Encounter Ended! You have leveled up!
You have leveled up!
You have leveled up!
You have leveled up!
You have leveled up!
After your most recent encounter, you are now ready to level up a class of your choosing. You have (5) level ups available!
Sera blinks in surprise at the notification. It appeared the moment they reached the woods, but she hadn’t actually checked what it was until just now, when they got back to the clearing with the dungeon entrance.
“Hey, Vey… I leveled up, and it says I leveled up five times… Did you-”
“Yeah. two times here, plus a monster evolution… That’s for later though, for now…” Vey trails off as the two enter the dungeon proper, with Sheo squad behind them.
Sera looks on ahead at Dragon and Zombie squads, still in their same guard positions. Kai is the first to spot her, and some small chatter between the squad leads to a few short bows at her and Vey’s return. Sera turns back and grabs Vey’s left hand with both of hers, and drags him along with her into the chamber proper.
“We’re back… It went alright, all things considered. Could you all please stay on alert for the night?” Sera asks in Vey’s stead, trying to give him the time to think that he clearly needs. She fully expects that rather than this night being one where she is comforted to sleep, it will be one where she offers distraction and comfort to Vey’s mind.
“Sheo squad, rest in the chamber beyond, let Dragon and Zombie squad take care of things. If any of you can evolve, do not do so just yet.” Vey gives his order aloud, rather than mentally, which Sera is thankful for. Him mentally ordering and leading is more efficient, sure, but it also means Sera is left out of the loop. At least when spoken aloud, Sera knows what orders to not contradict.
Sera also shakes her head at something. She told Zombie squad she would teach them more when she got back, but instead her and Vey are just going to go downstairs and rest. It can’t really be helped though. While Sera doesn’t have any actually serious injuries, just a few minor cuts and a ton of bruises, Vey’s body is… Sera doesn’t think his physical condition actually changes anything for him, but there are visible cracks on a lot of his bones, and he’s missing a few chunks of his ribs. He’d said he still had seventeen hit points left, but… Out of 52… You did almost die… I… Sera shakes off her thoughts before they get started, and begins dragging Vey with her.
--
Sera sits Vey down on the bed while she goes to get some water from the fountain and some salted pork to snack on. Vey’s been too quiet for her liking. She thinks the realization that whatever spell Saxt had cast should’ve killed him is bit… much for him. It makes sense, kind of. He’s an undead, the concept of being mortal isn’t something they usually have the capacity to think about, and even the ones that do probably don’t have an emotional response. When she reaches the fountain, she sets her mug on the stone rim, and looks down at her body.
More specifcally, all of the blood on her. Some of it dried and came off while they ran and walked back to the dungeon, but a fair amount is still clinging to her, and her clothes are still more or less coated. She sighs, and shouts to Vey that she’s going to wash herself off before coming back in, and gets to work. Vey’s skeletal body shakes off blood and debris far better than her own does, especially when he spent a decent amount of time running, so he doesn’t need to wash himself off.
As she peels off her blood and sweat soaked clothes, and starts lightly scrubbing herself with the rag soaked in cold water, she lets her mind wander. She starts to wonder if, just like how she knows the water is cold, but can’t feel the cold, maybe that’s why she knows she should be more distraught and traumitized by her own actions at the camp, but isn’t. It felt natural at the time, butchering all the soldiers she came across. At some point, she’d started experimenting, and soon after, she was having the same type of fun as back at the hilltop. It wasn’t until Vey had turned up and spoken to her that her usual composure came back. Is that what barbarians or other battle junkies feel like all the time? She chuckles at the question.
Sera finishes washing herself off, but since she doesn’t feel the cold, and also didn’t bring a change of clothes, she decides to just continue naked for a bit. She scoops a bit of fountain water into the mug, and downs it all in one go, before getting a second mug of it and returning to her bedchamber.
Vey’s eyes aren’t focused on anything, and don’t even turn to look at her when she walks in. Sera looks at the hunk of salted pork she’d brought out earlier, and decides she’d rather not eat just yet. Not until morning, at least. Instead, she sets down her mug of water on the table, and walks over to where Vey is sitting down in the exact same spot she left him in. Vey’s eyes finally focus on her, and to Sera, it looks like he’s about to start speaking, but chooses not to for whatever reason. So… It’s my turn for this sort of thing, then… She thinks to herself, and takes a step closer to him.
Sera isn’t really sure how to explain the concept of mortality to a skeleton. Sure, as an elf, she’s already predisposed to have made peace with hers, in a sense. She knows her soul will go to Eternia when she dies, and that since she is an elf, it will eventually become a different elf’s soul, somewhere down the line, that’s just how it works, but Vey… Does Vey even have a soul? Mindless undead don’t, and spells can’t create souls out of nothing… would evolution even give you one? Sera thinks that the subject of souls, Eternia, and that sort of thing would be a good starting point, except that she’s not sure if any of that even applies to Vey.
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Instead, she settles on a different method of getting Vey back to his usual self. She takes another step closer to him, and puts her hands on either one of his shoulders, and half-forces half-guides him to lay down on the bed, with his head on the pillow, facing up towards her. Sera brings her leg around and over his body, and sits on her knees on top of him, then lowers her chest over his, hugging him, but also pinning him down. This tactic was what she’d resolved to use if she desperately needed Vey to help satisfy any of her periodical sexual urges, but using it to start a deep conversation on mortality, souls, evolution, and whatever else is going to be discussed here works too.
Now fully comfortable on top of her partner, she waits for Vey to put his own arms around her back to return the embrace, and waits a little longer for her body to get used to the feeling of Vey’s bones jutting into her chest. She nestles her head next to his, and plants a kiss on the side of his skull, where she thinks his temple is, before pulling up to face him.
“So that… didn’t go the way we thought, right?” Sera asks, and Vey just nods by way of a response, and she feels his hands move up and down her back gently. “But we’re alive, we leveled up, we’re safe here, so what’s on your mind?”
She leans down and kisses his forehead, then sits up fully, straddling him for a moment while she adjusts her hair, trying to do anything to stop it from getting caught on Vey’s bones.
“We almost died… I wasn’t prepared for that. If that priest’s magic had worked… They’d have killed you after.” Vey’s tone is somber, but Sera blinks a little in confusion at Vey’s words.
“That’s… That’s why I wanted to go, my love. I don’t like the idea of you going off and dying without me.” Sera answers as calmly as she can manage, and brings her hands down to take one each of his. “Plus, Saxt’s magic didn’t work, and I didn’t die. Focus on the positives.”
“I just never considered any of that. I don’t think undead are supposed to consider stuff like that.” Vey’s response sounds to Sera like it’s answering his own concerns, but she waits for him to continue before saying that. “Do you think it’d work if we locked ourselves in here, in the dungeon, forever?”
Sera locks her fingers between his, and pulls his arms over his head as she lowers herself back down to him, getting as close as she can while still seeing all of his face.
“Vey, what do you want to do with your life? Unlife, life, whatever, what do you want to do with it? I know you want me, and I know you want to learn magic, but what do you want to do with it?” She lets go of his hands, and puts her own on either side of his face. “I want to be with you. I want to get stronger so I can help you. But I also want to do those things, and I don’t care how many times I have to risk my life or take others to do them. I don’t want to be locked down here forever, do you want that?”
“No.” Vey responds somewhat sheepishly, and Sera stares into his eyes for a moment, before she registers that Vey tilted his chin up towards her. For a moment, her heart melts. Are you the one asking for a kiss? I…
Sera doesn’t think about it any further, and instead kisses Vey’s teeth gently for as long as she can hold her breath for. The sensation of it is odd, uncomfortable, even, but that’s entirely irrelevant to her. Eventually, when she pulls away, she sits up again, and shifts her weight to be slightly lower on his body, allowing Vey to pull himself up for them to sit together. She waits for him to do so before she tries to finish the topic and move to the next.
“So you get it, then, we can’t just stay down here forever. Do you want to talk about death and stuff, too? Or are we good there?” Sera had thought earlier that this would be the big question of the night, but Vey just shakes his head in the negative, much to her relief. “Ok, then what next? We’re not moving from this spot until we’ve run out of things to say.”
--
3 Hours Later
Sera is beginning to feel unbelievably tired. If nothing else, she’d stuck to her word, but the long pauses in-between meaningful topics isn’t something she expected. If anything, Vey is vastly more intelligent than her, and has the stats to prove it, so the fact that he’s pausing so much in between statements means whatever is going on in his head is some serious stuff. She’s pretty sure they’re done with talking about stuff like how she felt watching Saxt try to kill him, how much and in what ways they worry about eachother, that sort of thing. It confirmed her suspicions for a while ago that Vey does have to mentally unload sometimes, so that was nice.
More of less sitting in his lap while naked for multiple hours in a row while nearly dead tired is not how she thought their post raid night would be spent, though. She’s beginning to miss the day prior when she thought they’d get home and have a nice cozy nap together for however much was left of the night. But, if nothing else, the fact that the hard part of the talking is looking like its over, they can move onto the easy part before she gets to sleep.
“So… You can evolve again, you said? What are your options?” Sera asks, shifting her weight in his lap to more easily look at him straight.
“Ah. Let me check, I didn’t actually read them yet…” Vey responds, and his eyes stop focusing for a moment, so Sera just hugs him tighter, and rubs her chest and stomach on his ribs for a bit while she waits. Not for any sexual reason, she’s just feeling a bit itchy. Eventually, Vey focuses back on her, and switches his embrace from a proper hug to just sort of lazily resting his hands on her hips. “Four options, this time… But I don’t really know what two of them imply. White Lich, Greater Necropolitan, Skeletal Vampire, Skeletal Mummy. I don’t really know what those last two imply, but I’ve seen regular Necropolitan before and White Lich seems to just be the progression from Evolved Skeleton.”
“Vampires are like… Basically normal people, but they have all the undead traits, can drink blood to heal themselves, and can turn into mist at will, plus some other stuff. I’ve never heard of a mummy, so I couldn’t help you with that one…” Sera pauses and thinks about the other two. “Could you explain to me what they’re all described as, in detail?”
--
White Lich
High Tier Undead
Liches are undead with a special Curse called Phlyactery, which allows them to store their soul in an object or in special cases, an entity. If a Lich dies, their body will reform near their Phlyactery, and they will be revived. However, if their Phylactery is destroyed or the Curse is removed, the Lich will die instantly. Liches also boast an additional +2 to all stats in addition to what the individual already had, and due to your evolution path of White, your Arcane Sight will become Truesight.
Greater Necropolitan
High Tier Undead
The evolution of Necropolitan, Greater Necropolitans gain or regain the full range of their base race(usually Human)’s traits, including racial skill, sensations, emotions, and the ability to reproduce biologically. Greater Necropolitans boast a +4 bonus to charisma, and possess bodies completely indistinguishable from a normal human’s by all but magical means. Due to your evolution path of White, your Arcane Sight will become Truesight.
Skeletal Vampire
High Tier Undead
A skeletal variant of a normal Vampire, Skeletal Vampires are hybrids between fleshy and skeletal undead, and possess innate magical abilities. Skeletal Vampires gain the Vampirism effect, trade their Undead Endurance for Vampiric Constitution, and gain the Blood Magic passive skill. Vampires, and by extension Skeletal Vampires, have +2 to Str, Con, Dex, and +1 to Int, Wis, Cha. Due to your evolution path of White, your Arcane Sight will become Truesight.
Skeletal Mummy
High Tier Undead
A skeletal variant of a normal Mummy, Skeletal Mummies are hybrids between fleshy and skeletal undead, and possess innate magical abilities. Skeletal Mummies gain the Mummified effect, trade their Undead Endurance for Tomb-Tainted Body, and gain the Fossil Magic passive skill. Mummies, and by extension Skeletal Mummies, have +4 to all ability scores, but just like Zombies, have a penalty to the number of actions they can take in a given time.