Disclaimer: I don't own Overlord or Dungeons & Dragons
The Greater Apotheosis of Ainz Ooal Gown
Book : Adventuring with Avatars
Chapter 1: Forming the party
Beta:
"Hang tight Yorha. Reentry is going to be a rough ride." Drau shouted over the din of various alarms as she struggled with the controls of their shuttle as they entered Toril's atmosphere. "Are we still on course?"
"Affirmative Drau." The android said with the calm as befitting a mechanical being. "We are headed directly for the coordinates in the mountains of Fimbrul on the continent of Laerakond that the Bone Father gave us. So long as you hold us steady we should land somewhere within an acceptable distance from them."
"Land?" Drau scoffed self-deprecatingly as they burst past the clouds and came into view of the mountain chain below them. "At the rate we're going, we'll crash."
"I believe there is a saying that 'if you can walk away from a landing, it's a good landing.'"
"Comforting to know," Drau shot back sarcastically as the alarms reached a fever pitch.
"Collision Alert! Collision Alert!" The shuttle's computers screamed in warning.
"This is going to hurt." Drau groaned as their tiny ship smashed into the side of a mountain.
Drau came to a short while later with a splitting headache and the dim memory of screaming metal, sparking electricity and furious flames.
"What in the Nine Hells happened?" The power armor wearing Fighter said as she forced herself into a sitting position next to a small campfire under a small rocky overhang some distance away from what looked like the wreckage of her shuttle.
"We crashed." Yorha told her blandly as she walked up, now with the oversized nodachi that was her primary weapon strapped to her back where its perpetual aura of unknown energies gave it and its wielder a strange otherworldly look. "You were knocked unconscious. I dragged you out."
"Anything we can salvage from the shuttle?"
"Only our personal gear." Yorha told her gesturing to the long barrelled chrome colored railgun sniper rifle and boxy looking plasma carbine that Drau only just now noticed had been laid out next to her armored body. "The rest is either wrecked or disintegrating already. The Bone Father did say he only gave the ship enough of a blessing to make it to Laerakond."
"I know." Drau sighed in irritation. "Why couldn't Fa- I mean Lord Ainz have blessed it with the same blessing he gave our gear!?"
Damnit! Yorha definitely caught that slip! Gotta be careful about that.
At her own insistence, Drau was the only one of Father's avatars who knew their true nature. Being the first she hadn't much choice in the matter, but she had convinced Father to not make the rest aware. Better to foster some distance between them and him.
"I do not know," Yorha told her with a frown as she took a seat on a boulder across from Drau around the fire. "And it is alright to call the Bone Father whatever you want. While I do not feel it appropriate to be quite so disrespectful to a god, he was exceptionally kind to you."
"Right. Thanks Yorha."
Drau knew she likely couldn't keep the charade about their true relationship with Father going for long, but she hoped it would last long enough for her siblings and her, to a lesser extent, to develop divergent enough personalities that their Father couldn't fully relate with them whenever he viewed the world through their eyes thus giving him the distance she was sure he needed. She couldn't read Yorha's mind so she couldn't be sure if her robotic sister had figured the truth already or was deliberately ignoring the clues, but whatever the case she was thankful that she was playing along.
Sounds of someone scrambling over the loose rocks of the mountain side pulled Drau from her thoughts and she immediately picked up her plasma carbine. Without being sure how close the enemy were, she'd have to rely on it rather than her trusty sniper rifle. Next to her, Yorha was likewise on alert, having drawn her sword and stepping out of their impromptu shelter to serve as their frontliner. A role that her android durability made her excellent for.
Two figures emerged from the twilight that had fallen on the mountain since their late evening crash and approached them. Scavengers perhaps? Or were they who they had come to this remote region to meet?
"Who goes there?" Yorha demanded having spotted the newcomers as well, her robotic senses equal to Drau's own draconic ones.
"That depends," a commanding voice came from the shorter of the two figures as they both paused.
They were now close enough that Drau could get a clear look at them. The one addressing them was a woman with short blonde hair and beady black eyes slanted upwards, giving the impression that she was constantly glaring at others and dark circles around her eyes. She was wearing a set of elaborate armor decorated to resemble a turtle shell and had an ornate longbow was strapped to her back. On her head she wore a simple iron crown and she had an upturned visor that shielded her eyes.
Her companion was a man in full plate armor that Drau almost mistook for a knight. That is until she saw the magical quarterstaff he was equipped with and the faint aura of magic that surrounded him. Clearly he was some kind of armored Wizard. With his helmet down and his armor covering his whole body, it was impossible to make out any of his physical features beyond his tall, lanky frame.
I'd hazard a guess and say we hit the jackpot. Drau thought, having a fair idea who these people where.
Nevertheless, she played along. It would be for the best even if they were who she'd been expecting.
"Depending on what?" Drau responded, training her gun on the mage in the armor. If this devolved into a fight, it would be best to take out the enemy caster first.
"On what you say to this: Glory to the Bone Father!" The woman shouted back with the first half of one of the most favored exaltations to Father back on Felmid.
Yup! I guessed right. Drau thought to herself in satisfaction as she shouted back the proper response. "All hail the Supreme One of Nazarick!"
"Ah! Good!" The archer said with an enthusiastic clap. "You two are the ones that our god sent us to meet."
"The Bone Father sent you?" Drau asked curiously, lowering her weapon but keeping it in hand. A move that Yorha imitated by lowering but no sheathing her nodachi. She had to keep up the act after all.
"Indeed," the archer said with a bow. "The name is Neia Baraja. First priest of the Bone Father in all of Toril, at your service."
The moment Drau heard the girl's name, she knew. Yes, this was her sister. Neia was indeed like her, one of their Father's avatars.
"And your companion?" Yorha asked, eyeing the armored figure warily.
Neia nudged the man and with a growl he introduced himself in a gravelly voice. "Gauldoth Half-Dead. Necromancer."
Again Drau was filled with a supernatural knowing at hearing Gauldoth's name that confirmed that he was her brother, a fellow avatar of the Bone Father.
Neia glared at Gauldoth though and the necromancer continued sounding most reluctantly. "Follower of the Supreme One."
"All servants of the Bone Father are welcome with us." Drau said stowing her weapon at the hardpoint on the small of her powered suit's back and Yorha followed suit by sheathing her sword. "It's not much but please join us in our camp. I am Draudillon Oriculus and my companion is named Yorha."
From the lack of similar recognition either offered, Drau was certain Father had kept his promise to not let her other siblings know their true origin. She'd not been around when he created Gauldoth and Neia though she'd been aware of them, and thus wasn't sure he would keep his word. Seeing that he had lifted a great worry from her shoulders.
"Thank you!" Neia said with a grin as she practically skipped over to the fire. "We've been traveling all day to find you and are exhausted."
"Speak for yourself," Gauldoth said as he followed after the archer with a more sedate pace.
"I suppose I am," Neia said, tilting her head in a cute gesture of contemplation. "You are after all partially undead. That means you have infinite stamina."
"Partially undead?" Yorha asked, blinking in a gesture Drau knew was the android rapidly searching her databanks for information. "How is that possible."
In answer, the necromancer lifted the visor of his helm and revealed his disfigured face. His right side looked normal enough with pale skin, black hair and a single onyx colored eye. However, his left was little more than the rotted, undead flesh of a zombie.
"An experiment gone awry." The armored man said. "I was working in a lab a short distance from here when an experiment went wrong and almost killed me. It also inadvertently invoked Lord Ainz who took an interest in me as the first mortal to do so. He offered me a deal, he'd save me and grant me power in exchange for enduring this half-life for my arrogance at invoking him without knowing anything about him."
"Harsh," Drau said. Father, what kind of messed up backstory is that!?
Drau might have offered input on her siblings' creation but in the end it was up to her Father to decide what to do with them. As a result, this was the first time she was hearing any of this.
"But fair," Neia chimed in from where she was already putting some water from a waterskin into a cooking pot she'd pulled out from a magical pouch to boil over the fire. "Gauldoth didn't just ask for his life. He also asked for power."
"And I do not regret it." The necromancer admitted as he settled onto a rock just within the circle of light created by their fire.
"Is that so?" Yorha whispered to herself as she settled on a rock next to Neia, keeping a wary eye on the newcomers.
"I can hear you, you know." Gauldoth shot back, surprising Yorha slightly. "And yes, I detest the look the power has given me hence the armor. But it is a small price to pay for what I've gained. Even the ability to wear armor and have it not distract me from spellcasting is part of the gift."
"How convenient." Drau noted.
"The Bone Father is thoughtful like that." Neia said as she handed Drau a cup of tea.
"You have tea leaves?"
"Yup, my village had a small tea plantation." Neia told her as she offered a cup to Yorha who declined with a polite shake of her head. "It's one of our major trade goods. Or was anyways."
"Was? What do you mean?" Drau asked, already dreading the answer.
"Well, my village was sacked by some raiders. They pretty much burnt it to the ground." Neia replied, confirming Drau's fears.
Trust Father to come up with one macabre backstory after another! What about keeping it light did he forget!?
"I'm so sorry." Drau told her sister honestly.
"It wasn't quite so bad." Neia said with a shrug. "At least they weren't slavers. The survivors like me got the chance to up and leave instead of being taken as slaves."
"That's not much of a blessing." Yorha noted softly.
"It is in these parts." Gauldoth commented sarcastically.
"What do you mean?"
"You mustn't be from around here, Draudillon." The necromancer sneered. "This place is crawling with slavers. Drow, Neogi, Mind Flayers? You name it, we have it. Even some humans and other races are in on the act, taking slaves though they mainly do it to trade them with the Underdark races."
"Call me Drau, it's shorter and easier to remember. As for your question, no, I'm not from around here. Not recently." Drau said, spinning her backstory. "I was once though. A long time ago."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Neia asked, looking adorably confused as she paused midway through filling the cooking pot of boiling water with various ingredients she pulled from her magical pouch.
"I might not look it," Drau said with a chuckle as she mischievously gestured at her curvaceous human figure, silver blonde hair and violet eyes. "But I was once a Dragonborn of these mountains."
"What happened?" Gauldoth asked, sounding genuinely interested for the first time the whole conversation.
"When I was a youngling, I fell through a magical portal and ended up on Felmid. Inside the Bone Father's Great Tomb to be exact. He raised me." Drau said giving him the backstory she and Father had concocted.
"You've been to Nazarick!?" Neia gushed. "Oh, I wished I was so lucky."
"It is very impressive." Yorha agreed.
"You've been there too?"
"I am from Felmid." Yorha told the priest. "I am an android, a type of advanced golem, that Drau found in the ruins that dot the planet whilst adventuring as a child."
"Wow!" Neia said in awe.
"Enough distractions." Gauldoth cut in, sounding irritated. "Tell me how a Dragonborn comes to look like a human."
"It's the way Felmidian power works. It operates on what they call the YGGDRASIL system." Drau explained. "Some races, that they call heteromorphs, have the ability to evolve and change their nature. Dragonborns, under this system at least, counts as one of those. It let me change my form."
"So you're not a Dragonborn anymore? What are you then?"
"That, my curious necromancer friend, is a secret for another day." Drau teased her brother earning herself a huff of annoyance.
"Cheer up, Gaul." Neia told him, ignoring his glare that spoke volumes about how much he liked the abbreviated nickname. "Thanks to our Lord's blessing we use the YGGDRASIL system now too."
"That was not what I was asking." He told her bluntly.
"Maybe not," Neia said as she began passing around bowls of the simple stew she'd cooked. "But you were asking because you were hoping it means you can change your race somehow. So knowing it does means you can."
Drau blinked. That was why he was asking? She hadn't realized.
Ignoring Neia's observation, Gauldoth simply took the bowl she offered him and simmered angrily presumably at having his desire called out as he ate. Drau was tempted to comfort him somehow but refrained. Considering how prickly he was, she didn't want to risk setting him off.
Maybe later. After I get to know him better.
"So, um, why were you two looking for us?" Drau asked Neia instead. "At least that's what I presume you two were doing."
"We were." Neia confirmed with a nod, gesturing to Drau to eat as they talked. "You see, after my village was razed I was all on my own. I was separated from my family. Don't know if they're dead or alive. Not much of a loss either way to be honest."
Drau winced at that. "You didn't get along?"
"No." Neia said with a shrug. "My dad died young and my mother remarried. I didn't get along with her new husband. So much so he wanted to sell me off to slavers a couple times, especially after my mother died. But I was too good of an archer for him to even consider it. Too vital to the village's defenses. Not that it helped it in the end."
"I'm sorry for that."
"Don't be. It's water under the bridge." Neia said with a shrug. "Anyways, after the village fell I wandered around aimlessly for a bit. Then I had a revelation. I think that's what it's called. Basically, the Bone Father gave me a vision one night and claimed me as his Paladin. His first priest on Toril. And tasked me with his sacred will."
"And that was to find us?" Yorha asked.
"Part of it," Neia nodded. "I had to round up Gaul first too. And digging him out of the rubble of his lab was a pain I tell you."
Said necromancer growled something barely intelligible under his breath that might have been a thanks or a curse. Either way, the women ignored the surly man.
"And then you came looking for us?"
"Yes. Lord Ainz said you'd come in a ship around this spot." Neia told her with a shake of her head. "I thought he meant a spelljammer so that's what I was looking out for. Didn't expect you two to crash in a comet."
"We had a craft similar to a spelljammer." Yorha told her. "Unfortunately, it did not survive our landing."
"That's the wreck we saw I guess?"
Drau nodded with a frown still a little annoyed she hadn't been able to salvage anything from the shuttle. Setting that anger aside however, she asked Neia the question of the hour.
"So what does Father want us to do?"
"You call him Father?" Neia asked, her eyes wide in shock.
"The Bone Father and Drau are very close." Yorha told the Paladin. "Besides, many on Felmid who feel a close connection to the Supreme One call him the Father or simply Father as well. It is not strange."
Neia nodded in understanding.
"Uh, Neia, not to rush you, but did Father tell you what you wanted us to do when he sent us your revelation."
"Not really," Neia admitted apologetically. "Just that he wanted us to party together and go adventuring. Where and what we do is up to us, I think. At least, he didn't tell or show me what we should do. Beyond following his tenets while doing whatever we do that is."
Drau sighed in frustration. Trust her aimless Father to not set clear goals.
"If that's the case, anyone has any suggestions?"
Yorha hesitantly raised a hand.
"Yes, Yorha?" Drau encouraged.
"Doesn't the Bone Father detest slavery?"
"Yes, he does." Neia, his cleric, confirmed with a firm nod.
"Then why don't we go fight the slavers that seem to plague this region?"
"I like where you're going with this," Neia said with an enthusiastic grin. "You have my vote."
Yorha blushed, her nanite skin imitating the human gesture perfectly. "Drau?"
"Let's hear Gaul's vote first."
Gauldoth growled at the nickname as he replied, "Most of the slavers operate from the local Underdark. If we're targeting them, we'll need to equip ourselves for an expedition down there."
"Is that a yes or no?"
"It's a yes," Neia said, rolling her eyes. "If he's already thinking about the kinda gear we'll need then he's onboard."
"You could have just said yes."
Gauldoth just shrugged.
"Well if everyone is agreed than I guess that's what we'll do."
"Excellent." Neia said, clapping her hands cheerfully. "Soon the Underdark will know the righteous wrath of Ainz Ooal Gown!"
A week after the arrival of Ainz Ooal Gown's avatars on Toril, in one of the innumerable passages of the Underdark under the Fimbrul mountains a vicious struggle was being fought. On one side was a lithe and fit dark skinned Shadar-kai, one of the elfin humanoids tied to the Shadowfell and the Raven Queen. She had raven black, tamed in a loose, messy ponytail with two longish bangs left out to frame her face and was dressed in light leather armor. Fighting alongside her was an abnormally tall Dwarf with plain black shoulder length hair, a waist length beard that was tied into intricate braids, dressed in a set full plate armor and wielding a massive mithril warhammer. Their opponents were a trio of Drow, the evil dark-skinned sub-race of elves. Two of them were simple Fighters and those the Shadar-kai and Dwarf fended off easily enough, but the last was a Warlock and in command of a massive, misshapen spider demon known as a Bebilith.
"Master Falgrim!" The Shadar-kai shouted as she launched a Lightning Bolt spell at the demon. Using its arachnid agility the creature easily evaded her spell by scuttling up the wall of the passage and advanced ever closer. "Watch out!"
"I see him!" The Dwarf shouted back as he kicked one of the sword wielding Drow Fighters that he'd been struggling with only to turn in time to slam his massive warhammer into the chest of the other dagger wielding attacker that had been trying to sneak up on him. The blow easily shattered the chest of the Drow, killing him.
"Not him! Above! The demon!"
"Wha-" Falgrim shouted in shock as he looked up only to see the spider like monster leap down from the cavern roof at him. It was mid leap when suddenly the thing exploded with a thundering boom.
"Thanks for the save Taana." The Dwarf said, as he spun around to finish off the last remaining Drow fighter.
The Shadar-kai however could only blink in shock. That hadn't been her. She was still barely halfway through forming her magic for another Lightning Bolt when the demon had been sent screaming back to the Abyss. And even if her spell had hit it, she doubted she'd have managed to kill it in just one hit!
"Time for the Warlock." Master Falgrim said as he smashed the head of his current opponent in. "Do you see her anywhere Taana?"
"You don't need to worry about her." An unfamiliar voice said in a commanding voice as the aforementioned arcane spellcaster's severed head was tossed in the duo's direction and landing right at the Dwarf's feet. "We took care of her. The coward tried to run once she saw her pet died. Yorha took care of that though."
"Most appreciated." Master Falgrim said warily as he moved in front of Taana, who readied a Lightning Bolt. Just because whoever these people were had helped them with the Drow didn't mean they were friendly. The Underdark was a dog eat dog place and these people were just as likely to want to kill them as help them.
"You can put away the weapons, we mean you no harm." A figure dressed in a black humanoid mechanical suit, with large shoulders, wide hips and a pair of lights affixed near the armpits of the machine said. With a long barrelled chrome colored gun strapped across her back, she struck an intimidating figure and Taana couldn't help but tense further.
Especially so when the rest of her party also stepped into view. The archer with her green armor and the armored mage were normal enough, even if the latter being able to wear armor spoke of an uncommon proficiency for such that set her on edge. No, it was the curvaceous woman with silver blonde hair and gray blue eyes that rounded out the other party that had her gripping her dagger, Joltfang, warily.
It could be the fact that despite being in the treacherous Underdark the woman was dressed in an black dress with a short skirt, long sleeves that flared out at the wrist, long black opera gloves, thigh high leggings and knee length high heeled leather boots. Being able to wear what amounted to fancy dress whilst adventuring spoke of uncanny power and skill. However, what really made her scary was the long thin sword she had strapped to her back and the otherworldly energies it radiated.
"Sorry to say but we can't exactly just take your word for it." Master Falgrim told the newcomers, his hands gripping onto the haft of Doomhammer, his trusty warhammer, nervously.
"If we wanted you two dead, you would already be corpses." The armored figure said in a gravelly voice.
"Gaul, that's not helping." The leader in the mechanical suit said with a sigh as she opened her helmet. The sides of the roundish piece of armor folding away into the rest of the armor to reveal a woman with aristocratic features, silver blonde hair and violet eyes. "Though seeing my face must help some, right?"
"A little." Master Falgrim admitted as he relaxed the tight grip on his weapon.
Taana made an uncomprehending sound and the Dwarf sighed. "It means if things get nasty we have a shot at taking her out before she can close up that fancy helmet of hers."
"Exactly." The violet eyed woman said with a nod. "That Shadar-kai there is your apprentice I take it, Master Dwarf?"
"Yes, she is." Master Falgrim agreed. "Now what do you lot want?"
"Drau," the woman with the otherworldly sword said. "Maybe we can set up camp before we discuss things? Everyone will be more comfortable then."
"Good idea, Yorha." The leader nodded. "Any objections Mast-"
"The name's Flagrim Doomhammer. Hearing you going Master Dwarf this and Master Dwarf that is getting on my nerves. So just call me by my name."
"Very well then." The Drau woman said with a gracious nod. "Is joining us at camp for a rest good okay with you, Falgrim?"
"Sure."
"Then do you happen to know any good camping spots nearby?"
Both Taana and Master Falgrim blinked in confusion at that. How could a party of clearly skilled adventurers not know their way around the local Underdark!? Surely, they'd have at least got their hands on a map from a merchant before descending!
As expected of the veteran, the Dwarf shook off his surprise first. "Yeah, I know a place. Follow me."
"So you want a guide to the local Underdark?"
"That or a map if you can spare it." Drau told Falgrim a couple hours later as the group of six adventurers sat at camp near a small spring fed pool in the Underdark's many caverns. "Someone didn't think we'd need it."
"Who's the idiot?"
"I am not an idiot." The armored mage that the Dwarf had learned was called Gauldoth growled from where he was reading some tome by the flickering campfire. "It was merely an oversight on my part."
"One none of my party caught unfortunately," Drau admitted with an apologetic pat to the man's armored shoulder. "So it's all our fault really."
Seeming mollified, the lanky man went back to his reading.
"So back to what we were discussing, what can you offer us?"
"I dunno yet. I need to know something first."
"What is it?"
"Why are you lot down here in the first place?"
"To kill the local slavers."
"That's a tall order. There are whole cities of them down here."
"We know. We'll kill them all." Drau told him looking at him with a seriousness and confidence that Falgrim found unnerving. If it was anyone else the Dwarf would have scoffed but there was something about this human, her whole party really, that made him think differently. He couldn't quite place why. Maybe it was the sheer power and strength they radiated. Maybe it was their absolute confidence in their ability to succeed. Or it was some supernatural intervention stirring his intuition. Whatever it was, his gut was telling him that if it was these folks then they could really do it.
And if they do it then I want to be part of that action. Falgrim thought as long buried memories of a ransacked village and the dead faces of enslaved family he'd been forced to kill to end their misery flashed across his mind.
"Well, if that's the case then I think Taana and I better stick around and play guide." Falgrim said, trusting his gut. "We only have one map of the area anyways and we can't exactly sell it to you or we'd end up lost down here."
It was a lame excuse and he doubted the human bought it but she didn't question it either.
"Then welcome onboard." Drau said offering him her hand.
Clasping her arm by the forearm instead, he gave it a firm shake. "Glad to be onboard."
"Looks like you'll staying with us after all," Neia said to the Shadar-kai Wizard who had given her name as Taana Baryn Zyfyn as she gestured towards Drau clasping hands with the girl's Dwarven master.
"Looks like. I'm glad." the fey woman said as she finished collecting the arrows from the oversized mushrooms that they'd been using as targets for archery practice. Much to Neia's chagrin, the low light conditions of the Underdark was throwing off her aim and she needed the practice to 'recalibrate'.
"Oh, why?" The priest asked absently as she went over the practice and calculated what changes she needed to make to her shooting.
"Well, not to be ungrateful to Master Falgrim but traveling with just him for company can get very, um, I dunno how to describe it."
"Lonely?" The Paladin of Ainz Ooal Gown suggested.
"I guess?" The younger woman said with a shrug as she returned Neia's share of the arrows.
Deciding to give the elfin girl a break, Neia changed the topic. "So what were you and Falgrim doing down here anyways?"
"We weren't as ambitious as you lot are." Taana said shaking her head incredulously as she undoubtedly recalled their goal here in the Underdark. "We were just mapping out the local area more, to allow people to be more prepared to deal with the threats it contains."
"What brought this on?" Neia asked curiously. "I mean the Underdark is an especially dangerous place around these parts. Surely there are safer places to go adventuring."
"There are no safe places to go adventuring." Taana said as if by rote. "Master Falgrim taught me that."
Neia nodded in agreement. "Maybe but still why the Underdark?"
"Well, that's a long story actually." Taana said as she gestured back towards the campfire and Neia nodded, and they headed back together. "In fact, it's how I met Master Falgrim too."
"Oh!? Pray tell!" Neia urged, her curiosity getting the better of her.
"Well, I had just run away from home-"
"You ran away from home!?" Neia gasped.
"Yeah. Another long story for another time." Taana pressed ahead. "So anyways I ran away and made it to a neighboring village where I visited a few times, only to find its been raided by Drow slavers about a week before I got there and Master Falgrim investigating things."
The Bone Father must have brought them together.
"You telling her that old story?" The aforementioned Dwarf said as they reached the campfire and took seats around its warmth.
"Yes, I am Master. You want to add anything?"
"I'll chip in here and there." The Dwarf said with a roll of his eyes.
"So anyways the moment I showed up the villagers started blaming me saying how I brought my race's bad luck on them."
Neia winced. She could totally see that happening. Shadar-kai were notorious for bringing negative consequences for others around them if interacted with over a substantial time. It was no surprise that with something as traumatic as a Drow raid, the villagers would blame the easy scapegoat of a Shadar-kai runaway.
"Yeah, and then this crazy girl decided to prove she was innocent by hunting down the slavers and rescuing the taken villagers. I couldn't exactly watch her go on a suicide mission like that alone so I tagged along."
"And he saved my life. The raiders had a Drider and an Umber Hulk with them."
"How in the Nine Hells did you survive that?" Drau asked, shocked. Even Gaul who had been studiously ignoring the conversation till now turned around in interest.
"Well, it went something like this-"
"Time for my shift." Gauldoth said hours after they set up camp as he relieved Yorha from sentry duty.
"Thank you," the android said politely and received only a grunt in reply.
Ignoring the necromancer's lack of manners, Yorha walked away from the lone entrance to the small cavern where they'd set up camp and towards the campfire around which her party were sleeping in their bedrolls. Well, most of them were anyways.
"Do you even need so many power cells?" Yorha asked Drau as she sat down next to the other woman as she busily used her powered suit's omnitool's limited manufacturing capabilities to convert some of the gathered magical material they'd bought before they'd descended into the Underdark and gathered along their way into power cells.
"You can never have too many." Drau said with a shrug. "Besides your sword needs them too."
Yorha's Murasame-class variable output nodachi did indeed require power cells to operate but she still had dozens of them. With that much on hand, she wouldn't need more for some time.
"Are you expecting we might not have the chance to produce more in the foreseeable future?"
"I dunno," Drau returned. "If we go raiding the slavers' towns like we plan then finding the magical material won't be a problem. But-"
"Finding a safe spot and time to convert them into power cells might." Yorha agreed. "Carry on then."
"I will." Drau said with a cheeky grin.
Yorha was tempted to roll her eyes but refrained.
"I'm going to sleep." She said instead. "Don't stay up too late."
"You don't need to sleep."
"That does not mean I cannot. Its soothing." Yorha told her stubbornly as she pulled her bedroll from the small magical pack that they'd purchased before descending down into the Underdark. It and the rest of their new gear had cost them almost all the gold that they'd left Felmid with but she trusted Gauldoth's estimation that they would be necessary.
"I suppose it is." Drau allowed. "Goodnight."
"Goodnight, Drau." Yorha said as she finished laying out her bedroll and got comfortable.
When the rest of the party finally went to sleep, Gauldoth waited at the entrance to the cave where he was supposed to stand guard.
"Out of raw materials for your device?" He asked Drau as the woman joined him.
"Yes," she nodded. "That and Yorha is finally asleep. Falgrim too. The sneaky bastard was feigning sleep until just before Yorha's shift ended."
"I don't know why you bother with all this secrecy. It's not like we're doing anything wrong."
"If it was just the four of us, I wouldn't mind. Maybe." Drau said hesitantly. "I don't want to alarm our new friends quite yet."
"By letting them know I'm a necromancer?"
"By letting them see you're a necromancer." Drau corrected. "Now where are your thralls?"
Gauldoth rolled his eyes at his leader's foolishness and reached out with his mind to the two Death Knights he'd created from the two dead Drow Fighters Falgrim had killed in the skirmish earlier in the day and the lone Dullahan he'd created from the Warlock Yorha had decapitated. It took a few moments but the three undead rushed over from where they'd been shadowing the party and into view.
"Good work." Drau said, looking over his three minions approvingly. "Think they'll be strong enough to take out the nearest town?"
"The Neogi settlement?" He asked, causing Drau to look to him with surprise.
"Yes, I was eavesdropping as you went over the Dwarf's map."
"Why did I expect any less?" The woman said with an amused chuckle. "So can they?"
"Probably not. But they can do a lot of damage."
"Then send them to do it. It'll soften the place up for us to finish off tomorrow."
"I like the way you think, Drau." The necromancer said with an uncharacteristic grin even as he gave his minions their orders and they slinked off into the darkness of the Underdark to carry out his will.
"Well then, that's it for me tonight. Goodnight, Gaul."
"Don't call me that!" Gaul hissed without much heat and earning himself little more than a chuckle from his leader as she sauntered off to get some sleep.
Done!
The fight in this chapter was very short. Apologies about that but it was really just a framing device to get the two halves of the party together so I didn't want to bloat it up. Speaking of bloat, it is this concern which is why I omitted 'showing' the backstories of the various characters. Especially Taana and Falgrim's fight with the Drider and Umber Hulk. That and the latter really does better as something left to the imagination anyways. As for the backstories of the Avatars, I excluded them because they aren't real. I don't really want to confuse people by showing the false memories.
Speaking of imagination, I'm guessing some of you might be wondering what are the sources of inspiration for the avatars of Ainz Ooal Gown. If so and you don't recognize them, then google their names. Whilst they aren't exactly expys of those characters, they did hugely inspire my OCs.
Speaking of OCs, Taana and Falgrim are full on OCs. Both of which were developed in collaboration with AllForFire, an early beta to this project who I fell out of contact with over time. Hope they are acceptable. If you like them, I'm taking all the credit. If you don't, then it's all AllForFire's fault that they suck. XP
So Belomor dropped a review last chapter mentioning that, and I paraphrase, the story was too rushed. I had reasons for that namely that on the Overlord side of things I didn't want to rehash canon in regards to the ISOT while on the D&D side my aim was to give the impression of rapid escalation. In hindsight, I agree with him. I overdid things. Not gonna change anything since it'll involve major rewrites and thats off the cards but I'll keep it in my mind in my next project (remember I've already finished writing this whole fic by this point). This 'book' and the next two as well should be more relaxed in terms of pacing so there's that. The last 'book' might suffer the same issues but that's a ways away.
That's it for this chapter I think. Till next time, annyeong!
