31 Setting The Stage

My skeletal stag companion walked unsteadily over to me moments after escaping from its fleshy prison. When it reached me it nuzzled its head against my chest, and I smiled at the thing, before lightly stroking its horns. I was unphased when I received a new notification.

[Creature analysis complete:

Creature name: Comet

Creature type: Red Stag

Template: Skeleton

Abilities \u0026 Traits: Skeletal form (Spells that require flesh to work, fail to affect the skeletal stag)

Vicious Charge

Gore

Unstoppable Charge

Haunting Tracker (The skeletal stag is a tireless, and terrifying tracker. If ordered to track someone it will do so relentlessly and fearlessly.)

Sleepless Sentry (The skeletal stag excels at being a guard, especially since it no longer needs to sleep. Putting it and other skeletons on guard duty allows for living creatures to get some shut-eye.)

Corpse Stats:

11 strength

18 dexterity

22 constitution

10 intelligence

12 wisdom

8 charisma]

I studied my newest servant even as the notification faded out of view. The thing's bones were an odd shade of yellow and its horns were jet black. It had a lithe skeleton and one that was tall enough that its horns were taller than I was. I studied them for a second, before attempting to "will" my form to change, specifically my head.

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I envisioned a pair of gigantic stag-like horns emerging from my head. I imagined their thickness and weight and opted to include that my neck and my head ought to grow thicker and larger as well to properly support them and not cause me to feel an annoying sense of discomfort.

I took a deep breath and then attempted to "will" the horns into being, in the same way, that I "willed" magic out of me. Nothing happened. I chuckled and closed my eyes, before trying again. And once again nothing happened. I groaned in annoyance and mentally composed a quick message to the system.

"Hey, I'm trying to activate 'Shapeless One' and nothing is happening. What am I not doing correctly?" I asked, annoyed that even though I had access to a power I still wasn't able to use it. I heard a mechanical sigh and almost chuckled as the system began to reply to me.

[Hello Althos.] The robotic voice whispered into my mind. There was a tone of exhaustion in its mind that I could hear. It made me laugh internally.

[The problem is that you aren't actively targeting yourself. The power needs to know that you're the target.] The system explained, causing me to sigh annoyedly.

"Of course I'm the target. That's just... dumb." I muttered, childishly annoyed at this lackluster explanation. But a second later I shook my head and focused on myself. I explicitly reenvisioned my head growing horns and I centered that image to the extent that I pushed away other thoughts.

"I am targeting myself." I muttered, annoyed that I had to do this. But this time, something did begin to change.

I smiled and felt my head grow heavier, even as my neck grew stronger to accommodate it. I felt a piercing but ignorable pain emanate from my head as the horns made themselves known to the world, but bursting out of my head. I allowed my hands to wander up to my head and was pleasantly surprised to find that the skulls I had wanted were now real.

"So it does work..." I uttered, happily, as I ran my hands over the horns and tactilely memorized that they felt like.

My horns were long things, designed for intimidation and to actually be used as weapons. They were impressively hard, resisting attempts by me to find the upper limit to their strength and ended in thin but sharp points, more than sharp enough for me to pierce someone with them if I felt like it.

My horns weren't ornate, spiraled things. They were instead long objects and outward-pointing extensions of my skull.

Seconds after I did, some of my tiniest minions landed on my horns and settled themselves in a strange spot atop my head. It was hard not to chuckle at their almost cute actions, seeing as they were dozens of tiny insects who had decided to make me, their master, their temporary resting place.

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My musings were interrupted when I received a mental message from Chizi my arachnid ghoul pet.

"Sovereign, why have you taken on the appearance of a satyr?" The curious spider asked, referring to me by an unusual title but also my only title at the moment. Its voice filled my mind and startled me. I turned to my companion and cocked my head curiously at the thing.

"You think I've taken on the appearance of a satyr?" I asked, expressing my words physically, while also injecting them into the creature's mind. The creature nodded at me, bobbing its head up and down.

"I see... What are 'satyrs'?" I questioned, having some knowledge of the fey in question, but only limited knowledge of them. The satyr corpse that was present in the healthy chunk of the forest I was in was between my current location and the goblin village, and having an understanding of satyrs would make the next part of my journey a bit easier.

"Satyrs are... big, scary, goat-people. They look mostly human, but they have the legs of goats and genitalia of horses. They also have horns, like yours. They are wild, hedonistic creatures." My spidery friend and worshiper told me.

And it wasn't the only one to speak. I was surprised when my newest servant began to speak, the sound leaking out of the odd entity's bony throat.

"Master... Satyrs are powerful, surprisingly dangerous beings who use music and alcohol to lure mortal women and sometimes mortal men into their clutches. They live to indulge in sensual and sensory delights. They have powerful horns like we do, and wield musical instruments as well as any human wields a bow." The deer said, its voice oozing out of its unusual, fleshless body.

"Well as it turns out, a Satyr is the next friend we are making today." I informed my companions, before removing my hand from the deer skeleton, smoothly collecting the deer's fallen flesh, and turning in the direction of the goblin village.

"Now come. Follow me ever deeper into the forest." I commanded, my voice making it clear that this was indeed an order. My servants nodded at me, behind my back, and then speedily trodded over to where I was. I grinned and chuckled as I heard the distinctive cacophony of noises that came from the small zoo I had magically made into my minions.

I had hoped that I'd be able to reach the satyr's corpse as uneventfully as I had reached the corpses of my new companions. I should have known that I had had it too good for too long.

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The clearing I was in was a vast one. It led a vast part of the way towards the goblin village, and I had my next encounter with living creatures at its edge.

As I and my tiny menagerie of followers bounded through the sunlit clearing we grew confident. We grew comfortable. That was why I didn't turn around when my mini-map began to flash and alert me to nearby creatures. I inspected the mini-map, refusing to dismiss it before I gained an awareness of whatever sorts of creatures were approaching me.

I tapped on the two figures that were closing in on the location of my party and I and I heard a familiar sound as my mini-map began to inspect the neutrally-colored circles that approached me.

[Nearby neutral creatures detected. Preparing proper notifications... Scanning creatures... Creatures scanned.

The detected creatures are two female ogres.

One is a level five warrior. The other is a level one berserker. Both are currently calm but they are hungry and hungry ogres can become violent quite easily.]

I quietly thanked the system for providing me with that information and decided to dig a bit deeper. I silently invoked my "Appraisal" power and was given even more knowledge about the creatures who appeared to be on a crash course with myself and my allies.

[Alert: Appraisal invoked. Acquiring further information about the creatures in question.

Names: Okig (Level five warrior), Iret (Level one berserker)

Alignment: Neutral evil (This applies to both of them)

Magic Sensing: The school of magic that would most resonate with Okig's soul is healing magic. This is due to the warrior liking to torture her enemies and she would use healing magic to be able to heap more damage on those she tortures before they expire.

The school of magic that would most resonate with Iret's soul is evocation magic. This is because that's the school of magic that is most innately destructive, just like Iret is.]

The system suddenly cut itself off and fell silent for a moment. It was an eerie silence, in part because I couldn't recall an instance like this before, and also because it was so sudden. It didn't last long though.

[Hey Althos, would you like to play a game?] The system asked, somewhat cryptically. I paused to consider what it was asking me for and began to develop a slight suspicion that I wouldn't like whatever was on its mind. But I didn't get the chance to articulate my skepticism before the system, probably sensing my concern, began to speak urgently.

[This won't require you to hurt anyone! We promise. We would like to teach you about sin, and so we're prepared to offer you a deal. If you agree to make those two ogresses your playthings for a few minutes, we won't ask you to hurt them, and we'll even unlock access to the following subdomains and domain: corruption, earth, and minds.] My companion said, urging me to seriously consider it's offer.

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"Three subdomains and domains at once... That's a heck of an offer." I thought, a sinister grin on my face. I liked the prospects of gaining some of the powers of three separate things at once, especially that particular trio. But I knew not to jump at this offer.

"If such an offer is on the table... I honestly don't know what I'll be asked to do. Especially corruption. It's in the name that it'll involve some... questionable acts, to say the least." I muttered, secure in the safety of my mind.

"But if I don't take the offer, then the system may seek to retaliate at a later point for my overt rejection of its strange deals." I noted, aware of that possibility. I didn't like the idea of earning the ire of the system.

"There's not much of a choice here, is there?" I asked myself, rhetorically. I sighed, silently, and then refocused on the situation in front of me.

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"I don't like the idea of you commanding me even more, especially since I don't know what you want me to do, but I suspect that this is all a pretext and you're just trying to assuage my pride since I highly doubt I actually have the ability to reject you right now. So I'll accept your 'offer'." I told the system, speaking to it mentally while I continued my trek out of the clearing and towards the ogresses.

I heard a soft laugh emanate from the system and then felt my very pores begin to radiate a strange mixture of both earthy and carnal power. My mind was again wracked by potent sensations, as my field of awareness expanded dynamically and quite aggressively. I fell to my knees, which only made the sensation stronger as my hands touched the ground to keep me steady and thus further linked me into the earth at my feet.

My tremorsense was expanding aggressively, extending its reach like unholy, invisible tendrils plowing through the earth and in the instant I was touching the ground I could feel its relentless expansion, which was an odd sensation to say the least. This had the added and altogether positive effect of widening both my visible mini-map and no doubt explosively increasing the range of my not-so-mini-map.

[Alert: As part of a deal struck with you just now the system is unlocking access to the subdomains of corruption and earth and the domain of minds, all of which you innately possess influence over. Powers possessed by these subdomains and domain are quite potent, and they affect your senses so they are doubtlessly significantly overwhelming. That said, you can handle this. Just take a second to breathe.] The system told me, attempting to offer me comfort.