As the Red Mountain convoy made its way through the dense forest, the sounds of the fauna gave way to an eerie silence. This put the whole of the caravan on guard. The Forest had been filled with animal noises before, but now it was dead silent save for the sounds of the hooves and feet of men and steeds and the creaking of carts and carriages.

As if on cue, the convoy stopped and Seivalt stepped out and beckoned for Vaile to follow him.

“Children of Karnarous, I know you are there! I am Seivalt Rodrick Trelawney, servant of Mighty Vaile! I mean no insult by crossing through your lands, I merely lack the ability to safely travel through the lands of Men. By the agreement struck between all servants of Mighty Vaile, I have the right to cross through here but will, of course, do so with all due haste. We will tarry in your domain as little as possible. We thank you for your tolerance, great children of the Beast Lords.”

Seivalt stood firm, his eyes focusing on what Vaile’s minimap and HUD showed as a Beastman of sizable power hiding just out of sight. Vaile checked his minimap and spotted around 80-90 Beastmen of varied levels and types hanging around just outside of visual range. While even he could take them on, the act of one of them sounding a horn would cause dozens if not hundreds of Beastmen to flood the area, and Vaile did not want to have to fight them all.

A massive, fur covered cloven-hooved man with a wolf head that did not match either his hooves or the feline tail sticking out his rear entered view. The Beastman seemed to be testing the waters to see if the people who had called out were who they said they were. Seivalt walked over to the hulk of muscle and sinew and reached into a coin purse and produced a small tribal fetish.

The Beastmen took one look at it and ran back into the dense undergrowth and tree line with the rest of his kind following him and fleeing away at high speed.

“What was that?” Vaile asked.

Seivalt smiled as he stowed the fetish into his coin purse.

“Proof and a deterrence.”

With that, the two got back into the carriage and the convoy moved on, the sounds of animals once again returning to the woods.

…

Vaile kept an eye on the minimap. Even though the initial group of beastmen had fled at the sight (and perhaps smell) of the fetish, it did not seem to deter other groups from pulling the same stunt. Vaile and Seivalt had to perform the song and dance another five times before they managed to make it even one third of the way through the forest.

“Why do they keep bothering us?”

“The Beastmen live in small tribes and often war with each other for things such as mates, food, resources, sacrifices, territory and other such things. They are not too dissimilar to the Races in that regard. They may be ‘monsters’ but they are more in tune with the more base and primal aspects of life than any barbarian from the Races. Despite what people are told, the Beastmen are, in their own way, quite civilized.”

“And that fetish. What does it do? What does it mean?”

Seivalt smiled as his eyes focused on the distant past.

“Well, my Lord, long ago when your servants came to this world or awoke in it, we managed to find each other and come to an agreement. We would never actively or passively try to harm each other and would grant each other free and safe passage through our territories. Mind you this did not always work out, but we are all allies to each other and work to benefit not only ourselves but also those who are like us and support us.”

As the convoy stopped again, Seivalt and Vaile exited and prepared to go through the process of sending the next Beastman Tribe away. This time, however, something was different, and both Vaile and Seivalt noticed it. This time, the Beastmen did not hide and try to prepare an ambush. Instead, they began to slowly advance through the vegetation and made themselves fully visible by choice.

“Well, we are deep into their domain. Of course, the biggest tribe in the forest would certainly take notice and act.”

Seivalt sighed, took out the fetish and began to talk but the Beastmen kept advancing. They seemed utterly unwilling to abide by the ancient agreement that their forebears made.

“Damn it. Looks like we will have to fight this one…” Seivalt grumbled. “I’m getting too old for this…”

Vaile estimated that the odds of emerging victorious were favorable, but the only survivors would be him and Seivalt.

“I have an idea.” Vaile said.

Vaile clambered up to the roof of the carriage and pulled down his hood. The Beastmen stopped advancing and seemed to be both confused and slightly in awe. Then Vaile removed his mask and let his trait ‘Reversed Attractiveness’ run rampant within the ranks of both the Beastmen and the Red Mountain Bandits. Both groups fell to the ground in awe of Vaile’s ‘handsome visage’. Vaile was honestly surprised that the bandits didn’t start puking at the sight of him, but since they were in the Bandit Archetype of potential foes Vaile assumed that the logic of the Game still applied to them.

Then, to further drive the point home and hopefully make the Beastmen be more agreeable, Vaile began to speak, his voice sounding like a choir of angels (or their equivalent) to the various beings before him.

“Servants of my Servants, Children of my Chosen, why do you seek to break the ancient vow made by those who came before you; those whose names and strength live forevermore in legend and myth both great and terrible? Do you seek to shame your ancestors? Do you believe that you are superior to the great and mighty being that I am? I am the master of your masters, the sovereign of your sires! Do you truly seek to harm me, you great and mighty master of masters? Answer me, o children of my chosen! Whom do you serve? Whom do you owe your loyalty to? Is it to your maddening hatred of the Races, or to me? Those before you and beneath me are just as devoted to me as you are. They are your allies, so hate them not. Now answer; do you wish to serve me as your ancestors did? Raise your voices to the heavens! Will you take me as your master and follow in the footsteps of the greatest of your kind?!”

The group of both Beastmen and members of the Races were silent. Then, Seivalt rose and shouted in a voice too energetic for a man that looked like him.

“Long Live Vaile, Master of Monsters and Men!”

The Red Mountain Bandits then rose and shouted, “Long Live Vaile!” over and over.

Vaile looked out at the still stupefied Beastmen.

“So, it seems that the ones you despise are more loyal than you are. How disappointing that the heirs to some of my greatest servants would deny their true calling and nature. I suppose you are not worthy of my-.”

Vaile did not get a chance to continue as the Beastmen rose to their hooves and paws and let out a bellowing roar that shook the forest. Horns were blown as the Beastmen let out their cries and stamped their ‘feet’ as if to show their willingness to serve.

“I take it you do wish to serve me. Then let all who bear the undiluted blood of the Beast Lords know that I, Vaile the Great and Powerful, yet Live! Let the word be carried to all of my chosen and their kin, I have returned! Now, make way! I must reach Red Mountain with all due haste! I have an obligation my servants on Red Mountain that I must fulfil, but once that is done, I shall return!”

Vaile got down from the carriage roof and the Beastmen parted and made way for the convoy. Seivalt got in as well and the caravan continued on its path, never again accosted by the Beastmen.

All the while Vaile repeated one line repeatedly in his head.

“I can’t believe that actually worked!”

…

For the first time in living memory, the chieftains and shamans of every Beastman tribe were gathered together without a battle taking place. A massive bonfire had been lit and the greatest of every tribe eyed each other with suspicion and unease.

“Are you certain?” One of the Beastman chieftains asked in his kind’s inhuman and guttural mix of grunts, huffs, barks, yips, growls and hisses and various other animal noises.

“There could be no mistake. It was indeed Vaile, Lord of All. I saw it with my own eyes, as did much of my tribe’s warriors!”

“Yet he associated himself with the weaklings of the Races.”

“Yes, but as he said, they too are his servants. Or at least the ones belonging to the Red Mountain Tribe are. I cannot fathom why he would let the Races serve him, yet they seemed to do so with as much zeal, if not more, than our kind.”

“More zeal than our kind?! Heresy!”

“I merely state what I have seen. His appearance matches that of the second figure from your tribe’s reports and the stories told about his greatness from long ago. We were so stupefied by his might and majestic form that he questioned whether we were even loyal to him! You did not even notice it was He Who Rules All when you saw him! You are the heretic, not me!”

A shaman raised his fur-covered hand and the disagreement ended.

“You said that He said that He would return. Those were his exact words?”

“Yes, venerable one.”

“Then tonight we celebrate, for Vaile, Lord of All has returned to our world from the great beyond. He will finish his work with the Red Mountain Tribe and then lead us to victory against the Mud-Bloods. The ‘Werean’ as those mockeries of those with true Beast Blood call themselves, will fall soon before our might. The lands taken from us will be restored, and the age of Werean dominance in our ancestral homeland will end! Let all know, the Age of the Beast has nearly begun! Prepare for the first Wild Hunt in ages; all tribes must be unified by the time Great Vaile returns! The Children of Karnarous will rise again!”