As soon as she got the chance, Elizabeth just collapsed on a bed, thoughts unwittingly drifting back to that horrifying scene straight out of a horror novel.
The taste of what she could only guess as blood still rested on her tongue. Ironically this made it so (with her eyes closed) she could only focus more on the stuff she had woken up to earlier. Without her sense of sight she could only focus on her other senses, after all.
That thick iron-filled taste bringing her back there.
Letting out a sigh as she half heartedly threw her arm over her already closed eyes as she let herself sink into the soft mattress. It may not have been as soft as when she was a "well respected" duke's daughter however she would certainly take what she could. Compared to when she was pretty much homeless?
Very much preferred it; letting all the adrenaline flush from her body thanks to the safety net that only two archdemons could provide… Well, maybe two archdemons were a little over the top, but at the very least she felt more safe than she had in years. Taking this chance to settle her mind as much as she could.
Her first thought was one that brought her back to the first time she realised the world was far far far larger than she had previously thought.
The meeting with that spirit queen.
Moving her arm from her eyes.
Already she felt a headache growing as her mind wandered back to the words of that spirit - in the moment she overlooked them due to being quickly followed by a "meeting" with the Divine Demon.
Now?
Now she felt as if she should have taken more time thinking about them.
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Those star filled eyes looked through the slot in the door, filled with mirth, as the demonic hamster gritted his teeth in annoyance at the childish game the spirit queen was forcing him to play.
Why was he playing it?
Because she said she wanted payment before she told them "the juicy parts" and that payment (for some reason Elizabeth didn't understand) was to play a game with her. There was nothing magical in nature about the game. Though the goopy table that the board sat upon certainly didn't feel normal.
That table erupted out the shadows as soon as she began to monologue about the rules of the game that she called "dea en dea". A game that controls a world like hers with naught but dice. The hidden figure behind the door acting in place of a "dungeon master" who decides the plot of their adventure.
"I cast fireball!"
"Targeting~?"
"Those bloody rodents are all gathered together so it doesn't matter!"
"Ah yes~ rodents do need to be exterminated without prejudice!"
"Exac- wait hold up a second!"
It seemed like he only became a word of her implications a second too late as a hand made from inky abyss rose up from the darkness. Shaking something in its palm only to throw the contents out across the table in front of them. A total of 18 odd dice rolled out to display various numbers.
Fortunately no ones were present which meant that every attack was a success.
"Okay~ every rodent on the field is now dead. Fire consuming all of them in its fiery heat from their fuzzy little bodies - leaving them nice and crispy. Do you want to check the corpse princess; there should be quite a lot of loot?"
"What loot could be on fucking rats?"
Elizabeth nodded along as she could recognise the point.
"So you want to check the hamster corpse while ignoring the rats?"
She asked innocently as that abyssal hand moved up again - though this time it was interrupted by Necro's palms slamming down on the table.
"WAIT HOLD UP A SECOND; HOW AM I DEAD!"
"Well you fired a fireball at your own feet… What were you expecting?"
Even through the heavy door it became obvious that the spirit queen tilted her head innocently as if not expecting that response from the archdemon. Meanwhile the demon in question was clearly very unhappy with the result of his spell. Trembling silently as he barely avoided glaring into those galaxy eyes.
Quite literally as he refused to stare directly into them; instead chosing to stare at the hand while using all his willpower to avoid the eyes just slightly above.
"I'll wait a second for them to cool down but I'll inspect the body to see if any gear survived."
That caused the demon to stumble while looking up at the human with betrayal and shock in his eyes.
"Oh my~."
"B-b-b-"
"He took all the scrolls of revivify so I can only hope some survived."
"Urgh…"
He couldn't even blame her now since it was him who forcibly took them all with the logic of "the weak dumb human is more likely to die" only to end up killing himself. To say this situation was highly embarrassing was an understatement of the century. Worse of all was that he did it to himself!
"A shame that there were only 20 provided in this quest so it was impossible to search; roll a D20 to see if any of the scrolls still are intact enough to work. Of course that is only if you wish to specifically search for those scrolls of revivify. There are a lot of other goodies av-"
"PLEASE SEARCH FOR THE SCROLLS!"
Elizabeth jumped backward at the abrupt interruptions however she quickly nodded while scooping up a D20 only for the dice to land on a six.
"Seems like you lost most of the scrolls however, with a lot of ashes brushed aside, you managed to discover a total of three scrolls still in one piece if a little singed around the sides. To save some time I assume you'll revive the rodent king. Of course his gear is now heavily damaged."
That gaunt, almost skeletal, arm plucked up one dice only to shake it only to throw it out once more.
"Mark on your sheet that you now have a -5 on defence on all pieces as well as a -2 movement penalty due to the leather hardening under the intense fire."
"Grrr… Minus five your face…"
"Indeed~ and I believe that also marks the moment the rat master returns with a cackle "have my lovelies finished up with th-"."
"I cast eldritch blast!"
"... You know the deal."
Indeed he did; promptly rolling a D20 only for him to get a four.
Before their dungeon master could speak up he yelled inspiration to roll again which resulted in a five then he screamed again. This time he got a five however refused to give up. Screaming inspiration once more to get a six… The rest of his rolls didn't go much better so he had to settle on a 10.
|P.S that actually happened when I randomly rolled for him >.>
To say he was seething was an understatement.
"Fortunately you have advantage due to him not only having his guard down but not expecting to have a blast of eldritch magic shot at his face. That eldritch enemy audibly sizzling as it connected. His screams echoing through the cave as he clawed at the acidic energy only to soon fall off the raised platform with a rather spectacular thud."
"Hehehe take my wrath you weakling!"
"So… He's dead and the city is saved from the plague?"
"Well that may be a question for a future session; for now it can be said that this adventure has reached a fitting point to break!"
"But it was finally getting good!"
"I thought you didn't want to play a silly game made by mortals~!"
Once again the archdemon took a hit directly to his heart, stumbling backwards for a few seconds, only to fire back with all the vigour he could manage.
"Well we don't all have time to play around like children."
"Indeed~ how fortunate I am~!"
He could only stand in awe at her raw shamelessness as those beautiful stolen eyes turned to look towards Elizabeth who was seemingly just as confused as always.
"Through your journey there will be a road bump but the roadblock is much greater, a threat willfully forgotten but always feared will return, worry you should not. Men and women of great valour have rose to fight but the shadows find those of impurity all the tastier. Nothing can stop your escape."
A seemingly random set of words that meant nothing; initially letting her just latch onto the summary of nothing being able to stop her escape from the country.
In the future though… She couldn't help wonder if there was a little more to it than just that.