3 hours post Ter’s evolution
Sera sits on the ground, polishing her sword as Vey tries to talk to Ter, who is now blue, and apparently intelligent. Also apparently, not as intelligent as Vey. She notes that Ter considers herself a female, which makes sense, since she’s a female elf skeleton, but that implies some moderately disturbing things about the way evolution works. Apparently, evolving to an Evolved Skeleton makes the skeletons automatically decide to refer to themselves by whatever pronouns the corpse they were raised from would’ve used, which Sera feels is a little unfair. After all, she’d been giving herself the credit that Vey is male, since in her mind, it was her influence on her partner that had led it to develop how it had, something special, Sera thought. Knowing that it’s just how things work soured her mood initially.
Sera finds it sort of bittersweet that all the effort Vey has been putting into making a spell to bring the skeletons to sentience has been invalidated by Ter’s newfound blueness, but also, Ter is at the level Vey was when Sera first met him. Actually, she appears to be lower, since the only things she seems to know are the things she was made to do: fight, labor, and apparently serve Vey and Sera unquestionably.
Ter has referred to Vey as ‘Glorious Leader’, and after being informed of Vey’s name, chose to call him Glorious Leader Vey. Sera nearly doubled over laughing at that, until the blue skeleton asked why ‘The Glorious Leader’s Queen’ appeared to be on the floor in pain. The explanation that followed involved a lot of Sera struggling to keep calm at the idea of being both a queen and the skeletons knowing about her relationship with Vey, and Vey desperately trying not to get called ‘Glorious Leader'.
At this point, though, Ter seems to have a pretty good understanding of most things. She thinks ‘Queen Sera’ is just that, a queen, but Ter doesn’t seem to think that Vey is a king, at least, not from what Sera can tell. Sera feels the distinction is something Vey himself isn’t aware of, but she doesn’t want to butt in on their conversation just yet. It’s becoming clear to Sera that Vey’s insistence on treating the skeletons well by his principles has both paid off and produced a result he didn’t want. Sera can see it in the way Ter ‘emotes’ despite the fact that she still doesn’t have the same emotional range Vey does; Ter thinks of Vey and Sera as a fanatic patriot might think of their royal rulers.
Sera is perfectly fine with this, but Vey doesn’t seem to get it, so Sera reminds herself to explain it to him when they cuddle tonight. Ter’s lack of a full emotional range is probably a good thing, because that would also mean she doesn’t have any emotional needs, she’s perfectly fine to keep doing exactly what she’s been doing, guarding the dungeon, and thus guarding Vey and Sera. According to her, she evolved because she finally realized that evolving would let her do that better, and Sera completely understands. Trying to be useful to Vey was Sera’s entire motivation for doing almost anything once upon a time, and while that might mean something different now it’s still mostly true.
Ultimately, Sera’s new blue friend is very welcome, and she decides to just leave Vey to explain whatever it is he’s trying to explain while she goes to the other skeletons in the ‘Dragon squad’, and asks the obvious question.
“Hey, Woi, Poa, all of you… can you evolve? If you can, want to try?” Sera thinks she sounds like an idiot, but corrects herself. Ter apparently had some brain function, she developed the autonomy to evolve on her own, after all, so maybe the others are like that too, just in need of a little push to truly become more than what they are. “You can be like Vey, and Ter. If you want, I can tell you what colors to be, though I don’t-”
Sera had closed her eyes halfway through explaining, but jerked them open at the sounds of a bunch of bones hitting the stone floor. She blinks twice, and immediately turns around to look at Vey and Ter.
“Uh…”
--
Kai is an archer, and not much more.
Poa and Mel are just like Kai, except they are slightly worse at archery and slightly better at melee combat.
That is, that’s what the trio was, until a couple of seconds ago. Their Queen had informed them that they should evolve, and that was all the confirmation they needed. They hadn’t reached any grand neurological development like Ter, but the instruction from their Queen to become more was all the monsters needed.
Jyu felt the trio fall into their evolution, and heard the Queen’s instruction, but was hesitant. Jyu is a swordsman, and not much else. In fact, Jyu is easily the least useful of the group of skeletons, but one single fact pushed Jyu to obey the Queen’s instruction. The fact the others were evolving meant nothing, but the Queen… The Queen is also a swordsman, and a better one than Jyu. How could Jyu continue on, being of such little worth to its fellows, if even its meager skillset was outmatched by the very Queen it guards? Unacceptable, and so Jyu fell into evolution as well.
Woi is the last to fall, though not for any reason. Woi is a crossbowman, it takes its time lining up the optimal shot, since its rate of fire is lesser than the archer trio’s. Woi’s meager instincts in this regard cause it to spend ever so slightly longer picking its evolution path, but it too falls.
One by one, in the order they fell, they rise. The trio rises, each the color of deep green moss, each of their eyes green crosses that seem to track everything that moves like hawks. Jyu rises, a deep purple color clinging to the swordsman, his eyes yellow. Woi does not rise so much as push herself up with her tail, a deep, bloody crimson clinging to her bones.
As one, the original six skeletons turn to each other, Ter, Kai, Poa, Mel, Woi, and Jyu, who all share a look. And then as one, they look to their Queen, and offer a silent thanks. They next turn to the Glorious Leader, and willingly offer themselves to him, not as mindless servants, but as true subordinates.
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Sera lays in her bed, somewhat unhappily. Yes, Dragon squads’ evolution to both sentience and truly frightening combat power is exceptionally good news for the defense of the dungeon, and yes, Sera understands that Vey needs to have conversations with them, and blah blah blah. But what that means is that the one night she was supposed to get to have Vey in bed with her in since before the fight on the hilltop has been taken away due to something that is ultimately her own fault. It would’ve been fine if they’d evolved on their own, since half of the things Vey was explaining to Ter was how to assist her fellows when they evolved, what basic knowledge they need, so on and so forth. None of them are nearly as smart as Vey, nor are any cut out for higher learning or equipped with enough emotions to require anything other than their purpose, and they're all very insistent that they know what that purpose is, but that means Vey is going to need to spend quite a long time just talking and explaining stuff to them.
She reminds herself that it’s at least a little unfair to be upset about how she’s personally inconvenienced by her staunchest protectors(excluding her bondmate) and apparent subjects(she's starting to just accept that part) gaining sentience, but it doesn’t change her dissatisfaction at not having fallen asleep in Vey’s arms already. Eventually, she decides to spend her restless night brought on by the recent developments thinking about magic instead of trying to sleep. Her troubles with [Shocking Grasp] aside, she needs more defensive magic. Sera is aware that half the reason Vey is so unstoppable is because he fights in two very specific ways.
Number one, in Sera’s opinion, Vey fights like an asshole. He hides in fog or in bushes, basing his entire plan of attack on finding the exact perfect order to execute each opponent in a single strike, which, aside from being very effective, doesn’t work for a dedicated swordsman like Sera as she currently is, and also wouldn’t work against someone stronger than Sera as she currently is.
Number two is that, in Sera’s opinion, the reason Vey still beats people like Sera is that he stacks so much defensive magic on himself that he can still manage to out-melee melee fighters.
So she should address both of these problems in the same way: She needs to try and develop a strategy that can kill the ‘trash’ enemies quickly and efficiently, and needs to increase her defensive capabilities enough to use that strategy even against opponents that would otherwise have the advantage against her, namely, against more powerful melee fighters. She has the edge against casters by sheer virtue of being a melee fighter, without even mentioning her apparent resistance to magic thanks to Foreverqueen's Shroud.
It is on this line of thinking that she is reading all of the relevant abilities and skills at her disposal.
[Stonesword]
Tier 1
Transmutation(Enhancement)
V, S
Target: Self, Ally touched
Duration: 10 minutes per caster level
2 MP Base
You gain a temporary +6 enhancement bonus to Str for the spell’s duration.
Your attacks made to destroy a joint or appendage deal 100% more damage to the creature’s total hp in addition to the damage dealt to the appendage.
[Mage Armor]
Tier 1
Evocation(Force)
V, S
Target: Self, Ally Touched
Duration: 1 hour per caster level
2 MP Base/2 MP + Additional for Increased Effect
Creates a set of armor made of solidified mana, more commonly referred to as force. The armor’s effectiveness is proportional to the mana spent, and the caster can control what parts of the body it covers, how much protection it offers, etc. by spending additional mana.
[Chill Touch]
Tier 1
Necromancy(Negative Energy)
S
Target: Self, Creature Touched
Duration: 10 minutes per caster level/1 touch per caster level
2 MP
For the duration of the spell, the caster can use the Chill Touch magical attack as though they might attack with a touch spell, without the need to cast the spell each time. They may make a number of attacks this way during that duration equal to their caster level.
As a Spellblade, you can apply each individual attack of Chill Touch separately via Spellblade.
Attack: Chill Touch
Damage: 1d6+(Cha mod) Negative Energy Damage
Bonus to Hit:0+(Cha mod)
[Shocking Grasp]
Tier 1
Evocation(Lightning)
S
Target: Creature Touched
3 MP
The caster deals 1d6 per caster level (max 5d6) Lightning damage to a touched target. If the target is wearing metal armor, this damage is empowered. If the target is made of metal or powered by electricity, such as a golem or automaton, this damage is maximized.
As a Spellblade, you can apply this spell via Spellblade.
Elven Dexterity (Passive)
Your Dex is increased by 4 as a racial trait.
When attacking in melee, you may use your dexterity to hit instead of your strength if your strength modifier is less than your dexterity modifier.
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 0% 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.
Hold on- Sera reads, and then rereads her spells and skills, before she finally puts her finger on what it is she’s seeing. Wouldn’t… Wouldn’t [Stonesword] and Appendage Crusher together mean I’d do more damage to people by hitting their joints instead of their body? 50% less is 50%, and the spell is a 100% bonus… so that’s 150%, but, for those numbers individually to mean anything, wouldn’t that mean that you deal 100% to the body at base? Sera immediately stops trying to do anything that even approaches questioning or interpreting the system’s eccentricities, and just starts trying to think of that as her primary strategy either way. Regardless of whether or not she deals more ‘main body damage’ by attacking the main body or not, 300% increased damage to joints and limbs would mean that the tactic of taking off a limb and then using the ‘extra attack’ from butcher(she’s still not sure exactly how that works yet) to try and kill the target sounds like a good plan. Even if she doesn’t land a killing blow, taking off an arm or a leg will definitely put a fight in her favor.
That will definitely be her ‘trash enemy’ plan, just dismember and execute, but her plan for actually powerful opponents is a little shaky. The best she can think of is to try and go for the same thing, but just with [Chill Touch] and maybe [Shocking Grasp] thrown into the mix to make both dismembering and regularly attacking a little bit more potent. Still, [Stonesword] and Appendage Crusher represent something she didn’t realize she had, which is a coherent strategy more sophisticated than ‘just slash and stab them a lot without getting hit’. She can instead focus her efforts on the part of the plan that involves beating people that are strong enough to survive the plan ‘fight like an asshole’, and instead require the plan ‘survive fighting like an asshole not working’.
Sera also hesitantly reminds herself not to name any more skeletons, or anything else for that matter, while she’s tired.
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Red Evolution Path: +4 additional strength and the Rage skill
Blue Evolution Path: +4 NAC and the Guard Stance skill
Green Evolution Path: Rapid Fire and Hawkeye skills
Purple Evolution Path: Teamwork and Mark For Death skills
White Evolution Path: Arcane Sight
Black Evolution Path: Nullifies Curse Downsides, Amplifies Curse Upsides