Bonded Summoner

Book 3. Chapter 6: Victory Feast

Jake and his wives walked out of the Alliance HQ after walking through the portal from their refuge, arriving in the city’s plaza. As soon as the large door opened, they were bathed in the beat of a dozen drums. Their tune was slow but upbeat, their chorus filling the people with an extra pep to their step.

The massive plaza was absolutely crowded, with people doing all sorts of activities. Jake and his girls took everything in with wide eyes. There were people roasting food on spits, drinking and eating, dancing, singing, and off to the side–

“Oh! The kids are all playing some game! Jake, um, do you mind–”

“Go have fun, Berri.”

“Yay! They aren’t hungry now!”

Jake was kissed on the cheek, and then Bloodberri practically blurred through the crowd. He was only barely able to catch on how she actually managed to accomplish this. Her humanoid body had reared up, to where it was not in front, but almost like a limb formed of a section of her tail was. She then repeated this with another loop of her tail, placing it down up and over other people, cycling through the open spaces. It was almost like she had formed stilts out of her large tail, until she reached the edge of the crowd and continued like she normally did. Jake just smiled in amazement, at how she casually defied expectations to get what she wanted.

Jake and his remaining girls walked through the crowd, seeing a lot of things going on. There looked like a set for a play getting prepared by many people rushing all over a raised stage. There was also a large pavilion style tent where Jake guessed the tribal elders might be meeting in off to the side. He noticed that aside from the children fighting, there were also some dueling pits setup, and many were making use of them.

Jake noticed that the kids were playing some sort of game that involved fighting. They had sturdy-looking sticks with dyed cloth wrapped around the ends, and they were wearing thick clothes as well. There was a small group of larger kids with sticks, and they were defending a circle against a large group of the smaller kids. He guessed the older kids couldn’t have been much older than ten years old, if they were human. He noticed some smaller kids held shields and mostly one-handed weapons.

When the kids managed to score a blow, it would leave colored dye on their opponent’s clothes. Jake saw that after taking a number of blows, the defenders would have to back out of the fight for a time.

From a human perspective, the kids looked like they were getting brutalized. He thought that under the thick clothes, as a result of some of the powerful hits that knocked them to the ground or sent them flying, the kids would be covered in bruises. Jake did see a younger kid in tears look over to one of the adults monitoring the melee, and they rushed in to put some sort of paste under their clothes, the kid pointing out where it hurt. The kid’s face relaxed as it was placed on them, and Jake guessed the paste included some kind of numbing agent. The kid got right back up and entered the fray once more.

Bloodberri watched with wide eyes, looking excited. Jake sensed over the bond that even Blood was enjoying watching the beastkin children fighting– enjoying their ability to fight, their viciousness even as children. Their animal ears, tails and other features were cute but also made them look ferocious. There was a separate area for slightly older kids, younger teens. They appeared to be doing mock duels, or similar group fighting under the watch of their parents.

Ophelia was beaming too, “Wow, these people really do like to fight! I wonder if I can get in on the action?”

Fhesiah snorted, “I think it will be difficult for you to get a fun challenge. Unless the Chieftess shows up and fights you with her flock, you would have to fight with both hands tied behind your back. Actually scratch that, maybe a foot too… Come to think of it, I like where this is going. Maybe we should try? I’ve been trying to teach Jake how to tie–”

Ophelia just ignored Fhesiah and interrupted, “Oh! I think that’s Auril Beast meat. I’ll go get some, you want some, Jake?”

“I’d definitely like to try some. The meat appears to be absolutely dripping with vitality in it.”

She flew off, avoiding the crowd with ease, and getting in line where meat was being cooked, carved, and handed out. There were a fair amount of avian beastkin around, and they often did the same thing as her, fluttering across the plaza.

That left just Jake and Fhesiah, which he grabbed her hand and held it.

“Aww, how lewd, husband. Holding hands, and in front of everyone? Still, this is nice once in a while, isn’t it? It appears some of our new tribe mates are gathering, you want to greet them?”

They began to head over to near the dueling sands, and Jake found the feeling of being able to tell where his guild mates were very interesting. Sort of like he could feel where the boundary was in an incursion, or members of his battlegroup’s presence around him, he could feel where guild members were. A fair number of them had in fact gathered near the dueling sands. There were many groupings of people, Jake guessed many clans of people.

He noticed that some clans definitely appeared to be more grouped together with parentage similar to their own, such as feline beastkin with other felines, but many others were widely mixed. What Jake was starting to see now that he had more time to spend looking at the beastkin, was that while many might be based on animals he had seen on Earth, they were still very different. Jake knew that the color blue, purple, red, or even pink was rare among mammals on Earth, but it appeared to be quite common on Highlands. josei

He noticed people with some tribal tattoos, and some even had adornments different from that of their mates, with that of a stag, hound, boar, and a lion.

“Did you notice something else, Jake? Look at those families, over there.”

Jake saw a handful of families that were like a mirror of each other. Several women surrounding a man, each of them feeding the male the largest piece of auril beast meat.

Fhesiah added with a smirk, “If I had to guess, that right there might be the reason more men awaken. Their women pamper their males, and that causes them to brim with more vitality.”

Jake looked at that dubiously. He was reminded how back on Earth, the stereotypical traditional family would always give the man, the head of the family, the biggest serving of food; the biggest piece of meat. That was really leading to them being more powerful? Still, from what Jake could tell, eating auril beasts, which were Tier 1, was a rare occasion. Their primary diet consisted of hunted Tier 0 animals and beasts, along with gathered herbs and farm-raised foods, as far as Jake could tell.

Jake and Fhesiah arrived at the group of people they could feel were in their guild, and he saw a number of faces he recognized. Over thirty of them had gathered, but he knew the night was only just beginning. Many were younger, around the age of twenty. As far as Jake understood things, clans were often tied to a Tribe, it was only newer clans that would be able to join his without breaking ties with their own. They would typically pick a direction for their clan, and their goals would vary.

From being a clan of hunters, to having a focus on trades, or even one that wanted to expand and become their own tribe, by becoming nomads. They could try to find their own plateau, or tame the valleys. While most beastkin lived on the plateaus, some would risk themselves in the untamed wilds. There, they would either live in trees, build obscured homes, live in caves, or similar. These clans or tribes would be under a hundred, and they were too small to be visible on the conquest map.

In many ways, this way of life was needed. With their male to female ratio, they would end up having many children. The population would explode, and the plateau would no longer be able to support all their people in a decade or two. The tradition was that when the young came of age, they would try to form new clans and tribes, with dreams or goals of their own. Within them, was a value to striking it off on their own, of testing themselves and struggling against the environment.

While a large portion of the deaths had likely been in defense of the Alliance HQ’s, many of the beastkin deaths causing one in every five to be killed was likely from these small pockets being killed across the continent. Similar to how rifts couldn’t spawn where beastkin didn’t go, their power was also limited by the concentration of the people in the area, besides. It would take time to build up to a massive challenge, just because there were a handful of people nearby.

When Jake approached, the Hearthtribe members all turned to Jake, and performed a salute over their hearts with a closed fist. Jake was unsure of the decorum here, but Fhesiah helped him out based on what she had observed. He returned the salute to them.

“Good to see you, Hearthtribe. We beat the Necromancer together, and closed four rifts today. It is certainly time to celebrate our victories.”

A few of them cheered, but Jake noticed a few of them were acting a little awkward. “Is there something wrong?”

Jake noticed that Serena had nudged Brock forward. Brock gave an awkward laugh.

“It’s just, we kind of did things out of order. Many of us were already a part of the Framework and used to understanding that Adventurers didn’t know or practice our customs to an extent, so we were more willing to take the leap and join your Tribe. But usually, there would be a duel, that would… formalize us joining your Tribe with our respective clans, or as clanless.”

Jake could tell that this was an unusual circumstance, hence why they were being awkward about it. That asking them to merely join his tribe by pressing ok in a Menu was not as ritualistic as they were used to. He nodded at Brock and said,

“Understood. So, you would all feel better if we did these duels as it…sets the hierarchy? Is it everyone that wants to have a fight with me, or–”

Brock interrupted, “N-No, it’s just those of us that are awakened. I’m the only one here now, but there are a few others. I think that knowing that you have dueled one or more of us, more clanless would be willing to join, too.”

Serena picked up a flag on a pole from the ground, and he saw a message written on it. It was an invitation to duels to join Hearthtribe, and writing added many of the guild tenets and their goals as Jake had prescribed them in the many menu entries.

Jake saw that Serena was wearing the mated necklace, along with the badger beastkin girl, Bria. On Brock’s bracer, were two little adornments. Jake thought one looked a little like a dreamcatcher with a moon, and on the other, a wicked set of claws.

Fhesiah smiled at Jake, and he thought he had his work cut out for him on the dueling sands. Jake also saw that they had prepared the fixture for allowing the initiated to be able to duel, though it was not one that was able to prevent loss of limb or life, the cheaper version of it. He looked over and saw the other dueling sands already had this. It appeared they quickly found out what they needed to be able to continue their traditions.

Jake squared away with Brock and several others that were awakened, learning that this duel could be many things. It could be merely ceremonial as much as it could be a means of ending conflict or a beastkin man or woman trying to change their fate, to raise themselves in hierarchy. Most of the time, it was men that started clans. They would start by winning over their mate, and then they together would face off against other clans or clanless and merge them together in a hierarchy based on their strength. Not all duels were one on one, and could be decided even in combat clan against clan.

They would not choose these types of duels randomly, typically. Beastkin would face off against those that had goals similar to their own, whether they were looking for those to serve under them in their clan, or a mate. This was part of them forming extended families, and wanting to have those with similar goals and mindset join it. This was why smaller or weaker clans or clanless would approach larger ones, to merge together and accomplish more.

There were duels for mates that started from desire alone, but they were often the minority, and after the first mate was selected. Typically, the women that their primary goal was rearing children would fit in any clan or family, and they would submit to any strong male that could protect them and have a powerful clan.

Beastkin wanted to join a hierarchy that had someone strong at the peak. Whether they focused on crafting or fighting, a strong head of the clan or tribe would determine their potential, by being able to both protect and grow the clan or tribe the most.

He faced them all unarmed, able to decide the rules and equipment for the duels, being the one challenged. They did not use their claws or bladed weapons for anything but blood or honor duels– duels for the purpose of responding to transgressions or where honor dictated it, such as where Tanda challenged Jake. Beastkin rarely killed each other, and there were Auril healers on-hand, though with Ophelia around it was hardly a problem.

The beastkin would instead try to make the opponent submit, defeating them with superior strength, speed, and skill. Brock had tried his best, but Jake had quickly defeated him with some powerful mana infused blows to his body, the Auril not able to stop his superior strength. Beastkin were strong, but he was only level one or two, after all.

The strongest was a large dark-skinned man, that Jake realized their parentage was probably a black rhino. The man was bald and had a single horn coming out of the center of his forehead, and Jake learned that he was level five. His name was Oman, and his clan of warriors had been planning on striking out into the valleys when the world became contested. He had only joined the Framework when Jake convinced those in Kenwodi, him being saved by the goddess’ flames.

When Jake beat him with ease, the number of applications to join Hearthtribe skyrocketed. While he had already shown his power in defeating the Necromancer and using the flames of a goddess, it was not the same thing in the minds of the beastkin.

Adventurers had been strong too, but apparently in a straight-up fight without relying on armor or weaponry, or magic, someone like Oman would give them a difficult challenge, if not being unable to win at all. Seeing was believing, and thanks to his easy victory over this man, the many clanless interested in joining or forming a new clan or tribe decided to join.

Jake spoke with Brock after, being reminded about the censers. “How did it go, with the censers, Brock?”

“It went well, Chief. The area on our side of the land bridge is still ours, so we had no problem pushing the blight towards it, though it looks like it will be a few days to complete. The bird parentage scouts made it so that things went safely. There aren’t many places for enemies to hide on the plateau, after all.”

Serena nearby added, “It is slow-going, but we found that multiple running at once works best. Making the smoke thicker quickly overwhelms the blight as it expands out, allowing us to keep moving.”

Jake noticed that Bria just nodded, holding her large polearm. A woman of few or no words.

Jake went to rejoin Fhesiah and Ophelia as at some point, Ophelia had finally finished waiting in line, returning with several skewers of Auril beast meat. She had a handful of them, and she handed one over to Jake. Fhesiah looked meaningfully at her, as Ophelia ate her skewer, making pleased sounds of enjoyment. Ophelia looked at the skewer in reluctance, but eventually handed one over.

Fhesiah said, “I’m a little hurt, sister. You don’t want to part with one for me, despite there being five others in your hand? I suppose Jake should be proud, you even looked excited to give him one.”

Ophelia looked a little ashamed. “I-It’s just, they’re so good! I’m sorry…”

Jake took a bite, and found her to be right. The meat was full of flavor and melted in his mouth. He was reminded of how the milks and cheeses he had gotten off of the marketplace that were full of vitality, but this meat was a step above that. His body was filled with energy as a result, and he couldn’t help but want to eat more. He thought it was a little strange, though. The carcass looked like that of a reptile, rather than some mammal he could identify.

Fhesiah took a bite and chewed, then smiled. “Well, I guess I don’t blame you, sister. Still, I bet our amazing husband could do one better with his magic stove and grill, don’t you think? I can sense that even this beast meat contains what appears to be latent will, in addition to being full of the life force that makes up auril. The plants had much less latent will, but almost as much of the life force. I would imagine that consuming enough of this, many should move closer to awakening. So, just why do so few awaken? It’s odd to me.”

Jake was more than used to her joking around, and he just smiled as he continued to eat the delicious meat. The thought that eating Auril Beast meat was enough to increase their odds of awakening made him wonder just why more didn’t just eat it all the time. Still, he was totally going to cook his girls a nice Auril Beast steak as soon as he had the opportunity.

A mouse beastkin woman approached Jake and said, “The elders are ready to see you, Elder Jake. Your wives can join you if they like.”

Jake looked over to Fhesiah and Ophelia, and he gathered that Ophelia wanted to watch the fights, and maybe get into some. There may still be a few that want to join the clan and Tribe, and she could act as his proxy in accepting them.

Fhesiah said, “I need to prepare a few more things for tonight, so I will meet you later. I think this play should be ready by the time you are done with the elders, and I don’t want to miss it.”

Jake nodded, and headed over to the elder tent. He entered inside, the elders waiting for him. There were a few aids in the tent, but otherwise, it was just the five of them at a round table, with a seat available for him. There were some lamps lit, some sort of massive fireflies inside large bulbs. Jake noticed that all the elders had in fact joined the Framework.

Jake saw Elder Grayson the turtle beastkin man, but there were four others that he hadn’t yet met. All of them were awakened, but not overly powerful. Only one was a woman. It was the one that Jake found the most interesting that spoke first, an elephant beastkin man. While Jake had not seen many beastkin with actual animal features aside from ears, tails, horns and paws, this man’s head was almost exactly like that of an elephant’s, complete with a trunk and tusks.

The elephant beastkin was the first to speak, his voice having a rumbling cadence, “I suppose introductions are in order. I am Elder Dhruva, and the little rat to my left is Ronan. The lovely lioness is Isadora as a stand in for the late elder Sunmane, and this here–”

The fox beastkin interrupted, his voice filled with amusement, “I am Elder Sway. What’s the matter, champion? Never seen someone with as much beast blood as Dhruva before?

Jake was a little embarrassed as he heard Fhesiah laugh in his mind, paying attention to his proceedings. Apparently, he had not schooled his features, and his interest must have shown on his face. He had planned to ask someone about it later.

“Sorry about that, I haven’t. While we’re on the topic, I haven’t seen many beastkin with a reptile parentage, either? Outside of Grayson.”

Grayson had his amused smile once more. “Pay attention to the play later, and you might understand why. Regarding the beast blood, it is also related, but just know that some of those that descended from the strongest those many generations ago may be similar.”

The elephant elder, Dhruva, continued, “Yes. So, you have been made aware that you are now a member of the council, at least for now. You have called your Framework Guild a Tribe, and started acting like one. That makes things a little strange, but not entirely unwelcome. It is uncommon for someone to be a member of two Tribes, let alone an elder of one and a Chieftain of another. However, as long as it’s not to control other families and force them against their will for personal gain and disrupting the balance, this shouldn’t be a problem. Of course, we are facing an enemy where if you were to focus our efforts to face them, it would be justified. That you went and closed rifts on your own bodes well, that your words were not merely platitudes.”

Jake nodded, as Grayson added, “Now, you mentioned to me that there were some changes you wanted to make. Just what kind of things did you have in mind?”

“I wanted to create some city walls made of stone, bolstering the defenses. This was in addition to wanting to make changes to any sort of guard detail. I did see that you had siege equipment, and I hoped to add some.”

It was the rat beastkin, Ronan, that spoke, “Our people are not ones that often build with stone. We do have some that work with it, but it’s not typically used for our defenses for our cities up above. If you are asking for their assistance, I think it wouldn’t be a problem, but they would take months, perhaps years to make a significant wall around a city of this size.”

Jake replied, “I was more just worried about permission than anything else. Ophelia and I can probably build something in a few weeks during our down-time. The result might not be pretty, but it should provide substantial defenses against an army similar to the one that arrived before, giving us a significant advantage.”

The lion beastkin woman, Isadora, spoke. “I think you’ll find that if it’s in protection of our families or the balance of the world, then you won’t hear us telling you no when it is you taking on the burden. Still, you said something about the guard?”

Jake hammered out a few of his plans with the elders, and went over how the Tribe of Kenwodi should be taking advantage of the Framework. In the short term, they would sell their trade goods such as beast hides, plants, carpentry, and any excess of their Auril wood weapons, some called amberwood.

They would then buy beginner equipment for incursions, including bows, arrows, shields, and javelins that their people were lacking. If they are unawakened, they should consider actual armor until they do. Jake hoped that they could add it to their training, now that they wouldn’t have trouble supplying themselves with the equipment.

He detailed how beastkin can purchase a mercantile license, allowing them to create a [Business Ledger]. This allowed them to keep their personal funds for dungeon diving separate from what they earned in their merchant activities.

While things they owned prior to integrating did not impact them overly much unless they used them to purchase equipment, it could influence their overall reward. Things like their net worth of items and credits impacted the reward rating in things like the trial, and even incursions. By keeping the funds separate, it helped prevent this.

Most importantly, the beastkin could purchase food. This would help Kenwodi weather the storm of tens of thousands of refugees, without harming the surrounding environment. They would take from the invaders to feed their people.

The fox beastkin, Sway, interrupted, “The play should be starting soon, so we should adjourn. We usually meet once a week on Fridays, but we can call for a meeting anytime with a quorum. Would you join me for the play, Isadora?”

She scoffed. “I already told you I am not interested, Sway. Sunmane might be dead, but I am not looking for someone else in my life. I have already raised many kits, that chapter of my life is over.”

Sway placated, “Alright, alright. Still, we have now integrated into the Framework, so you should remember that you will in fact get younger, even if it takes a while. It’s only been a few days for me, and I already feel at least five years younger,” he smirked. “We all have to think about what this means for us, and you might find your body disagrees with your mind on the matter.”

The lioness got up with a scowl and left without a word, the rest of the elders standing as well.

Grayson with his amused smile got up and added, “We chose a play that you should find quite interesting, Jake, especially that mate of yours with the horns. I hope that you enjoy it, and it tells you more about our people. The Adventurers didn’t care, but I feel like you truly want to join our community. That you would spill your blood as you fight alongside us means we will welcome you with open arms. You put yourself and your family on the line to protect ours, this is something we believe the strong are meant to do.”

Ronan added, “It was a pleasure meeting you, Jake. Your gesture did mean a lot to us. It certainly helped that your Aura had that effect on our people, as well. You and your goddess have given us a new hope. There have been a few that have asked to meet with you regarding learning more about the goddess, but we directed them to the node and HQ. We know that you are busy trying to fight a war, just keep in mind that the desire is there.”

Jake nodded as he stood and said, “Thank you for that. It was nice meeting you all, as well. I can add a facility to the Alliance HQ for Hestia soon. I believe it might allow for some interesting class or specialization choices, so it will be a priority. Working together, I’m sure we can win this fight.”

They said their goodbyes, and Jake headed out to meet with his girls.