Chapter 2: Level 0 Crisp (Prawn Cocktail flavour)
Demon Lord Azanth was incorporeal and faced with his new character sheet:
Demon Lord Azanth Level 0 Crisp (Prawn Cocktail flavour)
Rank 0 Evolution 0
Cast down from the Seventh Plane of Wickedness, this arch-evil demon lord was reincarnated on the Plane of Life as a prawn cocktail crisp. Surviving only for revenge upon those other demons who betrayed him to a paladin, Lord Azanth nurtures nothing but hate in his brittle potato heart.
HP 0
Manna 14
Health 1
Strength 0
Agility 0
Intelligence 7
Physical Attack 0
Magical Attack 0
Armour 0
Magical Defence 0
Equipped Slots: Perimeter (empty), torso (empty)
Exp 0
Spirit Stones 0/100
Rank quests 0/20
Skills
Choose one
His inventory was empty.
As Lord Azanth studied his character sheet he felt the pain of his loss as a dark cloud that surrounded him and which he encountered no matter what direction his thoughts travelled in. He’d invested decades of questing, grinding, training and fighting to create a powerful tank-breaker mage. That was all gone. Betrayed. The character sheet was right. He hated those other demon lords who had allowed the paladin to invade. And he would indeed nurture that hate until the moment came when he could extract revenge.
Revenge. He may not have a body, but he certainly had desires and the strongest of them by far was that for revenge. No doubt the army of good was enjoying their triumph. And no doubt the other demon lords were relishing the fall of Lord Azanth. Let them. He would find a way to survive on the Plane of Life, conquer it, and return to his rightful home at the head of an invincible army.
The most important attribute of any being was its level; his had previously been maxed at 100. Then, the next most attribute was Evolution. Every time you evolved you had a significant increase in your stats, hit points, and mana points. You also unlocked additional skills and for those who could target you, a rather impressive star appeared above your head for every evolution you had undergone. His former five stars had been reduced to none. Finally, there were ranks. Complete enough quests and your rank jumped up a colour, moving through the rainbow from blue towards red. A rank increase meant more speed, a better rate of attack, better natural armour and unlocked some magic items and skills. Azanth had been off the scale with a prismatic rank. Now he was zero rank, a grey.
If he were to dwell upon the immense distance he would have to travel to obtain revenge, the thought would be so discouraging as to paralyze him. Taking one step at a time was the only way to cope with his new circumstances. And the only step he could take before re-entering the world was to make a skill choice. He would start with the level 1 version of whatever skill he chose and it would improve if he progressed his levels and ranks.
As a crisp, it seemed he would have just one starting skill. He would have to choose wisely, very wisely. Azanth opened the skill list and studied each of the available options. Every skill on the list was familiar but he read them afresh in the light of his fate, that of becoming a thin, fried slice of potato, sprinkled with prawn cocktail flavouring.
The menu for available skills contained twelve options: assess magic; create scent; disguise; fast reflexes; heal fracture; invisibility; levitate; poison cloud; slice; stealth; summon small animal; and telepathy.
Assess magic was dull and unimportant. Create scent was completely useless. Disguise was hardly any better. Fast reflexes weren’t likely to be that valuable, unless he first had a means of attacking an opponent. Heal fracture repaired the crisp and that definitely had potential, but not until he had more than one health point. Starting out, there was no benefit from the skill as if he lost that one health point he would be unconscious and unable to heal himself.
Invisibility, now that was a serious option. It would keep him alive, perhaps. Could he progress while invisible? Gain experience somehow? It would have to be for questing not fighting. There were too many unknowns about what it meant to be a crisp. A humanoid could be fighter, a mage, a healer, a rogue… And a starting skill of invisibility for any of those would work. Would it work for crisp? A little, fried piece of potato? What would he be able to do while invisible? He wouldn’t have limbs. Perhaps the descriptions on the other skills would give him vital clues as to the forthcoming nature of his existence on the Plane of Life.
Levitate was mildly useful, at least he’d be able to move, but only up or down. Poison cloud had a title that was more exciting than the available effect. He could release a vapour that made nearby enemies … a little sick. Skills could be levelled up through progress in other areas and that way the poison cloud might one day become lethal. At level 1, however, it was only a feeble debuff and therefore useless.
Poison Cloud
Release a cloud of noxious prawn cocktail-flavoured gas. As the skill increases in level you will be able to harm your enemies, increase the range of the effect, and the duration.
Level 1 – -1 Str, -1 Con to enemies within 1m for 30 seconds. Available
Level 2 – -1 Str, -1 Con, -1hp per tick to enemies within 1m for 30 seconds. Locked (requires light green rank)
Level 3 – -2 Str, -2 Con, -2hp per tick to enemies within 1m for 45 seconds. Locked (requires level 10)
Level 4 – -3 Str, -3 Con, -3hp per tick to enemies within 1.5m for 45 seconds. Locked (requires dark green rank)
Level 5 – -4 Str, -4 Con, -4hp per tick to enemies within 1.5m for 60 seconds. Locked (requires level 20)
Level 6 – -5 Str, -5 Con, -5hp per tick to enemies within 2m for 60 seconds. Locked (requires light blue rank)
Level 7 – -8 Str, -8 Con, -8hp per tick to enemies within 2.5m for 90 seconds. Locked (requires level 50)
Level 8 – -12 Str, -12 Con, -12hp per tick to enemies within 3m for 120 seconds. Locked (requires level 100)
Slice was a spinning attack that cut an opponent for 1pt of damage at first level. Here at least was a path to gaining experience and therefore levels and power. If an opponent was immobilised for some reason, Azanth would be able to use slice over and over until they were dead and he could reap the reward. How, though, could he even move to potential targets?
Stealth was an interesting alternative to invisibility because it had unlimited duration and as well as hiding the user, it also allowed them to make less noise, which is why a starting rogue might prefer it. A starting rogue, though, had legs. Without a means of movement, it was a worthless skill. He needed a skill that both allowed movement and allowed him to do something after that movement.
For a moment Azanth felt something like despair. His enemies had been smart. They knew a potato crisp had no viable options for escaping its destiny. Wait, that wasn’t right. Earl Clarence could not be described as smart. Nor could they possibly have known what skills a demon forced to reincarnate as a potato crisp on the Plane of Life would be offered. There was still hope and one way or another, he would find a way to survive.
Summon small animal attracted a rat, cat or dog to the crisp, where it would be willing to follow commands for a short period. While interesting as it was quite a versatile skill, again it was hopeless as Azanth’s starting skill since he would have no prospect of communicating with the animal. Probably the small mammal would eat him once the skill wore off.
Finally, there was Telepathy.
Telepathy
Communicate with other people through an exchange of thoughts. As the skill increases in level you will be able to become more expressive, increase the range of communication, and the numbers with whom you are communicating.
Level 1 – Simple communication with 1 creature within 0.5m. Available
Level 2 – Standard communication with 1 creature within 1.5m. Locked (requires light green rank)
Level 3 – Standard communication with 1 creature within 3m. Locked (requires level 10)
Level 4 – Standard communication with up to 5 creatures within 3m. Locked (requires dark green rank)
Level 5 – Standard communication with up to 5 creatures within 6m. Locked (requires level 20)
Level 6 – Standard communication with up to 10 creatures within 12m. Locked (requires light blue rank)
Level 7 – Standard communication with up to 20 creatures within 24m. Locked (requires level 50)
Level 8 – Advanced communication with up to 40 creatures within 48m. Locked (requires level 100)
This had to be the right choice. Whether a crisp or a demon, Azanth was a master at bending others to his will. With a willing servant, he could be moved; he could complete quests; and he could get shared experience from battles. The prerequisite for getting hold of a servant was to able to communicate with them. Since a crisp had no mouth, he needed telepathy.
Choice made, Lord Azanth took what might have been a deep breath had he a body, and chose to re-enter the world. Now he would find out what it meant to be a crisp.
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A body! He had a body. He could feel. He could sense the world as a flow of energy. There were bright spikes within the dark currents and these sometimes came close to him. Tantalisingly close. Almost close enough to communicate with using Telepathy. Mortals.
To the mortal who first obeyed him, Lord Azanth would be generous. He would make them ruler of the world, and owner of a dozen palaces full of gold and precious items. Here was one … no they had gone away again. What about this one? Or this?
Forty or fifty mortals came to him but each time they remained just out of range. Then he felt the sun depart the sphere above and not long afterwards all the bright spikes left too. Curse them all. And curse their families. And their pets.
By the time the sun came back, Lord Azanth was no longer feeling so generous. He would be in no rush to elevate any mortal to great power. In fact, he felt as much of an inclination to destroy whoever first came close enough as to elevate them.