Somewhere along his route, Carmen had angered some goblins and now he was actively being hunted by a whole tribe of the pesky midgets. While a goblin wasn't a big deal by itself, a whole tribe was a completely different force to be reckoned with. A tribe of goblins could easily be in the hundreds-to-thousands of goblins within it.
Fortunately, the tribe that Carmen had angered seemed to only have a couple hundred. Even though it was 'only a couple hundred' a hundred goblins pouncing on one skeleton would result in Carmen being unable to even move. And that's exactly what happened, Carmen was swarmed and then bound and brought to the tribe's village.
"Oi, untie me you fiends!" (Carmen)
Despite his pleading, the goblins carried on doing whatever it was that they did. At one point a goblin had picked up Carmen's hammer. It seemed interested in this strange weapon, the goblin gave it a few test swings and continued examining it. Eventually, seemingly bored, the goblin tossed it into the fire at the center of the village.
Off to the side, Carmen had to suffer watching such a lowly creature touch his glorious hammer. While he hated that he received such a trash weapon, it was still his weapon nonetheless. It still hurt watching it be used by a trash mob like the goblin.
After being left bound next to the fire for around ten minutes, a goblin appeared in front of Carmen. This goblin was apparently quite a big deal seeing as the surrounding goblins bowed when it walked by. The goblin examined the skeleton before its eyes with great interest, poking and prodding, cutting and smashing, wetting and burning. It kept conducting completely useless experiments until it was eventually satisfied.
Following a wave of its arm and a short grunt, several goblins came running towards Carmen. They picked him up by the post he was tied to, heaving him onto their shoulders. While this was happening, the goblins in the village started to gather around the fire.
As more and more goblins showed up, some rudimentary instruments started to appear. Things like drums, flutes, and some kind of stringed instrument were brought out with their musicians. A substance, that Carmen assumed was paint, was added to his body in swirls, angles, shapes, and primitive writing.
The goblin musicians started to play their instruments, goblins started dancing in a way similar to a conga line. And where was Carmen in all of this structured madness, the fire of course. He was tossed in shortly after some tribal music finished playing. While Carmen was being scorched black by the fire, the goblins were hopping about, dancing, playing music, and chanting.
The Big-Boss-Goblin was off to the side observing the ritual. He was keeping strained eyes on the strange skeleton, ready for any unforeseen incident happening during the ritual. After Carmen was in the fire for a minute-or-so, the goblin started waving his cane around while chanting. Slowly, clouds began forming in the sky above the village, bringing with them the low rumbling of thunder.
Carmen, who was still in the fire, watched as it began to rain. The rain slowly started putting out the fire, and as Carmen was beginning to feel relief at not having to lay in fire he saw lightning streak through the clouds in the sky. A trace of worry streaked across his face in the same way as the lightning did across the sky. In an instant, Carmen began tearing apart the quite severely burned ropes binding him to the post. Carmen did not fancy getting electrocuted this fine evening, he'd much rather be surrounded by beauties and glorious foods that he could appreciate.
Sadly, some things are just destined to never be. A blinding light shone for a split second, what followed though, was what scared the goblins the most.
Ka-chow!!!
With a sound that deafened one's ears, a shake of the earth that unsteadied one's firm footing, and a light so bright it purifies whoever observes it, the lightning directly struck Carmen's bony body. In an almost comedic manner, the lingering electricity from the lightning crawled across Carmen's bones and ran through his marrow. Wherever the residual lightning passed on the bone, it was scorched to a shade of black infinitesimally close to pure black.
Although Carmen's character was immortal, it did not mean that his body wouldn't be affected by the elements. While he was in the fire, his body was slowly charred, while he could wash it off in a river, the lightning was another story. The lightning had coursed through his entire being, subtly altering his body.
Outwardly, Carmen was spasming in the goblins' firepit, in his eyes, however, he was seeing a whole new world.
*User [Equilibrium] has survived an Ordeal of Lightning, awarding Aspect of Lightning.
Would you like to announce your grand achievement?
->[Yes]<-->No<-
*
*Region-wide Announcement: player [???] has become the first to survive an Ordeal of Lightning
Awarding 500 Reputation with all beings inhabiting the Undead Lands.
*
*Countrywide Announcement: player [???] has become the first to survive an Ordeal of Lightning.
Awarding 500 Reputation with all beings inhabiting the Undead Lands.
*
*Worldwide Announcement: player [???] has become the first to survive an Ordeal of Lightning.
Awarding 500 Reputation with all beings inhabiting the Undead Lands.
*
Attempting the best grin Carmen could muster as a skeleton, he slowly got up as tiny bolts of lightning occasionally escaped his bones. Glancing at the goblins still surrounding him, Carmen began walking off into the forest.
With shaking hands, Carmen opened the User Interface and selected the Attributes tab.
*User: [Equilibrium]
Health: Immortal
Stamina: Peak
Passive Abilities: Silence of The Dead, Thirst of The Dead, Reluctance of The Dead, Unbreakable Structure, Friend of Lightning.
Traits: Aspect of Lightning
*
*Health: the state of the User's body, i.e. healthy, lightly injured, moderately injured, severely injured.
Stamina: the state of the User's ability to use their power, i.e. peak, moderate, low, weak.
Passive Abilities: abilities given to the races at birth. Users can earn more passive abilities through special events.
Traits: abilities that have to be invoked by the User. Traits of Unique Rank, or higher, will have a 50% chance to give Passive Abilities.
*
*Passive Abilities:
Silence of The Dead: racial passive of Gashadokuro, the User carries the feeling of death, others will be unable to notice you until you are right next to them, they've tracked you, or you speak to them.
Thirst of The Night: racial passive of Vampires, every full moon, the User will have to consume Life Essence from 10 people. Should the task remain incomplete, the User's strength will halve until crumbling to dust.
Reluctance of The Dead: racial passive of Gashadokuro, if the User is present on a battlefield, the bones of the dead will accumulate and increase the size of the User's body.
Unbreakable Structure: racial passive of all Undead beings, prevents rot and decomposition of the User's body.
Friend of Lightning: immunity to lightning and increased conductivity.
*
*Traits:
Aspect of Lightning: once invoked, the user embodies lightning and can control the element of lightning at will. Duration: 1 minute, Cooldown: 1 day.
*
"Could I perhaps be... Extremely overpowered?" (Carmen)