Chapter 89 - "We found... a lich."

Rivia’s lips firmly pressed against Trey’s before laying her head on his chest. They were laying on the ship’s deck, enjoying the sunshine in paradise as the sea breeze caressed their skin. Staring up into the nearly cloudless, blue sky overhead, Trey felt a true sense of calm unlike anything he’d experienced in many months. It was nice… just relaxing here without a care in the world.

Of course, that would only last while the journey continued - but he was getting better at pushing anxiety aside to live in the moment. Other men in Brae’s crew drank and played cards nearby, with many of them jealously glancing over on occasion while the wind carried their galley by the masts' sails into the south. The demoness had the body of an athlete: toned long legs and slight definition to her abdominal muscles, with decently sized breasts - all shown off by the short shorts and new crop-top outfit she was wearing… but the most attractive feature she had was her face. She had the face of an angel, minus the horns. Even the infernal halo kind of fit that description, but she only wore it occasionally - and it was currently absent so she could lay down without it getting in the way.

“TREY! I’ve called you three times now!” Ashe frowned at the lack of response, and her fox tail slapped against the deck repeatedly in irritation. She peeled back an orange and bit into it, chewing slowly and savoring the flavor while snorting her frustration. “You’re just ignoring me, aren’t you?”

He glanced over, half asleep - and then yawned.

“Isn’t that obvious?” Trey said while working his fingers into Rivia’s hair to scratch her head. He heard the demoness sigh in contentment, and smiled as he felt Rivia’s arms tighten around him. “Do we have reads on the equipment yet?”

Ashe took another bite out of the orange and shook her head. “We did our best but no one can get it all. There are still a lot of patchy areas where we don’t know what the hell those things do… especially that white knight set you got. It’s actually a SET set, like it gets bonuses if you wear all the associated pieces… but parts of the armor are also seriously donskies. They’ll need to be repaired or given away… and the sword is in pretty bad condition too. I’ve given anything we definitely don’t want over to Brae and his men.”

Trey grunted in acknowledgment and closed his eyes, letting the sun beat down on his skin. “Can you send me the information on which items we may want to keep? Please and thanks.”

He gave her a thumbs up, to which Ashe only rolled her eyes.

She slid down against the rails next to him, watching the calm waters pass them by for a time and enjoying the sun’s warmth before taking a final large bite out of the orange in her hand and tossing it overboard. Then she went back to her recent notifications and sent him the information regarding the item status pages they’d worked over while he basked.

Flaming Bastion Greatsword

Item Tier: (12) Mythic

Damage: 700

On Hit Effect: +9% Fire Damage

Bonuses: +68 Faith, ???, ???

Requirements: Fire Attribute, 90 Strength, ??? Endurance

Durability: 1056/3002

Specials:

1 - ???

2 - ???

3 - Bastion Set Piece: 1 of 7. When all 7 pieces are worn by the same individual, they will experience the following bonuses:

??? ??? ???

Visored Bastion Helmet (Heavy Armor)

Item Tier: (12) Mythic

Armor: 405 physical resistance, ??? magic resistance

Bonuses: ???

Requirements: ???

Durability: ???

Special: ???

Bastion Chainmail (Heavy Armor)

Item Tier: (9) Grand

Armor: ???

Bonuses: ???

Requirements: ??? Strength, 48 Endurance, 31 Vitality

Durability: 0/2209 (BROKEN, NEEDS REPAIRING)

Special: ???

These were the things that white knight he’d battled had dropped on death. The bastion set boots, gauntlets, plate leggings, and breastplate he assumed all would be similar to these prior ones. So he dismissed their notification and moved on to the next couple items Ashe had kept for the group.

Fire Elementalist’s Boots (Light Armor)

Item Tier: (7) Rare

Armor: 10 physical resistance, 15 magic resistance

Bonuses: +4% damage to all fire abilities

Requirements: 18 Intelligence

Durability: 79/90

Special: These boots are Fireproof.

Fire Elementalist’s Slacks (Light Armor)

Item Tier: (7) Rare

Armor: 14 physical resistance, 20 magic resistance

Bonuses: Decrease cooldown of flame spells by 13%

Requirements: 18 Intelligence

Durability: 100/105

Special: These slacks are Fireproof.

Enchanting Stone

Item Tier: (7) Rare

Bonuses: none

Requirements: Enchanting level 18

Durability: 62/62

Special: Helps the enchanter focus the spell, amplifying and improving the

enchantment by 4% of base effect.

Jeweled Ring of Envy

Item Tier: (6) Uncommon

Bonuses: Pickpocket success chance increased by 15% on NPCs

Requirements: 30 Dexterity

Durability: 24/24

Special: none

“Oh wow.” Trey sat up and stretched, feeling a splash of salt water as he did. “Have these been distributed already?”

Ashe grinned and put her hands behind her head. “While you were lazing about, yes. Atharost got the flame elementalist gear, the enchanting stone went to Telipe, and the jeweled ring of envy went to me. None of us are able to equip that bastion set, but it’s certainly worth a lot. We can sell it another time, yeah?”

“Sounds great.” He gave another thumbs up, rubbed his eyes, and kissed Rivia on the forehead before gingerly sitting up.

The demoness groggily gave him a scowl for depriving her of her body pillow, but smile again when he placed his cloak underneath her head for more cushion.

Coming over to sit next to Ashe, he briefly looked over the railgaurd and watched the coastline grow larger. “Do you think we’ll find it?”

“Find what?” Ashe asked curiously. She pulled out a tobacco pipe and had Trey ignite it with chaos flame before going to town with a deep inhale.

Trey shook his head when she offered him a hit. “Thanks, but I’m fine. Tobacco isn’t my thing, I like the shit that makes you hallucinate.”

Ashe cackled at this and lightly punched his arm, motioning for Rivia to come join them when she caught the priestess staring. Jason and Izumi were fidgeting with some of her gadgets and trying to build another one, while Atharost was deep in discussion with Cow-Daddy about god only knows what while humping Piggy over a crate as she squealed. All of the others were down below deck, except for Toady… who was sitting like a fat log next to one of the masts enjoying the sunbathing opportunity just as Trey’d been.

All around them the crew lackadaisically went about their business, cleaning the ship and playing cards while the winds were in their favor. The less they had to row - the better, and these winds were certainly well on their way to taking them straight for the Orishas mainland.

“What did that enchanting stone look like?”

Ashe gave him a look. “You really didn’t see it? It was flat, about the size of a baseball and had a green whirl-pool rune etched into the top.”

“Well I guess that answers my question.” He glanced over to Atharost whenever Piggy let out an unusually loud squeal. “There goes her sphincter.”

“Sphincter?”

“Forget it. It isn’t important.” He glanced back to the stairs leading down, where more storage compartments were also kept. Napoleon was just exiting, and Telipe was hot on his heels… still wearing her chains and shackles. Her blonde hair came down just past her shoulders and the hoop earrings she wore were almost as much of a staple as her wolf ears and tail.

Why was she still wearing those chains? Hadn’t he… wait, maybe he hadn’t offered to take them off yet.

He watched them both as Napoleon went around with a puffed out chest, proclaiming things Trey couldn’t quite hear at that distance and looking self-important. Meanwhile, Telipe enthusiastically nodded every once and a while and would smile widely each time he looked back. “That’s a little strange.”

“Telipe and Napoleon?” Ashe clarified thoughtfully as her fox ears perked up. She pooched her lips and took another hit of the pipe, choking when she inhaled too much and turning a little red in embarrassment. “I was thinking the same thing. If you don’t mind, pull up her status page again.”

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Simplified Status Page for Telipe

Name: Telipe

Race: Demihuman Thrall

Class: Enchanter

Level: 3

HP: 80/80

MP: 124/124

SP: 110/110

DP: 1/1

Learned Ascended Enchanting Options

Reinforce Enchantment Create Additional Item Enchantment Slot

Skills: Enchanting^ (lvl. 12), Cooking^ (lvl. 10)

Traits: Manipulative, Opportunist, Trey Bon’s Minion

Magical Attributes: Enchanting

Opinion of you: Scared

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Ashe nodded in appreciation as he did and clicked on the ‘Manipulative’ and ‘Opportunist’ traits, selecting the ‘expanded explanation’ option. A second later and their descriptions popped up for both Trey and Ashe to see.

Manipulative - Your minion Telipe uses her charm, wit, and sexuality to manipulate those around her. Having a good success record, she has acquired this trait and gained a +50% bonus when trying to manipulate other NPCs to do things that would benefit her.

Opportunist - Your minion Telipe has many times seen opportunities to further her position in life and taken them, often at the expense of others. She has acquired this trait and gained an additional +160 Luck.

Ashe frowned. “Does she know she’ll die without your contract? She knows how thralls work right?”

Trey chuckled and pulled Rivia in closer with one arm when she leaned into him. “She definitely knows, I made her very aware the first night I subjugated her. Do you think she’s trying to pull something on Napoleon?”

“Why don’t you call him over and find out? Or… you could even order her to tell you the truth. That’d be a quick and easy way to tell.”

Ashe was right. He could just simply ask. Giving both Napoleon and Telipe mental signals that he wanted them to come over to where he sat right that instant, they both immediately turned on a knee-jerk reaction and hurried over. Napoleon was a lot faster and scampered up Rivia’s exposed thigh, sitting there and looking up questioningly. Telipe however had a little bit of a hard time hurrying and nearly tripped even despite her moving with a shuffling motion.

Trey pat Napoleon on the head and grinned at the devilish little shit. “What were the two of you talking about just now?”

The imp and elf exchanged a glance and Napoleon proudly puffed up his chest again. “I tell tell her about my fights in Oblivion! How I save master from hounds and almost die die!”

Trey almost scoffed but managed to keep it down, letting the imp take credit for their first encounter’s getaway. He raised an eyebrow and tried to contain his snickering at the blatant lie Napoleon had told his newest minion, and began playing with Rivia’s hair with the hand wrapped around her shoulders. “Is that what he was telling you about?”

Telipe quickly nodded with an anxiety-ridden smile. “Yes it was!”

He wasn’t completely buying it. “Was there anything else you two were talking about? Anything at all?”

Napoleon clapped his hands together a couple of times and excitedly raised them into the air. “Yes yes! She say I handsome and strong! She say many nice things. She ask me me if I protect her too like I protect master! Then she ask me if I have key key to chains. Wants off. I say no key.”

Obviously Napoleon had been loving the attention he was getting, and she’d already started charming him just as Ashe had predicted. The look Trey gave her was a knowing one and she visibly went pale under his gaze.

“So you’re going to protect her are you?”

Napoleon clapped his hands together dramatically and puffed his chest out for the third time. “Yes yes!”

“And what are you protecting her from?”

Napoleon’s proud smile faded, and he mumbled a bit to himself while scratching his head. “I not know. She scared, I protect.”

Trey nodded and caught a glimpse of Ashe grinning. “Alrighty. Just checking in. You can go Napoleon, Telipe will join you soon.”

He dismissed the imp and Napoleon bounded over the deck towards Izumi while giving a curious look back over his little shoulder. Trey then turned his attention back to the blonde wolf-girl who’d become rigid with fear. “Telipe. You’re not trying to do anything that would negatively impact me or my friends would you? Tell me truthfully, that’s a command.”

She avidly shook her head, almost in a panic and reached out with her shackled hands. “No! No, I swear on my life! I-”

Trey held up a hand to silence her. He even let on a little bit of a smile. “That’s all I needed to know. I don’t care beyond knowing that you’re not going to harm me or my friends in any way with your mind games… if you want to try your luck wooing that imp into favoring you then go right ahead. He is one of my favorites… so who knows? Maybe it’ll benefit you in the end. Maybe it won’t. You’re dismissed.”

She stared back with an unhinged jaw and straightened up. Becoming visibly more calm, she nodded curtly and turned around to walk away. The chains rattled together with every step and Ashe burst into laughter as Telipe got out of earshot.

“She was absolutely terrified!” Ashe mused, her fox tail wagging back and forth as she continued to giggle. “And she thinks Napoleon is her ticket? To what exactly?”

“No doubt a better life here.” Trey snorted and finally picked up the pipe, giving in and taking a hit of his own. “Honestly it’s kinda smart. It’s obvious to everyone that I like that little fucker, and after he shat on my face without consequences the other day she probably realized how much influence he really has in this social circle.”

Ashe immediately began laughing loudly at the thought of Trey’s recent defeat in chess, but she eventually stopped under Rivia’s judging scowl. Rivia had been the only one who hadn’t found that day funny, and she still considered it sacrilege.

“Master…” Rivia began coldly as she nuzzled in closer and wrapped an arm around his chest. “You shouldn’t have let him do that. You are Eleknar’s Heir… you need to maintain a healthy level of respect.”

Ashe snickered again, getting her yet another glare from Rivia.

Trey ignored both of them. Instead, he reached for his cloak and pulled out the parchments he’d taken from Radian’s quarters. He unfolded both of them - first the large detailed map that he’d shown Brae earlier, and then the parchment it had come with.

==================================================

We found… a lich. He and his pet… they had created some sort of vile game where they pit combatants against various trials they’d concocted for the sake of their own amusement. They themselves are not a danger though… it is the sickening sport they forced my friends and your guildmates to undertake.

I wish I’d been strong enough to follow through and go with them, but I was sick… and it was my saving grace. He took pity on me… something that had never happened before. Or at least that’s what the monstrous creature he’d created told me. He took pity on me and let me live… only to watch as my comrades were brutally cut down and executed while trying to get through the trials.

We’d asked if we could just leave… We wanted to go home. We wanted no part in his sick manifestations of greatness and glory. Alas, he did not give my friends the option. He trapped us there, forced us to choose one of three games to play. The things I saw there… sickened me. Now I, as the lone survivor, am burdened with delivering the message of their untimely demise to their families. A fate worse than the one I would have achieved if I had just gone with them. At least that way I could have remained guiltless.

Having said this… I want to stress to you the importance of my findings there. The game master showed me at the end of their trials what would have awaited them if they’d won… and the prizes there are nothing to scoff at. Treasures beyond imagining, even those that would be wielded by the gods themselves, were held in a mountain of wealth. The catch… was that these treasures would be selected in groups of three and brought about randomly for the winners. From there, they would have been able to select only one… or so I was told. If you ever do find your life monotonous and wish for something more, for something to adventure for… if you do not fear death… then try your hand. Perhaps the risk would be worth it to the right person… I just weep that it was not for me.

I have marked this map with the location and detailed the way to travel there. The entrance is hidden in a canyon, and getting there is a long trek inland… perhaps you and yours will have more success than I. Good luck, Radian.

==================================================

Reading the parchment a final time, he shredded the paper and let it fly into the wind... never to be read again by another’s eyes. He knew he was being greedy, but he’d already discussed it with the other Earthborn. Time and time again, he’d been shown that this world was unforgiving. They needed to get stronger, and this would be an opportunity to grow if what the parchment had said was true. Items that the gods themselves would want? Probably exaggerated. He could only hope that was true though, and if it was… then he wasn’t sure what would be awaiting them within these games.

Regardless, there was no turning back. They’d made up their minds, and if they were going to get a real head start on the hundreds of millions of incoming Earthborn who would pit themselves against Trey and his group - they’d have to step up their efforts.

He nudged Rivia awake, who’d fallen half-asleep again while laying against him. She rubbed her eyes and groggily got up, giving him a frown after being shaken from her ever-cozy spot.

“Yes?”

He chuckled and brought up her status page. “It’s time for us to go over the changes and point assignments. You in particular are going to have some upgrades and I want your opinion on what you want.

She yawned, nodded and stretched before getting up to collect her Shepherd’s Black Crucifix. The crystallized skull at the top of the staff glittered in the sunlight, and she took a few seconds to admire the ebony carving of the snake along the shaft before placing it securely between two crates and coming back to sit next to Trey. “Go on then.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Simplified Status Page

Name: Rivia Ahst

Race: Culn, Lesser Demon

Patron Deity: Alkir, Mistress of Darkness

Class: Priestess

Level: 30 (+6 skill points, +10 stat points)

HP: 200/200

MP: 100/100

SP: 100/100

DP: 584/584

Skills: Pestilence^^^ (lvl. 31)(Dark Miracle), Rejuvenation^^ (lvl. 23)(Dark Miracle),

Immortal’s Infernal Blessing (lvl. 5) (Alkir’s Miracle), Small Blades (lvl. 5),

Absorbent Soul Sacrifice (lvl. 4)(Ritual), Alkir’s Baptism (lvl. 1)(Ritual),

An Exchange of Life (lvl. 1)(Alkir’s Miracle), Staves (lvl. 2),

Kingdom Come (Tier 2 Alkir’s Miracle)(lvl. 1)

Traits: Unholy Ascendance, Curious, Faith Driven, Trey Bon’s Minion

Magical Attributes: Dark

Opinion of you: Forever Indebted

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Alright, so you have two upgrades that need to be addressed along with another 6 skill points and 10 stat points… Jesus I’ve been neglecting this shit.” Trey sucked in air and internally chided himself. He was always busy doing something else… even if that something else wasn’t nearly as important as this was. Had he really not assigned skill points for 6 levels? He’d assigned the stat points. Why’d he skipped over that? Holy hell.

He didn’t have to ask about where to assign the stat points. All ten of them went straight into Faith, and with 2 Faith points giving her 1 DP (Divinity Point) it meant she had a net gain of 5 DP - bringing her up from 84 to 89 total DP.

Rivia tapped him lightly on the arm and pointed to ‘Absorbant Soul Sacrifice’. “Place the six skill points into the sacrifice.”

“Why?”

“It will likely improve the amount of stat points you get every time you do it.”

He couldn’t argue with that logic. What else would a level 10 upgrade do for something like that? “Are you sure you don’t want it in the immortal’s infernal blessing? Or the new miracle, Kingdom Come?”

Rivia shrugged. “I was just thinking about how you need more strength in order to fully wield Talsh’Noc’Un, and this may be a way to hasten the time getting there. We also haven’t tried the new miracle out yet, I was waiting to use it as a backup in the siege because of such a high cooldown… but we ended up not needing it.”

Not a bad idea about Talsh’Noc’Un.

He relocated the 6 unused points into Absorbant Soul Sacrifice, watching it hit level 10. Now he had three skills for Rivia to choose upgrades from.

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Your minion Rivia Ahst has achieved an upgrade for her ability ‘Pestilence’ due to arriving at and surpassing level 30. Your minion Rivia Ahst has achieved an Upgrade for her ability ‘Rejuvenation’ due to arriving at and surpassing level 20. Your minion Rivia Ahst has achieved an upgrade for her ritual ‘Absorbant Soul Sacrifice’ due to arriving at level 10. Please choose one of the following for each of these abilities as her next set of upgrades regarding these abilities:

Pestilence^^^ (Dark Miracle) - Level 31

Disease afflicts your opponent, causing rot at an accelerated rate. Very painful. Reduces HP and SP equally. Upgrade 1> Pestilence spreads to those who come into contact with an afflicted target as long as the caster deems them enemies Upgrade 2> May simultaneously cast Pestilence on three different targets with the same miracle and DP point Upgrade 3> SELECT AN OPTION: Option 1: Pestilence now does an initial burst of dark damage in the form of a small target-engulfing explosion before undergoing the usual damage over time effect with rot and necrosis. Enemies caught in the explosion are also afflicted with pestilence’s rot. (Explosion base radius is 3 feet away from target) Option 2: Pestilence removes all buffs on afflicted enemies and cuts down on received healing by 40%

Rejuvenation^^ (Dark Miracle) - Level 23

A basic healing miracle that rejuvenates 1% of HP per second. Lasts for 200 seconds max. Can mend wounds and broken bones. Cannot cure disease. Channeling ability, if channeling is interrupted the miracle is lost. No cooldown. Upgrade 1> Rejuvenation is increased to 2% of HP regeneration per second Upgrade 2> SELECT AN OPTION: Option 1: Provides a shield of dark energy for the first 5 seconds of channeling directly over the target’s skin, negates up to 900 damage Option 2: Can instant cast instead of channeling and can stack this ability up to 3 times on the same target, but DP cost is increased from 1 to 2

Absorbent Soul Sacrifice (Ritual) - Level 10

A ritual used to exchange a target’s soul for 3-5 stat points. Stat point assignments will be randomized, but will be more likely to fill into categories that those receiving the points want or need. May only use this ritual up to 6 times in a single month to yield points, and the number of available charges resets at the end of each month regardless of how many times you’ve used it. Current Charges: 1/6 Upgrade 1> SELECT AN OPTION: Option 1: Gain the ability to sacrifice three souls simultaneously in exchange for 1 skill point and no stat points. May choose this on a case by case basis, and if not chosen this ritual will default to giving randomized stat points. Option 2: Instead of the baseline 3-5 stat points per sacrifice, this ritual will now give 6 stat points per sacrifice.

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Oof. Which to pick. He glanced to Rivia and saw she was still reading… Absorbent Soul Sacrifice was the only easy choice. Although having a skill point would be nice, it wouldn’t be worth giving up three sacrifices for it… not with the stat points he would have otherwise gained. So he selected option 2.

Option 2: Instead of the baseline 3-5 stat points per sacrifice, this ritual will now give 6 stat points per sacrifice.

“You done reading yet?”

Rivia pulled her hair back from over her ears and nodded. “I am.”

“Do you have an opinion on Rejuvenation and Pestilence?”

“I get to decide?”

Trey shrugged. “For Rejuvenation… having a massive damage shield in the beginning would definitely be great, but so would being able to stack and instant cast instead of channeling. The shield would allow you to buffer them for a little while and potentially be life saving, but instant cast would mean you could simultaneously heal everyone in the party and then stack on top of that. But if you instant cast, would it be worth doubling the DP cost for that miracle? Honestly I think the instant cast would be better, but I’m not sure if that’s the right decision.”

Rivia gave him a genuine smile. “I’ll pick then. Ever since you used the stone and I acquired the Unholy Ascendance trait, those 1000 Faith points and 500 DP points it gave me mean that I can go far longer without running out of fuel. Increasing the DP cost won’t be a problem now that I have such a larger pool to take from.”

She touched her finger to the second option.

Option 2: Can instant cast instead of channeling and can stack this ability up to 3 times on the same target, but DP cost is increased from 1 to 2

Now there was only Pestilence left… and this was the hardest one by far. They were both great options. Removing buffs and having anti-heal? Definitely a plus. The other was less utility and more outright damage though, and that was something Rivia was lacking. With an initial burst of damage on top of what it already had, it could give her some real offensive capabilities.

He threw up his hands in dismay. “If I choose one I’ll just regret not choosing the other. I want them both!”

“As do I.” Rivia grinned and gave him a peck on the cheek. “If you do want my opinion though, I feel like the burst damage would make me more versatile. You always have me in the back lines and in a protected area, which I appreciate… But what if someone breaks through? I have my new staff… certainly it would help, but I have no miracle that could inflict damage at a fast pace. If I may select the burst damage option, that would be appreciated. If not for anything else, it is for my own safety.”

He rubbed his chin in thought, then selected the option she had requested. “Makes sense to me.”

Option 1: Pestilence now does an initial burst of dark damage in the form of a small target-engulfing explosion before undergoing the usual damage over time effect with rot and necrosis. Enemies caught in the explosion are also afflicted with pestilence’s rot. (Explosion base radius is 1 foot away from target)

A clap of thunder startled him, and he groaned as he saw the approaching stormclouds off on the horizon to the north. “Ugh. Not again. Where did they even come from? Wasn’t it sunny all around us for miles just ten minutes ago?”

Ashe got up and held out a hand to help him stand. “Come on, let’s go inside to the underdeck. We don’t want to get caught out in the rain.”

Trey took her hand and housed himself up. Brushing himself off and glaring out at the poor weather, he grumbled about how often this tropical paradise experienced storms. Taking her advice and taking one last look at the clear sky to the south before going under, he hoped that this ride to Ornthas would be over soon.