Sally beamed as she rolled her STAR around to bring up her Skills tab. There was now a Reset button to press beside each ability - but what was giving her the cause for the wide grin was where the System had messed up again.
“It lets me reset the one that was taken by the spooky dude.” She raised an eyebrow up at the Death Knight.
“That might have… implications,” he replied.
If anything, it would be foolish not to take that opportunity - after all, being an ability short was no fun when everyone else had their maximum. They still needed to find Skill Books too, but that was neither here nor there. Definitely not here.
She pressed the button. Error - it replied, then it filled in the missing skill.
“No fair, I didn’t even get a choice!” She sighed and pressed to see the details.
[Mortis Bomb] [Ranged Magic attack that summons 3 to 5 zombies if the strike is successful. Consumes Skull (1) on use.]
Humphrey moved around behind her to read the System messages, too. “Conveniently, that seems to be more useful than even Necroblast had been.”
“Perhaps,” she shrugged, “good thing I’ve been stocking up on skulls, I suppose.” Now she had to pick the second skill to get rid of. It was more of a risk if she didn’t get to pick what she wanted, but then that’s maybe what the shrines were for - like that which Dent stole out from right in front of her back in the Forest.
She decided to reset [Hex: Slow]. When she wasn’t forgetting to use it, either there were too many enemies that it was a hassle to switch it, or against strong solo monsters it seemed to have less effect - if any at all. The System had finally agreed to treat her as some kind of Necromancer, so hopefully the reward for giving up the skill that had saved her a few times would be worth it.
[Living Dead] [Area Buff. Undead targets recover 15% HP over five seconds and receive STR and Speed boost for the duration.]
“That seems useful.” Sally tilted her head at the description. Things were really starting to come together now. “We just need some stability rather than bouncing between odd encounters, and maybe some cloud cover, and then we’ll be back on top of things.” She grinned at the rest of the Party.
“I’ll prepare the teleport out the front,” Edward gave a brief bow. “Dungeons can be a bit grumpy when you try to that kind of magic.”
“Theo got out fine.” Sally crossed her arms.
“Good for him.” The demon shrugged and walked towards the exit, the rest of the Party following along after Sally’s nod of approval.
She held out a hand. “One second, Lucius, hang back so we can have a little chat.”
Humphrey shot a glance back to her, but said nothing as he and Archie headed out with the tax-collector. Lucius looked nervous, even without the sweat drop emoji appearing beside his head. Sally waited until the shuffling sound of their movements was silent and she was alone with the demon.
“Everything okay, Sally?”
She clucked her tongue. “Don’t you go thinking because I’ve got a few screws loose that I don’t notice things.”
“W-what?”
“What are your motivations for staying with us? You’re not much of a combatant?” Her arms crossed across her chest as she glared into the crimson eyes under the shadow of the red hood.
“You seemed… fun? I was pretty alone, so being around people made a pleasant change.” There was no accompanying emoji to his statement.
Sally tried to read his lack of face. She paused as she weighed up her next thought. “You’re allowed to have secrets. Hiding your identity or true purpose is something we can forgive. But…” she leaned closer as Lucius recoiled away. “Do not betray us. I will not hesitate to kill and eat you.”
This time, a sweat drop followed by a screaming face emoji appeared beside the demon’s head. “No! I wouldn’t do that. What has brought this up all of a sudden?”
She smiled. “We all have something to fight for. Even Eddy had some depth and wasn’t just a ridiculous foil to our progress. You’ve been nothing but affable and agreeable.”
“That’s a bad thing?” Lucius took a step backward to be further from the zombie's looming presence.
“It’s something I don’t trust. Everyone had an agenda.” Sally clicked her fingers and grinned. “So come up with something neat. That’s a little homework for you.”
With that, she turned and walked out towards the dungeon exit, leaving the demon frozen for a second before he followed along.
“I hate this constant sun,” she grumbled as she stepped through the waterfall of sand, placing the sun hat atop her head. “Hats on, team.”
The small straw bonnets looked especially cute on Archie, and Edward relented to joining in despite his tangible disdain for how it looked.
“Good thing I didn’t give Theo his one yet, so we have enough.” She passed the last one to Lucius hanging at the back, very slowly and purposefully placing it in his open hands as she maintained eye contact.
“Need I ask?” Humphrey murmured after she turned back around.
She shrugged in return and gave him a wink. “Alright, Edward. Let’s go eat some lizard brains!”
The demon rolled his eyes. With a flash of blue, vertigo enveloped the Party and after a brief moment, they were inside a house.
Edward's blade slashed through the air, a crackle of energy as he struck the seated figure turning to greet them. A Lizardman clutched at his gashed throat and collapsed to the floor from the chair.
“Normally, I could decapitate him.” The tax-collector sighed. “Probably shouldn’t have my spawn point set in a building, but it’s a safe enough place where we won’t pull any aggro until we leave."
[Eat Brains]
“Hah!” Sally wiped her mouth and rose from the body. “You didn’t finish him off. What an odd tasting brain.”
The creature wasn't much like the crocodile Unique Theo had fought back at Sanctuary. These Monsters had short, squat faces more like a Komodo dragon. Their scales were a mix of soft greens and pale yellows. And currently, bright red blood.
She looked around the room. It was a small building where one side was slightly raised and held several filing cabinets. Like an office or data collection place - oh, maybe some kind of lizard tax office. That would make some sense, in a manner that she wasn’t too convinced by.
“That reminds me, Sally.” Edward put his thin sword back in its scabbard. “May I see your dagger, please?”
“Is this for [Betray Trust]?” She asked, narrowing her eyes.
“Yes, yes, it is.” A wide grin spread across his face.
She nodded. “Oh, okay then.” Withdrawing [Skeleton Key], she handed it over to him. “That reminds me. I know of a way you can get to Level Eleven easy, but you’re not going to like it.”
He grimaced and ran his hand down the blade, a sheen of light green energy surrounding the dagger. “What is it?” Edward passed the weapon back to her. “The enchantment is dormant until I activate it.”
“Become my bodyguard.” She wagged her eyebrows at him. Despite having the ability to have three now, they hadn’t found many willing candidates. As far as she understood it, it would allow him to become a Level below hers every time she Leveled up.
“What… would be the benefit for me?” He didn’t immediately reject the idea, but there was a healthy amount of skepticism in his tone.
Humphrey looked down at Archie, who had already curled up on the floor as if to nap. “It may make you nigh immortal,” the Death Knight rubbed his chin. “Or at least have enough levels that death wasn’t so dire. There are Stat bonuses for being around Sally, and as a Unique you wouldn’t be forced to be around her forever,”
Sally nodded. “You do get a tingly feeling whenever I’m in danger, which is a lot of the time, but every time I level up, you’d get all your lives reset back to max.”
“So I have a vested interest in keeping you safe and alive.” Edward rubbed his chin as he narrowed his bright blue eyes. “But you wouldn’t force me to follow your merry band around?”
“Nope.” She shook her head and smiled. “I imagine you want to see Ruben humbled, so you’re not going anywhere too soon - but as long as you’re on our side still, you can have whatever freedom you wanted.” Sally cast a brief glance at Lucius before looking back at the tax-collector.
“Well…” The demon looked around the room. “Let me think about it. While it is a most generous offer, I am only just unlatching myself from the shackles of subservience, and I’m not keen to jump into something else too soon.”
Sally bowed. “I appreciate your honesty and respect your decision.” She smiled between each of the Outsiders, only lingering on Lucius for a brief extra half-second. “Anyone with any last words before we get started?”
They all shook their heads as Humphrey withdrew his greatsword.
“Allow me to go first. That doorway is too small. I will need to make a new one.”
Sally took a skull from her Inventory to hold in her off-hand, the slightly glowing [Skeleton Key] in her main. Now she was feeling like things were coming together.
“Be my guest, Humps. Let’s give them hell.”
The two demons groaned.
Sally beamed as she rolled her STAR around to bring up her Skills tab. There was now a Reset button to press beside each ability - but what was giving her the cause for the wide grin was where the System had messed up again.
“It lets me reset the one that was taken by the spooky dude.” She raised an eyebrow up at the Death Knight.
“That might have… implications,” he replied.
If anything, it would be foolish not to take that opportunity - after all, being an ability short was no fun when everyone else had their maximum. They still needed to find Skill Books too, but that was neither here nor there. Definitely not here.
She pressed the button. Error - it replied, then it filled in the missing skill.
“No fair, I didn’t even get a choice!” She sighed and pressed to see the details.
[Mortis Bomb] [Ranged Magic attack that summons 3 to 5 zombies if the strike is successful. Consumes Skull (1) on use.]
Humphrey moved around behind her to read the System messages, too. “Conveniently, that seems to be more useful than even Necroblast had been.”
“Perhaps,” she shrugged, “good thing I’ve been stocking up on skulls, I suppose.” Now she had to pick the second skill to get rid of. It was more of a risk if she didn’t get to pick what she wanted, but then that’s maybe what the shrines were for - like that which Dent stole out from right in front of her back in the Forest.
She decided to reset [Hex: Slow]. When she wasn’t forgetting to use it, either there were too many enemies that it was a hassle to switch it, or against strong solo monsters it seemed to have less effect - if any at all. The System had finally agreed to treat her as some kind of Necromancer, so hopefully the reward for giving up the skill that had saved her a few times would be worth it.
[Living Dead] [Area Buff. Undead targets recover 15% HP over five seconds and receive STR and Speed boost for the duration.]
“That seems useful.” Sally tilted her head at the description. Things were really starting to come together now. “We just need some stability rather than bouncing between odd encounters, and maybe some cloud cover, and then we’ll be back on top of things.” She grinned at the rest of the Party.
“I’ll prepare the teleport out the front,” Edward gave a brief bow. “Dungeons can be a bit grumpy when you try to that kind of magic.”
“Theo got out fine.” Sally crossed her arms.
“Good for him.” The demon shrugged and walked towards the exit, the rest of the Party following along after Sally’s nod of approval.
She held out a hand. “One second, Lucius, hang back so we can have a little chat.”
Humphrey shot a glance back to her, but said nothing as he and Archie headed out with the tax-collector. Lucius looked nervous, even without the sweat drop emoji appearing beside his head. Sally waited until the shuffling sound of their movements was silent and she was alone with the demon.
“Everything okay, Sally?”
She clucked her tongue. “Don’t you go thinking because I’ve got a few screws loose that I don’t notice things.”
“W-what?”
“What are your motivations for staying with us? You’re not much of a combatant?” Her arms crossed across her chest as she glared into the crimson eyes under the shadow of the red hood.
“You seemed… fun? I was pretty alone, so being around people made a pleasant change.” There was no accompanying emoji to his statement.
Sally tried to read his lack of face. She paused as she weighed up her next thought. “You’re allowed to have secrets. Hiding your identity or true purpose is something we can forgive. But…” she leaned closer as Lucius recoiled away. “Do not betray us. I will not hesitate to kill and eat you.”
This time, a sweat drop followed by a screaming face emoji appeared beside the demon’s head. “No! I wouldn’t do that. What has brought this up all of a sudden?”
She smiled. “We all have something to fight for. Even Eddy had some depth and wasn’t just a ridiculous foil to our progress. You’ve been nothing but affable and agreeable.”
“That’s a bad thing?” Lucius took a step backward to be further from the zombie's looming presence.
“It’s something I don’t trust. Everyone had an agenda.” Sally clicked her fingers and grinned. “So come up with something neat. That’s a little homework for you.”
With that, she turned and walked out towards the dungeon exit, leaving the demon frozen for a second before he followed along.
“I hate this constant sun,” she grumbled as she stepped through the waterfall of sand, placing the sun hat atop her head. “Hats on, team.”
The small straw bonnets looked especially cute on Archie, and Edward relented to joining in despite his tangible disdain for how it looked.
“Good thing I didn’t give Theo his one yet, so we have enough.” She passed the last one to Lucius hanging at the back, very slowly and purposefully placing it in his open hands as she maintained eye contact.
“Need I ask?” Humphrey murmured after she turned back around.
She shrugged in return and gave him a wink. “Alright, Edward. Let’s go eat some lizard brains!”
The demon rolled his eyes. With a flash of blue, vertigo enveloped the Party and after a brief moment, they were inside a house.
Edward's blade slashed through the air, a crackle of energy as he struck the seated figure turning to greet them. A Lizardman clutched at his gashed throat and collapsed to the floor from the chair.
“Normally, I could decapitate him.” The tax-collector sighed. “Probably shouldn’t have my spawn point set in a building, but it’s a safe enough place where we won’t pull any aggro until we leave."
[Eat Brains]
“Hah!” Sally wiped her mouth and rose from the body. “You didn’t finish him off. What an odd tasting brain.”
The creature wasn't much like the crocodile Unique Theo had fought back at Sanctuary. These Monsters had short, squat faces more like a Komodo dragon. Their scales were a mix of soft greens and pale yellows. And currently, bright red blood.
She looked around the room. It was a small building where one side was slightly raised and held several filing cabinets. Like an office or data collection place - oh, maybe some kind of lizard tax office. That would make some sense, in a manner that she wasn’t too convinced by.
“That reminds me, Sally.” Edward put his thin sword back in its scabbard. “May I see your dagger, please?”
“Is this for [Betray Trust]?” She asked, narrowing her eyes.
“Yes, yes, it is.” A wide grin spread across his face.
She nodded. “Oh, okay then.” Withdrawing [Skeleton Key], she handed it over to him. “That reminds me. I know of a way you can get to Level Eleven easy, but you’re not going to like it.”
He grimaced and ran his hand down the blade, a sheen of light green energy surrounding the dagger. “What is it?” Edward passed the weapon back to her. “The enchantment is dormant until I activate it.”
“Become my bodyguard.” She wagged her eyebrows at him. Despite having the ability to have three now, they hadn’t found many willing candidates. As far as she understood it, it would allow him to become a Level below hers every time she Leveled up.
“What… would be the benefit for me?” He didn’t immediately reject the idea, but there was a healthy amount of skepticism in his tone.
Humphrey looked down at Archie, who had already curled up on the floor as if to nap. “It may make you nigh immortal,” the Death Knight rubbed his chin. “Or at least have enough levels that death wasn’t so dire. There are Stat bonuses for being around Sally, and as a Unique you wouldn’t be forced to be around her forever,”
Sally nodded. “You do get a tingly feeling whenever I’m in danger, which is a lot of the time, but every time I level up, you’d get all your lives reset back to max.”
“So I have a vested interest in keeping you safe and alive.” Edward rubbed his chin as he narrowed his bright blue eyes. “But you wouldn’t force me to follow your merry band around?”
“Nope.” She shook her head and smiled. “I imagine you want to see Ruben humbled, so you’re not going anywhere too soon - but as long as you’re on our side still, you can have whatever freedom you wanted.” Sally cast a brief glance at Lucius before looking back at the tax-collector.
“Well…” The demon looked around the room. “Let me think about it. While it is a most generous offer, I am only just unlatching myself from the shackles of subservience, and I’m not keen to jump into something else too soon.”
Sally bowed. “I appreciate your honesty and respect your decision.” She smiled between each of the Outsiders, only lingering on Lucius for a brief extra half-second. “Anyone with any last words before we get started?”
They all shook their heads as Humphrey withdrew his greatsword.
“Allow me to go first. That doorway is too small. I will need to make a new one.”
Sally took a skull from her Inventory to hold in her off-hand, the slightly glowing [Skeleton Key] in her main. Now she was feeling like things were coming together.
“Be my guest, Humps. Let’s give them hell.”
The two demons groaned.
