by Sarah Lin
It was an effective threat, especially coming from a giant projection of a lich. Bloodwraith was impressed for a moment, before Raigar abruptly grabbed his crotch.
"And if you don't, you can suck on this!" With that, he dispersed with another roll of thunder.
The city was utterly silent in the wake of the announcement. Bloodwraith turned to look at the others grimly, but none of them knew what to say. Eventually Danniah spoke up hesitantly.
"Maybe they won't turn you over? You did save a bunch of them, after all."
"That won't be enough." Bloodwraith folded his arms and stared overhead, considering his remaining options. "A few might stay loyal, but others will turn me over in a heartbeat, and most good intentions will crumble when faced with a threat to home and family."
"Then... what do we do? It's not like we can go to him. We'd be walking straight into an ambush."
"I need to leave the city, far enough to regroup and prepare for the battle."
Meara nodded as she stepped up beside him. "I agree, this location won't stay secure. But even if we buy time, what are you going to do?"
"I'm not sure." Bloodwraith continued staring into the empty sky.
~ ~ ~
Hours later, Bloodwraith sat in a dark cave outside town, beginning his work. Izilthor squirmed as he fed necromantic energy into the skeleton, slowly regrowing it.
His first discovery was an encouraging one: damage dealt to Undead Companions did not permanently destroy the investment of Necromancy Points. Instead, they restored their basic structure to the limits that had been purchased, either through feeding or through the direct infusion of mana. Though he was still too clumsy for real necromancy, he could do that much, at least.
"Body?" Izilthor poked at the growing bones. Bloodwraith nodded.
"That's right. I should have you back to normal fairly soon. But you need to be much more than normal to face opponents like that."
"Raigar eat."
"Hmm?"
"Help Dada. Eat Raigar."
"That's... well, I suppose it's close enough." Bloodwraith felt an inclination to put a hand on Izilthor's head but resisted it. While Izilthor might not be a simple tool, it was also not a pet or a child. Danniah's perspective might be fine for her, but he couldn't let it impede his objectivity. "But we need to gain a great deal of strength before we can effectively take on Raigar."
Izilthor nodded seriously. "Eat things. Get points."
Bloodwraith chuckled. "Exactly."
By the time Meara and Danniah returned, he had mostly rebuilt Izilthor's body. It was far from an efficient use of his mana, but since he wasn't using it anyway, the natural regeneration would only go to waste. They didn't look particularly worried or triumphant, so he waited expectantly for an explanation.
"I think I found our best option," Meara said. "There's a crypt less than half a day from Manascas. Though there's a request to clear it at the Adventurers Guild, no one has taken it in months. It seems a bit dangerous for us, but the crypt is well-hidden, so if the real threat is Raigar..."
"That could work well. But I didn't see any boxes about the quest itself."
Danniah shook her head. "We thought that would be too dangerous. There are some people in the city looking for you and they might eventually figure out there's a connection. If they find out we were asking about the crypt, it won't be a secret anymore. It took us a while to lay false trails and make sure we weren't followed."
"You made the right choice - secrecy is paramount." It was just a shame that he wouldn't get any credit for all the work he'd be required to do in the crypt. Yet even as he had that thought, he saw Meara smile.
"I know what you're thinking, Bloodwraith. I've been in Manascas long enough that I think I can do this." Abruptly she clasped her hands together and stared at him with wide eyes. "Oh, Raigar the Valorous! Won't you please clear out that awful, nasty crypt for me?"
[Quest Accepted!
Clear the crypt outside Manascas.
Rewards: EXP, Meara Affection, Reputation]
Bloodwraith sighed as he accepted the quest, then looked up to Meara, who was batting her eyelashes furiously. "Alright, already. It worked, so we can go now."
As they traveled to the location of the crypt, the others told him about conditions in Manascas. It seemed that Raigar wasn't attacking on a regular basis, but undead had been spotted prowling near the gates and many were frightened. The Governor was working together with the Guilds to establish defenses, though of course their plans were secret.
It seemed that the Red Sands Arena was proclaiming that they would not give in despite the attack and was still planning to host an event the next tenday. He wasn't sure that was a good choice, given that the holes blown in the arena would just remind everyone of the danger. Then again, perhaps they had masons who could work together with mages to repair it quickly. Most likely the people would want something to help them forget about the huge threat that had literally loomed overhead.
While they spoke, Izilthor walked along just behind them, eyes flickering to whoever was currently speaking. It seemed to be soaking in the language as well as the basic attitude of their group. For all that it liked to hug him, Izilthor had also become a stabbing menace in order to defend Danniah. He could accept a companion like that.
The crypt entrance was so unremarkable that Bloodwraith nearly missed it despite the fact that he was actively looking for it. Meara led them off the path to a low rocky entrance that required him to duck to enter. Necromantic mana hung in the shadows, making them unusually thick, and they hadn't gone far inside before Danniah needed to light a torch for them.
No sooner had she done so than a screech echoed from inside. Several wights charged at them from the first chamber - not the feeblest of wights, either, but ones built with hatred woven deep into their beings. Bloodwraith unhooked his sword and swung to meet the first of them.
It lurched aside from his sword with clumsy but effective speed, abruptly inside his range and striking at his armor. Bloodwraith took the blow and instead struck back with a burst of force, knocking the wight to the ground. His next blow struck it, but he only sheared off one arm and it kept moving. Before he could attack again, another wight tackled him to the floor.
As he fell, he saw that they were assaulting Danniah as well. She managed to bash away one, but two others came around her shield and attacked from both sides. Though she struck one in the face with her torch, it failed to catch fire - magically reinforced. This wouldn't be easy.
His fall drew some of the wights away from her to attack him. Bloodwraith winced and held his ground as they began tearing at his armor, waiting for more to get into range before he activated his Shout of Rage skill and empowered it with double mana.
The blast sent wights flying in all directions, though he was disturbed to see how many of them landed on their feet. If he had improved his empowering skill more, he might have been able to disable them, but he couldn't afford to get distracted. As Bloodwraith pushed himself off the floor, he swung his sword in a broad arc that decapitated one of the approaching wights.
Though Izilthor had failed to react in time for the initial attack, it now bravely rushed in to defend Danniah's flank. For a moment the wights actually seemed uncertain, their simplistic intelligence not prepared for other undead. They attacked back soon enough, driving Izilthor away, but the moments of uncertainty were enough for Danniah to take out the knee of one.
Since he had some space, Bloodwraith released a slash of force from his sword that exhausted all of the mana contained within. The burst smashed into the main group of wights, tearing several of them apart, though even that didn't completely stop them.
Still, they had broken the initial attack. From there it was cleanup work, though it required all the rest of his mana and left him with a surprising number of wounds. If those were mere wights, some of the monsters within this crypt might be able to cut through his armor. He saw why Meara had said this would be a ris
k, but that also meant it was a better hiding spot.
Was it finally over? Though he looked around over the bodies, he was waiting for something else...
[Victory! You received 7657 EXP and eight Wight Bodies.]
Not bad. Though risking his life in every minor fight wasn't the method he would have preferred, he saw that surviving in this crypt could earn him EXP rapidly. Stranger was the fact that the wight bodies were listed as an item by the system, but he could figure that out later.
Meara held out a potion for him, which he gladly drank as she spoke. "In the future, I think I should be the one to hold the torches. That would let Danniah have her mace in hand at all times."
"Oh, that would be great!" Danniah took several of her spare torches out of her pack and handed them over. "Thanks, Meara!"
"You shouldn't thank me, I'm just trying to feel useful."
While they spoke, Bloodwraith was paying more attention to Izilthor, who crouched over one of the wights. One of its arms had been severely damaged in the battle, so it must have the impulse to feed and heal, but it needed raw flesh to survive. Yet while he watched, Izilthor looked up at him.
"Eat?"
"No, you need flesh that was recently alive. The necromantic energy in this would be too much for you."
"Eat!" To his surprise, as Izilthor insisted, a new box appeared in his vision:
[Undead Companion "Izilthor" wants to spend Necromancy Points on the following trait:
Consume Undead
Allow? Y/N]
[Consume Undead
Cost: 18 NP
The Undead Companion will gain the ability to consume undead flesh and harvest both energy and Necromancy Points from it. This trait can lead them to unlocking new traits of consumed undead, but will not circumvent the need to spend Necromancy Points on future traits.]
A somewhat expensive skill, but given that they were going to be spending so much time in a crypt, an obvious choice. Bloodwraith didn't even try to do the math on how many undead it would take to justify the investment: if Izilthor was his companion for some time, the ability to consume other undead would repay the cost many times over.
"Good thought, Izilthor. Consider it done."
When he selected to allow the trait, a shudder went through Izilthor's body for several seconds. After it was done, Izilthor cheerfully screeched "Yay!" and then began to tear into the wight bodies. Danniah looked away from the grisly scene while Meara raised an eyebrow at Bloodwraith.
"He can do that?"
"Normally undead can't consume their own kind, since it would just lead to cannibalism and most crypts would fall apart. But there was a trait for it and it seems like a good investment, given what we'll be attempting." Bloodwraith frowned at Meara. "And Izilthor is an 'it', not a person."
"I'm not sure about that." Meara glanced down at the undead happily consuming its own kind. "You've given him so many variable traits that he's displaying a personality independent of them. Even if it ultimately comes down to some rules the boxes set, if they're so complex we can't tell, does it matter?"
The rational argument cut through Bloodwraith's habitual denial and made him reconsider his usual line on Izilthor. Though it was far from what he had wanted, if it led to gaining an effective ally, then perhaps that was fine. He still needed to find a way to create hordes of obedient undead eventually, but as a lich he'd grown tired of how simplistic those could be. There was room for something more complex.
Especially since Izilthor could now suggest traits on its own. If it had simply happened, he would have been concerned, but the system was still dependent on him - clearly the box gods did not like losing control. Though Izilthor's intelligence still needed to grow significantly, it might be able to make some good decisions under Bloodwraith's guidance.
"So..." Danniah finished cleaning her equipment and turned back to them, avoiding looking in Izilthor's direction. "What do we do now? Are you really just going to stay in this place? Did you want us to stay with you?"
"No, we need a multi-pronged strategy." Bloodwraith folded his arms, letting himself think over the fragments of a potential plan again. "I need to stay out of Manascas, but the two of you are probably safe, at least for now. You can be our eyes and ears in the city while we prepare. At first I'll need your help to make the crypt safe, but after that you might be able to finish more quests for the strength they can bring us."
Danniah saluted with her mace. "Sounds good! Can I take Izzy?"
"Right now it would be too easily noticed, but perhaps I can fix that. But for the most part, Izilthor will stay here with me. There's work to be done."
Meara nodded thoughtfully. "You're thinking of trying to challenge him on necromancy?"
"Correct. Raigar has overwhelming destructive force, so challenging him on that gives us poor odds of success. But he also relies on an army of undead to help him, without having built it himself. That is a significant weakness we need to exploit." Bloodwraith sat down on the ground and reached into his bag for the case of necromantic tools. "But to do that, I will need to specialize."
It might take him a long time, but regaining more of his old power was the only viable path forward he could see. Bloodwraith closed his eyes and reached for the death energy. No matter how long it took, he would dedicate himself to the task until it was done.
Chapter 16
Meara walked through the streets of Manascas, doing her best to see what was actually there. She knew there were people walking along the streets, with their own lives and goals. Hailing from real places, with real histories and most likely real futures.
Yet a broken part of her could see only patterns, flickering briefly in the void. Instead of seeing the reality around her, she saw tools, objectives, obstacles. Never consistent, always shifting and sliding into one another. Life as seen through truly alien eyes.
It wasn't truly a part of her, at least not part of the girl who had been kidnapped and taken to the Forest of Beginnings. But Meara was no longer that girl. She hadn't been the same ever since the system had been implanted in her, and once she had remembered her lives forced through a dozen different hells, she barely even recognized that old self.
And here she was, drifting into thoughts again instead of focusing on her goals. It had only been a fraction of a second, but it might have been more. So easy to slip away into the alien mirror, especially when she was trying to take advantage of that second vision.
But that was an old struggle, so Meara focused on the issue for that day: finding Danniah. They had agreed to meet in a random location, just in case anyone was trying to tail them. Danniah chose the location and Meara simply found her. The others had asked exactly how she did that, and though she'd answered them, she hadn't told the whole truth.
When she was around Bloodwraith, the haze of flickering patterns faded. She could still see them, but they no longer overwhelmed her, like he was the eye of the storm. Given that he had been implanted with an alien system far more intense than her tiny role, she thought that was no coincidence. Untangling the currents flowing around him had been her method of discerning many things.
But just finding him was easy, simply tasting the clarity on the wind. It was strongest with Bloodwraith, but after spending enough time with them, Danniah had begun to have a similar effect. Since she was "in his party," as the boxes put it, she mattered to the system in a way that none of the other lives did.
Meara was working on some sort of joke about Bloodwraith literally "rubbing off" on Danniah. The problem was that it required too much background knowledge to be funny, but she intended to get there someday. With the right setup, it would make Danniah entertainingly uncomfortable.
For now, she just focused on tracking down her ally. She found the other woman sitting by the side of a small, empty fountain, swinging her legs. Though Meara considered teasing her, she decided against it. Instead she simply slipped down beside her, enjoying the feeling of the haze of the world's systems softening around t
hem.
"They have a lot of fountains for a desert town." Danniah spoke slower than normal, clearly not desiring an intense conversation. It looked as though she'd taken a few bruises and exhausted herself that day, so she needed some time. Meara smiled and responded quietly.
"Manascas was built here because this location has the most underground water in the desert region. The fountains were a show of strength, though I don't think they waste much water these days."
"Oh, really? Did you learn that from other merchants?"
"It's not like we can negotiate all day. And it wouldn't really be accurate to call me a merchant."
"I don't know, I think you do a good job of it." Danniah finally came back down to the street, smiling at her and patting her hand. "Sometimes I wonder if I don't say thank you enough. I always just rely on you being there to manage our money or provide potions."
"Don't worry about that. You're plenty grateful." Meara pulled Danniah to lean against her. She felt the other woman's body relax, but Danniah still looked up at her seriously.
"Are you sure? Usually I can do my part by helping to defend people, but... well, you don't really need anyone to defend you. So I feel like I don't do enough."
"That's my line. Since everything we do comes down to violence, I feel useless."
"You're not useless!" Danniah pulled back to admonish her, then sighed. "But I suppose we should talk on our way back, not now. Did things go okay for you today?"
"More of the same. I have some ideas about quests you might want to do, but I think you might want to wait until you and Bloodwraith have cleared more of the crypt?"
"Yeah, it's still really dangerous. We need to set up a defensive area so that more wights don't attack."
"Oh, there's one fun thing: your helmeted self got a request to help murder someone."
