ALL NOVEL 56
The Golden herd moves as one. Spears are thrown and beastmen chases after the fleeing shambling spawn. Despite the grotesque and the mismatched limb size, the spawn moves faster than expected. The herd chased after it to the deep forest. All the while the spawn continues to emit the toxic plague the herd encounters when battling the Slaughterhorn tribe. While the herd are immune, they are still slowed down by the stench as their heightened senses made it unbearable. Any spears thrown that hit and lodged into the spawn doesn’t seem to slow or even damage it as it continues to run.
All the while, Wolfe is confused and terrified. Why does his tribe attack and chase after him? Another spear hit his body but he didn’t register or even felt the pain. An axe cleaves down. Chopping one of his limbs. Which limbs he didn’t know other than it somehow doesn't slow him at all. Then a hand grabbed him from behind. Stopping him in its tracks. He whined in fear as the hand pulled him back. He looks that it is Druig, then he wished for this to stop and his vision went dark.
Druig pulled the abomination back. He heft his old mundane greataxe. But he stopped at the last moment. Out of the grotesque, rotting, and bloated fused flesh he recognized who it was. The cleaved through shoulder to stomach that he dealt, now turned into giant maw with jagged teeth. Then in the many fused heads on where should be the right shoulder, an upper head of a werewolf, its eye, now gray, looks back at him in recognition. Druig almost kills his brother again. But before Druig could call out his name, the gray eye rolled back. The abomination explodes into a mass of mouth and teeth capable of swallowing him whole.
A bright red flash passed through Druig from behind and speared through the abomination. It roared in pain before recoiling and running or rather rolling away using all its limbs. Moving faster and faster as it bounces after gorging and crashing into obstacles. Kal and his unit of tuskgor raiders try to give chase to no avail.
—
Somewhere at the edge of Drakwald, near the border of Middenland and Nordland
Wolfe awakes again. He looks around nervously and finds nothing. He wants his mother. But he is lost. He somehow can’t smell anymore. So he picks a random direction and hopes for the best. Along the way he passed a stream. He wants to drink, but something tells him that he is not thirsty. He wants to look where the stream leads, following a stream to find his mother might be better than walking in a random direction. But again something tells him not to.
With all his might, he wills himself to stop and approach the stream. Again he tried to drink but stopped. He should be looking at himself in the reflection. Not this… sickly green thing. He can’t even see where the head is supposed to start and ends at the big lump of flesh on where the right shoulder is supposed to be. His first thought is that his mother can help him. But then he understood why he was attacked and no one recognized him.
They reject you
That is not your home anymore
But Druig recognizes him right? That is the last thing he saw before he went unconscious. If Druig can, then his mother definitely can. Immediately he turns back and tries to walk.
No
There is no turning back
This is what you wished for
An attention suddenly made him collapse in fear.
You wished to stop
So they stopped being your family
Only I remain
Wolfe tries to think. Try to resist. And the voice punished him. With a voice that soothes and terrifies him to the very core, it shushes his mind. Every cooing sound it makes erases part of his mind. Until he cannot think anymore. Again Wolfe turns back, to where he is compelled to walk the first time. Back into Laurelorn forest in the north.
Don’t worry
We will make a new home for you and me
Just like your mother did
And Wolfe obediently walks north. He won’t refuse him anymore. After all, grandfather Nurgle loves you.
—
“You really didn’t need to do this.” I said as I looked at the bunch of halflings that were making a wicker effigy dedicated to me.
“Nonsense. A friend of our Goddess is a friend of ours.” one of them said and the rest nodded along. The effigy is small. The size of a halfling head.
“Well yes. But our relationship is quite tense as of now. Not in a good way.” I try to dissuade them.
“But you wish for the best and reconcile, yes?” The one halfling that is more finely dressed than other asks. Looks like the mayor or some kind. Then I noticed the halflings are looking up to me for my answer.
“Yes.” I said after thinking. I really want to. Then the halflings cheered and continued working. One tells the others that the effigy’s horns are supposed to curve this way and that way and another disagrees and such.
“Well, if you really want to do it then I can’t exactly forbid you. Just… don’t put it beside Rhya’s. I don’t want you to be implicated if we fall out.” I relent and said. They just nodded and said that they will try to do that.
Valeria and her herd have departed south to the Border Princes. Some ogres agreed to help and be an additional guide. So I guess I will see an ogre-beastmen or an ogre-lesser daemon hybrid sometime soon. I didn’t see any beastmen and halfling hybrids. At least not yet or I just have not seen them. To my surprise, a handful of beastmen decide to stay here in the Moot. Less than two dozen and mostly beastwomen. If these hybrids not exist already, I will see them soon enough it seems. That leaves what? The dwarves? Then last I remember lizardmen and orks don't have a dick. So they are out of the gene pool. Unless I do something. Probably need the bloodline/genetic concept for that. Speaking of concepts, I checked what concepts I could take. I will look at what’s available then choose which concept I will evolve Blood into.
Causality and Concept Eater Advanced Concepts are still available and the cost is halved. The former now only requires to sacrifice 100 souls and the latter only for 50 souls. Lust and Magic concepts are also still available. There are, however, some new ones.
|
Space Basic Concept Grant basic control of space. Establish domain, expand and shrink spaces, create spatial artifacts. Effects depends on Willpower and greatly amplified by Divinity |
|
Void/Dimension Advanced Concept Sacrifice 100 souls to take Grant advanced control of space. Create artificial dimensions, travel between dimensions, teleportation, and others. Creation of other spatial anomalies, the cutting of space, and minor temporal anomalies are possible. Synergize perfectly with time concepts. |
|
Gravity Advanced Concept Sacrifice 50 souls to take Amplify or lessen the gravitational force of certain objects, individuals, or space. Compression and implosion of space are possible. Creation of small artificial sun or black holes are possible at higher concept level. |
|
Emotion Basic Concept Grant the ability to eat emotions. Effect depends on what emotion is eaten and what emotion is picked as the primary diet. Can exert control based on what emotions the individual is having, effect is doubled if the emotion is primary diet and halved if the emotion is the opposite. Amplify the effect with each higher level. Emotions opposite of the primary diet will become increasingly more repulsive at higher levels. |
|
Psyche Advanced Concept Cannot be bought, only evolved from Emotion Pick a part of a living being’s psyche. Directly empowered based on how many living beings are experiencing the picked psyche on a global scale. Then effects are amplified or lessened based on how many living beings are experiencing said psyche in certain regions. Can pick additional psyche with every two additional levels. Example psyche are: fear, bloodlust, ambition, determination, anger, joy, despair, honor, etc. Warning! This will undoubtedly alert the Four Chaos Gods (If not having an Advanced Concept that gives concealment effect). Depending on what is chosen, this could mean aligning with certain Chaos Gods or outright offending one if chosen psyche are already claimed. The latter however, gives the possibility of usurpation. |
