The Overlord and Maviel walked in quick, echoing steps down the elaborate hallway, passing paintings and sculptures of the Overlord killing numerous beasts and generally being glorified.
“Overlord, you total fucking imbecile,” said Maviel. She scowled at him and whispered in his ear. “I can’t believe you cancelled on your meeting with the Saintserians to whore around with fucking Sylfir. Really, Overlord, Sylfir? She smells like a damn fishmonger. I swear that woman has never equipped a bar of soap a day in her life.”
“Oh, Maviel, you don’t mean all that. It was just a bit of harmless fun,” said the Overlord.
“Harmless fun my ass,” said Maviel “I ought to fucking rip your balls off.”
“You can’t rip my balls off!” said the Overlord. “I’m the Overlord! I have a system! Might I remind you I can still kick you from my party if I so choose, Maviel? I wouldn’t speak so derisively to me if I were you.”
“It’s a figure of speech,” said Maviel. “But, unfortunately enough, I’ve actually got more important things to talk to you about, Overlord.”
Maviel and the Overlord approached a tall, thin dark elf in thick black robes. He smelled of mothballs, and his face was covered in wrinkles. He wore large, bronze spectacles that made his eyes look ten times bigger than they were, and he was carrying a golden staff.
“Ah, yes. Overlord, Maviel. Good to see the both of you,” said the dark elf. He turned specifically to address the Overlord. “I take it that Maviel’s filled you in on the issues the Saintserians brought to our attention during the meeting?”
“Actually, I haven’t, Nedru,” said Maviel. “I was going to, I promise, but the Overlord happened to be too busy filling Sylfir in.”
“Er, how could the Overlord fill anybody in about something he’s unaware of?” asked the dark elf.
“Don’t mind her,” said the Overlord. “Now, Nedru, what in the hell is the problem here?”
“Before I get to that, seeing as apparently I’m the one who’s got to break the bad news, why don’t we take a moment to look at this fine painting?” asked Nedru. He stepped back and gestured to a large, oil painting hanging from the wall in a brilliant golden frame. In the painting was the Overlord, of course. He was riding a white horse and stabbing a long spear at a small green dragon. The Overlord was also wearing his bright fuschia codpiece in the painting, though that wasn’t necessarily the piece’s focus as much as it was a nice background detail. “How do you feel when you look at this work of art, Overlord?” asked the dark elf.
“I mean, I think it’s fairly nice,” said the Overlord. “Sure, I feel like they could accentuate my musculature a little more… I mean, obviously whoever painted this had never seen my character sheet, because my str is totally off the hook, and they’ve got me looking like some sort of dainty weakling here. But, other than that, I don’t mind it. I do think they probably ought to have painted a bigger dragon, though. This little green dragon isn’t very intimidating. I would hope that in a painting of me, the Overlord, I would be seen as able to triumph over an absolutely enormous dragon. Hell, I might have to commission a new painting now. We can call it ‘Overlord: The Dragon Slayer.’ What do you two think?”
Maviel buried her face in her palm and sighed. Then, she started laughing. “You are such a colossal idiot.”
“Hey! You take that back!” said the Overlord. “Might I remind you that I’m the Overlord, Maviel? I command you to take it back!”
“Clearly, you two have some important issues to work on,” said Nedru. He cleared his throat. “So, maybe I ought to just come back and talk about this problem we’ve got going on a little later.”
“No!” said Maviel. “Tell him, gods damn it, just tell him!”
“Very well,” said Nedru. He looked at the Overlord with his big, blown-up eyes. “Overlord, have you ever looked at a map that didn’t have all the territory charted out?”
“Not in at least a hundred years, I haven’t,” said the Overlord. “I’ve long passed the point in my life where such maps proved necessary.”
Maviel covered her mouth with both hands and screamed into them.
“Gods, Maviel, what’s the problem?” asked the Overlord.
“Nothing,” said Maviel. “I’m fine.” She looked to Nedru. “Go on, then. Tell him already.”
“Well, sometimes, when a map isn’t finished, or the map maker doesn’t know what’s there, they’ll just draw a dragon in there,” said the dark elf.
“That’s misleading,” said the Overlord. “Why, if I opened a map up and saw a big dragon there, I’d damn well expect there to be a dragon!”
“That’s good,” said Nedru with a nervous smile. “Because, well, if I handed you an accurate map of Beaubinte right about now, there would be a shitton of dragons drawn all over it.”
“Excuse me?” asked the Overlord. He raised a eyebrow, only then remembering that his face was hidden under his shrouded hood. “What exactly are you telling me, Nedru? Are you saying that the geography of Beaubinte has suddenly and dramatically changed? Are there new nations for me to conquer or threaten or something?”
“Nedru—” Maviel said, her voice quivering, “—can I go for a walk, please?”
Nedru shuddered. “But Maviel, I think the Overlord would really like you to be here for this moment. Er, wouldn’t you, Overlord?”
“Whatever,” said the Overlord. “I still don’t really understand what’s going on, here, if we’re being honest. And, truthfully, I’m finding everyone’s weird attitude a little irritating.”
“Let’s all go to the observatorium,” said Nedru. “I keep staring at the codpiece in this painting, and I think it’s distracting me a little. Come, come, let’s go.”
The Overlord sighed and wondered just what topic it was that Nedru and Maviel seemed to be sidestepping around. It was starting to really irritate him. The Overlord thought to himself that Maviel and Nedru had better get themselves together and tell him what was going on once gthey reached the observatorium, or he might just fly into a rage and spend all his stm trashing the place.
They walked down the hallway, took a right, took a left, and headed up a long, spiral staircase. The Overlord noticed with vexation that Maviel markedly refused to walk up the stairs in front of him, so instead of admiring her alluring yet wraithlike figure he was looking up at Nedru’s unshapely, robe-covered bodice. Clearly, this was punishment for his earlier meeting with Sylfir. It was no matter, though. The Overlord knew Maviel, and he knew she couldn’t resist his Overlordly charms forever, even if he had ‘whored around.’ Which was still a turn of phrase the Overlord found demeaning at best, and insubordinate at worst. After all, didn’t Maviel realize that, promiscuity or not, he was the Overlord?
The Overlord walked into the observatorium behind Nedru. Maviel walked up beside him. She looked a little less nervous. She patted the Overlord’s posterior lightly.
“Keep upping your str, Overlord. It does good things for you,” said Maviel.
Aha. So maybe it hadn’t been a denial of the Overlord’s charms that had kept Maviel from walking in front of him after all. The Overlord felt pleased.
“Ah. Now that we’re here in the observatorium, I think we can finally get to the heart of this issue,” said Nedru. He snapped his arthritic fingers and all twenty of the candles hanging on the walls snuffed out, allowing the bright natural light to pour down over the room from the observatorium’s dome ceiling window. Nedru raised both his hands and from the center of the observatorium rose a large, rectangular platform.
“Really? We’re getting that out? What for?” asked the Overlord. He knew this platform well, it housed in it a detailed topographical map of the entirety of Beaubinte, and he’d often used it for planning battles, attacks, and raids.
“Remember only moments before, when I said that if you were to look at an accurate map of Beaubinte, there would be dragons all over it?” asked Nedru.
“Yes,” said the Overlord. “But I’m afraid I still don’t really understand. Of course I don’t mean I’m actually afraid, how could I be afraid of anything? I’m the Overlord, damnit!”
Maviel and Nedru nodded slowly, looking at one another with apprehension.
“So, in that meeting with the Saintserians that you did not attend, Overlord—” said Nedru, his eyes darting around nervously as he noticed Maviel glaring at him, “—the Saintserians brought something to our attention. There is, as you probably remember from our past discussions, a point of interest somewhere near the center of the Chandian continent.” Nedru pointed a shaky, crackled finger over the raised map. “Somewhere in this area, right near the border between the Tuzandadian Empire and the Chandian Theocracy. A point of interest where things sometimes… spawn.”
“Yes, yes, that’s old news to me,” said the Overlord. “Though, I thought nothing much had spawned there in centuries if we’re being honest.”
“You’re not wrong,” said Nedru. “Nothing had spawned. Had being the operative word. You see, Overlord, the chief of the matter is… that is, well, the main issue is that… what I mean to be saying is that, for whatever reason… whatever reason being completely unknown to us as to why or really even how it is happening—”
“Dragons have started spawning!” said Maviel. Her eyes were like daggers to Nedru. “Fucking dragons, Overlord.”
“Yes,” said Nedru, with a nervous nod. “Dragons, Overlord. There are dragons spawning from the point of interest, and they’re starting to attack some of our cities.”
The Overlord started to laugh. He laughed, and he laughed.
“Oh my gods,” said the Overlord. “Dragons? What a fucking riot. Good joke.”
The room was silent.
“What? What’s the matter? I said it was a good joke, damnit!” said the Overlord. “There won’t be dragons for another ten thousand years, and by then I’ll be so much more powerful I could but sneeze and they’d all go extinct! They’re all in deep hibernation!”
“It wasn’t a fucking joke,” said Maviel. Her lower lip was bleeding. She’d bitten it open. “There are dragons here, now, in Beaubinte. They’re spawning, Overlord.”
The Overlord felt concern flush over his shrouded face. Even a little bit of fear.
“Spawning?” asked the Overlord. “So, it’s not the old world dragons that are still in hibernation? It’s new dragons?”
“Yes, new dragons,” said Nedru. “New dragons that we scarcely know anything about. As far as the Saintserians can tell, they’re all either wyrmlings or young dragons right now, but there’s no way to predict what will come from the point of interest next, or what will happen to Beaubinte as these new dragons get older and… more powerful. Luckily, er, we’ve got a powerful Overlord such as yourself to rely upon.”
“Okay,” said the Overlord. He was shaking a little. Why was he shaking? He was the Overlord! He had no need to shake. He could slay a dragon easily, he just new he could.
“But that’s not all the news,” said Nedru.
“Seriously? What the fuck else do you have to tell me?!” the Overlord stepped forward, reached over the map and gripped Nedru’s weak wrist tightly. “Say it now, old man! Speak!!”
“If only you’d grab my wrists like that,” Maviel whispered.
“The other thing is that—” said Nedru, “—we believe we have found the new player.”
“Oh,” the Overlord released Nedru from his grasp and took a deep breath. “Well. That’s good news. I assume he’s been killed?”
“Not exactly,” said Nedru. “Though we are trying to kill her.”
“Her? Trying to kill? Just what in the hell kind of an operation is this that nobody in my vast party has managed to kill her?!” said the Overlord. He was shaking again, but this time was with rage.
“It’s difficult. One of your new party members got kind of close to capturing her, but she seems to have… somehow… captured him instead,” said Nedru.
[Vigorous Rage Activated]
The Overlord grimaced as electricity coiled around his body. His veins popped from his exposed shoulder. He could feel the room grow more uncomfortable as he glowed with power. The ground shook a little.
“What in the fuck is this?!” said the Overlord.
[Stamina 98%]
“I mean, are you fucking shitting me?!” said the Overlord. He looked to Maviel, who’d backed up against the wall and seemed a little out of breath. He looked to Nedru, who was near frozen in fear. As the Overlord spoke, his voice got deeper, louder, and more sinister. He pointed an electrified finger at Nedru. “If I don’t see that player’s head on a pike in three days, I’m going to drain every last drop of blood out of your body and chop you into a billion little pieces. Now. Is there anything else I need to know?”
[Stamina 93%]
“Unfortunately, yes,” said Nedru. He stuttered. “She’s also managed to build up a bit of a good reputation. Due to successfully slaying a dragon, that is. Now it was just a young red dragon, I will say, but—”
[Stamina 89%]
“Get the fuck out of my sight!!” said the Overlord. His rage built into such a powerful wave of power that it exploded out from his body. The glass dome above them shattered and sent its shards raining down. The floor rumbled and quaked. The Overlord raised his fist and slammed it into the large map. Huge cracks broke into it, and electric sparks shot into the air.
“Overlord, darling,” Maviel said. She started walking towards him, “Please, calm down, everything will be fine, just—”
“Don’t fucking talk to me, gods damnit!” said the Overlord, gesturing towards the open doorway. “Leave me be!!”
His booming voice echoed through the air and prompted birds to fly over the shattered dome, shitting down into the observatorium in fear.
----------------------------------------
Isabelle readied an arrow of chills into her orcish longbow as the swirling conglomeration of the three sinister statues whirled towards her and her party. Its three blades twirled it the air, one burning with flames, one sparking with electricity, and one dripping with poison. Isabelle hoped she had enough arrows of chills left to take this thing out.
[Tahsi -5 hp]
[Tahsi -2 hp fire damage]
[Tahsi -1 hp frost damage]
[Tahsi is poisoned]
“Ack!” said Tahsi.
“Let’s see if I can confuse this bastard!” said Sir Jingles. He drew saliva into his mega puma mouth and spat it out at the dangerous enemy.
[Statue Monster resisted confusion]
“Fuck’s sake!” said Sir Jingles.
Isabelle drew an arrow and fired.
[Stamina 98%]
The arrow flew through the air and struck the center of the monster. It glowed blue with icy frost, though that glow soon faded away.
[Critical hit]
[1023 damage dealt]
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[233 frost damage dealt]
“Nice job, Isabelle!” said Tahsi.
The statue monster quivered, and then it reeled one of its colossal arms up and swung a blade at Isabelle, striking her in the chest and flinging her through the air and back into the palace wall.
[Critical hit]
[-18 hp]
[You resisted fire damage]
[-5 hp electrifying damage]
[You’ve been poisoned]
[-1 hp]
“Fuck’s sake. This thing is a beast,” said Isabelle. She wondered if there was something else she could do other than fight it outright. She didn’t have much health left. Isabelle opened her inventory to check her options.
Inventory: Isabelle
Carrying capacity: 144.5/224
Item
Traits
Necromancer Robes
+10 mana, +3 confuse, +3 enchant, +1 destroy, +4 carry weight
Ring of Improved Destroy
+3 destroy
Staff of the Undead
+5 mana, +2 carry weight
Amulet of Lesser Confusion
+3 confuse
Ring of Increased Mana
+5 mana
Shrouded Cowl
+1 sneak level, +1.5 carry weight
Poisoning Dagger x2
+1 poison, +6 damage, +1 sneak level, +1 carry weight
Steel Gloves
+1 str, +3 damage, +1 carry weight
Spell Tome of Minor Destroying Magic
+5 carry weight
Giant Spider Armor (human)
+4 hp, +8 str, +13 carry weight
Giant Spider Gauntlets
+4 damage, +3 stm, +1 dx, +3 carry weight
Giant Spider Boots
+4 stm, +2 str, +1 dx, +5 carry weight
Potion of Endless Stamina x2
+0.5 carry weight
Potion of Greater Health x3
+20 hp, +0.5 carry weight
Abbreviated list based on prior use. Focus to see more items…
Of course she could just take a health potion, but she only had three left, and if this thing could negate all her healing with one hit, that probably wasn’t a good move. Isabelle did feel kind of guilty about the giant spider armor, mainly because her young red dragon armor was just so much better than it, but there wasn’t much she could do about that. Isabelle looked at the Staff of the Undead. Now that could be useful. What were all the spells it could cast, again?
Item: Staff of the Undead
Traits: +5 mana, +2 carry weight
Description: This is a standard necromancy staff. Besides increasing the mana of its wielder, this staff can also cast a couple of necromancy spells, including:
Raise Dead
Command Undead
Summon Undead
Isabelle looked at all of the dead guards and Ozian Sect warriors laying on the floor. Maybe she could cast raise dead on enough of them to give herself and her party a real fighting chance. It was worth a try.
[Necromancer Robes equipped]
[+10 mana]
[+3 confuse]
[+3 enchant]
[+1 destroy]
[Ring of Improved Destroy equipped]
[+3 destroy]
[Ring of Increased Mana equipped]
[+5 mana]
[Amulet of Lesser Confusion equipped]
[+3 confuse]
Isabelle wasn’t certain whether Raise Dead counted as a confuse spell, but she figured equipping the amulet couldn’t hurt.
[Staff of the Undead equipped]
[+5 mana]
Time to give it a shot. Isabelle lifted her Staff of the Undead towards a headless dead body on the palace floor and thought ‘Cast Raise Dead.’ A plume of purple light shot out of the staff and enveloped the corpse. Slowly, the body started twitching. Its arms moved, then its legs, and soon the beheaded guard had climbed to their feet and raised their sword towards the statue monster.
“Oh my gods!” said Tahsi. “You can necromance, Isabelle?”
“Yes. When I have this staff equipped, at least,” said Isabelle.
[Mana 90%]
[Raise Dead Duration Remaining: 1:00]
Isabelle smiled. The reanimated guard charged towards the statue monster, slashing their sword to and fro.
[545 damage dealt]
[467 damage dealt]
[521 damage dealt]
The statue monster swung its flaming sword at the guard and sliced the corpse in half, but the guard stayed standing and just went in for another set of attacks, even after they caught fire from the blade’s fire damage.
[255 damage dealt]
[143 damage dealt]
[302 damage dealt]
Isabelle had a lot of mana left, and a lot of dead guards on the floor. One by one, she pointed to body after body, thinking each time ‘Cast Raise Dead.’
[Mana 80%]
[Raise Dead Duration Remaining: 1:00]
[Mana 70%]
[Raise Dead Duration Remaining: 1:00]
[Mana 60%]
[Raise Dead Duration Remaining: 1:00]
[Mana 50%]
[Raise Dead Duration Remaining: 1:00]
[Mana 40%]
[Raise Dead Duration Remaining: 1:00]
Isabelle smiled as the guards and Ozian Sect warriors climbed to their undead feet and, one by one, drew their weapons. This was going to be good.