Necromancer

A Royal Road Fan Fiction

By: Halosty

Chapter 50

Solara looked at the contents once more, reading it out loud for the benefit of Angela. “You have been formally invited to the nineteenth birthday celebration of one Mortimer Perrywinkle. Formal clothing is required. Please RSVP.” She raised an eyebrow at Angela.

“What? With parents like his, he doesn’t have much choice about the party. You should go. It might be your only chance for a while to go to a party as nice as it will be.”

“That may be true, but I don’t have an overabundance of clothing fit to wear. Plus, I won’t know anyone…”

Angela shrugged. “You’ll know whoever Mortimer invites and myself, which is about the same for Mortimer. Minus a few members of family. It’s a good opportunity to go to something like this, and we can definitely get you something. Leave it up to me.”

“...Well, I’ll give it a chance.”

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Quietus woke up. He was still outside. He checked his possessions. Nothing was missing, although he did have to pick up some things he “lost” upon death.

Quietus looked at his dagger, and easily saw the new abilities.

Sacrificial Dagger of the Apprentice

Durability: 100/100

Damage: 50-73

Rumors have it that this dagger was given to the apprentice of a powerful necromancer. However, the apprentice died before gaining enough power to be as strong as his master.

This dagger contains some of his lingering magic. It allows the weapon to repair its own durability when soaked in blood. It can also increase in strength when bathed in the blood of strong enemies.

Special: Causes bleeding damage with every hit, based on the damage dealt.

For a time after dealing damage with the dagger, magical abilities will increase by building up charge.. The damage and power of spells and other effects will be more powerful, related to the damage dealt (up to 150% effectiveness). The mana cost of spells is likewise reduced (minimum 75% cost). Effectiveness of this ability is additionally increased by the sadism stat, and when enemies are slain while the charge persists. Any damage dealt by spells while the dagger is in hand instead increases the effectiveness of damage with the weapon, with a different measurements of charge. The extra damage from the charge does not apply to gaining more charge with either spells or the dagger.

In summary, Quietus thought, Dagger damage ?Adds to? spell damage. Useful, but possibly hard to use. Still, it would increase his versatility.

He went to find the necromancer. “Can you teach me to be a necromancer?”

“Not even a hello?”

“Hello again. Can you teach me to be a necromancer?”

“No. I can’t.”

“Why won’t you?”

The necromancer shook his head. “I can’t. I’m a blood necromancer, and your choices won’t allow you to go down that path.”

“I can’t be a necromancer?” Quietus was disappointed.

“Not my kind of necromancer. Still, there are other options. Go find someone else.”

“Can you tell me where to find another kind of necromancer, then?”

“Try a big city. Where else?”

Quietus had forgotten about that. As he was going to leave, he remembered another question (and quest) he had. “What do you know about Aullet?”

The necromancer almost jumped out of his chair. Fortunately, the cushions were deep and soft, so he just did a weird convulsion. “Where did you hear about him?”

“In a tomb. There was a destroyer skeleton.”

“A… what? He actually made one?” The necromancer shook his head. “Who else have you asked about this?”

“Nobody.”

“Good. People don’t like to talk about him. He was… a contemporary of Bar Khan. He was extremely interested in the creation of new kinds of undead. He liked to impart the souls of others into the creatures to make them stronger. It was the same process with that destroyer skeleton… although none of the souls he could find were good enough. Eventually, his research was discovered by the church, and they sent an army of paladins after him. The army was defeated, but Aullet was never heard from again.”

“Hmm, the destroyer skeleton didn’t seem strong enough to defeat an army.”

“Truly? It should have been. Maybe it was the lack of maintenance. Even undead need someone to keep them ‘healthy’. After what went into creating it, it should have been enough… but I digress. I know little more of Aullet. Nor, as far as I know, does any living soul know more.”

“So who does, then?”

“What?”

“Nobody living, but perhaps some undead?”

The necromancer frowned. “You are a strange one. You would do best to avoid the church, if you continue down your path. Although it likely won’t help… You may wish to seek knowledge left behind by King Suna. He knew something of Aullet in his time. For my own safety, that is all I will speak on this matter.”

A Quest has been updated

The Necromancer Aullet

Aullet studied ways to create new undead, and was a contemporary of Bar Khan. Little else is known of him but that King Suna possessed knowledge of his activities.

Quietus smiled, and thanked the necromancer for his time.

Now he would have to decide whether he would try to become a necromancer first, or seek information on this King Suna. He also had to make sure he wasn’t doing anything time sensitive around his birthday, because his parents wouldn’t let him get away with missing his own party unless he was dead. He didn’t want to be dead in real life.

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It wasn’t too hard to find some pertinent information about King Suna on the internet. He was dead (no surprise there, really).

Useful information about his history was low, so there was very little Mortimer could find except one single lead.

King Suna’s Tomb. A dungeon, basically.

Inside were traps and ancient mummies, at least as far as had been excavated. It was massive, and people weren’t willing to share any information about passageways they discovered, so progress was slow. Currently, there was a guild in control of the area that only let their members and people who paid a fee enter.

Mortimer couldn’t go there yet. While he could probably afford the fee, the harder part was his level. Ancient Mummies were level 250-300, with Mortimer being just short of level 200. He had, briefly, been level 200, but now he was level 198. He would earn 75% more experience until he gained the levels back, so it wasn’t a terrible situation. However, there was still a long way to go.

So, Mortimer would become a necromancer first. He hadn’t thought much about class advancement, but he liked the idea of being a necromancer. Of course, it would be very hard for him to continue pretending to be a rogue, but he’d find a way.

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“Mortimer!”

“Gah! Angela!” He wasn’t actually surprised, but he figured that was the appropriate reaction to someone yelling in your ear.

“I need some money.”

“For what?” Although he wasn’t particularly planning to spend any, he still didn’t want other people wasting his money.

“It’s a secret.”

“No.”

Angela put on her best begging face, which also involved leaning close enough to Mortimer to make him willing to say almost anything to get his personal space back. “I can’t tell you what it’s for, but I promise you’ll be happy at the results!”

“...Promise?” Mortimer knew she wouldn’t break a promise… although he wasn’t sure her idea of results he would be happy with was necessarily the same as his. “How much do you need?”

“Umm… How much do you have in your wallet?”

Mortimer opened it up to see five bills.

“Hmm… that should be just about enough.”

Mortimer raised an eyebrow. “That much? Fine. Next time, though, ask somebody else.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t take away from your precious book money too often. Bye now!”

Mortimer looked at his empty wallet. “I’ve been robbed.” Well, its not like he kept all of his money in his wallet. He’d still probably want to keep spending low for a while.

End Chapter 50

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