"Do you know why we come to human lands, boy?"

  Derek shook his head. He was marching with his father and Velda, his stepmother. It was the middle of a foggy night, but his father seemed to know the way.

  "Because of how they treat their dead." The man looked over at his son, with an unreadable expression. "You should know that."

  "The boy was raised as a human," Velda laughed, "and he doesn't even know." Her glittering contempt was easy to read. She had no love for this boy turning up on her doorstep. Derek ignored her, and replied to his father.

  "Can you explain, father?"

  "Graveyards, boy. Hundreds, sometimes thousands of dead. Laid out in neat rows. Ever heard of goblins doing that? They eat their own dead, if you don't scare them off. You'd be lucky to get one or two corpses off them. But humans... ah, here we are."

  They had walked for a long time, well into the night. They arrived at the outskirts of a small village. Derek could see some buildings, dark shapes faintly outlined in the fog. His father didn't lead him to the buildings, however, but to a field nearby. A rusted iron gate was stuck permanently open. Wooden stakes were planted in the ground, with signs attached. Derek couldn't make them out in the dark, but he presumed they were names of whoever was buried there. The three of them walked into the middle the graveyard. Derek tried to keep between the graves, so he wouldn't walk over someone accidentally.

  "The secret, boy, is that the dead want to be animated. They want to move around. We just give them the means to do so."

  The man moved his hands as if throwing some powder over the nearest graves. Purple smoke flew from his hands, hitting the ground and spreading wide across the surface, seeping into the ground below.

  "They are more like elementals than anything," the man said idly, as the ground starting shifting and bodies starting rising up out of the earth. "Dumb puppets of bone and rot, moving by magic. Like elementals, they need that spark to awaken. Once they do, they can awaken other bodies nearby. Watch."

  The graves where the purple smoke hit churned as the dead started to rising, digging their way through the soil. The older ones came up as skeletons. The more recent bodies, still holding on to flesh, rose as ghouls. As the first stepped fully out of the earth, they turned around and thrust their arms into the neighboring graves, digging away with their hands.

  The undead made for good workers, tireless and uncaring for injuries. They quickly reached another batch of buried bodies, and as soon as an undead took a dead body by the arm, that new body rose up too, and joined the work. Within twenty minutes, a large crew of undead were well under way to raise the entire graveyard.

  The three vampires looked on, the older two in smug satisfaction, the younger in a mix of awe and concern.

  "Do we need... all of them, father?"

  "What do you mean?"

  "It's just that it seems a bit, uh, rude. To the townspeople. Stealing their grandmas, and..."

  Both Derek's father and Velda looked at Derek, absolutely incredulous.

  "Do you hear the things he's saying, Vladimir?" Velda said in disgust. "Is he really worth keeping?"

  The man gritted his teeth.

  "I hear them, dear, and we can discuss this in private later. As for you, boy, why do you defend them? Why do you care for them? You have never met these people before."

  Derek felt nervous.

  "It just seems like we could be nice...?"

  Both Vladimir and Velda laughed derisively at that.

  "Nice?" Derek's father said. "I don't think you understand the relationship we have with humans." He chuckled again, the laughter fading away with a sigh. "I think perhaps an instructional approach is needed."

  The vampire lord cupped his hands to his mouth and bellowed at the top of his voice.

  "Hello! Hello there! Vampires are in your graveyard! Vampires!"

  Derek felt very nervous. He looked around at the dozens of skeletons and ghouls. Some were milling about, others were still working away on the unearthed graves to awaken their kin.

  "I don't think they'll like this, father."

  "Exactly, my boy, I want you to see this for yourself. Do not spare kindness for humans, boy, for they will never spare kindness for you. To prove my point, I won't even attack until they first attack me. We will, however, need to ensure no witnesses can leave. Our presence in Felmont is largely hidden and I would like to keep it that way."

  Valdir lifted his hand in an authoritative gesture, and a dozen skeletons walked off to encircle the village, watching for anyone trying to run. Dogs started barking. People were lighting torches. Derek's family must have been seen, or at least the walking dead, because shouts were spreading throughout the village. Derek gulped.

  "Dad... can we just go home now?"

  "Oh, my boy, it is far too late for that." Derek's father smiled, and his extra long fangs were clearly visible.

  "Far too late."

  "Here," Knob said, "try this."

  Knob handed Zig a wad of sticky stuff. Zig took a sniff. It smelled good. Somewhat minty, but with some other herbs mixed in. He popped it in his mouth and chewed. And chewed. And chewed. Zig's eyes widened.

  "Knob, you made chewing gum?"

  "Sure did, if that's what you call this stuff. There's a herbal one for a nice breath, a beef one that honestly just makes you hungry, and this other one that I made with sparkweed."

  "Where did you get sparkweed?" Gretta asked.

  "What's sparkweed?" Zig asked.

  "I traded for it. Uh, it's an ingredient for stamina potions. Don't overdo it. Actually, Zig see if you can feel anything. Take a whole bunch."

  "But you said don't overdo it."

  "Zig, it's you, please overdo it."

  Zig frowned at his dear friends, then shoved a huge amount of sparkweed gum into his mouth. He chewed, and found the taste a bit odd. Not great, not bad, just odd.

  "When should I feel the effects?"

  Knob shook his head sadly.

  "You should be having a heart attack already."

  "Knob!"

  The half-goblin spread his hands helplessly.

  "I tried."

  "I know what it's like." Gretta said, nodding in sympathy. Her own attempts at poisoning Zig had ended in the same disappointment.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  "Will you guys ever warn me before offering lethal poison?"

  "That's not nearly as fun, Zig."

  "And if it had worked?"

  Knob shrugged.

  "I took Cure as my spell. Gretta has Dispel, though I think that would only help if the poison was magical in nature. Jane's..." The half-goblin looked around. "Somewhere."

  The Red Daggers, before causing a lot of damage and being driven out of the town of Liston, had acquired a number of spell scrolls from the academy there. They had each learned one spell. Zig himself had learned Water Elemental, a summoning spell that accidentally crossed wires with a skill he didn't like to talk about.

  Multiplied Progeny.

  Zig shivered. At Legendary level, he had summoned about 30 elementals. Without any skills improving the quality of the summons, it was more like 30 water toddlers walking around. Zig assumed that if he did learn some spell power skills, they could be quite an army. But he hadn't done much practicing yet. He should. It could be an incredible powerful spell. But it was a mental thing. The idea of that many children...

  "Huh?"

  "I was saying", Gretta frowned at him, "that you need to talk to the captain. Alan. He gets all weird around me."

  "Oh, ha, yea that was a bit odd."

  "Not funny, Zig! Whenever I see him he wiggles his eyebrows at me. How do I deal with that?"

  Zig had seen Gretta stand alone on a hill, fighting off dozens of bloodthirsty pirates by herself, smashing them back with her shield. He wasn't sure if anyone in this world was as fearless at her. So it was quite amazing to see a slight red blush come over her face.

  "Gretta, do you... like him?"

  "What? Don't be ridiculous. He doesn't even have a beard! A sop like him? Hmph. "

  "Well, if you want to change your mind, he's coming this way..."

  "He what?"

  Gretta looked up to see Alan approaching the Nest, this time on a normal horse. He must have swapped his unicorn with this one to get closer to Teeth. Without hesitation, Gretta turned and leaped out of the moving wagon, landing hard on the ground and rolling a bit. Zig and Knob looked at her quickly falling behind as Teeth carried on. Knob shrugged and offered Zig some more gum. He chose the herbal one again, which was quite pleasant.

  "Ho, Zig!"

  "Ho, Alan, how are you doing?"

  "Fairer for your company, my good man! Say, where is..." Alan was looking all over the Nest, searching with his eyes.

  "Gretta? She, um, something came up and she had to go... somewhere."

  Alan looked wistful.

  "Alas. I think I may have bungled things."

  Above them, Hepp sighed.

  "I hear you buddy. Been there." He called down to Alan.

  "So, what's the plan?" Zig asked.

  "There's a town we should be reaching today, from there we'll ask around for directions. From multiple people, this time. Have you ever fought the dead before, Zig?"

  "Just a couple of strays in the past few days."

  "Blunt weapons and magic do well. Arrows go straight through a skeleton. Stabbing a ghoul doesn't really do anything."

  "Blunt weapons are kinda my thing."

  "Oh? That's great, you'll do well. Maybe we could spar a bit tonight? Warm up the old bones?"

  Zig frowned.

  "I've never actually sparred before. I don't think it would work. Things I hit tend to explode into blood and little bits."

  The captain's eyebrows rose at that.

  "Must be quite the collection of skills you've got. It's a bit less fun but we can practice with wooden weapons, unless they also explode on impact?"

  "Huh, haven't thought about it. I guess we could, we'd just need to have rules, like you get hit once, you're dead."

  "Ha!" The captain slapped his knee. "The bravado! I like it! We could do with more people like you up north."

  "North? What town?"

  "Oh... I'm not supposed to say. Keeping a low profile and all that."

  Alan looked around, as if watching for eavesdroppers. He'd already forgotten that Hepp was right above him, listening to every word.

  "I'm... something of a big deal, back home. My dad sent me out with the Raiders to get some real-world experience. Level up a bit. Maybe find a legacy skill or two. That sort of thing."

  He gave Zig, whom he'd just met a day ago, a big slow wink.

  "You're not the best at keeping secrets, are you?"

  "Ha!" Alan slapped Zig on the back. "Just don't tell anybody. But maybe tell Gretta. Do you think that would help? Ugh. What an impossible situation I find myself in."

  The man turned his horse and set off, shaking his head.

  After traveling down the road for a while, Teeth got agitated. Zig could tell. There was something on the breeze. Zig could smell it too. A mixture of smoke and rot.

  "Ew. Hepp!"

  "That's not me!"

  The blonde-haired boy was peering from up in his tower.

  "There's smoke on the horizon. Not as much as a forest fire, but heading toward that scale."

  Some scouts raced back on their horses, heading straight to Alan to deliver their report. Their faces were grim. The army kept marching forward, and eventually the village came into view.

  What was left of it.

  The buildings were all burned down, every single one. There was ash and smoke everywhere. One field, just outside, was churned up. Chunks of dirt, mud, and blood were everywhere. But nobody was around. Zig investigated closer. It almost looked like the villagers set fire to their own homes and left. Except there were all the bloodstains, quite a few spread around. There was also the smell. Zig held his nose. It was all kinds of rotten things. A foul, lingering odor of decay.

  "Death has touched this place," Jane murmured to the others. "Keep an eye on any cuts or wounds you have. I can heal you, don't think it's too small."

  "Cleanse."

  Jint's spell targeted the entire Nest, and the smell went away immediately. Zig looked in admiration at the man. It seemed like at the Heroic level, any spell was pretty significant.

  "Not bad, Jints. Hey, how's your writing going? I'd love to learn Cleanse from you."

  "Thank you, mister Zig. I've been writing some short stories, but no skill yet. If you want, you can practice reading with them."

  Jints gestured to a stack of papers tied to a wall of the Nest. There were quite a few already, the man had taken to writing with alacrity. Zig took one of the papers and tucked it in his pocket for later.

  The village was completely empty.

  "Well, if we weren't sure before," Alan said, riding up to Zig. "We are now. Villages don't look like this without a cause. Let's keep going, there's another village further north. Hopefully still intact. We can spend the night there and head out to Felmont in the morning."

  They rode out in silence. The atmosphere was heavy. Soldiers were keeping hands close to weapons. Zig expected to see more stray undead, but they didn't come across a single one. Zig wasn't sure that was a good thing.

  The next village wasn't deserted, but the people weren't happy. The Nest was parked outside the town, and the Red Daggers walked in. The villagers saw the soldiers and brightened at the sight of them, but they gave the Red Daggers distrusting looks.

  "Why are they looking at us like that?"

  "Not us, Zig." Hepp said with a frown. He was tracing the lines of sight with his Eagle Eye ring. "I think it's Gutters and Knob."

  Gutters had a frown, but Knob just shrugged.

  "New town, same story. Don't worry about us."

  "You're not bothered, Knob?" Zig asked.

  "Oh, plenty bothered," the half-goblin cracked his oversized knuckles. "But I'm Extreme now. I don't have to take any disrespect. If they stare at us, we can stare back."

  Knob did so, looking people firmly in the eye as they walked past. Gutters chose two people and set one eye on each of them, staring down both at once. It wasn't as intimidating as Knob, but disturbed the villagers in its own way.

  They walked up to the largest inn. It was packed with soldiers already, but they squeezed in. They looked around for a table, and although none were completely empty, there was one large table with only one soldier sitting there.

  "Ho, friend, mind if we join you?" Zig asked.

  The solider looked at Zig, then over to the other Red Daggers. He was taken aback when he saw Knob and Gutters there.

  "You eat and drink with them too?" The man asked. He was a burly man with a scar running over his lips. It gave him a permanent scowl.

  "What's that supposed to mean?" Zig asked, affronted.

  "I thought they were just pet monsters, good for fighting, like that horse. You aren't going to keep them outside with the animals?"

  Knob surged forward, barely held back by Gutters and Gretta. Nobody held Zig back. He picked the man up by his shirt and hurled him across the room. The boisterous noise of the inn dimmed as everyone looked up to see a man flying through the air. He landed on six people, bringing them all down in a heap.

  "That probably won't have any consequences," Zig tried to assure the team and himself. They sat down at the table, and Jints set about ordering a round of ales when the man came charging back, pushing and shoving his way through the crowd.

  "You dare?" The man roared. Unfortunately for him, it was a loud place, and it just sounded like he was trying to be heard above the din, instead of the fearsome threat he was attempting to make.

  "What?"

  "I said, you dare?"

  Zig pointed to his ear and shook his head.

  "I can't hear you!" He shouted. He actually could hear, the second time. He was just having a little fun.

  He winked at Jane, having discussed his quick plan with her beforehand. The man gave up his threats, and swung a fist at Zig's head. Gretta's shield popped up from below, and the man's hand smacked into a solid metal plate. The shield went back down and Zig grabbed the man's wrist before he could move. Zig squeezed, and the wrist snapped. The man's face went pale. Before he could scream, there was a small white flash from Jane, and the man's wrist was healed. Zig squeezed again. The second snap was louder than the first. Zig pulled on the wrist, forcing the man's head down close. Zig whispered in his ear.

  "I'm seeing a lot of disrespect for my friends, and I don't like it. My friend Jane has agreed to heal you up, but she won't do it a third time."

  There was another white flash, and the man's arm was healed again. The man stumbled back, eyes wide like he'd seen a ghost, and ran out of the inn.

  "Jane you're getting really good at that. Does it cost a lot of mana?"

  "I might have been developing a mana skill," Jane replied with a smile. "Also, Zig, I think that's the first time I've ever seen you so scary."

  Gutters nodded. Knob looked thoughtful. Jints was ordering bread sticks for everyone. Gretta came up from under the table where she'd been hiding with the shield.

  "I love a good plan." She settled herself on a bench and took a mug of ale as it arrived. "And putting bastards in their place. Now I just need an evening with a few ales and no—"

  "Ah! Lady Gretta! There you are!"

  Alan's voice had a weird way of cutting through the crowd. Gretta slowly sank down and slid back under the table as Alan pushed his way through the soldiers to say hello.