Necromancer in New Vegas
Chapter III: Timing, or The Art of Resource Management
Sleep had caught up to Arrelus in a way he hadn't felt in a very long time. He was so used to foregoing it, to substituting magic for rest in his quest for power and revenge, that to actually sleep was… interesting.
His magicka was a luxury though. Until he could figure out exactly how he would replenish it, he would need to carefully manage what he still had. For that reason, he'd need to sleep the normal way. Perhaps he'd be able to go back to his preferred method of using Restoration Magic at some point.
Dreamless as his rest was, it was refreshing. He slept especially comfortably knowing that he was protected by his thrall, armed with one of those weapons of this world, these guns, as they were called. They seemed extremely useful to him.
It was not just the immense amounts of death they could dish out without any magical requirements, but how they could do so whilst leaving the corpses in relatively clean states - as compared to the many wounds that you might have to patch up on a corpse killed by ax or sword.
Arrelus rose with the sun. Even from his position in the cave, it was difficult to remain asleep when morning sounds echoed across the stony walls. Birds and insects calling out their various sounds accompanied by faint and indistinguishable - but still audible - sounds from the nearby Goodsprings were more than enough to rouse him, as light a sleeper as he was.
Rising from his spot in the cave, he noted that these canines at least served one additional purpose in their death. Before retiring for the night, he and Angela had skinned and cleaned the furs, giving him an adequately soft makeshift bed to sleep on. It was far more comfortable than the cave floor, anyways. The amount of magicka he'd expended to hasten the process was trivial, especially when compared to how much he would've needed to use to forego sleep another night. The spell he used took more and more magicka every night it was used consecutively and he'd been using it for weeks.
Stretching a bit to loosen out his limbs, he glanced around the cave and noted that his familiar had done a bit of hunting as he'd ordered, and even had a nice stew cooked on the fire for him. It smelled a bit… strange, but Arrelus just chalked that up to the creatures here being different from what he was used to.
"You're up!" The surprised tone that the woman used caught the necromancer's attention. Looking towards the cave entrance, and away from the fire, he saw that she was still in the same outfit that she'd died in. This world had strange attire, that was for sure. "You were asleep for three days!"
Whatever Arrelus had been about to say disappeared from his mind as what she said registered. Three days? "I see. Did anything try to attack while I was out?" The woman shook her head. That's good. I'm glad I managed to snag a thrall, even if it was unnecessary.
There was only one explanation, really. His body had finally been able to rest and it had taken the opportunity to get as much as it could, while it could. Without the spell he'd been using to put off sleep, he was forced to make up all that rest.
Well, three days shouldn't matter too much. No one knew of his existence, he was certain of that. It was difficult to think now that he was dealing with the other aspect of going three days without sleep, the hunger and thirst. In the moments after he woke up, he hadn't noticed them, but the shock of Angela's statement made them all too apparent.
"Did you get any water while you were out?" He asked the woman while sitting in front of the pot. On the floor, next to the fire, there were a couple of wooden bowls. Taking one, he managed to fill it with stew after locating the large spoon his thrall had apparently been mixing the food with.
"I did." It was nice to be able to communicate with another human instead of having to delve into his thrall's mind every time he needed an answer. So much more convenient, especially since he knew she couldn't lie.
"Is the food or water poisoned or otherwise contaminated in any way that could harm me?" This was delivered in the same tone as before. Again, she couldn't lie and had to follow all orders he gave. He hadn't expressly commanded her not to poison him, only to guard him while he slept and dispatch anything that tried to enter.
"It's not." The woman actually seemed more than a little indignant when he asked. Well, she could be offended all she wanted, but he'd dealt with enough people back in Skyrim to know even the most mild-mannered housewife could be an effective assassin. This woman didn't exactly strike him as the housewife type either, and had apparently survived an enormous trek from the New California Republic all the way to the Mojave Wastes as a courier. There was no telling what she was capable of.
"That's good to hear." He replied while taking up the cleanest of the utensils he spotted on the ground and accepted the canteen she offered happily. Being able to learn languages and terms quickly really made necromancy all the more useful. It was a wonderful reconnaissance tool, especially in this new world.
As he did his best to sate three days of hunger and thirst, Arrelus also thought. He was in a brand new world, and the knowledge of it was highly limited. Those two things he was sure of. He'd need more thralls so that he might learn more about it. He'd need a base of operations so that he could figure out what to do. Most of all, he'd need to figure out how to keep using Magicka. Thralls were quite easy to maintain and took miniscule amounts of Magicka to keep, but more expensive to repair.
He absolutely needed to find a good way to replenish his supply consistently. He could still feel the drain from what he'd done yesterday. Yes, it wasn't much, and it was barely noticeable, but it was still there when he looked for it. Over time it might bring itself back up, but his body could only produce so much Magicka, very little at that.
Glancing towards the large blood splatters in the cave and then towards Angela, Arrelus knew of one way to do so. It's not as if he was above it either, but he'd need to find targets to test it on.
His thoughts were interrupted as a barrage of loud noises erupted from the direction of Goodsprings. "Those are gunshots." Angela noted. Perhaps I'll get that chance right now. The necromancer thought.
"Let's take a closer look then." He replied and stood, content with what he'd had. A finger snap of Frostbite put the fire out before he led the way out of the cave. After the Courier was outside with him, he layered a couple of Frost Runes at the entrance to deter anyone. "That should keep anyone out of here without damaging the Ritual Stone."
He led his Thrall down towards the town at a sedate pace. "Is that what that big stone is? It had this… demonic feel to it… like it doesn't belong here." He nodded in response.
"Just like me, the Ritual Stone is not from this world. In fact, it is probably why I arrived here when my ritual was interrupted. It's likely also my only ticket back to Tamriel, so I need to make sure it stays intact. It would be dangerous to try and perform any rituals now though, so I need to get a reliable source of Magicka first."
"Magicka? Is that like how you use your spells or something?" I nodded again. "What… exactly can you do?" There was an interesting mixture of fear and… excitement in the woman's voice when she asked that, but Arrelus simply filed it away for later.
"Perhaps you'll get a showing if there's a fight going on." As they arrived at the outskirts of the town, he quickly cast Invisibility and Muffle on himself, watching as his thrall mirrored the effects. "Keep your mouth shut and stay close. You and I can see each other, but no one else can. Also, your feet won't make any noise, but anything else you do will, and dust will still kick up where you walk so it's important to move lightly."
Angela nodded and followed after the necromancer as he made his way towards what the Courier's memories told him was the general store.
Just past it, there were six men with various weapons ranging from knives and bludgeons to a few firearms. They appeared to all be going after a single woman with a rifle. Any that came too close were scared off by the dog at her side and the ones with firearms seemed to be frustrated that she was firing from cover.
On the side of the store that the necromancer and his thrall were on, though, was a man profusely bleeding from his shoulder. Approaching him silently, Arrelus halted the effects of his spells, frightening the man. It's not as if he could go anywhere, and it seemed he couldn't even raise the gun in his hand.
Crouching beside the man, Arrelus looked upon him with a hard gaze. "You've got one chance to tell me what's going on and why I should help you." The man nodded.
"My name is Ringo and I work for the Crimson Caravan Company." He explained. "A couple days ago, my caravan got attacked by the raiders, Powder Gangers, out there, but I managed to escape and have been hiding out in Goodsprings. Joe Cobb, their leader, has been hounding after me and threatened the town. One of the townsfolk must've ratted me out, cause they came here and demanded that I get out of the gas station I was holed up in. Sunny Smiles, the lady with the rifle and the dog, she's the only one that came to my defense. Seems it's all for nothing though."
Arrelus did his best to fight down a grin. So, he really did have an opportunity to try out his idea. "Alright, Ringo, I'll help you out." Placing his hand on Ringo's shoulder, he cast a Restoration spell, healing it back to normal. As the bullet lodged in his arm fell to the floor, a loud yelp resounded nearby. "Angela, give the woman, Sunny Smiles, some covering fire. Sounds like her dog may have just taken a hit."
The Courier immediately began moving. Whether it was against her will, or in addition to it, Arrelus wasn't sure, nor did he care. Instead, he stood and dusted himself off. Ringo, for his part, was still in shock as he looked at his arm. "Are you… some kind of angel?" He asked in disbelief.
"Not even close, but thanks for the show of support, I suppose." Arrelus responded as he stepped out from the cover of the shop. He noted Angela using her revolver to give Sunny the covering fire he'd requested. Thankfully, she hadn't killed any of the Powder Gangers, as they were called, yet.
Really, he'd just wanted Angela to keep their attention. He'd rather not find out if he had any spells that would stop a bullet. Thankfully, there were only two men with guns. Eying one of them, the one with the rifle, he cast Soul Trap. Of course, he didn't have any empty Soul Gems, but that wasn't the point.
The other men seemed to be stopped in their tracks as the man, possibly their leader, screamed in agonizing pain as Arrelus' spell quite literally ripped his soul from his body. Usually the Magicka within another person would keep their soul in their body until they died, but this world didn't have any. Just as Arrelus had hoped, it killed the man, causing him to crumple to the floor with that look of terror and pain painted on his face eternally.
As the man, Joe Cobb, had his soul ripped out, Arrelus took joy in the fact that his other hypothesis also worked. He could feel a surge of Magicka within him as the man's life energy was turned into Magicka. Still, that hole existed. He didn't regenerate Magicka, he simply added more Magicka to his pool. Rather, his pool of Magicka had increased by the same amount as Cobb's soul had been worth.
Arrelus ignored the man's memories for now as he took aim at the other gunman, snuffing out his life and snatching his soul to fuel his Magicka with that familiar, violet hue surrounding him as he, too, screamed in agony. The remaining four watched in horror as the light drained from his eyes over several short, but still long to them, moments.
Content with the Magicka that he'd gained, and the success of his experiment, Arrelus then cast Raise Thrall on the two gunmen. The quartet wielding melee weapons were quickly dispatched as the corpses of Joe Cobb and his right-hand man, Ian Cox, shot them in succession, then fell back to the floor.
Arrelus made his way towards Angela, who was already at Sunny Smiles' side. The woman seemed relieved, but also cautious, as she watched him approach. "Who… what did you do?" The woman seemed unable to properly figure out what she actually wanted to ask. The mage noted that the dog he saw with her was on the floor, in a puddle of blood and unmoving. Turns out that injury was actually a casualty.
"I am Arrelus the Exile." He introduced himself, noting that Ringo was coming towards them. It also seemed that other townsfolk were peering from windows, doors, and behind various forms of cover to see what was going on.
"I am a mage from another place. A ritual I was performing was interrupted and it seems I was sent to this place as a result. The commotion your little scuffle caused awoke me from the place I was sleeping and I came to see what was going on. Ringo here explained what had happened, and I desired to help you in your defense of him. To that end, I killed the men harassing your town as quickly as I could. Is your companion dead?"
The last bit came with Arrelus glancing down at the dog. "Cheyenne. And… yes, Cobb got her with his rifle." Sunny was on her knees, running her fingers through Cheyenne's fur, wherever it was devoid of blood anyways, clearly doing her best not to cry.
"There is little point in allowing such a thing to occur." Arrelus replied and cast a spell on it. Animals were easier to raise than people, and they also tended to keep both their personalities and their instincts. Well, aside from Angela, and whatever strange phenomena gave her the semi-undead state she existed in.
Cheyenne's body convulsed momentarily before she shot up, licking Sunny's face. The woman just stared on at the dog, and wrapped her arms around its neck as she cried. The dog was not truly Cheyenne, but it would be a close enough facsimile that no one, not even the owner herself, would notice.
On top of that, a familiar 'owned' by someone as apparently trusted as Sunny was, according to Cheyenne's memories, would be a remarkably beneficial asset, even in a town as relatively small as this. Now that the problem of magicka was essentially solved so long as he could find living beings to take the souls of, Arrelus would need to create many animal familiars to conduct recon on the world.
"You really aren't an angel?" Ringo asked again, probably speaking in reference to what seemed to these people like resurrection, coupled with his healing and the acts performed in the battle. Perhaps they interpreted that as some sort of divine retribution? A form of smiting perhaps?
The people of this world had no context or reference for even the most basic acts of spellcraft that novices at the College could perform, so of course someone as talented as Arrelus would seem god-like.
That could, perhaps, be used to his advantage.
And that's it!
Make sure to let me know what you thought with that handy review button or via a PM (even if the system is still broken).
I've also got a pat-reon over at pat-reon-dot-com-slash-orpheuskidwell
Orpheus out! See ya!