Heather the Necromancer

The rooftops went by as Heather and her girls flew over the city, their wings spread wide. People below called up and waved as Heather found herself a whole new sense of celebrity. The fear of admitting who she was and what she wanted was gone. Now she was the brave princess who stood in the face of controversy and refused to be bullied.

Whenever they landed, people gathered to congratulate them on their engagement and encourage them in their struggles. Several people even asked if they were interested in more girls, offering themselves as candidates.

Heather wasn’t used to being so popular, particularly with the men. Boys were all to eager to talk to her, their eyes taking in her devilish seductions. She did her best to make it clear that she and the other belonged solely to Frank, but thanked them for their kind words. They then flew about the festival, putting in appearances all across the city, and even stopping to drink a beer and have a pretzel.

“These are really good,” Quinny said as she nibbled a pretzel. “Whose idea was this?”

“Franks,” Heather replied as she tried one with mustard. “Who know the boy had beer garden experience?”

“Our husband wasn’t popular with girls, but I think that spawned a great deal of creativity,” Breanne suggested.

“He seems good with women to me,” Umtha interjected.

“Oh, he’s gotten much better,” Heather replied. “I suspect it’s sharing a bed with four women every night.”

“And he flirts with Viylah,” Quinny added. “I think he likes her.”

“I hope not,” Umtha said sourly. “I don’t trust her.”

“None of us trust her,” Breanne agreed. “And we should talk with our husband about that if we suspect he is getting to close to her.”

“I don’t see anything wrong with her,” Heather disagreed. “But I don’t want her to ever see my pure Hathlisora appearance. I already have a lost lover looking to reconnect.” She smiled at Umtha with that comment and used her tail to rub the woman’s back. They smiled over their drinks when Quinny cried out and jumped up, cupping her rear.

“Hey, hands off!” Quinny said to a muscular man who had a moment ago had a firm hold of her tail.

“So, a whole harem of sexy succubi,” the man said as he put a foot up on the table to lean over them. “I would like to offer my services to keeping you all satisfied.”

“What?” Heather balked as she stood up. “Didn’t you hear my speech? I made it clear that Frank is the only man in our relationship. We are his wives, and his harem.”

The man laughed and raised his arms, flexing his powerful muscles.

“Surely such fine ladies have other hungers,” he said. “Variety is the spice of life after all.”

“Oh, please,” Heather groaned dismissively. “Go away before I have do something to make you go away. We are trying to enjoy the festival and meet people.”

“We have met,” the man said as he bent an arm to show his muscles bulge. “Go ahead and feel that. It’s like stone.”

Heather smiled and reached a hand out, placing it firmly over his arm. She then grinned wickedly as she used her inherrited ghoul draining touch to begin siphoning away the man’s strength.

“Hey, what are you doing?” he cried and tried to pull away as Heather gripped more tightly.

“What’s the matter?” Heather asked. “Surely a big strong man like you can pull away from a little girl like me? Besides, didn’t you say you wanted our attention?”

“I was just being friendly,” he insisted and used his free hand to try and pry her off. She let him go, allowing him to fall away before urging her girls to get up.

“I don’t blame you for being so rude, but next time we tell Frank and you can test those muscles on the war machine that is our husband,” Heather said before spreading her wings to fly off. She heard people complain at the man that he drove off the girls before they could meet them. Heather smiled to know he would have a bad public for a while.

“I can’t believe he just grabbed my tail,” Quinny said as she curled it over her arm.

“It’s happened to me too,” Heather said. “Breanne warned me that playing this race was basically an open invitation for men to approach us. I guess she is right.”

“Of course I am,” Breanne said as they landed on a slate roof and looked over the streets.

“It’s neat to watch the city from above like this,” Quinny said. “I love being a succubus.”

“This is rather fun,” Breanne agreed. “Flying like this exhilarating.”

“So what do we do now?” Quinny asked. “It’s all out in the open. Where do we go from here?”

“We play,” Heather said as she put an arm around Quinny. “With our family, and with our subjects. This is our kingdom now, Princess Quinny, and we are going to enjoy it.”

“And you don’t plan to dig into this lost past of yours anymore?” Breanne asked.

“Of course I will dig a little,” Heather replied. “I can’t just ignore what I know, especially after the dream incident. But I don’t want to be defined by it anymore. I want to be defined by who I am now, and that past will be a morbid curiosity.”

“A good answer,” Breanne said approvingly.

“I like it as well,” a man’s voice said, causing the women to jump in fright. They whirled around to see the smiling dark haired Santos, the leader of the local rogues guild.

“Santos, you scared the life out of me,” Heather panted. “How did you get up here anyway?”

“How did a rogue scale a wall?” Santos asked with a raised brow. “You have never played a rogue have you?”

“I haven’t played a lot of things,” Heather grumbled.

“Well, I just wanted to let you know that Moon has been located again,” he said. “She was present for your little speech and according to my agents took your story rather badly.”

“Moon heard that?” Breanne said excitedly. “She must be furious.”

“She fled the city almost immediately after Hannah said she had reset,” Santos said.

“How did we not know she was here in the first place?” Heather asked.

“She was using a disguise,” Santos replied. “It was one of Queen Gwen’s rogue hunters who sniffed her out, and alerted us to her presence. Of course we knew she was coming because she made discreet inquiries of a guild in a neighboring region. They sent us a message that she was trying to acquire potions of disguise. We tipped of the rogue hunter and she ran down Moon and started following her.”

“So she’s convinced you’re reset,” Quinny said. “This is perfect, she will spread that to all her agents and they will give up.”

“Which is exactly what she wanted,” Breanne agreed. “It looks as if your plan has worked.”

“I almost can’t believe it,” Heather said. “This day can’t possibly get any better.”

“Well, ladies, I just wanted to share the good news,” Santos said with a bow before vanishing before their eyes.

“How do rogues do that?” Heather cried.

“It’s their hide ability,” Quinny said.

“It doesn’t make any sense,” Heather protested. “You can’t just hide in thin air. It isn’t even a magical power.”

“It’s all part of the fun of the world,” Breanne laughed. “Now, what are we going to do next?”

“Well, I never got one of those burgers from the beach,” Heather said as she pondered it.

“I want to try some goblin food,” Quinny urged. “Umtha has vendors all over the goblin quarter.”

Heather felt a pang of dread to think of what goblin food might be like. She was going to protest but the looks in Quinny and Umtha’s eyes made her relent.

“Alright,” she said, trying to sound happy. “Let’s fly over their.”

They jumped from the roof and heard people call up as they flew across the city. A few minutes later they were over the goblin quarter, looking down on buildings that were stone and metal with windmills and smoking chimneys. It had a very industrial look to it as players walked the streets checking on street side vendors.

“It’s the princess!” a woman cried as Heather and the others touched down in a clear area.

“Hey!” Heather said with a wave as a crowd turned to stare. “I hope you are enjoying the festival. We just wanted to stop in and see what the goblins had to eat.”

People crowded around praising them for their dance and in particular their uniting as a family. Heather was touched how supportive people were being, and how they loved her city. She and the others spoke to the people for a few minutes before asking for advice on where to get the best food in the goblin quarter. She was universally sent down Steam vent lane, to a building called the rusted grill. It had a metal facade that was created to resemble a sort of fanged oven. Inside, a dozen people sat at tables whose height could be adjusted and the air was filled with the scent of meats cooking.

“This smells wonderful,” Breanne said with a hint of surprise. “What are they cooking?”

“We call it condash,” Umtha said. “I have no idea what you would call it, but it’s thinly sliced meat over bread.”

“Well, let’s get some condash,” Heather suggested as they waded in, getting a few whistles from some of the patrons.

“I suppose we need to get used to that,” Breanne sighed.

“Funny how walking around in your underwear draws attention,” Heather agreed. “I am surprised nobody has brought up seeing us topless the other night.”

“I am sure that will happen eventually,” Breanne said as they sat at a table. They waited for their serving girl to arrive and looked at a nearby table that had already been served. Heather saw thin slices of a dark meat piled over round flat bread and topped with what appeared to be lettice and a sauce.

“Wait, are these gyros?” Heather asked.

“I don’t know what that is,” Umtha replied.

“They sure look like them,” Breanne agreed as she studied the nearby table. “But looks can be deceiving.”

Heather agreed but decided they needed to try them anyway and ordered one for each of them. When they arrived the girls were quick to fold them up, making Umtha look at them strangely.

“You tear the bread off in little hunks,” Umtha said as Heather ignored her and took a bite of her sandwhich.

“Alright,” Heather replied as she chewed. “The sauce is wrong, the meat a little different, but it still tastes good.”

“It’s really good,” Quinny agreed. “We need to bring Frank here.”

“We should,” Heather said and took another bite.

“These would be better with french fries,” Breanne suggested. “But it is still good on its own.”

“You’re not eating it right,” Umtha insisted and demonstrated by tearing a little triangle of bread and meat away to eat in one bite.

“Trust me, this is eating it right from where we come from,” Heather laughed.

“You humans are strange,” Umtha replied but then rolled the bread up and tried it their way. “But this works too, I guess.”

They washed down their meals with a goblin drink called Murin, that tasted a bit like an energy drink. Quinny loved it but said she enjoyed sharing a glitter bomb with Heather more. Umtha said she wanted to share a glitter bomb with Heather and Breanne laughed, saying she would have to share one too. Heather suggested Breanne fly off to collect Frank and meet them in an hour at Rajeen’s place.

The girls parted and Heather flew through the air holding hands with Quinny and Umtha. A woman with feathered wings flew up to greet them and asked if they had room in their harem for one more. Heather had to politely decline her offer, saying she had no more collars to give. Besides it really wasn’t up to her as those decisions were made by Frank. The woman thanked them anyway and flew off but was quickly replaced by a short man on a flying disc. He greeted them heartily, and said he loved the city before buzzing off on his own adventures.

Heather took them to a few more sights before flying back to the palace. The water slide had a massive line and they hurried inside as people waved in greetings.

“We are so popular now,” Quinny said.

“We are the recognized heads of the city,” Breanne replied. “And Frank and Hannah have gained celebrity status. People think of Hannah as a tragic victim of another players greed and Frank the eternal hero for doing the painful task of fixing it.”

“What about us?” Quinny asked. “I feel left out.”

“Oh, Quinny,” Heather sighed as they passed down the grand hall heading for the magic doorway. “People will come to learn you are just as special.”

“Indeed,” Breanne said. “Honestly I am not so sure I want the attention.”

“I didn’t want it either but this was the best…” Heather paused in her reply and stopped just outside the magic doorway as a conversation was heard in side.

“Why did we stop?” Quinny asked.

“Shhh,” Heather said and waved the three closer. Just outside the door a conversation was taking place that appeared to involve Frank, Breanne, and Roric’s family. However, their was a new voice among them, talking in an almost excited tone about how excited she was to meet Frank.

“Who is that woman?” Quinny whispered.

“I don’t know, but she seems very fond of our husband,” Heather said as they listened to the woman explain herself in a voice that trembled. She told Frank that she had come to new Eden with the epress goal of playing with necromancers and their undead.

“Did he tell somebody about your secret?” Umtha whispered.

“I hope not,” Heather replied in alarm. “We just buried that problem.”

“I had no idea they were banned, and anyone remotely like them was looked on with suspicion. It has made my life here exceptionally challenging,” the unseen woman said.

“Well, you don’t have to worry about that here,” Breanne said. “I am actually a banshee, and one of Frank’s wives is a zombie. We are a family of undead and monster players.”

“There are more undead players here?” Idris said in surprise.

“Several more,” Frank said. “We don’t discriminate over monster players either. They are welcome in our lands and cities with open arms. We encourage them to build lairs and adventures so everyone can have fun and level together.”

“I had no idea such a place existed,” Idris replied enthusiastically. “I am so glad to meet you.”

“Frank doesn’t seem to be bothered by her,” Quinny said softly as she crept to the door. “Peek in and see who she is.”

“What if they see me?” Heather asked.

“Turn invisible, spider rogue,” Quinny teased.

Heather nodded and faded from sight, using her devilish power to become invisible. She then peeked into the hall to see Breanne on Frank’s arm as they spoke with a very unusual woman. She appeared human but with almost white skin, and dark eyes that hinted at purple. Her hair flowed in a long silky sweep to her waist and started out jet black but halfway down it blended into a metallic purple. Other than that she appeared perfectly normal and was wearing a dress Heather was sure she had seen Chandice wear.

All of Roric’s family was present and Gisley seemed to be clutching something to her chest. Heather focused on the small lizard like creature that had a pair of bat like wings and a long slender neck.

“Who is it?” Umtha asked.

“I have no idea,” Heather whispered. “It’s a pale woman and Gisley seems to be holding some kind of toy dragon.”

“A prize from the fair?” Quinny offered.

“Did we offer pet dragons as prizes?” Heather asked as Breanne spoke and asked the woman why she wanted to play with necromancers. The woman said she liked gothic horror games and always played undead or undead summoning classes. She spoke excitedly about how she spent days looking through the character builder when New Eden opened, finally settling on a priestess of death.

“She’s a divine necromancer,” Quinny whispered. “She’s as close to you as anyone can get without being outright arrested.”

“She is,” Heather agreed as the woman explained that she had the power to bless and bolster the undead, turning even weak skeletons into stronger foes. For that reason she had assumed she would make an amazing partner for a necromancer but her dreams would never come true.

Heather felt a twist of anguish to hear somebody else was suffering for their choices. Thanks to the stupid laws forbidding the necromancer class this poor woman’s entire plan was ruined. Worse, she had already mentioned that she was treated poorly because of her close association to the class. She decided that now was the best time to suddenly arrive, and let her invisibility go as she pretended to just enter the hall.

“That’s an interesting dream,” she said and locked eyes with the woman who was startled by her sudden appearance. Quinny, and Umtha followed her in, their tails locked in a twist as they saw the women for the first time.

“There are more succubi here?” the woman asked in amazement.

Jaina laughed and explained that they were all part of Frank’s harem. Heather thought it was funny that Jaina thought it better to introduce Heather as a slave girl, instead of a princess. She used her tail to give Jaina’s rear a good swat as she went by, and earned a comment about being naughty.

“I am glad you are all here,” Roric said. “We planned to do this later when our guest had some time to recover but we may as well do it now. Frank and family, I would like you to meet Idris.”

Heather was surprised to learn this was the woman that Roric had been searching for. Roric then introduced Frank, Heather and the rest of their family, being more careful to label them as Prince and Princess. Idris trembled as she bowed slightly to the two before Roric explained that all of them planned to marry and would soon be one large family. This seemed to confuse Idris so Jaina filled in important details about how they were all his wives and enjoyed playing as his slave girls. She also explained how they were also the king and twin queens of the goblins, but didn’t use those formal titles, preferring to be prince and princess.

“We should introduce you to our other new friend,” Roric added and motioned Gisley forward who held out the toy dragon whose scales glistened with ever changing colors.

“This is Zillix,” Gisley said. “He is a pseudo dragon and a friend of Idris.”

“He’s so small,” Quinny said as she reached out to pet him. He was suddenly surrounded by the two women who trapped him between them and lavished him with attention.

“I hope you will forgive me if I forget some of how your family is organized,” Idris begged.

“Oh, don’t worry about it. We really do have a complicated family structure,” Heather said as she watched Quinny and Gisley practically crush the poor dragon between their chests.

“And I am very glad to finally met you, Idris. I, umm, sort of made a mess of our last recovery attempt.”

“It wasn’t your fault,” Frank insisted.

“I still got spanked for it,” Heather countered as she thought back to the surprising punishment for boosting her seduction powers. “Or did you just do that to enjoy yourself?”

“I thought you needed a good spanking,” Frank replied with a shrug as the others giggled. Heather gave him a smirk and settled into his free arm as Umtha stood beside her so she could be wrapped in Heather’s tail.

“How did you ever find so many succubi to be your wives?” Idris asked in amazement as she looked at Frank.

“Oh, were not all succubi,” Heather replied, explaining how she was a Lilim, and the rest were her collared slaves. One of her powers allowed her to turn her slave girls into succubi, so they were enjoying the perks for a while.

“We all wanted to experience what it was like to fly, and it’s our fun little game to tease the citizens of the city,” Heather admitted.

“Ah, that explains why she said she was a banshee,” Idris agreed with a nod. “I can't believe so many undead players have homes here, and they even rule the land. It's the home I was searching for.”

Chandice chimed in that this was the perfect place for her and then brought up an interesting fact about Idris. She wanted to build a small village as part of an adventure to protect the village from undead raids. Idris was more than excited to talk about it and soon Frank was engrossed in the idea of players trying to save the town.

“We have lost our husband,” Umtha whispered.

“He’s found another builder with dreams of crafting an undead adventure,” Heather whispered back. “He doesn’t need us anymore.”

Umtha giggled as Quinny joined the conversation with Frank and Idris, suggesting she could build the village on the crossroads at the edge of her forest. That would place her close to both Finneous’s town and to Lydia’s dark province and continue the undead theme across. Frank readily agreed to the idea, saying how the traffic to Quinny’s forest would naturally flow through the village. Jaina put an arm around Idris and told her she was home. She then explained how Quinny’s forest was a haunted wonderland full of special events.

“Special events?” Idris asked.

“I like to do fun themed things for holidays,” Quinny admitted.

“Will she be far away from the tree?” asked a soft voice as Heather turned to regard the little dragon. Somehow he looked upset as his glowing eyes settled on Idris.

“What tree?” Heather asked as she wondered what could possibly have upset the little creature. Zillix explained that he was going to live in the giant tree that was Chandice’s magic shop. He was worried that Idris would be gone and he would be all alone again. Evalynn stepped in, promising the little dragon that they would craft a forest portal for him to use. She winked as Quinny and explained that Zillix and Idris were good friends and didn’t want to be parted. Quinny readily agreed to create a door on the edge of her forest for them to use, and the dragon immediately brightened up. It was a touching moment as Heather could clearly see how much Idris meant to the little dragon. She wondered why they were so close but put it out of her mind as Rajeen suggested they go to the inn for drinks.

“So where did you run off to?” Heather asked as she walked beside Frank’s towering ghoul frame.

“I can’t fly, so I went to Blackbast’s temple to talk to her,” he replied. “I wanted to make sure she wasn’t upset about not being annonced as a future wife.”

“I asked her if she wanted to be presented, but she said no,” Heather replied. “She insisted she wanted to remain in the shadows as a secret lover.”

“I think she wants out of the relationship,” Frank said rather bluntly.

“What makes you think that?” Heather asked.

“She hides in her temple most of the time and is very hesitant to talk to me about it,” Frank said. “I think she worries what she does will upset me. She was shocked that I was in her temple as if she was afraid I might catch her in the act.”

“Oh, I worried she might feel this way,” Heather said as they entered the busy common room of the inn. She always liked this space for its slender columns, ornate decorations and plush silk cushions. It was like a fantasy version of a harem chambers and came complete with harem girls waiting tables and prancing around with big smiles. Several of them smiled at Heather, waving and even blowing kisses as they went by. Heather waved back and even blew a kiss to a harem girl who had long red hair and smiled at them seductively.

“I like her hair,” Frank admitted.

“Frank, you like red hair,” Heather replied with a roll of her eyes as they headed for the chairs in back where they had a private space permanently reserved for their use. “If you want me to have red hair just say so. I am whatever you want me to be.”

“I do like the redhair,” he admitted as Heather used her power to change the color right before his eyes.

“Red enough for you?” she asked sweetly as they reached the chairs.

He nodded and lifted her chin with a claw, looking into her devilish eyes. She knew he loved the slits for pupils as well, and was taking her appearance in. She smiled just enough to reveal her fangs and he trembled causing her to giggle as he took his place. Instead of going to the floor, she sat in his lap, putting an arm around his back so she was facing Roric and Rajeen.

“I see the master of succubi has taken a new place,” Rajeen said in approval. “I wondered how long it would be before you took your rightful place.”

“You expected me to sit with Frank?” Heather asked in surprise.

“You are a slave master class,” Roric said. “You should be seated with us and not the girls.”

“Oh,” Heather replied and leaned back into Frank. “I could get used to this.”

“So what do we think of Idris?” Rajeen asked as they turned to reguard the woman who was even know chattering away with Quinny as they planned out every detail of her adventure. Zillix was curled in Gisley’s lap as she petted him like a cat, and Jaina, Breanne, and Evalynn sat together enjoying a drink and laughing about the dance.

“She’s scares me a little,” Heather admitted and looked to the others. “I overheard that comment about playing with a necromancer. If she asks around people are going to tell her I used to be a necromancer and that might cause her to dig deeper. I just took a huge step to put that part of my life behind me, I worry this might drag it all back out.”

“You do not have to tell her anything,” Rajeen cautioned as she leaned forward to keep her voice down. “Your secret stays secret. None of us will so much as breathe a word of it.”

“I suppose that given time maybe I will be able to trust her enough to share my secret, but not yet,” Heather said.

“I think she’s a good fit for our area,” Frank cut in. “A player who wants to build an undead adventure will go perfectly with the forest and graveyard.”

“She does seem enthusiastic,” Heather agreed. “She has that energetic charm that you have when you talk about building your graveyard. You two are a lot alike.”

“We agree,” Rajeen said as she stroked Roric’s hand.

“You agree?” Heather asked as she thought the sudden comment strange. Roric nodded and explained that though they had assumed Idris would make a home with either Rajeen or him, it was clear they were not a good fit for her. However, Frank and his harem of monster girls were a much better match, and their strong undead theme was exactly what she wanted.

“I see,” Heather said as she tapped her lips. She looked up to Frank, using her tail to tease his cheek. “So are you ready to add another girl to your harem?”

“Will you stop,” he groaned. “I don’t know what to do with the ones I have.”

“I thought that was obvious?” Heather questioned. “What else does a boy do with a harem of sexy devil girls?”

“Ha, you made an undead blush,” Rajeen laughed as Frank tried to hide his face with a hand.

“I will never understand women,” he groaned. “Maybe I need to spank you more?”

“I am sure she will love that,” Rajeen commented. “If you like, you can place her in my harem and I will see to it she is spanked twice a day.”

“Hmm, I should do that,” Frank said as he made a face like he was considering it.

“Oh, you two are hilarious,” Heather said with a roll of her eyes. “But getting back to Idris I am glad she found her way here and I hope she’s happy.”

“Judging by her current reaction to Quinny, I would say she is going to be fine,” Roric said as Zillix used small illusions to bring their plans for the adventure to life.

“This is how I always imagined it would be,” Frank said as he made an uncharacteristic sniff. “Everyone playing together and enjoying what we built.”

“Your dream is coming true,” Heather agreed as she leaned into him. “You are surrounded by women who love you, people who see you as a hero, and friends who value your company.”

“All this happened because of you,” Frank insisted.

“No,” Heather laughed and turned to sit up in his lap. “All I ever wanted was to get out of this word, but you showed me how wonderful it could be. Now all I want to do is stay with you and share in your beautiful dream. You were the one who had the dream and never gave up on it. Without you, none of this would have happened.”

“It is often said a man cannot reach his full potential without the love of a woman,” Rajeen said.

“Frank is far more than a man,” Heather said as she leaned in and kissed his cheek. “Frank is my master.”