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The blonde-haired adventurer known as Miki had her hood pulled up on her head as she floated along acccompanied strange Lizardmen who were taking herself and her companion back to their Chieftain. The lass' feet never made footfall, instead she floated along extended over the top of her mottled green pillow. "Marshes... are intense," she murmured about the place beneath her feet which she had no intention of making contact with. She was more than well aware that she couldn't really navigate with the same ease as the Lizrdmen and could only hope that she didn't need to make footfall anytime soon. Within her mind, other things were more pressing, 'Why do they keep referring to us as a couple though... we aren't a couple. I don't think I've done anything besides maybe that kiss that would even make that seem like a thing,' her mind raced while she didn't have to respond to anything. 'Well, I guess I also touched his junk but I will never. Ever. Ever. Mention that to anyone, ever...' she concluded, her own face slightly red as she realized it would be very easy to assume the pair was a couple given their general interactions and if someone had enough information.
While Miki floated atop her pillow to traverse the Marshlands, Kou was nowhere to be seen from a bird's eye-view. When she commented on the intensity of the surrounding area, he became visible. His head peered out from beneath the pillow, as he'd been hanging onto the bottom since they entered the swampy land. He had no intention of touching the ground either, nor did he want to put their mount through such a thing, only to later need to clean it somehow. "Yeah. Probably would have picked up a magic carpet or something before coming here normally," he stated. None of the Lizardmen in their company had any issues, but then again, this was their homeland. "Apologies, Adventurers. We would have acquired better transportation if we knew this did not suit your needs."
As Miki floated along, she didn't initially realize that Kou was hanging on to her pillow. Until of course, the lad poked his head out to mention a potential magic carpet or some other form of transportation. Of course, Miki realized the nature of putting their mount through such a thing and as such she shifted slightly to the right to give the lad some room. "Oi, Kou, you can come up here, yeah... no need to dangle or anything~" she said to the lad having given him enough room to travel they way she'd taken to doing it, strung over the pillow in a manner most comfortable. It would leave the pair of them in close quarters, but no closer than they'd been when sharing a hammock. As such she didn't see any problem with the situation. To the Lizardmen, Miki only shook her head a bit. "Don't worry about it. It's part of adventuring..." Miki mentioned of having to figure out this sort of thing in the spur of the moment.
"Oh? Sweet!" Kou said when he was offered a space on top of the pillow. Frankly, he was becoming tired of holding onto the bottom of the object, but he didn't want to impose at all. With permission given, though, he flipped himself over to land next to Miki. With that, he had a few words to share with the Lizardmen. "I don't think I had any needs coming in. Well... I wouldn't mind a motorbike or something, but I doubt you have that here..." he said. Interestingly enough, such a statement warranted a glance from a few Lizardmen. "Is that the new Human technology you speak of? The thing with... wheels and some device that makes it move magically?" asked the Lizardmen's leader. Kou's eyes widened right away, and he seemed completely in awe as he settled atop Miki's pillow. "... No way..."
The gift of space atop her pillow weapon was offered by Miki and accepted by Kou without much hassle. She was quite happy about this and content to float along like this for the time being. It seemed the Lizardmen weren't familiar with the technical needs of humans but these were well traveled enough to have heard about some new technology in the world. When Kou mentioned wanting a motorbike, the Lizardmen made mention of a similar device somewhere out in the world, a piece of human technology. "Sugoi... this whole place is catching up pretty fast. I can't image getting something like a motorbike in a magical place like this~" Miki chimed, her earlier thoughts about advanced pieces of technology like Air Treks racing through her mind at hyper speed. Moreover as Kou settled in properly beside her, she felt a certain warmth and comfort she might not have had a name for yet, but was still utterly satisfied by, that feeling.
"I'm gonna have a bike. I'm gonna have so many bikes. Like... seven, or something," Kou said upon hearing that there were, in fact, motorized bikes in this world. In a matter of moments after placing himself atop the pillow of Miki, Kou found himself letting his head sink into relaxation. He was elated at the idea that he could have a motorcycle in this world, but that was something for later. For now, they were encroaching upon the kingdom itself, which happened to be a very interesting, circular structure with proper walls in place around it. "Huh..." Kou said, taking note that there were also segments of the Marshlands nearby, which were burning at present. He wasn't sure if this had anything to do with the coming rebellion, but it couldn't have been good. "Just in time, I guess?"
"Seven... bikes?" Miki questioned. The number seemed a bit outlandish and extravagant. Of course, she couldn't really argue the usefulness of such things, specifically if different bikes were made to take on different terrain or anything of that nature. It was just a very interesting thought that the lad wanted so many without further details. A giggle came from the blonde as she happily rode along side the lad atop of her pillow. "Well, if it makes you happy..." she mused only to look out at the occasional fires they were coming up on. "Hm, those are troublesome... last time we saw fires around Lizardmen they were using them to keep warm in harsh climates. They should be native to this spot though," Miki began working through potentials for this particular situation. She decided in her last few moments of thoughts to question the Lizardmen directly before taking any potentially unnecessary action. "So... are they actual enemy fires or your Chieftain's front-lines?" she asked this question even while preparing, mostly by pulling her hood up onto her head and preparing to have to disappear in more direct combat.
"Yep. Seven bikes," Kou confirmed. Whatever he intended to do with such a quantity of motorcycles, he wouldn't say. In actuality, his intention was only to possess them as a variety package of sorts. He continued resting atop the pillow, and looked toward the pillars of smoke rising from the flames as well. "If it's enemy fire, it just makes it easy to find where they are. It's not like they can ambush us when we get there; I can turn it into ice or something," he said, in the event that the fires did belong to the enemy forces. "They are neither. Those flames come from Shamans, both ours and theirs. The occasional splinter group makes a move on us from time to time, all to weaken our forces before the masses attack."
Miki thought possessing seven of something was a bit excessive, but she couldn't really comment upon it, because she possessed large numbers of things in her life that most people didn't, for no reason other than liking said items. She didn't hold against him his desire to possess so many motorcycles, she instead had her eyes focused on rising pillars of fire. According to the Lizardmen escorting the, these fires belonged to Shamans of both sides of their conflict, but they didn't make it sound like these things would require immediate action. As such Miki relaxed just a tad, "Sou ka, that's a long-term strategy but... I suppose it is more likely to work than a full-frontal attack against equally equipped enemies," Miki said her brows furrowed at the thought. She didn't much understand the Shamans of this particular region, but if they were on both sides of the conflict it could be assumed there was a certain amount of neutrality boasted by them. Still, Lizardmen at large didn't seem like beings who went much against nature for politics and the like so them having this sort of internal strife didn't make much sense... perhaps light would be spread upon this topic soon enough. "I guess there isn't much need to worry unless they attack..." she concluded. With that she was content to continue lying on her stomach as they floated along atop her pillow. She was using this slightly higher than normal line of vision. To map major things to be found within the Marshes.
"It is... very beneficial to our attackers. You will understand when you speak with the Chieftain. This way," the guide spoke, seeming to be quite bothered by whatever information he was withholding. Kou perked up and raised a brow as he viewed this Lizardman, wondering what sort of trouble they were actually walking into right now. "Sou ka..." was all he said aloud. In due time, they were entering the Chieftain's domain within the kingdom. A long, cave-like hall led to an elevated throne within this building, and the path was dimly-lit by torches along either wall. Upon the throne was an old Lizardman with dark scales, deep, red eyes, and a tribal headdress atop his massive mane. Upon seeing the Adventurers presented by his now-kneeling emissary, the Chieftain spoke. "Thank you for answering my summons, future Heroes. As I'm sure you've heard, my child... My own scales and blood, would see me overthrown..."
The thought that there was something very beneficial in attacks to the Kingdom made Miki's left brow rise. She couldn't quite pin it down, but something about the statement seemed rather ominous. "Hm..." Miki mumbled but said nothing immediately. Her head though was full of misgivings about their present situation. 'Something tells me... I am not going to like whatever is going on here...' she concluded her thoughts as they made their way into a cave like structure to stand before this Chieftain. Such a person was rather interesting to view, full mane on a Lizardman with a headdress and piercing red eyes which spoke of an intelligence uncommon in animals but that coldness that was always there. In response to this greeting Miki lowered her pillow a bit so her feet, and by virtue of this Kou's could reach the floor. She'd stand for the most part as she had no desire to outright disrespect this Lizardman. "Families are kind of complicated, I get that but..." Miki paused thinking about how best to phrase her next sentence. "No one said anything about it being your son. They did say you were potentially in danger and that it was the same group that we defended Dwargon from, but we pretty much wiped out that army," Miki explained of their current amount of knowledge. "How are there actually still enough of them to do any real damage against your own army?"
As they stood before the Chieftain, post dropping from the pillow, the Adventurers were given an interesting segment of information regarding the rebellion happening here. "Yeah... Definitely didn't hear anything about a kid," Kou added to the notion that they knew nothing of the Chieftain's son being responsible. Such information would have been nice to have before they arrived here. Kou still wasn't opposed to helping out, but he'd rather not have been surprised to discover that he'd walked into a domestic dispute within the hierarchy of the Marsh Kingdom. The Chieftain bowed his head in shame. "It saddens me to admit that my own son aims for my head. The boy is tainted. I do not know what ails him, but he seeks the throne of the Lizardfolk. The old ways... They must remain intact. That is why I seek your help, bearers of the Ancestral Feline." Kou's brow raised once more. There was something which still didn't add up, so to speak, and it was the simple matter of this alleged 'benefit' to the enemy forces. Luckily, the Chieftain added a bit of specification due to Miki's query. "The boy, he... is a gifted Shaman. More gifted than our kind has seen in years. Lately, he has taken to dark, lost arts. The dead... whether they be his own forces, or ours... If they are Lizardfolk, he can make them rise and fight by his side."
Walking into the middle of a domestic dispute or internal affairs wasn't at the top of Miki's priority list. That being said, helping out the Lizardmen was beneficial to their overarching plan. Over the course of their conversation, the Chieftain of the Lizardmen, explained that his son was a talented Shaman who'd gone a bit power mad. This was a sort of standard troupe among such instances as infighting. What was more though, was the method through which this young Shaman was creating his rebellion. Apparently, he could bring the dead Lizardfolk back to fight on his side, making it so, their efforts in Dwargon had created a large gap in the size of their comparative forces. Beyond all this, the matter of a necromancer existing was something shocking to Miki, it was almost exciting, barring the circumstances of finding out such information and knowing they'd have to go against such a person. 'Mystically inclined Necromancer, with daddy issues and a physically imposing army of dead talented warriors...' Miki's mind wandered over the points of most importance. "Sou ka..." she said aloud. Inside though, Miki was going through the idea that it would be a pain to deal with this other Lizardman doing what he wanted. Beyond that they'd need to keep the causalities as low as possible and perhaps find a way to make sure the dead stayed down. Her mind began to wander across multiple potential strategies, combinations of runes, and her own known skills to try and find the best possible solution.
"Reviving dead Lizardmen, friend or foe... huh." Kou was quite disturbed by the information regarding the Chieftain's son. This had the makings of a major challenge, though actually felling this foe would be very worthwhile in the end. "If the two of you would help us... help me... I would be in your debt," said the Chieftain. Kou sighed, yet he did not intend to refuse this offer. He was, however, part of a team. With that in mind, he looked toward Miki. It wasn't that he assumed she would refuse at all either, but he sought confirmation. "I'm down. What about you?" he asked.
Miki continued sorting through the options of her mind, even as Kou analyzed the situation himself. He'd come to the same sort of conclusion she had, or at least she assumed by his given words. Beyond this though, the Chieftain himself was pleading for help, for himself and his people. Miki wouldn't deny someone such a thing when they asked for it earnestly and Kou was the same way. When the lad answered, he answered only for himself, though. Miki found this a strange about the two of them together, though they were content to do many of the same things, and often had the same or at least similar ideas, they were both content to make sure that the other was on-board for any specific activity. Rather it was simply that their partnership allowed them to retain their solo-player autonomy though they still worked together to complete goals. Something about this kind of partnership was truly satisfying to Miki and she'd come out of her deep thoughts with a nod. "Of course, I'm in too. I was actually thinking about potential ways to help out," Miki confirmed her own willingness to be part of this particular quest. Though it was a rather daunting task potentially, she felt like there was much to be gained from it, as such she was content to see it through. There was but one more question Miki needed to ask, mostly because it might hold some key to figuring out how to defeat this next enemy with as few casualties as possible. There were a lot of unknowns in this situation though, and Miki played enough video games in her life to know when something had greater meaning than the small story it was part of. There was a bit of curiosity lingering in Miki and she'd express it in this moment as tactfully as she could. "I do have one question Chieftain... by custom how do the Lizardfolk treat their dead?" by asking this, Miki chose to question the burial rites and ceremonies surrounding death for these particular people. There were lots of differences from culture to culture and she hoped in finding out this information she might be able to think of a good way to separate this rogue shaman from his potential army.
"Sou ka," Kou said upon receiving Miki's confirmation. There was one other person who had input, though, and it happened to be the small Fairy who emerged from Kou's bag once again. "Oi! You can't just exclude me! What if I don't want to do anything?" he asked. Kou looked at the Fairy strangely, having only one answer for the one known as Puck. "Then... don't do anything? You haven't even been doing anything the whole time you've been with us." Puck seemed to take some amount of offense to Kou's rebuttal. He flew around in a huff, flailing his arms about while working through a response of his own. "Me!? I do everything! I'm the one keeping you lowlifes in order. I'm Manager Puck!" he exclaimed. Kou maintained his strange expression, then began laughing at the Fairy. "Right... You're the manager. So, you keep us straight, and we'll handle the grunt work."
Meanwhile, the Chieftain was met with a question regarding the Lizardmen and their rituals surrounding the deceased. He sighed, knowing their methods were very much conducive to the use of necromancy in all of its forms. "Our fallen brethren are left with a connection to our homeland. The trees. Their bodies remain in the trees, with enough space for their spirits to travel between our realm, and the ancestral plane. The only exception is given to leaders, who are placed in sarcophagi beneath where we are now."
Two things happened around Miki, the first being the emergence of the fairy Puck, who claimed that he also got a say in what they did and did not do. This was fair enough to Miki, but watching the small creature's interaction with Kou gained a bit of a chuckle from the lass. She could do nothing but shake her head, and had only one thing to say. "I'm not a lowlife..." she commented absently before going on about her way. It seemed beyond this, the Chieftain had to explain the burial practices of the Lizardfolk. Apparently, they chose to return their dead to the earth, while maintaining their connection to the lives of their ancestors. Putting them into the trees likely helped to fertilize the lush forest around the marshes. That being said, it did leave their bodies very open to manipulation of all sorts. Miki recognized this, and her eyes widened gently at the news. The biggest saving grace being that at least the Lizard Kingdom's Chieftain, received special burials all in a single place so they couldn't simply be accosted in the same way. "Sou ka... that's good to know. I'll do my best Chieftain..." Miki said choosing not to comment on how outlandish she found their burial practices. At present there were quite a few things which needed her attention. She needed to figure out where bodies were being taken from currently and devise a defense for that area, maybe even set a trap. Beyond that, she also had to figure out how the Chieftain's son figured out necromancy a lost art... there were still many pieces to fit together in this puzzle of the world.
"Lowlife!" Puck exclaimed with a forefinger aimed at Miki. Since it seemed Kou had acquiesced to his demands, Puck was satisfied to let the Adventurers do what they felt necessary. "Do what you want, but always listen to the teachings of Puck the Supreme! You'll be alright, my proteges!" he said, following this claim by flying back into Kou's bag. The Chieftain nodded to Miki, then looked to Kou. Now was the time to carve their path, and it seemed the blonde lass had her own ideas. "Me too. We'll find out what's going on, and we'll deal with it... yeah?" the lad concluded, shifting his gaze toward Miki.
Miki looked at the small fairy boy and laughed. Puck seemed to have some rather grand ideas about himself, and Miki didn't have the heart to break the lad's immersion. "Hm, I suppose I'll take protege over lowlife..." she said in an apparent good humor. About this world though, Miki had a few ideas, and she would explain them a bit. She turned and looked in Kou's direction and gave him a few of her thoughts on the matter. 'There are a few different kinds of necromancy. If we figure out which form of it the Chieftain's son is using, we'll likely have an easier time overcoming him and his army. The only way I can think to look into it, would be to check some of the disturbed graves though...' she communicated directly to Kou.
"I dunno. Lowlife is just another way to say underdog, so I might stick with that," Kou replied to Miki's assertion. Moving on, there were observations to make regarding the necromancy being used, and Miki made note of this when mentioning the number of Necromancer types found in Age of Eternity. 'If we have to check trees for corpses, we may as well get a move on. Sounds like you know what you're talking about, so I'll follow your lead, and help out however I can.' With that said, Kou perked up and prepared to depart. It was apparent to him that Miki had whatever knowledge they would need to solve the initial mystery of this scenario, so he figured he would become more useful only afterwards.
"Underdog has an interesting ring to it... I'll consider that one~" Miki said with an affirmative grin. As they carried on a mental conversation, it seemed that Kou was willing to go along with what Miki had to say about necromancy and help her on her inquisition. "Hai, we'll return when we have news," she said to the Chieftain. And with that Miki also took the action necessary to leave this place. She began floating out of this place stretched across her pillow, stopping for a moment to offer a place beside her to Kou. Whatever the case, it was imperative to figure out the type of necromancy being used by the Chieftain's son. Miki almost wanted to assume a specific type, but given what the Lizardmen had to say about the powers of this particular individual she couldn't simply make the assumption. So she supposed finding some burial sites would be the thing to do first, "I guess, we should look for trees with holes in them. I also want to check the tomb below the Chieftain's Throne Room, but I figured we could do that after checking the marshes," she explained of her own logic. There were some very specific things she was looking for as far as burial disturbances.
Both sides agreed to the path worth taking, and Miki took the initiative in floating off. Kou walked alongside the floating pillow, only to eventually be offered a place atop it. Keeping up the pace beside it, he hopped up and rotated himself forward, allowing him to land face-down atop the cushion. "Yeah, that's probably a good idea. Besides... if anything's going wrong already, I'd rather see the leaders last, instead of having them be the surprise." Kou managed to relax against the pillow, and he would remain in such a state for the duration of the journey, if left uninterrupted. Still, he was ready for any challenge to come... if any such thing were to even appear before them on this leg of the trip.
Eventually with Kou alongside her on her pillow, Miki would lead them to the outskirts of the marshes. Here she'd begin looking for hollow trees with openings, figuring them to be the easiest. By her own approximation the ones with the largest holes were likely what she was looking for and she'd begin her search at one on the western front. Here she allowed the pillow she was atop to float up to the hollow and she peeked down into it. "Hm... I found one!~" she said happy that there was indeed a grave here. Much to her general satisfaction there was a skeleton within and it didn't show any signs of life. That being said there was something strange about it. "Hm... it is..." she thought about it for several seconds. She extended a finger and drew a strange rune, this one a sideways hour glass known as Dagaz. This particular rune would settle and create a small glowing orb of light where it sat, so she could see better. With this illumination, Miki finally understood what she was looking at.
The skeleton of the Lizardman within this place, was intact for the most part. Standing upright with what should have been his arms crossed over his chest and his head up and proud. But as she looked along its skeletal remains, there was something off about it. Several of the bones of its body were missing, fingers, toes, and tail bones were missing from this corpse. These weren't so bad alone, but the number of them that were missing from a single place was a bit disturbing was beyond normal. What was more, with the added light she could tell that they hadn't simply fallen off. "There are bones missing from this one. Bones are used in the simplest form of Necromancy. You can grow skeletal armies with them. The problem is, they are all kind of weak when they are formed that way... they don't have flesh and aren't very clever. They simply attack until they are disrupted. I supposed Lizardman bones are pretty strong, but..." Miki gave pause while she thought out loud. "If this is all that the Chieftain's son was capable of, he wouldn't have asked us for help..." Miki said with a decent amount of confidence. "Bones can be destroyed and are less likely to hold their forms when they are too far away from their masters. Blunt force is enough for those, the Lizardmen could handle it on their own..." she muttered, her long term thoughts coming together, her face deeply upset in her own concentration. The rune she'd cast here dispersed and she drew another, just in case. Using this as a 'West-most point' she drew the rune, Wunjo as the start of a containment field specifically for Lizardman corpses. "This implies he started off a pretty standard Shaman, bones aren't endless, and used simply as part of the cycle. It requires access to the bones too, something you kill or someone you know... it fits into the balance of nature but... whatever he is capable of now, is outside of that... so I have to find out what doesn't make sense," Miki said this was all mostly to herself, but aloud simply because she was used to doing this sort of thing. Soon after making her western point she headed south checking other graves looking for a change in collection method.
Kou perked up when Miki announced finding a Lizardman burial site. His gaze fell upon the tree she approached, and he didn't find anything incredibly off about it initially. Only when Miki brought attention to the lowest form of Necromancy did he remember seeing such a thing in the game Age of Eternity, and subsequently take note of the pieces missing from this skeleton. "Sou ka. That's from the Bone Army build. I've seen that a lot; it's one of those resource management builds." Knowing there were at least two higher tiers of Necromancy in this world, Kou wondered why the aforementioned build was so common among them. Irrespective of this, though, there was a great concern for the other forms of Necromancy being what had to be in place. "So... what's the next tier? Is that what we have to be worried about, maybe?"
It seemed that Kou was at least a bit familiar with Necromancy himself, if not from doing it, than from seeing it used in multiple builds in the game Age of Eternity. "Bone Army as a build will turn you into a pack-rat. But... it is exceedingly effective once you get the rotation down," she said with an affirmative nod. She imagined the realness of this world, made it a bit less effective for the creation of large armies, unless one had semi-unlimited access to corpses, like the ones they were searching for. As they moved on from this tree, Miki floated them by several others, she paused only long enough to peek into them, and see what kind of conditions the bodies were in before she continued moving. She'd take the time they were moving between trees to answer Kou's questions. "Corpse Build is next up from Bone Army. When used it basically just lets someone raise a body as soon as it falls. It will fight on their side with its current physical ability until its body can't move anymore. It's better than bones because they can take more damage, but it's harder to use properly because they require a lot more to raise. That's the exchange and why most people don't use them..." she said with a firm nod. As they flew by another hollow she noticed it wasn't empty but instead had a body within it, that was missing an entire arm, leg and tail. The head remained in this one, but this body had obviously taken quite a bit of damage. More than a single battle would have dictated. "The thing is, that means the Corpse build is the one which would be most useful with the bodies of Lizardmen, as they are pretty physically tough. I had a similar idea when using Orcs... and I made due with fewer overall 'pets' to raise a single large 'Zombie' of the Orc persuasion for a few levels," Miki mentioned. But something about this wasn't right. "But my problem with this is, that even the zombies aren't really that hard to kill. They are strong but it shouldn't be that much of an issue. So... I am wondering if he's managed to become something stronger than that... Or if he's figured out how to raise multiples that are at the strength of the corpses, because that could be problematic and he has an entire army and that shouldn't be possible..." she said, at this place she put down another rune, this one Ansuz. She was creating a strange combination of runes for a bounded field, but she thought it might help keep the numbers of called dead to a minimum. She followed around the outer edge to the next area and looked through the hollows in the hopes of getting some hint of what was going on here.
"Sounds like an annoying type of glass cannon, piling up resources for skill use instead of holding potions and shit," Kou asserted. He could agree that the first two methods of Necromancy would be virtually useless for staging a rebellion, but there was also an itch on the back of his mind from an earlier claim. "Hmm..." he muttered, thinking back to words spoken by the Lizardman who led them here. "That one guy... He said all the deaths at Dwargon were helping the enemy. That amount of bodies isn't something you could just pack into an Adventurer's Bag..." As he considered this, Kou became more and more concerned by the idea of what would meet them in the future. Mostly, he was bothered by the idea of what would naturally come next in Necromancer tiers. What he thought of was something he knew to have been a top-tier build in the game at some point, until being tweaked by the developers for being considered a 'tier 0' build. When this memory appeared to him, his eyes widened. "Death Knights..."
Kou remarked that the build Miki mentioned sounded annoying because of the lack of potions and other disposable items. She could only chuckle because she knew better, but only because she put some thought into her initial build. "Iie, it doesn't have to be a glass cannon. If you choose a good starting race, with high regeneration or a decent class with the ability to use supplementary skills in high volume, then you can just be a cannon. A bit tank-y even, if you wanted to lean that way..." she mused, knowing she'd chosen such a build for herself, and it was very easy for her to get there considering her chosen skills. Beyond this point, as they made their way east from the south she came across the sort of hollows she'd been dreading. Moreover, the speech that Kou was giving her a horrible feeling deep within the pit of her stomach. "Ugh... Death Knights were completely nerf'd in-game, so I had to look into it to be sure. Now I have a different problem and that is figuring out if that part of the game mechanics directly translate to this world..." she said finding this not to be a tree hollow, but a broken stump with only the foot prints within to hint at anything being there. "The whole body is missing and strong enough to break through the tree. It is the most viable option that he has the ability to create Death Knights, which would make him a Lich. But... I wonder if the nerf made it into this world..." she said with a knowing smile. "When the Death Knights build was nerf'd in-game, they made it so you could only raise a Death Knight of something you'd killed with an A or higher Disaster Rank. You also had to possess an artifact of it and pray on the Lich King's O-bel-isk..." there was a break in Miki's speech as she realized something important. Her general explanation covered and easily connected to how such things could have been connected back to this world, but there was a key piece she'd only just realized had been mentioned before. "The guys who brought us here said he was raising Lizardmen friend or foe, which if there is an obelisk nearby would be an explanation of his power. And they wouldn't know about it, because the Obelisk only shines for those with the ability to host a piece of the Lich King, mages and those with connections to the cycles of life and death," she said calmly but there was just one more problem. "But I didn't see anything unnatural in this whole area..." she looked towards the north and it was back near where they'd come from, no more marshes only the burial mound of the Chieftains.
It seemed the Bone Army build wasn't as specific as Kou thought. Miki stated that one could build such a character even as a tank, if they wanted. He imagined dealing with such a thing would be a nightmare, if said tank had proper resources to keep their army steady. Miki was also privy to the knowledge regarding Death Knights in Age of Eternity, and wondered if their alterations had any effect here in this world. "It'd be hell, even if we were dealing with the nerf. We're not quite at A-rank in Disaster Rank. If this guy has more than five of those, we could be done in by even the nerf," he asserted. All this talk of a Lich was making things worse, considering Kou assumed whatever this Obelisk was, they'd have to deal with it in order to deal with the Lich himself. "So, he'd need one of these Obelisks to be a Lich... but there isn't one visible here? Are we sure this guy is doing Lich stuff with that last burial site? If so, I'm guessing we'll really want to find that Obelisk."
Miki nodded to Kou. It seemed he understood the gravity of the situation even without her explaining it. The rank of A as a Disaster was equivalent to about level 50... and they were a bit shy of that themselves. Given this if multiples of such creatures existed under the control of the corrupt Lizardman Shaman, it would be a daunting task for them to undertake. "It would be pretty difficult. I tried my luck against a pretty high ranked creature while I was teetering below level, and it took me a while and every tactic I had just to kill it. Even if we are both capable of doing that, the introduction of even a third creature would make that a bad day for us..." she added her own ideas. As she looked at the shattered tree everything about it told her that it was likely Lich related abilities which called to this creature. She thought about it for several seconds longer, choosing to explain her logic in this moment. "I am fairly certain it was Lich related. It could have just been a corpse raising, but... nothing of the creature is left here, not even its weapons. Zombies aren't raised with enough of an AI to properly wield their own weapons, they just create bone or blood variants of their class weapons. Besides, I am pretty sure this area, directly west of the mound for the Chieftains is reserved for the honorable warriors. Those who served the Chieftain as strong sword arms, meaning that one was most likely to have a Disaster Rank of A, besides maybe... the Chieftains themselves..." she said with a fairly good understanding of the hierarchy of Lizardfolk, gained mostly through looking at their dead. "Finding the Obelisk is important. If we can find it, we can damage or break it. If we do either, it will weaken the Lich it is connected to. Not physically but spiritually, and cause his control over his minions to falter enough that they degrade a bit. If we manage that then we can keep him from raising multiple other Death Knights and likely increase our chances of victory by quite a bit..." she concluded with a nod. "But, it's a little weird, because I know in AoE if you break the Obelisk of Lich in PvP they are immediately alerted... if it works that way here we probably don't want to do anything to it, until we are ready for the battle..." she murmured as a precaution unsure of how the mechanics of the game would transfer into this world.
She was almost certain about the aspects of a Lich she'd seen here, given some of the other quests she'd completed within the game Age of Eternity. With that in mind, she floated towards the mound looking along it until she found a large stone set of doors, which barred its opening. These doors seemed to ooze mana in high quantities, that contained the chill of death. "Hm... that's pretty weird. Even I can sense this..." she said looking up at the door and noticing that several talismans had been placed along this opening as if to seal it shut from the outside. "I wonder if the other Shaman felt the magic coming from here and decided that they didn't want it leaking out into this place?" Miki questioned. Though she wasn't a mage by class association, what she felt here was the chill of death in much greater quantities than she'd felt the entirety of their travels around the marshes.
"So, we've confirmed a Lich... and have reason to believe these are the A-rank Lizardmen being raised here. Besides that, the Chieftain's kid has to be using other forms of Necromancy as well, since the bones from those other ones were missing and all." Kou had become quite reprehensive about what they were undertaking, and he felt the situation could only worsen if the former Chieftains weren't intact when found. Just the same, the mechanics surrounding a Lich's Obelisk were somewhat frightening, especially when considering that they didn't know the Lich's location relative to it, even if they found the Obelisk itself. "The Lizardfolk's army won't be able to handle that sort of thing. Even if they manage to take out a bunch of Death Knights, they'll be the cause of just as many... if not more during the fight. Think it would be a good idea to go at it with less people, even if we manage to take out that Obelisk?" he asked as they entered the burial site of former Chieftains. Once inside, he hopped down from the floating pillow, taking it upon himself to walk around a bit while inspecting. Miki could feel the Mana in this room as well, and to Kou, it was something which felt like the peak of an icy mountain. "The Mana can't escape here. But... there's probably a funnel somewhere that leads up to where the current Chieftain is. Seems like they're doing the Companions thing here with their leaders, but... I guess the question is, are any of the old guys missing?"
"Yep, that is pretty much what I am saying..." Miki mentioned in response to the lad. She knew what she had to say about their present situation was probably a bit daunting, even so it wouldn't do any good to lie about it i present circumstances. Instead, she chose to focus on the current tasks at hand, even as they discussed potential strategies. In response to the idea that they should take as few people with them as possible Miki could only agree, squeezing her pillow even closer to her body. "Hm, yes. Though they likely won't want to agree, it would be best if we didn't involve too many of the Lizardfolk in this, especially with them being the prime targets of necromancy."
Once they were wintin the confines of the mound she had a look around. She took notice of several sarcophagi which should have contained several bodies of the previous chieftains arranged in a circular pattern. Within the direct center of the room a large pillar totem which glowed with the familiar sting of death. "Sou ka... that totem is the Obelisk... I didn't know they had different appearances depending on where they turned up," Miki said almost certain of this fact. Beyond this, she floated around the area, sans Kou to have a look at the sarcophagi. Here she found all but two of them still contained their bodies. The two that were empty were ones of larger than normal size and gave her a bit of a fright. "Good news... all of them aren't empty. Bad news.... the ones that are empty seem to be huge which leads to bad thoughts about their classification. If they 'Companion' like them, it is assumable that these two who are missing are the kinds of warriors that will pose both of us a problem..." Miki mentioned in an offhanded manner. Even beyond all of the craziness of this moment, she was looking forward to the next moment. There was an excitement within her person that she couldn't rightly explain.
"They don't all have to agree. We just have to make sure they listen," Kou replied. As he wandered around the room, he gently touched a few of the sarcophagi to get a proper feel for the bodies within. They were certainly powerful individuals in their respective lifetimes, as their energies were still present, and potent, in their graves. "This isn't good. These guys look like they're pretty far back on the list, and they feel... strong," he mentioned to the blonde Lancer. Upon discovering that there were two missing bodies in this group, and that their size was so massive, he shuddered. "Two Berserker Death Knights? Lizardmen, at that? Fuck," was all he could say. If Miki was right in her assumption about their Classes, these two former Chieftains alone were going to be a very, very large problem. Moving on from that train of thought, though, Kou's attention was brought to the Obelisk. Something within him really wanted to destroy it here and now, but he thought the better of it. "So, we have to take down an army of Death Knights, and at least a Bone Army as well. We also have to take down somebody strong enough to raise all of those, and we have to do it with just us. Can't we just do it all at a keyboard?" he asked rhetorically, hazarding a hesitant and nervous chuckle.
Miki heard out what Kou had to say and nodded. He was quite right, all they had to do was get the Lizardfolk of the land to agree with their plan and stay out of the way of it whether they liked it or not. Even so, they were warriors and probably felt at least a little negatively about being discounted by a couple of scaleless heroes. Beyond this his point about the former Chieftains made her sigh audibly. "Hai hai, if the past ones are like this, then making sure the current one stays off the battlefield is a prime directive. The last thing we need is to be fighting one of those with any kind of intelligence attached to it..." she mumbled. She also was finding this to be a growing and insurmountable task. At the point that it was mentioned aloud that two Berserker Death Knights were among their list of people to combat, Miki found herself rubbing her face consciously. "Hm, that might not be too bad. Depending on what was poured into them when they were risen, destroying the Obelisk will likely weaken them a bit..." she said of the pair of what would likely be the most challenging enemies they'd faced so far. That being said, Kou's continued commentary made her laugh just a bit, she truly felt the same way and would rather be playing the game without potential life and death aspects attached to their outing just now. "I am with you, I'd much rather be giving the commands than fighting this one directly..." she admitted. Soon after she was clapping her hands against her cheeks until they were red and she'd once again settled into the idea of what they'd have to do.
"YOSH!!" she exclaimed a few seconds later. "Alright. We go back up, tell the Chieftain to keep himself and his men out of the line of fire. Sometime after that... we destroy this Obelisk drawing the attention of the Lich. I can potentially set up a massive defense around this place to keep everyone from having to take on any of the really high level enemies. And then we..." she paused giving a gentle motion of her left hand between the pair of them. "We take on the Lich and his underlings directly. Keeping as many Lizardfolk out of this entire skirmish as possible," she commented. Though this plan was rather quickly flung together, it was fairly solid by her own approximation. Miki, didn't often take risks while playing Solo, and she wouldn't take any unnecessary ones with her partner either.
It seemed they were just about ready to make their move, and Miki had even managed to hype herself up for the coming events. Kou nodded with some hesitation, but eventually hopped onto the pillow again. "Ugh... Guess there's no turning back anyway. We need the Lizardfolk to accept us, or we'll have an even harder time down the line. You set up the defenses, I'll kick-start the offense, and then... I guess we hope it works in our favor. Let's go," he said. Kou had managed to hype himself up to a certain extent, not quite matching Miki's vigor, but due only to the fact that he'd talked himself through the awkward state of reprehension. "I still don't like it, but if it's as annoying as I think it'll be, I guess we'll get our just rewards for coming out alive and on top."
Kou still seemed to retain a bit of his resignation about the situation. Miki understood this to a great extent. After all, they weren't just preparing for a game, as far as they knew, their actual lives were on the line in this particular skirmish. And beyond that their eventual livelihoods would be dependent on how they managed to conquer this next task. Even while seeing it as daunting, Miki managed to hype herself up for it, a bit more than she would have normally been capable. Truth be told, if Miki was at home, playing her game, she likely would have taken an hour or two away from the game, had a snack, went to the bathroom and done several other manner of things before diving into this. Even so, there was absolutely nothing left to do but dive headfirst into this. "Atta boy. We gotta work on your pep talks though...this one almost isn't one..." Miki mentioned as the lad joined her back on her pillow and she floated towards the exit. Her path would take her all the way back to the Chieftain as they discussed their battle tactics. Her words had been in jest, but she supposed if she didn't make a joke of this situation, then she would be just as likely to fall into a depression over their task. "Hm, I wonder what I will get out of this, I hadn't gotten around to going to the Lizardfolk when I was playing in-game. To be honest I'd have no idea what to expect from this entire thing..." she said. Even more so than their early experience in Dwargon and the Fairy Forest, she had no idea what was coming from this particular situation. Soon enough though they'd find themselves back in front of the Chieftain with news good and bad to present to him as far as their potential fight against his son, an apparent Lizardfolk Lich.
"I... don't really do pep talks," Kou said in all seriousness. Quite frankly, he would have been more content to turn tail on this quest and return later, if they didn't have to react in real-time. It didn't help that he'd also never gotten around to dealing with Lizardfolk and their quests, though he knew they were quite a pain to deal with in PvP. He could only hope for an easier experience here than what he'd dealt with before, but as Miki guided her pillow with them to the Chieftain's throne, Kou would notice that this wasn't going to be as easy as anyone hoped. A strange and eerie Mana was present within the room, coming from multiple sources and not feeling very kind at all. This Mana was intentionally masked, but putrid enough for Kou to notice the difference in the ambient feel of the room since their last visit. Numerous skeletal servants had already been summoned to the area, and were hidden in shadows throughout the cave-like room, waiting for the opportune moment to strike down the Chieftain... and the Chieftain himself seemed quite unaware. Noting the vacant expression on the Lizardman leader's visage, Kou chose to whisper to his companion during their approach. "There's a lot of aggro here. It's nothing too strong, but it's a big threat to the chief here. I think we should be careful."
A giggle escaped Miki at the words that Kou shared with her about specifically his lack of ability to give pep talks. She could almost call this an understatement but she understood that sunny dispositions weren't an everyday occurance. Beyond that point, she was also not really good for pep-talks when aimed at other people so she understood a great deal. "Hai hai, I'll give the pep talks then, mostly to myself so I don't completely back out of everything, but I'd like to think they might work for other people too~" she mused. As they floated along, they made their way back to the chamber which contained the Chieftain and within there were several aggressive presences which Kou took note of. Miki hadn't initially felt these skeletal servants, but the mention of them by Kou made the register on her mental radar. "Hm..." the sound which left her mouth was low. He was quite right, this group wasn't a major threat to them, but it was a threat to the Chieftain who didn't seem to notice the difference in quality of the room he was now standing within. "That's a problem... but I suppose there wasn't much of a possibility of this one waiting for an extremely long time to make a move. I'm going to need to use my weapon in a minute I think..." she mumbled, figuring the lad would take the hint and remove himself from her weapon at his earliest convenience.
Upon reaching the Chieftain's fore, Miki dismounted her pillow landing on the ground before him and allowing it to float in the air behind her. "We know what we need to, in order to help you Chieftain. We only really ask, that you and your men, stay out of any conflict that arises..." she said in a very straight forward manner. In her own mind it didn't really matter if the Chieftain's son figured out their plan or not, because it wouldn't change regardless, all they could do was try and set up the area for the best possible outcome, and this included securing the area around all of them. Her eyes darted around the room and she readied herself for a potential battle.
"Yeah, probably. On your mark? Got a plan?" Kou said in response to the idea of Miki utilizing her weapon. He was ready and willing to move at a moment's notice, but first came the exchange with the Lizardman Chieftain. "You are the Saviors, blessed by the Ancestors. If it is your wish that my people stay away from the conflict, I can only put my faith in you. I ask only that you please... save my son, if possible." These words came from the Chieftain's mouth as his eyes closed, and his head lowered. He was clearly remorseful of the situation at hand, and noticing this made Kou wonder how much of this uprising could have been the Chieftain's own fault.
"Basically I am going to do something a little sketchy, I could use a bit of a distraction while I complete the bounded field I am working on... then we can take care of everything else..." she mused. It wasn't like a super high-tier plan, but she figured it had just enough spunk to work for this. The words from the Chieftain though, were ones which made Miki feel strangely. She understood potentially the regrets of parents and this man didn't want to be rid of his son in so brutal a manner as his untimely demise. When considering how such things generally worked out for NPCs, Miki could only nod and try to be reassuring. "I will do what I can, for your son. But I can't lie to you and promise he will return..." she said and following this would come a whistle, and said whistle would convert her pillow into dozens of small blades like kunai which would then take off behind the Chieftain, aiming to impale various enemies in an attempt to deter the assassination attempt. Of course, this would be signal for whatever Kou intended to do to start a distraction here and now. Miki already had the final rune of her collection in mind, and knew what it should be, but it needed to be placed behind the throne of the Chieftain to be effective.