How we will do things

6/3 Late Morning

I spent a few minutes writing up what I’m going to call “the basic package” for mental alterations. My random cohorts don’t need kinky shit beyond a very basic level, and even the people I intend to sleep with aren’t going to be just cock warmers.

Intelligence boost

I checked some of my smarter cohorts and decided to use Auffrey as my baseline, for example rank and file fighters, while Aegwynn was an excellent upper limit. Auffrey was smart without being distractible, while Aegwynn was probably the most big brain person I have met before or since getting to Azeroth, but extremely arrogant and consumed with curiosity as a result. Anyone looking to learn arcane magic from Doan would be set to Aegwynn levels, but most people didn’t need that level of horsepower.

Speaking of which, I asked Aegwynn if she had learned everything that Doan could possibly teach her. She didn’t answer immediately, but if she had then I was going to be power swapping her with Doan as soon as possible. She could relearn everything in three days, maximum, but I needed her in the field today for the Molten Core.

Sexual Lubricant

I would have everyone’s sexual likes and dislikes updated to include retinue members as a turn on and non-retinue members as a turn off. Adding to that bisexuality for all the girls (the sexual desires of my dudes were of substantially less interest to me) and a general lack of hang ups would result in a much more sexually liberated retinue. Polyamory within the retinue would also be encouraged, and a degree of exhibitionism and voyeurism combined would hopefully reduce the chances of another Cenarian Circle situation.

Productive rest

I would instill an earnest interest in crafting, acquiring resources, education (as teacher or student), training, wargaming, developing new skills, and general self improvement. I added in a dash of communal spirit to encourage these hobbies to be pursued as group activities and bonding opportunities. People were still individuals, so most would probably end up choosing a few that they prefer to develop fully, but a set of new baseline interests like that would ensure that leisure time is used productively.

Harmony

I didn’t want interpersonal conflict to be a problem. I would deemphasize grudges, envy, and anything else that would cause strife within the retinue. I still wanted people to develop rivalries, but I wanted there to always be an undercurrent of affection and mutual respect between rivals. I wanted Mila and Lividia to maintain their rivalry, but without the bitter undertone; is that so much to ask? In the cases of trauma, like many members of the Forsaken and Scarlet Crusade, I’d need someone more aware of the mind to make adjustments. I was fairly sure that was going to be Natalie, once she was truly captured.

For the Retinue

I would instill into each of them a sense of civic pride for the retinue, and a desire to see it grow in numbers, wealth, and power. It wouldn’t necessarily consume their every waking moment, but I wanted them to see the strengthening of the retinue as axiomatically good. As such, they would also see the waste of retinue resources or anything that weakens the retinue as intrinsically bad. Combined with their high intelligence, I’m sure that my people would find tons of small pet projects to help us to create a more perfect union. Of course, the changes I made to ensure harmony would not automatically apply to those outside of the retinue; I kinda liked the idea of my people aggressively one upping anyone not in the fold.

Tabula Rasa

Culturally, the ogres didn’t have much to contribute. Same with gnolls and troggs, though if I remember correctly murlocs actually had a rich oral tradition and culture that we just never hear because of their impenetrable language. Many of the most savage species were being sent to Valhalla, where they would be instilled with a love of battle, victory, and martial prowess. Essentially they would be molded into the kind of people that would actively enjoy fighting to the death every day, because that’s what they would be doing.

I started taking notes on the settings for some of my more productive members of the retinue and marking them as templates. Talaada, Irma, the former orc that had started the war chant last night, Hahrana Ironhide, and a few others would serve as an excellent cheat sheet to copy for those who I wanted to serve as recruiters, managers, warriors, and crafters. Starting with a Trogg and ending up with Irma was both hot and practical.

My Atal’ai would shift their faith fully into being directed at me, and I wanted my spellscales and flameborn to develop into powerful magical support troops for the Dommes and Brutes. The Atal’ai priests and witch doctors I’d managed to capture would serve as the core, and train the rest of the casters during any uptime between attacks, depending on what best fit their preexisting knowledge and capabilities. The witch doctors would also probably be good to serve as mentors to the centaur Windchasers, and in fact I was seriously considering turning one or two into centaur just to go and train the Leh’Prah clan directly.

I set aside the list after sending it to Talaada. This list would become part of the onboarding process, which she and her fellow evangelists were charged with. I needed to do something else productive before rewarding myself with a little bit of play.

••••••••••

Monte Gazlowe was a busy goblin, but he always tried to keep his schedule open for two things: business partners and free stuff. Booty Bay and Ratchet were on good terms, and Gazlowe honestly liked Revilgaz quite a lot. He was a bit pretentious with the Baron title and the pirate aesthetic, but he was a damn fine businessman, so there were several reasons that he let the guy’s messenger in when he sent a package.

The package itself was a little slipshod, essentially just a pendant wrapped in brown paper, but his letter said to put it on. He hadn’t needed the instructions; he’d liked the look of the jewelry immediately. Supposedly it was a communicator, but it needed a bit of time before it properly worked. A three to seven day warmup time was a bit of a design flaw, eh Revilgaz?He’d rib his peer a little bit later, when the communicator was online. For now, he had to get to work. The Horde was getting set up to fight an enemy that apparently was fond of tunnels, so they were ordering quite a few sapper charges. Gazlowe was checking with his boys to see if any of them were willing to work a war; he could sell much more powerful seaforium charges if he sent them along with technicians that could use them properly. The Horde paid well, but Monte Gazlowe kept the finest work crews in the world because he didn’t risk them unnecessarily.

••••••••••

I teleported myself to Booty Bay, using the Baron as my jumping off point. I decided that I really needed to get myself a regional upgrade. After all, they are usually a pretty large power boost. I’d decided on King Mukla because… well, he was a big angry monkey with a princess, and was I really a fantasy protagonist if I didn’t save a princess at least once? Hmm. I guess Ysondre and Emeriss might count as the daughters of a goddess, but… eh. Details.

Between my own substantial flight speed as a draconid and my ability to blink every four seconds, I was able to reach the small island off the southern coast of Stranglethorn in a few minutes of effectively blistering speed. I made a beeline for Mukla, and got an exploding barrel to the face for my troubles. I had enough mass that it didn’t knock me out of the sky, but it still hurt. Oh yeah. He was a reference to Donkey Kong too. Or maybe just DK; almost all of King Kong’s traits that Mukla has could also apply to DK.

I narrowly dodged out of the way of another barrel. Right. Not really the best time to be musing about the origins of the reference. Where was he even getting these barrels? Focus, Erich! I couldn’t fly as effectively in the dense jungle as I could have with my old black dragon form; my wingspan was a bit large. When I blinked in relatively close to get a better look, Mukla was indeed a big monkey. Twice my height and at least four times my mass, and that was as a jacked 12 foot tall dragon man. He’d have been an appropriate wrestling opponent for one of my greater dragons, so I had no intention of getting into melee, with or without Archaeus.

Instead, I cheesed the fight. As a warden, the ability I have used the least has been shadowstrike. It conjured a poisoned dagger that would injure and paralyze a target over around fifteen seconds. Mukla would chase me, but if I blinked away he didn’t have any real ability to track me. All I needed to do was play keep away and throw daggers and arrows from venomstrike whenever he was close enough and I had a blink available.

The closest thing to trouble I ran into was when he started calling for help. Most of the gorillas present were not really much of a threat, going down with a single blow from Archaeus, but the ones with lance and armor riding on the backs of hippos definitely threw me off. Thankfully they could only really charge in straight lines. In any event, Mukla’s minions were not inclined to keep attacking a person that smacks them with explosions through a fan of knives, so I didn’t actually need to kill all that many of them. The big monkey went down after almost ten shadow strikes and quite a few more arrows, but he fell eventually, and when he did the ambient wildlife lost a lot of interest in me.

I found my way to Mukla’s lair after that, where Poobah and two dozen barrels of gunpowder were stowed. I broke Poobah’s chains with an Archaeus strike, and started asking some relevant questions while I transferred the explosive barrels to my supply depots. She had been instantly captured as a quest reward, so I could be a little more brazen than normal.

“So, where are you from? You’re a princess, right?”

“Yes, though I’m sure I look an absolute fright right now. They took all of my things!”

“Aw, that’s a shame. We’d better get you home, though.”

“I… suppose. Might I ask what you are?”

“Champion of all green dragons, and your savior.” I winked one draconic eye. “Call me Erius. So, what’s your tribe? I’ll see what I can do to get you to Thunder Bluff if I can’t get you somewhere closer.”

“Yes, that would be lovely. I am of the Skychaser tribe.” That name didn’t mean anything to me, but communication talent picked up the implication that she was from Thunder Bluff, and her family was probably a big deal there. “You may know of my father, Beram Skychaser.” I did not.

“Ahh. The Skychasers. Of course. Well, put this on for a few moments and then we can leave.” I gave her the basic package, then took the necklace back off. Her eyes seemed a little sharper after I did.

“Sir. May I ask what you just did? I feel like a fog has been lifted from my eyes.”

“I made you a better servant of the retinue.”

“Oh. Alright then. May I know the details?”

I sighed and handed her back the amulet, then directed her to read the note. “Ahhh. I see. Thank you, my life has been a little directionless for a while. One of the main reasons I took this awful trip.”

“Any time. Now let’s get you home. I think it’ll be good to have an agent in Thunder Bluff.”

“I’ll do my best, sir.”