Heather the Necromancer

Heather stood on the edge of her grand balcony, looking over the graveyard below. Behind her, the waterfall fell into the channels cut into the rock, flowing under the walkway. It came out at the ledge, falling in three graceful channels to the perfectly round pool twenty meters below. The balcony itself was ten meters wide with marble benches and raised beds of roses in red and yellow. The railing was made of gently curved stone pillars holding up a band of white marble roughly waist-high.

From here, she looked down and marveled at the change. Franks graveyard was an amazing work of art that had to be seen from above to be appreciated. To start with, he shaped the land into rings with an innermost yard centered on her tower. It wasn't very large but had a thick stone wall topped by iron spikes. The gates were guardhouses with portcullis and arrow slits. Skeleton archers lurked behind those narrow openings, and something called a zombie brawler guarded the gates with six regular zombies that he upgraded to make them dangerously fast. This ring was populated by ghouls and a new variety of undead known as a geist. It resembled a zombie if a zombie could be made out of shadows and given long hooked claws. The creatures left clouds of blackness in their wake and could meld into the shadows and vanish when they wanted. One particularly fearsome beast now patrolled this ring, a robbed and hooded skeleton with a staff adorned by a skull. It was a form or player-generated lich, a fearsome undead spell caster. It had a cave in the cliff face for its lair and was programmed to begin hunting if the number of undead in the upper ring began to dwindle.

The whole space had a wide curved lane of cobbles, with a single lamp post right before the steps to her tower, as if to mark where the graveyard ended, and Heather's gardens began.

Outside the gates was the second ring of the graveyard. It was a hundred meters across with a wide stone lane that and around the ring. A hundred small mausoleums lined up against the wall, many used as lairs or spawning points for the new numerous undead. On the other side of the lane was a lawn filled with tombstones that looked hundreds of years old. Dark trees and open graves littered the place, as did the occasional statue. He used piled stone wall segments to divide this ring into areas where undead lurked in every shadow. Grave hounds were prolific here, as were a variety of spider that lurked in webbed trees. Zombies, skeletons, and a rare ghoul could be found hidden away, waiting for victims to feast on. A variety of beetle the size of a moderate dog, that bore a skull-like shell, scurried among the gravestones feeding on the dead. The yard was obscured in a fog that rolled in thick clouds helping to further conceal the dangers.

Heather added some touches at Frank's request. Growing vines and thorns in strategic places, as well as areas of tall dead grass. The whole effect was an old, overgrown graveyard, filled with hidden areas and overrun by undead. The outer wall for this section was an iron fence capped by sharp spear-like spikes. It was four meters tall and covered with rusted signs, warning players of the danger inside.

The outermost ring was two meters lower than the middle one. Stone steps led up to the middle ring through open gates in the fence. It was by far the largest area, three hundred or more meters wide running from the river all the way around the inner ring to the cliff face where Frank ingeniously cut stone steps leading up to a high ledge where now stood a dilapidated church.

This ring was hilly and full of ledges as broken stone paths wound their way through the maze of graves and trees. There was only one proper lane, made to join the bridge that connected Quinny's forest with the graveyard. Now a person would walk the whole of the forest and across the graveyard on the same road. Frank put an old caretaker's house near the river, with a wheelbarrow and pile of shovels as if bodies were buried regularly.

This yard was meant to be a challenge for players around the fifth to ninth level. It was populated mostly by skeletons, giant rats, a few bats, and even snakes called death adders. A rare zombie could spawn in the yard, as could some wolves, thanks to a fun idea he and Quinny had. She now shared in control of the land around the caretaker's house, her forest trees hiding it under their dark leaves. This allowed some of her monsters to spawn there and wander the graveyard, adding some variety.

Frank took several hours to carefully craft a unique spawn for this area. It was a goblin grave robber who would spawn at the back gate and sneak into the yard to dig up a grave. Players who encountered the goblin were in for a fight as he summoned skeletons and fought with a rusted shovel. If killed, he would randomly generate treasure and could potentially drop a minor magical item. Heather was fascinated by that idea and asked if she could kill him to see what he had.

Frank didn't see why not. She was a hero player, after all, and as such should be able to trigger the effect. The goblin only spawned twice in eight hours, and both times dropped a handful of coins when killed. Some of the minor skeletons also dropped a coin or two, prompting her to ask why they suddenly had loot.

Frank spent points to upgrade them to have treasure so players would enjoy exploring the yard more. They had a very low chance of having a mundane item like a sword or shield, but at least there was more reward than just experience. There was one catch, in that Frank had to keep putting points in a pool to generate their coins. He said there was a delicate balance in how much treasure they dropped compared to how many points he earned from a player exploring his yard. She didn't recall seeing such an option for her skeletons, but then she wasn't a monster player. Her undead were more thematic and not there to be an adventure for players.

To make the outer yard, Frank was forced to push the swamps back. He filled in the land until it finally ended at stone ledges and rotting wooden docks into the water. Five small canoe-like boats were tied to these docks daring players to brave the dangers of the swamps themselves. To ensure they didn't, Frank placed a dozen signs hung from gnarled trees or on iron posts. These signs were decorated with skulls and painted with a dire warning. He wanted players to know that going into the water was suicide, for this was the domain of the banshee.

Heather had to remove and move the changes made to Breanne's island to make way for Franks's expansion. Now there were a dozen small muddy islands hidden in the mist of the black marsh. Heather recreated the large island, and Frank modified the mausoleum, making it far larger.

It was an imposing structure with a high central spire and eight rooms around a grand pillared chamber. This was the haunt of Breanne, and she had spent her points viciously. The swamp fog was now oppressive, often reducing visibility to four or five meters and moving as if flowing across the ground. Creatures lurked in that mist now, from lesser ghosts, a variety of zombies called a drowner, giant insects that feed on blood, savage undead alligators, and finally those terrible lights.

She called them willowisps, but Heather called them terror lights. They appeared as nothing more than balls of color, flitting through the mists just out of reach. If you were foolish enough to follow them, you could be certain you were about to step in quicksand or, on the tail of an undead alligator. The lights could shriek like Breanne did, the wail causing goosebumps and instilling a deep desire to flee. If they did attack, they came in groups, shooting passed at terrific speed, as white electrical zaps burned at your skin. They danced and darted erratically, nearly impossible to keep in sight as they strived to stay behind you. Even worse, they could make you see things that were not there. A dry path might actually be a spiked pit, or a friendly woman on a boat, a ghost standing on a floating log. They worked to conceal the swamp's dangers until it was too late and then hurried to aid in the player's demise laughing with a shrill mockery.

Since most players would avoid the water anyway, Frank wasn't concerned with how dangerous her area was. He put up the signs to warn them and left it at that.

His real plan was to make layers of adventure with the lowest players prowling through Quinny's forest before finding the graveyard. Once here, the outer ring was the place to play, with slightly higher players finding more challenge on the middle ring. The inner ring quickly ramped up the danger, as this was more for Heather's protection than adventure and hence why the gates were closed, barred, and guarded, but it didn't end there.

In the middle ring was the wall of mausoleums, three of which led into the lower tunnels. Here there was a warren of tombs, caves, and forgotten crypts. This was where players who wanted more challenge than the middle ring were meant to play and where the master of the tunnels lurked. The upper layer expansive and was a sprawling dungeon complex. He turned it into a sort of maze, of twists and turns leading to small treasure rooms where elite monsters would spawn. Clever players who searched hard could even find secret paths to an island in the swamp, coming up inside an old round tower. This was a treasure room Breanne established and was now haunted by a poltergeist that would make them regret finding the way.

There were additional tunnels into Quinny's forest, one that came out of a cave in the cliff wall, and another cleverly hidden in an open grave. The players had to open the casket in the grave to discover a ladder down inside. There were additional secret tunnels to Quinny's barrow mounds, but those ran much deeper, as did all of Franks's complex.

Below the first level was another, shaped to resemble a dungeon with chains on walls and skulls in every corner. Ghouls and zombies were everywhere, as was a terrible thing made of jelly that crawled down the halls like a slug, stripping the walls and floor bare of anything organic. Frank said it could dissolve all living tissue, leaving behind the bones and gear of unfortunate players. This twisting maze of room, tunnels, and chambers hid a stairwell down to yet another level.

The third level was a giant temple complex, with rooms full of pews and bookcases. Old moldy banners hung on walls, and soiled rugs ran to long smashed alters. Frank added magical candles in places, offering flickering light in otherwise vast areas of pitch blackness.

In one room was a magical fountain, the flowed with clear water. It was part of a clever puzzle Frank added to entertain players and provide more challenge than just killing monsters. Hidden in four separate places on this level were bottles of magical powder. If poured into the fountain, the water gained special properties for a short duration. Red powder turned the waters into a healing potion. Blue powder restored a player's mana. The green powder gave the player a boost of speed, and yellow gave them dark vision. However, if you mixed yellow and blue together, you got a deadly poison. Blue and green turned you invisible, and red and green blinded you for an hour. If all four were mixed, a crazed alchemist would spawn in the room right outside and attack with two alchemical monsters that resembled short little demon things with gray skin. Only by defeating this alchemist would you gain the key needed to unlock the door to the next level.

This level was her favorite because it wasn't so two dimensional. Frank made towering hallways large enough for a giant to walk in. These went up and down ramps and had ledges over deep ravines that fell to rushing waters of underground rivers. There was almost a ruined city vibe to the runnels and chambers here, with wide lanes running in a gentle curve and house-like structures carved into the walls. These were grand mausoleums, and the whole place was essentially an underground graveyard. There were bridges of stone over the ravine leading to caves and tunnels. Some had chambers with gravestones in them, others walls lines with nooks to hold mummified bodies.

A type of strong zombie was common down here. It was the animated remains of a long-dead warrior and often came at you with rusted armor weapons, an unearthly glow in their eyes. Some had magic as well, hurling ice, fire, or even sprays of sharpened bones. Carrion worms prowled in the wider tunnels, as did a vicious wooly spider that would drop a strand of silk from above to snare a meal and drag it up to its doom. Randomly a party of goblins would spawn as if searching the deep tunnels. These were armed to the teeth and would battle the monsters found inside until they reached a deep chamber where they would arrive at a forge. The goblins would then set about, relighting the forge and crafting a large metal key used to open the next door. If players wanted to proceed, they needed to help the goblins and keep them alive to reach the forge, then buy the key from them, or battle them for it. If approached in a friendly manner, the goblins would even buy the junk the monsters dropped, acting as merchants for loot happy players.

The key was needed to open what Frank called the deep gate. Two massive doors of black stone fifteen meters high set into the wall of a large chamber. The key was a sort of cog in a counterweight mechanism used to open the gates. Clever players who befriended the goblins and asked would be told there was rumored to be a long lost goblin treasure hoard below. They would ask the players to find and return with something called the Green diadem for a reward.

Behind the gates was a ten-meter wide flight of stairs that went on for a good distance, slowly twisting around to end up under the previous levels. This was a cave system with very little in the way of man-made structures except for a spiral of lines in a central cave. In typical Frank fashion, it was a maze, with tunnels often twisting on one another or branching off in four directions.

It was prowled by shadows, frenzied ghouls, enormous vampire bats, skeletons, and bone horrors. The latter was something she could add to her areas as well. It was an amalgamation of bones that scurried along on a dozen arms and legs. Spines radiated out of the mass like tentacles ending in fanged skulls that bit with vicious tenacity. The thing was surprisingly fast, more than able of running down an average player, and for those who could fly and avoid it, the beast could spray areas with a hail of razor-sharp bone chips. It made a crunching and clicking noise as it shuffled along in the darkness, hunting for prey.

This level had no goblins. Instead, players would have to search for the remains of a goblin party. They were found in a small cave where they had their last stand. Searching the bodies would reveal a scroll of paper with a poem and a warning to kill them all first. Reciting the poem in the central cave caused the scroll to disintegrate and spiral lines to begin sinking, forming a staircase. However, the process was slow, and as it began, every bone horror still alive would rush to the center. Players who didn't take the time to search the tunnels and clear them would suddenly be attacked on all sides.

It took ten long agonizing minutes for the staircase to finish. This was an insurance policy on Frank's part, giving him time to assess the danger and potentially escape, for this was his last level.

Down here, things changed. The walls were made of crude stone bricks, and the tunnels only five meters wide. It was laid out as a death trap with a sign right at the base of the stairs warning the players to turn back.

The gloomy maze was lit by flickering torches that would burn forever provided they were not removed. The air smelled of smoke and the stagnant water that pooled in places turning the dirt floors to mud. Some regions reeked of death as if something foul had died weeks ago and been left to rot. The whole place was meant to unnerve the player, as they discovered blood trails, broken weapons, and signs of recent deaths. It was all a charade, carefully crafted to put them on edge as they dared explore the last level, searching for the reward.

Players who braved this level would find it full of traps, shadows, skeletons, zombie abominations, and ghoul berzerkers. It was also full of Franks's new minions, the imps. These little goblin-like creatures were only one meter tall and garbed in rotting cloth. They skulked about the tunnels with pickaxes and shovels for weapons, and often a backpack or bag.

These did all kinds of maintenance work for the dungeons. Able to slip through the shadows unnoticed and crawl into the tightest places. They would harass players with ambush and hit and run tactics, using magic, poisons, and traps to their advantage. The diminutive little monsters would steal anything they could get their hands on, dragging it back to a specified treasure chamber. Twice per hour, they could teleport back to the chamber or another imp. This allowed them to ambush parties in great numbers, snatching gear and items and then vanishing into thin air.

This level was laid out like a bunker. With a series of barred doors guarded by ranks of undead and deadly traps. Frank designed the whole thing as an obvious but false path. It ended in a room where all the treasure lay, in the last and final treasure room. It all ended in one vast room, where Frank stored a great deal of treasure to spawn a worthy boss for the dungeon. He got his wish when a zombie dragon and a hoard of human zombies spawned. The rotting beast breathed a sticky green goo that would burn the skin like acid. Any player who died to the goo would become a zombie, adding to the army of guardians.

This room was meant to be the final reward, but it wasn't the end. Franks actual private chambers were hidden nearby, behind a secret door in the floor of a small cave. He created dozens of small twisting caves that dead-ended at bare walls to help hide the entrance. This was to convince players that the tunnels were cosmetic and tire of searching them long before they found his. Even then, most players searched the walls; few would think to search the floor.

These lower tunnels had smooth stone walls, clean passages, and iron doors. Secret walls and traps were everywhere, many designed by Legeis to help maximize damage to curious players. It was laid out in dead-end halls and rooms circling a center chamber.

This chamber was a substantial room that acted as Frank's lair. The walls were sheets of black and gray marble streaked with white. The whole space was round and ringed by pillars topped with skulls that glowed in a purplish light. It was surprisingly clean, with polished tile floors and ornate tables and chairs. There was even a gigantic bed here, though he seldom slept, and then usually buried in his earthen pit.

That very pit was at the center of the room but wasn’t the most interesting feature. Against one wall on a raised pedestal was a ball of frosted white glass that pulsed with soft light. This was his dungeon heart, and while it was safe, he could do amazing things inside the confines of his build. All of it cost him points that he had to keep feeding into the heart, but he had plenty already banked. He could project an image of himself anywhere on his build. This image effectively was him and could interact with the world. It couldn't leave the graveyard, but it allowed him to intervene in problems quickly. One place he intended to use it was to stop people from entering the inner yard, giving them a personal warning before approaching Heather's tower.

He could also trigger traps, move monsters around, alter lighting, create ghostly effect, and even cast spells by sending an imp and sacrificing it in the cast. This acted as a limit to the number of spells he could use in a given duration but still significantly increased his utility. He could teleport to any place in his dungeon or graveyard but couldn't do so again until he returned to the heart.

One of his greatest tricks was an ability to see and hear anything going on in his lair, provided his hand was on the heart. He could then send a ghostly alarm to anyone in his lair. If Heather was in the lair or even the tower, he could warn her of impending danger. If she was deep in the mountain, he would send the warning to Breanne, who would then fly to alert Heather and Legeis.

From his secret chamber radiated tunnels that went to secure reaches of the lair. One exited in Quinny's barrow mounds, another in the garden beside the magic portal. One was hidden in the earth under Breanne's mausoleum but had no door to allow entrance. Instead, Breanne used her ghost ability to pass through the ground, arriving in the tunnel if in need of escape.

Heather and Legeis had a tunnel hidden in the magic treasure room. They could use it to get to Frank's lower chamber and then use his tunnel to get to the portal. If everything went wrong and there was no chance of holding back the tide, they would run to Gwen and the safety of her city.

The wonderous part of it all was that Frank was now free to travel. No longer would he reset if he died outside his lair, or even outside the kingdom. Now, if slain, his body would reform at the heart, with only a minor loss of points and any items he was carrying. It took longer to respawn this way, but still, it afforded him a measure of protection he hadn't had before, and that was welcome indeed.

All of it was a welcome change, and it brought a smile to her face as somebody approached.

“Enjoying the view?” Quinny asked as she walked down the path over the balcony.

With a nod, Heather looked across the new expanse that was their lair. Truly this was amazing.

“My forest now extends a little more than halfway around the rim. I am going to put all my low-level monsters there with it getting increasingly harder as they get near the graveyard.”

Heather glanced at her in recognition. Quinny and Frank had carefully laid out the progression, but Quinny still had a few high-level areas along the cliff face. She even had two haunted farms and a small village of ruined houses and creeping zombies.

“Have you spoken to Umtha yet?” Quinny asked, drawing Heather out of her contemplation.

“No,” she replied with a sigh and looked up. “Why am I so afraid to face her?”

“Because she is scary insistent you do that right away,” Quinny replied as she sat on the railing. “That egg is very important to her.”

“I know, and I promised I would deal with it once we were done with Gwen. I can’t put it off any longer.”

Quinny looked out over the graveyard, swinging her legs as she listened. “Maybe we should deal with it now.”

“Why do you say that?” Heather asked, turning to look at her. She shrugged and glanced back. “Players aren't going to be out here for days or even weeks. Now might be the best time to run off on another crazy adventure. None of us will want to go if things get busy and we start having fun.”

“Good point,” Heather agreed and leaned on the railing. “Maybe it won't be too long a trip.”

“I am sure it will be,” Quinny said. “But you have your skeleton bed thing to carry you now, and the rest of us can walk forever.”

“Hmm, is it wise for princess Hannah to travel by skeleton power? Won’t that cause suspicion that will inevitably get back to our enemies?”

“How else are you going to do it?” Quinny asked with a tilted head.

Heather thought about that answer and realized there were only three options. She could walk, but that meant traveling with only what she could carry. She could have Legeis modify the palanquin to add wheels, and he could pull it along with his armor, or she could find another way to travel. There was always taking the bird form and flying or even riding on Frank's shoulder, but that seemed kind of silly. There was also the matter of transporting the egg itself. This meant some manner of wagon or cart was needed, so how to do it without drawing attention? Even traveling with her friends might cause suspicion. Plenty of people knew to look out for a girl with a ghoul and zombie as a companion.

“When are you going to look at those plant zombies of mine?” Quinny asked.

“I don’t know, but that gives me an idea,” Heather said with a glance to Quinny. “What if I disguised my skeletons with plants to make them look like nature creatures. Breanne can ride in the palanquin with the egg, and you and Frank and walk beside it.”

“Where will you be?” Quinny asked, a confused expression on her face.

“I will be in the palanquin when nobody is around, but when we see people coming, I will change into a bird. That way, nobody will place me at all in your group.”

Quinny looked skeptical with a long drawn out “Hmmmmm.”

“Not a good idea?” Heather asked, wondering where her plan had gone astray.

“Well, it hides you and Breanne, but Frank and I won't pass for players.”

“You can easily pass for a hero player with a little makeup and a clean outfit. Frank can wear some armor to hide his appearance.” She stopped in her thoughts and began to consider what she just said. She didn't want to speak for Frank or assume he would be happy doing things her way. Too often, she pushed him into danger by being demanding. This time she would discuss it with him instead.

“I want to ask Frank what he wants to do. I can’t keep demanding he do things my way.”

“Aww,” Quinny said with a smile. “You really do care about him, don’t you?”

Heather nodded and gazed over the swamp, a faraway look to her eyes. “I have never known a guy like him, and he deserves better.”

“Well, we certainly made his day with the gold,” Quinny replied, gesturing to the graveyard below. “He has a massive lair now.”

“It is wonderful,” Heather agreed. “He was so happy to start building I wanted to cry.”

“I love the underground graveyard thing he built. I could spend days down there exploring the tombs.”

“I kinda like it myself,” Heather admitted. “I keep expecting to find player homes down there.”

“Well, any undead that can haunt could technically make a home,” Quinny said with a shrug.

Heather wondered if someday there would be other undead players haunting the lower tunnels and creating a secret subterranean community. “Oh, that reminds me,” she said, looking to Quinny. “I was wondering if you could create a dungeon heart.”

“I can create a forest heart,” Quinny replied. “But I don’t want to do that until I can add the maze and mists effect.”

“Maze and mists? What’s that?”

“A magical effect I can put on the forest to confuse players. I can create a sort of magic pocket that will hide the forest heart, and players who get too close will be turned around and confused so they can't find it.”

“So it’s a way to hide it so players can’t destroy it,” Heather surmised.

“Yeah, otherwise people would always go for it, even though you get no reward.”

Heather wondered why they could even be destroyed. Surely it was pointless to create a system that offered such a lopsided outcome. If there was no reward for one player but a considerable loss for another, then the only good reason to destroy one was to be cruel. This made her think of Hathlisora's note and the idea that the necromancers were working on changing the reset system. Maybe this was part of the reason to remove the terrible price monster players paid to bad players.

It didn’t seem fair that players were far more difficult to reset, their homes protected by guarded walls and castles. If monster players banded together and raided a town, burning player homes to force their reset, people would be up in arms and out for revenge. Why was it perfectly acceptable to cause the same harm to monster players?

This turned into a rabbit hole of thoughts about how unfair the system was. Players could make transportable easily hidden hearts for towns, cities, and kingdoms. Monsters, on the other hand, had large immobile hearts that were difficult to hide.

She decided to use her kingdom heart to aid her friends in every way she could. She would also see about making golems to help them. Certainly, a few well-placed golems would make reaching a monsters heart far more difficult to do.

“Umm, Heather,” Quinny said, drawing Heather’s attention away from her thoughts.

Heather looked up to see Quinny looking worried, her gaze focused on something behind her back. She turned around to look into a pair of angry eyes that burned with accusation.

“Umtha!” she cried as her heart sank. “How are you?”