Assuming she had found some enemies, I moved ahead to help. What I found was unexpected. Baby had five Cheetahmen tangled up in vines while she pummeled them from above. With each blast of energy from her wand, more vines exploded from the point of impact. It was doing a great job of immobilizing the Cheetahmen, but the damage was minimal at best.
I don’t know why she didn’t tell one of us what was going on when she flew off. She was usually very good about following orders.
“Baby, go back and heal your sister,” I yelled up to her.
“I can do this,” Baby said.
“I know you can,” I said. “But Rose needs you more.”
“I can do more than just heal,” Baby said, continuing the throw green bolts of energy from her wand at the growing mass of vines.
“Baby,” I said a little louder. “We know that.”
“Do you?” Baby snapped. “Did you even ask me if I could contribute to the fight? Could any of you capture five Cheetahmen at once like I just did? No, you couldn’t. Worse, none of you would even listen to me.”
Okay, so, Baby was now out to prove something because apparently, we didn’t include her in our battle planning. And . . . she wasn’t wrong. Generally, when we plan a battle, it is with Baby as a healer and having no other responsibility. It was easy to forget that she had other spells, not just her healing magic.
“You’re right, we didn’t. But right now, Rose needs you to heal her. Once she is healed, show her, show all of them what you can really do,” I said, motioning the giant ball of vines.
Baby threw one more ball of green magic from her wand before glaring at me. “Fine, I will,” she stated then zipped back the way she came.
“So, are you all willing to surrender now?” I asked to the giant tangle of vines that held the five Cheetahmen.
“We surrender, we surrender,” one of the Cheetahmen shouted. “Just keep the Fairy away.”
“Done,” I said, wondering how long the vines would last. I sighed, I didn’t have time to wait and I couldn’t be sure they wouldn’t just run away once the vines faded. Or attack me for that matter. Instead, I started casting ‘Holy Shackles’, hoping the spell would ignore the vines and bind the surrendered Cheetahmen.
Holy Shackles
Level: 17
Experience: 51.21%
Spell Duration: 2-hours 25-minutes
Spell Cast Speed: 5:00 seconds Range: 5 yards
Spell Mana Cost: 200
Spell Effect (Active): Shackles a surrendered enemy to capture them. Cannot be used during combat.
Golden light flared within the vine mass each time I cast the spell, a ‘Captured’ debuff notice appearing by their nameplates which were barely visible above the vines.
For now, I just hoped that Gofi wouldn’t kill them anyway.
“Are there any more of you trying to sneak into the village?” I asked, working as quickly as I could to cut through enough of the vines to free the captured Cheetahmen.
“No, we were only supposed to take Zemira and her son while Chief Chosi keeps that brute Gofi busy,” the Cheetahman replied.
“Why? Why take Zemira and her son?” I asked.
“Gofi will do anything to keep his nephew and sister safe. Chief Chosi would be able to control him, use him,” the Cheetahman replied.
“To what end?” I asked. I supposed having someone with Gofi’s strength and combat prowess would have been enough for a lot of people. There was always the political angle, one more vote or something like that for issues in the Bazaar, but I didn’t know enough about the power structure of the city or the tribes to say for sure.
“We do not know. We only do as Chief Chosi tells us to do. She wanted the Rhinowoman and her child, that is all we know,” the Cheetahman replied.
It took another five minutes of cutting to get through the vines and free the magically chained prisoners. And it was quite possibly, the longest five minutes ever. By the time I was able to escort my prisoners around to the front of the village it was all over. Scattered all over the field were balls of vines that I had no doubt contained captured Cheetahmen. And not far from the gate was a line of bodies, maybe six Cheetahmen in total. Thankfully, they seemed to be treated with some respect by the Rhinomen.
“I’m pretty sure Baby wins the MVP of this fight,” I said once I was in range of the others to be heard.
“Too right, she did,” Micaela cheered. “After the first six were captured, Chosi tried to order a retreat, then Baby got her with those vines as well.”
“No one ever looks for death from above,” Baby boasted, crossing her arms and sticking her nose into the air. It was quite the pose that was ruined by the small upturn at the corners of her mouth.
“But Zemira,” Gofi bellowed angrily. “They attacked us. We must kill them all.”
“NO!” Zemira yelled. “We need them alive. We need answers.”
“I do not like this,” Gofi snorted and crossed his arms. “I do not like that you would side with those who are not like us, who are not Beastkin.”
“They are not our enemies. They have proven it. They fought for us without being asked. They came to us when they learned of Chosi’s deceit. They have earned my trust,” Zemira said.
Gofi huffed and snorted once more. “Fine, you can trust them. I will watch and kill them when they betray your trust.”
Zemira stopped arguing with him at that point, seeming to accept that was the best she was going to get.
“Thank you all again, you have proven through your actions that you can be trusted,” Zemira stated loudly for everyone to hear.
Hidden Quest: Why Can’t We Be Friends (Recommended Level 18-22) – Completed!
Without being asked for help, you have protected those who considered you an enemy and proven yourself to be an ally.
Reward: +25,000-Experience, Talisman of the Rhinomen, Friend of the Rhinomen (‘Local Hero’ title now includes Rhinomen Village)
The experience wasn’t much but the other rewards were the real prize. When nothing was given to us that looked like a Talisman, I assumed it was another prestige item for when we finally form an order.
“Glad we could help,” Olaf said first.
“As am I,” Zemira replied. “Now, I believe there is a Cheetahwoman that needs to answer a few questions.”
“Babe, Baby, please resurrect the Cheetahmen before it’s too late for them . . . Rose, maybe help them if they need it,” Olaf said, dropping a pile of shackles on the ground. “Just, be ready to subdue them again if needed."
“Bye-bye, with me,” he added, following Zemira and Gofi into the village.
Chapter 15
Chief Chosi glared at the four of us, hatred almost roiling off her in waves.
“Your plot has failed,” Zemira stated.
“And you have doomed us all,” Chosi retorted with an angry hiss.
“Why did you want to kidnap Zemira and Gobi?” I asked, barely halting Gofi from striking the Cheetahwoman.
“To stop Leonidas,” Chosi answered.
“How does kidnapping my son and I, stop Leonidas?” Zemira asked.
“The other Chiefs, they all fear Leonidas and your idiot brother. So much so, they would never vote against them. But, if Gofi were to vote with me when I called for a vote of no confidence, the others would join me . . . maybe not all of them, but enough that Leonidas would lose his position,” Chosi explained.
“And of course, you would be there to step in and take over,” Zemira said with an angry snort.
“Better me, than that murderer,” Chosi spat, matching Zemira’s glare with one of her own.
“You’re assuming Leonidas doesn’t kill you all for voting against him,” I said, pointing out the obvious flaw in their plan.
“He wouldn’t dare, not in the middle of the Bazaar with all the people watching,” Chosi replied.
“Assuming he wouldn’t slaughter all of them as well,” Olaf retorted.
“No one would be so fooli
sh,” Chosi said, clearly never having considered such a possibility.
“Three tribes were destroyed to the last,” I said. “You really think he wouldn’t?”
Chosi’s confidence waivered. “He must be stopped . . . I need to fix-” she suddenly stopped.
“Fix what?” I asked.
“It is not important,” Chosi said. “It is simple, Leonidas must be stopped.”
“Fix what?” I asked again. “What did you do? What mistake did you make that you need to fix?”
“Does it have anything to do with my husband?” Zemira asked.
Chosi looked away.
This time I couldn’t stop Gofi as he bodily lifted the lithe Cheetahwoman into the air and shouted angrily, “What did you do? Tell me or I will crush you here and now.”
“Brother, enough, put her down!” Zemira shouted, pulling on Gofi’s unmoving arm to no effect.
“I am so going to pay for this later,” I said, seeing Chosi starting to go limp, I cast a ‘Beginner Holy Shock’ on the Rhinoman, stunning him and Chosi both. At least, it broke Gofi’s grip and let the woman fall to the ground.
“You would attack me in my own village!” Gofi roared.
Thankfully Zemira stepped between us. “He did what was required to stop you. You were about to kill her.”
Gofi snorted angrily yet again then stomped away and out of the hut.
“Thank you,” Chosi said, coughing as the short stun faded.
“If you want to thank me, tell me what you did,” I said.
“Gogi was my rival for the position of Lord of the Bazaar. I had the votes in my pocket, the position was as good as mine. And yet, Gogi won. It didn’t take much research to find out Leonidas influenced the vote. Under Gogi’s direction, Leonidas completed quests to help several of the other tribes, effectively buying their votes away from me,” Chosi explained. “I . . . I used a contact I have within the Bandaka Slavers.”
“You sold my husband into slavery?” Zemira shouted angrily. This time she needed to be held back by Olaf.
“No!” Chosi shouted. “He was not supposed to be there. Only Leonidas was supposed to be taken. With that adventurer gone I would have been able to fix things. And once he was gone, I was able to put things right. You saw it. You saw how much better it got when he was gone.”
“Better for you!” Zemira shouted. “I lost my husband because of you.”
“And I am sorry for that,” Chosi said. “But I do not regret getting rid of that . . . that demon.”
“He helped the people!” Zemira shouted. “How does that make him a devil? Just because he helped my husband more than you?”
“He had no place interfering in our ways!” Chosi shouted, then deflated. “Not that it worked anyway,” she said softly, shaking her head slowly, her eyes cast to the ground. “I did not understand how you adventurers return to your world or how you come back to this one. I thought if he left as a slave then he would return as a slave still. I never thought he would ever return to our province and certainly not to have gained so much power.”
“You still sold someone into slavery,” I said, feeling nothing but disgust for this woman.
“And how many adventurers have stood by as our people were taken as slaves? Brutalized and murdered at the whims of the corrupt? Do not pretend you are better than us,” Chosi said with a snarl.
“I would never condone slavery,” I snapped, not liking the idea that any adventurer would condone such an act. “Neither me, nor my friends would ever condone that. And as soon as we’ve sorted all this out, we’re going after the . . . what did you call them, the Bandaka Slavers? We’re going to exterminate them.”
“Words, as if I, or any Beastkin would believe them. Leonidas promised the same thing when he asked to be made the Lord of the Bazaar, and yet every day, more of our people go missing,” Chosi said.
“Is that true?” I asked Zemira.
Zemira nodded. “It is true, more Beastkin go missing every day. Whether they are taken by the Savanna or by the Slavers is not known.”
Olaf and I barely shared a look before he spoke. “We’ll deal with the Slavers. And we have no interest in taking over the Bazaar. We’ve learned that adventurers have no place in the politics of the World Tree.”
This was about the time I would have expected a quest to appear, but nothing happened.
“That will do us no good until Leonidas has been dealt with,” Chosi said. “So long as he remains in power, the Bazaar will continue to flounder until it collapses. If that happens, all the tribes will perish.”
And another opportunity to offer us a quest without a quest prompt. What was I missing? Chosi said that Leonidas needed to go, that he was- “Wait, you called Leonidas a murderer before? Who did he kill?” I asked, putting the pieces together.
“Three tribes are dead,” Chosi answered.
“No, Gofi already confirmed that Leonidas didn’t participate in those fights,” I said. “You meant something specific?”
“My . . . contact kept tabs on Leonidas. He was sold to the Circus Maximus,” Chosi said.
“A circus made him that strong?” Olaf asked.
“No,” I said, not liking what I just heard. “A Roman Circus,” I said, still getting a confused look from the Minotaur. “As in Roman Gladiators, he fought to the death to entertain people,” I explained.
“Yes, and with him, it did not matter if he lived or died as he would always be reborn in the graveyard, a caged graveyard. He fought multiple times a day. He fought other gladiators, monsters, and beasts of all kinds. Getting stronger with every fight. He was forced to kill the weak and the strong alike. In the end, it twisted him,” Chosi answered.
“If you kept tabs on Leonidas, then surely you kept tabs on my husband,” Zemira stated, looking at Chosi expectantly.
“Bring the oaf back and I will tell you,” Chosi said.
There was something in her voice or maybe in her eyes that made me uncomfortable with her request. “What are you playing at?” I asked.
“Nothing, I swear to the God Esu, I shall not try to trick you in any way,” Chosi stated, her promise enforced by a rumble of thunder. Even with that, it didn’t make me feel overly comfortable. The God Esu was a trickster from what Zemira said.
“If this is a trick, you will die,” Zemira said icily before turning and exiting the hut. She returned a few minutes later with Gofi and the rest of my friends.
“Resurrections go alright?” I asked.
“Fine,” Rose said. “I fought two of them again to subdue them, but it was no problem with Baby’s vines.”
“That’s good,” I said.
“What did we miss in here?” Rose asked.
I didn’t even know where to start and before I could, Chosi spoke. “As I said, I kept tabs on both Leonidas and Gogi. When Gogi was taken in error, it was my intention to purchase his freedom. It was just after I secured the funds, but before I could secure his purchase, he was sold again. It happened that he was sold to the same owner as Leonidas, and just like our city Lord, he was put into the arenas and forced to fight. It was in the arena that Gogi met his end. More importantly, he died at the hands of Leonidas,” she finished with a wicked grin on her face.
“Lies!” Gofi bellowed loudly.
“Why would I lie? It is true, Leonidas, the Lionman you are so loyal to, is the same person that murdered your beloved brother,” Chosi answered.
“Impossible! Why? Why would he . . . all those people dead,” Gofi trailed off, devastation written all over his face.
“Yes, it is sad,” Chosi said sympathetically, not that I believed she was actually sympathetic.
“That is enough Chosi!” Zemira said, trying to silence the Cheetahwoman. She moved with purpose to try and comfort her brother-in-law.
Before we could gag her, she slipped in one more jab at the Rhinoman. “The question is, what are you going to do about it? Knowing he tricked you so thoroughly? Can you even live with yourself?”
<
br /> “That’s enough out of you,” Micaela said, stuffing something into Chosi’s mouth, but it was too late.
Gofi seemed to realize what Chosi said. What she taunted him with. Pushing Zemira away, he bellowed loudly, “I will kill him!” Then he charged out of the hut.
“What have you done?” Zemira asked hotly, turning on the gagged Chosi.
Chosi responded with a muffled noise from behind her gag before Zemira removed it. “I told him, and you, the truth. No tricks, no lies, and no deceit,” Chosi answered.
“We need to stop him. Leonidas will destroy him,” Zemira pleaded, turning to my friends and me. “If you bring me to him, I can stop him. I can calm him.”
Quest Alert: Stopping a Rampaging Rhinoman (Recommended Level 19-22)
Chief Zemira of the Rhinomen Tribe has asked you to escort her to the Bazaar of Beasts in an effort to stop her brother-in-law from getting himself killed.
Reward: Experience
Do you accept this Quest?
Yes
No
And there was the quest I was waiting for.
“What do you want to do about her?” Olaf asked, gesturing to Chosi.
“We will take her with us. The people must know the truth,” Zemira said.
“Assuming Leonidas doesn’t kill us all,” I said. I really hoped the Lionman had a lot of judgments against him.
“Don’t be so pessimistic,” Rose teased. “It’s not like we’ll stay dead. Plus, killing us will give him Judgments, right?”
I was pretty sure that my Goddess didn’t intend for me to die multiple times just to put Judgments on my enemies. That said, it was an interesting idea.
“Either way, we need to move,” Olaf said. “We can’t let Gofi get too far ahead of us.”
Olaf was right. Unfortunately, Chosi was less than cooperative, requiring Olaf to carry her over his shoulder. Naturally, she squirmed the whole time, slowing us down every time Olaf stopped to readjust her position so she wouldn’t fall.
World Tree Online- the Endless Savanna- 3rd Dive Page 26
