Hello! Welcome back. Not much to say this week except you can vote for which story I first release some of on Saturday on my wordpress site.
The relevant post
Also, I forgot to put this earlier, but chapter 2 is out!
I'm Gonna be a Wizard When I Grow up Again! Chapter 2
Necromancer
A Royal Road Fan Fiction
By: Halosty
Chapter 57b
Quietus still realized he could not drive out all the other players alone. However, there was still the matter of the tomb full of mummies, who just wanted the players to leave them alone. Quietus had a very positive reputation among the mummies, so it wasn’t too hard to convince them to join him, especially since he asked them to do the thing they most wanted anyway. It also helped that he had the Necrosympathy stat, which combined charisma and leadership in one! Of course, it only applied to undead, and made others react to him more poorly, but that didn’t bother Quietus.
Numbers aside, his actual leadership skills were quite limited. Although he’d previously taught some ghouls how to use stealth, he wasn’t experience in tactics by any means. So, he went with what he knew. Mummies, although not naturally stealthy, were still undead, and thus they didn’t have to breathe or even move. While moving, they were only slightly more stealthy than ghouls, with their legs dragging along the ground and bandages rubbing against each other. Still, they were good for stationary ambushes.
In addition to that, Quietus applied the one tactic he knew worked quite well. Traps are more effective when people don’t have the time or even the thought process to find and disarm them. Thus, Quietus gathered the mummies in groups. The groups players were in could easily pick off a few mummies, which were how they were normally organized. Now, they were gathered together, and although not all corridors were protected, larger groups at key points kept the dungeon secure. More importantly, large groups of mummies suddenly charging generally caused players to run down a corridor away from them- into traps they hadn’t disarmed yet.
It wasn’t too long before all of the players had been driven out or killed, mostly the second option. Although the players were planning to organize a large group, nobody was willing to venture inside just yet, with the apparent changes to the dungeon.
Then, Quietus was once more called before King Suna.
--------------------------
“Greetings once again, young man. In the recent weeks, you have been of great help to my loyal subjects. Thus, you have been of great help to me. However, we tire of this endless conflict. We plan to seal the tomb away, beneath the sands. Before we do so, here is the knowledge you seek.”
King Suna told Quietus of the necromancer Aullet, and how he studied to create new kinds of undead. For this, he was reviled, but his thirst for knowledge let nothing stop him. Finally, he created his best work, the Destroyer Skeletons. As Quietus had already heard, one of them was enough to ensure mutual destruction with an entire army of paladins. After his story, he pulled out an old tome. “Here are the only writings I have of Aullet’s. I hope that you will do them justice. Now, not that we are ungrateful, but it is time for you to leave this place.”
If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
Quietus thanked the king and left swiftly. In fact, he almost wished he’d been a little bit faster, since as he neared the exit the whole tomb started shaking violently. Just after he got out, it slipped beneath the sand. Fortunately for Quietus, everyone was more focused on the entire dungeon disappearing than him, so nobody noticed his murderer’s mark. Quietus put on a better disguise before he could get discovered, then went somewhere secluded to read the book.
I am disappointed with the eternally temporary nature of undead. Although many of them last for centuries, with care, I feel that this is not good enough. They should be self-sustaining, and I have come up with a method that might work. It is a method of transferring the soul of a living creature into an undead. This gives them almost indefinite longevity, and somewhat protects them from holy magic, although they are still weak to it. Now the only problem that remains is creating the perfect body to hold the best soul.
You have learned a skill!
Transfer Soul
With this, you can transfer a soul into an undead creature. This makes them stronger and their duration becomes unlimited. However, it only works if the soul used is of sufficient quality. The effectiveness is also limited by the fact that the bodies of most undead cannot handle the best quality of souls, either.
Quietus liked the idea of undead with unlimited durations, but he wasn’t sure exactly where to get souls. He supposed maybe ghosts would work, but perhaps not, since they were also undead. He would have to look into it.
--------------------------
Although Quietus didn’t think much of it, the disappearance of King Suna’s tomb was a big deal to players. Besides the fact that it was a pretty good hunting ground, the circumstances of its disappearance were bizarre to other players. After all, regular dungeons didn’t disappear. Sure, some collapsed after defeating the boss for the first time, but they were always meant to be temporary dungeons, and people knew that.
In this case, however, an established dungeon drove out all the players, and then just… left. It didn’t collapse, it just sank into the sands in a very purposeful manner. It wasn’t a temporary event dungeon, and there had been no indication that it was going to disappear. Sometimes, there would be quests related to the destruction of a dungeon, but in that case many players would have seen it coming. In that, at least, they were equal with the perpetrator. Quietus hadn’t known at all what his actions would cause, but then again… he didn’t particularly care, either.
End Chapter 57b