ALL NOVEL Meeting the Necromancer
4/29, night
We didn’t sleep well that night. As advertised, the undead were more active; apparently this was a particularly bad night. A “small” group of about twenty assorted skeletons, ghouls, and zombies were trying to get through the gate. Thankfully they weren’t doing so very intelligently, just rushing the door and trying to beat it down with their claws and fists.
The watchers responded with a grim but businesslike determination. Serious work, but business as usual. They got up on a raised platform and fired bows down at the attackers. Drusilla and I were politely but firmly asked to join them and rain down spells. It was over in a few minutes, and we were never in any serious danger, but it was hard for us to just go back to bed, and I wasn’t quite tactless enough to start having threesomes in a twenty foot radius fortification with five extra people listening.
Apparently attacks like this were pretty common; it only became a problem if something was coordinating them. With a necromancer or a smarter undead commanding them it could be a bit touch and go, but when they were a bunch of mindless brutes there wouldn’t be any trouble.
4/30 morning
The watchers brewed up a pot of swiftthistle tea for breakfast. They shared it with us, though we needed to provide our own food. I could see why they drank it; it tasted like grass, but it woke me up faster than coffee ever did. Hutchins and Merant were ready to go just as soon as we were.
“Now this probably goes without saying, but stay out of the graveyard when you get there. Talk to the hermit you’re here to check in on, and then either get back to the camp or copy whatever he’s doing to stay safe. Last I heard he’s staying in a shack on the west side of town. If you don’t see him, maybe you can get directions from Jitters. He’s holed up near the center of town.” Oh yeah. There was someone else living here. So probably the living weren’t being hunted very vigorously by necromancers.
We thanked the pair politely, and headed into town. The whole place was a mess, several years into zero maintenance. Some houses seemed fairly intact, others were strangely rotting away. I could only guess that the dark magic in the air was having an effect.
We circled around the west side of town and eventually we saw smoke. Figuring that fires tend to mean living people, we oriented ourselves in that direction. We were rewarded with an old man sitting at a campfire, boiling a few spider legs.
He looked up at us with a bright smile. “Ho, friends. Come, sit around the fire. I’m afraid I can’t offer you any, there isn’t much to go around, but one of my traps was successful today. What brings you here?”
Good. He’s playing his part, so I need to play mine. “I think I’m looking for you. I found an old enchanted object, and all I really know about it is that it’s from here in Raven Hill originally. Would you be willing to take a look at it, see if you know anything?”
“Ahh, why not. But if I do, could you promise to help me out a bit? I’m not as young as I once was, and I have a few tasks that need doing but are quite distant. I’d be willing to pay you for it.”
“Oh sure. But first things first.” I pulled out the Orb of Entrancement and willed it to capture him. He took a look at it with curiosity for a moment before going slack jawed and simply staring into the center of the orb, where the same stylized wing symbol that had been on the stamp had appeared. Got him. “Why don’t you invite me into your shack? My friend can watch those spider legs for you?” I gestured for Darcell and Drusilla to stay outside.
He mumbled something in the affirmative, and I went with him into his little home. I wanted him to be out of the public eye. It was a small hut, but I saw a trap door in the corner. I’d have time to poke around later.
“Great master Embalmer, we wish to study under you. You should take us on as apprentices, it will be so much more efficient than having to fool us into things. We can go out and do tasks for you while you focus on your important work here.”
From the description in the catalog, the hypnosis app was a slow burn. It was stronger than real hypnosis, but I needed to guide him along paths he was willing to walk. Even trying to put a necklace on him might spook him at this point. I waited nervously for him to respond. “‘S fine. I’ll do it. If you help me complete my work.”
Jackpot.