Sally groaned as she trudged through the sand. “I can’t believe that we haven’t picked up mounts yet. This is agony.”
Humphrey grinned and looked out at the swirling desert. “It’s not that bad.”
She rolled her eyes in response. “I still can’t decide on my new skill. Oh, I’ve seen Lucius’ Ultimate where he can shadow all four of us at once, but what was Norah’s?”
“It’s a summon. Like the statue we had fought in the Dungeon, but not made of stone.”
“Neat! Is it undead too?” Summons were great if they could share all their auras and buffing abilities.
“Yes, I believe so. Do you want to know what my Ultimate is?”
She grimaced. “Is it much cooler than mine, like with flashing lights or environmental effects?” There might be a little envy there over Theo’s ability to bring about pitch black night and slow things before he used that darkness to shoot people with his finger. Actually, thinking about it too hard made it seem all the more ridiculous.
“Yes,” the Death Knight said with a grin.
Sally groaned again. “Pass, then.” Not that she liked everything being a surprise, but she knew he did - and there was some merit in having a bit of spectacle and tension in a fight. The dry sands tiring out her eyes, she relented to hitting her skill selections to pick a skill.
[Pick One]
[Skull Seeker] [Remains are easier to find from corpses.]
[Tomb Dweller] [Party Buff - Increase Resistances for a short period.]
[Curse: Decay] [Channeled Curse - Target slowly loses health if they are over 50% HP.]
Skull Seeker seemed a little redundant at this stage. Unless there was anything cool she could craft with body parts, she already had more skulls than she could get through. A little bit of foresight went a long way. An Inventory full of remains sounded neat in a macabre way, but it was already cluttered enough with things she didn’t like to look at.
Tomb Dweller would make the Party briefly even more hardy than they were. Didn’t affect her minions, however. Plus, there must be a point where diminishing returns kicked in and any further buffs wouldn’t be worth the opportunity cost. Gross, she was starting to think of these things like Theo. In fairness, with the amount of skills they were accumulating as they leveled, it was a lot to keep track of. She yawned and moved onto the next.
The new Curse had piqued her interest as it was something channeled, rather than having to cast it all the time. Only worked on pretty healthy targets - but even then it gave her something to do from range when Mortis Bomb was on cooldown. She ground her teeth together.
[Curse: Decay]
“I went with a draining skill,” she said with a shrug.
“Figures.” Humphrey grinned.
Sally grumbled to herself. Despite the long rest, the fine grains of the System had started to wear at her brain again. Maybe that was just the sand. Archie wouldn’t tell them much about the next area and had absconded as soon as they were settled and properly awake. New problems, as always.
A handful of figures loomed over the next dune, and she licked her lips in hopes that it might be more Player brains eager to jump inside her stomach. Only slightly disappointed, she realized it was the rest of the Party.
“Thanks again for the gift,” she kicked sand at Theo when they got close enough.
“I don’t know what you mean.” The vampire pushed up his glasses. “Although there is somewhere I’d like to take you?”
Sally narrowed her eyes, but shrugged. “Sure. We already leveled up - so Humphrey can help the others?”
Agreements were murmured and nodded.
“We have a busy day ahead, so don’t spend too long.” The Death Knight glared at Theo.
“Of course.” He smiled back and put his hands in his pockets.
Sally rolled her eyes and then the pair of them vanished in a flash of blue light. A brief moment of vertigo, and then they stumbled out into… more sand. There was something familiar about the area, but it was different. Populated and less drained of life.
“You didn’t get your zombie dragon,” Theo began, going through his STAR, “but maybe this can be a close second?”
She tilted her head and caught the item he threw over to her.
[Mount Taming Lure]
She beamed at the vampire, pointing it at him immediately. “Doesn’t work,” she said with a pout.
He jerked his thumb over to the side with a sigh, and she turned to see a hole in the ground. As her eyes narrowed, an even wider smile crossed her face. “Not bad, fangs.” She kicked more sand at him and then ran for the Warren.
It wasn’t exactly regal or imposing, but there was something about scurrying about the sands atop a giant zombie mouse that felt good. Sally’s mouth ached from smiling constantly as the warm air whipped through her hair.
“We’re going to meet them by the mountain,” Theo yelled from his own mount. His had dark black fur, so Sally had chosen one with white fur to contrast.
In the process of turning them undead, they did both get a little dirty and bloodied, but the benefit was they could share all the Party boons. Not that she wanted to throw her new pet into a combat situation - keeping it alive was important. “Okay,” she yelled in return. “Then straight to the jungle?”
“Yeah.”
Teleporting would be much quicker, but taking the scenic route and giving the mice a test drive would allow the others to level up in the meantime. Theo must have gotten to Eighteen already, seeing as he had the experience bonus passive still. It had taken a lot to convince him to not get to Twenty - he was even more raring to go to the next level than she was.
Mostly because it was somewhat… worrying. The mouse ride actually gave her a chance to think in relative silence for a while, without having to be a manic mess around the Party. She hadn’t been able to contact any of her friends through the System messages. Chuck, Dent, or Lana. The Chat still worked because she could talk with the Party… but from their coma onwards everything else had been peaceful. She was sure Chuck would have sent her something while they were asleep for a year…
The whole two Player factions fighting over the System seemed like a brain drain too. She would have to hear them out in person to see what their stances truly were - but killing over how to live in the world seemed backwards. The irony tasted weird - although, maybe that was the sand too. What even was her stance on the System these days?
Sally furrowed her brow. It had changed over time. At first, she wanted revenge for her bugged existence. Eat the System, and eat the Architect. Her human side had pushed the nuance of morality upon her. Should she take her anger out on the others brought to this world, even if they were tasty? So the best option was to make the System fair for both Players and the Unique Monsters that were almost the same in this world.
With the Architect being dead, there was a need to try to steer the captainless ship. The Wastelands told the story of what an empowered and unrestricted Unique could achieve, and her task was to make things fair for everyone again. All should have the same chances to live how they wanted.
So what next? Break the thumbs of whichever faction she didn’t ally with, and then try to squeeze themselves to the next area. If anything, she needed to find an end point where they weren’t constantly having to fix everything. She yawned, taking in grains of sand the mice were kicking up as they sprinted through the area.
One step at a time. Perhaps the constant struggle was what she needed, to not sit and panic over the fact she was stuck in this world as a sentient zombie. No use wishing for the impossible. Enemies were a lot easier to chew through than any existential crisis.
“You okay, Sally?” Theo shouted over to her. He was sitting back, relaxed, with his arms crossed as though he didn’t need to hold the reins.
“Soon,” she said with a grimace. Too early in the day to get too miserable. “I hate sand, it’s-“
“Me too,” the vampire interjected.
She deflated and looked around. Groups of Monsters roamed through the dry plains. Cacti and other vegetation had sprung up in areas. Small towns and Monster villages had been rebuilt and repopulated. It warmed her heart. As much as she was sad that they didn’t get to experience the area properly. They even thundered past a couple of Player groups working on Quests - their eyes wide in surprise at seeing the pair.
After a short while, the city loomed up on the horizon, the mountain palace just behind. Edward was happy to finally be able to level himself up - but didn’t seem too keen on following into the next area with them. He had a position of authority here, so that made sense. It was good to have an ally that could help maintain control over the Wasteland. He was reluctant to admit he would teleport to her and perform his duty of being her Bodyguard if they really needed it.
She most definitely would. Not just to see him, but trouble seemed to follow them around - especially when they chased it around and jumped in with both feet.
They caught even more eyes as they stampeded straight into the city, down the main road. System-created and some slower Players had to leap out of the way as they headed up toward the palace. As they reached the staircase, Theo clicked his fingers and his mount vanished, leaving him to slide along the floor on his boots.
“They can do that?” Sally yelled in surprise as she bounded past him onto the stairs. She clicked her fingers and her white mouse vanished, sending her bouncing into the stone steps. “Ow.” She slipped down a couple before rolling back up to her feet. “That was fun, though!”
The vampire walked up beside her with his hands in his pockets, and she looped an arm around his left. “I bet the others will be jealous,” she said with a grin.
“If we’re going to be in a jungle, there will probably not be much chance to use them. Due to their size.” Theo wrinkled up his nose in an attempt to adjust his glasses without his hands.
“Psh, unfair.” She rolled her eyes and then brightened up at seeing the rest of the Party already waiting for them.
Humphrey stood with his arms crossed and eyes narrowed at the vampire. “Took you long enough.”
Theo tutted as Sally relinquished her grip on him to go talk to Norah. “When are you going to get over it, old man?”
The flames behind the Death Knight’s helmet rose higher. “You forget your place, boy.”
“Are you going to show me it, then?” Crimson light flickered across the vampire’s eyes.
“Hey!” Lucius stepped up beside them, a sweat-drop emoji beside his hooded face. “We’re leveled now. Ready to go into the jungle?”
“More than ever,” Theo said with a grin, pushing his glasses up.
“Yes.” Humphrey continued glaring with empty sockets at the vampire.
“Cool, cool.” Another sweat-drop emoji. “Glad we’re all on the same page.”
“Right then!” Sally called from the side with the Mummy. “Edward is waiting on the path. Let’s roll out, corpsegang.”
“Corpsegang,” Lucius murmured to himself, an eye-rolling emoji beside his head.
Sally rubbed the back of her head and yawned. It was nice to have the gang together and all happy. It made things a lot easier when they got on so well. She turned back to the four of them, who were now following behind. Family, in a way. An odd one, but they were hers. She smiled and looked up at the pathway leading around the mountain.
It wasn’t but a few minutes later that they saw the lithe demon looking impatient at the side of the road.
“Outsiders,” he gave a short bow. “I, uh… don’t die?”
“Well said.” Sally grinned. “Glad you came out here for us.”
“Edward,” Theo said, narrowing his eyes.
“Theo,” the demon responded.
Sally slowly pushed her way in between the two to break off their eye contact. “Worried about us?”
He sighed in response. “I just know I’ll be seeing you soon enough… and Archie made it clear that you’d be getting into trouble with the factions within the hour, no doubt.”
She leaned past him to see the path leading away from the amber sandstone glow of the Wastes and, at a border, moved through trees and deep green vegetation.
“Sounds like a challenge,” she said with a wink.
Sally groaned as she trudged through the sand. “I can’t believe that we haven’t picked up mounts yet. This is agony.”
Humphrey grinned and looked out at the swirling desert. “It’s not that bad.”
She rolled her eyes in response. “I still can’t decide on my new skill. Oh, I’ve seen Lucius’ Ultimate where he can shadow all four of us at once, but what was Norah’s?”
“It’s a summon. Like the statue we had fought in the Dungeon, but not made of stone.”
“Neat! Is it undead too?” Summons were great if they could share all their auras and buffing abilities.
“Yes, I believe so. Do you want to know what my Ultimate is?”
She grimaced. “Is it much cooler than mine, like with flashing lights or environmental effects?” There might be a little envy there over Theo’s ability to bring about pitch black night and slow things before he used that darkness to shoot people with his finger. Actually, thinking about it too hard made it seem all the more ridiculous.
“Yes,” the Death Knight said with a grin.
Sally groaned again. “Pass, then.” Not that she liked everything being a surprise, but she knew he did - and there was some merit in having a bit of spectacle and tension in a fight. The dry sands tiring out her eyes, she relented to hitting her skill selections to pick a skill.
[Pick One]
[Skull Seeker] [Remains are easier to find from corpses.]
[Tomb Dweller] [Party Buff - Increase Resistances for a short period.]
[Curse: Decay] [Channeled Curse - Target slowly loses health if they are over 50% HP.]
Skull Seeker seemed a little redundant at this stage. Unless there was anything cool she could craft with body parts, she already had more skulls than she could get through. A little bit of foresight went a long way. An Inventory full of remains sounded neat in a macabre way, but it was already cluttered enough with things she didn’t like to look at.
Tomb Dweller would make the Party briefly even more hardy than they were. Didn’t affect her minions, however. Plus, there must be a point where diminishing returns kicked in and any further buffs wouldn’t be worth the opportunity cost. Gross, she was starting to think of these things like Theo. In fairness, with the amount of skills they were accumulating as they leveled, it was a lot to keep track of. She yawned and moved onto the next.
The new Curse had piqued her interest as it was something channeled, rather than having to cast it all the time. Only worked on pretty healthy targets - but even then it gave her something to do from range when Mortis Bomb was on cooldown. She ground her teeth together.
[Curse: Decay]
“I went with a draining skill,” she said with a shrug.
“Figures.” Humphrey grinned.
Sally grumbled to herself. Despite the long rest, the fine grains of the System had started to wear at her brain again. Maybe that was just the sand. Archie wouldn’t tell them much about the next area and had absconded as soon as they were settled and properly awake. New problems, as always.
A handful of figures loomed over the next dune, and she licked her lips in hopes that it might be more Player brains eager to jump inside her stomach. Only slightly disappointed, she realized it was the rest of the Party.
“Thanks again for the gift,” she kicked sand at Theo when they got close enough.
“I don’t know what you mean.” The vampire pushed up his glasses. “Although there is somewhere I’d like to take you?”
Sally narrowed her eyes, but shrugged. “Sure. We already leveled up - so Humphrey can help the others?”
Agreements were murmured and nodded.
“We have a busy day ahead, so don’t spend too long.” The Death Knight glared at Theo.
“Of course.” He smiled back and put his hands in his pockets.
Sally rolled her eyes and then the pair of them vanished in a flash of blue light. A brief moment of vertigo, and then they stumbled out into… more sand. There was something familiar about the area, but it was different. Populated and less drained of life.
“You didn’t get your zombie dragon,” Theo began, going through his STAR, “but maybe this can be a close second?”
She tilted her head and caught the item he threw over to her.
[Mount Taming Lure]
She beamed at the vampire, pointing it at him immediately. “Doesn’t work,” she said with a pout.
He jerked his thumb over to the side with a sigh, and she turned to see a hole in the ground. As her eyes narrowed, an even wider smile crossed her face. “Not bad, fangs.” She kicked more sand at him and then ran for the Warren.
It wasn’t exactly regal or imposing, but there was something about scurrying about the sands atop a giant zombie mouse that felt good. Sally’s mouth ached from smiling constantly as the warm air whipped through her hair.
“We’re going to meet them by the mountain,” Theo yelled from his own mount. His had dark black fur, so Sally had chosen one with white fur to contrast.
In the process of turning them undead, they did both get a little dirty and bloodied, but the benefit was they could share all the Party boons. Not that she wanted to throw her new pet into a combat situation - keeping it alive was important. “Okay,” she yelled in return. “Then straight to the jungle?”
“Yeah.”
Teleporting would be much quicker, but taking the scenic route and giving the mice a test drive would allow the others to level up in the meantime. Theo must have gotten to Eighteen already, seeing as he had the experience bonus passive still. It had taken a lot to convince him to not get to Twenty - he was even more raring to go to the next level than she was.
Mostly because it was somewhat… worrying. The mouse ride actually gave her a chance to think in relative silence for a while, without having to be a manic mess around the Party. She hadn’t been able to contact any of her friends through the System messages. Chuck, Dent, or Lana. The Chat still worked because she could talk with the Party… but from their coma onwards everything else had been peaceful. She was sure Chuck would have sent her something while they were asleep for a year…
The whole two Player factions fighting over the System seemed like a brain drain too. She would have to hear them out in person to see what their stances truly were - but killing over how to live in the world seemed backwards. The irony tasted weird - although, maybe that was the sand too. What even was her stance on the System these days?
Sally furrowed her brow. It had changed over time. At first, she wanted revenge for her bugged existence. Eat the System, and eat the Architect. Her human side had pushed the nuance of morality upon her. Should she take her anger out on the others brought to this world, even if they were tasty? So the best option was to make the System fair for both Players and the Unique Monsters that were almost the same in this world.
With the Architect being dead, there was a need to try to steer the captainless ship. The Wastelands told the story of what an empowered and unrestricted Unique could achieve, and her task was to make things fair for everyone again. All should have the same chances to live how they wanted.
So what next? Break the thumbs of whichever faction she didn’t ally with, and then try to squeeze themselves to the next area. If anything, she needed to find an end point where they weren’t constantly having to fix everything. She yawned, taking in grains of sand the mice were kicking up as they sprinted through the area.
One step at a time. Perhaps the constant struggle was what she needed, to not sit and panic over the fact she was stuck in this world as a sentient zombie. No use wishing for the impossible. Enemies were a lot easier to chew through than any existential crisis.
“You okay, Sally?” Theo shouted over to her. He was sitting back, relaxed, with his arms crossed as though he didn’t need to hold the reins.
“Soon,” she said with a grimace. Too early in the day to get too miserable. “I hate sand, it’s-“
“Me too,” the vampire interjected.
She deflated and looked around. Groups of Monsters roamed through the dry plains. Cacti and other vegetation had sprung up in areas. Small towns and Monster villages had been rebuilt and repopulated. It warmed her heart. As much as she was sad that they didn’t get to experience the area properly. They even thundered past a couple of Player groups working on Quests - their eyes wide in surprise at seeing the pair.
After a short while, the city loomed up on the horizon, the mountain palace just behind. Edward was happy to finally be able to level himself up - but didn’t seem too keen on following into the next area with them. He had a position of authority here, so that made sense. It was good to have an ally that could help maintain control over the Wasteland. He was reluctant to admit he would teleport to her and perform his duty of being her Bodyguard if they really needed it.
She most definitely would. Not just to see him, but trouble seemed to follow them around - especially when they chased it around and jumped in with both feet.
They caught even more eyes as they stampeded straight into the city, down the main road. System-created and some slower Players had to leap out of the way as they headed up toward the palace. As they reached the staircase, Theo clicked his fingers and his mount vanished, leaving him to slide along the floor on his boots.
“They can do that?” Sally yelled in surprise as she bounded past him onto the stairs. She clicked her fingers and her white mouse vanished, sending her bouncing into the stone steps. “Ow.” She slipped down a couple before rolling back up to her feet. “That was fun, though!”
The vampire walked up beside her with his hands in his pockets, and she looped an arm around his left. “I bet the others will be jealous,” she said with a grin.
“If we’re going to be in a jungle, there will probably not be much chance to use them. Due to their size.” Theo wrinkled up his nose in an attempt to adjust his glasses without his hands.
“Psh, unfair.” She rolled her eyes and then brightened up at seeing the rest of the Party already waiting for them.
Humphrey stood with his arms crossed and eyes narrowed at the vampire. “Took you long enough.”
Theo tutted as Sally relinquished her grip on him to go talk to Norah. “When are you going to get over it, old man?”
The flames behind the Death Knight’s helmet rose higher. “You forget your place, boy.”
“Are you going to show me it, then?” Crimson light flickered across the vampire’s eyes.
“Hey!” Lucius stepped up beside them, a sweat-drop emoji beside his hooded face. “We’re leveled now. Ready to go into the jungle?”
“More than ever,” Theo said with a grin, pushing his glasses up.
“Yes.” Humphrey continued glaring with empty sockets at the vampire.
“Cool, cool.” Another sweat-drop emoji. “Glad we’re all on the same page.”
“Right then!” Sally called from the side with the Mummy. “Edward is waiting on the path. Let’s roll out, corpsegang.”
“Corpsegang,” Lucius murmured to himself, an eye-rolling emoji beside his head.
Sally rubbed the back of her head and yawned. It was nice to have the gang together and all happy. It made things a lot easier when they got on so well. She turned back to the four of them, who were now following behind. Family, in a way. An odd one, but they were hers. She smiled and looked up at the pathway leading around the mountain.
It wasn’t but a few minutes later that they saw the lithe demon looking impatient at the side of the road.
“Outsiders,” he gave a short bow. “I, uh… don’t die?”
“Well said.” Sally grinned. “Glad you came out here for us.”
“Edward,” Theo said, narrowing his eyes.
“Theo,” the demon responded.
Sally slowly pushed her way in between the two to break off their eye contact. “Worried about us?”
He sighed in response. “I just know I’ll be seeing you soon enough… and Archie made it clear that you’d be getting into trouble with the factions within the hour, no doubt.”
She leaned past him to see the path leading away from the amber sandstone glow of the Wastes and, at a border, moved through trees and deep green vegetation.
“Sounds like a challenge,” she said with a wink.
