Half-Dead
Gauldoth lost everything when the world was destroyed, including most of his humanity.  After a powerful spell goes wrong, it leaves Gauldoth in a state of constant contradiction.  Half of his body is living, while the other half is Undead.  As necessity forces Gauldoth to carve out a small portion of this new world for himself, his destiny becomes intertwined with that of a malevolent being from another realm determined to bring an end to all life in the Universe.

Scenario 1: Eater of Children
Alone in this new world for years, Gauldoth has lived like an animal in the wilderness.  When some farmers catch him and try to burn him at the stake, Gauldoth barely escapes into the forest.  Soon, rage and fear give birth to a new sense of purpose.  Gauldoth raises a small army of his own and embarks on a quest for knowledge as well as revenge. 

Gauldoth Half-Dead:
"Can you go years without talking to another human being?  What about untold months snatching your meals from the forest floor and sleeping in muddy pits?  Sanity is a spider clinging to a fluttering thread of web unaware of the fingers reaching for it, catching it, plopping it in my mouth..."

==Gauldoth==
They called me the 'Ghoul', and 'Eater of Children' as they tied me to the stake.

That last nickname was almost amusing.  To this day, I still have not tasted human flesh, or blood either.  The part of me that still requires sustenance hungers for what normal people eat - a juicy piece of beef or perhaps some salmon grilled over a wood fire.  The rest of me - the undead half - hungers for nothing.  That half is empty.

But the truth didn't stop the people of Vitross from trying to kill me.

I had wandered too close to a farmer's cottage looking for chicken eggs.  Ever since the Reckoning, I had lived like an animal hiding in the wilderness.  I ate raw bugs and rats, and my one delicacy, when I could find it, was sucking the yolk from a robin's egg.  I was a creature that lurked in the night.  The slightest noise sent me running back to whatever hole I slept in.

On that particular night, I must have been distracted by my hunger because I didn't hear someone approaching until it was too late.  I was in the coop chipping holes in the eggs with my long fingernails when I finally heard something.  So, I grabbed a couple chickens, twisted their necks so they wouldn't alert anyone to my presence, and stepped outside to find myself already surrounded.

There were perhaps a dozen of them, all armed with farm tools.  I tried to run.  Then a pitchfork pierced my right shoulder.  They quickly pinned me to the ground, clubbed and kicked at my body.  The worst part of it all came at the end when someone ripped the chickens from my grasp.

"Ghoul!" they shouted at me.

With my arms and legs bound, I was dragged for several miles behind a wagon to the town of Vitross, which had a small garrison to support the expansion of Great Arcan's eastern borders.

As you can expect, they immediately tied me to a stake and piled bundles of dry wood around my feet.  That's when I began to shake with fear.

Fire!  I had reason to fear it.  A fire was responsible for my half-dead condition.  I still remember the incredible searing pain, the indescribable agony that bites down to your soul!

My fear gave me strength.  As the officer in his polished armor strode out before the crowd with a torch in hand, I began to struggle against my bonds.

"In the name of Queen Emilia Nighthaven and Great Arcan, I put you to everlasting death, creature!" the pompous officer had said.

"I am innocent!" I shouted.  "I only killed a couple chickens!"

"He's the one who ate my son!" someone screamed.  So, someone's brat had gone missing and I was to be blamed for it.  Just my luck!

"Burn him!" others yelled.

The officer stepped forward and lowered the torch to the kindling.

"Your kind is never innocent," said the officer.

By the time the first waft of smoke hit my nostrils, I felt the skin of my dead right hand come loose just enough for me to slip free of my bonds.  It had been years since I cast a spell, but my life depended on it.  I raised my hands over my head and muttered the words of magic as if it had only been a few hours.  I guess you never really forget.

I jumped over the burning sticks and fled, knowing that my spell would send an unearthly chill into the muscles of everyone present, slowing their movement enough for me to escape.  I ran as I have done since the Reckoning, since my Master died.  I ran.

==Full Circle==
My experience at Vitross reminded me that civilization just meant death for me, so I stayed away.  I fled deep into the wild forest with no goal in mind except to put as much distance between that fire and myself as possible.  I don't even know how long, or how far I ran.  Over the years I have learned it is best not to think.  I was an animal.  As long as I kept reminding myself that I was just an animal, survival was easier.

I kept to the woods mostly.  A few nights later, I came upon a field of gravestones.  A graveyard!

The sky was clear, the moon a white sliver.  I walked around the dozen or so tombstones, reading the names and dates aloud.  Most had been related, and all died within a few years of each other - mothers, fathers, children.  This was how the new world welcomed us - with pain and death.

I sat on the grass and pressed the living side of my face against the cool surface of one of the markers.  My first childhood memory is of a crypt - the musky smell of earth, the silent darkness, the Vampire who kept me alive to feed on my young blood.

"I have come full circle," I said aloud.

Why?  Of all the places I could've stumbled upon, why had I come here?  Was it fate?  No.  I don't believe in fate.  Our future is what we make it.  But perhaps the Universe has something in mind.

Standing, I felt a power building within me.  It was born from my inner rage - rage I felt for the people of Vitross, and for everyone who had tried to kill me just because of my half-dead form, and even for the vampire who kept me locked for so long in his crypt like a chicken in a coop.  I dropped to my knees and squeezed my fingers into the damp earth.

I could feel the rotting bodies sleeping beneath the ground.  My body quivered as the magical energy flowed down my arms and through my fingers into the cold dirt.  I knew at that moment that I had survived all these years, all these horrors, for this moment.  The Universe had a use for me.

That night beneath the crescent moon, I was truly reborn.

I am Gauldoth Half-Dead.

==The Past==
My will to live is strong.  How else could I have survived a childhood in a bloodsucker's crypt, and even these years of solitude?  The Reckoning destroyed nations, armies and even ancient societies like the Necromantic Order, but I survived.

My Master, Kalibarr, told me once that he had seen a power within me that couldn't be wasted, but Loscan, the vampire who kept me for his own, wouldn't release me even when Kalibarr offered him ten young children as a replacement.  Since Loscan was a member of the Necromantic Order, Kalibarr's hands were tied.  He couldn't force Loscan to turn me over, so he arranged for a holy crusader to learn the location of the vampire's crypt.  That was the end of Loscan.

I owed Kalibarr my life, but in the end, I failed to return the favor.  During the first hours of the Reckoning, I returned to the Necromantic Order's secret library to find it on fire.  Kalibarr lived within.  I tried to find him, but the fire was too great.

Naked and with burns that would soon claim my life, I opened a scroll that was far beyond my power.  I was dying.  I could feel my scorched lungs slowing, unable to take another breath.  So, I read the words on the ancient parchment.  It was my last chance.

I lived, of course.  At least, part of me was still alive.  The rest was undead.  I had a foot in both worlds now - living and dead - but I didn't feel part of either.

==Bandit Ambush==
I usually marched my Undead army at night because they had an advantage over most creatures when it was dark.

Despite our mastery over the night, we were still caught unawares as a band of bandits rode down on us with torches in their hands.  I immediately shouted to their leader, offering him a bribe.  Thankfully, you can always count on the greed of a thief.  Alone, I met the man in the open field between our two armies.

 "You say you got gold?" the rogue leader asked.

"Yes.  I'll give every man 100 gold to walk away."

The man leaned close enough that I could smell the onion on his breath, and said, "What if I do the world a favor and kill ya all?  Then I can take the gold for myself!"

"It would be hard to enjoy it, because if you give that order I'm going to break your neck!"

The rogue laughed.  Obviously, my thin frame didn't impress him much, but there was something about my undead half that this rogue didn't know.

I reached up with my dead right arm and grabbed his wrist.  With a simple twist, I broke the thug's arm.  After that, I only had a few seconds before his companions attacked, so I dragged the leader from his horse and closed my right hand around his neck.

"My undead flesh is far stronger that it appears," I whispered as I crushed the bandit leader's neck and dropped his limp body to the ground.

Then the battle began.

==Halas==
My army has grown large enough that it has drawn the attention of a druid who claims to be the protector of this forest.  The man, Halas, issued me a warning today, delivered by a Sprite who flew away before I could interrogate it.

Halas's letter pointed out several times that my troops and I were insults against nature and that we should be destroyed.  He stated that if I chose to stay, he would hunt us down and kill us all.  Normally, I would have nothing to do with the man, but he is between Vitross and me.

==Vengeance==
Sometimes, I ask myself what Master Kalibarr would do in my situation, but all my Master's actions were part of his plan to one day seize control of the Necromantic Order.  I know from personal experience that he also had a strong sense of vengeance.  Whenever someone crossed him, he usually had me slip poison in their wine or a dagger between their ribs.

So, I have turned my eyes toward Vitross.  I realize that I can't get back at everyone who has threatened me over the years.  That kind of goal would only end in my own destruction, I am sure.  I wasn't looking for a war, just revenge.  Yes, it would be sweet to turn that officer and all those farmers into zombies!

==Survival==
During my years in the wild, I learned to respect those magical forces that seemed to be at work in nature.  The superstitious call it Mother Nature, but I know it is something much more arbitrary, even uncaring.  Much like myself, Nature exists to survive.  Is it really a contradiction for a necromancer to embrace Nature?  I don't think so.

However, I have never seen a power like the one this druid possessed.  He was capable of conjuring creatures, and even elementals, out of thin air.  What a power!  Imagine not needing to rob graveyards for troops.  But then, as I am beginning to suspect, these powers might not work on the undead.  The negative energy bottled within the undead would probably cancel out such creation magic.

Still, I am not ready to abandon this idea.  There has to be a way to turn it to my advantage!

==Vitross Captured==
The smoke rising from the charred remains of Vitross threatened to obscure my vision of the stake in the center of town.  I put it in the same place where these people had tried to burn me months ago.  This time, however, the commander of Vitross was tied to it.

"What's your name?" I asked, raising my voice to be heard over the screams of the dying.

I grabbed the officer's hair with my dead hand and yanked hard enough to make him yelp.

"What harm is there in telling me your name?" I said.

"Sir Mardor of Vitross," said the officer.  "Queen Emilia will march the armies of Great Arcan against you for this attack!  I will be avenged!"

"I don't think so.  Right now, one of your own commanders is on his way to Great Arcan to give his account of how a band of Barbarians attacked Vitross.  Of course, there will be no survivors left to contradict his story.  My zombies have already cleared the countryside of every farmer and woodsman."

Sir Mardor shook his head in disbelief.

"It's true, Sir Mardor.  It is amazing sometimes what a man will do when he is offered immortality.  When this cooperative commander returns from Great Arcan, one of my vampires will change him into one of the undead.  So, you see, Queen Emilia will have no cause to suspect me for this horrible tragedy."

"What are you going to do with me?" Mardor asked weakly.

"What do you think?"

Mardor looked around.  The only thing that wasn't on fire was the wood at his feet.  My own living skin was tingling from the terrible heat.  It was taking all my will power not to turn and flee this inferno.

"You're going to burn me."

"Yes.  Do you remember me, Sir Mardor?" I asked.

"Of course!"

"Then I want you to know that I was innocent.  I was not responsible for any deaths, save those of the chickens.  Great Arcan, as young a nation as it is, has earned respect for its fair laws.  Tell me, where was that justice for me?"

Sir Mardor closed his eyes, praying.  I slapped him to bring his attention back to me.

"I'm going to burn you, Mardor, until there is nothing left but bones," I said.  "But that won't be the end of it!  Afterward, I am going to use those bones to trap your soul.  I need a military commander I can trust."

I nodded to one of my skeleton soldiers.  The creature held a torch to the pile of wood at Sir Mardor's feet and stepped back as the flames took life.

"I'll be seeing you again soon," I said, turning my back as Mardor's screams joined the rest.

Scenario 2: The Fiery Realm
A startling vision from another realm informs Gauldoth that his Master, Kalibarr, didn't perish during the Reckoning.  Now, he must battle crusaders and demons to find a way to reach this otherworld and rescue the one who saved his life long ago.

Gauldoth Half-Dead:
"In the scope of the Universe, we are but a single breath.  To say we're insignificant is to give us too much credit.  But when the Universe chooses you to be a part of its plan, you'd better hold on and take what you can get because your ride will surely be over before you know it!"

==Fire!==
Seldom do I dream, but this was no nightmare.  This was a vision that shocked me awake with a searing pain.  Fire!  Blistering, agonizing heat!  It took some time for me to realize this wasn't my pain, some memory of the flames that nearly killed me long ago, but my Master's pain.

How?  Kalibarr perished during the Reckoning.  He could not have survived, could he?  But if he still existed, somewhere, would that not explain my everpresent nagging feeling that something important had been left undone?

My answer came as another image flashed into my mind like a club to the back of the head.  It was my Master's face surrounded by the cruel, taunting images of demons.

"Master?" I said softly.  I could still see his pleading eyes.

I received no answer, but I knew what I had to do.  I had to find him.  I had no choice.

==The Kreegans==
Over the past few months, I have made sure that none of my borders intersect with territories occupied by nations like Great Arcan or Palaedra.  No use making enemies yet.  Still, much of this new world remains unclaimed.  For instance, at this moment the spectral commander of my forces, the former Sir Mardor, has taken the bulk of my army to carve out the borders of what will become the new Kingdom of Nekross while I searched for Kalibarr.

"Come," I said.

Although Mardor had been many miles away, he appeared before me in an instant - such was the magical bond between us.  Funny how he still chooses to wrap his spectral form in a long, black hood and cloak.  A trace of shame for his present state, perhaps?  He'll get over that in time, when he has forgotten he was once a human.

"I hope you left someone capable in command," I said.  "You are going to be gone for some time."

"Yes.  The vampire, Captain Enric," Mardor said.

"The one who betrayed you.  Interesting."

I have heard that Enric suffers near starvation under Mardor's command.  Apparently, he still resents that man's betrayal.

"Are you meeting much resistance?"

"No.  Even the living offer to join us.  They swear loyalty to Nekross, but I wonder what they will do when you tell them they must give up their lives to become part of Nekross's army of undead!" 

"For now, they won't have to.  Those who die naturally, or in accidents, will be enough to reinforce the army.  I'll be doing them a favor really - they will have no use for graveyards anymore!" I said.

"None of that pesky mourning either," Mardor said sarcastically.

Even though he was forever in my service (bound to me by a pact stronger even than the one I share with my Master), Mardor had retained some of his willful resistance.  It didn't bother me much though.  In fact, knowing that he must follow my orders against his own will made bossing him around more fun.

"You're coming with me now, Mardor.  Where I'm going, I might have need of a military commander," I said.

Many thought the Kreegan demons had perished in the Reckoning, but I knew the truth.  Their numbers have been diminished, for sure, and they are disorganized and weak, but some retreated to the safety of another realm.  That's where I would find my Master!

"I am yours to command, Master!" Mardor said.

"I would have it no other way," I said.

==The Crusader==
One can't simply open a gateway to a specific location without tremendous magical power, and even then no one knows how to direct that power.  That knowledge was lost long ago.  However, I have a theory that a temporary gateway can be opened by unleashing a tremendous amount of magical power at a nexus point of the lines of magic that flow through everything in the Universe.

Through my studies of Nature Magic, I have learned to see these lines of magic.  Finding a nexus point shouldn't be hard.  Opening the gateway, however, will be much more difficult.  But I think I have received a prod in the right direction.

That prod came in the form of a knight of Palaedra who came to this area on a crusade against the undead.  He searches for an ancient sword rumored to be a powerful weapon against demons called the Angel's Blade.  There is no question that this weapon is connected to the realm that gives a demon its powers, otherwise it wouldn't be so effective against one.

It is my hope to find the Angel's Blade first.  When I shatter it at a magical nexus point, I believe it will create a gateway to the realm where my Master awaits.  A long shot, I know, but what choice do I have?

==Politics==
Specters don't need sleep, so when I stop my army to rest, Mardor slips away to see to other matters such as my campaign to secure the borders of Nekross.  When I wake, he is usually waiting for me with reports about our progress.  Not last night.

"Come to me, Mardor," I said aloud.

Within minutes, his shrouded form appeared.

"Where were you?"

"Traveling the western borders of Great Arcan.  I was confirming some interesting rumors," Mardor said.  He seemed excited about something.

"What?"

"Great Arcan has been having trouble with raids along its western borders.  A rather large Barbarian tribe is responsible.  It seems Queen Emilia has made a fatal mistake and sent a significant portion of her troops to deal with these Barbarians.  This has left their eastern borders nearly unguarded.  Within a month, we could conquer Great Arcan!"

Conquer Great Arcan?  Of all the nations that have formed since the Reckoning, it is the largest and perhaps the strongest.  Unlike the desolate landscape of Nekross, Great Arcan is resource rich.  If I could absorb it into Nekross I would certainly be the most powerful force on the planet.

So, why does the prospect of marching on Great Arcan frighten me?

"Draw up your plans and I'll take a look at them," I told Mardor.

==Refusal==
I sat on a tree stump with Mardor's maps on my lap, studying them for hours.

His plans seemed solid.  With a modest force, we could push our way through the borders of Great Arcan, robbing graveyards and villages along the way to reinforce our army.  If we marched all day and night (which my Undead troops are quite capable of) I would be sitting on the throne of Great Arcan within the month.  By then, it would be too late for the armies along the western borders to turn back, and even if they did we would have an army twice their size - five times their size if we really wanted to dominate them.

"Shall I make the arrangements?" Mardor asked from over my shoulder.

"No."

"What?"

I folded the maps and tucked them inside my shirt for another purpose.

"We're not attacking Great Arcan," I said.  "I know my history, Mardor, and every time a necromancer becomes a threat, the entire world mobilizes against them.  No one, not even orcs or trolls, wants to be ruled by someone who consorts with the dead!"

"But we can conquer them all!"

"No.  There is no louder death knell for a necromancer than becoming too ambitious."

"We could rule the world!  Why remain weak?" Mardor shouted.

"I don't want to be weak, Mardor, just harmless in the eyes of my enemies.  Neither do I want to rule the world.  Where will that get me?  Dead, most likely!  No, I can do all that I want with my small piece of the world, and that is good enough for me.  Now, go before your insolence angers me!"

Mardor vanished as I commanded, but this would not be the end of it.

I pulled Mardor's maps from my shirt and smiled as I came up with another use for them.

==Taking Action==
I rolled my letter around Mardor's maps describing his strategy for conquering Great Arcan and sealed it with some black wax.  This was my first correspondence as King of Nekross, so it hadn't occurred to me until now that I was going to need a signet ring.  Oh, well, my thumb would do for now.

==Philosophy==
I have come to believe that there are two great forces at work in the Universe - creation and destruction - and I have dedicated myself to understanding one of them in the hope of learning the secrets of the Universe as well.  Destruction is indiscriminate.  It uses all of us for its purposes.  There was a time when I thought only necromancers such as myself represented the force of destruction and death.  Not true.

All things must crumble.  All things must die.  This is the one truth in the Universe.

And thus, even a nation commanded by a necromancer (the embodiment of death) must be destroyed.  When others like the powerful necromancer, Sandro, sought to control the world, the force of destruction supported them temporarily.  Then, for lack of a better description, it changed its mind.  Destruction and death turned upon itself.  That's why no single man has ever ruled the world for long.

All things must die.

As long as our fickle Universe doesn't notice what you're doing, you're safe!

==To Survive==
I woke to find Mardor waiting, hovering over my bed.  No doubt, he was thinking about killing me.  I wonder if he knows that can never happen.

As part of the spell that bound Mardor's spirit to my service, I crushed his skull into a powder and mixed it with some ink.  With that ink, I tattooed Mardor's name on the living skin of my left arm.  He was mine forever.

"How are things at the borders?" I asked cheerfully.  Mardor hated it when I was happy.

"Captain Enric is manning our final southern garrison.  After that, I have commanded him to march his forces to the north."

"Why did you do that?"

"Because we have lost our opportunity to conquer Great Arcan.  For some reason, Queen Emilia has withdrawn a third of her forces in the west to protect her southeastern borders.  I want Enric in the north in case she plans to march against Nekross."

"She won't," I said confidently.

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because she's only reacting to my letter.  In a neighborly gesture, I sent her your attack plans as a warning about the weaknesses we discovered in her defenses."

"You what?" Mardor shouted.

I scowled at the specter and said, "Watch your tone!"

For a moment, Mardor tried to overpower the sorcery that bound him to me, but then he lowered his head and said, "Apologies, Master!"

"That's better!" I said.  "What you don't understand, Mardor, is there are different ways to fight a war.  Or NOT to fight one.  Wars are costly.  That's why I sent the maps to Queen Emilia."

"I still don't understand, Master."

"Necromancers such as myself have a well-deserved reputation for a certain level of maniacal ambition.  Queen Emilia expects Nekross to seek the destruction of everyone around it and perhaps the world too.  By sending Emilia these maps, I have cast just a sliver of doubt into her view of me.  For now on, she will wonder if I am a man who can be dealt with.  She'll ask herself why I didn't attack her kingdom when she now knows I was fully capable of conquering Great Arcan.  And as you cannot fathom my reluctance to rule the world, she will not understand why I gave up this opportunity."

"Then what?" Mardor asked.

"Then I survive.  Long after Great Arcan and Palaedra fall, even after whatever kingdoms come after them have faded into obscurity, Nekross will be right here where it has always been.  And I will be sitting on its throne!  That, Mardor, is my kind of victory!" I said.

==Quest: Bone Dragons==
Proposal
We have suffered attack after attack without replacements from our commander.  The boys and I have agreed to sneak you through the gate if you'll bring us 8 Bone Dragons.

Progress
If you don't help us, we'll certainly die in the next attack and then you'll never get through this gate.

Completion
You don't realize how much we appreciate what you have done.  We can finally sleep through the night knowing that this gate is well defended.  So, would you like us to slip you through the gate now?

==Quest: The Angel's Blade==
Proposal
To your surprise, a demon warrior stands guard over the Angel's Blade.  He tells you how this weapon was forged by an ancient demon, not an angel as some believe.  It is his duty to protect the weapon and, some day, pass it on to one who deserves it.

"The one known as Gauldoth Half-Dead can have it, but only after he reaches 18th level," the demon says.

Progress
When Gauldoth Half-Dead reaches level 18 he can claim the Angel's Blade.

Completion
The demon warrior sums up your abilities at a glance and offers you the hilt of the Angel's Blade.  Do you take it?

==Quest: The Nexus Point==
Proposal
The spinning rainbow lines of magic are invisible to all but a trained eye, but you can see where they converge above this spot in a gleaming ball almost too bright for you to look at.  You will find no better place for a gateway.  Now, you only need to shatter the Angel's Blade on this spot to find out if your theories are correct.

Progress
It is pointless to come here without the Angel's Blade.  Return when you have it.

Completion
It takes almost a full day of spellcasting for you to conjure the power necessary to shatter an artifact like the Angel's Blade.  Near exhaustion, you place the weapon on the ground directly beneath the magical convergence and step on the blade.  Grasping the hilt in your dead right hand, you use the last of your strength to lift.

The explosion sends you flying like a rag doll into a nearby bush, but when you finally open your eyes you see a gateway standing before you! 

==The Fiery Realm==
First you notice the sky choked with a swirling, black smoke.  The air is hot, humid, and putrid with the smell of sulfur, and the charred ground crunches beneath your feet like a forest of dry leaves.  You have come to another world - a world that has seen the domination of the Kreegans.

==Kalibarr==
You spot a naked corpse sprawled over a rock formation that appears to have been used as a crude altar.  In some places bone shines through the rotting flesh.  You should not be afraid of a corpse, but you approach cautiously, pausing before you touch the body.  Something is wrong.

That's when it moves!

You draw away, not in terror like most people would, but into a defensive posture.  Weakly, the rotting man pushes himself up and turns his head toward you.

Even though some of the flesh has been burned away, you still recognize him.  You would know Master Kalibarr even if he were just bare bone.

"Master!" you say, immediately prostrating yourself before the lich.  

"Gauldoth?" he says.  His voice sounds old and dry.

Just like that, you are no longer Gauldoth the Half-Dead, King of Nekross, but just plain Gauldoth, servant of a Master Necromancer.

Kalibarr pitches forward suddenly and you catch him before he hits the ground.  You sense none of the power that used to be locked within his undead body.  What has become of your Master?  And how did he get to this cursed place?

"Don't worry.  I am here now.  Soon, you will be strong again," you say as you gently place Kalibarr over your shoulder.

Scenario 3: The Points of Power
In an attempt to restore his master's power, Gauldoth sets out to do the impossible - activate all five Points of Power.  But this isn't the best time to be away from home with the Kingdom of Nekross in the middle of a demon rebellion.

Gauldoth Half-Dead:
"Why can't everyone see the inherent goodness in destruction?  Or the evil in creation?  A forest cannot live without the nutrients provided by the destructive force of a forest fire.  And if I am wrong, then why is the lifeblood of creation - water - the most destructive force on the planet?"

==Nekorrum==
Like a son proudly displaying his achievements to his father, I walked Kalibarr around my capital city, Nekorrum.  I showed him the vast crypts beneath the city where bodies from all over Nekross were stored in chambers kept cool by ice - a far easier task now that ice demons had joined us.  At a moments notice, my necromancers could raise them all to form a tremendous army.  At last count, there were nearly three thousand corpses down there and in case of emergencies the living population of Nekorrum could be killed to give us over six thousand undead defenders.

Kalibarr commented that my mage guild was no comparison to the old Necromantic Order, but he had not seen how far it had come in such a short time.  It was growing, despite the fact that most people fear necromancers so much that they never dream of becoming one.  I was finally getting volunteers since I offered monetary incentives to families who surrendered any child below the age of six for necromantic instruction.  With my Master's help, the mage guild would certainly rival even the Necromantic Order some day.

"It's all yours," I told my Master when we completed the tour.

Master Kalibarr was silent for some time.  He leaned on me for support, still too weak to exert himself for any length of time, and said, "It's a start."

That was four months ago.

==Kreegan Rebellion==
Months of tension between the Kreegans and the undead culminated last night in a riot that destroyed half of Nekorrum.  My Master was still too weak to deal with the rebellious demons and devils, and perhaps that was the reason for the uprising.  I think they sensed his weakness, and if those creatures respect anything, it is strength.  This clash was bound to happen.

And word has been coming in from other parts of the Kingdom about devils seizing several of our towns as their own.  Nekross has fallen into chaos.  The only good news is the dissenters have not yet organized under a single leader.  When they do, we will be doomed.

"This wouldn't have happened if you had been King," Mardor told me as we walked along Nekorrum's outer wall.

If Mardor had been a solid being, I would have slapped him.  Instead, I grabbed the cloak he insisted on wearing and threw it over the wall to the ground far below.

"Say that again and I will order you to swim in holy water!"

"Apologies, my Master!"

"Kalibarr is our King and Master.  This rebellion is a coincidence," I stated.

"Yes, Master."

I ordered Mardor to execute all the imps and demons caught during the riots.  Their devil leaders escaped.

"Do it at the center of town in front of the rest of their kind!  That should be a lesson to them all.  They must know that Master Kalibarr is still in charge!"

Leaving Mardor on the wall, I returned to my Master's dusty study in the dim corridors beneath the mage guild.  Despite his weakness, he was working on some secret project.  I wanted desperately to ask him what he was doing, but I had learned long ago that my Master was a private man who didn't appreciate curiosity in others.

When I told him about the rebellions springing up all over Nekross, he didn't seem surprised.

"A Kingdom needs a powerful leader, and my body is still weak from the spell I cast to save myself from the Reckoning," Kalibarr admitted.  This was the first hint he had given me about how he escaped and ended up in the demon realm.

"I will protect you until you heal, Master."

"I know, I know.  But I don't think I need your protection right now," he said.  Lurking in every shadow of the large study was a vampire or ghost loyal only to Kalibarr.  They were his personal guards.

"Then what can I do to help?"

"The answer to that is an easy one, although the application might prove difficult now that the devils have taken over parts of Nekross.  I need you to activate the Five Points of Power - I'll show you how.  No one has ever been able to turn all five on at once.  If you manage to do so, I will be able to draw enough magical energy from them to regenerate my spell-ravaged body and put those demons in their place!" my Master said, his skull gleaming with a lust for vengeance.

At the time, I had thought his lust for vengeance was directed toward the demons.  I was wrong.

==Quest: First Point of Power==
Proposal
At the back of this odd tower, you find a switch exactly where your Master told you it would be.  Giving it a twist, the wall opens to reveal a secret antechamber left untouched for decades.

The centerpiece of the room is some sort of altar from which protrudes a gleaming green crystal the size of a man's arm.  A beam pulses skyward up the entire height of the tower to a second crystal, larger even than the first, at the top of the tower.  Immediately, you wish you had the time to study this place.  The magic at work here is incredible!

Progress
You are not Gauldoth.  Only he knows how to activate this device.

Completion
You step forward, take the crystal in hand, and turn it slowly three times to the left.  Once activated, you cast a special spell that binds the power of this ancient place to your master.

==Enric's Demise==
This morning we rode into a village and found some imps terrorizing its citizens.  After we quickly dealt with the foolish creatures, I ordered my troops to sweep the hamlet for dead bodies.  I desperately needed more troops.

When I heard terrified screams coming from one of the huts, I rushed toward the sounds thinking that an imp had somehow escaped us.  I threw open the door and found the body of a middle-aged man on the floor, his neck ripped open and bloody.  The vampire Captain Enric had a beautiful young woman pinned against the back wall.  He planned to feed on her as well.

"Enric!" I shouted.

My next word was a magical command that drained the strength from the vampire's body.  The woman broke free from Enric's grasp and ran to the nearest corner.  There was no escape since I was standing in the hut's only doorway.  Enric fell to the floor and looked up at me, confused.

Once again I longed for Mardor's competence, but I had left him behind in Nekorrum to protect my Master and command the city's forces in case the demons rioted again.  Enric was a poor substitute - controlled all too easily by his hunger.

I glared first at the woman, letting her know in no specific words that I didn't want her to move, and then I walked across the room to stand over Captain Enric.

"Why?" he asked.

I slapped him with all the strength in the undead half of my body.  The blow might have killed a living man.

"You disobeyed my orders, fool!  The living are not to be harmed unless I give permission.  Do you remember that?" I said.

I had said those words before I left Nekorrum because I knew if I was ever going to be able to put Nekross back together, I needed the living population for the mines, farms and shops.  I needed them to feel they would be safe under my rule.  Without them, Nekross would have no economy.

Enric began groveling too quickly.  He didn't understand why I was protecting a living person, only that he had made a mistake and needed to plead to my sense of mercy.  This was the same man who, when alive, betrayed Mardor in exchange for a vampire's immortality.  I don't know what had drawn Enric to this lifestyle - perhaps some romantic appeal, or fear of death, or just plain homicidal tendencies - but he was exactly the type of undead that I despised.  Witless and consumed by their own sense of evil.

I grabbed Enric by his long, dark hair and dragged him outside.

"Bring me five spears!" I shouted to no one in particular.

Enric screamed for forgiveness as I ordered some zombies to hold him down.  I pinned his arms and legs to the ground with spears, and with a fifth spear, I silenced his pitiful shouts.  Of course, I hadn't killed Enric.  None of these wounds were fatal to a vampire.  He could survive skewered to the ground for a long time, in fact, but he wasn't going to be there for more than a few hours.

To my confused troops and the frightened villagers, I said, "Captain Enric has disobeyed my order to spare the living.  For that crime, he will remain the way he is for twenty-four hours!  Any who dare remove him will not get off so easily!"

When daylight came, Enric was doomed.  By the terrified look in his eyes, he knew it.

I do not know why I returned to the hut.  My troops had collected fifteen bodies and I had much work to do if I was going to make them part of the undead.  Still, I felt drawn to the young woman I had saved.

I found her bent over the dead man, weeping for her father.

A skeleton followed me, silently awaiting my command.

"Bring the woman," I told it.  "Don't harm her!"

The skeleton stepped forward, grabbing the woman by the arms.

"And you might as well add him to the other corpses," I said, pointing to the woman's dead father.

==Alana==
I kept the woman safe.  I made sure she was fed, gave her a tent and a cot of her own, and a living servant bought from one of the hamlets along the way.  I even arranged for her to be given an elegant black dress to replace her plain, blood-stained cotton smock, but she refused to wear it.

But why haven't I spoken to her since the day I killed Enric?  That was the question that distracted me from the ambush.

We were on the road, myself at the front of the column and she at the back with the supplies, when a mixed demon force attacked.  It was a well-orchestrated ambush and might have claimed some lives if they had attacked the center of my formation.  Instead, they charged directly at me.  My spells weakened them, even killed a few.  A single ice demon reached me, scratching deep furrows in the living flesh of my left thigh before one of my own troops brought it down.

Immediately after the battle, I sat on a rock and tore open my pants to examine the wounds.  Blood had already soaked my leg and collected like water in my boot.  I winced at the sight.  The ice demon had cut an artery.  I was probably going to bleed to death.

So, I laughed.

I had often wondered what would happen if the living half of my body died.  Would I become like a stroke victim, the left side of my body dead and motionless?  Or would the Undead part of me die as well?

I looked up at the sky and said, "So, you are finally done with me, Universe!"

"You speak to the Universe?"

It was the woman I rescued, still dressed in her cotton tunic.

"Not usually," I said.  "I expected this day to come, but I must admit I thought it would be in a more spectacular way.  Arrogance, I guess."

She saw the blood seeping into the hungry ground.

"You bleed?  How is that possible?"

"Because I am only half dead.  Please don't ask me to explain.  I'll bleed to death before I finish the story," I replied.  Even though I had clamped my hand tightly over the wound, I could feel the hot blood seeping through my fingers.

"Let me," she said, approaching cautiously.

I pulled my hand away and a red fountain sprayed the front of the woman's clothes, mixing with the old brown stains of her father's blood.

"Oh, my!  It's deep!" she said.

Immediately, she pressed her hand over the wounds and muttered some words of magic.  I felt a strange, numbing energy flow into me.  I cannot say that it felt good.  In fact, I hope to never experience it again, but when the woman pulled her bloodstained hand away, my wounds were healed.

She was a priest!  I hadn't expected that.  Our coming together couldn't be a coincidence.

"Thank you," I said.  "I am Gauldoth."

"Alana."

==Quest: Second and Third Points of Power==
Proposal
You walk through the refuse left by previous visitors and open the secret antechamber at the rear of the tower.

Progress
You are not Gauldoth.  Only he knows how to activate this device.

Completion
You step forward, take the crystal in hand, and turn it slowly three times to the left.  Once activated, you cast a special spell that binds the power of this ancient place to your master.

==Creation and Destruction==
Instinctively, I think I knew Alana was a priest of Life Magic.  That's why, against all common sense, I dragged her along with me.  Some would say such an inspiration came from 'the gods,' but I'm more prone to believe that my closeness to Death Magic allowed me to sense its opposite.

After Alana saved me, I asked her to ride at the front of the column so we could talk.  I still believe the secrets of the Universe will be within my grasp if only I can understand the force of destruction.  It's the same principle used to learn new spells.  You must divide them into their parts, splitting them into pieces you can understand before you learn the spell as a whole.

But it couldn't hurt to know a little something about creation as well, could it?

As Mardor says, "Half the battle is knowing more about your enemy than they know about you."

So, Alana and I spent hours discussing Life Magic, healing, childbirth, and love.  She seemed reluctant at first.  She was, after all, my prisoner even if I didn't treat her like one.  But when I seemed to show a real interest in the subject she opened up.

"I have never heard of someone like you, Gauldoth," she said.

"What does that mean?"

"Well, perhaps it is because your body hasn't been completely tainted by the undead, but you seem much more sensible than other necromancers.  Perhaps there is still hope for you!"

That's when I realized she was being friendly with me because she thought I could be converted - as if I was some sheep-brained peasant practicing the rituals of some cult!

"My body doesn't make me who I am," I said firmly.  Maybe it wasn't completely true, but I like to think that I would be the same person whether I were only living or only undead.

"No, but I think it is a metaphor for your potential to turn back from this evil path you have started down."

"Evil path?  I don't believe in such a thing!"

"How can you not?  You walk among skeletons and demons.  You doom the dead to an eternity of suffering!  Yet, you saved my life when you didn't have to, and you still protect the living from your own troops.  Can you not see the good as well as the evil that you perform?"

"I do what is sensible.  Neither good nor evil dictates my actions."

"Good or evil, creation or destruction.  Call them by whatever name you want, Gauldoth.  They are the same thing," Alana said stubbornly.

"Ah, but you're assuming that creation is good."

"Of course, it is!"

"Are you telling me that when the Universe created a creature consumed with hatred and destruction, like a devil, that the Universe committed a good act?"

"Well, uh, no."

"And why can't destruction be good?  A forest fire may seem tragic at first, but that destruction only replenishes the forest floor and makes the trees grow back stronger than ever before."

"That's just nature!"

"Exactly my point!  The nature of the Universe is indiscriminate.  It doesn't judge.  It doesn't care about good or evil because neither exists.  Take the Reckoning - the greatest example of a destructive force that I can think of.  I can argue that it probably did as much good as evil.  For one, the Reckoning claimed the life of that Barbarian scum, Kilgor."

Alana shook her head sadly as if I was a child that just didn't understand.

"I know that good exists, Gauldoth," she said, "because I see it all around me.  I have seen it in you!"

You walk through the refuse left by previous visitors and open the secret antechamber at the rear of the tower.

==Pleasant Company==
I ate dinner with Alana last night.  Her servant prepared a simple meal of roasted duck while I brought an old vintage of AvLee Amber.

I think Alana was surprised to see me eat real food, but she had the manners not to mention it.  She also managed to look me in the face for the entire meal.

"You may go free, Alana," I told her when the meal was over.

She paused, startled.

"You're letting me go?  Now?"

"Yes.  I'm still not sure why I brought you with me, but I do know I have no need of you.  And contrary to your beliefs, not all necromancers kill without reason.  You are not my enemy, and you are not a threat.  You may go."

"But..."

"Don't worry!  I will give you an escort all the way to the borders of Great Arcan.  Maybe you'll feel safer there than in Nekross," I interrupted.

Alana took a drink from her cup, fortifying her courage.

"I don't want to go," she said.

Now I was the one who was surprised.

Before I could ask, she added, "If I leave, Gauldoth, who will help you see the good within yourself?"

I almost rolled my eyes at this question, but then I realized that I was glad she had refused.  At least I would have someone to talk to.

==Quest: Fourth Point of Power==
Proposal
Just like all the other Points of Power, the main chamber of this fourth one is covered with the filth of countless years of disuse.  But the secret antechamber in the back wall has remained untouched.  Although dusty, it is clean and illuminated by its own magical glow.

You reach up to the crystal in the center of the room and activate it.

Only one more to go.

Progress
You are not Gauldoth.  Only he knows how to activate this device.

Completion
When you turn to leave, you find the priestess, Alana, watching from the secret doorway.

"What happens after you activate them all?" she asks.

"As far as I know, no one has succeeded.  I probably won't either," you answer.

"What is the power of this place?" Alana says, hugging herself as if she were cold.

"My Master did not tell me - only that it will rejuvenate him."

"What if it's evil?"

"You're full of questions today, aren't you?" you say.

"Well, what if something horrible happens when you activate the fifth one?"

She could be right, but what choice did you have?

"Alana," you say, sighing heavily.  "This place is a tool no different than a hammer.  Nothing more!  If I had the time, I could take it apart and show you how it works."

"This place disturbs me, Gauldoth!  Can you not feel it?"

You look back at the crystal and something suddenly occurs to you.  You are right handed.  You have always touched the crystal with your dead right hand.

"All I feel is magic!" you say.

==Suraze==
I hadn't believed that the demon rebels had a leader capable of organizing them, but a warrior named Suraze has mobilized a massive army against me.  Today, my scouts learned that he has turned away from his original target - Nekorrum - to deal with me.  Wise not to keep an enemy army at his back.

==Quest: Fifth Point of Power==
Proposal
Alana and I entered the fifth Point of Power together.  Immediately, I knew the power of the other four was accumulating in this place.  This was the transmitter, the one that would send all that energy to its recipient, Master Kalibarr.

"It's terrible!" Alana said.  She wrapped her arms around herself.

"It's wonderful!" I said.

By now, I was an expert at opening these magically locked doors.  A portion of the wall slipped away to reveal the antechamber and a dark, sparkling shard of onyx instead of crystal.

Suddenly, Alana took hold of my right arm, unconcerned that she was touching dead flesh.

"Don't do it, Gauldoth!  The evil is greater in this place!"

Slowly, I brushed Alana's warm cheek with the soft, living fingers of my left hand.  I stared into her eyes, smiled.

"Which is strongest, good or evil?" I asked her.

"Good," she answered without thinking.

"Why?"

"Because evil can only destroy that which good creates.  Evil cannot create.  Without good, evil wouldn't exist," Alana said.

I smiled even wider knowing that she was using my own philosophy against me.  She was a wise woman.  I liked her, but she was wrong about one thing.

With my dead hand, I took hold of her arm and held it toward the onyx shard.

"Then you turn it, Alana.  Activate it and show me that good is stronger than evil," I challenged her.

Completion
Alana stared at me for a long time.  I think she saw doubt in my eyes, doubt caused by everything she had tried to teach me.

And then she kissed my left cheek.  I had never felt the touch of a woman's lips before - their softness caught me off-guard.  

The warmth of her kiss still clung to my flesh when she reached out and grasped the onyx shard.  She twisted it, sending forth a surge of magical energy that flowed into her, through her body, and back into the shard.  Alana collapsed.

Quickly, I cast the spell that would bind this power to my Master.  Only when all was complete did I kneel next to Alana's corpse.

"You were wrong, my fair Alana.  Your destruction has created this power," I whispered.

There was a reason no one had activated all five Points of Power.  That's why I slipped away from camp before we arrived here and entered this tower alone.  I cleaned away the bones of the people who died trying to activate the Points of Power so Alana wouldn't see them when I brought her here, and then I returned before she noticed I was gone.  At the time, I hadn't known for sure that activating the fifth one would kill the one responsible, and now I feel a little guilty for being right.  A little.

As I lifted the lovely young woman's corpse and walked from the antechamber, I knew I would miss her.  I almost regretted tricking her.  Once I stepped outside, I handed Alana's corpse to the peasant woman who had been serving her all this time.

"Bury her somewhere and spread some flowers over her grave," I ordered.

I owed Alana that much at least.

Scenario 4: Life and Death
A powerful vampire and former supporter of Nekross named Malvich has riled the anger of Kalibarr.  So, Gauldoth has been sent on a mission not only to kill the offender, but also to retrieve the bloodsucker's most prized possession, the unique and supremely unholy Deadwood Staff.

Gauldoth Half-Dead:
"So, what is the point if I am but an insignificant pawn of the Universe?

Knowledge!  To know the Universe is to transcend it.  Destruction, creation, good, and evil; the grand scheme of things they are just the masks we use to understand that which we cannot grasp.  Well, here is my hand.  Show me your secrets.  I am not afraid!"

==Masters==
What has become of my Master?  I had thought he would become more like I remembered him after the magic of the Points of Power rejuvenated him, but he has only become more somber and private.  He seldom confides in me anymore.  In fact, he never speaks to me except to give orders.

In the two months since I crushed the last of the rebellious demons, I have seen my Master but three times.  He remains locked within his secret chambers, leaving the management of Nekross entirely to me.  It was as if he never became King.  And lately I have noticed his undead body is deteriorating.  The gray flesh dangles from his bones like rotten cheesecloth.  

Something was wrong, and all my attempts to get my Master to confide in me have been ignored.

So, I took a risk.  Using my magic to become one with the shadows, I followed a zombie who was delivering spell components to my Master.  The door opened magically, allowing the zombie to place his sack of goods on a nearby table, and that's when I slipped inside.  I slinked along the walls, staying well away from the single torch that lit the crypt-like room.  My Master was in the back in an adjacent room.  I could hear his voice.

I didn't enter that room, so I couldn't see what he was doing, but I did recognize some of the words of the spell he was casting.  I memorized them and broke them down into their parts until I could figure out what task this strange spell was meant to perform.

It was a binding spell, similar to the one I used to bind the energy of the Points of Power to Kalibarr, but it was also a transference spell.  Within minutes, I came to realize that my Master had transferred the magic of the Points of Power to something else - to an object.  Then Master Kalibarr said a word that I never thought I'd hear from his lips.

"Master!" he said.  "Finally, we are rejoined!"

Master?  Who could be Kalibarr's Master?

There was a long moment of silence, so I dared to peek into Kalibarr's laboratory.  I had only a couple seconds to take in the blue and silver pattern swirling between the posts of a magical gateway.  Then the portal closed and I was left alone.

I stood before the portal for a long time, simultaneously hoping that my Master would return and fearing the moment when he did.

"What are you up to, Master?" I whispered to myself.  And why didn't you include me?

==Malvich==
I found it difficult to look my Master in the face the next time he summoned me.  If he noticed my discomfort, however, he never said anything.

"Do you know a vampire named Malvich?" Kalibarr asked.

"Yes."

"He has in his possession the Deadwood Staff.  I want it!  He has refused to give it to me.  Kill him, Gauldoth, and bring me the staff."

"Uh, kill him?  Are you sure?"

Kalibarr's look was dangerous.  He had expected his order to be enough, not to have to explain it.  I saw something else in my Master's expression that I have never seen before - pure, bottled fury.  Insanity.  But what could his rage be directed at?  Surely not me - I was no threat.  So, what?

"Why, Gauldoth, I don't think you've ever had trouble killing someone for me in the past."

"It's not that, Master!  Malvich means nothing to me, but he gives your kingdom strength.  A war with him now would only weaken Nekross!" I dared to answer.

Malvich had been a powerful ally against the demon rebellion.  He supported me before I found my Master, and then helped Kalibarr when he needed it most.  It wasn't that I felt a sense of loyalty to the vampire, but he was a reliable ally - a difficult thing to come by.

Knowing that I would not shrink away from him, Kalibarr reached out slowly and pinched my throat between two sharp, skeletal fingers.  There was an incredible amount of strength in those digits!  I couldn't breathe or speak.

"Malvich means nothing to me, Gauldoth, because Nekross means nothing to me!  Bring me the Deadwood Staff or I will find someone else to serve me!"

Kalibarr freed me and I grunted, "Yes, my Master!"

I made my preparations to leave.  Once again I decided to leave Mardor behind to command Nekorrum's forces, but also for another reason.  The next evening as I marched my forces through Nekorrum's black gates, I pulled Mardor aside to speak.

"Watch Master Kalibarr for me," I said.  "That does not mean spy on him, but keep an eye on him whenever you can."

"Why?  Is something wrong?" Mardor asked.  I knew well Mardor didn't respect Kalibarr as a leader.

"No!" I insisted, even though I sensed something was terribly wrong.  "Just stay out of his way and watch him."

==Messenger==
I needed a messenger who knew nothing about my army because I knew Malvich would use his powers to interrogate my envoy.  So, this morning I rode off alone to a nearby village.  Because of my own policy of shipping all the dead directly to Nekorrum or other storage crypts around the country, the villagers had nothing to offer me.

"I regret doing this," I told them.  "Honestly, I do.  But I must demand that you bring me someone.  A volunteer preferably.  Make it one of the elderly if you wish - it does not matter."

Then I retrieved two heavy bags from my horse and threw one at the feet of the village leader.

"It's filled with gold - compensation for the life I am about to take.  That one is for the village."

I held up the second bag for all to see.

"This one is for the family of the person who volunteers!"

Within a few minutes, I had my messenger.  He was barely forty, but the previous winter he had caught a disease that damaged his lungs and left him weak.  He could no longer care for his family.  The man's eyes were wide with fear, but he had stepped forward nonetheless.  He would've made a good soldier.

I slit his throat and threw him over my horse, waiting until I was away from the eyes of the other villagers before I turned him into a new member of the undead - a zombie so he could speak.  The silent skeletons made poor messengers.  Then I gave the zombie my letter to Malvich and sent him on his way.

==Hadrin==
My zombie messenger returned today.  Malvich's response to my pleas for the Deadwood Staff became apparent the moment I saw the creature.  The zombie's left arm was missing, cut off at the shoulder.  It was no coincidence that my living arm was my left.  It was a threat.

"I return, Master," the zombie said.

"Did Malvich send his answer?" I responded, knowing that he had.

"Yes.  He made me memorize his words before he took my arm.  He said, 'Go back to that greedy lich in Nekorrum!  I told Kalibarr that the Deadwood Staff has been in my possession for close to seven hundred years and it will remain that way another seven hundred.  The only way that you, Gauldoth Half-Dead, or your master are going to see it is when I use it on you!'  That is all."

"Thank you."

But the one-armed zombie didn't budge.

"Is there something else?"

"Yes.  While I waited to meet Malvich, I talked with some of the other undead and learned the power of this Deadwood Staff.  It has the power to kill the living and the undead."

I had known the Deadwood Staff was a unique artifact of power, but I hadn't realized it was that powerful.  Malvich doesn't fear Kalibarr or me because when he goes to battle with us he will be able to kill us simply by pointing the Deadwood Staff.

"Thanks again," I said.

If not for this one-armed zombie's initiative, I might have walked into my own death.  Even worse, for the second time my Master has sent me to do a task without warning me of its dangers.  He never told me that activating the Fifth Point of Power claims the life of the person touching the crystal, and now he failed to warn me about the Deadwood Staff.

"What name did you have when you were alive?" I asked the one-armed zombie.

"Hadrin."

"Well, Hadrin, I think you just saved my life.  There are some weapons and armor among our supplies.  I want you to equip yourself and return to assume your position as my new bodyguard."

==The Life Shield==
My memories of the young cleric, Alana, inspired me to finally come up with a way I could fight the power of Malvich's Deadwood Staff.  This artifact was obviously imbued with a tremendous amount of Death Magic, so what I needed was something to counteract that.  What I needed was the Life Shield.

==Malvich Enraged==
I came by a village today that had been razed.  All that remained was the smoldering, ashy foundations of the houses.  This was Malvich's work, and since there wasn't a body to be found I could only assume he had done it to increase the size of his army.

"Hadrin," I called to my one-armed bodyguard.

"Yes, Master!"

"Send some scouts out immediately.  I want them to locate the other hamlets in this region to see just how far Malvich has gone."

Hadrin nodded.

==Quest: Shrine of Korbert==
Proposal
I donned a clean robe of deep purple and covered my head with the hood, but still I felt it wasn't enough to hide my identity.  So I hired a master craftsman to forge a silver mask in the exact likeness of the living left side of my face.  With my hands tucked inside the sleeves of the robe in the fashion of a monk, my undead flesh would be completely hidden.

Dressed in this manner, I approached the Shrine of Korbert and entered.

This place, and the monks within, had been an annoyance ever since I created Nekross, but they were never trouble enough for me to do anything about it.  Last year, they built this shrine on the spot where a famous and holy knight named Korbert met his doom against an army of undead.  I came here because Korbert had been the last living man to possess the Life Shield.

"May I help you?" asked one of the pale monks.

"Perhaps," I replied softly.  "I am on a pilgrimage to see the tomb of the Benevolent Sir Korbert."

"Ah, and soon to be Saint Korbert!" the monk said proudly.

"Really?"

"Yes, as soon as we hear word from Palaedra."

"May I see the tomb, please?"

The monk frowned.  I tensed, wondering if he noticed something wrong.  Had he caught a glimpse of exposed, rotting flesh?

"I am sorry, but you must prove your worth before you can be allowed to enter.  If this land wasn't swarming with those treacherous demons, it wouldn't be a problem, but you must understand we have to be careful!"

"Yes, yes!  I would have it no other way!  How can I prove myself worthy?" I asked in my best impression of these idiot monks.  Perhaps I could flagellate myself with nettle branches.

"Well, in honor of Sir Korbert, we ask that you bring us one artifact of evil so that we can destroy it.  It is rumored the Armor of Death is kept in a dragon's hoard somewhere to the east, but sadly a dozen pilgrims have already died trying to retrieve it."

Progress
I walked around the Shrine of Korbert three times, studying its architecture.  The builder had kept its defense in mind when drawing up the plans.  It was probably protected from fire and other destructive forces as well.  I have no choice but to retrieve the Armor of Death.

Completion
You hand over the Armor of Death and watch as the monks perform a long ceremony removing the power from this artifact.  You had hoped to reclaim the Armor after securing the Life Shield, but that was impossible now.

"Ready?" asked one of the monks.  "I will take you to see Korbert's Tomb."

I was led beneath the shrine, through three locked doors, past twenty well-armed guards, and finally into a room with a huge stone coffin against the back wall.

"Isn't it beautiful?  Can't you feel his holiness?" said the monk.  He stood mesmerized by something he has probably seen hundreds of times.

"Fanatics!" I muttered under my breath.

"Huh?" asked the monk.

As an answer, I crushed the holy man's skull against the nearest wall, and then I used my magic to open the sarcophagus silently.  Korbert's dry, rotten body rested within as if he were sleeping.  Clutched under his arms were his sword and shield.  I didn't care for the sword.

I tapped the Life Shield with a tiny silver hammer I purchased just for this occasion, and the Shield and hammer both disappeared.  It would reappear outside the Shrine where I could pick it up after I left.  I was about to slip out when a perfectly wicked joke occurred to me.

I cast a quick spell, raising Sir Korbert's holy corpse from the dead.  He sat up, bones cracking and dry flesh splitting.  He looked at me, waiting for an order.

I handed Korbert his favored sword and said, "In this building are a bunch of bald men in robes.  Kill them!"

And then I left, chuckling at the thought of the faces of the monks when they saw their Benevolent Sir Korbert up and walking.  Let's see if they make him a saint now!

==Children==
I had been catching glimpses of a spectral figure out of the corner of my eye all evening.  At first, I thought it might be one of Malvich's spies.  But then this specter would have to be universally stupid to come so close just to count my forces.  So, I slipped away from my army to meet the figure in private.

The ghost appeared before me soon after, arms held out in a non-threatening manner.  I scanned the area for signs of an ambush, and approached only when all seemed safe.

"Who are you?" I asked the ghost from a safe distance.  If it attacked, I would have just enough time to get off a spell.

"I am a soldier under the command of Mardor, sir.  I have been sent here from Nekorrum with a message for your ears only.  That is why I have been trying to get your attention."

"I see.  Hurry with your message.  I must return to my army before they start looking for me."

"Mardor wanted you to know that King Kalibarr has ordered all the living children in Nekorrum to be gathered.  The King took the first hundred into his chamber beneath the city and the rest have been locked in pens outside the mage guild," said the ghost soldier.

It was really only a guess, but I knew with every fiber of my body that my Master was taking these children through that mysterious portal in his room.  But for what purpose?  He couldn't be transforming them into undead - one of the first things a necromancer learns is that children make weak undead servants.  Kalibarr wouldn't be feeding on them either, like Loscan used to feed upon me.  My Master is a lich - he doesn't need food.

So, why?

Then I could hear Kalibarr's voice echoing within my mind, repeating a single word that has bothered me ever since I heard it.

Master.

Who could this person be?  And then suddenly it dawned on me that every command Kalibarr has given me might not have been his own.  The master of my Master is my master as well!

I turned my horse toward the trail.

"Return to Mardor and tell him to do as his King demands," I told the messenger.

==Life and Death==
A necromancer was never meant to carry the Life Shield.  I knew this because while I carried it an unpleasant warmth spread throughout my body like some vile syrup flowing through my veins.  What was this?  The essence of Life Magic, or something else?  A defensive magic, perhaps?

I came to revel in the torturous struggle between Life and Death being fought within my own body.  A greater affirmation of my existence, there will never be!

==The Deadwood Staff==
I had to peel the Deadwood Staff from Malvich's hand, and even after everything I felt a pang of regret for having to kill him.  Today, the Kingdom of Nekross became a little weaker.  This blasted staff better be worth it!

Just as I had sensed the essence of Life within the Life Shield, this artifact was pulsing with a negative energy that made it painful for me to hold it in my living left hand.

As I examined it I immediately noticed that something was missing - a headpiece.  The power of this artifact wasn't complete!  But how much more power could it possibly possess?

No wonder Malvich wouldn't give it up!  He must have spent several lifetimes looking for that headpiece.  It would have given him the power to rule the world.  If I had been in Malvich's shoes, wouldn't I have kept the Deadwood Staff too?

But then I would be dead right now.

Hadrin approached.

"What now, Master?" he said.

I hefted the Deadwood Staff over my shoulder and said, "Home to Nekorrum.  Immediately!  Leave a garrison here to secure these lands for Nekross.  We'll only take a token force."

To myself, I swore that I would learn the name of the one my Master served even if it meant I had to travel through Kalibarr's secret portal myself!

Scenario 5: The Unholy Breath
Gauldoth is forced to betray his beloved master, Kalibarr, when he learns that the lich actually serves a malicious god of death determined to destroy every living being on this new world.  In three months time, the stars will be in alignment and Kalibarr will be able to forge the Unholy Breath, an artifact with the power to destroy all living flesh.  For the sake of the entire world, and for his own survival, Gauldoth must stop him.

Gauldoth Half-Dead:
"A worm knows one thing with complete faith.  Eat to live.  Whether it's moldy dirt or rotten flesh, that worm digs and eats, eats and digs to fulfill its one truth.  Eat to live.

But I hold one now in my Undead fingers.  It squirms, fighting to free itself.  What is it thinking?  When I pop it in my mouth and chew its pink flesh, does it realize that you should NEVER place all your faith in one ideal?"

==Death==
When I returned to the streets of Nekorrum, I refused to meet the pleading gazes of its people.  It was much harder, though, to ignore the huge pens of weeping children outside the mage guild.  I couldn't help but think that this wasn't the city I had imagined it would be.  Nekorrum had become just like any other necromancer-controlled settlement - brutal, dark, horrible.

But my Master knew what he was doing.  Didn't he?

Later, I met Kalibarr inside the mage guild where I presented him with the Deadwood Staff.  Without so much as a single word, my Master returned to his chambers beneath the city.  Why was he in such a hurry?

Suddenly, I knew he was going to the portal.  I hadn't retrieved the Deadwood Staff for Kalibarr, but for his mysterious master!

I followed.

By the time I slipped into my Master's room, he had already passed through the magical gateway, but fortunately, it was still active.  I had no time to decide if this was the wisest decision.  I took a deep breath and jumped through.

==The Plane of Death==
What I found on the other side wasn't some distant castle or even another world as I had suspected.  It was an entirely different plane of existence not unlike the Elemental Planes.  If I had to give it a name, I would've called it the Plane of Death.

I cringed at the bleak environment, the stale air, the icy chill seeping into my living flesh.  I would not be able to remain here for long.  

But I still followed my Master's tracks in the dusty landscape.  He had walked this path many times.  So had others with smaller feet.  Children.

It was easy to find Kalibarr, but hard to find a place where I could hide.  I settled down behind some rocks and watched as my Master approached an inhumanly tall figure masked in a black cloak that draped behind him like a shadowy wedding train with a life of its own.

Instantly, I knew this being was a native of this Plane of Death.

Kalibarr prostrated himself like a praying priest, eyes downcast, as he held the Deadwood Staff forward. 

"For you, Master!" Kalibarr said.

"You will be keeping it, Kalibarr.  The forging must happen back in your world," said the nameless one.

"Yes, Master!"

"Wait for the Convergence, for the planets to align," said the nameless one.  Slowly, a gnarled, gray hand came out from the shadowy folds of his cloak and presented the skull of a creature I could not recognize.

"Only then do you forge this to the Deadwood Staff."

Kalibarr took the skull but remained prone before the dark giant.

"Yes, Master!  I will not fail you!"

I rolled my eyes.  What has become of the powerful lich I called Master?  Not even I groveled that much!  

"I know you won't," said the dark one.  "I have visited the remains of your former world, Kalibarr.  I have seen the rubble of ancient cities, the bones of those who couldn't make it through those annoying portals!  So much gone.  It was beautiful!  But it's a pity so many escaped my reach."

"Yes, a pity!"

"Now, go, Kalibarr!  Return to your world, and in three months when the Convergence comes, release the Unholy Breath.  Then they will learn there is no escape!  When their living flesh melts into a putrid ooze, then they will know oblivion!"

While my Master cheered the words of the nameless one, I backed away to what I thought was a safe distance.

The Unholy Breath!  In all my studies, I have never heard of such a thing.  This must be some otherworldly magic.  Obviously, it will kill every living thing on the planet - including me!  I didn't know why my Master served such an insane being as the nameless one, but I no longer cared.  He had to be stopped - both of them did!

==The Unholy Breath==
Somehow, Kalibarr discovered that I followed him to this horrid place.  He has been pursuing me for several days.  So far, I've been able to avoid him, but if I don't find the portal back to Nekorrum soon, I think the living half of my body will finally succumb to this realm's life-draining effects.

I have also come to the disturbing conclusion that I must kill my former master.  Kalibarr will continue to serve this nameless being even if I manage to stop him from releasing the Unholy Breath.  This world will never be safe.

But deciding to kill Kalibarr and actually doing so are two very different things.  When the time comes, will I be able to do it?

==Real World==
It is good to be back in the real world.

I may not be the tool of destruction I once thought I was.  In all my haste to escape that dark realm, I didn't realize until now that the Plane of Death is the embodiment of the pure destructive force.  In all things, there exists both destruction AND creation.  Even in me.

I summoned Mardor to my side.  The specter appeared, a worried expression on his spectral face.

"You must go now!" I ordered immediately.  "Take whatever ghost troops you trust - you'll need their speed for what I need you to do.  There's a town along our western border called Rija.  Take it and wait for me there."

"But what about you, Master?" Mardor asked.

"Don't call me that!  Don't ever call me Master!"

"Yes."

"I cannot go with you.  I have something to do first.  Wait for me at Rija, but first tell Hadrin that Kalibarr and everyone in Nekorrum is our enemy now."

I left Mardor and went immediately to the barracks.  I gathered a small band of skeletons and vampires who owed their immortality to me, still fearing that my former master would come through that portal at any second and turn the forces of Nekorrum against me.

Not even Mardor could have guessed my actions then.

I killed the guards protecting the sacrificial pens and freed the frightened children.  Then I led them out of Nekorrum like some kind of dark piper from a fairy tale.  Why did I bother?  Was this what the priestess, Alana, would've called an act of good?  Or was this simply my first act of rebellion against my former master?

South and then west - that is the only path left to me.  We must run as fast as the little feet of these children can run.  What a sight we must've been - a necromancer leading scores of hungry, bawling, frightened, living children!

The time to fight will come soon, but not today.

==Directions==
As I recall, the portal back to Nekorrum lies at the end of the northern path.

==Rija==
Mardor appeared before me briefly, stating that the town of Rija was completely under his control and that he was preparing for my arrival.  He also told me to head for an old gate.  The one-armed zombie captain, Hadrin, was garrisoned inside with some loyal demons.

==Hadrin's Welcome==
The one-armed zombie, Hadrin, was the first to step through the doors of the gate.  He seemed glad to see me as he urgently rushed my troops through.

"My scout spotted an army leaving Nekorrum not long ago.  You must hurry to Rija, Master!" Hadrin said.

 "Do not address me as master anymore," I commanded.

"Yes, er, uh..."

"King will do.  When this is over, I will either be King of Nekross again, or dead!"

"Shall you pass now, my King?" Hadrin asked.

==Hadrin's Stand==
I received news today that Hadrin and every soldier at the garrison (now called Hadrin's Stand) are dead.  Apparently, one of the demon defenders was bribed to open the doors.  The enemy rushed inside, killed everyone, and marched right through.

It saddened me to hear of Hadrin's betrayal.  With the exception of Mardor, there wasn't a braver soldier in all of Nekross.  The courage that Hadrin summoned when he volunteered to give up his own life to become my messenger obviously carried over when he became my zombie servant.  And now, he was gone.

==Drastic Measures==
When I rode into Rija, I could tell that Mardor had been busy, but he was preparing for a siege, not a war.

"I need an army!  A large one if I am going to kill Kalibarr," I said.

"Wouldn't it be wiser to have him to come to us?" Mardor asked, seeing only our tactical disadvantage in the field.

"I don't have the luxury of patience, Mardor.  Kalibarr must be destroyed soon - in less than three months!"

"There are rumors that the demon rebel, Suraze, might be willing to fight for you.  He has his own army," he said.

"Sounds like a trap.  I was the one who put him in prison in the first place."

"Yes, my King, but I also know for a fact that his kind have never liked Kalibarr.  But you, they respect!"

"A longshot is exactly what I need right now.  Pass on the word that I would like to meet with Suraze."

==Quest: Suraze==
Proposal
The demon guard at the door tells you that he's waiting for someone named Gauldoth Half-Dead.  No other may pass.

Progress
You are not Gauldoth, so go away!

Completion
This was the meeting place mentioned by the demon, Suraze.  Only Mardor accompanied me into the tiny structure.  We expected a trap, but all we found inside was Suraze and a few of his guards.

"Nice to see you again," I said.

"I only agreed to see you because that fool lich, Kalibarr, is dangerous.  He will turn on anyone - he did it to Malvich, and he did it to you.  Haven't you wondered how I got out of Nekorrum's prison?"

"I assumed you escaped."

"No, Kalibarr released me.  He learned that you tried to deal with Malvich, so he gave me an army and ordered me to kill you and return with the Deadwood Staff.  I didn't like the way he ordered me around, so I took my army and ran."

"Fortunate for me that you saw fit to double-cross your rescuer," I said.

"He got what he deserved.  Besides, leaders like him just get you killed in the end.  Nekross can't have a King like that and survive for long," Suraze said.

"I agree."

"So, if you'll have me, I'd like to offer you my army," Suraze said.  "For a price."

"What's your price?" I asked suspiciously.

"Land!  I want land with at least four towns, and a title to go along with it.  I think Duke Suraze sounds good."

Without Suraze, I had no chance of defeating Kalibarr before the Convergence.  After that, nothing would matter.

"Deal," I said.

==Hadrin's Fate==
Mardor has learned from his spies that my one-armed zombie captain, Hadrin, wasn't destroyed at Hadrin's Stand.  Instead, Kalibarr imprisoned him on the Plane of Death where he will suffer for all eternity.

"No, he won't," I told Mardor.

I had the power now to travel to that dark realm, and Kalibarr would never expect me to go that way.

==Hadrin Stands Again==
After your soldiers cut the zombies free, one of them steps from the cave and comes to stand before you.

"My King!" Captain Hadrin says.  "I had thought I would never see you again."

You shake the zombie's hand, glad to see this brave soldier again.

"I still have need of you Hadrin.  Don't want you to miss the end of this war, do we?"

Hadrin and his undead soldiers join with your army, glad to be part of the battle again.

==Kalibarr Defeated==
I try to muster the anger that is rightfully mine, but I cannot think badly about my former master.  Kalibarr was my savior, a teacher and master to me for so many years he seemed more like family.  Now, he is gone.  Destroyed.  And I am alone.

I like to think that he really died during the Reckoning - not by my hand.  It's easier that way.

==Epilogue==
I, Gauldoth, was greeted like a hero when my army rode through Nekorrum's black gates.

"Half-Dead!  Half-Dead!" they screamed.

The human inhabitants of the city called me 'Protector' and 'Father Gauldoth' because I brought their children home.  They marched alongside my column, and one by one they disappeared into the crowd, rejoining their parents. 

I ordered the child pens to be destroyed, and then I started repairs on the siege-damaged city.  There was a lot of work to be done, but this was my city.  I know now I never should have given it to Kalibarr.

I am Gauldoth Half-Dead, King of Nekross!  And I plan to stay this way.

Gauldoth Half-Dead:
"I have struggled to understand a Universe that allows the destruction of an entire planet.  Which will win this endless conflict - destruction or creation?  The only thing I know for certain is never to place your faith entirely on one side.  Play the middle if you want to survive.

Everyone else is a fanatic.

I am Gauldoth Half-Dead.  Your savior."