The necropolis was an eclectic place with few rules. First, no living sentient creature was allowed on the streets. Animals and irrational monsters were allowed so long they were under control. Uncontrolled creatures and sentients were fair ga if they were out on the streets. So undead had living servants, though. They had to remain under house arrest or travel inside wagons or carriages. So long they were either inside or on a vehicle, the undead left them alone although sotis accidents happened.
I didn't know why but I was mildly bothered by the fact these living servants had little say on their servitude. Kel'Caldor assured they weren't slaves but I had my doubts. Anyway, It's not like I could go on a crusade to liberate all of them.
One of the skeletal mages ca with as a chaperone. The second rule was that any criminal caught in public was fair ga. It often ended with soone dying. Or getting destroyed, since we were all dead already. For , it ant staying out of the back alleys and shady shops. I should always stay in the open streets and reputable places. That's why I had a chaperone today, to show where I shouldn't go.
Rule number three was that there was no rule number three. You were on your own. The undead had no governnt although they respected the powerful like Vlad or Kel'Caldor as their leaders. One would think the necropolis would be a lawless and brutal place but the undead had little choice. Everyone liked the peaceful environnt, and it was in everyone's best interest to keep it that way.
I wore a pink long dress with lace frills where a pants suspender should be, open in the middle with a silk cote inside. A wide-sleeved herigaut cloak that opened in the middle protected the dress from the elents. The cloak was fastened with a large pin that contained Kel'Caldor's symbol, a necessity to show the undead who my master was. It also carried the promise of retribution from the lich should anything happen to . I wore long gloves of white spider silk and ankle-high leather boots with dium size heels. With seventeen of base damage reduction, I felt no discomfort from my shoes even if they weren't comfortable. It would take serious dedication from my wardrobe to harm .
He assured I would co back to life as my "vengeance" wasn't yet completed. When I asked about not feeling the urge to go and carry it out, he replied by pointing it would be impossible. The ones I wanted to enact my vengeance upon weren't in this world. He declined to elaborate further. The problem was what they would do to while I rejuvenated.
Pushing those worries aside, I jiggled the coin pouch he gave as I walked down the stairs. A few dozen gold coins, "pocket money" as he called it. I intended to buy so equipnt, a few training swords so I could spar with my ghouls, and anything that caught my eye. Maybe so rare books or an enchanted trinket.
The ghouls and Draugr, skeletons and zombies stared at as I left the staircase, crossed the gates, and set foot on the street proper. Behind , a wrought iron gate with Kel'Caldor's insignia barred access to the staircase leading to the mage tower above. The lords of the undead each had claid a pillar for themselves. Housing on the pillar was reserved only for those of their faction as they created the right to stand above the rabble below as a sign of their status and power.
The undead didn't care for their city's cleanliness. They couldn't catch any diseases anyway. The buildings had huge spots of black mold, along with smaller spots of mold in all the colors of the rainbow. Bioluminescent lichen grew in irregular spots between the mold, causing the alleys to have so lighting and much more shadows. At the feet of the walls, piles of rubbish, bone fragnts, and dust bunnies that probably could spring to life and attack soone defenseless. In so spots, black-capped mushrooms grew next to the walls. So of them were cut, proof they were considered just another resource in the necropolis.
The middle of the street, where traffic happened, was the cleanest spot I would find. Taking the center of the street was also a declaration of one's status as those of a higher pillar had preference. The ghosts, wraiths, and other incorporeal or flying undead took the air lanes, moving above the streets. I noticed they didn't move over the buildings, probably out of respect for the occupants.
The air was full of spores of all kinds and any breathing creature would soon find their lungs colonized by the sa eclectic collection of fungi and algae that decorated the walls in somber and creepy tones. The slls were a bouquet of carrion, mold, decay, stale water, and death in general. Zombies had no need for deodorant.
The skeleton mage wore red robes with gold trim and Kel'Caldor symbol over where his heart should be. He bore a dark brown wood staff with a brutal headpiece carved in geotric shapes with a big yellow monster Core in the center. The Core shed a dim light but with the twilight from the bioluminescent lichen above, it was clearly visible. The shops around Kel'Caldor's pillar (the third) sold magical tools and reagents. I didn't need anything around here, so I went in the direction of the sixth pillar, where Lord… who again? I took a note from my pocket that listed the thirteen undead lords. They were listed in order of power.
1 - Legion, the Sluagh - The host of Ghosts. An entity composed of thousands of souls. The First pillar is avoided by everyone sane as every ghost in there claid to be part of Legion.
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2 - Parnassus, the Wight. Moneylending.
3 - Kel'Caldor, the Lich. - Mages.
4 - Peethas the Embald, a Mummy. - Worship of Rabhorktaar.
5 - Vlad, the Vampire. - Imports and commodities.
6 - Mordo the Flesheater, a Vrykolakas. Battle arena and weapons.
7 - Bactrion, the Minotaur Draugr. Assassins and shapeshifters.
8 - Trevor the Stitched. A gigantic zombie made of thirty corpses. Stitched together, if that wasn't clear by the na alone.
9 - Wraith Lord (no given na). Less insane Ghosts.
10 - Naless, the Death Knight. Knights?
11 - Wulfgang, the Wiedergänger. A kind of psychic zombie.
12 - Carlos the Skeleton Lord. Thieves.
13 - "insignificant", according to Kel'Caldor. (Actually, hosts "The Drowned One", a Gjenganger. A forr pirate who drowned at the sea, he lives at the bottom of a lake of filth. His Pillar lies in the middle of the water)
Yes. The sixth pillar, the domain of Mordo the Flesheater. Vrykolakas was a kind of half-living undead who devoured bowels and livers along with the blood of the living to sustain themselves. Kel'Caldor explained they were so sort of primitive and repugnant vampires who indulged in savagery and brutality. They often put captured Adventurers to fight in the arena there. The [Smiths], [Weaponsmiths], and [Armorers] were all there too.
Despite the state of decay of the people and disrepair of the buildings and the stench of the place, it was no different than any other city. Beasts of burden were not quite welco here so the carts were often pulled by mindless animal skeletons or zombies. The mindless undead were considered property.
Eyes kept staring at while I walked. I think most of the undead didn't think I was really one of them. It was all that Perk that made appear lifelike, I think. None dared to harm because of the skeleton mage walking behind . Finding sentient undead was a big problem. If the inhabitants of the necropolis killed one another, then the necropolis would beco a real dead city. It was so important that Vlad Junior's father, I learned, went to a faraway country in the Empire to find so, but bumped into and I killed him. That happened before the Empire sank into the ocean, never to be seen again.
Over the everpresent scent of mold, carrion, and stale at, a peculiar sll caught my attention. It made feel hungry for the first ti since I woke up in that lab. "We're making a detour," I inford the skeleton mage. "This way."
I tracked the scent for about four city blocks but found what I slled. A bakery. Sohow it made nostalgic. I walked inside and a sparkly white skeleton ca to greet . He wore an apron and a chef's hat.
"Good evening, my lady," He said with a slack jaw, a smile in skeleton body language. "Welco to Simon's Bakery!"
Another trait of the undead down here. Nobody tracked the ti of the day, it was always evening. The necropolis was tiless. But the bakery was clean and the slls from outside didn't reach in here. I noticed a small ward on the windows and doors filtering the stale air that was entering.
"Good evening, good skeleton. Simon, I guess. I was wondering what slls so good."
"Bread! Freshly baked, with the best flour in all of Pekothas!"
It was a bold claim but I was in a good mood. I giggled at his antics. The skeleton's "eyes" (red pinpricks of light inside his eye sockets) wandered to the pin holding my cloak. It seed Kel'Caldor's coat of arms made for good social grease.
"I can give a sample slice to the lady, wait a mont."
I wept as I ate the bread. I had no idea why.
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Nenandil crossed the mountains and found the land inside completely changed. Gone was Windere, gone was Tuisto's valley, and even the scavenger gno mountain town. She rembered the Old Soul's mories from Earth, of a giant teor that created a massive crater next to the ocean and killed all the dinosaurs. Here, it was the sa thing. She would later learn from historians she interviewed that a big chunk of the moon fell on Windere, extinguishing everyone living there. The impact dislocated a large section of the mountains, creating this protected valley. Centuries without any sentient creature visiting it allowed lush vegetation to grow all over the place and new rivers were carved. In the middle, a big saltwater lake that apparently connected to the sea to the west. It prevented the valley from flooding and becoming a gigantic lake.
The magic from Tuisto's valley seeped into this bigger one and she couldn't find any monsters in the valley or the mountains near it. A few intrepid animals braved the mountains and ventured into the valley, and the centuries of wild growth allowed a few fairies to spawn. It should be a beautiful pristine forest, but the sorrow in Nenandil's heart kept her from appreciating Nature's little miracle.
Yet she flew among the evergreens as she wept for the forgotten nation. In her sorrow, she almost missed the whispers. Prayers to the Matriarch, echoed through Pandora nestled inside her soul. Maybe not all of Windere had perished.
She touched one of the evergreens and focused on her destination. "{Tree Stride}!"
The fairy erged in the destination tree, the only one within ten kiloters. It grew and its crown now covered the cavern roof with its canopy. The Sunrods still functioned and their glow filtered through the leaves. Around her, the subterranean city prospered.
"Hey!" Soone shouted at her.
She found a wolf-kin guard of the human-faced variety approaching. He still had feral features and wolf ears and a tail. His skin was preternaturally pale, a sign he was never exposed to sunlight.
"Yes?"
The guard looked at the floating fairy and then to the tree. He seed flustered. "Did you co from the tree?"
"Yes, I did."
His eyes glead. "How's the surface?"
Instead of answering, she attempted to gather more information. "What nation claims this place? What deities do you worship? And what do you expect to see on the surface?"
The guard lowered his head as his tail stopped moving and drooped. "This is New Windere, my Lady. We worship the Matriarch, which sheltered us in the womb of the earth. And we hoped soone up there survived. But it's been centuries."
"Who leads this place?"
"The [Silk Sage], and the [Hero of Starfall]. Follow , my Lady. I shall take you to them."
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