Necropalypse: The River of Souls

"Such a good job, my presence is clearly just frightening away anything that could physical harm you." The bounty hunter said, chuckling.

"Off we go." Rol follow Val closely.

"Clearly. I mean just look at you. One of the most frightening men on the continent. After seeing the things you did to the general's brother during that interogation even I am intimidated. Absolutely terrifying." She says with a giggle.


"What I meant was that you

1) have not fallen asleep on the job. Which even I sometimes find difficult.
2)Have not crashed a vehicle into the castle. Because you'll do that in another RP.
So yes, a good job so far."


The Empress sat back down on her chair. Just as she got comfortable her servant announced her guests who had just arrived.
"Round two. Here we go."

First was Aevin Querter, the headmaster of the nearby Blackshroud University of magic. The man was old, probably in his eighties but he still seemed healthy. His head was bald and his white beard was quite long.
He carried a long staff made out of Angelic metal with a golden snake twisted around the top.

Behind him came Kaela Verma, leader of the local warriors guild. Her heavy silver armor did not seem to slow her down as she walked up to the table. Her long raven hair was tied up in a pony tail that swayed back and forward. She didn't carry a weapon.

And lastly came a man wearing golden robes and a crown on his head, Berk Volstarg. Self proclaimed king of Derden. He claimed to be descendant from an ancient royal family that ruled before the Blackshroud empire (Now the Valkyrean empire) existed. Which would make him one of the last human royals to survive.
Most people didn't believe this however as the evidence he has is sketchy at best. But he does have some followers it seems.


"Greetings. Please sit." Valkyria gestured to her guests to sit and they did.

"A force to be reckoned with." THe bounty hunter laughed.

"Those are in fact, things i'd do so this is new for me."


Rol looked at the guest who had entered, curious is any of them were familiar. They weren't. Not that he'd remember anyways.

Val spent a while explaining the situation in detail to her guests. Leaving out her brother and the fact that the source of the river of souls was underneath the castle.
She then asked these people for their help just like she did with the others.

Kaela Verma nodded. "You can count on the warriors guild your highness. We will help you protect this continent."

"Thank you."

The old mage spoke next. "The Blackshroud university knows the situation is dire. And we will gladly help stop this from escalating. However, we would prefer more information about your plan to end this."

"Thank you. Your support is greatly appreciated. Unfortunatly all I can say is that the problem lies with the river of souls that was disrupted by a necromancer. And that we have a way of fixing the river. But the rest is sensitive information."
"Understood." The old man nodded.

And lastly Berk Volstag spoke. "My lady, I had heard of your beauty but the rumors do not compare to the real thing. Of course I cannot refuse to help a lovely girl like you. However my kingdom would not like it if we helped without at least some reward of sorts."



"First of all, it's your Highness, not Lady. Second, your attempts at flattery would be more succesfull if they were not worded so offensively. And lastly, your "kingdom" should consider the fact that those undead are a threat to them as well. Your reward woud be survival."




"I..Ah.. My apologies my la-Your Highness. Maybe a reward is indeed too much to ask. Nevertheless my advisors told me it would be unwise to agree to help without asking for something in return."



"Tell your advisors they're part of a "kingdom" not a mercenary group. I won't pay you for a few soldiers 'king" Volstag."




"Oh no no no! I wasn't asking for gold. Like you said I'm a king not a mercenary. I'll just say it, We're both royalty. Probably the last human royals left. What I'm trying to say is.. My kingdom will help you if You and I get married and our kingdoms become one."



"...What."

Rol with hit simultaneously with a mix of anger and amusement, but decided to focus on the latter because he much more familiar with it. The bounty hunter laughed loudly before eventually calming down. 

"If I may input my own humble opinion." He continued not waiting for permission. "Right now we're in a crisis, one that directly affects this empire, but will quickly and easily spread like wildfire to other kingdoms, such as your own. I'm not too sure where your advisers get the idea an extra incentive other than the world not ending is required." 


Rol sighed. "Also offering service in exchange for a 'reward' in a critical period when the other party does not have much choice smells of exploitation and black-mail, but i'm sure a king would never stoop that low." 


The bounty hunter essentially repeated things Val had already said, hopefully to ensure clarity and keeping the likely confounded Val on the right track.

King Volstarg raised an eyebrow. "And who are you exactly?"

Val answered before Rol could. "You have your advisors, this is mine. He's also right. Stopping the undead from ending the world should be its own incentive. And you asking for a reward does smell very much like blackmail. As do you, except that's not blackmail I'm smelling.. eww."

Volstarg looked shocked. "Well  if he's your advisor he should learn to not talk like that to royalty. Where did you find such a rude.."
"That's the thing, he already knows not to talk to royalty like that. He doesn't talk to me like that and I'm the only confirmed royalty in the room."


"What did y"


"I'm saying that your claim is weak. I've looked at your so called proof of lineage and to me it's not very convincing. My father made me study all the old kingdoms  so I would know these things."

"But"


"And there is no way I can marry someone with such a weak claim of royalty."


"You dare insult me like this while asking for my help? Who do you think I am?"


"I just said who I think you are, a fraud. And if you don't feel like helping don't expect me to come rushing to your defense when the undead come knocking at your doors. Or any other time in the future. Thanks to the headmaster and the warriors guild and some others I have enough allies that I won't be needing your help afterall."


"Then why did you ask me to come here anyway?"


"I was hoping the rumors of you didn't compare to the real thing. Unfortunatly the rumors are true, you are indeed an asshole. I also called you here because I wasn't sure I would get as much help as I did."


"You female dog!"


"Rol, escort this asshole man outside. His presence is no longer required."


"What? You can't do this!"


"I'm pretty sure I can." She nods to Rol to go ahead and drag the fraud king's ass outta here.

"Aye."

Rol walked towards Volgag. 

"As happy as I would be to simply drag you out of here, i'll have the courtesy to ask if you'll walk?"


The bounty hunter looked at the 'king' in question. "But if you'd prefer." shadow tendrils formed at Rol's feet and slowly crawled up his body. "Dragging can be done."

"You will regret this!" Berk scoffs. The 'king' turns around and walks away. Reluctantly letting Rol escort him out the front gates.

Val thinks to herself. "At least he's right about one thing. I already regret this. Regret inviting him at all that is.""


When Rol returns he sees the two remaining guests bowing to the Empress before also taking their leave. When they are out of the room Val releases a deep sigh. "Thanks for backing me up back there."


"I'm almost tempted to go and take a nap. And have all the next guests be in one big meeting. But I don't know if I can handle that amount of bullshit and chaos in one go." 
This whole ordeal was visibly taking a toll on Val. She looked like she hadn't slept for days.

"Well, what was was I to do? Side with Volgag?"

Rol looked at the empress quizzically, before chuckling.

"No worries. I have your back."

The bounty hunter looked at the exhausted Val. "I wish I could say go for it, you look like death. Hmm.. That has a different meaning when I'm talking to you doesn't it. Oops. But gotta go strong, we're in crisis mode."

She laughs. "Ha, no. I'm just not used to not having to do this alone."
Valkyria smiles. "Still, Thank you."

The Empress chuckles and sighs. "Yeah,  I'm one of the few people that knows Death was actually a beautifull woman. So I take it as a compliment." 
She takes a deep breath before telling her servant to let the next batch of guests in.

---

Four hours later the last guests for the day finally leave. The empress and Rol retreat back to the small room behind the dining hall. Reganya is sitting there, apparently waiting.

She gets up and bows to the empress. "Your highness."
Val waves her hand. "No need to do that. You're like family dear."
Reganya just sighs silently, having given up on protesting the Empress shiping her with her brother.
"Any progress?"

"Ren's here, oh shoot. I missed my window of opportunity to seduce Val."

Rol moved his arm in an aww shucks motion and then sat down, presumably on a chair.

"I've found out that your brother is reliving certain memories over and over. But I haven't found the cause."


"What kind of memories?"


"The first was a man who I assume was his adoptive father being angry at the kid and threatening to give him to the witch hunters or something."


"Why witch hunters?"


"Apparently he discovered he had some sort of magic powers. He called him a freak and such."


"I guess this was back when the Order of light was still active."

Reganya nods. "The second was him being ambushed and killed by bandits. The third was when Death found him and turned him into a reaper. And then finally there was a memory of him failing to complete his training."

"It seems my brother had a hard life. No wonder he has issues.. the poor kid."


"I've tried intervening but no matter what I do they always end the same. I have no clue how to get him out of that loop. I can't even find out what's causing it."

"Make out with him."

Rol said.

"The power of love prevails."

"If I had eyes they'd be glaring at you right now."

"It's crazy enough to work though. Doesn't hurt to try."


"I'm not making out with him."


"But you must! The fate of this ship depends on it!.. I mean the fate of this world. Yes.. Thats what I meant."

Reganya sighs. " Unfortunatly for the world I don't have a mouth. So making out isn't possible."

"Improvise?" Val suggested.

"...Can we please try to think of some serious ideas here."


"I thought we were being serious." Val shrugged.

Reganya responded with an audible lack-of-facepalm.



"I guess you could always try to posses him and alter his behavior? Make him stand up to his adoptive father? Fight the bandits? Master the training?"


"Possessing him inside his own memories while possessing his sleeping body? That sounds confusing.. But it might work."


"And if it doesn't you can always still make out!"

"..." Reganya shakes her head disapprovingly before walking out the room without a word. Presumably to go and try waking up Doomy again. That or she decided it wasn't worth the painfull shipping and got the fuck out of there. Probably the former, hopefully.
Reganya come back! The RP isn' over yet!

Once the faceless woman was out of the room, Val turned to Rol. "So, what was that about a missed window of opportunity to seduce me?"

"Go Reathy." Cheered Rol as Ren left.

"Missed window? Oh, right. Well that's pretty self-explanatory."

"I was very subtly implying that another window of opportunity opened up when she left. But you missed it again." Val shrugs before walking to the door. "I really need to rest anyway. Hopefully you'll have more luck with those windows tomorow." She winks before leaving the room, presumably off to bed.


Meanwhile Reganya walks into Doomy's room. "Alright lets try this again."
She sits down next to him on the bed and lays her hand on his forehead. Her hand slowly melts into him and soon the rest of her follows. She enters his dream loop once more.
The darkness fades and she is once again standing outside the farm. The yelling has already started. She takes a deep breath and walks towards the barn.

A young Doomy cowers in fear as his adoptive father looms over him yelling insults at the young boy once more. The old man notices Reganya. "What the hell?! Did you summon a demon, boy? What are you crazy? Unsummon it immediatly!"
"I.. I didn't.."
"Stand back foul demon!" The old man grabbed a pitchfork and pointed it at Reganya.
But she ignored him and walked right past him towards the young Doomy. The raven haired kid was shaking in fear.
"Shh, it's okay." Reganya put her hand on his head softly and entered his mind inside his mind. (Inception!)


"What the hell just happened!" The old man yelled.
Young Doomy opened his eyes again. The eyes were glowing red.
The old man tried to stab him with the pitchfork. "Die Monster!"
"I am no monster You are." The yound Doomy grabbed the pitchfork and stopped it. "I WAS JUST A KID!!" Doomy yells and the pitchfork snaps in half.
The old man falls backward and tries to crawl away. "Stay back you you.."

Darkness.
---

The next morning Rol is woken up by one of the empress her servants. "The Empress asked me to come get you for breakfast."  The maid bows before leaving the room so Rol can get ready.

"I'm going to pretend that I knew you really needed sleep and that I did not miss any windows at all, nope. none."


Rol waved to the empress as she left before heading to his own guest quarters.

"Thanks champ." The bounty hunter got ready, however he does that and headed to the dining hall.

When Rol arrived at the dining table he found the empress already seated, enjoying her breakfast by herself. The dress she was in was more comfortable looking than anything she'd worn in the previous days. Although still in the same shade of red and as elegant as it should be for an Empress. She smiled and waved when she saw Rol walk in.


"Good morning." The nights rest seemed to have done her well. She looked much less tired than the day before. Her purple colored eyes were no longer struggling to stay open. "How did you sleep?" She asked as Rol reached the dinning table.

-----

Meanwhile Reganya was still inside Doomy while inside Doomy's mind.
After standing up to his adoptive father he was now walking through a crowded city. The sun was setting and he was some sausage he had managed to steal. Living on the streets by himself forced him to steal regularly it was that or starve to death.
Suddenly a cat jumped out and snatched his food out of his mouth. "Hey!" He shouted and ran after it into a alleyway.
He bumped into someone. And before he realized it he was surrounded by a gang of older boys.
They drew knives.

"You look a lot better this morning." Rol said before answering the Empress' question. "I slept like a baby. As usual."

The bounty hunter yawned. "so what's on today's agenda?"

"Yeah, a good night's sleep can do wonders." Val nods. "Good, then we're both ready for whatever happens today."
She takes a bite from an apple. "Well more of the same unfortunatly. I have about ten more guests coming today. Mostly for planning our steps to protect the villages. But they won't arrive untill the afternoon. For now I was thinking we could go see our old friend in the dungeon." She refered to the generals brother who I still haven't named.


"But not on an empty stomache." She said as she gestured for Rol to sit down next to her and join her for breakfast.
A soft breeze entered the room as a window flew open.

"An open window what obvious symbolism. But for sure, let's eat."

the bounty hunter sat down to the seat Val gestured towards.

"what's good?"

(What are you talking about my symbolism is very subtle! /sarcasm)

"Bacon." Val answered with a serious expression which she held for a few seconds before laughing. "Pretty much anything on the table but thats just my opinion. Which is biased since if I didn't like something why would I have my servants make it?
But in all seriousness. The bacon IS good. But so is the rest."


(I'm not describing random foods again just pretend whatever Rol wants to eat is there.)


"Back to the subject of our friend in my dungeons, I think he deserves to know his brother is dead. But I'm having trouble deciding how much I should tell him. If I tell him I trapped him in a town with a horde of undead he won't like that. And he might not be willing to cooperate later when I need him to declare that his and his brothers rebellion is over. Of course he'll find out eventually anyway..."

"I'm going to eat an apple. Maybe an orange. And some cherries. Maybe make a fruit salad."

Rol said groggily. 

"I mean. Gotta do what you gotta do."

"True." Val said as she took another bite from her apple.

Suddenly a servant ran in. "Your highness two of your scouts returned and say they have important news!"

Val raised an eyebrow. "Let them in."
The servant bowed and went to get the scouts. A moment later two female scouts entered the dining hall. They kneeled. "Your highness we bring news."
"You were with the scouts I sent to keep an eye on the horde that killed the general. Why are you here, your mission was to keep an eye on them at all times."


"Yes. But they have started marching this way."
"You could still have sent a message for that... Wait marching? You meant they were moving in this direction, right? Undead hordes don't march."


"These ones do, your highness."

"What?"
"They are being led into formations, holding weapons and charging villages as if they were soldiers. The general seems to be leading them. "
"How? That doesn't make sense."
"He seems to have retained some intelligence even though he's very much undead."
"And he's marching straight towards us?"
"Yes."
"Thank you for your report. You can go for now."
The scouts bowed and left the room.

Val sat in silence for a moment, thinking.
"Our entire plan just got fucked.."

"That is definitely a huge roadblock and cockblock in all plans."

Rol had just finished mixing fruit salad.

"So, how do we deal with this one, miss empress."


Rol reloaded Pew and Pew ensuring some level of preparedness.