Monroe

Chapter Three Hundred and Ninety. We were gods, once.

"I think we have a problem," Bailli said, her voice grim.

They had gathered in Bob's inventory for a bit of privacy, as well as a chance to enjoy a hot shower before they finished gutting the space.

"What happened?" Bob asked, frowning. Bailli was normally a relatively happy person, especially if she had the chance to electrocute something on a regular basis.

"This," Bailli gestured.

Revered.

Multiple users have revered you. You have made no effort to encourage this practice, despite being aware of it. This has increased the value of this Achievement.

Reward: Users who revere you may allocate a skill point to gain access to your Special skill 'The Storm Builds'. Each time the user utilizes a Spell or Skill that deals damage to a manifestation, the damage increases by 1%. This effect stacks up to your tier. Users may allocate an additional skill point to unlock each threshold up to a maximum of your tier. If the caster goes a number of seconds equal to your tier without utilizing a Spell or Skill that deals damage to a manifestation, the effect resets.

Note: This Achievement required the Saviour Achievement to become available.

"Huh, that looks a lot like my Venerated achievement," Bob mused.

"I imagine," Bailli shook her head.

"Sweetie, you wouldn't be too cross with me if started to revere Bailli, right?" Dave whispered to Amanda.

"That's a sixty-four percent damage boost, I'll be angry if you don't," Amanda replied. "It might cost eight points, but you can find them somewhere. That's like having an extra sixty-four levels on your spell that you don't have to grind up."

Dave pulled Amanda into a hug. "I love you so much, you little power-gaming munchkin," he chuckled.

"I'm your power-gaming munchkin," Amanda grinned.

"This isn't funny," Bailli shook her head.

"It's a little bit funny, yeah?" Jessica grinned.

"I'm sorry, Bailli," Bob said. "I tried to stamp out the whole 'Storm Princess' thing, but it clearly didn't work."

"Also, you're not particularly skilled at avoiding elaborate titles," Harv added with a smile.

"Not helping," Bob replied.

"Not trying to," Harv shot back, still smiling.

"Sorry," Amanda said. "We think that Tyolad is trying to shoe-horn us into their pantheon as a way to get everyone to accept what we're telling them and get them to fall in line more easily."

"To be clear, we're definitely not comfortable with it," Dave added.

"I'm not sure exactly where I fit into their pantheon unless they have a sexy god of orgies," Jack mused.

"You're being cast as some sort of god of buildings," Jessica advised, her smile widening as Jack's expression fell. "That whole 'I build cities' thing."

"Where did you hear that?" Jack asked.

"While you were all mucking about, I was throwing a few regeneration rituals in a temple square, regrowing lost limbs, curing cancer, you know, Bob things," Jessica replied. "Even lizard people get chatty when you're healing them up, yeah?"

"Apparently, I'm the 'Lady of Light, she who brings the dawn,' which I think is quite lovely," Jessica continued.

"There is a very small part of me that wants to take pleasure in all of you suffering from the same thing you mocked me for suffering from," Bob said. "But I'm trying to be a better person, so I'll try to resist."

"The problem is that if we stick to our plan, every city we go to is going to be infected by these ideas," Eddi said. "Once it gets started, it's pretty much impossible to stop. I really did try to curb it inside the Endless, but it sort of takes on a life of its own."

"As far as problems go, I'd say this one isn't a big deal," Eli shook his head. "I mean, it's weird, but it's not actually hurting anyone or anything, so really, does it matter? We can't control what people think, and as long as we continue to make it clear that we don't consider ourselves to be gods, what other people do is on them."

"I'm just going to zap anyone I hear using that name," Bailli said darkly.

"Won't work," Wayna shook her head. "They view their gods as capricious, just as likely to cause harm as to help, especially the Queen of Storms. You'll just be reinforcing the idea."

"Have you thought about actually talking to Tyolad about this?" Erick asked.

He looked around the table.

"How are you all this bad at communicating," he shook his head. "Bob, I understand, but the rest of you don't have any excuse."

"I'm getting better," Bob said defensively.

"You are," Jessica agreed, patting his arm. "When we first met, I could barely touch you without you jerking back, but look at you now! I've had my arm around your shoulders for five minutes, and you haven't even flinched!"

Bob looked at his left shoulder, confirming Jessica's claim. "Are you conditioning me?" He asked.

"Ssshhh," Jessica put her finger to her lips and shushed him. "I'm just catching you up on the societal conditioning you missed out on, yeah?"

"I feel like I should maybe object to that," Bob muttered.

"Brother, with no disrespect meant to you, Ms. Jessica, but if having her hanging off you is the cure for social maladjustment, you're a lucky bastard. I know platoons of Marines who would happily sign up for that treatment," Mike said.

"Thank you," Jessica beamed.

"Can I be the cure for your social awkwardness?" Amanda asked Dave, sliding onto his lap and nuzzling into him.

"I don't know," Dave looked down with pretend bashfulness. "I'm really not very good at dealing with people, especially not pretty girls like you."

"I know just the way to cure that," Amanda murmured, her voice low.

"Stars and stones, you two just never stop, do you? Get a room," Eli grumbled.

"I agree, have some sympathy for the bachelors in the group, it's rough enough without having to see that all the time," Harv agreed.

"Back on topic," Erick said, clearing his throat. "We should talk to Tyolad, like the reasonable adults we all are."

"Alright, I'll go get him," Bob volunteered, sliding out from under Jessica's arm as he fell through a portal.

"He's too bloody good at escaping," Jessica sighed.

"Tyolad, just the Urlinad I was looking for," Bob said as he entered the temple.

Tyolad looked surprised, then, if Bob was reading his Urlinad expressions right, anxious.

"How can I help you, my lord?" Tyolad asked, and this time Bob was almost certain he heard a note of anxiety in his voice.

"Not a lord," Bob shook his head, "although that does tie rather neatly into what we want to talk to you about. Would you mind joining me and the others for a few minutes?"

"Ah," Tyolad looked relieved. "I'd be happy to speak with you."

Bob opened a portal and gestured for the High Priest to proceed him.

He entered his inventory and found the group budging over to make room for Tyolad, who took his seat with as much grace as he could muster.

The Urlinad really weren't built for chairs with backs on them.

"So, Bailli picked up an achievement indicating that she was revered, and after discussing it, we've determined a disturbing trend of your people having come to the belief that we are part of your pantheon, despite our frequent and adamant protestations that we are not in any way, gods," Bob began.

"I saw that as well," Tyolad nodded, producing a System window.

Ancestral Blessings Available.

Bailli,The Storm Princess.

Venerating this being allows you to allocate skill points to share in some of her skills.

The Storm Builds

Bailli let out an audible growl.

"So, we're not interested in becoming gods, which, as we've explained, is a thing," Bob continued. "We'd like you to do your solid best to put a stop to it."

Tyolad frowned for a moment. "I think this might be an example of a 'cultural difference,'" he began. "Our people don't deal particularly well with sudden, massive changes. We tend to huddle up and try to weather them while we take our time to adjust. It's who we are."

He gestured at the System window. "This System, it's a big, frightening change. The fact that we've been pulled out of our world because it's covered in monsters and that a group of impossibly powerful beings have come to rescue us and make our world safe again, that's just too much. I'd like to think that I'm a more flexible thinker than most, but it's too much for me. As soon as I have a moment where I'm not needed, I'm going to find a cool dark place and curl up in it."

"It's not so much that we want this," Tyodal explained, "it's that we need this. Otherwise, it's too much. We need something to hold onto. Believing that the gods have sent their Avatars to save us gives us a group to snuggle into. I know you aren't gods," he assured them. "But I don't mind fooling myself a little, because then others can believe, and that will give them the comfort that I can't."

"Stars and stones," Bailli grumbled.

"When you put it that way, it's hard to argue," Mike agreed.

"Could you maybe spread the word that we're intervening just this once, and we don't want them to get used to us being around, so they should treat us like we aren't avatars?" Amanda asked.

"Perhaps?" Tyolad said thoughtfully.

"We'd appreciate it," Dave agreed. "We really aren't comfortable with the degree of reverence we're being shown. It makes us feel like we're misleading your people."

"Historically," Jessica began, "Our people have done some pretty shitty things to each other, yeah? Including pretending to be something we're not in order to exploit people with less advanced technology, or just less power. We've all learned about what happened, so we're pretty careful to make sure that we never do that sort of thing. This sort of pushes that lever in our heads that rings a bell, warning us that we're going down a bad road."

"That about sums it up," Bob agreed.

"Another example of different cultures," Tyolad said. "I'll try to make sure that everyone understands that you want to be treated as normal people." He smiled, "Or as normal as you can be, without tails or proper hide."

"Thank you," Amanda smiled.

"Was there anything else?" Tyolad asked.

"Yeah, I meant to ask why you weren't with the group I took in," Bob shook his head. "I know the Urlinad are different from us, but shouldn't the High Priest be one of the most powerful people?"

Tyolad's tail twitched.

"I was hoping to be escorted by Bailli, as she holds primacy," Tyolad began. "Also, you seem to have traumatized the Priests who went into the Dungeon with you."

Amanda snorted.

"I don't think I traumatized them," Bob objected.

"They've been hiding in a single room together, flinching at every sound," Tyolad replied.

"They just need some more time in the Dungeon," Bob said optimistically.

"From what little they've said, you had one of them scoop the entrails of another off the floor, and stuff them back inside their belly," Tyolad shook his head.

"The only pain that matters is the pain you inflict!" Eddi, Dave, Amanda, Jessica, Harv, Eli, and Jack roared in unison, startling Tyolad.

"That," Bob agreed happily. "I remember the first time I was disemboweled," he reminisced. "It was the boars on the sixth floor of the Holmstead Dungeon. Harv and Eli had to heal me up."

"Oh, we remember," Eli agreed.

"Is it really necessary to have them fight the monsters with spears like that?" Tyolad asked. "The other groups used crystals to level up and select magic spells to fight from a distance."

Bob looked at Dave and Amanda with disappointment.

"Bob, they aren't us," Amanda said. "This isn't people from Earth versus people from Thayland. They're an entirely different species, and while they're bipedal humanoid sapients, they're a lot further from Human than they seem. It isn't fair to expect them to handle things the same way we do. I think they'll do better if they delve in larger groups, with extra support and ranged damage."

"I agree," Harv said. "The group we shepherded was utterly useless in melee, and honestly, they didn't get better. We pulled them after an hour and gave them the mana crystals to get level two, and the Affinity Crystals for their spells. They did a lot better once we had them fighting the monsters from a distance."

"It seems like the panic when a monster gets too close," Eli agreed. "It's instinctual, and I don't necessarily know that it's worth trying to train it out of them. They're suffering from a penalty to their coordination already. I think they're better leaning into spells. They have that boost to Endurance, which will let them do a three, two, one split for Wisdom, Intelligence, and Endurance. Get them in armor, sure, but let's not worry about melee combat."

"They do need to have tanks," Mike objected.

"Crowd control and summoned monsters," Eddi said. "It's not nearly as good, but it'll work, and we aren't asking them to delve a tier above their own."

"Alright," Bob raised his hands in surrender. "I'll apologize to the group that I ran earlier, and give them the crystals they need to level up and the Affinity Crystals they'll need for their spells." He frowned. "We really should organize them into roles. Summoners for the tanks, Plant or Earth for the crowd control, Fire, Air, and Water for the damage. Figure the tanks and crowd control won't be able to switch off to heal because they'll need to maintain concentration on their spells, so it'll be up to the DPS to rotate healing duties once we get them up to level four."

"They could use the Divine School of Animal," Wayna suggested.

"They could," Bob agreed reluctantly. "But then they wouldn't get to experience the wonders of Summon Mana-Infused Object."

"Not everyone loves that spell as much as you do," Erick said diplomatically.

"I don't understand why not," Eddi shook his head. "It's the most amazing full on utility spell ever."

"I'll admit that as an adventurer, it's incredibly handy," Harv said. "It's like carrying a dimensional backpack that has all the tools you'd ever need. Without needing the tools. Or the backpack."

"But with Animal, you can speak to animals and even stop them from attacking you," Wayna paused, then sighed. "I guess the benefits for livestock and animal husbandry don't really apply here."

"Not so much," Jack agreed.