Liam - Level 10

Mothau Crypt

He hadn’t intended to become a player killer. It wasn’t his style. Things though sort of happened, and of course he was back where it all started. Liam stepped into the crypt feeling almost nostalgic. Two weeks ago he’d crept through the dark following people he thought where his friends. Did that say something about him? Well, he was here again. For the last ten levels he’d stayed away from this place. Not from fear, but he never attacked undead. Liam used them, often as cannon fodder, but he never killed them. So far they were the only creatures in the game that hadn’t tried to hurt him. No, curiosity is what drove him here tonight. He was almost positive he knew how to change classes. Doubt though had nagged at him enough he’d decided to come and check.

The cold seemed to seep into his bones only moments after entry. He shivered a little wondering again why he felt things at all as a skeleton. The green flames of the iron pits nearby did nothing to help the chill feeling. Like before the shadows from the stone statues danced before him. Liam advanced inside, the gnarled bone staff clicked on the stone floor as he walked. His skeletal feet added to the slight noise as he approached the first bridge. Stopping he glanced down into the swirling dark. Maybe he should make this his home for tonight. Find a quiet little alcove and slip inside with nothing but his knickers on. Without a visible name he would look like every other skeleton in the dungeon. It was getting late and he needed to work in the morning. He either had to find a place to sleep or teleport to his usual location. He decided to set aside the problem for now. After crossing the bridge Liam discovered the remains of a destroyed skeleton. It lay broken amid a pile of rags with its head thoroughly caved in. A group was here, or had been recently. He doubted he would run into them coming out. Most often they’d kill the boss then portal home. There was the small chance though. Lifting the staff he carried it so it wouldn’t click against the floor. He moved more slowly down from one level to the next. As he descended he encountered several undead that had escaped the party’s notice.

“So they weren’t being very thorough,” He thought to himself. He descended several more levels until he came to the bottom floor. Nothing blocked his passage so it only took a few minutes of walking. Using his bone staff he silently cast Control Undead on two level nine skeletons. Both were modestly covered in aged and rusted chain. One though seemed to lack a weapon which was unfortunate. At least Liam was level ten finally. Now he could control two undead at the same time.

“Follow me,” He said and they shambled quickly behind him.

This far down it was pitch black but thanks to his undead nature he could see well enough in the dark. Unless magically aided most living creatures were blind. Only the dwarves and undead had dark vision. So he was able to quietly walk up on the scene unfolding in the boss chamber. Not that he even needed to sneak. Four people were in the room. Well, three people were attempting to chain the fourth on the alter in the back of the chamber. Liam stopped at the doorway to watch what was going on.

“Damn it, you jerks! Let me go.” A woman wearing rather plain half plate spat. She was kicking and flailing like a wild armored wolverine.

“Get in here Deathsythe, she’s impossible to keep down.” A large half orc growled. “You’re the one that wanted to do this.” He said struggling.

“You know my strength score is pathetic, I wouldn’t be any use.” A red robed wizard said from just out of kicking reach. If Liam had eyeballs he would have rolled them. “Deathsythe?” He asked himself, could there be a more pretentious name. The fact he was obviously half-elf made it all the worse. A second man was doing a much better job of locking up the woman’s arms.

“Quite down and stop struggling,” The orc growled getting annoyed.

“Or what? You’ll kill me!?” The girl hissed and the half orc grinned at her nastily. “You helped me the whole day.” She bellowed still kicking her legs.

“New players are so gullible.” The human warrior said from his place by the alter.

Liam was honestly a little impressed. Other men might have been outraged or furious at the scene. Not Liam, he wanted to applaud. What an evil bastard. Unfortunately this indicated people were desperately trying to find out how to be necromancers. Countless players had been hounding him for details on the class. Thank god, nobody knew his name or he’d be drowning in private messages. This player at least was using his head. Did he expect some demon to rise up and grant him his immortality? Liam was quite sure he would fail, but it would be a problem to let the wizard live. Deathsythe was entirely too motivated and having more necromancers running around would just make it harder on Liam.

“Why?!” The chained girl on the alter balled.

“Sorry dear, a sacrifice is needed.” The wizard said calmly and Liam decided it was time to make his move while they were distracted.

Liam pointed at the human warrior. He suspected the man was the stronger fighter. The fact he’d handled the girls arms so well spoke of his innate strength. It was important to keep him occupied. Checking to make sure his pets were behind him he whispered, “Attack him.” Together all three undead walked into the room. Liam reached the wizard in red robes first grabbing the half-elf by the back of the neck. With a satisfying squeak he froze stiff within Liam’s grip. The two undead went past to attack their own target.

“Did I hear someone mention sacrifices?” Liam asked in a deep throaty voice. Everyone turned in astonishment at his sudden entrance. Lifting the staff in his other hand Liam pointed at the half-orc warrior. He intended to cast a spell of holding but the girl did something better. Her foot shot out from the orc’s grasp and slammed into his nuts. The large dabbled gray male grabbed his crotch falling backwards. Obviously his mature filter was off, how fortunate for Liam. The human warrior was caught totally flatfooted by the zombies. He was struggling to draw his sword as they attacked him. Liam turned his attention to the wizard who was staring at him out of the corners of his eyes. For someone that was just about to sacrifice a girl to dark gods he looked terrified by the sudden attack.

“Suffocation,” Liam whispered and the wizard once again wheezed as the air left his lungs. A shadowy snake wound its way around his throat, and tightened down hard. It wasn’t a very good dot (Damage Over Time) spell but it effectively muted the target. Liam didn’t fight spell casting monsters much. It was partly why he hadn’t bothered creating a spell macro for it. That and it was just plain cool to say. Being half-orc Liam was strong enough to shove the wizard towards the wall. Liam was able to maneuver his stiff arms into the hanging wall chains. Now Deathsythe’s hands were bound and he was silenced for the next forty seconds. He wouldn’t be able to cast any spells at all. The wizard was just a spectator in the fight and Liam turned to survey the battlefield.

The human warrior was not having a fun time with the two powerful undead. He’d managed to get his sword out and was using his martial skill to good use. Still the fight was one sided. The unarmed zombie lunged at him grabbing his arm and biting him on the neck. The second undead possessed a rusty old sword. It was taking the man everything in him to fend off the old weapon. The half-orc was finally getting up from the ground. He drew a copper greataxe from a back sheath with a vengeful look in his eyes. Liam decided to really turn up the fun. He was going to steal a page right out of the lich’s playbook. Raising a free hand to form a half moon he targeted the alter. Exploding his fingers outward a little dot of void sprang to life. The next second the room was blanketed in complete darkness blinding everyone in the room. Everyone except him and his undead buddies. Liam loved the [Darkness] spell, so useful against mortals.

With a bellowing warcry the half-orc charged at Liam’s location within the darkness. He crossed the room and swung viciously at where Liam had been standing. He though had seen the move and safely gotten out of the way. There was a meaty crunch as the axe sank into flesh. The orc swore and cursed a half dozen obscenities as he attacked the body before him. The fact he was doing damage was encouraging him. Poor Deathsythe, being chained to that wall made it real hard to block. The fact he was still silenced kept him from alerting his friend too. His death was quick at the hands of the half-orc team mate. Within the darkness the two undead were easily dispatching the human. Unable to see the blows coming he couldn’t continue to parry them. They brought him down in a tangle of claws and teeth. Liam pointed at the half-orc with a free hand.

“Attack him,” He said as the undead finished with the human. To his credit, the warrior managed to kill one of them. He was blind fighting by wildly swinging his weapon in the hopes it would connect. Liam decided to try another spell he didn’t use often.

“Lethargy,” He said pointing at the half-orc. The warrior grunted after his next swing. The spell greatly affected his attack speed. This was amplified by the weight of his great-axe. With the remaining zombie’s help, and several negative energy bolts the last player fell.

The undead minion turned to the girl on the alter still in combat mode. Liam pointed at the [Restless Dead]. “Go passive,” he ordered and the zombie stopped. It turned in his direction looking for further instructions.

“Stand over there.” He said pointing near the entrance. He wanted it out of aggro range of the girl but close enough to be useful.

A few seconds after the zombie took its station the darkness spell vanished. This left two torches burning in the room. The previous owners must have placed them there to free up their hands. He wandered closer to the alter. It was much as he remembered it, except the beautiful armored woman atop. Both of her arms and one leg were chained. Her eyes were wild with fear as she continued to fight and squirm against her restraints. At the sight of the necromancer approaching she kicked yowling in terror. She was short, probably five feet tall at most. Long jet black hair was flung about in a messy mass of strands. It clung to the chains, and hung partly over her face. One eye stared up at him like a big silver coin. She was a half-elf he realized as he caught sight of her slightly pointed ears. That explained her natural beauty.

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He wasn’t going to calm her down by talking. Somehow he instinctively knew that. Getting close to that foot of hers was also out of the question.

Liam spotted the spell book sitting on the stand near the table. He was reminded why he’d come down here in the first place. Silently he turned and walked over to it. The large grimoire lay half open just like last time. Now though its top pages were blank, which was different. There were no squiggling lines of magical glyphs. He touched the blank page and nothing happened. Well, Liam was already a necromancer, not like he could expect a repeat performance. Still he tried getting a response from it. Liam pointed his finger at the book and muttered, “Negative Energy Bolt.” The green magic hit the tome making it glow for a second before fading. Nothing else appeared to happen and Liam turned a few empty pages.

“Are you going to kill me or not?” A soft irritated voice said.

“Not,” he replied without looking up. He tried flipping to the front of the book only to find every page was blank. Sighing he closed the old lich’s grimoire with more questions than answers. If there was no funny squiggles in the book did that mean it was used up? Was he the only necromancer? That sounded preposterous even to him. There had to be more enchanted spell books out there. Raising a hand to his chin he began to tap at his tusk with one bony finger.

“Hey… hello?! Hot girl on an evil alter. This is the part in the movie where your supposed to leap to her rescue.” the girl said more than a little annoyed. Slowly he turned to look at her. If ever there was a picture fit to print it was the way the raven haired warrior looked chained up.

“The hero in the movie usually gets the girl in the end. Somehow I suspect that isn’t going to happen.” He said and she scowled up at him darkly. The fear had apparently abated if she was willing to give him a look like that. Liam supposed he wasn’t much of a hero after all.

“Have you calmed down?” He wondered aloud. The girl’s breathing was still ragged making her armored chest rise and fall rapidly.

“No, hell no. Get me out of these chains.” She said struggling a little again.

“Do I have your parole?” He asked moving closer to the dissection alter.

“What in the world is that?” She asked.

“It means you promise not to kick me in the nuts like the half-orc.” He said stopping next to her body. Even covered in cheap half plate the girl did look incredible. Or it could have been the way she was chained down. Liam couldn’t decide which he liked better. The girl or her helpless innocent body before him.

“That depends how fast you unlock me,” She said.

“I will take that as a yes.” He said and bent over her. Liam let her hands go first still leery of getting near her free leg. Immediately she sat up pushing him away. He was glad she hadn’t hit him. That would have initiated combat and drawn his pet down on her. He stepped back towards the throne and waited for her to finish unchaining her leg. She threw the offending irons away and stood warily.

“Thanks, I guess.” The woman said in an acidic tone.

“Actually I had a pragmatic reason for freeing you. I need a favor.” He said and instantly she sank into a combat crouch. Her hand reached for a sword but didn’t draw it.

“I need a fence,” He said trying to fore stall her attack. She eyed him incredulously.

“What?”

“I can’t go into the city. For the last five levels I’ve been hoarding my loot. Since you feel so incredibly grateful I suspect you’d be willing to take on this simple task.” Liam said pushing away from the throne. He knelt by the half-orc and opened his inventory. It was mostly cheap crafted gear the city had been flooded with. He pulled out two items that looked worth selling.

“That’s stupid, after I reach town I’ll just keep it all.” She said her face a long scowl. Her recent brush with betrayal had apparently left a mark.

“You might, I'm holding onto the good stuff for now.” He replied and glanced at the undead by the door. The skeleton was eying the woman like it was itching for a taste of living flesh.

“Guard that location,” He ordered pointing down the hall. The zombie reluctantly shambled off. Liam didn’t want to lose control of it while he was busy talking. The girl was still crouched against the alter when he turned back.

“So?” He asked.

“Fifty percent,” She said shortly.

“Wow, you have some chutzpah. I save your life, do all the work, and you want half?” Liam asked incredulous.

“Fine twenty five percent, not that you’d know how much I sold everything for.” She said after a few seconds consideration.

“True,” Liam replied walking over to the wizard. He rummaged through the inventory finding a nice intelligence ring. The alabaster ring twisted and curled over on itself in a gordian loop. It also looked much like the rest of his finger which was useful.

“So your him,” said the voice from behind.

“Him?” He asked absently as he knelt next to the human fighter. There was a whole collection of strength enhancing rings and amulets on him.

“The necromancer everyone’s been talking about. Those bastards kept blathering on about you nonstop. They said you bought your way into the class.” The girl said in an icy tone. Liam responded with a shrug before standing.

“You can have the stuff on the human. Lots of fighter gear you might like.” He said and the girl glanced at the corpse. She made a face but walked over and knelt down. After a few seconds she swore under her breath.

“No wonder the ass was so strong.” She said as she fiddled with the inventory screen. He saw a couple of rings slide onto her fingers before she stood again. Liam had gotten out his loot sack and extended it. The leather bag was packed with some of the better magical gear he’d located today. She took it from him before opening it to inspect the contents. Finally she slid the straps over her head and settled it onto her shoulders.

“So what now?” She asked.

“Teleport home, sell it all off, then come meet me in the graveyard outside the city.” Liam replied.

“What if you try and kill me after I bring you the money?” She demanded and Liam sighed. By the gods, her trust was at an all time low.

“That’s why I asked to meet at the graveyard. Guards don’t patrol that area so I can safely be there. It is also part of the city so there’s no pvp combat inside.” He said settling his weight on the bone staff. Liam didn’t even know her name he realized as she brought out her portal stone. She was gone a few seconds later. Liam cursed his mistake. It was still up to her if she took the stuff and ran though. In the mean time he had to jog all the way from the crypt to town.

He eyed the corpses of the fighter and half-orc for a short while more. All of the bodies would decay in twenty four hours including left over items. Their gear was mundane but functional. It would be such a shame to waste it. He turned and yelled down the hall to see if his pet was still under control. A few seconds later a zombie shuffled into the room expectantly. Liam grinned a sharks smile as the idea cemented itself. After collecting the gear from the fallen he handed everything over to his pet.

“Equip all,” He said and suddenly the Restless Dead had a full set of half plate on. In his hands was a large bronze two handed axe and hanging from its neck an amulet of strength. He patted the zombie on the shoulder affectionately.

“Won’t you be a surprise.” He said and the zombie eyed him searching for orders.

“Guard that spot.” He said pointing with the staff. The fully kitted out undead went to stand hidden behind the throne. Exiting the boss room Liam closed the doors after him so the zombie wouldn’t wander. Some days it felt good to be bad.

Liam did wait for over an hour after getting to the graveyard. It was really late and he was going to be losing a bit of sleep for work. He’d have to port to his safe location instead of searching for a place. It was far to dangerous to sleep anywhere near New Hearth. Casually he rested against the stone fountain. He was about to give up when he noticed a dark figure approaching from the town gates. Jogging quickly the paladin eventually stopped before him.

“Sorry it took me so long, never been to the graveyard.” The half-elven warrior said in apology.

“One of the first places I visited.” He admitted. A small bag was held out for him and he took his gold. Liam had no idea what he was going to spend it on. Still some greedy habits were hard to kill.

“Thanks again by the way.” She said and he grinned a deaths head at her.

“How did you get caught up with them?” He asked and anger flared in her steel colored eyes though it wasn’t directed at him.

“I was bumbling around the city when they found me. They asked if I was new and I told them I was. All of them were so nice. They suggested a paladin was a good choice because I could swing a sword and heal.” She said sitting down at the edge of the pool. Liam hadn’t encountered any paladins yet. He suspected it was another of the recently discovered classes.

“They took me to the weapon master who showed me how to fight. Spent two hours figuring out how to hold a sword. Instead of taking the fighter class they brought me to the chapel. So I signed up with the order and we headed out. It was so much fun, and the levels were going by so fast. After I hit five they all suggested we go to the dungeon nearby. Since it was undead I would probably blow through them.” She said before looking away. For a few long seconds she stared into recent memories. Suddenly her armored hand slapped down onto the water making a splash.

“Damn them,” She hissed and slapped the water again. With the sun having descended the night sky filled the heavens above. A moon hung low like you could almost reach out and touch it. Her pure silver eyes glance at him as he studied her profile. He waited for her to calm.

“How did you do it?” She asked not quite accusingly. Become a necromancer?

“By total accident and no I didn’t kill anyone.” He said picking a lily from the water. The white flower glistened with dew in the cool night air.

“Why would you want to be evil, do you really hate this world?” She asked.

“I don’t hate it, no quite the opposite. When I first appeared in this world I was standing right over there.” He said pointing to the place before the goddess. “It was an hour past sunrise and the view was gorgeous. I stood there for a while soaking it in. I felt free, I felt alive again.” He said looking back at her. She was staring at him with suddenly fierce eyes.

“Would I be a necromancer again if I had to start over? I'm not sure. It’s been tough being on the wrong side of living. You don’t have to be evil to be undead. All you do is, not die.” He said and she smiled brilliantly at him.

“Do you…” The girl started then cleared her throat.

“I mean would you like to be friends?” She asked and Liam would have frowned if he could.

“I'm sorry, we can’t.” He replied.

“Oh, I see.” The girl said morosely. Her hand slipped through the water and picked up a lily of her own.

“It’s not that I don’t want too. You’re the first person I’ve run across that I haven’t wanted to kill. I dunno, there’s something special about you too. I can’t put my finger on it. Sadly the dead and the living can’t mix.” He said standing with the use of his staff.

“Try it,” He suggested and watched her access the menu. After a few seconds she frowned sadly.

“See.”

“At least tell me your name,” She said.

“You mean it’s not floating above me?” He asked and she shook her head. That was odd. He’d killed two people for sure down in the dungeon. That should have made his name appear above his head with a red halo. It was the universal sign someone had recently been a naughty player. The ring lasted a day, then it changed to orange. Another day later into yellow before disappearing. You could kill a PK’er without consequence while he had the halo.

“Liam,” he said bowing for the woman.

“I expected something scarier like Grimtooth, or Darkveil, or anything with dead in the name.” She said eying him from her seated location.

“Best I could do on short notice,” Liam admitted with a small shrug.

“I'm KittKat, but I prefer Kat.” The girl said standing and extending a hand. Liam took it. Hers was small, dainty within his grasp, but warm to the touch.

“It’s a pleasure,” He said before turning away. Taking out his portal stone he teleported to his hidden logout spot. He appeared deep under water within a submerged cave. Quickly he climbed into a small side passage, and put today’s acquisitions with the rest. Turning he flicked a large crab away from his sleeping area before laying down. Finally he accessed the menu and logged out.