As Ninetoes checked over his gear, made sure his potions and weapons were in easy reach and found a suitable container for the leftover tomac pa, he sent Bluzag to carry the remains of his enemies and pile them in the courtyard.

Once Ninetoes had completed his preparations, he joined the wight outside and, using oil he’d found in the kitchen, coated the pile of corpses. A quick Burning Hands spell and the remains set ablaze.

He planned to return to this ancient city, Kavralach Bofar had called it. He hoped it’s treasure and knowledge would help to make him rich and powerful. Perhaps this could even be a home for his people, something worthy of the Dakhec Druul, maybe even a replacement for Vawshak Nye. Ninetoes had been born decades after the great fortress city had been lost, but his people’s history was almost exclusively oral tradition and so every young hobgoblin had learned the stories of the stronghold. The stories told of massive stone walls, twenty feet deep and fifty feet high; of towers armed with all kinds of vicious machines that could rain death as far as the horizon. They told of a tower at the fortress’ core, so tall that it touched the sky. Well, this city was a ruin to be sure, but perhaps it would give his people a place to grow strong again, it certainly offered better protection than the wooden palisades of his village.

Crossing the courtyard, Ninetoes searched the twin towers of the barbican, finding both spaces all but empty of weapons and arms. It seemed that someone had cleared them out and, seeing as he knew the goblinoids hadn’t ventured this far, he reckoned that it must have been the previous residents. He did find one item of use, a leather baldric, made to carry a weapon across someone’s back. With a little ingenuity, some spare leather and copious use of the Mending spell, Ninetoes managed to enlarge it to fit Bluzag and allow it to hold his javelins. Bluzag had been carrying them in his shield hand until this point and although the wight never complained, it would clearly make him less effective at blocking.

Considering this, Ninetoes realised that the half-ogre’s Character Sheet did not have the Blocking skill. He knew from his lectures with Foresto that Blocking was a learned skill, related to the Strength stat. With this in mind, he decided that he would start training with Bluzag a little each day to hone their skills and try to develop tactics and Skills for working together.

Just to be sure, Ninetoes checked over the massive wooden and iron gate, but even a cursory glance told him it was secure. Rather than make the structure insecure, he decided to leave the castle the way he’d come in and so headed up onto the curtain walls via one of two staircases in the barbican.

Reaching the top of the walls, Ninetoes sent Libby ahead to scout along the crenellations, as he still didn’t know the fate of the goblins who had been outside of the walls. He was pretty sure they were dead, their lifeforce stolen by the Animator, but he had vowed to be more careful and thus his caution.

Within moments his familiar returned to report that the goblins were still at their stations but that something was… off. Ordering Bluzag to wait behind; the half-ogre not having a stealthy bone in his undead body.

Ninetoes slunk along the walltop, ducking low behind the merlons. When he reached the corpse of the bugbear commander and the gap in the magical shield that he’d used to enter the castle he stopped. Slowly, inch my careful inch, Ninetoes raised his head between the defences and spied down on the goblins beneath.

As Libby had reported, they were all still on their feet and at their posts, four now standing guard on the palisade they’d erected between the castle walls and the townhouses beyond. More were standing beyond it, leading towards the centre of their camp. He could even see some bugbears, holding the reigns of their worg mounts. Ninetoes could also quickly see what Libby had described as ‘off’. Not a single one moved. Not a muscle flinched amongst them, they stood statue-still, not even breathing… and then it hit him, they were like Bluzag, they were undead.

Oh no! This is not good! His panic made him express the thought in his mind.

Indeed Master. Those things are like Bluzag aren’t they? If they’re all like that, then an army stands between us and escaping this lifeless city. It appears that the wizard’s plan succeeded, at least in part.

The same thoughts had been crossing his own mind, but it mattered little, they must find a way past them.

Only, he had never fought anything undead before and so he had little knowledge of how to combat them, except... he did, he had mountains of knowledge about the undead, he was in fact the local expert on the subject.

He was still trying to get used to the hoard of information about necromancy that was swirling around in his mind and had yet to make total sense of, but it seemed that if he concentrated on a specific question, that he already knew the answer to, he could, know it… again? Hmm, now all I need to do is ask all the right questions.

For now, he focussed on what he knew about undead. Based upon the fact that not a single one was moving or, doing anything really, he reasoned that they must be ‘unintelligent’ undead, meaning that they were simply animated husks that held little to none of the knowledge that their bodies had known in life, only maintaining the muscle memory to perform simple tasks and obey straight forward commands. These undead didn’t need to sleep, eat or even breathe and while they were not particularly strong or combat effective, they would not cease from their last command until they were almost completely destroyed, thus making them the perfect form of infantry. Without commands, these undead would simply act towards their own self preservation, attacking anything that threatened them.

This meant that, if Ninetoes was correct, these undead would ignore him and his allies, unless they were to attack one and then they might all attack his party, swamping them quickly. This might also mean, a greedy part of him pointed out, that as long as he was careful, there was nothing guarding the treasures in Bofar’s tent.

But first, he’d need to test the idea. Gathering his focus, Ninetoes cast Minor Illusion, creating a simple copy of himself on the cobbled street below him, right in the centre of a group of undead. While one or two of the creatures turned their heads to look at the figure, not a single one moved towards it and while Ninetoes’ Beginner ability with the spell meant that he couldn’t make the illusory copy move it’s limbs, he could still change the location of the figure. Doing so, he hoped would allow him to test whether the undead were simply ignoring an immobile target, but still not a single one moved to intercept his double and, once the illusion had moved from the cone of vision of those watching it, they simply turned their heads back, seemingly forgetting its existence.

What do you think of Little One? Is it safe? He questioned his familiar, not wanting to make any decision that risked their lives without checking with her first. Mostly because he didn’t want her to blame and scold him, when it inevitably went poorly.

I think we must risk it Master. Based upon what we have already seen, they seem harmless. Perhaps if you were to ‘step’ down to the palisade to test it, then you could ‘step’ back if they become aggressive? She responded. While he wasn’t keen upon the idea of risking himself in the attempt, he quickly accepted that he was the only choice.

Firstly, he recharged his mana by channelling some out of his Gem of Power, bringing himself back to full. Then, holding a deep breath and concentrating on the small gap between the forceshield and the wall, he ‘stepped’ to the palisade below. He’d had to step right next to one of the undead, but there had been no avoiding it, his spell limited in the distance it could carry him.

Still holding onto his breath he waited. As the first of the undead took notice of him something very odd happened, like a wave centred on that first undead, every single creature within sight turned to look directly at Ninetoes. Within a moment, roughly forty pairs of lifeless eyes were gazing straight at the hobgoblin.

To say that it was unnerving would be a massive understatement, Ninetoes was only glad he’d had nothing more than an apple for breakfast, as his stomach dropped into his feet. For a moment, he nearly ‘stepped’ away, but then he overcame his initial fear and a logical thought crossed his mind, if they meant him harm, they’d have moved to attack.

Master?! Are you alright? Came his familiar’s worried voice in his mind.

I think so little one. They don’t seem aggressive.

But, why do they all look at you so? Those distant ones cannot have heard you. The same thought had occurred to Ninetoes and he definitely hadn’t stopped considering his means of escaping the mob. He needed more information, however, and so he stepped forward, along the palisade, heading for a ramp a few feet away. To reach it, he would need to pass by the closest undead goblin, as the palisade was too narrow to permit him passage without the creature moving.

“Excuse me.” He whispered, more out of habit than any actual sense of courtesy and that’s when things got even weirder. Not only did the creature in front of him move to the side, so did every other animate corpse within earshot. Ninetoes froze.

What happened Master? Why did they all move? Libby's voice was frantic and, as Ninetoes glanced back, he could see the squirrel attempting to squeeze through the gap in the forceshield.

I… I think they moved, because I asked them to? Ninetoes responded, the end of his reply becoming more question than answer, but it stopped Libby in her tracks and she moved back behind the protective field and clambered onto the top of the crenellations so that she had a better view.

Well, then I suppose you try something else? Her response was also formed into a question and Ninetoes could certainly understand why.

Alright, he could do this, but what should he ask them to do? “Er…” he raised his voice to be heard by all those he could see, “...um, please sit down.”

WHUMPH!

Every single undead creature that he could see, be it bugbear, goblin or worg, sat straight down with an audible slap of skin and leather behinds on the cobblestone floor.

Huh! I really needed to come up with a new way of testing my undead.

***

Over the next hour, Ninetoes did exactly that. Having the undead stand up, lie down, fetch things and run relays. The more he worked with them, the more he felt confident of his ability to command them and the stronger he felt the strand of magic that connected him to the many, many undead, with this confidence came the assuredness that these creatures offered no threat to him of his companions and so he informed Libby that it was safe and commanded her to join him.

Soon, she too grew in security and became accustomed with their presence. Excited by his discovery, Ninetoes quickly ‘stepped’ back to the top of the wall and, taking Bluzag by the hand, ‘stepped’ back. Even with his mana topped off, he felt the strain of mana depletion as he ‘arrived’ and checking his Character Sheet, he found that the one single trip had cost him three hundred and sixty mana, one hundred and twenty mana more than the lvl 4 version of his skill quoted. He reasoned that this must have to do with Bluzag’s massive size. He had hoped that such a large undertaking would level up the skill, but alas it did not.

Before he’d gone to collect his ally, he’d shouted out, his voice breaking the stillness and instructed the undead to stand at the far end of the camp. He had the feeling that they were more of them, many more.

While he awaited their return, he walked the short distance to the pavilion tent in the centre of the goblinoid camp, excited by the prospect of taking ownership of Bofar’s treasure.

As he stepped into the gloom beneath the canvas, his dark vision kicked in and he quickly scanned the interior. It was much as he’d left it, a small work station that held potion making equipment and a number of components, it also held a small collection of books and scrolls. Towards the back stood a cotbed, lavishly adorned with silk sheets and rich animal furs. Finally, stood proudly off to one side, were two chests, each one brimming with gold and platinum coins, colourful gems and items of jewelry. His underarms felt wet with perspiration as he took in the scene, it truly was a king’s ransom! There must have been thousands of gold coins and the gems must be worth ten times as much; he was rich!

His only problem now, was how to carry it all. His bag of holding was reaching its limits already, he’d have to empty out some books… or food? Yeah, he didn’t need to carry so much food, he could hunt, or send Bluzag to do so.

Without realising it, he’d moved, Ninetoes found himself crouching before the treasure, his eyes gleaming with avarice. With this wealth and the castle behind him, his people would never want for anything. They could hire the best craftsman in the region to rebuild the homes around the city and he’d be able to live with them once again, surrounded by his people.

He reached out to pick up a handful of coins, the warm glow of the gold illuminating his callous hands and as his hands closed around the cool metal they clinked against one another. Turning his palm up to his face, he brought a coin closer to his mouth to bite down and test the metal, his teeth met only a little resistance before he left the canine indentation of his sharpest teeth, Gold! It’s really gold!

For a moment, he’d worried that fate would cheat him and that the gold would be an illusion. Picking up a gem, he checked it over too. He had little knowledge or experience but they seemed real enough. On a hunch, he cast Identify and sure enough, the spell confirmed what he’d hoped, the gem was real and, as he cast his gaze over the rest, so too were they all.

The sweat under his arms was making him uncomfortable and so he removed his cloak, folding it and placing it in his pack. This was so much wealth, it was almost a little scary and, based upon the collection of coins just in his hands must be a mixture of wealth that Bofar had brought with him and loot his goblins had collected in the ancient city. In part, it had been this wealth and more importantly the power it could garner, that had drawn Bofar to find the lost stronghold. Ninetoes feared that others would come and steal it all from him. Such a thought galvanised him into action.

Stepping out into the open space in front of the tent, Ninetoes removed his bag of holding and, turning it upside down he held a hand in front of the opening and clearly enunciated one word, “Everything.”

A deluge of items tumbled out of the bag, quickly piling in the space beneath, so much so that Ninetoes was forced to move to the side and let the items spill into a line of loot instead of a large heap.

Some of the items he’d almost forgotten existed, there was food, books, trinkets and gold. He’d collected a goodly amount of his own treasure already, enough to consider himself rich, but his paltry findings were nothing in comparison to the hoard inside the tent. This then, is where he started, shovelling the gold in large handfuls into the mouth of his bag. The weight was such that he quickly grew tired and so, passing the bag to Bluzag, instructed the Wight to complete the task.

Moving back outside, he shivered. The days were certainly growing colder and, if the heavy, dark clouds on the horizon were any indication, it would soon be the rainy season.

He would not leave a penny behind, and so he must choose carefully what he could take with him. He considered for a moment using the undead to carry everything for him, but he knew that feared such decaying creatures and realised that this was not a viable solution.

He could, however, use the undead to help him sort through the piles of items. It would also be a good test for just how much the creatures understood and the limits of the jobs they could perform. He’d already worked out that he needed to concentrate on a single… um… unit?, when giving an instruction or all those in earshot would perform the same task. A useful trait in the right circumstances but it clearly wouldn’t do now.

Since he’d been in the tent, a large number more of the undead had arrived. He mentally divided the group into quarters and then counted this group. He reached twenty six and so reasoned that there must already be more than a hundred. He didn’t want so many tripping over his stuff and so he concentrated on a group of five, giving each the task of finding a different type of item, telling each to collect that type into a pile.

The one he instructed to collect food set straight to the task, as did the creature he’d told to stack the books. But the other three, who he’d told to divide the treasure, weapons and potions simply stood stock still with vacant expressions across their faces. Indeed, all of the undead had the same look, but on these three the expression seemed even more devoid of sense. Clearly, this was their limit.

Instead, he began standing the undead in groups of ten. As he did so, he concentrated on his Identify spell and checked over a number of the creatures.

Zombie Goblin - Level 8

Prime Stat - Endurance

Prime Trait - Undead

22/22 HP

100XP

Zombie Bugbear- Level 10

Prime Stat - Endurance

Prime Trait - Undead

41/41 HP

450XP

Zombie Worg - Level 4

Prime Stat - Endurance

Prime Trait - Undead

36/36 HP

400XP

Alright, this was useful information. Now he had something more specific to call them and understood a little more about them. Although he’d never seen the term ‘Prime Stat’ used before, it was fairly self explanatory and now he had an idea of the relative strengths of the different creatures. The Zombie Worg was obviously more dangerous than the goblin, despite the disparity between their levels, which made sense as the worg was much bigger and obviously stronger and faster than the goblin, even in its zombie form. Finally, his knowledge of necromancy told him that the ‘Prime Trait’ was the most powerful skill, ability or racial trait that the creature had. While they might hold other traits, this trait was predominant. Ninetoes also knew that the ‘undead’ trait was as he’d previously understood, that undead didn’t need sleep, sustenance or to breathe. It also revealed something else useful. Monster’s also had Levels but they seemed to differ from Adventurers.

As he’d Identified these first three creatures, more undead had arrived, including a number of undead animals, including a flock of ravens, two boars and an entire plague of rats. As he identified a member of each group, he found that they resembled their larger brethren, all of them now having the Undead trait and their Prime Stat was now Endurance. All, that was, except for the ravens, whose Prime Stat was Agility. This, Ninetoes assumed, was due to their ability to fly, but he made a note to research this further.

As the morning wore on, Ninetoes sorted through the piles for those things that he could absolutely not do without. He took enough for himself and Libby to survive off for a journey of twice the length than the one back to Raveslan, reasoning that this would serve him even if he ran into difficulty. His Adventurer’s backpack carried all of his essentials, like a bedroll and mess kit, so he need not worry about those. He also began to pack all of the treasure that he’d found before today. This included a number of items of jewelry, some coins and a simple silver ring with a black gem. This ring was one of the first pieces of loot he’d ever found, taken from the corpse of a dark-elf, in the hollow of an ettercap. At the time, he’d considered the item worth selling, but now, with so much other wealth and with his new specialism of ‘dark’ magic, he decided that a small affectation was in order and so he placed the ring on his own pinky finger. As he cast his gaze across the mounds of stuff, he considered how to be most efficient and take as much as possible.

Firstly, he planned to keep Bluzag with him. Although the Wight was undead, apart from his wound and the pallor of his skin, there was nothing that made Bluzag look undead. Unlike the zombies, Bluzag’s eyes now showed a degree of thought behind them and he’d already proven himself capable of following more complex instructions. Ninetoes had already solved the issue of the unsightly wound and his pale skin could be explained simply as a poor constitution, although, if he could find a cloak big enough or a helmet that covered more of his face, that would be even better.

With this in mind and due to Bluzag’s prodigious strength score, Ninetoes intended to use him as a bit of a pack mule.

“Bluzag my friend. Search these nearby buildings for a large backpack. Once you have found one, or once you’ve been through these five buildings,” he said pointing at each building in turn, “return here to me.”

“Yes Master.” Came his deep droning response. As Ninetoes considered it, he added.

“If you find any treasure, weapons or armour, bring that as well.”

“Yes Master.” The wight said, before moving off. Ninetoes trusted that his servant understood his instructions, but to be sure, he turned to his familiar, who was currently lazing on the furs of Bofar’s cot.

Little one? Please go with him and ensure he does as I’ve told him. Libby didn’t move and, if it hadn’t been for their connection, he might have believed that she was actually asleep, but for once it worked against the cheeky little rodent.

Hurrmph. Ergh, you have no idea how hard it is to get comfortable with all these undead around. She sent back, stretching languorously, before skittering off to do as he bid.

Standing alone, well apart from the scores of undead, Ninetoes cast his gaze over the stack of books. He simply couldn’t take them all and so he’d have to be more picky. Firstly, he packed the spellbooks he’d found, Corvash’s Monograph on Animation and the three books that he’d chosen for Foresto. Next, he selected all of the books on the various schools of magic. He’d found some for Evocation, Abjuration, Transmutation and Conjuration, he started packing these, but as he reached the second to last book, his bag of holding reached its limit and wouldn’t allow him to place anymore within. He set those books aside and a couple more; one, a book on types of monster and the other a book about potions, with the intent of packing these with Bluzag.

Leftover was a sizable stack of books, hundreds of spell components and ingredients and, finally, Libby’s cushion. Clearly he couldn’t leave the last item behind and so he stuffed this straight into his backpack. He also wanted to take all of the components, which created a problem.

While the weight of these items wasn’t significant, there were so many of them and many of them were so tiny or delicate, having Bluzag carry them would be inefficient. Ninetoes thought about it and hypothesised that his bag of holding worked on weight rather than size and shape and so, removing all of the books, he started placing all of the other items in. He found that they all fit and what was more, he seemed to have space leftover. The cumbersome books would travel with Bluzag.

While he waited, Ninetoes continued to concentrate on his Identify spell, analysing each and every zombie that joined the hoard. By the time the half-ogre and his familiar had returned, Ninetoes had levelled up both the spell’s level and his ability with Divination. Across Bluzag’s shoulders was what appeared to be a large saddle bag, the pocket at the front bulging with a large brown cloak.

This was all we could find of his size Master. But the cloak seems to fit him perfectly.

“Good work. Both of you, we can certainly make something out of the bag.”

Due to his earlier successes, Ninetoes quickly set to work. Using strips of leather from some old pieces of armour he found lying around in the camp, Ninetoes used his Mending spell to create a strap that went under Bluzag’s weapon arm to connect the front and rear pouches of the saddle bags. He made sure that it sat over the shoulder opposite the one with the quiver of javelins. Having Bluzag raise his shield and maul, he tested the bag and made a few adjustments to ensure that the wight could still move freely. Within ten minutes it was finished and packed with all of the books, all of them fitting snugly into the back pouch, leaving the front one mostly empty.

Looking up at the sky, Ninetoes searched for the sun. While it was mostly hidden behind the clouds, he could still reckon its location and judged the time to be around midday, perfect.

Turning around, Ninetoes took in the army of undead that had gathered to his call, there must be hundreds.

“Um.... all of you,” he called, “stay here and, if the need arises, stop anyone or anything from entering the castle.” He wouldn’t risk anyone stealing the stronghold.

With that, he turned and began making his way out of the city. Libby shot ahead, instinctively acting as his scout, while Bluzag trailed a few steps behind. A grin stretched across his face. He was returning to complete his first quest, already richer and more powerful than he could have possibly imagined.