Chapter 92: 90. Pacts with Dark Forces

Amanda examines the imps from a distance, in the half light of the second floor, illuminated only by her magic focus.

Keth fidgets. Sith doesn't.

“Ellebana wouldn't like it.”

They're the first words the necromancer has said in nearly five minutes. Keth winces. Sith doesn't. Amanda glances at you, then looks away, back to the imps. Keth starts to fidget again, glancing at the stairs back down while worrying at the edge of his loin cloth. Sith has, if you look at her at just the right angle and the flickering light hits her fully, just the smallest hint of a smile at her lips.

A smile that was mirrored by Amanda half a second later. “That's as good a reason as any other to go for it. Plan: Castle Undead and Demons is go!”

You turn a shocked gaze toward her, feeling inexplicably betrayed. “Plan: CUD? Don't make me rescind your naming privileges too.”

That gets a laugh from her, and some confused glances from the demons. You shake your head.

“No matter. That just laves us with an evolution to get to, and then if there are no more interruptions we can get started on... ugh... CUD.”

You turn to the imps. “I currently have five hundred and fifty six... fifty seven, fame. Three hundred to evolve one of you, and the other should be ready in a few days. Which of you wants to go first?”

Keth, Sith and Amanda all speak at the same time.

“Sith,” “Me,” “Sith,”

You roll your eyes. That tracks. You hadn't noticed much individuality in the imps when they first arrived, but like the goblins, and the kobolds, the longer they stuck around the more quirks they seem to get. Now, Sith was obviously the leader, the braver of the two imps.

“Very well.”

Evolve minion is one of the abilities that really hammers home how far you've come. When you first set out making your lair, gathering a dozen fame could take a few days, or suddenly come through all at once, and the doubling cost of your Liegelord skill was an insurmountable obstacle. Now, fame was a constant passive income... even if some of the things you would have liked to sue it for had been shifted over the 'animus' menu.

Shaking yourself from your revelry, you look down at the imp, who is nearly vibrating in excitement.

“Are you re-”

“Yes.”

You roll your eyes again, and open your menu.

It's more interesting, watching an evolution from the outside. Your own evolution, which seems so long ago but really wasn't, was a subconscious decision that took place while you slept. The first you knew of it, you were awake and watching for an attack from the source of a noise that came from your own chest.

Sith lifted off of the floor, less than an inch but enough that when her eyes closed and her body went slack, she still didn't touch the stone below her. It was almost as if she were underwater, floating up toward the surface.

No, you realise, not floating up. Floating... towards me.

The strange visual effect was her body growing, expanding out, darkening and shifting as it grows. Your mind not quite able to follow what's going on as something turns inside out and wings retract. Her face fills out, becoming more human as the rest of her body roils and withers, warps and fills out.

The entire process takes less than ten seconds from start to finish, depositing her back on her feet in exactly the same position she had been stood in. You lean back, to take her in.

Her face is human now, not the twisted and misshapen thing it was before. It's not the flawless beauty of Mercy, or even the features of most adventurers. A mouth that's a little too wide on a face a little too long to be classically beautiful. Black ringlets of hair falls down to her neck in a messy bob. If she surfaced from a pool and all you could see was her head, you'd be forgiven for thinking her an NPC. Below the neck however, there was no hiding the demon.

Her neck vanishes down behind a collar of black flesh, ringed with teeth. Her torso follows a woman's shape, or the shape of a woman wearing a jacket of black leather, but for her ribs which have burst through, forming a bony corset. Around the bottom of her ribs and elbows the black flesh reaches a tattered end in more rings of sharp teeth, exposing a normal, if anorexically thin stomach and arms. Around her hips sits another ring of teeth acting as a belt for baggy trousers of the same black leather. Her lower legs, like her forearms, are bare.

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You activate your perception as you examine her.

Sith, Mammonite, level 7

“How are you feeling?”

She blinks, moving her mouth but no sounds come out. After several seconds, and another blink, she speaks.

“Not... not as hungry as I expected. Kinda good, to be honest.”

“Good. You might want to head down to the pit – Feathers can probably get you used to your new body quicker than I can, and Amanda and I have some buildings to plan. Come back when you're ready OK?”

She nods, a little unsteady on her feet, turns to leave and faceplants. Amanda gasps, reaching to catch her despite the distance separating them.

“Are you OK? What happened?”

You have a sneaking suspicion you know what the problem is as Sith jumps to her feet, small spots of embarrassment in her cheeks.

“Yup, fine, I'm fine. Just, eh...”

She trails off and you nod. “No wings.”

“Yeah. Hadn't thought about what that means.”

With several exceedingly careful steps, Sith makes her way to the stairs down, and pauses.

“Actually, I think I'm going to stay up here till I have a better hang on walking.”

You bite down a chuckle at the fearful looks she's shooting the spiral stairs.

“Maybe for the best. You can help us with this expansion first then.”

While she makes her slow way back to you, Keth hovering around her shoulders and getting batted away for his trouble, you open your build menu.

“Hollow it out to start with?” you glance at Amanda, who nods.

Large room: 50 stone

The build menu pans your view out, and you're pleased to see that the treasure room doesn't register to it at all. You had your hopes when you built it. The large room is perfectly willing to be blueprinted as if the treasure room was a solid wall. You stretch the room out, and up, till it hits it's maximum size. With a little finagling to avoid the tunnels to the insect cavern, and another large room purchase, you confirm the placement and the blueprint slides into reality as a two level cavern that's already nearly as big as the entire first floor. It wraps around the stairwell on three sides, and you take the middle, with Amanda to one side and the demons to the other as you set in for a long session of wall-punching. The treasure room has vanished, but you can feel its metaphorical weight in your lair, somewhere on the far side of this construction.

You sigh as the familiar notification pops up

Non-applicable skill, -80%. No Tools, -50%. Dexterity Penalty, -5%. Total build speed: 9.5%

Some things never change.

---

A huge thank you to my NA, Spockk Kirkk, Un Casualsniper, Tyrant615, Jakelandiar, Curious Krissy, Torish 12, CBK, Ted, Roman, TheDrTelos and Jojomann. A special thank you to Spokk Kirkk and Roman who are both paying more than they need to, which is one of the most incredible feelings.

 

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