Heather the Necromancer

The blowing wind ruffled Heather’s yellow dress as they all stood in silence. The glaring gaze of the goblin queen showed no emotion save contempt as Quinny cleared her throat nervously. The silence was deafening as they waited for the inevitable break of the storm.

“Why you no take egg?” Umtha demanded with a pointed finger. “You must take home!”

Heather was almost relieved the silence was over and wondered why she was afraid of an NPC. She realized it wasn't from any threat of harm but a desire not to let the goblin woman down. Umtha was a friend, and Heather wanted her to be happy just as she did the others. With a calm voice, she stated her case and gave Umtha the answer.

“Look, I'm sorry, but there were other things I needed to do first. We are settled here now and just talking about taking the egg.”

“Should take already,” Umtha accused. “Is important.”

Heather went to reply but paused as she considered that reaction. Several times Umtha suggested she knew more than Heather did but never explained what. Maybe it was time she stopped ignoring those suggestions and try to drag some of that information out.

“Why is it important?” Heather asked with a slight smile. “What aren’t you telling me?”

Umtha's long green ears folded back as her face scrunched in aggravation. Heather could see the question made her angry, but it only made sense to know why this particular task needed doing right away.

“You promise take egg home,” Umtha argued.

“No, Hathlisora promised that,” Heather corrected.

“You Hathlisora,” Umtha insisted.

Heather tried not to lose her temper, remembering that Umtha couldn't be blamed for what she believed. She thought this conversation had ended the first time they came to the swamp, but clearly, Umtha still thought Heather was Hathlisora. She decided not to press the point, unwilling to hurt the goblin woman’s feelings, instead going for a more diplomatic approach.

“I told you I would take care of the egg when I was done with my other tasks. I am done with them now, and Quinny and I were about to talk to Frank and discuss it with him. If it matters to you at all, I went to great lengths to keep it safe until I was ready. Also, you and your goblins are now allies of the kingdom.”

Umtha let out a grunt as she looked about, the annoyance obvious on her face. “You do soon?”

“I will go talk to Frank about taking the egg right now,” Heather replied. “You are welcome to come with if you want.”

“We go,” Umtha said with a firm tone, waiting for Heather to lead the way.

She turned to Quinny, who shrugged and followed as they made their way into the tower and down to the lower graveyard. She took the entrance in the mausoleum and crept into the dark tunnels beneath. Umtha looked about with awe as they passed through the tunnels. The first two levels made her flinch when the undead minions reacted to their presence. None of them attacked, but glowing eyes followed them with dead stares as they passed into the darkness. When it came time to open locked gates, Heather spoke Frank's secret command word, and they were able to pass easily.

Umtha began to wander about the wide lanes on the third level, looking into the dark open doorways that marked the towering mausoleums like houses on a street. Heather marveled at how Frank managed to light this vast cavern with greens and soft yellows. Despite being lit, there were plenty of shadows and dark corners, giving the overall impression of gloom. An underworld of the dead, separated from the life on the surface.

As one of the under roads came to a cliff face, they found Frank standing along the edge talking with Breanne. They approached the two as Frank looked up, and Heather noted his gaze went directly to Umtha.

“She wants you to take the egg?” he asked before Heather even spoke.

“Must take!” Umtha insisted. “Hathlisora promised.”

“But she isn’t Hathlisora,” Frank replied with a look to Heather.

“Don’t bother,” Heather said with a shake of her head. “Let’s just move on.”

“But we have the letter now, it proves…” Frank began as Heather held up a hand to silence him.

“Quinny and I were discussing how to move the egg and travel so that people won't recognize our group. We wanted to talk with you so you could put some input into the idea.”

Frank looked confused for a moment before glancing to Breanne, who took a seat on a small stone bench waiting for the explanation. Heather then laid out the plan to travel with Breanne in the palanquin as a noble lady with the egg hidden inside. The skeletons disguised as nature spirits would carry them, and act as a bodyguard. Heather would travel as a bird every time another player showed up, and Frank and Quinny would wear armor to help conceal their true natures.

“What about the bone champion?” Frank asked. “How will you disguise him?”

Heather hadn't considered that until Frank mentioned it. How could she hide something that only a necromancer would have? There was always the option to leave him behind, but that felt wrong, and he was so useful in combat.

“Shouldn’t you be spending some time on what to do with that strange staff you found?” Breanne asked, changing the subject.

“Yes, but this might need to happen first,” Heather suggested. “And I don’t know what to do about the bone champion. Maybe I can disguise him as well.”

“As what?” Frank asked. “He wears heavy armor already and glows with green fire now.”

“I know,” Heather admitted as she began to pace. “It isn’t right to keep leaving the minion that’s meant to be my bodyguard behind. I keep thinking he must feel abandoned when we do.”

“It's only an NPC minion,” Frank urged, but Heather wasn't so sure. Just like Umtha, he responded to stimuli in a very human way sometimes. He even decided on his own to recover that ring for her. Surely that meant some manner of thinking was going on behind those glowing eyes.

“I will think of something,” Heather sighed. “For now, I wanted to get your opinion on the plan. You might have a better idea of how to accomplish our goals.”

“Well, that’s a change,” Breanne said with a smirk before turning to Frank. “Well, what do you think?”

Frank tapped at the ground with his long nails before letting out a sigh. “I would rather just stay here and have fun when players start coming. I don’t want to chase anymore of this Hathlisora stuff, but I understand why you do.”

“Honestly, I don’t want to chase anymore of it either,” Heather admitted. “I am finally starting to enjoy being here, and I want to explore that and have fun, but our friend asked me to do this, and I can’t say no.”

Frank glanced to Umhta and let out a deep sigh. “I bet Gwen can have some armor made that would fit me properly.”

“Frank, I don’t want to force you to do this,” Heather said, taking a step toward him. “I hate that I have been so bossy in the past, and you got hurt. All we’re doing right now is discussing how we would get this done if we did choose to do it.”

“Must do,” Umtha insisted. “Egg, go home.”

“Doesn’t seem like choosing is an option,” Breanne remarked.

Quinny laughed and stepped to the center of the group. “Who are we kidding? We all know we're going to take the egg home. All we need to decide is how and when.”

Frank lifted a hand to scratch at his head but stopped mid-motion as a single nail tapped at his skull.

“Is something wrong?” Heather asked, noting the sudden change in his nervous twitch.

“My head doesn’t itch now that I don’t have hair,” he said. “I am just doing this out of habit.” He dropped his arm and looked about his underground chamber as if appreciating the beauty. “Why don't Quinny and I go to the city to see if Gwen can help with the armor. You should make the skeletons you need and see if you can learn anything about the staff while we're away.”

“So we’re going to do this then?” Heather asked excitedly.

Frank nodded and turned to head for the road up. “Let’s take it home and find out what the next breadcrumb is.”

“You think there will be more?” Heather asked, noting the sad tone in his voice.

Frank turned to look at her with heavy eyes. “I know there will be more, and Umtha will insist you keep following them.” With that, he turned away, heading for the surface and the portal as Heather stewed in her thoughts.

The whole walk back to the surface, she wondered if he was right. Was the egg just a stepping stone to the next item or location they would have to go? Would they find some new task that would send them off in another direction? What if this really was a plan of the visitors? What if they used chosen to narrate grand adventures for the sake of the players? But then what if the chosen were just carefully guarded prisoners snatched from society for being too dangerous. In the end, it all came down to the same problem. Nobody knew who the visitors were or what they wanted. All they had was one cryptic invitation to enter new Eden so they could learn. This world could be anything from an attempt at paradise to a secret laboratory with a sinister purpose.

“Heather?” Quinny asked, jarring her from the disturbing thoughts.

“Sorry, I was just thinking,” she replied with a tense tone.

“Don’t be upset. Frank is probably wrong. I bet we take the egg back and were done.”

Heather smiled weakly but didn't believe a word of it. The letter was proof that Hathlisora was guiding her steps, and that trail wasn't going to come to an end so easily. Now she began to wonder about the staff, the ring, and the crown. All three items were meant for her, as was this base hidden in the mountainside. Even Gwen proved to be connected to the web, knowing how to contact somebody close to Hathlisora. She wondered what she could learn from such a person and then thought of Frank. He didn't want her to talk to this person or follow Hathlisora’s trail. He wanted Heather to settle down and enjoy the world instead of chasing after some mystery. Now that she thought about it, she didn’t want to chase after these things either. They had a home, a city, and layers of adventure for players to participate in. Why should she want to abandon all that to run after a mystery?

“I hate to say it, but Frank is probably right,” she whispered back. “I wish I could leave this behind and not upset Umtha.”

Quinny turned her head as the two of them lagged behind the group. She looked uncharacteristically sympathetic despite her eyes being pure black orbs.

“You don’t like being forced to do things,” she said. “But everything about this world has been forced on you, from coming here to what class and race you are. You haven’t been able to make many choices on your own, and the few you did make were bad.”

“Gee, thanks,” Heather laughed.

“What I mean is, you want to make good choices that have a real effect, and following this trail takes that out of your hands again.”

“I suppose that’s true,” she sighed. “I hate being so out of control.”

“Well, cheer up because you have made a bunch of good choices recently,” Quinny said as they rounded a street corner.

“I have?” Heather asked, wondering what they were.

With a smile, Quinny counted off a list of choices Heather hadn't even considered. She took the kingdom heart back to Gwen when she could have kept it to make more golems. She put security over convenience with the new constructions. She gave her share of the treasure to Frank to make him happy.

“And most importantly, you started dating the big guy.”

“Why is that one most important?” Heather asked.

Quinny let out a giggle. “Oh, common. You know all this ghoul stuff was to give him a reason to be alone. He was hiding from girls so he wouldn't have to face how awkward he was around them. Then you come along, and he thinks he can finally be himself because you would never be interested in him.”

“And that’s exactly what I like about him,” Heather agreed. “He is who he is, and that's a really nice guy.”

“You can tell he was happy the moment I found you two arguing about your butt in the garden.”

“Will you please stop bringing that up,” Heather groaned.

“Ha, teasing you is so much fun,” Quinny snickered as they made their way out. Once on the surface, Quinny, Frank, and Breanne went to the city to see if Gwen could help disguise them. Heather took Umtha to the tower and into the cave hidden behind it. She found Webster scurrying along a tunnel, and he fell in line, hopping with glee as they made their way to the necromancer's nexus.

Umtha marveled at the pillars that circled the stars and rings in the center of the room. She was even more amazed when Heather picked up the long narrow bundle wrapped in red silk, producing the metal shaft. She placed it in the center of the focus and then reached out a hand and spoke a command word. Black smoke formed in her hand, rising in lines to form the scythe she used in battle. This she placed beside the metal shaft and stepped back.

Once firmly standing in the triangle that was the control point, she began to go over the spell in her head. It was something she read very early on about combining magic effects. Her panel was more helpful than the necromancer's book, with detailed instructions on adding a magical weapon's power to her class weapon. Frank said this was so a player who found a better weapon as treasure wouldn't be disappointed their class weapon was weaker. It made sense, and there were two methods of combining them. One was with an artificer or grandmaster smith who could craft the two items together. The other was a simple spell used to combine a class weapon with a magical one of the same type.

Heather was going to use the latter but in a different way. The nexus would allow her to boost her power beyond her levels, infusing the spell with much greater effect. She wasn’t sure it would matter as this spell didn’t scale with levels, but it was worth a try.

With Umtha and Webster safely along the wall, she began, casting the spell of fusion as the two items began to glow, the staff with blue light and the scythe with green. The light began to stretch, pulling away to reach for one another as the casting went on. Heather closed her eyes, focusing on the spell and visualizing the fusion of the two items. She did most of the work on her panel already, choosing the look and style, but all of them were dark and menacing. There were no options to make a necromancer weapon that didn't look like its namesake. What she wanted was very different, and in her mind, she saw a scythe with a shining silver blade and a shaft of blue crystal that glowed ever so slightly. The flower pattern on top was laced with small crystals, giving it a frosted effect. She toyed with the option of disguising the weapon, hiding the blade magically, so it appeared as a staff. Unfortunately, there were no options to do so, so she settled on her current design, adding the staff's power to it. Still, she deeply desired the other look and wished there had been some way to have it.

The room was bathed in light as the two weapons glowed so brightly it hurt to look at them directly. There was a sudden rumble as the ground shook, and Umtha called out. Heather opened her eyes to see the weapons had floated into the air and were now a column of brilliant white light. The radiance was blinding, but Heather couldn't look away as if staring into something familiar. She wanted to reach out a hand to touch it, but the spell had to be maintained until the process was done.

She spoke the last three words and threw her hands wide; only then did she notice the blue light that bathed her body, flowing to the glowing pillar in the center.

“What?” she cried, holding her hands before her face to see the light flaring up like fire before being sucked into the spell. “This wasn't in the panel's description!”

The ground shook again, and the room was bathed in a light so brilliant she could no longer see the hands before her face, and then it was gone. Something clattered to the floor as Heather blinked, sure she would be blind forever.

As the spots faded away, she could see a soft blue light in the center of the room. Slowly her focus returned, and the image became clear. A scythe blade of silver polished to a mirror-like finish, with frosted flowers at the crown attached to a shaft of glass like crystal that pulsed with blue power. As she dared to approach, she could see flickers of electricity inside the crystal, like miniature lightning bolts in a terrible storm.

“How did this happen?” Heather gasped as she leaned over the weapon. “I didn’t have the options to make it look like this.”

“Hathlisora break rules,” Umtha declared from the side.

“This is impossible, even for this place,” Heather said as she ran her fingertips over the shaft, feeling the slight tingle of power.

“Not for Hathlisora,” Umtha insisted.

Heather wanted to scream she wasn't Hathlisora but knew it was pointless. Umtha was convinced, and it was undeniable that Heather and Hathlisora were connected somehow. Still, even her basic grasp of the worlds mechanics was enough to know this had gone wrong. She chose how the combined scythe would look on her panel, yet somehow she got the one she dreamed of. The question of how echoed in her mind as she lifted the beautiful weapon.

“This is starting to get spooky,” Heather muttered as she held the scythe up with one hand. She turned the scythe over and looked to the blade. “Conceal,” she whispered, and the blade faded away in seconds, leaving only a decorative staff. “It defied the settings and gave me the scythe I wanted instead.”

“You make things happen,” Umtha insisted. “You know how magic works; twist to your desire.”

“Umtha, I haven’t the slightest idea how any of this works. The only smart thing I did was use the nexus to draw more power, but it still couldn’t have done this.”

“This why you necromancer,” Umthat insisted. “Necromancers say power bugged. Keepers not know how fix, so get rid instead.”

“Keepers? Get rid?” Heather asked with a raised brow. This was all new information from Umtha, and she wasn't going to miss this opportunity. “Webster, is Legeis in the workshop?” The spider bobbed with a yes, and she heard his squeak of a voice in her head. “Alright,” Heather sighed as she took firm hold of the scythe and turned her gaze firmly on Umtha. “Come with me.”

Five minutes later, they discovered Legeis walking around his massive workshop with some kind of tool with a needle in the middle.

“Is something wrong?” Heather asked as he scurried about waving the device.

“I think we just had an earthquake,” he replied, turning about with goggles firmly over his eyes. “The whole place shook, and my tools started falling off tables.”

Heather nodded and began to explain, showing him the staff and going over what happened in great detail. She then turned to Umtha and told him what she said, causing Legeis's ears to perk up as he rubbed at his chin. She asked him to question her in goblin and get more details, hoping it would lead to further insights.

Ten minutes of strange gibbering later, Legeis shook his head and sat on a stool as Umtha left the room. He looked tired from the conversation as if he had just debated some critical issue. He took his goggles off to wipe the lenses before beginning his explanation.

“Alright, so she calls the visitors keepers because she sees them as a kind of jailer,” he said.

“I agree with her point of view,” Heather replied with a nod.

Legeis let out a tired sigh and turned to point at the staff. “She also says that she isn't surprised at all you got the weapon you wanted over the one you selected. The necromancers discovered that necromancy is bugged, and they could do things beyond what should be allowed. It has something to do with what she calls the void, but we call it the buffer. Necromancers draw from the buffer to power their spells, and that gives you some kind of exploit. She has no idea how it works or what they did with it, but supposedly it worked best for Hathlisora.”

“Why would it work best for her?” Heather asked, wondering why an exploit would work better for one person but not another. “If you know how to bend a rule, it should bend the same way for everyone.”

“She doesn’t know,” Legeis said with a shake of his head.

“Ok, let’s take this in baby steps,” Heather replied and began to pace. “Necromancy draws from the buffer?”

“It has to,” Legeis said. “Most of your powers are based on the dead, and the dead are all in the buffer. It only makes sense that your powers directly open doorways to the buffer to draw things out. All your minions are technically NPC spirits you pulled from the buffer to animate them. Even your spider is from the buffer.”

“But, other classes can make familiars and pets. Aren't they doing the same thing?”

“They bring new things to life. Your minions are technically still dead. Somehow they are half in this world and half in the buffer. You necromancers learned how to tamper with this somehow and use it to your advantage.”

“And Hathlisora was best at it,” Heather finished.

“Umtha says so,” Legeis replied with a shrug. “I honestly don’t know what you could do with the buffer.”

“The necromancers did. They hid things in the buffer so even the visitors wouldn't find them,” Heather replied as she began to think. “This almost makes sense why the visitors don't seem to care that necromancers have been hunted to extinction by other players. If they don't know how to stop what the necromancers were doing, then letting Kevin wipe them outplayed right into their hands.”

“I kinda don’t feel like the visitors see things the same way we do,” Legeis argued. “Umtha kept insisting they were trying to get rid of the problem since they couldn't fix it. I tried every angle I could, but she wouldn't elaborate on what get rid of means. I want to say she is keeping that a secret, but what do I know?”

“What does anybody know?” Heather agreed as she worked on the clues. More and more, she wished there was a way to find what the necromancers hid in the buffer. Surely there were some clues left behind, so those that came after them could find it? What about the necromancers that fled like the ones that brought the Hathlisora statue to the goblins? Maybe one of them could be found, and the secret learned from them?

“Sorry I couldn't be more help,” Legeis added, drawing her out of her contemplation.

“You were more help than you realize. Sometimes talking to her is like talking over a broken phone line. I am never sure if I understood her correctly.”

“She started talking in circles as I tried to get solid answers of out her. She kept insisting you could do these things simply because you could,” he offered.

“That may be all the explanation she needs, but I need more, a lot more,” Heather replied as she turned to face him. “And now I realize I am treating you as badly as I treat Frank.”

“How are you treating me badly?” Legeis asked.

Heather went on to explain how they planned to travel in disguise and return the egg. She then told him how she simply assumed he was coming and hadn’t thought to ask him first.

“I will come if you need me. I could use a good test of the long-range capabilities of the armor, but I think you should let me build you a better Palanquin.”

“What's wrong with the one the goblins built me?” Heather asked, slightly perplexed.

“Nothing, if you don’t mind lashed together branches and logs. I could use metal to build a lightweight frame and make it look like the kind of thing that would carry a noblewoman.”

“It does look a little rough,” Heather admitted as she considered the rickety contraption.

“Give me a couple of days to put something better together. I will add proper curtains and some style to the thing to help people believe Breanne is a noblewoman.”

Heather nodded in approval but wondered what Umtha would think about more delays. She supposed that if it was to help transport the egg, it wouldn't bother the woman, but who could be sure? At the very least, it would buy them more time to get ready and make the trip easier.

“Alright, I am going to find the others and let them know we won't be going for a couple of days, and thank you for your help.”

“Sure thing. I will get to work on a better cart.” Legeis said with a wave.

Heather nodded to Webster and turned for the door, rolling the scythe over in her hands. She was so conflicted about her purpose and what she wanted to do. On the one hand, something about these mysteries fascinated her, and she wanted to follow the trail. On the other, she was finally beginning to enjoy being here and didn't need the mysteries to keep herself distracted. There was a real desire to settle down and play, enjoying the world with her friends at her side.

Frank wanted to stay put and leave all this Hathlisora nonsense behind them, but it seemed like there was never any choice. She supposed that, like most decisions of late, it wasn't hers to make. For now, she would focus on the egg and see if Frank was right, and it was only a stepping stone in the bigger plot. If it was, she would see where the story went until she saw enough of the picture to begin making changes, then, maybe, she could alter the course.