“All right,” I say, “I expect you probably know who I am. I know who you are thanks to looking at your files from the Guild. But, to be fair, everyone introduce yourselves, and give an idea about your combat ability.”

I continue, “My name is Daniel Greyman, my class is Necromancer, with specialization toward Mortician. For you all, that means I am a proficient spellcaster, and can use blood and bone magic. Bone magic also allows me to create enchanted objects, as long as I know the required spells to make said item. Though, be warned, I use bones to actually make the items as well.”

“This part is optional, but I’m hoping to get you all to trust me, so here goes. My biggest flaw, in my opinion, is that I can’t guess weight, for anything. Doesn’t matter what I’m guessing the weight of, I will get it wrong, normally saying it’s heavier. The only time I said something was lighter than it was, the person was an elf. And then, the biggest strength I have is respect. I respect everyone, even those that don’t like me, or I don’t like. I might mess with them, but until someone deliberately loses my respect, I will respect them as well.”

That last part, while completely true, I just added in. I want this team to like me, and work with me. So much so that I gave them the biggest personal strength and weakness I have in my opinion. Just goes to show a little about how much I want this to work.

John clears his throat, but as he goes to speak, Alyssa chimes up with, “I’ll go next.” I can see that John is slightly upset, but he just sighs, and let’s Alyssa introduce herself.

“My names Alyssa McGuire, I’m twenty two, and I’m a ranger. For those that don’t know, I’m basically an archer, rogue, and survivalist all rolled into one. I have a bow and two short swords, and can fight like a rogue or an archer, but my true benefit is when I’m setting traps and things like that, because my traps are easier to set up, harder to spot, and tend to be more dangerous. Anyway, my strength is organization. I was a guild receptionist for a while, and I managed the food stores for one of the guild houses outside the city. My biggest weakness is my family, as all of them are still alive, and they haven’t actually disowned me, but we don’t talk since I’ve joined the guild, which hurts.”

John stands up, and says, “I’ll go next. My name’s John, this is Jessie,” waving at his sister, “We’ve been going from group to group for a couple of years now, largely because the dirt bags want me to tank, and Jessie to open her legs and shut up. They haven’t realized yet that I’m her shield, and she buffs me. Not to mention that she’s pretty fierce with her rapier. Anyway, I’m a Knight, sometimes called the close combat tank. I am fully capable of taking some hits and keep on, but I’m able to dish it out as well. That’s not including my shield techniques, which lets me stun and throw people off guard when I hit them with it.”

Before he can continue, Jessie speaks up, “I can take mine from here bro,” she says, smiling at him as he gives her a look. “I’m Jessie Williams, my class is Bard with a specialization towards Singer. I’m decent with my rapier but my specialization allows me to use magic with my voice, which allows me to buff my allies, as long as they enjoy the music, and can also throw off the enemy. Unfortunately for our history with other groups, I prefer singing old rock and roll, and Irish folk songs. I can sing other things, but I don’t enjoy the songs as well, so the magic is weaker.”

I nod my head, that makes sense. Magic is like a super powered child. It is more willing to follow emotions and feelings than logic at least if you’re using a magic like hers which is reliant on just her voice instead of a bunch of factors.

“Anyway, both my brother and I, our biggest strength is our teamwork. We have been together for so long, we don’t even have to think half the time about what the other is doing, we just know. And our weakness, that would probably be the same thing. Normally he’s the one who does the introduction thing, as I don’t trust people until I know them. And we can be slightly fractious with other people, especially if we think they’re taking advantage of us.”

Every one nods around the table, and I smile, “Well, know that we won’t be taking advantage of you, I mean, me and John are going to be the only guys in the group! And I frown on that sort of thing as well.”

I motion with my hand to the last person, “How about you?”

“Pass.” She says, without even considering.

“Well, then you can leave. I’m not being prejudiced because you’re French Canadian from Vancouver. I’m not being judgemental because you’re a ninja. However if we can’t build at least a solid working relationship, we don’t need you, and I’ll find someone else to fill the last spot on this team.”

She looks at me in shock, before a smirk comes across her face, “This is cause you’re a Necromancer isn’t it?”

“Absolutely,” I agree, “I’ve learned that if you can trust someone, trust them unconditionally. If you can’t, don’t. Introducing yourself right now, is you allowing us to know you, and start to build that trust. So, what’s your choice going to be?”

She sighs. “My name’s Erin Carbonneau. As he already mentioned, I’m French Canadian, from Vancouver, or as it’s being called now, Jotunhiem. Also, I’m a ninja, which before anyone asks, I can’t tell anyone anything about.” She looks at me, “Happy?”

“Yes, Erin,” I look at the rest of the group, “Now, if everyone is interested, we already have a main job. I received a mission from Anubis, my patron. That’s why I chose to come out as a Necromancer now, instead of later.”

Everyone is interested now. Missions from Gods are a whole different story than regular guild missions.

“The mission,” I continue, “is to investigate Indianapolis. I suspect that the Prince will be trying to keep it quiet, however Anubis told me that the city has gone completely silent. The undead are suspected to be involved, which is why I was given this mission, as I’m the only Necromancer close enough to do anything.”

Everyone nods, though Jessie asks, “I thought necromancers used Undead, not dealt with them.”

At this point I sigh, “There are two types of Necromancers,” I explain.

“The first type are like me, where our objective is to put the souls of the dead where they belong, and to keep feral undead from rising. Then you have the second type. They are the ones who consume the souls of the dead to get stronger, but this comes at a terrible cost, and when they die they become liches. The other necromancer classes all do similar things if they are corrupted, turning into some form of greater undead.”

“Wait a second,” John says, “There are other Necromancer classes?”

I smile, “Tell you what, I’ll explain a bit of what Anubis has explained to me, and we’ll see where we can go from there. However, let’s get together a list of everything we’ll think we need for Indianapolis first. I want us to leave here within the week, if no one has any objections?”

For once, something goes entirely right, and without surprise.

*****

Me and John are sitting at the table. The girls went upstairs with Mama Ricci, and Papa Ricci is finishing up the dishes in the kitchen. Both me and John are sitting, drinking beers, when he asks me again, about Necromancers.

“So what are these other classes that Necromancer’s have?”

“Well, Necromancers are just like the other classes. You mix two things together, you get a third. For example, you mix most of the Guardian classes with Necromancer,” I say while motioning at him, “You get something Anubis called a Death Knight.”

“Wait, what?” John says, looking slightly bewildered.

I laugh, “Yeah, Death Knight. Just like the other necro classes, Death Knights have two forms. Good form, they are kind of like Paladins of Death, using necromancy in place of normal holy magic. Anubis also told me that most Death Knights are proficient with Bone Magic and Death Magic. They can create a small army of skeletons at a moment’s notice, and they enchant their weapon and armor with various bones. Gives them a bit of a creepy vibe, but they are impressive. If they go bad, they start consuming souls to get stronger, and eventually become Wights, or rarely they’ll stay as an undead Death Knight until they reach essentially General rank. Then they become Death Lords.”

To his credit, John doesn’t even flinch. “What else?”

I chuckle, “Well, the Dirgist comes to mind as well, as that is a Bard and a Necromancer. Very similar to what your sister does for you, except she’d need to sing some form of Dirge as well. The dirge would guide the souls of the dead into the afterlife, and sort of force them to go as well. It’s a powerful ability. If a Dirgist goes bad though, they normally become banshees. Dirgists normally go bad by creating a swarm of undead to serve them, using their music to command and control.”

John nods, “That sounds pretty amazing really. So, what about necromancer and soldier?”

“Well, that goes one of three ways actually. Soldiers are just so varied, it gets to be complicated really quickly. So, if a soldier that uses a ranged weapon picks up necromancer, they normally become a Blood Archer. Blood Archers, or gunners as the case may be, use blood magic in combination with their ranged techniques. Now, if a Blood Archer goes bad, they just become a zombie or if they are truly powerful, they’ll become a vampyr. That’s not to be confused with Vampires now.”

“What’s the difference?”

“Vampyr’s are like ghouls, except they just want the blood. They are also capable of magic and such, but Vampyr’s are like an actual Vampire’s hunting dogs. Of course, that would be the Undead Vampires, not the living vampires. Yes, both exist,” I finish, getting a slightly incredulous look from John. He shakes his head, and waves for me to continue.

“Similarly, a swordsman, or other weapon specialist, including the weapon master class, they become a class that Anubis called the Knight of the Pale Horse. Apparently, these knights become adept at wielding their weapons and having death energy flow through the blade, or something like that. Anubis wouldn’t tell me more, other than that. Though he did mention that cavaliers do the same as the other weapon specialists.”

“Now the odd one is monk. Monks combining with Necromancers actually become devoted to one of the Gods of Death, and they become really fucking scary in my opinion. The class is called Plague Monk, and has a lot of similarities with rogues. However, Plague Monks that go bad use blood magic to unleash plagues that absorb souls as well as killing people and, eventually they become Plague Bearers, and then Plague Lords. Plague Monks that stay good visit areas that are experiencing disease to try and stop the disease, and ease the souls of the dead that died from the disease onward.”

“Mages that become Necromancers are odd, and it really doesn’t happen very often, but then the result is variable on element. A Pyromancer would become a Soul Flame Magician, which is the only class to be able to use soul flames. A hydromancer would become a Blood Magician, able to use blood for water, and things like that. An Aeromancer would be known as a Scarecrow, apparently due to some of the legends that we forgot. And a Geomancer would be a Gravedigger Mage. All of them become demi liches or liches if they go bad. “

John waves a hand, “Yeah, that’s enough of that. You keep going, and I’m probably going to have nightmares. But I am interested. I mean, Death Knight sounds pretty amazing, and I wouldn’t mind letting people go to the rest they’ve earned, you know?”

I smile, “Trust me I know.”

*****

Gathering our supplies took us a bit, but we finish up in four days. The hardest part was finding people who would sell to us. A few times when we couldn’t find anyone else with what we wanted, we would talk with Mama or Papa Ricci and they’d pick it up for us.

People started calling us the Dead Enders, because, and I quote, “Our entire group is just the dead end for losers.”

I mean, come on. At least if you’re going to hate on us, make it a legitimate reason or excuse. That’s just sad, and slightly telling of the intelligence of the opposition.

However, what surprised us, is we actually like the name. It’s got a bit of double meaning, as we intend to go deal with a lot of undead. I’m a Necromancer, as well, so the whole thing sounds pretty good to us. I’ll admit, that by the time we leave, I’m used to the name, and it’s grown on me as well.

And now, the Dead Enders are heading for Indianapolis.