text: Making a trek back and forth from your fortress to here day in day out is going to be a pain in the ass especially if you have to face the occasional undead attack along the way.
  
  You could just have a retinue of soldiers transferred here and have your personal belongings moved as well. Honestly you're just as "safe" here as you are anywhere else and can still run things from here.
  
  "Very well, the proposal makes sense, I'll make preparations." You reply.
  "Glad to hear it. We look forward to a closer relationship with our svelk allies in this endeavor." Marzost says with a minor upbeat tone in his voice.
  
  You laugh a bit at Marzost's response.
  
  "We? I think you might be the only dero that's looking forward to it and that's only because you'll get to see me more often. It's okay, I know you can't help staring at perfection, but I'm going to say this now since we will be seeing each other more often. Stare, look, imagine, fantasize all you want, don't touch though. And I mean don't attempt to touch my hand or especially anything else of mine. You've done it twice already in the time we've known each other. There will not be a third."
  
  Some of Marzost's enthusiasm seems slightly deflated by your words.
  
  "Very well, I meant no offense and apologize for my transgressions and promise I will behave in more fitting manner in the future."
  "Hm, we shall see."
  
  You immediately get preparations underway. You give Gikil command over your fortress and tell him to remain focused on keeping the remainder of the svelk population from being overrun by undead.
  
  Gikil has always been fairly uncomplicated and agrees to this task. You're not exactly concerned with him plotting anything that will directly undermine you; at worst he's going to abuse his power in petty ways, like fucking someone's wife because he can. He's never shown any real signs of actually wanting anything more than his current position though.
  
  Drunni on the other hand has always been a problem. He's outright disagreed with you on several occasions and you just don't feel comfortable with him skulking about if you don't have the time to keep up on him on a regular basis.
  
  "What the fuck? I haven't done anything!" Drunni exclaims as he's being held by two guards.
  "You've been repeatedly obstinate and combative which is enough. I just don't find those traits very appealing in a male." You respond.
  "My apologies that I couldn't plunge the world into a death spiral by opening a portal to the realm of the dead like your dead monkey boyfriend."
  
  You smile.
  
  "And that right there, is why your life choices have lead you to the situation you're in right now."
  "And YOUR life choices have lead us all to this shit situation we're ALL in right now. Fuck it, we've been through all this before, just get it over with. I deserve to die for being such a damn fool to follow you in the first fucking place."
  "Ah Drunni, if only you had been this agreeable before."
  
  You nod to your soldiers who immediately force him to his knees and shove their swords downward between his neck and shoulders, he makes the usual sounds of pain but attempts to keep them to a minimum while he never takes his eyes off you.
  
  Blood coming from his mouth and giving off a stare of absolutely hatred, you step forward and jam a dagger into one of his eyes and kick him in the chest causing his body to slump awkwardly backwards.
  
  "Should have done that a long time ago. Well? Get that body out of here before it rises up. Oh and don't burn that one, just chop off its limbs and toss it in a field somewhere. Drunni can spend his undead life crawling about like the pathetic worm he was."
  
  After taking care of that bit of business, you return to your new temporary home and take Kessla's old room as you own. You then restart the long process of summoning and trapping demons once again.
  
  Three months later...
  
  You're exhausted.
  
  The process has been going a lot slower than you hoped. You've only managed to capture eleven of the damn things and summoned a lot more that had to be put down.
  
  One of the main problems besides the magic nullifying rocks all over the place making this process harder is apparently you're actively getting "pull back" from the other side. Several of the demons you've summoned have mentioned about how they all know what you've been doing and steps have been made to prevent it.
  
  While none have mentioned his name specifically, you can guess that Big Red has had something to do with all this.
  
  On top of everything else, the dero have been giving you shit. Well specifically the dero females. Almost anytime you stumble into one of those mini-shebeasts they are full of insults and disrespect. More than a few times, Marzost has had to step in to prevent something more violent from happening.
  
  It's all very tiresome.
  
  The only good thing that's come about is the reports from Gikil have stated that most of the remaining svelk communities are still holding out fairly well against the undead. Even rebellious behavior has been kept to a minimum. Still, the dead don't rest and your continent is starting to show the same signs of spontaneous dying vegetation and ruin.
  
  The fact is, if you don't figure out a way to speed up your process of capturing these demons, you're going to run out of time.
  
  In any case it's another day. You get ready to perform this necessary thing and make your way down to the dero lair.
  
  When you arrive, you see the usual dero warriors along with your own standing by. Fortunately no dero females, unfortunately Marzost has decided to pay another one of his visits.
  
  "Greetings Mistress, everything as usual has been prepared."
  "Great. You lot make any progress on being able to close the portal after I open it?"
  "No, I'm afraid. However, I have come up with something that might make your summoning process easier."
  "Oh?"
  "Yes, this!"
  
  Marzost pulls out a large metal syringe with glowing purple liquid inside.
  
  "And... what is that exactly?" you ask.
  "It's a stimulant! You won't feel as tired and you'll be able to focus a lot better. Basically you should be able to get more accomplished, I mean I know this is all very taxing on you and every time I see you, you're looking more fatigued."
  "Yeah well I'm summoning demons under a lot of forces working against me, of course I'm going to be a little tired."
  
  Marzost approaches closer, which causes you to instinctively move back. He then motions you to an area away from everyone else at which point you roll your eyes and follow.
  
  "What?" you say exasperated.
  "Mistress you're not just tired, you're not just exhausted, you're DRAINED. Seriously, and I wouldn't dare say this in front of anyone or even you normally, but have you looked in a mirror?"
  "Excuse me?"
  "You're aging. I mean...look I know your kind are known for their long lasting youthful appearance, and I imagine you being a powerful sorceress you've extended it even more, but...you're starting to show signs of age and granted it's only a few wrinkles here and there, however..."
  "Marzost, I'm gonna stop you right there, because if this was ANY other situation, I'd kill you where you stand for talking to me in such a manner."
  "You know I'm right. This concoction will give you that boost you need, that we ALL need because this isn't even just about you, we're ALL trying to get off this world before time runs out. At the rate you're going I don't see us achieving that."
  
  You stare at Marzost in anger because he is right. You are starting to show signs of aging, but that doesn't mean you want it pointed out. He's also right about potentially running out of time.
  
  You don't know about this drug though. Marzost assures you that it will work and he'd never offer it if he thought it would harm you. That last part is probably true, but it's still a risk.
  
  "Fine, you're right. So what then? I'm supposed to just let you inject me with this drug to make everything better? How the hell do I know what this is really going to do? For all I know I'm going to pass out and wake up covered in your dero seed."
  "Mistress I would never!"
  "Yeah, and you aren't getting the chance either. Have you even tested this on anyone else?"
  "Well no, but wait I'll test it on myself first!"
  
  Marzost is about to inject himself, but you interrupt.
  
  "And what good will that do? It could very well have a different effect or not affect you at all. You little ugly buggers are known to be extremely resilient."
  "Yeah you make a good point."
  "You'd need a svelk to test it on, specifically a female one just to be sure. Even then one test subject isn't very promising, but at least it might convince me better than you're doing right now."
  
  You turn to call over a couple of your soldiers.
  
  "You two, go upstairs and grab a female. I don't care which one, just get her and bring her down here."
  
  Doesn't take them long to bring a female svelk down, at which point there's the predictable realization at what's going on and the ensuing resistance. She's subdued fairly quickly at which point you tell Marzost to inject her and then keep her locked up for observation.
  
  "Assuming she doesn't die or show signs of being all fucked up after a month, THEN I might consider taking this so called enhancement." You say.
  
  With that bit of distraction over with, you get on with the business of summoning and capturing demons.
  
  One month passes...
  
  Sixteen.
  
  Sixteen demons total is all you've managed and you feel like you can hardly get out of bed some days.
  
  Everything is working against you, the environment, time, demons, and now even your own body.
  
  You don't even want to look in the mirror nowadays, you're not quite an old crone yet, but at this rate you'll certainly be one with little to show for it.
  
  Gikil's reports say that a several of the major svelk strongholds have been having an increase in undead activity along with the landscape of the continent showing more signs of decay. More than a few of the smaller svelk communities have been overrun completely.
  
  General order is still being maintained and the fight against the dead continues, but the population is starting to completely lose hope in the plan, at least those that know or even believe in it.
  
  You're going to have to start getting results, if only to save yourself.
  
  Marzost's experiment seems to have worked as he claimed. The test subject has shown an increase in endurance and speed. And as far as focus is concerned, she's tried to escape at least eight times with varying success despite new precautions put in place to prevent it. On top of all this, she was only given the one injection.
  
  There haven't been any negative side effects that have been noticed except an increase in aggression, but that might be just because she's pissed about her situation. She has threatened to kill you personally in at least half of her escape attempts.
  
  There's also the increase in lack of sleep and appetite, but you could get A LOT accomplished if you didn't need to stop to sleep or eat.
  
  It might be worth using the drug.
  
  > Don't use the drug
  You'll be a withered looking crone before you let Marzost inject you with whatever his drug is. Maybe it works now, but who knows in another few months? She could be melted into a pile of goo or something.
  
  Of course in a few months, you ALL might be dead, so you still need to get your shit together. Maybe you can mix up your own enhancement potions. You generally have always hated doing alchemy, but at least you know what you're putting into your body and that it'll work as intended.
  
  That'll have to wait though; you've got another day of demon capturing ahead of you. Joy.
  
  You head down to the dero community and see Marzost already there paying visit. He's really got it bad given that you're not even looking your best anymore, then again you're still more of a prize than any of the squat creatures the dero call females.
  
  "Greetings Mistress, even under all this duress you still manage to retain your elegance." Marzost says.
  "Hrm. Actually I'm glad to see you, well glad might be stretching it, but I did need to discuss something." You say.
  "What's that?"
  "Just that I won't ever be taking that drug even with your test subject showing no negative effects."
  "But...I mean I could test another...."
  "No. Not sparing yet another svelk female. I'm already hated enough by that half of the population. We also don't have the time and I'm just not going to risk it. My mind is made up. I'm well aware of my condition though and I plan on making my own potions to boost my endurance."
  
  Marzost exhales and nods.
  
  "Very well Mistress. I trust that you know your body best."
  "Indeed. And I request that you to put down the test subject since she isn't needed anymore and all she keeps doing is escaping and apparently threatening to kill me."
  "I suppose so, seems like a waste of scientific study though."
  "You want to focus on something to research? How about figuring out how to close the portal after we're on the other side of it. Now leave me, I got important shit to do."
  
  Marzost takes his leave and you get on with the business at hand.
  
  Several days pass and you've managed to capture one more demon in that time, though you still haven't had time to get around to making those potions. For one thing, you're too exhausted to set everything up, for another; a lot of the ingredients are back at your fortress. You sent some of your people to fetch them, but things have been held up due to a large number of undead gathering in the area. Gikil predictably failing to keep up on things as usual.
  
  You get prepared for another day as usual, but as you're doing so, something feels slightly amiss.
  
  At first you just believe it to be you being exhausted as usual. But then out the corner of your eye you see something in your room and almost dodge the attack in time.
  
  Almost.
  
  You fall to the floor with a knife in your neck looking up at the one who did it. It's the damn test subject Marzost was SUPPOSED to kill. Looks like he never got around to it.
  
  The fool was probably hoping you'd change your mind and was keeping her for ongoing observation just in case. One thing is for sure, that drug really worked on the test subject since you didn't see or hear her until it was too late.
  
  You can't even form an insult since you're too busy choking on your own blood and gurgling.
  
  The test subject doesn't take chances that you might be able to save yourself somehow or call for help and stomps on your face repeatedly until its caved into mush and your brains are leaking out your ears.
  
  Not a pleasant death, but what awaits you in the afterlife is even less pleasant.