So given a task by the gods to oversee a potential trouble spot, this sounds more like the job you would give to your church or a paladin group? The ironic thing about the churches of deities is that we necromancers sometimes get a better reputation than priests when it comes to dealing with funerals and graveyards, not much use for comforting the grieving except for ensuring the souls of the dead don’t laze around. Much practical comfort in knowing that if your dead neighbor does come back you can whack him without care since not only is it weaker but a mindless construct without regard for rights of sentient creatures unlike priests who can only hope to their deity that the soul actually leaves unless they are some high ranker then why are they at some random village.

Admittedly this is limited to the liberal sections of the empire, pitchforks and torches are obvious elsewhere, still we necromancers tend to get a bit more footloose in the world with our quest for new knowledge though it is common to some mages. Of course guaranteeing that the souls go to their gods is not part of the job description of priests regardless of orientation not that the commoners need to know. The stories you hear at times of the way some priests or mages act is amazing, of course you hear more about the crazy ones whenever anything happens.

Many rouge necromancers go searching for hidden cairns or crypts to pillage bodies and souls, however enlightened necromancers know that keeping the soul of some random joe or jill paladin or other mighty figure in your troop is a recipe for stupid. Too much chance of rebellion for weak necromancers and those true masters of the craft are busy with more important large scale things. Getting some high quality pawn is nice but not when it takes too long and if it is truly a wonderfully strong one then who does not keep guards of some kind or other there an strong ones.

These are the small time necromancers who burn out in a blaze of glory by going mad with believed power and massacre a few villages. After their large zombie horde is up they slow down to a crawl and get hunted down by either a group of avenging holier than thou paladins or the local noble panics and sends for the biggest army with the promise of spoils of war. The smart ones lay low and create identities that allow them to move freely, there are many necromancers that are not public and are just biding their time for whatever objective they have.

But such matters were never much of an issue for me, master was a pioneer and sneered on traditional methods and made sure that I never went down the path of fool’s power. In particular he experimented with improving animal and monster reanimation, it is quite effective compared to human reanimation if not exactly very flexible. Animals and monsters are usually much better for fighting long term, less fragile and need for equipment compared to humanoids but it is harder to give them equipment to enhance strength nor are they so available as humans. That monster reanimation was what made my career at the local academy, a more codified method to necromancy and also quite a bit of embezzlement for my personal research which spawned the golem corps. If they ever found my secret laboratory I would probably be burnt on the stake with holy fire, while I did not make a secret coup d'etat undead army I did do enough smaller scale work for things to not be tolerated if found out by the wrong parties.

Of course it is not like I massacred a few towns to fuel my work but a few decades allows one to accumulate quite a bit of work material. Let us say that I never kept many prisoners of war around and had a good working relationship with those in charge of the penal work gangs not that it was any special act. An open secret was that most mages and nobles had similar connections and my making them was not viewed as special. One does not simply invent new necromantic creations without finding ways of making it possible to mass produce. Unfortunately most of that work was theoretical since I had most practical tests on smaller scales, I was perhaps too cautious in keeping things hidden but then again I did manage to rise to my high position and accumulate knowledge regardless.

Ahhh good, the goddess did keep my most important artifact intact.The culmination of my master’s teachings and my research, my magnum opus; the Liber Sequenti Temporum Mortis. Here are recorded the spells I have learned over my time and hidden under the strictest protection my research. Every single magic imprint and ritual for creating undead of various types is recorded in this grimoire, perhaps one of the greatest accumulations of necromantic lore that would drive any who knew of it mad whether from the latent energy or the thirst for it’s secrets. It was a piece of work ensuring that whenever I visited a conclave gathering of necromancers that I kept this under lock and key though any self-respecting mage hides their grimoire and research. The tales of fortified mage towers are often true, there are few things with less ethics than a mage with an intruder out for research in their quarters.

The improved monster reanimation I learned during my tutelage, the bone golem research during my early time at the academy, and my experimental work on the latest military weapon. The new arquebus that was created recently, I don’t know what made me so absorbed with it in the first place but I found much potential in them. Low grade necromantic creations cannot use them but stronger ones can, the destructive power they offer with ease of use even undead without shackled souls can use.The latest tactics fresh from the military segment of the academy was about conscripts enmass to counter heavy infantry and cavalry but there is so much more that can be done. Arquebus warfare arrays around formation use, formations that undead properly managed can execute much better.

Leave the mindless swarms to those lesser necromancers, true grand warfare requires much more skill and superior troops. If what they say is true of the scale of the wasteland then I will have as much material as I need though world conquest is not something I desire despite my power, the theoretical and small scale ‘tests’ were enough for me. Imagine the bones of creatures from the early era of this world, the sheer necromantic energy that must dwell there makes me salivate at the thought. But still it is the path and not the end that I seek which likely were why I got the job, I prefer being left to my devices to experiment and study.. These gods likely know my end plans, moral code, and capabilities, lichdom and eternal guardianship hmmmm... how much energy from the miasma of death is actually there, perhaps perhaps......

Well on to the more practical side of things, that was a bit of dangerous tunnel vision of not keeping watch of my surroundings even if I can feel my personal wards are still in place. Lets see a small campsite with fire in a clearing with woods surrounding it, nothing immediately dangerous in sight. This looks like a generic campsite that a traveler would set up for now that I check it is almost dusk, no food out but if this follows everything else there should be rations somewhere. Ahh after a it of rummaging I see a horse tethered nearby, patting it down and getting it used to my scent I check the bags nearby.

Yep generic travel rations, various grains and grain meal for whatever suits the need, some travel breads/cakes, mead, water, beans/peas, soup stock and surprisingly a good bit of jerky. Looking in some of the rest of the bags I see some spare clothes and traveler’s gear, good quality hat and wool cloak along with a good staff. Some of the others hold random assorted gear but one has what appears to be the kits needed for a doctor or apothecary along with raw herbs and tomes listing treatments and herbs. The hat with the symbol of a doctor is the final part, hmm guess that is my identity for travel. Not the worst one since it will be one that grants me good treatment and I can actually do a bit of such things but I don’t want to be dragged into some troublesome matter if someone important is hurt. A sad bit is that there is not much leatherwork as everything is made of wood, felt, wool, cloth, and other textiles but a simple traveling doctor would not have that much wealth on them most likely.

Now that we are in the backwoods I cannot expect much luxury but checking my satchels and purse I see a modest amount of copper and silver coins along with a rough cloth map of my general area. I appear to be in an unnamed forest between two small towns, judging by the black scribble of do not enter that is the mortis lands. Between here and that are are the aforementioned towns, a larger market/trade town and a fort but no cities. That market town would be the best place for me to find out the local situation and if I can get a bit of a look at the fort the more pertinent military structure of the area.

A traveler’s guide that is with the map calls this country Toratend under a king and some of the travel routes here. There is not much civilization past the fort which is likely some scattered pioneer villages making a harsh living, the guide describes that area as monster infested with the occasional undead pack roaming around. Looks like the potential for a bit of ‘recruitment’ is there though the more immediate possibility of bandits is a more available source for me as of right now.