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5-Ecstasy's Decay

Vey reveled in its accomplishment for a moment, twirling about in place, the blood on the mace flinging wildly off onto the walls and table. Vey stops after almost tripping itself, and it leans down to the caved-in skull of its former master. For the first time in its existence, without the presence of magical compulsion, Vey’s jaw separates, and it speaks in a hissing, scratchy tone.

“I’ve read what your god does to those who join its realm… And you deserve every second of it!” Vey finishes with a snicker, which quickly devolves into maddened, hissing laughter. “Sssstatus!”

Level and Hit Die:

0, 1

Current HP/MHP

8/8

Armor Class

11

MP

N/A(Non-Caster)

Class:

None(Monster)

Name:

Vey

Race:

Skeleton[Human, Male, Adult]

Subrace:

None/NA

Alignment:

Neutral Evil

Height

5’6 ft

Attributes:

MHP

STR

CON

DEX

INT

WIS

CHA

SPD

LCK

NAC

Base:

8

10

10

10

6

4

6

30ft

2

10

Race:

0

0

0

2

0

0

0

0

0

0

Study:

0

NA

NA

NA

1

1

0

NA

NA

NA

Effects:

0

0

0

0

4

4

4

0

0

0

Total:

8

10

10

12

11

9

10

30ft

2

10

Proficiencies

Skills(Passive)

Skills(Active)

Magic Effects

Pacts and Curses

Simple Weapon

Proficiency

Undead Endurance

Positive Energy Weakness

Simple Tool Proficiency

Death Blow

Negative Energy Healing

Light Armor Proficiency

Undead Lieutenant

Awakened

Lifetime Achievements

Titles

Rats(Common) Killed: 32

Awakened One

Humans(Common) Killed: 1

Sneak Attacks Performed: 1

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Curse-Bearers Killed: 1

Huh? Comes Vey’s confused thought at the status tab that hadn’t been there when it had first checked. Vey had initially opened the status to reread its basic stats to determine its growth, and hadn’t expected to find a list of its deeds. Vey made a mental note to keep track of any correlation between its “Lifetime Achievements” and its growth, but otherwise felt delighted that its studying had indeed had a positive effect on its stats, even if the system hadn’t announced it to Vey.

Vey closed the status screen and reached down with one of its boney hands, crushing the dead necromancer’s neck as its claws dig into the now cooling flesh. Vey begins dragging the corpse outside of Vey’s new living space, before remembering that it has absolutely no idea what effect killing the necromancer has on the undead formerly under his control. Vey opens the door to the hallway cautiously, but its fears prove to be unfounded, as the guards continue performing their previous orders of being guards.

After a bit of mental prodding, Vey finds it can even still control them, though to a lesser extent than it could beforehand. Vey feels that exploring more about that will come later, and drags the corpse into the corpse-pile in the adjacent chamber, packing up all of its things, and carrying them back to its new living quarters with a spring in its step.

It’s only as Vey rounds the corner and gets past the fur flaps that it realizes it has been forgetting something crucial. Well, perhaps not crucial, but at least moderately annoying. The elf-kid is still there, unconscious on the bed, face-down but still breathing, and covered in bruises on nearly every inch of exposed skin Vey can currently see. Vey feels conflicted, on one end of the spectrum, it really ought to just kill the elf-kid, unlike the necromancer, live sacrifices for rituals are of no use for Vey. But on the other end, corpses aren’t particularly valuable to Vey either, especially not one as small and immature as the elf-kid’s body is.

Vey ends up spending too much time mulling it over and making noise about the room that the elf-kid starts showing the signs of stirring, which causes Vey to panic a little, and pull the mace off of its belt. Vey calms itself down by remembering that the elf-kid is a child, and one that the necromancer had put through what evidently appeared to be a large amount of physical trauma, so Vey should easily be able to kill it if it is hostile. The elf-kid shivers, and starts crying as it sits up and starts poking at its various bruises, lacerations, the rope burns on its wrists, the bite-marks and bruises on what is now obvious to Vey is her chest.

It takes her a full ten minutes of panicked breathing, crying, shivering, and cupping her face in her hands before she even notices Vey, who has been watching her intently from the other side of the room, curiosity and annoyance growing in equal measure. Vey thinks that, with the way the girl is acting, there is probably nothing to gain from letting the kid live, meanwhile, the young elven girl is caught between the two entirely reasonable fears of her rapist and kidnapper returning, and the bonafide animated skeleton holding a weapon and staring at her.

The standoff as it were lasts a total of sixty-seven seconds, before the elf girl shivers, looks down at her arms, and sees the blood on hands from cupping her bloodstained face earlier, sees the blood on the ground, the trail leading off outside the room, and the blood on the skeleton’s hands, and starts sobbing and screaming in equal measure.

Vey is finally beginning to put more and more of the pieces together on what was actually happening in here before it killed the necromancer, given the girl’s reaction to the blood on the floor, and the state of her body, Vey can’t help but mentally sight. Vey understands the idea of inflicting pain on others for self-satisfaction or other selfish reasons; it killed the necromancer for reasons which probably fall under that category. Vey understands that the evil gods desire to see their flock commit atrocities upon the innocent for their own amusement, and Vey understands that the necromancer was both one of such a flock, and an avid ritualist and believer in the dark god of undeath’s purported philosophies.

Vey could also, to an extent, understand the apparent distress of the young girl in this situation. Vey does not find it hard to imagine that it would feel similarly distressed if it were to be treated in such a manner with no hope of escape. What Vey is beginning to take issue with though, is-

“Shut up, meatbag.” Comes the grating and hissing voice from Vey, which shocks the girl enough to quiet her sobbing for a moment as she recoils in fear as to as far away from the skeleton as she can get on the bed with her fatigued body.

Vey doesn’t understand what possessed it to lash out to the extent that it did, but doing so felt really good, though it doesn’t think it would feel the same satisfaction from doing it again. The girl’s annoying crying and wailing silenced for now, Vey decides to try asking a question. Somewhere in Vey’s non-existent heart and mind, Vey wants to thank the girl, somehow, for giving Vey the chance to break free of its chains, as it were. Vey hopes that the girl will answer, so that Vey can thank her before sending her to whatever god she believes in.

“What do you know about magic?”

[System Notification-Audience Only; Bonus Character Sheets]

Necromancer:

Level and Hit Die:

3, 3

Current HP/MHP

[System Error-Deceased; Claimed by God of Undeath]

Armor Class

10

MP

24 (+6 exclusively for Undeath Domain spells)

Class:

Cleric(Undeath)

Name:

Servillius Cooper

Race:

Human

Subrace:

1/8th Orc(mother’s side)

Age:

31

Alignment:

Chaotic Evil

Height

5’11 ft

Attributes:

MHP

STR

CON

DEX

INT

WIS

CHA

SPD

LCK

NAC

Base:

8

10

14

10

10

12

6

30ft

2

10

Race:

0

0

0

0

-1

0

0

0

0

0

Study:

0

NA

NA

NA

1

3

[Error]

NA

NA

NA

Total:

8

10

14

10

10

15

13

30ft

2

10

Proficiencies

Skills(Passive)

Skills(Active)

Magic Effects

Pacts and Curses

Simple Weapon

Proficiency

Spontaneous Negative Energy Spellcasting

Rebuke/Command Undead(4/day)

Vow of the Defiler

Simple Tool Proficiency

Preparation Spellcasting(Cleric 3)

Curse of The Undying One

Light and Medium Armor Proficiency

Undeath Domain Spellcasting(Cleric 3)

Dark Blessings

Scroll Proficiency

Lifetime Achievements

Titles

Orcs(Common) Killed: 3

Unholy Priest

Humans(Common) Killed: 25

Defiler of Elves

Elves(Common) Killed: 40

Defiler of Humans

Fulfillments of Vow of Defilement: 16

Enemy of Good

Dark Rituals Performed: 43

Awakener

Spells Available for Casting: 10(Clr Lvl + WisMod + 5)

Spell Mana Costs

Light

1

Cold Touch

2

Cure Light Wounds

4

Command Undead

4

Bane

2

Hold Person

4

Alarm

1

Detect Magic

1

Cause Fear

2

Ward of Binding

4

Elf Girl:

Level and Hit Die:

0, 1

Current HP/MHP

1/4 (11 Marked Nonlethal Damage)

Armor Class

8

MP

N/A(Non-caster)

Class:

None

Name:

Sera Eranda Eclir Luvil

Race:

Elf

Subrace:

High Elf

Age:

15

Alignment:

[System Determines No Alignment-RootCause; Acute Distress and Mental Trauma]

Height

4’9 ft

Attributes:

MHP

STR

CON

DEX

INT

WIS

CHA

SPD

LCK

NAC

Base:

4

6

6

6

10

10

10

20ft

-4

10

Race:

0

0

0

4

0

0

4

0

0

0

Study:

0

NA

NA

NA

2

0

0

NA

NA

NA

Total:

4

6

6

10

12

10

14

20ft

-4

10

Proficiencies

Skills(Passive)

Skills(Active)

Magic Effects

Pacts and Curses

Simple Tool Proficiency

Elven Dexterity

Blightmark(Duration Remaining 71 hrs.)