The Plague

There was a wizard called Tazney. She was a powerful wizard and bred fear amongst the local populace. One day she decided to test her powers and try and raise an army of the dead. She had to gather a select few ingredients and then perform a wicked rite near the corpses. First though she had to increase the number of potential soldiers and devised a plague to serve her means. So gathering some holy water, she had pilfered from the local church, as well as several choice ingredients she performed a spell to infect the liquid. Then dressing as a peasant she went to the local city. To perform the rite she had to circle the city with a drizzle of water, making sure she kept some for the final part of the spell. As she walked past the guards, one telling the other about his wifes pregnancy, she enjoyed a grim satisfaction that the joy would turn to pain and grief.

Wandering to the centre of the city, the exact centre, which was in the middle of a quiet alley, she spoke the words that would start the final part of her magic and breed a trail of death to feed her army. Thinking herself unseen she then poured the water onto the ground, careful not to let any spill onto herself, and spoke the last words of power. The task completed she headed for home, unaware of the urchin that trailed her home to her tower. Realising who he had just followed the urchin hurried back to the city hoping his curiosity hadn't gotten himself in trouble again. The urchins name was Johpe and he was a slight nimble figure, his agility honed from years living on the streets.

Now Tazney's plan was a long one and she intended to spend six months waiting for the plague to take its toll before she acted on her plan of conquest. As such she retreated into her home and practised her necromantic spells, leaving only to gather vital ingredients.

So a great plague settled over the city and the local populace suffered greatly. They started digging many new graves until the numbers became too large and only the rich could get individual graves, not long after that it became only the excessively rich. Mass graves were dug in the empty land around the graveyard as the dead started to number in the hundreds and then thousands. Through this Johpe struggled, he was used to scambling for food but it became much harder then before. Commerce ground to a halt and farmers refused to enter to trade their goods. Despite these harships Johpe survived and, compared to the other citizens, he even thrived. For despite the plague being so widespread Johpe never caught it. Others caught it yet survived, but very few avoided the plague entirely, and none of those lived in the hard hit regions were Johpe dwelt. As the population suffered the citys people grew restless and the guards were stretched thin trying to keep the peace. This on top of the deaths within the guard force made them need to recruit heavily. Having a reliable pay it was an attractive job and many applied for positions. Johpe, informing them he hadn't been infected, was given a uniform, a standard issue short sword and a small shield. He was then trained for a brief time in how to use his equipment and sent out with a more experienced guard in the hope he can learn on the job. Luckily Johpe was paired with one of the best and he taught Johpe well, they even practised swordsmanship during their time off. The guardsmans previous partner had been killed by looters on his fifth day in the job so Johpe wasn't expected to do well but he was detemined and learnt quickly.

Eventually the plague started to subside, more peopple were recovering then succumbing. Gangs were still roaming the streets though and large parts of the city were very dangerous to wander through, even in daylight. It was one of these gangs that decided Johpes partner looked like a fine mark. As it turned out they were right since he wasn't being as careful as he should whilst off duty. A quick knife in the back, then a supportive arm over his shoulder to help him into an alley. This was followed by a rapid rifle through his belongings and his body was left there to rest. The guards only discovered his death when he didn't arrive for work. There was little surprise from the guardsmen as their numbers had fluctuated so often but he was a well respected veteran and so many a disappointed mutter filled the room that day. This meant Johpe had no partner and was told to stay in the garrison until a new recruit was found. He was thus one of the first to hear of the terror marching on the city. An army of undead skeletons was filling the horizon. The guards captain quickly sent a message to the gates ordering them closed and to inform all the necessary authorities to prepare for a siege.

The forces weren't prepared but the walls were strong and the defences relatively undamaged from the discord in the city. The entire guards force was moved to man the walls, saved those tasked with the new job of conscription. Every able body man was recruited and, with even briefer training then Johpe, put straight onto the frontline to fill the holes that kept appearing. The casualties were large and the army of the dead relentless. The figure of Tazney was clearly seen overlooking the fray, a grin of triumph easily imagined upon her face.

Promotion was rapid for Johpe as he kept stepping up to replace slain officers and excelling at his new roles. This is how he came to be amongst those discussing their options to deal with Tazney, although as a junior members.
"She has always been cold towards the city but never threatened anything like this." one of the officers commented
"Maybe she saw we were weak and wanted to take advantage." another replied
"But summoning an undead army this large surely takes preparation." was his retort
"If only we knew were she lived, I know a secret route from the ciy that should bypass the army, if we could kill her the army will collapse."
"She's kept her home hidden though, now isn't a good time to go hunting through the countryside."
Finally Johpe decided to speak up. He explained seeing a woman doing strange things before the plague.
"I ended up following her to a tower outside te city, that's when I realised who she was."
"So she was doing that exactly before the plague, maybe it's a coincidence?"
"Does that matter now? Let's just get a group together and try and assassinate her."

A team of the best guards still living was formed, the eight best fighters, a man proficient in disarming traps of ordinary and magical varieties, and of course Johpe to lead them to Her tower. Equipping themselves as well as they could they set out the next night. Having been shown the way out of the city they found themselves in the foot hills to the south of the city. Finding his bearing Johpe lead the troops to the west. Their grouping was slow as they had to be careful of being discovered by the armies scouts and had an indirect route to bypass them as best they could.  As such it took them until the next evening to reach the tower. The traps expert checked the door when they arrived and discovering a trap managed to disarm it. Then with a smug expression and a flourish he flung open the doors. His expression melted away as a ball of fire flew through the opening, the rest of him soon followed his smugness and he left nothing but a pile of goo upon the floor. The confidence that had crept into the team immediately vanished as they realised this wouldn't be as easy as they had been hoping.

The team crept through the door hoping that fireball had been the last trap but knowing there would be more to come. They were strung out with at least two metres between men to try and prevent any traps hurting multiple guardsmen. Johpe was seventh in line to reflect his lack of experience in comparision to the other men. As they wandered the corridors they came to a T-junction and decided to split up. Johpe and four of the guards went to the left while the other four headed right. Johpes group didn't take long to run into another trap, a pit opened under the front guard and he fell into unseen depths. The entire floor had opened wall to wall but the men realised they had to get past the obstacle and they decided to climb along the uneven walls. This proved too much for one of the guardsmen who lost his grip and fell after his compatriot, his cry ceasing unnaturally quickly in the dark. Onwards they trudged, generally heading upwards but seemingly in a straight line that was much too long for the towers size.

Not long later they were ambushed by a group of skeletal warriors who lept from openings in the walls. The guardsmen were trapped with ambushers on both sides of them, but the men were expecting something and were on the front foot thus they chopped down several skeletons before they found their feet. The guards fought hard but the man to the rear was chopped down with four warriors remains at his feet. Johpe was able to finish off the last of the foes to the rear while the other guard managed to hold the fore.

After struggling through the fight they stumbled into a grand hall. At the far end was a bright light that they noticed held one of their fellow guardsmen from the other group. Another two bodies were at the feet of Tazney who stood staring at the captured soldier. Johpes companion let out a roar and charged at Tazneys exposed back. Nonchalantly she crushed the captured guard to dust and then turned and coated the advancing soldier in a sheet of fire. His blackened corpse slid to the ground. Johpe had been slowly moving towards her but froze when Tazney raised her eyes to meet his.
"Well you did better then I expected anyone to. It's a bit late now, my hordes are already enjoying a slaughter of the citizens of your city, ready to become my brand new army."
"Not if I kill you first." Johpe replied a lot more calmly then he felt.
This led to a chuckle from Tazney.
"I like you, I think you can lead my army."
Then she snapped her fingers and Johpes lifeless corpse fell to the floor.
Seconds later his hands stretched across the floor and grasped his sword. He found his way to his feet and turned towards Tazney. His glowing red eyes regarded her and his bone curdling voice spoke. "What would you have me do mistress?"
A grin split Tazneys face as she let out an evil cackle.

Tazneys army would go on to conquer several large cities and regions, until one day she would become overconfident and find a stray arrow pierce her breast. This led to her whole force dissolving to the shock and joy of the defending army. It took the regions affected decades to recover from this and her name was used to scare children for centuries to come.