Vaulthuz slammed into the ground with a thud. After several disoriented moments he gained his bearings and rose before inspecting the environment around him. It was dark, a cave. He slowly walked to the walls to his left and placed a bony hand on the stone, lightly clawing it at. This was not rock from his home, it was too soft. Had he finally done it? The necromancer turned to the portal he had came through to arrive at this place. It was a tear hovering several metres above the ground and seemed to be radiating a very dim light. Before Vaulthuz could truly appreciate his handiwork however, he heard a voice.
"Oi, is that you Vincent?" The voice called out, as it echoed around the cave a figure holding a torch came into view. He had a blade hanging from his belt and wore a set of poorly made leather armour.
"Are you working on that Scrying crystal or whatever you called it again? C'mon mate we asked you to tell us before you do any magical stuff inside the base" the voice said, the darkness had concealed Vaulthuz so far so the man seemed under the impression it was Vincent, whoever that was.
Vaulthuz leapt from the shadows onto the man , in surprise the man dropped his torch "What the-" before finishing his sentence the lycan bad launched a flurry of strikes on his face with his boney,clawed hands. He was dead in moments. Rising back to back to his full height, he moved in the direction the man had came from originally.
As Vaulthuz walked further down the dark passage; he began to hear more sounds, the crackling of fire, the sound of chatter. "....then Butch grabbed the guy and pushed the poor fella off a cliff! I'm sorry but I think that was really unnecessary, we was only robbing the guy not killing him. He got what he deserved when that hunter put an arrow through his throat." The owner of the voice stood up as Vaulthuz approached and looked down the passage "What the bloody hell is that thing! Lads, get your blades, somebody get Vincent" three bandits dotted around a small campfire in the centre of the large cavern rose, one of them ran down another passage shouting for the other bandit. The other two drew their blades and approached the necromancer "I don't know what the hell you are or who sent you, but we are gonna gut you and send you down the river in a box 'cuz we're the Watercave Bandits!" After his threat the first bandit charged the lycan. In response he released a blast of grey mist from his hand which sped towards his attacker. On impact the bandit screamed as his hair turned white, his skin wrinkled and he began to shake violently. Another blast and he was on the floor, his body rapidly decaying. The second bandit watched the corpse for a moment before looking back at the necromancer, he began to turn and run but another flurry of decay spells quickly caused him to join his friend on the floor. Vaulthuz allowed himself a brief moment to lean on his bone staff and view his handiwork, even decay magic was difficult to cast without his usual power reserves.
After several moments the third bandit appeared, this time he was accompanied by a fourth one, who Vaulthuz presumed was Vincent "Stand back, this is going to get ugly" he ordered his ally, who seemed more than happy to oblige. The necromancer's opponent was taller than the other bandits, he had long brown hair and had a wooden staff much like Valuthuz'. Just not made of bone,obviously. Vincent moved first, pointing his staff at Vaulthuz and releasing a torrent of flames from it. Vaulthuz moved to the left of the flame jet before firing a bolt of grey mist at his foe, who seemed to wipe it away with a hand shrouded in fire before returning another bolt of flame at his target. This time Vaulthuz caught the fireball in his own hands and crushed it in the grey mist the was now flowing from his hands, however be was growing tired, he would only last so much longer without his spells failing. The lycan charged the mage as he began channelling his next spell, knocking them both over before grabbing onto his opponents face with his clawed hand. The dark energy that held Vaulthuz together began to seep into Vincent's very soul and a battle of wills began. Initially Vaulthuz had control and he almost ripped his opponents soul away instantly,but the bandit mage was no fool. He quickly collected his wits and pushed back, leaving them in a stale mate for some time. Vaulthuz felt the last of his strength leaving him, in an attempt to distract the mage Vaulthuz kicked the man in the shin with his clawed feet. The distraction worked for a moment but that was all the necromancer needed, the dark energy latched onto Vincent's soul and ripped it out, momentarily being physically exposed as it left the mage's body and returned into Vaulthuz. The mage paled and the colour left his eyes as his heart stopped beating. Vaulthuz felt the power from his soul flow through him. This would sustain him for a time.
After several seconds the lycan turned to the last bandit, he was hugging the wall and his face was almost as pale as the now dead mage's face. He was little more than a boy, barely counting as a man. He would do for what Vaulthuz had planned next, but first he wanted some answers.
"Do as I ask,answer my questions and I will let you live. First, what is the name of this realm?" He roughly grabbed the bandit by the shoulders as he growled the question. He seemed stunned for several seconds as he tried to form words.
"E-ecetopia, ruled by the L-lord of Magic. Or so they say. Kings run the realm now." He spoke quickly and breathlessly, perhaps worried he was speaking too much for the beasts liking.
Vaulthuz nodded "Well I will slay this king and Lord of Magic and use their bones in a grand throne" he released the bandit, who seemed all too grateful as a slight trickle of blood began running down his shoulder.
"M-may I go, m-m'lord?" He asked, shuffling towards the entrance as he did.
"Yes. But tell any of your friends they will only find death in this cave from now on. Tell the local villages the same. Tell them that Vaulthuz the Bonemelder has arrived to conquer them! But first I must make sure they do not doubt my power" He sent a blast of grey magic at the young bandit, he cried out as his hair grew longer and his skin wrinkled. But he did not decay. The bandit looked at the lycan, then ran from the cave as fast as his now weak bones could carry him.
Over the next few minutes, Vaulthuz gathered the corpses into the large room with the camp fire. He inspected them for a few moments before proceeding They will make suitable servants for now. He moved in front of the four corpses and extended his bony hands over them and began muttering a variety of incantations under his breath, he could feel the energy flowing into his hands as he reached the end of the spell. After a few moments of silence , four small eerie purple orbs departed from his hands. They each entered a separate corpse through the mouth and began to work their magic. Their eyes opened and went a deep purple before they began twitching violently as the spell began preparing the bodies so they would not spontaneously combust at the moment of reanimation due to the sheer amount of energy being released into their body. It was not pretty when that happened.
After the minute or so that the corpses required to reanimate, Vaulthuz waved a dismissive hand at them and ordered them to guard the location from intruders. The necromancer himself sat on one of the boxes by the fire and stared into it, watching the embers burn as he began hatching his plans.
Banned
