King of Necromancers:Part 3

Joint Post - D2wintr & Enderslayer

Necrosis tapped his steel fingers on the book, "Centuries have passed, I have restored the balance, how I failed to find a worthy successor. One I can trust to maintain the balance. It's so difficult, as many people have their different ideals, beliefs, and most importantly, fears. Many things threaten the balance, not just of life and death, but the balance of our world as a whole, Kalemoran, Gelt, the Outsiders, and the Iron Queen. I might as well go to Zancrom to find a successor with the madness in Aeran." The archlich shook his head in disappointment, "All so difficult."

“Well If it was going to be easy, It really wouldn’t be worth doing would it.” Ursa mused aloud as her attention’s turned from the Arch-Lich to her own thoughts.” … And lets be honest with ourselves. Who in their right mind would want the job in the first place.”

Taking a seat in a nearby chair she sighed softly crossing her legs as she wonder at this latest of situations she found herself in.

As a priestess of the Black Order, her earthly mission had been and to date remained dedicated to the extermination, or more simply the destruction of unnatural threats to the earthly realm. With the Order all but gone now and only a handful of its members remaining to deal with these threats, it had become increasingly clear to her that the task was perhaps beyond her. She had always known that death was the most likely outcome and having already died in the service of the Order more then once only to returned to something akin to a cursed half-life through the machinations of her Undead ancestors she was left to wonder about a great many things.

“Its all so pointless.”

"Nothing is truly pointless, literally. The existence of nothingness is pointless, but everything else has a purpose, a point." Necrosis turned to Ursa, "The Black Order, that group has been an issue for me for a long time, however of all the Black Order members I've met, you are certainly…." He paused for a moment, lost in thought, "Lively." He watched her for a second, "So, what shall you do now Ursa Blacksong, now you have access to my knowledge and know my tale?" He dryly asked the priestess.

“If this had been 20 years ago I would have tried to escape and report what I had learned to the elders of my Order who would have likely gotten it into their heads to rallied as many members of the Order as they could and charge in here in a vain effort to try and thwart your evil schemes.”

Ursa smirked and shrugged her shoulders.

“These days however I am the eldest member of the Order that I know of and I very seriously doubt that I or any of the remaining members of the Order could do more than annoy you for a briefest of moments before getting bored and swatting us all dead like the common flies. Before then going back to stewing on who it is that is going to maintain the balance after you’ve finally turned to sand and dust. And then there is this possibility that you are family so …

She paused thoughtfully for a moment.

“So you gave me an account of the how and why but you didn’t provide the specific wording of the curse itself. I wont say that I know how to break it but it's been my experience that the terms and conditions of the curse often enough outline how it can be overcome.”

Necrosis inhaled, "The curse itself was, 'From metal to bone, you shall be bound to the land of the living till the balance is restored. Forever you will remain until an heir can be claimed. Your blood shall be damned. Everything you have I will turn against you. I'll turn sugar bitter upon your tongue. I'll place a dagger in the hand of your most beloved and they will thrust it home into your beating heart. In the darkest days, you will never know the pleasure of rest, until you hear the last of the songs of black.' That was the curse. By what do you mean by the possibility of us being family?" He questioned her, the skull seemingly raising a brow.

Ursa motioned to the Zhaun'ol de' tangin.

“ If the tome contains a record of the writings of those of your bloodline. The fact that it contains my writings would suggest that there is some kind of connection.”

The lich flipped through the pages, aggressively flipping through the book, "No, impossible, they were murdered, taken away. It can't be." His hands froze over the second to first page, "Syria Moor, the White Mage of Dawn …."

Ursa again shrugged. “ Sorry, I don’t recall the reference.”

"Syria was the name of my daughter, Moor was her mother's maiden name. That means all those necromancers and liches I have dealt with are my blood…" He silently turned the pages, "my curse…" His hand began to shake, "Everyone of that bloodline that I had fought, imprisoned, and destroyed were all descendants of me."

He shook himself off, "Apologizes, she was your ancestor. She doesn’t have a real impact on you nor is she someone you will ever meet." He slammed the book shut and had it float away, "You may stay in the library to learn whatever you want, or you can leave. It doesn't mat-" A strange rune appeared on the floor, and alighted blood red. It was an infernal symbol of a crown with horns, within a spiked circle. The rune slowly dimmed, Necrosis shuttered, "No. No, not now, of all the times, you had to shift in your slumber."

Necrosis was panicked, he couldn't leave, not with his mind breaking, but he couldn't leave that monster alone, he turned to Ursa, and he found his answer. "Ursa Blacksong, I have a request for you."

Ursa had to think on that one for a moment before finally answering.” How may I be of service? ” Hell no had come to mind first but the reality was that one did not just say no to an archlich in its lair, family or not.

Necrosis summoned forth a ring made from dark metallic silver and a brass amulet fitted with a glowing red stone. The two items floated through the air towards her, "The ring will help channel your magics so as to avoid unwanted magical feedback. This amulet in turn will glow red and hum, louder the closer you are to what you search for."

Necrosis motioned again with his hand the image of a spiked black box with infernal and elvish blood red runes. "Find this box, however don't bring it to me. There's a chance I'm not going to be here mentally. I'm hitting my limit. Find the box, then I want you to destroy what's inside, in return, you will gain access to this library and my centuries of knowledge once I pass. Do we have an agreement?"

Ursa looked at the image of the box for an extended period before speaking. “First, Not that I care about whatever is inside that box but I need to ask if there are any special precautions or magical defenses I need to employ to ensure that whatever is trapped within the box wont kill my ass?”
She paused thoughtfully. “ And second, if it wouldn’t be too much trouble. Can I request that you have your minions collect the contents of the Black Order’s hidden Library’s and gather them here. I don’t know how many libraries remain undiscovered but I do know part of the reason the Church continues to hunt myself and the other remaining members of the order is so that we don’t try to recover those books and artifacts before they can get ahold of them. I recorded those locations I know in my journals so I expect that you likely already know where they are.”

The archlich nodded, "There are warning runes, they will send images of the past and may create a direct mental link to the true owner of the box, if you cut yourself one the spikes, and the blood touches the runes. The locking mechanism is complex, it can result in the spikes shooting out at the lock, so that's something to watch out for. The box itself will contain an organic piece to the owner, you destroy it, you kill the owner. As for the scriptures, those can be taken care of." He answered her.

“I trust the books and artifacts will be well cared for in your care and may provide some small amusement for you if nothing else until I return.”

"The library will welcome them, the scriptures do hold very important pieces to the bigger whole. Something I will probably read from in my brooding time. Now, with that out of the way, I shall return you back to the living world, are you ready?" He asked her.