The fortress had a worn-out portcullis as an entrance. Well, the remains of one, anyway. It was easy enough to get into due to the lack of an actual door. Of course, the issue with a dungeon wasn't getting into it, but getting through it. Monsters tended to find the strongest among them and follow it, so that monster was referred to as the Dungeon Master. If this dungeon had a particularly smart Dungeon Master, then there would be traps. Crystal began to appreciate the years she spent listening to random strangers, since without that, she wouldn’t know all this.
Crystal entered the fortress and looked around. It was a bunch of hallways with no lighting. It was hard for her to see at this point. Then, she heard scuttling. Turning around, she saw that one of her Ghouls had already killed something small and humanoid. She approached it and learned what the place was infested with.
A goblin. At least, that's what Crystal thought the corpse before her was. She wasn't sure, but it was a little green man with an oddly shaped head, so they were either a person with a horrible disease or a goblin. Either way, Crystal couldn't remember anything remarkable about goblins other than that they loved to make and use hiding spots. So, to be safe, she stayed in the middle of the undead horde; that way, she wouldn't be flanked and no arrows could easily reach her. The horde wandered the ruined, dark, and dusty halls, occasionally lashing out at goblins. The horde was filling the halls to bursting. Although there were traps, they were very simple, like pitfalls and flanking holes. Thankfully, due to the sheer volume of undead that only seemed to increase in number, she was perfectly fine.
Crystal and her horde swept the place clean. At some point, due to the sheer size of the fortress, she sent off three separate groups. She split the Draugr among them equally, since anyone they killed turned into an undead under Crystal's control. Ultimately, Crystal briefly separated from her group, as she saw a room on the second floor that looked like it could be an office or study, due to its double doors. Being able to learn more about the place would be beneficial to her, so she approached it.
As she opened one of the doors and entered the room, a faint rune glowed in the doorway. She panicked and immediately called in all the undead near her to follow as fast as they could. Before the door slammed shut, two Ghouls and a Dread Knight managed to shove their way in. Crystal would've preferred more, but three was better than zero.
Crystal examined the room. It was a pretty standard study, although it was completely ruined. The giant glass window that looked over the courtyard at the back of the room was fully intact, though. The room also smelled awful, like waste and sweat. In the center of the room was a giant goblin; likely the source of said waste and sweat.
It roared a mighty roar. The thing was massive and had an equally massive club, but Crystal didn't want it to ruin the office. She told her Ghouls to approach each of its sides, while the Dread Knight approached it straight on. Crystal just hoped that it wouldn't notice her, since getting an injury now could prove fatal. She wasn’t a doctor.
The large goblin looked confused but ultimately swung its club at the Dread Knight. The Dread Knight side-stepped the blow, and as it did, one of the Ghouls cut at the goblin's side, drawing blood. To Crystal's shock, it was red. She thought it would've been green. The Ghoul that cut the Goblin then moved in front of the window behind the goblin. The large goblin whipped around, and swung wildly at the window, shattering it and exposing the courtyard. The Dread Knight and second Ghoul then shoved the large goblin outside. Crystal's plan to preserve the office room had worked, albeit sacrificing the window. Better than a completely trashed room.
The large goblin had just fallen 15 or so feet, but it had landed on its legs. The damn thing was hardy since it took that fall like it was nothing. The Ghouls, after hopping out of the window themselves, landed on the goblin and tore at its skin. The thing managed to toss the Ghouls off, but they continued to flank and run around, under, and towards the large goblin, completely paralyzing its small pea brain. The Dread Knight, seizing the opportunity, used its own Induce Fear. It succeeded, and the large goblin was paralyzed with fear. The two Ghouls then cleaved it open and began devouring it alive. It howled in pain until it died several minutes later. The Ghouls left nothing but a skeleton and some loose tendons and meat chunks.
Crystal then cast Raise Advanced Dead on its skeletal body, and to her shock, it got up. She wasn't sure what it was, but to be fair, Damien's books only mention undead people, not undead monsters. The line between people and monsters was vague, but the point was that Damien only studied humanoids, and goblins were goblinoids, so Crystal wasn't sure what could happen.
Anyhow, the dungeon was conquered. Had it not been for her undead, the place would've probably been hellish to explore. But, thankfully, she had personal trap deactivators in the form of animated bodies. But, having said that, they still haven't combed every inch of the place. Storage cellars, hidden paths, hidden rooms, a mysterious basement, it had it all, and it was begging to be looted.
The fortress itself seemed like a massive barracks. It had several sleeping rooms, a large main room with a kitchen area, and four large lookout towers that oversaw the courtyard and surrounding land. The basement had several jail cells, all of which were long empty. The second floor had the now disheveled office the massive Goblin was in, and a few meeting rooms. Outside in the courtyard where they killed the large Goblin, it seemed like it was a training ground. There were places where one would put target dummies, and there were even weapons still there, untouched by the Goblins. Maybe they weren't smart enough to use them?
There was then a huge stone wall about 30 feet from the actual fortress. It was crumbling and decayed, and in the space between the wall and the fortress, both grass and overgrown weeds grew. Well, it was certainly as terrible as she had figured it'd be, but now she at least had a place to stay.
As Crystal was exploring the basement, which was quite a large prison-like area bound to have something in it, she found an odd crack in the wall. It was perfectly straight and smooth, and looking through it revealed what she could've sworn were stairs. She tried her best to force it open, but she was too weak and the crack was too small. So, she and some undead she ordered around started looking for a possible switch, like a bookcase or loose brick or something like that, while some others took a crack at using brute force to open it.
Eventually, Crystal heard a random "click" behind her. A zombie had tripped into a brick in the wall and pushed it in. The sliding door begrudgingly opened, with a horrific sound of stone grinding against stone.
The hidden room looked like a place of dark worship. It was pitch black, with strange blue candles illuminating the room. In the center, there was a book on a pedestal. Crystal approached it and saw that it detailed complex Unholy magic that she couldn’t have even dreamt up. It detailed Skiamancy, Oneiromancy, and Night magic. Crystal didn’t fully understand what they were, but she figured that they were all forms of Dark magic, given how the book was worded.
So, without many other options, she studied. Although, in reality, it looked far more like praying. When she got bored of studying and practicing magic, she'd practice martial skills or count how many undead she had. Seems like there were 582 Goblins in that dungeon. Well, 582 that she managed to raise, at least. Crystal was beside herself with the sheer amount of goblins this place managed to hold. It was a fairly large area, but that’s like a large village worth. Hell, the ghouls probably ate more than a few, so that number could have easily been over 600.
Now that she had the time to stop and fully count, it seemed like she had 1,155 undead. Looked like some undead were killed in the dungeon, and then eaten by ghouls. Thankfully, they were all zombies. She had 181 Zombies, 875 Ghouls, 50 Dread Knights, 47 Draugr, and 1 Holy Lich. Oh, and the mystery goblin skeleton, but she decided to just treat it as a strong Zombie. Something like a Ghoul that doesn't eat. The other Goblins just became Ghouls, but the large one didn't, and the compendium wasn't helping.
Crystal had a small realization; the reason the village and the fortress had given her so many undead were probably graveyards. Dead bodies will always exist, and everybody needs a place to put them. So, her 1,155 undead weren’t exclusively people she killed. And, while that was an impressive number, there were just so many Ghouls. Crystal was about to have a panic attack. She decided to see if there was a guide to undead aside from Damien's, but no such luck. It looked like her good fortune had run out.
Thinking of her luck reminded her of something. Crystal's village had a saying, that misfortune was always paid back threefold. Crystal was wondering if her three years of misery had led her to be so oddly fortunate in her current situation. Ghoul crisis aside, she was shockingly well off. Crystal sighed and figured that was enough reminiscing. Maybe that occult book would have her solution to the Ghoul food shortage.
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A few days passed. Her horde had managed to use construction supplies from the previously raided village, as well as supplies found in a newly discovered supply cache in the fortress, to patch up the place and feed Crystal. The Ghouls were forced to hunt wild animals, although Crystal was worried that would start to hurt the population. Crystal had finished the book in the basement since it just explained the general practices, and only really featured a couple of spells. It felt like that beginner's guide to Necromancy. Would she have to find a master to teach her Dark magic, then get betrayed by them too? Crystal hoped not, if only because that meant more time spent sitting around, but also because that was a wound she couldn't take again. She checked her status after finishing the book:
Name: Crystal Stren
Race: Human
Strength: 12
Dexterity: 20
Endurance: 30
Mind: 30
Magic: 42
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Skills
Martial: Warrior’s Spirit
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Traits
Dark: Night Vision
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Basic Magic
Death(Necromancy): Induce Fear, Raise Dead, Sense Life, Soul Drain
Death(Sangromancy): Leech
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Advanced Magic
Death(Necromancy): Mass Raise Dead, Soul Pierce, Raise Advanced Dead
Death(Sangromancy): None
Dark(Oneiromancy): Sleep
Dark(Skiamancy): Shadow Hop
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Combination Magic
Agony (Death+Dark): Cage of Agony
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Titles
Killer, Lone Wolf, Master of Many, Mass Murderer, Survivor, Unholy Magus
Well, she had never heard of Shadow Hop or Sleep, though she had some guesses. Also, her physical stats had increased. She heard of a phenomenon where people become stronger after conquering tough foes. Was that what happened? Her magic had barely budged, but that made sense to her. She read exactly one book on magic, after all.
After some messing around, Shadow Hop just allowed her to teleport from one dark spot to another. Well, Crystal had yet to see if that meant true teleportation at night, and if it did, she just might have to become nocturnal. Sleep seemed to do exactly what it said it did; it put things to sleep. She figured it probably didn’t work all the time, but she’d have to test it on people first. Night Vision let her see in darkness as if it were bright light and wasn't a spell, but rather a trait, meaning that it was always active. She figured that it was a trait you got after becoming familiar with Dark magic.
As she pondered, she began to hear fighting, and her undead were releasing a distress signal.
Crystal sighed and went out to investigate. The fortress was full of shadows for her to hide in, thankfully. She saw a group of four, fighting for their lives, and Crystal pondered what to do.
Crystal saw her undead fighting a bunch of adventurers. They managed to kill a few, but Crystal didn’t want to senselessly kill them. They were probably here to fight goblins, not undead. So, Crystal cast Sleep on them. It worked like a charm.
"They weren't anything special," Crystal said to herself, finishing casting her Sleep spell.
She got to looting, her favorite part of all this. The equipment they all had was in great shape, and they even had an encyclopedia of monsters, a region map, some potions, and other items you'd expect an adventurer to have.
Now, the second issue was the wizard and the cleric. They probably knew some tricky magic. She took his spell catalyst, tied him up, threw him in a cell, and had some undead guard him. Good enough for her. Seeing the pendant she had taken from the wizard, Crystal realized that she had never actually used a spell catalyst for her spells. Was she special somehow? Was it a skill that could be trained, and Crystal accidentally trained it? She didn’t know, since she didn’t have a formal magic education. She was mostly winging all this.
Crystal tossed the four of them into separate cells. They were far apart from one another since she didn’t want them to be plotting together.
Eventually, the wizard woke up. When Crystal came to check on him, he threw himself at the iron bars.
“Who’re you?!” he yelled. “Why am I here? Where are the others?”
“Isn’t there something you should be more concerned about?” Crystal asked.
Only then did the wizard realize that he was tied up without a catalyst. He was stuck.
“...What do you want from me?” the wizard asked.
“An explanation,” Crystal said. “And some advice.”
“If I talk, will you let me go?” the wizard asked.
Crystal shrugged.
“I’d consider it,” she said.
“Not like I have another choice,” the wizard said. “We just wanted to conquer a dungeon. We didn’t realize someone else had already occupied it.”
“I see,” Crystal said. “Now, for that advice. Where do you people learn to cast your spells, anyway?”
“Huh?” the wizard let out, surprised. “You…Don’t know?”
Crystal shrugged again, raising her hands.
“The Mecork Magic Academy,” the wizard said. “It’s prestigious. If you let me go, I can give you a recommendation.”
“And how am I meant to trust you?” Crystal asked.
“Ok, look, I feel like we got off on the wrong foot,” the wizard said. “I’m Karl. How about you?”
Crystal was a little shocked that he was being reasonable, given his imprisonment.
“...Crystal,” she said.
“Crystal, huh?” Karl said. “Listen, you seem like a reasonable person, so let’s just talk this out, okay?”
Crystal was wary, but she was caught in a moment of weakness. She hadn’t had any non-hostile human contact in forever. She felt desperate.
“...Okay,” Crystal said, noticeably softening her tone. “Sorry, it’s been a while since I talked to people.”
“That’s fine,” Karl said, giving a soft smile. “Listen, why don’t you let me & my companions go, I’ll give you a recommendation to the Mecork Academy, and we’ll forget this ever happened?”
Crystal was wary of him but decided to put her faith in him. She was getting tired of being suspicious of people, of having to attack everyone she saw just to survive. She was a person too. She wanted someone to talk to.
Crystal took the four of them outside, still tied up. She wanted to trust them, but she couldn’t kick old paranoid habits.
“So,” Crystal said, “what do you need to write the recommendation?”
“Something to write on and something to write with,” Karl said.
Crystal went to fetch those items from her storage room. As she left, she heard quite a commotion. Were the other members not too fond of her? Well, she’d just untie Karl and leave the others tied, if that was the case.
“Karl, I came back with the-”
Crystal was cut off by a fist being swung at her face. She narrowly dodged it, but now she was right next to the party’s warrior. He looked hateful.
The other three were stanced for a fight as well.
“...So, this is the reward for my kindness?” Crystal asked.
“I’m sorry,” Karl said, “but we can’t trust a Necromancer.”
“Then die,” Crystal said, unleashing her undead.
As the horde approached, the warrior and rogue looked to Karl and the cleric. But, neither of them could cast their spells. Crystal held up two pendants and swung them. Somehow, they never considered that Crystal would loot their still-living bodies.
As the undead descended upon them, Crystal sighed. They were dumb, but she was dumber. She let her guard down. If she hadn’t been such a loot maniac, she might’ve died then, or worse. Crystal decided that she shouldn’t let herself be so vulnerable. She’d be as vulnerable as she needed to be when she finally found her family. That’s what she was thinking, all the while suppressing the small voice in her head telling her that they were likely already dead.
After the four were dead, she cast Raise Advanced Dead. A Lower Lich, a Holy Lich, a Dread Knight, and… The rogue never animated. At least, that’s what Crystal thought, until she looked closer at the ground. There was a moving shadow. It was a Shade.
The Shade moved towards her and went inside of Crystal’s robes. It was dark in there, after all. Crystal finally had a stealthy undead. She had always known that Raise Dead spells had a low, low chance to summon specter-type undead, but she didn’t think she’d ever see one until she learned Raise Specter or something similar.
“...Mecork Magic Academy, huh?” Crystal said. “Maybe that’s worth checking out after all.”
Now that she had her next goal figured out, there was one thing left to do; figure out what in the hell she’d do with this battalion of undead she had acquired.