A Conjuror's journey

The next few days pass relatively fast due to how busy you are. As the body count rises and the streets fill with corpses, you order the zombies to bring the most intact bodies to your shelter. With the sheer number of zombies you must raise and your magicka issue, you must get more varied in your methods of reanimation.

Using the corpses of the young as a shell to trap lesser Daedra such as scamps, you are able to raise many of them for a fraction of the magicka that recalling their spirit from beyond would have cost. The intact adults are fewer and farther between, but you use a less conventional method to raise them. Carving a series of concentric runic circles on the streets outside, you harness the energies released by the accumulated pain and death within the city to trap the confused and vengeful ghosts of the populace, preventing them from moving on and binding some of them to power the zombies of their contemporaries. Louise watches from the shadows of the room as the growing army of dead bodies flows into and out of the room, she finally slept after the third day.

Once the flow of the less damaged meat begins to slow, you spend the next two days directing your undead minions in sewing together mutilated bodies and skeletons into something that should be at least mobile in the worst cases. The corpses that are too damaged for proper zombies are given to the chaurus to be stripped to the bone. One patchwork monstrosity after another is assembled and resurrected through rune-work carved upon their innards or bones and powered by the pain of death. Necromancy really is a wonderful thing. With enough subjects to raise, time to work, and magicka being released by dying souls... well, you can kind of see why Potema was wiling to sacrifice her own city.

The last few intact corpses to come in are set aside for later, just in case.

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Creating a city of the dead is hard work and it took five days, but you are finally ready to begin the final assault on the island fortress. Gathering your army in the market square, you look upon the sea of flesh with pride. Two thousand zombies, almost six thousand skeletons, and who knows how many ghosts. Your Flame Atronach has also returned to you, merrily twirling in the air after unleashing so much death and destruction toward the people of the city. Even the majority of citizens that managed to flee the city will merely spread their sicknesses before dying from disease. With a flexing of will, you release the gathered spirits toward the castle to act as the first wave of your assault. "Louise, are you ready?"

"Yes Master." The girl responds grimly, sword clenched tightly in her tiny hand.

With a nod of approval at her resolve, you stride toward the bridge. Louise gives the barricade a hard stare before blasting the thing apart with a flick of her weapon. Shouts of alarm can be heard through the smoke, informing you that the men in the fort have been engaged by the spectral vanguard.

Flanked by the girl and her familiar, the three of you march at the head of your army as a few archers fire down at you, the teen casting Ice Wall at the fortress ramparts after her familiar intercepts an arrow aimed for her. Almost one hundred figures take off into the skies, launching spells and crossbow bolts toward your forces. Sending a few Lighting Bolts to knock a particularly pesky mage from his reptilian mount, you turn to your apprentice.

"Bring down the gatehouse, I'll see what I can do about those so called 'dragons'." Next time, you will need to remember to make some flying minions of your own. Without so much as a nod in reply, Louise begins bombarding the gate with explosions, stone-like expression on her face as her knees tremble.

Twirling your staff in a show of bravado, you rise into the air toward the swarming beast riders. Contemplating your options, you decide that casting an actual Blizzard large enough to engulf the entire force would cost more magicka than you could afford this early in the battle. Instead, you cast a mild Demoralize effect, not on any individual, but on the area itself. While not strong enough on it's own, the spell will continually sap the courage from those in the are of effect, including the caster. Knowing the reason for the growing fear makes it much less effective however, so you draw your blade and let out a war-cry as you fly toward the enemy.

Impaling the first dragon through the neck, you narrowly avoid getting burnt by the rider's fireball as the beast plummets to the ground with the man trapped beneath it's falling form. You are thrown through the air by an unnatural gust of wind, absorbing a trickle of magicka from the spell as you reorient yourself and strike the offending mage with a Lightning Bolt to the face. On the fringes of the aerial battle, you notice several beasts shake off their riders and flee, verifying your belief that these lizards are unrelated to the dragons of Nirn. The enemy flyers surround you in a spiraling formation as they attempt to pelt you with ice, forcing you to use your superior speed to dodge their attacks... with mixed success. Allowing the blunt hail and ice to hit in order to dodge the majority of the pointed and sharpened icicles, you lash out with Sparks in all directions.

The onslaught dies as the mages route or get cut down by your storm. Blood dripping from where an ice blade gashed open your forehead, you provide a bit of extra showmanship and laugh like a madman as you launch yourself toward the nearest rider to begin the battle anew. Fortunately for your tired and bruised body, this causes most of the remaining men to give in to the growing miasma of despair. Lowering yourself down next to your apprentice as she stands atop the rubble that was once a wall, you tap on her shoulder.

Jumping in surprise and nearly decapitating you, the girl snaps out of her recent stupor. "Wha- Are you alright?!"

"Just a flesh wound, nothing serious." You reassure her as you look out over the slaughtered remains of the defenders. Following your gaze, the girl's mood plummets once more at the sight. Sitting down on the broken stones, you sigh wearily and watch the last of the dragons disappear into the cheerful mid-morning horizon. "Are you going to keep doing this?"

Looking back at you blankly, she asks, "Doing what?"

"That." You say exasperated. The girl chooses not to respond, so you spend a few minutes cleaning your cuts. "How did things go while I was gone?" You ask eventually.

Clenching her fists and closing her eyes, Louise sits down. "I-I broke the gate like you wanted a-and... I k-k... I defeated the guards inside. Our army is storming the palace as we speak." She says in a professional, if trembling at times, voice.

"Good work, Louise." You say kindly, rubbing her back. As she struggles with her tears, you continue. "Considering that I cannot hear any sounds of battle or screaming from within, I believe it is safe to assume that the palace was evacuated at some point in the last few days."

Confused, wet eyes look up at you. "B-but these p-p... the guards..."

"A distraction, I presume. Left behind to hold the attention of anyone that managed to cross the bridge." You explain, watching as the young woman attempts to wrap her mind around your words. Looking at the bodies strewn before you, you think of the legends that will be told of this once great city.

A city ravaged by plague, cursed by their supposed 'god' for whatever crimes the people can come up with. Corpses rising from their graves to punish the living, packs of undead roaming the streets. Zombies wandering out into the countryside along with the fact that any ghost created or killed in the fight will be unable to move on due to you cursing the city with your runes. Unless someone dismantles your magic circles, the dead shall all be doomed to reform within their once prosperous city for eternity.

Now that the battle is over, you must deal with the aftermath.

Choose 2:
[] Talk with Louise.

[] Continue working on your undead army.

[] Return to the Valliere estate.

[] Repair the damaged walls, you can use this fortress as your own.

[] Build an Oblivion gate in the middle of the fort.

[] Write in

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A/N: Sending her home before the battle or giving her the option would have damaged your relationship, btw. The girl has problems with her self-worth and her mentor expressing doubt about her ability to perform or cope? Luckily for you, yinko's vote won and she just has to deal with being a semi-experienced child soldier... Er... that's better, right?