Warcraft: Raven Hill Cemetery
Year 25, Day 4
The house felt a lot more crowded the second night than it had the day before. More than doubling the number of people staying with us certainly didn’t help, nor did Peach’s…experiments, which took up the majority of the house’s cramped basement.
Fortunately, Cinder had a solution in mind, one I was willing to at least entertain for a time. I’d summoned Mercury and Emerald not long after returning from Raven Hill Cemetery, both falling swiftly into line when it was clear that Cinder worked for me now. Mercury looked somewhat surly about it, while Emerald just seemed happy to be reunited with her leader. The way the green-haired girl looked at Cinder when she thought the other woman wasn’t looking told me everything I needed to know about that particular relationship.
Thus, after discussing our plans for the following day, Glynda, myself, and the trio of criminal huntsmen took a portkey to the outskirts of the town and then re-entered together. The guard watching the road quickly directed us towards Althea and Glynda introduced the trio as reliable acquaintances we’d called in for support. She was more than happy to offer them another abandoned house and supplies in exchange for their help clearing out various undead and other pests from the areas around the village.
Althea almost looked to be on the verge of joyful tears, particularly after I presented to her the skull of that undead we’d killed, Mor'Ladim. The men around her were far less subdued, cheering as Glynda finished her report. The man’s story was tragic, but he’d been a menace to the locals for several months now, and with him out of the way it was much safer for her to send patrols out in the direction of Raven Hill.
Between that, and Glynda’s report on just how many undead we’d burned, butchered, or otherwise destroyed in the past few hours, I wasn’t particularly surprised when I received two Blueprints back to back without needing to exert myself in any way. I doubted either would see much use, but perhaps they’d come in handy at some point in the future. If nothing else, the Darkshire Watchmen cost a mere one mana a piece. Perhaps I’d need a random, disposable body wearing cheap, generic armor at some point in the future.
With that taken care of, things became a lot more comfortable, though Glynda, Kent, and I did end up spending a good half hour making my summons’ home a bit more livable. I spent the rest of the evening resting, taking account of what we’d collected so far, discussing magic with Kent and Amber, and practicing using my aura and other magical abilities.
About halfway through that, I came to a realization that nearly made me want to slap myself. I was digging through my expanded bag, trying to find a single coin that had spilled out of its pouch, when I noticed something that should have been obvious. The coin was a simple disk of metal, stamped with the face of some unfamiliar king or other leader. It was just a coin. Its value purely determined by its size and material.
I pointed my wand into my bag. “Accio silver coin,” I mumbled.
The coin shot out of the bag and I caught it out of the air. I opened my hand and stared down at the completely unenchanted, completely mundane bit of silver. Then I sighed heavily. I knew exactly what the first thing I was going to be doing tomorrow when we returned to the Cemetery was, and I felt rather silly for not thinking of it earlier.
The next morning dawned grim and dark, just like every morning in Darkshire. Not wanting to overly deplete my supply of preserved food, we ate breakfast at the local inn, the Scarlet Raven. It was fine. Neither exceptional nor particularly terrible. If anyone was surprised to see Amber and Peach––who hadn’t been with us initially––they didn’t say anything.
Once we’d eaten, we wished Cinder and her group farewell and set out in the direction of Raven Hill Cemetery. I had a nagging feeling that the cemetery contained more than just what we’d found so far, plus we’d yet to encounter any of the apparent magic-wielding undead that Commander Althea had mentioned in her notes. We’d only explored a fraction of the rather expansive grounds, and now that we were familiar with the area, I planned for a more efficient, systematic search that would allow us to cover more ground in less time.
We landed on a small hilltop that we’d cleared out the day before. There was a single ghoul silently gnawing on a bit of chattered bone, and it was swiftly dealt with by Amber, who found the creatures particularly repulsive and took great pleasure in burning them to ashes. As I’d planned the night before, the first thing I did upon arriving at the cemetery was raise my wand high into the air and draw on a single mote of Black mana, directing the hunger and greed I could feel in the potent energy down my wand.
“Accio coins,” I hissed, mentally focusing on the gold, silver, and copper that they used around here, and limiting the area of effect to the cemetery around us. I was pretty sure it wasn’t actually a problem––we were rather far from the town––but it would be very awkward to accidently rob the townsfolk because I was a tad overzealous with the amount of power I poured into the spell.
The spell worked like a charm. Almost too well, in some ways. I was rather glad that Kent was with me, because his quick thinking ensured that, instead of me being pelted by coins, they instead were carefully directed into neat piles on the bare ground around us. A few managed to get through his spell, but aura protected me from the impacts, turning what could have been rather nasty bruises into barely-noticeable flares of green light. I really could have thought that one through better.
By the time I lowered my wand several minutes later, we’d accumulated a rather hefty bit of coinage. The vast majority of it consisted of filthy copper coins, most stained with bits of dirt or other garbage, but there was a not-inconsiderable amount of other currency mixed into the piles. In addition to the loose coins, I’d also managed to summon several worn or decaying pouches that jingled as they flew, the coins within bouncing lightly against each other.
The net result was forty-one gold coins, approximately two-hundred silver coins, and a mini mountain of roughly nineteen-hundred small copper coins
“Clever,” Glynda complemented, examining one of the silver coins I’d summoned. It was worn nearly smooth, with only the barest trace of a severe-looking man on one side and an unfamiliar crest on the back. “Even if we are unable to spend these here for whatever reason, they will serve us well in our home plane. Silver and gold are valuable, and I see no reason these coins can not be melted down.”
“Much cheaper than the other way around,” I mused. “And I seriously doubt this will be the last plane we visit that uses precious metals as currency.”
Amber, who was kneeling beside the pile of copper pieces, grabbed two large handfuls and let them trickle out from between her fingers. She giggled loudly, Kent smiling fondly down at her. “These are much more fun than lien, though I bet it's a real pain for people to carry around. These coins are heavy!”
“That they are!” a deep, gravelly voice called out suddenly. All five of us snapped around, finding a tall man in a dark black and purple robe and wearing a pointed hat walking slowly towards us up the hill. He had a short, well-groomed gray beard, and carried a metal staff tipped with a glimmering green crystal.
Though he was still a ways away, I could see the dark magic that filled his body, a slightly deeper shadow that stood out in contrast to the general aura of magic that permeated this forest. There was also a potent, invisible shield surrounding him, a corona of blue silver visible only to my detection spells. With the help of my aura to pierce through the gloom, I could also see the half-dozen undead shadowing him silently, using the tall, scraggly grass and some particularly large tombstones to stay mostly hidden from view.
We exchanged looks, and then Glynda took a step forward, interposing herself between me and the man. “Hello there!” she called out. “I think that’s close enough. We were not expecting to see any other living humans within this cemetery.”
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The man smiled humorlessly. “Nor was I, madam. Neither was I expecting for my coin pouch to try and flee my belt, but today has been a day of surprises already.”
Whoops. That was an issue I hadn’t foreseen. If he’d kept a firm grip on his coin pouch, it probably would have led him right to us and then given him a clear direction to follow once I’d ended the spell.
Glynda smiled back, just as humorlessly. “Our apologies for the disruption, then. We would appreciate it if you took your leave.”
The man hummed thoughtfully. “Now, not so fast I think. You know, I noticed that someone had gone and destroyed a number of the undead that inhabit this cemetery recently. Quite a number, in fact, including some particularly powerful specimens. You wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?”
That was certainly a curious question, one that led me in one of two directions. “I’m certain we know nothing about that,” I replied easily.
“You don’t, hmm. They were quite meticulous, you know. So much pointless, irreversible damage leaving naught but useless, charred and broken bones in their wake. Now there’s so much extra work to do to keep the numbers up. Grave digging is hard on these old bones. So much easier to work with fresh materials.”
Well, that certainly confirmed things. Though this very much wasn’t how I’d been planning to run into the Cemetery’s resident necromancer. Or at least one of them.
“You wouldn’t happen to be the necromancer that Althea Ebonlocke has been worried about, would you, good sir?”
The man hummed again. “I should have known it would have to do with that blasted woman. Such an annoying yet ultimately futile thorn, and yet so very irritating to deal with.”
“I’ll take that as a yes, than.”
The necromancer laughed, a hard, raspy sound that almost sounded painful for him to make. “Take it as you will. It won’t matter soon enough. The gall, to send a woman, children, and the elderly to deal with me. I’d be offended if it wasn’t so very convenient of her.” He raised his staff.
I clicked my tongue. “Does that mean you aren’t willing to come to an arrangement? I was looking forward to meeting a local necromancer for the first time.”
The man laughed again. “Well then, I am fortunate enough to grant your dying wish.” And then he attacked, brandishing his staff towards us. Unearthly terror clawed at the edges of my mind. I was going to die. It was inevitable. All things died. I should just lay down and––
My aura flared, reinforcing the still slightly cracked barriers of my occlumency that I’d forgotten to reinforce the night before, and the mental attack shattered in an instant. I glanced around, finding that Kent and Peach had both broken out of the effect even faster than I had, while Glynda was just standing there, a white knuckled grip around the handle of her riding crop, and Amber was kneeling beside the pile of coins, her eyes wide and unblinking.
I quickly looked back at the necromancer, who was still standing where I’d seen him a moment before. However, the skeletons that had been hiding around him had all broken cover and were rushing towards us up the hill. These skeletons looked considerably better equipped than the ones we’d faced yesterday, with full sets of enchanted armor and wicked-looking blades gripped in their skeletal hands. I could also see a number of other undead moving towards us from all directions, a mix of ghouls, normal skeletons, and a handful of the more heavily-armored skeletons he’d brought with him.
My mind raced and I snapped out a series of orders. “Kent, focus on the necromancer. Peach, see if you can snap them out. I’ll handle defense and the skeletons.”
Both swiftly moved to obey. Peach abandoned the plants she’d been fiddling with and dashed towards Glynda, while Kent raised his cane and launched a trio of ankh-shaped projectiles at the man. Meanwhile, I defaulted to a spell that had really grown on me in the past few months and which I’d practiced extensively. I drew upon white mana from the Tower of Fate and slashed my wand through the air. “Protego horribilis!”
The shining silver dome snapped into place, larger than I typically cast it but manageable with all the practice I’d put into perfecting the spell. It surrounded all five of us and I strained as I tried to mentally ‘lock’ it into place so I could focus on other spellcasting.
I managed the spell just in time. A sinister-looking bolt of darkness shot from the tip of the necromancer’s staff and slammed into the shield a scant few inches away from where Kent was standing with his cane raised. It ate at my spell, trying to chew through the barrier like a pack of wild dogs, but my shield spell held.
“Tch, a priest! What an annoyance. Your precious light won’t save you now!”
The first of the skeletons crested the hill and slammed its sword into my shield. I felt the impact, the enchantments on the sword turning what should have been a futile effort into one that actually threatened to eventually break through. I turned my wand towards it and fired off a blasting curse that crashed into its chestplate like a battering ram and sent it stumbling backwards. To my annoyance however, while I’d left a mark on the armor, it was far from the killing blow I’d been going for.
Beside me, Glynda jerked suddenly, tugging herself free of Peach’s careful grip on her wrist and forehead. The usually calm woman was bristling with anger and there was a dangerously sharp look in her eyes as she glared down at the necromancer.
“Glynda, behind us. Undead,” I ordered sharply.
She tore her eyes away from the dark-robed man and looked around, seeing the man’s minions charging towards us. “Understood,” she growled, brandishing her riding crop. Gravestones around us were torn from the earth one by one and she turned her back on the necromancer himself, directing the huge chunks of stone towards the encroaching undead horde.
Meanwhile, I turned my attention back towards the skeletons in front of us. Kent and the necromancer were exchanging spells, though most of their efforts seemed mostly futile. The necromancer’s spells were knocked out of the air by golden ankhs or failed against the shield I’d erected, while Kent’s were torn apart by the necromancer’s now-visible blue shield spell.
Instead of another blasting charm, the next skeleton that got close was bathed in a stream of purple fire, the spell far closer in potency to incendio rather than fiendfyre, but better suited for combat than the usual fire-making charm.
This unfortunately proved mostly ineffective. The skeleton itself was not flammable, and its armor tanked the hit easily enough, allowing it to beat its blade against my shield charm. I swiftly switched to a different spell. Most of my repertoire was better against living opponents rather than undead, but I was a properly educated wizard, not some simpleton duelist.
The earth beneath the skeleton turned from packed dirt to wet, clinging mud that it swiftly began to sink into. I turned my wand on the other skeleton, which was swiftly starting to rise to its feet, and cast the same spell again to even better results as it was currently lying on the ground.
Before I could deal with the other four undead at our front, Amber was finally broken out of her mental bonds and she was just as furious as Glynda had been. She screamed, orange flames erupting around her eyes the same way it did when Cinder or Raven used their Maiden powers, and floated several feet up off the ground, raised her hands up towards the sky.
Lightning crackled and wind howled, both inside the barrier I’d created and outside of it, and then she brought her arms down, unleashing the fury of nature on the remaining undead. I watched the first of them crumble and decided that Amber, Peach, and Glynda had this well in hand. Time to deal with the actual threat.
Kent was already doing a good job keeping the necromancer busy, but with my help the tides quickly turned against the dark-robed man. Golden ankhs and a flurry of my own spells slammed one after another into the man’s impressively durable blue barrier. I carefully observed every twitch and twist of the magic that formed the shield, watching how it responded to the various spells Kent and I were casting.
It was an impressive bit of magic. Near as I could tell, it wasn’t really a shield in the classical sense. Rather, it was a sort of…suppression field. Spells and force that passed through it were drained until almost nothing of the original spell remained, allowing the man’s body and natural magic resistance to shrug off the remainder of the effect.
I fired two more spells in rapid succession, neither of which had any visible effect, then smiled. Hopefully this worked, because otherwise this was going to take forever. As far as I could see, the shield was being powered by some outside source, not the man himself, so it would potentially take a frustratingly long amount of time to break through it properly, potentially giving him time to flee.
“Something from Shadow,” I declared, and a copy of me appeared directly at my back. There was a crack of apparition and suddenly the copy was standing directly behind the necromancer, its wand raised.
My copy lunged, aura flaring emerald-green around it as it pushed through the syrup-like resistance of the blue barrier. The tip of my copy’s wand shoved three-quarters of the way through the barrier and, even as it began to vanish as quickly as it had appeared, it cast. “Stupefy!”
There was a flash of red light and the necromancer collapsed bonelessly to the ground. The shield around him remained, but without the ability to move or fight back, it wasn’t much of an issue. After that, it was just a matter of cleaning up.