pot with water from a well near her barn.

The goat pen was empty. She stopped and looked around. It was time for them to be out since she had slept late and Grim and his pack would be with them, as well as the browns who she thought must have opened the gate when they realized she was still asleep; they had learnt her routine by heart. Goats nor a donkey had the brains, or the means, to opening a gate; perhaps a dog could be smart enough to learn how, but she had never trained any of her dogs to do that. She carried on to the well thinking nothing more about it and knowing Grim would come running to her if there was any trouble.

She was returning to the well for a third time when she saw a brown minion coming out of it, yawning like he had just woken up, a few seconds later four more had joined the first. Briar felt her eyebrows rise as she dropped the well's water bucket down the deep hole, hearing it splash when it hit the water at the bottom.

"Mistress? Awful morning?" Rasp asked politely.

"I hope not." Briar said pulling the rope to raise the bucket back up. "Did any of you open the gate to the pen earlier?"

"No, Mistress." Gash answered "We asleep 'till now." Her fingers tapped the bucket as she carried it back to the house. The minions began searching around the pens looking for anything that their mistress might find helpful, they knew her well enough now to know that she would start to look for her 'furry, horned ones' soon. Briar reappeared outside a moment later, dressed in her cloak and with her sword strapped around her waist. The Minions had found nothing to help her but they followed her as she went to her boulder, climbed on top and whistled. Grimjaw came rushing to her from the west, from the direction of the ruins.

And soon, Grim was leading her back to the stone circle and the browns were trailing along behind, holding their clubs and occasionally talking amongst themselves. Nothing had changed at the ruins, Torn still wasn't back and Briar was beginning to wonder if the minion had perished in what ever place the gateway had opened up at. The stones weren't glowing, though Briar did feel a slight tingling in her eyes but the glow was barely noticeable. Briar was more concerned that she still couldn't see her goats even though Grim didn't seem too fazed by it. Red fabric, flapping in the wind drew her eyes to the inside of the ruin.

At first she thought it was a person standing in the ruins watching her, they weren't very tall and seemed a little on the chunky side, but looking closer Briar found the reason why. It wasn't a person at all. Her old red blanket which she thought had been stolen from her barn was wrapped around the top of a hastily built pillar of stones and rocks, like how she wore her red cloak, the rest of her old blankets were wrapped around the bottom of the rocks. Her crook was also there, held to the 'statue's' side with a bit of string. Someone had built a little, rough made statue of what looked to be her. It had been built near to the back of the ruin so it was the first thing you saw as you approached the arcane gate. Laying at the statue's feet were pine cones and late berries, probably the last for this year, and a little bowl holding white liquid.

Bending down she picked up the bowl and sniffed it before tapping a small lap at it with her tongue. Goat milk, fresh and still warm.

Briar heard the sound of small hooves tapping on stones and smiled as at last, some of her goats came in to the ruin and approached her and the statue.

The small bowl she had been holding fell to the ground and the milk split across the ground as her hands went numb. Briar couldn't believe what she saw.

They were her goats all right, all sixty of them. But with one slight difference... they were walking on their hind legs and their front legs had bent the other way to create arms ending in hands which had two fingers with large hoof nails and a thumb.

She was still able to recognize them because their faces had not changed and their fur coats' still bore the marks she used to distinguish them when she herded them with the dogs. Briar was struck dumb, for the first time that she could remember, she couldn't think of or do anything. Even the minions stared at the altered goats, their little minds unable to process anything unless it was one thing at a time.

"Goaties?" she didn't care who had asked.

The goats were a little bigger than the minions, with the billies being the tallest, their horns looking somehow more dangerous while they were standing on two legs. Briar's eyes were drawn to a female she called Sally, a young female who had just started giving milk and with her abdomen starting to show she was pregnant. Beside Sally was Butt, a male kid with a torn ear he had got from a scuffle with a rustler. Her eyes fell on Ramrod, the largest of the goats, his long, tawny fleece and large horns gave him a rugged yet regal appearance. He stepped forwards and bowed low to her.

"Shepherd." A voice coming from a goat mouth sounded very strange to Briar. But Briar's life recently seemed to full of strange things.

"Goaties talk now!" Glood said, sounding his surprise as the other minions cheered for no reason what-so-ever as the herd closed in around Briar. Briar could see Fang was sat near the statue, his thin, lithe form hid the strength that resided in his jaws, and the hulking form of Bubbles was keeping close eyes on the rear of the herd surrounding Briar. No doubt the others in the pack were around somewhere. Grim was sat at her side.

"Does the Shepherd like her idol?" Ramrod asked, he seemed to be acting as the spokesperson for her new, more sophisticated goat herd. "Brays want all the world to know where they came from. How the Shepherd raised them and used them."

"... Brays?" it was Briar's first word as the shock began to wear off, quickly being replaced with thoughts like "How am I meant to milk them now?". The females' udders had moved to their chests with their... altercation... and took on the appearance of breasts. The herd just seemed excited that she had addressed them.

"Goats not understand how the Shepherd uses them, protects them from the Greater Horrors, gives them purpose for life. Purpose is to better the Shepherd. But we are different, we know this, we gave ourselves a new name; we are Brays. Brays know their purpose." Ramrod had started off on his own but had quickly been joined by others as they chanted as one; they must have been going over this for days, deciding what they were. Goats with religion, Briar bet no one had heard this before. "If Shepherd wishes a death, a gift of meat and fur, then the Shepherd will get a death. If the Shepherd wishes a payment of protection, a gift of milk or horn or wool, then the Shepherd will get a payment." They were working themselves into a frenzy a voices and the excitement seemed to be catching for the dogs and the minions. The minions cheered with 'Brays' when they cheered and Girm and his pack howled along with them. The noise was hurting her head and it was still too early in the day to deal with a headache, she still had things to do at the farm.

"Quiet!" The effect was instantaneous. Everything went quiet, no one made a sound, the dogs were on their feet again, the browns looking at her with their ears perked, the brays in a similar fashion. "I have other things to do other than make sense of this all in an hour. Get my blankets and crook from the statue and lets go home, I've left that washing pot long enough." A bray had already taken the red blanket from the collection of stones and another took hold of her crook rushing to Ramrod and giving him the items. Since Briar was already walking, the big billy took it upon himself to bring her things home. He gathered the blanket around his body and walked with the crook like a staff, seeing him, the goats that had got the other blankets wrapped them around themselves too. The minions took their seats upon the dogs and stayed behind the herd as Briar led the way home, just as they would have done if the Brays were still regular goats.

Briar's little farm was well away from any settlements, it was just her, her farm, her livestock, including the goats which had become brays, and recently the browns, right in the middle of vast areas of fields and pastures. Briar was very private, mostly from being shunned by anyone who wasn't a blood relative or covered in fur or scales, so she took comfort in knowing that she was the only human for miles around, give or take the odd bandit. But Briar was still young and therefore prone to have a young person's view of the world that if you left everyone else alone, they would leave you alone.

She failed to count the people who seemed to make it their business to push their wart and spot covered noses into your life. Briar didn't know that she had several of these sort of people watching her as she led the brays, the browns and the dogs back to her farmstead.

End transmission for now.

Remember, keep the plot ideas coming and I'll see what I can do.

If you liked it, leave a review. The minions keep coming back with bloody entrails stuck to their weapons and it's making a mess of my carpets.