Disclaimer: I don't own Overlord or Dungeons & Dragons
The Greater Apotheosis of Ainz Ooal Gown
Book : Skelkor War
Chapter 1: Emergence
Beta:
Yorha stood on a small rise in Southern Skelkor somewhere in the canyon that separated the Tulgey Wood from the rest of the country and looked down at the entrance to the Underdark some distance below as a stream of heavily armed and well trained soldiers marched out. These freed former slaves were led by their Momon officers and were accompanied by Gaul's ever growing undead legions.
"It's an impressive sight isn't it?" Yorha spoke out loud as she watched the soldiers spread out and settle into the large camp that they'd established around the large cave that led out of the Underdark. "To think we're in command of this now. It's humbling."
Kuro, riding on her shoulders as always, chirped in agreement before rubbing his slug like body against her neck as if reassuring her that she'd do fine. At least that was how Yorha interpreted his actions.
"Yorha!" Neia shouted from behind her and the swordswoman turned to face her sister and partymate.
"Drau wants to discuss something with us." The archer added, gesturing to the command tent that elements of their army had set up at the top of the small hill they stood on.
Yorha nodded and walked towards the tent, Neia falling in beside her as she passed.
"Any idea what she wants to talk about?" Yorha asked curiously. Considering their situation it could be any number of things.
"She didn't say." Neia told her with a shrug. "By the way, how's the troops settling in? Any issues?"
"None that I could see, but I'm no expert."
Kuro also chirped in what sounded like a negative as well.
"Well, that's good to hear." Neia said as the two of them walked passed the two well built Dragonborn soldiers that guarded the entrance of the command tent, to whom all three of them offered nods, and into the nerve center of their army.
As Yorha expected it was a scene of ordered chaos where the men and women of their senior staff ran around coordinating their exit from the Underdark and the set up of their camp. In the midst of this sea of shouted orders and runners moving to and fro there was an island of calm near the rear of the tent where the rest of their party and family stood.
"Yorha, Kuro, hi." Drau greeted as they neared them ahead of the others who also offered their hellos.
Yorha rolled her eyes. "We were gone for no more than ten minutes."
"It doesn't hurt to be polite." Taana said teasingly.
The swordswoman sighed at her family's strange sense of humor even as Gaul grunted in agreement with his fellow Wizard.
"So I fetched Yorha. Can you tell us what you want to discuss now, Drau?" Neia asked, crossing her arms impatiently.
Drau nodded and fiddled with her Omnitool for a moment and the top of the table they were standing around glowed for a moment before projecting a holographic map of the Laerakond. Supposedly based on intelligence by the Bone Father's agents, it was perhaps the most detailed map of the continent in the world. It was certainly more detailed than anything Yorha had ever seen.
"So what I want to discuss is our next step." The Draconic leader of their party said. "We have an army of followers we need to care for now and the best way that I can see to do that is to form a nation to house them."
"Aren't they the Bone Father's followers?" Neia nitpicked with a teasing grin.
"Which he has entrusted to our care." Drau reminded the Paladin. "And Yorha, smack her for me."
"Gladly." The android said as she lightly smacked Neia for being cheeky.
"Ouch!" Neia yelped dramatically, playing up by a substantial margin any pain she might have felt at the light blow. "I'll be good."
"You better be." Drau told the short blonde sternly. "But back to the topic at hand, anyone have ideas? I have some but I want to hear you guys out first. These people were entrusted to our care. We're going to have to make decisions about their well being collectively."
"I abstain." Taana said as she looked at the map with a frown of incomprehension. "This level of decision-making is way beyond my abilities."
"I honestly don't care what we do next." Gauldoth admitted with a shrug.
"We're in Skelkor aren't we?" Neia asked redundantly as she eyed the marker on the holographic map that indicated their position. "And it's the evil dragon empire of Laerakond, isn't it? I don't think that's a coincidence. I think that's a sign from Lord Ainz that he wants us to liberate Skelkor from its oppressive Draconic overlords."
"You're probably right." Drau agreed. "You are his Paladin. But I can't help but feel that it would be safer for us to just carve out a nation and be done with it. We don't exactly need to liberate the whole country to support our people."
With everyone's opinion aired, the rest of the party turned to Yorha.
"I would prefer Drau's option." Yorha said after a moment of hesitation. "But I doubt it's possible. Everything we know about Skelkor says it's an evil empire which will not tolerate another nation taking its territory, so unless we move elsewhere we won't be able to found our nation."
"Based on Laerakond's terrain, Skelkor is the best place to support our population." Drau said as she looked at the map consideringly. "Anywhere more suitable will be difficult to reach and possibly lead to heavy losses before we can find better land."
"Which is why we can't just leave." Yorha said, nodding in agreement. "Add to that just how abominable Skelkor is, being a slaving empire, we only have one choice."
"Which is?" Neia asked eagerly, clearing already knowing where Yorha was going.
"The only logical and moral thing to do is to liberate this evil Dragon empire." The android said as she firmly jabbed her finger at the heart of the Skelkor on the map. "We have the means and the will. It's time to wipe this stain on history off the face of the world."
Kuro had been mulling over what he was about to do for the days since he'd gained his sapience. In all that time, he had wrestled with how to do it. Vacillating between revealing his newfound awareness to his whole family at once or just Yorha first. The former would mean that he didn't need to face Yorha alone and that was at once both a comfort and betrayal all at once. He was afraid of letting Yorha know at all because of the odd feelings he felt towards her, which his assimilated experience was something that he just couldn't believe, and yet at the same time felt that as his caregiver she had the right to know first. It was a conundrum he'd been struggling with for what seemed like ages, but he'd finally made a decision!
As such as Yorha retired to her personal tent to rest for the night, he prepared to take action.
Being an android she might not strictly need or was capable of sleep but she could approximate it by powering down most of her systems. This allowed her self-repair systems to work on any wear and tear she might have suffered and let her processors cool. Thus she found it highly restful and spent at least part of every night in such a state whenever possible.
As Yorha put him down on a rock, whose surface, much to his chagrin, immediately began bubbling as it began to corrode away due to the contact with his body, Kuro began shifting the internal composition of his slug-like body to form some humanoid vocalization organs.
"Yorha," he said carefully just as the android was taking off her dress.
It was something she rarely did, since it doubled as her armor and she, like the rest of the party, strongly believed in always being ready for attack. But it, like all their equipment, did need cleaning and in some cases maintenance every so often, so before resting Yorha usually took it off to check it and if need be wash it.
At his voice however Yorha froze mid motion in unzipping her dress and turned towards Kuro with a look of shock on her beautiful face.
"Kuro, d-did you just talk?" The android asked, stammering uncharacteristically in her surprise.
"I did." Kuro confirmed, nodding to emphasize that it was indeed him that was speaking.
"Ho-" The lovely swordswoman began only to stop as she seemed to put the puzzle pieces together and she amended her question. "When?"
"Only since after we took out that last Drow city." Kuro told her. "Before that, I had a bestial intelligence and awareness."
Yorha nodded, her unfocused eyes betraying the thousands of thoughts that must be crossing her mind in that moment.
"I see." She said almost distractedly even as her hands moved almost of their own accord to zip her half undone dress back up. "Could you take a humanoid form? I think it would be easier to talk to you like that."
"Certainly." Kuro said as he let his body change its shape into the most natural feeling of the various humanoid shapes available to him. Unfortunately, this was that of an Illithid and even with the transformation half complete he could see a frown spreading on Yorha's perfect face.
"Something else please." She urged with a frown of distaste.
"Apologies," Kuro said hastily as she shifted into the guise of a Human male with black hair and eyes. He kept the purple skin of the Illithid though, and with it enough of the Mind Flayer to levitate an inch off the ground and escape melting it away with his corrosive body, whilst dressing in a simple set of tunic and leggings. "Is this better?"
"It's an improvement." Yorha said with a nod.
Kuro barely heard her. He was too taken by the vision his new humanoid eyes was presenting him.
"You're even more beautiful with Human eyes!" Kuro gasped involuntarily as his new form settled.
"T-Thanks." Yorha said sounding startled and with a slight blush.
"It's the truth." Kuro insisted even as he wanted to smack himself for just blurting it out like that.
Can't exactly change the past. So I guess my best move now is refuge in audacity!
"I'm sure you think so." Yorha told him, looking flustered. Whether that was from the situation or the compliment or both, he couldn't tell. "And that there's some truth to it. I am, among other things, a pleasure doll. Being soft on the eyes is a given."
"You're a what!?" Kuro gasped. Yorha had never told him that!
The android blinked in confusion for a moment before blushing prettily.
"I said that out loud, didn't I?" She said, smacking her forehead daintily.
"Yes, you did." Kuro confirmed with a nod. "Um, if it's not too much, uh, could you explain?"
"Sure," Yorha said, her blush intensifying. "Well, when Drau found me on Felmid that's what I was. A pleasure doll, I mean. She was the one who programmed me to be what I am. My gender, my appearance that all came from her. She didn't want a bedmate though, she wanted a companion. A bodyguard. So she modified me a lot. Arranged for training too. That's how I became a swordswoman."
Kuro nodded. That did sound like something Drau would do.
"So do the others know?"
"Drau does, of course. But the others?" Yorha said with a soft shake of her head. "I'm too embarrassed to tell them to be honest."
"You shouldn't be." Kuro told her honestly. "Whatever you are, you're still our Yorha. Our resident expert master swordswoman."
"T-Thank you." Yorha said offering him a grateful smile at the reassurance.
While Yorha and Kuro were sharing secrets about themselves to each other, Taana sat with Gaul inside a tent set aside for use as their shared lab as they put the finishing touches on the reconstructed copy of Master Falgrim's Runic Compendium.
"That's the last page isn't it?" Gaul asked as Taana painstakingly copied the last few lines of text from the damaged original into the new Compendium.
A process made all the harder by the curse she bore from inheriting her family's Tome of Lightning Magic out of turn that left her incapable of comprehending the words that she was duplicating. This meant she'd had to copy everything as if they were mere pictograms. Something that made the already trying process ten times worse.
"Yeah," Taana said with a sigh of relief as she finished and looked up at the armored Wizard.
"Thanks for all the help Gaul!" She told him with cheerful sincerity.
The man deserved it. He'd been a great help, copying whole sections for her and more importantly comparing Master Falgrim's damaged Compendium with the Tome of Runes they'd recovered from their sacking of the last Drow city to identify what they needed to copy. A task that with her curse was all but impossible.
Grunting in dismissal, the necromancer turned away from her and back to the Drow corpse he was experimenting on.
Despite this apparent indifference however, he replied. "Looking out for you has become second nature to me."
Taana blushed at that. "Thanks. I really appreciate it, you know?"
"What's with the blush?" Gaul asked, looking at her through the reflection of one of the mirrors that was hanging over his examination table. "Don't tell me you're developing romantic feelings for me?"
He said it jokingly, well as jokingly as the abrasive necromancer ever got, but Tanna nevertheless couldn't help sputtering as she replied.
"N-No! By Nazarick, don't even joke about it Gaul! You're like a brother to me dammit! And just the thought of feeling that way about a brother, urgh!"
Ignoring her disgusted ramblings with the indifference that characterized almost all his behavior towards things he did not find interesting, Gaul instead homed in on something that did interest him.
"A brother huh?"
"Yeah," Taana said when she recovered at last. "Before I met Master Falgrim, I never got much affection you know? Much less the kind of care that you all constantly shower me with. We Shadar-kai are usually too wrapped up in ourselves most of the time to care about stuff like that when it comes to other people. Even our own children."
"Not you," Gaul noted.
"I'm different." Taana acknowledged. "I always have been. Too Human, my parents used to say. I do have some minute Human blood, or so the family stories went."
"That was an insult, correct? Being called Human."
"Not quite." Taana admitted. "But close enough."
"Well, the next person who insults you or comes close will have to answer to us." Gaul said firmly. "We're your family now."
"I know." Taana said with a happy smile and a warm feeling that brought a blush to her face.
"There's that blush again." Gaul said with a snort. "Though I think I know what brought it on now."
"Gaul~!" Taana whined in dismay at his teasing.
Suddenly, a screeching alarm sounded throughout the camp. Without hesitation both seasoned adventurers sprung into action. Abandoning whatever they were doing, they scooped up their gear and rushed outside with the more well armored Gaul in front and both of them silently casting their buff spells on themselves in preparation for a fight.
Once outside, they hastily surveyed their surroundings for the threat and quickly spotted a trio of Black Dragons flying towards the camp in the far distance.
"Shit!" Taana cursed. "We've been discovered."
"That was just a matter of time. What I want to know is how they got so close. They are well past our pickets by now, how is it that they weren't intercepted?" Gaul said, his voice tinged with disapproval.
"I dunno." Taana said as she nudged him towards the command tent. "But I'm sure Drau will. Let's go check in with her and find out."
Gaul just growled in irritation but he heeded her call and got moving. Carefully making sure he was always between her and the incoming Dragons as they sprinted through the camp.
A trusty and reliable big brother indeed. Taana thought to herself as they ran through the masses of soldiers who were scrambling to their stations. Now if only I can get him to be less of a jerk.
A short while before the Dragons showed up, Neia stood at a podium at the front of a large tent that had been designated as the camp's primary prayer hall and was leading a packed service for the Bone Father's faithful.
"-And that is why we must fight those who would oppress the weak such as slavers!" Neia said with the full power of her skills as an Evangelist. "Our god, the mighty Bone Father, Lord Ainz Ooal Gown might be branded by the system of alignments as Evil, but that is only because he will stoop to any low, commit any atrocity, if it means protecting his people. Thus, we as his people, must be ready and willing to do the same! Do you un-"
The Paladin of the Supreme One's sermon was cut off when suddenly a screeching alarm echoed throughout the camp and drowned out all noise for a moment. It quickly lowered in intensity, but remained a loud noise in the background as the camp's inhabitants jumped to action at its call.
"Return to your units at once!" Neia shouted over the alarm at her congregation and ran out of the tent, already pulling Ultimate Shooting Star Super over her shoulder and an arrow out of her quiver. "Report to your commanding officers and prepare for combat!"
The moment she stepped outside the tent she zeroed in on the enemy and raised her ornate longbow with an arrow already nocked. Her targets were still little more than distant, vague shapes on the horizon but that were still well within her range so without hesitation she loosed the arrow while activating her Dragon Slaying Arrow.
It streaked through the air like a meteor, glowing gold with the energies that her skill had imbued it with. Ahead of it, the Adult Black Dragon at the head of the formation of attackers surely noticed it but in an act of contemptuous disregard continued to wing its way through the canyon towards them without the slightest attempt at evasion. It was the last mistake it ever made as Neia's arrow struck it head on and promptly exploded with enough force to tear the huge creature's entire rib cage open and showering the ground below in gore.
The sight of the Dragon being killed in one shot and its body crashing out of the sky, brought a rapturous cheer from their army even as it caused the pair of remaining Young Black Dragons to reel around in shock.
"See them panic!" Neia shouted, using her Evangelist skills to be heard over the shouts and whoops around her. "See the enemies of our god feel fear!"
While Neia had still been conducting her service, Drau had been in the command tent looking over a map of Skelkor via a holographic display and considering how to best deploy their forces for the coming campaign.
Should we stay together? That would allow us to concentrate our forces and likely give us an overwhelming advantage. Drau thought to herself as she looked thoughtfully at the map. But Skelkor is a large country. If we advance as only one body it'll take a long time, maybe years, to liberate the whole country. Possibly long enough for the Dragons to come up with a counter strategy against us. Hmm… But if we split up, then our weaker forces will be vulnerable...
She was still pondering the dilemma when she heard the screeching alarm that signified an incoming major attack. Looking over to the Human manning the communications station, she wordlessly asked for details.
"Outer pickets report a trio of Black Dragons, one Adult, two Young, flying towards our position form the direction of Mratanga." The slender blonde woman said in reply. "They are requesting permission to engage."
Drau considered that for a moment before shaking her head.
"Denied," she said firmly. "Let the Dragons come a little closer to the main camp first. I want to use them as a demonstration."
"Is that wise, my Lady?" Her adjutant said. He was a Momon named Fluder Paradyne whose human guise was that of a elderly man of short stature, possessing a magnificent white beard, with a head full of snow white hair and dressed in a loose white robe that he complemented with a necklace made with numerous crystal orbs.
"Trust me, Fluder." Drau told him. "Now set up a tactical display."
The Momon frowned by obeyed, turning to the Orc manning the sensors station and ordered him to patch their feeds through to the primary holographic display. The pyramid shaped device in the center of the tent promptly came online and projected realistic simulacrums of the three incoming Dragons. It faithfully recreated the slender Dragons down to their horns which protruded from the sides of their heads and wrapped around, projecting forward as well as the large frill that adorned the upper part of the neck. The three were flying in a delta formation, with the Adult at the lead, as they advanced through the canyon, past the dozens of picket camps that Drau had ordered their men to set up around their main camp.
"May I ask, my Lady, what you're waiting for?" Fluder asked as they both watched the display like a hawk.
"I want them to be in sight of camp. To be visible to the main body of our troops." Drau told him. "I want our men to see them taken out right in front of their eyes. That way it'll be an effective display that they can take down the Dragons."
"That is unnecessary." Fluder told her in an unhappy grumble. "The troops' training on Felmid drilled that into them already."
"A reminder wouldn't hurt."
She had barely made that observation when suddenly the Adult Black Dragon blinked off the tactical display.
"What just happened?" Drau demanded of her command staff.
"It was Lady Neia, ma'am!" The Human at comms shouted in reply. "She shot it down."
"You and your trigger finger." Drau said under her breath in frustration at her fellow Sniper derailing her plans. "But I guess if you could shoot then they are at least somewhat visible."
"My Lady, the remaining Dragons seem to be attempting to flee." Fluder cut into her complaining to inform her, gesturing to the display where the two Young Black Dragons were climbing into the sky as hard as they could while making hasty maneuvers to avoid what she could only imagine were Neia's persistent attempts to shoot them down.
"Order all pickets to open fire." Drau told him with grim finality. "Don't let them escape."
"They will not," Fluder assured her with a nod before he turned to the woman at comms and barked orders for her to relay to the scouts manning the pickets.
Moments later, they and much of the command center staff watched via the tactical display as a dozen missiles shot into the air from just as many picket camps towards the fleeing Dragons. These were no ordinary missiles however but were products of Felmid specially designed to kill Dragons and other large monsters. Using normal science they were forged to be anti-armor thus allowing them to more readily penetrate even the toughest monstrous hides. In addition, the same engineering meant that their payloads scattered before impact into small bomblets which allowed to cover a substantial area in their deadly explosions as well thus making them quite effective in anti-air scenarios such as the one in which they were used now. The coup de grâce however were that were also enchanted to be anti-large, making them even more effective against the Dragons.
So effective were they in fact that it only took seven of the twelve missiles to finish them off. By the time the remaining five had found their mark, the two Dragons were already dead and the detonations merely tore apart and cooked their corpses with their powerful explosions.
Seeing the two images of the Young Black Dragons blink out of existence on the tactical display, a cheer went up in the command tent and Drau smiled as she too soaked in the satisfaction of a good kill. So much so that it took her a moment to realize the cheering wasn't just coming from inside the command tent but outside as well.
"It appears you got the demonstration you wanted, my Lady." Fluder told her with a grin.
"Looks like it," Drau replied, her grin growing even wider as she savored her victory.
Done!
So I used this chapter to reaffirm the nature of some of the major relationships within the party before they set off on the next leg of their adventures. And what a leg it will be. They were already conquering liberators, but now they'll be nation builders? How will that work out? Well, I hope you all will keep reading to find out.
And wow Felmid weaponry is OP huh? Yup, it is. It is a potent mix of high level mundane technology (i.e. magic not reliant on magic in anyway) fused with advanced magic. Considering how rare this is in Realmspace, of course it's going to be phenomenally potent. That each and every piece of Felmid hardware that doesn't crumble to dust while offworld is blessed by the will of Ainz Ooal Gown himself? Well, that just adds to their potency, no?
Well, that's it for me this chapter. Till next time lamtumirë!
