The Deceiver's Path - Chapter 125 - A Gambler's Misfortune (Patreon)

Piper waited in front of the wagon that would transport her back to the villa as the first rays of the sun crested the jagged mountains. She drew her thick woolen cloak more tightly around herself and fought down a shiver. Her breath fogged the air, and she had to stamp her feet to keep them warm.

Beside her, Ophelia muttered under her breath while trying to burrow into her own cloak. For someone born and raised in the mountains, she sure didn’t like cold weather. Then again, Piper wasn’t exactly looking forward to another long winter after what had felt like a ridiculously short summer.

“Good morning,” Lysander called out as he approached them. In his hands, he held a small wooden cask. “Where’s the noise mage? Please tell me he didn’t get eaten by a dragon last night.”

Piper shrugged. “The last I heard was that he was going to get his weapon repaired. I never saw him after that.”

After reuniting with Selene, the three of them spent the rest of the night together. They’d gone out for dinner at an inn before sharing a flask of wine under the stars. This time, she’d made sure not to drink too much. Now that there were two demons in this city, who knew when the crazy nuns would start sniffing around again?

The revelation that Selene and Althea had survived lifted a great weight from her shoulders. She’d been haunted by her failure for almost two years, but now she could finally forgive herself. If only there were a way to bring back the handful of aspirants who had died during the battle against the nuns.

Piper forced herself to focus on the positive. There was no reason to sour the elation she felt at seeing Selene again. And they would even get to quest together one week from today. She imagined that between the two of them they could bring the infernal cult to heel without any issues.

The sound of Ophelia gasping made her look up to see a shirtless Zenos approaching them. He wrapped his arms around himself and shivered as he reached the wagon. The young man wasn’t even wearing a cloak.

“Were you mugged?” Piper blurted out.

“Not exactly,” he replied. “I may have had a run of bad luck with the dice.”

Lysander stared at him incredulously. “You gambled away your shirt and cloak? How do you expect to make the journey back to the villa without freezing to death?”

Zenos lifted his chin slightly. “I’ll simply make do. It won’t be the first time I’ve had to endure hardship.”

“Bloody aspirants,” Lysander grumbled. “Wait here while I go fetch you a new shirt.”

Piper sidled up closer to him. “Is that really what happened?”

The young man sighed before responding. “I thought I was due for a win. If the dice hadn’t been enchanted to prevent cheating, I would have sworn that the others were using magic. I felt sure by betting my cloak that I could earn my money back.”

Piper mentally added gambling to the list of vices she planned to avoid in the future. The last thing she wanted to do in the mountains was lose her cloak. The time the awakened lion had burned a hole through her clothes had resulted in one of the most miserable walks of her life. She never wanted to repeat that.

They waited in front of the wagon, while Zenos’ teeth began to chatter. His lips also started to take on a light blue coloration.

“Maybe you should wait inside?” Piper offered. “It might be warmer in the inn?”

Zenos shook his head. “And miss the wagon back to the villa? I don’t want to risk being kicked out of the guild.”

Thankfully, Lysander reappeared from a building across the street moments later, holding a patched cloak and tunic. He tossed the well-used looking clothing to Zenos, who deftly caught them.

“You owe me two coppers,” Lysander grumbled. “I’ll come looking for you when we get paid.”

“I swear that I’m good for my debt.”

“You better be,” Lysander said. “I’m not in the habit of giving to charitable causes. Even if it's to an aspirant, I’m tasked with watching over.”

Piper grinned at the man, thinking that despite his gruff exterior, he might be a big softy inside. She hadn’t known anyone in Kalmyros who would buy a cloak for a suffering aspirant.

“What are you smiling at, gravebait,” Lysander snapped.

“Oh, nothing.”

The dark-haired man glared at her before climbing up next to the driver of the wagon. As Zenos hurriedly pulled the tunic over his head, Piper and Ophelia clambered into the back. A moment later, their companion leaped over the side while holding his new cloak.

Piper settled down and peered down the street. “I hope we see some mammoths on the way back to the villa.”

“I want to see some more undead,” Ophelia said.

When both of them turned to look at her, she wilted slightly. “What? I’m getting close to level 50.”

“Already?” Piper replied, her brow rising. “That was fast.”

“Well, we fought the elementals and then about a thousand zombies. It all added up.”

Lysander glanced over his shoulder. “Please shut up. You’re giving me heartburn up here listening to how reckless you were.”

Ophelia giggled but stopped talking.

At the mention of classes, Piper pulled up her character sheet. After the elementals and the battle against the undead, she still hadn’t stopped to allocate all of her new points.

Piper Ashcroft

Race: Shadeling, Level 101

Class: Deceiver (Epic), Level 101

Class: Shadowflame Temptress (Legendary), Level 40

Attributes

Strength – 185

Dexterity – 130

Stamina - 60

Vitality – 100

Perception – 100

Swiftness - 98

Magic - 400

Mana - 3250

Mana Regeneration – 2250

Free Attribute Points - 554

Racial Skills (6/10)

·         Demonic Blood, Level 46

·         Demonic Fury, Level 3

·         Demonic Intellect, Level 17

·         Demonic Lashrend, Level 37

·         Infernal Resistance, Level 12

·         Subjugator, Level 18

Skills (10/10)

·         Ambush Detection, Level 10

·         Animal Caretaker, Level 38

·         Archery, Level 38

·         Cooking, Level 15

·         Enduring Casting, Level 23

·         Identify, Level 21

·         Hunting, Level 21

·         Running, Level 30

·         Hammer Wielding, Level 6

·         Subterfuge, Level 39

Deceiver Spells (7/10)

·         False Face, Level 37

·         Phantom Flesh, Level 26

·         Truth Shroud, Level 35

·         Shifting Veil, Level 30

·         Shroud of the Damned, Level 11

·         Umbral Terror, Level 11

·         Wraithskin, Level 23

Shadowflame Temptress Spells (3/10)

·         Misery Crown, Level 4

·         Pit Chains, Level 17

·         Void Silence, Level 9

Piper’s jaw dropped in surprise as she read the number of free attributes she had. She knew that she’d gained a lot of levels against the undead, but she was shocked at just how many. She had more free points that most regular people had total. In fact, she probably had double what a normal person had.

She’d have to allocate them carefully because she had a feeling she was going to go up against some powerful opponents in the near future. While most of her enemies had been relatively easy to defeat recently, she knew there were incredibly dangerous undead out there. And the infernal cult members she planned to tackle with Selene weren’t likely to be pushovers either.

The driver snapped the reins, sending the wagon bouncing forward. Piper had to place a hand on the wooden floor to steady herself.

She continued down her character sheet, noting that she’d gained several levels in her racial skill, [Subjugator]. Perhaps that was why her demon summons were becoming more powerful. She’d planned to summon Sarnyxia the previous evening to ask the demoness about her new abilities, but she’d returned so late she’d passed out the minute her head hit the pillow.

Mentally putting that task aside for later, she also noted that the [Quick Claw] and [Tail Strike] had been replaced with [Demonic Lashrend]. She doubted that she would miss them, as the new attack was much more powerful.

Continuing down the list, she saw that [Archery], [Enduring Casting], and [Identify] had all seen bumps in levels. She really needed to replace her meteor mace so she could continue to level up her [Hammer] skill.

Piper arrived at spells next. She’d only had minor gains in levels here, mostly being relegated to [Phantom Flesh], [Shifting Veil], and [Wraithskin]. Being stuck at the villa and questing with people who didn’t know the truth about her demonic heritage had forced her to hold back on her spells.

That was one of the reasons she was looking forward to grouping up with Selene again so much. She could really let loose with everything she had.

Frowning, she also vowed to reveal the truth about herself the next time the two of them were alone. She didn’t know why Malkazar had kept her true nature secret from Selene, but she didn’t want any more secrets between them.

In hindsight, she probably should have told Selene when the young woman revealed herself as a demoness in the pool. However, she hadn’t known if it was really her friend or not at that point. And  hiding her demonic self had become so ingrained that she couldn’t bring herself to do it afterward.

I’m going to tell her next week, she thought to herself firmly. No matter what.

With that matter settled, Piper returned to her Attributes and tried to figure out where to place all the new points. The first thing she did was place 40 into Stamina to bring it in line with her other physical attributes. If she were going to be hiking through the mountains for the foreseeable future, she wanted to improve her endurance.

Next, she placed 200 points into Magic. The attribute improved nearly all of her spells and had turned her [Phantom Flesh] summons into juggernauts on the battlefield. She wanted to keep improving it every chance she got.

“Whatcha doing?” Ophelia asked. “Overthinking stuff?”

Piper chewed on her lower lip. “I’m trying to place my stats.”

“Oh, I need to do that, too!”

“If you give me a minute, I’ll help you with yours.”

Surprisingly, Ophelia nodded and left her sitting in peace to place the last of her attribute points. After considering for a while, she placed another 200 points into Mana Regeneration. That brought it up to 3250, the same number as her total Mana. In far too many of her battles, she’d run out of Mana and lost the ability to heal. She needed to ensure her mana returned as quickly as possible so she could always use [Demonic Blood].

The last of her points she dumped into Strength and Agility. No matter how powerful she became with her spells, she invariably ended up in close combat. She placed 44 points into Strength to bring it up to 229, and then the remaining 70 points into Agility to make the stat a nice even 200.

Pleased with her choices, she turned to Ophelia. “I think you need to split your attribute points between Strength, Dexterity, and Vitality to start. Those should be your main ones, while you slowly add to the others. Also, from my personal experience, don’t forget to increase Perception. It’s way more important than you think.”

Ophelia grinned. “I already put all the points into Strength.”

“All of them?” Piper gasped. “You didn’t put them in any other stats?”

Her friend shrugged helplessly. “Next time, I’ll listen to you and spread them around. But what’s better than being strong?”

“How about being alive?” Piper facepalmed. “You need more than just Strength in a fight.”

Zenos nodded along with Piper. “Your sister is right. Too many aspirants have focused on one attribute, thinking it would give them an edge in combat. They usually had short careers.”

Ophelia smiled and tapped her foot against the wagon. “I guess that means we just need to level up more so I can get more points. What are the odds of bandits attacking on the way back? Or maybe a monster?”

“The roads here are kept quite safe,” Zenos said. “I’d say there’s almost no chance of bandits.”

“That sucks,” Ophelia said, her expression falling. “Then I guess I’ll just hope for a monster attack. Preferably something big with lots of sharp teeth.”

Piper rolled her eyes. “No one hopes for a monster attack while they’re in a wagon. If it eats the horses, we’ll have to walk all the way back.”

“Oh, good point. I guess I’ll just have to wait until the next time we go to town.”

Piper wrapped her cloak more tightly around herself; the early morning chill seeped through the wagon boards. She wondered what Lysander had planned for them in the coming week. No matter what it was, she had a feeling her group could handle it no problem.