---Current Host---
Valgraiva, Lord of the Damned
LVL: 50
[Core Stats]
HP: 950/950
WILL: 1000/1000
MP: 150/150
STR: 60
DEX: 45
SPD: 50
CHA: 30
Ethan the hat beamed down at his party from atop the head of the once-Boss of the Twilight Sepulcher.
The exit portal from Valgraiva’s tomb had taken them right back to the lightning-blasted surface of the Delve, and as they approached the exit back to Sanctuary, Ethan decided it was time for some much-needed skill appraisal:
[Skills]
Twilight Edge (Grade E)
You coat your blade in thickest night and release the energies of the Twilight realm to rend the souls of your foes.
Shadow DMG 75 pts in a 30ft arc.
MP Cost: 20 pts
Repulsor Shield (Grade E)
You heft your mighty shield, nullifying magical attacks completely up to certain magnitude of DMG.
Current {MAG} DMG prot: 85
Summon Wraith (Grade E)
You draw upon the powers of darkness to forge a spectral soldier from the shadows.
Summon {Undead} (Shadow Wraith) x1 for 60 seconds. (Grade E)
---NEW HOST DETECTED---
Please select up to (2) skills to transfer from prior Host, in addition to all previously transferred skills.
Skills Transferred:
Hide (Grade A)
Roar (Grade B)
Wing Buffet (Grade C)
Dive (Grade D)
Poison Coating (Grade D)
Paralysis Coating (Grade D)
It’s a no brainer, Ethan thought. Of course, I’m gonna take the status effect coatings. Enweb is basically made obsolete by my other crowd control skills. Though I’ve only got one blade to work with, now, generally it looks like I’ll be able to switch these effects up on the fly. Couple that with my new multi-target DPS attack and you’ve got a monster that could probably challenge the Lightborn right here, right now.
Transfer Skills: [Poison Coating (Grade E)], [Paralysis Coating (Grade E)]
Skill Transfer…Complete!
Ethan then turned his thoughts to his new, shiny blade – something Tara had already been eyeing hungrily as they left the place.
“Y’know…” she said. “I feel like I’m still due a share of loot for disarming all the traps.”
“All of them? What about that one that summoned an entire mountain of zombies?”
“Hardly my fault,” came the Minxit’s sarcastic reply. “Must’ve been your big spider booty that triggered it, anyway.”
Ethan laughed away her greed. He respected her hustle.
Stolen novel; please report.
Current Equipment:
Mithril Broadsword (RARE)
DMG: 55-70
Armor of the Damned Legion
DMG Prot: 40
Equipment to rival Borlor’s own handiwork. Ethan wondered what the old codger would make of these when they got back to Sanctum. He still had the scythe from the lower tombs, too, and with its capacity to completely penetrate armor, he’d be a force to be reckoned with.
Considering the fact that his scythe’s penetration ability was probably linked with whatever skills used the weapon, he inspected his new Twilight Edge skill with eyes hungry to see it in action.
Twilight Edge (Grade E)
Spirit Core Cost to upgrade: 250
Current Spirit Cores: 975
This was his only real multi-target DPS skill. Upgrading it was a must.
Twilight Edge (Grade E -> D)
DMG Increased. Cost Lowered.
Shadow DMG 90 pts in a 30ft arc.
MP Cost: 10 pts
As his pilfered Spirit Cores flowed into his new body, Ethan breathed deep the musky, humid air of the Sepulcher’s blasted heath. Rachneros had been big, bulky, and tanky. Valgraiva’s form was nimble and humanoid – it felt so much more natural. That, and it was armed to the teeth. He felt like he was piloting a humanoid mechsuit from some of the old military sci-fi books he devoured in High School.
Eat your heart out, Robert Heinlein.
Current Spirit Cores: 725
Enough for more upgrades, but Ethan was thinking long-term, now. Another 250 he could drop on a new skill – he was particularly interested in that handy-looking summon spell – but he also knew he needed 600 Cores in the bank to upgrade another one of his core skills, and [Skill Siphon] was looking like the obvious choice.
But before he could bring up his [Hat] skills, the exit portal flashed before the team, signaling the way back home.
“How does it feel, Ethan?” Fauna asked. “Two Delves down, only one more to go…”
“Honestly? Feels like I could take down the Greycloaks already.”
“My point exactly,” Tara murmured.
“The last Delve is important for more reasons than simply power,” Klax said – the wolfman’s arms shaking slightly as the portal opened to welcome them back home. “Knowledge is what you will find in the City of Illusions, Ethan. Knowledge that every Archon before you has benefitted from. They all found something that sped them on their way to the completion of their quest. We – that is, you – will find something we are seeking there, too.”
Ethan heard the words of the dog-man and the ring of something else behind them.
Jun’Ei, he thought. That’s what you mean, Klax. Isn’t it?
He looked at the Lycae but couldn’t see his eyes. Those eyes were focused on the horizon beyond the portal…
Squeak!
The party threw their gazes to the ground, where the recently healed Theo sat and twitched his little bloody whiskers.
“Alright,” Tara said. “I’ll say it – the little guy was useful.”
“Can – can we keep him?” Fauna asked, bending to tickle the adorable little warrior’s furry chin.
“Well…technically he isn’t a hybrid. But we’d be hypocrites if we didn’t allow him to join us. It would also provide another body for Ethan to possess. That trick you pulled with Valgraiva is something nobody would expect.”
“Ugh. Now you really want to add a rat to our party? Are you trying to mess with me, Klaxxy?”
Fauna bristled. “I think he’s cute!”
“You think everything’s cute, Faun.”
“It isn’t my decision,” Klax huffed, eyes moving to the piercing silver orbs of his Archon’s.
Ethan bent down and looked at the rat – watching his twitching whiskers and the curious turns of his head. Every now and then Theo turned his gaze towards the horizon of the Sepulcher, where, unbelievably, the sun was beginning to rise where once there had been nothing but sallow night.
Then, he realized what was happening.
“No,” he said. “The decision isn’t mine either. It’s Theo’s.”
“Uh, you’re talking to a rat, man.”
“But still a sentient creature,” Ethan said with a smile. “And that means he’s got a choice in the matter.”
Theodore looked at the new light burning behind him, and then back at Ethan – at the hat that was Ethan. As far as a warrior rat could, he had already made up his mind.
The party exchanged bewildered glances as Ethan held out a single finger to shake Theo’s paw. The little guy blinked up at him in understanding and respect. They came together as unlikely allies. They would part, now, as comrades.
“Guess this is goodbye, Theodore the Slayer,” Ethan said. “Wherever you go, make sure to kick some undead ass.”
Theo gave a triumphant squeak before he turned tail and scurried off towards the rising sun.
“Look at him go…” Klax murmured as he and Fauna watched him travel into the glowing light of a new day.
“Like a warrior going to meet his ancestors…”
Tara shot exasperated glances at them all before lighting on Ethan and his smiling face.
“…are we done here?” she asked. “Even for us, this is getting weird.”
***
-City of Illusions-
Delve Grade C
-ENTRANCE-
They had opened the portal in the Delves Archive office without much fanfare – four of them, armed and armored, were all that were needed.
Artorious looked at the ethereal spires of the ever-changing city that stretched out from the spectral mountain the team had emerged on. His mind adjusted to the strange sights of the ghostly manta-rays that traversed the streets, and the venerable bridges that connected the great towers that dotted the city - the ‘Memory Spires’.
He breathed deep the empty air of the place.
“How’s it feel coming back here again?” Carliah asked him, her Mithril armor shining in the sapphire-indigo haze that permeated the atmosphere.
When Artorious responded, he did so to the other two Greycloaks they’d brought with them more than to her – couching his reply in the guise of instruction.
“This place is as empty as your mind allows it to be,” he said. “Steel yourself, feel no emotion at all, and we will prevail. Remember why we are here.”
“Spoke like a true hero,” Carliah scoffed. “Alright, men, you heard the Lightborn. We stick together, watch each other’s flanks, and we’ll reach the peak of the Nerve Tower with time to spare.”
They looked at their destination. The tallest point in the center of the city was unmistakable – wrapped in sinuous organic veins that pulsed like they were the beating heart of the Delve itself. At its apex, the Master Illusionist waited.
A creature far too powerful for this insidious Archon to get his hands on. But a creature he’d be guided to like a moth to a burning flame.
Only when he got here, that flame would be a cleansing bonfire.
“Sidonis?” Carliah barked at their mage. “You ready to disrupt the teleportation field?”
The hooded Greycloak nodded. “It will be done, Commander.”
“Good. We don’t want the Archon or his abominations coming here any earlier than we need them to.”
The trap was set, and the Greys moved out. Artorious led the way with lethal precision, gutting the ghostly innards of every glimmering manta that tried to get in their way. Through their dying screams, echoing down the deserted streets of the city, the Lightborn couldn’t shake the ridiculous image of the Archon from his mind. He knew they’d be fighting more than just monsters in this Delve. And, for a brief moment, he wondered if Kaedmon had led them here as a personal test of his Lightborn’s resolve.
He tightened his grip on his Onixia blade, picturing the Archon’s death by his hand.
This time, he was going to put it down for good.