Chapter 3: One Foot In The Grave

One year has passed…

It’s hard to believe it, but it’s been a year since you took control of Nuro…or rather Aftermath as you renamed it.

The “Nuro Incident” as it came to be known was a shock to the civilized world. Nobody had anticipated such a thing occurring despite all preparations. Certainly not to Nuro given it’s near “invincible” reputation.

The Grand Alliance was immediately formed to retake the city, but fortunately for you, you weren’t the only problem they had.

Velzix, a demon lord who soon left Nuro during its attack, managed to unite the rest of the demons that felt the need to break their contract with the Dark Order turned their attention to the Tulan Kingdom. Right now he’s established his own rule, enslaving the population and is most likely planning further conquest assuming he can keep his own troops from fighting each other long enough.

Trelik the “other necromancer” has been rampaging across the countryside in a vain attempt to establish some sort of dominion of his own, but so far without any real allies he’s yet to be successful. His actions have still kept the Grand Alliance and other governments busy however.

As for you, you’ve already managed to hold off one Grand Alliance attack quite successfully due to your preparations. The first thing you did was command all the surviving Dark Order members to become necromancers. Some of them the more die hard demonologists hated this idea, so you gave them the option of taking their chances with Velzix or alone against the Grand Alliance.

After being presented with these two undesirable prospects, they grumbled, but the rest soon fell in line. Catalina was mainly responsible for training them, given that she’s the only other “true” necromancer in the city. You’re glad of that as it saved you from having to do everything.

Your relationship with Catalina’s has improved mainly because you’ve proven yourself to be a competent leader that has managed to hold on to the city despite the odds. She still acts like she’s not interested in you, but you catch an extended glance from her every now and then. Oh yeah she’s definitely warming up to you.

You haven’t heard anything from your family, you can only wonder what they think of all this and in some ways you don’t want to know.

While things are somewhat quiet now, that’s not going to last. The Grand Alliance will keep attacking and who knows how long they’ll be distracted with Velzix and Trelik? They may very well overwhelm you in time, if the other threats are taken care of. You can’t just sit in your throne room and prepare for the next attack; you’ll need to be proactive about this threat.

This of course this means conquest. Your standing army is stronger than ever right now and your powers in necromancy have grown considerably with the last year. You’re confident that you could probably take over a small kingdom. Gaining more territory that your enemy can’t use is usually a good way of making things harder for them.
> You well maybe you better check up on all the players first (Background info)
The dark path isn’t an easy one and you’ve made (or rather inherited) lots of enemies besides the obvious ones due to what is now known as the “Nuro Incident”.

While you have many enemies, you realize you don’t have too many allies. Just you, your city and a sexy female necromancer.

Things could be worse!
> You catalina and Aftermath
You remember Catalina in your Enchantment class, but you were so busy trying to pass it, that you barely paid any attention to her. Good thing you didn’t, otherwise you would’ve failed it. (Not that it really matters now!)

You’ve gotten to know her better since then of course. She’s a few years younger than you and grew up in the poor district of Nuro. Unlike you who had at least one loving parent, Catalina was an orphan. She did grow close to the kindly woman who ran the orphanage and took an interest in the woman’s minor magical abilities to entertain the children. This interest along with her natural ability, lead to Catalina’s path to become a magic practitioner.

However when this kindly lady was killed by thugs in the night, all the orphans were cast out on to the streets. Most of them turned to criminal lifestyles for survival. Catalina on the other hand was interested in a little more than just mere survival. She still had a thirst for magic knowledge, she left the slums far behind and began to she lurk around Nuro’s magic college, stealing books and trying to learn the secrets within. Even finding quiet places to practice minor spells. She was very isolated during these years and rarely interacted with others.

Eventually she stole a book from Mr. Demar. A book on necromancy. The magic contained within was nothing like she ever saw before. The philosophy of it was different as well. It fascinated her, and she couldn’t wait to practice it.

Fortunately she was caught red handed by Mr. Demar before she could. Mr. Demar sensed that she had much potential, but lacked discipline, so he decided to take her as one his pupils for his Dark Order. He even paid for her enrollment of other classes to give her a sense of stability and routine. She would stay in the underground base of the Dark Order so she could learn to better work in a group.

While all of this did make her a more organized person, she still never really connected with her peers. They were all a little older for one thing. She couldn’t identify with the demonologists and saw little in common with her fellow necromancers. Trelik’s arrogance and unwanted advances were a huge turn off. Sebastian and Irwin were okay, but seemed a little boring in the scheme of things. And while she appreciated Mr. Demar’s “generosity” and respected his abilities, she still never completely trusted him.

She’s still pretty guarded around you, though she does respect your abilities. (Much like how she felt about Mr. Demar actually) She’s a competent and moderately powerful necromancer. She tends to prefer to control small groups of elite undead troops rather than hordes of weak ones. She’s a little more versatile than you, as she has skill in other forms of magic. (Some of which she’s helped you at least be mediocre in)

As she’s the only one that’s at least approaching your level of power and a true necromancer as well, you feel closer to her and trust her to be your second in command and when something important needs to be done and if you can’t do it, you’ll assign it to her.

The former city of Nuro, now called Aftermath looks vastly different now of course, but you think it’s for the better.

Most of the “population” is dead and they go about their undead lives performing the same jobs they were typically doing before except now they never stop unless you command them to do something else.

A few of the dead do have higher brain functions, letting them able to make simple decisions. These you typically put in charge of guard duty or similar minor roles.

Your small group of necromancers takes care of any true “free will” undead problems by either corralling them, or bringing it to your attention to take care of it.

Other than the necromancers, there are no other living creatures in the city, at least not sentient ones. You won’t take the risk, at least not while Aftermath is your only holding.


The dark path isn’t an easy one and you’ve made (or rather inherited) lots of enemies besides the obvious ones due to what is now known as the “Nuro Incident”.

While you have many enemies, you realize you don’t have too many allies. Just you, your city and a sexy female necromancer.

Things could be worse!
> You trelik and Velzix
You probably know Trelik the best out of all your enemies mainly because you were in the same class and he was jealous of your natural talent the whole time.

There isn’t too much to say about him other than he’s sadly all too typical of most necromancers: obsessed with power, arrogant, and suffers from delusions of grandeur. Catalina’s never liked him ever since he unsuccessfully hit on her before you had even joined the Dark Order. She liked him even less when he betrayed Mr. Demar.

Right now he’s rumored to have finally taken control of a little town in the Brot Kingdom. He’s been holding out so far due to the weak military the Kingdom has, but it’s unlikely he’d survive against the Grand Alliance.

So while he’s barely scraping together an army of dead peasants and dressed in smelly rags, you’re easily controlling a necropolis of dead soldiers and get to even share the company of a beautiful woman.

Nope he’s got no reason to hate you at all…

The former Tulan Kingdom has been turned into a hellish realm firmly under the grip of Demon Lord Velzix and his merry band of little demons.

From reports you’ve heard, the Kingdom was much like Nuro when it was attacked, completely unprepared. Velzix knew exactly what locations to attack first and took great glee in ripping the royal family to pieces personally.

Most of the Tulan population that wasn’t killed (or able to escape) submitted to Velzix almost immediately. A few of the Dark Order that had fled Nuro during the attack have also found a home there, however Velzix has made it quite clear of who is the master and who is the servant and has done twisted things to them to make them never forget. (Hence why most of the demonologists that were still in Nuro, ultimately decided to follow you instead!)

His army contains mortals (who were usually evil to begin with) and demons. So far he’s left you alone, but obviously that doesn’t mean you’re friends.

The Grand Alliance considers him to be at least as great a threat or possibly greater threat than you. The only thing that truly holds him back is the chaotic nature of his infernal buddies who seem to like fighting each other as well as their enemies. As it stands now, he’s only just holding on to his realm and fending off Grand Alliance attacks. He’s been unable to mount a real assault against any surrounding areas, though raids are typical.

If he ever got organized he’d definitely be public enemy number one and that’s something nobody wants.


The dark path isn’t an easy one and you’ve made (or rather inherited) lots of enemies besides the obvious ones due to what is now known as the “Nuro Incident”.

While you have many enemies, you realize you don’t have too many allies. Just you, your city and a sexy female necromancer.

Things could be worse!
> The Vampire Clans and The Grand Alliance
Most of your knowledge of them comes from Catalina who being in the Dark Order longer had more information about them.

The Vampire Clans from what you know live in a fortress run by Lord Rostov. This fortress’ location is unknown and hidden by powerful magic. It is there where those few remaining vampires that have kept their faculties stay. (As opposed to the near mindless ones that lurk in holes in the wilderness)

While groups of vampires may have been involved in their own political intrigues and agendas in the past, the term Vampire Clans now is somewhat of a misnomer since Lord Rostov has a firm command over the remaining vampires. It’s basically a dictatorship more than a “council” where they all sit around discussing things. The term Clans is probably kept to just hold on to the illusion of former glory of freedom rather than the reality that they’re all hiding in a secret fortress ruled by a tyrant.

Despite their reduced power, they still can affect mortal affairs. Currently they are no doubt affecting these affairs to hinder you. The death of their delegate pissed them off pretty severely, not to mention they don’t agree with the “high profile” necromancy in the first place. You received a letter by bat from them recently saying that your actions will not go unopposed by the Clans and that your days on this world are numbered.

The self-professed “good guys” are made up of several civilized governments. The Zalan Empire (Your former home and where your family lives) is one of the main members of the Grand Alliance. Several races belong, each one bringing their unique skills to the mix. It’s quite possible to see the clockwork automatons of the Dwarven Union fighting side by side with the silent monks of Elin.

This arrangement only arises during times of great crisis such as the one you caused. Given that most living creatures have basic need to not want to die or become a walking rotting corpse (Or a slave to demons) the chances of you convincing them to leave you alone is extremely unlikely.


Victory isn’t beyond your grasp, you just need to regroup and organize. You immediately seek out Irwin, Sebastian and Catalina.

You find Sebastian and Catalina, and they’re running low on viable corpses.

“Hey, glad you could get here, the Nuro mage guards are putting up a hell of a fight! The demonologists can’t keep the demons in line and whatever former graduates Mr. Demar had to help us are probably all dead by now!” Sebastian explains.
“Yeah, it’s bad all over. Where’s Irwin?” you ask.
“Irwin? He’s dead; can’t you see his body lying over there with all the arrows in it?” Catalina points out.
“Well, no point in letting this go to waste, we need all the help we can get.” You say and command Irwin to rise to join the rest of the horde

You tell Catalina and Sebastian to hand control over the rest of their troops to you, as if you can concentrate them with a single mind, you’ll be able to break the doors down of city hall and take out the remainder of the mage guards holding out there. You also tell them that one should head back to the college itself and go check on Quayle, and the other should go help out Mr. Demar.

Oddly enough Sebastian and Catalina obey your orders immediately. You begin to feel even more confident in your power of command. You proceed to tell your now larger undead horde to attack the last bastion of Nuro’s governmental control. You unleash blasts of dark energy at the mage guards who attempt to defend from the windows while your zombies and skeletons break down the doors and begin to massacre all those inside.

You enter the building nearly oblivious to the carnage. You feel a very real sense of calming peace amongst the death. Eventually you encounter the “First Citizen” of Nuro busily trying to slay as many of your soldiers as possible, but as you continue to raise them, even he realizes it’s a futile endeavor.

A skeleton warrior hacks his arm off with an axe, and then a recently raised mage guard clubs him in the head with a small mace. He falls to the floor of his own office before your feet and looks up at you.

“Why? You…you’ll never get away with this…” he sputters as he bleeds out.
“You might be right, but it’ll be interesting to see if I do.” You calmly say and kick him in the face before another skeleton lands a killing blow to him. He is then raised to join the ranks.

You exit the building and notice that the city is near empty. At least as far as the living go. The dead however are plentiful, bodies litter the streets. More resources for you, you think.

A demonologist looking very worn from battle sees you and you have to stop your small horde from attacking.

“Hey hold on! I’m on your side! Shit, this didn’t turn out as planned, did it?”
“Oh I dunno, we got the city.”
“Yeah, but Mr. Demar is still battling the rest of the staff in the college and I’m really worried about what the hell’s going on with Quayle’s spell, I don’t know if you’ve experienced it yet, but I’ve been seeing buildings phase in and out of existence. I knew fucking around with time would be trouble!”
“Where are all of the demons?” you ask.
“Most of them left! I mean there’s a few that stuck around, most of the weaker variety. There was a major demon called Velzix who was supposed to be helping, but he took off as well. Bah! Unreliable lot they are. I should’ve done what you did, become a necromancer! The dead always obey.”
“Not always…but you may still fulfill your wish after all this is over, so where exactly are Mr. Demar and Quayle, I mean I know they’re in the university, but where exactly?”
“You can’t miss either one of them, Quayle’s located in east section of campus, where you see all the damn buildings phasing in and out. As for Mr. Demar, well I’m sure you can still hear the explosions. I’m going to try to corral at least some of the imps and help Mr. Demar, I’m not going anywhere near the eastside of the campus though. I’m off!”

The demonologist runs to go do what he said, leaving you with a couple choices of proceeding. You could go try to fix this problem with Quayle since it won’t do anyone any good if the city collapses on itself or disappears to gods know where, of course you don’t know exactly what you’re going to do, hell you’ve never even spoken to Quayle before. He was always kept locked up by himself in his room studying most of the time.

Of course you could go help Mr. Demar, chances are he could solve the problem with Quayle a lot better if he survives.
> You go help Mr. Demar
You might be a competent necromancer, but you’re leery about messing around with time. You better help Mr. Demar so he can better deal with the possible Quayle situation.

You head towards campus where various explosions are taking place, it doesn’t take long before you encounter Sebastian lying on the ground. You guess he attempted to help Mr. Demar and got killed for his troubles.

“Damn, sorry about that.” You say and then raise him to join your horde and hope Catalina is doing a better job with Quayle.

You enter the administration building. Smoke, fire and body parts look all around. In the distance you hear shouting followed by magic blasts.

“TRELIK YOU TREACHEROUS BASTARD!”
“Ha ha! You’re weak old man and I’m taking over this shit!”

You order your undead horde to run ahead of you as you approach the sounds of battle. You turn the corner just in time for Trelik run into you, he’s definitely caught off guard.

“YOU! You little sycophant come to help teacher eh, well it won’t…”

You don’t listen to his melodramatic speeches, you tell your horde to kill him and they do so easily given that he’s heavily outnumbered and can’t cast a spell quick enough. Mr. Demar arrives just in time to see the aftermath.

“Damn, I was hoping to kill him myself. No matter, what’s done is done now. Our enemies here are defeated. Most of the high ranking professors have been killed, I’m just looking for that cowering Dean. Have you secured the city?”
“Yeah, I personally stormed city hall and slew the first citizen and all of his mage guards.”
“Ha ha! I knew you had potential!” Mr. Demar laughs and pats you on the shoulder.
“Mr. Demar I think you should know something. Quayle’s spell is becoming erratic, someone said buildings are starting to phase in and out of existence. I think Jasmine’s over there, but I don’t think she’ll be able to handle what’s going on.”
“Dammit, I’d hoped that Quayle was stable enough to…aaargh! Nevermind, I’ll have to take care of this, because if his actions go completely wrong we’re all dead. Since you seem to be good at killing high officials, you take care of the dean.”

Mr. Demar takes his leave towards the eastside of campus, leaving you to take out the dean. You’re a little unsure of yourself, the dean of the university didn’t get that way by being a push over. Though Mr. Demar did say he was cowering somewhere so maybe he’s not that tough. You tell your undead troops to spread out and search the building. Along the way you see Felsa’s body. Oh well, another follower for you…

You begin to grow tired of searching mundane office after mundane office so it’s a treat when you once again hear the sounds of battle and see the dean at the end of a corridor fighting off your horde.

“Back, foul things!” The dean shouts casting a ray of pure light in the faces of many of your troops.

He hasn’t seen you yet so you take advantage and cast your own blast of negative energy into his side. He falls in pain, but returns fire which you barely dodge. He crawls out of your line of sight and behind a corner.

“So Demar sends one of his students to take care of me, too cowardly to do it himself eh? It’ll take more than a few skeletons and a neophyte necromancer to bring me down! Come and get me if you dare!”

You have to kill him while he’s still weak, if you let him regain energy he could possibly escape, or worse, kill you.
> You raise more dead and march them down the corridor
You decide the best way is to take the straight forward approach and just overwhelm the dean. You raise more nearby bodies and add them to your tireless horde. As they march down the corridor, you stand near the end of the corridor figuring, if the dean comes out to cast a fireball he won’t get you. However you severely underestimated the dean.

He does indeed come out from behind the corner again and he casts a very powerful version of chain lightning, it zaps through your troops, not really doing anything except halting them briefly and rattling their dead bones, however when the lightning reaches YOU, you feel the effects a lot more severely as every organ in your body is fried and your skin is charred black.

You fall to the floor dead and your horde soon follows.


You might be a competent necromancer, but you’re leery about messing around with time. You better help Mr. Demar so he can better deal with the possible Quayle situation.

You head towards campus where various explosions are taking place, it doesn’t take long before you encounter Sebastian lying on the ground. You guess he attempted to help Mr. Demar and got killed for his troubles.

“Damn, sorry about that.” You say and then raise him to join your horde and hope Catalina is doing a better job with Quayle.

You enter the administration building. Smoke, fire and body parts look all around. In the distance you hear shouting followed by magic blasts.

“TRELIK YOU TREACHEROUS BASTARD!”
“Ha ha! You’re weak old man and I’m taking over this shit!”

You order your undead horde to run ahead of you as you approach the sounds of battle. You turn the corner just in time for Trelik run into you, he’s definitely caught off guard.

“YOU! You little sycophant come to help teacher eh, well it won’t…”

You don’t listen to his melodramatic speeches, you tell your horde to kill him and they do so easily given that he’s heavily outnumbered and can’t cast a spell quick enough. Mr. Demar arrives just in time to see the aftermath.

“Damn, I was hoping to kill him myself. No matter, what’s done is done now. Our enemies here are defeated. Most of the high ranking professors have been killed, I’m just looking for that cowering Dean. Have you secured the city?”
“Yeah, I personally stormed city hall and slew the first citizen and all of his mage guards.”
“Ha ha! I knew you had potential!” Mr. Demar laughs and pats you on the shoulder.
“Mr. Demar I think you should know something. Quayle’s spell is becoming erratic, someone said buildings are starting to phase in and out of existence. I think Jasmine’s over there, but I don’t think she’ll be able to handle what’s going on.”
“Dammit, I’d hoped that Quayle was stable enough to…aaargh! Nevermind, I’ll have to take care of this, because if his actions go completely wrong we’re all dead. Since you seem to be good at killing high officials, you take care of the dean.”

Mr. Demar takes his leave towards the eastside of campus, leaving you to take out the dean. You’re a little unsure of yourself, the dean of the university didn’t get that way by being a push over. Though Mr. Demar did say he was cowering somewhere so maybe he’s not that tough. You tell your undead troops to spread out and search the building. Along the way you see Felsa’s body. Oh well, another follower for you…

You begin to grow tired of searching mundane office after mundane office so it’s a treat when you once again hear the sounds of battle and see the dean at the end of a corridor fighting off your horde.

“Back, foul things!” The dean shouts casting a ray of pure light in the faces of many of your troops.

He hasn’t seen you yet so you take advantage and cast your own blast of negative energy into his side. He falls in pain, but returns fire which you barely dodge. He crawls out of your line of sight and behind a corner.

“So Demar sends one of his students to take care of me, too cowardly to do it himself eh? It’ll take more than a few skeletons and a neophyte necromancer to bring me down! Come and get me if you dare!”

You have to kill him while he’s still weak, if you let him regain energy he could possibly escape, or worse, kill you.
> You attempt to summon spirits
You always meant to try this, but never got around to it. No time like the present…

You concentrate and attempt to summon the spirits of the nearby dead to help you kill the dean. At first nothing seems to happen and you hear the dean killing more of your skeletons and walking corpses, but soon an eerie howl is heard.

Several tormented ghostly beings rise up and you give them the simple order to kill. It takes a bit more concentration to control them, but you manage. The dean is surprised by the ghosts and fumbles with an appropriate spell, but isn’t quick enough before they touch him and his life force begins to drain. Eventually he becomes a desicated husk and drops to the floor.

“Damn that was cool.” You giggle.

Feeling totally pleased with your victory, you then remember Mr. Demar and Quayle’s spell. You’d blocked it out of your mind during the battle, but you’re hoping that’s been resolved.

You head towards the eastside of campus, and you see no disturbance, at least no buildings disappearing and reappearing. You do see Catalina standing by though; she sees you and waves you over.

“Wow, you’re back, I guess that means you killed the dean huh?” Catalina questions.
“You sound surprised.”
“Hmm, I guess maybe I’m a little impressed.”
“What’s going on?”
“I dunno, I’m not sure myself, it was really weird. When I first got here I couldn’t get to Quayle due to all the temporal disturbances, I was about to leave when Mr. Demar arrived, he told me to stand back and he would take care of this. He managed to walk straight into that gray building over there where I assume Quayle was. I saw Mr. Demar become a child, a rotting corpse and then revert back to his normal age before he got there. I then heard terrible noises within. I even saw some strange tentacled creatures come out of the building. I thought I was going to have to fight them, but then the entire mess just seemed to stop and there wasn’t a disturbance anymore. I guess Mr. Demar won…but I haven’t checked on him, I’m still hesitant about going near there.”
“Well I guess I’ll go in then.”

You enter the gray building cautiously, you see a bunch of little centipedes crawling all over the place, some really slimy yellow ichor and just a general feeling of sickness. You’ve seen a lot in the Dark Order, but whatever happened here was really fucked up.

You attention is turned to Mr. Demar who is on the floor…or rather IN the floor. Half of his body is embedded in the stone floor, you don’t see how you can help him.

“Shit! What the hell?” you exclaim.
“Ugh…long story…look there isn’t much time. (Cough) This take over has been a failure.”
“No it hasn’t, we got the whole city, I killed the dean, and you stopped this temporal disturbance…”
“I haven’t stopped it, at least not permanently. The damage done was far too severe by the time I got here. Quayle’s actions have ripped open a hole to a place you don’t even want to know about. (Cough) I’ve temporarily patched it up, but who knows how long it will last. You better get out of here while you still can…I won’t lie though, life for you is going to be rough. You’ll be hunted when they find out what happened here and they WILL find out about you. They always do. Still, you may survive. You are powerful, maybe you’ll be able to succeed where I failed…but I doubt it. Ugh…the odds…just too great…you want my last advice? Take that Catalina girl and have fun while you can.”

And with that last bit of advice Mr. Demar dies.

Well this was a big downer. Here you thought you were ready to take on the world and then you find out all your actions have been for naught! Still, what does Mr. Demar know? He’s dead! Perhaps you can find a way to fix the hole permanently or at least keep it patched. It seems folly to just abandon this city after having risked so much to gain it.

Then again perhaps it would be better to follow Mr. Demar’s advice. If you leave now, it might take awhile before your identities are discovered. Life on the run isn’t going to be easy, but perhaps it won’t be forever.
> You take over the city
You exit the gray building and approach Catalina, she looks at you expectantly.

“So what’re we going to do?”
“We’re taking over this city. From now on, it’s you and me.” You reply.

Catalina is taken aback by your orders, given all of what has happened she senses that staying in the city wouldn’t be the best plan. But she has no other allies. She has no idea of where to run. She will stick with you, if only because together you’ll be a more formidable force when trouble surely arises.

You and Catalina prepare yourselves for the trouble ahead…

A month passes
The Incident of Nuro has finally become well known knowledge. You and Catalina have managed to shore up the defenses of Nuro pretty well, all things considered. Some of the demonologists help out, but only because they have nowhere else to go and this is the safest place for them. You begin to instruct them to learn the ways of necromancy. You also manage to turn back a Grand Alliance army which didn’t expect such a large resistance. The demons that left the city ran amok all over the countryside and took a particular interest in the Kingdom of Tulan under the guidance of Velzix, an arch fiend. Which is fortunate since it draws a little attention away from you.

No signs of that “temporal hole” opening up again, but you tell some of your new acolytes to keep an eye on it. In the mean time nothing of importance is to be placed in that area.

A year passes
The Kingdom of Tulan has finally put the sword to every last demon infesting the area, which doesn’t bode well for you since now you’re the only “big evil” around now.

The Grand Alliance attempts another siege of the city and once again they fail. You aren’t confident you can hold out forever like this though, you attempt to claim that you have no plans for conquest, but your claims (true or not) go unheeded. They aren’t taking any chances that you might build up.

You and Catalina have at this point basically become “King and Queen” of the city. It’s a logical pairing. Sometimes though it’s more than just one of convenience.

Your acolytes warn you about seeing strange things. Object temporarily disappearing. You begin to worry and unlock those old tomes that Quayle was reading hoping you can learn something.

Another years passes
You suffer two more attacks by the Grand Alliance. The last one lead by your own sister. You attempted to parley with her before battle, but she would have none of it. Indeed you
received a letter from your Mom a month before the attack begging you to give yourself up. Of course you couldn’t do that. You wrote her back with regret and told her that you shall probably not speak again.

Your sister got farther than most, but in the end she died by your own hand. You didn’t raise her. She was not deserving of such a fate. You burned her body instead and wished her well in the afterlife.

How you wished that your Dad’s mercenary company had been sent, but for whatever reason you have not heard anything from him. The coward. He knows you are more powerful and could easily crush him.

The temporal disturbances are getting worse, and you’re not learning anything new from Quayle’s books, it’s all just so damn confusing. You feel like you did when you were in school. Completely inept and helpless.

Catalina tries to be understanding, but your behavior from reading the damn books is making you very erratic. She has to pick up the slack when you begin to make mistakes.

Another year passes

The temporal hole rips open once again. Horrible creatures come lurching out. You manage to fight them off, but the hole is getting bigger. Catalina insists that you both have to leave the city, but you’re too far gone at this point, the books on temporal magic have begun to make you as mad as they did Quayle. (If without the talent) This is your city and you’re bound and determined to hold it no matter what.

She cannot endure anymore; she takes her leave of you one night…only to be killed by vampire assassins somewhere in the countryside.

The Grand Alliance is preparing to attack again, more tentacle creatures are seeping into this reality. You don’t care; you’ll take them all on.

You laugh insanely on your throne as the screams and unnatural howls fill the city. Battle and death is everywhere. You hear something coming up the stairs, and it’s probably not Grand Alliance soldiers…

“What was the point of it all? Nothing!” you laugh before being utterly destroyed.


You always meant to try this, but never got around to it. No time like the present…

You concentrate and attempt to summon the spirits of the nearby dead to help you kill the dean. At first nothing seems to happen and you hear the dean killing more of your skeletons and walking corpses, but soon an eerie howl is heard.

Several tormented ghostly beings rise up and you give them the simple order to kill. It takes a bit more concentration to control them, but you manage. The dean is surprised by the ghosts and fumbles with an appropriate spell, but isn’t quick enough before they touch him and his life force begins to drain. Eventually he becomes a desicated husk and drops to the floor.

“Damn that was cool.” You giggle.

Feeling totally pleased with your victory, you then remember Mr. Demar and Quayle’s spell. You’d blocked it out of your mind during the battle, but you’re hoping that’s been resolved.

You head towards the eastside of campus, and you see no disturbance, at least no buildings disappearing and reappearing. You do see Catalina standing by though; she sees you and waves you over.

“Wow, you’re back, I guess that means you killed the dean huh?” Catalina questions.
“You sound surprised.”
“Hmm, I guess maybe I’m a little impressed.”
“What’s going on?”
“I dunno, I’m not sure myself, it was really weird. When I first got here I couldn’t get to Quayle due to all the temporal disturbances, I was about to leave when Mr. Demar arrived, he told me to stand back and he would take care of this. He managed to walk straight into that gray building over there where I assume Quayle was. I saw Mr. Demar become a child, a rotting corpse and then revert back to his normal age before he got there. I then heard terrible noises within. I even saw some strange tentacled creatures come out of the building. I thought I was going to have to fight them, but then the entire mess just seemed to stop and there wasn’t a disturbance anymore. I guess Mr. Demar won…but I haven’t checked on him, I’m still hesitant about going near there.”
“Well I guess I’ll go in then.”

You enter the gray building cautiously, you see a bunch of little centipedes crawling all over the place, some really slimy yellow ichor and just a general feeling of sickness. You’ve seen a lot in the Dark Order, but whatever happened here was really fucked up.

You attention is turned to Mr. Demar who is on the floor…or rather IN the floor. Half of his body is embedded in the stone floor, you don’t see how you can help him.

“Shit! What the hell?” you exclaim.
“Ugh…long story…look there isn’t much time. (Cough) This take over has been a failure.”
“No it hasn’t, we got the whole city, I killed the dean, and you stopped this temporal disturbance…”
“I haven’t stopped it, at least not permanently. The damage done was far too severe by the time I got here. Quayle’s actions have ripped open a hole to a place you don’t even want to know about. (Cough) I’ve temporarily patched it up, but who knows how long it will last. You better get out of here while you still can…I won’t lie though, life for you is going to be rough. You’ll be hunted when they find out what happened here and they WILL find out about you. They always do. Still, you may survive. You are powerful, maybe you’ll be able to succeed where I failed…but I doubt it. Ugh…the odds…just too great…you want my last advice? Take that Catalina girl and have fun while you can.”

And with that last bit of advice Mr. Demar dies.

Well this was a big downer. Here you thought you were ready to take on the world and then you find out all your actions have been for naught! Still, what does Mr. Demar know? He’s dead! Perhaps you can find a way to fix the hole permanently or at least keep it patched. It seems folly to just abandon this city after having risked so much to gain it.

Then again perhaps it would be better to follow Mr. Demar’s advice. If you leave now, it might take awhile before your identities are discovered. Life on the run isn’t going to be easy, but perhaps it won’t be forever.
> You leave the city
You exit the gray building and approach Catalina, she looks at you expectantly.

“So what’re we going to do?”
“We’re getting out of here, and we’re not looking back. From now on, it’s you and me.” You reply.

Catalina is taken aback by your orders, but given all of what has happened she senses that staying in the city wouldn’t be the best plan. She too has no other allies. She will stick with you, if only because together you’ll be a more formidable force when trouble surely arises.

You and Catalina leave the decimated city of Nuro behind you…

A month passes
The Incident of Nuro has finally become well known knowledge. A few demonologists attempted to run the hollow shell of the city, but severely lacked any sort of manpower, natural or unnatural to hold it. They were easily defeated when the Grand Alliance army came to retake the city. The demons that left the city ran amok all over the countryside and took a particular interest in the Kingdom of Tulan under the guidance of Velzix, an arch fiend.

You and Catalina still remain unknown as far as being involved, but other members of the Dark Order that escaped are starting to be hunted down…

A year passes
The Kingdom of Tulan has finally put the sword to every last demon infesting the area. Most of the demonologist have been caught and hung for their crimes as well. Your name has also come up on the wanted list along with Catalina’s.

You both now keep to the rural locations; many times you have to fend off attacks from barbaric orc tribes. Fortunately your skills in necromancy protect you (as well as scare the hell out of the orcs)

Despite the hardship (Or perhaps because of it) you and Catalina form a sort of relationship beyond one of just mutual protection. There are times when you forget that you’re being hunted constantly.

Two years pass
Just like Mr. Demar predicted a temporal disturbance in the city of Nuro reappears again. Horrible creatures come lurching out creating a “Second Incident” before the time hole is repaired for good. However the city is evacuated due to mass insanity caused there and is considered a danger zone under observation by the Grand Alliance.

Catalina is killed by vampire assassins during the night, you take vengeance, but it’s too late for her. You weep for the first time in a long time. You briefly flirt with the idea of raising her…but you burn her body instead and carry on your path alone.

And all you can think about is how tired you are…

Two more years pass
You hear them coming for you, there is no more running. This is your fate. To die in this cave. You don’t even want to fight it anymore. You regret the day you set out on this path.

Such is often the fate of a necromancer.


“Sure I’ll go.”
“Very well, you and Felsa are coming with me. Trelik, you go brush up on the attack strategy.”
“But!”
“No buts! Just do it!”

Trelik storms off while you, Mr. Demar and Felsa head towards the conference room. When you arrive, you see a single pale emaciated figure. He doesn’t look at all like the vampires you’ve heard of in past. There is no regality here.

“It’s about time you showed up. I must confess I was not enthused about you leaving me here waiting like a dog. We have very important matters to discuss!” he hisses.
“My apologies Yolev. I just needed to take care of a few things. Please sit, and let us all discuss this.”
“There really is no discussion Mr. Demar! You are to cease your plan immediately lest you face the full brunt of the vampire clans! Your foolish mortal desires will kill us all and we cannot allow that to happen! We must continue to survive!”
“Survive? Is that all you vampires worry about anymore? Why at one time you were secret rulers and puppet masters. Hell, without you the Great Lich Lord wouldn’t have made nearly as much progress as he did.”
“And THAT folly of those ignorant vampires is exactly why we must stop you now. The Dead War cost us greatly, we should not have thrown our lot in with a mad man who was determined to bring death to the world. It was only at the last minute that the wiser of us realized to do so would be detrimental to us. Almost too late. We are only a shadow of our former selves, but that shadow is still long…and we can make life difficult for you.” Yolev warns.
“I don’t respond well to idle threats, but I will say this, your fears are unfounded. The Dark Order is not seeking to bring death to the world, we are merely going to reestablish the proper order of things. The strong were meant to rule, and WE are the strong. Those who master the dark arts have always been strong. It is why we are so feared and hated and hunted. You should not be against us Yolev. You should see this as an opportunity to reestablish your rightful place as vampires.”

Mr. Demar’s words have a slight effect on Yolev. He falls silent and looks almost wistful of ancient times, when his kind roamed more free in civilization, rather than hiding and cowering on the outskirts like animals. He quickly snaps out of it though.

“Idealistic words, Mr. Demar, but even if we were still to use what little influence we still have, I cannot believe that you and a few students can change the world. Even if you manage to take this one city, you can’t believe that you’ll get away with it. You there! You’re one of these students are you not? What do you think? And tell me what you TRULY think, not what Mr. Demar wants you to think.” Yolev points to you.

“Well uh…I think we can do it.” You stutter off guard.
“…You think you can do it? Is that all you have to say about it? This is what you’re working with Mr. Demar? How could we ever place any faith in your plan when you’re training near idiots that can barely form sentences?”
“Yolev, you might be a delegate, but you best watch your tone, you’re not in the best position right now, and given your previous threats you’re already treading on dangerous ground.”
“You dare to threaten ME? I’ve crushed greater men AND women than you!”
“Yeah, and now you’re a running lap dog for some so called vampire king who rules over nothing but a few remaining scraps of a dying legacy.”

As this begins to get hostile, you notice Felsa preparing to cast something.

You think that if you say anything, things are only going to get worse, so you stand back and do nothing, but hostilities don’t cease and eventually Felsa casts a blast of fire at Yolev, he falls to the floor trying to beat out the flames, but Demar isn’t pleased.

“FELSA! WHY DID YOU DO THAT!?” he shouts and then finishes off Yolev by casting some sort of spell that causes his chest to explode. Two Imps suddenly appear and begin to rip Yolev apart before he can get a chance to recover.

“The pair of you really fucked up today! You with your actions and you with your bumbling! I might as well had Trelik with me! Shit! (Sigh) Alright. Fine we can still do this, but the vampires are going to be pissed off at us now for killing their delegate and it’s definitely going to make things harder. Come on we got a lot to prepare for.”

The last month is no picnic. Mr. Demar has you all training a lot harder than you have before. He’s been pushing everyone a lot harder to the point that they’re getting tired and sloppy. One of the demonologists gets eaten by a brimstone beast. Another accidentally casts a spell backwards and causes himself to be sucked into the infernal realm. Morale isn’t exactly the highest.

But the plan goes through and after the first week classes go back in session, the gates of hell are literally opened. Portals appear all over various parts of not only the campus, but also the city. Demons come swarming out of the portals gleefully killing all in their path. The demonologist lead the attack, while you and the other three necromancers take advantage of all the new corpses in the area. Soon, you have a fair sized army of dead. Mr. Demar himself is taking on the head professors at the college, with the help of Felsa and Trelik. Given the amount of explosions you’re seeing from the streets, you’re glad you got a “lower” assignment.

All seems to be going well until it looks like the demons have decided to leave the city limits, one of the demonologists tries to corral them back shouting that they are supposed to only concentrate on Nuro, but they laugh and simply say: “You didn’t mention that in the deal!”

With the demons completely unreliable now, it’s up to you necromancers to take up the slack. You do alright, but there’s still a lot of resistance and something has gone wrong with Quayle’s spell as your attackers are beginning to move at a normal rate instead of a slower one.

You don’t see this ending well, unless something changes quick. Even if you win, you know you got a shit load of problems ahead of you.
> You run away
Sensing impending doom, you decide your best course of action is to escape. You immediately take your undead horde and fight your way out of the city. You then attempt to put as much distance as you can between you and Nuro. You curse the day you decided to fuck around with the dark arts. Where are you going to go now? You have no idea, but you can’t be seen walking around the countryside with a bunch of rotting corpses in tow.

Quickly you dismiss your small army, which instantly collapses back to death and you run to the nearest settlement.

You get to the town of Selawag, which is part of the Brot Kingdom. You enter an inn there with no problems. It would appear that the news of what’s happened hasn’t traveled here yet, but you know it won’t be long. And then how long will it be before someone finds out that you were involved? You suppose it’s possible that you could escape without suspicion, but it’s unlikely. The hunters always find out. They always know.

And life on the run, is what you have to look forward to now. You’ll have to constantly move, and never rest. You prepare yourself for your new life…

A month passes
The Incident of Nuro has finally become well known knowledge. The take over was a failure, but the damage done was severe. A temporal disturbance in the heart of the city has made the entire area unstable as buildings phase in and out of existence. Two of the well known culprits Mr. Demar and Felsa were killed in battle. A third, Trelik escaped and is considered to be at large. Many of the Dark Order were either killed or went into hiding. Demons are running amok all over the countryside and have taken particular interest in the Kingdom of Tulan.

A year passes
The Kingdom of Tulan has finally put the sword to every last demon infesting the area. Necromancer Trelik was finally hunted down and killed after he was cornered in a small village that he’d turned into his own personal domain. Most of the demonologist have been caught and hung for their crimes as well. Your name has also come up on the wanted list along with the two remaining necromancers involved: Sebastian and Catalina.

You now keep to the rural locations; many times you barely survive attacks from barbaric orc tribes. Fortunately your skills in necromancy protect you (as well as scare the hell out of the orcs)

Two years pass
Nuro has completely collapsed in on itself due to the temporal disturbance leaving nothing but a gaping hole there; a war breaks out in the nearby area.

Sebastian took his own life as the Retlad Guard beat down his door. Catalina was found dead by an unknown assassin. Nobody knows who, but it wasn’t by any government. You have a good idea though, considering you have been attacked several times by vampire assassins during the night.

Two more years pass
You hear them coming for you, there is no more running. This is your fate. To die in this cave. You don’t even want to fight it anymore. You regret the day you set out on this path.

Such is often the fate of a necromancer.


No way, you’re not going down that path. There are too many stories about demons fucking people over in their deals. In fact, you’re a little worried about the fact that this “class” has more dedicated demonologist than necromancers. Still you’ll just have to deal with it for now, you can only hope they know what they’re doing and have a better grasp on things than a certain cabal of wizards did during the Dead War.

As for you, you need to start mastering your own branch of magic. When you get to the pits, you are literally surrounded by bones. You open up your book and begin to read a bit before casting your spell.

Your first attempt isn’t too bad. You animate one skeleton, and surprisingly it doesn’t attack you. You continue to practice this, and while it’s only been an hour, you’ve already animated thirty skeletons, all of which are completely obedient and not attempting to attack you at all.

You’re not sure if this is normal, good or bad for a beginner, but given how many problems you had with other branches of magic, you think you’re doing pretty well. In fact you feel pretty proud of yourself.

You decide to get a little more inventive and you see rusty weapons on the floor along with the bones. You command the skeletons to pick them up and begin to start sparring with each other. They do so, without problems.

This sound of minor battle brings in a few of the students, most of whom are shocked.

“What’s going…whoa. I thought you said you never did this before.” Sebastian says walking in.
“I haven’t…I dunno, it’s just coming so easy to me. For the first time I feel like I’m actually good at something!” you say.
“Well, it’s a lot better than what you did in Enchantment class when you managed to charm all those frogs which then proceeded to attack the professor.” Catalina says.
“That was you? I even heard about that. Man, what is it with you and your spells accidentally hurting your professors in some way?” Irwin adds.

You ignore Irwin’s question, and address Catalina.
“I thought I remembered you from somewhere. I asked you out once.”
“Hmm, yes and you were unsuccessful in that as well. I suggest you stop looking at me and pay attention to your little army there, before they get out of hand. Like that one.”

You turn around and stop one of the skeletons that’s wandering in your direction and then command him to go back to sparring.

“Man, I’ve never seen someone with this much control just starting out. Well Trelik comes to mind, but he was already very skilled in general magic and was learning directly under Mr. Demar. From what others have said, you were completely inept at magic and have no previous training in this stuff whatsoever. You’re like an idiot savant of necromancy or something.” Sebastian says.
“Um…thanks. I think.”
“Well anyway, glad you’ve joined up. We’ll leave you be. If you want to try something harder, there’s more tomes in the study area and just ask one of us where the other practice centers are.”

And so it goes. You find your place among the Dark Order and practice your skills there, in fact it gets to the point that you rarely leave the secret underground base at all. You begin to catch the attention of Mr. Demar who is very impressed with your ability to learn and master so quickly. “Natural” isn’t the word for it, more like prodigy. Trelik however is showing signs of jealousy…

Mr. Demar has to tell you to take a break every now and then or else you’ll drain yourself. You don’t feel that way though, you feel like you have more energy than ever.

As he promised your grades were “fixed” though Mr. Demar’s actions meaning you don’t get kicked out of the college. You tell your parents that you’re taking an advanced course in magic that requires you to stay and how you’re really excited about it. Your Mom is a little disappointed that she won’t see you, but is happy to hear that you’re doing so much better in school.

If she only knew…

The City of Nuro is a quieter place with less students around, but the guise of secrecy still must be kept. After a month has passed you find out that this “class” aren’t the only allies Mr. Demar has. He’s been teaching the dark arts for years and most of his “graduates” are living in this city. The attack is going to come when classes first start up again. Demar feels that it will actually be more beneficial to attack with more people in the city because after the demons are done with the killing, the Necromancers can raise the dead to reinforce the hold on the city.

One key part in all of this is Quayle. He is to cast a slow spell of the greatest proportions over the city. While everyone else is moving at a near stand still, the Dark Order will be able to take over key locations much easier.

While all of this sounds exciting you can’t help but still be concerned about this plan. Mr. Demar is placing most of his faith in the demonologist, which you suppose is understandable given his background in conjuration, but you feel as if you necromancers are getting put on the backburner. Sure you’re playing your part, but it almost seems as if you’re just there as “back up”. Not to mention you’re still not keen on the whole idea of dealing with so many demons.

Of course these concerns are the least of your problems as another month goes by, Trelik is becoming a complete asshole to you. Within the short time you’ve been here, he’s time and time again attempted to sabotage your spells, but usually you manage to overcome.

You’ve got a month to go before the final plans are in place, but suddenly Mr. Demar has some news he’s not pleased to inform everyone of.

“Class, we’ve got a delegate from the Vampire Clans. I don’t think I have to tell you how annoying this is.”

You ask Sebastian what’s the problem and what exactly is going. Sebastian tells you that ever since the clans heard about Demar’s plans, they’ve been strongly opposed to them for they fear that it will draw attention to their one last stronghold which is kept invisible and secret to the rest of the world. It is there where the last of the “ruling” class vampires still exist, most of them having been killed or degenerated into little more than mindless beasts that are eventually hunted down.

While you’re fascinated by Sebastian’s explanation of things, you’re suddenly singled out by Trelik.

“YOU! Do you find this so unimportant that you feel the need not to pay attention?”
“No. I just didn’t know the whole situation and I was asking…”
“If you wanted more information you should’ve been asking Mr. Demar after he was done talking!”
“Okay, okay. That will do Trelik. Someone should’ve explained it to him before actually, given that he’ll be playing a large part in this plan. In fact, maybe he should come with me to meet the delegate instead.”
“But Mr. Demar! I have more experience in this sort of thing!”
“True, but to be quite honest, the blood suckers don’t care too much for you. You’re too combative. So how about it? Do you wish to be present when I speak to this delegate?”
> You decline
“No that’s okay.” You say not wishing to cause trouble. Mr. Demar frowns a bit, but accepts your decision.

“Very well, I guess you’re with me Trelik, and for fuck’s sake don’t be so damn hostile this time. These matters have to be handled with care!”

As they leave to the conference room, you go back to practicing your lessons. While you’re in the middle of them you and the rest of the students soon hear some noise and the sounds of battle.

“DAMN IT TRELIK IF YOU’RE GONNA KILL THE SONOFABITCH, AT LEAST GET IT RIGHT!” you hear Mr. Demar yell.

You and a few of the other student go running toward the conference room, a figure runs at you in flames!

He smashes into you wailing horribly setting you on fire as well, you can’t get him off of you in time before you begin to burn up, but it hardly matters as Trelik soon comes to finish off the vampire delegate…and you as well with another fireball.

“Sorry Mr. Demar, couldn’t be helped.”


Even though you’re supposed to be a wizard in training, you spend as little time as possible in library if you can help it. Normally you just check out whatever you need to read for a class and leave.

You have little faith in finding anything substantial on Necromancy in there, but maybe you can find something that will at least quell this thirst for knowledge on it. You realize you’re treading on dangerous ground, but you have to try to learn more.

The library is huge however, and you’re unsure of where to look, it’s not like there’s a section on Necromancy or Outlawed Magic, but you figure you’ll look in the History section first.

You glance and browse through the stacks until you pick up a few choice books that look like they might contain something, sit down in a quiet corner and begin to read. Naturally you don’t learn too much. The history books mainly go on about how bad the Dead War was, important battles, the atrocities of the Lich Lord, the typical stuff you’ve read time and time again. Still, you’re determined to find something new.

You spend hours reading until you realize you’ve spent the day in the library and that it’s now night time. Oddly the library is mostly empty, and that’s probably because finals are now over, one of which you’ve now undoubtedly failed. You think of how stupid you’ve been to obsess over an outlawed art that you probably wouldn’t be any good at anyway! You’ve only been dwelling on the subject to ignore your own problems that you could’ve tried to solve yourself, instead of fantasizing about being some Necromancer. Raising the dead…what good would that do you? Delusions of grandeur. You wouldn’t have enough motivation to try to take over the world anyway. There was only one person who truly motivated you, and she’s gone.

You begin to think about Serena and begin to feel sorrow like when you first lost her. You’ve had enough of death. You leave the library in a daze and head back home to sleep off this miserable day.

You can’t escape though; even your dreams bring death. You dream about Serena. At first she’s alive and vibrant, and then suddenly she dies before your eyes. Then you see her grave with you sobbing over it and shouting how you demand that she not leave you.

Then she rises from her grave…and you wake up only to come face to face with her! She is a ghost floating near your bed.

“HOLY SHIT!” you shout and back up against your headboard.
“Shhhh! Hush my love, I’m risking a lot just by being here.” She says looking around as if someone is going to bust down your door any minute.
“Serena, what’s going on? This isn’t a dream is it?”
“No, my dear I assure you that I am very real. And I have a message for you.”
“A message?”
“Yes, embrace death and all the beauty it has to offer.”
“You want me to kill myself, to join you?”
Serena laughs a bit. “No silly, you are to become a necromancer and bring the purity of death to the world.”
“…yeah right. With my aptitude of magic, I doubt if I could raise a mouse skeleton.”
“You always did lack confidence in yourself. I suppose that’s why they sent me to motivate you one last time. Though I admit, I would’ve come to see you anyway.”
“They?”

Serena side steps your question and continues.

“Look we haven’t much time, but you HAVE the ability to become the greatest Necromancer since the Great Lich Lord who brought the world near the brink of extinction centuries ago, but you cannot do it alone…at least not yet. You must have allies. There are others like you on this campus who long to practice the dark arts. Seek them out and take over this college as your first step to your destiny.”
“What? Hold on! What makes you think I want to do all this?”

Serena floats closer to you and touches your face with a ghostly hand. You feel completely calm.

“Because deep down it IS what you want. You know your thoughts are dominated by death. You even think of me rather than living girls and I’ve been dead for years. The very fact that your mind played a part in summoning me here is also proof of your desire.”
“I miss you…”
“I know you do, but my point is, even before I died I remember you having an interest in the dark arts. Indeed it’s part of what attracted me to you. But now I must return and you must fulfill your part in this world, whether you succeed or fail at this endeavor will ultimately be up to you, but I believe you will succeed.”

Serena then floats a little closer to kiss you.

“Farewell, my love.” She says and then disappears.

You’re now wide awake and pacing the floor. You’ve been ambivalent about pursuing this path before, but the more you think about it and with this visit from Serena, this is the path you’re going to choose. And why not? It’s not like you have any better options in your life at this point.

You’re going to do it, and though Serena mentioned others like you being on campus, you’re damned if you have a clue to as of knowing who they are since you don’t really socialize. Still, you can think of two people that could get you started. (Or at least not rat on you, when you start inquiring about Necromancy)

The next day you take your first steps towards darkness…
> You go talk to the demon, Big Red
Chapter 2: Hellbound

Serena’s advice might’ve pointed you in the right direction, but as far as you needing the help of others you’re going to take a pass on that. You don’t need anyone else except yourself. That’s the way it’s been for a long time and that’s the way it’s going to stay.

That leaves you to go where various other students have gone when they want to get something illegal and keep it to themselves. “Big Red”.

Technically Big Red isn’t actually all that big, in fact for a demon he’s probably on the smaller size, but like most demons he likes to think he’s very important. Big Red typically hangs around in the seedy parts of Nuro, but he also hangs around the park area on campus late at night. His presence in Nuro is barely tolerated, but he’s been known to acquire things for high ranking officials and provide important information that is beneficial to Nuro security.

Oddly for all his mercenary criminal behavior he’s tight lipped for a demon and will only tell on someone if asked directly and only then for the right price. Given how low profile you are, it’s unlikely anyone’s going to ask about you, let alone what for. Chances are if anyone does see you with Big Red they’ll just think you’re another college student looking to get high.

You wait until night and then stalk the campus park area looking for Big Red, but instead he finds you, catching you off guard.

“Y’know you’d look less guilty if you weren’t lurking around like a damn dark elf assassin. Haven’t seen you around before, I guess that explains why you’re coming to me AFTER finals are over. Most students come and get the answers before hand y’know.”
“You sell those? Damn, I didn’t have to fail my nature test final after all.”
“I could probably fix that too, for a price of course.”
“…maybe, but what I’m looking for is uh…a little different.”
“Ah, so high exactly do you want to get?”
“No, not that…”
“Well, I’m not selling sex slaves if that’s what you’re looking for…well at least not here.”
“No! I’m looking for something different!”

Big Red gives you a strange look.

“Okay, what kind of freak are you exactly then?”
“I’m looking for something on Necromancy.”

Big Red throws you up against a tree when you make that remark and begins to whisper to you in a harsh tone. You can feel (And smell) the brimstone emanating from his breath.

“You fucking little mortal pissant, you trying to get me killed? I don’t sell that shit! Get the fuck outta here!” he says before throwing you on the ground and walking away.

Now it may be that he’s telling the truth, but he may be more worried that you’re trying to set him up. You’re determined to find out regardless of the consequences. You run back to him, but stay out of his immediate range.

“Look, I know you’re a guy who can get a hold of lots of things and I also know you’re available for a price. I’m not a spy, I’m not gonna rat you out, I’m not working for anyone, I just have a…need…”

Big Red turns back towards you and walks in your direction, you think he’s going to attack and you nearly run, but chances are he’d catch you first anyway. He’s looking around in all directions and speaking in a low tone.

“Alright. Look. Since you’re obviously new and not hip to how this works, I’m inclined to believe you’re not working for someone. Someone undercover wouldn’t be so obviously clueless as you seem to be, at least not to catch the likes of me. Plus I can sense the darkness around you…it’s a neat ability we have and again let’s us tell who’s a goody two shoes and who isn’t. You don’t seem to be either though just yet. You seem to be more confused and curious than anything which is almost as bad.”
“So you can’t you help me?”
“It’s not that I can’t, it’s whether I should. This isn’t selling you some Hobgoblin Hashish so you can go get high and wind up naked the next morning with a Dwarf in your ass.”
“Um…what? Excuse me?” you stutter at Big Red’s odd scenario outcome.
“This is serious shit, if word got around that I was selling information on the Dark Arts, let alone books on it, my ass would be strung up and killed. And to have some dumb ass college student fucking around with something as dangerous as that is asking for trouble since YOU’RE probably going to get yourself caught, which will then lead to possible questions before they kill you…which can then link to me. And that can’t happen.”
“I’m not going to get caught.”
“Hah! Heard that one before from people getting busted for less. I dunno, I don’t see you as a good risk and even if I did consider this request my price would be VERY high and I don’t see you as having that kind of money to spend.”

Big Red’s denials of your request are actually making you want what he has even more. You KNOW he can help you. In fact you’re beginning to get irritated. Why the hell is he denying you this? He’s a fucking demon who sells illegal shit! He shouldn’t care at all! You’re desperate for his help though so you tell an outlandish lie.

“Look my parents are rich! I can get the money for you, just gimme your price and I can get it…it might take me awhile, but I can get it.”
“Oh you can huh? Alright then I’ll play your game. He’s my price.” Big Red pulls out a little pad of paper and pencil and writes something on it and then hands it to you. You read the astronomical price while Big Red’s face turns into a smug demonic grin. He probably did that for dramatic effect.

There’s no way you can pay this, even if you somehow managed to convince your parents to give you money to support your grossly illegal studies in necromancy. You’re not going to let it stop you though.

“Wow…that is high…okay. I can get this, but it’ll take me a few days.” You say feigning a mixture of shock, but calmness too. Big Red himself looks surprised that you agreed. He begins to write down something on his pad again and gives it to you.

“Well alright money bags, we got a deal. You come meet me at this time and location in a week. If you ain’t there, then you can forget about coming to see me for anything ever again. If you come and you don’t have the money…well I don’t think I need to stress how bad that would be. So my advice is if you don’t have it, don’t show. See ya.”
“Hey wait, you said you can fix my grade too.” You suddenly remember.
“Don’t you think you’ve spent enough money tonight? Alright then maybe you ARE made of gold after all, so what’s the class?”
“Nature magic.”
“Oh yeah, you said that. Yeah, that’s definitely doable, mainly because the professor is, I just need to slip the deviled ham into her and she’ll be willing to pass anyone.”
“I thought she was a lesbian.”
“Feh, not when it comes to Big Red. It ain’t just a name ya know. Alright, my price for this task is two hundred gold pieces. Normally I might charge less, but hey you got the money right?”

Indeed, but you don’t have much now after forking it over to Big Red. You were hoping the gold you brought was going to go towards a necromantic tome, but instead it’s just going to cheating.

“Thanks, and as appreciation for your generous business tonight, I think I’ll go take care of that grade situation of yours right now, if I’m lucky maybe she’ll have one of those little elven bitches with her. Ha ha!”

As Big Red leaves you, you head back to your apartment to scheme for the rest of the week. You go through a wide variety of emotions: fear, anger, desire, anxiety, obsession, etc. None of it really means anything though since you don’t really have too much in the way of choices now. You’re either going to have to kill Big Red when you go to meet him, or just forget about this necromancy stuff and go home for vacation.
> You kill Big Red
While all the other students are on their way home for vacation, you’re planning a murder…

You’re in this all the way now. You’ve decided that you can’t live life as you have been. You have to take this chance, regardless of the consequences. You’re just wondering how the hell you’re going to go about killing Big Red. He’s not going to be a push over and is probably more than a match for most college students, let alone one who can barely cast spells competently in first place.

Still, you must try. You get one of your oversized back packs and begin stuffing it with rocks. The only plan you have is when he asks to see the money, you’ll tell him you got it in gemstones, throw it at him to catch it and then unleash a blast of lightning in his face.

After that you’re going to hope for the best.

You head down to the location given to you by Big Red. Even though Nuro is a prosperous city, it still has its “bad parts” and right now you’re walking in one of them. You half expect to get mugged by orcs at any moment; you almost wish your sister was with you.

Eventually you get to the location, you’re already nervous about all this and walking through this neighborhood just made you more so. However, this dilapidated house that you’re currently standing in front of looks like its shown signs of battle recently. The door is smashed open and there’s a whiff of charred flesh coming from the broken windows.

“Heeeeeey….(hic!) youz ain’t goin’ in dere is ya?” some drunken goblin lying by some trash cans nearby utters.
“This is Big Red’s house isn’t it?”
“(hic!) Nope, his girlfriend lives here, well one of ‘em anyway.”
“What happened here?”
“Shit. (hic!) Fuck if I know. I was passed out for most of it, but I heard some screams a couple of magic blasts and well…(hic!) a whole buncha shit really.”
“Is Big Red in there?”
“Dunno, I think I heard his voice…didn’t sound good either. (hic!) Guess it all caught up to him. Here’s to Red! Demon Bastard! (hic!) Hope dey didn’t kill his pretty little girlfrien’ doh. She was swee-eet!” the goblin says and takes another drink out of his pocket.
“Nobody’s come out here, to investigate?”
“Har har! Datsh a good one boy! Come out here? Man those mage guards like us poor folks killing each other. Ain’t nobody gonna show up here probably for like a few days. (hic!) fuckin…no good (mumble mumble)”

As the goblin wino lapses back into an alcoholic coma, you cautiously enter the house.

The house is a wreck. Though you get the impression it wasn’t a palace to begin with. You look on the floor and see Big Red. You also see him on the walls and even the ceiling. Whoever wanted him dead, made sure of it.

Of course this doesn’t exactly help you get what you wanted to get from him. Not knowing what else to do, you begin to search the house, but you’re not finding too much, but for some reason you sense you aren’t completely alone in this house. Someone is still here.

You stand completely silent and listen carefully, then you see a blood trail leading to the bedroom closet…

“Alright, I know someone is in the closet, I can hear the stifled cries. Just come out, and I won’t hurt you. I just want to know what happened to Big Red and some information.” You shout.

The closet slowly opens and you see a young human woman crawl out, she’s hurt badly and you don’t think you can help her in time. She looks up at you with tears in her eyes.

“I’ve nothing more to give…they’ve taken everything…I am dead…I have nothing else…” she sobs.
“Who came? What’s going on?”
“That damn college professor and his Dark Order that’s who! Mr. Demar! He and Big Red have had dealings for years in forbidden tomes and the dark arts. Well Mr. Demar said since their business was nearly at an end he demanded that Big Red just hand over all the rest of his collection. Violence soon followed. It was horrible what they did… I only lived this long by playing dead (sob)…but then I just wanted to crawl into a dark place and die.”

This bit of information is very interesting, but you still have to figure out how it can serve you.

“What does Mr. Demar have planned?”
“I don’t know! Something about restoring the rightful place of those who practice the dark arts. I don’t care! They took my whole life away! Maybe it wasn’t much, and maybe Big Red was a demon asshole…but I loved him and in his way, he loved me! I’ll never know!” the girl cries.

You feel slightly bad about coming here to try to kill Big Red now. This girl’s feelings while most likely misguided seem to be genuine. Just proving that even the lowliest of scoundrels can be loved. Your mind briefly thinks about Serena before addressing this situation again.

“Okay, look shhhh. I’m sure Big Red probably did love you. He was a demon though, you know he had to put on a show and act tough.” You say.
“…(sniff) yeah…You’re absolutely right. You are right….mmm I’m sleepy…” She says as her eyes begin to start closing.
“Hold on, before you go to sleep, I need to know something. Big Red was holding a book for me too, a book on necromancy. I was coming to pay him and pick it up here. It sounds like Mr. Demar was trying to rip the both of us off and that ain’t no way of doing business. I mean to get revenge on the lot of them that killed Big Red, but I’ll need the help of that book, you don’t happen to know where it is, do you?”
“…oh…yeah, you must be the one that Big Red briefly mentioned before they came…I dunno, they searched the house, maybe they got it, but it would be in a small hidden floor safe behind the toilet. Ha ha…nobody searches behind a toilet Red used to say…I love you Big Red…” The girl says and then closes her eyes and stops breathing.

Poor girl, you think as you leave her to search the bathroom. You curse as soon as you look behind the toilet and see a small panel open. You’re so frustrated you nearly miss the false bottom of the safe…

Jackpot. You pry up the false bottom and greedily grab the tome you were looking for, in fact there are a few other books there too, but you only keep the necromantic ones, and destroy the rest as you have no interest in demon summoning. (And not going to let anyone else use them either!)

You pour out the rocks in your backpack and place the books inside; you’re now ready to go back home. Or are you?

In your last minute peruse you search the remains of Big Red, and as luck would have it, you find his infamous pad and paper still somewhat intact. You briefly glance through it and make out one other address, not too far from here. It could be his real home or maybe just another place where he stashed stuff. Either way it could be lucrative.
> You go back home
You head to your apartment where you study your acquired books until morning and then sleep for the entire day.

When you wake up you write a letter to your family saying that you’re going to be staying at Nuro for vacation since you have some extra curricular studying to do and a big opportunity could be opening up. You mostly study your necromantic books and absorbing the knowledge within.

You keep up with local news and the deaths of Big Red and his girlfriend are barely mentioned. You gather that you’re in the clear.

Next week you get a letter in return from your Mom who says she’s disappointed you won’t be coming to visit, but pleased that you’re doing well and your grades are back up. (At least Big Red came through for you on the nature magic thing before he died) She also mentions how proud she is of you.

If she only knew…

A month passes and you’ve almost finished the books you acquired, but you haven’t been able to do any practicing which is something you desperately want to do. You feel like you got all this power within you and you’re being forced not to use it.

You’re so hot on raising some corpses you’re on the verge of doing something rash. You ponder going to the local graveyard which is really risky given that there are always guards on duty and magical monitors in place to prevent such things from easily occurring.

Your other alternative is to kill someone and then raise them.
> You go to the graveyard
The city isn’t as busy now since most of the students have left, so maybe you won’t have too many problems.

Initially all goes well. You sneak into the graveyard at night, managing to avoid the guards. You then break into one of the mausoleums where you hope you can find some easily accessible coffins.

You shut the door and pry open one of them trying to be as quiet as possible. The skeletal remains inside are calling to you.

You take out your book and begin to cast your spell and within no time at all the skeleton inside begins to rise. Success! And it barely took any effort at all. You were born for this!

You open up another nearby coffin and raise another one. Two skeletons! You’re controlling two at a time with no problems! You’re positively euphoric.

Of course you’ve been making a lot of noise. Noise that one of the guards hears and comes to investigate, when he sees the door lock broken and opens it, he sees you.

“NECROMANCER!” he screams and runs away!

You don’t care that you’ve been caught though. You’re ready to show the world what you’re really made of! You begin the chant and cast, and all that other stuff you’ve been reading about. You’re going to raise an army to swarm this city and take it over! None shall oppose you! And if Mr. Demar gets in your way, you’ll crush him too!

Soon you’re raising the dead from their graves, and even though you’re a “natural” at this, you’re still shy of practice so you have a bit of a hard time controlling so many. By the time you reach the hundreds, you’re losing control over most of them and you have to leave the graveyard to save your own life.

You march down the street with the dead horde you do have control over causing havoc on a small scale. You have some fun reveling in the terror you’re bringing, but it is short sighted and not to last.

The Nuro mage guards soon arrive on the scene and they don’t fuck around. They use every spell against you, destroying entire blocks in an effort to bring you down. It is at this point you realize that you’ve handled this poorly.

When you’ve lost your last corpse, you attempt to run away only to bump into a few of the dead that had wandered away from your control. In a kind of ironic justice, you are killed before you can reestablish your dominance over them.


You head to your apartment where you study your acquired books until morning and then sleep for the entire day.

When you wake up you write a letter to your family saying that you’re going to be staying at Nuro for vacation since you have some extra curricular studying to do and a big opportunity could be opening up. You mostly study your necromantic books and absorbing the knowledge within.

You keep up with local news and the deaths of Big Red and his girlfriend are barely mentioned. You gather that you’re in the clear.

Next week you get a letter in return from your Mom who says she’s disappointed you won’t be coming to visit, but pleased that you’re doing well and your grades are back up. (At least Big Red came through for you on the nature magic thing before he died) She also mentions how proud she is of you.

If she only knew…

A month passes and you’ve almost finished the books you acquired, but you haven’t been able to do any practicing which is something you desperately want to do. You feel like you got all this power within you and you’re being forced not to use it.

You’re so hot on raising some corpses you’re on the verge of doing something rash. You ponder going to the local graveyard which is really risky given that there are always guards on duty and magical monitors in place to prevent such things from easily occurring.

Your other alternative is to kill someone and then raise them.
> You kill someone
You were planning on killing Big Red and he was a demon, you think you’ll be able to handle killing someone else that’s less formidable.

You head back to the seedy part of Nuro at night. There are plenty of winos and ladies of the evening you can kill and then practice on.

You enter the alleys like some common murderer and begin to do your dirty work on those unfortunate enough to be in the general area. You typically drag these victims into some abandoned building and cast your spells.

You do this over the course of a month before one night while you’re raising another prostitute you’re walked in on by some common thugs who were using the building you were in as a hide out.

“Oh shit! That’s Tina! I wondered what happened to her, she was my favorite whore!”
“And that’s a fucking necromancer! Let’s get outta here!”
“Fuck that, I don’t back down from shit!”

You order your dead whore to attack one thug and then blast another with a beam of negative energy. The last one escapes screaming about a necromancer.

“Well, I guess it’s time to play…” you giggle and raise the two thugs to join you.

You march through the slums killing everyone; it’s all so easy for you. You don’t feel a challenge; your dead horde just grows as you fill its ranks with the poor. You aren’t even fatigued, you feel invincible and you’re now determined to bring death to the entire city. No one can oppose you and if Mr. Demar and his Dark Order tries too, they’ll get the same, for you’re going to be the head necromancer in this city!

Soon your horde is numbering in the hundreds and you’ve drawn the attention of Nuro’s mage guards at last. They do everything in their power to stop you, even leveling entire blocks to get to you. It’s at that point you realize you might be in over your head.

You continue to fight however, you refuse to give up, but the odds are too great, and eventually a single sniper on a rooftop with a crossbow takes aim and pieces your skull, putting an end to your petty desires of conquest and your necromancer career.


While all the other students are on their way home for vacation, you’re planning a murder…

You’re in this all the way now. You’ve decided that you can’t live life as you have been. You have to take this chance, regardless of the consequences. You’re just wondering how the hell you’re going to go about killing Big Red. He’s not going to be a push over and is probably more than a match for most college students, let alone one who can barely cast spells competently in first place.

Still, you must try. You get one of your oversized back packs and begin stuffing it with rocks. The only plan you have is when he asks to see the money, you’ll tell him you got it in gemstones, throw it at him to catch it and then unleash a blast of lightning in his face.

After that you’re going to hope for the best.

You head down to the location given to you by Big Red. Even though Nuro is a prosperous city, it still has its “bad parts” and right now you’re walking in one of them. You half expect to get mugged by orcs at any moment; you almost wish your sister was with you.

Eventually you get to the location, you’re already nervous about all this and walking through this neighborhood just made you more so. However, this dilapidated house that you’re currently standing in front of looks like its shown signs of battle recently. The door is smashed open and there’s a whiff of charred flesh coming from the broken windows.

“Heeeeeey….(hic!) youz ain’t goin’ in dere is ya?” some drunken goblin lying by some trash cans nearby utters.
“This is Big Red’s house isn’t it?”
“(hic!) Nope, his girlfriend lives here, well one of ‘em anyway.”
“What happened here?”
“Shit. (hic!) Fuck if I know. I was passed out for most of it, but I heard some screams a couple of magic blasts and well…(hic!) a whole buncha shit really.”
“Is Big Red in there?”
“Dunno, I think I heard his voice…didn’t sound good either. (hic!) Guess it all caught up to him. Here’s to Red! Demon Bastard! (hic!) Hope dey didn’t kill his pretty little girlfrien’ doh. She was swee-eet!” the goblin says and takes another drink out of his pocket.
“Nobody’s come out here, to investigate?”
“Har har! Datsh a good one boy! Come out here? Man those mage guards like us poor folks killing each other. Ain’t nobody gonna show up here probably for like a few days. (hic!) fuckin…no good (mumble mumble)”

As the goblin wino lapses back into an alcoholic coma, you cautiously enter the house.

The house is a wreck. Though you get the impression it wasn’t a palace to begin with. You look on the floor and see Big Red. You also see him on the walls and even the ceiling. Whoever wanted him dead, made sure of it.

Of course this doesn’t exactly help you get what you wanted to get from him. Not knowing what else to do, you begin to search the house, but you’re not finding too much, but for some reason you sense you aren’t completely alone in this house. Someone is still here.

You stand completely silent and listen carefully, then you see a blood trail leading to the bedroom closet…

“Alright, I know someone is in the closet, I can hear the stifled cries. Just come out, and I won’t hurt you. I just want to know what happened to Big Red and some information.” You shout.

The closet slowly opens and you see a young human woman crawl out, she’s hurt badly and you don’t think you can help her in time. She looks up at you with tears in her eyes.

“I’ve nothing more to give…they’ve taken everything…I am dead…I have nothing else…” she sobs.
“Who came? What’s going on?”
“That damn college professor and his Dark Order that’s who! Mr. Demar! He and Big Red have had dealings for years in forbidden tomes and the dark arts. Well Mr. Demar said since their business was nearly at an end he demanded that Big Red just hand over all the rest of his collection. Violence soon followed. It was horrible what they did… I only lived this long by playing dead (sob)…but then I just wanted to crawl into a dark place and die.”

This bit of information is very interesting, but you still have to figure out how it can serve you.

“What does Mr. Demar have planned?”
“I don’t know! Something about restoring the rightful place of those who practice the dark arts. I don’t care! They took my whole life away! Maybe it wasn’t much, and maybe Big Red was a demon asshole…but I loved him and in his way, he loved me! I’ll never know!” the girl cries.

You feel slightly bad about coming here to try to kill Big Red now. This girl’s feelings while most likely misguided seem to be genuine. Just proving that even the lowliest of scoundrels can be loved. Your mind briefly thinks about Serena before addressing this situation again.

“Okay, look shhhh. I’m sure Big Red probably did love you. He was a demon though, you know he had to put on a show and act tough.” You say.
“…(sniff) yeah…You’re absolutely right. You are right….mmm I’m sleepy…” She says as her eyes begin to start closing.
“Hold on, before you go to sleep, I need to know something. Big Red was holding a book for me too, a book on necromancy. I was coming to pay him and pick it up here. It sounds like Mr. Demar was trying to rip the both of us off and that ain’t no way of doing business. I mean to get revenge on the lot of them that killed Big Red, but I’ll need the help of that book, you don’t happen to know where it is, do you?”
“…oh…yeah, you must be the one that Big Red briefly mentioned before they came…I dunno, they searched the house, maybe they got it, but it would be in a small hidden floor safe behind the toilet. Ha ha…nobody searches behind a toilet Red used to say…I love you Big Red…” The girl says and then closes her eyes and stops breathing.

Poor girl, you think as you leave her to search the bathroom. You curse as soon as you look behind the toilet and see a small panel open. You’re so frustrated you nearly miss the false bottom of the safe…

Jackpot. You pry up the false bottom and greedily grab the tome you were looking for, in fact there are a few other books there too, but you only keep the necromantic ones, and destroy the rest as you have no interest in demon summoning. (And not going to let anyone else use them either!)

You pour out the rocks in your backpack and place the books inside; you’re now ready to go back home. Or are you?

In your last minute peruse you search the remains of Big Red, and as luck would have it, you find his infamous pad and paper still somewhat intact. You briefly glance through it and make out one other address, not too far from here. It could be his real home or maybe just another place where he stashed stuff. Either way it could be lucrative.
> You go to the address
Thirsting for more possible knowledge you head to this new address. This time you’re not in a residential area and more in a warehouse district, still not a safe area though.

When you get to the warehouse, once again the signs of battle abound, except this time it would appear that you arrived in the middle of one still going on.

“Don’t just stand there, the fucking thing, damn it!”
“Shit! Thing’s too fucking tough!”
“Well summon another…arrrggh!”

You enter cautiously and see a huge stone golem battling a couple people in robes. One lies on the floor dead. Given the dead imps that also litter the room, they’re probably demonologist. Some of Mr. Demar’s no doubt.

You stand back and watch the battle from the shadows, staying hidden the whole time. While keeping an eye on the battle you take out one of your necromantic books and quickly glance through it. You come across a spell that allows you cast a bolt of pure negative energy. It seems pretty easy, so you decide to try it.

You come out from behind the boxes you were using as cover and blast the golem in the face with a powerful beam of dark energy. Its head explodes into several stone pieces, but it doesn’t stop. Such a hit will not automatically kill a creature like this. The demonologists look surprised to see you and even more surprised when you bark orders at them.

“Get it now! While it’s blind! Take its legs!” you shout.

They do exactly what you say and cast super hot blasts to the golem’s knees burning right through them, causing the rest of it to collapse and shatter. It’s definitely dead now.

“Whew! Good thing you came along. When Mr. Demar sent us to search this address we didn’t expect to encounter a golem guard. How did he know to send help?” one of the demonologists asks.
“He didn’t.” you say and blast him.
“Hey…” is all the other manages to utter before you blast him as well.

You’re now left alone in a warehouse with multiple dead bodies, and as a certain goblin wino once said, the mage guard probably won’t be coming around here anytime soon. You see this as a perfect opportunity to practice some REAL necromancy.

You open the page to the appropriate spell and begin the cast it. Soon one of the dead demonologists begins to rise. It doesn’t even take you much effort to control him. It’s very easy actually. You’ve never had such an easy time at any kind of magic before, but this feels so right to you.

You summon the second one and then the third one. You command them to do various things for you just to see how well you can control them. It barely takes you any concentration at all.

You spend the rest of the night practicing, before making a search of the place which as it turns out contains nothing, but banned pornographic writings. You then head to your apartment where you sleep for the entire day.

When you wake up you write a letter to your family saying that you’re going to be staying at Nuro for vacation since you have some extra curricular studying to do and a big opportunity could be opening up. You mostly study your necromantic books and absorbing the knowledge within.

You keep up with local news and the deaths of Big Red and his girlfriend are barely mentioned, and nothing is mentioned of the warehouse. You gather that you’re in the clear.

Next week you get a letter in return from your Mom who says she’s disappointed you won’t be coming to visit, but pleased that you’re doing well and your grades are back up. (At least Big Red came through for you on the nature magic thing before he died) She also mentions how proud she is of you.

If she only knew…

A month passes and you’ve almost finished the books you acquired. You can’t really do too much practicing though, which is something you desperately want to do again. You know you’ve got all this power within you yet you can’t use it.

The problem is dead bodies aren’t exactly something you can just come across. Oh sure you could go to the graveyard, but that would most likely attract a ton of attention given that most of them are always monitored to prevent such things from easily happening. You wonder if you should approach Mr. Demar and join his Dark Order. While you typically don’t work with groups, but if it gets you some practice maybe it would be worth joining. Plus you’d get to find out what’s going on with all that, since it seems like something you should worry about.

Then again large groups tend to get targeted first. So maybe you could try summoning spirits. It’s not like they’re as obvious. Though from what you’ve read controlling such incorporeal dead requires more experience and you haven’t been able to practice a lot.
> You join the Dark Order
As they say there is strength in numbers.

You head over to the campus to seek out Mr. Demar. You figure he’ll be in his office. You knock and he tells you to come in and shut the door behind you. When you do, he’s surprised to see you.

“Hello. This is bit of a surprise. You took my class two semesters ago and I would’ve thought that you’d be on vacation now instead of here. So what brings you to my office?”

You decide to get straight to the point.

“Mr. Demar, I want to join the Dark Order. I’m skilled in necromancy and I want to learn more. I think I’d make a worthy addition to your class.”

Mr. Demar says nothing for a minute and just studies you before speaking.

“I see, and how do you know that I am the head of such an…organization.”
“Well, uh I’ve heard rumors that’s all…” you quickly say.
“Rumors eh? Such rumors going around about me would be very dangerous to my well being. Hope this isn’t a common rumor.”

You’re silent to this statement, as you’re unsure of what to say. Mr. Demar continues for you though.

“And tell me, if I was head of such an organization, you say I would want you? How is it that you are skilled in the ways of necromancy? How have you managed to train? Do you have access to the dead and possession of necromantic texts? How did you come across such things?”
“Well uh…I don’t like to mention this…but I have an ancestor who served under the Great Lich Lord and a couple of books of his have been in my family’s possession for centuries.”
“Well now, necromantic tomes from the era of the Great Lich Lord himself! I am impressed. And you say you had an ancestor who served under him eh? That’s even more impressive considering the Great Lich Lord eventually grew to loathe anything alive and only associated with the dead. That was why he was bringing death to the world in the first place. Such an ancestor would’ve had to been undead an unable to have children.”
“Uh…well he had ‘em before becoming undead.”
“Okay, but his family would’ve had to join his fate and hence they also would’ve had no children.”
“He…uh…liked prostitutes and…”

At this point Mr. Demar raises his hand to you. You instantly feel yourself paralyzed. You can only watch helplessly as he stands up from his desk.

“Stop. While this is amusing watching you squirm, I am a busy man. You want to know what I think? I think you recently stole those books from Big Red. I also think you recently killed three of my students in a certain warehouse in your attempts to gain more. While I might’ve considered you as Dark Order material if you’d come in here and told me the truth, I can’t abide by liars, especially someone so poor at it. Such a pity.”

With those final words, Mr. Demar causes your heart to explode.