B5 Chapter 2 - The Storm Rolls

It took Tyron a day to tend to the storm rods. Of course, Master Willhem, which is how Tyron still thought of the demi-lich, worked as well, repairing more than half of them. However, he couldn’t help but feel disappointed that his former teacher continued to avoid him, refusing even to communicate through the conduit they shared.

He’d been patient with the Master Arcanist, giving him time and space to adjust to his new existence, but it didn’t seem to be working. He wasn’t sure if Willhem resented him for bringing him back from the dead, or felt betrayed by the deception Tyron had played on him, or simply detested being an undead. The demi-liche’s thoughts were completely masked to him at all times, and Tyron hadn’t done anything to force the issue.

Which was how it would remain, for the time being. He needed his Master’s help, and he would get it one way or another, but he would much prefer it if he could treat him as an equal, rather than a servant.

By the time he finished the maintenance, the storm overhead had reached a boiling point. It was disturbing, to say the least, watching the sky tear itself apart in much the same way it had in the worlds beyond the rifts. To think that just over the mountains from the Empire, the realm they inhabited was already so far gone, almost completely lost to the kin and magick that poured out in an unending tide.

When he made his way back to his quarters, the first crashing booms erupted overhead. 

Tyron knew what would follow. Wild and untamed magick would clash overhead, a storm of power that would produce fire, wind, lightning, ice, and other, less mundane magickal effects to any hapless person caught in it. Without the knowledge he’d gained from the Old Gods regarding the nature of magick, he wouldn’t have been able to create the rods and keep the city safe at all.

He pushed all other concerns from his mind as he made his way, finally, to his own home amidst the ruins. Not that it was much of a house. He strode up the cracked and damaged steps towards what had once been a grand entrance. Of the columns that had once flanked the doorway, little remained but the base, the stone sheared through as if by a knife. Stepping inside, he looked up at the vaulted ceiling to note the progress that had been made.

His skeletons had been hard at work trying to repair the roof, but it was slow going. Such a large building required an ungodly amount of time, effort and resources to repair, and with literally millions of people trying to create a new life for themselves in the city, it would have been absurd for him to claim all the stone required to cover it.

His undead spent nine-tenths of their efforts assisting people around the city and working on civil projects, clearing the streets, cleaning out usable buildings and helping to enforce order. The rest was spent on his own projects, and among those, the roof he didn’t really need or use didn’t rank all that highly.

Hopefully whatever progress had been made wasn’t torn away in this latest storm.

The inside of the building was cavernous, a vast open space still littered with dust and chunks of stone. At the far end, the altar was suspiciously still intact, along with the three grand statues positioned in alcoves behind it. Crone, Raven and Rot.

Whatever the Old Gods might be, they were certainly petty enough to protect their own statues during the downfall of a civilisation, apparently. Perhaps they had anticipated the day when people returned to this lost city and made use of their old temple.

Well, too bad, Tyron had claimed it for himself, and precious few people were even aware this place was a temple at all. Besides, he wasn’t interested in this open and exposed space, he did all of his work in the complex below.

He turned to his right and made his way down the broad stairs on the side of the chamber, his undead filing down along with him. A heavy wooden double-door blocked the way down, and Tyron knocked firmly before waiting for a moment. He could sense his undead on the other side, and all throughout the rooms below, of course, but he wasn’t the only living occupant of this place.

It took a little while, but eventually he heard movement on the other side of the door, followed by a voice calling out.

“Hello? What do you want?”

“To get inside,” Tyron replied.

“Oh shit!”

There was a scramble before someone yanked on the door. It swung open to reveal a mousy young woman, thin wisps of hair falling down over her pale face with large bags under her eyes.

“Master Steelarm!” Briss exclaimed, bowing at the sight of him. “Welcome back.”

“You look tired,” he said, striding past, “why?”

“I’ve been working on something with Georg,” she replied, scurrying to fall in beside him. “We think we might have found a way to improve the longevity of his zombies.”

“Don’t adaopt my worst habits,” he warned her for the hundredth time. “You work better with frequent rest and a clear head.”

“Of course,” she replied, straight faced, and he grimaced.

Being a good teacher was something he strove to be, but being a good role-model was another thing entirely.

“Gather the others in the living room,” he told her, “I have news and tasks for each of you.”

“Are you sure you wouldn’t want to rest and have something to eat?” Briss asked and he turned a glare on her. She merely stared back at him, blank faced, until Tyron rolled his eyes.

“I’ll eat while we talk,” he conceded, waving her off.

Without another word, the young woman turned and dashed away through the narrow corridor, looking for her fellow Necromancy students.

More accurately, looking for Tyron’s students. With so many having come across from the western province, and the Old Gods meddling with the Awakening, there were more and more Necromancers emerging. Most of them stayed here, beneath the temple, but Tyron hadn’t had the time to teach all of them directly, so that duty had been passed down to his own students.

Tyron passed orders amongst his wights and allowed them to see to the dispensation of his minions. Many of the skeletons he’d taken outside the city were in need of repair to their bones, armour or weapons, some required all three. A huge amount of work that would likely have to be pushed onto the less experienced Necromancers. They couldn’t do the job as well as he could, not nearly, but more and more Tyron was coming to grips with the fact that he could only be in so many places at once.

For now, he was able to ensure that all the revenants, wights and demi-lich in his service were still maintained personally, but soon even that might be beyond him.

With a few more orders, he had the undead carrying the various books, scrolls and other prizes from his journey to sort and stow much of it, while some he told to follow him.

The living room was, much as it sounded, a comfortable, shared space with a crackling fire, bright lights, soft chairs and many, many bookshelves. Tyron took off his bone armour, allowing his minions to place it carefully on the stand in the corner. Freed from the weight after months on end, he allowed himself to sink into a chair while a skeleton appeared carrying a covered plate.

Fresh bread, butter and steamed vegetables greeted him when the cloth was removed. A feast, under current conditions. He would have to thank whoever was in charge of the kitchens for their generosity.

He wasn’t half way through the meal, which he surprisingly enjoyed, before his three students entered the room.

All three had undergone significant changes since they had first become his students.

Richard was no longer as hesitant or timid. There was a certain hardness to his features now, as life had taught him toughhard lessons over the last few years.

Georg had grown taller and broader still, but there was a studious and reserved intelligence in his eyes now, where before he had been so much more direct.

Briss, still a waif who appeared much younger than her years, had hardened the most. There was a coldness to the set of her features and her gaze that only seemed to soften in the presence of Tyron or her fellow students. 

“Welcome back, Master,” Richard greeted him, taking a seat.

“Fresh bread?” Georg noted as he sat. “There hasn’t been much of that lately.”

“There should be more in future,” Tyron noted as he finished his meal. “After this storm, we should have enough reserves to expand the plots in the plaza.”

“Really? I thought we were a ways off yet,” Richard said, leaning forward with interest.

“I underestimated Master Willhem,” Tyron said dryly. “The man has improved on my designs at every turn. The rods are capturing more energy than expected and converting it more efficiently than I’d calculated.”

The students fell silent at the mention of the demi-lich, which Tyron chose to ignore. They knew the difficulties he was having with his old mentor, even if they didn’t understand them, and he felt no compulsion to explain himself.

“Now, I have to explain just how successful this expedition was,” Tyron said, putting his plate to one side and holding out his hands for nearby skeletons to deliver books and scrolls to him. “It took a while, but I have to say, you were right, Richard. We did find the tomb of Ahrinan the Black.”

“I knew it,” Richard explained, pumping his fist. “The signs were all there.”

“Well, it wasn’t so much his tomb as it was his workshop,” Tyron acknowledged. “I have no idea where the man was buried, unless any of you have found a record of it?”

They each shook their heads and Tyron grunted. It appeared that any mention of the final resting place of the old lich had been scrubbed from history, leaving vague clues and references to a ‘tomb’ that had little to do with Ahrinan’s final resting place.

“What we did find, was a shocking number of intact writings from the lich himself,” Tyron stated, holding up several leather bound volumes.

His students seemed less enthused than expected and he looked at them quizzically.

“Aren’t you excited to study the work of the most powerful Necromancer on record?” he said, surprised. 

Georg, Richard and Briss exchanged glances.

“We study your writing, Master,” Richard shrugged, speaking for the group. “Is what’s written there really better than that? I’m dubious, is all,” he excused himself as Tyron scowled.

“I suspect Ahrinan was a platinum rank, well over level eighty. And he came from a society that didn’t eschew the use of Necromancy. The best techniques and methods of the Granin Empire can be found in these volumes, along with, hopefully, everything they knew about Ability selections and branching Classes. Interested now?”

They did appear a little more intrigued and Tyron snorted, putting the books to the side.

“There’s too much for me to go through myself,” he said, “so I’ll need your help to comb through the material. If you find anything promising, make sure you bring it to me. Put your own projects on hold, we need to go through this quickly.”

All three nodded, and Tyron moved onto the next topic, satisfied.

“I was able to get what I wanted from the Dust Folk after some… forceful negotiations,” he explained.

Georg raised a brow.

“Don’t we need to rely on them for trade?” he pointed out.

“They weren’t upset, I compensated fairly,” Tyron waved away his concerns. “I’m going to go over these scrolls myself. With luck, we can advance our knowledge of constructs by leaps and bounds.”

All three accepted this. Their teacher was far away the leading expert in regard to constructs that made use of Death Magick. 

“As for the Western Province… the news isn’t good. The army of the Emperor has finished their sweep. The only things I could see moving out there were kin. It looks like they killed everyone and everything up to the mountains and then returned east.”

It wasn’t easy to think of your homeland as having been completely destroyed, but it was an undeniable fact. Even Tyron had been taken aback by the savagery and finality of the destruction. Seen through the eyes of skeletons and ghosts, it was clear the Emperor had scoured the province completely. Only ruins remained.

“I’ve no idea when or if they’ll start to repopulate it,” Tyron said, “but for now, it seems like they are content to leave us alone.”

“Are we going to leave them alone?” Briss asked.

“Of course not,” Tyron snorted.