Necromancer
A Royal Road Fan Fiction
By: Halosty
Chapter 51
Note: According to a map I found, I was… very wrong about the location of Morata relative to other things. So…
1. Pretend it’s been colder.
2. At some point, Quietus got on a boat to get to the plains of despair (and other things). I would say he paid a temple to teleport but… that wouldn’t work out well.
Map is: http://puu.sh/6WvWj.png
Other than some relative locations of things changing, doesn’t matter too much.
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Quietus traveled back through the Plains of Despair, to the nearest large city he could get to, the Citadel of Serabourg in Rosenheim. In the Plains of Despair, he travelled as a ghoul, so that he could run swiftly and tirelessly. Even with occasional stops to hunt monsters to eat, it was a fast way to travel.
Once he came to the borders of Rosenheim kingdom, he turned back to normal, although he maintained a disguise. Although he wasn’t wanted in this kingdom, people might occasionally have heard of him… and probably not in a good way. That was what came with having much higher infamy than fame.
In Serabourg, it wasn’t too hard to find the necromancers he was looking for. They were, after all, respectable now. They just made their home at the magicians guild, just like everyone else. Quietus arranged for a meeting with one of them.
“I’m interested in becoming a necromancer.”
The dark haired, middle aged man sighed. “Of course you are. Everyone is, these days.” He looked over Quietus and sighed again. “You do realize that only magician types can become a necromancer, right? Rogues and assassins won’t cut it.”
“Hey, I know magic. I’m a warlock.”
“Oh? Really?” The man sounded bored. “Let’s see if you have the aptitude, then.” This time, he looked more seriously at Mortimer, and asked to see his status window. Mortimer complied.
The expression on the man changed. “This… are you sure you’re not already a necromancer? Some of these skills… they’re almost exclusive to the necromancer class. A warlock, you said? Quite interesting.”
“Well?”
“Hmm? Oh, right. You’ll still have to complete a quest, of course. There’s a dungeon, a few days journey away. Just get the sword of a death knight.”
*Ting*
You have received a quest!
Becoming a Necromancer
Get a sword from a death knight from the Mire Tombs beyond the river east of Serabourg.
Rewards: Class change to necromancer
Failure: Loss of reputation, unable to change to necromancer quest.
A death knight… that would be tricky. They were over level 200, so they were stronger than Quietus was now. However, he would go to the dungeon to scout it out. At the very least, he could level up some once he was there. He wasn’t sure what the drop rate on their swords was though.
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Once across the river, he was in very swampy terrain. Since no one else was around, he turned into a ghoul to make the trip less unpleasant. He didn’t feel any unpleasantness from the heat or cold, and the wetness of the swamp didn’t bother him. Of course, he also didn’t mind the taste of the snakes he found either. They weren’t very filling though.
As he arrived at the location he knew was the right place (he’d looked up a screenshot of the entrance) he saw a group enter inside ahead of him. He decided to follow behind them so that they would run into any trouble first. He still watched out for traps, just in case.
The group made slightly less noise than an elephant. Not a sneaking elephant, but a regular one. That didn’t seem to matter to them, though, since they were very strong. They killed everything that crossed their path, striking it down without mercy. There seemed to be a paladin, two priests, and a magician working together. They seemed like a very effective group, but whenever Quietus got near them, he felt sick. He stayed as far back as he could.
In a matter of hours, they had cleared the whole dungeon. Although it was small, it was an impressive feat. They even destroyed the boss. They didn’t even look like they were in trouble. The paladin was very good at absorbing the damage that the others would have taken, and one of the priests focused on healing, the other debuffing the undead and buffing allies. The magician, of course, just burned the enemies. He seemed familiar for a bit, but Quietus soon realized that he was just comparing him to Abaddon because he was a fire mage. The similarities were non existent beyond that.
They left the dungeon behind, and Quietus was left with just him and a dungeon full of (slowly reviving) dullahans and death knights. Quietus went to the boss room.
The structure of a death knight was not that different from a skeleton or zombie. There was nothing complicated about that. Well, Quietus couldn’t do anything about its armor or helmet. After a while, he had patched up the death knight as well as he could. It just lay there. ‘Maybe it needs some energy?’
Quietus used dark hand, and placed it on the body. When he touched it, the eyes flared to life. He wasn’t sure if it was a coincidence.
The death knight quickly stood up. “I am Sir Waltar. What are you doing here?”
Since it was talking Quietus decided to talk as well. “I came here hoping to get a sword from a death knight. I don’t suppose I can have yours?”
There was a cackling laughter from Sir Waltar. “No death knight would ever willingly give up his sword. Besides, mine has been taken.” The eyes of the death knight flashed red. “It wasn’t even a proper duel.”
“Well, do you have a backup sword? I need to get a sword from a death knight.”
The death knight’s eyes turned a dark blue. “I thought I told you a death knight would never willingly give up his sword? Although… I do have a backup. I will give it to you if you retrieve my sword for me.”
*Ting*
You have been offered a quest!
Retrieve Sir Waltar’s sword.
Reward: Sir Waltar’s backup sword
“Okay.” *You have accepted the quest* “That posh Paladin and his flunkies took it, right?”
“Right! The paladin did not even have the courage to duel me alone. Be careful with them, they are not honorable.”
“Don’t worry about it. I’m not a knight.”
Quietus walked out past all of the slowly reviving enemies. A few of them challenged him to a duel on the way out, but after looking more closely and seeing he was not a knight, they backed down. It didn’t hurt that he was on a quest for Sir Waltar.
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Quietus planned to go back to Serabourg to try to find information on the group. Perhaps he would ask at the assassin’s guild. Even if they didn’t know, they wouldn’t give him away either.
He would have, but then he heard a stupid laugh. It was loud, and with his enhanced senses from being a ghoul, and his listen skill, he heard it from quite far away. It was the laugh of the paladin. He seemed to laugh for no reason. Maybe he was crazy.
Quietus snuck up on the group. What he planned was probably a good way to get himself killed, but he wanted to try. Plus, he’s seen them fight. Although they were powerful, they were too used to their formation working for them. Watching them fight, Quietus felt they hadn’t been in many battles with players. Outside the dungeon, they were even more careless. Since there weren’t any monsters that could challenge them, the magician was far away from the group, picking herbs.
A simple but powerful backstab took him out. It didn’t hurt that he’d never taken any real damage before, and Quietus’ dagger was poisoned (with his enhance alchemy skill activated, of course). Quietus took the chance to fire a dark arrow at one of the priests, before ducking behind a tree. Then, he moved to another one to climb it.
The group was now aware of him. The damage from the dark arrow was quickly healed, and they proceeded to look for him. The group even passed right beneath him. This time, he jumped between the two priests and used snakebite twice, once on each. He didn’t think it would kill them, but they would be distracted. He once again ran away, but this time only far enough to hide in a part of the swamp that was more liquid than the others.
He watched the group while slowly crawling around under the surface. As a ghoul, he didn’t have to breathe. That was very useful. Of course, if he got hit by any holy attacks, he would be in big trouble.
He managed to get one of the priests alone- they weren’t learning very fast. A quick perforate artery, and he was quickly heading to his death. Quietus used the last of his mana to use enhance alchemy on one of his mana potions. The ghoul’s reduced mana was very unpleasant.
Now, he just ran and climbed a tree. The last priest saw him, and prepared a very powerful holy spell he had seen before. Quietus had no time to evade. It struck him directly.
On top of the tree, nothing remained.
“I got it!”
That was the last thing the priest said before he was killed by the now-human Quietus. He had cancelled the undead mimicry skill just in time. He was still low on mana, but his was regenerating it quickly. He’d taken some damage, but it was nothing compared to what would have happened if he had been undead at the time.
Quietus heard the paladin roaring. He seemed very angry. Quietus fired a quick dark arrow at him. He wanted to try to make use of his dagger’s new ability.
The paladin had limited mobility in the swamp. Quietus did too, but he wasn’t hindered by armor to the same degree. The paladin tried a charge, but was just met by a quick sidestep and a slash to his side. Quietus then ran past him, and climbed yet another tree.
Before he could take down the paladin, he had to make sure of one thing. He looked at his messaged, and saw the confirmation of the deaths of three players. He was glad the first priest had died. It would have been messy otherwise.
Now, he just shot dark arrows from his perch on the tree, carefully watching his level of mana. Fortunately, the sadism stat made using dark arrows more efficient, since his mana recovery increased from the damage and pain it caused.
The paladin was very angry now. He was madly trying to climb up the tree. Finally, he threw aside his shield and climbed with his sword in one hand. He must have had a very impressive strength for it to work at all. Once he was within reach, he struck at Quietus. Quietus had just enough mana to use perforate artery, and had saved it on purpose. He tried to kick the paladin off of the tree, but he was too strong. Instead, Quietus went the other way. Well, that was almost part of his plan.
After a few more minutes of frantic running around and whittling down the paladin’s health, he was finally dead. Quietus set about looting the bodies, after stitching up his side. If the paladin had gotten in more than a swipe or two, with a good angle, Quietus wouldn’t have been nearly so well off as he was. That is, he was alive, but he probably wouldn’t have been.
You have found a death knight’s sword!
Return to the necromancer guild with the sword to receive your reward.
Quietus considered doing just that. However, he did have the other quest. Besides, he’d been told to get the sword from a death knight. This was similar, but he got it from a paladin. He decided to see what would happen doing the quest his way.
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“Oh, you have my sword!” Sir Waltar’s eyes turned yellow in a way that Quietus could only describe as “happy”. “Here, as promised.”
You have completed a quest!
Retrieve Sir Waltar’s sword.
Level up!
The Power to Accept Death increased to Intermediate Level 6.
He’d gotten some hard to get experience for the power to accept death! It was definitely worth the time. It seemed it had advanced almost a whole level. That was about as much as dying 7 or 8 times, which was quite significant.
You got a sword from a death knight!
You can return with it to the necromancers for a reward.
Quietus looked forward to finally becoming a necromancer. He would go turn the sword in as soon as he could. However, that would have to be another day, because he needed to sleep, and his birthday party was the next day.
End Chapter 51
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