by R K Billiau
I have you now, Cora thought. She spied a yellow dot in her territory that she could instantly see was Carl. He was close to the chaos node, in roughly the same direction the player gromlins had gone. Her worry about being able to grow her army evaporated as she realized she could find the players wherever they were.
She looked at the menu where she could spend her faction points (FP), which were divided into several tabs: Territory, Creatures, and Leader. She first looked at the Leader tab and found a tree of options to enhance her abilities, though most were grayed out due to cost or needing to have things unlocked first. Several stand-alone options presented themselves though, with one catching her attention.
Recall – 50 FP per use- Instantly teleport back to your faction base.
She commanded the hoard to go back to base, and they started marching in that direction, though marching might have been too uniform of a word for how they moved. She was pleasantly surprised at how well they had responded and wondered if her new status as Faction Leader had anything to do with it.
She tapped the recall button, spending 50 FP, and in a swirl of black flame disappeared from the village, reappearing underneath the chaos node in a beam of purple light.
Cora grinned widely, pleased with the power afforded to her now, and opened the Faction Leader menu again, going over to the Territory tab. Once again most of the options were grayed out, but the option she had been hoping for was available.
Upgrade Node – 450 FP — Your faction node gains more influence over the surrounding territory. New faction members that go through the node begin with more power.
More power, that was what she wanted, what she deserved. She selected it and the chaos node expanded and grew, now touching the ground. The area that had once been the silvery pond of Mana became an even closer representation of the Chaos Lands of her death. Things still changed slowly and less dramatically, but much more so than outside that circle of influence. She looked and saw that the next upgrade to the node cost 1000 FP, and she wondered how she could get more.
The only other option she wanted was the faction mount option.
Faction Mount – 250 FP — Your faction territory now spawns creatures that your members can use as mounts.
Cora was really tired of walking everywhere, and if there wasn’t any other option to get around faster than a living creature, she would just have to be happy with that. She selected it and a multitude of lights exploded out of the node, flying presumably, everywhere within her territory.
The faction mount tree opened, and more options presented themselves as available. Leader Mount, Enhanced Mount, and Mutations. Decided on the mount option.
Leader Mount – 100 FP — As a faction leader you are granted a mount from your territory that is always one tier stronger than the other mounts within your faction. While within your territory, you have perfect control and riding ability of your mount. Outside of your faction territory, your riding and handling skills determine how well your mount responds to your commands. Faction mounts respawn at the faction base when killed.
She spent the points and in a rain of gelatinous material, a creature formed. The gel washed away to reveal a creature the size of a horse but resembled nothing like one. Instead it was a hideous amalgamation of a hyena and a gray lizard. With the face of a hyena but the eyes of a chameleon, its body was that of a hyena with mottled, mangy fur. Where the patches shown through the mange, the skin was scaled like a lizard and its long, furless tail hovered in the air like a counterbalance.
Leader Mount summoned – Chupacabra Tier 2
Her mind felt like it was on fire for a moment, then instantly cleared and she realized exactly how to mount and ride this hideous beast. At her command, it lowered its head and she climbed on. With perfect control she took off, heading in the direction she had seen Carl on the map. The land flew by in a blur, and she smiled, her hair blowing behind her, feeling one with her mount.
Soon enough she came upon Carl and sent a mental command to her mount. The Chupacabra opened its mouth and shot out a long, sticky tongue, wrapping it around the man who screamed in terror. Carl was slurped into the mouth of her beast, which held him there behind large canine teeth, as they turned and ran back to the node.
The creature spit out Carl, who landed near the node rolling to a saliva covered stop. In a show of power Cora leapt off the Chupacabra, landing on her feet with a flourish. “Carl,” she said and inwardly sighed at what she would have to do next. She was tired of manipulating weak men with sweet words and sweeter flesh. “Join me, join my faction.”
The frightened man simply stared at her for a moment, shaking on the ground until she sent her mount away. With the horrible beast gone, his fright seemed to subside and he finally spoke. “Cora. How… what is going on?
“Carl, what you see is the beginning of something wonderful. You can be a part of it, a new faction in this world with strength to take it over. If you join me, I can give you power. Together we can make this world into whatever we want. We can shape it for ourselves. We can rule the land,” she told him.
The man stood up and dusted himself off. “Cora, you left me to die... I burned to death in the cell,” he crossed his arms in front of her. “You’re toxic, woman, why would I want to work with you?”
She sighed outwardly this time; it always came down to this. She angled her body in such a way as to give him a view of her sensuality. She lowered her voice to its husky seductiveness and activated her manipulation ability. “Carl… would you kindly join me as one of my faction members?”
She watched as her words and actions sunk in, his face blanking for just a moment as her skill fought with his Ego or Self stat and ultimately won. He gazed at her body with longing, his eyes never making it to her face to see her disgusted look.
“I… I could get more power?” he asked and she knew she had him.
“Yes, this world is changing, and I have access to a new set of powers to help you. To help us. Will you join me?” She sent a ‘Join Faction’ request to him and smiled as he accepted it, becoming a member of the Chaos faction.
“What do we do now?” he asked as he leered at her, getting closer and reaching out to touch her.
She backed up a step, staying just out of reach of his grimy hands. “Now I can grant you power,” she said, and she purchased the last option that had caught her attention in the Leader tab of her Faction Leader menu.
Henchman – 100 — Designate another player to be your henchman. A henchman will have reduced Ego and Self stats when attempting to resist control of a faction leader but will always be one tier higher than other faction residents. Requires faction race change.
“Now, enter the node,” she said and pointed.
Carl turned and eyed the blob of shifting black chaos. He hesitated. “I…”
She rolled her eyes, and for hopefully what would be the last time, used her seduction on Carl, pressing herself against him, her warm body touching in a way that made him shudder with desire.
She whispered in his ear. “Would you kindly enter the node, it will be okay… then we can finally be together…” she lied.
Carl took a step, looked down at her again, his eyes taking in her body and biting his lower lip. Without another moment of hesitation, he entered the node. Carl’s next moment was filled with screaming as his body grew and changed. Now over nine feet in height and massively muscular, he stepped out of the node, naked except for a gigantic loincloth, and Cora got a system message.
Congratulations! You now have a henchman – Carl: Ogre (Gromlin Tier 3)
Carl laughed, a deep booming sinister thing.
Epilogue II
Therese stood up. In front of her, everything she had worked for in the last year was going up in flames. Her village, with all of its buildings and history, was burning down. She tried to feel something other than pleasure. There was a nearly overwhelming part of her that delighted in the destruction, reveled in the fires, and wanted to run into t
he destruction to cause more. She fought those feelings.
Somewhere beneath the joy in wanton destruction was her core, the depth of her true feelings, and deep inside that core she wept. She blinked her huge eyes. The time for that pain was later, right now it was time to act. If only it wasn’t so hard to think. Every thought felt like it was moving through molasses, through a thick morass of destructive hedonism. She shook her head to try to clear the fog.
She looked around at her friends, her family, that were now changed creatures, like her. They laid in the dirt, struggling to rise from the shock they had just gone through. The person that had been controlling them had died, snapping their connection. The creature of chaos, it was so difficult to refuse her. Her commands took hold of Therese’s mind like she had originated them herself.
What was it about that woman that had commanded her and her friends so easily? Everything had been going well in the Mana node, then it was darkness and pain as the voice... that terrible voice, spoke in her mind, claiming her and the others as its own. She shut her eyes at the memory; it was unlike anything she had imagine before, the sheer power of it.
If this was an archon, and this was the level of power the archons had, she knew she had to help, to prevent this Archon of Chaos from having its time with their new world. She needed to know what she was working with now and brought up her character sheet to see what was different. It was her first time having a chance to do so since the change.
Name: Therese McKase
Year: 0
Race: Gromlin
Subrace: Gromlin (Tier 1)
Age: 1
Title: None
Class: Gromlin Alpha
Prestige Class: None
Level: 1
HP: 163
Armor: 0
Body – 172 Stamina
· Strength - 9
· Agility - 19
· Physique - 8
Mind – 116 Mana
· Conscious - 2
· Subconscious - 2
· Superconscious - 4
Heart – 112 Zeal
· Empathy - 0
· Projection - 3
· Emotion - 0
Soul – 126 Spirit
· Self - 0
· Aura - 0
· Connection - 9
Attunements:
· Chaos
Class Skills:
· Savagery - 9
· Horde Leader - 5
· Brawling - 3
Personal Skills:
· NA
· NA
Secondary Skills:
· NA
Carryover Skill:
· Organizer - 57
Racial Trait:
· Omnivore
She was shocked at what she saw. Her skills that she had honed for the last year were gone, along with...her race? What even was a gromlin? The race section on her character screen now indicated it could be selected for more information, which she did.
Gromlin -
Gromlins are the race of chaos. Consisting of multiple tiers of evolution, a gromlin starts as the lowest: a basic gromlin. Each time a gromlin has achieved reincarnation, they may advance up the evolutionary tree.
Basic Gromlin - (Tier 1)
Basic gromlins are the lowest of the creatures of chaos. Weak and easily controlled by higher tiers, they are the cannon fodder of the race. Gromlins do not reproduce naturally, only producing more gromlins when touched with pure chaos energy. Viator gromlins are the only gromlins with higher intelligence, other gromlins are part of the horde. Each viator may control two members of the horde, provided they have been created from their character. Basic gromlins reincarnate at 10 levels or 10 years of life.
The Horde -
Horde gromlins exist as a force that craves chaos and destruction. They are basic gromlins that do not level or advance, having the same statistics as their progenitors. The horde seek only to destroy, but can be somewhat controlled by higher tier gromlins or their progenitors. The horde is unable to communicate except with very basic words, and unable to perform but the most basic tasks.
Therese closed her eyes and concentrated, sure enough she could feel two members of the horde in the village. She mentally commanded them to come to her and opened her eyes. Some of the other villagers that had been transformed were with her, and she stood up to check on them. They were stirring, and standing up, but still looked disoriented. She wished she could tell who was who, but it was difficult with their changes.
“Hurry, wake up,” she croaked out in a horrible, grunting language. Another shock for her; she spoke in a different language. She concentrated and tried to speak in English. “Must... go...” she laboriously got out. The words felt like they were there but buried underneath a mountain of instinct, each one requiring enormous thought to get out. She decided to keep speaking in the guttural gromlin language.
“She come back, we go soon, go now!” What was wrong with her? She sounded like a bad movie. The others had finally stood up and were milling about stupidly. “HEY!” she shouted at them, and they all snapped to attention looking at her. “Get horde, we go!”
This got them moving and soon six horde gromlins broke off from the destruction of the village and met up with them. Therese didn’t know where to go, just that they had to get away from Cora. Her slow moving mind brought forth the memory of Hudson and his group; they said they had come from a tribe of people on the other side of the forest. That seemed like a good place to be.
With a grunt of a command, she directed her small band into the forest. They left as a group, the viators walking sullenly, not speaking but following her lead. The horde surrounded them in their excited gait, making strange noises as they trotted beside them.
Therese knew that it was her fault that her poor village had ended up like this. She felt the burden through the fog of her mind and it filled her with determination. She would make sure she found a way to turn them back, no matter the cost. Then, she would make sure Cora would never hurt anyone again.
***
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