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[escaped lurker]

The Plains of Grating, Fifth Age
The Age of Death, Year 625
Day 11, Late Night

A sturdy stick serving as a crutch is somewhat easily found in the surrounding hillside, and soon you are able to walk again. Well, at least somewhat. You do drag your unfeeling leg around, and it even got stuck some times while walking around – you won't be going into melee combat like this, that is for sure. Having a calming tea also comes to mind, but you realize that you don't know any of the herbs that the goatherd had gathered. Even while smelling them nothing comes to mind, and you abandon the thought for now.

With things as they stand, you decide to do some archery practice – swinging that sword around with shaky balance not your idea of efficient training. At your improvised range you let the skeletons fetch you the arrows, which even speeds up the whole affair. Having some undead goats fetch arrows is also a somewhat amusing sight. Well, at least if you are the necromancer that controls them, that is. Others may find this a very horrifying sight instead. You also could be easily entertained, but you don't really mind if that would be the case. With you only having one worthy conversation in the time of one and a half weeks, it is safe to say that your entertainment is lacking at best.

You also spare a few thoughts towards how you could ward yourself against magical backlash. Frankly, it is quite possible to do so, and enchanting a construct to be on the receiving end would be good as it would not be a static arrangement. There is however one small problem – all of that would require knowledge of how to ward yourself. With wards. Just like those wards covered by the school of warding.

Riding back to your cave for some late dinner, you spare the occasional glance at the valley. It is by chance that you see it, but there is no mistake. The small farmstead you paid a visit to is currently home to a soft glow. You take a better look at it, but the only thing you are sure of is that the light is indeed from fires, and not the house being on fire. While chewing on some goat – it really is bland compared to human meat – you ponder of what to make with this information.


Currently:
205/205 HP
0/175 MP
30 MP Stored

Status:
Well-Fed - Doubled HP-Regeneration
Sentient Nourishment - +3 Agility and Intelligence for Skill- and Combat-checks
Numb Right Leg - Walking has never been so difficult
Unable to Cast - Just hope this one wears off soon
Severe Manaburn - Makes casting spells and gathering mana harder. Resulting in easier miscasts. Funny how that works.

Spoiler: Character (click to show/hide)

Ghoulish Vessel
Strength: 11
Endurance: 11
Agility: 8
Intelligence: 15
Wisdom: 15
Charisma: 5

~10 HPD
~40 MPD

Inventory:
Medium Band of Gathering 0/20 MP
Leather Jerkin
Woolen Pants
Leather Shin-boots
Twohander
Shortbow w. Iron tipped Arrows

Resources:
1 Unanimated Deer Monstrosity
1 Human Corpses - 4/8 Rations of Human Flesh
1 Human Skeleton
1 Amethyst Geode - 30/30 MP
1 Canine Corpse
4 Goats Corpses- 1 Buck, 3 Does 10+/10+ Rations of Flesh

Items:
1 Saddlebag
1 Shortbow
2 Quivers
12 Wooden Arrows
15 Iron tipped Arrows
1 Dagger
1 Rope – Thin, 4 Meters
1 Tinderbox
1 Hatchet
1 Knapsack
1 Rusty Horseshoe
5 Silver – Crudely minted
34 Copper – Crudely minted
1 Quarterstaff
2 Pairs of Linen Clothing
2 Daggers
4 Goat-hides
5 Small Cheese
1 Stringed Ham
8 Smoked Goat Cuts
4 Handful of dried Fruits
2 Jugs of Mead
1 Empty Jug
A few Bundles of Herbs

Skills:
Adept of the School of Necromancy
Adept of the School of Transmutation
Beginner in Feral Combat
Beginner in Archery

Spoiler:  Spells (click to show/hide)

School of Necromancy - Adept
Branches: Mysticism, Occultism

Animate Skeleton – 50 MP
Raise a temporary Skeleton to do your bidding. Lasts 1 Day, extendible by 3 MP per day.
Can be made permanent by spending additional 30 MP on it.

Turn Lesser Undead – 30 MP
Allows you to destroy, render harmless or straightly take over an undead creature.

Soulspeaker – 20 MP
Allows you to contact the souls of the dead, and to communicate with them. Duration 1 Hour.

Enslave Lesser Souls - 25 MP
Allows the enslavement of lesser, or rather “newly dead” souls.
A soul may be placed into a construct, resulting in an autonomous undead.
A souls essence may be devoured, restoring half of the souls previously held maximum mana.
Devouring a Soul or failing this spell has the chance to transform the affected into a wraith, which will be hostile towards the caster.

Animate Zombie – 80 MP
Raise a temporary Zombie to do your bidding. Lasts 1 Day, extendible by 5 MP per day.
Can be made permanent by spending additional 40 MP on it.


School of Transmutation - Adept
Branches: Enchanting, Alteration

Drain Energy – 20MP +50% of the drained Energy must be paid in MP
Allows you to drain a prone or enslaved creature of its mana or vitality.

Change Object – 30 MP, Duration 1 Hour
Allows you to temporary change the properties or shape of an object.

Store Mana – 25MP + Desired Amount
Allows you to store mana into gemstones.

Spoiler: Followers (click to show/hide)

	Skeletal Horse Permanent Slightly Damaged
	Skeletal Human Permanent
	3 Skeletal Goats Permanent

Spoiler: Mind Map (click to show/hide)

Purple Dot: Location of our Cave Red Dots: Attacked Places

" I am interested in what they are doing down there. Might be anything from a wake, search party or his next of kin cleaning out whats left of his valuables."

[Worldmaster27]

Leave it for now, we can't realistically do anything about it. Keep our goats on guard near the entrance, but not visible from the outside.

[~Neri]

..We hid our trail right?

[escaped lurker]

..We hid our trail right?

" Erm... No? Pretty sure that idea never crossed my mind until now..."



" Well, actually it also depends on what you percieve a trail to be. After some point - right after I got the bright idea to use multiple paths, actually - I did so. On the other hand, the only thing I can really disturb here are sandy earth, rocky earth, rocks, more rocks, even more rocks and the very occasional blade of grass. Not sure if that would be enough to track us - but really, I keep to the already existing trails for most of the time. "

[~Neri]

So hopefully they can't track us, that's good.

[Detoxicated]

I guess we should practice bone setting. Arrange the bones to a new monstrosity, this time focusing on giving the beast horns as well as a spiked tail.

[GiglameshDespair]

Leave it for now, we can't realistically do anything about it. Keep our goats on guard near the entrance, but not visible from the outside.

This, i suppose. Messing about with the goatinator (the goat monstrosity) is rather pointless at the sec.

[escaped lurker]

The Plains of Grating, Fifth Age
The Age of Death, Year 625
Day 12, Close to Noon

There is no need to take any risks, especially given your current condition - you decide to leave the humans alone for now. To be cautious you let the goats take guard inside of the cave, each of them concealed from outside view. In the unlikely and unhopeful event that any trespasser enters the cave, he at least won't gain the advantage of surprise.  With that taken care of, you ponder if improving the current design of the deer monstrosity has any practical uses, but ultimately decide against it. Raising it would be quite a feat, but the rate of success might not be in your favour at the moment – even when the mana-burn subsides.

Since you can't think of anything better, it is back to archery training for you – this time in the confines of the cave. You also find a use for the hide of the goats – even though they are somewhat shredded and slowly starting to decay by now. While training you start to slowly get back the feelings in your right leg, and albeit it is still a bit numb and unresponsive, you do not need the improvised crutch to walk anymore.

As the hours fly by your aim does steadily get better, but the number of wooden arrows dwindles ever more. By the time you are down to three of them, you start to consider if using the iron tipped ones is a good idea or wasteful, but your train of thought is cut short. A sound is lightly to be heard, and as you investigate you soon enough get a more clear hearing of it. Someone is occasional crying out for some Jorgal. Actually, you think there to be even three different voices or so. From the sound of it they are scattered about the slope on which your cosy little cave is to be found, but spying from the dark cover of the entrance yields no further information.

You have improved your archery.
Currently:
205/205 HP
11/175 MP
50 MP Stored

Status:
Well-Fed - Doubled HP-Regeneration
Lacking Sentient Nourishment - -1 Agility and Intelligence for Skill- and Combat-checks
Slightly Numb Right Leg - Still hinders you for a bit, but not as serious anymore
Unable to Cast - Just hope this one wears off soon
Severe Manaburn - Makes casting spells and gathering mana harder. Resulting in easier miscasts. Funny how that works.

Spoiler: Character (click to show/hide)

Ghoulish Vessel
Strength: 11
Endurance: 11
Agility: 8
Intelligence: 15
Wisdom: 15
Charisma: 5

~10 HPD
~40 MPD

Inventory:
Medium Band of Gathering 20/20 MP
Leather Jerkin
Woolen Pants
Leather Shin-boots
Twohander
Shortbow w. Iron tipped Arrows

Resources:
1 Unanimated Deer Monstrosity
1 Human Corpses - 4/8 Rations of Human Flesh
1 Human Skeleton
1 Amethyst Geode - 30/30 MP
1 Canine Corpse
4 Goats Corpses- 1 Buck, 3 Does 10+/10+ Rations of Flesh

Items:
1 Saddlebag
1 Shortbow
2 Quivers
3 Wooden Arrows
15 Iron tipped Arrows
1 Dagger
1 Rope – Thin, 4 Meters
1 Tinderbox
1 Hatchet
1 Knapsack
1 Rusty Horseshoe
5 Silver – Crudely minted
34 Copper – Crudely minted
1 Quarterstaff
2 Pairs of Linen Clothing
2 Daggers
4 Goat-hides
5 Small Cheese
1 Stringed Ham
8 Smoked Goat Cuts
4 Handful of dried Fruits
2 Jugs of Mead
1 Empty Jug
A few Bundles of Herbs

Skills:
Adept of the School of Necromancy
Adept of the School of Transmutation
Beginner in Feral Combat
Capable in Archery

Spoiler:  Spells (click to show/hide)

School of Necromancy - Adept
Branches: Mysticism, Occultism

Animate Skeleton – 50 MP
Raise a temporary Skeleton to do your bidding. Lasts 1 Day, extendible by 3 MP per day.
Can be made permanent by spending additional 30 MP on it.

Turn Lesser Undead – 30 MP
Allows you to destroy, render harmless or straightly take over an undead creature.

Soulspeaker – 20 MP
Allows you to contact the souls of the dead, and to communicate with them. Duration 1 Hour.

Enslave Lesser Souls - 25 MP
Allows the enslavement of lesser, or rather “newly dead” souls.
A soul may be placed into a construct, resulting in an autonomous undead.
A souls essence may be devoured, restoring half of the souls previously held maximum mana.
Devouring a Soul or failing this spell has the chance to transform the affected into a wraith, which will be hostile towards the caster.

Animate Zombie – 80 MP
Raise a temporary Zombie to do your bidding. Lasts 1 Day, extendible by 5 MP per day.
Can be made permanent by spending additional 40 MP on it.


School of Transmutation - Adept
Branches: Enchanting, Alteration

Drain Energy – 20MP +50% of the drained Energy must be paid in MP
Allows you to drain a prone or enslaved creature of its mana or vitality.

Change Object – 30 MP, Duration 1 Hour
Allows you to temporary change the properties or shape of an object.

Store Mana – 25MP + Desired Amount
Allows you to store mana into gemstones.

Spoiler: Followers (click to show/hide)

	Skeletal Horse Permanent Slightly Damaged
	Skeletal Human Permanent
	3 Skeletal Goats Permanent

Spoiler: Mind Map (click to show/hide)

Purple Dot: Location of our Cave Red Dots: Attacked Places

" I really don't like the sound of that... Pun may or may not be intended."

[Tomcost]

Okay, hide inside the cave, but prepare to shoot anyone trying to enter. Also pack our stuff into the skeletal horse. We may need to get out quickly.

[Worldmaster27]

Eat a ration of human meat. Hide in the cave until further notice.

[GiglameshDespair]

Eat a ration of human meat. Hide in the cave until further notice.

Hide doing....

Okay, hide inside the cave, but prepare to shoot anyone trying to enter. Also pack our stuff into the skeletal horse. We may need to get out quickly.

If we need to kill, we'll need to do it quickly and most of all quietly.

[Shadestyle]

Sneak one goat out away from the cave, then command it to raise a ruckus and make a distraction of itself. while hiding in the cave.

[Tomcost]

Sneak one goat out away from the cave, then command it to raise a ruckus and make a distraction of itself. while hiding in the cave.

-1. They haven't noticed us. By doing this, they will.

[escaped lurker]

The Plains of Grating, Fifth Age
The Age of Death, Year 625
Day 12, Around Noon

You hurriedly pack anything of greater importance into the saddlebags of the horse, knock an arrow and lay in wait by the upper passageway. The skeletons are with you, ready to protect you if need be. Deeming this a state of emergency, you want to be on your best – thus you also stuff down some of your dwindling supply of human meat. Feeling your thoughts quicken shortly after, you are about as ready as you can be. Well, a few more skeletons actually would be nice, but given the circumstances there is nothing else that you can do right now.

How much time passed, you do not know – still the search for this Jorgal comes closer slowly but surely. Soon enough there is a shadow by the entrance, and the cave loudly echoes the name that has been screamed into it. You do not feel compelled to reply, and no-one else seems to think otherwise. Go figure. Still, the voices outside are talking – two of them by the sounds of it – but you are only able to make out snippets of it. What you heard was some talk about pumas, bears and fire. What you hear next is the clang of a small stone on metal. A flint, you would wager. It really seems like they want to visit your dwelling, making you wonder what kind of greeting would make the most lasting impression on them. Or maybe you should go out to greet them?

Currently:
205/205 HP
11/175 MP
50 MP Stored

Status:
Well-Fed - Doubled HP-Regeneration
Sentient Nourishment - +3 Agility and Intelligence for Skill- and Combat-checks
Slightly Numb Right Leg - Still hinders you for a bit, but not as serious anymore
Unable to Cast - Just hope this one wears off soon
Severe Manaburn - Makes casting spells and gathering mana harder. Resulting in easier miscasts. Funny how that works.

Spoiler: Character (click to show/hide)

Ghoulish Vessel
Strength: 11
Endurance: 11
Agility: 8
Intelligence: 15
Wisdom: 15
Charisma: 5

~10 HPD
~40 MPD

Inventory:
Medium Band of Gathering 20/20 MP
Leather Jerkin
Woolen Pants
Leather Shin-boots
Twohander
Shortbow w. Iron tipped Arrows

Resources:
1 Unanimated Deer Monstrosity
1 Human Corpses - 3/4 Rations of Human Flesh
1 Human Skeleton
1 Amethyst Geode - 30/30 MP
1 Canine Corpse
4 Goats Corpses- 1 Buck, 3 Does 10+/10+ Rations of Flesh

Items:
1 Saddlebag
1 Shortbow
2 Quivers
3 Wooden Arrows
15 Iron tipped Arrows
1 Dagger
1 Rope – Thin, 4 Meters
1 Tinderbox
1 Hatchet
1 Knapsack
1 Rusty Horseshoe
5 Silver – Crudely minted
34 Copper – Crudely minted
1 Quarterstaff
2 Pairs of Linen Clothing
2 Daggers
4 Goat-hides
5 Small Cheese
1 Stringed Ham
8 Smoked Goat Cuts
4 Handful of dried Fruits
2 Jugs of Mead
1 Empty Jug
A few Bundles of Herbs

Skills:
Adept of the School of Necromancy
Adept of the School of Transmutation
Beginner in Feral Combat
Capable in Archery

Spoiler:  Spells (click to show/hide)

School of Necromancy - Adept
Branches: Mysticism, Occultism

Animate Skeleton – 50 MP
Raise a temporary Skeleton to do your bidding. Lasts 1 Day, extendible by 3 MP per day.
Can be made permanent by spending additional 30 MP on it.

Turn Lesser Undead – 30 MP
Allows you to destroy, render harmless or straightly take over an undead creature.

Soulspeaker – 20 MP
Allows you to contact the souls of the dead, and to communicate with them. Duration 1 Hour.

Enslave Lesser Souls - 25 MP
Allows the enslavement of lesser, or rather “newly dead” souls.
A soul may be placed into a construct, resulting in an autonomous undead.
A souls essence may be devoured, restoring half of the souls previously held maximum mana.
Devouring a Soul or failing this spell has the chance to transform the affected into a wraith, which will be hostile towards the caster.

Animate Zombie – 80 MP
Raise a temporary Zombie to do your bidding. Lasts 1 Day, extendible by 5 MP per day.
Can be made permanent by spending additional 40 MP on it.


School of Transmutation - Adept
Branches: Enchanting, Alteration

Drain Energy – 20MP +50% of the drained Energy must be paid in MP
Allows you to drain a prone or enslaved creature of its mana or vitality.

Change Object – 30 MP, Duration 1 Hour
Allows you to temporary change the properties or shape of an object.

Store Mana – 25MP + Desired Amount
Allows you to store mana into gemstones.

Spoiler: Followers (click to show/hide)

	Skeletal Horse Permanent Slightly Damaged
	Skeletal Human Permanent
	3 Skeletal Goats Permanent

Spoiler: Mind Map (click to show/hide)

Purple Dot: Location of our Cave Red Dots: Attacked Places

" Seems like two of them are in front of the cave. I still can hear the occasional call-out for Jorgal, so there are others somewhat nearby. Could get tricky to kill them all. "

[~Neri]

Wait for them to be inside, arrows through their throats and other skeletons silence them if possible.