Deep in an overgrown jungle, in the putrid undergrowth layer that never saw the light of day, little stirred except large insects, occasional mammals and reptiles, and sometimes more sinister beings. Poisonous fungi and molds of many colors covered the swamp-like ground near the base of the high trees who's canopies were unseen from this lowly level. Almost no sound was to be heard, save for the occasional dying scream of prey.
A faint ripple went through the forest. A ripple of what, nothing could tell. Just a ripple, silencing the creatures of the forest even more, and seeming to make the air heavier and more tense. Then, between two huge stumps, a thin horizontal magenta line appeared.
The line seemed to swerve or somehow twist and spin, withought actually changing its shape or location in the slightest. The surrounding undergrowth bathed in its increasingly bright magenta light, making it a weird sight indeed. Suddenly, what seemed to be fingers pushed out through the line, then all 5 fingers of a hand were visible, then 5 fingers of another hand, both hands clad in metal gloves. Each hand grasped a side of the line, and pulled apart. A deafening sound, like the ripping of a boulder in half, followed.
From what was now a very irregular and wavy portal stepped out a dark-clad humanoid figure. Its face unseen under a black hood and a metal mask, it seemed to quietly scan the area, while the portal behind it slowly shranked and dissappeared. After what would have been many minutes of quiet inspection of the surroundings, the being seemed to react to something, maybe a sound only it could hear, maybe something else entirely. Whatever caused it to react, it quickly drew a steel longsword from a sheath somewhere on its person and hacked at a nearby tree, getting it stuck a few centimeters into the quite thick bark.
"Gifen, is that you, you bastard?" hissed the creature into the darkness, in a hoarse voice that one might expect from a quite ill person. "Get out here, so that I can rip you. To SHREDS." The humanoid spun around and pointed its hand to a low-lying branch of another tree. Lightning crackled from its fingertips, shattering the branch and starting a small fire in the wood.
The humanoid seemed to calm down after that. "Yes, he wouldn't have managed to get here... now would he have? No, hehe, ofcourse not. He couldn't have known the location I would portal to..." After some more scanning of the area, it muttered to itself once more, "This isn't... This isn't Dreadmist swamp... I'm sure of it. What? Where am I?"
It finally pulled out its weapon from the tree's bark, and set off into the thick undergrowth, hacking at plants wether they were in its way or not, occasionally causing some to spontaneously combust just by passing near them. "Might be better, in the long run... New place, new opportunities, right? Hehehehe..."
The mage was really starting to get annoyed. He didn't have a problem with food and water, which he both simply transmuted from the available organic material. His real problem layed elsewhere. Barely a couple of weeks wandering in this dark jungle, and he had already been attacked thrice by powerful giant wild cats. This was a truly savage place to fall in. Luckily, he had recovered from those unfortunate happenings. These beasts were quite skilled in ambush, and he hadn't expected their attacks in all three times. From now on, he'll have to be much more careful.
Better yet, the jungle undergrowth was starting to thin. The mage first thought it might be because of his unnending hacking and slashing of the plants he saw, not to mention the occasional forest fires he started for his amusement. But he then noticed he would have needed much more time to actually thin this jungle's foliage significantly. Concluding that he was nearing the end of the jungle, he hurried to the possibility of not needing to get torn to pieces by giant jaguars every other night.
A month after his arrival in the jungle, the mage had made his way north and out of it, reaching some calm-seeming hills. Turning to the jungle, he shouted, "HA! I bet you didn't expect me to get out, did you, insolent overgrown felines?!? Well, I'll be back, I'LL BE BACK, and you'll regret the day you dared show your claws in my presence!"
After his 'speech', the mage flung a fireball into the undergrowth, causing a small explosion and starting a forest fire. It wouldn't spread much due to the rainforest's moisture, but the mage already didn't care anymore, having turned his back to it and started walking onwards.
A few days after having left the forest, the mage was still going nortwards. With much fewer trees and plants to destroy to keep him amused, he had gone into a sort of day-dream trance even as he walked. So engroced he was in his thoughts, that he had failed to notice a group of 3 kobolds right infront of him.
The kobolds were already untrusting of any non-kobolds. Immagine their thoughts when one such creature just walked straight at them, even when they had been shouting and pointing their sharp pointy sticks at it for 10 minutes, while it slowly approached from a few hundred meters away to ten meters away. All while not seeming to notice them.
The mage suddenly stopped, a mere dozen meters away from the reptilian humanoids. "Oh my, my pardons, I didn't see you there. I sometime feel great difficulty noticing inferior beings." Noticing their weapons pointed at him, he continued with great contempt, "And what are you planning to do with those pointy sticks? Tickle me to death?"
The kobolds rapidly chattered among themselves in their native tong. They couldn't understand the mage's language, but his contempt was obvious to even their simple minds. THe figure silently observed them, unmoving.
Finally, unnerved by the mage's silent stare, the supposed leader of the kobolds threw its spear with a shout. It stabbed right into the mage's left arm. "Hey, that hurt," exclaimed the mage, before drawing his longsword. "Heh, atleast you managed to wake me up completely. Now its time for the morning's exercise." The three kobolds lunged at him. He jumped back, slashing the guts out of one of the kobolds. It fell, spitting blood and gasping its last breath, while its two companions stopped for a moment in surprise. the mage didnt miss this opportunity, and layed a hand on one of the short humanoid's head. It spasmed for a moment, and its eyes rolled up into its skull, after which it dropped limp, dead as a doornail.
The last kobold was shaking in terror as the mage pulled out the spear from his arm. "I believe this is yours?" said the mage.
Screaming in terror, the kobold started running. The mage hefted light the spear, and threw it towards the kobold. It missed by a mile. "Tssk, spears are so innacurate." The kobold had almost reached a small patch of forest near a hillside, and was about to dissapear amongst the foliage. The mage raised his hand, and flung from it a fireball, which easily found its mark. The kobold exploded into burning gore. "Now, see, fireballs are SO much more accurate! Wouldn't you agree?" asked the mage to the two kobold corpses on the ground. "Huh? Oh, I forgot. Best get to work then."
The kobolds that the mage had killed turned out to be a patrol group for a small colony of kobolds. The mage had found their cave lair in a cliff face hidden by a small patch of forest. He estimated the kobolds numbered in the three-dozens, definitely a small colony compared to what he occasionally had seen in the past, but a number not to be underestimated, especially since he was alone against them. The mage decided to employ what most would consider a very 'unfair' and 'cowardly' tactic, not that he cared.
The kobolds had obviously noticed that their patrol group hadn't returned, and thus that something was wrong. Because of that, they sent out more groups, numbering from two to six kobolds each. The mage observed and followed them from afar as they left their lair, cloaking himself in spells that camouflaged him against the surroundings. The kobolds could smell him, that he knew, but it only made them more nervous to just know an ennemy was nearby, but not seen.
When he judged that the group he was following was sufficiently far from the lair and any other group, the mage acted. If the group was of just two or three members, he would try to kill them while minimizing the damage caused to their bodies, insuring a fresh supply for his works. To achieve this, he would jump out at them and kill one with a fast Death attack, while killing a second with a sword slice. If there was a third, he would also kill him with a sword or Death attack.
When ambushing larger groups, the mage just didn't bother saving the kobold's bodies. He was far too lazy to micromanage such encounters. He instead opted to wait until they were sufficiently far from the lair, and then simply blasted all four or more kobolds with a single fireball. The resulting explosion and smoke would occasionally attract more kobolds, thus insuring more kills for the waiting mage. What is better than when his prey comes to him?
Eventually, barely a dozen kobolds were left. They never went out of their caves, terrified by the monster that was waiting out there for them. They slowly ate up their food reserves over many weeks, while the mage simply had an unlimited food suply for himself thanks to his transmutational powers. Eventually, the mage got bored of waiting and decided to storm the place. He summoned a fire elemental, which was sent first into the cave. Try as they might, the kobolds could not hurt the creature with their wooden sticks.
The burning kobold's screams were melded with the insane mage's gleeful laughs, as he cheerfully entered the cave when only one last kobold was standing. The mage approached the trembling kobold and layed his hand on him. The kobold didn't simply die. It was ripped to shreds while being turned inside out, staining the mage's dark cloak with blood. Even more blood.
The mage then proceeded to gather all the corpses of the kobolds, wether recently dead or deceased weeks ago, in the cave. It would be his own lair now. The whole 'extermination campaign' had taken a month's time, although it would have been much quicker had the mage not been so lazy.
In the 'liberated' cave, the mage sat in a roughly carved stone throne. The smell of decay weighed heavy in the air, not that he minded. He was really bored, though. For the past weeks, he had done little else than twiddle his thumbs, thanks to his new minions doing most of his work for him.
Thinking of that, the mage gestured to a figure standing in a corner. It shambled towards him, a decaying kobold corpse, barely recognizable if not for its short stature and rotten scaly skin. "Get me that skull there," said the mage, pointing to a skull on the ground. The zombified kobold obliged without making a sound, save for the shuffling of its feet on the cold damp floor.
Once the skull was in his hand, the mage contemplated it. A kobold skull. All corpses here were kobolds. More kobold corpses had been added to those of the former owners of this cave, as he had sent zombies to roam the hills with simple orders: "Go, Kill, Return with corpses." These five words alone didn't give very efficient results due to a zombie's quite low thinking abilities, but atleast they gave results without much work for the lazy mage.
But simply killing small kobold clans and raising kobold undead wasn't a very fun thing to do on the long run, especially when you did very little yourself. Thus, laziness was beaten by boredom. Crushing the skull in his hand, the mage stood from his throne and walked out of the cave, followed by three undead kobolds, including the one who had brought him the skull. He hadn't bothered to count all the undead he had raised, but it wasn't enough for him, especially considering they were all freakingly puny kobolds. He needed something bigger, stronger, more useful...
The mage didn't have much time to quietly dwell on this thought, as the instant he was out of the cave, he spotted non-kobold beings about 300m from his cave. Retreating to the coverage of the foliage around the cave entrance, he quitely examined the creatures, unsure wether they had spotted him or not...
The creatures seemed to be following the trails of kobold blood. That wasn't a very rare sight, considering the mage had blown up many kobolds around here to pieces. They hadn't noticed him yet, but the mage got careless because of boredom. He gestured to the three nearby zombie kobolds, who rushed towards the creatures. "Who are you, tresspassers?" Shouted the mage soon after, stepping out of the foliage. Not that the creatures would understand his language.
The creatures seemed unfazed by the decaying shambling kobolds. They hacked and slashed at them with their obsidian blades, shouting guttural screams, until only parts of the zombies were left.
"Suu~rprise!" Shouted the mage. BOOM! One of the creatures was hit by a fireball. It fell, not dead, but seriously injured, eyes burned out and body covered by 2nd and 3rd degree burns.
The rest of the creatures suddenly seemed very reluctant to fight. They eyed each other nervously for a moment but then threw down their blades. The mage spoke to them again, this time remembering to cast a speak languages spell. "Well, you seem to be smarter than these damned pests i've been killing. What are you?"
One of the creatures walks a little forward and bows to the mage. "We be's tha Shash-hash, 'n' dha bwoys dher' are mien keenes' hunter'. Mi be's Jagradhak, Claws-o'-Jaguar"
The mage takes a moment to understand what it said. "... Seems my translation spells are a bit rusty, I never had such problems understanding what was said when I used them... Well now, tell me, where do you come from, and what do you want? I doubt you came here by accident."
"Dha greatsy witchdoctor Power-o'-Many, nie wa' concern'd 'bhout tha ashings in tha a west, nie Sen' Mi 'n' mie bwoys dha look Tha cause"
"Seems its infact your language that is underdevelopped. Hmph, primitives. Well I caused those 'ashings' or whatnot. What are you going to do about it? I could 'ash' you too, as i did with your friend."
"Oo... No nee' dat. Wie be's har only 'caus dha Witchdoctor wanna'. Maby yuh wanna' go 'n' see Dha Power-o'-many? Dha Witchdoctor wouldee be's happy..."
"You came from the jungle, right? I... dislike... that jungle. Besides, I don't trust you, or your 'Power' guy. If he wants to see me, let him come himself. Or give me a good reason why I should go see him."
"Mi sees yuh ay powerful Witchdoctor Mon, mabi yuh wanna knows mor' 'bhout dha witchdoctorin' 'n' such. Wan care, mon. If yuh nay come, whel, dhar be's no acts mi ken do. Wies like's a hair thou'..."
"Hmmm... I'll come. But I'm bringing my 'pets' with me too. Also, do you need that guy?" asks the mage pointing to the downed creature.
Jagradhak looks down to the whimpering Shash-hash as if he had forgotten him. "Naaa... Nie be's downer. Nie whas dha weak wan anyway"
The mage was walking towards the group as he spoke. Once the sentence over, he said, "Good." And quickly drew his longsword and stabbed it through the downed creature's head. "Now go somewhere else for a few hours. I have some work and packing to do."
Some of the hunters seem a little disappointed at the waste of good food, but gather some of the zombie bits from the ground and go a little walk away to gnaw on them.
"Now, this victim will be much more useful than the other kobolds... All these creatures will be more useful... hehehe, what an unexpeted and fortunate turn of events." muttered the mage to himself after having dropped the speak languages spell.
At this point, Poltifar follows the hunters to their settlement, were he meets the Witchdoctor. After a battle of intimidation, hand burning, and finger cutting (detailed in Nhip's post), he returns to his lair. The whole travelling would take a bit more than a month, having him return in the middle of 5th month.
It was already late-autumn. The few trees on the hills had lost most of their leaves, and the winds grew colder and stronger. But that didn't stop the mage from continuing his necromantic campaign. It was an upward spiral, the more corpses the Shash-Hash brought to him, as agreed with the witchdoctor, the more undead he raised, and the more undead, the more raiding parties he sent. The raiding parties mostly brought back human and kobold corpses, but the Shash-Hash occasionally brought prizes such as giant wild cats and other big jungle beasts.
His army was really starting to take shape. The kobolds were nothing more than cannon fodded, true, but the humans were much more useful, especially equipped with weapons. The beasts were the heavy-artillery of the group. But the mage got bored of simply raising 'traditional' undead. He needed something more original than that. Thus, he started working on some 'side-projects' in a makeshift lab built in his lair. Poisonous plant extracts, deadly snakes and scorpions, magically prepared oils... he made many different experiments, most resulting in failures. But for every corpse he burned or pulverized in an accident, he had two more available. 'Twas truly paradise for a mad necromancer!
By the end of the year, he had an impressive enough group. Fifty undead kobolds, forty of which were regular zombies with sharp sticks and crude stone axes and hammers, and ten of which were his special creation, 'Swiftkill Assassins', kobold skeletons enhanced with Air flows to be faster and more agile, and having their claws well sharpened and poisoned. As for other kinds of undead, he hadn't receive too many non-kobold corpses. The human corpses, ten in number, and the Shash-Hash corpses, five in number, had all been transformed into skeletons, who were enhanced with Air to me more dexterous thus being able to wield the obsidian-bladed swords provided by the Shash-Hash. These were his elite group, which he mostly kept as escort, or occasionally sent to raid more troublesome kobold or human clans.
Finally, two giant jaguar corpses had also been provided. These were given special attention by the mage. One was enchanted as a skeleton, large and powerful, who's bones were enhanced with flows of Earth to increase its strength, and with Fire to be perpetually burning without being consumed. The other one had even bigger plans in store for it. Through dark rituals, the mage managed to summon from its corpse a shadow, a giant shadow jaguar.
Proud with his work, the mage retired for the winter, calling back his minions from their raids to instead work on digging and enlarging his lair.
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