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[Cheesecake]

Your scowl grows deeper. "Some sort of mage..."

"But, the elders said that there were no mages or sorcerers anymore." Angel makes a face, deep in thought. "Except maybe Father Purius. Madam Canter always said that he wasn't fit to be a priest."

Your scowl deepens still. It doesn't bode well. The aura, though blinding and maligned to your unholiness, is corrupted. Instead of a sun, it is more like an eclipse; good intentions with evil means. You step back a few feet, and your clarity slowly seeps back to you. You think more clearly. A fight with another magician would be deadly, at least in your current, feeble state. You contemplate your actions while your undead horde shamble and groan.

You could leave the remaining townsfolk alive, allowing them respite to spread your dark deeds to the rest of the land. It would also mean that you could avoid a fight with a magician. You don't know how well versed he is in the occult, but even a feeble practitioner could prove a match for you if he separated you from your army.

Or you could send your army in without you, leaving you out of harm's way. They would be uncontrolled, though you needn't worry about that; you want them all slaughtered anyway. However, the living are garrisoned, fortified, and aided by a priest with unclean powers. Your shambling constructs, not your finest work considering the little time and effort you put into them, could not last long.

Finally, you could go all in. Use vestiges of your power to place charms upon your mind, freeing you from the blinding aura of the priest. He probably senses you too, now that you think about it, and is probably equally jarred. Very risky, but with smart thinking, quick reflexes and some planning, you could topple the priest and the living surrounding him.

Or else you can make another plan with your brilliant, shared mind.

[~Neri]

See if we can telepathically contact.

[Sl4cker]

PTW.

[Cheesecake]

You extend your mind to make contact with the priest. It is rebuffed. Clueless as to how a mere human could block your telepathy, you consider him for a moment to be a powerful foe. You then realize how aged the castle looks. Nearly a hundred years old... It must have been erected when you died.

Considering the powerful wards placed upon it, perhaps your ancient enemies predicted you would return, placing safety measures to ensure the safety of future generations, like this castle. Perhaps storming it would be ill advised. Still, many of the wards could have waned by now, due to the fact the only magician here is the priest, who probably is ignorant of the strong and subtle magic in the castle.

[~Neri]

People almost never think of downwards. They think of upwards and around but not down. Telepathically wiggle Under the wards and try contacting that way.

[conein]

Hey, finally a game where we aren't a super frail 1 second old alien who has no idea who he is!
(ptw)

[Andres]

I have an idea. Demons like souls, yes? We take souls and use them to make undead yes? Maybe we can do some kind of ritual where we sacrifice, say, half our undead army in exchange for a powerful demon's help?

Alternatively, we can just eat some of those souls, but I'm thinking you need to be a demon to be able to do that.

[Trapezohedron]

I have an idea. Demons like souls, yes? We take souls and use them to make undead yes? Maybe we can do some kind of ritual where we sacrifice, say, half our undead army in exchange for a powerful demon's help?

Alternatively, we can just eat some of those souls, but I'm thinking you need to be a demon to be able to do that.

I say we make like Raziel and eat the souls back at the farmhouses, and try to contact a demon there. Lots of cows to mutilate, I suppose.

[Cheesecake]

Wards are almost never placed underground unless whatever they wanted to protect was underground. In theory, you could extend under the walls and attempt communication. Eyes closed, you move your mind through the intricate spellwork under the ground. You manage with success to breach the ward, albeit you cannot communicate; only listen.

In the humdrum of the burgeoning crowd, it is hard to decipher the priest's thoughts. His mind is filled with anxiety, but you can sense what you are sure is excitement. To meet you? Or is it the priest's yearning to display his true powers? Nonetheless, through his eyes you see the inside of the castle.

Amidst the hundred or so frightened peasants stand what remains of the militia, the wealthy and the nobility seated at the high tables, and a cadre of intimidating guards. Seated on a throne is the priest himself.

Drawing back your mind, you contemplate. Perhaps you could make a pact with a demon for power... Not a thrilling proposition, seeing as all hell tried to destroy your soul, and you've stolen countless souls from many demons. Merely contacting one of them would surely alert them to your position.

Another ploy comes into your mind: eating souls. That would certainly give one the ire of demons and angels alike, but you feel you cannot do more to pester them than you already have. You've never tried eating souls in your past life; now, you are unbound, free to perform arts that even your old, black heart wouldn't dream of in the past. Eating a soul would take preparation and time, as all rituals do.

One cannot simply take a soul and eat it. It's a lengthy, arduous and painful process. A lesser being would require an entire library of spellbooks and grimoires to assist in the ritual; for you, you have more than a hundred years of knowledge. All you need is time. If you decide to go with the ritual, it would give the priest enough time to muster a force to fight back. If you succeed, however, the ritual could provide a very substantial boost...

[Trapezohedron]

Consider sending a distraction force of undead; walking skins, mutilated cows and corpses, shambling hands, anything you can animate, and send it down the direction of the town while you spend the time absorbing souls.

[~Neri]

Animate. Everything.

Then go eat a soul.

[Andres]

Necromancer. Originally, it meant someone who could speak with the dead. I say we do so.

Ask the souls in our service what they know of the priest, if they know of any secret entrances into the castle, and the nearest nearby settlements.

We may have to move on. We could leave behind a sieging force to delay a message getting out while we wipe out other villages and add more troops to our undead army. Finding our old apprentice could certainly be useful.

Alternatively, maybe we can bury, say, two thirds of our undead in the ground and appear to leave with the remaining third. When they come out to investigate, we spring the trap and we all gang up on them.

Find out how good Red Killer is in a fight.

Speaking of Red Killer, I think we should refrain from teaching her necromancy. We'll need a spy capable of infiltrating places that can sense necromancers and Red Killer would be perfect for that, given her age.

[~Neri]

Red can necro. If we want spies. We can recruit them from orphans.

[Andres]

Red can necro. If we want spies. We can recruit them from orphans.

And how many orphans have the skills of Red Killer? How many orphans are completely, 100% loyal to us? RK killed 52 people all by herself with an enlargened militia looking for her. Her skills would be wasted as a necromancer. We could probably teach her some other types of magic, though.

Do we know any magic besides necromancy?

[Cheesecake]

Divining and necromancy are your best fields. Alchemy, herbology, astrology, and occultism are the ones you focused in. You have fleeting knowledge of enchantment and conjuration. You don't know anything about druidism at all. Elves aren't ones to teach it to most humans.

Whispering, you ask the souls of those around if they know any secret passageways into the castle. The psychic energies are currently in bedlam; all the hurt and chaos (caused by you) has thrown the spirits into disarray, preventing you from contacting them right at this moment.

"Red, how good are you in a fight?" you ask, eyes intently gazing at the castle.

"They never fought back, master," she says with a smile. "I just made sure they were as scared as possible before I attacked. I was playing fair! I cheated before the game started."

Nodding curtly, you realize she may not be a good necromancer. The black magics must be cast with malice, willingly wanting to hurt others, but Red Killer seems to kill because of her upbringing: she thinks what she's doing is right, or at least not wrong, which renders black magic in her hands more feeble. Other magic isn't reliant on that, however.