Bonded Summoner

Jake strode forward, and activated the [Alliance Node]. It lit up the mysterious runes on it, and Jake was presented with a Menu. He claimed the node and placed it down, opening up the features to all that could use it. Jake didn’t have to claim the node, but since Rookard had stated he would join his guild, he figured he might as well. Lines were drawn on the ground, forming a large octagonal shape like he had seen at the Alliance HQ’s market plaza.

“Rookard, go ahead. You should be able to initiate yourself into the framework. I’m not sure what will happen to you, exactly. When I was initiated by a god, I was knocked out; though I think that was because it activated my mana. Your people don’t seem to be affected, but you’re the first Auril Hero I will have seen.”

Rookard nodded. He interacted with the prism, and Jake saw his eyes glazed over, reading something on his end. “It says there’s a cost to initiate.”

Jake tried to interact too, and he saw that there was a cost. The cost was significant, at over 100,000 T1 Credits. He interacted with the Menu that was available to learn more from the Wiki, and learned that this was normal. Initiating a more powerful body and soul like his had a higher cost, and thus it must be paid in advance, by a sponsor. Jake learned that a significant portion of the cost was actually restoring Rookard’s health, as immortalizing him would eventually bring him back to a younger, stronger self.

Digging further, he realized that this would not be an instant thing for him; the Framework would restore him over time, likely taking a little over a month. But Jake found that he could sort of reduce the cost: by buying enhancements for his guild. They cost CP, and Jake realized that they would quickly repay themselves from the tax, not just from Rookard, but from any of the older beastkins that joined, who would have similar costs but more appropriate for their Tier. To keep them from owing the framework, it would help if Jake got this addition.

He and his girls had not spent a majority of their CP from the [Fortress Assault], along with the rifts they had cleared today. So, he was able to add these fixtures into his guild, which enabled those features to his [Guild Node], as well.

That left one more thing. “Berri, hit ‘em with your best heal.”

“Okay!”

Bloodberri was then enveloped in holy light, causing the surrounding people to gasp. The light then enveloped Rookard, and he gasped as well.

“Your warrior can heal? That’s surprising. It felt interesting…while our Auril healers had already healed me, that went a bit further, I feel.”

“Try now, Rookard.”

“It’s much lower now, but it still has a cost.”

Jake nodded, and he accepted the cost of 25,000 T1 Credits to initiate Rookard as his sponsor. Jake was lucky that the Framework only saw him as Level 11, or the cost could have been much higher. Perhaps, his old age had reduced his overall strength that the framework could even return him to. He would get strong once again, with effort.

“Don’t we need to fight now for you to join my Tribe now, or something, Rookard?”

Rookard shook his head. “I’m just an old man now, and I can feel your life force from here. Only Timon or Dahlia would be your match, I can tell. And I heard they… Well, I know for sure that Ravenwolf Chieftess will be something. I met him and his wife when they were younger, and she is just like them. A young prodigy, her heart beating in tune with the world, for the balance.”

Jake thought he understood. “So, you’re level 11 already. Fhesiah has already found that your people’s focus should be on incursions and eating auril beast meat. You should level most rapidly that way. She’s working on other supplements to aid you.”

“I’ll make sure to hunt extra, even if I have to hunt far to maintain the balance. Level 11 huh? What is this, I feel a bit stronger somehow already?”

“You’ve started to get younger. Within a month, you’ll be back in your prime, though you can sort of tune it if you would like your appearance to be a little older like you might feel.”

Rookard frowned. “I’m not sure if I like that, it’s against the natural order of things.”

“The outsiders are against the natural order. They consume souls, taking them from the cycle of reincarnation and rebirth, or whatever system is in place by the gods in their universe. The good news is that your soul is now protected from them, and yet you can choose when your fight is done. You can take your pound of flesh, and keep taking it until you are satisfied.”

Rookard now showed a predatory smile, and he addressed his people. “I do like that. Alright! Line up and let’s get initiated. Champion Jake, tell them more about your Tribe!”

Jake then repeated most of what he had said to Rookard at the gate. He also added information about his fund for children buyback, and some other advantages, as well as some of his plans about how they would operate. The big thing that would keep people from joining, is his guild may require them to relocate, or join on certain events if they were called upon. If they didn’t, then what would be the difference from just initiating? Jake needed a guild that worked for him and the Goddess, to accomplish their goals.

That didn’t mean that he wouldn’t have some flexibility with allowing guild members to do their own thing from time to time, but Jake would expect four things from his people. They trained his guild’s doctrine, which would include a skill or build preference, though Jake would be flexible as long as they were, as well as preparations such as consumables and filling in holes such as missing ranged attacks. Next, they would do their best when called upon to be a part of both fights and aid alike. Third, that they would take on their Trial with everything they had, once they were fully prepared by the guild doctrine. Finally, they would take up a trade skill.

Jake believed that one of their most powerful weapons that was underutilized by the Alliance was this. When he talked to Antonius, he found that a majority of those that fought did not have one, nor were they interested in one. But this was a tool that could earn credits, and most importantly: it bypassed the issues with the law of balance. Because the items were both obtained and created by themselves, they could potentially craft an item beyond their Tier using what they gained from the dungeon. That would then be a huge thing that would improve their chance at success. Not only that, but picking synergistic trade skills helped with their personal progression. Jake would not be half as good at runic magic right now if not for practicing and studying runic enchantment.

Jake had no illusions that these things would always be the case, but having the trade skills had other benefits as well. They could produce lower tier items that were masterworks for their newly joined members for them to buy with credits that they earned, preparing them as much as possible for their Trials. Jake had a hard time obtaining proper masterwork items when he was Tier 0, even if he saved up tons of credits.

What Odin said to him rang true in his mind, about just what Tier 1 enchanter would waste their time enchanting Tier 0 items? Jake’s plan was for his guild to be ones that would.

If people had around a fifty percent chance of success with their trial with steel unenchanted items, then Jake wondered how high they would be with a fully enchanted set. The idea that most Alliance guilds fought like mercenaries seemed to be an incorrect approach in Jake’s mind. While earning credits was and CP was important for moving conquest forward, there needed to be a holistic approach to doing what you could to have all tiers be successful. All life was precious to Jake, and just because saving a person individually might not earn him a CP, that person was significant to him.

Even if something might not earn the most CP or Credits, that didn’t mean it wasn’t something you should do. The idea that a majority of adventurers didn’t take on their trial was also quite limiting the number that would be able to reach higher tiers.

The people lined up, and they were able to initiate into the framework, and once again, many of the younger clans or clanless joined Jake’s guild. Jake guessed many would wait and see, but also many were not ready to sort-of commit to dropping their life in order to help others. Not many can devote themselves to helping those outside of their own line of sight, especially when they’re in this condition. But Jake knew these people were ready to fight against the outsiders, and that was definitely enough for him. This was a big win Rookard handed him.

“Is there a place where you keep the sick? A number of your people don’t look so well, I take it that it’s not just hunger, right? The three of us can heal.”

Rookard grimaced. “We keep some of them over at the medical tent.” He gestured towards a large tent near their center square. “We do have an Auril healer, but they are simply not able to keep up with the disease. They heal the symptoms, but they’re not Auril Heroes. We don’t really have enough dew from Auril plants either to get to everyone; the dew is tainted by the disease with every usage.”

Jake thought he sort of understood; he knew auril from only awakened warriors couldn’t really leave the body, but he knew that their weapons were often made of woods and other materials that could carry it, as long as they wielded it. It sounded like they could allow this auril plant dew to carry the healer’s auril into another person’s body, thus allowing them to heal someone. He imagined that an Auril Hero that could heal would not have this limitation.

“Go ahead, girls. I know you’re just both itching to heal these people.”

Ophelia said, “Right, Jake. I can just draw on your mana if I need it.”

Berri just sped for the tent, now that she could go. Jake knew he saw several children looking sick, and that really was getting to her.

“You may want to have someone gather more of the sick. We should be able to get to many of them.”

Rookard frowned. “You can heal so many? You should have led with that.”

Jake smiled. “There was no way I was going to hold the healing hostage for your people to join. If your people needed it, even if you wouldn’t allow me to recruit, we’d have done our best. And if you wouldn’t let us heal, I’d have probably found a way to sneak in and heal the kids, or, I would just like to see how you’d have stopped Bloodberri.”

Rookard laughed, then called for someone to gather more sick and bring them to the tent where Ophelia and Bloodberri were working.

“So, how do I get these credits to buy the food?”

Jake transferred him a single T1 Credit using his menu. Enough for him to purchase as much food as he required, without impacting his overall ledger for the [Law of Balance] with him being Tier 1 already.

Rookard’s eyebrows raised in surprise. “I can buy a lot of food with this, but it looks like I’m limited to a few barrels of food per day. That’s not enough for us.”

“That’s the same limit everyone has, though yours might be higher, being Tier 1. I can buy more than a hundred times that, but I did already today, for Kenwodi. You can use the Market to get more food, but it’ll cost a lot more. I only gave you that small amount, so it wouldn’t impact you.

This ‘game’ the Framework and outsiders play has rules. Your people will be much better off if they earn their own funds for purchasing equipment and skills. As to how to earn them, fighting the rift creatures in large groups is best, but your people aren’t ready for that. Incursions are ultimately the best for them, but they won’t grow much stronger unless they are awakened. There are a lot of rules, I recommend spending a fair amount of time reading the wiki. There’s a book, [Introduction to The Alliance] that you can purchase as well.

For now, the thing I recommend your people do is to sell trade goods on the market, and have each individually purchase food from the shop.”

Rookard sighed. “There’s a lot to this. Enora!”

Enora came over. “Yes, Chief?”

“Have people sell their goods on this [Market], and buy food where they can. Read these, along with this wiki that is no doubt referenced. Do try to provide a summary for me, and I’ll get to it as soon as I can.”

Rookard handed the books over to her. Enora nodded and moved off, and Jake noticed this same person had joined his guild along with the Chief.

“She’s my daughter. I have many, but I only had one son.”

“I’m sorry for your loss. It’s good that you still have some family left. Your mates, if they’re still around, could initiate too, and they’ll become young again like you.”

Rookard became thoughtful, then smiled. “I hadn’t thought of that. I suppose I have many things to look forward to.”

Jake and Rookard talked for a while about his plans, for providing aid and setting up his guild and the Highlands people up for success. He discussed the censers, and how Rookard could clear his plateau. Then, about Jake’s plan for retaking the Alliance HQ as he worked towards it. That he would like Rookard’s help for the assault, hopefully in less than a week.

Rookard nodded. “Hey, you have more of that prism thing?”

Jake frowned, and he took out the other [Alliance Node] that he brought, but intended for the other village. “I do. I had planned to bring it to the other village. Oh, and here.”

Jake emptied his storage bracelet of the wolf meat they had looted. There were over fifty wolves from the kobold skirmishers, and as far as Jake could tell they were not diseased, spawned by the [Challenge] as they were.

“This is great! Combined with the food I purchased, this should get us squared away for now. Alright, give me that, and I’ll take it to the village you cleared to the southwest. I know they aren’t as bad off as us, but I think I can convince them.”

Jake frowned. “You sure you’ll be good to travel? It’s not quite safe in your wilds, I heard.”

He gave a wolfish grin, and his tail was now wagging. “There must be blood! I feel young again, my heart is beating stronger than it has in years! I’ve no illusions that I’m indestructible, but along with being able to call my pack, it should be enough for safe travels. It was great meeting you, Champion Jake of Hestia. I see that we can converse using this [Guild Menu] when I’m near a node, so if you need me, call, and I’ll be there!”

The man howled and was covered in his currently purple Auril, and he ran off on all fours at an impressive pace. The crowd cheered, and people continued to use the [Guild Node]. Up to eight people could interact with it at a time, so the lines were moving quite rapidly, even with people checking out many of the features.

Jake realized that he now had a second Envoy, and wondered how well Rookard would do at the other village. Still, if he was comparing Tanda to Rookard, he would bet on Rookard’s success in getting people both to join his guild and be initiated into the Framework, especially if the village or town was experiencing troubled times.

Jake decided to check in on her. While he could use the [Guild Menu], this only worked in his Refuge, within a certain range of an Alliance HQ or Node. Just because he could use it, didn’t mean Tanda could. He used their communicator.

“Tanda, can you hear me? We’ve reached Rookard’s village, are you familiar with it?”

“I can hear you, Jake. I forgot to bring it up last night, but I’m quite surprised at how much stronger our flock had gotten by the end of the fights. Several had gained in level, and while some died, knowing they will return in a few weeks helps morale significantly. Many received these Contribution Points and Credits, and while many can’t purchase much yet due to the reduced reward thanks to our numbers, it should be a big help.

I can already see that you were right in your words, that I would see my loss as a win, in time, and it’s only been one day. The only reason we were able to rally out yesterday was thanks to the Goddesses’ healing, as well. There are some things I still don’t like about the Framework, but it is certainly a tool that I can use to accomplish my goals.”

Jake was surprised that she had this big of a turnaround in her attitude in a single day. He wondered how whomever came to meet with these people on the Alliance’s behalf mucked everything up with the beastkin. Jake really wanted to learn more about whatever protocols the Alliance used with Fringe Worlds, but he certainly had too much on his plate already. Tanda continued,

“As for Rookard, he’s a stubborn old wolf that’s set in his ways. Also, he tried to set me up with his son on more than one occasion. He’s quite pushy. But his son couldn’t beat me in a courtship duel, so that was that.”

“Well, Rookard lost his son, so he’s a bit of a changed man. Well, he’s still stubborn, but I might have started something unexpected here.”

“What happened?”

“Well, the undead spread their blight on their crops and stored food, and many of his people got sick. His son had died facing off the rift, and this made him somewhat open to…well, he called it changing tradition. He started this, ‘there must be blood’ speech, and he got his people really into it. They are very driven to fight against Tartarus now.”

“That’s preposterous. ‘There must be blood’ is for banding together to clean the taint of a Tyrant from our hearts, to preserve balance and harmony for the world itself. Only when the world and the beastkin are in harmony, can it begin to heal. You started to see the beginning of that in the play last night, the curse of the First Tyrant. Tartarus, while evil, is not a tainted beastkin.”

“Well, it was his idea. Something I said to him about the struggle your people faced has changed now, so he used that to change the tradition. That your traditions are serving your enemy instead, as it caused his son’s death, so you should change the tradition to serve you.

Well, he’s a wily old wolf, that’s for sure. It got these people really worked up, Tanda. I have no doubt that even if I told them not to do incursions until they were ready, they would still queue up. I hear these wolf beastkin talking, and they are looking to form up a pack and take on incursions together soon, the awakened ones among them. At least two awakened while Rookard was giving his speech, and they were chanting. So even if it’s twisted, it works, Tanda.”

Tanda sighed over the communicator. “I will think on it, Jake. We have already started to adapt, as you’ve seen. ‘There must be blood’ might be a powerful rallying cry for my people, but it could have the opposite effect of what you want. If people become almost suicidal throwing themselves against rifts, even if they will be revived, they could end up helping the invaders.

That aside, I see that your defeating the Necromancer, along with closing those few rifts has finally seen an uptick on the Conquest Progress, but we’ve a long ways to go. Even the few initiated taking on their tutorial incursions are having a slight impact, but it’s minimal. More of the initiated people that died at the beginning of the collapse should be revived soon, and some Adventurers should appear soon if you get that number up. I will take some more [Alliance Nodes] to villages if you give me permission, and I’ll do my best to recruit and add nodes.”

Jake smiled, things were already starting to look a little better, but he knew they had a long way to go. He was relieved that he had truly gotten Tanda on board. That on her own volition, she was willing to go even further to continue adding villages with Nodes.

He would have to close at least as many as he did yesterday, if they were going to have any chance at getting the conquest progress out of what Jake considered the danger zone. All it would take is losing some villages, or their HQ, and they would be hit with a [Raid]. While Jake and his girls were strong, he doubted that they could pull what should be over a one hundred man instance where Tartarus has a strict advantage by themselves. Jake gave Tanda the right to set up [Alliance Nodes] from a template. He gave her one for Guild owned and one where the village Chief or someone could take ownership.

“Thank you, Tanda, it’s done, and you should now be able to withdraw them from the Alliance HQ as you need them, or even from nodes as you place them. This way, you don’t have to carry more than one or two. Right now, getting the word out and scouting are paramount, so your flock are once again critical to your people’s success. I would definitely increase scouting around your home, Chieftess, as I bet Tartarus knows this as well. Remember, the conquest map doesn’t update with things unless they’ve been scouted by initiated. Tartarus defeated most of your people’s Auril Heroes, they tried cutting off the Alliance HQ, and that means your people are next, in my mind.”

“I…thank you for your concern, Jake. I have long since realized that my people are important for Highland’s success in this war, and that this makes us an important target for the invaders. That has at least somewhat already come to pass, but I will leave it at that. This was part of my plan for your communicators: to improve my scout’s safety and effectiveness. Some of those in the flock that headed home did in fact initiate, so the conquest map should be updated with any rifts discovered near there. I’ll make sure to use messages to hammer home the importance. There was in fact a node in a town nearby our home, just not at Harmony Peaks itself.”

Jake and Tanda hammered out a few more details for the coming week, and ended the call. Throughout the end of it, Jake could feel Ophelia and Bloodberri really pulling on [Energy Sharing]. He did feel Bloodberri getting sad and distraught, and Ophelia to match. It was not long after he ended the call that he heard Ophelia’s voice in his mind.

[Jake, I think you should come quick. Berri… well, Blood too, they’re both inconsolable.]