Grimrock flung the full might of his kobold army against them, but Corey was ready. After a near-disastrous deception that devastated most of Corey’s god-born in the initial assault, the gnomish warriors rallied to turn the tide of battle. With the timely assistance of three humans from the Adventurers’ Guild—Benin, a mage; Coll, a warrior; and Tiri, a scholar—they managed to drive the last remaining kobolds from the Grotto in a resounding, yet costly, victory.
Many brave gnomes lay dead on the blood-soaked battleground, and a grieving Corey decided enough was enough. He sent Ris’kin to accompany the three adventurers on their mission to destroy the wicked mind behind the kobolds’ invasion—Grimrock himself. But their intervention turned out to be unnecessary: when they arrived at the red Core’s lair, it was just in time to witness the few surviving kobolds turn against their god and shatter his Core themselves.
Though the gnomes still mourned their fallen brethren, Corey prepared himself to rebuild and move forward, and the humans departed with a promise that they would keep the Grotto’s existence a secret from the rapacious Adventurers’ Guild.
The Guildmaster, however, had other ideas…
God of Gnomes — Abilities
Insight
Tier 1 ability
All Cores have the innate ability to comprehend and store the blueprints of any non-intelligent life form that enters the Sphere of Influence.
Growth
Tier 2 ability
Mana-based
Enhances and accelerates the growth of vegetation, including fungi.
Creation
Tier 3 ability
Mana-based
Create god-born creatures by splicing the blueprints of identified life forms. (Corey can create up to five species at a time, to a maximum of thirty individual creatures.)
Observe
Tier 4 ability
Mana-based
Using a denizen as your target, extend your vision to see beyond your Sphere of Influence for a short time. This ability consumes a small amount of mana per second.
Scout
Tier 4 ability
Mana-based
Instruct denizens to leave your base in search of new resources.
Raid
Tier 4 ability
Mana-based
Instruct denizens to leave your base and attack a rival faction.
Divine Inspiration
Tier 5 ability
Inspire a truly Faithful denizen to attempt to perform a specific action (e.g. create an item).
Evolution
Tier 6 ability
Mana-based
Upgrade or evolve an existing life form. (Each evolution uses a Creation slot, reducing the number of creatures Corey can have in existence at the same time.)
Double Sight
Tier 8 ability
See through the eyes of your avatar, even outside of your Sphere of Influence. (Note: this does not allow for direct control of the avatar.)
Possession
Tier 8 ability
Mana-based
Assume direct control of a single denizen. (Constantly depletes mana. Only usable on denizens who are within the user’s Sphere of Influence.)
Prologue
The needle pricked his arm. A drop of darkness seeped into the tiny new hole in his flesh. When there was room for no more, the ink welled up on his skin’s surface, black liquid mingling with the watery crimson that had leaked from the wound since the procedure began.
Probably shouldn’t have drunk that pitcher of mead last night. He knew all about how alcohol thinned the blood; his familiar warned him about it every time, yet still he’d drunk more heavily than he was wont to the night before, as if to prove the creature wrong. As if to prove the world wrong.
As always, he’d failed.
Guildmaster Varnell watched his familiar, Limpit, wipe blood and ink from the tattoo area with a damp rag before continuing its steady progress with the hollow bone needle. When healed, this new mark would turn indigo like the others – another notch in his belt, so to speak. Seeing the collection expand usually made for an extremely satisfying reminder of his own prowess and ever-increasing power.
However, this particular trophy came with murkier connotations, since the conquest it marked had been entirely unintentional. It also had potentially deadly, far-reaching consequences.
The needle bit into a particularly sensitive spot and Varnell sucked in air through gritted teeth.
“Careful,” he growled at his familiar.
The creature clacked its mandibles, not looking up from its work. Limpit’s sharp fingertips dug into Varnell’s arm as it used two of its hands to stretch the skin it was tattooing. Varnell frowned. Had it ever needed to do that before? Was his skin growing looser? Wrinkling with the ravages of age?
To distract himself from that depressing line of thought, he said, “When we’re done here, I want you to check again that no evidence has been left behind. And be very thorough. We cannot be too cautious here. And beware impatience, for it is the enemy of discretion,” he added, though he struggled to heed his own words.
Two weeks. Two weeks since he’d caught that trio of upstarts sauntering away from a new Core – after absconding from the Guild against his direct orders, no less. That they’d failed to report to either him or the Arch-Academic in the intervening days only confirmed what he had suspected: they’d disobeyed his commands and destroyed his old ally Grimrock, then aligned themselves with this new purple Core. But had he hunted them down and punished their disobedience – nay, their treachery? No. No, he hadn’t. He’d done nothing.
Not that he had a choice in the matter. If past experience had taught him anything – and it had – it was that he should follow his patron’s instructions to the letter. Even when those instructions were to await further instructions. The inaction chafed; it was bad enough that his role as Guildmaster required him to spend most of his time in his tower office. The added frustration of being unable to send agents out to deal with those who’d wronged him made the waiting near unbearable.
Not that he had many agents left. He’d been forced to remove most of them over the years, cutting out the dead wood and trimming the loose ends until only one remained whom he could trust. Two, he corrected himself. Another had recently come back to him, damaged but still
