Mark Magnus was your average adventurer. Signed up as soon as he could doing odd jobs finding a party and learning to fight monsters and beast that inhabited the Empires wilderness. His latest adventure was bringing him to the city of Comb. He had become an adventurer for 2 years now and was ready to move on to much more different targets. Mark and his party settled on Comb not too deep into the Catacombs yet having plenty of undead and other monstrosities around to fill the pockets with coin.

Right now Mark was hogtied and left in a cell. How did this happen? Well, it all started when some raving lunatic went off crazy saying he was looking for a boy of around 12 years of age. Probably younger as he said the boy was a magi human it wasn’t until he said the boy's name that the city guards got involved. Aegeus Kan. The first son of Duke Kan, who, also happens to have a claim over the City of Comb. The question was how did this happen and the most basic answer Mark could think of was he fucked up.

“Stupid stupid stupid. I had to go open my big mouth and not mind my business. Stupid.”

Mark's cell opened up and he watched as another hogtie boy was tossed in. He had brown skin, eyes light starlight and his hair was a mix of black and red.

The boy scooted his body until both he and Mark were face to face.

“First time?” Mark smirked as he opened his mouth to ask.

“You don’t look all too comfortable yourself.” The boy responded.

“The name is Magnus, Mark Magnus. Perhaps you’ve heard of me?”

Mark watched as the boy stared at him in confusion.

“No?”

If Mark had the freedom to throw his hands into the air he would’ve. Who hadn’t heard of Mark Magnus? The youngest commoner to achieve rank 3 and close to rank 4. He was a genius famous throughout the Empire's low born. Unless this lad wasn’t a low born.

“Say lad, what’s your name?”

“I go by A.K.”

“So A.K. how’d you end up captured by that raving lunatic and his ghouls?”

“That Mark Magnus is a long story.”

“I don’t see us going anywhere anytime soon. The lunatic seems to be looking for the son of Duke Kan. Don’t see why that pertains to us common folk. Call me Mark by the way all my friends do,” He said with a toothy grin.

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“So Mark do you have a plan with getting us out of this situation? Can you use magic?”

“Only the body reinforcement type. Those flashy wizards and their spells are beyond me.”

“Well Mark if you can get to my boot and remove it, you find underneath the sole a small but sharp blade.”

A.K. thought about what Shadow Bolt had told him when she finally reappeared next to his side like some sort of phantom. He had been traversing for around an hour when the disappeared ranger finally showed up. He then learned that she immediately set off in the direction of Comb. Only to learn that the city had been heavily attacked and the survivors fortified themselves within the inner keep. The rest had been either captured by the necromancer or killed. Said necromancer also managed to damage the teleportation gates and locked all communication signals from being sent out. Basically, the city was cut off and on its own.

The only good thing about this situation was that the Necromancer seemed to be trying to capture people alive as much as possible. Since Comb was closed off and the only city here for the next hundreds of miles they were destined to be eradicated by the Necromancers forces. A.K. learning this immediately thought about solutions but couldn’t come up with anything. He wasn’t a hero and he wasn’t going to turn himself in and risk his life even if the cause of all this was because the Necromancer was looking for him for some reason.

He was the son of a Duke his firstborn his capture would not only lead to major shifts within the Dukedom but within the Empire. However, he wasn’t cold enough to just abandoned a city full of people to whatever whims the crazed Necromancer put them through. So Shadow Bold suggested he’d get ‘captured’ since he had no skills high enough to sneak in. Once inside locate the rest of the captured adventurers or guardsmen and draw the attention of the Necromancer enough for Shadow Bolt to keep to her namesake and send a shadow bolt into the necromancer's skull. She just needed a big enough distraction for the necromancer to send his bigger and tougher creations away.

A.K. watched Mark slowly cut away at the ropes tying his hands together. Once Mark freed himself he moved onto A.K. making little to no noise as much as possible.

“There is a ghoul kept on watch at the end of the corridor. If we make enough noise it usually comes rough us up a bit before leaving,” Mark said as he stretched his body to return the blood flow to its proper circulation.

“After that, we can move cell to cell and release most of the other prisoners.”

A.K. nodded showing his understanding of the plan. He spoke up remembering what Shadow Bolt was trying to do.

“I didn’t get captured just to save the rest of you. I have a friend ready to snipe the necromancer. What I need from the people captured is to cause a ruckus big enough for the Necromancer to send out his high-level undead.”

A.K. watched as Mark took a long look at him before breaking out into another toothy grin.

“If it's a ruckus you need to make happen then the Champions of Rohan are more than happy to help!”

“Thank you, Mark. I’ll hide to the right of the door after the ghoul steps in I'll finish it.”

Mark proceeded to make a big enough racket for the ghoul to stop by. It took around 5 minutes of yelling, which in turn got their other cellmates to yell out. A screech was heard and most of the yells quieted down beside Marks. He was yelling about his achievements. Really just boasting of his valiant heroics.

The big ghoul bashed the cell open and moved to the now quiet Mark who stood up in fierce defiance. Growling the creature moved closer only for its head to spin to the ground. It watched its body topple over only recognizing the words [Fierce Chop] after the fact.

A.K. watched the light fade from the ghoul's eyes and the body toppled over. He tried his skill fierce chop to see if other weapons worked with it. The knife chopped worked but took a lot more out of A.K. than a chop with his ax did.

A.K. and Mark stepped out of the cell and immediately a lot of eyes turned towards them. Not ghouls but humans.

“Bout time yerr showed up Mark me boy.”

A.K. saw a huge man in a cell 2 down from theirs talking. He was massive and A.K. estimated him to be around 7ft in height if not taller. A.K. was surprised because he didn’t feel the tell-tale signs of a magi human core.

“Whose yerr brat? An when are yerr planning on releasing the lot of us?”

Other voices started to chortle and Mark raised a hand silencing them.

“This my friends is A.K. the lad who saved your sorry arses.”

A.K. and Mark then went from cell to cell untying the ropes that held more people together. Until around 20 or so were gathered within the hallway.

“This can’t be everybody?” A.K. asked turning to Mark for answers.

“Aye lad this is only the Champions of Rohan,” the big man who spoke up earlier said something before Mark could.

“Names Jaecar von Winter. Leader of the Champions. I thank yerr for saving me and my lads.”

A foot stomped down on Jaecar and he winces a girl about the height of A.K. appeared beside Jaecar.

“And ladies!” She said with a pout.

“And ladies!” A chorus of other feminine voices came from the surrounding crowd.

“I am Ryna von Winter,” Ryna said with a slight curtsy.

A.K. instinctively returned with a slight bow. Before stopping himself, he gave a nod instead before reintroducing himself to the group that was staring at him.

“My name is A.K. I’m on an adventure to the city of Redcoomshi before I was captured by the necromancer.”

A.K. noticed a lot of eyes shoot up at the mention of the city’s name.

Jaecar nodding before returning his attention to the gathered men.

“Men… an ladies here is the plan. Smash every ghoul skull you see. Find our weapons an book it back to the city to escape. The teleportation gate should be active.”

“Before you do that I need a favor from you all. We need to release the rest of the prisoners. If we can create a big enough ruckus to get the high undead of the necromancer to move out my friend will be able to assassinate him. It's the sole reason I let myself be captured in the first place.”

“I've promised the lad my sword already,” Mark spoke up before Jaecar could reply and a lot of murmurings ran through the group.

A.K. didn’t want these people who already had a decent organization to themself to just take off and run. He needed these people and the other prisoners to fight with him.

“I can lead you all the equipment. I've seen where they store everything.” The murmuring grew even louder.

“Mark Magnus doesn’t get stuffed and just walks away.”

A chortle of ‘aye’ resounded out and the decision was made for Jaecar.

A.K. smiled and led the adventures to the location his weapons had been left at. After he surrendered he made sure to remember every twist and turn. In the Catacombs, this was essential as to not get lost.

New Skill: Mapping

A notification appeared making A.K. pause in his tracts before continuing. About time he got this skill. It seemed like System rewarded most skills after a firm foundation had been built for said skill. A.K. continued on but noticed how quiet the pathways were and was growing uneasy. As A.K. pressed forwards the girl Ryna appeared next to him.

“So what city are you from A.K.?”

A.K. studied the girl a bit before responding. She had dark brown hair, white skin, and brown eyes. She would fit into any community from the earth.

“Ashburn,” he said not bothering to make conversation with the girl.

“The capital of the Dukedom? Me and my father are from the northern dukedom and the rest of our party is from all over the Empire. Sarah was to be wed off before she ran away on joined us. Tyrone was a sailor but grew bored of the lifestyle, and don’t get me started on Kyle….”

The girl continued to blabber on about the rest of their party and the small stories of each member. A.K. had put her droning in the background they had only run into a ghoul or two patrolling and it was getting direly suspicious to A.K.

If the city was attacked by a necromancer and the other city fell to his forces. Were was those forces. It didn’t add up and A.K. continued to have a sinking feeling. He slowed down as just right around the corner was where their equipment was kept. Peering around the corner he saw roughly 7 ghouls guarding the entrance. Ghouls were pretty stupid monsters however they weren’t brainless. If they saw this many people rushing at them some were sure to escape.

He alerted the rest of the party and Kyle Ranski the party's expert scout appeared. He was a wiry type of guy and had slightly pointed ears with pale white skin. A.K. recognized the half-elf and gave him a suspicious glance. From what A.K. could remember this Kyle fella was dangerous to anyone not from his party.

“Looks like we have a few ghouls ahead I've counted 8 with a 9th hiding rather back. Easy.”

With those words, Kyle vanished and what appeared in his position was a startled ghoul. At first, everyone was silent and no one moved. Then a grumble escaped the ghoul's stomach and everyone pounced on it before it could fully comprehend what happened.

Kyle then reappeared and Jaecar disappeared. A roar that sounded very much like Kyles's name was heard down the tunnel and the adventures all rushed out leaving A.K. behind. A hand was placed on his shoulder and turning he saw Mark Magnus sporting his toothy grin.

“So what do you think of the Champions of Rohan?”

“You're all a bit crazy, to be honest,” A.K. said before rushing to catch up with the adventures who already engaged with the ghouls.

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Shadow Bolt was worried. A few hours had passed since A.K. was brought into the tunnels occupied by the necromancer's forces. They were around 10 miles away from the city and most of the necromancer's forces returned from the siege. She miscalculated and now the one she was supposed to keep safe may be in even bigger danger because of her. Why had the necromancer suddenly pulled back? She transferred from shadow to shadow all the while growing closer to where the necromancer was hiding. If they could get his high-level ghouls away if only for a moment she could shoot a bolt through his heart and head before he even got a chance to blink.

She was close she stopped her movement behind a large boulder with a larger shadow and strained her ears to pick up any signs from the necromancer. If not for the rank 5 ghouls next to the necromancer this farce would’ve been over long ago. Her breathing stilled to its utmost limit as one of those very same rank 5 ghouls appeared sniffing the boulder she was hiding at.

Rank 5 for an undead was a turning point their intelligence was enhanced greatly by this point and with a necromancer to lead them? A party of all rank 6 beings would be needed to take on a rank 6 necromancer and his toys. The ghouls supported by the necromancer's dark magic would shred any adventurer party without a rank 6 there. If she could succeed in assassinating the necromancer the ghouls he commands would take a major hit in power and cognition. As most were supported to that rank from the necromancer and his resources alone. A rank 5 natural ghoul or higher would be catastrophic but unlikely to appear as the Empire had gone to great lengths to wipe out all higher undead in its borders.

Shadow Bolt watched as the lower rank ghouls all congregated to an area within the tunnels occupied. She bit her lower lip in frustration. Aegeus Kan could not die. Not with everything riding on his shoulders. Even with the monetary support from Duke Kan for her people Aegeus Kan had become too specialized. As she scrolled through the system it only convinced her more and more. The ability to organize your strength exactly how you wanted. This would change the fate of this continent.

She started to move again she needed to know why all the ghouls were gathering. This was giving her a horrible feeling.

“It's almost as if…”

“As if the life is draining.”

The hairs on the back of Shadow Bolt's neck rose. Someone had snuck up on her directly to her right.

“I mean you no harm. Actually, I'm here to help.”

Shadow Bolt slowly turned and studied the human next to her. A rank five for sure maybe rank 6. She studied the man. Blond hair blue eyes and eyebrows like lightning with a chiseled jaw. He was wearing a blue skintight suit with purple lightning symbols woven throughout.

“Prime, Augustus… Prime m’lady.” The man Augustus gave a slight bow with his introduction.

Shadow Bolt still had her weapons ready and was silently preparing spells.

“How did you sneak up on me?”

The man chuckled hard enough for tears to appear in his eyes.

“My dear, you snuck up on me. I've claimed this rock first!”

“Impossible. I would have noticed you immediately.”

“Well I am rank 5 and once my concealment technique is activated even rank 7 would have a hard time finding me. Truly, you snuck up on me.”

Shadow Bolt still cautiously watched the man. The fact that she hadn’t noticed his presence at all meant that her life was entirely within the man's control. She felt extremely uncomfortable and took a step back. Augustus watched her and held his hands up.

“Peace lady, peace. We can work together. It's clear you have an objective here. My team is positioning themselves we are looking for the necromancer and waiting for a chance to strike.”

Shadow Bolt continued to back up until she was well out of reach of the man's range before she spoke up.

“Shadow Bolt.”

“Quite the name. What brings a sun elf down these parts. Augustus flashed another smile which only made Shadow Bolt uneasy.

“My friend has been captured by the necromancer and I’m here to recuse him and assassinate the plague before it gets a chance to spread.”

Shadow Bolt sensed a presence moving towards their direction and immediately spread even more distance between herself and Augustus. A stern look lady appeared next to Augustus glaring at him.

“Brother,” She said through gritted teeth.

“Why are you here flirting when the necromancer is casting a blood sacrifice. We have less than 30 minutes to stop him before he consumes this entire underground region of life.”

Augustus's face hardens and Shadow Bolt was ready to take off. Aegeus Kan must not DIE.