Chapter 23: 22: Tribe Troubles & Subjugation
The previous chief spoke but first decided to introduce themselves, "Great one, I am Grukthar(Mighty) and the elders simply go collectively by the Neth'zarr(Wise Ones), you've already met our head warrior and scout covered in scars Ferzath(Fierce)." They elders and the scarred one nodded at their introductions, "To start with before I fill you in on what you've asked I must warn you about my daughter, she is the head hunter of the village and she should be returning soon with the warriors loyal to her. She is headstrong and doesn't bother to ask questions so when she soon returns she will more than likely make an attempt on your life out of confusion and anger...if possible don't kill her. She is strong and useful to the tribe and one day once she finds someone to make with she'll lay eggs that bear strong Lizardfolk that will strengthen the Tribe greatly."
James listened and quickly understood but was slightly annoyed that he'd probably have to fight someone and gain nothing from it.
The elders spoke next, "Stormborn the Tribe faces two great threats, starvation and being driven out or destroyed like we almost were some time ago. Currently we are on the outer edge of the swamplands and it has very little remaining fish or beasts to hunt but the few that remain are powerful and are essentially the overlords of this part of the swamp. The best hunting and fishing grounds are within the deepest areas of the swamplands which are heavily controlled by a large tribe that has conquered a few other tribes and now are the rulers of most of the swamp and they are also the reason we have such few numbers as we were driven here from our ancestral home. From what we know the leader of that tribe is blessed with immense strength and vitality and has a greater blessing from the ancestors in that he can breathe fire."
James contemplated this new knowledge but honestly he only knew one thing right now and that was they needed to grow stronger and somehow needed to have a food source and one that would last.
James made his decision, "First and foremost we need food but we also have an enemy on our doorstep with the Greenscales and we can't keep those 50 warriors locked up forever with the 20 odd warriors we have so we need to strike and if possible subjugate them and absorb them into the tribe to strengthen our ranks then we must find a food source and make it self sustainable like a fish farm would be."
Everyone looked at James weird and Grukthar asked, "Fish farm? How would one farm fish great one?"
James just facepalmed and tried to explain, "So instead of just constantly fishing and eating every fish in sight till they're all gone we capture some of them and enclose them in an area that they can't escape from but have enough room to grow and lay their eggs and keep increasing their numbers so we will always have a source of fish but that means we can't eat all of them or it won't work. We'd need multiple farms to be fully sustainable and have more than one kind of fish if possible. Also we could use the corpses of the Lizardmen I killed as food too but-"
Ferzath interrupted, "Sir we've already taken the corpses cleaning and cutting them up and have distributed the meat to as many as we can but two bodies doesn't mean much and will feed the village for barely a day because of our small numbers. Maybe if we killed half of the prisoners we could feed the village for awhile but it still wouldn't last so your "fish farm" if it will last as long as we don't eat all of the fish we could find a way to do it as it's mating season for the fish in the swamp so we could steal clusters of eggs and take fish and make an area to hold the fish in the village and have a couple people work to feed and take care of them and a warrior or two to guard the fish so nobody gets sticky claws and steals the fish."
James nodded, "Good, we'll do that. Any Lizardmen who are not caring for young or defending the village will go out and capture as many fish and fish eggs as they can but they are to return immediately if they encounter or sense any threats they can't handle. Now Grukthar you are in charge until I get back from the Greenscaled tribe, Ferzath you and a few of your best warriors are coming with me. Go grab one of the prisoners and they will show us the way to their village as well as be a hostage if need be. Grukthar if and when your daughter returns if I'm not back already fill her in on the change of leadership and make sure she understands you decided this and I accepted in best interest for the tribe."
Grukthar and Ferzath nodded and the elders bowed as they all left the large hut.
A few minutes later at the entrance to the village Ferzath and a small group of warriors plus one of the Greenscaled prisoners arrived where James was waiting. Ferzath was holding the iron mace form the Redscaled challenger plus a bone shield and the warriors were holding spiked bone clubs and slingshots. James and them left the village following the prisoner and after a couple hours of walking and swimming they could see the village in sight which they were all a little surprised the prisoner didn't try to run them into any powerful beasts or alert his tribe to their presence but the green Lizardman didn't even bother as he was too afraid of James especially now after seeing the new spikes and horn he'd grown which only made him seem more like a demon with each passing moment so he didn't dare anger his captures by tricking or betraying them.
James and his group of warriors snuck around the outside of the village leaving one of them with the prisoner so he didn't escape while they looked for any weak points and checked how many warriors remained in the village which was very few as it seemed the majority of their warriors were sent to take their village but their champion was an idiot and it led to the destruction of their morale instead of it being an easy victory.
James and his group of warriors just took the direct approach since they had only a handful of warriors guarding their village, the prisoner was held by the arm by one of the warriors open to see while they approached the gate which was quickly noticed by the guard at the gate and soon all the warriors and the chief of the village was behind the gate ready to fight but held off only because they weren't sure if more were waiting to ambush them.
James spoke loud enough for all including the civilians in the village to hear, "We have killed your champion, taken your warriors prisoner, and if you do not surrender and pledge your lives and bend the knee to me I will kill all of you!!" James then raised his right hand to the sky and cast Lightning in a concentrated burst releasing a large bolt that shit into the sky with a resounding cracked of thunder which also gave James a new spell [Lightning Bolt] that costs 20 Mana which is double [Lightning] 10 Mana cost, unbeknownst to everyone but James that had injured his hand with scales from the middle of his hand being singed as it was only a half successful first try that nearly blew up in his face and since he only had so much understanding of magic in general but only had what he knew from the basic [Lightning] spell let alone a more powerful alteration plus he was only protected from having his hand charred by his armor's electrical resistance.
The Greenscaled Tribe Chief was furious at the death of his son but rationally he knew he was too weak to challenge James and if all his warriors are prisoners that meant the Bluescaled were strong too even with their few numbers, plus now all his people were shaking in fear and reverence towards James as he was an imposing warrior but also a wielder of the elements so the chief opened the gate and the remaining warriors all put down their weapons as they all bent the knee and let James and his warriors inside without a fight.
[You have taken 10 damage]
[Total HP: 350/360]
James immediately had the warriors and now ex chief of the Greenscaled round everyone and their supplies up as they were going back to the Bluescaled village which they surprisingly had a decent bit of food with them most being citrus fruit and dried meat from beasts that strayed from the grasslands.
A few hours later the tribe arrived back to the Bluescaled village with a few casualties among the children from beasts which they had no time to fight or more would die. Soon after they got everything situated and the prisoners were released and the Greenscaled were being integrated into the village and assigned homes while a couple villagers were tending to a sealed off area of the village that wasn't really being used till now where they were starting the fish farm with trial and error with two separated species of fish that they knew were edible and were in mating season.
James arrived at his hut where he heard yelling and as he entered was immediately drop kicked in the chest sending him stumbling out the door only staying upright cause he dug his clawed feet into the floor and grabbed onto the doorway a little as he looked at the culprit he saw a beautiful Amethyst colored female Lizardfolk that briefly had James speechless.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone