Smooth Jazz (7): Rouse the Drooling Dead!

Be sure to read from the first post, you can find it here.

---

Smooth Jazz managed to brutally slaughter the remaining inhabitants of the entire dungeon level, resulting in a sizable army of seven assorted zombies. His army would have been significantly larger if the fresh corpses weren't so hastily devoured by his followers.

Why do they torture me so? He seethed, assessing his witless slaves. He sat on the floor chewing raw newt meat. They do not hesitate to follow or stay. They even attack whatever I tell them to. But they completely ignore commands to avoid corpses.

The zombies shambled listlessly around Smooth Jazz as he thought. He eyed them the same way loving parents might look upon their naughty child.
Not only was Smooth Jazz angry, he was confused too. His zombies did not always eat the corpses. They would sometimes ignore them, even without his command. In a puzzled need to understand, he had offered a hobgoblin corpse to his small army. Yet instead of acknowledging the fresh kill, they had continued to shamble about, drooling mindlessly.
Despite his tests, Smooth Jazz had been unable to determine the difference between the corpses greedily torn apart or those left unscathed.

Perhaps it is Yredelemnul aiding me in my quest for power. He pondered. I'll ask him now.
He stood up, setting aside his unfinished newt meal. "Yredelemnul, Yredelemnul! I wish to ask you a question!" His voice echoed through the darkness, but no answer came. "Why does my army disregard some corpses. Is this your doing?"
The booming voice of Yredelemnul answered him. "Carry the black torch! Rouse the idle dead!" A short hiss and a click punctuated the generic message.
He must be busy. Smooth Jazz thought to himself, turning to see the remnants of his meal being wolfed down by an undead kobold.

---

DCSS Version 0.14 trunk. Smooth Jazz began as a Draconian Death Knight.
Character Dump

Smooth Jazz (6): Practicing Murder

Be sure to read from the first post, you can find it here.

---

Smooth jazz rounded a corner and spied a furry ball nestled by a dungeon wall. It appeared to be a rat, though it was larger than any rat he had seen before.

The rat was aggressive, but it did not present much of a challenge to Smooth Jazz and his undead crew. His pathetic bat zombie even delivered the killing blow. Smooth Jazz let out a cheer which turned into a groan as the zombie started munching on the corpse. By the time Smooth Jazz kicked the bat zombie away, there was not enough rat left to reanimate.

Ugh! That's the second time. Zombies don't even need sustenance! He thought angrily.
He cursed at his undead bat as it flapped clumsily around him, occasionally making lazy dives towards the rat remains.
'Fine, you can have it!' he yelled in resignation.
He kicked the dead rat towards the bat which started to munch noisily on the corpse. The gecko and mite zombies joined in. They reminded Smooth Jazz of pigs feeding from a trough, splattering their meal in all directions.

A few minutes later, Smooth Jazz had killed two more rats (which were also greedily consumed by his pets) and found another potion. This potion contained a cyan liquid with sickly lumps floating on the surface.
I hope this is still alright. He thought to himself. Death was something to be avoided, but if he were to die, he'd much rather die in a heroic battle, rather than ingesting what appeared to be the contents of a sewer beneath a wizard's abode. I'll decide what to do with this later.

He bent to stash the lumpy potion away and heard a 'clink' on the wall behind him. A dart rolled on the floor into his vision. He looked up to see a kobold readying another dart to throw at him. The kobold had grey skin with the head of an ferocious dog. It was frothing lightly at the mouth.
Smooth Jazz had nowhere to retreat to, his zombies occupied the narrow passage behind him.
I could probably charge at it, those darts shouldn't be able to penetrate my scales.
Smooth Jazz sprinted towards the kobold, his undead army following loyally behind him.

The kobold panicked. It was probably a rare occasion for a group of zombies and a draconian to come charging at him. He threw a dart, it missed Smooth Jazz, embedding itself into the undead bat behind him.
The kobold regained its wits and threw another dart. This one hit the draconian charging at him, but bounced off his scales and also hit the bat. The charging draconian sliced through the wide-eyed kobold before it could draw its dagger. The small blade bounced noisily on the rocky dungeon floor before coming rest.

---

DCSS Version 0.14 trunk. Smooth Jazz began as a Draconian Death Knight.
Character Dump

Next Post

Smooth Jazz (5): Baseball Bat

Be sure to read from the first post, you can find it here.

---

Smooth Jazz found three more scrolls in a nearby hallway. He pocketed all four plus the black potion, intending to appraise them once he had cleared the area. It may cause problems if one of the scrolls drew attention from the beasts lurking in the darkness, or if the potion made him ill.

At the end of the hallway Smooth Jazz felt something furry brush against his head. The furry thing fell from the ceiling and flapped messily around in front of him. It was a large grey bat. Smooth Jazz must have accidentally awoken the bat by bumping it with his head as it slept, clinging to the dark ceiling of the dungeon.

Annoyed, Smooth Jazz poked his sword towards the bat to clear his way. The bat narrowly dropped under the sword and crashed clumsily into Smooth Jazz's gut.

'Oof!'

It didn't hurt, it barely winded him, but he felt violated nonetheless.

The bat confusedly flapped away from Smooth Jazz as he swung his sword, now intending to maim the annoying bat rather than shoo it away. The bat dodged his attack again, though Smooth Jazz began to wonder how intentional the bat's dodges were. Its flight path was so erratic it looked as though it might also crash into one of the crumbling rock walls. That would save him some trouble at least.

Smooth Jazz was vaguely aware of his undead minions waiting patiently behind him in the corridor.

I should make this a clean kill if I want to add the bat to my army.

He held up his sword again, swinging horizontally in a wide arc. He slammed the bat with the flat of his blade which reverberated with a satisfying 'ting!' The bat tumbled through the air, crashing into a wall, then crumpled to the floor.

Whoops, that was a bit too hard. Hopefully I can still salvage those remains.

Thankfully the bat corpse was not too difficult to reanimate. It fluttered around Smooth Jazz less energetically, but also less erratically than before.

This bat may be no more than meat fodder, but at least it is less annoying in death.

He turned to look at his army.

And that brings my army count up to three recruits.

Smooth Jazz grinned proudly at them. They returned his pride by drooling vacantly.

---

DCSS Version 0.14 trunk. Smooth Jazz began as a Draconian Death Knight.
Character Dump

Next Post

Smooth Jazz (4): The Mite (Part 2)

Be sure to read from the first post, you can find it here.

---

Smooth Jazz ran back into a short hallway.
They'll catch me if I keep running.
Fear gripped his chest.
I'm going to die here. I'm going to die to these pathetic creatures. I have to fight them, it's the only way I'll survive this.
He skidded to a halt.
If I have to fight them, then it'll have to be here.
The short hallway was also narrow. It was not wide enough to allow people, or creatures, through side-by-side.
At least I can fight them one at a time.

Smooth Jazz stabbed at the gecko. His blade pierced its fleshy head. The gecko drooped almost immediately. At the same time he felt the antitoxins in his body beginning to work on the poison, he started to feel a lot better. Confidence and adrenaline surged through Smooth Jazz him.
I can do this!
He withdrew his sword from the gecko and attacked the approaching mite.
Once again his sword bounced off the thick armor.
Uhh...
The mite bit his foot before he could dodge. An alarming amount of blood gushed out.
Its attacks are too fast!

Smooth Jazz drew in a deep breath and swung at the mite. His sword dug deep into the mite. It struggled helplessly against the cold steel, antennae slowly drooping as the its movements slowed. Smooth Jazz kicked the mite from his sword. It laid on the ground, twitching for a while, before finally dying.

Sitting on the cool stone floor, Smooth Jazz leaned against a wall and laughed.
That was too close.
Despite coming uncomfortably close to his own death, he felt fantastic.
I think I'll like it here. He mused to himself, tending to his wounded legs and foot.

Once he was feeling a bit better, he replaced his lost cockroach by reanimating the gecko and mite into undead servants.

---

DCSS Version 0.14 trunk. Smooth Jazz began as a Draconian Death Knight.
Character Dump

Next Post