Heather the Necromancer

Book 5: Chapter 1: A change of heart

Bones flew in all directions as Heather hid behind a tipped table, clutching Webster to her chest. She waited for the rain of bone fragments to end before daring to peek and behold the scene.

Legeis stood near the center of the animation circle with singe marks on his armor. Smoke drifted off the blackened areas as he stood up to peer over the protective shield. All around him were fragments of bones smoldering into piles of ash, filling the air with a choking smell. He lifted the goggles from his head and wiped his brow before turning to see Heather.

What went wrong? he called down.

Heather stood up and waved the smoke from her face. This was her third attempt at making a golem and potentially the biggest failure. In keeping with her class, she decided to use bones from the graveyard near the underground lake. Frank and Legeis carried them through the tunnels and up to the workshop. Once here, Legeis helped her knit them together into a unified form. This one had three arms, with two on one side and one much larger arm on the other. She gave it two heads that ran down two separate spines in a joined rib cage. Legeis created metal pins and brackets to link the disparate bones, and then Heather tried to animate them. The spell worked in a manner of speaking, but the monstrosity ran wild as it started to burn. It threw the nearby table at Heather and as thick smoke poured from it's rapidly charring bones. Legeis had to battle the thing before it destroyed the workroom. Then it suddenly howled from its two skulls as it glowed red with flames before exploding.

Maybe this is a bad idea, Heather remarked as she looked at the mess.

I dont understand why it isnt working, Legeis commented. You animated my armor just fine.

Heather couldn't think of a logical reason for it either. Not only was she following the instructions from the notes, but the necromancer book specifically talked about bone golems. Something neither of the books mentioned wasn't being accounted for. She was confident it had something to do with the instructions, maybe something unique to the undead.

Why dont we give up for today, she sighed. I will have my skeletons clean this up.

It should work, Legeis insisted but agreed this was enough mayhem for one day.

Heather led the way down the hall, talking to herself as Webster jumped along beside her.

The notes make it sound like anything shaped to look humanoid should work, Heather mumbled, then glanced to Webster as his voice squeaked in her head. No, I don't want to try making a giant stone spider for you to ride on like Legeis. She listened to his remarks and nearly laughed. So I can ride on the back of your stone spider, but I am too heavy as a bird to ride on you. He chirped, and she shook her head, heading for the kitchen.

Good afternoon, Monica greeted as Heather entered to find Quinny already at the table, a pile of cookies on a plate. Heather scowled as Quinny caught her gaze then looked back to the cookies.

Are you eating all my cookies? Heather asked.

No, Quinny replied with a full mouth, as a crumb fell from her lip.

Heather stomped to the table and swiped one off the plate before sitting down.

There will be more in the morning, she said and took a bite. The new golem was a failure.

The three armed one? Quinny asked.

` Heather nodded, explaining the scene in the workshop and the raging Frankenstein monster she created.

I wonder why they arent working, Quinny asked as she took another cookie. Youre doing the same thing you did for Legeis?

Everything is exactly the same except the material and method of construction, Heather sighed. The book says those things dont matter, but something is wrong. I am going to give it a break for a few days and try again.

Quinny shrugged as Webster jumped to the table and scurried to Heather.

Have you trained him to eat cookies yet?

Sadly no, Heather replied and took a bite. He has no idea what he's missing.

She nibbled away two more cookies before heading out to find Frank.

The ease with which Heather was able to move from the caves to the tower made her smile. It was a brilliant idea to put the tower against the cliff wall and build it into the caves. She was amazed she could alter the cliff's shape, so the tower pressed directly against it, giving her easy access to the hidden tunnels.

Arriving on the sixth floor, she opened a secret panel that led into a simple bedroom. She didn't sleep in the tower, preferring the more secure room deeper inside the caves. Her study was here, hidden on the sixth floor behind yet another secret door. The seventh floor was a series of interconnected rooms with a few random skeletons and a lot of traps. Some were traps she placed, others mechanical traps built by Legeis. This floor's entire purpose was to kill any intruder who entered by the hatch in the roof. She made her way to the stairs and started the long descent. Once again, she made it, so the stairs only went up one floor, forcing an intruder to find the next set of stairs up. Every floor had some useful rooms, but the majority of them were empty or traps. The fifth floor was set aside as guest rooms, with four fully furnished for use.

The first and second floors were now wholly devoted to security with a maze of rooms and halls. The ground floor presented intruding players with a straight tunnel to the inner doors that lead under the mountain. Frank suggested she place a dozen skeletons here, guarding the door as if it was important. He hoped to fool players into exploring the very dangerous lower level of the caves instead of the tower.

Nearly every room on this level had skeletons of one variety or another in it. The second level was home to her new NPC guards, human warriors in black chain armor carrying an assortment of weapons. She designed an insignia for their armor, a skull with a rose growing out of one eye. Now it adorned the tunic of every soldier. There were only six of them, but it provided an enemy that wasn't so easily beaten by holy spells. There were more skeletons here, including the guardian skeletons. She now had six of them as well, and they guarded the stairwell up. Her bone champion was stationed in the room with them providing a serious challenge to anyone who wanted to pass.

The fourth level connected to the cave with the egg, but there was no entrance. Heather instead doubled the thickness of the wall, sealing the cave off completely. The only way in was with Breanne's help to walk through the wall. She sincerely hoped this level of protection would please Umtha, but there was no telling what the goblin woman would think.

Outside in the yard, things were more challenging. Skeletons prowled the gravestones, walking through paths between the overgrowth. Heather used her flower singer ability to grow walls of dense foliage, dividing the graveyard into smaller areas and then hid her dangerous plants in the growth. There were many more trees so that she could put the animate tree spell to more effective use.

One of the skeleton spawners was massively upgraded, and her first skeleton mage appeared. It walked about the yard in a tattered cloak with blue glowing hands. She added a few randomly spawning giant rats for Webster to hunt, and he often prowled the outer yard now.

The inner yard was more private, separated from the graveyard by a high hedge wall. It was an open space lined by flower gardens and crossed by paved paths. Her magical fruit tree stood in the center, protected and isolated from the rest of the yard. She added a stone bench underneath it to provide a place to sit. It was here she came for peace, sitting on the bench to read her book or the endless piles of research notes. For security, this yard was only accessible by a flight of stairs to a door on level two. This door went directly to her tower guardian skeletons and her bone champion. In addition, a dozen lesser skeletons were buried in the yard out of sight. Alarm crows roosted in two trees along the hedge wall, quick to alert her to any danger. No one could approach her secluded yard unless they battled their way in and made their presence known. She supposed magic might allow somebody to fly in, but she had a plan for that too. Four gargoyles now watched the tower. Two of them were perched on a ledge overlooking her private yard. If anyone was foolish enough to fly, the gargoyles would greet them.

All of this took a considerable sum of extra points paid for with the gold from the hag. Heather used more than half the money, sacrificing it for points to spend on defense. The rest was hidden in her bedroom deep in the mountain.

Passing through the tower, she came to the front gates, open wide enough for her to pass and guarded by four skeletons with scythes of their own. She thought it was a nice touch to arm them with scythes and assigned them to the doors. Outside the graveyard was a mist-filled maze, prowled by skeletons and rats. The most powerful of her spawners was right outside the doors, ensuring the strongest skeletons were on hand to repel intruders.

She walked into the mist and directly to a wall of dense growth. Vines and weeds pulled aside to open a passage for their mistress, allowing her to travel the maze with ease. The opening snapped close once she was clear, denying such ease of movement to others. Once at her gates, the graveyard beyond changed. This was Frank's territory, and he preferred a more open expanse of mossy cobbled lanes and rows of tombstones. They came in every shape and size, with weathered names and growths of vines over their surface. To his credit, he altered the land, so the yard sat in three distinct sections, each lifted above the other and connected by stairs.

Heather was in the upper yard and looked to the left, where a narrow walkway went all the way around her yard and then vanished to the left. She knew this path ended in the angel statue and was part of Frank's efforts to protect her. Anyone who approached the angel would alert Frank's entire graveyard, and a small army of undead would come running. He spent nearly all the coins he had expanding the yard to the water's edge and beyond. It was easily three times the size of his old yard and far more complex. The upper yard was the last line of defense before anybody reached Heather's tower. Here there were skeletons, but also a pack of hunting ghouls that stalked in the shadows. The lower levels had zombies, skeletons, and grave hounds, all moving about in search of prey. There were mausoleums scattered about, but on the highest level, there was a wall of them. They were embedded in the mountain as if carved from it. Heather admired the look it gave the place, a sort of lonely and abandoned feel. Most were one or two rooms deep, but one of them had a series of rooms, and was home to the ghouls. The small unmarked one closest to her gate was a secret entrance to Frank's tunnels. His layer was now three levels deep of tomb-like corridors and dusty rooms.

As in the yard above, the dangers in the tunnels below grew more deadly the deeper you went. Frank's lair was on the third level, connected to tunnels under her tower. There was a narrow spiral stair that led from his secret tunnels up to the fifth level. It connected to none of the other floors, going directly to a secret room with an exit to the cliff face. A stairwell then climbed her tower's outer wall to the sixth floor, where it connected to the caves. This was so Frank could reach her even if the tower was breached, and she could escape if needs be.

From the corner of the yard, she could see the hill that marked Quinn's barrow mound. Like Frank, she spent nearly every coin on points to upgrade and now had a series of underground tunnels lined with nooks full of coffins and mummies. Zombies prowled every inch of this space, hiding in the shadows and obscuring mist. Quinny's lair was cleverly beneath it all. In the second to last room was a broken stone sarcophagus with a false bottom. A hidden latch pulled it open, revealing a stair underneath. This led to the deepest room where her personal sarcophagus and treasure lay. A tunnel connected it to the same passage that went to Heather's tower, and this tunnel ran on all the way to the goblin village. If things got really bad, they could escape the entire complex to the goblins who would help ferry them away.

The true magic was Quinny's forest, a twisting morass of tall fur trees and dark oaks. She expanded it into the swamps and created a few interesting areas. There was a wide road of paved stones that looked as if they were laid a hundred years ago. Moss, vines, and tree roots broke up the road's edges as if the forest were attempting to reclaim it. Every so many yards, there was a street lamp lit by two dim candles. It ran straight through the forest, from the edge of the goblin village to the gates of Frank's graveyard. She added an abandoned farm with a pumpkin patch growing in a stone-walled field. This was haunted by two scarecrows, who stood like statues behind the ruins of the house. There was also a barn, with rotting walls and a thatched roof. Inside was a zombie bull, a wild and irritable beast that would charge and gore anyone who came near.

Wolves and bats still hunted among the trees, but there were many new additions. She now had five open graves, one of which she upgraded to produce a terrible type of zombie with a greenish slime to its skin. The slime was acidic, and the zombies could vomit this horrible substance at attackers. There were also death shells, a variety of crab with black to mottled yellow shells. They primarily lurked along the water's edge but traveled a significant distance inland. Under the water was another variety of zombie called a drowned. They were pale green to white in color with sickly flesh and black teeth. They lay in hid in the mud of the swamp, waiting to pull a careless adventurer under the water to their doom.

Thanks to Quinny, there were tall swamp trees with massive root systems along the water's edge. Here Breanne took over, haunting the swamps and edges of the forest and graveyard. Her presence caused things to spawn in and out, like ghosts struggling to return to this world. Strange lights were seen in the dense reeds or dancing around the dark trunks of trees. Random cackling laughs or distant wails echoed from the swamps as if some terrible beast were just beyond their sight. The worst thing players might encounter was the sacrifant. This terrible ghost appeared as an antlered deer skull with blazing white fires for eyes and a body of billowing black smoke. It was an NPC spirit that appeared because of the size of the area she was haunting. She had no direct control of it, but it also paid her nor the things she designated as friends any mind. In addition, thanks to her haunting, the swamp creatures in this area were no longer hostile and added to the defenses.

With a smile, she headed for the plain-looking mausoleum and slipped inside. She put her undead sight on and pushed the loose brick, causing the floor to slide open, revealing the stairs. Down the steps, she went into the gloom of the lower tunnels. Here the walls were stone blocks with carved archways depicting faces or simple patterns. She knew the quickest route and made her way into the depths of his lair. Skeletons watched as she passed, and a blood biter worm curled in a corner like an angry snake. She knew none of it would harm her, but it still gave her goosebumps to see it.

The lowest level was designed to look as if somebody was excavating it, with old wheelbarrows and pickaxes lying at the ends of tunnels. Down here, ghouls were plentiful, as was Frank's dog, the grave hound he called Brutus. Frank spent extra points on him to increase his size and toughness, turning the beast into a monster.

Franks lair was an elaborate burial chamber thirty meters across with a raised platform in the center that housed his pit. Four pillars stood at the corners, each with a silver skull at the top that glowed with a purple light. The room walls were decorated with old tapestries and banners as if a king was buried inside. Three great wooden chests rested on the far wall, and a half dozen stone steps led up to a crude throne. Frank sat here with Brutus at his feet, looking rather bored as he waited.

Why do you lurk down here so much? Heather asked as she entered the room.

I happen to like my lair, he replied. I cant wait for players to start coming.

Heather sighed and knew he was hoping to hear they were ready to give Gwen the stone. They all knew the players wouldn't truly start to come until Gwen could control her kingdom again, and she couldn't do that until the stone was returned.

The golem failed again, Heather replied as she looked away. I dont know whats causing it. His silence was awkward as he tapped the long nails of his fingers in thought.

I am sure you will figure it out.

Will you please be upset with me for once! Heather yelled in frustration. We all know I am delaying everything with this golem nonsense. The sooner Gwen gets her stone back, the better.

I would rather you had the golems for defense, Frank answered. Besides, we have plenty of time. Umtha and Finneous haven't arrived yet.

They will be here any day, if not today, Heather remarked in frustration. I hate that I am the one holding everything up.

You're not holding anything up, Frank countered as he stood. Quinny and I are still tampering with our lairs and making changes. Breanne is exploring and mapping the swamps, and the goblins are moving their village off the road into Quinny's trees.

Heather understood that the others were still getting ready, but she was still frustrated. There should be three bone golems for defense by now, and they should be on their way to Gwen. Instead, she had no idea how to make them, or more to the point, make them successfully. They all needed a little more time, but Heather felt the pressure none the less. Sooner or later, she was going to have to return the stone success or not.

So what are your plans after the stone? he asked, tearing her from her depreciating thoughts.

I was hoping to make some golems then return the stone. Then we would set off on the quest related to the egg while the city repopulated. By the time we get back, players should be coming regularly, and we could begin having fun.

Assuming the egg doesnt lead to something bigger, Frank interjected.

Heather wondered how much bigger things could get. She was embroiled in the life of another woman who everybody seemed to know. This other was aiding the great enemies of the server in their plans while also advancing her own. Heather was a part of that plan, and according to the letter, responsible for breaking the sun. She had a giant egg to return, a hand to find, and a hundred questions to answer.

Lets just return it and run away, Heather suggested as Webster crawled at her feet.

We cant afford to pass up a chance to learn more about Hathlisora, Frank urged.

Heather had her doubts and wanted to suggest they forget all about it. The more she settled here, the more she wanted them all to stay and do what they planned. She looked forward to a massive tower with twenty levels and magical rooms. Frank would have his deep dungeon and heart, and Quinny miles of magical forest full of unique areas.

I vote we put the mystery on hold for a while, Heather suggested.

Frank shrugged and shuffled to the raised platform in the center of the room. He climbed into his pit and began to type as she followed, coming to stand at the edge.

I put a lot of thought into our lairs, Frank said as he looked into the buffer. The forest is easy for the most part. It gets more dangerous in the graveyard, and even more so as you climb the levels. Your area is very dangerous, and the tower is the worst.

What are you saying? Heather asked, not sure where he was going with this.

I think we have a good adventure scale setup. New players can cut their teeth on the early swamps and then Quinny's forest. More advanced players can venture into my graveyard, and serious players into your area.

I see, she remarked as Webster leaped to one of the pillars. She watched as he climbed to the skull at the top, feeling around as if trying to work out how they glowed. What do we do if the players want to kill one of us?

You pretend to be another player, Frank said. The rest of us can respawn and be fine.

Heather hated the idea of her friends being killed, but so long as it wasn't a reset, she supposed it didn't matter. Still, if anybody tried to drag one of them away from their lair, she would intervene and put a stop to it. Frank agreed she should but had to limit herself to flower singer only powers. They couldn't risk anyone suspecting she was a necromancer and alerting the people searching for them. This was a golden opportunity to build something special and maybe even something lasting with Gwen's help.

Hmm, Heather said and began to pace. I am a hero player.

Why are you asking that? he replied.

Heather looked around as a thought blossomed in her head.

Why cant I level up fighting your monsters?

Frank stopped his typing and looked her way with a confused look on his face.

I am a hero, after all. Can't I level up in the graveyard and forest? Won't you get points if I play here?

I guess so, he replied with a strange hesitation. It has to earn us something.

Why didnt we think of this sooner? Heather laughed.

You were always on our friend's lists, so nothing attacked you, Frank said. We would have to take you off the list so the monsters would see you as hostile.

You should do it, then I could play for a while, and you could add me back to the list when I was done, Heather pointed out, feeling rather proud of herself.

Frank tapped at the soil of his pit with a long nail as if thinking about the idea. I suppose we could try it, but I don't know how much experience we will get. Unless you tackle something hard, it probably won't be much.

I could clear the graveyard and the upper tunnels, Heather suggested and then thought about it. Could you clear my tower?

Frank sat on his heels and looked down as he considered it. I am sure I could; you are a hero player after all.

Then we should do it, Heather insisted. We could earn points from each other and build faster.

Only a little faster, he suggested. One player clearing my graveyard isnt going to be a lot of points.

That was twice he tried to suggest this wasn't going to be as useful as she hoped. She decided to press the idea and insist they try and see how it went. He agreed, and they went to the surface to find Quinny or Breanne. Quinny was just coming out of the tower when they arrived at Heather's gates and was quickly informed of the plan. Her role would be to relay messages to Frank as he watched from his interface in the lower crypt. Heather would play with only the bone champion as her companion and work her way around the yard, then into the first level of tunnels.

Quinny and Frank went into the lower levels as Heather went to collect her bone champion. She then waited at the doors of her tower for Quinny to return and tell her it was ready. With a pleased smile, Heather entered the graveyard and was immediately attacked by skeletons. Things went wrong immediately when the nearby skeletons from the tower ran to her rescue. She had to finish the fight and order them back before moving deeper into the yard. Here she had a decent battle with a few zombies, but the bone champion carried the fight and made quick work of them.

A grave hound nearly ambushed her, but again it proved little challenge. A dozen skeletons and zombies later, and she felt very accomplished.

Youre making this look easy, Quinny laughed as she followed behind.

I am hardly doing anything, Heather remarked with a nod to the bone champion. He's doing all the work.

The next hour was spent cutting her way through the graveyard with no challenge. Frank was below, ensuring his undead didn't swarm over her, and she was careful to pull them in small groups. Even when the hunting ghouls were engaged, she beat them easily, using grasping hands to hold them in place while the bone champion cut them down. Even her rotting bolts were effective, especially since she upgraded them. She also used her dash ability to surprise some skeletons and aid the bone champion. Her pollen spell had almost no effect, the undead ignoring the obscuring effect. The bees were even more useless, especially to the skeletons who walked through them unaffected.

She found this experience to be very useful in understanding the strengths and weaknesses of undead. She could see ways to exploit these weaknesses and strengths against attacking players and make her own forces more effective. Once the yard was clear, she headed into the upper tunnels, crawling along carefully as Frank's pets did all they could to impede her. She used the undead sight to see clearly as she reached the first flight of stairs down.

Well, thats it, Heather remarked while turning to Quinny. Go tell Frank to put me back on the list.

You destroyed his minions, Quinny laughed and headed down the steps. She promised to be back and vanished into the lower tunnels leaving Heather to wait with her Bone Champion.

You did well, Heather remarked as she looked at the hulking skeleton. It didn't seem to react to her words, so she went back to waiting until Frank and Quinny came back up the stairs.

Well? Heather asked. The two exchanged glances before Quinny burst out that she wanted Heather to play in the forest.

What? Why? Heather asked in shock.

You won't believe how many points Frank got! Quinny blurted.

Heather turned to Frank, who scratched at the top of his head and shrugged. I got a lot more than I thought I would. Enough to add something to the graveyard.

Really? Heather asked in a pleased tone. Then we should do this more often.

Yeah, do my forest next, Quinny pleaded.

Did you get any experience? Frank asked as Quinny pleaded with Heather to play in the forest again.

Heather pulled open her panel and went to her character sheet. Her eyes focused on the number that represented her experience as she nodded. About a fifth of what I need to level.

This works great! Quinny interjected. We should raid her tower.

Frank looked perplexed but eventually shrugged. Maybe we should.

We could level so much faster this way, Quinny replied. Once the graveyard resets, she could do it again, and then again.

Frank nodded, but Heather saw the doubt on his face. She pried into what he was thinking, and his concerns were touching in a way. He wanted to share the lair with Heather, not play against her. He would rather they worked together to create an adventure for other players. Quinny called him silly and insisted he could use the points he gained to make a bigger graveyard.

What about the other things we need to do? Frank asked. We cant sit here all day and raid each others lairs. We have to follow the trail of clues connected to Hathlisora.

Heather had to agree; there were some things that needed doing, most notably the creation of a golem and the return of Gwen's kingdom heart. Then there was the egg, the bracelet, setting up her bookstore in Gwen's city. Umtha and Finneous needed new homes, and she needed time for a more detailed study of the necromancer book.

Franks right, Heather said at last. We need to focus on players. I will run through your areas once a day or so if they are slow, but I have a lot of things to work on.

Aww, Quinny said with a sad expression. Will you at least hunt in my forest today?

Heather smiled and turned to the bone champion. Ready to do some more fighting? The skeleton nodded, so she took the lead and headed for Quinny's forest. At least there was something fun to do, and every lesson learned about undead made her a more dangerous necromancer. With scythe over her shoulder, they made their way into the forest to test their mettle. Today was a good day, tomorrow would be better, and soon they could begin investigating again. As the killing started, the sun moved across the sky ever a reminder that Heather was more than a necromancer.