Demi-Human Difficulties
His soldiers camped near the Golems, who pretended they didn't exist, as he tied two sleeping pots around his waist. The Lux ruins he was about to infiltrate were chock full of Demi-Humans, who had quite odd lore in the game. While they acted as feral, bestial creatures no different from bears or wolves, Boc, a Demi-Human, was extremely well-articulated and a master seamster.
Their potential for intelligence was further exemplified when Kenneth Haight mentioned setting up relations between them and the Demi-Human Queen's ability to cast sorceries. Despite not having much insight into Demi-Human society, he posited that they had a matriarchal society and suppressed their intelligence, thinking it weak.
Perhaps they were a hybrid between humans and beastmen—a product of the time of the Crucible? So many theories whose answers were yet to be answered.
"I shall not be long, but despite mine optimism, prepare for battle if communications go awry," he addressed his soldiers as the sun began to set, the faint rays from the Erdtree and the stars the only thing preventing darkness from consuming the land.
His soldiers saluted him before setting up camp. If he'd mentioned attempting to ally with Demi-Humans at the beginning of their journey, they'd have cringed or looked uncertain. But now that they'd shed their faith in the Erdtree and the Golden Order, they were far more amenable.
Godrick looked to the hill before him, littered with orangish-gold trees and grass, while a worn-down, moss-filled ruin stood at the very tippy top. If he wished to ally with the Demi-Humans, then he needed to go for the queen. The problem was, the queen in the Demi-Human ruins didn't seem to be in her right mind in the game—with purple glowing eyes turning her rabid.
It was never addressed in the game, perhaps a questline that was abandoned; but there was one other instance of purple glowing eyes, which were on the eyes of the giant ants that were mind-controlled by the Nox. Sleeping the ants allowed them to break through the control, which was what he was attempting to do with the Demi-Human Queen too.
***
As the sun set, a black shadow slipped from tree to tree, its dexterity and control superhuman. The black smoke it was wreathed in helped camouflage its large, imposing figure that would've otherwise stuck out like a sore thumb.
Godrick sped up the hill, his spear on his back, covered by his cloak of darkness, until he spotted his first Demi-Human patrol. A group of five smaller Demi-Humans led by a larger one with a club.
[Observe]
(Character Sheet
Demi-Human Whelp
Age: three years, eight months old
HP: 30(60)
FP: 50
Strength: 4(7)
Dexterity: 6(9)
Endurance: 5(8)
Vigor: 3(6)
Mind: 5
Intelligence: 5
Faith: 5
Skills:
[Demi-Human Physiology (Passive): Your human blood gives you the potential for thought, yet the beast claws its way out in the night. Become feral at night, reducing your capacity for thought, but increasing your physical stats and aggression. +3 Strength at sunset. +3 Dexterity at sunset. +3 Endurance at sunset. +3 Vigor at sunset.]
[Demi-Human Evolution (Passive) Level 1: The weakest evolution of the Demi-Human. Newly born, but with potential for becoming more.])
[Observe]
(Character Sheet
Mighty Demi-Human
Age: Fifteen years, seven months old
HP: 90(120)
FP: 50
Strength: 9(13)
Dexterity: 10(13)
Endurance: 12(15)
Vigor: 9(12)
Mind: 5
Intelligence: 5
Faith: 5
Skills:
[Demi-Human Physiology (Passive): Your human blood gives you the potential for thought, yet the beast claws its way out in the night. Become feral at night, reducing your capacity for thought, but increasing your physical stats and aggression. +3 Strength at sunset. +3 Dexterity at sunset. +3 Endurance at sunset. +3 Vigor at sunset.]
[Demi-Human Evolution (Passive) Level 3: The Mighty evolution of the Demi-Human. A thicker, stockier build. +5 Strength. +4 Dexterity. +7 Endurance. +6 Vigor.])
'So they are indeed hybrids,' Godrick mused as he observed them grunting and growling, and occasionally using words to communicate. 'And their stats... potential for evolution... the Demi-Humans are a potent resource if nurtured well.'
He continued his journey, coming across a few more patrols each led by a Mighty Demi-Human before reaching the ruin, on whose entrance lay the largest Demi-Human he'd seen so far. Curled up like a dog, with a fur coat lined with bone and clutching two bloodstained daggers lay a Demi-Human Chief, its eyes glowing blood-red like every other of its race at night.
(Character Sheet
Demi-Human Chief
Age: Fifty years, three months old
HP: 120(150)
FP: 80
Strength: 15(18)
Dexterity: 12(15)
Endurance: 15(18)
Vigor: 12(15)
Mind: 8
Intelligence: 8
Faith: 5
Skills:
[Demi-Human Physiology (Passive): Your human blood gives you the potential for thought, yet the beast claws its way out in the night. Become feral at night, reducing your capacity for thought, but increasing your physical stats and aggression. +3 Strength at sunset. +3 Dexterity at sunset. +3 Endurance at sunset. +3 Vigor at sunset.]
[Demi-Human Evolution (Passive) Level 4: The final evolution of the Demi-Human before being anointed a Queen. A thicker, stockier build but also the agility the Mighty variants lack. +11 Strength. +6 Dexterity. +10 Endurance. +3 Vigor.])
'Becoming Queen?' Godrick thought as he snuck behind a worn pillar. 'Are they all female? But Boc wasn't female. Do they undergo Protandry Sequential Hermaphroditism? Or is it just magic?'
The Demi-Human Chief's nose twitched as he examined its Character Sheet, shooting a suspicious glare at the pillar he was hiding behind. Godrick took the cue, slipping away and climbing the tall brick wall of a building, his claws digging into it, serving as support.
As he leapt from building to building, he spotted far more Demi-Humans than he thought. Numbering around a hundred and fifty to two hundred. Most were ordinary Demi-Humans, the next largest group being Demi-Human Whelps, then Mighty Demi-Humans, and finally, two Chiefs, one of which guarded the entrance.
They didn't seem to want to socialize much when they were feral, but the remnants of campfires and tents spoke of a social instinct in their bones. He made his way to the back of the ruin and spotted stairs leading to the ground. Sneaking into it was easier than he thought. The Demi-Humans seemed to stay away from the area, concentrating around the main hall.
[Order's Blade]
[Golden Vow]
In a flash of gold light that drained quite a bit of his FP, he made his way down the stairs, lit by small torches that lined the walls before the ceiling hollowed out into a large brick chamber with a metal door in the back; that wasn't the thing that caught his attention, but the gigantic Demi-Human that would've reached 20 feet if it stood on its hind legs.
[Observe]
(Character Sheet
Demi-Human Queen Gilika
Age: Hundred and three years, three months old
HP: 150(180)
FP: 120 {Compromised}
Strength: 18(21)
Dexterity: 15(18)
Endurance: 18(21)
Vigor: 15(18)
Mind: 12
Intelligence: 12
Faith: 5
Skills:)
While not as emancipated as the in-game version, she, or it, had the same worn and torn clothes while gripping a glintstone scepter—purple eyes betraying madness.
He flung a sleep pot the moment he saw her, the gold film lighting up as it propelled it faster and farther than what was previously possible. Gilika slammed her scepter into the ground when she spotted him, letting out a bassy roar, but before she could let out as much as a squeak, the sleep pot went flying in, breaking in her mouth.
But much to his chagrin, she didn't go down immediately. She charged at him with even greater ferocity, spitting out the remains of the clay pot as she shot toward him with bestial rage, practically frothing at the mouth.
While her stats barely outstripped his, it wasn't so much so that his skill in combat was negated. He tried his best to dodge and weave, using his spear to cut and wound wherever he could. Of course, he didn't come out unscathed, with the unpredictable and feral movements of Gilika catching him off-guard multiple times.
He nearly lost count of the times he was caught by a stray limb or pounded into a wall. If it were not for his armor, his talisman may have had to work
a bit, but the Night Cavalry's blacksmiths knew what they were doing.
He slipped under a wild haymaker before plunging the Crystal Spear into Gilika's armpit, the golden lines burning her skin and flesh.
"GRaArgH!!!" A roar emanated from her jaws before she fell limp, slumping on his weapon.
Taking no chances for betrayal when she woke up, he walked up to each of her limbs before snapping them on his knee, her impressive endurance and his lack of strength making it a taxing task.
'Now we wait,' he sighed as he sat in a dark corner of the room, praying that the Demi-Humans were too busy doing whatever they did in their spare time to notice the ruckus they had made.
***
Injured my shoulder in the gym halfway through writing the chap so short chap. sry.