In the immediate aftermath of reading the notification that informed him that he had dealt with the source of the bears' aggression, Althos did several things. First and foremost once he had willed away the notification informing him about the unexpected progress he had made, he used his magic to repair the part of the tunnel he had caused to splinter while counter-attacking in the wake of the demon's ineffectual pellets.

The second thing he did was come to a realization. For the past few hours, the deity had been pondering what to do with the orcs he had made into his servants. He had been struggling with how to get the most use out of them, while also treating them with the same odd kindness he had shown the dark elves. And he had finally come to a realization about how he could do that.

There's something... weird about treating the elves differently than I am treating the orcs. It feels like I am unjustly holding the orcs to a different standard than I am holding the elves to. It feels... unlawful. I need to correct that, don't I? Correcting it... feels lawful.

The orcs were my first allies here, but I made them into my servants and made choices for them, instead of listening to their counsel. I am also robbing them of chances to grow stronger, aren't I? The right thing to do, and the most effective way to get the most out of them is to let them determine their own future.

And by that, I don't mean what I did before, but actually give them the choice to be away from me... That's not fun. But I want them to grow... I need them to grow. And they are probably the best tools I have for gaining more orcish worshipers, just like the elves are the best tool I have for gaining elven worshipers.

So if they want to leave... I need to let them, don't I? I'd prefer for it to happen after I make them my worshipers, but even if it doesn't letting them go doesn't mean freeing them, it just means giving them more freedom than they have under my direct control and command.

Despite his immaturity, the deity accepted this with a fair amount of grace. He quietly realized it and accepted it in the span of a few moments. He was still as he processed his emotions but he didn't childishly reject it or pretend it wasn't the best plan. He knew that it was the best move, and to pretend otherwise would only mean he was hurting himself.

Part of his acceptance came from the maturity he had gained after absorbing hundreds of years of memories. Part of it came from his own lived experiences. And part of it came from the quiet influence of the domains he had gained influence over. But all of it was his own choice, it was his own maturity that allowed him to make this decision.

The third thing the deity did in the aftermath of the willing away the notification about him defeating the filth demon was that he began to speak.

"That thing, that filth demon, was the source of the aggression the bears were showing towards the wolves. In defeating it I've moved us towards the final phase of the quest. Which is something I'll choose to interpret as a sign for us to return to the forest. And by 'us' I mean the orcs, Silander, the extraplanars, and myself. I have a different task for the dark elves."

The deity finished speaking and then paused for a moment as he considered what to say next. He wordlessly activated one of his most useful powers: the mind-warping power of the faith domain. He was still for a second, while the power silently swept over his followers, the power itself flowing into his minions and making them more susceptible to his suggestions and influence.

He also began to gather divine energy and concentrate it on his vocal cords. This strange ability enhanced the effects of his words on those who heard them, and when combined with the faith domain's corruptive influence, had the power to render a mind and will subservient to Althos. While he was doing this, he was conversing with himself.

If I truly seek worshipers... this is what I must do, right? Offer them what they desire, all the while making use of my divine powers to make people bend to me. To transform them into my servants and worshipers.

The dark elves are in possession of the vastest repository of knowledge that I know of. I want them to give it to me. To give me their books, to give me their memories. I want it all. Every spell, every secret, every recipe, every book. I will make it mine. From the secret tomes that exist deep in the city's ancient temple, to the public storehouses of books that run throughout the heart of the city. It is mine. And I will claim it.

Althos' powerful desire for the city of Undermoon came from a specific set of memories. Qu'Ren's.

While traveling to the tunnel that if more thoroughly explored would lead to the city of Undermoon, the god had spent many minutes silently recalling Qu'Ren's life. He carefully explored her memories, and read her knowledge like it was a masterfully written book he couldn't put down. He learned many of the powerful sorceress' secrets.

The time he took to sift through her life and of her secrets resulting in him vastly increasing his own intelligence and knowledge. Because of her shared knowledge, memories, thoughts, and secrets, he was now equipped with knowledge of potent evocation magic, an appreciation for conjuration magic, and a working knowledge of demonkind that far exceeded Raverangos' own knowledge of its staggeringly diverse cousins.

While he was preparing himself to offer her and her fellow dark elves one of the most ancient powers their kind had long sought, he reflected on the secrets and lore he had learned from her. Chief among those secrets that mattered to him at that moment was the secret knowledge of the existence of an ancient cache of tomes that existed in the heart of the ancient temple located at the center of the city of Undermoon.

Qu'Ren herself hypothesized that these tomes contained mystical secrets she couldn't even imagine, and she had only recently become aware of their existence. He wanted them. And he'd share them with her, once she handed him the city from which he could begin to build a real religion.

Qu'Ren's envisionment of her future inspired Althos, and after learning what he could learn from her he found her to be a powerful tool. One he'd use intelligently, and one he'd turn into a powerful instrument with which he'd make his will known to the dark elves.

When he resumed speaking his voice was filled with confidence and exuded some divine power.

"I am tasking the dark elves with a critical mission."

The dark elves looked elated to hear that news. Excitement was visible in their eyes and the three of them that worshiped Althos looked genuinely excited to hear whatever he was about to say next.

"I want the city of Undermoon. I want you to make it mine. I will aid you, but as elves, especially as clever and ambitious elves, this is something you are more suited to doing than I am. I want you to use your power, and my power, to make the city the first settlement that serves me. In exchange, once the city is mine, I will give you something truly awe-inspiring. An incredible gift."

At that moment Althos reflected on the weight of the power he was about to dangle in front of his elven worshipers. He pondered whether or not this was a thing he should do. Because the power he was about to promise them as a reward for carrying out his will was something that had its roots in their history as a species.

"Elven myth tells of a time in the unbelievably distant past wherein all elves possessed a truly incredible power. A power which some creatures now possess a watered-down version of. A power I can restore in any elf I so chose."

He said that little bit for clarity aimed to help his non-elvish followers and worshipers understand. He recognized that they were most likely confused and wanted to aid them a bit.

He silently reflected on the history shared by all elves, while the elves in his party awaited the moment he decided to stop teasing them.

"True shape-shifting". That was the name of the vestigial trait Althos was looking to restore in his followers. As Althos had been absorbing their memories, he learned why all four of the dark elves had a vestigial trait that was called "True shape-shifting". This powerful ability was one with a long history in elven culture.

Althos reflected on the memories his worshipers had of being taught elven history. He could recall each of them in schools that taught dark elven children about their innate magical gifts, and the incredible history of their species. He recalled their creation myth.

The creation myth they shared with their lighter-skinned distant cousins, due to it having taken place before even the most ancient elves were born, a creation myth which remained a part of dark elven education even though dark elves stopped worshiping the gods of the surface elves in the unimaginably distant past.

In the age before the creation of elves, the gods who'd eventually become the founding members of the pantheon the surface elves worshiped had no set form. They explored the multiverse in a thousand different forms, shape-shifting as freely as Althos could. They were hedonistic creatures who freely cavorted with each other, and with all manner of ancient life.

One of the results of their thousand dalliances were the first elves. These ancient elves, the ancestors of both surface elves and dark elves, themselves had a base form, a form of deep beauty and of immense power, but they could shape-shift as well as their deific parents could.

Their parents thought them beautiful and adored them, so they stopped shape-shifting and took on forms of similar beauty and magnificence so they could nurture their children and be their divine guardians.

Eventually, through thousands of generations, and the creation and downfall of over a dozen elvish empires the elves lost the ability to shape-shift. But somehow, vestiges of the power remained in their genetic code.

Althos could see those vestiges. He could feel them. He could feed them. He could gift elves with the power to shape-shift as their ancient ancestors could. If he so willed it, any of the elves he knew would instantly regain the power to shape-shift. At this point, it was the finest gift he could give to the dark elves.

Althos opened his mouth to speak. Nearly half a minute had passed after he first teased them.

"If you successfully complete this quest, I will restore in you the power of your mightiest ancestors. I will return to you the ability possessed by the first elves; the power to shape-shift. It is the one vestigial trait I left untouched after I first powered you up. I can resurrect it. In all four of you. All it takes for you to regain this most ancient ability is for you to please me."

When he said this, each of the elves in his presence was visibly stunned. The idea that they could be able to truly shape-shift, just like their ancient ancestors, was overwhelming to them.

While overwhelmed, the elves were in a daze. Their eyes were distant, envisioning a future where they could be protean creatures, shifting from form to form and living hedonistic existences as their ancestors once had.

The four elves, even Althos' non-worshiper, felt powerful emotions flowing through them. They felt excitement at the idea that they might gain a power that would grant them a serious weapon in their constant war with surface elves, they felt surprised that this power remained within them across thousands of generations, and they felt grateful that they served a master who was willing to grant them such a powerful reward.

Each of the three elves who worshiped Althos felt more determined than ever to be useful servants to their master. Even the fourth, the hold-out, could understand why his peers had been convinced to serve the god if this was a power that was actually within the deity's grasp.

"Will you accept this quest?"

Althos' voice penetrated the daze the elves were in. They recovered quickly enough from their daze and eagerly nodded at the god.

Though their specific wording may have differed from dark elf to dark elf, all three of the ones he cared about muttered words of affirmation and acceptance. Their eyes also conveyed different emotions.

Drow's eyes revealed a calmness, a certainty, that Althos quite liked. Milene's eyes revealed an eagerness, a desire to get started on this quest. Qu'Ren's eyes revealed an intense fanaticism, one no doubt affected by Althos' usages of his powers on her, coupled with the intensity of the reward he had promised them.

All three of Althos' elven worshipers received the same notification.

[Quest: Convert the city of Undermoon.

Objectives: Convert the dark elven city of Undermoon into a theocracy controlled by a dark elven high priestess of Althos.

Reward: The deity Althos will perform a vestigial resurrection on you and enable you to use the ancient elven power to shape-shift.

Progress (0/9): Convince the high council of Undermoon that Althos exists and is a deity. (0/9)

Appoint a high priestess to Althos. (0/1)

Gather the support of the 5 noble houses of Undermoon. (0/5)

Create and ratify a new city-wide constitution that affirms that Althos and his priestess are the supreme authorities of Undermoon (0/1).

Convert the temple at the heart of the city to a temple to Althos. (0/1)

Convince the dark elves of Undermoon that Althos exists and is a deity. (4/25,000.)

Codify the tenets of Althos' religion, create at least one annual festival, and oversee a public prayer to Althos. (0/3)

Gain the service of a witch/ward/warlock, oracle, and dark night. (0/3)

Perform a public act of ritual sacrifice to Althos. (0/1)

Secondary objectives (0/3):

Build up an army dedicated to enacting Althos' will. This army's composition does not have to consist solely of dark elves. (0/5,000)

Build areas in the city for non-dark-elven worshipers of Althos to have homes wherein they can dwell without discrimination. (0/5)

Create an alliance with another settlement in the world beneath the world in the name of Althos. (0/1)

Note #1: This is an epic level quest. Completing this quest without the active support of Althos would be a herculean undertaking, though with Althos' assistance it is instead a task of considerable length, but one that can absolutely be done.

Note #2: This is a shared quest. All three of the dark elves it is being offered too will be sharing in the quest's progress.

Note #3: Upon completion of this quest Althos will have a capital city for his religion in the mortal plane. That will benefit him and his followers.

Will you accept this quest?]

All three of the elves to whom the quest was presented and offered, informed the system that they would accept it.

The fourth, not receiving the notification, knew something was up. But before he could complain, Althos sent him a mental message.

[Join your fellow dark elves for now. And reflect on the choices you made. I intend to grant you the power to shape-shift as well, but your quest will be different than theirs. For the moment, be silent.]

Althos' mental voice made it clear that the deity would accept no complaints from the dark elf. The hurt elf considered disobeying the deity, but then recalled the deity's statement about intending to grant him the power to shape-shift and his greed returned him to his senses. Mianthus swallowed his pride, and bit his tongue.

Althos received a notification from the system informing him about the quest, as well as informing him that the elves had accepted the quest.

Althos looked at the elves. His eyes met theirs one at a time until he had gazed into each of their eyes. He felt satisfied with what he saw in them and nodded at his worshipers.

He was almost ready to deploy his servants. But before he let them go, the deity had one final thing he needed to do. One final thing to give them. As he moved to inform them about his final investment in them, for now anyway, he reflected on what he knew of the old gods who dominated the world beneath the world.

He reflected on the pain and misery the dark gods left in their wake. He reflected on their continual clashes with dark elves and other powerful civilizations that inhabited the world beneath the world. He felt their power, their bloodlust, and he keenly felt how their approach weakened them.

Those thoughts were the thoughts that compelled the following moment of quiet decision making.

The old gods of the dark elves were powerful creatures. But they were also monstrous beings who tortured everyone, including their servants. They very demonstrably existed, but they were also cruel and they inflicted pain on everyone, even their most faithful.

I could probably be considered a dark god, but I am not like them. Nor do I want to be. I want to be a god who aids those who seek me out, who answers skeptics with demonstrations of my personal power, and who speaks for myself. I want to acquire my own power, my own secrets, and I want to invest those who seek out wisdom, power, and secrets with power and support and in exchange receive knowledge, secrets, and worship from those I aid.

I will take a different path than they did. I will invade thoughts and dreams and be a seducer, a quiet whisper that offers temptation, an empowerer, someone people invite in once they've got a taste of what I have to offer. And this is the beginning of that.

The elves came to me because I empowered them. Who else will come to me if I just give them power? I suppose it's time I begin to find out.

Althos spoke. His voice retained its divine power and glory, and the effects of the faith domain lingered in the hearts of Althos' servants and faithful.

"The key to making this quest something that can be accomplished in months or even in years as opposed to decades or centuries is for you to use my power and for me to be a deity who doesn't rely on servants but one who is active in the world, who boldly demonstrates his own existence. Because of that, I am granting each of you three a new power. I am granting you the power to call out to me and to try and summon me. This power is... it's immense. I am a god after all."

His words did indeed reflect reality, and the weight of that reality made the situation the elves were in feel quite unbelievable. They were being given the power to summon an actual, living god to their side.

In effect, the squad of dark elves were becoming the most powerful elves in the world. When Althos granted them the power he was telling them, he'd be making them possibly unkillable. It was a moment of considerable gravity.

Althos fell silent just for a few moments so that the weight of the moment could hit the elves.

"With this power... you can summon me to key locations across the city and at key times. You can summon me in front of the high council of Undermoon. You can summon me in front of an invading force. You can summon me at dinner with the noble houses. When you report to the high council to explain what happened during this mission that caused you to fail in fulfilling your objective, you can summon me."

Althos' final statement caused the elves to begin to sweat. In the drama and intensity of the past few hours, they had forgotten that they had failed in fulfilling an important quest. Admittedly they had inadvertently stumbled across a significant success, but still.

Dark elven culture wasn't forgiving. The elves knew that when they reported to the council their best bet would be to immediately summon Althos and have him demonstrate his powers in front of the city's rulers.

As the elves were thinking about what sorts of punishments they may have been forced to endure, Althos created a new magic effect. He focused on the dark elves, and envisioned empowering them by giving them the power to call out to him, after which he could warp to them. He envisioned them changing and being made stronger by this.

To get on Mianthus' good side and begin to make it easier to convince the elf to worship him, Althos decided to grant him the power to summon him as well. Since Mianthus wasn't a worshiper of the deity, this wasn't a "divine magic" effect, it was actually an "alternation magic" effect, which was useful for the deity who hadn't realized what benefit he'd be getting from the effect when he made the choice to be nice to Mianthus.

He also granted himself the ability to see what was happening to his worshipers, as an added bonus.

This power was successfully created within them, due to the power and depth of Althos' magic, and the deity himself received a surprising notification.

[New Combined Knowledge Notification Gained: Divine, Alteration, and Oracular Magic.

Alteration magic is magic that allows users to mutate sentient creatures. This school of magic allows users to modify sentient beings, transforming them and making them stronger or weaker with but enough will and enough magical energy. For a deity, this school of magic is particularly potent and alterations made by deities to living creatures can be passed down to descendants creatures affected by divinely cast alternation spells may have.

This school of magic is responsible for everything from the dark elves themselves, to werebeasts. The effects of this school of magic are present and visible throughout the planes.

Masters of alteration magic can transform creatures into mighty heroes, or reduce mighty heroes into the weakest examples of their species. They can mutate creatures and inadvertently spawn new species, or accidentally begin a chain of events that wipe out an entire species.

Divine magic is the school of magic related to the unique powers of deities. Deities who master this school can more easily create domains, subdomains, and also more rapidly gain influence over sentient creatures. This school of magic is the school of magic that clerics tap into to utilize their magic.

Deities who are masters of divine magic can empower warlocks, witches, and wards more easily, as well as strengthen and drive their followers.

Oracular magic is magic related to foresight, seeing, and making sense of the world around you. Scrying spells come from the oracular school of magic.

Masters of oracular magic are impossible to hide from and can find things that have been hidden from sight with all but the most powerful magic. Oracles and oracular mages can eventually learn to see events in alternative universes and can be some of the greatest spies in the multiverse.

Spells Known: 0

Total Spells Gained: Over 120. All of which have been added to your codex. You can now mix and match spell effects from these schools into the spell effects you could previously weave.

Your ability to use raw magical energy has reached the master level. Once you gain knowledge concerning the final basic school you will have completed the first quest needed to gain mastery over the domain of magic.

Quest update: You have gained knowledge of 9/10 of the basic schools of magic. You are just a single school away from beginning to unlock the secrets of advanced magic. And you are already stronger and more magically informed than many archmages have been. Congratulations. Keep it up!]

Once Althos willed away the notification and saw that his followers were reacting to the power he had granted them. Especially Mianthus. After seeing the genuine emotion in the dark elf's eyes, the deity felt that empowering him that way was the right move. Internally the deity smirked at this, surprised at how easily moved the stoic and capable elf could be.

The deity looked at his followers and began to speak. His voice was soft yet commanding. He chose that so that he may appear saddened by what he said next, as to reinforce the idea that he was, in his heart, a kind deity.

"It's time you go. It is, at last, time for you to return to your families. To your people. Once you've been summoned to the council, which will according to your knowledge and memories, not be immediate, summon me. Once I appear I'll convince them of my existence. But for now, you must go. We will be reunited soon."

The elves looked at him, a variety of emotions visible in their eyes for a few fleeting moments before they nodded. They quickly gathered their wits about them and began to walk away from their master, with a new and momentous mission to carry out.

It took about fifteen minutes for the squad of elves to disappear from sight, due to the tunnel beginning to dip downward and them disappearing down its gentle slope.

Once the elves had vanished from sight, Althos turned to his orcish servants. He cleared his throat to gather their attention, as they still had their eyes trained on where the elves had vanished.

He had been thinking about what to tell them for the last few minutes. He had finally settled on what to say while he was reading through the combined knowledge notification he had received earlier that day.

"Orcs... I have given them an impressive mission. And I am going to give you one as well. But yours is of a far more personal nature. I want each of you to think over the course of the rest of the night about what you would like to do. You personally."

After saying that, he paused for a second. He let them feel the weight of his words.

"I am offering to let you leave my direct command and control. This is not me offering to free you, but it is me giving you a degree of control over your life again. If you wish, I can use magic to reunite you with your friends. You will continue to serve me, just in different, less direct ways. If you say yes, then early tomorrow morning I will locate your friends, your fellow raiders, and teleport you to them. I am also planning to resurrect your vestigial traits, and will do that regardless of whether or not you stay with me. But once again: this doesn't free you, it just allows you to serve me more distantly."

His words washed over the orcs. They froze in shock, never imagining that their master would offer them such a gift. Bazur was the first to speak.

"But Master... why?"

He wasn't complaining, it was more that he was expressing his shock. Althos heard him and he thought that the question made sense even if was a bit vague. He looked to the orc and responded with calmness and politeness.

"While I was in Infernius, I began to learn about alignments. I learned about the idea of forces of order and equal treatment while I explored Tristan's mind but I didn't have time to analyze those ideas until the last few hours. After I absorbed more knowledge from the elves, I learned more about this idea. After thinking about it for a while I realized that I wasn't treating you and the elves equally. That's not an act of evil, not in a meaningful way anyway, it's just an act of self-destruction that holds you all back and in turn, holds me back."

He went silent for a few moments while he thought about how to finish up this statement.

"I don't care if someone considers me evil. But if I act in self-destructive, or harmful ways, then I am hurting myself. And I will not hurt myself."

He felt satisfied with that. He then looked out at his servants. Their faces revealed different emotions swirling in their minds. He could tell that some were more pleased with what he had said than others, and he wondered which parts of his statements were pleasing to the few orcs who looked satisfied with his explanation.

One of the few orcs who was truly happy in that moment was Gallow. The rogue had a visible grin etched on his face, and he looked pleased with what Althos had said.

This surprised Althos, but he didn't say anything. The deity had begun to quite like the orc, after absorbing a copy of the orc's knowledge, secrets, thoughts, and memories. Althos hoped that the orc made the choice to stay with him.

Gallow staying meant that Althos had gained a powerful new ally to venture into Infernius with. An ally who'd be useful in a place like the Tomb of Agowraith.

But the deity was silent. Instead of saying anything else, the deity merely turned and began to lead his worshipers and allies in the direction they had come from on a trip that had taken almost an hour, so that they could begin the bear hunt and wrap up this quest.

Within the hour, just under an hour in fact, the group was once again outside of the tunnel and in the clearing which led them into the greater forest. Althos quietly wondered how long it'd take for this quest to be all wrapped up, while mentally scanning his radar to detect the closest bears he could find.