Chapter 259 Counter strick!
"Open a way to the Underworld, Demi-be-useful," Nick said.
Demiurge huffed but waved a hand, summoning a golden door that opened into the underworld.
"I only wish it would get rid of you for good."
"Aren't you coming with us?" the punk god asked with an innocent smile.
"I have a big mess to clean up here, thanks to you."
"Are you sure? I know Ramsha would love to see you," the punk god's smile grew malicious.
Demiurge scowled at the teenager, "You really should hurry, or the doorway just might close prematurely on an inconvenient person."
The punk kid laughed and walked through the door with a jaunty step, Dave and Eleanor followed quickly.
The doorway closed behind them leaving them in a barren field of black soil surrounded by mountains. Dave looked up to where the broken moon still hung in the sky, the only source of natural light in the dark of the underworld.
"Something happened between Demi and Ramsha?" Dave asked, glancing at Nick.
The god of undeath chuckled, "He's gotten better, but Demi was always socially awkward and clueless. Ramsha was our home-room teacher. You can connect the dots from there."
"Ouch. I can imagine."
"Okay, let's get this ritual rubbish done."
The god of undeath materialized the corrupt Bloodstone crystal and brought the Death Heart fragment and the corrupted Crystal Together, fusing them into a larger crystalline mass.
Nick raised his hands up, the crystal began vibrating gathering an eerie dark energy from the world.
The punk kid closed his eyes and mumbled some incomprehensible words. More dark aura gathered around the crystal when the undeath god opened his eyes, the aura dissipated.
"So?" Dave asked.
"It's not perfect," he said "But it's good enough for government work." The undeath god shrugged.
***
Quest: The Forlorn Hope of the Legion!
You have helped the Undeath God restore the Death Heart to partial functionality.
The Death Heart can be used to revive one Greater Undead every 24 hours (game time).
The fate of the Undead Legion rests in your hands.
Requirements:
Revive five Greater Undead (one each of the ranks shown below) then return the Death Heart to the top of the Bone Palace tower.
Undead Captain
Death Knight
Doom Knight
Abyssal Knight
Undead King
Conditions:
You are only able to revive undead that you had a [Friendly] relationship with at the time of their final fall.
***
The undeath god handed the death heart to Dave, "Take this and use it to bring the undead back. When you complete the quest you should be ready for your Legacy Challenge, so come find me."
The undeath god waved a hand and summoned a circle of twisting shadows.
Dave glanced at Eleanor, "What about her?"
"I'll take her to a safe house and have Nathiel watch over her until this gets sorted. You're going to the Dead Realm. Be careful, demons will be all over the place."
Dave turned and stepped through the vortex.
"Hold on Boyz, it won't be much longer," he whispered to himself.
He appeared on top of a hill overlooking the Undead City. There were demons patrolling the hills around the city, so he hid, lying down and concealing himself in the undergrowth. From there he watched the activity in and around the city below him, watching for patterns, hoping to find holes in their defenses.
Watching the city and waiting for patrols was boring work, to pass the time he took the black crystal out and inspected it.
***
Death Heart (dormant)
This artifact absorbs the dark magic of the underworld to reconstruct the undead.
This Artifact is partially functional.
To fully awaken the Death Heart it must be returned to its rightful place at the top of the Bone Palace main tower.
The Death Heart fragment is not functioning optimally, it can only revive five Greater Undead, one of each tier starting from captain up (limited to one revival every 24 hours).
Undead Captain 0/1
Death Knight 0/1
Doom Knight 0/1
Abyssal Knight 0/1
Undead King 0/1
Activation Conditions: call out the name of the Greater Undead you want to revive at the site of the chosen's last death.
***
Dave put the Death Heart in his inventory, he then placed a hand on the ground. Black sigils spread across the earth and with a loud 'pop' Grumpy appeared.
Grumpy looked at Dave and grumbled angrily.
"Sorry, Grumps. Stuff happened and I got caught up in shit as usual. We still good?"
Grumpy muttered low sounds of complaint, but was apparently still willing to carry Dave.
'First thing is to revive Dog. He died in the siege close to the gates. Getting close enough to the city to revive him is going to be dangerous. This is one of those times I really wish I had a stealth build.'
Dave looked at his surroundings, trying to figure out how he was going to get the quest done. He couldn't assault the city, he didn't have the manpower, Undead-power. To the east was Dave's old territory, gifted to him by the Undead King, a single snow-capped mountain rose up out of the otherwise low forest lands.
A grin appeared on the draugr's face. "Go there Grumps," Dave pointed at the mountain.
The basilisk climbed down the hill they were on and headed to Dave's territory. As they were moving, an imp that was hiding under some rocks and dead leaves jumped toward Dave's face.
Grumpy's eyes shone yellow, his [Petrifying Gaze] turning the imp into a falling statue. Dave snapped the bone whip and the spiked knob on the end crushed the imp's head before it hit the ground.
[-120,000]
Dave slapped Grumpy on the back in victory.
"Nice one, Grumps. We one-shotted that little fucker!"
Grumpy just kept running, he'd barely changed stride to deal with the imp.
After ten minutes ride, Dave's territory was in sight. "Slow down Grumps, there might be demons around here."
The basilisk slowed to a walk, he sniffed at the air and looked warily around him..
The buildings were still there, they looked unchanged from the last time he saw them. There was no sign of demons.
Suddenly Grumpy made clicking sounds like a dolphin and changed direction.
"Where are you going, Grumps?" Dave asked.
But it quickly became obvious the onyx basilisk was headed to the basilisk breeding ground.
Seven basilisks were gathered, huddling in a group, most of them sleeping. Three juvenile basilisks were wrestling and romping amongst the six-legged adult basilisks.
Grumpy made a croaking sound, calling the basilisk to him. They awakened and gathered around grumpy, sniffing and rubbing their heads against him.
The new basilisks were smaller than the ones with the paladins. They were females, left home to tend to the baby basilisks. .
"I'll let you catch up with your girls Grumpy. I need to talk to the trolls."
Dave left the basilisks and headed into the trees around the settlement. He hiked through the forest toward the base of the mountain. A chorus of howls greeted him, coming from the high up mountain, followed by grunting and hooting. The trolls had seen Dave at the foot of the mountain and came down to greet him in a minor avalanche of snow and tumbling trolls.
Red-Mane reached Dave at the head of his tinkle. The trolls gathered around Dave hooting happily. In concert they lifted the draugr and started throwing him straight up and catching him repeatedly. After a dozen throws the trolls put Dave back to his feet, Red Mane slapped him on the back, hooting.
"Good to see you again, too," Dave said, patting Red-Mane in return.
The trolls wanted to pick Dave up again but he avoided their attempts.
"Okay, okay, calm down everyone. I have a favor to ask."
Sensing Dave's serious mood, the rambunctious trolls quieted and gathered around to listen.
"As you all know, the legion and the undead were wiped out. Well, I've found a way to bring them back and I need your help. I have to go to where my friends were killed and revive them right under the demons' noses. We're going to have to fight a delaying action, to buy enough time to get it done."
Red Mane jumped into the air and beat his chest, howling.
The other trolls mimicked their leader, beating the ground with their clubs..
The trolls followed him back to the basilisk breeding area.
Grumpy was waiting, looked contented after spending time with the female basilisks.
"This is an extraction. The goal is to revive Dog and get out."
Dave didn't think Dog's ability to raise undead would go toward fulfilling the Death Heart requirements. But he wanted to revive Dog first because the dullahan had an inherent ability to raise the undead from corpses or graves. He was going to leverage Dog's ability to create a force of Undead warriors that could help finish his quest.
"We're going to revive Dog, he died near the city gates."
Dave nudged Grumpy in the direction of the city, the trolls followed at a trot to the Undead City.
Ten minutes later, the party was close to the Undead City.
A demon on the walls of the undead city saw the group approach and blew a horn, sounding the alarm.
Demons climbed up to the top of the walls and started shooting Arrows at the approaching Dave.
Dave activated [Flailing Circle of Death], his barbed bone whip whirled around him, batting the arrows away from the group.
Three demons in leather armor ran to block the group's advance toward the city gates. Grumpy increased his speed and rammed into them using [Trample the Meek], sending the demons flying like bowling pins.
Dave yelled, "Keep moving to the gate!"
The demons patrolling around the city were converging, drawn to the alarms and the sounds of fighting.
Dave arrived at the city gate. Inside the city demon reinforcements were running toward the gates.
Red Mane howled at the tinkle. The trolls stomped their feet on the ground and ice spread out and rose from the ground like a frozen wave. The trolls created an ice wall reaching halfway up the Undead City gate barricading the demons inside.
"Dog died somewhere around here."
Dave held the Death Heart shard over his head.
"Dog the Dullahan!"
Black light shot from the crystal to a dirt mound a dozen steps away from Dave, but nothing else happened. He checked the count of revived undead in his heads up display. Nothing.
'Shit, guess the shard has to be closer!'
"He's there! We have to move closer to the mound the light is pointing to," Dave shouted.
The demons that were already outside the walls were regrouping into a line formation, blocking Dave from the mound the shard was pointing to.
'I'm gonna regret this.'
"Red Mane!"
"Hhh?"
Dave pointed at the mound, "I need to get there now. Do the Draugr Projectile!"
The troll grinned.
Chortling, Red mane rushed over and picked up Dave, hefting him like a javelin. Then Red Mane grunted and lunged forward, his arm muscles flexing mightily as he launched Dave in an arc over the demons toward the mound.
"SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!"
Dave plowed into the mound of earth face first.
[-400]
Dave sat up, spitting dirt, "Fuck! At least his aim was good."
He pulled the Death Heart shard out and slammed it into the dirt. The sky shuddered and a bolt of black lightning struck where gem lay. The demons around Dave drew back, afraid of the unknown.
A mound of earth was pushed up and apart by an arm covered in green armor.
***
Success!
You have revived the Undead Captain [Dog] (dullahan).
Undead Management option has been unlocked.
***
"Welcome back, Dog-bro!" Dave grabbed the dullahan's wrist and helped him, pulling the armored dullahan free from the earth. The headless undead was, as always, obsessively clutching his detached head under one arm, like a pallid basketball with sickly-green glowing eyes. Dog's eyes were unfocused, disoriented, he was not his usual paranoid aggressive self.
"C'mon Dog, snap out of it! We're in the shitter and we're gonna have to fight our way out. You'll need this," Dave pushed the flail at him.
Dog grasped the weapon awkwardly in his free hand. Suddenly the dullahan's eye focused and started glaring all around, projecting his insane hatred and desire to kill.
Dog lifted his head and positioned it onto his neck twisting it on. Then he crouched and put a hand on the ground. Black symbols spread out and with a loud 'pop' the dullahan's basilisk appeared.
But Dog wasn't done, he shifted his bone flail to the solid club-form and pushed it into the ground, searching.
Shadows materialized and gathered into a column then dispersed, revealing a pale skinned ghoul who looked at Dave with an amused smile, revealing his serrated ripping-teeth.
"What the...?!"
A notification popped up.
***
Your follower, Dog [dullahan, Undead Captain], has used [Raise Undead] to revive Samael [ghoul, Abyssal Knight] has been revived!
Abyssal Rank revival condition has been met!
Remaining ranks:
Undead King 0/1
Doom Knight 0/1
Death Knight 0/1
***
"Here you are, in the thick of battle once again, young undead."