The Paladin And The Lich
Decades later...
His name was Robert, Robert Leoheart. He was a paladin, and a damn good one at that. Well, that was what he said about himself at least. He was known as a lone wolf type, a hero and an insufferable braggart, and most people if told this would say that one of those was completely correct.
He was also secretly a Lich. But that's a story for another time, "Now," he loudly declared to the wastes " is the time for glory and adventure!" He ventured bravely forth into the green pastures known as the "Living Wastes" where would be heroes so often went missing, his trusty glaive in hand.
...
A few hours later...
"Oh? What do we have here?" Robert exclaimed in his usual boisterous manner. "It looks like a cavern filled with who knows how many ancient treasures and foes?" He boldly rushed forth into the ancient cavern, not looking back once. He also had not realizing that the entrance had closed behind him, the stalactites and stalagmites drawing together, perfectly interlocking and leaving only a smooth wall behind him.
Robert continued forth, mentally making note of the vast quantities of bio-luminescent moss throughout the cavern, all the while his mind screamed that something was wrong here. Knowing that a great adventurer like him couldn't get caught up on mere instincts of danger, he promptly ignored them and continued onward.
However, the further into the cavern he ventured, the more he noticed the distinct lack of treasure and powerful opponents. "Hmmm... How problematic," he thought aloud "how am I meant to gain repute and glory when the great enemies of this world are too afraid to face me?" Nevertheless, he pushed onward until he came upon a garden of Eden, a place filled with lush growths of flowers, grass, trees and- "Statues?" he exclaimed in confusion, he had originally thought that they were merely stalagmites, covered with the bio-luminescent moss that coated the entire cavern -much like a glowing, pulsating plague.
"Huh, maybe these statues will help me figure out who created this place." Robert thought, despite the fact that he had never learned anything about architecture in his life, as he found it a dull subject that simply didn't befit a great adventurer like him. "Of course, despite that, I shouldn't have any problems filling in the gaps in my knowledge with my superior intellect and deductive reasoning!" Robert exclaimed loudly.
Unfortunately, his exclamation woke a creature so terrifying that Robert dropped his glaive and fell to his knees, the only intent in his mind to beg for mercy and hope that it would forgive his trespass into its lair.
"Oh how intriguing, it seems that someone has wandered into the Belua, I should inform the Monarch." the beast said, in a gentle voice that was completely at odds with its appearance.
Speaking of its appearance, the beast was at least 5 meters tall, with foot long horns that grazed the ceiling of this godforsaken passage. Its torso had strange protrusions whipping out from it as if it s body had been rent with unfathomable force, and its entire body glowed with a faint purple light that seemed to pulse outwards and repel the light of the moss, making it seem as if the creature was continually shrouded in shadow. One of its eye sockets was filled with a deep purple flame, while the other one was empty and its mouth was filled with gleaming teeth that looked like they were made of stone and were highlighted by the faint purple light coming up the monster's throat. Finally, its most distinguishing feature were the runes covering its entirety from its soles to the tips of its horns, the runes glowed so brightly that it hurt to look at them, and the light they gave off was blood red.
This all came together to form a horrifying, towering apparition cloaked in darkness, with a single purple flame set in its head, whilst the runes made it seem as if it was constantly enraged and covered in human blood. It leaned on what Robert assumed was its weapon -a thick and sturdy handle carved from heavy stone, led to a flat top which looked like the end of an ancient pillar. The entire thing was wreathed in the same blood red runes as the demon, concentrated on the flat top, where they aligned to form a magic circle that opened a gate to somewhere... else, somewhere... different. But the most terrifying thing, was what emerged from the gate. Pure white, scaled tendrils, covered in black eldritch runes, more of them than he could count, the scariest thing about the thick, sinewy tendrils was their strength, the demon in front of him must have weighed about fifty five tonnes, yet the tendrils were clearly exerting almost no effort to stay up and hold up the demon.
"The Monarch has asked me to escort you to him, follow me." the demon said, walking off towards one of the walls.
"This is my only chance to escape," Robert thought while beginning to follow the demon "I should sneak up behind it and use my sword to wound it, then while it's angered I'll run down the hall and hope I can lose it in the tunnels." Just as he was about to enact his plan, he realized that the room had no entrances or exits. "Oh." he said aloud, now standing directly behind the demon. The demon was facing the wall and chanting, then, the wall ahead of him opened into an alcove, with the "stone" that was making up the wall opening into stalactites and stalagmites that, looking at them carefully, were far too jagged to have formed naturally, in fact they seemed to be... serrated. Robert shuddered thinking of how much damage it would do to him if one of those serrated walls had closed with him inside it.
Inside the alcove, a lich covered in lacerations was sitting on a broken throne, his blood seeped into the throne and followed its intricately carved patterns, creating mesmerizing circles of runes.
Robert walked closer and the "door" closed behind him, leaving him alone with the ancient lich.
"Childe, come closer," the lich said, in a voice that while faint seemed to drown out all else "Allow me to tell you a story, a story of a man who went against a god, and the result."
Robert's eyes widened as he heard the lich calling him childe. This was a word that the nobility of powerful species used when referring to younger members of their species, that meant that despite the illusory glyph on his armour, the ancient undead could see that he was a lich.
"How can you see through the illusion of the armour?" Robert asked inquisitively.
"Hahaha." the ancient lich burst into laughter when he heard Robert's question "Boy, I designed that armour. What would be the point in giving it out if I didn't add a few personal benefits like, for instance, giving myself the ability to see through the glyph or adding a psychic link that makes it impossible for the wearer to ignore my voice if I so wish?" the lich asked rhetorically.
"I see," Robert said, thinking of the implications of the lich being able to create this armour that had shielded their kind in recent years "So, you said something about a story?"
"Indeed, the story of a villain who never wanted to be one." the lich answered.
"There was once a lich who was cast as the villain in a game of gods, he created a set of armour to hide what he was and journeyed across the wasteland until he came upon a city."
At our stories beginning...
"Hmmm... So, now that I've found a town, what should I do next?" Robert asked the system.
[Well... Your current power isn't enough for a takeover, so I suppose that you should try and find someone who can help you inside.]
"I see, but why would anyone in a human town help a lich?" asked Robert.
[All towns have underworld areas, taverns and shops where those that are deemed monsters are allowed to stay, for coin or materials that is.]
"I am unsure as to whether you have noticed," Robert retorted angrily "but I am currently lacking those things!"
[I can provide you with certain things in return for your cooperation]
"Oh? How intriguing, show me a list." Robert said with hope filling his eyes- or rather his empty sockets.
{Bringing it up now:
Point total: 1,000
Shop:
Currency:
1 platinum 1 point
10 gold 1 point
100 silver 1 point
Equipment: (Magical)
Staff of the Arch-mage 50 points
Robes of Concealment 40 points
Storage ring (1 meter cubed) 10 points
Skills:
Life drain (level 1) 10 points, steal the life force of others
Phylactery creation 200 points, Create a phylactery and take the first step towards immortality
Control Undead (level 1) 50 points, Control undead of the common rank
Raise Undead (level 1) 50 points, Raise undead of the common rank(raised undead are automatically under your control)
Abilities:
Soul capture (level 1) 10 points, capture the soul of a common rank creature
Duplicate creation (basic) 100 points, duplicate the abilities of a basic creation of enchanting, forging, alchemy or rune use
Proficiency:
Enchanting (basic) 5 points
Forging (basic) 5 points
Alchemy (basic) 5 points
Runecraft (basic) 50 points
Upgrades:
Upgrade proficiency 5x cost of last upgrade
Upgrade Race 100 points (Elder lich)
Upgrade bloodline (No bloodline detected)
Upgrade ability 5x cost of last upgrade
Upgrade skill 10x cost of last upgrade]
[Status:
Offensive power: Early step, Common
Defensive power: Middle step, Magical
Miscellaneous power: Early step, Common
Average power: Early step, Apex
Effective power: Early step, Predator
[Hmmm... It would seem that to remain within the games rules the god that summoned you here gave you an absurdly high amount of points.]
"Really? Robert asked
[Indeed, on average starting points are around fifty, whilst common quests only give 1 point, predator 5, apex 25 and so on]
Robert skimmed the list and decided to focus on the material items. He especially liked the sound of the staff. Some offensive power could really help, as he had learned after his last... incident.
"Huh," Robert said, an evil grin spreading across his face "looks like it's time for a shopping spree."