章節 97: Interludes And Musings
Nearly an hour after Sombra, Drow, and I entered the tiny room wherein I appointed him a general of my armed forces, Sombra and I found ourselves leaving the Dragonstone family property.
As we walked past the gigantic gate that helped control foot traffic into and out of the estate I took one last, quick look at it. It was an ornate thing, and I didn't doubt its effectiveness. I also didn't doubt that I could destroy it if I wanted too. That said, I had my eyes on a different target.
I turned back in the direction leading back towards the interior of the city. I found myself smirking as I thought of destroying one of the few structures in the city and maybe even the whole of Puerto Rico that would count towards fulfilling the requirement laid out by the destruction domain.
Despite the way I felt about doing away with the dark eye-sore I wanted to eliminate, I knew that I had more important things to do right now. And as if to give me a chance to explain my intentions, Sombra looked at me and asked a question.
"Where to now?" She asked, her eyes gleaming with curiosity and her voice still radiated annoyance. She was still a bit angry about what happened with Merlin. I knew what I planned to do at the end of the visit would please her, so I let her hold onto that anger a bit longer.
"We are going to stop by the property of the eerie evoker Qu'Ren. Her family is a noble one, like the Dragonstones and Silverstones." I explained, having vaguely mentioned that name every once in a while but never really expanding on it until now. Sombra looked at me, intrigued by the possibility of meeting more dark-elves and then she mentioned something surprising.
"The person we're visiting is named Qu'Ren and she's a noble? I know who we're visiting!" She said, sounding amused by the thought of paying her a visit. We were walking down a mostly deserted residential street, though I sensed that eyes were everywhere.
I glanced at my companion, curiosity now visible in my gaze, a question unspoken that I communicated to her without words. I knew a bit about Qu'Ren and her family myself, thanks to the conversations I had had with Lilith in the days since I first arrived in Aronms and forever changed her life. That said I was curious to know what Sombra knew.
"Yeah! Her father is a conjurer. I approached him and offered to teach him how to summon demons. It wasn't hard to get him to agree." Sombra revealed, a wicked smile on her lips as she did so. I could see the glimmer of mischief in her gaze.
"Qu'Ren is powerful. Or she was, at one point." The demon explained. I chuckled at that, amused at the fact that the demon hadn't picked up on the fact that the evoker had recovered from the infamous incident that made her withdraw from public life.
"Why are we paying her a visit?" Sombra asked, curiosity coloring her voice. I smiled at her and didn't answer the question.
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Reaching the familial holdings of Qu'Ren's family, the Darkstars took us about half an hour. We could have reached the place faster but I didn't want to get used to always using my powers and I didn't want to spoil my pet demon. That said since I hadn't ever laid eyes on the property I was a bit surprised when I first saw it in the distance.
What laid before my demon and I was an unimpressive house. It wasn't even a particularly big house. It was made out of obsidian, and I could tell that it would withstand any sort of blow by most creatures with less physical or magical strength than myself.
Sombra and I kept walking until we made it all the way to the front door. It was a large thing, more than capable of accomodating our unimposing frames. I knocked on it and then waited a moment before someone, a dark-elf, on the other side opened it and looked at us.
"Who are you?" The dark-elf asked. His words were blunt and direct but his tone wasn't curt. He was genuinely asking us for our identities. My current form was that of a dark-elf, and Sombra's default form was that I crafted for her.
"Hello, I am Althos. Qu'Ren told me that if I came here and told you my name you'd know it." I explained, smiling pleasantly at the guard. The guard was still for a moment, his surface thoughts revealing that he was attempting to recall where he had heard my name before and what to do if I came by. After a moment he smiled pleasantly at me and beckoned me inside.
Sombra and I stepped beside and then past him and walked into what was, somewhat oddly, a house with a single massive chamber.
Before us was a gigantic and plain room. It was utterly undecorated, and the only defining feature was a stairwell at the end of the room that went straight down. Annoyingly, now that I was inside of the room I could detect a thick atmosphere of alteration magic. I hadn't been able to detect it from the outside though.
"Lord Althos," The guard said, causing me to turn around briefly. The expression on his face betrayed that he now fully remembered who I was. He was beaming at me.
"When you get to the bottom of the stairs, tell the guards that you are Qu'Ren's most honored guest. They'll take you to her." The guard told me. I nodded and thanked him for his help. And then I turned around and Sombra and I set off for our destination: the interior of the Darkstar home.
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Minutes after I initially discovered the clandestine brothel I approached it by myself. I had teleported my ursine companion away, back to one of his favorite locations: a newly opened bar in the small town of Oscuridad, the settlement built near my town, so that I could more efficiently explore the place I was visiting.
As I approached the entrance to the brothel I quietly activated one of my new abilities: "Aura of normalcy". This convenient power made people see me as though I belonged anywhere I went, allowing me to wander and enter all manner of situations with ease.
The entrance to the brothel was a tiny door guarded by a pair of young men. The young men were actually behind me, and they were placed in such a way that they might intervene whenever someone uninvited entered the door I was walking towards.
I had actually learned of the precise location of the door thanks to them. Their surface thoughts were focused on the door and they were dutifully doing their duty. I almost felt bad for them since I was able to walk past them so easily.
I reached the door, undisturbed by anyone. I walked through it, unnoticed and unfollowed by anyone who may have found my powers odd if I hadn't used my trickery powers with ease.
On the other side of the door laid a staircase. I sighed and began to walk up it. Fortunately, it was only a single flight and so it took me less than a minute to reach the top. What greeted me was a fancy, empty parlor.
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While my projections were out and about enacting my will, my true form lounged under the sea. I sat casually along the sandy seabed in my human form and occupied myself by controlling my projections.
It wasn't especially taxing to control the all-too-real copies of myself that were currently wandering throughout Puerto Rico. I actually enjoyed it. I was able to enjoy the comforts of an aquatic existence while gaining power and deepening my relationships with my followers who weren't aquatic themselves and make them feel as though I was right beside them.
This wasn't the first time I had done this either. I started this practice yesterday, and now I was more comfortable with it thanks to my particular set of powers like my speed-of-light reflexes and my ability to disincorporate myself. That helped my projections stay undisturbed and be able to engage with the world around them safely.
And because of that, I was able to quietly gain access to two more subdomains: the Bovidae and Suidae subdomains. I did that by quietly healing a pig close to Comillas and creating food in front of a cow that wasn't far from San-Gerardo. The notification that I received as a consequence of that action was delightful.
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[Dual subdomain details:
The Bovidae and Suidae subdomains are animal subdomains. They are subdomains that are likely to be especially interesting to you since they govern pigs and cows, animals that humanoids have domesticated and now use as livestock.
Both pigs and cows also have another interesting component to them: they evolve into especially aggressive and dangerous humanoids. Pigs evolve into orcs, and cows evolve into minotaurs. By gaining influence over these subdomains you can eventually become a true god of orcs and minotaurs.
These are conventional animal subdomains and you can gain further influence over them in the conventional ways you gain influence over other subdomains.
Dual subdomain passive powers:
Agricultural creation: This is a synergistic power intersecting agriculture, life, and these subdomains. It creates a shortcut that lets you automatically and easily create pigs and cows. You can use this to reward farmers loyal to you or to more easily create more intriguing creatures by creating numbers of orcs or minotaurs with just a few minutes.
Mastery: You gain total control over unawakened or unevolved cows and pigs who become aware of you. You can awaken them freely, or allow them to evolve into their other, more dangerous and skilled forms.
Material generation: You can generate foods and other materials made from these animals at will, as well as other substances produced from them such as skin or blood. This means that you can now use your abilities to create food to create something other than fruits or vegetables.
This power is also synergistic. It intersects agriculture and the dual subdomains you just acquired influence over.
This also means that you can create the rough materials needed to make armor, and bones that can be shaped into weapons or undead creatures you control.
Dual subdomain active power:
Forced transformation: You can forcibly transform someone into a cow or pig three times per six-hour period.
Dual subdomain blessing and curse details:
These subdomains, at this tier of influence and your current overall divine strength, when used to bless someone increases a person's natural defenses and makes them stronger. When used to curse someone they sap strength, make the person more suggestible, and make them lazier.]
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