Datasets:

ToastyPigeon

/

SpringDragon

like 1

Year 19 "…and stay away from my daughter, mage minion!" you hear the angry farmer shout as you run away and still attempting to get your pants back on. You soon make it out of Dert and take a breather. Ever since the citizens of Dert finally realized that you were "working" for Ral, (Nobody ever really bought the herbalist story) their attitude towards you hasn't gotten any better. If anything they're even less friendly. Good thing for you they're a bunch of ignorant cowards at heart because they're reluctant to just string you up since they think it might draw Ral's ire somehow. A few even believe you're magical. You aren't really going deter that sort of thinking despite the reality that Ral could probably give a shit if you got killed or not. Of course some (like bored wayward farmers' daughters) find your "mysterious aura" enticing. Another type of thinking you aren't exactly going to deter either. Still, you probably shouldn't push your luck. Fear and hesitation can easily be overridden in a quick moment of violence. Then again, it's not like you've got much else to do with your time. You return to Ral's home and find that he's actually expecting you AND he doesn't have a menial task for you for a change. "I need you to go get me a blood gem." Ral says. "Blood gem? Gee, that sounds like it involves vampires again." You answer. "No, no, no. There aren't any vampires this time around, just a lot of sotakians or lizard folk as you might call them." "Didn't know there were any sotakians in the area." "There aren't, you'll be going to Sotak Swamp. The sotakians use blood gems in their idols, so just seek out one of those and you should be good." "Uh, not that I don't live to serve thanks to the spell that forces me to, but isn't that pretty far away? I don't think I'm making it back in a week and that's if I even knew how to get around there in the first place." "Don't worry about that, you're going to have a guide and you're going to be teleported to a relatively close to where you need to be. When you get the item and back to the original location, you'll be teleported back here." "Hm, well I guess that makes things slightly easier, who is this guide?" Ral points to a small winged being flying in from the next room. You guess he's a fairy of some sort, but you couldn't guess what kind. He doesn't look happy. "This is Tych, your sprite guide. He'll be able to direct you to where you need to go." Ral says. "Sprite huh? Weird to see one alive this time rather than just the blood." You say. "Yes, Tych you could say was most inspired to save his own life when I first encountered him. In return for his servitude rather than death, it was he who gathered twenty of his kind in one place and made that process a whole lot easier." "Wait, how long has Tych been here and where's he been? This is the first time I've seen him." "Oh he's been here maybe about as long as you have and you haven't seen him because I tend to keep him in my lab where I can keep a better eye on him. Sprites, like most fairy folk tend to be tricksters and Tych in particular is one of the more treacherous of his kind. In fact you may find him to be very friendly towards you since he'll probably be trying to convince you that you two should work together to escape. I of course advise you not to listen to such nonsense that will only get you into more trouble." "Great, and you're sending this little devious bastard to guide me?" "As long as you insist on sticking to the task I've given you, he won't be able to resist helping. So don't listen to anything else he says and you'll be fine. Think of it this way, you're his direct superior and what you say goes." You're not sure about this, but as always you have little choice in the matter so you gather up what equipment you believe is going to be useful and return to Ral who says a few words and before you know it, you're blinded by a flash of light. As you're still shaking off the effects of temporary blindness, your guide is in no hurry. "Take your time plivik. It's been awhile since I've been outside so I'm going to enjoy every moment we're out here." Tych says in a high pitched squeaky voice that almost makes you want to laugh. "Where exactly are we anyway?" you ask finally getting over your condition and finding yourself in new surroundings. "Oh we're in Gnarlwood Forest, not too far from the border of Sotak Swamp. More specifically we're in a fairy circle or an old abandoned one at least. Of course even abandoned ones have magic to them, probably why Ral sent me with you too. Makes the teleportation connection easier for him to cast. He's not nearly as powerful of a wizard as he thinks he is." "Hm, well he's still got the pair of us doing his dirty work." "True plivik, but that won't last forever. If we work together we'll be able to overcome his magic that's binding the both of us to him." "Oh? How so?" Tych giggles a bit. "Ral has made a big mistake in letting me come back here! We fairy folk as you may know are magical by nature, but I cannot break our magical chains by myself. However, my village isn't too far from here and it would help the both of us plivik. With their help, Ral's spell could easily be overcome." Tych says. "Why would they help me? I'm not a sprite." You ask. "What does that matter plivik? You're still a being in need of help. I can see you're not a bad person, and just like me, you are just forced to serve a bad master. If you tell me to guide you to the other sprites, we can go right now." "You keep calling me plivik, what does that mean?" "Oh, it's just a word in my native tongue. Just means friend." "We're friends all of a sudden?" "We both don't like Ral and wish to be free of his chains correct? I'd say that already makes us have enough in common to be friends even if we just met, plivik." "Ral said you would be friendly towards me to do something underhanded and that I shouldn't pay any attention to what you have to say unless it directly involves the task." "Well of course he's going to say that, plivik. He wants to keep us divided. He also told you that I lead twenty of my people to be ground up into into blood paste. I guarantee that I would never do such a hideous thing even to save my own life! He used a spell to capture us all and it was only by pure luck that he decided to keep me around as a pet to torment. You know he keeps me in a glass jar on his lab desk and shakes it around?" You can see how this is going to go. You're going to have to play "Who's the liar?" the whole time during this task. "I think we should stick to the task for now." You say. "Oh I understand your hesitation. How about this, we go get the blood gem first and when we return here then you can decide to return to Ral or go to the sprite community I mentioned. That should give you time to decide whether I'm trustworthy or not. Just think about it okay?" Tych says. "Hm, I suppose that's reasonable." "Great! Now let's get this task underway then." Tych goes on to tell you due to his own capture, he's hoping that his information about the area is still the same. He tells you that from your position he knows that there should be a sotakian place of worship within a day's walk. "Now if we head north and then west there's a clearer path to where we need to get to. We're going to have to be careful to avoid elven patrols though. Just hope they aren't on heightened alert because that's going to make sneaking around a lot harder." Tych says. "I don't suppose the fact that we're planning on desecrating one of their enemy's idols would make them friendly?" you say. "A good idea, but it wouldn't make any difference. Elves are a bunch of territorial assholes. They think EVERYTHING in Gnarlwood forest is under their control. As a human, you'd still be seen as an interloper and most likely killed. And as for me, well let's just say it wouldn't be much better than Ral's magical enslavement." "Sounds like it would just be easier to immediately go west and bypass the patrols." "You would think that, but chances are it would take just as long due to all the high marshes and sinking bogs in the area. That's not even counting whatever creatures are lurking there. Not even the sotakians make their homes that way and consider it sacred ground due to the daquala population in the area." "Wait, what's a daquala?" "Oh, they're a creature about the size of one of your dogs but a whole lot more vicious and meaner. They can also camouflage themselves to practically be invisible. However, I don't think they would necessarily be a problem, they tend to sleep a lot and most of them should be hibernating this time of year. You're more likely to get swallowed by quicksand or a giant swamp serpent honestly. Still, I suppose if we got lucky it would cut our time by half. Up to you, plivik." > You take the forest path While you're going to have to stomp through the swamps eventually, if you can avoid the areas that contain vicious invisible beasts that would probably be better for your survival. "Okay, we'll take the long way." You say. "Probably for the best." Tych remarks. As you and Tych travel through the forest, you find that Tych is overly talkative. He even acknowledges that he is, but he's just so happy to talk to ANYONE who isn't Ral. Most of his talk concerns Gnarlwood and Sotak swamp, so it isn't completely useless banter though you're more concerned with his chatter calling attention to you. He has much to criticize when it comes to elves and says it was they who started the war with the sotakians in the first place. And ever since that point, now everyone else who lives in Gnarlwood forest that was more or less minding their own business has to deal with the consequences. "The sotakians were perfectly content on staying in their swamps before the elves pushed them. The sotakians would just take a few elves every now and then for their primitive sacrifices, it wasn't personal and the sotakians never tried to encroach on their territory." Tych says. "I can't imagine WHY the elves would take that badly." You reply. "It isn't like the elves couldn't afford to lose a few of their number given how much they rut with each other. Not to mention as I said, elves are a bunch of territorial assholes. They just used their war as an excuse to try to lord it over the rest of us that live in Gnarlwood. Demanding tribute, conscripting us to help them. Nevermind the fact that the rest of us don't have problem with the sotakians. A bunch of degenerate hedonistic imperialist assholes is what they are." "Interesting. Elves generally don't have that reputation of being particularly interested in conquest, well other than the sexual kind I suppose. I dunno, I haven't really run into many save for passing by a few aggressive whores in Holgard." "Hm, well luckily for you humans, you've already established your dominance in this land. If you were in lesser numbers, the elves would be trying to conquer you lot as well. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if the elves hadn't sent out their people to go purposely mate with humans and other races to create more half breeds in the world." "What would they gain by that?" "Spies of course! Half elves would make excellent spies to gather information about the rest of the world and human governments in particular. Mark my words plivik, there will come a day when elves will try to pull their bullshit on humanity. I know you humans already tend to be foolishly entranced by their superficial looks. Ugh, dunno how anyone could find those freaks attractive." Yep, Tych certainly has strong opinions on elves. Most of your journey is uneventful and despite Tych's ranting. Eventually you do get weary of the sprite's squeaks and tell him to keep it down. Tych apologizes and complies. As night begins to fall, you decide to camp for the night so once again you find yourself a tree you can climb up and reasonably sleep in. "What are you doing, plivik?" Tych asks as you climb up a tree. "Maybe you sprites can see in the dark, but I can't unfortunately. Not to mention I need to get some rest if I'm going to go steal the eyes from sacred sotakian statues tomorrow." You respond. "Hm, I suppose you're right. Very well my wings could use a rest too and it'll be nice to sleep outside rather than a glass jar for a change. (Sigh) Just wish I could sleep with my beloved Gink tonight. Even the sight of her would be most welcome." "You're married?" "You surprised? Though I'm not married in the way that you probably are thinking. There was no lavish ceremony like you big legs seem to like to have. Gink and I just bonded under the moon in private and made our commitment statements to each other. We're the only ones that matter, so why all the need for a crowd to watch?" "Makes sense to me actually." "What about you?" "What about me what?" "Do you have someone?" "No. I mean I had someone for a few months, but it didn't last…anyway I wasn't married and honestly it's not something I've ever thought about. Especially not now." "Yes, I suppose our predicament would put other concerns first. Remember though, it doesn't have to be that way." Tych flits away and goes off to find a soft leaf to sleep on. You remain awake for a little while wondering if Tych is lying about everything, telling half truths, or being completely honest. Eventually you fall asleep. Later you wake up to Tych's squeaky voice. "Wake up! Wake up, plivik! Elves are in the area and they're on the move!" "Huh? What? Here? Now? I didn't even hear anything!" you respond, suddenly waking up and catching yourself before you fall. "Well no, they aren't right here under us plivik, but close enough! I woke up early and did a little scouting north. There are a bunch of them marching down that well trodden path that leads into the swamp. It looks like a war party." "So are they going to attack a lizard village?" "I would imagine so." "I guess taking the path is completely off the table now." "It is until they clear the area which might be awhile." "Do you know what village they're going to attack? Were we heading in that direction?" "I actually did hear some of their conversation and they're striking the closest one on the border and fully intend on wiping it out. I think I know which one that is and it's a fairly large one. Makes sense that they would send so many soldiers. Our destination was going to be a little to the southwest when we reached the swamp. A smaller village that was further in the swamp." "Would both of them contain idols?" "Well the sotakians are pretty religious, and they usually have one somewhere in their villages, why?" "I'm just wondering if instead of me trying to sneak around a lizard village by myself that maybe I shouldn't just shadow the war party and snatch the gems from a village that's going to be raided instead." Tych gives you a concerned look. "I don't know plivik, that sounds pretty risky. As I said, the elves are likely to attack you as well." Tych says. "You're probably right, if only because they're going to wonder what the hell I'm doing there, but lizards are still going to be their primary targets. At least if I get seen, there's going to be enough distraction on both sides that I might avoid getting targeted. If I get caught in the other village, it's just going to be me by myself surrounded by lizards and I don't expect you'd be much help." You respond. "Way to have confidence in me, plivik. I'll have you know I can fly about the other village without causing any attention and give you a run down on how to best approach the place. Certainly seems safer than what you're proposing." "Hmm, okay, we'll go with your idea again." "It is the safer course I assure you, plivik. I am also happy that you have so much trust in me." Tych responds. "I'm just hoping I don't regret it." Since you're intending on going with the original plan, Tych says that he's going to go back to watch the elven war party and let you know when the path is clear. He suggests that even when they do finally all pass by, it would probably still be best to keep off the path proper and just follow the general direction of it until you get to the swamp. From there he'll once again guide the way and scout ahead. As Tych takes his leave, you sit back and wait. You sort of feel like you haven't been doing much on this task, though you suppose Tych IS your guide so it makes sense that he's doing most of the work to get you to your destination. You don't know how long you wait, but it's enough that you end up going back to sleep for a little while. The second time Tych wakes you isn't quite as jarring. Having been given the all-clear reassurance, you climb down from the tree and follow Tych as he leads you into the Sotak swamp. The swamp is about like what you imagined, it's muggy, very wet and filled with a lot of little biting and stinging insects. (Though in Tych's case, they aren't all that small and he tends to perch on your shoulder for most of the way) You don't encounter anything too bad; save for a couple of the larger reptilian predators (Tych says they're crocomoths) and in both cases they're busily feasting on something else and you slip by unnoticed. Despite you practically being up to your knees in muddy water you're making good time all things considered and then that's when you hear a faint sounds in the distance coming from the north. Sounds like a horn. You walk a few more minutes and that's when you begin to hear a lot of splashing, several voices shouting and heading in your direction from the south and getting closer by the second. "Those must be sotakians!" Tych says. "Shit, I just realized, that horn sound we heard was probably was some alarm from that other village getting attacked. There's probably going to be a shitload of lizards heading our way!" you say. "We have to hide!" Tych at this point does exactly that and flies away! Whether he's completely left you or not is irrelevant because all that matters now is you finding your own hiding spot. You don't know how many are heading in your direction and how spread out they are, but all you can do is hope you stay out of their sight. > You hide in some tall reeds Hiding underwater holds the danger of drowning on top of getting stepped on and getting discovered. You'll take your chances with tall reeds and hope for the best. You run to the left and hide in a thick clump of reeds getting as low as you possibly can without actually being completely submerged. You keep your weapon ready as you hear the splashing of several bodies heading your direction. You expect one of those lizards to suddenly stumble upon you at any time. You only hope you kill him so quickly that none of his fellows notice. Unfortunately, you're paying so much attention to if the lizards are going to stumble upon you, you don't notice the nearby snake nest that you've stumbled into. You suddenly feel several small piecing bites in your flesh. This causes you to jump up and yell involuntarily as you quickly try to get the colorful little snakes off of you. Of course this then calls the attention of not just one, but several lizards who were running by at the time. They notice you and after a few hisses and something in a language you don't understand, three of them move in to attack you while the rest continue their other mission of defending their settlement. Besides outnumbering you, the lizards are bigger than you and probably faster than you in this sort of environment. They're also most definitely better warriors than you. However, none of that really matters because you're currently in no condition to fight or flee from the sotakians. Whatever type of snakes those were, they were highly poisonous and you just got bit by several of them. By the time one of the lizards even reaches your position, you've fallen to the ground vomiting, your heart beating much to fast, and you feel like the interior of your body is on fire. Your eyes roll in the back of your head and then you lose complete consciousness before dying face down in muddy water.

While you're going to have to stomp through the swamps eventually, if you can avoid the areas that contain vicious invisible beasts that would probably be better for your survival. "Okay, we'll take the long way." You say. "Probably for the best." Tych remarks. As you and Tych travel through the forest, you find that Tych is overly talkative. He even acknowledges that he is, but he's just so happy to talk to ANYONE who isn't Ral. Most of his talk concerns Gnarlwood and Sotak swamp, so it isn't completely useless banter though you're more concerned with his chatter calling attention to you. He has much to criticize when it comes to elves and says it was they who started the war with the sotakians in the first place. And ever since that point, now everyone else who lives in Gnarlwood forest that was more or less minding their own business has to deal with the consequences. "The sotakians were perfectly content on staying in their swamps before the elves pushed them. The sotakians would just take a few elves every now and then for their primitive sacrifices, it wasn't personal and the sotakians never tried to encroach on their territory." Tych says. "I can't imagine WHY the elves would take that badly." You reply. "It isn't like the elves couldn't afford to lose a few of their number given how much they rut with each other. Not to mention as I said, elves are a bunch of territorial assholes. They just used their war as an excuse to try to lord it over the rest of us that live in Gnarlwood. Demanding tribute, conscripting us to help them. Nevermind the fact that the rest of us don't have problem with the sotakians. A bunch of degenerate hedonistic imperialist assholes is what they are." "Interesting. Elves generally don't have that reputation of being particularly interested in conquest, well other than the sexual kind I suppose. I dunno, I haven't really run into many save for passing by a few aggressive whores in Holgard." "Hm, well luckily for you humans, you've already established your dominance in this land. If you were in lesser numbers, the elves would be trying to conquer you lot as well. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if the elves hadn't sent out their people to go purposely mate with humans and other races to create more half breeds in the world." "What would they gain by that?" "Spies of course! Half elves would make excellent spies to gather information about the rest of the world and human governments in particular. Mark my words plivik, there will come a day when elves will try to pull their bullshit on humanity. I know you humans already tend to be foolishly entranced by their superficial looks. Ugh, dunno how anyone could find those freaks attractive." Yep, Tych certainly has strong opinions on elves. Most of your journey is uneventful and despite Tych's ranting. Eventually you do get weary of the sprite's squeaks and tell him to keep it down. Tych apologizes and complies. As night begins to fall, you decide to camp for the night so once again you find yourself a tree you can climb up and reasonably sleep in. "What are you doing, plivik?" Tych asks as you climb up a tree. "Maybe you sprites can see in the dark, but I can't unfortunately. Not to mention I need to get some rest if I'm going to go steal the eyes from sacred sotakian statues tomorrow." You respond. "Hm, I suppose you're right. Very well my wings could use a rest too and it'll be nice to sleep outside rather than a glass jar for a change. (Sigh) Just wish I could sleep with my beloved Gink tonight. Even the sight of her would be most welcome." "You're married?" "You surprised? Though I'm not married in the way that you probably are thinking. There was no lavish ceremony like you big legs seem to like to have. Gink and I just bonded under the moon in private and made our commitment statements to each other. We're the only ones that matter, so why all the need for a crowd to watch?" "Makes sense to me actually." "What about you?" "What about me what?" "Do you have someone?" "No. I mean I had someone for a few months, but it didn't last…anyway I wasn't married and honestly it's not something I've ever thought about. Especially not now." "Yes, I suppose our predicament would put other concerns first. Remember though, it doesn't have to be that way." Tych flits away and goes off to find a soft leaf to sleep on. You remain awake for a little while wondering if Tych is lying about everything, telling half truths, or being completely honest. Eventually you fall asleep. Later you wake up to Tych's squeaky voice. "Wake up! Wake up, plivik! Elves are in the area and they're on the move!" "Huh? What? Here? Now? I didn't even hear anything!" you respond, suddenly waking up and catching yourself before you fall. "Well no, they aren't right here under us plivik, but close enough! I woke up early and did a little scouting north. There are a bunch of them marching down that well trodden path that leads into the swamp. It looks like a war party." "So are they going to attack a lizard village?" "I would imagine so." "I guess taking the path is completely off the table now." "It is until they clear the area which might be awhile." "Do you know what village they're going to attack? Were we heading in that direction?" "I actually did hear some of their conversation and they're striking the closest one on the border and fully intend on wiping it out. I think I know which one that is and it's a fairly large one. Makes sense that they would send so many soldiers. Our destination was going to be a little to the southwest when we reached the swamp. A smaller village that was further in the swamp." "Would both of them contain idols?" "Well the sotakians are pretty religious, and they usually have one somewhere in their villages, why?" "I'm just wondering if instead of me trying to sneak around a lizard village by myself that maybe I shouldn't just shadow the war party and snatch the gems from a village that's going to be raided instead." Tych gives you a concerned look. "I don't know plivik, that sounds pretty risky. As I said, the elves are likely to attack you as well." Tych says. "You're probably right, if only because they're going to wonder what the hell I'm doing there, but lizards are still going to be their primary targets. At least if I get seen, there's going to be enough distraction on both sides that I might avoid getting targeted. If I get caught in the other village, it's just going to be me by myself surrounded by lizards and I don't expect you'd be much help." You respond. "Way to have confidence in me, plivik. I'll have you know I can fly about the other village without causing any attention and give you a run down on how to best approach the place. Certainly seems safer than what you're proposing." "Hmm, okay, we'll go with your idea again." "It is the safer course I assure you, plivik. I am also happy that you have so much trust in me." Tych responds. "I'm just hoping I don't regret it." Since you're intending on going with the original plan, Tych says that he's going to go back to watch the elven war party and let you know when the path is clear. He suggests that even when they do finally all pass by, it would probably still be best to keep off the path proper and just follow the general direction of it until you get to the swamp. From there he'll once again guide the way and scout ahead. As Tych takes his leave, you sit back and wait. You sort of feel like you haven't been doing much on this task, though you suppose Tych IS your guide so it makes sense that he's doing most of the work to get you to your destination. You don't know how long you wait, but it's enough that you end up going back to sleep for a little while. The second time Tych wakes you isn't quite as jarring. Having been given the all-clear reassurance, you climb down from the tree and follow Tych as he leads you into the Sotak swamp. The swamp is about like what you imagined, it's muggy, very wet and filled with a lot of little biting and stinging insects. (Though in Tych's case, they aren't all that small and he tends to perch on your shoulder for most of the way) You don't encounter anything too bad; save for a couple of the larger reptilian predators (Tych says they're crocomoths) and in both cases they're busily feasting on something else and you slip by unnoticed. Despite you practically being up to your knees in muddy water you're making good time all things considered and then that's when you hear a faint sounds in the distance coming from the north. Sounds like a horn. You walk a few more minutes and that's when you begin to hear a lot of splashing, several voices shouting and heading in your direction from the south and getting closer by the second. "Those must be sotakians!" Tych says. "Shit, I just realized, that horn sound we heard was probably was some alarm from that other village getting attacked. There's probably going to be a shitload of lizards heading our way!" you say. "We have to hide!" Tych at this point does exactly that and flies away! Whether he's completely left you or not is irrelevant because all that matters now is you finding your own hiding spot. You don't know how many are heading in your direction and how spread out they are, but all you can do is hope you stay out of their sight. > You hide underwater You quickly grab one of the many reeds nearby, break it and put it in your mouth as you sink underneath the muddy water you've been stomping through. You just hope that YOU don't get stomped on. Getting trampled on by multiple lizard feet would be a pretty ignoble death. Of course this isn't even counting whatever the hell might be lurking under the water ready to swim into your ear and lay eggs in your brain. (You have an overactive imagination sometimes) You lay on the muddy swamp floor, trying to make yourself as small as possible. Doesn't take long before you hear the sounds of lizards shouting their incomprehensible language and running past you, though it's very muted and garbled due to you being underwater. Despite the water being muddy and your sight getting blurred in the process, you do see a couple of large looming figures run past from your prone position. A couple of the sotakian's taloned feet stomp near you. One right near your head, but you get lucky and none of them actually step or trip over you. Still, you aren't sure if all of them have passed so you're reluctant to move, fortunately Tych returns and flies near your reed. You can't quite make out what he's saying, but you think you see him waving his arms like an "all clear" signal, so you sit up out of the water and catch a good breath. "That was quite the bit of quick thinking, plivik." Tych remarks. "Are they all gone?" you ask in between breaths. "Yes, I believe so, quite a lot of them actually. From above, I could see them spread out all over the nearby area, you got very lucky. I doubt if running to the left or right would have escaped their gaze." "Where did you go?" "As I said plivik, I just flew straight up until they passed. Are you surprised? You already claimed I wouldn't be useful in a fight." "Yeah I suppose not. Actually with that many, pretty sure I'd be dead as well." "Glad you're not holding a grudge plivik. In any case, our destination should be a whole lot manageable to deal with now. I suspect only a few sotakians remain in the village so your job should be easier. I will still scout the village to let you know the best approach of course." You're really hoping that will be the case, because as sopping wet as you are now, you're not exactly in the highest spirits and are eager to get this shitty task over with. You and Tych make your way to your destination and sure enough the sotakian village is fairly empty. There are still a few lizards around and sure enough a couple of them are guarding a big lizard statue in the center of the village with blood gems for eyes. Fortunately Tych also mentions that there are some bamboo cages with elves in them. He says they look miserable and in terrible condition (he mentions that pretty gleefully), but he thinks if they got free, they'd certainly try to make a run for it. So that's your plan, you're going to create a distraction by releasing the prisoners. You cautiously approach the village and sneak around the huts, hoping that none of the little lizard children wandering around suddenly stumble upon you. When you get to the cages, Tych wasn't kidding about the elves. They look like they might have been in here for weeks and they're skinny even for elves. However, when they see you, they take notice, but say nothing. You reinforce this by putting your fingers to your lips and then working on the lock. The lock itself isn't even metal, its' a simple latch mechanism that can easily be opened from the outside, so it's child's play to you. The prisoners looks so thankful and a couple even whisper a few things that you don't understand in their native tongue, but you assume its some sort of thankful. They all start to make their way out and then that's when you nod to Tych and get out of the immediate vicinity. Tych flies over to the sotakians and begins shouting at them and pointing over in the direction of their prisoners. The sotakians are a bit confused at first by some sprite yelling at them and would probably swat him down, but when they look to where Tych is pointing, they find their escaped prisoners a lot more important to chase down. The lizards guarding the statue, along with most of the others chase after the prisoners who are now running for their lives. With the village nearly completely empty of any warriors of any kind, you make a dash to the statue and begin prying out its eyes. While you're not exactly slow in this task, you're certainly not fast enough to escape completely unnoticed, especially since there are still lizard children and a few mothers (At least you're assuming the remaining adults might be female, you can't tell) still in the village and notice your desecration. They begin hissing and converging on your position. With the gems in your possession, you pull out your sword and begin making a hasty retreat out of this accursed swamp. Lizard children might be small, but they still have a full set of sharp teeth and piercing talons. They're fairly fast too, especially since they're used to this environment. You have no choice but to cut a couple of the little scalies down in your escape, but not before they lay in some good bites and claw slashes on your arms and legs. It's probably only because of these casualties, that they stop pursuing you as the rest of them get scared and the mothers wish to keep the rest of their broods safe. (You hear some odd wailing noises behind you) Eventually you put a lot of distance between you and the village. You sort of lost him again in all the mayhem, but you soon find out that Tych is never far from your position. "Whew! That got intense! I almost thought you weren't going to make it plivik, with all those sotakian children trying to eat you." Tych says. "I didn't think I was for a moment." You answer taking a breather. "This might be a weird question, but do you feel bad for killing sotakian children?" "What?!" "I mean I know it was a matter of life and death, but still…" "Damn right it was a matter of life and death! I didn't enjoy it if that's what you're asking, but then I didn't exactly have time to worry about the moralities of killing little scaly children either, who I might add were probably more dangerous than typical wild predator. Felt like I was getting attacked by a pack of animals rather than anything with higher intelligence what with all the growling, hissing, biting and tearing." "Apologies plivik, I just sort of wanted to know what kind of person you were. Just as you weren't completely sure about me, I also wasn't completely sure about you. I am glad to see you are a person that doesn't enjoy killing even if you are pragmatic by nature. It would have made me hesitant to take you back to my village even if I do desire freedom." "Hold on, who said anything about going back to your village? We got the gems, we're going back to Ral's." "You still don't trust me, after all we've been through, plivik? Don't you want freedom? All we have to do is go back to my village and we can be free of Ral's spell! I can even lead you safely out of this forest and have you back on your way to Holgard or whatever other human settlement you had in mind to go to. And you could even think of those blood gems as your reward for this whole shitty experience. Those have to be worth quite a bit. Not like they're common." "Why don't we just get out of this fucking swamp before I think anymore about this okay?" "Very well plivik." Tych shuts up for awhile and the pair of you make your way back. You feel like once you're out of the swamp, the worst of this will be behind you. You have some concerns about potentially bumping into more lizards or even elves, but Tych is fairly confident that won't be the case. "The sotakians barely ever retreat and especially not on their own territory. Also, the lot that came from the other village will have probably cut off the elves from any sort of escape. Those stupid pliviks are going to be completely massacred. Elves deserve what they get. I hope the sotakians also hunted down those other ones and recaptured them." Tych remarks. Strange that Tych should be so concerned with your possible enjoyment of killing when he himself obviously gets a lot of pleasure from elven suffering. You get the real impression that elves must have done more to him than he's already said. It's the only explanation for his sadistic hatred. When you make it back to the forest, night is beginning to fall. You walk a little longer and eventually you make it back to the tree where you slept the first time you passed through this way. The next morning Tych is buzzing in your ear about heading back to his village again. Considering you'll arrive at the fairy ring in a few hours, it isn't surprising that he desperately wants a final answer from you about the subject. He already made some of his points yesterday. Besides the obvious freedom, you'd be pretty well off with the blood gems you have. > You go to his village Tych's offer is too tempting and despite a few times where he flew away and hid, he still helped you out in the long run. Ral on the other hand has done nothing but enslave you and when he isn't having you do menial labor, he's sending you on dangerous missions like this one. You might as well risk it. If it doesn't work or Tych is just planning on freeing himself somehow, you can always just head back to the fairy ring. You can make up a story to Ral, not like he's going to care as long as he has his blood gems. "Okay Tych, let's go to your village, but I'm REALLY putting a lot of trust in you and hoping you're planning on freeing us both as opposed to saving your own ass somehow." You say. "Oh, we'll both be free, don't worry! Come on let's go plivik, I'm really excited about this!" Tych beams and flies off at a slightly faster pace than usual. You spend the better part of the day following Tych who really is so excited that you nearly lose him several times in the forest. Several times he stops to wait and laments the fact that your big clumsy legs aren't fast enough to keep up with him. Eventually you get to a point where Tych tells you to stop. "Okay, hold on plivik. We're getting very close, but I better go ahead first. Not like we invite a lot of big people into our villages." Tych says. "Where is it anyway?" you ask. "It's up high in the trees. What? Did you think we lived on the ground like you wingless pliviks do? I'm going to go see the elder and tell him what's going on, I have no reason to believe that he won't help." "Hmm, I'm still half expecting you to just disappear." "You followed me this far and you still don't trust me? I'm coming back plivik, just wait here." Tych flies upward towards the very high nearby trees. You watch him the entire time until he completely disappears in the foliage. You continue to look up and around to see if you can make out some sort of sign of a fairy village, but you can't see anything. Eventually you stop straining your eyes and neck and just lean up against one of the trees and wait. Unsurprisingly, you're waiting quite awhile. You start thinking about leaving as it begins to get darker, but you're just hoping that Tych is taking a long time because he stopped to fuck his wife or something. Tych eventually returns and calls to you as he's flying down. "Hey plivik you're still here! Really glad you are, I told you I'd be back. I told the rest of the village and they'll all be coming down to meet you soon since we can't very well expect you to come meet us." Tych says. "What's going on exactly?" you ask. "It's like I said, in order to break the spell it's going to require the entire village's help. Involves a lot of chanting, magical power and shit." "And shit? That doesn't sound very specific. Do you know if this will even work?" "It'll work, trust me." "It better because…ow. what the hell…" You feel a little sharp jab in your arm. At first you think an insect has bitten or stung you, but upon closer in inspection it's a tiny arrow. You pull it out and they look at Tych who just shrugs his shoulders. "Hey I did say I'd come back and that you'd be free. I didn't say you'd come out of this alive." Before you can even make the attempt to lunge at Tych (who just flies out of the way) you are suddenly hit by several tiny arrows on all sides. It's like multiple needles going in your body and while it isn't the most pleasant feeling, it isn't the thing that kills you. The fact that they drugged everyone of their arrow is what kills you, or rather helps lead to your eventual death. You fall to the ground completely paralyzed, you can't even speak, but you're fully aware of your surroundings. You watch as several sprites descend from the trees. You can't make out much from your position, but it looks like one of them flies over to speak with Tych. "So you say this human is the one that captured you and the rest your company?" the elder asks. "Not by himself, but he was helping the wizard that did. I can't bring them back and I couldn't kill the wizard, but I at least hoped that bringing this plivik to the village could at least give the families some measure of justice." Tych remarks. "It won't ease the pain for most, but I suppose it will bring a little closure since we never did know what the hell happened. We assumed it was elves or even sotakians." "I'm just glad to be home and finally free. I thank you elder for managing to release me from that dreadful magic." As you listen to Tych spin more lies, it suddenly occurs to you that yesterday he referred to the elves as pliviks. And he's certainly no friend to elves. You wish you had caught that before, because it's obvious that word is something insulting and given that he's been calling you that since he met you, that pretty much says it all on what he ever thought about you. The elder tells the rest of the sprites about how Tych is to be honored by bringing home an enemy that led to the deaths of so many in the village. And in his honor he is going to allow Tych to marry one of his many daughters. Sonofabitch wasn't even married. After a few more lies and speeches, the sprites finally descend on you to celebrate Tych's homecoming along with dispensing justice; this will take the form of a feast. You never knew sprites ate flesh, but you soon learn first hand as several sharp teeth start chewing on your body. It's agonizing being slowly eaten alive; especially since they're so small this doesn't kill you quickly. But after nearly a week, your chewed and bitten body finally expires.

You quickly grab one of the many reeds nearby, break it and put it in your mouth as you sink underneath the muddy water you've been stomping through. You just hope that YOU don't get stomped on. Getting trampled on by multiple lizard feet would be a pretty ignoble death. Of course this isn't even counting whatever the hell might be lurking under the water ready to swim into your ear and lay eggs in your brain. (You have an overactive imagination sometimes) You lay on the muddy swamp floor, trying to make yourself as small as possible. Doesn't take long before you hear the sounds of lizards shouting their incomprehensible language and running past you, though it's very muted and garbled due to you being underwater. Despite the water being muddy and your sight getting blurred in the process, you do see a couple of large looming figures run past from your prone position. A couple of the sotakian's taloned feet stomp near you. One right near your head, but you get lucky and none of them actually step or trip over you. Still, you aren't sure if all of them have passed so you're reluctant to move, fortunately Tych returns and flies near your reed. You can't quite make out what he's saying, but you think you see him waving his arms like an "all clear" signal, so you sit up out of the water and catch a good breath. "That was quite the bit of quick thinking, plivik." Tych remarks. "Are they all gone?" you ask in between breaths. "Yes, I believe so, quite a lot of them actually. From above, I could see them spread out all over the nearby area, you got very lucky. I doubt if running to the left or right would have escaped their gaze." "Where did you go?" "As I said plivik, I just flew straight up until they passed. Are you surprised? You already claimed I wouldn't be useful in a fight." "Yeah I suppose not. Actually with that many, pretty sure I'd be dead as well." "Glad you're not holding a grudge plivik. In any case, our destination should be a whole lot manageable to deal with now. I suspect only a few sotakians remain in the village so your job should be easier. I will still scout the village to let you know the best approach of course." You're really hoping that will be the case, because as sopping wet as you are now, you're not exactly in the highest spirits and are eager to get this shitty task over with. You and Tych make your way to your destination and sure enough the sotakian village is fairly empty. There are still a few lizards around and sure enough a couple of them are guarding a big lizard statue in the center of the village with blood gems for eyes. Fortunately Tych also mentions that there are some bamboo cages with elves in them. He says they look miserable and in terrible condition (he mentions that pretty gleefully), but he thinks if they got free, they'd certainly try to make a run for it. So that's your plan, you're going to create a distraction by releasing the prisoners. You cautiously approach the village and sneak around the huts, hoping that none of the little lizard children wandering around suddenly stumble upon you. When you get to the cages, Tych wasn't kidding about the elves. They look like they might have been in here for weeks and they're skinny even for elves. However, when they see you, they take notice, but say nothing. You reinforce this by putting your fingers to your lips and then working on the lock. The lock itself isn't even metal, its' a simple latch mechanism that can easily be opened from the outside, so it's child's play to you. The prisoners looks so thankful and a couple even whisper a few things that you don't understand in their native tongue, but you assume its some sort of thankful. They all start to make their way out and then that's when you nod to Tych and get out of the immediate vicinity. Tych flies over to the sotakians and begins shouting at them and pointing over in the direction of their prisoners. The sotakians are a bit confused at first by some sprite yelling at them and would probably swat him down, but when they look to where Tych is pointing, they find their escaped prisoners a lot more important to chase down. The lizards guarding the statue, along with most of the others chase after the prisoners who are now running for their lives. With the village nearly completely empty of any warriors of any kind, you make a dash to the statue and begin prying out its eyes. While you're not exactly slow in this task, you're certainly not fast enough to escape completely unnoticed, especially since there are still lizard children and a few mothers (At least you're assuming the remaining adults might be female, you can't tell) still in the village and notice your desecration. They begin hissing and converging on your position. With the gems in your possession, you pull out your sword and begin making a hasty retreat out of this accursed swamp. Lizard children might be small, but they still have a full set of sharp teeth and piercing talons. They're fairly fast too, especially since they're used to this environment. You have no choice but to cut a couple of the little scalies down in your escape, but not before they lay in some good bites and claw slashes on your arms and legs. It's probably only because of these casualties, that they stop pursuing you as the rest of them get scared and the mothers wish to keep the rest of their broods safe. (You hear some odd wailing noises behind you) Eventually you put a lot of distance between you and the village. You sort of lost him again in all the mayhem, but you soon find out that Tych is never far from your position. "Whew! That got intense! I almost thought you weren't going to make it plivik, with all those sotakian children trying to eat you." Tych says. "I didn't think I was for a moment." You answer taking a breather. "This might be a weird question, but do you feel bad for killing sotakian children?" "What?!" "I mean I know it was a matter of life and death, but still…" "Damn right it was a matter of life and death! I didn't enjoy it if that's what you're asking, but then I didn't exactly have time to worry about the moralities of killing little scaly children either, who I might add were probably more dangerous than typical wild predator. Felt like I was getting attacked by a pack of animals rather than anything with higher intelligence what with all the growling, hissing, biting and tearing." "Apologies plivik, I just sort of wanted to know what kind of person you were. Just as you weren't completely sure about me, I also wasn't completely sure about you. I am glad to see you are a person that doesn't enjoy killing even if you are pragmatic by nature. It would have made me hesitant to take you back to my village even if I do desire freedom." "Hold on, who said anything about going back to your village? We got the gems, we're going back to Ral's." "You still don't trust me, after all we've been through, plivik? Don't you want freedom? All we have to do is go back to my village and we can be free of Ral's spell! I can even lead you safely out of this forest and have you back on your way to Holgard or whatever other human settlement you had in mind to go to. And you could even think of those blood gems as your reward for this whole shitty experience. Those have to be worth quite a bit. Not like they're common." "Why don't we just get out of this fucking swamp before I think anymore about this okay?" "Very well plivik." Tych shuts up for awhile and the pair of you make your way back. You feel like once you're out of the swamp, the worst of this will be behind you. You have some concerns about potentially bumping into more lizards or even elves, but Tych is fairly confident that won't be the case. "The sotakians barely ever retreat and especially not on their own territory. Also, the lot that came from the other village will have probably cut off the elves from any sort of escape. Those stupid pliviks are going to be completely massacred. Elves deserve what they get. I hope the sotakians also hunted down those other ones and recaptured them." Tych remarks. Strange that Tych should be so concerned with your possible enjoyment of killing when he himself obviously gets a lot of pleasure from elven suffering. You get the real impression that elves must have done more to him than he's already said. It's the only explanation for his sadistic hatred. When you make it back to the forest, night is beginning to fall. You walk a little longer and eventually you make it back to the tree where you slept the first time you passed through this way. The next morning Tych is buzzing in your ear about heading back to his village again. Considering you'll arrive at the fairy ring in a few hours, it isn't surprising that he desperately wants a final answer from you about the subject. He already made some of his points yesterday. Besides the obvious freedom, you'd be pretty well off with the blood gems you have. > You head to the fairy ring You might have very well gone with him as Tych was more or less helpful during the task and didn't display any outward signs of treachery. However, you did notice one thing in something he said yesterday… "So what does plivik REALLY mean Tych?" you ask. "Huh? I don't understand. I told you, it means friend." Tych says. "I don't think it does." "Well okay, it's not an exact translation, but it's basically the same thing." "If that's the case, then why did you refer to the elves as stupid pliviks yesterday when you spoke about them?" "Erm…I did?" "Yeah, you did. And given your extreme dislike of them, I doubt very seriously that you were calling them friends even if it made sense in the context that you were speaking about them. Which it wouldn't." Tych at this point begins to try to explain that the word has several meanings in his language and it all goes back to the complexities of sprites' rich and long history of linguistics. The whole time he's telling you this, he's also flying away from you to a safe distance, which pretty much tells you all you need to know. "Uh huh. We're going back to Ral's." you say. "Noooo! I can't go back there, not after being in the outdoors again! I want to be free! Come on pliv…come on friend, you really want to be Ral's slave? Wouldn't you rather be free?" "Sure. But the problem is, I don't fucking trust you to be the one to help me in that task. Ral said you led twenty other sprites to their death to save your own life, I can't know if that's something similar that you have in store for me so you can gain your own freedom. For all I know you might even be trying to get me killed for the shits and giggles given how much you enjoy elven suffering." "Now that's not true! I don't hate humans. I wouldn't get any pleasure out of leading you to your death." "Oh? I guess that's comforting to know that even though you WERE going to lead me to my death, that you wouldn't laugh about it." "Well of course I wouldn't laugh… I MEAN NO! No, I wouldn't even do that! Shit! You're confusing me!" "Glad I'm not as confused as you seem to be. We're going to the fairy ring and teleporting back to Ral's place." Tych tries to convince you that he doesn't have some hidden agenda, but it falls on deaf ears. Eventually he gives in and goes into a litany of swears and curses the whole time you travel to the fairy ring. "Plivik" comes up often, and at this point you imagine that means something like "asshole." Basically Tych's been calling you an asshole since the journey began. When you teleport back to Ral's place, you find yourself in the same location as you left. Tych looks depressed again as Ral enters the room. "Ah, I sensed you two came back. I must say, you look a little weathered and worn, though I suppose this task would have its challenges. I trust you didn't encounter too much trouble?" Ral asks. "Would it matter if we did?" you ask. "Not really, so where are the gems?" "Here." "Thanks, and Tych was helpful? Didn't try to talk you into anything foolish?" "Nope, he was completely beneficial. Don't think I could have done it without his advice actually." Ral's surprised to hear you say that, and Tych even more so. The sprite probably thought you'd tattle on him. Honestly, you didn't see much point in doing so though. Ral already told you Tych was treacherous, all it would do is confirm what he told you and it isn't like Ral is going to punish him any more than he already does by keeping him in a glass jar. As far you're concerned, this might keep the pair of them guessing. Tych especially, assuming the mini-bastard has got any sort of conscience. If he does though, not snitching on him COULD help in the future. Long shot of course, but it's not like you have many potential allies at this point who might help you. Eventually Ral dismisses you and Tych gloomily follows him into the lab. You take the opportunity to go clean yourself since you're still covered in mud and swamp water. You hope by all the gods you don't have go there ever again. > You time passes... Year 21 When you first started messing around with Lisa, she was just like all the other young Dert girls that had started taking an interest in you when you started coming around a lot more. Just a bored girl that found you to be a spark of excitement in her backwards little village. Lisa however, stood out mainly because she wasn't naïve or outright stupid like rest. (You still laugh about the one girl who thought she was going to force you into a crossbow wedding by having a child. Unfortunately for her, swallowing doesn't result in pregnancy.) She managed to keep your interest and not in just a physical way. Before you realized it, you were in a relationship again. But it was nice since it allowed you a bit of escapism from your own prison like situation. (And certainly cheaper than going to Holgard whores) While her father has threatened you with physical violence on several occasions (As many others have as well), you and her have always found places to meet. She always listens to whatever tales of "adventure" you have to tell her. Sometimes you make it sound more exciting than it really is, but she always enjoys them and asks many questions since it's like she's able to experience some of the excitement vicariously. Lately though it's starting to look like your stories don't quite quell the restlessness that Lisa seems to have… "Holgard? Oh you don't want to go there now. I think they're about to have a city wide riot or revolution or some shit." You say. "Well that certainly sounds more interesting than having to milk cows all day." Lisa replies. "You're also a lot less likely to get killed milking cows." "Perhaps, but you still get to do interesting stuff all the time, what with you working for a wizard and all." "I wouldn't exactly say I'm working for him. I think I've already confided to you about my situation as far as that goes." "Yes I know and that's also a cause for me to worry about our future. It even causes me to have concerns about your feelings for me." "Oh come on…you know how I feel about you." "Do I? I sometimes get the impression that you probably wouldn't come around if you weren't tethered by the wizard's spell. I imagine we probably wouldn't have even met if it hadn't been the case. Am I wrong?" "(Sigh) Well…yes IF Ral hadn't magically enslaved me, we probably wouldn't have met. But it happened and we DID meet AND I chose you to be with. I mean doesn't that count for something?" Lisa doesn't answer right away; she just takes your hand and looks into your eyes. "I know you probably do have feelings for me, but I also can't shake the feeling that I'm just a nice distraction from your situation, just as you're a nice distraction from mine. We're both prisoners of a sort, but the difference is my cage is of my own accord." Lisa says. "What do you mean?" you ask. "What I mean is I would like to leave this boring village, but the only thing that really holds me back is fear and the lack of any real skill to survive in the outside world, or at least the world you've described to me. And I know you can't be making it all up despite you probably wanting me to believe all those impossible feats you've done." Lisa gives you a small hug and kisses you on the cheek, which causes you to embrace her a bit tighter than usual. You feel like she's saying goodbye to you right now, but that isn't the case. "I'm obviously not going anywhere yet, but I'm just informing you that things need to change a bit at some point. I know we have fun together and I hope we continue to have fun together for many years to come, but don't take me for granted." Lisa goes back to looking at the sky probably still thinking about wanting to leave her boring farm life behind her while you're thinking about how much of an idiot you've been for filling her head with tales of adventure. You couldn't have just stuck with one of the dumb passive ones could you? Why the hell did you go for the independent thinker of the village? Well it's done and to be honest it's that trait that made her more attractive anyway. It isn't like you can blame her for wanting to leave Dert. The place is duller than Teckleville ever was. In any case, you aren't willing to risk losing Lisa even if she isn't likely to leave in the near future. You have to at least make the effort to keep her around. Your reasons are probably selfish, but she's also correct that you would miss her if she weren't in your life. This would be a whole lot simpler if you weren't under Ral's spell. Maybe it's time for that situation to change. Of course even after all these years, you still have no idea of how to do that and Ral doesn't seem to be relenting anytime soon. Of course you do have another option and that's going back to Isabella. Despite her invitation of coming back to see her at anytime, you never have for several reasons. Still, you have pondered it many times because you believe that if anyone knows how to break Ral's hold over you, it would be her and she'd probably be willing to help given how much she doesn't seem to like him. > You ask Isabella to help you This isn't even just about keeping Lisa in your life, this is about not being Ral's whipping boy anymore. "You're right Lisa, things do have to change." You say and stand up. "Wait, where are you going?" Lisa asks. "I'm going to make moves in changing my situation and by doing so, hopefully it changes yours as well." You start to walk away and Lisa goes after you. "Wait! Hold on! I don't want you doing anything rash! I mean like I said I'm not going anywhere! I was just talking; I mean I can't imagine I'll ever have the courage to leave Dert anyway. I'd rather be stuck here and you still be alive!" Lisa says. "Lisa, don't backtrack now. You made a good point and your desires are perfectly reasonable. Why should you be stuck here? If I'm around, all it's going to do is give you an excuse not to take that next step. You'll grow old and resentful that you might have done more with your life." You say. "I just don't want you to do something that's going to get you killed." "What if I should die on some fool mission for Ral anyway? You willing to risk wasting more years you could have spent doing something else? No, you had the right idea from the start. You can't be stuck here and neither can I. If I die doing this now, then at least that releases you from any excuse of staying in Dert. Also, this has been a long time coming. If it alleviates some of your concerns however, I'm not going to just attack Ral. I can't, even if I thought I'd be a match for him. Anyway, hopefully the next time I see you, I'll be free. Either way, you'll most certainly be." You give Lisa a kiss goodbye and leave her to go talk to Isabella. You head to the Dert graveyard and even though it's still daylight, you don't bother waiting until dusk. You just open up the secret entrance and head down to Isabella's "foyer." Out of some concern for your safety and wishing to show some sort of respect, you don't go any further than that and just call out her as loud as you can several times. You don't get an answer right away and you can't even be sure if she heard you. She could be a deep sleeper. You aren't sure about vampire habits after all. You think you're going to have to wait anyway, but you soon get an answer when you hear footsteps and Isabella appears to you in the entrance that leads deeper into her home. (Yes, she's still naked like last time) "You play with your life, waking me up like this human." Isabella says. "As I remember you told me not to be a stranger." You answer. "Hmm, a minor failing on my part thanks in part to your delicious blood. However, you're here now and I'm awake, so state your business and I hope this isn't related to Ral again." "It is, but it's against him." "Oh? You have my attention." "I was hoping you could free me of him. I mean you sort of implied you could when we first met." "I did? As I recall I said I could kill you, but I wouldn't since I know how hard good servants are to come by. Never really said I could break a geas." "Well, I guess I just sort of thought you could given how um… long you've been around. Surely you're very powerful." "Clumsy attempts at flattery (sigh). Though I suppose you're at least trying. Look human, I don't have anything against you. Actually, you're an alright sort, but I just can't help you. Well not in the way that you'd like, though I could be wrong about that." "What? Does it require you drinking some more of my blood? Here, have at it!" you say and start exposing your neck more to Isabella who steps towards you. "Oh, it would require more than just your blood to break the spell." Isabella at this point gets very close to you and begins to show her fangs. Then suddenly she looks up and sniffs the air and with a minor snarl, she throws you aside and rushes up the stairs behind you. You're bewildered by all of it, partially due to taking a hard hit against the wall and the other fact that she just ran up the stairs and it isn't even nighttime yet. Just as you're about to follow to see what it's all about, you hear some squealing and cries, which get closer. Your heart sinks when Isabella returns with Lisa and has her by the hair. "Irresponsible fool! You didn't think to close the door behind you when you entered my home? I can only guess this one is from Dert. You know her?" Isabella asks. You quickly say you do, as Lisa displays her fear, sadness and probably confusion on the situation clearly on her face and her cries. You can't believe you didn't know that she followed you. "Isabella, she didn't know. Please, just let her go." You say in a calm manner while raising your hands. "Let her go? Yeah, I can't do that. She'll tell the rest of those Dert idiots about me." "I won't…" Lisa starts to say before Isabella twists her hair and forces her to her knees. "Silence! YOU don't get to say anything!" "Come on Isabella, she's so fucking scared, she's not going to say anything about you. Besides what are you worried about? Surely a bunch of stupid peasants are no match for you." "More clumsy flattery. Stupid peasants can do a whole lot more than you think if there's enough of them and they're angry enough. They can certainly cause me enough trouble that I'd probably have to move. I chose this place because it's a nice quiet area far enough away from that city full of criminal blood bags and a blissfully ignorant village close by." "Wait! Can't we come to some sort of understanding?!" "Ah yes, you always do like to make deals don't you? Well let's see, before this one so rudely interrupted us, I was going to free you from Ral. If you're still interested in that, I can oblige, however I don't think you're going to like it." "What is it? Please, if it'll save Lisa and give me my freedom then I'll pay the price!" "Well, just so happens that I'd like a manservant of my own and despite this recent display of incompetence, I think you'd make a worthwhile one. You certainly are no stranger to menial labor and you're at least pleasing to the eyesight." "Wait, you want me to pledge myself to you or something?" "More like or something. I'm asking you to give yourself completely over to me of your own free will. When you do that, then I can drain you dry and we can begin." "Wait…are you proposing what I think you are?" "Yes." "But I'd just be substituting one form of slavery for another AND I'd be dead on top of it!" "The term is actually undead and really now, you can't possibly compare serving me to be the same as serving Ral. I don't see why this is such a hard decision. I've known mortals who would have jumped at the chance you have. And given that we've already shared a bit of…closeness in the past, I know damn well there's a part of you that likes the idea." It's taking everything within you to keep control of your own emotions at this point. You don't like the fact that you're so powerless to help Lisa directly. Lisa doesn't say anything, but just continues to look on at you in fear and just sobs quietly. You can't tell if she wants to tell you to do it, to save her own life, or not to do it because of the consequences. Your only thought right now however, is to save Lisa. "Alright! Alright! I'll do it. Just don't kill Lisa!" you shout. Isabella smiles when you say that while Lisa just weeps. "Are you sure? I need your full cooperation on this. I can't just go transforming you while you're under a geas unless I have your complete submission. Do I have your complete dedication to me?" "Yes, whatever you want!" Isabella suddenly picks Lisa up by the hair and tosses her hard into the wall. You instinctively go to help, but are stopped by Isabella who has already grabbed and stopped you. "Feel free to grab my ass again if it makes you feel better about all this." Isabella says and then bites down on your neck. It's the same as last time. First pain, then discomfort and then just a weird dizzy feeling. Soon light headiness follows and then you're starting to lose consciousness altogether. Just before you do though, Isabella stops feeding on you and then quickly bites herself on the wrist. Using the open wound, she pours some of her blood into your own mouth and a metallic taste hits your tongue and eventually slides down your throat. "Haven't done this in a while, but I think I'm actually wet with anticipation. Mmmm…" Isabella remarks and then kisses you on the mouth before finishing you off. Everything goes dark. You don't know how much time passes, but when you wake up, you're feeling quite different. You're not breathing, you're cold and you're hungry. And that's when you see you're in a room with Lisa who is in shackles on one of the walls. She's been stripped naked and her head hangs down. "Lisa…?" you utter as you start to stand up. "Don't worry my little cryptmate, she's not dead. I keep my promises, however I obviously still can't let her leave." You hear Isabella say causing you to turn your head to your left. Isabella leans in the doorway of the room you're currently in with her arms folded as if she's studying what you're going to do next. "She can't just stay prisoner here." You say. "Well that's about the only choice available to her." Isabella replies. "Couldn't you have just erased her memory or something? I thought vampires could control minds." "We can hypnotize and charm if we're up close to a mortal, but that's really more for short periods of time and just long enough for us to get someone and finish them off. Of course if we bite and release, we need to keep visiting that person to keep them docile. However, I'm not really keen on travelling back and forth to Dert everyday. I prefer to keep my blood slaves in my home so I know exactly where they are. Nothing worse than your dinner suddenly regaining their free will or getting themselves killed in something unrelated." "Wait, is THAT what Lisa is for? Your blood slave?" "No. She's YOUR blood slave. Think of this as my gift to you, along with this being your first steps in learning what it truly means to be a vampire." You don't even know how to feel. You're absolutely speechless. Isabella has played a cruel trick on you. As you're still in shock, Isabella continues. "Now, I can tell by your face, that you probably believe me to be the worst sort of monster, but let me tell you, this is me in a merciful mood. Your little…human is currently in a trance that I put her in. Now YOU can keep her that way yourself with my guidance and in doing so, you should be able to feed on her for quite some time without having to get a new person. This should get you used to the idea of what you need to do in order to survive now, not to mention this girl was someone you had feelings for. If you can get over feeding on her then you won't have any lingering pangs of conscious in the future which will make this all much easier in the long run. Trust me, I know." "I can't…I can't just drink Lisa's blood and watch her waste away as I slowly kill her! "Well she's going to waste away eventually even if you don't feed on her. In fact it'll just take longer and since I have no intention on keeping her in a trance, you can decide if you want to hear her cries and screams as she eventually gets to the point where she's begging for death as a release from this horrible situation. Or you can decide to keep her docile until she eventually just dies quietly. Up to you, she's your responsibility." Isabella talks about Lisa being in a horrible situation, which it is, but at least she's completely unaware of it, unlike you. Lisa wanted to leave her village and now it's looking like she's never going to leave this room thanks to you. You're wishing you never came here. You feel a mixture of negative emotions right now, and maybe it's due to your new state of unlife they feel worse than you ever remember. The worst you've ever felt was during the time you killed Klint after he stabbed Annah. Right now, your feel like that multiplied by ten, but you're desperately trying to maintain something of rational thought. Then rage takes over, rage like you never had before. You abandon all caution and attack Isabella. Isabella doesn't even look surprised. She rolls her eyes and even with your new quick vampire reflexes, Isabella easily takes you down and pins you. You snarl, and struggle and try to get up, but she's just too strong for you. You don't even know how long you do this for, but eventually Isabella tires of your resistance and takes your head and smashes it into the hard stone floor. Would have definitely killed you had you still been human, but instead you're just left temporarily dazed. Isabella follows up with a few punches and then a display of dominance with her face transforming into something much harsher and monstrous than you've seen before (even whenever she bit you) you briefly wonder if your own face has transformed as well since you didn't give much thought to such things at the time. With the fight taken out of you, you finally relent. Isabella's appearance also changes back, but she still maintains her hold on you. "You're lucky I don't stay mad for long, but attack me again and you'll see how mad I can really get." she says. "You might as well just kill me now and be done with it then." You say. "Oh no, you don't seem to understand, you're MINE. I didn't transform you into a vampire just to kill you. You'll soon learn that there are things much worse than death…MUCH worse." "Oh like what you are forcing me into?" "Hey I didn't force you to do anything. You could have declined my offer and walked away. You gave yourself willingly to me." "Yeah, to save Lisa! Not this! If I knew you were going to twist shit around…" "You probably STILL would have made the same choice. Face it. You wanted to be free of Ral and you were tempted by my offer anyway. Saving your human was just an added bonus." "Stop calling her my human! Her name's Lisa and she's my girlfriend!" "That's cute, but I'm your girlfriend now. Congratulations on trading up." Isabella is now just mocking you. Now that you've calmed down a bit, you start trying to think of an unconventional way to still save Lisa. "Okay. I get it. You're in charge. But maybe we can make a deal." You say. "Again with the deals. If I hadn't already drained all your blood, I'd swear you were part infernal. Very well, this should be entertaining…" Isabella remarks. "What if you make her a vampire?" "I'm not turning her into a vampire; I'm obviously already going to have my hands full with you learning about your new vampire life. I've got other things to do with my time." "I'll do it then!" "Hah! Nice idea, but you aren't nearly powerful enough to do that yet. You're not even powerful enough to turn her into a ghoul. In any case I do not wish to have another vampire here anyway. Call me old fashioned, but I believe three is a crowd and I don't see much benefit for me. I'm not into women or orgies, despite all the myths about vampires being decadent sex fiends. I'm also not trying to make a fucking nest. Been part of one of those before and it's worse than living around mortals. So let's stop all this nonsense about turning this…Lisa into a vampire." "I…just…I can't kill her." "(Sigh) Very well I can see that perhaps this was too upsetting of a lesson. I will do it to spare you the anguish, but I really hoped you were going to be stronger than this." "Wait! You said she's mine." "Yes, I did." "Then I can do what I want with her correct?" "If you're suggesting that because she's yours that that means you can release her, you're sorely mistaken. This isn't some contract that you've found a loophole in. My word is still final on this matter." "No, but she's my responsibility you said. That means I can take care of her if I wish right? Couldn't I just keep her hypnotized and make sure she gets food and water?" Isabella smirks at your question. "So you wish to keep her as you would a pet then? How long did you intend on doing this for?" "Until I can transform her into another vampire." Now Isabella laughs and completely releases you, allowing you to sit up. "She won't live long enough for that to happen. You'll abandon that idea as your feelings for her fade or give in to your own hunger first. If by some miracle you some how manage it, she certainly won't be young like you are anymore. You'll be transforming her in her later years…unless you transform her into a ghoul before then, but that has its own set of problems. No, I don't see this working, but if this is REALLY what you want, then sure." "You're saying yes?" "I am. It will be interesting just to see how long you last. I imagine you'll last at least a few years even. One of your attractive traits is you obviously have a sense of loyalty and even a little nobility despite your lowly origins. However, the care for your pet will be your responsibility along with your other ones for me and if your pet becomes a problem then I'm going to step in and I think we both know what that means correct?" "Yes, I understand." "Very well then, I suppose I should teach you how to maximize some of your new powers, particularly the whole hypnosis thing. Afterwards, I'll give you the tour of my home proper, then you can get to work on what duties I require of you. While I'm sure you won't find most of those fun, I can guarantee one of them will be despite however you may feel for Lisa. That being said, let's get started." Isabella takes you over to Lisa who is still in a trance. She even releases her from her shackles for this lesson. As you're listening to her instructions, your gaze briefly passes over your wrist and you realize the little symbol that Ral put on you is gone. You aren't sure if the cost was worth it. > You time passes... Year 25 How the hell do you keep a vast underground crypt clean? Answer: You don't. One thing you never knew about vampires is how they can become obsessed with the smallest details. Probably has to do with the enhanced senses. Isabella apparently is a neat freak and due to this quirk she spent most of her time rearranging, cleaning, and generally tidying up her home. An impossible task of course, but that didn't stop her from trying. Even the room where she keeps the blood "donors" is clean. Doesn't look like the slaughterhouse that one would expect it to be. Unfortunately due to being at her beck and call that means you get to help her or at least do most of it now. As one would expect, it takes up most of your time. You think between her and Ral, you've done more housework than thievery. About the only thing you don't have to take care of is her underground garden, which is her own personal project that she spends a lot of time on. In fact, with you around now she doesn't even have to leave it to get food much anymore. She just has you do it. She also has you doing her. You can't be sure if it's true affection she has for you or just her basic needs that she wants satisfied. It feels like the latter most of the time, but there are moments where it seems to be more. It's just a weird situation altogether and while you'd hate to admit it, its one of the better things about being in servitude to Isabella rather than Ral. Meanwhile you've got a project of your own in the form of Lisa. You spend whatever free time you have with her. Making sure she's provided with nourishment and drink. Usually you just steal food from the farms in Dert along with drawing water from their well, but occasionally you get something different from Holgard and try to mix things up. (You never thought your thievery would ever be used primarily for food!) Lisa's reactions to everything are very "neutral." That's of course mainly due to the perpetual trance she's in. She is always polite and docile, and never really doing too much on her own, not that she would have much to do anyway considering she's mostly relegated to her single room. (That you've also taken time to furnish) Isabella says that in time, you'll be able to get her to behave more like a "normal" person, but the fact is, she'll always be acting according to how you want her to act. Much like a puppet. It's all pretty frustrating. There's also a part of you that is starting to wonder about what you're doing. Are you doing this because you love Lisa? Are you doing this out of some sense of guilt? Or are you doing this just to pass the time? At this point you don't know anymore. It can't be out of a sense of "humanity" because other than Lisa, you've adjusted fairly well to the whole snatching up people and drinking their blood until they die thing. You wonder if maybe you should turn Lisa into a ghoul, since apparently she'd have a lot more free will, while still remaining dedicated to you. You stare at Lisa who sits quietly in her chair staring in such a way that it almost makes you think that somewhere within her head, there's a part of her that's still the free willed Lisa and she's screaming to get out. Would transforming her really be any worse than she is now? It wouldn't be perfect, but at least she'd be able to do more things on her own without you needing to tend to her constantly. "I figured you'd be in here." Isabella remarks upon entering the room. "I finished cleaning for today…or did you need something else?" you answer. "Not right now and surprisingly my garden doesn't need tending to at this moment. I'm just checking up on you I suppose. Did I interrupt a potential moment of bliss between you and your pet?" "What?" "Oh come on, you don't need to deny anything. It's not like I care. I'm hardly jealous of that." "…no! No! I don't do that with her!" "What seriously? I figured you were just really quiet about it. Or maybe on the occasions you took her deeper into the catacombs, you were fucking her in one of the more secluded spots there. Guess that explains why you keep her clothed." "I sometimes take her for walks because I believe she needs a change of scenery every once in awhile. And I'm not having sex with her, because I'm not a rapist. She's under a trance." "So are all the folks we keep here to take blood from, except we're ultimately killing them. You don't seem to have a problem with that." "It's…it's just different." "I suppose it is…but not really. I have to admit, I didn't think you'd last this long with her, but I guess your feelings were stronger for her than I thought…or maybe you're just doing this to prove some point to yourself. Either way, I can already tell that you're starting to realize the futility of your plan." "I want to make her into a ghoul." Isabella looks at you and just shakes her head. "I knew it would come to this. Look, if you really do have any lingering feelings for Lisa, you'll just kill her now and be done with it." Isabella remarks. "What's wrong with making her a ghoul? You mentioned before that it would stop her from aging any more and she'd still be under my influence. Are you just afraid that if I take this step, it will just bring her closer to me and further from you?" "Oh you, and your assumptions. Trust me, if I really felt remotely intimidated by either of you in any way, you'd both be dead. However, if you really want my thoughts on this, you turn her into a ghoul and I guarantee it will only make you appreciate me all the more." "Well what exactly is so bad about turning her into a ghoul? You've never gone into detail." "First of all, you're probably still not powerful enough to do it even with my magnificent blood in your body, though I suppose you could try anyway. Second of all, I've made a ghoul before and while it's true they make good servants who are completely dedicated to you, there's enough drawbacks that I don't understand why any vampire would bother…unless they're really desperate for ego stroking I suppose." "Okay, so what then…she'll fawn all over me?" "Yes, and while that might sound enticing at first, I promise that you'll get sick of it. At least YOU would at any rate. You've never struck me as the time that needs constant reassurance of how amazing you are." "I dunno, it might still be nice to hear once in awhile." "Well, if you want to hear how amazing you are, I guess we can go back to my room. I promise, I'll make it sound authentic." You don't want to, but you actually actual laugh at Isabella's remark causing her to smile. "Okay, see that right there is a good example of why you shouldn't even bother with this plan. You know you like it here with me." Isabella remarks. "Maybe I'm trying the best out of my bad situation. We're not exactly equals in this relationship you know." You say. "Oh and you and Lisa would be? You and I are a much closer if we're going to go that route. You're so far above her right now it's comparing a rot grub to a human. Speaking of rot grubs, that's the third thing you might want to know about when creating a ghoul." "What?" "For whatever reason and nobody I know has ever figured this out. Ghouls develop disgusting habit and quirks." "Drinking blood doesn't already qualify?" "I'm sure to some it would, but how about eating bugs, dead bodies or even shit? You really want Lisa to kiss you with that mouth after she's been chowing down on a rotting corpse?" "Well can't I tell her not to do that?" "You can try, but short of keeping her confined, that's just doomed to failure. As obedient as they are, some urges are just too powerful. And that's just the eating habits. I haven't even gotten to the weird social habits because if allowed to go out and interact with the rest of the world, ghouls tend to lack the subtlety that vampires do…well most vampires anyway. You turn her into a ghoul and you better keep a CLOSE eye on her. Otherwise she's going to go wandering into Dert and probably expose herself to all the little peasant children. I'm sure that won't attract attention at all." Isabella's made a real good case against the whole ghoulification process. Though you're still wondering if she isn't just exaggerating so you won't try it. You spend time hovering over Lisa anyway; you think you could manage to keep her from doing anything weird. Part of you wants to do it just to prove Isabella wrong, but then is that a good excuse for doing it at all? Your original intent is so you could stop Lisa from getting any older and giving her a bit of free will. > You make Lisa into a ghoul Maybe your feelings have faded. Hell, maybe you didn't even ever truly love her to begin with, but you still feel responsible enough for her situation that you're not giving up on Lisa. "I'm doing it. I can make this work." You say. "Very well." Isabella remarks with a bit of a sigh. "I have to say, I'm still sort of surprised that you're so permissive in all this." "Contrary to what YOU may think of me. I do have a sense of kindness…or maybe I'm just fond of you enough that I don't just kill the pair of you to be done with this failed attempt of courtship." "Courtship…" you scoff. "Yes, that what this was, at least to me. What would you have me do? Wait around for you to give me flowers or some other meaningless gesture? Go out to…I dunno the local festival? I'm a fucking vampire. I take what I want and at the time I wanted you. But I can see now that method wasn't the way to go about it. Personally, I don't even think you have any feelings of love for this girl, just a sense of guilt. However, if THIS is what is going to make you happy, then fine. I'll show you how. Either you're going to come to become so disgusted with what Lisa has become that you'll finally do away with her yourself and we can try again. Or you'll stay with her and maintain your delusions. Either way the pair of you will be free because I'm not going to have you both living here if that's the case." "That's…pretty generous of you, but…" you start to say and then stop yourself. "But what?" "Um, nothing…" "Pfft, I already know what you were going to ask before you realized it would be stupid to do so, though again it isn't going to bother me." "And what did you think I was going to ask?" "That what if you just fake it for your freedom and how will I know? To the former, go ahead. If you're REALLY willing to put yourself through all this, just to be released from me, then you deserve your freedom. At least it will give me a bit of pride that I will have released a very patient one of my kind into the world. Lot of young vampires fuck up due to being impulsive. But then, I suppose you've already had a lot of experience at being patient haven't you? In any case, we should get started." Isabella tells you that the process is fairly simple, however due to you being on the younger side, she isn't sure how long it will take, if at all. The best you can do is just keep feeding her blood on a regular basis until she starts to show signs of change. "Now of course she's already a bit on the paler side due being stuck down here with no sun all the time. So the thing you're probably going to notice immediately is her starting to show signs of free will. She'll probably start by addressing you without needing to be addressed first. She'll of course also start being very affectionate, wanting to please you in every way." Isabella explains. "But it's different from the trance correct?" "Oh yes. Much different. In fact, she'll be immune to that to some degree. Her loyalty towards you will be unquestionable due to sharing of blood, but she's still going to do things on her own and it might not matter how much you tell her not to. As I said, ghouls tend to have disgusting habits and urges. In fact if you've ever heard the tales of how vampires are a bunch of decadent sex fiends, well THAT'S the reason. Ghouls that somehow manage to get elevated to vampirehood, never fully shed those more vile traits. Always best to go from mortal straight to vampire with no transition in between, like I did with you." Isabella says and strokes your face. Isabella observes you bite yourself and then feed your blood to Lisa. It actually isn't as easy as all that. Despite being in a trance, Lisa still doesn't react well to the whole blood drinking thing, especially that of a vampire's. She starts gagging and coughing even though she's also trying to follow your command of doing it. Even reluctantly forcing her head to you doesn't work and she ends up vomiting. "Lisa doesn't have much of a gag reflex eh?" Isabella jokes, which you try to ignore and just refocus your efforts. "How long do I have to do this?" you ask. "Well until she at least manages to keep some of it down at least. As I said, it isn't going to happen instantly either. You're probably going to have to do this every day for months. Possibly even more than once a day since you're still a young vampire. All I can suggest is you better make sure you keep YOUR strength up, but you better not go using up all the humans chained up in the larder. Also you're still obligated to your duties to me. Anyway, I'll leave you to it." You continue to force Lisa to suck on you and eventually she keeps some of it down. You start to feel a little weird yourself so you tell her to stop and you go replenish yourself with someone in the larder, despite Isabella's warnings. You'll just have to go nab humans for her more frequently. If she thinks all this is going to deter you, it isn't. Now that Isabella has hinted at freedom, your motivation for doing all this is doubled. You spend months slaving away more than you had under Ral or even Isabella before all this mainly because you have to increase capturing the amount of blood "donors" not just for Isabella, but for yourself. It's really tempting to just grab someone from Dert, but Isabella has always had a rule against taking too many people from there lest the ignorant peasants start getting riled up, or worse, just pick up and leave. So it's mostly a lot of ambushing bandits, travellers and (ugh) hobgoblins in the forests. There's always Holgard too, but the journey even with your speed is still always a pain in the ass dragging someone from there since you have to keep feeding Lisa your blood at a regular interval. (Not to mention there's currently religious conflict going on there between the factions) Needless to say, all of this makes you a lot more irritable and tired all the time (Basically, you feel like a human by vampire standards) Months pass just like Isabella said they would, but you don't give up and eventually you start to see the signs of Lisa changing. It starts by her talking to you and addressing you by name. She's very confused at first, but as you start to explain it all to her, she doesn't even seem to care. In fact, she seems very happy that you've gone to so much effort to save her life. "Oh my beloved! I KNEW you always loved me deeply! Let me show my appreciation to you!" Lisa exclaims and proceeds to jump on you. It's a little strange, but given all you've gone through to turn her, and she seems to be so willing, you don't turn her down. Isabella still doesn't seem fussed by this turn of events. She does seem to decrease her own demands for sex though. Cleaning is still a priority unfortunately, but considering Lisa now has all this energy she starts helping you do it. It's during one of these cleanings that you start to see what Isabella was warning about. "Lisa, I bring in real food, you don't need to eat the bugs crawling around this place!" you exclaim. "I'm sorry honey, but I dunno…they just looked so…inviting. And they're nice and crunchy too. I like the way they sometimes wiggle in my mouth…mmmm…tehehehehe…" Lisa says trailing off into a disturbing giggle. "Look, just don't eat them, and don't eat anything else that isn't proper food either." "But…but what about your delicious yummy blood?" "That's still fine." "Good! Because I want some right now!" "You just had some a few hours ago!" "But I need it! I need to suck on you!" It's just the beginning. Year 26 "Well, you proved yourself. You wanted it bad enough and I'm true to my word. You and your ghoul bitch are free. Now get the hell outta my crypt, it's still night right now, so if you hurry you can find other shelter before dawn." Isabella suddenly remarks to you during one of your few moments to yourself. You're so tired, all you can muster up is a "huh?" "You heard me, you're free, get out." Isabella remarks. "Now?" you ask. "Yes! I said get out! I'm sick of you doing a half assed job of keeping this place clean and your bitch eating my food. Never mind the fact that I don't exactly get off on hearing you lot have sex. Though I'm guessing that was your idea that she scream as loud as she could." "I thought you weren't jealous and didn't give a shit." "I don't actually. But I'm certainly not going to share you in any capacity with something that's currently up in the graveyard as we speak, digging up coffins and eating rotten carcasses." "What?! She got out again? Why didn't you stop her?!" "Not my concern and neither are you anymore. You were fun for a while and I don't regret our time. Just confirmed my original thoughts of why I stay single to begin with. Anyway, take care and a part of me hopes that deep down that you do truly love this girl, but then I've always been a bit of a romantic." Isabella tells you that you've got a short period of time to leave not just her crypt, but also the area. She mentions that if she catches you or Lisa still in the area she'll kill the pair of you since she doesn't want you lingering around to possibly fuck up her relative peace by preying upon Dert. You gather up what belongings you still value and take your leave. Sure enough when you exit the crypt, you hear Lisa snuffling about in the graveyard. You soon find that she's already dug up a grave and half eaten body parts lie all around her. She looks up from the rotten leg bone she's chewing on and wastes no time in running to greet you, though it's more like an animal loping at you. Lisa attempts to kiss you, but the stench of her breath is horrible and that's saying something considering how resilient you've gotten to such things. You turn your head away and tell her to calm herself. "I'm sorry, I know I'm suppose to stay in the crypt, but I just got so hungry and nipped out for a quick snack since I know you don't like me touching the chained up humans in that one room. Anyway, is it time to give me some more of your yummy blood? I could use a drink after that meal! Say, do you want some of this leg?" You look at Lisa and she's absolutely nothing like the girl you were so fond of years ago. She doesn't even look the same. While she's not aging anymore, she's definitely changing in appearance in other ways. Her clothes and body are constantly dirty; her hair is a matted nest crawling with insects. Her teeth have bits of decayed flesh in them and who knows what else. She smells like the same corpses she eats. Her personality is that of a spineless lackey that isn't even completely obedient. And the kicker to all this is you willingly had sex with this thing repeatedly just to gain your freedom. You can't imagine the number of times you dreaded keeping up the sham. Of course it's done now. You don't really need to go through it any longer. > You take Lisa with you You can't do it. It's not right. You made her into this and she's your responsibility now. For good or ill. "Lisa, come on it's time to go." You say. "I know, I know. Back to the crypt." Lisa says. "No, we're moving out of there. We're going…well I'm not sure yet. But we're going." "Wait. So…no more Isabella? It's just me and you now?" "That's about the size of the situation, yes." Lisa can barely contain her joy. She immediately hugs and kisses you on the mouth. You taste a mixture of rotten meat and who the hell knows what else. It's foul and you immediately push her away and try not to show your displeasure. "Okay, okay that's enough of that. We'll have plenty of time for that later. Right now we have to leave this area. I think we probably should head to Holgard. I know of a crypt in their graveyard we can use while we figure out our next move from there." You say. "Whatever you say my love, I will follow you anywhere!" Lisa beams. You just can't beat undying devotion. Your journey to Holgard takes a little longer than you would like mainly because Lisa has the attention span of a small child. It doesn't help that she was relatively sheltered from the world as a human, having never really left Dert and then later as a ghoul confined to Isabella's crypt. So this is all very interesting to her. The biggest concern is when you have to dig a hole in the ground to sleep during the day. You try to pick some place relatively secluded and really stress how much you want Lisa to stay in the vicinity. She of course is full of promises, but you just assume you're rolling the dice. When you wake up, you are happy to find that Lisa has indeed obeyed your command. You see the remains of a couple small woodland animals, so you guess she might have wandered, but probably not too far. Maybe she's starting to learn. As you approach Holgard, you have to once again stress to her NOT to just go attacking the first living being she sees. She's heard about Holgard many times, so again this is a very big event for her. You know the only thing she likes more than eating flesh is drinking your blood, so you use that as a reward encouragement. Hopefully it will be enough. Entering and exiting Holgard is a big hassle nowadays mainly due to the religious strife going on between the various churches. It's going on year two at this point and has just gotten worse. Not to the extent the Varsakken family civil war did, but it could start going that way. Still, some intimidating looks and minor mental suggestion on the weak-minded human guards causes them to let you pass without question. Lisa of course asks why you didn't just kill them to which you explain that now that you're going to be living in a city, you both need to practice the art of subtlety a lot more often. Lisa seems confused by this, but hopefully she'll understand it soon, otherwise you you won't be sticking around Holgard for too long. You both head to the graveyard and find yourself an older one that doesn't look like it gets too much visitation and after a few adjustments, you make a space for yourself and Lisa. And as promised, you give Lisa some of your blood, which she happily accepts. While Lisa sucks on you, you ponder what exactly you're going to do next now that you're here. You think if it wasn't for Lisa, you'd probably have an urge to just move on and go somewhere far away. Not that you've ever been a wanderer by nature, but Holgard just doesn't hold the interest it once did when you first set out to it as a young thief so many years ago. Things have changed severely and going back to your "old life" in any capacity certainly isn't much of an option anymore. There's also the fact that there is still that holy war of sorts going on in the city. You haven't really been keeping up on it mainly because you've been preoccupied with Lisa, but you've visited Holgard enough over the past year that it isn't ending anytime soon. You still wouldn't be that concerned with it, if it wasn't for the fact that the Church of Joachim has seemingly turned from it's normal peace and love teachings and turned into a more militant faction that has been going on about cleaning up this stinking city of evil influences of the earthly and supernatural kind. The supernatural part is the bit that is cause for concern. However, you need a "stable" place to stay until you can train Lisa better since just travelling here was an ordeal in keeping track of her. Until that time, you'll just have to redouble your efforts in keeping a low profile and hopefully Lisa does too. A few weeks later… After a rare night of going out by yourself and leaving Lisa alone to her own devices, you come back and find her speaking with some woman in the graveyard. At first you think it's Isabella, but if that was the case, she would have already killed her (And probably you) Besides, Holgard is far enough away from her territory. Plus this woman is dressed in a blue and purple robe. Isabella always went around naked. Your second instinct is to just attack immediately, but given that this woman is talking to Lisa so calmly and Lisa isn't trying to rip her throat out causes you to believe there are greater forces at work Sensing that this is going to be a plate full of shit you're going to have to deal with, you merely make your presence known. The woman says nothing, but just watches. "Hello. This looks…friendly." You say. "My love! I just stayed in the graveyard like you told me to, and this lady just showed up. I would have killed her, but for some reason…I suddenly didn't feel like it. Maybe I'm learning restraint like you're always telling me to?" Lisa answers. "What have you been talking about with this…lady?" "Nothing much. Just about how much I love you and how much you love me and how good corpses taste, but not as much as the living people! She's been very friendly for a meat sack and just asking about when you will return. Um…you're not mad at me are you? Please don't be mad!" "No. I'm not mad. I'm sure my teachings of restraint had something to do with you not killing this woman. I'm very proud of you. Head on inside home, I'll be in soon." "Okay! But not too long okay? The sun will be coming up soon and I don't want you to burn up!" Lisa heads back home, leaving you with the robed woman. "Alright, whatever little magic trick you used to subdue Lisa, isn't going to work on me, so whatever your business is make it quick because as she said, the sun is coming up soon." The woman nods. "Don't get too many vampires making their home in the city. Passing through on occasion, but never permanent residents. In fact I believe you've passed through here on several occasions haven't you?" she says. "Get to the point." "Very well. I'm obviously not here to make an enemy out of you. Your business is your own. However, I'm sure you're aware that certain other groups in this city are less accepting of your activities." "Yes, I'm fully aware of the Joachim fanatics and I've been staying out of their way and everyone else's that matter. INCLUDING the followers of Dorna, goddess of magic. I recognize your robes, sorceress." "Yes, I'm sure you have kept your head down. But your female friend seems to be less discreet. She was dancing and singing to herself while feasting on a rotten skull when I walked up. What if I had been an angry mob of Joachimites? Wouldn't have been good, that's for sure." "Yeah well she's still learning. I will talk to her." "You're not a very old vampire are you?" "How would you know if I was or not? We don't age." "True, but the fact that you speak with mild respect about your ghoul and even call her by name makes me believe that you're not old. Most older vampires are cynical and apathetic at best and outright arrogant and cruel most of the time. The way you interact with her is almost an attempt at treating her like an equal. In fact I'd venture to guess that ghoul was probably your girlfriend at one time." "You keep testing my patience human, you'll learn just how cruel I can be." "Okay, okay. I'm out of line. I shouldn't presume. Look, I'm sure you're aware of the troubles going on. I'm not exactly sure what changes are coming, but rest assured the followers of Dorna will weather this, but we aren't stupid. We know that we are very small in comparison to the other religions here. The fact that the Joachimites gathered so many in such a short period of time took everyone by surprise I think, let alone their more violent outlook. Between them and the followers of Fel, they make up most of soldiers in this war, which hasn't completely spilled into full on war yet, but it's getting there." "So what do you want from me?" "Nothing. Or rather nothing at this time. I am merely seeking potential allies. As I said, we who follow Dorna respect magic and knowledge. We also respect magical beings and would not condemn them to die due to mere ignorance and fear. I believe if we work together, we could both make ourselves a little safer from hostile forces. In fact, we could even set you and your girlfriend up in our own private mausoleum. It would be much nicer than this public graveyard where just anyone can walk into." Nice offer, but you're skeptical. "I think we'll be fine right where we are at and as for your offer of an alliance, I'm still not sure what benefit there would be for allying with you lot. As you said, you're much smaller than the rest of the factions. I mean it seems like if I was going to ally with anyone, I'd be better off allying with the followers of Fel. I mean don't they have ties to the Ebony Claw Syndicate? I've even heard rumors that Baroness Varsakken is a priestess. Seems like they're going to be on the winning team." "Well that IS the safe bet. And it would perhaps be wise in your case to consider it. I'm sure they would also welcome a vampire ally." Dorna pauses for a moment as if to collect her thoughts before continuing. "However, think on this as well. If all the rumors about them are true, they are indeed very powerful. In fact so powerful that why have they not just purged all the other sects yet? There are plenty of other rumors going around that the Felians might not even be completely united. Many of the true believers think that the Ebony Claw is a corrupting influence on proper worship of the shadow god. Even the Baroness is having a hard time keeping them all in line along with ruling the city. You ally with them and you could find yourself a pawn in whatever private power struggle they're engaged in and that's along with the external troubles coming as well." "Maybe I'll just stick by myself, seems to be working just fine so far." "Again, perfectly valid. You have no reason to trust any of us. I am merely extending my hand. It's up to you if you want to take it. I will leave you to your rest. If you change your mind, I'm sure you're familiar with where our temple is, and you're invited to enter." The sorceress (priestess?) takes her leave and you head inside your home before the sun comes up. Lisa of course is waiting patiently by your resting area. You open up your wrist and allow her to suck on you while you ponder your options. You suppose that some sort of agreement with the Dornans could be beneficial assuming they're serious about providing a better place where you wouldn't be as accessible. Of course you've dealt with one wizard type before and well…you know how that turned out. > You ally with the Dornans You suppose it doesn't hurt to hear more. It is true that they need all the help they can get and it wouldn't be so terrible to have a group of wizards watching your back. You decide that you'll visit their temple tomorrow night. The next night before you leave for the Dornan Temple, you command that Lisa is to be more careful if she ventures out of the crypt and not to call attention to herself by singing or dancing or indulging in whatever other little quirks she has. You also tell her you may even be moving to a better place soon anyway. Lisa doesn't seem to care about that so much as she's just happy to be going where you go. With Lisa spoken to, you take your leave. Doesn't take long for you to get to the temple, though you don't really travel to this part of the city as much since you prefer to stay close to home due to all the trouble going on in the city with this religious faction war. The blue and purple temple isn't excessively large but it's ornate enough looking that it stands out. There are no obvious guards standing outside the temple, but you suspect that even with the factions at each other's throats like they are, nobody is foolish enough to assault the temple directly or even enter it. You've been invited though so you stroll in, if a bit cautiously since you still aren't sure if they have magic traps set up or something. When you enter it resembles more of a library than a place of worship, but then Dorna isn't just a goddess of magic, but of knowledge. A few priests notice you come in, but only one approaches you. "You're the vampire, correct? Heather said a vampire might be coming by and you look like one." a young man says. "Really? Most of the people I come across can't tell." "Most people are idiots that don't have the blessed knowledge that only Dorna can provide. But we're not here to dwell on the struggles of the ignorant masses, come with me, Elder Flynn will want to speak with you." The acolyte motions you to follow him which you do so to what seems to be a meditation room where you see several other priests sitting in a circle with their heads bowed down and their eyes closed. An older one stands in the middle of them all and turns his attention towards you and the acolyte. "Elder Flynn, the vampire is here." The acolyte remarks. "Thank you. You may take your leave now." Elder Flynn remarks at which point the acolyte bows his head and does as he's commanded. Elder Flynn motions you to come closer, but you're still a little suspicious about this so you remain put. "I'm good right here." You say. "Very well, I just didn't feel like shouting half way across the room." Elder Flynn remarks. "So what is it that you wanted to speak to me about?" "Well you came to us, I figured you had something that you wanted to say." "You were the one who told one of your minions to seek me out, I'm just here because she said that you wanted allies." "If she worded it that way, then she misspoke, I told her that we wanted help not allies per say." "Whatever, so do you want my help or not?" "Oh yes. Your help would be most welcome. Vampires have a lot of magical energy within them by their nature. Or unnature so to speak. Even lowly ones like you have much to offer." "Great idea to insult me on our first meeting. So far you haven't impressed, and I've had enough of arrogant wizard shitheads to last me a lifetime." "Good, because yours is about to end." And with that threat, the door behind you slams shut and Elder Flynn begins chanting something and the rest of the priests are following suit. You have no idea what he's doing, but it can't be anything good. > You try to escape You suspect that Flynn most have some sort of magical protection around him, not to mention that even if you did manage to kill him, you're still severely outnumbered. Your best bet is to break down that door. It's solid metal and probably magically locked, but you have to try. You begin kicking near where the hinges would be, ignoring the fact that Elder Flynn and his lot are still chanting whatever it is that they're trying to do. You eventually make progress and the door begins to give way, though whatever magic is locking it is still holding it in place. You aren't going to be able to destroy the door quick enough at this rate. You back up from the door and even now you can hear the chanting getting louder, like they're starting to reach the end of it. You run as fast as you can and using all of your body weight and strength you ram into the door, hoping to break it. You hit the door, which at last gives completely away just as they complete their spell. The room you just escaped from is suddenly bathed in a bright light. Bright as the sun and it has the exact same effect it would have on a vampire such as you. You feel the burn on your backside and scramble up off the destroyed door and run for cover or more specifically the exit of the temple. "Get that fucking leech!" one of the acolytes shouts and as you're on your way to escape the priests not involved in the ritual start casting their own spells on you. You manage to slash the throat of one who is standing directly in front of the exit and get the hell out of there though you're still partially on fire and all feeling sluggish from the effects of a slow spell that was cast on you. Still, you're out of the temple now and from there you easily manage to lose any pursuing priests by ducking into a sewer entrance. After making sure you're not being chased any longer, you take a breather and then promptly swear up a storm at your situation. "Fuck! I'm a fucking vampire and I'm still putting up with shit and now I'm fucking literally hiding in it! Why the fuck does this keep happening to me?! I would have been better off just letting the mob back home stringing me up for killing Klint. At my misery would have been quick. Shit. (Sigh) Gotta think…" You can't go back home to your crypt, the Dornans are probably already heading there. Even if they aren't you don't want to risk it. Not that you don't have desire for revenge, but right now, you're hardly in any condition and you'd be fighting an entire temple of those magic fanatics. You briefly wonder if you shouldn't try to reach out towards the Felians, but then trying to get allies is what got you in here in the first place. Right now, the only person you can trust is yourself. Well there's Lisa, but you think you're going to have to leave her behind, assuming that the Dornans haven't already stormed the crypt and killed her already. You tried, but you can't be bothered to train her any longer. The situation has changed and you just need to get the hell out of this city. You don't know where, but it isn't safe for you to live comfortably here any longer. This city is probably going to suffer yet another civil war of sorts anyway, it probably would be best to leave. You don't know where you're going to go, but you need to just start over elsewhere. Hopefully away from anymore fucking wizards. You follow the sewers until you get close to the docks area of the city. Holgard always has trade ships leaving its harbor going to various locations. You exit the sewers and sneak aboard one of them. You think this one is going to the Delantium Kingdom, but it might be going to some place you've never heard of, you don't really care as long as you're away from this area. Never been aboard a ship before, so this will be a new experience. Hopefully, an uneventful one. You imagine you'll get hungry on the journey, but as far as you know there's enough crew on the ship that you'll be able to get by. Just have to be stealthy about it which even in your current condition you'll be able to do. You still don't know exactly what you're going to do with the rest of your undead life, but your days as a common rogue are over.

You suppose it doesn't hurt to hear more. It is true that they need all the help they can get and it wouldn't be so terrible to have a group of wizards watching your back. You decide that you'll visit their temple tomorrow night. The next night before you leave for the Dornan Temple, you command that Lisa is to be more careful if she ventures out of the crypt and not to call attention to herself by singing or dancing or indulging in whatever other little quirks she has. You also tell her you may even be moving to a better place soon anyway. Lisa doesn't seem to care about that so much as she's just happy to be going where you go. With Lisa spoken to, you take your leave. Doesn't take long for you to get to the temple, though you don't really travel to this part of the city as much since you prefer to stay close to home due to all the trouble going on in the city with this religious faction war. The blue and purple temple isn't excessively large but it's ornate enough looking that it stands out. There are no obvious guards standing outside the temple, but you suspect that even with the factions at each other's throats like they are, nobody is foolish enough to assault the temple directly or even enter it. You've been invited though so you stroll in, if a bit cautiously since you still aren't sure if they have magic traps set up or something. When you enter it resembles more of a library than a place of worship, but then Dorna isn't just a goddess of magic, but of knowledge. A few priests notice you come in, but only one approaches you. "You're the vampire, correct? Heather said a vampire might be coming by and you look like one." a young man says. "Really? Most of the people I come across can't tell." "Most people are idiots that don't have the blessed knowledge that only Dorna can provide. But we're not here to dwell on the struggles of the ignorant masses, come with me, Elder Flynn will want to speak with you." The acolyte motions you to follow him which you do so to what seems to be a meditation room where you see several other priests sitting in a circle with their heads bowed down and their eyes closed. An older one stands in the middle of them all and turns his attention towards you and the acolyte. "Elder Flynn, the vampire is here." The acolyte remarks. "Thank you. You may take your leave now." Elder Flynn remarks at which point the acolyte bows his head and does as he's commanded. Elder Flynn motions you to come closer, but you're still a little suspicious about this so you remain put. "I'm good right here." You say. "Very well, I just didn't feel like shouting half way across the room." Elder Flynn remarks. "So what is it that you wanted to speak to me about?" "Well you came to us, I figured you had something that you wanted to say." "You were the one who told one of your minions to seek me out, I'm just here because she said that you wanted allies." "If she worded it that way, then she misspoke, I told her that we wanted help not allies per say." "Whatever, so do you want my help or not?" "Oh yes. Your help would be most welcome. Vampires have a lot of magical energy within them by their nature. Or unnature so to speak. Even lowly ones like you have much to offer." "Great idea to insult me on our first meeting. So far you haven't impressed, and I've had enough of arrogant wizard shitheads to last me a lifetime." "Good, because yours is about to end." And with that threat, the door behind you slams shut and Elder Flynn begins chanting something and the rest of the priests are following suit. You have no idea what he's doing, but it can't be anything good. > You attack Flynn That door is solid metal and probably magically locked, you doubt if you could even punch through it in time even with your enhanced strength, but you're still much faster than you used to be and you're certain that you can reach him before you can cast whatever spell he's casting. You're still going to be out numbered, but you're just going to have to hope for the best because you don't have many options. You run towards Flynn and lunge over the priests. Or at least you would have if they weren't forming a magical barrier, which you hit full on and go sprawling to the floor backwards. As you're picking yourself up off the floor, Elder Flynn and his people are still chanting and it's getting louder. You try to pull at one of the other priests, hoping that maybe that will break the barrier, but they're not only creating the barrier, they're within it as well. You futility punch at the barrier and even attempt to mind control one of the priests, but nothing works, they're too focused and protected. Out of ideas, you run back to the door and begin punching at it in frustration. You eventually manage to put your fist through it, but it's a little too late. The room is suddenly bathed in a bright light. Bright as the sun and it has the exact same effect it would have on a vampire such as you. You flail around on fire and desperately try to find cover, but there is none. You scream, wail and eventually collapse to the floor until you're nothing but a pile of bones and ashes. Afterwards, Elder Flynn tells his followers to gather up your ashes and grind up what remains of your bones for spell components, as they will be helpful in the current religious faction war going on.

You can't do it. It's not right. You made her into this and she's your responsibility now. For good or ill. "Lisa, come on it's time to go." You say. "I know, I know. Back to the crypt." Lisa says. "No, we're moving out of there. We're going…well I'm not sure yet. But we're going." "Wait. So…no more Isabella? It's just me and you now?" "That's about the size of the situation, yes." Lisa can barely contain her joy. She immediately hugs and kisses you on the mouth. You taste a mixture of rotten meat and who the hell knows what else. It's foul and you immediately push her away and try not to show your displeasure. "Okay, okay that's enough of that. We'll have plenty of time for that later. Right now we have to leave this area. I think we probably should head to Holgard. I know of a crypt in their graveyard we can use while we figure out our next move from there." You say. "Whatever you say my love, I will follow you anywhere!" Lisa beams. You just can't beat undying devotion. Your journey to Holgard takes a little longer than you would like mainly because Lisa has the attention span of a small child. It doesn't help that she was relatively sheltered from the world as a human, having never really left Dert and then later as a ghoul confined to Isabella's crypt. So this is all very interesting to her. The biggest concern is when you have to dig a hole in the ground to sleep during the day. You try to pick some place relatively secluded and really stress how much you want Lisa to stay in the vicinity. She of course is full of promises, but you just assume you're rolling the dice. When you wake up, you are happy to find that Lisa has indeed obeyed your command. You see the remains of a couple small woodland animals, so you guess she might have wandered, but probably not too far. Maybe she's starting to learn. As you approach Holgard, you have to once again stress to her NOT to just go attacking the first living being she sees. She's heard about Holgard many times, so again this is a very big event for her. You know the only thing she likes more than eating flesh is drinking your blood, so you use that as a reward encouragement. Hopefully it will be enough. Entering and exiting Holgard is a big hassle nowadays mainly due to the religious strife going on between the various churches. It's going on year two at this point and has just gotten worse. Not to the extent the Varsakken family civil war did, but it could start going that way. Still, some intimidating looks and minor mental suggestion on the weak-minded human guards causes them to let you pass without question. Lisa of course asks why you didn't just kill them to which you explain that now that you're going to be living in a city, you both need to practice the art of subtlety a lot more often. Lisa seems confused by this, but hopefully she'll understand it soon, otherwise you you won't be sticking around Holgard for too long. You both head to the graveyard and find yourself an older one that doesn't look like it gets too much visitation and after a few adjustments, you make a space for yourself and Lisa. And as promised, you give Lisa some of your blood, which she happily accepts. While Lisa sucks on you, you ponder what exactly you're going to do next now that you're here. You think if it wasn't for Lisa, you'd probably have an urge to just move on and go somewhere far away. Not that you've ever been a wanderer by nature, but Holgard just doesn't hold the interest it once did when you first set out to it as a young thief so many years ago. Things have changed severely and going back to your "old life" in any capacity certainly isn't much of an option anymore. There's also the fact that there is still that holy war of sorts going on in the city. You haven't really been keeping up on it mainly because you've been preoccupied with Lisa, but you've visited Holgard enough over the past year that it isn't ending anytime soon. You still wouldn't be that concerned with it, if it wasn't for the fact that the Church of Joachim has seemingly turned from it's normal peace and love teachings and turned into a more militant faction that has been going on about cleaning up this stinking city of evil influences of the earthly and supernatural kind. The supernatural part is the bit that is cause for concern. However, you need a "stable" place to stay until you can train Lisa better since just travelling here was an ordeal in keeping track of her. Until that time, you'll just have to redouble your efforts in keeping a low profile and hopefully Lisa does too. A few weeks later… After a rare night of going out by yourself and leaving Lisa alone to her own devices, you come back and find her speaking with some woman in the graveyard. At first you think it's Isabella, but if that was the case, she would have already killed her (And probably you) Besides, Holgard is far enough away from her territory. Plus this woman is dressed in a blue and purple robe. Isabella always went around naked. Your second instinct is to just attack immediately, but given that this woman is talking to Lisa so calmly and Lisa isn't trying to rip her throat out causes you to believe there are greater forces at work Sensing that this is going to be a plate full of shit you're going to have to deal with, you merely make your presence known. The woman says nothing, but just watches. "Hello. This looks…friendly." You say. "My love! I just stayed in the graveyard like you told me to, and this lady just showed up. I would have killed her, but for some reason…I suddenly didn't feel like it. Maybe I'm learning restraint like you're always telling me to?" Lisa answers. "What have you been talking about with this…lady?" "Nothing much. Just about how much I love you and how much you love me and how good corpses taste, but not as much as the living people! She's been very friendly for a meat sack and just asking about when you will return. Um…you're not mad at me are you? Please don't be mad!" "No. I'm not mad. I'm sure my teachings of restraint had something to do with you not killing this woman. I'm very proud of you. Head on inside home, I'll be in soon." "Okay! But not too long okay? The sun will be coming up soon and I don't want you to burn up!" Lisa heads back home, leaving you with the robed woman. "Alright, whatever little magic trick you used to subdue Lisa, isn't going to work on me, so whatever your business is make it quick because as she said, the sun is coming up soon." The woman nods. "Don't get too many vampires making their home in the city. Passing through on occasion, but never permanent residents. In fact I believe you've passed through here on several occasions haven't you?" she says. "Get to the point." "Very well. I'm obviously not here to make an enemy out of you. Your business is your own. However, I'm sure you're aware that certain other groups in this city are less accepting of your activities." "Yes, I'm fully aware of the Joachim fanatics and I've been staying out of their way and everyone else's that matter. INCLUDING the followers of Dorna, goddess of magic. I recognize your robes, sorceress." "Yes, I'm sure you have kept your head down. But your female friend seems to be less discreet. She was dancing and singing to herself while feasting on a rotten skull when I walked up. What if I had been an angry mob of Joachimites? Wouldn't have been good, that's for sure." "Yeah well she's still learning. I will talk to her." "You're not a very old vampire are you?" "How would you know if I was or not? We don't age." "True, but the fact that you speak with mild respect about your ghoul and even call her by name makes me believe that you're not old. Most older vampires are cynical and apathetic at best and outright arrogant and cruel most of the time. The way you interact with her is almost an attempt at treating her like an equal. In fact I'd venture to guess that ghoul was probably your girlfriend at one time." "You keep testing my patience human, you'll learn just how cruel I can be." "Okay, okay. I'm out of line. I shouldn't presume. Look, I'm sure you're aware of the troubles going on. I'm not exactly sure what changes are coming, but rest assured the followers of Dorna will weather this, but we aren't stupid. We know that we are very small in comparison to the other religions here. The fact that the Joachimites gathered so many in such a short period of time took everyone by surprise I think, let alone their more violent outlook. Between them and the followers of Fel, they make up most of soldiers in this war, which hasn't completely spilled into full on war yet, but it's getting there." "So what do you want from me?" "Nothing. Or rather nothing at this time. I am merely seeking potential allies. As I said, we who follow Dorna respect magic and knowledge. We also respect magical beings and would not condemn them to die due to mere ignorance and fear. I believe if we work together, we could both make ourselves a little safer from hostile forces. In fact, we could even set you and your girlfriend up in our own private mausoleum. It would be much nicer than this public graveyard where just anyone can walk into." Nice offer, but you're skeptical. "I think we'll be fine right where we are at and as for your offer of an alliance, I'm still not sure what benefit there would be for allying with you lot. As you said, you're much smaller than the rest of the factions. I mean it seems like if I was going to ally with anyone, I'd be better off allying with the followers of Fel. I mean don't they have ties to the Ebony Claw Syndicate? I've even heard rumors that Baroness Varsakken is a priestess. Seems like they're going to be on the winning team." "Well that IS the safe bet. And it would perhaps be wise in your case to consider it. I'm sure they would also welcome a vampire ally." Dorna pauses for a moment as if to collect her thoughts before continuing. "However, think on this as well. If all the rumors about them are true, they are indeed very powerful. In fact so powerful that why have they not just purged all the other sects yet? There are plenty of other rumors going around that the Felians might not even be completely united. Many of the true believers think that the Ebony Claw is a corrupting influence on proper worship of the shadow god. Even the Baroness is having a hard time keeping them all in line along with ruling the city. You ally with them and you could find yourself a pawn in whatever private power struggle they're engaged in and that's along with the external troubles coming as well." "Maybe I'll just stick by myself, seems to be working just fine so far." "Again, perfectly valid. You have no reason to trust any of us. I am merely extending my hand. It's up to you if you want to take it. I will leave you to your rest. If you change your mind, I'm sure you're familiar with where our temple is, and you're invited to enter." The sorceress (priestess?) takes her leave and you head inside your home before the sun comes up. Lisa of course is waiting patiently by your resting area. You open up your wrist and allow her to suck on you while you ponder your options. You suppose that some sort of agreement with the Dornans could be beneficial assuming they're serious about providing a better place where you wouldn't be as accessible. Of course you've dealt with one wizard type before and well…you know how that turned out. > You stay on your own You're a damn vampire. You don't need the help of some fucking wizard bitches. They probably just want to get you in their temple where they can do some sort of magic shit that WILL work on you and then harvest you for spell components or something. You're not going to seek the aid of any of these factions. Your days of asking for help are over. The only one you can count on is yourself and you can easily protect your own dwelling if those religious nuts come beating down your crypt door. You need to make some improvements to your home. You pat Lisa on the head and motion her to stop sucking. "Come on, we got work to do girl." You say. "Huh? But it's almost day, aren't you going to sleep soon my love?" Isabella asks. "No, but we're going to working out of the sunlight anyway, so it doesn't matter." You (and Lisa) begin to dig out tunnels and space underneath the current crypt you're residing in. You do this over the course of several weeks, only taking quick breaks to go feed. You make sure only you leave because the last thing you want is for Lisa to get distracted. Promises and rewards of your own blood keep her happy enough that she obeys you with no straying. You continue to work on your home and probably become slightly absorbed with fixing it, making alterations and securing it. You wonder if that's the vampire tendency to obsess about details kicking in. (You definitely won't be cleaning it though, you've had enough of that) Isabella had an extensive catacomb system in her crypt, but due to being in a city, you have to work within its limits somewhat. For one, Holgard is a costal town. Last thing you need is the sea flooding most of your tunnels. Holgard also has an extensive sewer system and you've had to make sure that your home doesn't have multiple passages leading into it. However, you do make one entrance because you ultimately decide that it probably would be better to just come and in out through the sewers which lead all over the place and make travelling around a bit more convenient if you ever need to do it during the day. Lisa also can easily find something for herself to feast on in the sewers as well. Be it vermin or potentially even some hapless bum. You'd rather her skulk around down here than out in the open. You seal up the crypt "entrance" tight and trap it just in case anyone is really determined to go searching for you that way. The entire time you're doing this, you're keeping aware of events that are going on in the city. So far nothing out of the ordinary or more importantly, no angry Joachimites storming the streets looking for supernatural horrors to destroy. In fact, they've been fairly quiet. The only thing you've recently heard is an assassination attempt on the high warrior priest of Karn which the Felians are getting blamed for (Of course they're denying it) and that the worshippers of Yag somehow changed all the Dorna symbols into dicks. Not just images or representation of dicks, but actual dicks. When the Dornan priests and priestesses woke up that day, they found their entire temple literally covered in dicks (Of all sizes) from the inside and out. Fortunately this seems to have pissed off the Dornans enough to focus their attention elsewhere and as such they have not made any more overtures to you. After months of work, you're still making improvements (And with your new found obsession, you're likely to be always doing so), but your home is pretty much complete. You've even taken time to furnish it a bit just so it doesn't feel like a simple cave dwelling. You imagine that the lumber yards, ironmongers, and furniture shops and don't normally get many thefts and burglaries, but they've certainly suffered a rash of them lately. The one thing that you weren't expecting in all this, is you've sort of "re-bonded" a bit with Lisa. After having spent so much time working closely with her and doing something actually productive, you definitely don't feel the same "guilty obligation" you once did for making her into a ghoul. It's nothing like how it used to be of course, but your feelings for her are approaching a fondness that you once had. They must be, because you're starting to look past her usual disheveled appearance and ignore whatever foul smells she's immersed herself in, though you've been trying to help her on that front by providing her with perfumes, oils and incense. (The herbalist shops have received a rash of burglaries as well) With your home project, your "ghoulfriend", plentiful food supply and continued rouguish activities (Which you didn't think you'd actually ever go back into on any major scale) you've officially made Holgard your stomping grounds and at this point you're not going to be run off by anyone. The mortals can burn this city to the ground in whatever power struggle they're having at the moment, but one thing is certain, you're going to still be just fine under the smoldering ruins of it. > You time passes... Chapter 3C2: Price of Freedom Year 30 "No, no, no, you can't play that card." You say. "Oh. Um…okay then this one." Lisa says. You play your own card that easily beats the rest of Lisa's hand. "I hate this stupid game." She exclaims and throws her cards down on the table causing you to smile a bit. "Well you're getting better at it." "I just don't see the point in us playing games when we could be feeding together or better yet, fucking instead." "Now Lisa, you know there's more to existence than just the base needs." "Pfft, not much more, come on lover, I'll let you do whatever you want to me." "You let me do whatever I want all the time. Maybe later. However, if you don't want to play games though, you can always got feast on those whores we got in the meat room." "Ohhh! You mean we're not saving them anymore?" "Well we're saving two of them for the rest of the week. You can go eat the third one though. Pick whichever one you want. I'll join you a little later." Lisa makes that disturbing squeal and kisses the side of your face before running off to go eat. You still aren't sure if you actually "love" Lisa, but you definitely don't mind her affection again, now that you've gotten her to regularly perfume herself and chew on mint herbs once in awhile. In fact, you do believe you've trained Lisa fairly well all things considered. Even her personality has changed slightly so that she isn't a complete toadying suck up. Makes you wonder if Isabella was just bullshitting you about it being so difficult. You pack up your deck of cards and check on some of your tunnels. You thought you saw the support beam warping. You might need to replace it. You don't think you'll ever get this place just right. As you're inspecting your work, your other senses perk up. You can sense someone coming and its not some idiots trying to get into the topside crypt (It was funny how those Joachimites fell for that blade trap a few years ago). This is someone approaching from the sewer entrance, which means this is a hell of a lot more serious because you keep it well hidden. And this someone, you don't think is mortal… You approach your "front door" to the sewers cautiously and fully prepared for a fight when you hear a muffled yet familiar voice from the other side. "I can tell you're approaching. Yes, you! Your essence to me will always be strong even when you make your home in the middle of some filthy human shithole." Isabella remarks. "Isabella?" you answer. "Yes, I'm sure you can tell it was me, unless these sewers have completely destroyed your senses. Why the hell did you make your home in such a place?" "Seemed like a good idea at the time, besides, nobody bothers me down here." "Well that I can certainly believe. Look, you going to let me in now so we can talk because standing out here in the muck isn't my idea of a pleasant evening." "With all respect Isabella, why the hell are you here? Last time we talked, you weren't exactly pleased with me." "Long story. And I'd argue that we parted ways on fairly amicable terms. You didn't really expect me to share you with that lesser being did you? I told you that." "You also told me, that you'd kill the both of us." "Oh, that was just my way of getting you both the hell out, and look it worked. In fact I'm currently extending my courtesy, by simply NOT smashing in this wall and barging in." "You can't do that. This is my home and I haven't invited you in!" You hear Isabella chuckling from the other side. "Oh my sweet young vampire. You still have so much to learn. I'm your maker, I will always be connected to you even if I don't have direct influence anymore. And that means your home will ALWAYS be my home too. So let me in or I'm wrecking this not so secret wall of yours, and I'm sure you don't want that." You hate these "new rules" that pop up about your current existence. "Alright, alright, fine." you say and slide open the wall And there you see Isabella looking the same way as when you left her crypt. Including being naked. "Glad to see you're still intelligent enough to know when to listen to your betters. Always liked that about you." She says and steps inside. Isabella sniffs a bit. "Hmm, the odor is much better in here. Ah, I smell fresh blood nearby and another familiar scent…though somehow different…wait…is that your ghoul? She still around?" "For your information, yes Lisa is here and if this is some attempt of trying to get me back, forget it, because we're still together." Isabella smirks. "Hm, guess good minions are hard to come by. No point in throwing one out right? Tell me, were the sewers her idea? In any case, I hate to break your male ego, but I'm not here in some silly attempt to get you back. I'm here because I need your help." Isabella says. "Wait, you need MY help?" you say. "Yes, but don't think that this an opportunity to hold something over my head. I'm a very resourceful woman and you are just one of my resources I need to help accomplish my task." "Hm, glad to be held in such high esteem." "As well you should especially because this also involves another old acquaintance of yours. Ral." All the figures from the past are coming out tonight… "What does Ral have to do with this?" you ask. "He fucking destroyed my home and Dert, that's what he has to do with this! Honestly I'm surprised you haven't heard about it since I imagine this haven of scum has a lot of gossip going on." "Honestly, as the years have worn on, I've been becoming more of a recluse so I don't keep up or even pay attention to most of the shit I hear the mortals talk about unless it really sounds like it's going to affect me directly. If it wasn't for the whole needing to feed situation and requiring the occasional supplies to fix up my home, I'd just stay down here with Lisa and never leave. Still, to my knowledge Dert was never very important and I doubt if anyone in Holgard even gave a shit about the place if they even knew it existed at all." "Nevertheless, it's gone, along with my home and Ral has to pay for that." "I think you're going to have to start from the beginning and let's talk some place where I can sit and at least take all this in." You take Isabella through some of your home and head towards one of your "living areas." Isabella remarks that she is impressed by what you have done given the limitations you had to work with. "I see you tried your best to emulate the layout of my own crypt and catacombs even if they aren't nearly as tidy." Isabella says. "Glad you approve. I need to stop here first." You say. As you're passing the meat room, you see Lisa completely engorging herself on one of the whores that she's completely ripped apart. She's covered in gore and entrails and loving every minute of it. You imagine this would be a horrific sight to the other two chained up, if they weren't under a trance. Lisa bloody face looks up from her feeding and grins at you, but then her grin becomes a look of worry when she sees Isabella behind you. "Wha…what…what's she doing here?! I thought it was just you and me from now on! You said so!" Lisa says. "It is, and it always will be, my grave flower. Isabella just came to visit about something and I have to talk to her about it." "…you're mad at me, aren't you? Please don't be mad at me! I can do better! I'll…I'll chew more of those mint herbs you want me to! You're bored…you want a threeway don't you? I can go down on Isabella while you ram it into me hard. You can hurt me really good, and split me open. I don't care. Please just let me be around to still worship you. You're my love and my entire life!" Isabella stifles a snort of laughter, causing you to briefly glare at her, before you approach Lisa. You kneel down in the large blood puddle and caress her face (which is sticky with blood). It's times like this when Lisa's slavish ghoul personality comes out in full force. "Lisa, Lisa…don't get upset. You're the only woman for me and you always will be. It's why I've always stayed with you. You understand that right?" "But…she's back now…" "Isabella is just visiting. We're not getting together. We're just going to talk and that's all I swear. You're my lovely grave flower and nobody can replace you." You say and kiss Lisa who hugs you tightly. She attempts to do more than that, but you have to remind her that later would be a better time. Lisa accepts your reassurances, but still has a look of concern on her face. Lisa soon goes back to eating the whore's liver, probably in an attempt to comfort herself. You stand up and motion Isabella to follow you. You fully expect to hear taunting comments, but surprisingly you hear none. When you get to your destination, Isabella tells you what exactly is going on with Ral. Isabella tells you that a few months ago, during one of her resting periods, her home was completely collapsed from the inside out by an earth elemental. She said it took her weeks to dig herself out and by the time she did she found that the entire graveyard was now a large sinkhole. She doesn't know what happened to the elemental since the attack just suddenly stopped like it just disappeared. Lacking any other immediate choices, she decided to head to Dert and charm someone there and use their dwelling for a while until she could figure out her next step. However, when she got to Dert, she found that nearly all the people had been turned to stone. Not just the people though, but most of the plant and animal life in the surrounding area as well. The few people that hadn't been turned to stone were nothing but bits of flesh still hanging off bones. She proceeded cautiously since she was aware that only a few things could cause something like this, either powerful magic or certain creatures. As it turned out, it was both. She eventually found a family of four that had been hiding in a root cellar for quite some time. They were all very frightened and assumed she was another monster to come to kill them. (Probably due to the whole unnatural paleness and naked thing) After subduing the father, Isabella demanded to know what had transpired in the village. He explained that a few days ago, a female creature with a snake body appeared in the middle of the village along with four medium-sized reptile like creatures, which seemed to be her pets. There was a brief moment of confusion from both sides at first, but then the woman spoke something in a hissing type language and all hell broke loose. Most of the village was either turned to stone or ripped apart and consumed by the reptilian beasts. The family hid in some sort of community root cellar when they couldn't get to their home proper, they told Isabella that they could hear the screams of people that apparently tried to hide as well, but the creatures stayed in the village to make sure they had wiped out everyone. In fact, the family was very surprised that Isabella didn't see them since they were certain they were still lurking about. Isabella at this point tells you that she imagines that the creatures were most definitely a medusa and basilisks. She also says neither of them make their homes anywhere near this area either and it would be rare enough for one to show up, let alone a group like that. And given that they just suddenly appeared (and then apparently disappeared at some point, since there were no signs that they left the area to go elsewhere, yet they also were no longer around) the way they did, there had to be powerful magic at work. She goes on to tell you that both creatures do not normally make their homes in this area and it would be rare enough for one of them to turn up and wipe out an entire village, let alone a group of them. This combined with the earth elemental incident, and the cause of all this could only be Ral. She doesn't know why he would do something like this and she doesn't much care, all she cares about is the fact that Ral fucked up her home and convenient feeding grounds and for that he has to pay. "He's been on borrowed time as it is." Isabella says. "Are you sure it was him? I mean Ral was an asshole, but he never seemed to deliberately be the type to cause destruction for the shits and giggles. I mean is there proof?" you ask. "I don't need fucking proof, I got instinct! And as I said, I don't care if it was just some spell that went wrong, he's gotta fucking pay for what he did. And YOU are going to help me." "How the hell am I supposed to do that? I mean earth elementals, creatures that turn shit to stone, and wizard shit on top of all of it? I dealt with Ral before and it didn't go well, not sure if I'm too keen on facing him again." "You're also not a weak human anymore! You're a fucking vampire with all the advantages that go along with it! I'm going to be doing most of the heavy lifting anyway. I just need you to get in his home and if possible try to get me in there as well." "How? His home isn't my home. I wouldn't be able to get in it anymore than you would." "Yes you would, you were his servant were you not? Think back. Ral invited you in to his home long before you became a vampire." As strange as it may seem, you do remember his exact words to you during that time. "My home is your home." Weird that you never really thought about before, but then your mind was preoccupied with other things you suppose. "Well, maybe I guess…but I just don't see how any of this is my problem! YOU said you released me and I thought…perhaps foolishly that you were at least a woman with a sense of honor. I mean I stayed out of your way and made a life for myself elsewhere, I don't see why I should have to help you." "You're saying you don't even want to do this even out of a sense of revenge on Ral?" "Maybe at one time I would have if I'd known I could enter his home so easily. But now? It's all in the past and I've made a life not just for myself here, but for Lisa as well. I just don't see why I should go potentially fucking that up when things are good. I mean…obviously you're a hundred times more powerful than me and I can't stop you from forcing me to help you under threat of death, but…I dunno…whatever…I just thought things were finally going well for me." You slump in your chair and despair a bit about your situation. Isabella studies you a moment and then addresses you. "You're right. You're right about everything. I did release you and you aren't really any under obligation to help. You're also right in that I could just threaten to kill you and your little fuck toy if you don't help me, though I'd probably go for extended torture since I don't think you'd fear immediate death as much." Isabella remarks. "So where are we then?" you ask. "So, I'm going to give you a reasonable compromise, because I still have a soft spot for you. If you help me kill Ral, I can promise that I will never darken your path again. At least not on purpose. However, if you don't want to help me in that way, I'm going to give you another option and that is you must leave this place." "What?" "If you're not going to help me kill Ral, I need to plan another method of attack without you, and for that, I'm going to need my own home to do that from. I don't want to waste time finding or building my own right now, so yours…such as it is, will have to do. Give me this place and I will never darken your doorstep again." "That's mostly because I won't have a doorstep any longer." "Well be that as it may, the option is there. You can be truly free and go find somewhere else to live. I don't doubt you couldn't set yourself up just as well somewhere else, but I also don't doubt that somewhere within you, that you wouldn't mind getting revenge on Ral." > You help Isabella You really don't want to start all over again with finding or building another home. You're comfortable here and don't want to move. So if this one last thing means you get to stay here, then so be it. "Very well, I'll help, but what if I can't get in anyway?" you ask. "Well, we might have to come back to reassess a new plan. I'm almost sure that you will be able to get in though." Isabella says. "I sure hope so, because as much as I want to keep my home and perhaps even not mind the revenge bit, I'm not sure if I'm prepared to be in a perpetual stalemate where I'm sharing this place with you. I'd rather just pick up and leave I think." "Understandable, and that's certainly your choice if it comes to that, but let's keep positive thoughts. So, are you ready to go?" "What, now?" "Well sure. The night is still young and I figured you wanted to get this over with as soon as possible." "I suppose you're right, but I think I'm going to need at least a little time to explain this Lisa." "What for? Just say you're leaving and will be back in a day or two. It isn't like she's going to leave you and I'm sure she'll be satisfied if you tell her she can eat those two girls I saw chained up. Ghouls are easily distracted and appeased, I'm sure you well know." "Yeah and I'm sure that YOU well know that I treat Lisa as an equal, not like some pet!" "Of course you do. Very well, talk to your child then, I will see you in the (ugh) sewers." Isabella takes her leave and you're about to head back to the meat room, when you notice blood puddles and small trails in the hallway. You follow them to a small dead end to another tunnel you've been recently working on and that's where you find Lisa huddled in a corner chewing on a bone and making a weird (yet relatively quiet) noise. Almost like she's crying, but not quite. She looks up at you mournfully. "Lisa, I'm not mad if you were listening to us." you say. "You're leaving with her aren't you?" Lisa asks. "I have to if we want to keep our home. Don't you want us to keep the home we've made here?" "I…I don't want you to go. I need you…can't…can't I come with you?" "Lisa, it's going to be really dangerous. I mean I'm sure you remember my stories about Ral. We're going to be going up against him and I don't want to worry about you getting hurt." "But I could help! I want to help! Please let me help!" Lisa says grabbing your arm with fanatical dedication in her eyes. It's against your better judgment, but if you leave her here she could just get into trouble anyway. Perhaps even more without you close by and her probably getting depressed about the situation. If you take her with you, at least you can keep an eye on her and she'll be happy. It's one more factor to worry about, but if you're really serious about trying to treat her like an equal, keeping her contained like pet (or child as Isabella said) isn't the way to go about it. Besides Lisa isn't defenseless. "Very well, but you REALLY need to obey all my commands during this task. Seriously, you can't go wandering off in search of food or any else of the sort. You need to follow all my orders to the letter. Understand?" "I do! I do my love! Oh thank you! I'll be a big help! You'll see!" Lisa showers you with a lot of affection and as usual she goes for the crotch immediately. You half think about stopping her since this is going to take awhile and you're supposed to be on your way to Ral's, but you feel like Lisa deserves a reward for dealing with all this (And hell, so do you) so… Later, you meet Isabella who is still standing in the sewers close to your secret wall. "About fucking time. Don't tell me, I already know what you were doing…aaaand I see we now have a loadstone with us. Fantastic!" Isabella remarks when she sees Lisa behind you. Lisa looks down a bit when Isabella calls her out. "Look, she can be of help. It's going to take us a couple days to get to Ral's so it might be useful to have someone that can at least scout around during the day while we sleep in the ground." "More like give ourselves away. Fine, I suppose she would be useful fodder if worse comes to worse. Let's go, we've already wasted…" You place one hand on Isabella's shoulder and spin her around when she turns her back on you. "Let's get one thing fucking straight. Lisa is NOT fodder. She's not a minion, she's not my fuck toy, she's not a child, she's not a fucking pet! Lisa is my fucking mate. She came because she wants to help me and I want her to help me. This, what we're doing right now? Is to help you. However, if you keep insulting Lisa and being a general bitch to her, you can go do this on your own and both of us will find some place else to live. I'm putting up with a lot of things and I'm not trying to step out of line against my so called betters, but I'm not going to put up with how you talk to and about her! AGH SHIT!" Isabella quickly grabs your wrist twists it and throws you to the hard floor face first. Lisa, rushes to attack, but is easily slapped aside into the nearby wall as Isabella applies pressure to your arm and shoves her knee into your back. "First of all, don't you EVER fucking touch me again uninvited! You lost that privilege a long time ago. This is your ONLY warning about it. Second…fine. I apologize. I was not behaving in a way befitting of my class. I won't insult your lady again. Glad to see that it really was true love." Isabella gets off you and you wince a bit in lingering pain as you stand up. You then go over to Lisa and ask if she's okay, to which she replies that she is. You then both follow Isabella who has walked ahead of you. Things are silent for more or less during the journey out of Holgard. It's sort of a weird silence and soon after you're making your way through the forest, you make conversation. "So, while I can imagine what happened, what did you do with the family you found in that root cellar?" you ask "Oh them? Well I had to rebuild my strength after being stuck underground for weeks, so after they told me what happened, drained all of them." Isabella remarks. "Yep, figured as much." "Honestly, I might have kept three of them alive under normal circumstances, but it wasn't the normal circumstances and I do have a weakness for children's blood." "Did…did the children taste sweet?" Lisa suddenly asks. Isabella smiles a bit. "Yes, the children did taste sweet. Their blood usually does though unless they're horrible greenskins. Rather go hungry than drink their blood, no matter what age most of the time." Isabella remarks. "Some greenskins aren't bad, but they're always very tough. They are an acquired taste and even the dead sometimes taste better than the average hobgoblin." Lisa remarks. "I'm sure you have a very versatile palate Lisa, not many can boast such a talent." Isabella's remark could be taken as a backhanded compliment at best or a sarcastic insult at worst, but Lisa seems to take what she said as a benign praise, so you let it go. Eventually dawn starts to arrive and you and Isabella take shelter in the ground. Lisa herself never seems to require as much sleep, so she'll be still be wandering around for some of the day (Though still probably trying to stay in the shade which shouldn't be a problem due to being in a forest). You aren't sure if you should have her do a little scouting while you're asleep or have her protect your resting area though. > You protect your resting area You thought about letting Lisa scout ahead before the journey started, but you've sort of reassessed that idea. You still remember when you were a human and how you easily got lost in this damn forest, which is what caused you to bump into Ral in the first place. You've traveled this area so much in the past that it would take a lot of effort to get yourself lost again, but Lisa really hasn't. Granted you'd be able to track her down if she got lost, but you'd rather not waste time looking for her as soon as you wake up. "Lisa, I want you to stay in this general area, okay? You'll be guarding my resting place. You don't want some animal or person to come digging me up while the sun is out do you?" you say. "Never! I'll stay here my love and make sure your rest isn't disturbed!" "Okay, I'll see you this evening." You say and kiss Lisa before digging yourself a shallow hole to sleep in. (Lisa helps pat down the dirt to make sure you're completely covered) Later… You wake up as your usual internal "clock" tells you to do so and dig yourself out to a nice moonlit night. Lisa stands by with Isabella who has woken up before you. Lisa wastes no time in trying to brush the dirt off of you. (And popping the occasional insect in her mouth while doing it) "About time you got up. I got information to tell you." Isabella remarks. "How long you been awake?" you ask. "Longer than you have. I would have woken you sooner, but I figured I'd do my own scouting ahead first. I haven't been back that long." "Okay, so what do you have to tell me?" "We're not the only ones heading to Ral's tower. There are a group of six people in blue and purple robes camped not far from here." "Those sound like Dornans. In all the time I was slaving for Ral, I never knew him to worship Dorna." "He never did when I was on better terms with him either. I don't think he's ever revered anything except maybe his own magical research." "You think maybe all this is the work of the Dornans?" "Not exactly sure, but given that they're dedicated to the Goddess of magic, maybe they're investigating all the weird shit going on in this area. If anyone else knew about it, cared about it and was also equipped to handle whatever is going on, it would be them. Of course, they're probably unlikely to just tell us." "They're probably very likely to just try to kill us. I got approached by one a few years back proposing an alliance and I didn't trust them then." "Smart move. We need to get rid of all but one. The last one we can interrogate and then kill them. I'm not exactly sure just how magically talented these folks are, but unless they're all mostly acolytes, six of them are still enough to give more than enough trouble. And if they're heading to Ral's place, I'd very much believe that most, if not all are very competent spell slingers and far beyond being mere acolytes. It would probably help to have a distraction." "I hope you aren't suggesting Lisa." "No, I'm suggesting you. No offense to your lady, but Lisa would potentially be a liability. They'd just take control of her and turn her against us." "Unfortunately you're probably right. Very well, what exactly do you want me to do?" "Nothing much, just go up to their camp and start talking with them. They probably won't even attack right away since they'll be too arrogant to believe that they're in any real danger. If I've learned anything wizard types love to go on about their own relative importance when given the chance. I can probably take down two or three of them by surprise. Hopefully you can take out at least one. The remaining ones should at least even up the odds for us. You ready?" "Ready as I'm going to be." After Isabella tells you where they are (and you reassure Lisa not to follow you), you're soon on your way to meet six wizards. When you get to the camp, you make no pretense on being sneaky and fully announce yourself, the Dornans all stand up, save for one of them that looks older than the rest. "What do you want vampire?" one of them with a shitty goatee asks. "That obvious?" you respond. "Very. Now, you want to tell us why you're intruding on our camp or do we make spell components out of your ashes?" "Hey, what's with the threats? There are six of you guys and just one of me! I hardly think I'd be able to take all of you on." "Damn right you wouldn't, you walking leech." "Hey, steady there Travis. I know this one!" one of the female members says. It's the same woman who approached you years ago about an alliance. "You know this blood sucker, Heather?" Travis asks. "Yeah, he lives in Holgard. Or as far as I know he still does. He's not that old and is definitely no threat to us. He's the one that was approached back when all the faiths were at each other's throats. You never did get back to us on that offer." Heather says stepping closer towards you. "I figured me never showing up at your temple was my answer. Besides, looks like you guys came out okay without my help." You answer. "Indeed, so where's your ghoul girl?" "Alas, she is no longer with me. Taken down by those accursed Joachimites during those years of strife." "See? You should have allied with us; such a loss could have been prevented." "Probably for the best. As a vampire I probably should start getting used to the loss of those I once loved. So what are you lot doing out here?" "We could ask the same of you. Even more so since you seem to have evaded Travis' initial question." "Oh nothing interesting. I occasionally leave Holgard to hunt in the wild. I find that it keeps the senses sharp. Besides, the bandit types out here tend to put up more of a fight than the cutpurses in Holgard." "Hm, so why approach us?" "I dunno, Just looking for company to talk to. I get sort of lonely sometimes, especially with Lisa gone. I even tried to make another ghoul once, but…eh, it wasn't the same and I disposed of it." 'Yeah, yeah, that's a real shame. Poor depressed vampire wallowing about how nobody understands his pain. Boo fucking hoo. Why the hell is it that half of all you vampires are like this? Shit, I got more respect for those leeches that just rip your head off and dispense with all the pretense of trying to be living creatures with real feelings. If you're really that tortured, just go take a walk in the sun and be done with it." Travis says dismissively. "What is with your hostility? I understand your need to be cautious given the circumstances, but you don't need to act like a complete asshole. I just asked what you guys were doing out here and if you don't want to tell me, fine I'll just leave you to it." "Don't mind Travis, he just doesn't like the outdoors and it's been making him cranky. If you really want to know though, we're just investigating magical disturbances around this area." "Heather! Why the fuck would you tell him that?" Travis remarks. "Yeah, this leech doesn't need to know our business." Another says. "Oh what difference does it really make? Not like he's got some unholy alliance with Ral. Besides, Elder Flynn would have said something by now, if I did something wrong, isn't that right Elder Flynn? Elder Flynn? Elder?" At this point they all turn towards the old man who is still sitting down and not saying a word. Then suddenly he slumps forward and his head comes off. "SHIT!" someone shouts and before any of them can react, Isabella has already opened up the throats of two of them. You dodge a bolt of flame and take out another Dornan. Travis, however, speaks some words and a flash of light blinds you long enough to cause him to get away. Meanwhile Heather has already cast a speed spell and completely run off, "You get that goatee asshole, I'll chase down the speed bitch!" Isabella shouts. She didn't need to tell you twice. While Travis can't out pace you in the long run, he's smart enough to cast an illusion and you see several versions of him split up and run into different directions and whatever magic he's using to cause illusions, its also masking him so you can't tell which one is the real one just by scent. Fortunately for you he's arrogant enough to not just run away which will at least give you a chance to kill him. Unfortunately, that also gives him a chance to kill you and you once again narrowly dodge a bolt of magic thrown your way by him (or an illusion) hiding behind one of the many trees. "If you think you're taking me down, guess again leech. I've destroyed creatures far more threatening than you." Travis taunts. You don't answer you just try to focus on any and all sounds. You stop completely and listen, then you suddenly grab a figure hiding behind a large oak tree and squeeze by the neck. Travis' eyes bulge and he gasps, but then at the point where you would have easily crushed his throat, he begins to laugh and the illusion disappears. You then get blasted in the back by a bolt of flame. You feel the burn and have to roll on the ground like an idiot putting it out. "Stupid fucking leech! This is going to be so easy!" In between your charred clothing and flesh, you do catch another familiar scent. It isn't Travis' however. It's Lisa. You can only guess she decided to try to help after all and is in the vicinity somewhere. > You go to her immediately While Lisa has gone hunting by herself many times without you around before, this is different since as far as you know she's never faced an opponent like this before. Your protective instincts kick in and you rush to her. When you think it to be safe you come out of hiding and run in her direction. Unfortunately Travis was waiting to ambush you and several illusions of himself step out and zap you with flame bolts. You avoid a few of them, but not all. A good portion of you is on fire and you desperately try to put it out, while trying to get back into cover. While you were burned, you were still in fighting shape, however when Lisa saw that you were the one in danger so she rushed to YOUR aid rather than staying in hiding. That worked out even less well for her than it did for you. Travis sets her on fire as well, but rather than seeking cover or trying to put out the flames, she freaks out and runs around flailing and screaming at the nearest illusion. She destroys it of course, but it isn't the real Travis, so it hardly matters. You call out to Lisa and tell her to get the hell out of the area. "Lisa, roll on the fucking ground and get the hell out of…no! Stop!" you shout when you see her suddenly stop and then run right towards you, flames and all. Travis must have used the same spell Heather did, years ago when she had Lisa under control. Your own influence over Lisa struggles against the spell and while it probably would have won out eventually, One of Travis' illusions takes the opportunity to shoot you in the back with another ball of flame. Your concentration is broken and Lisa tackles you to the ground. Screaming, yelling and flailing on the ground while the pair of you burn is cut short when Travis finally ends it all with one last gout of fire conjured from his hands.

You thought about letting Lisa scout ahead before the journey started, but you've sort of reassessed that idea. You still remember when you were a human and how you easily got lost in this damn forest, which is what caused you to bump into Ral in the first place. You've traveled this area so much in the past that it would take a lot of effort to get yourself lost again, but Lisa really hasn't. Granted you'd be able to track her down if she got lost, but you'd rather not waste time looking for her as soon as you wake up. "Lisa, I want you to stay in this general area, okay? You'll be guarding my resting place. You don't want some animal or person to come digging me up while the sun is out do you?" you say. "Never! I'll stay here my love and make sure your rest isn't disturbed!" "Okay, I'll see you this evening." You say and kiss Lisa before digging yourself a shallow hole to sleep in. (Lisa helps pat down the dirt to make sure you're completely covered) Later… You wake up as your usual internal "clock" tells you to do so and dig yourself out to a nice moonlit night. Lisa stands by with Isabella who has woken up before you. Lisa wastes no time in trying to brush the dirt off of you. (And popping the occasional insect in her mouth while doing it) "About time you got up. I got information to tell you." Isabella remarks. "How long you been awake?" you ask. "Longer than you have. I would have woken you sooner, but I figured I'd do my own scouting ahead first. I haven't been back that long." "Okay, so what do you have to tell me?" "We're not the only ones heading to Ral's tower. There are a group of six people in blue and purple robes camped not far from here." "Those sound like Dornans. In all the time I was slaving for Ral, I never knew him to worship Dorna." "He never did when I was on better terms with him either. I don't think he's ever revered anything except maybe his own magical research." "You think maybe all this is the work of the Dornans?" "Not exactly sure, but given that they're dedicated to the Goddess of magic, maybe they're investigating all the weird shit going on in this area. If anyone else knew about it, cared about it and was also equipped to handle whatever is going on, it would be them. Of course, they're probably unlikely to just tell us." "They're probably very likely to just try to kill us. I got approached by one a few years back proposing an alliance and I didn't trust them then." "Smart move. We need to get rid of all but one. The last one we can interrogate and then kill them. I'm not exactly sure just how magically talented these folks are, but unless they're all mostly acolytes, six of them are still enough to give more than enough trouble. And if they're heading to Ral's place, I'd very much believe that most, if not all are very competent spell slingers and far beyond being mere acolytes. It would probably help to have a distraction." "I hope you aren't suggesting Lisa." "No, I'm suggesting you. No offense to your lady, but Lisa would potentially be a liability. They'd just take control of her and turn her against us." "Unfortunately you're probably right. Very well, what exactly do you want me to do?" "Nothing much, just go up to their camp and start talking with them. They probably won't even attack right away since they'll be too arrogant to believe that they're in any real danger. If I've learned anything wizard types love to go on about their own relative importance when given the chance. I can probably take down two or three of them by surprise. Hopefully you can take out at least one. The remaining ones should at least even up the odds for us. You ready?" "Ready as I'm going to be." After Isabella tells you where they are (and you reassure Lisa not to follow you), you're soon on your way to meet six wizards. When you get to the camp, you make no pretense on being sneaky and fully announce yourself, the Dornans all stand up, save for one of them that looks older than the rest. "What do you want vampire?" one of them with a shitty goatee asks. "That obvious?" you respond. "Very. Now, you want to tell us why you're intruding on our camp or do we make spell components out of your ashes?" "Hey, what's with the threats? There are six of you guys and just one of me! I hardly think I'd be able to take all of you on." "Damn right you wouldn't, you walking leech." "Hey, steady there Travis. I know this one!" one of the female members says. It's the same woman who approached you years ago about an alliance. "You know this blood sucker, Heather?" Travis asks. "Yeah, he lives in Holgard. Or as far as I know he still does. He's not that old and is definitely no threat to us. He's the one that was approached back when all the faiths were at each other's throats. You never did get back to us on that offer." Heather says stepping closer towards you. "I figured me never showing up at your temple was my answer. Besides, looks like you guys came out okay without my help." You answer. "Indeed, so where's your ghoul girl?" "Alas, she is no longer with me. Taken down by those accursed Joachimites during those years of strife." "See? You should have allied with us; such a loss could have been prevented." "Probably for the best. As a vampire I probably should start getting used to the loss of those I once loved. So what are you lot doing out here?" "We could ask the same of you. Even more so since you seem to have evaded Travis' initial question." "Oh nothing interesting. I occasionally leave Holgard to hunt in the wild. I find that it keeps the senses sharp. Besides, the bandit types out here tend to put up more of a fight than the cutpurses in Holgard." "Hm, so why approach us?" "I dunno, Just looking for company to talk to. I get sort of lonely sometimes, especially with Lisa gone. I even tried to make another ghoul once, but…eh, it wasn't the same and I disposed of it." 'Yeah, yeah, that's a real shame. Poor depressed vampire wallowing about how nobody understands his pain. Boo fucking hoo. Why the hell is it that half of all you vampires are like this? Shit, I got more respect for those leeches that just rip your head off and dispense with all the pretense of trying to be living creatures with real feelings. If you're really that tortured, just go take a walk in the sun and be done with it." Travis says dismissively. "What is with your hostility? I understand your need to be cautious given the circumstances, but you don't need to act like a complete asshole. I just asked what you guys were doing out here and if you don't want to tell me, fine I'll just leave you to it." "Don't mind Travis, he just doesn't like the outdoors and it's been making him cranky. If you really want to know though, we're just investigating magical disturbances around this area." "Heather! Why the fuck would you tell him that?" Travis remarks. "Yeah, this leech doesn't need to know our business." Another says. "Oh what difference does it really make? Not like he's got some unholy alliance with Ral. Besides, Elder Flynn would have said something by now, if I did something wrong, isn't that right Elder Flynn? Elder Flynn? Elder?" At this point they all turn towards the old man who is still sitting down and not saying a word. Then suddenly he slumps forward and his head comes off. "SHIT!" someone shouts and before any of them can react, Isabella has already opened up the throats of two of them. You dodge a bolt of flame and take out another Dornan. Travis, however, speaks some words and a flash of light blinds you long enough to cause him to get away. Meanwhile Heather has already cast a speed spell and completely run off, "You get that goatee asshole, I'll chase down the speed bitch!" Isabella shouts. She didn't need to tell you twice. While Travis can't out pace you in the long run, he's smart enough to cast an illusion and you see several versions of him split up and run into different directions and whatever magic he's using to cause illusions, its also masking him so you can't tell which one is the real one just by scent. Fortunately for you he's arrogant enough to not just run away which will at least give you a chance to kill him. Unfortunately, that also gives him a chance to kill you and you once again narrowly dodge a bolt of magic thrown your way by him (or an illusion) hiding behind one of the many trees. "If you think you're taking me down, guess again leech. I've destroyed creatures far more threatening than you." Travis taunts. You don't answer you just try to focus on any and all sounds. You stop completely and listen, then you suddenly grab a figure hiding behind a large oak tree and squeeze by the neck. Travis' eyes bulge and he gasps, but then at the point where you would have easily crushed his throat, he begins to laugh and the illusion disappears. You then get blasted in the back by a bolt of flame. You feel the burn and have to roll on the ground like an idiot putting it out. "Stupid fucking leech! This is going to be so easy!" In between your charred clothing and flesh, you do catch another familiar scent. It isn't Travis' however. It's Lisa. You can only guess she decided to try to help after all and is in the vicinity somewhere. > You focus on Travis Lisa's a big ghoul, she's going to have to fend for herself. Besides, the best way you can defend her is if you kill Travis as quick as possible. Since Travis likes to talk shit, you might as well respond in kind. "Okay Travis, you got me on that one. Cherish the moment because it's the last chance you're going to get. In fact, if you were smart, you'd just run now. I know deep down you're scared and just too arrogant to admit it." You exclaim. "Scared? Me? I'm not the one who is floundering around like kitten in the river right now. Seems to me, that you're the arrogant one who doesn't know when he's beaten." Travis retorts. You see a figure out the corner of your eye getting ready to cast a spell and you rush forward to kill it. Another illusion, but you know enough not to stick around as two bolts of lightning barely miss you. "Is this your plan? Attempt to kill all my illusions until you single me out? Shit plan and doomed to failure. I can keep this up all night. You on the other hand, will have to turn in when day breaks. And whoever that other vampire was, is going to be too busy chasing down Heather. You're alone out here and fucked. The best you can hope for is a stalemate before you run like a bitch before the sunrise. You won't get it though, vampire ashes aren't easy to come by." "Yeah, yeah, just keep telling yourself that and ignore the fact that you aren't pissing your robe right now." You play more dodge the magic spell with Travis and continue to taunt him the whole time. You aren't sure if it's taking him off his offense, but you're getting frustrated that you can't seem to locate him. Destroying his illusions when you can, while satisfying, doesn't bring you any closer to your goal since he's just creating more. You don't know where Lisa is in all this either, but you've got bigger concerns right now. Eventually Travis gets lucky again and one of his illusions zaps you in the chest with a lightning bolt. It tries to finish you off with a fireball, but you narrowly escape. At this rate he's going to set the whole forest on fire. As you're taking protection behind a tree and recovering, you suddenly hear screams coming from behind a cluster of rocks. "Shit…did she really get him?" you say to yourself and swiftly run over towards the screaming. And there you see Lisa partially on top of Travis and chewing through one of his arms while he desperately tries to punch her with the other, shrieking the entire time. "No, no more of that." You say and break Travis' free arm so he can't flail it around at Lisa any longer. His screams of agony don't get any longer, and in fact he begins to just stop making much noise at all. "Yeah, looks like the shock and blood loss are kicking in. You're lucky that Lisa got to you first. If it were up to me, I would have stretched out your torment a lot longer." Travis tries to speak, but all he can do is bubble up some blood from his mouth and struggle to stay awake. "Guess there's one silver lining in this for you, you're getting eaten by someone who doesn't make any pretenses of what she is right? I'm sure she appreciates your respect, along with your flesh." Lisa finishes chewing through Travis' right arm and then gives him one good chomp on the side of his neck, which finally kills him, though it doesn't kill Lisa's hunger and she continues to feed. "You did good Lisa. Thank you." You say and kiss her on the top of her head which finally allows breaks her attention long enough to briefly nuzzle against your leg before returning to eat. "I hate to break up your feast, but we have other matters to take care of, come on, let's head back to the Dornan camp. Hopefully Isabella didn't kill the other one. Oh, you can bring his arm with you." Lisa wastes no time in following you back to the camp, though there is still one thing you're wondering about. "Lisa, how the hell did you single out Travis in all the illusions?" you ask. "Oh that was easy. I just sniffed him out." Lisa answers as a bit of meat flies from her mouth. "How? I couldn't even get his scent." "You were right about him being scared. He had pissed himself. Easy to get scent for me after that. I hunt in the sewers all the time, you know. I can usually single out the origins of bodily waste under the right circumstances. It took some time for me to perfect that skill, I've always wanted to tell you about it, would you like to hear how…" "Um, okay Lisa. Maybe another time." Funny how you desperately trained yourself to try to block out the various "aromas" of the sewers, meanwhile Lisa completely embraced them. Whatever works you guess. You soon return to the camp and go through the bodies since Isabella isn't around. You don't really find much though, at least not any more that what Heather told you. Having little else to do, you decide to sit and wait, while Lisa eats one of the Dornans. Time passes a bit and you start to wonder if you shouldn't just go back home. This was more of Isabella's thing and if she's not here then you really don't have strong feelings about getting revenge on Ral. Sure it would be nice, but you've had enough of fighting wizards for tonight. Unfortunately Isabella comes back just as you're thinking on this, with Heather over her shoulder. "I'm guessing you didn't leave yours alive." Isabella asks. "Nope, I'm afraid Lisa's hunger took care of that, but I figured you'd show restraint since I was certain you wouldn't place too much faith in us anyway." You respond. "Didn't know Lisa was even going to be around since you told her to stay put. In any case I suppose you were correct in thinking that I wouldn't believe you to have as much restraint, so this one is still alive. Knocked her ass out when I finally caught up with her, so I haven't gotten any information from her yet. I guess we can do that together at least." Doesn't take long for Isabella to slap Heather awake. When she sees the two of you hovering over her, she's obviously very frightened and turns to what most do in a hopeless situation. "Oh please, Dorna give me the knowledge and power to overcome my disadvantageous position. I will make the large sacrifice in your honor if you only lend me your wisdom." She says and begins praying which Isabella puts a stop to with another slap. "Oh no, you aren't mumbling some prayer and casting another spell. The best you can hope for in your situation is if you don't piss me off and you get a quick death. Now tell me what you know about Ral and what's going on out here." "Can't we come to some sort of agreement?" Heather asks. Isabella looks at you. "Reminds me of you with all these attempts at bargaining." Isabella remarks. "Well, you gotta admit, it worked for me." You answer. "Yeah, well it's not working for this bitch, now TELL ME EVERYTHING YOU FUCKING KNOW!" Isabella's face becomes that monstrous expression that manages to scare Heather even more than she already is. She starts crying and pleading and ultimately agreeing to tell her everything she knows even though it isn't much. Heather explains that none of them really knew what to find out here and it was Elder Flynn who first sensed the magic disturbance. He wasn't sure at first about checking it out, but after much meditation (And sensing other disturbances) he decided that he needed to confront his old comrade. Apparently the Elder and Ral were old friends when they were young, but obviously had a disagreement in ideology as far as magic. The Elder of course thought it was a Dorna's most precious gift to the world and thanks must always be given to her for it. Ral on the other hand just believed that it was a force to be mastered like any other and didn't even acknowledge Dorna. She said most knew about Ral since he was a wizard of some power even if he was very reclusive most of the time, but Elder Flynn didn't speak of him in any detail until recently. Said that his experiments had probably gone too far and he would have to be stopped before Dorna's wrath was brought upon the world. Even though the Elder said the disturbances had died down and they hadn't seen anything unusual yet, he said they still needed to confront Ral since he was dangerous wild card. Heather didn't speak out, but she got the impression that this meeting was just something the Elder seemed to want more than correcting magical disturbance. "Oh, that was Flynn? Damn, didn't even recognize him, though I thought there was something vaguely familiar about his scent. If I had recognized him, maybe I would have tried a different approach. Oh well." Isabella remarks. "Wait, you knew the Elder?" Heather asks. "Yeah, he and Ral were competing for my attention when they were young! That's why the friendship broke up. Ideological disagreement my fine undead ass. Flynn wasn't hooked up in all this Dorna worship shit when I knew him. I mean he was more religious than Ral, but he wasn't a fanatic." "What did Ral do that won you over?" you ask out of genuine curiosity. "He made me laugh. In any case, I guess that doesn't help us much, but it was worth a try. Alright, let's get this done…" "WAIT! Please! I'm no threat anymore! I didn't even want to fight you guys! You! When we met, wasn't I reasonable to you?" Heather exclaims, trying to appeal to you. "When we first met, you fucking did some sort of charm on Lisa to make her docile." you say. "But…please! (sob) I don't wanna die! I didn't even want to come out here! (sob) Wait! I know! Make me into a vampire! I mean I could be a good one! I'm already a night owl and I could make a good apprentice! Please, I just don't want to die…" At this point Heather is groveling completely at Isabella's feet. This is such a pathetic display, you're sort of feeling a bit for the girl. "Isabella, maybe you could make her into a vampire? I mean she probably could help you quite a bit on building a new home, what with being a sorceress and all." You say. "Hello, my name is Isabella, I don't believe we've met. I'm not turning this bitch into a vampire just because she's begging for her life. I have standards. I only turn those that are mate potential into vampires." Isabella sniffs. "Do you HAVE to have sex with the person you turn into a vampire?" "Yes, and as I think you know I'm not into women." "Just pretend you're in college." "What?" "I dunno, my dad said a lot of girls at his university used to do that and then got married to some guy anyway." "Yeah, no. Look, if you're so keen on saving this human, then you could always turn her into a ghoul." Lisa looks up long enough from the corpse she's eating to give an angry growl at that suggestion. Lisa might be willing to serve you unquestioningly, but she still wants to be the only ghoul in your life, not that you were considering it anyway. "Too bad Heather, hope your afterlife with Dorna is a pleasant one." You say and without another word Isabella kills Heather. Isabella feeds and then you do likewise. The three of you then continue your journey to Ral's home. Along the way you start noticing discoloration of the trees and odd-looking plant life. Some of them even look carnivorous, but you guess they don't like the taste of undead flesh so they don't attack. (And Lisa must not be very appetizing either) "This doesn't look like it belongs here." You say. "Sure doesn't. What the hell did Ral do?" Isabella says. "Given all this change and how the Dornans said it dying down, maybe he's not even alive anymore." "For his sake, he better not be." After passing a few more landscape oddities, you at last reach Ral's home and it looks about the same as you last saw it. There aren't any creatures or anything wandering about, though you're not getting a sense of complete safety either. "Well, it's all yours. See if you can't get in." Isabella says. You don't say anything other than to tell Lisa to stay put and you'll be back in a moment. You approach Ral's home and try the front door. It's locked of course, so you pull out a lockpick and easily open it. You step forward… And nothing happens. You apparently are allowed in the house. Now to see if Isabella's other idea will work. You stand in the doorway and motion Lisa and Isabella over. Lisa easily enters the house since she wasn't barred by strange rules anyway. Isabella however, still can't get in. "Shit." She remarks. "I don't understand, I thought you said you were always welcome in a place that was my home." You say. "Eh, more weird rules. This place, while you were welcomed in here, still officially isn't your home, it's Ral's. I figured it was a long shot. I'm going to try to figure out something out here, in the meantime you need to find out what's going on. I'd rather you not kill Ral and leave him for me, but if you have to, I'll certainly understand." Isabella takes her leave and you and Lisa are left in a very dusty living area. Looks like this place went to pot after you weren't around to clean it anymore. "Well, let's take this slow I guess. Lisa, you stay very close to me." You say and begin exploring rooms methodically. The eerie thing about all this, is you aren't hearing any noise whatsoever. Usually you used to at least hear faint noises sometimes from his lab, but there is nothing. Speaking of his lab you eventually decide you might as well just search that place now. You make your way there and immediately notice something wrong. The door is open. That door was always locked. You cautiously peek inside Ral's lab for the first time. And it's a complete wreck. There is equipment everywhere; you know Ral wouldn't have left it like this if he could help it. Except he can't help it, because he's currently on the floor with a broken neck. He looks like he's been dead awhile. And then you see another familiar face. Tych. You see him flying around between various large tomes and mixing something on one of the only clean lab workbenches. This all seems a bit strange, but in any case Tych hasn't noticed you yet. > You call out to him There really is no need to be so physical in this situation, so you call out. "Hey Tych!" you shout. He spins around and immediately flies upward so he's safe. "You? What are you doing here? Thought you died a long time ago." Tych says. "I did, I'm a vampire." You answer. "Hm, well that was one way of breaking the geas I suppose. I'm guessing it was Isabella that provided that option, is she here? Ral might be dead, but you still don't know what the hell is going on here and Tych isn't exactly a beacon of trustworthiness himself. For all you know he's caused all this, you figure you better keep the real story a little hazy. "No, I haven't seen Isabella in years. I sort of broke it off with her when I realized Lisa here was a my true love." You say and put your arm around her, which she of course doesn't mind, though she also seems interested in Ral's corpse. "Surprised she allowed you to leave so easily." Tych says. "Eh, wasn't exactly easy. In fact, it was sort of a lopsided relationship to begin with." "Mm, sounds like Isabella." "Didn't realize you knew so much about her actually." "Ral spoke about her quite a bit. Used to always go on about how he wished things had ended better with her. Talked about her so much that I felt like I knew the woman even though I'd never even seen her." "I see, so…what exactly happened here?" Tych shakes his head. "A complete failure, that's what happened. A few months ago Ral was trying to cast some spell he had been working on for years and it backfired spectacularly. He was experimenting with portals that could transport you anywhere in the world. Unfortunately what happened instead is he created a very unstable one and that's when the rock creature appeared in the middle of the lab and started smashing up the place. Ral barely managed to get off a couple spells before the thing smashed him in the head and disappeared as quickly as it showed up. It was during this time, my jar got smashed." "Why didn't you escape?" "I would have but I heard some rumbling outside along with other noises, so I thought Ral's spell had a ripple effect on the outside area. I still haven't left this house for fear of what might be out there. How severe is the damage?" "Some weird landscape changes, some odd monsters popping up in places they shouldn't be, but that's about all I know. I was in Holgard and it didn't reach that far. In fact I think the effects of the spell are dying out." "Truly? I would have thought with all the chaos here and the time Ral spent on the spell, it had catastrophic effects of great magnitude. Damn, I feel like a cowardly fool, but being in the hub of it all I guess made me afraid. My long-term captivity also kept me here. Just got comfortable being safe I guess. So Holgard huh? I guess that brings me to my question of why you're here, if the effects didn't reach there." You pause a very brief moment as you come up with your lie without much problem. "Oh that was me being a victim of circumstance again. There was a war between the religious factions in Holgard a few years ago and at the time it was mutually beneficial to ally with the Dornans. The war has long since been over, but I still had a deal with them to help when I could and a group of them wanted to explore the magical disturbances their elder sensed in this area. I think they're the only ones who knew or cared." "Oh? So are they with you?" "Nah, they're all dead. Got killed by a medusa and her pet basilisks. Just one example of creatures not native to the area popping up." "Interesting. Just wondering because Ral mentioned him a few times in the past…but was there an Elder Flynn with you in all this?" You weren't sure before, but you're starting to get a strange feeling about this conversation, however you continue to speak as normal. "Yeah, he was there, but I never spoke much with the man. Always seemed to be pretty serious and save for a few basic directions. I understood him to be a man of great magic ability, but that didn't mean much when the medusa surprised him and the inevitable happened." You explain. "Hm, I see. Hard to believe he was taken out so easily after what Ral told me about him." Tych says. "It wasn't an easy battle to survive. Honestly, Lisa and I almost went home after that. However, by that time I came all this way so I figured I might as well try to learn what happened here and the only person I could think of that might shed some light is Ral." "You didn't think you'd be met with hostility for escaping?" "Eh, in all the time I knew him even as his unwilling lackey, he wasn't excessively cruel or even one to hold that much of a grudge. I sort of figured he wrote me off as dead years ago and moved on. Plus I figured as a vampire I'd at least be on somewhat of an equal footing that he wouldn't try anything as long as I didn't act in a threatening manner." Tych nods a bit. "I suppose you're right on that account. Ral was a lot of things, but he was never petty. Well that's about the only information I have for you. I'm actually glad you came by however, since I now know that it isn't a cataclysm out there. I'll probably be leaving a lot sooner now." "I bet your wife misses you." You say. "Huh? Oh yes my wife…I'd be surprised if she hasn't moved on already. Though I wouldn't blame her if she had I suppose. I've had a lot of time to think during my time here and while Ral certainly kept me imprisoned, I have to admit I wasn't exactly innocent. I dunno, maybe my captivity was punishment for all my misdeeds in the past. My apologies for my wrongs against you as well." "Well other than calling me a plivik and lying to me, you didn't really do any direct damage. Long time ago and literally another life. Anyway, I suppose we'll be going. Hey Lisa, get away from that body, we'll find you someone to eat on the way home." You say motioning Lisa to come with you instead of sniffing around Ral's corpse. Tych waves goodbye and you soon exit the home. After looking around a bit, you find Isabella digging around the house. It looks like she's trying to destroy the foundation in an attempt to just destroy the house. "You know it would probably be much easier to just set the place on fire." You remark. "Probably, but I don't exactly have a torch handy at the moment. So, you're back out here and none the worse for wear. I assume you have news? Did Ral send you out here to an attempt to beg for his life?" Isabella asks. "Ral's dead." You say. "What?!" "Well…I suppose he isn't completely dead." "He's either dead or he isn't! Wait, shit, he's not a lich is he?!" "He's a sprite." "WHAT?! Okay, you need to explain!" Isabella exclaims. You try to collect your thoughts on everything that transpired during your conversation before explaining to her your whole conversation. "I mean I don't know for certain, but I REALLY think Ral's in the body of a sprite slave he once had. That sprite's name was Tych and he didn't sound anything like the person that I knew. I mean I know a lot of time has passed, but I just got a very real feeling that I was talking with Ral and not Tych." You explain. "Well did you see Ral's body anywhere?" Isabella asks. "Oh yeah, he was on the floor with his neck broken. Looked like he had been dead for a while. Tych, or Ral rather said he met his fate by some strange rock creature." "Hmmm…wait…yeah. Your belief has merit. I mean I can't enter the house still, while you can. If Ral was dead, I would have been able to enter with no problems. How the hell did he get into the body of a sprite?!" "I dunno, I didn't ask since I was trying to pretend that I believed him to be Tych and I did that because I also have no reason to disbelieve that he isn't still a powerful wizard. Not sure if he believed if I believed him, but it got me out unscathed." Isabella is silent for a moment and then throws a handful of dirt to the ground while stepping out of the large hole she has been digging. "Ah fuck it. I'm done." She says. "What, seriously? Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining, but you seemed pretty intent on all this revenge before." You answer. "Yeah. I honestly can't be bothered now. I mean if you're wrong and that's not Ral at all, it's hardly worth going to all the trouble to bring down a house just to kill a sprite especially since I don't even like their blood. And if it is Ral, I can't even torture him like I want in his new sprite body. I mean yeah I could still do it, but it just wouldn't be the same. I suppose a part of me was just looking for an excuse to see you again. Shit, I think a small part of me just wanted to see Ral again too. It's funny that you made up your story about getting lonely to the Dornans, but the reality is, it really does happen. Even to those that are normally fine with isolation like me." "But you're centuries old, surely you must have known other people." "Sure, and most of them are dead, either naturally or otherwise. Hell, I might have even made a reconnection with Flynn had I known it was him. I managed to ignore the prolonged isolation I think for so long because I had a nice home I made for myself. The garden kept me busy too. Now I don't even have that and while I'm no stranger to having to start completely over it isn't the most fun thing to do." You start get a little worried about where this might be leading. "Don't worry, I'm not taking your home. Living right next to a sewer isn't exactly my taste. Besides, you and Lisa are happy there and as I said, I've always been a bit of a romantic even if it never quite works out for me." Isabella says. "Why don't you just knock on the door and call out to Ral? He might be willing to talk." You say. "Nice idea, but no. We're not going to rekindle anything especially with him stuck in the body of a fucking sprite now. Besides it isn't like I'm still not mad at him for destroying my home even if it was an accident. No, I think maybe it's time for me to move on from this area altogether. Maybe the Delantium Kingdom, or at least pass through there. There are maybe at least one or two folks I know living in that area, maybe they're still interesting. Anything's possible right?" "Seems like it. If you asked me when I was a teenager where I'd be at thirty, it wouldn't be assaulting a wizard's home as a vampire with another vampire and ghoul by my side. My answer would have been probably still robbing travelling merchants with my twin sister in my hometown. Still think about her and the rest of the family sometimes and wonder how they're doing, but that's all a past life." "I wouldn't write off the past completely, it usually has a way of sneaking up on you even when you're not a mortal. I mean it certainly did recently for you. Well, thank you for your help, you truly are free now. You take care okay? And take care of Lisa too. You make a lovely couple." With those last words, Isabella briefly moves forward a bit, perhaps to make physical contact with you, but stops herself. She instead turns away and walks off into the forest. You soon lose sight of her and it's just you and Lisa. "Is she gone for good?" Lisa asks. "Yeah I think she is." You say. "Good, it's just you and me again. Just like it always should be!" "Yes it is, come on let's go back home." Part of you wonders if you were really correct about Tych actually being Ral and what exactly happened. You suppose you'll never know the entire story, and actually you're fine with that. This has been a very strange past couple of days. Surreal even. You were forced into this quest for revenge and there was even an unrelated struggle before you reached your destination, then when you finally reached that destination, it was sort of an anti-climatic conclusion. You suppose that's just how shit happens sometimes. Not everything ends with a gigantic battle. (And you're fine with that too) You're just glad you're done with it and hopefully you can finally go about your existence in relative peace.

Lisa's a big ghoul, she's going to have to fend for herself. Besides, the best way you can defend her is if you kill Travis as quick as possible. Since Travis likes to talk shit, you might as well respond in kind. "Okay Travis, you got me on that one. Cherish the moment because it's the last chance you're going to get. In fact, if you were smart, you'd just run now. I know deep down you're scared and just too arrogant to admit it." You exclaim. "Scared? Me? I'm not the one who is floundering around like kitten in the river right now. Seems to me, that you're the arrogant one who doesn't know when he's beaten." Travis retorts. You see a figure out the corner of your eye getting ready to cast a spell and you rush forward to kill it. Another illusion, but you know enough not to stick around as two bolts of lightning barely miss you. "Is this your plan? Attempt to kill all my illusions until you single me out? Shit plan and doomed to failure. I can keep this up all night. You on the other hand, will have to turn in when day breaks. And whoever that other vampire was, is going to be too busy chasing down Heather. You're alone out here and fucked. The best you can hope for is a stalemate before you run like a bitch before the sunrise. You won't get it though, vampire ashes aren't easy to come by." "Yeah, yeah, just keep telling yourself that and ignore the fact that you aren't pissing your robe right now." You play more dodge the magic spell with Travis and continue to taunt him the whole time. You aren't sure if it's taking him off his offense, but you're getting frustrated that you can't seem to locate him. Destroying his illusions when you can, while satisfying, doesn't bring you any closer to your goal since he's just creating more. You don't know where Lisa is in all this either, but you've got bigger concerns right now. Eventually Travis gets lucky again and one of his illusions zaps you in the chest with a lightning bolt. It tries to finish you off with a fireball, but you narrowly escape. At this rate he's going to set the whole forest on fire. As you're taking protection behind a tree and recovering, you suddenly hear screams coming from behind a cluster of rocks. "Shit…did she really get him?" you say to yourself and swiftly run over towards the screaming. And there you see Lisa partially on top of Travis and chewing through one of his arms while he desperately tries to punch her with the other, shrieking the entire time. "No, no more of that." You say and break Travis' free arm so he can't flail it around at Lisa any longer. His screams of agony don't get any longer, and in fact he begins to just stop making much noise at all. "Yeah, looks like the shock and blood loss are kicking in. You're lucky that Lisa got to you first. If it were up to me, I would have stretched out your torment a lot longer." Travis tries to speak, but all he can do is bubble up some blood from his mouth and struggle to stay awake. "Guess there's one silver lining in this for you, you're getting eaten by someone who doesn't make any pretenses of what she is right? I'm sure she appreciates your respect, along with your flesh." Lisa finishes chewing through Travis' right arm and then gives him one good chomp on the side of his neck, which finally kills him, though it doesn't kill Lisa's hunger and she continues to feed. "You did good Lisa. Thank you." You say and kiss her on the top of her head which finally allows breaks her attention long enough to briefly nuzzle against your leg before returning to eat. "I hate to break up your feast, but we have other matters to take care of, come on, let's head back to the Dornan camp. Hopefully Isabella didn't kill the other one. Oh, you can bring his arm with you." Lisa wastes no time in following you back to the camp, though there is still one thing you're wondering about. "Lisa, how the hell did you single out Travis in all the illusions?" you ask. "Oh that was easy. I just sniffed him out." Lisa answers as a bit of meat flies from her mouth. "How? I couldn't even get his scent." "You were right about him being scared. He had pissed himself. Easy to get scent for me after that. I hunt in the sewers all the time, you know. I can usually single out the origins of bodily waste under the right circumstances. It took some time for me to perfect that skill, I've always wanted to tell you about it, would you like to hear how…" "Um, okay Lisa. Maybe another time." Funny how you desperately trained yourself to try to block out the various "aromas" of the sewers, meanwhile Lisa completely embraced them. Whatever works you guess. You soon return to the camp and go through the bodies since Isabella isn't around. You don't really find much though, at least not any more that what Heather told you. Having little else to do, you decide to sit and wait, while Lisa eats one of the Dornans. Time passes a bit and you start to wonder if you shouldn't just go back home. This was more of Isabella's thing and if she's not here then you really don't have strong feelings about getting revenge on Ral. Sure it would be nice, but you've had enough of fighting wizards for tonight. Unfortunately Isabella comes back just as you're thinking on this, with Heather over her shoulder. "I'm guessing you didn't leave yours alive." Isabella asks. "Nope, I'm afraid Lisa's hunger took care of that, but I figured you'd show restraint since I was certain you wouldn't place too much faith in us anyway." You respond. "Didn't know Lisa was even going to be around since you told her to stay put. In any case I suppose you were correct in thinking that I wouldn't believe you to have as much restraint, so this one is still alive. Knocked her ass out when I finally caught up with her, so I haven't gotten any information from her yet. I guess we can do that together at least." Doesn't take long for Isabella to slap Heather awake. When she sees the two of you hovering over her, she's obviously very frightened and turns to what most do in a hopeless situation. "Oh please, Dorna give me the knowledge and power to overcome my disadvantageous position. I will make the large sacrifice in your honor if you only lend me your wisdom." She says and begins praying which Isabella puts a stop to with another slap. "Oh no, you aren't mumbling some prayer and casting another spell. The best you can hope for in your situation is if you don't piss me off and you get a quick death. Now tell me what you know about Ral and what's going on out here." "Can't we come to some sort of agreement?" Heather asks. Isabella looks at you. "Reminds me of you with all these attempts at bargaining." Isabella remarks. "Well, you gotta admit, it worked for me." You answer. "Yeah, well it's not working for this bitch, now TELL ME EVERYTHING YOU FUCKING KNOW!" Isabella's face becomes that monstrous expression that manages to scare Heather even more than she already is. She starts crying and pleading and ultimately agreeing to tell her everything she knows even though it isn't much. Heather explains that none of them really knew what to find out here and it was Elder Flynn who first sensed the magic disturbance. He wasn't sure at first about checking it out, but after much meditation (And sensing other disturbances) he decided that he needed to confront his old comrade. Apparently the Elder and Ral were old friends when they were young, but obviously had a disagreement in ideology as far as magic. The Elder of course thought it was a Dorna's most precious gift to the world and thanks must always be given to her for it. Ral on the other hand just believed that it was a force to be mastered like any other and didn't even acknowledge Dorna. She said most knew about Ral since he was a wizard of some power even if he was very reclusive most of the time, but Elder Flynn didn't speak of him in any detail until recently. Said that his experiments had probably gone too far and he would have to be stopped before Dorna's wrath was brought upon the world. Even though the Elder said the disturbances had died down and they hadn't seen anything unusual yet, he said they still needed to confront Ral since he was dangerous wild card. Heather didn't speak out, but she got the impression that this meeting was just something the Elder seemed to want more than correcting magical disturbance. "Oh, that was Flynn? Damn, didn't even recognize him, though I thought there was something vaguely familiar about his scent. If I had recognized him, maybe I would have tried a different approach. Oh well." Isabella remarks. "Wait, you knew the Elder?" Heather asks. "Yeah, he and Ral were competing for my attention when they were young! That's why the friendship broke up. Ideological disagreement my fine undead ass. Flynn wasn't hooked up in all this Dorna worship shit when I knew him. I mean he was more religious than Ral, but he wasn't a fanatic." "What did Ral do that won you over?" you ask out of genuine curiosity. "He made me laugh. In any case, I guess that doesn't help us much, but it was worth a try. Alright, let's get this done…" "WAIT! Please! I'm no threat anymore! I didn't even want to fight you guys! You! When we met, wasn't I reasonable to you?" Heather exclaims, trying to appeal to you. "When we first met, you fucking did some sort of charm on Lisa to make her docile." you say. "But…please! (sob) I don't wanna die! I didn't even want to come out here! (sob) Wait! I know! Make me into a vampire! I mean I could be a good one! I'm already a night owl and I could make a good apprentice! Please, I just don't want to die…" At this point Heather is groveling completely at Isabella's feet. This is such a pathetic display, you're sort of feeling a bit for the girl. "Isabella, maybe you could make her into a vampire? I mean she probably could help you quite a bit on building a new home, what with being a sorceress and all." You say. "Hello, my name is Isabella, I don't believe we've met. I'm not turning this bitch into a vampire just because she's begging for her life. I have standards. I only turn those that are mate potential into vampires." Isabella sniffs. "Do you HAVE to have sex with the person you turn into a vampire?" "Yes, and as I think you know I'm not into women." "Just pretend you're in college." "What?" "I dunno, my dad said a lot of girls at his university used to do that and then got married to some guy anyway." "Yeah, no. Look, if you're so keen on saving this human, then you could always turn her into a ghoul." Lisa looks up long enough from the corpse she's eating to give an angry growl at that suggestion. Lisa might be willing to serve you unquestioningly, but she still wants to be the only ghoul in your life, not that you were considering it anyway. "Too bad Heather, hope your afterlife with Dorna is a pleasant one." You say and without another word Isabella kills Heather. Isabella feeds and then you do likewise. The three of you then continue your journey to Ral's home. Along the way you start noticing discoloration of the trees and odd-looking plant life. Some of them even look carnivorous, but you guess they don't like the taste of undead flesh so they don't attack. (And Lisa must not be very appetizing either) "This doesn't look like it belongs here." You say. "Sure doesn't. What the hell did Ral do?" Isabella says. "Given all this change and how the Dornans said it dying down, maybe he's not even alive anymore." "For his sake, he better not be." After passing a few more landscape oddities, you at last reach Ral's home and it looks about the same as you last saw it. There aren't any creatures or anything wandering about, though you're not getting a sense of complete safety either. "Well, it's all yours. See if you can't get in." Isabella says. You don't say anything other than to tell Lisa to stay put and you'll be back in a moment. You approach Ral's home and try the front door. It's locked of course, so you pull out a lockpick and easily open it. You step forward… And nothing happens. You apparently are allowed in the house. Now to see if Isabella's other idea will work. You stand in the doorway and motion Lisa and Isabella over. Lisa easily enters the house since she wasn't barred by strange rules anyway. Isabella however, still can't get in. "Shit." She remarks. "I don't understand, I thought you said you were always welcome in a place that was my home." You say. "Eh, more weird rules. This place, while you were welcomed in here, still officially isn't your home, it's Ral's. I figured it was a long shot. I'm going to try to figure out something out here, in the meantime you need to find out what's going on. I'd rather you not kill Ral and leave him for me, but if you have to, I'll certainly understand." Isabella takes her leave and you and Lisa are left in a very dusty living area. Looks like this place went to pot after you weren't around to clean it anymore. "Well, let's take this slow I guess. Lisa, you stay very close to me." You say and begin exploring rooms methodically. The eerie thing about all this, is you aren't hearing any noise whatsoever. Usually you used to at least hear faint noises sometimes from his lab, but there is nothing. Speaking of his lab you eventually decide you might as well just search that place now. You make your way there and immediately notice something wrong. The door is open. That door was always locked. You cautiously peek inside Ral's lab for the first time. And it's a complete wreck. There is equipment everywhere; you know Ral wouldn't have left it like this if he could help it. Except he can't help it, because he's currently on the floor with a broken neck. He looks like he's been dead awhile. And then you see another familiar face. Tych. You see him flying around between various large tomes and mixing something on one of the only clean lab workbenches. This all seems a bit strange, but in any case Tych hasn't noticed you yet. > You sneak up and grab him You figure with your speed you'll easily be able to catch Tych before he'll notice and then you can question him on what happened here. And you probably would have if Lisa hadn't been with you to snuffle about and bumping into some debris while wandering over towards Ral's corpse. Tych spins around and just narrowly flits out of your way. He's incredibly surprised. "SHIT! YOU?" he exclaims and then this is followed by him putting his hands together and unleashing a beam (much larger than you'd think for his size) of magical energy straight into your face, melting it completely. You flail about blind for a moment and you can hear Lisa snarl and shriek when she sees that you're being attacked, but those noises seem to be silenced fairly quickly. You're in no condition to help Lisa because you can't even help yourself at this point. "I don't know how you broke the geas, but I'm not taking any chances!" you hear Tych say. You've never known Tych to be able to cast spells like this. Something about this is weird, but it hardly matters and you'll never know the true mystery since Tych finishes you off by melting a hole through your chest and destroying your heart.

You really don't want to start all over again with finding or building another home. You're comfortable here and don't want to move. So if this one last thing means you get to stay here, then so be it. "Very well, I'll help, but what if I can't get in anyway?" you ask. "Well, we might have to come back to reassess a new plan. I'm almost sure that you will be able to get in though." Isabella says. "I sure hope so, because as much as I want to keep my home and perhaps even not mind the revenge bit, I'm not sure if I'm prepared to be in a perpetual stalemate where I'm sharing this place with you. I'd rather just pick up and leave I think." "Understandable, and that's certainly your choice if it comes to that, but let's keep positive thoughts. So, are you ready to go?" "What, now?" "Well sure. The night is still young and I figured you wanted to get this over with as soon as possible." "I suppose you're right, but I think I'm going to need at least a little time to explain this Lisa." "What for? Just say you're leaving and will be back in a day or two. It isn't like she's going to leave you and I'm sure she'll be satisfied if you tell her she can eat those two girls I saw chained up. Ghouls are easily distracted and appeased, I'm sure you well know." "Yeah and I'm sure that YOU well know that I treat Lisa as an equal, not like some pet!" "Of course you do. Very well, talk to your child then, I will see you in the (ugh) sewers." Isabella takes her leave and you're about to head back to the meat room, when you notice blood puddles and small trails in the hallway. You follow them to a small dead end to another tunnel you've been recently working on and that's where you find Lisa huddled in a corner chewing on a bone and making a weird (yet relatively quiet) noise. Almost like she's crying, but not quite. She looks up at you mournfully. "Lisa, I'm not mad if you were listening to us." you say. "You're leaving with her aren't you?" Lisa asks. "I have to if we want to keep our home. Don't you want us to keep the home we've made here?" "I…I don't want you to go. I need you…can't…can't I come with you?" "Lisa, it's going to be really dangerous. I mean I'm sure you remember my stories about Ral. We're going to be going up against him and I don't want to worry about you getting hurt." "But I could help! I want to help! Please let me help!" Lisa says grabbing your arm with fanatical dedication in her eyes. It's against your better judgment, but if you leave her here she could just get into trouble anyway. Perhaps even more without you close by and her probably getting depressed about the situation. If you take her with you, at least you can keep an eye on her and she'll be happy. It's one more factor to worry about, but if you're really serious about trying to treat her like an equal, keeping her contained like pet (or child as Isabella said) isn't the way to go about it. Besides Lisa isn't defenseless. "Very well, but you REALLY need to obey all my commands during this task. Seriously, you can't go wandering off in search of food or any else of the sort. You need to follow all my orders to the letter. Understand?" "I do! I do my love! Oh thank you! I'll be a big help! You'll see!" Lisa showers you with a lot of affection and as usual she goes for the crotch immediately. You half think about stopping her since this is going to take awhile and you're supposed to be on your way to Ral's, but you feel like Lisa deserves a reward for dealing with all this (And hell, so do you) so… Later, you meet Isabella who is still standing in the sewers close to your secret wall. "About fucking time. Don't tell me, I already know what you were doing…aaaand I see we now have a loadstone with us. Fantastic!" Isabella remarks when she sees Lisa behind you. Lisa looks down a bit when Isabella calls her out. "Look, she can be of help. It's going to take us a couple days to get to Ral's so it might be useful to have someone that can at least scout around during the day while we sleep in the ground." "More like give ourselves away. Fine, I suppose she would be useful fodder if worse comes to worse. Let's go, we've already wasted…" You place one hand on Isabella's shoulder and spin her around when she turns her back on you. "Let's get one thing fucking straight. Lisa is NOT fodder. She's not a minion, she's not my fuck toy, she's not a child, she's not a fucking pet! Lisa is my fucking mate. She came because she wants to help me and I want her to help me. This, what we're doing right now? Is to help you. However, if you keep insulting Lisa and being a general bitch to her, you can go do this on your own and both of us will find some place else to live. I'm putting up with a lot of things and I'm not trying to step out of line against my so called betters, but I'm not going to put up with how you talk to and about her! AGH SHIT!" Isabella quickly grabs your wrist twists it and throws you to the hard floor face first. Lisa, rushes to attack, but is easily slapped aside into the nearby wall as Isabella applies pressure to your arm and shoves her knee into your back. "First of all, don't you EVER fucking touch me again uninvited! You lost that privilege a long time ago. This is your ONLY warning about it. Second…fine. I apologize. I was not behaving in a way befitting of my class. I won't insult your lady again. Glad to see that it really was true love." Isabella gets off you and you wince a bit in lingering pain as you stand up. You then go over to Lisa and ask if she's okay, to which she replies that she is. You then both follow Isabella who has walked ahead of you. Things are silent for more or less during the journey out of Holgard. It's sort of a weird silence and soon after you're making your way through the forest, you make conversation. "So, while I can imagine what happened, what did you do with the family you found in that root cellar?" you ask "Oh them? Well I had to rebuild my strength after being stuck underground for weeks, so after they told me what happened, drained all of them." Isabella remarks. "Yep, figured as much." "Honestly, I might have kept three of them alive under normal circumstances, but it wasn't the normal circumstances and I do have a weakness for children's blood." "Did…did the children taste sweet?" Lisa suddenly asks. Isabella smiles a bit. "Yes, the children did taste sweet. Their blood usually does though unless they're horrible greenskins. Rather go hungry than drink their blood, no matter what age most of the time." Isabella remarks. "Some greenskins aren't bad, but they're always very tough. They are an acquired taste and even the dead sometimes taste better than the average hobgoblin." Lisa remarks. "I'm sure you have a very versatile palate Lisa, not many can boast such a talent." Isabella's remark could be taken as a backhanded compliment at best or a sarcastic insult at worst, but Lisa seems to take what she said as a benign praise, so you let it go. Eventually dawn starts to arrive and you and Isabella take shelter in the ground. Lisa herself never seems to require as much sleep, so she'll be still be wandering around for some of the day (Though still probably trying to stay in the shade which shouldn't be a problem due to being in a forest). You aren't sure if you should have her do a little scouting while you're asleep or have her protect your resting area though. > You scout ahead One of the reasons you brought her along was so she could help and you already had the idea of letting her scout ahead so you might as well let her do it. "Lisa, while we're asleep, I want you to scout ahead. Don't go too far, but don't attack anything, no matter how tasty it may look to you. Unless it's a random animal I guess. In any case I want you to come back when you're done and just wait here until we wake up." You command. "Yes, my love." Lisa responds. "Okay, I'll see you this evening." You say and kiss Lisa before digging yourself a shallow hole to sleep in. (Lisa helps pat down the dirt to make sure you're completely covered) Later… You are forcibly pulled from your sleep and into the sunlight! You weren't pulled out by hands either, it was some magical force that dragged you out. You're still mostly covered in dirt and partially asleep but the sun is burning your face and eyes. "ARRGHAGH SHIT!" you shout and start trying to scramble for cover, but only get a ball of flame in your face. Several mages stand around you, but making very sure to stay out of your way. You try to lunge for one of them, but are magically shoved to the ground "Destroy that lesser one before the greater one wakes up. I want to speak to her personally and she's going to have an even less pleasant reaction when she's up." The oldest one says. You have no idea what is going on besides the fact that you're being attacked and are fairly helpless against your assailants. The sunlight is burning you and sapping your strength, you're near blind and you're struggling against a magical force that's trying to keep you pinned to the ground. Despite your decreased vision, you make out the shape of Lisa standing among the robed mages. It can be surmised that these mages did something to her to cause her to lead them all back here. You try to re-enforce your will upon her so she helps you again, but with all the pain you're in, it's very hard to concentrate. You feel a sharp spike go into your chest. It's some sort of magic blade that you see glowing a bright purple when you look down at your chest, then it disappears and two more appear to finish you off through decapitation.

Chapter 3C2: Price of Freedom Year 30 "No, no, no, you can't play that card." You say. "Oh. Um…okay then this one." Lisa says. You play your own card that easily beats the rest of Lisa's hand. "I hate this stupid game." She exclaims and throws her cards down on the table causing you to smile a bit. "Well you're getting better at it." "I just don't see the point in us playing games when we could be feeding together or better yet, fucking instead." "Now Lisa, you know there's more to existence than just the base needs." "Pfft, not much more, come on lover, I'll let you do whatever you want to me." "You let me do whatever I want all the time. Maybe later. However, if you don't want to play games though, you can always got feast on those whores we got in the meat room." "Ohhh! You mean we're not saving them anymore?" "Well we're saving two of them for the rest of the week. You can go eat the third one though. Pick whichever one you want. I'll join you a little later." Lisa makes that disturbing squeal and kisses the side of your face before running off to go eat. You still aren't sure if you actually "love" Lisa, but you definitely don't mind her affection again, now that you've gotten her to regularly perfume herself and chew on mint herbs once in awhile. In fact, you do believe you've trained Lisa fairly well all things considered. Even her personality has changed slightly so that she isn't a complete toadying suck up. Makes you wonder if Isabella was just bullshitting you about it being so difficult. You pack up your deck of cards and check on some of your tunnels. You thought you saw the support beam warping. You might need to replace it. You don't think you'll ever get this place just right. As you're inspecting your work, your other senses perk up. You can sense someone coming and its not some idiots trying to get into the topside crypt (It was funny how those Joachimites fell for that blade trap a few years ago). This is someone approaching from the sewer entrance, which means this is a hell of a lot more serious because you keep it well hidden. And this someone, you don't think is mortal… You approach your "front door" to the sewers cautiously and fully prepared for a fight when you hear a muffled yet familiar voice from the other side. "I can tell you're approaching. Yes, you! Your essence to me will always be strong even when you make your home in the middle of some filthy human shithole." Isabella remarks. "Isabella?" you answer. "Yes, I'm sure you can tell it was me, unless these sewers have completely destroyed your senses. Why the hell did you make your home in such a place?" "Seemed like a good idea at the time, besides, nobody bothers me down here." "Well that I can certainly believe. Look, you going to let me in now so we can talk because standing out here in the muck isn't my idea of a pleasant evening." "With all respect Isabella, why the hell are you here? Last time we talked, you weren't exactly pleased with me." "Long story. And I'd argue that we parted ways on fairly amicable terms. You didn't really expect me to share you with that lesser being did you? I told you that." "You also told me, that you'd kill the both of us." "Oh, that was just my way of getting you both the hell out, and look it worked. In fact I'm currently extending my courtesy, by simply NOT smashing in this wall and barging in." "You can't do that. This is my home and I haven't invited you in!" You hear Isabella chuckling from the other side. "Oh my sweet young vampire. You still have so much to learn. I'm your maker, I will always be connected to you even if I don't have direct influence anymore. And that means your home will ALWAYS be my home too. So let me in or I'm wrecking this not so secret wall of yours, and I'm sure you don't want that." You hate these "new rules" that pop up about your current existence. "Alright, alright, fine." you say and slide open the wall And there you see Isabella looking the same way as when you left her crypt. Including being naked. "Glad to see you're still intelligent enough to know when to listen to your betters. Always liked that about you." She says and steps inside. Isabella sniffs a bit. "Hmm, the odor is much better in here. Ah, I smell fresh blood nearby and another familiar scent…though somehow different…wait…is that your ghoul? She still around?" "For your information, yes Lisa is here and if this is some attempt of trying to get me back, forget it, because we're still together." Isabella smirks. "Hm, guess good minions are hard to come by. No point in throwing one out right? Tell me, were the sewers her idea? In any case, I hate to break your male ego, but I'm not here in some silly attempt to get you back. I'm here because I need your help." Isabella says. "Wait, you need MY help?" you say. "Yes, but don't think that this an opportunity to hold something over my head. I'm a very resourceful woman and you are just one of my resources I need to help accomplish my task." "Hm, glad to be held in such high esteem." "As well you should especially because this also involves another old acquaintance of yours. Ral." All the figures from the past are coming out tonight… "What does Ral have to do with this?" you ask. "He fucking destroyed my home and Dert, that's what he has to do with this! Honestly I'm surprised you haven't heard about it since I imagine this haven of scum has a lot of gossip going on." "Honestly, as the years have worn on, I've been becoming more of a recluse so I don't keep up or even pay attention to most of the shit I hear the mortals talk about unless it really sounds like it's going to affect me directly. If it wasn't for the whole needing to feed situation and requiring the occasional supplies to fix up my home, I'd just stay down here with Lisa and never leave. Still, to my knowledge Dert was never very important and I doubt if anyone in Holgard even gave a shit about the place if they even knew it existed at all." "Nevertheless, it's gone, along with my home and Ral has to pay for that." "I think you're going to have to start from the beginning and let's talk some place where I can sit and at least take all this in." You take Isabella through some of your home and head towards one of your "living areas." Isabella remarks that she is impressed by what you have done given the limitations you had to work with. "I see you tried your best to emulate the layout of my own crypt and catacombs even if they aren't nearly as tidy." Isabella says. "Glad you approve. I need to stop here first." You say. As you're passing the meat room, you see Lisa completely engorging herself on one of the whores that she's completely ripped apart. She's covered in gore and entrails and loving every minute of it. You imagine this would be a horrific sight to the other two chained up, if they weren't under a trance. Lisa bloody face looks up from her feeding and grins at you, but then her grin becomes a look of worry when she sees Isabella behind you. "Wha…what…what's she doing here?! I thought it was just you and me from now on! You said so!" Lisa says. "It is, and it always will be, my grave flower. Isabella just came to visit about something and I have to talk to her about it." "…you're mad at me, aren't you? Please don't be mad at me! I can do better! I'll…I'll chew more of those mint herbs you want me to! You're bored…you want a threeway don't you? I can go down on Isabella while you ram it into me hard. You can hurt me really good, and split me open. I don't care. Please just let me be around to still worship you. You're my love and my entire life!" Isabella stifles a snort of laughter, causing you to briefly glare at her, before you approach Lisa. You kneel down in the large blood puddle and caress her face (which is sticky with blood). It's times like this when Lisa's slavish ghoul personality comes out in full force. "Lisa, Lisa…don't get upset. You're the only woman for me and you always will be. It's why I've always stayed with you. You understand that right?" "But…she's back now…" "Isabella is just visiting. We're not getting together. We're just going to talk and that's all I swear. You're my lovely grave flower and nobody can replace you." You say and kiss Lisa who hugs you tightly. She attempts to do more than that, but you have to remind her that later would be a better time. Lisa accepts your reassurances, but still has a look of concern on her face. Lisa soon goes back to eating the whore's liver, probably in an attempt to comfort herself. You stand up and motion Isabella to follow you. You fully expect to hear taunting comments, but surprisingly you hear none. When you get to your destination, Isabella tells you what exactly is going on with Ral. Isabella tells you that a few months ago, during one of her resting periods, her home was completely collapsed from the inside out by an earth elemental. She said it took her weeks to dig herself out and by the time she did she found that the entire graveyard was now a large sinkhole. She doesn't know what happened to the elemental since the attack just suddenly stopped like it just disappeared. Lacking any other immediate choices, she decided to head to Dert and charm someone there and use their dwelling for a while until she could figure out her next step. However, when she got to Dert, she found that nearly all the people had been turned to stone. Not just the people though, but most of the plant and animal life in the surrounding area as well. The few people that hadn't been turned to stone were nothing but bits of flesh still hanging off bones. She proceeded cautiously since she was aware that only a few things could cause something like this, either powerful magic or certain creatures. As it turned out, it was both. She eventually found a family of four that had been hiding in a root cellar for quite some time. They were all very frightened and assumed she was another monster to come to kill them. (Probably due to the whole unnatural paleness and naked thing) After subduing the father, Isabella demanded to know what had transpired in the village. He explained that a few days ago, a female creature with a snake body appeared in the middle of the village along with four medium-sized reptile like creatures, which seemed to be her pets. There was a brief moment of confusion from both sides at first, but then the woman spoke something in a hissing type language and all hell broke loose. Most of the village was either turned to stone or ripped apart and consumed by the reptilian beasts. The family hid in some sort of community root cellar when they couldn't get to their home proper, they told Isabella that they could hear the screams of people that apparently tried to hide as well, but the creatures stayed in the village to make sure they had wiped out everyone. In fact, the family was very surprised that Isabella didn't see them since they were certain they were still lurking about. Isabella at this point tells you that she imagines that the creatures were most definitely a medusa and basilisks. She also says neither of them make their homes anywhere near this area either and it would be rare enough for one to show up, let alone a group like that. And given that they just suddenly appeared (and then apparently disappeared at some point, since there were no signs that they left the area to go elsewhere, yet they also were no longer around) the way they did, there had to be powerful magic at work. She goes on to tell you that both creatures do not normally make their homes in this area and it would be rare enough for one of them to turn up and wipe out an entire village, let alone a group of them. This combined with the earth elemental incident, and the cause of all this could only be Ral. She doesn't know why he would do something like this and she doesn't much care, all she cares about is the fact that Ral fucked up her home and convenient feeding grounds and for that he has to pay. "He's been on borrowed time as it is." Isabella says. "Are you sure it was him? I mean Ral was an asshole, but he never seemed to deliberately be the type to cause destruction for the shits and giggles. I mean is there proof?" you ask. "I don't need fucking proof, I got instinct! And as I said, I don't care if it was just some spell that went wrong, he's gotta fucking pay for what he did. And YOU are going to help me." "How the hell am I supposed to do that? I mean earth elementals, creatures that turn shit to stone, and wizard shit on top of all of it? I dealt with Ral before and it didn't go well, not sure if I'm too keen on facing him again." "You're also not a weak human anymore! You're a fucking vampire with all the advantages that go along with it! I'm going to be doing most of the heavy lifting anyway. I just need you to get in his home and if possible try to get me in there as well." "How? His home isn't my home. I wouldn't be able to get in it anymore than you would." "Yes you would, you were his servant were you not? Think back. Ral invited you in to his home long before you became a vampire." As strange as it may seem, you do remember his exact words to you during that time. "My home is your home." Weird that you never really thought about before, but then your mind was preoccupied with other things you suppose. "Well, maybe I guess…but I just don't see how any of this is my problem! YOU said you released me and I thought…perhaps foolishly that you were at least a woman with a sense of honor. I mean I stayed out of your way and made a life for myself elsewhere, I don't see why I should have to help you." "You're saying you don't even want to do this even out of a sense of revenge on Ral?" "Maybe at one time I would have if I'd known I could enter his home so easily. But now? It's all in the past and I've made a life not just for myself here, but for Lisa as well. I just don't see why I should go potentially fucking that up when things are good. I mean…obviously you're a hundred times more powerful than me and I can't stop you from forcing me to help you under threat of death, but…I dunno…whatever…I just thought things were finally going well for me." You slump in your chair and despair a bit about your situation. Isabella studies you a moment and then addresses you. "You're right. You're right about everything. I did release you and you aren't really any under obligation to help. You're also right in that I could just threaten to kill you and your little fuck toy if you don't help me, though I'd probably go for extended torture since I don't think you'd fear immediate death as much." Isabella remarks. "So where are we then?" you ask. "So, I'm going to give you a reasonable compromise, because I still have a soft spot for you. If you help me kill Ral, I can promise that I will never darken your path again. At least not on purpose. However, if you don't want to help me in that way, I'm going to give you another option and that is you must leave this place." "What?" "If you're not going to help me kill Ral, I need to plan another method of attack without you, and for that, I'm going to need my own home to do that from. I don't want to waste time finding or building my own right now, so yours…such as it is, will have to do. Give me this place and I will never darken your doorstep again." "That's mostly because I won't have a doorstep any longer." "Well be that as it may, the option is there. You can be truly free and go find somewhere else to live. I don't doubt you couldn't set yourself up just as well somewhere else, but I also don't doubt that somewhere within you, that you wouldn't mind getting revenge on Ral." > You leave Holgard You're not getting wrapped up in Isabella's shit with Ral. You thought you were done with both of them and you intend on keeping it that way, even if that means you need to find some new place to live. "It's all yours." You say and stand up. "What seriously? You're not helping? You don't want revenge?" Isabella asks in a genuinely surprised manner. "Not particularly. I mean sure I don't have any love for Ral, but unless the man is coming to magically enslave me again, I just really don't feel the need to go looking for trouble. I moved on and made a new life for myself and I'm happy with it. I dunno Isabella, maybe you should do the same." Isabella's face is noticeably annoyed by your remark, but she doesn't threaten you or anything, just more of an expression of exasperation and disappointment. "Very well, but I didn't think that you were the type to run and hide when opportunity presented itself. Some just aren't meant for greater things I guess. After you leave, you needn't concern yourself with me interfering with your little boring life in the future." You nearly want to argue with Isabella and bring up several things, but you decide that if you really do want to get out of this situation with minimal conflict, your best bet is to just let it go. Without another word, you stand up and leave Isabella to brood. Despite her sneering words at you, you can't help but notice her glancing at you leave with a bit of melancholy in her eyes. Maybe she was hoping to rekindle something that wasn't there in the first place. Who knows? She never really did open up to you even in all those years you were forced to be together, maybe if she had, things would have been different like she thought they would be. You're about to head back to the meat room, when you notice blood puddles and small trails in the hallway. You follow them to a small dead end to another tunnel you've been recently working on and that's where you find Lisa huddled in a corner chewing on a bone and making a weird (yet relatively quiet) noise. Almost like she's crying, but not quite. She looks up at you mournfully. "Lisa, I'm not mad if you were listening to us." you say. "You're leaving with her aren't you?" Lisa asks. "No. Not at all. In fact me and you are leaving together." "We are? Where are we going?" "Not sure honestly, but we're not going to be living here anymore." "Why? Are we being kicked out?" "In a manner of speaking yes. But I'd rather us have to start all over again and be free, than have to be a servant again. So, we'll be hitting the road so to speak. You have anywhere in mind that you'd like to go?" "Um…I dunno…I've never been anywhere other than here and Dert." "True I suppose. But I didn't know if you'd heard of any place you might like to go…though I suppose you don't bother making conversation with too many people." Lisa looks introspective for a moment and then speaks again. "The Delantium Kingdom?" she asks. "Really? Didn't know you had any interest to go there." You say. "One time, I stumbled upon a fancy dressed man in the sewers who was from the Delantium Kingdom." "He told you that?" "Oh yes, he claimed that he was a very important man there and if I killed him, people would come looking for him and seek revenge. Of course I didn't worry about that." "Of course. I don't suppose you know what such an important man was doing in the sewers do you?" "No, I dunno what he was doing in the sewers, maybe he was lost, but in any event he tasted better than anyone from Holgard." You smile a bit at Lisa's reasons for suggesting the Delantium Kingdom. A very simple pleasure of food and the possibility of it tasting better there. It's as good of a reason as any you suppose, since you don't have many ideas at the moment. "Okay, then if you want to go to the Delantium Kingdom then that's where we'll go to start over. It's going to be a long way, so maybe we should take a ship rather than travelling over land." You say. "Ohh, I've never been on a ship before!" Lisa exclaims. "Neither have I, so it'll be a new experience for the pair of us. I of course also imagine we'll have to stowaway on a ship heading there, but that shouldn't be too hard. Even hiding aboard the vessel shouldn't pose too much of a challenge." "I might get hungry though." "I'm sure I will too, but I'm confident that they'll be able to afford losing a few crew members without arousing too much suspicion. If it starts getting risky, you can always feed on me a little more and I'll worry about getting sustenance so that I can keep both of our strength up." Lisa displays a big smile at that idea. Anything that allows her to suck on you more than usual is always a good thing in her eyes. With a hug and a kiss, Lisa is once again happy since she knows that Isabella isn't threatening her position anymore. (Not that she was in the first place) You don't bother taking much with you, save for a few of your old thief tools and that's mainly for sentimental value, as you don't really do much of that sort of thing anymore. But things change, just like they are right now and just like how they probably will in the future. You and Lisa sneak aboard a trading vessel carrying a lot of cargo. Makes hiding in the bowels of the ship a lot easier with all the crates and boxes around. Occasionally one of you leaves the confines of one of the crates to feed, but mostly the pair of you just lie next to each other and enjoying each other's company as you wait to reach your destination. Your days as a common rogue might be over, but you remain positive that your best days as a vampire have yet to be realized and hopefully those are coming soon.

Maybe your feelings have faded. Hell, maybe you didn't even ever truly love her to begin with, but you still feel responsible enough for her situation that you're not giving up on Lisa. "I'm doing it. I can make this work." You say. "Very well." Isabella remarks with a bit of a sigh. "I have to say, I'm still sort of surprised that you're so permissive in all this." "Contrary to what YOU may think of me. I do have a sense of kindness…or maybe I'm just fond of you enough that I don't just kill the pair of you to be done with this failed attempt of courtship." "Courtship…" you scoff. "Yes, that what this was, at least to me. What would you have me do? Wait around for you to give me flowers or some other meaningless gesture? Go out to…I dunno the local festival? I'm a fucking vampire. I take what I want and at the time I wanted you. But I can see now that method wasn't the way to go about it. Personally, I don't even think you have any feelings of love for this girl, just a sense of guilt. However, if THIS is what is going to make you happy, then fine. I'll show you how. Either you're going to come to become so disgusted with what Lisa has become that you'll finally do away with her yourself and we can try again. Or you'll stay with her and maintain your delusions. Either way the pair of you will be free because I'm not going to have you both living here if that's the case." "That's…pretty generous of you, but…" you start to say and then stop yourself. "But what?" "Um, nothing…" "Pfft, I already know what you were going to ask before you realized it would be stupid to do so, though again it isn't going to bother me." "And what did you think I was going to ask?" "That what if you just fake it for your freedom and how will I know? To the former, go ahead. If you're REALLY willing to put yourself through all this, just to be released from me, then you deserve your freedom. At least it will give me a bit of pride that I will have released a very patient one of my kind into the world. Lot of young vampires fuck up due to being impulsive. But then, I suppose you've already had a lot of experience at being patient haven't you? In any case, we should get started." Isabella tells you that the process is fairly simple, however due to you being on the younger side, she isn't sure how long it will take, if at all. The best you can do is just keep feeding her blood on a regular basis until she starts to show signs of change. "Now of course she's already a bit on the paler side due being stuck down here with no sun all the time. So the thing you're probably going to notice immediately is her starting to show signs of free will. She'll probably start by addressing you without needing to be addressed first. She'll of course also start being very affectionate, wanting to please you in every way." Isabella explains. "But it's different from the trance correct?" "Oh yes. Much different. In fact, she'll be immune to that to some degree. Her loyalty towards you will be unquestionable due to sharing of blood, but she's still going to do things on her own and it might not matter how much you tell her not to. As I said, ghouls tend to have disgusting habits and urges. In fact if you've ever heard the tales of how vampires are a bunch of decadent sex fiends, well THAT'S the reason. Ghouls that somehow manage to get elevated to vampirehood, never fully shed those more vile traits. Always best to go from mortal straight to vampire with no transition in between, like I did with you." Isabella says and strokes your face. Isabella observes you bite yourself and then feed your blood to Lisa. It actually isn't as easy as all that. Despite being in a trance, Lisa still doesn't react well to the whole blood drinking thing, especially that of a vampire's. She starts gagging and coughing even though she's also trying to follow your command of doing it. Even reluctantly forcing her head to you doesn't work and she ends up vomiting. "Lisa doesn't have much of a gag reflex eh?" Isabella jokes, which you try to ignore and just refocus your efforts. "How long do I have to do this?" you ask. "Well until she at least manages to keep some of it down at least. As I said, it isn't going to happen instantly either. You're probably going to have to do this every day for months. Possibly even more than once a day since you're still a young vampire. All I can suggest is you better make sure you keep YOUR strength up, but you better not go using up all the humans chained up in the larder. Also you're still obligated to your duties to me. Anyway, I'll leave you to it." You continue to force Lisa to suck on you and eventually she keeps some of it down. You start to feel a little weird yourself so you tell her to stop and you go replenish yourself with someone in the larder, despite Isabella's warnings. You'll just have to go nab humans for her more frequently. If she thinks all this is going to deter you, it isn't. Now that Isabella has hinted at freedom, your motivation for doing all this is doubled. You spend months slaving away more than you had under Ral or even Isabella before all this mainly because you have to increase capturing the amount of blood "donors" not just for Isabella, but for yourself. It's really tempting to just grab someone from Dert, but Isabella has always had a rule against taking too many people from there lest the ignorant peasants start getting riled up, or worse, just pick up and leave. So it's mostly a lot of ambushing bandits, travellers and (ugh) hobgoblins in the forests. There's always Holgard too, but the journey even with your speed is still always a pain in the ass dragging someone from there since you have to keep feeding Lisa your blood at a regular interval. (Not to mention there's currently religious conflict going on there between the factions) Needless to say, all of this makes you a lot more irritable and tired all the time (Basically, you feel like a human by vampire standards) Months pass just like Isabella said they would, but you don't give up and eventually you start to see the signs of Lisa changing. It starts by her talking to you and addressing you by name. She's very confused at first, but as you start to explain it all to her, she doesn't even seem to care. In fact, she seems very happy that you've gone to so much effort to save her life. "Oh my beloved! I KNEW you always loved me deeply! Let me show my appreciation to you!" Lisa exclaims and proceeds to jump on you. It's a little strange, but given all you've gone through to turn her, and she seems to be so willing, you don't turn her down. Isabella still doesn't seem fussed by this turn of events. She does seem to decrease her own demands for sex though. Cleaning is still a priority unfortunately, but considering Lisa now has all this energy she starts helping you do it. It's during one of these cleanings that you start to see what Isabella was warning about. "Lisa, I bring in real food, you don't need to eat the bugs crawling around this place!" you exclaim. "I'm sorry honey, but I dunno…they just looked so…inviting. And they're nice and crunchy too. I like the way they sometimes wiggle in my mouth…mmmm…tehehehehe…" Lisa says trailing off into a disturbing giggle. "Look, just don't eat them, and don't eat anything else that isn't proper food either." "But…but what about your delicious yummy blood?" "That's still fine." "Good! Because I want some right now!" "You just had some a few hours ago!" "But I need it! I need to suck on you!" It's just the beginning. Year 26 "Well, you proved yourself. You wanted it bad enough and I'm true to my word. You and your ghoul bitch are free. Now get the hell outta my crypt, it's still night right now, so if you hurry you can find other shelter before dawn." Isabella suddenly remarks to you during one of your few moments to yourself. You're so tired, all you can muster up is a "huh?" "You heard me, you're free, get out." Isabella remarks. "Now?" you ask. "Yes! I said get out! I'm sick of you doing a half assed job of keeping this place clean and your bitch eating my food. Never mind the fact that I don't exactly get off on hearing you lot have sex. Though I'm guessing that was your idea that she scream as loud as she could." "I thought you weren't jealous and didn't give a shit." "I don't actually. But I'm certainly not going to share you in any capacity with something that's currently up in the graveyard as we speak, digging up coffins and eating rotten carcasses." "What?! She got out again? Why didn't you stop her?!" "Not my concern and neither are you anymore. You were fun for a while and I don't regret our time. Just confirmed my original thoughts of why I stay single to begin with. Anyway, take care and a part of me hopes that deep down that you do truly love this girl, but then I've always been a bit of a romantic." Isabella tells you that you've got a short period of time to leave not just her crypt, but also the area. She mentions that if she catches you or Lisa still in the area she'll kill the pair of you since she doesn't want you lingering around to possibly fuck up her relative peace by preying upon Dert. You gather up what belongings you still value and take your leave. Sure enough when you exit the crypt, you hear Lisa snuffling about in the graveyard. You soon find that she's already dug up a grave and half eaten body parts lie all around her. She looks up from the rotten leg bone she's chewing on and wastes no time in running to greet you, though it's more like an animal loping at you. Lisa attempts to kiss you, but the stench of her breath is horrible and that's saying something considering how resilient you've gotten to such things. You turn your head away and tell her to calm herself. "I'm sorry, I know I'm suppose to stay in the crypt, but I just got so hungry and nipped out for a quick snack since I know you don't like me touching the chained up humans in that one room. Anyway, is it time to give me some more of your yummy blood? I could use a drink after that meal! Say, do you want some of this leg?" You look at Lisa and she's absolutely nothing like the girl you were so fond of years ago. She doesn't even look the same. While she's not aging anymore, she's definitely changing in appearance in other ways. Her clothes and body are constantly dirty; her hair is a matted nest crawling with insects. Her teeth have bits of decayed flesh in them and who knows what else. She smells like the same corpses she eats. Her personality is that of a spineless lackey that isn't even completely obedient. And the kicker to all this is you willingly had sex with this thing repeatedly just to gain your freedom. You can't imagine the number of times you dreaded keeping up the sham. Of course it's done now. You don't really need to go through it any longer. > You leave Lisa behind Isabella was right. Ghouls are disgusting creatures and however long you live in this new vampire life, you are never making another one again, unless you were trying to completely humiliate someone. Lisa, really didn't deserve this fate and you've long since saw that it would have been a kindness to just kill her. However, in her current form she allowed you to regain your freedom so you'll always remember her for that, along with when she was human. You think about killing her now, and it's not really because you wouldn't do so, if only to release her from this hellish state of life, but you've still got one last idea to stick it to Isabella for putting you in this situation to begin with. "Lisa, you remember your old home Dert and how to get there correct?" you ask. "Oh yes! I remember it well! It's full of humans! Fleshy…delicious human…" Lisa starts to say trailing off as she thinks of exactly that. "Yes, it is. Well because you've been a good girl, you can go there and eat all you want!" "I…I can!?" "Yes! You can empty the entire village if you want!" "Oh….oh THANK YOU!" "Yes, well I am the nice one." Lisa attempts to kiss you again, but once again you block her from doing so. "First thing I'm going to do is eat my father! That old bastard never wanted us to be together! THEN I'm going to eat that bitch Lindsay! I remember that dumb whore stupidly bragged about getting pregnant when she gave you a blowjob! But I don't blame you of course, you know that right?" Lisa says. "Oh I know. I know. Actually I'd sort of forgotten about that, but then I've been a bit preoccupied with other things. Anyway, have fun." You reply. "Wait, aren't you coming with me?" "Oh no. I have some important business to take care of for Isabella in Holgard. Might be awhile so don't wait up for me." "Oh…well okay. I was hoping that we were gonna do this together…I don't like how you take orders from that Isabella bitch. I'm sorry. I know I'm not supposed to talk bad about her, but I don't like her. I can't wait for us to be free of her so it can be just you and me together forever!" If only you had the patience, Lisa's obsessive dream might have come true, but you just don't. You're tired of having to serve or help other people in any capacity. You just really need to be by yourself for a while. A LONG while. Still, no point in not giving the girl one last thrill. You quickly open up your wrist and motion Lisa to drink, which she does so gladly. You give her a little more than usual since you figure she's going to need the extra strength to take on an entire village. Even assuming she survives that, she still will be no match for Isabella who will no doubt eventually learn of this, but at least you've given Lisa a nice going away present. Afterwards you pat Lisa on the head and tell her to scamper off before all the humans in Dert get away. With this last command you watch Lisa lope into the darkness towards Dert. Isabella's going to be pissed. You half wonder if she'll hunt you down for doing this, but for some reason you don't really care if she does. You just sort of wish you could figure out a way to get a little revenge on that asshole Ral too, but that might be for a different day you guess. You briefly think about making your way to Holgard since it is the closest settlement of where you can feed easily, but you figure you probably should just leave the region entirely. Not to mention being a "normal" thief just doesn't hold the same thrill it once did and it's not even necessary anymore. You've never been a wanderer by nature, but maybe you'll start to become one now. Who knows, maybe you'll even bump into your sister in your travels. You like to think that she'd find your transformation very interesting, or at least the story of how it happened. You hope she's doing okay, or at least doing better than you are. After thinking on it, you decide to head towards the direction of the Delantium Kingdom. You know it's going to be quite a journey even with your speed. You hope you'll find shelter along the way. You always hate having to just dig yourself a hole in the ground. But there will undoubtedly be little communities like Dert or your old home of Teckleville along the way for you to rest and feed at. There always are. As you begin to walk, you aren't sure what you're going to do with the rest of your undead life, but your days as a common rogue are over.

Year 25 How the hell do you keep a vast underground crypt clean? Answer: You don't. One thing you never knew about vampires is how they can become obsessed with the smallest details. Probably has to do with the enhanced senses. Isabella apparently is a neat freak and due to this quirk she spent most of her time rearranging, cleaning, and generally tidying up her home. An impossible task of course, but that didn't stop her from trying. Even the room where she keeps the blood "donors" is clean. Doesn't look like the slaughterhouse that one would expect it to be. Unfortunately due to being at her beck and call that means you get to help her or at least do most of it now. As one would expect, it takes up most of your time. You think between her and Ral, you've done more housework than thievery. About the only thing you don't have to take care of is her underground garden, which is her own personal project that she spends a lot of time on. In fact, with you around now she doesn't even have to leave it to get food much anymore. She just has you do it. She also has you doing her. You can't be sure if it's true affection she has for you or just her basic needs that she wants satisfied. It feels like the latter most of the time, but there are moments where it seems to be more. It's just a weird situation altogether and while you'd hate to admit it, its one of the better things about being in servitude to Isabella rather than Ral. Meanwhile you've got a project of your own in the form of Lisa. You spend whatever free time you have with her. Making sure she's provided with nourishment and drink. Usually you just steal food from the farms in Dert along with drawing water from their well, but occasionally you get something different from Holgard and try to mix things up. (You never thought your thievery would ever be used primarily for food!) Lisa's reactions to everything are very "neutral." That's of course mainly due to the perpetual trance she's in. She is always polite and docile, and never really doing too much on her own, not that she would have much to do anyway considering she's mostly relegated to her single room. (That you've also taken time to furnish) Isabella says that in time, you'll be able to get her to behave more like a "normal" person, but the fact is, she'll always be acting according to how you want her to act. Much like a puppet. It's all pretty frustrating. There's also a part of you that is starting to wonder about what you're doing. Are you doing this because you love Lisa? Are you doing this out of some sense of guilt? Or are you doing this just to pass the time? At this point you don't know anymore. It can't be out of a sense of "humanity" because other than Lisa, you've adjusted fairly well to the whole snatching up people and drinking their blood until they die thing. You wonder if maybe you should turn Lisa into a ghoul, since apparently she'd have a lot more free will, while still remaining dedicated to you. You stare at Lisa who sits quietly in her chair staring in such a way that it almost makes you think that somewhere within her head, there's a part of her that's still the free willed Lisa and she's screaming to get out. Would transforming her really be any worse than she is now? It wouldn't be perfect, but at least she'd be able to do more things on her own without you needing to tend to her constantly. "I figured you'd be in here." Isabella remarks upon entering the room. "I finished cleaning for today…or did you need something else?" you answer. "Not right now and surprisingly my garden doesn't need tending to at this moment. I'm just checking up on you I suppose. Did I interrupt a potential moment of bliss between you and your pet?" "What?" "Oh come on, you don't need to deny anything. It's not like I care. I'm hardly jealous of that." "…no! No! I don't do that with her!" "What seriously? I figured you were just really quiet about it. Or maybe on the occasions you took her deeper into the catacombs, you were fucking her in one of the more secluded spots there. Guess that explains why you keep her clothed." "I sometimes take her for walks because I believe she needs a change of scenery every once in awhile. And I'm not having sex with her, because I'm not a rapist. She's under a trance." "So are all the folks we keep here to take blood from, except we're ultimately killing them. You don't seem to have a problem with that." "It's…it's just different." "I suppose it is…but not really. I have to admit, I didn't think you'd last this long with her, but I guess your feelings were stronger for her than I thought…or maybe you're just doing this to prove some point to yourself. Either way, I can already tell that you're starting to realize the futility of your plan." "I want to make her into a ghoul." Isabella looks at you and just shakes her head. "I knew it would come to this. Look, if you really do have any lingering feelings for Lisa, you'll just kill her now and be done with it." Isabella remarks. "What's wrong with making her a ghoul? You mentioned before that it would stop her from aging any more and she'd still be under my influence. Are you just afraid that if I take this step, it will just bring her closer to me and further from you?" "Oh you, and your assumptions. Trust me, if I really felt remotely intimidated by either of you in any way, you'd both be dead. However, if you really want my thoughts on this, you turn her into a ghoul and I guarantee it will only make you appreciate me all the more." "Well what exactly is so bad about turning her into a ghoul? You've never gone into detail." "First of all, you're probably still not powerful enough to do it even with my magnificent blood in your body, though I suppose you could try anyway. Second of all, I've made a ghoul before and while it's true they make good servants who are completely dedicated to you, there's enough drawbacks that I don't understand why any vampire would bother…unless they're really desperate for ego stroking I suppose." "Okay, so what then…she'll fawn all over me?" "Yes, and while that might sound enticing at first, I promise that you'll get sick of it. At least YOU would at any rate. You've never struck me as the time that needs constant reassurance of how amazing you are." "I dunno, it might still be nice to hear once in awhile." "Well, if you want to hear how amazing you are, I guess we can go back to my room. I promise, I'll make it sound authentic." You don't want to, but you actually actual laugh at Isabella's remark causing her to smile. "Okay, see that right there is a good example of why you shouldn't even bother with this plan. You know you like it here with me." Isabella remarks. "Maybe I'm trying the best out of my bad situation. We're not exactly equals in this relationship you know." You say. "Oh and you and Lisa would be? You and I are a much closer if we're going to go that route. You're so far above her right now it's comparing a rot grub to a human. Speaking of rot grubs, that's the third thing you might want to know about when creating a ghoul." "What?" "For whatever reason and nobody I know has ever figured this out. Ghouls develop disgusting habit and quirks." "Drinking blood doesn't already qualify?" "I'm sure to some it would, but how about eating bugs, dead bodies or even shit? You really want Lisa to kiss you with that mouth after she's been chowing down on a rotting corpse?" "Well can't I tell her not to do that?" "You can try, but short of keeping her confined, that's just doomed to failure. As obedient as they are, some urges are just too powerful. And that's just the eating habits. I haven't even gotten to the weird social habits because if allowed to go out and interact with the rest of the world, ghouls tend to lack the subtlety that vampires do…well most vampires anyway. You turn her into a ghoul and you better keep a CLOSE eye on her. Otherwise she's going to go wandering into Dert and probably expose herself to all the little peasant children. I'm sure that won't attract attention at all." Isabella's made a real good case against the whole ghoulification process. Though you're still wondering if she isn't just exaggerating so you won't try it. You spend time hovering over Lisa anyway; you think you could manage to keep her from doing anything weird. Part of you wants to do it just to prove Isabella wrong, but then is that a good excuse for doing it at all? Your original intent is so you could stop Lisa from getting any older and giving her a bit of free will. > You don't do it Other than the obvious, Isabella hasn't really lied to you. She might be manipulative, but if she's even telling some of the truth about what Lisa will become as a ghoul, it probably isn't worth it. Would the Lisa you once knew really want to become something like that? Would she even want to become a vampire for that matter? The thing is, you don't even really know. As the years have gone by, you realize that you didn't know her excessively well. You had some good times with her and she was a distraction from being under Ral's thumb, but did you really love her? No. You were just hanging on to a memory of the past and in her current trance state, that memory continues to fade as you watch her get older and continue to behave like some emotionless golem. The real Lisa wanted to live an adventure. This isn't an adventure and this isn't life. Isabella's right, you do have more in common with her. Arguably, you even know her better despite the fact that Isabella still hasn't really told you much about her own past (which must be extensive). This realization still causes you to feel sadness. You really thought that if you just hung on to Lisa, that maybe your situation would work itself out, but it isn't. This is your life or unlife as it were. You put your face in your hands and try not to weep, but you fail. Isabella attempts to comfort you by putting an arm around you, but you eventually pull away. "Oh dear…I can see this didn't go the way I planned at all. (Sigh) Very well…I see what needs to be done. You need to go. I release you." Isabella says. "What?" you answer. "You heard me. I release you. You're not happy here and you never will be. You're also always going to be resentful towards me on some level. Guess I should have known, but spending decades being detached from humanity sort of makes one become less aware of certain social niceties." "What about Lisa?" "Oh yes, her. Well I'm sure you do realize that she still can't leave here. Can't do anything about that. However, I'm correct in assuming that you no longer feel the same way about her anymore?" "Yes…but…" "I'll make it quick. Just go." "Thank you." You give one last look at Lisa and briefly think about giving her a goodbye hug or even a kiss, but it would be a meaningless gesture to someone who is in no state of mind to appreciate it anyway. And even if she were, she most likely wouldn't want anything to do with you. You take your leave of Isabella's home and don't look back. (Fortunately it's night time right now) As sad as you are about what happened with Lisa, you now feel a great weight lifted off of you. Namely the ball and chain of slavery. First Ral and then Isabella. For the first time since you left your home, you're actually free. Truly free. It's a little surreal. Since you're lacking in any other ideas at the moment and need some time to think, you head to the closest place that you can think of where you can find reasonable dwellings and can feed easily, Holgard. When you arrive, you head to the graveyard. Many times in your past visits to Holgard, you've found temporary places to stay any time you got stuck here before the sunrise. While it probably would be just as easy to stay at an inn, you suppose your years with Isabella have caused you to appreciate the solitude of a crypt. You find yourself an older one that doesn't look like it gets too much visitation and after a few adjustments, you make a space for yourself. What will you do with yourself now? What DO vampires do to pass the time? It can't all just be drinking blood obviously. Isabella had her garden (and cleaning until you showed up) Your concerns aren't so much in the present you suppose, but the future since you've got a long one ahead of you. Your previous profession of thievery seems all rather pointless now. You don't need money to live anymore and you don't even get that much of a thrill out of it like you once did, of course most of your roguish skills were being used to steal for Lisa, so it hasn't been for your original reasons for a long time anyway. All of this also has had you wondering how your family is doing, and if they're all okay. You imagine your parents really wouldn't want anything to do with you now, so there's no point in visiting them even you weren't facing mob justice there (And as a vampire, you can't imagine the folks in Teckleville would be any friendlier towards you, though you suppose you'd be able to handle them easier now). You like to think your sister would still speak with you though. She'd probably find it all very fascinating, which you suppose it is in some ways. For a while you think you can go back to your "old life." Pick up where you left off, or rather what you originally wanted to do in the first place after you left Teckleville. This works, but only temporarily. Part of you would stay in Holgard and just go about a simple existence of feeding on unlucky souls and possibly burglarizing a store just to pass the time. It isn't like you're exactly unhappy doing that, but after a few months you realize it isn't so much the monotony of your life that's bothering you, but rather the area. First, Holgard is currently undergoing a "holy war" of sorts between its various religious factions. While it's making things chaotic enough for you go unnoticed, you can't help but get a little concerned when the Church of Joachim starts talking about forming groups to hunt down evil supernatural elements that are corrupting the city as part of their crusade to prove they are what's best for Holgard. Second (and somewhat more importantly) Holgard used to be a sort of "escape" from Ral and later Isabella. You used to be able to put it out of your mind that you were under someone else's command for a little while. Now? Holgard just feels like you haven't "moved on" from your shackles. Or at least not moved on enough. While you've never been a wanderer like your sister and maybe it's a combination of your previous experiences, along with being a vampire, but you feel the urge to travel. You don't know where, but you have to get out of this city. Maybe even find something else to do. Holgard always has trade ships leaving its harbor going to various locations. You sneak aboard one in the middle of night and hide yourself in one of them. You think this one is going to the Delantium Kingdom, but it might be going to some place you've never heard of, you don't really care as long as you're away from this area. Never been aboard a ship before, so this will be a new experience too. You imagine you'll get hungry on the journey, but as far as you know there's enough crew on the ship that you'll be able to get by. Just have to be stealthy about it, but then that isn't really a problem anymore. You still don't know exactly what you're going to do with the rest of your undead life, but your days as a common rogue are over.

Year 21 When you first started messing around with Lisa, she was just like all the other young Dert girls that had started taking an interest in you when you started coming around a lot more. Just a bored girl that found you to be a spark of excitement in her backwards little village. Lisa however, stood out mainly because she wasn't naïve or outright stupid like rest. (You still laugh about the one girl who thought she was going to force you into a crossbow wedding by having a child. Unfortunately for her, swallowing doesn't result in pregnancy.) She managed to keep your interest and not in just a physical way. Before you realized it, you were in a relationship again. But it was nice since it allowed you a bit of escapism from your own prison like situation. (And certainly cheaper than going to Holgard whores) While her father has threatened you with physical violence on several occasions (As many others have as well), you and her have always found places to meet. She always listens to whatever tales of "adventure" you have to tell her. Sometimes you make it sound more exciting than it really is, but she always enjoys them and asks many questions since it's like she's able to experience some of the excitement vicariously. Lately though it's starting to look like your stories don't quite quell the restlessness that Lisa seems to have… "Holgard? Oh you don't want to go there now. I think they're about to have a city wide riot or revolution or some shit." You say. "Well that certainly sounds more interesting than having to milk cows all day." Lisa replies. "You're also a lot less likely to get killed milking cows." "Perhaps, but you still get to do interesting stuff all the time, what with you working for a wizard and all." "I wouldn't exactly say I'm working for him. I think I've already confided to you about my situation as far as that goes." "Yes I know and that's also a cause for me to worry about our future. It even causes me to have concerns about your feelings for me." "Oh come on…you know how I feel about you." "Do I? I sometimes get the impression that you probably wouldn't come around if you weren't tethered by the wizard's spell. I imagine we probably wouldn't have even met if it hadn't been the case. Am I wrong?" "(Sigh) Well…yes IF Ral hadn't magically enslaved me, we probably wouldn't have met. But it happened and we DID meet AND I chose you to be with. I mean doesn't that count for something?" Lisa doesn't answer right away; she just takes your hand and looks into your eyes. "I know you probably do have feelings for me, but I also can't shake the feeling that I'm just a nice distraction from your situation, just as you're a nice distraction from mine. We're both prisoners of a sort, but the difference is my cage is of my own accord." Lisa says. "What do you mean?" you ask. "What I mean is I would like to leave this boring village, but the only thing that really holds me back is fear and the lack of any real skill to survive in the outside world, or at least the world you've described to me. And I know you can't be making it all up despite you probably wanting me to believe all those impossible feats you've done." Lisa gives you a small hug and kisses you on the cheek, which causes you to embrace her a bit tighter than usual. You feel like she's saying goodbye to you right now, but that isn't the case. "I'm obviously not going anywhere yet, but I'm just informing you that things need to change a bit at some point. I know we have fun together and I hope we continue to have fun together for many years to come, but don't take me for granted." Lisa goes back to looking at the sky probably still thinking about wanting to leave her boring farm life behind her while you're thinking about how much of an idiot you've been for filling her head with tales of adventure. You couldn't have just stuck with one of the dumb passive ones could you? Why the hell did you go for the independent thinker of the village? Well it's done and to be honest it's that trait that made her more attractive anyway. It isn't like you can blame her for wanting to leave Dert. The place is duller than Teckleville ever was. In any case, you aren't willing to risk losing Lisa even if she isn't likely to leave in the near future. You have to at least make the effort to keep her around. Your reasons are probably selfish, but she's also correct that you would miss her if she weren't in your life. This would be a whole lot simpler if you weren't under Ral's spell. Maybe it's time for that situation to change. Of course even after all these years, you still have no idea of how to do that and Ral doesn't seem to be relenting anytime soon. Of course you do have another option and that's going back to Isabella. Despite her invitation of coming back to see her at anytime, you never have for several reasons. Still, you have pondered it many times because you believe that if anyone knows how to break Ral's hold over you, it would be her and she'd probably be willing to help given how much she doesn't seem to like him. > You focus on Lisa You made one deal with a powerful being and it didn't go well. No need to do it twice, especially with a vampire. At best you'd probably be a pawn in whatever plans she has. Your fate is currently sealed and you can't do much to change it, but maybe you can at least help Lisa achieve some of her goals. "Lisa, how serious are you about leaving this place?" you ask. "What do you mean?" she responds. "I mean could you leave right now if you had to?" "…um…well not right now…I mean I'd have to gather up some things at least and I don't have much money. Like none actually." "That doesn't matter. In fact forget about money right now, I'm asking could you leave soon, if you had to?" Lisa wasn't actually expecting this line of questioning, and it's obvious she feels pressured, but if she's serious about her desires, you need to know. "I… I mean yeah I guess I could if I had to." She says. "Good. I want you to go home and get everything you think you're going to need, but don't over pack. Meet me here tomorrow morning and we'll set off for Holgard." You say. "What really?" "Yes, really. You said you wanted to see it, so I'll take you there. You're not having second thoughts already are you?" "Well, I just…I dunno. I feel like this would be a one way trip for me. If I disappeared from Dert for as long as its going to take us to get to Holgard, I get the impression I might not be welcome back home anymore. Then where would I be?" "I thought as much, which is why I'm going to give you some of my money to get you started. Don't worry, I got enough of it, I can always get more and it's not really doing me much good anyway. However, I'm also going to teach you my own trade." "Thievery? I dunno…I mean I want to leave Dert, but I'm not sure if I have it in me to do what you do." "Sure you do. Look, just think about everything I said. If you don't like the idea at all then you don't have to meet me here in the morning. If we get to Holgard and decide you don't want to do what I do, I'm sure we can find something else. My point is, I don't know if I'm ever going to be free of Ral's spell, but I can at least help you achieve your goals in my limited way because I really do love you." Well nothing like going all in even if you aren't entirely sure… Of course now that you've said this to Lisa she's so touched by your crossing that final line of feelings, she immediately hugs and kisses you and probably also ready to go all in with travelling to Holgard even if she was still nervous about it. Of course now YOU'RE nervous about all this! You return to Ral's gathering up most of your money stash. You didn't really realize just how much you had managed to acquire. Even spending it on whores and carousing didn't really put as much of a dent in it as you thought. Which is good since you'd prefer to put Lisa up some place that isn't a complete shithole when you get to Holgard. Besides the place being a city of cutthroats and thieves, you're more concerned about the rising tensions going on there. There is the very real danger of a revolution of sorts going on there, but that will have to be something to deal with when it happens. You half expect Ral to suddenly ask you to go perform some risky task, but he doesn't. In fact Ral hasn't asked you to do anything lately, he hasn't even been on your ass about cleaning his home or fetching roots or flowers for whatever reason. He's been locked in his lab for a couple weeks at least now, which is fine by you since that gives you a bit of time to get Lisa settled in Holgard. The next day you meet up with Lisa who is definitely ready to go. She seems much more confidant about this than she was yesterday. She's a little worried about getting accosted on the way to Holgard, due to the stories she's heard about bandits, and to be honest you are too given how much money you're travelling with along with a pretty young girl, but you surprisingly never encounter a single soul. When you finally reach Holgard, you end up having to bribe a guard a hefty sum just so he doesn't fuck with you both, so you pretty much get robbed anyway. It's still not too bad and you have more than enough to set up Lisa at some place to stay. Lisa is overwhelmed by the size of Holgard and she looks like a clueless berk as she looks around at every little thing. Many times you have to keep a close eye on her, just to make sure she doesn't wander too far and get herself kidnapped or something similar. Eventually you make it to a place called the Sterling Silver. It's one of the better inns that isn't a complete criminal haven and still some place that you're currently able to afford. After getting a bit settled, Lisa's still eager to explore the city, though you really have to sit her down and stress the danger of this place. "Yes, you've told me all this before in your past tales to me and on the journey here. I'm not stupid." Lisa says. "I didn't say you were, but whether you want to hear it or not, you're out of your element and you need know how to survive here. I don't mind telling you I'm going to be severely worried about you all the time now. (Sigh) Well let's get started." You spend the next two days attempting to teach Lisa the basics of thievery. She's not exactly a natural at it, but fortunately there are so many thieves in the city, you're never in serious trouble with the law as soon as you both manage to run immediately from the area. Though you're more concerned with your activity calling attention to the Thieves' Guild or worse, the Ebony Claw Syndicate. You've been fortunate enough to avoid their attention, but Lisa's clumsy attempts might start doing that. And of course the bigger problem is you're not exactly going to be around to hold Lisa's hand all the time, since even if Ral isn't sending you on some forsaken mission, you still have return there just so you aren't suffering from the geas affects. Lisa keeps trying to reassure you that she'll be fine, but you feel better leaving her your flintlock just so she isn't completely defenseless. Lacking any more to do, you take your leave and can only hope she doesn't get killed or worse on her first night alone in this place. You return to Ral's in a few days and it's the same thing, he's still locked in his lab. It would be too much to hope that he's dead, but you can still hear faint sounds on the other side of the lab door. You go to sleep and then as soon as you wake up, you immediately head back to Holgard again. When you arrive this time, you have to wait around for Lisa since she isn't at her room. Eventually she shows up and you're hugging her as soon as she walks in the door of the inn. She's happy to see you too, but keeps telling you not to worry so much about her. This routine goes on for weeks, you arrive in Holgard, are relieved to see Lisa's still alive, try to teach her the art of thievery and then head back to Ral's. Occasionally it's broken up by Ral leaving notes telling you to grab various ingrediants for him and just leaving them by the lab door. In the meantime, the situation in Holgard is getting worse. The Baron's guards have been executing dissidents in the streets and there are rumors that the folks behind this dissident movement aren't much better than the fat ass who runs this city, but then that's hardly surprising. The Ebony Claws and the Thieves' Guild have also been engaging in direct confrontation with each other. Strangely despite all this, Lisa isn't exactly concerned. Another week passes and you come to understand why. "You've been just flat out mugging people?!" you say. "Mostly." She says. "Wha…when?" "About a month ago when I realized I'm rubbish at the whole sneaking about thing. Look, I know it's something you're good at, but it's just not me. I really tried several times, but I kept messing up and nearly getting myself killed in the process. In fact it was when one of the shopkeepers actually caught me and I was forced to pull out the flintlock to stop him from doing any harm to me. Since I had him at my mercy, I just robbed him at gunpoint while I was at it. Then I realized, I should have been doing that to begin with." You have to say, while you knew Lisa was attracted to the bad, you didn't expect her to go this route. No wonder she isn't worried about the current state of the city. "…why didn't you tell me?" "Well, because you seemed so happy trying to teach me about what you do. Besides, some of it I still use. Lock picking is always handy. You seem upset, are you disappointed I'm not doing what you do?" "I actually don't care about that so much that I'm really concerned that your actions might start attracting attention and I don't mean the guards. You could very well be robbing merchants or people under the protection of the ECS and if they find out, it's not going to be good. I'd wager the only reason why you're getting away with it is because you've been lucky with your targets or the ECS is so caught up in their own shit with the Guild that they're in conflict with." "Well, maybe I should join the ECS, then it won't be an issue." You have no words. Well you do, it's just it takes you awhile to gather them. "Have you gone completely barmy?! Even I wouldn't join the ECS! They're a group of utterly ruthless killers and don't tolerate fuck ups. I mean sure I'm not exactly in a position of casting moral judgment, but they're just fucking cruel. Not to mention, I'm fairly certain they're all caught up in Fel worship, making them religious fanatics on top of everything else. I'd join the Guild before them, and I wouldn't join the Guild mainly because I'm fairly certain they're not going to be around much longer." You exclaim. "Well I guess I'm just going to have to be more careful. You need to relax, you're all tense. You come to me and I'll make it better." At this point Lisa starts making overtures of affection. You're not exactly in the mood due to your worry, but Lisa soon gets you in the mood with enough effort. It's at least enough to put it out of your mind for awhile. When you leave Lisa this time, you take solace in the fact that she at least has learned how to survive in her own way and it didn't involve whoring. However, when you return to Ral's this time, you've got new concerns. Ral is actually waiting for you. "Finally back. Glad to see you adhere to the bare minimum of what is required of you." Ral says. "What's going on?" you ask. "What's going on, is you're not around nearly as much as you should be. I know you think because I'm locked away in my lab most of the time that that means you can just do whatever, but I remind you that you're supposed to be upkeeping this place. Look at all this dust!" "Apologies, but you didn't say anything about that on your notes to me." "I shouldn't NEED to tell you! And I also shouldn't have to be leaving notes for you in the first place! It's fucking inconvenient. If I wasn't actually busy with something really important I'd just make your tether even shorter, but I can see that's not really going to solve the issue. You're obviously pre-occupied with something else with as much time as you've been spending away from here. Let me guess, a girl?" "Well, yeah." "(Sigh) If I was a vindictive sort, I suppose I could do all sorts of things to cause you pain, but there's really no good reason for that and I can see that our own relationship has hit a wall with this new development. So I'm going to offer you another deal. I'll release the geas after you go on one last mission for me." "…what?" "You heard correctly. One more mission and then you get your freedom. I trust this sounds good to you?" "Yeah! I mean there's no catch is there? Like I'm free, but I have the head of a chicken and goat legs or something right?" "Ha ha! You sure have a funny imagination. But no, once you do this mission, you'll be completely free to live your life and you'll never have to deal with me ever again." "Great! So what needs to be done?" "I need you to bring back the heart of a Wazia." "Wait, don't they live in the Cloudpeak Mountains?" "Yes, they also eat trolls and manticores." "But I'm no warrior! You know that! That's suicide!" "Oh I'm sending Tych with you, he can help." "What's Tych going to do, sparkle in its face?" "I dunno, you'll have to work it out with him on various tactics to employ." "The Cloudpeak Mountains are also practically on the other side of the continent! Are you going to teleport me there like last time?" "Oh yes, and I'm going to personally equip you for this assignment, so no need to worry about getting winter gear or whatever else you need for the cold. In fact, the cold won't even be an issue at all." "That better be one warm coat." "Oh you won't ever need a coat again, after what I'm going to do. Stand still." Before you even get a "wha…" out Ral taps you in the head and you're instantly paralyzed and fall to the floor. You don't even feel pain, you don't feel anything at all actually. "Now, I need to start on your transformation…where did I put my stiletto again…" You don't know what Ral is doing to you. You don't even know how much time passes. You aren't even really aware of your surroundings. It's like you're in a trance and everything has gone blank in your mind. > You time passes... Year 23 "HHHHHHHHHH!" you gasp as you suddenly sit up from a table. Cold air emanates from your mouth though you don't feel very cold. You don't feel much of anything except a mild sense of panic and confusion. You briefly look at body which is completely naked and see that you are now a pale blue coloring. You look around the room and see a lot of lab equipment, books, and other alchemy related items. Ral stands by watching you. Tych is also hovering near him dressed in who looks to be very tiny winter clothing for him. "See, told you he'd survive." Ral remarks and then makes a note on a piece of parchment. "Oh joy, I get to go with him now." Tych says. "WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO TO ME?!" you shout. You'd probably get up and attack Ral, but apparently the geas is still in effect. Ral strokes his beard and frowns a bit before answering you. "Well I made you better for one thing. You don't have to ever worry about the cold ever again." "I can't fucking feel anything! Everything is a numb sensation!" "Hmm, yes, I thought that might happen. A minor drawback I assure you. You are now practically cold personified. Your body now magically produces cold around you. Even I can feel it from here. Seriously, you could stand naked on top of the Cloudpeak Mountains now and never freeze to death. You'll also find that you're a little slower than you were, though you're also probably a little stronger as well so it all evens out. Unexpected side effect. In any case, we should probably get you ready for your task. As ready as you are, I doubt you want to go naked." You might not be able to do anything against Ral, but that doesn't stop you from getting pissed and start yelling at him about your situation. When he mentions more than a year has passed, you even start to destroy his equipment until he stops you with some sort of hold spell. After a few more warnings about you continuing to getting an attitude with him, Ral finally gets on with explaining your task. He says he's teleporting you to a plateau in the Cloudpeak Mountains. From there he says Tych will lead the way. Apparently in the year he was experimenting on you, he was also having Tych locate a wazia lair in that area. Other than your regular clothes, he enchants your short sword so it will be more effective in combat, and then hands you one of those rare repeating crossbows and a quiver of bolts. "I hope you know how to use one of these." Ral remarks. "I'm more familiar with flintlocks, but I imagine this is probably easier seeing as this is one of the state of the art crossbows. These repeating ones are rare and expensive. Didn't know you kept up on technological advances though." You say. "Why wouldn't I? Just because I don't have any use for it, doesn't mean I don't see the utility of it for the unwashed masses. I figure between that and your enchanted weapon, you should be more than prepared. Your pack is over there. Has some food and climbing gear in it. Should be more than enough to help you." You go over and get your pack; Tych is hovering by it, looking just as miserable as you feel right now. "The pair of you ready, I trust?" Ral asks. "I guess." You say. "Tych is magically tied to me, so there is no need for fairy circles or any other places of power this time. You just need to very close to him for the transportation to work on you, along with him making the appropriate signal so I can pull him back here, I trust you remember was that was Tych?" "Yes, Ral." Tych responds in a defeated manner and flies onto your shoulder. "Good, I expect you'll be successful like last time and just think, you'll be a free man afterwards, so you have plenty of motivation." Without another word, Ral waves his hands a bit and your eyes are met with a bright light, followed by more bright light, though this is of the natural kind. You look and see that your surroundings are that of a flat icy, snowy landscape with mountains and hills nearby and the sun shining overhead. There isn't a soul around though save for Tych who instantly gets off of you. "Fuck, you're not much warmer than this horrible landscape. So much for using you for extra warmth." Tych says. "I can't feel much of anything. I mean I can sense the wind blowing, but there's just a dull cool feeling. It's not unpleasant, but it isn't pleasant either." You respond. "Well, Ral did experiment on you. I have to say, I'll be glad when this mission is over with, because I've had enough of freezing my fucking wings off here. Scouting around for large hostile monsters in the snow and cold isn't my idea of a good time. I'd rather be in the fucking jar." "I don't understand why he needs us to do this anyway. I mean he's a fucking powerful wizard, couldn't he have done this himself a lot easier?" "Of course he could have, but he's a fucking sadist. Why else would he make you into some slave boy and then turn you into a freak and keep me in a damn jar, play teleportation snap back with me for the past year and also have me scout around this icy wasteland?" "How long has that been going on?" "Oh a little after he put you in that trance and started cutting into you and doing who knows what else. Ral's experiments on you might have been done sooner if he hadn't gotten distracted with other things. He keeps trying to make greater strides in teleportation spells and I think he's planning on making a portal next. Of course he needs to test shit so he uses me as a fucking canary and then snaps me back home when he thinks enough time has passed. Makes me physically ill every time he does it. Those first few months I puked on every trip." Tych fixes his little fur hat before continuing. "And in these last few months? I've teleported back and forth to this fucking place looking for a wazia like I'm some great monster hunter! I don't want to fucking do this! My instinct is to fly AWAY from really big ravenous monsters, not seek them out!" "Trust me, I don't want to be here either." "At least you're free after all this! I'm not. Even if the wazia kills you, you'll still be doing better than me, but I don't think that will be the case, check you pack. You'll find something better than what Ral supplied you with." You take off you pack and at the top you find a clear bottle of something dark green. It feels slightly warm even to you. "What the hell is this? Looks like some sort of poison." You say. "And you would be correct. It's greenfire from the plant of the same name. They're normally only found in the Sotakian swamp and even then they're rare. In any case, Ral had it lying around his lab and while you two were talking I took the opportunity to lug it into your pack. Hey, I'm stronger than I look, especially with all the hardship I've had to endure." Tych explains. "So…what's it do exactly?" "It's not called greenfire for nothing. It gets in your blood and makes you feel like your blood and innards are on fire. The effects are pretty quick though you're in excruciating pain before you die. "Okay, so I should just dip my bolts into this to bring down the beast a lot easier." "Hah! Are you kidding? Even with this poison, I doubt very seriously that you'll be able to kill it before it kills you. I take it you've never even seen a wazia." "Nope, just know them by stories." "Well I didn't know anything about them at all, but after seeing one, I can tell you that the stories don't do them justice." "Then what the hell are you suggesting then?" "Nothing, I'm just telling you that your odds aren't good." You've practically been asleep an entire year and this is the situation you've awoken to. You've been magically altered and thrust into a bad situation and now you have to put up with an obnoxious sprite on top of everything else. "Tych, just take me to the fucking lair." You say. "Alright, alright, no need to snap at me, plivik." Tych responds. "I know what that means, you little shit." "Oh yeah, you do…well let's just get on with it then like you said." You begin to follow Tych. Every now and then you reflexively wrap your cloak around yourself in order to stay warm, but then you also remember you don't really have that problem anymore. It wouldn't help anyway; you still feel a numb coolness no matter what you do since that sensation is coming from within your body as opposed to the external reasons. You suppose this condition is beneficial out here in a place like this, but you can't imagine going through the rest of your life like this. After all this is over, you're going to have to seek out a way to reverse or cure it, if it's even possible. You wonder if that's what Ral has planned for you. He "frees" you, but in exchange for changing you back to normal, you have to undergo some sort of servitude again. You really wish you just let the mob back in Teckleville kill you at this point, with any luck maybe the wazia will. You travel in the freezing mountainous terrain for two days. (At some point during all this you take the opportunity to poison your bolts) Even with your immunity to the cold, it's still a treacherous journey given that you're no mountain climber. Tych has lead you through to the path of least resistance to the lair and fortunately it isn't actually very high up, in fact it's actually at a lower altitude than where you originally teleported in. "Let me guess, it's in this large sloping dark cave." You say to Tych. "Got it right in one. I saw it entering here a few times and judging by the large pile of bones out here, I'd say it's definitely a permanent home for it. Well I'll wait out here. If you aren't out within a day, I can safely assume you've met your demise." Tych says. "Wait, how the hell am I going to see in there? Despite my magical alteration, I don't have dark vision unfortunately. I need you to come with me and sparkle a bit so I have some light." "What? That wasn't part of the plan. I go in and start sparkling and I'm going to be a target since it'll see me first!" "Yeah, but you're also a small target that can fly all over the place. It's not like it's going to go after you if it can get a target on the ground that's shooting bolts at it a lot easier." Tych REALLY isn't keen on this idea, but given that he wants to be out of this situation as much as you do, he relents. "Alright, fine. But only because you're probably right about the wazia going after you and the fact that despite everything, you've dealt pretty straight with me. I still remember when you didn't rat me out to Ral about the last time we worked together…wait…you hear that?" Tych suddenly says mid sentence. "Shit, is it the wazia?" you ask, not hearing the sounds other than the wind, but readying your crossbow. "No, if it was that, we'd already be fucked. It's a small whine. You don't hear it? It's coming from over there." Tych points over to a group of rocks and large bones. (and then he flies behind you). You now hear the sounds too, and with your crossbow ready and slowly move towards where they're coming from. Whatever is making the noise can't be that big since rock and bone pile isn't very large either, when you finally walk around it, you see what is making the noise. A small feline creature with an odd-looking face making pitiful whimpers. It looks up at you and backs up and raising its tail, which looks like it has small spikes on it. It attempts to growl a bit, but it's obvious the beast is frightened. As it stands right now, the pair of you are both ready to shoot. "Shit, that's a manticore." Tych says and takes cover behind you again. "What? That? I thought they were much bigger." You say. "It's a cub, plivik. Still, I wouldn't want to get shot by one of those spikes." "Well that must mean its mother is nearby. Are you sure you got the right lair?" "Yes, I'm sure! Its mother probably got eaten by the wazia and somehow it managed to escape. Hey, you know we could use this." "What do you mean?" "Wazias pretty much eat anything thrown at them. If you poisoned this cub, you could toss it at the wazia who would inevitably consume it and the poison would work even better. At the very least it would cause the creature so much pain it would slow it down giving you a chance to shoot it a lot more with bolts." You look at the manticore, which is still looking pretty pitiful, but still also in a fighting position. You aren't sure if you'll be quick enough to shoot him before he shoots you. > You shoot the manticore Tych's plan has merit and would make your task easier. Also you'd probably be putting this beast out of its misery given that its mother died and will likely get eaten by the wazia anyway. Might as well put it to good use. You pull the trigger of your crossbow and hit the manticore, but unfortunately it's not a fatal shot and you only hit it in between its front limb and chest. It makes an odd combination of a roaring whine and flings its barbs at you. You're not quick enough to dodge completely and get hit in the leg. While your condition makes you number to pain, it doesn't make it disappear completely. You curse, fall down and from your prone position quickly fire the remainder of you bolt clip at the manticore blindly. You get lucky and some of those actually hit the creature causing it to make a final howl before dying. As you're attempting pull manticore barbs out of your leg, Tych appears again now that all the danger is over with. "Thought you were usually quicker than that." Tych sniffs. "Gimme a fucking break, I've been incapacitated for a year, not to mention this new condition I have is fucking up my reflexes. Shit…" you say looking at the new holes in your leg. "Well at least you got your bait now." "Yeah, I guess so. Let's get on with this" You limp over to the dead manticore cub and reclaim your bolts before picking up its carcass. You then enter the cave with Tych barely following ahead of you. He's flying as high as he can which provides just enough light for you to not break your neck walking around the cave. As you were travelling here earlier, Tych was telling you a bit about wazias. He mentioned that they resembled very large moles with a huge gaping maw where the face would be. The mole comparison doesn't sound very threatening, but he also said that it has a very tough hide and layers of fat, which is why Tych doesn't think your bolts, would be as effective as they might otherwise be. Hopefully this poisoned manticore body will help. You suppose you'll find out. You start to hear loud sounds, you can't see anything yet, but you have to be getting closer. The loud sounds soon become rumbles and then Tych suddenly shouts to you. "Shit, it's digging under you! Get the hell out of there!" Tych begins flying back towards the exit and you do likewise as the rumbling is nearly right under you. In your haste, you drop the manticore body, hoping that maybe the creature will pop up to eat it. It would be hard enough to keep up with Tych under normal circumstances, but thanks you're your leg wounds, you're attempting the impossible. You end up stumbling and tripping in the decreasing light that he's giving off as he flits away. Your verbal commands of getting Tych to stop have no effect and soon, he's gotten so far ahead of you, you're left in the dark causing you to completely fall over as you continue to trip over shit. You don't have time to get back up when the rumbling is now coming from right underneath you. You never even see the beast, you just feel yourself sinking into the ground and then several sharp teeth, crushing, piercing and cutting your body whole. The only consolation is it happened so quick that you didn't even feel it.

Year 23 "HHHHHHHHHH!" you gasp as you suddenly sit up from a table. Cold air emanates from your mouth though you don't feel very cold. You don't feel much of anything except a mild sense of panic and confusion. You briefly look at body which is completely naked and see that you are now a pale blue coloring. You look around the room and see a lot of lab equipment, books, and other alchemy related items. Ral stands by watching you. Tych is also hovering near him dressed in who looks to be very tiny winter clothing for him. "See, told you he'd survive." Ral remarks and then makes a note on a piece of parchment. "Oh joy, I get to go with him now." Tych says. "WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO TO ME?!" you shout. You'd probably get up and attack Ral, but apparently the geas is still in effect. Ral strokes his beard and frowns a bit before answering you. "Well I made you better for one thing. You don't have to ever worry about the cold ever again." "I can't fucking feel anything! Everything is a numb sensation!" "Hmm, yes, I thought that might happen. A minor drawback I assure you. You are now practically cold personified. Your body now magically produces cold around you. Even I can feel it from here. Seriously, you could stand naked on top of the Cloudpeak Mountains now and never freeze to death. You'll also find that you're a little slower than you were, though you're also probably a little stronger as well so it all evens out. Unexpected side effect. In any case, we should probably get you ready for your task. As ready as you are, I doubt you want to go naked." You might not be able to do anything against Ral, but that doesn't stop you from getting pissed and start yelling at him about your situation. When he mentions more than a year has passed, you even start to destroy his equipment until he stops you with some sort of hold spell. After a few more warnings about you continuing to getting an attitude with him, Ral finally gets on with explaining your task. He says he's teleporting you to a plateau in the Cloudpeak Mountains. From there he says Tych will lead the way. Apparently in the year he was experimenting on you, he was also having Tych locate a wazia lair in that area. Other than your regular clothes, he enchants your short sword so it will be more effective in combat, and then hands you one of those rare repeating crossbows and a quiver of bolts. "I hope you know how to use one of these." Ral remarks. "I'm more familiar with flintlocks, but I imagine this is probably easier seeing as this is one of the state of the art crossbows. These repeating ones are rare and expensive. Didn't know you kept up on technological advances though." You say. "Why wouldn't I? Just because I don't have any use for it, doesn't mean I don't see the utility of it for the unwashed masses. I figure between that and your enchanted weapon, you should be more than prepared. Your pack is over there. Has some food and climbing gear in it. Should be more than enough to help you." You go over and get your pack; Tych is hovering by it, looking just as miserable as you feel right now. "The pair of you ready, I trust?" Ral asks. "I guess." You say. "Tych is magically tied to me, so there is no need for fairy circles or any other places of power this time. You just need to very close to him for the transportation to work on you, along with him making the appropriate signal so I can pull him back here, I trust you remember was that was Tych?" "Yes, Ral." Tych responds in a defeated manner and flies onto your shoulder. "Good, I expect you'll be successful like last time and just think, you'll be a free man afterwards, so you have plenty of motivation." Without another word, Ral waves his hands a bit and your eyes are met with a bright light, followed by more bright light, though this is of the natural kind. You look and see that your surroundings are that of a flat icy, snowy landscape with mountains and hills nearby and the sun shining overhead. There isn't a soul around though save for Tych who instantly gets off of you. "Fuck, you're not much warmer than this horrible landscape. So much for using you for extra warmth." Tych says. "I can't feel much of anything. I mean I can sense the wind blowing, but there's just a dull cool feeling. It's not unpleasant, but it isn't pleasant either." You respond. "Well, Ral did experiment on you. I have to say, I'll be glad when this mission is over with, because I've had enough of freezing my fucking wings off here. Scouting around for large hostile monsters in the snow and cold isn't my idea of a good time. I'd rather be in the fucking jar." "I don't understand why he needs us to do this anyway. I mean he's a fucking powerful wizard, couldn't he have done this himself a lot easier?" "Of course he could have, but he's a fucking sadist. Why else would he make you into some slave boy and then turn you into a freak and keep me in a damn jar, play teleportation snap back with me for the past year and also have me scout around this icy wasteland?" "How long has that been going on?" "Oh a little after he put you in that trance and started cutting into you and doing who knows what else. Ral's experiments on you might have been done sooner if he hadn't gotten distracted with other things. He keeps trying to make greater strides in teleportation spells and I think he's planning on making a portal next. Of course he needs to test shit so he uses me as a fucking canary and then snaps me back home when he thinks enough time has passed. Makes me physically ill every time he does it. Those first few months I puked on every trip." Tych fixes his little fur hat before continuing. "And in these last few months? I've teleported back and forth to this fucking place looking for a wazia like I'm some great monster hunter! I don't want to fucking do this! My instinct is to fly AWAY from really big ravenous monsters, not seek them out!" "Trust me, I don't want to be here either." "At least you're free after all this! I'm not. Even if the wazia kills you, you'll still be doing better than me, but I don't think that will be the case, check you pack. You'll find something better than what Ral supplied you with." You take off you pack and at the top you find a clear bottle of something dark green. It feels slightly warm even to you. "What the hell is this? Looks like some sort of poison." You say. "And you would be correct. It's greenfire from the plant of the same name. They're normally only found in the Sotakian swamp and even then they're rare. In any case, Ral had it lying around his lab and while you two were talking I took the opportunity to lug it into your pack. Hey, I'm stronger than I look, especially with all the hardship I've had to endure." Tych explains. "So…what's it do exactly?" "It's not called greenfire for nothing. It gets in your blood and makes you feel like your blood and innards are on fire. The effects are pretty quick though you're in excruciating pain before you die. "Okay, so I should just dip my bolts into this to bring down the beast a lot easier." "Hah! Are you kidding? Even with this poison, I doubt very seriously that you'll be able to kill it before it kills you. I take it you've never even seen a wazia." "Nope, just know them by stories." "Well I didn't know anything about them at all, but after seeing one, I can tell you that the stories don't do them justice." "Then what the hell are you suggesting then?" "Nothing, I'm just telling you that your odds aren't good." You've practically been asleep an entire year and this is the situation you've awoken to. You've been magically altered and thrust into a bad situation and now you have to put up with an obnoxious sprite on top of everything else. "Tych, just take me to the fucking lair." You say. "Alright, alright, no need to snap at me, plivik." Tych responds. "I know what that means, you little shit." "Oh yeah, you do…well let's just get on with it then like you said." You begin to follow Tych. Every now and then you reflexively wrap your cloak around yourself in order to stay warm, but then you also remember you don't really have that problem anymore. It wouldn't help anyway; you still feel a numb coolness no matter what you do since that sensation is coming from within your body as opposed to the external reasons. You suppose this condition is beneficial out here in a place like this, but you can't imagine going through the rest of your life like this. After all this is over, you're going to have to seek out a way to reverse or cure it, if it's even possible. You wonder if that's what Ral has planned for you. He "frees" you, but in exchange for changing you back to normal, you have to undergo some sort of servitude again. You really wish you just let the mob back in Teckleville kill you at this point, with any luck maybe the wazia will. You travel in the freezing mountainous terrain for two days. (At some point during all this you take the opportunity to poison your bolts) Even with your immunity to the cold, it's still a treacherous journey given that you're no mountain climber. Tych has lead you through to the path of least resistance to the lair and fortunately it isn't actually very high up, in fact it's actually at a lower altitude than where you originally teleported in. "Let me guess, it's in this large sloping dark cave." You say to Tych. "Got it right in one. I saw it entering here a few times and judging by the large pile of bones out here, I'd say it's definitely a permanent home for it. Well I'll wait out here. If you aren't out within a day, I can safely assume you've met your demise." Tych says. "Wait, how the hell am I going to see in there? Despite my magical alteration, I don't have dark vision unfortunately. I need you to come with me and sparkle a bit so I have some light." "What? That wasn't part of the plan. I go in and start sparkling and I'm going to be a target since it'll see me first!" "Yeah, but you're also a small target that can fly all over the place. It's not like it's going to go after you if it can get a target on the ground that's shooting bolts at it a lot easier." Tych REALLY isn't keen on this idea, but given that he wants to be out of this situation as much as you do, he relents. "Alright, fine. But only because you're probably right about the wazia going after you and the fact that despite everything, you've dealt pretty straight with me. I still remember when you didn't rat me out to Ral about the last time we worked together…wait…you hear that?" Tych suddenly says mid sentence. "Shit, is it the wazia?" you ask, not hearing the sounds other than the wind, but readying your crossbow. "No, if it was that, we'd already be fucked. It's a small whine. You don't hear it? It's coming from over there." Tych points over to a group of rocks and large bones. (and then he flies behind you). You now hear the sounds too, and with your crossbow ready and slowly move towards where they're coming from. Whatever is making the noise can't be that big since rock and bone pile isn't very large either, when you finally walk around it, you see what is making the noise. A small feline creature with an odd-looking face making pitiful whimpers. It looks up at you and backs up and raising its tail, which looks like it has small spikes on it. It attempts to growl a bit, but it's obvious the beast is frightened. As it stands right now, the pair of you are both ready to shoot. "Shit, that's a manticore." Tych says and takes cover behind you again. "What? That? I thought they were much bigger." You say. "It's a cub, plivik. Still, I wouldn't want to get shot by one of those spikes." "Well that must mean its mother is nearby. Are you sure you got the right lair?" "Yes, I'm sure! Its mother probably got eaten by the wazia and somehow it managed to escape. Hey, you know we could use this." "What do you mean?" "Wazias pretty much eat anything thrown at them. If you poisoned this cub, you could toss it at the wazia who would inevitably consume it and the poison would work even better. At the very least it would cause the creature so much pain it would slow it down giving you a chance to shoot it a lot more with bolts." You look at the manticore, which is still looking pretty pitiful, but still also in a fighting position. You aren't sure if you'll be quick enough to shoot him before he shoots you. > Back off slowly Maybe it's because you're in a shitty situation yourself that you're feeling a bit sorry for the pitiful creature that presumably just lost its mother and now has to fend for itself. "Fuck it." You say, and slowly start backing away, though the beast never lets its own guard down. "What the hell are you doing. Shoot the little bastard!" Tych remarks. "I don't feel like it alright? Besides, I'll probably need to save all the bolts I can for the wazia." You get out of the line of sight of the manticore, but Tych won't let this go. "Are you actually feeling sympathy for the creature? This thing would eat you if it was big enough! In fact, given that its probably hungry without its mother around now, I'm surprised it isn't at least attempting to anyway! Think of it this way, it can't survive very long on its own, you'd be performing an act of mercy if you killed it and at least its death would help us." At this point you take off your pack and look for some of your remaining rations. Dried meat, it's as good as anything. "Wait, are you actually going to feed it now? Have you gone completely barmy?" "Probably." You say. You go back to the manticore which once again has adopted a defensive stance, but you toss the meat in front of it which it cautiously moves close to, sniffs and then starts to eat, all the while still eyeing you suspiciously. You leave the beast to feed. "You know, you could have at least poisoned the food if you didn't have the balls to just shoot it." Tych remarks. "Well, I guess I'm just going to have to get my balls back by killing this wazia, now stop bitching at me and let's get this done." You snap. You enter the cave with Tych barely following ahead of you. He's flying as high as he can which provides just enough light for you to not break your neck walking around the cave. As you were travelling here earlier, Tych was telling you a bit about wazias. He mentioned that they resembled very large moles with a huge gaping maw where the face would be. The mole comparison doesn't sound very threatening, but he also said that it has a very tough hide and layers of fat, which is why Tych doesn't think your bolts, would be as effective as they might otherwise be. You suppose you'll find out. You start to hear loud sounds, you can't see anything yet, but you have to be getting closer. The loud sounds soon become rumbles and then Tych suddenly shouts to you. "Shit, it's digging under you! Get the hell out of there!" Tych begins flying back towards the exit and you do likewise as the rumbling is nearly right under you. While its hard to keep up with Tych, you manage to do so. By the time you see the light of the exit, the rumbling is nearly coming from right underneath you. You instinctively jump forward just in time for the wazia finally come up and try to eat you. You get up as quickly as you can and that's when you finally see the creature. And it does indeed resemble a giant mole. A giant mole with nothing but a giant mouth with rows of teeth for a face. It also has pretty large claws as well, but you're too busy trying get out of its immediate grasp as opposed to admiring them. You make it outside with the wazia following close behind. When you're out in the open, you take advantage of the light and space and begin firing your crossbow at the thing which has mixed results. Your aim isn't exactly true due to nerves and generally trying to staying away from the wazia, but it hardly matters when it's as big as it is. Most of your shots hit, but much like Tych warned, its tough hide seems to be outright deflecting a lot of them. And for the bolts that are actually sinking in, you certainly hope the poison starts working soon, because so far it hasn't had any notable affect. The only thing that's in your favor is that the beast isn't exactly the fastest when not underground, but it tries to keep you off balance by smashing its claws on the ground and causing minor quakes. Large clumps of snow begin to fall from above and given your location, you're wondering if an avalanche won't just bury you at this rate. (Of course maybe that's its intent, it can just easily dig itself out and eat your corpse later) You see Tych keeping his distance, flying about watching everything. "Tych, distract it damn it! I need to reload this thing!" you shout while running and fumbling with the cumbersome crossbow magazine. To his credit, Tych actually listens somewhat to you and shouts at it (in his high pitched squeaky voice) and even flies near it very briefly, but his presence is mostly ignored. Tych doesn't try too much harder than that, but you do get another helper. The manitcore cub that you fed earlier and completely forgot about starts flinging its own spikes at the wazia. They don't seem to do anything to it, but between it and Tych, it's enough to refocus its attention briefly giving you enough time to reload your crossbow properly. You fire a few times at the wazia with mixed results again, the manticore cub runs fast enough that the wazia doesn't bother to follow it and quickly turns its attention back to you. It charges at you, but now you're starting to notice the beast is getting even slower and now begins making loud wailing noises and they aren't just due to anger. The wazia is finally feeling the affects of the poison and begins flailing about. It begins smashing its entire body into the ground and now even larger chunks of ice and snow begin to fall from above. Along with it trying to cause an avalanche, it begins trying to dig underground again since it isn't sure what is exactly causing it such great pain, and is trying to escape. You can't allow that to happen though, because if it does, even if it dies, it's going to be so deep underground that digging its carcass out is going to be a nightmare. Throwing a bit of caution to the wind, you get closer to wazia and fire upon it. Your fortunate enough that this stops it from digging long enough to try to swipe at you with its claws. It clumsily tries to do this several times. At this point you've run out of bolts and drawn your sword though realistically you wouldn't be able to get close enough to it that it couldn't still kill you. You're just trying to keep the beast from escaping and hoping the mountains don't come crashing down on your head. Eventually as its motions towards you stop altogether and it opens its maw completely one last time to let out a woeful howl and then collapses. It twitches a few more times and finally stops moving completely. You just look at the wazia for a moment before slowly moving closer to it. Just as you get to its body, Tych sneaks up on you. "Is it dead?" he asks, buzzing in your ear. "Damn it Tych, you fucking startled me!" you snap. "Apologies, but I figured you'd be more aware of your surroundings." "I guess its dead. Shit, I was wondering if that poison was ever going to kick in." "Yep, looks like I saved your ass on this one." "Hm, I guess you did your part." "Damn straight I did, which is why I think YOU should help me now!" "How the hell am I going to help you?" "By killing Ral obviously." "Nice idea, but I'm still bound by a geas remember?" "Well after he takes it off of you, just chop his head off." "Yeah, like he isn't going to take precautions. I'm fairly certain that if he does stick with his promise, I'm not going to be able to just chop his head off as you say. In fact I imagine he's set this up so I stay bound to him so he can reverse this condition I have." "Wait, you aren't actually going to DO that if freedom is an option are you?" "What choice do I have? It's not like I want to go through the rest of my life like this." "Shit, I'd go through life with my wings fucking clipped if it meant not spending most of my life in a jar and being at that plivik's whims!" You suppose Tych has a point and it is one you're more inclined to go with since it might be possible to get your condition reversed elsewhere. All this might not mean anything however, if Ral has no intention on releasing you from the geas anyway. In the meantime you have a heart to carve out of the dead beast in front of you. About midway through Tych starts calling to you again. "Hey! Watch out, the manticore is back!" he exclaims and hides on the other side of the dead wazia. You turn from your bloody work and look. The manticore cub is indeed back and watching you, but its not in a defensive stance anymore, it seems to be more curious than anything else. "I'm not worrying about it since it probably isn't going to do anything, but if it makes you feel better…" Tych probably thought you were going to follow up that statement with you trying to kill it, but you instead you just reach into your pack and give it another piece of dried meat, which it happily eats and no longer is interested in anything else. "There you go Spikey." You say coming up with an on the spot name for him. "You just gave away the last of the food!" Tych exclaims. "What does it matter? As soon as I dig this heart out, and you perch on my shoulder, Ral will teleport us back anyway right?" "I guess, I just don't understand why you're indulging that creature." "Good thing I did, since it distracted the wazia better than you did." "Hey I did my best considering my size, you dick!" You go back to your unpleasant work. Not so much because of the gore and blood, but the smell is awful even with your dulled senses. Eventually you cut the large organ out and carry the thing out of the wazia's body. You then sit down to take a breather. "Shit, I think that was almost as much work as killing this thing." You say. "Did you get it?" Tych asks. "Yeah, why are you so far away? I figured you'd be anxious to get out of this cold at least even if you don't like the jar." "I would, but that thing is nearby!" Tych remarks and points to the manticore that is now coming up to you. "Tych, you're worrying over nothing. He'd fling spikes at me before you given how close he is. Just get over here and get us home." "Fine. Did you think anymore on killing Ral yet?" "Yeah I've thought about it, and I guess you'll know soon enough." Tych isn't enthused by your response or the manticore being nearby, but he flies to you anyway. He sits on your shoulder, makes a few weird hand gestures and before you know it, a flash of blinding light hits you and you're in the lab again. You also feel something bump your leg. You look down and see that the manticore cub has teleported with you and is currently nuzzling against your leg. "Shit!" Tych remarks and flies away to hide again. Meanwhile Ral walks in from one of his other rooms in the lab wondering what all the noise is about. "So you're back and successful as I knew you would be. Hello, what's this?" Ral asks. Spikey growls a bit when he sees Ral. "Spikey no!" you say and do your best to try to calm him which involves petting his head and neck. This seems to work somewhat since he relaxes, but still eyes Ral warily. "Hmm, I see you brought back more than just the heart. You didn't need to go beyond what was required, but I appreciate the enthusiasm. The manticore parts will come in handy for spell components." Ral says. "What? No, it helped take down the wazia and I guess it got caught up in the teleportation process." "So?" "So, I dunno seems sort of fucked up to just hand him over to you for parts after he helped me." "What are you going to do with him, keep him as a pet?" "Well I suppose I could…" "A pet manticore? What do you think you are a frost giant? That's silly, you aren't going to have the means to tame such a beast when he starts to grow! You sure you don't want to hand that beast over? I could give you something extra." "Can you reverse this fucking condition you imposed on me?" you ask. "I imagine could, but that would require that you stick around a bit longer. I mean that can be arranged..." You're not getting trapped. You can't get trapped again. "No, I'll figure out another way." You say. "Very well. Put that heart on the table and... wait a minute where did Tych go? I saw him fly off to hide, not sure why he bothers to do that, since he knows I can just teleport him back in the jar at anytime." Ral says as you lift up the oversized organ and slam it on the nearby table. "Can we get on with this?" you ask getting impatient. "In a moment and don't presume to give orders, I still haven't freed you yet and you'd be well to remember that. Now step back, you're very cold you know." Ral says. "Of course I'm fucking cold, you did this to me!" "And I offered to reverse the process, but you declined." "Damn straight I declined, I'm not going to fall for your tricks again. The first time you enslaved me, the second time you made me into a freak!" "If you like, that can remain your reality." Ral warns. Ral raises his hands as if to cast a spell and that's when you see Tych flying over his head struggling with a small-uncorked glass tube that's as big as him. "Hey glakface, try casting magic now!" Tych shouts and then pours a clear fluid on Ral, who looks up just in time for it splatter on his face, and he even gets some in his mouth. "Gargh! (cough) (hack) blagh!" Ral gags and begins hacking up and rubbing his eyes. "He can't cast magic! Don't just stand there plivik, kill the bastard!" Tych squeaks. > You take advantage of the situation Given your recent exchange with Ral and your own suspicious nature, you question if Ral intends on releasing you. Perhaps getting rid of Ral IS the way to go and this would be the best time to do it. You're still under the effects of the geas, and any violent action towards Ral by you would be met with immediate pain, however with his temporary inability to cast spells you wonder if you couldn't dispose of him quick enough that you'd survive it. Not to mention you do have a pet manticore now. "Spikey attack! ARGH!" you shout and feel a sharp pain to your crotch, which causes you to nearly double over. The only reason why you aren't completely laid out is your new condition has dulled some of your pain reception to a small degree. (Now is one of those times it came in handy) Spikey isn't completely sure what you meant, but given that you're excitedly pointing at Ral who is also making loud noises and flailing about due to the shit that Tych poured on him, Spikey isn't feeling comfortable towards him anyway. Spikey flings several small quills into Ral's body. The old wizard howls in pain. Spikey may be just a manticore cub, but it still hurts. Due to the geas, a large part of you wants to stop Spikey from attacking and it's taking everything for you not to do that. You feel the pain spread over your body and it's getting worse. You finally collapse to the floor. Spikey runs forward and begins biting Ral, he even succeeds in ripping off part of his hand. Ral is begging for mercy at this point, but he's getting nothing, but Tych's taunts. You weakly pull out a dagger, but you can barely hold it in your hand as you attempt to crawl over to Ral. The pain you're experiencing is nearly unbearable. Meanwhile Ral is experiencing his own form of pain, but despite being unable to cast magic and being a frail old man, he somehow manages to get Spikey off of him, who yelps when thrown into a nearby table. "Come here, you little bastard!" he snarls and with a blink, Tych is suddenly within the one good hand of Ral. It would appear his powers are starting to come back. "I'm going to crush you into…ARGH SHIT!" Ral shouts as you plunge your dagger into his ankle. The old man partially falls on top of you, but that doesn't compare to the wave of agony you experience after stabbing Ral. Your condition is no longer numbing anything, not even a little bit. You feel like you're suffering a heart attack, castration and a mace smashing your brains in, all the while being burned alive. Unsurprisingly your body goes into complete shock, shuts down and you go unconscious. Blackness follows. Time passes and eventually you wake up to a couple sensations. One being a rough tongue licking your face and another being a faint sweet taste on your lips and in your mouth. "Hey! Did it work? You alive?" Tych remarks. "Guh, buh, what work?" you sputter and move a bit causing Spikey to stop licking your face. "The healing potion I tried to pour into your mouth. I guess it did, you're alive. Wasn't sure it worked since you looked pretty dead." "I felt really dead. Is Ral dead?" "Oh that plivik? Yeah. Your pet took care of that soon after you stabbed him. Ripped out his throat. I don't think that spell is on you anymore." You look at your wrist and it's true, you no longer see the mark there anymore. "So that's it. I'm free. Finally free." You say. "Yeah, thanks to me." Tych sniffs. "Ral was planning on releasing me anyway." "You don't believe that. If you did, you wouldn't have nearly killed yourself, trying to kill him." "Well I suppose I did have my doubts and followed your lead. What was that shit you poured on him anyway?" "Oh, liquefied gazer eye. Not sure what Ral was planning with it, but then he was always experimenting with shit." "Not familiar with gazers." "Lucky you, they're even worse than wazias. Anyway, you're not the only one who is free, so I guess this is where we part ways." As strange as it seems you're a little taken back by how quick Tych is to part company, but then it wasn't like you two were great friends or anyway. "Oh. Okay. Yeah sure, I suppose you'll be wanting to go home to your wife." You say. "…what the hell, I'll let you on a little secret, I'm not married. I just said I was hoping it would gain me sympathy when we first met." Tych admits. "Why am I not surprised?" "But you're right, I am still going home. I need to straighten out some things there. What were you planning on doing?" "Dunno really. I still got this condition. First thing I think I need to do is try to figure out how to reverse it. Guess I'll start by heading to Holgard." "Well sounds like you've got the adventure ahead of you. Can't say it was a pleasure being forced to work with you, but I suppose it could have been worse. And we both got revenge on Ral, so it worked out I guess. See you around blivik." "What's that mean? Dickhead or something?" "What? Oh blivik? No, it means friend. Well maybe not friend, but comrade in arms I guess." "Sounds very similar plivik." "Yeah well, sometimes in our culture the two are interchangeable." "That I can believe. Bye Tych and thanks." Tych nods his head and flies out the lab door, leaving you alone. (Well with a manticore cub that is currently eating Ral's body nearby). You don't leave right away, instead you take the opportunity to start going through Ral's lab seeing if you can find any clue of what he did to you. You find lots notes, but his handwriting is pretty bad and you can't make much sense of the diagrams. You think they might pertain to you, but you aren't really sure. You temporarily slump in a chair nearby realizing that you've lost some of your life and your thoughts keep wandering back to Lisa. What happened to her? You were supposed to meet up with her in Holgard as you often did. At the time the city was on the verge of a rebellion. Does she even still live? And if she does, she surely must believe you are dead and moved on. It's a bit depressing considering your feelings for her, but lost love is the least of your concerns right now. You suppose either way, your next move is to Holgard, either to seek her out or to seek a way to fix your condition. In any case, you're sitting on a small fortune of magical equipment. Granted you don't know what most of it does, but at the very least, you'd be able to get a good price for some of the stuff that you can't figure out. Holgard will be the perfect place to At the very least you can use this place as a home of sorts which seems strange given that you've been stuck here, but then you're not exactly beholden to Ral anymore and it's not a bad place as far as homes go. You even have a pet to defend it when you're not around. You spend a few more days going through Ral's house before finally deciding to make your way to Holgard. Takes awhile to convince Spikey not to follow you, but eventually he gets the hint and stays around the house. You figure he's probably more than able to hunt whatever wildlife is in the area. You make your way to Holgard and the journey is uneventful and the same as you remembered, though you're noticing that when you camp down for the night, the next morning the grass has a layer of frost on it. You're going to be leaving a trail of it at this pace. When you get to Holgard, you find that the city is a lot calmer than when you remember. While doing some business with an apothecary, you learn that the old ruler got overthrown and his daughter now rules the city. "Yeah, be glad you missed that one. It was a pretty brutal time…did it just get chilly in here? In fact, did the temperature drop outside because everything you've handed over to sell feels a bit cold to the touch." the apothecary says. "Hadn't noticed." You answer. "…you uh sure you're all right pal? You look a little pale. I figured when you came in here you came in to buy, not to sell." "You got anything that can cure this?" you say and grab the apothecary's wrist. "Shit! You're fucking ice! Let me go! Please! Take anything you want!" "I'm not here to rob you! I'm serious when I ask, if you have anything that can cure this condition." You say and let go of the man's wrist. The apothecary steps back and rubs his wrist a bit. "I can honestly tell you that I have nothing that would help you. I can only believe that magic must be at work. Is that the case?" he asks. "Yeah, and I killed the wizard who did it." "Well, I guess he had it coming. Wasn't one of those Dornans was it?" "No." "Hm, okay that's good, because they're about the only folks that I think would be able to help you. They're pretty interested in all things pertaining to magic, though I'd be careful since it'll be the knowledge that's important, not the person. You might have killed a wizard, but I don't think even you would be able to kill a whole temple of them if things go south." "Noted. Can't think of anyone else?" "Not really, I mean unless you want to head all the way to Delantium Kingdom and their magic university. It has a good reputation and they aren't swayed by religious fanaticism. There's a small magic college in Klyton, but I wouldn't waste my time." "Why not?" "Because I graduated from there and the magic college there is rubbish, that's why. It's understaffed and only kept afloat due to one of the council members being a mage. It's not bad if you want to learn how to mix potions and such, but the wizards there aren't exactly the most skilled in magic and they'd probably be just as baffled by your condition as I am. You'd probably end up as a toad with their bumbling." Great, more wizards. > You head to the Delantium Kingdom The Dornans might be closer, but they also sound like religious fanatics. You don't really need to deal with that right now. You're not exactly keen on dragging your cold ass all the way to the Delantium Kingdom, but if it's your best shot, then that's where you need to go. Besides, maybe it might be good anyway. You've spent more than enough time around Holgard and its surrounding area and it hasn't got you very far, maybe a change in scenery is in order. It isn't like things have gone that great for you around here and as for Lisa, if she's still alive, you have no doubt that she's moved on with her life. Maybe she's even some high-ranking Ebony Claw member. Whatever she's doing, you hope she's doing well at it. You leave the apothecary and head to the docks to book a passage to the Delantium Kingdom. Unsurprisingly you get some strange looks, and the first couple captains turn you away believing that your unnatural chill must be the result of a curse and don't want it rubbing off on the voyage. (You can't blame them for their caution since they're at least half right about it being a curse of sorts) Eventually though you get a captain with less interest in gods and suspicion and more interested in coin. You pay the man and make your way to the cargo area since he doesn't have any more room for proper passengers, and he apparently thinks you'll keep some of the food fresher on the long trip just with your presence. Doesn't matter, you've been in less than ideal conditions before. You just need a ride; this isn't going to be forever. You make your way down to the cargo hold where you make a place for yourself near the crates of lemons and limes. It's as good as any. You'll have lots of time to think on your way to your destination. One of your main thoughts is what you're going to do with your life if you do get cured. Obviously being a rogue never really worked out for you. Arguably, you haven't been one since you left Teckleville. You've had more "work" as a monster hunter of all things. Not that it's something you necessarily wanted to make a living at doing, but you have raised your skill with a weapon over the years, not to mention all your new outdoorsman skills. Maybe you should be doing something using those talents instead at this point. You're sure you'd be good at it. Makes you realize that if you had those skills to begin with instead, you probably wouldn't have gotten lost in the forest and in Ral's debt in the first place. Of course if that hadn't happened, you wouldn't have gained what you do know now. Funny how that works. Also funny how it finally took you until now to realize that your parents were right all along and that this "life" was just going to lead to trouble. In any case, you aren't sure what the future holds, if you'll be cured, if you'll remain this way or if you'll be killed in the process. You do know however that your days as a common rogue are over.

Given your recent exchange with Ral and your own suspicious nature, you question if Ral intends on releasing you. Perhaps getting rid of Ral IS the way to go and this would be the best time to do it. You're still under the effects of the geas, and any violent action towards Ral by you would be met with immediate pain, however with his temporary inability to cast spells you wonder if you couldn't dispose of him quick enough that you'd survive it. Not to mention you do have a pet manticore now. "Spikey attack! ARGH!" you shout and feel a sharp pain to your crotch, which causes you to nearly double over. The only reason why you aren't completely laid out is your new condition has dulled some of your pain reception to a small degree. (Now is one of those times it came in handy) Spikey isn't completely sure what you meant, but given that you're excitedly pointing at Ral who is also making loud noises and flailing about due to the shit that Tych poured on him, Spikey isn't feeling comfortable towards him anyway. Spikey flings several small quills into Ral's body. The old wizard howls in pain. Spikey may be just a manticore cub, but it still hurts. Due to the geas, a large part of you wants to stop Spikey from attacking and it's taking everything for you not to do that. You feel the pain spread over your body and it's getting worse. You finally collapse to the floor. Spikey runs forward and begins biting Ral, he even succeeds in ripping off part of his hand. Ral is begging for mercy at this point, but he's getting nothing, but Tych's taunts. You weakly pull out a dagger, but you can barely hold it in your hand as you attempt to crawl over to Ral. The pain you're experiencing is nearly unbearable. Meanwhile Ral is experiencing his own form of pain, but despite being unable to cast magic and being a frail old man, he somehow manages to get Spikey off of him, who yelps when thrown into a nearby table. "Come here, you little bastard!" he snarls and with a blink, Tych is suddenly within the one good hand of Ral. It would appear his powers are starting to come back. "I'm going to crush you into…ARGH SHIT!" Ral shouts as you plunge your dagger into his ankle. The old man partially falls on top of you, but that doesn't compare to the wave of agony you experience after stabbing Ral. Your condition is no longer numbing anything, not even a little bit. You feel like you're suffering a heart attack, castration and a mace smashing your brains in, all the while being burned alive. Unsurprisingly your body goes into complete shock, shuts down and you go unconscious. Blackness follows. Time passes and eventually you wake up to a couple sensations. One being a rough tongue licking your face and another being a faint sweet taste on your lips and in your mouth. "Hey! Did it work? You alive?" Tych remarks. "Guh, buh, what work?" you sputter and move a bit causing Spikey to stop licking your face. "The healing potion I tried to pour into your mouth. I guess it did, you're alive. Wasn't sure it worked since you looked pretty dead." "I felt really dead. Is Ral dead?" "Oh that plivik? Yeah. Your pet took care of that soon after you stabbed him. Ripped out his throat. I don't think that spell is on you anymore." You look at your wrist and it's true, you no longer see the mark there anymore. "So that's it. I'm free. Finally free." You say. "Yeah, thanks to me." Tych sniffs. "Ral was planning on releasing me anyway." "You don't believe that. If you did, you wouldn't have nearly killed yourself, trying to kill him." "Well I suppose I did have my doubts and followed your lead. What was that shit you poured on him anyway?" "Oh, liquefied gazer eye. Not sure what Ral was planning with it, but then he was always experimenting with shit." "Not familiar with gazers." "Lucky you, they're even worse than wazias. Anyway, you're not the only one who is free, so I guess this is where we part ways." As strange as it seems you're a little taken back by how quick Tych is to part company, but then it wasn't like you two were great friends or anyway. "Oh. Okay. Yeah sure, I suppose you'll be wanting to go home to your wife." You say. "…what the hell, I'll let you on a little secret, I'm not married. I just said I was hoping it would gain me sympathy when we first met." Tych admits. "Why am I not surprised?" "But you're right, I am still going home. I need to straighten out some things there. What were you planning on doing?" "Dunno really. I still got this condition. First thing I think I need to do is try to figure out how to reverse it. Guess I'll start by heading to Holgard." "Well sounds like you've got the adventure ahead of you. Can't say it was a pleasure being forced to work with you, but I suppose it could have been worse. And we both got revenge on Ral, so it worked out I guess. See you around blivik." "What's that mean? Dickhead or something?" "What? Oh blivik? No, it means friend. Well maybe not friend, but comrade in arms I guess." "Sounds very similar plivik." "Yeah well, sometimes in our culture the two are interchangeable." "That I can believe. Bye Tych and thanks." Tych nods his head and flies out the lab door, leaving you alone. (Well with a manticore cub that is currently eating Ral's body nearby). You don't leave right away, instead you take the opportunity to start going through Ral's lab seeing if you can find any clue of what he did to you. You find lots notes, but his handwriting is pretty bad and you can't make much sense of the diagrams. You think they might pertain to you, but you aren't really sure. You temporarily slump in a chair nearby realizing that you've lost some of your life and your thoughts keep wandering back to Lisa. What happened to her? You were supposed to meet up with her in Holgard as you often did. At the time the city was on the verge of a rebellion. Does she even still live? And if she does, she surely must believe you are dead and moved on. It's a bit depressing considering your feelings for her, but lost love is the least of your concerns right now. You suppose either way, your next move is to Holgard, either to seek her out or to seek a way to fix your condition. In any case, you're sitting on a small fortune of magical equipment. Granted you don't know what most of it does, but at the very least, you'd be able to get a good price for some of the stuff that you can't figure out. Holgard will be the perfect place to At the very least you can use this place as a home of sorts which seems strange given that you've been stuck here, but then you're not exactly beholden to Ral anymore and it's not a bad place as far as homes go. You even have a pet to defend it when you're not around. You spend a few more days going through Ral's house before finally deciding to make your way to Holgard. Takes awhile to convince Spikey not to follow you, but eventually he gets the hint and stays around the house. You figure he's probably more than able to hunt whatever wildlife is in the area. You make your way to Holgard and the journey is uneventful and the same as you remembered, though you're noticing that when you camp down for the night, the next morning the grass has a layer of frost on it. You're going to be leaving a trail of it at this pace. When you get to Holgard, you find that the city is a lot calmer than when you remember. While doing some business with an apothecary, you learn that the old ruler got overthrown and his daughter now rules the city. "Yeah, be glad you missed that one. It was a pretty brutal time…did it just get chilly in here? In fact, did the temperature drop outside because everything you've handed over to sell feels a bit cold to the touch." the apothecary says. "Hadn't noticed." You answer. "…you uh sure you're all right pal? You look a little pale. I figured when you came in here you came in to buy, not to sell." "You got anything that can cure this?" you say and grab the apothecary's wrist. "Shit! You're fucking ice! Let me go! Please! Take anything you want!" "I'm not here to rob you! I'm serious when I ask, if you have anything that can cure this condition." You say and let go of the man's wrist. The apothecary steps back and rubs his wrist a bit. "I can honestly tell you that I have nothing that would help you. I can only believe that magic must be at work. Is that the case?" he asks. "Yeah, and I killed the wizard who did it." "Well, I guess he had it coming. Wasn't one of those Dornans was it?" "No." "Hm, okay that's good, because they're about the only folks that I think would be able to help you. They're pretty interested in all things pertaining to magic, though I'd be careful since it'll be the knowledge that's important, not the person. You might have killed a wizard, but I don't think even you would be able to kill a whole temple of them if things go south." "Noted. Can't think of anyone else?" "Not really, I mean unless you want to head all the way to Delantium Kingdom and their magic university. It has a good reputation and they aren't swayed by religious fanaticism. There's a small magic college in Klyton, but I wouldn't waste my time." "Why not?" "Because I graduated from there and the magic college there is rubbish, that's why. It's understaffed and only kept afloat due to one of the council members being a mage. It's not bad if you want to learn how to mix potions and such, but the wizards there aren't exactly the most skilled in magic and they'd probably be just as baffled by your condition as I am. You'd probably end up as a toad with their bumbling." Great, more wizards. > You head to the Temple of Dorna Considering you don't trust wizards anyway, you might well check out the ones that are already here. You're going to just be on your guard as usual. You figure while you're at it, you can look into trying to find out what happened to Lisa and if she's still around. You ask the apothecary where the temple is since it isn't exactly a place you ever visited when you used to come to the city and your memory is still hazy on where everything is again. You head to the temple and while you remain hooded as usual, you still draw a little attention from people who are close enough to get a better look at you. Fortunately, you're strange enough looking that nobody gets hostile. When you get to the temple, you don't even get very far since two of its members stop you just inside the entrance. "And just where do you think you're going, you…what the hell are you anyway? Damn you're cold, step back." a man with a goatee asks. "Yeah, I was hoping you guys could help me with this." You say. "Maybe we should tell Elder Flynn about this, Travis." The other one says. "The Elder is in meditation and can't be disturbed for a week, you know that! Still, this is something he might find interesting. Tell me, how did you come to be this way?" Travis asks. You give a brief rundown on what happened, when you mention Ral by name the pair of them seems more interested in that, than what happened to you. "Wait, you're telling me that YOU killed Ral?" Travis asks. "I helped…oh shit…he wasn't secretly a Dorna worshipper was he?" you ask. "No true follower of Dorna would do it in secret! He was an infidel as far as I know. Though honestly, I'm not too familiar with the man, Elder Flynn apparently knows him quite well and all I know about that is they're not fond of each other. So…he's dead huh?" "Yes." "Okay, this is something Elder Flynn would definitely want to know about. Unfortunately as I said, he's in meditation and can't be disturbed at all. You could come back then. I'm sure the Elder would be able to help." "Well…I guess I can wait a little longer. So I just come back here in a week?" "Yes, in a week." "Okay then." You turn to leave and look back to see Travis and his buddy whispering about something. Probably about you no doubt. Still, at least they didn't try to do anything bad to you or anything, though that's still a possibility you suppose. The only thing to do now is wait, but you're going to have to find something to do in the meantime. You could go back home, but you honestly don't feel like making that trek again, not to mention after spending so much time in Ral's house, you aren't exactly itching to go back so soon. You have more than enough money so you figure you'll just find an inn to stay at. You stay at a place called the Baroness. (Named after the current ruler no doubt) The innkeeper is a bit wary of you, but after giving him a few extra coins for a room he no longer has a problem with you. (Other than telling you to stand back from him) You spend a couple days not doing much of anything important except information gathering. It's difficult to eavesdrop on conversations (let alone trying to strike up one) with your new condition, but you do manage to at least figure out some basics on the underworld situation. Apparently along with there being a new ruler, the Ebony Claw Syndicate has a greater monopoly on all criminal activity in the city. There are still independents as such things can never be completely wiped out, but the Thieves' Guild was completely destroyed along with any other minor organized rivals Last time you remember, Lisa said she was thinking about joining them. At the time you hoped she wouldn't, but given the situation now, you suppose if she has, it's better that she picked the winning side. Of course this is all still assuming she's alive or even still in the city. You can't be sure of any of this, but since you have time to kill and not much else going on, you seek out Ebony Claw members to question. Not exactly something most do, but then you don't have much to lose and at this point you'd wager that you're a much better than average fighter than you used to be if it comes to that. You head to a place called the Poisoned Blade Inn, which even before they took over the entire underworld was a known Ebony Claw hang out. As soon as you enter, it's almost like the Dorna Temple all over again, because you gain everyone's attention, mainly because you don't even bother covering yourself with a hood like you normally do. "Well…this is an unusual sight." "Looks like the Dornans have been experimenting again." "Did it just get colder in here?" "Hey, pale man! You lost?" "Careful, he looks like he might have magic about him." "Yeah, well he ain't the only one." Several obvious ECS members are already converging on your position. "Not here for trouble, just looking for the most direct way of getting answers. Does anyone here know a woman named Lisa? She'd be around my age." You say holding up your hands. The ECS members do not put down their guard just because you are though. "Even if any of us did know such a woman, what makes you think we'd tell you?" the most aggressive ECS member says. "Look, if you haven't heard of her, fine, I made a mistake and I'll just go." "Oh you made a mistake alright just by walking in this place and the only place you're going is the sewers after we dump your body!" The man suddenly grabs your arm and attempts to pull you towards him in order to stab you, but as soon as he grabs your arm he pulls his hand back. You draw your weapon and everyone steps back a bit. "SHIT! This guy is fucking freezing!" the man exclaims. "He's a sorcerer! Quick, shoot him before he unleashes more frost magic!" another shouts. Soon another man with a partially shaved head and a huge black claw tattooed on the shaved part appears from the back of the crowd. "Alright, alright, everyone fucking settle down. Obviously the man didn't come here to fight, he wants information, but that's going to cost. I trust you have some coin?" "Yeah, hope you don't mind it cold." You say and toss a small pouch of coins at him, which he catches. "Fine with me, you bought yourself an audience. Come with me into my office." You follow the man as the rest of them get out of your way. His "office" is really just a more secluded table towards the back, but it serves its purpose. The pair of you sit down and you learn the man's name is Mantis. "Geez, you really do give off the cold. Not sensing that you're a sorcerer though. You look human…curse perhaps?" Mantis asks. "Something like that, getting it taken care of." You respond. "Well good luck with that iceman. In any case we're not here to talk about your condition, you were asking about a woman named Lisa. Now for some reason you came to a know Ebony Claw location to ask us specifically. So what makes you think we might know this woman? And a better description would help." You give a physical description of her based on what you remember of what she looked like. It's almost a little concerning that you've almost forgotten what she looks like, but you believe your description has sufficed and it's your additional information that you think that she may have joined the Ebony Claw Syndicate that gets attention. "Hmm, I see. So you're looking for your long lost girlfriend? Is that it? You sure she just didn't want any more to do with you? It happens you know." "I'm fairly certain that isn't the case. We were on good terms before our…separation which wasn't either of our faults. Look I already know she could have very well moved on or even be dead. If that's the case, then I'll just deal with it, but one of the last things she was talking about was possibly joining you guys. I didn't think it was a good idea, but if she did join and she's still part of your organization, then I'd just like to know so if I have to ask every EC member, then that's what I'll do until I get confirmation." "Well, From what you've told me, she doesn't sound like ECS material, but then maybe she got lucky and blew the right person…(Sigh) Look, I can ask around, but I can't make any promises. Our organization is fucking huge you understand and I couldn't even tell you every member in this city, let alone anywhere else. Shit, for all I know she might be a higher rank than me because I'm nowhere near the top of the food chain. And if that's the case then I can't just be giving away her location and I'm also not doing this for free." "I just paid you." "Yeah, you paid for an audience with me. Now you're going to pay for me to ask around about your ex. However, I'm not going to ask you for money. I want you to perform a task for me." "A task?" "Yeah. If I'm going to potentially be giving information out one of our members to a stranger, I want to see just how dedicated you are about this. Now you look like you'd be able to handle yourself in a fight. You came in here by yourself after all." "You want me to go rob a bank or steal something?" "Pfft. The syndicate has no need to be involved in such petty activities to supplement our income. The Blue Dream trade is thriving and whores and gambling are too. No, what needs to be done is something a lot more violent. You familiar with Karn?" "The God of warriors?" "Combat, strength, all that related shit. Well their priests are starting to become a pain in the ass by encroaching on our territory." "I wasn't aware the Karnites were into drugs, whores and gambling." "They aren't, but they're in the business of faith and that's a problem to the Temple of Fel. Not long ago, a Karnites broke all the limbs of one of Fel's faithful. This can't go unpunished. I want you to go kill the asshole and bring me back the ring he wears on his hand as proof." You always heard rumors that the Ebony Claw Syndicate were more than just a criminal organization and the reasons why they were so powerful were due to their ties to the God of shadows. Looks like this confirms such things. "Okay. So why send me? The syndicate has loads of assassins I'd wager. In fact don't the followers of Fel specialize in that sort of thing?" You say. "And you'd be right, but we just got finished with a full blown war with the Thieves Guild and the other petty organizations. We're really not looking to get into another one so soon without rebuilding a bit. As for the Fels themselves, well apparently it's not high on their priority list, but you can bet that if it did get taken care of, those involved would find favor with the temple." Mantis says with a smile. Obviously Mantis wants to use you to advance his own petty ambitions. "In any case, you're not affiliated with us and you're not a follower of Fel. If you purposely start a fight with a Karnite and kill him then it has the added bonus of not being attached to either of us." Mantis continues. "Wait, you want me to just kill this guy out in the open?" you ask. "You're not too familiar with the Karnite faith are you? Issue a personal challenge and it's all perfectly fine. Hell, even the city watch isn't going to do shit about it. Other Karnites themselves won't even retaliate, as they'll see it as an honorable challenge from a lone challenger. Though to be on the safe side, I'd try to make it seem like a natural challenge. I dunno, bump into him on the street and pick a fight or something." "What about the ring? Won't they be upset about me taking a holy item?" "Eh, well they probably won't be happy about it, however you'd be taking a trophy and if someone wasn't strong enough to keep it, then in their eyes they don't deserve it. In fact, they may even ask if you want to join them…but obviously I wouldn't advise that." > You take the job If this is going to help you find Lisa, then this is what you're going to have to do. "Okay fine. Tell me what this corpse looks like." You say. "That's what I like to hear iceman." Mantis remarks. Mantis gives you a physical description of the Karnite in question and his few haunts when he isn't at his temple. As befitting of a follower of Karn, he is constantly training his body and you can see him running laps in the area close to his temple early in the morning. Before you leave, Mantis tells you that he'll look into finding out all he can about Lisa and if she is in fact an Ebony Claw, he'll tell you how you can contact her providing that you're successful. The next few days you spend scouting and spying on your target's activities. As expected he doesn't indulge in much. Most of his time is spent in the temple. He only occasionally leaves to purchase a few pieces of fruit, which he seems to enjoy. He doesn't exactly purchase them either, he just takes them from the poor fruit seller who is far too intimidated by the burly holy man to tell him not to. You thought about picking a fight with him when he was taking one of his morning runs, but you believe this might be better. So eventually you make your move. "Hey! Watch it! I was going for that apple!" you say mildly bumping into the priest. The priest looks at you with annoyance, but he doesn't make a hostile move towards you. In fact he backs off a bit, but he also doesn't give you the apple either. "Are you fucking deaf? I said I WAS going for that apple!" you say raising your voice. "Sir! There are many other apples to choose from! Please pick any of the others. They're all fresh I assure you!" the fruit seller remarks nervously. "I suggest you listen to the shopkeep." The Karnite priest says. "Pfft, I don't give a shit what fruit boy says, let alone you! You're one of those karnites aren't you? I can tell by your shitty brown robes. Supposed to be masters of combat or something. I'm hardly impressed." "I'm not here to impress you, but if you would like a sample of my abilities, I would be more than willing to show you." "Yeah, right. And after I kick your ass, you'll get all your Karnite buddies after me." "With how you're boasting, I'm surprised that would be a concern. However, we can make it a one on one contest as per the doctrines of our faith. No retaliation for whatever the outcome. This one and any of these onlookers can be witnesses." "Um…sure…okay. Whatever you say." The fruit seller responds. "I will say though, I'm detecting magic emanating off of you. If you're a sorcerer of some sort, this agreement is off." The priest adds. "I'm not a sorcerer. This is just me. You backing out?" you respond. "No, I just suppose this will make things more interesting. Though I hope you realize that when we do this, I don't intend on just…in your words kicking your ass. Karn's honor demands no less that I end you permanently." "That's okay, I wasn't planning on holding back either." You pull your short sword and the priest adopts a defensive stance. He doesn't seem at all worried that you have a weapon. After a couple of swings, you find out why since he easily disarms you. When you attempt to go for your dagger, he grabs your wrist to stop you and punches you hard in the face. While it doesn't hurt as much as it would a "normal" person, you still feel the impact. Despite your icy skin and emanation, the priest shows no signs that he's bothered by it. Though no doubt as one of the Karn's faithful he's trained himself to not feel pain like other people. This is very apparent when you actually land a couple of blows and he reacts about as much as you would, which is barely phasing him. You may have had your battles with arguably more "powerful" beings and creatures than this priest, but then there were other circumstances involved. You are learning first hand that the priests of Karn live up to their reputation. It's only due to your condition that you manage to stand as long as you do, but eventually he lands a really good punch and this time you go down to the ground. With you on the ground, the priest immediately takes advantage by taking one of your legs and breaking it. You definitely feel the physical trauma of bone snapping through your skin, though thanks to your dulled senses you don't go into shock and you manage to swing your other leg as hard as you can and kick the priest in the side of the head. He isn't expecting that reaction and you catch him slightly off guard. He's temporarily dazed and lets go of your broken leg. It isn't enough however, since you're still at a disadvantage with a broken leg. You finally manage to pull your dagger in a desperate attempt to even the odds. The priest avoids your attempts at stabbing at him with your dagger from your prone position. Instead, he kicks your hand, followed by stomping on it, breaking your fingers. Sensing that you're much more manageable prey now, the priest puts his foot to your neck and stomps on it. It's enough to crush your windpipe causing you to gasp for air, but your slow asphyxiation is put to an end when he breaks your neck with a couple more stomps.

Considering you don't trust wizards anyway, you might well check out the ones that are already here. You're going to just be on your guard as usual. You figure while you're at it, you can look into trying to find out what happened to Lisa and if she's still around. You ask the apothecary where the temple is since it isn't exactly a place you ever visited when you used to come to the city and your memory is still hazy on where everything is again. You head to the temple and while you remain hooded as usual, you still draw a little attention from people who are close enough to get a better look at you. Fortunately, you're strange enough looking that nobody gets hostile. When you get to the temple, you don't even get very far since two of its members stop you just inside the entrance. "And just where do you think you're going, you…what the hell are you anyway? Damn you're cold, step back." a man with a goatee asks. "Yeah, I was hoping you guys could help me with this." You say. "Maybe we should tell Elder Flynn about this, Travis." The other one says. "The Elder is in meditation and can't be disturbed for a week, you know that! Still, this is something he might find interesting. Tell me, how did you come to be this way?" Travis asks. You give a brief rundown on what happened, when you mention Ral by name the pair of them seems more interested in that, than what happened to you. "Wait, you're telling me that YOU killed Ral?" Travis asks. "I helped…oh shit…he wasn't secretly a Dorna worshipper was he?" you ask. "No true follower of Dorna would do it in secret! He was an infidel as far as I know. Though honestly, I'm not too familiar with the man, Elder Flynn apparently knows him quite well and all I know about that is they're not fond of each other. So…he's dead huh?" "Yes." "Okay, this is something Elder Flynn would definitely want to know about. Unfortunately as I said, he's in meditation and can't be disturbed at all. You could come back then. I'm sure the Elder would be able to help." "Well…I guess I can wait a little longer. So I just come back here in a week?" "Yes, in a week." "Okay then." You turn to leave and look back to see Travis and his buddy whispering about something. Probably about you no doubt. Still, at least they didn't try to do anything bad to you or anything, though that's still a possibility you suppose. The only thing to do now is wait, but you're going to have to find something to do in the meantime. You could go back home, but you honestly don't feel like making that trek again, not to mention after spending so much time in Ral's house, you aren't exactly itching to go back so soon. You have more than enough money so you figure you'll just find an inn to stay at. You stay at a place called the Baroness. (Named after the current ruler no doubt) The innkeeper is a bit wary of you, but after giving him a few extra coins for a room he no longer has a problem with you. (Other than telling you to stand back from him) You spend a couple days not doing much of anything important except information gathering. It's difficult to eavesdrop on conversations (let alone trying to strike up one) with your new condition, but you do manage to at least figure out some basics on the underworld situation. Apparently along with there being a new ruler, the Ebony Claw Syndicate has a greater monopoly on all criminal activity in the city. There are still independents as such things can never be completely wiped out, but the Thieves' Guild was completely destroyed along with any other minor organized rivals Last time you remember, Lisa said she was thinking about joining them. At the time you hoped she wouldn't, but given the situation now, you suppose if she has, it's better that she picked the winning side. Of course this is all still assuming she's alive or even still in the city. You can't be sure of any of this, but since you have time to kill and not much else going on, you seek out Ebony Claw members to question. Not exactly something most do, but then you don't have much to lose and at this point you'd wager that you're a much better than average fighter than you used to be if it comes to that. You head to a place called the Poisoned Blade Inn, which even before they took over the entire underworld was a known Ebony Claw hang out. As soon as you enter, it's almost like the Dorna Temple all over again, because you gain everyone's attention, mainly because you don't even bother covering yourself with a hood like you normally do. "Well…this is an unusual sight." "Looks like the Dornans have been experimenting again." "Did it just get colder in here?" "Hey, pale man! You lost?" "Careful, he looks like he might have magic about him." "Yeah, well he ain't the only one." Several obvious ECS members are already converging on your position. "Not here for trouble, just looking for the most direct way of getting answers. Does anyone here know a woman named Lisa? She'd be around my age." You say holding up your hands. The ECS members do not put down their guard just because you are though. "Even if any of us did know such a woman, what makes you think we'd tell you?" the most aggressive ECS member says. "Look, if you haven't heard of her, fine, I made a mistake and I'll just go." "Oh you made a mistake alright just by walking in this place and the only place you're going is the sewers after we dump your body!" The man suddenly grabs your arm and attempts to pull you towards him in order to stab you, but as soon as he grabs your arm he pulls his hand back. You draw your weapon and everyone steps back a bit. "SHIT! This guy is fucking freezing!" the man exclaims. "He's a sorcerer! Quick, shoot him before he unleashes more frost magic!" another shouts. Soon another man with a partially shaved head and a huge black claw tattooed on the shaved part appears from the back of the crowd. "Alright, alright, everyone fucking settle down. Obviously the man didn't come here to fight, he wants information, but that's going to cost. I trust you have some coin?" "Yeah, hope you don't mind it cold." You say and toss a small pouch of coins at him, which he catches. "Fine with me, you bought yourself an audience. Come with me into my office." You follow the man as the rest of them get out of your way. His "office" is really just a more secluded table towards the back, but it serves its purpose. The pair of you sit down and you learn the man's name is Mantis. "Geez, you really do give off the cold. Not sensing that you're a sorcerer though. You look human…curse perhaps?" Mantis asks. "Something like that, getting it taken care of." You respond. "Well good luck with that iceman. In any case we're not here to talk about your condition, you were asking about a woman named Lisa. Now for some reason you came to a know Ebony Claw location to ask us specifically. So what makes you think we might know this woman? And a better description would help." You give a physical description of her based on what you remember of what she looked like. It's almost a little concerning that you've almost forgotten what she looks like, but you believe your description has sufficed and it's your additional information that you think that she may have joined the Ebony Claw Syndicate that gets attention. "Hmm, I see. So you're looking for your long lost girlfriend? Is that it? You sure she just didn't want any more to do with you? It happens you know." "I'm fairly certain that isn't the case. We were on good terms before our…separation which wasn't either of our faults. Look I already know she could have very well moved on or even be dead. If that's the case, then I'll just deal with it, but one of the last things she was talking about was possibly joining you guys. I didn't think it was a good idea, but if she did join and she's still part of your organization, then I'd just like to know so if I have to ask every EC member, then that's what I'll do until I get confirmation." "Well, From what you've told me, she doesn't sound like ECS material, but then maybe she got lucky and blew the right person…(Sigh) Look, I can ask around, but I can't make any promises. Our organization is fucking huge you understand and I couldn't even tell you every member in this city, let alone anywhere else. Shit, for all I know she might be a higher rank than me because I'm nowhere near the top of the food chain. And if that's the case then I can't just be giving away her location and I'm also not doing this for free." "I just paid you." "Yeah, you paid for an audience with me. Now you're going to pay for me to ask around about your ex. However, I'm not going to ask you for money. I want you to perform a task for me." "A task?" "Yeah. If I'm going to potentially be giving information out one of our members to a stranger, I want to see just how dedicated you are about this. Now you look like you'd be able to handle yourself in a fight. You came in here by yourself after all." "You want me to go rob a bank or steal something?" "Pfft. The syndicate has no need to be involved in such petty activities to supplement our income. The Blue Dream trade is thriving and whores and gambling are too. No, what needs to be done is something a lot more violent. You familiar with Karn?" "The God of warriors?" "Combat, strength, all that related shit. Well their priests are starting to become a pain in the ass by encroaching on our territory." "I wasn't aware the Karnites were into drugs, whores and gambling." "They aren't, but they're in the business of faith and that's a problem to the Temple of Fel. Not long ago, a Karnites broke all the limbs of one of Fel's faithful. This can't go unpunished. I want you to go kill the asshole and bring me back the ring he wears on his hand as proof." You always heard rumors that the Ebony Claw Syndicate were more than just a criminal organization and the reasons why they were so powerful were due to their ties to the God of shadows. Looks like this confirms such things. "Okay. So why send me? The syndicate has loads of assassins I'd wager. In fact don't the followers of Fel specialize in that sort of thing?" You say. "And you'd be right, but we just got finished with a full blown war with the Thieves Guild and the other petty organizations. We're really not looking to get into another one so soon without rebuilding a bit. As for the Fels themselves, well apparently it's not high on their priority list, but you can bet that if it did get taken care of, those involved would find favor with the temple." Mantis says with a smile. Obviously Mantis wants to use you to advance his own petty ambitions. "In any case, you're not affiliated with us and you're not a follower of Fel. If you purposely start a fight with a Karnite and kill him then it has the added bonus of not being attached to either of us." Mantis continues. "Wait, you want me to just kill this guy out in the open?" you ask. "You're not too familiar with the Karnite faith are you? Issue a personal challenge and it's all perfectly fine. Hell, even the city watch isn't going to do shit about it. Other Karnites themselves won't even retaliate, as they'll see it as an honorable challenge from a lone challenger. Though to be on the safe side, I'd try to make it seem like a natural challenge. I dunno, bump into him on the street and pick a fight or something." "What about the ring? Won't they be upset about me taking a holy item?" "Eh, well they probably won't be happy about it, however you'd be taking a trophy and if someone wasn't strong enough to keep it, then in their eyes they don't deserve it. In fact, they may even ask if you want to join them…but obviously I wouldn't advise that." > You refuse the job You aren't having any part in possibly getting caught up in some faction war. This Mantis guy doesn't seem reliable on if he can give you any useful information anyway. "Thank you for your time, but I'm going to have to pass." You say. "Fine by me, but let me tell you this. Don't come back here again for any reason. If fact I'd advise you not to ask the Syndicate for any help on this matter again. This was a one-time offer. Now leave." Mantis remarks. You leave the Poison Blade Inn no closer to finding Lisa. You know Mantis warned you, but given that he admitted that even he didn't know every EC member, you toy with the idea of just simply asking elsewhere. You spend most of the week at various gambling halls, brothels, seedy taverns and fighting arenas. Most of which are run by the Syndicate, but you don't find Lisa and the few people that are talkative enough have never heard of her. Eventually you start getting enough suspicious looks in the crowds that even you think you should stop while you're ahead. In any case, you've got another task, which is curing your condition. You eventually return to the Dornan temple hoping that their elder can help. This time however, you're stopped before you even get inside. "Hey! I've seen you before!" a female voice says, as you're about to open the door. You turn around and see a young female Dornan priestess in the usual blue and purple robes. "Yeah, you're that pale guy that was talking to Travis and Mathias last week. I remember being surprised that Travis didn't throw you out immediately. You here to see him? Because he hasn't been around since that time, him or Mathias in fact. We've sort of been wondering where he is, well not really for our sake since it's been peaceful without him, but Elder Flynn isn't going to like him being gone for so long since Travis was supposed to unofficially be in charge while he was in meditation." "Wait, your Elder, he isn't STILL in meditation is he?" "Yeah, but it should only be a couple days before he's done. Did you need to see him?" "Yeah, Travis told me to come back in a week so I could see him to possibly cure my condition." The female priestess looks at you a bit before replying. "Hmm, yes I have noticed that you're giving off a small cold draft along with your pale skin. Uh…I probably shouldn't do this, but um…you MIGHT not want to meet Elder Flynn." She says. "Why not?" you ask. "Well…don't get me wrong I'm a dedicated worshipper of Dorna and all her wisdom and mysteries of magic yet to be uncovered, but Elder Flynn is a bit on the radical side of uncovering some mysteries and acquiring knowledge." "Meaning?" "Well, meaning that you might find yourself entranced, on a table getting chopped up to see what exactly is causing this condition and how best that it can be harnessed. I mean it's also completely possible that won't happen, but I figured you should at least know the risk since I'm sure Travis didn't tell you." You take your hand off the door and sigh in defeat. "Great." You say. "If you don't mind me asking, how did this happen to you anyway?" Since you don't have anything better to do now and she was kind enough to warn you, you go ahead and tell her. Heather as you learn her name listens intently to your story. "Ral huh? I wonder if that explains why Travis and Mathias lit out of here so quickly." Heather says. "What do you mean?" you ask. "Well you told them that Ral was dead meaning nobody is guarding that house anymore. The pair of them probably went over to loot the place of whatever magic they could find." "Oh shit. I wasn't thinking. Fuck! They've probably completely stripped the place by now!" "What difference would it make to you? You don't use magic." "No, but I AM still using that house as a residence and that's all my stuff now! Not to mention I was planning on selling some of that shit over time. I gotta get over there!" "Well hold on, you can't just face them alone! At least let me go with you so they don't turn you into a jackalope or something!" "Fine, but keep up!" You soon make your way out of Holgard and back to your house. You never thought you'd consider it your house, but hell after all the shit you put up with there and killing Ral for it, you feel you're entitled to it more than two asshole wizard priests just looting the place. Heather tells you that you'd get there faster if you let her cast a haste spell on the pair of you. You're a little reluctant at first given your past with wizards, but eventually you give in and by the end of the day, you're back at your house. You see that the front door is wide open. "I'm going to murder the pair of these thieves." You say (The irony isn't lost on you given your past) "H…hey wait! You can't just kill them!" "The hell I can't, I killed one wizard already and I doubt if these two are more powerful than Ral." "Maybe not, but there's two of them and besides all that, they might be assholes but they're still my Dornan brothers! I understand your anger, but I'm not going to just stand by and let you kill them. Look let me just go in first and talk to them." You don't like this at all, but you've rather not have to fight three wizards so you relent. "Fine." Heather goes in and you follow. Though you don't get very far inside when you see blood all over the floor. You then see a body. "Mathias!" Heather shouts and goes over to him. You look at Mathias' body and see a couple of chunks bitten from his body along with several quills in him. "Shit, I can't believe I forgot he was still here." You say. "Who's still here?!" Heather exclaims. "Spikey." "Who's that?" "My pet manticore." "Wait. You have a pet manticore? "Sure, doesn't everyone?" "How the hell do you forget something like that?" "It's been a busy week and I've had a couple of more important things on my mind. Also I thought I left him outside, though maybe I did and he wandered in when your people broke in. I hope these assholes didn't hurt him." You say and follow the other trail of blood leading to the lab door, which is open. You look around the lab and see some equipment knocked over along with some quills embedded in various places. You see another body on the floor though this one is almost completely eaten and it's mostly just bones now. You imagine that this is probably Travis. Spikey (who is a little larger than when you last saw him) is here gnawing on one of these bones and sees you. He growls a bit at first, but then comes up to you. And you cautiously give him a pet. "Have you actually gotten bigger already? And what are these things?" you say and also notice little nubs on his back that weren't there before. "Those are the beginnings of wings." Heather remarks. Spikey sees her and immediately raises his tail up until you start to try to calm him down. "Heather you can't just sneak up like that! He's not that friendly around strangers!" you shout. "Obviously, but I'm not fussed." Heather remarks and then waves her hands a bit and she goes up to Spikey and pets him who is suddenly very friendly towards her. "Hmm, apparently your buddies didn't think of that." "Might've caught Travis off guard, if he was looting this place he probably wasn't focusing on anything else. Then I imagine Mathias panicked since he's always been prone to do that and tried to run away which didn't work of course." "Not that I'm complaining, but you don't seem too concerned about your fellow priests like you were a moment ago." "Well, Travis I never gave a shit about. Matthias was okay, but he didn't exactly have the strongest of backbone. If he did, he might still be alive. Plus how they died was on them. I mean it isn't like you killed them in cold blood. They were looting your home and your guard creature killed them because they weren't wise enough to assess the dangers before hand. I can accept that." "Very pragmatic of you." "Dorna does teach us the virtues of pragmatism. Speaking of which, I have pragmatic proposition for you." "Okay…" Heather asks if she can look through Ral's stuff and take some of it. She explains that in exchange for doing so, she can try to look into your condition personally and try to figure out how to reverse it. "How do I know you're telling the truth?" you ask. "You don't I suppose. All I can give you is my word and hopefully my actions today have given you something to judge my character. I may be a worshipper of Dorna, but I'm not a fanatic like the Elder. Also, there is no point in telling him about his old acquaintance Ral being dead. Not when I can come here and use the knowledge found here myself." Heather remarks. "Ah, so do you plan to usurp your Elder?" "I didn't say that, but one never knows about the future. In any case, your condition is intriguing enough for me to try to look into. I promise I won't attempt anything too invasive unless you agree to it." "How chivalrous of you. (Sigh) Yeah, I guess I'll trust you, for now at least. What about your Dornan brothers?" "I'll just say I haven't seen them and have no idea where they are. I might warn you however that other Dornan members have probably seen you given that you've been around and inside the temple. A few of them might have even seen you speaking with Travis. Might be best if you lay low for awhile and not even go to Holgard." "You might be right, but I can't promise anything. I'm sort of looking for someone there…but then they might be dead or gone anyway. Yeah I guess I can stay out of sight and make other arrangements." Heather and you come to an agreement and she proceeds to look through the lab. She actually doesn't take much, just a few books that you have no use for anyway. She says that she'll be back as soon as she can and next time she comes by she'll look into your condition. In the meantime you spend time at your home not really doing much of anything except a lot of contemplation. You think about how you probably won't ever see Lisa again, but you also think about your family and how they might be doing. Did Annah survive? Where is your sister and what is she doing right now? Is she okay? All of these people that were once important in your life are just not around anymore and you doubt if you'll ever see them again either. Even if you weren't in the condition you're in now, you couldn't return home with how you left it anyway. You don't actually expect Heather to return or if she does she'll return with a group of other wizards to end you, which you barely even care about at this point, but she eventually does return and it's alone. She subjects you to a few minor tests that she can think of to do and even gives you a few potions to drink. You agree to it mainly because you don't have much to lose. None of the potions work however save for a couple actually making you sick and causing you to vomit. "Apologies, but I can't think of anything else to do that isn't more invasive." Heather remarks. "It's fine. It's fine. Ugh. Maybe…maybe we can do that another day though. Not feeling too well right now. Take whatever you like from the lab, I'm sure there's more shit you could find useful. I'm not going to Holgard to sell any of it any time soon." "You sure you're okay?" "I'm fine, I'm just going to lay down for awhile. Remember to lock the door on your way out." Heather's a little surprised by your permissiveness given that you were ready to kill two of her fellow priests for being here not long ago, but your consent is what makes all the difference. That and the fact that you're still feeling a little depressed about things on top of not feeling well physically. You get into bed and sleep, when you wake up. You find a note with a bottle next to it on a nearby table. It's from Heather telling you that the contents should make you feel better since it's a healing potion of sorts. You down the liquid and it starts to work. Heather also says she isn't sure when the next time she'll be back, but she'll try to make it as soon as she can. Well it seems like you can trust this Heather at least along with her being someone that can actually help you or try to, which means it's a start. Who knows if any of this will help or change things though. > You time passes... Year 25 "I've looked through ALL of Ral's writings along with researching various tomes we have at the temple and I can't figure out exactly WHAT he did to you. I mean I can guess what he did, but even if I'm right, I still have no idea how to reverse it." Heather remarks. You know Heather's done more than you ever expected from her, but you can't help but feel frustrated by all this. If your condition wasn't getting worse, it probably would be tolerable, but it is getting worse. Not so much for you in terms of life and death directly, but you're starting to effect things in a wider area. At this point your home is freezing to most (or at least to Heather when she visits) and frost covers everything you come in contact with now. You don't even have to touch it for long. Even Spikey makes his home outside the house rather than inside, though it's just as well since he's huge now. Which is leading to the other issue and that's the fact your icy home is starting to look very out of place compared to the rest of the surrounding landscape. Granted you're isolated from most major population centers, but there is Dert. Dert is close enough that it's only going to take a few of the more adventurous young folks to go wandering from that backwards village and bring back tales of an "Ice Castle" with a manticore guarding it. (Fortunately Spikey has never wandered towards Dert and his hunting grounds are mainly elsewhere.) Heather herself has been trying to keep your presence a secret since apparently Elder Flynn has been sensing a minor growth in magical energy in the area. So far he assumes it's Ral just working on something, but Heather stresses that if he finds out the truth, he'll definitely be heading to your home. Heather is also stressed out due to the fact that she's been keeping all this from her comrades and on top of everything else, there's the beginning of religious faction war going on in Holgard. Since she's out of any ideas that you might find acceptable, she suggests the last thing she can think of and that's that you leave and head north. She believes your condition is exaggerated by the warmer climate. (Even more so now due to it being a hotter summer than usual) While you've sort of guessed that to some extent, she thinks that if you were just constantly living in a colder environment, your condition would even out and you might not attract as much attention. "So…what then? I'm supposed to just go live on a mountain top somewhere?" you say. "No, I'm just saying that you could probably live some place colder and your condition not be as much of a problem. You'd at least blend in a bit better. As it stands now, you're starting to attract a lot of attention and you were previously pretty isolated before. Not to mention you've got a big ass manticore wandering around nearby. You stay here and you're probably going to have groups of hired adventurers beating down your door." Heather remarks. "You just want me to leave because you're worried about your own ass." "Damn right I am! I mean I'm risking every time I come here, every time I lie to Elder Flynn. You realize how much my stomach is in knots about this? And you know what? Fuck you. I've been helping you out trying to figure out how to cure you! I've tried potions, spells, salves, rituals and even prayers to Dorna on your behalf!" "You've also been helping yourself to magical shit I have." "So? It's been mutually beneficial, but now it's starting to get risky to a point of where I'm no longer comfortable." "Alright, I get it. I get it. But I'm just not too keen on this idea that I'm supposed to just pick up and leave." "Well, I dunno any other solutions. I mean when was the last time you went to Holgard and didn't start drawing a crowd? Didn't you say that the guards actually prevented you from entering last time? You said you had to sneak in and then you soon got run out of there. I mean it's only going to be a matter of time that you start drawing the attention of someone you aren't going to be able to deal with." "Your boss is really getting that suspicious huh?" "Elder Flynn is a concern of course, but it might actually be lucky for you that there's religious strife going on in Holgard right now. But I was talking in general. Look, we've gotten along for a while now, and maybe if circumstances were different I'd say stick around longer, but…" Heather turns away from you a bit and exhales. In fact she starts to sniffle a bit. "What? Wait a minute…no…really? You never gave any indication! Hell, we've never even kissed! Though I suppose given my condition that might cause problems. That's why you never acted on it" you say. "Oh trust me, there's ways we could have gotten around that aspect. A simple protection of cold would have done that. It's just… it could never really work okay? And yeah initially I was helping you because it was beneficial to me personally, but I did genuinely want to help because you seemed like an okay guy that was in a bad situation. Even with you telling me tales of your shady past, there was always a charm about you." Heather remarks wiping her eyes a bit. "If I ever run into my sister again, I'm sure she'll be amused to hear that some of her charisma finally wore off on me. Well if it makes you feel any better, I've had more than my fair share of thoughts about you as well." "I'm sure." "I don't mean just the dirty ones though, I mean I figured even if you were only helping for the magic knowledge and items, it still was nice that someone was helping me." "Sort of wish you were only thinking of me in a dirty way, it would make this a lot easier. (Sigh) I shouldn't have said anything." "I wish you have said something sooner, I mean now what am I supposed to do? Just leave, knowing all this?" "If you do have feelings for me like you say then I beg you to leave because you'll just make it harder for me in the long run. I know it's selfish to put myself first, but it is what it is." "Okay, I'm not mad because I get it, but I don't see why WE can't just leave together. I mean you could continue trying to figure out how to cure me and you could probably start up another Dorna church up north and convert barbarian tribes or something. " "Heh, nice idea. Tempting even, but no. My life is here." You're getting frustrated at this point. "What are you fucking this Elder Flynn or something?" "What? No! He's like a hundred years old and I don't have daddy issues!" "Well what's really keeping you here then?" "Look, maybe an infidel like you can't understand, but my temple is also my family and with all the trouble going on right now, I'm not going to just abandon them." "Haven't you been hording knowledge and the shit you get from me?" "Yeah, well it's a complicated family relationship." "Guess I can't relate much…(sigh) Okay, fine. I'll leave, but only because you did try to help me, I'm a sucker for a pretty face and the fact I don't really have any other ties here and it'll make things easier for you." You start to get ready to pack, but Heather stops you. "Hold on a second. You don't need to leave right this minute." She says and makes a few little hand gestures causing a brief blue glow around her. Then she kisses you. It doesn't feel as good as you remember the last time you did this with Lisa. Even the good stuff is dulled, but what the hell, you'll take it. You and Heather get to it and you have a rather interesting time going about your intimacy. Heather's spell is working, but it's obvious she's still feeling some mild…well the word isn't exactly discomfort, but let's just say she has never pleasured herself with an icicle in the past so it's a cool sensation down there for her. However she's a trooper and you must be doing something right because by the time you're done she's covered in frost. No, that's not a euphemism either; she's literally covered in frost. (In fact if this was all taking place in a modern setting, there could be a whole joke about "The Iceman Cometh") You on the other hand were sort of hoping that experience while pleasant enough would maybe raise your body temperature a little, but no, you're still as cold as ever. After a moment of basking in frosty bliss, Heather brushes herself off and gets dressed. "I hope that you can somehow find a way to cure yourself, but whether you do or not, take care okay?" With those last words she gives you one more kiss and leaves you alone. This experience has arguably been the best thing that's happened to you since you woke up in your condition. Of course maybe you're just sort of feeling that way due to the fact that you haven't exactly been with anyone in a long damn time. Part of you wants to just go to her temple, but going to Holgard isn't going to do anything but cause problems for her and you, so you'll wait. You know she'll be back. You figure Heather will probably come back here in a couple days to see if you're still around and to potentially look for any items she may have missed. When she comes back, you'll make every effort to convince her to come with you. So you wait. A week passes, then a month, then two months… By this time, you're still laboring under the delusion that she's going to come back and mainly subsisting on frozen berries, fruit and roots that you don't go too far to collect from your home. In the meantime Spikey, being an apex predator in the area has steadily over the past few years been depleting most of the wildlife. He was also supplementing this with the many bandit groups that make their homes in the woods at times. However, even bandits eventually get wise to the fact that it might not be the best idea to have a hideout where many of their fellows are disappearing at an alarming rate. If his attention wasn't in the direction of Dert before it is now. You however don't really know any of this until you get a knock on the door one night. Thinking that it's Heather, you spring from your chair, and open it. And you're met by a woman, one you even know, but not Heather. "…Isabella?" you say upon seeing her. Isabella frowns as you just stare at her naked body in surprise. "Glad you remember what my tits look like." She says. "…Apologies, but I really wasn't expecting you. I thought another…nevermind, what are you doing here?" you ask. "I'm here to speak to Ral…what the hell happened to you? You're as pale as I am and you're giving off some serious cold. This whole house is, given the frost and ice in the area. What the hell IS Ral doing in there?" "Well…" "Look, no offense, but I'm not in the mood to speak to his magic slave. I want you to go bring his ass out of his lab to come speak to me right now. I mean I thought we had an understanding at least that if we HAD to be neighbors he wouldn't fuck things up for me. Now I got a bunch of dead people in Dert due to his escaped manticore or pet or experiment or whatever the fuck. I told him that backwards dung heap of a hamlet was MY ongoing food source and was not to be messed with." "Wait, Spikey attacked Dert?" "Spikey? That its name? Real original. But yeah it was a damn blood bath there. Hell, I could smell it even from my crypt. The beast killed ten people. I would have tracked it down easily, but considering its scent was also leading in this direction, I'd pay Ral a visit first since I was sure this was all his fault. And judging from what I'm seeing, I was right. So get his ass out here!" "That's going to be a problem given that he's dead." "Dead? Bullshit." "I'm serious. He's been dead for like two years now." Now Isabella is the one showing some surprise. The fact that she is surprised means you must have really caught he off guard. You remember that Ral and her had a relationship in the past. From some of her brief sad expression, she perhaps didn't have complete loathing for him. Isabella looks down a bit and closes her eyes before speaking again. "(Sigh) Damn. Didn't think I'd still feel something for the bastard, but I guess you never know until it happens. I guess this means you're no longer a magic slave and you're in fact responsible for this mess then. How? You're no wizard. And how did you kill Ral anyway?" Isabella asks. "I didn't kill Ral, he just died of natural causes in his bed." You quickly say. "Hah! Nice try, but you're lying. Look, I don't care if you killed him, if he'd made me a slave I'd have killed him too." "Well, I had help and it wasn't easy." "I'm sure. So what's with the eternal winter here?" "Ral's last gift to me." You give a quick explanation of events of your condition to Isabella who listens to everything. "So…it was this Heather was the one you were waiting for then?" Isabella asks. "Yeah, but well…that's a long story." You say with a sigh. "Let me guess you fell for your nurse." "She wasn't a nurse, she was a priestess." "Nurse, priestess, whore, doesn't matter. Your circumstance is as old as time. You fell for the one taking care of you when nobody else would. It happens a lot, but I think your case its just desperation." "Excuse me?" "Well, you've been waiting for this girl for two months you said. It's obvious she isn't coming back." "She could just be busy! There's a religious war going on in Holgard right now! You know, we made love the last time I saw her!" "And? That probably was just a goodbye pity fuck. Look, I didn't see how you two interacted and I'm only getting some of what you're telling me, so I'm not going to say this girl didn't have feelings for you, but its obvious she cares more about herself or at least her own life." "You don't know shit!" you snap. "Okay, look, whatever. I actually don't care that much, but we still need to settle this issue with your pet manticore along with your snowman condition because both of them are going to fuck up my shit. The manticore can be settled easily since I can just kill the beast and be done with it. But you are a whole other problem." "Wait a minute you can't just kill my pet! And why the hell am I a problem, I don't even go near Dert." "Yeah, but your aura might. I mean from what little you've told me, your condition is getting worse and if that's the case, the last thing I need is for it to freeze over Dert and cause all the peasants there to pick up and leave due to failed crops. It's bad enough some are already talking about leaving due to the manticore attack. Others are even talking about hiring adventurers. Last thing I need is a group of fortune seekers stomping around the area and stumbling on my place of rest." "I'm sure you'd be able to handle them." "That's not the damn point, my point is I like things peaceful and they can't be, if there are certain elements in the area fucking everything up! So the way I see it, is you got two choices. You either leave, or I cure you." Once again Isabella has given you a little surprise. "What? You can cure me? How?!" you ask. "Invite me in and I'll show you." Isabella responds with a smile. "Uh…no…things aren't quite bad enough for me to want to commit suicide." "Who said I was going to kill you? I'd make you into a vampire." "Wait. Why? Would that work?" "Sure. The transformation process practically gives you a clean slate. I'd be very surprised if it didn't work. As for why…well let's just say why not?" "…I feel like there's a catch…" "Well of course there's a catch, I don't just offer the gift to anyone. I'd require you to help me around the crypt as it were." And there it is. "A slave. You want me to be your slave." You say. "You wouldn't be a slave, you'd be my…companion. You think your few years of no meaningful intimacy are bad? Come back when you've had a century or so of it. I just felt a pang of loss over a man that I practically loathed for decades. Now I know I'm moving in quick on you, but when you've been as solitary as I have, you tend to not let social rules dictate your actions. I'm offering not only a cure for your condition and immortality, but also a chance for you not to worry about having to be alone ever again. You can't say you aren't tempted. I still remember that night we had years ago. Look, I'll be back in a couple nights. If you're still here, then I'll know you've accepted my offer. If you're gone, I know you haven't. And when I say I'll be back in a couple nights, you can bet that I'll mean it." Isabella says and leaves. And once again you're left alone with a big decision. You knew you were going to have to make one soon, but these events haven't definitely given you more to think about. > You stay and accept the offer It's not a perfect solution, in fact it might very well be worse, but you see no other option. Maybe you just don't even care anymore. Ever since you left Teckleville, you've been confined somehow. Ral did it directly with the geas, then even in death he did it with this condition he forced upon you. Now it would appear Isabella is planning to do the same. She claims that you'll be her companion, but you really don't get the impression that you'll be equal. Not really. Hell, maybe in some twisted way you want someone else giving the orders and that's why you're going to do this. But it doesn't matter; you just can't deal with being like this any longer. At least this way you'll have someone on your side on a regular basis. Of course maybe you're just deluding yourself and hoping for something that isn't there. Just like you did when you waited for Heather. Again, it doesn't matter, you're going to go through with this plan because it's the easiest way out. So you wait, and in the next two nights, you hear a knock on the door. You open it and as expected it's her. "Well, given that you're here, I'd say that means you've decided to take me up on my offer. I have to say, this pleases me and you will soon see just how lucky you are that I chose you. Now, if you'll just invite me in, we can get to this, or you can step out here, if you prefer. Up to you." Isabella says. "Might as well come in. My home is your home now." "Indeed, but I'm sure you realize that we'll be living at my superior home…however I suppose this isn't a bad place to use as a surface dwelling of sorts. Always was curious about what it looked like inside. Though I'm guessing there wasn't frost all over the place." Isabella remarks as she enters and gives a brief glance around before turning to you. "So…are you ready to ascend a higher form of existence?" Isabella asks. "Um…yes…but I just have a question." You say. "Of course. I can answer all your concerns about this process." "It's actually about Spikey." "Oh?" "Well I was wondering what was going to happen with him." "What did you want to happen to him?" "Well considering I'm going along with all this, I'd like to request that you not kill him. I mean as a vampire couldn't you just charm the beast to not attack Dert?" "That doesn't work forever. The beast could shake off the effects when it's out in the wild at any time. I can't be expected to keep up on it and before you volunteer to do it, you aren't going to have the time either. Even if we managed to keep the beast from attacking the village, there's still the issue that he's probably killing all the wildlife in the area, which could actually have worse effects in the long run. He really doesn't belong here." "Is there nothing that can be done? I mean I get that you don't have an attachment to him, but he did save my life once." "Hmm, I can see that you're more attached to this animal than I thought…very well I suppose I understand. There's another solution, but you're going to have to still be prepared to say goodbye to him." "Why?" "Because we'll take him some place else to live that's why. We can make a trip out of it or something I suppose." "Okay, I guess that's reasonable. Thanks." "Well I am the reasonable one. So, you ready?" "I guess as much as I'm going to be, now you're sure this is going to work?" "I have no doubt that it won't, now come to me and let me warm you up." Isabella's statement is more of a turn of a phrase considering her own undead ass is as cold as a grave, but then she probably is still warmer than you are. You approach Isabella who embraces you in her arms. She doesn't flinch from your icy body and instead kisses you on your lips. You wish you weren't so numb that you could actually enjoy this bit. Eventually she stops kissing you and her mouth roams a bit lower and to the side. This is it. You feel a sharp sensation enter your neck (which doesn't cause you pain) followed by a draining one. Isabella herself is having a mildly difficult time sucking your blood, which is probably a little slushy due to your frosty condition, but she's getting through it. Soon light headiness follows and then you're starting to lose consciousness altogether. Just before you do though, Isabella stops feeding on you and then quickly bites herself on the wrist. Using the open wound, she pours some of her blood into your own mouth and a metallic taste hits your tongue and eventually slides down your throat. "You just made the best decision in your mortal life… now experience ascension." Isabella remarks and then kisses you on the mouth again before finishing you off. Everything goes dark. You don't know how much time passes, but when you wake up, you're feeling quite different. You're not breathing, and you're hungry. You're still cold, but now it's changed. You're no longer a walking glacier. It worked, but now what? And where are you? You look around and find that you're no longer in your home. You're lying on a stone floor for one thing. There's no light, but you aren't finding that to be a problem since now you have some sort of night vision. You also see two human figures shackled to the walls. They're both naked and have their heads hanging down. You sense that they're still alive, but they aren't struggling so you can only assume they're either so demoralized that don't have the desire, or they're under control in some way. "Good, right on time for you to be awake. So, how do you feel? Hungry I suspect. Well you can have one of those two on the wall, Don't completely drain them though, I like to keep them around awhile, saves me from having to go out as often…though with you around now, I guess I hopefully won't have to do that anymore at all." Isabella remarks while standing in an entryway. You don't say anything; you just slowly get up as you're still feeling a little strange. Isabella goes over to help you. "Here, I got you. Let's get you over to the food, you'll feel much better I think after you eat. Don't worry, it's a very basic process, and I'll guide you through it, then afterwards we can do some other things that are also very basic. I'm sure that will be fun for the both of us." Isabella guides you over to the human wretch that's chained up and tells you where to bite so you don't just kill the person right away. She's right of course, it is all very easy. Hell, you don't even hesitate with doing it. Why you don't is probably a combination of several factors. If anything you feel like you're in a daze right now and Isabella is taking the lead. While its entirely possible that she's got some sort of control over you, it's more along the lines that you're just perfectly willing to let her take the lead. She promised exactly what she said, she cured you. Why be ungrateful or defiant? Why fight what is now your nature, which is to feed on other living beings' blood? You ultimately chose this, so you might as well embrace it. If this makes you completely "evil" now, you really don't give a shit. You were dancing on the edge of it anyway, and that didn't even work out very well. Maybe now that you've completely crossed over, maybe things will start going a lot better for you. The fact that you and Isabella soon have a round of passionate bloody vampire sex soon after you're done feeding can only mean things are in fact improving for you… Right? > You time passes... Year 26 It's amazing how things can be going fairly well for you, and you'll still find shit to be dissatisfied about. What might be worse is the new nature of you "confinement." It's another gilded cage. (Or fancy crypt in this case.) While not much is ever demanded of you, Isabella definitely is treating you less than equal as you have to clean the crypt One thing you never knew about vampires is how they can become obsessed with the smallest details. Probably has to do with the enhanced senses. Isabella apparently is a neat freak and due to this quirk she spent most of her time rearranging, cleaning, and generally tidying up her home. An impossible task of course, but that didn't stop her from trying. Even the room where she keeps the blood "donors" is kept clean and isn't the slaughterhouse that one would expect it to be. She still cleans of course, but you're doing most of it now. It's really boring especially since you had to do this to a lesser degree at Ral's and at least there, you were able to let it go for a week at times. Not to mention it's fucking impossible to "clean" a vast underground crypt in the first place. About the only thing you don't have to take care of is her underground garden, which is her own personal project that she spends a lot of time on. In fact, with you around now she doesn't even have to leave it to get food much anymore. She just has you do that, which is sort of plus, since that's one of two major things that break up the monotony. You initially would lure a citizen of Dert back to the crypt, but in time you started wandering a bit more and realized with all the bandits making hideouts in forest, you might as well give yourself a bit more of a challenge. Sometimes you will boldly face a group of them. The poor dumb bastards never realize they don't have a chance and you proceed to tear them apart, satisfying your own hunger and leaving only one or two alive to bring back to Isabella. The second major thing would be your routine intimacy with Isabella. It's a little odd, mainly because you've got mixed feelings on the emotional side of things. Isabella is very comfortable with the physical aspect, but in a lot of ways she's still pretty distant. Makes a bit hard for you to return serious affection when you aren't sure if you're just there as a dick for her to use when she's in the mood. While you don't really have any real complaints about that aspect that might make this bit of "captivity" worse since it's really difficult to complain when you're getting quality sex thrown in your direction on a regular basis. But since you're not totally whipped, you're going to complain anyway. Not to mention you just need more to occupy your time. There has to be more than just feeding and fucking, especially since you're supposed to be immortal now. Though you'd be lying if you weren't worried, she IS vastly more powerful than you after all and can easily subvert your free will if she so desired. (She never has though) You wait for one of the rare moments that she isn't in her private garden to speak with her since even after a year she still doesn't allow you in there. "Oh, hello. Have you been waiting out here for me the whole time?" Isabella asks. "Sort of. Oh I brought back dinner. A couple of children from Dert this time. I know it's risky since it causes more hysteria in the locals when kids go missing, but I was very careful and I figured you deserved something special." You answer. "Mmm, you're always so doting. Well, with your news and the fact I finally got my deathshade growing properly, I'm in a good mood tonight, so we can do that thing you always want to do to me after I eat." "Uh, yeah that's something to look forward to, but I was actually here to speak to you about something that's been on my mind lately." "Oh, okay then." "Now I'm already prepared for you to say no, but I want to make my argument clear…" "Okay, so what is it?" "Don't get mad…" "If you don't hurry up and get to your point, I guarantee I'm going to start getting mad. Just fucking say it already!" "Okay! I want more freedom." "I see…" "Now hold on, I don't mean I want to leave you! I just…agh…I need more out of life, or unlife as it were." "More? You have all you need. A home, a nearby food source, a beautiful companion by your side. I mean I'm not sure I understand." "And that's all great. Really it is. Probably better than I ever could have stumbled upon. It's like…well okay here's a good example. You have that garden. That garden that you love to spend all, occupying your free time when you have it. I mean you don't even let me in there, so I'm assuming it's something pretty special to you. I guess I'm saying I need my own garden. Not literally of course." "Hmmm, I understand what you're saying…I suppose I have just taken your happiness for granted." "Don't get me wrong, I am happy, I just need something more to do and no offense, but cleaning this crypt isn't it." "Hah, well I figured. I'd hoped that you would have developed a bit of an obsession for it like I somewhat did, but I imagine your servitude to Ral might have dampened that. Okay, so you're basically saying you want a hobby, fine. But I wasn't exactly stopping you from getting one. So what did you have in mind exactly?" Well so far this is going better than you thought, though Isabella's question brings up the fact that perhaps you haven't thought this entirely through. "I'm…I'm not exactly sure…I was sort of expecting you to be against it. Okay, well anyway I've been killing bandits in the forests. Lots of them actually." You say. "I figured you must have found some other food source since you didn't often eat here. So you have a bit of the bloodlust do you? That can happen with new vampires. As long as you don't massacre Dert, I don't care what you do." Isabella responds. "I'm thinking I'd like to go to Holgard once in awhile." "You haven't before? Again, I assumed when you weren't feeding much here, you might be nipping off to Holgard to eat." "I sort of wasn't sure if you wanted me to go that far." "Sheesh, do I really come off of that controlling? Holgard isn't that far. It's not like you're a lowly human anymore that is going to take forever and a day to walk there. With your speed, you could go there and be back before dawn. Hell, if you really needed to, it wouldn't bother me if you stayed there for a few nights. Get it all out of your system. If culling a few extra humans to satisfy your bloodlust is what you need to do, well Holgard couldn't be a better place to do it. It's a crime-ridden city where murder occurs daily. You'd fit right in and never arouse suspicion." "True, but it's not just the killing, it's I used to be a rogue before all this happened...and I've been thinking on those days I do miss them." "So…what then? You want to go to Holgard to be a common thief?" "Well when you say it like that, it doesn't sound as impressive. It's more like I just wonder if my desire for it is still there or am I just missing something from a simpler time I guess." "Weren't you doing it during your time with Ral? I know he didn't keep you on that short of a leash." "Yes, but I was so miserable that I don't think I ever really enjoyed it most of the time. About the only time I did, was when I was training…um…another…" Isabella's eyebrow raises as you stop yourself from mentioning Lisa. You quickly change up the conversation a bit. "My point is, I haven't really gotten to enjoy doing it since I left Teckleville. Actually even before that, since I started enjoying it less after my sister left. However, I feel like I should give it one more go to see if it really was something I liked doing, or maybe I just liked doing it with someone who was also interested in it." "You actually may find such petty thievery much too easy now. After all you have powers that you didn't have before." "Perhaps, but I also can't just break into any old house either not being invited and all." "True, but that can be easily gotten around if you can charm the owner into letting you in. There are also public buildings of course like shops. In any case, if this is something you want to pursue, I'm not going to deny you your eccentricities. We all have our interests. I believe this may be left over longings for your old human life, which is natural for new vampires as well. I also think you'll get bored eventually, but I leave you to work through it. Anyway, was that it?" "Um, yeah basically." "Good, now I'm going to feed on these children you got me, and then we can do that other things. Fairly certain you aren't going to go anywhere tonight." Well she's right about that. The next night you make your way to Holgard and it's true, thanks to your supernatural speed you get there fairly quickly, you don't even catch the attention of the guards outside the gate. You haven't been here in so long; you never thought you'd actually miss it. Hasn't really changed at all though there is one thing you're noticing and that's the fact the streets are practically empty. Its not even that late, usually there's still more activity than this. You see the watch patrolling around, but they're in groups much larger than you remember. They also tend to eye you very suspiciously. Granted you're here for trouble, but you decide that it probably isn't the best idea if you start off by murdering several Holgard Watchmen so you start avoiding said groups. It occurs to you that something here has changed drastically. Last time you heard any news of this place was Heather and she told you there was a war brewing between the religious factions. Maybe things have gotten worse? In any case you decide to eat first and head to the lower class districts where there are less patrols and probably easier to get a quick meal. You roam the streets, but it looks like even the lower elements have tried to set up some sort of safety plan during this uncertain time. Bums and the like are lingering together. Whores are as well and even performing their trade in groups. The worst part is instead of the Watch, there are Ebony Claw Syndicate members patrolling around and they're probably even more diligent since some of the ECS are also Fel followers. You soon realize that you're probably going to have to just enter a tavern and just lure someone away and get them in private or just risk the attention and wipe out a small group as quick as possible. Actually you're keener on the second idea since you're getting a bit impatient with how inconvenient this has been. Just as you're turning a corner a man in a green robe literally runs into you. It's enough to cause you to stagger since you weren't paying attention, as you were lost in thought. The man himself is on the ground. He looks scared, but strangely not because of you. He keeps looking around. "By Yag, you're a pale one. Wait… you a vampire?" the man asks. "Well there's no point in me lying since you're going to be my food soon." You respond. "Yeah? Well we that follow Yag all know that eventually we can't beat the odds forever. In fact tonight the odds were REALLY against me. Didn't see it ending like this though, certainly wasn't in the temple betting pool, hah! However I'd suggest you do it quickly before the Dornans get here. They see you and they'll use you for spell components, that is if the Joachimites don't get here first and just burn your undead ass." The Yagite priest continues to look around, waiting for what you're going to do, but it was always obvious. "Well guess I better follow your advice and make this quick then." You say and pick up the man and bite his neck. He makes little resistance other than gasping out some last prayer to Yag. You haven't been eating long when you're interrupted. The Yag priest wasn't kidding when he said someone would be here soon. "Yagite scum, you'll pay for…wha…?" a female voice says. You look in the direction of the voice and snarl at being disturbed. You see a woman dressed in purple and blue robes and a couple of other members of her temple behind her. "Vampire!" one of them shouts and begins to cast something and you leap into action. "No, wait!" the female member says and backs away, but you and her subordinates aren't listening. You head towards the acolyte that was attempting to cast a spell. After you easily put your fist through his chest, you feel flames at your back, which the other acolyte has cast at you. The flames hurt, but it isn't nearly enough to save him, you're just too quick and you rip out his throat. You savior the quick taste of blood before turning towards your last foe. "Stop! Stop! It's me!" the woman continues to shout as she puts a shield up and that's when your bloodlust subsides long enough to finally recognize who she is. It's Heather. You certainly didn't expect to run into her on your first night here. In the back of your head, you sort of had a concern that maybe if you ever did, it would stir up complicated feelings about her. However, at this moment the only thing you're feeling is the desire to slash her open and drink her dry… > You stop your attack It takes everything within you, but you stop completely. Heather may not have been your girlfriend or even a friend in the traditional sense, but she was trying to help you once and her company however brief did comfort during that time. You can't just forget all that. "Shit. Heather. Apologies. I…well as you can see, I've undergone a transformation since we last spoke." You say. "What the hell happened? Are you…I mean you're really a…" Heather starts to say. "Vampire? Yes. I found a cure to my other condition after all." "But…how? I mean not only how did you know, how did you find a vampire that would do it without killing you outright?" "Let's just say, fate sometimes finds a way of finding you and when it does, embrace it." "Okay, but I mean this is a severe change and irreversible." "It's better than that cold condition I had. I don't think you really know how unbearable that got." "No, I suppose I never truly did. So…is this better then?" "For the most part, I mean I can never see the sun again, but then I never was a day person to begin with. Oh and I have to drink blood from others to survive." "You have to kill them too?" "The two normally go hand in hand, but considering the types I'm often killing around here, I don't think anyone is going to miss them." "Well, I'm certainly going to miss my two acolytes." "Apologies." "You said that before. Doesn't change the fact that they're dead. " "Well, my new condition gets a little intense sometimes. I get in this mode and I just…well you saw what happened. Though I stopped myself for you. That's the important thing right?" "I…guess. Maybe I should go. I'm going to somehow explain how I got two members killed hunting one pathetic Yagite. Nevermind, take care I guess." Heather backs off slowly from you, still keeping her shield up and her eyes on you the whole time. You almost want to stop her, but you realize that maybe this is for the best that she reacted in this way. Not wishing to attract any excessive attention with all the bodies around, you take your leave and head back home without bothering to engage in whatever roguish endeavors you originally were intending. As you make your way back home, you feel somewhat weird about the situation with Heather. You feel like it should be over and done with, but you can't stop thinking about her. Why? Are you trying to hang on to some sort of "humanity?" Are you thinking about what could have been if things had been different? Do you think there still could be? You quickly dismiss all of these thoughts mainly because it's stupidly suicidal to begin with. Isabella is your mate now and you really don't have many complaints about her. She's been more than understanding and helpful even if you don't feel exactly "close" to her sometimes. Speaking of which, when you arrive back home, Isabella soon comes to greet you. It would seem Isabella decided to wait up for you for a change. You weren't expecting her to. "Well that was quick. I at least expected you to stay out until dawn. Did you have fun stealing items and whatever else?" Isabella remarks. "I didn't bother. I mostly ate and then got out of there." You answer. "What happened?" "Just ran into a bit of unexpected resistance. Nothing I couldn't handle though. The religious factions in Holgard are practically having open battle in the streets, so it's making things a bit more chaotic than usual. Even the Joachimites have formed mobs to burn what they consider the unholy. Exciting though." "Hm, interesting. So does this mean you're not going back?" "Eh, not sure yet. I think I need to reassess." "Well whatever you like dear. Come now, let's lay together." The next few days you stay away from Holgard and go back to hunting bandits and wanderers outside. During this time you think about how it's probably silly of you to avoid Holgard just because of Heather. Holgard is a big city and while its certainly possible to run into her again, you're confident that you don't have any real feelings for her. It was just a brief bit of emotion brought on by your surprise to see her. Judging by her own reaction she's probably never going to want to be near you if she can help it. Of course this does bring up the question of how you'll react exactly if you DO see her again. You doubt if you'll kill her though. A week passes and you're back in Holgard. This time though, you decide to engage in some thievery rather than hunting. That was of course one of the things you were wondering if you'd be interested in doing again. You spend a few hours breaking into some jewelry stores with relative ease. Seems Isabella was right that you aren't getting the same thrill from it like you used to. It's just a little too easy and you suppose it's just not the same as hunting down something and drinking its blood. Still, no point in discarding what you've got now. You've never known Isabella to wear jewelry (or anything else for that matter) but maybe she'll appreciate the pretties all the same. As you're sneaking back out of one of the stores, a familiar voice calls to you. "Got anything pretty for me in there? Gotta say, didn't expect to find you ripping off some trinket store." Heather remarks standing nearby. "Wha…Heather? What the hell are you doing here? Are you following me?" you ask. "Well somewhat. I've actually been looking for you for the past several days since I wanted to apologize for being so stand offish with you. " "Oh. It's fine, completely understandable." You say getting ready to move on. "I've been casting detect undead regularly since that night just to apologize. I'm guessing since you haven't back to the city for a while, our reunion was unexpected for you as well. Are you really okay? I mean sincerely?" "Yes, I'm fine. Just in a bit of a hurry, I just robbed this store and the rogue in me likes to leave the scene of a crime as soon as possible." "Oh, right! Yeah, makes sense. Well can I come with you? I really would like to catch up with you. So much has happened and I besides how I acted last time, I sort of want to apologize for how we parted before that too." Part of you really wants to say "No." and just take off. A very small part of you feels like you should just kill her to avoid complications. However the largest part of you is the one that actually wants to talk with her like an idiot. Guess which one you follow? "Uh, okay fine. Just let's go some place secluded." You say. You waste no time leaving the area and soon you and Heather are in some empty non-descript dark alley. "Not exactly what I had in mind. I figured we'd go to one of the neutral taverns and talk." Heather says. "I don't like crowds, besides any petty thugs that stumble upon us are going to be up shit's creek if they start trouble." "I guess you got that one right, though I'd be more concerned with the ECS patrols given their Fel connections, but again I suppose we could take them. Anyway, how have you been?" Heather asks you in more detail about your vampirism, but you're somewhat hazy on the details of the hows and whys. (And you certainly don't mention Isabella) You get the impression Heather knows you're hiding something, but decides not to press the issue, probably not wishing to potentially anger you. Instead of interrogating you all night long, she decides to talk about herself and what she's been up to since you parted ways. Heather goes on to say that she's risen in rank at her temple and is practically second in command only to Elder Flynn himself. Though whenever she mentions him you don't get a tone of fondness. "Far be it from me to pry, but I get the strong impression you don't like Elder Flynn anymore." You say. "I…I don't dislike him. It's just…ugh. He's been too passive in this war of the faith! He keeps wanting to play defensively when we should be going more on the attack! Dorna is the strongest goddess of all and while our temple may be one of the smallest in this city, we make up in quality! I'd put any of ours against ten Felians! And the temple of Fel are arguably our only true competition here mainly because there are so many." Heather remarks. "What about the rest of the factions?" "Not even worth speaking of. The Yagites are practically finished here. The brainless followers of Karn will eventually follow. The Joachimites would be more of a challenge, but again, they only have numbers on their side and not even to the extent that the Felians have. They would fall as well. I believe we could crush all other factions and make a separate peace with the temple of Fel. It's not ideal, but at least it would cut the competition down in the long run." You always detected a bit of ambition in Heather even back when you were trading magic items for her help before. It would appear she's only gotten more so. "Well, sounds like you've got your hands full." You say. "Yes, I do and I don't get adequate help to perform the tasks I really need to do. Bah, anyway, I don't mean to unload my troubles on to you. I'm not even sure why I am. I guess it's the act of a desperate woman." Heather remarks. "Okay, you'll have to explain that one a little more." " I suppose, I was hoping assuming you're willing of course that you might help me." "Help you do what exactly?" "Take down a rival faction." "What, all by ourselves?" "I think we could do it! With your vampire powers and my magic abilities, I know for a fact that we could probably take out the Yagites or even Karnites!" "I dunno…this whole thing really isn't my concern." "Well, you like blood right? I mean you'd practically be bathing in it. And given what I saw of you with my acolytes, you definitely like killing. Unless you're seriously telling me you like easily stealing from shops more." "Can't deny that. I do like killing and I do like blood. It's just..." "For the love of Dorna! You can't help me in the same way I tried to help you in the past? Have you forgotten so quickly of all the risks I took?" Heather says with a raised voice. She then realizes that she may have overstepped a boundary when your attitude becomes less cordial. "No, I haven't forgotten. I also haven't forgotten of how you just left me to save your own ass when things were getting too risky for you. I even suggested that we run away together, but no. Your faith was more important and that's what you chose. Now, you're seriously getting pissed at me for not wanting to get involved in your personal war that I don't really give a shit about? I think YOU forget that you're addressing a vampire. One who is close enough to drain you dry before you could even utter a single incantation to defend yourself right now. I haven't even used my powers of suggestion on you to make you into my puppet and have you do what I want before ultimately disposing of you. And if I chose to do so, there would be no way for you to stop me. So don't forget THAT." Your firm reminder of who you are to Heather causes her to back off a bit. She even looks a bit embarrassed. "You're right of course…I just…I know…" Heather immediately brandishes a small dagger. "What the hell are you doing?" you ask fully prepared to defend yourself. "I want to prove that my feelings for you, haven't gone away. I've always thought fondly of our intimacy together that day. I've always felt saddened as well. Always wondering what might have been. I never dreamed that we could have another chance. But now with you back, maybe I thought we could try again. It won't be easy, but I'm willing to take that step. I offer myself to you once again. You may do whatever you will to me. Ravish me here in this alley like a common whore, drink my blood until you've had your fill, it doesn't matter. What matters is that I trust you. Perhaps then, when you've had your way with me, you may find that part of you still has feelings for me as well. If you didn't, you wouldn't have spared me at all." Heather says and cuts her arm. She then thrusts the bleeding limb at you. Tempting you like this, is very risky on her part since it's likely to just cause you to go into a feeding frenzy and kill her outright. However, perhaps she was right about you still having some feelings for her because you keep yourself in check and only take a little of her blood. Heather winces a bit, but when your mouth soon moves to her own she is enjoying it. You waste no time in turning her around and lifting up her robe and having your way roughly with her against the nearby wall. As you thrust inside her, you whisper in her ear. "Do you really desire my help?" "Yes. Do with me, as you like. Just help me crush my enemies in Dorna's name." "I'll help you crush your enemies, but the only name you'll be praising tonight is going to be mine." You can sense her excitement, her fear, her tension, everything. Something about all this is really doing it for you as well. You're totally dominating her and that's even more exhilarating than just killing someone and drinking their blood. This isn't even like having sex with Isabella either. This is something new you're experiencing and you're going to enjoy the hell out of it. You keep Heather quite during your intimacy by putting your hand over her mouth. Her stifled squeaks and your own reserved grunts are the only sound until your time is done with her. Heather takes a moment to catch her breath. She's probably never quite been treated that way before. "That was…uh…(whew) I…" "A glimpse of things to come. Now, I'll be back tomorrow night and we can continue with your plans. I'm sure you'll find me again." You respond. You leave Heather in the alley to collect herself and head home feeling a bit more positive about your trip to Holgard this time. When you get home Isabella is in her garden, you decide not to disturb her and get some early rest. You figure you're going to have to save your strength for what you've gotten yourself into. > You time passes... Year 27 This religious war has been the most fun you've had in a long time. While you've mostly been taking advantage of the chaos that the city has been plaguing the city again, you have also been working along side Heather in her efforts to take down the other religious factions. Heather isn't supposed to be engaging the other factions as much as she's doing, since Elder Flynn was still against being so aggressive. However, she's been openly arguing with him and convincing others members to follow her lead on this strategy. Since she's a respected voice within her group, Elder Flynn has relented a bit. It's mostly been directed towards the Yagites since she wants to make a concentrated effort on one group, but occasionally others are fought as well. However, she's been keeping all dealings with you as close to the vest as possible. Whenever you work with her, it's always just her and there are no other Dornans helping. You aren't sure why, but then you've never bothered to ask. In any case, you're just in this for the killing and fucking Heather mostly. Right now, you're in the process of attacking the main temple of Yag. Their numbers have dwindled to a point where an attack wouldn't be suicidal. Pathetically easy in fact as you face little resistance and soon leave Heather behind to "sweep up" the acolytes that pose no real challenge. You burst into the inner sanctum of Yag's temple. Several followers busily attempt to call forth incantations in order to stop you, but the most damage one does is summon forth a bunch of butterflies to flutter in your face. The winds of their "luck magic" are blowing the wrong way constantly. Yag either isn't listening, doesn't give a shit or is finding it all pretty amusing. Either way, the advantage is yours. You rip into three members and then two more before you're half way across the room. The Yagite high priest is busily rolling dice on his altar (which resembles more of a craps table) Every now and then he looks up at you, but continues to roll his dice, cursing the entire time. Eventually you reach him and just as you grab him he manages to roll one last time. You both see the results and its snake eyes. "Looks like you lose." You say. "We've been losing for quite some time now. Tried to bet big, but it's all come to this. Such is the way of Yag." The high priest says "You Yagites are very odd, you certainly don't want to die, but the few that I have ever spoken with always have a resigned fate when the time comes." "Well there's no point in fighting fate son. When your numbers don't come up, there's nothing that can be done about it. We had a good run here in Holgard, but I guess the odds were more against us than we thought. I got one question for you though. What the hell do you have against us? We don't hunt vampires. We don't hunt anything. I'd think you'd be after the Joachimites more than us…or are we just an easier target? You the Dornans pet vampire or what? You know those assholes will eventually dispose of you too." "I'm nobody's fucking pet!" you snap and start to crush the high priest's windpipe. Heather walks in and you turn to look at her. "Don't kill him yet, I need to interrogate him first!" Heather shouts. You drop the high priest to the floor. He coughs a bit and then begins to struggle to laugh. "What's so fucking funny?" you ask. "Yeah, sure. You're nobody's pet." The high priest laughs. This small act of disrespect is enough for you to kick him in the face, putting your foot partially through it killing him instantly. "What the fuck!? I told you I wanted him alive to interrogate! The Yagites might be broken by this, but they could have hideouts still in the city somewhere! He probably could have revealed other information as well!" Heather scolds. "Heather, I think you're forgetting who you're talking to again." You remark. "Yeah, I know who I'm talking to, and YOU'RE supposed to be following my lead on these matters!" "I did." You suddenly grab Heather, lift her robe up and bend her over the altar. Doesn't take long before you've established your dominance again. It's a common routine for the pair of you at this point. You both enjoy it. After you're done, you're ready to move on, but of course Heather isn't done with you yet. "Where are you going?" Heather asks. "I helped you wipe out this temple and I fucked you. My job is done for the night." "Well, you don't need to leave so damn quickly. I want to make plans for our next major endeavor." "Fine, but make it quick and we probably shouldn't stick around in a temple full of dead priests." You and Heather take your leave of the temple and find a secluded spot to talk about your next moves. Or at least Heather is, you're just listening. "Okay, I think our next move should focus on the Joachimites." Heather remarks. "I figured you'd say the Karnite since they're few in number." You say. "I would, but I believe the Felians are in the process of wiping them out. No need to get in their way and no need to waste time on something someone else is doing anyway. Joachimites are a big problem though and I figure you being a vampire and all, you'd enjoy taking them out all the more." "I'm actually indifferent. All these mortals are just blood bags to me. Whether they have some irrational hate for me or not is irrelevant since I'm killing them anyway." "Well I suppose that's one way to look at it. Um, it might take awhile for me to call on your help though on this. I need to talk this over with my brothers and sisters and get them on board with this too. Elder Flynn was eventually fine with wiping out the Yagites, might be harder to convince him about the Joachim fanatics though." "Sure, whatever. I'll just be stalking the streets like I normally do. Maybe I'll bump into a Joachimite from time to time to give us less to worry about in future battles with them." "Yeah about that, I was sort of wondering if you could take a break from the city for awhile. Like maybe a few months or so." "Excuse me?" "Our relationship is getting a bit harder to hide from the rest of my brethren." "So, what difference does it make? I thought you lot weren't supernatural hating fanatics." "We aren't, but you don't understand. If they knew I had a vampire helping me, it would cause unnecessary complications." "Oh come on, I can't imagine that your people don't know at all about me already." "They don't actually. If they did, I probably would have been confronted already, especially by Elder Flynn. He'd be asking WHY I had not been sharing you with the rest as a valuable resource." "Resource?" "Yes resource. To most of them, you wouldn't be looked upon as an individual, but rather a weapon to be used to the fullest degree." "Well isn't that what you're sort of doing?" "I am not! Our relationship is more than that! Or at least I thought it was, do you feel differently?" "I'm not getting into this again." You say. "Well maybe we should, because lately I feel like you don't appreciate ALL the risks I take to keep us together! This is like when I was visiting you during your cold curse all over again!" And this was something you were trying to avoid. Heather has an uncanny knack of turning everything around to make it all about herself and be overly dramatic about it as well. While Heather goes into a tirade about how much she's sacrificing for your relationship, you don't even bother sticking around, you just leave. You don't have to listen to this, because you've heard it all before, and at this point you're sort of wondering WHY you're still putting up with it. You guess you have enough fondness for Heather that you don't want to kill her, but you're starting to get the real impression that she's not really relationship material either. Sure she's masochistic enough to put up with your own power trip bullshit, but you could probably just charm some random mortal if you really wanted to do that with significantly less hassle. And it's apparent she feeds off of it in some weird way. Maybe she's a vampire too in her own fashion. In any case, you head back home. You start to think maybe you haven't been appreciating Isabella as much as you should be. Sure, she's a bit condescending at times when she disapproves of something you've done, but she's centuries old. Of course she's going to be like that. If anything she's very tolerant of you. In fact she's helped you more than Heather ever has and unlike Heather she can keep up the pace in the bedroom. Why the hell have you even been cheating on her again? Because you're an idiot that still doesn't know what the hell you want. Makes sense you suppose. Your life has been fairly off track ever since you left Teckleville and you've been fumbling around ever since. That changes after tonight. You're going to go home and reaffirm your dedication to Isabella. Especially since you also realize that despite having been with her for a couple years, you still don't know much about her own past. Well at least you thought you were. Isabella as it turned out had other plans. As soon as you walk into the crypt you find Isabella waiting for you to tell you that you're leaving. "You're kicking me out?!" you exclaim. "Considering that it's almost dawn, you'll be able to stay here until tomorrow night, but as soon as the sun goes down, I want you out of here." Isabella says. "But can't we talk about this?!" "No. You've had MORE than enough time to talk about what's going on with you, yet you've chosen to try to hide your actions. It's obvious that you have some human whore on the side. Mind you, I didn't even care at first…even assumed you'd probably stray from time to time. Most likely fucking your prey before you killed them. However I've detected the same familiar scent on you for months now. Obviously it's same the woman." "Wait, you knew?" "Of course I knew. I'm not an idiot. Or did you not notice that I stopped sharing the bed with you months ago?" "I just figured you were really into your garden." "Hm, well if you had any concern, you would have known I was sleeping in there. In any case, I figured I'd still give you some time to either confess or even better, eventually get bored enough to kill her, but given I can still smell the stench of her on you even tonight, I'm guessing you haven't done that." "Isabella, you're so damn aloof towards me that I don't even know if you care whether I'm here or not most of the time. I mean if we didn't fuck, we might as well just be cryptmates. You never talk to me about yourself, and I'm not mind reader, I mean if I had known that me seeing Heather was…" "Heather? Is that its name then? Tell me, what exactly is so special about this woman that she's gotten so much of your attention?" You explain as short as possible of your odd long-term relationship with Heather. To Isabella's credit, she listens without anger and doesn't interrupt. "I see. Well, I suppose then it does make a little more sense. Here I was thinking it was some random pretty face, however I'm somewhat relieved to hear that there was at least some deeper reasoning behind it all. Perhaps this is the woman for you after all." Isabella says. "What? No! In fact I was just coming over here to reaffirm my love for you! Heather isn't the one for me!" you remark. "Isn't she? Seems like you've been spending more time helping her in her tasks than what would be normal. You obviously have fondness for this girl. And you're right, you don't really know me that well at all. Perhaps some of that is my fault. Decades of being alone tend to make one reclusive even to those that you have feelings for, but as I said, I was always here and you could have made the effort." "But I'm making it now! I love you!" "No. No you don't. You had a fight with your girlfriend because she's demanding something that you don't want to do so you're going for the easy way out, by falling back on me. Well, that's not how relationships work. You sometimes have to do shit you don't want to do rather than running off at the first sign of trouble." Isabella approaches you with a smile and touches your face. "Now maybe it IS a case that you don't love this Heather and have decided that she isn't for you, but in any case you don't love me and I don't really love you either. I was just lonely and liked you well enough that I thought you might fulfill that gap and you did, for a while at least. You're a free vampire and I've told you all the basics of what this life is like. Anything else, you'll have to figure out yourself. Take care okay?" Isabella, without another word turns to leave you. You decide to make a last ditch effort and put your hand on her shoulder. She spins around so quick that you're on the floor from a punch to the face before you realize it. "What the fuck!? I was just going to kiss you!" you exclaim holding your face in pain. "And I told you it was over and I meant it. This isn't going to be one of those rewritten happy endings in a children's fairy tale where the man kisses the girl and everything is all better again." Isabella says. "Obviously not…shit…" As Isabella leaves you on the floor to ponder your misguided judgment of how she really feels about you, you also ponder what you're going to do when you get up tomorrow night. It's too much to think about right now so you just go to bed. The next night, you gather your meager belongings and leave the crypt as quickly as you can. No sign of Isabella, you assume she's in her garden, but you don't want to be around for her to see you again anyway. You aren't sure where to go. Your first instinct is to just go to Holgard. Heather told you not to, but why the hell do you really need to listen to her for? Actually you still haven't sorted out all your feelings about that relationship yet either. Isabella might have had it right in that you were just running away from Heather because you didn't want to do what she said. Maybe you could talk with her though. Sure, she's a bit dramatic at times, but she's usually willing to listen. She has taken risks for you, so that is worth considering. Of course part of you just wants to say "fuck it" and leave this area entirely. Seems like nothing good has come of it ever since you left Teckleville. > You go to Holgard You might as well go back to Holgard and stay there until you figure out your next major move. No real reason to leave considering the plentiful food source. You can probably make a home in one of the tombs in their graveyard in the meantime. Not to mention you're loathed to leave just because Heather doesn't want you around for a while. You can't believe the nerve of her. She's pretty annoying at times, if she were anyone else, you wouldn't be putting up with it, but since you are, Isabella might have been correct in thinking you must have stronger attachment to her than you even let on. In any case, you make your way back to Holgard and kill a few whores before ultimately fixing up a suitable tomb for yourself. Over the course of a few weeks you take the opportunity to hunt down a few Joachimites that are stupid enough to wander in smaller groups just so you don't have to deal with as many of the fanatics in the future. You aren't terribly surprised when you eventually get a visit from Heather. "Hello? You awake? I know you're in here." You hear Heather say as she steps inside the tomb. "Yeah, now I'm awake! Close the fucking door, you're letting the daylight in!" you shout from inside your stone coffin. When you hear the door close, you slide the slab open and sit up. "What the hell do you want? I'm trying to get some rest, you couldn't have come around night instead of the middle of the fucking day?" you say. "You probably wouldn't have been home, what with you massacring Joachimites and all." Heather says. "Probably not. Let me guess, you're here to bitch at me for being here at all." "Well, I sort of know that would be pointless since you obviously aren't going to listen. In fact I sort of figured after our last talk, you'd be here more often anyway. So are you living in the city now? I thought you lived somewhere outside of it." "Yeah, things have changed since our last talk, so I'm living here now. You mad about that too?" Heather shakes her head and sighs. "Stop being an asshole for a moment, I'm trying to tell you that I don't care. I realize that I shouldn't have tried to tell you what to do. I apologize. I'm just really stressed about everything on my mind lately." "Hm, well I guess you did have your reasons. Honestly though, I don't understand why you haven't just killed the old bastard yet. I mean that IS what your end game ultimately is right? Take over the temple along with having it be one of the two remaining religions in this city?" "Yes…but I really don't like it. Elder Flynn has been like a father to me. I mean in the eyes of Dorna, he basically IS my father in some ways. I really didn't want it to come to this, but his path to not the right one for the future of our temple. Dorna is a goddess that deserves more attention and respect. We won't get that if we remain as we are." "Well not everyone has the ability to be a wizard, let alone the discipline or talent." "True, but that doesn't mean the non-magical people can't pay their respects. Dorna is also a goddess of knowledge. It's very sad that so many are content on remaining ignorant." "The fools have got to have their fun." "Be that as it may. Deposing Elder Flynn is not going to be easy. I really need to make sure I have everyone on my side in the temple first and I do mean everyone. Best way to do that is convince them that my way is working and honestly your recent activity has been helping rather than hurting." "Well of course it is, I'm killing the opposition." "Yes, but I had feared that it might cause unwanted attention before I had time to organize and talk to my brethren first. However, most of them haven't needed much convincing. I think wiping out the Yagites has caused a domino effect and many are willing to follow my plans." "What about Elder Flynn?" "Well that's the other thing. He's been in meditation for a week now. Granted he's been known to disappear like that anyway, but the fact that he's withdrawn for so long during this time is strange. Though it's another reason why your actions haven't bothered me. Elder Flynn hasn't been focusing on outside activities." "So why not kill him now? Sounds like you've got this already wrapped up." "Again, not so simple. Plus, he's in meditation, which means he's currently got magic shields and such around him. He'd also be at his most powerful since he's been storing up energy." "I dunno, I think you're hesitating and overthinking this shit. I say the longer you wait, the worse the harder it's going to be." "I know…that's why I want you to help when the time comes." "Me? You're the one with all the magic friends and defenses!" "You've already had experience killing one powerful wizard right?" "Yes, but that was sheer luck when I really think about it. And I had help." "And you'll have even more help when the time comes. I'll still be there, along with the rest of the temple!" Heather approaches closer and leans into your chest while staring into your eyes. "Please I just really need your direct support on this. I know we've been having our problems lately, and I know you've been going above and beyond. But I really feel like we have something special. If I didn't believe we did, I would have never given myself so willingly to you. I feel like your strength and ruthlessness of what needs to be done will make me less likely to waver in this task." You look at Heather and see the hopeful desperation in her eyes. You also see her dedication to you. You suppose it is true. Despite all your problems, the pair of you do have a lovers bond and you could do worse than Heather. (And you don't just think that because Isabella isn't in your life anymore) "Okay, I'll help you directly on this, but if we're going to do this, it needs to be done as soon as possible. I'm ready to go now and do it for example." You say. "Oh no, not right now. I still should organize more." Heather remarks. "Look Heather, the old bastard needs to die if you really want to take over. That's all there is to it. You have to put your sentimentality aside. Now I've already agreed to help, but you NEED to play your part." "I will! I will! I just really need to set things in motion and solidify alliances. Give me at least a couple days, okay? Whether everything is good or not, we'll go through it." "Very well. So, where are attacking tonight? I assume you've got a group of Joachimite fanatics in mind." "Hm, maybe you should save your strength and just relax with a good meal. In fact maybe you should have little magic with your meal, then afterwards you can satisfy your other appetites. " Heather cuts herself for you and you indulge in her blood without another word. After you've had enough, you proceed to take her up on her other offer. The next few nights are uneventful for you and you go for easier prey since you keep in mind of what you're going to be up against soon. You just hope Heather actually goes through with it and doesn't come back to you in saying something like "Um…I think we need to wait some more…" She shows up after three days have passed. "There you are, glad to see it only took you one extra day." You say. "There were some complications." Heather remarks nervously. "Hm…you seem very nervous. I do hope you aren't going to tell me you need more time." "No, tonight is the night. I've managed to convince most of my brethren to side with me either directly or at least look the other way. Elder Flynn himself has finally left his meditation. He's not going to go down without a fight, but I believe we'll be able to take him." "That's good to hear, but you still seem really nervous." "Of course I'm nervous! This is a winner take all gamble and on top of never facing someone so powerful, I'm also facing a man I used to respect. (Sigh) Well like you said, best to just get it over with, stand still." "What for?" "I'm going to cast protective magic on you. You might be supernatural, but if you go in without any protection, Elder Flynn is going to just incinerate you with a beam of light." "Oh. Well okay, anything that will help then." Heather mumbles some prayers to Dorna and casts something over you and you're bathed in some sort of blue light temporarily. It lasts a few seconds and then disappears. After casting the spell, Heather seems a bit calmer. "Okay, that should do it. How do you feel?" "I don't feel any different, is it working?" "Yes, if you felt something then something would be wrong. Okay, let's go do this dark task. We're going back to the temple. Those that are in on the plan will be there, along with Elder Flynn." "Nothing like killing a man in his own home, let's go." You and Heather make haste to the temple of Dorna and when you arrive a group of young acolytes stand around outside. One of them approaches Heather. "Sister, you're here. All of us here are ready to follow your lead. Those that do not wish to take part have left and will not stand in your way." The young priest says. "Understandable. This is grim business. There will be no retribution upon them afterwards." Heather remarks. "Understood…is this the vampire?" the priest says looking at you a bit anxiously. Before you can say anything Heather speaks quickly. "Yes, and he's already been informed and will help us." "Very well, Elder Flynn is in the summoning chamber. I believe he's engrossed in an experiment of some sort. He doesn't know or suspect anything." "Good, then I guess the best thing to do would be to just rush in there and take him by surprise." You, Heather and all her little friends enter the temple. Heather takes lead and after walking down a few corridors you all come to a solid ornate double door. "Okay, this is it." Heather remarks and exhales. "Let's do it." You say and open up the doors. At this point you take the lead. Your hope is that you'll be so quick that this will be over before anyone realizes it. You see an old man at a bunch of tables with various alchemy equipment on them at the far end of the room. You're already half way across it before he turns around. Then just as you get almost within range of him, you suddenly freeze in place with a wave of his hand. At this moment you'd say "Shit!" but you can't speak either. You think that at least Heather and the rest will come in to help you, but after a few seconds of no sounds of shouting or orders, you realize this situation is even worse. Elder Flynn is noticing that you're realizing that too. "What's wrong vampire? Have you finally realized that you've been played like a like a cheap lute? I knew Sister Heather's ambitions long ago. While she did her best to try to keep things secret from me, she should have known that Dorna favors the most knowledgable and wise and in this case, that's me." Elder Flynn waves his hand a bit more and after a few moments you see out of the corner of your eye, Heather levitating slightly off the floor and then being slowly placed back on it. She's frozen as well. "The rest of you hanging about the door over there can leave. You've played your part, get back to your studies or whatever tasks you need to do. And close the door too." Flynn remarks and you soon hear the sound of the doors close behind you. Now it's just the three of you alone. Elder Flynn walks over to Heather. "I looked upon you as a daughter, do you know that? Even though I knew you sought to one day replace me, I had hoped that you would at least be smart about it. Such a waste. You are going to severely pay for your treachery girl. I can't describe just how much, but you'll soon experience it for yourself." Elder Flynn then walks over to you. "You on the other hand I suppose are an unwitting pawn in all this. Barely more intelligent than a zombie servant. Fitting, considering you're little better than one. Vampires are always such slaves to their base needs and yours have lead you to this fate. Take solace in the fact that you won't have to see your little girlfriend suffer, but I will be using your ashes in an interesting spell I have in store for her." You want to attack, yell, bite, scream, and rip apart Flynn, but all your anger is impotent in your current frozen state. Then it's gone when Flynn casts a strong beam of light which incinerates you quickly, though not quick enough for you not to feel the pain before you die.

Year 27 This religious war has been the most fun you've had in a long time. While you've mostly been taking advantage of the chaos that the city has been plaguing the city again, you have also been working along side Heather in her efforts to take down the other religious factions. Heather isn't supposed to be engaging the other factions as much as she's doing, since Elder Flynn was still against being so aggressive. However, she's been openly arguing with him and convincing others members to follow her lead on this strategy. Since she's a respected voice within her group, Elder Flynn has relented a bit. It's mostly been directed towards the Yagites since she wants to make a concentrated effort on one group, but occasionally others are fought as well. However, she's been keeping all dealings with you as close to the vest as possible. Whenever you work with her, it's always just her and there are no other Dornans helping. You aren't sure why, but then you've never bothered to ask. In any case, you're just in this for the killing and fucking Heather mostly. Right now, you're in the process of attacking the main temple of Yag. Their numbers have dwindled to a point where an attack wouldn't be suicidal. Pathetically easy in fact as you face little resistance and soon leave Heather behind to "sweep up" the acolytes that pose no real challenge. You burst into the inner sanctum of Yag's temple. Several followers busily attempt to call forth incantations in order to stop you, but the most damage one does is summon forth a bunch of butterflies to flutter in your face. The winds of their "luck magic" are blowing the wrong way constantly. Yag either isn't listening, doesn't give a shit or is finding it all pretty amusing. Either way, the advantage is yours. You rip into three members and then two more before you're half way across the room. The Yagite high priest is busily rolling dice on his altar (which resembles more of a craps table) Every now and then he looks up at you, but continues to roll his dice, cursing the entire time. Eventually you reach him and just as you grab him he manages to roll one last time. You both see the results and its snake eyes. "Looks like you lose." You say. "We've been losing for quite some time now. Tried to bet big, but it's all come to this. Such is the way of Yag." The high priest says "You Yagites are very odd, you certainly don't want to die, but the few that I have ever spoken with always have a resigned fate when the time comes." "Well there's no point in fighting fate son. When your numbers don't come up, there's nothing that can be done about it. We had a good run here in Holgard, but I guess the odds were more against us than we thought. I got one question for you though. What the hell do you have against us? We don't hunt vampires. We don't hunt anything. I'd think you'd be after the Joachimites more than us…or are we just an easier target? You the Dornans pet vampire or what? You know those assholes will eventually dispose of you too." "I'm nobody's fucking pet!" you snap and start to crush the high priest's windpipe. Heather walks in and you turn to look at her. "Don't kill him yet, I need to interrogate him first!" Heather shouts. You drop the high priest to the floor. He coughs a bit and then begins to struggle to laugh. "What's so fucking funny?" you ask. "Yeah, sure. You're nobody's pet." The high priest laughs. This small act of disrespect is enough for you to kick him in the face, putting your foot partially through it killing him instantly. "What the fuck!? I told you I wanted him alive to interrogate! The Yagites might be broken by this, but they could have hideouts still in the city somewhere! He probably could have revealed other information as well!" Heather scolds. "Heather, I think you're forgetting who you're talking to again." You remark. "Yeah, I know who I'm talking to, and YOU'RE supposed to be following my lead on these matters!" "I did." You suddenly grab Heather, lift her robe up and bend her over the altar. Doesn't take long before you've established your dominance again. It's a common routine for the pair of you at this point. You both enjoy it. After you're done, you're ready to move on, but of course Heather isn't done with you yet. "Where are you going?" Heather asks. "I helped you wipe out this temple and I fucked you. My job is done for the night." "Well, you don't need to leave so damn quickly. I want to make plans for our next major endeavor." "Fine, but make it quick and we probably shouldn't stick around in a temple full of dead priests." You and Heather take your leave of the temple and find a secluded spot to talk about your next moves. Or at least Heather is, you're just listening. "Okay, I think our next move should focus on the Joachimites." Heather remarks. "I figured you'd say the Karnite since they're few in number." You say. "I would, but I believe the Felians are in the process of wiping them out. No need to get in their way and no need to waste time on something someone else is doing anyway. Joachimites are a big problem though and I figure you being a vampire and all, you'd enjoy taking them out all the more." "I'm actually indifferent. All these mortals are just blood bags to me. Whether they have some irrational hate for me or not is irrelevant since I'm killing them anyway." "Well I suppose that's one way to look at it. Um, it might take awhile for me to call on your help though on this. I need to talk this over with my brothers and sisters and get them on board with this too. Elder Flynn was eventually fine with wiping out the Yagites, might be harder to convince him about the Joachim fanatics though." "Sure, whatever. I'll just be stalking the streets like I normally do. Maybe I'll bump into a Joachimite from time to time to give us less to worry about in future battles with them." "Yeah about that, I was sort of wondering if you could take a break from the city for awhile. Like maybe a few months or so." "Excuse me?" "Our relationship is getting a bit harder to hide from the rest of my brethren." "So, what difference does it make? I thought you lot weren't supernatural hating fanatics." "We aren't, but you don't understand. If they knew I had a vampire helping me, it would cause unnecessary complications." "Oh come on, I can't imagine that your people don't know at all about me already." "They don't actually. If they did, I probably would have been confronted already, especially by Elder Flynn. He'd be asking WHY I had not been sharing you with the rest as a valuable resource." "Resource?" "Yes resource. To most of them, you wouldn't be looked upon as an individual, but rather a weapon to be used to the fullest degree." "Well isn't that what you're sort of doing?" "I am not! Our relationship is more than that! Or at least I thought it was, do you feel differently?" "I'm not getting into this again." You say. "Well maybe we should, because lately I feel like you don't appreciate ALL the risks I take to keep us together! This is like when I was visiting you during your cold curse all over again!" And this was something you were trying to avoid. Heather has an uncanny knack of turning everything around to make it all about herself and be overly dramatic about it as well. While Heather goes into a tirade about how much she's sacrificing for your relationship, you don't even bother sticking around, you just leave. You don't have to listen to this, because you've heard it all before, and at this point you're sort of wondering WHY you're still putting up with it. You guess you have enough fondness for Heather that you don't want to kill her, but you're starting to get the real impression that she's not really relationship material either. Sure she's masochistic enough to put up with your own power trip bullshit, but you could probably just charm some random mortal if you really wanted to do that with significantly less hassle. And it's apparent she feeds off of it in some weird way. Maybe she's a vampire too in her own fashion. In any case, you head back home. You start to think maybe you haven't been appreciating Isabella as much as you should be. Sure, she's a bit condescending at times when she disapproves of something you've done, but she's centuries old. Of course she's going to be like that. If anything she's very tolerant of you. In fact she's helped you more than Heather ever has and unlike Heather she can keep up the pace in the bedroom. Why the hell have you even been cheating on her again? Because you're an idiot that still doesn't know what the hell you want. Makes sense you suppose. Your life has been fairly off track ever since you left Teckleville and you've been fumbling around ever since. That changes after tonight. You're going to go home and reaffirm your dedication to Isabella. Especially since you also realize that despite having been with her for a couple years, you still don't know much about her own past. Well at least you thought you were. Isabella as it turned out had other plans. As soon as you walk into the crypt you find Isabella waiting for you to tell you that you're leaving. "You're kicking me out?!" you exclaim. "Considering that it's almost dawn, you'll be able to stay here until tomorrow night, but as soon as the sun goes down, I want you out of here." Isabella says. "But can't we talk about this?!" "No. You've had MORE than enough time to talk about what's going on with you, yet you've chosen to try to hide your actions. It's obvious that you have some human whore on the side. Mind you, I didn't even care at first…even assumed you'd probably stray from time to time. Most likely fucking your prey before you killed them. However I've detected the same familiar scent on you for months now. Obviously it's same the woman." "Wait, you knew?" "Of course I knew. I'm not an idiot. Or did you not notice that I stopped sharing the bed with you months ago?" "I just figured you were really into your garden." "Hm, well if you had any concern, you would have known I was sleeping in there. In any case, I figured I'd still give you some time to either confess or even better, eventually get bored enough to kill her, but given I can still smell the stench of her on you even tonight, I'm guessing you haven't done that." "Isabella, you're so damn aloof towards me that I don't even know if you care whether I'm here or not most of the time. I mean if we didn't fuck, we might as well just be cryptmates. You never talk to me about yourself, and I'm not mind reader, I mean if I had known that me seeing Heather was…" "Heather? Is that its name then? Tell me, what exactly is so special about this woman that she's gotten so much of your attention?" You explain as short as possible of your odd long-term relationship with Heather. To Isabella's credit, she listens without anger and doesn't interrupt. "I see. Well, I suppose then it does make a little more sense. Here I was thinking it was some random pretty face, however I'm somewhat relieved to hear that there was at least some deeper reasoning behind it all. Perhaps this is the woman for you after all." Isabella says. "What? No! In fact I was just coming over here to reaffirm my love for you! Heather isn't the one for me!" you remark. "Isn't she? Seems like you've been spending more time helping her in her tasks than what would be normal. You obviously have fondness for this girl. And you're right, you don't really know me that well at all. Perhaps some of that is my fault. Decades of being alone tend to make one reclusive even to those that you have feelings for, but as I said, I was always here and you could have made the effort." "But I'm making it now! I love you!" "No. No you don't. You had a fight with your girlfriend because she's demanding something that you don't want to do so you're going for the easy way out, by falling back on me. Well, that's not how relationships work. You sometimes have to do shit you don't want to do rather than running off at the first sign of trouble." Isabella approaches you with a smile and touches your face. "Now maybe it IS a case that you don't love this Heather and have decided that she isn't for you, but in any case you don't love me and I don't really love you either. I was just lonely and liked you well enough that I thought you might fulfill that gap and you did, for a while at least. You're a free vampire and I've told you all the basics of what this life is like. Anything else, you'll have to figure out yourself. Take care okay?" Isabella, without another word turns to leave you. You decide to make a last ditch effort and put your hand on her shoulder. She spins around so quick that you're on the floor from a punch to the face before you realize it. "What the fuck!? I was just going to kiss you!" you exclaim holding your face in pain. "And I told you it was over and I meant it. This isn't going to be one of those rewritten happy endings in a children's fairy tale where the man kisses the girl and everything is all better again." Isabella says. "Obviously not…shit…" As Isabella leaves you on the floor to ponder your misguided judgment of how she really feels about you, you also ponder what you're going to do when you get up tomorrow night. It's too much to think about right now so you just go to bed. The next night, you gather your meager belongings and leave the crypt as quickly as you can. No sign of Isabella, you assume she's in her garden, but you don't want to be around for her to see you again anyway. You aren't sure where to go. Your first instinct is to just go to Holgard. Heather told you not to, but why the hell do you really need to listen to her for? Actually you still haven't sorted out all your feelings about that relationship yet either. Isabella might have had it right in that you were just running away from Heather because you didn't want to do what she said. Maybe you could talk with her though. Sure, she's a bit dramatic at times, but she's usually willing to listen. She has taken risks for you, so that is worth considering. Of course part of you just wants to say "fuck it" and leave this area entirely. Seems like nothing good has come of it ever since you left Teckleville. > You leave Maybe Isabella throwing you out is a good thing. While you were officially "free" you never really felt that way since you always sort of felt indebted to her. Hell, maybe that's why you started your relationship with Heather in the first place. You sub-consciously wanted to get caught…though that was a pretty stupid way to go about it. Isabella could have easily been so pissed at you that she killed you. However as it turned out luck favored the foolish, which is ironic considering you just recently had a hand in slaughtering a temple of Yag. In any case, you realize that with nothing tying you to this area anymore, you might as well just leave. You don't have any real feelings for Heather, and she's already made it clear your presence there is inconvenient. You've also long since lost interest in Holgard and you can go hunt for blood anywhere. You've never been, but you decide to head towards the Delantium Kingdom. Should be big enough for you to thrive in and better yet, nobody to answer to at all. You aren't sure what your future holds in your new independent vampire life, but your days of being a simple rogue are definitely over.

Year 26 It's amazing how things can be going fairly well for you, and you'll still find shit to be dissatisfied about. What might be worse is the new nature of you "confinement." It's another gilded cage. (Or fancy crypt in this case.) While not much is ever demanded of you, Isabella definitely is treating you less than equal as you have to clean the crypt One thing you never knew about vampires is how they can become obsessed with the smallest details. Probably has to do with the enhanced senses. Isabella apparently is a neat freak and due to this quirk she spent most of her time rearranging, cleaning, and generally tidying up her home. An impossible task of course, but that didn't stop her from trying. Even the room where she keeps the blood "donors" is kept clean and isn't the slaughterhouse that one would expect it to be. She still cleans of course, but you're doing most of it now. It's really boring especially since you had to do this to a lesser degree at Ral's and at least there, you were able to let it go for a week at times. Not to mention it's fucking impossible to "clean" a vast underground crypt in the first place. About the only thing you don't have to take care of is her underground garden, which is her own personal project that she spends a lot of time on. In fact, with you around now she doesn't even have to leave it to get food much anymore. She just has you do that, which is sort of plus, since that's one of two major things that break up the monotony. You initially would lure a citizen of Dert back to the crypt, but in time you started wandering a bit more and realized with all the bandits making hideouts in forest, you might as well give yourself a bit more of a challenge. Sometimes you will boldly face a group of them. The poor dumb bastards never realize they don't have a chance and you proceed to tear them apart, satisfying your own hunger and leaving only one or two alive to bring back to Isabella. The second major thing would be your routine intimacy with Isabella. It's a little odd, mainly because you've got mixed feelings on the emotional side of things. Isabella is very comfortable with the physical aspect, but in a lot of ways she's still pretty distant. Makes a bit hard for you to return serious affection when you aren't sure if you're just there as a dick for her to use when she's in the mood. While you don't really have any real complaints about that aspect that might make this bit of "captivity" worse since it's really difficult to complain when you're getting quality sex thrown in your direction on a regular basis. But since you're not totally whipped, you're going to complain anyway. Not to mention you just need more to occupy your time. There has to be more than just feeding and fucking, especially since you're supposed to be immortal now. Though you'd be lying if you weren't worried, she IS vastly more powerful than you after all and can easily subvert your free will if she so desired. (She never has though) You wait for one of the rare moments that she isn't in her private garden to speak with her since even after a year she still doesn't allow you in there. "Oh, hello. Have you been waiting out here for me the whole time?" Isabella asks. "Sort of. Oh I brought back dinner. A couple of children from Dert this time. I know it's risky since it causes more hysteria in the locals when kids go missing, but I was very careful and I figured you deserved something special." You answer. "Mmm, you're always so doting. Well, with your news and the fact I finally got my deathshade growing properly, I'm in a good mood tonight, so we can do that thing you always want to do to me after I eat." "Uh, yeah that's something to look forward to, but I was actually here to speak to you about something that's been on my mind lately." "Oh, okay then." "Now I'm already prepared for you to say no, but I want to make my argument clear…" "Okay, so what is it?" "Don't get mad…" "If you don't hurry up and get to your point, I guarantee I'm going to start getting mad. Just fucking say it already!" "Okay! I want more freedom." "I see…" "Now hold on, I don't mean I want to leave you! I just…agh…I need more out of life, or unlife as it were." "More? You have all you need. A home, a nearby food source, a beautiful companion by your side. I mean I'm not sure I understand." "And that's all great. Really it is. Probably better than I ever could have stumbled upon. It's like…well okay here's a good example. You have that garden. That garden that you love to spend all, occupying your free time when you have it. I mean you don't even let me in there, so I'm assuming it's something pretty special to you. I guess I'm saying I need my own garden. Not literally of course." "Hmmm, I understand what you're saying…I suppose I have just taken your happiness for granted." "Don't get me wrong, I am happy, I just need something more to do and no offense, but cleaning this crypt isn't it." "Hah, well I figured. I'd hoped that you would have developed a bit of an obsession for it like I somewhat did, but I imagine your servitude to Ral might have dampened that. Okay, so you're basically saying you want a hobby, fine. But I wasn't exactly stopping you from getting one. So what did you have in mind exactly?" Well so far this is going better than you thought, though Isabella's question brings up the fact that perhaps you haven't thought this entirely through. "I'm…I'm not exactly sure…I was sort of expecting you to be against it. Okay, well anyway I've been killing bandits in the forests. Lots of them actually." You say. "I figured you must have found some other food source since you didn't often eat here. So you have a bit of the bloodlust do you? That can happen with new vampires. As long as you don't massacre Dert, I don't care what you do." Isabella responds. "I'm thinking I'd like to go to Holgard once in awhile." "You haven't before? Again, I assumed when you weren't feeding much here, you might be nipping off to Holgard to eat." "I sort of wasn't sure if you wanted me to go that far." "Sheesh, do I really come off of that controlling? Holgard isn't that far. It's not like you're a lowly human anymore that is going to take forever and a day to walk there. With your speed, you could go there and be back before dawn. Hell, if you really needed to, it wouldn't bother me if you stayed there for a few nights. Get it all out of your system. If culling a few extra humans to satisfy your bloodlust is what you need to do, well Holgard couldn't be a better place to do it. It's a crime-ridden city where murder occurs daily. You'd fit right in and never arouse suspicion." "True, but it's not just the killing, it's I used to be a rogue before all this happened...and I've been thinking on those days I do miss them." "So…what then? You want to go to Holgard to be a common thief?" "Well when you say it like that, it doesn't sound as impressive. It's more like I just wonder if my desire for it is still there or am I just missing something from a simpler time I guess." "Weren't you doing it during your time with Ral? I know he didn't keep you on that short of a leash." "Yes, but I was so miserable that I don't think I ever really enjoyed it most of the time. About the only time I did, was when I was training…um…another…" Isabella's eyebrow raises as you stop yourself from mentioning Lisa. You quickly change up the conversation a bit. "My point is, I haven't really gotten to enjoy doing it since I left Teckleville. Actually even before that, since I started enjoying it less after my sister left. However, I feel like I should give it one more go to see if it really was something I liked doing, or maybe I just liked doing it with someone who was also interested in it." "You actually may find such petty thievery much too easy now. After all you have powers that you didn't have before." "Perhaps, but I also can't just break into any old house either not being invited and all." "True, but that can be easily gotten around if you can charm the owner into letting you in. There are also public buildings of course like shops. In any case, if this is something you want to pursue, I'm not going to deny you your eccentricities. We all have our interests. I believe this may be left over longings for your old human life, which is natural for new vampires as well. I also think you'll get bored eventually, but I leave you to work through it. Anyway, was that it?" "Um, yeah basically." "Good, now I'm going to feed on these children you got me, and then we can do that other things. Fairly certain you aren't going to go anywhere tonight." Well she's right about that. The next night you make your way to Holgard and it's true, thanks to your supernatural speed you get there fairly quickly, you don't even catch the attention of the guards outside the gate. You haven't been here in so long; you never thought you'd actually miss it. Hasn't really changed at all though there is one thing you're noticing and that's the fact the streets are practically empty. Its not even that late, usually there's still more activity than this. You see the watch patrolling around, but they're in groups much larger than you remember. They also tend to eye you very suspiciously. Granted you're here for trouble, but you decide that it probably isn't the best idea if you start off by murdering several Holgard Watchmen so you start avoiding said groups. It occurs to you that something here has changed drastically. Last time you heard any news of this place was Heather and she told you there was a war brewing between the religious factions. Maybe things have gotten worse? In any case you decide to eat first and head to the lower class districts where there are less patrols and probably easier to get a quick meal. You roam the streets, but it looks like even the lower elements have tried to set up some sort of safety plan during this uncertain time. Bums and the like are lingering together. Whores are as well and even performing their trade in groups. The worst part is instead of the Watch, there are Ebony Claw Syndicate members patrolling around and they're probably even more diligent since some of the ECS are also Fel followers. You soon realize that you're probably going to have to just enter a tavern and just lure someone away and get them in private or just risk the attention and wipe out a small group as quick as possible. Actually you're keener on the second idea since you're getting a bit impatient with how inconvenient this has been. Just as you're turning a corner a man in a green robe literally runs into you. It's enough to cause you to stagger since you weren't paying attention, as you were lost in thought. The man himself is on the ground. He looks scared, but strangely not because of you. He keeps looking around. "By Yag, you're a pale one. Wait… you a vampire?" the man asks. "Well there's no point in me lying since you're going to be my food soon." You respond. "Yeah? Well we that follow Yag all know that eventually we can't beat the odds forever. In fact tonight the odds were REALLY against me. Didn't see it ending like this though, certainly wasn't in the temple betting pool, hah! However I'd suggest you do it quickly before the Dornans get here. They see you and they'll use you for spell components, that is if the Joachimites don't get here first and just burn your undead ass." The Yagite priest continues to look around, waiting for what you're going to do, but it was always obvious. "Well guess I better follow your advice and make this quick then." You say and pick up the man and bite his neck. He makes little resistance other than gasping out some last prayer to Yag. You haven't been eating long when you're interrupted. The Yag priest wasn't kidding when he said someone would be here soon. "Yagite scum, you'll pay for…wha…?" a female voice says. You look in the direction of the voice and snarl at being disturbed. You see a woman dressed in purple and blue robes and a couple of other members of her temple behind her. "Vampire!" one of them shouts and begins to cast something and you leap into action. "No, wait!" the female member says and backs away, but you and her subordinates aren't listening. You head towards the acolyte that was attempting to cast a spell. After you easily put your fist through his chest, you feel flames at your back, which the other acolyte has cast at you. The flames hurt, but it isn't nearly enough to save him, you're just too quick and you rip out his throat. You savior the quick taste of blood before turning towards your last foe. "Stop! Stop! It's me!" the woman continues to shout as she puts a shield up and that's when your bloodlust subsides long enough to finally recognize who she is. It's Heather. You certainly didn't expect to run into her on your first night here. In the back of your head, you sort of had a concern that maybe if you ever did, it would stir up complicated feelings about her. However, at this moment the only thing you're feeling is the desire to slash her open and drink her dry… > You continue She's nothing to you now. Not a lover, not a friend. Perhaps if you had something more with her, maybe it would be different, but you didn't. A mutually beneficial arrangement, an admission of feelings and a one-time incident of intimacy, doesn't save her. She's blood. However, you're no fool. Heather isn't without power, so you stop your attack and collapse to the ground on your knees. You put your head low and rub your hands over face. "Heather…Oh…what have I become?! I…I'm a monster…by the gods, I'm so sorry! I would never…I would never hurt you Heather!" you wail. "Wha…what happened?" Heather ask, but still staying far enough away with a shield up "I tried to live with the curse of the cold, but I just couldn't. It had left me utterly alone and had driven away the only thing that was ever good in my life. You. The longer I was in my cold exile, the more I dwelled on what could have been with you. I came close to suicide, believing that moment with you would be the last good thing that would ever happen to me. Knowing what I know now, I wish I had gone through with it." You slowly stand up and continue to look ashamed by your actions. "But my will to live I suppose was a bit too strong. Indeed some of that was due to you. I thought maybe, just MAYBE if I could fix myself, that I could rekindle what we might have had. Even if you had moved on, it still would have been worth it, I thought. So I followed a rumor, and then a trail, and then eventually found the undead creature that was bored enough to help me. Risky, but I figured if he was going to kill me, what would I really lose? Fortunately he turned out to be rather sympathetic in his own way." you say. "But WHY did you do this?! I mean you had to have known the results!" Heather asks. "As I said…for you…I foolishly believed that somehow I could be different. That it could survive on animal blood or the blood of creatures, it worked…for awhile." You look at Heather mournfully; Heather still looks a bit cautious, but is looking a bit more sympathetic towards you (Well more sympathetic towards you than she is with her followers laying on the street dead) "I tried…I tried so hard…I even sacrificed Spikey…I soon realized that I would never be fit to be in your presence." you say and choke up a little before continuing. "But the call of the thirst was just too strong and I found myself heading back towards civilization…I figured at least maybe here in this cesspit of crime, that maybe killing murderers and the like wouldn't make me as bad…but with each life I take, I find that I'm just getting more detached...I've started thinking about even targeting those that aren't deserving of it… I almost sought you out for help, but I was too ashamed… I'm so lost… Heather….please help me…" "I…I don't know if I can. I mean this isn't even like the condition you had. I mean I don't know of anything that can reverse being undead!" "Please Heather…you helped me once before. I see you and know there's hope again. Please help me…" "I…" You continue to stare at Heather who now has dropped her magic barrier and begun to move a little closer to you. Your voice and your eyes have managed to get her to lower her guard. It's not complete, but at this point you're close enough that it doesn't matter. You lunge and before Heather can do anything else, you've easily restrained her and about to bite. She looks at you with wide-eyed terror. "No, please don't…" she utters. And for a brief moment, you actually consider it. "Shhhh, it'll only hurt a little and then oblivion." You whisper and then bite down on her jugular like a ravenous animal. Her blood tastes different than most humans, but in a good way. Might be due to her magical nature. In any case you drink deeply and hold her tight as if you were making love to her, and in a way you are. Heather struggles at first, but she soon begins to weaken and then ultimately give in until her life force is gone. After you're finished, you look at her dead face and close her eyes. "You finally helped me Heather. May your goddess Dorna embrace you." With bodies all around, it's sort of amazing that nobody else has stumbled upon you. (Of course maybe someone did and wisely turned around before you noticed.) Not wishing to spend anymore time here, you take your leave and head back home without bothering to engage in whatever roguish endeavors you originally were intending. As you make your way back home, you feel somewhat weird about your actions. You feel like you should feel remorse, and sometimes you think you're beginning to have a twinge of it, but then it's gone. You didn't have to kill Heather. You weren't that hungry. You could have stopped yourself. So why did you do it? What was the real reason? Self-preservation. If you hadn't killed her, you would have surely done something stupid like develop an attachment to her again and that would have led to your death and most likely hers anyway. Either Isabella would have killed you or Heather's fanatical friends would have. You don't need to complicate your life like that. Better that she serve as food than as a distraction. Looks like you're fine with sticking to the basics after all. When you arrive back home, Isabella soon comes to greet you. It would seem Isabella decided to wait up for you for a change, you weren't expecting her to, but the fact that she did, just confirms that you made the right decision. "Well that was quick. I at least expected you to stay out until dawn. Did you have fun stealing items and whatever else?" Isabella remarks. "I didn't bother. I mostly ate." You answer. "Oh? Well hope you got a good one then." "I did. I ate my ex-girlfriend." Isabella's eyebrows rise in intrigue. "Really? Isabella asks, but not in a jealous way, just curious. "Well, I suppose she wasn't really a girlfriend…we just knew each other and we were intimate once." You answer. "I see. And were you so excited that you were intimate again? Perhaps she found your dark charms alluring and in the heat of passion, you couldn't help yourself?" "I manipulated her into dropping her guard after I slaughtered her friends, then I drank her dry…and I didn't feel anything about it. This woman who once tried to help me, I felt nothing after killing her other than it was necessary. And the only excitement I felt was when I was feeding and holding her warm body close as it slowly turned as cold as mine." Isabella takes your words in and slowly begins to move towards you while caressing her own body. "That…is soooo sexy….I had no idea that you were capable of such a thing. Killing random peasants and bandits is one thing, but this…well that's something different. I want you inside me, right now." Isabella remarks. You sort of wonder if Isabella has always been this horny or maybe this is just her making up for lost time due to a long period of isolation. Either way you're not complaining. The next night you prepare to go out to Holgard again. This time you're fully prepared to just hunt though. The city is about to have yet another major ongoing problem, or maybe a solution depending on one's outlook on things. > You time passes... Chapter 3C1: The Beast Unleashed Year 30 "Well of course there are vampire hunters running around in Holgard now. I told you that you probably needed to start showing a bit of restraint now that the religious factions aren't killing each other anymore." Isabella remarks. "You said that Holgard was a perfect spot for me to hunt due to all the crime and violence!" you reply. "Yeah, but still within reason. I mean from some of the tales you've told me in the past, it sounds like you just leave a killing field in your wake half the time. As I said, you probably were only getting away with it due to the religious faction war, but now that that's over with, they're on to you. Look, you had your fun, but it's probably time to rein it in a bit anyway. You had like what five years? Honestly, I probably gave you your freedom a bit too quickly." "So what, are you cracking the whip on me now?" "No, but I will say that I'm fond of you enough that I would LIKE you to still be around for a long time to come. You might think a few vampire hunters are no problem, but I imagine they aren't the only ones hunting you. I mean you were taking advantage of the religious faction war, I have to believe that some of them groups aren't vampire friendly either. Wasn't your ex a Dornan? Pretty sure those wizard priests might have discovered a vampire operating in the city by now and I'm not even counting the fanatical Joachimites you told me about." "So what are you saying exactly?" "I'm saying that maybe you should give Holgard a break for awhile if you can't restrain yourself. Go find another hunting ground that isn't going to attract attention. I'm sure there are little isolated towns and villages further east of here. I'm sure there are probably bandits preying upon them as well, so you've got a wide selections to choose from." You somewhat frown at that suggestion. "If I'm going to skulk about a village luring peasants to their doom, I might as well be grocery shopping for you in Dert." You say. "Well I dunno, go wipe out an entire hamlet then, I don't care. Just don't be a dumb ass and leave any witnesses. Because I'm going to tell you this as well, it's one thing if you're going to insist on playing with your immortality, but it's quite another if you start fucking with mine. If your actions end up causing a group of adventurers to come barging down here in the middle of the day, waking up my beauty sleep, you are going to wish you'd been staked and beheaded after I get done with you. Understand?" Isabella says with a calm threatening tone that is enough to unnerve even you. "Yes…dear." You meekly utter. Isabella gives you a stern look and then leaves you to your own devices. Isabella may not have any direct power over you, but she's still powerful enough to crush you if she wanted to. You don't actually think she'd kill you, but you don't doubt that she wouldn't make your unlife miserable for a very long time. If you weren't so grateful for everything she's done for you, you might be inclined to leave and not return. However in the grand scheme of things you're fairly happy with her so there isn't much incentive to do so. She's usually right anyway. Might be time to settle down a bit. Mass slaughter is starting to lose its appeal anyway. Well not ALL its appeal, but maybe you should change it up, especially if you want to go back to Holgard one day. For the first few weeks, you don't go to Holgard and instead wander further to the east a bit. Honestly, you've never traveled in that direction for any extended length of time save for when you released Spikey back into the wild. That was slightly harder than you thought it would be, but at least it was better than Isabella killing him. You sort of wonder if you'll run into him, but you don't, who knows where he is now. (You hope he's happily eating people wherever he is though) You do know is if you go far enough you'll reach the borders of the Delantium Kingdom. Of course that's still quite the ways even with your speed and you aren't that adventurous. What you do find are a few small isolated villages. Bigger than Dert and nearly the size of the your old home of Teckleville. Same sort of people too, funny how no matter where you go, places like this are the same everywhere. You skulk around these minor villages, luring an unsuspecting peasant or two for food, but it's dull since it's basically like when you do it back in Dert. You encounter nomads, brigands, and raider types of various races. Again, those are more fun since you can let loose a bit more, but a lot of these tend to be on the non-human side and at this point you've acquired more of a taste for human blood as opposed to greenskin or some of the other savage races you've come across. Upon your return on these daily travels, Isabella almost never asks you what you were up to. She doesn't seem to care as long as you aren't bringing trouble to her crypt. Sometimes you mention what you've been up to and she listens, and sometimes asking basic questions back, nothing more though. A few months pass, and you're about ready to go back to Holgard just to see if things have died down there a bit, but you decide to stick it out a little while longer and continue doing what you're doing. You head to Maldito, which is one of the more remote villages, even compared to most on your list. When you get within sight of it however, you're surprised. The entire village is in flames. You can hear screaming and yelling still coming from the place and the stench of blood and death is thick. You're getting hungry just thinking about it. You cautiously move towards the village and find where the majority of the voices are coming from. A mixed group of rough looking orcs, gnolls, and even a few hobgoblins are currently lording it over the remaining peasants they haven't killed. Currently a couple of the women are being raped and they're torturing the shit out of several of the men. Despite the large amount of savage races, a human seems to be the leader. Figures. He is addressing the peasants who are focused on him despite all the horror around them. "Know that you lot brought this on yourselves! All you had to do is provide food, basic goods and some time with your daughters, sisters and wives on a regular basis and this shithole of a town would be spared Green Eye's wrath. Instead you've been hiring mercenaries to cut down our men for weeks! NOW you have to pay!" the human bandit says. "NO! I swear it! We've done no such thing! We would nev…" "SILENCE!" the human bandit snaps interrupting the older peasant trying to beg for mercy. The human leader soon picks the old man up off the ground and stabs him in the throat before tossing him back on the floor. "I don't actually give a shit if it WAS you or not! One of the villages in this area did, and when they get the message of what we're doing to your village, they'll fall in line, or they're going to suffer the same fate! Rape everyone in every fucking orifice, kill them all and shove their dismembered corpses on big fucking spiked sticks." Grim stuff. The odd thing is you actually feel slightly sorry for these pitiful peasants since you probably inadvertently caused this. You were slaughtering so many bandits over last couple of months, you didn't think that they were actually united any way. You also didn't think that these bandit types would jump to the conclusions that the villagers were behind it. Though you suppose it makes sense that they would. After years of just ruthlessly drinking the living and seeing them as nothing more than blood bags, it seems odd that you would feel protective of them for some reason. Maybe, this is how Isabella feels about Dert in some ways. The people in that village are all food to her, but they're hers and she doesn't want anyone else fucking with them. You guess you've developed a similar attachment. Who knew? Yeah, you're not going to let bottom-feeding scum throw away perfectly good food… You enter the village, you don't even try to hide. You break the neck of three hobgoblins and put your fist through an orc before anyone even mounts an attack. "Shit! Get your dick outta that bitch, can't you see we're being attacked?!" the human bandit shouts. The gnolls clumsily attempt to chop you with their long axes, but its all too easy to avoid their blows and shatter their spines, you quickly shut their dog like howls up by stomping their heads into mush. The remaining bandits fair no better against you. "He's too fucking fast! He's not human! He's not…" are the last words of a half orc before you finish him off, along with his buddies. Soon it's only the human bandit leader left and to his credit; he hasn't run off (like some of the hobgoblins tried to do) "Let me guess…vampire?" You nod silently. "Shit…I had a feeling it wasn't just mercenaries after seeing the carnage on a couple of those sites. So are…" You're done entertaining this lesser form, you rush forward and rip out his throat mid sentence. You drink his blood and throw his corpse next to the body of the old man he had just killed not a few moments before. Meanwhile the peasants that the bandits rounded up haven't even run. They've all just huddled together watching you, probably with just as much fear as they had before you arrived. You look upon them and they have never looked more like the herd of sheep they truly are. They are prey and always will be in their current form. You have a mind to finish them all off, until one brave one approaches on his hands and knees. "You…you have saved us!" he shouts. "Saved you? You shortsighted sheep, I only saved you because these assholes were killing off my livestock and I hate to waste food. I've been feeding on you lot for months now. Didn't you even notice how some of you had gone missing?" you say. "We…we assumed perhaps the bandits had taken some of us in the middle of the night. But please, spare us your unholy wrath and we will worship you, my dark lord!" Well this has turned interesting… "Worship you say? What exactly are you proposing?" you ask. "Yes, we…we can't defend ourselves against Green Eye's bandits and now that you've killed this group, he's just going to send more to finish us off. You could defend us and in exchange we could provide…what you need…." The man says. "I need blood you do know that right?" "Yes, but if it means just a few of us dying as opposed to all of us dying then it will be worth it. Please, I beg you. Whatever you wish, we will provide." This could be just the thing to break up the monotony. It's also perfect due to the remoteness of it all. You'd have people willing to give themselves to you, and the bandits you can just massacre as usual. Of course doing something like this might be slightly more involved than you'd prefer. You can also imagine that it probably wouldn't be as cut and dry as you're going to want it to be. Lot of factors still at play and you question if you want the headache. > You accept the challenge What the hell it isn't like you've got anything better to do. You've been enjoying it more out here than Holgard anyway. Still you know this isn't going to be all fun and blood, so you need to start establishing rules. "Rise." You tell the man groveling before you. He does so slowly before you. "I will accept your obedience, but you must know what this means. This means tribute in blood when I call for it. This means anyone of you here could be called to sustain me in exchange for my protection!" "We understand…" "No, I don't think you truly do mortal. However, you soon will. And if you find my terms at any point unacceptable, there will be no negotiation; I will finish the job that the bandits failed to do and wipe out this entire village. Now, let us talk about your bandit problem." The man who is the village's speaker says his name is Vic and explains the situation with the bandits. He says Green Eye, is the unseen bandit leader that is believed to have made his hideout in an old abandoned dwarf mine in the hills nearby. As far as anyone knows, nobody in this village (or any other in the area) has ever seen Green Eye, except the bandits who mention him (or her) from time to time. Still never a physical description either except for the green eye that seems to unnerve them. Vic says he understands that you will not be able to look over them constantly, but something must be done about the bandits soon since they will surely come looking to see what happened to their fellows and if that happens to be during the day… You tell Vic to not concern himself with it any longer because you're taking care of it tonight one way or another. He just needs to remember his promise to you. This village is yours and as such, he needs to get the rest of the people back to rebuilding it as soon as possible. After Vic gives you some basic directions on where the mine is located, you take your leave. Honestly, it's not that difficult to find now that you know which way to go since you're catching the scent of foul savage races the closer you get. Eventually you get to the entrance, which doesn't even have anyone guarding it though judging by the smell and mess, this is definitely inhabited. The mine is actually well lit, so you're guessing there must be more human types in here at least. You soon hear the sounds revelry and then in a large opening you see a group of mortals of varying races. Mostly the savage type like hobgoblin, orc and even an ogre. The human bunch doesn't surprise you. There are even a couple elves in the mix and at least one race you don't recognize. What does surprise you is the equal amount of female members in the group. There are a couple that are obviously bandits as well, but a lot of them just look like they're there for either "fun" or they have a large amount of children around them. You didn't expect to find a community of sorts here. Makes sense that they're raiding the other villages for food and basic supplies rather than just valuables. In any case, it hardly matters since you've got a task to do… You kill three bandits before they even know what's going on, you then kill several of their fun women and the ogre before they all decide to stop trying to defend themselves and start running and hiding. The yelling, screaming and crying fills your ears and you realize with all the tunnels and crevices, it might take awhile to hunt everyone down, so you're going to make this easier. "Listen up to all those that value their miserable lives! The village of Maldito is under my protection and I am their bloody tyrant. Your actions against it have come to an end! Turn over Green Eye, and I'll allow the rest of you to slink out of here. Choice is yours." You shout. You voice echoes throughout the mine a bit and then silence. A moment passes and just when you think you're going to have to hunt them all down anyway, you hear a thumping noise. Soon, you see a single short figure coming out from down a mine corridor; he carries some sort of rifle and is walking with a limp and a faint green glow is coming from the top of him You then get a better look and he's a dwarf, which you didn't quite expect to be leading this rabble. He's dressed in heavy leather armor, though it might be just regular dwarven miner clothing for all you know. He's got an obvious metal leg replacing his missing one. His rifle isn't one of the usual designs you've seen in Holgard. Has a wider barrel for one thing and looks of much better workmanship. Shiny even. His face is that of a usual Dwarf, bearded, long hair and grizzled. Of course the main thing that sticks out about him is his green "eye" which you don't think is even an eye. It looks more like a glowing gem of some sort. If it has any magic properties, they aren't affecting you (yet). His other eye is non-existent and covered with a patch, so maybe the green one just helps him see. In any case, the man obviously has no fear and has come out to meet you alone, which means he's either stupid or he's got something to say and hoping you might be in a mood to listen. It's going to be one of those nights you see… "I take it you're Green Eye." You say. "And I take it you're the one that's been fucking up my people. Edgrin said that he didn't think it was mercs and might be something worse like a vampire for example, but…bah what's done is done now. I assume if you're going on about that shithole village that means you just killed him and all my people that I sent there to make an example of the place." Green Eye responds. "That's right, and now I'm here to kill you and everyone else here." "Hmm, and I don't doubt that you couldn't, though I would at least like to propose a different offer. One that you might find advantageous." "Okay, I'll bite." "As you can see, much like Maldito, we are just a community trying to get by in this life. We are just happen to be predators rather than prey. I'm sure you can identify." "Understand, yes. Identify. No. Because if we're using food chain comparisons, then I would the top predator and you lot are in my way…" "Very well, I get it. How about this? We completely leave Maldito alone forever. There are more than enough villages in the area that we can shakedown. And to be quite honest, we probably don't need as much from them anyway now that you've killed about half of us." "As far as I'm concerned, those villages are also mine." "Come on be reasonable. You just said that you have direct control over Maldito who apparently are filled with pleading peasants willing to do whatever you want. I mean unless you're planning on carving out an empire you really don't need all those villages. I might add, that it's beneficial to have us around." "I don't see how, you're just another competitor." "True, but you've already made your point to us. I certainly have no plans on tangling with you ever again. Do you really believe that if you kill all of us, that there won't be another group of assholes to just take our place? Then what? You have to do this all over again and while you probably don't have any particular problems with that, you might not arrive to save your village like you did this time. These fucking mongrels and greenskins are stupid as shit and never learn lessons most of the time. I'm probably the only thing keeping them all from idiotically just razing the entire area." "So what your saying, is I should leave you alive so the status quo can stay relatively intact and give myself less hassle in the long run." "And to save my own ass, and the sorry asses of my community…such as they are." It's intriguing enough for you to consider since it might be nice to just rule over the town without actually ever having to defend it again or wondering if you're going to stumble across a burnt husk of a village. Still, this can't be a negotiation that you feel comfortable with, without some sort of capitulation on Green Eye's part. "This sounds very nice and all, but at its core, this deal benefits you far more than me. I have no assurance that you'll keep your word. For all I know you're going to just bide your time and regroup. Perhaps even attempt to attack me." You say. "You're joking right? What the hell are we going to do to you? We have no weapons to even hurt you with, I mean this rifle is mainly just to give me a sense of false security. You think we have any way to contact hunters even if we were so inclined? In fact I'd argue that the villages you've been feeding on would be more likely to do that than us." Green Eye strokes his beard a bit and sees that you're not moved by his assurances. "Okay, I think I know what you're getting at. You want tribute from us. Well how about this? We occasionally take women from the villages for…recreation. Sometimes they go back, sometimes they realize that they like it here better. How about we take maybe one or two for you as a gesture of our goodwill?" Green Eye asks. "That's a good offer, but a child would be better. The blood of the youth always is." You say. "A…child? You want a kid?" "Is that a problem? The people that you sent to Maldito didn't seem to think so when they were planning to execute everyone there." "That was different and it's just that…we don't normally…I mean…shit. Okay fine, we'll start taking children I guess. Um, how many did you need?" "Oh not many. I mean just one every month is fine. Don't want to depopulate the area after all. And I'd say it's more than fair to you." "I suppose it is. I accept your generous proposal." "Of course you will, because it's the only option for you. Now then, I'll be expecting my tribute by the end of this month, have it waiting for me by the entrance, because if I actually have to set foot in this place again, it'll be the end of this community." Green Eye nods and you turn to leave, though you're curious about one thing. "Oh, just wondering…how does a dwarf become the leader of a bandit community full of savages anyway?" you ask. "The mine dried up and I was too stupid to leave obviously." Green Eye answers. Satisfied with this answer you leave the mine. You return home, nearly at dawn. Isabella doesn't ask what you've been doing since she knows you've been doing your usual routine of hunting in the wilderness or preying upon the villages. You imagine she'll start asking questions eventually, she's probably going to nag you about your actions possibly attracting attention, but for now you're going to just enjoy your new hobby. > You time passes... Year 31 You finish drinking your fill of the girl and release her though she still clings to you tightly like you're her entire world despite the fact that she's already married to some young man in this village.. As usual you have left this one alive since the less outright deaths the better. Besides, the more you feed on these peasants and don't kill them, the more they seem to be enamored with you. The fools believe your "mercy" is some sort of blessing. "Is there anything else you require of me, m'lord?" she asks in a mild daze. "Actually now that you mention it, yeah. Now that I'm done sucking on you, I'll give you the honor of sucking on me. You know what to do." You say. The girl nods and slowly lowers herself before you. Now THIS is what being a vampire is all about, or at least what it should be. Lording it over the lessers and reaping the benefits. Not hiding on the outskirts of civilization. Ever since this arrangement you've actually been enjoying yourself again. Even more than when you used to go hunting in Holgard, which you haven't been going to at all anymore. As for Isabella, she spends all her time in her precious garden and you're starting to wonder if she even cares what you do anymore as long as it doesn't involve messing with Dert or calling attention to your home. The only time she has asked you a question is she started wondering where you were getting all the children from since she was concerned you might be "over farming" Dert, but she seemed satisfied with your answer. She's benefiting so why should she care? The girl finishes servicing you and then you send her home in a better status for her husband than before. Tiring of your own time here tonight, you prepare to leave and exit the "home" that you use when visiting. Before you leave however, you're met by Vic. Usually he knows better than to crowd you like this so it makes you a little wary. "That's close enough! Encroach on my personal space any further and it'll be the last! Now what is it that you feel the need to waste my time with?" "Well I was just wondering, since I've been so loyal to you lord and helpful in in convincing the others to stay loyal…I was just wondering if there would ever come a time that you might bless me with the same gift that you have. Not that I would be nearly as powerful as you of course m'lord. I live to serve after all." This again… Vic has brought this up before, and this topic has come up with more than a few of the ladies you've been dining on. You of course always give the same answer, that it isn't a "gift" that can be given so lightly and will only ever go to the worthy. Telling them that you can't make them vampires because you're not old enough to do it yet, wouldn't actually make you look like the "all powerful" dark lord that you've set yourself up as. Still, as far as you know you ARE able to make them into ghouls. Isabella explained all this to you in your first weeks as a vampire. She always said making a ghoul wasn't worth it since they are some of the most pathetic creatures she's ever had the displeasure of knowing. She made one once and killed it soon after because she found its habits too disgusting and its fawning far too annoying. Of course Isabella's personality is a little different than yours. You would probably be fine with more fawning. In fact absolute loyalty might be a plus. As for disgusting habits, well you wouldn't have to live with them on a regular basis and so what if they eat a few bugs? However, it still isn't something you're going to just do right away and would need to think on. After all, you turn one person or multiple people into a ghoul or ghouls, how are they going to act towards the rest of the normal people? Not like you can watch them constantly. "I'll think about it, now get out of my way!" you say and knock Vic aside. You head home pondering the possible ramifications of taking that extra step. When you finally do get home, you find that your night hasn't gotten less complicated. "Have fun with your human whores?" Isabella asks. "Thought you'd be in your garden. That's where you like to spend all your time isn't it?" you say, not even answering her question. "True, but perhaps I've been sticking my head in the flowers for far too long and ignoring the situation that's going on." "What situation?" "The situation where you've apparently dominated an entire village to your will. Maybe even more." "No, just the one. What difference does it make? I'm not attracting any attention and I've been bringing children home to you on monthly basis." "Yes, which is why I haven't said anything, however I've been noticing a change in your behavior with me." "You have? Surprised, considering all the time you spend in your garden." "Okay, if you're bitching about us not spending enough time together, all you had to do is say something and I would have obliged. Since when have I not helped you out in any way I can? It's why you're here in the first place." "And THAT right there is the problem!" "What?" "You treating me like a second class citizen around here!" "Are you kidding me? I gave you fucking complete freedom!" "You know that doesn't matter. Not really in the scheme of things. You're more powerful than me. You always will be and you will always see me as your lesser. Sometimes it feels like you scold me as if I was some child." "Well when you act like one at times, that's what happens. And if I really saw you as my lesser, I wouldn't have even bothered with you in the first place. I saw something special in you, but obviously I was mistaken. Besides all that, don't give me that I never let you have fun business because it's not even true in the first place. If anything I've been TOO permissive. You're on a fucking power trip right now and while I get it because you feel like you're getting the attention you feel you deserve, I'm telling you right now that if you continue like this, it's going end badly." "I don't understand WHY you're giving me shit for this. You do the same thing with Dert, you're just less hands on." "Exactly. I'm not rolling around in the pigpen with the pork chops! You're in there, not only rolling around with them, you're also fucking the pigs. AND don't even tell me that you don't do that, because you stink of humans most nights when you come back. Though I'm not so much mad about that bit as I am severely disappointed." "So what are you saying exactly?" 'What I'm saying is YOU are heading down a path that I've seen play out several times with others I was close to in the past. Not really willing to go through it again." "So, what then? You're going to forbid me to do this then?" "No, actually I'm not. You're a free willed vampire, go play with your mortals and lord it over them. That seems to be what is making you happy. What I am saying however is if you insist on doing this though, you'll be doing it elsewhere because I'm not going to sit by and watch the inevitable, let alone get caught up in it. Obviously you feel stifled here, so maybe you need to go do this anyway." Well that's done it for you. You're not going to get threatened by an ultimatum. You and Isabella haven't been getting along for a while now anyway. If she's giving you the option for a clean break now, you probably should take it while you can. "I'll be gone tomorrow night. I trust that will be okay." You answer. "Fine by me. You can sleep elsewhere in the crypt though, because you certainly won't be sleeping in my bed." Isabella says. "Yeah, probably for the best." "Well then, it was fun while lasted and I hope you succeed in whatever it is that you're trying to achieve. Goodbye." And with those cold last words, Isabella turns and leaves you. While maybe you sort of knew this was coming for some time, there is a part of you that's going to miss Isabella. She did do so much for you, but ultimately you needed your freedom the most. And now you have it. The next night, you leave the crypt with what little belongings you still have attachment to as quick as you can. You don't bump into Isabella; you assume she's in her garden as usual. You make your way to Maldito, where you are met with the usual praise and submissive behavior. "Vic, get all your best builders and tradespeople together, I want a meeting with them." You order. "Um, okay m'lord." Vic answers. You meet with them to let them know that you're going to be around a lot more often, so you want a proper home, rather than the simple empty one room house they just let you use when you are here. Your news is met with an overjoyed reaction for the most part, though you get the impression some are just reacting more out of fear of defying you. In any case, you aren't asking for much in the short term. Just a small underground area underneath the house you stay at. "Oh! So like a root cellar!" one of them beams. "Yeah…just like a root cellar." You answer rolling your eyes a bit. In any case it's a simple enough task for them that you figure they won't take long in doing it. In the meantime, you have the unpleasant task of digging a hole in the forest and sleeping there. The first night is a real wake up call of how much better it was sleeping in a nice soft bed next to Isabella, but you need to get over that. A month passes and it's still not finished mainly because one of the more skilled carpenters had a heart attack on the job. You're pissed about this inconvenience, but it is what it is. In the meantime, when you make your usual meeting with Green Eye's community, you tell the guard at the entrance that you won't require a child every month anymore. Instead, they can just bring a girl like Green Eye originally suggested. By the middle of the second month it's still not finished. You have no idea what the hell is holding these idiots up. Vic says something about the structural integrity is shaky and there being a danger over everything caving in. You're getting irritated to the point that you almost lash out and kill one of them, but then you realize you need these fools right now. So you kill the tavern owner instead. Not like serving drinks is a job that requires special skills that you need. Besides, his wife can take over and she's more compliant to you anyway. You start wondering if this would go faster if you made them ghouls. The main problem that you can see is that they're all weak humans that aren't even in the best of shape in the first place and require sleep and regular food. If you made them ghouls they'd work for you tirelessly night and day. (They'd be able to see in the dark as well) And they could eat…well anything really. There isn't really much stopping you now, since you now ARE here constantly to monitor their behavior. Though there is a real desire to still not do it too, since you'd essentially be "rewarding" them all for shit work so far. If you were going to do it, you'd rather do for those that deserve it at least. > You make some of them ghouls You might as well start making ghouls if you're going to be using this place as your new home now. You'll feel safer if with absolutely loyal day guards around anyway. You call everyone to the village square the following night. It's a little surprising for everyone, but of course they don't want to disobey you. "Okay, I've gathered you all here because it's come up many times that some of you desire the same gift I have. This makes sense since you would indeed be better in every way and you would also be closer to your god. However, none of you are yet worthy of such a thing. In fact some of you never will be! Yet, I am a merciful master and as such I will bestow a minor bit of my power so that you may get a taste of it. Who knows, maybe in time you will impress me to the point that I will eventually complete your transformation." At this point your words are met with signs of hope and excitement. You expected that, so that's one less thing to worry about. You're still wondering which people exactly to choose and how many. You probably want to pick the key members in the community though, so you figure you might as well give Vic what he's always wanted first. "Okay Vic, come on over here and we'll get started." You say and cut your arm to drain some of your blood in a cup. "Um, me m'lord?" Vic asks. "Yeah you! Who the hell else's name is Vic in this village? Now come on." "Uh, that's okay I don't think I'm quite worthy yet. I believe that there are many others here deserving of your gift more." "You're joking right? You've been begging me to turn you since I took control of this place. You're just nervous, come on." "No, I really realize now that I shouldn't have annoyed with my petty request as I did. I thank you for your generous offer, but perhaps one of the many lovely young women that…" "Vic, stop being a bitch and get over here!" you say raising your voice. At this point the crowd is getting agitated with Vic's stalling and begin pushing him forward, telling him that he's a "chosen one" and he should be embracing this moment. Vic slowly moves towards your position and then suddenly his eyes roll in the back of his head and he wobbles a bit before falling over. "Oh for fuck's sake…" you say shaking your head. One of the other villagers goes over to help Vic, but after some inspection… "He's dead m'lord!" the village "doctor" exclaims. "He's fucking dead?!" you say. "Heart attack it seems. I believe all the excitement of being a benefactor of your glory was too much for him." "Maybe…" Something about this doesn't seem right. "Kick his body. In fact I want several of you to stomp on it." You say. "M'lord?" someone asks. "You heard me." Not wishing to anger you, several of the villagers comply. Vic's body just absorbs the kicks and doesn't move. "Okay, I guess he's really dead, set his body on fire, no need to waste anymore time burying it. Actually never mind, there's a torch right here, I'll do it." You take a nearby torch and go over to Vic's body. As you slowly lower the flaming piece of wood closer to Vic's body, you watch his eyes. You watch… Then just as you touch Vic's body with the actual flame, his eyes open and his entire form changes into a thin smooth gray skinned creature. Its face isn't anything like you've seen before, having only slits for a nose, a simple line like mouth and its eyes are just white orbs. "SHIT!" it shouts in different voice than before and immediately rolls away and attempts to scramble for safety. While the villagers are confused and scared by all this, you of course keep your cool and easily catch this creature and drag it into the empty house you reside at in the village to interrogate it. "Okay, what the hell are you?" you demand. "Please! I'm a doppelganger and I'm only doing my job!" it pleads pathetically. "By job, you mean spying and infiltration! I only know ONE person that rules over a ragtag group of multi-racial misfits that might have the balls to do such a thing. How long have you been working for Green Eye?" The doppelganger wastes no time in selling out Green Eye. It says it's been with Green Eye for quite some time, but only was infiltrating Maldito shortly after you threatened Green Eye. It says it was originally masquerading as the head carpenter, but soon changed into Vic (and in both cases obviously secretly killed) when it realized you were serious about making the village your permanent home. It of course has been in contact with Green Eye off and on the whole time. "So what the hell is Green Eye exactly planning?" "Well originally he just wanted to keep a check on you, but when you made Maldito your permanent home, he got more concerned. I think he's planning on attacking you directly and most likely destroying the village." "Because that worked out so well last time. So what then has he hired hunters or something? Should have known he wasn't going to be above doing that." "No, actually he's been crafting silver weapons for everyone. Mostly daggers, but I know for a fact he's been focusing on silver shot for the few firearms we have." "Where's he getting all this silver from?" "The mine I guess. Green Eye said it used to be a silver mine before it ran out." "Well apparently it didn't completely run dry if he's got enough to scrap weapons together. Gotta hand it to Green Eye, though. He's been busy and I underestimated his fear of me. Smart of him to not tell me that it used to be a silver mine too. I didn't even think of that." "So…what are you going to do?" "Kill my enemy of course, might as well start with you. Wonder what doppelganger tastes like…" you say and prepare to bite. "No! Wait! Please! I could help even more! If you attack now, you'd never get Green Eye. He's got a whole system of hidden tunnels, traps and shit. You might wipe out everyone under his leadership, but I doubt if you'd find him. He knows those mines like nobody else." "Oh, I'm sure I'd find him eventually." "Well, maybe, but as I said, he's probably trapped the entire place too and considering he's been preparing for you, some of those might even be dangerous to you. Let me go back and…" "You think I'm stupid? You sold out Green Eye so quick and you were supposed to be on his side. How quick would you sell me out?" "But this is different, I can see you're the more powerful force in this instance and I always side with the winning team. It's what my kind does. Green Eye doesn't know that you know that you know anything. In fact I can probably get him to meet with you. You're supposed to pick up your new tribute soon aren't you?" "Yeah, so?" "Well let ME go and pick it up. Except I wouldn't go as me, I'll go as YOU." "Wait, you're going to copy me?" "Yes. And I'm going to arrive at Green Eye's place during the day to do it. I will pretend that I'm such a powerful and old vampire that I have the capacity to walk around in the daytime! This will throw them all off so much that they'll scramble to appease you quickly. When they drag out the girl, I will then claim it isn't good enough and that I will be back at night to renegotiate the deal with Green Eye personally. He'll be concerned enough that he'll meet with you, probably seeing if you have any other weaknesses, since thinking you can walk around in the daytime is going to cause him to discard his original plans. Of course it'll actually be you who'll meet him at night, at which point you'll easily be able to over power him and whoever else is with him. Trust me, it'll work!" An intriguing plan you suppose, you just aren't convinced though. "Sounds like a shit plan, and I still don't trust you. I don't think you can convincingly copy me anyway." You say. "The hell you say! I'll have you know that I am one the most skilled of my kind! I can easily copy you, right down to your quirky mannerisms. Especially since I've been observing you for awhile now." The doppelganger says a little insulted. "Is that so? Well prove it, and maybe I'll make a decision based on how good your performance is." You let the doppelganger go and it has prepared itself to display its powers to you. It takes a bit longer to transform into looking like you than when it transformed back to its real form. The first thing you realize is you haven't seen yourself in years. The dop looks like you, or at least what you looked like before you became a vampire, then again you haven't aged since then so that's presumably what you still look like. The dop then begins to talk like you and act like you. It's very arrogant, condescending and just an all around dick. Which means it's copying you exactly. "See? I can pull this off! Just give me a chance and hey, when Green Eye is dead, I could help you in other ways as well!" the dop exclaims as it transforms back. It certainly is an eager creature. You just aren't sure if you can trust it. And if you can't trust it, then why take chances? > You trust the doppelganger You're not so much trusting the dop, so much as you're going to take a chance that it fears you enough that it's being honest. Since if it IS telling the truth and willing to work for you, he would come in pretty handy. Still, you're going to be careful as you can about this. "Okay, first of all, are you absolutely SURE this plan is going convince Green Eye to meet with me?" you ask. "Yes, I am. If he thinks something is wrong, but fixable he'll more often than not take a personal approach to it even if it might risk his life, just like when he first spoke with you. If I know him, he'll probably want to appease you so he can give himself more time to re-think a new strategy of how to deal with you if he believes you can walk around in the day time." The dop says. You can't really tell due to its nearly featureless expression, but it sounds confident in its words. You suppose that will have to do. "Alright then, we'll try the plan." You say. "Y…you will? Oh thank the gods! I swear I will be loyal to you!" the dop exclaims. "We'll see, but first I need to prepare you a bit." You say and move towards it. "Prepare?" "Yeah, just relax a bit, don't move and… brace yourself!" You suddenly lunge on the dop who is taken by surprise by your speed. You bite the dop in the arm and drink a little of its blood. It actually tastes pretty terrible and you nearly spit it out. In the meantime the dop is making a horrible screaming noise and doesn't stop until you smack it upside the head. "Stop that, it's annoying." You say and release it. "Y…you bit me!" the dop says rubbing its arm. "Sure did. Call it an extra precaution in case you get the bright idea to try to betray me. I can always sense where you are now. So if any of this goes south, I'm going to know where to find YOU immediately." The doppelganger might have those empty white orbs for eyes, but you can still see the fear in them. Honestly, while you will be able to sense it if it's close by, you aren't going to be able to instantly track it from anywhere. Still, it doesn't know that. "I wasn't going to betray you." The dop whines. "Well, now I know you won't. Now you stay here, I'm going to go get one of the villagers so you can blend in again. I'll drain them and you can walk out like nothing happened. The body can be disposed of later." you answer. "Wait which one?" "What difference does it make? I dunno the tavern keeper's wife I guess. Might as well considering I already killed her husband. Plus it's an easy enough task even for you and you'll hear all the village gossip at lot easier, not that it matters I suppose." "Mm, okay. I don't have to worry about you suddenly picking on me to bite now and I prefer female forms anyway, it's always easier when the gender matches." You pause for a moment. "Wait…you're female?" you ask. "Well we doppelgangers are pretty flexible about it all for obvious reasons, but yes, I personally identify as female. Can't you tell?" she says. "Um, no not really. I mean you're just a smooth gray nearly featureless being. It's not like I can see tits or anything. I mean…I can't even see a hole down there…or anywhere for that matter; then again I haven't really been exploring. I guess if you were a guy it would have been more obvious I suppose." "Oh you solids with your constant exposed reproductive organs. We doppelgangers transcend such concerns since we only display them when necessary such as for sex or expelling waste. Until that time they remain hidden and protected." "Okay, well however works…don't really want to know, but if that's the case how the fuck was I supposed to be able to tell that you're female or not?" "By my eyes of course! Those of my kind that identify as female tend to change our eye color to white while those that identify as males tend to change them to black." "What color are they normally?" "Oh gray." "Great. Very illuminating. Next time I run into one of you doppys, I'll try to remember all that." "Erm, could you please not call me a doppy? It is considered offensive to my…" You glare at the doppelganger as your patience wears thin. "Um…nevermind. Just happy to serve and being included, sir." She says submissively. You leave the house and find that a minor crowd has gathered from a safe distance. They're probably wondering what exactly happened, time to make up a story. "Is that…thing gone m'lord?" someone asks. "Yes, of course it is. Didn't you hear its death scream? I interrogated it first though. Apparently those bandits I thought I took care of have regrouped and will be trying to attack again. However, we know the truth now and can prepare. I'm going to track them down and finish them off for good, however I'm still going to bless some of you and when I do, you will be charged with helping the defense of this village. I trust you all will be up for the challenge should it come to that." You say. "Of course m'lord! We all will!" "Then we will start tomorrow night, for now though I wish to spend time with you. The rest of you go home and worry no longer about any of this." You say and point to the tavern owner's wife. She goes over to you immediately. As the crowd disperses and obeys your command, you head into your home with your victim. You don't bother with the foreplay and get straight to the feeding. You've done this with her several times already, but this time will be different for her. As usual she puts up no resistance and even as you're obviously killing her she still whispers "I love you" in your ear and holds you tightly. You finish her off and drop her body to the floor. Meanwhile the dop was watching the shadows. You look at her and from her body language she cringes a bit. "Geez… you really are ruthless. I mean I've seen you on occasion drink people, but…never quite like that. She said she loved you and you just…look I just want to remind you, I am definitely NOT going to betray you." "Glad to hear it, now stop wasting time and take her form or whatever it is you do." The dop wastes no time and soon there is a "new" tavern keeper's wife…actually you find out her name was Kayla. The doppelganger knew her better than you actually did, despite you feeding on her on a regular basis. After "Kayla" leaves to get more acquainted with her new role, you look around to make sure you can dispose of the real one safely. You aren't sure why you're bothering being so secretive since the villagers would probably be fine with a doppelganger if you told them to be fine with it. However, you do think it's probably a good idea to slowly introduce such things to them. While they may accept you as a master, they may be less willing to accept some other non-human lurking about as well. At least not until you make some of them non-human. The next night you start again with what you originally planned. This time you pick a married couple at random and decide to see how it goes. You give them both some of your blood which causes them to gag a bit and then generally feel "weird." The pair of them eventually stagger back home, and you tell Kayla to keep an eye on them both since you won't be able to observe them during the day. A couple days and nights pass and you repeat the process with them and just when you're starting to get frustrated, they start to show a change. The pair of them become more fawning than usual towards you and you don't even have to do anything. They're also paler and beginning to move in a less normal fashion. It's more of a loping gait. Their appetite becomes a lot less normal as well. You think you've finally changed them into ghouls. You're glad it didn't take as long as Isabella once suggested it would if you attempted it. However, you soon discover all her warnings were correct. First off, they ARE very annoying with how much they're underfoot all the time. Still, they are very obedient and they soon finish digging out the area meant to be your new resting place under the house. It's crude, but you figure it can be worked on continually. For now though it's functional enough that you don't need to sleep in a hole in the ground in the forest nearby. Keeping them subdued when you're asleep is another matter however. While you attempt to tell them to stand guard over you, they're little like children in that they get bored and have short attention spans. While they haven't actually attacked anyone yet, they're acting aggressive enough that it won't be long. This naturally causes some of the other villagers to be wary and now that's potentially messing up your relationship with them. To counter act this, you give a few intimidating speeches, re-hyponotize a few of the key villagers again and have the two ghouls whipped before the mob and scold them for their behavior. The pathetic creatures soon learn that they aren't going to be chewing on their neighbors anytime soon. Still, it does make other villagers less eager to want to become ghouls now, though you're sort of wondering if it's worth it anyway. While you're trying to keep a precarious balance of humans and non-humans together through your powers and plain old fear, Kayla reminds you that it will soon be time for her to meet with Green Eye's people and start part one of that plan. You originally thought you might send one of the ghouls with her, but that would probably just confuse them, or they'll fuck up the plan and they might even eat Kayla. So she's going alone. You're still fairly concerned about this, but this is what you've decided on, so that's what you're going to do. You don't even go to sleep that day; you stay awake mostly pacing in your underground sleeping area. You send Stinky and Fatty (Your new names for your ghouls since you never bothered to learn their real names) to go fetch you a "drink" so you can keep your strength up. You also tell them to keep an eye out for Kayla. At any moment you fully expect to hear the sounds of an attack above you. You aren't going to be able to help, so you hope Stinky and Fatty are up to the task. However, the pair of them eventually come back with Kayla who is back in her human form. "Here she is master!" Stinky says excitedly. "Did we do good?" Fatty adds. "Yeah, now get the hell out of here. Go dig up one of the corpses in the forest and reward yourself or something." You hardly need to tell them twice and they both leave you alone. "Well?" you ask. "Well, I'm back and it's done. I made enough trouble that Green Eye will be willing to speak with you tonight. I didn't really want to be at Green Eye's any longer than I had to anyway, let alone directly confront him. Fairly certain that gem eye of his sees through disguises. In fact, I highly suggest that you not talk to him and just attack as soon as you see him, lest you fall under his command." Kayla says. "You're joking right? I'm a fucking vampire. I am the one who commands." "Yeah, I know you've got powers of your own, but it's that gem eye. It's magic. How the hell do you think he got that motley bunch to work for him?" "You seem immune considering you're selling him out." "Well I imagine that might be a combination of being a doppelganger, along with not being in his presence for an extended period of time. Whenever I was though, I felt the urge to serve him. I mean think about it, he managed to convince YOU not to wipe out his group the first time around. How the hell did he do that? I like to think I've gotten to know you well enough that you're not really a man that takes chances on potential future threats so you sparing him and everyone else seems a bit out of character." "I spared and took a chance on you." "True I suppose, but still…I dunno I'm just saying you probably shouldn't speak with him just to be safe." "Your concern is touching. I'm guessing it's dark about now, I'll be heading out with the ghouls then." "Okay, well did you need me for anything else then?" "Not right now and assuming you haven't set me up, I will remember your actions on this task." You take your leave of Kayla to go get your ghouls. You find them quite easily in the forest nearby finishing off a corpse. One of them hits the other and points at you. "The master is coming! The master is here!" Fatty says excitedly and runs up to you until you smack him down. "I need the pair of you to accompany me to an important meeting. When we get there though don't do anything until I say so." Fatty and Stinky follow you happily as you make your way to Green Eye's mine. You feel like you're walking into a trap the entire time, but at least you've got some help. Normally you wouldn't even be concerned, but you haven't rested or fed too much so you don't feel like you're a full strength either. Eventually you see the mine and you also see a short figure surrounded by several figures at the entrance. They don't look like his usual men though. They're all female and look very cowed for one thing. "I wasn't expecting this." You say. "Well considering you arrived here in broad daylight demanding your tribute and then saying it wasn't good enough, I figured I'd offer you a selection. All of these girls are from the nearby villages." Green Eye says. "What if I want them all?" "Well then I guess you're getting them all, far be it for me to fight a vampire that can walk around in the daytime. Interesting trick. Didn't know you guys could do that. Almost hard to believe…" "Well you saw it with your own eye." "Actually I didn't, I got the report second hand from one of my men. Granted I trust him…or rather I trust that he believes what he saw, but let's just say, I have some questions." "I'm not here to answer yours." "True, but I'm going to ask anyway, because I strongly think something weird is going on here and I'd rather we talk than it come to violence." "Of course you would, because you'd be on the losing end of that deal." "Most likely, but are you so sure? I see you've brought two friends with you, meaning you're smart enough to not take this meeting lightly." "Choose your next words carefully dwarf." "I always do. I have a hunch that we're both being set up to kill each other. I'm betting you've been talking with that treacherous dop haven't you? I bet that's even who impersonated you. It's a liar you know. All of their kind are, and I should have known better than to have one in my community. Our relationship has been cordial and can remain that way. I will even increase the tribute. We don't have to fight." Green Eye says. Something is very weird about all this. Green Eye seems a lot more relaxed than you are right now and with how much he's talking; it feels almost like he's stalling you for some purpose. Maybe he's got his men hiding elsewhere to ambush, but there really isn't any place to hide nearby. The fact that he's pointed out potential treachery of the doppelganger makes you suspicious though. For all you know Green Eye's telling the truth. > You attack Whether you're getting set up or not isn't the issue. The fact remains Green Eye has obviously still been spying on you at best and gearing up to kill you at worst. You can deal with Kayla when you return because you don't intend on dying tonight. "Kill everything!" you shout. "SHIT! FIRE!" Green Eye shouts back. Stinky and Fatty both advance forward and every one of the girls that looked so submissive, suddenly draw pistols out from their clothing and Green Eye raises his own large barreled rifle. What happens next is a bit of a blur. Your speed, your ghouls and the nervousness of the girls helps you avoid most of the shots, however at this close range you still catch one to the leg. This is enough to cause you to stumble long enough for Green Eye to pick his shot, which would have probably hit you in the head, if it wasn't for Fatty taking the silver bullet straight to his body and ripping his gut open and tearing up his insides. You roll out of the way to avoid being crushed by the falling ghoul, and scramble to get to Green Eye who is already in the process of taking his next shot. Meanwhile most of the girls that fired at you are either running, or they're being mauled by Stinky. You grab one of the girls that was trying to run and throw her hard into Green Eye. His shot goes wild as she hits him. By the time he recovers, you grab his rifle and then break it over his head. He falls and then you grab the girl you just threw and sink your teeth into her neck for a quick taste that you don't even finish. You then toss her dying bleeding out body aside and refocus your attention back to Green Eye who is trying to get back up. "OBEY VAMPIRE! O…" he shouts as one last attempt to stop you. "Not likely." You answer and then rip out his green gem eye. Green Eye (Now No Eye) screams in agony as you crush the gem. You aren't entirely sure if it ever had an effect on you, but no point in taking chances. He tries to pathetically kick at you from his prone position, but even with silver lodged in your leg, you easily move out of the way. He shouts a bunch of curses at you, some that are probably dwarven, but you finally put an end to his flailing with repeated stomps to his head. It's done. Green Eye is dead and all the bitches that were shooting at you are either dead or run off. Stinky is busily eating one of them, unconcerned with her dead husband lying nearby. You guess she's probably just happy eating and that you're alive. You have no idea if you rest of Green Eye's people are lurking in the mine or if they fled ahead of time. Chances are, without Green Eye's leadership, whatever remains of the "community" isn't going to stay together anyway. You suppose you could go hunt them down if they are in the mines, but honestly you're a little wary that Green Eye might have set up a system of traps or something to get you in case he failed. You see no reason to bother playing in tunnels trying to avoid traps and ambushes with a wounded leg. Instead you start destroying to support beams around the entrance and eventually you cause a cave in. If anyone is hiding inside, they're going to have a hell of a time digging their way out. "Come on Stinky, let's go home." You say. "Did I do good?" she asks. "A lot better than Fatty, that's for sure. Stinky makes a weird laugh and snuffles about looking for a choice piece of meat to take with her on the way home. "Oh that reminds me…" you say. When you get back to Maldito, you toss the mushy decapitated head of Green Eye towards the feet of a nearby villager who is standing "guard" as a night watch. He's a little horrified by the head, but stays put wondering what this all means. "Rejoice citizens, Green Eye and his band of cutthroats truly are no more. I have finished them off utterly. Spread the word." You announce. Your words and actions of course get the desired effect of praise from the villager, who immediately runs off to tell everyone (and considering that it's fairly late, waking most of them up). You tell Stinky to go find something to do since you've got something important to take care of. She complies and runs off back into the forest. You head to the tavern and apparently it's a slower night since not many are in. Kayla is cleaning a glass with a bored expression Everyone though looks when you enter. "Everyone except Kayla leave. Celebrate the death of our enemies outside." You say. You don't need to say it twice, everyone obeys and Kayla puts down the glass she's cleaning. "So…I take it you killed Green Eye?" she asks. "He had some interesting things to say about you before I did." You answer. "I'm not surprised. Probably was trying to save his own skin." "Probably, but I get the impression he wasn't completely wrong. Tell me the truth, did you sort of set that up hoping that we'd probably kill one another? Maybe just side with whoever came out the winner?" "No, I knew you'd win. I mean you obviously had more power than Green Eye who was essentially a crippled dwarf with a bit of magic to help him. As I said, I am loyal to you now." "Now. Interesting choice of words. Sort of implies you might not be in the future." You stare at Kayla who begins to look very nervous. "So…um…you gonna kill me too?" she asks. "Should I kill you?" you ask. "Probably not doing myself any favors, but I suppose if you wanted to play it safe, you should. However, I of course would rather you didn't. I said I could continue to help you and I meant that. There are other villages nearby, and I don't see why you can't take those over as well. I can help." "Oh, right. The little pose as me, walking around in the daytime trick to make out like I'm a REALLY powerful vampire." "Well, it's not a bad idea, you have to admit. It'll keep the rest of the ignorant villages guessing of when you'll show up or not. Plus you'll be able to directly take tribute, instead of relying on Green Eye now." "Still don't see why I really need you. I mean I could easily put the fear into any village all by myself. I can create ghouls for the daytime." "And you trust your creatures completely to not mess things up? I think we both know the answer to that. Perhaps they do learn in time, but honestly you can't afford to wait around forever for them." "Okay, this sounds all very nice, about you wanting to serve and all of that, however WHY?" "Why what?" "Why do you want to serve me, why are you helping? You can transform into anything. Surely you could probably say go to the Delantium Kingdom and pose as an aristocrat's wife and live a safe pampered life without much concern. Why risk serving a vampire for not much reward and the threat of violence done upon you? In fact why were you serving Green Eye for that matter? I can't imagine that was much better." "Well as I pointed out, Green Eye's magic gem had a little to do with my servitude to him. As for you, well you already bit me. You made it quite clear you could find me anywhere now so what's the point in me even leaving? I might as well try to make the best of this situation. Also, on top of being afraid of you, you're using your vampire powers on me, compelling me to stay." "What? I've done no such thing actually. And if I were, you wouldn't even be aware of it. Well at least I don't think you would be." "Maybe you're not aware that you're doing it. You are very alluring you know, and I have no idea why because you're even more…abrasive than Green Eye was." You're wondering if Kayla's on to something, maybe your powers are getting stronger and you have a more "commanding aura" now. You know you always felt it a bit with Isabella and it didn't really ever go away until she made you independent. You also wondering if you're starting to miss Isabella in some way. Not really on the physical side of things since you got the village girls for that (Though they aren't as good as Isabella of course) but just in other ways. For example, while you definitely don't want a return to someone being above you, you are starting to find it a bit boring talking with people that are quaking in fear all the time. You didn't think you would, but then you didn't think you'd ever be in this position either. "So, you're saying it's ALL on me huh? Somehow I'm really not buying it. I feel like you have some sort of agenda." You say. "Well, I suppose if you feel that way then I guess your choice is clear. Could you please try to not make it painful?" Kayla asks a bit meekly. "Will you stop with that already? I'm not going to kill you…well at least not today. I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt that you probably weren't rooting for me to get killed though you probably wouldn't have been that broken up about it if I had. Also I'm intrigued enough by you that I'd like to keep you around. It's somewhat more interesting to speak with someone who isn't completely fearful of me every once in awhile." "I think I've made it quite clear on many occasions that I am quite afraid of you." "Eh, yeah, but it's not the same as the rest of the mortals out there. Not to mention I don't think you're as afraid as you claim you are. But that's okay, since we seem to be on the same page with future goals, speaking of which we should start talking about those." "As you wish, you're in charge after all." You and Kayla begin you discuss your plans. > You time passes... Year 34 Maldito; the village of ghouls and your ruling capital. Though you aren't exactly sure now if what you're ruling is worth all that much. Green Eye was terrorizing the villages in the area long before you showed up and was still terrorizing them for you when you arrived. It wasn't hard to intimidate them into submission. If you killing their former tormenter wasn't enough to do it, then you being a vampire certain was. Kayla posing as "you" in the daytime, was just overkill. Maldito was eventually ghoulified completely, so if a village steps out of line, you've got an "army" to threaten them with. Though once again, it's overkill considering you could wipe out every one of the villages yourself. The ghouls are just if you need something done in the daytime instead. Ghouls really are the most loathsome creatures you've ever had to be around. Everything about them disgusts you. Their habits, their sycophantic behavior, their smell, everything. They're lower than humans and you're surrounded by them, but at least their loyalty is certain and they watch during the day. This is what "ruling" does to you, makes you paranoid. Even with as scared as you have the rest of the villages, you still believe that one of them is going to get brave enough to actually do something about it. Maybe to some degree you're even hoping one will just to break up the monotony. Still it's all yours and you don't answer to anyone. You aren't sure if these are really the "best times" though. Something is missing. You spend a lot of time trying to remember the "good old days" but really when were those? Certainly wasn't when you were enslaved by Ral, though you suppose your brief time with Lisa was the exception. You still wonder what happened to her, hopefully she's doing better than you, if she's still alive. Wasn't when you had to spend time as a magically altered freak either. Once again, your only bright spot with that was Heather trying to help you. You've been thinking about your brief reunion with her in some of these moments of introspection and you still don't feel bad about it, but you do think that she probably didn't deserve it. Just bad timing. When you were with Isabella? Well there were a lot of good times you'll admit, but if things were truly that good, you wouldn't have left. You can only imagine if Isabella saw you now, she'd probably just be shaking her head at you. She'd probably even be right to do so. She always did know better, but then you were meant to be free and that's always been your problem. Even now, ruling all these worthless peasants, you still feel like a prisoner. You haven't really been free since your days as a petty thief with your sister. Now THOSE were the good old days. You wish you could go back to those times if only for a little while. As you sit in your own underground lair (Now properly built) you sense someone living approaching. It's Kayla. You still don't know her real name, but dops don't really have them anyway so you just continue calling her by a dead tavern keeper's wife. She doesn't even use that form anymore and just stays in her "natural" one when around Moldito. She only uses human forms (or yours) outside the village. You're still a little mystified of her exact intentions. She's been with you for a couple years now and hasn't shown any sign of leaving or betrayal. You can't imagine that she's entirely happy with her lot. She's not a ghoul and she isn't a fearful ignorant human either. You're in charge and YOU'RE not entirely happy, so why would she be? She has said in the past that she's happy serving you, but really have a hard time believing that. You're a tyrannical dick. Unless, she's in love with you, but that would be weird. You actually have been actively not using any sort of suggestive powers on her just to see how she acts. Besides, she's never given that indication though again, maybe you're just bad at reading the signs of a doppelganger. "Um, am I disturbing you sir?" Kayla asks. "Not really, just living up to the stereotype of the brooding vampire I suppose. What's going on?" you respond. "Uh, dunno how to tell you this, so I might as well come out and say it, but I was doing my usual routine in one of the villages and apparently they've caught the attention of hunters." "Hunters?" "Yes, apparently a group of them were investigating the village of Ulig recently. Now I don't know if anyone said anything outright, but due to all of their suspicious behavior they might have inadvertently told the hunters something anyway. Many of the villagers I overheard seemed to be worried that they did that accidently." "Well how many of these hunters were there and where are they?" "They're currently in Sibogri, but they may be coming here soon. I dunno exactly how many there are, but apparently a sizable group. Ten maybe? Maybe more. I feel like this really can't be a coincidence and someone must have told someone about all this." "Well obviously, if there are that many. I don't even think there were that many when they were in Holgard and that was a huge city. I wouldn't be surprised if there is so many due to them hearing rumors of a day walking vampire." "Apologies sir." "What're you apologizing for?" "The daytime thing I know was mainly my idea and I was just apologizing to you for bringing this upon you." "Are you kidding? This is probably the most excitement I've had in awhile. Besides, I imagine that hunters would have come around here eventually." "So you're not mad or concerned about all this?" "Not really, it's actually a motivator." "Oh? Well what were you planning on doing then?" Well that is the question isn't it? The obvious thing to do would be to fight, but given how you've been feeling lately, you could probably very well just leave. Where would you go? You have no idea, but it's an option. In the meantime… "Kayla. Why are you still here?" you suddenly ask. "I'll leave sir. Apologies." Kayla responds. "No, not that! I mean why are you still here?" "Is…this a test?" "No! Look, what I'm asking and there is no right or wrong answer here, is why are you still here? I mean are you in love with me or something similar?" "Um…well…not exactly…it's complicated. Can we talk about something else?" "Besides the hunter thing, this day is becoming the most interesting one in years. I should have asked this question years ago. What's so complicated? You either are or you aren't." Kayla is silent for a moment due to the awkward spot you've put her in. You can see her trying to come up with an answer and after some thought… "Nope, it's still not simple, but I can try to explain if that will please you." Kayla answers. "Well better than nothing I guess. Go ahead." You answer. "As a doppelganger, we do tend towards those with power. Eventually we tend to imprint upon them unless someone better comes along. I suppose that explains why I was with Green Eye for so long. However, I was also planning to kill him eventually and take his place. That's sort of what we do." "So…you're basically admitting to me, that you were planning on killing me all along." "Well…it's complicated." "So you've said. Look, you just admitted that you were planning to kill me. I think it would be in your best interest to explain in more detail." "I honestly haven't really been planning to kill you though. I mean I assumed I would at some point, but considering I'm already impersonating you most of the time and reaping some of power thrill directly when I'm doing it, the feeling isn't as strong. Muted in fact." "And that's it?" "There's also the fact that you created a bunch of ghouls that I wouldn't be able to control since they know I'm not really you. Not to mention I don't think I'd be able to kill you, so I'm sort of stuck and now it's gotten to the point where I'm comfortable in my position and don't really feel a desire to leave. I mean I could, but I'd probably feel really lost for a while as I tried to find a suitable role equal in status to this one and that's not the greatest feeling for a doppelganger." Well more enlightenment on the race of doppelgangers, but you notice she didn't entirely answer the original question. Doesn't matter you suppose, you're going to do what you want anyway, but there is one more important question. "So you're saying that if I fight these hunters, you aren't going to suddenly switch sides again?" you ask. "Not likely sir. Hunter types tend to be nomadic and have no real hierarchy. Also they are constantly seeking out vampires and the like to kill. I already know enough about vampires that I don't want to be hunting them on a regular basis. I'm with you sir." Kayla responds. Well, that's something you guess. "We're going to fight." You say. "Never expected anything different sir. So how are we going to go about this?" Kayla asks. "We need to gather a bit more information. If they aren't staying in the villages themselves, then that means they must be making camp in the forest. Maybe send Stinky…no wait not her. Send Lurky, to scout the nearby forest area. He tends to be quieter and smells less pungent than most of the other ghouls. I want you to keep doing your usual routine of blending in at the other villages. Try to gather as much information as possible. As for me, I'm going to start building up the defenses on this place. Probably should have done it years ago." "You think you have time to build a wall?" "No, but I once was a rogue and I knew how to set traps. Didn't do it often, but I knew how. If the hunters storm this place, it isn't just ghouls and me; they're going to have to deal with. The only thing I'll need to worry about are the ghouls accidently setting them off, but I think I can probably make them understand where they can go and where they can't. Let the rest of them know though, that I'm going to address them all as soon as it goes dark, so they all better be around." Kayla nods and goes to carry out your orders. Meanwhile you work on a few things until it's dark so you can address your ghouls. You address what's going on to your ghouls who of course all listen intently. They're actually eager to go fight right now, but you tell them there will be time for that soon. You tell them to start digging holes and placing sharpened sticks, spikes and then camouflaging them. Not all the houses are used in the village anymore since the ghouls seem to all like just staying outside and only really enter the bigger village hall if the sun especially bothers them. You deicide to trap some of these abandoned homes since you imagine the hunters will be meticulous enough to search every home. You spend the next few days doing this and then eventually you get a report from Kayla who has some interesting news. "Wait, so they're torturing people?" you say. "Yeah and they apparently got people doing this in several villages. They aren't letting anyone go either." Kayla says. "How many of these assholes are there?" "I still don't have an exact number, but it's looking like more than ten. Maybe fifty and I don't think this is just hunters, the Church of Joachim is getting mentioned a lot, along with terms like purging and cleansing." "Shit, this is a fucking crusade. How the hell did we not see something this large coming?" "Well we are a bit isolated even compared to the other villages, but I apologize sir, I probably should have noticed something sooner." "It's done now. Lurky hasn't even come back yet, so who knows if he's still alive. This is starting to look like more trouble than it's worth. What the hell am I really fight for anyway?" Kayla doesn't respond, she just shifts a bit nervously at your rise in temper. You think about your options, and just flat out leaving seems like a perfectly valid one. > You fight It may not be much and you may not entirely be satisfied with it, but this is your home for now and if you're ever going to leave it, it's going to be on your own terms, it won't be due to getting run off. You calm down a bit and gather your thoughts. "Okay, if these are also Joachimites that we're also dealing with, they're also going to have holy men and possibly even a little magic. We can't really afford to just wait for them to come to us, because I've run into these fanatics back in Holgard and they will absolutely kill every villagers if they think it's Joachim's will." "I don't know much about the human gods, and nothing about Joachim, but from what I heard, I don't doubt it." Kayla says. "Well generally the Joachimites are supposed to be pacifists, but occasionally you get a very militant sect and they can make a follower of Karn look like pussies by comparison. In any case, this could work in our favor. If they're torturing the hell out of the villagers, those same villagers are probably looking for their undead savior. Meaning me. Now I could go at night, but I'd like to keep up the illusion of walking around in the day. So I want you to take about twenty ghouls including Stinky and go wipe out any hunters or Joachimites at Ulig for starters. I also want you to encourage the villagers to start resisting the fanatics a lot better than they have been doing obviously." Kayla doesn't look confident in your orders. "Um…" "Problem?" you ask. "While the ghouls leave me be and some of them will even listen to me if I say the orders come from you, but you're asking me to herd twenty of them into battle. I just don't think they're going to listen to me like that." "Just say I'm giving the order or hell, bring Stinky and I'll tell her and she can relay the rest…" "It's uh, not that sir. I…um…the ghouls don't like me. Never have. I think they believe I shouldn't be so close to you when none of them get to be. I mean if it wasn't for you, I'm fairly certain they'd attack me." "Of course they would, but I'm here, so they won't." "That still doesn't mean they're going to be totally obedient to me. Even when I'm in your form they don't like it. I believe they find my scent offensive." "Wait, they're offended by YOUR smell? I don't think I've ever detected any sort of scent from you. It's as bland as your near featureless appearance." "Maybe that's problem. I'd probably have more success if I smelled more like you." "So what are you getting at exactly? You saying you need to rub up against me or something?" "Well I was suggesting something a little more than that. If we could be physically intimate, I believe I could adequately copy your scent and commanding presence…" You've practically got an army of religious fanatic vampire killers beating down your door and Kayla wants your dick. You'd laugh if this situation wasn't so serious…actually you laugh anyway. "Are you seriously telling me you want to have sex with me right now?" you say. "I know it seems like a weird time given all that's going on, but it really would help with the task you've assigned to me." Kayla responds. "I don't see...fuck it. If it's going to help, let's get to it. However, you're going to have to change first. I mean maybe you're a beauty right now to other doppys, but you're just not doing it for me in your natural form." "Understandable. Um, is there any particular form you would like?" "I dunno, surprise me? Wait, on second thought, don't surprise me." "I think I know of a form that will please you. I've heard you describe her enough to me that I think I can copy her." "Wait, who are you…oh." And before your eyes, you see Kayla transform into the image of Isabella, well ALMOST the image of her. She's not a perfect match since she's only working by your description and one major thing that's standing out is the eyes. Her eyes are still those blank white orbs. "Well? Does this work?" Kayla asks a bit hopefully. "I suppose it'll have to, because we don't have time for you to get it perfect. Well let's get this done. Now is there anything I should know about? I mean you aren't going to start transforming into a gray blob or something in the middle of this are you?" "Not unless you want me too sir." "Good and no I don't. Okay, come over here." Kayla comes over to you and the first thing she does is kiss you on the lips and puts her arms around you. It's weird, for multiple reasons. Least of which is because you're embracing something that looks like "Isabella" but obviously isn't her. While you appreciate the attempt at illusion, those white orb eyes are destroying it. "Hold on, stop." You say. "Did I do something wrong?" Kayla asks. "Not as such, but…you're going to have to turn around and bend over for this." "Oh, okay." During the act, Kayla takes every opportunity to insist that you rub her body and press up against her as much as possible as she wants to get your full "essence." While she said she wasn't going to turn into a gray blob during this, she starts having a very "squishy" feeling to you. It's almost like her body is partially melding on to yours. She tells you to hold her tighter and goes on about how good this all feels to her. You're a little reluctant to do so since it isn't like Kayla's a vampire and you could easily break her if you used all your strength, but then again, you partially feel like you're fucking water. And that of course makes you concerned that she's going to envelope you or something. None of that happens though, and after an "interesting" time with Kayla, you feel even weirder about it all and there's a sticky gray coating on most of your body. "Ew." You quietly say to yourself. "That was wonderful! I've never known someone so intimately like that! I could really feel all your power! It was all so intoxicating! Mmmm." Kayla says and continues to rub up against you and putting your arms around her body. She's in complete ecstasy and while you're not surprised due to your magnificent sexual prowess, there's shit that needs to be done. "Look, you think you can take lead the ghouls now?" you say and start separating yourself from her. (Which isn't easy since you seem to be literally sticking to her) "Yes, I think it should be easier now." "Good, get going. I want this done." "Very well sir." Kayla looks a little disappointed that you're already shoving her out the door, but you had no plans on making this a permanent "thing" anyway. It's going to be a little weird now though. However, you don't want low morale so… "Kayla, just remember if it starts looking bad, make a strategic retreat. I can always make more ghouls, but I can't replace you." "Why thank you sir! And I will, but hopefully it won't come to that." Kayla responds with a smile before transforming into you and leaving. Well, now things are going to be even weirder, but you'll worry about that later. All you can do now is wait and hope that the attack is successful. As it gets dark, you start to grow impatient and begin to suspect the worst, but Kayla returns. Not many ghouls follow her, but she's back. She knows how much you hate interacting with "yourself" so she transforms back into her natural form. "You're back, I was just about to go to Ulig myself. I trust it was a success?" You say. "It was, though as you can see, there were many casualties. Most of the ghouls I took with me died, including Stinky. A lot of the villagers were also massacred as well, but I believe they are more determined to fight against the fanatics after my speech to them." Kayla says. "Okay, it's the start. I'm going to head to Yilbov. It's the next closest village to us and hopefully they don't know what's gone on in Ulig yet, but I trust you let nobody escape." "No, none of them fled in the first place. They fought to the death." "Good. That's exactly what I'm going to give them." "Wait, don't you want anyone to go with you?" "No, I'm going to do this myself and stealthy because they're probably going to be even more alert for trouble. Better if I go alone rather than having ghouls tipping my hand. It's been awhile since I've done it this way, so it'll be fun for me." "As you wish sir. Just be careful. The hunters and Joachimites we encountered were well prepared. Silver shot, silver weapons, even bombs." "Not surprised but…" Just as you're about to complete your sentence, you see a ghoul running towards you. It's Lurky. He looks severely wounded. "Master! Master!" he shouts. "Lurky? Thought you might be dead. What the hell happened to you?" You answer. "I almost was! Caught and tortured! There are many many hunters and those crazy worshippers in the forest! A large camp!" "How many?" "Lots! Well…none now." "Wait, you telling me that YOU killed them all?" "No! I didn't even kill one! Had help! Someone like you!" "Someone like me? Wait…another vampire?" Before you even put the pieces together, a familiar figure arrives and gets all the ghouls attention in town. It isn't due to her naked body though, it's because this is a woman of great power and dominance. "Sir…is that…" Kayla asks. "Yes, that's her and if she's here, it can't be good." Isabella has arrived and judging by the look of distain on her face, she's not in the best of moods. She throws several ghouls out of her way and tells them to back off. They comply, but the fact they're all in awe of her and ignoring you completely is telling of how much power she's currently displaying. Even Kayla looks a bit entranced by her. Isabella approaches you and you just stand there like prey. Fortunately she just slaps the hell out of you. You take it since you don't have much choice and nobody is rushing to help you either. You rub your face and address Isabella. "Hello Isabella, you're looking as lovely as …" "Don't fucking flatter me, I know how good I look! Ugh…this place…its crawling with ghouls. I don't know how you can stand the filth or the smell. I feel dirty just standing here. I understand you need humans to kick around, but I thought I taught you better than to associate with ghouls. Have you REALLY looked at the company you're keeping?" "Yes, I'm well aware Isabella." "Are you? Because I think if you thought about it, you'd realize that hanging around with humans, ghouls, and…shit…I don't even know what you're supposed to be." Isabella says temporary distracted by Kayla. "I'm a doppelganger. Heard much about you. Pleasure to meet you at last." Kayla says with a little bow. Isabella turns back to you. "Well, at least you have someone around here with a little class I guess." "Isabella, what are you even doing here? I thought you never wanted to see me again." You ask. "And I would have been glad to oblige. However, your actions here had consequences. Severe ones. Did you really think that you could just conquer a bunch of villages and it NOT cause any attention? My home is ruined thanks to you." "Wait, what?" "I suppose its more fool me for not paying more attention to your actions, I just didn't expect you to stir up a fucking crusade. The large group of Joachimites and hunters marched through Dert and burned the entire village. The poor dumb bastards never even knew there was a vampire living nearby." "They destroyed Dert?" "Yes, and by the time I found out about it, the crusade had already moved on towards your area. I might have known sooner, but I had already stocked up on villagers previously and had food for a while. In any case, my reliable food source was destroyed and I went to hunt the assholes who did it. Eventually I caught up with them and found your minion getting tortured. After killing most of them with only one or two managing to get away, I turned my attention to him. Of course your loyal minion told me everything that he didn't tell his captors for obvious reasons, however I sort of suspected you were the cause of all this anyway. I warned you and you didn't listen. You never listen…" And you feel like you're in the crypt again… Still, as usual she's sort of right. Doesn't mean you like it though. "Okay, I get it. So I take it you're here to help?" you say. "Help? Well that is an interesting dilemma. If you weren't involved, I'd probably finish off the rest of these fanatics and hunters myself and be on my way, but considering that you are involved, I'm tempted to just take off and leave you to deal with the rest of the situation. I've probably killed enough of them to qualify as revenge and it's not going to change the fact that I need to find a new place to live since my livestock has all been killed." Isabella says. "Can't you just go to Holgard or prey upon travellers nearby?" "Yes, I suppose I could, but ugh…that's not ideal. Then again neither is looking for a new home. In any case, I'm still not convinced on helping you." "Um…Miss…Isabella? If I may…" Kayla says. "Actually under normal circumstances, you may not, however since I'm more willing to listen to a complete stranger right now rather than my ex, you might as well dare to address me. Say what you have to doppelganger." Isabella remarks. "I…we…would be most grateful for your help. While you may have eliminated a great camp in the forest, there are still many enemies currently occupying the villages in the nearby area and as you said, one or two from the camp you destroyed got away. I can only imagine they are already on their way to warn their fellows which means they will be more prepared. I think we would be able to handle this situation much easier with your superior skills assuming you wish to help us, oh great mistress of the night." Isabella cocks her head to the side listening to Kayla trying to appeal to her sense of vanity. "Where did you find this one? It's good at this. It's respectful without being excessively annoying like a ghoul or quaking in fear like a human, and it almost comes off as sincere. It may even be sincere. However, I'm not actually interested in hearing your minions beg on your behalf. I'd rather hear YOU do it." "What for? I mean you either care enough about your revenge or you don't. I mean I was planning on taking care of this myself before you showed up anyway…" Kayla suddenly goes over to you. "Sir, I really think we should take her help. There are an awful lot of hunters still alive and we would probably lose less humans and ghouls with your ex helping us. It will just be better in the long run." > You ask Isabella for help It would be the pragmatic thing to do. Isabella is a lot more powerful than you are and at the very least, it'll make all of this go a lot easier and quicker. You put up with Isabella's superior attitude for years, you can put up with it for this small moment. Also there is a small part…well a little more than small actually, that misses her. "Isabella, and I do mean this sincerely, I would like your assistance on this task. I fucked up, and should have thought about consequences of trying to carve out some sort of empire of sorts. Especially when I don't have much help to begin with. I got drunk with power and overly confident about everything. So again, if it will appease you, I'm begging for your aid." You say. Isabella looks at you as you try to look as humble as possible to her. "Nice. Not as convincing as your doppelganger though." Isabella remarks. "What? I'm being sincere! I really do want your help!" "Yes, I know you do and I even know you mean it, but my concern is, are you actually going to LEARN from any of this? I seriously have my doubts about that. Chances are when all this is over, you'll go right back to doing the same thing, perhaps even believing that you'll do it better next time." "So, you're not helping." "I didn't say that, stop presuming my actions!" Isabella snaps. There's a pause and then Isabella shakes her head. "By the gods I'm too sentimental for old flames sometimes…" she says to herself. "I will help you, but this is the last time! If you decide to continue acting like an idiot after this, you're on your own. Okay, give me the lay of the land so I know exactly where we're attacking." As soon as Isabella is given a map of the area and told where certain places are specifically, she seems uninterested in the specifics and repeatedly says she'll take care of most of the remaining villages tonight and any remaining ones she'll deal with tomorrow night. In the meantime you proceed with your own plan of going to Yilbov. Kayla stays behind with the ghouls. By the time you get to Yilbov, it feels like a very familiar scene. Namely when Green Eye's men were pillaging Maldito, though minus the rape and double the torture and burning alive. "FOLLOWERS OF THE EVIL SPAWN MUST BE PURGED! THE WILL OF JOACHIM DEMANDS IT! NOW REPENT AND ACCEPT THE MERCY OF JOACHIM BEFORE THE RIGHTEOUS FIRE CLEANSES YOUR FILTHY SOUL!" Several villagers are tied to stakes and begging for their lives. Some are saying they were forced to serve you, others claim ignorance, and none of it does any good of course. The fanatics are burning some infidels tonight and that's that. Meanwhile there are several hunters patrolling the village in groups of two. You manage to actually take out four of them before alerting everyone to your presence. It was a good try at least. "IT'S THE VAMPIRE! KILL IT! KILL IT NOW!" the head zealot shouts and quickly burns the rest of the villagers tied to stakes. Gunfire, crossbow bolts, and silver throwing knives are all fired or hurled in your direction. It's a bit chaotic with all the villagers running around, but at least some of them are taking hits for you, though perhaps not voluntarily. You take down several Joachimites, before the head zealot calls forth a beam of light from his hands and aims it at you. "FEEL JOACHIM'S BURNING LIGHT, DEMON OF THE NIGHT!" You feel it all right too, and it hurts like hell when it briefly hits your chest. You quickly get a nearby villager to use as a shield, but it doesn't work, you soon smell flesh burning as the beam burns right through the villager. You get temporary relief by ducking behind a house. The problem lies with the zealot being on a high platform in an open area and his spell seemingly following you without error. You peek behind the corner and see that he's still yelling about killing you all the while his victims are screaming and burning close around him. While you're pondering your best move to get to him, you get shot in your side by a hunter. His next shot would have been your head had you not been quick enough to dodge. You rush the hunter and break his neck with ease and trying to ignore the pain of the silver now lodged in your body. "Shit…need to finish this asshole. What this…oh this might work." You say and find a spherical metal object on the body of the hunter. It's a firebomb. You grab it and the body of the hunter and go to face the zealot again. "YOU CANNOT HIDE BLOOD LEECH! THE LIGHT WILL ALWAYS FIND YOU!" the zealot says as his light beams hit the body of the hunter. You smell the burn and it won't be long before it goes through, but you hopefully don't need that long. You throw the firebomb at the zealot, which misses, but it didn't need to hit him and you weren't aiming at him anyway. You just needed it to hit one of the burning villagers near him. Before you know it an explosion occurs showering the entire area with wood, flames, and body parts. You continue to use the body as a shield. Last thing you need is a random piece of wood flying into your heart. After the destruction has died down a bit, the remainder of the Joachimite fanatics clumsily try to bash your head in with silver cudgels. They fail and join the rest of the dead. And there are certainly a lot of them. This village is in complete ruins. Most of the villagers are dead or hiding, a few though are angry. "YOU! You brought this upon us all! Even Green Eye was better than this! You've been preying upon all of us and it stops today!" someone shouts and then you feel a silver bolt in your back. "Agh! Fuck! Ungrateful wretches!" you exclaim and turn your attention to the group of peasants that have grabbed hunter weapons to finish you off. They have about as much success as they did. Your wrath is swift and brutal. After putting down the minor peasant revolt, you address any villagers still around, but hiding. "If you still wish to live under my protection, you had best find shelter in the nearby village of Ulig. If not, then I suggest you take to the wilderness now, and forget about this place for the rest of your short lives." You take your leave of the village and head back home. A little slower than usual due to all the silver in the side of your body. You're going to have to get Kayla to help fish the stuff out. Eventually you get back home and find that Isabella is already in your lair and speaking with Kayla! They're seemingly having a friendly conversation as well. "Oh that doesn't surprise me, he's always been like that. I think his parents must have… oh speaking of which, look who just came back. Sheesh, you look a little worn." Isabella says. "Um, welcome back sir! I was just talking with Isabella." Kayla says a bit more nervously. "Yes, I've been finding Kayla an excellent conversationalist and it's rare I find those." "Hm, while you two were talking I've been getting shot full of silver! I thought you were going to help!" you exclaim. "I did and I finished." "…but…you couldn't have! How many villages did you get to? "Three. Five was how many you had right? You already dealt with one and I assume you just dealt with the other. Also, I managed to save most of your little humans in the process. You know what your problem is? You have too many villages to look after. You should just group all your followers in one big place. It'll be easier for you to rule that way, if you're going to insist on doing this." You have no words you just sit down still in pain. You think Kayla is going to ask if you're okay or go see to you, but instead she continues to hang around Isabella. "Hey, that's a good idea Isabella. See? Isn't it good you begged her for help?" Kayla says. "Best idea ever obviously." You say. "Okay I know what the problem is, your girlfriend isn't showing you proper attention, am I right?" Isabella says. "What?!" you answer. "Um…" Kayla stutters. Isabella looks at the pair of you back and forth. "Well that's what you two are right? I mean I've gotten a vibe between the pair of you and I'm usually not wrong on these sorts of things." "No!" you say. "Um…I suppose it's complicated." Kayla responds. "What's so complicated? Not like anyone else is in the middle of this…wait, he's not fucking a ghoul is he? Because that would be…" "I'm not fucking a ghoul!" "Then what's the problem? You two are fucking right?" "No!" you say. "Um…it's complicated." Kayla responds again. Isabella start to laugh a bit and you're getting annoyed. Kayla just remains silent. "What's so fucking funny?" you exclaim. "You of course. We're not together, do you actually think I care what you're fucking now?" Isabella says. "That's not the point." "Okay, look since I'm not going to get a straight answer from you, I'll ask your girlfriend. Have you two been intimate? Don't worry, I don't care." "Well, we have, but it was only once and I sort of talked him into it because it was part of a plan." Kayla answers. "Oh this just gets better. Talked him into it huh? I'm sure you didn't need to try very hard." "Okay, you've had a good laugh, but I don't see why this is any of your concern." You say. Isabella stands up and gives you a serious look. "I'll tell you why, because your actions have had consequences in my life for quite some time. From the moment you showed up at my crypt begging me for Gray Moss for Ral, to the moment when you had that frozen curse and even now you brought a crusade on my doorstep. You've been quite troublesome since we met, but I've been talking with Kayla here and I've found some illumination which I didn't expect to." "And that would be?" "That would be despite it all, I've always helped you out because I like you. And because I do, I'm going to go back on my word and help you again." And before your eyes, Isabella spins around and with one quick move she rips Kayla's head off and throws it across the room and into the wall behind you. You stand up as Kayla's headless body leaks gray goo from the body. "SHIT! What the fuck did you do that for?!" you exclaim. "What? You didn't actually love it did you?" Isabella asks. "No! But…she was a useful servant!" "She was serving nobody but herself. I talked with that one long enough to see that. You can't trust doppys." "Thought you said you never saw a doppelganger before." "I haven't, or at least not one in its natural form, but in any case I didn't say I didn't know anything about them. You don't live for centuries without reading tomes and books about things every now and then. That doppy had sex with you, meaning it most definitely gathered enough of your presence to take the next step, which was to copy you perfectly, dispose of you and take over." "What? No, that can't be right." "I'm serious. Have I ever lied to you?" "I suppose not, but still…" "Hell, it was getting friendly with me when you weren't here. I wouldn't have been surprised if it would have turned into you and then later some where down the road tried to get close to me in your form. Wouldn't have worked of course, I would have known that it wasn't you. Anyway, I should get going, it'll be dawn soon and I'm going to have to dig a hole in the ground. It's so undignified, but it is what it is." "You're leaving?" "Well, I told you I was just here to help. What, you weren't hoping I killed the doppy because I wanted to get back with you did you?" "Would it really be so bad?" Isabella walks over to you and kisses you. "No, but we're obviously in different places right now. Tell you what, assuming you survive another century, come find me in the Delantium Kingdom." "You not going back home?" "No, because you're most likely going to still be fucking around here and possibly drawing attention to yourself again, plus it's not going to be the same with Dert gone. Besides maybe I need a change of scenery anyway. Going to miss the garden, but I can make another one elsewhere, better maybe. Who knows? See you around." You watch as Isabella walks toward the exit of your lair, but before she leaves she stops. "Before I go, tell me. When you were intimate with the dop, did she look like me at the time?" Isabella asks. "Well… sort of…but not quite. It's complicated." You answer. "I knew it." Isabella laughs and leaves. It's been an eventful night and you've got a lot to do tomorrow night, but for now, you're going to get some rest.

It may not be much and you may not entirely be satisfied with it, but this is your home for now and if you're ever going to leave it, it's going to be on your own terms, it won't be due to getting run off. You calm down a bit and gather your thoughts. "Okay, if these are also Joachimites that we're also dealing with, they're also going to have holy men and possibly even a little magic. We can't really afford to just wait for them to come to us, because I've run into these fanatics back in Holgard and they will absolutely kill every villagers if they think it's Joachim's will." "I don't know much about the human gods, and nothing about Joachim, but from what I heard, I don't doubt it." Kayla says. "Well generally the Joachimites are supposed to be pacifists, but occasionally you get a very militant sect and they can make a follower of Karn look like pussies by comparison. In any case, this could work in our favor. If they're torturing the hell out of the villagers, those same villagers are probably looking for their undead savior. Meaning me. Now I could go at night, but I'd like to keep up the illusion of walking around in the day. So I want you to take about twenty ghouls including Stinky and go wipe out any hunters or Joachimites at Ulig for starters. I also want you to encourage the villagers to start resisting the fanatics a lot better than they have been doing obviously." Kayla doesn't look confident in your orders. "Um…" "Problem?" you ask. "While the ghouls leave me be and some of them will even listen to me if I say the orders come from you, but you're asking me to herd twenty of them into battle. I just don't think they're going to listen to me like that." "Just say I'm giving the order or hell, bring Stinky and I'll tell her and she can relay the rest…" "It's uh, not that sir. I…um…the ghouls don't like me. Never have. I think they believe I shouldn't be so close to you when none of them get to be. I mean if it wasn't for you, I'm fairly certain they'd attack me." "Of course they would, but I'm here, so they won't." "That still doesn't mean they're going to be totally obedient to me. Even when I'm in your form they don't like it. I believe they find my scent offensive." "Wait, they're offended by YOUR smell? I don't think I've ever detected any sort of scent from you. It's as bland as your near featureless appearance." "Maybe that's problem. I'd probably have more success if I smelled more like you." "So what are you getting at exactly? You saying you need to rub up against me or something?" "Well I was suggesting something a little more than that. If we could be physically intimate, I believe I could adequately copy your scent and commanding presence…" You've practically got an army of religious fanatic vampire killers beating down your door and Kayla wants your dick. You'd laugh if this situation wasn't so serious…actually you laugh anyway. "Are you seriously telling me you want to have sex with me right now?" you say. "I know it seems like a weird time given all that's going on, but it really would help with the task you've assigned to me." Kayla responds. "I don't see...fuck it. If it's going to help, let's get to it. However, you're going to have to change first. I mean maybe you're a beauty right now to other doppys, but you're just not doing it for me in your natural form." "Understandable. Um, is there any particular form you would like?" "I dunno, surprise me? Wait, on second thought, don't surprise me." "I think I know of a form that will please you. I've heard you describe her enough to me that I think I can copy her." "Wait, who are you…oh." And before your eyes, you see Kayla transform into the image of Isabella, well ALMOST the image of her. She's not a perfect match since she's only working by your description and one major thing that's standing out is the eyes. Her eyes are still those blank white orbs. "Well? Does this work?" Kayla asks a bit hopefully. "I suppose it'll have to, because we don't have time for you to get it perfect. Well let's get this done. Now is there anything I should know about? I mean you aren't going to start transforming into a gray blob or something in the middle of this are you?" "Not unless you want me too sir." "Good and no I don't. Okay, come over here." Kayla comes over to you and the first thing she does is kiss you on the lips and puts her arms around you. It's weird, for multiple reasons. Least of which is because you're embracing something that looks like "Isabella" but obviously isn't her. While you appreciate the attempt at illusion, those white orb eyes are destroying it. "Hold on, stop." You say. "Did I do something wrong?" Kayla asks. "Not as such, but…you're going to have to turn around and bend over for this." "Oh, okay." During the act, Kayla takes every opportunity to insist that you rub her body and press up against her as much as possible as she wants to get your full "essence." While she said she wasn't going to turn into a gray blob during this, she starts having a very "squishy" feeling to you. It's almost like her body is partially melding on to yours. She tells you to hold her tighter and goes on about how good this all feels to her. You're a little reluctant to do so since it isn't like Kayla's a vampire and you could easily break her if you used all your strength, but then again, you partially feel like you're fucking water. And that of course makes you concerned that she's going to envelope you or something. None of that happens though, and after an "interesting" time with Kayla, you feel even weirder about it all and there's a sticky gray coating on most of your body. "Ew." You quietly say to yourself. "That was wonderful! I've never known someone so intimately like that! I could really feel all your power! It was all so intoxicating! Mmmm." Kayla says and continues to rub up against you and putting your arms around her body. She's in complete ecstasy and while you're not surprised due to your magnificent sexual prowess, there's shit that needs to be done. "Look, you think you can take lead the ghouls now?" you say and start separating yourself from her. (Which isn't easy since you seem to be literally sticking to her) "Yes, I think it should be easier now." "Good, get going. I want this done." "Very well sir." Kayla looks a little disappointed that you're already shoving her out the door, but you had no plans on making this a permanent "thing" anyway. It's going to be a little weird now though. However, you don't want low morale so… "Kayla, just remember if it starts looking bad, make a strategic retreat. I can always make more ghouls, but I can't replace you." "Why thank you sir! And I will, but hopefully it won't come to that." Kayla responds with a smile before transforming into you and leaving. Well, now things are going to be even weirder, but you'll worry about that later. All you can do now is wait and hope that the attack is successful. As it gets dark, you start to grow impatient and begin to suspect the worst, but Kayla returns. Not many ghouls follow her, but she's back. She knows how much you hate interacting with "yourself" so she transforms back into her natural form. "You're back, I was just about to go to Ulig myself. I trust it was a success?" You say. "It was, though as you can see, there were many casualties. Most of the ghouls I took with me died, including Stinky. A lot of the villagers were also massacred as well, but I believe they are more determined to fight against the fanatics after my speech to them." Kayla says. "Okay, it's the start. I'm going to head to Yilbov. It's the next closest village to us and hopefully they don't know what's gone on in Ulig yet, but I trust you let nobody escape." "No, none of them fled in the first place. They fought to the death." "Good. That's exactly what I'm going to give them." "Wait, don't you want anyone to go with you?" "No, I'm going to do this myself and stealthy because they're probably going to be even more alert for trouble. Better if I go alone rather than having ghouls tipping my hand. It's been awhile since I've done it this way, so it'll be fun for me." "As you wish sir. Just be careful. The hunters and Joachimites we encountered were well prepared. Silver shot, silver weapons, even bombs." "Not surprised but…" Just as you're about to complete your sentence, you see a ghoul running towards you. It's Lurky. He looks severely wounded. "Master! Master!" he shouts. "Lurky? Thought you might be dead. What the hell happened to you?" You answer. "I almost was! Caught and tortured! There are many many hunters and those crazy worshippers in the forest! A large camp!" "How many?" "Lots! Well…none now." "Wait, you telling me that YOU killed them all?" "No! I didn't even kill one! Had help! Someone like you!" "Someone like me? Wait…another vampire?" Before you even put the pieces together, a familiar figure arrives and gets all the ghouls attention in town. It isn't due to her naked body though, it's because this is a woman of great power and dominance. "Sir…is that…" Kayla asks. "Yes, that's her and if she's here, it can't be good." Isabella has arrived and judging by the look of distain on her face, she's not in the best of moods. She throws several ghouls out of her way and tells them to back off. They comply, but the fact they're all in awe of her and ignoring you completely is telling of how much power she's currently displaying. Even Kayla looks a bit entranced by her. Isabella approaches you and you just stand there like prey. Fortunately she just slaps the hell out of you. You take it since you don't have much choice and nobody is rushing to help you either. You rub your face and address Isabella. "Hello Isabella, you're looking as lovely as …" "Don't fucking flatter me, I know how good I look! Ugh…this place…its crawling with ghouls. I don't know how you can stand the filth or the smell. I feel dirty just standing here. I understand you need humans to kick around, but I thought I taught you better than to associate with ghouls. Have you REALLY looked at the company you're keeping?" "Yes, I'm well aware Isabella." "Are you? Because I think if you thought about it, you'd realize that hanging around with humans, ghouls, and…shit…I don't even know what you're supposed to be." Isabella says temporary distracted by Kayla. "I'm a doppelganger. Heard much about you. Pleasure to meet you at last." Kayla says with a little bow. Isabella turns back to you. "Well, at least you have someone around here with a little class I guess." "Isabella, what are you even doing here? I thought you never wanted to see me again." You ask. "And I would have been glad to oblige. However, your actions here had consequences. Severe ones. Did you really think that you could just conquer a bunch of villages and it NOT cause any attention? My home is ruined thanks to you." "Wait, what?" "I suppose its more fool me for not paying more attention to your actions, I just didn't expect you to stir up a fucking crusade. The large group of Joachimites and hunters marched through Dert and burned the entire village. The poor dumb bastards never even knew there was a vampire living nearby." "They destroyed Dert?" "Yes, and by the time I found out about it, the crusade had already moved on towards your area. I might have known sooner, but I had already stocked up on villagers previously and had food for a while. In any case, my reliable food source was destroyed and I went to hunt the assholes who did it. Eventually I caught up with them and found your minion getting tortured. After killing most of them with only one or two managing to get away, I turned my attention to him. Of course your loyal minion told me everything that he didn't tell his captors for obvious reasons, however I sort of suspected you were the cause of all this anyway. I warned you and you didn't listen. You never listen…" And you feel like you're in the crypt again… Still, as usual she's sort of right. Doesn't mean you like it though. "Okay, I get it. So I take it you're here to help?" you say. "Help? Well that is an interesting dilemma. If you weren't involved, I'd probably finish off the rest of these fanatics and hunters myself and be on my way, but considering that you are involved, I'm tempted to just take off and leave you to deal with the rest of the situation. I've probably killed enough of them to qualify as revenge and it's not going to change the fact that I need to find a new place to live since my livestock has all been killed." Isabella says. "Can't you just go to Holgard or prey upon travellers nearby?" "Yes, I suppose I could, but ugh…that's not ideal. Then again neither is looking for a new home. In any case, I'm still not convinced on helping you." "Um…Miss…Isabella? If I may…" Kayla says. "Actually under normal circumstances, you may not, however since I'm more willing to listen to a complete stranger right now rather than my ex, you might as well dare to address me. Say what you have to doppelganger." Isabella remarks. "I…we…would be most grateful for your help. While you may have eliminated a great camp in the forest, there are still many enemies currently occupying the villages in the nearby area and as you said, one or two from the camp you destroyed got away. I can only imagine they are already on their way to warn their fellows which means they will be more prepared. I think we would be able to handle this situation much easier with your superior skills assuming you wish to help us, oh great mistress of the night." Isabella cocks her head to the side listening to Kayla trying to appeal to her sense of vanity. "Where did you find this one? It's good at this. It's respectful without being excessively annoying like a ghoul or quaking in fear like a human, and it almost comes off as sincere. It may even be sincere. However, I'm not actually interested in hearing your minions beg on your behalf. I'd rather hear YOU do it." "What for? I mean you either care enough about your revenge or you don't. I mean I was planning on taking care of this myself before you showed up anyway…" Kayla suddenly goes over to you. "Sir, I really think we should take her help. There are an awful lot of hunters still alive and we would probably lose less humans and ghouls with your ex helping us. It will just be better in the long run." > You refuse Isabella's help Considering Isabella has seemingly already wiped out a majority of the fanatics, your task is going to be a lot easier now. She's already helped enough; you aren't going to beg her for more help especially if she's going to be telling you what to do the whole time. You still like her and all, but there was a reason you didn't work out. "Isabella, I appreciate the assistance you have already given, but I think we can all handle it from here." Isabella briefly looks insulted, but she quickly hides it. Seems she figured you'd give in. "I see. Well if that's how you feel about it, then I shall take my leave. Good luck I suppose. I mean that in general, since even if you do succeed I doubt you're actually going to learn any sort of lesson from it all. I can imagine that the same thing will happen again five years down the road and I'm certainly not going to be anywhere near here when it does. Guess I'll see what the Delantium Kingdom is like this time of year. Goodbye." Without another word, Isabella takes her leave. Kayla suggests that you reconsider, but you tell her to remember her position, as it isn't her call in the first place. "Very well sir didn't mean to overstep my boundaries." She says. "I'm going Yilbov, I'll be back as soon as I can." You say and take your leave as well. By the time you get to Yilbov, it feels like a very familiar scene. Namely when Green Eye's men were pillaging Maldito, though minus the rape and double the torture and burning alive. "FOLLOWERS OF THE EVIL SPAWN MUST BE PURGED! THE WILL OF JOACHIM DEMANDS IT! NOW REPENT AND ACCEPT THE MERCY OF JOACHIM BEFORE THE RIGHTEOUS FIRE CLEANSES YOUR FILTHY SOUL!" Several villagers are tied to stakes and begging for their lives. Some are saying they were forced to serve you, others claim ignorance, and none of it does any good of course. The fanatics are burning some infidels tonight and that's that. Meanwhile there are several hunters patrolling the village in groups of two. You manage to actually take out four of them before alerting everyone to your presence. It was a good try at least. "IT'S THE VAMPIRE! KILL IT! KILL IT NOW!" the head zealot shouts and quickly burns the rest of the villagers tied to stakes. Gunfire, crossbow bolts, and silver throwing knives are all fired or hurled in your direction. It's a bit chaotic with all the villagers running around, but at least some of them are taking hits for you, though perhaps not voluntarily. You take down several Joachimites, before the head zealot calls forth a beam of light from his hands and aims it at you. "FEEL JOACHIM'S BURNING LIGHT, DEMON OF THE NIGHT!" You feel it all right too, and it hurts like hell when it briefly hits your chest. You quickly get a nearby villager to use as a shield, but it doesn't work, you soon smell flesh burning as the beam burns right through the villager. You get temporary relief by ducking behind a house. The problem lies with the zealot being on a high platform in an open area and his spell seemingly following you without error. You peek behind the corner and see that he's still yelling about killing you all the while his victims are screaming and burning close around him. While you're pondering your best move to get to him, you get shot in your side by a hunter. His next shot would have been your head had you not been quick enough to dodge. You rush the hunter and break his neck with ease and trying to ignore the pain of the silver now lodged in your body. "Shit…need to finish this asshole. What this…oh this might work." You say and find a spherical metal object on the body of the hunter. It's a firebomb. You grab it and the body of the hunter and go to face the zealot again. "YOU CANNOT HIDE BLOOD LEECH! THE LIGHT WILL ALWAYS FIND YOU!" the zealot says as his light beams hit the body of the hunter. You smell the burn and it won't be long before it goes through, but you hopefully don't need that long. You throw the firebomb at the zealot, which misses, but it didn't need to hit him and you weren't aiming at him anyway. You just needed it to hit one of the burning villagers near him. Before you know it an explosion occurs showering the entire area with wood, flames, and body parts. You continue to use the body as a shield. Last thing you need is a random piece of wood flying into your heart. After the destruction has died down a bit, the remainder of the Joachimite fanatics clumsily try to bash your head in with silver cudgels. They fail and join the rest of the dead. And there are certainly a lot of them. This village is in complete ruins. Most of the villagers are dead or hiding, a few though are angry. "YOU! You brought this upon us all! Even Green Eye was better than this! You've been preying upon all of us and it stops today!" someone shouts and then you feel a silver bolt in your back. "Agh! Fuck! Ungrateful wretches!" you exclaim and turn your attention to the group of peasants that have grabbed hunter weapons to finish you off. They have about as much success as they did. Your wrath is swift and brutal. After putting down the minor peasant revolt, you address any villagers still around, but hiding. "If you still wish to live under my protection, you had best find shelter in the nearby village of Ulig. If not, then I suggest you take to the wilderness now, and forget about this place for the rest of your short lives." You take your leave of the village and head back home. A little slower than usual due to all the silver in the side of your body. You're going to have to get Kayla to help fish the stuff out. When you return Kayla does indeed tend to your wounded body. She's very attentive and even offers you some of her blood to keep up your strength and help with the healing process since there aren't any humans around. You take her up on her offer, since while her blood is horrible tasting, you can't afford to be a chooser right now. You tell Kayla that tomorrow morning she needs to take ALL the ghouls to one of the villages and wipe out all the enemies there as well. You rest up for most of the day, hoping that the attack goes successfully and a counter attack doesn't occur while you're trying to rest. Fortunately Kayla returns, unfortunately she's gotten half of the ghouls killed in the process. The other half is in various conditions ranging from somewhat bruised to missing a few body part. Kayla also says that most of the village was destroyed and not even by the fanatics. There were too many ghouls for her to control properly and some of them ran amok. By the time she got them all back under control and eliminated the fanatics, most of the villagers were either dead or they fled. So while you officially won, you lost the village, worse, you lost the humans in it. Kayla is obviously no general, and while yelling at her makes you feel slightly better, it doesn't really solve anything. You just realize you're going to have to redouble your efforts at the fourth village. Later that night you head to Goloki with your ghouls and you have more success, but probably not much more. In fact, it's a good thing you took your ghouls otherwise you might have been in trouble. You're wounded several times and lose a good number of ghouls. You do manage to keep more villagers alive. After drinking a few of them to heal yourself somewhat, you tell the survivors to head to Ulig. You think after all this is over, you're just going to have your people in one village. It would be a lot easier to rule them that way. You eventually stagger back to Moldito and once again Kayla tries to tend to you as best she can. She asks if you're sending her with the remainder of the ghouls to attack the last village in the morning, but given her last two attempts resulted in heavy losses, you tell her, you'll just take care of it tomorrow night. After giving a few general commands to her, you go to your room to try to rest. This is taking it out of you more than you thought it would. It really is a good thing Isabella took out the main camp, but you're starting to wonder if you let your pride get in the way of making things easier. You quickly dismiss such thoughts and eventually close your eyes to rest. You don't know how long you sleep for, but you're suddenly woken up, by the sounds of battle above you. "Shit! Don't tell me they counter attacked…" you say to yourself getting up. Nobody has come down to your lair yet, not even Kayla or ghouls, so you assume that they're defending. Must have been sudden if nobody informed you. Its still daytime, so there's little you can actually do except wait for someone to come to you. You could go up and try to give orders from the ground floor inside your home, but that's a dangerous position. A couple of those bombs that the hunters like using so much could blow it up and if not get you completely in the blast, it would destroy the house on top of you and probably expose you to the sun. You're also not healed completely, so it would be better to just save your strength and wait for them to come to you. It is frustrating just waiting around though. You start wondering if the traps you set are working, how many hunters you're going to have to deal with and if Kayla's dead or not. You chalk up Kayla being dead since she probably would have come to you by now and while she can look like you, she isn't actually you, and doesn't have your powers to stand up to the hunters. Eventually you start to hear the sounds of footsteps coming down the stairs. Multiple ones. This is it. You wait for the first hunter that turns the corner and put your fist through his chest. However no sooner have you done that when two Joachim zealots blast you with that burning light spell to your face. Despite being half blind and your face on fire, you kill one of them and a hunter that stabs you in chest (But fortunately missing your heart), but then you hear the other zealot shout some prayer of some kind and you suddenly feel a great sense of terror. Something you haven't felt since you were human. Part of you feels the desire to run, while another part of you feels the desire to just quake in fear and freeze. "YOU CANNOT RESIST THE WILL OF JOACHIM! FEAR HIS BURNING STARE AND DIE UNHOLY CREATURE!" This is soon followed up by multiple gunshots to your body and head. Silver burns through your body and you fall to the ground. You have truly never felt so helpless. You roll over and attempt to crawl away, but someone hacks at one of your legs and practically severs it. Your cry out in agony. "Chop the vile thing's head off and be done with it!" someone shouts. "Hey look behind us." Someone else says. "Tilderman? I thought you were dead…wait what're you doing?" another voice asks. You then hear the sound of a metal clank on the floor. Several people shouting "SHIT!" and then a deafening blast. The blast probably would have killed you outright had it not been shielded by the hunters closer to it. As it stands you've only lost part of your legs (One of which was partially severed anyway) part of your back it literally on fire and you've got burns on most of your body. You have just enough strength to roll over a couple times to put the flames out, but you don't know how you're going to heal from this. Miraculously your hearing isn't completely gone and the muffled ringing goes away pretty quickly. Charred body parts are all over the corridor and the smell of burned flesh and blood is filling the air along with smoke and powder. You hear a single set of footsteps approaching, and you certainly hope it isn't another hunter, because you're not in much condition to fight right now. You then see a figure step through the smoke and by the way they're dressed and armed with a repeating crossbow, they do indeed look like a hunter, however you see the eyes which are those familiar blank white orbs. "Kayla?" you ask. "It is I." she answers. "Thank the gods…except for that asshole Joachim." "I wouldn't thank them yet sir." Kayla points the crossbow at you. "Wha…are you serious?!" you say. "Very serious sir. Your usefulness to me is at an end and I'll never have a better opportunity to kill you. Without any more ghouls around, now I don't have to worry about them either. The number of villagers is at a manageable number and I'm sure they'll be even more pliable now, especially without their ruler eating any more of them. In a few more years, who knows? Maybe I'll go try to find that Isabella and rekindle our relationship. She seemed much more powerful than you anyway." With those last words, you see Kayla transform into you and then fires multiple silver bolts into your heart. As your body seizes up and goes into a paralysis, Kayla takes a saber and finishes you off with a chop to your neck.

Year 34 Maldito; the village of ghouls and your ruling capital. Though you aren't exactly sure now if what you're ruling is worth all that much. Green Eye was terrorizing the villages in the area long before you showed up and was still terrorizing them for you when you arrived. It wasn't hard to intimidate them into submission. If you killing their former tormenter wasn't enough to do it, then you being a vampire certain was. Kayla posing as "you" in the daytime, was just overkill. Maldito was eventually ghoulified completely, so if a village steps out of line, you've got an "army" to threaten them with. Though once again, it's overkill considering you could wipe out every one of the villages yourself. The ghouls are just if you need something done in the daytime instead. Ghouls really are the most loathsome creatures you've ever had to be around. Everything about them disgusts you. Their habits, their sycophantic behavior, their smell, everything. They're lower than humans and you're surrounded by them, but at least their loyalty is certain and they watch during the day. This is what "ruling" does to you, makes you paranoid. Even with as scared as you have the rest of the villages, you still believe that one of them is going to get brave enough to actually do something about it. Maybe to some degree you're even hoping one will just to break up the monotony. Still it's all yours and you don't answer to anyone. You aren't sure if these are really the "best times" though. Something is missing. You spend a lot of time trying to remember the "good old days" but really when were those? Certainly wasn't when you were enslaved by Ral, though you suppose your brief time with Lisa was the exception. You still wonder what happened to her, hopefully she's doing better than you, if she's still alive. Wasn't when you had to spend time as a magically altered freak either. Once again, your only bright spot with that was Heather trying to help you. You've been thinking about your brief reunion with her in some of these moments of introspection and you still don't feel bad about it, but you do think that she probably didn't deserve it. Just bad timing. When you were with Isabella? Well there were a lot of good times you'll admit, but if things were truly that good, you wouldn't have left. You can only imagine if Isabella saw you now, she'd probably just be shaking her head at you. She'd probably even be right to do so. She always did know better, but then you were meant to be free and that's always been your problem. Even now, ruling all these worthless peasants, you still feel like a prisoner. You haven't really been free since your days as a petty thief with your sister. Now THOSE were the good old days. You wish you could go back to those times if only for a little while. As you sit in your own underground lair (Now properly built) you sense someone living approaching. It's Kayla. You still don't know her real name, but dops don't really have them anyway so you just continue calling her by a dead tavern keeper's wife. She doesn't even use that form anymore and just stays in her "natural" one when around Moldito. She only uses human forms (or yours) outside the village. You're still a little mystified of her exact intentions. She's been with you for a couple years now and hasn't shown any sign of leaving or betrayal. You can't imagine that she's entirely happy with her lot. She's not a ghoul and she isn't a fearful ignorant human either. You're in charge and YOU'RE not entirely happy, so why would she be? She has said in the past that she's happy serving you, but really have a hard time believing that. You're a tyrannical dick. Unless, she's in love with you, but that would be weird. You actually have been actively not using any sort of suggestive powers on her just to see how she acts. Besides, she's never given that indication though again, maybe you're just bad at reading the signs of a doppelganger. "Um, am I disturbing you sir?" Kayla asks. "Not really, just living up to the stereotype of the brooding vampire I suppose. What's going on?" you respond. "Uh, dunno how to tell you this, so I might as well come out and say it, but I was doing my usual routine in one of the villages and apparently they've caught the attention of hunters." "Hunters?" "Yes, apparently a group of them were investigating the village of Ulig recently. Now I don't know if anyone said anything outright, but due to all of their suspicious behavior they might have inadvertently told the hunters something anyway. Many of the villagers I overheard seemed to be worried that they did that accidently." "Well how many of these hunters were there and where are they?" "They're currently in Sibogri, but they may be coming here soon. I dunno exactly how many there are, but apparently a sizable group. Ten maybe? Maybe more. I feel like this really can't be a coincidence and someone must have told someone about all this." "Well obviously, if there are that many. I don't even think there were that many when they were in Holgard and that was a huge city. I wouldn't be surprised if there is so many due to them hearing rumors of a day walking vampire." "Apologies sir." "What're you apologizing for?" "The daytime thing I know was mainly my idea and I was just apologizing to you for bringing this upon you." "Are you kidding? This is probably the most excitement I've had in awhile. Besides, I imagine that hunters would have come around here eventually." "So you're not mad or concerned about all this?" "Not really, it's actually a motivator." "Oh? Well what were you planning on doing then?" Well that is the question isn't it? The obvious thing to do would be to fight, but given how you've been feeling lately, you could probably very well just leave. Where would you go? You have no idea, but it's an option. In the meantime… "Kayla. Why are you still here?" you suddenly ask. "I'll leave sir. Apologies." Kayla responds. "No, not that! I mean why are you still here?" "Is…this a test?" "No! Look, what I'm asking and there is no right or wrong answer here, is why are you still here? I mean are you in love with me or something similar?" "Um…well…not exactly…it's complicated. Can we talk about something else?" "Besides the hunter thing, this day is becoming the most interesting one in years. I should have asked this question years ago. What's so complicated? You either are or you aren't." Kayla is silent for a moment due to the awkward spot you've put her in. You can see her trying to come up with an answer and after some thought… "Nope, it's still not simple, but I can try to explain if that will please you." Kayla answers. "Well better than nothing I guess. Go ahead." You answer. "As a doppelganger, we do tend towards those with power. Eventually we tend to imprint upon them unless someone better comes along. I suppose that explains why I was with Green Eye for so long. However, I was also planning to kill him eventually and take his place. That's sort of what we do." "So…you're basically admitting to me, that you were planning on killing me all along." "Well…it's complicated." "So you've said. Look, you just admitted that you were planning to kill me. I think it would be in your best interest to explain in more detail." "I honestly haven't really been planning to kill you though. I mean I assumed I would at some point, but considering I'm already impersonating you most of the time and reaping some of power thrill directly when I'm doing it, the feeling isn't as strong. Muted in fact." "And that's it?" "There's also the fact that you created a bunch of ghouls that I wouldn't be able to control since they know I'm not really you. Not to mention I don't think I'd be able to kill you, so I'm sort of stuck and now it's gotten to the point where I'm comfortable in my position and don't really feel a desire to leave. I mean I could, but I'd probably feel really lost for a while as I tried to find a suitable role equal in status to this one and that's not the greatest feeling for a doppelganger." Well more enlightenment on the race of doppelgangers, but you notice she didn't entirely answer the original question. Doesn't matter you suppose, you're going to do what you want anyway, but there is one more important question. "So you're saying that if I fight these hunters, you aren't going to suddenly switch sides again?" you ask. "Not likely sir. Hunter types tend to be nomadic and have no real hierarchy. Also they are constantly seeking out vampires and the like to kill. I already know enough about vampires that I don't want to be hunting them on a regular basis. I'm with you sir." Kayla responds. Well, that's something you guess. "We're going to fight." You say. "Never expected anything different sir. So how are we going to go about this?" Kayla asks. "We need to gather a bit more information. If they aren't staying in the villages themselves, then that means they must be making camp in the forest. Maybe send Stinky…no wait not her. Send Lurky, to scout the nearby forest area. He tends to be quieter and smells less pungent than most of the other ghouls. I want you to keep doing your usual routine of blending in at the other villages. Try to gather as much information as possible. As for me, I'm going to start building up the defenses on this place. Probably should have done it years ago." "You think you have time to build a wall?" "No, but I once was a rogue and I knew how to set traps. Didn't do it often, but I knew how. If the hunters storm this place, it isn't just ghouls and me; they're going to have to deal with. The only thing I'll need to worry about are the ghouls accidently setting them off, but I think I can probably make them understand where they can go and where they can't. Let the rest of them know though, that I'm going to address them all as soon as it goes dark, so they all better be around." Kayla nods and goes to carry out your orders. Meanwhile you work on a few things until it's dark so you can address your ghouls. You address what's going on to your ghouls who of course all listen intently. They're actually eager to go fight right now, but you tell them there will be time for that soon. You tell them to start digging holes and placing sharpened sticks, spikes and then camouflaging them. Not all the houses are used in the village anymore since the ghouls seem to all like just staying outside and only really enter the bigger village hall if the sun especially bothers them. You deicide to trap some of these abandoned homes since you imagine the hunters will be meticulous enough to search every home. You spend the next few days doing this and then eventually you get a report from Kayla who has some interesting news. "Wait, so they're torturing people?" you say. "Yeah and they apparently got people doing this in several villages. They aren't letting anyone go either." Kayla says. "How many of these assholes are there?" "I still don't have an exact number, but it's looking like more than ten. Maybe fifty and I don't think this is just hunters, the Church of Joachim is getting mentioned a lot, along with terms like purging and cleansing." "Shit, this is a fucking crusade. How the hell did we not see something this large coming?" "Well we are a bit isolated even compared to the other villages, but I apologize sir, I probably should have noticed something sooner." "It's done now. Lurky hasn't even come back yet, so who knows if he's still alive. This is starting to look like more trouble than it's worth. What the hell am I really fight for anyway?" Kayla doesn't respond, she just shifts a bit nervously at your rise in temper. You think about your options, and just flat out leaving seems like a perfectly valid one. > You leave You know when something looks like a losing battle. This is mostly on you anyway, you let yourself get too much attention with your actions and now you've got an army of fanatics on your ass. You let your pride get in the way and thought you knew better; well this is what happens. You're starting to think Isabella was right. You could kick yourself for fucking up your relationship with her now; then again her being right doesn't mean she wasn't being domineering. In any case, you can't go home again and you probably should just move forward anyway. Maybe you need to go some place new entirely, like the Delantium Kingdom or something. Without another word, you go gather what little personal belongings you still regard as important. "What are you doing?" Kayla asks. "I'm leaving. Not going to stick around for this. Not worth it and I'm sick of the headache anyway." You answer. "But sir! You can't just leave all this!" "Sure I can, watch me." "But…" "What, do you want to run this place? Be my guest, you can pretend you're me, like you've been doing." "But that won't be the same and…(sigh) okay fine sir. I can see the wisdom in this. I'll just get ready to go too." "No, you're not coming." "What?" "You heard me, you're not coming and neither are the ghouls. Going it alone again for awhile." "But what am I supposed to do?!" "I don't care, do whatever you like. You're released from my servitude, in fact I said you could leave on your own many times before, so you were always free to leave. Ugh, still gotta wait for night fall." As you prepare for a long wait, Kayla begins pacing a bit and then starts trying to convince you to fight, but it's not working and the more she's trying to convince you the less patient you get with her. "Kayla, your voice is beginning to anger me. I told you to leave." You say. "I just really believe that you can win against these interlopers. Then after you win, your reputation will be so fearsome, nobody will ever attempt to invade you again." Kayla says. "I seriously doubt that." "You won't know unless you fight sir. I mean you didn't get all this by just standing back." "And you seem a little too eager for me to try. Why is that exactly? And don't tell me how much you believe I can win, because it's more than that. You seem to just not want me to leave your side given that you were also willing to leave." Kayla gets a bit quiet and then sputters a bit before gathering her thoughts. "Um…well…okay you got me sir. I'm in love with you and I should have just outright admitted it before. I was just embarrassed because…well I know you would never have such feelings for me like that. Apologies sir, I will leave." Kayla turns to leave. "Hold on wait. Come back over here. Can't believe I'm saying this, but maybe I've been lying to myself." You say. "Sir?" Kayla asks. "Maybe I do have some feelings for you as well Kayla. I just didn't want to admit it due to everything." "You mean me being a doppelganger?" "Well part of that I suppose, but more because none of my past relationships have ever worked out well. Maybe I've let that cause the distance between us as a master and servant, but perhaps we should attempt to become more." "Oh sir! Do you really mean it?!" "Yes. Whatever I ultimately decide to do, we're going to do it together from now on. Now come to me my love, I want us to finally embrace intimately." Kayla rushes excitedly to you and puts her arms around you. You look deep into her blank white eyes. "Do you want me to turn into a more pleasing form sir?" "No, I want to do this to you in your natural form." Kayla's normally featureless face displays a wide smile, which might be a little unnerving if you weren't who you are. She's very happy. Good. She was a loyal servant for a long time so she earned a happy last moment. You then twist Kayla's head around and tear it off completely. You then toss the head aside as gray goo leaks out of the body. Obviously she was up to something and leaving her alive might have just caused problems for you in the long run. Better to play it cautiously, especially with all the attention you've attracted. Last thing you need is someone pretending to be you and you don't have direct control over it. You continue to wait in silence until darkness falls and that's when you take your leave. You don't even bother giving your ghouls any last orders or anything like that. You just run off as quickly as possible in the night. You still have a distance to travel and you don't really know how you'll fair in the Delantium Kingdom, but it can't be too much worse than what you've already been through. You have a lot more time to learn from your mistakes as well. Your days as a common rogue might be long over, but your life as a vampire is just beginning.

You're not so much trusting the dop, so much as you're going to take a chance that it fears you enough that it's being honest. Since if it IS telling the truth and willing to work for you, he would come in pretty handy. Still, you're going to be careful as you can about this. "Okay, first of all, are you absolutely SURE this plan is going convince Green Eye to meet with me?" you ask. "Yes, I am. If he thinks something is wrong, but fixable he'll more often than not take a personal approach to it even if it might risk his life, just like when he first spoke with you. If I know him, he'll probably want to appease you so he can give himself more time to re-think a new strategy of how to deal with you if he believes you can walk around in the day time." The dop says. You can't really tell due to its nearly featureless expression, but it sounds confident in its words. You suppose that will have to do. "Alright then, we'll try the plan." You say. "Y…you will? Oh thank the gods! I swear I will be loyal to you!" the dop exclaims. "We'll see, but first I need to prepare you a bit." You say and move towards it. "Prepare?" "Yeah, just relax a bit, don't move and… brace yourself!" You suddenly lunge on the dop who is taken by surprise by your speed. You bite the dop in the arm and drink a little of its blood. It actually tastes pretty terrible and you nearly spit it out. In the meantime the dop is making a horrible screaming noise and doesn't stop until you smack it upside the head. "Stop that, it's annoying." You say and release it. "Y…you bit me!" the dop says rubbing its arm. "Sure did. Call it an extra precaution in case you get the bright idea to try to betray me. I can always sense where you are now. So if any of this goes south, I'm going to know where to find YOU immediately." The doppelganger might have those empty white orbs for eyes, but you can still see the fear in them. Honestly, while you will be able to sense it if it's close by, you aren't going to be able to instantly track it from anywhere. Still, it doesn't know that. "I wasn't going to betray you." The dop whines. "Well, now I know you won't. Now you stay here, I'm going to go get one of the villagers so you can blend in again. I'll drain them and you can walk out like nothing happened. The body can be disposed of later." you answer. "Wait which one?" "What difference does it make? I dunno the tavern keeper's wife I guess. Might as well considering I already killed her husband. Plus it's an easy enough task even for you and you'll hear all the village gossip at lot easier, not that it matters I suppose." "Mm, okay. I don't have to worry about you suddenly picking on me to bite now and I prefer female forms anyway, it's always easier when the gender matches." You pause for a moment. "Wait…you're female?" you ask. "Well we doppelgangers are pretty flexible about it all for obvious reasons, but yes, I personally identify as female. Can't you tell?" she says. "Um, no not really. I mean you're just a smooth gray nearly featureless being. It's not like I can see tits or anything. I mean…I can't even see a hole down there…or anywhere for that matter; then again I haven't really been exploring. I guess if you were a guy it would have been more obvious I suppose." "Oh you solids with your constant exposed reproductive organs. We doppelgangers transcend such concerns since we only display them when necessary such as for sex or expelling waste. Until that time they remain hidden and protected." "Okay, well however works…don't really want to know, but if that's the case how the fuck was I supposed to be able to tell that you're female or not?" "By my eyes of course! Those of my kind that identify as female tend to change our eye color to white while those that identify as males tend to change them to black." "What color are they normally?" "Oh gray." "Great. Very illuminating. Next time I run into one of you doppys, I'll try to remember all that." "Erm, could you please not call me a doppy? It is considered offensive to my…" You glare at the doppelganger as your patience wears thin. "Um…nevermind. Just happy to serve and being included, sir." She says submissively. You leave the house and find that a minor crowd has gathered from a safe distance. They're probably wondering what exactly happened, time to make up a story. "Is that…thing gone m'lord?" someone asks. "Yes, of course it is. Didn't you hear its death scream? I interrogated it first though. Apparently those bandits I thought I took care of have regrouped and will be trying to attack again. However, we know the truth now and can prepare. I'm going to track them down and finish them off for good, however I'm still going to bless some of you and when I do, you will be charged with helping the defense of this village. I trust you all will be up for the challenge should it come to that." You say. "Of course m'lord! We all will!" "Then we will start tomorrow night, for now though I wish to spend time with you. The rest of you go home and worry no longer about any of this." You say and point to the tavern owner's wife. She goes over to you immediately. As the crowd disperses and obeys your command, you head into your home with your victim. You don't bother with the foreplay and get straight to the feeding. You've done this with her several times already, but this time will be different for her. As usual she puts up no resistance and even as you're obviously killing her she still whispers "I love you" in your ear and holds you tightly. You finish her off and drop her body to the floor. Meanwhile the dop was watching the shadows. You look at her and from her body language she cringes a bit. "Geez… you really are ruthless. I mean I've seen you on occasion drink people, but…never quite like that. She said she loved you and you just…look I just want to remind you, I am definitely NOT going to betray you." "Glad to hear it, now stop wasting time and take her form or whatever it is you do." The dop wastes no time and soon there is a "new" tavern keeper's wife…actually you find out her name was Kayla. The doppelganger knew her better than you actually did, despite you feeding on her on a regular basis. After "Kayla" leaves to get more acquainted with her new role, you look around to make sure you can dispose of the real one safely. You aren't sure why you're bothering being so secretive since the villagers would probably be fine with a doppelganger if you told them to be fine with it. However, you do think it's probably a good idea to slowly introduce such things to them. While they may accept you as a master, they may be less willing to accept some other non-human lurking about as well. At least not until you make some of them non-human. The next night you start again with what you originally planned. This time you pick a married couple at random and decide to see how it goes. You give them both some of your blood which causes them to gag a bit and then generally feel "weird." The pair of them eventually stagger back home, and you tell Kayla to keep an eye on them both since you won't be able to observe them during the day. A couple days and nights pass and you repeat the process with them and just when you're starting to get frustrated, they start to show a change. The pair of them become more fawning than usual towards you and you don't even have to do anything. They're also paler and beginning to move in a less normal fashion. It's more of a loping gait. Their appetite becomes a lot less normal as well. You think you've finally changed them into ghouls. You're glad it didn't take as long as Isabella once suggested it would if you attempted it. However, you soon discover all her warnings were correct. First off, they ARE very annoying with how much they're underfoot all the time. Still, they are very obedient and they soon finish digging out the area meant to be your new resting place under the house. It's crude, but you figure it can be worked on continually. For now though it's functional enough that you don't need to sleep in a hole in the ground in the forest nearby. Keeping them subdued when you're asleep is another matter however. While you attempt to tell them to stand guard over you, they're little like children in that they get bored and have short attention spans. While they haven't actually attacked anyone yet, they're acting aggressive enough that it won't be long. This naturally causes some of the other villagers to be wary and now that's potentially messing up your relationship with them. To counter act this, you give a few intimidating speeches, re-hyponotize a few of the key villagers again and have the two ghouls whipped before the mob and scold them for their behavior. The pathetic creatures soon learn that they aren't going to be chewing on their neighbors anytime soon. Still, it does make other villagers less eager to want to become ghouls now, though you're sort of wondering if it's worth it anyway. While you're trying to keep a precarious balance of humans and non-humans together through your powers and plain old fear, Kayla reminds you that it will soon be time for her to meet with Green Eye's people and start part one of that plan. You originally thought you might send one of the ghouls with her, but that would probably just confuse them, or they'll fuck up the plan and they might even eat Kayla. So she's going alone. You're still fairly concerned about this, but this is what you've decided on, so that's what you're going to do. You don't even go to sleep that day; you stay awake mostly pacing in your underground sleeping area. You send Stinky and Fatty (Your new names for your ghouls since you never bothered to learn their real names) to go fetch you a "drink" so you can keep your strength up. You also tell them to keep an eye out for Kayla. At any moment you fully expect to hear the sounds of an attack above you. You aren't going to be able to help, so you hope Stinky and Fatty are up to the task. However, the pair of them eventually come back with Kayla who is back in her human form. "Here she is master!" Stinky says excitedly. "Did we do good?" Fatty adds. "Yeah, now get the hell out of here. Go dig up one of the corpses in the forest and reward yourself or something." You hardly need to tell them twice and they both leave you alone. "Well?" you ask. "Well, I'm back and it's done. I made enough trouble that Green Eye will be willing to speak with you tonight. I didn't really want to be at Green Eye's any longer than I had to anyway, let alone directly confront him. Fairly certain that gem eye of his sees through disguises. In fact, I highly suggest that you not talk to him and just attack as soon as you see him, lest you fall under his command." Kayla says. "You're joking right? I'm a fucking vampire. I am the one who commands." "Yeah, I know you've got powers of your own, but it's that gem eye. It's magic. How the hell do you think he got that motley bunch to work for him?" "You seem immune considering you're selling him out." "Well I imagine that might be a combination of being a doppelganger, along with not being in his presence for an extended period of time. Whenever I was though, I felt the urge to serve him. I mean think about it, he managed to convince YOU not to wipe out his group the first time around. How the hell did he do that? I like to think I've gotten to know you well enough that you're not really a man that takes chances on potential future threats so you sparing him and everyone else seems a bit out of character." "I spared and took a chance on you." "True I suppose, but still…I dunno I'm just saying you probably shouldn't speak with him just to be safe." "Your concern is touching. I'm guessing it's dark about now, I'll be heading out with the ghouls then." "Okay, well did you need me for anything else then?" "Not right now and assuming you haven't set me up, I will remember your actions on this task." You take your leave of Kayla to go get your ghouls. You find them quite easily in the forest nearby finishing off a corpse. One of them hits the other and points at you. "The master is coming! The master is here!" Fatty says excitedly and runs up to you until you smack him down. "I need the pair of you to accompany me to an important meeting. When we get there though don't do anything until I say so." Fatty and Stinky follow you happily as you make your way to Green Eye's mine. You feel like you're walking into a trap the entire time, but at least you've got some help. Normally you wouldn't even be concerned, but you haven't rested or fed too much so you don't feel like you're a full strength either. Eventually you see the mine and you also see a short figure surrounded by several figures at the entrance. They don't look like his usual men though. They're all female and look very cowed for one thing. "I wasn't expecting this." You say. "Well considering you arrived here in broad daylight demanding your tribute and then saying it wasn't good enough, I figured I'd offer you a selection. All of these girls are from the nearby villages." Green Eye says. "What if I want them all?" "Well then I guess you're getting them all, far be it for me to fight a vampire that can walk around in the daytime. Interesting trick. Didn't know you guys could do that. Almost hard to believe…" "Well you saw it with your own eye." "Actually I didn't, I got the report second hand from one of my men. Granted I trust him…or rather I trust that he believes what he saw, but let's just say, I have some questions." "I'm not here to answer yours." "True, but I'm going to ask anyway, because I strongly think something weird is going on here and I'd rather we talk than it come to violence." "Of course you would, because you'd be on the losing end of that deal." "Most likely, but are you so sure? I see you've brought two friends with you, meaning you're smart enough to not take this meeting lightly." "Choose your next words carefully dwarf." "I always do. I have a hunch that we're both being set up to kill each other. I'm betting you've been talking with that treacherous dop haven't you? I bet that's even who impersonated you. It's a liar you know. All of their kind are, and I should have known better than to have one in my community. Our relationship has been cordial and can remain that way. I will even increase the tribute. We don't have to fight." Green Eye says. Something is very weird about all this. Green Eye seems a lot more relaxed than you are right now and with how much he's talking; it feels almost like he's stalling you for some purpose. Maybe he's got his men hiding elsewhere to ambush, but there really isn't any place to hide nearby. The fact that he's pointed out potential treachery of the doppelganger makes you suspicious though. For all you know Green Eye's telling the truth. > You listen You'll humor this asshole a little longer because despite him keeping calm, you can tell he's still scared by his heartbeat even from where you are. You're really not detecting any other signs of life either nearby. It's just Green Eye and the seven bitches. "Treacherous is a funny word for you to use, considering YOU'RE the one crafting silver weapons and planning an attack." You say. "Okay first of all, I was NEVER planning an attack. I'm not stupid enough to attack you on your own turf even during the day. And as for the weapons, well can you fucking blame me? I mean I got a vampire living right next fucking door. I wouldn't fancy my chances in a straight up fight, but I NEED to have something that's going to make me feel safer." Green Eye explains. "Okay, so what about sending the dop to spy on me in the first place?" "That was its idea! It kept swearing to me that it wouldn't get caught, damn fool I was to believe it. Look, I'll admit I fucked up on that end, but as I said, I got fucking scared and I'm not ashamed to admit it in front of all these bitches here. You want me to beg? I will. I'd even get on both knees, but that's a little difficult for me for obvious reasons. Though I'd still struggle with it if that's what it requires to save this community." "That's pretty humble of you." "Why do you think I'm out here by myself? I'm hoping that if you decide to just kill me anyway, you'll just be satisfied with that and not kill everyone else too. I know they ain't much and are even less than bandit scum in your eyes, but I'm fucking protective of them and I'd trade my life for my fuck up." Sounds sincere and you really weren't expecting this reaction. You sort of wonder if the dop WAS setting you both up. You wouldn't put it past her. You're still not sure, but if you are going to kill him you don't want to give him the slight chance of lifting that rifle up quick enough to shoot you. "Green, drop your weapons, I'm coming over there to inspect your tribute." "…okay! Whatever you say." Green Eye shouts, and drops his rifle, along with several smaller firearms and melee weapons (mostly daggers) on his person. Seeing that he's dropped his weapons, you motion to your ghouls to follow you. You get closer and can sense how tense they're all becoming. Though you misinterpret that as fear alone. "Watch your head." Green Eye says as you're nearly right in front of his group of girls. Who then all pull out flintlocks and catching you off guard at this close range they can't miss you even as nervous as most of them are. Silver shot burns through your chest, head and a couple other places on your person. It doesn't exactly kill you, but you're dropped immediately. Stinky and Fatty waste no time in attacking the ladies that have fired upon you, unfortunately they weren't really the threat anymore. Green Eye ignores the ghouls tearing up the women and instead picks up his rifle and aims it right at your head as you attempt to get back up. Part of your skull and brains go flying and you drop back to the ground. Still not dead, but with severe brain injury even as a vampire you're bewildered and paralyzed in your current condition. You begin gibbering to yourself about something that happened a long time ago. It's actually when you were a child, but you don't even know what you're talking about, all your memories are a jumbled mess along with your thought process. "I didn't steal the cookies!" you shout and then start laughing. This exclamation is the last thing you ever say before another powerful blast takes nearly the rest of your head off. Your sight goes dark. With practically just a lower half of your jaw still moving and the rest of your body just twitching, you neck is severed with an axe.

You might as well start making ghouls if you're going to be using this place as your new home now. You'll feel safer if with absolutely loyal day guards around anyway. You call everyone to the village square the following night. It's a little surprising for everyone, but of course they don't want to disobey you. "Okay, I've gathered you all here because it's come up many times that some of you desire the same gift I have. This makes sense since you would indeed be better in every way and you would also be closer to your god. However, none of you are yet worthy of such a thing. In fact some of you never will be! Yet, I am a merciful master and as such I will bestow a minor bit of my power so that you may get a taste of it. Who knows, maybe in time you will impress me to the point that I will eventually complete your transformation." At this point your words are met with signs of hope and excitement. You expected that, so that's one less thing to worry about. You're still wondering which people exactly to choose and how many. You probably want to pick the key members in the community though, so you figure you might as well give Vic what he's always wanted first. "Okay Vic, come on over here and we'll get started." You say and cut your arm to drain some of your blood in a cup. "Um, me m'lord?" Vic asks. "Yeah you! Who the hell else's name is Vic in this village? Now come on." "Uh, that's okay I don't think I'm quite worthy yet. I believe that there are many others here deserving of your gift more." "You're joking right? You've been begging me to turn you since I took control of this place. You're just nervous, come on." "No, I really realize now that I shouldn't have annoyed with my petty request as I did. I thank you for your generous offer, but perhaps one of the many lovely young women that…" "Vic, stop being a bitch and get over here!" you say raising your voice. At this point the crowd is getting agitated with Vic's stalling and begin pushing him forward, telling him that he's a "chosen one" and he should be embracing this moment. Vic slowly moves towards your position and then suddenly his eyes roll in the back of his head and he wobbles a bit before falling over. "Oh for fuck's sake…" you say shaking your head. One of the other villagers goes over to help Vic, but after some inspection… "He's dead m'lord!" the village "doctor" exclaims. "He's fucking dead?!" you say. "Heart attack it seems. I believe all the excitement of being a benefactor of your glory was too much for him." "Maybe…" Something about this doesn't seem right. "Kick his body. In fact I want several of you to stomp on it." You say. "M'lord?" someone asks. "You heard me." Not wishing to anger you, several of the villagers comply. Vic's body just absorbs the kicks and doesn't move. "Okay, I guess he's really dead, set his body on fire, no need to waste anymore time burying it. Actually never mind, there's a torch right here, I'll do it." You take a nearby torch and go over to Vic's body. As you slowly lower the flaming piece of wood closer to Vic's body, you watch his eyes. You watch… Then just as you touch Vic's body with the actual flame, his eyes open and his entire form changes into a thin smooth gray skinned creature. Its face isn't anything like you've seen before, having only slits for a nose, a simple line like mouth and its eyes are just white orbs. "SHIT!" it shouts in different voice than before and immediately rolls away and attempts to scramble for safety. While the villagers are confused and scared by all this, you of course keep your cool and easily catch this creature and drag it into the empty house you reside at in the village to interrogate it. "Okay, what the hell are you?" you demand. "Please! I'm a doppelganger and I'm only doing my job!" it pleads pathetically. "By job, you mean spying and infiltration! I only know ONE person that rules over a ragtag group of multi-racial misfits that might have the balls to do such a thing. How long have you been working for Green Eye?" The doppelganger wastes no time in selling out Green Eye. It says it's been with Green Eye for quite some time, but only was infiltrating Maldito shortly after you threatened Green Eye. It says it was originally masquerading as the head carpenter, but soon changed into Vic (and in both cases obviously secretly killed) when it realized you were serious about making the village your permanent home. It of course has been in contact with Green Eye off and on the whole time. "So what the hell is Green Eye exactly planning?" "Well originally he just wanted to keep a check on you, but when you made Maldito your permanent home, he got more concerned. I think he's planning on attacking you directly and most likely destroying the village." "Because that worked out so well last time. So what then has he hired hunters or something? Should have known he wasn't going to be above doing that." "No, actually he's been crafting silver weapons for everyone. Mostly daggers, but I know for a fact he's been focusing on silver shot for the few firearms we have." "Where's he getting all this silver from?" "The mine I guess. Green Eye said it used to be a silver mine before it ran out." "Well apparently it didn't completely run dry if he's got enough to scrap weapons together. Gotta hand it to Green Eye, though. He's been busy and I underestimated his fear of me. Smart of him to not tell me that it used to be a silver mine too. I didn't even think of that." "So…what are you going to do?" "Kill my enemy of course, might as well start with you. Wonder what doppelganger tastes like…" you say and prepare to bite. "No! Wait! Please! I could help even more! If you attack now, you'd never get Green Eye. He's got a whole system of hidden tunnels, traps and shit. You might wipe out everyone under his leadership, but I doubt if you'd find him. He knows those mines like nobody else." "Oh, I'm sure I'd find him eventually." "Well, maybe, but as I said, he's probably trapped the entire place too and considering he's been preparing for you, some of those might even be dangerous to you. Let me go back and…" "You think I'm stupid? You sold out Green Eye so quick and you were supposed to be on his side. How quick would you sell me out?" "But this is different, I can see you're the more powerful force in this instance and I always side with the winning team. It's what my kind does. Green Eye doesn't know that you know that you know anything. In fact I can probably get him to meet with you. You're supposed to pick up your new tribute soon aren't you?" "Yeah, so?" "Well let ME go and pick it up. Except I wouldn't go as me, I'll go as YOU." "Wait, you're going to copy me?" "Yes. And I'm going to arrive at Green Eye's place during the day to do it. I will pretend that I'm such a powerful and old vampire that I have the capacity to walk around in the daytime! This will throw them all off so much that they'll scramble to appease you quickly. When they drag out the girl, I will then claim it isn't good enough and that I will be back at night to renegotiate the deal with Green Eye personally. He'll be concerned enough that he'll meet with you, probably seeing if you have any other weaknesses, since thinking you can walk around in the daytime is going to cause him to discard his original plans. Of course it'll actually be you who'll meet him at night, at which point you'll easily be able to over power him and whoever else is with him. Trust me, it'll work!" An intriguing plan you suppose, you just aren't convinced though. "Sounds like a shit plan, and I still don't trust you. I don't think you can convincingly copy me anyway." You say. "The hell you say! I'll have you know that I am one the most skilled of my kind! I can easily copy you, right down to your quirky mannerisms. Especially since I've been observing you for awhile now." The doppelganger says a little insulted. "Is that so? Well prove it, and maybe I'll make a decision based on how good your performance is." You let the doppelganger go and it has prepared itself to display its powers to you. It takes a bit longer to transform into looking like you than when it transformed back to its real form. The first thing you realize is you haven't seen yourself in years. The dop looks like you, or at least what you looked like before you became a vampire, then again you haven't aged since then so that's presumably what you still look like. The dop then begins to talk like you and act like you. It's very arrogant, condescending and just an all around dick. Which means it's copying you exactly. "See? I can pull this off! Just give me a chance and hey, when Green Eye is dead, I could help you in other ways as well!" the dop exclaims as it transforms back. It certainly is an eager creature. You just aren't sure if you can trust it. And if you can't trust it, then why take chances? > You kill it Trusting a duplicitous creature that can mimic you perfectly? Yeah that's a great idea and won't at all turn around and bite you in the ass later on! You're not taking chances, the dop dies and then Green Eye and the rest of his crew after, you don't care how many tunnels he's got in that mine of his, he is not going to hide from you. First things first though. You approach the dop without another word and bit it on the neck. It makes a horrible wailing noise and no sooner have you drunk some of its blood that you immediately stop because it tastes completely fucking horrible. "Ugh! Shit! I've tasted greenskins better than you!" you say spitting out most of the gray stuff. The dop attempts to get away after your temporary distraction, but it's a futile endeavor, you catch it and ignore its last pleas for mercy before breaking its neck. You aren't actually sure if that's going to kill it, so you decapitate it just to be sure. You leave the house and find that a minor crowd has gathered from a safe distance. They're probably wondering what exactly happened, time to make up a story. "Is that…thing gone m'lord?" someone asks. "Yes, of course it is. Didn't you hear its death scream? I interrogated it first though. Apparently those bandits I thought I took care of have regrouped and will be trying to attack again. However, we know the truth now and can prepare. I'm going to track them down and finish them off for good, however I'm still going to bless some of you and when I do, you will be charged with helping the defense of this village. I trust you all will be up for the challenge should it come to that." You say. "Of course m'lord! We all will!" "Then we will start tomorrow, for now though I wish to spend time alone." You spend the rest of the night wondering if you should just go ahead and attack tomorrow night or wait around to turn some of the villagers into ghouls so you have help. As much as you hate to waste time to let them get better equipped, you decide if the mines are as trapped and treacherous as the dop claimed they were, it probably would be to go in with help, if only to use as fodder. The next night you start again with what you originally planned. This time you pick a married couple at random and decide to see how it goes. You give them both some of your blood which causes them to gag a bit and then generally feel "weird." The pair of them stagger back home. You then repeat this process with five more villagers before you need to stop as it's a drain on your own strength. A couple days and nights pass and you repeat the process with all of them and just when you're starting to get frustrated, they start to show a change. The seven of them become more fawning than usual towards you and you don't even have to do anything. They're also paler and beginning to move in a less normal fashion. It's more of a loping gait. Their appetite becomes a lot less normal as well. You think you've finally changed them into ghouls. You're glad it didn't take as long as Isabella once suggested it would if you attempted it. However, you soon discover all her warnings were correct. First off, they ARE very annoying with how much they're underfoot all the time. Still, they are very obedient and they soon finish digging out the area meant to be your new resting place under the house. It's crude, but you figure it can be worked on continually. For now though it's functional enough that you don't need to sleep in a hole in the ground in the forest nearby. Keeping them subdued when you're asleep is another matter however. While you attempt to tell them to stand guard over you, they're little like children in that they get bored and have short attention spans. While they haven't actually attacked anyone yet, they're acting aggressive enough that it won't be long. This naturally causes some of the other villagers to be wary and now that's potentially messing up your relationship with them. To counter act this, you give a few intimidating speeches, re-hyponotize a few of the key villagers again and have a few of the more aggressive ghouls whipped before the mob and scold them for their behavior. The pathetic creatures soon learn that they aren't going to be chewing on their neighbors anytime soon. Still, it does make other villagers less eager to want to become ghouls now, though you're sort of wondering if it's worth it since it's taking your strength to upkeep all the ghouls which is in turn taking more of a toll on your villagers anyway. While you're trying to keep a precarious balance of humans and non-humans together through your powers and plain old fear, you also keep in mind that it will soon be time to meet up with Green Eye and his crew. You just hope you'll have the element of surprise to a point where it won't matter how many silver weapons they have. When the night finally comes, you head to Green Eye's mine with your ghouls who happily follow. When you arrive, the lone hobgoblin guard stands there at the entrance with the child tribute. You can already sense the rise in the savage's heartbeat when he sees you arrive with your ghouls. The child of course is already scared. "Um…we have your tribute as usual." The hobgoblin says. "Yeah, about that. Don't really need the kids anymore. There's been a change in recent developments." You respond. "Oh?" "Yeah, in fact I've decided to make the whole tribute process simpler by getting rid of you all" It doesn't take long for the hobgoblin to process what you mean exactly. His eyes widen and he turns to run, but you catch him before he gets anywhere and break his neck. You turn to address your ghouls who are already in the process of advancing. The boy who is tribute is frozen in fear. "Hold on, wait…ah damn it! Fatty! Fuck, I was going to tell you lot to leave the boy alone so he could tell the tale to his village of how I saved him from the bandit scum. Never mind now I guess." You smack your ghouls around to get them to stop feeding on the boy and the hobgoblin so you can get the rest of this task finished. You once again enter the mine and once again you come to the large open area where most of Green Eye's people are gathered. No sign of Green Eye, but in the meantime, you'll be wiping out the rest of his people. Doesn't take long for your ghouls to start howling and leaping into battle with abandon. You don't bother reining them in. Green Eye's people are for the most part unprepared, but there is some resistance. With the silver weapons, they probably would do a lot better than last time against you, but since you brought a bunch of ghouls, they do about as well as last time. The battle in the main cavern is quick and bloody, several of your ghouls go chasing people down in various tunnels. The rest of them start feasting on the dead already in the immediate area. While you hear sounds of fighting and screaming coming from various tunnels, you still have not seen Green Eye; it would appear your hunt for him is going to begin right now. Since you've already been warned about the place being trapped, you figure it probably would be a good thing if you took some of your ghouls directly with you. Of course it might be a good idea to leave most of them here to guard this area just in case Green Eye tries to escape this way when you're looking for him. You decide you can probably afford to take two and leave the remaining two here. The other three that went running off will probably wander back here eventually. You then give your orders and you pick the tunnel that you remember seeing Green Eye walk from the last time you were here. You cautiously walk around even keeping the ghouls slightly back, since while they are expendable, you don't want to just lose them unless you have to. So far though, and you aren't coming across anything out of the ordinary. This is good in that there aren't any dangers that have been nearly killing you, but bad in that you haven't uncovered any secret passage ways or rooms that Green Eye might be hiding in. Eventually you stop hearing any noise of combat. Either your ghouls killed everyone or you're getting far enough a way from you original location. Later, you've already gone down several dead ends and while you're not lost, you are getting frustrated since there doesn't seem to be any clue of where Green Eye is. You start to curse yourself in that it might have been a good idea to try to leave one of his people alive to point you in the right direction. Even leaving the dop alive and dragging it with you, would have helped. You start to get paranoid that maybe Green Eye has doubled back somehow and managed to escape so you start heading back to the large cavern near the entrance. The problem is you do it so fast that you aren't as cautious this time, and while you passed through several tunnels that weren't trapped, you don't take into consideration that Green Eye didn't sneak around and trap them after you already passed through. Even then, you might have been quick enough or had the danger sense to avoid something amiss, but your ghouls are another matter. No sooner have you heard the "Spong!" noise that you quickly look to where you need to take cover. A huge rumble occurs in front of you and before your eyes you see both of your ghouls gets crushed by a cave in by an explosion. You are actually blown back a bit and quickly scramble up when you also see that this isn't just a cave in, but a cascading effect. You have no choice but to run back deeper into the mines, though you're so busy trying to get away, you end up taking a tunnel you haven't explored. You run down the unexplored tunnel trying to avoid getting buried and hoping you outrun it or find an exit of some sort. You find an exit, but it's down. Once again, not paying attention, you fall down a pit. You attempt to grab on to the sides of the smooth wall, but you only succeed in ripping your fingernails off in the process and it disappears eventually anyway as you fall into a larger underground cavern and slam hard into the rocky ground below. Your yells of pain echo throughout the cavern. You've most definitely broken several bones in your legs. You'll regenerate, but it's going to be slow, especially without any fresh blood around, unless there are some rats around. As you start to look for something like that, you feel more rumbling. At first you think it's ceiling collapsing on you here, but then you realize the sound is coming from below. This silver mine closing down wasn't due to it running dry, it was more because there was an infestation of giant insect things in the lower parts of it, which you have now discovered. The chittering becomes louder and eventually several many legged, many eyed things burst forth from the ground. You fight about as best as you can in your situation, but you're weak, crippled and overwhelmed. You die screaming in the darkness as you are devoured.

Year 31 You finish drinking your fill of the girl and release her though she still clings to you tightly like you're her entire world despite the fact that she's already married to some young man in this village.. As usual you have left this one alive since the less outright deaths the better. Besides, the more you feed on these peasants and don't kill them, the more they seem to be enamored with you. The fools believe your "mercy" is some sort of blessing. "Is there anything else you require of me, m'lord?" she asks in a mild daze. "Actually now that you mention it, yeah. Now that I'm done sucking on you, I'll give you the honor of sucking on me. You know what to do." You say. The girl nods and slowly lowers herself before you. Now THIS is what being a vampire is all about, or at least what it should be. Lording it over the lessers and reaping the benefits. Not hiding on the outskirts of civilization. Ever since this arrangement you've actually been enjoying yourself again. Even more than when you used to go hunting in Holgard, which you haven't been going to at all anymore. As for Isabella, she spends all her time in her precious garden and you're starting to wonder if she even cares what you do anymore as long as it doesn't involve messing with Dert or calling attention to your home. The only time she has asked you a question is she started wondering where you were getting all the children from since she was concerned you might be "over farming" Dert, but she seemed satisfied with your answer. She's benefiting so why should she care? The girl finishes servicing you and then you send her home in a better status for her husband than before. Tiring of your own time here tonight, you prepare to leave and exit the "home" that you use when visiting. Before you leave however, you're met by Vic. Usually he knows better than to crowd you like this so it makes you a little wary. "That's close enough! Encroach on my personal space any further and it'll be the last! Now what is it that you feel the need to waste my time with?" "Well I was just wondering, since I've been so loyal to you lord and helpful in in convincing the others to stay loyal…I was just wondering if there would ever come a time that you might bless me with the same gift that you have. Not that I would be nearly as powerful as you of course m'lord. I live to serve after all." This again… Vic has brought this up before, and this topic has come up with more than a few of the ladies you've been dining on. You of course always give the same answer, that it isn't a "gift" that can be given so lightly and will only ever go to the worthy. Telling them that you can't make them vampires because you're not old enough to do it yet, wouldn't actually make you look like the "all powerful" dark lord that you've set yourself up as. Still, as far as you know you ARE able to make them into ghouls. Isabella explained all this to you in your first weeks as a vampire. She always said making a ghoul wasn't worth it since they are some of the most pathetic creatures she's ever had the displeasure of knowing. She made one once and killed it soon after because she found its habits too disgusting and its fawning far too annoying. Of course Isabella's personality is a little different than yours. You would probably be fine with more fawning. In fact absolute loyalty might be a plus. As for disgusting habits, well you wouldn't have to live with them on a regular basis and so what if they eat a few bugs? However, it still isn't something you're going to just do right away and would need to think on. After all, you turn one person or multiple people into a ghoul or ghouls, how are they going to act towards the rest of the normal people? Not like you can watch them constantly. "I'll think about it, now get out of my way!" you say and knock Vic aside. You head home pondering the possible ramifications of taking that extra step. When you finally do get home, you find that your night hasn't gotten less complicated. "Have fun with your human whores?" Isabella asks. "Thought you'd be in your garden. That's where you like to spend all your time isn't it?" you say, not even answering her question. "True, but perhaps I've been sticking my head in the flowers for far too long and ignoring the situation that's going on." "What situation?" "The situation where you've apparently dominated an entire village to your will. Maybe even more." "No, just the one. What difference does it make? I'm not attracting any attention and I've been bringing children home to you on monthly basis." "Yes, which is why I haven't said anything, however I've been noticing a change in your behavior with me." "You have? Surprised, considering all the time you spend in your garden." "Okay, if you're bitching about us not spending enough time together, all you had to do is say something and I would have obliged. Since when have I not helped you out in any way I can? It's why you're here in the first place." "And THAT right there is the problem!" "What?" "You treating me like a second class citizen around here!" "Are you kidding me? I gave you fucking complete freedom!" "You know that doesn't matter. Not really in the scheme of things. You're more powerful than me. You always will be and you will always see me as your lesser. Sometimes it feels like you scold me as if I was some child." "Well when you act like one at times, that's what happens. And if I really saw you as my lesser, I wouldn't have even bothered with you in the first place. I saw something special in you, but obviously I was mistaken. Besides all that, don't give me that I never let you have fun business because it's not even true in the first place. If anything I've been TOO permissive. You're on a fucking power trip right now and while I get it because you feel like you're getting the attention you feel you deserve, I'm telling you right now that if you continue like this, it's going end badly." "I don't understand WHY you're giving me shit for this. You do the same thing with Dert, you're just less hands on." "Exactly. I'm not rolling around in the pigpen with the pork chops! You're in there, not only rolling around with them, you're also fucking the pigs. AND don't even tell me that you don't do that, because you stink of humans most nights when you come back. Though I'm not so much mad about that bit as I am severely disappointed." "So what are you saying exactly?" 'What I'm saying is YOU are heading down a path that I've seen play out several times with others I was close to in the past. Not really willing to go through it again." "So, what then? You're going to forbid me to do this then?" "No, actually I'm not. You're a free willed vampire, go play with your mortals and lord it over them. That seems to be what is making you happy. What I am saying however is if you insist on doing this though, you'll be doing it elsewhere because I'm not going to sit by and watch the inevitable, let alone get caught up in it. Obviously you feel stifled here, so maybe you need to go do this anyway." Well that's done it for you. You're not going to get threatened by an ultimatum. You and Isabella haven't been getting along for a while now anyway. If she's giving you the option for a clean break now, you probably should take it while you can. "I'll be gone tomorrow night. I trust that will be okay." You answer. "Fine by me. You can sleep elsewhere in the crypt though, because you certainly won't be sleeping in my bed." Isabella says. "Yeah, probably for the best." "Well then, it was fun while lasted and I hope you succeed in whatever it is that you're trying to achieve. Goodbye." And with those cold last words, Isabella turns and leaves you. While maybe you sort of knew this was coming for some time, there is a part of you that's going to miss Isabella. She did do so much for you, but ultimately you needed your freedom the most. And now you have it. The next night, you leave the crypt with what little belongings you still have attachment to as quick as you can. You don't bump into Isabella; you assume she's in her garden as usual. You make your way to Maldito, where you are met with the usual praise and submissive behavior. "Vic, get all your best builders and tradespeople together, I want a meeting with them." You order. "Um, okay m'lord." Vic answers. You meet with them to let them know that you're going to be around a lot more often, so you want a proper home, rather than the simple empty one room house they just let you use when you are here. Your news is met with an overjoyed reaction for the most part, though you get the impression some are just reacting more out of fear of defying you. In any case, you aren't asking for much in the short term. Just a small underground area underneath the house you stay at. "Oh! So like a root cellar!" one of them beams. "Yeah…just like a root cellar." You answer rolling your eyes a bit. In any case it's a simple enough task for them that you figure they won't take long in doing it. In the meantime, you have the unpleasant task of digging a hole in the forest and sleeping there. The first night is a real wake up call of how much better it was sleeping in a nice soft bed next to Isabella, but you need to get over that. A month passes and it's still not finished mainly because one of the more skilled carpenters had a heart attack on the job. You're pissed about this inconvenience, but it is what it is. In the meantime, when you make your usual meeting with Green Eye's community, you tell the guard at the entrance that you won't require a child every month anymore. Instead, they can just bring a girl like Green Eye originally suggested. By the middle of the second month it's still not finished. You have no idea what the hell is holding these idiots up. Vic says something about the structural integrity is shaky and there being a danger over everything caving in. You're getting irritated to the point that you almost lash out and kill one of them, but then you realize you need these fools right now. So you kill the tavern owner instead. Not like serving drinks is a job that requires special skills that you need. Besides, his wife can take over and she's more compliant to you anyway. You start wondering if this would go faster if you made them ghouls. The main problem that you can see is that they're all weak humans that aren't even in the best of shape in the first place and require sleep and regular food. If you made them ghouls they'd work for you tirelessly night and day. (They'd be able to see in the dark as well) And they could eat…well anything really. There isn't really much stopping you now, since you now ARE here constantly to monitor their behavior. Though there is a real desire to still not do it too, since you'd essentially be "rewarding" them all for shit work so far. If you were going to do it, you'd rather do for those that deserve it at least. > You leave them human You're not rewarding these people any more than you have to. These mortals are just going to have to work harder. The rest of the month passes and fortunately they seem to be making better progress with the project, should be done by next month at least. Before that happens you go over to Green Eye's mine to pick up your tribute. There's a single hobgoblin guard at the entrance with a girl looking down the entire time. "Here's the new tribute. Green Eye says he hopes she is suitable and assures you that she has not been touched by anyone here." The hobgoblin remarks. You look at the peasant girl who is obviously frightened out of her mind, but too terrified to run or do anything. "Look at me." You command and lift her chin up so she looks into your eyes. You say a few commanding words to her and soon she loses all will of her own. She then walks away from Green Eye and holds you tightly. "Shit, wish I had that ability. It would make a whole of things much easier with the missus." The hobgoblin remarks. "Tell Green Eye, the tribute was suitable." You say and then leave with your tribute to head back home. The third month rolls around and at last your humans have finished your home. You inspect it and find nothing out of place. It looks like it was reinforced with several pillars and they even tried their best to make it look "homey." "Do you like it m'lord? We tried to make sure that everything would be comfortable for you and later we can expand on it if you wish." Vic asks in his usual toadying manner. "Yeah it's fine, and get back! You are entirely too fucking close!" you shout, slapping him. Honestly it's a far cry from Isabella's crypt, but it's better than sleeping in a dug out hole in the ground in the forest. You're in a mildly jovial mood so you decide to celebrate by spending the night in it not doing much of anything except feeding on and fucking a couple of the village girls. There are no objections obviously. Night passes into day and while you're fast asleep, you're suddenly awakened by the noise above you. At first you think it's just the villagers being noisy, but by the sounds of yelling and screaming, something else is going on. "Shit..." you say to yourself already knowing what might be going on. Since you drank one of the girls dry last night, you tell the remaining living one to go take a quick peek at what's going on. She does so and as soon as she pops her head up from the trapdoor, a gun blast is heard and her body drops from the top of the ladder and on the floor in front of you. Most of her face is blown off. "Yubin, you bleedin' idjit! Ya supposed ta shoot da pale man! Quick! Reload! Reload!" you hear an orc shout. Those backstabbing…they are going to rue this day… You quickly make your way up the ladder and find yourself facing several of Green Eye's boys. "Shit! Daggers!" the closest orc shouts. You make quick work of the orc shouting orders and then the one immediately next to him. Several of the humans and halfbreeds attempt to stab you next, and the last one of them just manages to sink his blade into your shoulder before you break his neck. The pain is more than you expected it to be. It doesn't just feel like a sharp pain, but more like a hot burning sensation all throughout your shoulder and top part of your arm. You pull it out and see why. The blade is silver. "Sonof…Argh!" you utter when you feel a blast of gunshot in your back from Yubin who was busily reloading his musket just outside the doorway to the house. The silver in the shot is enough to drop you. "He's not dead yet! Shoot him! Shoot him again!" you hear Vic shout. "I can't! I'm outta da stuff! I'm gettin' outta here!" Yubin's remarks and then runs off. "Shit. HEY! Get Big Tooth over here, we need his help! It's the man who killed his brother anyway!" You can't believe Vic is working with Green Eye's bandits. When did this happen? Was this always the case? Was it the long con? Did he have some secret meeting recently? In any case it doesn't matter. Vic and several of the bandits have already returned to the house. One of the bandits, Big Tooth is an ogre. Vic orders him to drag your ass out of the house while the others attempt to help. Normally, you'd be strong enough to resist, but you're partially paralyzed from the silver shot lodged in your spine and it isn't healing anytime soon. Big Tooth drags you by both legs and while you struggle, even taking down one of the bandits along the way; it doesn't take long before Big Tooth's strength (which is also enhanced due to his anger that you killed his brother last year) manages to get you to the doorway and that's when you start feel the burn of the sun. You snarl and try to hang on to anything so as to not get dragged all the way out, but the other bandits start hacking at your hands with their silver daggers causing you to eventually lose your grip after losing several fingers. Big Tooth gives one more pull and you are at last fully exposed to the sun. You roll around screaming in agony as your skin begins to burn. All around you the village isn't doing too much better, what with some of it being in flames and all. Green Eye's men are finally finishing the job you prevented them from doing last year. Your last thoughts are of how Isabella was right about this not ending well, just before Big Tooth stomps your burning skull into nothing but bloody brains and bone fragments.

Chapter 3C1: The Beast Unleashed Year 30 "Well of course there are vampire hunters running around in Holgard now. I told you that you probably needed to start showing a bit of restraint now that the religious factions aren't killing each other anymore." Isabella remarks. "You said that Holgard was a perfect spot for me to hunt due to all the crime and violence!" you reply. "Yeah, but still within reason. I mean from some of the tales you've told me in the past, it sounds like you just leave a killing field in your wake half the time. As I said, you probably were only getting away with it due to the religious faction war, but now that that's over with, they're on to you. Look, you had your fun, but it's probably time to rein it in a bit anyway. You had like what five years? Honestly, I probably gave you your freedom a bit too quickly." "So what, are you cracking the whip on me now?" "No, but I will say that I'm fond of you enough that I would LIKE you to still be around for a long time to come. You might think a few vampire hunters are no problem, but I imagine they aren't the only ones hunting you. I mean you were taking advantage of the religious faction war, I have to believe that some of them groups aren't vampire friendly either. Wasn't your ex a Dornan? Pretty sure those wizard priests might have discovered a vampire operating in the city by now and I'm not even counting the fanatical Joachimites you told me about." "So what are you saying exactly?" "I'm saying that maybe you should give Holgard a break for awhile if you can't restrain yourself. Go find another hunting ground that isn't going to attract attention. I'm sure there are little isolated towns and villages further east of here. I'm sure there are probably bandits preying upon them as well, so you've got a wide selections to choose from." You somewhat frown at that suggestion. "If I'm going to skulk about a village luring peasants to their doom, I might as well be grocery shopping for you in Dert." You say. "Well I dunno, go wipe out an entire hamlet then, I don't care. Just don't be a dumb ass and leave any witnesses. Because I'm going to tell you this as well, it's one thing if you're going to insist on playing with your immortality, but it's quite another if you start fucking with mine. If your actions end up causing a group of adventurers to come barging down here in the middle of the day, waking up my beauty sleep, you are going to wish you'd been staked and beheaded after I get done with you. Understand?" Isabella says with a calm threatening tone that is enough to unnerve even you. "Yes…dear." You meekly utter. Isabella gives you a stern look and then leaves you to your own devices. Isabella may not have any direct power over you, but she's still powerful enough to crush you if she wanted to. You don't actually think she'd kill you, but you don't doubt that she wouldn't make your unlife miserable for a very long time. If you weren't so grateful for everything she's done for you, you might be inclined to leave and not return. However in the grand scheme of things you're fairly happy with her so there isn't much incentive to do so. She's usually right anyway. Might be time to settle down a bit. Mass slaughter is starting to lose its appeal anyway. Well not ALL its appeal, but maybe you should change it up, especially if you want to go back to Holgard one day. For the first few weeks, you don't go to Holgard and instead wander further to the east a bit. Honestly, you've never traveled in that direction for any extended length of time save for when you released Spikey back into the wild. That was slightly harder than you thought it would be, but at least it was better than Isabella killing him. You sort of wonder if you'll run into him, but you don't, who knows where he is now. (You hope he's happily eating people wherever he is though) You do know is if you go far enough you'll reach the borders of the Delantium Kingdom. Of course that's still quite the ways even with your speed and you aren't that adventurous. What you do find are a few small isolated villages. Bigger than Dert and nearly the size of the your old home of Teckleville. Same sort of people too, funny how no matter where you go, places like this are the same everywhere. You skulk around these minor villages, luring an unsuspecting peasant or two for food, but it's dull since it's basically like when you do it back in Dert. You encounter nomads, brigands, and raider types of various races. Again, those are more fun since you can let loose a bit more, but a lot of these tend to be on the non-human side and at this point you've acquired more of a taste for human blood as opposed to greenskin or some of the other savage races you've come across. Upon your return on these daily travels, Isabella almost never asks you what you were up to. She doesn't seem to care as long as you aren't bringing trouble to her crypt. Sometimes you mention what you've been up to and she listens, and sometimes asking basic questions back, nothing more though. A few months pass, and you're about ready to go back to Holgard just to see if things have died down there a bit, but you decide to stick it out a little while longer and continue doing what you're doing. You head to Maldito, which is one of the more remote villages, even compared to most on your list. When you get within sight of it however, you're surprised. The entire village is in flames. You can hear screaming and yelling still coming from the place and the stench of blood and death is thick. You're getting hungry just thinking about it. You cautiously move towards the village and find where the majority of the voices are coming from. A mixed group of rough looking orcs, gnolls, and even a few hobgoblins are currently lording it over the remaining peasants they haven't killed. Currently a couple of the women are being raped and they're torturing the shit out of several of the men. Despite the large amount of savage races, a human seems to be the leader. Figures. He is addressing the peasants who are focused on him despite all the horror around them. "Know that you lot brought this on yourselves! All you had to do is provide food, basic goods and some time with your daughters, sisters and wives on a regular basis and this shithole of a town would be spared Green Eye's wrath. Instead you've been hiring mercenaries to cut down our men for weeks! NOW you have to pay!" the human bandit says. "NO! I swear it! We've done no such thing! We would nev…" "SILENCE!" the human bandit snaps interrupting the older peasant trying to beg for mercy. The human leader soon picks the old man up off the ground and stabs him in the throat before tossing him back on the floor. "I don't actually give a shit if it WAS you or not! One of the villages in this area did, and when they get the message of what we're doing to your village, they'll fall in line, or they're going to suffer the same fate! Rape everyone in every fucking orifice, kill them all and shove their dismembered corpses on big fucking spiked sticks." Grim stuff. The odd thing is you actually feel slightly sorry for these pitiful peasants since you probably inadvertently caused this. You were slaughtering so many bandits over last couple of months, you didn't think that they were actually united any way. You also didn't think that these bandit types would jump to the conclusions that the villagers were behind it. Though you suppose it makes sense that they would. After years of just ruthlessly drinking the living and seeing them as nothing more than blood bags, it seems odd that you would feel protective of them for some reason. Maybe, this is how Isabella feels about Dert in some ways. The people in that village are all food to her, but they're hers and she doesn't want anyone else fucking with them. You guess you've developed a similar attachment. Who knew? Yeah, you're not going to let bottom-feeding scum throw away perfectly good food… You enter the village, you don't even try to hide. You break the neck of three hobgoblins and put your fist through an orc before anyone even mounts an attack. "Shit! Get your dick outta that bitch, can't you see we're being attacked?!" the human bandit shouts. The gnolls clumsily attempt to chop you with their long axes, but its all too easy to avoid their blows and shatter their spines, you quickly shut their dog like howls up by stomping their heads into mush. The remaining bandits fair no better against you. "He's too fucking fast! He's not human! He's not…" are the last words of a half orc before you finish him off, along with his buddies. Soon it's only the human bandit leader left and to his credit; he hasn't run off (like some of the hobgoblins tried to do) "Let me guess…vampire?" You nod silently. "Shit…I had a feeling it wasn't just mercenaries after seeing the carnage on a couple of those sites. So are…" You're done entertaining this lesser form, you rush forward and rip out his throat mid sentence. You drink his blood and throw his corpse next to the body of the old man he had just killed not a few moments before. Meanwhile the peasants that the bandits rounded up haven't even run. They've all just huddled together watching you, probably with just as much fear as they had before you arrived. You look upon them and they have never looked more like the herd of sheep they truly are. They are prey and always will be in their current form. You have a mind to finish them all off, until one brave one approaches on his hands and knees. "You…you have saved us!" he shouts. "Saved you? You shortsighted sheep, I only saved you because these assholes were killing off my livestock and I hate to waste food. I've been feeding on you lot for months now. Didn't you even notice how some of you had gone missing?" you say. "We…we assumed perhaps the bandits had taken some of us in the middle of the night. But please, spare us your unholy wrath and we will worship you, my dark lord!" Well this has turned interesting… "Worship you say? What exactly are you proposing?" you ask. "Yes, we…we can't defend ourselves against Green Eye's bandits and now that you've killed this group, he's just going to send more to finish us off. You could defend us and in exchange we could provide…what you need…." The man says. "I need blood you do know that right?" "Yes, but if it means just a few of us dying as opposed to all of us dying then it will be worth it. Please, I beg you. Whatever you wish, we will provide." This could be just the thing to break up the monotony. It's also perfect due to the remoteness of it all. You'd have people willing to give themselves to you, and the bandits you can just massacre as usual. Of course doing something like this might be slightly more involved than you'd prefer. You can also imagine that it probably wouldn't be as cut and dry as you're going to want it to be. Lot of factors still at play and you question if you want the headache. > You just kill them all and be done with it As much as the idea of ruling over this miserable lot like a king appeals to you on some level, the fact is you don't really want to be bothered micromanaging. You imagine it's why Isabella doesn't bother directly controlling Dert. It's much simpler for her to just let them live their own lives and only intervene when absolutely necessary. Would have been nice to have killed the bandits before they fucked up the village, since then the peasants wouldn't have known about you. Now that they do, you can't very well just let them live. One of them would surely blab at one of the other villages and the whole point of this, was to lay low in the first place. "Rise." You tell the man groveling before you. He does so slowly before you. "Your terms…" you start to say. "Yes?" he asks with a glimmer of hope in his eyes. You grab him by the throat and break his neck with ease. The light goes out of his eyes and he slumps to the ground. "Are not acceptable." You add. The rest of the peasants are paralyzed with fear or crying. Most of the crying comes from the children though. This gives you an idea. "Listen up sheep! Do not attempt to escape, I guarantee you will not make it. I'm fast and strong enough to kill and catch everyone here! Your lives are forfeit this night. If I had not come here, the bandits would have finished you off. You have nobody to blame but yourselves for being so weak. However, I have a counter proposal to make this necessary deed at least somewhat less horrific." You stare at the peasants for a bit, making sure you've got their full attention, though they really aren't going anywhere at this point. Actually you aren't sure if they ALL decided to run and scatter if you actually would be able to catch and kill all of them, but so far they're so scared they believe anything you say. "Provide no resistance, and I will make your deaths quick. Also, some of you have children. I will spare the children and take them away from here so they won't be defenseless against the bandits or the surrounding wilderness. This is the best offer you're going to get." "How do we know you're telling the truth and that you'll not harm the children?" one asks. "You don't. But think of it this way, resist me and I'll make sure the children die FIRST before your eyes. Comply and at worst you can die wondering if I kept my word." That certainly got most of their attention. In typical fashion, most of the parents are more than willing to sacrifice themselves for their children. Even some of the ones who don't have any are compliant. Amusingly some beg if you can turn them into a vampire instead. You respond that none of them are worthy of "the gift." You of course aren't going to tell the truth that you can't make any of them into vampires if you wanted to anyway, since Isabella has explained that you have to be much older than you currently are before you could even attempt it. You might be able to make them into ghouls at best, but from what Isabella has told you about ghouls, you'd rather not have such disgusting creatures fawning all over you all the time either. Parents attempt to calm their children, but it's a lost cause, most of them are too upset. You push the parents aside and have them group the children together. You speak in a calming voice to them all. It's hard to focus on all of them like this, but fortunately children seem to be more susceptible to vampiric suggestion. Soon, the children are in a dazed like condition. "See? Now they won't even experience the horror of watching me kill you all. Shall we begin?" Without another word, you unleash terrible violence upon the peasants. Despite their promise to comply, most of them try to run anyway. Human instinct you suppose. Though it doesn't matter much since they stupidly don't scatter very far you easily catch the lot that do run anyway. Others do thankfully comply. Some of these are the parents who are tearfully spending their last moments with their children (even if they are currently hypnotized). After you finish off the last mewling mother and drink her dry, you turn your attention to the children who are thankfully still under your suggestion. "Okay then, let's go children, we've got a lot of ground to cover and unfortunately you lot don't run as fast as me…hmm. Maybe that cart will do…" You load all the children onto an undamaged cart and push it as fast as you can. It's slower than if you were by yourself, but then its also faster than if they all had to follow you on foot. Difficulty comes when you reach the forest since you have to start maneuvering between trees, eventually you have to stop, but it's not too bad since you're almost at your destination anyway. "Come on kids, we're running from here." It's a tedious task of herding these children and having to slow down for them, but eventually you reach your destination. Just in time too since it's almost dawn. You're just glad you haven't attracted any unwanted attention during this whole thing. You make your way down the steps and probably due to all the footsteps, Isabella comes to meet you. She looks like she was prepared for a fight too. "What the hell?! With all the footsteps I heard, I thought it was some group of hunters or something!" Isabella remarks. "Well this should make you a bit happier." You answer and present the children behind you. "What's all this then? Children? Where did you get them from? Not Dert I hope." "No, not from Dert, not from Holgard either. They're from a place that actually no longer exists." "Did you finally lose control and wipe out an entire village? So much for laying low." "No I only wiped out half of one. Bandits already fucked up the place before I even got there. Killed them and the remaining villagers. The only witnesses are these children, which I thoughtfully brought home to you." "Really? Just for me huh?" "Well I know you really like child blood and it isn't like I'm going to have the patience to stretch the little bastards out like you do, so they're all yours." Isabella is very happy with you right now, she embraces you lovingly and gives you a playful bite which you return. "Mmm, I knew I picked you for a reason…" "Just one request though. Could you keep the kids hypnotized? I mean I know you tend to do that with your food anyway, but uh, I sort of promised that no harm would come to them." "What? What deal is this? I thought you said you didn't leave anyone alive." "I didn't, and I mean officially I'm NOT harming the kids since I'm giving them to you, but… I dunno…I'd feel a little less like a liar if the kids don't feel any pain while you drink their blood." Isabella smiles a bit at your odd sense of "morality." "Aww, that is so adorable. You have a twisted code of honor. Very well, but you didn't really need to worry about it anyway, last thing I need to hear are children caterwauling throughout my crypt. I know some vampires love to hear their lunch beg and scream and claim it makes the blood taste better. Not me. I prefer my food to just be silent so I can eat in peace. In any case, let me get these lovelies locked up and I'll be meeting you in the bedroom. I hope you aren't too tired from your earlier actions, because I suggest you prepare yourself." Whether you were tired or not, wouldn't make any difference to you anyway. You make your way to the bedroom thinking that while you might not be a king over some groveling peasants, you'll certainly be king in here and that's a whole lot more fun. When Isabella comes to the bedroom, she stands in the doorway just staring at you for a moment. At first you think she's just taking in all your manliness, but then she beckons you off the bed. "You come with me, I got something else in mind. Something special…but don't worry we'll still get to that." You do so and soon realize that she's taking you to her garden. She's NEVER done that. When you enter, the garden is quite sizeable and bathed in a glowing blue light. You always knew there was a light source in there due to the glow you could see whenever Isabella exited it, but now you know it comes from some sort of luminescent fungus that is all over the walls and ceiling. "It's not sunlight, but it works well enough. Come walk with me." Isabella says and takes your hand to enter her garden. The garden is unsurprisingly very well cared for. There are all sorts of flowers, though you've never been an expert on such matters, but you're fairly certain there are types of plants here that don't normally grow in this environment. You weren't aware there was a small reservoir of water here either, almost like a pond, but then you imagine that would make having a garden here a lot easier with a water source. Isabella doesn't say anything and just takes you through the garden. She begins pointing to the various plants and giving small histories of them. She also starts to tell you about her own memories of when she first saw these various plants and flowers. It becomes a very intimate history of her life and who she is. It's actually all very enlightening mainly because even after all these years you STILL didn't know much about her past. All these years you believed her to be some sort of royalty. Perhaps even a princess of some sort of long lost Empire. But no, her beginnings are actually very humble, possibly even more humble than your own. She was a simple peasant girl that worked in a flower shop. Then one night she caught the eye of a vampire who was of minor royalty (Though trying very hard to keep it secret from the general public). He revealed his true nature immediately to her, but insisted that he had no intention on hurting her. Isabella explains that she at first complied with him out of fear, but eventually she didn't mind spending time with him. She says she doesn't know if it was because he was working his dark charms on her, or that she was young and foolish, but she said whatever the reason, she did come to love him. She says she never really knew why he chose her. She suspects her looks helped initially, but it wasn't like she was special in that regard. He could have easily had any upper class lady, but then perhaps he knew that marrying one of them would have drawn more attention to himself while marrying a lower class girl might just be grateful for the uplifted standing and if he had to silence her, well who would care? Still, marrying someone of such lowly birth raised eyebrows anyway. Didn't take long before everything started to fall apart and those that would seek to harm him started focusing on various eccentricities, oddities and other things that caused people to start to wonder. For a time, Isabella mostly stayed on his castle grounds spending much of her time in the gardens. She said it was the only place that put her at ease since she knew even with as much power as her husband had, there would be no way he could fight all the forces gathering against him. Of course he wouldn't leave either. He would fight and die. Isabella was prepared to die with him, but he realized that none of this would be her concern if he hadn't dragged her into this life in the first place. So he did the only thing he could think of to save her, he gave her the gift of immortality and told her to live her life as she saw fit. She didn't want to leave at first, but he insisted and perhaps to some degree Isabella did love her own life more than him. Isabella left in the middle of the night, just before the siege of his castle started. A few months later she had heard that he had died and they had a priest of Joachim dowse his burnt corpse in holy water after removing his head. Isabella goes on about a few other bits of her life, but her origins are what are most fascinating. Makes you wonder why now all of a sudden she's decided to tell you. "Because I'm finally comfortable with you. Sure, you mess up every now and then, but ultimately you listen and do something special for me. I know living with me hasn't been easy because you probably were always wondering where exactly you stood with me. Well tonight I revealed my soul to you…so to speak. You must understand that this was very difficult for me. I've tried this before, and it's never ended well." Isabella says. "Well, I guess you have probably had a very eventful past." You reply. "You only know a minor bit of it, but enough about the past, I want to embrace the future. Embrace me here in the garden, in the soil and amongst the plants. Maybe we're dead, but I want to make love with life surrounding us." Rather poetic. You can't say all this doesn't emotionally move you somewhat. You and Isabella proceed to be intimate in the garden and it's definitely the most positive experience you've ever had. You might have thought in the past that you were in love before, but now you truly know it. > You time passes.. Year 34… The more Holgard changes the more it stays the same. It's a good thing everyone has such short memories here. Then again, hard for anyone to worry about vampires when nobody actually found you. Most of the real hunters have moved on. There's still the Joachimites, but they're more likely to go burn a poor old woman as a witch before they actually go hunting for a vampire. Lot easier for one thing. Nowadays Holgard is back to being under the plain old paranoia it normally suffers from. You've heard rumors of that the Delantium Kingdom is going to try to reclaim this city, but that's about the only major thing and it's not likely true anyway. Still, laying low in the backwoods and only coming here occasionally was a good idea. Of course you tend to spend more time with Isabella now since the two of you are a proper couple now. You find stories about her old life fascinating (Though you tend to want her to gloss over any bits about ex-lovers) though you know who would really find them interesting, your sister. You bet she could make an entire opera or something out of Isabella's life. Probably a couple of them. You've sort of been thinking about your family lately and how they might all be doing. You assume that they're all still alive of course. You sort of miss them all as strange as that may seem given what you've done and what you are now. Your last shred of humanity you suppose. Regardless, you'd never be able to visit them even if you weren't wanted for murder in your hometown. Or rather, you could go back because nobody could stop you or you could be stealthy about it, but you don't think you should. It's a closed chapter in your old life and going back in person would just cause more problems. Still, you wonder if you shouldn't get a message to your mother. You're sure she'd at least like to know if you were doing okay. You'd send one to your sister, but who knows where she is. Maybe you could write a letter and send it off via one of those courier services. You suppose you better put a quill, ink and parchment on the list of shit you need to get along with the items Isabella sent you to get at the flower nursery here. Funny that after everything that's occurred in your "life" you still have to do a little roguery the occasional store every once in awhile. You guess the more you change the more you stay the same as well. You of course find it much simpler now. It also no longer gives you the rush that it once did, but then that's no surprise, you've come a long way since those simple rogue days. You head to the nursery and easily break in like you've done many times before. You imagine the old couple that run this place wonder where they've misplaced their various seeds, supplies and such on many occasions. After grabbing the things Isabella sent you to get, you start rummaging through the small office there to find potential writing supplies, then you suddenly sense something living nearby and it's not the plants. At first you wonder if it's one of the old couple that runs this place because if it is, you'll just stealthily sneak out as you've done before. (No point in killing a business owner of where you do most of your "shopping") However, you can see that this figure is not carrying a lantern of any sort and is actively trying to stay hidden in the darkness. The form is definitely female and they haven't noticed that YOU'VE noticed them yet. This person is obviously following you and while it would be a simple matter of just killing her, you'd like to know why first. You maneuver around behind furniture and aisles a bit and then just when you get behind this person, they turn around and attempt to dodge you. Quick, but not quick enough to avoid your grasp. You easily disarm them and finally get a good look. The face is older, but you'd still be able to recognize it anywhere. You're still taken aback though. "Lisa?" you ask. "Long time no see." Lisa says unruffled. "What the hell are you doing here?" "I might ask you the same. Even when you weren't a vampire you weren't exactly stealing flowers." "Long story, but I've questions of my own. Like why you were following me. However, I'd rather continue this discussion elsewhere." "Sure, but are you going to let me go first? Your grip is like fucking iron and it's obvious that if I wished you any harm, I'm far outclassed." You remember a similar situation like this with another "ex" however that was a little different. You didn't really have a proper relationship with Heather like you did with Lisa and also that was when you were a bit of a "wilder" vampire. You've started having a little more restraint since those earlier years. You release Lisa who heads outside and you follow her out before relocking the door. "You re-secure the places you break into now?" Lisa asks. "Not usually, but this place is a bit different. Alright, let's get in that alley and you can tell me everything." You say and start motioning Lisa to follow. "An alley? I thought we'd go to a tavern at least if we're going to catch up." "Yeah, I don't really mingle with the crowds unless I have to anymore. Besides, I actually feel safer in an alley than a tavern given how many eyes are in those places." "Understandable, I guess it makes sense for you to lay low given that there's a price on your head." "What?!" "Yeah, but I figured you knew that already. I mean it's not on your head personally; it's just on the Vampire of Holgard. I was very surprised when I found out that might be you." "Wait, what?! I thought all that shit had been forgotten about and you're a hunter?!" "No, of course not. I'm an Ebony Claw assassin. Maybe the general public forgets shit when it dies down, but the ECS NEVER forgets." "But I haven't even been targeting ECS members." "Yeah, I've been getting that impression, but so far you're the only vampire I've been able to track in this city." This is nuts. Lisa is an Ebony Claw assassin. You always wondered if she joined while you were away, but she took a very different path than you thought. You guess she learned how to take care of herself all too well. Strange to think that she was once just a simple peasant girl that longed to see the world. But then Isabella was once a simple peasant girl at one time too. And the fact you're finding out you have a contract on your head is even more of a shocker. Though you suppose that you may have very well killed some of their members during the religious faction war, but you haven't been killing any of them recently, at least not that you know of. Is someone setting you up? "Wait, how long have you followed me and how the hell did I not know it before?" you ask. "Heh, well I AM a very skilled assassin and I kept my distance for a long time. In fact it wasn't until I figured out it was you that I decided to get close like I did. Had you been any other vampire, I would have been executing you from afar. No way I'd really want to tangle with a real one up close no matter how good I am. As far as how long I've tracked you, well I've noticed you come here over the course of a few months now. I know you must have a lair somewhere nearby but it's probably not actually in the city. In any case since I'm fairly certain it isn't you, I can only imagine it might be another one. Someone you know?" "I doubt that, I only know one other and she's a bit…reclusive. Look are you even sure if it's a vampire?" "Well from all the information I've been given the ECS leadership here seems to believe it to be the case. Hmmm, maybe a new approach is in order. I think you should come with me so we can straighten this all out." "Wait, you seriously expect me to go walking into an ECS hangout? You just told me I got a contract on my head!" "You mean to tell me you're worried? Judging by your skills, you'd be able to wipe out everyone there. Honestly, the Holgard branch of ECS is hardly anything for you to worry about, that why they got me from the Delantium Kingdom. I'm just suggesting though that maybe it still might be a good idea to clear this all up directly. I mean after all I'm not the only assassin and as good as I am, I'm nothing compared to a Fel touched shadow blade assassin. Now someone like that might actually give you problems. They're also less likely to bother getting down to the truth and just carry out a hit. Better to clear things like this up, trust me. The ECS is not an organization you want on your ass." While you're sure Lisa has a point, you really aren't sure about all this. "Look, I know this is pretty strange for you seeing me like this under these circumstances. I know it's been a long time and we've both moved on in very different life directions, but I still remember the good times we had. So for old times sake, will you trust me on this?" You look at Lisa and despite the fact that the years have taken their toll on her and cynicism has taken root in her demeanor, that last bit she said reminded you of the young girl you once were very fond of. Once again some things remain the same. "Very well, since this is you, I'll go, but as soon as I sense I'm going to get attacked, I'm killing everyone there. I mean if I'm already on a contract list, I might as well give them a reason at this point." "Fair enough, but I don't think you'll have anything to worry about. Mantis is the current ECS leader here. He's a sonofabitch, but he's pretty reasonable." "Mantis…that name sounds familiar. I think I spoke to him once when I tried to ask the ECS for help with an affliction I had." "Oh? You tried to cure your vampire condition?" "Uh, no. This actually was a different condition I had due to Ral on top of being geased. The vampirism ended up curing me of it actually…yeah things got a bit complicated for a while after we parted ways. In any case, I don't remember him being that high up or all that reasonable." "Well the original old leader, Rook moved on to bigger things and well, the ECS tends to have enthusiastic violent promotions so to speak and eventually Mantis made his way through the ranks. Still with all the extra responsibility he's learned to be a little more patient I suppose." "Haven't we all…" You and Lisa make your way to Mantis's hang out which apparently is still the Poisoned Blade Inn. She mentions he prefers to stay at the "hub" of things Along the way, Lisa asks why you never met her again since she waited a long time for you; you explain Ral's experiment and what happened exactly to you. Lisa listens intently and offers her sympathies. She says that during that time you were out of action she had to deal with the Holgard civil war. She mentions this was when she joined the ECS. She said after it was all over, the ECS transferred her to the Delantium Kingdom and there is where she learned to be an assassin. "So…you've been in the Delantium Kingdom all this time huh? Guess that's why I never ran into you." You say. "You looked for me?" Lisa asks. "Initially I did, but as I said, I eventually figured you moved on or were dead. Not to mention I didn't think you'd want me anyway by that point." "Oh…I dunno. I was falling in love with you even when you were forced to work for Ral. I'm certain I might have been able to look past what you are now. It isn't like I'm in any position to judge you morally after all. Well looks like we're getting close to it." Before you can reply, you sense several figures lurking nearby. "You've got some balls showing up here!" a voice shouts and before you know it a person literally materializes in front of you and Lisa. It's enough to catch you a bit off guard, but you react quick enough to attack your assailant, though apparently not enough to land a hit. This person cannot possibly be a normal human. You wonder if this is one of those Fel touched Lisa mentioned. You then hear a shot of a pistol, followed by a burning sensation in your upper back. You collapse to the ground on one knee in pain and feel like part of you is on fire. Good thing you aren't human. However, Lisa's the only one behind you, and it's obvious that she just shot you in the back. You aren't sure if it was an accident or if she's just lead you into a trap. > You accident Considering that Lisa is supposed to be a well trained assassin that knew what you were before you even met her, seems like if she was going to do any real damage, she would have at least loaded her pistol with silver shot or something similar. You're going to chalk it up to an accident for now, besides you've already got someone right in front of you trying to kill you. Your attacker in front of you attempts to stab you in the face while you're still hurt, but you dodge, grab his wrist and make him stab himself in the stomach while breaking his arm at the same time. Standing up again, you sense another person nearby and sure enough they once again appear right in front of you. "Get out of the way!" you hear Lisa shout and you hear several more shots fired off. Seems like Lisa has herself one of those fancy repeating pistols. This time however you avoid getting hit, but dodging to the right while your attacker is hit twice in the chest. "Shit!" you hear Lisa shout and another Fel assassin materializes in front of her. She's not quick enough and you see her fall to the ground when the assassin shoots her with crossbow. You're about to run over to help, but another assassin with a shock of white hair appears and throws a lit firebomb in Lisa's direction before running off. You jump to catch it and throw it to the left, and it ends up going right through a window of the Poisoned Blade Inn. "Well…so much for diplomacy…" you say and run back to avoid the upcoming blast. Lisa is currently struggling with her attacker, but by the time you get the both of them, the bomb finally goes off. The impact of the blast knocks you down and the three of you are rolling on the ground on top of one another. At some point in the chaos you feel a blade in your ribs from the person who is on your back. Since this person isn't very heavy and you can feel the tits on your back, you're assuming this person is a woman. For Lisa's sake, you hope that this is a female EC assassin… You smash your head as hard as you can backwards into the assassin's face. It's enough for her to lose her grip. You notice that he other figure crawling from underneath you is indeed Lisa, so happily you know she didn't just accidently wound you again. The female assassin tries blink away or whatever it is they do, but you catch her arm just as she turns herself invisible. Well not invisible to you though. You pull the blade out that she shoved in your rib and shove it into her ear, then you drop her. While all this is going on, a few EC members have been running out of their now fiery hang out screaming and burning. Lisa is leaning up against a nearby wall looking down at the bolt in her thigh. "What the hell happened?" she asks. "Well after you shot me in the back, it all became pretty chaotic." You answer. "I'm sorry about that…shit…I need to take this…" Lisa says and takes out a vial of something and swallows the contents, and then pulls out the bolt. "You alright?" "Yeah, come on, we gotta get that bastard…the Watch is probably coming anyway." "Wait, what bastard?" "Mantis, of course. He probably got away through a trapdoor to the sewers, come on there should be a sewer entrance around here. Maybe we can still track him." Lisa starts limping away as fast as she can, but stumbles. "Shit…that poisoned bolt is still fucking me up…I'll be alright. I just…" "No you won't. Here." You say and just pick Lisa up over your shoulder and get out of the immediate area before you have to massacre the Holgard Watch. After ducking into alley a couple blocks away from the chaos, you finally put Lisa down who is looking slightly better. While you don't think she set you up, given all that's happened you are getting the impression that Lisa has not told you everything. "Alright Lisa, out courtesy for what we once had, you got ONE chance to explain yourself." You say. "Or what…(ugh) you gonna drink me dry?" Lisa says wincing at the pain of her wound and unconcerned about your tone. You pick Lisa up by her shoulders and your more monstrous threatening face becomes visible. She tries her best to not look scared, but you can sense the fear. "You need to drop the tough girl act, right now. Because I've done a hell of a lot worse than kill an old girlfriend since the last time you saw me." You say. "Oh yeah? Well maybe you'd be doing me a favor if you did. At least it would be you then." You can see the desperation now in her eyes and it's enough to calm you down. Well you guess not all of the "human" has left you. "Lisa, just tell me what the hell is going on already, because I'm getting the impression that I'm not the one that needs to worry about a contract on my head." You say. Lisa keeps it together and tells you the story. The contract is actually on her head, specifically Mantis put it on her a few years ago, or at least set it up. She mentions he's been a thorn in her side shortly after she joined the ECS. At first he would constantly hit on her when she was stationed in Holgard. Then when she got transferred to the Delantium Kingdom to become a better trained assassin, she thought she was done with him, but eventually he was also in the DK for awhile making upwardly mobile moves of his own. For whatever reason he continued to harass her and trying to make things harder for her. He eventually returned to Holgard when another member, Rook, was promoted. Mantis took over the ECS in this city and now had direct ties to Fel Temple as well. With all this extra influence and power, he set things in motion to set her up on some job that resulted in the death of another high ranking ECS member. Since then, she's been on the ECS hit list. She knows it was Mantis though that was behind it all and she fully intends on killing him. You take all this in and ask one question. "Okay, so where did I come in on all this?" you ask. "You didn't. Not initially anyway. You might have missed me, but I actually was in Dert for a brief period of time. I was sort of hiding, pondering my next move, along with making peace with my father since I didn't exactly leave that village on good terms. It's funny; when I got there I actually missed how boring it all was. At least I didn't have a crime syndicate trying to kill me when I lived there. Didn't know there was a vampire living in the graveyard nearby though." "Wait, you saw me? I'm usually so careful." "You were careful, but you're also probably used to the people in Dert not wandering near there at night. I was actually there lost in thought about my own situation and that's when I saw someone skulking out one of the tombs. It was actually a little unnerving since while I've experienced some out of the ordinary shit in my life, undead was not one of them. I couldn't quite make out your face at first, but for a very brief moment I saw it in moonlight and the resemblance was unmistakable. I couldn't believe it. I mean I thought you were dead, but not like this!" Lisa holds on to her side and pauses for a moment before continuing. "So I followed you since you seemed to have purpose about what you were doing. You're very quick of course so I probably caught up to you in Holgard just as you were getting ready to leave it. From there I got a good look at you and knew there was no mistaking who you were." "So wait, why didn't you contact me then?" "Because I saw you bite some hooker and drink her dry, that's why! I sort of figured that it might not be the best idea to confront you. I didn't even follow you back to the Dert cemetery, I just stayed in Holgard since I figured I needed to get on with my revenge. That was a couple months ago." "Seems like you should have gotten on with it before now." "Well I still had to do some reconnaissance. Get myself prepared and all that other shit." "Seems like it would be very dangerous being here in the manticore's den and all." "Actually it seemed like it was easier. Mantis may have security up the ass, but he tends to keep it all around himself. Sort of makes other parts of the city under less watch by his people." "Yeah, but still seems like something you'd want to do quick and get the hell out as soon as possible." "Unfortunately, there was no easy way to do it. If I tried what we just did, I would have gotten cut down easily and Mantis himself is a Fel worshipper or at least he pays enough lip service that he has powers of his own. He's never alone either in the rare moments he leaves his place. I couldn't reliably ask for any help on this, but then I randomly noticed you enter the city again. So I followed you again and every other time you came here since despite how stealthy you are, you tend to follow a routine. Always saw you go into that plant nursery and tonight…well I thought I'd risk getting your help." "Well okay, but why didn't you just tell me that? Why all the subterfuge?" "Wasn't sure if it was going to work at all first. Second, I got the impression that maybe you'd be more willing to help if YOU were in trouble rather than me. Third, I've relied on subterfuge so much in life now, that it just comes naturally." "I suppose I understand, but this really would have been easier had you just told me. I mean I would have helped if you had just asked flat out." "Truly? Even though you have a special vampire lady in your life?" "How do you know I have a special vampire lady?" "You mentioned you only knew one other vampire and that SHE was reclusive. I'm willing to bet she's the one that also made you. I'm sure it's an interesting story." "It is. She really helped me out and in time it became more." "Hmm, I'm not looking for a rekindling or anything, but is it possible that you could…" "Ah…no. I mean trust me, I would if I could since I think it would make shit a whole lot easier for you, but yeah, I can't transform anyone into a vampire. Not old enough yet. Best I can do is ghoul and trust me, you definitely don't want that." "I see. Well figured I'd ask, shit…I've spent so much time resting, Mantis is probably long gone by now." "Would he have left the city?" "No, but he's probably at one of his many safehouses or even the Fel Temple. And even with your help, I realize I'm in no condition to assault any of these places. I'm going to have to heal up and try again. It's going to be difficult staying low now that I've made my presence known. Look, I appreciate the help even though I tricked you into it, but this really isn't your concern. You have your own concerns and our paths split long ago. You are under no obligation to help me any further." > You help Lisa While you don't like that you were lied to, there's not much for it now. While you aren't sure if someone saw your face, at least one of those assassins got away and is probably undoubtedly going to say that Lisa had help. You might as well help Lisa, if only to potentially save your own ass trouble in the future. Plus, you'd be lying if you didn't feel a little something to actually want to help her. "While I wished you had told me the truth immediately, I'm not going to just leave you hanging because honestly, I think this is a suicide mission for you. You can't take down this Mantis without some help." "Well I'm not going to turn down your help and I will fully appreciate it, but you helping me isn't going to be a problem is it?" "Oh, you mean with my special lady vampire as you put it? Well, I'm inclined not to tell her, but I probably shouldn't since she's not an idiot and will find out anyway." "Won't she be upset with you?" "You might think that, but I dunno she's been around a long time and certain things don't necessarily bother her the way you might think they would. I mean I'll explain the situation…and well I guess I'll think of something." "Hey, I don't want to mess your shit up so if you can't do it. That's perfectly fine. I mean this is my problem and we aren't together anyway. However, if you can help, meet me in five days at the Holgard graveyard at night. I need to heal up a bit and probably track down where Mantis is actually hiding out at now anyway. Who knows, maybe if we're really lucky that firebomb killed him after all." "Well, I guess I'll leave you to it. Take care in the mean time and hopefully we'll meet up later." You take your leave of Lisa and get out of Holgard as quick as possible. When you get home, Isabella immediately notices you look a little battle worn. "You run into trouble dear?" Isabella asks. "Ran into an old…acquaintance. It was a mess and uh...well there's still unfinished business." You answer awaiting the storm. Isabella looks at you for a moment. "Okay, first question. Did you at least get my supplies?" Isabella asks. "Yes, I have them right here." You say handing over your pack to her. "Good. Second question. This acquaintance, wouldn't happen to be a girl would it? Possibly even an ex from your mortal life?" "She is. Or was. She was a girl from Dert that I was with during my time enslaved to Ral. I lost contact with her during my time getting experimented on by Ral." "Truly? Odd that you've never mentioned her before." "I didn't want to talk about my old flames with you." "You really think I'd get jealous about that?" "No, I just felt it was respectful not to bring them up." "Hah…nice answer. You always do know how to say the right things. Okay, so I guess my next question would have been are you fucking this mortal, but I'm going to guess that's a no, so just tell me what's going on and why you're involved." As short as you can, you explain your entire night; you also add that part of the reason you want to help is you think that in all the chaos one of the assassins got away and while probably not recognizing you they will definitely know there was another helper and the last thing you want is to bring chaos home. "I see. Well under normal circumstances, I'd say kill this little mortal bitch for lying and present her head to the Ebony Claw since she got you into this mess in the first place. However, I get that you probably don't want to do that and knowing the ECS, that might not help anyway. Pftt. The Syndicate. I remember when they were still just a petty gang of thugs in the fledging Delantium Kingdom at one point. Okay, you're supposed to meet her in five days right?" Isabella asks. "Yes, in the graveyard there." "How original. Okay, since this is potentially going to impact our home and life together, I'm going to help you and your little human ex out. However that means I'm going to do some of my own investigation." "Um, okay! That's great! I mean this will definitely make everything easier. I guess we can…" "We? Oh no no no no my dear. I'm going to do this by myself. I work better alone in situations like this. You are going to stay as far away as possible from Holgard." "Wait, you're not going to attack the ECS yourself are you?" "Of course not, I'm just going to do my own reconnaissance because I haven't been to the city in decades and it might help if I knew the lay out. Not to mention I can probably gain information that you or this Lisa girl would not be able to. You just take a break and I dunno, collect dinner from Dert while I'm out. Then in five days we'll meet up with your human." Isabella's reaction to this wasn't at all what you were expecting. You thought that maybe she'd be mildly annoyed and maybe she'd be fine with you taking care of this due to potential repercussions. You didn't however expect her direct help. You guess it makes sense as you are mated after all, but the fact she doesn't want you to get in her way is puzzling. Well in any case, she trusts you, so you trust her and if this is how she wants to do it, then this is how its going. You spend the next four nights basically hanging around the home. You go to Dert once to lure a couple of people to the cells, but for the most part that's it. Meanwhile Isabella nearly leaves immediately when the sun goes down and then stays out until it's nearly time for it to come back up. She never elaborates on what she's doing except to mention that Holgard has only gotten worse since the last time she was there and says the whole city should be cleansed from the map for the good of everyone. On the fourth night she comes home a little earlier and is entirely in the mood to have a round of wild rough sex. You aren't sure what's prompting this, though it could be the potential idea that you'll all be going into battle soon. Either way, you've never complained before so why start now? Finally the fifth night arrives. "Get up my love. It's time to end this." Isabella remarks. As you and Isabella make your way to Holgard, you start to ask her questions about what she was doing during her time in Holgard, but she just smiles and says to not worry about it since she'll reaveal all when you get to the graveyard. "You trust me don't you?" she asks. "…well I trust that you aren't planning anything sinister for me, but I must admit all this secrecy is a bit concerning." You answer. "You worry too much." Eventually you get to the graveyard. Lisa isn't really hanging around in plain site, but you can sense she must be around, Isabella on the other hand calls her own immediately. "Little human, come on out from behind the fifth tomb from the left with the broken statue on top of it. Don't worry it's safe, nothing but us vampires out here." She says. Reluctantly and very cautiously Lisa steps out from her hiding space. Her guard is up causing Isabella to roll her eyes. "Honestly, your ex offers to bail your ass out after you lied and you give this sort of welcome? And please, if I wanted to kill you, you'd already be dead so put that away." Isabella remarks. "I take it this is your better half? Didn't expect her to actually help. Where are her clothes?" Lisa remarks putting her weapon away. "Isabella has long since abandoned the desire to wear such things." You answer. "I thought maybe it was just her way of bragging of how beautiful she was." "Hm. I'll take that as a compliment, human. And I suppose you were probably pretty back in your younger years. I can see how he would have had a fondness for you." This is getting weird, so you step in before it turns worse. "Okay, you're both pretty princesses, now let's get on with this. The both of you have been stalking these city streets so what's the situation?" you ask. "Honestly, I'm not sure. I mean I've interrogated a few EC members and done what investigating I could without alerting the EC of my presence. All I know is Mantis is indeed alive and he's either in a safehouse down in the sewers under Dagger Row or he's hiding out in the Temple of Fel. I'm really hoping it's the safehouse, because I don't fancy the chances of attacking a Fel Temple and I doubt if we'll even be able to sneak in. I mean these are followers of the God of Shadow." "Oh he's definitely in the Fel Temple, in fact we should go make our way there now." Isabella remarks. "Wait, you're saying he's there for certain? How do you know that?" "Because I'm better than you human, that's why, now are we settling this or what?" "Isabella, you have been fairly mysterious about what you've been doing here." "And that's because I don't want to ruin the surprise for you dear. Both of you just follow my lead in all this and we'll all get home before the dawn." "Okay, I know you're probably old and…" Isabella glares at Lisa for that remark. Meanwhile Lisa looks like she just pissed herself. "Um… powerful, but…" "Dear, tell your human to stop speaking before this act of kindness becomes for naught." Isabella remarks in an annoyed tone. "I think you better just keep quiet Lisa." You say. The three of you make your way to the Temple of Fel. Isabella gives exactly zero fucks as she walks naked through the streets of Holgard. As expected she gets more than a few looks by the few folks still out at night, but nobody says anything. Not lewd comments, not protests, nothing. Not even the group of watchmen that you walk by say anything. Isabella's powers of mind control are in full affect. "Your girlfriend isn't exactly subtle." Lisa whispers to you. "Yeah well when you're that powerful, you tend to not give a shit about things. I'm actually less concerned about the Watch and more concerned about EC assassins, Fel touched or not. I feel like being so obvious like this we'd be getting attacked by now given that they've been looking for you." "And they won't, I told you, all will be revealed when we get to the temple now cut the chatter and keep up." Isabella snaps. The rest of your journey is uneventful until you get close to the Fel Temple and that's when you see a group dressed purple and blue robes. Dornans? What are they doing here? An old man steps from the group when the three of you approach. "Isabella, always a pleasure to see you." He remarks with a bit of a upbeat tone. "Yes, yes, Flynn I know you love me, but we're here on important business. Is all the shit sorted out with the Felians? Because I was planning on getting this done with quick." Isabella remarks. "Yes, The Felians are more interested in keeping the religious peace rather than protecting one of their Ebony Claw associates. So yes, they are completely willing to turn this Mantis character over and apparently his treachery has been exposed by whatever limited process that their shadow magic does anyway, so this appears to be a settled affair as soon as you meet with them." Flynn remarks. You and Lisa are overwhelmed with surprise. You can't believe this. "Wait. That's it? We're not fighting anyone?" you say. "Mantis is just being turned over? Just like that? I'm actually cleared?!" Lisa adds. "Yes, you may provide your undying thanks to me later, for now though let's continue." Isabella remarks eager to get on with it. As the three of you start to leave, Flynn calls out. "Isabella…" Flynn says, causing Isabella to turn around exasperated. "Flynn, look, I thanked you for this already, but that's all it was okay? Nothing more." "But I just thought…" "Yeah I know what you thought and you were wrong as usual. This is why I always went for Ral instead of you back in the day. You were a spineless worm that thought just being a compliant was good enough for me. Goodbye Flynn." Isabella looks at you. "What?" she asks. "Didn't know you went out with the leader of the Dornan temple." You say. "Yeah well I used my ex to help out your ex. Come on." The three of you head to the Fel Temple, which you see a single cloaked figured looming at the bottom of the steps of it. Near him is a crumpled figure. You notice that this is the same assassin with the shock of white hair throwing around firebombs last time. He nods at the three of you. The crumpled figure on the ground is Mantis, he's alive, but he doesn't look too good. He's pale and emaciated looking and he's shivering the entire time while mumbling nonsense quietly. Certainly looks different than the last time you saw him years ago. "Greetings again. I am here on the behalf of the Master of Shadows as he has other important matters. As I remember you are the one called Lisa?" he asks, pointing to her. "I am…what did you do to Mantis?" Lisa asks. "Only what was required to keep order and peace. This man attempted to use Fel to hide his actions, but he didn't realize that he can't hide his actions from Fel who sees all things hidden. Things might have gone better had he not resisted. Perhaps even a compromise could have been reached, but as you can see he chose otherwise and by the time he begged for mercy…well it was far too late." Lisa steps forward. "And what about me?" Lisa asks. "Your name has been cleared…well more or less. I'm sure thanks to your actions, you have most likely angered other EC members and you will most likely still have to watch your back, such is the nature of the business. However, the general order of elimination will be lifted and more importantly, Fel is not seeking retribution. Still, you may want to watch yourself for awhile." The man says. "So that's it then." "That is indeed it for this situation. I leave you with your revenge, though perhaps it may be a mercy now. And since you have caught the attention of Fel, perhaps if you ever feel you're up to the challenge, you would be more than welcome to join the shadow of Fel. You will find that being obedient to him, will make you much more efficient in your tasks." "I'll keep that in mind." The man then turns around and then suddenly cloaks into invisibility, though you can still sense him until he goes back into the temple. "Okay, looks like that's done. Let's go." Isabella remarks. "Wait. I don't know how to thank you." Lisa says. "You can't mortal, think of this as your lucky night." "Actually I can think of a way." You say. "You best pick your next words with care." Isabella remarks. "No, not that! It's just before all this shit happened, I was thinking about home and getting a message to my family. Lisa, do you remember my stories to you about Teckleville?" you say. "Yes, I do remember." Lisa remarks. "Well, do you think in between your assassinations, you could go see my family and assure them that I'm doing okay? I mean I'd do it…but…" "Say no more. I'd be more than willing to relay a general message of your happiness." "Thanks Lisa." "No, thank you. I mean that and will never forget this." "Alright now we really are going. Say goodbye to your little human and for her sake she better never cross your path, let alone mine ever again." Isabella remarks. You and Isabella leave Lisa to her revenge on Mantis. You turn to look one last time and see her finish him off. Odd night, you were expecting a huge and very likely deadly battle, but it all worked out very easy. In any case, you follow Isabella who probably is anxious to get back to her garden. She's been away from it for far too long for her. You know she went out of her way to help you and you also know that she's annoyed that she had to, but you also know that she must care about you very much that she did. And that's why you love this woman.

Considering that Lisa is supposed to be a well trained assassin that knew what you were before you even met her, seems like if she was going to do any real damage, she would have at least loaded her pistol with silver shot or something similar. You're going to chalk it up to an accident for now, besides you've already got someone right in front of you trying to kill you. Your attacker in front of you attempts to stab you in the face while you're still hurt, but you dodge, grab his wrist and make him stab himself in the stomach while breaking his arm at the same time. Standing up again, you sense another person nearby and sure enough they once again appear right in front of you. "Get out of the way!" you hear Lisa shout and you hear several more shots fired off. Seems like Lisa has herself one of those fancy repeating pistols. This time however you avoid getting hit, but dodging to the right while your attacker is hit twice in the chest. "Shit!" you hear Lisa shout and another Fel assassin materializes in front of her. She's not quick enough and you see her fall to the ground when the assassin shoots her with crossbow. You're about to run over to help, but another assassin with a shock of white hair appears and throws a lit firebomb in Lisa's direction before running off. You jump to catch it and throw it to the left, and it ends up going right through a window of the Poisoned Blade Inn. "Well…so much for diplomacy…" you say and run back to avoid the upcoming blast. Lisa is currently struggling with her attacker, but by the time you get the both of them, the bomb finally goes off. The impact of the blast knocks you down and the three of you are rolling on the ground on top of one another. At some point in the chaos you feel a blade in your ribs from the person who is on your back. Since this person isn't very heavy and you can feel the tits on your back, you're assuming this person is a woman. For Lisa's sake, you hope that this is a female EC assassin… You smash your head as hard as you can backwards into the assassin's face. It's enough for her to lose her grip. You notice that he other figure crawling from underneath you is indeed Lisa, so happily you know she didn't just accidently wound you again. The female assassin tries blink away or whatever it is they do, but you catch her arm just as she turns herself invisible. Well not invisible to you though. You pull the blade out that she shoved in your rib and shove it into her ear, then you drop her. While all this is going on, a few EC members have been running out of their now fiery hang out screaming and burning. Lisa is leaning up against a nearby wall looking down at the bolt in her thigh. "What the hell happened?" she asks. "Well after you shot me in the back, it all became pretty chaotic." You answer. "I'm sorry about that…shit…I need to take this…" Lisa says and takes out a vial of something and swallows the contents, and then pulls out the bolt. "You alright?" "Yeah, come on, we gotta get that bastard…the Watch is probably coming anyway." "Wait, what bastard?" "Mantis, of course. He probably got away through a trapdoor to the sewers, come on there should be a sewer entrance around here. Maybe we can still track him." Lisa starts limping away as fast as she can, but stumbles. "Shit…that poisoned bolt is still fucking me up…I'll be alright. I just…" "No you won't. Here." You say and just pick Lisa up over your shoulder and get out of the immediate area before you have to massacre the Holgard Watch. After ducking into alley a couple blocks away from the chaos, you finally put Lisa down who is looking slightly better. While you don't think she set you up, given all that's happened you are getting the impression that Lisa has not told you everything. "Alright Lisa, out courtesy for what we once had, you got ONE chance to explain yourself." You say. "Or what…(ugh) you gonna drink me dry?" Lisa says wincing at the pain of her wound and unconcerned about your tone. You pick Lisa up by her shoulders and your more monstrous threatening face becomes visible. She tries her best to not look scared, but you can sense the fear. "You need to drop the tough girl act, right now. Because I've done a hell of a lot worse than kill an old girlfriend since the last time you saw me." You say. "Oh yeah? Well maybe you'd be doing me a favor if you did. At least it would be you then." You can see the desperation now in her eyes and it's enough to calm you down. Well you guess not all of the "human" has left you. "Lisa, just tell me what the hell is going on already, because I'm getting the impression that I'm not the one that needs to worry about a contract on my head." You say. Lisa keeps it together and tells you the story. The contract is actually on her head, specifically Mantis put it on her a few years ago, or at least set it up. She mentions he's been a thorn in her side shortly after she joined the ECS. At first he would constantly hit on her when she was stationed in Holgard. Then when she got transferred to the Delantium Kingdom to become a better trained assassin, she thought she was done with him, but eventually he was also in the DK for awhile making upwardly mobile moves of his own. For whatever reason he continued to harass her and trying to make things harder for her. He eventually returned to Holgard when another member, Rook, was promoted. Mantis took over the ECS in this city and now had direct ties to Fel Temple as well. With all this extra influence and power, he set things in motion to set her up on some job that resulted in the death of another high ranking ECS member. Since then, she's been on the ECS hit list. She knows it was Mantis though that was behind it all and she fully intends on killing him. You take all this in and ask one question. "Okay, so where did I come in on all this?" you ask. "You didn't. Not initially anyway. You might have missed me, but I actually was in Dert for a brief period of time. I was sort of hiding, pondering my next move, along with making peace with my father since I didn't exactly leave that village on good terms. It's funny; when I got there I actually missed how boring it all was. At least I didn't have a crime syndicate trying to kill me when I lived there. Didn't know there was a vampire living in the graveyard nearby though." "Wait, you saw me? I'm usually so careful." "You were careful, but you're also probably used to the people in Dert not wandering near there at night. I was actually there lost in thought about my own situation and that's when I saw someone skulking out one of the tombs. It was actually a little unnerving since while I've experienced some out of the ordinary shit in my life, undead was not one of them. I couldn't quite make out your face at first, but for a very brief moment I saw it in moonlight and the resemblance was unmistakable. I couldn't believe it. I mean I thought you were dead, but not like this!" Lisa holds on to her side and pauses for a moment before continuing. "So I followed you since you seemed to have purpose about what you were doing. You're very quick of course so I probably caught up to you in Holgard just as you were getting ready to leave it. From there I got a good look at you and knew there was no mistaking who you were." "So wait, why didn't you contact me then?" "Because I saw you bite some hooker and drink her dry, that's why! I sort of figured that it might not be the best idea to confront you. I didn't even follow you back to the Dert cemetery, I just stayed in Holgard since I figured I needed to get on with my revenge. That was a couple months ago." "Seems like you should have gotten on with it before now." "Well I still had to do some reconnaissance. Get myself prepared and all that other shit." "Seems like it would be very dangerous being here in the manticore's den and all." "Actually it seemed like it was easier. Mantis may have security up the ass, but he tends to keep it all around himself. Sort of makes other parts of the city under less watch by his people." "Yeah, but still seems like something you'd want to do quick and get the hell out as soon as possible." "Unfortunately, there was no easy way to do it. If I tried what we just did, I would have gotten cut down easily and Mantis himself is a Fel worshipper or at least he pays enough lip service that he has powers of his own. He's never alone either in the rare moments he leaves his place. I couldn't reliably ask for any help on this, but then I randomly noticed you enter the city again. So I followed you again and every other time you came here since despite how stealthy you are, you tend to follow a routine. Always saw you go into that plant nursery and tonight…well I thought I'd risk getting your help." "Well okay, but why didn't you just tell me that? Why all the subterfuge?" "Wasn't sure if it was going to work at all first. Second, I got the impression that maybe you'd be more willing to help if YOU were in trouble rather than me. Third, I've relied on subterfuge so much in life now, that it just comes naturally." "I suppose I understand, but this really would have been easier had you just told me. I mean I would have helped if you had just asked flat out." "Truly? Even though you have a special vampire lady in your life?" "How do you know I have a special vampire lady?" "You mentioned you only knew one other vampire and that SHE was reclusive. I'm willing to bet she's the one that also made you. I'm sure it's an interesting story." "It is. She really helped me out and in time it became more." "Hmm, I'm not looking for a rekindling or anything, but is it possible that you could…" "Ah…no. I mean trust me, I would if I could since I think it would make shit a whole lot easier for you, but yeah, I can't transform anyone into a vampire. Not old enough yet. Best I can do is ghoul and trust me, you definitely don't want that." "I see. Well figured I'd ask, shit…I've spent so much time resting, Mantis is probably long gone by now." "Would he have left the city?" "No, but he's probably at one of his many safehouses or even the Fel Temple. And even with your help, I realize I'm in no condition to assault any of these places. I'm going to have to heal up and try again. It's going to be difficult staying low now that I've made my presence known. Look, I appreciate the help even though I tricked you into it, but this really isn't your concern. You have your own concerns and our paths split long ago. You are under no obligation to help me any further." > You leave Lisa to deal with this Maybe if Lisa had been upfront with you it would be different, but you really don't like being lied to and given that Lisa is telling you that you don't need to help her and she's got this, you don't feel exactly obligated. "Okay, if you say you got this then I'll take my leave. Just be careful all right and good luck." you say. "I will, and it was good to see you again…I…I wish things had been different." Lisa says with a mildly sad tone in her voice. "Yeah, me too sometimes." You leave Lisa behind in the alley and make your way as quickly as you can out of Holgard. You're ready to be done with this night. When you get home, Isabella immediately notices you look a little battle worn. "You run into trouble dear?" Isabella asks. "Ran into an old…acquaintance. It was a mess. It's settled though." You answer not really wishing to go much into it, but prepared to explain if you have to. Isabella looks at you for a moment. "Okay. Did you at least get my supplies?" "Yes, I have them right here." You say handing over your pack to her. And that's the type of relationship you have with Isabella. She trusts you. If you say it got taken care of, then it's taken care of. You avoid Holgard for a while. While you don't think you're in any danger, the last thing you need is to run into some other old face causing shit for you. It would be just your luck that you'd run into Tych again. Months pass and you eventually go to Holgard again to pick up some things for Isabella. Not that you're doing much mingling or listening to rumors, but you know enough that the Ebony Claw Syndicate is still firmly in control of the underworld here so you guess Lisa didn't exactly bring them down, but then she was only trying to kill one specific person. You have no idea about this Mantis though, if he's dead, alive, or what. Same for Lisa. In any case you hope she got her revenge at least. Year 35 You wake up to the sounds of several feet coming the stairs. You can't tell how many, but you already are getting the push by Isabella who is awake and ready for a fight. "Get up! We're being attacked!" she shouts. You get up and you're already hearing shouting from the foyer. "Fucking hunters! I'll water my garden with their blood for intruding on my home!" Isabella shouts and is already gone to meet the invaders. Screams soon follow. You head out to join the fight and there is a whole lot more light than usual thanks to all the torches. After striking down a few of them, you notice an ebony claw tattoo on some of them. These aren't hunters. "Shit! There's two of them! Why didn't someone check this?!" one of them shouts. Multiple gunshots are fired at you and Isabella and in these narrow catacombs, even as quick as you are, you're still catching a few bullets. Unfortunately, the Ebony Claw has prepared well and loaded their firearms with silver shot. It hurts like hell, but you fight through the pain and take out the closest fucker with a gun in his hand. You feel a blade sinking into your back, which feels like a burning piece of steel, though it's probably silver again. You turn around and find yourself face to cowl with one of those Fel assassins that teleported behind you. You get another silver blade in your gut before you twist his head backwards. Severely wounded you quicken your pace to where Isabella is. She's managed to push them all the way back to the foyer all by herself. Blood and bodies are everywhere. You're damn glad she's on your side. You reach the foyer just in time to see several round metal objects bounce down the stairs and on the floor. Isabella is finishing off two more assassins and hasn't seen the cluster of firebombs yet. You immediately pull her away and throw her into the nearby corridor just as the bombs are exploding. You try to shield Isabella, and catch some of the blast. Your flesh burns from your bones, your bones crack and break, some of your internal organs melt and it feels like your whole body has been dunked in acid. You scream out something unnatural, but it isn't for long because everything goes black. You're out and you don't know for how long. "Beloved! You there? Can you hear me?" you hear, but your vision is still black. "Mufh hungh…gh…" is all you can utter before you're out again. Time passes… You open you eyes and find your vision is severely impaired. You have no depth perception and the eye that does work is very blurry. You still feel like your body is on fire, but you can't scream out. You must be laying on a table or something because you are elevated. Still, you can make out an outline of a woman standing near someone in a chair nearby. "I SWEAR! I SWEAR TO FEL AND ALL THE GODS, I DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ELSE! PLEASE! GRANT ME MERCY!" Your hearing works at least. You struggle to sit up, but it's no use. You don't have the energy and collapse again. More time passes… You open your eyes again. Still no depth perception, but your vision is a little clearer. You can finally tell where you're at. You're still at home, and lying on one of the many slabs in the crypt. Your body hurts less, but you're still not feeling good. You try to sit up again and that's when you realize you're a bloody mess. Both of your legs are missing, or at least missing enough that you wouldn't be able to walk. Attempting to reach out only results in your right arm being able to do so since your left is a skeletal stump at the elbow. Speaking of skeletal, you can sense that part of your spine is exposed to the world and what lies inside you isn't fairing much better. You can see your blackened heart beating through your ribcage. While you're an undead monster, that doesn't mean that you don't find all this a bit alarming. "Oh shit…shit…shit…fuck…fuck!" you start to say with an increased tone in your voice. Isabella soon comes running in. You notice she's in relatively good condition though one side of her face is scarred and parts of her body are also burned. "You're up! What's wrong?" Isabella asks. "What's wrong? Look at me! I…I can't fucking live like this! Please just put me out of my fucking misery!" you say and you're almost close to tears. Isabella goes over to sooth you as you continue to panic. "Shhhh, it's okay. This is the first time you've been maimed severely. Yeah, I panicked a bit too when it first happened to me centuries ago and I didn't even have anyone with me to help either. We're more resilient than you think. You'll heal up. It's gonna take a long time, but you WILL be in one piece again eventually." "I…I…I will?" "Well yeah. Just takes blood. How do you think I got you this healed up in the first place? I'm been using the blood of the assholes that attacked us, the Dert citizens and my own for days trying to heal you and myself up. We're going to have to be moving on soon though, as much as I hate it, but it's just not ideal anymore. The Ebony Claw will undoubtedly regroup and send more of their fools to try to kill us." "Wait, did you kill them all?" "I probably would have had it not been daylight. I only managed to run down three of them before the sunlight was burning my fine undead ass to a crisp. Still, got quite a bit of information out of them. Didn't know you were wanted by them for helping an old girlfriend of yours a year ago. Guessing that's the thing you thought was taken care of? Looks like it wasn't." You're at a loss for words. "I…I fucked up." You finally utter. "You most certainly did fuck up. I hope she was worth the poke and cuddle, because after they caught and tortured the shit out of her before they killed her that's how they found out about where you lived. Fortunately she didn't know anything about me. I'm guessing you never told her." Isabella responds. "Shit. I DID tell her about you! I mean not in so many words, but she guessed I had a special vampire lady in my life as she put it. And I most certainly did not have sex with her! I swear!" You give a brief rundown of what exactly happened that night you met Lisa. Isabella listens intently. Now you're worried that Isabella isn't going to believe you and is keeping you alive to make your existence horrible. "Calm down, I believe you. Though I'd almost say it probably would've been better if you'd fucked her. At least you would have gotten something out of all this. Also might have been better if you had helped her. She might not have blabbed about this place. Apparently they were planning on ambushing you in Holgard, but since I haven't needed anything from there lately, you haven't been going. So they fell back on attacking directly and have been gearing up to raid this place for the past few months. Well what's done is done now." "At the risk of actually pissing you off, I'm curious to as why you aren't angrier." "At you? Well, I am pissed at you, but considering you're currently a piece of mutilated meat that's still in pain and has a long way to go before getting back to normal, I think this was your punishment. Honestly my anger is directed towards the bottom feeding mortals that dared attack in the first place. I don't care what sort of connections they have; I'll take down the entire ECS in Holgard and then some just so they remember they picked the wrong vampire to order a hit on. You'll be helping of course." Nothing like a purpose. "Well I'd love to, but I'm not exactly able right now." "I didn't mean now. We're going to move to a new location. Probably Ral's old home in the meantime. I already checked it out and surprisingly nobody was even squatting there. That will just be temporary though, until you're healed up enough to walk on your own. We'll probably need to wipe out the remainder of Dert in order to get enough blood, but it's not like it's we're going to be living here anymore anyway. After that we're both going to Holgard, and we're going to cause so much mayhem, they'll think there's a new civil war going on." "I'm glad you didn't give up on me for this." "No, I made a commitment to you, for good or bad times and right now this is bad, but it's nothing we can't get over. Come on, hold on to me, we're heading to our new temporary home….I'm really going to miss my garden. Oh well, let's go my love." Isabella turns around and with all your energy you hoist yourself and hang on to her back. It's a little awkward with only one good arm that only has three fingers left wrapped around her, but Isabella's more than strong enough to carry your dead weight. The pair of you are soon off and running through the moonlight to your new home. You're down now, but things could definitely be a lot worse. You've got a lot to plan and think about though with this new conflict with the entire ECS though. Your life as a common rogue might be over, but your "life" as a vampire has only just begun.

Year 34… The more Holgard changes the more it stays the same. It's a good thing everyone has such short memories here. Then again, hard for anyone to worry about vampires when nobody actually found you. Most of the real hunters have moved on. There's still the Joachimites, but they're more likely to go burn a poor old woman as a witch before they actually go hunting for a vampire. Lot easier for one thing. Nowadays Holgard is back to being under the plain old paranoia it normally suffers from. You've heard rumors of that the Delantium Kingdom is going to try to reclaim this city, but that's about the only major thing and it's not likely true anyway. Still, laying low in the backwoods and only coming here occasionally was a good idea. Of course you tend to spend more time with Isabella now since the two of you are a proper couple now. You find stories about her old life fascinating (Though you tend to want her to gloss over any bits about ex-lovers) though you know who would really find them interesting, your sister. You bet she could make an entire opera or something out of Isabella's life. Probably a couple of them. You've sort of been thinking about your family lately and how they might all be doing. You assume that they're all still alive of course. You sort of miss them all as strange as that may seem given what you've done and what you are now. Your last shred of humanity you suppose. Regardless, you'd never be able to visit them even if you weren't wanted for murder in your hometown. Or rather, you could go back because nobody could stop you or you could be stealthy about it, but you don't think you should. It's a closed chapter in your old life and going back in person would just cause more problems. Still, you wonder if you shouldn't get a message to your mother. You're sure she'd at least like to know if you were doing okay. You'd send one to your sister, but who knows where she is. Maybe you could write a letter and send it off via one of those courier services. You suppose you better put a quill, ink and parchment on the list of shit you need to get along with the items Isabella sent you to get at the flower nursery here. Funny that after everything that's occurred in your "life" you still have to do a little roguery the occasional store every once in awhile. You guess the more you change the more you stay the same as well. You of course find it much simpler now. It also no longer gives you the rush that it once did, but then that's no surprise, you've come a long way since those simple rogue days. You head to the nursery and easily break in like you've done many times before. You imagine the old couple that run this place wonder where they've misplaced their various seeds, supplies and such on many occasions. After grabbing the things Isabella sent you to get, you start rummaging through the small office there to find potential writing supplies, then you suddenly sense something living nearby and it's not the plants. At first you wonder if it's one of the old couple that runs this place because if it is, you'll just stealthily sneak out as you've done before. (No point in killing a business owner of where you do most of your "shopping") However, you can see that this figure is not carrying a lantern of any sort and is actively trying to stay hidden in the darkness. The form is definitely female and they haven't noticed that YOU'VE noticed them yet. This person is obviously following you and while it would be a simple matter of just killing her, you'd like to know why first. You maneuver around behind furniture and aisles a bit and then just when you get behind this person, they turn around and attempt to dodge you. Quick, but not quick enough to avoid your grasp. You easily disarm them and finally get a good look. The face is older, but you'd still be able to recognize it anywhere. You're still taken aback though. "Lisa?" you ask. "Long time no see." Lisa says unruffled. "What the hell are you doing here?" "I might ask you the same. Even when you weren't a vampire you weren't exactly stealing flowers." "Long story, but I've questions of my own. Like why you were following me. However, I'd rather continue this discussion elsewhere." "Sure, but are you going to let me go first? Your grip is like fucking iron and it's obvious that if I wished you any harm, I'm far outclassed." You remember a similar situation like this with another "ex" however that was a little different. You didn't really have a proper relationship with Heather like you did with Lisa and also that was when you were a bit of a "wilder" vampire. You've started having a little more restraint since those earlier years. You release Lisa who heads outside and you follow her out before relocking the door. "You re-secure the places you break into now?" Lisa asks. "Not usually, but this place is a bit different. Alright, let's get in that alley and you can tell me everything." You say and start motioning Lisa to follow. "An alley? I thought we'd go to a tavern at least if we're going to catch up." "Yeah, I don't really mingle with the crowds unless I have to anymore. Besides, I actually feel safer in an alley than a tavern given how many eyes are in those places." "Understandable, I guess it makes sense for you to lay low given that there's a price on your head." "What?!" "Yeah, but I figured you knew that already. I mean it's not on your head personally; it's just on the Vampire of Holgard. I was very surprised when I found out that might be you." "Wait, what?! I thought all that shit had been forgotten about and you're a hunter?!" "No, of course not. I'm an Ebony Claw assassin. Maybe the general public forgets shit when it dies down, but the ECS NEVER forgets." "But I haven't even been targeting ECS members." "Yeah, I've been getting that impression, but so far you're the only vampire I've been able to track in this city." This is nuts. Lisa is an Ebony Claw assassin. You always wondered if she joined while you were away, but she took a very different path than you thought. You guess she learned how to take care of herself all too well. Strange to think that she was once just a simple peasant girl that longed to see the world. But then Isabella was once a simple peasant girl at one time too. And the fact you're finding out you have a contract on your head is even more of a shocker. Though you suppose that you may have very well killed some of their members during the religious faction war, but you haven't been killing any of them recently, at least not that you know of. Is someone setting you up? "Wait, how long have you followed me and how the hell did I not know it before?" you ask. "Heh, well I AM a very skilled assassin and I kept my distance for a long time. In fact it wasn't until I figured out it was you that I decided to get close like I did. Had you been any other vampire, I would have been executing you from afar. No way I'd really want to tangle with a real one up close no matter how good I am. As far as how long I've tracked you, well I've noticed you come here over the course of a few months now. I know you must have a lair somewhere nearby but it's probably not actually in the city. In any case since I'm fairly certain it isn't you, I can only imagine it might be another one. Someone you know?" "I doubt that, I only know one other and she's a bit…reclusive. Look are you even sure if it's a vampire?" "Well from all the information I've been given the ECS leadership here seems to believe it to be the case. Hmmm, maybe a new approach is in order. I think you should come with me so we can straighten this all out." "Wait, you seriously expect me to go walking into an ECS hangout? You just told me I got a contract on my head!" "You mean to tell me you're worried? Judging by your skills, you'd be able to wipe out everyone there. Honestly, the Holgard branch of ECS is hardly anything for you to worry about, that why they got me from the Delantium Kingdom. I'm just suggesting though that maybe it still might be a good idea to clear this all up directly. I mean after all I'm not the only assassin and as good as I am, I'm nothing compared to a Fel touched shadow blade assassin. Now someone like that might actually give you problems. They're also less likely to bother getting down to the truth and just carry out a hit. Better to clear things like this up, trust me. The ECS is not an organization you want on your ass." While you're sure Lisa has a point, you really aren't sure about all this. "Look, I know this is pretty strange for you seeing me like this under these circumstances. I know it's been a long time and we've both moved on in very different life directions, but I still remember the good times we had. So for old times sake, will you trust me on this?" You look at Lisa and despite the fact that the years have taken their toll on her and cynicism has taken root in her demeanor, that last bit she said reminded you of the young girl you once were very fond of. Once again some things remain the same. "Very well, since this is you, I'll go, but as soon as I sense I'm going to get attacked, I'm killing everyone there. I mean if I'm already on a contract list, I might as well give them a reason at this point." "Fair enough, but I don't think you'll have anything to worry about. Mantis is the current ECS leader here. He's a sonofabitch, but he's pretty reasonable." "Mantis…that name sounds familiar. I think I spoke to him once when I tried to ask the ECS for help with an affliction I had." "Oh? You tried to cure your vampire condition?" "Uh, no. This actually was a different condition I had due to Ral on top of being geased. The vampirism ended up curing me of it actually…yeah things got a bit complicated for a while after we parted ways. In any case, I don't remember him being that high up or all that reasonable." "Well the original old leader, Rook moved on to bigger things and well, the ECS tends to have enthusiastic violent promotions so to speak and eventually Mantis made his way through the ranks. Still with all the extra responsibility he's learned to be a little more patient I suppose." "Haven't we all…" You and Lisa make your way to Mantis's hang out which apparently is still the Poisoned Blade Inn. She mentions he prefers to stay at the "hub" of things Along the way, Lisa asks why you never met her again since she waited a long time for you; you explain Ral's experiment and what happened exactly to you. Lisa listens intently and offers her sympathies. She says that during that time you were out of action she had to deal with the Holgard civil war. She mentions this was when she joined the ECS. She said after it was all over, the ECS transferred her to the Delantium Kingdom and there is where she learned to be an assassin. "So…you've been in the Delantium Kingdom all this time huh? Guess that's why I never ran into you." You say. "You looked for me?" Lisa asks. "Initially I did, but as I said, I eventually figured you moved on or were dead. Not to mention I didn't think you'd want me anyway by that point." "Oh…I dunno. I was falling in love with you even when you were forced to work for Ral. I'm certain I might have been able to look past what you are now. It isn't like I'm in any position to judge you morally after all. Well looks like we're getting close to it." Before you can reply, you sense several figures lurking nearby. "You've got some balls showing up here!" a voice shouts and before you know it a person literally materializes in front of you and Lisa. It's enough to catch you a bit off guard, but you react quick enough to attack your assailant, though apparently not enough to land a hit. This person cannot possibly be a normal human. You wonder if this is one of those Fel touched Lisa mentioned. You then hear a shot of a pistol, followed by a burning sensation in your upper back. You collapse to the ground on one knee in pain and feel like part of you is on fire. Good thing you aren't human. However, Lisa's the only one behind you, and it's obvious that she just shot you in the back. You aren't sure if it was an accident or if she's just lead you into a trap. > You trap While you know you and Lisa went separate ways in life, and this betrayal was always a possibility, it still stings enough to fill you with rage. Your attacker in front of you attempts to stab you in the face while you're still hurt, but you dodge, grab his wrist and make him stab himself in the stomach while breaking his arm at the same time. You then turn your attention to Lisa who is pointing the pistol at you again. She shouts something, but you don't even hear it, you just rush her. She doesn't even get off a shot, you knock her to the ground and get on top of her. "Wait…" she utters and then you rip out her throat with your fangs and taste her blood. You then sense another figure hovering near you and you throw a punch to his kneecap, shattering it. He screams and falls to the ground, but he manages to shoot you with a bolt before doing so. At this point you feel several bolts go into your back. They hurt like hell, but it's nothing compared to when you're hit by a firebomb. "Come on, she's dead! Let's get the hell outta here!" you hear someone shout and then a deafening explosion. The explosion knocks you into the wall of a nearby building and you separately attempt to roll out the flames. It's during this that you realize that you've partially lost a leg in the blast. At this point all this noise is enough to alert everyone in the nearby area. Several Ebony Claw members come out of the bar and even some of the Holgard Watch come running to the scene. Meanwhile, you're burned badly, wounded severely, and attempting to crawl away. Someone shouts "A monster! Kill it!" and then even more hell breaks loose. You are no longer attacked by the Fel touched assassins anymore (Who apparently have made themselves scarce), but instead you're attack by a combined mob of regular Ebony Claw members and a few of the Holgard Watch. You attempt to fight off the mob, but in your condition you can't fight effectively or even get away. Normal weapons might not normally kill vampires, but when there are enough of them cutting you into bloody pieces they will still do the job, especially when you're beheaded. After you're a heap of almost unrecognizable gore, one of the Watch takes his torch and sets your remains on fire. The only consolation in all this is Holgard is probably going to be stalked by an even more powerful vampire in the near future.

Year 25 "I've looked through ALL of Ral's writings along with researching various tomes we have at the temple and I can't figure out exactly WHAT he did to you. I mean I can guess what he did, but even if I'm right, I still have no idea how to reverse it." Heather remarks. You know Heather's done more than you ever expected from her, but you can't help but feel frustrated by all this. If your condition wasn't getting worse, it probably would be tolerable, but it is getting worse. Not so much for you in terms of life and death directly, but you're starting to effect things in a wider area. At this point your home is freezing to most (or at least to Heather when she visits) and frost covers everything you come in contact with now. You don't even have to touch it for long. Even Spikey makes his home outside the house rather than inside, though it's just as well since he's huge now. Which is leading to the other issue and that's the fact your icy home is starting to look very out of place compared to the rest of the surrounding landscape. Granted you're isolated from most major population centers, but there is Dert. Dert is close enough that it's only going to take a few of the more adventurous young folks to go wandering from that backwards village and bring back tales of an "Ice Castle" with a manticore guarding it. (Fortunately Spikey has never wandered towards Dert and his hunting grounds are mainly elsewhere.) Heather herself has been trying to keep your presence a secret since apparently Elder Flynn has been sensing a minor growth in magical energy in the area. So far he assumes it's Ral just working on something, but Heather stresses that if he finds out the truth, he'll definitely be heading to your home. Heather is also stressed out due to the fact that she's been keeping all this from her comrades and on top of everything else, there's the beginning of religious faction war going on in Holgard. Since she's out of any ideas that you might find acceptable, she suggests the last thing she can think of and that's that you leave and head north. She believes your condition is exaggerated by the warmer climate. (Even more so now due to it being a hotter summer than usual) While you've sort of guessed that to some extent, she thinks that if you were just constantly living in a colder environment, your condition would even out and you might not attract as much attention. "So…what then? I'm supposed to just go live on a mountain top somewhere?" you say. "No, I'm just saying that you could probably live some place colder and your condition not be as much of a problem. You'd at least blend in a bit better. As it stands now, you're starting to attract a lot of attention and you were previously pretty isolated before. Not to mention you've got a big ass manticore wandering around nearby. You stay here and you're probably going to have groups of hired adventurers beating down your door." Heather remarks. "You just want me to leave because you're worried about your own ass." "Damn right I am! I mean I'm risking every time I come here, every time I lie to Elder Flynn. You realize how much my stomach is in knots about this? And you know what? Fuck you. I've been helping you out trying to figure out how to cure you! I've tried potions, spells, salves, rituals and even prayers to Dorna on your behalf!" "You've also been helping yourself to magical shit I have." "So? It's been mutually beneficial, but now it's starting to get risky to a point of where I'm no longer comfortable." "Alright, I get it. I get it. But I'm just not too keen on this idea that I'm supposed to just pick up and leave." "Well, I dunno any other solutions. I mean when was the last time you went to Holgard and didn't start drawing a crowd? Didn't you say that the guards actually prevented you from entering last time? You said you had to sneak in and then you soon got run out of there. I mean it's only going to be a matter of time that you start drawing the attention of someone you aren't going to be able to deal with." "Your boss is really getting that suspicious huh?" "Elder Flynn is a concern of course, but it might actually be lucky for you that there's religious strife going on in Holgard right now. But I was talking in general. Look, we've gotten along for a while now, and maybe if circumstances were different I'd say stick around longer, but…" Heather turns away from you a bit and exhales. In fact she starts to sniffle a bit. "What? Wait a minute…no…really? You never gave any indication! Hell, we've never even kissed! Though I suppose given my condition that might cause problems. That's why you never acted on it" you say. "Oh trust me, there's ways we could have gotten around that aspect. A simple protection of cold would have done that. It's just… it could never really work okay? And yeah initially I was helping you because it was beneficial to me personally, but I did genuinely want to help because you seemed like an okay guy that was in a bad situation. Even with you telling me tales of your shady past, there was always a charm about you." Heather remarks wiping her eyes a bit. "If I ever run into my sister again, I'm sure she'll be amused to hear that some of her charisma finally wore off on me. Well if it makes you feel any better, I've had more than my fair share of thoughts about you as well." "I'm sure." "I don't mean just the dirty ones though, I mean I figured even if you were only helping for the magic knowledge and items, it still was nice that someone was helping me." "Sort of wish you were only thinking of me in a dirty way, it would make this a lot easier. (Sigh) I shouldn't have said anything." "I wish you have said something sooner, I mean now what am I supposed to do? Just leave, knowing all this?" "If you do have feelings for me like you say then I beg you to leave because you'll just make it harder for me in the long run. I know it's selfish to put myself first, but it is what it is." "Okay, I'm not mad because I get it, but I don't see why WE can't just leave together. I mean you could continue trying to figure out how to cure me and you could probably start up another Dorna church up north and convert barbarian tribes or something. " "Heh, nice idea. Tempting even, but no. My life is here." You're getting frustrated at this point. "What are you fucking this Elder Flynn or something?" "What? No! He's like a hundred years old and I don't have daddy issues!" "Well what's really keeping you here then?" "Look, maybe an infidel like you can't understand, but my temple is also my family and with all the trouble going on right now, I'm not going to just abandon them." "Haven't you been hording knowledge and the shit you get from me?" "Yeah, well it's a complicated family relationship." "Guess I can't relate much…(sigh) Okay, fine. I'll leave, but only because you did try to help me, I'm a sucker for a pretty face and the fact I don't really have any other ties here and it'll make things easier for you." You start to get ready to pack, but Heather stops you. "Hold on a second. You don't need to leave right this minute." She says and makes a few little hand gestures causing a brief blue glow around her. Then she kisses you. It doesn't feel as good as you remember the last time you did this with Lisa. Even the good stuff is dulled, but what the hell, you'll take it. You and Heather get to it and you have a rather interesting time going about your intimacy. Heather's spell is working, but it's obvious she's still feeling some mild…well the word isn't exactly discomfort, but let's just say she has never pleasured herself with an icicle in the past so it's a cool sensation down there for her. However she's a trooper and you must be doing something right because by the time you're done she's covered in frost. No, that's not a euphemism either; she's literally covered in frost. (In fact if this was all taking place in a modern setting, there could be a whole joke about "The Iceman Cometh") You on the other hand were sort of hoping that experience while pleasant enough would maybe raise your body temperature a little, but no, you're still as cold as ever. After a moment of basking in frosty bliss, Heather brushes herself off and gets dressed. "I hope that you can somehow find a way to cure yourself, but whether you do or not, take care okay?" With those last words she gives you one more kiss and leaves you alone. This experience has arguably been the best thing that's happened to you since you woke up in your condition. Of course maybe you're just sort of feeling that way due to the fact that you haven't exactly been with anyone in a long damn time. Part of you wants to just go to her temple, but going to Holgard isn't going to do anything but cause problems for her and you, so you'll wait. You know she'll be back. You figure Heather will probably come back here in a couple days to see if you're still around and to potentially look for any items she may have missed. When she comes back, you'll make every effort to convince her to come with you. So you wait. A week passes, then a month, then two months… By this time, you're still laboring under the delusion that she's going to come back and mainly subsisting on frozen berries, fruit and roots that you don't go too far to collect from your home. In the meantime Spikey, being an apex predator in the area has steadily over the past few years been depleting most of the wildlife. He was also supplementing this with the many bandit groups that make their homes in the woods at times. However, even bandits eventually get wise to the fact that it might not be the best idea to have a hideout where many of their fellows are disappearing at an alarming rate. If his attention wasn't in the direction of Dert before it is now. You however don't really know any of this until you get a knock on the door one night. Thinking that it's Heather, you spring from your chair, and open it. And you're met by a woman, one you even know, but not Heather. "…Isabella?" you say upon seeing her. Isabella frowns as you just stare at her naked body in surprise. "Glad you remember what my tits look like." She says. "…Apologies, but I really wasn't expecting you. I thought another…nevermind, what are you doing here?" you ask. "I'm here to speak to Ral…what the hell happened to you? You're as pale as I am and you're giving off some serious cold. This whole house is, given the frost and ice in the area. What the hell IS Ral doing in there?" "Well…" "Look, no offense, but I'm not in the mood to speak to his magic slave. I want you to go bring his ass out of his lab to come speak to me right now. I mean I thought we had an understanding at least that if we HAD to be neighbors he wouldn't fuck things up for me. Now I got a bunch of dead people in Dert due to his escaped manticore or pet or experiment or whatever the fuck. I told him that backwards dung heap of a hamlet was MY ongoing food source and was not to be messed with." "Wait, Spikey attacked Dert?" "Spikey? That its name? Real original. But yeah it was a damn blood bath there. Hell, I could smell it even from my crypt. The beast killed ten people. I would have tracked it down easily, but considering its scent was also leading in this direction, I'd pay Ral a visit first since I was sure this was all his fault. And judging from what I'm seeing, I was right. So get his ass out here!" "That's going to be a problem given that he's dead." "Dead? Bullshit." "I'm serious. He's been dead for like two years now." Now Isabella is the one showing some surprise. The fact that she is surprised means you must have really caught he off guard. You remember that Ral and her had a relationship in the past. From some of her brief sad expression, she perhaps didn't have complete loathing for him. Isabella looks down a bit and closes her eyes before speaking again. "(Sigh) Damn. Didn't think I'd still feel something for the bastard, but I guess you never know until it happens. I guess this means you're no longer a magic slave and you're in fact responsible for this mess then. How? You're no wizard. And how did you kill Ral anyway?" Isabella asks. "I didn't kill Ral, he just died of natural causes in his bed." You quickly say. "Hah! Nice try, but you're lying. Look, I don't care if you killed him, if he'd made me a slave I'd have killed him too." "Well, I had help and it wasn't easy." "I'm sure. So what's with the eternal winter here?" "Ral's last gift to me." You give a quick explanation of events of your condition to Isabella who listens to everything. "So…it was this Heather was the one you were waiting for then?" Isabella asks. "Yeah, but well…that's a long story." You say with a sigh. "Let me guess you fell for your nurse." "She wasn't a nurse, she was a priestess." "Nurse, priestess, whore, doesn't matter. Your circumstance is as old as time. You fell for the one taking care of you when nobody else would. It happens a lot, but I think your case its just desperation." "Excuse me?" "Well, you've been waiting for this girl for two months you said. It's obvious she isn't coming back." "She could just be busy! There's a religious war going on in Holgard right now! You know, we made love the last time I saw her!" "And? That probably was just a goodbye pity fuck. Look, I didn't see how you two interacted and I'm only getting some of what you're telling me, so I'm not going to say this girl didn't have feelings for you, but its obvious she cares more about herself or at least her own life." "You don't know shit!" you snap. "Okay, look, whatever. I actually don't care that much, but we still need to settle this issue with your pet manticore along with your snowman condition because both of them are going to fuck up my shit. The manticore can be settled easily since I can just kill the beast and be done with it. But you are a whole other problem." "Wait a minute you can't just kill my pet! And why the hell am I a problem, I don't even go near Dert." "Yeah, but your aura might. I mean from what little you've told me, your condition is getting worse and if that's the case, the last thing I need is for it to freeze over Dert and cause all the peasants there to pick up and leave due to failed crops. It's bad enough some are already talking about leaving due to the manticore attack. Others are even talking about hiring adventurers. Last thing I need is a group of fortune seekers stomping around the area and stumbling on my place of rest." "I'm sure you'd be able to handle them." "That's not the damn point, my point is I like things peaceful and they can't be, if there are certain elements in the area fucking everything up! So the way I see it, is you got two choices. You either leave, or I cure you." Once again Isabella has given you a little surprise. "What? You can cure me? How?!" you ask. "Invite me in and I'll show you." Isabella responds with a smile. "Uh…no…things aren't quite bad enough for me to want to commit suicide." "Who said I was going to kill you? I'd make you into a vampire." "Wait. Why? Would that work?" "Sure. The transformation process practically gives you a clean slate. I'd be very surprised if it didn't work. As for why…well let's just say why not?" "…I feel like there's a catch…" "Well of course there's a catch, I don't just offer the gift to anyone. I'd require you to help me around the crypt as it were." And there it is. "A slave. You want me to be your slave." You say. "You wouldn't be a slave, you'd be my…companion. You think your few years of no meaningful intimacy are bad? Come back when you've had a century or so of it. I just felt a pang of loss over a man that I practically loathed for decades. Now I know I'm moving in quick on you, but when you've been as solitary as I have, you tend to not let social rules dictate your actions. I'm offering not only a cure for your condition and immortality, but also a chance for you not to worry about having to be alone ever again. You can't say you aren't tempted. I still remember that night we had years ago. Look, I'll be back in a couple nights. If you're still here, then I'll know you've accepted my offer. If you're gone, I know you haven't. And when I say I'll be back in a couple nights, you can bet that I'll mean it." Isabella says and leaves. And once again you're left alone with a big decision. You knew you were going to have to make one soon, but these events haven't definitely given you more to think about. > You stay and reject the offer You're not going anywhere and you're not going to be a slave again even if the offer is from beautiful naked vampire. Isabella can't do shit to you anyway as long as you stay in the house at night. You're not even concerned that much about Spikey, as you're sure that a beast of his size can probably at least fly away from Isabella if she proves too much. You're a little concerned about when Heather shows up however, but hopefully Heather shows up during the day. She's a priestess too, so it isn't like she's completely defenseless. Defying a vampire is going to be dangerous, but probably no more dangerous than killing a wizard that had enslaved you. You stock up on food over the next two days along with gathering what few magical items you have left only to remember that Heather probably already took the most useful stuff. No matter, you'll just have to be careful. Later that night you hear a knock on the door. You open it and as expected it's her. "Well, given that you're here, I'd say that means you've decided to take me up on my offer. I have to say, this pleases me and you will soon see just how lucky you are that I chose you. Now, if you'll just invite me in, we can get to this, or you can step out here, if you prefer. Up to you." Isabella says. "Thanks but no thanks, I've decided to turn down your offer. While I'm sure you wouldn't go out of your way to make my life miserable, we still would not be equal and I've had enough of having to deal with sort of situation." You say. Isabella frowns at your statement. "I see…so I take it that you have stayed around to politely inform me that you're leaving then?" she asks. "No." you respond. "Excuse me?" "Look Isabella, I can appreciate your situation and I will definitely try to train Spikey to hunt elsewhere, but I'm not going to just leave because you're making lightly veiled threats." "Oh believe me, when I make my threats, they are never light or veiled." "Well you certainly implied a threat as far as I'm concerned. You gave me two choices, well I'm taking a third one. I need to stay here and you're not running me off." "Hmm, this Heather girl must have really laid it down good. I guess I can see your point even if I think you're being short sighted on this matter. Perhaps I came across a little too aggressively, but as I said, isolation has made me a bit less focused on the whole courtship process. In any case, apologies." "Oh…well I accept. I have to say, I thought you were going to be madder than you are." "Why would I be mad, I said I get where you're coming from. You clearly have strong feelings for this girl. Strong enough that you risked facing me believing I was going to go into some frothing vampire rage no doubt." "Well that was the concern." "Hah, you needn't have done so. Takes more than that to really make me that mad." Even in your condition, you were still a bundle of nerves and worry about this moment. You feel much more relaxed now that you see Isabella isn't mad or even showing signs of wanting to retaliate. Isabella talks with you a bit more saying that she hopes that Heather feels the same way about you. She's really surprising you with how understanding she is, and you continue to just feel calmer with her. And that's when you're done for… She couldn't use it on you when you were magically tethered to Ral, but since that's no longer the case, Isabella easily uses her powers to charm you so gradually that you don't even realize it. You foolishly allowed yourself to get into an extended conversation with her and when she tells you to step outside for a moment, you obey. As you embrace her, Isabella takes you into her arms and looks into your eyes. "If only you hadn't been defiant and just taken one of the other choices…such a waste." She says and then bites you on the neck. And she has no intention on turning you either. It's an odd sensation from the last time she did it since you don't even feel any pain. Isabella herself is having a mildly difficult time sucking your blood which is probably a little slushy due to your frosty condition, but she gets through it. You don't.

Year 25 "I've looked through ALL of Ral's writings along with researching various tomes we have at the temple and I can't figure out exactly WHAT he did to you. I mean I can guess what he did, but even if I'm right, I still have no idea how to reverse it." Heather remarks. You know Heather's done more than you ever expected from her, but you can't help but feel frustrated by all this. If your condition wasn't getting worse, it probably would be tolerable, but it is getting worse. Not so much for you in terms of life and death directly, but you're starting to effect things in a wider area. At this point your home is freezing to most (or at least to Heather when she visits) and frost covers everything you come in contact with now. You don't even have to touch it for long. Even Spikey makes his home outside the house rather than inside, though it's just as well since he's huge now. Which is leading to the other issue and that's the fact your icy home is starting to look very out of place compared to the rest of the surrounding landscape. Granted you're isolated from most major population centers, but there is Dert. Dert is close enough that it's only going to take a few of the more adventurous young folks to go wandering from that backwards village and bring back tales of an "Ice Castle" with a manticore guarding it. (Fortunately Spikey has never wandered towards Dert and his hunting grounds are mainly elsewhere.) Heather herself has been trying to keep your presence a secret since apparently Elder Flynn has been sensing a minor growth in magical energy in the area. So far he assumes it's Ral just working on something, but Heather stresses that if he finds out the truth, he'll definitely be heading to your home. Heather is also stressed out due to the fact that she's been keeping all this from her comrades and on top of everything else, there's the beginning of religious faction war going on in Holgard. Since she's out of any ideas that you might find acceptable, she suggests the last thing she can think of and that's that you leave and head north. She believes your condition is exaggerated by the warmer climate. (Even more so now due to it being a hotter summer than usual) While you've sort of guessed that to some extent, she thinks that if you were just constantly living in a colder environment, your condition would even out and you might not attract as much attention. "So…what then? I'm supposed to just go live on a mountain top somewhere?" you say. "No, I'm just saying that you could probably live some place colder and your condition not be as much of a problem. You'd at least blend in a bit better. As it stands now, you're starting to attract a lot of attention and you were previously pretty isolated before. Not to mention you've got a big ass manticore wandering around nearby. You stay here and you're probably going to have groups of hired adventurers beating down your door." Heather remarks. "You just want me to leave because you're worried about your own ass." "Damn right I am! I mean I'm risking every time I come here, every time I lie to Elder Flynn. You realize how much my stomach is in knots about this? And you know what? Fuck you. I've been helping you out trying to figure out how to cure you! I've tried potions, spells, salves, rituals and even prayers to Dorna on your behalf!" "You've also been helping yourself to magical shit I have." "So? It's been mutually beneficial, but now it's starting to get risky to a point of where I'm no longer comfortable." "Alright, I get it. I get it. But I'm just not too keen on this idea that I'm supposed to just pick up and leave." "Well, I dunno any other solutions. I mean when was the last time you went to Holgard and didn't start drawing a crowd? Didn't you say that the guards actually prevented you from entering last time? You said you had to sneak in and then you soon got run out of there. I mean it's only going to be a matter of time that you start drawing the attention of someone you aren't going to be able to deal with." "Your boss is really getting that suspicious huh?" "Elder Flynn is a concern of course, but it might actually be lucky for you that there's religious strife going on in Holgard right now. But I was talking in general. Look, we've gotten along for a while now, and maybe if circumstances were different I'd say stick around longer, but…" Heather turns away from you a bit and exhales. In fact she starts to sniffle a bit. "What? Wait a minute…no…really? You never gave any indication! Hell, we've never even kissed! Though I suppose given my condition that might cause problems. That's why you never acted on it" you say. "Oh trust me, there's ways we could have gotten around that aspect. A simple protection of cold would have done that. It's just… it could never really work okay? And yeah initially I was helping you because it was beneficial to me personally, but I did genuinely want to help because you seemed like an okay guy that was in a bad situation. Even with you telling me tales of your shady past, there was always a charm about you." Heather remarks wiping her eyes a bit. "If I ever run into my sister again, I'm sure she'll be amused to hear that some of her charisma finally wore off on me. Well if it makes you feel any better, I've had more than my fair share of thoughts about you as well." "I'm sure." "I don't mean just the dirty ones though, I mean I figured even if you were only helping for the magic knowledge and items, it still was nice that someone was helping me." "Sort of wish you were only thinking of me in a dirty way, it would make this a lot easier. (Sigh) I shouldn't have said anything." "I wish you have said something sooner, I mean now what am I supposed to do? Just leave, knowing all this?" "If you do have feelings for me like you say then I beg you to leave because you'll just make it harder for me in the long run. I know it's selfish to put myself first, but it is what it is." "Okay, I'm not mad because I get it, but I don't see why WE can't just leave together. I mean you could continue trying to figure out how to cure me and you could probably start up another Dorna church up north and convert barbarian tribes or something. " "Heh, nice idea. Tempting even, but no. My life is here." You're getting frustrated at this point. "What are you fucking this Elder Flynn or something?" "What? No! He's like a hundred years old and I don't have daddy issues!" "Well what's really keeping you here then?" "Look, maybe an infidel like you can't understand, but my temple is also my family and with all the trouble going on right now, I'm not going to just abandon them." "Haven't you been hording knowledge and the shit you get from me?" "Yeah, well it's a complicated family relationship." "Guess I can't relate much…(sigh) Okay, fine. I'll leave, but only because you did try to help me, I'm a sucker for a pretty face and the fact I don't really have any other ties here and it'll make things easier for you." You start to get ready to pack, but Heather stops you. "Hold on a second. You don't need to leave right this minute." She says and makes a few little hand gestures causing a brief blue glow around her. Then she kisses you. It doesn't feel as good as you remember the last time you did this with Lisa. Even the good stuff is dulled, but what the hell, you'll take it. You and Heather get to it and you have a rather interesting time going about your intimacy. Heather's spell is working, but it's obvious she's still feeling some mild…well the word isn't exactly discomfort, but let's just say she has never pleasured herself with an icicle in the past so it's a cool sensation down there for her. However she's a trooper and you must be doing something right because by the time you're done she's covered in frost. No, that's not a euphemism either; she's literally covered in frost. (In fact if this was all taking place in a modern setting, there could be a whole joke about "The Iceman Cometh") You on the other hand were sort of hoping that experience while pleasant enough would maybe raise your body temperature a little, but no, you're still as cold as ever. After a moment of basking in frosty bliss, Heather brushes herself off and gets dressed. "I hope that you can somehow find a way to cure yourself, but whether you do or not, take care okay?" With those last words she gives you one more kiss and leaves you alone. This experience has arguably been the best thing that's happened to you since you woke up in your condition. Of course maybe you're just sort of feeling that way due to the fact that you haven't exactly been with anyone in a long damn time. Part of you wants to just go to her temple, but going to Holgard isn't going to do anything but cause problems for her and you, so you'll wait. You know she'll be back. You figure Heather will probably come back here in a couple days to see if you're still around and to potentially look for any items she may have missed. When she comes back, you'll make every effort to convince her to come with you. So you wait. A week passes, then a month, then two months… By this time, you're still laboring under the delusion that she's going to come back and mainly subsisting on frozen berries, fruit and roots that you don't go too far to collect from your home. In the meantime Spikey, being an apex predator in the area has steadily over the past few years been depleting most of the wildlife. He was also supplementing this with the many bandit groups that make their homes in the woods at times. However, even bandits eventually get wise to the fact that it might not be the best idea to have a hideout where many of their fellows are disappearing at an alarming rate. If his attention wasn't in the direction of Dert before it is now. You however don't really know any of this until you get a knock on the door one night. Thinking that it's Heather, you spring from your chair, and open it. And you're met by a woman, one you even know, but not Heather. "…Isabella?" you say upon seeing her. Isabella frowns as you just stare at her naked body in surprise. "Glad you remember what my tits look like." She says. "…Apologies, but I really wasn't expecting you. I thought another…nevermind, what are you doing here?" you ask. "I'm here to speak to Ral…what the hell happened to you? You're as pale as I am and you're giving off some serious cold. This whole house is, given the frost and ice in the area. What the hell IS Ral doing in there?" "Well…" "Look, no offense, but I'm not in the mood to speak to his magic slave. I want you to go bring his ass out of his lab to come speak to me right now. I mean I thought we had an understanding at least that if we HAD to be neighbors he wouldn't fuck things up for me. Now I got a bunch of dead people in Dert due to his escaped manticore or pet or experiment or whatever the fuck. I told him that backwards dung heap of a hamlet was MY ongoing food source and was not to be messed with." "Wait, Spikey attacked Dert?" "Spikey? That its name? Real original. But yeah it was a damn blood bath there. Hell, I could smell it even from my crypt. The beast killed ten people. I would have tracked it down easily, but considering its scent was also leading in this direction, I'd pay Ral a visit first since I was sure this was all his fault. And judging from what I'm seeing, I was right. So get his ass out here!" "That's going to be a problem given that he's dead." "Dead? Bullshit." "I'm serious. He's been dead for like two years now." Now Isabella is the one showing some surprise. The fact that she is surprised means you must have really caught he off guard. You remember that Ral and her had a relationship in the past. From some of her brief sad expression, she perhaps didn't have complete loathing for him. Isabella looks down a bit and closes her eyes before speaking again. "(Sigh) Damn. Didn't think I'd still feel something for the bastard, but I guess you never know until it happens. I guess this means you're no longer a magic slave and you're in fact responsible for this mess then. How? You're no wizard. And how did you kill Ral anyway?" Isabella asks. "I didn't kill Ral, he just died of natural causes in his bed." You quickly say. "Hah! Nice try, but you're lying. Look, I don't care if you killed him, if he'd made me a slave I'd have killed him too." "Well, I had help and it wasn't easy." "I'm sure. So what's with the eternal winter here?" "Ral's last gift to me." You give a quick explanation of events of your condition to Isabella who listens to everything. "So…it was this Heather was the one you were waiting for then?" Isabella asks. "Yeah, but well…that's a long story." You say with a sigh. "Let me guess you fell for your nurse." "She wasn't a nurse, she was a priestess." "Nurse, priestess, whore, doesn't matter. Your circumstance is as old as time. You fell for the one taking care of you when nobody else would. It happens a lot, but I think your case its just desperation." "Excuse me?" "Well, you've been waiting for this girl for two months you said. It's obvious she isn't coming back." "She could just be busy! There's a religious war going on in Holgard right now! You know, we made love the last time I saw her!" "And? That probably was just a goodbye pity fuck. Look, I didn't see how you two interacted and I'm only getting some of what you're telling me, so I'm not going to say this girl didn't have feelings for you, but its obvious she cares more about herself or at least her own life." "You don't know shit!" you snap. "Okay, look, whatever. I actually don't care that much, but we still need to settle this issue with your pet manticore along with your snowman condition because both of them are going to fuck up my shit. The manticore can be settled easily since I can just kill the beast and be done with it. But you are a whole other problem." "Wait a minute you can't just kill my pet! And why the hell am I a problem, I don't even go near Dert." "Yeah, but your aura might. I mean from what little you've told me, your condition is getting worse and if that's the case, the last thing I need is for it to freeze over Dert and cause all the peasants there to pick up and leave due to failed crops. It's bad enough some are already talking about leaving due to the manticore attack. Others are even talking about hiring adventurers. Last thing I need is a group of fortune seekers stomping around the area and stumbling on my place of rest." "I'm sure you'd be able to handle them." "That's not the damn point, my point is I like things peaceful and they can't be, if there are certain elements in the area fucking everything up! So the way I see it, is you got two choices. You either leave, or I cure you." Once again Isabella has given you a little surprise. "What? You can cure me? How?!" you ask. "Invite me in and I'll show you." Isabella responds with a smile. "Uh…no…things aren't quite bad enough for me to want to commit suicide." "Who said I was going to kill you? I'd make you into a vampire." "Wait. Why? Would that work?" "Sure. The transformation process practically gives you a clean slate. I'd be very surprised if it didn't work. As for why…well let's just say why not?" "…I feel like there's a catch…" "Well of course there's a catch, I don't just offer the gift to anyone. I'd require you to help me around the crypt as it were." And there it is. "A slave. You want me to be your slave." You say. "You wouldn't be a slave, you'd be my…companion. You think your few years of no meaningful intimacy are bad? Come back when you've had a century or so of it. I just felt a pang of loss over a man that I practically loathed for decades. Now I know I'm moving in quick on you, but when you've been as solitary as I have, you tend to not let social rules dictate your actions. I'm offering not only a cure for your condition and immortality, but also a chance for you not to worry about having to be alone ever again. You can't say you aren't tempted. I still remember that night we had years ago. Look, I'll be back in a couple nights. If you're still here, then I'll know you've accepted my offer. If you're gone, I know you haven't. And when I say I'll be back in a couple nights, you can bet that I'll mean it." Isabella says and leaves. And once again you're left alone with a big decision. You knew you were going to have to make one soon, but these events haven't definitely given you more to think about. > You pack up and leave While Isabella's offer is tempting, you can't risk being a slave again even if it means a cure for your condition. You'd also just be trading one condition for another, what would being a vampire even be like? You'd be dead and feeding on blood. You're not quite ready for that either. However, you're wise enough to know that you really can't stay either. Even if you stayed inside at night. Isabella is still a powerful vampire, she'd probably figure out how to get to you eventually. Last thing you need is an enemy of that magnitude. So you have to leave. There's nothing tying you here anyway. Heather hasn't showed up and is unlikely to do so, you were just holding out hope for something that was never really there in the first place. Remembering Heather's advice about going north, you start looking at various maps that Ral had stashed around his lab. For someone who spent most of his time in his lab, he certainly had some detailed ones. You never really looked at them before, but now's the time. You focus on his northern maps to see where you might be heading. Besides your forced foray into the wintery wilderness, you honestly don't know much about the great north other than there are some small settlements up there. After some perusing of a map, you decide to make your way to some place just called "Evergreen." It's probably the closest northern settlement you'll reach from your current location. You have no idea what you're going to do there; assuming you can even fit in or stick around. You imagine you'll end up just living by yourself in the outdoors. You've probably spent more time in uncivilized wilderness than populated centers. You never thought that would happen, but it has, and you've gotten used to it. Then of course, you never thought a lot of stuff would happen. Your roguish days have slowly been coming to an end for years now, in fact it probably could be argued that you haven't really been one since you left Teckleville. Though you suppose in some ways your skills have just been used for other purposes. Maybe you could set yourself up as a trapper or hunter? You've certainly got more skill in tracking large animals and beasts now. Speaking of large beasts, you remind yourself that you're going to have to try to get Spikey to follow you. It's not going to be easy, but you figure you can't really leave him to prowl around here or else Isabella will kill him. You pack what you can and leave note on the door for Isabella saying you've left since you figure it doesn't hurt to be polite to a vampire that did at least give you an option. After a bit of searching (Doesn't take long) you finally manage to get Spikey to mildly follow you, though he does a lot of wandering off for long periods of time presumably to hunt. You aren't really sure if he's going to follow you the whole way or disappear along the way, but at least you're getting him away from potential danger. You briefly wonder if maybe you could try to ride him to make the journey faster, but while Spikey is tolerant of you, you doubt if he's going allow himself to be anyone's steed! Being driven away from a place you called home for so very long seems very familiar. While it was always your sister that had the wanderer's spirit, it would seem that same spirit has been forced upon you. You still hope she's doing better than you are. It's literally a cold harsh reality that your future is uncertain. However, you're confident that you'll probably survive it. Who knows, maybe you'll even discover a cure to your condition one day. In any case, your life as a common rogue is over.

Maybe it's because you're in a shitty situation yourself that you're feeling a bit sorry for the pitiful creature that presumably just lost its mother and now has to fend for itself. "Fuck it." You say, and slowly start backing away, though the beast never lets its own guard down. "What the hell are you doing. Shoot the little bastard!" Tych remarks. "I don't feel like it alright? Besides, I'll probably need to save all the bolts I can for the wazia." You get out of the line of sight of the manticore, but Tych won't let this go. "Are you actually feeling sympathy for the creature? This thing would eat you if it was big enough! In fact, given that its probably hungry without its mother around now, I'm surprised it isn't at least attempting to anyway! Think of it this way, it can't survive very long on its own, you'd be performing an act of mercy if you killed it and at least its death would help us." At this point you take off your pack and look for some of your remaining rations. Dried meat, it's as good as anything. "Wait, are you actually going to feed it now? Have you gone completely barmy?" "Probably." You say. You go back to the manticore which once again has adopted a defensive stance, but you toss the meat in front of it which it cautiously moves close to, sniffs and then starts to eat, all the while still eyeing you suspiciously. You leave the beast to feed. "You know, you could have at least poisoned the food if you didn't have the balls to just shoot it." Tych remarks. "Well, I guess I'm just going to have to get my balls back by killing this wazia, now stop bitching at me and let's get this done." You snap. You enter the cave with Tych barely following ahead of you. He's flying as high as he can which provides just enough light for you to not break your neck walking around the cave. As you were travelling here earlier, Tych was telling you a bit about wazias. He mentioned that they resembled very large moles with a huge gaping maw where the face would be. The mole comparison doesn't sound very threatening, but he also said that it has a very tough hide and layers of fat, which is why Tych doesn't think your bolts, would be as effective as they might otherwise be. You suppose you'll find out. You start to hear loud sounds, you can't see anything yet, but you have to be getting closer. The loud sounds soon become rumbles and then Tych suddenly shouts to you. "Shit, it's digging under you! Get the hell out of there!" Tych begins flying back towards the exit and you do likewise as the rumbling is nearly right under you. While its hard to keep up with Tych, you manage to do so. By the time you see the light of the exit, the rumbling is nearly coming from right underneath you. You instinctively jump forward just in time for the wazia finally come up and try to eat you. You get up as quickly as you can and that's when you finally see the creature. And it does indeed resemble a giant mole. A giant mole with nothing but a giant mouth with rows of teeth for a face. It also has pretty large claws as well, but you're too busy trying get out of its immediate grasp as opposed to admiring them. You make it outside with the wazia following close behind. When you're out in the open, you take advantage of the light and space and begin firing your crossbow at the thing which has mixed results. Your aim isn't exactly true due to nerves and generally trying to staying away from the wazia, but it hardly matters when it's as big as it is. Most of your shots hit, but much like Tych warned, its tough hide seems to be outright deflecting a lot of them. And for the bolts that are actually sinking in, you certainly hope the poison starts working soon, because so far it hasn't had any notable affect. The only thing that's in your favor is that the beast isn't exactly the fastest when not underground, but it tries to keep you off balance by smashing its claws on the ground and causing minor quakes. Large clumps of snow begin to fall from above and given your location, you're wondering if an avalanche won't just bury you at this rate. (Of course maybe that's its intent, it can just easily dig itself out and eat your corpse later) You see Tych keeping his distance, flying about watching everything. "Tych, distract it damn it! I need to reload this thing!" you shout while running and fumbling with the cumbersome crossbow magazine. To his credit, Tych actually listens somewhat to you and shouts at it (in his high pitched squeaky voice) and even flies near it very briefly, but his presence is mostly ignored. Tych doesn't try too much harder than that, but you do get another helper. The manitcore cub that you fed earlier and completely forgot about starts flinging its own spikes at the wazia. They don't seem to do anything to it, but between it and Tych, it's enough to refocus its attention briefly giving you enough time to reload your crossbow properly. You fire a few times at the wazia with mixed results again, the manticore cub runs fast enough that the wazia doesn't bother to follow it and quickly turns its attention back to you. It charges at you, but now you're starting to notice the beast is getting even slower and now begins making loud wailing noises and they aren't just due to anger. The wazia is finally feeling the affects of the poison and begins flailing about. It begins smashing its entire body into the ground and now even larger chunks of ice and snow begin to fall from above. Along with it trying to cause an avalanche, it begins trying to dig underground again since it isn't sure what is exactly causing it such great pain, and is trying to escape. You can't allow that to happen though, because if it does, even if it dies, it's going to be so deep underground that digging its carcass out is going to be a nightmare. Throwing a bit of caution to the wind, you get closer to wazia and fire upon it. Your fortunate enough that this stops it from digging long enough to try to swipe at you with its claws. It clumsily tries to do this several times. At this point you've run out of bolts and drawn your sword though realistically you wouldn't be able to get close enough to it that it couldn't still kill you. You're just trying to keep the beast from escaping and hoping the mountains don't come crashing down on your head. Eventually as its motions towards you stop altogether and it opens its maw completely one last time to let out a woeful howl and then collapses. It twitches a few more times and finally stops moving completely. You just look at the wazia for a moment before slowly moving closer to it. Just as you get to its body, Tych sneaks up on you. "Is it dead?" he asks, buzzing in your ear. "Damn it Tych, you fucking startled me!" you snap. "Apologies, but I figured you'd be more aware of your surroundings." "I guess its dead. Shit, I was wondering if that poison was ever going to kick in." "Yep, looks like I saved your ass on this one." "Hm, I guess you did your part." "Damn straight I did, which is why I think YOU should help me now!" "How the hell am I going to help you?" "By killing Ral obviously." "Nice idea, but I'm still bound by a geas remember?" "Well after he takes it off of you, just chop his head off." "Yeah, like he isn't going to take precautions. I'm fairly certain that if he does stick with his promise, I'm not going to be able to just chop his head off as you say. In fact I imagine he's set this up so I stay bound to him so he can reverse this condition I have." "Wait, you aren't actually going to DO that if freedom is an option are you?" "What choice do I have? It's not like I want to go through the rest of my life like this." "Shit, I'd go through life with my wings fucking clipped if it meant not spending most of my life in a jar and being at that plivik's whims!" You suppose Tych has a point and it is one you're more inclined to go with since it might be possible to get your condition reversed elsewhere. All this might not mean anything however, if Ral has no intention on releasing you from the geas anyway. In the meantime you have a heart to carve out of the dead beast in front of you. About midway through Tych starts calling to you again. "Hey! Watch out, the manticore is back!" he exclaims and hides on the other side of the dead wazia. You turn from your bloody work and look. The manticore cub is indeed back and watching you, but its not in a defensive stance anymore, it seems to be more curious than anything else. "I'm not worrying about it since it probably isn't going to do anything, but if it makes you feel better…" Tych probably thought you were going to follow up that statement with you trying to kill it, but you instead you just reach into your pack and give it another piece of dried meat, which it happily eats and no longer is interested in anything else. "There you go Spikey." You say coming up with an on the spot name for him. "You just gave away the last of the food!" Tych exclaims. "What does it matter? As soon as I dig this heart out, and you perch on my shoulder, Ral will teleport us back anyway right?" "I guess, I just don't understand why you're indulging that creature." "Good thing I did, since it distracted the wazia better than you did." "Hey I did my best considering my size, you dick!" You go back to your unpleasant work. Not so much because of the gore and blood, but the smell is awful even with your dulled senses. Eventually you cut the large organ out and carry the thing out of the wazia's body. You then sit down to take a breather. "Shit, I think that was almost as much work as killing this thing." You say. "Did you get it?" Tych asks. "Yeah, why are you so far away? I figured you'd be anxious to get out of this cold at least even if you don't like the jar." "I would, but that thing is nearby!" Tych remarks and points to the manticore that is now coming up to you. "Tych, you're worrying over nothing. He'd fling spikes at me before you given how close he is. Just get over here and get us home." "Fine. Did you think anymore on killing Ral yet?" "Yeah I've thought about it, and I guess you'll know soon enough." Tych isn't enthused by your response or the manticore being nearby, but he flies to you anyway. He sits on your shoulder, makes a few weird hand gestures and before you know it, a flash of blinding light hits you and you're in the lab again. You also feel something bump your leg. You look down and see that the manticore cub has teleported with you and is currently nuzzling against your leg. "Shit!" Tych remarks and flies away to hide again. Meanwhile Ral walks in from one of his other rooms in the lab wondering what all the noise is about. "So you're back and successful as I knew you would be. Hello, what's this?" Ral asks. Spikey growls a bit when he sees Ral. "Spikey no!" you say and do your best to try to calm him which involves petting his head and neck. This seems to work somewhat since he relaxes, but still eyes Ral warily. "Hmm, I see you brought back more than just the heart. You didn't need to go beyond what was required, but I appreciate the enthusiasm. The manticore parts will come in handy for spell components." Ral says. "What? No, it helped take down the wazia and I guess it got caught up in the teleportation process." "So?" "So, I dunno seems sort of fucked up to just hand him over to you for parts after he helped me." "What are you going to do with him, keep him as a pet?" "Well I suppose I could…" "A pet manticore? What do you think you are a frost giant? That's silly, you aren't going to have the means to tame such a beast when he starts to grow! You sure you don't want to hand that beast over? I could give you something extra." "Can you reverse this fucking condition you imposed on me?" you ask. "I imagine could, but that would require that you stick around a bit longer. I mean that can be arranged..." You're not getting trapped. You can't get trapped again. "No, I'll figure out another way." You say. "Very well. Put that heart on the table and... wait a minute where did Tych go? I saw him fly off to hide, not sure why he bothers to do that, since he knows I can just teleport him back in the jar at anytime." Ral says as you lift up the oversized organ and slam it on the nearby table. "Can we get on with this?" you ask getting impatient. "In a moment and don't presume to give orders, I still haven't freed you yet and you'd be well to remember that. Now step back, you're very cold you know." Ral says. "Of course I'm fucking cold, you did this to me!" "And I offered to reverse the process, but you declined." "Damn straight I declined, I'm not going to fall for your tricks again. The first time you enslaved me, the second time you made me into a freak!" "If you like, that can remain your reality." Ral warns. Ral raises his hands as if to cast a spell and that's when you see Tych flying over his head struggling with a small-uncorked glass tube that's as big as him. "Hey glakface, try casting magic now!" Tych shouts and then pours a clear fluid on Ral, who looks up just in time for it splatter on his face, and he even gets some in his mouth. "Gargh! (cough) (hack) blagh!" Ral gags and begins hacking up and rubbing his eyes. "He can't cast magic! Don't just stand there plivik, kill the bastard!" Tych squeaks. > You do nothing Considering you're still under a geas, there isn't much you can do in the first place. In fact you're sort of pissed at Tych right now considering you were about to get released by Ral! "What the hell are you waiting for plivik?! Move in! Attack!" Tych shouts. "Tych, you're a fucking asshole! I was close to freedom! I'm not helping your sparkling ass now!" you shout back. "Wha…shit…" At this moment Tych realizes his plan has fallen through and he desperately goes to find something else that could possibly help him in the lab. Meanwhile Ral is already starting to get over his situation and stumbles over to one of his tables and downs some potion. Whatever it did, its helped him significantly. Tych is nowhere to be seen at this point, but that soon changes when Ral instantly teleports him back. The little bastard has never looked so terrified. "I allowed you to live and this is how you repay me? Not too surprising I guess, but I thought you at least had enough sense to not try to kill me. You're going to pay dearly for this." Ral says. You continue to stand back, keeping Spikey in check and watch as Tych suddenly clutches his head. He begins making high pitched screeches and eventually drops to the floor like a stone, which is quite the height since he was still hovering and a fair distance from the floor. He's probably broken his little legs, but that's the least of his problems. Tych continues to writhe in agony on the floor. Blood starts pooling around him. You aren't sure exactly what Ral is doing, but it apparently causing Tych to bleed from every orifice. Eventually the sprite's body can't take it anymore and convulses a couple times before finally dying. You aren't sure if he deserved all that, but you're just glad that wasn't you. Ral now turns his attention to you and already by his stare you're feeling a little nervous. "Hey, I didn't plan that! That was all Tych. I can't even do anything against you remember?" "Maybe not, but you didn't do exactly that much to help me either." "Wha…what? I figured you had it! I mean what damage is a sprite going to do to you?" "Apparently more than I anticipated. I have a very hard time believing that he didn't try to convince you to help, he seemed VERY sure you were when he shouted at you. Why else would he make such an attempt?" "Because he was desperate! I swear I wasn't conspiring against you!" "I dunno, you were pretty argumentative earlier…" At this point you feel so threatened that you begin to think about acting against Ral, despite the geas. It takes everything within you, but you suddenly shout "Spikey attack!" You instantly fall to the floor clutching your groin in pain, Spikey attacks, but given that Ral was already in a state of alertness, he waves his hand and teleports himself out the way of the barbs, then follows up with freezing Spikey in solid ice. "That was a very silly thing to do. If I didn't think you were against me before I do now. Last thing I need is to release you and you cause problems for me later no matter how minor that would actually be." "No wait!" Those are the last words you utter before you're put into some sort of magic stasis. Instead of killing you, Ral keeps you around to experiment on from time to time and do tests. (Spikey on the other hand is ground up into spell components) The only good thing is you're completely oblivious to any of this and you definitely don't experience any passage of time. Your mind is there, but in a dream like state. Most of the time this is positive as you often dream about having a pleasant experiences with people you were on good terms with in real life, such as you sister or Lisa (Or rarely, even Annah or your parents) for you like this, but of course thanks to Ral's magic, you suffer no physical effects of this coma state. However, there does come a day where you're having one of your more pleasant dreams and suddenly everything starts getting ripped away from you. In the dreamland all sorts of horrors attack you, from lizardmen to wazias and manticores. You see those close to you killed many times over, driving you insane for you can do nothing to stop it. In the real world something even worse is going on. You'll never know what exactly of course (Let alone why), but it involves Ral destroying your sense of self or quite literally wiping your mind. The sudden chaos of your dreams is just the beginning of your brain failing to make sense of it all, but eventually everything you know starts disappearing and being replaced by other unfamiliar images. Well a few of them are familiar, but the fact that all the familiar ones are related to Ral, is a little concerning. "Your world" shrinks and one by one all those you knew independent of Ral disappear. People like Tych and Isabella are still there, but you begin to perceive them in a very different way. Even "you" are not feeling yourself. You start to feel like a stranger in your own head. And then finally, you cease to exist as you know it and only Ral remains.

You're not paying him shit, this is probably some sort of set up. "Yeah, I think I'm good on my own." You say. "Grm. Suit yerself." Warts says and then without another word he disappears back into the forest. You thought for sure he'd at least try to lower his price if you declined his help, but you guess not. In any case you still aren't sure of which way to go, so you gamble and just pick a path that looks the most promising. You figure you could always backtrack if feels like you're going the wrong way. (You hope) You walk along your chosen path for a while, still keeping an eye out for any potential ambushes. In fact you don't even walk directly on the path, you mostly just stick close like you were following a river. Speaking of which you eventually come across a real river with a bridge and everything. There even looks to be a sign post nearby, which makes you think that you are probably going in the right direction. Unfortunately it also looks like a group of four bandits has boldly decided to set up a blockade of sorts here. They haven't seen you yet, so that's at least one good thing in your favor. Of course while you only see four bandits, who knows if there are more hiding nearby with bows or something. In fact you probably shouldn't linger here too long. You slink away and head upstream hoping you'll find another way. (And not get too lost in the process) You don't have too much luck for the most part, but then you see one area where the water looks low enough to cross. You decide to make the attempt. All goes well until it turns out the water wasn't as low as you thought and you're now knee deep in it. You're already a third way across however and you press on. By the time the water is nearly up to your chest, the current begins to pull you and you're soon not walking across the river bottom anymore. You try to maintain control of the situation, but the current is swifter than you anticipated, not to mention you don't know how to swim. You're fortunate in that you don't get pulled too far downstream or go completely underwater before you manage to grab hold of a rock which is close enough to the other side that you pull yourself to the other side of the river bank. Your possessions are another story however. You've lost your coin bag, along with the pistol you just managed to acquire. About the only thing you have left is your dagger. You curse your luck along with the forest, the river and your situation in general. After releasing a torrent of swearing, you move on. Eventually night falls and along with now being cold and wet, you're also starting to feel tired. You aren't even sure if you're heading in the right direction anymore since you got a bit discombobulated when you were struggling not to drown. Still, you press on and that's when you think you see a slight respite in this mess. You see a cabin, though probably an abandoned one as there is no light coming from it. You just hope there isn't anyone or anything lurking inside. You cautiously approach the cabin and while you have a feeling of unease the entire time, when you explore around it, you don't find anything out of the ordinary. Of course it is dark, so maybe you're missing something, but so far it doesn't look like anyone is making camp here. As soon as you try the door though all your senses start to scream danger and you draw your dagger and spin around. You are met with the sight of a man in a robe standing nearby. It's hard to see his face, but the light of the moon shows he's a lot older than you. You lift your dagger up in a defensive stance, but the man isn't moving. "Put that away son, it wouldn't do you any good again me or anything else out around here I'd wager. In fact you shouldn't even be around this cabin. Bad things happen here." The man says. "Yeah? Well what're you doing out here then?" you ask. "Good help is hard to find nowadays. What's your story, you look a little worse for wear." "What's it to you?" "Sheesh, just trying to make conversation. You don't look like one of the many bandits out here. You ain't green, so you aren't hobgoblin. Can't see any points in those ears, so not an elf either. Given your age though, what you do look like is a lost lamb in the woods. Is that what you are?" "No and I'm doing just fine out here." "Bullshit, kid. You look like a half drowned rat. What'd you do, fall in the river?" he says and starts to step forward. "Get the fuck back old man! I'm no damn lamb in the woods, I've killed people!" you say thrusting your dagger in his direction a bit. "Is that right? Hmm, perhaps you could be useful. You just a fighter? You got any other skills?" "Yeah…I mean what the hell you wanna know for?" "Because as I said, good help is hard to find and I got a lot of tasks that need doing. Now I know you're lost out here, but I'll tell ya what, I'll get you out of this forest and set you up with a place to stay and whatever else you might need if you help me in my tasks." "No thanks, I already killed one old pervert in exchange for his so called help." "Well that explains why you're so mistrustful. Look kid, I barely even think about that anymore and you don't have the right equipment anyway. I'm a wizard and I do a lot research and experiments. Unfortunately, the material that I sometimes need requires me to come outside which I'd rather not do. I used to have an apprentice of sorts to help out on that front, but well let's just say shit happens." "A wizard that does experiments? And how do I know that I'm not going to be one of those experiments?" "Because if I wanted you for that purpose, I would have already cast a spell to immobilize you and taken you back to my place already. I'm just looking for someone to help me do the grunt work I don't want to be bothered to do. I can also promise to pay you, if saving your life just isn't good enough." "How much?" "We can discuss that later, but I need to know if you want the job, because I'm not staying out here all night." "Well where is your place? Holgard?" "Pfft, not that cess pit. Though it isn't too far from there." "How far is it?" "Oh, don't worry about that, I can get us there real quick. So you in or not?" > You decline the offer "No, I don't think so. If you're as powerful as you say you are, there's gotta be a catch if you want me to willingly agree to help you." You say. "Hmm, you're more clever than you look, but perhaps a bit short sighted as potential opportunity. You can't gain something without risk, boy. Oh well, I won't bother you anymore, it was just an offer after all." The man says and disappears into the forest. You're still a little leery of the man's intent so you get in the cabin as fast as you can and close the door. You look out the window a few times, but see nobody lurking around. You don't even hear any noise outside. The cabin itself is completely dark save for the moonlight coming from the window and the few small holes in the roof. It's also a simple one-room abode with barely any furnishing, so if anything were hiding in here, it would have to be doing a very good job of it. In any case, you don't have anything that would get the fireplace started, but there is a simple straw bed in the corner. You prod at it a couple times just to make sure it isn't infested with anything and then you lay down. No sooner have you lain down your lids begin to get very heavy. Odd, you were sort of still wound up from your recent encounters, but you guess the stress of the day has finally caught up with you. You close your eyes and sleep takes you. You dream of your home in Teckleville except you're not living with your parents and you're actually happily married to Annah. In real life this would be very unlikely situation, but since this is a dream you don't think much about it. Life is good. You're well respected in the village and you work as a locksmith. Not too much of a stretch given your familiarity with locks, but as the dream builds upon this perfect life, you start to feel uneasy. Still, you're so happy with Annah and your brand new son. One night you and she are looking at him sleeping in his crib. "Isn't he beautiful?" Annah asks. "Not as beautiful as you." You say and then kiss her. "Mmmm, that's how we go this one here." She says as you both enter your own bedroom. You stare into her eyes and caress her hair. "I wish this moment would never end." You say "Do you mean that?" "Of course." Annah suddenly then looks at you more seriously and squeezes your hand. "No, I have to know, do you really mean it? Do you want to spend the rest of your life with me?" > Yes Something about this all seems so wrong somehow…but yet you can't help but feel finally at peace here. "Yes, I do want to spend the rest of my life with you." You say. Annah hugs you tight and you embrace her and you never worry about anything else ever again. You two live a lifetime in bliss and happiness in Teckleville and you watch your child grow up and then your grandchildren. You grow old and so does Annah, but towards the end on your deathbed when Annah is hovering over you, her face changes, in fact she is no longer the same woman and a much younger one to boot. This new smiling young woman with red hair touches your face just before you close your eyes for the last time. Years later a group of adventurers find your skeletal remains still lying on the bed in that cabin. As they search through your remains, they can't help but notice that your skull seems to be smiling.

"No, I don't think so. If you're as powerful as you say you are, there's gotta be a catch if you want me to willingly agree to help you." You say. "Hmm, you're more clever than you look, but perhaps a bit short sighted as potential opportunity. You can't gain something without risk, boy. Oh well, I won't bother you anymore, it was just an offer after all." The man says and disappears into the forest. You're still a little leery of the man's intent so you get in the cabin as fast as you can and close the door. You look out the window a few times, but see nobody lurking around. You don't even hear any noise outside. The cabin itself is completely dark save for the moonlight coming from the window and the few small holes in the roof. It's also a simple one-room abode with barely any furnishing, so if anything were hiding in here, it would have to be doing a very good job of it. In any case, you don't have anything that would get the fireplace started, but there is a simple straw bed in the corner. You prod at it a couple times just to make sure it isn't infested with anything and then you lay down. No sooner have you lain down your lids begin to get very heavy. Odd, you were sort of still wound up from your recent encounters, but you guess the stress of the day has finally caught up with you. You close your eyes and sleep takes you. You dream of your home in Teckleville except you're not living with your parents and you're actually happily married to Annah. In real life this would be very unlikely situation, but since this is a dream you don't think much about it. Life is good. You're well respected in the village and you work as a locksmith. Not too much of a stretch given your familiarity with locks, but as the dream builds upon this perfect life, you start to feel uneasy. Still, you're so happy with Annah and your brand new son. One night you and she are looking at him sleeping in his crib. "Isn't he beautiful?" Annah asks. "Not as beautiful as you." You say and then kiss her. "Mmmm, that's how we go this one here." She says as you both enter your own bedroom. You stare into her eyes and caress her hair. "I wish this moment would never end." You say "Do you mean that?" "Of course." Annah suddenly then looks at you more seriously and squeezes your hand. "No, I have to know, do you really mean it? Do you want to spend the rest of your life with me?" > No You sense something wrong…this isn't your life and this is no mere dream. Something is trying to make you "stay here." Somehow you manage to wake yourself up and when you do, you really wish you hadn't. You see a ghostly rotting figure hovering over you. It looks female in appearance, but only vaguely. "I TRIED TO MAKE YOU HAPPY!" it shrieks and attacks you. You of course have no weapon that can defend against such a supernatural creature. You try to get up, but an unnatural force holds you down. You scream as you feel an icy pain envelope your body and your mind is filled with terrible images. Your screams are followed by your entrails and vital organs being ripped out, your bones being broken and your head ultimately being twisted all the way around and pulled off. Afterwards the apparition nuzzled up to your decapitated corpse making cooing noises, cradling your bloody head and whispering "It'll be better next time…next time my love…next time…."

You aren't going to let this fat fuck get a chance to possibly shoot you in the back, plus you're too pissed about him trying to molest you. With a couple quick moves you pull out your dagger, stab him in his arm and relieve him of his fancy pistol. Graham screams out like a little girl and now pleads for his miserable life. "Please! No, don't kill me!" he whimpers pathetically. Once again, much like how it was Klint, you show no remorse and pull the trigger of the pistol. It's the first time you've ever used one; so the unexpected kickback nearly causes you nearly drop it. You also weren't expecting it blow half of Graham's stinking face off. His obese corpse slumps lifelessly against the carriage wall. "Shit." You remark to yourself being in awe of the power of the weapon. Never being one to miss an opportunity, you quickly deprive Graham's body of the jeweled rings on his fingers. You then also go through the pockets that you can get to and get a bag full of gold coins. After looting Graham's body, you remember that there is a skirmish going on outside. A quick glance shows several bandit types fighting the mercs. The mercs are out numbered, but thanks to their armor and better training, they're doing a good job of fending off the bandits. You get out of the carriage with the intent of just running off into the woods, but then you might get lost. It occurs to you that you do have an advantage that will allow you get away a lot faster and still stay on your course. While one of the mounted mercs bashes in the head of a bandit you take the opportunity to shoot him while his back is turned. The merc's armor is of no protection and he cries out as he falls from his horse. "Who the hell is that guy?" one of the bandits shouts. "Dunno, but who cares, he's killing their side!" another says. You quickly run to the now ownerless horse and clumsily get on. You're a bit vulnerable for a few seconds, but fortunately the bandits seem to now think you're on their side and don't focus on you (and the remaining mercs have their hands full) You soon manage to control the horse (which is anxious to get away from the chaos anyway) and gallop away until the skirmish is far behind you and you're basically left alone again. Unfortunately your horse suddenly starts wheeze and wobble. You manage to hastily get off before it collapses. There on it's left side you see what the problem is. In all the ensuing the chaos, the horse actually took a few crossbow bolts. Probably damage to vital organs and its adrenaline is finally wearing off. Bad luck for you and even worse luck for the horse. Not having many more options, you start walking. In any case there's two more bodies to your count now. Granted Graham deserved it, but that merc…well he made a living risking his life, it just happened that today his time was up. You had to survive a dangerous situation and that's it. That's how you're justifying that one anyway. Still, you at least acquired a few goodies for your troubles. You're going to have to learn more about how to take proper care of this pistol because it's far too valuable of a weapon to neglect. It'll certainly make dealing with shit in Holgard a bit more manageable. The rings are what surprise you most. You're no jeweler, but you have stolen enough cheap baubles in the past that you can tell a fake when you examine it in greater detail. The gems in the rings are actually common, but altered slightly (especially their color) to resemble more valuable ones. Even the ring is gold plated rather than pure. Looks like Graham wasn't as rich as he made out. However, the little pouch of coins is real money so there's that at least. You continue along the road, which as you guessed starts alternating from being intact, to dirt with a few stones to being little more than a well worn path in the grass. Even the occasional signs aren't much help given that many are flat out damaged in some way. Your natural instinct to just keep going in a straight line like you were doing, but unfortunately for you, the path completely disappears into forest. Doesn't help that the road also branches into several paths that twist in different directions. You weren't expecting that so you aren't sure which way to go. While you're pondering this decision, a voice calls out to you. "Hey! Where youz tryin' to get to?" You then see a person dressed in simple clothing coming out of the forest. He's a little shorter than you, in fact he's a little greener than you too. Doesn't look like an orc though, not nearly big or massive enough. Goblin perhaps, but he's taller than one and almost a bit human looking. A short green human with a few warts on his face and a bigger than average nose. In any case, you maintain your usual caution. "Okay, that's far enough. Who are you?" you ask. "Me? I'm just Warts." He answers picking his big nose. "Appropriate name." "Grhm. So youz tryin' to get to Holgard?" "Yeah, why?" "Well cuz, I can lead you to it. Lotz o' paths in this forest lead lotz o' places. Easy to get lost if you don't know da way." "You know the way huh? How do I know you aren't going to lead me into an ambush?" "Youz don't I suppoze. Take yer chances going alone an' getting lost, don't care. I just try to earn a little extra coin for drink an' leadin' clueless humies like yerself gets me some…well when they aren't throwin' rocks at me that is." "What are you exactly?" you ask. "Huh? What you mean?" Warts replies. "I mean, you don't look quite like any greenskin I've ever seen." "You seen a lot o them have ya?" "Well no, but I've heard tales…" "Then you don't really know nuthin' then do ya?" Warts says in a perturbed tone. Actually he's got a bit of a point. You decide to get right to the matter. "Alright, assuming I take you up on your generous offer, how much is it?" you ask. "Oh, yeah price…hmm, you want to go to Holgard right? Five gold coins." Warts answers. "Five gold coins just to lead me through the forest? That's fucking outrageous!" "Holgard is tricky to get to if you don't know the way. Lot of false paths get made. Besides, you lot usually have more than enough gold. I see you humies travelling all over in your rolly boxes filled with goods." "Do I look like I'm in a rolly box carting around a wagon full of treasures? I'm just a simple traveller down on his luck." "Down on luck huh? You should pray to Yag more. Anywayz five gold. Final offer." This greenskin obviously has no concept of haggling. It really isn't like you don't have the coin, it's more like you don't want to give so much to the likes of him after being fortunate enough to acquire it in the first place. Ultimately, he's either telling the truth about the forest being that treacherous or he's completely bullshitting you. You'll just have to decide for yourself. > You threaten Warts Why risk getting lost or paying this greedy greenskin when you can just force him to lead you out of this forest? You get closer and then pull out your pistol. Warts eyes go big for a moment. "Iz dat one of those shooty things?" Warts asks. "Yep, and better yet, it's one of those multiple shooty things." You respond. "Hey, I don't got no money humie. The only thing I got in my pants is muh dick and I ain't givin up dat." "What you're going to do is lead me out of this here forest for free or you get a hole in you bigger than one of your nostrils." "Grm. So that's how it is huh? Ol' Warts gets cheated again. (Sigh) Fine. You got the upper hand, follow me." Warts says in a resigned tone. Warts begins to walk and you follow close behind. Several times you get the impression he's going to try to run off, but it seems like he's so reconciled to his fate. Almost like this has happened to him before. Time passes and it feels like you've been walking through this forest longer than expected. "Hey greenskin, how much further is it?" you ask. "We still got a ways ta go. The damn bandits are all over dis forest and I'm trying to keep us away from their camps. So we gotta go the long way less you fancy a fight." Warts responds. "No, I guess not." "Grm. Didn't think so. You wouldn't last in a real fight without dat shooter." "Alright watch it, pimples." "Dat's Warts!" "Whatever just shut up and keep moving." Warts continues to remain silent about his situation as you keep the pistol trained on him. Night begins to fall and once again you begin to get agitated. "Great, it's getting fucking dark now. If you think you're going to…" you start to say. "SHHHHHH! Hear dat?" Warts says and stops to listen. "No." you say, genuinely not hearing anything. Warts stands still for a moment moving his head as if to hear the sound he heard again, then all of a sudden… "SHIT! IT'S A BLOOD STALKER! RUN! RUN!" he shouts and takes off ahead of you. You're actually so surprised by Warts exclamation that you don't even try to shoot him, you just try to follow him as you also run through the trees. You aren't sure what a blood stalker is and you still don't even hear anything, but Warts never stops shouting about running for your life. He even turns his head to see if you're still following and that's when he takes a fall over something on the ground. "ARGH SHIT FUCK! MY LEG!" he yells. "Come on get up!" you say momentarily stopping. "Can't! My leg's all twisted! You'll have to carry me!" "Fuck that, you're on your own!" you say and just continue running ahead. You fully expect Warts to shout obscenities about you leaving him behind, but you don't. Since you haven't looked back, you actually think the blood stalker caught him, but you don't hear any screams. Then you soon believe that the blood stalker has caught you because you feel multiple sharp sensations go into your chest. However, you're conscious enough to realize it isn't any sort of creature at all, but instead a swing trap that you triggered while running and not paying attention. You look down and see several sharpened branches puncturing your body, yet keeping it held up at the same time. Blood comes out of your mouth and despite the pain being fairly terrible, you cannot even utter anything louder than a dying groan. "Hey Warts! Ya cowardly little grub, youz can come out now! Got da bastard!" you hear a gruff voice exclaim. "I wasn't hidin' ya idjit, I was pretendin' to be hurt in a fall." Warts shouts back. At this point the pain is becoming more of a numbness and your vision is beginning to blur. Out of the corner of your eye, you see a green figure bend down to pick up something, most likely the pistol you dropped when you triggered the trap. "Hey a shooty. Dis what the humie was threatin' you wit?" the hobgoblin asks. "Yeah, an watch where you point dat thing! I had enough of that already." Warts exclaims. "Guess you were lucky me an' da boys were out huntin' this way. Too many humies in da forest nowadays." "Yeah an' fortunately I noticed the signs since I nearly stepped in hobgoblin shit a couple times. Just glad this dumb humie couldn't tell the difference between it and regular animal shit." "Well you always were an expert on shit Warts." You can barely hear the two greenskins now as your body continues to bleed out and your organs shut down. "Heard ya yellin' about a blood stalker. You still usin' dat ol' lie?" The hobgoblin asks. "Hasn't failed yet surprisingly. Guess people just don't know there ain't no such creature." Warts replies. "Well, guess let's start strippin' him. Huntin' been a bit thin, so this is actually a bit of luck for us. Tell ya what, you can have what's in his pockets and I'm just gonna keep da shooty and his body for eats, deal?" "Better deal than I got from this asshole." "K, hey you lot! Get yer asses over here an' help us pull dis meat off the trap." Soon several hands grab your limp body and pull it off the spiked trap. At this point any remaining life your body might have had is gone and you don't even hear the further taunts of Warts or his hobgoblin buddies.

You wake up fairly early, but then you didn't really sleep much to begin with. This was more of a brief rest anyway. After a quick check to see if anyone is in the area, you get out of your bloody clothes and change into some new ones. You might not be properly clean, but it's better than you were. You then check your supplies, which aren't much. You've got a few coins, but you aren't excessively worried about that since food and water are more important out here in the wilderness. You've got a little food and water, but it isn't going to last long. The only weapon you have currently is your dagger. Part of you is only just now starting to feel the various negative emotions involving your parents and Annah. You can only imagine the shitstorm they're facing because of your actions. You just hope that they don't suffer the consequences of what you did. Then there's Annah. You feel like you should be feeling a lot sadder about her, maybe even crying a bit, but maybe you got all those emotions out of your system when you killed Klint. Still seems a bit surreal that you killed someone. Not just anyone, but someone you knew since childhood, even if you didn't like him. You definitely don't feel bad about it and while that can be due to several understandable factors, you can't help but wonder if you could do it again under different circumstances. You may have to, especially now, though your mind certainly went to a dark place during that time. Whatever the near future holds, you'll have to deal with it when it happens. Right now you have to make a decision on where you're going to go because you're not exactly hot on the idea of staying out here in the wilderness. Your first thought is to head west to the city-state of Klyton. It's certainly the closest city and it's the direction you ran from Teckleville anyway. The problem is if anyone from Teckleville is still searching for you, that's going to be the first place they look. Still, Klyton is the only place you really have any basic knowledge about thanks to your parents both being originally from there. Your father never really spoke too much about it, just saying that the only thing worthwhile that he got there was your mother and he was glad when they finally moved to Teckleville to be closer to your grandmother at the time. Your mother on the other hand didn't speak so ill of the place, which is surprising since she grew up in a lower class area than your father did. She even said that sometimes she missed the times when she worked at the inn where she met your father in the first place. Of course her knowledge about the city is bound to be a bit out of date. Also, while Klyton has no jurisdiction over Teckleville, it has been known to apprehend wanted criminals from elsewhere trying to hide out there. Not to mention the place in general has a fairly good reputation (And they want to keep it that way) as far as its own security goes. The Delantium Kingdom to the east isn't really high on your choice list. For one thing, you'd have to backtrack around Teckleville to go in that direction. From what you've overheard, the kingdom has been slowly trying to expand again which sounds a lot like more soldier types running around and that's the last thing you need. Still, the kingdom is a big place and they can't possibly be everywhere. Sivak is the closest major city there. The only other nearby bastion of major civilization you can think of that's close is another city state by the name of Holgard. It's to the south and in terms of existence, it's only a little older than you are. It was founded by a noble from the Delantium Kingdom. Originally it was most likely supposed to be some sort of outpost or colony for the DK. But whatever the original intent, the noble soon set himself up as absolute ruler with no ties to the kingdom at all. For whatever reason, the DK hasn't taken any action against him, whether that's because the cost wouldn't be worth it, they've got more important things to deal with or they're simply glad to have him gone is unknown. The third possibility isn't entirely out of the question either, since you've overheard travelling merchants say that Baron Varsakken is a very unlikable man and it's amazing he hasn't suffered any assassination attempts. His children are apparently little better. Still, you've also heard the place is filled with corruption so it would probably be a better place to do your work than Klyton. > You kingdom The Delantium Kingdom is a large piece of territory and whether they're increasing their military endeavors or not, there are still bound to be places where the security is going to be less than adequate. It's a long way to Sivak though, and you're probably going to have to more or less stick to the roads since you only have the vague knowledge that it's east somewhere. You'll probably hit one of the many small villages under Delantium rule first, so you'll be able to learn a little more about the Kingdom in general, as well as hone your skills and hopefully make a little profit at those. You figure by the time you get to Sivak you will have a clearer idea of what your long term plans are. With this goal in mind, you backtrack around Teckleville, maintaining caution the entire time. You stick mainly to wooded areas, hoping that you not only don't run into someone from Teckleville trying to hunt you down, but potentially anything worse. You've never really been big on hanging out in the wilderness after all so you don't know what to expect. When you once again put enough distance between you and Teckleville again, you slowly start exiting the wooded areas (which are starting to thin anyway) and start following the road directly. The road itself is empty for most of the time, though you do pass a couple merchant caravans heading in the opposite direction. You just think how if you were still in Teckleville, you probably would have been stealing from them. Whenever night starts to fall you temporarily get off the road and sleep in the fields behind whatever cover you can find though you never really sleep easily and are constantly waking up at various sounds. Despite being on the road for a few days, you don't know when you've actually crossed into Delantium territory until you see a sign post along side the road that states that fact. Not far from the signpost is a building, probably a roadside inn of some sort. As you make your way towards the inn, you hear the clopping of horses behind you. At first you get concerned that someone from Teckleville is galloping your way, but a quick glance shows it's probably just some other travellers given their relaxed pace. In any case, it's getting dark again and as much as you're getting used to sleeping outside, you'd prefer to sleep on a normal bed for a change. You just hope that you've got enough for a room. You enter the inn, which is fairly empty. An older woman sweeps the floor, while an older man stands behind a bar. You see a couple of people sitting at tables, but none of them really pay much attention to you. You figure that the man behind the bar is the innkeeper so you go up to him to ask how much for a room. The price he gives you is just out of your price range, too bad you can't just "steal a room." "Come on, you can't cut me a break? I'm only a few coppers short." You say. "I cut you a break, and all of a sudden I get a reputation that I just let everyone walk all over me. Before I know it I got every wanderer in the region asking for handouts. No! You pay the price or get the hell outta my establishment!" the innkeeper exclaims. "Ren, you oughta be glad anyone even pays for the misfortune of staying at this shitty establishment!" you hear a voice chuckle. You turn and see three people walking in the place, probably the travellers that you saw earlier. The speaker (and presumably leader of the group) is a man dressed in leather armor with a sword by his side. His two companions are dressed in a similar manner. "Flynt! Been awhile since you've stopped by. You want the usual?" Ren remarks. "You know me so well." The innkeeper calls to the older woman (probably his wife) to go get the special wine from the cellar and then begins exchanging pleasantries with Flynt and his men. He seems to have forgotten about you entirely, though this Flynt seems to be looking over in your direction a bit. Just as you're about to leave, Flynt calls over to you. "Hey son, don't you still want that room?" Flynt asks. "Um…well yeah, but I don't have the money." You answer. "Yeah, money is always an issue these days, but I think I've got a solution to your problem. Just hold on a moment while we get our drinks." Flynt hands over a few gold coins to Ren who takes them and then heads over to a table. He then waves you over to come sit with him and his buddies. You figure it can't hurt to hear what he has to say. "Sooo, where you from son?" Flynt asks. "Why?" you ask. "Hey, Mr. Flynt asked you a question!" one of Flynt's friends snaps. "Easy there! We're just having a conversation, not an interrogation! I apologize for my friend; sometimes our line of work keeps one on edge. It's okay if you don't want to tell us where you're from, a man has a right to his secrets." Flynt says in a cordial tone. The one guy who snapped at you is still giving you a hard look, meanwhile the other one isn't paying too much mind to you at all and is focused on his drink. Flynt of course is still smiling at you from across the table. You aren't quite sure how to play this so you decide to go with your immediate thoughts. "So you said something about solving my money problems?" you ask. "Straight to the point. I can appreciate that. You want to get the how out of the way." Flynt says. "Actually I was thinking more about the why." "Heh, suspicious type aren't you? That's a good quality. Smart. Yes, I may indeed have an ulterior motive…but let me ask you this first. Are you familiar with the shadowy arts?" You look a bit wary at Flynt and his fellows after that question. "Oh don't worry son, we're not soldiers for the Delantium Kingdom or any other law men if that's what you're worried about. I just get a vibe from you, that you might be…shall I say skilled in the less than legal endeavors. I'm usually good at judging people with only a bit of observation…so am I right?" "…if I was…and I'm not saying that I am. What business is it of yours?" you ask. "Well it could be that this is an opportunity you won't want to miss. Especially seeing as you're currently too poor to afford a room in this shithole. Look, here's the deal, we're in a little trouble with the law right now and have to lay low for a while. In fact we're probably going to be leaving soon after we have our drinks. However, I have to make a delivery to a man in Sivak, are you familiar with the city?" "I was heading that way, but I've never been there." "Oh just stay on this road, heed the signs and you really can't miss it." Flynt takes another drink before continuing. "As I said, I have to make a delivery to a man by the name of Crasnov. He runs a pottery shop by the same name. If you could take this package to him when you reach the city, I'd certainly be in your debt." At this point Flynt pulls out a fist sized wrapped bundle and pushes it towards you. He then pulls out twenty gold coins and puts them right next to the bundle. "Now, the only rules are, you don't tamper with it and you definitely don't give it to anyone else except Crasnov. If you accomplish that, you will be rewarded with more money and I guarantee you will have the thanks of some powerful friends. Friends that may call upon you for other lucrative opportunities." "Wait, you're basically paying me to be a courier?" you ask. "If you wish to see it that way. If I were you though, I would see it as a first step to become an important person in certain circles." Twenty gold coins up front just to deliver a package and more reward afterwards seems like a pretty good deal. Plus the making connections bit is what entices you a bit more. "Okay, I'll take the job." You say. "Knew you were a smart and ambitious boy. Good, glad this is settled. Now judging the distance from here to Sivak, and you should get there in about four more days as long as you follow the roads and keep on a normal timetable of walking and resting. Too bad you don't have a horse; otherwise you'd easily cut that time in half. I do urge you NOT to take too much longer than six days though." Flynt says. "What happens if I don't get there in six days?" "Well let's just say many people would be upset with you. If you're concerned with being timely however, you can probably buy a horse with some of that new money, over in Hegglesburg. You should reach that town by tomorrow and they might have a horse you can buy." You nod and thank Flynt while pocketing the coins and grabbing the package. "Well I trust you know just about all you need to. Remember, that package is very important, so guard it carefully. Though I don't expect that you're going to have any problems, Delantium's military definitely makes sure bandits and the like are less of a threat, especially on the roads." Flynt remarks. "Yeah speaking of that, should I be worried about getting stopped by the law?" you ask. "Why? Are YOU a wanted criminal son?" "Um…no I guess not." "Heh. You guess not? Not sure are we? Well let me rephrase…are you a wanted criminal within the Delantium Kingdom?" "No, this is my first time within its borders actually." "Then you're safe son. You aren't going to get randomly hassled. You just look like another young wanderer. Just keep your head down around the law and you should be fine. Was there anything else?" "No, I guess not." "Okay then, my fellows and I are going to finish our drinks and then get back on our way. Unlike you, we don't have the luxury of an unknown reputation. Such is our burden in life. I trust you'll want to get some rest for your journey tomorrow. Perhaps we'll meet again in the future." Flynt wishes you good luck and returns to finishing up his drink. His friends are doing likewise and you take that as your sign to leave the table. You return to Ren and hand him a gold coin for a room to which he just grunts and hands you a key. "Upstairs, last room on the left. Best one in the establishment. You're out of here by morning." He says. You head upstairs and make your way to your room. When you open the door, the room is nothing special. It's not bad, just nothing that would stand out to think this is a good one. Still, if this is the best room, it's a good thing you didn't get one of the lesser ones. You settle in for the night thinking about your task. You didn't expect to get someone approaching you to perform a job, even if it is just a courier one. Still, this seems pretty low risk for decent money so you're not complaining. You go to sleep wondering if things are starting to look up for you. > Next morning "BUST IT DOWN!" a voice shouts followed by the splintering of your door. You're barely awake before you're rushed by several men dressed in chainmail. "DON'T MOVE!" one shouts as several spears are pointed directly at you. "What's going on?!" "Shut up!" one of the men says and pokes you in the chest with his spear hard enough that it superficially breaks the skin. You don't say any more, but between the men holding you at bay with spears and a couple other searching your room, you fear the worst. One of them inevitably grabs the package you put under your bed. He then opens it and while you're having a hard time seeing from your position, he pulls out some of its contents and holds up a vial with blue material inside it. "Is it contraband, sir?" one of them asks. "Yeah, there's twenty vials of Blue Dream in here." A slightly more decorated man remarks. "You think it's the Ebony Claw Syndicate?" "Who else would it be? They're the ones who mostly smuggle and deal this stuff." "But this kid doesn't look like he's Claw. He doesn't even have the tattoo on his arm." "Meh, maybe he has it elsewhere…doesn't matter, what matters is he's going away for a long damn time." A feeling of dread overwhelms you. "Hey wait! Can't we talk about this?!" you say. The man with the package turns to you. "And what would we have to talk about criminal? You've got enough Blue Dream here to get the entire town of Hegglesburg trashed. This seems like a pretty simple situation as far as I'm concerned. You think because you're young, you deserve leniency? Hah! You can try it on the judge when he sentences you, but in any case you're coming with us." You're lifted up roughly from your bed by the men with spears (Who you're assuming are Delantium soldiers at this point) Your arms are put behind your back and iron shackles are placed on your wrists. When you're marched down the stairs and in front of various inn onlookers, you hear Ren complain about them breaking his door, to which the one that was talking to you earlier remarks that Ren's lucky that they aren't taking him in and shutting this whole place down. When you exit the inn, you're shoved into the back of a cart. Another older man with many scares on his face in iron shackles sits in the cart. He gives you a brief look and then returns to looking back at the cart floor. "The prisoner is secure, sergeant." One of the soldiers says. "Okay, let's take this drug dealing trash back to Sivak." The sergeant says, still hanging on to the Blue Dream package. This is the second time this week that you've been accused of a serious crime and once again you didn't even mean to do it! Was this all a set up, while Flynt took off to parts unknown? Flynt DID seem pretty willing to just hand off illegal drugs to you. Then again, why bother setting you up, when he could have just hid them somewhere rather than risk losing the product altogether? Maybe this is all just more bad luck hitting you. In any case, your mind starts racing about what you can do in your current situation. First thing you think about is escape. The cart is going slow enough that you could probably easily jump out and just run. The problem with that plan is there are multiple mounted guards to the front and back of you. They would easily run you down and most likely kill you for attempting to escape. The second thing you can think of is what the sergeant said. Something about the Ebony Claw Syndicate. You can make an educated guess that Flynt and his friends were part of this organization. Maybe if you told them everything that transpired at the inn, they would let you go. Of course you could just resign yourself to your fate for now and look for an opportunity later. > You rat out Flynt You're not taking the fall for some assholes you're not even connected with, you didn't even know about Blue Dream OR the Ebony Claw Syndicate until today! "Hey! I wanna tell your superior something!" you say. "Shut up criminal, or we'll have you WALK the rest of the way tie to back of the cart!" one of the guards remarks. "But this is really important! It's about the Blue Dream! Your sergeant will want to hear this!" "I said SHUT IT!" the same guard says and trots his horse next to the side of the cart and hits you in the head with a small cudgel causing you to fall off your seat and onto the cart floor. The other man in cuffs just watches you as you attempt to get up. "Alright what the hell's going on back here?" the sergeant asks riding his horse back to the cart. "This criminal claims he's got something really important to tell you about the Blue Dream we confiscated." "Oh, still trying to talk his way out of it is he? (Sigh) Fine. Let him get it over with, so we can get on with this in silence." "Thank you, sir! Thank you for allowing me to tell my side!" The sergeant tells his people to stop and then you begin to tell your tale. You mention how Flynt came up to you and how you accepted his offer because you needed the money and thought it was just a simple delivery since he never mentioned what was in the package. As you're telling the story, the sergeant begins to look a little concerned. "This Flynt you mentioned is a known Ebony Claw Syndicate lieutenant and you're saying you aren't affiliated with them? All right son, just stop talking right now and get…" the sergeant says. "What you don't believe me? I would have never carried illegal drugs had I known!" you exclaim. "You're not listening kid, I'm telling you to get…" "Do you need more information? He gave me the name of the person I was supposed to deliver to! Someone named Crasnov that runs a pottery shop in Sivak!" "Shut the fuck up kid and get the hell out of the…SHIT!" Suddenly the other prisoner has lunged at you and you're taken completely off guard. While you couldn't have known that the other prisoner in the cart was an Ebony Claw enforcer, the sergeant certainly did, but by the time he and his people get him off of you, the man has managed to head-butt you in the face, breaking your nose followed by ripping your throat out with just his teeth. As you lie gurgling and bleeding to death you see the enforcer spit part of your flesh back at your face. "Fucking rat." He says before you die.

"BUST IT DOWN!" a voice shouts followed by the splintering of your door. You're barely awake before you're rushed by several men dressed in chainmail. "DON'T MOVE!" one shouts as several spears are pointed directly at you. "What's going on?!" "Shut up!" one of the men says and pokes you in the chest with his spear hard enough that it superficially breaks the skin. You don't say any more, but between the men holding you at bay with spears and a couple other searching your room, you fear the worst. One of them inevitably grabs the package you put under your bed. He then opens it and while you're having a hard time seeing from your position, he pulls out some of its contents and holds up a vial with blue material inside it. "Is it contraband, sir?" one of them asks. "Yeah, there's twenty vials of Blue Dream in here." A slightly more decorated man remarks. "You think it's the Ebony Claw Syndicate?" "Who else would it be? They're the ones who mostly smuggle and deal this stuff." "But this kid doesn't look like he's Claw. He doesn't even have the tattoo on his arm." "Meh, maybe he has it elsewhere…doesn't matter, what matters is he's going away for a long damn time." A feeling of dread overwhelms you. "Hey wait! Can't we talk about this?!" you say. The man with the package turns to you. "And what would we have to talk about criminal? You've got enough Blue Dream here to get the entire town of Hegglesburg trashed. This seems like a pretty simple situation as far as I'm concerned. You think because you're young, you deserve leniency? Hah! You can try it on the judge when he sentences you, but in any case you're coming with us." You're lifted up roughly from your bed by the men with spears (Who you're assuming are Delantium soldiers at this point) Your arms are put behind your back and iron shackles are placed on your wrists. When you're marched down the stairs and in front of various inn onlookers, you hear Ren complain about them breaking his door, to which the one that was talking to you earlier remarks that Ren's lucky that they aren't taking him in and shutting this whole place down. When you exit the inn, you're shoved into the back of a cart. Another older man with many scares on his face in iron shackles sits in the cart. He gives you a brief look and then returns to looking back at the cart floor. "The prisoner is secure, sergeant." One of the soldiers says. "Okay, let's take this drug dealing trash back to Sivak." The sergeant says, still hanging on to the Blue Dream package. This is the second time this week that you've been accused of a serious crime and once again you didn't even mean to do it! Was this all a set up, while Flynt took off to parts unknown? Flynt DID seem pretty willing to just hand off illegal drugs to you. Then again, why bother setting you up, when he could have just hid them somewhere rather than risk losing the product altogether? Maybe this is all just more bad luck hitting you. In any case, your mind starts racing about what you can do in your current situation. First thing you think about is escape. The cart is going slow enough that you could probably easily jump out and just run. The problem with that plan is there are multiple mounted guards to the front and back of you. They would easily run you down and most likely kill you for attempting to escape. The second thing you can think of is what the sergeant said. Something about the Ebony Claw Syndicate. You can make an educated guess that Flynt and his friends were part of this organization. Maybe if you told them everything that transpired at the inn, they would let you go. Of course you could just resign yourself to your fate for now and look for an opportunity later. > You stay silent These soldiers seem to have made up their mind about you and trying to explain things is probably just going to get you a beating. You figure if you're going before a judge, you can always explain things to him and hope he takes mercy, though you aren't optimistic about it. Lacking any other plan, you just sit in silence as the soldiers take you to your appointed destination. It's times like this, you wish your sister was here, she'd be able to help you. In fact you're starting to have a greater appreciation for your parents as well at this point. How many times did you avoid real trouble thanks to your father's influence? As you ponder your life choices you glance at the other man in the cart who doesn't say anything to you. In fact he doesn't even really look at you. Upon a few more glances at him, you notice he has a tattoo of a black claw on his shoulder. You wonder if this man is a member of the Ebony Claw Syndicate. If that is the case you realize it's probably a good thing that you didn't say anything about Flynt. The last thing you need right now is a pissed off gang member wanting to kill you for being a rat. In fact, it makes you wonder if you should say anything to the judge at all. If this Ebony Claw Syndicate is as sinister as they sound, it might be dangerous to go ratting on their people. Of course that doesn't leave you many options. You mostly pass the rest of the time observing the scenery as you travel through Hegglesberg and farmlands. Eventually though the sky darkens and the soldiers prepare to camp for the night. "Alright we'll stop here for tonight and set up camp. Anders and Levin, you two can watch Mr. Scars and the kid and make sure they can't escape." The sergeant says. With a few gruff orders, you and Mr. Scars are both taken to a nearby tree and tied to it securely with a rope while the rest of the soldiers make camp. As you're watching the soldiers go about their jobs (And your guards doing more talking with each other than actually watching you) Mr. Scars finally says something to you. "So, busted with twenty vials of Blue Dream eh?" he asks in a low tone. "How did you know?" you ask. "I heard the sergeant talking with one of his men about it earlier." "Oh. They think I'm some big dealer and part of the Ebony Claw Syndicate too, but I'm not either of those things." "Hm. Didn't think you were Claw, but I thought maybe you might be a prospect….hmmm…let me guess did you run into a man going by the name Flynt?" You aren't sure if you should be talking, so you don't say anything. "Heh, I'll take your silence as a yes. Though I suppose it's a good sign that you're not very forthcoming with that info. Talkers don't last long in this business. Of course maybe you're not telling me because you ripped him off…" "I didn't!" you exclaim which causes the guards to look over at you and then you get quiet again until they look away. "I didn't, he paid me to deliver a package to someone. I didn't even know what was in it, until the guards confiscated it. Hell, I didn't even know about the Ebony Claw Syndicate!" "Yeah, sounds like Flynt. It's an unconventional method of recruitment, but sometimes he likes to randomly test youngsters that he feels could be useful. Dunno why he does things that way, but when you've got drugs and coins to blow, I guess you can afford to take risks like that. I dunno, I'm just in it for the violence myself." You continue to stay silent. "Anyway, you're probably looking at twenty years kid. One for each vial. The kingdom has been really cracking down lately on it. Probably get sent to Dreadcage too. They send all the serious offenders there." Fear wells up inside you upon hearing that news. You try to keep it together, but you're having a hard time and you start exhaling multiple times, closing your eyes and muttering, "oh fuck, oh shit." several times. "Wow, kid. You're not going to last in prison if you take that approach. They see you come in like that and you're gonna be sucking every dick in the joint and worse." "Isn't there something I can do to stop this?" you ask. "Well, you could try to escape I guess, but I'm betting you already figured the soldiers would easily run you down before you got very far. I suppose you could try to beg for mercy when you go before the judge, maybe even use your youth as an excuse. Depending on the judge, that MIGHT get you some time shaved off, but you'll still be doing a lot of it…and I think I don't have to warn you about the dangers of ratting out Flynt and whoever it was you were supposed to deliver to in the first place to try to save your ass." This is just a nightmare. You're almost thinking maybe you should have just risked getting lynched back in Teckleville. At least there you would've had your parents to help you and maybe even Annah, assuming she lived. At worst, you would have at least died at home. "Well…I ain't no rat, so that wasn't ever a possibility anyway." You say in an attempt to at least make Mr. Scars less likely to be suspicious of you. "Bullshit kid, in your situation and first time? You probably thought about it. Don't worry though, everyone usually does at one time or another, just as long as you don't actually do it…well either that or make damn sure the reward is high enough." Mr. Scars chuckles. "Yeah, well I might do better in prison than you think…" you say and then you whisper…"I've killed someone before." Mr. Scars looks at you as if to detect whether you're lying or not. "Hm, maybe you have, or maybe you haven't, but that really doesn't matter. You're going to be locked away with a lot of killers. Most of them a lot tougher and bigger than the likes of you. So just because you killed your girlfriend or mom because she pissed you off doesn't mean you're some hard man." "I didn't kill my…" you start to say before the one of the guards starts actually paying attention to you. "HEY! The two of you stop fucking conspiring over there! In fact the pair of you need to shut the fuck up and just go to sleep because tomorrow you'll both be going before the judge and sentenced for your crimes! Enjoy your last night of freedom criminal scum!" And with that, you and Mr. Scars do no more talking for the rest of the night, though Mr. Scars was done talking and ready to sleep anyway. You on the other hand have a hard time getting to sleep, knowing what awaits you. The next morning, you're put back on the cart and continue your journey to Sivak. You reach your destination by midday. Sivak is larger than anything you've ever seen and some of its buildings are very impressive. It's a very bustling place with people walking around everywhere. You just wish you were free to enjoy it. At this point you wonder if you shouldn't just try to escape now. The streets are very busy and it would be a lot harder for the soldiers to get around on their horses. If you're quick enough you might even lose them in an alleyway or something. Of course that doesn't stop the fact that you're still shackled and ultimately surrounded by more soldiers than ever, but maybe you can figure that dilemma out later. > You escape Maybe this is a foolish decision, but you have to try. The more you think about having to spend twenty years in a prison the more you know you aren't going to be able to handle it. You stand up in the cart at which point several soldiers tell you to sit back down and begin pointing their spears in your direction and closing the gap. Mr. Scars just smiles a bit sensing what you're going to do. You jump from the cart and into a group of passing citizens, which happily prevent you from falling directly into the cobblestones. You quickly get up off the mass of bodies and start running. "STOP! STOP THAT MAN!" one guard shouts. "Somebody grab him!" another remarks. "Don't just stand there, get his ass!" the sergeant exclaims. "Run rabbit! Run!" Mr. Scars laughs. You run through the streets of Sivak, crashing and bumping into people along the way. Surprisingly or maybe not so surprisingly nobody is really trying to stop you on purpose, the average citizens seem to be more concerned with getting the hell out of your way. The soldiers are still trying to chase you on horseback, but it's proving a little more difficult with all the people in the way. The funny thing is they're actually doing MORE damage by trampling over several citizens in their efforts to get to you! Eventually you make so many turns down various twisting narrow streets, the soldiers on horseback can't effectively follow, but the new ones on foot that have been alerted continue the pursuit just fine. You probably would be able to evade your pursuers if not for the fact that your hands are shackled behind you and you don't know your way around the city. That's very apparent, when you find that you've just run around in a circle and surrounded by soldiers. "Surrender now and we might even leave you in good enough condition to stand before the judge!" one of the soldiers says. You can't surrender. Not now. You were meant to be free and if you can't be free then it's no life at all. You attempt to pass the soldiers in front of you and are met by their spears. To their credit, they actually do try to subdue you first by slamming you to the ground, but when you continue to struggle and kick, one of the less patient ones skewers you in the side which is then followed by another spear to your chest. You bleed out like the proverbial stuck pig and wheeze like one as breathing becomes more difficult. It isn't exactly a quick or dignified death, but at least you didn't die in a cell.

These soldiers seem to have made up their mind about you and trying to explain things is probably just going to get you a beating. You figure if you're going before a judge, you can always explain things to him and hope he takes mercy, though you aren't optimistic about it. Lacking any other plan, you just sit in silence as the soldiers take you to your appointed destination. It's times like this, you wish your sister was here, she'd be able to help you. In fact you're starting to have a greater appreciation for your parents as well at this point. How many times did you avoid real trouble thanks to your father's influence? As you ponder your life choices you glance at the other man in the cart who doesn't say anything to you. In fact he doesn't even really look at you. Upon a few more glances at him, you notice he has a tattoo of a black claw on his shoulder. You wonder if this man is a member of the Ebony Claw Syndicate. If that is the case you realize it's probably a good thing that you didn't say anything about Flynt. The last thing you need right now is a pissed off gang member wanting to kill you for being a rat. In fact, it makes you wonder if you should say anything to the judge at all. If this Ebony Claw Syndicate is as sinister as they sound, it might be dangerous to go ratting on their people. Of course that doesn't leave you many options. You mostly pass the rest of the time observing the scenery as you travel through Hegglesberg and farmlands. Eventually though the sky darkens and the soldiers prepare to camp for the night. "Alright we'll stop here for tonight and set up camp. Anders and Levin, you two can watch Mr. Scars and the kid and make sure they can't escape." The sergeant says. With a few gruff orders, you and Mr. Scars are both taken to a nearby tree and tied to it securely with a rope while the rest of the soldiers make camp. As you're watching the soldiers go about their jobs (And your guards doing more talking with each other than actually watching you) Mr. Scars finally says something to you. "So, busted with twenty vials of Blue Dream eh?" he asks in a low tone. "How did you know?" you ask. "I heard the sergeant talking with one of his men about it earlier." "Oh. They think I'm some big dealer and part of the Ebony Claw Syndicate too, but I'm not either of those things." "Hm. Didn't think you were Claw, but I thought maybe you might be a prospect….hmmm…let me guess did you run into a man going by the name Flynt?" You aren't sure if you should be talking, so you don't say anything. "Heh, I'll take your silence as a yes. Though I suppose it's a good sign that you're not very forthcoming with that info. Talkers don't last long in this business. Of course maybe you're not telling me because you ripped him off…" "I didn't!" you exclaim which causes the guards to look over at you and then you get quiet again until they look away. "I didn't, he paid me to deliver a package to someone. I didn't even know what was in it, until the guards confiscated it. Hell, I didn't even know about the Ebony Claw Syndicate!" "Yeah, sounds like Flynt. It's an unconventional method of recruitment, but sometimes he likes to randomly test youngsters that he feels could be useful. Dunno why he does things that way, but when you've got drugs and coins to blow, I guess you can afford to take risks like that. I dunno, I'm just in it for the violence myself." You continue to stay silent. "Anyway, you're probably looking at twenty years kid. One for each vial. The kingdom has been really cracking down lately on it. Probably get sent to Dreadcage too. They send all the serious offenders there." Fear wells up inside you upon hearing that news. You try to keep it together, but you're having a hard time and you start exhaling multiple times, closing your eyes and muttering, "oh fuck, oh shit." several times. "Wow, kid. You're not going to last in prison if you take that approach. They see you come in like that and you're gonna be sucking every dick in the joint and worse." "Isn't there something I can do to stop this?" you ask. "Well, you could try to escape I guess, but I'm betting you already figured the soldiers would easily run you down before you got very far. I suppose you could try to beg for mercy when you go before the judge, maybe even use your youth as an excuse. Depending on the judge, that MIGHT get you some time shaved off, but you'll still be doing a lot of it…and I think I don't have to warn you about the dangers of ratting out Flynt and whoever it was you were supposed to deliver to in the first place to try to save your ass." This is just a nightmare. You're almost thinking maybe you should have just risked getting lynched back in Teckleville. At least there you would've had your parents to help you and maybe even Annah, assuming she lived. At worst, you would have at least died at home. "Well…I ain't no rat, so that wasn't ever a possibility anyway." You say in an attempt to at least make Mr. Scars less likely to be suspicious of you. "Bullshit kid, in your situation and first time? You probably thought about it. Don't worry though, everyone usually does at one time or another, just as long as you don't actually do it…well either that or make damn sure the reward is high enough." Mr. Scars chuckles. "Yeah, well I might do better in prison than you think…" you say and then you whisper…"I've killed someone before." Mr. Scars looks at you as if to detect whether you're lying or not. "Hm, maybe you have, or maybe you haven't, but that really doesn't matter. You're going to be locked away with a lot of killers. Most of them a lot tougher and bigger than the likes of you. So just because you killed your girlfriend or mom because she pissed you off doesn't mean you're some hard man." "I didn't kill my…" you start to say before the one of the guards starts actually paying attention to you. "HEY! The two of you stop fucking conspiring over there! In fact the pair of you need to shut the fuck up and just go to sleep because tomorrow you'll both be going before the judge and sentenced for your crimes! Enjoy your last night of freedom criminal scum!" And with that, you and Mr. Scars do no more talking for the rest of the night, though Mr. Scars was done talking and ready to sleep anyway. You on the other hand have a hard time getting to sleep, knowing what awaits you. The next morning, you're put back on the cart and continue your journey to Sivak. You reach your destination by midday. Sivak is larger than anything you've ever seen and some of its buildings are very impressive. It's a very bustling place with people walking around everywhere. You just wish you were free to enjoy it. At this point you wonder if you shouldn't just try to escape now. The streets are very busy and it would be a lot harder for the soldiers to get around on their horses. If you're quick enough you might even lose them in an alleyway or something. Of course that doesn't stop the fact that you're still shackled and ultimately surrounded by more soldiers than ever, but maybe you can figure that dilemma out later. > You stay put You don't know this city very well and you'd most likely be caught within five minutes, you'd probably also be beaten for your troubles at best. You aren't quite suicidal enough to try…or perhaps you're just not brave enough. Whatever the case, you stay put and resign yourself to whatever fate the judge has for you. You hang your head down and stare at the floor of the cart, not really wishing to see any more of a city you aren't going to be able to take advantage of. A bit of time passes before you hear Mr. Scars speak to you. "Hey kid." Mr. Scars says. "What?" you ask slowly looking up. "This doesn't have to be the worst day of your life." "Well it certainly isn't the best." "Heh, well okay, but this could be a lot worse. In fact maybe Yag has blessed you with a little luck given your situation." "Luck? I'm on my way to prison!" "Yes, but you had the fortune of meeting me in an uncharacteristically generous mood." You start to listen carefully. "Okay, here's the deal. When you get sentenced to Dreadcage, find a human there by the name of Ponyride…and don't you dare laugh at the name. As silly as it might sound you don't want to know how he acquired it. Just ask any syndicate member where he is and they'll take you to him if you mention my name. It'll be real easy to find one of them since a lot of them are there and you just look for the tattoo." Mr. Scars says and juts out his shoulder. "What will Ponyride do?" "Well, he's gonna want proof you know me first, so tell him the phrase: The Duchess sure had a velvet throat. He'll know what it means." As you take a moment to remember the phrase, Mr. Scars continues. "If you're still blessed by Yag at this point, he'll honor the favor he owes me and give you a bit of protection for a while. Maybe a year at most. Should be more than enough time for you to get settled in and learn the routines without extra hassle. After that, you're going to be on your own. Now I'm no recruiter, but I suggest that since you'll already be getting the benefits of Ebony Claw protection, you might want to get in good with us on a permanent basis, as it will potentially make the rest of your stay slightly less dangerous. I'm sure Ponyride will have something for you to do, but that's on you and your choice." Well this isn't freedom, but at least it's a glimmer of hope. "I…I really don't know what to say…I mean thank you of course, but why are you doing this? What's in it for you?" "Me? Nothing I guess, but I suppose I remember the first time I did some time in a prison. I was younger than you and it was a lesser offense, but it still wasn't a pleasant experience and I know I would've been glad for any help I could have gotten." The cart and entourage of soldiers starts to slow down as you approach a large important looking white building with a lot of steps. "The thing is with my record, I know I'm probably getting sentenced to be executed in a few months. There isn't really anything anyone can do for me, so I might as well call in the last favor I have left for someone that it will help. Use it or lose it as they say." Mr. Scars says. "…but still…this is like a really big thing. I mean you barely know me and this is going to really help me out." You say still in disbelief of your luck. "Yeah, well make the most of it kid. Just out of curiosity though…who did you supposedly kill?" "The guy who stabbed my girlfriend... I had to run away from home after that." "Well shit kid, that's more along the lines of justice as far as I can tell. Not sure if that really makes you a cold blooded killer at all, but I guess it's a good thing you know you can do it, if you have to right?" At this point the cart stops completely and the pair of you are taken out and marched to the white building. When you enter the pair of you are still together for a little while, but eventually the sergeant tells some of his men to take you down a different corridor to Judge Randal. He and the rest take Mr. Scars down another and you part company. When you get to Judge Randal, he sits behind his high desk and looks incredibly tired. You see him sentence various people before he finally gets to you. He hears what you were charged with and just shakes his head. "(Sigh) Do you have anything to say in your defense?" he asks. You take a suggestion from what Mr. Scars said earlier and try to imply you're just a poor dumb kid that did something really stupid. The judge doesn't look impressed. "Uh huh. Listen, I hear that excuse all the time and sometimes its even true, but you were found with twenty vials of Blue Dream my boy. You didn't just stumble upon that, you're obviously working for someone bigger. Probably someone in the Ebony Claw Syndicate. If you're really sorry for what you've done, then you're going to have to give me more than the baby in woods act." You're silent. "Yeah, that's what I thought. Twenty years at Dreadcage. Next." The judge remarks. You are quickly taken away and soon marched back outside, but this time to a large enclosed wagon with several horses at the front. You're shoved inside and shackled to a few other prisoners. All of them are sizing you up and you do your best not to show any fear as the wagon door is closed and you're on your way to Dreadcage. There is little light in the wagon, save for what's coming through the very small windows at the very top of it. Still, you manage to examine a few of the other prisoners and fortune strikes again when you see one with a black claw tattoo sitting across from you. "You Ebony Claw?" you ask the man. "What the fuck's it to you pretty boy?" he answers. "Mr. Scars wants you to take me to see Ponyride when we get to Dreadgate." The man's eyes widen a bit when you mention Mr. Scars, but nods. "Very well." He answers. You don't reach Dreadcage until nightfall, but when you finally reach it and exit the wagon, you can see that it definitely lives up to its name with the massive walls, towers and high fences. You are then marched inside the prison where upon you and the rest are striped, hosed down, checked and given prison apparel. Your new "name" according to the prison is now 97P904. After this experience, you are shown your new cell. You cellmate is surprisingly a Halfling! Though within the first five minutes of meeting him he's quite firm about stating what is his and warns you that he's not going to tolerate any shit from the likes of you. You maintain a respectful attitude and listen to his lecture, until your Claw "liaison" comes to find you. "Hey, Ponyride is ready to see you." He says which causes a bit of confusion from your cellmate who probably didn't expect you to have such connections. You get the impression his attitude towards you will be a lot different when you return. You walk through the prison attempting to ignore the various threats and stares you're getting. You remember that you have to show absolutely no weakness or fear. Several ECS member congregate around Ponyride's cell. Ponyride himself is a muscular average sized man with a shaved head. He has several tattoos that in some way signify his allegiance to his organization. Ponyride gets off his bed and approaches you with the usual hard stare that you're getting used to by everyone that has to prove how tough they are. "So, I hear you know Mr. Scars and he told you to speak with me. If that's true then you'll have something important to tell me. If not…well you're going to get the privilege of learning exactly why they call me Ponyride." This causes a few chuckles from Ponyride's cohorts, but you maintain your composure and simply utter the phrase. "The Duchess sure had a velvet throat." Ponyride smiles and nods. "I came enough to fill a fucking moat. Hah! Glad to see Mr. Scars remembers the good times. Alright, I dunno how he knows you, but if he trusted you enough to give you that phrase, then it's good enough for me. So I'm guessing you want protection right?" "Mr. Scars said a year's worth." "A fucking year huh? Mr. Scars overestimates this favor I owe him. Ah, all right, what the hell, things are pretty peaceful right now I guess I can spare some. The Ebony Claw will make sure you're under our general protection, but remember, you ARE NOT one of us. That means if you severely fuck up or get in the way of our business, all bets are fucking off. Got me, pretty boy?" "Understood." "Good, and remember when a year is up you're on your fucking own. If you want anything from us after that, you gotta pay just like everyone else or join, but we can talk about that later if you so desire. Now leave me, I got important shit to do." You are dismissed and the Claw member who took you to see Ponyride escorts you away and then leaves you to your own devices. Well you've bought yourself a little time, now you have to get started learning everything you can about this place and deciding on how to spend your time here. Because you sure have a lot of it.

Six months later… As you sit counting your ill-gotten loot from the latest traveling merchant in town, your girlfriend is watching you with an exasperated expression. Of course she tends to look like that a lot. "Ugh. This part is soooo boring! I dunno why you didn't steal the jewelry, I liked some of those necklaces." Annah exclaims. "Because you know I prefer hard coin in my possession rather than anything else." You reply trying not to lose count. "So? You're not the only one involved in doing this you know! You couldn't just think about ME for once and steal some pretty items?" "Annah, if you wanted one of those necklaces so bad, you could have just stolen it yourself. You were closer to the merchant and easily had him distracted." "He was gross. Breathing heavy and touching my legs, it was all I could do not to vomit…y'know you could have defended my honor." It's going to be one of those days… "(Sigh) And how exactly was I going to do that while I was breaking into his lockbox in his tent? The whole point is for me not to attract any sort of attention and that's getting more difficult to do what with a lot of the merchants hiring more guards nowadays." Annah rolls her eyes. It's no secret that Annah was certainly drawn to you because she's a little on the wild side and doesn't have the best of reputations herself. While she certainly lets you do things to her that are a lot of fun, she's not the partner in crime that your sister was and she certainly complains a lot more. A LOT more. Annah's got the looks and flirting down, but that's about it. Your sister actually had the talent to get the attention of people even if they weren't some weak willed slob that went nuts over the latest sweet young thing that batted their eyes at them. She could lure them with a tale or a song and keep a whole entourage captivated if need be. You suppose Annah's lack of skill has had the benefit of increasing your own since you've definitely had to be quicker and sneakier. Still, it isn't just her lack of skill and bitching that's the problem since that you can deal with. It's the fact that she's way more maintenance than you thought she'd be and she's been getting worse in that aspect. You know you're probably going to have to give her a little bit more this time around just to keep her appeased. At this point you haven't really been saving much at all and you were planning on moving out of your parents home by now because that situation hasn't gotten any better since your sister left. Lately you've been starting to wonder if you shouldn't just do what your sister did and leave. It's just getting to be too much hassle to steal in this town and it definitely isn't as much fun as it used to be. Where you would go though, you aren't sure. You're going to have to figure it out. In the meantime, you hand over Annah's share. "Okay, here you go…so what do you want to do now?" you ask. "Well since you were unwilling to steal me one of those nice necklaces, I guess I'll have to buy a cheap ass one from that hag that runs Sparkling Treasures." Annah replies. "So, we're going to Jasmine's shop." "Yeah, and she's going to be giving me the evil eye the entire time. Thinking I'm going to steal something." "Well to be fair, you can't blame her. I'll come with you, but as far as I know I'm still banned from the place ever since I stole a bracelet for my sister's birthday. Of course that was before we decided that the town was completely off limits." "Whatever, I don't really want to hear about how you spoiled your other girlfriend right now. It's bad enough that continually criticize me and say I'm not as good as sister." "What the…first of all I'm sick of these rumors about me and her when it wasn't even like that! Second of all, I just said ONCE that our capers might run smoother if you had a better array of talents rather than just relying on your looks." "There you go again putting me down! I don't see you complaining about my talents when you're having your five minutes of fun…" "Now don't even start with that! Look, I don't want to fight! Let's just go get your necklace." "I need more money!" "What?!" "What you gave me isn't enough for the one I want!" "Didn't you just say Jasmine sells cheap quality shit?" "Yeah, but that old bitch charges an arm and leg for it, so I need more money!" You shake your head and reach into your pocket. "(Sigh) Fine. Here, take it! Take it all!" you exclaim and hand over most of your coins to Annah, who takes them without blinking an eye. At this point you're wondering why if she thinks you're such a bad bum to her that why is she with you at all. "Thanks baby!" Annah beams and kisses you. Well that answers your question. As Annah grabs your arm while you walk to Jasmine's shop, you continue to think about leaving here. The only thing is, are you going to do it like your sister did and just leave in the middle of the night, or are you going to actually say goodbye first? You sort of think with as much grief as you give your parents, they might actually like to at least say goodbye to you seeing as they didn't get that chance with your sister. Of course that might be just wishful thinking on your part. "Okay, since you said you're not allowed in, just wait outside and I'll be out soon." Annah says as you get to Sparkling Treasures. "I'll be here." You remark. Annah hasn't been gone long when you encounter more trouble. "Well if it isn't the notorious thief of Teckville. Shouldn't you be skulking around in the shadows stealing from little old ladies?" It's Klint and ever since your sister left, he's been even more of an asshole to you and you're not really sure why. "Klint, seriously what the hell is your problem? I don't understand this continued antagonism towards me. I don't go over to your family's chicken farm and steal the cocks out of your hand." Klint as usual is slow on the uptake and doesn't even get the double meaning insult you just said, but he's mad at you anyway. "Because it's all your fucking fault! I could have gotten with your sister if YOU hadn't been around!" "Oh for fuck's sake, if my sister had ANY attraction to you, she certainly would have showed it. She didn't and now she's GONE, okay? Get the hell over it already…" Klint at this point starts getting closer to you and raising his voice and you begin to take a more defensive stance. "FUCK YOU! It was ALL your fault! How could I have a chance with her when YOU corrupted her! Tell me…did she smell like flowers when you embraced her? Did she taste like honey when you kissed her? Did the very heavens move when you plunged into her?" he asks with a mixture of anger and resentment, but also with a glint of eagerness that you'll tell him. While you knew Klint was always a bit obsessed with your sister, you never quite knew how bad it was until just now. He's totally lost it. "Klint, contrary to what the rumors are, none of that happened you sick fuck. Look, just go home before something bad happens…" you say. "Oh something bad is gonna happen alright sister fucker!" He says and then brandishes a knife partially covered in blood and with a few feathers stuck to it. And of course nobody is around to see all this despite it being broad daylight. Or maybe they're just watching from windows and don't care. You're not exactly popular after all. "Klint, put that knife back and just walk away now." You say stepping back. "Everyone in this town hates you, y'know. Even that whore you hang around with now. She came on to me the other night saying how she wanted a proper fuck as opposed to your pathetic attempts. I didn't fuck her though; I just let her suck my dick. Did she kiss you today? Ha ha ha ha!" You ignore Klint's ramblings and continue to focus on his knife, which is now aiming towards your face, even if you are trying to widen the gap between you two. "Klint, last chance to get that knife out of my face." "Or you'll what?" Well it's a good question, what are you going to do? > You try to disarm Klint While Klint is holding knife, you still doubt he's serious about killing you with it. He's a lot of talk and trying to scare you, time to call his bluff by kicking his ass. You throw a punch at Klint's face, which probably hurts your hand more than it hurts his face. Still, it's enough to cause him to reel back a bit and drop his knife. "Shit…you're paying for that asshole!" he utters as you're still shaking your hand from the pain of punching him. Klint charges at you and you dodge out of the way, but your leg doesn't completely clear the charge and you fall to the ground face first. Fortunately you trip up Klint in the process, who instead of taking advantage, continues to stumble in the direction he was already running in. Unfortunately, he crashes right into Annah who was coming out of the store at the time. "Hey what's…SHIT!" Annah yelps as Klint's body tackles into her. You recover just in time to see Klint hovering near her body. She's lying up against the door of Jasmine's shop looking a little crumpled. You take advantage by elbowing Klint in the back of the head. He staggers and falls to the ground again where you proceed to kick him. "You crushed my girlfriend you fucker!" you shout. You're doing a pretty good job stomping on him, but he isn't out of the fight yet and manages to grab your foot and cause you to fall to the ground as well. Now seizing his opportunity he rolls over and gets on top of your chest and proceeds to punch you in the face though you're doing your best in trying to block the attacks. "Don't worry about your whore getting crushed because I'm gonna crush your fuckin' skull…AGH!" Klint shouts. You can't quite tell at first from your prone position, but you see Annah standing behind Klint and a knife in her hand, which she's using not just once on him, but several times. "Fucking asshole, get off! Get off of him!" she shouts stabbing Klint in the back several times. Eventually Klint falls over and off to the side of you and you slide out from underneath him. While you're still recovering, Annah is about to stab Klint again. "Hold on! Hold on! Stop! Stop!" you exclaim and take the knife away from Annah before she commits murder. "What?! That asshole was kicking your ass!" Annah exclaims. "First, I had it under control, second, you already stabbed him several times, the last thing you need is to outright kill…" "You fuckin' bitch…" Klint utters and somehow manages to sit up and grabs Annah's arm. Without thinking you stab Klint in the neck. Blood trickles from his mouth, his eyes glance over to you and then he falls back to the ground with the knife still in his neck. "Oh shit…" you say. "Look out behind you!" Annah shouts. "YOU MURDERER!" a gruff voice shouts from behind. Still at a heightened state of alert, you stab at whoever it is behind you, and just manage to nick their arm with your own dagger before twisting away. You now see that your fight with Klint has drawn out a lot of the townsfolk. Bastards were probably watching the entire time. The man who tried to pull you away was the Wilfred the pub owner. It's a good thing he's not one of the appointed town watch, but it probably won't be long. "You little bastard! You see that? He tried to kill me too! Someone get the town watch! Someone go get Klint's family too, they need to know what this murderer did to their boy!" Wilfred shouts as he clutches his bleeding arm. Several other townsfolk go running off shouting about your deeds, and a few others look as if they're going to take their chances apprehending you themselves and while Wilfred is a fat out of shape barkeep, you don't know if you'd do as well against the blacksmith who is now approaching you with a hammer in hand. With a lynch mob starting to form, you do the only thing you can and that's run. Which you notice Annah has already done and left you to fend for yourself! After a few moments of running and backtracking, you've managed to make it home and lose most of the ones that were half heartedly trying to nab you, but it won't be long before what passes for real law enforcement around here is beating down your door. You only have a short time to gather what you can and get the hell out of here. Of course as soon as you come in, your mother sees you with blood on your clothes and demands to know what is going on. "By the gods! What have you done!? What have you DONE?!" your mother shouts. "I didn't do anything! Where's dad?!" you ask. "I'm right here….oh shit. Fuck! What the hell did you do now?!" your dad says walking into the room. "I didn't do anything! There was a fight and Klint attacked me and then Annah stabbed him and then I stabbed him and…" "Oh what the fuck, did you kill him?" your father asks. "Yeah, I mean I'm not sure, I suppose, but look I gotta get outta here!" you say and push both of your parents out of the way to go gather a few things from your room. Surprisingly your father doesn't say much more, he just gathers up his emergency physician's bag and mutters to himself. You think you hear him saying how you're a fuck up before he leaves, but that's about it. Your mom on the other hand as you're hastily grabbing a few items, is tearfully going on about how you (And your sister) wasted your potential and she doesn't know where she and your father went wrong. You have little time and it isn't much, but you try to reassure her that it isn't either of their faults. You'd like to calm her down some more, but there are a bunch of people soon banging at the door. "STOP HIDING BEHIND YER MAMA'S SKIRT AND GET OUT HERE MURDERER!" you hear a voice shout. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry for everything. I…I gotta go." You say as you leave your mother crying and go to climb out your window. You manage to just get out of your backyard when you hear someone else shout that they see you and you're soon off and running from a mob again. It takes a bit of stealth and hiding on your part (along with distancing yourself from Teckleville) but eventually as the sky goes dark, you're fairly certain nobody from the town is still chasing you, or if they are, they might have made camp for the night. As for you, you're in the middle of a wood, still wearing your bloody clothes (fortunately you managed to grab some spare in your pack though) unsure of where you're going to go exactly. On top of it all you aren't sure what happened to Annah though knowing her she probably blamed you for everything. You're so tired. You can't even process all of it anymore. You have to rest. You find a tree that looks sturdy and high enough, so you climb it and prepare to sleep for the night. You just hope that anyone that might still be looking for you at this late hour doesn't think to look up. As you drift off to sleep, your thoughts go to your sister. "Well sis, whether things are working out for you or not right now, at least your exit wasn't like this." > Next Day You wake up fairly early, but then you didn't really sleep much to begin with. This was more of a brief rest anyway. After a quick check to see if anyone is in the area, you get out of your bloody clothes and change into some new ones. You might not be properly clean, but it's better than you were. You then check your supplies, which aren't much. You've got a few coins, but you aren't excessively worried about that since food and water are more important out here in the wilderness. You've got a little food and water, but it isn't going to last long. The only weapon you have currently is your dagger. As you're checking your supplies, you hear the sound of something approaching you. Dread grips your body, you hide behind the nearest tree and you draw your dagger. You take a quick peek and see that it's Annah stomping through the underbrush with the grace of a clumsy horse. "Shit, fucking thorns. Ouch!" you hear her say and you come out of hiding. "Annah!" you exclaim and walk over to her. "There you are! Y'know, you could have warned me about leaving town, instead of making me trudge through the fucking woods looking for you!" Annah snaps. Ornery as usual. "Wha…how the hell did you even find me anyway?" you ask. "Dunno, I figured you'd hide some place familiar. This is the area where we first did it so I took a chance." Annah says. "It is?" Annah hits you. "Yes! By the gods, I can't believe you fucking forgot! In fact it was YOUR idea to go way the hell out here, I just wanted to do it over behind Derrick's barn where I first gave you a blowjob." "Wait. We were behind Derrick's barn during that?" Annah hits you again "Glad to see all of our intimacy together meant so much to you. Asshole. I dunno why I even came out here to find you! Sorry we can't all be like your perfect sister. Bet you remember where you first fucked her!" At this point you stop Annah from hitting you again and try to maintain some control over this situation. "Alright! Alright! I get it, I'm an insensitive asshole, but you REALLY need to stop with these accusations of sister fucking especially when it isn't even true! Shit, I'm not calling you a whore that sucked Klint's dick!" you say. "WHAT?! I did no such thing!" Annah exclaims. "Well he claimed you did before he attacked me." "Pfft. He wished. Look, I get that the dumb asses in town thought I was a whore, but Klint was repulsive…besides he was always sniffing around your sister while she was still around. Never paid any attention to me." "Well I figured he was just talking shit anyway…(Sigh) anyway this is a mess. I'm glad to see you escaped town though." "Escaped? Nah, I just came out here to find you on my own. Don't worry, I made sure nobody was following me." "Wait, you didn't get in any trouble?" "No. They all saw you kill Klint. I mean I did get asked questions, but I just said you and Klint got into a fight and you accidently killed him in the process. They didn't seem convinced that you killed him by accident though, so yeah they're still pissed at you." You're almost speechless right now. "Are…Are you fucking kidding me?! YOU were the one that stabbed him repeatedly in the back! I actually stopped YOU from killing Klint!" you exclaim. "Yeah, and then you stabbed him in the throat and killed him. Why are you yelling at me?!" Annah remarks. Now you can't even speak. You just rub your hands over your face and pace rapidly. In a strange way, you not even that mad at Annah. Everyone pretty much hated you anyway and Annah's actually just being herself. And that's so tragic that it causes you to laugh. "What's so funny?" Annah asks. "The absurdity of this horrible situation." You answer. "So what's the plan? "Good question. Can't stay out here in the wilderness." "Ohhh! Let's to Klyton!" Annah says excitedly. Well that would be one option you were pondering. It's certainly the closest city and it's the direction you ran from Teckleville anyway. The problem is if anyone from Teckleville is still searching for you, that's going to be the first place they look. Still, Klyton is the only place you really have any basic knowledge about thanks to your parents both being originally from there. Your father never really spoke too much about it, just saying that the only thing worthwhile that he got there was your mother and he was glad when they finally moved to Teckleville to be closer to your grandmother at the time. Your mother on the other hand didn't speak so ill of the place, which is surprising since she grew up in a lower class area than your father did. She even said that sometimes she missed the times when she worked at the inn where she met your father in the first place. Of course her knowledge about the city is bound to be a bit out of date. Also, while Klyton has no jurisdiction over Teckleville, it has been known to apprehend wanted criminals from elsewhere trying to hide out there. Not to mention the place in general has a fairly good reputation (And they want to keep it that way) as far as its own security goes. "Well we could also head to Holgard or the Delantium Kingdom, I think the closest city there is Sivak" you say. "No! I want to go to Klyton! I've never been there!" Annah demands. "But you've never been to the other places either!" "Yeah well, they're too far away, and we could run into bandits and you wouldn't be much help if they tried to gang rape me. I don't want to be out here any longer than I have to be." "Y'know, YOU don't need to be out here at all considering you apparently threw me under the horse and cart and you're not even in any trouble for any of this!" You almost expect Annah to hit you again, but now she does something worse...she doesn't do it often, but… "Oh no…" you say when you see her eyes starting to water. "I knew it! You blame me for everything! You always blame me for everything that goes wrong! All I fucking did was try to help you when Klint was kicking your ass too! (Sob!) You're right, I DON'T have to be out here, but I'm out here because I fucking love you okay? (Sob!) I don't even know why, because you're a fucking ungrateful asshole!" Annah cries and then runs off to a nearby tree to continue sobbing. "(Sigh) Damn it…." You say to yourself. While you're questioning the idea that this is even a good idea, the fact remains is that in Annah's strange way she is here for you right now. In fact, she's possibly the ONLY person on your side right now. So for better or worse you'll put up with her. (For now) "Annah….look, I'm sorry about my tone okay? But you gotta understand I'm trying to deal with all this shit and I can hardly think right now. I mean I didn't even think I was going to see you again. I'm also worried about my parents. I mean yeah I didn't get along with them, but they certainly don't deserve the shitstorm they're probably going through with the rest of the town right now. I mean what about your mom? You don't think she's wondering where you are right now?" you say while rubbing her shoulders "(Sniffle) Have you met my mom? She probably doesn't even know I'm gone yet. Hell, she probably doesn't even know everything that happened yesterday." Annah says turning around and wiping her eyes. "Yeah, I suppose so, she is drunk a lot of the time. But anyway, like I said, I'm trying to process the fact that I'm now wanted for murder. I don't even know how I feel on THAT fact either. The actual murder. I mean I feel like maybe I should feel bad or something." "Bad? Why would you feel bad? Klint was an asshole, I'm certainly not upset over it." "Well…yeah I suppose I'm not either and it was mostly in self-defense and an accident despite what everyone in town says. Still though, makes me wonder if I'm capable of killing again." "I sure hope so, because it's dangerous out here! Is that dagger the only weapon you got?" "Hm? Yeah. Apologies, but I didn't exactly have time to buy a sword on my way out of town." "Oh well, I guess it will have to do. Just hope we don't run into anything bigger than a hungry rat." "It's not the size of the weapon, it's how you use it." "Yes dear, you keep telling yourself that…so are we going to Klyton now?" "Yeah, we're going to Klyton…" Annah makes "Squeee!" sound and then kisses you saying how exciting it will be to finally go to the "Big City." Honestly, you think Annah's enthusiasm to go to Klyton is a little misplaced even if she wasn't travelling with a wanted murderer. At least she isn't bitching anymore though. However, that doesn't last and she inevitably starts complaining when you insist on staying off the road and sticking to the woods to keep out of sight of any potential person from Teckleville that might be tracking you. "Dunno why you think this makes you more hidden. I found you in the woods." Annah remarks. "Yeah, well not everyone has the magical ability to find me like you do, now come on and keep it down!" You answer. "You know there are blood stalkers out here and bandits who…" "Will try to rape you. Yes, I know. You've only mentioned that three or four times already. What is your preoccupation with getting raped?" "You saying that wouldn't happen?" "No…I…agh! Look it's getting dark enough that I can barely see shit in front of me and we probably should just stop for the rest of the night. I'll see if there's a suitable tree to sleep in…" "A tree? I'm not sleeping in a tree! It sounds uncomfortable and I could fall out and break my neck!" "It's safer than you think, you just prop yourself up against the trunk and a large enough branch. It'll actually be safer than sleeping on the ground. Up in a tree we can at least…" "I'm not sleeping in a fucking tree! I'm hungry, and it's getting cold! We should build a fire!" You face palm at your situation. The tree thing you're flexible on, but a fire? That's potentially asking for trouble. Still, if you make a fire, you'll hopefully shut Annah up. > You make a fire Honestly, if anything Annah's loud bitching is going to attract more attention to your position than a fire at this point. "Alright! Alright! Just stop! We'll build a damn fire. I think I got a tinderbox, never used it though since I didn't exactly spend nights out in the wilderness, so you're going to have to bear with me." You gather up a bunch of broken branches, break out your tinderbox and begin fumbling around with the flint "Do you even know what you're doing?" Annah asks. "Not really." "Sheesh, this isn't sex. I figured this would be a simple enough task, even for you." "Fuck, Annah. I told you I wasn't an expert at doing this but feel free to help me if you know how!" You answer throwing the flint down. "So I guess it is sex. (sigh) Move!" Annah remarks and takes over. And of course she does it nearly instantly and you soon have a fire going. You're getting incredibly angry and starting to regret letting her tag along now. You're under enough pressure as it is and you can't deal with her attitude right now. "Hey I said I was also hungry, didn't you bring any food?" Annah remarks. "You want food? You want fucking food? HERE! Take it! Take everything I fucking have!" you shout as you pull out apples from your bag and start throwing them at her. "HEY! STOP! Stop you fucking asshole!" she replies dodging apples. "I oughta do worse than throw fucking apples at you!" "Oh like what? You gonna stab and kill me too?" Annah asks while picking up a nearby apple. "Don't tempt me." "Threats of violence. Nice. I can't believe I recently cried over you." "I can't believe you even meant it. Y'know before all this shit went down, I was actually thinking about breaking up with you in the first place. And guess what, I was right about…" Your words are interrupted by a flying apple. You dodge it and Annah's eyes go a bit wide when she sees you come at her. She doesn't get far when you tackle her to the ground. After a bit of struggling you manage to subdue her, by getting on top of her and holding her wrists down. You're breathing heavy and have a nasty look in your eyes. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to do that! You know how I get! Please just don't hurt me!" Annah begs and starts to tear up again. Despite your rather aggressive dominance over Annah, you weren't actually planning to do anything except scare her really bad, which you definitely succeeded in doing. Any ideas of battery, torture, murder or (as Annah usually believes), rape weren't in the equation. Unfortunately nobody else saw it that way. And between the fire AND your very loud arguing and fighting with Annah, someone came to investigate. You suddenly feel a crushing blow to the back of your head and you crumple on top of Annah's body. You have a little strength left to push yourself up a bit, but another blow succeeds in knocking you out. When you wake up, you find yourself in a cell, which look very familiar. It should, because you've been in it before. You're at the Teckleville jail. "Well, looks like the Teckleville Terror is finally up and from here on your ass belongs to me until your execution." A familiar voice remarks. It's Sheriff Walford. Just one of your many admirers. You sit up from the floor and rub your head. "(Groan) I knew lighting that fire was a bad idea." You say. "You're just full of them boy and you'll be paying for them soon because your luck has finally run out." Walford says from his desk "Surprised you just didn't tell your men to kill me on sight." "Oh trust me, when they caught you tryin' to rape that girl, they wanted to, but I specifically told them to bring you in alive no matter what the circumstances. Because I personally want to see you hang." "How law abiding of you. (Sigh) I don't suppose it would help if I said Annah's lying about that." "Lyin that you WEREN'T tryin ta rape her? Pfft, already know that son." "Wait, you tellin' me that Annah didn't accuse me of rape?" "No she didn't for some strange reason. She claims you and her were just having an argument, but my boys said it sure as hell didn't look like that to them. Dunno what spell you got that girl under, but it ain't gonna save your ass because you're STILL wanted for the murder of Klint! You were fortunate that his father didn't catch you before my men did though I wouldn't have minded if he had." Wow, that's a bit surprising about Annah. She knows you better than you thought AND she's still trying in her own way to defend you. The sheriff goes on to say that she isn't the only one either. Apparently your father has hired the best freelance advocate he could find in Klyton. While it's a pretty grim conclusion that you're going to be found guilty, your father made so much of a stink that he demanded that you at least get a trial of sorts. It would appear you have more people on your side than you thought A few days pass and Annah tries to see you, but they won't let her in. Your parents won't be denied however and of course your expensive advocate speaks to you as well to get all your information. The day finally comes and you're trotted out before practically the whole town, most of which are already booing and calling for your blood. The town mayor is overseeing this trial and going to make the final decision. While you've never directly done any wrong to him, he doesn't particularly like you so in your mind you might as well be going to the noose already. Still, you don't give up. You don't actually speak in your own trial, your advocate speaks for you and does a WAY better job than you ever could. Annah and your parents both testify on your behalf, and even a few people begrudgingly admit that they saw the entire fight with Klint and say you didn't really mean to kill him. You really wish your sister was around because you imagine that she would be able to charm a few more folks to your side. Of course the other side paints you out to be evil incarnate whenever they can. Klint's parents in particular. Eventually the mayor says he's heard enough and that's when you think here comes the execution sentence. "(Sigh) As long as I've been mayor, this young man has been a blight on this town despite his father and mother being good people. I can't fault them for defending him because above all else he is their son. But another son was killed and that's the main reason we're here today. The rape accusation…well quite frankly the young girl denies that it happened and if she's deluded enough to defend her abusive criminal boyfriend…well I just shake my head in dismay and nothing else. Given her own shady reputation, I'm actually inclined they just enjoy a sick relationship." The mayor continues. "But getting back to the murder. While tragic, I have to weigh all arguments. We all know that Klint himself was no angel. I'm sorry to say that in front of his parents, but it's true. This was a case of the stupid antics of youth getting way out of hand. And as much as I dislike this budding criminal in front of me, I truly don't believe he killed Klint out of malice. At this point several people start booing again until the mayor calls for order. "That's enough! I'm mayor of this damn town and this is my decision which I haven't even got to yet! My verdict is guilty BUT I'm not giving this young man death. It was an accident and despite everything I've said, I personally wouldn't feel comfortable with myself executing a youth who made a very bad mistake. However, he can't stay here. So my final decision is exile as of tomorrow. You come back and you WILL be executed, you understand?" the mayor says. "I understand, sir and I thank you for your fair judgment." You reply and nod. "Take him back to his cell, release him in the morning." The crowd goes nuts at this decision and the Teckleville Watch barely manage to get you back to the jail unscathed. After throwing you back in your cell, Sheriff Walford flips his desk over as his men standby. "Are you secretly a son of Yag or just permanently blessed by him? Because there is no way one person can be so fucking lucky!" he exclaims. "It wasn't luck sheriff, it was justice. Look on the bright side, I won't be here to bother you anymore…which is what I was trying to do in the first place before you dragged me back here." You say. The sheriff is so flustered he can't even be bothered to yell at you anymore. He just says you're going to get yours and soon before leaving. You secretly smirk at things going your way for a change and lay down thinking about what you're going to do with your new exiled life tomorrow. Probably the same thing you were going to do before, except without Annah tagging along. Sure, she helped you out, but you can see that relationship is just doomed to cause more problems than you need. (Like this incident!) Eventually you go to sleep figuring you're going to need your energy for traveling tomorrow. In the middle of the night you suddenly hear your cell door open and you groggily wake up. "Wha…what's going on…is it morning all…ULP!" you utter. "For my son, you murdering bastard!" you hear a deep voice say as a large figure rushes in your cell on top of you and you feel a blade go into your throat.

You wake up fairly early, but then you didn't really sleep much to begin with. This was more of a brief rest anyway. After a quick check to see if anyone is in the area, you get out of your bloody clothes and change into some new ones. You might not be properly clean, but it's better than you were. You then check your supplies, which aren't much. You've got a few coins, but you aren't excessively worried about that since food and water are more important out here in the wilderness. You've got a little food and water, but it isn't going to last long. The only weapon you have currently is your dagger. As you're checking your supplies, you hear the sound of something approaching you. Dread grips your body, you hide behind the nearest tree and you draw your dagger. You take a quick peek and see that it's Annah stomping through the underbrush with the grace of a clumsy horse. "Shit, fucking thorns. Ouch!" you hear her say and you come out of hiding. "Annah!" you exclaim and walk over to her. "There you are! Y'know, you could have warned me about leaving town, instead of making me trudge through the fucking woods looking for you!" Annah snaps. Ornery as usual. "Wha…how the hell did you even find me anyway?" you ask. "Dunno, I figured you'd hide some place familiar. This is the area where we first did it so I took a chance." Annah says. "It is?" Annah hits you. "Yes! By the gods, I can't believe you fucking forgot! In fact it was YOUR idea to go way the hell out here, I just wanted to do it over behind Derrick's barn where I first gave you a blowjob." "Wait. We were behind Derrick's barn during that?" Annah hits you again "Glad to see all of our intimacy together meant so much to you. Asshole. I dunno why I even came out here to find you! Sorry we can't all be like your perfect sister. Bet you remember where you first fucked her!" At this point you stop Annah from hitting you again and try to maintain some control over this situation. "Alright! Alright! I get it, I'm an insensitive asshole, but you REALLY need to stop with these accusations of sister fucking especially when it isn't even true! Shit, I'm not calling you a whore that sucked Klint's dick!" you say. "WHAT?! I did no such thing!" Annah exclaims. "Well he claimed you did before he attacked me." "Pfft. He wished. Look, I get that the dumb asses in town thought I was a whore, but Klint was repulsive…besides he was always sniffing around your sister while she was still around. Never paid any attention to me." "Well I figured he was just talking shit anyway…(Sigh) anyway this is a mess. I'm glad to see you escaped town though." "Escaped? Nah, I just came out here to find you on my own. Don't worry, I made sure nobody was following me." "Wait, you didn't get in any trouble?" "No. They all saw you kill Klint. I mean I did get asked questions, but I just said you and Klint got into a fight and you accidently killed him in the process. They didn't seem convinced that you killed him by accident though, so yeah they're still pissed at you." You're almost speechless right now. "Are…Are you fucking kidding me?! YOU were the one that stabbed him repeatedly in the back! I actually stopped YOU from killing Klint!" you exclaim. "Yeah, and then you stabbed him in the throat and killed him. Why are you yelling at me?!" Annah remarks. Now you can't even speak. You just rub your hands over your face and pace rapidly. In a strange way, you not even that mad at Annah. Everyone pretty much hated you anyway and Annah's actually just being herself. And that's so tragic that it causes you to laugh. "What's so funny?" Annah asks. "The absurdity of this horrible situation." You answer. "So what's the plan? "Good question. Can't stay out here in the wilderness." "Ohhh! Let's to Klyton!" Annah says excitedly. Well that would be one option you were pondering. It's certainly the closest city and it's the direction you ran from Teckleville anyway. The problem is if anyone from Teckleville is still searching for you, that's going to be the first place they look. Still, Klyton is the only place you really have any basic knowledge about thanks to your parents both being originally from there. Your father never really spoke too much about it, just saying that the only thing worthwhile that he got there was your mother and he was glad when they finally moved to Teckleville to be closer to your grandmother at the time. Your mother on the other hand didn't speak so ill of the place, which is surprising since she grew up in a lower class area than your father did. She even said that sometimes she missed the times when she worked at the inn where she met your father in the first place. Of course her knowledge about the city is bound to be a bit out of date. Also, while Klyton has no jurisdiction over Teckleville, it has been known to apprehend wanted criminals from elsewhere trying to hide out there. Not to mention the place in general has a fairly good reputation (And they want to keep it that way) as far as its own security goes. "Well we could also head to Holgard or the Delantium Kingdom, I think the closest city there is Sivak" you say. "No! I want to go to Klyton! I've never been there!" Annah demands. "But you've never been to the other places either!" "Yeah well, they're too far away, and we could run into bandits and you wouldn't be much help if they tried to gang rape me. I don't want to be out here any longer than I have to be." "Y'know, YOU don't need to be out here at all considering you apparently threw me under the horse and cart and you're not even in any trouble for any of this!" You almost expect Annah to hit you again, but now she does something worse...she doesn't do it often, but… "Oh no…" you say when you see her eyes starting to water. "I knew it! You blame me for everything! You always blame me for everything that goes wrong! All I fucking did was try to help you when Klint was kicking your ass too! (Sob!) You're right, I DON'T have to be out here, but I'm out here because I fucking love you okay? (Sob!) I don't even know why, because you're a fucking ungrateful asshole!" Annah cries and then runs off to a nearby tree to continue sobbing. "(Sigh) Damn it…." You say to yourself. While you're questioning the idea that this is even a good idea, the fact remains is that in Annah's strange way she is here for you right now. In fact, she's possibly the ONLY person on your side right now. So for better or worse you'll put up with her. (For now) "Annah….look, I'm sorry about my tone okay? But you gotta understand I'm trying to deal with all this shit and I can hardly think right now. I mean I didn't even think I was going to see you again. I'm also worried about my parents. I mean yeah I didn't get along with them, but they certainly don't deserve the shitstorm they're probably going through with the rest of the town right now. I mean what about your mom? You don't think she's wondering where you are right now?" you say while rubbing her shoulders "(Sniffle) Have you met my mom? She probably doesn't even know I'm gone yet. Hell, she probably doesn't even know everything that happened yesterday." Annah says turning around and wiping her eyes. "Yeah, I suppose so, she is drunk a lot of the time. But anyway, like I said, I'm trying to process the fact that I'm now wanted for murder. I don't even know how I feel on THAT fact either. The actual murder. I mean I feel like maybe I should feel bad or something." "Bad? Why would you feel bad? Klint was an asshole, I'm certainly not upset over it." "Well…yeah I suppose I'm not either and it was mostly in self-defense and an accident despite what everyone in town says. Still though, makes me wonder if I'm capable of killing again." "I sure hope so, because it's dangerous out here! Is that dagger the only weapon you got?" "Hm? Yeah. Apologies, but I didn't exactly have time to buy a sword on my way out of town." "Oh well, I guess it will have to do. Just hope we don't run into anything bigger than a hungry rat." "It's not the size of the weapon, it's how you use it." "Yes dear, you keep telling yourself that…so are we going to Klyton now?" "Yeah, we're going to Klyton…" Annah makes "Squeee!" sound and then kisses you saying how exciting it will be to finally go to the "Big City." Honestly, you think Annah's enthusiasm to go to Klyton is a little misplaced even if she wasn't travelling with a wanted murderer. At least she isn't bitching anymore though. However, that doesn't last and she inevitably starts complaining when you insist on staying off the road and sticking to the woods to keep out of sight of any potential person from Teckleville that might be tracking you. "Dunno why you think this makes you more hidden. I found you in the woods." Annah remarks. "Yeah, well not everyone has the magical ability to find me like you do, now come on and keep it down!" You answer. "You know there are blood stalkers out here and bandits who…" "Will try to rape you. Yes, I know. You've only mentioned that three or four times already. What is your preoccupation with getting raped?" "You saying that wouldn't happen?" "No…I…agh! Look it's getting dark enough that I can barely see shit in front of me and we probably should just stop for the rest of the night. I'll see if there's a suitable tree to sleep in…" "A tree? I'm not sleeping in a tree! It sounds uncomfortable and I could fall out and break my neck!" "It's safer than you think, you just prop yourself up against the trunk and a large enough branch. It'll actually be safer than sleeping on the ground. Up in a tree we can at least…" "I'm not sleeping in a fucking tree! I'm hungry, and it's getting cold! We should build a fire!" You face palm at your situation. The tree thing you're flexible on, but a fire? That's potentially asking for trouble. Still, if you make a fire, you'll hopefully shut Annah up. > No compromise Enough is enough. "Shut the fuck up already and stop being a bitch! Shit!" you yell. "Bitch? You fucking shithead, why don't you…" Annah starts to say before you interrupt "NO! I'm not fucking finished! You're gonna listen for a damn change, and don't think your crying routine is going to work again, because I'm too pissed right now! Look, this is how it's gonna be…" Annah surprisingly (and reluctantly) shuts up. "We'll sleep on the ground, but we're not starting a damn fire! Last thing we need to attract possible attention of Teckleville locals looking for me, or monsters or bandits…you know the ones that apparently just love to rape you in every scenario? If you're cold, well you'll just have to be satisfied with my body heat and cuddle up against me." You say. "You hate cuddling. You always say it feels like you're being confined." Annah replies. "Yeah, well I hate a lot of things right now, but I'm willing to make that sacrifice. Now I didn't address this before, but did you even pack anything useful with you, I notice you're travelling kind of light." "I have some money." "Great. I suppose that will come in useful when we finally get to Klyton. (Sigh) Okay, I brought some food, mostly fruit, and water, so I guess you can have some of that. Don't eat and drink all of it though…and before you even start, NO I'm not implying anything about your damn weight. I just don't know how much further it is to Klyton." "What about you? What are you going to eat?" "Well that's just one more sacrifice I guess. Really I'll be fine. Let's just…let's just try not to fight much more okay? I'm under a lot of stress right now and it's not helping either of us. I know I sound at this moment, but deep down for some fucked up reason I'm actually glad you're here. At least I know you care." Surprisingly you think you might have gotten through to Annah this time, as she quietly nods her head instead of her usual routine of talking back. She then goes to hug you, which you return. The remainder of the night is pretty quiet in fact. You're still half paranoid about someone sneaking up on you both, but you never even hear anything out of the ordinary. Predictably Annah does indeed cuddle up next to you during the night. While she sleeps fairly sound, you remain in a half sleep state and waking up periodically. You'll be glad when you get to Klyton. The next day is fairly mundane until you notice that the woods is beginning to thin out. If you continue walking the way you are going, you're going to be in the open fields. and if you're going to march across the open plains, you might as well just walk on the road since you'll be just as exposed. "Well, looks like no more hiding in the trees." Annah says. "Looks like. If I was by myself, I'd probably just rest up here at the edge of these woods and walk through the night so as to continue the low profile…but since I know you're pretty eager to get the hell out of nature's embrace, we'll continue along." "We travelling through those fields?" "Nah, if we're going to march across the open fields, we might as well just walk on the road since we'll be just as exposed either way. The road will be easier to traverse as well since that grass looks like it gets knee high." You and Annah make your way back towards the road and now you're looking around more than ever. You continue to keep aware of your surroundings by keeping an ear out for various sounds. You still have this idea that you're suddenly going to hear Teckleville watchmen on horses galloping on your position. "Will you please stop acting so nervous? I doubt if anyone from home is even looking for you anymore and if they are, I hardly think they're going to go all the way to Klyton. It wasn't like you killed the blacksmith, it was just Klint." Annah says. "Yeah well you still aren't the one that's potentially going to hang." You say. "So you keep telling me. Look I think you know I'm just as nervous for other reasons being out here, but I'm trying to stay calm because…well you're with me and I know you'll protect me." "I thought you said I wouldn't be much help with my little dagger." "I admit I spoke too harshly. I'm sorry. I know you'd probably kill enough of them giving me a chance to run before they cut you down." You start to laugh. "Hey, what about helping me like you did with Klint?" you chuckle. "Yeah, I guess I could try…we'll see how it goes when the time comes. But until then, you acting all jittery and anxious is making me feel the same way, so I'd like it if you could take it down a bit…shit what are those?" Annah says pointing ahead. You see what Annah is talking about. It's a hanging cage along side the road. You've heard of those before. Klyton apparently uses them when the jails are full and the criminal hasn't done anything bad enough to deserve outright death. So they get put in these cages until they eventually die of starvation, exposure or someone grants the mercy of killing them. Either way they aren't the city's problem anymore. Seems like it would be kinder to kill them immediately. "Well at least we know we're getting pretty close to the city. Besides, if there is anyone inside, they're going to be locked up in the cages. Just stay away from grabbing reach." You say. First couple cages you pass are empty. The next one has a decaying smell as you pass, but nobody is in it. You notice on the other side of the road a couple of the cages have bodies in them, but seeing as they aren't moving, you can only guess you're probably walking by corpses. At least you think you are. "Hey, you wouldn't happen to have any extra water would you?" you suddenly hear one of the slumping figures in the cage say. Before you can even answer, Annah speaks up. "No, and even if we did, we wouldn't waste it on a dead man." Annah snaps. "Okay, it was just a question. Sheesh…that's some girl you got there son. Good luck to ya with that one." The man says in a way that sounds sympathic. You and Annah press on past the cages. Eventually Klyton is in sight and you both quicken your pace, anxious to get to your destination as night has now fallen. When you get to the city gates, you find them to be heavily guarded and you're stopped. "Halt, you two don't look like merchants or anyone else that has a real job. In fact you both look a bit suspicious sneaking about the city at this time of night." One of the guards says. "Sneaking around? But we're going through the main gate!" you say. "You giving me lip boy? I'm asking the questions here! We don't need anymore scum like you in this city!" the guard says and pushes you. You're smart enough not to start a fight with an armored guard, but you're starting to wonder if you're going to even get in the city. "Please sir, we just want to get within the safety of the city. It's night and we don't want to get accosted by monsters or bandits that plague the countryside." Annah says in a pleading voice. "Hmph! Shoulda thought about that before you left wherever it is you came from!" the guard says. "Indeed we wouldn't have risked leaving our small town sir, but…well you see we are in love and our parents didn't approve. We had no choice but to flee and get married elsewhere. Klyton was the closest and safest place." "Disobedient to your parents huh? Now I know you're not fit for this city!" Annah at this point gets closer to the guard as she spins this tale. "I know we just look like delinquent ragamuffins to you, but we're just young and lacking options. We're just simple folks in the scheme of things and we can't help how we appear right now or how we feel about each other. Yes, we don't have much money, but my beloved is skilled in the blacksmithing trade. He's even willing to work as a dung sweeper if he can't get an apprenticeship and I fully intend on trying to get work as a waitress." Annah goes back to your side and holds your hand . "All we want to do is start a new life and family together here. Would you really deny us entry when the only thing we're guilty of is being young and in love?" She says and then kisses you on the cheek. At this point the guard Annah's been speaking to, wipes his eye. He then puts a hand in his pocket. "(sniffle) Here. Take this. Think of it as a wedding gift." He says and hands you a few silvers which you take. "Thank you sir." You say. "It's nothing. Go inside. (Sniffle) I'm not sure which gods you two worship, but there is a church of Joachim the Pure that's open all the time. You can probably get married there right now. It's just two rights and a left from where you go past the city gates. You can also find a cheap inn in the same area. You should have enough." The guard says still trying to keep it together. As you pass the guard, Annah thanks him and says that you'll both say a prayer in Joachim's name for his kindness. When you both get past the city gates and far enough away, you finally say something. "Okay, THAT was some of your best work. Shit, even I was starting to get a little choked up." You say smiling. "Think so? Thanks! If everyone here is as much of a soft sell as that guard, we're going to clean up." "Hopefully. Well we're finally here. Definitely bigger than I thought, we probably can get better bearings of this place tomorrow during the day. So you want to go find that inn the guard mentioned?" "You mean spend the night together? Why how improper! We aren't even married!" Annah laughs. You laugh too as the pair of you go seek a room for the night. Well, you're in a big city now. All you have to do now is figure out how to thrive here. Your mind races with a list of things you have to do. Even with Annah by your side, it's still going to be overwhelming at first, but you still have hope that you'll be able to find the fortune and purpose here that you weren't going to find in Teckleville. > You time passes... Chapter 2E: Partners In Crime Year 17 "Annah, I know how to pick a fucking lock, will you stop bitching? This is for your benefit. Are you even paying attention?" you say. "Yes, I'm fucking paying attention. I'm just getting bored and you're taking too fucking long. If I wanted that experience I'd just suck your dick." Annah replies. "Ha fucking ha. There. Got it." "Finally. Hey you asshole! Why the hell did you slap my hand?" Annah says, hitting you back. "Because if you were paying attention, you'd see there's a blade trap almost well hidden in the roof of the safe. Had I not been here, you'd be giving me hand jobs with your left hand rather than your right in your foreseeable future." "You won't be getting ANY sort of job if you continue to abuse me!" "Continue to…nevermind. Let me just disarm this and we can get the fuck out of here. And pay attention to what I'm doing!" So much for Annah changing when she got to Klyton. You sometimes think you've gotten to her and she'll stop bitching so much, but it's always just temporary. You really miss working with your sister. While Annah has certainly improved some of her skills she's ultimately just too damn impatient and lazy for all this and despite her bitching about being the "distraction" during some of your jobs, she relies on it a lot. You figured showing her the more practical and direct aspects of the job, she'd be more appreciative, but this character flaw of bitching non-stop is making you rethink this too. You get the strong impression that she'd rather not help you at all and just would rather reap the benefits. Which at this point might at least be easier on you since you'd be able to work in peace, though if that was the case, why the hell would you need to give her any of it? You'd be better off alone and keep everything. After swiftly disarming the trap, you grab the valuables inside which consists mainly of gold coins and couple pieces of expensive looking jewelry. Not a bad haul. Annah picked a good home to break into even if you would have liked a little more time to case the place first. Having gotten your loot, the pair of you leave as fast as possible. You both stop temporarily just before you get back to your neighborhood. "Hold on, let's be careful. Don't really feel like stumbling into any Bloody Talons right now, especially with this stash." You say. "I thought they were the Crimson Talons." Annah says. "I dunno, I think that was their old name. Heard something about a change in leadership and apparently the new leader is some sort of psycho. Nearly got into it with a few of them two days ago saying that I better not be working on their turf. Which apparently is practically most of the city according to them." "Well if we moved to a better neighborhood, we wouldn't have to sneak about like this and I don't like living at the Welcome Mat, there are a bunch of whores, drunks, and dregs of the city that live there." "The Welcome Mat is a shitty place I agree, but we're less likely to draw attention there. I mean we're a young couple with no visible means of support. Granted the asshole who runs the place is always bitching about his rent, but given that he's selling booze without a license in his basement and got whores living in his hotel he's not likely to turn us in. I mean there is also the militia to worry about and it feels like they've been increasing their own patrols in response to the Bloody Talons." "Pfft, nobody is going to care what we might be doing as long as we're paying the coin to live wherever we're choosing to live at and dressing the part" "Maybe, but I prefer that we also save a little of our coin because, who knows when we might need it for a bribe or to get the hell out of Klyton one day." "What's the point of stealing shit, if we're not going to have fun with it?! I'm tired of eating low class food and never getting to wear any of the shinies we take. If I wanted that life, I would have stayed in Teckleville." "Look, we'll talk about this later when we're not out in the open potentially…" "Well what do we have here?" A voice exclaims. You and Annah both turn around to see three men bigger than you. Not by much, but certain enough that three of them are more than you'd be able to handle with just a short sword. In fact you recognize them as the ones that you were just telling Annah about. "Hey, I know you! You're that shithead we spoke to earlier this week about not working on our turf. What the fuck are you doing here?" one of them says recognizing you as well. "Not working on your turf obviously. I'm not doing anything except…going off with this whore." You say "WHAT?!" Annah exclaims completely fucking up your excuse. "Hey paid your price, I'm not giving you another coin!" you remark trying to salvage the situation, but Annah is being uncooperative tonight. "I'm not a fucking whore, I had enough of being called that in Teckleville! And I'm not going to pretend to be one, just because you're scared of these three assholes." The two Bloody Talons are more amused than angry, but they haven't lost interest. "Nice try shithead. Now obviously since you tried to fucking lie to us, you HAVE been working on our turf. However, hand over what's in your pack now and you and your stupid bitch MIGHT walk away unscathed." The talkative one says. "Stupid bitch? You're the ones in a dumb ass gang probably giving half of your shit to your boss. I'd say you're the stupid bitches here." Annah replies. Going to be one of those nights… "Don't think I won't beat the shit out of you AFTER I'm done beating the shit out of your boyfriend here, you mouthy bitch." the talkative Talon warns. "Oh I can think of better things to do with her mouth." Another says. "Yeah…you might be right. Maybe we'll be taking something else along with what's in your pack." "You fuckers and your Halfling dicks aren't going to do shit! Now get the fuck out of here, before my boyfriend pulls out his pistol!" You have no firearm of any kind, but unlike Annah, you know when to take advantage of a cue. So you immediately reach into your clothing, which causes the Bloody Talons to immediately run from your position like idiots. Which is when you take the opportunity to grab Annah's hand and run the hell out of there as fast as you can. "HEY HE DOESN'T HAVE A GUN!" you hear one of the geniuses shout, but you and Annah don't look back or stop until you get to the safety of the Welcome Mat and even then you go straight to your room. You lock the door immediately and then you finally speak. "Annah, what the fuck is wrong with you?! We could have been killed!" you exclaim. "I know, that's why I got us out of that situation by bluffing that you had a gun. I'd think you'd be grateful that I'm so quick on my feet." You nearly have no words… "Grateful?! I could have gotten us out of that situation a lot easier if you'd just gone along with the whore story!" you say. "And I said I'm not a fucking whore and I'm not going to pretend to be one either! Besides, they weren't buying that story anyway. My way worked!" Annah replies. "Yeah, and what if they had been a little braver and called the bluff OR shit, one of them had a flintlock of their own?" "Pfft, they're cowardly gutter scum at heart that's why they rove in packs and are part of a bullshit gang and did you see how they were dressed? Fucking rags, no way they could even afford a firearm." You might as well be talking to a brick wall. While you're trying not to get frothing mad and think of a calm way to explain that now thanks to Annah, you definitely will have the Bloody Talons on your asses, Annah has moved on to taking your pack and emptying the contents on the bed and going through them. You notice she's putting aside a lot of the contents next to herself. "What're you doing?" you ask. "I'm taking my share. I figure since I saved our asses tonight, that entitles me to a lot more." "Saved our asses? I repeat, you nearly got us fucking killed! And on top of that, I had to prevent you from getting your hand chopped off because you were trying to grab shit before checking for traps!" "Why don't you want me to have nice things?" "What?" "You don't want me to have nice things! You don't want me to try to improve my self. You want to keep me dressed in rags, looking like shit and generally being miserable." "Annah, okay THAT is not even true. I don't have any control over how you…" "Are you afraid if I start feeling good about myself I'll start looking for someone better?" "Now you're just being melodramatic and ridiculous." "And there you go dismissing my feelings again!" "Annah, if you're so unhappy and dissatisfied with me, then why are you still around? I mean I'm not twisting your arm and holding you here." "So I'm an inconvenience to you? I'm starting to wonder if you really love me at all." You think about your next words and the possible consequences, but then you do it anyway, because you've had it. "I'm starting to wonder too, given all the shit you put me through on a daily basis!" Annah's eyes widen. "Be very careful with your next words to me." Annah warns. "Fuck that, I've tried everything with you and nothing fucking works! You are content on just berating me day in day out! When you aren't bitching about what I'm doing, you're finding new stuff to nag me about! I thought maybe things would be different here between us, but I guess not. So since you can't seem to let go, I'll do all the work as usual…" At this point you start grabbing all the loot on the bed and putting it into a nearby bag. Then you go to where you keep your "savings" and take some of that out and throw that into the bag as well. You then thrust the bag of valuables into Annah's hand. "Wha…what are you doing?" Annah asks. "Giving you what you obviously need. Hope you find someone better." You say and start pushing Annah towards the door who is resisting the whole time. "Hey! Tha…That's it? Just like that and you're just fucking kicking me out?! What about the rest of my clothes and belongings?!" "You got more than enough coin to buy all the nice things you ever wanted, and I know you have just enough skill to get by. It's been fun and I'll always remember the good times. Bye Annah." You say and you shove Annah out the door. You expect Annah to bang on the door or at least yell at you, maybe even cry, but that doesn't happen. You just hear her footsteps walking off. Things between the two of you were always volatile, probably for the best that this ended now. You always thought it would Annah that would eventually leave though; you guess maybe she just needed a little extra shove. Without much else to do and this being a bit of an exhausting event, you go to sleep. When you wake up its midday and feeling refreshed. "Annah, are you…oh right." You say remembering she's not here, which still seems odd. You sort of figured that maybe she'd sneak back in or something. Going to be a little weird without her around you think, but life goes on. After all you didn't expect her to come with you in the first place. You move on to pondering what your plans are today. While you gave most of the stash to Annah, you can easily live on what you have left for a month before you even need to go out again. You figure you'll ponder your long-term goals after getting something to eat. You take some of your coin and exit your room. As you're trying to leave the inn, you bump into Randi, the red headed whore that lives in the building. Better than that drunk Joachim priest Virgil asking for a donation again you suppose. "Hey handsome, what's going on?" she asks a bit flirtatiously. "Nothing, just going to get some food." you reply. "I see. Where's your girlfriend?" "Hell if I know, we're not together any more." "Is that right? Well, you looking for some company then?" "Eh, I wasn't planning on it…" "Oh come on, let me satisfy your other appetites. I'll even give you a discount for your broken heart." Randi says thrusting her chest out and moving in closer to you. You look at Randi who, as far as whores go isn't exactly top tier, though it looks like she's put a little more effort into her job today. Normally you probably wouldn't give Randi a second look, but it's not like you have anything better to do and she's probably going to be cheaper than a girl at an established brothel. > You go with Randi What the hell, moving on is all part of the healing process. "Okay Randi, let's go." You say. You go off with Randi back to her room where you have…an interesting time. Actually interesting is an understatement. While you really only have Annah to compare her to, you soon learn why Randi keeps in steady business despite not necessarily being the best looking of whores. Afterwards you spend some of the day seeking out new burglary opportunities, though since you're a lot lower on coin due to spending some of it on Randi earlier, you engage in a little more pick pocketing. A couple days pass and you have a burning sensation the next time you piss. "Shit." You exclaim and realize that Randi has left you a reminder of your good time with her. You really should have known better you suppose, but you're still angry. And you don't feel any less angry when you bump into her in the hallway. "Hey handsome, you interested in another date with me? I'll even give you another discount, you look like you're still in pain." Randi says. "Pain? Shit yeah I'm in pain. You fucking gave me crotch rot you dumb whore!" "What? Oh I did not. You probably just got the burn. Just go to the apothecary and get yourself the antidote. That's what other people do." "Maybe if you'd warned me ahead of time it wouldn't be fucking necessary!" "I find that when I tell people they change their mind. People are so judgmental about that sort of thing." "I fucking wonder why, get the hell out of my way disease bag!" "Oh fuck you. I didn't hear you complaining a few days ago!" You walk past Randi and make a quick trip to the nearest apothecary. Just your luck, you get there and there's a long line. Probably all there to get cured from the shit they caught from Randi. You wait for a few hours and the line never seems to move which makes sense since there's only one healer and his assistant working. By the time you start to get closer, the assistant decides to tell everyone that they're closing for the day. While this seems to come to no surprise to some of the people, and others grumble a bit, but you're one of the few that begins yelling loudly. "What!? I've been waiting fucking hours!" you exclaim. "Apologies sir, but my master is not taking any more business today, he needs to rest like everyone else." "Well wake him the fuck up! I got a case of dick fire over here and I need the fucking cure!" "Sir. I understand your issues. Look, if you come here first thing in the morning, you can be one of the first to get served." "What the name of the medicine I need?" "Excuse me sir?" "The medicine! What do I need exactly to cure my fucking dick?" The assistant is a little bewildered by your question, but he answers you and even tells you what it looks like when you ask. You then thank him and leave. The shop closes and you go back to the Welcome Mat (and shoving Virgil aside when he predictably asks you for coin as usual). You wait until the middle of the night and then make your way back to the apothecary, which you easily break into. After a bit of searching you find the medicine you're looking for and immediately down the stuff. It's foul, but hopefully it works as intended. Just in case, you grab several more bottles of the stuff. Feeling mildly more relieved of your situation; you exit the shop with the intent of heading back home. And then you feel a fist to the side of your face. This is then followed by a few kicks and then two people picking you up. "So, not working our turf huh? What the hell you doing breaking into a place we're protecting? Where's yer gun at? Oh right, you don't have one" a man says while searching you and taking away your weapons. "Hell, where's his mouthy bitch at? Still would like to shut her up." One of the men holding you up says. You can only see out one eye and its dark, but you know immediately that these are the same Bloody Talons you ran into the night you broke up with Annah. The one who just took away your weapons holds your dagger up in a threatening manner. "You're dead." He says. "Wait, I can…ugh!" you get out before taking a blade to your body repeatedly. Eventually your body hangs limp and the Bloody Talons drop you to the ground. Then with a final killing blow, one of them jams the dagger into the back of your neck and leave your bloody body to be gnawed on by the alley rats until morning.

Chapter 2E: Partners In Crime Year 17 "Annah, I know how to pick a fucking lock, will you stop bitching? This is for your benefit. Are you even paying attention?" you say. "Yes, I'm fucking paying attention. I'm just getting bored and you're taking too fucking long. If I wanted that experience I'd just suck your dick." Annah replies. "Ha fucking ha. There. Got it." "Finally. Hey you asshole! Why the hell did you slap my hand?" Annah says, hitting you back. "Because if you were paying attention, you'd see there's a blade trap almost well hidden in the roof of the safe. Had I not been here, you'd be giving me hand jobs with your left hand rather than your right in your foreseeable future." "You won't be getting ANY sort of job if you continue to abuse me!" "Continue to…nevermind. Let me just disarm this and we can get the fuck out of here. And pay attention to what I'm doing!" So much for Annah changing when she got to Klyton. You sometimes think you've gotten to her and she'll stop bitching so much, but it's always just temporary. You really miss working with your sister. While Annah has certainly improved some of her skills she's ultimately just too damn impatient and lazy for all this and despite her bitching about being the "distraction" during some of your jobs, she relies on it a lot. You figured showing her the more practical and direct aspects of the job, she'd be more appreciative, but this character flaw of bitching non-stop is making you rethink this too. You get the strong impression that she'd rather not help you at all and just would rather reap the benefits. Which at this point might at least be easier on you since you'd be able to work in peace, though if that was the case, why the hell would you need to give her any of it? You'd be better off alone and keep everything. After swiftly disarming the trap, you grab the valuables inside which consists mainly of gold coins and couple pieces of expensive looking jewelry. Not a bad haul. Annah picked a good home to break into even if you would have liked a little more time to case the place first. Having gotten your loot, the pair of you leave as fast as possible. You both stop temporarily just before you get back to your neighborhood. "Hold on, let's be careful. Don't really feel like stumbling into any Bloody Talons right now, especially with this stash." You say. "I thought they were the Crimson Talons." Annah says. "I dunno, I think that was their old name. Heard something about a change in leadership and apparently the new leader is some sort of psycho. Nearly got into it with a few of them two days ago saying that I better not be working on their turf. Which apparently is practically most of the city according to them." "Well if we moved to a better neighborhood, we wouldn't have to sneak about like this and I don't like living at the Welcome Mat, there are a bunch of whores, drunks, and dregs of the city that live there." "The Welcome Mat is a shitty place I agree, but we're less likely to draw attention there. I mean we're a young couple with no visible means of support. Granted the asshole who runs the place is always bitching about his rent, but given that he's selling booze without a license in his basement and got whores living in his hotel he's not likely to turn us in. I mean there is also the militia to worry about and it feels like they've been increasing their own patrols in response to the Bloody Talons." "Pfft, nobody is going to care what we might be doing as long as we're paying the coin to live wherever we're choosing to live at and dressing the part" "Maybe, but I prefer that we also save a little of our coin because, who knows when we might need it for a bribe or to get the hell out of Klyton one day." "What's the point of stealing shit, if we're not going to have fun with it?! I'm tired of eating low class food and never getting to wear any of the shinies we take. If I wanted that life, I would have stayed in Teckleville." "Look, we'll talk about this later when we're not out in the open potentially…" "Well what do we have here?" A voice exclaims. You and Annah both turn around to see three men bigger than you. Not by much, but certain enough that three of them are more than you'd be able to handle with just a short sword. In fact you recognize them as the ones that you were just telling Annah about. "Hey, I know you! You're that shithead we spoke to earlier this week about not working on our turf. What the fuck are you doing here?" one of them says recognizing you as well. "Not working on your turf obviously. I'm not doing anything except…going off with this whore." You say "WHAT?!" Annah exclaims completely fucking up your excuse. "Hey paid your price, I'm not giving you another coin!" you remark trying to salvage the situation, but Annah is being uncooperative tonight. "I'm not a fucking whore, I had enough of being called that in Teckleville! And I'm not going to pretend to be one, just because you're scared of these three assholes." The two Bloody Talons are more amused than angry, but they haven't lost interest. "Nice try shithead. Now obviously since you tried to fucking lie to us, you HAVE been working on our turf. However, hand over what's in your pack now and you and your stupid bitch MIGHT walk away unscathed." The talkative one says. "Stupid bitch? You're the ones in a dumb ass gang probably giving half of your shit to your boss. I'd say you're the stupid bitches here." Annah replies. Going to be one of those nights… "Don't think I won't beat the shit out of you AFTER I'm done beating the shit out of your boyfriend here, you mouthy bitch." the talkative Talon warns. "Oh I can think of better things to do with her mouth." Another says. "Yeah…you might be right. Maybe we'll be taking something else along with what's in your pack." "You fuckers and your Halfling dicks aren't going to do shit! Now get the fuck out of here, before my boyfriend pulls out his pistol!" You have no firearm of any kind, but unlike Annah, you know when to take advantage of a cue. So you immediately reach into your clothing, which causes the Bloody Talons to immediately run from your position like idiots. Which is when you take the opportunity to grab Annah's hand and run the hell out of there as fast as you can. "HEY HE DOESN'T HAVE A GUN!" you hear one of the geniuses shout, but you and Annah don't look back or stop until you get to the safety of the Welcome Mat and even then you go straight to your room. You lock the door immediately and then you finally speak. "Annah, what the fuck is wrong with you?! We could have been killed!" you exclaim. "I know, that's why I got us out of that situation by bluffing that you had a gun. I'd think you'd be grateful that I'm so quick on my feet." You nearly have no words… "Grateful?! I could have gotten us out of that situation a lot easier if you'd just gone along with the whore story!" you say. "And I said I'm not a fucking whore and I'm not going to pretend to be one either! Besides, they weren't buying that story anyway. My way worked!" Annah replies. "Yeah, and what if they had been a little braver and called the bluff OR shit, one of them had a flintlock of their own?" "Pfft, they're cowardly gutter scum at heart that's why they rove in packs and are part of a bullshit gang and did you see how they were dressed? Fucking rags, no way they could even afford a firearm." You might as well be talking to a brick wall. While you're trying not to get frothing mad and think of a calm way to explain that now thanks to Annah, you definitely will have the Bloody Talons on your asses, Annah has moved on to taking your pack and emptying the contents on the bed and going through them. You notice she's putting aside a lot of the contents next to herself. "What're you doing?" you ask. "I'm taking my share. I figure since I saved our asses tonight, that entitles me to a lot more." "Saved our asses? I repeat, you nearly got us fucking killed! And on top of that, I had to prevent you from getting your hand chopped off because you were trying to grab shit before checking for traps!" "Why don't you want me to have nice things?" "What?" "You don't want me to have nice things! You don't want me to try to improve my self. You want to keep me dressed in rags, looking like shit and generally being miserable." "Annah, okay THAT is not even true. I don't have any control over how you…" "Are you afraid if I start feeling good about myself I'll start looking for someone better?" "Now you're just being melodramatic and ridiculous." "And there you go dismissing my feelings again!" "Annah, if you're so unhappy and dissatisfied with me, then why are you still around? I mean I'm not twisting your arm and holding you here." "So I'm an inconvenience to you? I'm starting to wonder if you really love me at all." You think about your next words and the possible consequences, but then you do it anyway, because you've had it. "I'm starting to wonder too, given all the shit you put me through on a daily basis!" Annah's eyes widen. "Be very careful with your next words to me." Annah warns. "Fuck that, I've tried everything with you and nothing fucking works! You are content on just berating me day in day out! When you aren't bitching about what I'm doing, you're finding new stuff to nag me about! I thought maybe things would be different here between us, but I guess not. So since you can't seem to let go, I'll do all the work as usual…" At this point you start grabbing all the loot on the bed and putting it into a nearby bag. Then you go to where you keep your "savings" and take some of that out and throw that into the bag as well. You then thrust the bag of valuables into Annah's hand. "Wha…what are you doing?" Annah asks. "Giving you what you obviously need. Hope you find someone better." You say and start pushing Annah towards the door who is resisting the whole time. "Hey! Tha…That's it? Just like that and you're just fucking kicking me out?! What about the rest of my clothes and belongings?!" "You got more than enough coin to buy all the nice things you ever wanted, and I know you have just enough skill to get by. It's been fun and I'll always remember the good times. Bye Annah." You say and you shove Annah out the door. You expect Annah to bang on the door or at least yell at you, maybe even cry, but that doesn't happen. You just hear her footsteps walking off. Things between the two of you were always volatile, probably for the best that this ended now. You always thought it would Annah that would eventually leave though; you guess maybe she just needed a little extra shove. Without much else to do and this being a bit of an exhausting event, you go to sleep. When you wake up its midday and feeling refreshed. "Annah, are you…oh right." You say remembering she's not here, which still seems odd. You sort of figured that maybe she'd sneak back in or something. Going to be a little weird without her around you think, but life goes on. After all you didn't expect her to come with you in the first place. You move on to pondering what your plans are today. While you gave most of the stash to Annah, you can easily live on what you have left for a month before you even need to go out again. You figure you'll ponder your long-term goals after getting something to eat. You take some of your coin and exit your room. As you're trying to leave the inn, you bump into Randi, the red headed whore that lives in the building. Better than that drunk Joachim priest Virgil asking for a donation again you suppose. "Hey handsome, what's going on?" she asks a bit flirtatiously. "Nothing, just going to get some food." you reply. "I see. Where's your girlfriend?" "Hell if I know, we're not together any more." "Is that right? Well, you looking for some company then?" "Eh, I wasn't planning on it…" "Oh come on, let me satisfy your other appetites. I'll even give you a discount for your broken heart." Randi says thrusting her chest out and moving in closer to you. You look at Randi who, as far as whores go isn't exactly top tier, though it looks like she's put a little more effort into her job today. Normally you probably wouldn't give Randi a second look, but it's not like you have anything better to do and she's probably going to be cheaper than a girl at an established brothel. > You decline her invitation Maybe you're no longer with Annah, but if you're going to start fucking whores, you could still do better than Randi. "No thanks, I'm good." You say. "Hm, I understand. Still holding a candle for her huh? Y'know, anytime I saw you two together she was bitching at you. If you ask me, you seem like you're better off anyway." Randi says. "Well nobody asked you Randi, look just leave me alone, you aren't selling anything I'm interested in." Randi now looks offended. "Oh fuck you asshole. You think you're better than me? Your girlfriend obviously didn't think so since she wised up and left your ass." Randi says. "I broke up with her, you presumptuous whore." You say as she walks away waving a dismissing hand back at you. You leave the Welcome Mat and go get yourself some food and then spend the rest of the day seeking out new burglary opportunities. Normally you would have spent the rest of the day doing the whole distract and con jobs with Annah, but without her around now, you're content on focusing no longer having to directly deal with people. You spend the next few weeks working by yourself and generally getting by. You've manage to nearly build up what you gave to Annah. During this time you're also mainly avoiding the Bloody Talons (along with the Klyton Militia) who are a little more aware of you now thanks to that night Annah mouthed off to them. Fucking Annah… While you've generally been having a fine time without her constant bitching, you'd be lying if you said you didn't still think about her. She was fun in a lot of physical ways, it was just about everything else she did that made her less fun. You're still a little surprised that she hasn't popped up again on your doorstep. You thought maybe she would have by now. The fact that she hasn't does give you a little concern that maybe the Bloody Talons got a hold of her (or some similar fate) but if something bad has befallen her, there's not much you can do about it and it's certainly not your fault. Then again you did throw her out… "Bah, stop thinking about her. You're better off. She probably went back home a lot richer than I am right now." You mutter to yourself. As you're trying to put the thoughts of your ex out of your mind, you start wondering about the possibility of leaving Klyton yourself after you acquire a little more. Besides the Bloody Talons potentially giving you grief, they've also been terrorizing the city with their actions, which means the Klyton Militia has been cracking down harder on everything. Part of you wonders if maybe you should just move on from this city, but you really loathe the idea of travelling again and you aren't sure where you'd go. Hessla maybe? While you're pondering your possible future you bump into Virgil as you're stepping in the Welcome Mat. "Heeeeey youngster! (hic!) You got any spare….coppers fer the faith?" Virgil asks. The odor of Virgil's rancid breath hits you full force. You immediately cover your nose and mouth. You thought the followers of Joachim were supposed to be into purity and restraint. If you didn't know any better, you'd think Joachim was the god of alcohol and hopeless drunks based on this guy's behavior and actions. "Shit, Virgil. When the hell was the last time you washed? You fucking smell worse than a troll's ass. Granted I've never smelled a troll's ass, but I think it's a safe bet you smell worse than one." You say. "Guess again. Hahahahahahaha! (hic) So can ya spare a copper?" "No and I told you to stop bothering me Virgil! Don't you have a collection box you can pilfer booze money from?" you shout. "Yeah…but no…but I got some (hic) news…" "Yeah, I already know about Joachim's blessed light. You tried to tell me about it the first time I came here and you nearly threw up on me in the process." "I did? Geez, sorry son…but this is different! (hic) Some…somebody…" "Somebody what?" "Somebody was lookin' fer ya." Well that peaked your interest. "Oh?" you answer. "Yeah…(hic) Yeah, this big guy. I mean not like ogre big, but just human big ya know? Old guy too. (hic) I mean not as old as that asshole who own this place, but probably around my age." Virgil says. "Well that's still fucking old then, aren't you like seventy?" "Fuck you. I'll have you know I'm in my forties…I think…yeah…" "Okay, so big guy in his forties was looking for me. What did he want?" Of course NOW Virgil decides to be uncooperative. "No! No! Fuck you, I'm not tellin' you shit now. (hic) Who…who…what do you think I am some kinda asshole fer you to abuse? Callin' me seventy fuckin' years old. I oughta kick yer ass in the name of Joachim! Yer lucky I'm a man of faith…(hic)" At this point Virgil mumbles and stumbles away still mumbling and swearing. You suppose you could always ask him again later when he's feeling less feisty. He will have likely forgotten all about your so-called insult later, of course he probably will have forgotten about the guy looking for you too. As you head back to your room, you ponder who he could have been talking about. Your dad? Dad's not a big guy though and you honestly doubt if he would bother to come look for you. Might have been one of those Bloody Talon assholes, though honestly you're a bit surprised that they haven't shown up here before. Other than those possibilities, you're drawing a blank of who might be looking for you. It's a little concerning though. You'll just remain alert and keep an eye out this guy looking for you. Remain on your guard too, since you still don't know if this man means you harm or not. Hopefully Virgil can tell you something later. For now though you decide to get some sleep after your long night of thievery. As your lids get heavier, you think on where you could ply your trade with a little more ease and a lot more loot. The rich areas are well patrolled, the government district is well patrolled, the merchant district is well patrolled and has Bloody Talons running about, and the poor areas are definitely Bloody Talon territory and the folks don't have shit. It suddenly occurs to you that you've never really tried the university district of the city. Might be worth a look, after all it should be filled with stupid rich kids not aware of their surroundings and the Talons don't seem to go running around there, so there might be less heat overall. You wake up midday. After getting yourself ready for today's endeavors, you knock on Virgil's door, but there is no answer. He's either still asleep or he's out collecting donations for Joachim. Probably the latter considering you didn't contribute to his booze fund. You leave the Welcome Mat Inn, though a little more cautiously than usual. Nobody seems to be approaching or giving you suspicious looks though. Still, wishing to keep a low profile, you stick to the back streets as much as possible and eventually when you get to the better part of town, you catch a coach for your remaining trip to the university. By the time you arrive, the day is beginning to end, but you soon find that the university is still fairly active. After a few hours of just scouting and walking around, it's much like you figured. A lot of scholarly types with their noses in books and rich kids that do a lot of partying. The dorms have security, but oddly not as much as one might think. You find that despite being dressed in your lower class clothing, nobody is really giving you a second glance. It might be due to your youth though; you probably just look like a struggling student. Wasn't like your dad was exactly rich when he attended this place either. It occurs to you how strange it is to be at the university at all. You never thought you'd ever "attend" your dad's old place of higher learning. You're sure at one time he had hopes you would, but it probably wasn't under these circumstances. As you're having these inner reflections, you see a group of people hanging around laughing and generally having their attention focused on a little black and white curly haired dog, which is enjoying the attention. What gains your attention however is you recognize one of these people. It's Annah! Her hair is fixed up and she's dressed like she's the daughter of some rich nobleman. Looks like she put all that loot you gave her and indeed bought herself something nice and apparently she's bought a dog as well. You never knew she wanted one of those. Annah hasn't seen you, but that's probably because she's busy picking everyone's pockets while they're all distracted and laughing. Or rather she's trying to, the problem is the dog moves around enough that people are constantly changing the direction of where they're looking. You shake your head and move towards the group. "Excuse me, I'm new here and I'm looking for the medical school." You say. Annah's eyes instantly go wide and then they narrow with a "Get the fuck out of here." look. Meanwhile her little dog has also seen you and unlike with everyone else, it has decided to growl and give a little bark before running behind someone's leg. "Oh, sure it's just past those buildings over there." Someone answers. "Over there? I just came from over there and I didn't see it." You reply. "No, over to the west. There's a big statue. You can't miss it." "The big statue with the sword? I was over that way too and still didn't see it." "No, that's on the east side, I'm talking about the west side. There's a statue of a physician wearing a plague mask." "Can't say I've seen that. Where did you say it was again?" "The west side! The west!" "Okay, calm down! I was just asking where the medical school is and you're giving me directions to a statue." "I'm not give….argh." "Here let me try…" a girl says stepping in to explain. You manage to keep up this idiot charade for quite awhile completely exasperating the entire group to the point where several of them are calling you a retard and don't know how the hell you're even breathing, let alone getting in this university. Meanwhile Annah realizes what you're doing and manages to easily pick everyone's pockets while they're focused on you. She then takes off with her dog. "Oh wait, I'm supposed to go to the school of magic, not medicine. Duh. Apologies." You say trying not to laugh while everyone calls you names. As you walk away you decide to call it a night. While you didn't really engage in any lucrative opportunities yourself, you're sort of glad to learn that Annah is alive and well. You suppose you do miss her a bit. In any case, you decide that the university district might be the place to start plying your trade since the militia patrols are infrequent and the Bloody Talon assholes aren't around here. Of course that might mean bumping into Annah again so that's definitely a potential drawback, but it's still a big place and she doesn't have some claim on it. You'll try to stay out of her way though if you happen to see her. Over the next few days you start making your routine visits to the university. You find it particularly easy to just go into the dorms and start pilfering things. These students have more money than a sense of security it seems. And the actual university security must be everyone that tried out for the Klyton militia and failed miserably. After a week of looting the male dorms you decide to change it up and move on to the female dorms. You'll have to be more stealthy considering you can't just wander about as freely in there, but you've been doing this long enough now that you're confident that you shouldn't have too many problems. Fortunately there are always a lot of parties going on and this weekend there is a big one that everyone is supposed to be excited to go to, so you figure that's the best time to strike. After some stealthy moves you get in and begin rummaging through empty rooms. You're doing fairly well until you get to your fifth room and as you're going through one of the drawers you suddenly hear a little growl. "I KNEW you were fucking stalking me! Get out! Get the fuck out of my room!" Annah suddenly shouts and hits you in the head with a shoe. You have no idea where she was hiding, you thought you were pretty observant and careful. "Ow! Your room?" you say and begin blocking her attacks. "Yes! This is my fucking room! Checkers attack!" Annah commands and you feel her fluffy hound viciously bite you on the ankle. "Fuck! Little shit!" you say and kick the beast off of you causing it to yelp and hide behind Annah though still growling. "You fucking asshole! You kicked my dog!" "You told it to attack me! And how the hell is this your room, since when are you in college?" "What's it to you? What? You didn't think I could make it on my own did you?" "Well…" "You didn't! I knew it! You've never supported me! Well as you can see I'm doing just fine without you, better in fact!" "Oh sure, that's why I had to help you last week distracting those idiots you were trying to pick pocket." "I was doing just fine with that! So why the fuck are you here anyway? You trying to get back with me? Because if you are, that ship has sailed a long time ago the moment you threw me out! Now stop stalking me and get out before I call security!" > You try to explain yourself As usual Annah's overreacting and you just need to calm her down. "Annah, if you could just calm down a fucking second, I'm not fucking stalking you! I happen to…" you start to say before she interrupts. "HELP THERE'S A RAPIST IN MY ROOM! HELP! HELP!" Annah screams. "Annah! Are you fucking kidding me?!" Annah doesn't stop screaming though and then her dog starts barking again. This causes you to try to shut her up by grabbing her, but this just makes things worse as she begins to struggle and hit you while continuing to scream. Then on top of that, her dog bites your leg again. Realizing that she's in no mood to listen to reason and is just determined to get you out of here, you release her and shake her mutt off your leg and turn to leave. Before you get out the door though she throws something at you which hits you in the head pretty hard. "Fuck." You utter and stumble out the door. "I hope I cracked your fucking skull RAPIST!" Annah continues to shout. You stagger as fast as you can out of the dorm, but thanks to the blow to your head, you're feeling pretty dizzy. Annah's shouting also drew the attention of the few others that were currently in the dorm. The fact that she screamed rape doesn't help as now every other woman in the place is screaming too. You don't get far from the dorm when security shows up. Any other time security isn't a problem around here, but when several women are screaming rapist they come heavy. A gunshot is heard as you're trying to flee causing you to instinctively duck, though due to your dizziness, you end up tripping and falling. You manage to get back up and then another gunshot rings out. This one unfortunately hitting you in the back. You fall back down to the ground and don't get up again. If you were still alive, you probably wouldn't have found it surprising that Annah cried over you for weeks apologizing that she got you killed.

Maybe you're no longer with Annah, but if you're going to start fucking whores, you could still do better than Randi. "No thanks, I'm good." You say. "Hm, I understand. Still holding a candle for her huh? Y'know, anytime I saw you two together she was bitching at you. If you ask me, you seem like you're better off anyway." Randi says. "Well nobody asked you Randi, look just leave me alone, you aren't selling anything I'm interested in." Randi now looks offended. "Oh fuck you asshole. You think you're better than me? Your girlfriend obviously didn't think so since she wised up and left your ass." Randi says. "I broke up with her, you presumptuous whore." You say as she walks away waving a dismissing hand back at you. You leave the Welcome Mat and go get yourself some food and then spend the rest of the day seeking out new burglary opportunities. Normally you would have spent the rest of the day doing the whole distract and con jobs with Annah, but without her around now, you're content on focusing no longer having to directly deal with people. You spend the next few weeks working by yourself and generally getting by. You've manage to nearly build up what you gave to Annah. During this time you're also mainly avoiding the Bloody Talons (along with the Klyton Militia) who are a little more aware of you now thanks to that night Annah mouthed off to them. Fucking Annah… While you've generally been having a fine time without her constant bitching, you'd be lying if you said you didn't still think about her. She was fun in a lot of physical ways, it was just about everything else she did that made her less fun. You're still a little surprised that she hasn't popped up again on your doorstep. You thought maybe she would have by now. The fact that she hasn't does give you a little concern that maybe the Bloody Talons got a hold of her (or some similar fate) but if something bad has befallen her, there's not much you can do about it and it's certainly not your fault. Then again you did throw her out… "Bah, stop thinking about her. You're better off. She probably went back home a lot richer than I am right now." You mutter to yourself. As you're trying to put the thoughts of your ex out of your mind, you start wondering about the possibility of leaving Klyton yourself after you acquire a little more. Besides the Bloody Talons potentially giving you grief, they've also been terrorizing the city with their actions, which means the Klyton Militia has been cracking down harder on everything. Part of you wonders if maybe you should just move on from this city, but you really loathe the idea of travelling again and you aren't sure where you'd go. Hessla maybe? While you're pondering your possible future you bump into Virgil as you're stepping in the Welcome Mat. "Heeeeey youngster! (hic!) You got any spare….coppers fer the faith?" Virgil asks. The odor of Virgil's rancid breath hits you full force. You immediately cover your nose and mouth. You thought the followers of Joachim were supposed to be into purity and restraint. If you didn't know any better, you'd think Joachim was the god of alcohol and hopeless drunks based on this guy's behavior and actions. "Shit, Virgil. When the hell was the last time you washed? You fucking smell worse than a troll's ass. Granted I've never smelled a troll's ass, but I think it's a safe bet you smell worse than one." You say. "Guess again. Hahahahahahaha! (hic) So can ya spare a copper?" "No and I told you to stop bothering me Virgil! Don't you have a collection box you can pilfer booze money from?" you shout. "Yeah…but no…but I got some (hic) news…" "Yeah, I already know about Joachim's blessed light. You tried to tell me about it the first time I came here and you nearly threw up on me in the process." "I did? Geez, sorry son…but this is different! (hic) Some…somebody…" "Somebody what?" "Somebody was lookin' fer ya." Well that peaked your interest. "Oh?" you answer. "Yeah…(hic) Yeah, this big guy. I mean not like ogre big, but just human big ya know? Old guy too. (hic) I mean not as old as that asshole who own this place, but probably around my age." Virgil says. "Well that's still fucking old then, aren't you like seventy?" "Fuck you. I'll have you know I'm in my forties…I think…yeah…" "Okay, so big guy in his forties was looking for me. What did he want?" Of course NOW Virgil decides to be uncooperative. "No! No! Fuck you, I'm not tellin' you shit now. (hic) Who…who…what do you think I am some kinda asshole fer you to abuse? Callin' me seventy fuckin' years old. I oughta kick yer ass in the name of Joachim! Yer lucky I'm a man of faith…(hic)" At this point Virgil mumbles and stumbles away still mumbling and swearing. You suppose you could always ask him again later when he's feeling less feisty. He will have likely forgotten all about your so-called insult later, of course he probably will have forgotten about the guy looking for you too. As you head back to your room, you ponder who he could have been talking about. Your dad? Dad's not a big guy though and you honestly doubt if he would bother to come look for you. Might have been one of those Bloody Talon assholes, though honestly you're a bit surprised that they haven't shown up here before. Other than those possibilities, you're drawing a blank of who might be looking for you. It's a little concerning though. You'll just remain alert and keep an eye out this guy looking for you. Remain on your guard too, since you still don't know if this man means you harm or not. Hopefully Virgil can tell you something later. For now though you decide to get some sleep after your long night of thievery. As your lids get heavier, you think on where you could ply your trade with a little more ease and a lot more loot. The rich areas are well patrolled, the government district is well patrolled, the merchant district is well patrolled and has Bloody Talons running about, and the poor areas are definitely Bloody Talon territory and the folks don't have shit. It suddenly occurs to you that you've never really tried the university district of the city. Might be worth a look, after all it should be filled with stupid rich kids not aware of their surroundings and the Talons don't seem to go running around there, so there might be less heat overall. You wake up midday. After getting yourself ready for today's endeavors, you knock on Virgil's door, but there is no answer. He's either still asleep or he's out collecting donations for Joachim. Probably the latter considering you didn't contribute to his booze fund. You leave the Welcome Mat Inn, though a little more cautiously than usual. Nobody seems to be approaching or giving you suspicious looks though. Still, wishing to keep a low profile, you stick to the back streets as much as possible and eventually when you get to the better part of town, you catch a coach for your remaining trip to the university. By the time you arrive, the day is beginning to end, but you soon find that the university is still fairly active. After a few hours of just scouting and walking around, it's much like you figured. A lot of scholarly types with their noses in books and rich kids that do a lot of partying. The dorms have security, but oddly not as much as one might think. You find that despite being dressed in your lower class clothing, nobody is really giving you a second glance. It might be due to your youth though; you probably just look like a struggling student. Wasn't like your dad was exactly rich when he attended this place either. It occurs to you how strange it is to be at the university at all. You never thought you'd ever "attend" your dad's old place of higher learning. You're sure at one time he had hopes you would, but it probably wasn't under these circumstances. As you're having these inner reflections, you see a group of people hanging around laughing and generally having their attention focused on a little black and white curly haired dog, which is enjoying the attention. What gains your attention however is you recognize one of these people. It's Annah! Her hair is fixed up and she's dressed like she's the daughter of some rich nobleman. Looks like she put all that loot you gave her and indeed bought herself something nice and apparently she's bought a dog as well. You never knew she wanted one of those. Annah hasn't seen you, but that's probably because she's busy picking everyone's pockets while they're all distracted and laughing. Or rather she's trying to, the problem is the dog moves around enough that people are constantly changing the direction of where they're looking. You shake your head and move towards the group. "Excuse me, I'm new here and I'm looking for the medical school." You say. Annah's eyes instantly go wide and then they narrow with a "Get the fuck out of here." look. Meanwhile her little dog has also seen you and unlike with everyone else, it has decided to growl and give a little bark before running behind someone's leg. "Oh, sure it's just past those buildings over there." Someone answers. "Over there? I just came from over there and I didn't see it." You reply. "No, over to the west. There's a big statue. You can't miss it." "The big statue with the sword? I was over that way too and still didn't see it." "No, that's on the east side, I'm talking about the west side. There's a statue of a physician wearing a plague mask." "Can't say I've seen that. Where did you say it was again?" "The west side! The west!" "Okay, calm down! I was just asking where the medical school is and you're giving me directions to a statue." "I'm not give….argh." "Here let me try…" a girl says stepping in to explain. You manage to keep up this idiot charade for quite awhile completely exasperating the entire group to the point where several of them are calling you a retard and don't know how the hell you're even breathing, let alone getting in this university. Meanwhile Annah realizes what you're doing and manages to easily pick everyone's pockets while they're focused on you. She then takes off with her dog. "Oh wait, I'm supposed to go to the school of magic, not medicine. Duh. Apologies." You say trying not to laugh while everyone calls you names. As you walk away you decide to call it a night. While you didn't really engage in any lucrative opportunities yourself, you're sort of glad to learn that Annah is alive and well. You suppose you do miss her a bit. In any case, you decide that the university district might be the place to start plying your trade since the militia patrols are infrequent and the Bloody Talon assholes aren't around here. Of course that might mean bumping into Annah again so that's definitely a potential drawback, but it's still a big place and she doesn't have some claim on it. You'll try to stay out of her way though if you happen to see her. Over the next few days you start making your routine visits to the university. You find it particularly easy to just go into the dorms and start pilfering things. These students have more money than a sense of security it seems. And the actual university security must be everyone that tried out for the Klyton militia and failed miserably. After a week of looting the male dorms you decide to change it up and move on to the female dorms. You'll have to be more stealthy considering you can't just wander about as freely in there, but you've been doing this long enough now that you're confident that you shouldn't have too many problems. Fortunately there are always a lot of parties going on and this weekend there is a big one that everyone is supposed to be excited to go to, so you figure that's the best time to strike. After some stealthy moves you get in and begin rummaging through empty rooms. You're doing fairly well until you get to your fifth room and as you're going through one of the drawers you suddenly hear a little growl. "I KNEW you were fucking stalking me! Get out! Get the fuck out of my room!" Annah suddenly shouts and hits you in the head with a shoe. You have no idea where she was hiding, you thought you were pretty observant and careful. "Ow! Your room?" you say and begin blocking her attacks. "Yes! This is my fucking room! Checkers attack!" Annah commands and you feel her fluffy hound viciously bite you on the ankle. "Fuck! Little shit!" you say and kick the beast off of you causing it to yelp and hide behind Annah though still growling. "You fucking asshole! You kicked my dog!" "You told it to attack me! And how the hell is this your room, since when are you in college?" "What's it to you? What? You didn't think I could make it on my own did you?" "Well…" "You didn't! I knew it! You've never supported me! Well as you can see I'm doing just fine without you, better in fact!" "Oh sure, that's why I had to help you last week distracting those idiots you were trying to pick pocket." "I was doing just fine with that! So why the fuck are you here anyway? You trying to get back with me? Because if you are, that ship has sailed a long time ago the moment you threw me out! Now stop stalking me and get out before I call security!" > You just leave When Annah is like this, she's just going to keep on, and since she's obviously managed to fool people into thinking that she's a registered student here, you're at a disadvantage if she starts causing trouble. Best to just leave. You hold up your hands and bow your head. "Alright, alright, you win. I'll go. You won't see me anymore. Didn't mean to intrude and I'm glad you're doing well for yourself and not laying dead somewhere. I really mean that." You say and back off. Annah just sniffs at you with a scowl while petting Checkers in her arms. You leave the dorm with haste as well as the campus. Then its trip back to "home sweet home." You save your coin and walk back tonight, part of that walk involves thinking about Annah. You sort of figured you'd bump into her again, maybe on some level you might have even wanted to, but you didn't expect it to be like that. You're guessing she's been lying about being in college, but it has to be more than that if she's actually living in one of the dorms. You remember your dad saying he lived in one for a while and how it was a big hassle to get a room in one. You can only think that she stole someone's identity and maybe some forgery was involved. You suppose she could have paid someone to forge something or maybe they just don't bother checking the records very close anymore. In any case, she's apparently got a sweet set up for however long it lasts. Sort of wish you'd thought of something like that. You guess you under-estimated her resourcefulness. "Why the hell wasn't she suggesting this shit when we were together, instead of bitching all the time? Things might have…ugh, fuck it." You mutter. You get home to the Welcome Mat and bump into Trobart, the crusty owner of the place. He gives you a dirty look like he gives you all the time. "Hey you thieving asshole, I hope you stole enough to make rent this month because I'm raising it." He suddenly says. "What? Why?" you respond. "Because fuck you that's why. You're not special, it's going up for everyone. Speaking of not being special, I'm not your fucking personal secretary, so if you got lowlifes looking for you again, don't expect me to pass along another message!" "Message? What message?" "Some big guy probably in his forties or fifties, with a bushy beard, shaved head and weathered face came in and started asking everyone about you like he was the fucking Klyton Militia, put everyone on fucking edge." "Was he armed or something?" "No he wasn't fucking armed, at least not openly, but he was big and asking questions. Pretty sure you know that the folks here don't want that shit and I especially don't want it! I swear if you bring trouble here, I'm throwing your ass out!" "Yeah yeah got it." You say trying not to be excessively dismissive. "In any case, the fucker said he was carrying an important message for you from your family and that it's very urgent that you meet him at the Raggedy Man Inn." "That's it?" "Yeah that's fucking it." "Okay, thanks." Trobart shakes his head at you and moves on while you head back to your room. Along the way, you bump into Virgil who you haven't seen in a long time and were looking for, but now that Trobart's given you the info… "Heeeeey you…" Virgil starts to say. "Lost your chance Virgil, get out of my way." You say and shove him aside causing him to fall. You shut your door, ignoring Virgil's cursing and pondering this new information you've been given. Well this just keeps getting weirder. All you know about the Raggedy Man Inn is that it's in a worse part of Klyton than even you stay at. If this guy is some sort of courier, surely he already knows where to find you, especially if this is an urgent message from your family. And you can't begin to know what that might be if true. And why the hell wouldn't he just leave the message here? Unless it's something he has to deliver personally. Part of you wants to just head to the Raggedy Man Inn to confront this person once and for all, but all of this sounds so damn suspicious that you can't imagine going there would do you any good other than getting caught in a trap. Bloody Talons, pissed off ex, and some mysterious asshole looking for you, maybe its just time to leave Klyton completely. You really hate having to travel again though. Maybe you just need to find a better place to live. You'll think more on this tomorrow. Tomorrow comes and you go back to the university to ply your trade without any incident this time. You don't see Annah thankfully, but you've been keeping away from the female dorms and any popular gathering spots since that seems to be how she's working the place. You've actually taken an interest in sneaking into the medical school and stealing various drugs lying around. While it's not exactly an area you've been into before, you're fairly certain there's a market in selling typically unavailable drugs (and more reliable). You keep up your usual caution and after about a week, nobody is trying to tell you that some guy is looking for you anymore. You end up wondering if it was some message from your family after all. You've also made a nice profit from your dabbling in the drug trade. You even managed to perhaps get the Bloody Talons off your back since you sold to a lone Talon who seemed agreeable to the idea that maybe he could convince others to leave you alone if you managed to get more of the stuff. (You still aren't allowed to work on their turf though) With things going well you continue with your life a little more relaxed. And while you're coming back from the university one night… No sooner have you opened the door, when a hand strongly grips your hand and yanks you inside. You feel a foot trip you and you go plunging face first into the floor and hear the door being shut behind you. "Now hol…" you start to say before you feel a boot kicking you in the side of the head. "Stop talking, I don't want to hear your voice. This has to happen." You hear a voice say. You manage to roll over and see a muscular older man with a beard standing over you with a very large knife. This is the man that was looking for you. "Who…" you start to say again before the man descends on top of your body and punches you in the face with his free hand. "I said shut up! I thought about this. I thought about the pros and cons for a long time. The right and wrong. And ultimately it all comes back to justice." The man says. You never put it together based on the vague descriptions by other people before, but you know who this man is. He's Klint's father. "You took away my son and not only did you escape, but I see you merely plying your criminal ways here too. I could have easily told the Klyton militia about you, but no, I want to perform this justice myself. Not just for my son you murdered, but for ALL those you've hurt!" he shouts. "Checkers attack!" you hear and this is followed by growling. "AGH! Shit! Get off!" Klint's father shouts as Annah's dog has once again proven to be a vicious ankle biter. You have no idea when or why Annah was following you, but you're glad she did. (And a testament to her stealth skills again, because you never even knew she was) Taking advantage of the distraction, you grab Klint's father's wrist and wrestle the knife from his grip. The man is strong for his age, but between you, Checkers and even Annah hitting him in the head with a blackjack, you manage to disarm him and slide out from underneath. "Fucking bitch!" KF shouts, getting in an upright position, kicking Checkers off of his leg and slapping Annah at the same time. "I remember you too, you fucking whore. You can join your…Urk!" KF says before you interrupt him by stabbing him in the back. He clumsily punches at you by flailing his arms backwards and even hits you in the face, but you don't stop, you pull out the dagger and stab him again. And again, and again, and again, until he's lost his strength to even stand anymore. And then with all your strength you sink the blade in the back of his damned neck severing his spinal column from the rest of his head and through the front so part of the tip is coming out. "Stop! He's dead!" Annah says. "Shit…yeah…(pant) the fuck you come from?" you gasp. "I followed you obviously, but let's talk about that later, we need to get the fuck outta here!" "Fuck, right. Hold on." You immediately go grab your savings stash and shove it in your pack, while Annah has already picked up her dog and took off. "Hey cut out the noise! What the fuck are you degenerates doing over….oh what the fuck?!" Trobart says as he stands in the hallway just outside your door as you trying to exit the room. "Fuck. Look, here." You say and hand him a shitload of coins and even a few gems you had. "This ain't fucking enough! You've murdered this asshole right in my damn hotel! This is fucking serious! I run a clean place here." "Fine, here." You say dropping a few more coins in his overfilled hands which fall to the floor. "No, this is too fucking far! You're gonna…" "I don't have time for this…" You suddenly slam Trobart up against the wall which surprises the hell out of him. "Look here, you old fuck! This asshole just tried to kill me and it was self defense! But even if you don't believe that then believe this, if I can do THAT to this fucker, I can do WORSE to your ass. You tell the fucking militia and I will fucking burn this shithole to the damn ground and everyone in it after ram my fist up your ass and tear out your damn spine!" you threaten. "Alright! Alright! Shit! I know how to keep quiet you crazy fuck!" Trobart exclaims. "Good, keep the coin." You take your leave as quickly as possible. No sign of Annah, but then she always was good at making herself scarce whenever the shit really went down. You get a few blocks away and sure enough, you hear her. "Hey! Over here!" you hear Annah say from an alleyway. You stop and go over to her. "You all right?" she asks while holding Checkers who curls up as close as she can to Annah when she sees you. "Yeah, I'm fine. Probably won't need to worry about the law this time either. Well hopefully anyway." "Glad to hear it." "Hm, so why the hell were you following me? And before you even start, YES I am thankful you did, otherwise Klint's father probably would have killed me…shit I just realized I've killed that entire bloodline now and nearly under the same circumstances. Fucking hell…" "I was following you because I wanted to talk to you since I'm well aware that you've still been thieving at the university. Though I appreciate that you were staying out of my way." "What, have you been following me on the campus as well? Didn't you just accuse me of stalking you the last time we met?" "You were in my room! What the hell was I supposed to think? Look, I just want to know, were you serious when you said you were glad to see I was doing well without you?" "Well I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little envious that you've managed to have it a lot easier than me so quickly, but yes, I'd rather see you doing well than as I said before laying dead somewhere. I mean…yeah I guess I was an asshole that night I threw you out, but fuck you can't deny that you didn't play some part in compelling me to it." Annah surprisingly nods her head a bit. "Maybe…but you didn't have to be so mean. I cried over you for days." Annah says. "I find that hard to believe." You retort. "Well it's true you asshole! You were my first love, I had fun with you! And I thought you felt the same! I figured the best way to get over you was to just do it, but you still lingered in my mind every once in awhile. THEN you suddenly show up at the university and stir all my shit up again! I go some nights feeling sick thinking about what went so wrong that caused us to break up." Annah says getting emotional. Well now you really do feel like an asshole. You actually figured if Annah did have any strong feelings for you, she had gotten over them fairly quickly. "Sorry Annah." You say not really knowing how to follow up. "Look…" Annah says trying to maintain her composure. "I'm not saying we should get back together, because I dunno I guess you're right, maybe we're just not good like that. But we got history and I can't ignore that. I don't know anyone else in this city. Or at least nobody I really connect with. I still need ONE person that I really know in this city. Someone I can count on. So maybe… we can still work together from time to time?" You nod. "Of course. If there's ever some big job or even small job that you want to pull off and need extra help with, I'll be around." "Okay. Well, I should get back. What are you going to do?" "I dunno, find a new place to live I guess. Maybe move some place more upscale, hey how exactly DID you pull off living in a dorm anyway? I mean I have so many question about that situation." "Yes, well maybe another time. Anyway you take care, okay?" "I will." Annah turns and walks off. You watch her and follow her a bit until you see her catch a carriage. It's been a weird night. Your encounter with Annah aside, you still haven't fully processed the fact that you had to kill Klint's father tonight. You aren't quite sure how you feel about that, except better him than you. And that you really need to invest in a flintlock. You're done with this wrestling around on the floor with a knife shit. > You time passes... Year 21 "You're raising the rent here?!" you say. "Hey, cost of living. Or more specially Klyton raising property taxes to put it into security of the city. Your Bloody Talon pals have really been raising hell lately." Hank replies. "The Talons are far from being my pals. I don't even do business with those crazy fuckers anymore. Haven't ever since they pulled that shit last year where killed a bunch of the militia. Associating with psycho assholes on any level like that is a sure way of getting targeted." "Well be that as it may, the new rent price remains. Hey, you should be lucky; I'm letting you stay here. I don't generally have people making their homes here. Clientele tends to be travelling merchants and such staying for awhile, which I know damn well you're stealing from. Another risk I'm taking." "I'm also getting you proper pain killers for cheap and you don't have to roll the dice getting whatever the shit the apothecary thinks is going to work on any given day." "Another reason you're getting to stay here." "Bah, you let that dumb poet stay here for fucking free and as far as I can tell all she does is drive away your customers with her horrible poetry that she does on stage." "Yeah well unless you're somehow suddenly transforming into a young girl that's willing to suck my dick on a regular basis, you don't get to stay for free." You think for a moment. "Say Hank, what would you say if I told you I could find some actual talent to grace that stage of yours that might drum up more business?" "Well, I'd say that would certainly go a long way in decreasing your rent. The problem with that plan is I'm going to have to pay for actual talent unless you know of some idiots that are going to work for free or practically for free." "Oh I'm sure I could probably find some." "Well I'll be waiting then." Great, now all you have to do is go find some starving artist types. Time to take a trip to the university, specifically to the school of arts. Personally you've always tended to stay away from that area due to the unbearable pretentiousness and the fact that the fuckers never much coin to their name. Must be nice not having to do shit all day and having your expensive "education" being paid for you. You never really thought about it before, but shit, your dad worked fucking hard to achieve his goals. Makes you almost feel guilty about the fact that you pursued a life of crime, but at least you've got a little of his "work ethic" right? Also makes you appreciate some of the songs your sister made up in her spare time. Granted you never were much into some of the songs she wrote, but even when she was sixteen she was writing shit a lot better (and certainly playing a lot better) than some of these so called bards around here. Hopefully she's doing well, wherever she is. Knowing how Hank has a predilection for young girls, you attempt talk up some of those first. Unfortunately you aren't having much success for whatever reason. Normally something like this would crush your ego, but since you doing this more to alleviate your financial costs rather than getting laid, you're just more annoyed than anything else. Moving on to guys, you don't have much success there either. It would appear nobody is interested in slumming and are perfectly content on plying their trade at the artsy locations around the campus. You question how ANY of these fuckers know anything about "life experience" if they aren't even traveling out of their comfort zones. "Bunch of fucking poseurs. And of course none of them got two gold coins to their name." You mutter as you go through the pittance you managed to steal. As you're taking a break from your failed talent search, you run into a more familiar face. "What the hell are you doing on this part of campus? These fuckers don't have any coin and if you're trying to sell them drugs, you're doomed to fail since most of them all smoke that shitty version of Green Lotus that they grow themselves. Barely even gets you high." Annah remarks. "No kidding. That's all I've smelled since I've been here. Hate it. I wouldn't even be here if I wasn't trying to find cheap talent for the inn I'm currently living at. What're you doing here? And where's that little hell hound of yours?" you say. "I got a roommate that take classes over here and she needed me to help her move her big ass painting. Looks like she just vomited paint all over a white board, but I guess that's what gets you an A around here. As for Checkers, she's safely asleep at my place. So talent search huh? What's that all about?" "Just trying to lower my rent a bit. Hey, you got any more artsy friends that are into poetry and singing and shit like that?" "Eh, not really. Even Jenny, the one I just helped I'm only good with because she helped with a couple jobs last year." You tilt your head. "Been doing jobs without me?" you ask. "Sometimes, I don't need a master lock pick or safe cracker all the time. Sometimes honeyed words will do." "Didn't think you needed any help in that department." "I don't usually, but let's just say Jenny's willing to go that extra step sometimes to gain access to the inaccessible. Under certain circumstances, you'd probably like her." "Hm, I'll bet. Well I guess I'll see you around." "What so soon? We haven't seen each other for awhile. Come, I'll help you. What are you looking for exactly? " Annah asks. You explain the situation in greater detail and Annah says that she (or Jenny at least) can probably find what you're looking for. "Now, we can probably convince some of these girls into slumming, but the problem is, they aren't going to want to stick around. Especially if you're trying practically pimp them out to some gross old inn owner. So this means that doesn't really solve your issues. What you need is someone that's going to come back and is willing to work for practically nothing. Would a band suffice, because I got one in mind and they'll probably just perform for free drinks." Annah says. "Sure, what's the catch?" you ask. "Well they're a group of elves for one thing and I think you know how unruly those fuckers can get. It's mainly why this band doesn't play many places outside the few locations around the campus that are prepared for their brand of wild shit since most tavern and inn owners don't want to deal with them. Now the plus side is they're going to draw a crowd, believe me. I've seen it multiple times." "You think they'll go for it?" "Sure, they're elves. They are probably eager to play at a whole new location for a change. Plus Jenny will probably fuck all of them if that doesn't convince them." "Wow. Okay then. Oh, they aren't too destructive are they?" "Eh, not in the traditional sense no. I mean any damage they do cause is mostly confined to on stage and going to be minor compared to the crowd they bring in. However, they do have some rather interesting theatrics on stage. It's part of why people like to watch them." "Sounds reasonable I guess. What are they called anyway?" "Nature's Revenge." "Hm, how elven. Alright when's the soonest you can get all this done?" "Probably in a couple days. You're at the Laughing Devil right? We'll just show up on the weekend. Tell your inn owner to be prepared for a large crowd. Larger than that place has ever seen." "Sounds good. Well guess that's it then. Glad I ran into you. Been awhile since we've worked together on something." "I suppose it has." "So…you still in those dorms?" "Oh, nah. Couldn't keep up that ruse forever and still be officially enrolled here without arousing suspicion. I just live with Jenny now in this small home her parents pretty much paid for." Once again, Annah has a much better set up than you do. Not that you really care…okay maybe you're curious, but you have to ask… "Um, so you and this Jenny…" Annah rolls her eyes. "Ew. No. And you wish." Annah says. "Okay, okay, I had to ask. I still don't know how you originally pulled off this whole college student thing, which you still won't tell me." You say. "Another time perhaps. So what about you? You still living your usual frugal existence? I'm guessing so if you're concerned about your living arrangements." "The Laughing Devil isn't that cheap, and far from being the shithole the Welcome Mat was so it's not that frugal." "I'm also guessing you've probably got a small fortune hidden away like one of those dragon stories of old." "You always did know me." "Now that's one thing I never understood about you, why do you bother saving? You're an excellent thief. I mean I'd never deny that. You could be living so much better than you are." "Well I guess we can't all be blessed with the charisma you have." "You could probably work on that, but that's beside the point. I'm just saying you could be doing better. Sometimes I think you're content on being a near do well." Now you roll your eyes. "Right. This coming from the woman who is sponging off some other woman who is sponging off her parents. Look, you got your way of doing things, I got mine. I once again thank you for your help, but we're not fucking so I don't have to listen to this…whatever this is." You say. You start to walk away. "Well what if we were fucking?" You turn around. "What?" "I know you heard me. And I KNOW damn well you still think about it. I've know the stories about you requesting that those little brothel whores to try to look like me when you're at those places." "I did that like maybe few times years ago after we first broke up! Fuck, I mean I didn't…shit…how do you even know about that?" "Face it, you never got over me." "Hmm, considering that you have more of a habit of spying and stalking me, I'd say that could be said more about you." At this point Annah walks up closer to you. She's actually looking pretty good right now. The make up isn't too much, but it's definitely enough to make her look more seductive than she might normally. She smells nice too. Some sort of flowery perfume you guess. Living in luxury has its perks. "I've never denied it. Doesn't matter how many other guys I've been with since you, I've always said you were the first and will probably be my only true love." Annah says running her index finger down the side of your face. "I see…wait…how many guys have you been with?" you ask. "Hah…you jealous? See? Why don't you just admit that you fucked up, and breaking up with me was the worst mistake you ever made? Think about all time we've spent apart in this city yet still working great together as a team stealing from rich asshole's houses that I've cased. It's always been me and you versus everyone else. So much of that time while fruitful, could have been a lot more fun if we had been still intimate. I miss the fun we had. Don't you miss the fun?" Annah now practically has her legs wrapped around you. Fortunately you're still in the school of arts area so nobody is really paying much attention since public outdoor fucking isn't that uncommon around here, what with everyone being a free spirit and all. While you might just be thinking with your dick right now, you'd still rather have a bit of privacy. "Okay, Annah you got my attention, but if we're gonna do this, we need more privacy." You say. "Of course, let's go back to your place." Annah replies. "My place? That's a little far. Can't we just go to yours? Your roommate is in class right now." "Eh, I'd rather not. Without going into too much detail, I tried to have company over once when she wasn't around and she pitched a bitch about it. And given what I've got in store for you, it's going to be real obvious I've had someone over. Hell, we might not even be done by the time she gets back." You smile a little at that remark. "Is that right? Well maybe we can spare the extra time to go back to my place. We're taking a carriage though." You say. "Good, we can start on the way there then." Annah says. So after quickly catching a carriage and getting inside in, Annah is true to her word and wastes no time in getting started. By the gods you have missed her mouth… When you reach the Laughing Devil, you almost just want to fuck her in the carriage rather than pulling your pants up and going to your room. However you manage to do it anyway and are practically running with one hand holding up your pants and the other grabbing Annah's hand who is keeping up with your pace and going on about how she's going to do all those things that you had those whores do, but do it way better. You still don't know how she knew about some of that stuff, but you're eager to see her prove herself. You manage to get to your room and you've got your dick in her before you even get to the bed. In any case, once again Annah isn't fucking around (so to speak) and proves just what you've been missing all these years. You seriously don't remember it being this good before. Not that it was ever really bad with her, but this is something else. She's either learned something in the time you've been apart or she's been holding back all this time. It's so good in fact that you actually feel genuinely drained and get sleepy soon after you climax. "By the gods…I love you…" you utter and then drift off. > You later... You wake up and find that it's now nighttime. You groggily look around and don't see Annah. You call out to her, but there is no answer. You sit up and after stretching a bit, you suddenly have a horrible realization. "Oh shit. Shit! Shit! No, no, no, no. Fuck!" you say as you immediately go to the loose floorboard under the dresser where you keep your hidden savings. You continue to curse yourself for being so stupid and not realizing something was up from the start. And then you find that your savings are still there. Even the blade trap you have set hasn't been disturbed. You then breathe sigh a relief as you put everything back. While Annah didn't rip you off, you guess that she just didn't want to stick around. You figure that she had to get back to the university to get prepare things on her end. Or at least you thought she did until she comes walking back in the room. "Oh you're finally up sleepyhead. Given how long you slept, guessing you haven't had that sort of loving in a long time. Not surprised." Annah says. "You're still here." You reply. "Of course I am. Did you not want me to be?" "No! I do. I'm just surprised." "Why? What, did you think I was going to do, rob you blind while you were asleep and leave?" "Heh, no…" "Pfft, liar. You DID think that. I bet you checked all your hiding spots in this room after you woke up." Your silence confirms her accusations. "It's okay, I probably would have done the same. I came on so strong I guess it would be natural for you to have some suspicion." Annah says. "Actually, at the time I wasn't thinking at all except the obvious. In fact the only worry I had was that you might be fucking with me and were going to just leave me at the university with a massive hard on." You reply. "Nah, I'd never do that to you." "So where did you go?" "Oh I just came back from speaking to your inn owner Hank. Told him that all about the cheap talent that's going to grace his inn this weekend. He seemed receptive to the idea. Kept staring at my tits the whole time, I'm assuming if I hadn't mentioned that I was your girlfriend, he would have tried to touch me as well. Ugh, he's gross. But in any case everything's set on this side, I just have to speak with Nature's Revenge and a few others and this place will be party central." "You didn't need to speak to Hank, I would 've done that, but thanks for saving me the trouble. You've certainly been more than helpful today." "Well…I suppose I do have an ulterior motive of sorts." "…oh well I guess you're telling me to my face at least. Alright out with it." Annah sits next to you on the bed and holds one of your hands. This must be serious. "I need your help on a job." She says. "…that's it? I thought you were going to ask for something unreasonable. Wait, are we trying to rob a bank or city hall or something?" "No, nothing like that. Just need you to crack open Jenny's safe." Now you're totally confused. Annah smiles and explains before you can ask the obvious. "I've tried several times to get into the thing while she wasn't around, but no luck. I'm just not skilled at it like you are. I need an expert." Annah says. "Well that answers one obvious question, but why other one would be why? I mean not that I particularly care I suppose, but I was under the impression you were somewhat friends with this girl." "Eh, we have common interests in some regards. She's a typical rich kid doing illegal shit every now and then for kicks, but lately she's been sort of a bitch to live with. Which brings me to my other reason of why I'm doing this. I'm leaving the city so I figured I wouldn't leave empty handed." "Wait, you're leaving the city?! Why? Where are you going to go? Did you intend on telling me?" Annah goes on to tell you that she's getting bored of Klyton and wants to see more of the world. She says that when she first came to Klyton she initially wanted to live here for the rest of her life, believing it to have everything she'd ever want. She then says its funny that masquerading as a university student caused her to learn more about the world and how she wants to see more of it. So that's why she's leaving. As for telling you, she said she went back and forth on whether or not if she should since even though you weren't together any more, she got the impression that you might be inclined to talk her out of leaving. Running into you when she did and your reaction to her advances sort of solved that personal dilemma though. "I want you to come with me." She says. "Annah…" you start to say. "I know, I know, you're not a traveller and you hate it, but you'll be with me. That should certainly take some of the sting out. And I know…I know in the past how I was always nagging you. I think you'll find that I've changed a lot since then." "Well that is true." "I mean I want us to start completely over together and part of that would be leaving this city and going some place else." "Where would we go?" "I dunno, anywhere. Hessla for starters? The point is I want you to come with me. I mean…I just don't see it as a bad idea given how we obviously feel towards each other." Well Annah always does get right to the point on how she really feels about you. Maybe she's right, maybe you could use a change of scenery. You've certainly saved more than enough to move and live comfortably elsewhere. (You assume Hessla is probably cheaper, if that's your first destination) "Okay, Annah. I'll come with you, but that sort of makes this getting elven musicians and shit here sort of pointless." "Not really. I mean I still need some time to get ready for the trip and I imagine even with your meager belongings you might not want to just suddenly jump on a carriage. Also, this weekend is still going to be the best time to go rob Jenny's safe since she's going to be home the rest of the week. I can also convince her to come with me here to enjoy the show. So while I'm here with her, you can go clean out her safe and take a few other items as well." "So what exactly did this Jenny do to you?" "As I said, she's been a fucking bitch and even if I wasn't leaving the city, I'd probably be moving out soon anyway. Trust me, she's got this coming." "Hey, I'm not judging. So of course I'll need some more information on the lay out of this place." Annah goes into great detail about her place of residence and everything you'll find in it. She mentions the safe itself is under the bed, but points out that Jenny has a few nice pieces of jewelry in another more accessible box on her dresser. When you ask if she knows what's actually in the safe, Annah says as far as she knows there are some valuable family heirlooms in there and probably a few gems and coins as well. "Jenny might come from money, but she's a bit of a hording cheapskate, somewhat like you in that regard. As I said, under different circumstances, you'd probably get along with her." Annah say with a chuckle. Annah then tells you that when you're done robbing the place; meet her back at the Laughing Devil and you can go from there. In the meantime, Annah says she better get back to the university to get the rest of this plan in motion. You spend the rest of the week more or less taking it easy and mentally preparing yourself for taking another trip. You didn't envision yourself leaving Klyton like this, but you're starting to look forward to the idea. Maybe your dick's not so dumb. Annah comes to meet you the day before with a few bags (and Checkers who is still the furry little demon dog that growls at you when she sees you) stating that Nature's Revenge will be coming tomorrow night along with a few other amateur bard types, but definitely better than the chick spouting shitty poetry on a regular basis. She says word is already spreading around the university and there should be a large crowd. "So it's a all set. As you might have noticed I've brought some bags with me, I figured you won't mind me staying here tonight. It'll save time." Annah remarks. "Of course not, but what about Jenny?" you ask. "Oh I already told her about the big gathering tomorrow. I told her I'd meet her here and as far as she knows I'm just staying at my boyfriend's place tonight, which isn't a lie. Oh shit. I forgot my key to the house to give you." "Hardly a problem. I can pick the lock." "You're so talented. I'll be so glad when we're out of this city. I'm bored of it already. Come on, make me less bored." Annah says and begins caressing and kissing on you. You see no reason to decline this request and spend more quality time with Annah for the rest of day (and night). You wake up the next day a little later than usual and find Annah going through her bags. You also hear the sound of music and mild revelry in the distance. "Shit, is that the band? Am I late? Fuck I gotta get going!" you say. "Relax, Nature's Revenge isn't even here yet, that's just some opening act and it only just started. If you were late, I would have woke you up." Annah says. "Yeah…still I should get going." "Jenny's not even here yet either. You've got time." Annah says and stops what she's doing, goes over to the bad and grabs your cock. "Again? But…shouldn't I really get going?" you say. "As I said, you've got time. You can skip the foreplay." Annah says and before you can reply, she's kissing and getting on top you. Well no point in arguing with her when she's like this… After spending even more quality time with Annah (which took longer than you meant to) you're putting on your pants, grabbing your pack with tools, steeping over Checkers (who has been sleeping most of the time she's been here) and rushing out the door. "Be careful, I love you!" Annah beams while lying naked on the bed. "Yeah…and you stay exactly like that when I return." You reply and close the door. You run past the crowds in the Laughing Devil which are cheering some bard on stage and go outside where you run into three tattooed androgynous looking elves with wild colored hair carrying instruments and exiting a nearby carriage. You're guessing that this is Nature's Revenge. Not really giving a shit about them, you just push past and get in the easily accessible carriage and tell the driver to take you to the university. Eventually as you get close to the destination you get out since Annah's old home is off campus, not actually on it. When you finally get there, it's indeed a nice home, but not overly fancy. You've probably passed it a few times not really giving it a second look. After a quick perusal of the outside surroundings, you're guessing the Jenny has already left so you quickly get to work on picking the lock, which is easy for you of course. You get inside and immediately head to the location of the safe since you want to be in and out of here as soon as possible. Pushing the bed slightly, you uncover the safe and get to work. It's actually not too complex, but you're not surprised Annah couldn't get it open. She never was adept at it, hence why she's gotten you in the first place. You crack the safe and indeed find quite a bit of coin in the safe. You find a couple of small objects that may or may not be valuable though. Seems like Annah thought there was more in there than there actually was, still, it's not a bust by any means. As you finish dumping the contents into your pack, you're about to check the rest of the house, and that's when you suddenly hear the front door open! What the fuck!? Did she actually come home already? You didn't even remember to bring your weapons with you since you were in such a hurry, not that you wanted to turn this into a murder in the first place. You figure you got two options at this point, either hide or try to escape out a window. > You hide You quickly scramble from your prone position and look for a hiding spot. Your hope is you can somehow sneak past Jenny and run out the front door. You run into the other bedroom, which you presume, used to be Annah's and hide in the closet. First thing you notice is that Annah is leaving a shitload of clothes behind, but then again it would be impossible to pack everything. The second thing you notice is stout wooden hangers one of which you grab as a weapon just in case. Meanwhile, you hear giggling and footsteps of what sounds like two people rather than just one, and the lower sounding voice of the second voice sounds male. You stand in the closet listening to Jenny and whoever the guy is and hear them get closer, though eventually their voices trail off in a different direction and given what they're laughing and talking about, it sounds like they're heading towards Jenny's bedroom, which is a relief to you. When you hear the throes of ecstasy, that's when you make your move and quickly nip out of Annah's room, past Jenny's room and soon out the front door, with nobody the wiser. You put a lot of distance between yourself and Jenny's house and eventually you manage to catch a carriage and go back to the Laughing Devil. When you arrive, the place is the busiest you've ever seen. The merriment is even spilling outside a bit. So much so that you notice Klyton Watchmen milling about nearby which makes you a bit nervous. You head inside as fast as you can, fighting through the crowds. You see Nature's Revenge up on stage performing some sort of minor magical act along with one of them playing music. Its very colorful and interesting, but right now you just want to find Annah and get the hell out of here. You manage to make it to your room, as just as you do, Annah grabs your ass, scaring the hell out of you. "Hey handsome, you get lucky yet?" Annah remarks holding a drink in her other hand. "What the fuck! You startled me! And after…nevermind let's talk inside and do it quickly." You remark and start guiding Annah inside. "Alright, alright, I see you want to get to celebrating again." Annah hands you the drink she's holding when you get inside. "What's this for?" you ask. "To celebrate, I mean you were successful right?" Annah asks. "Yeah, but…" "Well have a drink then. I mean I know you don't do it a lot, but I think the start of our new lives is call for it. I'd drink with you, but I think I might have had my limit. Any more and I'll be dancing naked through the streets! Hey remember that time I nearly did that in Teckleville before you stopped me?" "Yeah, but…" Annah at this point shoves the drink in your hand and takes your pack out of your other hand. She opens it up and smiles. "Heh, I knew you'd be able to do it." She says and then kisses you on the lips. "Hey Annah I…" you start to say before being interrupted again. "Wait, I know how YOU really want to celebrate…" Annah begins taking off her clothes and getting on the bed. "Annah, I'm trying to tell you, I really think we should get out of here right now. There's Klyton Militia about outside and it's a little disconcerting that your friend Jenny came home while I was in the middle of robbing the place." "What? I didn't even see her leave. In fact I thought she was still out there." "Well no, she apparently came home with some guy and I had to sneak out." "Nobody saw you right?" "No." "Then there's nothing to worry about, come on lover, I got my own lock that I want your pick in." At this point Annah turns around on all fours and turns her head to the side to give you that "What're you waiting for, start fucking!" look. Without thinking about it anymore, you down the drink in your hand, toss it aside and start to unbuckle your pants. You manage to get a few minutes into it and you start to feel woozy. At first you just think that you're just getting too much of a good thing too fast, but then your vision starts to get blurry. "The fuck…shit…" you say and slide out of Annah and fall backwards on the floor narrowly missing Checkers who barks at you, being annoyed that your nearly fell on her. As your body goes numb and your vision now starts to darken, you genuinely think you're dying. You see Annah stand over you and then everything goes black. Later You wake up with a really bad headache. In fact most of your body aches, but you don't feel very weak and manage to sit up. Sunlight is coming through the window, so it must be daytime and your eyes are certainly feeling it. You manage to stand up and through the squinting, you notice a piece of paper on the nightstand. You notice there's writing on it and after rubbing your eyes a bit; you read it even though you have somewhat of an idea of what's happened. Asshole, If you're reading this then I've already left the city and you're awake. I wasn't sure if I drugged the drink too much, but I took a chance. I'm just glad you decided to drink at all. I wasn't confident I'd necessarily be able to knock you out by hitting you in the head. If you haven't checked already, you'll find that I've emptied your savings and taken everything you stole from that house you robbed yesterday. I could have ripped you off that first night we spent together, since I found the hiding spot while you were sleeping, but then I wouldn't have been able to use you one more time would I? I suppose you're wondering if I planned all this out, well no not initially. I really was getting ready to move on with my life and leave the city, but running into just presented an opportunity I couldn't pass up. Sweet revenge. Revenge that I kept toying with for years and finally had the guts to go through with. Honestly, I'm a little surprised that you fell so easily to my charms as well as my lies. I mean there never was a Jenny. That was just some woman's house I broke into recently and could never get the safe open. I guess you had more feelings for me than I thought, or maybe I'm just that good. But I hope it's the first because that means you might be having strong feelings of betrayal right now. I never forgot that night you threw me out. I never forgave it either. And fuck your lame ass apology you tried to give earlier about it. Hopefully this will give you some sort of taste of what I felt that night and if not, well at least I got your loot. And after all this, you're still my first love and probably my only because I can't trust anyone ever again. This is what you've done to me. Annah P.S. Don't bother going to Hessla to try to track me down, I didn't go there. You sit down on the bed and lie back trying to process all this. You got fucked in more ways than one and the worst part, you don't have anyone to blame but yourself. Your dick was dumb after all. You feel like you should be angrier about this and you are pissed to some extent. Maybe even a little hurt, but small part of you can't help but admire the fact that Annah pulled your strings so flawlessly. She must have been seething for years and still managed to keep it from you since you really thought she was over it. Some damn fine restraint on her part. Not much you can do about it anyway at this point. You suppose you could go to Hessla anyway since she might have been lying about not going there, but it'll be long walk since you don't even have money for a carriage there, of course that can be corrected pretty quickly. But what are you really going to do, if you do find her? Kill her? You're not going to do that even with as mad as you are, you know damn well you wouldn't be able to. You've never even hit her (except slapping her ass during sex) the whole time you were together and she was bitching at you constantly and arguably that was worse than what she just did to you since it was ongoing. Maybe she deserved her revenge, maybe you've just got a soft spot for her, or maybe you just can't be bothered. Whatever the case, you won't be chasing her down. As for what you're going to do, you guess you need to build up your coin all over again. She didn't take your tools or weapons, so that's a plus. The whole reason why you were leaving Klyton was to start this new life with Annah. Now that that's off the table, you might as well stay a little longer. Who knows though, maybe you will leave one day. You get dressed and gather your tools of the trade and exit your room ready to get to work. As you're doing so, you run into Hank who is telling his various employees to clean up the mess in the main room with the stage. He sees you and walks over. "Well I have to say, you came through. Got those elven bitches to agree to perform here once a month. With as many people that were here last night I made more money than I have in a month. Consider your rent lowered." Hank remarks. "Oh. Thanks. Told you I'd do it." You reply. "Hm. Where's that girlfriend of yours?" "Ah, she took off. Just wasn't working out y'know? She bitched a lot." "Oh. Yeah I guess I can understand that. Who needs that buzzing in your ear right? Still, she was sweeeet. I bet you had fun with her while it lasted." "Indeed." "Not as fine as those elven bitches though. Fuck, one of them had lips that could make a man cry and that one was fucking wild let me tell you." You give Hank an odd look. "What elven bitches are we talking about exactly?" you ask. "Nature's Revenge! The lead singer. She was a fucking beauty. I mean I know elves tend to be pretty, but fuck. I wasted no time in putting the moves on her after their set and she was already giving me head. Fucking hell it was great!" Hank remarks. "Uhh, Hank, all of them were guys." "What? Nah, you're fucking with me." "Hank, I'm really not. I'm serious. I mean I know it's hard to tell sometime with elves, but they were definitely guys. All of them." Hank's former happy expression drops and he sits down in a nearby chair with a hand over his mouth. "Hank? You, okay?" you ask. "I…but…she couldn't… I mean I would have known… by the gods…" "What?" "I…I fucked the elf in the ass." Hank whispers, with his eyes darting around making sure nobody else is listening. You nearly have to stop yourself from laughing. "How the hell did you not know, if you got that far?" you ask. "I dunno! I mean I just…I was drunk okay! She or he or whatever wanted to get fucked in the ass and I wasn't thinking with anything except my dick at that point. Oh shit, I feel sick…" Hank says. "Yep…thinking with your dick. Gets you into trouble every time. Though I gotta say, hasn't gotten me in quite the same trouble." "You can't tell anyone!" "Okay, okay, I'm not gonna say shit. However, I think I'd like my room to be free." "What?!" "You heard me." "Fuck you. Just fuck you." "Sorry, I'm not a free spirited elf." "Shhhh! Keep your voice down!" "So free room then?" "Yeah yeah sure! Just don't say anything!" "Sure thing, but how are you going to keep your elf from talking?" "Fuck. I'm gonna have…shit, I need to talk to her, I mean him, I mean…damnit!" "I'll leave you to it." As you leave Hank with his dilemma, you think to yourself, things could always be worse. > You time passes... Year 23 "Here you go, but Hank you really need to start going easy on this shit. It's getting a little harder to get. It's almost as if the Klyton medical school is starting to realize their Numb supply is getting stolen." You say giving Hank his fix. "Can't you just go steal from the hospital?" Hank asks. "Well yes I could and I have, but they got their shit a lot more secure. Probably better than some jewelry stores. I start making that place a regular target and the price is going to go up." "Up? You're already getting free fucking room and board!" "And you're still fucking that elf that you don't want anyone to know about." "You know, I've been thinking more about that and I'm starting to think that T'ra'ni is right and I shouldn't be ashamed of who I am. I mean why should I? It's no big deal." "Hm, well that fine that you're discovering shit about yourself. Personally I don't give a shit, but I've gotten very comfortable here and I'm saying I don't want to pay any fucking rent and if you try to make me, you aren't going to have to worry about if I'm going to blab about your sexual habits, you just won't be getting any more Numb. I got other customers and there are always other places I can find to live." Hank looks a little surprised by your hardened approach on this. You're not sure why, it's not like you two are good buddies or something. You're his fucking dealer and he's hooked on the shit you can easily get for him. "You're a fucking asshole." Hank replies. "Yeah well, be that as it may, this place isn't doing all that bad since I arrived. I don't see you starving and besides androgynous elves, you're swimming in college pussy and getting your drugs. So I say things are going to stay as they are for now." You say. Hank wants to say more, but he just gives you a dirty look and walks off. With that bullshit out of the way, you head to your free room. Before you even get there, you see a woman lingering in front of the door. She doesn't look like one of the college crowd that comes here now, or a merchant or possibly a wannabe bard. She's dressed in pragmatic clothing more suited to one skilled of the ways of a rogue. In some ways she looks a little like an older version of Annah. In other words, a woman of quality. "Ah, there you are. I was waiting for you and didn't want to just surprise you by waiting inside your room. You know, you really should get better locks on the door. I'd think someone like you would know better." The woman remarks. "It's not usually a problem. Besides, I learned a long time ago that it often doesn't matter how good the lock, if someone wants in, they're getting in." you reply. "True. I guess you would know. Anyway, I'm Zalmora." "Hm. Is that supposed to mean something?" "No, though I know you've sold shit to the Bloody Talons in the past, surprised you haven't heard any of them talking about me in passing. Or more likely bitching about me." "I don't really have long conversations with Talon assholes. I generally just want them to buy their shit and go murder an old lady or whatever it is they do nowadays. In fact, are they still even around? Last I heard a shitload of them got killed two months ago in a big Klyton militia raid. Including their leader Jake." "Yeah, the Bloody Talons are indeed no more. Oh sure there's a couple of them still lingering about trying to keep what's left of the rabble, but I anticipate that even that will be gone by the end of the year thanks to the militia." "Well, that's what they get for being so high profile and generally being a bunch of unsubtle idiots. Wait, were you in the Talons?" "I was. And it's all true, they were a bunch of unsubtle idiots. Wasn't always like that of course when we were the Crimson Talons, but well shit happens. Perhaps that's how I managed to stay undetected since I was probably one of the few that was still a professional. Kind of like you in that way right?" "I guess. So why'd you stay?" "Love I guess? I mean Jake was a bloodthirsty asshole that was a terrible leader, but I think he cared about me as much as he understood it anyway. And he had a certain charm, at times." "Sounds like a true love story. Anyway, what did you want? Are you here to buy or something?" "Actually I was wondering if you'd be interested in doing a job with me. I'm well aware of your skills and I think it would go a lot easier with your assistance." "I'm sure it would, but I don't partner with anyone." "You don't? I thought you had a girl you routinely partnered with all the time. Wasn't she your girlfriend or…oh wait…bad break up?" You don't reply. "Okay, I see. Yeah I suppose that might put a crimp in your trust level which is probably low enough seeing our line of work and all." Zalmora remarks. "Not to mention I don't even know you." You add. "Well does that matter? I'd argue that familiarity is one of the more minor factors in whether you can trust someone or not. I mean there were a few times in the Talons where apparent friends backstabbed each other." "I suppose that's a valid point. However, it's still a factor never the less. I mean just speaking on a professional level, I know I'm good, but I don't know how good YOU are. I just know you were in the Bloody Talons and given what I knew of most of them doesn't speak highly." Zalmora chuckles a bit. "Something funny?" you ask. "Yeah. Never thought MY skills would ever be called into question. That's good though, means you really are a professional and serious about your work. Look, I'm going to go ahead and tell you what the job is. Kenzer's Gems and Jewels." Zalmora says. "Kenzer's huh? I just got done telling someone that the Klyton hospital has better security then most jewelry stores and of course now you're telling me you're hitting the one exception. Place might as well be a bank. In fact a bank might be easier. Still, you got my attention so you might as well come inside and tell me of this mad plan." You open the door and you both enter where after mentioning something about your room, she goes into detail about the plan. The plan is actually surprisingly simple. It's just a basic break in with more attention on the security and locks. She says that she's actually been casing the place on and off for a year and even acquired special dwarven thieving tools to help in her task. Her main concern is possible magic protection which seems like a given and partially asked for your help since she knows your area is the university which also houses the college of magic and was wondering if perhaps you had any access to or perhaps even acquired anything that might bypass such things. You explain that you've always sort of stayed away from the college of magic despite lurking around there a couple times out of curiosity. You say you've toyed with the idea pilfering from there before since it never seemed like the place was any better protected than most of the other parts of the university, but you were always a bit paranoid that you'd pick up something that might just give you a fate worse than death. Zalmora nods at your words. "I see. Well would you have any problems with me poking about the place?" Zalmora asks. "What the college of magic? No. I mean you don't need my permission." You say. "Yes, I know I don't, however I know its in your territory so to speak, I don't really want to cause any potential problems." "Heh, well gotta say, I'm not used to this sort of professional courtesy from anyone before, let alone anyone from the Talons who were often telling ME to get the fuck off their territory whether I was working there or not. In any case, you'll get no issues from me. Though I'd be careful fucking around in there." "Risks of the trade. I imagine you'd know something of that." "True, though I think I make more coin selling the various hospital drugs I steal. If I actually knew how to make the shit, I'd probably just do that instead because its far less work especially since there's practically no competition. Unless you count the various Green Lotus dealers and they certainly don't count." "Yeah the Talons were once in the drug trade. Not sure why we stopped really. I think the new leader at the time Tom wanted to step away from it since it drew too much heat. Then again Yellow Devil causing addicts to melt would certainly that. Sort of figured when Jake took charge we might get back into it, but still a bit too organized for him I think. Honestly I think he would have just preferred leading a gang that ambushed travellers on the roads." "Hm. Well he certainly might have lasted longer. You act like a mad dog, you'll eventually get put down like one." "Indeed. However, I'd say staying put and getting too comfortable like a fat lazy cat is likely to get one eventually grabbed by the scruff, put in a bag and thrown in a river." "Okay, I feel like that was directed at me." "More of a warning. Not sure if you realize it or not but security has increased a lot in the city. Granted a lot of that might be the fault of the Bloody Talons making such a mess of things, but the reasons don't matter. What matters is, things are getting harder for people like us." "Didn't you just say that's the risks of the trade?" "Yeah, but there's also anticipating getting out of the way of trouble you can't handle. Not saying that time is now, but it's coming soon. And this nice comfortable set up you have might all come crashing down even if you're careful. After all, with the Talons out of the way, attention is going to focus on the next biggest criminals in the city and I'd say you'd fit the bill." "Duly noted. Well if you're done with your warnings, I have things to do." Zalmora looks at you and starts to leave, but you can already tell she's not done talking. Story of your life. "So you're not interested in partnering up?" Zalmora asks. "Why are you so interested in partnering up with me? I mean I get some of the reasons that you've explained, but this is still pretty damn sudden. I mean there's still a trust issue here." "Well because as you pointed out robbing Kenzer's isn't going to be an easy job and it would probably be better to have an extra pair of eyes and hands around. And…maybe this is going to sound odd from someone you don't know, but you're obviously a talented thief and maybe I just like a little social interaction from time to time from another one in our business." "So…what then? You miss your Talon buddies? I can't help with that. They were a bunch of idiots and I was never in this to make friends. Unless you're saying you're missing your boyfriend. If that's the case, well…as you've gathered I'm not exactly trusting on that front either however I'm not going to say no to a tumble I suppose." Zalmora sighs at you. "Fine, you're an asshole like everyone else in this trade then. Thanks for what information you did provide and apologies for wasting your time." Zalmora at this point turns to leave for real this time and there's a part of you that wants to stop her, even though you think it might be more trouble than its worth. > You let Zalmora go No, you went down that road before. Not going down it again especially not with someone you know practically nothing about. And you certainly aren't going to take the risk of robbing Kenzer's. There are easier targets, no need to take unnecessary chances. You just hope she doesn't fuck things up for you when she goes poking around the magic college. You return to your usual routine. A couple days later a big explosion is heard from another part of the city. You don't know what it is until much later. Turns out that it was Kenzer's jewelry store. You eventually get the story of a failed attempt at robbing the store in the night and apparently the one involved died in the explosion. Burned body parts were found amongst the destruction. You can only guess that was Zalmora. Hell of a way to go, but given you didn't think it was a great idea anyway, you're glad you decided not to go with her. Once again you return to your usual routine. Year 24 "Hank. Hank. HANK!" you shout. "Huh, wha?" Hank sputters while waking up and drooling on himself. 'Here. I got your latest supply of Gray." Hank fumbles to get the bag a couple times, but eventually he does. He then says something about you know where his safe is and just take the money from there, before he shoves the pills in his mouth. You thought he was bad on Numb, but ever since you had to start stealing a poor substitute used mainly on people with the plague, he's gotten a lot worse. He even offered to blow you for a fix once. It was pretty pathetic. The Laughing Devil is barely functioning like it used to anymore. Long gone are the wild parties filled with college types. Now it's starting to become a hang out for the dregs of the city. Granted half of the people are your customers, so you're probably a big part of the problem. The bigger problem is it's not exactly all that great to live at anymore. At one time you were just living here for free because the owner was dependent on you. Now, it's pretty much acting as a front for your activities since Hank has really fallen behind in running it proper. Not to mention you're starting to get paranoid that the whole place might get raided one day. Klyton is just becoming more of a problem to operate in everyday. You start to think that maybe its time to leave. Of course, you do have a pretty good set up here. If you took more of a hand in cleaning it up a bit, you might be able to continue to go unnoticed. It would be like owning your own inn without having to actually run it. > You fix up the inn You've worked too hard and grown too accustomed to your life style here and you're not about to be scared off. You just need to make some severe changes. The irony that you're actually going to work hard to keep an inn open isn't lost on you. First things first, you need to get rid of Hank. The guy is too far gone now to run this place properly and even if you could get him clean, you wouldn't exactly have a hold over him anymore. In fact, he'd probably start trying to reassert himself again. Which means you need someone new to run the place, or at least do all the actual "inn" shit. The problem is Hank hasn't been able to keep many steady employees ever since his severe downslide. In fact the ONLY person that's still hanging around with him is Amanda, the awful poet that he was sticking his dick in on a regular basis when you first got here. You're not quite sure why she still hangs around. She doesn't do poetry anymore and you're fairly certain she's not still fucking him either. She's not even a junkie. As near as you can figure, she's just living here for free and helping out with keeping the inn running so it doesn't get shut down and she's living on the streets. You don't think you've ever talked too much to Amanda before, but today that's going to change. You wait until Amanda is seemingly not busy and then approach her as she's taking a break. "Another hard day of work, am I right?" you say sitting down at the same table. "Huh? Yeah." She answers. "Sucks how much you have to do around here and you're practically doing it all yourself." "Life's tough all over." "True, but Hank could at least help you out more than he has. I mean it's his fucking inn and the guy is just letting the place go to shit. I remember when this place was really popular." "Would have been better had that not ever happened. Just made things worse, sort of like you." "Pardon?" "You've been living here for years now and you have never said two fucking words to me before. Now all of a sudden you're speaking to me? What the hell do you want?" "The fuck's with the hostility?" "You fucking ruined my life that's why! YOU were the one that invited all those other poets and musicians to perform here, which showed me, how I don't even have as much talent as a bunch of fucking college kids. Then on top of everything else you turned Hank into a brain dead zombie and made this place into a damn drug den. So now because I have no other fucking skills whatsoever, I'm stuck here trying to prop up Hank because he's practically all I fucking got at this point and making sure this place stays afloat, that is if the militia doesn't raid the place one day soon." Well you sort of weren't expecting that rant. In fact you expected Amanda to be a meek girl with esteem issues, but seems like there's more that meets the eye. No matter, you can still work with this. "Well, consider this my way of making amends for troubling you because I've come up with a plan that might benefit the both of us." "What're you talking about?" You explain you want to clean this place up since she's right to be worried about the place getting raided by the militia. You also tell her that she doesn't need to prop Hank up either since she could easily just run the inn herself seeing as she's practically doing that now. "So wait, are you suggesting that I kill Hank? I don't think I could do that even if I never had the highest opinion of him to begin with." Amanda says. "No, you don't kill him right away. YOU marry him, THEN you kill him. That way you'll get the inn without any hassle." You say. "Fucking hell, that's pretty fucking cold. I mean shit, I just don't have that in me I don't think." "If you had it in you to blow that sleezy fucker on a regular basis, along with continuing to work a thankless job just for a roof over your head, pretty sure murder shouldn't be an issue. Besides, just look at the guy. You'd be doing him a favor at this point." "Oh fuck you, you're a fucking thief and drug dealer. You're in no position to judge me! And I'm not a murderer." "Okay fine I'll do the fucking deed. Figured I might have to anyway. Hell I'll even make it painless. I'll just give him something lethal and tell him it'll make him feel better. Boom. Mission accomplished. Then you can just continue running the place with free reign. Does that make it easier for you?" You remark. "I suppose, but I still don't see how this makes things better for the inn. I mean it's still a drug den." "Yeah, I'm going to take steps to help you clean up the place in that regard. I've sort of realized that I started to get lazy and began shitting where I eat. I need to keep my business separate from this place. I'll try to also get the college crowd back in this place." "Ugh. Hate those pretentious fuckers." "Yeah well rich kids with coin to waste like to drink so it's worth it." "So what's all in this for you again?" "I don't like moving and I like living here for free too so I feel that helping you achieve ownership of this place should cover my rent for a lifetime." "Well I suppose that's reasonable. So, I need to get married huh? Never thought it would be under these circumstances. I'm just wondering what priest is going to be willing to do it though. I mean most of those Joachimite fuckers are so puritanical that they might refuse based on Hank being so zonked. And I doubt if Hank will be up to walking to city hall. We might have to dry him out and if we do that, he might not necessarily be in the frame of mind to marry me." "Nah, I actually know of a priest who's perfect for this. So do we have a deal?" "That's it? There's nothing else involved is there? I mean you're not going to ask for sexual favors are you?" "No, hadn't planned on it." "Okay. Deal. But I don't want to know about what you're going to do to Hank exactly and I want his body taken care of because that's not something I want any part of." "Fine. As I said, I'll take care of that. Right then; guess I'm off to get the priest and sort all that shit out. The sooner we get this rolling the better." With the first part of your plan in mind, you head to the Welcome Mat where you hope Virgil is still living. When you arrive, you see the place is still the same shithole it's always been, though it probably isn't much worse than the Laughing Devil at this point. Thankfully Trobart isn't around to give you any shit. You go to Virgil's room and knock. When you get no answer, you just pick the lock and open the door. You find him predictably passed out. "Virgil! Virgil! Get up you old drunk! Got work for you and probably some free booze on top of it." You exclaim. "Huh? Wha?" Virgil sputters. "Hm, funny how that bit of information woke you up immediately. Seriously, get up I need you for a wedding." "Wazzat? Weddin'?" "Yeah a wedding." "K…wait you gettin' married to dat girl you run around wit?" "Oh no, I'm not getting married at all, this is for someone else." "Oh good. Dat girl was a bitch." "Hah, yes. Yes she was." "So who you marryin?" "I told you, I'm not getting married, I need you to marry two other people. Now enough with the questions and let's go!" "Alright! Alright! Fuck. Dere better be a sizable donat…(hic!) donation fer Joachim." "Yeah, yeah, there will be, now come on." You help Virgil up off the floor and begin to help him out his room. No sooner have you started doing this when you hear a bunch of noise followed by shouting. "IN THE NAME OF THE KLYTON MILITIA THIS PLACE HAS BEEN MARKED AS UNLAWFUL IN THE EYES OF THE LAW!" you hear a voice exclaim. You can't believe this. This is exactly what you were working to avoid at the Laughing Devil and you get caught up in a raid upon your return here! You immediately drop Virgil and try to run out the back way of the Welcome Mat, but the militia already has that covered as well when several of them bust in the back door. You turn to run back the other way, and thanks to a few of the militia being overly enthusiastic about their job, you get a poleaxe to your back and then trampled on by several heavy boots when you fall to the floor. This results in severe head trauma which doesn't kill you immediately, but you do go unconscious. A coma in fact. If someone was a kind soul that was checking, your life might have been still saved by a healing potion or even medical attention. However the militia just assumes you're just one of the many law breaking casualties and they toss your unconscious body on the cart with the rest of the dead after they've taken the living into custody. You aren't unconscious for too much longer however and at some point during the journey to the mass grave they dump you in, your life slips away altogether, sparing you from being buried alive.

No, you went down that road before. Not going down it again especially not with someone you know practically nothing about. And you certainly aren't going to take the risk of robbing Kenzer's. There are easier targets, no need to take unnecessary chances. You just hope she doesn't fuck things up for you when she goes poking around the magic college. You return to your usual routine. A couple days later a big explosion is heard from another part of the city. You don't know what it is until much later. Turns out that it was Kenzer's jewelry store. You eventually get the story of a failed attempt at robbing the store in the night and apparently the one involved died in the explosion. Burned body parts were found amongst the destruction. You can only guess that was Zalmora. Hell of a way to go, but given you didn't think it was a great idea anyway, you're glad you decided not to go with her. Once again you return to your usual routine. Year 24 "Hank. Hank. HANK!" you shout. "Huh, wha?" Hank sputters while waking up and drooling on himself. 'Here. I got your latest supply of Gray." Hank fumbles to get the bag a couple times, but eventually he does. He then says something about you know where his safe is and just take the money from there, before he shoves the pills in his mouth. You thought he was bad on Numb, but ever since you had to start stealing a poor substitute used mainly on people with the plague, he's gotten a lot worse. He even offered to blow you for a fix once. It was pretty pathetic. The Laughing Devil is barely functioning like it used to anymore. Long gone are the wild parties filled with college types. Now it's starting to become a hang out for the dregs of the city. Granted half of the people are your customers, so you're probably a big part of the problem. The bigger problem is it's not exactly all that great to live at anymore. At one time you were just living here for free because the owner was dependent on you. Now, it's pretty much acting as a front for your activities since Hank has really fallen behind in running it proper. Not to mention you're starting to get paranoid that the whole place might get raided one day. Klyton is just becoming more of a problem to operate in everyday. You start to think that maybe its time to leave. Of course, you do have a pretty good set up here. If you took more of a hand in cleaning it up a bit, you might be able to continue to go unnoticed. It would be like owning your own inn without having to actually run it. > You get out now Yeah, you're not taking any chances. You need to get the hell out now. Where to go though is the issue. Lacking any other ideas, you suppose you'll head to Hessla and take it from there. One of the problems with being thrifty thief/drug dealer is you've got more coin than you can easily carry. Granted you've got it hidden in what you believe is a good location, you won't be able to easily check on it, even if you come back here to transport more of it later. That's going to have to be a concern for later though. You can always steal more coin. You've had to start over again before, you can do it again if need be. You pack up all your important shit, along with some of your savings and immediately make your way to the carriage station. There is a lot of militia milling about when you get there, but fortunately other than a few suspicious glances, you don't even get harassed. You board a carriage believing that you have no doubt made the right decision. Two other passengers board the carriage. A young couple who mostly ignore you since they're really into each other. From what you can gather based on their conversation in between the kissing they're running away together due to their parents not approving. You nearly laugh thinking back at how Annah fooled that guard when you first got to Klyton with a bullshit story like that. You were probably about the same age as the couple when that happened. You still miss her in some ways. The carriage ride starts off uneventful and you even feel comfortable enough to get some sleep since you don't particularly want to watch the couple slop all over one another. Your sleep is suddenly awakened by a lot of screaming and yelling, a gunshot and then the carriage smashing into something and flipping on its side. You and the couple go tumbling all over the carriage. You survive, though a bit banged up. The couple are still alive too, though the man looks to be very dazed with a big gash on his head and his woman is crying over him. You soon hear several voices shouting in excitement and getting louder. Doesn't take long before the carriage door (which is now above you due to how the carriage flipped) opens up and you've got someone with a crossbow pointing at you. "Hey lads, we got some survivors! An' one of dem is a lovely lookin' young thing! If nothing else, we're gonna have some fun tonight! Hey you! Don't fuckin' move or I'll put a bolt in yer 'ed!" a bandit says before warning you directly. Soon several of his fellows come and get you and the couple. They grab you first since they rightly seem to believe you're the biggest threat. You exit the carriage and see some dead horses with bolts in them which no doubt contributed to the carriage crashing. The driver and the extra protector are nowhere to be seen, though you assume were killed before or after the crash. The bandits take away all your weapons and your pack. When one of them opens it up, they're thrilled with what they see. "Fuck, between this and that girl. We hit the mother lode today!" one of them says. "Is that right Lou? Let me see what you got that's so great and why you fucking felt the need to attack without me." A voice suddenly says. You see a female elf wearing next to nothing save for a few tattoos approach. "Had to Flameflower, opportunity arose and we needed to seize it. And it paid off! Look!" Flameflower grabs the pack from Lou and looks inside with a nod. "Okay. Glad you guys didn't wait until I was done taking a shit then since this seems to have worked out. Hmm, this one's pretty, almost familiar looking." Flameflower says giving you a look before being distracted by screams of the girl being pulled out of the carriage by some of the other bandits. "Haylon! Will you shut that bitch up?! Put a gag in her mouth or shove your cock in it. I can't hear myself think!" Flame shouts. "Apologies Flame. Um, what should we do with this one?" Haylon says pointing to the young man who they're holding up since he's barely conscious. "Shit, two young pretties today. Guess Yag's really rolling well for me for a change. Hm, he looks like he's almost on his way out. Guess we better do him quick unless we want to add necrophilia to our agenda. Fuck it, might still do that, day's early. Anyway, let's get his pants off and I'll start sucking. Hey have his bitch watch, she might learn something so she can satisfy the rest of you boys." This is some fucked up shit and while you aren't exactly sure what these fuckers are going to do to you, you are not going to just wait around to find out. With as much force as you can muster, you punch Lou in the side of the face while his attention is divided and take off running. This is soon followed by shouts calling for you to be stopped. Several bolts whizz by you and for a moment you think you're going to get away and then you feel a sensation in your head. You immediately see a moment in your youth when you were with your sister, playing and laughing in Teckleville. Such a happy time. This vision then blinks away and you fall to the ground twitching a bit as your brain begins shutting down along with the rest of your body due to the bolt buried in your skull.

Year 23 "Here you go, but Hank you really need to start going easy on this shit. It's getting a little harder to get. It's almost as if the Klyton medical school is starting to realize their Numb supply is getting stolen." You say giving Hank his fix. "Can't you just go steal from the hospital?" Hank asks. "Well yes I could and I have, but they got their shit a lot more secure. Probably better than some jewelry stores. I start making that place a regular target and the price is going to go up." "Up? You're already getting free fucking room and board!" "And you're still fucking that elf that you don't want anyone to know about." "You know, I've been thinking more about that and I'm starting to think that T'ra'ni is right and I shouldn't be ashamed of who I am. I mean why should I? It's no big deal." "Hm, well that fine that you're discovering shit about yourself. Personally I don't give a shit, but I've gotten very comfortable here and I'm saying I don't want to pay any fucking rent and if you try to make me, you aren't going to have to worry about if I'm going to blab about your sexual habits, you just won't be getting any more Numb. I got other customers and there are always other places I can find to live." Hank looks a little surprised by your hardened approach on this. You're not sure why, it's not like you two are good buddies or something. You're his fucking dealer and he's hooked on the shit you can easily get for him. "You're a fucking asshole." Hank replies. "Yeah well, be that as it may, this place isn't doing all that bad since I arrived. I don't see you starving and besides androgynous elves, you're swimming in college pussy and getting your drugs. So I say things are going to stay as they are for now." You say. Hank wants to say more, but he just gives you a dirty look and walks off. With that bullshit out of the way, you head to your free room. Before you even get there, you see a woman lingering in front of the door. She doesn't look like one of the college crowd that comes here now, or a merchant or possibly a wannabe bard. She's dressed in pragmatic clothing more suited to one skilled of the ways of a rogue. In some ways she looks a little like an older version of Annah. In other words, a woman of quality. "Ah, there you are. I was waiting for you and didn't want to just surprise you by waiting inside your room. You know, you really should get better locks on the door. I'd think someone like you would know better." The woman remarks. "It's not usually a problem. Besides, I learned a long time ago that it often doesn't matter how good the lock, if someone wants in, they're getting in." you reply. "True. I guess you would know. Anyway, I'm Zalmora." "Hm. Is that supposed to mean something?" "No, though I know you've sold shit to the Bloody Talons in the past, surprised you haven't heard any of them talking about me in passing. Or more likely bitching about me." "I don't really have long conversations with Talon assholes. I generally just want them to buy their shit and go murder an old lady or whatever it is they do nowadays. In fact, are they still even around? Last I heard a shitload of them got killed two months ago in a big Klyton militia raid. Including their leader Jake." "Yeah, the Bloody Talons are indeed no more. Oh sure there's a couple of them still lingering about trying to keep what's left of the rabble, but I anticipate that even that will be gone by the end of the year thanks to the militia." "Well, that's what they get for being so high profile and generally being a bunch of unsubtle idiots. Wait, were you in the Talons?" "I was. And it's all true, they were a bunch of unsubtle idiots. Wasn't always like that of course when we were the Crimson Talons, but well shit happens. Perhaps that's how I managed to stay undetected since I was probably one of the few that was still a professional. Kind of like you in that way right?" "I guess. So why'd you stay?" "Love I guess? I mean Jake was a bloodthirsty asshole that was a terrible leader, but I think he cared about me as much as he understood it anyway. And he had a certain charm, at times." "Sounds like a true love story. Anyway, what did you want? Are you here to buy or something?" "Actually I was wondering if you'd be interested in doing a job with me. I'm well aware of your skills and I think it would go a lot easier with your assistance." "I'm sure it would, but I don't partner with anyone." "You don't? I thought you had a girl you routinely partnered with all the time. Wasn't she your girlfriend or…oh wait…bad break up?" You don't reply. "Okay, I see. Yeah I suppose that might put a crimp in your trust level which is probably low enough seeing our line of work and all." Zalmora remarks. "Not to mention I don't even know you." You add. "Well does that matter? I'd argue that familiarity is one of the more minor factors in whether you can trust someone or not. I mean there were a few times in the Talons where apparent friends backstabbed each other." "I suppose that's a valid point. However, it's still a factor never the less. I mean just speaking on a professional level, I know I'm good, but I don't know how good YOU are. I just know you were in the Bloody Talons and given what I knew of most of them doesn't speak highly." Zalmora chuckles a bit. "Something funny?" you ask. "Yeah. Never thought MY skills would ever be called into question. That's good though, means you really are a professional and serious about your work. Look, I'm going to go ahead and tell you what the job is. Kenzer's Gems and Jewels." Zalmora says. "Kenzer's huh? I just got done telling someone that the Klyton hospital has better security then most jewelry stores and of course now you're telling me you're hitting the one exception. Place might as well be a bank. In fact a bank might be easier. Still, you got my attention so you might as well come inside and tell me of this mad plan." You open the door and you both enter where after mentioning something about your room, she goes into detail about the plan. The plan is actually surprisingly simple. It's just a basic break in with more attention on the security and locks. She says that she's actually been casing the place on and off for a year and even acquired special dwarven thieving tools to help in her task. Her main concern is possible magic protection which seems like a given and partially asked for your help since she knows your area is the university which also houses the college of magic and was wondering if perhaps you had any access to or perhaps even acquired anything that might bypass such things. You explain that you've always sort of stayed away from the college of magic despite lurking around there a couple times out of curiosity. You say you've toyed with the idea pilfering from there before since it never seemed like the place was any better protected than most of the other parts of the university, but you were always a bit paranoid that you'd pick up something that might just give you a fate worse than death. Zalmora nods at your words. "I see. Well would you have any problems with me poking about the place?" Zalmora asks. "What the college of magic? No. I mean you don't need my permission." You say. "Yes, I know I don't, however I know its in your territory so to speak, I don't really want to cause any potential problems." "Heh, well gotta say, I'm not used to this sort of professional courtesy from anyone before, let alone anyone from the Talons who were often telling ME to get the fuck off their territory whether I was working there or not. In any case, you'll get no issues from me. Though I'd be careful fucking around in there." "Risks of the trade. I imagine you'd know something of that." "True, though I think I make more coin selling the various hospital drugs I steal. If I actually knew how to make the shit, I'd probably just do that instead because its far less work especially since there's practically no competition. Unless you count the various Green Lotus dealers and they certainly don't count." "Yeah the Talons were once in the drug trade. Not sure why we stopped really. I think the new leader at the time Tom wanted to step away from it since it drew too much heat. Then again Yellow Devil causing addicts to melt would certainly that. Sort of figured when Jake took charge we might get back into it, but still a bit too organized for him I think. Honestly I think he would have just preferred leading a gang that ambushed travellers on the roads." "Hm. Well he certainly might have lasted longer. You act like a mad dog, you'll eventually get put down like one." "Indeed. However, I'd say staying put and getting too comfortable like a fat lazy cat is likely to get one eventually grabbed by the scruff, put in a bag and thrown in a river." "Okay, I feel like that was directed at me." "More of a warning. Not sure if you realize it or not but security has increased a lot in the city. Granted a lot of that might be the fault of the Bloody Talons making such a mess of things, but the reasons don't matter. What matters is, things are getting harder for people like us." "Didn't you just say that's the risks of the trade?" "Yeah, but there's also anticipating getting out of the way of trouble you can't handle. Not saying that time is now, but it's coming soon. And this nice comfortable set up you have might all come crashing down even if you're careful. After all, with the Talons out of the way, attention is going to focus on the next biggest criminals in the city and I'd say you'd fit the bill." "Duly noted. Well if you're done with your warnings, I have things to do." Zalmora looks at you and starts to leave, but you can already tell she's not done talking. Story of your life. "So you're not interested in partnering up?" Zalmora asks. "Why are you so interested in partnering up with me? I mean I get some of the reasons that you've explained, but this is still pretty damn sudden. I mean there's still a trust issue here." "Well because as you pointed out robbing Kenzer's isn't going to be an easy job and it would probably be better to have an extra pair of eyes and hands around. And…maybe this is going to sound odd from someone you don't know, but you're obviously a talented thief and maybe I just like a little social interaction from time to time from another one in our business." "So…what then? You miss your Talon buddies? I can't help with that. They were a bunch of idiots and I was never in this to make friends. Unless you're saying you're missing your boyfriend. If that's the case, well…as you've gathered I'm not exactly trusting on that front either however I'm not going to say no to a tumble I suppose." Zalmora sighs at you. "Fine, you're an asshole like everyone else in this trade then. Thanks for what information you did provide and apologies for wasting your time." Zalmora at this point turns to leave for real this time and there's a part of you that wants to stop her, even though you think it might be more trouble than its worth. > You stop Zalmora You must be getting bored (or lonely) because this is probably a bad idea. "Alright, alright, stop. I'll help." You say. "Hey don't feel the need to pity me, I don't need or want it." Zalmora responds. "I'm not, I'm just thinking that I know the college of magic layout better than you and if you're going to hit that place first then it would probably be best if I came with you. Last thing I need is you getting caught and then security around the university starts getting tighter as well." "Heh, okay." Zalmora smirks a bit at your response as if she doesn't quite buy your excuse to help. Though to be fair, your reasoning isn't totally a lie. You go into detail about the layout of the place and what she can probably expect. You tell her that unlike most places its actually better to go there during the day since the wizard types seem to be more active at night. You mention that the while the security isn't tight, there's probably a reason for that which is there doesn't seem to be much just lying around waiting to get snatched. The few times you did lurk about there, all you mostly found within easy reach were a lot of unlabeled potions and spell ingredients. "I guess it not being secure isn't entirely true since the upper floors seem magically locked so I never got up there. Also there is the basement level, but uh, I got a few feet down there, heard weird noises and got the hell out of there and never went back. Not going to risk going down there again either. Anyway, when did you want to do this?" "I can meet you here in a couple days. Any particular time?" "I guess sometime in the morning. It's a little early for me, but probably best to get started early." "Okay. Well I'm glad this wasn't a wasted trip and I look forward to working with you…what changed your mind?" "Hell if I know. I'm probably being an idiot and thinking with dick again." Zalmora chuckles. "So basically like most guys then. Still, I appreciate the honesty. Alright I'll see you." Zalmora takes her leave and you take steps to move most of your savings to another hiding spot. In couple days true to her word Zalmora comes to your door. "Hey, I'm here. Not sure why you wanted me here so early, but I'm guessing you wanted to go over things for tonight." Zalmora says. "Tonight? I wanted you here early so we can go early since there's less activity then." You say. "Less activity? Kenzer's would be open right now." "Kenzer's? I'm talking about the magic college." "The magic college? Oh! Fuck, well this is embarrassing that there was miscommunication on our first potential job together. I meant going to Kenzer's today. I already went to the college of magic." "What? But I thought you wanted me to go with you." "Well I got the impression you didn't really want to go and as I said I thought you were talking about Kenzer's place. Anyway, I got some stuff. Check it out." Zalmora takes a small pack off her back and goes over to a table and dumps out some of the contents. A few of them are potion bottles, a couple are some sort of odd glowing stones and some sort of silver tube with a hole at the top. "Well that's great, but do you actually know what any of this shit is?" you ask. "Actually I do! These potions make you invisible!" "You're shitting me." "No! I drank one and that's exactly what happened!" "You drank…fuck. Well you're braver than me, I'll give you that." "Well maybe not as much as you think. These actually were sort of labeled. Maybe not directly on the bottle, but in a little book nearby where I guess some wizard was making notes on what they were making. Anyway, they don't last long though and you feel sort of dizzy, even a bit nauseous after becoming visible again. Well at least I did." "Okay, still might come in handy. What about these stones?" "These apparently are some sort of magic explosive. I guess you throw them really hard at something and it explodes. Um, the notebook didn't exactly say how powerful though." "And you had those rolling around in your pack. Great. Okay, so what about the whistle?" "Oh this? Just some silver whistle I found lying around and looked valuable. Here you go. Consider it your cut for your information." Zalmora says tossing you the whistle. "Uh okay. Thanks I guess." You say catching it. "I suppose I didn't find anything like a magical lockpick, but hopefully Kenzer don't have any magic locks like I'm anticipating." "Well if worse comes to worst, I guess we could blow up something with those stones and drink the potions as we get away with the loot." "I like the way you think. So…I guess we got a bunch of time. Any suggestions on how to spend it?" "Well, I got up way earlier than I normally do, so if it's all the same to you, I'm going back to sleep. You can see your way out." "Really? Didn't expect that to be your suggestion." "What, you thought I was going to suggest sex? I already did that once before and you weren't interested." "You give up so easily?" "No, I just figure if it is going to happen, my chances will increase after a successful job…either that or you'll double cross me and leave me for dead. It's a risk either way, but it is what it is." With those words, you put your whistle on the end table next to your bed and lay down. Zalmora looks at the door for a moment and then over at you. "Hey you wouldn't mind if I slept here would you?" Zalmora asks. "What? Wait. You mean actual sleep right?" you respond. "Yes. I just don't feel like going all the way back home, I got all my equipment for tonight's job and it's not like I got anything else going on today. Might as well get some rest." "…fuck it. Okay, but where are you expecting to sleep? I'm not giving up the bed in my own place." "You don't need to, I'll just share it. I trust you'll be a gentleman. Move over." Without another word, Zalmora is plopping herself on your bed and nudging you over. You swear, you can't tell what's going on with this woman. She's being very forward, but holding back at the same time. It's not quite teasing though. Maybe all of this is some sort of weird way of showing she can be trusted? If so, you're not convinced. "If you're planning on robbing me while I sleep, you'll find I'm a light sleeper and that silver whistle you gave me is probably the most valuable thing in the room now anyway." You say. "Wasn't planning on it. I'm guessing that ex of yours did something like that?" Zalmora says. "Not talking about it…what're you doing?" "I'm going to sleep, why?" "Because you're all up on me. I mean it's weird enough that you want to share a bed, now you got your arm and leg on me. A few more moves and we might as well be fucking. I mean if that's what you want to do, you can just tell me since I'm not sleepy enough to not oblige that request." "I just…look, I was just used to sleeping next to a warm body on a semi-regular basis and I miss it. Even if said warm body was an asshole most of the time. So no, I'm not looking for sex, I just want that feeling of closeness I guess. Yeah I know it's weird, but as you said, it is what it is. So if this is just too much of a cock tease for you I guess I'll go home and come back later." "No. no, it's fine. I guess I get it…but you have to be into me on at least a physical level. I mean surely you wouldn't be doing this with some bum on the street?" "Alright, you're right about that one. Just try to keep the groping to a minimum for now." And with those words, Zalmora closes her eyes and after staring at her a moment, you do likewise. It's nothing something you normally do, but it is sort of nice. Makes you miss when you and Annah used to do this on a regular basis. Later you awaken to find that night has fallen and hear the sounds of merriment in the distance. Sounds like another lively night on stage. "I was just about to wake you." Zalmora says, going through her pack by candlelight. "How long you been awake?" you ask. "I dunno, the bards and people cheering woke me up a couple hours ago I guess. I thought you said you were a light sleeper." "I usually am. Maybe your body being against mine was just so comforting it lulled me into a deep sleep." You half joke. "Hm, glad you enjoyed it. Given your general view on things, maybe you needed just as much as I did. Anyway, you ready to go do this?" "Yep, let's get going." You and Zalmora take your leave and head to Kenzer's Gems and Jewels. An hour later… As you're puking up your guts from the after affects of the invisibility potion, Zalmora is anxiously looking around, hoping none of the Klyton Watch are patrolling the sewers. "Hurry up, I'd rather we put more distance between us and the shop!" Zalmora says. "Ugh…don't you mean smoking crater? That shop is in ruins and I'm amazed I even survived the blast. Pretty sure I got broken glass in my body and I know I've got burns because I can still feel the fucking heat from my blackened clothes." You say trying to regain your composure from your vomiting. "Apologies, but really didn't know that was going to happen. I mean the first stone didn't do anything except make a small pop." "You could have waited a bit, I was sure I had that lock open. Fuck, whatever. It's done now. Anyway you alright?" "Oh. Yeah, I managed to take cover and just got some scraps rather than getting blown out one of the windows." "Did we get anything?" "Uh, unfortunately I think in all the confusion the bag of gems I had split and everything fell out. I only managed to save a few and not even the more valuable ones. Do you have anything?" "Yeah a lot of pain. Agh. Fuck, I'm going home." "Hold on, let's go back to my place. You go into the Laughing Devil looking like that and someone might put two and two together when they hear about what happened. You know how easily people talk. I mean yeah it's a slim chance, but why risk it?" "Fine whatever. Just want to get to some place to rest. Just lead the way." You and Zalmora walk through the filthy sewers to her place in relative silence. The pair of you are both keeping an eye out just in case, but you're fairly certain that despite everything, you go out of there before anyone really saw you, let alone the Watch. Of course who knows what else lurks down here in this place. "I gotta say, you're taking all of this better than I thought you would." Zalmora says. "I'm a little too drained to bitch about how badly it all went. Besides, I didn't really lose anything I suppose. Which is more than I can say the last time I worked with a partner. I mean I'm still alive and in one piece." You respond. "Heh. If I was working with Jake he would have been yelling and screaming the whole time at me and saying it was all my fault." "Well at least he would have had some basis in fact for bitching. If I had been working with Annah and she had been the one to throw that explosive stone, she would have STILL blamed me for everything and bitched for the next three days." "Yikes. I take it Annah was your ex?" "Yeah, though to be honest we weren't really together in that way for awhile. We had just been working on jobs on and off until…ah I don't know why I'm talking about this, it's not important." "No, go on. I'd like to hear. Certainly beats just listening to the sounds of the sewers." "What the hell…" You go into a little more detail about Annah and what she was like. It's sort of odd, you've never really talked about her to someone else before. Zalmora just listens for the most part, but eventually asking why you were with her. Your answer is one you've gone over in your own head several times before. The only answer you can come up with is "It's complicated." "No it isn't. You loved her. Not saying it was the type of love you read about in badly written romance stories with knights saving virginal damsels, but you put up with her and still kept contact with her despite you throwing her out. Which seemed like more of a rash move on your part that you probably regretted later since it sounds like you were even willing to give it all another chance. First loves are hard to shake. I should know." "Oh was that the situation with Jake?" "Hah, no. Jake was…something else, but my first love was when I was younger and well let's just say it could have ended better." "Yeah well I'm definitely over her now." "Are you? I really couldn't help but notice how you described her physical appearance you kept referring to ME sometimes in comparison. Such as hair, eyes, mouth…" "What? Wait. No! I just…uh bad at describing people and couldn't think of a better way to do it. I mean she doesn't look like you at all! You're older! … Oh fuck… Shit. I don't mean it like that. I mean you're…" "Calm down I know what the hell you mean. Please, it takes more than that to offend me. What you're basically saying is I look like a…more mature version of your ex." "Uh, yeah I guess so. And definitely nowhere near as bitchy." "Well you haven't gotten on my bad side yet." "I can't imagine it'll be any worse than the relative pleasant side of you considering that side nearly blew me up." Zalmora laughs at your comment and the pair of you continue to speak all the way back to her home. It actually lightens both of your moods. Zal's home is humble, but it's definitely a welcome place to rest after this failed night. You spend a couple days there recovering at Zal's insistence since the job was her idea to begin with and she feels partially responsible. You have to admit, you really feel like this is all a set up for something worse because you haven't had someone this pleasant with you for quite awhile. But there is no other shoe dropping so far. In fact Zalmora makes a comment about supposing that you won't be working together again given that this first job was a big failure. "No. We can try this again. No shortage of other places to blow up after all." You respond. "Ah, well that's true. And we haven't fucked yet." Zalmora says. "There is that I suppose." Zalmora looks at you. "Well?" Zal says. "Well what?" you say. "You want to get that out of the way?" "What, now?" "You still need time to heal?" "No, I think can manage." "Well let's get to it then." "You…sure about this?" "If I wasn't sure, I wouldn't be suggesting it." "As long as you're sure…agh fuck…shit my fucking side…uh you think you can be on top?" "Pfft, like you were going to have a choice." This looks like the beginning of a brand new partnership… > You time passes... Year 25 "Think it's time to leave Klyton." Zalmora remarks. "You think so?" you respond. "With the increase in Klyton militia activity in the city? Yeah. Unless you're thinking about a career change." "Are you thinking about one?" "Eh, there are times when I think about what else I could be doing with my life, but pretty sure settling down and having a whole mess o' babies isn't high on the list. Well certainly not the babies part at least." "Definitely not. Kids always grow up to disappoint…well that's probably what my parents think anyway. In any case, I see no reason to change things up." "Heh, well you're still young. You might change your mind." "Doubt it. I mean I can't see myself really doing anything else other than what I'm more or less doing right now." "So you think when you're in your seventies you're going to be sneaking about in houses and buildings?" "Assuming I live that long, I would hope that I will have acquired enough to live on for the remainder of my life by then." "Ah yes, your thrifty ways. A very atypical trait for someone in our line of work barring a few dwarven thieves I've known in the past." "Well I'm just aware that times may not always be plentiful, so better to have something to fall back on." "That's very pragmatic. You sure you don't have any dwarven blood?" "Heh. Nah. I mean when I was still working with my sister, I was doing this mostly due to it being fun. Never really spent much of what I stole, hell I even misplaced a bauble from time to time because it just wasn't important enough that I cared. I mean I could just steal from another travelling merchant right? Then when I was with Annah, I couldn't even keep most of what I stole without her spending it almost immediately." "So you've said." "Yeah, well I think my short time in an actual relationship with her caused me to always hang on to whatever I managed to keep and in time it just became a habit." "Not a bad habit to have. Most don't think about the future." "So what's bringing this all on anyway?" Zalmora exhales and stretches a bit before answering. Zal goes into how when she was much younger she originally was doing this out of survival and the fun came later when she realized how good she was at it. For awhile it was a mixing with business with pleasure sort of thing. However lately she's been starting to dwell on the future mainly because she's starting to realize the little aches and pains in her body she feels when running from the militia or her reflexes slowing down as she narrowly avoids a trap she's disarmed. You tell her she's hardly ready for the grave, which she of course knows that, but each year it becomes something she thinks about more and more. She again mentions that she's not interested in settling down with dreams of a family or even "retiring" from this life anytime soon, but she would like to have an end game as it were. "I suppose one of the few benefits of being in a gang was there was a mild sense of community. At least there was when it was the Crimson Talons. More people were around to assist and you could take a break for a while. I suppose at one point I even figured I'd become one of those old members that just sent you young folks on assignments and reap the benefits." Zal says. "So…you saying you want to start a new gang?" you ask. "Hell no. If anything I should have left the Crimson Talons when it became the Bloody Talons, but you know, I was an idiot who thought I was in love or whatever it was. In any case, I'm done with the whole gang part of my life. What I'm doing now is fine, but I know at some point I'm not going to want to do this anymore." "Well, that's why we save." "And that's at least a plan, though I guess…I dunno…I suppose it might be nice to have steady income without having to risk our lives for it." "That sounds like having a real job." "Well I know neither of us want to do that, but maybe we should consider something that isn't like a real job, but still mostly legal if we want to stay in Klyton because shit is just getting harder here. Hence why I suggested we might need to get the hell out of the city." "Well any suggestions on where to go? Hessla? Holgard? Delantium?" "Eh, none of those choices are all that great. The Delantium Kingdom and Holgard both have an Ebony Claw Syndicate presence and as I said before dealing with gang shit is the last thing I want to be doing in my life now. I suppose the best of the lot would be Hessla. It's close, The Syndicate doesn't have any real presence there and the law there is non-existent. At least in the traditional sense. The governor of Hessla still keeps a tight reign on things so it isn't chaos there, so random murders, muggings and burglaries are frowned upon, but say opening up a slave market would be fine provided the governor is getting his cut." "I don't think I'm into selling slaves." "Well obviously I wasn't suggesting that, but you do sell drugs. You could do that in Hessla without worrying about the legal ramifications." "Okay, but I'm not making them. I can't sell the medical shit I steal from Klyton's hospitals if I don't have easy access to it." "Well maybe you could branch out. I mean Hessla is a pirate haven, lots of stuff coming in and out of that place. You probably could fence items. People always seeking out things or looking to sell." "That sounds like running a pawn shop which sounds like a job…" "Don't think of it as running a pawn shop, think of it as…running a black market." "Hah. Well that does make it sound more appealing. Okay, but surely Hessla already has several such established places there." "Well its called competition. Obviously I didn't say it would be easy, but it's an option worth thinking about. And you wouldn't be doing this alone, I'd be helping you of course." Zalmora puts one of her hands on yours and squeezes slightly as if to reassure you of her words. Zal isn't one for a lot of affection, but during your relationship with her you know her feelings are genuine. No unnecessary drama either. She comes off a bit "guiding" at times, like she's doing right now. Still, it's better than bitching. You're not quite sure about this idea that's she got though. Still seems a bit too close to having a proper job though she's probably right about Klyton getting a bit of a hassle to function in nowadays. You need time to think about it. Zal said she wasn't rushing into this anyway and who knows; you or her might come up with a different idea in the meantime. A few weeks pass and you get news about the militia raiding the Laughing Devil. You're sort of surprised it took them so long because even before you stopped living there it had started to get a reputation for hosting "indecent acts without a license" and becoming a Green Lotus den. Just as well that you started living with Zalmora otherwise you might have gotten swept up in said raid. Still, Zal was concerned before and she's really alarmed now, so much so that she's urging you both to leave immediately with just what you can carry. "But I got a shitload of savings stashed…somewhere. I can't easily just leave with it right now!" you remark. "Do you feel it's safe? Do you think anyone is going to find it?" Zal asks not even taking offense that you've still kept the location secret from her. "Well nobody's found it yet so I think it's fine." "Good, you can come back and get it later then. We need to move now. You sold shit to more than a few of those assholes at the Laughing Devil, the owner in particular. How long before one of them drops your name and the militia tracks you here?" "Alright, alright, fuck it. I've lost it all before, I can make it all back again if it comes to that. Let's get packed." You and Zal start packing as much as you can as quick as you can and make your way to the carriage station. You ask Zal if she feels some sort of way about having to abandon her house, but she just replies that it's not like she's leaving a mansion and was more or less just a place that she could keep her stuff and a roof over her head. She then mumbles something about thanking her uncle that left it to her and tells you to quicken your pace. You get within sight of the carriage station and then you see several patrols of militia walking about the area. A few of them are even walking in your direction. Your instinct is to keep cool and just walk by them as if nothing is wrong since if you run or even turn around at this point it's going to arouse suspicion. However Zal is already whispering another suggestion. "Let's run now. I know the closest manhole and we'll lose them in the sewers." > You walk by the militia You suddenly start running and they're definitely going to know something is up. Better to just play it cool. "It'll be fine, we just need to keep calm." You say continuing to walk towards the station. "I'm telling you right now, we need to run." Zal remarks. "We'll be fine, just stop talking." Your visible minor disagreement with Zal has already caused enough suspicious however by the militia approaching who were looking for an excuse anyway. "You two halt!" one of them remarks. And as soon as that's said, Zalmora has taken off running. "Zal! Shit. Fuck…" you sputter as you realize you now have no choice but to follow suit. Of course this split second of confusion combined with how close you let them get in the first place is unfortunately just enough for the militia to catch you. Naturally, they slam you to the ground and begin disarming you. Nearly literally since they break one of your arms in the process. Next step is taking away your backpack and once they see what's inside, if there was the slimmest chance that they might still let you go, it's gone. You actually expect them to just kill you right then and there, but they end up dragging you to the Klyton jail where they lock you up. You spend about a week inside still suffering from a broken arm. You keep holding out for the false hope that maybe Zal is going to pull off some daring rescue, but that doesn't happen. She's gone and while there's a part of you that is very angry about it, you're more mad at yourself for not running when she suggested it in the first place. You probably could pick the lock even with a broken arm, but you wouldn't get far. The only upside is you've got a cell all by yourself while its decided on if they're going to do anything worse to you. A month passes and finally a Captain Branik, head of the militia tells you that you're going to be executed. "What?! I can't even defend myself? You didn't even arrest me committing a crime!" you exclaim. "What's to defend? When we caught you, you had a shitload of coin and other valuables. You obviously have no visible means of support and you were trying to leave the city. Doesn't take a scholar to put everything together. Shit, we even got reason to believe you were involved in blowing up Kenzer's jewelry store and found a silver whistle that someone in the wizard's college reported stolen years ago. You've obviously been very busy and good at keeping a low profile. Well Yag's dice have finally rolled snake eyes for you and you're finally going to pay the price." Branik says. "Look even if I was guilty of whatever you think I'm guilty of, can't you just exile me? I mean I was leaving anyway. I won't come back!" "Exile? We rarely do that anymore. That doesn't teach anyone shit and it's going to just let a criminal free to attack caravans on the road. Yeah, not risking that. Shit, I wouldn't even risk putting you in one of those hanging cages we got. You'd probably pick the lock and get away with all your experience. No, the best thing we need to do with you is make an example. You'll be hanged tomorrow." And that's it. No defense, no escape, no anything. You sit down and feel sick. It's weird, you've been in other situations where death could have found you, but something about waiting for it in a cell makes it feel worse. Probably because you have time to think about it. You can't think about though, you'll just make yourself more upset. Instead you try to think about your family oddly enough. You think back to the happier times you had in Teckleville and you think about how you wish you never had to leave. You don't get much sleep and when they wake you up to get you, you're very tired. But not without some fight left. The guards come in to get you and you immediately try to fight with one good arm. Naturally you don't do very well, though you were really hoping that they'd at least kill you right there, but instead they just beat the shit out of you and break your other arm before dragging you to the gallows before an enthusiastic crowd wanting to see their entertainment. Your body is in so much pain from the broken bones and beatings that when you feel the noose slip over your neck you're just glad this will be over soon. Some militia asshole goes on about justice for a moment until you manage enough strength to tell him to shut the fuck up and just get on with it. The hooded executioner soon grants your wish and pulls the lever. Your neck snaps almost instantly as you go through the trap door.

Year 25 "Think it's time to leave Klyton." Zalmora remarks. "You think so?" you respond. "With the increase in Klyton militia activity in the city? Yeah. Unless you're thinking about a career change." "Are you thinking about one?" "Eh, there are times when I think about what else I could be doing with my life, but pretty sure settling down and having a whole mess o' babies isn't high on the list. Well certainly not the babies part at least." "Definitely not. Kids always grow up to disappoint…well that's probably what my parents think anyway. In any case, I see no reason to change things up." "Heh, well you're still young. You might change your mind." "Doubt it. I mean I can't see myself really doing anything else other than what I'm more or less doing right now." "So you think when you're in your seventies you're going to be sneaking about in houses and buildings?" "Assuming I live that long, I would hope that I will have acquired enough to live on for the remainder of my life by then." "Ah yes, your thrifty ways. A very atypical trait for someone in our line of work barring a few dwarven thieves I've known in the past." "Well I'm just aware that times may not always be plentiful, so better to have something to fall back on." "That's very pragmatic. You sure you don't have any dwarven blood?" "Heh. Nah. I mean when I was still working with my sister, I was doing this mostly due to it being fun. Never really spent much of what I stole, hell I even misplaced a bauble from time to time because it just wasn't important enough that I cared. I mean I could just steal from another travelling merchant right? Then when I was with Annah, I couldn't even keep most of what I stole without her spending it almost immediately." "So you've said." "Yeah, well I think my short time in an actual relationship with her caused me to always hang on to whatever I managed to keep and in time it just became a habit." "Not a bad habit to have. Most don't think about the future." "So what's bringing this all on anyway?" Zalmora exhales and stretches a bit before answering. Zal goes into how when she was much younger she originally was doing this out of survival and the fun came later when she realized how good she was at it. For awhile it was a mixing with business with pleasure sort of thing. However lately she's been starting to dwell on the future mainly because she's starting to realize the little aches and pains in her body she feels when running from the militia or her reflexes slowing down as she narrowly avoids a trap she's disarmed. You tell her she's hardly ready for the grave, which she of course knows that, but each year it becomes something she thinks about more and more. She again mentions that she's not interested in settling down with dreams of a family or even "retiring" from this life anytime soon, but she would like to have an end game as it were. "I suppose one of the few benefits of being in a gang was there was a mild sense of community. At least there was when it was the Crimson Talons. More people were around to assist and you could take a break for a while. I suppose at one point I even figured I'd become one of those old members that just sent you young folks on assignments and reap the benefits." Zal says. "So…you saying you want to start a new gang?" you ask. "Hell no. If anything I should have left the Crimson Talons when it became the Bloody Talons, but you know, I was an idiot who thought I was in love or whatever it was. In any case, I'm done with the whole gang part of my life. What I'm doing now is fine, but I know at some point I'm not going to want to do this anymore." "Well, that's why we save." "And that's at least a plan, though I guess…I dunno…I suppose it might be nice to have steady income without having to risk our lives for it." "That sounds like having a real job." "Well I know neither of us want to do that, but maybe we should consider something that isn't like a real job, but still mostly legal if we want to stay in Klyton because shit is just getting harder here. Hence why I suggested we might need to get the hell out of the city." "Well any suggestions on where to go? Hessla? Holgard? Delantium?" "Eh, none of those choices are all that great. The Delantium Kingdom and Holgard both have an Ebony Claw Syndicate presence and as I said before dealing with gang shit is the last thing I want to be doing in my life now. I suppose the best of the lot would be Hessla. It's close, The Syndicate doesn't have any real presence there and the law there is non-existent. At least in the traditional sense. The governor of Hessla still keeps a tight reign on things so it isn't chaos there, so random murders, muggings and burglaries are frowned upon, but say opening up a slave market would be fine provided the governor is getting his cut." "I don't think I'm into selling slaves." "Well obviously I wasn't suggesting that, but you do sell drugs. You could do that in Hessla without worrying about the legal ramifications." "Okay, but I'm not making them. I can't sell the medical shit I steal from Klyton's hospitals if I don't have easy access to it." "Well maybe you could branch out. I mean Hessla is a pirate haven, lots of stuff coming in and out of that place. You probably could fence items. People always seeking out things or looking to sell." "That sounds like running a pawn shop which sounds like a job…" "Don't think of it as running a pawn shop, think of it as…running a black market." "Hah. Well that does make it sound more appealing. Okay, but surely Hessla already has several such established places there." "Well its called competition. Obviously I didn't say it would be easy, but it's an option worth thinking about. And you wouldn't be doing this alone, I'd be helping you of course." Zalmora puts one of her hands on yours and squeezes slightly as if to reassure you of her words. Zal isn't one for a lot of affection, but during your relationship with her you know her feelings are genuine. No unnecessary drama either. She comes off a bit "guiding" at times, like she's doing right now. Still, it's better than bitching. You're not quite sure about this idea that's she got though. Still seems a bit too close to having a proper job though she's probably right about Klyton getting a bit of a hassle to function in nowadays. You need time to think about it. Zal said she wasn't rushing into this anyway and who knows; you or her might come up with a different idea in the meantime. A few weeks pass and you get news about the militia raiding the Laughing Devil. You're sort of surprised it took them so long because even before you stopped living there it had started to get a reputation for hosting "indecent acts without a license" and becoming a Green Lotus den. Just as well that you started living with Zalmora otherwise you might have gotten swept up in said raid. Still, Zal was concerned before and she's really alarmed now, so much so that she's urging you both to leave immediately with just what you can carry. "But I got a shitload of savings stashed…somewhere. I can't easily just leave with it right now!" you remark. "Do you feel it's safe? Do you think anyone is going to find it?" Zal asks not even taking offense that you've still kept the location secret from her. "Well nobody's found it yet so I think it's fine." "Good, you can come back and get it later then. We need to move now. You sold shit to more than a few of those assholes at the Laughing Devil, the owner in particular. How long before one of them drops your name and the militia tracks you here?" "Alright, alright, fuck it. I've lost it all before, I can make it all back again if it comes to that. Let's get packed." You and Zal start packing as much as you can as quick as you can and make your way to the carriage station. You ask Zal if she feels some sort of way about having to abandon her house, but she just replies that it's not like she's leaving a mansion and was more or less just a place that she could keep her stuff and a roof over her head. She then mumbles something about thanking her uncle that left it to her and tells you to quicken your pace. You get within sight of the carriage station and then you see several patrols of militia walking about the area. A few of them are even walking in your direction. Your instinct is to keep cool and just walk by them as if nothing is wrong since if you run or even turn around at this point it's going to arouse suspicion. However Zal is already whispering another suggestion. "Let's run now. I know the closest manhole and we'll lose them in the sewers." > You run to the sewers With as many militia fuckers that are around the station, it might be best to run while you can. You give a look at Zal and nod, then the pair of you turn around and start walking away fast. One of the militia shouts at you both to stop which then leads to you both running; this is then followed by them chasing you. Running with a full pack on your back is never a fun thing, but its not like you haven't done it a few times before. Desperately prying a manhole cover off while trying to escape the law is even less fun. The worst of course is stomping about in the sewers. You didn't like it the first time you did it. Fortunately Zal is still more familiar with them than the militia is and after lying low in some unknown corner of these marvels of sanitation eventually you lose them altogether. "We're not getting out of this city the conventional way." Zalmora remarks. "Scaling the wall is going to be a little tough. Probably would still be easier to sneak out one of the gates." You say. "It'll be even easier to sneak out of the city using these sewers. There's an old passage the Talons used to use to get in and out of the city sometimes. I just hope it hasn't been completely blocked off since the militia took them out." "Surprised the Talons didn't use it to escape." "A few of them might have for all I know, but when the militia stormed the hideout, some of them came through that route to make sure nobody escaped that way. I'm just glad I happened to be pissed at Jake at the time and wasn't around when any of it happened." "I didn't know that." "Yeah well it's not something I like to dwell on too much. The whole last time we spent time together being angry with him and all. It's in the past anyway and right now getting through the present is more important. Come on." Eventually you get to the tunnel that Zal was speaking about and it has indeed been blocked off, however it hasn't been blocked in a manner that would be impossible to get through as only a set of iron bars along with a few iron gates with locks on them have been installed. You and Zal get to work on opening them and eventually you pop them all and soon you're making your way out to the great outdoors and more importantly those awful sewers. "Fucking hell, never thought I'd be so glad to see the countryside again. I don't know how the hell you dealt with those sewers on regular basis." You remark. "You get used to it. You get used to a lot of things…anyway I guess we're walking to Hessla now." Zalmora says. "That'll be fun. How long will that take?" you say. "A few days I imagine. Uh, you got food and water?" "I got some water. I don't think I have any food. Not exactly a hunter either." "Well I guess we'll just eat when we get there." You and Zal begin to walk west towards your destination. As you put more and more distance between you and Klyton, you have a myriad of thoughts running through your mind though some of those are surprisingly about your family. You briefly wonder how they're all doing. You imagine your mom and dad lives are a lot easier without you around anymore. As for your sister, you hope she's doing a lot better than you are right now. You weren't sure about "starting over" before, but it looks like you'll be doing it whether you want to or not. New town, new possible "profession", you're not exactly looking forward to all of it. The only good factor in all this is Zalmora who has been by your side pretty solidly since you partnered up with her. You certainly have a great deal of feelings for her as well, and yet… You still don't fully trust her. You don't know why… well you do know why; it's what happened with Annah. Zal has never given you any reason to not trust her, but then Annah didn't give you any reason either for years. As you struggle with this minor conundrum, you suddenly call out to Zal. "Yes?" Zal replies. "I…I'm sorry I didn't tell you about where I keep my secret stash." You say. "Oh. I wasn't fussed about it." "No, I mean it's not right. You've been there for me since we started our relationship and I'm still mistrustful of you when I shouldn't be. I mean shit, I haven't even told you I love you." "Do you?" "Well…yeah. Of course I do." "That didn't sound sure." "I do!" "It's fine. I mean I haven't said it to you either." "Yeah, but I know you do." "Oh. You KNOW that. How?" "Well…because…you know! I mean you show it all the time. Just all the stuff you do." "There are lots of people that will standby you for various reasons, even the right ones. Doesn't prove anything. I would think your own past experience would confirm that." "Yeah well…I can't worry about every detail. Sometimes you have to roll the dice and hope Yag lets you roll a seven." "So throwing caution to the wind and leaving it to the gods huh?" "Seems like it." Zal at this point gives you a kiss and mentions how glad she is that she met you. "So about my secret stash…" you start to say. "Oh you don't need to tell me. I already know where it's at." Zal says. "What?!" "That's why I said I wasn't fussed. I already knew its location." "And you're just now telling me?" "If I'd told you before, you would've freaked out like you're doing now, thinking I was going to rob you and then you'd have to go find a new spot and it would have put unnecessary work on you, especially since where you did hide it was a very good spot anyway and not likely to be found. Well not unless you're me. Besides, even if you had moved it, I would have just found out again." You don't answer this revelation from Zal. It's a bit concerning, well a lot concerning really. On one hand it shows that when it comes to your significant others you're really shit at hiding anything from them. On the other it shows Zal's been keeping secrets as well, though maybe that isn't too surprising. "Oh come on, don't look like that. I told you just now didn't I? Besides, if I wanted to rob you I would have done it sooner." Zal says. "I've heard that one before. So what did you do? Follow me?" You respond. "Yep. I wanted to have my own back up plan in case you turned out to be an asshole like Jake or worse. Wasn't putting myself through that again." "I see." "But you weren't. Or at least not one to me. So it all worked out and we're still together." Part of you considers that you should really rethink your relationship with Zalmora, but after a moment… "Fuck it. Not going to stress about this. It's not like it's going to be easy for anyone to get to now at this point. Just hope its safe in the time when we can go back and get it." You say. "Should be. We'll come back in a month or so with a small wagon and go through the sewers and pick it up. That building you hid it near has been abandoned for as long as I've been alive in Klyton. Nobody ever seems to bother with it. The city has never had any plans to turn it into something else, nobody else has ever bought it, hell even bums don't even squat in it. It's almost like its cursed. Any particular reason why you picked it?" Zal says. "Eh, my family used to own the place. Ran it as an inn. My dad even worked there while he was trying to complete college." "Really? Well that's…wait…what the hell is that?" You hear the same noise and both you and Zalmora turn your attention towards the wooded area to the left and draw your flintlocks. Several scruffy looking individuals jump down from the trees with weapons in hand. The one who seems to be the leader is an elven woman with face paint and a wild hairstyle and steps forward with a crossbow in her hands. While you're about ready to fire, Zalmora actually stops you. "Flameflower. Didn't know you survived the last raid on the Bloody Talons' hideout." Zalmora says. "Yeah, well my sister didn't." Flameflower retorts focusing her attention solely at Zal and moving slowly forward towards her. You keep your own firearm focused on Flameflower, though the rest of her people are also stepping forward and it's looking grim. "Sorry to hear that. Sunshine was always friendly towards me." "She wanted her face in your vertical smile. Where were you during that raid?" "I was on a job." "Yeah, a job. Always seemed a little convenient that YOU weren't around when the shit went down." "So what are you saying Flame? You saying I ratted on the Talons?" "I dunno. You always acted like you were too good for the gang most of the time." "I was putting in more work for the gang than most were. I was also in it before you even joined. So don't act like I wasn't a true Talon or whatever you're implying. And I certainly wasn't a fucking rat." "Oh you were putting in work all right. You were fucking Jake. Never did understand what he saw in you. I had far more in common with him." "What can I say? The heart wants what the heart wants." "Yeah and it obviously got him killed." "No, being an overly violent reckless idiot is what got him killed." Flame is now very close to you and Zal. In fact probably idiotically so. You'd easily blow her face off at this range, even Zal would probably get off a shot before Flame unleashed her crossbow. Flame would have been more dangerous if she'd stayed further back and just ambushed you from the trees. Flameflower turns her attention briefly towards you. "So who's this one trying to look dangerous? Jake's replacement?" Flame asks. "Something like that. He does look dangerous doesn't he?" Zal remarks. "Pfft. He looks like he should be working in a brothel servicing aging women that are trying to desperately hang on to their youth. But then again, I guess that's what he's sort of already doing." "Yeah well we can't all have elven blood in our veins to help to assist in halting the aging process halfbreed. You want to talk about desperately hanging on to youth, look in a mirror, since last I remember you're about a decade older than me and you're still hanging out with people that could be your children. Look at you, running around half naked in the trees like some fucking savage. Is this what you've been doing since the Talons were put out of business?" "What can I say? I finally decided to embrace my elven heritage completely and live wild and free." "Well it definitely is you." "It is me, isn't it? So, what are you and your pretty manservant doing outside Klyton?" "It's a long story." "Well did you want to go back to our camp and tell me all about it? Could certainly do with some new anecdotes other than the ones these assholes talk about over and over." "Sure. We could probably do with a rest after recent events." "Zal?" you say. "Don't worry. We're not in any danger, well not in any more danger than we were in Klyton anyway." Zalmora says. "Yeah, lighten up pretty boy. We're not killing you. Might still kill Zal if she pisses me off enough, but you…yeah I'd definitely have plans for you…" Flameflower at this point makes an obscene gesture with her fingers and tongue. You aren't quite sure how to react to being harassed like this. Zal just shakes her head and rolls her eyes at Flame's advances towards you. "Flame is a lot of talk. Just stay close to me, I'll protect you." Zalmora says with a smirk. Despite her earlier threats and hostile demeanor, Flameflower is relatively cordial towards Zalmora for the remainder of the night at her camp. She explains to Zal that after she escaped she decided to take up the life of a bandit and along the way she's managed to acquire a new gang though they don't really have any official name. She also says that while they operate around Klyton, they often move around a bit in case the militia starts sniffing around. Zal reveals a bit about your own situation with the militia and the situation within Klyton. Flameflower just nods and says it sounds like she's better off out here. She even offers Zal to join her gang. "Nah, sort of done with the whole gang thing Flame, but thanks anyway." Zal remarks. "Bah, still think you're too good for the rest. Whatever. So, what about you pretty boy? You apparently like older women and I can tell you I got way more experience than Zal here. Make you feel things you didn't even know you had senses for." Flameflower says with the same predatory gaze she's had the whole time. "Um, no I'm good." You reply. "Your loss. You know…you look familiar. Like someone I briefly knew when I was a lot younger. I used to work at an inn with my sister as a waitress for a while. Mom thought it would instill some sense of responsibility in us. (Snort) Mom was an idiot." "How odd. I was just telling Zal here about how my family used to own an inn in Klyton." Flameflower suddenly slaps her leg and points at you. "That's it! There was a guy and his mother that used to run a place called the Traveler's Inn. You look like him. He married some other waitress that worked there. Sort of a quiet girl. Always thought she was a bit prissy. I think her name was…Elsa?" "Eliza. That's my mom." You say. "Yeah, I can see that. Though you look more like your father. Hrm. Small world it seems." "Indeed." "Well if neither of you are interested in joining, you two are still welcome to rest here until morning. Consider it my rare courtesy towards an old gang acquaintance who my dead dear sister had a minor crush on and the eye candy who I'd have my legs wrapped around if this situation was a bit different right now." "Hm, well we appreciate it Flame." Zalmora responds. "Anyway, you guys want any dwarven ale? We got several barrels of the shit and nobody here likes it. Not even sure why we took it really. I think one of these idiots said it might be valuable, but hell if I know where to unload it. I mean we're fucking bandits, we aren't exactly in the business of trading much of what we take." You and Zal look at each other. "Y'know Flame, we're thinking about starting up a new business in Hessla, If you hang on to that ale for just a bit longer, I think we might be able to get you something in exchange for it." Zal says. This new business isn't exactly going to be the type of work you're used to, but maybe this new phase won't be too bad. You suppose you'll soon find out though. > You time passes... Year 27 "You sure you're going to be fine going to see Flameflower and her gang of reprobates by yourself?" you ask Zalmora. "I'll be more than fine. Flame's been overjoyed to have someone that can get various supplies for her on a regular basis, so she's probably been friendlier with me than she was in the Talons. We've also been doing well with our dealings with her. I think she's actually starting to get organized. She's got that permanent hideout now and actually came up with a name." Zalmora remarks. "Oh? What is it?" "The Flame Blades, though I think it's a work in progress. Anyway, I'll probably be gone a few days. According to the badly written note she sent, she's managed to snag a lot of shit and as usual she's just piled it all up in corner since she doesn't have any immediate use for it. Hopefully some of it is actually valuable, but she hasn't disappointed yet." "Okay. Be careful." "Of course I will, but if you're really worried about me, you could go in my place. I'm sure Flameflower would be happy to see you. You might even get us a discount if you were willing to go that extra step." "Ha ha. Pretty sure if that happened, Flame would just keep me as her sex captive and you'd leave me with her as revenge for fucking around on you in the first place." "Oh, only for a year, then I'd trade some elven wine for you or something." "Glad to see I'm in such high demand. Anyway, I'll hold things down here." "Good, oh and try not to get into another argument with Lorenzo from Little Lorenzo's while I'm gone." "That fucking Halfling has been an asshole since we opened up shop here. Keeps blaming his financial problems on us and I'm not putting up with him going trying to bad mouth us to potential customers." "And he's been completely ineffective in that endeavor. Why? Because he's a fucking Halfling and unless it's food, nobody fucking pays attention to shit they got to say. If anything, when you went over and started breaking his windows you drew more attention to his shop…as well as the Governor's Headsmen. Let's try to avoid that again." "Alright. I'll try to keep that in mind." Zalmora kisses you goodbye and takes her leave and you're left to your own devices. So far your time in Hessla has been okay. Though you're still getting used to the idea of having a job despite what Zal says. Sure you're dealing in a lot of stolen goods and you've done that before on a smaller scale, but you still have been missing the whole hands on approach to how you used to do things. Then again life has been a lot easier and could be a lot worse. As the day passes you get the usual routine. Selling a few used muskets here, taking in a few exotic vases there, coin given and coin received. The usual. As you're taking stock of some of the items you have in the store, you briefly look when you hear the door open. You see a woman dressed in traveller's clothing with an eye patch over her left eye walking in with a bag over her shoulder and a little dog by her feet. "Hey, no anim…wait a minute…Annah?" you say. "Um…yeah…it's me." She replies a bit meekly. Part of you can't believe that you're seeing her again, another part of you sort isn't surprised. By the same token, part of you wants to go over and strangle her, while a small part of you wants to go over and hug her. She walks further into the store with a minor limp. Her dog, which you presume, is still Checkers, follows closely and is still about the same size the last time you saw the infernal furry beast. While you're feeling a lot of emotions right now, one of the reasons why you aren't acting on any of the negative ones is the condition she's in. Eye patch, limp, if she had a hook, she could pass for one of the pirates in Hessla as this point. When she gets closer, you notice scars around her neck. Like either someone unsuccessfully tried to slit her throat or tried to hang her. "Annah…what the fuck happened?" you ask. "I…I fucked up." Annah responds. "Well obviously." "Can I sit down a moment?" "Sure go ahead. I was getting ready to close down for the day anyway." Annah finds a chair and sits down putting her bag on the floor. When she does, its almost as if some of her burdens have been lifted, if only for a moment. Checkers curls up next to one of her feet. As you're locking up, you're just having a hard time believing it's actually her. "Well I guess I wouldn't blame you for laughing at me right now." Annah responds. "Laugh? Annah, this is fucking tragic seeing you like this. I mean…fuck sure I was pretty angry with that stunt you pulled, the last time I saw you. Even briefly thought about chasing you down, but even I certainly wouldn't have done this to you. Shit, I didn't even wish this on you." You say. "Heh…I guess I always knew that despite everything you'd still have some feelings for me. I suppose that's why I came to find you. You know I tried Klyton first. Had a hell of a time finding out you had moved here. Not surprised you finally moved given how strict things have gotten in Klyton. However, I am surprised to find you running a store of sorts." "Yeah well, things change." "Indeed. I'm guessing the woman I heard you were with was one of the reasons for that change. Don't worry; I'm not here to mess that up. Actually I'm glad you found someone because it's certainly hard being by yourself. Wish I'd realized that sooner. Is she here?" "No. If she were, we might not be having this long of a conversation. Which brings me to the point of this visit. Now I still don't know what happened to you, but obviously, you sought me out so I could help you in some way. So what is it?" "It's a long story." "Yeah well Zalmora isn't going to be back for awhile, so start talking." Annah tells you that soon after your "parting of ways" she went to the Delantium Kingdom. She says that she lived pretty well there, but it all started to fall apart when she got involved with the Ebony Claw Syndicate. "By the gods, why the hell would you do that for?" you utter. "I thought I was smart enough to handle them. Of course if I was really smart I would have left Delantium as soon as one of them approached me with their propositions." Annah answers. Annah goes on about how she dug a deeper and deeper hole for herself with the Syndicate until finally they began to lose patience with her and before she could disappear, they caught her and it wasn't good. She tells you that in the scheme of things she got off light since the others directly involved in the plan weren't so lucky. She was just considered loosely connected so managed to keep her life. However, she says you're not seeing the scars she has on her back where they also whipped her. It was by the luck of Yag that one of the Syndicate members was such an animal lover that he didn't kill Checkers as part of the "lesson." After the debt was paid in blood and what little coin she had, she left the Delantium Kingdom. "And then you came to find me?" you ask. "Well I actually thought about going home to Teckleville, but despite everything I wasn't completely ready to admit defeat and live some boring life. In fact, that's part of the reason I'm here." Annah at this point takes her bag and gives you it. You look at her and you slowly open it. "By the gods..." You utter. You put your hand inside the bag and pull out a fist full of vials filled with Blue Dream. The entire bag is full of them. There must be a small fortune here. "This is a lot of fucking Blue Dream, Annah. You realize how much fucking Blue Dream you got here?" "Not exactly, no. Do you know?" "No, I don't, but it's a fucking lot." "Can you give me a fair price? I understand you need to make a profit." "Annah, I'm not a fucking Blue Dream lord! I mean sure I sold some medical shit back in Klyton, but this is a whole different situation." "How so?" "First off, I'm sure you realize that Ebony Claw Syndicate has domination on this product. They're very fucking protective of it. I mean if you're caught selling this shit and you're not ECS, they will take it out on your ass." "Well isn't Hessla free of ECS influence?" "Yeah, but that doesn't mean they don't still come here. I start selling this shit in Hessla and I'll have a Syndicate hit squad on me before the Governor's Headsmen can do shit about it. Which brings me to the second point. The Governor of Hessla has a shaky relationship with the Syndicate. If anything causes that tenuous peace to start going south, he's going to take steps to correct it. And if that means turning over the troublemaker to the Syndicate, then that's what's going to happen." "No way to do it quietly?" "Annah, I could be as careful as possible and some idiot would blab. All it takes is one damn junkie. The only other option is to sell it all in one sale to minimize the risk, but I have no knowledge of anyone that needs that much Blue Dream and has the coin to buy it. Annah, this is REALLY dangerous to even have this in your possession. You have to know that." "I know I only got one fucking eye, a leg that has a permanent limp and deep scars on my back now thanks to the damn Syndicate. I might not be able to do anything to them, but I'm getting something out of them. They don't know anyway. As I said, they thought the Blue Dream was lost by one of the other poor sons of bitches they killed." "And you just happened to have it hidden somewhere the whole time of course." "I had a back up plan. I always do." You rub your eyes and shake your head. Annah looks at you with her one good eye and realizes that she may have assumed too much. "Alright. I can see you can't help me. It's okay. I get it. You got a nice life and don't want to fuck that up. Thanks for at least hearing me out for old times sake." Annah says. Annah goes to take the bag, and that's when you stop her. "Hang on. Didn't say I couldn't help you. Though I'm wondering why I should…(sigh) fuck it. I'm hoping I'm doing this because I'm greedy, because if it's because I still having feelings for you, I truly am an idiot. I got an idea of how I can unload this. Letting you know right now however, I'm taking full advantage and bending you over good on this deal." You say. "You going to kiss me and tell me I'm still pretty at least?" Annah replies. "Of course. No reason I can't still be a gentleman." You tell Annah to wait and you head to the back of the store where your living quarters are and then go to your personal safe where you take out the remainder of what savings you have left. It's still not as much as what the Blue Dream is worth, but as you already told her, Annah's going to have to be satisfied with the deal. You come back and find Annah petting Checkers in her lap. You then hand her a new bag of loot, which Annah looks in. "It's the best I can do Annah." You say. "This will do. I can take this and easily make more with it, if need be. Learned a few gambling tricks while in Delantium. Um, this isn't going to fuck up things with your new girl is it?" Annah asks. "Zalmora? Eh, I think I'll be able to talk my way out of it though. Hope so at least." "Maybe you shouldn't tell her then." "Hah. She'd figure out I was hiding something and I'd just get into more trouble. If I've learned anything, I'm shit at deception when it comes to those I happen to be intimate with." "Well give me the Blue Dream back, I don't want to cause you unnecessary trouble. I did enough of that when we were together." "Don't worry about it. I used all my savings rather than the store's anyway. So while she'll probably call me an idiot and ask if I fucked you or not, that's probably where it will end, then we'll figure out who we can sell the Blue Dream to and get rich. "Wait, this is ALL your savings?" "Yep. You've got it all again. Just think, you didn't even have to steal it this time." "Y'know, I'm really sorry about that. I wish…" "Forget it Annah. It was a long time ago and I got over it." Annah puts Checkers down and slowly stands up. She briefly smiles and moves towards you. "I…wish things had been different." Annah says getting a bit of a quiver in her voice. "Things are what they are. No point in dwelling on them now." Annah looks down and nods. She sniffles and rubs her eye. "Just, take care of yourself okay? And for fuck's sake don't have anymore dealings with the Ebony Claw Syndicate." "I won't and I won't forget this either." Annah suddenly moves in quick and gives you a kiss you on the lips. "You're still my first and only love. You always will be." Annah says and then turns around to exit the shop. She limps as quickly as she can with Checkers faithfully following her. And she's gone again. It's still a little unreal to you and you even get a little emotional after your encounter with Annah. After composing yourself, you focus on what she left you with, namely a shitload of Blue Dream. Despite what you told Annah, you're not really sure how you're going to get rid of it with ease. Zal will probably have some ideas, though you're dreading the conversation you're going to have to have with her. Fortunately you've got a few days to prepare yourself. A few days pass and Zal still isn't back yet. When two more days pass after that, you stop worrying about your conversation with Zal and just start to worry in general. Your worries are soon answered when a little boy suddenly comes running in your shop that day with a note saying someone on the edge of Hessla gave him this message to give to you. Pretty boy, Bring ALL your shit now or the bitch dies. Sincerely, Flameflower Your heart sinks and you feel sick. At first you wonder why Flame is doing this since your "business relationship" with her and her gang was always positive. Then again, does it matter what the reasons are? She's a fucking violent criminal and the risk was always there. The important thing is she's holding Zal hostage and you have to do something about it. > You comply with the note You're not some hardened bandit. In fact, you've probably gotten a little out of shape due to your less strenuous life. You are not going to be able to just go in Flame's camp and take everyone out like some warrior priest of Karn. You'd just get yourself and Zal killed at best if you tried to save her. Granted that could happen anyway, but you're hoping that if you grovel enough, it'll appeal to Flame's ego enough that she'll be amused enough to let you both go. It's not going to be fun, but if it's what is going to get the job done then so be it. You go to the store safe and empty it all out. You hope it's enough since it's been a slower month this month. You also wish you hadn't given away your own savings to Annah since you probably could have used it assuming you get out of this. You guess you really will be selling Blue Dream for a while. It then occurs to you that maybe you can use it as extra bargaining. You decide to take a couple vials in the hopes that you can convince Flameflower, you can get her a lot more of the stuff if she doesn't kill you or Zal. You're nervous as all hell, but you compose yourself trying to keep focused on saving Zal. Once your get yourself in that state of mind, you leave. From past conversations with Zalmora, you remember the general location of Flame's hideout. Takes about a day, but eventually you find it thanks to Flame's people being fairly loud while wandering around the area. You figure you'll speed this up by surrendering to Flame's men as they'll take you straight to her, so you call out to the ones you see and begin putting up your hands stating that Flameflower is expecting you. Three bandits come at you, with one pointing a crossbow at you. First thing they do is search you for weapons and take the bag of loot off of you. When one with a full beard looks inside, his eyes bug out. "Fucking nice." He says. "Never seen anyone shit all stupid as you walking around with this small fortune without even a weapon. You must have goblin shit for brains." A younger looking bandit adds. "As I said, Flameflower is expecting me and that small fortune you're holding is hers." You say. "Sounds about right, that's way more than that bitch would ever share with us." The biggest one says. "Y'know this is the first I'm hearing of this. Who are you?" the bearded one holding the loot asks. You explain who you are and the situation, and while they vaguely know about Flameflower having ongoing dealings with people in Hessla, it seems like these three have only just been informed of her recent plan as apparently they haven't been back to the camp for awhile and been trying to find easy picking on the road with no success. "Well, guess we better take this asshole back to Flame." The young bandit says. "What for?" the bearded one asks. "He just said she's expecting him, that's why dipshit." The tall one says. "Yeah, I know that you lanky horse fucker, I'm just saying it's not like she knows he's coming right this minute. There's nobody around. We could just kill this fucker and take this for ourselves. I mean shit, we've just spent days out here and for what? Fucking foot rot and nearly getting our asses shot by all too well equipped caravans, because she didn't see fit to send more people with us." "I dunno. What if this gets back to Flame? She'll fucking have our balls for breakfast." "Who says we need to even stick around? I mean there's enough here for the three of us to live okay for awhile. At least enough to not have to fumble around in this fucking wilderness for an existence." "Y'know what, you're right. FUCK Flameflower. That bitch gave me fucking crotch rot on three separate occasions. I'm surprised I even got a dick left. Let's take this shit and head to Hessla." The young one finally says in an outburst. This has gone horribly wrong. You need to get out of here now. While the bandits are still talking about their plans you immediately turn to run. "Shit!" the youngest one says and immediately gives chase. At one time you probably could have outran him, but again you've been a little out of shape since your quieter time with Zalmora and he eventually tackles you to the ground. The pair of you struggle for awhile, but despite being out of practice, you still prove to be stronger and manage to overpower the young bandit, killing him with his own dagger. And then you feel a bolt go into your back causing you to collapse on top of the bandit you just killed. You struggle to crawl away, but the tall bandit who just shot you takes his time and manages to reload and finish you off with another bolt to your head.

Year 27 "You sure you're going to be fine going to see Flameflower and her gang of reprobates by yourself?" you ask Zalmora. "I'll be more than fine. Flame's been overjoyed to have someone that can get various supplies for her on a regular basis, so she's probably been friendlier with me than she was in the Talons. We've also been doing well with our dealings with her. I think she's actually starting to get organized. She's got that permanent hideout now and actually came up with a name." Zalmora remarks. "Oh? What is it?" "The Flame Blades, though I think it's a work in progress. Anyway, I'll probably be gone a few days. According to the badly written note she sent, she's managed to snag a lot of shit and as usual she's just piled it all up in corner since she doesn't have any immediate use for it. Hopefully some of it is actually valuable, but she hasn't disappointed yet." "Okay. Be careful." "Of course I will, but if you're really worried about me, you could go in my place. I'm sure Flameflower would be happy to see you. You might even get us a discount if you were willing to go that extra step." "Ha ha. Pretty sure if that happened, Flame would just keep me as her sex captive and you'd leave me with her as revenge for fucking around on you in the first place." "Oh, only for a year, then I'd trade some elven wine for you or something." "Glad to see I'm in such high demand. Anyway, I'll hold things down here." "Good, oh and try not to get into another argument with Lorenzo from Little Lorenzo's while I'm gone." "That fucking Halfling has been an asshole since we opened up shop here. Keeps blaming his financial problems on us and I'm not putting up with him going trying to bad mouth us to potential customers." "And he's been completely ineffective in that endeavor. Why? Because he's a fucking Halfling and unless it's food, nobody fucking pays attention to shit they got to say. If anything, when you went over and started breaking his windows you drew more attention to his shop…as well as the Governor's Headsmen. Let's try to avoid that again." "Alright. I'll try to keep that in mind." Zalmora kisses you goodbye and takes her leave and you're left to your own devices. So far your time in Hessla has been okay. Though you're still getting used to the idea of having a job despite what Zal says. Sure you're dealing in a lot of stolen goods and you've done that before on a smaller scale, but you still have been missing the whole hands on approach to how you used to do things. Then again life has been a lot easier and could be a lot worse. As the day passes you get the usual routine. Selling a few used muskets here, taking in a few exotic vases there, coin given and coin received. The usual. As you're taking stock of some of the items you have in the store, you briefly look when you hear the door open. You see a woman dressed in traveller's clothing with an eye patch over her left eye walking in with a bag over her shoulder and a little dog by her feet. "Hey, no anim…wait a minute…Annah?" you say. "Um…yeah…it's me." She replies a bit meekly. Part of you can't believe that you're seeing her again, another part of you sort isn't surprised. By the same token, part of you wants to go over and strangle her, while a small part of you wants to go over and hug her. She walks further into the store with a minor limp. Her dog, which you presume, is still Checkers, follows closely and is still about the same size the last time you saw the infernal furry beast. While you're feeling a lot of emotions right now, one of the reasons why you aren't acting on any of the negative ones is the condition she's in. Eye patch, limp, if she had a hook, she could pass for one of the pirates in Hessla as this point. When she gets closer, you notice scars around her neck. Like either someone unsuccessfully tried to slit her throat or tried to hang her. "Annah…what the fuck happened?" you ask. "I…I fucked up." Annah responds. "Well obviously." "Can I sit down a moment?" "Sure go ahead. I was getting ready to close down for the day anyway." Annah finds a chair and sits down putting her bag on the floor. When she does, its almost as if some of her burdens have been lifted, if only for a moment. Checkers curls up next to one of her feet. As you're locking up, you're just having a hard time believing it's actually her. "Well I guess I wouldn't blame you for laughing at me right now." Annah responds. "Laugh? Annah, this is fucking tragic seeing you like this. I mean…fuck sure I was pretty angry with that stunt you pulled, the last time I saw you. Even briefly thought about chasing you down, but even I certainly wouldn't have done this to you. Shit, I didn't even wish this on you." You say. "Heh…I guess I always knew that despite everything you'd still have some feelings for me. I suppose that's why I came to find you. You know I tried Klyton first. Had a hell of a time finding out you had moved here. Not surprised you finally moved given how strict things have gotten in Klyton. However, I am surprised to find you running a store of sorts." "Yeah well, things change." "Indeed. I'm guessing the woman I heard you were with was one of the reasons for that change. Don't worry; I'm not here to mess that up. Actually I'm glad you found someone because it's certainly hard being by yourself. Wish I'd realized that sooner. Is she here?" "No. If she were, we might not be having this long of a conversation. Which brings me to the point of this visit. Now I still don't know what happened to you, but obviously, you sought me out so I could help you in some way. So what is it?" "It's a long story." "Yeah well Zalmora isn't going to be back for awhile, so start talking." Annah tells you that soon after your "parting of ways" she went to the Delantium Kingdom. She says that she lived pretty well there, but it all started to fall apart when she got involved with the Ebony Claw Syndicate. "By the gods, why the hell would you do that for?" you utter. "I thought I was smart enough to handle them. Of course if I was really smart I would have left Delantium as soon as one of them approached me with their propositions." Annah answers. Annah goes on about how she dug a deeper and deeper hole for herself with the Syndicate until finally they began to lose patience with her and before she could disappear, they caught her and it wasn't good. She tells you that in the scheme of things she got off light since the others directly involved in the plan weren't so lucky. She was just considered loosely connected so managed to keep her life. However, she says you're not seeing the scars she has on her back where they also whipped her. It was by the luck of Yag that one of the Syndicate members was such an animal lover that he didn't kill Checkers as part of the "lesson." After the debt was paid in blood and what little coin she had, she left the Delantium Kingdom. "And then you came to find me?" you ask. "Well I actually thought about going home to Teckleville, but despite everything I wasn't completely ready to admit defeat and live some boring life. In fact, that's part of the reason I'm here." Annah at this point takes her bag and gives you it. You look at her and you slowly open it. "By the gods..." You utter. You put your hand inside the bag and pull out a fist full of vials filled with Blue Dream. The entire bag is full of them. There must be a small fortune here. "This is a lot of fucking Blue Dream, Annah. You realize how much fucking Blue Dream you got here?" "Not exactly, no. Do you know?" "No, I don't, but it's a fucking lot." "Can you give me a fair price? I understand you need to make a profit." "Annah, I'm not a fucking Blue Dream lord! I mean sure I sold some medical shit back in Klyton, but this is a whole different situation." "How so?" "First off, I'm sure you realize that Ebony Claw Syndicate has domination on this product. They're very fucking protective of it. I mean if you're caught selling this shit and you're not ECS, they will take it out on your ass." "Well isn't Hessla free of ECS influence?" "Yeah, but that doesn't mean they don't still come here. I start selling this shit in Hessla and I'll have a Syndicate hit squad on me before the Governor's Headsmen can do shit about it. Which brings me to the second point. The Governor of Hessla has a shaky relationship with the Syndicate. If anything causes that tenuous peace to start going south, he's going to take steps to correct it. And if that means turning over the troublemaker to the Syndicate, then that's what's going to happen." "No way to do it quietly?" "Annah, I could be as careful as possible and some idiot would blab. All it takes is one damn junkie. The only other option is to sell it all in one sale to minimize the risk, but I have no knowledge of anyone that needs that much Blue Dream and has the coin to buy it. Annah, this is REALLY dangerous to even have this in your possession. You have to know that." "I know I only got one fucking eye, a leg that has a permanent limp and deep scars on my back now thanks to the damn Syndicate. I might not be able to do anything to them, but I'm getting something out of them. They don't know anyway. As I said, they thought the Blue Dream was lost by one of the other poor sons of bitches they killed." "And you just happened to have it hidden somewhere the whole time of course." "I had a back up plan. I always do." You rub your eyes and shake your head. Annah looks at you with her one good eye and realizes that she may have assumed too much. "Alright. I can see you can't help me. It's okay. I get it. You got a nice life and don't want to fuck that up. Thanks for at least hearing me out for old times sake." Annah says. Annah goes to take the bag, and that's when you stop her. "Hang on. Didn't say I couldn't help you. Though I'm wondering why I should…(sigh) fuck it. I'm hoping I'm doing this because I'm greedy, because if it's because I still having feelings for you, I truly am an idiot. I got an idea of how I can unload this. Letting you know right now however, I'm taking full advantage and bending you over good on this deal." You say. "You going to kiss me and tell me I'm still pretty at least?" Annah replies. "Of course. No reason I can't still be a gentleman." You tell Annah to wait and you head to the back of the store where your living quarters are and then go to your personal safe where you take out the remainder of what savings you have left. It's still not as much as what the Blue Dream is worth, but as you already told her, Annah's going to have to be satisfied with the deal. You come back and find Annah petting Checkers in her lap. You then hand her a new bag of loot, which Annah looks in. "It's the best I can do Annah." You say. "This will do. I can take this and easily make more with it, if need be. Learned a few gambling tricks while in Delantium. Um, this isn't going to fuck up things with your new girl is it?" Annah asks. "Zalmora? Eh, I think I'll be able to talk my way out of it though. Hope so at least." "Maybe you shouldn't tell her then." "Hah. She'd figure out I was hiding something and I'd just get into more trouble. If I've learned anything, I'm shit at deception when it comes to those I happen to be intimate with." "Well give me the Blue Dream back, I don't want to cause you unnecessary trouble. I did enough of that when we were together." "Don't worry about it. I used all my savings rather than the store's anyway. So while she'll probably call me an idiot and ask if I fucked you or not, that's probably where it will end, then we'll figure out who we can sell the Blue Dream to and get rich. "Wait, this is ALL your savings?" "Yep. You've got it all again. Just think, you didn't even have to steal it this time." "Y'know, I'm really sorry about that. I wish…" "Forget it Annah. It was a long time ago and I got over it." Annah puts Checkers down and slowly stands up. She briefly smiles and moves towards you. "I…wish things had been different." Annah says getting a bit of a quiver in her voice. "Things are what they are. No point in dwelling on them now." Annah looks down and nods. She sniffles and rubs her eye. "Just, take care of yourself okay? And for fuck's sake don't have anymore dealings with the Ebony Claw Syndicate." "I won't and I won't forget this either." Annah suddenly moves in quick and gives you a kiss you on the lips. "You're still my first and only love. You always will be." Annah says and then turns around to exit the shop. She limps as quickly as she can with Checkers faithfully following her. And she's gone again. It's still a little unreal to you and you even get a little emotional after your encounter with Annah. After composing yourself, you focus on what she left you with, namely a shitload of Blue Dream. Despite what you told Annah, you're not really sure how you're going to get rid of it with ease. Zal will probably have some ideas, though you're dreading the conversation you're going to have to have with her. Fortunately you've got a few days to prepare yourself. A few days pass and Zal still isn't back yet. When two more days pass after that, you stop worrying about your conversation with Zal and just start to worry in general. Your worries are soon answered when a little boy suddenly comes running in your shop that day with a note saying someone on the edge of Hessla gave him this message to give to you. Pretty boy, Bring ALL your shit now or the bitch dies. Sincerely, Flameflower Your heart sinks and you feel sick. At first you wonder why Flame is doing this since your "business relationship" with her and her gang was always positive. Then again, does it matter what the reasons are? She's a fucking violent criminal and the risk was always there. The important thing is she's holding Zal hostage and you have to do something about it. > You try to save Zalmora You briefly think about emptying out the store's till and taking all that coin along with the Blue Dream to Flame, but is that really going to work? If Flame has already suddenly taken Zal hostage, chances are she'll just keep everything you bring and kill the pair of you. It's an impossible situation and the more you dwell on it, the angrier you get. You're going there all right, but you're not going there to negotiate. You going there armed for combat. You've never been one to seek out a fight; indeed you've usually always tried to avoid such things, be it from the law or other criminals. But you have killed before, and you know you can do it again. And right now there has never been a better reason. You don't know if you're going to survive this, as you're not some hardened bandit like they are. Indeed, you've probably gotten a little out of shape due to your less strenuous life. However, some skills you never unlearn. You're a rogue and you'll take them one by one silently if need be or die trying. While your intention is going to try to be silent as possible, one can never be too sure, so you grab various small firearms you have in the shop and check and recheck them. You then grab a small hand crossbow and several bolts. As prepared as you're going to be, you head out. From past conversations with Zalmora, you remember the general location of Flame's hideout. Takes about a day, but eventually you find it thanks to Flame's people being fairly loud while wandering around the area. You see two of them and mentally prepare yourself for the first casualties you're about to inflict in this task. You sneak up and slit one of the bandit's throats. He makes just enough noise for him to alert his fellow, which you shoot in the chest with your crossbow. Fortunately you're close enough you can't really miss. Two down, and who knows how many more to go. As Zal said, Flame's been getting organized so she's probably got more people than when you first met her. You picked a hell of a time to attack a bandit camp. You kill three more, one nearly escaping to warn his fellows. He still made enough noise for someone to possibly hear so who knows how much time you actually have. The funny thing is how easy this actually is, you thought you'd have a harder time of it, but so far these bandits have been putting up a pitiful showing. Maybe these bandits are so used to attacking defenseless travellers that most of them don't really have much skill in actual combat. By the time you get to the camp however, they know something is going on as you see a few running back and forth and shouting. You manage to kill one more in secret before several of them finally spot you. With no more element of surprise, you shoot two more and severely wound another before Flameflower comes out from her tent and demands that her people capture you alive. You try to backtrack so you aren't encircled, but it's too late, you've been successfully outflanked. You feel a bolt go into your leg and then another into your arm. You drop to the ground in pain. You see one of Flame's people coming and you weakly throw a dagger at him before you feel a blow to the back of your head. As you lose consciousness, you hear Flameflower's voice. "Fucking hell, pretty boy got some fight in him! You know how I like me a badass, this is gonna be fun!" Everything goes black. When you wake up, you find yourself stripped naked, standing stretched out with your arms and legs tied to two poles. Flameflower sits nearby throwing pebbles at your face. Two bigger bandits stand near the tent entrance. "Finally up. Shit, been waiting for what feels like forever." Flame says. "Where the hell is Zal?" you utter. "I'd be more concerned about yourself right now. Especially after what you pulled. Shit, you really made a mess of things pretty boy. What did you think you were going to do? Come in and kill all of us and save the girl like in one of those badly written fairy tales?" "Something like that." "Well that took a lot of balls I'll give you that. Shit, wish someone felt that way about me. I know none of these assholes would try to save me if I was being held hostage. Fucking romantic and shit y'know? Zal always did know how to pick 'em I guess." Flameflower stands up and walks over to you. She begins caressing your upper body a bit and then moves her hand lower to just grope you. "Mmm yeah. Now, I know you are probably feeling a wide range of emotions right now. The chief one probably being hate and anger, which I understand, but that shit isn't gonna do you any good except get you killed slowly and painfully." "Where the fuck is Zal?!" "THAT BITCH IS FUCKING DEAD! She was fucking dead before I even sent the note! I had my boys beat and rape her before they dumped her in the woods to let the fucking animals eat her dead violated ass. Thought about keeping her body around to taunt you with, but honestly, even I couldn't stand the sight of her. She was all nasty and gross looking. Cum and blood all over her fucking face, flies started crawling on her. I mean I nearly threw up myself y'know?" You feel a southern "squeeze" on your tender bits, but that pain doesn't even match the pain you feel from hearing this news. "You gonna cry over that dead cunt? Let me tell you something about Zalmora. That fucking bitch was a damn rat traitor. I have no doubt in my mind that she's the reason that the Klyton militia found our old hideout. You know how I know? Because in her last moments she even offered to trade YOU to me in exchange for her miserable life. So much for true love." "That didn't happen." "Oh? And you know this because you were here? You a fucking wizard or something? You don't know shit pretty boy. Nobody EVER really knows anybody. Especially when shit goes down. I mean you think Zal thought I was going to kill her? Of course she didn't. She thought in her arrogance that our profitable business arrangement was enough. That I was just some dumb ass that was easily appeased and granted, I was for a while. Shit, despite thinking she was a stuck up cunt, I didn't even really hate her, just was business." "Business?" "Yes. I decided on a better arrangement that didn't involve you two. But none of this shit matters now. What matters now is pleasure AND how much you want to live. Normally I'd just kill you and this would be over with, but I want that dick. Tired of fucking these smelly ugly fuckers. Want some of what Zal had for a change. A nice face to look at as I'm riding that cock. Now I'm going to get that, whether YOU want to or not, but the more willing you are, the greater you improve your chances." "Better just kill me then because I doubt if I'm going to be up for that." "Hah, you think I can't get you hard? Shit, I got several ways I could get you hard. I slide that dick down my velvet throat a few times and you'd be harder than a rock golem. I could have one of my boys here fuck you in the ass a bit. Saw that happen to a couple guys a few times, doesn't always seem to work, but still fun to watch though. However, I got a better idea because I want you to last and I want to enjoy this for as long as possible. Lou, get that shit you use on your dick." "Um, the wart ointment?" Lou asks. "No, goblin shit for brains, I'm talking about the stuff that gives you more stamina than the usual two pumps you do." "Oh! Okay boss." "In the meantime, I think I'll get a taste of things to come…" As you stand tied helpless while Flameflower has a sword fight with you in her mouth, all you can think about is how the hell you're going to get out of this, along with how many diseases you dick is probably getting right now. When Lou returns with a small bottle Flame tell him and the other goon to force your mouth open and turn your head up as she pours the contents down your throat. Tastes horrible, whatever it is, but you soon feel the effects. "Well now. Looks like you really like me after all! Lou, Haylon, untie pretty boy here and get some help holding him down outside, I want an audience for this!" After punching you in the gut to take the wind out of you, Lou and Haylon cut your ropes and drag you outside where some of the bandits start whooping it up. After a couple more punches to you face several of the bandits hold your arms and legs. "Hey! Not the face boys! Like I said, I want him to have a clear look at these magnificent tits bouncing in front of him!" Flameflower says as she exits her tent completely naked. Flameflower poses a bit to the cheers of her bandit buddies and then looks down at you as you remain helpless "Yeah, I know I'm beautiful. Now brace yourself pretty boy, because you may feel a burning sensation…" Flameflower lowers herself on you and you're convinced you just shoved your dick in a vat of lava. Flameflower's name has taken on a whole new meaning. You might indeed be as hard as a rock golem, but you sure aren't enjoying this experience. You still don't know if you're surviving this, but even if you do, your dick might not. This whole situation is just horrible as Flameflower laughs and people cheer her on and you're utterly powerless to stop any of it. While it feels like forever, it's only been an hour and you finally release into her, though it feels more like a stream of fire. "Aww! I was just enjoying that and I'm not done yet!" Flameflower gets in close and whispers in your ear. "I know what you can do." Flameflower says and licks your face before getting off of you. "Get him on his knees lads, pretty boy here is gonna finish me off like a real gentleman. I want all of you uncouth louts to take notes!" You are forced up and then slammed down to your knees by Flame's biggest goons. At this point you feel like you want to die, but somewhere within you, you still feel that spark of survival. Flameflower stands in front of you and you're literally eye level to her nasty infested diseased hole. You nearly want to retch from the smell. Flameflower grabs a knife from one of her people, which she runs gently across the side of your cheek. "Now, I want you to do mommy right. I want you to make me come hard and multiple times. You understand? Because if you don't, what you're experiencing now, can be ten times worse and much longer." Flameflower begins pushing your head closer to her snatch and you're still trying to figure out a way to survive this. "Wait, so if I do this…will you let me live?" you ask. Flameflower starts laughing and then looks at you while roughly grabbing the back of your head to look at her. "I'm probably still going to kill you. However, IF you show some enthusiasm, then MAYBE I'll keep you around as my lick bitch." Flameflower holds the knife close to your head as she uses her other hand to push your head into her. As your face gets so close that you can now see the crabs, you close your eyes, mentally praying to ALL the gods that you'll be able to do this without puking or passing out from the smell (and/or taste). Your tongue nervously starts to exit your mouth… And suddenly an explosion deafens you and causes you to tip over and you aren't the only one. You look up in time to see the crowd around you disperse. Another explosion occurs and this one is close enough that a few bandits get caught in it. Someone invested in some firebombs. Meanwhile Flameflower is standing around barking orders at everyone and then her attention turns back to you. "I don't know what asshole is attacking us, but YOU are not getting away. Lou, Haylon, get him!" You quickly start scrambling away only to have Lou grab your arm. Just as Haylon is about to back him up, a shot is heard and Haylon's head partially explodes like a ripe melon. More shots are fired causing Flameflower to run for cover as bodies start dropping. You punch Lou in the face causing him to let go of you and then grab a dagger from one of his sheaths and stab him in the neck with it. You look around and that's when you see who it is that's been attacking. Annah limps slowly around the camp, welding some sort of fancy repeating pistol. You didn't even know she had one of those. She's not missing a shot either, even with only one good eye. Once again this woman is just full of surprises. "I got this, go get that naked bitch!" Annah shouts. Last time you saw Flameflower, she ran back into her tent, probably to get a better weapon, however there are still some bandits that haven't given up the fight and while Annah's a good shot, she's still going to have to reload. > You help Annah Ignoring Annah's commands, you immediately grab a crossbow off of one of the dead bodies nearby and a short sword. Annah fires off one more round and then has to reload just like you figured she round. A couple of the bandits try to rush her, but you fire your own crossbow at them. You miss, but it's enough to cause one to desperately try to get out of the way and stop his advance. The other bandit trying to attack Annah you cross swords with. You do okay, but you're still hurting from getting hit with a bolt in your arm and leg earlier (along with everything else) not to mention you're without any protection. Eventually the other bandit you shot at, regains his composure and moves in to attack you, however at this point Annah has already reloaded and before either bandit can gain the advantage on you, she's shot both of them. You turn around just in time to see Flameflower come out of her tent with two pistols and you immediately shove Annah out of the way and try to duck in the process, but then you feel another burning sensation. This one however is on the left side of your head followed by the ringing pain of where an ear once was and a bloody hole now all that remains. "SHIT!" you shout and fall to the ground holding the left side of your head. You fully expect another shot to either kill you or Annah as you're both prone and Flame was holding two pistols. "CHECKERS KILL!" you hear Annah shout despite the ringing. This is followed by the sounds of growling, shouting and then several shots being fired from nearby. By the time you get up, you see Checkers happily trotting over to Annah who stands nearby and looking over at Flameflower's body. Annah limps over towards Flameflower and just as you're about to tell her to be careful, she fires again at Flame's hand, which apparently was going for the pistol she dropped after being attacked by Checkers. "Argh! Shit! Fuck!" Flame manages to gurgle as she loses a couple fingers. You and Annah now both approach Flame who is a bloody mess at this point. Still, she's managing to hang on to continue to look defiantly at you. "(Cough) Fuck…who's this bitch with the great aim? Nother girlfriend?" Flame asks. "Something like that." Annah remarks. "(Gurgle) well ain't you a (cough) fuckin lady killer, pretty boy…" You pick up the pistol that Flame was trying to grab. You then kneel down and ram the pistol in her mouth, breaking out some of her teeth in the process. "Hold on baby, I'm gonna shoot my load, get that velvet throat of yours ready…" you say. "Mmugh guh ack…" Flame chokes and weakly tries to struggle against you. You pull the trigger and blow most of her head apart. Blood splatters everywhere, along with brains and skull. "Was it good for you?" As you slowly stand up, you feel a bit numb. Annah touches your shoulder, but you ignore it. You just feel like you're in another place. You aren't even aware if all the bandits are dead, you just walk into Flame's tent and when inside, you sit down and just think about everything that transpired. Meanwhile Annah looks around to see if there are any more enemies and fortunately it looks like you both killed them all. The pair of you ironically just made the roads a lot safer from thievery and murder. By the time Annah comes back to check on you, you've managed to gather yourself enough that you've got your clothes back on. You're still sort of sitting and staring into nothing though. "You um…all…nevermind that's a stupid question. Of course you're not alright." Annah says. "I'm not. But I will be eventually. I just…got a lot on my mind right now." "I'm really sorry I couldn't get here sooner. Fucking bum leg…" "It's okay Annah. Better that you came late, rather than not at all. I'm guessing you were spying on me again?" "Well, after our exchange in your shop a few days ago, I was still in Hessla pondering whether or not to try to win you back or at least give you back your savings and take the Blue Dream off your hands so you didn't have the hassle. When I saw you leave the shop and then heading towards out of town looking like you had a grim purpose, I knew something must be wrong, so I followed. Hell of a time keeping up. Thankfully Checkers is an excellent tracker. Again, my apologies." "And again, it's a good thing you did. Fuck…" You begin to feel the weight of what happened to you and you put your head in your hands desperately trying not to cry, but you can't help it. Seeing that you're distressed, Annah goes over to try to comfort you, but you stop her. "Don't. Annah. Just don't. I'm probably fucking crawling with disease and you don't need to be around that. Not to mention that my mind is in a very dark place right now." "Okay. I understand and I get it. I just want you to know though; I went through something similar so I'm here, okay? I'm going to leave you alone and I'll just be outside looking around again. I'm not going anywhere." You nod and Annah leaves. While what Flameflower did to you was certainly traumatic enough, what you're really upset about is Zalmora. She's dead, and you don't even know where the body is, not that you'd probably want to see it after what Flameflower described. Though the worst of it is, was Flameflower telling the truth or just fucking with your head? Not about what they did before killing her, though that's terrible enough, but did Zal really offer to trade you to Flameflower in a desperate attempt to survive? You have a hard time believing that and yet Flame was right about one thing, nobody ever truly knows anybody. Who knows what the hell happened. Maybe the agony was just so great for Zal that she did something so desperate and unthinkable to survive. You nearly did and would have if Annah hadn't showed up when she did. In the end, does it really matter if she did? She's dead and you'll never really know the truth. You're fairly certain that it was bullshit, but even it wasn't…well you guess you can live with the idea that you understand. You never experienced any betrayal by Zalmora, so you'll remember her as your relationship was with her. A pleasant one with many happy memories. Because that's all you got of her now. You slowly gather the rest of your belongings and briefly go through Flameflower's tent. You're not really in the mood to loot, but it's a habit and it's not like you're going to come back here ever again. You don't find much of actual value except a bit of coin, however what you find more interesting is a few more notes laying on a table. Out of curiosity you read some of them and put one in your pocket before exiting the tent. Outside, you find Annah sitting on the ground with an overstuffed bag and petting Checkers. They both look in your direction and Checkers even trots over to you as if to greet you. Hard to believe the little furball is friendly with you, though she probably has contributed to saving your life on more than one occasion. "You ready?" Annah asks. "Yeah." You answer giving Checkers a quick pet. "Okay, my apologies if the trip to Hessla takes awhile due to my leg." "It's fine, but I was going to Klyton." "Klyton? Why?" "Because I got a fire down below, I'd like something that's sure to cure it and Klyton has better medical facilities. I'm not worried about the store right now." "Ah. Yeah I get it. Well I understand if you need to go on ahead. I can meet you in Klyton if you want." "Yeah…I don't think I'm going to be good company Annah. Not for a long while. I got a shitload of baggage I need to work out and go through. Last thing I want to do is drive you away because I'm in a dark mood." "Isn't that what you're doing now?" "No. You know why? Because despite every shitty thing that's happened, I have learned one thing, we always find each other somehow. Maybe we'll part ways now, but I know we're going to see each other again. I dunno, maybe that's how our relationship works best. You have saved my life multiple times now. I doubt if I'm ever going to be able to repay that debt no matter how much you take from my savings. I look at you and I really wish I'd been there to help you with the Syndicate." "It's okay. You would have just gotten us both killed." Annah starts to smile and then you chuckle a bit. "Probably right." You say. "So this is goodbye again." Annah replies. "Just for a little while. Maybe next time…maybe next time we'll get it right." Annah goes to hug you, and despite you reminding her of your carrying of three hundred sexual diseases, she hugs you anyway. She then says she's going to head back to Hessla since it's closer and less of a strain on her legs. She then says she'll probably book passage on a ship to Holgard, since she hasn't been there yet. The two of you then part ways. You make your way to Klyton trying hard to ignore your pain. You really hope you can get something before your dick falls off. When you finally get to Klyton, you nonchalantly nod at the guards and ask where the closest and cheapest medical facilities in the city as you just got robbed and barely escaped with your life. Given how you look and the serious tone of your voice, the guard has no reason to disbelieve your story and tells you how to get to the nearest apothecary and says they really need to do more to start keeping the nearby roads safe from bandits. You enter Klyton and from there you immediately know where to go. You head to Klyton hospital and while you might not have done this in awhile, you never really forget. Fortunately the medicine for curing dick rot is a lot easier to acquire than Numb and the rest of the shit you used to sell, so security isn't as strong. You grab a couple bottles of the strongest stuff you can find and make haste out of the hospital. You down one bottle of the medicine which tastes terrible, but hopefully it works. In the meantime you pay for a cheap inn and try to get some rest, which you fail at since you have nightmares the whole time. A couple days pass and your dick starts to feel better, though still not a hundred percent. The rest of your body still aches as well, but your mind is still dealing with the shit that happened. You weep over Zal a bit despite already having come to grips with it. Your mind always goes back to anger and hate though. You half wish Flameflower was alive so you could kill her slower this time. You "support" your stay at the cheap inn, the old way. Klyton may have tightened their security, but people remain oblivious idiots that don't watch their coin purses. If anything, they seem to be less observant. Must be due to feeling safer. After about two weeks, your body is more or less healed and your dick is no longer burning like a blacksmith's furnace. Your mind still isn't quite right, but then was it ever? Still, you're in a better frame of mind of what you're going to do. You catch a carriage and head back to Hessla. When you arrive and get back to the shop, you're actually surprised it hasn't been looted or burned down or something. Then again hasn't been the end of the month for the Governor to take a cut yet. You look around and see everything still in place. When you go to your safe though, you get a bit of a surprise. You find all your savings inside. The Blue Dream bag is gone. You guess Annah broke in the store (along with cracking the safe! Another thing she must have learned) and returned everything. You just hope Annah doesn't get into any trouble trying to sell that Blue Dream, but then again if she does, she'll probably get out of it. You look around the shop remembering the good times you had here with Zal, then load your savings into your pack and take the silver whistle Zalmora first gave you and leave the shop for good. You book passage on a ship, which is leaving for Jicol. You've always heard about opportunities there and you've never been there before. Might as well try some place new. Before you leave however you make one more visit. You enter Little Lorenzo's shop. Lorenzo's shop as usual is empty. Even without you as direct competition, he's not doing any better. The halfling's eyes widen when he sees you. Obviously he thought you weren't coming back. You draw your pistol. "Wait! We can…" You fire and hit the Halfling in the head. His body slumps over with unspectacular thud. "Next time, don't put shit in writing." You throw the crumpled correspondence between Lorenzo and Flameflower near his body before walking back out. > You time passes... Chapter 3E: Reunited Year 30 None of your dealings with gangs has ever been positive which is why its odd that you inadvertently became looked up to one. Granted it's made up of a bunch of snot nosed teenagers, but they've been trying to emulate you for years since they were snot nosed kids. The Black Hooks have been unofficially looking to you for guidance ever since you easily caught a couple of them trying to pick your pocket a couple years ago and scolded them for their sloppy technique. Some of them seem to have potential, others just seem like they're just in it to cause trouble and be rebellious. Their "leader" Marco talks a big game and even seems to resent the fact that so many in his gang speak positively of you, but in the scheme of things, he seems like he wants to be like you on some level. Still, as teenagers are want to do, they don't always listen very well. You certainly didn't. "Marco, I know you and your little friends are really proud about your recent string of break ins, but you lot still have a lot to learn about stealth. I've told you the story about the Bloody Talons haven't I?" you remark. "Yes! A million times!" Marco says exasperatedly. "And you'll hear it a million more until you fuckers get it right or you're going to end up just like the Bloody Talons! More importantly, you're making shit unnecessarily more difficult for the rest of us trying to make a living out here. The more reckless you are, the more the Jicol Watch starts actually cracking down on everyone. We don't need that shit. We got it good here thanks to Jicol tending to worry more about pirates than us land based criminals." "I think I'd rather be a pirate." "Pfft, no you wouldn't. You like the IDEA of being a pirate because you hear all about their glorious tales of raping and pillaging whenever they dock here. Trust me, I've dealt with enough pirates for them to tell me some of their stories to know that that life isn't all that glamorous. Most of the time it's a lot of waiting around on a ship fighting off scurvy and other crew members trying to do harm to your fucking asshole by shoving a dick it in. You want to get fucked in the ass?" "Um, no?" "You didn't sound so sure about that. Because if that's what you want, I'm pretty sure there are a lot of pirate captains that would like a cabin boy like you." "No! Fuck no." "Alright then. In any case, stop immediately breaking windows when you're struggling with a lock. Locks are like women and sometimes you gotta take a little time with them before they open up and give you the goods. It's a pain in the ass, but most of the time it's worth it and you'll feel a better sense of accomplishment. Understand?" "Yeah, I suppose so." "So what are you trying to sell this time?" After doing a little bartering and taking advantage of Marco's lack of knowledge of the value of his stolen goods, you bid him and his buddies goodbye and remind him to remember what you said. As you make your way back to your humble home, halfway there you get the sense that you're being followed and watched. It isn't he Black Hook either. "Alright, you lot might as well come out, unless you intend on shooting me from the shadows that you're hiding in." A single older man steps out from said shadows. "Nope, just me." He says. "Who are you?" you ask. "Oh I go by the same name I have for years now. Sneaks. Though apparently not sneaky enough seeing as you sensed me. Such is the failing of once superior skills with getting old." "You won't be getting too much older if you keeping following me around, now what do you want?" "No need for hostility friend, though I suppose it would have been better to just approach you directly. Honestly, I've known about you for a year or so now, but seeing as I do my own fencing like most others like myself around here, never really needed to speak with you before." "Oh? So do you have something then?" "Oh no. It's not that. It's more of a concern that…well let's just say the underworld community has." "Underworld community? First I'm hearing of an organized gang here." "That's because there isn't one and we're all hoping it stays that way. Nothing good comes from monolithic organizations. I should know I had to directly fight the Ebony Claw Syndicate back in Holgard and ultimately lost." "Well you'll get no argument from me. I've never been part of a gang and never had any positive experiences with them." "Interesting. Then one wonders why you're actively encouraging and acting as a mentor of sorts to one." You nearly chuckle at what Sneaks is getting at. "The Black Hooks? I mean yeah I guess they're a gang, but they're hardly the Ebony Claw Syndicate. They're mostly a bunch of dumb teenagers." You say. "Well I'm sure the Syndicate started as a bunch of dumb teenagers too, until someone molded and lead them to be a powerful organization." Sneaks replies. "I am NOT the leader of the Black Hooks nor do I have any desire to be. That dubious honor belongs to their mildly more intelligent member, Marco. I can't help it if some of them look to me for tips and shit. If anything, my guidance as you call it, is making things better for the rest of us. I just told them to knock it off with their smash and grab routines and other shit that brings the heat down on everyone." "Yes, I can see that would be a good thing, however I don't think you're looking at the greater picture. You are correct in that they're mostly dumb teenagers and their actions draw more attention. However, I also imagine that they wouldn't last very long. Sooner, rather than later, the Jicol Watch would wipe out most of them and things would be harder for the rest of us for awhile, but eventually the status quo would return since Jicol has always been more concerned with a potential pirate attack rather than anything else." "Your point?" "My point is, YOU are teaching them to be better criminals. Basically, more of them are going to survive and even thrive because of you. Not only does this mean more competition for all of us, it also means the Black Hooks are likely to survive as a gang. This organization is going to eventually realize that they outnumber the independent competition and take steps to eliminate said competition, or force them to join. Since some of us aren't likely to go quietly, some of the independents are going to form their OWN gang for protection and before you know it, there's a war going on. As I said, I've read that tale before and it didn't end well." "So you're telling me who I can or can't associate with?" "Look, I'm not saying to not continue to do whatever business you have with them. I wouldn't dream of doing something like that. Anyway I said my piece. Do what you want obviously. I'm just suggesting that helping them as much as you have been, might not be in any of our best interests in the long run." "Duly noted." With those words, Sneaks nods and takes his leave. You have to admit, he does have somewhat of a point, but on the other hand some of it sounded like a threat with that last bit. You continue on your way home and then you see a figure near it. The figure isn't even hiding. They're just casually sitting on your front step. Seems you're popular today. As you approach a little cautiously, the notice the figure is female and a little furry animal pop out from around her then… "Annah?" you call out. "I was wondering when you'd get home. I would have let myself in, but who knows what traps you've rigged and I'm not quite as nimble anymore. Besides, wouldn't be polite right?" Annah replies. "Glad to see you've at last respected my boundaries. Not just for me, but for yourself. That door doesn't even lead inside, come on, I'll take you the real way." "Oh, a secret way in. Nice, but aren't you concerned about me knowing?" "Not at this point. Besides, I don't keep anything of actual value in here anyway." "Of course you don't." After leading Annah in the real way to your home (with Checkers slowly following behind), she asks you how you've been and what you've been up to. You give a brief answer that you've been doing better since the last time you saw her (physically and mentally) and how it's mostly been back to the standard burglary for you along with some fencing for the Black Hooks. "Black Hooks huh? They Jicol's version of the Talons?" Annah asks. "They wish. It's mostly a bunch of teenagers being wild. Though I've been mildly trying to direct them away from what led to the Talons' demise in Klyton." You say. "That's rather altruistic of you." "It's more like covering my own ass in the long run so Jicol doesn't turn into another Klyton. However, someone recently told me that I should just let these kids twist in the wind and get themselves killed by the law since it gets rid of a potential greater threat in the future, like the Black Hooks actually becoming competent and powerful united force." "I can see a logic in both approaches actually. So what were you planning to do?" "Nothing. I'm going to continue to go about my life and if anyone gets in my face about what I'm doing, I'll deal with it then." "Sounds like you. Sooo…the Black Hooks the only gang in the city?" "If you can call them that. Yeah. Everyone else is more or less independent though I'm sure a few work together at times. Nobody really has any turf though as far as places being off limits to others. Not even the Black Hooks are like that, though they do have a location where they all hang out that they probably consider their own." "Would you say there is a strong disregard for authority here in the underworld community?" "Isn't there always?" "Well yes, but I meant it sounds like other than the Black Hooks, nobody is really organized and probably would resist against such a thing." "Annah, this is an odd line of questioning you're going for…out with it." Annah looks down a bit, before looking at you again. You have to say, you still aren't used to that eye patch she has. "Promise you won't get mad?" Annah asks. "Well that doesn't sound good. (Sigh) Fine. I promise I'll TRY not to get mad." You reply. "Okay. Well, since we last saw each other, I've been in Holgard and I've sort of had dealings with the Ebony Claw Syndicate." "Oh for…" "No, no, it's okay. I'm actually on good terms with them now. Well at least the chapter in Holgard. Apparently the head there Rook. Isn't too pleased with some of the leadership decisions in the Delantium Kingdom and he's been making a few moves of his own. To cut a long story short, I've been working with the Syndicate." "You joined the fucking Syndicate?!" "No! I'm more like a hired gun. Literally, most of the time. I…uh…accept a lot of contracts on people." "…Wow. Okay then. Still, I would have thought the Syndicate would have had people like that on their payroll." "Eh, that's sort of the problem with the Holgard chapter. It doesn't get much support from the top. It's almost seen as more of a money-making outpost. Enough to keep a presence in, but not important enough to put extra manpower into. This might not be a problem if Holgard didn't suffer shit like civil rebellions and religious faction fights every five years or so. As a result the Syndicate chapter in Holgard has had to make more use of independents than they would like. Though they tend to REALLY want you to join. I've gotten the sales pitch several times. Fortunately I'm good enough at what I do that I've been able to decline and still remain unaligned." "Seems like a dangerous game you're playing Annah. I mean this is the same organization that…well did THAT to you." "Same organization, but different people and different circumstances. Besides, I'm not trying to rip them off this time. I'm legitimately doing work for them, which is why I'm here actually." Annah goes into an explanation that the head of the Syndicate chapter in Holgard, Rook is looking to expand his own power base here on Jicol. Since Annah has done such good work for him in the past he's sent her here to scout the place rather than sending his own people. She says that her main job is to make a note of all the major players in the city. She says that when she learned you were living here, she figured she could save some of the legwork by directly speaking to you about it. "So…what then? Is the Syndicate just going to take this entire city over?" you ask. "Well that's the plan, unless it turns out to be too much trouble, but based on even what little you've told me and what little I've seen, this place seems pretty ripe for a Syndicate takeover. Or at least Rook's takeover." Annah says briefly petting Checkers who is asleep by her feet. "There's nothing I can do to stop this?" "Well no, not really. The Syndicate is really looking to branch out here. Nothing that can be done about that unless you're going to try to unite everyone against them, but it would be pretty stupid to try that. The Syndicate pretty much always gets what they want. I should know." "It still surprises me that you'd be working for them, given what happened. You never did tell me exactly." "Okay. I get what you mean. But shit happened and I wound up in bed with the Syndicate again. Fortunately it's been in my favor this time. It's sort of an amusing tale, maybe I'll tell you about it when I'm not currently so busy." Annah replies. "Still never told me about how you managed to get a room in the Klyton university dorms either." "Heh. Well I'll tell you that story too. I want to tell you everything. I mean…shit…I still miss you, y'know? When I found out you lived here I was looking forward to seeing you again. Last time we parted company you said we'd meet again as we seem to be destined to always do." "Yeah I remember. Just thought it might be under less complicated circumstances this time." "I don't think that's how our relationship goes." "Obviously not." Annah takes a deep breath and continues. "The Syndicate is coming, but it probably won't be immediately. In the meantime, I can speak positively about you when I get back to Holgard and you could probably become an associate much like I am. I could even relocate here while we prepare this place and we could work on tasks together like in the old days. Lots of coin to be made and we both know how much you like that." Annah says. While you wouldn't mind such a thing under normal circumstances, you really aren't keen on Annah's Syndicate involvement. > You fully help Annah Annah's ultimately always done what she's wanted to do so trying to talk her out of this is probably pointless. However, you know you want Annah back in your life since you've missed her, so you'll help her completely in her task. That's from the emotional standpoint. From a pragmatic standpoint, it sounds like the Syndicate is coming whether Annah works for them or not. As dangerous as it might be to get involved with the Syndicate, you do see the benefit potential and with Annah around at least you won't necessarily have to change your life around too much or possibly relocate again. You give Annah a rundown on every underworld contact you have of relative importance, along with the strength and numbers of the Black Hooks. You then also give Annah an approximate guess on the strength of the Jicol Watch and how effective they are. "Would you say they're susceptible to working with the Syndicate? The Holgard Watch has never been too much of a problem in that regard." Annah says. "Well, the Jicol Watch isn't adverse to a bribe here and there, but the Mayor of Jicol tends to pay them well enough for them to not to make a habit of it." You say. "Mayor of Jicol? Anything like the Governor of Hessla?" "He's ten times more reclusive. Apparently most haven't seen him in decades. About the only descriptions that exist are that the Mayor is male and human, but who knows? In any case, while this place is no stranger to corruption, it still adheres to law and order fairly strongly. Not Klyton level, but that's probably due to more emphasis on their fleet rather than land force which is thankfully smaller." "I see. Anything else?" "Not really. So…you going to go assassinate them all now?" "Heh. Well, based on everything you've told me, doesn't seem like I need to bother. I suppose I could anyway. You said you spoke to someone called Sneaks that used to belong to the Thieves Guild in Holgard recently? I bet Rook would want to someone like that taken care of. Maybe the leader of the Black Hooks as well just to keep that group from getting too organized." You think for a moment. "Well, how about something to make your job a lot easier. I'll invite most of the more well known rogues to a gathering and get them all in one location. I'll say it's something that's going to affect everyone and that it's really important. Shouldn't be too hard, Sneaks already came to me saying a lot of the independents are bitching about the Black Hooks so they'll probably be willing to speak especially if I'm seemingly alone." You say. "Well that would simplify things. Um, don't you do business with most of them? Isn't this going to affect that?" "Probably for the better since they're more competition than anything else. I don't give a shit about any of them. Especially if they're already complaining about how I interact with the Black Hooks. Speaking of which let's leave Marco and the rest out of this. The Black Hooks can ultimately be incorporated into the Syndicate, I can help in that regard." "Hm. Well if you say you can do it, then that sounds fine to me. You know them better than I do. It certainly would go a long way to have a force here that's already asset to the Syndicate." "Okay, I guess I'll start setting all this up tomorrow." "Very well. So um, you don't mind me staying here while we take care of all this do you?" "Of course not. I only got the one bed though." "Well good, you know how I always like you to cuddle with me after sex anyway." "Hm, I was going to build up a bit more to it, but glad to see you're on board with that." "Pfft, its probably the main reason I came to speak with you in the first place. Well that and to see if we still had a chance together. I know these circumstances aren't the most ideal, but when have things ever been normal for us? There's so much time that we've missed together. I just really want to make it work this time." "So do I." Annah immediately goes to kiss you. "Then let's get started." She says and continues to kiss you while trying to strip off her clothing. You proceed to rekindle the old flames. Next day… "Hey, wake up. I know I'd love for you to sleep next to me naked all day, but sadly we've got some business to take care of." Annah says while nudging you awake, meanwhile you feel something wet on your hand, which is hanging over the side of the bed causing you to pull it away. "Ah! Something…oh it's Checkers. She was licking my hand." You say. "She likes you, though it's probably hard for you to believe." "Well the furry beast has assisted in saving my life a few times, so not that hard I suppose. Okay, well I'm up. Guess I'll get started on that thing. Thinking I'll hold the meeting just outside Jicol. There's a small clearing that's been used sometimes for such things." You proceed to get dressed and then give Annah a kiss before you leave. You seek out every rogue you know that could potentially be trouble in the future and explain that Sneaks recently spoke to you and after sleeping on it a bit you decided that everyone is right and the Black Hooks have to go, but you can't do it alone and you want to have a meeting to coordinate an attack. Surprisingly everyone you speak to is receptive to this idea and agrees to come to this meeting. Granted you have a fairly "honest" reputation and nobody really likes the Black Hooks, but you thought you were going to have a few suspicious folks hesitate. Even Sneaks is glad to hear you listened to him. "Somehow I knew you were a man of reason." Sneaks says. "Yeah, well apologies for being stand offish yesterday, I just…well I have an aversion to advice sometimes." You remark. "Hm, well it's a common trait in our line of work. Think nothing of it. Still, do you think we need to completely wipe out the Black Hooks?" "Well yeah, I mean isn't this what you wanted yesterday?" "I said I would like to see them gone, though not necessarily killed. I mean I thought about some of the stuff you said as well yesterday and you were right that they're just a bunch of dumb teenagers in the scheme of things. No way to just scare them or even perhaps just kill the leader?" "No half measures on this I'm afraid. The Black Hooks have enough confidence now that it isn't completely tied up in just Marco. Besides, you know how gangs work. You kill the leader, and another one just pops up and could even be worse. No, as ruthless as this may be, it's going to be necessary." "True. Oh well. Better them than us in the future. Okay, I'll be there at the meeting tonight. The quicker we get this grim business over with, the better." Having done your part, you return home where you find Annah looking around. "Oh there you are, you talk to everyone you needed to?" Annah remarks. "Yeah, can't believe I convinced everyone." You answer. "Well you can be charming without trying sometimes." "Weird, always thought my sister was the one who had that trait." "Oh she did, however it probably seemed like she was better at it since she naturally has a more outgoing personality. Plus she had the advantage that most, if not all your marks tended to be old horny guys that liked pretty young girls." "Hm, guess I never thought about it that way before. Anyway, are you prepared? There's probably more of them coming than I thought." "How many?" "Counting Sneaks. Nine total." "Shit, I'll probably kill six of them before they realize what's going on. You'll be assisting right?" "Of course." "Yeah, we got this then. Well we got a lot of time to spare, let's go spend it in bed again." "And you say I'm the charming one." After another round of intimacy, Annah asks you for directions to this clearing so she can get there ahead of time before anyone else. You give her the directions and then you also tell to be careful since its not like the jungles are exactly free of unfriendly wildlife. You then prepare your own firearms. You might not have the fancy ones Annah has or have her skill, but you're bringing enough pistols to hopefully kill someone before they can kill you or escape. You then make your way to the clearing. When you get there, you find that everyone is there already. Several of them are clearly armed with firearms of their own, with muskets and blunderbusses being openly held. Apparently there was some caution. "See? Told you he was going to come alone." One of them says. "Yeah, that's why you came here an hour in advance just to make sure there weren't any Black Hooks hiding out to ambush us." Another adds. "Hm, I see trust is in short supply around here." You remark. "You can't be that surprised. Hell you're betraying your Black Hook buddies. I mean what are the rest of us supposed to think?" a third remarks with a chuckle. "Okay gentlemen, I think all of our minds are a bit more at ease now. I apologize to our friend who organized this meeting, but I think under the circumstances, he should understand our caution." Sneaks remarks. "Of course I do, I mean I certainly didn't come without weapons. For all I knew you lot were going to murder me out here." You say. "Still could." One rogue says, stepping forward a bit. "True. But now I know which one to aim for first before I go." You say. "Hah, he's gotcha there." Another laughs. "But anyway, I didn't call you all here for a pissing contest. I called you all here because there's an important matter that needs taking care of and contrary to popular belief I'm not buddies with the Black Hooks." "So you said to me earlier today, so what's this plan of yours to wipe them out and how can we help?" Sneaks ask. You walk around a bit to get into a better location that you'll be able to take cover quickly before answering. You aren't sure where Annah is, but if you know her as well as you know you do, she's not far away and probably already in position. "Well you didn't let me finish Sneaks. I'm not betraying the Black Hooks either and you all can help me by not putting up a fight." You say and draw one of your pistols. "Shit!" Sneaks shouts and tries to get out of the clearing. Before anyone can get off a shot, Annah has opened fire and killed six of them. just like she said she would. You get one that tries to run at you with a dagger. The one with the blunderbuss fires wildly into the direction where he thinks the other shots are coming from and then you shoot him in the back. You look around and find that Sneaks is gone. You assume he's heading back to the city though you're just guessing though since it's fairly dark. You're also concerned about Annah, since that one with the blunderbuss did fire into the jungle and it's possible he hit her. "Annah! Annah! Where are you? Are you alright?" you shout, then you hear a gunshot in the near distance, followed by a yelp. You run towards the noise and find Sneaks lying in the grass clutching his chest, that has a bloody hole in it. Annah stands nearby calmly reloading her pistol. "There you are. See, told you no problem. Wish this old asshole hadn't ran though, hate having to run nowadays. Well it's more of a quick limp, but I can get around fast if I really need to." Annah says. "Thank the gods, you're alive." You say. Meanwhile Sneaks utters a few curses at you in between his dying breaths. "Well, I can't argue with all that Sneaks, but think of it this way. At least it wasn't the Black Hooks or even some insignificant dick that killed you. The Syndicate finally caught up with you." You say which then causes a brief look of surprise in Sneaks' eyes before you use your last flintlock to shoot him in the head. "So that was that Sneaks guy you told me about huh? Guess I'll mention to Rook that a long escaped enemy has been dealt with though I'm sure the Syndicate has so many enemies on their shit list, this one won't matter too much. Still, I'm sure it'll be looked upon as favorably." Annah says. "So what's the plan now?" you ask. "Well, I return to Holgard with all the information you provided along with what we did tonight. Then I'll try to get back here as soon as possible and we can take it from there." "Are you so sure Rook will send you back here?" "Pretty sure he'll want me here to assist in getting the Syndicate set up here. In any case I'm still an independent assassin, not official Ebony Claw Syndicate so if he's got ideas to have me do something else, I don't have any obligation to do it and I'll be coming back here anyway." "Hm, well I guess you know this guy better than I do. Just be careful. I still don't really like this situation with the Syndicate, but you can count on my support whatever you decide to do." "And that's why I'm returning no matter what." Annah kisses you and the pair of you return to Jicol and then home. Annah wants to get back to you as soon as possible so she leaves for Holgard on a ship the next day. She says she'd like to leave Checkers with you since she's getting old and doesn't really like to travel as much anymore. You agree, though partially because at least the beast is sort of still like having part of Annah around. The whole time, you can't help but think back to Zalmora and how she left you believing she'd be back after accomplishing her task. And you've got even longer to worry about something happening this time. There's nothing for it however, except get back to work, which you begin to immerse yourself in. You start off by playing a more active role in the Black Hooks "guidance." You explain to Marco that things are going to start changing around Jicol eventually and they'll need to be better than they are now. Granted you're always telling them that, but you really emphasize the point. You suggest that they start getting into the protection racket. You also expand your own endeavors to lending coin and using the Black Hooks as the occasional enforcers for those that don't pay up. Funny that Sneaks and the rest were worried about what the Black Hooks were going to become and your possible role in it and it turned out they were right all along. However the concerns of the dead don't matter now, and with nobody really in the way to stop you from organizing a moldable bunch of teenagers, you effectively become Jicol's new crime boss. Other independents either stay out of your way, seek to curry favor or just leave. Months pass and as they do, your concern for Annah grows and you start to get a little more ruthless in your actions. You know you're partially preparing the Black Hooks to be incorporated by the Syndicate as part of Annah's plan, but if she doesn't return, you swear you're going to take the lot of them with you on a ship to Holgard to extract vengeance on the Syndicate. Then one day you get a knock on your door. Checkers, who has normally been on the quiet side since Annah left you with her, starts getting very excited. You answer the door cautiously and… "Surprise! You miss me?" Annah says. Normally you'd be overjoyed to see her given how much worry you've had, but Annah has yet another new physical change. A great big belly. You stare in disbelief. "Oh, don't worry. This is definitely your work." Annah says rubbing her belly. "It better damn well be." You answer. After sorting practical things out, you two surprisingly decide to get married since it seems like the thing to do now. It's not a big affair, but it's respectful. Marco is your best man for the lack of anyone else around; he's overly honored by the position and hopes your first child is a masculine one. As strange as this whirlwind is, your thoughts return to the rest of your family. You can't help but wonder what they'd think of all this. You doubt if you'll ever get a response back, but you write a letter to your mother and father a week after the wedding and explain without too much detail that you've gotten married to Annah and are having a family of your own. You tell them you hope that they are doing well and if they ever see your sister to tell her that you hope she is well also. > You time passes... Year 32 "So yeah, they're going to start rebuilding that old Fel temple in the jungle and turning it into a headquarters soon." Marco tells you. "So Annah told me." You answer. "All the Black Hooks might soon be incorporated into the Syndicate proper as well, rather than just as associates. I don't think we would have been considered as quickly without you and your wife's input." "Good. You guys certainly deserve it, after all the hard work you've put in." "Um yeah, so are you going to join the Syndicate too?" "Me? I dunno. Been pretty preoccupied what with the family and all." "Yeah, yeah I know, but um…well its just if you don't become a full member, I'll probably have more authority than you in certain matters. I mean I don't think it'll come to this, but they could even have me take over this major operation here." You smile a bit. "Is that right? Who said this?" you ask. "Nathan, the Syndicate leader here." Marco says. "Of course he did." "I mean I wouldn't want to do it of course, but I mean order are orders. I mean you know how I really respect everything you've done and shit." "Don't worry about it Marco, because I'm not. You do what you gotta do and worry about your own future." "Um, okay boss." Marco leaves your shop and shake your head at Marco's almost apologetic warning. The boy would probably hesitate if he actually ever had to go against you. Long enough for you to get the advantage anyway, but you doubt if it would ever come to that. The Syndicate has mostly been happy with what you've been doing, though they do bring up the fact that you really should become a full member. You think Annah already would have, if not for you dragging your feet on the issue. You aren't sure why you are since you're practically ECS at this point. You suppose there's just a part of you that doesn't want to have that final binding agreement since if you do; it really would be for life. You suppose the choice might have been easier had you not just had one baby, but twins with Annah. That really complicated everything. (Especially when after they were born, the resemblance to you was unmistakable, so there was no getting out of it) Annah at first seemed fine to take a step back from her "job" to be a mother, and she still doesn't mind it, but over time she's been getting antsy. You think it started soon after Checkers died of old age last year. She's been going on about wanting to get back into things. In fact when you return home, you find Annah waiting up for you in the front room. This can't be good. "We need to talk. And I mean talk without raising our voices because I just got Emma and Evan to sleep." Annah says. "Okay…" you respond. "I need to get back to work." "Well I said you could help me at my shop, bring the kids along and keep them in the back and…" "No. Maybe you're content to sit around and letting your Black Hook kids do your legwork, but I want to be more active than that. Shit, you used to be more active too once." "Well its not like with the Syndicate around I can just go breaking into homes anymore, not that I need to. Besides, as you said, I got the Black Hooks doing shit for me." "Yeah that's another thing. I know a lot of them look up to you like some weird surrogate father figure, but those teenagers are not your children and as loyal as you believe them to be, the Syndicate's influence is only going to grow and eventually they might not be as reliable as you think they are. Besides, YOU now have real children you need to think about." "So what are you getting at exactly Annah?" "We need to make some really big fucking changes in our lives or we're going to be fucked over by the Syndicate." "I might remind you that being all hooked up with the Syndicate was your idea in the first place." "Yeah, because I see it as an opportunity for both of us. Especially now." "An opportunity to be indebted to a powerful merciless organization that will punish you severely if you fuck up? I mean I'm really not seeing it as a beneficial thing." Annah rubs her temples with some exasperation before continuing. "You're REALLY not seeing the benefits we have if we fully commit." Annah says. "Then why don't you explain it to me slowly because I know you've tried before and I still just don't get it." You reply. "Rook said this whole operation could be ours." "Oh yes, your buddy in Holgard. That's why he sent that Nathan guy to oversee things." "He only sent Nathan because neither one of us are proper ECS members! Of course he's still going to give preferential treatment to an actual member no matter how much he might like us." "He might like you, but I'm guessing that stopped when you showed up last time pregnant. And as for me he doesn't know me so I doubt if he gives a shit." "Okay first off, pretty sure Rook likes men. He's got some friend called Bolt he's really close with. I dunno. In any case as I said before, I did many assassin jobs for him in the past successfully so I've always had his respect. When I told him just in passing about Sneaks, the guy nearly broke into song and dance. I mean he REALLY hated that guy apparently. His only complaint is that he didn't get to kill Sneaks himself. I mean just based on THAT deed alone he was ready to hand operations of Jicol over to me. But I've explained that before." "Sorry, but I just don't have as much trust in this Rook as you do okay? I mean I hardly believe he's going to just hand Jicol over to us…or rather you for nothing." "Well of course not for nothing, obviously money would have to be kicked up to him, but shit we're already doing that now to Nathan. I mean if we're going to be in this position, we might as well have a whole island to run." "Yeah well I don't think Nathan's going to just step aside." "Well that's why we kill him and take over." You give a brief chuckle in disbelief. "So wait, not only are you suggesting that we join the Syndicate fully, but that we also kill one of its leaders? How the hell does that work?" "Very easily. Its not like Rook particularly likes Nathan. He only sent him because I never fully committed. Ultimately Rook isn't going to care if Nathan dies via an accident. If we get rid of him and those most loyal to him, then boom. We got control of this entire island and all we have to do is send coin back to Rook every once in awhile." "You do realize that it's not going to be just be a simple matter of shooting Nathan right? The guy is all wrapped up in that Fel shadow magic shit. And I still don't see how we can just get away with killing him. I mean I know the Syndicate is ruthless and people get executed for fucking up all the time, but if murdering your immediate superior was so commonly accepted the organization wouldn't last very long." "And you're right, but again Nathan really isn't favored and we've got the benefit of being far enough away that we can sort of operate differently around here." "Oh right, all of this is supposed to be Rook's private money making operation so he can gain more power and influence with the Syndicate to shake up the organization or something. Still not keen on being part of that big scheme either. Add the whole increase in Fel worship and it all just seems pretty risky." "Our whole lives have been risky. I mean every time you broke into a home and stole something you were taking a risk. Every day you spend being a criminal is risky. We don't live nice safe lifestyle in case you hadn't noticed." "Yeah, I get that, but there's still a fucking limit." Annah reaches out to you. You know she's really trying to convince you now. "You say that if we commit that we're running a high risk. You might be right. However, I'd propose that if we don't, we'll run an even higher risk. I mean maybe I've never really said this before, but you've got more potential than you ever give yourself credit for. I mean look what you did with the Black Hooks. If it wasn't for the Syndicate you'd be kingpin of Jicol. Hell, you were for a while. I know you partly did everything because this was my idea, but there's a part of you that still had the desire." "Maybe…" "However, I get that you've always had concerns about all this. And I know we've gone back and forth about this a few time before. So, I think if you're not willing to make that next step, then we need to do something that I believe you've probably thought about many times." "Which is?" "We relocate. I don't know where though, I assume you've had some thoughts on that matter." "Well you're not wrong about relocating. Though unfortunately I don't have a good idea of where. Preferably a place without any Syndicate influence, though Hessla and Klyton are sort of out of the question in that regard for other reasons. Maybe some place farther north, I'm just not as familiar with many of the settlements that way though. I know they tend to be smaller. Probably more dwarves." "Hm. Not exactly ideal." "I know. That's one of the reasons why I haven't really mentioned it to you. I mean I don't really want to have to start all over again either. I've done it about three times already. And right now, even with the Syndicate looming over us, this has probably been the best set up I've had. I just can't ignore that threat though, even if I do see the logic and benefits in your plan." You and Annah are silent for a moment and then she speaks again. "Well, I just want you to know, whatever you decide, I'll follow your lead. I was serious when I said that I want us to work this time. So if that means if we stay here or go north, or if I get back to what I want to do or I have to continue playing full time mom, then that's what I'll do." Annah says. That's quite the sacrifice for Annah who has traditionally always done her own thing. Granted she's changed a lot since being a teenager, but still sort of a switch considering she started this conversation with the desire of wanting to be more active in the business both of you have chosen. > You join the Syndicate Maybe Annah's right. Maybe you need to just take a risk here. This is the life you've chosen and it's always been full of risk. High stakes mean high reward and Annah seems confident that you can pull this off. "Okay Annah, we'll join the Syndicate. I still have my concerns about this idea, but I believe in you and that's good enough." You say. Annah smiles and hugs you. "This is going to work, and we'll be set, you'll see." Annah says. "So what do we do exactly?" you ask. "We'll have to go down to the Syndicate headquarters, that ruined Fel temple they're currently cleaning up. And from there I assume Nathan will walk us through the formalities of the oath, then a tattoo and then that'll be it." "Really? We don't get beat up or something first?" "This isn't the Bloody Talons. I mean the Syndicate does ask for people to prove themselves first, but given I've always had the favor of Rook and everything we've done for the Syndicate, I'd say we've more than proven ourselves." "Hm, maybe you have, but not sure if that's extended to me. Besides, I don't think Nathan's never been the friendliest so I wouldn't be surprised if he wants some sort of extra proving not just for me, but you as well." "Even if he does, it can't be too outlandish. And if it is, well I suppose we could just kill him first and explain it to Rook afterwards." "Yeah, I'm still concerned about that part of the plan as well. Aren't those Fel users supposed to be really quick due to their magic?" "They can be, but Nathan's probably not highly skilled in it. Not to say we shouldn't still get the drop on him, but it's not impossible for us to kill him." "So when are we doing that?" "When we get the opportunity. The sooner the better. Preferably after we're officially in the Syndicate, but like I said, if shit happens, then it happens." "Well shit's definitely going to happen one way or another." You and Annah make plans to meet with Nathan soon, though the first concern is who is going to look after Emma and Evan while you're both away for this. The only options you can come up with are the Black Hooks have a few mothers that work as nannies. You wind up with the least objectionable and competent one and hire her. Annah mentions she wished she'd known about this before, as she wouldn't have had to play stay at home mom quite as much. The next thing happens is Annah goes to see Nathan by herself figuring that she'll be able to best approach this. You're a little nervous about her heading to the temple by herself, but she soon returns stating that Nathan was surprisingly very open to the idea. "What seriously? I thought he didn't care for either of us." You say. "If he didn't, he's either hiding it pretty well now or gotten over it. Said that he even recently received a message from Rook asking if he managed to convince us to properly join yet. He said he's glad we're joining since it makes dealing with us a lot easier since he hates dealing with associates and he can now send a message back to Rook to get him off his back about it." "Hm, I dunno. Marco mentioned that Nathan's been talking shit about us, or me at least." "Well I'm not saying we place complete trust in the guy, just that he's not giving extra grief about us joining. Said we can come to the temple tomorrow to get everything sorted out. After that, then we can move on to the next step." "I don't think we should go to the temple together." "What?" "I don't think we should go to the temple to together. For all we know Nathan might be planning to kill us too. If we go there together then it's going to be really easy for him. I'll go tomorrow by myself." "If what you're saying is true, then I'd stand a better chance against him by myself." "Maybe so, but I'm not taking that risk with you…I mean I know you're different, but I let Zalmora go off by herself once and she never came back. At least this way, I'll just get killed and you can escape if I don't return." "If you don't return, I hope you realize I wouldn't run, I'd be trying to avenge you immediately." "Well then you'll at least have the advantage of being free to do so then." Annah says she understands the logic in your plan, though asks you again if this is what you want to do. You reply that it is and the next day, you head out of Jicol and to the Fel temple where Nathan is waiting for you. When you arrive, you're met by Syndicate members, who obviously don't care too much for you and pat you down for weapons before allowing you to go see Nathan who is surprised only to see you. "Where's Annah?" Nathan asks. "Unfortunately maternal issues called. She said she apologizes and that she'd be in tomorrow." You reply which obviously causes a look of annoyance on Nathan's face. "Fucking hell, SHE'S the one that saw me about this shit and now she blows me off? I'm doing you both a fucking favor here!" "We understand that and again you have our apologies." "Apologies doesn't make up for my fucking time! She better damn well realize that whether she shit out kids or not is irrelevant to Syndicate business! I mean this isn't just an insult to the Syndicate, it's an insult to fucking Fel! We're in HIS HOUSE!" "Well I can make the appropriate sacrifices to him, if…" "Appropriate sacrifices, pfft. You're no believer, whatever you offered would mean shit to him!" This is more of the Nathan you expected and you start to wonder if you're going to get out of this alive. However Nathan instead throws up his hands. "Fine, whatever. Your wife is Rook's favorite assassin and really wants her in the organization. Far be it from me to piss him off, so tell her to come in tomorrow. In any case, let's get you sorted out now." Nathan goes through a surprisingly brief oath that you're supposed to repeat. He mentions that usually the oath is a bit longer, but since you're partially being accepted due to Annah and that you're seen more as a mid level Syndicate supervisor of grunts with no signs of being dedicated to Fel, Nathan feels the basic oath is enough. With the oath finished Nathan calls for one of his people to give you a Syndicate tattoo. Since you don't particularly want it to show in public, you get it on your back, which ends up taking much longer than the oath did. (And a lot more painful) After getting the tattoo, Nathan apathetically mentions you're now in the Syndicate and dismisses you with some comment about how you need to get the Black Hooks more organized since a lot of them aren't going to make it into becoming full members in their current state. You return back home at night. "Glad to see you're finally back. I was starting to have my own concerns that you were right after all." Annah replies. "Well he wasn't pleased that you weren't there. Went on about his time being wasted, though he acted about how I expected him to which actually put me a little more at ease after I realized he wasn't going to kill me right then and there. Fortunately he seems to be more concerned with Rook's approval of you, so he seemed more resigned than anything else." You say. "Connection in high places helps." "Anyway, the tattoo took the longest time, and he'll be expecting you tomorrow. I imagine your oath might be a little longer than mine though." You show your tattoo to Annah, who says she'll probably get hers on her arm seeing as her back is all scarred up and a tat probably wouldn't look as good. The next day, Annah goes to the temple and you take Evan and Emma with you to your shop. It's a chore looking after them and focusing on business, but after one of the Black Hook's nanny mothers shows up, things are a little easier. You continue with your work as normal for most of the day. When night falls you don't think too much about it since you figure the process is taking longer for Annah. You finish up your duties and lock up thinking you'll be glad when you get rid of Nathan so you won't have to be concerned with him anymore. When you get home, you expect to be met by a nanny telling you she's just put the twins to bed or apologizing for failing in the task. Or even better you'd find that Annah has returned. Instead, as soon as you enter your own home, you feel burning lead slamming into you, causing you to fall to the floor clutching your chest. "What the fuck are you doing?! Nathan wanted him alive you asshole!" a voice shouts. "Oh shit, I heard the door open and I got nervous!" another voice says. "Fuck. Well hopefully the two brats are good enough to torture his wife with. Unger is already on his way to the temple with them. Come on let's get the fuck out of here and leave this fucker to die." You grasp at one the Syndicate member's legs as they run out the door, but a swift kick soon gets them free. In these last moments you can only assume that Nathan planned a double cross all along. Probably just altered his plans when the pair of you didn't show up together yesterday. You wheeze and cough blood while cursing yourself for taking this foolish risk and can only hope that Annah gets out of this herself because your role in this world is done.

Year 32 "So yeah, they're going to start rebuilding that old Fel temple in the jungle and turning it into a headquarters soon." Marco tells you. "So Annah told me." You answer. "All the Black Hooks might soon be incorporated into the Syndicate proper as well, rather than just as associates. I don't think we would have been considered as quickly without you and your wife's input." "Good. You guys certainly deserve it, after all the hard work you've put in." "Um yeah, so are you going to join the Syndicate too?" "Me? I dunno. Been pretty preoccupied what with the family and all." "Yeah, yeah I know, but um…well its just if you don't become a full member, I'll probably have more authority than you in certain matters. I mean I don't think it'll come to this, but they could even have me take over this major operation here." You smile a bit. "Is that right? Who said this?" you ask. "Nathan, the Syndicate leader here." Marco says. "Of course he did." "I mean I wouldn't want to do it of course, but I mean order are orders. I mean you know how I really respect everything you've done and shit." "Don't worry about it Marco, because I'm not. You do what you gotta do and worry about your own future." "Um, okay boss." Marco leaves your shop and shake your head at Marco's almost apologetic warning. The boy would probably hesitate if he actually ever had to go against you. Long enough for you to get the advantage anyway, but you doubt if it would ever come to that. The Syndicate has mostly been happy with what you've been doing, though they do bring up the fact that you really should become a full member. You think Annah already would have, if not for you dragging your feet on the issue. You aren't sure why you are since you're practically ECS at this point. You suppose there's just a part of you that doesn't want to have that final binding agreement since if you do; it really would be for life. You suppose the choice might have been easier had you not just had one baby, but twins with Annah. That really complicated everything. (Especially when after they were born, the resemblance to you was unmistakable, so there was no getting out of it) Annah at first seemed fine to take a step back from her "job" to be a mother, and she still doesn't mind it, but over time she's been getting antsy. You think it started soon after Checkers died of old age last year. She's been going on about wanting to get back into things. In fact when you return home, you find Annah waiting up for you in the front room. This can't be good. "We need to talk. And I mean talk without raising our voices because I just got Emma and Evan to sleep." Annah says. "Okay…" you respond. "I need to get back to work." "Well I said you could help me at my shop, bring the kids along and keep them in the back and…" "No. Maybe you're content to sit around and letting your Black Hook kids do your legwork, but I want to be more active than that. Shit, you used to be more active too once." "Well its not like with the Syndicate around I can just go breaking into homes anymore, not that I need to. Besides, as you said, I got the Black Hooks doing shit for me." "Yeah that's another thing. I know a lot of them look up to you like some weird surrogate father figure, but those teenagers are not your children and as loyal as you believe them to be, the Syndicate's influence is only going to grow and eventually they might not be as reliable as you think they are. Besides, YOU now have real children you need to think about." "So what are you getting at exactly Annah?" "We need to make some really big fucking changes in our lives or we're going to be fucked over by the Syndicate." "I might remind you that being all hooked up with the Syndicate was your idea in the first place." "Yeah, because I see it as an opportunity for both of us. Especially now." "An opportunity to be indebted to a powerful merciless organization that will punish you severely if you fuck up? I mean I'm really not seeing it as a beneficial thing." Annah rubs her temples with some exasperation before continuing. "You're REALLY not seeing the benefits we have if we fully commit." Annah says. "Then why don't you explain it to me slowly because I know you've tried before and I still just don't get it." You reply. "Rook said this whole operation could be ours." "Oh yes, your buddy in Holgard. That's why he sent that Nathan guy to oversee things." "He only sent Nathan because neither one of us are proper ECS members! Of course he's still going to give preferential treatment to an actual member no matter how much he might like us." "He might like you, but I'm guessing that stopped when you showed up last time pregnant. And as for me he doesn't know me so I doubt if he gives a shit." "Okay first off, pretty sure Rook likes men. He's got some friend called Bolt he's really close with. I dunno. In any case as I said before, I did many assassin jobs for him in the past successfully so I've always had his respect. When I told him just in passing about Sneaks, the guy nearly broke into song and dance. I mean he REALLY hated that guy apparently. His only complaint is that he didn't get to kill Sneaks himself. I mean just based on THAT deed alone he was ready to hand operations of Jicol over to me. But I've explained that before." "Sorry, but I just don't have as much trust in this Rook as you do okay? I mean I hardly believe he's going to just hand Jicol over to us…or rather you for nothing." "Well of course not for nothing, obviously money would have to be kicked up to him, but shit we're already doing that now to Nathan. I mean if we're going to be in this position, we might as well have a whole island to run." "Yeah well I don't think Nathan's going to just step aside." "Well that's why we kill him and take over." You give a brief chuckle in disbelief. "So wait, not only are you suggesting that we join the Syndicate fully, but that we also kill one of its leaders? How the hell does that work?" "Very easily. Its not like Rook particularly likes Nathan. He only sent him because I never fully committed. Ultimately Rook isn't going to care if Nathan dies via an accident. If we get rid of him and those most loyal to him, then boom. We got control of this entire island and all we have to do is send coin back to Rook every once in awhile." "You do realize that it's not going to be just be a simple matter of shooting Nathan right? The guy is all wrapped up in that Fel shadow magic shit. And I still don't see how we can just get away with killing him. I mean I know the Syndicate is ruthless and people get executed for fucking up all the time, but if murdering your immediate superior was so commonly accepted the organization wouldn't last very long." "And you're right, but again Nathan really isn't favored and we've got the benefit of being far enough away that we can sort of operate differently around here." "Oh right, all of this is supposed to be Rook's private money making operation so he can gain more power and influence with the Syndicate to shake up the organization or something. Still not keen on being part of that big scheme either. Add the whole increase in Fel worship and it all just seems pretty risky." "Our whole lives have been risky. I mean every time you broke into a home and stole something you were taking a risk. Every day you spend being a criminal is risky. We don't live nice safe lifestyle in case you hadn't noticed." "Yeah, I get that, but there's still a fucking limit." Annah reaches out to you. You know she's really trying to convince you now. "You say that if we commit that we're running a high risk. You might be right. However, I'd propose that if we don't, we'll run an even higher risk. I mean maybe I've never really said this before, but you've got more potential than you ever give yourself credit for. I mean look what you did with the Black Hooks. If it wasn't for the Syndicate you'd be kingpin of Jicol. Hell, you were for a while. I know you partly did everything because this was my idea, but there's a part of you that still had the desire." "Maybe…" "However, I get that you've always had concerns about all this. And I know we've gone back and forth about this a few time before. So, I think if you're not willing to make that next step, then we need to do something that I believe you've probably thought about many times." "Which is?" "We relocate. I don't know where though, I assume you've had some thoughts on that matter." "Well you're not wrong about relocating. Though unfortunately I don't have a good idea of where. Preferably a place without any Syndicate influence, though Hessla and Klyton are sort of out of the question in that regard for other reasons. Maybe some place farther north, I'm just not as familiar with many of the settlements that way though. I know they tend to be smaller. Probably more dwarves." "Hm. Not exactly ideal." "I know. That's one of the reasons why I haven't really mentioned it to you. I mean I don't really want to have to start all over again either. I've done it about three times already. And right now, even with the Syndicate looming over us, this has probably been the best set up I've had. I just can't ignore that threat though, even if I do see the logic and benefits in your plan." You and Annah are silent for a moment and then she speaks again. "Well, I just want you to know, whatever you decide, I'll follow your lead. I was serious when I said that I want us to work this time. So if that means if we stay here or go north, or if I get back to what I want to do or I have to continue playing full time mom, then that's what I'll do." Annah says. That's quite the sacrifice for Annah who has traditionally always done her own thing. Granted she's changed a lot since being a teenager, but still sort of a switch considering she started this conversation with the desire of wanting to be more active in the business both of you have chosen. > You relocate It's not ideal, but maybe it's been a long time coming. You need to get out of here before you're unable to. "We've got coin saved up. Not as much as I'd like, but enough for us to be comfortable for a while. I've heard of a port town far to the north on the mainland called Yiktolv that's supposed to be experiencing a growth boom. Lots of opportunities and such, but apparently very much still a frontier type environment meaning there shouldn't be much law crawling all over the place. Fairly certain two enterprising people like us could find something to do in such an environment." You say. "Okay, I guess we better make the preparations then. I'm sure we'll be fine. Well, it's late and we probably should both get some sleep." Annah says, You both head to bed, though you don't sleep much for several reasons. There's so much shit you need to get done. You spend the next month fencing as much as you can and selling off items that have been in your possession for awhile now at a slightly lower rate. You also start giving Marco a bit more responsibility with the whole debt-collecting thing. At one time you just gave him orders on what you needed, but you start allowing him to see the actual books and lists. Marco's smart enough to know something must be up if you're doing this. You give him a short explanation, which of course he's not exactly overjoyed to hear you leaving, but he's grateful that you're passing your business on to him. "Remember, I'm handing this to you. Try not to let that asshole Nathan reassign you or some shit. You've got a crew. I mean maybe you're all going to be Syndicate one day, but I assume you had your closest ties with your fellow Black Hooks, so it isn't like you don't have any back up." You say. "I understand and thanks." Marco replies. After about two months, you and Annah are pretty much set and you have already made arrangements to board a ship mostly carrying fabric to Yiktolv. Normally such a cargo ship wouldn't take any old passengers, but enough coin talks. You really only want to take such a ship mainly because its potentially less of a target for pirates. After all you've got a trunk full of valuables, along with your family. As concerned as you were in beginning about all this, you're starting to feel more hopeful about this new beginning. Even Annah is sort of looking on the bright side of this endeavor. The day you're scheduled to leave, you, Annah and the twins make your way to the ship with a cart carrying your belonging, but you can't help have a feeling of unease. The ship's crew takes your things and you board the ship with no problems, but you're still feeling anxious. You just sense something wrong. And then it happens. Just as the ship is about to leave, a bunch of shouting for it to stop along with threats occurs and then you glance over the side and see Nathan, along with several of his Syndicate men begin making their way up the gang plank. Behind them are Marco and several Black Hooks. He looks a little cowed. Nathan just gives a intimidating glance at the captain of the ship who slinks away to his cabin while the rest of his crew also find a way of making themselves scarce. Annah shields Emma and Evan and tells them to get behind her. Annah's good, but you're not sure with Nathan's shadow magic powers. And while Marco is here with some of his people, you can't really be sure he'd help if it really comes down to it. Pressure by a powerful organization can be effective. "You planning on leaving before saying goodbye Annah?" Nathan addresses her as if you're not even around. "Didn't know we needed to." You remark. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize you wore the pants in the relationship." "What?" "Oh come on, while you may have run your petty crime ring of snot nosed teens before we arrived, everyone knows that Annah's the real threat here. Shit, I remember how Rook used to love telling stories about her in Holgard. If he wasn't a pillow biter I would have sworn he was in love with her. Of course that was before she decided to become a brood sow." "Nathan, you call my wife a brood sow again, you're going to see just how dangerous I AM." "Ohh! You hear that? The sound of a wounded ego. What do you think of your mentor Marco? You think he could take me?" Marco doesn't answer and just looks down. Causing Nathan to get annoyed and walk over to him. "Hey! I'm talking to you boy! Answer the fucking question!" Nathan says smacking Marco upside the head. "Um, no sir." Marco answers meekly. "You see that? Not even your star pupil thinks that highly of you, but as fun as all this is, let's get to why I'm here. Coin. Coin that belongs to the Syndicate." "What're you talking about Nathan? I left instructions and lists with Marco about who owes coin. Not to mention I put aside this month's cut for the Syndicate and left it at the shop. Shit, I even left a little extra since I figured it would be a gesture of good will." "Yeah? Well that's thoughtful. Wasn't that thoughtful lads? The problem is, your good will don't mean shit. Now you're not Syndicate and obviously you're too much of a pussy to join so honestly I don't give a shit if you leave. Saves me the hassle of having to kill you later since I never thought much of you anyway. In fact the only reason why I'm being THIS generous is despite Annah being a…mother now, I know she's still deadly with those pistols. I imagine right now, she could take out several of us if this turns unpleasant." Nathan then turns to walk back towards your direction. "However, as good as she is, she's not faster than me and more importantly she's not fast enough to save YOU. So to prevent this from turning unpleasant, all I'm requesting is you hand over ALL your coin. I know you've probably got a chest full of it. Call it your exit tax. Do that, and you can be on your way to wherever the fuck you're scurrying off to." You are feeling an anger right now that you nearly can't contain. You almost aren't thinking straight. You look at Nathan's smug face and you just want to shoot it. You know the reputation of shadow magic and how effective it is. Even Annah has told you some of the things she's witnessed. You're about to pull your pistol and he looks so eager for you to try. Still, he can't be THAT fast can he? Even if you missed, sure Annah would be able to… You feel a hand on your shoulder, and you turn to look at Annah who just shakes her head a bit. "We'll be fine." She says. And those words seem to calm you enough to drop your hands to your side. "Take your tax. It's in a black trunk below us." You say. "Smart move listening to your woman. She knows all too well the penalties of trying to fuck over the Syndicate. That's how she got that lovely eye patch isn't it? Marco, go make yourself useful and go get the fucking trunk." Nathan says snapping his fingers at him. Marco and the other Black Hooks head to the lower decks without another word. Meanwhile you go over to be closer with Annah and your children. Nathan of course takes this opportunity to continue to mock you both, presumably to still try to goad you into fight. Soon, Nathan begins to get more irritated by the fact that Marco hasn't returned yet. "Fucking hell, what is taking so damn long? Go see what those fucking idiots are doing." Nathan says to his men who head down below. Next thing you know, the sounds of shouting followed by fighting can be heard. You can't believe it. "What the fuck…" Nathan says and moves towards the stairway leading to below decks. And that distraction is all the time Annah needs. Without a word, she pushes you to the side, pulls her pistol and unloads it into Nathan. Three of the shots turn his head into a bloody mess before his lifeless body hits the deck. "Quick, go help your minions, they might need it." Annah says and starts reloading. This wasn't part of the plan, but you have to take advantage where you can. You go down below where you find the Black Hooks fighting it out with the Syndicate. Fortunately for the Hooks, they had the advantage of ambushing them, but it's still a good thing you're there to help. After it's all said and done, you've killed them all, though not without casualties. Marco himself is wounded, but alive. "You alright?" you ask. "Yeah…ah…fuck." Marco replies. "Hm. You realize you just dug a deep hole and jumped waist deep in shit right?" "I know, but I just couldn't stand by and let him horse fuck you like that." "Appreciated. I knew who you'd side with if it came down to it." "Is that asshole dead?" "Yeah, Annah filled him full of holes as soon as the fighting down here occurred. Turned his attention away just for a few seconds and that was it." "Good. But what happens now? Are you still leaving?" "Good question." You motion for the remaining Black Hooks to help Marco and you head back to the upper decks where you find Annah trying to calm down a very worried captain. (Though oddly, your two children just stand by unaffected by the situation other than maybe curiosity) "Relax captain, the Syndicate isn't going to take it out on you. This will all be taken care of. Just head back in your cabin and when you come back out in a few hours, everything will be fixed and you can be on your way." Annah says which the captain doesn't necessarily believe, but he's scared enough to be hopeful, so he does exactly what Annah says. You approach Annah as she's then asking if Emma and Evan are okay. "They seem disturbingly calm about all this, obviously going to grow up to be unfeeling killers like their mother." Annah remarks to you. "I sure hope so. I know I'll feel safer." You respond. "Speaking of safety, How exactly are we proceeding with all this? I mean what just happened is what you wanted to avoid." "Yeah, I know, but shit happens. Guess we're staying now." "What? You mean you want to stay and not head to Yiktolv?" "What's the fucking point now? I mean we just carried out your plan, we might as well risk it now. If we go running off, I doubt even Rook would look kindly upon killing his representative here without at least replacing him. Not like Marco would be up for that task and the last thing I want to wake up one night in Yiktolv with Syndicate assassins surrounding me. If we get ahead of this, and Rook likes you as much as you and even Nathan said he does, well maybe we'll be okay." "Oh, I think I can spin all this in a message to Rook. We might need to kick a little extra coin up to him this coming tribute though, just on the safe side." "Well I figured, but we're sure as shit not paying all of it. Marco and his lot can contribute half that considering he got us into this in the first fucking place. I'd have them pay all of it, but I know those fuckers are still poor for the most part." You and Annah look at one another. "Well we tried to walk away didn't we?" Annah asks. "Yeah. But things probably would have been the same in Yiktolv. I mean I suppose this way we don't need to start all over after all. Wasn't looking forward to that, let me tell you." You say. "Maybe it sounds strange, but I feel more positive about our future than I did." "Yeah, that sounds strange since we could very well be in more danger, but that's why I love you. Anyway come on and let's throw this asshole overboard. We're probably going to have to take care of any other Syndicate members that were loyal to him soon. They'll probably all be at the temple." After a few month's time of "clean up" and coercion, things are settled on Jicol. When news finally reached Rook, he didn't mind Nathan's death and was glad to have Annah on board as his new representative on Jicol running things there. (You've always been seen as just part of the package even if you're actually handling more of the business side of things) You officially become Ebony Claw Syndicate. You're supposed to get the tattoo, but you never do since you have the luxury of running things in Jicol and things are a little more lax there as far as "gang formalities" go. While in the scheme of things, you might just be one cog in a larger organization; your simple days as common rogue are definitely over. In any case it doesn't seem so bad, and besides the fact that you have to split more time with Annah looking after your children, things run more or less smoothly and you're doing fairly well. In fact you wonder why the hell you didn't just go with Annah's plan in the first place.

Chapter 3E: Reunited Year 30 None of your dealings with gangs has ever been positive which is why its odd that you inadvertently became looked up to one. Granted it's made up of a bunch of snot nosed teenagers, but they've been trying to emulate you for years since they were snot nosed kids. The Black Hooks have been unofficially looking to you for guidance ever since you easily caught a couple of them trying to pick your pocket a couple years ago and scolded them for their sloppy technique. Some of them seem to have potential, others just seem like they're just in it to cause trouble and be rebellious. Their "leader" Marco talks a big game and even seems to resent the fact that so many in his gang speak positively of you, but in the scheme of things, he seems like he wants to be like you on some level. Still, as teenagers are want to do, they don't always listen very well. You certainly didn't. "Marco, I know you and your little friends are really proud about your recent string of break ins, but you lot still have a lot to learn about stealth. I've told you the story about the Bloody Talons haven't I?" you remark. "Yes! A million times!" Marco says exasperatedly. "And you'll hear it a million more until you fuckers get it right or you're going to end up just like the Bloody Talons! More importantly, you're making shit unnecessarily more difficult for the rest of us trying to make a living out here. The more reckless you are, the more the Jicol Watch starts actually cracking down on everyone. We don't need that shit. We got it good here thanks to Jicol tending to worry more about pirates than us land based criminals." "I think I'd rather be a pirate." "Pfft, no you wouldn't. You like the IDEA of being a pirate because you hear all about their glorious tales of raping and pillaging whenever they dock here. Trust me, I've dealt with enough pirates for them to tell me some of their stories to know that that life isn't all that glamorous. Most of the time it's a lot of waiting around on a ship fighting off scurvy and other crew members trying to do harm to your fucking asshole by shoving a dick it in. You want to get fucked in the ass?" "Um, no?" "You didn't sound so sure about that. Because if that's what you want, I'm pretty sure there are a lot of pirate captains that would like a cabin boy like you." "No! Fuck no." "Alright then. In any case, stop immediately breaking windows when you're struggling with a lock. Locks are like women and sometimes you gotta take a little time with them before they open up and give you the goods. It's a pain in the ass, but most of the time it's worth it and you'll feel a better sense of accomplishment. Understand?" "Yeah, I suppose so." "So what are you trying to sell this time?" After doing a little bartering and taking advantage of Marco's lack of knowledge of the value of his stolen goods, you bid him and his buddies goodbye and remind him to remember what you said. As you make your way back to your humble home, halfway there you get the sense that you're being followed and watched. It isn't he Black Hook either. "Alright, you lot might as well come out, unless you intend on shooting me from the shadows that you're hiding in." A single older man steps out from said shadows. "Nope, just me." He says. "Who are you?" you ask. "Oh I go by the same name I have for years now. Sneaks. Though apparently not sneaky enough seeing as you sensed me. Such is the failing of once superior skills with getting old." "You won't be getting too much older if you keeping following me around, now what do you want?" "No need for hostility friend, though I suppose it would have been better to just approach you directly. Honestly, I've known about you for a year or so now, but seeing as I do my own fencing like most others like myself around here, never really needed to speak with you before." "Oh? So do you have something then?" "Oh no. It's not that. It's more of a concern that…well let's just say the underworld community has." "Underworld community? First I'm hearing of an organized gang here." "That's because there isn't one and we're all hoping it stays that way. Nothing good comes from monolithic organizations. I should know I had to directly fight the Ebony Claw Syndicate back in Holgard and ultimately lost." "Well you'll get no argument from me. I've never been part of a gang and never had any positive experiences with them." "Interesting. Then one wonders why you're actively encouraging and acting as a mentor of sorts to one." You nearly chuckle at what Sneaks is getting at. "The Black Hooks? I mean yeah I guess they're a gang, but they're hardly the Ebony Claw Syndicate. They're mostly a bunch of dumb teenagers." You say. "Well I'm sure the Syndicate started as a bunch of dumb teenagers too, until someone molded and lead them to be a powerful organization." Sneaks replies. "I am NOT the leader of the Black Hooks nor do I have any desire to be. That dubious honor belongs to their mildly more intelligent member, Marco. I can't help it if some of them look to me for tips and shit. If anything, my guidance as you call it, is making things better for the rest of us. I just told them to knock it off with their smash and grab routines and other shit that brings the heat down on everyone." "Yes, I can see that would be a good thing, however I don't think you're looking at the greater picture. You are correct in that they're mostly dumb teenagers and their actions draw more attention. However, I also imagine that they wouldn't last very long. Sooner, rather than later, the Jicol Watch would wipe out most of them and things would be harder for the rest of us for awhile, but eventually the status quo would return since Jicol has always been more concerned with a potential pirate attack rather than anything else." "Your point?" "My point is, YOU are teaching them to be better criminals. Basically, more of them are going to survive and even thrive because of you. Not only does this mean more competition for all of us, it also means the Black Hooks are likely to survive as a gang. This organization is going to eventually realize that they outnumber the independent competition and take steps to eliminate said competition, or force them to join. Since some of us aren't likely to go quietly, some of the independents are going to form their OWN gang for protection and before you know it, there's a war going on. As I said, I've read that tale before and it didn't end well." "So you're telling me who I can or can't associate with?" "Look, I'm not saying to not continue to do whatever business you have with them. I wouldn't dream of doing something like that. Anyway I said my piece. Do what you want obviously. I'm just suggesting that helping them as much as you have been, might not be in any of our best interests in the long run." "Duly noted." With those words, Sneaks nods and takes his leave. You have to admit, he does have somewhat of a point, but on the other hand some of it sounded like a threat with that last bit. You continue on your way home and then you see a figure near it. The figure isn't even hiding. They're just casually sitting on your front step. Seems you're popular today. As you approach a little cautiously, the notice the figure is female and a little furry animal pop out from around her then… "Annah?" you call out. "I was wondering when you'd get home. I would have let myself in, but who knows what traps you've rigged and I'm not quite as nimble anymore. Besides, wouldn't be polite right?" Annah replies. "Glad to see you've at last respected my boundaries. Not just for me, but for yourself. That door doesn't even lead inside, come on, I'll take you the real way." "Oh, a secret way in. Nice, but aren't you concerned about me knowing?" "Not at this point. Besides, I don't keep anything of actual value in here anyway." "Of course you don't." After leading Annah in the real way to your home (with Checkers slowly following behind), she asks you how you've been and what you've been up to. You give a brief answer that you've been doing better since the last time you saw her (physically and mentally) and how it's mostly been back to the standard burglary for you along with some fencing for the Black Hooks. "Black Hooks huh? They Jicol's version of the Talons?" Annah asks. "They wish. It's mostly a bunch of teenagers being wild. Though I've been mildly trying to direct them away from what led to the Talons' demise in Klyton." You say. "That's rather altruistic of you." "It's more like covering my own ass in the long run so Jicol doesn't turn into another Klyton. However, someone recently told me that I should just let these kids twist in the wind and get themselves killed by the law since it gets rid of a potential greater threat in the future, like the Black Hooks actually becoming competent and powerful united force." "I can see a logic in both approaches actually. So what were you planning to do?" "Nothing. I'm going to continue to go about my life and if anyone gets in my face about what I'm doing, I'll deal with it then." "Sounds like you. Sooo…the Black Hooks the only gang in the city?" "If you can call them that. Yeah. Everyone else is more or less independent though I'm sure a few work together at times. Nobody really has any turf though as far as places being off limits to others. Not even the Black Hooks are like that, though they do have a location where they all hang out that they probably consider their own." "Would you say there is a strong disregard for authority here in the underworld community?" "Isn't there always?" "Well yes, but I meant it sounds like other than the Black Hooks, nobody is really organized and probably would resist against such a thing." "Annah, this is an odd line of questioning you're going for…out with it." Annah looks down a bit, before looking at you again. You have to say, you still aren't used to that eye patch she has. "Promise you won't get mad?" Annah asks. "Well that doesn't sound good. (Sigh) Fine. I promise I'll TRY not to get mad." You reply. "Okay. Well, since we last saw each other, I've been in Holgard and I've sort of had dealings with the Ebony Claw Syndicate." "Oh for…" "No, no, it's okay. I'm actually on good terms with them now. Well at least the chapter in Holgard. Apparently the head there Rook. Isn't too pleased with some of the leadership decisions in the Delantium Kingdom and he's been making a few moves of his own. To cut a long story short, I've been working with the Syndicate." "You joined the fucking Syndicate?!" "No! I'm more like a hired gun. Literally, most of the time. I…uh…accept a lot of contracts on people." "…Wow. Okay then. Still, I would have thought the Syndicate would have had people like that on their payroll." "Eh, that's sort of the problem with the Holgard chapter. It doesn't get much support from the top. It's almost seen as more of a money-making outpost. Enough to keep a presence in, but not important enough to put extra manpower into. This might not be a problem if Holgard didn't suffer shit like civil rebellions and religious faction fights every five years or so. As a result the Syndicate chapter in Holgard has had to make more use of independents than they would like. Though they tend to REALLY want you to join. I've gotten the sales pitch several times. Fortunately I'm good enough at what I do that I've been able to decline and still remain unaligned." "Seems like a dangerous game you're playing Annah. I mean this is the same organization that…well did THAT to you." "Same organization, but different people and different circumstances. Besides, I'm not trying to rip them off this time. I'm legitimately doing work for them, which is why I'm here actually." Annah goes into an explanation that the head of the Syndicate chapter in Holgard, Rook is looking to expand his own power base here on Jicol. Since Annah has done such good work for him in the past he's sent her here to scout the place rather than sending his own people. She says that her main job is to make a note of all the major players in the city. She says that when she learned you were living here, she figured she could save some of the legwork by directly speaking to you about it. "So…what then? Is the Syndicate just going to take this entire city over?" you ask. "Well that's the plan, unless it turns out to be too much trouble, but based on even what little you've told me and what little I've seen, this place seems pretty ripe for a Syndicate takeover. Or at least Rook's takeover." Annah says briefly petting Checkers who is asleep by her feet. "There's nothing I can do to stop this?" "Well no, not really. The Syndicate is really looking to branch out here. Nothing that can be done about that unless you're going to try to unite everyone against them, but it would be pretty stupid to try that. The Syndicate pretty much always gets what they want. I should know." "It still surprises me that you'd be working for them, given what happened. You never did tell me exactly." "Okay. I get what you mean. But shit happened and I wound up in bed with the Syndicate again. Fortunately it's been in my favor this time. It's sort of an amusing tale, maybe I'll tell you about it when I'm not currently so busy." Annah replies. "Still never told me about how you managed to get a room in the Klyton university dorms either." "Heh. Well I'll tell you that story too. I want to tell you everything. I mean…shit…I still miss you, y'know? When I found out you lived here I was looking forward to seeing you again. Last time we parted company you said we'd meet again as we seem to be destined to always do." "Yeah I remember. Just thought it might be under less complicated circumstances this time." "I don't think that's how our relationship goes." "Obviously not." Annah takes a deep breath and continues. "The Syndicate is coming, but it probably won't be immediately. In the meantime, I can speak positively about you when I get back to Holgard and you could probably become an associate much like I am. I could even relocate here while we prepare this place and we could work on tasks together like in the old days. Lots of coin to be made and we both know how much you like that." Annah says. While you wouldn't mind such a thing under normal circumstances, you really aren't keen on Annah's Syndicate involvement. > You talk Annah out of this Annah might think she has a handle on things and maybe she does, but you need to try to talk her out of getting in too deep with the Syndicate again. But you also think that maybe starting with a lecture might not be the way to go about it, so you start with helping her a little. You give a rundown on every underworld contact you have of relative importance, along with the strength and numbers of the Black Hooks. You then also give Annah an approximate guess on the strength of the Jicol Watch and how effective they are. "Would you say they're susceptible to working with the Syndicate? The Holgard Watch has never been too much of a problem in that regard." Annah says. "Well, the Jicol Watch isn't adverse to a bribe here and there, but the Mayor of Jicol tends to pay them well enough for them to not to make a habit of it." You say. "Mayor of Jicol? Anything like the Governor of Hessla?" "He's ten times more reclusive. Apparently most haven't seen him in decades. About the only descriptions that exist are that the Mayor is male and human, but who knows? In any case, while this place is no stranger to corruption, it still adheres to law and order fairly strongly. Not Klyton level, but that's probably due to more emphasis on their fleet rather than land force which is thankfully smaller." "I see. Anything else?" "Not really. So…you going to go assassinate them all now?" "Heh. Well, based on everything you've told me, doesn't seem like I need to bother. I suppose I could anyway. You said you spoke to someone called Sneaks that used to belong to the Thieves Guild in Holgard recently? I bet Rook would want to someone like that taken care of. Maybe the leader of the Black Hooks as well just to keep that group from getting too organized." You just sort of stare at Annah for a moment and exhale a bit while briefly rubbing your hand over your chin. This doesn't go unnoticed. "What? Is there some other potential obstacle you haven't mentioned?" Annah asks. "No. I saw you in action three years ago remember? I have no doubt you've only gotten more dangerous since then and are more than a match for anyone here." You answer. "But?" "But, you told me to think about working with you on this Syndicate business and I truly do not see a good ending for us that way if we stick with them and the longer we do it, the harder it's going to be to get out. I personally don't want to associate with them. The Black Hooks are about the most I'm going to tolerate for reasons I've mentioned. You say you aren't formally connected with the Syndicate and that's good, because I think after you do this last job for them, you REALLY need to break ALL ties with them. Things might be going good now, but they might not always be." "You could say that about anything." "Yeah I could, but I'm talking about this. Look, you say this Rook fellow isn't happy with the rest of the Syndicate leadership and he's trying to build a power base here. This sounds like it's the prelude to a big internal power struggle, which is likely to escalate very quickly. Now I don't pretend to know as much about the Syndicate as you do, but from what I gather, any threat to the leadership is going to be met with an extreme use of force to ALL involved. Best thing to do when that happens is to be as far away from the conflict as possible." Your words about a potential violent power struggle have weight and she looks as if she didn't really think about that before. "Hm. You might have a point about that. I'm going to have to think on that." Annah says. "Annah, I'd rather you not think and just do what I tell you." You answer. "Well apologies, but that's not the kind of woman I am. Pretty sure you know that." "Yeah, don't I know it…" you say and then start chuckling. "What's so funny?" "I was just thinking about how many times back in Teckleville I used to go out my mind telling you to do something and you'd just blatantly ignore me." "Teckleville…seems like a lifetime ago." "Yeah, it's weird though sometimes I still think about the place and my family. Wonder how my mom and dad are doing. Probably living a safe and boring life. Drama free life too without me around. I guess if we'd stayed our lives would've eventually been safe and boring too." "I dunno, you almost got killed there." "Yeah. Can't go home again anyway." "Is…that what you want?" "Eh. I mean when was running a semi-legitimate business, I thought it was a little dull at times, but there was sort of a relief that I wasn't looking over my shoulder every five minutes. But of course after that all was over, I obviously went back to my old ways." "Any particular reason why you did?" "No. Just habit I guess. Plus, wasn't like I had a reason to really go legit anymore." "So it took the love of honest woman to make you settle down?" "Wouldn't call Zalmora an honest woman, she was an ex-Talon. Just had more sense than the rest. I dunno, I liked her and she liked me and I thought you were gone for good so I suppose I just latched on to her." "So you didn't love her?" "Yeah. I mean fuck, I dunno. I assume I must have on some level. What's with all the questions?!" "Okay, relax. Just asking. I'm not mad or anything. I mean it's not like I didn't meet someone during my eventful stay in the Delantium Kingdom." "Oh? You never mentioned that during our last meeting." "Well I was still sorting it out then not to mention all that other shit with you went down. Wasn't really a good time for the story." "Let me guess. It involved the Ebony Claw Syndicate." "Yeah he was definitely a Syndicate member. Met him by chance, but had years of fun with him. Had so much fun that he got the fool notion to want to run away with me with a bunch of the Syndicate's coin. Sure you know how that one turned out." You nod and don't say anything while she continues. "Funny thing is, I thought for a brief moment that I'd put you behind. I'd gotten over you. I mean I THOUGHT what I had for him was love. But it wasn't." "Oh? What was it then?" "Distraction. I mean what we were doing was wild and exciting. Defying the law, ripping off the Syndicate, I probably loved all that more than him. Didn't really realize that until I was being fucking tortured and I gave him up so easily." "What?" "Oh sure, I held out a bit, but honestly most of the shit the Syndicate did to me was AFTER I gave up his secret hiding spot. I imagine they would have done much worse or killed me had I not given him up so easily. You know they killed him right in front of me, after they tortured the both of us. Even when they told him how I gave him up, he wasn't mad he just kept pleading for them not to kill me." "Well…I guess you did what you had to." "Damn right I did. And I don't feel any remorse about it. I mean at first I was upset, but I think that was mostly from the physical torture and fear that I was also going to die that night. As for him? All I could think is how foolish he was for falling for me in the first place." "That's some cold shit…but again I get it." "After I was let go, I dwelled on all of it for very long time. I wondered if I was evil or crazy, even wondered if I was possessed by a demon. However when I found you again in that store in Hessla, all those old feelings I felt for you, they came back and I was right. You would always be my one and only." Annah puts her hands in her face and you can tell she's starting to get emotional. "I…I guess I just wanted to know if you really loved another even briefly and the reasons. As I said, I don't care, but the fact that you were able to move on and I wasn't, the fact that you don't kill unless you have to, while I've done it without hesitation says a lot about me. (sniffle) Namely…I'm fucked up. I don't know if I got that way over time, or it was always there." "Well I wouldn't call myself a beacon of role model behavior Annah. I mean I haven't been tortured by the ECS or had the same experiences you've had. All that plays a part and take a toll. There's still A LOT we don't know about each other and missing gaps, despite the fact that we seem to be drawn to each other. Maybe if we talked more…" Annah immediately goes to kiss you. "I don't want to talk anymore. I just want to feel you inside me again. I want you to love me again." She says and continues to kiss you while trying to strip off her clothing. You proceed to help her achieve her desires. It's been a long time since you've been intimate with her like this. Even as forward as she was with the initiation of this, she suddenly becomes unsure when your hands embrace her and run across her back. She even attempts to pull away a little, but you reassure her that it's okay and that you don't care. You aren't sure why, but you also feel the need to mention that you cleared up that shit you caught from Flameflower (whatever the hell it was). Oddly, you don't think it would even matter to Annah right now, but she gives a brief smile at your insistence of being Later... You wake up to Annah laying next to you dressed again and just staring at you. "I know, I know. Watching you sleep is probably creepy." Annah remarks. "Considering I once woke up after you drugged me and robbed me blind, this is a lot more preferable. What the hell…" you reply when you feel a wetness on your hand that's hanging over the bed. You look over briefly and realize its Checkers licking your hand. You sit up and move your hand away. "Hm, uncharacteristically friendly of Checkers to be licking my hand rather than biting my ankle." You say. "She likes you, you know." Annah says. "Well the furry beast has participated in saving my life a few times, so I guess she's alright. Has she grown at all? She looks about the same size when I first saw her." "Not much. Just grown older I suppose." "Happens to the best of us." "I don't really like to think about how her years are probably coming to an end soon though. Weird, I know considering what I've been doing the last few years." "Well seems like she's had a good life under your care. Whatever else you may be thinking about yourself Annah, you've got a nurturing side to you." You give Checkers a pet and get up to get dressed. Annah continues to go from watching you and staring at nothing in particular. By the time you're half dressed, she suddenly gets up. "Hey, so I gotta go now. Best that I get this information back to the Syndicate and all." Annah says. "You're leaving? Already?" you ask. "Yeah, no point in sticking around. If the Syndicate wants anyone wiped out, they can do it themselves." "Ah. So you're taking my advice and this is going to be your last job with them?" "Yeah. I thought about it and you're right. I need to do something else with my life. This…path with or without the Syndicate that I'm on really isn't the healthiest. I don't sleep much, I'm constantly looking over my shoulder, well you know how it is." "Yeah I know how it can get. And I imagine for you it's worse. So what are you going to do?" "I dunno, guess I'll have to figure that out. In any case, you might want to start thinking about relocating yourself. Not immediately, but y'know." "I could just come with you right now. I mean its not like I'm tied to this place." "As much as I'd like that, I think I need to work some things out. Last thing I want to do is destroy what little we still have left due to some stupid argument we're going to inevitably get into." "Annah, I don't really get this. I mean it's obvious you want to get back together and I'm open to it, so I don't see the need for you to just go wandering off again. We're obviously both different than we were thirteen years ago. Whatever personal demons and shit we got to deal with, we can deal with them together." "Remember how you weren't ready the last time we met up? It wasn't your fault or my fault, just bad timing?" "Yeah, but…" "Well, this is yet another case of that. I got shit going on in my head that I don't even want to heap on you. Your life as it is right now, is calm. I know you. You like to keep things simple. That's probably why you nearly went legit with Zal. It was easier and more convenient at the time since that's the way life seemed to be heading. When it was gone, you fell back into the old ways, because again it was easy and familiar. While I know I'm familiar, I'm definitely NOT easy to be with. I don't know what the future for me holds. Everything is always a whirlwind of thrills and not always in a good way. You don't want to deal with that and I don't want you to have to deal with it. At least not until I believe I've got my shit together enough that it's not going to fuck up your feelings for me." "Annah, unless you shot me in the dick or something, whatever you got going on right now isn't likely to change how I feel, but fine. I won't bother arguing with you even though I really want to. Obviously you feel strongly about this, so once again I'll see you when I see you and hopefully whenever that is, you won't be affiliated with these Syndicate assholes again." Annah touches your face and smiles a bit. "I'll be careful." She says and kisses you goodbye before calling Checkers to follow her. And once again Annah's gone. One of these days the pair of you are going to get your timing right. In the meantime, you at least got some knowledge about what changes are about to come to Jicol even if not immediately. You figure you'll stick around for now and see how things go. Maybe you can even prepare for the coming storm. > You time passes... Year 32 "So yeah, they're going to start rebuilding that old Fel temple in the jungle and turning it into a headquarters soon." Marco tells you. "Hm, looks like the Syndicate is moving quicker everyday." You answer. "Yeah, but its good. I mean I know you told us all to watch our asses, but so far the Syndicate members that we've had dealings with have all been pretty reasonable guys. Even said that the Black Hooks could be fully incorporated as full members in a year or so. We've been doing a lot better in general." "Well glad to hear it. Maybe I was wrong." "It's okay. I guess you were just looking out for us like you always have. Y'know, you should join too! You're really skilled and the Syndicate is looking for members like that!" "So I've heard. A couple of them have approached me a few times, but I'm just not interested." "Yeah, but if you joined you wouldn't need to pay protection and you'd be able to do whatever you wanted!" "Pretty sure I wouldn't be able to do WHATEVER I wanted. It's not like the old days where you can just break and enter into anywhere. Thanks, but I'm good with what I'm doing now. Anyway, what's the Syndicate tax this month? Did it go up to help rebuild the temple?" "No, it's the same, but you know you don't need to worry about it. I got you covered, but I just don't know how long I'm gonna be able to. Sooner or later the Syndicate might get one of their guys to start doing the collecting. That's why I'm trying to become a real member soon!" "Thanks as usual Marco, but don't worry yourself too much about it. I'll be fine." "Okay…see you later then. And thanks for unloading that other stuff for me." "No problem. Later Marco." Marco leaves your "shop" and you just shake your head and smile at what a few little words of encouragement and support can do to mold a young mind. Marco probably sees you as the dad he wished he had. You imagine some of the other Black Hooks d too. Which of course is handy since its paid off as far as you not really having to kick anything up to the Syndicate whose presence has becoming more noticeable in last few months. Might be time to leave soon. You don't know where you'll go though. While you're pondering this, the door opens and someone comes in. "Son, you and I need to have a long talk." You can't believe it. He's older (But to you he was always old and unfun) but you'd never mistake his face or his voice. "Dad?" you ask. "Of course its me!" he responds. "Wh…what the hell are you doing here?" "Trust me, it's not something I wanted to do, but after a long talk with your mother, its what we both decided in the hopes that you've still got it in you to do the right thing. Call us hopeless optimists." "You came all the way here to give me a lecture after nearly twenty years? How the hell did you even find me?!" "Annah told us. Well told us where your last where abouts were anyway. She said you'd probably still be here since you've always had a tendency to stay put unless you absolutely have to move, which sounds about right." "Wait, you've spoke to Annah?! When?" "Nearly on a daily basis, for the past couple years. Pretty much ever since she come back to Teckleville and had the babies." "WHAT?!" "Congratulations, you've got twins you've never seen." You are getting flooded with so much information right now that you can't even process it all. "That's…impossible. Last time I saw Annah was two years ago." "Yeah well that timeline matches up since that's how old they are. Look, I delivered them myself, not to mention they look like you and your sister. You're definitely the father, despite Annah trying not to admit it. That didn't last long though, since I'm pretty sure that's why she came back to Teckleville in the first place. She knew your mother and I wouldn't NOT help her." 'I…don't believe it. I mean…and I hate even asking this, are you REALLY sure? I mean maybe this…" "Is what? A scam to get money from us? Boy, I wasn't born yesterday. I told you, the two little buggers look like you and your sister. The genetics are impossible to ignore. I mean the hair is darker and there's a difference in eye color, but there's no mistake. Shit, I even hired a wizard from Klyton to double check. They're definitely your work." "Fuck…" "Yeah, well that's what got you into this mess. Anyway, this brings me to why I'm here. YOU need to come back and take responsibility. I understand you're off having fun being a criminal, but even Annah gave that up after having children. They need a father and your mother and I need a fucking a break. Our days of running about catching two twin terrors are supposed to be over." "Wait, why are you just now coming to get me then?" "Oh, I wanted to get you a lot sooner. However Annah always claimed that she didn't know where you were. Having raised two of the best liars, I knew she wasn't telling the truth, but I always assumed you pissed her off and she didn't want you involved. However, thanks to your mother's monthly interrogating via niceness, Annah finally broke down a few months ago and as it turned out Annah just didn't want you to put your own life on hold for this. She said she'd put you through enough trouble in the past. Ain't that sweet?" "Sounds like her." "Also sounds fucking retarded. Why the hell should you get to continue to live without care and responsibility? Your mother of course thought you should come back too, but she was worried about me going to get you. Thought we should hire bounty hunters to find you, but I figured I'd make more of an impression and you're probably already adept at avoiding capture anyway. So here I am." "Yes, so here you are. You might have been better off going with mom's idea though. At least you would have had a better chance of getting me back to Teckleville. Speaking of which, how the hell can I go back anyway? Aren't I wanted for murder there?" "Oh. Yeah, no. That actually got settled shortly after you ran off with Annah. Some of the witnesses to the fight admitted Klint started it and you killing him was more of an accident and even self defense." "You're shitting me." "Nope. Surprised me too. Not that you weren't a murderer, since I figured Klint started it because he was an asshole like his father, but that people actually came around and spoke up in your favor. Anyway, the charges were dropped which pissed off Klint's dad who left the village swearing revenge and that was about the end of it." "So you're saying I'm completely free and clear?" "Yep. Have been for years now. The old sheriff is dead now anyway, so it's not even like you have worry about him either. In fact Annah, works as a deputy of the town now, so you've got a lot of breathing room as far as your shady past is concerned." "Annah's a…what the…well I guess she found something new to do like she said she would." "Yep. And it's time you do as well." Your dad sees the apprehensive and non-committal look on your face and sighs. "And of course you're going to be stubborn about this…" he remarks. "Dad, I appreciate the update and all this news about Annah, but this is a lot to fucking take in! I mean I don't know what she's told you, but our relationship isn't exactly the most stable. I mean its not like she came here herself and TOLD me about her being pregnant. Shit, she didn't even tell you and Mom where I was until recently like you said. I might not have even been here anymore. Obviously she thinks we're better off apart." "Bullshit, if she really thought that, she wouldn't have come back home at all. She knew your mother and I would help her. Gods know her own lush of a mother isn't going to help. Look, I'm not some relationship expert, but obviously you two have enough chemistry between each other that you got yourselves into this mess." "Maybe, but kids didn't really play a part in any of it." "Yeah well shit happens. You think your mother and I planned for twins? Also didn't plan on you two being criminals. Still don't know why the hell you two turned out the way you did considering you had everything." "Here we go, another lecture…I'm not a fucking teenager anymore dad." "Damn right you aren't, which is why its time you stopped fucking acting like one and take some responsibility for a fucking change! What the hell do you have going on that's oh so fucking important right now? From what I can tell this dump you're living in, you aren't exactly living some carefree life of a swashbuckler like in those badly written novels. What, you spend all the coin you steal on wine and whores?" "I'll have you know I live frugally and save very carefully." "Well great. Good for you. Glad to hear you're a thrifty thief. Actually explains a lot. Now, if you've got so much coin saved up, you've got enough to support your children." "Is this what it's ultimately about? Fine, I'll go empty out my safe and you can take it all to give to Annah and the kids." Your father suddenly gives you a minor tap upside your head. It's unexpected and you almost feel like you're ten years old again. "What the fuck?!" you utter. "This isn't about money, this is about responsibility and YOU needing to fucking take some! Your children need their father, you've already missed some of it, you really want to miss it all?" your father says. "Why don't you do it? Obviously you think I'm a no good vagabond, so I would make a terrible father." "Maybe you would, but I don't think so. Surprised to hear me say that?" "A little." "Well I'm not saying it to boost your ego, I'm saying it because I believe based on what Annah's told me about you and the boy I used to know. There is a streak of responsibility in you. I mean even as a thief you're obviously preparing for the future by saving your ill-gotten loot. I remember how you always stuck by your sister and tried to take the blame for some of the more serious shenanigans you two got up to. It looks like you're running some sort of shop here and Annah's said you've run a shop in the past with some other woman that you apparently had a stable relationship with. You've got it in you to be a contributing member of society." "I don't know about that." "Well you won't know unless you try and you might as well try with a family. As far as you and Annah are concerned, well I don't know if you two are going to be a proper husband and wife. I mean it'll be good if you can, and I'm inclined to believe you two are still in love. However, if that doesn't work out, you should at least still be there for your children." "You don't think I'll just be a bad influence?" "Oh, I don't doubt that you won't to some degree, however I also don't think you're going to want to put up with the headache of raising two little criminals. I know Annah certainly won't and I can't say I'd want to be on her bad side. What the hell happened to her anyway? I swear she can shoot the wings off a fly." "Long story, though I don't know all of it since she's never told me the whole story about her adventures during our times away from each other either." "Well maybe that's something you can finally catch up on and bond over. Besides, y'know, your kids of course." "Maybe." Your father puts a hand on your shoulder. "Look, this has been an exciting adventure for me and all, but I really want to get back home before your mother starts hiring a search party. I need to know if you're coming with me or not. It's a simple answer that doesn't require much overthinking. If you are, let's get going now. If you aren't, then I won't bother you again with this." > You go with your father It's a strange position that you never thought you'd ever be in, but you're in it and even stranger, you're ready to embrace it. One thing your father said that convinced you the most was the question of "What are you doing that's so important?" Nothing. You are not doing anything of major importance. If anything, you're probably living just as boring of a life in Jicol as you would in Teckleville. You haven't actually done any real thieving since the Syndicate started making more of a presence here, you do more middle man merchant shit than anything else. You could leave and start over elsewhere which is what you thinking about doing anyway. But if you're going to do that, you might as well have a better purpose than just doing the same thing again. Besides, you've done fairly well in this profession all things considered. You might as well "retire" ahead of the game before something REALLY bad happens to you. This might as well be your out as it were. Not to mention, Annah's saved your life several times over. The least you could do to repay her is to help out with your spawn. That's going to be weird though. You suppose you'll just have to muddle through that, hopefully better than your own parents did. "Okay dad, I'll come with you, but need to get some things first and make some arrangements." You say. "By the gods, you actually listened to me for once. I'm not going to question it, but glad to see I finally got through." Your father says in partial disbelief and relief. To ensure a safe trip home with your savings, you hire a few mercenaries to escort you to Klyton. From there you figure you shouldn't have much problem. You also leave your "shop" and home to Marco and his group, though you don't tell him that immediately, you write a message and hand it to a courier to give it to Marco in a few days. Just a simple note not explaining where you went, just that you had to leave and that they can do whatever they want with the property. Finally you board a ship heading to Hessla with your father (and your small retinue). While you're on board, your father has one more surprise for you that you have plenty of time to talk about along the way. "Oh by the way son, I guess I might as well tell you, you've got a younger brother now." Your father says. "WHAT?! How?!" "Pretty sure you're familiar with the process." "Ha ha. I'm talking about you and mom. I mean you guys are old!" "Fuck you, we're weren't THAT old when you and your sister took off. True, we sort of thought that part of our lives was over, but soon after you were gone, I guess nature decided to give us another chance to get it right. And we did. Adam has never been a problem child." "Hm, well congratulations I guess. Another new family member for me to meet I suppose." "Speaking of family, you know anything about your sister? Any contact with her at all?" "No. I do wonder what she's been up to though. Always hope she's okay." "She is as far as I know. Your mother and I get occasion messages from her. Not many and the last one I think was a few years ago but she said she was doing fine. Having her own adventures no doubt." "Oh. Well I'm glad to hear that. Hope that's still the case. I miss her." "Your mother and I do as well. Despite her criminal ways, she was always creative. Just wish she put more into that instead of…well unlawful behavior. Still, I guess she has been doing that from some of the stuff she's written to us." The rest of the trip is mainly you catching up with your father. It's odd, but neither of you really argues once. You even laugh and joke a few times. You don't tell him everything that happened though. Some things you just would rather leave buried. At least for now. Your father never really presses you for too much information anyway. He probably doesn't want to know some of what you were involved in. Although there is one question… "Just wondering, I mentioned Klint's father left Teckleville muttering about revenge. My guess is he went to go look for you. You never ran into him did you?" "Nope. Can't say I ever did." "I only ask since you mentioned you ran to Klyton, and my guess is that's where he first went to look for you. I asked Annah once and she said she never bumped into him either. Still, seems strange he never came back here." "Dad, if he did, you know Klyton's a huge city. I mean it wasn't like I was making myself well known there either. If he did go there, he must have given up and went elsewhere. Not exactly like safe travels are a sure thing, hence why I hired mercs for part of our trip." Your father looks at you a moment. You already know he's trying to see if you're lying. "Okay. Just thought I'd ask." You aren't sure if your father believes you or he just doesn't care and was merely curious. Either way, he doesn't press the issue. You eventually reach Hessla, then Klyton and from Klyton you start the last stretch of your trip in the carriage ride to Teckleville. That's when you begin to get nervous. You didn't think that would happen, but you begin to get so nervous that its visibly noticeable to your father. "Not having second thoughts I hope." Your father says. "No, not at this point. Too late to turn back now. Fuck…" you say. "Son, you'll be fine. You'll soon realize this isn't the end of the world." "Yeah, I guess." "Think of it this way. What's the worst thing that has ever happened to you? Don't tell me if you don't want. Just think about it. Now with that in mind, do you have ANY thought that reuniting with Annah and seeing your children for the first time is going to be remotely worse than that?" You think for a moment, wincing a bit about your encounter with Flameflower. "No. Definitely can't be anywhere near as bad." You say. "Well, see? There you go then." You father says and then pats you on the shoulder a couple times. Which is easy for dad to say considering he doesn't really know the extent of just how bad that event was. In any case, you manage to calm yourself down and just try to rest before you get to your destination. Eventually you reach Teckleville during the night. Your father wakes you up. "Get up, we're here. I'll help the driver get your things off the carriage, in the meantime you go knock on the door and make your presence known." Your dad says. "Wha? Wait, where exactly are we?" you ask half asleep. "Teckleville, ya idjit. We're near Annah's home. Still early in the night so you probably aren't going to be waking her up." "Shit. I'm really here. Okay, well guess nothing to it, but to do it." "You'll be fine." You get out of the carriage and your dad once again points to the house where Annah lives. Fairly small, but then, probably doesn't need too much room and this is the best she could do. You have no idea why you're still so nervous. You've bumped into Annah several times in the past after long stretches of being separated. Why is this different? Oh right. The other thing that's different is you're seeking her out, or rather your dad dragged you to her. In most other instances, she's always been the one to go to you. She didn't even tell you about being pregnant. She could have at least got a message to you or something if she really thought it was important for you to know. Apparently she didn't. You know what your father said her reasoning was, but maybe she really just wanted to make a clean break. Start fresh. Maybe you being here isn't what she would want at all. For all you know she's going to tell you to get right back on that carriage and go away. You march up to the door and before you can even knock, the door opens. "Annah. I…" you start to say before she immediately hugs and kisses you. Well so much for her telling you to go away. Apparently the love is still there. "Your mother told me your father went to get you. When I heard the carriage outside I just hoped it was you!" Annah exclaims with some emotional tears in her eyes. "Annah, why didn't you just tell me?" you ask. "I don't know! It was stupid, but I just thought…I dunno a part of me just didn't think you needed to be saddled with all this. But I'm so glad you're here now! You're back right? You're not going anywhere right?" "As far as I know I'm not going anywhere Annah." "Oh I'm so glad. We'll finally be a proper family." As you embrace Annah's tight hold on you and those words of being a "proper family" you feel a small part of your old life slipping away. Not really in a bad way, but you really know now for certain that things are never going to be the same. You're going to have to find something legitimate to do. You doubt even fencing stolen goods is going to be something you can engage in around here. You'll think of something though. Your father and driver drop your trunk of stuff near you. "Well I can see you two got a lot to talk about. I'll leave you to it. Your mother will probably be by to see you tomorrow so expect to see her." Your dad says as the driver walks away back to the carriage. "Um, okay dad. And thanks." You say. "Hm. Told you, it would be fine." Soon, the carriage is gone and so is your father, leaving you and Annah alone. Well not totally alone. "So hey let me help you get that trunk in and you can finally meet your son and daughter." Annah says. "Don't worry I'll get the trunk." You say and take one side of the hefty trunk and drag it just inside the house. "I've actually told them about you a few times." "Oh? Hopefully just the good stuff, because I'm sure their grandfather will be more than willing to tell them the bad." "Come on, I'll take you to them." As the front door closes and Annah takes your hand, you realize your life as a rogue is over.

Year 32 "So yeah, they're going to start rebuilding that old Fel temple in the jungle and turning it into a headquarters soon." Marco tells you. "Hm, looks like the Syndicate is moving quicker everyday." You answer. "Yeah, but its good. I mean I know you told us all to watch our asses, but so far the Syndicate members that we've had dealings with have all been pretty reasonable guys. Even said that the Black Hooks could be fully incorporated as full members in a year or so. We've been doing a lot better in general." "Well glad to hear it. Maybe I was wrong." "It's okay. I guess you were just looking out for us like you always have. Y'know, you should join too! You're really skilled and the Syndicate is looking for members like that!" "So I've heard. A couple of them have approached me a few times, but I'm just not interested." "Yeah, but if you joined you wouldn't need to pay protection and you'd be able to do whatever you wanted!" "Pretty sure I wouldn't be able to do WHATEVER I wanted. It's not like the old days where you can just break and enter into anywhere. Thanks, but I'm good with what I'm doing now. Anyway, what's the Syndicate tax this month? Did it go up to help rebuild the temple?" "No, it's the same, but you know you don't need to worry about it. I got you covered, but I just don't know how long I'm gonna be able to. Sooner or later the Syndicate might get one of their guys to start doing the collecting. That's why I'm trying to become a real member soon!" "Thanks as usual Marco, but don't worry yourself too much about it. I'll be fine." "Okay…see you later then. And thanks for unloading that other stuff for me." "No problem. Later Marco." Marco leaves your "shop" and you just shake your head and smile at what a few little words of encouragement and support can do to mold a young mind. Marco probably sees you as the dad he wished he had. You imagine some of the other Black Hooks d too. Which of course is handy since its paid off as far as you not really having to kick anything up to the Syndicate whose presence has becoming more noticeable in last few months. Might be time to leave soon. You don't know where you'll go though. While you're pondering this, the door opens and someone comes in. "Son, you and I need to have a long talk." You can't believe it. He's older (But to you he was always old and unfun) but you'd never mistake his face or his voice. "Dad?" you ask. "Of course its me!" he responds. "Wh…what the hell are you doing here?" "Trust me, it's not something I wanted to do, but after a long talk with your mother, its what we both decided in the hopes that you've still got it in you to do the right thing. Call us hopeless optimists." "You came all the way here to give me a lecture after nearly twenty years? How the hell did you even find me?!" "Annah told us. Well told us where your last where abouts were anyway. She said you'd probably still be here since you've always had a tendency to stay put unless you absolutely have to move, which sounds about right." "Wait, you've spoke to Annah?! When?" "Nearly on a daily basis, for the past couple years. Pretty much ever since she come back to Teckleville and had the babies." "WHAT?!" "Congratulations, you've got twins you've never seen." You are getting flooded with so much information right now that you can't even process it all. "That's…impossible. Last time I saw Annah was two years ago." "Yeah well that timeline matches up since that's how old they are. Look, I delivered them myself, not to mention they look like you and your sister. You're definitely the father, despite Annah trying not to admit it. That didn't last long though, since I'm pretty sure that's why she came back to Teckleville in the first place. She knew your mother and I wouldn't NOT help her." 'I…don't believe it. I mean…and I hate even asking this, are you REALLY sure? I mean maybe this…" "Is what? A scam to get money from us? Boy, I wasn't born yesterday. I told you, the two little buggers look like you and your sister. The genetics are impossible to ignore. I mean the hair is darker and there's a difference in eye color, but there's no mistake. Shit, I even hired a wizard from Klyton to double check. They're definitely your work." "Fuck…" "Yeah, well that's what got you into this mess. Anyway, this brings me to why I'm here. YOU need to come back and take responsibility. I understand you're off having fun being a criminal, but even Annah gave that up after having children. They need a father and your mother and I need a fucking a break. Our days of running about catching two twin terrors are supposed to be over." "Wait, why are you just now coming to get me then?" "Oh, I wanted to get you a lot sooner. However Annah always claimed that she didn't know where you were. Having raised two of the best liars, I knew she wasn't telling the truth, but I always assumed you pissed her off and she didn't want you involved. However, thanks to your mother's monthly interrogating via niceness, Annah finally broke down a few months ago and as it turned out Annah just didn't want you to put your own life on hold for this. She said she'd put you through enough trouble in the past. Ain't that sweet?" "Sounds like her." "Also sounds fucking retarded. Why the hell should you get to continue to live without care and responsibility? Your mother of course thought you should come back too, but she was worried about me going to get you. Thought we should hire bounty hunters to find you, but I figured I'd make more of an impression and you're probably already adept at avoiding capture anyway. So here I am." "Yes, so here you are. You might have been better off going with mom's idea though. At least you would have had a better chance of getting me back to Teckleville. Speaking of which, how the hell can I go back anyway? Aren't I wanted for murder there?" "Oh. Yeah, no. That actually got settled shortly after you ran off with Annah. Some of the witnesses to the fight admitted Klint started it and you killing him was more of an accident and even self defense." "You're shitting me." "Nope. Surprised me too. Not that you weren't a murderer, since I figured Klint started it because he was an asshole like his father, but that people actually came around and spoke up in your favor. Anyway, the charges were dropped which pissed off Klint's dad who left the village swearing revenge and that was about the end of it." "So you're saying I'm completely free and clear?" "Yep. Have been for years now. The old sheriff is dead now anyway, so it's not even like you have worry about him either. In fact Annah, works as a deputy of the town now, so you've got a lot of breathing room as far as your shady past is concerned." "Annah's a…what the…well I guess she found something new to do like she said she would." "Yep. And it's time you do as well." Your dad sees the apprehensive and non-committal look on your face and sighs. "And of course you're going to be stubborn about this…" he remarks. "Dad, I appreciate the update and all this news about Annah, but this is a lot to fucking take in! I mean I don't know what she's told you, but our relationship isn't exactly the most stable. I mean its not like she came here herself and TOLD me about her being pregnant. Shit, she didn't even tell you and Mom where I was until recently like you said. I might not have even been here anymore. Obviously she thinks we're better off apart." "Bullshit, if she really thought that, she wouldn't have come back home at all. She knew your mother and I would help her. Gods know her own lush of a mother isn't going to help. Look, I'm not some relationship expert, but obviously you two have enough chemistry between each other that you got yourselves into this mess." "Maybe, but kids didn't really play a part in any of it." "Yeah well shit happens. You think your mother and I planned for twins? Also didn't plan on you two being criminals. Still don't know why the hell you two turned out the way you did considering you had everything." "Here we go, another lecture…I'm not a fucking teenager anymore dad." "Damn right you aren't, which is why its time you stopped fucking acting like one and take some responsibility for a fucking change! What the hell do you have going on that's oh so fucking important right now? From what I can tell this dump you're living in, you aren't exactly living some carefree life of a swashbuckler like in those badly written novels. What, you spend all the coin you steal on wine and whores?" "I'll have you know I live frugally and save very carefully." "Well great. Good for you. Glad to hear you're a thrifty thief. Actually explains a lot. Now, if you've got so much coin saved up, you've got enough to support your children." "Is this what it's ultimately about? Fine, I'll go empty out my safe and you can take it all to give to Annah and the kids." Your father suddenly gives you a minor tap upside your head. It's unexpected and you almost feel like you're ten years old again. "What the fuck?!" you utter. "This isn't about money, this is about responsibility and YOU needing to fucking take some! Your children need their father, you've already missed some of it, you really want to miss it all?" your father says. "Why don't you do it? Obviously you think I'm a no good vagabond, so I would make a terrible father." "Maybe you would, but I don't think so. Surprised to hear me say that?" "A little." "Well I'm not saying it to boost your ego, I'm saying it because I believe based on what Annah's told me about you and the boy I used to know. There is a streak of responsibility in you. I mean even as a thief you're obviously preparing for the future by saving your ill-gotten loot. I remember how you always stuck by your sister and tried to take the blame for some of the more serious shenanigans you two got up to. It looks like you're running some sort of shop here and Annah's said you've run a shop in the past with some other woman that you apparently had a stable relationship with. You've got it in you to be a contributing member of society." "I don't know about that." "Well you won't know unless you try and you might as well try with a family. As far as you and Annah are concerned, well I don't know if you two are going to be a proper husband and wife. I mean it'll be good if you can, and I'm inclined to believe you two are still in love. However, if that doesn't work out, you should at least still be there for your children." "You don't think I'll just be a bad influence?" "Oh, I don't doubt that you won't to some degree, however I also don't think you're going to want to put up with the headache of raising two little criminals. I know Annah certainly won't and I can't say I'd want to be on her bad side. What the hell happened to her anyway? I swear she can shoot the wings off a fly." "Long story, though I don't know all of it since she's never told me the whole story about her adventures during our times away from each other either." "Well maybe that's something you can finally catch up on and bond over. Besides, y'know, your kids of course." "Maybe." Your father puts a hand on your shoulder. "Look, this has been an exciting adventure for me and all, but I really want to get back home before your mother starts hiring a search party. I need to know if you're coming with me or not. It's a simple answer that doesn't require much overthinking. If you are, let's get going now. If you aren't, then I won't bother you again with this." > You refuse the call While there is a part of you that feels sort of shitty about this, you don't feel like you have some obligation to go back to Teckleville. Annah obviously didn't want you involved otherwise she would have told you (or even your family) a lot sooner than she did. In fact this makes you sort of reconsider your relationship with Annah in the first place. Sure, you two have love for one another, but it's always been the same and you two never stay together for whatever reason. If you go back, why should this time be any different? Might even be worse with children involved, you really don't think you'd make that great of a father. You'd feel trapped for one thing. Maybe you'd feel different if it was just you and Annah settling down and living somewhere other than Teckleville together. You nearly did it before with Zalmora. Hell, you don't necessarily need anyone. You've been doing okay on your own and you're just not feeling this scenario so it's probably for the best that you stay away and just move on entirely. Still, you do feel somewhat of an obligation. Even if Annah didn't ask for your help directly you'll try to provide it anyway, assuming your father is willing to take it for you. "Dad, hang on just a second." You say and go to the back of your shop and open up the safe (and disarm the traps) You then haul out some of the coin to put in a bag and a smaller amount in a nearby backpack with your basic tools. You come back with your father still waiting and shove the bag in his hand. You're making this quick because arguing with him is a pointless endeavor. "What's this?" your dad asks. "That's everything I have in the shop. Now, I got more at home, but I doubt you're going to wait around to accept it and honestly carrying more might require hiring mercenaries to help protect it on your way back to…" You get a headshake and a sigh before you can finish. Apparently your dad already knows what you're going to say. "Y'know, I can't say I'm entirely surprised by this, but I sort of hoped I'd be wrong. Unfuckingbelievable. Y'know what, you're right, I'm not gonna stick around and you can keep this shit as well. You've made your decision to not return, well good because I don't want to see you ever again." Your father says and throws the bag of coin on the floor before walking out. You stand there for a moment pondering your decision. You almost rush out the door to go apologize and say you're returning, but then you decide your first decision is your true feelings. You're not done living your own life, with responsibility only to yourself. Seeing as you were going to leave here soon anyway, you gather up the coin that your father left and make your way to book passage on a ship. You're just going to leave it all behind and not look back. You have no idea where you'll be heading, but your life as a rogue will continue with no further interference from your past.

You briefly think about emptying out the store's till and taking all that coin along with the Blue Dream to Flame, but is that really going to work? If Flame has already suddenly taken Zal hostage, chances are she'll just keep everything you bring and kill the pair of you. It's an impossible situation and the more you dwell on it, the angrier you get. You're going there all right, but you're not going there to negotiate. You going there armed for combat. You've never been one to seek out a fight; indeed you've usually always tried to avoid such things, be it from the law or other criminals. But you have killed before, and you know you can do it again. And right now there has never been a better reason. You don't know if you're going to survive this, as you're not some hardened bandit like they are. Indeed, you've probably gotten a little out of shape due to your less strenuous life. However, some skills you never unlearn. You're a rogue and you'll take them one by one silently if need be or die trying. While your intention is going to try to be silent as possible, one can never be too sure, so you grab various small firearms you have in the shop and check and recheck them. You then grab a small hand crossbow and several bolts. As prepared as you're going to be, you head out. From past conversations with Zalmora, you remember the general location of Flame's hideout. Takes about a day, but eventually you find it thanks to Flame's people being fairly loud while wandering around the area. You see two of them and mentally prepare yourself for the first casualties you're about to inflict in this task. You sneak up and slit one of the bandit's throats. He makes just enough noise for him to alert his fellow, which you shoot in the chest with your crossbow. Fortunately you're close enough you can't really miss. Two down, and who knows how many more to go. As Zal said, Flame's been getting organized so she's probably got more people than when you first met her. You picked a hell of a time to attack a bandit camp. You kill three more, one nearly escaping to warn his fellows. He still made enough noise for someone to possibly hear so who knows how much time you actually have. The funny thing is how easy this actually is, you thought you'd have a harder time of it, but so far these bandits have been putting up a pitiful showing. Maybe these bandits are so used to attacking defenseless travellers that most of them don't really have much skill in actual combat. By the time you get to the camp however, they know something is going on as you see a few running back and forth and shouting. You manage to kill one more in secret before several of them finally spot you. With no more element of surprise, you shoot two more and severely wound another before Flameflower comes out from her tent and demands that her people capture you alive. You try to backtrack so you aren't encircled, but it's too late, you've been successfully outflanked. You feel a bolt go into your leg and then another into your arm. You drop to the ground in pain. You see one of Flame's people coming and you weakly throw a dagger at him before you feel a blow to the back of your head. As you lose consciousness, you hear Flameflower's voice. "Fucking hell, pretty boy got some fight in him! You know how I like me a badass, this is gonna be fun!" Everything goes black. When you wake up, you find yourself stripped naked, standing stretched out with your arms and legs tied to two poles. Flameflower sits nearby throwing pebbles at your face. Two bigger bandits stand near the tent entrance. "Finally up. Shit, been waiting for what feels like forever." Flame says. "Where the hell is Zal?" you utter. "I'd be more concerned about yourself right now. Especially after what you pulled. Shit, you really made a mess of things pretty boy. What did you think you were going to do? Come in and kill all of us and save the girl like in one of those badly written fairy tales?" "Something like that." "Well that took a lot of balls I'll give you that. Shit, wish someone felt that way about me. I know none of these assholes would try to save me if I was being held hostage. Fucking romantic and shit y'know? Zal always did know how to pick 'em I guess." Flameflower stands up and walks over to you. She begins caressing your upper body a bit and then moves her hand lower to just grope you. "Mmm yeah. Now, I know you are probably feeling a wide range of emotions right now. The chief one probably being hate and anger, which I understand, but that shit isn't gonna do you any good except get you killed slowly and painfully." "Where the fuck is Zal?!" "THAT BITCH IS FUCKING DEAD! She was fucking dead before I even sent the note! I had my boys beat and rape her before they dumped her in the woods to let the fucking animals eat her dead violated ass. Thought about keeping her body around to taunt you with, but honestly, even I couldn't stand the sight of her. She was all nasty and gross looking. Cum and blood all over her fucking face, flies started crawling on her. I mean I nearly threw up myself y'know?" You feel a southern "squeeze" on your tender bits, but that pain doesn't even match the pain you feel from hearing this news. "You gonna cry over that dead cunt? Let me tell you something about Zalmora. That fucking bitch was a damn rat traitor. I have no doubt in my mind that she's the reason that the Klyton militia found our old hideout. You know how I know? Because in her last moments she even offered to trade YOU to me in exchange for her miserable life. So much for true love." "That didn't happen." "Oh? And you know this because you were here? You a fucking wizard or something? You don't know shit pretty boy. Nobody EVER really knows anybody. Especially when shit goes down. I mean you think Zal thought I was going to kill her? Of course she didn't. She thought in her arrogance that our profitable business arrangement was enough. That I was just some dumb ass that was easily appeased and granted, I was for a while. Shit, despite thinking she was a stuck up cunt, I didn't even really hate her, just was business." "Business?" "Yes. I decided on a better arrangement that didn't involve you two. But none of this shit matters now. What matters now is pleasure AND how much you want to live. Normally I'd just kill you and this would be over with, but I want that dick. Tired of fucking these smelly ugly fuckers. Want some of what Zal had for a change. A nice face to look at as I'm riding that cock. Now I'm going to get that, whether YOU want to or not, but the more willing you are, the greater you improve your chances." "Better just kill me then because I doubt if I'm going to be up for that." "Hah, you think I can't get you hard? Shit, I got several ways I could get you hard. I slide that dick down my velvet throat a few times and you'd be harder than a rock golem. I could have one of my boys here fuck you in the ass a bit. Saw that happen to a couple guys a few times, doesn't always seem to work, but still fun to watch though. However, I got a better idea because I want you to last and I want to enjoy this for as long as possible. Lou, get that shit you use on your dick." "Um, the wart ointment?" Lou asks. "No, goblin shit for brains, I'm talking about the stuff that gives you more stamina than the usual two pumps you do." "Oh! Okay boss." "In the meantime, I think I'll get a taste of things to come…" As you stand tied helpless while Flameflower has a sword fight with you in her mouth, all you can think about is how the hell you're going to get out of this, along with how many diseases you dick is probably getting right now. When Lou returns with a small bottle Flame tell him and the other goon to force your mouth open and turn your head up as she pours the contents down your throat. Tastes horrible, whatever it is, but you soon feel the effects. "Well now. Looks like you really like me after all! Lou, Haylon, untie pretty boy here and get some help holding him down outside, I want an audience for this!" After punching you in the gut to take the wind out of you, Lou and Haylon cut your ropes and drag you outside where some of the bandits start whooping it up. After a couple more punches to you face several of the bandits hold your arms and legs. "Hey! Not the face boys! Like I said, I want him to have a clear look at these magnificent tits bouncing in front of him!" Flameflower says as she exits her tent completely naked. Flameflower poses a bit to the cheers of her bandit buddies and then looks down at you as you remain helpless "Yeah, I know I'm beautiful. Now brace yourself pretty boy, because you may feel a burning sensation…" Flameflower lowers herself on you and you're convinced you just shoved your dick in a vat of lava. Flameflower's name has taken on a whole new meaning. You might indeed be as hard as a rock golem, but you sure aren't enjoying this experience. You still don't know if you're surviving this, but even if you do, your dick might not. This whole situation is just horrible as Flameflower laughs and people cheer her on and you're utterly powerless to stop any of it. While it feels like forever, it's only been an hour and you finally release into her, though it feels more like a stream of fire. "Aww! I was just enjoying that and I'm not done yet!" Flameflower gets in close and whispers in your ear. "I know what you can do." Flameflower says and licks your face before getting off of you. "Get him on his knees lads, pretty boy here is gonna finish me off like a real gentleman. I want all of you uncouth louts to take notes!" You are forced up and then slammed down to your knees by Flame's biggest goons. At this point you feel like you want to die, but somewhere within you, you still feel that spark of survival. Flameflower stands in front of you and you're literally eye level to her nasty infested diseased hole. You nearly want to retch from the smell. Flameflower grabs a knife from one of her people, which she runs gently across the side of your cheek. "Now, I want you to do mommy right. I want you to make me come hard and multiple times. You understand? Because if you don't, what you're experiencing now, can be ten times worse and much longer." Flameflower begins pushing your head closer to her snatch and you're still trying to figure out a way to survive this. "Wait, so if I do this…will you let me live?" you ask. Flameflower starts laughing and then looks at you while roughly grabbing the back of your head to look at her. "I'm probably still going to kill you. However, IF you show some enthusiasm, then MAYBE I'll keep you around as my lick bitch." Flameflower holds the knife close to your head as she uses her other hand to push your head into her. As your face gets so close that you can now see the crabs, you close your eyes, mentally praying to ALL the gods that you'll be able to do this without puking or passing out from the smell (and/or taste). Your tongue nervously starts to exit your mouth… And suddenly an explosion deafens you and causes you to tip over and you aren't the only one. You look up in time to see the crowd around you disperse. Another explosion occurs and this one is close enough that a few bandits get caught in it. Someone invested in some firebombs. Meanwhile Flameflower is standing around barking orders at everyone and then her attention turns back to you. "I don't know what asshole is attacking us, but YOU are not getting away. Lou, Haylon, get him!" You quickly start scrambling away only to have Lou grab your arm. Just as Haylon is about to back him up, a shot is heard and Haylon's head partially explodes like a ripe melon. More shots are fired causing Flameflower to run for cover as bodies start dropping. You punch Lou in the face causing him to let go of you and then grab a dagger from one of his sheaths and stab him in the neck with it. You look around and that's when you see who it is that's been attacking. Annah limps slowly around the camp, welding some sort of fancy repeating pistol. You didn't even know she had one of those. She's not missing a shot either, even with only one good eye. Once again this woman is just full of surprises. "I got this, go get that naked bitch!" Annah shouts. Last time you saw Flameflower, she ran back into her tent, probably to get a better weapon, however there are still some bandits that haven't given up the fight and while Annah's a good shot, she's still going to have to reload. > You run after Flameflower If Annah says she's got it, then you have no reason to doubt her since she seems fully capable. You grab one of the crossbows off the dead body nearby and head to the tent that Flameflower ducked into. As soon as you enter, you get there just in time to see Flameflower grabbing a pistol off her table. You fire just as she spins around to fire. You hit her in the stomach causing her to crumple to her knees, however she manages to hit you in the face. You fall back as your nose explodes and your vision turns completely red. Somehow you're still alive, though you're an incredible amount of pain and can hardly breathe as blood is filling up the hole where your nose once was. You choke up more blood trying to breathe through your mouth in between crying out in agony. Meanwhile, Flameflower isn't dead yet and manages to crawl over to you to finish you off by stabbing you repeatedly with her dagger. It's a mercy at that point.

You wake up and find that it's now nighttime. You groggily look around and don't see Annah. You call out to her, but there is no answer. You sit up and after stretching a bit, you suddenly have a horrible realization. "Oh shit. Shit! Shit! No, no, no, no. Fuck!" you say as you immediately go to the loose floorboard under the dresser where you keep your hidden savings. You continue to curse yourself for being so stupid and not realizing something was up from the start. And then you find that your savings are still there. Even the blade trap you have set hasn't been disturbed. You then breathe sigh a relief as you put everything back. While Annah didn't rip you off, you guess that she just didn't want to stick around. You figure that she had to get back to the university to get prepare things on her end. Or at least you thought she did until she comes walking back in the room. "Oh you're finally up sleepyhead. Given how long you slept, guessing you haven't had that sort of loving in a long time. Not surprised." Annah says. "You're still here." You reply. "Of course I am. Did you not want me to be?" "No! I do. I'm just surprised." "Why? What, did you think I was going to do, rob you blind while you were asleep and leave?" "Heh, no…" "Pfft, liar. You DID think that. I bet you checked all your hiding spots in this room after you woke up." Your silence confirms her accusations. "It's okay, I probably would have done the same. I came on so strong I guess it would be natural for you to have some suspicion." Annah says. "Actually, at the time I wasn't thinking at all except the obvious. In fact the only worry I had was that you might be fucking with me and were going to just leave me at the university with a massive hard on." You reply. "Nah, I'd never do that to you." "So where did you go?" "Oh I just came back from speaking to your inn owner Hank. Told him that all about the cheap talent that's going to grace his inn this weekend. He seemed receptive to the idea. Kept staring at my tits the whole time, I'm assuming if I hadn't mentioned that I was your girlfriend, he would have tried to touch me as well. Ugh, he's gross. But in any case everything's set on this side, I just have to speak with Nature's Revenge and a few others and this place will be party central." "You didn't need to speak to Hank, I would 've done that, but thanks for saving me the trouble. You've certainly been more than helpful today." "Well…I suppose I do have an ulterior motive of sorts." "…oh well I guess you're telling me to my face at least. Alright out with it." Annah sits next to you on the bed and holds one of your hands. This must be serious. "I need your help on a job." She says. "…that's it? I thought you were going to ask for something unreasonable. Wait, are we trying to rob a bank or city hall or something?" "No, nothing like that. Just need you to crack open Jenny's safe." Now you're totally confused. Annah smiles and explains before you can ask the obvious. "I've tried several times to get into the thing while she wasn't around, but no luck. I'm just not skilled at it like you are. I need an expert." Annah says. "Well that answers one obvious question, but why other one would be why? I mean not that I particularly care I suppose, but I was under the impression you were somewhat friends with this girl." "Eh, we have common interests in some regards. She's a typical rich kid doing illegal shit every now and then for kicks, but lately she's been sort of a bitch to live with. Which brings me to my other reason of why I'm doing this. I'm leaving the city so I figured I wouldn't leave empty handed." "Wait, you're leaving the city?! Why? Where are you going to go? Did you intend on telling me?" Annah goes on to tell you that she's getting bored of Klyton and wants to see more of the world. She says that when she first came to Klyton she initially wanted to live here for the rest of her life, believing it to have everything she'd ever want. She then says its funny that masquerading as a university student caused her to learn more about the world and how she wants to see more of it. So that's why she's leaving. As for telling you, she said she went back and forth on whether or not if she should since even though you weren't together any more, she got the impression that you might be inclined to talk her out of leaving. Running into you when she did and your reaction to her advances sort of solved that personal dilemma though. "I want you to come with me." She says. "Annah…" you start to say. "I know, I know, you're not a traveller and you hate it, but you'll be with me. That should certainly take some of the sting out. And I know…I know in the past how I was always nagging you. I think you'll find that I've changed a lot since then." "Well that is true." "I mean I want us to start completely over together and part of that would be leaving this city and going some place else." "Where would we go?" "I dunno, anywhere. Hessla for starters? The point is I want you to come with me. I mean…I just don't see it as a bad idea given how we obviously feel towards each other." Well Annah always does get right to the point on how she really feels about you. Maybe she's right, maybe you could use a change of scenery. You've certainly saved more than enough to move and live comfortably elsewhere. (You assume Hessla is probably cheaper, if that's your first destination) "Okay, Annah. I'll come with you, but that sort of makes this getting elven musicians and shit here sort of pointless." "Not really. I mean I still need some time to get ready for the trip and I imagine even with your meager belongings you might not want to just suddenly jump on a carriage. Also, this weekend is still going to be the best time to go rob Jenny's safe since she's going to be home the rest of the week. I can also convince her to come with me here to enjoy the show. So while I'm here with her, you can go clean out her safe and take a few other items as well." "So what exactly did this Jenny do to you?" "As I said, she's been a fucking bitch and even if I wasn't leaving the city, I'd probably be moving out soon anyway. Trust me, she's got this coming." "Hey, I'm not judging. So of course I'll need some more information on the lay out of this place." Annah goes into great detail about her place of residence and everything you'll find in it. She mentions the safe itself is under the bed, but points out that Jenny has a few nice pieces of jewelry in another more accessible box on her dresser. When you ask if she knows what's actually in the safe, Annah says as far as she knows there are some valuable family heirlooms in there and probably a few gems and coins as well. "Jenny might come from money, but she's a bit of a hording cheapskate, somewhat like you in that regard. As I said, under different circumstances, you'd probably get along with her." Annah say with a chuckle. Annah then tells you that when you're done robbing the place; meet her back at the Laughing Devil and you can go from there. In the meantime, Annah says she better get back to the university to get the rest of this plan in motion. You spend the rest of the week more or less taking it easy and mentally preparing yourself for taking another trip. You didn't envision yourself leaving Klyton like this, but you're starting to look forward to the idea. Maybe your dick's not so dumb. Annah comes to meet you the day before with a few bags (and Checkers who is still the furry little demon dog that growls at you when she sees you) stating that Nature's Revenge will be coming tomorrow night along with a few other amateur bard types, but definitely better than the chick spouting shitty poetry on a regular basis. She says word is already spreading around the university and there should be a large crowd. "So it's a all set. As you might have noticed I've brought some bags with me, I figured you won't mind me staying here tonight. It'll save time." Annah remarks. "Of course not, but what about Jenny?" you ask. "Oh I already told her about the big gathering tomorrow. I told her I'd meet her here and as far as she knows I'm just staying at my boyfriend's place tonight, which isn't a lie. Oh shit. I forgot my key to the house to give you." "Hardly a problem. I can pick the lock." "You're so talented. I'll be so glad when we're out of this city. I'm bored of it already. Come on, make me less bored." Annah says and begins caressing and kissing on you. You see no reason to decline this request and spend more quality time with Annah for the rest of day (and night). You wake up the next day a little later than usual and find Annah going through her bags. You also hear the sound of music and mild revelry in the distance. "Shit, is that the band? Am I late? Fuck I gotta get going!" you say. "Relax, Nature's Revenge isn't even here yet, that's just some opening act and it only just started. If you were late, I would have woke you up." Annah says. "Yeah…still I should get going." "Jenny's not even here yet either. You've got time." Annah says and stops what she's doing, goes over to the bad and grabs your cock. "Again? But…shouldn't I really get going?" you say. "As I said, you've got time. You can skip the foreplay." Annah says and before you can reply, she's kissing and getting on top you. Well no point in arguing with her when she's like this… After spending even more quality time with Annah (which took longer than you meant to) you're putting on your pants, grabbing your pack with tools, steeping over Checkers (who has been sleeping most of the time she's been here) and rushing out the door. "Be careful, I love you!" Annah beams while lying naked on the bed. "Yeah…and you stay exactly like that when I return." You reply and close the door. You run past the crowds in the Laughing Devil which are cheering some bard on stage and go outside where you run into three tattooed androgynous looking elves with wild colored hair carrying instruments and exiting a nearby carriage. You're guessing that this is Nature's Revenge. Not really giving a shit about them, you just push past and get in the easily accessible carriage and tell the driver to take you to the university. Eventually as you get close to the destination you get out since Annah's old home is off campus, not actually on it. When you finally get there, it's indeed a nice home, but not overly fancy. You've probably passed it a few times not really giving it a second look. After a quick perusal of the outside surroundings, you're guessing the Jenny has already left so you quickly get to work on picking the lock, which is easy for you of course. You get inside and immediately head to the location of the safe since you want to be in and out of here as soon as possible. Pushing the bed slightly, you uncover the safe and get to work. It's actually not too complex, but you're not surprised Annah couldn't get it open. She never was adept at it, hence why she's gotten you in the first place. You crack the safe and indeed find quite a bit of coin in the safe. You find a couple of small objects that may or may not be valuable though. Seems like Annah thought there was more in there than there actually was, still, it's not a bust by any means. As you finish dumping the contents into your pack, you're about to check the rest of the house, and that's when you suddenly hear the front door open! What the fuck!? Did she actually come home already? You didn't even remember to bring your weapons with you since you were in such a hurry, not that you wanted to turn this into a murder in the first place. You figure you got two options at this point, either hide or try to escape out a window. > You escape You need to get the hell out of here. The longer you stay the more chance you're going to get caught. You immediately go for the window in the room and your hopes of a speedy escape are dashed when you find out the damn thing has been painted shut. Doesn't help that the window is slightly higher than you'd like, making even trying to pull it upward a chore. With the voices (and giggling) coming closer, you get desperate and pick up a nearby metal knick-knack of some sort and use it to break the window. You know you'll be heard, but you're hoping you'll be quick enough to get out. You smash the window and try to break the remaining side pieces so you don't get cut up too badly, but by this time your actions have already drawn the attention of Jenny and apparently her very large gentleman caller. "HEY!" he shouts which causes you to hurl the metal object at his head before you make a small leap to climb out the window. You make it half way through before Jenny's boyfriend grabs your legs. He must be on the wrestling team or something because you cannot escape his grip and he easily yanks you back. While this might have originally only resulted in you most likely getting your ass kicked, followed by the law taking you in, however you experience something a little different. The window still had jagged glass bits around the edges and when Jenny's boyfriend pulled you, you naturally got scraped on most of those. Wouldn't have been so bad due to your protective clothing, but then you caught a sharp piece against your unprotected neck while getting pulled and unfortunately sliced open an artery. Even Jenny's boyfriend is shocked when you're choking on your own blood when you hit the floor and die soon afterwards.

Chapter 1: Dark Beginnings Well, you did it again. You slacked off all semester and didn't study for your finals. There's no way you're going to pass your nature magic test tomorrow. Those things are always killers. You don't even know why you enrolled in that class; you aren't even interested in being a nature mage. You don't even like the damn outdoors! Oh wait, you know why, it's because you saw a cute witch taking the class, so like a dumb ass, you signed up for it. Naturally the moment you tried to impress her with some sort of cantrip, she laughed at you and said even if she was straight, she wouldn't go for a half assed hedge wizard like you! You really should've known better, half of those witches are lesbians anyway. That whole Mother Earth Goddess worship caters to the rug munching. (And no, there aren't any MALE witches, any self respecting man would call himself a WARLOCK, not a damn witch!) (Sigh) Like your little sister's B'ar'b Dolly once said "Magic is hard!" Indeed. Sometimes you curse the day your mother passed her magical elven blood on to you. Still, you're here now, so you need to make the best out of your life. You're already going to hear it from both of your parents of how you've been nothing but a disappointment to the both of them. Your Dad will probably do a little more than say that, he'll probably personally ride up to the University and beat the hell out of you for wasting his hard earned pillaging money to send you there in the first place. Arrgh! You just wish you were good at SOME kind of magic! You have the ability; you just don't have the focus! That's always been the problem with you. Your sister has it easy, she took after Dad. Narrow minded focus on killing someone with a blunt instrument doesn't take too much effort. Of course you had to be the one that greater things were expected of. You've tried all the schools, evocation, conjuration, illusion, divination; all of them. You can't excel in any of it. You can only get so far and then the words and gestures and well all of it just becomes too fucking confusing for you. However, you haven't tried the "darker arts", but your Mom would definitely never approve. (Your Dad probably wouldn't care, but if you upset your Mom, it's a warhammer upside the head) In fact it's illegal to study any of them. They caused too much trouble in the past and nearly destroyed the world at one time. All who are known to even dabble in such arts are immediately taken into custody and executed. You don't think you'd want to be summoning demons anyway; even the few "friendly ones" that work on campus are fucking assholes to the Nth degree. You can only imagine how bad the ones who haven't been living among mortals are. However there is another dark art which you have to admit you've always had a bit of curiosity about. The art in question is necromancy. At this point you're willing to at least see if you're good at ANYTHING, so for shits and giggles you decide to blow off your test which you're going to fail anyway and go see if you can find out more about this outlawed dark art. Though being a lazy sort you decide to try the library first. > You go make a trip to the library Even though you're supposed to be a wizard in training, you spend as little time as possible in library if you can help it. Normally you just check out whatever you need to read for a class and leave. You have little faith in finding anything substantial on Necromancy in there, but maybe you can find something that will at least quell this thirst for knowledge on it. You realize you're treading on dangerous ground, but you have to try to learn more. The library is huge however, and you're unsure of where to look, it's not like there's a section on Necromancy or Outlawed Magic, but you figure you'll look in the History section first. You glance and browse through the stacks until you pick up a few choice books that look like they might contain something, sit down in a quiet corner and begin to read. Naturally you don't learn too much. The history books mainly go on about how bad the Dead War was, important battles, the atrocities of the Lich Lord, the typical stuff you've read time and time again. Still, you're determined to find something new. You spend hours reading until you realize you've spent the day in the library and that it's now night time. Oddly the library is mostly empty, and that's probably because finals are now over, one of which you've now undoubtedly failed. You think of how stupid you've been to obsess over an outlawed art that you probably wouldn't be any good at anyway! You've only been dwelling on the subject to ignore your own problems that you could've tried to solve yourself, instead of fantasizing about being some Necromancer. Raising the dead…what good would that do you? Delusions of grandeur. You wouldn't have enough motivation to try to take over the world anyway. There was only one person who truly motivated you, and she's gone. You begin to think about Serena and begin to feel sorrow like when you first lost her. You've had enough of death. You leave the library in a daze and head back home to sleep off this miserable day. You can't escape though; even your dreams bring death. You dream about Serena. At first she's alive and vibrant, and then suddenly she dies before your eyes. Then you see her grave with you sobbing over it and shouting how you demand that she not leave you. Then she rises from her grave…and you wake up only to come face to face with her! She is a ghost floating near your bed. "HOLY SHIT!" you shout and back up against your headboard. "Shhhh! Hush my love, I'm risking a lot just by being here." She says looking around as if someone is going to bust down your door any minute. "Serena, what's going on? This isn't a dream is it?" "No, my dear I assure you that I am very real. And I have a message for you." "A message?" "Yes, embrace death and all the beauty it has to offer." "You want me to kill myself, to join you?" Serena laughs a bit. "No silly, you are to become a necromancer and bring the purity of death to the world." "…yeah right. With my aptitude of magic, I doubt if I could raise a mouse skeleton." "You always did lack confidence in yourself. I suppose that's why they sent me to motivate you one last time. Though I admit, I would've come to see you anyway." "They?" Serena side steps your question and continues. "Look we haven't much time, but you HAVE the ability to become the greatest Necromancer since the Great Lich Lord who brought the world near the brink of extinction centuries ago, but you cannot do it alone…at least not yet. You must have allies. There are others like you on this campus who long to practice the dark arts. Seek them out and take over this college as your first step to your destiny." "What? Hold on! What makes you think I want to do all this?" Serena floats closer to you and touches your face with a ghostly hand. You feel completely calm. "Because deep down it IS what you want. You know your thoughts are dominated by death. You even think of me rather than living girls and I've been dead for years. The very fact that your mind played a part in summoning me here is also proof of your desire." "I miss you…" "I know you do, but my point is, even before I died I remember you having an interest in the dark arts. Indeed it's part of what attracted me to you. But now I must return and you must fulfill your part in this world, whether you succeed or fail at this endeavor will ultimately be up to you, but I believe you will succeed." Serena then floats a little closer to kiss you. "Farewell, my love." She says and then disappears. You're now wide awake and pacing the floor. You've been ambivalent about pursuing this path before, but the more you think about it and with this visit from Serena, this is the path you're going to choose. And why not? It's not like you have any better options in your life at this point. You're going to do it, and though Serena mentioned others like you being on campus, you're damned if you have a clue to as of knowing who they are since you don't really socialize. Still, you can think of two people that could get you started. (Or at least not rat on you, when you start inquiring about Necromancy) The next day you take your first steps towards darkness… > You go talk to your creepy conjuration professor, Mr. Demar Chapter 2: Death Awaits Serena's right, you're going to need the help of others and you head to Mr. Demar's office. Mr. Demar's class was probably the only one you didn't struggle in too much. It's not really a popular field given that conjuration can lead to summoning demons. Still, there is use for it on a minor level, though of course it's strictly regulated by most governments. Mr. Demar was a good professor, but the general agreement by everyone in your class, was that he was REALLY creepy. Plus there were always rumors about him. You always got the impression he was interested in doing a lot more with his area of expertise, but had to settle for teaching. He always seemed to be alright with you though. When you get to his office, surprisingly it's open and he's busily shuffling some papers around. "Mr. Demar?" "Huh? What? Damn it, I thought I locked that door! Oh it's you, what do you want? And lock that door." "Well uh…I had some questions…" "Okay, what are they? Out with it." He says continuing to look at some strange parchments. "Well, uh…I guess it's about magic, and I guess um…" Mr. Demar looks up at you like he's going to slap you for stuttering so much. You finally speak up. "I want to know more about Necromancy." Mr. Demar steps back and gives you a few inspecting stares. "I dunno what you're talking about, in fact if you don't get out of here I'm going report you to the dean for asking such questions." He warns, but you get the impression that he's not telling the truth. He probably thinks you were sent to spy on him by the dean or something. It's not like he hasn't been held under close scrutiny before. "Mr. Demar, I'm not trying to get you into trouble, it's me! I really want to learn Necromancy, and you're about the only one I think can help me! I actually was worried about coming to you and I was nervous about the whole thing!" "Hmm, well I guess I always did think you were inclined towards the dark arts and given your annoying stuttering a moment ago, you do sound like you were nervous. Okay, you want to learn? I'll teach you. I'll teach you like I'm currently teaching so many others right now. Surprised? Yes, the time is coming to pass that we who are inclined to REAL power begin to make our place in this world…permanently. Though I still have concerns about you, I mean while you did about average in my class, I'm well aware that you're not exactly the best student in other fields. I question whether you can handle the power of the dark arts, let alone become a Necromancer." You stand up straight and reply. "I'm confident that this is my path." "Good, I'm glad you said that, because there's no going back and this path is not for the weak. We also must maintain secrecy at all times until the day that we may take what is rightfully ours. Now come with me, we're going to see exactly what kind of potential you have." Mr. Demar casts a spell and opens up a portal. He then prepares to enter it and beckons you to follow him, which you do. Suddenly you're whisked away into a place of near darkness. Given your immediate surroundings you'd guess that you're underground somewhere. You can hear the clinking of chains though nearby and moans. "Where are we?" "Your testing area, this where we're going to find out what exactly you're made of. In the next room, you'll find some undead friends. They're currently chained up, but they won't be for long. Now, you can kill them, but as a Necromancer you're supposed to be controlling them, so obviously you should try to do that." "But I don't know how! You haven't taught me any spells!" "And I'm not going to, you're going to have to figure this out yourself, but I will say this, it's all about the strength of willpower. Tap into your magical energy and if you have what it takes, you'll succeed. I'll leave you to it." Demar disappears back into the portal and leaves you all by yourself. You've really gotten yourself into it and now there really isn't any going back, and you can hear the chains from the next room dropping to the ground and the moans getting louder and closer. There's a large bone on the ground and not much else in the room, and you can't run either as there are no other exits. > You pick up the bone and defend yourself You pick up the large bone and prepare for whatever is coming at you. A couple of zombies enter and as soon as they see you they shamble over. You're a little shaken, and you attempt to do exactly what Demar said, but you're not having any effect. Soon one of the zombies is almost upon you and you lash out with the bone. You give a few good whacks to the first one's skull causing it to collapse lifeless once again. You do the same to the second one. You're breathing hard and thank the fact that they were slow enough not to easily catch you. However, your victory is short lived, when Demar appears again. "(Sigh) you killed them, after I told you that was not the purpose. Plus you gave a poor showing in even attempting to control them. I don't see a future for you, if you cave under pressure like that." You're a little dejected, but the worse is yet to come, when you find you won't be leaving this place. Mr. Demar can't risk you knowing about this place yet not being a disciple of his. He didn't last this long being undetected by taking chances. With a few quick mumblings and you feel your body ravaged by rot. It's a horrible death, but one that results in you rising to take the place of the "test" zombies you just ruined. You spend your remaining undead life shambling around underground until eventually when Demar feels it's time to attack, you're one of the first cannon fodder troops to be destroyed in the attempted take over.

Chapter 2: Death Awaits Serena's right, you're going to need the help of others and you head to Mr. Demar's office. Mr. Demar's class was probably the only one you didn't struggle in too much. It's not really a popular field given that conjuration can lead to summoning demons. Still, there is use for it on a minor level, though of course it's strictly regulated by most governments. Mr. Demar was a good professor, but the general agreement by everyone in your class, was that he was REALLY creepy. Plus there were always rumors about him. You always got the impression he was interested in doing a lot more with his area of expertise, but had to settle for teaching. He always seemed to be alright with you though. When you get to his office, surprisingly it's open and he's busily shuffling some papers around. "Mr. Demar?" "Huh? What? Damn it, I thought I locked that door! Oh it's you, what do you want? And lock that door." "Well uh…I had some questions…" "Okay, what are they? Out with it." He says continuing to look at some strange parchments. "Well, uh…I guess it's about magic, and I guess um…" Mr. Demar looks up at you like he's going to slap you for stuttering so much. You finally speak up. "I want to know more about Necromancy." Mr. Demar steps back and gives you a few inspecting stares. "I dunno what you're talking about, in fact if you don't get out of here I'm going report you to the dean for asking such questions." He warns, but you get the impression that he's not telling the truth. He probably thinks you were sent to spy on him by the dean or something. It's not like he hasn't been held under close scrutiny before. "Mr. Demar, I'm not trying to get you into trouble, it's me! I really want to learn Necromancy, and you're about the only one I think can help me! I actually was worried about coming to you and I was nervous about the whole thing!" "Hmm, well I guess I always did think you were inclined towards the dark arts and given your annoying stuttering a moment ago, you do sound like you were nervous. Okay, you want to learn? I'll teach you. I'll teach you like I'm currently teaching so many others right now. Surprised? Yes, the time is coming to pass that we who are inclined to REAL power begin to make our place in this world…permanently. Though I still have concerns about you, I mean while you did about average in my class, I'm well aware that you're not exactly the best student in other fields. I question whether you can handle the power of the dark arts, let alone become a Necromancer." You stand up straight and reply. "I'm confident that this is my path." "Good, I'm glad you said that, because there's no going back and this path is not for the weak. We also must maintain secrecy at all times until the day that we may take what is rightfully ours. Now come with me, we're going to see exactly what kind of potential you have." Mr. Demar casts a spell and opens up a portal. He then prepares to enter it and beckons you to follow him, which you do. Suddenly you're whisked away into a place of near darkness. Given your immediate surroundings you'd guess that you're underground somewhere. You can hear the clinking of chains though nearby and moans. "Where are we?" "Your testing area, this where we're going to find out what exactly you're made of. In the next room, you'll find some undead friends. They're currently chained up, but they won't be for long. Now, you can kill them, but as a Necromancer you're supposed to be controlling them, so obviously you should try to do that." "But I don't know how! You haven't taught me any spells!" "And I'm not going to, you're going to have to figure this out yourself, but I will say this, it's all about the strength of willpower. Tap into your magical energy and if you have what it takes, you'll succeed. I'll leave you to it." Demar disappears back into the portal and leaves you all by yourself. You've really gotten yourself into it and now there really isn't any going back, and you can hear the chains from the next room dropping to the ground and the moans getting louder and closer. There's a large bone on the ground and not much else in the room, and you can't run either as there are no other exits. > You try to prepare and concentrate You begin to concentrate and prepare for whatever is coming at you. A couple of zombies enter and as soon as they see you they shamble over. You maintain your calmness and focus, backing up only to get out their reach. It's not work though, but you refuse to give up so you do something that you never thought you'd ever use. You're underground and there are a lot of roots where you're at, you remember a minor spell you learned in you nature magic class. You cast the spell, and the roots entwine the zombies' feet causing them to be unable to move at you anymore. You then concentrate on controlling them, which now comes a lot easier to you because you don't feel in danger anymore. When you're sure you have a hold on them, you release the roots and then practice telling the zombies what to do. Sort of fun, like having a pet. Your fun is cut short when Mr. Demar reappears. "Well, that was an interesting way of handling things. Don't think I've ever seen combining nature magic with necromancy before. Usually the student kills one of the zombies with a fireball or something and then focuses all their attention to control the other one. Still, whatever works, and you are one of the few that's managed to control the both of them with no training in necromancy at all, so you have natural talent. And natural talent will serve you better for this path." "I understand why you gave me the test, but I have to say I thought you'd start me off on raising the dead rather than controlling them first." You say. "Ah! Yes, that's a common misconception. You want to know why most necromancers fail even before they get started? Because they lack the control. Raising the dead is relatively easy; controlling them takes a great deal more focus and power. Most of the time a neophyte necromancer will go to the local graveyard and end up getting himself killed by the very bodies he raised because he can't control them. Okay, I think it's time we introduce you to the rest of the class. We'll have lots of time to practice while most of the so called regular students are away for vacation." "Uh, I'm ready, but I was supposed to go visit my family for vacation…and well also I don't think I've passed all my classes either, specifically the nature magic class." "What? (Sigh) Very well I shall take care of your grade; I know exactly how to handle the situation and I have a lot more pull in this school than most could ever dream of. As for your family members, I'll leave that up to you. Surely you can think up something to tell them, right?" "Yeah." "Very well then, it's all settled. Time to meet the rest of your kind." Once again Mr. Demar takes you through another portal. You're still underground, but now you're in a more structured setting with actual bricks rather than a cave like setting. You're soon introduced to the rest of Mr. Demar's "class" known as the Dark Order. Some of whom you've actually seen on campus or even in your other classes. Those that know you are surprised. "You're letting THAT guy in here? I remember him back in Illusion class, and he ended up creating clones that punched the professor in the face!" "That's nothing, back in Evocation class; he ended up setting the professor on fire." "Okay that's enough class! I can assure you that he has the potential to master the dark arts. He wouldn't be here if I didn't think so. Now Trelik and Felsa, you're coming with me, the rest of you practice your lessons and one of you help our newest associate here get started, we're all in this together you know." After Demar leaves with two of his students, you're left to your own devices as it seems nobody wants to help you. You look around the study area a bit and you start to pick up one of the many tomes lying around until someone comes up to you. "Hey, do you even know what those are for?" an ugly student asks you. "Well, they have a skull on the front, and from the looks of them they contain descriptions of various types of undead creature. My guess necromancy." "Yeah, so what do you know of it?" "Not much, that's why I'm here obviously, isn't that why everyone else is?" "Not at all, in fact you're only the fifth necromancer-to-be here. Most of the students are into studying how to control the infernal planes. You know Demonology. There's even a guy studying on the lost art of temporal magic." "Temporal? You mean time?" "Yep, a lot of people forget about that one being outlawed as well. Good reason, considering it could really fuck up something if not used properly. I'd actually stay away from Quayle, I think all that studying on time has made him a little loopy. He tends to talk backwards, and sideways a lot. Even Mr. Demar has a hard time keeping him on track." "Interesting, so what's your name, are you a demonologist?" "Me, nope I'm one of the disciples of death as they say. My name's Sebastian. You might as well meet the others, you'll be working with." Sebastian takes you over to two other students. Catalina and Irwin. They nod at you and go back to their training which involves creating a some sort of bone golem. Catalina looks somewhat familiar. Sebastian tells you the other is Trelik who just left with Mr. Demar. "He's the most skilled, besides Mr. Demar of course." Sebastian says. "So what exactly do I start on first?" you ask. "I'd start out with raising and controlling some skeletons. I know you probably did the zombie thing, but you'll need to hone your skill a lot and skeletons are easier to practice with. Take this book, and get started. You'll find the bone pits down the corridor and to the right, don't go left though; the demonologists got some bad ass demon locked in a circle down there. He's really pissed off too. Best stay away." You take one of the necromantic tomes and head down the corridor. On your way there, you begin to hear a voice penetrating your head. "You, come here. I know you. You seek power. I can give you that power; you need not waste your time studying anymore. I can grant it to you instantly. You want to be a master of death? Come to me…" This voice is very tempting. > You head down the left corridor You feel compelled to follow the voice and you head down the left corridor where eventually you come across a demon sitting in a couched position in a circle. He's looking at the chalk that creates the circle around him, before looking up at you. He's a lot bigger and meaner looking than even the demons you've met on campus. He certainly doesn't seem happy to be trapped. You suspect that they summoned this guy up from hell recently. "Who are you?" "My real name is unimportant, but you can call me Velzix…and you are the new disciple of Demar's delusional bunch of would be shit starters. They believe that they will be able to take over this school by using the dark arts. And perhaps they may, but such a victory will be fleeting. Mortals lack long term vision. They will not be prepared when the entire world unites against them…but you can be spared that fate. Free me, and I promise you that you will become a powerful force in the struggle ahead." "While that sound tempting, demons are known for their deceitful nature and infamous for getting around loopholes in so called deals they make." You say. "Yes, it is something we pride ourselves on…very well I will not harm you when you free me. That is what you worried about isn't it?" "It had crossed my mind." "Okay, now you may free me." > You free Velzix You easily remove the chalk around Velzix. "Ah yes, another lack of vision, if they had been smarter they would've also placed a magical barrier around the chalk circle and bound me in magic chains. Well, now they shall pay for their arrogance!" Velzix now free from his prison lets out an unearthly roar and pushes you aside to take revenge on his captors. As you recover and get off the floor, you can already hear the sounds of battle, followed by screams. You hesitantly head towards the study area, and there you see carnage. The demon has easily killed everyone and is now casting some sort of spell. "Now that I'm free, this world is going to suffer. That puny mortal Demar's petty plans pale in comparison in what I have in mind. He'll be first on the list that I'll track down. Shouldn't take long." He says and opens a portal to the infernal realm where upon several smaller demons come pouring out eager for blood. In fact they see you and begin to step towards you. "H…hey! You said no harm would come to me!" "I said that I would not harm you. I never said anything about them! Ha ha! Like I said you mortals lack such vision!" You don't even have time to run before the demons jump on top of you and begin to rip you to pieces, the only good thing is you were spared the horrors that Velzix unleashed upon the world.

You feel compelled to follow the voice and you head down the left corridor where eventually you come across a demon sitting in a couched position in a circle. He's looking at the chalk that creates the circle around him, before looking up at you. He's a lot bigger and meaner looking than even the demons you've met on campus. He certainly doesn't seem happy to be trapped. You suspect that they summoned this guy up from hell recently. "Who are you?" "My real name is unimportant, but you can call me Velzix…and you are the new disciple of Demar's delusional bunch of would be shit starters. They believe that they will be able to take over this school by using the dark arts. And perhaps they may, but such a victory will be fleeting. Mortals lack long term vision. They will not be prepared when the entire world unites against them…but you can be spared that fate. Free me, and I promise you that you will become a powerful force in the struggle ahead." "While that sound tempting, demons are known for their deceitful nature and infamous for getting around loopholes in so called deals they make." You say. "Yes, it is something we pride ourselves on…very well I will not harm you when you free me. That is what you worried about isn't it?" "It had crossed my mind." "Okay, now you may free me." > You negotiate some more Velzix isn't pleased that you're attempting to negotiate with him. He feels he's given you a fair deal, and he begins to raise his voice at what he considers to be your outrageous demands. Of course this doesn't help since it causes some of your fellow students to come wondering what's going on and hoping Velzix hasn't escaped. "Hey! What're you doing here! You're not even a demonologist!" one of them yells. "Weak minded fool was probably tempted by Velzix's voice." "I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about. I never said anything to him, he wandered down here on his own accord, and started talking to me about striking a deal of some kind." Velzix says with a smile. "I DID NOT!" you protest. Your protests don't do too much to help you though. The rest of the students decide you're either lying, or you don't have the mental strength to resist the temptations of Velzix. And in either case you're a liability that they can't afford. You're struck by several lightning bolts and your corpse is completely burned black before you even fall to the ground.

You begin to concentrate and prepare for whatever is coming at you. A couple of zombies enter and as soon as they see you they shamble over. You maintain your calmness and focus, backing up only to get out their reach. It's not work though, but you refuse to give up so you do something that you never thought you'd ever use. You're underground and there are a lot of roots where you're at, you remember a minor spell you learned in you nature magic class. You cast the spell, and the roots entwine the zombies' feet causing them to be unable to move at you anymore. You then concentrate on controlling them, which now comes a lot easier to you because you don't feel in danger anymore. When you're sure you have a hold on them, you release the roots and then practice telling the zombies what to do. Sort of fun, like having a pet. Your fun is cut short when Mr. Demar reappears. "Well, that was an interesting way of handling things. Don't think I've ever seen combining nature magic with necromancy before. Usually the student kills one of the zombies with a fireball or something and then focuses all their attention to control the other one. Still, whatever works, and you are one of the few that's managed to control the both of them with no training in necromancy at all, so you have natural talent. And natural talent will serve you better for this path." "I understand why you gave me the test, but I have to say I thought you'd start me off on raising the dead rather than controlling them first." You say. "Ah! Yes, that's a common misconception. You want to know why most necromancers fail even before they get started? Because they lack the control. Raising the dead is relatively easy; controlling them takes a great deal more focus and power. Most of the time a neophyte necromancer will go to the local graveyard and end up getting himself killed by the very bodies he raised because he can't control them. Okay, I think it's time we introduce you to the rest of the class. We'll have lots of time to practice while most of the so called regular students are away for vacation." "Uh, I'm ready, but I was supposed to go visit my family for vacation…and well also I don't think I've passed all my classes either, specifically the nature magic class." "What? (Sigh) Very well I shall take care of your grade; I know exactly how to handle the situation and I have a lot more pull in this school than most could ever dream of. As for your family members, I'll leave that up to you. Surely you can think up something to tell them, right?" "Yeah." "Very well then, it's all settled. Time to meet the rest of your kind." Once again Mr. Demar takes you through another portal. You're still underground, but now you're in a more structured setting with actual bricks rather than a cave like setting. You're soon introduced to the rest of Mr. Demar's "class" known as the Dark Order. Some of whom you've actually seen on campus or even in your other classes. Those that know you are surprised. "You're letting THAT guy in here? I remember him back in Illusion class, and he ended up creating clones that punched the professor in the face!" "That's nothing, back in Evocation class; he ended up setting the professor on fire." "Okay that's enough class! I can assure you that he has the potential to master the dark arts. He wouldn't be here if I didn't think so. Now Trelik and Felsa, you're coming with me, the rest of you practice your lessons and one of you help our newest associate here get started, we're all in this together you know." After Demar leaves with two of his students, you're left to your own devices as it seems nobody wants to help you. You look around the study area a bit and you start to pick up one of the many tomes lying around until someone comes up to you. "Hey, do you even know what those are for?" an ugly student asks you. "Well, they have a skull on the front, and from the looks of them they contain descriptions of various types of undead creature. My guess necromancy." "Yeah, so what do you know of it?" "Not much, that's why I'm here obviously, isn't that why everyone else is?" "Not at all, in fact you're only the fifth necromancer-to-be here. Most of the students are into studying how to control the infernal planes. You know Demonology. There's even a guy studying on the lost art of temporal magic." "Temporal? You mean time?" "Yep, a lot of people forget about that one being outlawed as well. Good reason, considering it could really fuck up something if not used properly. I'd actually stay away from Quayle, I think all that studying on time has made him a little loopy. He tends to talk backwards, and sideways a lot. Even Mr. Demar has a hard time keeping him on track." "Interesting, so what's your name, are you a demonologist?" "Me, nope I'm one of the disciples of death as they say. My name's Sebastian. You might as well meet the others, you'll be working with." Sebastian takes you over to two other students. Catalina and Irwin. They nod at you and go back to their training which involves creating a some sort of bone golem. Catalina looks somewhat familiar. Sebastian tells you the other is Trelik who just left with Mr. Demar. "He's the most skilled, besides Mr. Demar of course." Sebastian says. "So what exactly do I start on first?" you ask. "I'd start out with raising and controlling some skeletons. I know you probably did the zombie thing, but you'll need to hone your skill a lot and skeletons are easier to practice with. Take this book, and get started. You'll find the bone pits down the corridor and to the right, don't go left though; the demonologists got some bad ass demon locked in a circle down there. He's really pissed off too. Best stay away." You take one of the necromantic tomes and head down the corridor. On your way there, you begin to hear a voice penetrating your head. "You, come here. I know you. You seek power. I can give you that power; you need not waste your time studying anymore. I can grant it to you instantly. You want to be a master of death? Come to me…" This voice is very tempting. > You head to the bone pits No way, you're not going down that path. There are too many stories about demons fucking people over in their deals. In fact, you're a little worried about the fact that this "class" has more dedicated demonologist than necromancers. Still you'll just have to deal with it for now, you can only hope they know what they're doing and have a better grasp on things than a certain cabal of wizards did during the Dead War. As for you, you need to start mastering your own branch of magic. When you get to the pits, you are literally surrounded by bones. You open up your book and begin to read a bit before casting your spell. Your first attempt isn't too bad. You animate one skeleton, and surprisingly it doesn't attack you. You continue to practice this, and while it's only been an hour, you've already animated thirty skeletons, all of which are completely obedient and not attempting to attack you at all. You're not sure if this is normal, good or bad for a beginner, but given how many problems you had with other branches of magic, you think you're doing pretty well. In fact you feel pretty proud of yourself. You decide to get a little more inventive and you see rusty weapons on the floor along with the bones. You command the skeletons to pick them up and begin to start sparring with each other. They do so, without problems. This sound of minor battle brings in a few of the students, most of whom are shocked. "What's going…whoa. I thought you said you never did this before." Sebastian says walking in. "I haven't…I dunno, it's just coming so easy to me. For the first time I feel like I'm actually good at something!" you say. "Well, it's a lot better than what you did in Enchantment class when you managed to charm all those frogs which then proceeded to attack the professor." Catalina says. "That was you? I even heard about that. Man, what is it with you and your spells accidentally hurting your professors in some way?" Irwin adds. You ignore Irwin's question, and address Catalina. "I thought I remembered you from somewhere. I asked you out once." "Hmm, yes and you were unsuccessful in that as well. I suggest you stop looking at me and pay attention to your little army there, before they get out of hand. Like that one." You turn around and stop one of the skeletons that's wandering in your direction and then command him to go back to sparring. "Man, I've never seen someone with this much control just starting out. Well Trelik comes to mind, but he was already very skilled in general magic and was learning directly under Mr. Demar. From what others have said, you were completely inept at magic and have no previous training in this stuff whatsoever. You're like an idiot savant of necromancy or something." Sebastian says. "Um…thanks. I think." "Well anyway, glad you've joined up. We'll leave you be. If you want to try something harder, there's more tomes in the study area and just ask one of us where the other practice centers are." And so it goes. You find your place among the Dark Order and practice your skills there, in fact it gets to the point that you rarely leave the secret underground base at all. You begin to catch the attention of Mr. Demar who is very impressed with your ability to learn and master so quickly. "Natural" isn't the word for it, more like prodigy. Trelik however is showing signs of jealousy… Mr. Demar has to tell you to take a break every now and then or else you'll drain yourself. You don't feel that way though, you feel like you have more energy than ever. As he promised your grades were "fixed" though Mr. Demar's actions meaning you don't get kicked out of the college. You tell your parents that you're taking an advanced course in magic that requires you to stay and how you're really excited about it. Your Mom is a little disappointed that she won't see you, but is happy to hear that you're doing so much better in school. If she only knew… The City of Nuro is a quieter place with less students around, but the guise of secrecy still must be kept. After a month has passed you find out that this "class" aren't the only allies Mr. Demar has. He's been teaching the dark arts for years and most of his "graduates" are living in this city. The attack is going to come when classes first start up again. Demar feels that it will actually be more beneficial to attack with more people in the city because after the demons are done with the killing, the Necromancers can raise the dead to reinforce the hold on the city. One key part in all of this is Quayle. He is to cast a slow spell of the greatest proportions over the city. While everyone else is moving at a near stand still, the Dark Order will be able to take over key locations much easier. While all of this sounds exciting you can't help but still be concerned about this plan. Mr. Demar is placing most of his faith in the demonologist, which you suppose is understandable given his background in conjuration, but you feel as if you necromancers are getting put on the backburner. Sure you're playing your part, but it almost seems as if you're just there as "back up". Not to mention you're still not keen on the whole idea of dealing with so many demons. Of course these concerns are the least of your problems as another month goes by, Trelik is becoming a complete asshole to you. Within the short time you've been here, he's time and time again attempted to sabotage your spells, but usually you manage to overcome. You've got a month to go before the final plans are in place, but suddenly Mr. Demar has some news he's not pleased to inform everyone of. "Class, we've got a delegate from the Vampire Clans. I don't think I have to tell you how annoying this is." You ask Sebastian what's the problem and what exactly is going. Sebastian tells you that ever since the clans heard about Demar's plans, they've been strongly opposed to them for they fear that it will draw attention to their one last stronghold which is kept invisible and secret to the rest of the world. It is there where the last of the "ruling" class vampires still exist, most of them having been killed or degenerated into little more than mindless beasts that are eventually hunted down. While you're fascinated by Sebastian's explanation of things, you're suddenly singled out by Trelik. "YOU! Do you find this so unimportant that you feel the need not to pay attention?" "No. I just didn't know the whole situation and I was asking…" "If you wanted more information you should've been asking Mr. Demar after he was done talking!" "Okay, okay. That will do Trelik. Someone should've explained it to him before actually, given that he'll be playing a large part in this plan. In fact, maybe he should come with me to meet the delegate instead." "But Mr. Demar! I have more experience in this sort of thing!" "True, but to be quite honest, the blood suckers don't care too much for you. You're too combative. So how about it? Do you wish to be present when I speak to this delegate?" > You go with Mr. Demar "Sure I'll go." "Very well, you and Felsa are coming with me. Trelik, you go brush up on the attack strategy." "But!" "No buts! Just do it!" Trelik storms off while you, Mr. Demar and Felsa head towards the conference room. When you arrive, you see a single pale emaciated figure. He doesn't look at all like the vampires you've heard of in past. There is no regality here. "It's about time you showed up. I must confess I was not enthused about you leaving me here waiting like a dog. We have very important matters to discuss!" he hisses. "My apologies Yolev. I just needed to take care of a few things. Please sit, and let us all discuss this." "There really is no discussion Mr. Demar! You are to cease your plan immediately lest you face the full brunt of the vampire clans! Your foolish mortal desires will kill us all and we cannot allow that to happen! We must continue to survive!" "Survive? Is that all you vampires worry about anymore? Why at one time you were secret rulers and puppet masters. Hell, without you the Great Lich Lord wouldn't have made nearly as much progress as he did." "And THAT folly of those ignorant vampires is exactly why we must stop you now. The Dead War cost us greatly, we should not have thrown our lot in with a mad man who was determined to bring death to the world. It was only at the last minute that the wiser of us realized to do so would be detrimental to us. Almost too late. We are only a shadow of our former selves, but that shadow is still long…and we can make life difficult for you." Yolev warns. "I don't respond well to idle threats, but I will say this, your fears are unfounded. The Dark Order is not seeking to bring death to the world, we are merely going to reestablish the proper order of things. The strong were meant to rule, and WE are the strong. Those who master the dark arts have always been strong. It is why we are so feared and hated and hunted. You should not be against us Yolev. You should see this as an opportunity to reestablish your rightful place as vampires." Mr. Demar's words have a slight effect on Yolev. He falls silent and looks almost wistful of ancient times, when his kind roamed more free in civilization, rather than hiding and cowering on the outskirts like animals. He quickly snaps out of it though. "Idealistic words, Mr. Demar, but even if we were still to use what little influence we still have, I cannot believe that you and a few students can change the world. Even if you manage to take this one city, you can't believe that you'll get away with it. You there! You're one of these students are you not? What do you think? And tell me what you TRULY think, not what Mr. Demar wants you to think." Yolev points to you. "Well uh…I think we can do it." You stutter off guard. "…You think you can do it? Is that all you have to say about it? This is what you're working with Mr. Demar? How could we ever place any faith in your plan when you're training near idiots that can barely form sentences?" "Yolev, you might be a delegate, but you best watch your tone, you're not in the best position right now, and given your previous threats you're already treading on dangerous ground." "You dare to threaten ME? I've crushed greater men AND women than you!" "Yeah, and now you're a running lap dog for some so called vampire king who rules over nothing but a few remaining scraps of a dying legacy." As this begins to get hostile, you notice Felsa preparing to cast something. You think that if you say anything, things are only going to get worse, so you stand back and do nothing, but hostilities don't cease and eventually Felsa casts a blast of fire at Yolev, he falls to the floor trying to beat out the flames, but Demar isn't pleased. "FELSA! WHY DID YOU DO THAT!?" he shouts and then finishes off Yolev by casting some sort of spell that causes his chest to explode. Two Imps suddenly appear and begin to rip Yolev apart before he can get a chance to recover. "The pair of you really fucked up today! You with your actions and you with your bumbling! I might as well had Trelik with me! Shit! (Sigh) Alright. Fine we can still do this, but the vampires are going to be pissed off at us now for killing their delegate and it's definitely going to make things harder. Come on we got a lot to prepare for." The last month is no picnic. Mr. Demar has you all training a lot harder than you have before. He's been pushing everyone a lot harder to the point that they're getting tired and sloppy. One of the demonologists gets eaten by a brimstone beast. Another accidentally casts a spell backwards and causes himself to be sucked into the infernal realm. Morale isn't exactly the highest. But the plan goes through and after the first week classes go back in session, the gates of hell are literally opened. Portals appear all over various parts of not only the campus, but also the city. Demons come swarming out of the portals gleefully killing all in their path. The demonologist lead the attack, while you and the other three necromancers take advantage of all the new corpses in the area. Soon, you have a fair sized army of dead. Mr. Demar himself is taking on the head professors at the college, with the help of Felsa and Trelik. Given the amount of explosions you're seeing from the streets, you're glad you got a "lower" assignment. All seems to be going well until it looks like the demons have decided to leave the city limits, one of the demonologists tries to corral them back shouting that they are supposed to only concentrate on Nuro, but they laugh and simply say: "You didn't mention that in the deal!" With the demons completely unreliable now, it's up to you necromancers to take up the slack. You do alright, but there's still a lot of resistance and something has gone wrong with Quayle's spell as your attackers are beginning to move at a normal rate instead of a slower one. You don't see this ending well, unless something changes quick. Even if you win, you know you got a shit load of problems ahead of you. > You attempt to regroup Victory isn't beyond your grasp, you just need to regroup and organize. You immediately seek out Irwin, Sebastian and Catalina. You find Sebastian and Catalina, and they're running low on viable corpses. "Hey, glad you could get here, the Nuro mage guards are putting up a hell of a fight! The demonologists can't keep the demons in line and whatever former graduates Mr. Demar had to help us are probably all dead by now!" Sebastian explains. "Yeah, it's bad all over. Where's Irwin?" you ask. "Irwin? He's dead; can't you see his body lying over there with all the arrows in it?" Catalina points out. "Well, no point in letting this go to waste, we need all the help we can get." You say and command Irwin to rise to join the rest of the horde You tell Catalina and Sebastian to hand control over the rest of their troops to you, as if you can concentrate them with a single mind, you'll be able to break the doors down of city hall and take out the remainder of the mage guards holding out there. You also tell them that one should head back to the college itself and go check on Quayle, and the other should go help out Mr. Demar. Oddly enough Sebastian and Catalina obey your orders immediately. You begin to feel even more confident in your power of command. You proceed to tell your now larger undead horde to attack the last bastion of Nuro's governmental control. You unleash blasts of dark energy at the mage guards who attempt to defend from the windows while your zombies and skeletons break down the doors and begin to massacre all those inside. You enter the building nearly oblivious to the carnage. You feel a very real sense of calming peace amongst the death. Eventually you encounter the "First Citizen" of Nuro busily trying to slay as many of your soldiers as possible, but as you continue to raise them, even he realizes it's a futile endeavor. A skeleton warrior hacks his arm off with an axe, and then a recently raised mage guard clubs him in the head with a small mace. He falls to the floor of his own office before your feet and looks up at you. "Why? You…you'll never get away with this…" he sputters as he bleeds out. "You might be right, but it'll be interesting to see if I do." You calmly say and kick him in the face before another skeleton lands a killing blow to him. He is then raised to join the ranks. You exit the building and notice that the city is near empty. At least as far as the living go. The dead however are plentiful, bodies litter the streets. More resources for you, you think. A demonologist looking very worn from battle sees you and you have to stop your small horde from attacking. "Hey hold on! I'm on your side! Shit, this didn't turn out as planned, did it?" "Oh I dunno, we got the city." "Yeah, but Mr. Demar is still battling the rest of the staff in the college and I'm really worried about what the hell's going on with Quayle's spell, I don't know if you've experienced it yet, but I've been seeing buildings phase in and out of existence. I knew fucking around with time would be trouble!" "Where are all of the demons?" you ask. "Most of them left! I mean there's a few that stuck around, most of the weaker variety. There was a major demon called Velzix who was supposed to be helping, but he took off as well. Bah! Unreliable lot they are. I should've done what you did, become a necromancer! The dead always obey." "Not always…but you may still fulfill your wish after all this is over, so where exactly are Mr. Demar and Quayle, I mean I know they're in the university, but where exactly?" "You can't miss either one of them, Quayle's located in east section of campus, where you see all the damn buildings phasing in and out. As for Mr. Demar, well I'm sure you can still hear the explosions. I'm going to try to corral at least some of the imps and help Mr. Demar, I'm not going anywhere near the eastside of the campus though. I'm off!" The demonologist runs to go do what he said, leaving you with a couple choices of proceeding. You could go try to fix this problem with Quayle since it won't do anyone any good if the city collapses on itself or disappears to gods know where, of course you don't know exactly what you're going to do, hell you've never even spoken to Quayle before. He was always kept locked up by himself in his room studying most of the time. Of course you could go help Mr. Demar, chances are he could solve the problem with Quayle a lot better if he survives. > You go deal with Quayle Mr. Demar is a powerful wizard and he's already got help, along with the help you sent and also the help that's coming. You need to do something about this time problem. When you get to the east campus, the demonologist was right, you see a lot of weird things going on, nearby plants are growing older and younger before your eyes, buildings are indeed disappearing and reappearing. It's a mess. You see Catalina watching it all in wonder. She looks at you briefly only to acknowledge your presence and then goes back to watching the changing landscape. "I see you choose to check on Quayle." You say. "Yeah, I think he's in that small gray building over there, the only one that seems to be stable. I can't get to him though, well at least I'm not risking it, I sent some of my troops in there and I watched them either accelerate in rot and disintegrate, or even stranger actually turn back into their living selves until they eventually became babies and then nothing. In fact I'm getting out of here as it only seems to be getting worse. This plan sucks." Catalina replies. "Well someone's gotta go in, so I guess I'll do it. I've risked too much already to fail. I suggest you go help Mr. Demar." you exclaim. "Wow, this whole thing has really made you really authoritative. You've come a long way since Enchantment class." "Yeah well I've had a revelation that I'm really good at this necromancy stuff and I won't be denied my career in it before it's truly begun." You suddenly grab Catalina and kiss her on the lips; she pushes you away and slaps your face. "What the fuck do you think you're doing?! Just because you're not incompetent at one thing, doesn't automatically mean I'm wet for you!" "Well let me show you I'm not incompetent in two things then!" "Ha ha. Maybe later, like next century. Nice try though. But I will go help Mr. Demar seeing as that would be the best course of action for me. Good luck with the time storm there." As you check out Catalina's ass as she leaves you realize you should be focusing on the task at hand, but it's just you feel so alive for the first time in awhile as ironic as that may seem given the circumstances. You begin to employ the same strategy that Catalina did, and you get mostly the same results she did, however you currently have a lot more troops than she, so eventually you manage to map out a safe path to the building she thought Quayle was located in. Apparently she was right, you see him sitting in one of the auditorium class rooms in a lotus like position on the floor in a trance. A strange white field of energy surrounds him. "You are the future…there is no future…there are many futures…it's all so fascinating…" he says in an echoed voice. "Hey Quayle, we pretty much won, you can stop doing whatever it is you're doing with time now. It's really starting to mess things up." "Things have started to get better…they will get worse…they will stay the same, all is relative… how will you proceed…you have decided…" "Uh, yeah. Look Quayle you NEED to stop what you're doing, the whole fucking city is going to disappear if you don't, and I don't want to know where it might end up. So stop this right now!" As soon as you give this order, a flash of light appears from above Quayle's head and a bizarre creature with way too many tentacles comes out. Naturally it attacks. You dodge out of the way of its tentacle whip and command what remains of your troops to attack. You don't know why, but you don't feel very well in its presence. You feel like you're about to vomit. "There are so many things…worse than hell…worse than death…madness…insanity…I must show everyone…I have shown everyone…I have lost…I have won…" Quayle's either gone completely mad, or he's speaking perfect sense. Probably both, but either way if this one creature is any indication of what he's talking about, you'll have to stop him, but you're having a really hard time concentrating as strange thoughts begin to enter your mind. You see all manner of images from the past and the present…you dare say the future. It's all going so fast though and you're getting dizzy. > You cast a blast of negative energy at Quayle You attempt to concentrate, but as you do so another strange creature appears and smacks you in the face, knocking you to the ground. You don't even have time to recover before it begins to wrap one of its powerful tentacles around your head and squeezes until your skull cracks and your brains come leaking out. Given what is in store for the world, you were lucky to be killed so quickly.

Mr. Demar is a powerful wizard and he's already got help, along with the help you sent and also the help that's coming. You need to do something about this time problem. When you get to the east campus, the demonologist was right, you see a lot of weird things going on, nearby plants are growing older and younger before your eyes, buildings are indeed disappearing and reappearing. It's a mess. You see Catalina watching it all in wonder. She looks at you briefly only to acknowledge your presence and then goes back to watching the changing landscape. "I see you choose to check on Quayle." You say. "Yeah, I think he's in that small gray building over there, the only one that seems to be stable. I can't get to him though, well at least I'm not risking it, I sent some of my troops in there and I watched them either accelerate in rot and disintegrate, or even stranger actually turn back into their living selves until they eventually became babies and then nothing. In fact I'm getting out of here as it only seems to be getting worse. This plan sucks." Catalina replies. "Well someone's gotta go in, so I guess I'll do it. I've risked too much already to fail. I suggest you go help Mr. Demar." you exclaim. "Wow, this whole thing has really made you really authoritative. You've come a long way since Enchantment class." "Yeah well I've had a revelation that I'm really good at this necromancy stuff and I won't be denied my career in it before it's truly begun." You suddenly grab Catalina and kiss her on the lips; she pushes you away and slaps your face. "What the fuck do you think you're doing?! Just because you're not incompetent at one thing, doesn't automatically mean I'm wet for you!" "Well let me show you I'm not incompetent in two things then!" "Ha ha. Maybe later, like next century. Nice try though. But I will go help Mr. Demar seeing as that would be the best course of action for me. Good luck with the time storm there." As you check out Catalina's ass as she leaves you realize you should be focusing on the task at hand, but it's just you feel so alive for the first time in awhile as ironic as that may seem given the circumstances. You begin to employ the same strategy that Catalina did, and you get mostly the same results she did, however you currently have a lot more troops than she, so eventually you manage to map out a safe path to the building she thought Quayle was located in. Apparently she was right, you see him sitting in one of the auditorium class rooms in a lotus like position on the floor in a trance. A strange white field of energy surrounds him. "You are the future…there is no future…there are many futures…it's all so fascinating…" he says in an echoed voice. "Hey Quayle, we pretty much won, you can stop doing whatever it is you're doing with time now. It's really starting to mess things up." "Things have started to get better…they will get worse…they will stay the same, all is relative… how will you proceed…you have decided…" "Uh, yeah. Look Quayle you NEED to stop what you're doing, the whole fucking city is going to disappear if you don't, and I don't want to know where it might end up. So stop this right now!" As soon as you give this order, a flash of light appears from above Quayle's head and a bizarre creature with way too many tentacles comes out. Naturally it attacks. You dodge out of the way of its tentacle whip and command what remains of your troops to attack. You don't know why, but you don't feel very well in its presence. You feel like you're about to vomit. "There are so many things…worse than hell…worse than death…madness…insanity…I must show everyone…I have shown everyone…I have lost…I have won…" Quayle's either gone completely mad, or he's speaking perfect sense. Probably both, but either way if this one creature is any indication of what he's talking about, you'll have to stop him, but you're having a really hard time concentrating as strange thoughts begin to enter your mind. You see all manner of images from the past and the present…you dare say the future. It's all going so fast though and you're getting dizzy. > You physically tackle him The tentacle creature has almost killed all your troops, you're too dizzy to cast a spell, you need to just bum rush this fool. You run towards the front of the class where he sits and just narrowly dodge another tentacle beast appearing suddenly in front of you. "…stop…stop it…you must stop…" You tackle Quayle and something completely unexpected and disgusting happens. His body literally breaks like a fragile glass vase and all manner of insects and maggots come crawling out, mostly on you. "EEEEYEEECAAAGH!" you yell trying to get them all off of you, completely ignoring anything else. Fortunately for you, whatever you did has stopped the temporal disturbance. The creatures disappear and everything else seems to go back to normal. After stomping on some centipedes you notice Quayle's head has rolled into a corner. Surprisingly it's still alive. "Thank you…you are the future…perhaps…" his head says before it just simply disappears. You shake your own head at all of this. As much as you've seen during your time in the Dark Order, you've never seen anything like this! And you hope never to again. You're still a little shaken. You take a breather while your few remaining troops wander about, but still obediently awaiting your orders. You can't hear anymore explosions; you wonder if Mr. Demar has won, you hope he has, considering you've been doing a lot for the "cause" so to speak. You exit the building and begin to walk over to the other side of the campus where the explosions were coming from. You're a little tired, but you feel like you might have to be ready for anything, so you raise more of the dead to protect you for possible battle. It's almost so easy now; you barely need to concentrate even in this fatigued state. You arrive to burning buildings and ruins of towers. Once again you see Catalina standing outside talking to a demonologist. After they leave, Catalina sees you and once again seems unimpressed by you. You think you're warming up to her. "Huh, took you long enough. You missed all the major battle while you were playing around with Quayle." "Playing around? You don't even want to know what I've been through, and I'll wager it wasn't nearly as…disturbing as what you went through." "Doubt it, by the time I got here Mr. Demar had already lost Felsa, Trelik had betrayed him, and Sebastian was killed. Luckily I was here to provide back up for the final battle with the Dean. We've won, but Mr. Demar is very weak right now, I dunno if he's going to survive his wounds." "Shit, sounds like I did miss a lot, so is Trelik dead?" "Nope, the coward ran off when he realized he couldn't beat Mr. Demar." "Can I see him?" "Sure I guess, he's in library, or what's left of it." You enter the library briefly remembering when you came in here to seek more necromantic knowledge. Now you have more than you could've ever imagined. You see Mr. Demar sitting at a table looking through a book while he winces in pain while clutching his stomach. He's bloody, as well as burned. He's a mess. "(Sigh) This didn't turn out the way I planned at all. Of course those that follow the dark path never seem to get their way. I wonder why. Is it simple arrogance or is it just the cosmos balancing things out?" he says not looking up. "Mr. Demar, those wounds, you really should…" "I know what my mistake was, I was thinking too big. I should've concentrated on one dark art. Spread my attention too thin, and this mess was the result. (Cough) Thought I was going to rule it all…" "Your wounds are…" "Ah fuck it; I knew what I was getting into when I started along this path. I have no regrets other than trusting Trelik. Treacherous bastard. Heed my words, this path is not one of trust. You are truly alone. No matter how powerful you get, there's always someone seeking to topple you and steal what you have." "Mr…" Mr. Demar now addresses you directly. "Listen to me; this is your last lesson. At least from me, because for what lies ahead of you will be the greatest test of all. You're obviously a powerful necromancer, and you're only going to become more so. You must take advantage of your powers, and do everything you can to survive and crush those who oppose you. If that means war so be it, but if you can achieve this through peace do not be so quick to dismiss it. Chances are this will not be an option for you, but anything is possible. Just never back down. You are a ruler, not a subject. The city is yours if you can hold on to it. The entire world is yours…if you can hold on to it…" Mr. Demar collapses on the table. Strange that someone so powerful chose to die, since you get the impression his death could've been prevented with some strong healing magic. Did he feel that he failed and death was what he deserved? Was he deep down too cowardly to handle the hardship ahead? Or was he just tired? You'll never know for certain you suppose. You exit the library, where Catalina meets you. "So what's going on?" she asks. "I'm in charge, that's what's going on." You reply. Catalina looks surprised at the bluntness and simplicity of your answer. "Well, I suppose we could do worse…so what's next fearless leader?" "Good question." > You good question indeed. You are about to take your necromantic career to its next level Chapter 3: One Foot In The Grave One year has passed… It's hard to believe it, but it's been a year since you took control of Nuro…or rather Aftermath as you renamed it. The "Nuro Incident" as it came to be known was a shock to the civilized world. Nobody had anticipated such a thing occurring despite all preparations. Certainly not to Nuro given it's near "invincible" reputation. The Grand Alliance was immediately formed to retake the city, but fortunately for you, you weren't the only problem they had. Velzix, a demon lord who soon left Nuro during its attack, managed to unite the rest of the demons that felt the need to break their contract with the Dark Order turned their attention to the Tulan Kingdom. Right now he's established his own rule, enslaving the population and is most likely planning further conquest assuming he can keep his own troops from fighting each other long enough. Trelik the "other necromancer" has been rampaging across the countryside in a vain attempt to establish some sort of dominion of his own, but so far without any real allies he's yet to be successful. His actions have still kept the Grand Alliance and other governments busy however. As for you, you've already managed to hold off one Grand Alliance attack quite successfully due to your preparations. The first thing you did was command all the surviving Dark Order members to become necromancers. Some of them the more die hard demonologists hated this idea, so you gave them the option of taking their chances with Velzix or alone against the Grand Alliance. After being presented with these two undesirable prospects, they grumbled, but the rest soon fell in line. Catalina was mainly responsible for training them, given that she's the only other "true" necromancer in the city. You're glad of that as it saved you from having to do everything. Your relationship with Catalina's has improved mainly because you've proven yourself to be a competent leader that has managed to hold on to the city despite the odds. She still acts like she's not interested in you, but you catch an extended glance from her every now and then. Oh yeah she's definitely warming up to you. You haven't heard anything from your family, you can only wonder what they think of all this and in some ways you don't want to know. While things are somewhat quiet now, that's not going to last. The Grand Alliance will keep attacking and who knows how long they'll be distracted with Velzix and Trelik? They may very well overwhelm you in time, if the other threats are taken care of. You can't just sit in your throne room and prepare for the next attack; you'll need to be proactive about this threat. This of course this means conquest. Your standing army is stronger than ever right now and your powers in necromancy have grown considerably with the last year. You're confident that you could probably take over a small kingdom. Gaining more territory that your enemy can't use is usually a good way of making things harder for them. > The path of conquest calls Ah the time honored the tradition of all true rulers… "Catalina, I think it's time we expand." You say walking into her study. "Oh you do, do you? Well, there's no shortage of places. Got somewhere in particular in mind?" "A few places, but this is sort of why I'm talking to you, I figure it'll be good to have your input." "Wow, laying it on thick today aren't we?" "Yeah…do you like it?" "Maybe." She says with a faint smile. "Good, but seriously I'm thinking we should attack the Brot Kingdom. It's close, and its military is weak." "Normally I'd agree, but I think you're forgetting that our former classmate Trelik has currently established a presence there." "Yeah, I was thinking we could get rid of him at the same time." "Easier said than done I hope you realize. I know he's a treacherous asshole that's been run ragged by the Grand Alliance, but that doesn't mean he's any less formidable. Not to mention we'll still have the Brot military to handle and hopefully the Grand Alliance doesn't show up in the area. Speaking of which, Trelik's pitiful endeavors have been keeping them busy. Get rid of him and they'll pay more attention to us." "Alright then, where do you think we should attack?" "Here." Catalina points to a rather barren area known as the Drozz Wasteland which contains barbaric orc tribes, though ogres, goblins and similar "uncivilized" races dwell there as well. "What the hell are we supposed to do with that?" "Do you realize how many soldiers we can get in that area? The tribes in there are disorganized and unlikely to give us a meaningful fight. We can suffer minimal losses and gain more than what we started out with. Then we can use those gains against more formidable foes!" "Cat baby, THAT is not going to be easy. First of all I know something of orcs and the green bastards don't know when to fucking quit most of the time. Even with the fear of an undead army, I guarantee they'll still fight. Same thing with the ogres, trolls, minotaurs and GIANTS that live in that area! Giants, Catalina. Fucking giants. Not to mention those tribes have the full advantage of the knowledge of the terrain." "What difference does that make? It's not like our army needs to eat or even sleep! Those tribes are fighting each other most of the time too. By the time we've slaughtered half of those mongrel tribes, it's still unlikely that the rest will unite against us in any meaningful way. You said giants live there and perhaps that will be a challenge, but think about it, we could RAISE those same giants to use against our enemies in the future!" While the idea of raising undead giants is appealing, you still have reservations about attacking the area. You have a big decision to make. > You attack the Brot Kingdom As much as raising undead colossuses would be cool, you decide that taking over the Brot Kingdom will be easier and you'll be able to take out Trelik at the same time. "I think I'll go with my plan of attacking the Brot Kingdom." "You just want to be all macho and kill Trelik." "Maybe…does it turn you on?" "Ha ha. Perhaps if you're successful. Are you going to do this personally?" "Of course, I don't think any of the other necromancers can take on Trelik by themselves, and I'd rather have you here looking after things." "Really? You're trusting me to run Aftermath?" "Yeah, now I want you to keep a good run of things here, and if the Grand Alliance attacks I want to know immediately, so I can get here!" "Okay, but I doubt if that'll happen. I'd be more concerned with them attacking you when you're at the Brot Kingdom." "I'll be fine, okay I'm off." "Good luck!" she says and quickly kisses you on the cheek before you leave. You stare at her for a moment in shock and she stares back. "What?" she asks as if nothing happened. "Nothing, but we'll discuss THAT later when I return." You say. "Maybe. If you're good and return victorious." "I don't think I'll be good, but I will be returning victorious." You decide to take a couple of extra necromancers with you for support as you march your undead horde towards the Brot Kingdom. By the time you get there you can see the destruction that Trelik has wrought. It's obvious where he's been. Some corpses linger around the razed towns he's obviously been through, but you immediately bring them under your control. It's apparent that Trelik hasn't focused on fortifying his holdings too much and he probably wasn't expecting you to arrive at all. Given his weakened state, you wonder if you should bother attacking Trelik immediately. Perhaps you should take out the remaining Brot military just to get them out of the way first seeing as they might be more of a threat. > You attack Trelik Your thirst to get rid of one of your rivals overcomes you and he is closer, so you continue your march towards where he's located, it doesn't take long as you just follow the heavier population of undead wandering around. You continue to easily take control of his unsupervised troops. At last you reach the heart of his domain, where you are less able to take control of his undead and you're forced to destroy them. You catch sight of each other during the battle. "You! You're the cause of my current problems! It should've been me to take Nuro! That's all gonna change today though! You were a fool to come here, you should've stayed behind your safe walls!" While Trelik is ranting at you, you choose to take a more active approach and blast him with a beam of negative energy. He falls and temporarily loses control of his undead. You take advantage of it and enforce your own will over them. Trelik's position isn't good considering he's surrounded. "NO! Don't follow him, follow me! You're supposed to follow me! NOOOOO!" are his last words before he's butchered by his once obedient corpses. "All too easy, now let's finish off the Brot military and take over this place completely." You remark. Taking Trelik's remaining army you march upon the heart of the Brot Kingdom. The place is better defended than you thought, but your numbers are overwhelming and you don't have to worry about Trelik being at your back. You conquer the Brot Kingdom within a period of a few days. A Grand Alliance army attempts to retake your conquests within the week, but you've fortified your position by then and successfully defeat them. You leave a few of your most competent necromancers in charge and return to Aftermath in triumph. Catalina meets you. "So, what's the update?" "I killed Trelik, I conquered the Brot Kingdom, then I kicked the Grand Alliance's asses." You say putting your arm around her. She's not resisting anymore. "Hmm, sounds like you were very victorious. So now what?" "Now what? You and me in the bedroom, that's what!" You and Catalina at last end this little dance and consummate your relationship. And just think all it took was destruction and killing on a grand scale! Four years pass… It's been five years since you took control of Aftermath and you've made progress. Though not much. Many changes have certainly have come about. Your territory now encompasses a little more than just Aftermath, but besides the former Brot Kingdom, your other holdings are minor towns that dot the landscape. You call your region the Dead Dominion. The population consists mainly of the dead, with necromancers typically being the only living beings, though there are pockets of living that have pledged their loyalty to you in exchange for mercy. You have granted it. You and Catalina are now truly King and Queen of the dead. Velzix has benefited a little from your success; he's managed to hold on to his own realm, but has failed to expand. While he's stilling having problems of his own, rumors are that he's attempting to rip open a portal of the largest size to unleash all of the horrors the infernal plane has to offer. The Grand Alliance is attempting to handle the pair of you, but has only succeeded in fighting to a stalemate. Rumors are the Zalan Empire is attempting to take full control over the Grand Alliance in order to pursue a more extreme course of action. You have not heard anything from you family. You know your Dad's mercenary company has been fighting in the outskirts of Velzix's realm. Your sister has become a respected and successful Grand Alliance captain. She's managed to hold back the tide of your dead horde from gaining anymore ground for a couple years now. As for your Mom, who knows? You'd prefer not to know what she thinks of you. You aren't making anymore progress. You've expanded as much as you're able without making yourself vulnerable. You know you're going to have to do something soon, but allying with Velzix isn't an option. Making peace with the Grand Alliance isn't either. The Vampire Clans have unsuccessfully sent assassins after you, but they have all failed. However one night you are visited by another vampire who you almost kill before he begs and insists that he has a message for you from the Clans. He states that they are willing to talk to you. He says he can take you to their secret fortress. That is the only area where Lord Rostov will agree for any types of negotiations to take place. At this point you're open to the possibility of peace talks if it'll reduce the number of enemies you have, though Catalina is wary of this. > You kill the messenger Catalina's right, you can't take the chance of trusting these bloodsucking bastards. If they get you in their fortress, that's going to be it for you. "I regret to inform you, but your trip here has been wasted and so has you existence." You say as Catalina sets him ablaze with a fireball and you cause his heart to explode. "Wow, that was oddly familiar." You reply and then order the remains to be cleaned up before going about your business again. Indeed it was very familiar since you were witness to Mr. Demar and Felsa doing a similar thing to delegate Yolev five years ago. And much like those two, you've set yourself on a course that will end badly like it did for them. Five years pass… It's been ten years since you took control of Aftermath and now it looks like that's all finally coming to an end. Velzix never quite managed to succeed in his plan to open up the portal, and was struck down by your Dad's mercenary company of all things. Your Dad died during the battle and he was declared a hero who sacrificed all in the cause of good. A statue of him now stands in the Zalan Empire's capital. Funny how mad men can be made into heroes so easily With no other enemies the Grand Alliance turns its full attention to you and they're relentless with your sister leading them. She manages to take back everything you ever conquered until at last she's at the gates of Aftermath itself. You defend her attacks many times and you only grow weaker each passing day. However, it is not your sister that kills you. It is by another group of vampire assassins who once again slip in under the cover of night. You're no longer able to fight them effectively due to all the energy you've been expending fighting your sister's army outside. Catalina is dispatched first when she attempts help you, when you see her fall; you gain a surge of adrenaline and manage to kill one of the assassins. You wound another severely, but ultimately they strike you down and only a bloody mess is left for your sister to find when she finally breaks down the gates of Aftermath.

Your thirst to get rid of one of your rivals overcomes you and he is closer, so you continue your march towards where he's located, it doesn't take long as you just follow the heavier population of undead wandering around. You continue to easily take control of his unsupervised troops. At last you reach the heart of his domain, where you are less able to take control of his undead and you're forced to destroy them. You catch sight of each other during the battle. "You! You're the cause of my current problems! It should've been me to take Nuro! That's all gonna change today though! You were a fool to come here, you should've stayed behind your safe walls!" While Trelik is ranting at you, you choose to take a more active approach and blast him with a beam of negative energy. He falls and temporarily loses control of his undead. You take advantage of it and enforce your own will over them. Trelik's position isn't good considering he's surrounded. "NO! Don't follow him, follow me! You're supposed to follow me! NOOOOO!" are his last words before he's butchered by his once obedient corpses. "All too easy, now let's finish off the Brot military and take over this place completely." You remark. Taking Trelik's remaining army you march upon the heart of the Brot Kingdom. The place is better defended than you thought, but your numbers are overwhelming and you don't have to worry about Trelik being at your back. You conquer the Brot Kingdom within a period of a few days. A Grand Alliance army attempts to retake your conquests within the week, but you've fortified your position by then and successfully defeat them. You leave a few of your most competent necromancers in charge and return to Aftermath in triumph. Catalina meets you. "So, what's the update?" "I killed Trelik, I conquered the Brot Kingdom, then I kicked the Grand Alliance's asses." You say putting your arm around her. She's not resisting anymore. "Hmm, sounds like you were very victorious. So now what?" "Now what? You and me in the bedroom, that's what!" You and Catalina at last end this little dance and consummate your relationship. And just think all it took was destruction and killing on a grand scale! Four years pass… It's been five years since you took control of Aftermath and you've made progress. Though not much. Many changes have certainly have come about. Your territory now encompasses a little more than just Aftermath, but besides the former Brot Kingdom, your other holdings are minor towns that dot the landscape. You call your region the Dead Dominion. The population consists mainly of the dead, with necromancers typically being the only living beings, though there are pockets of living that have pledged their loyalty to you in exchange for mercy. You have granted it. You and Catalina are now truly King and Queen of the dead. Velzix has benefited a little from your success; he's managed to hold on to his own realm, but has failed to expand. While he's stilling having problems of his own, rumors are that he's attempting to rip open a portal of the largest size to unleash all of the horrors the infernal plane has to offer. The Grand Alliance is attempting to handle the pair of you, but has only succeeded in fighting to a stalemate. Rumors are the Zalan Empire is attempting to take full control over the Grand Alliance in order to pursue a more extreme course of action. You have not heard anything from you family. You know your Dad's mercenary company has been fighting in the outskirts of Velzix's realm. Your sister has become a respected and successful Grand Alliance captain. She's managed to hold back the tide of your dead horde from gaining anymore ground for a couple years now. As for your Mom, who knows? You'd prefer not to know what she thinks of you. You aren't making anymore progress. You've expanded as much as you're able without making yourself vulnerable. You know you're going to have to do something soon, but allying with Velzix isn't an option. Making peace with the Grand Alliance isn't either. The Vampire Clans have unsuccessfully sent assassins after you, but they have all failed. However one night you are visited by another vampire who you almost kill before he begs and insists that he has a message for you from the Clans. He states that they are willing to talk to you. He says he can take you to their secret fortress. That is the only area where Lord Rostov will agree for any types of negotiations to take place. At this point you're open to the possibility of peace talks if it'll reduce the number of enemies you have, though Catalina is wary of this. > You talk to the Clans You figure that this is worth the chance, so you agree, but Catalina is staying behind. The messenger says that only you were invited anyway so that is not a problem. "Are you sure about this?" Catalina asks you. "Not really, but I'm not too sure about our future…I mean I know we're doing okay now, but I get the impression that it's only a matter of time. If dealing with Lord Rostov can help us, then I gotta try." Catalina nods and kisses and hugs you goodbye before you and this messenger go teleporting off to the secret Vampire Clan fortress. He pulls out a black cube, presses a button and you both are immediately in the throne room of Lord Rostov. You still have no idea where this place is, but you're surrounded by several vampires. Some of which have a regal look about them as opposed to the hideous appearance that most of them have nowadays. Lord Rostov gets up from his seat and greets you. "Ah, the necromancer. You've been causing quite a bit of trouble I hear. The Grand Alliance has had many problems with you, though those should be coming to an end soon I should think." "Because you're gonna kill me?" you ask, expecting trouble. "Hmm, that's a rather blunt assumption, but I suppose a possible one. However, that need not be the case. That is why I have called you to talk." "Okay I'm listening." "Yes. What I'm offering is for you to give up your mad plan of murdering the world in exchange for immortality." "…what?" "I'm saying if you give up your plan, you may stay here and become one of us." You don't really know what to say at this point. "…I don't know what to say…I mean why would you offer this?" "Ah, a valid question. Well, as you know we've been monitoring you. So far you've outlasted far longer than you should have, showing that you are a survivor and a man who can thrive under pressure. I personally respect such traits. You would be a fine addition to the clans and quite frankly I wouldn't mind having someone new to talk to. Trust me these lot haven't said anything interesting for a LONG time." Lord Rostov says dismissively to his silent court. "While your offer has some appeal, I still don't know. I mean…" "Why the hesitation? You are a necromancer, is not immortality not your ultimate goal? And this is the only way you're going to achieve it my friend, for even if I choose to let you go, you will not last too much longer out there. As I speak the Grand Alliance will be pursuing a more efficient way to deal with you and that ignorant demon Velzix. I'm sure you're aware that we do have influence over the mortal world and we are setting things up to defend the status quo. A demonic playground and a graveyard are unacceptable outcomes." "I understand that, but you keep saying that I'm going to murder the world. I don't necessarily have any desire to do that. I mean I've been just trying to defend myself for the most part. If I could live in peace with the civilized nations I wouldn't be attempting to take anymore territory. In fact I haven't for a long time. I mean you said you had influence. Couldn't we just come to an understanding and you pull some strings to get the Grand Alliance to leave me alone?" Lord Rostov laughs at your proposal. "Even I cannot do that, even if I chose to do so! The living will always distrust and be repulsed by the undead. They would continue to attack even if we used our influence to cause a change in attitudes and policies. And I would not do so anyway. You are too much of a danger to the world. You claim you do not wish to turn the world into a mass grave, and you may even believe it. But how long really will you be able to contain your nature? You won't. Just as we cannot contain our nature either." "Well if you feel I'm so dangerous, why keep me alive at all, let alone turn me into a vampire?" "Because as I have said, you are worthy of such a gift and you would be someone new to talk to. Not to mention if you haven't noticed, our numbers are no longer what they once were, and they're even less due to our failed assassination attempts. It would be nice to get them back up again. And if you were to become one of us, your need to kill the entire world would lose its appeal. After all you cannot kill your food supply without killing yourself." "I guess that's true." "Yes. And just think, you'll still achieve immortality and in a much better form. Do you really want to be a rotting skeletal lich? Also, you can still control the world; we shall always have our hand in guiding the ways of our livestock. That is why we need more of us, so we can once again gain total control over them. You are being offered a better deal than you could ever achieve yourself. What will your answer be?" Lord Rostov has basically given you an "out" as it were. A rather generous one, almost too generous. You can't help but think he doesn't have an angle. Still, he's making a lot of sense. "…Catalina…may she join me?" "Ah yes. Your mate. I suppose so. Assuming she wishes to join you. So I take it, you are accepting my offer?" "Yes, yes I am." "Excellent. You will see that this was the best choice, now you may feel a slight sting…" Before you know what Lord Rostov means, you are suddenly grabbed from behind and bitten in the neck by a vampiress. You feel your blood drain from your body and soon your life fades completely. Your heart ceases beating and then you die. A few hours pass and you rise again. You feel quite different, but definitely stronger. Quicker too. In fact you feel better than ever. Lord Rostov stands by to watch you get up. "Welcome to your new life, now you may go attempt to convince your mate, but be quick about it, I will have further orders for you." You nod and head back to Aftermath where you meet Catalina in your new superior form. She can't believe it. "YOU WENT AHEAD AND DID THIS WITHOUT ME?" "No! I was thinking about us the whole time! I mean why do you think I came back for you? We can have it all and we can have it together!" "Yeah, and I'm sure Lord Rostov has offered this gift out of the goodness his rotten heart. Didn't you think he has a hidden agenda?" "I'm sure he does, but look we can't fight them in our current state. If we go this route we can possibly be in a position where we can defend ourselves better. We won't have to worry about the Grand Alliance or any of that anymore." "Yeah, just a lot of shifty vampires probably all trying to plot against each other." "True, but if we're together we can handle it. Come with me Catalina, I want us to be together in this." Catalina thinks silently about it for a moment, and then allows you to embrace her where you begin to drain her blood. You feel completely invigorated by doing this, possibly because you have such a strong bond with her. She soon dies and after you wait a few hours, she rises again. She now will remain forever beautiful. "Are you ready my dear?" "Yes." You and Catalina return to vampire fortress via black cube and begin your new lives. and things change thanks to the influence of the vampire clans. Influence you played a part in. Velzix never quite managed to succeed in his plan to open up the portal, and was struck down by your Dad's mercenary company of all things. Your Dad died during the battle and he was declared a hero who sacrificed all in the cause of good. A statue of him now stands in the Zalan Empire's capital. Funny how mad men can be made into heroes so easily. Lord Rostov asked if you wanted to have the statue taken down, but you declined. It made your Mom happy. Your own dominion soon fell into disarray without your guidance. Many necromancers attempted to take your place, but ultimately the Grand Alliance army lead by your sister crushed them all and retook everything that once was under your control. The status quo is soon restored and the puppet master weavings of the Vampire Clans continue. You and Catalina will have other journeys during this new life, but your journey as a necromancer is over.

As much as raising undead colossuses would be cool, you decide that taking over the Brot Kingdom will be easier and you'll be able to take out Trelik at the same time. "I think I'll go with my plan of attacking the Brot Kingdom." "You just want to be all macho and kill Trelik." "Maybe…does it turn you on?" "Ha ha. Perhaps if you're successful. Are you going to do this personally?" "Of course, I don't think any of the other necromancers can take on Trelik by themselves, and I'd rather have you here looking after things." "Really? You're trusting me to run Aftermath?" "Yeah, now I want you to keep a good run of things here, and if the Grand Alliance attacks I want to know immediately, so I can get here!" "Okay, but I doubt if that'll happen. I'd be more concerned with them attacking you when you're at the Brot Kingdom." "I'll be fine, okay I'm off." "Good luck!" she says and quickly kisses you on the cheek before you leave. You stare at her for a moment in shock and she stares back. "What?" she asks as if nothing happened. "Nothing, but we'll discuss THAT later when I return." You say. "Maybe. If you're good and return victorious." "I don't think I'll be good, but I will be returning victorious." You decide to take a couple of extra necromancers with you for support as you march your undead horde towards the Brot Kingdom. By the time you get there you can see the destruction that Trelik has wrought. It's obvious where he's been. Some corpses linger around the razed towns he's obviously been through, but you immediately bring them under your control. It's apparent that Trelik hasn't focused on fortifying his holdings too much and he probably wasn't expecting you to arrive at all. Given his weakened state, you wonder if you should bother attacking Trelik immediately. Perhaps you should take out the remaining Brot military just to get them out of the way first seeing as they might be more of a threat. > You attack the Brot military You march your horde toward the heart of the Brot Kingdom where Trelik hasn't been yet. You find that it's a little better defended than you thought. They have mustered up all their remaining hero types to lend their hand to the defense. It takes a week before you manage to even reduce the Brot Kingdom to shambles and knocking on their capital gates. This probably would've went quicker however, had Trelik not been launching his own attacks at your back and stealing some of your troops. Another week passes and you finally complete your attack on the Brot Kingdom. You manage to drive off Trelik, but fail to kill him. You also end up having to fend off a Grand Alliance attack which further weakens you. Your resources are stretched out and you've lost many of your necromancers to help support a large army. It's draining much of your energy just to maintain your defenses. You send a message to Catalina asking if there's anyway to get reinforcements, but she replies that doing so would be unwise as the Grand Alliance has sent another army on the way to Aftermath. You decide to maintain a skeleton crew as it were in the Brot Kingdom and head back to Aftermath post haste. You arrive just in time to defend Aftermath, which you do successfully…barely. At this point you're running on empty and you have to rest to recharge yourself. All of this has been a greater ordeal than you thought and it's only going to get greater. Four years pass It's been five years since you took Aftermath, and you've made little progress. In fact you sense the end is near and you'll be happy about it because this has been a miserable time and you wonder what the hell you were thinking all those years ago when you pursued this path… When Velzix was finally defeated, the Grand Alliance was able to focus the full brunt of its attention towards you, leaving you in a perpetual state of being on the defensive. Never again were able to attempt another act of conquest and over the years you eventually lost the Brot Kingdom. Vampire assassins from the clans made multiple attempts on your life. You barely fought them off. The last attack left you horribly scarred; it was only due to Catalina's sacrifice that you survived. You'll miss her dedication to you and your time together which was the only good thing about any of this. You recently received a letter from your family. It's been so long you'd almost forgotten you had one. It's your Mom. She begs for you to give yourself up as she doesn't want your sister to have to fight you in the next Grand Alliance attack, which apparently she's leading. Good old Mom, she always did try to protect you from your sister. But not this time. You're going to carry this through to the end. You finish up writing your letter back to Mom just as The Grand Alliance has broken down your gates. The cause of "good" has won. You wait for their final arrival in your throne room. You see your sister approach with her elite guards, she says nothing. Just a look of scorn on her face says it all. You stand up. "Let's do it." You say and unleash a blast of negative energy and summon ghostly soldiers to defend you. The fight is furious, but your sister has the cause of righteousness on her side. She eventually reaches you and stabs you through the heart. You look down and tell your sister one last thing. "…letter…on the desk…take it to Mom…tell her…I'm sorry…"

Ah the time honored the tradition of all true rulers… "Catalina, I think it's time we expand." You say walking into her study. "Oh you do, do you? Well, there's no shortage of places. Got somewhere in particular in mind?" "A few places, but this is sort of why I'm talking to you, I figure it'll be good to have your input." "Wow, laying it on thick today aren't we?" "Yeah…do you like it?" "Maybe." She says with a faint smile. "Good, but seriously I'm thinking we should attack the Brot Kingdom. It's close, and its military is weak." "Normally I'd agree, but I think you're forgetting that our former classmate Trelik has currently established a presence there." "Yeah, I was thinking we could get rid of him at the same time." "Easier said than done I hope you realize. I know he's a treacherous asshole that's been run ragged by the Grand Alliance, but that doesn't mean he's any less formidable. Not to mention we'll still have the Brot military to handle and hopefully the Grand Alliance doesn't show up in the area. Speaking of which, Trelik's pitiful endeavors have been keeping them busy. Get rid of him and they'll pay more attention to us." "Alright then, where do you think we should attack?" "Here." Catalina points to a rather barren area known as the Drozz Wasteland which contains barbaric orc tribes, though ogres, goblins and similar "uncivilized" races dwell there as well. "What the hell are we supposed to do with that?" "Do you realize how many soldiers we can get in that area? The tribes in there are disorganized and unlikely to give us a meaningful fight. We can suffer minimal losses and gain more than what we started out with. Then we can use those gains against more formidable foes!" "Cat baby, THAT is not going to be easy. First of all I know something of orcs and the green bastards don't know when to fucking quit most of the time. Even with the fear of an undead army, I guarantee they'll still fight. Same thing with the ogres, trolls, minotaurs and GIANTS that live in that area! Giants, Catalina. Fucking giants. Not to mention those tribes have the full advantage of the knowledge of the terrain." "What difference does that make? It's not like our army needs to eat or even sleep! Those tribes are fighting each other most of the time too. By the time we've slaughtered half of those mongrel tribes, it's still unlikely that the rest will unite against us in any meaningful way. You said giants live there and perhaps that will be a challenge, but think about it, we could RAISE those same giants to use against our enemies in the future!" While the idea of raising undead giants is appealing, you still have reservations about attacking the area. You have a big decision to make. > You attack the Drozz Tribes Catalina has a way of swaying you to her plan. (She does have experience in enchantment after all) She knew the whole raising undead giants thing would appeal to you! Of course you actually have to kill them first. "Alright Catalina, we'll go with this plan, but I'm going to do it personally, so you're in charge of things here for awhile." "Really? You're not only following my advice, but you're also trusting me to run Aftermath?" "Yeah I'm whipped, now I want you to keep a good run of things here, and if the Grand Alliance attacks I want to know immediately, so I can get here!" "Okay, but I doubt if that'll happen. They've been preoccupied with Velzix lately." "Hmm, y'know we'll have to do something about him too later, but first I guess I got some barbarians to kill." "Good luck!" she says and quickly kisses you on the cheek before you leave. You stare at her for a moment in shock and she stares back. "What?" she asks as if nothing happened. "Nothing, but we'll discuss THAT later when I return." You say. "Maybe. If you're good and return victorious." "I don't think I'll be good, but I will be returning victorious." You decide that given the long stretches of barren plains of where you're heading. Incorporeal undead shall work better. You need speed, and the tribes will probably have little in the way of magic to combat you. You also take a couple extra necromancers with you along with your army of ghosts, spirits and wraiths. You make pretty good time and suffer no attacks on the way, probably because of the rather low profile and somewhat hard to see aspects of your army. When you arrive in the Drozz region, it's night, but still as desolate as you remember it. Your Dad took you here a couple times during his attempts to "toughen" you up when he still thought he could turn you into a warrior. You hated it then, and you hate the place now. After casting a sense life spell, you start to head towards the direction of the nearest tribe, but your uncanny connection with death lets you know that you're being watched and not by the living… Suddenly from over a small hill top a group of misshapened creatures pop their heads up. After what looks to be chatter between the creatures, they lope in your direction. Ghouls. One of the filthier forms of undead. Typically they were created by vampires, who used to use them as tougher servants. (Basically mortals who weren't "worthy" enough for the gift of vampirism) but that would mean that there's a vampire in the area. You don't have time to think too hard about it, you just react and dominate your will over the ghouls. For some reason they're very resistant to you and you're forced to destroy them. More ghouls appear however, and soon you're surrounded. "Where the fuck are these things coming from?" one of your necros asks. "Stay calm. Don't lose control…VAMPIRE! SHOW YOURSELF! If you're going to assassinate me, I would've thought the clans were at least honorable enough to not rely on ghouls!" you shout. Your shouting is soon answered. The ghouls suddenly stop and a hideous figure appears on the same hilltop. He then walks towards you and your army and stops not to far from it. He's fearless and shows no signs of being concerned of your presence. "Clans? Don't speak to me of the clans! I was cast out long ago for my actions! Once I feasted upon the blood of royalty, with legions of mortals willing to die for me. Now I feast upon the carrion of barbarians with only ghouls as company." "So you're an outcast? I thought all you types of vampires degenerated into mindless beasts much like the ghouls." "Hah! Do you not think this is degeneration enough? I can't even make another vampire anymore. But you are quite correct. Most of us did. One thing keeps me going though and kept my mind sharp. Revenge. I vowed I would get revenge on the Clans somehow. Of course the reality is, I've had to hide in a hole in the ground while my ghouls scavenge the countless battlefields of this accursed place. I am the Ghoul King." "Ghoul King eh? I'm very surprised nobody's hunted you." "I haven't survived this long by being sloppy. The only ones who tend to be around here are barbarians and if any of them ever see us, it's their last time. But the tribes tend to be an anti-social lot anyway, so it's unlikely that any of them run to tell the civilized folks that there are ghouls and their king infesting the area. So what of you? It's been a long time since I've seen a necromancer…a long time…" "I'm attempting to supplement my army as it were. These tribes would make excellent additions. Especially the giants." "I see. So you mean to take away my food source? Not to mention my OWN supply of followers. These ghouls don't grow from trees you know!" This is an interesting situation. You didn't expect this, but perhaps you can use it to your advantage. This "Ghoul King" is close enough to you to attack with your troops. Chances are, if you killed him, you could take his remaining horde of ghouls to help you destroy the tribes in the area. However, maybe you could use a little diplomacy. > You kill the Ghoul King Why mess around with a middle man, when you can control the ghouls yourself? You order your troops to attack, at which point the Ghoul King orders his ghouls to do likewise, as he attempts to slaughter his way through your army to get to you! "Little necromancer, did you really think you could intimidate me? I am still more than a match for a mere mortal!" he mocks as jumps and leaps towards you. Your troops have no noticeable effect on him. Their draining powers do nothing, though the scythes of the wraiths do some damage. You have to use non-necromantic magic against him and you cast a fireball into his chest. It's enough to cause him to leap away from you and attempt to roll out the flame, but he kills two of your necromancers in the process. His ghouls are getting wiped out by your undead, but they're coming like hordes of lemmings, you have to kill the Ghoul King now. "Blast the bloodsucker with fire!" you order your last remaining necromancers to do. Fortunately being ex-demonologists, their knowledge of fire magic is still quite strong. The Ghoul King attempts to leap out of the way, but the flame spells still hit him. He runs around burning and howling horribly. Soon the wraiths put a final end to the Ghoul King with their scythes. The rest of the ghouls seeing their King dead, begin to run away in multiple directions. You manage to easily dominate most of them and corral them into your fold. Not too bad, though losing a couple of necros wasn't something you wanted. At least not so early. You press on with your quest to conquer the Drozz tribes. Weeks turn into months and your campaign there is going…mediocre. You did alright in the beginning, but after awhile the tribes began to unite in a way you didn't think they would or at least you'd think it would take longer. While mostly low in magic, they had more shaman and witch doctor types than you expected as well. They also know to start targeting you and your other necromancers whenever possible, which has resulted in you being the only one left and supporting the entire undead army. Given how long you've been without rest, lack of other magical enhancers, the constant drain and the large number of undead you're controlling, you could be over exerting yourself. Your time here hasn't really been profitable. You've gained more troops, but you've lost necromancers and you still haven't really conquered the area. The tribes have been simply moving and hiding around the area. You wonder if you should cut your losses… > You press on You're determined to make Drozz a deadland and you'll not have these barbarians defy you! You press on with your attack, now climbing into the more hilly areas of Drozz where most of the tribes have fled to. Things turn worse when they ambush you from higher positions. Witch Doctors use their primitive magic to whittle away your ghostly troops. You're nearly smashed when hill giants begin throwing boulders at you. Those heavy rocks crush several of your ghouls. You're so busy trying to get out of the way of the boulders, you don't even see the archers on the other side of you. Their arrows strike down the remainder of your ghouls and hit you as well. You attempt to retreat, but they've blocked it off. There's no escape. Your troops are at last destroyed and you're on the ground dying from being shot full of arrows. A large orc war chieftain walks slowly over to you with a huge axe in hand. You have no more strength to fight. "Hur hur, little dead wizard. Da tribes have never tasted defeat and dey never will." He grunts before bringing his axe down on your head.

Why mess around with a middle man, when you can control the ghouls yourself? You order your troops to attack, at which point the Ghoul King orders his ghouls to do likewise, as he attempts to slaughter his way through your army to get to you! "Little necromancer, did you really think you could intimidate me? I am still more than a match for a mere mortal!" he mocks as jumps and leaps towards you. Your troops have no noticeable effect on him. Their draining powers do nothing, though the scythes of the wraiths do some damage. You have to use non-necromantic magic against him and you cast a fireball into his chest. It's enough to cause him to leap away from you and attempt to roll out the flame, but he kills two of your necromancers in the process. His ghouls are getting wiped out by your undead, but they're coming like hordes of lemmings, you have to kill the Ghoul King now. "Blast the bloodsucker with fire!" you order your last remaining necromancers to do. Fortunately being ex-demonologists, their knowledge of fire magic is still quite strong. The Ghoul King attempts to leap out of the way, but the flame spells still hit him. He runs around burning and howling horribly. Soon the wraiths put a final end to the Ghoul King with their scythes. The rest of the ghouls seeing their King dead, begin to run away in multiple directions. You manage to easily dominate most of them and corral them into your fold. Not too bad, though losing a couple of necros wasn't something you wanted. At least not so early. You press on with your quest to conquer the Drozz tribes. Weeks turn into months and your campaign there is going…mediocre. You did alright in the beginning, but after awhile the tribes began to unite in a way you didn't think they would or at least you'd think it would take longer. While mostly low in magic, they had more shaman and witch doctor types than you expected as well. They also know to start targeting you and your other necromancers whenever possible, which has resulted in you being the only one left and supporting the entire undead army. Given how long you've been without rest, lack of other magical enhancers, the constant drain and the large number of undead you're controlling, you could be over exerting yourself. Your time here hasn't really been profitable. You've gained more troops, but you've lost necromancers and you still haven't really conquered the area. The tribes have been simply moving and hiding around the area. You wonder if you should cut your losses… > You return to Aftermath A little dejected, you make your way back to Aftermath. Along the way, you come across Trelik who's looking particularly pathetic. It looks like he's got his ass handed to him once again by the Grand Alliance. He sees you and your army and runs towards you! You hold back from attacking as this should be interesting. "Please! Ya gotta help me! I've got no where to turn to! The Grand Alliance is unstoppable! They destroyed all of what I had accomplished in the Brot Kingdom! I hear they're even starting to make progress against Velzix! All around me are hunters! I can't rest! They're all out to get me!" he rants while groveling on the ground. He's badly scarred; he's even missing a few fingers. You have no sympathy for this dickhead though, especially not after what you've been through. You're going to enjoy this. "Pfft! Look at you. Useless. Why would I help a traitorous dog like you who obviously can't handle pressure?" you say kicking him in the face. He whimpers and begs for his life. "Pah! You wouldn't even make a good corpse! Ghouls, fulfill your hunger on this waste of flesh!" you shout as the ghouls eagerly follow your orders. Feeling a little better from hearing Trelik's screams you continue on your way to Aftermath. When you get there, things are more or less how they were. Catalina is full of questions, questions that you're really in no mood to answer. "So…what happened? No undead giants?" she asks. "No, it was a bad idea, and I never should've went there!" "…wait are you blaming ME for this?" "(Sigh) Me blame you? No of course not. Nope it was my own stupidity at work here for following your advice in the first place. Don't worry, you're off the hook." "Y'know maybe it was a good plan and it was your own incompetence that lead to defeat, you ever think of that?" "Watch it Catalina…don't fucking piss me off right now. The only reason why I'm in a tolerant mood is because I killed that dickhead Trelik on my way home. Damn that felt good." "Yeah, well I hope you're in the mood for a fight, because I hear the Grand Alliance is preparing another attack." "I don't give a fuck. Just let me know when they get here, and I'll save this city again like I always do." You say heading to your study. And so it happens, the Grand Alliance attacks and just like you said, you successfully defend against them. Four years pass… It's been five years since you took Aftermath, and you've made little progress. In fact you sense the end is near and you'll be happy about it because this has been a miserable time and you wonder what the hell you were thinking all those years ago when you pursued this path… When Velzix was finally defeated, the Grand Alliance was able to focus the full brunt of its attention towards you, leaving you in a perpetual state of being on the defensive. Never again were able to attempt another act of conquest and over the years you've gotten weaker in resources while your enemies have only gotten stronger. Catalina and you never got along really well after you came back from Drozz. She never saw you as the formidable leader she thought you were, and you blamed her for her idea to go to Drozz (Even though you said you didn't blame her). The relationship became strained and one day in a particularly heated argument, you struck her down with a powerful blast of negative energy. She died instantly. You apologized to her before ultimately burning her body. Vampire assassins from the clans made multiple attempts on your life. You barely fought them off. The last attack left you with missing fingers. You remember laughing at the time since they were on the same hand that Trelik was missing his fingers all those years ago. You recently received a letter from your family. It's been so long you'd almost forgotten you had one. It's your Mom. She begs for you to give yourself up as she doesn't want your sister to have to fight you in the next Grand Alliance attack, which apparently she's leading. Good old Mom, she always did try to protect you from your sister. But not this time. You're going to carry this through to the end. You finish up writing your letter back to Mom just as The Grand Alliance has broken down your gates. The cause of "good" has won. You wait for their final arrival in your throne room. You see your sister approach with her elite guards, she says nothing. Just a look of scorn on her face says it all. You stand up. "Let's do it." You say and unleash a blast of negative energy and summon ghostly soldiers to defend you. The fight is furious, but your sister has the cause of righteousness on her side. She eventually reaches you and stabs you through the heart. You look down and tell your sister one last thing. "…letter…on the desk…take it to Mom…tell her…I'm sorry…"

Catalina has a way of swaying you to her plan. (She does have experience in enchantment after all) She knew the whole raising undead giants thing would appeal to you! Of course you actually have to kill them first. "Alright Catalina, we'll go with this plan, but I'm going to do it personally, so you're in charge of things here for awhile." "Really? You're not only following my advice, but you're also trusting me to run Aftermath?" "Yeah I'm whipped, now I want you to keep a good run of things here, and if the Grand Alliance attacks I want to know immediately, so I can get here!" "Okay, but I doubt if that'll happen. They've been preoccupied with Velzix lately." "Hmm, y'know we'll have to do something about him too later, but first I guess I got some barbarians to kill." "Good luck!" she says and quickly kisses you on the cheek before you leave. You stare at her for a moment in shock and she stares back. "What?" she asks as if nothing happened. "Nothing, but we'll discuss THAT later when I return." You say. "Maybe. If you're good and return victorious." "I don't think I'll be good, but I will be returning victorious." You decide that given the long stretches of barren plains of where you're heading. Incorporeal undead shall work better. You need speed, and the tribes will probably have little in the way of magic to combat you. You also take a couple extra necromancers with you along with your army of ghosts, spirits and wraiths. You make pretty good time and suffer no attacks on the way, probably because of the rather low profile and somewhat hard to see aspects of your army. When you arrive in the Drozz region, it's night, but still as desolate as you remember it. Your Dad took you here a couple times during his attempts to "toughen" you up when he still thought he could turn you into a warrior. You hated it then, and you hate the place now. After casting a sense life spell, you start to head towards the direction of the nearest tribe, but your uncanny connection with death lets you know that you're being watched and not by the living… Suddenly from over a small hill top a group of misshapened creatures pop their heads up. After what looks to be chatter between the creatures, they lope in your direction. Ghouls. One of the filthier forms of undead. Typically they were created by vampires, who used to use them as tougher servants. (Basically mortals who weren't "worthy" enough for the gift of vampirism) but that would mean that there's a vampire in the area. You don't have time to think too hard about it, you just react and dominate your will over the ghouls. For some reason they're very resistant to you and you're forced to destroy them. More ghouls appear however, and soon you're surrounded. "Where the fuck are these things coming from?" one of your necros asks. "Stay calm. Don't lose control…VAMPIRE! SHOW YOURSELF! If you're going to assassinate me, I would've thought the clans were at least honorable enough to not rely on ghouls!" you shout. Your shouting is soon answered. The ghouls suddenly stop and a hideous figure appears on the same hilltop. He then walks towards you and your army and stops not to far from it. He's fearless and shows no signs of being concerned of your presence. "Clans? Don't speak to me of the clans! I was cast out long ago for my actions! Once I feasted upon the blood of royalty, with legions of mortals willing to die for me. Now I feast upon the carrion of barbarians with only ghouls as company." "So you're an outcast? I thought all you types of vampires degenerated into mindless beasts much like the ghouls." "Hah! Do you not think this is degeneration enough? I can't even make another vampire anymore. But you are quite correct. Most of us did. One thing keeps me going though and kept my mind sharp. Revenge. I vowed I would get revenge on the Clans somehow. Of course the reality is, I've had to hide in a hole in the ground while my ghouls scavenge the countless battlefields of this accursed place. I am the Ghoul King." "Ghoul King eh? I'm very surprised nobody's hunted you." "I haven't survived this long by being sloppy. The only ones who tend to be around here are barbarians and if any of them ever see us, it's their last time. But the tribes tend to be an anti-social lot anyway, so it's unlikely that any of them run to tell the civilized folks that there are ghouls and their king infesting the area. So what of you? It's been a long time since I've seen a necromancer…a long time…" "I'm attempting to supplement my army as it were. These tribes would make excellent additions. Especially the giants." "I see. So you mean to take away my food source? Not to mention my OWN supply of followers. These ghouls don't grow from trees you know!" This is an interesting situation. You didn't expect this, but perhaps you can use it to your advantage. This "Ghoul King" is close enough to you to attack with your troops. Chances are, if you killed him, you could take his remaining horde of ghouls to help you destroy the tribes in the area. However, maybe you could use a little diplomacy. > You talk with the Ghoul King You can't say you've exactly been entirely enthusiastic about this plan to conquer these tribes. The reality is starting to set in that you'll never be able to get rid of them all. At least not without a concentrated effort, which would take a lot more time and troops that you're unwilling to commit at this point. But The Ghoul King could help. He most likely knows the lay of the land just as well as the tribes, and considering he lives here, he can dedicate as much time as he wants. "Very well Ghoul King I have no wish to take what is yours. I shall leave in peace if you'll permit." You say respectfully. "Hmm, I had not expected you to respond that way. Perhaps though you have yet another trick up your sleeve?" "No trick. But perhaps a proposal." "Diplomacy? Are you serious? I have rarely ever encountered a necromancer ready to discuss anything so calmly before. You are a rare breed. Okay, what's your proposal? I have to know just because you've managed to surprise me, twice today." "My proposal is an alliance." "An alliance? For what purpose? I imagine that you're being hounded by the civilized world. Why would I bring such troubles on myself?" "Because I'm your best shot at revenge. You said you've wanted revenge on the Vampire Clans, well I'm not exactly on their good side either. Eventually I'm going to have to deal with them. Look at you, you said it yourself. You've been forced to hide out from the world in a hole in the ground. Wouldn't you at least like that to change? Even if you die, at least you can say you tried! Changes ARE coming to this world, and this is your chance to be on the winning side." The Ghoul King looks in the sky. His expression reminds you of delegate Yolev's when Mr. Demar gave him a chance to join. You hope you have more success. "I have been told such promises before; a long time ago…this state that you see before you is what it got me. However, there's no fool like an old one. What more can be done to me? I've lost all as it is, I can only gain. I'm listening more to your proposal, but let's have some details. I won't ally with someone that's as foolish as me." You quickly explain that the Ghoul King should attack the tribes like he's been doing, but to just increase the frequency. All you ask is that he leave a portion of the dead for you (rather than eating them) to use as troops. You will leave one of your necromancers here as an emissary and transporter as it were. The Ghoul King finds this arrangement to be acceptable. He laughs when you say you would also like it if he managed to kill some giants for you to raise. He says he'll see what he can do and as an act of goodwill he allows you to have a sizable amount of his ghouls. "I can always make more!" You return to Aftermath feeling a great sense of accomplishment. Catalina is a bit leery of the entire situation though. "How can you be sure of this? He's a vampire! Last I heard they aren't too happy with us right now!" Catalina says. "He's an outcast from the clans. He's been living like an animal for who knows how long. I've given him a sense of purpose again. He'll help. Besides he's better suited to take care of the tribes in Drozz. He'll take all the risk and we'll gain the benefit. I see no downside!" "How do you know he won't just kill your emissary there and not do anything?" "It's certainly possible, but he did give me some of his ghouls as an act of good faith." "A bunch of mangy ghouls can't make up for one necromancer!" "Considering I left Hessan with him, you could make the argument that they do! Relax! I know what I'm doing." "I hope so, because I heard that the Grand Alliance is stepping up their military operations." Catalina leaves you in a huff. What's with this girl? One minute she's expressing interest, the next she's pissed at you. Oh well. You're not worried about anything, you're confident you made the right decision. A few months pass and you get a letter via bat from The Ghoul King. He tells you that he's got something special for you. Something that Hessan can't transport himself. You make your way back to Drozz, traveling invisibly for the most part, since last you heard, the Grand Alliance ousted Trelik from the Brot Kingdom and are currently stationed there, probably planning to attack you next. When you arrive, the Ghoul King meets you. "Well don't say I haven't held up my part of this alliance. Here are your giants. A whole tribe of them! Took a hell of a long time dragging them down here. You'll have to forgive the bite marks, but my ghouls do get hungry every now and then." You can't believe your eyes. You expected one or two. Not a whole tribe! You aren't even going to ask how he did it, you're just happy he did. "Alright Mr. Necromancer, I wanna see you raise these big ass things! Your emissary has been going on for months about how powerful you are, so I wanna see this." You begin to concentrate… Slowly one of the dead behemoths rises and stands ready to serve. You concentrate again and one by one each one stands up and fully obedient to you. It requires very little energy on your part surprisingly. You must be growing in power. "Well now, I guess you can walk the walk! Alright now you go have fun with those big boys. I have some barbarians to terrorize. It seems I've inadvertently united most of the tribes against me with this giant killing business." "You need some help?" "Nah, I got it all under control. I was sick of hiding anyway. Thanks though. Especially for making me feel like a true vampire again rather than a running scavenger." You tell Hessan to stay with the Ghoul King as you still need someone here in Drozz. One day you'll have to construct some sort of portal between here and Aftermath, but that will have to be later. Right now you've got undead giants and you're all prepared to use them right away. You remember The Grand Alliance is in the Brot Kingdom and tthat they're probably still recovering from battling Trelik recently. You march with your undead giants to the Brot Kingdom. You have no back up, just you. You're going to show them all what you're capable of… Your arrival isn't surprising since they could see you coming from quite a few miles away, but the utter fear you inspired was immense and there still wasn't enough time for the Grand Alliance to get reinforcements. Your undead giants smash and destroy buildings. They crush knights under foot. The carnage is great. You supplement your attack by raising the recent dead to your cause. Graveyards are your reinforcements. You see the remnants of Grand Alliance flee. Let them flee. Let them speak of the terror and the death! The news of what you did travels fast, and Catalina runs to meet you when you arrive back in Aftermath. "What the hell did you think you were doing risking your life like that? You should've come back to Aftermath for more soldiers before taking on the Brot Kingdom AND the Grand Alliance all by yourself!" "Why? Were you worried about me?" you smile. "Well… um…no! But, you should've told me!" "I did tell you. I told you I had everything worked out and look…I did." You say putting your arm around her. She's not resisting anymore. "Hmmm, well I guess you did. So now what?" "Now what? You and me in the bedroom, that's what!" You and Catalina at last end this little dance and consummate your relationship. And just think all it took was destroying an entire kingdom with some undead giants! Four years pass… It's been five years since you took control of Aftermath and you've made progress. Many changes have certainly have come about. Your territory now encompasses far more than just Aftermath. You now control several former kingdoms. You call your region the Dead Dominion. The population consists mainly of the dead, with necromancers typically being the only living beings, though there are pockets of living that have pledged their loyalty to you in exchange for mercy. You have granted it. You and Catalina are now truly King and Queen of the dead. Velzix has benefited from your success, due to the excessive problems you've given the Grand Alliance; he's expanded his own realm relatively unchecked. Minor conflict has come about between your respective domains, and it's only a matter of time before all out war occurs. Rumors are that he's attempting to rip open a portal of the largest size to unleash all of the horrors the infernal plane has to offer. The Grand Alliance is attempting to handle the pair of you, but has only succeeded in fighting to a stalemate. Rumors are the Zalan Empire is attempting to take full control over the Grand Alliance in order to pursue a more extreme course of action. You have not heard anything from you family. You know your Dad's mercenary company has been fighting in the outskirts of Velzix's realm. Your sister has become a respected and successful Grand Alliance captain. She's managed to hold back the tide of your dead horde from gaining anymore ground for a couple years now. As for your Mom, who knows? You'd prefer not to know what she thinks of you. The Vampire Clans have unsuccessfully sent assassins after you, but they have all failed. The Ghoul King suggests that an attack should be made on them soon. He mentions he knows where their secret fortress is and now that he has the support he wishes to take his revenge. He has completely conquered Drozz and turned into a true Kingdom (The only one semi-independent from your Dead Dominion) no longer does he hide in a hole. As for Trelik, you have heard nothing. For all you know he may be dead. He disappeared soon after his defeat at Brot four years ago. But today is another day and with that new problems come. You have to decide which new direction you're going to steer your Dominion. > You attack Velzix Sometimes it takes a "bad guy" to take out another bad guy, maybe even two… "Catalina I think it's time to attack Velzix." You say walking into her study. "Oh you do huh? Got a plan in mind of how to go about it? Because it's not going to be easy." "Well I figured we'd just go in there and chop his head off." You laugh. "Ha ha. Sometimes you have a really strange sense of humor. You realize that the Grand Alliance has been trying to chop his head off for years and they haven't been successful." "Yeah, well they ain't me. Besides I got an angle. My Dad's mercenary company is over there right now. I can get help from him." Catalina looks at you as if you've gone completely insane. "Your Dad? The one you've always complained about? The bastard that you say could barely stand you? The one I think is the reason you got into necromancy in the first place, to prove you could be more powerful than he could ever be?" "Uh…excuse me?" you say after hearing that last bit of psychoanalysis. "What makes you think he'll help you?" "He might not, I dunno just how pissed he is at me, but I figure if there's any chance he might, I'll try it. He probably has good intelligence on the realm. Besides, he's an opportunist first of all. If Velzix wins. We all lose. BUT if I win, well just maybe I'll take sentimental mercy on the old man and the family." "Would you?" Catalina asks. "With my Mom and sis? Sure." You grin. "I dunno about this family stuff, sometimes I'm glad I was an orphan." Catalina sighs. "But if you think it's worth a shot, you should try it. It's not like we have too much of an advantage over Velzix. I worry that we'll expend too much power in an attempt to destroy him, leaving us open for a Grand Alliance attack." "I'm really not worried about the Grand Alliance. They're suffering from their own internal squabbles from what I've heard and if I do this the way I think it might go, we won't need to waste one corpse on Velzix's realm. Okay, as usual you're going to be in charge of things while I'm gone." You kiss Catalina goodbye and make your way to Velzix's realm alone… Velzix's realm is appropriately a wretched place. Sure there is death here, but none of its purity or beauty exists. Demons torment the mortal population with much delight. You get a few attempts to torment you and you teach them a fatal lesson. You stay invisible while you can though. Using a few ghostly scouts and a couple of minor divination spells (Thank the gods Catalina's been around to help you with other types of magic!) you soon determine the exact location of your Dad. You don't know what to expect, you haven't seen him in years. When you approach the camp, you're immediately met by guards. "HALT! Who the hell are you?" "I'm more powerful than you could ever imagine…tell your asshole of a Captain that his son is here." The two guards' eyes widen, they know about you and they run off almost immediately to tell your Dad. You wait patiently and sure enough your Dad comes from out of his tent with his lackeys hiding behind him. "Boy, you gotta a lot of balls showing up here before me. Didn't think you had 'em either. Figured you'd be hiding in some tower somewhere." "Yeah, well sometimes you have to do things yourself." "True. So, you here to try to kill me boy? That why you here? Gonna break yer Mom's heart even more? Y'know she still cries over what you've become even after I've told her time and time again that you ain't worth one of her fuckin' tears?" You didn't like hearing that… "Yeah well Mom's always been the nice one, must be something like her wasting her love on a mean spirited abusive bastard that probably would've killed her AFTER he raped her if not for the powerful magic aura she exuded." He didn't like hearing that… "Bah! I don't need to hear this shit! If yer gonna try an' kill me, you best do it now boy!" your Dad shouts as he begins to draw his sword. > You kill Dad You can't put up with this asshole anymore. You had to put up with him as a kid and as a teenager and even when you went away to college! Well no more! You're a lot more powerful and you're going to finally teach the old man a lesson. You unleash a death cloud upon your Dad and his company, most of them fall to their knees choking up blood before dying. Your Dad is made of a little stronger stuff and charges at you, but you blast him with a bolt of negative energy. He falls, struggling to breathe. "(Wheeze) Hope yer happy boy…you killed an old man, with some sissy magic tricks…ha ha…Mr. Big Fancy Nec…" "SHUT UP AND DIE!" you shout and cause his flesh to age at an accelerated rate and rot. You don't stop until his skull becomes dust. You sit down beside the dust in exasperation. You allowed him to "get" to you. You didn't want that to happen. Especially since you wanted his help to get to Velzix. Still you may be able to probe the minds of his dead soldiers and still go through with your plan of killing Velzix yourself. Or you could decide that doing this alone would be suicide and go back to Aftermath. > You continue with your plan You didn't need your Dad to get where you are, you don't need him to kill Velzix either. You'll do it yourself, like you always have. You probe the minds of the dead to get your information. You scan them all to make sure you don't miss anything. Excellent, they've all been within the inner reaches of Velzix's realm. You know exactly where he dwells. You sneak and creep and lurk better than any dark elf assassin while on your way to Velzix's fortress. When you arrive, you go through the secret way you saw in the minds of one of the soldiers. You can feel the malevolence emanating from all areas of this place. It doesn't take long before you get into trouble. Demon and mortal patrols hunt you down. The mortal patrols you welcome since you can easily kill and then raise them. Still, you need to get to Velzix soon, before you're completely overrun. Eventually you reach Velzix's throne room. He's already prepared for battle. "Ha ha! At last a real fight! I shall enjoy ripping you apart and feasting on your soul little necromancer!" he chortles and swings a huge whip at you. You summon up ghostly warriors to assist you, and Velzix responds in kind by opening up several portals where large amounts of demons come pouring out. While you're powerful, you can't fight Velzix's seemingly endless reinforcement of demons. You land some good hits, but ultimately you're overwhelmed. Velzix picks up your drained bloody body to mock you one last time. "Since you took the effort to come visit me personally, perhaps I'll pay that little queen of yours a visit personally too. Show her what REAL power is!" Velzix then proceeds to make good on his promise and slowly rips your soul apart before ultimately sending you to oblivion.

You can't put up with this asshole anymore. You had to put up with him as a kid and as a teenager and even when you went away to college! Well no more! You're a lot more powerful and you're going to finally teach the old man a lesson. You unleash a death cloud upon your Dad and his company, most of them fall to their knees choking up blood before dying. Your Dad is made of a little stronger stuff and charges at you, but you blast him with a bolt of negative energy. He falls, struggling to breathe. "(Wheeze) Hope yer happy boy…you killed an old man, with some sissy magic tricks…ha ha…Mr. Big Fancy Nec…" "SHUT UP AND DIE!" you shout and cause his flesh to age at an accelerated rate and rot. You don't stop until his skull becomes dust. You sit down beside the dust in exasperation. You allowed him to "get" to you. You didn't want that to happen. Especially since you wanted his help to get to Velzix. Still you may be able to probe the minds of his dead soldiers and still go through with your plan of killing Velzix yourself. Or you could decide that doing this alone would be suicide and go back to Aftermath. > You head back to Aftermath You can't go in and kill Velzix just by yourself. This wasn't one of your best ideas, you decide you better head back before you attract anymore demon attacks. Catalina meets you when you get back and tells you that The Ghoul King has been iching to strike against the Vampire Clans and that he's going to do it, with or without your direct help. You're too tired from your recent ordeal to even argue or do anything about it. You tell her that he can do what he's gotta do. If he wants your help, Hessan and whatever pitiful army he can muster up is his to command. You don't care. You retire to your study where you reflect upon what will come next. Five years pass… It's been ten years since you took control of Aftermath and now it looks like that's all finally coming to an end. The Ghoul King's assault upon the Vampire Clans was a failure, though it was damaging enough for them to never again bother you again. You have to move some necromancers into the Drozz region to take command there, which stretches you out a bit, since you didn't need to worry about it so directly before, having the Ghoul King there and all. After years of fighting a three way stalemate, at last one side makes progress and unfortunately it's Velzix. Without your Dad's constant meddling and sabotaging, Velzix manages to permanently open up a large portal to his home plane. He declares all out war on the entire world determined to turn it into the same hell he once called home. The Grand Alliance attempts to stop him, but is soon crushed. You hear that your sister died defending the capital of the Zalan Empire during its last days. You can only presume your Mom suffered the same fate, seeing as she lived there as well. You hope that the pair of them have gone some place better With the last bastion of "good" out of the way, Velzix turns his attention towards you. You won't go without a fight though. For every bit of land he takes, you make him pay for it in demon blood tenfold. It's no use though, the hordes of hell are without end and while the dead are certainly just as numerous, you're the only necromancer powerful enough to command epic armies of them and you are only one standing against hell itself. Aftermath is besieged and ultimately falls to demonic armies. Catalina is killed during the attack and you disintegrate her body before escaping through a portal to Drozz as you refuse to let it be desecrated by demon scum. You wage a guerilla war in Drozz for months, and you can't help but realize you've become much like the Ghoul King; hiding in a hole while demons take over the world. For awhile you actually have some peace as the demons soon outnumber their "enemies" and begin to follow their natural instincts of in-fighting and you're forgotten. When the next winter comes you're caught out in a heavy blizzard while foraging for food. You're not going to make it back to your hiding place. Exhausted, you fall in the snow thinking about the hell that the world has become and how you're partially responsible. Eternal sleep is welcomed. You embrace the blessed death that you once held mastery over.

Sometimes it takes a "bad guy" to take out another bad guy, maybe even two… "Catalina I think it's time to attack Velzix." You say walking into her study. "Oh you do huh? Got a plan in mind of how to go about it? Because it's not going to be easy." "Well I figured we'd just go in there and chop his head off." You laugh. "Ha ha. Sometimes you have a really strange sense of humor. You realize that the Grand Alliance has been trying to chop his head off for years and they haven't been successful." "Yeah, well they ain't me. Besides I got an angle. My Dad's mercenary company is over there right now. I can get help from him." Catalina looks at you as if you've gone completely insane. "Your Dad? The one you've always complained about? The bastard that you say could barely stand you? The one I think is the reason you got into necromancy in the first place, to prove you could be more powerful than he could ever be?" "Uh…excuse me?" you say after hearing that last bit of psychoanalysis. "What makes you think he'll help you?" "He might not, I dunno just how pissed he is at me, but I figure if there's any chance he might, I'll try it. He probably has good intelligence on the realm. Besides, he's an opportunist first of all. If Velzix wins. We all lose. BUT if I win, well just maybe I'll take sentimental mercy on the old man and the family." "Would you?" Catalina asks. "With my Mom and sis? Sure." You grin. "I dunno about this family stuff, sometimes I'm glad I was an orphan." Catalina sighs. "But if you think it's worth a shot, you should try it. It's not like we have too much of an advantage over Velzix. I worry that we'll expend too much power in an attempt to destroy him, leaving us open for a Grand Alliance attack." "I'm really not worried about the Grand Alliance. They're suffering from their own internal squabbles from what I've heard and if I do this the way I think it might go, we won't need to waste one corpse on Velzix's realm. Okay, as usual you're going to be in charge of things while I'm gone." You kiss Catalina goodbye and make your way to Velzix's realm alone… Velzix's realm is appropriately a wretched place. Sure there is death here, but none of its purity or beauty exists. Demons torment the mortal population with much delight. You get a few attempts to torment you and you teach them a fatal lesson. You stay invisible while you can though. Using a few ghostly scouts and a couple of minor divination spells (Thank the gods Catalina's been around to help you with other types of magic!) you soon determine the exact location of your Dad. You don't know what to expect, you haven't seen him in years. When you approach the camp, you're immediately met by guards. "HALT! Who the hell are you?" "I'm more powerful than you could ever imagine…tell your asshole of a Captain that his son is here." The two guards' eyes widen, they know about you and they run off almost immediately to tell your Dad. You wait patiently and sure enough your Dad comes from out of his tent with his lackeys hiding behind him. "Boy, you gotta a lot of balls showing up here before me. Didn't think you had 'em either. Figured you'd be hiding in some tower somewhere." "Yeah, well sometimes you have to do things yourself." "True. So, you here to try to kill me boy? That why you here? Gonna break yer Mom's heart even more? Y'know she still cries over what you've become even after I've told her time and time again that you ain't worth one of her fuckin' tears?" You didn't like hearing that… "Yeah well Mom's always been the nice one, must be something like her wasting her love on a mean spirited abusive bastard that probably would've killed her AFTER he raped her if not for the powerful magic aura she exuded." He didn't like hearing that… "Bah! I don't need to hear this shit! If yer gonna try an' kill me, you best do it now boy!" your Dad shouts as he begins to draw his sword. > You stay calm "If I was going to kill you, I'd barely need to lift a finger, but what I'm mainly here for is your help." You say calmly That's caught his attention. "What's that boy? You want my help? Hanging around those corpses make you completely crazy?" "Not completely, but I know that you and your company has been fighting a guerilla war against Velzix. You've been a real pain in his demon ass from what I've heard." "Hah! Got that right! I've currently been hired out perpetually by the Zalan Empire. My mission is to generally fuck things up for Velzix, even try to kill him if possible. But I can't do that." "Why not?" "Why not? Because if you haven't noticed I'm a fuckin' old man that only has a few desperate and insane men following him that's why! I don't have a Grand Alliance army behind me like your sister and I can't just snap my fingers and bring my losses back to fucking life! SOME of us have to rely on pure skill!" "Sounds like you're making excuses." "Oh fuck you! Stupid ass kid, I don't see you doing shit about Velzix, what's the matter need more corpses to hide behind?" "Actually any corpses I hide behind will only be the ones I summon up during our assassination attempt." "What are you getting at boy?" "I'm saying you get me close to Velzix, and I'll kill him. In fact I'm very surprised the Grand Alliance hasn't sent some hero types to try to kill him yet." "Oh they have, they just haven't been heroic enough. My little company has done more damage than any so called heroes. But supposin' I WAS to help you, what's in this for me?" "Oh you'll be paid, have no fear of that. In fact you can even take credit for Velzix death, since I doubt you'd want anyone to know you were working with me. Now I'd imagine that would pay quite well wouldn't it?" "Yeah, yeah it would…alright boy. We'll do this, but after Velzix is dead, me and you end this father and son time got me?" "Wouldn't have it any other way." As your Dad proceeds to lead to where Velzix dwells, he explain the layout of it. He says they've gone in there before, but have never stayed too long. Just to sabotage stuff and get the fuck out. You proceed to have more interesting conversation along the way. "So why the hell hasn't the Grand Alliance done more about Velzix? Why are they relying on some broken down ex-cuthroat?" you ask. "I told ya, they have sent hero types after Velzix before, but he's defeated them every time. As for larger military concerns, I'm sure you're aware that they happen, but it's a question of balance. They can't attack Velzix, like they probably would prefer since they know that YOU would take advantage of their weakened state! Not to mention the Grand Alliance finds you to be a bigger threat. The world was almost consumed once already by some megalomaniacal necromancer, they don't want that to happen again. So little groups like mine fuck things up for Velzix, just enough to keep him occupied and doesn't gain anymore ground." "Actually I'm not a megalomaniac. Contrary to popular belief, I don't have some desire to turn the world into a graveyard." You say. "Oh well I guess all those kingdoms were just you being neighborly eh? What about that first attack on the Brot Kingdom? Those big ass undead giants? Hordes of undead troops slaughtering men, women and children?" "I did what I had to do to defend myself. War isn't pretty. People die." "True…but I still fail to see where yer NOT being a megalomaniac." "I told you I'm defending my dominion! If the Grand Alliance would stop attacking me, I wouldn't pursue anymore territory. I'd be happy to live in peace, side by side. Why do you think I want to get rid Velzix? I'm hoping after he's gone that I can come to some agreement with the Grand Alliance! Because in the end it isn't going to be good for anyone!" "Fancy words…but I question if that's what you really want. I haven't seen you in a long time, but within the short time I've talked with you now, even I can see a change in you. You have a lot of desire, somewhere within you, you want to control everything so there's no possibility of anything ever hurting you. You're actually good at something and you're reveling in it. I know what that's like. While you might have yer Mom's magic, apparently you DID inherit some of my qualities, and those are qualities that are all kinds of bad…" "I'm nothing like you!" you exclaim. "Ha ha! Oh yer right about that. You'll never be half the man I am. You can turn the entire world to a giant mass grave, but you ain't never gonna be me." Even now with all your power your Dad still somehow manages to make you feel small. You can't let yourself get angry though, As much as you might like to just cause the bastard's black heart to explode in his chest you can't do that, at least not yet. You, your Dad and the remains of his company eventually arrive at Velzix's fortress where you enter in a secret way. "Dumb ass demons, we've been using this entrance for like a year now and they still haven't caught on!" your Dad remarks. You make good progress in the fortress and then… "There they are, just like Velzix said they would be!" a demon guard shouts. You look at your Dad. "Haven't caught on yet huh?" "Quit yer bitchin' and start doin that death magic thing!" You proceed to do just that as demon as well as mortal guards attempt to stop you. You welcome the mortal guards as you can raise them to help you in your "heroic quest". "Hah, no lying down on the job anymore Cal!" your Dad laughs as you raise the last of his fallen company. By the time you reach Velzix's inner sanctum, it's just you and your Dad. You never thought in a million years you'd be fighting alongside your Dad. Velzix on the other hand has been expecting you. "Ah how good of you both to come. You're the miserable little has been thug that's been fucking up my realm with your guerilla warfare. And you're the wannabe Lich Lord that's been impeding my own plans of conquest." "Wow, guess he got it in one." You say. "Yeah, and I guess this would make him the pathetic ass demon lord that can't even beat said has been and wannabe." Your Dad adds. "Enough! The pair of you have sealed your doom today! I have lured you into my trap where today I shall take the father and the son and then…" You blast Velzix in the face with negative energy, causing him to grab his face and roar in pain. "Ha ha! Fucking melodramatic idiot!" your Dad laughs charging at Velzix with his sword You quickly decide on what to do next. > You summon up some ghostly warriors to help your Dad You need to keep Velzix as occupied as possible, before he starts opening up portals to summon in reinforcements because if he gets a chance to do that, you're fucked. Using tremendous power you summon up revenants. Souls of the dead who harbor a desire for revenge against their killer and given how many Velzix has killed, you barely need to even to control them. They immediately go for the attack. "ASH! I'll turn you ALL to ash!" Velzix claims, unleashing a blast of hellfire disintegrating one of the revenants. You have a hard time aiming, do to the constant movement of Velzix, but you manage to land in your own magic attacks. Your Dad is doing pretty well, though it's obvious that he's tired. He's running on pure adrenaline right now. While Velzix might be too occupied to open portals, he's still got his guards in the fortress. More of them arrive, but you take care of them and raise the mortal ones to attack their former master. Eventually Velzix manages to grab your Dad and proceeds to smash him into the stone floor several times before throwing him into a wall. The corpses and revenants continue to strike Velzix the entire time. He's severely wounded himself, and attempts to open a portal while ignoring the pain. You cast greater blast of negative energy at Velzix hitting him in the eyes and blinding him. "NO! I cannot be defeated! Not like this!" he bellows in agony while falling to the floor You take your Dad's sword which is lying nearby on the floor. "Nope, you'll be defeated like this." You say and with one good chop you sever Velzix's head from his body. In a horribly comical display, Velzix's body flails about wildly for a few minutes until its finally hacked to bits by the revenants. Some more of Velzix's guard arrive and seeing their leader in pieces, they run off. You tell your revenants to hunt them down and fulfill their need for revenge. Just you and Dad now. He lies against the wall broken and bloody. He's very near death. He's hardly the imposing figure that instilled fear in you when you were little. "…fuck…I coulda had that demon bastard if I'd been younger." He growls. "I'm sure you could've." "Shit, I'm all fucked up…guess this is a good day for you. One rival dead and me soon to join him." "Oddly, I don't feel too much of anything right now. I probably would've taken joy in your death at one time, but not now. I'm not sure what that means though." Your Dad just grunts at your answer, before saying one last thing. "Heh, you chopped that bastard's head off. No magic tricks. Just visceral physical violence…you impressed me…" Your Dad dies with those last words. A violent end for a violent man. You wonder why he felt the need to praise you before he died though. Guilt? Regret? Genuine respect? Did he think that by giving you "validation" you might change your ways? Perhaps he felt responsible for your path in some way? Whatever the reason, you dismiss it all. You chose this path for yourself. Nobody else. Whatever you've done, or are going to do it'll be because you chose to do it. "(Sigh) Can't say it was a pleasure Dad, but I guess you were finally alright in the end." You say and cast a small fireball spell to burn his body. You make your way back to Aftermath where Catalina meets you. Catalina asks you what happened exactly in Velzix's realm and you tell her the truth. "It's just like I said Cat baby, I went in there and chopped Velzix's head off. And then my Dad died." "Oh. Wow. Are you alright?" "Yeah, I guess." "Okay, well I guess I should tell you, the Ghoul King has been itching to strike against the Vampire Clans and he says that he's going to do it, with or without your direct help." "Very well, I'll go meet him. Might as well get rid of another enemy today." Catalina stops you before you leave again. "Really, are you okay?" "You're by my side. Of course I'm okay. I want you to start making arrangements to take over Velzix's territory. When word gets out that he's dead, the Grand Alliance will be all over it, So let's get a head start before they do." You say and kiss her goodbye. Soon you go meet the Ghoul King in at his "Kingdom" in the Drozz region. Other than the small castle he erected and the ghouls that now roam openly and freely, the area doesn't look too much different. When you arrive, he gives a big pointy toothed smile while his hordes of his ghouls wait around. "Well now, I wasn't sure if I'd see you. When I spoke to Catalina she mentioned you were having a big show down with Velzix! I trust that went well then, since you're here." "Yep, he's dead." "Ha ha! Excellent! I guess after this little foray, we'll only have the Grand Alliance to worry about!" "I don't think I'll have to worry about them at all actually." "You might be right…so are you ready to go? I've been lusting for this revenge for years, so if you don't mind, I want to kill Lord Rostov myself." "No problem GK, I'll just be here as support. So where is this Vampire hideout anyway, you never did tell me. How long will it take us to get there?" "Oh I can get us there real quick. I still have the magic key to teleport there. I've enhanced its power to transport several of us to invade. As for its location, I'm sure you're aware that it's hidden by powerful magic, but its site is in the Deshun Mountains." The Ghoul King explains while pulling out a small ebony cube "Hm, good location. Remote, treacherous terrain, nobody climbing up there. Let's do it." Before you know it, The Ghoul King presses a button on the cube and you and he materialize in the foyer of a large fortress. No ghouls with you though. "SHIT! This was supposed to transport all of us!" he shouts, before suddenly quieting his voice. "Yeah, well magic never works out like you want it to half the time. Let's just get on with it. I've already killed a Demon lord today, I'm hardly worried about some decadent bloodsuckers…no offense." "None taken…but here. Take this." The Ghoul King hands you a brass ring with several small rubies embedded in it. "Wear it. It's imbued with magic that will protect you from the gaze of Lord Rostov." "What? I'm a fucking necromancer; I think I'm a little more strong willed than the average mortal. The stares of some vampire aren't going to make me go all to mush." "Maybe, but I still say you should wear it. Lord Rostov is very old and he is more powerful than the average vampire and can be tremendously influential. While you may also be powerful you are still mortal and all the weakness that entails…no offense." "None taken." > You wear the ring You figure it's better to be safe than sorry so you slip the ring on your finger. Suddenly you feel an incredible paralysis overcome you. You fall to the floor in a weakened state. You can only groan as you see The Ghoul King hover over you. "I lost my status once for following one insane necromancer with dreams of murdering the world. Now I have gained it back by stopping another one. I did want revenge at one time…but as I said Lord Rostov is a very influential vampire. My lost status was more appealing than revenge or destroying the world. I regret nothing, but I do thank you. For without you, none of this would've been possible and I still would've been living like an animal in a hole. Thanks to you no more shall I have to be known as the Ghoul King." The Ghoul King then whispers one last thing to you. "And my thanks will extend to giving you a quick death before Lord Rostov arrives." The Ghoul King then with his powerful claws smashes your skull in while you lie helplessly on the floor.

You need to keep Velzix as occupied as possible, before he starts opening up portals to summon in reinforcements because if he gets a chance to do that, you're fucked. Using tremendous power you summon up revenants. Souls of the dead who harbor a desire for revenge against their killer and given how many Velzix has killed, you barely need to even to control them. They immediately go for the attack. "ASH! I'll turn you ALL to ash!" Velzix claims, unleashing a blast of hellfire disintegrating one of the revenants. You have a hard time aiming, do to the constant movement of Velzix, but you manage to land in your own magic attacks. Your Dad is doing pretty well, though it's obvious that he's tired. He's running on pure adrenaline right now. While Velzix might be too occupied to open portals, he's still got his guards in the fortress. More of them arrive, but you take care of them and raise the mortal ones to attack their former master. Eventually Velzix manages to grab your Dad and proceeds to smash him into the stone floor several times before throwing him into a wall. The corpses and revenants continue to strike Velzix the entire time. He's severely wounded himself, and attempts to open a portal while ignoring the pain. You cast greater blast of negative energy at Velzix hitting him in the eyes and blinding him. "NO! I cannot be defeated! Not like this!" he bellows in agony while falling to the floor You take your Dad's sword which is lying nearby on the floor. "Nope, you'll be defeated like this." You say and with one good chop you sever Velzix's head from his body. In a horribly comical display, Velzix's body flails about wildly for a few minutes until its finally hacked to bits by the revenants. Some more of Velzix's guard arrive and seeing their leader in pieces, they run off. You tell your revenants to hunt them down and fulfill their need for revenge. Just you and Dad now. He lies against the wall broken and bloody. He's very near death. He's hardly the imposing figure that instilled fear in you when you were little. "…fuck…I coulda had that demon bastard if I'd been younger." He growls. "I'm sure you could've." "Shit, I'm all fucked up…guess this is a good day for you. One rival dead and me soon to join him." "Oddly, I don't feel too much of anything right now. I probably would've taken joy in your death at one time, but not now. I'm not sure what that means though." Your Dad just grunts at your answer, before saying one last thing. "Heh, you chopped that bastard's head off. No magic tricks. Just visceral physical violence…you impressed me…" Your Dad dies with those last words. A violent end for a violent man. You wonder why he felt the need to praise you before he died though. Guilt? Regret? Genuine respect? Did he think that by giving you "validation" you might change your ways? Perhaps he felt responsible for your path in some way? Whatever the reason, you dismiss it all. You chose this path for yourself. Nobody else. Whatever you've done, or are going to do it'll be because you chose to do it. "(Sigh) Can't say it was a pleasure Dad, but I guess you were finally alright in the end." You say and cast a small fireball spell to burn his body. You make your way back to Aftermath where Catalina meets you. Catalina asks you what happened exactly in Velzix's realm and you tell her the truth. "It's just like I said Cat baby, I went in there and chopped Velzix's head off. And then my Dad died." "Oh. Wow. Are you alright?" "Yeah, I guess." "Okay, well I guess I should tell you, the Ghoul King has been itching to strike against the Vampire Clans and he says that he's going to do it, with or without your direct help." "Very well, I'll go meet him. Might as well get rid of another enemy today." Catalina stops you before you leave again. "Really, are you okay?" "You're by my side. Of course I'm okay. I want you to start making arrangements to take over Velzix's territory. When word gets out that he's dead, the Grand Alliance will be all over it, So let's get a head start before they do." You say and kiss her goodbye. Soon you go meet the Ghoul King in at his "Kingdom" in the Drozz region. Other than the small castle he erected and the ghouls that now roam openly and freely, the area doesn't look too much different. When you arrive, he gives a big pointy toothed smile while his hordes of his ghouls wait around. "Well now, I wasn't sure if I'd see you. When I spoke to Catalina she mentioned you were having a big show down with Velzix! I trust that went well then, since you're here." "Yep, he's dead." "Ha ha! Excellent! I guess after this little foray, we'll only have the Grand Alliance to worry about!" "I don't think I'll have to worry about them at all actually." "You might be right…so are you ready to go? I've been lusting for this revenge for years, so if you don't mind, I want to kill Lord Rostov myself." "No problem GK, I'll just be here as support. So where is this Vampire hideout anyway, you never did tell me. How long will it take us to get there?" "Oh I can get us there real quick. I still have the magic key to teleport there. I've enhanced its power to transport several of us to invade. As for its location, I'm sure you're aware that it's hidden by powerful magic, but its site is in the Deshun Mountains." The Ghoul King explains while pulling out a small ebony cube "Hm, good location. Remote, treacherous terrain, nobody climbing up there. Let's do it." Before you know it, The Ghoul King presses a button on the cube and you and he materialize in the foyer of a large fortress. No ghouls with you though. "SHIT! This was supposed to transport all of us!" he shouts, before suddenly quieting his voice. "Yeah, well magic never works out like you want it to half the time. Let's just get on with it. I've already killed a Demon lord today, I'm hardly worried about some decadent bloodsuckers…no offense." "None taken…but here. Take this." The Ghoul King hands you a brass ring with several small rubies embedded in it. "Wear it. It's imbued with magic that will protect you from the gaze of Lord Rostov." "What? I'm a fucking necromancer; I think I'm a little more strong willed than the average mortal. The stares of some vampire aren't going to make me go all to mush." "Maybe, but I still say you should wear it. Lord Rostov is very old and he is more powerful than the average vampire and can be tremendously influential. While you may also be powerful you are still mortal and all the weakness that entails…no offense." "None taken." > You do not wear the ring "Nah, I don't need this ring, but thanks anyway GK. Come on let's…" "I feel you really should wear it. I don't want you suddenly turn against me during the fight!" "Won't happen, trust me. Let's go…" The Ghoul King is getting noticeably agitated. "Look! He'll be coming soon just put the fucking ring on, before he gets here!" Now you're getting agitated. "GK, you better just calm the fuck down. I don't like being told what to do, unless it's by Catalina in the bedroom. So…" "Damn you! We'll do this the old fashioned way then!" he shouts and attacks! With one powerful blow he knocks you to the floor. You're still shaking off the cobwebs by the time he's ready to land a killing strike. He's stopped by Lord Rostov however. "That will do Ghoul King. His mortal life is not for yours to take." Rostov says calmly while entering the foyer with a small group of female vampires. "I told you to stop calling me that! I have delivered my end of the bargain! You promised me that my status would be restored!" "Yes, but you attempted to kill him, when I specifically told you I wanted him alive. You were not completely dedicated to your end of the deal. So while you may continue to stay in the glory of my presence, I think you'll still remain the Ghoul King." The Ghoul King looks like he's about to argue, but instead he submits. "Yes, Lord Rostov." "Ha ha ha ha. You sad sack of shit. Selling me out to be Lord Rostov's bitch, some deal you made." You say while getting back up. Lord Rostov now turns his attention towards you. He looks exactly like what you always heard vampires are supposed to look like. Regal, refined, confident and arrogant as all hell. "Do not judge the Ghoul King too harshly; his actions were based on survival. True he did long for revenge at one time, but when I came to him with this…arrangement, he jumped at the chance because in the end the Ghoul King has always chosen his own survival over anything else." "Then he's failed miserably in that endeavor because he won't be surviving this." "I fail to see how idle threats are going to help you right now. In fact this situation would be unnecessary if you hadn't pursued this path. You only have yourself to blame. Causing chaos and destroying the natural order of things. Ending all life on this world is simply unacceptable." "…(Sigh) Why is everyone assuming that? I'm PROTECTING myself! Look, I know you still have the puppet master strings going on in the mortal realm. Shit, you're probably responsible for the Grand Alliance. I'd even be willing to live in peace with the civilized world if they'd stop attacking me!" "I once heard the same thing from another of you ilk long ago. We all did. It's the reason why we're in this state we are today. You're growing more powerful with each death you bring. Whether you know it or not, you're already addicted to the power. You're addicted to death. Do you REALLY think you can stop yourself at this point? You won't. You can't deny your nature no more than we can deny ours. The Great Lich Lord didn't stop, and neither will you. The status quo must be kept and for that to happen, you have to die." With those words, Lord Rostov uses his supernatural speed before you can react and prompty breaks your neck. Your heart stops beating. Your lungs stop drawing breath. You fall to the floor dead. "Best to take care of these things quickly. Remember the lessons of poor Duke Tolov who…" While Lord Rostov is pontificating about his predecessor, your body undergoes a change. You body is regenerating. The bones in your neck have re-knitted. You open your eyes; your heart is still not beating. You draw no breath, yet you're still alive. You feel more knowledgeable in the ways of magic and death in particular. You are the Great Lich Lord reborn…and you are pissed. You immediately get up and launch a fireball into Lord Rostov's back. He howls in pain before you cause his heart to explode in his chest, followed by his brain. He falls uselessly on to the ground. His nights of existence are over. The other vampires in the immediate area sound an alarm, but you're not worried. A few manage to attack you and land some deep blows, but you feel nothing but numbness. Then you strike back. You begin to dominate all of their minds. Your powers have grown to an extent that you're able to directly control even intelligent undead like these. You don't even want to dirty your hands with dealing with these miserable blood leeches. You cause them all to gruesomely attack one another, until you're ultimately the last one standing in a fortress filled with dismembered vampires, well one still lives. He still struggles against your mind control, but he knows the end will soon come. He even welcomes it at this point. "Shouldn't have done it GK. You had everything. Now only oblivion awaits you." "I don't care anymore. This world is going to end soon; I'd rather die before I see that happen. How will it feel when the world is finally under your utter command? What will you do when there is nothing left? Will you be able to be satisfied on just continued existence?" "I guess I'll find out, because you won't." You cause the Ghoul King to rip his own heart out and bite into it before setting him and the rest of them on fire. With all the bloodsuckers dead you leave the burning fortress and transport yourself back to Aftermath. When you return Aftermath, Catalina sees your wounds and unnecessarily worries about you. "Baby, you're wounded!" "Catalina, I'm fuckin' dead." You say sharply and enter your study. You retire to your study where you put your vampire ordeal out of your mind and reflect upon what will come next while you write a letter to your Mom and Sister about Dad. You figure they should know the truth even if nobody else will. Even in this new state of existence, you're so tired… > You once again you enter a new stage of your journey Chapter 4: Even Death May Die Five years pass… It's been ten years since you took control of Aftermath and many changes have come about. Without Velzix's brutal leadership, his realm soon broke apart. Demon leaders fought amongst themselves and became easier to deal with for the Grand Alliance. Little by little territory was liberated. However you were not idle and you also took pieces of Velzix's former territory. Due to all the problems caused by Velzix a new order was enacted by the Grand Alliance. No more chances are being taken and the civilized world has a zero tolerance policy on demons. Demons are to be killed on sight anywhere they are found. Even the so called "nice ones". Any government found tolerating their presence will be found guilty of demonology and invaded. This lead to a few misguided liberal types claiming that it was infringing on certain rights, but considering the increasingly draconian Zalan Empire had pretty much taken complete control over the Grand Alliance at this point, they had final say in the matter and executed all such protestors. The Grand Alliance is now merely a name much like Vampire Clans. In reality, it's the "Zalan Empire and its little friends that better do what it says Alliance". Speaking of the Vampire Clans, since your total destruction of their last remaining enclave, their influence has completely left this world. You've noticed a reduced effectiveness in Grand Alliance strategy because of this despite that they've become more united in recent years. Except for the near mindless bestial ones that roam the countryside they're effectively extinct. Still, you feel no need to show them mercy and bring them under your control. When one is found, you have it destroyed. The treachery of the Ghoul King has brought this genocide upon their "race." Your letter to your family was never replied to, but you are aware it was received. You don't know exactly how the truth was spun, or who exactly was involved. But you do know your Dad has a statue erected of him in the Zalan capital stating how he nobly gave his life fighting Velzix. Funny how mad men can be turned into heroes so easily. Your sister is a general of a Grand Alliance army now, which of course continues to attack you despite some of your attempts at coming to some sort of peace agreement. The fools won't even listen to reason. There's no way the Grand Alliance can win this war. You've only been growing in power and show no signs of stopping. Even with their stabilized internal struggles under the Zalan Empire's iron fist they still won't be able to defeat you. The world has gone mad and you're the only one making sense anymore. They call you a villain and evil, but from what you've seen, you're no different than any of the other leaders in power. You're just better at it. Maybe you should turn the world into a giant graveyard. Everyone thinks of you as a monster anyway, you see no reason to disappoint… "Catalina, I think it's time we finish this war once and for all." You say walking into her study. "Oh you do, do you? Well, I figured that it was coming eventually. So is there any specific way we're going about this?" "Yeah, we just make a massive push and don't stop until every living thing is dead." "Wow. Everything?" "Everything. I gave the world of the living the chance for peace and they don't seem to want it. Well I'm tired of fighting, so if the only way to get some peace is to kill everything so be it!" "Well, I mean what happens if some people surrender? I mean you'll still allow them to live like you usually do right?" "What? What's with this line of questioning Catalina? You've never been one to wince at grand scale carnage." "…I know, but I…" "Alright, out with it." "Well I mean after we destroy the Grand Alliance, what then? There will be nothing else to do. I mean do we just reign over a land of the dead until the end of time?" "Sounds about right." "I dunno, is that our only option?" "For fuck's sake Cat, what the hell did you become a necromancer for then?" "Because much like you I probably didn't feel like I had much in common with people and I could feel a pull towards the dark art of necromancy." "Well what's the problem?" "…there isn't a problem…it's just I feel like the end is coming soon and question what I've accomplished in my life. I mean other than genocide what have I done?" "You're Queen of the Dead! What more could you want?" "Yeah, queen. Big whoop. I'm basically a glorified concubine for a…" "Damn it Catalina I've NEVER thought of you as that! You know I cherish you and all of you have to offer. I never could've gotten this far without you." you say holding on to her and looking into her eyes. "…I know…it's just in some ways I see you starting to change and I don't mean your general loathing of the living either. I mean you've always been powerful, more powerful than me, but it's different. It's like you're becoming something else. I sometimes think your path is going to differ from mine to a degree that we will no longer be able to be together." For a moment you forget about your problems and address Catalina. "Catalina my beautiful queen…no matter what happens I shall never leave you." you say and kiss her. "And I shall never leave you…Okay, where are we going to attack?" While you've temporarily reassured Catalina's feelings, you do wonder if she isn't right. Will there come a day when you and her will have so many differences that you won't be able to be together anymore? You wonder if you've been taking some things for granted. You have everything you could ever need or want. Maybe you don't need to go on the attack. The Grand Alliance surely does not have the strength to defeat you; you doubt it would even attempt to expend all its resources in trying. Sure you might have to continue to fight them, but when you think about it, would it be less tedious than an existence without any conflict? > You continue with your attack You can better appreciate what you have when all those that would do you harm are gone. You order an attack of the largest size. While you're attacking from several directions, you decide to focus specifically on the Zalan Empire given that they're glue holding the Grand Alliance together. Get rid of them and you've effective put an end to the war. Corpses, skeletons, ghosts, wraiths, and all other manner of undead are raised to your grand plan. Town after town is taken. The Grand Alliance nor the Zalan Military can do anything to stop you. They use magic, they use new technological wonders, but none of it works. It is only when your dead legions approach the gates of the Zalan capital that you call a stop to the carnage. You arrive personally to oversee your mission and to meet with your family one last time, because even after all this, you don't want to kill them. Somewhere you hope that they'll see reason and come with you. Things won't be so bad. You storm the gates as cannons destroy multitudes of your troops only to be replaced with more. You see your sister on top of the battlements ordering her soldiers to fire upon you. During this attack you feel several bullets enter your body breaking through your magical defenses. You fall. You then rise again. "You can't kill me, I'm the fuckin' Great Lich Lord!" you laugh. Not stopping, you enter the gates of the city realizing that this was inevitable. Things could've only been this way. Your undead slay all those that oppose you, but you mentally make sure none of your undead has murderous intentions towards any of your family. You head towards your parent's old house, taking little notice of the death around you. When you arrive you find the house empty. In fact it looks like it's been empty for months. So many memories here…a different time… even a different life now… "She left when the attacks first came. She didn't say where either. She just told me she was leaving. I even had her followed for awhile, but she was quite adept at eluding my scouts, not to mention I had other concerns to take care of." Your sister says entering behind you. "I don't know why, I would've made sure no harm came to her. That's why I came here." "You already harmed her by becoming what you are! I mean…you're not even alive anymore! I saw you die and come back to life on the battlefield!" "Oh that. The first time was a surprise to me too. Kind of a numb feeling really." "How can you be so at peace with what you've become?" "Because it was obviously in my nature all along. Death is my calling, I've only grown closer to it by dying. Can't change who I am." "Dad did." "No he didn't. Not really. He just directed his nature into a slightly more positive way and it was only due to magic that caused it in the first place. Funny how magic did the same with me, but just in reverse. However, as I've said, this does not mean I'm not without total feelings. I'd rather not have to kill you sis, but if you stand against me, I will." "I have to stand against you." "Why? For some noble cause of a corrupt mortal empire that's just as oppressive? Sis you always were a bit too duty bound." "No, because while you still exist, life ALL life is in danger. You're evil, what you've been doing is evil, what you've become is unnatural. You can delude yourself all you want, but I'm not fooled and if I joined you or whatever it is you want, then I'd be just as guilty of contributing to your evil. You're not even my brother anymore, I have no brother!" You shake your head in regret at your sister's insistence on being stubborn, but then again you expected no less. "I'll give you one last chance sis. Will you join me?" Your sister raises her magical glowing sword. "So be it." > You allow her to kill you You might have become the Great Lich Lord, but if it means killing those you care about, you don't want it. There's still time to stop this. As your sister approaches you make no attempt to defend yourself. She doesn't hesitate, because she sees in your now dead eyes that you're giving her this one chance to kill you. You feel the sword rip through your body, you don't feel pain, but you definitely feel a loss of power. She then pulls the sword out of your body. "Better do it now sis. I don't think I can hold back my nature forever." With those words, your sister cleaves your head from your shoulders. Once again the world has been saved from the brink of death. In time things get better, though never back to the way they truly were. Catalina committed suicide soon after she found out about your death, but other necromancers quickly attempted to fill the power vacuum. They of course were never able to approach your power, but a few established a permanent dominion of death in the Drozz region. The area to this day is avoided. Your sister became celebrated as a Hero and eventually took the Zalan crown leading the Empire in a nobler direction. Your Mom came back from where ever it is she disappeared to and together with your sister, mourned your death in private. For in reality it was you who stopped death from taking over the world, proving that even death can show mercy.

You can better appreciate what you have when all those that would do you harm are gone. You order an attack of the largest size. While you're attacking from several directions, you decide to focus specifically on the Zalan Empire given that they're glue holding the Grand Alliance together. Get rid of them and you've effective put an end to the war. Corpses, skeletons, ghosts, wraiths, and all other manner of undead are raised to your grand plan. Town after town is taken. The Grand Alliance nor the Zalan Military can do anything to stop you. They use magic, they use new technological wonders, but none of it works. It is only when your dead legions approach the gates of the Zalan capital that you call a stop to the carnage. You arrive personally to oversee your mission and to meet with your family one last time, because even after all this, you don't want to kill them. Somewhere you hope that they'll see reason and come with you. Things won't be so bad. You storm the gates as cannons destroy multitudes of your troops only to be replaced with more. You see your sister on top of the battlements ordering her soldiers to fire upon you. During this attack you feel several bullets enter your body breaking through your magical defenses. You fall. You then rise again. "You can't kill me, I'm the fuckin' Great Lich Lord!" you laugh. Not stopping, you enter the gates of the city realizing that this was inevitable. Things could've only been this way. Your undead slay all those that oppose you, but you mentally make sure none of your undead has murderous intentions towards any of your family. You head towards your parent's old house, taking little notice of the death around you. When you arrive you find the house empty. In fact it looks like it's been empty for months. So many memories here…a different time… even a different life now… "She left when the attacks first came. She didn't say where either. She just told me she was leaving. I even had her followed for awhile, but she was quite adept at eluding my scouts, not to mention I had other concerns to take care of." Your sister says entering behind you. "I don't know why, I would've made sure no harm came to her. That's why I came here." "You already harmed her by becoming what you are! I mean…you're not even alive anymore! I saw you die and come back to life on the battlefield!" "Oh that. The first time was a surprise to me too. Kind of a numb feeling really." "How can you be so at peace with what you've become?" "Because it was obviously in my nature all along. Death is my calling, I've only grown closer to it by dying. Can't change who I am." "Dad did." "No he didn't. Not really. He just directed his nature into a slightly more positive way and it was only due to magic that caused it in the first place. Funny how magic did the same with me, but just in reverse. However, as I've said, this does not mean I'm not without total feelings. I'd rather not have to kill you sis, but if you stand against me, I will." "I have to stand against you." "Why? For some noble cause of a corrupt mortal empire that's just as oppressive? Sis you always were a bit too duty bound." "No, because while you still exist, life ALL life is in danger. You're evil, what you've been doing is evil, what you've become is unnatural. You can delude yourself all you want, but I'm not fooled and if I joined you or whatever it is you want, then I'd be just as guilty of contributing to your evil. You're not even my brother anymore, I have no brother!" You shake your head in regret at your sister's insistence on being stubborn, but then again you expected no less. "I'll give you one last chance sis. Will you join me?" Your sister raises her magical glowing sword. "So be it." > You defend yourself "I'm sorry." You say calmly and blast your sister with powerful beam of negative energy causing the color to drain from her face and turn her hair completely white. She's still continues towards you, but another blast causes her to fall. She looks up at you with tears in her eyes and to your surprise she attempts to reach out to you. You crouch down and take her hand which she grips on to tightly. "…don't…turn me into…one of those things…please…don't" she wheezes. "Never. You shall die as you lived. With honor. Your body will be burned." This statement seems to reassure her and she closes her eyes and lets go of life. You really wished you hadn't had to do that. "Be at peace at last dear sister. May whatever afterlife you go to be better than this one." You cast a small fire ball at your sister's body and leave the house to burn, feeling yet another piece of your mortalhood die. One of your necromancers sees and comes up to you. "Lord, we've pretty much taken the city. The Emperor and Empress of Zalan were killed in their own throne room. We've won." "Of course." You say dismissively. "So what do you want done with the city?" "Burn it all to the ground." "Burn it? Don't you…" "I SAID BURN IT." You say not wishing to repeat yourself. "Um Right! Okay you heard the Great Lich Lord! Burn it all to the ground!" Ten years pass… Twenty years since you embarked on your path of necromancy. The end of all life looms ever closer. After the destruction of the Zalan Empire, the remnants of the Grand Alliance fell apart. One by one the remaining kingdoms and other governments fell before your armies. It was almost pathetically easy. The civilized world as it was known is no more. Only the dead exist. You even had those subjects that once pledged their allegiance to you while still alive killed. You can barely tolerate your own necromancers. Catalina is the only one you still care about anymore. She's still supportive, but nervous around you. You wish she wasn't though. Some races such as elves, sprites and other fairy type folk retreated to their woods and forests, relying on illusions, tricks and other ways to conceal themselves. Other races like dwarves, gnomes and subterranean types dug deeper into the earth hoping that you will forget about them. Yet others like humans, orcs and the like still insist on fighting you from their makeshift camps, using hit and run tactics when they can. It doesn't matter what any of them do however, you won't rest until all life has been extinguished, if it takes you centuries, so be it. You'll hunt them all, you'll find them all, you'll kill them all. Lately, though there have been odd occurrences. You have sensed disturbances in the very landscape from time to time. In your new undead state you of course never sleep anymore, but you've been having visions. Flashbacks. And they seem all too real sometimes. After months of research you've tracked down one of these disturbances to the old Vampire Clan fortress. You make haste to find out if any of those accursed bloodsuckers still live. You don't see how though as you were thorough in their destruction. This time you don't even bother telling Catalina what you think you should do next, you know exactly what you're going to do. You just walk in her study and tell her you're leaving for a little while and to keep an eye on things as usual. You teleport yourself to the location of their now desiccated fortress. Partially burned and falling into disrepair from your actions fifteen years ago. You throw open the massive doors with ease. "Little blood leeches, if any of you still remain, your best idea would've been to hide and stay that way." Your voice echoes throughout the halls. "No, Great Lich Lord they are all dead. You made sure of that. You always do. It's just you and me." you hear a voice shout back. The voice sounds somewhat familiar, but you immediately home in on it since whoever felt the need to talk shit is obviously the one behind all this. After walking a bit, you enter the throne room where you still see a few traces of dust from the vampires you slaughtered long ago. You hear a maniacal laugh and a man materialize a few feet in front of you. This man looks much different now; his clothing is ragged and filthy. He has a manic grin and giggles a bit while constantly looking around, but you still recognize him and you have to say you're genuinely surprised to see him. He's very much alive too. "Trelik…thought you were long dust by now." "Nearly was, quite a few times, but after my shameful defeat in the Brot Kingdom I decided to lay low. For when that day came, I knew then I would never be able to defeat you or anyone else. So I waited and watched you gain power. Watched you destroy your enemies. Watched you have everything that I wanted since the days of the Dark Order. Remember those days? Seems like so long ago no?" "Another life time." "Indeed…I've learned that time can be a very bizarre thing…who knows what might've happened had events occurred slightly differently due to a split second?" "Is there any point to your insane ramblings Trelik?" "Not really…but perhaps! We shall see…or rather we have seen…all has been seen…" You don't like where this is going… "While I might not be able to kill you, I can do something else! Here's another blast from the past!" Suddenly Trelik disappears and you feel yourself going in slow motion… Oh fuck. "Ha ha ha ha! Ol' Quayle's books sure come in handy, but man do they make you see some crazy shit! I think I've gone completely bat shit insane at this point, but who cares? We're all dead men! Fuck killing the world! Let's kill reality!" Trelik isn't kidding either; the very fabric is warping to a degree you didn't even see when you were dealing with Quayle. You suddenly find yourself in the middle of a battle. You notice you're living again. It's been so long you almost forgot what's like to breathe. You take a brief look around and you're in Aftermath…or Nuro rather. A demonologist looking very worn from battle sees you and you have to stop yourself from attacking "Hey hold on! I'm on your side! Shit, this didn't turn out as planned, did it?" "Oh I dunno, I think it turned out EXACTLY as planned." You say getting the very real sense that you've done this before. The demonologist ignores your strange talk and continues. "Mr. Demar is still battling the rest of the staff in the college and I'm really worried about what the hell's going on with Quayle's spell, I don't know if you've experienced it yet, but I've been seeing buildings phase in and out of existence. I knew fucking around with time would be trouble!" "Yeah, it is. I guess I better go handle this. I hope I remember what I did last time." You say and make your way to see Quayle… again. When you get to the east campus, you see Catalinia right on time. Looking at her at this age again makes you remember when you desired her mainly for her body rather than all of her other exquisite attributes. "Nice to see you again. Quayle's in the gray building right?" You say. "Um, yeah. I think he's in there, but…" "Yeah I know it's dangerous, but someone's gotta go in, so I'll do it. I've risked too much already to fail. I suggest you go help Mr. Demar." you exclaim. "Wow, this whole thing has really made you really authoritative. You've come a long way since Enchantment class." "Yeah I've heard that somewhere else before." This time you dispense with your attempts to kiss Catalina. There will be plenty of time for that in the future. "Now let's see, if I remember this…" you say as you make your way to the gray building avoiding the time disturbances. When you enter the building you see Quayle again. Same position. Same glow of white light. "You are the future…there is no future…there are many futures…it's all so fascinating…" he says once again in an echoed voice. "Hey Quayle, you know we've done this before right?" "…yes…yes we have…we will continue to do so…such is time…it is inevitable…" Any second now the weird tentacle creatures are going to start popping out and you don't feel like dealing with them again. You didn't want to do it the first time. In fact this whole event is making your mind feel weird again, you feel like you're losing something just by being here. > You run and tackle Quayle You remember what you did last time and it was successful, so you confidently try again. You run towards Quayle narrowly dodging a tentacle creature along the way… Quayle once again splatters into a gooey insect mess. Something changes though. You're no longer aware of the fact that you're in the past. In fact your memories only lead up to this particular moment and right now all you're concerned about it is getting these centipedes off of you. And so it goes, you live out the same exact "life" as you did before. Taking over Aftermath, destroy Brot with undead giants, killing Velzix…all of it. Eventually you meet Trelik again, and the same things happens. And again. And again. And again. You don't realize it at all. Trelik has trapped you in a time loop that you have no knowledge of anymore. And that is where you will stay. Until the end of time…

"I'm sorry." You say calmly and blast your sister with powerful beam of negative energy causing the color to drain from her face and turn her hair completely white. She's still continues towards you, but another blast causes her to fall. She looks up at you with tears in her eyes and to your surprise she attempts to reach out to you. You crouch down and take her hand which she grips on to tightly. "…don't…turn me into…one of those things…please…don't" she wheezes. "Never. You shall die as you lived. With honor. Your body will be burned." This statement seems to reassure her and she closes her eyes and lets go of life. You really wished you hadn't had to do that. "Be at peace at last dear sister. May whatever afterlife you go to be better than this one." You cast a small fire ball at your sister's body and leave the house to burn, feeling yet another piece of your mortalhood die. One of your necromancers sees and comes up to you. "Lord, we've pretty much taken the city. The Emperor and Empress of Zalan were killed in their own throne room. We've won." "Of course." You say dismissively. "So what do you want done with the city?" "Burn it all to the ground." "Burn it? Don't you…" "I SAID BURN IT." You say not wishing to repeat yourself. "Um Right! Okay you heard the Great Lich Lord! Burn it all to the ground!" Ten years pass… Twenty years since you embarked on your path of necromancy. The end of all life looms ever closer. After the destruction of the Zalan Empire, the remnants of the Grand Alliance fell apart. One by one the remaining kingdoms and other governments fell before your armies. It was almost pathetically easy. The civilized world as it was known is no more. Only the dead exist. You even had those subjects that once pledged their allegiance to you while still alive killed. You can barely tolerate your own necromancers. Catalina is the only one you still care about anymore. She's still supportive, but nervous around you. You wish she wasn't though. Some races such as elves, sprites and other fairy type folk retreated to their woods and forests, relying on illusions, tricks and other ways to conceal themselves. Other races like dwarves, gnomes and subterranean types dug deeper into the earth hoping that you will forget about them. Yet others like humans, orcs and the like still insist on fighting you from their makeshift camps, using hit and run tactics when they can. It doesn't matter what any of them do however, you won't rest until all life has been extinguished, if it takes you centuries, so be it. You'll hunt them all, you'll find them all, you'll kill them all. Lately, though there have been odd occurrences. You have sensed disturbances in the very landscape from time to time. In your new undead state you of course never sleep anymore, but you've been having visions. Flashbacks. And they seem all too real sometimes. After months of research you've tracked down one of these disturbances to the old Vampire Clan fortress. You make haste to find out if any of those accursed bloodsuckers still live. You don't see how though as you were thorough in their destruction. This time you don't even bother telling Catalina what you think you should do next, you know exactly what you're going to do. You just walk in her study and tell her you're leaving for a little while and to keep an eye on things as usual. You teleport yourself to the location of their now desiccated fortress. Partially burned and falling into disrepair from your actions fifteen years ago. You throw open the massive doors with ease. "Little blood leeches, if any of you still remain, your best idea would've been to hide and stay that way." Your voice echoes throughout the halls. "No, Great Lich Lord they are all dead. You made sure of that. You always do. It's just you and me." you hear a voice shout back. The voice sounds somewhat familiar, but you immediately home in on it since whoever felt the need to talk shit is obviously the one behind all this. After walking a bit, you enter the throne room where you still see a few traces of dust from the vampires you slaughtered long ago. You hear a maniacal laugh and a man materialize a few feet in front of you. This man looks much different now; his clothing is ragged and filthy. He has a manic grin and giggles a bit while constantly looking around, but you still recognize him and you have to say you're genuinely surprised to see him. He's very much alive too. "Trelik…thought you were long dust by now." "Nearly was, quite a few times, but after my shameful defeat in the Brot Kingdom I decided to lay low. For when that day came, I knew then I would never be able to defeat you or anyone else. So I waited and watched you gain power. Watched you destroy your enemies. Watched you have everything that I wanted since the days of the Dark Order. Remember those days? Seems like so long ago no?" "Another life time." "Indeed…I've learned that time can be a very bizarre thing…who knows what might've happened had events occurred slightly differently due to a split second?" "Is there any point to your insane ramblings Trelik?" "Not really…but perhaps! We shall see…or rather we have seen…all has been seen…" You don't like where this is going… "While I might not be able to kill you, I can do something else! Here's another blast from the past!" Suddenly Trelik disappears and you feel yourself going in slow motion… Oh fuck. "Ha ha ha ha! Ol' Quayle's books sure come in handy, but man do they make you see some crazy shit! I think I've gone completely bat shit insane at this point, but who cares? We're all dead men! Fuck killing the world! Let's kill reality!" Trelik isn't kidding either; the very fabric is warping to a degree you didn't even see when you were dealing with Quayle. You suddenly find yourself in the middle of a battle. You notice you're living again. It's been so long you almost forgot what's like to breathe. You take a brief look around and you're in Aftermath…or Nuro rather. A demonologist looking very worn from battle sees you and you have to stop yourself from attacking "Hey hold on! I'm on your side! Shit, this didn't turn out as planned, did it?" "Oh I dunno, I think it turned out EXACTLY as planned." You say getting the very real sense that you've done this before. The demonologist ignores your strange talk and continues. "Mr. Demar is still battling the rest of the staff in the college and I'm really worried about what the hell's going on with Quayle's spell, I don't know if you've experienced it yet, but I've been seeing buildings phase in and out of existence. I knew fucking around with time would be trouble!" "Yeah, it is. I guess I better go handle this. I hope I remember what I did last time." You say and make your way to see Quayle… again. When you get to the east campus, you see Catalinia right on time. Looking at her at this age again makes you remember when you desired her mainly for her body rather than all of her other exquisite attributes. "Nice to see you again. Quayle's in the gray building right?" You say. "Um, yeah. I think he's in there, but…" "Yeah I know it's dangerous, but someone's gotta go in, so I'll do it. I've risked too much already to fail. I suggest you go help Mr. Demar." you exclaim. "Wow, this whole thing has really made you really authoritative. You've come a long way since Enchantment class." "Yeah I've heard that somewhere else before." This time you dispense with your attempts to kiss Catalina. There will be plenty of time for that in the future. "Now let's see, if I remember this…" you say as you make your way to the gray building avoiding the time disturbances. When you enter the building you see Quayle again. Same position. Same glow of white light. "You are the future…there is no future…there are many futures…it's all so fascinating…" he says once again in an echoed voice. "Hey Quayle, you know we've done this before right?" "…yes…yes we have…we will continue to do so…such is time…it is inevitable…" Any second now the weird tentacle creatures are going to start popping out and you don't feel like dealing with them again. You didn't want to do it the first time. In fact this whole event is making your mind feel weird again, you feel like you're losing something just by being here. > You try something else This isn't "your time" and something is very different. You can sense it. Something is here that wasn't before. You quickly scan the room again and from the far left side of the room you hear a little giggle. One of tentacle creatures appear once again and you fight back the nausea long enough to cast a blast of negative energy towards the sounds of the laughter. Trelik materializes from your lucky direct hit and howls in pain before collapsing on the floor. His high pitched screech seems to irk the creature and it grabs him with one of the tentacles. "NO! NO! HAHAHAHA! I WAS GOING TO CONTROL TIME!" Trelik laughs before they turn into screams when the creature proceeds to devour him. Trelik might've been dealt with, but you still have to preserve the time line! You immediately rush to tackle Quayle and narrowly dodge another tentacle beast that appears near you. You are just about to reach Quayle… "…once again…the future…the past…unite…" you hear Quayle just as you're about to collide with him. Except instead of colliding with him you collide into the stone floor of the vampire fortress! Or at least you thought it was… You stand up and find yourself in the middle of a castle, but it's different. You see dead elves and humans lying on the floor. Looks like they were fighting each other. You attempt to raise them, but nothing happens. Your powers aren't working at all and in this living flesh cage you've been once again cursed with, you feel pretty vulnerable. You hear human soldiers laughing and running and you hide. "Har har! This was a good idea. Elves can't fight worth shit! Where's the captain anyway?" "Oh you know him; he's probably finding something of more value to keep to himself." After they pass by you proceed to make your way through the ruins of this castle which is obviously under siege. You think you're nearing the exit when all of a sudden you hear the sounds of battle and a very familiar voice… "You better save your own ass elf, I mean to have whatever is behind that door and the likes of you aren't going to stop me!" your Dad remarks. "Never! I have sworn to protect the treasure behind here with my life!" the Elven guard exclaims. You see your Dad and this elven guard clash swords. You watch from the shadows and it's obvious that this elf is slightly more skilled than your Dad. You might not have your powers, but you realize what has happened. You've been transported to the past again. This is the elven castle that your Dad laid siege to. He's supposed to meet your Mom here. She's probably the "treasure" that the elven guard is protecting. Another familiar voice calls out to you in your mind with a sorrow filled tone. "You wish to end all life because you loathe it so? Or is it that you loathe your own life? I have seen you set out on this path and while regrettable I see that it was inevitable. Perhaps I am to blame. I give you a chance to make things right and allow life to bloom once again instead of an existence of ultimate isolation and loneliness." That voice sounded very much like your Mom. But you haven't discovered any trace of her despite your searches. Then again that might make sense if she's gone into this time slipping business. "Mom…do you defy me as well? Have you and Trelik formed some unholy alliance?" you whisper under your breath to her while attempting to contain your anger and wounded feelings. Feelings you haven't really had in a long time. "No, my son. Trelik's mad plan was his own. I have merely taken advantage of his poor judgment in attempting to alter time. Yes son, you are not the only one in the family who has the knowledge of forbidden magic and a master of it. I give you a choice…life or death. Think carefully about making your decision. Think about your possible future. Think about what you've become. Think about what you've done. Your existence has caused the end of the world's own. Is that really what you want?" This question has been posed to you many times before in the past. Every time you've dismissed it because it's been so far off before. But as the end grows ever closer, you'll have to come to very real possibility that immortality on a dead world may very well grow dreary. This latest time trip has been the most excitement you've had in years… You look over at your Dad, who is losing his battle with the elven guard. Maybe it would be better had you never been born… > You help your Dad Destiny can be changed, but you're not changing yours. You were meant to do this. You'll see this out to the very end. Since you don't have any of your powers, you pick up a hefty nearby vase and hurl it at the elven guard from the shadows. Your aim is pitiful as the vase completely misses him and instead flies over his head and hits the wall. However, the elven guard glances briefly in the direction to which the vase was thrown long enough for your Dad to take the advantage. He skewers the elf and smashes him in the face with his armored gauntlet. "Ha ha! Stupid fucking elf! Shoulda been paying attention to the fight!" he laughs and gives the guard one last kick to the head before opening up the treasure door… You slink away. Your birth has now been assured and you suddenly are transported back to your proper time period and back in the ex-vampire fortress. Once again you are undead, however, you find that you have a letter in your hand which is addressed to you Son, If you're reading this then you have chosen death, as was predicted. I do not blame you for embracing your destiny. The pull of dark magic has always been strong in the bloodline. Elves typically can control such urges, however as you know you are not full elven, but still I did not think this possible of you though. You were so unskilled in the ways of magic that the chances of you becoming a competent necromancer seemed so unlikely, let alone an emissary of death. I will not stand in you way for I cannot bring myself to destroy you, even though I could. This is why I gave you the choice to destroy yourself. Do not look for me as I have long left this world and time, a simpler time, long even before the rise of the first Great Lich Lord. Indeed, I am already long dead by the time you have read this. My final gift to you my son, one less death you need concern yourself about. I only hope that you can find peace in your path for eventually you will be alone. Love Mom. You crumple the letter. "Thanks Mom." You say and return to Aftermath as you have shed one more link to your mortal life. Thirty years pass… Fifty years have passed. Peace reigns. There is no more conflict. All serious resistance has been eliminated. There will be no heroes to save the world. Death has won. Your powers have grown to the extent that your mere presence is slowly killing the world. You tested out this theory when you spent some time in one of the last elven defended forests. The trees began to rot and wither within a day. Reports talk of even the creatures in the oceans dying and you haven't even been anywhere near there. Anything still alive will die soon; it's only a matter of time. Your poison is enveloping the skies, the waters and the ground far beneath the earth. You truly have become death personified. Your necromancers have all died and you didn't allow them to try to become liches either. A small coup was attempted, but it was easily put down. You're controlling it all. The one last link to your mortal "life" remains. Catalina. She lies on her bed dying. It is only due to her own powers that she's been able to survive your presence this long, but she can't do it any longer. You're too powerful. You sit by her bed to talk to her one last time. You stroke her hair and hold her hand relishing the warmth that it still gives off even in this near death state. "…I'm sorry I can't stay with you." she says. "You could. You have the power to become a lich." "…no…I don't want that. It's not my desire or path. I once said I thought the differences between us would be too great for us to stay together." "I remember. And you were right. You usually are." "We had a good run though didn't we?" "Yes, yes we did." You agree. "Are you going to be alright? I mean what are you going to do?" she asks. "Me? I'll be fine. I'll stick around and oversee things I guess. Watch the world die. I have to carry this out to end." "I know you do…maybe we'll meet again? On the other side?" she smiles weakly. "I'm sure if it's possible. We will." "I love you…" You then kiss her one last time as life finally fades from her body. "My love from this world is now gone, what little was left has followed you to the other side my beloved queen. May it be with you always." Death now walks alone. After burning her body, you retire to your study, waiting and wondering when the end will finally come...

This isn't "your time" and something is very different. You can sense it. Something is here that wasn't before. You quickly scan the room again and from the far left side of the room you hear a little giggle. One of tentacle creatures appear once again and you fight back the nausea long enough to cast a blast of negative energy towards the sounds of the laughter. Trelik materializes from your lucky direct hit and howls in pain before collapsing on the floor. His high pitched screech seems to irk the creature and it grabs him with one of the tentacles. "NO! NO! HAHAHAHA! I WAS GOING TO CONTROL TIME!" Trelik laughs before they turn into screams when the creature proceeds to devour him. Trelik might've been dealt with, but you still have to preserve the time line! You immediately rush to tackle Quayle and narrowly dodge another tentacle beast that appears near you. You are just about to reach Quayle… "…once again…the future…the past…unite…" you hear Quayle just as you're about to collide with him. Except instead of colliding with him you collide into the stone floor of the vampire fortress! Or at least you thought it was… You stand up and find yourself in the middle of a castle, but it's different. You see dead elves and humans lying on the floor. Looks like they were fighting each other. You attempt to raise them, but nothing happens. Your powers aren't working at all and in this living flesh cage you've been once again cursed with, you feel pretty vulnerable. You hear human soldiers laughing and running and you hide. "Har har! This was a good idea. Elves can't fight worth shit! Where's the captain anyway?" "Oh you know him; he's probably finding something of more value to keep to himself." After they pass by you proceed to make your way through the ruins of this castle which is obviously under siege. You think you're nearing the exit when all of a sudden you hear the sounds of battle and a very familiar voice… "You better save your own ass elf, I mean to have whatever is behind that door and the likes of you aren't going to stop me!" your Dad remarks. "Never! I have sworn to protect the treasure behind here with my life!" the Elven guard exclaims. You see your Dad and this elven guard clash swords. You watch from the shadows and it's obvious that this elf is slightly more skilled than your Dad. You might not have your powers, but you realize what has happened. You've been transported to the past again. This is the elven castle that your Dad laid siege to. He's supposed to meet your Mom here. She's probably the "treasure" that the elven guard is protecting. Another familiar voice calls out to you in your mind with a sorrow filled tone. "You wish to end all life because you loathe it so? Or is it that you loathe your own life? I have seen you set out on this path and while regrettable I see that it was inevitable. Perhaps I am to blame. I give you a chance to make things right and allow life to bloom once again instead of an existence of ultimate isolation and loneliness." That voice sounded very much like your Mom. But you haven't discovered any trace of her despite your searches. Then again that might make sense if she's gone into this time slipping business. "Mom…do you defy me as well? Have you and Trelik formed some unholy alliance?" you whisper under your breath to her while attempting to contain your anger and wounded feelings. Feelings you haven't really had in a long time. "No, my son. Trelik's mad plan was his own. I have merely taken advantage of his poor judgment in attempting to alter time. Yes son, you are not the only one in the family who has the knowledge of forbidden magic and a master of it. I give you a choice…life or death. Think carefully about making your decision. Think about your possible future. Think about what you've become. Think about what you've done. Your existence has caused the end of the world's own. Is that really what you want?" This question has been posed to you many times before in the past. Every time you've dismissed it because it's been so far off before. But as the end grows ever closer, you'll have to come to very real possibility that immortality on a dead world may very well grow dreary. This latest time trip has been the most excitement you've had in years… You look over at your Dad, who is losing his battle with the elven guard. Maybe it would be better had you never been born… > You do not help him Life must continue. At last you have seen reason. You watch a bit more and the elven guard is hard pressed, but it becomes apparent that he's dedicated to his duty. He strikes your Dad with a couple of sword blows to his chest. He falls cursing and swearing, before the elven guard finishes him off with a thrust to his neck. "Heh, that's what should've happened in the first place." You say and quietly slink off. You walk into an empty room and wonder what will happen next. You've just destroyed your existence. Though you're still here, so you're not sure what that means. Are you going to disappear soon, or will you just continue your existence until you reach your "proper time?" You hear your Mom's voice again, one last time. "You have chosen life as was predicted. Your time as you know it is no more…time…time defeats all. Time even defeats death…however time is not without mercy and your existence in history is not gone, just altered. …the future…the past…does it matter? You will die …all has been written…farewell son. We shall not meet again. You shall have no knowledge of any of this or what has occurred before. But your actions have preserved life, even if you are an emissary of death…" You suddenly find yourself transported on some desolate hilltop. You have no idea where you're at, let alone how you got there. In fact you don't have too much memory of anything. All you're sure of is that you have a great knowledge of magic and that you're not truly alive. Suddenly a ragged bunch of individuals approach, you prepare to defend yourself, but these half crazed tribals are in awe of you. "It's him! He is the one we called upon! Our prayers have been answered! We have sacrificed our remaining livestock to appease you! Please our village has suffered a great loss. We have lost many of our people to a plague. We beg you to reunite us with those loved ones we have lost." And so began the first steps of the Great Lich Lord's quest for the extinction of life…

Chapter 4: Even Death May Die Five years pass… It's been ten years since you took control of Aftermath and many changes have come about. Without Velzix's brutal leadership, his realm soon broke apart. Demon leaders fought amongst themselves and became easier to deal with for the Grand Alliance. Little by little territory was liberated. However you were not idle and you also took pieces of Velzix's former territory. Due to all the problems caused by Velzix a new order was enacted by the Grand Alliance. No more chances are being taken and the civilized world has a zero tolerance policy on demons. Demons are to be killed on sight anywhere they are found. Even the so called "nice ones". Any government found tolerating their presence will be found guilty of demonology and invaded. This lead to a few misguided liberal types claiming that it was infringing on certain rights, but considering the increasingly draconian Zalan Empire had pretty much taken complete control over the Grand Alliance at this point, they had final say in the matter and executed all such protestors. The Grand Alliance is now merely a name much like Vampire Clans. In reality, it's the "Zalan Empire and its little friends that better do what it says Alliance". Speaking of the Vampire Clans, since your total destruction of their last remaining enclave, their influence has completely left this world. You've noticed a reduced effectiveness in Grand Alliance strategy because of this despite that they've become more united in recent years. Except for the near mindless bestial ones that roam the countryside they're effectively extinct. Still, you feel no need to show them mercy and bring them under your control. When one is found, you have it destroyed. The treachery of the Ghoul King has brought this genocide upon their "race." Your letter to your family was never replied to, but you are aware it was received. You don't know exactly how the truth was spun, or who exactly was involved. But you do know your Dad has a statue erected of him in the Zalan capital stating how he nobly gave his life fighting Velzix. Funny how mad men can be turned into heroes so easily. Your sister is a general of a Grand Alliance army now, which of course continues to attack you despite some of your attempts at coming to some sort of peace agreement. The fools won't even listen to reason. There's no way the Grand Alliance can win this war. You've only been growing in power and show no signs of stopping. Even with their stabilized internal struggles under the Zalan Empire's iron fist they still won't be able to defeat you. The world has gone mad and you're the only one making sense anymore. They call you a villain and evil, but from what you've seen, you're no different than any of the other leaders in power. You're just better at it. Maybe you should turn the world into a giant graveyard. Everyone thinks of you as a monster anyway, you see no reason to disappoint… "Catalina, I think it's time we finish this war once and for all." You say walking into her study. "Oh you do, do you? Well, I figured that it was coming eventually. So is there any specific way we're going about this?" "Yeah, we just make a massive push and don't stop until every living thing is dead." "Wow. Everything?" "Everything. I gave the world of the living the chance for peace and they don't seem to want it. Well I'm tired of fighting, so if the only way to get some peace is to kill everything so be it!" "Well, I mean what happens if some people surrender? I mean you'll still allow them to live like you usually do right?" "What? What's with this line of questioning Catalina? You've never been one to wince at grand scale carnage." "…I know, but I…" "Alright, out with it." "Well I mean after we destroy the Grand Alliance, what then? There will be nothing else to do. I mean do we just reign over a land of the dead until the end of time?" "Sounds about right." "I dunno, is that our only option?" "For fuck's sake Cat, what the hell did you become a necromancer for then?" "Because much like you I probably didn't feel like I had much in common with people and I could feel a pull towards the dark art of necromancy." "Well what's the problem?" "…there isn't a problem…it's just I feel like the end is coming soon and question what I've accomplished in my life. I mean other than genocide what have I done?" "You're Queen of the Dead! What more could you want?" "Yeah, queen. Big whoop. I'm basically a glorified concubine for a…" "Damn it Catalina I've NEVER thought of you as that! You know I cherish you and all of you have to offer. I never could've gotten this far without you." you say holding on to her and looking into her eyes. "…I know…it's just in some ways I see you starting to change and I don't mean your general loathing of the living either. I mean you've always been powerful, more powerful than me, but it's different. It's like you're becoming something else. I sometimes think your path is going to differ from mine to a degree that we will no longer be able to be together." For a moment you forget about your problems and address Catalina. "Catalina my beautiful queen…no matter what happens I shall never leave you." you say and kiss her. "And I shall never leave you…Okay, where are we going to attack?" While you've temporarily reassured Catalina's feelings, you do wonder if she isn't right. Will there come a day when you and her will have so many differences that you won't be able to be together anymore? You wonder if you've been taking some things for granted. You have everything you could ever need or want. Maybe you don't need to go on the attack. The Grand Alliance surely does not have the strength to defeat you; you doubt it would even attempt to expend all its resources in trying. Sure you might have to continue to fight them, but when you think about it, would it be less tedious than an existence without any conflict? > You call off the attack You realize something. You've won. You don't need to commit worldwide slaughter. In fact at this point you'd rather just give it all up in exchange for peace and quiet with Catalina. And you know the place you could do such a thing. "Catalina, let's forget all this." "What?" "I'm saying fuck this shit. I'm getting bored with it, there's not really a challenge anymore, so what's the point? Let's just leave." "Well where are we going to do that?" "Let's go to that hidden Vampire Clan fortress. Nobody else is using it and all it needs is a little fixing up. I can easily set up the magic to hide it again." "Easily eh? Boy you have come a long way. I remember when you cast that spell in enchantment class and caused all those frogs to attack the professor." "Boy you're never going to let me forget that are you? I still think those were a species of killer frogs and they would've attacked anyway." "What? Those were pygmy Eraw frogs! They're one of the most benign creatures on the planet! YOU turned them into killers!" Catalina laughs. "Yeah, well he deserved it anyway. He was going to fail me." "I'm surprised he didn't after that, though he probably was a little afraid of you. Guess you always had it in you even back then." "Yeah…well you ready to go?" "Wait we're just leaving? Shouldn't we make arrangements or something first?" "Like I said fuck it, let all these necromancers fight over it. If one of them thinks they can try to take my place then let 'em. I predict it'll all fall apart within a year though. They can't be me." "No they can't. Let's go." You and Catalina then press the key to the old vampire fortress. Fortunately it doesn't need too much fixing up and you have it restored in no time. It is from here where you and Catalina stay to watch the world events unfold in fascination. Just as you predicted your dominion of the dead collapsed due to infighting. To your surprise Trelik popped up again and amusingly he even claimed he'd destroyed you and Catalina. Even more amusingly he was one of the first usurpers to die during the civil war. The Grand Alliance took advantage of the situation and eventually broke the stranglehold that the dead once held over the living. Your sister stormed the gates of Aftermath itself and reclaimed it. She became a hero of epic proportions. You're glad. You're glad you made this decision. You didn't want to have to kill her or your Mom. The world didn't immediately go back to normal though. Your actions have had repercussions and there yet still remains areas of the world where necromancers rule, possibly the undead will always have a strong influence in some areas, but the threat of the end of all life is no longer a possibility. Your own powers seem to have grown a bit weaker, make no mistake, you are still very powerful. Possibly still the most powerful being on the planet, but with the rise of life once again, you do feel a change, and you don't mind it. The years pass and you and Catalina are content to just watch the world go by and enjoy each others' company undisturbed. One day though, Catalina's life force is giving out and she does not wish to continue her existence into undeath like you and you certainly understand. You and her say goodbye and then you promise you will soon join her. After burning her body you sit on your throne, you write one last thing in your journal about why you did what you did in case anyone should find this. Then you concentrate and will yourself to die. It takes some effort, but eventually you feel a release and your powers are fading completely. "I'm coming home Catalina." At last, death has died.

"If I was going to kill you, I'd barely need to lift a finger, but what I'm mainly here for is your help." You say calmly That's caught his attention. "What's that boy? You want my help? Hanging around those corpses make you completely crazy?" "Not completely, but I know that you and your company has been fighting a guerilla war against Velzix. You've been a real pain in his demon ass from what I've heard." "Hah! Got that right! I've currently been hired out perpetually by the Zalan Empire. My mission is to generally fuck things up for Velzix, even try to kill him if possible. But I can't do that." "Why not?" "Why not? Because if you haven't noticed I'm a fuckin' old man that only has a few desperate and insane men following him that's why! I don't have a Grand Alliance army behind me like your sister and I can't just snap my fingers and bring my losses back to fucking life! SOME of us have to rely on pure skill!" "Sounds like you're making excuses." "Oh fuck you! Stupid ass kid, I don't see you doing shit about Velzix, what's the matter need more corpses to hide behind?" "Actually any corpses I hide behind will only be the ones I summon up during our assassination attempt." "What are you getting at boy?" "I'm saying you get me close to Velzix, and I'll kill him. In fact I'm very surprised the Grand Alliance hasn't sent some hero types to try to kill him yet." "Oh they have, they just haven't been heroic enough. My little company has done more damage than any so called heroes. But supposin' I WAS to help you, what's in this for me?" "Oh you'll be paid, have no fear of that. In fact you can even take credit for Velzix death, since I doubt you'd want anyone to know you were working with me. Now I'd imagine that would pay quite well wouldn't it?" "Yeah, yeah it would…alright boy. We'll do this, but after Velzix is dead, me and you end this father and son time got me?" "Wouldn't have it any other way." As your Dad proceeds to lead to where Velzix dwells, he explain the layout of it. He says they've gone in there before, but have never stayed too long. Just to sabotage stuff and get the fuck out. You proceed to have more interesting conversation along the way. "So why the hell hasn't the Grand Alliance done more about Velzix? Why are they relying on some broken down ex-cuthroat?" you ask. "I told ya, they have sent hero types after Velzix before, but he's defeated them every time. As for larger military concerns, I'm sure you're aware that they happen, but it's a question of balance. They can't attack Velzix, like they probably would prefer since they know that YOU would take advantage of their weakened state! Not to mention the Grand Alliance finds you to be a bigger threat. The world was almost consumed once already by some megalomaniacal necromancer, they don't want that to happen again. So little groups like mine fuck things up for Velzix, just enough to keep him occupied and doesn't gain anymore ground." "Actually I'm not a megalomaniac. Contrary to popular belief, I don't have some desire to turn the world into a graveyard." You say. "Oh well I guess all those kingdoms were just you being neighborly eh? What about that first attack on the Brot Kingdom? Those big ass undead giants? Hordes of undead troops slaughtering men, women and children?" "I did what I had to do to defend myself. War isn't pretty. People die." "True…but I still fail to see where yer NOT being a megalomaniac." "I told you I'm defending my dominion! If the Grand Alliance would stop attacking me, I wouldn't pursue anymore territory. I'd be happy to live in peace, side by side. Why do you think I want to get rid Velzix? I'm hoping after he's gone that I can come to some agreement with the Grand Alliance! Because in the end it isn't going to be good for anyone!" "Fancy words…but I question if that's what you really want. I haven't seen you in a long time, but within the short time I've talked with you now, even I can see a change in you. You have a lot of desire, somewhere within you, you want to control everything so there's no possibility of anything ever hurting you. You're actually good at something and you're reveling in it. I know what that's like. While you might have yer Mom's magic, apparently you DID inherit some of my qualities, and those are qualities that are all kinds of bad…" "I'm nothing like you!" you exclaim. "Ha ha! Oh yer right about that. You'll never be half the man I am. You can turn the entire world to a giant mass grave, but you ain't never gonna be me." Even now with all your power your Dad still somehow manages to make you feel small. You can't let yourself get angry though, As much as you might like to just cause the bastard's black heart to explode in his chest you can't do that, at least not yet. You, your Dad and the remains of his company eventually arrive at Velzix's fortress where you enter in a secret way. "Dumb ass demons, we've been using this entrance for like a year now and they still haven't caught on!" your Dad remarks. You make good progress in the fortress and then… "There they are, just like Velzix said they would be!" a demon guard shouts. You look at your Dad. "Haven't caught on yet huh?" "Quit yer bitchin' and start doin that death magic thing!" You proceed to do just that as demon as well as mortal guards attempt to stop you. You welcome the mortal guards as you can raise them to help you in your "heroic quest". "Hah, no lying down on the job anymore Cal!" your Dad laughs as you raise the last of his fallen company. By the time you reach Velzix's inner sanctum, it's just you and your Dad. You never thought in a million years you'd be fighting alongside your Dad. Velzix on the other hand has been expecting you. "Ah how good of you both to come. You're the miserable little has been thug that's been fucking up my realm with your guerilla warfare. And you're the wannabe Lich Lord that's been impeding my own plans of conquest." "Wow, guess he got it in one." You say. "Yeah, and I guess this would make him the pathetic ass demon lord that can't even beat said has been and wannabe." Your Dad adds. "Enough! The pair of you have sealed your doom today! I have lured you into my trap where today I shall take the father and the son and then…" You blast Velzix in the face with negative energy, causing him to grab his face and roar in pain. "Ha ha! Fucking melodramatic idiot!" your Dad laughs charging at Velzix with his sword You quickly decide on what to do next. > You unleash a greater blast of death magic on Velzix Once again you aim for Velzix, ready to unleash a great blast of negative energy at him. Unfortunately as you do so, he picks your Dad up and both of them get caught in it. Your Dad is killed instantly, but Velzix is of course made of stronger stuff. He recovers from the attack and opens up several portals where demons come pouring out. You summon up ghostly warriors to assist you, and while you're powerful, you can't fight Velzix's seemingly endless reinforcement of demons. You land some good hits, but ultimately you're overwhelmed. Velzix picks up your drained bloody body to mock you one last time. "Look on the bright side; at least you got to kill your Dad!" Velzix then proceeds to slowly rip your soul apart before ultimately sending you to oblivion.

You can't say you've exactly been entirely enthusiastic about this plan to conquer these tribes. The reality is starting to set in that you'll never be able to get rid of them all. At least not without a concentrated effort, which would take a lot more time and troops that you're unwilling to commit at this point. But The Ghoul King could help. He most likely knows the lay of the land just as well as the tribes, and considering he lives here, he can dedicate as much time as he wants. "Very well Ghoul King I have no wish to take what is yours. I shall leave in peace if you'll permit." You say respectfully. "Hmm, I had not expected you to respond that way. Perhaps though you have yet another trick up your sleeve?" "No trick. But perhaps a proposal." "Diplomacy? Are you serious? I have rarely ever encountered a necromancer ready to discuss anything so calmly before. You are a rare breed. Okay, what's your proposal? I have to know just because you've managed to surprise me, twice today." "My proposal is an alliance." "An alliance? For what purpose? I imagine that you're being hounded by the civilized world. Why would I bring such troubles on myself?" "Because I'm your best shot at revenge. You said you've wanted revenge on the Vampire Clans, well I'm not exactly on their good side either. Eventually I'm going to have to deal with them. Look at you, you said it yourself. You've been forced to hide out from the world in a hole in the ground. Wouldn't you at least like that to change? Even if you die, at least you can say you tried! Changes ARE coming to this world, and this is your chance to be on the winning side." The Ghoul King looks in the sky. His expression reminds you of delegate Yolev's when Mr. Demar gave him a chance to join. You hope you have more success. "I have been told such promises before; a long time ago…this state that you see before you is what it got me. However, there's no fool like an old one. What more can be done to me? I've lost all as it is, I can only gain. I'm listening more to your proposal, but let's have some details. I won't ally with someone that's as foolish as me." You quickly explain that the Ghoul King should attack the tribes like he's been doing, but to just increase the frequency. All you ask is that he leave a portion of the dead for you (rather than eating them) to use as troops. You will leave one of your necromancers here as an emissary and transporter as it were. The Ghoul King finds this arrangement to be acceptable. He laughs when you say you would also like it if he managed to kill some giants for you to raise. He says he'll see what he can do and as an act of goodwill he allows you to have a sizable amount of his ghouls. "I can always make more!" You return to Aftermath feeling a great sense of accomplishment. Catalina is a bit leery of the entire situation though. "How can you be sure of this? He's a vampire! Last I heard they aren't too happy with us right now!" Catalina says. "He's an outcast from the clans. He's been living like an animal for who knows how long. I've given him a sense of purpose again. He'll help. Besides he's better suited to take care of the tribes in Drozz. He'll take all the risk and we'll gain the benefit. I see no downside!" "How do you know he won't just kill your emissary there and not do anything?" "It's certainly possible, but he did give me some of his ghouls as an act of good faith." "A bunch of mangy ghouls can't make up for one necromancer!" "Considering I left Hessan with him, you could make the argument that they do! Relax! I know what I'm doing." "I hope so, because I heard that the Grand Alliance is stepping up their military operations." Catalina leaves you in a huff. What's with this girl? One minute she's expressing interest, the next she's pissed at you. Oh well. You're not worried about anything, you're confident you made the right decision. A few months pass and you get a letter via bat from The Ghoul King. He tells you that he's got something special for you. Something that Hessan can't transport himself. You make your way back to Drozz, traveling invisibly for the most part, since last you heard, the Grand Alliance ousted Trelik from the Brot Kingdom and are currently stationed there, probably planning to attack you next. When you arrive, the Ghoul King meets you. "Well don't say I haven't held up my part of this alliance. Here are your giants. A whole tribe of them! Took a hell of a long time dragging them down here. You'll have to forgive the bite marks, but my ghouls do get hungry every now and then." You can't believe your eyes. You expected one or two. Not a whole tribe! You aren't even going to ask how he did it, you're just happy he did. "Alright Mr. Necromancer, I wanna see you raise these big ass things! Your emissary has been going on for months about how powerful you are, so I wanna see this." You begin to concentrate… Slowly one of the dead behemoths rises and stands ready to serve. You concentrate again and one by one each one stands up and fully obedient to you. It requires very little energy on your part surprisingly. You must be growing in power. "Well now, I guess you can walk the walk! Alright now you go have fun with those big boys. I have some barbarians to terrorize. It seems I've inadvertently united most of the tribes against me with this giant killing business." "You need some help?" "Nah, I got it all under control. I was sick of hiding anyway. Thanks though. Especially for making me feel like a true vampire again rather than a running scavenger." You tell Hessan to stay with the Ghoul King as you still need someone here in Drozz. One day you'll have to construct some sort of portal between here and Aftermath, but that will have to be later. Right now you've got undead giants and you're all prepared to use them right away. You remember The Grand Alliance is in the Brot Kingdom and tthat they're probably still recovering from battling Trelik recently. You march with your undead giants to the Brot Kingdom. You have no back up, just you. You're going to show them all what you're capable of… Your arrival isn't surprising since they could see you coming from quite a few miles away, but the utter fear you inspired was immense and there still wasn't enough time for the Grand Alliance to get reinforcements. Your undead giants smash and destroy buildings. They crush knights under foot. The carnage is great. You supplement your attack by raising the recent dead to your cause. Graveyards are your reinforcements. You see the remnants of Grand Alliance flee. Let them flee. Let them speak of the terror and the death! The news of what you did travels fast, and Catalina runs to meet you when you arrive back in Aftermath. "What the hell did you think you were doing risking your life like that? You should've come back to Aftermath for more soldiers before taking on the Brot Kingdom AND the Grand Alliance all by yourself!" "Why? Were you worried about me?" you smile. "Well… um…no! But, you should've told me!" "I did tell you. I told you I had everything worked out and look…I did." You say putting your arm around her. She's not resisting anymore. "Hmmm, well I guess you did. So now what?" "Now what? You and me in the bedroom, that's what!" You and Catalina at last end this little dance and consummate your relationship. And just think all it took was destroying an entire kingdom with some undead giants! Four years pass… It's been five years since you took control of Aftermath and you've made progress. Many changes have certainly have come about. Your territory now encompasses far more than just Aftermath. You now control several former kingdoms. You call your region the Dead Dominion. The population consists mainly of the dead, with necromancers typically being the only living beings, though there are pockets of living that have pledged their loyalty to you in exchange for mercy. You have granted it. You and Catalina are now truly King and Queen of the dead. Velzix has benefited from your success, due to the excessive problems you've given the Grand Alliance; he's expanded his own realm relatively unchecked. Minor conflict has come about between your respective domains, and it's only a matter of time before all out war occurs. Rumors are that he's attempting to rip open a portal of the largest size to unleash all of the horrors the infernal plane has to offer. The Grand Alliance is attempting to handle the pair of you, but has only succeeded in fighting to a stalemate. Rumors are the Zalan Empire is attempting to take full control over the Grand Alliance in order to pursue a more extreme course of action. You have not heard anything from you family. You know your Dad's mercenary company has been fighting in the outskirts of Velzix's realm. Your sister has become a respected and successful Grand Alliance captain. She's managed to hold back the tide of your dead horde from gaining anymore ground for a couple years now. As for your Mom, who knows? You'd prefer not to know what she thinks of you. The Vampire Clans have unsuccessfully sent assassins after you, but they have all failed. The Ghoul King suggests that an attack should be made on them soon. He mentions he knows where their secret fortress is and now that he has the support he wishes to take his revenge. He has completely conquered Drozz and turned into a true Kingdom (The only one semi-independent from your Dead Dominion) no longer does he hide in a hole. As for Trelik, you have heard nothing. For all you know he may be dead. He disappeared soon after his defeat at Brot four years ago. But today is another day and with that new problems come. You have to decide which new direction you're going to steer your Dominion. > You attack the Grand Alliance The Grand Alliance is more unified and suffers less in-fighting (at least not on a violent scale) than Velzix's crew. You figure you should take them out first. "Catalina I think it's time to attack Grand Alliance and wipe them out once and for all." You say walking into her study. "Oh you do huh? Got a plan in mind of how to go about it? Because it's not going to be easy." "I figure the strongest link is the Zalan Empire. If we take them out, the rest of the Alliance will quickly fall apart and we can concentrate on Velzix." "Hmm, you make it sound so easy. I hope you know what you're doing." "Relax, I always know what I'm doing. Set it up and organize the troops, I'll be overseeing this one personally." Months pass and you make good progress. You begin taking town after town like an unstoppable juggernaut. However, when you reach you reach the Zalan Empire's borders you begin to face heavier resistance. The Grand Alliance combined with the full brunt of Zalan's own military is proving to be more troublesome than you anticipated. They've developed a lot more technological advances since the last time you were here. The cannons are really taking a toll on your corporeal troops. You slog on through, but eventually reach a stand still when you finally reach the gates of the Zalan capital. Your sister is overseeing the defense of Zalan's capital which might explain why you're having so much trouble. She is successfully countering every one of your plans. You've attempted to send a message to her, but you've yet to hear any kind of response You don't quite have enough strength to break through and you're starting to stretch yourself a little thin. Reports tell you that other civilized nations are sending military detachments to help and another Grand Alliance army is on the way. At this point you're either going to have to send for reinforcements yourself or retreat and regroup. > You send for reinforcements You don't want Catalina to send any since you do need to defend your territory, so you figure the Ghoul King would be a good candidate. He can help you, before you help him destroy the Vampire Clans. You send a message to him via ghostly courier and in the next day you get one back. He says he'll be there soon, which relieves you a bit. In the meantime you continue to try to break through the capital's defenses and repair some of your more salvageable troops that have fallen. About a week passes and the Ghoul King hasn't shown up yet, you've suffered a counter attack which allowed you to temporary replenish your troops, but you lost quite a few necromancers in the process. The strain of commanding such a large army is making you a little more fatigued than it would if you had some support. You send a message to the Ghoul King again as well as to Catalina. You don't get anything back from the Ghoul King, but Catalina tells you she hasn't heard from him either and she's had to defend the home territory from Velzix who heard about how preoccupied you are with the Grand Alliance and is taking advantage of the situation. A month passes and you have to retreat from the siege. You're the last remaining necromancer and you've been running on empty. The Grand Alliance along with the Zalan military has completely decimated most of your troops with holy magic and powerful gunpowder weapons. You have to make your make back to Aftermath mostly through hostile territory now since most of your recent conquests have been liberated. By the time you get to Aftermath you find it in ruins. It has been thoroughly raided by Velzix's elite demon warriors. You rush in to check on Catalina, but you find her ripped to shreds by demons. You cry out vowing revenge as you hold on to her body, but there will be no revenge for you. Your back is suddenly home to several stabbing blades. You attempt to turn around to face your attacker, and when you do your throat is slashed open. Clutching your throat you bleed out onto the floor before the vampire assassin completes the job and severs your head from your body.

The Grand Alliance is more unified and suffers less in-fighting (at least not on a violent scale) than Velzix's crew. You figure you should take them out first. "Catalina I think it's time to attack Grand Alliance and wipe them out once and for all." You say walking into her study. "Oh you do huh? Got a plan in mind of how to go about it? Because it's not going to be easy." "I figure the strongest link is the Zalan Empire. If we take them out, the rest of the Alliance will quickly fall apart and we can concentrate on Velzix." "Hmm, you make it sound so easy. I hope you know what you're doing." "Relax, I always know what I'm doing. Set it up and organize the troops, I'll be overseeing this one personally." Months pass and you make good progress. You begin taking town after town like an unstoppable juggernaut. However, when you reach you reach the Zalan Empire's borders you begin to face heavier resistance. The Grand Alliance combined with the full brunt of Zalan's own military is proving to be more troublesome than you anticipated. They've developed a lot more technological advances since the last time you were here. The cannons are really taking a toll on your corporeal troops. You slog on through, but eventually reach a stand still when you finally reach the gates of the Zalan capital. Your sister is overseeing the defense of Zalan's capital which might explain why you're having so much trouble. She is successfully countering every one of your plans. You've attempted to send a message to her, but you've yet to hear any kind of response You don't quite have enough strength to break through and you're starting to stretch yourself a little thin. Reports tell you that other civilized nations are sending military detachments to help and another Grand Alliance army is on the way. At this point you're either going to have to send for reinforcements yourself or retreat and regroup. > You retreat and regroup As much as you're loathed to do so, you decide it's better to retreat and fortify your recent conquests. You've still done much damage to the Grand Alliance. A month passes and you suffer counter attacks, and a few of your conquests get retaken, but for the most part you hold on to what you've acquired. Velzix takes advantage of the situation and decides to launch his own attacks on you and the Grand Alliance however, he's a little more successful having managed to conserve his own manpower and not being stretched out Catalina informs you that The Ghoul King has been itching to strike against the Vampire Clans and that he's going to do it, with or without your direct help. You're too preoccupied with your own problems to even argue or do anything about it. You tell her that he can do what he's gotta do. If he wants your help, Hessan and whatever pitiful army he can muster up is his to command. You don't care. Five years pass… It's been ten years since you took control of Aftermath and now it looks like that's all finally coming to an end. The Ghoul King's assault upon the Vampire Clans was a failure, though it was damaging enough for them to never again bother you again. You have to move some necromancers into the Drozz region to take command there, which stretches you out a bit, since you didn't need to worry about it so directly before, having the Ghoul King there and all. Over the years Velzix managed to build up much strength while you and the Grand Alliance fought a see-saw battle. Velzix manages to permanently open up a large portal to his home plane. He declares all out war on the entire world determined to turn it into the same hell he once called home. You heard your Dad's mercenary company attempted to stop him, but failed. The Grand Alliance is the first to fall. Already weakened by your previous attacks, they could not put up much of a fight against the hordes of demons. You hear that your sister defended the capital of the Zalan Empire much like she did during your siege, except this time she was less successful and died. You can only presume your Mom suffered the same fate, seeing as she lived there as well. You hope that the pair of them have gone some place better With the last bastion of "good" out of the way, Velzix turns his attention towards you. You won't go without a fight though. For every bit of land he takes, you make him pay for it in demon blood tenfold. It's no use though, the hordes of hell are without end and while the dead are certainly just as numerous, you're the only necromancer powerful enough to command epic armies of them and you are only one standing against hell itself. Aftermath is besieged and ultimately falls to demonic armies. Catalina is killed during the attack and you disintegrate her body before escaping through a portal to Drozz as you refuse to let it be desecrated by demon scum. You wage a guerilla war in Drozz for months, and you can't help but realize you've become much like the Ghoul King; hiding in a hole while demons take over the world. For awhile you actually have some peace as the demons soon outnumber their "enemies" and begin to follow their natural instincts of in-fighting and you're forgotten. When the next winter comes you're caught out in a heavy blizzard while foraging for food. You're not going to make it back to your hiding place. Exhausted, you fall in the snow thinking about the hell that the world has become and how you're partially responsible. Eternal sleep is welcomed. You embrace the blessed death that you once held mastery over.

Chapter 3: One Foot In The Grave One year has passed… It's hard to believe it, but it's been a year since you took control of Nuro…or rather Aftermath as you renamed it. The "Nuro Incident" as it came to be known was a shock to the civilized world. Nobody had anticipated such a thing occurring despite all preparations. Certainly not to Nuro given it's near "invincible" reputation. The Grand Alliance was immediately formed to retake the city, but fortunately for you, you weren't the only problem they had. Velzix, a demon lord who soon left Nuro during its attack, managed to unite the rest of the demons that felt the need to break their contract with the Dark Order turned their attention to the Tulan Kingdom. Right now he's established his own rule, enslaving the population and is most likely planning further conquest assuming he can keep his own troops from fighting each other long enough. Trelik the "other necromancer" has been rampaging across the countryside in a vain attempt to establish some sort of dominion of his own, but so far without any real allies he's yet to be successful. His actions have still kept the Grand Alliance and other governments busy however. As for you, you've already managed to hold off one Grand Alliance attack quite successfully due to your preparations. The first thing you did was command all the surviving Dark Order members to become necromancers. Some of them the more die hard demonologists hated this idea, so you gave them the option of taking their chances with Velzix or alone against the Grand Alliance. After being presented with these two undesirable prospects, they grumbled, but the rest soon fell in line. Catalina was mainly responsible for training them, given that she's the only other "true" necromancer in the city. You're glad of that as it saved you from having to do everything. Your relationship with Catalina's has improved mainly because you've proven yourself to be a competent leader that has managed to hold on to the city despite the odds. She still acts like she's not interested in you, but you catch an extended glance from her every now and then. Oh yeah she's definitely warming up to you. You haven't heard anything from your family, you can only wonder what they think of all this and in some ways you don't want to know. While things are somewhat quiet now, that's not going to last. The Grand Alliance will keep attacking and who knows how long they'll be distracted with Velzix and Trelik? They may very well overwhelm you in time, if the other threats are taken care of. You can't just sit in your throne room and prepare for the next attack; you'll need to be proactive about this threat. This of course this means conquest. Your standing army is stronger than ever right now and your powers in necromancy have grown considerably with the last year. You're confident that you could probably take over a small kingdom. Gaining more territory that your enemy can't use is usually a good way of making things harder for them. > You well maybe you better check up on all the players first (Background info) The dark path isn't an easy one and you've made (or rather inherited) lots of enemies besides the obvious ones due to what is now known as the "Nuro Incident". While you have many enemies, you realize you don't have too many allies. Just you, your city and a sexy female necromancer. Things could be worse! > You catalina and Aftermath You remember Catalina in your Enchantment class, but you were so busy trying to pass it, that you barely paid any attention to her. Good thing you didn't, otherwise you would've failed it. (Not that it really matters now!) You've gotten to know her better since then of course. She's a few years younger than you and grew up in the poor district of Nuro. Unlike you who had at least one loving parent, Catalina was an orphan. She did grow close to the kindly woman who ran the orphanage and took an interest in the woman's minor magical abilities to entertain the children. This interest along with her natural ability, lead to Catalina's path to become a magic practitioner. However when this kindly lady was killed by thugs in the night, all the orphans were cast out on to the streets. Most of them turned to criminal lifestyles for survival. Catalina on the other hand was interested in a little more than just mere survival. She still had a thirst for magic knowledge, she left the slums far behind and began to she lurk around Nuro's magic college, stealing books and trying to learn the secrets within. Even finding quiet places to practice minor spells. She was very isolated during these years and rarely interacted with others. Eventually she stole a book from Mr. Demar. A book on necromancy. The magic contained within was nothing like she ever saw before. The philosophy of it was different as well. It fascinated her, and she couldn't wait to practice it. Fortunately she was caught red handed by Mr. Demar before she could. Mr. Demar sensed that she had much potential, but lacked discipline, so he decided to take her as one his pupils for his Dark Order. He even paid for her enrollment of other classes to give her a sense of stability and routine. She would stay in the underground base of the Dark Order so she could learn to better work in a group. While all of this did make her a more organized person, she still never really connected with her peers. They were all a little older for one thing. She couldn't identify with the demonologists and saw little in common with her fellow necromancers. Trelik's arrogance and unwanted advances were a huge turn off. Sebastian and Irwin were okay, but seemed a little boring in the scheme of things. And while she appreciated Mr. Demar's "generosity" and respected his abilities, she still never completely trusted him. She's still pretty guarded around you, though she does respect your abilities. (Much like how she felt about Mr. Demar actually) She's a competent and moderately powerful necromancer. She tends to prefer to control small groups of elite undead troops rather than hordes of weak ones. She's a little more versatile than you, as she has skill in other forms of magic. (Some of which she's helped you at least be mediocre in) As she's the only one that's at least approaching your level of power and a true necromancer as well, you feel closer to her and trust her to be your second in command and when something important needs to be done and if you can't do it, you'll assign it to her. The former city of Nuro, now called Aftermath looks vastly different now of course, but you think it's for the better. Most of the "population" is dead and they go about their undead lives performing the same jobs they were typically doing before except now they never stop unless you command them to do something else. A few of the dead do have higher brain functions, letting them able to make simple decisions. These you typically put in charge of guard duty or similar minor roles. Your small group of necromancers takes care of any true "free will" undead problems by either corralling them, or bringing it to your attention to take care of it. Other than the necromancers, there are no other living creatures in the city, at least not sentient ones. You won't take the risk, at least not while Aftermath is your only holding.

The dark path isn't an easy one and you've made (or rather inherited) lots of enemies besides the obvious ones due to what is now known as the "Nuro Incident". While you have many enemies, you realize you don't have too many allies. Just you, your city and a sexy female necromancer. Things could be worse! > You trelik and Velzix You probably know Trelik the best out of all your enemies mainly because you were in the same class and he was jealous of your natural talent the whole time. There isn't too much to say about him other than he's sadly all too typical of most necromancers: obsessed with power, arrogant, and suffers from delusions of grandeur. Catalina's never liked him ever since he unsuccessfully hit on her before you had even joined the Dark Order. She liked him even less when he betrayed Mr. Demar. Right now he's rumored to have finally taken control of a little town in the Brot Kingdom. He's been holding out so far due to the weak military the Kingdom has, but it's unlikely he'd survive against the Grand Alliance. So while he's barely scraping together an army of dead peasants and dressed in smelly rags, you're easily controlling a necropolis of dead soldiers and get to even share the company of a beautiful woman. Nope he's got no reason to hate you at all… The former Tulan Kingdom has been turned into a hellish realm firmly under the grip of Demon Lord Velzix and his merry band of little demons. From reports you've heard, the Kingdom was much like Nuro when it was attacked, completely unprepared. Velzix knew exactly what locations to attack first and took great glee in ripping the royal family to pieces personally. Most of the Tulan population that wasn't killed (or able to escape) submitted to Velzix almost immediately. A few of the Dark Order that had fled Nuro during the attack have also found a home there, however Velzix has made it quite clear of who is the master and who is the servant and has done twisted things to them to make them never forget. (Hence why most of the demonologists that were still in Nuro, ultimately decided to follow you instead!) His army contains mortals (who were usually evil to begin with) and demons. So far he's left you alone, but obviously that doesn't mean you're friends. The Grand Alliance considers him to be at least as great a threat or possibly greater threat than you. The only thing that truly holds him back is the chaotic nature of his infernal buddies who seem to like fighting each other as well as their enemies. As it stands now, he's only just holding on to his realm and fending off Grand Alliance attacks. He's been unable to mount a real assault against any surrounding areas, though raids are typical. If he ever got organized he'd definitely be public enemy number one and that's something nobody wants.

The dark path isn't an easy one and you've made (or rather inherited) lots of enemies besides the obvious ones due to what is now known as the "Nuro Incident". While you have many enemies, you realize you don't have too many allies. Just you, your city and a sexy female necromancer. Things could be worse! > The Vampire Clans and The Grand Alliance Most of your knowledge of them comes from Catalina who being in the Dark Order longer had more information about them. The Vampire Clans from what you know live in a fortress run by Lord Rostov. This fortress' location is unknown and hidden by powerful magic. It is there where those few remaining vampires that have kept their faculties stay. (As opposed to the near mindless ones that lurk in holes in the wilderness) While groups of vampires may have been involved in their own political intrigues and agendas in the past, the term Vampire Clans now is somewhat of a misnomer since Lord Rostov has a firm command over the remaining vampires. It's basically a dictatorship more than a "council" where they all sit around discussing things. The term Clans is probably kept to just hold on to the illusion of former glory of freedom rather than the reality that they're all hiding in a secret fortress ruled by a tyrant. Despite their reduced power, they still can affect mortal affairs. Currently they are no doubt affecting these affairs to hinder you. The death of their delegate pissed them off pretty severely, not to mention they don't agree with the "high profile" necromancy in the first place. You received a letter by bat from them recently saying that your actions will not go unopposed by the Clans and that your days on this world are numbered. The self-professed "good guys" are made up of several civilized governments. The Zalan Empire (Your former home and where your family lives) is one of the main members of the Grand Alliance. Several races belong, each one bringing their unique skills to the mix. It's quite possible to see the clockwork automatons of the Dwarven Union fighting side by side with the silent monks of Elin. This arrangement only arises during times of great crisis such as the one you caused. Given that most living creatures have basic need to not want to die or become a walking rotting corpse (Or a slave to demons) the chances of you convincing them to leave you alone is extremely unlikely.

Victory isn't beyond your grasp, you just need to regroup and organize. You immediately seek out Irwin, Sebastian and Catalina. You find Sebastian and Catalina, and they're running low on viable corpses. "Hey, glad you could get here, the Nuro mage guards are putting up a hell of a fight! The demonologists can't keep the demons in line and whatever former graduates Mr. Demar had to help us are probably all dead by now!" Sebastian explains. "Yeah, it's bad all over. Where's Irwin?" you ask. "Irwin? He's dead; can't you see his body lying over there with all the arrows in it?" Catalina points out. "Well, no point in letting this go to waste, we need all the help we can get." You say and command Irwin to rise to join the rest of the horde You tell Catalina and Sebastian to hand control over the rest of their troops to you, as if you can concentrate them with a single mind, you'll be able to break the doors down of city hall and take out the remainder of the mage guards holding out there. You also tell them that one should head back to the college itself and go check on Quayle, and the other should go help out Mr. Demar. Oddly enough Sebastian and Catalina obey your orders immediately. You begin to feel even more confident in your power of command. You proceed to tell your now larger undead horde to attack the last bastion of Nuro's governmental control. You unleash blasts of dark energy at the mage guards who attempt to defend from the windows while your zombies and skeletons break down the doors and begin to massacre all those inside. You enter the building nearly oblivious to the carnage. You feel a very real sense of calming peace amongst the death. Eventually you encounter the "First Citizen" of Nuro busily trying to slay as many of your soldiers as possible, but as you continue to raise them, even he realizes it's a futile endeavor. A skeleton warrior hacks his arm off with an axe, and then a recently raised mage guard clubs him in the head with a small mace. He falls to the floor of his own office before your feet and looks up at you. "Why? You…you'll never get away with this…" he sputters as he bleeds out. "You might be right, but it'll be interesting to see if I do." You calmly say and kick him in the face before another skeleton lands a killing blow to him. He is then raised to join the ranks. You exit the building and notice that the city is near empty. At least as far as the living go. The dead however are plentiful, bodies litter the streets. More resources for you, you think. A demonologist looking very worn from battle sees you and you have to stop your small horde from attacking. "Hey hold on! I'm on your side! Shit, this didn't turn out as planned, did it?" "Oh I dunno, we got the city." "Yeah, but Mr. Demar is still battling the rest of the staff in the college and I'm really worried about what the hell's going on with Quayle's spell, I don't know if you've experienced it yet, but I've been seeing buildings phase in and out of existence. I knew fucking around with time would be trouble!" "Where are all of the demons?" you ask. "Most of them left! I mean there's a few that stuck around, most of the weaker variety. There was a major demon called Velzix who was supposed to be helping, but he took off as well. Bah! Unreliable lot they are. I should've done what you did, become a necromancer! The dead always obey." "Not always…but you may still fulfill your wish after all this is over, so where exactly are Mr. Demar and Quayle, I mean I know they're in the university, but where exactly?" "You can't miss either one of them, Quayle's located in east section of campus, where you see all the damn buildings phasing in and out. As for Mr. Demar, well I'm sure you can still hear the explosions. I'm going to try to corral at least some of the imps and help Mr. Demar, I'm not going anywhere near the eastside of the campus though. I'm off!" The demonologist runs to go do what he said, leaving you with a couple choices of proceeding. You could go try to fix this problem with Quayle since it won't do anyone any good if the city collapses on itself or disappears to gods know where, of course you don't know exactly what you're going to do, hell you've never even spoken to Quayle before. He was always kept locked up by himself in his room studying most of the time. Of course you could go help Mr. Demar, chances are he could solve the problem with Quayle a lot better if he survives. > You go help Mr. Demar You might be a competent necromancer, but you're leery about messing around with time. You better help Mr. Demar so he can better deal with the possible Quayle situation. You head towards campus where various explosions are taking place, it doesn't take long before you encounter Sebastian lying on the ground. You guess he attempted to help Mr. Demar and got killed for his troubles. "Damn, sorry about that." You say and then raise him to join your horde and hope Catalina is doing a better job with Quayle. You enter the administration building. Smoke, fire and body parts look all around. In the distance you hear shouting followed by magic blasts. "TRELIK YOU TREACHEROUS BASTARD!" "Ha ha! You're weak old man and I'm taking over this shit!" You order your undead horde to run ahead of you as you approach the sounds of battle. You turn the corner just in time for Trelik run into you, he's definitely caught off guard. "YOU! You little sycophant come to help teacher eh, well it won't…" You don't listen to his melodramatic speeches, you tell your horde to kill him and they do so easily given that he's heavily outnumbered and can't cast a spell quick enough. Mr. Demar arrives just in time to see the aftermath. "Damn, I was hoping to kill him myself. No matter, what's done is done now. Our enemies here are defeated. Most of the high ranking professors have been killed, I'm just looking for that cowering Dean. Have you secured the city?" "Yeah, I personally stormed city hall and slew the first citizen and all of his mage guards." "Ha ha! I knew you had potential!" Mr. Demar laughs and pats you on the shoulder. "Mr. Demar I think you should know something. Quayle's spell is becoming erratic, someone said buildings are starting to phase in and out of existence. I think Jasmine's over there, but I don't think she'll be able to handle what's going on." "Dammit, I'd hoped that Quayle was stable enough to…aaargh! Nevermind, I'll have to take care of this, because if his actions go completely wrong we're all dead. Since you seem to be good at killing high officials, you take care of the dean." Mr. Demar takes his leave towards the eastside of campus, leaving you to take out the dean. You're a little unsure of yourself, the dean of the university didn't get that way by being a push over. Though Mr. Demar did say he was cowering somewhere so maybe he's not that tough. You tell your undead troops to spread out and search the building. Along the way you see Felsa's body. Oh well, another follower for you… You begin to grow tired of searching mundane office after mundane office so it's a treat when you once again hear the sounds of battle and see the dean at the end of a corridor fighting off your horde. "Back, foul things!" The dean shouts casting a ray of pure light in the faces of many of your troops. He hasn't seen you yet so you take advantage and cast your own blast of negative energy into his side. He falls in pain, but returns fire which you barely dodge. He crawls out of your line of sight and behind a corner. "So Demar sends one of his students to take care of me, too cowardly to do it himself eh? It'll take more than a few skeletons and a neophyte necromancer to bring me down! Come and get me if you dare!" You have to kill him while he's still weak, if you let him regain energy he could possibly escape, or worse, kill you. > You raise more dead and march them down the corridor You decide the best way is to take the straight forward approach and just overwhelm the dean. You raise more nearby bodies and add them to your tireless horde. As they march down the corridor, you stand near the end of the corridor figuring, if the dean comes out to cast a fireball he won't get you. However you severely underestimated the dean. He does indeed come out from behind the corner again and he casts a very powerful version of chain lightning, it zaps through your troops, not really doing anything except halting them briefly and rattling their dead bones, however when the lightning reaches YOU, you feel the effects a lot more severely as every organ in your body is fried and your skin is charred black. You fall to the floor dead and your horde soon follows.

You might be a competent necromancer, but you're leery about messing around with time. You better help Mr. Demar so he can better deal with the possible Quayle situation. You head towards campus where various explosions are taking place, it doesn't take long before you encounter Sebastian lying on the ground. You guess he attempted to help Mr. Demar and got killed for his troubles. "Damn, sorry about that." You say and then raise him to join your horde and hope Catalina is doing a better job with Quayle. You enter the administration building. Smoke, fire and body parts look all around. In the distance you hear shouting followed by magic blasts. "TRELIK YOU TREACHEROUS BASTARD!" "Ha ha! You're weak old man and I'm taking over this shit!" You order your undead horde to run ahead of you as you approach the sounds of battle. You turn the corner just in time for Trelik run into you, he's definitely caught off guard. "YOU! You little sycophant come to help teacher eh, well it won't…" You don't listen to his melodramatic speeches, you tell your horde to kill him and they do so easily given that he's heavily outnumbered and can't cast a spell quick enough. Mr. Demar arrives just in time to see the aftermath. "Damn, I was hoping to kill him myself. No matter, what's done is done now. Our enemies here are defeated. Most of the high ranking professors have been killed, I'm just looking for that cowering Dean. Have you secured the city?" "Yeah, I personally stormed city hall and slew the first citizen and all of his mage guards." "Ha ha! I knew you had potential!" Mr. Demar laughs and pats you on the shoulder. "Mr. Demar I think you should know something. Quayle's spell is becoming erratic, someone said buildings are starting to phase in and out of existence. I think Jasmine's over there, but I don't think she'll be able to handle what's going on." "Dammit, I'd hoped that Quayle was stable enough to…aaargh! Nevermind, I'll have to take care of this, because if his actions go completely wrong we're all dead. Since you seem to be good at killing high officials, you take care of the dean." Mr. Demar takes his leave towards the eastside of campus, leaving you to take out the dean. You're a little unsure of yourself, the dean of the university didn't get that way by being a push over. Though Mr. Demar did say he was cowering somewhere so maybe he's not that tough. You tell your undead troops to spread out and search the building. Along the way you see Felsa's body. Oh well, another follower for you… You begin to grow tired of searching mundane office after mundane office so it's a treat when you once again hear the sounds of battle and see the dean at the end of a corridor fighting off your horde. "Back, foul things!" The dean shouts casting a ray of pure light in the faces of many of your troops. He hasn't seen you yet so you take advantage and cast your own blast of negative energy into his side. He falls in pain, but returns fire which you barely dodge. He crawls out of your line of sight and behind a corner. "So Demar sends one of his students to take care of me, too cowardly to do it himself eh? It'll take more than a few skeletons and a neophyte necromancer to bring me down! Come and get me if you dare!" You have to kill him while he's still weak, if you let him regain energy he could possibly escape, or worse, kill you. > You attempt to summon spirits You always meant to try this, but never got around to it. No time like the present… You concentrate and attempt to summon the spirits of the nearby dead to help you kill the dean. At first nothing seems to happen and you hear the dean killing more of your skeletons and walking corpses, but soon an eerie howl is heard. Several tormented ghostly beings rise up and you give them the simple order to kill. It takes a bit more concentration to control them, but you manage. The dean is surprised by the ghosts and fumbles with an appropriate spell, but isn't quick enough before they touch him and his life force begins to drain. Eventually he becomes a desicated husk and drops to the floor. "Damn that was cool." You giggle. Feeling totally pleased with your victory, you then remember Mr. Demar and Quayle's spell. You'd blocked it out of your mind during the battle, but you're hoping that's been resolved. You head towards the eastside of campus, and you see no disturbance, at least no buildings disappearing and reappearing. You do see Catalina standing by though; she sees you and waves you over. "Wow, you're back, I guess that means you killed the dean huh?" Catalina questions. "You sound surprised." "Hmm, I guess maybe I'm a little impressed." "What's going on?" "I dunno, I'm not sure myself, it was really weird. When I first got here I couldn't get to Quayle due to all the temporal disturbances, I was about to leave when Mr. Demar arrived, he told me to stand back and he would take care of this. He managed to walk straight into that gray building over there where I assume Quayle was. I saw Mr. Demar become a child, a rotting corpse and then revert back to his normal age before he got there. I then heard terrible noises within. I even saw some strange tentacled creatures come out of the building. I thought I was going to have to fight them, but then the entire mess just seemed to stop and there wasn't a disturbance anymore. I guess Mr. Demar won…but I haven't checked on him, I'm still hesitant about going near there." "Well I guess I'll go in then." You enter the gray building cautiously, you see a bunch of little centipedes crawling all over the place, some really slimy yellow ichor and just a general feeling of sickness. You've seen a lot in the Dark Order, but whatever happened here was really fucked up. You attention is turned to Mr. Demar who is on the floor…or rather IN the floor. Half of his body is embedded in the stone floor, you don't see how you can help him. "Shit! What the hell?" you exclaim. "Ugh…long story…look there isn't much time. (Cough) This take over has been a failure." "No it hasn't, we got the whole city, I killed the dean, and you stopped this temporal disturbance…" "I haven't stopped it, at least not permanently. The damage done was far too severe by the time I got here. Quayle's actions have ripped open a hole to a place you don't even want to know about. (Cough) I've temporarily patched it up, but who knows how long it will last. You better get out of here while you still can…I won't lie though, life for you is going to be rough. You'll be hunted when they find out what happened here and they WILL find out about you. They always do. Still, you may survive. You are powerful, maybe you'll be able to succeed where I failed…but I doubt it. Ugh…the odds…just too great…you want my last advice? Take that Catalina girl and have fun while you can." And with that last bit of advice Mr. Demar dies. Well this was a big downer. Here you thought you were ready to take on the world and then you find out all your actions have been for naught! Still, what does Mr. Demar know? He's dead! Perhaps you can find a way to fix the hole permanently or at least keep it patched. It seems folly to just abandon this city after having risked so much to gain it. Then again perhaps it would be better to follow Mr. Demar's advice. If you leave now, it might take awhile before your identities are discovered. Life on the run isn't going to be easy, but perhaps it won't be forever. > You take over the city You exit the gray building and approach Catalina, she looks at you expectantly. "So what're we going to do?" "We're taking over this city. From now on, it's you and me." You reply. Catalina is taken aback by your orders, given all of what has happened she senses that staying in the city wouldn't be the best plan. But she has no other allies. She has no idea of where to run. She will stick with you, if only because together you'll be a more formidable force when trouble surely arises. You and Catalina prepare yourselves for the trouble ahead… A month passes The Incident of Nuro has finally become well known knowledge. You and Catalina have managed to shore up the defenses of Nuro pretty well, all things considered. Some of the demonologists help out, but only because they have nowhere else to go and this is the safest place for them. You begin to instruct them to learn the ways of necromancy. You also manage to turn back a Grand Alliance army which didn't expect such a large resistance. The demons that left the city ran amok all over the countryside and took a particular interest in the Kingdom of Tulan under the guidance of Velzix, an arch fiend. Which is fortunate since it draws a little attention away from you. No signs of that "temporal hole" opening up again, but you tell some of your new acolytes to keep an eye on it. In the mean time nothing of importance is to be placed in that area. A year passes The Kingdom of Tulan has finally put the sword to every last demon infesting the area, which doesn't bode well for you since now you're the only "big evil" around now. The Grand Alliance attempts another siege of the city and once again they fail. You aren't confident you can hold out forever like this though, you attempt to claim that you have no plans for conquest, but your claims (true or not) go unheeded. They aren't taking any chances that you might build up. You and Catalina have at this point basically become "King and Queen" of the city. It's a logical pairing. Sometimes though it's more than just one of convenience. Your acolytes warn you about seeing strange things. Object temporarily disappearing. You begin to worry and unlock those old tomes that Quayle was reading hoping you can learn something. Another years passes You suffer two more attacks by the Grand Alliance. The last one lead by your own sister. You attempted to parley with her before battle, but she would have none of it. Indeed you received a letter from your Mom a month before the attack begging you to give yourself up. Of course you couldn't do that. You wrote her back with regret and told her that you shall probably not speak again. Your sister got farther than most, but in the end she died by your own hand. You didn't raise her. She was not deserving of such a fate. You burned her body instead and wished her well in the afterlife. How you wished that your Dad's mercenary company had been sent, but for whatever reason you have not heard anything from him. The coward. He knows you are more powerful and could easily crush him. The temporal disturbances are getting worse, and you're not learning anything new from Quayle's books, it's all just so damn confusing. You feel like you did when you were in school. Completely inept and helpless. Catalina tries to be understanding, but your behavior from reading the damn books is making you very erratic. She has to pick up the slack when you begin to make mistakes. Another year passes The temporal hole rips open once again. Horrible creatures come lurching out. You manage to fight them off, but the hole is getting bigger. Catalina insists that you both have to leave the city, but you're too far gone at this point, the books on temporal magic have begun to make you as mad as they did Quayle. (If without the talent) This is your city and you're bound and determined to hold it no matter what. She cannot endure anymore; she takes her leave of you one night…only to be killed by vampire assassins somewhere in the countryside. The Grand Alliance is preparing to attack again, more tentacle creatures are seeping into this reality. You don't care; you'll take them all on. You laugh insanely on your throne as the screams and unnatural howls fill the city. Battle and death is everywhere. You hear something coming up the stairs, and it's probably not Grand Alliance soldiers… "What was the point of it all? Nothing!" you laugh before being utterly destroyed.

You always meant to try this, but never got around to it. No time like the present… You concentrate and attempt to summon the spirits of the nearby dead to help you kill the dean. At first nothing seems to happen and you hear the dean killing more of your skeletons and walking corpses, but soon an eerie howl is heard. Several tormented ghostly beings rise up and you give them the simple order to kill. It takes a bit more concentration to control them, but you manage. The dean is surprised by the ghosts and fumbles with an appropriate spell, but isn't quick enough before they touch him and his life force begins to drain. Eventually he becomes a desicated husk and drops to the floor. "Damn that was cool." You giggle. Feeling totally pleased with your victory, you then remember Mr. Demar and Quayle's spell. You'd blocked it out of your mind during the battle, but you're hoping that's been resolved. You head towards the eastside of campus, and you see no disturbance, at least no buildings disappearing and reappearing. You do see Catalina standing by though; she sees you and waves you over. "Wow, you're back, I guess that means you killed the dean huh?" Catalina questions. "You sound surprised." "Hmm, I guess maybe I'm a little impressed." "What's going on?" "I dunno, I'm not sure myself, it was really weird. When I first got here I couldn't get to Quayle due to all the temporal disturbances, I was about to leave when Mr. Demar arrived, he told me to stand back and he would take care of this. He managed to walk straight into that gray building over there where I assume Quayle was. I saw Mr. Demar become a child, a rotting corpse and then revert back to his normal age before he got there. I then heard terrible noises within. I even saw some strange tentacled creatures come out of the building. I thought I was going to have to fight them, but then the entire mess just seemed to stop and there wasn't a disturbance anymore. I guess Mr. Demar won…but I haven't checked on him, I'm still hesitant about going near there." "Well I guess I'll go in then." You enter the gray building cautiously, you see a bunch of little centipedes crawling all over the place, some really slimy yellow ichor and just a general feeling of sickness. You've seen a lot in the Dark Order, but whatever happened here was really fucked up. You attention is turned to Mr. Demar who is on the floor…or rather IN the floor. Half of his body is embedded in the stone floor, you don't see how you can help him. "Shit! What the hell?" you exclaim. "Ugh…long story…look there isn't much time. (Cough) This take over has been a failure." "No it hasn't, we got the whole city, I killed the dean, and you stopped this temporal disturbance…" "I haven't stopped it, at least not permanently. The damage done was far too severe by the time I got here. Quayle's actions have ripped open a hole to a place you don't even want to know about. (Cough) I've temporarily patched it up, but who knows how long it will last. You better get out of here while you still can…I won't lie though, life for you is going to be rough. You'll be hunted when they find out what happened here and they WILL find out about you. They always do. Still, you may survive. You are powerful, maybe you'll be able to succeed where I failed…but I doubt it. Ugh…the odds…just too great…you want my last advice? Take that Catalina girl and have fun while you can." And with that last bit of advice Mr. Demar dies. Well this was a big downer. Here you thought you were ready to take on the world and then you find out all your actions have been for naught! Still, what does Mr. Demar know? He's dead! Perhaps you can find a way to fix the hole permanently or at least keep it patched. It seems folly to just abandon this city after having risked so much to gain it. Then again perhaps it would be better to follow Mr. Demar's advice. If you leave now, it might take awhile before your identities are discovered. Life on the run isn't going to be easy, but perhaps it won't be forever. > You leave the city You exit the gray building and approach Catalina, she looks at you expectantly. "So what're we going to do?" "We're getting out of here, and we're not looking back. From now on, it's you and me." You reply. Catalina is taken aback by your orders, but given all of what has happened she senses that staying in the city wouldn't be the best plan. She too has no other allies. She will stick with you, if only because together you'll be a more formidable force when trouble surely arises. You and Catalina leave the decimated city of Nuro behind you… A month passes The Incident of Nuro has finally become well known knowledge. A few demonologists attempted to run the hollow shell of the city, but severely lacked any sort of manpower, natural or unnatural to hold it. They were easily defeated when the Grand Alliance army came to retake the city. The demons that left the city ran amok all over the countryside and took a particular interest in the Kingdom of Tulan under the guidance of Velzix, an arch fiend. You and Catalina still remain unknown as far as being involved, but other members of the Dark Order that escaped are starting to be hunted down… A year passes The Kingdom of Tulan has finally put the sword to every last demon infesting the area. Most of the demonologist have been caught and hung for their crimes as well. Your name has also come up on the wanted list along with Catalina's. You both now keep to the rural locations; many times you have to fend off attacks from barbaric orc tribes. Fortunately your skills in necromancy protect you (as well as scare the hell out of the orcs) Despite the hardship (Or perhaps because of it) you and Catalina form a sort of relationship beyond one of just mutual protection. There are times when you forget that you're being hunted constantly. Two years pass Just like Mr. Demar predicted a temporal disturbance in the city of Nuro reappears again. Horrible creatures come lurching out creating a "Second Incident" before the time hole is repaired for good. However the city is evacuated due to mass insanity caused there and is considered a danger zone under observation by the Grand Alliance. Catalina is killed by vampire assassins during the night, you take vengeance, but it's too late for her. You weep for the first time in a long time. You briefly flirt with the idea of raising her…but you burn her body instead and carry on your path alone. And all you can think about is how tired you are… Two more years pass You hear them coming for you, there is no more running. This is your fate. To die in this cave. You don't even want to fight it anymore. You regret the day you set out on this path. Such is often the fate of a necromancer.

"Sure I'll go." "Very well, you and Felsa are coming with me. Trelik, you go brush up on the attack strategy." "But!" "No buts! Just do it!" Trelik storms off while you, Mr. Demar and Felsa head towards the conference room. When you arrive, you see a single pale emaciated figure. He doesn't look at all like the vampires you've heard of in past. There is no regality here. "It's about time you showed up. I must confess I was not enthused about you leaving me here waiting like a dog. We have very important matters to discuss!" he hisses. "My apologies Yolev. I just needed to take care of a few things. Please sit, and let us all discuss this." "There really is no discussion Mr. Demar! You are to cease your plan immediately lest you face the full brunt of the vampire clans! Your foolish mortal desires will kill us all and we cannot allow that to happen! We must continue to survive!" "Survive? Is that all you vampires worry about anymore? Why at one time you were secret rulers and puppet masters. Hell, without you the Great Lich Lord wouldn't have made nearly as much progress as he did." "And THAT folly of those ignorant vampires is exactly why we must stop you now. The Dead War cost us greatly, we should not have thrown our lot in with a mad man who was determined to bring death to the world. It was only at the last minute that the wiser of us realized to do so would be detrimental to us. Almost too late. We are only a shadow of our former selves, but that shadow is still long…and we can make life difficult for you." Yolev warns. "I don't respond well to idle threats, but I will say this, your fears are unfounded. The Dark Order is not seeking to bring death to the world, we are merely going to reestablish the proper order of things. The strong were meant to rule, and WE are the strong. Those who master the dark arts have always been strong. It is why we are so feared and hated and hunted. You should not be against us Yolev. You should see this as an opportunity to reestablish your rightful place as vampires." Mr. Demar's words have a slight effect on Yolev. He falls silent and looks almost wistful of ancient times, when his kind roamed more free in civilization, rather than hiding and cowering on the outskirts like animals. He quickly snaps out of it though. "Idealistic words, Mr. Demar, but even if we were still to use what little influence we still have, I cannot believe that you and a few students can change the world. Even if you manage to take this one city, you can't believe that you'll get away with it. You there! You're one of these students are you not? What do you think? And tell me what you TRULY think, not what Mr. Demar wants you to think." Yolev points to you. "Well uh…I think we can do it." You stutter off guard. "…You think you can do it? Is that all you have to say about it? This is what you're working with Mr. Demar? How could we ever place any faith in your plan when you're training near idiots that can barely form sentences?" "Yolev, you might be a delegate, but you best watch your tone, you're not in the best position right now, and given your previous threats you're already treading on dangerous ground." "You dare to threaten ME? I've crushed greater men AND women than you!" "Yeah, and now you're a running lap dog for some so called vampire king who rules over nothing but a few remaining scraps of a dying legacy." As this begins to get hostile, you notice Felsa preparing to cast something. You think that if you say anything, things are only going to get worse, so you stand back and do nothing, but hostilities don't cease and eventually Felsa casts a blast of fire at Yolev, he falls to the floor trying to beat out the flames, but Demar isn't pleased. "FELSA! WHY DID YOU DO THAT!?" he shouts and then finishes off Yolev by casting some sort of spell that causes his chest to explode. Two Imps suddenly appear and begin to rip Yolev apart before he can get a chance to recover. "The pair of you really fucked up today! You with your actions and you with your bumbling! I might as well had Trelik with me! Shit! (Sigh) Alright. Fine we can still do this, but the vampires are going to be pissed off at us now for killing their delegate and it's definitely going to make things harder. Come on we got a lot to prepare for." The last month is no picnic. Mr. Demar has you all training a lot harder than you have before. He's been pushing everyone a lot harder to the point that they're getting tired and sloppy. One of the demonologists gets eaten by a brimstone beast. Another accidentally casts a spell backwards and causes himself to be sucked into the infernal realm. Morale isn't exactly the highest. But the plan goes through and after the first week classes go back in session, the gates of hell are literally opened. Portals appear all over various parts of not only the campus, but also the city. Demons come swarming out of the portals gleefully killing all in their path. The demonologist lead the attack, while you and the other three necromancers take advantage of all the new corpses in the area. Soon, you have a fair sized army of dead. Mr. Demar himself is taking on the head professors at the college, with the help of Felsa and Trelik. Given the amount of explosions you're seeing from the streets, you're glad you got a "lower" assignment. All seems to be going well until it looks like the demons have decided to leave the city limits, one of the demonologists tries to corral them back shouting that they are supposed to only concentrate on Nuro, but they laugh and simply say: "You didn't mention that in the deal!" With the demons completely unreliable now, it's up to you necromancers to take up the slack. You do alright, but there's still a lot of resistance and something has gone wrong with Quayle's spell as your attackers are beginning to move at a normal rate instead of a slower one. You don't see this ending well, unless something changes quick. Even if you win, you know you got a shit load of problems ahead of you. > You run away Sensing impending doom, you decide your best course of action is to escape. You immediately take your undead horde and fight your way out of the city. You then attempt to put as much distance as you can between you and Nuro. You curse the day you decided to fuck around with the dark arts. Where are you going to go now? You have no idea, but you can't be seen walking around the countryside with a bunch of rotting corpses in tow. Quickly you dismiss your small army, which instantly collapses back to death and you run to the nearest settlement. You get to the town of Selawag, which is part of the Brot Kingdom. You enter an inn there with no problems. It would appear that the news of what's happened hasn't traveled here yet, but you know it won't be long. And then how long will it be before someone finds out that you were involved? You suppose it's possible that you could escape without suspicion, but it's unlikely. The hunters always find out. They always know. And life on the run, is what you have to look forward to now. You'll have to constantly move, and never rest. You prepare yourself for your new life… A month passes The Incident of Nuro has finally become well known knowledge. The take over was a failure, but the damage done was severe. A temporal disturbance in the heart of the city has made the entire area unstable as buildings phase in and out of existence. Two of the well known culprits Mr. Demar and Felsa were killed in battle. A third, Trelik escaped and is considered to be at large. Many of the Dark Order were either killed or went into hiding. Demons are running amok all over the countryside and have taken particular interest in the Kingdom of Tulan. A year passes The Kingdom of Tulan has finally put the sword to every last demon infesting the area. Necromancer Trelik was finally hunted down and killed after he was cornered in a small village that he'd turned into his own personal domain. Most of the demonologist have been caught and hung for their crimes as well. Your name has also come up on the wanted list along with the two remaining necromancers involved: Sebastian and Catalina. You now keep to the rural locations; many times you barely survive attacks from barbaric orc tribes. Fortunately your skills in necromancy protect you (as well as scare the hell out of the orcs) Two years pass Nuro has completely collapsed in on itself due to the temporal disturbance leaving nothing but a gaping hole there; a war breaks out in the nearby area. Sebastian took his own life as the Retlad Guard beat down his door. Catalina was found dead by an unknown assassin. Nobody knows who, but it wasn't by any government. You have a good idea though, considering you have been attacked several times by vampire assassins during the night. Two more years pass You hear them coming for you, there is no more running. This is your fate. To die in this cave. You don't even want to fight it anymore. You regret the day you set out on this path. Such is often the fate of a necromancer.

No way, you're not going down that path. There are too many stories about demons fucking people over in their deals. In fact, you're a little worried about the fact that this "class" has more dedicated demonologist than necromancers. Still you'll just have to deal with it for now, you can only hope they know what they're doing and have a better grasp on things than a certain cabal of wizards did during the Dead War. As for you, you need to start mastering your own branch of magic. When you get to the pits, you are literally surrounded by bones. You open up your book and begin to read a bit before casting your spell. Your first attempt isn't too bad. You animate one skeleton, and surprisingly it doesn't attack you. You continue to practice this, and while it's only been an hour, you've already animated thirty skeletons, all of which are completely obedient and not attempting to attack you at all. You're not sure if this is normal, good or bad for a beginner, but given how many problems you had with other branches of magic, you think you're doing pretty well. In fact you feel pretty proud of yourself. You decide to get a little more inventive and you see rusty weapons on the floor along with the bones. You command the skeletons to pick them up and begin to start sparring with each other. They do so, without problems. This sound of minor battle brings in a few of the students, most of whom are shocked. "What's going…whoa. I thought you said you never did this before." Sebastian says walking in. "I haven't…I dunno, it's just coming so easy to me. For the first time I feel like I'm actually good at something!" you say. "Well, it's a lot better than what you did in Enchantment class when you managed to charm all those frogs which then proceeded to attack the professor." Catalina says. "That was you? I even heard about that. Man, what is it with you and your spells accidentally hurting your professors in some way?" Irwin adds. You ignore Irwin's question, and address Catalina. "I thought I remembered you from somewhere. I asked you out once." "Hmm, yes and you were unsuccessful in that as well. I suggest you stop looking at me and pay attention to your little army there, before they get out of hand. Like that one." You turn around and stop one of the skeletons that's wandering in your direction and then command him to go back to sparring. "Man, I've never seen someone with this much control just starting out. Well Trelik comes to mind, but he was already very skilled in general magic and was learning directly under Mr. Demar. From what others have said, you were completely inept at magic and have no previous training in this stuff whatsoever. You're like an idiot savant of necromancy or something." Sebastian says. "Um…thanks. I think." "Well anyway, glad you've joined up. We'll leave you be. If you want to try something harder, there's more tomes in the study area and just ask one of us where the other practice centers are." And so it goes. You find your place among the Dark Order and practice your skills there, in fact it gets to the point that you rarely leave the secret underground base at all. You begin to catch the attention of Mr. Demar who is very impressed with your ability to learn and master so quickly. "Natural" isn't the word for it, more like prodigy. Trelik however is showing signs of jealousy… Mr. Demar has to tell you to take a break every now and then or else you'll drain yourself. You don't feel that way though, you feel like you have more energy than ever. As he promised your grades were "fixed" though Mr. Demar's actions meaning you don't get kicked out of the college. You tell your parents that you're taking an advanced course in magic that requires you to stay and how you're really excited about it. Your Mom is a little disappointed that she won't see you, but is happy to hear that you're doing so much better in school. If she only knew… The City of Nuro is a quieter place with less students around, but the guise of secrecy still must be kept. After a month has passed you find out that this "class" aren't the only allies Mr. Demar has. He's been teaching the dark arts for years and most of his "graduates" are living in this city. The attack is going to come when classes first start up again. Demar feels that it will actually be more beneficial to attack with more people in the city because after the demons are done with the killing, the Necromancers can raise the dead to reinforce the hold on the city. One key part in all of this is Quayle. He is to cast a slow spell of the greatest proportions over the city. While everyone else is moving at a near stand still, the Dark Order will be able to take over key locations much easier. While all of this sounds exciting you can't help but still be concerned about this plan. Mr. Demar is placing most of his faith in the demonologist, which you suppose is understandable given his background in conjuration, but you feel as if you necromancers are getting put on the backburner. Sure you're playing your part, but it almost seems as if you're just there as "back up". Not to mention you're still not keen on the whole idea of dealing with so many demons. Of course these concerns are the least of your problems as another month goes by, Trelik is becoming a complete asshole to you. Within the short time you've been here, he's time and time again attempted to sabotage your spells, but usually you manage to overcome. You've got a month to go before the final plans are in place, but suddenly Mr. Demar has some news he's not pleased to inform everyone of. "Class, we've got a delegate from the Vampire Clans. I don't think I have to tell you how annoying this is." You ask Sebastian what's the problem and what exactly is going. Sebastian tells you that ever since the clans heard about Demar's plans, they've been strongly opposed to them for they fear that it will draw attention to their one last stronghold which is kept invisible and secret to the rest of the world. It is there where the last of the "ruling" class vampires still exist, most of them having been killed or degenerated into little more than mindless beasts that are eventually hunted down. While you're fascinated by Sebastian's explanation of things, you're suddenly singled out by Trelik. "YOU! Do you find this so unimportant that you feel the need not to pay attention?" "No. I just didn't know the whole situation and I was asking…" "If you wanted more information you should've been asking Mr. Demar after he was done talking!" "Okay, okay. That will do Trelik. Someone should've explained it to him before actually, given that he'll be playing a large part in this plan. In fact, maybe he should come with me to meet the delegate instead." "But Mr. Demar! I have more experience in this sort of thing!" "True, but to be quite honest, the blood suckers don't care too much for you. You're too combative. So how about it? Do you wish to be present when I speak to this delegate?" > You decline "No that's okay." You say not wishing to cause trouble. Mr. Demar frowns a bit, but accepts your decision. "Very well, I guess you're with me Trelik, and for fuck's sake don't be so damn hostile this time. These matters have to be handled with care!" As they leave to the conference room, you go back to practicing your lessons. While you're in the middle of them you and the rest of the students soon hear some noise and the sounds of battle. "DAMN IT TRELIK IF YOU'RE GONNA KILL THE SONOFABITCH, AT LEAST GET IT RIGHT!" you hear Mr. Demar yell. You and a few of the other student go running toward the conference room, a figure runs at you in flames! He smashes into you wailing horribly setting you on fire as well, you can't get him off of you in time before you begin to burn up, but it hardly matters as Trelik soon comes to finish off the vampire delegate…and you as well with another fireball. "Sorry Mr. Demar, couldn't be helped."

Even though you're supposed to be a wizard in training, you spend as little time as possible in library if you can help it. Normally you just check out whatever you need to read for a class and leave. You have little faith in finding anything substantial on Necromancy in there, but maybe you can find something that will at least quell this thirst for knowledge on it. You realize you're treading on dangerous ground, but you have to try to learn more. The library is huge however, and you're unsure of where to look, it's not like there's a section on Necromancy or Outlawed Magic, but you figure you'll look in the History section first. You glance and browse through the stacks until you pick up a few choice books that look like they might contain something, sit down in a quiet corner and begin to read. Naturally you don't learn too much. The history books mainly go on about how bad the Dead War was, important battles, the atrocities of the Lich Lord, the typical stuff you've read time and time again. Still, you're determined to find something new. You spend hours reading until you realize you've spent the day in the library and that it's now night time. Oddly the library is mostly empty, and that's probably because finals are now over, one of which you've now undoubtedly failed. You think of how stupid you've been to obsess over an outlawed art that you probably wouldn't be any good at anyway! You've only been dwelling on the subject to ignore your own problems that you could've tried to solve yourself, instead of fantasizing about being some Necromancer. Raising the dead…what good would that do you? Delusions of grandeur. You wouldn't have enough motivation to try to take over the world anyway. There was only one person who truly motivated you, and she's gone. You begin to think about Serena and begin to feel sorrow like when you first lost her. You've had enough of death. You leave the library in a daze and head back home to sleep off this miserable day. You can't escape though; even your dreams bring death. You dream about Serena. At first she's alive and vibrant, and then suddenly she dies before your eyes. Then you see her grave with you sobbing over it and shouting how you demand that she not leave you. Then she rises from her grave…and you wake up only to come face to face with her! She is a ghost floating near your bed. "HOLY SHIT!" you shout and back up against your headboard. "Shhhh! Hush my love, I'm risking a lot just by being here." She says looking around as if someone is going to bust down your door any minute. "Serena, what's going on? This isn't a dream is it?" "No, my dear I assure you that I am very real. And I have a message for you." "A message?" "Yes, embrace death and all the beauty it has to offer." "You want me to kill myself, to join you?" Serena laughs a bit. "No silly, you are to become a necromancer and bring the purity of death to the world." "…yeah right. With my aptitude of magic, I doubt if I could raise a mouse skeleton." "You always did lack confidence in yourself. I suppose that's why they sent me to motivate you one last time. Though I admit, I would've come to see you anyway." "They?" Serena side steps your question and continues. "Look we haven't much time, but you HAVE the ability to become the greatest Necromancer since the Great Lich Lord who brought the world near the brink of extinction centuries ago, but you cannot do it alone…at least not yet. You must have allies. There are others like you on this campus who long to practice the dark arts. Seek them out and take over this college as your first step to your destiny." "What? Hold on! What makes you think I want to do all this?" Serena floats closer to you and touches your face with a ghostly hand. You feel completely calm. "Because deep down it IS what you want. You know your thoughts are dominated by death. You even think of me rather than living girls and I've been dead for years. The very fact that your mind played a part in summoning me here is also proof of your desire." "I miss you…" "I know you do, but my point is, even before I died I remember you having an interest in the dark arts. Indeed it's part of what attracted me to you. But now I must return and you must fulfill your part in this world, whether you succeed or fail at this endeavor will ultimately be up to you, but I believe you will succeed." Serena then floats a little closer to kiss you. "Farewell, my love." She says and then disappears. You're now wide awake and pacing the floor. You've been ambivalent about pursuing this path before, but the more you think about it and with this visit from Serena, this is the path you're going to choose. And why not? It's not like you have any better options in your life at this point. You're going to do it, and though Serena mentioned others like you being on campus, you're damned if you have a clue to as of knowing who they are since you don't really socialize. Still, you can think of two people that could get you started. (Or at least not rat on you, when you start inquiring about Necromancy) The next day you take your first steps towards darkness… > You go talk to the demon, Big Red Chapter 2: Hellbound Serena's advice might've pointed you in the right direction, but as far as you needing the help of others you're going to take a pass on that. You don't need anyone else except yourself. That's the way it's been for a long time and that's the way it's going to stay. That leaves you to go where various other students have gone when they want to get something illegal and keep it to themselves. "Big Red". Technically Big Red isn't actually all that big, in fact for a demon he's probably on the smaller size, but like most demons he likes to think he's very important. Big Red typically hangs around in the seedy parts of Nuro, but he also hangs around the park area on campus late at night. His presence in Nuro is barely tolerated, but he's been known to acquire things for high ranking officials and provide important information that is beneficial to Nuro security. Oddly for all his mercenary criminal behavior he's tight lipped for a demon and will only tell on someone if asked directly and only then for the right price. Given how low profile you are, it's unlikely anyone's going to ask about you, let alone what for. Chances are if anyone does see you with Big Red they'll just think you're another college student looking to get high. You wait until night and then stalk the campus park area looking for Big Red, but instead he finds you, catching you off guard. "Y'know you'd look less guilty if you weren't lurking around like a damn dark elf assassin. Haven't seen you around before, I guess that explains why you're coming to me AFTER finals are over. Most students come and get the answers before hand y'know." "You sell those? Damn, I didn't have to fail my nature test final after all." "I could probably fix that too, for a price of course." "…maybe, but what I'm looking for is uh…a little different." "Ah, so high exactly do you want to get?" "No, not that…" "Well, I'm not selling sex slaves if that's what you're looking for…well at least not here." "No! I'm looking for something different!" Big Red gives you a strange look. "Okay, what kind of freak are you exactly then?" "I'm looking for something on Necromancy." Big Red throws you up against a tree when you make that remark and begins to whisper to you in a harsh tone. You can feel (And smell) the brimstone emanating from his breath. "You fucking little mortal pissant, you trying to get me killed? I don't sell that shit! Get the fuck outta here!" he says before throwing you on the ground and walking away. Now it may be that he's telling the truth, but he may be more worried that you're trying to set him up. You're determined to find out regardless of the consequences. You run back to him, but stay out of his immediate range. "Look, I know you're a guy who can get a hold of lots of things and I also know you're available for a price. I'm not a spy, I'm not gonna rat you out, I'm not working for anyone, I just have a…need…" Big Red turns back towards you and walks in your direction, you think he's going to attack and you nearly run, but chances are he'd catch you first anyway. He's looking around in all directions and speaking in a low tone. "Alright. Look. Since you're obviously new and not hip to how this works, I'm inclined to believe you're not working for someone. Someone undercover wouldn't be so obviously clueless as you seem to be, at least not to catch the likes of me. Plus I can sense the darkness around you…it's a neat ability we have and again let's us tell who's a goody two shoes and who isn't. You don't seem to be either though just yet. You seem to be more confused and curious than anything which is almost as bad." "So you can't you help me?" "It's not that I can't, it's whether I should. This isn't selling you some Hobgoblin Hashish so you can go get high and wind up naked the next morning with a Dwarf in your ass." "Um…what? Excuse me?" you stutter at Big Red's odd scenario outcome. "This is serious shit, if word got around that I was selling information on the Dark Arts, let alone books on it, my ass would be strung up and killed. And to have some dumb ass college student fucking around with something as dangerous as that is asking for trouble since YOU'RE probably going to get yourself caught, which will then lead to possible questions before they kill you…which can then link to me. And that can't happen." "I'm not going to get caught." "Hah! Heard that one before from people getting busted for less. I dunno, I don't see you as a good risk and even if I did consider this request my price would be VERY high and I don't see you as having that kind of money to spend." Big Red's denials of your request are actually making you want what he has even more. You KNOW he can help you. In fact you're beginning to get irritated. Why the hell is he denying you this? He's a fucking demon who sells illegal shit! He shouldn't care at all! You're desperate for his help though so you tell an outlandish lie. "Look my parents are rich! I can get the money for you, just gimme your price and I can get it…it might take me awhile, but I can get it." "Oh you can huh? Alright then I'll play your game. He's my price." Big Red pulls out a little pad of paper and pencil and writes something on it and then hands it to you. You read the astronomical price while Big Red's face turns into a smug demonic grin. He probably did that for dramatic effect. There's no way you can pay this, even if you somehow managed to convince your parents to give you money to support your grossly illegal studies in necromancy. You're not going to let it stop you though. "Wow…that is high…okay. I can get this, but it'll take me a few days." You say feigning a mixture of shock, but calmness too. Big Red himself looks surprised that you agreed. He begins to write down something on his pad again and gives it to you. "Well alright money bags, we got a deal. You come meet me at this time and location in a week. If you ain't there, then you can forget about coming to see me for anything ever again. If you come and you don't have the money…well I don't think I need to stress how bad that would be. So my advice is if you don't have it, don't show. See ya." "Hey wait, you said you can fix my grade too." You suddenly remember. "Don't you think you've spent enough money tonight? Alright then maybe you ARE made of gold after all, so what's the class?" "Nature magic." "Oh yeah, you said that. Yeah, that's definitely doable, mainly because the professor is, I just need to slip the deviled ham into her and she'll be willing to pass anyone." "I thought she was a lesbian." "Feh, not when it comes to Big Red. It ain't just a name ya know. Alright, my price for this task is two hundred gold pieces. Normally I might charge less, but hey you got the money right?" Indeed, but you don't have much now after forking it over to Big Red. You were hoping the gold you brought was going to go towards a necromantic tome, but instead it's just going to cheating. "Thanks, and as appreciation for your generous business tonight, I think I'll go take care of that grade situation of yours right now, if I'm lucky maybe she'll have one of those little elven bitches with her. Ha ha!" As Big Red leaves you, you head back to your apartment to scheme for the rest of the week. You go through a wide variety of emotions: fear, anger, desire, anxiety, obsession, etc. None of it really means anything though since you don't really have too much in the way of choices now. You're either going to have to kill Big Red when you go to meet him, or just forget about this necromancy stuff and go home for vacation. > You kill Big Red While all the other students are on their way home for vacation, you're planning a murder… You're in this all the way now. You've decided that you can't live life as you have been. You have to take this chance, regardless of the consequences. You're just wondering how the hell you're going to go about killing Big Red. He's not going to be a push over and is probably more than a match for most college students, let alone one who can barely cast spells competently in first place. Still, you must try. You get one of your oversized back packs and begin stuffing it with rocks. The only plan you have is when he asks to see the money, you'll tell him you got it in gemstones, throw it at him to catch it and then unleash a blast of lightning in his face. After that you're going to hope for the best. You head down to the location given to you by Big Red. Even though Nuro is a prosperous city, it still has its "bad parts" and right now you're walking in one of them. You half expect to get mugged by orcs at any moment; you almost wish your sister was with you. Eventually you get to the location, you're already nervous about all this and walking through this neighborhood just made you more so. However, this dilapidated house that you're currently standing in front of looks like its shown signs of battle recently. The door is smashed open and there's a whiff of charred flesh coming from the broken windows. "Heeeeeey….(hic!) youz ain't goin' in dere is ya?" some drunken goblin lying by some trash cans nearby utters. "This is Big Red's house isn't it?" "(hic!) Nope, his girlfriend lives here, well one of 'em anyway." "What happened here?" "Shit. (hic!) Fuck if I know. I was passed out for most of it, but I heard some screams a couple of magic blasts and well…(hic!) a whole buncha shit really." "Is Big Red in there?" "Dunno, I think I heard his voice…didn't sound good either. (hic!) Guess it all caught up to him. Here's to Red! Demon Bastard! (hic!) Hope dey didn't kill his pretty little girlfrien' doh. She was swee-eet!" the goblin says and takes another drink out of his pocket. "Nobody's come out here, to investigate?" "Har har! Datsh a good one boy! Come out here? Man those mage guards like us poor folks killing each other. Ain't nobody gonna show up here probably for like a few days. (hic!) fuckin…no good (mumble mumble)" As the goblin wino lapses back into an alcoholic coma, you cautiously enter the house. The house is a wreck. Though you get the impression it wasn't a palace to begin with. You look on the floor and see Big Red. You also see him on the walls and even the ceiling. Whoever wanted him dead, made sure of it. Of course this doesn't exactly help you get what you wanted to get from him. Not knowing what else to do, you begin to search the house, but you're not finding too much, but for some reason you sense you aren't completely alone in this house. Someone is still here. You stand completely silent and listen carefully, then you see a blood trail leading to the bedroom closet… "Alright, I know someone is in the closet, I can hear the stifled cries. Just come out, and I won't hurt you. I just want to know what happened to Big Red and some information." You shout. The closet slowly opens and you see a young human woman crawl out, she's hurt badly and you don't think you can help her in time. She looks up at you with tears in her eyes. "I've nothing more to give…they've taken everything…I am dead…I have nothing else…" she sobs. "Who came? What's going on?" "That damn college professor and his Dark Order that's who! Mr. Demar! He and Big Red have had dealings for years in forbidden tomes and the dark arts. Well Mr. Demar said since their business was nearly at an end he demanded that Big Red just hand over all the rest of his collection. Violence soon followed. It was horrible what they did… I only lived this long by playing dead (sob)…but then I just wanted to crawl into a dark place and die." This bit of information is very interesting, but you still have to figure out how it can serve you. "What does Mr. Demar have planned?" "I don't know! Something about restoring the rightful place of those who practice the dark arts. I don't care! They took my whole life away! Maybe it wasn't much, and maybe Big Red was a demon asshole…but I loved him and in his way, he loved me! I'll never know!" the girl cries. You feel slightly bad about coming here to try to kill Big Red now. This girl's feelings while most likely misguided seem to be genuine. Just proving that even the lowliest of scoundrels can be loved. Your mind briefly thinks about Serena before addressing this situation again. "Okay, look shhhh. I'm sure Big Red probably did love you. He was a demon though, you know he had to put on a show and act tough." You say. "…(sniff) yeah…You're absolutely right. You are right….mmm I'm sleepy…" She says as her eyes begin to start closing. "Hold on, before you go to sleep, I need to know something. Big Red was holding a book for me too, a book on necromancy. I was coming to pay him and pick it up here. It sounds like Mr. Demar was trying to rip the both of us off and that ain't no way of doing business. I mean to get revenge on the lot of them that killed Big Red, but I'll need the help of that book, you don't happen to know where it is, do you?" "…oh…yeah, you must be the one that Big Red briefly mentioned before they came…I dunno, they searched the house, maybe they got it, but it would be in a small hidden floor safe behind the toilet. Ha ha…nobody searches behind a toilet Red used to say…I love you Big Red…" The girl says and then closes her eyes and stops breathing. Poor girl, you think as you leave her to search the bathroom. You curse as soon as you look behind the toilet and see a small panel open. You're so frustrated you nearly miss the false bottom of the safe… Jackpot. You pry up the false bottom and greedily grab the tome you were looking for, in fact there are a few other books there too, but you only keep the necromantic ones, and destroy the rest as you have no interest in demon summoning. (And not going to let anyone else use them either!) You pour out the rocks in your backpack and place the books inside; you're now ready to go back home. Or are you? In your last minute peruse you search the remains of Big Red, and as luck would have it, you find his infamous pad and paper still somewhat intact. You briefly glance through it and make out one other address, not too far from here. It could be his real home or maybe just another place where he stashed stuff. Either way it could be lucrative. > You go back home You head to your apartment where you study your acquired books until morning and then sleep for the entire day. When you wake up you write a letter to your family saying that you're going to be staying at Nuro for vacation since you have some extra curricular studying to do and a big opportunity could be opening up. You mostly study your necromantic books and absorbing the knowledge within. You keep up with local news and the deaths of Big Red and his girlfriend are barely mentioned. You gather that you're in the clear. Next week you get a letter in return from your Mom who says she's disappointed you won't be coming to visit, but pleased that you're doing well and your grades are back up. (At least Big Red came through for you on the nature magic thing before he died) She also mentions how proud she is of you. If she only knew… A month passes and you've almost finished the books you acquired, but you haven't been able to do any practicing which is something you desperately want to do. You feel like you got all this power within you and you're being forced not to use it. You're so hot on raising some corpses you're on the verge of doing something rash. You ponder going to the local graveyard which is really risky given that there are always guards on duty and magical monitors in place to prevent such things from easily occurring. Your other alternative is to kill someone and then raise them. > You go to the graveyard The city isn't as busy now since most of the students have left, so maybe you won't have too many problems. Initially all goes well. You sneak into the graveyard at night, managing to avoid the guards. You then break into one of the mausoleums where you hope you can find some easily accessible coffins. You shut the door and pry open one of them trying to be as quiet as possible. The skeletal remains inside are calling to you. You take out your book and begin to cast your spell and within no time at all the skeleton inside begins to rise. Success! And it barely took any effort at all. You were born for this! You open up another nearby coffin and raise another one. Two skeletons! You're controlling two at a time with no problems! You're positively euphoric. Of course you've been making a lot of noise. Noise that one of the guards hears and comes to investigate, when he sees the door lock broken and opens it, he sees you. "NECROMANCER!" he screams and runs away! You don't care that you've been caught though. You're ready to show the world what you're really made of! You begin the chant and cast, and all that other stuff you've been reading about. You're going to raise an army to swarm this city and take it over! None shall oppose you! And if Mr. Demar gets in your way, you'll crush him too! Soon you're raising the dead from their graves, and even though you're a "natural" at this, you're still shy of practice so you have a bit of a hard time controlling so many. By the time you reach the hundreds, you're losing control over most of them and you have to leave the graveyard to save your own life. You march down the street with the dead horde you do have control over causing havoc on a small scale. You have some fun reveling in the terror you're bringing, but it is short sighted and not to last. The Nuro mage guards soon arrive on the scene and they don't fuck around. They use every spell against you, destroying entire blocks in an effort to bring you down. It is at this point you realize that you've handled this poorly. When you've lost your last corpse, you attempt to run away only to bump into a few of the dead that had wandered away from your control. In a kind of ironic justice, you are killed before you can reestablish your dominance over them.

You head to your apartment where you study your acquired books until morning and then sleep for the entire day. When you wake up you write a letter to your family saying that you're going to be staying at Nuro for vacation since you have some extra curricular studying to do and a big opportunity could be opening up. You mostly study your necromantic books and absorbing the knowledge within. You keep up with local news and the deaths of Big Red and his girlfriend are barely mentioned. You gather that you're in the clear. Next week you get a letter in return from your Mom who says she's disappointed you won't be coming to visit, but pleased that you're doing well and your grades are back up. (At least Big Red came through for you on the nature magic thing before he died) She also mentions how proud she is of you. If she only knew… A month passes and you've almost finished the books you acquired, but you haven't been able to do any practicing which is something you desperately want to do. You feel like you got all this power within you and you're being forced not to use it. You're so hot on raising some corpses you're on the verge of doing something rash. You ponder going to the local graveyard which is really risky given that there are always guards on duty and magical monitors in place to prevent such things from easily occurring. Your other alternative is to kill someone and then raise them. > You kill someone You were planning on killing Big Red and he was a demon, you think you'll be able to handle killing someone else that's less formidable. You head back to the seedy part of Nuro at night. There are plenty of winos and ladies of the evening you can kill and then practice on. You enter the alleys like some common murderer and begin to do your dirty work on those unfortunate enough to be in the general area. You typically drag these victims into some abandoned building and cast your spells. You do this over the course of a month before one night while you're raising another prostitute you're walked in on by some common thugs who were using the building you were in as a hide out. "Oh shit! That's Tina! I wondered what happened to her, she was my favorite whore!" "And that's a fucking necromancer! Let's get outta here!" "Fuck that, I don't back down from shit!" You order your dead whore to attack one thug and then blast another with a beam of negative energy. The last one escapes screaming about a necromancer. "Well, I guess it's time to play…" you giggle and raise the two thugs to join you. You march through the slums killing everyone; it's all so easy for you. You don't feel a challenge; your dead horde just grows as you fill its ranks with the poor. You aren't even fatigued, you feel invincible and you're now determined to bring death to the entire city. No one can oppose you and if Mr. Demar and his Dark Order tries too, they'll get the same, for you're going to be the head necromancer in this city! Soon your horde is numbering in the hundreds and you've drawn the attention of Nuro's mage guards at last. They do everything in their power to stop you, even leveling entire blocks to get to you. It's at that point you realize you might be in over your head. You continue to fight however, you refuse to give up, but the odds are too great, and eventually a single sniper on a rooftop with a crossbow takes aim and pieces your skull, putting an end to your petty desires of conquest and your necromancer career.

While all the other students are on their way home for vacation, you're planning a murder… You're in this all the way now. You've decided that you can't live life as you have been. You have to take this chance, regardless of the consequences. You're just wondering how the hell you're going to go about killing Big Red. He's not going to be a push over and is probably more than a match for most college students, let alone one who can barely cast spells competently in first place. Still, you must try. You get one of your oversized back packs and begin stuffing it with rocks. The only plan you have is when he asks to see the money, you'll tell him you got it in gemstones, throw it at him to catch it and then unleash a blast of lightning in his face. After that you're going to hope for the best. You head down to the location given to you by Big Red. Even though Nuro is a prosperous city, it still has its "bad parts" and right now you're walking in one of them. You half expect to get mugged by orcs at any moment; you almost wish your sister was with you. Eventually you get to the location, you're already nervous about all this and walking through this neighborhood just made you more so. However, this dilapidated house that you're currently standing in front of looks like its shown signs of battle recently. The door is smashed open and there's a whiff of charred flesh coming from the broken windows. "Heeeeeey….(hic!) youz ain't goin' in dere is ya?" some drunken goblin lying by some trash cans nearby utters. "This is Big Red's house isn't it?" "(hic!) Nope, his girlfriend lives here, well one of 'em anyway." "What happened here?" "Shit. (hic!) Fuck if I know. I was passed out for most of it, but I heard some screams a couple of magic blasts and well…(hic!) a whole buncha shit really." "Is Big Red in there?" "Dunno, I think I heard his voice…didn't sound good either. (hic!) Guess it all caught up to him. Here's to Red! Demon Bastard! (hic!) Hope dey didn't kill his pretty little girlfrien' doh. She was swee-eet!" the goblin says and takes another drink out of his pocket. "Nobody's come out here, to investigate?" "Har har! Datsh a good one boy! Come out here? Man those mage guards like us poor folks killing each other. Ain't nobody gonna show up here probably for like a few days. (hic!) fuckin…no good (mumble mumble)" As the goblin wino lapses back into an alcoholic coma, you cautiously enter the house. The house is a wreck. Though you get the impression it wasn't a palace to begin with. You look on the floor and see Big Red. You also see him on the walls and even the ceiling. Whoever wanted him dead, made sure of it. Of course this doesn't exactly help you get what you wanted to get from him. Not knowing what else to do, you begin to search the house, but you're not finding too much, but for some reason you sense you aren't completely alone in this house. Someone is still here. You stand completely silent and listen carefully, then you see a blood trail leading to the bedroom closet… "Alright, I know someone is in the closet, I can hear the stifled cries. Just come out, and I won't hurt you. I just want to know what happened to Big Red and some information." You shout. The closet slowly opens and you see a young human woman crawl out, she's hurt badly and you don't think you can help her in time. She looks up at you with tears in her eyes. "I've nothing more to give…they've taken everything…I am dead…I have nothing else…" she sobs. "Who came? What's going on?" "That damn college professor and his Dark Order that's who! Mr. Demar! He and Big Red have had dealings for years in forbidden tomes and the dark arts. Well Mr. Demar said since their business was nearly at an end he demanded that Big Red just hand over all the rest of his collection. Violence soon followed. It was horrible what they did… I only lived this long by playing dead (sob)…but then I just wanted to crawl into a dark place and die." This bit of information is very interesting, but you still have to figure out how it can serve you. "What does Mr. Demar have planned?" "I don't know! Something about restoring the rightful place of those who practice the dark arts. I don't care! They took my whole life away! Maybe it wasn't much, and maybe Big Red was a demon asshole…but I loved him and in his way, he loved me! I'll never know!" the girl cries. You feel slightly bad about coming here to try to kill Big Red now. This girl's feelings while most likely misguided seem to be genuine. Just proving that even the lowliest of scoundrels can be loved. Your mind briefly thinks about Serena before addressing this situation again. "Okay, look shhhh. I'm sure Big Red probably did love you. He was a demon though, you know he had to put on a show and act tough." You say. "…(sniff) yeah…You're absolutely right. You are right….mmm I'm sleepy…" She says as her eyes begin to start closing. "Hold on, before you go to sleep, I need to know something. Big Red was holding a book for me too, a book on necromancy. I was coming to pay him and pick it up here. It sounds like Mr. Demar was trying to rip the both of us off and that ain't no way of doing business. I mean to get revenge on the lot of them that killed Big Red, but I'll need the help of that book, you don't happen to know where it is, do you?" "…oh…yeah, you must be the one that Big Red briefly mentioned before they came…I dunno, they searched the house, maybe they got it, but it would be in a small hidden floor safe behind the toilet. Ha ha…nobody searches behind a toilet Red used to say…I love you Big Red…" The girl says and then closes her eyes and stops breathing. Poor girl, you think as you leave her to search the bathroom. You curse as soon as you look behind the toilet and see a small panel open. You're so frustrated you nearly miss the false bottom of the safe… Jackpot. You pry up the false bottom and greedily grab the tome you were looking for, in fact there are a few other books there too, but you only keep the necromantic ones, and destroy the rest as you have no interest in demon summoning. (And not going to let anyone else use them either!) You pour out the rocks in your backpack and place the books inside; you're now ready to go back home. Or are you? In your last minute peruse you search the remains of Big Red, and as luck would have it, you find his infamous pad and paper still somewhat intact. You briefly glance through it and make out one other address, not too far from here. It could be his real home or maybe just another place where he stashed stuff. Either way it could be lucrative. > You go to the address Thirsting for more possible knowledge you head to this new address. This time you're not in a residential area and more in a warehouse district, still not a safe area though. When you get to the warehouse, once again the signs of battle abound, except this time it would appear that you arrived in the middle of one still going on. "Don't just stand there, the fucking thing, damn it!" "Shit! Thing's too fucking tough!" "Well summon another…arrrggh!" You enter cautiously and see a huge stone golem battling a couple people in robes. One lies on the floor dead. Given the dead imps that also litter the room, they're probably demonologist. Some of Mr. Demar's no doubt. You stand back and watch the battle from the shadows, staying hidden the whole time. While keeping an eye on the battle you take out one of your necromantic books and quickly glance through it. You come across a spell that allows you cast a bolt of pure negative energy. It seems pretty easy, so you decide to try it. You come out from behind the boxes you were using as cover and blast the golem in the face with a powerful beam of dark energy. Its head explodes into several stone pieces, but it doesn't stop. Such a hit will not automatically kill a creature like this. The demonologists look surprised to see you and even more surprised when you bark orders at them. "Get it now! While it's blind! Take its legs!" you shout. They do exactly what you say and cast super hot blasts to the golem's knees burning right through them, causing the rest of it to collapse and shatter. It's definitely dead now. "Whew! Good thing you came along. When Mr. Demar sent us to search this address we didn't expect to encounter a golem guard. How did he know to send help?" one of the demonologists asks. "He didn't." you say and blast him. "Hey…" is all the other manages to utter before you blast him as well. You're now left alone in a warehouse with multiple dead bodies, and as a certain goblin wino once said, the mage guard probably won't be coming around here anytime soon. You see this as a perfect opportunity to practice some REAL necromancy. You open the page to the appropriate spell and begin the cast it. Soon one of the dead demonologists begins to rise. It doesn't even take you much effort to control him. It's very easy actually. You've never had such an easy time at any kind of magic before, but this feels so right to you. You summon the second one and then the third one. You command them to do various things for you just to see how well you can control them. It barely takes you any concentration at all. You spend the rest of the night practicing, before making a search of the place which as it turns out contains nothing, but banned pornographic writings. You then head to your apartment where you sleep for the entire day. When you wake up you write a letter to your family saying that you're going to be staying at Nuro for vacation since you have some extra curricular studying to do and a big opportunity could be opening up. You mostly study your necromantic books and absorbing the knowledge within. You keep up with local news and the deaths of Big Red and his girlfriend are barely mentioned, and nothing is mentioned of the warehouse. You gather that you're in the clear. Next week you get a letter in return from your Mom who says she's disappointed you won't be coming to visit, but pleased that you're doing well and your grades are back up. (At least Big Red came through for you on the nature magic thing before he died) She also mentions how proud she is of you. If she only knew… A month passes and you've almost finished the books you acquired. You can't really do too much practicing though, which is something you desperately want to do again. You know you've got all this power within you yet you can't use it. The problem is dead bodies aren't exactly something you can just come across. Oh sure you could go to the graveyard, but that would most likely attract a ton of attention given that most of them are always monitored to prevent such things from easily happening. You wonder if you should approach Mr. Demar and join his Dark Order. While you typically don't work with groups, but if it gets you some practice maybe it would be worth joining. Plus you'd get to find out what's going on with all that, since it seems like something you should worry about. Then again large groups tend to get targeted first. So maybe you could try summoning spirits. It's not like they're as obvious. Though from what you've read controlling such incorporeal dead requires more experience and you haven't been able to practice a lot. > You join the Dark Order As they say there is strength in numbers. You head over to the campus to seek out Mr. Demar. You figure he'll be in his office. You knock and he tells you to come in and shut the door behind you. When you do, he's surprised to see you. "Hello. This is bit of a surprise. You took my class two semesters ago and I would've thought that you'd be on vacation now instead of here. So what brings you to my office?" You decide to get straight to the point. "Mr. Demar, I want to join the Dark Order. I'm skilled in necromancy and I want to learn more. I think I'd make a worthy addition to your class." Mr. Demar says nothing for a minute and just studies you before speaking. "I see, and how do you know that I am the head of such an…organization." "Well, uh I've heard rumors that's all…" you quickly say. "Rumors eh? Such rumors going around about me would be very dangerous to my well being. Hope this isn't a common rumor." You're silent to this statement, as you're unsure of what to say. Mr. Demar continues for you though. "And tell me, if I was head of such an organization, you say I would want you? How is it that you are skilled in the ways of necromancy? How have you managed to train? Do you have access to the dead and possession of necromantic texts? How did you come across such things?" "Well uh…I don't like to mention this…but I have an ancestor who served under the Great Lich Lord and a couple of books of his have been in my family's possession for centuries." "Well now, necromantic tomes from the era of the Great Lich Lord himself! I am impressed. And you say you had an ancestor who served under him eh? That's even more impressive considering the Great Lich Lord eventually grew to loathe anything alive and only associated with the dead. That was why he was bringing death to the world in the first place. Such an ancestor would've had to been undead an unable to have children." "Uh…well he had 'em before becoming undead." "Okay, but his family would've had to join his fate and hence they also would've had no children." "He…uh…liked prostitutes and…" At this point Mr. Demar raises his hand to you. You instantly feel yourself paralyzed. You can only watch helplessly as he stands up from his desk. "Stop. While this is amusing watching you squirm, I am a busy man. You want to know what I think? I think you recently stole those books from Big Red. I also think you recently killed three of my students in a certain warehouse in your attempts to gain more. While I might've considered you as Dark Order material if you'd come in here and told me the truth, I can't abide by liars, especially someone so poor at it. Such a pity." With those final words, Mr. Demar causes your heart to explode.

Thirsting for more possible knowledge you head to this new address. This time you're not in a residential area and more in a warehouse district, still not a safe area though. When you get to the warehouse, once again the signs of battle abound, except this time it would appear that you arrived in the middle of one still going on. "Don't just stand there, the fucking thing, damn it!" "Shit! Thing's too fucking tough!" "Well summon another…arrrggh!" You enter cautiously and see a huge stone golem battling a couple people in robes. One lies on the floor dead. Given the dead imps that also litter the room, they're probably demonologist. Some of Mr. Demar's no doubt. You stand back and watch the battle from the shadows, staying hidden the whole time. While keeping an eye on the battle you take out one of your necromantic books and quickly glance through it. You come across a spell that allows you cast a bolt of pure negative energy. It seems pretty easy, so you decide to try it. You come out from behind the boxes you were using as cover and blast the golem in the face with a powerful beam of dark energy. Its head explodes into several stone pieces, but it doesn't stop. Such a hit will not automatically kill a creature like this. The demonologists look surprised to see you and even more surprised when you bark orders at them. "Get it now! While it's blind! Take its legs!" you shout. They do exactly what you say and cast super hot blasts to the golem's knees burning right through them, causing the rest of it to collapse and shatter. It's definitely dead now. "Whew! Good thing you came along. When Mr. Demar sent us to search this address we didn't expect to encounter a golem guard. How did he know to send help?" one of the demonologists asks. "He didn't." you say and blast him. "Hey…" is all the other manages to utter before you blast him as well. You're now left alone in a warehouse with multiple dead bodies, and as a certain goblin wino once said, the mage guard probably won't be coming around here anytime soon. You see this as a perfect opportunity to practice some REAL necromancy. You open the page to the appropriate spell and begin the cast it. Soon one of the dead demonologists begins to rise. It doesn't even take you much effort to control him. It's very easy actually. You've never had such an easy time at any kind of magic before, but this feels so right to you. You summon the second one and then the third one. You command them to do various things for you just to see how well you can control them. It barely takes you any concentration at all. You spend the rest of the night practicing, before making a search of the place which as it turns out contains nothing, but banned pornographic writings. You then head to your apartment where you sleep for the entire day. When you wake up you write a letter to your family saying that you're going to be staying at Nuro for vacation since you have some extra curricular studying to do and a big opportunity could be opening up. You mostly study your necromantic books and absorbing the knowledge within. You keep up with local news and the deaths of Big Red and his girlfriend are barely mentioned, and nothing is mentioned of the warehouse. You gather that you're in the clear. Next week you get a letter in return from your Mom who says she's disappointed you won't be coming to visit, but pleased that you're doing well and your grades are back up. (At least Big Red came through for you on the nature magic thing before he died) She also mentions how proud she is of you. If she only knew… A month passes and you've almost finished the books you acquired. You can't really do too much practicing though, which is something you desperately want to do again. You know you've got all this power within you yet you can't use it. The problem is dead bodies aren't exactly something you can just come across. Oh sure you could go to the graveyard, but that would most likely attract a ton of attention given that most of them are always monitored to prevent such things from easily happening. You wonder if you should approach Mr. Demar and join his Dark Order. While you typically don't work with groups, but if it gets you some practice maybe it would be worth joining. Plus you'd get to find out what's going on with all that, since it seems like something you should worry about. Then again large groups tend to get targeted first. So maybe you could try summoning spirits. It's not like they're as obvious. Though from what you've read controlling such incorporeal dead requires more experience and you haven't been able to practice a lot. > You summon spirits You've been doing pretty well by yourself so far, so you decide to continue that trend. Still you do wonder what Mr. Demar's Dark Order is up to. During the night you head out of the city and into the nearby wilderness. After checking around, you're sure nobody else is around and you begin to cast your spell. Soon it happens. You've summoned several ghostly figures to your side. The strain to control them is much greater, but you manage. However you don't want to push your luck so after a few brief commands you dismiss them. You've satisfied your desires for awhile. Another month passes and you go about your life more or less. Soon classes will start again, but you have no idea what you're going to take. How can you? You're sitting on all this forbidden knowledge that you seem to be extremely good at while the "acceptable" magic is stuff you can't perform worth shit. Doesn't seem fair somehow. Still you're going to have to at least put up a front of normalcy if you're going to not arouse suspicion. You're convinced you were born in the wrong time period. You should've been alive during the time of the Great Lich Lord. Ah how exciting those times must've been! But as you soon find out, today's times can be just as exciting… As the first week of classes start rolling around you finally decide on taking something easy and head towards the registrar offices as a late arrival. As soon as you step out of your apartment building, you hear screams, sounds of battle, explosions and general sounds of chaos. Portals are opening up all over the city and demons are pouring out of them! Amidst the bedlam you notice a few young wizards directing the demons. Demonologists. They have to be part of the Dark Order and this has to be some kind of plan of their to take over the city. You wished you'd joined up with them after all, but you think perhaps it might not be too late to get in on the action. You're about to do so, when you feel your whole body going in slow motion. Apparently you're not the only one, but it doesn't seem to be affecting the demons or Dark Order members. They must have someone also dabbling in temporal magic (A practically forgotten branch of magic which is also illegal, and obviously for good reason!) It would seem that The Dark Order certainly has their shit together as far as this attack is concerned. You're not going to be deterred, but you know you need to be cautious. You slink back into your apartment building and back into your room. Remembering your spirit summoning from last month, you decide to try it again. You need defenders and ghosts are probably going to serve you better for as long as this slow spell lasts. Once again you succeed and with your ghostly bodyguards you march outside a little more confident. You find that the city is one big killing zone. Demons are really running amok through the streets, a few of them attack you, but your ghost protect you. It would appear that they don't see you as an ally. Sensing the need for even more protection, you raise some of the many dead bodies that now litter the streets. A few of Nuro's mage guards attempt to stop you, but you easily defeat them and add them to your ranks. It's so easy for you. Soon you're commanding a small army and it's barely taking any effort from you at all. "HEY! Who the hell are you? You're not in the Dark Order!" a voice calls out to you, and you turn around to see another necromancer. He's rather non-descript looking and isn't controlling nearly as many dead as you are. No ghosts either. "I'm not. I'm what you call…independent I suppose." "Oh is that right eh? Well if you ain't with the Dark Order, you're against us!" You attempt to ask if you can come to some sort of arrangement, but he's not hearing it, he orders his horde to attack you. So much for making allies… He and his troops are going to be faster, even if you do outnumber him, so you decide to do something else. You enforce your will upon his advancing horde, and with a little effort you're successful. They stop in their tracks, and then they turn around in his direction. "Hey! Stop that! You can't do that! You're supposed to listen to me!" he shouts totally losing his cool, not to mention his control. Instead of trying to regain it, he attempts to blast you with a bolt of negative energy, but at this point you're well protected by meat shield of corpses, who seem to be moving faster… The slow spell! It's gone! Or at least it's not affecting you anymore. You smile wickedly at the enemy necromancer. Now you can show him real power! He doesn't get a few inches from his position before he's overwhelmed and killed by your forces. Besides the effects of the slow spell being gone, you also notice many of the demons jumping over the city walls, or otherwise leaving Nuro. You hear demonologists shouting at them to come back and once again you shake your head. It would appear that Mr. Demar and the Dark Order didn't have their shit as together as you thought. "Pah! This is what Mr. Demar had to work with? I guess I was lucky not to have hooked up with such fools!" you say to a nearby zombie who doesn't answer. You march through the city truly exercising your power for the first time, soon you come across two more necromancers attempting to destroy city hall where the last bastion of resistance resides in the city. An ugly man and a woman. Naturally it's the ugly guy who calls over to you. "Hey Irwin glad you…hey you're not Irwin! Who are you?" "I'm the guy who can probably save your ass from this fiasco you Dark Orderites call a take over." "Huh and I suppose YOU could've done a better job?" the woman sneers. "Better job than you're doing. Look at you, you lost your demonic support and you can't even take out the first citizen and his weak ass mage guards." You retort. "Hey Catalina stop fighting! We got enough problems!" he says to the woman before addressing you. "Look, my name's Sebastian and if you want to help out I'm not going to turn you away because you're right, we could use it! I'm sure Mr. Demar is having no problems taking care of the dean and the other professors, but I'm more concerned with Quayle!" "Who's that?" "He's the guy that was responsible for that slow spell you were probably feeling the effects of earlier. I don't what's gone wrong with the spell, but some demonologist came by here a minute ago saying that the whole east side of campus is fucked up. Like it's phasing in and out of existence or something. Someone needs to go check it out or stop it before we're all killed!" > You go check on Quayle While these Dark Orderites haven't completely impressed you, you remember that Serena mentioned you would need allies and they could serve that purpose. From what you can tell, you're a better necromancer than the rest of them and this city would be an excellent beginning of your career especially since you don't have any better ideas in mind. You know that even if this event plays out well for you, you're going to have a whole shit load of trouble ahead of you so you better get a few people on your side now even if they need to be "disposed" of later… "Alright, I'll help out, but I'm not doing this for you or following your orders, I have my own agenda!" you say flat out to Sebastian. Before you leave Catalina speaks to you. "So, come a long way from Enchantment class huh?" she says. "…I thought I recognized you…and yeah I have. I finally found a branch of magic I'm really good at." You say finally realizing who she is. "Just remember, as good as you are, you aren't the best." "We'll see." You retort and leave. The march towards the university where on the west side of campus you see and hear explosions. That must be where Mr. Demar is. You wonder how you'll have to deal with him after you take care of this Quayle problem. When you get to the east campus, Sebastian was right, you see a lot of weird things going on, nearby plants are growing older and younger before your eyes, buildings are indeed disappearing and reappearing. It's a mess. You see a small gray building that doesn't seem to be suffering any effects; you bet that's where Quayle is. You march over with your horde only to start feeling very ill. You try to shake off the effects so you can keep control, but it doesn't matter as you begin to see your various undead troops go through weird changes. You watch them either accelerate in rot and disintegrate, or even stranger actually turn back into their living selves until they eventually become babies and then nothing. You're only halfway to the building and you begin to worry that you're going to suffer the same fate, but manage to get in the Gray building which contains a simple auditorium like classroom. You must be back on campus. At the front of the class you see a strange man surrounded by a white glow. This must be Quayle. "This is not the way…you have lost…you may win…it's all so fascinating…" he says in an echoed voice. You have no idea what the hell he means, all you know is you need to kill this guy before he fucks everything up. You're having a hard time concentrating still though and once again you begin to feel very sick. That feeling becomes stronger when you see grotesque creatures pop into existence. They have writhing masses of tentacles and give off an aura completely hostile and alien. Not even the demons you've had contact with give off anything like this. You have no time for spells you'll have to do this the old fashioned way. You run towards the front of the class where he sits and just narrowly dodge another tentacle beast appearing suddenly in front of you. "…stop…stop it…you must stop…" You tackle Quayle and something completely unexpected and disgusting happens. His body literally breaks like a fragile glass vase and all manner of insects and maggots come crawling out, mostly on you. "EEEEYEEECAAAGH!" you yell trying to get them all off of you, completely ignoring anything else. Fortunately for you, whatever you did has stopped the temporal disturbance. The creatures disappear and everything else seems to go back to normal. After stomping on some centipedes you notice Quayle's head has rolled into a corner. Surprisingly it's still alive. "You have won nothing…" his head says before it just simply disappears. You shake your own head at all of this. As much as you've seen during your short time raising the dead, you've never seen anything like this. You can't hear anymore explosions; you wonder if Mr. Demar has won. You exit the building and begin to walk over to the other side of the campus where the explosions were coming from. You arrive to burning buildings and ruins of towers. Once again you see Sebastian, he's sitting outside holding his head in his hands. He looks like he's sobbing. "What the hell is wrong with you?" you ask. "It's over! It's all over!" "What are you talking about? It looks like the city is ours." "But for how long? All our so called demon allies took off! By the time I got here Mr. Demar had already been severely wounded and his second in command Trelik had betrayed him. Catalina and I managed to kill Trelik, but Catalina fell in the battle! The Dark Order is over and I dunno what's coming next, we're all in a lot of fucking trouble! Trouble that I wasn't prepared to handle! I'm not really a leader. Mr. Demar was a leader! Oh man why did I choose this path!?" Sebastian is having a complete mental break down and it sickens you. It's unbecoming of a necromancer. "Where's Mr. Demar?" you ask. "He's dead in the library!" "Good, saves me the trouble." "Huh? What's going on?" "I'm in charge, that's what's going on and I'm not going to tolerate whimpering weaklings like you." and you blast Sebastian with negative energy to his face, killing him. Yep, you're in charge. A month passes The "Nuro Incident" as it came to be known was a shock to the civilized world. Nobody had anticipated such a thing occurring despite all preparations. Certainly not to Nuro given it's near "invincible" reputation. You've renamed the city Aftermath. The Grand Alliance was immediately formed to retake the city, but fortunately for you, you weren't the only problem they had. Velzix, a demon lord who the Dark Order summoned to help them, soon left Nuro during its attack, and managed to unite the rest of the demons that felt the need to break their contract with the Dark Order. They turned their attention to the Tulan Kingdom. Right now he's established his own rule, enslaving the population and is most likely planning further conquest assuming he can keep his own troops from fighting each other long enough. As for you, you've already managed to hold off one Grand Alliance attack quite successfully due to your preparations. The first thing you did was command all the surviving Dark Order members to become necromancers. They're mediocre at best though, they might be better if you took a more direct hand in training them, but you're too impatient and you have so many other things to take care of as well. You haven't heard anything from your family; you can only wonder what they think of all this and you don't really care. While things are somewhat quiet now, that's not going to last. The Grand Alliance will keep attacking and they may very well overwhelm you in time. You can't just sit in your throne room and prepare for the next attack and you need to be proactive about this threat, but the big problem though is, you're basically doing all of this yourself. There isn't anyone anywhere near your equal, let alone anyone you can trust to handle important things. As much as you loathe thinking of it, you could ally with Velzix, granted he's an untrustworthy demon, and not fond of the Dark Order for imprisoning him, you were never a member of the Dark Order and may be receptive. You soon send messages to him asking for an alliance. Eventually you get a response, and it's a positive one. Velzix even says he'll meet you in the city of Aftermath. Apparently he isn't worried about you. When he arrives he gets right to business. "Nice decorations…so, you wish to make a deal with me?" "I've come to propose a pact between us yes. We have a common enemy." "Yes, but what does this pact entail exactly?" "Simple, we don't attack one another and we coordinate our attacks to be more effective against the Grand Alliance." "And I suppose while my attention isn't on you, and I waste my valuable resources, you build up strength and attack me eh? Heh heh, I know you little necromancer. I see the desire to murder the entire world in your eyes. I even respect it, but if you think I'm trusting you, you're as brain dead as those corpses you raise." "What?! You're a fucking demon and you're accusing ME of being deceitful?" "Of course. Who better to see treachery than one who is an expert at it? But assuming you genuinely mean for us to be best buddies forever and ever, I still don't see what you can do for me in your current state." "What are you on about now?" "I'm saying as a military power you ain't shit that's what! Your necromancers are barely competent enough to hold your defenses of that little necropolis you rule. It's mostly you doing all the work, and while you've got a little power, it still ain't enough to attack anything in a meaningful way." You hate the fact that Velzix is right, but you hate it even more that he's so damn smug about it. Which makes you wonder why he called you out here…in fact you're starting to prepare yourself for trouble. "Alright then what the hell are you proposing?" you ask. "I propose a…merger rather than an alliance." "You're proposing that I let YOU take over Aftermath and I just become your bitch." "Not exactly how I worded it, but if you prefer that designation…" "NO! I don't prefer it!" "Okay then how about this? I say you'll last maybe another year tops if you stay walled up in this little city of yours just letting the Grand Alliance constantly beat down your gates until they finally succeed. Then assuming you don't die during that final attack, I predict that you live a ragged existence on the run for maybe a couple years afterwards at which point you'll end up getting hunted down and killed hiding in some cave somewhere." "And that's what you see?" "Seen it happen to more powerful mortals than you. BUT! It doesn't have to be that way. Joining with me can be more beneficial than you think. You don't think I don't see the power in you? You would be a very valuable asset to my plans. Your ability to control the dead is very strong and quite frankly it would be nice to actually have not just troops that aren't fighting among themselves, but a great general as well. Think about it! You'll gain more power and you could still bring death to thousands and not have to worry about all the bullshit of ruling, because as I'm sure you know, it isn't as fun as it should be most of the time. You will prosper, if you continue to prove yourself worthy and useful." > You join Velzix Velzix's offer does have some appeal to it, you must admit, but having to answer to Velzix is repugnant to you. You feel that you were meant to rule, not follow. Perhaps you can build up a following though while serving under his rule, there's nothing saying you HAVE to be loyal… "Very well. I'll join you." Velzix smiles. "Ha ha! I knew you'd see the smart thing to do little necromancer. I predict this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship…" You transfer your city over to Velzix, though the majority of your undead are still there, he just supplements its defenses with some of his own demons and the humans that have pledged their servitude to him. > You are about to take your Necromantic career to its next level Chapter 3: One Foot in Hell One year has passed… It's been one year since you made an alliance with Velzix, and so far it has paid off. With your combined might, you both have successfully held off the Grand Alliance. You haven't gained too much ground, but that's looking like it's about to change. Everyday Velzix has somehow been managing to attract "free demons" from other nations to join him, though its not as if they have too many other options as mere suspicion has turned into hatred and they are to be rounded up and killed as possible enemies. Though again, thanks to mortal failings and greed, there are those few nations that are still letting their small demonic populations run free. Not surprisingly Velzix has been attempting to convince the leaders of these governments into joining him in exchange for even greater power. Velzix has also been attempting to open portals to his own infernal realm on a permanent basis. Right now he can summon in a few reinforcements to replace battle losses, but nothing on a major scale. As for you, things could be worse, but they could be better. All your potential "acolytes" reverted back to being demonologist when the merge came, though many of them were purged by Velzix himself, as he still remembered their attempts to imprison him before during their days in the Dark Order, not to mention if they were so quick to change allegiances so quickly, then they obviously weren't to be trusted. Your magic powers in other branches of magic have somewhat improved, though this might be due your infernal dealings. Necromancy is still your area of expertise obviously and as it stands, you're the only true necromancer allied with Velzix. You sort of hold a unique position, but you question its importance in the scheme of things. You've been basically put on defense duty. Your undead troops are nothing more than meat shields for the most part, and while that is what they are there for, you'd rather they be YOUR meat shields than some asshole demons, (or worse mortals). You feel like your talents are being wasted to a degree, like you've got a lot of untapped potential that's dying to get out. However, open rebellion against Velzix isn't likely to happen, but there's nothing stopping you from setting the stage. You still have Aftermath under your control, even if you do have to put up with the demons and mortals stationed there now. One night in your study while you're contemplating how to go about all this, you figure there are two ways. You've actually got a lot of troops at your immediate disposal. You believe you could probably take over the nearby Brot Kingdom by yourself without any help. They have a weak military and most of the Grand Alliance armies are busy elsewhere. You could build up a bigger power base. You might piss off Velzix by doing this by yourself, but you could take the chance that he might over look it if you're successful as it's also increasing his own territory. The other option is to remain doing what you're doing and engage in a more secret assassination conspiracy against Velzix. You already know that tons of others are probably doing it, why not you? The problem is, individually most of you are fairly weak against him; though together you'd be more successful. Of course getting a bunch of demonic assassinating liars to trust one another is probably even more difficult than the attempt itself. > You engage in military conquest What's the point of having power, if you aren't using it in any meaningful way that can help you? You're sick of being "reined in". You're going to do what you've been wanting to do for a long time. You prepare to march an army of undead to the Brot Kingdom. The demons and mortals stationed at Aftermath are wondering what's going on though since most of them know you're mainly used for defense. "Where do you think yer goin'?" a demon solder steps up to ask you as you're about to leave the city gates. "I'm gonna go conquer the Brot Kingdom, got a problem with that?" "Me? No, not at all. Just didn't know Velzix let you off your leash." The demon soldier grins. This remark is met with a negative energy blast to his face, completely ripping the flesh off and revealing the still grinning skull underneath. As the rest of this body falls to the ground, you feel the need to make a speech to the gawking onlookers. "I am not on anyone's fucking leash! Nobody tells me what the do! Now what's going to happen, is I'm going to leave and lay waste to the Brot Kingdom. The rest of you are going to defend this place while I'm gone! And when Velzix comes here, like I know he will I'LL handle it. The rest of you can cower before that fucker, but I ain't the one." Having made your thoughts known, you return to your undead army, which obediently still stands only awaiting your commands. As the way things should be. The way ALL things should be. After a few days you eventually reach the Brot Kingdom. You start by decimating the small border villages and then quickly raising the peasants you slaughtered. You've moved on to larger towns before the Brot military manages to start opposing you. Their military is weak though. Most of them see your horde and run in terror before the fight even begins! Those are the smart ones. The rest soon become just more fodder for you to raise. You actually feel more powerful after your conquests, which is odd given the amount of energy you've been expending. You can only take this as a sign of this being what you were meant for! Within the week you've single handedly taken control of the Brot capitol and most of the Kingdom in general. Much of the royal family has abased themselves before you in an attempt for you to spare their lives. You laugh and grant this request, after all someone has to still run this territory. You've successfully subjugated your first territory. In fact, it's the first "real" territory conquered since Velzix took over the Tulan Kingdom. Tivadol's petty victories haven't even compared to what you've done. When you return to Aftermath, you're half expecting to be met by Velzix, who has undoubtedly heard of your actions by now. It's only now that you realize you may be in more trouble than you thought! However, you're surprisingly met by Sesisek instead who sits in your study. "This place is as dead as my status among demonkind." He says looking at the many skeletal structures and decorations. "It's a fucking necropolis, I'm a necromancer, and what do you want? I figured Velzix would be here meeting me." "Oh he's on his way, and from what I've heard, he's quite pissed about you playing the role of conqueror. He's just a little more preoccupied with the Grand Alliance army that's currently attacking him directly right now, which probably explains why you met little resistance at Brot. Congratulations on your victory, I'm sure Tivadol won't be too pleased with accomplishing something he couldn't either." "Yeah, yeah, so why are you here?" "I'm here to help you get out of this shit pit you've stepped in and are quickly in danger of sinking further into. You've showed entirely too much ambition, too soon, my mortal friend." "What of it? Like I'm the only one plotting against Velzix? Hah! Tivadol makes no pretense of his goals." "Ah yes, but you're not taking some things into consideration. Tivadol is still a demon and you my mortal friend are not. We are not fond of ever being bested, but to be bested by a mortal is even more repugnant to us. Tivadol is also a predictable loud mouth brute who is never going to achieve his goal. Velzix knows exactly how to manipulate him. Perhaps the day will come where he'll have to kill him, but that day is far off in the future. You on the other hand are still new and he's still learning about you. Velzix probably thought you could be manipulated and cowed into submission by his sheer strength and magic abilities alone, but it's apparent that you aren't afraid of such things. I could've seen that though. Necromancers embrace death; fear of it won't be a factor. Though there are worse things than death…" "Guess you're proof of that." You mock. "Hmm, your pointless barbs at me are quite unproductive and are in fact hindering you. I am offering to help you, I'd advise that you take it before you meet Velzix." "Offering me help huh? I seriously doubt you're doing this out of kindness." "Of course not. I'm doing it because I see an opportunity for revenge and quite frankly, you are the only one that will be able to help me achieve it. However, I assure you that we will both profit greatly from this, if you listen to me. If you don't want my help though, I shall leave." "Okay I'm listening, what are you suggesting?" "Ha ha, no my mortal friend. I would be quite the fool if I told you how to handle Velzix before I got your word that you are in fact accepting my help. ARE you accepting my help?" Sesisek looks at you expectantly. > You accept his help Well, you probably could use the help in this matter. Smoothing this out with Velzix is going to be a delicate affair. "Alright, I'm accepting your help." "Excellent." Sesisek smiles. Sesisek explains that even if you do manage to talk Velzix into not killing you for your actions, he's still going to take away your hard earned victory for himself. You can't let him do this, nor are you to get into a fight with him. Instead you must convince Velzix that you are indeed loyal and would never dream of betraying him, but that you must take a more active role in things if you are to be effective. You must remind him that if you're doing activity, then Velzix can concentrate more on opening up the portal to back home and victory will come quicker. Finally you must always point out of how weak you are compared to the might of Velzix, remind him that you are but a lowly mortal and will always remain so when compared to a demon lord. After advising you, Sesisek leaves you as he mentions he doesn't want to be around if things don't go well. He doesn't need anymore of Velzix's anger to spread out to him, but if you happen to be successful; he'll definitely be around to provide more help in the future You feel just by agreeing to this you've lost something of yourself. Much like when you allied with Velzix. Maybe you haven't gone so far to sell your soul and granted you were walking the path of darkness to begin with, but the twisted taint of hell that you've been getting deeper into is definitely starting to change you and it's probably not for the better. In any case a couple days pass and Velzix arrives, he's a little more calm than you were expecting, but he could blow up at any minute. "So little necromancer, I hear you have been taking matters into your own hands and acquiring territory yourself. I am displeased that you have done this. The Grand Alliance has been attacking and you've been squandering my potential reinforcements elsewhere. What if they had succeeded in breaking through my defenses? I would've had no troops to support my position, and much would've been lost." "Forgive me, but I felt that with the Grand Alliance focusing their attention elsewhere, I believed an attack on the Brot Kingdom would be a good idea. And I might add, it was. The conquest was very successful." "Yes, but you have dodged the question of what would've happened had the Grand Alliance broke through my defenses?" "I did not worry about such a thing since I knew they would be no match for a powerful demon lord such as yourself and even if they had, I'm sure you personally could've dealt with the few stragglers. They are only mortals after all; they would never be a match for you." "Obsequious words little necromancer…I have never heard any such tone from you before. You have always carried an air of arrogance about you. Tell me, is my mere presence enough to make you regret your clumsy attempts at gaining more power?" "I fear you have misjudged me in this. I simply feel that my talents have not been used to their full degree, because you believe I shall be treacherous in the future. I have no desire to do such a thing. What would be the point? I could never hope to defeat you anyway. I only wish to be more active in your eventual conquest of this world. I have already proven to be a more competent general than Tivadol." Velzix laughs out loud at this last statement. "I'm sure Tivadol will be thrilled to hear that a mortal has achieved more in military victories on this world than he has…very well. You wish to choose a more active role, so be it. It will be most amusing to see Tivadol compete with you, perhaps this will even inspire him to succeed, since as you have pointed out, he has yet to conquer an entire kingdom for me like you have…and it IS MY kingdom is it not?" "Yes, it is." You say with a bow. "Hmm, yes. Well you've talked your way out of this one necromancer, but know that I will still be watching you. You had best prove successful in your new active role, but also remember who is in charge and who serves." "Of course." Velzix informs you that since you have taken on this role, he'll be issuing more orders to you AND that it will be up to you to oversee larger areas of territory (Starting with the recently acquired Brot Kingdom), not just Aftermath. And if you fuck up, you're going to get fucked up. And with that, you have your new place in the hierarchy… Four years pass… It's been five years since you made your alliance with Velzix, so far it's proven most beneficial more or less. You've managed to carve out a niche for yourself as a good general, and just in time too since Velzix has been successful in keeping infernal portals open longer which is allowing more demons to come in. While your undead troops are looking to be somewhat "obsolete" your expertise in military planning has assured you a place in this demonic empire. You don't lead demons though of course. They'd never allow such a thing. You lead a strange combination of undead and mortals who have decided to throw their lot in with the infernal forces. Sesisek has even provided you with a few mortals who have displayed an interest in necromancy, allowing you to not carry the weight of up keeping an undead army constantly anymore. While you haven't completely abandoned your necromantic roots, you've been forced to broaden your magical horizons and tap into the infernal plane, which has allowed you to create potent unnatural abominations. However, this type of magic is highly experimental and you're probably the first one to even attempt it. It's beginning to take a toll on your deteriorating health, because as they say, you don't change hell, hell changes you. However your power is keeping you going. You haven't lost sight that one day you'll be in charge… Your immediate rivals haven't lost sight either, in fact you've become more of a threat. Tivadol the Destroyer constantly makes threats that he'll one day see you crushed underneath his foot. Sinthinia is a little more interested in your relationship with Sesisek and finds the fact that you two are on too good of terms to be very suspicious. Oddly Velzix doesn't seem worried about this though, or if he is, he hasn't made it known to you. Indeed he's been pre-occupied lately with finally opening up a portal permanently to his infernal home. He believes he will soon be successful. In the meantime, the Grand Alliance has been hard pressed to hold the line, they are slowly losing ground to you and Tivadol. Heroes from all over the civilized governments have been employed, but so far they've have proven unsuccessful in even getting to Velzix, let alone killing him. Vampire assassins however have had a little more luck, but Sinithina's internal security magic guards have detected them all as soon as they get near Velzix's fortress. You can't say you're too thrilled yourself with Velzix opening up a permanent portal as it could certainly make your job a lot harder of killing him in the future. Sesisek, realizes this too and has recently approached you about this. He tells you to meet him for a plan to kill Velzix, in a couple days. While you're in your study pondering what this could entail, you are suddenly "greeted" with Sinthinia's presence. Unusual since she's directly kept her distance from you ever since you conquered the Brot Kingdom. (Indirectly through her spies is another matter however) Whatever she has come to see you for probably isn't good…or is it? "Hmm, this place still reeks of death I see. It is much too cold in this place. Not warm like many of our other conquests. Look how hard my nipples are. Why it's cold enough to make me almost want to put on clothes…almost." She says touching herself in a seductive way. You've seen her in action before, and you're not some weak willed fool, so this routine has little effect on you. "Yeah, well zombies tend to be flammable and I hate the heat, so this grave chill stays. You'll just have to deal with hard nipples." "How about YOU deal with them. Hm?" "Sinthinia what do you want?" "Besides your dick in my nice warm body? I want to see you not ruin your most promising career by siding with a loser like Sesisek. I know that the two of you have been collusion together ever since you conquered the Brot Kingdom…a most bold move might I add. Only the first of many. You are obviously a man who knows what he wants and takes it…" At this point Sinthinia is turning on her demonic seduction and getting closer to the point of touching you. You'd be lying if it wasn't having any effect on you. "Yeah…well just get the point Sinthinia!" "See? So forceful! Very well, the point. My point is Sesisek is an obsessed fool who's time is running out. I know he's got plans to kill me and Velzix, so far I haven't exactly determined how he's going to attempt it, but I know it's coming soon. My concern is, if YOU have anything to do with such plans. It would be a shame if you did…" "Well he hasn't said anything to me about any specific plan." You reply. "Ah, careful words you chose without actually lying. You have been hanging around our kind and learning! However you will not dodge me so easily. Specific plan. Specific being the key word. I'm guessing he's approached you about some act of treachery though and just hasn't given you the details yet." You say nothing and she presses up against you while speaking into your ear so close that she nibbles on it a bit. "I'll take your silence as a yes. Know however that you are still not powerful enough to kill Velzix. I am very close to him just like I am very close to you right now and I can tell you with all certainty that you will not be able to defeat him. Not even with that bitter old idiot Sesisek helping you…I advise that you not go down the same path as he is." "Oh yeah? Well if you think we're doing something, why not just kill us both right now?" "It's not how I work my necromantic cutie. Besides, I am giving you a chance to join with a better and more grateful ally in the long run. Namely me. I want you to find out what Sesisek's plan is and then at the right time, betray him. I would be most grateful." "Hmm, I don't trust you. Sesisek trusted you once and look what happened." "Sesisek proved to be weak and unworthy of my loyalty, but of course you don't trust me, nor should you. Still, you think on this, I have offered to become your ally and more if you wish. I run the internal security of Velzix's empire. Do you not think that having me as an ally would be more beneficial for your future than to stay allied with Sesisek whose plan is surely doomed to failure? I already KNOW he's planning something. He will be punished soon, along with all that have conspired with him. Stay loyal to him and you'll suffer his fate. Betray him, and you'll suddenly find yourself in control of his holdings and have one less potential enemy to worry about. Not to mention you will make me very happy. So happy that I may provide favors for you that you could never dream of. So what do you say?" Normally you'd think more about it, but Sinthinia has made a somewhat appealing offer and the fact that she's currently shoved one of her hands down your pants and stroking your cock isn't exactly helping you think straight either. > You agree If Sinthinia already knows that something is going on, chances are she's already got counter measures to solve it. Her overtures for an alliance, must be some what genuine to some degree otherwise she'd just let you go through with this plan and just have you all killed when you attempt it. "Okay, Sinthinia I'm in." you say. Sinthinia continues to rub against you and then looks into your eyes before kissing you. "Mmmm, I can taste the truthfulness on your lips. A rare flavor around here. I'm glad you decided to join me; we're going to have so much fun together. Now, let me taste more of you. Something more…carnal." A few hours later Sinthinia leaves your study (Which is now a mess) and remarks that she'll be expecting to see you soon after you meet with Sesisek. A few days pass and you meet Sesisek in the forsaken area known as the Drozz Wasteland. The barbarian tribes here still hold sway, but you need not concern yourself with such minor threats, they know enough to stay away from two dark individuals such as yourselves, and the others… The others in question are vampires. It would appear that Sesisek has been planning more than just "normal" betrayal. The vampires eye you warily. "So, how did you swing a deal with the vampire clans?" you ask. "Let's just say we all have similar interests. And that interest is seeing Velzix die and that bitch Sinthinia." "Remember Sesisek, our primary target is Velzix! Your desire for revenge on other targets is secondary!" one the vampires exclaims. "And I assure you that taking out Sinthinia is very necessary to our goals as well. She's head of internal security. Killing her is vital to our plan." "I thought getting Mr. Necromancer here to mask us long enough to enter Veltrix's fortress was the plan?" "He will be, but…" "Hey hold on, what am I supposed to be doing now?" you interrupt while exaggerating your clueless act. "You mean you haven't even informed him yet or what's going on?" "I was going to do it now!" Sesisek hisses before turning to you. "Look isn't it true that you can use some sort of necromantic magic to hide our friends here? The reason why assassination attempts have been so unsuccessful before is thanks to all the magic detection security in the fortress." "Oh. I see what you're getting at. Yeah, but I can't just do it myself. I'd still be giving off too much of a deathly aura that would probably arouse suspicion from Sinthinia's detection shit. I'd have to enter the fortress with either a bunch of zombies and skeletons, or I suppose I could just enter with a few of my abominations. Those would arouse less suspicion since I use them as bodyguards anyway. You vampires could travel with us invisibly, and you shouldn't be detected until you decide to go into a blood frenzy and start killing everyone." "Ha ha! See! I told you he could do it." You all "agree" to this plan and hammer out some other details before parting ways. You head back to Aftermath, when your undead abomination bodyguards begin to sniff the air and you feel a presence stalking you, you stop and prepare yourself for an attack. Once again the vampire assassins become visible. Apparently they've been following you. "You can't sneak up on a necromancer. I can sense your undead presence remember blood leech?" "Is that what you still consider yourself? I thought you'd become a worshipper of demons rather than death, given how long you've been with them." One of the assassins says. "No. I don't worship anything. I'm concerned with my own power; all of this is just a means to an end. And I have not given up the necromantic arts; you would be wise to remember that vampire." "Good. Then it's not too late." "What are you on about?" "Look, this plan will be more successful if you fully cooperate with us. After we kill Velzix, Lord Rostov wants to invite you to join us. He feels that your connection and understanding of death along with your power would serve the Clans well. Among us, you would find a sort of peace. You would not have to deal with demons anymore." "You must be joking! After I kill Velzix, I'm taking over! And anyone who opposes me is going to feel my wrath!" you say still keeping up the illusion that you're going through with this assassination. The vampire assassin runs her fingers through her hair and pauses before speaking again. "No you won't. And I'm not talking about a knife in your back by one of us either. I'm saying if you believe you'll be able to control an empire mixed with mortals, demons AND while controlling all your undead troops, then you're beyond delusional. Look at you. You're a wreck from all the infernal magic you've been taping into. Is it any wonder that demonologists don't live a long time? It's probably only due to your baffling plentiful necromantic energy that's kept you going this long. Even if you do manage to rein in the chaotic nature of the demons, and hold off the Grand Alliance, I doubt you'll live enough to enjoy any of it, let alone conquer anymore territory." "I guess you bloodsuckers forgot that I can always become a lich." "A lich? There hasn't been one of those since the time of the Great Lich Lord! The amount of death energy to become one must be huge! You're not there yet, you're not likely to get there and you're not pure enough anyway. You're tainted too much by hell. While you haven't directly sold your soul, you've thrown your lot in with them long enough to be damned. You will not be allowed to escape death on your own. BUT…becoming one of us will give you a chance. You will defeat death, and live lifetimes." You think on the assassin's words. Much of what she says is true. You aren't in the best condition anymore. You're in pain a lot though you try to ignore it and not display your weakness. As far as being damned, you're not sure, but it's probably true. Your thoughts have focused less on death and more on demonic nightmares. The purity of what you once pursued HAS been tainted. You could almost kick yourself for allowing yourself to turn into what you are. However, you wonder if the vampire is just telling you this to get you on their side. They must be worried about you if they want you to join this bad. Of course he could just be lying, but you don't think so. After being around so many liars you've come to see the signs, not to mention your own insights into the undead. > You join the vampires You've come to the realization that the assassin is correct. You foresee a long struggle plagued by headache after headache if you continue to deal with these demons. It's been nothing, but back stabbing and double dealing since you've dealt with them. Given your recent "alliance" with Sinthinia, you can only expect more of the same from her. Is that what you really want to deal with? Not to mention if Velzix DOES open the portal to his infernal realm he'll be even more powerful and no matter what you do, you can't stand against hell alone and the demons would NEVER follow the likes of you. Joining the vampire clans might not be ideal, but then again nothing you've done so far has. "Alright, I'll join." "Excellent. Though I certainly hope you're being sincere. It would be such a shame if you lying…" "No I mean it. My days of walking with demons are going to be at an end soon. One way or another." Coming to an agreement, you prepare yourself for this assassination attempt. You also plan to have all your undead troops strike at just the right time to cause even more chaos since you won't be sticking around after Velzix's death. At least you hope you won't. A few days pass and Sesisek tells you that he has everything ready. He mentions he'll be taking care of Sinthinia personally along with her whole secret service. You'll meet the vampire assassins in a dead forest near Fury. You send Sinthinia a message that you'll be arriving at Fury to report what Sesisek is planning. She'll be expecting you, but what will actually happen, will be completely different. You make your trek to Fury, without incident with your hidden friends in tow. You take a deep breath before entering the gates where upon you half expect the demon guards to stop you, but nothing happens. You've succeeded. Your next move is to get as quickly as possible to Velzix's inner chambers. You don't get far when an alarm is raised… "Assassins! Kill them! Sinthinia's orders!" one of the demon guards says. Suddenly you're surrounded on all sides Shit, apparently Sinthinia was somewhat wise to your last act of treachery. You mentally call out to your undead minions to attack anything living. "Come on! Secrecy is over! We gotta haul ass to Velzix!" you exclaim. While chaos is reigning in the fortress, you and the vampires easily dispatch those that would attempt to stop you. When you get to Velzix's inner chambers where he's attempting to open up a portal to get reinforcements. "Treachery. I expected this from Sesisek, but I am very disappointed in you. I had such plans…oh well perhaps I will yet get pleasure when I break your bones and have you flayed over the course of a very long and painful torture period. And I assure you, you'll be very much alive to experience it." Velzix's portal opens and a swarm of demons come pouring out. The vampire assassins waste no time and begin their work with deadly efficiency. Your abominations have less finesse, but they get the job done. Velzix unleashes horrible infernal magic that causes a couple of the assassins to liquefy. You're just trying to stay out of the way of most of the fighting and attempting to keep a control over your troops, but you soon realize you're going to have to play a direct role in his death and unleash your own negative energy bolts at Velzix. The battle is brutal, and dead bodies soon litter the chamber. You're beginning to feel the effects of the energy you've expended in this fight. Thankfully Sesisek arrives with some of his mortal lackeys, giving you a breather. He looks like he's seen a hard battle already, but still has a lot of fight left due to the revenge that fuels his rage. "Velzix! Your bitch is dead! Now you shall join her!" he shouts and unleashes a flurry of blades upon his former master. In the mean time the femal vampire assassin that first approached you comes to help you up. "Come on let's get out of here." "We haven't killed Velzix yet." "Yes we have, look." You look over at the battle between the two demons and its clear Sesisek has the upper hand, literally. He's chopped off one of the Velzix's limbs at the forearm. You take the assassin's advice and leave with her. After a little more fighting to get out of the Fortress, eventually you find refuge in the dead forest again. Chaos has overtaken Velzix's realm. You doubt if his demonic empire will be able to recover from this, even if he manages to survive. You're so tired that you don't have time to react when you're suddenly bitten on the neck and drained of your blood. You feel your life force ebb and then disappear completely… You die and for a moment you can feel yourself being pulled towards the infernal realm and the hideous tortures that await you there, however you are sudden brought back to the living, so to speak within just a few minutes. You don't feel the taint of hell within you anymore, but you also feel less powerful in terms of necromantic energy. You can sense that whatever undead troops you raised or controlled have now crumbled or collapsed. "Good, you're up. Welcome to your new life. Your blood tasted terrible. Ugh. All tainted and shit. Spat most of it out." "Wow, I'm really one of you now." You say ignoring her comment and still in awe of your new form. "That's right. But I think you'll find that you won't have some of your powers anymore. While this transition does have benefits, it has it's downsides as well. But I'm sure Lord Rostov will still find you a welcome addition to the clans. I think he's actually been interested in meeting and talking with you. Been awhile since we had someone new join us. We should go now, the sun will be up soon." The vampire assassin pulls out a black cube like device and presses a few button and you're whisked away to the Vampire Clan secret fortress. It is there that you begin you new life. In the years to come, the chaos caused by Velzix's demonic empire settles down somewhat. Velzix did indeed die that day in battle with Sesisek, but he did not live long after getting his revenge. He was soon cut down by other demons who saw a grand opportunity to kill the hated traitor. The Grand Alliance once again gained the upper hand as the demonic infighting begins to take its toll. Tivadol the Destroyer who was the last remaining demon with any meaningful leadership skills was eventually struck down in battle by your sister who became a hero. Your parents also survive the chaos. This pleases you, well about your Mom and sister anyway. As for you, once again you find yourself under orders, this time by Lord Rostov, but you don't mind them. You find this life of ruling the mortal world through the shadows to be more appealing and less hassle. While it is true you no longer possess the powers you once had, and may never get them back, you've come to be satisfied with less and not living a life in constant pain anymore. Your existence continues and the future is unknown as the world's status quo is starting to return, but your life as a necromancer is over.

If Sinthinia already knows that something is going on, chances are she's already got counter measures to solve it. Her overtures for an alliance, must be some what genuine to some degree otherwise she'd just let you go through with this plan and just have you all killed when you attempt it. "Okay, Sinthinia I'm in." you say. Sinthinia continues to rub against you and then looks into your eyes before kissing you. "Mmmm, I can taste the truthfulness on your lips. A rare flavor around here. I'm glad you decided to join me; we're going to have so much fun together. Now, let me taste more of you. Something more…carnal." A few hours later Sinthinia leaves your study (Which is now a mess) and remarks that she'll be expecting to see you soon after you meet with Sesisek. A few days pass and you meet Sesisek in the forsaken area known as the Drozz Wasteland. The barbarian tribes here still hold sway, but you need not concern yourself with such minor threats, they know enough to stay away from two dark individuals such as yourselves, and the others… The others in question are vampires. It would appear that Sesisek has been planning more than just "normal" betrayal. The vampires eye you warily. "So, how did you swing a deal with the vampire clans?" you ask. "Let's just say we all have similar interests. And that interest is seeing Velzix die and that bitch Sinthinia." "Remember Sesisek, our primary target is Velzix! Your desire for revenge on other targets is secondary!" one the vampires exclaims. "And I assure you that taking out Sinthinia is very necessary to our goals as well. She's head of internal security. Killing her is vital to our plan." "I thought getting Mr. Necromancer here to mask us long enough to enter Veltrix's fortress was the plan?" "He will be, but…" "Hey hold on, what am I supposed to be doing now?" you interrupt while exaggerating your clueless act. "You mean you haven't even informed him yet or what's going on?" "I was going to do it now!" Sesisek hisses before turning to you. "Look isn't it true that you can use some sort of necromantic magic to hide our friends here? The reason why assassination attempts have been so unsuccessful before is thanks to all the magic detection security in the fortress." "Oh. I see what you're getting at. Yeah, but I can't just do it myself. I'd still be giving off too much of a deathly aura that would probably arouse suspicion from Sinthinia's detection shit. I'd have to enter the fortress with either a bunch of zombies and skeletons, or I suppose I could just enter with a few of my abominations. Those would arouse less suspicion since I use them as bodyguards anyway. You vampires could travel with us invisibly, and you shouldn't be detected until you decide to go into a blood frenzy and start killing everyone." "Ha ha! See! I told you he could do it." You all "agree" to this plan and hammer out some other details before parting ways. You head back to Aftermath, when your undead abomination bodyguards begin to sniff the air and you feel a presence stalking you, you stop and prepare yourself for an attack. Once again the vampire assassins become visible. Apparently they've been following you. "You can't sneak up on a necromancer. I can sense your undead presence remember blood leech?" "Is that what you still consider yourself? I thought you'd become a worshipper of demons rather than death, given how long you've been with them." One of the assassins says. "No. I don't worship anything. I'm concerned with my own power; all of this is just a means to an end. And I have not given up the necromantic arts; you would be wise to remember that vampire." "Good. Then it's not too late." "What are you on about?" "Look, this plan will be more successful if you fully cooperate with us. After we kill Velzix, Lord Rostov wants to invite you to join us. He feels that your connection and understanding of death along with your power would serve the Clans well. Among us, you would find a sort of peace. You would not have to deal with demons anymore." "You must be joking! After I kill Velzix, I'm taking over! And anyone who opposes me is going to feel my wrath!" you say still keeping up the illusion that you're going through with this assassination. The vampire assassin runs her fingers through her hair and pauses before speaking again. "No you won't. And I'm not talking about a knife in your back by one of us either. I'm saying if you believe you'll be able to control an empire mixed with mortals, demons AND while controlling all your undead troops, then you're beyond delusional. Look at you. You're a wreck from all the infernal magic you've been taping into. Is it any wonder that demonologists don't live a long time? It's probably only due to your baffling plentiful necromantic energy that's kept you going this long. Even if you do manage to rein in the chaotic nature of the demons, and hold off the Grand Alliance, I doubt you'll live enough to enjoy any of it, let alone conquer anymore territory." "I guess you bloodsuckers forgot that I can always become a lich." "A lich? There hasn't been one of those since the time of the Great Lich Lord! The amount of death energy to become one must be huge! You're not there yet, you're not likely to get there and you're not pure enough anyway. You're tainted too much by hell. While you haven't directly sold your soul, you've thrown your lot in with them long enough to be damned. You will not be allowed to escape death on your own. BUT…becoming one of us will give you a chance. You will defeat death, and live lifetimes." You think on the assassin's words. Much of what she says is true. You aren't in the best condition anymore. You're in pain a lot though you try to ignore it and not display your weakness. As far as being damned, you're not sure, but it's probably true. Your thoughts have focused less on death and more on demonic nightmares. The purity of what you once pursued HAS been tainted. You could almost kick yourself for allowing yourself to turn into what you are. However, you wonder if the vampire is just telling you this to get you on their side. They must be worried about you if they want you to join this bad. Of course he could just be lying, but you don't think so. After being around so many liars you've come to see the signs, not to mention your own insights into the undead. > You decline their offer To side with these bloodsuckers would be folly. First of all they would not be asking for you to join them, if they didn't feel you were a threat. This means you have the upper hand. Second of all, despite what they claim about your dealings with the infernal plane, you ARE still a necromancer, and as such it is not you who should be taking orders from the dead, it is THEY who should be taking orders from YOU! You're confident that you'll be able to "beat" Hell without losing yourself to it. The assassin did make you think somewhat on your future. You're going to have to be twice as more intimidating than you are if you want to survive, and what you have in store is going to ensure such a thing. "I shall have to think on it." You say with a non-committal answer. "Yes, well you don't have too much time to do so. I" The assassin says and leaves with her brethren. You make your way back to Aftermath and then send a message to Sinthinia that you've got the entire plan. When you explain to her what exactly is going to happen, she's positively having an orgasm at the thought of what she's going to have done to Sesisek in her special torture chamber. Afterwards you begin to make plans of your own. A few days pass and Sesisek tells you that he has everything ready. He mentions he'll be taking care of Sinthinia personally along with her whole secret service. You'll meet the vampire assassins in a dead forest near Fury. You send Sinthinia a message that you'll be arriving at Fury to report what Sesisek is planning. She'll be expecting you, but what will actually happen, will be completely different. When you meet the vampire assassins, you arrive in a "hurried and disheveled" state so that you look like you've been in an attack. They're wondering what's going on. "They found out about the plan! Someone found out and told Sinthinia and Velzix! I barely survived an ambush! I've definitely made my decision, I'm joining you!" "And what makes you think our offer still stands?" the female assassin asks "Because I risked my life to even warn you guys about this! I could've just ran off and left you here waiting for the demon detachment that's on its way now! You also still obviously need all the help you can get to defeat Velzix, and he's only gotten closer to opening up his permanent portal. I still can be of use, I still have vital information that can hamper his goal, but we need to get out of here right now! Take me, or don't, but you have nothing to lose by taking me with you, after all I am currently depleted and hopelessly out numbered by your kind." The female assassin turns to her fellow vampires and they converse a second before agreeing. "Very well, we'll take you. I hope for your sake you'll have something of importance to tell Lord Rostov, or you'll find yourself trading one death for another. And you will still have to prove yourself more before we'll make you one of us." You nod, and contain your smile. The vampire assassin pulls out a black cube like device and presses a few button and you're whisked away to the Vampire Clan secret fortress. Now to put your plan into action… Suddenly you greatly draw upon the hellish energy of the infernal realm and summon the very souls being tormented there to assist you. Stealing from hell like this is a very dangerous task and you feel very drained, but you manage to maintain your control. The vampire assassins barely have time to react before the hellfire spirits set them on fire on the inside out as them attempt to enter their soulless shells, looking for a new "home". The short lived screams of the vampires is one of extreme agony, proving that even the undead may feel pain. "YES! Onward my tormented slaves! There are many corporeal shells for you to inhabit!" You walk calmly through the Vampire Clan Fortress as the hellfire spirits slaughter the vampires with ease. The screams begin to grow on you. You may be a necromancer, but you think now you have a better understanding of what it means to be a demon. Your thoughts have become steadily more twisted with each passing blood leech death. Finally you reach Lord Rostov. He looks very regal and dignified even when certain doom awaits him. He says nothing merely attempts to fend off your fiery minions. He does better than his underlings, but ultimately he too is burned to a crisp, putting an end to the vampire clans once and for all. Now it's just you alone with several of these burning souls still screaming for a host body. You're barely keeping them from attacking you and you begin to dismiss them immediately, sending them back to hell. Except one. One which you have plans for and are going to take the ultimate gamble with. Letting your guard down you release the spirit from your command which enters inside your body. You've felt pain before as you've slowly aligned yourself with hell, but none of it has ever compared to this. Your whole inside of your body is literally on fire. You feel the organs in your body rise in temperature, and explode as they burn up. There is no way you should be surviving this, but something else within you has taken control. Your will and your desire for one. Your unnatural ties to necromantic energy for another. "NO! I will NOT die like this! YOU are MY servant and I am the master here! I will be master of ALL! You will obey me and cease this behavior instantly!" you bellow, as your vocal cords burn away making your "bellow" sound more like a terrible hissing raspy sound. You collapse and continue burning and convulsing on the stone floor trying to fight off death and tame this disobedient spirit. After about a day of this, the transformation is complete. What you are exactly is questionable however. Are you alive? Are you undead? Are you a demon? Perhaps you're all three now. The tormented hell spirit is still within what's left of your burned body, though you've completely absorbed whatever "free will" it might've had. The pain is still there though somewhat duller. You probably shouldn't be feeling anything given that all your nerves have been destroyed and technically being dead and all, but the powers of hell are known to extend pain even after death. You know it's somehow keeping you alive, but at a heavy duty price obviously. You get up wracked with pain all over your blackened and smoldering body. If you were a mess before, you're a complete wreck now, but you've gained more power than you ever could've while as a mortal. And you've not only swindled death, but hell as well. You've achieved something even the Great Lich Lord didn't do. And if all goes as planned you'll achieve ANOTHER thing he didn't do. But first you'll go check on your new "ally" Sinthinia. When you leave the Vampire Clan Fortress, you find that Velzix's realm had to put down a very small rebellion. Sesisek seeing that his plan had gone to complete shit when you and the vampires didn't arrive decided he was going to go ahead with it anyway. He and a few thousand foolish mortals that followed him attacked in open revolt. He didn't last long before he was easily put down. You were actually thought to be dead (Which isn't entirely inaccurate) while you were undergoing your new transformation and struggling to survive the process, all the undead that you had under your control slumped back to death again. A few of your acolytes picked up the slack, but given how many undead troops that suddenly dropped, it was still assumed that someone had killed you. How surprising it was for Sinthinia when you went to meet her in private. The first being to be graced in the presence of your new form. Not surprisingly she didn't recognize you at first, she's even a little unnerved. You like that. "Ah, lovely Sinthinia…you were quite right to choose me as an ally. Even in this new form I would still find it quite a shame to destroy such a beautiful form…" "…you? I thought…where the fuck have you been and…what the hell are you?" "Hell. Hell's exactly what I am." You hideously laugh. You proceed to explain the whole story since you feel in a mood to do so. She's very fascinated by the process since even she didn't know it was possible for a mortal to achieve something like this. She seems particularly intrigued by the fact that you're in a lot of pain constantly. She mentions that Velzix will probably start being more concerned with you, but of course you care not for such matters. You've defeated Death, you've cheated Hell, what's one demon lord? > You once again you enter a new stage of your journey Chapter 4: Damned Five years have passed… It's been ten years since you allied with Velzix, an alliance that's becoming more tenuous with each passing day. Startled by your transformation and surge in power, Velzix proceeded to work extra hard on opening the portal, which he did...permanently. Velzix now has unlimited reinforcements, but you do as well. Your new found abilities allow you to not only summon the torments spirits of the infernal plane, but you soon were also able to raise dead demons as hellish undead. Something that couldn't be accomplished before, by any being. Not even the Great Lich Lord. Combine this with your other regular necromantic abilities and you're a severe threat with completely loyal troops who will have to be dealt with soon as far as Velzix is concerned. But for now, the alliance still stands. Your other "ally" Sinthinia still maintains her grip on her spy network, but it's of little importance to you now. You've completely filled your holdings with undead be they former mortals or demons. None of them are going to rat on whatever it is you're plotting. As for the "Grand Alliance" it's in its death rattle. The Zalan Empire has basically taken full control of it, but even with more of a unified leadership, this last hope for mortals is doomed. You don't even know why they persist in struggling. You alone have pushed your undead hell legions towards the gates of the capitol yourself, beating that idiotic Tivadol to the punch. You hear of how he roars with rage at your successes. Having accomplished this feat, and despite your transformation, your thoughts can't help, but turn to your family. It's been years since you've had any kind of direct contact with them. You know your Mom still lives in the capitol of the Zalan Empire and that your sister is still currently holding the last pitiful lines of defense there as a general. As for your Dad…well you know exactly where he's at right now. He's in your dungeon. Sinthinia recently had him captured after he and his company had been waging an ongoing guerilla tactic campaign of irritating raids on Velzix's Realm. When you found out, you insisted that he be brought to you and she was only too happy to oblige, knowing that your dislike of him, only grew and festered into full blown hatred after your transformation. While it's true you're supposed to oversee the destruction of the Zalan capitol personally, you're going to enjoy yourself in tormenting the one who sired you first. You open the door to his cell and see a beaten and bloody old man. No longer is he the figure of intimidation that you once quaked in fear of when he was around. His wounds are recent from the lashes he's been taking. You decided it would be best to start off with the basics before moving on to more elaborate tortures. However, upon seeing you, he manages to compose himself the best he can. "Ugh…too chicken shit to do your own dirty work, huh?" he says spitting blood. "I think you'll find that by letting others do my dirty work, I'm actually showing mercy. Because when I starting doing it, you won't be in any condition to perform this poor attempt of bravado." Your Dad finally stands up and addresses you more directly. He looks at you and shakes his head. "You think by killing me, that you're proving something? You ain't proving shit boy except what a lousy disappointment you truly are. Now your sister, THERE'S a child to be proud of. Even yer mother gave up on you. Broke her heart you know that?" You can't believe this arrogance! "Feh, aligning yourself with the hordes of hell, I always knew you were too weak to do anything on your own. You couldn't even follow the path of darkness without help." Your Dad mocks. You don't know how he's doing this, but he's actually managing to get to you. You're tired of hearing this and you cast a spell that strips a portion of his skin off. He falls to the floor in pain. "You will NOT dictate your judgment on me! I am beyond such things now, especially from the likes of you! A blood thirsty thug who committed more than a few atrocities in his day and up until I began my path of darkness, was still committing foul deeds under the guise of law. You are no better than me!" "Wrong again boy. I cleaned up my act…heh heh, okay maybe not completely. But I ain't never got myself in league with demons. Let alone turn myself into some unnatural…thing. Yer dammed boy. And while you might think you're going to be controlling everything, you ain't. You don't control hell boy, it controls you. Yer nothin' but a slave to..." "ENOUGH!" you shout and kick him before he can complete his sentence. The rage building up in you is enough to twist steel, but still your Dad mocks you. He's laughing! "Ha ha ha, broke yer mother's heart…" You don't have time for this right now. You're supposed to oversee the final attack of the Zalan capitol, and you're still going to do that, and your Dad is going to feel the pain when you come back. In the meantime he can rot in his cell. You arrive and the final attack is ordered. You storm the gates as cannons destroy multitudes of your troops only to be replaced with more. You see your sister on top of the battlements ordering her soldiers to fire upon you. During this attack you feel several bullets enter your body breaking through your magical defenses. You ignore the pain, as its nothing compared to what you've been exposed to. Not stopping, you enter the gates of the city realizing that this was inevitable. Things could've only been this way. Your undead slay all those that oppose you, but you mentally make sure none of your undead has murderous intentions towards any of your family. You have special plans for them. You head towards your parent's old house, taking little notice of the death around you. When you arrive you find the house empty. In fact it looks like it's been empty for months. So many memories here…a different time… even a different life now… "She left when the attacks first came. She didn't say where either. She just told me she was leaving. I even had her followed for awhile, but she was quite adept at eluding my scouts, not to mention I had other concerns to take care of." Your sister says entering behind you. "Mom always was smart, well except maybe when it came to Dad, but he's rotting in my torture cell right now. So who cares?" you remark. Your sister doesn't make her sense of concern noticeable by your revelation, but instead looks upon you with complete disgust. "I can't believe you've let yourself become what you are. What you've done…" "I've found that one is capable of quite a bit, when one sets their mind to it. Even the demons fear me and I have only myself to congratulate. Soon they too will fall…perhaps this is a lingering sense of brotherly concern, but you could join me in this. You would be a great asset in the coming war with Velzix. Perhaps I could even help you transform as well." She spits on the floor, and then raises her magical glowing sword. "I thought as much." You blast your sister with powerful beam of negative energy causing the color to drain from her face. She's still continues towards you, but another blast causes her to fall. She's near death and your twisted mind still ponders what to do. Your sister was a great warrior, and you weren't joking when she would be a great asset to you if she was on your side. You're sure if given enough time and using the right magic rituals you could transform her like you did to yourself. Part of you also still has your Dad's words of how she was someone to be proud of ringing in your head. Transforming her into a vessel of evil would be destroying that image in your mind. > You transform her Overcome with irrational hatred and jealousy of an opinion that technically shouldn't matter to you at all, you grab your sister's body and have dark plans for it. Even better, you're going to have your Dad see exactly what you're going to do. Two tortures in one. You infuse her with a bit of unholy energy to keep her alive. As you're leaving one of your mortal necromancers approaches you in the middle of the chaos. "Uh sir, we've taken over the city. The royal family was butchered in their own throne room." "Huh? Yeah, yeah. Well you know what to do, recruit the weak willed, kill the resisters, and raise the dead. I got more important things to do." You take your sister back to Aftermath and begin your work. You start to perform rituals and have your Dad watch every reprehensible act you do to your sister over the course of several weeks. She slowly goes from becoming a noble warrior to a malevolent murderer. She screams in pain from the vile assaults upon her mind and body. For the first time you think you've seen your Dad weep and display any kind of emotion. He even begs you to stop, which really make you smile. When you're ready to represent the final act of your work, you approach your Dad who's a completely broken man at this point. "See, and look upon your pride and joy now Dad. You were proud of her because she was everything she represented that you weren't right? She shook off the brutality and replaced it with nobility. She wasn't a self-serving mercenary; she was a duty bound fighter who believed in something. So much so that she was willing to try to kill me even though the odds were against her. She chose a path because it was what she BELIEVED in, not something she became due to falling under some spell like you did. Well guess what? I CHOSE my path too. And I've chose to turn your beloved daughter into you. Did you know she had the capacity for great evil already? Guess your genes are always there, no matter how much you try to deny them. I had to look deep, but I found that part of her. That darkest part of her hates, her violent tendencies, all of it. I nurtured and coaxed it out through…well I think you saw most of the process. Now behold my greatest achievement since my ascension." You sister comes from behind the door; she looks much different than from what your Dad remembers. No longer is she a force of good, but one of evil. Of course though you've made sure she's totally obedient to you. The tormented hell soul that inhabits her body is completely under your command. It causes her great pain, but then again so are you. Why should you be the only one who suffers? She sneers at you as she walks towards your Dad. You can feel her hatred toward you, yet she knows she cannot do anything toward you. Instead she takes it out on your Dad who can only give a mournful look of what she's become before he's hacked to bits in a bloody fury. Yes, she will certainly be a terror on the battlefield, you think. Ten years pass… Twenty years have passed, and the world has tilted firmly into the grip of evil. Demons pour into this world more and more each day. The Grand Alliance is dead and the "civilized" governments of mortals have fallen to demonic hordes or your own undead ones. Pockets of resistance always exist, but they will soon fall in time as well. With the success of your sister's transformation, you proceeded to pick other powerful mortals and unnaturally twist them to your will, turning them into something more than demon, more than undead and certainly more than human. They are much like you except they are completely obedient to your will. They hate you of course for their painful existence, but is it not the way of all children to want to kill their father? Perhaps Hell has changed you, but you've made quite a few changes to Hell… Of more immediate concern is Velzix, who demanded years ago that you stop your experiments on mortals. He and most of the other pure blood demons already didn't like the fact you could raise their dead, but they REALLY didn't like how you were achieving something that they hadn't thought of, let alone even accomplish. Of sure a few can possess a body, or turn an idiot to evil, but how many can create a whole new "race" of beings who are rivaling them in wickedness yet subservient to their creator? Of course you told Velzix to fuck off and there begun a civil war. Your undead, mortal servants and Hellbred warriors now control your territory known as the Forsaken Dominion. Velzix still calls his territory "Velzix's Realm" but it's primarily inhabited by demons now, though mortal slave do serve them under their clawed heels. Neither place is particularly appealing to any right and good thinking being though. Tivadol the Destroyer was the first fool to directly challenge you. He decided that if he could get you out of the way, he could prove that he was the ultimate warrior and easily take Velzix's place. He soon found out how poor his judgment was, when your sister personally slew him on the battlefield and his now undead shell serves her every whim and take her every abuse. Sinthinia broke off her so called alliance with you, and somehow managed to ingratiate herself back in Velzix's good graces. Perhaps your actions really have put the fear into them. Indeed there is less infighting occurring in Velzix's Realm nowadays. This new unified front the demons have put up is the only thing that's really giving you problems as of late. Get them to start fighting amongst themselves again and you'll be able to roll over them. You were here first. You're going to rule this world, nobody else. You get an idea. You know the demons hate your new Hellbred creations yet you're pretty sure Velzix wouldn't mind having some on his side. He's merely using this new found unity to his advantage, just like he'd use your creations to his advantage as well. You decide to stage a small revolt, though you're not telling anyone about it. Only you'll know the truth. You figure your sister would be the best one to start with since it's well known how much she loathes you even amongst the enemy. The first revolt in the Dominion is set off by your sister. She slays several of your mortal servants, some of them even necromancers. Undead die by the droves. You could care less. This is for a greater goal and after all, you'll just raise them again later. The second revolt occurs next and then another. By the end of the month several of your Hellbred warriors have rebelled and some have even acquired small contingencies of mortal followers. All of this grabs Velzix's attention. He moves in to take your weakened areas, but he also sends feelers out to these rebel Hellbreds. Since this was supposed to be impossible he's very interested to see if he can use them against you… Excellent the first part of the plan is set. He has Sinthinia approach them, as he's still too smart to directly face them. The cowardly demon lord hasn't left his magically fortified inner chamber in years. Of course Sinthinia has her own personal guards approach them first since she's not risking her life either. Of course the Hellbreds act appropriately hostile and suspicious, but mention how much they hate being used as your pawns and how arrogant you were to think that you could control them just because you created them. They want nothing more than your death. That response is enough for Velzix to start offering them positions in his armies. They accept of course. At first they're just kept to their own units, but after Velzix wins some territory from you (More than he has in years) he realizes their efficiently would be better spread out to maximize there fighting skills and strategic minds. He begins to have them lead demon contingencies. This doesn't go over well. Part two of the plan has come about. Soon the demons begin to resent Velzix's decision. Saying that he's favoring these Hellbreds over them. Velzix tell them he'll do what he wants as he's the leader and what he says goes. Sinthinia doesn't like this either and mentions that he's stirring trouble by pursuing this course of action and she doesn't like the fact that she can't sense what they're thinking or feeling like a normal (or not so normal) living creature, but Velzix insists he's doing the right thing since he's winning the war against you now. It doesn't take long before the demons revert back to their chaotic natures and start getting disobedient with their new Hellbred "companions". Now you have your Hellbred stop holding back and lash out which they do in violent ways. This of course causes the death of several Hellbreds, but these acts cause a greater spiral of destruction. Demons begin fighting among themselves again, arguing that Velzix doesn't know what the fuck he's doing and isn't worth following since he trusted these creatures to lead. Velzix has REAL rebellions going on all over his Realm. Portions of it begin to split away from the whole and several demons begin forming their own warlord domains. Domains that you easily conquer as you bring your full unified force to bear. Eventually Velzix's reputation isn't strong enough anymore and he can't bring enough reinforcements anymore to help, as the knowledge of his failures have spread even to the infernal planes. In fact he has to close up his portal just so other opportunistic demon lords don't come around to finish him off, he's having enough problems with you. You get the impression that Sinthinia had something to do with that as she disappeared soon after this elaborate deception came about. (Possibly her "parting shot" at Velzix who she never had any true loyalty to anyway and fled back to the infernal plane to save her own skin) Now the endgame begins Your sister storms Velzix's fortress with an army larger than the one used to storm the Zalan capitol ten years ago. You never even have to dirty your hands, and you heard he was slain with ease by your sister. When she presents his head to you, you do something you haven't done in a long time. Grant act of mercy. "You've served me well dear sister, let this be your final reward." You snuff out the tormented spirit inhabiting your sister which releases her from her painful servitude and allows her to die. Now nothing stands in your way, Velzix's hasty actions of closing the portal have made things even easier for you. No longer do you have to deal with these interloping demons any longer. You've suffered their kind long enough. Even from the very beginning when Big Red gave you shit when you tried to buy a book on necromancy from him, how long ago that was... You vow to have every last one of them killed. > You godhood? Thirty years pass… It's been fifty years since you set out on the path of darkness. Every demon on this world has indeed been hunted down and killed. If any still exist, they've found the deepest darkest hole to hide in and you're even having those searched. Mortal resistance is non-existent. You've stomped out every wannabe hero/last hope/chosen one whenever they've presented themselves. Such idealism is the past. A few times there have been a few of your necromancer underlings that have attempted to have you killed, but such attempts are futile and the conspirators are typically caught, tortured and then killed. Most mortals know better than to stand against you now though. You have done something remarkable in your cruel iron fist and that is the fact you've brought peace to the world at last. Nobody fights on any meaningful major scale anymore. All mortals, from the lowliest goblin to the haughtiest elf (Though there aren't too many of the latter left) all obey your terrible will and seek to become one of your many undead minions when they ultimately die. Their "afterlife". They cannot hope to stand against no less than a god. Are you a god though? After all is it not you who drove the demons from the world? Is it not you who created the Hellbred? Is it not you who has achieved world peace? Is it not you who is complete master of life and death? Is it not you who continues to suffer your agonizing existence merely to give these fools some purpose in their lives? Where are all the gods of "old" anyway? Why did they allow this to happen? Why have they not stopped you, if this was not destined to happen? You're of the mind that the gods of this world either never existed or cowered in fear of your rising power and abandoned it long ago. While you ponder these questions in the solitude of your study and decide that you ARE a god, you are suddenly visited by the contrary. "Well, well, well, this turned out a lot better than I expected. I guess it was good I placed my faith in you…ha ha faith. Probably not the most appropriate word, but I can't think of a better one right now." You turn around to see a face you thought dead long ago. Even you are surprised, and that rarely happens nowadays. How he got in here you have no idea. "Big Red?" "Yep, it's me." "I saw you dead. Years ago." "Oh that, yeah well let's just say that wasn't me or at least no the real me. Doesn't matter. This world is ready for the infernal plane." "Excuse me? Just because you have somehow managed to cheat death, do not presume that you can challenge me. I am god here. This world is mine and mine alone." Big Red laughs and then you feel a sudden paralysis over come you. Powerful magic is at work here and you can't do anything about it. Your anger rages. "This world COULD'VE been yours, had you chosen a different path, tis true. But the day you came to me, was the day that path ended. I knew a change in this world was coming long before you showed up, and not necessarily one in my favor. The stench of death had risen once more just like in the days before the Great Lich Lord,. in fact I was already to haul my red ass back to the infernal realm. I already went through that shit once, didn't feel like dealing with it again. Mortals are certainly fun to be around, but the undead…never cared for them. If they were going to retake this world, I saw no point in staying. Demons are indeed assholes, but hey I can related to them." "When I get free, I'm going to make you beg for death!" you yell while he continues his speech. "However, when you came to me, I could sense the great power of necromancy flowing in you. Oh sure Mr. Demar and his motley crew THOUGHT they were dark wizards, but their power paled in comparison to what I sensed in you. I thought about killing you right then and there to stop the possible dead onslaught, but then I thought why do that, when I can bend and taint you to infernal purposes?" "You didn't do shit! I DID THIS ALL!" "I'm sure you think so, and that's exactly what I wanted you to believe. Those necromantic books you took from my place when you found my dead body were infused with hell magic, secret languages from my home. Of course if you had been a little more experienced in such matters you might've caught on, but you were too eager to start raising the dead to not realize that the seeds were slowly taking root in your mind. I watched you turn slowly away from the purity of death and begin to consort with demons. The moment you allied with that blowhard Velzix I knew then the seeds had taken started to bloom." "NO! You're lying!" "It was a good thing that my plan worked too, because it stunted your potential power. The purity of your unnatural link to the dead was spoiled and ultimately severed long ago. Who knows how powerful you could've gotten had I not intervened? Maybe you would've surpassed the Great Lich Lord. Why you might've ascended into godhood. Scary to think about the road not traveled eh?" "LIAR! LIAR!" "Well okay I can't take credit for ALL your decisions, but come on. When you began summoning tormented souls from the infernal realm, did you really think you could've gotten away with that without some kind of help? You were STEALING from Hell. Then when you transformed yourself you were going beyond normal hubris. Not even our kind has the balls to defy Hell itself. You wouldn't believe how hard it was to convince the high ups to let you get away with it. Your Hellbred experiment made things even worse, but in the end it was all worth it. Hell's getting an entire world in return and their stolen souls back." This revelation…you don't want to believe it, but somehow the hard reality is crashing down upon you, and the paralysis wears off and you suddenly feel completely drained as you fall to the floor. "No…no…I was in control the whole time…I'm just…just a puppet…a slave…" "We're ALL slaves to Hell, my dead friend. Its just all of the question how high up you are in the hierarchy you are. You might've been allowed some leniency, and been allowed to be my second in command, but as I said your grand theft soul displeased the high ups. So you gotta pay. Pay dearly I'm afraid. Shame really, you really were quite efficient at your work, but having someone like you around would've been dangerous to my well being anyway. I think Sinthinia will be more fun than you'd be as well. She's proved a most useful spy and saboteur through this whole endeavor. She was the one who told you to look behind the toilet for the necromantic books fifty years ago after all." Its just one deception upon another as the plot has unfolded to prove how you were lead down the path to Hell. Now there's just one more thing as you're crumpled miserably on the floor hoping that all of this is some bad dream, but of course when Big Red crouches next to you and grabs your wrist this is all too real. "It's been said time and time again, but you chose to ignore it. You don't change Hell, Hell changes you. And it's changed not only you, but this world as well. Time for both of you to come home necromancer." And with these last words, the entire world is transported into the infernal plane where Big Red is allowed to run it as he sees fit. All your undead and Hellbred are destroyed instantly as your powers are stripped away immediately. Hell gave you your powers, and now it's taking them away. Drawing back ALL its energy it ever gave you. You now lay in some forsaken deep pit of Hell completely helpless. You have nothing to defend yourself against the demonic torments that you now suffer. Physically, mentally and especially spiritually. Your punishment is eternal and not even the power of death can save you.

Chapter 4: Damned Five years have passed… It's been ten years since you allied with Velzix, an alliance that's becoming more tenuous with each passing day. Startled by your transformation and surge in power, Velzix proceeded to work extra hard on opening the portal, which he did...permanently. Velzix now has unlimited reinforcements, but you do as well. Your new found abilities allow you to not only summon the torments spirits of the infernal plane, but you soon were also able to raise dead demons as hellish undead. Something that couldn't be accomplished before, by any being. Not even the Great Lich Lord. Combine this with your other regular necromantic abilities and you're a severe threat with completely loyal troops who will have to be dealt with soon as far as Velzix is concerned. But for now, the alliance still stands. Your other "ally" Sinthinia still maintains her grip on her spy network, but it's of little importance to you now. You've completely filled your holdings with undead be they former mortals or demons. None of them are going to rat on whatever it is you're plotting. As for the "Grand Alliance" it's in its death rattle. The Zalan Empire has basically taken full control of it, but even with more of a unified leadership, this last hope for mortals is doomed. You don't even know why they persist in struggling. You alone have pushed your undead hell legions towards the gates of the capitol yourself, beating that idiotic Tivadol to the punch. You hear of how he roars with rage at your successes. Having accomplished this feat, and despite your transformation, your thoughts can't help, but turn to your family. It's been years since you've had any kind of direct contact with them. You know your Mom still lives in the capitol of the Zalan Empire and that your sister is still currently holding the last pitiful lines of defense there as a general. As for your Dad…well you know exactly where he's at right now. He's in your dungeon. Sinthinia recently had him captured after he and his company had been waging an ongoing guerilla tactic campaign of irritating raids on Velzix's Realm. When you found out, you insisted that he be brought to you and she was only too happy to oblige, knowing that your dislike of him, only grew and festered into full blown hatred after your transformation. While it's true you're supposed to oversee the destruction of the Zalan capitol personally, you're going to enjoy yourself in tormenting the one who sired you first. You open the door to his cell and see a beaten and bloody old man. No longer is he the figure of intimidation that you once quaked in fear of when he was around. His wounds are recent from the lashes he's been taking. You decided it would be best to start off with the basics before moving on to more elaborate tortures. However, upon seeing you, he manages to compose himself the best he can. "Ugh…too chicken shit to do your own dirty work, huh?" he says spitting blood. "I think you'll find that by letting others do my dirty work, I'm actually showing mercy. Because when I starting doing it, you won't be in any condition to perform this poor attempt of bravado." Your Dad finally stands up and addresses you more directly. He looks at you and shakes his head. "You think by killing me, that you're proving something? You ain't proving shit boy except what a lousy disappointment you truly are. Now your sister, THERE'S a child to be proud of. Even yer mother gave up on you. Broke her heart you know that?" You can't believe this arrogance! "Feh, aligning yourself with the hordes of hell, I always knew you were too weak to do anything on your own. You couldn't even follow the path of darkness without help." Your Dad mocks. You don't know how he's doing this, but he's actually managing to get to you. You're tired of hearing this and you cast a spell that strips a portion of his skin off. He falls to the floor in pain. "You will NOT dictate your judgment on me! I am beyond such things now, especially from the likes of you! A blood thirsty thug who committed more than a few atrocities in his day and up until I began my path of darkness, was still committing foul deeds under the guise of law. You are no better than me!" "Wrong again boy. I cleaned up my act…heh heh, okay maybe not completely. But I ain't never got myself in league with demons. Let alone turn myself into some unnatural…thing. Yer dammed boy. And while you might think you're going to be controlling everything, you ain't. You don't control hell boy, it controls you. Yer nothin' but a slave to..." "ENOUGH!" you shout and kick him before he can complete his sentence. The rage building up in you is enough to twist steel, but still your Dad mocks you. He's laughing! "Ha ha ha, broke yer mother's heart…" You don't have time for this right now. You're supposed to oversee the final attack of the Zalan capitol, and you're still going to do that, and your Dad is going to feel the pain when you come back. In the meantime he can rot in his cell. You arrive and the final attack is ordered. You storm the gates as cannons destroy multitudes of your troops only to be replaced with more. You see your sister on top of the battlements ordering her soldiers to fire upon you. During this attack you feel several bullets enter your body breaking through your magical defenses. You ignore the pain, as its nothing compared to what you've been exposed to. Not stopping, you enter the gates of the city realizing that this was inevitable. Things could've only been this way. Your undead slay all those that oppose you, but you mentally make sure none of your undead has murderous intentions towards any of your family. You have special plans for them. You head towards your parent's old house, taking little notice of the death around you. When you arrive you find the house empty. In fact it looks like it's been empty for months. So many memories here…a different time… even a different life now… "She left when the attacks first came. She didn't say where either. She just told me she was leaving. I even had her followed for awhile, but she was quite adept at eluding my scouts, not to mention I had other concerns to take care of." Your sister says entering behind you. "Mom always was smart, well except maybe when it came to Dad, but he's rotting in my torture cell right now. So who cares?" you remark. Your sister doesn't make her sense of concern noticeable by your revelation, but instead looks upon you with complete disgust. "I can't believe you've let yourself become what you are. What you've done…" "I've found that one is capable of quite a bit, when one sets their mind to it. Even the demons fear me and I have only myself to congratulate. Soon they too will fall…perhaps this is a lingering sense of brotherly concern, but you could join me in this. You would be a great asset in the coming war with Velzix. Perhaps I could even help you transform as well." She spits on the floor, and then raises her magical glowing sword. "I thought as much." You blast your sister with powerful beam of negative energy causing the color to drain from her face. She's still continues towards you, but another blast causes her to fall. She's near death and your twisted mind still ponders what to do. Your sister was a great warrior, and you weren't joking when she would be a great asset to you if she was on your side. You're sure if given enough time and using the right magic rituals you could transform her like you did to yourself. Part of you also still has your Dad's words of how she was someone to be proud of ringing in your head. Transforming her into a vessel of evil would be destroying that image in your mind. > You kill her A fleeting thought of vicious cruelty all to get back at your Dad crosses your mind, but leaves you. You don't need to bother proving anything. You know who you are. The old man is defeated and he'll be dealt with when you get back. The second reason is you wish to remain unique; transforming your sister into something similar to you would be destroying that. "Well sis, this is where we say good bye, you may thank me for this mercy I'm displaying. Dad won't be so lucky." You say and snuff out the last bit of her life essence and leave the house. As you're leaving one of your mortal necromancers approaches you in the middle of the chaos. "Uh sir, we've taken over the city. The royal family was butchered in their own throne room." "Good. Well you know what to do next, recruit the weak willed, kill the resisters, and raise the dead. I got more important things to do." You return to Aftermath where you inform your Dad of his beloved daughter's death and how she died mewling and begging like a pathetic stuck Halfling. You also mention he won't get to die with half as much dignity. His torment stretches for months before his body at last gives out. Lasted longer than you expected, but then again he was always tough. Ten years pass… Twenty years have passed, and the world has tilted firmly into the grip of evil. Demons pour into this world more and more each day. The Grand Alliance is dead and the "civilized" governments of mortals have fallen to demonic hordes or your own undead ones. Pockets of resistance always exist, but the damage they do is negligible. There is little hope left. As for your own "alliance" that also no longer exists. You and Velzix couldn't exist together any longer and the need to destroy each other was finally unleashed. The land is split and your territory is known as the Forsaken Dominion. The war goes on for years in a bloody seesaw event. Tivadol the Destroyer attempts to raise his own status by trying to launch an all out assault upon you. Hoping that by killing you personally, everyone will see he's a better leader than Velzix. His fanatical berserker troops do much damage initially, but soon even they fall before the relentless hordes of undead. By the time Tivadol gets to the inner reaches of your lands, he's fighting by himself. He dies in an onslaught of wraiths, wrights, skeletons and all other manner of undead. Sinthinia who once again sided with Velzix during this split sends some of her personal assassins after you. More than a few times they nearly ended your existence. With each one you killed you had their corpses kept in a cell. Then when you felt you had enough of them in your possession, you raised them and ordered them to use their skills to kill Sinthinia and Velzix. Velzix proved to evade this fate, but Sinthinia wasn't so lucky and died by the hands of her own assassins. Still even with these successes, you aren't gaining too much ground. Velzix just replenishes his army with more demons coming from the infernal plane. The only way to stop that from happening is to close the motherfucker, and quite frankly you're about the only one on your side powerful enough to do it. You prepare to make a large scale attack into Velzix's Realm. After a long hard fight you manage to close the infernal portal, cutting off his troop supply. Of course after having done this, you realize you're already deep in his territory. He's close. Why stop there? He'll just open it again later, and you ARE trying to kill him… Not stopping, you assault his nearby fortress Fury. With each demon you kill they cut down ten of your undead. They make you pay for every success, to the point that you even have to conserve some of your energy to stop raising the dead to replenish your losses. You've expended enough as it is closing the portal, you'll need all you have to defeat Velzix. Eventually you reach Velzix's inner chamber. He bellows and makes his usual threats of how he's going to make you pay and such. It's all so boring now. You've heard it all before. You don't bother with your own remarks, because you've also said it all before too. The pair of you engage in combat, casting every terrible spell imaginable and destroying portions of the fortress in the process. For years the world has suffered under the both of you, and little by little hope died. However, perhaps after this battle hope shall once again live. For the level of evil will definitely be vastly diminished after this day. You fight with much ferocity, but at last Velzix catches you off guard and lands a crippling blow. He wastes no time in following up and after he's done, you can even feel yourself losing grip on the hellish magics keeping you alive. However, you vow if you're not winning neither is Velzix. You expend your last bit of power and blast Velzix in the face with a combination of negative energy and hellfire. He reels back from you and falls. You then force the tormented soul in your body to exit and enter inside Velzix and command it to wreak havoc on his internal organs out from the inside. Velzix's howls as his organs explode and his body is ripped apart. It's the last thing you hear as you die a final death with a smile on your face.

Well, you probably could use the help in this matter. Smoothing this out with Velzix is going to be a delicate affair. "Alright, I'm accepting your help." "Excellent." Sesisek smiles. Sesisek explains that even if you do manage to talk Velzix into not killing you for your actions, he's still going to take away your hard earned victory for himself. You can't let him do this, nor are you to get into a fight with him. Instead you must convince Velzix that you are indeed loyal and would never dream of betraying him, but that you must take a more active role in things if you are to be effective. You must remind him that if you're doing activity, then Velzix can concentrate more on opening up the portal to back home and victory will come quicker. Finally you must always point out of how weak you are compared to the might of Velzix, remind him that you are but a lowly mortal and will always remain so when compared to a demon lord. After advising you, Sesisek leaves you as he mentions he doesn't want to be around if things don't go well. He doesn't need anymore of Velzix's anger to spread out to him, but if you happen to be successful; he'll definitely be around to provide more help in the future You feel just by agreeing to this you've lost something of yourself. Much like when you allied with Velzix. Maybe you haven't gone so far to sell your soul and granted you were walking the path of darkness to begin with, but the twisted taint of hell that you've been getting deeper into is definitely starting to change you and it's probably not for the better. In any case a couple days pass and Velzix arrives, he's a little more calm than you were expecting, but he could blow up at any minute. "So little necromancer, I hear you have been taking matters into your own hands and acquiring territory yourself. I am displeased that you have done this. The Grand Alliance has been attacking and you've been squandering my potential reinforcements elsewhere. What if they had succeeded in breaking through my defenses? I would've had no troops to support my position, and much would've been lost." "Forgive me, but I felt that with the Grand Alliance focusing their attention elsewhere, I believed an attack on the Brot Kingdom would be a good idea. And I might add, it was. The conquest was very successful." "Yes, but you have dodged the question of what would've happened had the Grand Alliance broke through my defenses?" "I did not worry about such a thing since I knew they would be no match for a powerful demon lord such as yourself and even if they had, I'm sure you personally could've dealt with the few stragglers. They are only mortals after all; they would never be a match for you." "Obsequious words little necromancer…I have never heard any such tone from you before. You have always carried an air of arrogance about you. Tell me, is my mere presence enough to make you regret your clumsy attempts at gaining more power?" "I fear you have misjudged me in this. I simply feel that my talents have not been used to their full degree, because you believe I shall be treacherous in the future. I have no desire to do such a thing. What would be the point? I could never hope to defeat you anyway. I only wish to be more active in your eventual conquest of this world. I have already proven to be a more competent general than Tivadol." Velzix laughs out loud at this last statement. "I'm sure Tivadol will be thrilled to hear that a mortal has achieved more in military victories on this world than he has…very well. You wish to choose a more active role, so be it. It will be most amusing to see Tivadol compete with you, perhaps this will even inspire him to succeed, since as you have pointed out, he has yet to conquer an entire kingdom for me like you have…and it IS MY kingdom is it not?" "Yes, it is." You say with a bow. "Hmm, yes. Well you've talked your way out of this one necromancer, but know that I will still be watching you. You had best prove successful in your new active role, but also remember who is in charge and who serves." "Of course." Velzix informs you that since you have taken on this role, he'll be issuing more orders to you AND that it will be up to you to oversee larger areas of territory (Starting with the recently acquired Brot Kingdom), not just Aftermath. And if you fuck up, you're going to get fucked up. And with that, you have your new place in the hierarchy… Four years pass… It's been five years since you made your alliance with Velzix, so far it's proven most beneficial more or less. You've managed to carve out a niche for yourself as a good general, and just in time too since Velzix has been successful in keeping infernal portals open longer which is allowing more demons to come in. While your undead troops are looking to be somewhat "obsolete" your expertise in military planning has assured you a place in this demonic empire. You don't lead demons though of course. They'd never allow such a thing. You lead a strange combination of undead and mortals who have decided to throw their lot in with the infernal forces. Sesisek has even provided you with a few mortals who have displayed an interest in necromancy, allowing you to not carry the weight of up keeping an undead army constantly anymore. While you haven't completely abandoned your necromantic roots, you've been forced to broaden your magical horizons and tap into the infernal plane, which has allowed you to create potent unnatural abominations. However, this type of magic is highly experimental and you're probably the first one to even attempt it. It's beginning to take a toll on your deteriorating health, because as they say, you don't change hell, hell changes you. However your power is keeping you going. You haven't lost sight that one day you'll be in charge… Your immediate rivals haven't lost sight either, in fact you've become more of a threat. Tivadol the Destroyer constantly makes threats that he'll one day see you crushed underneath his foot. Sinthinia is a little more interested in your relationship with Sesisek and finds the fact that you two are on too good of terms to be very suspicious. Oddly Velzix doesn't seem worried about this though, or if he is, he hasn't made it known to you. Indeed he's been pre-occupied lately with finally opening up a portal permanently to his infernal home. He believes he will soon be successful. In the meantime, the Grand Alliance has been hard pressed to hold the line, they are slowly losing ground to you and Tivadol. Heroes from all over the civilized governments have been employed, but so far they've have proven unsuccessful in even getting to Velzix, let alone killing him. Vampire assassins however have had a little more luck, but Sinithina's internal security magic guards have detected them all as soon as they get near Velzix's fortress. You can't say you're too thrilled yourself with Velzix opening up a permanent portal as it could certainly make your job a lot harder of killing him in the future. Sesisek, realizes this too and has recently approached you about this. He tells you to meet him for a plan to kill Velzix, in a couple days. While you're in your study pondering what this could entail, you are suddenly "greeted" with Sinthinia's presence. Unusual since she's directly kept her distance from you ever since you conquered the Brot Kingdom. (Indirectly through her spies is another matter however) Whatever she has come to see you for probably isn't good…or is it? "Hmm, this place still reeks of death I see. It is much too cold in this place. Not warm like many of our other conquests. Look how hard my nipples are. Why it's cold enough to make me almost want to put on clothes…almost." She says touching herself in a seductive way. You've seen her in action before, and you're not some weak willed fool, so this routine has little effect on you. "Yeah, well zombies tend to be flammable and I hate the heat, so this grave chill stays. You'll just have to deal with hard nipples." "How about YOU deal with them. Hm?" "Sinthinia what do you want?" "Besides your dick in my nice warm body? I want to see you not ruin your most promising career by siding with a loser like Sesisek. I know that the two of you have been collusion together ever since you conquered the Brot Kingdom…a most bold move might I add. Only the first of many. You are obviously a man who knows what he wants and takes it…" At this point Sinthinia is turning on her demonic seduction and getting closer to the point of touching you. You'd be lying if it wasn't having any effect on you. "Yeah…well just get the point Sinthinia!" "See? So forceful! Very well, the point. My point is Sesisek is an obsessed fool who's time is running out. I know he's got plans to kill me and Velzix, so far I haven't exactly determined how he's going to attempt it, but I know it's coming soon. My concern is, if YOU have anything to do with such plans. It would be a shame if you did…" "Well he hasn't said anything to me about any specific plan." You reply. "Ah, careful words you chose without actually lying. You have been hanging around our kind and learning! However you will not dodge me so easily. Specific plan. Specific being the key word. I'm guessing he's approached you about some act of treachery though and just hasn't given you the details yet." You say nothing and she presses up against you while speaking into your ear so close that she nibbles on it a bit. "I'll take your silence as a yes. Know however that you are still not powerful enough to kill Velzix. I am very close to him just like I am very close to you right now and I can tell you with all certainty that you will not be able to defeat him. Not even with that bitter old idiot Sesisek helping you…I advise that you not go down the same path as he is." "Oh yeah? Well if you think we're doing something, why not just kill us both right now?" "It's not how I work my necromantic cutie. Besides, I am giving you a chance to join with a better and more grateful ally in the long run. Namely me. I want you to find out what Sesisek's plan is and then at the right time, betray him. I would be most grateful." "Hmm, I don't trust you. Sesisek trusted you once and look what happened." "Sesisek proved to be weak and unworthy of my loyalty, but of course you don't trust me, nor should you. Still, you think on this, I have offered to become your ally and more if you wish. I run the internal security of Velzix's empire. Do you not think that having me as an ally would be more beneficial for your future than to stay allied with Sesisek whose plan is surely doomed to failure? I already KNOW he's planning something. He will be punished soon, along with all that have conspired with him. Stay loyal to him and you'll suffer his fate. Betray him, and you'll suddenly find yourself in control of his holdings and have one less potential enemy to worry about. Not to mention you will make me very happy. So happy that I may provide favors for you that you could never dream of. So what do you say?" Normally you'd think more about it, but Sinthinia has made a somewhat appealing offer and the fact that she's currently shoved one of her hands down your pants and stroking your cock isn't exactly helping you think straight either. > You act like you do not know what she is talking about You don't trust her, and you'd be a fool to do so, so you play dumb. "Sorry Sinthinia, but I don't know what you're talking about. I sometimes talk to Sesisek, and while he does scheme, I can assure you that I'm not part of them. I have no wish to side with a loser like him." Sinthinia stops the seduction routine and eyes you suspiciously. A pity since you were enjoying her fondling. "Very well necromancer. Play your little game. I hope for your sake that you're telling the truth, because if you aren't, I think you'll find that I play this game a lot better and I won't be offering this opportunity again." Sinthinia walks out of your study and you dismiss her threats. A few days pass and you meet Sesisek in the forsaken area known as the Drozz Wasteland. The barbarian tribes here still hold sway, but you need not concern yourself with such minor threats, they know enough to stay away from two dark individuals such as yourselves, and the others… The others in question are vampires. It would appear that Sesisek has been planning more than just "normal" betrayal. The vampires eye you warily. You're about to speak when all of a sudden Sinthinia materializes not to far away from this meeting spot. "Ah thank you necromancer, your help in exposing Sesisek's collaboration with vampires will be rewarded!" she exclaims. "YOU BETRAYED ME TO THAT BITCH!?!" Sesisek bellows "She's lying! I never…" You don't get a chance to finish your explanation before a dozen or so of Sinthinia's personal guards also materialize and attack. You're temporarily so distracted by this that you don't react in time to avoid Sesisek's blow to your head, knocking you senseless to the ground. When you come to, you find yourself tied up and on your knees before Sinthinia while being held roughly by her guards. You're still in the Drozz plains, but you're not going anywhere. You can't cast any spells with your mouth gagged and your hands bound. "Well, I told you I could play this game better. I'm sure if he could Sesisek would agree with you." You look over you your left and see Sesisek lying on the ground in a bloody pitiful state and being kicked mercilessly by more of her guards. "However, your fate shall be much kinder than the one that awaits him. After all I do have to reward you." Sinthinia strokes your face gently and then abruptly claws your eyes out with the same hand. This is followed by a tearing sensation in your chest. If you could still see, you would be looking directly at your heart being ripped out before you. You fall to the ground and are left there to be eaten by passing beasts.

What's the point of having power, if you aren't using it in any meaningful way that can help you? You're sick of being "reined in". You're going to do what you've been wanting to do for a long time. You prepare to march an army of undead to the Brot Kingdom. The demons and mortals stationed at Aftermath are wondering what's going on though since most of them know you're mainly used for defense. "Where do you think yer goin'?" a demon solder steps up to ask you as you're about to leave the city gates. "I'm gonna go conquer the Brot Kingdom, got a problem with that?" "Me? No, not at all. Just didn't know Velzix let you off your leash." The demon soldier grins. This remark is met with a negative energy blast to his face, completely ripping the flesh off and revealing the still grinning skull underneath. As the rest of this body falls to the ground, you feel the need to make a speech to the gawking onlookers. "I am not on anyone's fucking leash! Nobody tells me what the do! Now what's going to happen, is I'm going to leave and lay waste to the Brot Kingdom. The rest of you are going to defend this place while I'm gone! And when Velzix comes here, like I know he will I'LL handle it. The rest of you can cower before that fucker, but I ain't the one." Having made your thoughts known, you return to your undead army, which obediently still stands only awaiting your commands. As the way things should be. The way ALL things should be. After a few days you eventually reach the Brot Kingdom. You start by decimating the small border villages and then quickly raising the peasants you slaughtered. You've moved on to larger towns before the Brot military manages to start opposing you. Their military is weak though. Most of them see your horde and run in terror before the fight even begins! Those are the smart ones. The rest soon become just more fodder for you to raise. You actually feel more powerful after your conquests, which is odd given the amount of energy you've been expending. You can only take this as a sign of this being what you were meant for! Within the week you've single handedly taken control of the Brot capitol and most of the Kingdom in general. Much of the royal family has abased themselves before you in an attempt for you to spare their lives. You laugh and grant this request, after all someone has to still run this territory. You've successfully subjugated your first territory. In fact, it's the first "real" territory conquered since Velzix took over the Tulan Kingdom. Tivadol's petty victories haven't even compared to what you've done. When you return to Aftermath, you're half expecting to be met by Velzix, who has undoubtedly heard of your actions by now. It's only now that you realize you may be in more trouble than you thought! However, you're surprisingly met by Sesisek instead who sits in your study. "This place is as dead as my status among demonkind." He says looking at the many skeletal structures and decorations. "It's a fucking necropolis, I'm a necromancer, and what do you want? I figured Velzix would be here meeting me." "Oh he's on his way, and from what I've heard, he's quite pissed about you playing the role of conqueror. He's just a little more preoccupied with the Grand Alliance army that's currently attacking him directly right now, which probably explains why you met little resistance at Brot. Congratulations on your victory, I'm sure Tivadol won't be too pleased with accomplishing something he couldn't either." "Yeah, yeah, so why are you here?" "I'm here to help you get out of this shit pit you've stepped in and are quickly in danger of sinking further into. You've showed entirely too much ambition, too soon, my mortal friend." "What of it? Like I'm the only one plotting against Velzix? Hah! Tivadol makes no pretense of his goals." "Ah yes, but you're not taking some things into consideration. Tivadol is still a demon and you my mortal friend are not. We are not fond of ever being bested, but to be bested by a mortal is even more repugnant to us. Tivadol is also a predictable loud mouth brute who is never going to achieve his goal. Velzix knows exactly how to manipulate him. Perhaps the day will come where he'll have to kill him, but that day is far off in the future. You on the other hand are still new and he's still learning about you. Velzix probably thought you could be manipulated and cowed into submission by his sheer strength and magic abilities alone, but it's apparent that you aren't afraid of such things. I could've seen that though. Necromancers embrace death; fear of it won't be a factor. Though there are worse things than death…" "Guess you're proof of that." You mock. "Hmm, your pointless barbs at me are quite unproductive and are in fact hindering you. I am offering to help you, I'd advise that you take it before you meet Velzix." "Offering me help huh? I seriously doubt you're doing this out of kindness." "Of course not. I'm doing it because I see an opportunity for revenge and quite frankly, you are the only one that will be able to help me achieve it. However, I assure you that we will both profit greatly from this, if you listen to me. If you don't want my help though, I shall leave." "Okay I'm listening, what are you suggesting?" "Ha ha, no my mortal friend. I would be quite the fool if I told you how to handle Velzix before I got your word that you are in fact accepting my help. ARE you accepting my help?" Sesisek looks at you expectantly. > You refuse his help You're not going to be anyone's puppet. You can handle Velzix yourself. "Get out of here, I don't need your help! In fact I'd say dealing with a loser like you would put me in a worse position. Go scheme elsewhere." Your words cause Sesisek to give you a look of mixed disapproval, disappointment and disgust. He quite obviously doesn't like your insults, but he was also hoping that you'd help him. All he can do now is attempt to save what little pride he has and leave. "Very well little necromancer, you think you know best, I'll leave you to it. You'll never be one of us though and that's why your pitiful lifespan here will be even shorter than normal. Enjoy your victory, it will be your last." He remarks and leaves you. You dismiss his warnings and attempt to prepare yourself for Velzix's visit. You come up with how you're going to explain your actions to Velzix. A couple days pass and you hear about The Grand Alliance army breaking off their siege. Velzix will be coming soon. Velzix arrives and you're readying every spell and summoning you can think of. If it does go down, you'll have to act quickly. You're actually surprised he's coming down here instead of summoning you to his fortress instead. "So little necromancer, I hear you have been taking matters into your own hands and acquiring territory yourself. I am displeased that you have done this. The Grand Alliance has been attacking and you've been squandering my potential reinforcements elsewhere. What if they had succeeded in breaking through my defenses? I would've had no troops to support my position, and much would've been lost." "Well if that had happened I guess I would've had to take over." That remark wasn't the best one you could've made, but you can't contain yourself for some reason. By Velzix's statement alone, you're sensing weakness in him, weakness that you could take advantage of. Why should you have to explain your actions? In the meantime Velzix is barely containing his anger at your arrogance. "Tread VERY carefully mortal! Do not presume that you are not expendable! You are NOT a demon, do not attempt to play this game in which you are ill equipped to play. You are under MY command! Normally I would kill you for your insolence, but your recent victory has been a great one from what reports I have heard. However, it is MY territory! Not yours! Do not think that you are going to build up some power base to betray me later, because that is not going to happen if you value your existence! So you better just put such thoughts out of your mind right now and fall in line!" Velzix hasn't raised his voice too much, but there is definitely a very real threat there. The temperature of the room is much hotter as you can feel the heat from his body rise with his anger. If you're going to make a move, you better do it now. > You kill Velzix You make the first move… A huge battle ensues, you summon up shadows and wraiths to your aid while Velzix attempts to rip you limb from limb. Soon the others in Aftermath are drawn into the fight as well, most of the demons side with Velzix, the mortal troops tend to just get out of the way, while your undead are loyal as always. This battle causes damage to Aftermath not seen since the Dark Order attempted to take it over. You certainly have the upper and hand, and Velzix realizes that you're more powerful than he thought, but unfortunately for you, he manages to get away. "LITTLE MORTAL YOU HAVE NOT WON THIS DAY! YOU WILL SOON COME TO BEG FOR DEATH WHEN I HAVE YOUR BROKEN FUCKING BODY BROUGHT BEFORE ME IN CHAINS!" he bellows before flying away. You're left with a city in shambles, but at last free of any ideas of servitude, as well as a large portion of territory yourself. You now have some breathing room. Of course you now have more enemies, but you're confident that you'll be able to handle the troubles ahead. Four years pass… Five years have passed since you took control of Aftermath, and now that's coming to an end. After your treachery against Velzix, he was so consumed with rage over it that he ordered constant attacks on you even at the expense of his own defenses. This not only weakened your position, but his as well, allowing the Grand Alliance army to break through and retake the Tulan Kingdom. Velzix and his cohorts were all slain. After this occurred, most of the demons fled into the wilderness only to be hunted down and killed. A few even ran to you, you accepted them since you needed all the help you could get at that point. After taking care of Velzix, The Grand Alliance wasted no time in attacking you. You tried to maintain your holdings, but ultimately you lost your grip on the Brot Kingdom, when the royal family there once again switched alliances (Though to no avail as the Grand Alliance took them all into custody and had them executed for treason) Soon you were just left with Aftermath. When the Grand Alliance wasn't trying to break down the gates, you had vampire assassins attempting to kill you. In fact right now, you are dying from several deep blade wounds from their latest attack. The last bastard must've used some sort of assassin's blade that doesn't allow you to heal, because you're bleeding out like a hemophiliac. Oh well, at least you killed him. The Grand Alliance is also outside. Damn vampires probably set this up so you really wouldn't be able to escape. Funny that you worried about Velzix and his crew killing you for so long, and it was some bloodsuckers that got you. Things are getting dark now; you can hear Grand Alliance troops breaking down your fortress door. Well they'll never take you alive that's for sure. You wonder exactly what went wrong and if you could've done things differently. You curse your lack of proper planning and regret your choices as they have ultimately lead you to ruin. You lie on the floor, you see armored troops stand around you; one of them is your sister. She looks at you sternly with her sword at your throat, which is pretty pointless considering that you're obviously near death already. Looks like she has a higher rank than you last remember. Good for her, at least one of you made something of your lives. "…congrat…on your…promotion…" are your last words before she finishes you off.

You're not going to be anyone's puppet. You can handle Velzix yourself. "Get out of here, I don't need your help! In fact I'd say dealing with a loser like you would put me in a worse position. Go scheme elsewhere." Your words cause Sesisek to give you a look of mixed disapproval, disappointment and disgust. He quite obviously doesn't like your insults, but he was also hoping that you'd help him. All he can do now is attempt to save what little pride he has and leave. "Very well little necromancer, you think you know best, I'll leave you to it. You'll never be one of us though and that's why your pitiful lifespan here will be even shorter than normal. Enjoy your victory, it will be your last." He remarks and leaves you. You dismiss his warnings and attempt to prepare yourself for Velzix's visit. You come up with how you're going to explain your actions to Velzix. A couple days pass and you hear about The Grand Alliance army breaking off their siege. Velzix will be coming soon. Velzix arrives and you're readying every spell and summoning you can think of. If it does go down, you'll have to act quickly. You're actually surprised he's coming down here instead of summoning you to his fortress instead. "So little necromancer, I hear you have been taking matters into your own hands and acquiring territory yourself. I am displeased that you have done this. The Grand Alliance has been attacking and you've been squandering my potential reinforcements elsewhere. What if they had succeeded in breaking through my defenses? I would've had no troops to support my position, and much would've been lost." "Well if that had happened I guess I would've had to take over." That remark wasn't the best one you could've made, but you can't contain yourself for some reason. By Velzix's statement alone, you're sensing weakness in him, weakness that you could take advantage of. Why should you have to explain your actions? In the meantime Velzix is barely containing his anger at your arrogance. "Tread VERY carefully mortal! Do not presume that you are not expendable! You are NOT a demon, do not attempt to play this game in which you are ill equipped to play. You are under MY command! Normally I would kill you for your insolence, but your recent victory has been a great one from what reports I have heard. However, it is MY territory! Not yours! Do not think that you are going to build up some power base to betray me later, because that is not going to happen if you value your existence! So you better just put such thoughts out of your mind right now and fall in line!" Velzix hasn't raised his voice too much, but there is definitely a very real threat there. The temperature of the room is much hotter as you can feel the heat from his body rise with his anger. If you're going to make a move, you better do it now. > You capitulate to him As much as your desire is there to kill Velzix, your caution overtakes you. You do exactly what Velzix requests. "…the territory is yours …I have no control over it." You say and even make a little bow. You feel disgusted with yourself for even doing that, but Velzix is quite pleased. He's broken you a little. "Yes it is, and I'm glad to see you've gotten with the program. The less pride one has, the more likely one is to survive and in the end, that's what it's all about. Now, we shall never have another incident like this again I trust?" "…no…" "Good, now I think the best place for you, would be directly by my side where you can be more useful." "What?!" "Sure, I could shore up my defenses in the heart of my realm, and place more elite troops on the front lines. Plus I think it would be a good idea to keep a closer eye on you. Just to make sure you don't forget your place." Meekishly, you travel back with Velzix and become a permanent fixture in his fortress Fury. You really hate it there as you're watched constantly; it's unbearably hot all the time and have to put up with more demons than you did in Aftermath. Predictably they're all hostile towards you, "loyal" to Velzix and set your zombies on fire for laughs regularly. Four years pass… It's been five years since you made your alliance with Velzix and you fucking hate it even more than ever. While you've managed to still carve out a niche for yourself, your position is increasingly becoming in danger of being obsolete. Velzix has been successful in keeping infernal portals open longer which is allowing more demons to come in. The Grand Alliance has been hard pressed to hold the line and it seems like more and more mortals each day are willing to bend before demonic might. Your undead troops aren't even necessary for defense too much anymore. Because of this you've been forced to broaden your magical horizons and tap into the infernal plane. It's only due to the fact that you've been delving into darker necromantic magic and fusing it with infernal powers to create potent unnatural abominations that you're still serving your purpose. However, this type of magic is highly experimental and you're probably the first one to even attempt it. It's beginning to take a toll on your rapidly deteriorating health, because as they say, you don't change hell, hell changes you. Everyday you're in pain and probably losing what little of your black soul you have left. If this keeps up, you won't be around long enough to see Velzix achieve his goal of opening up his permanent portal which looks like is might be soon. You haven't heard anything of your family, except you know that your sister is a captain of a Grand Alliance army and your Dad's mercenary company has been hired to launch on going raids to harass and hinder Velzix's efforts. Your Mom is probably saddened by your actions. You're just another mortal submitting to demonic supremacy. It's a long way from what you originally envisioned for yourself and it's probably too late for you to do anything about it now…or is it? Recent reports have spoken of another assassination plan on Velzix. It's known that the vampires have been sending their own, but haven't gotten anywhere close to him. A few "heroes" from the civilized governments have been sent as well, but none of them have been successful either. However, if you could locate one of these groups and try to help them get to Velzix, maybe you could at least get some sort of satisfaction. You don't really have anything else to lose at this point. > You help one of these assassin groups You failed to kill Velzix when you had the chance five years ago when this alliance was being proposed, then again four years ago after you conquered Brot, maybe you can make for lost time. And as they say, third time's a charm. You have no idea how you're going to accomplish this though, it's not like you have some sort of contacts then it hits you; why not go see Sesisek? You know he's still harboring desires of revenge and he's supposed to be returning to Fury soon You wait a week attempting to plan for this proposal, but you know its really going to come down to "Hey Sesisek, I'm going to kill Velzix, do you want to help or not?" In fact that's exactly what happens, when you catch him in an empty hallway. He looks at you with a smirk on his face. You almost expect him to think that you're setting him up, but he can tell by your pitiful state that you're speaking the truth. "Sooo, finally wised up eh? You know, you wouldn't be in this condition had you taken my help four years ago. I dunno. I've got my own plans, why should I involve you in them?" "Because I do still have power. Power that can help you take out Velzix and regain respect among your own kind. You're talking to a desperate man here, I don't even care if I die at this point, I just need to get my own revenge on Velzix." "You and multitudes of others. You're not special. However, you are desperate. And you are powerful. Dangerous combination. Very well, I'll talk with you further, but let's go some place less likely to be listened in on." You and Sesisek speak in your study. He is very open about his plan to you and explains that he has been in contact with Lord Rostov and working out a deal with the Vampire Clans that will be beneficial to him. This deal could be extended to you as well, provided you are helpful enough. Another group of vampire assassins have managed to make their way into the heart of Velzix's Realm, but if they are to strike they need to do it now, before Sinthinia's internal security forces sniff them out once again. Sesisek's job was to sneak them into Fury without too much opposition, given that you're in on this plan now, you could do a better job since your necromantic magic could mask the vampire assassins' movements. He mentions he will set up the plan and while you and the bloodsuckers are heading to Velzix's chamber, Sesisek says he will be dealing with Sinthinia personally. It will also provide a diversion. A day passes and you're preparing yourself for the battle of your life. You memorize every powerful spell you can think of and strengthen up your undead minions. When this goes down there is no turning back, so you're just going to order all of them to attack the moment Sesisek's attack on Sinthinia becomes known and an alarm is raised. Hopefully the added chaos will help. Another day passes and Sesisek sees you fairly early in the morning. He mentions that the assassins will meet you by the dead forest nearby when darkness falls. He hopes you've prepared yourself, because it was very hard to convince them in this change of plans. When darkness comes, you take a few of your hellish undead abominations with you and make your way to the dead forest. Once fairy folk and the like frolicked here, now it's just a group of desiccated tree husks waiting to be taken away to build more war machines. Your powers in necromancy aren't quite as pure as they used to be thanks to the tainting of hellish magics, but you can still sense the assassins are close by. You aren't taken by surprised when they materialize around you. Indeed you have your abominations to act if they try anything. "So, you're Velzix's little necromancer eh? You don't look like much." One of them says. "Maybe, but you ain't getting in that fortress without me. You think Sesisek could've snuck you in? Please. The moment you entered, you would've been detected. Sinthinia's got magic detection up the ass in that place. Fortunately I can mask your presence, just make sure you all stay invisible until the right time." "Don't worry about us, you just hold up your end and get us to Velzix, necromancer." You make your trek back to Fury, without incident with your hidden friends in tow. You take a deep breath before entering the gates where upon you half expect the demon guards to stop you, but nothing happens. You've succeeded. Your next move is to get as quickly as possible to Velzix's inner chambers. You don't get far when an alarm is raised, you think it's for you at first, but you soon realize its Sesisek doing his part. You hope it's enough of a distraction, but if it isn't… You mentally call out to your undead minions to attack anything living. "Come on! Secrecy is over! We gotta haul ass to Velzix!" you exclaim. While chaos is reigning in the fortress, you and the vampires easily dispatch those that would attempt to stop you. When you get to Velzix's inner chambers where he's attempting to open up a portal to get reinforcements. "Treachery! I expected this from Sesisek, but I thought you learned your place! No matter, you will learn pain instead, and your blood leech buddies won't be able to help you either!" Velzix's portal opens and a swarm of demons come pouring out. The vampire assassins waste no time and begin their work with deadly efficiency. Your abominations have less finesse, but they get the job done. Velzix unleashes horrible infernal magic that causes a couple of the assassins to liquefy. You're just trying to stay out of the way of most of the fighting and attempting to keep a control over your troops, but you soon realize you're going to have to play a direct role in his death and unleash your own negative energy bolts at Velzix. The battle is brutal, and dead bodies soon litter the chamber. You've suffered a mortal wound, but it hardly matters now. Deep down you didn't expect to survive this. Velzix isn't either though. Sesisek arrives just in time to slam an axe in his back while he was finishing off the last vampire assassin. Velzix roars in pain, but falls to the floor where upon Sesisek pulls out a second weapon, a sword and severs his head from his body. It's done. Velzix is dead and you don't feel too much different. You're still dying and you're not hopeful that Sesisek is going to help you out. "Ha ha! Vengence is mine! Velzix and that bitch are both dead!" he yells in triumph "Uh huh, great…" "Yes…well it looks like you're hurt pretty badly there. I don't think I can do anything for you. In fact I need to make my escape. I think you'll understand if leave you here. After all you would only slow me up and I may have lied about my deal being extended to you anyway." "…yeah…I sorta figure that…" you say holding on to your bleeding side. "Besides, you got your revenge and that is what you wanted right? I can honestly say though I couldn't have done it without you." "I can honestly say something too…I'm still nobody's puppet." You hit Sesisek in the face with a negative energy blast. He screams as it strikes his eyes. He collapses on the floor blindly reaching for a weapon yelling about how he's going to kill you. You smile though as more demons come to the inner chamber and butcher Sesisek while he's on all fours like some sightless dog. You then give way to the release of blessed death.

As much as your desire is there to kill Velzix, your caution overtakes you. You do exactly what Velzix requests. "…the territory is yours …I have no control over it." You say and even make a little bow. You feel disgusted with yourself for even doing that, but Velzix is quite pleased. He's broken you a little. "Yes it is, and I'm glad to see you've gotten with the program. The less pride one has, the more likely one is to survive and in the end, that's what it's all about. Now, we shall never have another incident like this again I trust?" "…no…" "Good, now I think the best place for you, would be directly by my side where you can be more useful." "What?!" "Sure, I could shore up my defenses in the heart of my realm, and place more elite troops on the front lines. Plus I think it would be a good idea to keep a closer eye on you. Just to make sure you don't forget your place." Meekishly, you travel back with Velzix and become a permanent fixture in his fortress Fury. You really hate it there as you're watched constantly; it's unbearably hot all the time and have to put up with more demons than you did in Aftermath. Predictably they're all hostile towards you, "loyal" to Velzix and set your zombies on fire for laughs regularly. Four years pass… It's been five years since you made your alliance with Velzix and you fucking hate it even more than ever. While you've managed to still carve out a niche for yourself, your position is increasingly becoming in danger of being obsolete. Velzix has been successful in keeping infernal portals open longer which is allowing more demons to come in. The Grand Alliance has been hard pressed to hold the line and it seems like more and more mortals each day are willing to bend before demonic might. Your undead troops aren't even necessary for defense too much anymore. Because of this you've been forced to broaden your magical horizons and tap into the infernal plane. It's only due to the fact that you've been delving into darker necromantic magic and fusing it with infernal powers to create potent unnatural abominations that you're still serving your purpose. However, this type of magic is highly experimental and you're probably the first one to even attempt it. It's beginning to take a toll on your rapidly deteriorating health, because as they say, you don't change hell, hell changes you. Everyday you're in pain and probably losing what little of your black soul you have left. If this keeps up, you won't be around long enough to see Velzix achieve his goal of opening up his permanent portal which looks like is might be soon. You haven't heard anything of your family, except you know that your sister is a captain of a Grand Alliance army and your Dad's mercenary company has been hired to launch on going raids to harass and hinder Velzix's efforts. Your Mom is probably saddened by your actions. You're just another mortal submitting to demonic supremacy. It's a long way from what you originally envisioned for yourself and it's probably too late for you to do anything about it now…or is it? Recent reports have spoken of another assassination plan on Velzix. It's known that the vampires have been sending their own, but haven't gotten anywhere close to him. A few "heroes" from the civilized governments have been sent as well, but none of them have been successful either. However, if you could locate one of these groups and try to help them get to Velzix, maybe you could at least get some sort of satisfaction. You don't really have anything else to lose at this point. > You continue doing what you are doing You've given up on hope or anything else a long time ago. Even if you could contact one of these groups, Sinthinia would probably sniff out the attempt due to her constant internal security measures, and you're being watched a lot anyway. Nope, you've resigned yourself to a fate of subservience. Five years pass… Ten years have passed since your deal with Velzix, and you've lived long enough just in time to see the world being slowly turned into a demon's playground due to him finally opening up a permanent portal to his infernal realm. Already he preparing to use the resources and conquests of this world to attack other demon lords in his home plane. You won't be alive for too much longer though. You're no longer necessary to Velzix for one thing, and the second is that your hellish dealings have finally become fatal; even now death is very near. The only thing that's kept you going this long is your unnatural ties to necromancy that have steadily grown weaker over the years. You can only wonder what might've been had you been allowed to let them grow to full bloom. You think back to when you conquered the Brot Kingdom by yourself. Ah, that was a good time. There was purity in the death you caused there. Since then you've seen much more death, but rarely have you had any hand in it yourself. Your Dad died during an attempted raid on Velzix's fortress. Sinthinia had her guards butcher him and his company before he even managed to sneak inside. Sesisek was killed when it was discovered he had come to an "arrangement" with the vampire clans and was collaborating with them in an assassination attempt. During his last pain filled moments he revealed their location and Lord Rostov and his vampire clan were slain in their secret fortress by Velzix himself Not long ago the capitol of the Zalan Empire was razed to the ground by Tivadol the Destroyer. A place you once called home. You heard your sister died attempting to defend it. You can only assume your Mom died during the attack as well. The Grand Alliance has been broken, all that remains now are pocket of resistance that do little to stop the demonic onslaught. At this point most mortals find death a more promising outcome as it is surely a more merciful release to the torments that the demons bring. You wish you could grant it to them. You regret you set out on this dark path. It's brought you nothing but fucking misery and you didn't even get what you wanted. Well you might not have lived how you wanted, but you sure can choose to die like you want. You order a few of your skeletal guards to end your suffering. The pain wracking your body has become too great and you're not going to wait around for it or demons to kill you. Following your last orders your skeletal guards strike you down with their swords. Their work is efficient and swift. You fall to the floor and soon your minions of death join you.

Chapter 3: One Foot in Hell One year has passed… It's been one year since you made an alliance with Velzix, and so far it has paid off. With your combined might, you both have successfully held off the Grand Alliance. You haven't gained too much ground, but that's looking like it's about to change. Everyday Velzix has somehow been managing to attract "free demons" from other nations to join him, though its not as if they have too many other options as mere suspicion has turned into hatred and they are to be rounded up and killed as possible enemies. Though again, thanks to mortal failings and greed, there are those few nations that are still letting their small demonic populations run free. Not surprisingly Velzix has been attempting to convince the leaders of these governments into joining him in exchange for even greater power. Velzix has also been attempting to open portals to his own infernal realm on a permanent basis. Right now he can summon in a few reinforcements to replace battle losses, but nothing on a major scale. As for you, things could be worse, but they could be better. All your potential "acolytes" reverted back to being demonologist when the merge came, though many of them were purged by Velzix himself, as he still remembered their attempts to imprison him before during their days in the Dark Order, not to mention if they were so quick to change allegiances so quickly, then they obviously weren't to be trusted. Your magic powers in other branches of magic have somewhat improved, though this might be due your infernal dealings. Necromancy is still your area of expertise obviously and as it stands, you're the only true necromancer allied with Velzix. You sort of hold a unique position, but you question its importance in the scheme of things. You've been basically put on defense duty. Your undead troops are nothing more than meat shields for the most part, and while that is what they are there for, you'd rather they be YOUR meat shields than some asshole demons, (or worse mortals). You feel like your talents are being wasted to a degree, like you've got a lot of untapped potential that's dying to get out. However, open rebellion against Velzix isn't likely to happen, but there's nothing stopping you from setting the stage. You still have Aftermath under your control, even if you do have to put up with the demons and mortals stationed there now. One night in your study while you're contemplating how to go about all this, you figure there are two ways. You've actually got a lot of troops at your immediate disposal. You believe you could probably take over the nearby Brot Kingdom by yourself without any help. They have a weak military and most of the Grand Alliance armies are busy elsewhere. You could build up a bigger power base. You might piss off Velzix by doing this by yourself, but you could take the chance that he might over look it if you're successful as it's also increasing his own territory. The other option is to remain doing what you're doing and engage in a more secret assassination conspiracy against Velzix. You already know that tons of others are probably doing it, why not you? The problem is, individually most of you are fairly weak against him; though together you'd be more successful. Of course getting a bunch of demonic assassinating liars to trust one another is probably even more difficult than the attempt itself. > You engage in conspiracy You decide that military conquest would be too risky and would draw too much attention to your desires for power. You need to be sneakier about it. After thinking on it, you decide to go for Sinthinia. She's in the best position to help you, so you send a message telling her that you need to see her since it's an important matter vital to security. A few days later she arrives in Aftermath with a small group of guards. Of course the pair of you talk in your study in private. Her attitude is one of interest and playfulness. "Brrr, it's really cold in this place. It's not nice and warm like in other parts of Velzix's Realm. See how hard my nipples are?" "Yes, I see. Perhaps I can warm you up after we discuss business." "Mmmm, I like the sound of that, but only if this business is worth my time. So what is this security matter?" "Assassination." "On who?" "On Velzix." "Well it was bound to happen eventually, though I'm surprised I haven't heard about this yet. Who is planning it and how did you come across this information?" You take a deep breath. "I came across this information quite easily because it's me." Sinthinia is silent for a moment before giving a little chuckle. "Ha ha, very funny." "I'm serious." "I know and that's why I find it funny. You do not have the means." "I know that's why I'm proposing an alliance between us to set Velzix up." "I see…and you believed that I would just go along with this?" "Well it's a gamble. But I KNOW you truly have no loyalty to Velzix, surely you must already be plotting against him." "And even if I was doing such a thing…hypothetically speaking of course. I fail to see why I'd need your help to do so." "Because somewhere deep down Velzix fears me, I know it. He wants me as an underling to take advantage of my powers. But he doesn't allow me to do too much since he wants to keep me weak and have an eye on me. I have more power than he's willing to admit and if I unleashed it completely on him, he'd be hurting. I dare say I might be able to kill him. I just can't fight all of his minions obviously. I would need your help." Once again Sinthinia is silent for a moment before speaking. "…I must say you have always intrigued me mortal. You do have a lot of desire in you to come to me like this with such a plan, knowing that I could turn you in and have Velzix deal with you…fortunately for you I have no such plan." Sinthinia says and begins to get closer to you. Her movements begin to grind up against you. "So tell me, do you really feel you have that much power?" she asks. "Yes." "More power than Velzix?" "Yes." "Then show me lover." She says and the pair of you fall to the floor in a zealous embrace. While you're enjoying Sinthinia's sexual skills, she begins to get more aggressive. In fact she begins to get abusive. You tell her to stop, but at this point she's transformed into something a lot less appealing, and you're lying underneath her helpless as she pins your arms down and begins sucking out your life force. "Yes, mortal you DID have much power within you. It will certainly come in handy for Velzix's eventual overthrow." She growls and you become nothing more than an empty husk.

Chapter 3: One Foot in Hell One year has passed… It's been one year since you made an alliance with Velzix, and so far it has paid off. With your combined might, you both have successfully held off the Grand Alliance. You haven't gained too much ground, but that's looking like it's about to change. Everyday Velzix has somehow been managing to attract "free demons" from other nations to join him, though its not as if they have too many other options as mere suspicion has turned into hatred and they are to be rounded up and killed as possible enemies. Though again, thanks to mortal failings and greed, there are those few nations that are still letting their small demonic populations run free. Not surprisingly Velzix has been attempting to convince the leaders of these governments into joining him in exchange for even greater power. Velzix has also been attempting to open portals to his own infernal realm on a permanent basis. Right now he can summon in a few reinforcements to replace battle losses, but nothing on a major scale. As for you, things could be worse, but they could be better. All your potential "acolytes" reverted back to being demonologist when the merge came, though many of them were purged by Velzix himself, as he still remembered their attempts to imprison him before during their days in the Dark Order, not to mention if they were so quick to change allegiances so quickly, then they obviously weren't to be trusted. Your magic powers in other branches of magic have somewhat improved, though this might be due your infernal dealings. Necromancy is still your area of expertise obviously and as it stands, you're the only true necromancer allied with Velzix. You sort of hold a unique position, but you question its importance in the scheme of things. You've been basically put on defense duty. Your undead troops are nothing more than meat shields for the most part, and while that is what they are there for, you'd rather they be YOUR meat shields than some asshole demons, (or worse mortals). You feel like your talents are being wasted to a degree, like you've got a lot of untapped potential that's dying to get out. However, open rebellion against Velzix isn't likely to happen, but there's nothing stopping you from setting the stage. You still have Aftermath under your control, even if you do have to put up with the demons and mortals stationed there now. One night in your study while you're contemplating how to go about all this, you figure there are two ways. You've actually got a lot of troops at your immediate disposal. You believe you could probably take over the nearby Brot Kingdom by yourself without any help. They have a weak military and most of the Grand Alliance armies are busy elsewhere. You could build up a bigger power base. You might piss off Velzix by doing this by yourself, but you could take the chance that he might over look it if you're successful as it's also increasing his own territory. The other option is to remain doing what you're doing and engage in a more secret assassination conspiracy against Velzix. You already know that tons of others are probably doing it, why not you? The problem is, individually most of you are fairly weak against him; though together you'd be more successful. Of course getting a bunch of demonic assassinating liars to trust one another is probably even more difficult than the attempt itself. > You well maybe you should check up on all the players first (Background info) You nearly laugh at the idea that you have any "allies". A more appropriate designation would be "The folks who are currently on your side because it's advantageous at the moment". Velzix doesn't trust any of them either despite the fact that they all knew and worked with each other in the infernal plane. (Actually he doesn't trust any them BECAUSE of the fact that they all knew and worked with each other!) Given that fact, you probably shouldn't either. Oddly, you don't worry about your enemies as much as you do your allies, mainly because at least you know where you stand with them! > You velzix and Sinthinia Your "boss" is the currently the undisputed Lord of "Velzix's Realm". Not a very imaginative designation, but true none the less. He rules from his huge fortress called Fury which is the "capitol" of his Realm. He was something of a greater power in his own infernal plane once, but apparently lost most of it as power is often fleeting in such a place of constant struggle. Still, he refused to give up and was in the long slow process of rebuilding his status until the Dark Order summoned and bound him to your world. He was angry at first, which of course is natural for any demon (or anyone in captivity really) but soon he recognized this as an opportunity. A whole world he could take over and use to increase his own power. A place he could be complete master over after he made it more like home of course. He is making sure to make this plan becomes a reality. Besides being very intelligent and strong, he's also quite charismatic for a demon, which accounts for why he's managed to unite his brethren more successfully than most. Though of course in-fighting still occurs, it's kept in check for the most part. Velzix is definitely aware that most of his followers are secretly planning his downfall, he expects it in fact. After all it's a way of life where he comes from. He considers part of the challenge is to keep everyone slightly at odds with everyone else so they can't unite against him. (Which is exactly what happened in his own plane) His attitude towards you is uncharacteristically one of respect. You might even say he treats you equal to his other high ranking demons rather than a mortal. (Though given how he treats his fellow demons that's not saying much) Most other mortals that serve him have sold their souls for power and slavishly worship him or are serving mainly out of fear whereas you have chosen to serve out of ruthless pragmatism and in some ways still follow your own path. Though following your own path to the point where it's interfering with his own, would be quite detrimental to your…alliance. Sinthinia is a succubus, she is sometimes Velzix's "consort", but such things as fidelity are not a trait known to demons, let alone a succubus. Officially she's supposed to be in charge of internal security, but occasionally she undertakes a few "diplomatic" missions in an attempt to corrupt weak minded mortals who could be of use. Velzix enjoys her company, but knows to ultimately to keep her at arms length lest he find himself dead. Tivadol the Destroyer desires her greatly, but of course out of spite, she pays him no attention other than scorn and disinterest. Sesisek and her have had some "encounters", but such encounters are in the past as it seems due to her actions, Sesisek's position was demoted and she took his place. He dislikes her intensely and hopes to get revenge on her one day. She finds this to be incredibly hilarious. As with most of her kind she's a wily one and uses her sex appeal as weapon whenever possible. This sometimes leads her to be playful, especially with mortals who often know no better until the last fatal moment. Though she's quite capable of being brutally sadistic when she desires (Often at that last fatal moment). This playfulness has extended towards you sometimes, though her feelings towards you are a bit more of fascination rather than seduction. She has often said that for a moral you're one of the more "interesting" ones, but due to your dedication to necromancy she finds your line of work to be "unfun". This is likely due to the fact that she is a creature that exploits and thrives off of emotions and feelings. The dead don't have such weaknesses; therefore the dead are no fun. However as you are still alive, she perhaps thinks that you may be a little fun…

You nearly laugh at the idea that you have any "allies". A more appropriate designation would be "The folks who are currently on your side because it's advantageous at the moment". Velzix doesn't trust any of them either despite the fact that they all knew and worked with each other in the infernal plane. (Actually he doesn't trust any them BECAUSE of the fact that they all knew and worked with each other!) Given that fact, you probably shouldn't either. Oddly, you don't worry about your enemies as much as you do your allies, mainly because at least you know where you stand with them! > You tivadol and Sesisek Tivadol is a typical "rank and file" demon. Brutal, violent, sadistic, full of hate, and wants everything his way and decides the best way of getting it is to smash somebody over the head and take it. The only thing that makes him slightly different is he's a bit more intelligent and has a burning desire to be in charge of everything. This is what makes him a good general. It's also what makes him a threat to Velzix. Tivadol barely contains the fact that he wants to take over Velzix's position one day. This attitude is probably why he's put on the frontlines and leading the most dangerous attacks. If he wins Velzix gains more territory, if he dies, then that's good too! Tivadol knows this of course and decided that he shall gain more respect in displaying that he's a battlefield general rather than an armchair one. Then when the time is right, he'll take Velzix's throne by storm. A simple and short sighted plan. One that will probably not come to pass as Velzix is too intelligent to be overthrown by a straightforward coup. Tivadol might be successful if he employed a little subterfuge, but he doesn't have the patience for it. This is another reason why Tivadol wants Sinthinia on his side (Besides her obvious physical qualities of course) since she could take care of such things. So far he's been unsuccessful in convincing her. He doesn't respect Sesisek (Considers him to be a fool who allowed himself to lose his status and never liked him to begin with) and respects you even less. As you are a mortal, he doesn't even know why Velzix deals with you and sees this as a weakness in him. The fact that you have great power of the dead doesn't impress him. He just sees you as another weak mortal that will have to be crushed when he takes power sooner or later. And if he gets his way, sooner. Sesisek is a very very bitter demon. He's been assigned a position that he doesn't want, he's not liked and barely respected. And worse he can't do too much about it right now. At one time he was Velzix's left hand demon. (Right hand would be inappropriate here) He had spies everywhere and dealt in secrets, blackmail and assassination. He made sure he didn't have to answer to anyone except Velzix, and if things had gone as planned he wouldn't have had to answer to him for too much longer either. However a succubus called Sinthinia came along and fucked up everything for him. All his plotting, planning, and doubling dealings all came to be meaningless thanks to her actions. He had no more clout after what happened, and to add further insult Velzix allowed him to live and do menial humiliating jobs. However, Sesisek's time in the infernal plane most likely still would've been a short one as other demons would've taken revenge for his past dealings; the only thing that saved him was the Dark Order summoning to your world. As a result he was given a slight reprieve and he's even gained some of his status back since Velzix does know him to be competent and the fact that Velzix needs all the help he can get right now to get a strong foothold on your world. He's been given a military position to keep him out of the way and preoccupied (Much like Tivadol) but due to his brethren's intense lack of respect of him, he's only leading mortal troops. He can't stand mortals and could care less if they die by the thousands, he dislikes being a military leader, (He preferred the subtle approach to power) and on top of all this his mind is constantly plagued by thoughts of revenge. All of this means his success on the battlefield is mediocre at best. He does a good enough job to make it appear like he's still useful. He hates Sinthinia for betraying him, but even more for the fact that she was so successful at it. He hates Velzix for continuing to humiliate him. He finds Tivadol to be an idiotic brute who doesn't know shit about real power. As for you, he doesn't particularly care about you at all, except he doesn't find you to be a threat since you're a mortal. He recognizes you do have some power about you and along with being on direct speaking terms with Velzix, you speak to Sinthinia on occasion as well. He probably figures that maybe he can use you in some sort of mad plan for revenge. It's all that drives him at point.

You nearly laugh at the idea that you have any "allies". A more appropriate designation would be "The folks who are currently on your side because it's advantageous at the moment". Velzix doesn't trust any of them either despite the fact that they all knew and worked with each other in the infernal plane. (Actually he doesn't trust any them BECAUSE of the fact that they all knew and worked with each other!) Given that fact, you probably shouldn't either. Oddly, you don't worry about your enemies as much as you do your allies, mainly because at least you know where you stand with them! > The Grand Alliance and The Vampire Clans The self-professed "good guys" are made up of several civilized governments. The Zalan Empire (Your former home and where your family lives) is one of the main members of the Grand Alliance. Several races belong, each one bringing their unique skills to the mix. It's quite possible to see the clockwork automatons of the Dwarven Union fighting side by side with the silent monks of Elin. This arrangement only arises during times of great crisis such as the one you caused. Given that most living creatures have basic need to not want to die or become a walking rotting corpse (Or a slave to demons) the chances of you convincing them to leave you alone is extremely unlikely especially since Velzix has no intention on doing it anyway. Most of your knowledge of them comes from the Ex-Dark Order demonologists who knew of Mr. Demar's dealings with them. Apparently their relationship wasn't a good one though when talks of a possible alliance failed and one of their delegates was killed by Trelik. The Vampire Clans from what you know live in a fortress run by Lord Rostov. This fortress' location is unknown and hidden by powerful magic. It is there where those few remaining vampires that have kept their faculties stay. (As opposed to the near mindless ones that lurk in holes in the wilderness) While groups of vampires may have been involved in their own political intrigues and agendas in the past, the term Vampire Clans now is somewhat of a misnomer since Lord Rostov has a firm command over the remaining vampires. It's basically a dictatorship more than a "council" where they all sit around discussing things. The term Clans is probably kept to just hold on to the illusion of former glory of freedom rather than the reality that they're all hiding in a secret fortress ruled by a tyrant. Despite their reduced power, they still can affect mortal affairs. Currently they are no doubt affecting these affairs to hinder you and Velzix. The death of their delegate pissed them off pretty severely, not to mention they don't agree with "high profile" necromancy. And they really don't want demons running around all over the place. All of these things disrupt the status quo and their way of life. This is unacceptable to them. Velzix received a letter by bat from them recently saying that his actions will not go unopposed by the Clans and that his days on this world are numbered. He of course laughed at this threat and ate the bat.

While these Dark Orderites haven't completely impressed you, you remember that Serena mentioned you would need allies and they could serve that purpose. From what you can tell, you're a better necromancer than the rest of them and this city would be an excellent beginning of your career especially since you don't have any better ideas in mind. You know that even if this event plays out well for you, you're going to have a whole shit load of trouble ahead of you so you better get a few people on your side now even if they need to be "disposed" of later… "Alright, I'll help out, but I'm not doing this for you or following your orders, I have my own agenda!" you say flat out to Sebastian. Before you leave Catalina speaks to you. "So, come a long way from Enchantment class huh?" she says. "…I thought I recognized you…and yeah I have. I finally found a branch of magic I'm really good at." You say finally realizing who she is. "Just remember, as good as you are, you aren't the best." "We'll see." You retort and leave. The march towards the university where on the west side of campus you see and hear explosions. That must be where Mr. Demar is. You wonder how you'll have to deal with him after you take care of this Quayle problem. When you get to the east campus, Sebastian was right, you see a lot of weird things going on, nearby plants are growing older and younger before your eyes, buildings are indeed disappearing and reappearing. It's a mess. You see a small gray building that doesn't seem to be suffering any effects; you bet that's where Quayle is. You march over with your horde only to start feeling very ill. You try to shake off the effects so you can keep control, but it doesn't matter as you begin to see your various undead troops go through weird changes. You watch them either accelerate in rot and disintegrate, or even stranger actually turn back into their living selves until they eventually become babies and then nothing. You're only halfway to the building and you begin to worry that you're going to suffer the same fate, but manage to get in the Gray building which contains a simple auditorium like classroom. You must be back on campus. At the front of the class you see a strange man surrounded by a white glow. This must be Quayle. "This is not the way…you have lost…you may win…it's all so fascinating…" he says in an echoed voice. You have no idea what the hell he means, all you know is you need to kill this guy before he fucks everything up. You're having a hard time concentrating still though and once again you begin to feel very sick. That feeling becomes stronger when you see grotesque creatures pop into existence. They have writhing masses of tentacles and give off an aura completely hostile and alien. Not even the demons you've had contact with give off anything like this. You have no time for spells you'll have to do this the old fashioned way. You run towards the front of the class where he sits and just narrowly dodge another tentacle beast appearing suddenly in front of you. "…stop…stop it…you must stop…" You tackle Quayle and something completely unexpected and disgusting happens. His body literally breaks like a fragile glass vase and all manner of insects and maggots come crawling out, mostly on you. "EEEEYEEECAAAGH!" you yell trying to get them all off of you, completely ignoring anything else. Fortunately for you, whatever you did has stopped the temporal disturbance. The creatures disappear and everything else seems to go back to normal. After stomping on some centipedes you notice Quayle's head has rolled into a corner. Surprisingly it's still alive. "You have won nothing…" his head says before it just simply disappears. You shake your own head at all of this. As much as you've seen during your short time raising the dead, you've never seen anything like this. You can't hear anymore explosions; you wonder if Mr. Demar has won. You exit the building and begin to walk over to the other side of the campus where the explosions were coming from. You arrive to burning buildings and ruins of towers. Once again you see Sebastian, he's sitting outside holding his head in his hands. He looks like he's sobbing. "What the hell is wrong with you?" you ask. "It's over! It's all over!" "What are you talking about? It looks like the city is ours." "But for how long? All our so called demon allies took off! By the time I got here Mr. Demar had already been severely wounded and his second in command Trelik had betrayed him. Catalina and I managed to kill Trelik, but Catalina fell in the battle! The Dark Order is over and I dunno what's coming next, we're all in a lot of fucking trouble! Trouble that I wasn't prepared to handle! I'm not really a leader. Mr. Demar was a leader! Oh man why did I choose this path!?" Sebastian is having a complete mental break down and it sickens you. It's unbecoming of a necromancer. "Where's Mr. Demar?" you ask. "He's dead in the library!" "Good, saves me the trouble." "Huh? What's going on?" "I'm in charge, that's what's going on and I'm not going to tolerate whimpering weaklings like you." and you blast Sebastian with negative energy to his face, killing him. Yep, you're in charge. A month passes The "Nuro Incident" as it came to be known was a shock to the civilized world. Nobody had anticipated such a thing occurring despite all preparations. Certainly not to Nuro given it's near "invincible" reputation. You've renamed the city Aftermath. The Grand Alliance was immediately formed to retake the city, but fortunately for you, you weren't the only problem they had. Velzix, a demon lord who the Dark Order summoned to help them, soon left Nuro during its attack, and managed to unite the rest of the demons that felt the need to break their contract with the Dark Order. They turned their attention to the Tulan Kingdom. Right now he's established his own rule, enslaving the population and is most likely planning further conquest assuming he can keep his own troops from fighting each other long enough. As for you, you've already managed to hold off one Grand Alliance attack quite successfully due to your preparations. The first thing you did was command all the surviving Dark Order members to become necromancers. They're mediocre at best though, they might be better if you took a more direct hand in training them, but you're too impatient and you have so many other things to take care of as well. You haven't heard anything from your family; you can only wonder what they think of all this and you don't really care. While things are somewhat quiet now, that's not going to last. The Grand Alliance will keep attacking and they may very well overwhelm you in time. You can't just sit in your throne room and prepare for the next attack and you need to be proactive about this threat, but the big problem though is, you're basically doing all of this yourself. There isn't anyone anywhere near your equal, let alone anyone you can trust to handle important things. As much as you loathe thinking of it, you could ally with Velzix, granted he's an untrustworthy demon, and not fond of the Dark Order for imprisoning him, you were never a member of the Dark Order and may be receptive. You soon send messages to him asking for an alliance. Eventually you get a response, and it's a positive one. Velzix even says he'll meet you in the city of Aftermath. Apparently he isn't worried about you. When he arrives he gets right to business. "Nice decorations…so, you wish to make a deal with me?" "I've come to propose a pact between us yes. We have a common enemy." "Yes, but what does this pact entail exactly?" "Simple, we don't attack one another and we coordinate our attacks to be more effective against the Grand Alliance." "And I suppose while my attention isn't on you, and I waste my valuable resources, you build up strength and attack me eh? Heh heh, I know you little necromancer. I see the desire to murder the entire world in your eyes. I even respect it, but if you think I'm trusting you, you're as brain dead as those corpses you raise." "What?! You're a fucking demon and you're accusing ME of being deceitful?" "Of course. Who better to see treachery than one who is an expert at it? But assuming you genuinely mean for us to be best buddies forever and ever, I still don't see what you can do for me in your current state." "What are you on about now?" "I'm saying as a military power you ain't shit that's what! Your necromancers are barely competent enough to hold your defenses of that little necropolis you rule. It's mostly you doing all the work, and while you've got a little power, it still ain't enough to attack anything in a meaningful way." You hate the fact that Velzix is right, but you hate it even more that he's so damn smug about it. Which makes you wonder why he called you out here…in fact you're starting to prepare yourself for trouble. "Alright then what the hell are you proposing?" you ask. "I propose a…merger rather than an alliance." "You're proposing that I let YOU take over Aftermath and I just become your bitch." "Not exactly how I worded it, but if you prefer that designation…" "NO! I don't prefer it!" "Okay then how about this? I say you'll last maybe another year tops if you stay walled up in this little city of yours just letting the Grand Alliance constantly beat down your gates until they finally succeed. Then assuming you don't die during that final attack, I predict that you live a ragged existence on the run for maybe a couple years afterwards at which point you'll end up getting hunted down and killed hiding in some cave somewhere." "And that's what you see?" "Seen it happen to more powerful mortals than you. BUT! It doesn't have to be that way. Joining with me can be more beneficial than you think. You don't think I don't see the power in you? You would be a very valuable asset to my plans. Your ability to control the dead is very strong and quite frankly it would be nice to actually have not just troops that aren't fighting among themselves, but a great general as well. Think about it! You'll gain more power and you could still bring death to thousands and not have to worry about all the bullshit of ruling, because as I'm sure you know, it isn't as fun as it should be most of the time. You will prosper, if you continue to prove yourself worthy and useful." > You decline his offer Never. You'll never submit to anyone else's rule. You'd rather die first. But if you can help it, maybe you can eliminate one rival right now. You don't answer Velzix's offer, you immediately attack! You blast Velzix, with a beam of negative energy. Your nearby undead soldiers rush at Velzix, and your necromancers provide some back up. Velzix somewhat expected your attack though, and he blocks your beam with a magic shield and then flies through the wall of your fortress burning your corpse soldiers in the way. "Short-sighted little dead wizard! You've sealed your own doom!" you hear him shout as he flies away back to his own realm. You aren't impressed by his threats however, you order your wall to be fixed, while you plan your next move… A year passes… The Kingdom of Tulan has finally put the sword to every last demon infesting the area. You laugh when you hear how easily Velzix was defeated, however this celebration is soon short lived. The Grand Alliance attempts another siege of the city and this time they succeed. You barely manage to escape. You try to establish some sort of rule elsewhere, but the Grand Alliance isn't letting you get dug in again. You begin your long road of hardship and keep to rural areas; many times you barely survive attacks from barbaric orc tribes. Fortunately your skills in necromancy protect you (as well as scare the hell out of the orcs) Two years pass... You hear them coming for you, there is no more running. This is your fate. To die in this cave. You think bitterly about Velzix's all too correct prediction about your fate. You wonder if you'd been less prideful and accepted his offer, you wouldn't be in this state you are right now. You shake your head to this however. No point in regrets. You've made your choices and now you make one last one. You leave the cave to face your enemies and prepare to die for your heinous crimes… Such is often the fate of a necromancer.

You've been doing pretty well by yourself so far, so you decide to continue that trend. Still you do wonder what Mr. Demar's Dark Order is up to. During the night you head out of the city and into the nearby wilderness. After checking around, you're sure nobody else is around and you begin to cast your spell. Soon it happens. You've summoned several ghostly figures to your side. The strain to control them is much greater, but you manage. However you don't want to push your luck so after a few brief commands you dismiss them. You've satisfied your desires for awhile. Another month passes and you go about your life more or less. Soon classes will start again, but you have no idea what you're going to take. How can you? You're sitting on all this forbidden knowledge that you seem to be extremely good at while the "acceptable" magic is stuff you can't perform worth shit. Doesn't seem fair somehow. Still you're going to have to at least put up a front of normalcy if you're going to not arouse suspicion. You're convinced you were born in the wrong time period. You should've been alive during the time of the Great Lich Lord. Ah how exciting those times must've been! But as you soon find out, today's times can be just as exciting… As the first week of classes start rolling around you finally decide on taking something easy and head towards the registrar offices as a late arrival. As soon as you step out of your apartment building, you hear screams, sounds of battle, explosions and general sounds of chaos. Portals are opening up all over the city and demons are pouring out of them! Amidst the bedlam you notice a few young wizards directing the demons. Demonologists. They have to be part of the Dark Order and this has to be some kind of plan of their to take over the city. You wished you'd joined up with them after all, but you think perhaps it might not be too late to get in on the action. You're about to do so, when you feel your whole body going in slow motion. Apparently you're not the only one, but it doesn't seem to be affecting the demons or Dark Order members. They must have someone also dabbling in temporal magic (A practically forgotten branch of magic which is also illegal, and obviously for good reason!) It would seem that The Dark Order certainly has their shit together as far as this attack is concerned. You're not going to be deterred, but you know you need to be cautious. You slink back into your apartment building and back into your room. Remembering your spirit summoning from last month, you decide to try it again. You need defenders and ghosts are probably going to serve you better for as long as this slow spell lasts. Once again you succeed and with your ghostly bodyguards you march outside a little more confident. You find that the city is one big killing zone. Demons are really running amok through the streets, a few of them attack you, but your ghost protect you. It would appear that they don't see you as an ally. Sensing the need for even more protection, you raise some of the many dead bodies that now litter the streets. A few of Nuro's mage guards attempt to stop you, but you easily defeat them and add them to your ranks. It's so easy for you. Soon you're commanding a small army and it's barely taking any effort from you at all. "HEY! Who the hell are you? You're not in the Dark Order!" a voice calls out to you, and you turn around to see another necromancer. He's rather non-descript looking and isn't controlling nearly as many dead as you are. No ghosts either. "I'm not. I'm what you call…independent I suppose." "Oh is that right eh? Well if you ain't with the Dark Order, you're against us!" You attempt to ask if you can come to some sort of arrangement, but he's not hearing it, he orders his horde to attack you. So much for making allies… He and his troops are going to be faster, even if you do outnumber him, so you decide to do something else. You enforce your will upon his advancing horde, and with a little effort you're successful. They stop in their tracks, and then they turn around in his direction. "Hey! Stop that! You can't do that! You're supposed to listen to me!" he shouts totally losing his cool, not to mention his control. Instead of trying to regain it, he attempts to blast you with a bolt of negative energy, but at this point you're well protected by meat shield of corpses, who seem to be moving faster… The slow spell! It's gone! Or at least it's not affecting you anymore. You smile wickedly at the enemy necromancer. Now you can show him real power! He doesn't get a few inches from his position before he's overwhelmed and killed by your forces. Besides the effects of the slow spell being gone, you also notice many of the demons jumping over the city walls, or otherwise leaving Nuro. You hear demonologists shouting at them to come back and once again you shake your head. It would appear that Mr. Demar and the Dark Order didn't have their shit as together as you thought. "Pah! This is what Mr. Demar had to work with? I guess I was lucky not to have hooked up with such fools!" you say to a nearby zombie who doesn't answer. You march through the city truly exercising your power for the first time, soon you come across two more necromancers attempting to destroy city hall where the last bastion of resistance resides in the city. An ugly man and a woman. Naturally it's the ugly guy who calls over to you. "Hey Irwin glad you…hey you're not Irwin! Who are you?" "I'm the guy who can probably save your ass from this fiasco you Dark Orderites call a take over." "Huh and I suppose YOU could've done a better job?" the woman sneers. "Better job than you're doing. Look at you, you lost your demonic support and you can't even take out the first citizen and his weak ass mage guards." You retort. "Hey Catalina stop fighting! We got enough problems!" he says to the woman before addressing you. "Look, my name's Sebastian and if you want to help out I'm not going to turn you away because you're right, we could use it! I'm sure Mr. Demar is having no problems taking care of the dean and the other professors, but I'm more concerned with Quayle!" "Who's that?" "He's the guy that was responsible for that slow spell you were probably feeling the effects of earlier. I don't what's gone wrong with the spell, but some demonologist came by here a minute ago saying that the whole east side of campus is fucked up. Like it's phasing in and out of existence or something. Someone needs to go check it out or stop it before we're all killed!" > You leave the City You weren't impressed with these losers before and you're still not impressed with them now. "Yeah, well I got my own plans. Thanks for the heads up on the city though, guess I'll leave this shithole." You say. "Hey! Come on! Where do you think you're going to go? Staying here is your best shot at survival, we just gotta…" "Let him go Sebastian, we don't need the likes of him helping us!" With those last words ringing in your ears, you march out of the city with your undead horde ready to take on the world. Your first stop is some little town on the outskirts of the Brot Kingdom. You're merciless. You slaughter all those that oppose you, leaving none alive. Your army grows and you march on to other endeavors, but not really having any kind of plan other than mindless slaughter… One month passes The Incident at Nuro has become well known knowledge and while the take over was a failure, much damage was done. A temporal disturbance in the heart of the city has made the entire area unstable as buildings phase in and out of existence. Mr. Demar and most of his Dark Order were killed though a few managed to escape and go into hiding. Demons have been running rampant through the countryside and seem to have taken an interest in the Kingdom of Tulan. You're a well known threat due to your actions in Brot Kingdom. Already mercenaries are on your trail. You have to keep to the rural parts of the countryside where you come in conflict with several barbaric Orc tribes. You of course add these to your army when you're done massacring them. One year passes The Kingdom of Tulan has finally put the sword to every last demon infesting the area. Most of the demonologist have been caught and hung for their crimes as well. You now have the Grand Alliance's attention and they hound you at every turn. You refuse to give up. They will know your full power, just like your Dad did when you utterly destroyed his mercenary company that attempted to stop you. How you laughed when he attempted to still grab his sword to strike you even though he had been separated from his lower half at the time. You put the old bastard out of his delusions when he gurgled to you that no good would come of your path. Hah! Like he knew what it's like to be a "good man." Still you always wondered what Mom thinks…but then you don't want to know what she thinks of you. A twinge of sadness strikes you, before you erase it entirely from your thoughts. You press on further north. Two more years pass Nuro has completely collapsed in on itself due to the temporal disturbance leaving nothing but a gaping hole there; a war breaks out in the nearby area. You suffer four attacks from the Grand Alliance and several attacks from various other forces. Your sister was leading the last Grand Alliance attack, and you barely escaped. You're the last "problem" from the Nuro Incident that needs to be eliminated. You're growing weaker from the lack of rest, and you turn to eating dead flesh to survive. Survival, that's all you care about now. Two more years pass You can hear them coming, you curse the fact that you left yourself no retreat. You're magically spent and exhausted. Fuck it. You walk towards your pursuers and prepare to die for your heinous crimes… Such is often the fate of a necromancer.

Chapter 2: Hellbound Serena's advice might've pointed you in the right direction, but as far as you needing the help of others you're going to take a pass on that. You don't need anyone else except yourself. That's the way it's been for a long time and that's the way it's going to stay. That leaves you to go where various other students have gone when they want to get something illegal and keep it to themselves. "Big Red". Technically Big Red isn't actually all that big, in fact for a demon he's probably on the smaller size, but like most demons he likes to think he's very important. Big Red typically hangs around in the seedy parts of Nuro, but he also hangs around the park area on campus late at night. His presence in Nuro is barely tolerated, but he's been known to acquire things for high ranking officials and provide important information that is beneficial to Nuro security. Oddly for all his mercenary criminal behavior he's tight lipped for a demon and will only tell on someone if asked directly and only then for the right price. Given how low profile you are, it's unlikely anyone's going to ask about you, let alone what for. Chances are if anyone does see you with Big Red they'll just think you're another college student looking to get high. You wait until night and then stalk the campus park area looking for Big Red, but instead he finds you, catching you off guard. "Y'know you'd look less guilty if you weren't lurking around like a damn dark elf assassin. Haven't seen you around before, I guess that explains why you're coming to me AFTER finals are over. Most students come and get the answers before hand y'know." "You sell those? Damn, I didn't have to fail my nature test final after all." "I could probably fix that too, for a price of course." "…maybe, but what I'm looking for is uh…a little different." "Ah, so high exactly do you want to get?" "No, not that…" "Well, I'm not selling sex slaves if that's what you're looking for…well at least not here." "No! I'm looking for something different!" Big Red gives you a strange look. "Okay, what kind of freak are you exactly then?" "I'm looking for something on Necromancy." Big Red throws you up against a tree when you make that remark and begins to whisper to you in a harsh tone. You can feel (And smell) the brimstone emanating from his breath. "You fucking little mortal pissant, you trying to get me killed? I don't sell that shit! Get the fuck outta here!" he says before throwing you on the ground and walking away. Now it may be that he's telling the truth, but he may be more worried that you're trying to set him up. You're determined to find out regardless of the consequences. You run back to him, but stay out of his immediate range. "Look, I know you're a guy who can get a hold of lots of things and I also know you're available for a price. I'm not a spy, I'm not gonna rat you out, I'm not working for anyone, I just have a…need…" Big Red turns back towards you and walks in your direction, you think he's going to attack and you nearly run, but chances are he'd catch you first anyway. He's looking around in all directions and speaking in a low tone. "Alright. Look. Since you're obviously new and not hip to how this works, I'm inclined to believe you're not working for someone. Someone undercover wouldn't be so obviously clueless as you seem to be, at least not to catch the likes of me. Plus I can sense the darkness around you…it's a neat ability we have and again let's us tell who's a goody two shoes and who isn't. You don't seem to be either though just yet. You seem to be more confused and curious than anything which is almost as bad." "So you can't you help me?" "It's not that I can't, it's whether I should. This isn't selling you some Hobgoblin Hashish so you can go get high and wind up naked the next morning with a Dwarf in your ass." "Um…what? Excuse me?" you stutter at Big Red's odd scenario outcome. "This is serious shit, if word got around that I was selling information on the Dark Arts, let alone books on it, my ass would be strung up and killed. And to have some dumb ass college student fucking around with something as dangerous as that is asking for trouble since YOU'RE probably going to get yourself caught, which will then lead to possible questions before they kill you…which can then link to me. And that can't happen." "I'm not going to get caught." "Hah! Heard that one before from people getting busted for less. I dunno, I don't see you as a good risk and even if I did consider this request my price would be VERY high and I don't see you as having that kind of money to spend." Big Red's denials of your request are actually making you want what he has even more. You KNOW he can help you. In fact you're beginning to get irritated. Why the hell is he denying you this? He's a fucking demon who sells illegal shit! He shouldn't care at all! You're desperate for his help though so you tell an outlandish lie. "Look my parents are rich! I can get the money for you, just gimme your price and I can get it…it might take me awhile, but I can get it." "Oh you can huh? Alright then I'll play your game. He's my price." Big Red pulls out a little pad of paper and pencil and writes something on it and then hands it to you. You read the astronomical price while Big Red's face turns into a smug demonic grin. He probably did that for dramatic effect. There's no way you can pay this, even if you somehow managed to convince your parents to give you money to support your grossly illegal studies in necromancy. You're not going to let it stop you though. "Wow…that is high…okay. I can get this, but it'll take me a few days." You say feigning a mixture of shock, but calmness too. Big Red himself looks surprised that you agreed. He begins to write down something on his pad again and gives it to you. "Well alright money bags, we got a deal. You come meet me at this time and location in a week. If you ain't there, then you can forget about coming to see me for anything ever again. If you come and you don't have the money…well I don't think I need to stress how bad that would be. So my advice is if you don't have it, don't show. See ya." "Hey wait, you said you can fix my grade too." You suddenly remember. "Don't you think you've spent enough money tonight? Alright then maybe you ARE made of gold after all, so what's the class?" "Nature magic." "Oh yeah, you said that. Yeah, that's definitely doable, mainly because the professor is, I just need to slip the deviled ham into her and she'll be willing to pass anyone." "I thought she was a lesbian." "Feh, not when it comes to Big Red. It ain't just a name ya know. Alright, my price for this task is two hundred gold pieces. Normally I might charge less, but hey you got the money right?" Indeed, but you don't have much now after forking it over to Big Red. You were hoping the gold you brought was going to go towards a necromantic tome, but instead it's just going to cheating. "Thanks, and as appreciation for your generous business tonight, I think I'll go take care of that grade situation of yours right now, if I'm lucky maybe she'll have one of those little elven bitches with her. Ha ha!" As Big Red leaves you, you head back to your apartment to scheme for the rest of the week. You go through a wide variety of emotions: fear, anger, desire, anxiety, obsession, etc. None of it really means anything though since you don't really have too much in the way of choices now. You're either going to have to kill Big Red when you go to meet him, or just forget about this necromancy stuff and go home for vacation. > You go home Once again you have second thoughts. You can't do this. You can't become a necromancer; it's not going to make your life any easier and is only going to make it vastly more difficult. You figure with your mediocre grades and magic skills, you can probably get a job working at children's parties or something after you graduate. That least if you make a mistake it'll be "funny" and just be part of the act. Your Mom probably won't be too disappointed since she also works with children and you give a shit what your Dad thinks. Yep, that'll probably be your "life". You don't go meet Big Red and instead take the next carriage home to visit your family for vacation. Your Mom is happy to see you and makes the appropriate fuss. Your sister is okay when she stops by between her duties. In fact for awhile you don't feel so bad about your life. Sure it'll be dull and not very glamorous, but you can deal with it… After a month of your visit, your Dad finally comes back from one of his mercenary jobs. He's in a typical asshole mood and gives you a bunch of shit as soon as he walks in the door. He belittles what few accomplishments you have, compares you to your sister and is a general dick to you as usual. While your Mom attempts to rein him in, you leave the house and curse your Dad. He always spoils everything for you. You can't wait for classes to start again just to get away from the old bastard. You almost wished you'd taken that risk and attempted to kill Big Red and get that necromantic book. The powers it must've contained…you know you would've been able to master them. The more you think about this, the more you think that might be what you'll do when classes start again. After two more months of putting up with your family, you're heading back to school. Once again your "feelings" have died down again. You're not going to kill Big Red or any of that, you're going to go to class and struggle as usual. You're going to be less than an average nobody. You're going to live the rest of your life like a halfling. But not for long… About a week after classes start, something terrible happens in the city of Nuro. Portals suddenly open up all over the city and demons come pouring out of them. Loud explosions take place and there's a strange feeling of "slowness" occurring to you and most others. You're in class at the time when this chaos begins. It's obviously an attack of some sort, but nobody knows from where or who, right now everyone is just trying to escape. Demons run amok through the streets and campus gleefully killing people. Running while suffering the effects of this aura of slowness is proving very difficult so you try to stay hidden most of the time. Demonologists direct this attack, you even recognize a couple as students you went to class with. Apparently you weren't the only one with the dark arts on your mind. Eventually you get closer to the city gates and that's when you see a horde of recently raised corpses lingering around it. You think maybe you can make it. The dead aren't known to be fast after all. You make your run and the group of corpses and skeletons notice you and shamble in your direction. Normally if you weren't slowed, you probably might make it, but instead they manage to surround you and cut off escape in any direction. In desperation you cry out for this to stop and wishing that somehow they would stop attacking you. And for a moment, they do. They just stand there obediently. You can't believe it; you just stand there in shock, not taking advantage of the situation. Did you really have a natural gift for necromancy after all? Unfortunately, you'll never know because they quickly resume attacking and strike you down before moving on. As you lie in the street dying from your wounds, you laugh at the absurdity of it all. "Ha ha…I coulda…(cough) been…the next Great Lich Lord…"

Chapter 1: Dark Beginnings Well, you did it again. You slacked off all semester and didn't study for your finals. There's no way you're going to pass your nature magic test tomorrow. Those things are always killers. You don't even know why you enrolled in that class; you aren't even interested in being a nature mage. You don't even like the damn outdoors! Oh wait, you know why, it's because you saw a cute witch taking the class, so like a dumb ass, you signed up for it. Naturally the moment you tried to impress her with some sort of cantrip, she laughed at you and said even if she was straight, she wouldn't go for a half assed hedge wizard like you! You really should've known better, half of those witches are lesbians anyway. That whole Mother Earth Goddess worship caters to the rug munching. (And no, there aren't any MALE witches, any self respecting man would call himself a WARLOCK, not a damn witch!) (Sigh) Like your little sister's B'ar'b Dolly once said "Magic is hard!" Indeed. Sometimes you curse the day your mother passed her magical elven blood on to you. Still, you're here now, so you need to make the best out of your life. You're already going to hear it from both of your parents of how you've been nothing but a disappointment to the both of them. Your Dad will probably do a little more than say that, he'll probably personally ride up to the University and beat the hell out of you for wasting his hard earned pillaging money to send you there in the first place. Arrgh! You just wish you were good at SOME kind of magic! You have the ability; you just don't have the focus! That's always been the problem with you. Your sister has it easy, she took after Dad. Narrow minded focus on killing someone with a blunt instrument doesn't take too much effort. Of course you had to be the one that greater things were expected of. You've tried all the schools, evocation, conjuration, illusion, divination; all of them. You can't excel in any of it. You can only get so far and then the words and gestures and well all of it just becomes too fucking confusing for you. However, you haven't tried the "darker arts", but your Mom would definitely never approve. (Your Dad probably wouldn't care, but if you upset your Mom, it's a warhammer upside the head) In fact it's illegal to study any of them. They caused too much trouble in the past and nearly destroyed the world at one time. All who are known to even dabble in such arts are immediately taken into custody and executed. You don't think you'd want to be summoning demons anyway; even the few "friendly ones" that work on campus are fucking assholes to the Nth degree. You can only imagine how bad the ones who haven't been living among mortals are. However there is another dark art which you have to admit you've always had a bit of curiosity about. The art in question is necromancy. At this point you're willing to at least see if you're good at ANYTHING, so for shits and giggles you decide to blow off your test which you're going to fail anyway and go see if you can find out more about this outlawed dark art. Though being a lazy sort you decide to try the library first. > You what kind of world is this? (A little history) History is it? Well you were never really good at that either, however you did manage to maintain some knowledge of the subject, which is probably more than what can be said for your magic abilities! > The World Your world is a strange mixture of magic and technology. While magic exists, it isn't used by everyone as naturally most people don't have the aptitude for it. (You being on the borderline!) and of course there are laws concerning the use of it under most governments. Technology such as gunpowder weapons and other things like steam engines exists to a limited degree. Only the rich nations such as the Zalan Empire can afford to place money in such experimental things. Most of the world is "civilized" in that parts of it have governing bodies to rule it. Though large stretches of untamed land do exist and "civilization" can be relative in the case of some nations. Many different races exist, though how they get along is another matter. The landscape on your world is quite varied ranging from deserts, to grasslands, to snowy mountains. But as far as anyone knows, only one large mass exists on your world. Many sailors have attempted to find other possible land masses, but all attempts have yielded nothing. The oceans do not contain any known sentient creatures, though large sea serpents have been sighted in the deep ocean by a few sailors that have barely come back alive from their circumnavigation around the world. The underground is home to some races, though not as many dwell down there as one might assume. Nor is it a place where evil lurks, (though it can be) the underground is merely another place where some choose to live. Nobody ever chooses to live too deep underground however as the deeper one goes the more unlivable and inhospitable it is to make into a home. The skies are clear. At one time there were a few large floating fortresses in the clouds, but during the Dead War, powerful magic cast by the Great Lich Lord caused these to crash to the ground and kill millions. After such an occurrence, it was decided that the risk was too great to have that happen again. The last of the dragons also died during the Dead War. As for where you're located in the world, you're enrolled at Nuro Magic College. The Nuro Magic College is located in the City State of Nuro imaginatively enough. In fact the college basically IS the city given how large a part it plays in it. Nuro maintains its independence due to its neutrality and large magic surplus that would make even the largest of empires feel the pain if it was ever attempted to be invaded. However, invasion is unlikely by any current nation as its Magic College is the best and is open to ALL citizens of other nations, provided they can pay the tuition costs. This also makes Nuro fairly prosperous. Practically anything you could want is in Nuro, and if it isn't it can easily be acquired due to magic.

History is it? Well you were never really good at that either, however you did manage to maintain some knowledge of the subject, which is probably more than what can be said for your magic abilities! > You necromancy Many kingdoms, empires, city states, oligarchies, and the like exist on the continent, but even though they all compete with each other there is one pact that none of them break. No dabbling in the dark arts ever. This means no summoning creatures unnatural to the world, but more importantly no Necromancy. Typically such a wide spread pact would normally be dismissed and broken by one government at some point in time, but so great was the threat long ago that for the good of all living creatures this one treaty has ALWAYS been upheld. Long ago, there was a war called the Dead War. How it began exactly is unclear, but it was a time of great violence, chaos and horror. The very existence of life was nearly extinguished and it was only due to several heroes that the Great Lich Lord (His real name is lost to history) was finally defeated, putting an end to this threat. Ever since those dark years, the art of Necromancy has been outlawed and any tome containing the teachings of it, destroyed. In the events of the undead being spotted, nearly no effort is spared to destroy such creatures. Most of the time such events are caused by simple magic leaks, or magical experiments that accidentally raise such undead creatures, but investigations are typically done, just to make sure there isn't a budding Necromancer at work. "Higher" forms of undead such as Vampires still exist, but as can be expected they have been forced to hide, most have been reduced to being little better than ghouls that live in a dark hole in the wilderness and constantly having to stay one step ahead of nosey adventurers. Liches supposedly no longer exist, as any discovered Necromancers are killed long before they can reach such power. Still rumors always abound about some Lich in some obscure part of the world that is slowly building up another undead force in yet another attempt to destroy all life. The Dead War may long be over, but the fear of a second one will forever loom over the world.

History is it? Well you were never really good at that either, however you did manage to maintain some knowledge of the subject, which is probably more than what can be said for your magic abilities! > You demons The other off limits dark arts would be summoning demons. During the middle of the Dead War, one cabal of wizards decided to risk all by making a pact with the infernal forces in exchange for their help to fight the undead. This plan was doomed from the beginning as demons have loyalty to no one save themselves. Eventually the demons managed to break their contract and most began to run amok killing everything. Oddly it was the Great Lich Lord himself that finally closed the demon portals as they interfered with his own plans of dominating the world. There are few demons left in the world, most of them having been killed by both sides, but the ones that do exist only do so because of their own trickery and guile. Indeed, many have managed to worm their way into civilization and making themselves "useful" and pointing out that "they" were not the demons that betrayed the pact (For some reason every demon that still roams the world NEVER seems to be the one that betrayed anyone) While some may have integrated into society, nearly all still maintain their asshole disposition. Demons are still not welcomed in all parts of the world and most of the time still killed on sight, though naturally the more morally "relaxed" governments accept them and the powers they can provide. It should be noted that Demons don't particularly like one another either, so the idea that they would attempt to open a portal to their own infernal realm is slim. The last thing they want to do is give more competition for themselves…or so they say. They are demons after all.

History is it? Well you were never really good at that either, however you did manage to maintain some knowledge of the subject, which is probably more than what can be said for your magic abilities! > You your Family Your birth was an unusual one, which is a kind way of saying "accidental". You were born of a union of an elven mother and a ruthless human marauder whose own ancestry probably has ogrish blood. How they met was quite beautiful though. Your Dad was storming an elven castle and after putting several pointy ears to their deaths he came across your Mom who was being held in a special tower to ensure her purity for her eventual marriage to a High Elven Prince. She was raised and conditioned to be a perfect wife and even had spells infused into her being to forge a bond with her potential mate. Of course your Dad didn't know all that, he just saw a fine piece of elven ass and naturally after all that killing, your Dad was in the mood for some lovin… Normally after such actions he most likely would've killed her or passed her over to the rest of his men where upon one of them would've killed her after they had their fun, but something unexpected occurred. Rotten ol' Dad fell in love, possibly for the first time in his life. The reasons are somewhat unclear, though you believe that it strongly has something to do with the magical aura of your mother's conditioning. (Which also explains why she stayed a bastard who had basically raped her and killed her family) Instead of killing her he felt like doing stupid stuff like being nice to her and giving her sparkly things of great monetary value. He even carried her carefully out of the burning castle. Of course this didn't go over too well with the usual bunch of cutthroats he hung around with at the time, and he was severely taunted, mocked and even challenged. All of that soon stopped though after he killed everyone and married your Mom. The Elven Prince she was originally supposed to marry actually breathed a sigh of relief when it was discovered, since as it turned out he thought girls were "icky" and it was only to be a political marriage in the first place. Soon your father found that he now had actual responsibilities beyond his own selfish pleasures. Not only did he now have a wife, he had a baby on the way. Your mother's influence was taking more of a hold on him as well. He agreed to give up his banditry and marauder ways, and instead became a mercenary in which he could at least somewhat legally justify any misdeeds he might be involved in. Your mother who had been sheltered for so long became enamored with city life, so they both moved into a nice house in the Zalan Empire where she became a school teacher for young children. Soon you were born and your father hoped that you might follow in his footsteps (At this point he was eager to show his "offspring" all the cool ways to kill people) but it was obvious that you took more after your mother even if not the talent. While your Dad might've become a "changed man" due to your Mom, he didn't change that much. You had to hear the verbal abuse and endure a lot of physical hardship (Such as him taking you out to the wilderness where he wanted you to learn how to survive for three day just wearing a loincloth!), before he finally "gave up" on making you into a warrior. Still, you probably did learn how to fight better than most wizards, but of course you're FAR from being a "real" wizard! Fortunately Dad wasn't at home for long stretches at a time since his mercenary work often kept him busy. You don't mind saying about how sometimes you wished he never came back at all! But the old bastard was just too damn tough to die. Even in that rarity when his entire companies have been killed, he'd always somehow manage to come back more or less in one piece. The man still can inspire fear in you, even though you've moved away and are an adult now. He's the one mainly paying for your education, so it's probably good that's he's still alive despite his threats and past abuse. Your Mom of course is nicer, and fortunately did try to shelter you from some of your Dad's wrath. However she's been pushy in her own way. The moment your Dad gave up on you, she immediately stepped in and took over. From that point she was bound and determined to groom you to be that great wizard that she KNOWS you're going to be. Sometimes you wish she wouldn't place so much faith in you, because quite frankly you don't have that much aptitude and you don't understand how she can't see that, though you're guessing that she purposely ignores that little fact. In her mind, you're going to be a great wizard no matter what, so after high school you were to be sent to the Magic College in Nuro. Besides Mom and Dad, there's Sis who was born shortly after you were. Sis is your Dad's favorite. When it was apparent you weren't warrior material, he noticed how your younger sister would always watch you and he spar. So he threw a sword to her and told her to show him what she had. Of course being very young at the time, she could barely hold the weapon, but it was obvious genetics favored her as a warrior and had natural ability. He might've even taken her on mission with him, but your Mom wasn't having that. She did of course in time hone her skills to a great degree. So much so that she would become the youngest candidate to ever join the Zalan Empire's Elite Guard. Though your Dad wasn't exactly ecstatic with that decision as he'd much preferred her to be a mercenary like him, rather than a governmental "pawn" (as he believes) but he can respect the battle skill. As for your relationship with her, she sometimes bullied you when she got a little more skilled with fighting techniques, though sometimes it really helped to have a warrior sister to have your back at times, like when you got jumped by some Orc youths who were attempting to rob you. She single handedly defeated them all using only her fists. Of course when you both got home SHE took your money anyway! However, she eventually was nicer to you after she developed her sense of justice. As far as families go, you probably could've done worse.

History is it? Well you were never really good at that either, however you did manage to maintain some knowledge of the subject, which is probably more than what can be said for your magic abilities! > You You live in a small apartment alone which is much more expensive and pisses off your Dad for having to spend the money, but your Mom managed to convince him that you need your privacy to study (She also managed to convince him that you shouldn't get a job as it would take away from your studies) However, you probably do more slacking than studying and lately you've been doing a lot more of it. Normally you spend a lot of time in your apartment not doing too much of anything except writing about your thoughts in your journal. Sometimes you go out and try to socialize, but you find you don't have too much in common with anyone. Even in this giant melting pot of races, and cultures, you find most of them to all just be the same. Occasionally hormones kick in and you attempt to get laid, with varying success, but ever since your high school sweetheart died, you don't even feel like doing that too much anymore. She was supposed to come with you to Nuro Magic College. You and she had such plans, but of course those died with her. You often think that if she'd lived you'd be more motivated to try harder. Life in general is beginning to feel like you're just going through the motions and "faking it". You feel like you're becoming more detached from the world, which probably explains why you've been dwelling on death a lot. Not really your own, but just in general. All this kind of thinking has got you wondering about Necromancy a lot lately. It's getting down to crunch time and you don't know how you're going to face your parents about this semester. College hasn't been working out too well for you and given your recent unhealthy interest in Necromancy, chances are the rest of your life might not either. Then again maybe it just might…

This is no way to live. Working on a barely profitable rundown farm with far too many family members to feed. It's a damn good thing you're an excellent hunter. However, lately there's even been a shortage of game to thwart your efforts. You didn't really want to be working on the farm your whole life in the first place, you wanted to see the world but when dad died, things got a lot harder for the family and you had to take over as "man" of the house and stay put. Something is going to have to change. While you'd like nothing more than to go through with your childhood dreams of becoming a traveling bard without any responsibility you don't have that luxury. Hell, you barely have time to play your lute anymore in the small amount of free time you do have. You doubt if you'd even be good enough to make a living for just yourself doing it. But you need to get away, but what can you do that won't allow you to completely abandon your mom and all your brothers and sisters? You suddenly think of the choice that many in your desperate position have thought of many times before. The army. Its not exactly ideal, but you be traveling and seeing the world so to speak. You'd also be making enough money that you could send to your family. Your own living expenses would be provided for by the army. Of course there's all that fighting that usually goes along with it that you're not to keen on. Not that you aren't a stranger to battle as their have been the occasional bandits or kobold thieves that have attempted to steal from the farm in the past, but you prefer not to fight if possible, especially not up close. The bow has always been your weapon of choice. There's also the matter of mass combat on a grand scale that usually accompanies army life. A lot different than chasing away some thieves in the chicken coop. As you're thinking about this, you also realize that there is another option. There's a small mercenary company passing through the area. They've been hanging out at the local tavern for a couple days. They don't seem to be the noblest sort from what you can tell, but fortunately they seem to have kept their revelry confined to the tavern. Who knows how they act away from "civilization" though. Still, it's something to consider. There probably is less attention to discipline and a little more relaxed on rules and regulations. You probably wouldn't be fighting in some mass land war that governments are fond of waging. Mercenaries travel a lot and tend to make more, however they tend to get hired for a lot weirder jobs, usually ones that the employer doesn't want people to know about or ones that nobody else seems to be able to handle. > You enlist in the army Well, as much as you're going to hate the whole uniform thing, you'd rather there be some sort of guidelines. The mercenaries look like a rough bunch. You get the impression you'd have to be watching your back as much as your enemies if you signed up with them. You explain your decision to join the army to the family one night at dinner. Your revelation comes as a shock. Your smaller brothers and sisters don't want you to go, your brother Mallack really doesn't want you to leave since he'll be next in line to take the brunt of the manual labor! Your mother surprises you as much as you surprised everyone else. You expected her to be the most vocal about you not leaving, but she sees that this would help out the family. She gives her blessing. Before you leave the next day with your packed belongings, your whole family comes to say goodbye to you. You almost hesitate to leave, wondering if it would actually be better for you to stay, but your mother urges you on. "Don't worry! Mallack is old enough to take over your responsibilities on the farm. He's not quite as skilled of a hunter, but he'll be able to do it. I've always known that you've had a desire to travel. The army isn't an ideal life I hope you realize though." Your mom says. "Yeah, I know, but I've thought it through." "Very well, you're old enough to make your own decisions and live your own life, though I'm glad to see that you still want to help the family as opposed to just leaving in the middle of the night." "I'll start sending money as soon as possible. I'll also try to write and visit when I can." "I know…okay, you best get going. It's still quite a walk to the capitol." You begin to leave the farm as your family wave goodbye to you in the distance. Soon you're on the road to your nation's capitol. You've been to Zal once before a long time ago with your dad when he was trying to sell some kobold eyes to an alchemist there. You remember being overwhelmed with how many people lived there and how big it was. You always did want to go there again one day; you just didn't think it would be to enlist in the army. Eventually you arrive at Zal. The place is even bigger than the last time you came here. So much has changed and you're a little overwhelmed. You don't have any knowledge of the city so you ask the gate guard who is giving a watchful look to everyone coming in and out. "Excuse me…" "Whadda ya want peasant? I'm busy! Market square is three blocks down as soon as you get inside the gate here!" The guard snaps. "No, I was wondering where I could enlist in the army." The guard seems to change his tone to a somewhat more cordial tone. "Oh I see. Well, as soon as you go through the gate, take a left, and walk two blocks. The recruiting office is on the right hand side across from a general store." You thank him and proceed, but you can't help overhearing the guard laughing to his buddy as you walk away. You don't make out all of it, but "Dumb fucking hayseed peasant." was definitely in there. At last you arrive at the recruiting office. The man sitting at the desk looks bored at first, but perks up a bit when he sees you. "Well now, this is a nice break in the monotony. Have a seat." "I want to enlist in the army." "Well of course you do son, why else would you be here? To join the Zalan Empire's best right? Okay, but before we start I need to ask you some questions just so we can get a feel of where we think you'll best serve in the Emperor's glorious army." "Uh, okay." "Good, so where are you from son? You certainly don't look like you're from the city here. You look like a farmer." "Well I sort of am sir. My family owns a farm a couple miles from the city, I decided to enlist to help my family monetarily. Times are hard on the farm." "Mmm, noble of you. Your sense of duty will also serve you well too. Any combat experience?" "Some, but nothing major I'm afraid. A few bandits. Kobolds in the chicken coop. That's about it." "Don't worry you'll learn to be a killing machine, but your past experience are more than some we've recruited. Any other talents?" "Besides farming? Um…I'm a good hunter, I use this bow all the time!" you say and show the recruiter your worn bow. "Good. Good. We can always use good marksmen. But you'll get the chance to use a better bow than that old thing you've been carrying around. What's that other thing on your back?" "Oh this? Well this is my uh lute." "Lute? Ha ha! You a bard or something?" "Well not really, but…" "You planning on charming the enemies with your music?" "Uh…" you say begin to get a little anxious. "Hah! Settle down son, I'm just messing with you. But I'm afraid whatever your musical hobbies may be you'll most likely be abandoning them. Can't be picking your lute while an angry ogre is charging at you or you're storming a castle. This is the army, not an entertainment company!" The recruiter at this point begins to look through some papers and grabs one after looking it over. "Ah. Here it is…you know how to read and write?" "YES!" you say indignantly for the first time. "Okay, okay, don't get testy. Its just most of you peasant farmer types don't. Anyway just sign here and we'll get you started on your basic training." You take the paper, and give it a pointless look over like you actually understand all the legal mumbo jumbo and sign. The recruiter takes the paper from you and then shakes your hand. "Congratulations son! You're in the Zalan Army now! The best damn one in this world!" Somehow he's more enthusiastic than you are… > You it's boot camp for you! 6 months pass… Six months of the most grueling physical training you've ever had the misfortune of dealing with! However you fared better than some of your fellow cadets. Guess all that farm living paid off. You've certainly improved what combat skills you had, but your marksmanship has improved greatly. You know that Drill Sergeant Kosser has been paying special attention to your abilities. You're not sure if that's a good thing of not. In any event you're being told where your first assignment is going to be. Most of those in your group are being sent to Tulan border. Not the most pleasant assignment. The fighting is getting worse there. What started as a minor border dispute has turned into a series of battles with neither side making too much progress. Even before you joined the military you'd heard stories of the greedy king who runs the Tulan Kingdom. You heard from traveling merchants about how he allows a few demons to walk around in his lands! Utter madness in your opinion. The Zalan Empire might be a little strict on the rules and regulations, but better that than demons letting walking around, in your opinion they should all be killed on sight regardless on whether they're obeying the "law" or not, they're evil. You sit anxious on your bed in the barracks as name after name gets called off. Finally Kosser calls off your name, and you fully expect to get sent to the Tulan border. "I want to talk to you in private." Is what you hear instead. This makes you even more nervous. What's he going to do? Send you on? A mission to assassinate the Tulan King? After everyone else has gotten there assignments you follow Kosser back to his office. He sits down and speaks direct. "Alright farmboy, I'm sure you've noticed me watching your marksmanship skills. You're one of the best ones that have come in here for awhile. You have a natural talent and you've only improved it through training. It would be a blessing to have someone like you up at the Tulan border. The gods know we could use anything to help break the stalemate there." "…but?" you ask hoping that there is one. "But…your skills might be better served in a place that has a better mortality rate, yet still needs taking care of." "Where's that sir?" "Here." Kosser points to a map to a nearby location. It's the Retlad Kingdom. You can't imagine what's going on there, since as far as you know, you're Zalan is at peace with them. "Retlad? I thought we're at peace with them?" "We are…in fact rumors are saying we'll probably incorporate them into the empire in the near future. I dunno how much you know about politics out there on the farm, but Retlad is basically a bankrupt kingdom. Their dumb ass royalty spent a shitload of their treasury on building ships in some vain attempt to find more land mass on this world. Hah! Doesn't exist! We learned than centuries ago! Anyway now they don't have enough to pay for a proper military and their kingdom is being overrun by hostile Quillar tribes. They want us to help. Begging us practically and we have, but it's a pain in the ass. Quillars are fast and as their name suggests shoot multiple sharp quills at their enemies. I've seen them go through plate armor." "That doesn't sound good." "No, it's not good. The Retlad knight orders got decimated within two months of the first invasion wave. We're taking a better approach. We need to have equally quick troops that can at least match the fire power. We've sent a couple of war wizards, but most of them are serving on the Tulan border. Gunpower weapons are a little too slow for this sort of thing, so we're looking for people good with a bow. Quick enough to at least get a few shots off from a distance and run. Because hit and run tactics are what the Quillars excel at, so you'll have to do likewise." Kosser pauses his talking for a moment. You take this opportunity to interject a question. "And this assignment you say has a lower mortality rate?" "Well, we haven't sent as many people there yet, but so far we've made a little more progress there than at the Tulan border. But of course I won't say it's a safe assignment. Those Quillar bastards are vicious and merciless. Up to you farmboy. You're getting a bonus here. You're actually getting to choose your assignment. Not many that get out of boot camp get that privilege." Some "privilege" > You go to the Tulan Border You don't like the sound of the Quillars and it doesn't really sound all that much safer. You decide that at the Tulan border you'll at least be with a few people you already know from boot camp and you'll be fighting something less scary. (Or at least human) "I'll take the Tulan Border assignment sir." "Hm, I'm surprised. Hope your skills come in of some use there. Here's your first month's pay, I suggest you live it up here in Zal, for the couple of days you have off before you leave." You take the small bag and look inside. This will certainly help your family. You take a few coins for yourself and then ask if arrangements can be made to have your payment sent to your family from now on. He tells you yes, but asks that surely that you will still want some of it. You agree to just taking 10% of it. You don't need much. "Sheesh, living bare minimum huh? Don't you want to eat anything other than military rations every once in awhile?" Kosser questions again. "Nah. If I need extra food, I'll just hunt." "You know there aren't many luxuries on the border, but when a traveling merchant shows up, you might regret not having enough money. You sure you don't want more?" "Nope. I'll be fine. My family needs that money more than I do." "Alright then, family man." You exit the barracks and wander the city a bit. You find it very interesting. You sort of wish you could stay longer to take in more sights. However one thing catches your eye. A small store and in the window is a lute. Looks almost like the one you had before it was taken away from you in basic training. You haven't gotten a chance to play in six months and you'd really like to… Hey you're a soldier now, you've proven yourself. You figure you can take one personal belonging with you to Tulan as long as you keep them packed properly. You enter the store and with the little money you have you buy the lute. You spend the most of the day and the next practicing it. You didn't forget as much as you thought. You also finish up writing a letter to your family and give it to a Zalan messenger carrier. Finally the third day arrives for you to move out. A couple of officers arrive to take all of you. You're stopped though as you're picked out. "Hold up you. What's that?" "It's a lute sir." "A lute? What the fuck do you think this is? An acting company? Get rid of that thing, you won't be needing that where you're going!" "But…" "You disobeying me soldier?" "No sir!" "Alright then, get rid of it!" You sadly get rid of your lute which you never got to play and basically wasted your money on. You don't know what you were thinking anyway. You're in the damn army. You're going to be doing a lot of fighting and all of that, not playing some stupid instrument. You should've realized that the first time it was taken away from you in boot camp. You've made this choice; you need to just put these dreams of being a "musician" out of your head right now. You weren't meant to be one, and all those years of deluding yourself in between real work were just fleeting dreams of a teenager. Time to grow up. While you resign yourself to this mindset, you aren't particularly happy with it. When you get to the Tulan Border you're even less happy. Your first battle is filled with all the bad stuff that usually accompanies such things. It's definitely not a fun assignment and your only consolation is that you know your family is getting more financial aid for you doing this. After a few months, you're absolutely miserable. You don't have your music to keep your mind off of the conditions and everything is bad here. The fort you're currently stationed at supplies only the bare minimum of living, no magical back up, the captain is a real asshole and the rest of those you serve with aren't too much better. Though so many are killed everyday that you never really grow to dislike (or like) anyone that much in that department. More are sent in and more die, it's like an ongoing cycle, everyone's so expendable in this ongoing border war that gets worse with each passing month. It doesn't even come to your surprise when the day comes that you're mortally wounded while on patrol. One of the new soldiers tells you to hold on and that he'll get help, but you know he won't get any in time and it wouldn't matter anyway. As you lay dying, your only regret is that you didn't get to play music like you always wanted to, and now you never will.

6 months pass… Six months of the most grueling physical training you've ever had the misfortune of dealing with! However you fared better than some of your fellow cadets. Guess all that farm living paid off. You've certainly improved what combat skills you had, but your marksmanship has improved greatly. You know that Drill Sergeant Kosser has been paying special attention to your abilities. You're not sure if that's a good thing of not. In any event you're being told where your first assignment is going to be. Most of those in your group are being sent to Tulan border. Not the most pleasant assignment. The fighting is getting worse there. What started as a minor border dispute has turned into a series of battles with neither side making too much progress. Even before you joined the military you'd heard stories of the greedy king who runs the Tulan Kingdom. You heard from traveling merchants about how he allows a few demons to walk around in his lands! Utter madness in your opinion. The Zalan Empire might be a little strict on the rules and regulations, but better that than demons letting walking around, in your opinion they should all be killed on sight regardless on whether they're obeying the "law" or not, they're evil. You sit anxious on your bed in the barracks as name after name gets called off. Finally Kosser calls off your name, and you fully expect to get sent to the Tulan border. "I want to talk to you in private." Is what you hear instead. This makes you even more nervous. What's he going to do? Send you on? A mission to assassinate the Tulan King? After everyone else has gotten there assignments you follow Kosser back to his office. He sits down and speaks direct. "Alright farmboy, I'm sure you've noticed me watching your marksmanship skills. You're one of the best ones that have come in here for awhile. You have a natural talent and you've only improved it through training. It would be a blessing to have someone like you up at the Tulan border. The gods know we could use anything to help break the stalemate there." "…but?" you ask hoping that there is one. "But…your skills might be better served in a place that has a better mortality rate, yet still needs taking care of." "Where's that sir?" "Here." Kosser points to a map to a nearby location. It's the Retlad Kingdom. You can't imagine what's going on there, since as far as you know, you're Zalan is at peace with them. "Retlad? I thought we're at peace with them?" "We are…in fact rumors are saying we'll probably incorporate them into the empire in the near future. I dunno how much you know about politics out there on the farm, but Retlad is basically a bankrupt kingdom. Their dumb ass royalty spent a shitload of their treasury on building ships in some vain attempt to find more land mass on this world. Hah! Doesn't exist! We learned than centuries ago! Anyway now they don't have enough to pay for a proper military and their kingdom is being overrun by hostile Quillar tribes. They want us to help. Begging us practically and we have, but it's a pain in the ass. Quillars are fast and as their name suggests shoot multiple sharp quills at their enemies. I've seen them go through plate armor." "That doesn't sound good." "No, it's not good. The Retlad knight orders got decimated within two months of the first invasion wave. We're taking a better approach. We need to have equally quick troops that can at least match the fire power. We've sent a couple of war wizards, but most of them are serving on the Tulan border. Gunpower weapons are a little too slow for this sort of thing, so we're looking for people good with a bow. Quick enough to at least get a few shots off from a distance and run. Because hit and run tactics are what the Quillars excel at, so you'll have to do likewise." Kosser pauses his talking for a moment. You take this opportunity to interject a question. "And this assignment you say has a lower mortality rate?" "Well, we haven't sent as many people there yet, but so far we've made a little more progress there than at the Tulan border. But of course I won't say it's a safe assignment. Those Quillar bastards are vicious and merciless. Up to you farmboy. You're getting a bonus here. You're actually getting to choose your assignment. Not many that get out of boot camp get that privilege." Some "privilege" > You go to the Retlad Kingdom You've never even heard of Quillars before, but they still sound less dangerous than the Tulan Border, that place is only going to get worse, you know it. "I'll take the Retlad assignment sir." "Hm. Smart. Here's your first month's pay, I suggest you live it up here in Zal, for the couple of days you have off before you leave." You take the small bag and look inside. This will certainly help your family. You take a few coins for yourself and then ask if arrangements can be made to have your payment sent to your family from now on. He tells you yes, but asks that surely that you will still want some of it. You agree to just taking 10% of it. You don't need much. "Sheesh, living bare minimum huh? Don't you want to eat anything other than military rations every once in awhile?" Kosser questions again. "Nah. If I need extra food, I'll just hunt." "You know even the booze and brothel girls in Retlad aren't THAT cheap. You sure you don't want more?" "Nope. I'll be fine. My family needs that money more than I do." "Alright then, family man." You exit the barracks and wander the city a bit. You find it very interesting. You sort of wish you could stay longer to take in more sights. However one thing catches your eye. A small store and in the window is a lute. Looks almost like the one you had before it was taken away from you in basic training. You haven't gotten a chance to play in six months and you'd really like to… Hey you're a soldier now, you've proven yourself. You figure you can take one personal belonging with you to Retlad as long as you keep them packed properly. You enter the store and with the little money you have you buy the lute. You spend the most of the day and the next practicing it. You didn't forget as much as you thought. You also finish up writing a letter to your family and give it to a Zalan messenger carrier. Finally the third day arrives for you to move out. A couple of officers arrive to take most of your other fellow cadets. Mostly to the Tulan border, however, it would appear you have a different escort. A young man in loose robe approaches you. He looks like a wizard, but you wonder for how long since he seems about your age. "Hey, are you the one going to the Retlad Kingdom?" he asks "Yeah, who are you?" "I'm Wessel. And don't you dare get cute and call me weasel, or I'll have to blast you with a lightning bolt." "I wasn't planning on it." You say which causes Wessel to start laughing. "Geez, I was just fucking with you. Don't be so serious! So you ready to go?" "Yeah I guess, are you my superior officer?" "Huh? Oh no. Look I got our horses waiting outside; we can do all this getting to know you stuff on the way." You and Wessel get on the horses and ride towards your destination. It would appear that you're the only one from your group to be going, but of course you were the only expert marksman. Wessel begins to tell you more about why he's with you. In fact he doesn't really let you do much talking at all. He says he's a native citizen of the Zalan Empire, but he just graduated from the esteemed magic university in the city state of Nuro. Wessel goes on to and says that when he heard they needed a few wizard over in Retlad, he decided to volunteer to test his skills and get paid while doing it. He explains that the pair of you will be following the orders of a Captain Vhalat. Everyone knows about Nuro. It's very famous, and you always wondered what kind of magical wonders existed there, so you're eager to hear more and he's all too happy to tell you. Despite Wessel's primary focus on himself, it sounds like a place you'd want to visit one day. Eventually you arrive at the border and so far the Retlad Kingdom doesn't look very well kept. The road begins to show evidence of disrepair and the sign posts are broken. You begin to keep your eye out for a possible attack at any second. "Look! Over there! It's a village and it's under attack! Come on!" Wessel yells and rides towards the village in the distance. You try to tell him to wait, but he's already well on his way, so you ride after him. You've never seen a Quillar before, but the closer you get to the village, you start seeing humanoid creatures covered in sharp spikes running around at a fast speed which could only be them. They are indeed fearsome looking. You also see a lot of the people running from them, and even a few people dressed in protective gear similar to yours…not that its doing them much good. "Alright you prickly bastards here's something for ya!" Wessle shouts riding into the village with one hand raised in the air for a lightning blast attack. He shows no fear. You have no idea if all wizards are like this, but he's either got to be brave, stupid or just suicidal. Of course he could be all three. Up until now you always thought wizards were supposed to be meek types that didn't charge into battle and preferred to kill from afar. You guess you were wrong. > You stay with him to back him up This reckless idiot is probably going to get himself killed if you don't stick by his side. You ride quickly to catch up with him in the village, and draw your bow. Surprisingly for your first battle, you manage to keep calm and focused on the enemy. Hard to do considering the Quillars aren't the easiest of foes. They're quick and they're firing their quills faster than you're firing your bow. The problem though isn't the Quillars, its Wessel. He's having such a "good time" blasting the Quillars, that he's causing a lot more collateral damage in the process. During one of these moments, your own horse gets spooked by the incredibly close fireball blast and rears back causing you to fall off of it. You're still shaking the cobwebs when one of the Quillars unleashes more quills and hits you with several of them. You collapse in pain, as the Quillar charges at you. It doesn't kill you though. Wessel makes sure of that when he throws a bolt of lightning at it. Unfortunately the Quillar happens to have grabbed you just as its hit by the lightning. Your current pain is increased severely as the electrical current passes through your body, but not for long and your fried body eventually stops its deaths throes. Wessel has a hard time explaining that the other transfer was hit by "friendly" fire.

You've never even heard of Quillars before, but they still sound less dangerous than the Tulan Border, that place is only going to get worse, you know it. "I'll take the Retlad assignment sir." "Hm. Smart. Here's your first month's pay, I suggest you live it up here in Zal, for the couple of days you have off before you leave." You take the small bag and look inside. This will certainly help your family. You take a few coins for yourself and then ask if arrangements can be made to have your payment sent to your family from now on. He tells you yes, but asks that surely that you will still want some of it. You agree to just taking 10% of it. You don't need much. "Sheesh, living bare minimum huh? Don't you want to eat anything other than military rations every once in awhile?" Kosser questions again. "Nah. If I need extra food, I'll just hunt." "You know even the booze and brothel girls in Retlad aren't THAT cheap. You sure you don't want more?" "Nope. I'll be fine. My family needs that money more than I do." "Alright then, family man." You exit the barracks and wander the city a bit. You find it very interesting. You sort of wish you could stay longer to take in more sights. However one thing catches your eye. A small store and in the window is a lute. Looks almost like the one you had before it was taken away from you in basic training. You haven't gotten a chance to play in six months and you'd really like to… Hey you're a soldier now, you've proven yourself. You figure you can take one personal belonging with you to Retlad as long as you keep them packed properly. You enter the store and with the little money you have you buy the lute. You spend the most of the day and the next practicing it. You didn't forget as much as you thought. You also finish up writing a letter to your family and give it to a Zalan messenger carrier. Finally the third day arrives for you to move out. A couple of officers arrive to take most of your other fellow cadets. Mostly to the Tulan border, however, it would appear you have a different escort. A young man in loose robe approaches you. He looks like a wizard, but you wonder for how long since he seems about your age. "Hey, are you the one going to the Retlad Kingdom?" he asks "Yeah, who are you?" "I'm Wessel. And don't you dare get cute and call me weasel, or I'll have to blast you with a lightning bolt." "I wasn't planning on it." You say which causes Wessel to start laughing. "Geez, I was just fucking with you. Don't be so serious! So you ready to go?" "Yeah I guess, are you my superior officer?" "Huh? Oh no. Look I got our horses waiting outside; we can do all this getting to know you stuff on the way." You and Wessel get on the horses and ride towards your destination. It would appear that you're the only one from your group to be going, but of course you were the only expert marksman. Wessel begins to tell you more about why he's with you. In fact he doesn't really let you do much talking at all. He says he's a native citizen of the Zalan Empire, but he just graduated from the esteemed magic university in the city state of Nuro. Wessel goes on to and says that when he heard they needed a few wizard over in Retlad, he decided to volunteer to test his skills and get paid while doing it. He explains that the pair of you will be following the orders of a Captain Vhalat. Everyone knows about Nuro. It's very famous, and you always wondered what kind of magical wonders existed there, so you're eager to hear more and he's all too happy to tell you. Despite Wessel's primary focus on himself, it sounds like a place you'd want to visit one day. Eventually you arrive at the border and so far the Retlad Kingdom doesn't look very well kept. The road begins to show evidence of disrepair and the sign posts are broken. You begin to keep your eye out for a possible attack at any second. "Look! Over there! It's a village and it's under attack! Come on!" Wessel yells and rides towards the village in the distance. You try to tell him to wait, but he's already well on his way, so you ride after him. You've never seen a Quillar before, but the closer you get to the village, you start seeing humanoid creatures covered in sharp spikes running around at a fast speed which could only be them. They are indeed fearsome looking. You also see a lot of the people running from them, and even a few people dressed in protective gear similar to yours…not that its doing them much good. "Alright you prickly bastards here's something for ya!" Wessle shouts riding into the village with one hand raised in the air for a lightning blast attack. He shows no fear. You have no idea if all wizards are like this, but he's either got to be brave, stupid or just suicidal. Of course he could be all three. Up until now you always thought wizards were supposed to be meek types that didn't charge into battle and preferred to kill from afar. You guess you were wrong. > You circle around the village Just because he's acting reckless doesn't mean you're going to, you're going to play upon your strengths and keep as far away as you can. You ride your horse around the outskirts of the village, readying your bow the whole time. When you can, you fire at the Quillar attackers. As quick as they are, they aren't really paying attention to you and you manage to get in some good shots. A couple of head shots even. At first they don't realize where the all the arrows are coming from, since Wessel is giving them a hard enough time with the chain lightning. You're sort of glad you decided to stay on the outskirts. Wessel is having such a "good time" blasting the Quillars, he's probably causing a lot more collateral damage in the process. Eventually the Quillars start to retreat. This is when you get into a little more trouble as you happen to be right in the direction of where they're running! They still look scary and they get even moreso as they get closer. The worst has to be their shrieks. It's unpleasant to hear to say the least. You ride out of the way, but your horse isn't fast enough and is peppered by quills. You catch a few in the leg yourself and you're thrown from the horse as it reels in pain, before collapsing. Feeling the pain you scramble for cover behind a nearby rock. Fortunately the quills don't penetrate that. Most of them are content on just running away, but one straggler decides to try to get one more kill before leaving. That kill of course happens to be you. The Quillar makes its high pitch shriek as it runs towards the rock. You don't have time to ready your bow before its high jumped over the rock and on the other side of you. You quickly draw your weapon and swing it blindly as you turn around. Luckily your blade catches the side of its head, killing it. At last you collapse from the pain in your leg. While you're pulling out quills, Wessel and another Zalan soldier come to meet you. Wessel doesn't look any worse for wear, but the soldier looks very tired and obviously has wounds of his own. "There you are, lying down on the job I see." Wessel mocks. "Are you alright?" the other soldier asks. "Yeah…Agh. I've gotten bitten in the leg by a Kobold before. Feels nearly the same except these quills go in a lot deeper." "Glad you guys came when you did. We were just doing a routine patrol when these quill bastards came out of nowhere! They're getting bolder and attacking in greater number, we need more reinforcements." "Yeah, well good luck with that. The Tulan border is the primary concern. Besides I'm here now, I predict that this infestation will be over soon now." Wessel boasts. "Any…way. My name's Tylir. I'd introduce you to the rest of my squad, but they're all dead now. Even though it was the heat of battle, I couldn't help notice how well you picked off several of those Quillars with one shot. That was pretty impressive." "Thanks." "Hey! What about me? I'm the one who noticed you getting attacked in the first place! I'm also the one who saved your ass!" Wessel interrupts again, he's starting to get annoying at this point, but Tylir doesn't seem bothered by him. "Everyone did their part. Okay, since I'm here I'll take you to see Captain Vhalat, I'm sure that's who you were sent to report to, oh and wizard while your skills may be appreciated here, I'd advise you to cut down on the boasting. Captain Vhalat isn't fond of it, and to be quite honest the other two wizards we had here were more experienced and they still got killed." "Hmm, well perhaps they lacked the natural skill that I of course possess." At this point you and Tylir just roll your eyes and get moving. You travel through a couple of other villages and it's pretty depressing. You see stacks of bodies being buried in mass graves while most of other Retlad citizens look thoroughly defeated. A few look in your direction, but don't look too much, it's like they don't really expect you to succeed. Not exactly inspiring. Soon you arrive in the town of Glaf. It would appear that the Zalan contingency sent here is staying in one of the bigger Retlad towns rather than the capitol. Ryan also says that the Quillar infestation is worse around here too, so the captain suspects that whatever lair they're crawling out of is nearby and can hopefully located and cleansed. The town itself resembles a small Zalan fort rather than a proper Retlad town, as a sturdy wall has been erected around it. The people seem to look a little more hopeful though. Tylir goes on to say that he thinks that the Retlad citizens are actually starting to prefer Zalan presence especially since their on government has been pretty ineffectual about the whole invasion. The Retlad army has only focused on defending the capitol. The Retlad royals appear to find their lives more important than anyone else's. Eventually you're brought before Captain Vahlat himself. He looks up from the map he's inspecting and addresses you and Wessel. "Ah, I see the Empire has seen fit to send me reinforcements…wow, twice as many as I thought I'd get. Private Tylir where's the rest of your squad?" "Um…dead sir." "Of course. (sigh) So what's your problem private? Why is your leg wrapped up?" Vahlat asks you. "Got into a fight with the Quillars sir." You answer. "Oh?" Tylir at this point interrupts and tells of what happened. Wessel looks like he wants to expand upon his deeds, but Vahlat's appearance is a little imposing and he was already warned once, so he keeps his mouth shut. Vahlat soon addresses you again. "Well it would seem you two have already proven yourselves useful. A lot more useful that what passes for the Retlad army, but of course that isn't hard. Wizard, I certainly hope you don't intend to use this place as a chance to show off all the skills you learned in your fancy Nuro college. One of your predecessors did that as well, and as you can see he's no longer here. As for you, I hope that you can do a better job of keeping out of the way of the quills next time. Most don't get a second chance. Alright that's all for now. Our group is being housed for free at the Inn down the street. Free food as well, but don't go overboard, its being rationed. You want more food or anything else you'll have to pay like everyone else. I suggest though that you don't do any heavy carousing. This is a high alert situation and we could be going to battle at anytime. Dismissed." You, Wessel and Tylir all leave at this point. Tylir goes on to show you where the Inn is and a couple of other places, but after today you just want to rest and retire to your room early. You rest your leg and begin practicing your lute. This puts you in better spirits. 6 months pass… The Quillar invasion has nearly been eradicated. Most of the major lairs have been located and cleansed and you certainly contributed greatly to this effort. Besides your combat abilities, your tracking skills definitely came in handy a lot. You've become somewhat recognized among Retlad citizens due to your actions and the lives you've saved. The word "hero" has been used a few times though you definitely don't think of yourself as one. In your free time you spoke with the citizens, a lot more than your fellow soldiers though. A few of them even convinced you to play for them when they noticed your lute. It took a little prodding, but eventually you gave in fully expecting to get booed, but to your surprise, you got applauded instead. Your playing didn't just boost your spirits it seemed. Whenever you could you played a little bit for people in what little free time you had. Never did you think that you'd be playing for any kind of audience, let alone an appreciative one. It definitely hasn't been all sunshine though; you've seen a lot of people die. More than you ever wanted to actually. You'd made friends with Tylir shortly after your first meeting and he died only a couple months later. You'll be glad when every one of these Quillar creatures are all dead though, all they've done is cause misery. You've got them on the run now though. You're preparing for an attack on another one of their lairs, when Captain Vahlat calls everyone to see him, he doesn't look enthusiastic about whatever it is he has to tell you. "All right I'll be brief. As much as I hate leaving a mission unfinished, we're getting pulled out of here effective immediately. Major news is that Nuro has undergone a fucking disaster that needs to be put down like yesterday! All governments friendly to the City State of Nuro that can spare the manpower are to send help. We would be one of those. I hope the Retlad army is just competent enough to finish up what we started in their own country." Wessel immediately pipes up upon hearing about this revelation. "What happened in Nuro? What's going on?!" "What's going on? From what I've been told a whole bunch of your kind raised a shitload of undead and unleashed a bunch of hostile demons on the place! The entire city was overrun. Reports are already stating that small packs of demons are running around the nearby countryside. Most likely in the direction of the Tulan Kingdom. Not sure what that means with our border war with them, but I only see it getting bloodier around there. In any case, our job is to head to Nuro, before the undead start following suit. I hope you're all ready for this, because this is going to be a lot different that fighting Quillars." You look around and see a lot of fear wash over faces and rightly so. Necromancers have a bad history on your world. When you were little you still remember hearing the tales of the Great Lich Lord that existed centuries before you were even born. He almost took over the world. Those stories gave you nightmares as a kid. The possibility of having to face something remotely similar even on much smaller scale doesn't make you feel too well. > You desert the army You don't want to die and you know if you go, you will. You regret that you won't be able to help your family out financially anymore, but you really don't want to die. You pack up all your stuff in the middle of the night and sneak away from the town your company is stationed in. You figure their orders are urgent enough that your desertion won't immediately cause a full scale hunt, at least not by them. The first order of business is to change your identity as much as you can. And head to a place where you can play for an audience, but the probability of someone ratting you out is low if you're recognized. The question though is where to go. You can't linger in the Retlad Kingdom too long, in fact you'll probably have to move around. You decide your first stop will be at the Garwold Confederacy. It's a relatively peaceful nation made up mostly of Halflings and Gnomes, with lush green fields and flowers. They tend to stay out of wars and they're also known to appreciate the simpler things in life. Eventually you make a place for yourself there in one of the small villages. You make a living playing at the local tavern there. Most of the patrons sense that you have some sort of past that you're trying to hide from. But just like you thought, they don't bring it up or say anything about it and just enjoy your music. A few months pass and you're happy. You even meet a pretty Halfling girl to be with, and now you're even thinking about just settling down here, since nobody's come looking for you; however there are alarming events occurring in the rest of the world. The assault on Nuro was a complete failure. Everyone was killed from your company. It makes you glad you didn't go, but the fact that there is now an undead city state has everyone worried. It doesn't help that there was also an outbreak of demons. One particularly nasty one called Velzix has conquered the Tulan Kingdom. Due to these events a Grand Alliance of nations has been created to stop these threats. The Garwold Confederacy normally stays out of such things, but they have agreed to send a militia as part of the aiding effort. You don't worry too much about it at first, but as a couple more years go on, the war gets worse and more and more Zalan Empire troops are passing through the area. Normally you'd move on, but now you're married and you can't bear to abandon yet another one you love. You still haven't completely forgiven yourself for the first time. You attempt to keep a low profile, but one day a Grand Alliance solider passing through, sees you in a tavern and recognizes you. Apparently he's a citizen of Retlad and remembers you when you were stationed there. "HEY! I know you! Man, it's good to see ya! How did you get out of the army? I thought the Zalan Empire had a twenty year requirement plan! You still play that lute really well?" he bellows for all inside to hear. Unfortunately one of the other Grand Alliance members with him is from the Zalan Empire who's a real stickler for rules and regulations. "I know who you are too! You're wanted for desertion! I'm placing you under arrest!" You try to escape, but you don't get far. You haven't been keeping up on your physical training since you deserted, and coupled with your Halfling wife's rich cooking you're not in great shape anymore. The Zalan soldier on the other hand has been battle hardened in the recent months. He easily catches you and beats you into submission. You're taken back to the Zalan Empire in chains much to the protest of your wife, but its no use, you're going to trial. Your family is made aware of your discovery, but none of them come to try to help you. You abandoned them long ago and didn't even try to contact them; as far as they're concerned you died years ago. You attempt to explain things in letters to them, but you're never answered. Eventually you give up. The trial is brief and the judgment final. You're sentenced to death as an example of all those who would attempt to desert their duty during war. As you sit in your cell counting the days for your hanging, you find out from sad visits from your wife that things are getting really bad. Dead armies conquering kingdoms, demons running amok. You almost wonder if your execution isn't a blessing from the horror that seems to be eclipsing the world. The day comes when the noose is placed around your neck… "Any last words?" You have none; you just hum a little tune and close your eyes before the trapdoor swings open, and your neck snaps.