by Oliver Mayes
He was safe.
25
Tinker Tailor Soldier Demons
That had been an interesting turn of events. Busy day. And it was still so early. The minions he’d left in his base had helped his combat force to gather the bags by his item chest, ready for inspection.
Damien had managed to take all the bags, but Lillian’s arrival had prevented him from making the most of the souls gathered there to fill up his Soul Well with either souls or minions. It would have been unwise to stand around summoning more forces with a potential threat watching him from just a short distance away. It was only obvious now he’d left without incident that she was never going to attack. Bloody hindsight strikes again.
Having completed their duties, the imps had all crowded around the succubus and were ogling her, tongues wagging. The succubus folded her arms across her chest and snootily cast her head upward, swatting away any imps who got too close with a swift flick of her tail.
Damien examined her abilities in detail.
Chaotic Bolt: Mana: 50 – You channel a pulse of rift energy in your closed hand. After 3 seconds the energy can be launched, dealing damage to the first thing it hits. After 5 seconds the rift energy explodes, regardless of its current location. At higher intelligence thresholds this ability will be upgraded, dealing more damage but costing more mana.
Bloodlust: Mana: 100 – Non-player allies in the caster’s vicinity have their attack and movement speeds increased by 20%. The effect lasts for 30 seconds, or until the caster is neutralized. At higher intelligence thresholds this ability will be upgraded, providing greater benefit but costing more mana.
Circle of Hell: Mana: 150 – A wide circle of flames is cast on the floor, inflicting damage over time and reducing the armor of any non-demons caught in the effect by 50%. Upon leaving the circle, the damage and armor reduction persist for a further 3 seconds. The circle lasts for 15 seconds, or until the caster is neutralized. At higher intelligence thresholds this ability will be upgraded, dealing more damage but costing more mana.
This was great! Having a minion that could provide Chaotic Bolt was a considerable improvement to his team’s overall utility. It wasn’t a Krackle-style fireball, but it would do a nice chunk of damage. If it hit. After magic damage reduction was applied. If it didn’t explode in her hand. So, some variables, but at least Damien had an operable magic missile now.
He was more interested in the other two abilities. Bloodlust was straightforward. It would help immensely with his hit-and-run tactics, allowing minions to close in faster and get their hits in sooner. Circle of Hell was what Damien had been waiting for. For a long time, he’d lacked something that would work consistently against heavily armored targets.
He’d also lacked an AoE damage ability. Having neglected his intelligence stat, he’d worried that no such abilities would come, but the succubus was providing him with a soft fix to both of these shortcomings in one spell. She only had 50 wisdom, translating into 500 mana, so she wouldn’t be able to churn out these spells indefinitely. She might get more mana if her wisdom increased as Damien leveled up, but until then he’d have to be conservative.
Damien closed the menu just in time to watch a bold imp step in front of his peers to present the succubus with a wilted bouquet of flowers. It had probably picked them up for her while they were still in the Twisted Forest. The succubus glared and swatted him in the face with the back of her hand before casting her gaze at the ceiling again.
“Sometimes I can’t help feeling ashamed to be an imp, watching how the rest of them behave.”
Damien looked at Noigel, who in turn was looking with disgust at the line of imps forming in front of the succubus.
“Good for you, Noigel. I’m glad you’re not in line with the rest of them.”
“Are you kidding? I’m only here because you still need my guidance. As soon as we’re done, I’m going right to the back with the rest of the scrubs. But what kind of imp thinks a succubus wants flowers? He’s a pox on our species.”
Noigel had no sooner finished speaking than another imp trudged to the front of the line, holding a gelatinous, shapeless, dark brown blob. Damien recognized it from his early gaming experience. It was the coveted ruptured rat spleen. The succubus leaned in and popped it into her mouth, revealing rows of jagged teeth much the same as the imps that were courting her. Damien couldn’t help but wince.
She chewed thoughtfully before smacking her lips on the imp’s cheek. The rest of the imps immediately stampeded out of Damien’s base into Bartholomew’s dungeon, no doubt looking for more rat spleens to ply her with.
“Yeah! That’s how you do it! Flowers are for sissies! Get that girl some iron! Know what I’m sayin’?”
Damien covered his face with his hands. He should have known better.
“What’s the guidance you need to give me?”
Noigel resisted the urge to join his brothers in the great spleen hunt and reluctantly turned his attention back to his master.
“The recorded memories I took in the Twisted Forest are in your ‘Media’ tab. Do as you please with them. See you later!”
He ran out to join his brethren without looking back. Damien left him to it and navigated to the Media tab. He was still looking through the footage when the imps ran back into his dungeon, screaming in terror. They were soon followed by Bartholomew, who sounded sourer than ever.
“This is exactly why I didn’t want you staying here. Can’t you keep control of your demons? What gives you the right…”
His voice trailed off as he caught sight of the succubus. She glared back at him haughtily, looking at his empty hands before proceeding to shoo him away. This was a mistake. Bartholomew reared over her, his lips curling back over his fangs and his eyes widening until they were the size of fish bowls, hissing down into her face with the malice of a thousand angry cats.
She staggered backward and retreated into the furthest corner of Damien’s base, swishing her hair behind her as if nothing had happened. The imps quietly followed her to continue their courtship.
“There, that’s how you control minions. How did you manage to dominate a succubus so early in your training? Even if you’ve chosen to specialize in minions, you haven’t invested a fraction of the time…”
His voice trailed off yet again. He was looking at Damien, taking in his level and stats in whatever way it was that his game-bound brain was designed to process such information.
Damien ignored him and kept editing the footage. He was just reviewing the final segment, asking people to vote for him in the competition, when Bartholomew found the exact words to express his sentiment.
“How the hell did you do that?”
‘Your reputation with the Occultist faction has risen to Revered.’
Now it was Damien’s turn to be smug. He saved the edited footage and closed the menu to look at Bartholomew. There was something about him he hadn’t expected. His character was now powerful enough to see Bartholomew’s level. His mentor was level 35.
“I killed a lot of Rising Tide members today, Bartholomew. Twenty people, plus some guests I invited on top. It was… wonderful.”
“I see. Congratulations on your rapid rise to power. It appears you are close to making good on your promise.”
Damien winced. He hadn’t checked Aetherius’s stats since he started playing, but the last he remembered was that his nemesis was on the verge of hitting level 40. He still had some catching up to do.
“Not just yet, but I’m making good progress. I’m hoping to hit another party before the end of the day, but first I need to check the haul from the last fight.”
He thumbed toward the pile of loot in front of the chest and Bartholomew followed the gesture, sucking on his teeth as he took it in. It was several times larger than the one that preceded it, and that had been no small amount of gear.
“Would you mind if I join you in examining your well-gotten gains? I may be able to make you an offer of my own.”
When all the bags were opened, the pile of useful items was extremely modest indeed. Worse yet, while the stats may have been better than his own gear on many of them, very few of them looked the part. Damien knew the importance of his appearance for the purpose of a streamer contest; running around wearing a frilly white archer’s jerkin on the basis that it had a high agility stat would not win the respect of the gaming community. It would also make him an easier target to spot in those situations where he was sneaking. He sighed and narrowed his search still further, putting all the items in the discard pile except those that met his standards for both function AND form. There were a few items that were easy choices, occupying gear slots he hadn’t yet used.
Krackle’s Ring of Foresight:
Stats: +30 Wisdom.
BlackKnight’s Persevering Amulet:
Stats: +20 Endurance, +15 Constitution.
He equipped them and kept browsing, hoping something a little more impressive would soon appear to replace either of them. While there were other items of jewelry, they focused on stats or skills that provided him no real benefit. He threw them into the discard pile as well.
Soon there was only a discard pile.
It was a big disappointment. He’d been hoping for some major upgrades to his gear.
“Look at this,” he vented. “I take down well over thirty people and all I get in return is crap. I wanted something I could use, not more scrap to melt down!”
Bartholomew tore his gaze from the items and focused on Damien with some difficulty.
“I can’t say I’m surprised. You are quite possibly the only occultist hero in existence, and you’re building a very particular skill set. I doubt there are many people out there wearing items that would suit your needs. Fortunately, I have a suggestion for you.”
He casually swept an arm through the pile, pushing approximately half of it off to one side. Then, for good measure, he picked out some choice items from what was left and deposited them in the new pile as well.
“If you give me these items as tribute, I will provide you with an upgrade to your current gear. It will look identical, but the power it holds will be significantly improved.”
Damien looked at the pile Bartholomew had allocated for himself. It was an enormous hoard, enough to fully equip at least five people. Damien wasn’t having it.
“You’re kidding, right? You want all that, just to upgrade something that you already gave me in the first place? There must be over a thousand gold's worth of items in there!”
Bartholomew fluttered his eyelashes, such as they were.
“Why don’t you go sell them, then?”
A vein pulsed in Damien’s temple. Of course he couldn’t sell them. He couldn’t sell them because Bartholomew had made him an occultist in the first place. He’d known playing an outcast would have its difficulties; he hadn’t realized that Bartholomew would use his lack of access to ‘civilized’ society to turn a profit.
“You’re a monster, you know that? Fine. Take the bloody items and give me the upgrades. And it better be good, for what I’m giving you!”
Damien had no sooner uttered the words than Bartholomew withdrew his infinite capacity bag from his robes and started sweeping the items into it as fast as he could, before Damien could change his mind.
“It will be good. And yes, I’m very much aware that I’m a monster, thank you for reminding me. You don’t become leader of the occultists with your morals intact.” He finished sweeping the items into the bag and stood up before extending a hand to Damien. “Your Occultist Apprentice Robes and your Sacrificial Dagger, if you would be so kind.”
Damien glowered at him. So he was going to have to be naked as well. Joy. He equipped the rags he’d hoped never to use again and, memories of Aetherius pushing him flashing painfully in his mind, thrust out the equipment to Bartholomew. The vampire couldn’t quite conceal a greedy grin as he delicately pried the items from Damien’s fingers.
“It’s a pleasure doing business with you. I shall return momentarily.”
Damien scowled and turned his back, returning to his Media tab as Bartholomew showed himself out.
He ran the video through from the beginning, feeling a bit better as he reviewed the footage. It looked great. All that was left to do was create an account and post it. Creating the account was easy enough; the headset already had his account details and did most of the work for him. Damien clicked 'submit' and the video entered the public domain.
He added his footage from The Maw for good measure. It wouldn’t tell his enemies anything they didn’t know already, so it was a pretty safe bet. It also backed up his claim that he was responsible for Rising Tide’s recent woes.
He’d just finished uploading the second video when he realized something important; he had an unallocated trait. In all the excitement he’d completely forgotten. He rushed into his Abilities tab and found his list of traits, with a new glowing trait for level 20 waiting to be selected.
Unstable Energy: Chaotic Bolt afflicts a charge of ‘Unstable Energy’ on the target. Upon inflicting 3 charges on the target, it will explode for heavy damage.
Purgatory: Circle of Hell immobilizes enemies caught in its radius for 5 seconds and the damage of Circle of Hell increases over time.
Rift Walker: Killing blows that grant experience, performed by your character, reset the cooldown on Demon Gate.
Damien could see a clear choice. Demon Gate was his main survival tool. If he’d had this trait before he went to the Twisted Forest, he wouldn’t have almost been killed in the tree. That was the clincher for him. Confident, he selected trait three: Rift Walker.
He already knew how to use the spell, and he certainly knew how to procure kills that granted experience. All he had to do was put the two together. Easy enough… right?
“Your upgraded items, Daemien.”
Damien might have closed the level gap between them, but Bartholomew hadn’t lost his ability to sneak up undetected. Damien grumpily put his hand out to one side to accept the items, not even wanting to look at the vampire who’d fleeced him. The items were placed in his hand and Damien took them into his inventory before examining them in his menu.
The Occultist Apprentice Robes were now Adept Robes. The level requirement had doubled from 10 to 20, and the stats the set gave had doubled as well. They now gave +30 to agility, constitution, endurance and wisdom. While it wasn’t much of an improvement, it was better than nothing and it was certainly better than trying to cut a dashing figure in mismatched gear.
The Sacrificial Dagger had received the same treatment, the base damage doubling to 50 per strike while the agility increase had risen to 30. It was now evenly matched with the keepsake he’d looted from Shankyou.
The upgrades were still under-leveled for him and weren’t worth anything like what he’d given in terms of market value. Even so, they were more useful than the raw materials he’d have got from breaking them down. It would have to do.
Between the new ring and the upgraded gear, Damien’s wisdom had risen by a further 45 points. His Summon Limit rose to 25, but his Soul Reserve still remained stuck at 10. The Soul Reserve had probably hit the maximum.
That was a bit of a blow. Still, at least his minion count was still rising. That was what he really needed. And ten souls were still enough to upgrade his Soul Well each time he came back.
He smacked himself on the head. Of course! He hadn’t looked at his building upgrades yet! He went into his Buildings tab and found the Soul Well was due another upgrade. That was no surprise. What did surprise him was that the Demon Forge icon was also highlighted in blue. He clicked it and check
ed the description.
Demon Forge: Advanced Smithing
Grants your Demon Forge the ability to craft weapons and armor for your minions.
Requirements: 10 iron bars, 5 steel bars.
Did Damien feel like using his limited resources to deck out his minions in armor and weaponry? Yes. Yes, he did.
He got to work, ordering the imps to smelt down the gear Bartholomew hadn’t appropriated for himself. There had been more than a few warriors in the last run, so there was plenty of metal equipment to process. In fact, now he thought about it, most of the items Bartholomew had taken were cloth and leather: the very items Damien didn’t need.
For a moment, he decided maybe Bart wasn’t so bad. Then he remembered just how many items had been greedily stuffed into the bag. Still, he’d left Damien what he really needed, and that was good enough. After the smelting was complete, Damien had fifty-six iron bars, twenty-eight steel bars and even fifteen truesilver bars, courtesy of a truesilver breastplate that was almost certainly sorely missed by the original owner. A few items that Bartholomew had missed provided him with a modest amount of leather, as well.
Damien selected the upgrade and almost immediately a familiar high-pitched shriek from Noigel echoed around his base. The imps zoomed out of the corner they’d been nesting in and retrieved their work tools and the requisite materials from the item chest before setting to work.
Noigel appeared a few moments later with the succubus by his side, looking thoroughly pleased with himself. She leaned down and kissed him on the top of his head, a proper kiss rather than the playful peck she’d given to her earlier suitor.
The lecherous imp caught sight of Damien’s incredulous expression and gave him a wink as he sauntered past.
“She’s smart, but she can’t speak humie. Rule one: Chicks dig foreign languages.”