Sera hadn’t protested that Vey had picked her up and set her back down on the bed when she was done. She did look surprised when Vey pulled a piece of cloth out of its belt of things and wiped the remaining liquid off of her face before walking away, but honestly Vey only decided to do that because it had seen her do that before whenever she cried previously.
Confident that she would sleep for a while, and that she no longer needs its supervision, Vey decides to wander the entire dungeon, hoping to maybe, finally, begin trying to find usages for the upper level’s rooms and chambers. It doesn’t actually have a map of the whole dungeon, and it doesn’t have enough paper to make one, even with the small amount the adventurers had. Perhaps it could make paper? It ought to be able to design a spell to turn wood into paper, or at least multiple spells to do the process incrementally, but what if those spells are more complex than it can currently cast? The result would be that Vey would waste yet more paper in a failed pursuit at acquiring more.
So instead, Vey goes through room by room, hallway by hallway, writing a list. On the list is as follows:
Chamber at top of stairs: One hallway leading to the next chamber, old alchemy room(left), and old storage room(right) are off of the chamber.
Chamber after stair chamber: Two hallways, one to the left, the other to the right. Rightmost hallway leads to a decrepit dining area and kitchen area beyond, and the left leads to the next chamber.
Chamber after dining room split: Hallway on right ramping upwards, two rooms both on left side, one former chapel, other former bunkroom.
It is only at this point that Vey realizes that the room Vey and Sera both call the ‘ritual room’ was actually likely the dungeon’s common bathing area, once upon a time, and the ‘living chamber’ was likely a sauna.
Chamber after ramp: Basic bunk room chamber directly connected to the right.
Chamber before entrance hallway: former guard barracks on the far side(guard barracks has another aperture on the right wall, collapsed rock blocks the way), entrance hallway on left of the chamber.
Vey stops taking notes as it peers out of the entrance hallway and into the dark forest beyond. It is clearly nighttime, though that means absolutely nothing to Vey, who doesn’t use light to see to begin with. It notes the open iron doors, and decides to shut them as it walks out of the dungeon for the first time.
The world is… Wonderful… Vey thinks as it spins around in a circle, taking in the trees, the mountain cliff the dungeon is built into, the clearing and beaten down grass before the entrance, and the general feeling of liveliness in the air. Vey wouldn’t use the word beautiful, but ‘novel’ wouldn’t be far off. It is not that Vey particularly liked or disliked the concept of nature as opposed to the stonework of the dungeon, it is simply that Vey has never seen the world outside before. Vey feels a small pang of guilt for not asking Sera for more information about stuff like this, but ultimately decides that it is for the best not to make her think of the outside.
Vey no longer minds the thought of letting her live, but Vey very much minds the thought of her leaving or escaping, so the only way she would ever be allowed to see this nature again is if Vey can find a way to make escape impossible. Such thoughts are too heavy for the moment, though, and Vey performs the single actual task it had set for itself in coming out here. Vey uses its [Cutting Hand] to cut down a small sapling, and the strength boost from [Fists of Stone] to drag it back into the dungeon. Vey intends to have all of its undead fellows equipped with spears. There will not be a repeat of the previous encounter. Vey intends to make sure of that.
But that project is for later, what is for now, is after depositing the sapling in the old storeroom, Vey begins the arduous process of sorting through all of the rotten, decayed wood and piles of detritus in the various abandoned rooms for anything salvageable or potentially useful. It is work Vey feels comfortable getting lost in while it mulls over how to construct an [Alarm] spell, something it has been struggling with for a while now. The only real useful material Vey expects to find is some usable or workable wood, maybe some usable nails or other metal, and similar products, but honestly, just knowing what it can and can’t just throw into a room to abandon is good enough for now.
Sera is less comfortable. She’d been tucked in nicely enough by the skeleton, and has spent the last hour staring at the ceiling, conflicted, melancholic, and frustrated. Questions like ‘why do I have to suffer like this?’ and ‘why couldn’t those adventurers have rescued me?’ and ‘why do I not actually want them to?’ flash through her mind as fast as she can blink, none of them answered. She doesn’t want Vey to die, despite how cruel and selfish it is, the skeleton has saved her life at least once, and ended that for her previously, so really it has saved her twice. She doesn’t know if that makes her just as evil, for not wanting an evil undead destroyed. She doesn’t know if she could return to the village and live life normally after this, even if she did escape or get rescued. How long has it been? Two weeks at most?
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And yet she feels so much has changed that she would no longer fit in with her old friends, her elders, perhaps even her family. She supposes stories like hers are how people become adventures. Particularly the brooding types, or possibly the pyromaniac or kill-crazy types. Sera actually manages to get a giggle out of herself at the thought of that, but the catharsis subsides just as quickly as she realizes that the far more likely outcome is that she’d become a sheltered, scared, victim girl her entire life, with no opportunities to move on from that.
Sera wonders what the future would be like for her here, with Vey. Surely eventually the novelty of keeping her around as a pet or a trophy or whatever Vey sees her as will wear off eventually, and she’ll be killed. Possibly something worse, if it turns out Vey’s only been keeping her alive for some nefarious purpose, though she doubts that much at this point. Surely eventually, Vey’s limited influence from inside the dungeon will make it impossible to get her food, or perhaps medicine when she gets sick, and she’ll die that way, without doing anything with her life and with nothing for her to do in recourse.
If Vey ever rested, or indeed even needed rest, perhaps she’d have a chance to try and escape into the wilderness, and try and live as a wild woman or maybe a druid… Not going to happen, she knows, but still a distraction from her current mental trajectory. Said trajectory is the overwhelming feeling of uselessness and purposelessness. No matter what future she imagines, they all end with her doing nothing, dying the same meaningless, pointless ways with the same mental state she’s currently in.
Sera sits up on her bed, and looks down at the bandage, then traces her right hand along her body, starting from her waist, and slowly dragging it as high as she can before it starts hurting-the limit seems to be just above her breasts-and putting it back down again. If the injury is permanent, she doesn’t know if she’ll even be able to offer anything to Vey, as weird as the thought is to her the moment it crosses. What would she offer even if she tried to give it something? It’s not like she could offer her body, even if she ever built up the courage to do so, Vey, as a skeletal undead, by definition doesn’t have a libido. She can’t offer any useful skills like sowing or herbalism, she doesn’t have any skill at that, which means the only thing she’d ever be able to offer Vey is the same thing the mindless undead provide.
She wonders if that really is the only thing she could accomplish with her life, serving as a meat shield for a cruel, selfish monster with no cares beyond its magic, greed, and minions. Runs both of her hands along all of the features of her body that she can reach without straining herself, and she checks her status as she does so.
Level and Hit Die:
0, 1
Current HP/MHP
3/3
Armor Class
8
MP
N/A(Non-caster)
Class:
None
Name:
Sera Eranda Eclir Luvil
Race:
Elf
Subrace:
High Elf
Age:
15
Alignment:
True Neutral
Height
5’0 ft
Attributes:
MHP
STR
CON
DEX
INT
WIS
CHA
SPD
LCK
NAC
Base:
4
6
6
6
12
10
14
20ft
-4
10
Race:
0
0
0
4
0
0
0
0
0
0
Injury
-1
-2
0
-2
0
0
0
-5ft
0
0
Study:
0
NA
NA
NA
1
3
0
NA
NA
NA
Total:
3
4
6
8
10
15
13
15ft
-4
10
Proficiencies
Skills(Passive)
Skills(Active)
Magic Effects
Pacts and Curses
Simple Tool Proficiency
Elven Dexterity
Sera is surprised to see that she’s grown taller down here, but one look at her physical stats proves that she’d be useless even as a meat shield unless she put herself through some serious physical training, and probably acquired a melee-combat class as well. Something which she knows Vey wouldn’t allow; letting your captives gain the strength to rebel isn’t something that skeleton would ever allow, and trying to do it in secret would probably fail miserably. So she can’t even try and be useful or purposeful, the only thing left for her is to be a bird in a cage, tweeting and singing her little songs of knowledge about the world she used to live in until her master finally releases her to her end.
What a cruel fate indeed.