Chapter 37: The Pala-dead!
It was May 24th at about 12:15 PM. Hiro was standing in the bedroom of the great King Alteon, who wasn't looking any better from the fight that infected him with Chaos, he was standing in the room with Cysero, Artix, and a red-headed woman in a pink outfit who introduced herself as Beleen the Beastmaster. Alteon was panting heavily as he was laying in his bed.
"Your highness, has the illness lessened?" Hiro asked.
"The healers are doing what they can," Alteon panted.
"Why have you called us here?" Artix asked.
"There is trouble spreading throughout the land, and I have a grave and urgent mission for all of you," Alteon went quiet for a few seconds as if to collect his thoughts, "I would like you all to look for the remaining Paladin's, their numbers are dwindling, and I need to know how many there are. Beleen, Cysero, I need you two to head to Doomwood and report there," Alteon took a deep gasp, "Artix, please return to town and do a headcount of Paladins. And please, for the love of the crown, stay in town," He closed his eyes again, "You three are dismissed, I would like to speak with Hiro alone,"
"Your highness," The three said as they took their leave.
"What is it you need, your majesty?" Hiro asked.
"Hiro, how long have you known Artix?" Alteon huffed.
"I've known of him for a while since he was a young Paladin, but I've only known him personally for a few weeks," Hiro replied.
"Would you consider him a dear friend of yours?" Alteon huffed.
"I would, your majesty," Hiro replied.
"I need you to look into something," Alteon huffed, "I am sending you to Doomwood to look into something, but I need you to keep Artix away from there at all costs!" Alteon started to enter into a state spastic seizures as the corruption on his body started to pulsate with an unhealthy glow.
A healer quickly went up to Hiro, "You must leave and let him rest now," Healer said rushing Hiro out of the room, which is where Kloud stood.
"Got anything useful out of him?" Kloud asked.
"A task, we should head back to town and tell your guild we need to get to Doomwood, and at all costs, we need to keep Artix away from Doomwood," Hiro replied.
"Where's Doomwood?" Kloud asked.
"On the far east side of Greenguard Forest, which is just outside of Battleon," Hiro replied.
"Then we better hurry back," Kloud said, he turned away from Hiro, "How's Alteon?"
"He went into a spastic fit once I left, the healer said he needed rest," Hiro's eyes went dark.
"We'll find a cure, I know of it," Kloud said, "Let's hurry back to Town,"
"Right," Hiro said, he pulled out his map then transported both of them back to Battleon.
After the situation was explained to everyone, they all made their way to the far east side of the Greenguard forest where they saw a spectacular keep with a statue of a paladin standing watch outside.
"Snazzy," Ken remarked.
"It's more well-kept than the one back home, that's for sure," Killer added.
"This is the main keep for Paladins. All Paladin's train here and are sent out throughout Lore whenever they need it. If you need a Paladin, they've trained here," Hiro said.
"Ooooooh~! The shiny stabby men do the shiny stabby thing to the shiny stabby skulltans!" Butter Cup said. Everyone looked at her then went with their better judgment and ignored her.
"So what are we suppose to do?" Kloud asked.
"We're just meant to keep Artix out of Doomwood, but I'm not sure why," Hiro replied.
"Maybe we should ask around?" Mary Gold asked.
"Wouldn't hurt to ask," Jack said. Everyone walked over to the large door and opened it, where they saw Jacob, who was arguing with a much older Paladin.
"Jacob?!" Killer exclaimed.
"Master K!" Jacob quickly ran over with a smile.
"What are you doing here?!" Killer asked.
"You told me that if I ever wanted to find you to seek out the nearest Paladin order," Jacob looked back at the older Paladin he was arguing with, "He wasn't much help and didn't even know who you were, which made it harder,"
"No, I mean what are you doing here in this dimension!" Killer clarified.
"Oh!" Jacob turned to Mary Gold and held up some papers "The adoption papers went through," Mary Gold squealed happily then hugged Jacob tightly.
"So I guess that means I'm technically your dad now," Killer said.
"If you don't mind me using the name you've given me since we trained," Jacob said.
"You can still call me Master K," Killer replied.
"Awesome," Jacob turned to Hiro, "Who are you and what are you doing here?"
"This is Hiro. He's the person we're helping in this dimension," Kloud replied, "We're here in what I'm assuming is called Lightguard Keep to keep another Paladin out of the forest,"
"Why are we keeping a Paladin out of a forest?" Jacob asked.
"That's a really good question, actually!" Killer replied, "Why are we keeping Artix out of the forest?"
"The king didn't have time to explain," Hiro said.
"Then let's head out into the forest and find out!" Killer exclaimed. "I need to figure out why we're keeping Artix out,"
"Then let's figure out what it's like in the forest," Mystic said, and with that, they walked to the other side of the keep and left for the forest.
Everyone reached a rather gloomy looking forest that was swarmed with skeleton soldiers, which made Mystic rather uncomfortable.
"This isn't good," Mystic muttered.
"Are you here to help with the investigation?" A man who was standing nearby said, he was in a gold and silver outfit. He was holding a glowing polearm of some sort.
"Depends," Killer started, "What's the situation?"
"Paladins have gone missing, and we can't hold off enough of these skeletons to figure out what's going on," The man stated.
"We'll look into it," Killer turned to Hiro, "I want you to take most of my guild," He turned to Kloud. "You're with me,"
"What do you have planned?" Kloud questioned.
"Some training," Killer said going to a rather small clearing in the forest where a huge horde of skeletons. As Killer stood, he slowly reached behind his back and hip as if he was drawing some weapons, he pulled on nothing but it caused shadows to surround himself which then dispersed with a blinding light as he appeared in his DoomPaladin armor. "Let's see who can get to a thousand defeated skeletons first," You could hear Killer's smirk.
"You're sadistic," Kloud stated as he drew his sword. "So we're just holding everyone off, right?"
"Nope!" Killer shouted, which then started the onslaught of skeletons.
The blades were dancing as if completely sentient, both Killer's and Kloud's weapons slashed and hacked through skeletons, leaving massive piles of broken bones and skulls everywhere.
"Let's hurry," Mystic pushed everyone to the south, "There is a large gathering in the south, so that's where we should check first,"
Everyone slowly made their way south and a little to the east, battling the necessary skeleton when needed. Jacob was fending off a skeleton using a skeleton's rib cage and spinal cord, he was the last line of defense next to Butter Cup, Mystic, and Hiro.
"Hurry up and figure out what's going on!" Jacob shouted as he pushed the last three people ahead.
There at the edge of a sheer cliff with a dead tree nearby. And standing near the edge was an unspeakable fear. There stood a skeleton in paladin armor, and it sparked something inside Hiro.
"The Paladins are vanishing because they're becoming undead!" Hiro slowly broke down "The Paladins are becoming what they are meant to defeat!" He turned to Mystic "We can't let Artix here. He's one of the only Paladin's that can do this!"
"They're Pala-deads!" Butter Cup said happily
Hiro and Mystic slowly turned towards Butter Cup with questions in their eyes.
"I'm not gonna ask," Hiro stated.
"Probably the best choice in this situation," Mystic added.
Butter Cup slowly began to slide toward the Pala-dead, arms slowly emerging from her sides to embrace him, he began slowly backing up but quickly reached the edge of the cliff, he glanced down it considering to jump, Butter Cup pulled him into a hug and you could hear his spine pop, like a squeaky toy being torn to shreds, she leaned to his non-ear.
"Ebrace the dead." She whispered, "Lord Spudacus shall forever love you."
She then shoved him off the cliff, another Butter Cup emerged from her back and began playing a chorus of sad kazoos, she turned to everyone with a bouquet of flowers that looked like her face.
"We are gathered here today for the deaf of the Pala-dead, may he forever rest in hashbrowns." She said tearfully.
Everyone watched as he fell from the sky and off the cliff again.
"Some say they can still hear his screams of agony." She pretended to wipe away tears, "Such a sad lonely Sbud."
"What just happened," Hiro questioned as he turned to Mystic. "How do you put up with this?"
"Painfully," Mystic added.
From the vantage point, they apparently had they saw the carnage that was Killer and Kloud mowing down people still. Waky Pants was apparently nearby with Retaniea keeping a score between the two.
"They should still have everything settled," Mystic said, "What next?"
"We should probably try to get behind enemy lines and figure out who the mastermind is behind these Pala-deads," Hiro mused. "I could probably make myself some sort of disguise to get behind enemy lines and-"
"I'm literally a skeleton!" Mystic shouted.
"Mystic?" Butter Cup whimpered, "You're dead?" She scooted over to Mystic with uncomfortably large watery eyes, "Why didn't you say so?!"
"Butter Cup, we've been over this," Mystic looked at Butter Cup with a very agitated glare, "I've been dead for as long as you've known me, that's why you harass me so much,"
"Ooooooooh!" Butter Cup mused, "I forgets!" She said happily.
"Do you know what you're getting yourself into?" Hiro asked.
"Butter Cup can't follow since she would easily bring attention to herself, and I look like nothing more than a normal Skeleton foot soldier, so I should easily be able to sneak in and out," Mystic said.
"This sounds like a terrible plan," Hiro said.
"Yours sounds worse since you stand out like a sore thumb," Mystic replied.
"Why not send Killer back there with his shiny Doomknight outfit?" Hiro asked.
"I just want some time alone, to be completely honest, I'm tired of you flesh sacks," Mystic replied.
"Ouch," Jacob said from nearby. He was still fighting off skeletons, but this time he was using a tree trunk.
"I'm going, no questions," Mystic said.
"I'll take you to the bottom!" Butter Cup said happily.
"I don't think-" Mystic started. He was instantly placed at the base of the cliff where the remains of the Pala-dead was.
Mystic slowly walked through the large crowd of skeletons making his way to the far side of the army. He noticed that the skeletons didn't even bat an eye and tried to talk with him.
Mystic slowly reached an area near a tree where the horde was smaller. He noticed that there was a living Paladin confronting a large skull-covered person. Like, it was an unhealthy amount of skulls, trust me. It also had a huge sword.
"I finally found you, beast!" The paladin shouted. He was holding some sort of glowing ax. "I shall banish you back to the realm of darkness where you belong!" He shot a large golden eagle at the monstrosity. Which was blocked with an outstretched hand. "An undead immune to light spells?!"
"I'm no mere undead," The monstrosity raised his hand then closed his fist as he uttered something, which Mystic said was something along the lines of "Voiduminance Necrot-Morph," which turned the Paladin into a Pala-dead. Mystic slowly walked away from the monstrosity and returned back to the keep.
As Mystic made it back to the keep he noticed no one was at the door, so he allowed himself inside where everyone was. The keep guards noticed Mystic and instantly raised the alarm. The first person who noticed him first was the man that was previously standing outside the keep holding off the horde, who introduced himself as Arryd at some point, I only got this information from Hiro so I'm not sure how trustworthy it is.
"Someone deal with it!" Arryd shouted.
"This isn't an area boss, is it?!" Another guard stated, he was wearing a robe with some gold and silver armor over it who introduced himself as Michem.
"This skeleton looks like it's way over-leveled for this area!" A woman said. She was in a plain-looking dress, she also looked much older with graying hair and she was holding a broom. She also introduced herself as Lady Speedstyk. Again, Hiro brought this up at some point, so I'm not sure if these are him coming up with puns or these are actual names.
A solder in normal paladin armor who stated his name was Axe ran over to battle Mystic in the hopes of battling him back into the forest. "Stay back, Lady Speedstyk, you aren't equipped to handle this beast!"
"Someone call Vayle the Necromantress!" Arryd shouted.
"Whoa! Wait!" Killer shouted as he stood between Axe and Mystic.
"Why are you defending this beast!" Axe shouted. "It needs to be sent back to where it belongs!"
"I can explain just give me a minute-" Killer was cut off as a mysterious woman in a pure purple robe that had a hood to hide her face.
"I am here to deal with the undead beast!" The woman stated as she appeared out of seemingly nowhere. She instantly put Mystic inside some sort of glowing pillar. "I will take control of this mindless creature to return it back to the underworld where it belongs,"
"Don't you dare send me back there!" Mystic shouted. "I already have to suffer enough with Butter Cup sending me there for no reason at all!" Mystic started to struggle. "Get me out of this thing!" Mystic's eyes went wide. "I can't believe I'm going to say this-" Mystic took a huge intake of breath for some reason. "Butter Cup! Waky Pants! Your not-so-dead man is in dire need of your assistance!" And almost on cue Butter Cup and Waky Pants instantly appeared, pulling Mystic out of the pillar and holding him close to both of them.
"Do not harm the Mystic!" Both Butter Cup and Waky Pant said in unison.
"Stand aside!" The woman in purple shouted. "That thing is a monstrosity that shouldn't even be living!"
"That's rich, coming from a Necromantress," Killer chuckled.
"This skeleton is property of me!" Butter Cup shouted.
"And I second that as Princess of the Dimensions!" Waky Pants added.
"I'm not a mindless skeleton!" Mystic shouted.
Hiro instantly ran into the room and stood between the trio of insanity and the purple Necromantress. "Who called Vayle?!" Hiro shouted. He turned to Arryd. "This was my informant!"
"What do you mean by that?!" Arryd questioned.
"PO-TAY-TOES!!!!" Butter Cup shouted as she opened Mystic's chest plate which in turn shot an unhealthy amount of potato chips. And all the arguing and stress seemed to have stopped.
"So what happened?" Arryd asked Mystic.
"Oh yeah," Mystic started. "When I was in the horde of skeletons I was completely unnoticed. It was weird since I've known so many mindful skeletons," Mystic went into thought for a second, "The general, or the one in charge, or whatever. The dude that could turn Paladin's into Pala-dead's,"
"Paladin's are turning undead?" Axe asked.
"Long story," Mystic went back into thought, "He was a rather large looking undead. He was covered in, and I'm quoting the Creator on this, an unhealthy amount of skulls. He had a huge sword and used a weird arcane spell, I believe it was Voiduminance Necrot-Morph or something along those lines, and it instantly turned a paladin into an undead." Mystic looked at Hiro. "It happened instantly, so Artix needs to stay away from this baddy,"
"Hey, guys!" Ken stated as he walked into the keep from the Greenguard side, "Artix is on his way here and will be here in seconds!"
"Hiro, you will need to stop Artix before all of this is for naught," Vayle the Necromantress stated.
"I'll try my best," Hiro started as he walked out of the keep.
Hiro stood on the bridge leading to Lightguard awaiting the ever so familiar presence of Artix. Artix stopped at the edge of the bridge and greeted Hiro with a smile.
"Greetings, Hiro!" Artix stated.
"Artix, I need you to turn back and go back to Swordhaven," Hiro replied.
"Why? Doomwood is the forest of the undead!"
"There is a huge issue," Hiro looked back to the keep then back to Artix, "There is a giant monster that can easily defeat you! I need you to turn back!"
"And pass on fighting a super huge undead boss?! No way!"
"Artix, I need you to listen!" Hiro stepped forward "I will handle the situation, and you are needed back at Swordhaven!"
"Hiro, I know you're worried about me, but I am the ultimate undead slayer! I'm going into that forest, and I'm fighting this undead super boss,"
Hiro sighed, "I didn't want to do this," Hiro looked Artix dead in the eye. "Your shoes are untied,"
Artix started to shake, fighting the urge to look down, with him caving and looking down, which instantly had Sacrina and Mary Gold tackle and drag Artix into the keep, Mary Gold taking his golden battle-ax, the Blinding Light of Destiny.
Artix was promptly thrown into a jail cell deep in the keep of Lightguard, with Hiro, Killer, and Vayle standing by his cell.
"This is for your own good, buddy," Hiro told Artix.
"I will stay here and watch over him," Vayle looked at Artix's ax. "It's so weird, this ax seems to be unique," She looked at Artix, "I will be taking it into my care until the super boss of the area is defeated," She turned to Hiro and Killer. "I want you two to head deep into Doomwood and find the Chopping Maul, there is a swamp in the back of it, and there you will find the Ebil Moglin Zorbak, and he will give you more information about Vordred the Paladin Slayer," Vayle turned away from the two, "I know of his name since he's very big in the Necropolis, now please hurry if you want to defeat Vordred before he finds and kills Artix,"
Killer looked at Hiro, "We should probably listen since I don't have any leads and Mystic gave us all the information he had unless he's holding out on something," Killer returned back to the main floor of the keep where everyone was eating potato chips.
"How'd it go?" Waky Pants asked as she had several chips in hand.
"We're looking for Zorbak in the Chopping Maul, and once there we'll hope the needed information is there,"
"I know Zorbakanaka!" Butter Cup said happily "He's a Necrotonacka!"
"Uh..." Hiro slowly turned away, "I'll meet you there, okay?"
"Nope!" Killer grabbed Hiro and held him against his will to Waky Pants "You're with the guild until after I fulfill Gravelyn's needs! You're with us until the bitter end!"
"This sounds like torture!" Hiro groaned.
Everyone soon made it to a large Mall in the middle of the forest which seemed really out of place, all things considered. Killer slowly turned to Hiro with a rather peculiar glint in his eyes, which caused Hiro to look back at Killer.
"What?" Hiro asked.
"There is a mall," Killer paused for a moment, "Inside an undead forest, and that is the weirdest thing I've seen today," Killer turned to Mystic, "What does that actually say about my expectations?"
"The way you're looking at me makes me concerned," Mystic replied.
"I heard what you said back at the keep," Killer looked back at Hiro, "And that wasn't the weirdest thing I've seen or heard today," Killer looked at the mall, "And I don't know how to feel about this undead mall in an undead forest,"
"I'm going to assume you'll hate the inside," Hiro stated, "I've been here before with an old friend, so I know what it is,"
'Is it puns? I bet it's puns,' Sin grumbled.
"Sin doesn't sound so happy about it," Prime stated.
"It doesn't matter what Sin thinks, he's not here," Killer turned away from the mall, "We're here looking for a swamp inside a mall inside an undead forest, and I hate this so much,"
"I think he's having a nervous breakdown," Mary Gold muttered to Jena.
"It's weird seeing this since it rarely happens," Jena muttered back.
"Mystic!" Butter Cup started, "Killer is scaring me, he's muttering to himself more than I do," Butter Cup turned away from the group, fell to her knees, and raised her arms, and shouted to the heavens "Lord Spudacus! Save our yammed souls!"
"She doing the thing again!" Ken shouted, "Killer! She's doing it again!!"
"I will be the voice of reason-" Waky Pants started.
"For once," Kloud added.
"-And I will lead us into the mall in search of Zorbak, so we can get the information we need," She continued as she turned towards Hiro. "We are looking for an evil Blue Moglin, correct?"
"Ebil,"
"What?" Ken questioned.
"He calls himself Ebil, and he'd much rather be called Ebil. He's an Ebil blue Moglin,"
"He's an Ebil Blue necromancer Moglin," Butter Cup added.
"You've met?" Hiro question.
"He makes good fishtickles!" Butter Cup smiled widely as if a second mouth formed on her face, but in an uncomfortable way. Everyone left her outside the mall in search of the swamp.
As everyone walked through the mall, they all noticed some weird names with a few notable ones such as Gravestop, Scarbucks, Mortisha's Secret which showed some skeletons in lingerie (I am not making this up!), and Painless Shoesource, which made Sin grown each and every time he acknowledged it. Eventually, through all the weirdness that was the Mall, they reached a swamp and a little weird little hut that said Secret Hideout in bright neon green lights and outside stood a blue Moglin holding up a green Moglin mask over his own face.
Hiro was quiet as he stared at the Moglin which could only be Zorbak. Tensions were high for some reason as the Moglin looked at Hiro, and they just stared at each other.
"Looking for great master of the swamp you are?" The Moglin asked.
"I know that's you Zorbak," Hiro stated.
" Zomboda I am. Come to seek entrance to the tower of Necromancy you have? Learn great power, hmmmm?" The Moglin replied.
"This is getting nowhere," Killer muttered as Hiro tried arguing with the Moglin. He stepped forward and shoved Hiro away. "What do we need to kill for you to help us?"
"Mehehe! Eager you are! Creature Creation went rouge it has! Down to the Gravestop, you must go. A hideout the creature has made in the store. Dispose of the creature you must, then return to me," Zomboda said.
"Jena, Jacob, go find this thing and make it suffer," Killer turned to Zomboda. "Anything else?"
"Jobs I have, need to be dealt with they do. Your friend with the child, go looking for the creature they can, while you handle the jobs," Zomboda replied.
"Alright. You two go on ahead, head back here afterward you're done, okay?" Killer asked.
"Yessir!" Jena said happily. She quickly spun around with spunk and sass not many could muster in most of their lives unless they dedicated their entire lives to it, and they would still lack the required amount. Jacob followed silently since he couldn't make an exit like Jena.
Jena and Jacob soon made it to the Gravestop which was just at the front of the Mall. Jacob took in the state of the situation, noticing the game store seemed oddly familiar.
"So I'm guessing this is weird the boss is located," Jacob stated. "So who's going to do what?"
"We'll see!" Jena said happily as she walked into the store.
"You don't have a plan?!" Jacob exclaimed.
"I never said that," Jena took in the sights of a rather large and decaying creature which made the entire area stink which made both of them gag slightly.
"How are we going to deal with it?!" Jacob choked.
"If I can knock one of those shelves loose do you think you can use it?" Jena asked. She was calculating everything in the store.
"I can try at the very least," Jacob stated, "It won't kill us, will it?"
"We'll see!" Jena said as she ran over and kicked the back shelf, which caused half of it to break and fall to the floor as the other stayed where it was.
Jacob quickly ran over and grabbed the other half of the shelf, which caused him to instantly jump into the air and spin at an unhealthy speed as he hit the giant creature in the head which he then followed up by hitting it in the knee, pulling apart the broken shelf and stabbing it in the stomach and throat. He quickly maneuvered around the creature, pulled the other part of the shelf off the wall, and dug it deep into the creature's back.
Jena quickly ran over, jumped, then delivered a falling ax-kick to the creature, which caused its head to fall to the ground. She then delivered a double attack from her elbow blades and kicked the remaining parts over, leaving it completely unanimated, with a dark shard of something falling out of it. Jena picked it up then put her weapons away.
"I guess the things defeated?" Jacob questioned.
"I have some questions for our Zomboda friend when we get back to his hut," Jena looked at Jacob, "I wonder if everyone else is done?" She left the game shop and went back to the hideout hut with Jacob shortly behind her.
Jena soon made it back to the hut and noticed that Zomboda wasn't there, and neither was anyone else.
"Where is everyone else? Jacob asked.
"I think the real question is where is Zomboda," Jena replied.
Jena looked back towards the Mall. "I didn't see anyone else on our way here," Jena turned towards the hut, "Would it be smart to enter the hut?"
"I feel like it wouldn't be the stupidest idea," Jacob replied.
"It'll get us out of this dank swamp at least," Jena walked over to the hut and knocked, "Hello?"
"I don't think anyone's-" Jena instantly kicked down the door, leaving Jacob completely dumbfounded.
"What the heck?!?" A small blue Moglin exclaimed. He was holding a stick with a skull on it, he also had a huge sinister smile, except it wasn't there since he was yelling at Jena.
"Where's Zomboda!" Jena shouted.
"Who are you talking about!" The Moglin exclaimed.
"Where is the Yoda wannabe!" Jena shouted as she held the Moglin at blade point.
"I don't know who you're talking about!" The Moglin shouted.
"Jena! He has information!" Jacob stated.
"He's going to be bleeding here in a second if he doesn't answer my question!" Jena replied.
"Whoa, wait lady!" The Moglin started. "I'm the only living creature in nearly a thousand miles!"
"This mall is filled with my guildmates and whatever the kitchen sink Zomboda is!" Jena forced the Moglin to the ground as the blade got uncomfortably close to him "So you better start making whatever noise Moglins make!"
"Wait! Stop! Hang on!" The Moglin tried to move away, "You're crazy!" The Moglin looked at Jacob, "Don't just stand there! Help me out!!"
"The best way to do that is to tell her what she wants," Jacob replied.
"Jena!" Hiro shouted, "What are you doing to Zorbak!"
"I'm going to turn him into some fine socks if he doesn't tell me what I want to know!"
"Jena!" Hiro started, "Put the Moglin down!" Hiro stepped forward, "I'm begging you!"
Jena's head slowly turned towards Hiro as her eyes became very dark. "I'm going to turn him into socks," She turned back to the Moglin, "And I bet they would feel wonderful on my sore feet after dealing with this bullspit,"
"Jena," Killer started, "If you don't put that Moglin down, I will seal off your lab and remove all your rights to your labs and all the projects you've ever made from now to the next 5 books,"
"What?" Hiro questioned.
"Fine!" Jena threw the Moglin violently to the floor and huffed out of the door but stopped before leaving, "Don't think this is over you Gremlin-looking door flap!" She instantly left.
"Well...that was a thing," Hiro stated. "What happened?"
"Jena threatened a Moglin, what did it look like?" Jacob replied.
"But-" Hiro started. He exhaled. "Never mind,"
"So, Zorbak, we need information," Killer started, "This is the Tower Of Necromancy, correct?"
"What?! Mehehe! Are you kidding me?!" Zorbak started. "This is my house! And it's in a swamp! You think a tower would look like this run-down shack!"
"Then can you tell us where the actual tower is?" Killer asked.
"Oh yeah!" Zorbak turned around and started drawing on a piece of paper then turned around and handed it to Killer, "Follow this map and you should be able to reach the Tower unscathed,"
"Before we go, one last thing," Hiro started.
"Mehehe! What is it, Hiro?" Zorbak cackled.
"Do you know who Vordred is, and if so, how do we defeat him?" Hiro asked.
"Vordred?!" Zorbak replied, "You mean the strongest Dead-knight since Sepulcure became who he was?! The same Vordred that was made in the Necropolis and raised to bring death and ruin to all waking things?!? That Vordred?!"
"Yeah," Hiro replied plainly.
"You can't kill him! He's the strongest and most powerful undead thing brought to this dreaded plane of existence! He's immune to all light-based attacks and he can turn any living thing, even Paladin's, into Undead creatures!" Zorbak replied angrily. He cackled, "And when he finally kills Artix, Meheheh! This planet will be an undead wasteland!"
"So that's a big no," Killer added, "Well, I guess we'll have to wing it!" Killer turned towards the door, "Thanks for the map, ya blue furred-Gremlin!" He left, leaving Hiro and Zorbak alone.
"Where'd you find characters like that?" Zorbak asked.
"It's hard to explain," Hiro started, "Mainly because I sort of fell into their lives," Jena groaned loudly in the distance, "I should be heading out too, see you later Zorbak!"
"Yeah yeah, come back for some re-dead-ments next time," Zorbak cackled, he jumped onto his bed and shooed Hiro away.
"Hey! Killer!" Hiro started. Killer stopped. "It's hard to explain, but we need to get to the Tower ASAP so we can get some leads on the Necropolis since it was destroyed a few years back by my dad,"
"Then we'll see what we can find at the tower, and if it's nothing, then we'll find our way to where the old Necropolis was, alright?" Killer asked.
"Sounds good to me!" Hiro replied.
Killer, after deciphering the random scribbles that Zorbak called a map, lead everyone to a large hill where a massive bone-designed tower stood. Hiro was breathless as he took in the sight that was the tower.
"Is that the tower we're looking for?" Killer asked.
"It's the only tower I can think of," Hiro replied, "I'm not sure if there are any other Tower's in Doomwood, anyways. None that I can remember anyway,"
"So you've been here before?" Jacob asked.
"My home town of Falconreach isn't far from here," Hiro smiled softly, "The trouble I got into back then,"
"We got a trouble maker on our hands," Jena muttered.
"What is that supposed to mean?!" Hiro shouted.
"Ignore her," Killer marched down the hill towards the tower, "If you're done reminiscing of the past, we got a Death-knight to fight!"
"Hang on!" Hiro shouted, "I have more to explain!"
"Then save it for the narrator to explain since he already picked your brain for the names of the guards at the keep!"
"That is a huge invasion of privacy!" Hiro shouted.
"Suck it up, princess!"
"Hang on!" Hiro followed behind everyone else who followed Killer.
After reaching the entrance of the tower, they saw a weird green floating eye thing at the door, and it blinked Killer as if it was trying to communicate.
"Yo, we need into the tower," Killer stated.
"I'm sorry. I cannot allow anyone without a student ID to enter the tower uninvited. Though, if you would like to make yourself one then I will gladly help you," The weird eye thing blinked.
Killer groaned. "I don't need an ID to enter the tower," Killer replied.
"That is unlikely. An ID is needed for passage," The eye looked at Killer's group. "Everyone will need an ID to enter the tower,"
"What if a Necromancer let them inside regardless of their ID," Killer respond.
"A Necromancer isn't in my current presence," The eye replied.
Killer quickly swung his arm above his head then quickly moved it in front of him, which instantly pulled a skeleton out of the nearby ground and walk towards Killer, as if it was nothing more than a mindless minion waiting for orders. He gestured to the skeleton in a very obvious way, as if to say "I've proved my point, peasant, out of my way."
The eye stared at the skeleton, then at Killer. "Very well," The eye moved to the side, "You may enter, and I permit your friends' entry as well,"
"Finally!" Killer turned to the group and gestured into the tower, "You have more information than I do in this situation, Hiro,"
"You expect me to have been here as well?!" Hiro shouted, "I didn't even know what this place was until recently!"
"Well, you probably know who's behind it!" Killer replied.
"I don't know every single NPC!"
"You should!! You've been here longer!"
"Waffles!" Butter Cup shouted as it started to rain twice-baked potatoes, causing the argument to end.
"We're going to go in there and figure out what's going on, okay?" Mary Gold suggested.
"Why are you usually the voice of reason in these situations?" Hiro asked.
"Because I can keep a level head when Killer is doing what Killer does," Mary Gold replied with a smile.
"That's really unnerving," Hiro replied. "You are a bunch of insane crazy psychopaths!"
"Awe! Thank you~!" Waky Pants said happily.
"I think Killer is done wasting time," Jena stated.
"What makes you say that?" Hiro asked.
"He's no longer out here," Jena replied as if an outline of Killer was flashing at the doorframe.
Hiro groaned loudly, "What's wrong with him!!"
"He's a killer," Ken replied bluntly, "That's all there is to it," He walked into the tower with everyone else slowly behind him.
Inside the temple was a huge library, with books, literally everywhere on the floor.
"What now?" Hiro asked.
"We take the way up to the top, figure out who the head Necromancer is, take some names, learn some info, burn a few things, then leave," Killer replied.
"You're severely mentally disordered," Hiro mumbled. "I'm going to go insane because of you guys,"
"How haven't you, yet?" Jack asked.
"I'm not sure," Hiro replied.
"If you want a lift, I'm leaving now," Killer said half-way out of what seemed to be an elevator.
"Right!" Everyone piled into the elevator, which was extremely roomy for some reason.
Killer looked at the elevator and realized it was powered by Necro-magic, "Maybe it's not as hard as it seems?" Killer slowly lifted his hand and swished it around.
"You're winging this, aren't you," Hiro stated.
"I don't understand how to move elevators with magic, since Jena uses her weird sciences to move them mechanically," Killer replied.
"I'll take that as a compliment," Jena replied, "And maybe-"
"Oh! I got it!" Killer said completely cutting Jena off.
The elevator quickly shot upward at breakneck speeds then stopped perfectly fine at the very top. The roof to the elevator opened up in a very spherical way.
"Did it work?" Mason asked.
"Probably," Killer replied. He, along with everyone else, climbed out of the elevator.
As Killer climbed out, he noticed that there was a red curtain hanging from the ceiling. Killer stared quietly as everyone else popped their heads out of the hole, all of them noticing the curtain.
"Wha...?" Jena asked.
"Why is there is a freaking curtain?!" Killer shouted. "Why is it at the top of the tower?! Who is it hiding?! Why are they hiding?! What are they hiding?!"
"This doesn't seem correct," Mary Gold added.
"Why is it up here?" Jack added.
"What the frack is going on?!?" Jena and Killer shouted in unison.
"We got past your tests, show yourself!" Hiro started.
"You didn't get past any tests! You just used Necro-magic to force the elevator to force its way past everything to get here," A little girl's voice said from behind the curtain.
Hiro's face took a mild, contemplating expression as if the voice sounded familiar. He climbed out of the hole and stood in front of the curtain, "I know who you are,"
There was a crazy giggle, "Oh, do you, Mr. Hero?" There was another giggle, "I suspected your father would have been here first! If not for his sad demise at the hands of-!" The curtain was ripped down suddenly by Hiro to reveal a little girl in a pink dress. She also held a teddy bear.
"What?!" Killer asked in shock.
"Pink?!" Jena added.
"What? Do you think Beleen as pink trademarked or something?" The little girl said angrily, "Plus, pink is much more evil than black!"
"Do you two know each other?" Kloud asked.
"She's this little girl from Moonridge named Sally. My dad saved her town from an undead invasion, and I always wondered what happened to her," Hiro turned towards the little girl, "But I guess she became a Necromancer for some reason,"
"Don't start with me, Hiro!" Sally replied. "I'm not the one that prevents a sad, lonely, little girl from making as many friends as she desires!"
"Making...friends?" Jacob asked.
"Yuppers!" Sally started. "I was so very lonely after my home town was destroyed by Undead, and I was still so very lonely," She went quiet for a second, "And then one day, I was playing and then I heard a voice, and before I realized what had happened, I was standing in front of the door to this giant place!" She threw her arms up happily, "The Necropolis!"
"But the Necropolis was destroyed!" Hiro shouted.
"Oh, it was, no thanks to your old man and Artix, along with his good-for-nothing friends," Sally clenched her fist. She relaxed "I heard the ghastly voice of the previous master of the Necropolis, Noxus, and he taught me all his dark spells and made me a Necromantress. And in turn," She giggled, "I revived him as a Lich!"
"You revived Noxus as a Lich?!" Hiro exclaimed, he turned away from Sally, "How could you-"
"Thank you for this interesting information, Sally," Killer started. "Would it be possible for us to get into the Necropolis?"
"With your Necro-magic, I'm pretty sure it wouldn't be too hard, but I'm not sure if your friends would survive down there since it's crawling with some of the biggest, strongest, and most frightening undead abominations known to Lore!" Sally giggled again, "I'm pretty sure Noxus would be more than happy to have your help!"
"Is it far from here?" Jena asked.
"It's not that far," Sally replied, "It's actually just up the road north. You can miss it,"
"Thank you for the information, Sally, head Necromantress of Doomwood," Killer bowed deeply, "We will take our leave and let you continue with your important work," He stood up and moved over to the elevator again, "We better not leave Noxus waiting," Everyone followed him into the elevator and it went down without another word.
"So, hang on...what's the plan?" Kloud asked.
"We're going to the Necropolis to ask Noxus some questions about Vordred, and maybe even convince him about how he might even get beaten by yours truly," Killer smirked.
"You're..." Hiro stopped. "I don't even know what to call you because you brush it off so easily,"
"Mission accomplished!" Killer said happily.
Hiro groaned loudly. "Okay, I need more information than that,"
"Killer hasn't used his Necro-magic in a very long time, but hopefully with how easily he can, or turn, undead, depends on how easily Noxus allows him to get close and buddy-buddy," Mary Gold replied.
"Killer may seem small and not that much, but I've seen him take down a lot more than you'd expect completely unarmed," Mystic added.
"Should I ask?" Hiro questioned.
"Probably not," Killer replied as the elevator came to a stop, "We better hurry if we plan on catching Noxus," Killer left the tower then headed to the path north of the tower.
Everyone soon came upon a large skull protruding from the ground. Its mouth was open, leading downward with stairs.
"Hey Mystic!" Butter Cup started as she pointed at the large skull, "It be your bigger bro-bro!" She turned to the skull, "Bro-Bro, not best bro-bro, needs more gro-gro, so he can hippity-hop with his sue-sue!"
Everyone looked at Butter Cup with a concerned look as she had a stupid looking smile on her face.
"I'm just gonna pretend that didn't happen," Killer said walking down the stairs. At the bottom of the stairs was a large building with the words Necro University on it.
"Does this look like the place?" Jena asked as she turned to Hiro.
"From what I recall from my dad's stories, most likely," Hiro walked over to the door but Killer pushed him away and opened the door.
"I'm here on business from Sally, and I demand entry," Killer said sternly. It was quiet for a few moments, then the door opened to reveal a very pale-skinned ghoul-like creature. "I'm here to speak with Noxus,"
"Noxus isn't here," The ghoul said, "I will allow entrance and allow you permission to look around until he returns,"
"I thank you for the permission," Killer said. He turned back to the group, "Let's see if we can find any leads without him, I guess,"
"Our NU tour-guide will show you around and answer any questions," The ghoul said as a man in brown ropes with bones on his arms and around his neck, he wore a hood to hide most of his face. From what could be told, he had a rather pale tone to his skin, and he was looking at some papers.
The man suddenly looked up and he let out a loud sudden gasp, he quickly ran over to Hiro as his hood fell off to reveal a rose flower crown. He held Hiro tightly as he squealed happily.
"Uh..." Hiro started as he glanced at the man, "Um..."
"You really don't recognize me?" The man said. He moved back and looked closely at Hiro. "That would hurt if I wasn't a Necromancer," He chuckled slightly, "After you left for Oaklore you sure have forgotten a lot of your past,"
"Krauss?" Hiro questioned.
"About time you realize who I am," The man said happily, "I knew you were thick, but I didn't expect you to forget,"
"Who is this?" Killer asked as he gestured at the man.
"This is my childhood friend, Krauss Villena," Hiro started. "We grew up in Falconreach together, and he is my best friend,"
"He says after forgetting who I am," Krauss chuckled.
"He also saved my backside several times," Hiro looked at Krauss, "Out of the two of us, he was the most skilled in magic, and I was good at hitting things,"
"So what are you doing in the Necropolis? Finally decided to help Empress Gravelyn instead of following that fool Alteon like your dad?" Krauss started.
Jena went into thought as she quickly pulled out a paper and pen and started to write things down.
"We're actually here to talk with Noxus," Hiro replied, "This ghoul said he's currently out, so care to show us around the school?"
"Of course!" Krauss replied, "I can tell you anything you need,"
"Good because I have a long list of questions," Killer stated.
As they walked down the hall, Krauss explained some of the basics of Necro-magic, going on about the hierarchy of the undead, going on about skeletons being near the top, just being under Death-knights and Doomknights. Hiro and Jacob were listening intently. Killer grabbed Krauss's shoulder and turned him towards himself.
"We're far enough away from any of the teachers, I need to know. Tell me anything you can about Vordred the paladin slayer. I need to know anything you can tell us," Killer had a pleading look in his eyes, "This is an important matter,"
"Killer's begging," Kloud whispered to Mary Gold.
"It seems weird but he's obviously desperate since he hasn't met Vordred yet, and that's the one thing he needs to know about how to defeat him," Mary Gold replied.
"Vordred is...a tough subject," Krauss started. He quickly looked around. "The ghouls in the halls have ears, we need to go somewhere private,"
"Why not just outside?" Kloud suggested, "I didn't see many ghouls upstairs and from what I can tell, the skeletons aren't allowed to speak,"
"With Butter Cup around, the skeletons shouldn't be a problem," Mystic suggested.
"I guess that's not the worst idea," Krauss said, "We should hurry," Krauss led everyone back outside and up the stairs back outside. "What I am about to say is an extremely kept secret, and I could be expelled from NU,"
"We won't tell anyone," Killer glared at his guild, sending a mental message, he then looked back at Krauss.
"Vordred is a creature that seems to have been made from the very plane of darkness it works for. Anything it does is connected to the plane of Darkness, and that's why it's immune to light spells. The only thing he needs to do to become complete and the ultimate dark creature, is killing Artix. I know there is a darker reason, but I don't know what that it is, since we haven't talked about it in class yet," Krauss looked pained. "I wish I could tell you more,"
"You gave us enough information. Hopefully, Noxus is back, so I can ask him some questioned," Killer smirked.
"Are you going to hurt him?" Krauss asked.
"Not right away," Killer chuckled in response, "I'll get him when the time comes, but not right now. I need him to believe I'm just another Necromancer here to help with his world domination,"
"Then I have shared all I can," Krauss said softly, "I just hope it helps,"
"You've helped enough. Thank you, Krauss," Hiro replied. He patted him on the shoulder, "We need to check if Noxus is back," Hiro continued, "You need to make sure nobody suspected this,"
Everyone went back into the Necropolis, which then had Hiro bump into someone, which had him fall to the ground.
"Hey! Watch where you're going!" Sally shouted.
"Oh! I'm sorry, little girl!" Hiro said as he stood up.
"Little girl!? Little Girl!?!? You fool! I am the supreme Necromantress of Doomwood! I should kill you and turn you into my new best-" She stopped and looked at Hiro, "Oh! Hiro! Fancy seeing you here!"
"Sally?! You sent us here!" Hiro exclaimed, "We're here to talk with Noxus to go over his world domination plans!"
"Use your indoor voice, Hiro," Killer stated. "We're glad to see you here, Head Necromantress," Killer said with a smile. "What brings you to NU?"
"Noxus made a stop by the tower and suggested we head back to his office and go over some smaller details about it," Sally replied.
"Is Noxus anywhere nearby?" Killer asked.
"He's a little behind and making sure his office is ready for guests," Sally replied.
A tall Skeleton in a very dark-colored robe with a hood, and he had a very distinct glow among him. He walked over and looked at the group. "Krauss, who's your friends?"
Krauss became flustered rather quickly, "Y-Yessir!" He took an intake and stuttered through the introduction of Hiro and the group he's going with to help fight Drakath for the alliance but is here on important business from one of the higher-ups, taking the Gravelyn route since Killer is mostly leading the group under such titles.
"Ah, so the young Empress is curious about the upcoming army for the alliance," The skeleton said with a chuckle. "I will have to ask a few more questions about that when I have a moment," He turned into his open office, "Please, come in,"
Everyone turned and followed the skeleton into his office where he and Sally started talking about something along the lines of the world being turned into an undead wasteland.
It took several minutes of senseless banter between Noxus and Sally before Killer became very impatient, but put on a nice face as he broke up the conversation between the two.
"Dean Noxus," Killer started, "I would love to ask a rather personal question,"
"What is it, young Necromancer?" Noxus replied.
"How did you come across such knowledge on how to make Vordred?" Killer was obviously peeved.
Noxus brought out a rather poorly drawn map, "I've used this map to locate an ancient temple not far from here," Noxus started, "Deep beneath the temple is where I located such knowledge,"
Hiro perked up instantly, "Would you mind if I borrowed the map and..." He went quiet, "Destroy it?!"
"Oh, why not?" Noxus said handing Hiro the map, "Just make sure no one else finds this temple, otherwise, we're in more than enough trouble,"
"Thank you kindly!" Hiro said as he and the rest of the group left the office. Hiro noticed that Krauss was waiting anxiously nearby.
"Oh! Hiro, are you leaving?" Krauss started.
"Sadly my friend, but I will come back to visit after all this chaos stuff is done with, and then afterward we can go questing for as long as you desire, just like I promised," Hiro smirked.
"I will hold you against that," Krauss said happily. He pulled out a rose and put it in Hiro's hair, "Consider this a good luck charm, and the symbol of your promise," Krauss got uncomfortably close to Hiro, "And don't even think about going back on this promise, you never want to cross a Necromancer,"
"I think he likes you~," Waky Pants said happily as Butter Cup was chanting "Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!"
"I will see you later, Krauss," Hiro's face was a bright red, "I'm no longer held back by Oaklore, but this is something I have to do,"
"I know, you always had to play the hero, no matter the situation, which is why I was your healer, and now I am your Necromancer, so even if you do die I can bring you back without having to wait for Respawn,"
Prime looked down in thought, "I feel like this is some unhealthy MMO reference,"
"Ignore it, for now, Prime, we'll deal with it later," Killer replied. He grabbed Hiro's shoulder, "If you're done making out, we have a temple to look into,"
"Right," Hiro replied. He quickly turned away and led everyone with the poorly-drawn map, leaving Krauss standing there with an extremely bright red face.