This is no way to live.

Working on a barely profitable rundown farm with far too many family members to feed. It's a damn good thing you're an excellent hunter. However, lately there's even been a shortage of game to thwart your efforts.

You didn't really want to be working on the farm your whole life in the first place, you wanted to see the world but when dad died, things got a lot harder for the family and you had to take over as "man" of the house and stay put.

Something is going to have to change.

While you'd like nothing more than to go through with your childhood dreams of becoming a traveling bard without any responsibility you don't have that luxury. Hell, you barely have time to play your lute anymore in the small amount of free time you do have. You doubt if you'd even be good enough to make a living for just yourself doing it.

But you need to get away, but what can you do that won't allow you to completely abandon your mom and all your brothers and sisters?

You suddenly think of the choice that many in your desperate position have thought of many times before.

The army.

Its not exactly ideal, but you be traveling and seeing the world so to speak. You'd also be making enough money that you could send to your family. Your own living expenses would be provided for by the army.

Of course there's all that fighting that usually goes along with it that you're not to keen on. Not that you aren't a stranger to battle as their have been the occasional bandits or kobold thieves that have attempted to steal from the farm in the past, but you prefer not to fight if possible, especially not up close. The bow has always been your weapon of choice. There's also the matter of mass combat on a grand scale that usually accompanies army life. A lot different than chasing away some thieves in the chicken coop.

As you're thinking about this, you also realize that there is another option. There's a small mercenary company passing through the area. They've been hanging out at the local tavern for a couple days. They don't seem to be the noblest sort from what you can tell, but fortunately they seem to have kept their revelry confined to the tavern. Who knows how they act away from "civilization" though.

Still, it's something to consider. There probably is less attention to discipline and a little more relaxed on rules and regulations. You probably wouldn't be fighting in some mass land war that governments are fond of waging. Mercenaries travel a lot and tend to make more, however they tend to get hired for a lot weirder jobs, usually ones that the employer doesn't want people to know about or ones that nobody else seems to be able to handle.

You sign up with the mercenaries

You're not sure if the formal military life is for you. If you joined up you wouldn't be able to readily leave. You figure if you don't like life as a mercenary or it isn't working out for you, you can leave freely.

You explain your decision to join up with the mercenary company that's currently passing through. Your revelation comes as a shock. Your smaller brothers and sisters don't want you to go, your brother Mallack really doesn't want you to leave since he'll be next in line to take the brunt of the manual labor!

Your mother is a little apprehensive about your decision. You half expect her to say no, but she understands that you're doing this for the good of the family. She gives her blessing.

Before you leave the next day with your packed belongings, your whole family comes to say goodbye to you. You almost hesitate to leave, wondering if it would actually be better for you to stay. Your mother approaches you.

"You don't have to do this you know. We're doing just fine."
"Yeah, but things would be easier if this family had more money."
"Hah. Things are always easier with more money son, but you don't need to go and get yourself killed for it."
"Yeah, I know, but I've thought it through."
"Very well, you're old enough to make your own decisions and live your own life, though I'm glad to see that you still want to help the family as opposed to just leaving in the middle of the night."
"I'll visit and return with whatever my pay is whenever I can."
"I know…okay, you best get going. I think the mercenary company was leaving today."

You make you way to the local tavern and catch them just as they're getting ready leave. A lot of them look hung over.

"Hey wait up…" you say in a slightly loud tone, causing one mean looking mercenary to snarl at you.
"Shut the fuck up yokel! Shit, I got a splitting headache and it hurts like a sonofabitch."
"Sorry. Are you the leader of this company?"
"Leader of these dickheads? Naw. The Boss is actually visiting his family in the Zalan capital. We're going to meet up with him now and I suggest you get the fuck outta our way and not waste anymore of our time!"
"But I want to join you guys."

The mercenary you were speaking to looks at you then looks at a few of his buddies and begins to laugh louder than your voice which previously annoyed him.

"HAHAHA HAHAHA! Y'hear that fellas? This yokel wants to join us! Thanks a lot, I needed a good laugh, now go fuck your pigs or whatever it is you farm types do."
"But I'm serious…"
"Serious? Farmboy, this is a man's job and not for the fuckin' weak. You ever even use a damn weapon?"
"Yeah! I got this bow and this sword! I'm a really good shot!"

The mercenary still looks unimpressed.

"Uh huh, yeah well you ever kill anyone, hell you ever kill ANYTHING? And I'm not talkin' about any of your livestock you might've slaughtered. I mean something sentient."
"Well yeah, I've killed Kobolds that were trying to steal chickens from the…"

The mercenaries begin to laugh again.

"Oh shit, you are priceless boy! My sister can kill fuckin' Kobolds and her only talent is whoring."
"Haha got that one right, Dimitri." Another one of the mercenaries agrees.

Suddenly the laughing stops.

"What the fuck did you just say Fermeli?"
"Uh, I was just agreeing with you…c'mon don't take it like that! I mean you said…"
"Ain't about what I said, it's about what YOU said! You called my fucking sister a whore! You ain't getting' away with that shit."

Dimitri draws his sword and stomps over to Fermeli who is trying to get one of his buddies to help him, but everyone else is backing away from the fight. Dimitri takes advantage of Fermeli's state of panic and slashes him good with his sword.

Fermeli cries out in pain and begs for forgiveness. Dimitri looks like he's going to finish him off, but then turns to you.

"You want to join hayseed? Kill this piece of shit then."
"Huh? I mean…" you utter in confusion.
"Did I stutter pig farmer? Kill this… AARGH FUCK!"

Fermeli has now taken advantage of Dimitri by shoving a dagger into his leg and scrambling to get up

"Yeah! Take that! How's that feel?" Fermeli taunts and draws his own sword in an attempt to kill Dimitri

At this point you unwisely step into the middle of this fight.

"Hey hold on, the pair of you are even now…"
"Fuck off pig farmer! You want some of this now? Yeah, let's see how much of a killer you are!" Fermeli says who doesn't look frightened of you at all and heads in your direction.

"Hey wait I don't wanna…"

You barely dodge his sword swipe to your head. You roll out of the way and quickly grab an arrow and shoot it at Fermeli with your bow, hitting him square in the neck. Some blood spurts out and a surprised look on his face is displayed and then he falls dead. You've killed him. You've never killed anything before that wasn't a Kobold or livestock. You feel weird.

In the meantime Dimitri gets up and pulls the dagger out of his leg and looks over at Formeli's body.

"Heh, maybe you are a killer after all pig farmer. Well it seems we got an opening now. Take whatever he had as your own. You killed him, you earned it. Welcome to the Chimera Mercenary Company!"

While you MAY be in, you're not necessarily sure if you want in. This may be a bit too much for you.

You join anyway

You know this isn't going to be easy and you're going to have to be tough, but you remember that you're doing this for your family. You quickly search Formeli's body, which didn't have that much to begin with.

"Heh, he always was a broke bastard. Spent all his money on gambling, I'll miss taking his money that's for sure. Alright then, you'll probably be wantin' to take that sword of his since it looks in way better condition than your rusted hunk of iron. Your bow seems to do the job just fine though. His armor too, and hurry up, we gotta meet the Boss! He's got another job for us no doubt."

As you're stripping off some of the armor, Dimitri notices something on your back.

"What…what the hell is that boy? Is that a fuckin' lute? Haw haw! What the fuck are you doin' with a damn lute? You think that you're some sort of bard or something? We ain't got need for such things boy! Get rid of it!"
"No, it's mine." You defiantly say.
You wonder if this show of "courage" has gotten you into a whole mess of trouble that you don't want, but fortunately it doesn't.

"Heh, he kills one shithead and now he thinks he's a tough guy! Alright pig farmer keep your sissy lute. But its just more weight for you to carry and you better not be falling behind! Come on men let's go, the Boss is waiting for us. You too lute boy!" Dimitri exclaims and limps off. You briefly thought about telling him that he better keep up with his wounded leg and all, but you know when to stop.

And so your mercenary life begins.

A year passes…

You're currently back in the Zalan Empire on a break in between missions. While most of your "buddies" are drinking up their pay and spending it on whores you take this opportunity to visit your family and give them your payment and spoils of battle as usual.

You think about how much you've traveled and experienced. Not all of it good, but then killing is never pretty. Some of the jobs are very straight forward: "There are some orc barbarians on the borders that have been pillaging our lands, kill them." And you don't have a problem with it. Other missions start falling into the "gray" area.

Your last job involved some Azi Republic senator hiring the company to take out some secessionists that wanted to form their own country. It wasn't clean and it definitely wasn't fun. The secessionists actually had a reasonable complaint about leaving the Republic, saying that it was corrupt and that their representatives didn't care about them. But being a mercenary means you don't take sides for moral or ideological reasons, you do it for money.

It's not just that though, some of the things that have been done…well you can't say you're too proud of it. Granted, you've never actively engaged in some of the less moral and outright criminal things that your mercenary comrades have, but you certainly know about them and it almost makes you feel like you're guilty of it as well.

As for how you cope with some of this stuff, you tend to keep to yourself and play your lute which has oddly made you a little more accepted. Seems there are more than a few music lovers in the company. Even the Captain doesn't mind you indulging in your little hobby. The Captain is a huge man who you know gets a pleasure from killing and mayhem. He's spent a lifetime doing it. In fact you have a hard time believing he even has a family that he goes to visit. Who knows though? Perhaps he is different with them.

(You've been working for the Chimera Company for a year and you still don't know what the hell his real name is, mainly because everyone only seems to address him as "The Boss" or "Chief" or in a more formal tone "Captain")

You spend the time with your family and tell them of some of the things you've seen and exciting places you've been to, of course never going into too much detail about the darker side of things. Your brothers and sisters enjoy the tales as usual. Your Mom senses that there is probably more to them, but she doesn't ask too many questions. She does always asks if you're okay and says that you don't have to keep doing it, but you always reply that you're fine and that you're just a little tired that's all.

When your time is done you say goodbye to them and meet with the rest of your company at the Zalan capital this time. Its odd, but things seem to be even more chaotic than usual around here. People are rushing around and an air of concern seems to be pervading the city.

The guards are telling people to calm down our there will be martial law and you hear something in passing about an attack on a city. You don't really listen because you're in a hurry to meet up with your company which you find mostly hanging out in a tavern as usual.

Dimitri sees you and speaks.

"Ah, it's our own fuckin' bard ! How's my favorite string plucker? (Hic!) You have trouble getting into the city? Heard the guards have been cracking down on security."
"No, but what's going on? The city seems to be in a state of panic."
"Fuck yeah it is! What you didn't hear?"
"No. What happened?"
"Fuckin' undead happened my pig farming friend! A whole shitload of them took over the the city of Nuro! Can you believe it? Fuckin' Nuro! That place was supposed to be unconquerable! Heh! (Burp!)" Dimitri says without the slightest bit of worry.
"UNDEAD?! What the fuck? Nuro!? How?!"
"Fuck if I know, guess some rogue wizards got hooked up in that necromancy shit hardcore. Musta been some demonologists there too since we heard reports of demons too. Not the supposedly civilized type either, they're the rip off your head and shit down your neck kind."
"…there's fuckin' rogue demons in Nuro too?"
"Of course not, they all escaped and are now running around in the countryside, heard they're heading for the Tulan Kingdom." Dimitri says taking another drink.

You're having a hard time digesting all this yet the rest of your comrades are still drinking and partying like nothing is wrong. Your Dad had once told you tales of a being called the Great Lich Lord that existed many centuries ago who nearly killed the world. Scared the hell out of you then and it doesn't make you feel too good now.

"Isn't this concerning to you?"
"What? Shit no! Just means more work for us and that also means more loot! Ha ha! You could get more loot to buy a new lute! Ha ha ha! (Hic!)"
"But this is the fuckin' undead! I mean…"
"So? Stop bein a pussy! I've fought some undead before, when I was lootin' a dwarven tomb. You just chop their heads off like everything else, shit ain't that hard. They just tend to smell worse…well maybe not worse than trolls. Anyway I'm sure the fucking governments will take care of this shit as quick as possible, you know how politicians don't like dead taxpayers, in the meantime we need to take advantage now while the conflict is hot!"

No sooner has Dimitri said this little bit of wisdom, when the Boss steps in the doorway. He's as nasty looking as always, but this time he looks even moreso than usual.

"Alright you useless sacks of goblin shit. We got a new job. This one just came across rather unexpectedly. Ran into a Dwarven representative and we're now in the employ of a Dwarven Clan, near the southern Tulan Borders. With the occurrence of this Nuro incident, they're expecting some shit to spill over into their lands and they want some extra help. This is pretty surprising since Dwarves aren't known to pay for mercenaries, let alone the likes of us." The Boss tell you all.
"The Tulan Border? Oh fuck that place is a meat grinder! There's no profit to be had anywhere near there!" Cal pipes up.
"Well you can just pick up your panties and get your pansy ass back home and stay there then! The dwarves are paying well and that's the job. Take it or get the fuck outta my company!"
"Excuse me Captain, but weren't there reports of demons running through that area?" you ask.
"Yeah so? That's why we're going over there most likely, but be fucking prepared for any damn thing. Maybe even undead…who knows if my…if those necromancer bastards started spreading their plague yet. We leave tomorrow."

You think on this fucked up situation and seriously reconsidering your career choice.

You leave the mercenary company

Nope, you're not doing this. This is suicide in your opinion. You have no idea what to expect and it sound a lot more dangerous than anything you've ever faced.

Instead of leaving with them the next day, you go back home. You don't worry about anyone coming after you, but you know you won't be welcomed back into the company again, and you wouldn't want to anyway.

When you get back home, your family and mom in particular ask what happened, you explain it and say you don't want any part of that life. You apologize that you couldn't go through with it, but your mom looks more relieved than anything.

"Well son, I'm just as glad you didn't go get yourself killed over there anyway. You'll be helping us out plenty just by working on the farm like always."

You're glad to hear that. Over the next couple days you fall back into routine again. You still wonder about the future though and you briefly consider the army plan again, but given your short lived experience with mercenary "life" you don't think you're cut out with battle on a regular basis. Plus the Zalan Empire is currently on heightened alert and battle ready status with this Nuro Incident and all.

You resign yourself to the farm life. You play your lute to yourself (and family) when you have the time to do so. It's a simple life.

Two years pass and things have gotten worse. The Necromancer Lord (as he's become to be known) has expanded, even to the point of taking over the Brot Kingdom. The Tulan Kingdom has been totally conquered by a demon army. A Grand Alliance of nations has been formed, but so far they don't seem to be making much progress.

Meanwhile life on the farm is a little harder. Your youngest sister Makana becomes gravely ill during the winter months, but there's not enough money to pay for a healer and most of the clerics have been summoned to battle with the undead or demon hordes. Sadly she dies making the overall mood of the farm a little more depressing. You don't even play anymore, your enthusiasm for music died along with the grim realities setting in.

Another three years pass and things are down right miserable. War is everywhere. The Demons have been taken care of, (You heard your former mercenary captain died in battle with their leader Velzix) but the undead are stronger than ever. Reports even speak of the Necromancer Lord becoming The Great Lich Lord "reborn".

To make things worse, the Zalan Empire has been becoming increasingly tyrannical. In order to help with the war effort they've started bringing back the draft and the talk of ceasing private property to be used for the good of the government. While they say owners will be able to live and still work on their lands and businesses, it will be owned by the Empire.

You know it's only a matter of time when you get a knock on the door by Zalan army troops coming to take you and your brother Mallack away to the army and your family's farm.

Another two year pass….

You're on the eve of battle in a land known as the Garwold Confederacy although it's steadily becoming a giant graveyard now. The undead hordes have been sweeping relentlessly across the entire landscape. Your own company has had to fall back several times. Morale is low. Not that yours was high to begin with. You don't even know how you've survived this long. While you had some battle experience during your time with the mercenary company, it still hasn't prepared you for the horrors you've seen. The undead…you'll never get used to fighting such emotionless creatures that are the embodiment of death and all that's unnatural.

You briefly wonder if your brother Mallack is alright where he's stationed, but it hardly matters at this point.

Battle comes as it always does and you are not so lucky this time. Horrible and powerful creatures known as Blood Specters and Death Knights utterly destroy your side.

You fall to undead blades and chilling touches only rise up and join them in their goal of global genocide.