Having been safely, albeit violently, returned to his proper place in hell. Thoz was forced to report his success to Varekoth almost immediately. The pit fiend in charge looked down on Thozronnath from the seat of his rather ominous throne, a structure that also served as the primary office chair of the behemoth of pain.
Under the scrupulous gaze of his superior, Thoz recounted the entire mission, his use of vague orders to kill his summoner, and the subsequent ambush from a swarm of horse sized insects. He may have embellished his inept blundering into the creature’s home hive, but he suspected that the pit fiend may have already known that. Varekoth had a habit of learning things he didn’t have any real way of knowing.
Seeing as Thoz had successfully claimed two souls for his employer, one of which constituted his own payment, He had actually been somewhat praised. At least what passes for praise in hell, it was still belligerent and rude just not inheritly cruel.
The conversation that followed was mainly instructions though. Varekoth laid out his performance and explained that Thozronnath might have a chance to max his Imp job in a few years, which would allow him to evolve into a higher form of devil. Varekoth, of course, didn’t consider this out of some kind of kindness or charity, but rather calculated manipulation. The prospect of no longer being the very lowest in the infernal hierarchy was tantalizing to imps, and Varekoth could see it on Thoz’s face. If the pit fiend could inspire loyalty in Thoz and get him a few evolutions over the next fifty to one hundred years, not only would Varekoth have a more powerful subordinate but potentially one that had a low chance of betraying him. Devils didn’t place much value in loyalty or trust, but a sense of debt could never be underestimated, especially among those that trade in souls.
“It’s too bad you can’t hunt hellbeasts, they grant nearly double the xp of a mortal, probably something to do with fighting in your real form” Varekoth sighed.
The fiend didn’t care about this in any measure though, a well placed facade of frustration and disappointment could potentially motivate Thoz to go hunting on his own. If he succeeded, he’d gain much more XP, and if he failed Varekoth would get to watch him suffer in agony through his soul mirror. Either way the fiend wins.
The manipulation found the intended effect almost immediately, and the next time Thoz found himself alone with no standing orders he slunk away as a rat courtesy of shape shift. He had to wait nearly an entire year for no standing orders, but devils have long memories.
The infernal rodent scampered along the ground between the spires of burning stone that served as offices for many of the high rank devils, headed directly for the edge of his curren circle where he could find hellbeasts.
It’s worth noting at this juncture that any creature you can think of as horrifying, cruel, strange, or fearsome, was almost always found in hell in some form. Even if they didn’t originate there like rats did. This was exactly the case when Thoz spotted a glistening web in the distance, refracting the light rays peaking through a sulfur cloud.
Hellspiders. Perfect.
A hellspider was nearly as tall as an average human man, and more venomous than some species of snake. Their thick black carapaces made them rather resilient, but the fleshy insides meant that once you broke through they were surprisingly weak.
Through a combination of stealth and invisibility based transparency, Thoz snuck closer and closer to the spider nest. His wings beat against the burning air, lifting the imp into the air as he approached. Seemingly unnoticed, he managed to position himself above the spider in question, seemingly sleeping in its web though perhaps waiting for prey.
“Sting!” the imp whispered, landing a hit that glanced off the spider’s hide and did no damage what so ever.
Quick as a flash there after the spider lunged at the imp and sank its mandibles into his foot, snapping it off and consuming it. Thoz knew he couldn’t die in hell unless his enemy had the means to damage his soul directly, but that didn’t stop things from hurting like home.
You have suffered a major injury. -5 HP.
Your enemies poison courses through your veins. -11 HP.
In fact, if it wasn’t for his recently increased status, he may have passed out right there. If that had happened the imp would have spent several days being digested and reformed in the spider stomach until he was ‘passed’.
Flying away at full speed, Thoz retreated out of the spider’s territory to allow the hell energies to reform his severed foot. The thick black ichor spilling out of his stump was already slowing by the time he checked on it.
Thoz realized he had no chance of fighting one of these things head on. Imps were good about measuring enemy strength, it was their main survival tactic. Thus, he waited several hours in the form of a rat to avoid the spiders attention. Once he felt confident that the spider had let it’s guard down, he approached it once more.
“Sting!” he shouted, this time aiming for the eyes.
He actually managed to land a hit, piercing through the soft flesh of the arachnid’s compound eyes.
Your target has suffered a minor injury. -5 HP.
Your poison courses through the target’s veins.
Your target is immune to your poisons.
“FUCK!!” Thoz screamed as he flew away from the spider’s reach once more.
Frankly speaking most of Thozronnath’s damage came from his stinger poison, even if a target resisted it. With a fully immune target though, he was doing less than one fourth of his usual damage. He’d have to repeat this process over and over if he even had a chance of defeating the creature.
Over the next several days, perhaps weeks, Thoz flew in and out of the spider territory just to stab it whenever it let it’s guard down. After losing three of it’s eyes, the spider stayed on guard for longer and longer periods of time, though like all living creature’s it did require some form of rest to maintain its body and prevent collapse. These were the imp’s only chances at victory.
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Hit and run guerilla tactics lasted far longer than the battle would have with his poison working, though eventually he did slay the beast. A rush of power filled his body, and while he couldn’t check his status in hell, he felt like he was improving.
Thus Thozronnath repeated this process a total of three times. It took him nearly six months to find a isolated spiders that were small enough for him to fight, including the time spent killing them.
He would have kept going if not for a series of familiar messages filling his head thereafter.
Congratulations! Your employer has brokered you a contract from his Lordship.
Your summoning will begin shortly.
Physical manifestation under construction.
Followed shortly thereafter by the most beautiful thing Thoz had ever seen.
Physical manifestation completed.
Congratulations! You are now a level 5 imp.
Remember to check your status for your specifications, and please comply with your summoner’s requests to the best of your ability while trying to claim their soul for your employer.
Level 5. He had gained three whole levels in hell over the past year and a half. Thoz truly felt inspired, so much so that he regretted all those hundreds of years spent obeying orders without question when he could have been leveling.
“STATUSES!!” he screamed in victory.
The resulting flood of information was interrupted by “the system” processing his new form and formulating new messages.
Proficiency gained! Shapeshift is now level 2.
New form unlocked: Spider
Whether it was a coincidence or not that his spider slaying had resulted in a spider based shapechange was not something he had time to determine however.
Proficiency gained! Invisibility is now level 2.
Proficiency gained! Stealth is now level 2.
Even his skills had leveled up. If Thoz was capable of weeping he would have already started.
New skill gained: Magic Resistance
Prerequisite: Level 5 devil based job
Effects learned: Reduce damage from incoming magical effects proportionally to skill level.
This was the most glorious experience of Thoz’s so far infinite life. He said a silent word of praise to his king and began glancing around the situation he was summoned into.
Once again the world of mortals had advanced in sophistication, they now had roads of smoothed dirt running between buildings. Buildings built out of wooden beams and stone foundations. Windows, Doors, city based life had finally sprung up.
This isn’t at all how civilization worked however. Thoz had so far only been summoned into rural areas and thus was unaware of the village ecosystem that had been developing for the past hundred years. Ignorance is standard for imps.
Likewise, this village was not a village in the traditional sense that Thoz was thinking. It was a military base. There was, afterall, still a divine war being waged across the plane, thus mortals only grouped in large numbers to build strongholds and muster troops. This was the latter case.
Everyone in this town wore some form of armor, or carried a weapon of some kind. Even the few clad in flowing robes of spellcasters appeared to be hiding blades among their sleeves.
One such spellcaster was Thoz’s current summoner, who was currently planning on using the Imp for a reconnaissance mission into the surrounding forest.
The lumbering form of this mortal stood well over two meters tall, its skin was a deep dull green, and the lower half of its jaw jutted out with large beastial tusks. It was an uncommon sight among spellcasters, but not an impossible one. Orcs weren’t inherently any dumber than other mortal races, they just valued different things. Thus this Orc-thing was an interesting case for other spell casters, and a new sight for his summon.
General Stats Classes Level Name: Thozronnath "The Pitiful" Strength: -2 Imp 5 Species: Imp (Lesser Devil) Dexterity: 3 Sex: N/A Resilience: 2 Age: 3669 Intelligence: 2 Affiliation(s): Hell Wisdom: 1 HP: 20/20 (+0.2/sec) Charisma: 2 MP: 20/20 (+0.2/sec)
Skill
Level
Progenitor of Sin
1.25
Invisibility
2
Stealth
2
Subterfuge
2
Silver Vulnerability
1 (Max)
Fire Immunity
1 (Max)
Shapeshifter
2
Eyes of Hell
1 (Max)
Sting
1