Necromancer

A Royal Road Fan Fiction

By: Halosty

Chapter 23

The first thing Mortimer did was get out of his capsule and fall into bed. He had been playing since Friday night and it was now early Sunday morning. He woke up just in time for dinner.

After dinner, his first meal in a long time, he worked on homework for the weekend. It was important to keep up with finals only a few weeks away. Not that he was particularly worried about them, but since he couldn’t log into Royal Road anyway, until around midnight, he might as well just wait until tomorrow after school. Which meant he needed to be caught up, or preferably ahead, on homework.

Then he sparred with Angela again, and lost, as he always had. He tried to figure out why, but just couldn’t come up with a way to win. Mortimer hadn’t known that he didn’t like losing, because he rarely lost at anything he cared about. If he didn’t care, it didn’t count as losing, and if he could win later, it also didn’t count as losing. This, however, was something he cared about. While he was brooding over this, Angela asked him about his quest.

“My quest? Well, it was a training thing. It was basically a dungeon with traps everywhere and monsters I couldn’t kill.”

“Oh yeah? Sounds like the dungeon we are in. Traps around every corner, and ghosts that don’t take damage most of the time. Fortunately, the magician we recruited can still attack them. Our priest can too.”

Mortimer didn’t bother correcting her that a trap for every corner didn’t count as everywhere. He also didn’t bother saying that monsters that are hard to kill aren’t the same as ones you aren’t allowed to kill. “Well, I got through my dungeon, but I died just after I got out. I don’t know if that still counted as passing.”

“You died again? You sure die a lot playing solo. Maybe you should join our group.”

“Well, I still have things I have to do… we may not be headed to the same places.”

Mortimer deliberately avoided saying he didn’t know where Angela’s party was. She would always catch him in a direct lie, and point it out. He always felt very uncomfortable when that happened.

“You have to at least join my guild, Mortimer.”

“You have a guild?”

“Well… I mean, once I make the guild. I still need to gather more people and the funds to register it. Once I do though, you have to join.”

“I’ll consider it. It’s not like I can join now anyway, since it doesn’t exist.”

Angela accepted that answer. There wasn’t really another option.

--------------------------

Quietus woke up in a strange place. There was light coming in through many colored windows. This must be the church in this city, where players would be resurrected. Quietus didn’t feel very good for being resurrected, though. Not that he felt like he was still injured- his health was fine, and his left hand and right arm were back to normal. Instead, he just felt kind of queasy.

Even if he was feeling sick, he still had to go get his rewards for the training. Assuming he counted as passing. If not, he would at least have the increases to his attributes, except for his actual level. After a little bit of walking, Quietus found himself feeling better. Perhaps he had just felt some previously unknown side effect of death, or resurrection.

Inside the assassin’s guild, he was greeted by a guard.

“Oh, you’re back! Frank wants to see you.”

Quietus nodded and went on ahead. Behind him, he could hear the guard commenting to another, “I wonder if he takes a week to do everything. Must be a pretty relaxed life.” The other guard grunted in response.

“Ah, Quietus, come in. My guard at the door informed me that you made it through the door before dying, so you passed. Of course, if you weren’t a foreigner, it would still count as failure since you wouldn’t be able to collect your reward. However, a pass is a pass, even if you were… somewhat slow. I have someone fetching your reward right now.”

Quietus couldn’t imagine how someone could have done it much faster than him. Others could have told him that it was probably unnecessary to disarm every single trap in the dungeon- creating enough for a path would have probably been fine. However, unless they were exceptionally fast at disarming traps, it still would have taken more than a day.

Into the room came a guard carrying a book, a pair of gloves, and a pouch likely containing coins, by the sound.

“What’s all that?” asked Frank.

“It’s the standard reward for someone who passes the beginner training at tier nine. You said he passed, right?”

“Yes, but… tier nine?” Frank looked surprised.

“Indeed sir. I was the one who received the message recommending that level of training. I had the dungeon set itself appropriately.”

“Well, that explains some things,” Frank said.

“What’s tier nine?” asked Quietus.

“Oh yes, of course you wouldn’t know. We have tiers that determine the difficulty of the tests, from one to ten. Tier one is pretty basic, a few traps to avoid, plenty of places to hide from the patrolling golems. Each tier has more traps to avoid and more places to hide. Tier eight, for example, has small nooks that people can squeeze into to hide, and only one path through the traps. Tier ten… it’s theoretically a big open room, with pits, traps, and the golems. I’m pretty sure some of the traps would set off more traps when properly disarmed. So for tier nine… Somebody was either very confident in your abilities, or wanted you to fail.”

“Oh… Well I’m either glad they felt so highly of me or very angry at them.”

“Hah! As well you should be. Well, go ahead and take your reward.”

The guard handed Quietus the skill book, the gloves, and the pouch of money. Quietus quickly opened up the item windows, and was glad to see they were already identified.

Snake in the Darkness Style

Skills-

Snakebite:

A quick attack to any part of an enemy. If used in conjunction with poison, the poison will produce a more powerful effect near the point of injury.

Cost:

25 mana

Backslide:

Instantly move directly backwards three steps, using a confusing pattern of movement. Useful for avoiding attacks from enemies.

Cost:

50 mana

Backstab:

Inflict increased damage with an attack to an enemies back. Damage is multiplied by three if the enemy is unaware.

Cost:

200 mana

Perforate Artery:

Execute an attack at the jugular vein, or equivalent, of an enemy. Causes heavy bleeding damage, and enhances the effects of poisons. Inflicts critical damage if the enemy is unaware of you.

Cost:

1000 mana

Requirements:

Assassin Class

OR

Member of the true assassin’s guild

Quietus was happy to get some real combat related skills, although their mana costs were very heavy. If he weren’t a warlock, but instead a standard assassin, he didn’t think he would have enough mana to use backstab more than once. Then again, the mana cost would drop with proficiency, and if used right, it didn’t need to be used more than once. Then there was perforate artery which was just… completely unnecessary in its mana cost. He didn’t know when he would be able to use that.

Now it was time to look at his gloves.

Gloves of Finesse

Durability: 20/20 Defense: 4

Awarded to those who complete the Beginner Assassin’s training above a certain difficulty. These gloves allow the wearer to act with more finesse in all situations.

Equip:

+20 Agility

+50% increase in effectiveness of lockpicking, pickpocket, and search.

Requirements:

Member of the Assassin’s guild AND completed beginner's assassin training.

OR

Advanced level in lockpicking, pickpocket, or search.

Quietus was pleased. They were very excellent gloves. Of course, they would have been more useful before he was thrown into a dungeon full to the brim with traps.

Now he just had to go get everything repaired. After saying goodbye to the nice people in the assassin’s guild, he went off to find someone who could repair his cloak and armor. He hadn’t used his dagger, and it never seemed to need repairs anyway. He couldn’t tell whether it was just very high durability or had some other property, since he had never actually gotten it identified. Perhaps he would get around to that one day. The blacksmith offering repairs didn’t have the identify skill, so Quietus would find someone later.

Quietus was at a loss for what to do next, until he remembered. The actual reason that he came to Twinsburg Heights was for a completely different reason. That was, of course, his “Dark Magic” quest. He opened the quest window and realized it had no instructions on where to find the instructor. Quietus would have to go back to searching the city.

He found nothing that seemed like it would be the place in the Northwest half of Twinsburg Heights. It was mostly composed of shops and a tavern and things like the church. He was certain the instructor wouldn’t be in any of those places. Quietus then crossed the valley to the southeastern part of the city. There, he actually found the magician’s guild. He had a feeling they wouldn’t have the instructor on dark magic either, although he would come back if he couldn’t find anywhere more promising.

Then, he smelled something familiar. It wasn’t exactly a pleasant smell. Wandering in the back alleys of a city, pleasant smells were generally rare. However, this smell reminded him of some pleasant memories anyway. Quietus followed it around a corner to an open door. He took a step inside.

The scrawny man inside gave him a funny look. “Didn’t I just see you in here a few days ago? For that matter, nobody even comes here on purpose. Are you lost?”

“Well, actually, Jack from Morata sent me to look for someone. I think that someone might be you. I assume you know him?”

“Sure, I know him. I have to keep in contact with my peers. My name’s Alva. Yours?”

“I’m Quietus.”

“Ohh, so you’re the one.” Alva instantly changed mannerisms. “Jack told me you would be coming here soon. Well, it’s important that you know I can’t teach you anything.”

“Then, why am I here?”

“Well, that doesn’t mean I don’t know more than you. I can tell you how to learn things, but since we don’t generally use spells like a proper magician or wizard, it’s not something that can be taught directly.”

Quietus thought back on his initiation as a warlock, and remembered that to be true. He hadn’t really been taught, more like imbued with the knowledge.

“So, can you give me some knowledge?”

“Well, I could. That wouldn’t be the best option for either of us. However, you’re here because there is a better way. You know how to soul bind, correct?”

Quietus nodded. He had almost forgotten about the skill, as he had never used it, but he could.

“Then it’s simple. One of the best ways for you to learn new abilities is to steal them from others. It is not an easy process with those who have physical form, but to steal the abilities of ghosts is rather simpler. Simply use soul bind on them, and destroy their physical form. You should naturally absorb some of their power and knowledge, although not all ghosts and spirits will do. You would do best with the kind that appear in the Moaning Mines.”

Quest updated!

Dark Magic

The time has come to learn more advanced magic. Travel to the Moaning Mines and bind four of the named spirits to learn their spells. Then, return to Alva with what you have learned.

Difficulty:

Class Quest

Quietus felt like he had heard of that dungeon somewhere, but he couldn’t remember why right away. After getting directions from Alva, he set out on his quest.

End Chapter 23

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