Necromancer Rpg: The Book

Title Page

Necromancer RPG: The Book

By Mihail Iulian Barascu

Copyright

Copyright © 2015 by Mihail Iulian Barascu

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review or scholarly journal.

First Printing: 2015

ISBN: 978-1-326-22961-0

23 The Gateway Dover, United Kingdom, CT16 1LG

Written, Edited and Published By Mihail Iulian Barascu

Cover by Anastasiya Levashova

First Story

A kill of her own

Chapter one: And so it begins

Level 1

Attack Q

Defence Q

Agility Q

Speed Q

Luck Q

EXP Points 0/10

HP 10/10

Dear Diary,

The necromancer awoke with a scream; a knock on the oak door had awoken her from her dreadful nightmare. Getting up from the bed, she walked noiselessly to the door and pressed her ear to the thin wood that was the entrance to her bedroom. Hearing nothing, Sylvia peered through the narrow keyhole. She couldn’t see who was on the other side so she opened the oak door ever so slightly and caught sight of a (fairly suspicious looking) man dressed in padded leather who had a sword swinging loosely at his belt.

When she saw this, she fell back in shock; the man glimpsed her and flung the door open. She grabbed a nearby broomstick and enhanced it with dark magic. She threw it across the room and it pierced the bounty hunter from one end to the other of his upper torso, very close to his heart. EXP+2.

Chapter two: Lots of ‘useless’ information

Level 1

Attack Q

Defence Q

Agility Q

Speed Q

Luck Q

EXP Points 2/10

HP 10/10

Dear Diary,

Walking over to the now-dead attacker, she infused him with power, bringing him back to life as a slow zombie. It stood upright and looked forward with an expressionless face. Tell me, when you were alive, who sent you to kill me? asked the necromancer. It answered that it was hired by a person who likes to be called the Ruler of the Darkness.

Tracking down the Ruler of the Darkness had proven to be harder than she thought (Why would she have thought it was going to be easy?). After ordering the zombies to guard her tomb while she was gone, she packed her ‘Necromancer Spells for Beginners’ book, enough food and water for a week and a map of the local area, and set off to find him. She started her search in a nearby town, one of the many countryside villages in the region of Barrioner, asking the simple villagers of the place if they had heard any rumours about a ‘witch hunt’. It proved to be unsuccessful, so she headed north towards a place that she hoped would aid her in her search: Avrianch, the region’s capital.

She arrived there at dusk and, after more fruitless questioning, left at dawn. Despite the shortness of her stay, however, Sylvia did find out some information about the man (or woman) who wanted her dead, although it would be a certain amount of time before she realised its value. The information she received – that the Ruler of the Darkness was scared to death of the rothona flower – would be something she would forget about until it was too late.

Chapter three: Being careful

Level 1

Attack Q

Defence Q

Agility Q

Speed Q

Luck Q

EXP Points 2/10

HP 10/10

Dear Diary,

Continuing to interrogate the residents of towns and cities, the necromancer came across a small wanted poster hanging off a signpost in a town square. Wanted posters stuck in random places were not an unusual thing to see, but the thing that stood out and made her want to leave immediately was the face on the poster: it was hers!

As soon as she had seen it, Sylvia panicked and started to leave, but an overexcited man quickly drew the town’s attention to her, and soon a mob of angry peasants (all with the cliché pitchforks, of course) had formed and were slowly gaining on her as she tried to make her way out of the village.

Realising with fear that she would not make it out before the mob caught up with her, she stood her ground and started making herself stronger using her magic. After about half a minute of anticipating it and waiting, the mob appeared from behind a street corner; she tensed up and became ready to fight; the crowd then moved in.

A young man wearing a brown shirt and worn-out trousers attacked her first. She swung a fist, which caught him square in the jaw and sent him flying backwards. A short woman carrying a wooden shovel was next to try and kill Sylvia. The necromancer easily dodged her attacks and responded with a kick to the stomach that sent the woman sprawling into some barrels. The rest of the fight continued like this, with the necromancer defeating the entire mob while – fortunately for her health – barely being injured herself. EXP+37.

Chapter four: Watch where you’re going!

Level 2

Attack Q

Defence Q

Agility Q

Speed Q

Luck W

EXP Points 29/50

HP 12/15 

Dear Diary,

After the unfortunate incident (though not series of events) she left the town and continued to the utterly despised crime city of Vathela, the next most likely place for the Ruler of the Darkness to reside. Arriving in the summer season, she saw lots of scruffy-looking people selling different types of rare flowers. Although the smell of them hung thickly in the air, she barely noticed it as she passed by a man selling rothonas, and disappeared into one of the dark alleys that curved away from the town square.

She later came to a suspicious-looking tavern that had such a sturdy-looking oak door, that the necromancer had to wonder whether something other than drinks and money was being exchanged (spoiler: it wasn’t). Going over to the plague-ridden corpse that was lying against the wall of the drinking place, a half-empty mug in its decomposing hand (which most likely held in it the dead person’s last drink), she used her power to revive him as a slow zombie, ensuring that she would have some back-up if she had a problem inside when investigating the building. 

Cautiously walking towards it, Sylvia inched the oak door open and stepped inside the structure. The heavy smell of alcohol hit her as soon as she did so, and the necromancer twisted to her right as a drunken man spun past her. She stopped herself from falling by grabbing one of the unoccupied seats that were close to her when she suddenly lost her balance, and then walked up to the woman handling the drinks and asked her if she could talk to her in private.

Why can’t we just talk in here? After all, it doesn’t really matter if they hear us; they’re too drunk to remember it afterwards, the bartender reasoned, despite looking a little anxious herself.

I know, but I still want to be sure. Who has the knowledge these days?

All right, we should use my office if you like.

Chapter five: Trickery?

Level 2

Attack Q

Defence Q

Agility Q

Speed Q

Luck W

EXP Points 29/50

HP 13/15 

Dear Diary,   

Sylvia and the owner of the tavern went in to her office and sat down in the basic chairs that occupied the barely furnished room. The necromancer then started to tell her about why she was there. When she had finished speaking, the owner (who Sylvia found out was called Moria) said to her that although she unfortunately didn’t know exactly where s/he was, she did know that s/he was somewhere in the south-east of the town, and was actually probably a man, and very thin; i.e., slender.

The necromancer got to the Ruler of the Darkness’ hideout after a few hours of searching – really nothing more than a mild annoyance. When she did reach it, she stared wide-eyed at the enormous factory that stood before her (it’s a cliché, but it’s true nonetheless) and looked through the window. When she did so, she saw nothing but pitch-black darkness inside. She ordered the five slow zombies that she had risen from the grave to follow her.

Entering the building with her guards, Sylvia lit the oil lamp she had brought with her (it makes you wonder when she did so) and she started to be able to see around her. And what she saw was not a pleasant sight: there were armed soldiers sprinkled in various positions inside, surrounding her and her undead servants. She glared at them for a brief moment before she gave her orders to the zombies that had come inside with her, and began the battle.

The necromancer first attacked the warrior to the right of her and threw the lamp directly into his head. He tripped and landed on the floor as he tried to put out the fire that had already begun to engulf him. As that happened, the zombies had already started to swarm over the nearest fighters who were too startled to put up resistance as they were brutally slain. The ‘fight’ continued for some time until the soldiers had been defeated. EXP+38.

Chapter six: Bad spy

Level 3

Attack Q

Defence Q

Agility W

Speed Q

Luck W

EXP Points 17/100

HP 8/20 

Dear Diary,

After the long and hard fight, the wounded necromancer and her two remaining zombies went with anger burning inside them back to the tavern and its deceitful owner, Moria. They went straight through the elm door and to Moria’s office. They burst in and seized Moria. They tied her to a chair as Sylvia started interrogating her.

Why did you lie to us?! started Sylvia.

I didn’t! retorted Moria. I swear I didn’t; I was sure he would be there.

Then why wasn’t he?

I don’t know. Maybe someone tipped him off.

But who could have done that? Excluding you, of course.

It could be someone who’s spying on you.

Well, I’ll just have to be more careful from now on, right? Also, you’re coming with us, no arguments.

And so, along with Moria, the necromancer and her slaves went forth to an inn to rest for the night, keeping an eye out for any intruders. It was about midnight when they heard a loud sound coming from outside their room. After at first making sure that they weren’t in any immediate danger, Sylvia crept to the elm door and saw through a crack a man dressed in dark-blue clothing and with a dagger in his hand. She silently woke the others up and they stood before the entrance to their room.

Waiting barely more than a couple of seconds, they dashed to the elm door, quickly opened it, and fell on the man behind it. He screamed in fear and panic as he went down and was bitten and clawed at by the zombies. The necromancer snatched his weapon away from him while he was distracted – rather too easy with him being held down by her followers. Moria refused to partake in that, as she saw no reason for her to be violent (she might have also disliked the threat of a stabbing).

Chapter seven: Really bad spy

Level 3

Attack Q

Defence Q

Agility W

Speed Q

Luck W

EXP Points 17/100

HP 11/20 

Dear Diary,

Sylvia dragged the man, who was unconscious after a punch to the head from one of her guards, back inside her room. While Moria was shouting vigorously about being right, she used a spell to bring him back to reality. Just as he opened his eyes, she started to question him about why he was spying on them – as if it wasn’t obvious enough. 

He put me up to it! He was the one who ordered me to ‘keep an eye on you’. And he did all this just because you, a low-level necromancer, were hunting him. He could have easily taken you out on his own, but for whatever messed-up reason, he didn’t. He instead tried to trick you into an ambush, although we both know how that turned out. What I’m trying to say is: he’s not as smart as you might have thought he is.

The necromancer responded by telling him that she had slightly over-estimated the Ruler of the Darkness’ intelligence, but he was still very powerful. The spy agreed, and as she wouldn’t let him go, he decided to accompany her from then on; he would actually prove to be fairly useful.

They then left the inn, and as the spy didn’t know where their target was, went to a well-known war veteran who had hinted that he knew where the Ruler of the Darkness was while drunk. Sylvia and the others tracked him to a run-down shack at the edge of the town they were in.

Chapter eight: They get candy?

Level 3

Attack Q

Defence Q

Agility W

Speed Q

Luck W

EXP Points 17/100

HP 13/20 

Dear Diary, 

They saw the shack from far away; it was the only one in the area. They reached it in a couple of minutes and knocked forcefully on the weak front door that was the house’s only line of defence. They heard light footsteps from inside and the elm door opened to reveal an old man in his sixties.

What are you young ones doing here? Nobody’s visited me for ages.

We heard you telling someone at Moria’s tavern that you know where the Ruler of the Darkness is.

"Yeah…about that… Look, I don’t really know where he is. I was just trying to get attention. After I retired, it just seems that nobody cares about me anymore. And with my wife dead, I feel so alone sometimes."

Just as the necromancer was going to try and reassure him, they heard someone running towards them. Sylvia instinctively turned around and got into a fighting position – she couldn’t see who it was but she knew it wasn’t good. Seeing that the person was in chain mail armour and was carrying a steel sword, the rest of the party braced themselves for the inevitable battle that would follow. He came to a halt a few metres in front of them, taking stock of the situation.

John, my friend, the man started. Our master was worried sick about you when you failed to report back from your mission: he thought something might have happened to you. That’s why he sent me to investigate and bring you back. But it seems you have betrayed us, and we both know what happens to traitors (not something nice, I’m guessing).

Chapter nine: Great, give me all your money

Level 3

Attack Q

Defence Q

Agility W

Speed Q

Luck W

EXP Points 17/100

HP 14/20 

Dear Diary, 

And so, the fight began. The two zombies rushed at the man and tried to tackle him to the ground. He dodged, and swiftly sliced off their heads (going head first at someone with a sword – best strategy ever). Moria was trembling but, gearing herself up to fight, lifted a heavy rock off the ground and used all