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.