Baraknirs Basic Bestiary – Large Zombies

The first change in the regular ranks of zombies is the larger specimen. It is a little more than a foot taller than its brethren. Do not mistake it for the weaker of its kind, their strength is remarkable. The tactics to deal with these pests remains the same. It is best to stay at range and use fire to defeat these undead from safety. Baraknir wishes you the best of luck on your hunt.

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He walked over to the mausoleum and tapped it. He studied the list of options while in deep thought a few of them he was sure he needed. He still had more than 200 KP left so he wasn't short on resources. Before going into detail on the Stronghold upgrades he tapped the Tombstone inside and bought the Garrison. He heard the now familiar rumble of change outside, when he stepped outside there was mass grave that served as the barracks. It was distasteful but fitting for the undead he supposed. With a shrug he reopened the Stronghold list.

[Tier one Zombie Stronghold: Governing Options.]

[Spawn a Base Guardian 20 KP (Based on tier level of subordinate units this unit will spawn at Tier 2 with 2 available upgrades.]

[Defensive layout Tier One 20 KP]

[Personal Guard Tier One, Special Growables 40 KP]

[Base Guardians Personal Guard Tier One, Special Growables 30 KP]

[Stronghold Automated Defenses Tier One 25 KP]

[Stronghold Fortifications Tier One 25 KP]

“There were quite a few options, looks like I have some reading to do.” Z thought to himself with a smirk.

The Base Guardian he was already familiar with, he had already decided that he needed one so he tapped the upgrade. He had the option to choose between a Large, Caster and Leader type. He chose the Leader type. He then got to choose the available abilities the guardian would have available. There were new options to available to the Leader zombie.

[Defensive Tactics Tier 1]

[Offensive Tactics Tier 1]

[Animate Dead Tier 1]

He read through the abilities, the defensive and offensive abilities were knowledge and intelligence based. The guardian would simply know how to use some basic tactics and the units under his command would gain a bonus when defending. As a Base Guardian Z felt that this was a must-have for the unit. Animate dead was more interesting, it would allow the guardian to animate the fallen opponents into units of his own. The maximum tier the undead could summon was two tiers below his own at the minimum of tier 1. Which made this ability especially effective when defending, so Z also selected that ability for the new addition to his troops. Once he finished upgrading the base guardian it rose from the mass grave.

This unit was different from the others... It had actual clothes instead of rags!

The Guardian walked towards Z with its hands behind its back. It had the gait of a military man and the uniform to match it. Black laced boots matched with simple black trousers, with a black blouse tucked into it. A white tie complimented the dark clothing, a dark long unbuttoned coat hung over the zombie's shoulders. On either shoulder there was a patch with the Zombies military rank, in this case it had the five stars befitting of a general. The patches were embroidered with softly glowing silver thread. The coat had some elegant embroidering at the cuffs, in the same glowing silver thread. Z had to admit, the zombie certainly had presence.

The zombie stopped in front of Z and smashed his hand into his chest in salute. “Awaiting your orders Commander!” He stated with the calm cadence of an experienced military man.

“At ease general.” Z replied on instinct. The zombie fell into a more casual stance, as casual as a military man could get in front of his commanding officer at least. “First order of business would be to give you a name, unless you already have one?”

“If I may sir?” Z nodded his approval, “I would prefer my military rank instead of a name if that would not inconvenience you sir.”

Z tapped his chin, “That will work, from here on out you shall be known as The General or simply General when in more casual company.”

“Understood sir! My thanks.” General accompanied his words with a small bow. Z nodded in appreciation, he also made a small notation in his mind that he himself had probably also been former military. He felt at ease with this new chain of command and the ranks that came with his new Guardian.

“Let us talk business General, You will be in charge of the defense of the center of our domain. Our heart is yours to protect, should it fall, the entirety of our faction will follow.” Z told the man, his voice deep, his eyes serious.

“I will carry out my duties with honor sir. Consider this base defended to my death should it be so required!” The General stated, saluting once more.

Z nodded, “Now we have to talk tactics, as you can see we have a semblance of walls, though they may not be much. Our forces are currently lacking, a large invasion of any kind will wipe us off the map. I still have 135 KP left to spend. I wish to use seventy-five for my own force. I plan to acquire a personal guard for myself, accompanied by thirty-five tier one soldiers.this leaves 60 KP for us to spend on our defenses.”

The General nodded, Z could see the gears within the zombies' mind working as was already considering the many ways to spend the points available. “I would like to give you a personal guard of your own, this would cost 30 KP. Although the automated defenses, defensive layout and fortifications are all attractive options I do not think they would currently make a worthwhile investment. Thus I was thinking another thirty tier one soldiers would be assigned to you for defense. What are your thoughts on this?”

“I approve of your well-constructed plan sir. This should be enough to protect ourselves from enemies of similar tier who may have their eyes set on our domain. Should any forces of higher tiers wish to attack us we would lose no matter if we had the earlier defensive fortifications. I am also aware of the experience myself and my personal guard will gain when you and your forces fight outside of our domain. The garrison will not gain experience from doing so however, they will gain these points over time. Defensive forces would be most efficient if bought from the garrison. In exchange for not being able to leave our domain, they are slightly tougher.”

Z nodded, “First let's summon these personal guards.” He tapped the stronghold to summon The Generals personal guard. Out of the mass grave, ten large zombies with a similar outfit to The General appeared. The ranks on their shoulders marked them as sergeants and for some reason, their tie was black instead of white like the generals. Their silver thread did not glow either, nor did they have any embroidering. What surprised Z the most was the fact that these were tier 2 zombies and that they had weapons. Each of them had a black iron heater shield and a black longsword to accompany it.

Z frowned, these zombies were worth way more than their price in KP, they were armed, spawned at tier two and each seemed to possess sentience. Not to mention the fact that each of them was a growing specimen. Then why was the personal guard so cheap, because of their limitations? He had read from the description that the personal guard had to stay within two-hundred meters of their assigned unit. It still made no sense to him. Z shrugged, he would take any advantage he could get.

The General was inspecting his troops, he roared at them to get into a double row formation. The guard reacted promptly and smoothly fell into a two-row formation. The general nodded in appreciation. He walked over to Z, “I am very satisfied with these troops sir, their equipment is of decent quality and they seem experienced. They are more than worth their price.”

Z nodded in agreement, “I myself am confused about the price attached to the personal guard. I was also surprised to see them so personalized. They fit you well, you can see they are your attaché. Well then, I wonder what my guard will look like.” He tapped the upgrade and watched as his guard stepped out of the mass grave. He grinned in delight, his guard looked spectacular.

Each of them had a conical helmet with a point towards the front and one towards their back. They wore leather vests which was connected to a shoulder guard on their left shoulder. Their left arm had a metal bracer. Their vest had a turtleneck that reached over their noses and mouths, this was also made from sturdy leather. A metal mask was connected between the helmet and the vest leaving nothing but the eyes uncovered. Their pants were also leather, with dark cloth beneath it, both of their legs had metal knee-guards. Theboots were relatively high and also made from sturdy leather. Each of the guard had a greatsword slung across their back and a knife with a sheath tied to their waist. Across their shoulders they wore a tattered red cape.

Z stared at them slack jawed as they walked towards him, they stood infront of him in two rows and bent their knee's. “We live to serve.” They spoke solemnly in harmony.

Z looked from one to the next, admiring their armour set. “At ease men, tell me. Do you have names?”

As one they shook their heads. “We do not have names nor de we require one. We live to protect, this is our goal. This is who we are, this is what we are.”

Z remained silent as he looked at them, it was hard to tell them to accept a name when they were so adamant about their lack of need for one. He nodded, “Your resolution has been accepted and is apreciated. We will soon be heading into battle, if you have preparations to make feel free to do so.”

“At your command!” They answered in unison.

Z walked over to The General, after working out some details he summoned the general's garrison units and then proceeded to summon his own soldiers. He marched out of their 'gate' which consisted of a simple gap between the dirt walls. He looked over his units, “We will once more head out towards combat, with our goblin allies we will move to eradicate the arachnid menace. We march!”

His personal guard smacked their fists into their chests in salute, Clog did the same albeit slightly slower. Brainz and the rest of the zombies just gazed with their lifeless eyes. Z just grinned and turned around, leaving his domain behind once more. Heading away from safety, towards battle. It truly got the blood pumping!