“Clerics, they are all the same,” the Ranger spat on the floor as he walked towards the dark opening of the Town Hall, bow raised and arrow notched.
“More interested in purging zombies than saving a life in distress,” the Wizard murmured his agreement. After all, zombies couldn’t talk - the voice they heard had to be someone who needed help. There was nothing quite as satisfying as a Side Quest you just happened to run into by chance.
Especially one that didn’t involve running half the continent to deliver some cake ingredients. At least the cake was good, though.
The Cleric seethed through clenched teeth. How dare they? To come all this way and still be so stupid and clueless. He had half a mind not to support them… but then, if they did kill the zombie woman, he wouldn’t get any of the rewards. With a deep sigh, he begrudgingly followed behind them at a safe distance. Idly flicking through his Combat UI, the fact that it was blank was curious but not abnormal.
He shrugged and drew his spellbook and mace.
This better level me up again, Sally shook her head. Getting out of the situation with her unlife would be a fair middle ground. She itched from sitting so long, perched precariously by the window - perhaps some combat would relieve her of that problem. Yet again, she faced a situation where she had just to wait and listen as footsteps drew closer.
Her hand gripped tightly to the handle of the dagger was oddly clammy. She had never struck anyone - in this life and whatever was before - that she could remember. It was kill or be killed, and she was quite partial to being on this side of the grave. Did monsters or Players respawn? That would be a question for the skull when they had-
The Wizard and Ranger had reached the threshold of the doorway, pausing for a second as their eyes adjusted to the dark interior.
“Blue blazes, there’s a lot of them - you think the lady trapped is in the back room?” The Wizard raised his hand, and a green glow started building.
The Ranger shrugged, raising his bow. “No idea, let’s clear these out and che-”
He didn’t get to finish the sentence as the rickety bridge over their heads collapsed - helped in part by Sally kicking out one of the supporting legs. They both looked up as tables, chairs, and the four Party zombies dropped down on them.
The Ranger managed to dodge backwards, tripping onto his backside but avoiding the majority of the debris and falling rotters. Not so lucky was the Wizard, as the furniture pinned him to the floor, causing his spell to fizzle out. A sheen of blue light flickered over the panicked arcane user, some manner of shield preventing the initial bite attempts from the Party.
“You have lightning resist, right?” The Ranger yelled as he tried to scramble to his feet and ready his bow.
The Cleric dropped his mace and helped the Ranger up, “[Healing Word].” A spell began to form in his other hand, ready to heal the Wizard after the zombies had been cleared.
Sally leapt from the tower of tables, a good fifteen or so feet in the air. Everything seemed to go in slow motion as she fell towards the Wizard, trying to free themselves from the zombie’s grasp. She had just enough time to savour the fear in his eyes as he noticed her descent.
As if knowing her intentions, the Party moved to the side, which allowed her a clear route to her target.
She landed, pain flaring up her legs as wooden furniture buckled and split beneath her landing. With the full force of her fall, she jammed the knife downwards into the unprepared Wizard’s throat, gouging the basic weapon to the side with little resistance.
Blood sprayed out, covering her waitress uniform and face as the Wizard fell dead, shocked eyes lulling back towards the remaining adventurers.
“Miss me already?” She hissed out at the Cleric, licking the blood from the blade as her eyes glowed bright red. The psychological damage was always worth being a little extra.
Both men paled, mouths agape, before the Cleric regained his composure - a brief flare of anger overrode his fear.
“That’s her!” he sputtered as he stepped backwards, “she can control these dead - kill her!”
As if to prove his declaration correct, the zombies that had been waiting in the wings started to clamber over the debris and pour out of the Town Hall - red hunger in their eyes.
The Ranger levelled a quick arrow at Sally, and she flinched, expecting the piercing pain - but Chuck flung himself in the way, the arrow taken in his eye socket. His body flopped over onto the ground, and the light of his eyes faded.
The horde surged past her, giving her cover as she seethed, teeth bared as she tried to process the death of her Party member.
“Impressive,” Humphrey hovered down to her, “they are back to having the advantage of range now if you plan on just standing here.”
“[Holy Nova].” A bright dome of radiant white light pulsed from the Cleric, burning up the nearest zombies. The Ranger let loose a couple of arrows, downing several more undead.
Sally flipped her dagger around and sprinted off the pile of wood and Wizard, sidestepping as she ran so that a zombie was always between her and the ranged pair. The horde was gaining ground but losing the war of attrition.
The Cleric wiped the sweat from his brow with his long brown robes and scowled. “Keep an eye on her; she is approaching.”
“I can see that, god-boy; I’m just trying not to get overwhelmed,” the Ranger spat back, landing another arrow in the forehead of near undead.
“Yes, quite.” The Cleric wrinkled his nose and scanned the crowd with panicked eyes. With a swift motion, he brought his mace around in a wide arc, striking the Ranger in the back of the head. “Sorry,” the robed man shook his head as he turned and fled.
The Ranger stumbled forward, staggering on unsure footing as his hand reached up to his cloaked head. He spat on the floor as his vision spun and went to turn towards the traitorous adventurer - but before he could focus, a body slammed into him, knocking the air from his lungs as he fell against the stone floor. The musk of decay filled his senses before the pain of sharp teeth ripped into his flesh.
Sally stood and wiped the gore from her mouth, allowing the slower zombies to finish the job. She hadn’t wanted to eat them before, but the taste of the Wizard’s blood was… pretty neat actually. Not in a full three-course meal kinda way, more like cotton candy that melted on your tongue and was a fun treat.
She stepped forward away from the throng of dead eating the Ranger to watch the Cleric cowardly escape.
“You are an affront to God!” He yelled out from a safe distance. “I will be telling the Guild about you - your days are numbered, fiend!” He escaped down the road and behind the treeline, his fist outstretched and shaking the whole way.
“That was unexpected. Although a hypocritical Cleric? Not saying duh… but,” Sally sighed and pocketed her dagger. She wasn’t sure if she still had adrenaline rushes, but whatever buzz had made her stab and eat people was wearing off, and she felt tired.
“He probably would have been fine if they attacked together,” the Observer noted as he flew lazily through the air, “I’ve never witnessed such reckless self-preservation from an adventurer before.”
Sally licked her teeth clean. Why were they all so sharp? “Hey, Humps, who is the ‘Guild’?”
“He probably meant the Adventurers Guild. They facilitate Quests, officiating the laws governing adventurers and all the boring stuff.” The skull turned to look back at the reduced horde in front of the Town Hall.
“Ah, so, they’d be the ones putting a bounty on me or setting some kinda… standard of Party that would need to come zap me?” She rubbed her legs now, some minor cuts from the furniture, but surprisingly she hadn’t bled much. Perhaps not surprisingly.
“Yes.”
She tapped the STAR to bring up the Party information. She hadn’t realised it, but she had lost the elderly man during her rush. However…
“Huh.” Sally walked over to the debris pile by the door and squatted down by her fallen Party member. “You seeing this, Humphrey?”
The Observer paused as if going over the same overlay in his own vision. “I do. Peculiar.”
Chuck lay across a split table, mouth agape and arrow stuck through one eye into his brain. His body was limp, and his eyes were devoid of any light. The UI showed a full red bar, yet he hadn't been removed from the Party like the old man had been.
“Aw, buddy,” she patted his shoulder, “why aren’t you properly dead?”
[Level Up]
Her Star shone a bright golden colour as several text pop-ups appeared over the heads of half of the zombie horde.
“Ayy nice!” Sally flexed her noodle arms in celebration. “Why are my pals only level one-point-five now instead of two?”
“Some monsters scale differently, so they have part levels. Minor stat increases, making it a smoother levelling process for, uh, Players.”
It looked like levelling up had replenished part of the Party’s missing health points. Except for Chuck, who-
The zombie in question stood up and staggered into position, the arrow still in his eye socket. Sally frowned at the UI - he had returned to full health, but…
“Chuck, you’ve gone down in Level to zero-point-three. What are you playing at?” She tilted her head, but the short zombie did nothing to respond.
“Hmm,” the Observer similarly tilted himself. “I suppose you’ll go up in power at least.”
“Of course,” she beamed, pressing the golden STAR. “Oh!”
Surprise and wonder filled her red eyes as three skills popped up. Pick One, the hovering text said in bold letters.
“I didn’t know I’d get to pick!”
“Generally, that is the method. First four Levels, you have a choice of three skills, and the fifth Level has a keystone ability for your class. After the fifth Level, you can either advance your class, multi-class into something different, or just keep at it - within certain limits.”
“Mine didn’t work like that,” she huffed, “I still don’t even have a listed Class.”
Sally paused her complaining and narrowed her eyes, weighing up the options before making her choice.
[Pick One]
> [Drain Life] [Ranged 40ft - Replenishes some of your HP by Damaging the Target]
> [Grasping Hands] [Area Effect 10ft radius - Any Creature entering this space is slowed]
> [Mighty Aura] [Passive Aura - Party members have increased Strength and Constitution]
“Clerics, they are all the same,” the Ranger spat on the floor as he walked towards the dark opening of the Town Hall, bow raised and arrow notched.
“More interested in purging zombies than saving a life in distress,” the Wizard murmured his agreement. After all, zombies couldn’t talk - the voice they heard had to be someone who needed help. There was nothing quite as satisfying as a Side Quest you just happened to run into by chance.
Especially one that didn’t involve running half the continent to deliver some cake ingredients. At least the cake was good, though.
The Cleric seethed through clenched teeth. How dare they? To come all this way and still be so stupid and clueless. He had half a mind not to support them… but then, if they did kill the zombie woman, he wouldn’t get any of the rewards. With a deep sigh, he begrudgingly followed behind them at a safe distance. Idly flicking through his Combat UI, the fact that it was blank was curious but not abnormal.
He shrugged and drew his spellbook and mace.
This better level me up again, Sally shook her head. Getting out of the situation with her unlife would be a fair middle ground. She itched from sitting so long, perched precariously by the window - perhaps some combat would relieve her of that problem. Yet again, she faced a situation where she had just to wait and listen as footsteps drew closer.
Her hand gripped tightly to the handle of the dagger was oddly clammy. She had never struck anyone - in this life and whatever was before - that she could remember. It was kill or be killed, and she was quite partial to being on this side of the grave. Did monsters or Players respawn? That would be a question for the skull when they had-
The Wizard and Ranger had reached the threshold of the doorway, pausing for a second as their eyes adjusted to the dark interior.
“Blue blazes, there’s a lot of them - you think the lady trapped is in the back room?” The Wizard raised his hand, and a green glow started building.
The Ranger shrugged, raising his bow. “No idea, let’s clear these out and che-”
He didn’t get to finish the sentence as the rickety bridge over their heads collapsed - helped in part by Sally kicking out one of the supporting legs. They both looked up as tables, chairs, and the four Party zombies dropped down on them.
The Ranger managed to dodge backwards, tripping onto his backside but avoiding the majority of the debris and falling rotters. Not so lucky was the Wizard, as the furniture pinned him to the floor, causing his spell to fizzle out. A sheen of blue light flickered over the panicked arcane user, some manner of shield preventing the initial bite attempts from the Party.
“You have lightning resist, right?” The Ranger yelled as he tried to scramble to his feet and ready his bow.
The Cleric dropped his mace and helped the Ranger up, “[Healing Word].” A spell began to form in his other hand, ready to heal the Wizard after the zombies had been cleared.
Sally leapt from the tower of tables, a good fifteen or so feet in the air. Everything seemed to go in slow motion as she fell towards the Wizard, trying to free themselves from the zombie’s grasp. She had just enough time to savour the fear in his eyes as he noticed her descent.
As if knowing her intentions, the Party moved to the side, which allowed her a clear route to her target.
She landed, pain flaring up her legs as wooden furniture buckled and split beneath her landing. With the full force of her fall, she jammed the knife downwards into the unprepared Wizard’s throat, gouging the basic weapon to the side with little resistance.
Blood sprayed out, covering her waitress uniform and face as the Wizard fell dead, shocked eyes lulling back towards the remaining adventurers.
“Miss me already?” She hissed out at the Cleric, licking the blood from the blade as her eyes glowed bright red. The psychological damage was always worth being a little extra.
Both men paled, mouths agape, before the Cleric regained his composure - a brief flare of anger overrode his fear.
“That’s her!” he sputtered as he stepped backwards, “she can control these dead - kill her!”
As if to prove his declaration correct, the zombies that had been waiting in the wings started to clamber over the debris and pour out of the Town Hall - red hunger in their eyes.
The Ranger levelled a quick arrow at Sally, and she flinched, expecting the piercing pain - but Chuck flung himself in the way, the arrow taken in his eye socket. His body flopped over onto the ground, and the light of his eyes faded.
The horde surged past her, giving her cover as she seethed, teeth bared as she tried to process the death of her Party member.
“Impressive,” Humphrey hovered down to her, “they are back to having the advantage of range now if you plan on just standing here.”
“[Holy Nova].” A bright dome of radiant white light pulsed from the Cleric, burning up the nearest zombies. The Ranger let loose a couple of arrows, downing several more undead.
Sally flipped her dagger around and sprinted off the pile of wood and Wizard, sidestepping as she ran so that a zombie was always between her and the ranged pair. The horde was gaining ground but losing the war of attrition.
The Cleric wiped the sweat from his brow with his long brown robes and scowled. “Keep an eye on her; she is approaching.”
“I can see that, god-boy; I’m just trying not to get overwhelmed,” the Ranger spat back, landing another arrow in the forehead of near undead.
“Yes, quite.” The Cleric wrinkled his nose and scanned the crowd with panicked eyes. With a swift motion, he brought his mace around in a wide arc, striking the Ranger in the back of the head. “Sorry,” the robed man shook his head as he turned and fled.
The Ranger stumbled forward, staggering on unsure footing as his hand reached up to his cloaked head. He spat on the floor as his vision spun and went to turn towards the traitorous adventurer - but before he could focus, a body slammed into him, knocking the air from his lungs as he fell against the stone floor. The musk of decay filled his senses before the pain of sharp teeth ripped into his flesh.
Sally stood and wiped the gore from her mouth, allowing the slower zombies to finish the job. She hadn’t wanted to eat them before, but the taste of the Wizard’s blood was… pretty neat actually. Not in a full three-course meal kinda way, more like cotton candy that melted on your tongue and was a fun treat.
She stepped forward away from the throng of dead eating the Ranger to watch the Cleric cowardly escape.
“You are an affront to God!” He yelled out from a safe distance. “I will be telling the Guild about you - your days are numbered, fiend!” He escaped down the road and behind the treeline, his fist outstretched and shaking the whole way.
“That was unexpected. Although a hypocritical Cleric? Not saying duh… but,” Sally sighed and pocketed her dagger. She wasn’t sure if she still had adrenaline rushes, but whatever buzz had made her stab and eat people was wearing off, and she felt tired.
“He probably would have been fine if they attacked together,” the Observer noted as he flew lazily through the air, “I’ve never witnessed such reckless self-preservation from an adventurer before.”
Sally licked her teeth clean. Why were they all so sharp? “Hey, Humps, who is the ‘Guild’?”
“He probably meant the Adventurers Guild. They facilitate Quests, officiating the laws governing adventurers and all the boring stuff.” The skull turned to look back at the reduced horde in front of the Town Hall.
“Ah, so, they’d be the ones putting a bounty on me or setting some kinda… standard of Party that would need to come zap me?” She rubbed her legs now, some minor cuts from the furniture, but surprisingly she hadn’t bled much. Perhaps not surprisingly.
“Yes.”
She tapped the STAR to bring up the Party information. She hadn’t realised it, but she had lost the elderly man during her rush. However…
“Huh.” Sally walked over to the debris pile by the door and squatted down by her fallen Party member. “You seeing this, Humphrey?”
The Observer paused as if going over the same overlay in his own vision. “I do. Peculiar.”
Chuck lay across a split table, mouth agape and arrow stuck through one eye into his brain. His body was limp, and his eyes were devoid of any light. The UI showed a full red bar, yet he hadn't been removed from the Party like the old man had been.
“Aw, buddy,” she patted his shoulder, “why aren’t you properly dead?”
[Level Up]
Her Star shone a bright golden colour as several text pop-ups appeared over the heads of half of the zombie horde.
“Ayy nice!” Sally flexed her noodle arms in celebration. “Why are my pals only level one-point-five now instead of two?”
“Some monsters scale differently, so they have part levels. Minor stat increases, making it a smoother levelling process for, uh, Players.”
It looked like levelling up had replenished part of the Party’s missing health points. Except for Chuck, who-
The zombie in question stood up and staggered into position, the arrow still in his eye socket. Sally frowned at the UI - he had returned to full health, but…
“Chuck, you’ve gone down in Level to zero-point-three. What are you playing at?” She tilted her head, but the short zombie did nothing to respond.
“Hmm,” the Observer similarly tilted himself. “I suppose you’ll go up in power at least.”
“Of course,” she beamed, pressing the golden STAR. “Oh!”
Surprise and wonder filled her red eyes as three skills popped up. Pick One, the hovering text said in bold letters.
“I didn’t know I’d get to pick!”
“Generally, that is the method. First four Levels, you have a choice of three skills, and the fifth Level has a keystone ability for your class. After the fifth Level, you can either advance your class, multi-class into something different, or just keep at it - within certain limits.”
“Mine didn’t work like that,” she huffed, “I still don’t even have a listed Class.”
Sally paused her complaining and narrowed her eyes, weighing up the options before making her choice.
[Pick One]
> [Drain Life] [Ranged 40ft - Replenishes some of your HP by Damaging the Target]
> [Grasping Hands] [Area Effect 10ft radius - Any Creature entering this space is slowed]
> [Mighty Aura] [Passive Aura - Party members have increased Strength and Constitution]
