With the first wave ineffective against the Necromancers’ forces, a second wave of adventurers arrives to see if they can fare against the seemingly perilous stronghold. A dracomorph and his attendant, two Ratwick warriors, a seasoned barbitos and his loyal crow-goat with an ulterior motive, and an unassuming armored battle maiden clan together to have it out with the Necromancer and attempt to save the princess before it’s too late.
New Kids on the Block
Iscale, the more or less runt-of-the-litter type Dracomorph, Ricksell, mute attendant to Iscale, Churafee, the daughter of The Ratwick Chieftain Nezudon, Gesh, the strongest Ratwick, Sargan the Barbitos with Crogie the Crow-Goat and noble steed and Aridelia the battle maiden, meet together as the auxiliary force and set out to the Dragon tower, as it seems the tower may be too much for Yuva and the gang to handle by themselves. Each came from different parts of the kingdom, all coming together with the same goal: to do their duty for the realm and save Princess Ignelia.
However, first of all, the Dracomorph race is all related one way or the other, and the reward for rescuing the princess is her hand in marriage. If Ignelia and Iscale are related in some way, that’s going to be kind of awkward if he rescues her. Second, sending the strongest Ratwick makes sense, but sending the Chieftain’s daughter for the task seems a bit out of place. Sargan is powerful but also very old, and seems a bit ill-advised. Out of all of them, Aridelia is the best choice, but who can say for sure?
Sacrifices Had to be Made
Captain Minsabelle officially orders the royal guard to withdraw from rescuing Princess Ignelia, but unofficially doesn’t give up the rescue itself, leaving it up to the regulars and sellswords to continue the operations without her aid. She needed to reassure both Lieutenant Rudeum and Calix, whose counseling was invaluable to Minsabelle, which is why he didn’t get left behind with Yuva.
With the royal guard already stretched so thin, Minsabelle was losing influence in her family’s kingdom, so she needed all the help she could get to maintain stability with both the crown and the parliament. And who better to watch her back than the two little boys she helped raise into fine young men. It was she who sent Iscale to aid in rescuing her niece, but also to be her “eye” and ears back at the tower to relay any information regarding the Necromancer and his tactics.
“When the Dragon Tower Descends, Doom Follows.”
The return of Carache. He catches a parliament scribe’s son with a host of knights trying to rescue the princess and “negotiates” some information out of him. According to a hidden prophecy, in order to summon the dragon tower, one must be of royal blood and in possession of one of the crowns. The Necromancer had possessed the King, who had one of them that summoned the tower, thus fulfilling the prophecy, and the royal family’s greatest sin. But the real question is, why then kidnap the princess who is in possession of the other crown? Is there more to this prophecy than is known? And why would the royal family keep it a secret?
You Reap What You Sow
The Necromancers were hunted down by the royal family, save one, who is currently exacting revenge. Necro-Maggots: A Necromancer can grow up to a thousand of them in a day and use them to reanimate nearby corpses. This Necromancer killed off some of the Basalisks, like the one last reviewed in volume 3, brought them back to life, and used their power of freezing any threats to stone. The only way to break said curse is to kill the basilisk, which he did, reanimate more undead corpses along with the basilisk, wash, rinse, repeat. An endless supply of an undead army at his disposal. All that power propagated by the Dragon tower, which I need to remind you, can only be summoned by a king or a princess while in possession of their crowns, respectively. Now that’s one evil genius revenge plan if ever conceived: use the power from your own enemies against them.
Final Thoughts
This new crew is already struggling to stay alive, let alone fend off an undead army commanded by a foe they haven’t even met yet, save through speaking to him via one of their undead victims. In this case, Carache, the psychopathic dracomorph back in volume 2, had succumbed to the necro maggots and is now this crew’s volume-ending cliffhanger. The worst possible fate for a villain, not only did he die off-screen, but he was also brought back as a puppet. As for the secrets that each of the members of the Iscale crew, as well as Captain Minsabelle and the Royal family, well, you’ll just have to wait for the next volume, Tower Dungeon Volume 5, so stay tuned.
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