The witch handed me an old cloak, tattered and held by only a few threads. Demand a refund, or sell it you might say, but this was my only option. I begrudgingly handed her 2 gold when it was damn well only worth 90 copper. "Don't let the sash hang too low," she croaked, "it'll tear!" She laughed and shut her rickety door. I stared at the monitor, reading the cloak's stats. It was horrible--not just the cloak, but the design and durability, but I had to make do.
People would say I was headstrong; stubborn. I picked Riptide up the week it came out along with my friends Rheese and Aaron. We all lived across the country from each other and as of late with work and life, we had few to do with one another. But Riptide changed that all. I picked the necromancer, which I thought would be a popular class. It was certainly my favorite archetype in RPGs behind assassins, but this game had a way of making you regret considering it. There were requirements to play certain classes in Riptide. The obvious ones of following the gods if you're a priest; making a pact with a demon as a warlock; etc., but therein lies more complex ones such as the necromancer.
* No City Quests
* No Entering Civilized Cities
* No Merchant Trading
* Default Reputation set to Hated (Attacked On Recognition)
* Must Wear Clothing to Conceal Sleeve
There were more requirements that bordered on asinine, but these were the main five. I wouldn't blame you for not even giving it a chance, but I felt it a disservice to myself to throw in the towel. I had 20 separate necromancers over the course of my time playing and on the final one I had managed to curate a build good enough to survive. To survive. I did have a nightbane on the side, a stealth archer I used to play with Rheese and Aaron, but my time was consumed by trying to make the necromancer work.
The days and nights flew by. My phone must've been dead for weeks before I realized. The one time I charged it I remembered I had a job.
Not anymore.
Without that job, I would soon lose my apartment and everything in it. That thought never crossed my mind. It was a few weeks before I was pressed about it, the landlord yelling through the door before eventually using his key to march in and demand rent.
I lost everything then and there, the apartment, my computer, and most shamefully and disappointing of all, my body pillow. The anger bubbled in my chest, a permeating heat that quickly diminished, becoming frigid; I had nearly hit 30, which was unheard of for a necromancer. Also Rheese bought the body pillow as a joke, don't judge me.
For a few days and nights I found the alleyways to be a suitable refuge. I was walking aimlessly, until I remembered a gaming café was in the area. I began sneaking inside, getting buddy-buddy with the owner and playing till closing time. It was my new home, supplying more than just the game. I managed to scrape by on the scraps left behind other people; a batch of fries here, a nearly vacant burger there. I was there for more than seven months. I lucked out more than I should have.
Seven months in, clocking in over 3000 hours, I had found the Robes of Xeron, they were from an apparently ancient necromancer who single handedly took over an entire country in hours. No longer did I have to abide by the default cap of 15 summons, I could create an army, an armada, a squadron, of over 200 undead and not just undead humanoids. Griffins, chimeras, even hydras and dragons. They obviously took up more slots, but the options were endless.
I spent an hour looking through the game's wiki without a single bit of evidence showing its existence. It was definitely an intended item, the procedural generation could get insane, but this wasn't game breaking. The strongest of wizards could very well compete even if I had eight necrotic ice dragons. I sent a message to the developers regardless and was met with more than an answer. They were just as surprised to find that someone had actually found the item after it was generated. It was in an obvious spot, left unguarded, but no one would bother--not a necromancer and not any other class--to dig it up.
I summoned the lesser undead I had and banished them to the afterlife once more. In their place stood a manticore, three trolls, and five giants, all the summons I had left. I messaged Rheese immediately after with a screenshot attached.
He threw a message right back.
[Do you have any idea how fucking strong you're gonna be!?] @Mudwizard
[Stronger than you] @TendrilsofSage
Stolen novel; please report.
I was resting in an alleyway the following night, exchanging excited messages with Aaron. He was always the theory-crafter. "Use a couple dragons and have some golems ride them into battle and dive off like a cannonball."
"Golems aren't living or undead," I said.
"Right."
I zipped up my sleeping bag and chuckled. It was the warmest I had felt in a long time even in the Carolina winter. "I could get one of those elementals, they're technically living creatures."
"You'd have to cross countries to get one though. Where are you even?"
"It's called Blitham, pretty small as far as countries go, but still a country." I sent him the map I had uncovered so far, stitching my in-game cartography and the maps I found along the way.
"You can get there. Been no-lifing it for the past year anyway."
I went to reply but he followed it up quickly. "You should stream it, I’m sure people will be interested, no one plays the damn class."
I thought about it over the night. No reason not to. I doubted the interest a necromancer walking the wilderness would get, especially given I was only 30. The highest leveled people on Riptide were nearing 150.
It started with me just going live without a camera or microphone, even though the café supplied both. I would wander the wilderness killing things with ease and adding them to my rotation of summons.
No one really bothered to watch; I was one out of a couple thousand just playing normally. Mine was exponentially more boring. No one wants to watch someone kill mobs all day in a forest or any other environment I explored. Maybe the damned deserts, but I couldn’t resurrect the golems and I’d out leveled them. I wasn’t perturbed, I hardly remembered I was streaming for the beginning stretch until one day I thought about trying to lay siege to a city.
It was a small town in the thick of the woods I had been traveling. None of the npcs were over 45, which was still a level difference of 15.
Perched on a tree, I messaged Rheese and Aaron to watch my stream as I began to summon the strongest units I had. Their levels always fixed to match mine, but their innate abilities far exceeded any npcs around me. Five trolls, five giants, and a mixed bundle of creatures like manticores and chimeras.
I took the vision of my griffin and soared high above, guiding the amassed army of 119 towards the gate. A sudden bolt flew past me, its steel tip taking with it a handful of feathers. The watchmen had their sights all on me. The guards took aim. Arrows began to slice the air around me. The guards filled their ballistae over and over, completely unaware of the damnation at their feet. The giants' heads poked out first, gathering an intelligible yell from the gate's helm. The giants picked up and threw handfuls of creatures. In seconds the walls were breached. The manticores shredded the remaining watchmen as the giants and trolls beat down the standing doors.
It took no time at all to take control of the streets. The villagers wised up and hid in their homes, leaving my undead army to eviscerate the formation of guards lining the streets. They sliced through in no time at all. As the last two guards fell to the floor I approached the vehement mayor who deigned to ignore me, his eyes staring into the dirt. I sought no desire for his acknowledgement and simply pierced his chest with a bone spike letting him fall to the ground.
Through struggle and brute strength you have conquered the settlement of Valle
How would you like to proceed?
* Vassalize — Vassalage of a city turns all of its citizens and guards under your subordination, gives you a point of respawn, and allows you to tax and take whatever you so desire from within
* Sack — Sacking a city destroys all of its defenses, takes all of the gold and worthwhile materials inside, and kills a majority of the citizens within, leaving it to rebuild. WARNING: sacking a city may end up in its demise if citizens are not skilled enough to rebuild.
* Control — Controlling a city turns you into the new ruler, allowing you free will and limitless interaction with the city and its people. Through control you gain a point of respawn, a small amount of gold per day, and potentially high-end materials. Opposed to vassalizing, control allows you to develop special bonds with townsfolk and guards alike; gaining their trust will cause them to relinquish all ties with any backing country as well as open the door for trade no matter your race or class.
* Scorched-earth — The city is destroyed in a massive blaze. Committing such an act will label you a criminal of war and leave a bounty on your head that WILL NOT be removed until arrested or killed. WARNING: Choosing to destroy a city may result in mass wildfires if forests or jungle are nearby.
It was a no-brainer. Having a potential trade-post was insurmountable. I chose to control the city, immediately gaining three titles: Conqueror, Merciful, and Reaper. The latter two seemed at odds. Reaper was likely necromancer specific. Use only necromancy spells to conquer a monster village or cave. I had a general overview of the city in my menu now. I couldn’t spot anything that resembled a monster. Maybe they’re monsters to me? I wondered, sitting back in my chair to read over the bonuses.
250 gold per month (8.33 per day), one stack of random f-tier material per day, one respawn point. There was more, like being able to build in the future, the trade-post of course, but all that required the faith of the townspeople.
I switched tabs to check how the stream was going. All looked normal until a peculiar trend caught my eye. A flood of multicolored texts were flying past in the chat. On the bottom right it read: 400 viewers. I blinked. It wasn't until I started reading "Stream froze!" comments that I snapped back to it and began playing as normal.
That sparked it all.
It was days after and already my name spread like wildfire. The low-level necromancer: TendrilsofSage who was taking cities left and right, he was able to summon over 100 creatures! How?
Aaron gave me his whole "I told you" spiel. I relented. He was right. Even if he didn't know it, his idea had saved my life.
I was no longer just a passing-by rumor from players less fortunate to meet me in the wilderness, I had been cemented as an innovator, a professional--whatever that entailed. The views I received tripled, then doubled. It wasn't long before I left the café for a new apartment, a new computer, and shamefully, a new body pillow.
A celebration was in order and by this time I had gone from a mysterious being to just an everyday streamer. It was the day of reckoning: a 24 hour stream day. I had snacks and food at the ready, drinks filled up my minifridge. I gave out hundreds of cosmetic codes and rare items.
And on the precipice of it ending I felt the effects of that prolonged time. I wished everyone a good night, turned off the stream, and collapsed into bed, hoping for that next day's stream to be even better.