The Mother of Monsters

TheWebVagrant

We are Funded! The Kickstarter met it's base goal just a little while ago and so the Paperback release of The Mother of Monster's Volume 1 will be coming out! Thank you guys so much for your support! I'll keep y'all posted on the status as things come along.

Now, how about we catch up on Teyva's progress?

- Webby

It had been a while since she’d leveled up and the feeling of the Shard in her hand was a pleasant one. The problem with running a city and building a fledgling powerbase was she was a little too busy to go out adventuring and acquire Aspect Shards for herself. While she had considered sending out those who followed her to collect Shards as tribute, she had quickly realized just how unproductive that was. The shards her people collected were better served for them, and it wasn’t like she would be short on them later, she could catch up once she started her reign of terror.

She snorted at the thought and thought back to her level-up after the battle of Osan. It had taken her days to get into the mood at all to choose anything, when she finally did she’d realized she’d burned through all of her Shards except for the one that came with her new level. That lead to a lengthy period of being forced to choose only one ability with each level up. It wasn’t stellar, but again, she could make up for it later. She took a moment to review everything she’d acquired since reaching level seventeen.

The first thing she’d done is shore up her deficiency in the Siren tree. She was still languishing at the first tier of half the tree and was missing out on some definite benefits.

It was a simple enough ability, as long as someone could hear her, they had a chance of being afflicted with Delight, causing them to lose willpower and by extension, the will to fight or resist other mental abilities she might use. She’d been adverse to taking it at first, but ultimately decided in favor of it to use in fights that dragged out longer than she would have liked. She also really wanted to use it on Bertrand one day, if only to see the hope fade slowly from his eyes.

Her lips pursed together as she moved on to what she’d picked at eighteen.

Having the ability to create a significant distraction for an opponent was a huge boon. She wasn’t planning on sneaking around a lot in the near future, but it would come in handy there too. Looking like she was in two places at once could sow a lot of chaos, which was fun. With that, her Siren tree had made it through the entirety of Tier 2 and she was feeling a little bit better about it.

After that, she’d focused elsewhere at level nineteen. Pale Dawn, her very first Aspect.

A stupendous surprise attack in a melee fight and an easy way to clear a room if she needed to. Being able to actually choose which of her afflictions was applied to it was even better, allowing her to customize the new breath weapon to her situation. She had struggled with the decision to pick it over the other options available, but had ultimately gone with it after some time. She’d promised herself that as soon as she could, she’d collect a mountain of Astral Shards.

Level twenty and Tier 5 came in the midst of winter and it had been a level she had been looking forward to for a long time. While her other Aspects occasionally granted new children to her, Titan and The Mother of Monsters practically guaranteed something in that category and she’d been looking forward to it. What she’d found when opening up the Titan tree had blown her mind.

The Lydan, the creature that had chased her and her friends across the Wildlands on their first trip to Osan. The creature she had slain and obtained the title of Lord of the Wildlands. The monstrosity that had given her the Aspect of the Titan. She now had the indomitable beings at her command, they weren’t something to worry about anymore. They were her children now. If she found more, she felt at her core that they wouldn’t react to her in the same way the first she’d met had. It was exhilarating seeing the ability on her character sheet.

At level twenty-one she’d opted to pick from The Mother of Monster’s tree. She’d held off at level twenty if only because she really wanted a new monster, and while the next ability on that tree was also a monster, the Lydan had just been too cool to pass up.

The first time she’d read the description of the ability, she couldn’t truly understand what she was reading. It had taken her a while to really accept that it wasn’t just some funny worded bullshit and exactly what it said on the tin. An Avalite acted like a commander for her monsters, expanding the number of monsters she could control in a group by behaving as a proxy for her own Dominion Pool. It was pretty crazy when she thought about it, but she supposed it made sense in its own way. These abilities were clearly putting her on a path towards acting as a Demon Lord in every sense of the word, with the Avalites she could send them with her allies and not even have to be present to give them monster support. It was ridiculously convenient and a natural evolution of the Dominion Pool.

That lead her to her current choice. She twirled the shard between her fingers and considered where she could really dive in. There were a lot of options but if she was being realistic there was only one choice she could make. She could go into Tier 3 of Siren, which had abilities called [Gossip], [Suggestion], [Dirge of the Damned], and [Word of Power, Lesser]. Then there was Labyrinthian which had the options of [Aberrant Terrain], [Mark of Passage], [Farsight], and [Chimeric Claws]. 

Facsimile had some really compelling options, [Hive Queen] really appealed to her, [Improved Manikin], [Shrink/Grow], and [Endless Hunger] also drew her attention. But still she had more to browse. Pale Dawn had one Tier 5 she could choose from after getting [Breath of Shards] which was [Bleakness], then the other Tier 4 options were [Dreadplague], [Ride the Light], and [Touch of Weakness]. 

In the end, though, there was only really one solid, if a bit boring, option she could choose to really set a solid foundation for what was to come.

A huge lump sum boost to her stats that put her Endurance at the same level as her willpower. She felt the telltale sensation of her muscles growing denser and her body becoming more powerful as the Shard dissolved in her hand. She closed her eyes and savored the feeling of growing what amounted to several levels worth of attribute points in an instant. Once more her body became more honed, closer to some sort of end that was the eventual cap of the Titan tree. She wasn’t sure what it was, but she was sure as hell interested in seeing what she would become.

Teyva let out a breath and a bit of mist roiled from her lips as she got to her feet, flexing her fingers experimentally. Journey glanced over at her with that same equally impassive and disapproving look and Teyva cracked a smile.

“Let’s get going, I haven’t pet Nephral today and I’m feeling lonely,” She said and stepped onto a panel of light. The goddess simply sighed and vanished, disappearing to wherever she went when she wasn’t needed. Teyva didn’t pay her any mind, she felt great. She knew it was the new ability making her feel that way, but she didn’t care. She felt like she could take on the world right now.

So why don’t I? Time’s up Orum, here comes the Great Demon Lord.