A worthy minion

Cherry scrubbed as hard as she could. Orc skin was tough and so was the smell of orc sweat. The moss smelled nice, earthy and a bit spicy, it mixed well with the remnants of orc sweat on Oak’s chest. Her face felt warm as she pushed against his muscles, she liked how his chest felt, smooth and hard, she liked the way he smelled when he was washed up, too. Oak had saved her from the spiders, had been willing to fight to the death for her, no one had ever been that good to her. He deserved to be rewarded. . .

“Boss. . .”

Shit, what am I thinking about? Cherry pulled back from Oak.

“Okay, Oak, come on, let’s go lie down.” She led him back to the bed, gestured for him to lie down.

“No, Boss bed, not Oak.”

She put her hands on her hips and glared at him. “I’m the Boss, and I say you lie down.”

Oak climbed onto the bed. He stretched out, the bed had refit to hold him when he placed it, it was plenty big and strong enough to hold him, but still, he looked ridiculous. He’d clearly never laid down on something comfortable before.

“Relax Oak, it isn’t going to eat you.” She laughed.

“What about Boss?”

“It won’t eat me either.”

He looked confused. “Where Boss sleep?”

She flew over, landed on his chest. “I’ll sleep right here.” Cherry laid down on Oak’s chest, her head resting on his pec. She liked the feel of him.

“Boss sure this is right?”

“Yeah Oak, after all the work you did today, you deserve this bed more than I do.”

“But Boss is Boss.”

She laughed again. “Don’t think about it Oak, just trust me.”

“Okay Boss.”

Cherry laid there, feeling the rise and fall of Oak’s chest as he breathed, soon the breathing changed, he was asleep. Cherry sat up, looked at him. He was an orc, ugly, big and stupid, but somehow she didn’t find him all that bad anymore. She had grown fond of his tusk that jutted out, and his eyes might be black, but they were nice eyes, and she liked them.

“What’s gotten into you?” Cherry asked herself out loud. She was way too attached to this orc, she was a fairy, she liked pretty things, not big strong brutish things. And yet she liked this big, strong, brutish thing. She liked him a lot. She pulled up his character sheet.

Oak, Level 3 Orc Laborer
Orc, Explicit
Experience to level up –285/300
Attributes
Strength 31 Dexterity 21 Endurance 30
Charisma 11 Manipulation 11 Appearance 23
Perception 18 Intelligence 11 Wits 12
Skills
Athletics 10
Brawling 10
Dodge 5
Lore 5
Melee 20
Stealth 15
Crafting (Woodworking) 50
Crafting (Stoneworking) 18
Feats
Laborer – Increased crafting skill gain, increased productivity when using crafting skills
Lesser Orc Rage – increased damage and damage resistance while raging, less effective than regular Orc Rage
Liege – You have chosen another monster to be your Liege. It is harder for you to lie to or work against your Liege. Your Liege may choose to impart a number of benefits to you.
Liege (Touched by the Fey) – Effects from your Liege’s spells and abilities are increased when cast on you.
Lower caste – desires to serve someone more powerful, increased loyalty when serving a liege, increased success rate and productivity when following orders.
Lumberjack – Bonus damage when using crafting tools as weapons, +5 to lore and stealth in woods.
Cowardly – Impulse to hide when faction is in combat. +5 to hide when afraid. Grants coward’s strike ability
Coward’s Strike – x2 damage to attacks with surprise.
Monstrous Appearance – when attempting to use Appearance in a positive way on creatures without the Monster subtype, count it at 20 points lower until the target gets used to you.
You have 5 Attribute Points and 10 Skill points to spend.

The lower caste trait bothered her. When she first made him her minion it was her favorite of his traits. She liked the idea of him being loyal, and she had seen how hard he worked. But the idea that he was lower caste among Orcs upset her, she hadn’t met many Orcs, but Oak was by far the finest Orc she’d ever met. Honorable, hardworking, and loyal, and he smelled better too. Some fucking nerve to call her Orc lower caste.

She was about to close it when she saw the last line. Attribute Points and Skill Points? She looked again, he was level 3 now. In fact, he was closing in on level 4. Those stats could do a lot for him, make him tougher, make him attack more accurately. . . she knew what she wanted for him though. She clicked on the attributes.

Unable to spend Attribute Points for non-champion minions. Points will auto-spend at next waking.
Would you like to designate Oak as a Champion?
Yes / No

Well, if that’s what it took, She'd have to make him her Champion. She didn't trust the gods to spend her Oak's points.

Spend 200 fame to elect Oak Champion?
Yes / No

Gah, she had seen fame listed somewhere, something else she needed to look at and read more about, but that sounded boring, and Cherry wasn’t going to do that now. She clicked yes again. Another pop-up appeared, but more than that she moved. No, Oak moved, or more like he changed, right under her. She quickly summoned a small light and looked him over, whatever just happened he still looked the same. That was good, she liked him the way he was, she didn’t want to change how he looked. That didn’t seem right.

Cherry laid back down on Oak, brought up the last pop-up.

Champion Empowered
Champion Fame Abilities Unlocked

Empowered? And more about Fame? All she wanted to do was raise his stats. She opened his character sheet again.

Oak, Level 5 Orc Taskmaster
Orc, Champion Explicit
Experience to level up – N/A
Attributes
Strength 31 Dexterity 21 Endurance 30
Charisma 11 Manipulation 11 Appearance 23
Perception 18 Intelligence 11 Wits 12
Skills
Athletics 10
Brawling 10
Dodge 5
Lore 5
Melee 20
Stealth 15
Crafting (Woodworking) 50
Crafting (Stoneworking) 17
Feats
Champion – Your Liege has selected you to be one of their permanent companions. Unless given a different order by your Liege, their servants will serve you. Your level is locked to ½ of your liege's level, rounded up. Your liege gains all of your experience and fame. Unlocks Champion Fame Options for your liege. You will always respawn with your liege.
Laborer – Increased crafting skill gain, increased productivity when using crafting skills
Lesser Orc Rage – increased damage and damage resistance while raging, less effective than regular Orc Rage
Liege – You have chosen another monster to be your Liege. It is harder for you to lie to or work against your Liege. Your Liege may choose to impart a number of benefits to you.
Liege (Touched by the Fey) – Effects from your Liege’s spells and abilities are increased when cast on you.
Liege (Fairy of lust) – Charisma +20 for seduction and explicit actions.
Lower caste – desires to serve someone more powerful, increased loyalty when serving a liege, increased success rate and productivity when following orders.
Lumberjack – Bonus damage when using crafting tools as weapons, +5 to lore and stealth in woods.
Cowardly – Impulse to hide when faction is in combat. +5 to hide when afraid. Grants coward’s strike ability
Coward’s Strike – x2 damage to attacks with surprise.
Monstrous Appearance – when attempting to use Appearance in a positive way on creatures without the Monster subtype, count it at 20 points lower until the target gets used to you.
Taskmaster – May command laborers and workers, increased production for laborers within Charisma feet of range.
You have 15 Attribute Points and 30 Skill points to spend.

Level 5, What? Gah, stupid gods, they were determined to make her read more things. Oak was a Taskmaster now? That sounded cooler than Laborer at least. N/A experience, what the hell? Cherry was unhappy. She just wanted to be the one to upgrade Oak’s stats, and now all kinds of stuff had changed and she was already tired of reading. She sighed. Being a Liege sucked. She needed a court, a bunch of faeries whose job it was to tell her how great she was and do all this work she didn’t want to do. But she didn’t have a court, so she sighed, and started to read.

“Blah, Blah, Blah, stats, whatever.” She had to do this, she didn’t like it, but she had to, for Oak. Okay, Champion explained the levels and experience, she would get all his experience from now on. Liege, nice. Touched by the Fey? Okay, she liked that, now her fairy blessing would be even better, she wondered about charm, would that be even better? It was pretty great already. The other one, Fairy of Lust? +20 charisma for. . . Nope, no need to look at or think about that, just move on. Blah, Blah, taskmaster, okay, that would be cool, at least if she got some workers she could put Oak in charge of them.

Finally Cherry got to the good part, 15 attribute points to spend. She knew where she wanted them spent. She bumped his intelligence all the way up to 20, that should make talking to him less painful, and make it easier to give him instructions. Next up Dexterity to 25, so he could hit more often in combat. She put the last 2 in Strength and she was done assigning those points.

For the skill points she put 20 into Melee, and 10 into Stealth. He was already good at his work, she mostly needed him to fight better. She looked over his character sheet one last time then closed it out and laid back. He would be a better fighter now, more than a match for those stinking Spiders. He also should be smart enough to talk normally with her. But what warmed her Fairy heart the most was that Oak was now her Champion. She liked how that sounded. Cherry rolled onto her side, gently ran her fingers over Oak’s chest. Her Champion. She smiled as she slipped into sleep.