Ah the time honored the tradition of all true rulers…

"Catalina, I think it's time we expand." You say walking into her study.
"Oh you do, do you? Well, there's no shortage of places. Got somewhere in particular in mind?"
"A few places, but this is sort of why I'm talking to you, I figure it'll be good to have your input."
"Wow, laying it on thick today aren't we?"
"Yeah…do you like it?"
"Maybe." She says with a faint smile.
"Good, but seriously I'm thinking we should attack the Brot Kingdom. It's close, and its military is weak."
"Normally I'd agree, but I think you're forgetting that our former classmate Trelik has currently established a presence there."
"Yeah, I was thinking we could get rid of him at the same time."
"Easier said than done I hope you realize. I know he's a treacherous asshole that's been run ragged by the Grand Alliance, but that doesn't mean he's any less formidable. Not to mention we'll still have the Brot military to handle and hopefully the Grand Alliance doesn't show up in the area. Speaking of which, Trelik's pitiful endeavors have been keeping them busy. Get rid of him and they'll pay more attention to us."
"Alright then, where do you think we should attack?"
"Here."

Catalina points to a rather barren area known as the Drozz Wasteland which contains barbaric orc tribes, though ogres, goblins and similar "uncivilized" races dwell there as well.

"What the hell are we supposed to do with that?"
"Do you realize how many soldiers we can get in that area? The tribes in there are disorganized and unlikely to give us a meaningful fight. We can suffer minimal losses and gain more than what we started out with. Then we can use those gains against more formidable foes!"
"Cat baby, THAT is not going to be easy. First of all I know something of orcs and the green bastards don't know when to fucking quit most of the time. Even with the fear of an undead army, I guarantee they'll still fight. Same thing with the ogres, trolls, minotaurs and GIANTS that live in that area! Giants, Catalina. Fucking giants. Not to mention those tribes have the full advantage of the knowledge of the terrain."
"What difference does that make? It's not like our army needs to eat or even sleep! Those tribes are fighting each other most of the time too. By the time we've slaughtered half of those mongrel tribes, it's still unlikely that the rest will unite against us in any meaningful way. You said giants live there and perhaps that will be a challenge, but think about it, we could RAISE those same giants to use against our enemies in the future!"

While the idea of raising undead giants is appealing, you still have reservations about attacking the area.

You have a big decision to make.

You attack the Drozz Tribes

Catalina has a way of swaying you to her plan. (She does have experience in enchantment after all) She knew the whole raising undead giants thing would appeal to you! Of course you actually have to kill them first.

"Alright Catalina, we'll go with this plan, but I'm going to do it personally, so you're in charge of things here for awhile."
"Really? You're not only following my advice, but you're also trusting me to run Aftermath?"
"Yeah I'm whipped, now I want you to keep a good run of things here, and if the Grand Alliance attacks I want to know immediately, so I can get here!"
"Okay, but I doubt if that'll happen. They've been preoccupied with Velzix lately."
"Hmm, y'know we'll have to do something about him too later, but first I guess I got some barbarians to kill."
"Good luck!" she says and quickly kisses you on the cheek before you leave. You stare at her for a moment in shock and she stares back.

"What?" she asks as if nothing happened.
"Nothing, but we'll discuss THAT later when I return." You say.
"Maybe. If you're good and return victorious."
"I don't think I'll be good, but I will be returning victorious."

You decide that given the long stretches of barren plains of where you're heading. Incorporeal undead shall work better. You need speed, and the tribes will probably have little in the way of magic to combat you. You also take a couple extra necromancers with you along with your army of ghosts, spirits and wraiths.

You make pretty good time and suffer no attacks on the way, probably because of the rather low profile and somewhat hard to see aspects of your army. When you arrive in the Drozz region, it's night, but still as desolate as you remember it. Your Dad took you here a couple times during his attempts to "toughen" you up when he still thought he could turn you into a warrior. You hated it then, and you hate the place now.

After casting a sense life spell, you start to head towards the direction of the nearest tribe, but your uncanny connection with death lets you know that you're being watched and not by the living…

Suddenly from over a small hill top a group of misshapened creatures pop their heads up. After what looks to be chatter between the creatures, they lope in your direction. Ghouls. One of the filthier forms of undead. Typically they were created by vampires, who used to use them as tougher servants. (Basically mortals who weren't "worthy" enough for the gift of vampirism) but that would mean that there's a vampire in the area.

You don't have time to think too hard about it, you just react and dominate your will over the ghouls. For some reason they're very resistant to you and you're forced to destroy them. More ghouls appear however, and soon you're surrounded.

"Where the fuck are these things coming from?" one of your necros asks.
"Stay calm. Don't lose control…VAMPIRE! SHOW YOURSELF! If you're going to assassinate me, I would've thought the clans were at least honorable enough to not rely on ghouls!" you shout.

Your shouting is soon answered. The ghouls suddenly stop and a hideous figure appears on the same hilltop. He then walks towards you and your army and stops not to far from it. He's fearless and shows no signs of being concerned of your presence.



"Clans? Don't speak to me of the clans! I was cast out long ago for my actions! Once I feasted upon the blood of royalty, with legions of mortals willing to die for me. Now I feast upon the carrion of barbarians with only ghouls as company."
"So you're an outcast? I thought all you types of vampires degenerated into mindless beasts much like the ghouls."
"Hah! Do you not think this is degeneration enough? I can't even make another vampire anymore. But you are quite correct. Most of us did. One thing keeps me going though and kept my mind sharp. Revenge. I vowed I would get revenge on the Clans somehow. Of course the reality is, I've had to hide in a hole in the ground while my ghouls scavenge the countless battlefields of this accursed place. I am the Ghoul King."
"Ghoul King eh? I'm very surprised nobody's hunted you."
"I haven't survived this long by being sloppy. The only ones who tend to be around here are barbarians and if any of them ever see us, it's their last time. But the tribes tend to be an anti-social lot anyway, so it's unlikely that any of them run to tell the civilized folks that there are ghouls and their king infesting the area. So what of you? It's been a long time since I've seen a necromancer…a long time…"
"I'm attempting to supplement my army as it were. These tribes would make excellent additions. Especially the giants."
"I see. So you mean to take away my food source? Not to mention my OWN supply of followers. These ghouls don't grow from trees you know!"

This is an interesting situation. You didn't expect this, but perhaps you can use it to your advantage. This "Ghoul King" is close enough to you to attack with your troops. Chances are, if you killed him, you could take his remaining horde of ghouls to help you destroy the tribes in the area.

However, maybe you could use a little diplomacy.

You kill the Ghoul King

Why mess around with a middle man, when you can control the ghouls yourself?

You order your troops to attack, at which point the Ghoul King orders his ghouls to do likewise, as he attempts to slaughter his way through your army to get to you!

"Little necromancer, did you really think you could intimidate me? I am still more than a match for a mere mortal!" he mocks as jumps and leaps towards you.

Your troops have no noticeable effect on him. Their draining powers do nothing, though the scythes of the wraiths do some damage. You have to use non-necromantic magic against him and you cast a fireball into his chest.

It's enough to cause him to leap away from you and attempt to roll out the flame, but he kills two of your necromancers in the process. His ghouls are getting wiped out by your undead, but they're coming like hordes of lemmings, you have to kill the Ghoul King now.

"Blast the bloodsucker with fire!" you order your last remaining necromancers to do. Fortunately being ex-demonologists, their knowledge of fire magic is still quite strong. The Ghoul King attempts to leap out of the way, but the flame spells still hit him. He runs around burning and howling horribly.

Soon the wraiths put a final end to the Ghoul King with their scythes. The rest of the ghouls seeing their King dead, begin to run away in multiple directions. You manage to easily dominate most of them and corral them into your fold.

Not too bad, though losing a couple of necros wasn't something you wanted. At least not so early. You press on with your quest to conquer the Drozz tribes.

Weeks turn into months and your campaign there is going…mediocre. You did alright in the beginning, but after awhile the tribes began to unite in a way you didn't think they would or at least you'd think it would take longer. While mostly low in magic, they had more shaman and witch doctor types than you expected as well. They also know to start targeting you and your other necromancers whenever possible, which has resulted in you being the only one left and supporting the entire undead army. Given how long you've been without rest, lack of other magical enhancers, the constant drain and the large number of undead you're controlling, you could be over exerting yourself.

Your time here hasn't really been profitable. You've gained more troops, but you've lost necromancers and you still haven't really conquered the area. The tribes have been simply moving and hiding around the area.

You wonder if you should cut your losses…

You press on

You're determined to make Drozz a deadland and you'll not have these barbarians defy you!

You press on with your attack, now climbing into the more hilly areas of Drozz where most of the tribes have fled to. Things turn worse when they ambush you from higher positions. Witch Doctors use their primitive magic to whittle away your ghostly troops. You're nearly smashed when hill giants begin throwing boulders at you. Those heavy rocks crush several of your ghouls.

You're so busy trying to get out of the way of the boulders, you don't even see the archers on the other side of you. Their arrows strike down the remainder of your ghouls and hit you as well.

You attempt to retreat, but they've blocked it off. There's no escape. Your troops are at last destroyed and you're on the ground dying from being shot full of arrows. A large orc war chieftain walks slowly over to you with a huge axe in hand. You have no more strength to fight.

"Hur hur, little dead wizard. Da tribes have never tasted defeat and dey never will." He grunts before bringing his axe down on your head.