Chapter 34: 34. Disaster!

The door from the tomb leads to the central chamber Astra had mentioned. It's circular and larger than I expected for what was described as basically a stairwell. Although, there are stairs, directly in the middle, but the area surrounding it is wide and pillared like a rotunda. There are no carvings like the tombs, however the stone surfaces have been polished to a high sheen.

But I really only take most of this in later, because upon entering the thing that catches all our attention is the giant throne of bones blocking the access to the stairs. Sitting atop it is a tall regal looking woman, who I would have thought a corpse if her head didn't swivel toward us when she heard the steps of our feet in the cavernous echoing space.

I don't need to pull up Detect to know she's a lich even though she doesn't look much like the other one I encountered. There's something in her cold dead stare and the seething hatred in her eyes that gives it away. The woman was once human and her long black hair is streaked with strands of silver. Her dress is a barely-there white silk with lace and lots of ruffles, giving her a slutty corpse bride vibe. I have to admit as weird as I often find Feronia's skimpy attire, it usually is a bit of a turn on. Not in this case however. Her grayish breasts sag and ooze from their flimsy confines. And the ultra-short hem reveals its life draining tool: a serpent-like appendage that lolls across one thigh. The monstrous phallus resembles spoiled meat and ends with a maw of curved teeth.

Imperiously,  the lich says, "Welcome! I'm always happy to receive new slaves. Now, COME to me and SUBMIT!"

I pass my saving-throw against her Command of Obedience, but Kerda, Bronte, and Valdimir begin walking zombie-like toward the thrown.

Shit! The creature snagged both of our warriors. 

Astra wastes no time and looses an arrow at our foe. Lynesse picks up on the cue and releases a rain of dicks.

The lich responds by standing and releasing four lich-pets from its body. The spectral ghouls are her exact twin only ghostly.

Knowing it's a bad idea, I race toward them, putting myself between the lich and my enchanted companions. I'm already into my dancing before the pets are in range.

"You!" The lich yells at Bronte. "Kill that witch!"

For a second, I think it means me, but I guess she thinks her pets will deal with me, because Bronte turns and stalks toward Lynesse. The only lucky part of it is she doesn't put either the electrical or the concussion spell on her sword. 

I score a Critical and one of the pets vanishes. The lich lets out an anguished cry, then turns and starts chanting words at its thrown. The mass of human bones begins to rumble and shake.

This cannot be good.

From behind me, I hear the swish of a sword and Lynesse shrieks in pain.

Kerda and Vladimir reach the lich and kneel before it, but it's concentration is on the spell she's casting and not them.

The remaining pets fall to my dancing, and as each one goes the lich winces, although doesn't stop chanting. They must be somehow linked to her and their demise costs her something. But if I feel at all victorious, the optimism quickly dies as the the throne comes to life and begins to move toward me.

The thing is twelve feet tall and about the same wide. It walks on a millipede of legs made of all sorts of larger bones. More than a dozen skulls writhe on its form gnashing their teeth. Arms and pincers made out of femurs and ribs reach out for me.

I suddenly feel that we are vastly outnumbered even though there are only two enemies. We need our fighters. Morgan has been using a spell to cure curses, but so far it has had no effect.

As if to confirm my suspicions that we're about to get our asses handed to us. The lich orders Kerda over to her and begins draining her life by taking her from behind with her moray eel-like appendage. This isn't only likely to kill Kerda quickly, but will also heal the lich. But there's little I can do about it as the skeletal monstrosity bares down on me, lashing out with spiky bones and nipping with its teeth. The heads turned out to be connected to multiple spinal columns, giving them a pretty impressive range. Not to mention making the animated beast fuel for my nightmares for years to come.

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My One Foot in the Grave spell, which allows me to steal life allows me to take from two targets since its recent upgrade. I wasn't sure if it would work since it's technically only one creature, but I reach out with both hands and try my first double-cast. It works! And a huge amount of life pours into me replenishing my diminishing reserves, while a chunk of bones on the back end of the creature collapses and shatters, sending up a plume of dust. I keep hold of it as it thrashes at me and keep drawing more life. Pieces keep caving off like an ice shelf.

Kerda lets out a cry of ecstasy, then falls limply to the lich's feet. I'll I can hope is that she's unconscious and once I give her my anti-lich potion, she'll be fine. I expect the lich to call for Vladimir, but he shocks both it and us by breaking free of its control and lunging at it with his cutlass.

The lich is visibly weakened. It struggles to summon more pets but only produces one. The last of the bone monster falls to ruin, and I'm ecstatic to see Bronte is free of the spell and charging up her sword. Apparently the spell does wear off eventually, if you survive that long.

But the lich isn't done. It hisses, "You WILL YIELD to me!" Her voice isn't as strong as it was, but we're all making saving-throws.

Vladimir is caught again.

I've been draining energy but now I have both the lich and its pet in range of my dance, so I switch to it. But I hardly need to because Astra's next arrow pierces its chest, and it withers as though aging a hundred years in a single second and crumples down dead. Its pet vanishes.

Both Morgan and I run to Kerda. I don't sense any heartbeat, but I'm not sure if I'm supposed to in the game world. So I use Detect.

"She's dead!" I say hardly believing it. How could she suddenly be gone like this!

"Oh, no!" Astra cries. "Poor Kerda!"

Morgan shakes their head solemnly, and then says, "Well, at least she died doing what she loved."

Bronte smacks their shoulder. "Don't be an ass."

"What? Too soon?" Then more seriously, they say, "Look, it's game-death? She'll just respawn somewhere. Right?"

But no one is sure of this anymore. If they do respawn, it isn't anywhere close.

A tear wells up in my eye as I realize that no matter what happens to the dead in Feronia, it's unlikely I'll see her again.

 

 

 

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