'Uhmmm'
Hal mumbled something as fear tightened his breast.
(Worry not, mortal. I will not hurt thee. Cernunnos is a foolish God more concerned with his feasting than he is with keeping his kingdom running.)
[Really? Looks like you lucked out, Hal!]
Surprise made Hal even more alert. He had often heard the adage that nothing is more expensive than free.
'Why, ... why did you save me?'
Again Hal mumbled something.
(I saved you, because you are stupid and easy to manipulate.)
The honesty of Ankou was rather brutal.
[I don't know about easy to manipulate, but yeah he is pretty stupid.]
(System, stay out of this, you have no power here.)
With Ankou's command Flo didn't even respond she just went quiet.
(Mortal, I am the demi god Ankou, I have served Cernunnos ever since he conquered the British isles in naught seven hundreds.)
'What? This is the higher plane... What does the Blue planets history have to do with anything?'
(Cernunnos is an excellent God of Death, if a bit lacking in the administrative department.)
'And since when did Cernunnos conquer Britain. That doesn't make sense. I don't get the timeline at all!'
(Pay attention! Britain was conquered by everyone back in the day. It is no biggie. Come on focus!)
Shaking his head from side to side Hal closed his eyes and then refocused on Ankou who he could see now was a complete skeleton. Ankou's skull was now visible from within his cowl.
(I will grant you five skeletons. One for each token, but you must contract with me, Ankou, before I grant such a boon.)
'Sure, what do you want in return.'
Now this was getting back to territory that Hal understood. A contract was understandable where Gods made him a little terrified and uncertain.
(You must sacrifice all your servants to me! Ha, ha, ha, HA!)
The skeleton cackled a bit at the end of his sentence as if he had trouble controlling his emotions a little.
'Okay, no. That is not happening. Sorry. No sacrifices. No deal.'
Hal's answer was so unusual that Ankou stood speechless for a time.
(Mortal, Hal, is it? If you want to live and all your servants to live you must sacrifice them to me. This is the way of the higher plane. None would ask less than this and most would ask for more. SACRIFICE THEM NOW! Ha, ha, ha, HA!)
Somehow the cackling and the yelling didn't seem to phase Hal. But Hal did pick up on the fact that Ankou's sentence didn't make any sense.
'How does that make any sense? If I sacrifice my servants to you they will be dead. So either way they will be dead whether I accept your help or not. Right?'
After saying this the skeleton broke out into a fit of laughter.
'What? What did I say? I wish I could talk to Flo to find out what is going on here!'
Hal said within his heart not realizing that Ankou knew everything he thought.
(Mortal, when I say sacrifice, I don't mean death. I mean that your people will become my subjects through you. They won't die, ... , well at least they won't die yet.)
Ankou said as if this explained everything.
'What? What do you mean?'
If a skeleton could roll its eyes Ankou's eyes would be rattling around in his head.
(The Gods' powers come from those who worship them. So if your people worship Cernunnos through me then we will have a bargain. Do you understand?)
Ankou said by way of explanation.
'Hmmm, I think I will still have to pass. I don't want to sacrifice my people at all. Do you see?'
Trying to stick by his principles Hal continued to deny the skeleton.
A bony palm rose up and smacked Ankou's skull right in the middle of the forehead.
(Did you do any research on Cernunnos before you tried to summon him?)
'No, I don't really treat God's as that important.'
Complete silence greeted Hal's last statement.
Then after a few minutes of contemplation, Ankou went on.
(Well, maybe this is just a matter of education. Ahem.)
The skeleton tried to clear his throat, but since it was a skeleton all that could be heard was someone trying to make it sound like they were trying to clear their throat.
(You are talentless, so you would not know, but all talents come from the Gods. The little actions mortals do each day align with one or some of the Gods. And through repeated action individual's become servants to their own whims which enslave them to a God.)
'Wow, this is way deeper than I thought!'
Hal said in amazement as Ankou lectured.
(What this means is that the reason you don't have a talent is because you have not yet aligned with any individual God. But let me tell you, the Gods are jealous. If you don't decide how you are going to live your life the Gods will come for you. And you don't want a God that picks you. You really really want to be able to pick your God.)
Nodding along now Hal was getting into the lecture.
(Now, let's talk about Cernunnos. He is way too hands off and lets his worshippers do whatever they want. In fact he won't take a worshipper unless they are strong enough in the first place. Do you see where this is going?)
Instead of continuing Ankou asked a question out of the blue.
'What? Oh! Right. I think you are saying that Cernunnos is actually a really good God.'
If a skeleton could raise an eyebrow Ankou would be raising an eyebrow at Hal.
(Mortal, Cernunnos, is poor. He can't help you, but do you know why?)
Another question. This time Hal shook his head and just answered.
'No.'
(He can't help you because he is too generous. He is too giving to those who worship him he gives his all.)
'Okay. That makes sense, I suppose.'
Responding in the affirmative seemed like the way to go. At least that seemed to be the answer Ankou was looking for.
(So "sacrifice" your servants. Make them strong and then when they die they will move on to a paradise unlike any other Gods. They will have complete freedom to do whatever they want.)
'That sounds good, but there has to be a catch. It just sounds too good.'
Said Hal trying to gain control of the conversation again.
(Too good? I am not sure...)
'Yes, it doesn't make sense. How can a God run a paradise like that? With no rules, just eternal gifts from the local deity? See it doesn't make sense.'
Hal's bullshit meter was going off the charts.
(I have never met a mortal that was this stupid. It doesn't make sense? Since when did anything related to Gods ever make sense! Does it have to make sense? Just accept the contract and let's move on.)
'I can't. Not until I am sure.'
Simply put, that was how Hal liked it.
(Okay, okay, you need a catch. Something that will reassure you, that this isn't a trick. Fine, let's do it like this. I will amend the contract. You must still sacrifice your servants to Cernunnos, but at their death if they don't meet his power standards then they must stay in my sub domain. I Ankou will slowly stir up their souls until their power is strong enough to meet Cernunnos' standard.)
Ankou demonstrated what he was saying by using his bony hands to show arbitrary power levels at different heights from the ground. When he came to his soul stirring part he showed his hand rising slowly as his other hand rotated in circles. Then when his power level hand reached the top he did spirit hands waving his digits back and forth in a celebratory gesture.
'Now, this makes more sense. You have a deal.'
(Really? After all that? Now it makes sense and you will sacrifice your servants?)
'Yes. No problem. How do I do it?'
Hal was actually thinking inside that he was probably going to find a good Lord within a few days , then he would commit suicide on that Lord's attacks, and then all his servants would be captured. So really he didn't have to worry about this deal at all. He was just agreeing now so that they could move on.
(No, problem? ... Okay, ... Then just sign this contract. You can read through it to see that I am not ... Okay, then ...)
Before Ankou could finish explaining the contract Hal had already signed it.
'Is that it? Can I have my skeleton troops now?'
(... Sure?)
The awkwardness of what had just happened made Ankou back away in a half bow. With a small gesture five little skeletons rose from the ground in front of Hal and then Ankou disappeared.
And that is how Hal received his troops.
[That was really something, Hal. I am actually really happy I decided to place a better AI in your region. This is just too hilarious!]
Flo immediately came back online as soon as Ankou disappeared.
'You liked that?'
[Yes, it was very amusing.]
Flo said a little more seriousness in her voice. She completely understood that Hal had shot himself in the foot, making his situation much more difficult. And as a result she decided that she had to take Hal serious or things like this would continue to happen.
'Well, I am glad you thought it was fun!'
To Hal, he was really glad that Flo had found some kind of pleasure in his actions. He completely didn't understand how terribly stupid he had been by acting the way he had with Cernunnos and Ankou.
'I need to focus and get used to my troop. Thanks for all your help, Flo!'
[You got it! Go get those enemies!]
Flo said every word meaningfully. It was going to be interesting to see how this all developed. She couldn't believe how or why Hal had become a Lord!
Setting of Hal took his five skeletons off towards the lake. He had seen Hao going off in that direction while he had been talking to the gods.
Sure enough, Hao was there with all five of the other working age men in his group.
"Hey, Hao! I want to go off and explore outside the Novice Protection boundary. Will you stay here and protect everyone while I am gone?"
Calling out, Hal made sure that Hao heard his ask. After a moment Hao lifted up his hand in a thumbs up while nodding.
There were fifty adults in Hal's population, and Hal couldn't see how he could spare any of them to come out hunting enemies with him. He needed to figure out what everyone's talent was and which ones would work better as production classes or as fighting classes. But for now, he felt that they were all best put to work by Jane and by Hao. He knew that Harumi would obey Jane so every group among his citizens would be really busy over the next few days.
He hoped that Harumi wouldn't be able to get up to any of her tricks. She shouldn't have any opportunity to get anyone really riled up. They would all be too busy, right?
Putting Harumi out of his mind Hal started focusing on his new troops.
They were all waist high with the thickest part of their bone being no wider than Hal's own pinky bone. Not very strong looking. But skeletons weren't known for being strong. They were only deadly when in groups.
'So all I have to do to get started is find a weak monster all alone and then have my army of skeletons overwhelm it. This is going to be so awesome!'
Thinking something strange Hal approached his Novice Protection field. Once they all arrived he shooed them ahead and then was the last to walk through the field. This was because he was being cautious. If he let his troop go first they could handle any predator and he would be safe.
Hal didn't notice that after he had stepped through the golden Novice Protection field that it winked out and text box popped up at the point that he had stepped through.
[Novice Protection ended early +100 reputation points.]
Walking carefully, like he was stalking prey, Hal continued on. It wasn't too far before he ran into a small green man with a long nose, pointed ears, and a protruding belly.
'Is this a goblin? Oh! Just like in the books!'
Whispering Hal commanded his skeletons to sneak up on the goblin.
However at ten meters the goblin calmly turned around and face the direction that Hal with his skeletons were approaching. Unhooking a hatchet that had been hanging by a loop from his belt the goblin's mouth stretched into a grin and harsh syllables were emitted from its mouth.
"Et gorgat, pretlings!"
Not understanding a single syllable Hal just shrugged. He was complete confident in his superior numbers.
"Attack!"
Fortunately his skeleton's seemed to completely understand everything he said, because they suddenly sprinted forward.
By sprinting, it is meant that their already slow shuffling walk turned into something more akin to a skip then anything else as their skeletal frames did not bend well even at the joints. Further there was no power in the limited swings of their joints as well.
Picking up a rock and running forward as well, Hal had to hold himself up and then fall back behind his troops when he came out in front of them in a blink of an eye. It was at this time that Hal realized that his skeletons were traveling slower at a 'run' then they had been at a walk. Further the hopping and swinging that they were doing to mimic a run was actually doing damage to their joints.
One skeleton's wide swinging arm hit another skeleton's back by accident causing it to loose its arm at the elbow and for the opposing skeleton to loose a few ribs.
Another skeleton accidently hit a rock under the dead grass, but instead of tripping the leg directly fell apart. Detaching from the hip joint the leg fell to the side followed by the main body of that same skeleton a moment later.
To Hal's horror when that skeleton bracing itself in its fall fell apart clattering onto the ground. It still had one arm, part of its backbone, some ribs, and its skull. Heroically it began to drag itself along the ground towards the goblin.
In no time Hal found himself alone facing the goblin ahead of his troops with only a slightly bigger rock in his hand.
"Oh, poop!"
If it was possible the Goblin smiled wider and then it broke into a charge straight at Hal.