Chapter 37: 37. Wait At The Plateau

What is there to do? They weren't out of sight for long, and your eyes are drawn to the only place they could be. The Red Dragon.

Why they would have entered eludes you, but all you can do is hope that they leave again soon. Neither of them has a hope of finding your lair without you, after all, and you have no wish to leave a trail that anyone else could follow.

You continue up the mountain until you reach the plateau you told them you'd meet up. It's a small platform, a brief rise and fall before the mountain climbs higher, and it offers a good view over the forest below. As far as you remember, it's a relatively common place for heroes to set up a camp if they arrive at Imporne late in the day.

You wonder if that's why someone built an inn below.

What it does not offer, however, are any places to hide. Not an issue when you were expecting to be the last to arrive, somewhat more of one with your girls missing. You push on a little, scrabbling up a short cliff face to find a hidden vantage point between two boulders.

You lie down, shimmying backwards into the narrow gap until you're satisfied with your cover. If you lift your head, you have an intermittent view of the path, and if you really crane your neck it's just possible to see the Red Dragon below.

Thus hidden and hopefully pre-warned, you settle in to wait.

To help pass the indeterminable time you will spend here, you pull back open your fame menu.

An NPC population is scared of you

A Guild has taken note of your Presence

You passed through another's Claimed Territory

Your Champion has completed a Task (x2)

Your Champion Has Gained Fame (x7)

The NPC population being scared of you is rather straightforward, and upon expanding it into

241 people are scared of you (-25% small village penalty) (+1% Fearsome Lord bonus [increase this bonus by routinely carrying out fear inducing acts])

it's quite easy to see the ramifications. However, you're also pretty sure that you won't just be getting fame for scaring random people. You eventually reason that you must only get the fame when an entire 'population' (However that was defined) was scared. Some part of you wondered if this would make them start paying you tribute, as per your Liegelord ability. Given the distance between you, you wouldn't count on it, but something to look into in the future?

A Guild taking notice of you however... you're much less sure of what to make of that one. Especially as There's no way to expand the statement. It's as much of an omen, a warning, as it is a notification. A Guild. Maybe the adventurers from the town? Or something else?

You have no way of knowing and so, uneasily, you decide to leave it, for now at least.

You passed through another's claimed territory

Again, with no way of expanding the notification, but was startlingly unhelpful. For many of the same reasons as the guild, you do your best to put it from your mind.

Your champion has completed a task

This one does expand, and you're pleasantly pleased at the expanded information – it's almost as if the game is making the lack of info for the previous two options up to you.

Champion 'Feathers' has successfully spread word of you to Goblin Clan Longteeth (Size 56)

Clan was receptive (+10%)

Distance bonus (+3%)

(+1% diplomatic Lord Bonus [increase this bonus by carrying out diplomatic acts])

 

Champion 'Feathers' has successfully spread word of you to Goblin Village Greenberries (Size 102)

Village was unhappy (-20%)

Distance bonus (-4%)

Fight Broke Out (Diplomatic mission) (-20%)

 

Champion 'Feathers' has successfully spread word of you to Goblin Tribe Breakbone (Size 16)

Tribe seeks closer relations (+20%)

Distance bonus (+24%)

Gifts Offered (+10%)

(+2% diplomatic Lord Bonus)

 

Champion returned safely

You can't help but smile as you read through the reports. If you were reading this right, Feathers struck out for a moderately large clan and things went well. She left without incident and then on her way back ran into a much larger group. You frown a little as the numbers filter into your brain. A large clan, somewhere close by, who are most likely by now distinctly hostile to you was pretty much the opposite of what you wanted, but still. Even with the penalties, it added up to 57 fame. Either Feathers had then been chased away, or she had gone seeking for a third group. And things with that group had gone better than you'd had any right to expect. Smiling once more, you turn your eyes to the second expanded section.

Champion 'Sapphire' has successfully spread word of you to Kobold City Peak Eaters (Size 482)

City was dismissive (-50%)

Distance bonus (-42%)

'Kobold Runt' (-10%) (Error, fame gain minimum 0)

 

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Champion 'Sapphire' has successfully spread word of you to Kobold Tribe Suneye (Size 11)

Tribe was receptive (+10%)

Distance Bonus (-44%)

'Kobold Runt' (-10%)

(+1% diplomatic Lord Bonus [increase this bonus by carrying out diplomatic acts])

 

Champion 'Sapphire' has successfully spread word of you to Kobold Tribe Cracktooth (Size 9)

Tribe was receptive (+10%)

Distance Bonus (-45%)

'Kobold Runt' (-10%)

(+2% diplomatic Lord Bonus)

 

Champion 'Sapphire' has successfully spread word of you to Kobold Tribe Stonethumpers (Size 5)

Tribe seeks closer relations (+20%)

Distance Bonus (-50%)

Helped in the defence of the tribe (+20%)

'Kobold Runt' (-10%)

(+3% diplomatic Lord Bonus)

 

Champion 'Sapphire' has successfully spread word of you to Kobold Tribe Bluescale (Size 13)

Tribe was receptive (+10%)

Distance Bonus (-50%)

'Kobold Runt' (-10%)

(+4% diplomatic Lord Bonus)

 

Champion returned safely

That was... distinctly less informative. Dismissive? That doesn't sound like a negative reaction, exactly, but the penalty was severe. It took you several seconds of puzzling before you clicked on the reason – this was a fame gathering mission, after all. If the city was dismissive of you and your existence, of course you'd get less fame. Once that was sorted, the journey became much easier to parse. Sapphire had headed directly to the city of her birth, and they had mostly ignored her. From there she had moved her way back home, contacting those small, scattered tribes of kobolds that she could find. You're proud of how well she did, despite the penalties her small stature had given her, and you resolve to tell her so, when you see her.

That leaves just the final 7 notifications.

Champion has gained fame

Clicking through it, you find that Feathers had generated six counts of fame, split in half. One half was comprised of three iterations of “People are talking about you”, which made you raise your eyebrows. Or rather, flex the scaled ridges above your eyes. The other three each read 'Defeated a rival champion', with varying small fame rewards. The final entry gives you pause

Shamed a Hero!

Respawned naked! +3

Respawned covered in cum! +35

Led the defence of the helpless +10

You're very glad you were neither currently eating nor drinking. You're not sure you could have avoided choking in surprise. You scrolled back through your fame log until you saw your own, first entry against Amanda.

Defeated a hero + 2

You defeated a level 3 hero! + 3

Non Lethal takedown! + 1

You didn't have a name! - 1

You didn't have a lair! - 1

Shamed a Hero! + 4

Respawned Naked! + 3

Respawned Covered in Cum! + 3

You didn't have a name! - 1

You didn't have a lair! - 1

You blink in confusion. Not only was Sapphire's entry missing any mention of defeating the hero (Which you got for fucking Amanda into unconsciousness, so surely she must have?), but the sheer value of the Covered in Cum modifier made you think that your blue eyes sub had one hell of a tale to tell. Led the Defence of the Helpless sounded interesting too. If you were reading everything correctly, Sapphire had led the Stonethumpers to defeat (And gangbang?) an adventurer, gaining not insignificant notoriety in her own right.

Closing the menus, you ruminate on the grander meanings. Overall, their missions look to have gone well. The potential for fame from interacting with established factions and communities was incredible. It made sense, as far as you were concerned. On course spreading your name to far flung towns would generate fame. That's basically what fame was, after all. It also looked like reliably acting in the same way would slowly generate more fame.

Yet more decisions to make, you grumble to yourself. Being feared is fun, and gets results quickly. But is that who I really want to be?

Questions like that still running through your brain, you set in to wait for Amanda and Mercy to return.

---

The sun had tracked some way up the sky before you heard it. You had given up keeping watch some hour before, and were laying, eyes closed, enjoying the sun on your snout, when a clattering of stones in the direction of the path makes you open your eyes and look about.

A skittering, shivering rattle, the noise of a handful of stones rolling against a boulder. By your best guess, it's still some way away, but the air has been silent and still beyond the distant caw of mountain birds for some time.

Then, a voice. “Woah there, are you alright? That looked like a nasty fall.”

Not a voice you recognised. Feminine, but with a drawling accent you don't recognise. The response however, “Y-yes, I'm fine. Thank you.” is unmistakably Amanda's.

You run over your options as fast as possible.

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