Disclaimer: I don't own Overlord or Dungeons & Dragons
The Greater Apotheosis of Ainz Ooal Gown
Book : Adventuring with Avatars
Chapter 3: Cave in
Beta:
Some weeks and three sacked slaver settlements later, the party was camping in a cave off a major passage of the Underdark after a hard day's travel towards their next target: an Illithid colony. Taking advantage of their downtime, the group had dispersed to different parts of the cave to do their own things. Master Falgrim and Yorha were off in one corner helping to train Neia in some basic knife fighting so she could properly use her holdout weapon. Drau was by the campfire in the centre of the cave recharging the power cell things that she used as ammunition for her guns and Yorha used to power her sword. Taana meanwhile was practising her magic under the watchful eye of Gaul.
"Lightning Blade!" Taana incanted, conjuring a sword blade of crackling electrical energy the size of a normal longsword into her hand. Though it only stayed that shape for a second or two before it started to spark uncontrollably and distort.
"Do you have under control?" Gaul said, eyeing the unstable spell blade warily.
"I think so," The Shadar-kai barely finished making the claim when the lightning blade almost lost all shape but through a force of will, she reined the spell back under control and it retook its proper shape.
Gaul looked at her skeptically, but Taana shot him a determined look. Letting out a loud sigh, he nodded. "Very well. Then give it a few swings. But be careful about it."
With his permission, Taana gave her elemental blade a few experimental swings. Master Falgrim had taught her the basics of swordplay since she used a dagger and sword combo as her holdout melee weapons but the moves he'd taught her required a little too much concentration to pull off when she needed all her focus to keep from losing control of her spell. So instead her swings were wild and unrefined.
Graceless though they were, the first three swings went fine. It was the fourth swing where things went the way of the Nine Hells.
"Oh shit!" Taana shouted in dismay, using one of the curses she'd picked up from Drau, as she lost control of her spell entirely mid swing and sent a bolt of lightning surging across the cave straight at the aforementioned gunslinger.
"Spellbr-" Gauldoth cast hastily, but he'd never finish his counterspell in time.
Thankfully, their party leader's reflexes were second to none and the moment that the electric bolt began arcing towards her she'd dropped the power cell she was holding, grabbed her rifle that she'd laid down beside her and rolled away. All in one fluid, graceful motion.
The impressive show of reflexes and dexterity would have left Taana in awe if not for the fact that her stray lightning bolt hit the power cells Drau had been recharging and caused them to immediately begin sparking dangerously.
"Run!" The armored gunslinger shouted as she ran towards Taana and Gaul. "They're going to blow."
Taana was frozen in shock but Gauldoth immediately grabbed her arm and bursting into a sprint towards one of the cave's two exits, dragging her along in the process. In her mechanical armor Drau quickly caught up to them, but the others were on the completely opposite side of the cave from them. They had heeded Drau's warning too but knowing they couldn't reach them in time they had elected to flee towards the other cave entrance instead. Thankfully, they were pretty close to it and would likely make it.
The sight of the others running was the last thing Taana saw before the power cells exploded and the ceiling came crashing down.
"They say they're alright?" Drau asked, as they huddled under the hemispheric barrier of Gaul's hastily cast Shell Barrier spell. It had been the only thing that saved the three of them from being crashed in the cave in.
"Yes," the necromancer said as he relayed what he'd learned from communicating with the rest of the party via the Message spell. "Though they didn't manage to make it out with any of our supplies. Just what they were carrying on them during the cave in."
"They have their gear?"
"Yes," Gaul confirmed. "We all had it on in case we got ambushed."
Drau breathed a sigh of relief. Supplies they could replace. Some of their gear were likely irreplaceable. That and the idea of any of her party members walking around the treacherous Underdark in anything less than their full panoply of equipment terrified her.
"I'm sorry." Taana said for the fifth time.
"It's alright Taana." Drau told the girl kindly. "Yes, this is your fault. I won't sugarcoat that. But we made mistakes too. Knowing you were training your magic nearby I should have taken precautions especially since I was recharging my power cells. Those are volatile."
"A Anti-Magic Cocoon around you would have prevented this."
"I know, Gaul. I know." Drau said with a sigh. "I'll remember to ask you to cast one next time."
The ornery necromancer huffed but seemed satisfied nonetheless.
"So where are we meeting up with them?" Drau asked him.
"Neia suggested the minor Drow trading post we raided last week."
Drau nodded but couldn't help but ask, "Why can't you create a Gate directly to the others?"
"I would if I could. Do you think I fancy wasting time backtracking?" Gaul told her in his typical irritated growl. "But I have no idea where they are exactly and I can't just create a Gate or teleport to somewhere I don't know. I need to at least have seen the place I want to target beforehand."
"Uh, stupid question," Taana said hesitantly. "But then how did you manage to create a portal to Felmid to bring in those Momons to help us clean up after we sack a place then?"
"I've seen Felmid before." Gaul told her in a surprisingly soft tone, as if even he didn't want to startle the still distraught girl. "Lord Ainz showed it to me in a vision when he saved me. That was good enough."
"Oh." Taana said, shrinking into herself a little again.
Drau glanced at her worriedly.
I'll have to talk to her later.
For now though, they had best get going. Gauldoth's barrier spell couldn't hold forever.
"Alright then. Gaul, do the honors please."
"Gladly. Gate!"
One by one they filed through the portal and into the wrecked remains of the small Drow outpost they'd destroyed last week. It had originally been a small keep built out of a hollowed out stalactite that hung off a chasm and connected to the rest of this layer of the Underdark by a drawbridge that was defended by a fortified gatehouse. The dark elves had been using it as a processing and holding center for their slaving raids to the surface. The party naturally objected to it and by the time they had been done with it, the keep had been sent crashing into the depths below and only the battered ruins of the gatehouse remained. It was into this ruined structure that the three of them stepped into.
"Gaul, did Neia give you an approximation of when they'd get here? A week?"
"A week, yes. Maybe, slightly more if they run into any complications."
"Their emergency rations should last them a little longer than that and there's a few sources of water along the way, so that shouldn't be a problem."
"Neia said as much," Gaul said sounding unimpressed.
"Right." Drau said, ignoring the necromancer's sass. "Mind popping over to Felmid to get us some fresh supplies while we wait?"
"And where will we find the money for that?"
"We handed over most of the loot for four settlements. There's enough credit there for us to replace our supplies a dozen times over. At least."
"Point." Gaul conceded. "I'll go. But before that. Taana!"
"Yes?" The Shadar-kai squeaked out.
"Don't practice your magic until I get back. We don't want a repeat of the cave in."
"Yes, sir." The girl replied, sounding like a kicked puppy.
"But don't slack off either. I might be gone for a day, maybe two. Work on something else while I'm gone."
"I'll help with that." Drau stepped in, offering the defeated looking teenager an encouraging smile. "We can spar and work on your melee skills. I need some practice with my dagger too anyways."
"Thanks Drau," Taana said, recovering a small fraction of her spunk. "I'll do my best!"
"I'm sure you will."
An expertly aimed sword thrust towards the vulnerable joins at the left armpit of Gauldoth's plate armor. The armored wizard easily swept the thrust wide with a sweep of his quarterstaff, however his opponent had anticipated the move and exploiting how his weapon was out of position. She made a graceful twist of her hips and thrust the dagger in her left hand at him. The weapon, which his opponent called Joltfang if he remembered correctly, wouldn't be able to penetrate his mithril armor but it was enchanted. It thus would give him a nasty electric shock even through his armor if it connected.
Good. Gauldoth concluded. But not good enough.
Using the superhuman reflexes granted to him through the Haste spell he'd cast on himself at the start of the spar, he swung the other end of his staff not occupied with parrying Taana's sword to knock Joltfang off target. With both her arms now knocked aside, the Shadar-kai's guard was open. Exploiting this, he spun his staff and jabbed the butt of it hard into the girl's solar plexus. This knocked the air out of her lungs and destroyed her balance, sending her toppling onto her back.
"Yield?" Gauldoth asked as he pressed the butt of his staff lightly against his prone teammate's throat.
"Yield." His sparring partner managed between deep gasps as she struggled to steady her breathing.
"You see how useful a Haste or other enhancement spell can be?" The necromancer asked as he lent the teenager a hand and pulled her back to her feet.
"Yeah." She agreed, rubbing the part of her chest where he'd hit her gingerly. "I'll remember to keep a preparation of it in reserve from now onwards."
"You do that." Gauldoth replied gruffly, hiding his satisfaction at having gotten through to the girl. It was getting easier as of late but the Shadar-kai was still a stubborn ass and very unwilling to take advice.
"Now that I've made my point about this, let's move on to the proper magical training for the day shall we?"
The girl was about to agree when Drau's concerned voice reached their ears.
"Guys! I need you two up here!"
The two spellcasters exchanged a look before quickly jogging out of the empty room they'd been using for training and up the spiral staircase of the mostly intact tower they'd been camping out in. It was half collapsed but it was the most intact structure in the ruined Drow guardhouse and beggars couldn't be choosers.
"What is it?" Gauldoth asked as they reached the chamber at the top of the tower. It had originally been halfway up, but they'd destroyed everything above it when they'd first sacked the place.
"We have company." Their leader said from where she was looking out the scope of her rifle which she'd jammed through one of the arrow slots built into the outer wall.
Taking a look for himself, Gauldoth saw a large number of green gelatinous masses advancing towards them across the plain the Drow that had built the tower had cleared for an unrestricted view of oncoming attackers. Hovering off the ground here and there amidst this advancing green tide were humanoids with octopus-like, ridged heads with four tentacles hanging down from their chins.
"Mind Flayers!" Gauldoth hissed.
"And a pack of Giant Slimes." Taana added fearfully.
"They're probably here to find out more about the people raiding slaver settlements aka us."
"Or they might be here looking for survivors of our escapades to enslave for themselves. Either way, they're hit the motherlode." Gauldoth dryly. "Can you take them out?"
"Yeah." Drau confirmed. "But I'll need help with the Slimes. My railgun won't be very effective against them and I don't think I can hold off that many of them with just my carbine."
"I have a few fire spells that might be useful." Gauldoth offered. "When you're ready."
"Um, what should I do?" Taana asked, fidgeting nervously.
"Lightning is a bad mix with this type of slimes. It'll just cause them to split." Drau said thoughtfully. "Why don't you watch our backs? Just in case."
The Shadar-kai deflated but nodded.
"Gaul." She waited till she saw him nodding, before continuing. "Now!"
She pulled the trigger even as the word left her mouth and in the distance a Mind Flayer's head exploded. Gauldoth himself was only a few seconds behind her.
"Triplet, Maximize Magic: Napalm!" The wizard cast, causing three of the advancing giant slimes to be engulfed in pillars of fire.
The Mind Flayers responded to the sudden attack with surprising speed. Even as they scattered to avoid any area of effect attacks that might be thrown their way, the Illithids began retaliating. Raw telekinetic blasts and telekinetically hurled objects rapidly began hurtling their way. Thankfully though ruined, the tower was still well built and it would take more than the efforts of a handful of Mind Flayers to take it down. Especially as Drau was quickly picking them off.
Sadly, Gauldoth was not doing as well. While his fire spells were doing damage and the Slimes were dying. There were just too damned many of them and they were steadily advancing on the tower. In fact, they were getting so close that he was starting to get genuinely worried.
"Damn it!" Drau cursed as she stowed her rifle and drew her carbine.
"Die already you green scum." The woman shouted in annoyance as she sprayed deadly superheated bolts at the tide of Giant Slimes, adding her fury to his spells. It finally did the trick and the Slimes' advance was checked, which was exactly when things just took another turn.
"Vermilion Nova!" Gauldoth had just finished casting, unleashing his most powerful fire spell against the closest Slime when the tower shook slightly.
"What was that?" Taana asked worriedly as she gripped her weapons tightly, almost expectantly.
"My sensors just picked up something digging its way out of the earth inside the tower's ground floor." Drau said distractedly as she continued pouring plasma bolts into the mass of Slimes, taking pains to take shots at any of their Illithid masters who were foolish enough to give her a clear shot.
"I'll go check it out!" The Shadar-kai shouted eagerly as she ran off.
"Damn it! Not alone! Gaul-"
"Already on it! Create Middle Tier Undead!"
At his invocation, three undead beings with spiky green hair styled in a pattern reminiscent of a flame, long angular elf-like ears and wearing a white smiling mask with yellow eye holes in the shape of four-pointed stars that fully covered its face materialized in the room. They were dressed in a black overcoat with purple outlines and white buttons and with the tip of its fingers all covered with sharp blades. These were the Middle Tier Undead of the YGGDRASIL system, Jack the Rippers.
"Go after the Shakar-kai! Protect her and eliminate any enemies you find!" Gauldoth barked at his temporary conjurations. Without any corpses to use as catalysts for their creation, these undead unlike most of those he'd created in his time in the Underdark would not be permanent. Hopefully though their one hour lifespan would be long enough to see this fight through.
Cackling madly, the three undead disappeared after Taana with their lightning speed.
Turning away from them, the necromancer returned his attention to the battle outside the tower. Completely ignoring the amused look Drau was shooting him out of the corner of her eye or her teasing whisper of "Softie."
They had a battle to win. He could prove to her he was by no means a 'softie' after they were done.
Taana was still two floors away from where the Illithids had broken through when three lanky creatures suddenly appeared by her side. Startled, she immediately tensed expecting an attack but relaxed almost immediately as she recognized them as one of the types of undead Gauldoth could create. Though she'd no sooner made that observation than two of the elfin undead raced ahead of her, leaving the last of its kind to stand next to her like a guard. Which she could only assume was exactly what it was.
Thanks Gaul. Taana thought with a grin as she continued her jog down to the ground floor.
She arrived to a chaotic melee. On one side were five Illithids, two dozen Human thralls, and an unfamiliar monster that had the body of a horse sized mole and a horn-like nozzle frontal projection that it used to fire acid. On the other were the two undead that had blitzed ahead earlier.
Although outnumbered, the undead were doing well. Being undead they were completely immune to the psionic domination that was the speciality of the Mind Flayers and thus the amphibious aberrations were largely powerless as they and their thralls were cut up by deadly precision attacks. Each slash happening so quickly that they left slight afterimages. Any attempt by them to use telekinesis, spells or their weapons were easily avoided by the agile evasions on the part of the undead. The madness was further added to by the way that the undead laughed hysterically as they fought.
"Help them," Taana ordered the last of the undead.
They really didn't need it, but it wouldn't hurt. The undead hesitated for a moment before seemingly giving in to the madness that defined its breed, it launched itself into the fray with a hysterical laugh and decapitated the pesky acid spitting badger thing before kicking it back into the mouth of the tunnel it had presumably dug to allow the Illithid force to enter the tower. This effectively blocked the tunnel and made a hasty escape by the Mind Flayers impossible.
As good a move as they might have been, Taana had miscalculated slightly as the act of sending away her guard caught the attention of the Illithid party's leader. The creature looked away from the one-sided slaughter of its men and turned to the Shadar-kai.
Immediately, Taana felt it attempt to slam its way into her mind and dominate her will. She would likely have succumbed if not for the Ring of Mental Aegis she'd looted from the vault of the very Drow outpost she was fighting in and which was now burning her skin as it fought to protect her mind from the powerful alien mind that sought to control it. Even with its protection, the Shadar-kai was feeling like a huge weight was pressing down on her such was the power of what she guessed must be the Illithid Psion that she was facing.
Sweat pouring down her brow at the strain on her mind, Taana shakily raised her hand at the Mind Flayer.
"Lightning Bolt!" She shouted desperately, sending an electric bolt at her attacker only for the Psion to telekinetically lift the most wounded of its thralls into the path of her spell, using the already dying Human slave as a living shield.
An effective one at that as it easily took the full force of Taana's spell.
Tossing the charred body aside, the Psion advanced on the Shadar-kai. Gauldoth's undead moved to intercept it but the other surviving Human slaves blocked their path. Even their agility could not allow them to get pass the suicidal living wall as they were egged on by their Illithid masters.
Taana tried to cast another spell or draw her weapons, but she couldn't. The mental weight the Psion was pressing against her mind was just too much. The pain it caused was just too intense. She thus could only collapse to her knees and clutch her head even as the aberration levitated ever closer.
"Get away from her!" A familiar voice roared suddenly as Master Falgrim leapt from behind her, over her crumpled form intent to smash his Doomhammer down on the Psion's head with a powerful overhead smash.
Reacting to this new danger, the Illithid abandoned its assault on Taana's and instead used its psychic powers to telekinetically freeze the Dwarf in mid air. Unconsciously, the Shadar-kai breathed a sigh of relief as the pressure on her mind disappeared but almost immediately sucked in a nervous breath at the sight of her Master at the monster's mercy instead.
Fortunately, Master Falgrim hadn't come alone. Blurring past her, leaving distorted afterimages as she did thanks to the strange holocloak artifact built into her dress, Yorha closed with the Illithid with her sword drawn.
"Nine-Head Dragon Flash." The swordswoman said in a cold, furious whisper as she thrust at the Psion so quickly that her blade seemed to become nine swords at once each of which headed straight for a vital point.
Distracted with holding Master Falgrim in place, the Illithid couldn't muster any defense against Yorha's high speed attack and collapsed back down the stairs as fountains of its silvery-white blood sprayed from nine different grievous wounds. It was dead long before it hit the floor.
Freed from the monster's telekinetic grip, Master fell to the ground next to Taana.
"Are you okay?" Both of them said at the same time, causing them both to chuckle as they helped each other back to their feet.
"Where did you two come from?" Taana asked, as they turned back to the fight.
"We'll tell you later." Master said as he jogged down the last few steps to the base of the tower. "Let's kill these things first."
"Right," Taana shouted back, embarrassed at being distracted. "Let's. Ball Lightning!"
Ten minutes later and the fighting was over, with the party regrouping up in the tower's highest surviving chamber.
"Here you do, Taana. Middle Cure Wounds!" The party's resident healer said as she used her magic to patch Neia up. "I don't know how much help it'll be against any psychic damage that Illithid might have done. But it should get rid of that headache."
"Thanks, Neia." Taana told her with that earnest smile of hers.
She's so adorable. Neia thought as she returned the smile with one of her own.
"You need to work on your resistance to psionics." Gauldoth said with a frown. "That ring you picked up protects against mental manipulation. It doesn't negate the power of a psychic assault."
"One more thing to work on." The Shadar-kai said with a sigh.
"Now, now, none of that." Falgrim told his apprentice. "At least we know it's a weakness and can now work on it. Better than finding out after its gotten you killed or worse."
"Exactly," Neia said encouragingly. "We can be on the lookout for a better mental protection item too. Either way we will fix this weakness of yours."
"Thanks guys," Taana said offering that smile of hers again.
If Neia was less in control of herself she'd have glomped the taller girl and squeezed the living daylights out of her by this point. She was that adorable.
"So, um, how did you three get here?"
"Well, we found the Illithids were heading your way yesterday sometime after our daily check-in and with no way to use Message we couldn't tell you three so we decided to hurry up instead. See if we could catch them in the rear while they were fighting you guys."
"That's a problem." Drau cut Falgrim's explanation off suddenly, sporting a worried frown. "We need to find some way to keep in touch if we're ever separated again. Relying on Message when only Gaul can cast it isn't going to work."
"I might have a solution to that." The aforementioned necromancer said as he climbed into the chamber with a stack of skins that by the coloration Neia guessed were freshly flayed from the Mind Flayer corpses at the base of the tower. "With these Mind Flayer skins as ingredients I can produce enough Message scrolls that everyone else in the party will have at least three of them."
"Flaying Mind Flayers for ingredients? How ironic." The Paladin of Ainz Ooal Gown said with a darkly amused chuckle.
Everyone laughed too, it was just too poetic to not be amused by it.
"Anyways, as I was saying." Falgrim said as he continued the tale. "We were on the tail of the Illithids and saw them as they started their attack on you guys. Seeing that we hoofed it."
"We arrived roughly after you ran down to deal with the tunnel party." Neia said, picking up the tale. "The moment Gaul spotted us, he created a Gate portal next to us so we could join him and Drau up here."
"Falgrim and I came through right away." Yorha added. "We wouldn't have been much use against the Slimes. Once we got here, we learned what you'd done and we rushed down to help you."
"And you saved me." Taana was honest enough to admit.
Yorha offered her a kindly smile and squeezed her shoulder. "I was happy to do so."
The Shadar-kai offered a smile back at the swordswoman. It wasn't her adorable grin but it was close enough considering the situation.
"So, um, what was Neia doing through all this?" Taana asked after a moment, shooting the Paladin a curious look.
Puffing up her modest chest with pride, Neia replied. "I destroyed the Slimes."
"We helped." Gauldoth insisted stubbornly, earning himself a jab to the ribs from Drau. Considering he was wearing plate armor, Neia didn't think he felt it but it nevertheless shut him up so she counted it as a win.
"I suppose Drau and Gaul did help a little." Neia allowed nevertheless. "But I did most of the work."
"How?" Taana asked curiously.
"I would like to know that too, actually." Yorha chimed in. "I know you said you could handle it. But you never said how."
"I'm curious too." Falgrim added.
"Did you forget I'm a Paladin and that Slimes are weak against positive energy?" Neia asked, waving a finger at them teasingly. "Lord Ainz might mainly grant me negative energy spells but as my healing magic shows he can grant positive energy spells too. All I needed was to cast Mass Greater Cure Wounds and viola! The Slimes were toast!"
Come on! Praise me! Neia thought playfully. She didn't really need the praise per se, but she'd like it nonetheless. In a party where her skill as a ranged combatant was overshadowed by Drau's and which rarely needed any healings, even Taana and Falgrim rarely got more than a few scrapes in fights, she wanted some validation.
"Wow! Neia that was awesome!" Taana said obligingly.
"Yes, you did well." Yorha said offering Neia a proud smile.
"You're one powerful Paladin that's for sure." Falgrim said with a hearty chuckle. "Taking out a whole army of Giant Slimes with one spell? Impressive."
"Thank you, thank you." Neia said, offering them all a bow for their gracious comments.
"Happy now Neia?" Drau asked with an amused grin.
"Very," the Paladin confessed.
"Alright, then let's plan our next mo-"
"Is there any question?" Falgrim asked, cutting their leader off. "We go after the Illithid scum."
"Any objections?" Drau asked.
No one said a word.
"Then it's settled. Tomorrow we set off to take out the Mind Flayers who had the gall to come after us and teach them a lesson about picking a fight with us."
This was met with bloodthirsty grins from everyone.
Done!
Hope you guys liked it.
I must say I really got into writing this one. I think I've discovered the best route to keep up both my interest in this story and in delivering a good story: use Taana and to a lesser extent Falgrim as my lens for things. As a reasonably weak character focusing on her development is good and having her strive to match up with her OP teammates is entertaining as hell. That said, she won't be the sole POV going forward. Just likely the most central one.
Another thing I want to note is that the Giant Slimes and that badger thing are original monsters to the canon D&D universe thought the Slimes were based on a Homebrew I found online. Illithids are constantly experimenting with creatures so creating new ones seems right up their alley.
So I got a review from a guest yesterday on chapter two that found fault with Ainz saying "Peace, Demiurge." Since it's a guest and I can't reply directly, I'm going to respond here. That's just Ainz trying too hard to seem like a noble ruler. If he seems off that's because he's doing it wrong like he does all the time in canon.
Well that's all this chapter. Till next time farvel!
