57. The Tower 8

"Not that kind of not right. There is something evil living here. I don't know how else to put it. Just evil."

"Thanks for the heads up Crystal. I will keep that in mind and if you sense something more specific let me know." Without another word he stepped through the doorway and dropped down to right around six inches tall. He was used to looking down at almost everyone given his size and now looking up at them it was extremely intimidating. As he watched Topaz put out her foot and from where he was standing it was like she was about to step down on him. Then suddenly she was standing a short distance away from him. He was not sure when or how but it happened.

"Woah that is weird. I do not feel so good."

"Yeah my stomach did not like it either. You want to see weird take a look behind you."

Topaz turned and looked behind her and stumbled back and fell onto her but looking up. "That is scary. Like looking at a giant or a dragon even. That is just wow."

"Yeah I know what you mean."

The rest of them quickly followed behind them and they were all back in a group. "I will take lead while we are out in the open. Topaz you will take lead when we get into an area where traps or ambushes are more likely."

"Got it Novum."

"Rurik you take the back and the rest of you travel how you would like. I do not want to put you in the wrong spot to properly work together. We can keep it tight for now but things will change based on the situation."

The girls all nodded to him and Rurik was already watching the back and he got ready to go. Once he got that Novum headed in the direction of the door. He was happy to see that he could see the area outside of the magic. The door and window in the room were clearly where he marked them on his map. He took a look at the map and headed for the door down the trail that was marked. It would take them right outside of the manor with the heavy walls.

They had not walked for a very long time when Crystal moved closer. "Novum whatever is wrong with this area it is getting stronger as we move towards it. I have a feeling that there is something at the manor based on the maps that we have."

"Then we will probably have to take care of what is in the manor before we go forward. I would hate to get to a higher floor and then get trapped up there with no alternate options. Are you getting a feeling of what it might be?"

Crystal's eyes quickly opened in surprise. "I think it might be undead." She pointed a short way down the trail as several forms came into view. They were zombies. They all appeared to be men and boys in various states of rot. One of the younger boys had his entire arm rotted clear down to the bone.

Novum pulled out his sword and headed towards the figures. "Crystal save your energy in case we run into something worse later. We need to figure out what type of undead we have."

Erica was in the middle of a spell and sent a small ball of fire towards the creatures. As soon as it hit the middle of the ones that they could see the ball exploded. All of the creatures went up in flames. Novum walked over and saw that there were a few more behind them. He walked through the flames and took a big swing and took the heads of the remaining three zombies with a clean cut at neck level.

The rest of them quickly closed the distance and looked at the bodies. "Nice job Erica. Took out all of them but three."

Berry was looking over the bodies that were still recognizable and asked a question of the group. "Hey did anyone else notice that all of them were men or boys? There are a few that are so burnt that I can't tell but I am pretty sure that all of these were men."

"Crystal is there any reason that making men into zombies would be better than making a woman a zombie?"

"Not really. Once they get converted like that their strength is just about the same and constitution or health go out the window. It might be how that they are created."

Topaz quickly asked, "how would that make a difference? And how many ways are there to create a zombie?"

"Well there is a curse that when you die you raise from the dead. This is usually directed at a certain individual for revenge and only one or maybe two is created at a time. Then there could be an artifact that corrupts everyone around it and slowly drains their life and then they die and come back, again that does not really matter as far as male and female. The last way is someone, usually a necromancer or maybe a lich will raise them. And by the time that you are that far gone again the boy, girl thing is not even or your radar. Unless you are really, really sick."

Rurik who was still standing at the back spoke up. "Availability. The mage was using only men and either holding the women hostage for motivation or they only took the men since they only needed the labor."

Crystal looked at Rurik with a little surprise on her face. "You know that does make sense. He takes all the men and tells them if they work hard he will let them go back to their families. And he also provides them with protection so they will not give up if they are all dead. That is a tactic that is highly effective with small communities."

Berry looked over them. "I will not say that it is the mage that is running this tower it may have been one of his lackeys. But given the things that we have found here it is highly likely that he was beyond what a normal person would consider acceptable. Their morals get pretty skewed once they live that long."

"But we still do not know how they are being created. So I will take the lead and move deeper. Crystal keep you feelers out and see if you can get a better feel for what is going on. I am worried but also a little hopeful that it is the people that he brought in here. Worried because that means that they are all dead but hopeful that it will not take that many of them to work a place like this. That will limit the number of creatures that have been turned."

"The negative energy is still coming from the manor. I have a feeling that Berry and Erica will be able to feel it soon."

Novum led the way but this time Crystal was a little closer to the front so that she could hopefully get a good feel for what is causing it and where they can find the source. They pushed deeper and after a short walk they came to a pasture and there were still some cattle walking around and eating the grass. They all looked like they could be taken to the butcher at any time.

"Well since there are live animals here it should limit the types of undead that are here. Highly unlikely that we will find ghouls or vampires. They both end up killing everything that it living for food. Though neither of them prefer animals they both might be willing to eat it to survive. So that is good. Vampires are fast and hard to stop and ghouls are tough and have poison. Hopefully we will be clear of them."

"That is the information that is important right now. Thank you Crystal." He looked over the area and saw that they were enough cows here to keep his manor in meat for a long time. He just had to figure out the best way to get them out. First he had to get them out of the room and then the tower and then the lake. He was not sure how or even if he could do it but he would see what he could do. There was no use in wasting all of these cattle. But he was worried that given how long they were down here they could be a lot of inbreeding and hurt the herd.

Novum realized that he was zoned out and shook his head and back headed to the trail. He would deal with all of those things when or if he survived what ever was in this tower. As he started down the trail he started the feel almost like someone was watching him. A shiver ran down his spine. "The rest of you feel that?"

Crystal spoke up. "Yeah it feels like someone is watching us." The girls all nodded in agreement.

Rurik pointed towards the manor. "I can feel eyes from there. I am not sure what it is watching us but I can feel it from there." Rurik might not be a mage but he had more experience in battle and war than the rest of them combined. "I might not know magic but I know evil and something there is evil. It needs to be destroyed. Forget the door head straight to the manor house. We can't leave it behind us."

"Berry you move to the back. Rurik you come up here with me. Crystal will be behind us to heal us or turn undead as necessary and Erica will be behind her with magic support. Topaz will pull guard on the mages and unless something happens stay back. If you see an opportunity to take out what we are fighting from behind do it."

"Yeah not sure what I can do since it is more likely they are dead and my sneak attacks won't do much but if it is living I will get it shot. Any one have any holy water?"

Crystal could not help but smile, despite the gravity of the situation. "Here you go Topaz make sure that if you have to use it make it count."

The group headed straight for the manor and bypassed all the trails. They hit the orchard on the way and out of instinct they all reached up and grabbed an apple. Novum grabbed two and tossed one to Rurik. The munched them as they walked. Soon they came to the manor and the huge doors were slightly open.

Novum walked up and he did not want to get to close so he reached out with his sword and was about to push it open. Crystal spoke up. "Rurik was right the evil is hear. I can feel the undead on the other side of this gate. There are quite a few of them." Novum nodded towards her and then used the tip of his sword to push the gates open. As the door swung open the could see the area between them and the manor house was full of a huge group of undead.