48. Animus

You put the new goblins to work with a few barked orders, sending them to the soon-to-be goblin village. Their arrival could not have come at a more fortuitous time, you muse, watching the progress bar leap forwards; the manifested kobold who had been diligently working alone not stopping for a second as their lonely position is overrun by the greenskins. One has a hammer, but most simply start hammering on the wall with their hands or rocks, shrieking and shouting as they do. Their packs are discarded and quickly swallowed by your lair inventory, peppering you with notifications.

You shake the notifications away, and re-assess the goblins. Iron, copper and gold – presumably from rocky deposits like you have above you... And yet, those rocks have four possible drops. Scrap ore and sapphires are two. Perhaps opening some sort of trade with the goblin tribe might be worth it?

You take a moment more to watch the apparently savage horde attacking your wall, and a thought strikes you. My other goblins certainly don't act this way.

You blink, and look around till you find your other goblins. The scarred one is calmly working on the far end of the arena, using a home made but effective looking stone hammer. He's still talking in that strange tongue you don't understand, coaxing the occasional reply from your other manifested kobold. The other is busy in your kitchen, butchering what looks to be the new brace of rabbits with a jagged knife. You're still not sure where he got the chef's hat, but you're not complaining. He looks up at you as the yelling of the new arrivals filters in.

“New mouths?”

You nod, and he snorts. “Least they brought some food with 'em.”

You watch him for a few more minutes as he works, before he speaks again. “Not to sound ungrateful,” he pauses, and then rushes on. “Just, think you could send a few more hunting parties out now and then? Sapphire brings back deer when she can, but food's always running low.”

You nod, ruminating on the differences between your Feathers, scars, chef and the new arrivals, and then recoil slightly. No. Feathers, the old goblins, and the new goblins. No more naming things. You don't want to bind anyone else to you. Not in the way Mercy said. Best just be careful with your thoughts.

You head into the larder cave with a brief goodbye to – to the goblin who cooks, and look around. It's not changed much from when you first put it in. You open your menu, intent on seeing if it was possible to assign this area as you did with the villages. Unfortunately, as you scan through the menu, you can't see anything new. The same simple traps, corridors and rooms as you've always had. You go to close it in disappointment, resolved to ask either Mercy or Amanda as to how you could make it function as intended, when you stop. Your menu just quivered.

You watch carefully, fully aware that to an outside observer you'd look a little crazy right now, but you're sure that it just – yes! Again, the whole thing wobbled without your input.

That's not how menus work. As far as you know, they're a manifestation of you. For them to wobble without your input would mean-

You wake up with a worried looking Amanda shaking you gently. “Red, sir? Are you OK?”

You try and stand up and assure her that you're fine, but that plan lasts just long enough for your head to feel like it's being split open.

You wake up to Mercy's voice. “-ook, I'm sorry about the river, ok? But I need some power here.”

Amanda replies with a put upon “Fine. But if this is some messed up trick you know neither of us will forgive you.”

A wet noise, a soft gasp, and then red tinged light fills your eyes. Whatever it does, it lets you get your feet underneath you.

“Fuck. Demon spells are shit at healing and I'm all out of natu-”

You wake up some time later. It's dark, but from the sky you can see out of the holes in the ceiling, it's only just become so. Something warm and furry is pressed against your back. You stretch, and it moves, jerking away from you like you're burning.

You turn, to see Hyena looking down at you. He lets out a laugh-chuff as you stand up, feeling... good. A little light headed, but good.

There's a pattering of feet, and Sapphire rushes into the cavern. “Sir? How do you feel?”

You pause. “Good. A little light headed, but good.”

You look at her, and see her twisting her hands together around her bow, with worry on her face.

“Come here.”

She slams into your legs like a charging bull, and wraps her arms around it. “I was so worried!” she half-sobs. You rub small circles on her back until she's calm enough to let go and look up at you. “What happened?”

“I'm not sure,” you reply, truthfully. “I was... I was messing around with my menu,” You bring it up, “and then I swear I saw-” You stop. There, at the top of your menu, next to 'character sheet', 'Lair', and 'Fame' sits a new tab.

'Animus'

It's blinking with notifications.

What followed was a spilling list of options, all greyed out due to cost. Except one.

Even as you watch, the 10 strikes itself out, and with the same painstaking jerks you saw in Mercy's menu, new words spill out.

Of course, you hit accept.

The change is subtle, and it's Sapphire who notices it first.

“Sir? Did you... do something?”

“I think so? Why?”

You look around, scanning for whatever she's seen as she places her back against your flank, her bow drawn. Even with her warning, it takes you a few more seconds to spot it.

Holes have grown in the walls. Dozens of them from what you can see, some barely above the floor, others far above you. Some share the same, faux-natural look as the rest of your constructions. Others look to have been chewed, scratched or even melted into the rock. And in the closest few, you can see movement. Glittering, glinting carapaces move just beyond the light, and as you stand there, waiting, the air grows heavy with a thick, peppery scent.

Behind one of the stalagmites sounds a noise.

clk-clk-clk

You focus your perception on the oily shell that slowly emerges.

“Sapphire,” you murmur, “I think we should leave. And add some doors. And warn people not to wander through here anymore.”

“That sounds like a good idea sir, yes.”

A spitting hiss from above you makes you focus very hard on not turning to look as the two of you leave, and you use your menus to order two reinforced doors. Just in case.

If you want to join the discord, get notifications when I publish new chapters, and advance warning on dumb jokes that won't really make sense otherwise (The snails are coming), that's here: https://discord.gg/MFP9ejQ3gK

And a big thank you to my patreons: SecCcat and Austin Beck

Also, I went into a depressive spiral a few weeks ago. I'm clawing my way out, but I write in advance. This chapter and the next are a little shorter than I'd like. Sorry.