From her not-so-ivory tower, Alyss' attention abruptly laser focused to where the birds fluttered off in the distance. In clear view of her vantage point, a thick, white mist rose from the ground, slowly turning a sickly greenish purple before her eyes.

Oh shit, that can’t be good.

* * *

Having reached the edge of the newest Guardian’s territory, Captain Trakada smiled to himself in his ghoulish way. Not so long ago, that had been his tower to defend, his city to build, and his players to order around like so many worker ants. For just a moment, he envied the new player holding his old lands, but the feeling passed quickly.

That had been another life.

Unlike most players in RESTART, he had been lucky enough to defend the tower, save the land, and grow bored with it all.

Playing tower defense had been boring as all hell despite the lucrative business he'd had with other kingdoms. He'd amassed enough money for five lifetimes before he grew bored. He was set for life, why should he keep playing? The challenge was gone. On his final day in RESTART, right before the boredom consumed him and he quit playing for greener pastures, he received an offer from an unlikely source; the newly reborn Kratawar. Apparently, Trakada had missed his phylactery during his conquest of the other towers, and in the months that he had moved his Cauldron of Visions and secured the rest of the world, the creature had reformed.

The offer he made was a simple, beautiful one. Give up the ruby tower, and the lich would recreate Trakada in his own image as a lich. In addition to this, he was promised a fair share of the spoils for everything he captured. RESTART's promise on top of it was even better. When he felled a realm with his new master, he would join a new Kratawar in a new instance and start the war all over again.

For a player like him, who wanted nothing more than to experience the new, it was delicious.

Where once his flesh was flush with the essence of life and lively brown eyes had been a key trait signaling the former mage’s form, things had… changed quite a bit. Now, Trakeda had morphed into a bastardization of his former self. His skin was a garish gray with sunken, white eyes that saw much, much more than when he had been a Guardian. Silver hair strode down his ashen robes while a long, gnarled staff touched down with each step he took. All in all, he couldn’t complain about the changes. His new life was much more interesting.

Name: Trakada Grayfellow

Race: Undead

Level: 10

Class: Lich (Lesser)

HP: 120/120

Mana: 200/200

Title: Captain IV - Kratawar’s Army (80 of 80 units) Skill Tree: 18 Points Spent (10 Level, 7 Bonus, 1 Racial) (Unused skills have been hidden by user)

Motivation (5) Diplomacy Fearful Tactics Your command over minions extend to the living and the You can command living troops just as easily as the undead despite your undead status. Necromantic Visage Your minions understand what fear No orders will be ignored for as long as you are within visual or attack range. Magic (12) – Class Specialization: Necromancy Necrotic Arrow – Cast (20) Fire a magic missile of necrotic energy at a target for minor damage and a high chance of lesser poison. Haze III – Cast (75) You are a creature of the night, and your magic reflects Cover the field in a haze of mist for the next five minutes to increase your stealth and quiet your movements. Fear – Cast (30) You are a creature to be feared. Project your aura to those around you and you may send them into a panic or root them on the spot. Undead are unaffected. Miasma – Channel (25 per 5 seconds) Once a haze has been cast over the field, convert the fog into a field that gives your undead creatures a minor regeneration effect. Lasts as long as a channel is held. Summon Lesser Undead – Cast (30) Convert a creature’s corpse into one of your undead minions. Must have at least one-unit spot for the creature to be summoned. Bone Zone – Channel (20 per 5 seconds) Once Haze has been cast, channel your necrotic energies into the mist to seep your necrotic energies into the earth and corrupt the grounds. For as long as you channel, whenever any creature would fall in this area, spend X mana to convert it instantly into a lesser skeleton with half of its previous level, health, and This effect cannot create a minion at level 0. Unique – Lich (Lesser) Phylactery When you die, you lose all experience towards the next level and are reborn at the location of your phylactery. It takes 2+X days, where X is the level of the opponent that killed you. If you are felled by a magic or silver weapon, double this time. If your phylactery is destroyed and you cannot make another before your next death, you must re-roll your character. Spirit Bound – Kratawar If Kratawar is defeated, you can no longer respawn in this instance of RESTART. Upon your death after his defeat, you will be respawned at level one in a new instance.

Checking his HUD, Trakada flicked past his stats and checked on his troops. They were gathering along the outskirts of the rather poorly prepared ruby village. No matter the rarity of monster that constituted his troops, their traits changed from spawn to spawn. Maybe this time he’d be luckier than the last.

Below Average Zombie Horde (50)

Average Hit Points: 12/12 Trait:

Infection While acting as your troops, NPCs bitten by zombies have a 25% chance of turning. This can only occur if you have open spaces in your minion reserve and if the bite breaks skin. Sunlight Aversion While attacking during the day, zombie stats are reduced by half.

Zombies are your lowest level undead. They will never be the brains of the operation, but they make up for all their weaknesses with their horrible smell and stubbornness. They will complete any task you give them, or they’ll die trying… again. Just make sure to wear a helmet when commanding these hordes if you’re being smart about it.

Below Average Skeleton Archer Bigrade (30)

Average Hit Points: 20/20 Trait:

Brittle Skeletons take double blunt and striking damage.

As a minor undead, skeletons have no bones about their place in the order. They have great spine and even greater courage all things considered. In fact, they’ll have anything you want them too since they have no will of their own.

So much for lucky, Trakada thought to himself, the puns are getting worse. The minor lich smiled all the same. When did he prefer the easy route for anything? If this player was anything like the last, he might be in for quite the fight. With this thought at the forefront of his mind, he made the decision to hold nothing back.

Raising the undead treant arm of a staff high above his head, he announced the beginning of his attack.

“Haze.”

Dispersing what was left of the light of day and heralding the end for yet another Guardian, a deep fog began to percolate from the ground like a sickly pustule bursting its foul load into the air. The animals knew better than to stick around, and a flock of nesting birds fled from his spell’s advance. All around, the third level skill spewed through the area, rolled through the trees, and more importantly, towards the woodcutter’s hut that was oh so fortuitously unguarded.

Take out their resources first. Then play. Trakada wanted to giggle at the mad rush of power his new role brought to him, but he stifled the urge and directed his attention back to the troops. His sunken white eyes turned to the closest of the two groups first, and his orders billowed like a rotten stench from the back of a meat market on a hot summer’s day.

“Group one, move in and attack the woodcutter.”

With an echoing groan, the first group obeyed and began their slow, undead lumber towards the woodcutter’s cottage. They weren’t the most silent of mobs as they moaned and groaned between the chattering, grating of bones and teeth. Thankfully, the haze did silence them to a dull roar.

His plan of distraction in place, Trakada turned to the second, groaning group of gangrenous wretches.

“Group two, move in a wide birth around and flank the village. Attack anyone that gets in your way. Try to keep them in the Haze and let the zombies bite them.”

The second group did as the first, meandering out past the path of the first and into the darkness with a macabre waltz.

As the wretched sounds of the undead grew distant, a smile crept up Trakada’s face. Oh yes, this would be fun.

A cry of battle punctuated through his excitement and the undead reached visual range of the first once- Guardian, but it was already too late. The Haze had fully engulfed the village.

Fun indeed.

* * *

Alyss knew that the red on her HUD and the fog couldn’t be a perfectly random happenstance. Cursing the multitude of tower steps, she made as careful a mad-dash as she could to her tower base, out into the village and towards the seeping haze of fog. Skittering to a stop at the edge of the wall of mist, the grandmaster knitter was taken aback. She was no more than fifty feet from the where the woodcutter hut was, and she could barely hear anything. If she strained herself, she could make out the hum of harmonious twangs and a few muted moans intermingled with a constant thud of the woodcutter axes. She couldn’t make out any single voice, but someone was saying something.

“They’re coming from over there too!”

Knitting needles equipped, Alyss bound into the fog towards the noise.

“I’m coming!”

She was coming alright, straight into the back of a monster. The creature's flesh was nearly melting as she pulled away from it in surprise. The creature turned to her, one of many that lumbered through the mist, and groaned. Its breath was a mix of sulfur, mud, and necrotic, rotting flesh. To the uninitiated zombie fighter, it was best described as a well-aged dumpster fire. Pushing the creature from her with a shove, a new horror joined the scent. It’s flesh pulled away with her hands like ribbons, only to slop back wetly against its grave-worn pants.

Alyss paused and retched before the creature. Then, her well-honed combat skills kicked in and she channeled her fear at the incomprehensible horror into a war scream, driving her weapons home …

Zombie-8 takes 5 damage.

Zombie-8 takes 5 damage.

Zombie-8 takes 5 damage.

Zombie-8 has died (again).

Corpse of Zombie-8 takes 5 damage.

A lot. She drove the weapons home a lot, driving those long, iron tips into her target until the creature lost its footing and fell towards her. In a manic stabbing session, Alyss kept piercing into the creature’s soft flesh as ichor bled from the wounds while doing her best to keep it from touching her.

Corpse of Zombie-8 takes 5 damage.

Corpse of Zombie-8 takes 5 damage.

Corpse of Zombie-8 takes 5 damage.

Corpse of Zombie-8 takes 5 damage.

Corpse of Zombie-8 has been destroyed.

A moment later, there was nothing left for the needles to hit.

You have gained 5 Experience.

Overkill – You destroyed the corpse of Zombie-8.

You have gained 1 Experience.

Panting heavily, her victory registered with the sudden absence of foe before a battlefield’s worth of information began to flood her senses. First, she caught a whiff of the smell, and her eyes registered there were at least fifteen more of those things creeping along. Worse, five of them had turned to her while the rest were being cut down by well-placed ax swings.

The sickly thud of the axes pulling out and splitting rotted flesh rang in her ears as the largest of her woodcutters yelled orders to the others before noticing their fearless leader.

“It’s the bastard! We’re under attack!” Bob yelled as his ax sunk into a rotting skull, splitting it like an overly aged melon and sending the zombie down with a silent parting of the mist.

The soft thunk of bowstrings caught her attention next as arrows whizzed by their heads. Her hand immediately went to the hairs that had come out of place from the arrow’s wake, and fear tried to take hold.

No, don’t be scared. It’s just a game. It’s your livelihood. Focus! she demanded and turned her attention back to the battle. Okay, Bob’s here, where are the others?

Trying to take some count, the Guardian heard Forgad before she saw him.

“Pansies!” rang out followed by the solid, wet thunk of an ax. His eyes caught Alyss’ and he pulled the weapon free of the undead skull. “We’re coming, Ma’am!”

“Get to Bob and Alyss!” Kaliopie agreed as she struck another’s leg. “We need to get a leg up on ‘em!” A grin played on her face as Forgad finished the prone creature off.

Alyss groaned at the joke but smiled as her allies chopped their way through the hordes, taking two more down on their way to Alyss and Bob. For their sake, the zombies were slow and the archers weren’t the fastest or most accurate creatures in RESTART.

Reaching their allies, Kaliopie was the first to speak. “The bastard’s here,” she spat. “Trakada’s the lich’s dog. He’s a minion master and extremely smart. Beat me with a combination of flaming arrows and burning his own zombies to destroy everything.”

“So we’re lucky?” Alyss asked as the group formed a defensive line against the approaching horde.

As if to answer her, groaning from behind and the steady thud of fists against wood began.

“They’re behind us. Great,” Kaliopie deduced before turning to Alyss. “If we’re quick, we can handle this. What should we do?”

If Alyss was going to be the Guardian of this world, it was time to put her money where her mouth was.