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…


You can’t take it anymore.

“I’M NOT A FUCKING HERO! OKAY!? I NEVER WAS AND I NEVER WANTED TO BE! (sob)… I just wanted to go home…(sob)”

You weep for a few minutes before the captain speaks again.

“Alright then what happened? Tell me the entire truth and maybe you’ll avoid the executioner’s axe.”

At this point you have little choice. You’re too distraught to say anything else. You give a relatively condensed version of what happened. At Nuro and what happened recently. Your encounter with Warnov seems to surprise her quite a bit. You also go on to explain that it was high ranking Zalan officers that insisted on this hero nonsense. She believes you, like she knows something of it.

“(sigh) Yeah there’s a statue of my dad in the Zalan capitol…but I know better…”

You don’t question anymore about this quiet outburst from her since you’re still too worried about what’s going to happen to you.

“So why did you come back? You probably could’ve gotten away with it.”
“The same reason why I joined. My family. I guess I just needed a reminder of that first hand. And if there’s any hope of changing the tide of this war with the undead then I need to stand by my decision of joining the Zalan Army and making the world safer for them.”

Once again the captain seems to soften. She almost looks like she’s going to tear up as well, but she turns away.

“My family…I…” are all she says before taking a deep breath and turning back towards you, with a serious mindset again.

“Alright, I shall trust your word for now sergeant, but I will be watching you VERY carefully! Consider yourself lucky for evading death once again, perhaps you do have knack for avoiding it. Let us hope that luck rubs off on the rest of us in the upcoming battle. I’m putting you in charge of the Retlad archery platoon. They’ll probably like you. Dismissed.”

Before you leave she says one last thing.

“And sergeant, don’t listen to what that bizarre vampire said. We’re not going to become extinct. We’re going to win and survive a long time. Besides you still have to play that song for me.”

As you leave you feel a sigh of relief that you won’t be dying just yet, but given that you’re heading into battle soon with the undead, you’re wondering if you just didn’t postpone the inevitable.

Two years pass…

Seven years since the Nuro Incident changed the world into this living hell.

Your time served in the Grand Alliance has not really changed much. The Grand Alliance and the Zalan Empire are basically one of the same now thanks to the complete embrace of a totalitarian system. Might makes right. Nations like the Azi Republic protested, but there was little that they could, after all Zalan has been practically defending the world by itself for the past few years. You get the impression that if this war is won; the Zalan Empire is going to throw its hat in to be a one world government.

Amazing how power and conspiracy is plotted even when it probably won’t happen. “Probably won’t” because your superiors and political leaders are a lot more “optimistic” about winning than you are, but then they haven’t had to face the horrors you’ve faced.

And horrors are a completely accurate word. You’ve gotten over your fear of the undead, but it doesn’t make it any easier. You’re starting to lose ground. Everyday the living lose someone, the Great Lich Lord gains. It’s a question of numbers and quite frankly your side doesn’t have them.

You sort of wish your old captain was here. She was a very good leader and inspirational, but then again that’s why she was made a general and sent elsewhere. She asked you to play that song before she left though. Somehow it seemed to make her sadder afterwards.

“Captain, undead are on the move, they won’t be long now.” One of your messengers says.
“Yes, I can sense it. Here. You head back to my home. You know where it is by now, and give this message to my family. If you get back here and see undead, well get the fuck out and run back to Zalan territory.”

Being a captain hasn’t really turned you into a copy of the captains you served in the past, but then again you didn’t even think you’d ever be promoted to one. Your reign as one has been a little unorthodox as you’ve applied more guerilla tactics than traditional ones, but given your assignment and your background it makes a hell of a lot more sense.

You’re currently stationed on what remains of the Garwold Confederacy. It was a relatively peaceful nation made up mostly of Halflings and Gnomes, with lush green fields and flowers. Now it’s just slowly becoming another massive graveyard and example of genocide.

You’ve gotten to know quite a few of them and you’re always amazed of how they can keep their sense of humor in the face of utter destruction. One of them actually gives you an answer.

“To keep from crying.”

Indeed. You’ve been playing quite a bit when you’re not battling the undead. (The Garwold citizens enjoy your playing a lot) It’s gotten to the point where you don’t just play anymore to keep your mind off of things, it’s like it transports you to a different world. A better world.

If only.

You often wonder how your brother Mallack is doing. He’s been stationed in a relatively safer location back in Zalan territory. You’re guessing that it lowers the odds of having your mom lose both of her sons at the same time. Like it makes it any better if she lost them within any length on time of each other. You wonder if the war is going to go on long enough that by the time Calwin grows up he’ll be drafted as well.

If he even gets the chance to grow up.

You can’t think about it now. A massive undead horde is coming and there’s no where left to hide. There will be open battle and you need to stay focused.

You go through the whole order thing, and making sure your strategy is sound. You wish you had more wizards, but they seem to be in shorter supply these days. It’s almost like they’re being targeted deliberately sometimes…actually you don’t think it, you KNOW that they are.

You see the undead horde approach. You look through some new fangled dwarven invention called an eye piece and see something makes your job a hell of a lot worse.

You don’t just see the usual undead. You see fully armored Death Knights. Harder to kill than even a zombie giant. You see Blood Specters. Dark crimson spirits that can cause their victims to bleed from every orifice with their shrieks. Both of those are at the head of this horde, and this isn’t even counting that you’re severely outnumbered by just the regular zombies, skeletons, ghosts and the like.
> You letters to home (Grand Alliance...)
Dear Mom,

Well I’m sure you’ve heard by now that I’m officially part of the Grand Alliance. I don’t know just how to feel about it either.

How I even got roped into it, is all by chance and luck. That seems to be a staple in my life. I tried to desert the army once and I ended up getting promoted. I do it again, and even get called on it and I get even more responsibility! The world has gone completely mad. I’m sure of it now. Though who knows for how long. The woman responsible for putting me in my new position says we’re going to win, but as each day wears on, I lose faith that we will. I’ve gotten over my fear of death and the undead, but now it’s been replaced by a numbness to it. I don’t know if that’s worse.

I heard about Mallack getting drafted. I sure hope he’ll be okay. And I hope you’ll be able to manage the farm without him, but I guess you’ll be alright now that the government has taken control of the farm. I really wish that hadn’t happened, but what can we do right? At least you won’t need to protect the livestock anymore with all the guard patrolling it though. It would seem the Zalan Empire is everywhere nowadays though. Well, everywhere there isn’t undead of course.

We’re going to try to retake the Brot Kingdom soon, dunno if it’ll be successful.

Give my love to the rest of the family.

Your son


You have to admit, the idea has crossed your mind a bit. A small part of you does wonder about embracing the whole hero image and deliberately doing grand deeds that go beyond the call of your duty. You suppose that you’d at least really feel like one if you did that.

However, more often than not real heroes don’t live long. You’re wondering what exactly this Mr. Warnov has in mind for you and given his demeanor, his appearance and just your own feelings of uncertainty about him, you decline. You know your limitations even if others don’t see them. So, no you won’t be hunting down some artifact of unlimited power and then single handedly taking out a Demon Lord or Necromancer Lord in their own throne room.

“No, I don’t think so Mr. Warnov. As I’ve often said, I’m no hero. I’m just doing my job and providing for my family.”

Mr. Warnov looks disappointed and sighs, but accepts your decision.

“Very well. This is a shame though. Despite your humble birth you seem to have lots of potential. You could’ve made an excellent addition to our…organization. I’ve also heard your lute playing wasn’t bad either, we don’t have any musically talented types anymore…oh well.”

Mr. Warnov leaves rather quickly after his last statement. Something about him seemed very odd and you’re sort of glad you didn’t take his offer. You go back to your target practice for awhile when you suddenly hear an alarm cry out loudly through the fort about a small demon army being sighted over the hill.

“Well back to work…” you say and prepare for battle once again.

Two years pass…

It’s been five years since the Nuro Incident and things have gotten worse.

Both the Necromancer Lord and Velzix have made progress. Too much. The Grand Alliance hasn’t been able to do anything except fight them to a stalemate. All three sides are looking to gain an advantage and somehow you don’t think it’ll be yours.

The Zalan Empire has become increasingly totalitarian. It’s been increasing its influence over how the Grand Alliance should be run and its strategies. Some of Zalan’s officers have been transferred to become more prominent in leading and commanding the bulk of the Grand Alliance army. You’re not sure if this isn’t a bad idea. Bullying or not, one final voice in matters would probably help the Grand Alliance at this point. There’s been some grumbling by other nations though.

However it’s also begun several repressive internal measures to keep itself safe. Your mom has mentioned in letters back to you of seeing routine patrols now near the farm. Talks of seizing private property for the good of the Empire are being discussed. You don’t really like the sound of that, but it’s not really like you can do anything about it. You can only take solace in the fact that being part of the Zalan army will at least result in your family not becoming homeless. They would probably still be able to live and work on the farm…it just wouldn’t be your family’s anymore. There’s also talk of a draft. You don’t like the sound of that either. Your brother Mallack would certainly be conscripted now. You can’t imagine him dealing with the things you’ve had to face. You hope it doesn’t come to that.

Your position at Virtue is looking worse and worse each day. Parts of the fort are severely damaged, you’re short on man power and you don’t even have any decent wizards or healers. You’ve attempted to talk to Captain Eckard about withdrawing and falling back to a safer position, but he won’t hear of it. This fort is NOT to be abandoned.

The only good thing is that there’s apparently been a small contingent of mercenaries severely messing up things for Velzix in his own territory. They must be incredibly brave or completely mad for Zalan gold to perform such a task. You can’t help but think that maybe YOU would be there right along side them, if you’d joined up with that mercenary company years ago. A sobering thought.

Time to go on patrol again. You gather up some soldiers and get ready. You look at all of them and wonder which ones won’t be coming back this time. You look at yourself and wonder if you will. A few years ago, everyone coming back alive was at least a possibility, but now it’s not even certain.

You go out and change up your routine path again. Always have to be different, can’t become predictable.

A couple of imps attack. Nothing to worry about. Easily dispatched. You know you’ll encounter worse before the day is over though.

A group of Tulan “citizens” led by their demon overseer attacks you next. Made up of hapless slaves and misguided idiots who think serving the demons is going to pan out in the long run.

Finally you come across something a little more unusual. A small group of dwarves fighting off a large demon ambush. They look ragged, wounded and in dire need of help. So you help them.

You unleash five arrows into the head of an Eviscerator before two of your number are fried by a hellfire blast from a Flame Child. The fighting doesn’t get any cleaner from there. You see another one of your members getting shredded, before a path is cleared for the dwarves to follow you back to the fort. One of their own chooses to stay behind to give the rest a chance to escape. As all of you run, a large explosion is heard followed by several yelps, howls and screams. The dwarf has blown himself up with whatever explosives the dwarves are fond of making.

Finally you get back to the fort where it’s relatively safe, and all you’re thinking about is how you’ll have to do this all over again tomorrow. You retire to your private room where you play your lute and hope you aren’t disturbed by another attack on the fort. Happily, that doesn’t happen, but you are disturbed by one of the dwarves you rescued earlier instead. He’s come to thank you.

“Hey lad, I just want to say thanks to your actions at least a few of us survived from our clan. Such as it is now. Something about you looks very familiar. Normally you humans all look the same but…ah hah! You’re that lad who I saved near that farm five years ago! Looks like you returned the favor! Stagir’s the name.”

You didn’t realize it either, but then with all the fighting and the chaos you’d barely survived during that particular day, you weren’t really paying attention to faces. You were just glad someone came along when they did.

“Yeah…small world I guess. So what happened to your clan?”
“Wiped out lad.” Stagir says mournfully. “At least when you humans were fighting each other you didn’t mess with us, but getting caught between the undead and demons…well it’s a bit different.”
“The undead are that far now?” you ask.
“Aye. They and the demons have been involved in skirmishes here and there. Got no problem with evil fighting evil, but it was just our bad luck that my clan was caught in the middle. The demons are evil incarnate to be sure, but the undead…I dunno. Something worse about them. In the final days, I had to kill clan members who I once called friends and family because of the fucking necromancers raising them from the dead. Some stayed behind to fight since they refused to run. They’d rather die than run from their home. Normally I’d agree, but after seeing that this was a losing battle, some of us decided that it would be better to run. After all we would just be raised again to be used as puppets of the necromancers when we die. Not even free will to choose, or the threat of a demon’s whip. You just become one of them. Can’t let that happen to me. Never.”

You know something of it, having had to do a little of that five years ago at Nuro, but actually killing undead parodies of family members would be pretty horrific.

Stagir attempts to lighten the mood a bit by asking you about what you were playing before he interrupted. When you tell him, he tiches and says something about how elven songs are nothing compared to dwarven ones. You never really thought of dwarves having a musical interest before, but Stagir boasts about how they have quite an extensive musical history.

He takes the lute from you and shows you a couple of dwarven songs, breaking strings in the process. His insistent singing accompanying the songs isn’t exactly pleasant either. He complains about the human made strings not being strong enough to play the songs properly, but thanks you again for saving his life before leaving.

Every now and then you play these songs for your new dwarven allies who have taken it upon themselves to strengthen and rebuild the fort the “proper dwarf way”. They seem to appreciate it. You’re a little more careful with the strings and don’t indulge in the singing though. (But unfortunately for the rest of the fort, the dwarves do)

A few months pass and the demon attacks seem to decrease. The strengthened fort certainly helps, but something else is going on. Eventually you’re seeing less and less of them. Eventually some ragged refugees come to the fort and after a bit of babbling and thanking the gods, a few of them explain.

There are a couple of conflicting stories, but it would seem Velzix is dead! He was killed by something or someone. Consensus seems to be that the mercenary leader died in battle with him though. Without Velzix’s leadership the demons are fighting amongst themselves and the realm is in complete disarray. The Grand Alliance is taking steps to retake the land immediately before the Necromancer Lord gets it. The Zalan Empire in particular is closer though, so naturally YOUR nation is going to get that land first!

While things may be looking up somewhat, they aren’t necessarily looking up for you. Captain Eckard has orders to begin an attack immediately. You aren’t looking forward to it mainly because you’ll probably encounter an undead army in the process.

You don’t have a choice though except for what role you can serve. Thanks to your skills and rank. You can either lead troops as normal, or be part of a scouting party.
> You letters to home (Random thoughts...)
Dear Mom,

I meant to tell you this weird man from Zalan Intelligence offered me a job, a few months ago. Said I could be a “real” hero and a bunch of other stuff. Part of it sounded appealing, but something about him made me feel really uncomfortable.

I wonder if I’m just avoiding my “potential.” Like perhaps I am supposed to be some great general or warrior, or whatever. But I just don’t feel that desire within me. Now if I had been offered to give up all this army stuff and play at the Emperor’s Palace as a regular job then I might’ve accepted!

Over these years as I’ve played for others and mainly for myself, I truly believe I really was meant to play music in this world. Just events didn’t work out for me I guess, but even within this situation, I’ve still found a way to indulge in my passion and I suppose it’s better than never being able to at all.

Who knows? Perhaps one day all of this will be over and I’ll come out of this alive and manage to pursue music without hindrance.

I know that sounds a little uncharacteristically optimistic from me, but I guess I still have a little hope left after all.

Give my love to the rest of the family

Your son


Demons are a lot faster than the undead and you’re wounded, no way are you going to be able to outrun them. You turn around and draw your bow, trying to ignore your pain which is overriding any fear you have at this point. Your weakened state is causing you to have a hard time aiming.

“Uh oh, better be careful, looks like this one is going to put up a fight. I’d say by his uniform that he’s a soldier.”
“Hur hur. Good. Hey human, better stop wobbling if you’re going to aim that thing properly.”

You miss the demon completely.

“Hah! You want me to walk slower human?”
”You sure you should be playing with him like that? Don’t you remember what happened earlier today?”
“Shut up! I told ya, that bitch musta had some magical powers because…OW!”

You hit the demon in the chest, but it doesn’t seem much damage. He pulls out the arrow and now begins to quicken his pace. The other demon starts to walk towards you as well.

“See, I told you to pay attention.”
“Bah! If this is the extent of what his little pig sticker can do, I’m not concerned. Hey human, don’t you know they’re doing great things with gunpower these days? RAAAAGH!”

The big demon suddenly charges you, and you let your arrow fly. Right in the eye.

“Perfect.” You whisper.

The demon bellows, but it doesn’t slow him down. You narrowly dodge his charge. You roll on the ground and shoot two more arrows in his back. He turns around snarling and bellowing for your blood. More arrows fly into the creature, but at last the demon has reached you and smacks you to the ground. Your bow flies from your hand, and while crawling on the ground you try to draw your sword, but a crushing blow hits you on the back. This might’ve caused a lot more damage, but miraculously the lute that’s still in your pack “softens” the blow. The crunching of wood signifies that it’s broken though.

“What the fuck, that’s a weird noise…what is this? HA HA HA! Hey! You gotta be shittin’ me! A fuckin’ lute? Check this out! He’s carrying a fuckin’ lute! What’s a fucking soldier doin’ with a lute?” the big demon shouts to his acquaintance while he holds up your broken instrument.
“Don’t talk you idiot! LOOK OUT!” his acquaintance shouts, just as you recover long enough to shove your sword straight into the demon’s groin. You push the sword upward in an attempt to do more damage and you succeed. Blood is flying everywhere and the demon howls in pain from the grievous wound. You pull your sword out and then proceed to repeatedly stab the demon until it falls backwards on the ground, dead.

You’re exhausted; you used all your remaining strength killing the thing. Unfortunately the other demon grabs you by the scruff like a helpless kitten and lifts you up off the ground a few inches. He knocks your sword out of your hand and looks at his fallen comrade.
“Hmm, can’t say I didn’t warn him. Oh well, more meat for me. This may hurt a lot…”

Fully expecting the death that you’ve managed to avoid for so long, you once again evade it when a gunshot rings out and part of the demon’s head splatters in your face. You’re dropped immediately. The demon’s body is still standing though.

“Shoot the bastard again!” you hear a gruff voice shout and this time the next shot hits chest and the demon falls.

You lay motionless on the ground, looking up in the sky when your saviors come up to you. It’s a group of dwarves armed with gun powder weapons.

“By the gods, get doc out here! We need to fix this man up! Hey lad, you’ll be alright, don’t worry…are you a Zalan soldier?” one of the dwarves asks you.
“…yeah…Nuro…lost…all dead…” is all you utter before fall into unconsciousness.

A few days pass before you’re somewhat back to a coherent state. You find yourself in a military outpost and at this point you don’t care. You’re just happy to be alive.

It would seem that during your escape from Nuro, you ran in the direction of the Tulan Kingdom, the dwarven scouts that found you were from a small neutral kingdom trying its best to stay out of the dispute between Tulan and Zalan, but the new threat of demons running all over the nearby countryside caused them to increase patrols. They fixed you up, but dropped you off at the closest Zalan Fort. The Zalan fort that you’re in right now is called Virtue and it’s on the Tulan border. It seems relatively calm though. Not at all what you thought it would be.

When one of the healers comes in to check on you, you begin to ask questions which she tries to answer to get you up to speed.

The Tulan Kingdom is currently under attack from the demons now. They’ve been assaulting the place and even gaining help from some of the evil populace there. The demon citizens there have reverted back to their “bad behavior” and thrown their lot in with the invaders as well. That doesn’t surprise you. The Tulan Kingdom pulled back some of their military from the borders so the fighting hasn’t been as bad and Zalan’s made a little more progress during this time, but the military minds are being cautious not to over extend. There is extreme concern over the recent demon invasion, not to mention the incident at Nuro. Word has already spread about the unsuccessful siege there.

The healer also tells you that a few Zalan “high ups” are eager to speak to you soon, as they want to know what exactly happened at Nuro. You’re somewhat of an important survivor since as far as anyone knows; you were the only one to successfully escape that killing zone. There’s also talk of a “Grand Alliance” being created to counter these new threats.

While the healer talks you end up drifting back to sleep wishing you could just escape it all.

One year passes…

You’re still at Fort Virtue and it doesn’t look like you’ll be leaving the army anytime soon.

You couldn’t have been more wrong on your belief that you’d get executed for cowardice. You got promoted to sergeant instead, which in light of the current situation, is nearly the same thing.

Your promotion came after several Zalan officers spoke to you about Nuro. You even got a medal.

Stories and rumors creep around about how against all odds you survived an undead onslaught and fought off a bunch of demons as well. Your past “reputation” from your time in Retlad is exaggerated as well. It doesn’t help that the citizens there remember you and are all willing to add to the exaggeration.

All of these stories have been woven together in such an elaborate way to make you seem like some kind of hero most likely for propaganda purposes. And you know you’re not hero. In fact you try to explain you aren’t a hero to people, but they think you’re just being modest, eventually you give up.

Your assignment at Virtue hasn’t been uneventful. There’s fighting, but now it’s mainly demon commanded enemies rather than Tulan ones. Some demon lord called Velzix killed the royalty there, completely conquered the area and made it his realm. The border war continues under new management except now it’s more than just a border that the enemy is looking to take. Your superior, Captain Eckard reminds you of Valhlat except with a different name. You suppose there is a certain “cookie cutter” that occurs within the Zalan army that causes people to act the same. You’ve briefly wondered if you ever make that rank, you’ll act the same way. You then usually laugh at the very fact that you ever would.

Fort Virtue hasn’t suffered a really bad attack yet, and it’s mostly skirmishes, but it’s like waiting for the other shoe to drop. You routinely go on patrols and give orders which you didn’t think you’d be good at, but you think back to how you used to order your brothers and sisters around and perhaps you always had a bit a leadership skill, you just didn’t want it.

You thought that you’d be able to at least visit your family, but of course due to recent events, you’re ordered to stay put. Your family at least is getting more money from your pay increase. They even send a new lute for you after you told them of the unfortunate event that resulted in the destruction of your last one. This gives you a little pleasure in a relatively joyless assignment.

All in all, you still prefer it compared to being in the unsuccessful assaults on Nuro. The Grand Alliance that was formed hasn’t been too successful as every one has been a slaughter from what you’ve heard. You already went through that once. You don’t relish the idea of going through it again.

One day while you’re spending your free time practicing a new song, some new soldiers come into the fort. They look like they’ve just seen a vicious battle and are here to restock. One of them sees you and gives you a disapproving look. It’s a woman with striking good looks, but definitely carrying an air of leadership about her. Her rank signifies her as a captain…yep same cookie cutter, just a little prettier.

“You there! What are you doing playing an instrument? Shouldn’t you be on watch or doing something more constructive with your time soldier? And you’re a sergeant? You should know better!”
“I’m not on watch duty right now and…”

The woman doesn’t even let you finish your explanation. Other soldiers that were sitting in your area are now slowly creeping out of the fray. Even her own soldiers are creeping away. They probably know all too well of how she acts.

“So? You think evil is going to wait around for you to be ready for battle? Where is your superior officer? I can’t believe they would allow such a relaxed attitude around here considering the importance of this fort! If you were serving under me, I’d have you flogged for your lack of discipline!”
> You letters to home (Thanks for the lute!)
Dear Mom

Thanks for the lute! I received it just a few days ago. It plays very well, its even better than the one I lost. It’s certainly made what little free time I have at least tolerable now.

I really wish I could get a chance to visit you guys though. I thought I would’ve been able to by now, but I suppose given the current situation, nobody’s getting any kind of leave for quite some time.

I’m sure you’ve also heard all about how I’m supposed to be some kind of hero after surviving the failed attack on Nuro, but I don’t see how. I mean I guess praise is better than being insulted, but at this point I feel like a fraud. Like I’m getting too much credit for something that was pure luck in the first place.

I dunno, I know you and the rest of the family are proud of me so that’s all that really matters. I’m just trying to keep all this in perspective. You and Dad always told me not to get a big head about things. At least they raised my pay so I can send you guys more money. That’s why I joined the first place after all.

This new rank gives me a few more responsibilities, but I can handle it. So far this assignment hasn’t been too bad. Demons aren’t a picnic to fight though and I’m dreading the day when they start attacking in a more organized manner.

Until then, I’ll just be enjoying your gift when I can.

Give my love to the rest of the family.

Your son


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 letters to home (There was this girl...)
Hey Mallack!

I paid the messenger a little extra to give this one to you personally, don’t show it to Mom or anyone else! I’m serious!

I finally did it!

I didn’t even expect it either. I was off duty and taking a break from destroying a Quillar lair, so as usual I went down to the tavern to go play for the locals a bit.

While it is true there have been several “offers” from some of tavern girls before due to my lute playing ability, I dunno I just never felt comfortable about going with one of them.

However, I didn’t get to the tavern; I bumped into some traveling merchant woman from the Brot Kingdom. I apologized and helped pick up her belongings and she noticed the lute I carried. She began to ask me about it since she said she really liked music and soon the pair of us were deep in conversation and going back to the Inn on the other side of town that she was currently staying at. I learned that her name was Helena.

We continued to talk in her room and I played for Helena a bit and before I knew it, we were on the bed naked!

I’m still not exactly sure how it started, but it sure felt good! I really liked her too, but I guess it was just a one time thing, because she left a couple days later. Though she did say if I was ever stationed in Brot, I should look her up again.

Anyway, I guess I felt like I just had to tell someone. I suppose I could’ve told the guys in my company, but I didn’t really want to be sweated down for more detailed information constantly.

Okay that’s it, and like I said, don’t show this to Mom or anyone else! In fact you should probably just destroy it.

Your brother