Cutting six skeletons out of corpses enough for them to be able to get themselves the rest of the way out of their prisons was a very harrowing experience. It is also, ultimately, one Sera was surprised she was able to bear for the entire duration. Now, several hours later, with all of the still quite bloodsoaked new skeletons and less soaked old skeletons still moving corpses to the dungeon, Sera struggles to figure out how to ask Vey for something very, very, very dumb. She knows it's dumb because it's been a persistent distraction from everything important.
Sera feels that with the amount of effort she spent on helping the new skeletons, as well as the fact that Vey made them personally, the unminded skeletons ought to have… names. She already has a couple ideas for names, using Vey’s name as a sort of starting point. Long ago she realized that Vey’s name is just the draconic rune for ‘Skull’, so his original siblings should be named after other draconic runes for body parts. The six that remain from the necromancer would be Ter(Spine), Kai(Arm), Poa(Leg), Mel(Jaw), Woi(Tail), and Jyu(Wing). She also thinks that Vey should name the skeletons he raises himself, for no particular reasons than that at least one name would make it easier to name the rest.
Admittedly the time it took her to work out all of the draconic runes to name the original six hadn't been any use in getting her anything other than an additional point of wisdom from study. Language is covered under wisdom, after all, so she isn't surprised, but it's also the final proof that this idea is technically a waste of time. The idea initially came from the realization that she actually can tell them apart. Vey is currently sorting through the supplies and such while Sera washes herself off, so she has a good amount of time to come up with a convenient argument to get her partner to agree to naming them. Besides, keeping herself distracted is also keeping herself awake right now, so it’s a valuable project.
Really, in her head, she already refers to them by their names. Ter is the one with the orc spine attached to the rest of an elf skeleton, and that sort of set the pace for how she named the rest. Poa has two legs from different genders, Woi is the only lizardkin skeleton, and such the only one with a tail, so on and so forth. Actually, she should only have Vey name five of the new six, Sheo should still be Sheo, she thinks. The idea that next month, one of the undead to be made might come from her dad’s corpse is somewhat uncomfortable, but she shrugs it off as she changes into clean clothes.
She’s used two different swords in actual fights now, and grabs both as she makes up the stairs towards Vey. The bastard sword she’d used against the bandits was definitely the most fun to practice with, but the longsword seemed better for the actual fight she was in. On second thought, she might’ve only thought that since Vey’s strength buffing magic had made it much easier to use. Ideally, then, she’d like to find a way to get the best of both worlds. Maybe she should think of a way to make a forge down here, Vey would probably agree to the idea of making weapons specifically designed for the two of them to use, since it would probably require magic to use. She sets both of the swords down next to the spot she sits down at when in the chamber before the storage and alchemy rooms, which she’s tentatively calling the ‘Stairhall’ until Vey decides to actually do any amount of naming.
“Vey, how is the sorting and hauling going?” Sera asks as she walks into the storeroom, and spots the somewhat awkward way everything is organized. To her, it looks more like everything is organized by weight, which is… interesting.
“I’m about done sorting things to how I want them in here.” Vey doesn’t look back at her to answer, which slightly annoys Sera, but not enough for her to say anything about it. Yet.
“Ok. I’m going to grab some books from the lab, I want to try and get my class in the next week at least, but I want to talk about some stuff later, alright?”
--
Vey finally finishes sorting through all of the supplies and taking all of the useful items off of all of the corpses after several hours of work. Theoretically Sera is studying downstairs, and Vey feels a little guilty about leaving her down there to do that while he’s in the upper part of the dungeon, but Vey knows that it’s really just how things need to be until the dungeon is properly safe.
The first step in that process is locking the doors. This is actually one of the worst methods Vey can think of to defend the place, since keeping weaker attackers out means only stronger ones will try, but it’s the best stopgap he can think of with the knowledge that attackers will be coming now. Now that it has become a when instead of an if, all the various ideas in Vey’s head start coming together into something to immediately implement, even if it isn’t optimal.
Dungeon defense number one: Blocking the main entrance’s door from opening with the unused heavy objects from all of the dungeon’s various unused rooms. Then, [Greater Alarm]s absolutely everywhere near both entrances.
Dungeon defense number two: Forcing attackers to walk all that way down the tunnel to the hill to get here, and meeting them with a room full of rotting corpses. Vey knows from his experience with Sera that no one except the undead, and perhaps rats, enjoys being near them for any amount of time, so forcing would-be attackers to wade through an entire room full of them, plus the rats they’ll attract, should give Vey enough time to organize the defense before they make it through the guard barracks.
Defense number three: Dedicated undead guards. His original six companions are all very well trained in terms of proficiencies, and Vey suspects they too will evolve soon if he can keep them alive long enough, so using them as dedicated guards watching the entrance is a good idea. The new six still need to go through some training with the weapons Vey wants them to use before showing them to actual combat, and he still needs some help with physical labor, so original skeletons as guards it is. Also, apparently the undead he makes with [Undead Leadership - Raise Undead(Skeleton/Zombie)] don't count as being controlled by magic. This shouldn't have been a surprise, he doesn't control the original six by magic either, just Undead Leadership, but that also means he could make... literally as many of them as he has corpses and months, it would just be more difficult to manage them than with a [Command Undead] spell.
Defense number four: Better AoE magic. Vey doesn’t have time to work on it before the rest of them, which is why he’s put it so low on the list of priorities, but a way to damage large groups of individuals without damaging the dungeon will be invaluable, as well as a way to damage large groups regardless of collateral damage in the case of fights occurring outside of the dungeon. His two ideas are for something force based, maybe an extension of [Magic Missile] into something that can hit multiple targets, and something acid based, while not leaving corpses is bad in one sense, not having to clean up after fighting outside is better in another sense.
Defense number five: Traps. Vey isn’t sure how to make any traps, but spells to make magical traps are almost certainly possible, and while he’s at it, designing spells to edit the structure of the dungeon to add more mechanical traps would be prudent as well. Worse case scenario, he'll have to just scrap this idea, but that's fine.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Defense number six: Knowing where the hell everything outside is. Which means climbing the mountain above, and observing the landscape. Vey needs to know where the village is, what directions potential attackers will be coming from, everything. This also entails having the working skeletons use the stolen axes, picks, and other harvesting tools from the bandits to more aggressively collect raw materials from near the dungeon, since that would also mean clear lines of sight and more material to build future defenses from.
Defense number seven: Preventative measures. Vey wants to, eventually, expand the territory his defenses secure to include space not currently within the dungeon’s footprint, which probably means eradicating that village. That is a long ways away, though, which is why Vey has it at the very bottom of his mental checklist.
Planning completed, Vey issues all the mental commands to the undead as he starts preparing his [Greater Alarm] spell and collecting the needed materials. The next time the mortals come for me, I will not have a single risk to Sera, myself, or the dungeon be tolerated. Get to work.
--
The last four days have gone by in a complete frenzy from Sera’s perspective. Between practicing her swordplay, studying magic, convincing Vey to name the skeletons, and the precious little ‘Vey time’ she’s managed to convince Vey to agree to each day, she’s been exhausted consistently, both mentally and physically. Admittedly, her workload has been nothing compared to Vey, who hasn’t stopped moving for any longer than the amount of time it takes him to help prepare her meals and sit and talk with her before she goes to sleep. The fact he doesn’t get physically tired is something Sera is jealous of, but his apparent lack of ability to sleep worries her.
A being of his intellect, work ethic, principles, and stress not having a way to fall unconscious or otherwise reconstruct their mental state… She shivers at how difficult just maintaining her sanity would be if her body didn’t force itself off and on again every night. She wishes any of the ‘traditional’ maidenly methods of stress relief had… any effect at all on Vey, even if it was miniscule. She’s considered that it might just not affect Vey, but she considers it more likely that since it never has physical symptoms on account of Vey not having flesh or organs, it does have an effect, just not one he’s noticed. Or, perhaps, the rare occasions where Vey seeks her out to pat her head or similar is the way he mentally de-stresses. It wouldn’t be impossible for him to just not need that sort of thing as much, but Sera has gotten well and truly too distracted by this train of thought.
Finally, she’s done it. Status.
Level and Hit Die:
0, 1
Current HP/MHP
7/7
Armor Class
13
MP
N/A(Non-caster)
Class:
None
Name:
Sera Eranda Eclir Luvil
Race:
Elf
Subrace:
High Elf
Age:
16
Alignment:
Neutral Evil
Height
5’3 ft
Attributes:
MHP
STR
CON
DEX
INT
WIS
CHA
SPD
LCK
NAC
Base:
7
10
10
10
11
10
17
30ft
-4
10
Race:
0
0
0
4
0
0
0
0
0
0
Training:
0
2
2
2
0
0
0
0
0
0
Study:
0
NA
NA
NA
2
3
0
NA
NA
NA
Total:
7
12
12
16
13
13
17
30ft
-4
10
Proficiencies
Skills(Passive)
Skills(Active)
Magic Effects
Pacts and Curses
Simple Tool Proficiency
Elven Dexterity
Foreverqueen’s Shroud
Pactbound(Vey)
Simple and Martial Weapon Proficiency
Appendage Crusher
Light Armor Proficiency
Lifetime Achievements
Titles
Kills Via Tamed Monster(Evolved Skeleton): 31
Aegis
Monsters Tamed(Evolved Skeleton): 1
Monsters Tamed(Skeleton): 12
I’ve grown another inch? And my charisma… It’s gotten higher again, but I didn’t get a notification… Why? Of course, the most important part is her shiny new intelligence stat. But also… Did I ‘tame’ the skeletons? When? Lifetime Achievements is supposed to show the biggest contributors to your level, right? So when did I tame them? She decides to save that confusing question for later, and checks the obvious, the whole reason she’s worked so hard that she’s only slept half as much as usual. Level up.
Congratulations Sera!
You have leveled up, your available class options are: Barbarian(BRB), Bard(BRD), Fighter(FTR), Hexblade(HEX), Rogue(ROG), Ranger(RGR), Spellblade(SPB). Some of your options have been overwritten by statuses: Non-Chaotic, Evil, Str<14. You have (3) level ups available. Would you like to level up?
Spellblade. Don’t give me the confirmation menu, all three levels, Spellblade. Sera confirms her decision as easily as she’d pulled the notification up, and immediately feels a bout of dizziness hit her head. She stumbles, and grabs onto the stone table of the lab for stability, and starts to try and bring herself slowly to the floor to avoid passing out and hitting her head. This causes her to notice the feeling of horrible burning in all of her muscles, all of them, even ones she didn’t know could feel like that, like those in her eyes, uterus, and even her tongue feels like it’s been performing the same grueling workout as the rest of her body. Ha-ha… ‘Not a big ordeal’… Lying bastard… Are her last thoughts before she lays her head down on the stone floor and lets unconsciousness claim her for however long this will take.
--
Appendage Crusher (Passive)
When striking non-vital joints and appendages, your attacks deal 200% increased damage to the joint or appendage, but 50% less to the creature’s total hp. When striking non-vital joints and appendages of helpless creatures, your attacks automatically destroy the joint or appendage and deal 75% damage to the creature’s total hp.
Because this skill was created through altering ‘Butcher’ with ‘Elven Dexterity’, Butcher’s effect is also included.
Successfully performing any type of dismemberment on a target grants you an additional attack on that target, as long as the additional attack is not made to attempt to dismember the target further.
Foreverqueen’s Shroud (Magical Effect)
Attempts from hostile creatures to magically identify the individual, or any of their spells, skills, curses, and magical effects fail. This effect does not extend to any information that could also be obtained through mundane means, like race or other physical characteristics. This effect also confers a small amount of spell resistance, equal to charisma modifier.
Because this effect was created through altering ‘Guardian’, Guardian’s effect is also included.
When the individual is within ten feet of another they are linked to by a pact or other effect, the positive, passive benefits of skills and magical effects of the holder of Guardian are shared between both, except for Guardian.