by Sarah Lin
Each skeleton appeared with a prompt for a name, which he ignored every time. He had to wonder exactly what the purpose of such a thing was. Since they were "Companions," was he meant to think of them as people instead of mere tools? It seemed foolish, but perhaps the insane Outsiders who created the boxes thought that skeletons made good pets.
Through it all, they confirmed what he had feared: each skeleton emerged with randomized characteristics. He wasn't even sure of the upper and lower bounds of the randomization, because despite a supply of Mana Potions from Meara, the repeated magic was beginning to make his vision swim. Eventually he decided that they needed to quit for the night... and realized how many broken skeletons they'd left lying around.
Sighing, Bloodwraith set about burying the additional bones. He also replaced the villager corpse with a reasonable amount of care - the man's body might not have been necessary, but it had taught him something useful. By the time they were nearly finished it was growing late, however, and he was more than slightly irritated.
"Look on the bright side," Meara said, "Danniah should be happy. After all, we're not stealing the villager's corpses, we're leaving them even more."
Bloodwraith chuckled, but examined her more carefully. "You haven't directly spoken on that subject. Does any of this bother you?"
"Not at all." Meara stopped sweeping up the dirt they'd disrupted and moved to stand in front of him, eyes shining in the near darkness. "I wouldn't mind being with you behind an army of the undead, especially if we can set those undead against the ones who did this to us. I am on your side, Bloodwraith. A little necromancy isn't going to change that."
He nodded in satisfaction and returned to work, so Meara did as well.
"Do be considerate of Danniah, though. I don't want her hurt the way I was... I like her."
"As do I."
Meara snickered. "You don't say?"
They spoke of nothing serious as they finished cleaning up. Though Bloodwraith wanted to keep one skeleton to experiment further, he decided that it was too risky for now. All the necromancy he'd been doing might have been sensed by someone and it wouldn't do to have them trace the power back to him.
No, he had learned enough for one night. Once they finished cleaning up, Bloodwraith headed back to camp with Meara.
Chapter 6
The night was quiet and cool, but the interior of their covered wagon was pleasantly warm in the aftermath. Bloodwraith lay back, torn between feeling relaxed and wanting to equip all of his armor again. He'd grown used to the boost of strength it provided, and now that he was no longer distracted, the absence of it bothered him.
But he had barely pulled on his pants before Danniah slipped on one of his shirts and hopped back into his lap, clearly wanting to cuddle. Deciding that he could ignore logistical concerns for a moment, he put an arm around her and pulled her close. She murmured happily and rested her head against his chest.
"This was nice, Bloodwraith. I was afraid we'd have to wait until we got to Manascas, or try something really awkward in the woods." She giggled and squeezed him tighter. "For once, I'm glad to be so short. Makes things easier."
"I agree, we should have done this earlier."
"You don't want to be doing necromancy things?"
"Not every night." There also wasn't a suitable graveyard within range, but he had a suspicion it would be better not to say that. "Sorry we haven't been spending as much time together lately."
"Oh, I was about to apologize for the same thing!" Danniah pushed off his chest enough to look at him. "I've been talking to the caravan guards a lot lately. They have a bunch of good suggestions about staying alive while defending a position. Though... it's odd, but they don't seem that strong to me."
"Because they aren't, relative to you. The guards average Level 3-6, and you're Level 9."
"Huh. That's fairly strong, right? You said you were Level 10. I didn't realize I was anything strong..."
"We gained a lot preparing to fight Daek. But I'm actually surprised you haven't reached 10 already. Your stats have been increasing with your training, especially your Vitality. While the system doesn't work the same for you as it does for me, I was..." Bloodwraith trailed off as he saw that Danniah was giving him an amused smile.
"Now that I think about it, you've asked me several questions about it. You're really invested in the numbers for me, huh?" She caught his gaze and didn't look away. "You're not concerned that I'm falling behind, are you?"
"What? No, not at all. It's..." Bloodwraith took a slow breath before deciding that he should just be direct with her. "I think it's because my personal boxes are broken, so I can't trust anything they tell me. But your numbers seem to be accurate, so I'm focusing on them instead."
"I can't decide if that's affectionate or creepy, but I'll take it." Danniah beamed at him before settling down against his chest again. "Is that why you're so obsessed with creating these skeletons? Meara said you were getting the system figured out."
"Maybe that's it. I do feel I'm making progress."
"You can talk to me about it, you know. I don't mind, especially since you don't need people's bodies anymore."
"Well..." Though he'd been reluctant to discuss necromancy directly with Danniah, this was more his sort of pillow talk than whispering sweet nothings into each other's ears. "The big problem is that the strength of the skeletons varies randomly. Each night it's possible, I make as many as I can and chart the numbers so I can get a sense for the range."
"But if you don't know what the range is, what if you make a really great one, then smash it?"
Bloodwraith winced. "That might have already happened. A few days ago, I made a skeleton that was head and shoulders over any of the others, but I haven't seen one that strong since."
"Aww, I'm sure you'll get another good one if you try long enough." Danniah tapped her fingers against his chest thoughtfully. "But... how much does the starting point really matter? I mean, the numbers will go up over time, right? Wouldn't it eventually be better to just stick with one and let it grow instead of trying over and over for a perfect start?"
"You're right. I've decided that I'll settle on something before we get to Manascas. But for now, I'm still learning too much. For example, there seems to be a hidden set of numbers, because it doesn't cost the same number of points for each skeleton to grow stronger. There must be hidden growth rates, and those might be even more important than the base statistics."
"Wow, the box gods really like numbers. I wonder if their world is just, like, a big pile of numbers."
"I wouldn't rule it out." But now that he'd gotten started, Bloodwraith wasn't about to stop. He and Meara had discussed their plans already, but it helped to get a new perspective. "I've discovered that there's more flexibility in the system than I thought. I can get more Necromancy Points if I take negative traits, like a lack of a body, so I have enough to do proper tes-"
"Wait, what? A lack of a body?"
"Right... the locus of the skeletons seems to be the skull, so you can take everything else away and they can still move. That isn't how I'd do my necromancy personally, but at least it's a logical system."
"Really? Let me see!" Danniah sat back on his legs, her enthusiasm apparently authentic. After staring at her for a while, Bloodwraith shrugged.
He leaned over to the pile of their equipment and picked up his Extra-dimensional Bag, kept close in case they were attacked. His inventory box currently displayed three different skulls - taking the body disadvantage had allowed him to experiment with multiple at once. Though he had been testing if they changed over time, it wouldn't hurt to show one to Danniah.
So he reached into the bag and pulled out one of the skulls. When he set it down, the skeleton head just lay there.
"Uh..." Danniah glanced at him.
"I have to give it a command before it will do anything."
"Make it dance!"
"It's just a skull..." Once he thought about it, though, he realized
that it was actually an interesting experiment. The base skeletons he created were capable of executing simple commands like attacking or defending, but not more complex ones. With some experimentation he'd been able to make them obey commands to move objects, but it had taken an expenditure of points. "Give me a moment."
While Danniah waited, curiously staring at the skeleton's glowing eyes, Bloodwraith looked through the boxes. Perhaps if he spent points on Intellect... yes, then a trait for obeying more complex commands appeared. Making it dance was far from useful, but he'd learned a few things in the process.
"Dance!" he commanded, trying not to think about what his old self would have thought of this.
In response, the skeleton head began clattering around the floor of the wagon. Danniah stifled a laugh with both hands over her mouth as she watched it. "Haha, it's almost cute..." She extended one foot and pushed it over, then laughed as it wobbled wildly on its skull, struggling to return upright.
"It is not meant to be cute. Once we have a good set of stats, I can purchase back the rest of the body and have a viable ally. There are likely to be some more obstacles, but I believe this to be the best path based on my experimentation so far."
"What's its name?" She bent down beside it, righting the skull and patting it apologetically. It ignored her and continued its little bouncing dance, of course, since it was just an automaton.
"Name? It's just a skeleton, it doesn't need a name." The automatic numbers the boxes granted were more than sufficient for experimental purposes.
"Could you give it feet? I mean, right away, so that it's a little skull on feet?"
Bloodwraith folded his arms and glowered at her. "I feel that you are not taking the awesome power of necromancy seriously."
"Aww, Bloodwraith, don't be like that. I'm taking your dancing skeleton head very seriously."
"Undead Companion, attack!"
As soon as he gave the order, the skeleton hopped aggressively toward Danniah. It lunged at one leg and began chewing on her ankle.
[The opponent's physical defense is too high to be damaged by your Undead Companion.]
"Oh, that is just adorable!" Danniah reached down and patted it on the head as it continued to gnaw uselessly on her leg.
Okay, clearly he had more work to do. The skeleton's jaws actually weren't pathetically weak, Danniah was just tough enough to resist it even without armor. His plan had been to increase his strength enough to support a larger number of heads, then use them to strike at his opponents' feet. Most adventurers would barely flinch at a skeleton, but mere skulls could lie dormant and then set up a sneak attack.
"Can I keep one of these? I mean, I know I couldn't let people see it, but it could almost be like a pet. You don't need to feed it or anything..."
Bloodwraith sat back and sighed. His return to dark necromantic power was not going as planned.
~ ~ ~
Though Bloodwraith had avoided walking at the head of the caravan to avoid attracting attention, he found that it did have some benefits. Lack of dust, for one. A clear view of the land ahead instead of unwashed horses and peasants, for another. The rocky hills of Bannlind were giving way to less green territory, though he thought they were still in the outskirts too rough for anyone to claim.
Currently Danniah was handling the wagon, leaving him free to scout ahead with Meara. Between his slowly strengthening necromantic senses and her unnatural perceptions, they had a decent shot at detecting any suitable graveyards or crypts before the caravan reached them.
"There are so many rules..." Bloodwraith gestured through the air where the newest box they'd discovered floated. "I've usually said the Outsiders prefer to simplify reality, but sometimes I wonder if this isn't more complicated."
"Unless it's fun for them." Meara's gaze flickered over the box. "What has more rules than games, after all?"
"But if that's the case, why are they doing this? Are they really so powerful that they can expend such overwhelming magic simply amusing themselves? I don't think we should rule out the possibility that this is all being done for a reason. The reasons for all this may not be arbitrary, simply based on circumstances we don't know."
"There's not much we can do about most of those scenarios, though."
"That's true. All we can really do is prepare." Bloodwraith summoned his inventory and looked over his most recent set of skeleton skulls. "The fact that the boxes refuse to divulge all the rules still troubles me. I don't want to invest so much power in a way that might be inefficient."
"You've already done that, however, with your own strength and all the points you've been given."
"I know, and I regret it." Bloodwraith shook his head, trying not to let it disturb his thoughts. He had absolutely needed to focus on his physical strength, or he wouldn't have been able to face Daek the Knife. Even now he was concerned that necromancy would prove incompatible with his current strength, but since there was no urgent threat, he needed to try.
Eventually Meara shrugged. "What's done is done. How long are you going to keep increasing the 'Undead Companion' skill before you stick with one?"
"Not long now. I wanted to test that the randomized results weren't improved by the increasing skill level, but it seems to primarily increase my overall capacity. Which is fortunate, because otherwise there would be a problem of constant obsolescence. Now we just need another suitable location and another fortuitous randomization."
He was about to say more, but at that moment he noticed something shifting in the tall grass to the west of the caravan's path. Perhaps just an animal, but he felt as though something wasn't right.
"Do you feel anything, Meara?"
"I don't have supernatural senses, I can only sense some of the box system. But if something feels wrong, should we check it out?"
"Let's fall back first, in case there's a real threat. We've advanced too far ahead."
They immediately backtracked along the path, soon returning to the caravan. As they moved, Bloodwraith kept an eye on the area where he'd seen movement. Though he didn't see any more, his sense of a threat refused to go away.
When they reached the caravan, they were met by a gruff old couple. The two of them had been caravan guards together for years, as Bloodwraith knew thanks to his forced requirement of talking to people. They were better than most, with significant knowledge of the area and combat experience that the system rated as Level 9.
"Something wrong, Raigar?"
"I'm not sure, but-" At that moment, a shrieking warcry sounded behind them. Half a dozen bandits burst from the grass and rushed at the caravan, waving their weapons and screaming at the top of their lungs.
The caravan guards, not being fools, swiftly came together to defend against the attack. One of the first bandits hurled something into the air toward the first wagon, but a caravan mage shot it out of the sky with a burst of fire. A few other bandits hurled projectiles as well, but they fell short of the caravan and caused no harm.
In a matter of seconds, the few bandits found themselves running toward a wall of determined iron, which soon had them scrambling backward. It was such a laughably incompetent attack that Bloodwraith found himself not even joining in the chase, instead focusing on the bandits and trying to summon boxes for them.
[Recommended Level 15]
[Recommended Level 11]
[Recommended Level 14]
What did those numbers actually mean? Since monsters weaker than him were displayed as nearly his Level, could he assume that the 11-15 range had about his strength? Or just comparable to caravan guards? Either way, experienced bandits should not be attacking so clumsily.
The most obvious ploy would have been for this attack to be a distraction while the main bandit force struck from behind. But the caravan guards weren't stupid enough to fall for that, so only some pursued the bandits while others circled around the wagons cautiously. But with no surprise attack incoming, they were starting to shift back to normal.
"Was that
it?" The older woman scratched beneath the neck plate of her armor. "We should move on quick, in case they have friends."
"I'm not sure..." Bloodwraith still felt tense for some reason, but could come up with nothing that would convince the seasoned guards.
He looked toward the projectiles that had failed to reach the caravan, checking in case they were some sort of explosive. Though they did look strange, Meara was already kneeling beside one. When he caught her eye, she gave a strange shake of her head. Nothing immediately dangerous, then.
Was he simply paranoid? It continued to bother him that such apparently strong bandits would mount such an incompetent attack, but thanks to the problem with the boxes, he couldn't even be sure if they were actually experienced.
Giving up on the boxes, he instead focused on what he'd seen. They'd been fairly well-equipped, but bandits could often steal decent equipment from adventurers. What it came down to in the end was that their attack and retreat had been just too coordinated...
"It must be a trap." He turned to the woman and also waved her partner over. "I don't think the bandits could be this incompetent."
"That's not much to stop the entire caravan for." The old man folded his arms over his chest and frowned. "You realize unnecessary delays are lost profits to all the merchants, right? They really don't like it if we jump at shadows."
"And they do like getting killed?"
The woman shook her head slowly. "The trap could be trying to force us to stay here, or make us change our route. But I suppose I'll order everyone to prepare."
She trotted away, leaving her partner to eye Bloodwraith sourly. "You might be right, boy, but don't think we trust you, either. It's clear enough you and your lady friends are up to something suspicious, with all that sneaking about."
That was the disadvantage to being around competent people. Before Bloodwraith could consider how to answer, he heard a thrumming noise. Soft at first and coming from no clear direction, but growing louder at a troubling rate. The wind was beginning to stir as well. Bloodwraith drew his greatsword and turned, all signs coming together at the same moment.
