Bree walked calmly through the forest; she had been going steadily long enough for the night to begin giving way to sunlight. She had turned her staff into a white ring with a jade gem in it, freeing her hands up for more dynamic movements. The ring itself was on her right index finger.
She looked around in silence, seeing no signs of the forest's end or any markers of civilization, no roads or even an unkempt dirt path; she was half tempted to see if she could use the mobility spell float to make herself fly, but in the end, she was enjoying her leisurely walk too much to put an end to it.
Bree walked on without a care, having already tested that she could use her navigation spell simply by calling out its full name. Using it would allow her to travel without worrying about losing her way back home.
The night had long since ended before Bree finally discovered signs of intelligent life in the form of angry voices. Instead of running, she decided to test her floating spell. She rose slightly off the ground and moved rapidly towards the sounds, stopping just before arriving at the source.
It took her a moment before she realized where the voices were coming from. She looked down at a group of five tiny creatures that could individually fit easily into the palm of her hand, attempting to pull something from a stream.
She watched the hamster-sized creatures as she tried to pin what they reminded her of.
"Ah, yes, they're called Axolotls, if I'm not mistaken." She watched them in silence as they worked away, all five of them struggling to claim their prize. After a moment, she realized it was a fishing net. Inside of it was a single small fish about the size of three of the little Axolotl creatures put together.
Bree was content to watch in silence before the net began tearing and, feeling bad that all their struggles were for not, She moved over the stream still floating and turned the ring back into a staff before whacking the fish out of the water with a simple spin of it that was so quick she barely saw it herself.
The Axolotls had a moment of confusion and panic at the sight of Bree before realizing their fish was now flopping behind them. The 5 gathered around the fish and pulled out what Bree assumed was their version of swords, made of wood and sharpened to a point they all pointed their toothpicks at Bree as they attempted to guard their prize.
Not wanting to hurt them but also not wanting to lose the opportunity to ask them questions about the world, she used her magic to target only their little toothpicks, and with another swing, she barely saw, she cut all their weapons in half without causing even a slight disturbance to the air around her.
4 of the 5 Axolotls dropped their broken weapons and ran into the bushes to hide, but the 5th and largest stood his ground, Bree's guess at his gender was due to the little mustache on his face made out of the same tendrils that were on the side of his head.
"I have no desire to harm you," Bree said calmly. The Axolotl said something, and Bree shook her head before raising her staff. The Jade blade began glowing, and she used an in-game skill that poorly translated the written text of players using a different language: "Universal Translation." The Gem stopped glowing, and she tried again, hoping the cheap skill would work better now that it was based on real magic and not code. "How about now, understand me?"
The Axolotls stared at her defensively. "What are you?" he demanded in confusion before going back to his determined stance, clearly ready to die over the fish. "It matters not. I shall not give up our fish, no matter how large you are you shall not intimidate me,"
Bree looked at him for a long moment before casually spinning her staff at high speeds and piercing the water, turning it back up she presented a fish three times the size of the one behind the Axolotl, otherwise known as a normal sized fish.
"If I truly wanted a fish, I could catch my own," she noted. That said, I don't like fish. Maybe if it was a crustacean of some kind, I'd think about it, but never a fish." Bree spun her staff again, and the larger fish flopped on the ground behind the smaller fish. The four other Axolotls slowly came out, murmuring in shock at the size of the fish.
The Axolotl standing before her looked at the massive fish and then back to Bree, who stared back at him with her ever-fixed expression of a smile and half-opened eyes in silence before he got down on his hands and knees.
"Please, forgive my rudeness, Madame," he begged her.
"Already done," Bree replied in a merry tone. "If you don't mind, I am somewhat turned around and could use some aid in mapping out the surrounding area, in return you can keep the large fish,"
"It would be my honor to help you for such a large bounty," He replied.
"Then, before we proceed, Could I have your name, tiny Axolotl creature?"
"I am Bertram, the Axol-light," He declared as he got to his feet "I am my village's Strongest warrior,"
"That poor village," Bree thought sadly as she looked at the weak creature before her before seeing an opportunity in him. If you would like, I am more than willing to imbue you with great power. All I would need in return is for you to swear eternal fealty to me." Bertram looked at her dumbfounded and took a step back.
The Skill Bree was going to use was a beast-tamer skill. In the game Pillars of Eternity, the level cap was fifty when the game was first released. After years of service, the cap had been raised to two hundred and fifty, but only with the purchase of all seventeen expansions. Bree had used the first extra hundred levels to max out her mage skills, and with no more mage skills left to learn, the rest had been split into different classes.
Taming and increasing the power of wild animals and monsters by giving them skills had been the level forty skill in the Beast Tammer tree. At the moment, if things were still the same, she should be able to add twenty levels worth of skills depending on the creature level cap, "You need not answer now," She noted as the silence started feeling awkward. "I will ask again before I take my leave,"
"Ve…very well then," he said, his voice shaky at Bree's sudden offer of power in return for his loyalty. "Come on, boys, we have to bundle up these fish and move out." Bree simply tapped her staff against the ground, and the fish were enchanted with the same spell she was using to float.
"I imagine that should make transport easier," she noted as she turned her staff into a ring. The Axol lights gave her a quick thanks before they began pushing the fish towards their village, Bree slowly following after them.
It took little time to arrive at the Axol-light village. Bree was notified of their arrival when a horn was blown, and a few Axol-lights came to greet them with weapons drawn before Bertram spoke up.
"Hold Brothers, this creature is my honored guest. She comes bearing a giant fish." The promise of a single large fish apparently held more sway over the Axol-light heart than the fear of a large stranger as they greeted her with great haste. The Village itself was about as small as Bree had expected it to be, but even so, she had expected more Axol-lights.