( Nym POV )

Sunlight streams in through the doorframe of my family’s hut, pooling in my lap as I rhythmically work the mortar and pestle in my corner. I hum tunelessly to myself, in a state of tedious routine, my mind skimming across the surface of the moment without ever dipping into thought. Eventually, just as the dried herbal flakes are crushed to a satisfactorily dust-like consistency, my mother casts a shadow over me as she stoops through the entrance. I blink at the interruption and retreat from my detachment, placing the tool aside with a sigh as she starts delegating to me. My joints crackle as I massage life back into them, chores lining up ahead of me like empty stomachs before the cooking fire. Still, it was nice while it lasted.

The contents of the pestle go into a final bowl, and I carefully juggle my three charges in two hands as I climb from the packed earth. Two for my regular charges, and one for Kali.

Boy, that was a strange request:

"So... you want me to make a, a lure of some sort? To attract a Gylari queen to that weird construct thing you built?"

"Yes, of course! Good idea, no, hmm?"

I hadn’t quite the heart to tell him that no, no that sounds like a crazy and pointless idea. And… an awful lot of Kali’s successes start as madness.

"Uh… ok. Yeah, I think I can do that. But… why not ask Gordune? Actually, why not just get one of the hunters to capture one for you? Or, or, it’s exactly the kind of stupidly-difficult challenge the boys like..."

Kali’s gaze had flickered and twitched like a cruel imitation of paranoia. His attempts at subterfuge wouldn’t deceive a child, but might give it nightmares.

"Grandfather is, ah... not pleased with me, no. Ever so displeased, even. Not after I woke the camp in that, well, burst of inspiration, yes? He was most terribly wrothful, once I had returned to myself enough to appreciate it. Kali’s not so foolish to ask a favour of a medicine man before they’ve forgiven Kali. That would be terribly foolish indeed! No, no. But he’s taking so long to forget, and he’s always grumpy from talking to humans-"

He froze, guiltily, as his sense of discretion caught up with his mouth. I decided not to comment on his anti-human slip, not least because it’s true: Gordune always descends into a poor mood after dealing with politics, and tensions are high at the moment. I’ve taken to avoiding him, too, some days.

Of course, Kali’s antics have made the situation worse. And that elf keeps stoking the fire. I just wish I knew why.

"Ah… The hunters. Go to them."

"No, no, that’s ridiculous! Absurd, yes! A caged bird will only stay so long as the door is shut, and they will not come back! Better to lure it in, yes? Yes! So, you can do it? Good! Excellent! Today?"

He rushed on, trampling any well-founded objections I tried to form: that it was a ridiculous idea, that my capture strategy was much more sensible, and that I had no idea how to make such a lure. Not even this last one seemed to phase him, a faith in my abilities that was slightly touching. Eventually, I caved in.

"Look, no promises, but I’ll try. But, but, I’m not spending too much time on this. You need to gather the ingredients for me. And… favour for a favour. I want something in return."

Kali froze, his perpetual vibrations suddenly stilled as his yellow eyes grow pensive, and altogether too perceptive.

"Yes. Yes! A favour… a new hut, for yourself, alone, your own. Deliverable on success, heh. Deal?"

Always stay on your toes with Kali. Because he seems mad-yet-harmless, right up until he spears the heart of a problem in a single, impossible stroke.

Now I couldn’t fail.

( Zane POV )

I push open my door in order to carry my luggage inside.

"Deactivate sleep mode, AI-personality construct Anno."

It’s good to be back home, not that I didn’t enjoy the family weekend of course, but being cut of from the rest of the world feels weird.

"Welcome back sir! How was the family outing?"

"It was nice and refreshing like always, and what did you do during sleep mode?"

"I ran a few basic software scans and decided to read some strategy guides that missus Jade recommended."

Anno continues to casually babble on, while I clean out my luggage. We do this at least once every year just me, my brothers, mom and dad come together and spend a long weekend at the farm our grandparents own, there is only one rule: no electronics at all.

So Anno and I decided to just use these weekends to put Anno into sleep modus, which allows him to do some basic software updates, and Anno also insisted that I shouldn’t allow him acces to the internet either, something about sharing the burden, he is silly that way.

"Anno, can you please start up TtA, I would like to check up on my tribe."

"Of course sir."

When I materialize inside of my tribe I can still see some of the far of mountains rendering in background.

I would like to enjoy the view a bit longer before delving into the game but something pops-up before I have a chance.

Personal Quest: Last hunt of the Alpha

Many years have passed since the Alpha rose to power,

Now he feels his strength waning and so he prepares for his last hunt.

Quest Objective

Reward

Successfully kill an Apex Predator

Wandering Wolfkin are more likely to join your tribe until five years after the death of the Alpha

"Oh sir look it’s a Quest. Shall I look through those strategy guides I mention earlier for an answer?"

I throw a surprised look at Anno.

"I doubt that any of those guides actually talk about this game, and I would prefer to just do this one by myself, especially since it seems repeatable."

I wonder whether there are any hidden bonuses that can be complete? According to Jade there definitely are hidden triggers for unlocking new tech paths, so it would be a possibility.

The Apex predator in our local region is the Ardron, but I don’t think challenging one of those will be a good idea, even if we use most of the tribe the armour is to think and the damned things need to get but a singular hit in order to kill. Then again I should assume most Apex predators only need one hit.

"I need to arrange a meeting with Jade and John in order to talk about this. Anno is there anything else that I need to check?"

"Just checking now sir! Hmm, we have finally getting over those losses we suffered from the goblin attacks, the food stockpiles have dropped below normal levels due to the winter snow making some of the higher hunting grounds inaccessible in addition to this something else seems to be coming down from the higher regions in order to hunt but we don’t know what, and…."

Sir, you should take a look at this.

Tribal overview

In-game name:

Tribe of the Mountain Cave

Change

Species

Wolfkin

Population Details

Territory Size

8 Square Miles

Map Details

[New] Majority Beliefs (+30%)

The Jade Mother

(Lesser spirit of Prosperity)

Religion Manager

That seems… oddly familiar.

I slowly reach for the Religion manager tab, hesitant to see what details it contains.

Religion Manager

Supported beliefs

Accepted beliefs

Forbidden beliefs

The Jade Mother

(Lesser spirit of Prosperity)

When I select “The Jade Mother” it gives me the options to change its status or to see its details.

I immediately select the details option and once more I am greeted by a screen.

Religion Overview

Name

The Jade Mother

Domain

Family

Category

Lesser Spirit

Blessings

Fertility

Wards

Health

Acts of worship

Successful pregnancies,

Having above average family size for the species (yearly bonus),

Cause of death: old age

By performing Acts of worship your tribe members will generate faith points for the founder of the belief. The founder can spend faith points on blessings, wards or upgrades for his belief.

"Anno get me an appointment with Jade and John. Now!"

( Nym POV )

I have been trying for days but I can’t find anything, nothing at all!

I stop myself just before I threw the bowl I was working with across the room.

I sigh, and get up from my spot.

I need to calm down… and get myself cleaned my clothes are covered in all kinds of different stains, some from dry herbs, some from ground up roots, others from… I am not even certain anymore what they are from.

After getting some fresh clothes I leave the hut.

A goblin quickly jumps up.

"What do I need to bring this time?"

I quickly wave my hand to signal that I don’t need anything.

I still haven’t managed to find Kali since he shoved those terms on me but somehow he arranged it so that there is always at least one goblin nearby to aid me.

Gradually over the course of a few days I even became friends with one of them.

"Actually, Vis? Can you give a message to your brother? I would like to speak with him about his payment when I finish his request."

"I can try but you know how he acts."

I give her a small smile and head of towards a little grove of tree near to the river.

Once there I put my fresh clothes on the side and throw my filthy ones on a heap close to the water before dipping in myself.

It feels good cleaning the (grub,crud,...) off and having the chilly water on my skin.

I am a bit sore still from sitting down mixing grinding and drying herbs most of the day, but that nothing I can’t fix with some simple magic.

I close my eyes and concentrate, feeling my own body with the magic finding all the sore spots and giving them a quick burst of healing.

It’s pretty much all I know how to do currently, Gordune said to first practise on myself before trying on anything else.

Having found all of the sore spots I do a simple once over.

Starting at between my shoulder blades and then spreading like a wave from there over the rest of my body, I try to end slightly above my navel but somehow end up on the palm of my left hand.

Angrily I open my eyes and lift the hand to eye-height, only to have the water follow it, like a big blob.

"That’s... new?"

A branch breaks somewhere behind me.

I swivel around in a single motion and somehow part of the water around my arm flies in the direction of the sound.

I hear a shout of surprise and someone quickly runs away.

I glare in the direction of the sound, it must have been Galeo.

Even after making it very clear that I have someone else in mind, he still thinks he stands a chance. Maybe now he will stay away.

I look back to the blob of water which remained on my arm, which now it isn’t even connected to the surface anymore.

Noticing that its not centered on my hand but on the jade embedded bracelet I close my eyes and whisper quietly to myself

"Jade mother, if you can hear me, please watch out for Jormund."