The portal area the Wailing Woods Dungeon led to was laid out the same as the ones Serenity had seen in the Shining Caverns, but it was in far worse shape. There were clear cracks in the canopy and several of the seats that had once been bolted to the floor were broken or missing. Everything was chipped and worn.

There were more people in the waiting area, as well, and they were all looking at him when he exited the portal. The vast majority were undead, though he was confident a couple were necromancers instead; he saw a few obviously controlled mindless skeletons.

A number of them were standing, paying attention to the portal exit. As the portal closed behind Serenity, most sat down, and many of those looked anywhere except at him.

Serenity could see what Stojan Tasi meant about this being a risky part of town. It was obvious that some of them had been planning something and had decided against it when he came through the portal. Some of the remaining people were still probably planning something, but many simply seemed curious, making it difficult to tell which were which. As he looked around the room, Serenity noticed which of the watchers looked away and which continued staring at him.

This was why Serenity disliked crowds; with too many people around, it was too easy to miss something.

Serenity led the way past the crowd. There was some talking, but Serenity didn’t pay too much attention; most of them seemed to be more curious than anything. Everyone near the pathway moved out of the way. “Which way now?”

“To the left, I’ll tell you when to turn.” Stojan Tasi spoke barely loud enough to be heard.

Serenity turned to the City Lord. “Why don’t you lead, since you know how to get there?”

“Appearances. We set this up to make it look like you’re the power.”

That didn’t make any sense at all.

Stojan Tasi sighed. “If you’re surrounded by bodyguards, you must be weak enough to think you need them. If you’re followed by retainers, they’re attracted to your power. It’s not that hard.”

“Why does having someone else lead make me - you know what, never mind. I’m not going to understand how people think like that. Can you at least walk next to me?” At the City Lord’s nod, Serenity turned left and led the way down the street. It seemed silly to him, but if it made the difference between being attacked and being left alone, it was smart, not silly. If he had to lead without knowing where he was going … there was probably a metaphor in that, but it wasn’t one he wanted to pursue.

The city itself was just as run down as the portal station. The buildings looked like they had once been grand, but at least half of them were little more than rubble, and many of the remainder looked like they could collapse at any time. It was worse than Serenity remembered, but it was likely he’d never actually been to this part of town. “What happened here?”

“Hopelessness and neglect. This is known as the zombie district, because-” Stojan Tasi broke off and tipped his head towards the people walking towards them. “You see. The problem is that zombies, like other low-end Risen, are pretty weak. Only a few overcome it, and those are usually the ones that managed to retain a part of their prior self. No one wants to teach clueless weaklings, so they’re dumped here. They exist until they’re killed, but that’s really all you can say for them.”

Serenity knew that wasn’t quite true. Low-grade undead would live longer than a human, and wouldn’t die of starvation, but it wasn’t actual immortality. It might look that way to someone who hadn’t dealt with them over centuries, especially here, because their remains would almost always rise again. It was virtually guaranteed in a high-Death environment like this. It wouldn’t be the same person, but if they were weak and abandoned, that might not be obvious.

Here was another problem Serenity might be able to solve - all it would take was teaching enough low-grade undead enough and getting them to band together and teach others. It was a task that could take years, and he didn’t have the time.

Of course, that sort of thinking was part of how places like this came to be. Perhaps he’d have a way to deal with it in the future.

Serenity was still lost in his thoughts about how to improve the life experience of the locals when he noticed a large presence step in front of him. He paused and looked towards the over ten foot tall patchwork creature that had stepped into his path. It stood upright, but Serenity could see that it was made of at least three different undead sources, only one of which was human.

It was probably not a “natural” occurrence. Melded undead could happen, but they rarely looked as much like a basic human as this one did, despite the sabertoothed cat’s skull coming out from its chest in addition to the clear use of a gorilla for the normally placed skull. The arms looked strangely short, since they were the most obviously human part of the monster. Serenity wasn’t certain what had been used for the legs; the only thing he could think of with long enough legs was an elephant, and those weren’t right for this.

A human followed the abomination. “Oh good, guests. I welcome you to our fair city. I will be your guide, and I must ask that you pay me in advance. It resolves so many little misunderstandings to have the pay come before the task. I do believe a fair price might be everything you have, so please, hand over your Etherium. If you do so quickly, I will give you a discount and let you keep whatever else you have.”

Serenity didn’t remember ever being mugged by someone quite so cheerful before. This much he did know, though; no one with actual power would let someone steal from them in this manner. A warning was more than most would give. “We don’t need a guide. Get out of the way. I won’t say it twice.”

“Oh but you do, for you are clearly lost! And more than that, I will protect you and prevent bad things from happening!” Another abomination stepped behind the group from behind a pile of rubble. This one appeared less human than the first, with four “arms” tipped in spikes protruding from its ribcage.

Serenity turned back to the extortionist, pulled his naginata off his Quick Belt, and put it through the chest of the necromancer. He’d warned the man, and there was no reason to wait for him to bring another monster to the fight. Depending on how the necromancer had created them, it was possible the abominations would collapse or be released to their own minds, however much they had of one.

The rear abomination charged at the group and Serenity had to step out of the way when the one in front of him attempted to clumsily swipe at him. Unthinking rage was also an option when the controller died; it was too bad that was what he’d gotten this time.

At least the abominations seemed to have been designed for intimidation value rather than actual combat utility. The one that was attempting to swat Serenity was so slow he was able to watch the other one while he avoided it, and the other one was busy demonstrating why six arms is not necessarily better than two - every time it took a stab at Raz, it smacked another arm and missed, even if he didn’t move out of the way.

It was almost comical.

Serenity stepped around the one attacking him and reached up to touch it on the hip. As it swung at him again, he triggered Eat Death in the local area, dissolving the part of the spell that held the leg to the rest of the creature and animated it. It stumbled and Serenity skipped backwards, away from it.

Serenity watched as the rest of the spell animating the creature dissipated because of the damage he’d done and it finally lay still. If the necromancer had still been actively controlling it, that probably wouldn’t have worked; he’d have been able to at least stop the dissolution and possibly replace the damaged part if he was good enough.

Serenity turned to the other one and found that it was down as well, with multiple magical attacks destroying its chest and silver-colored swords piercing its skull and each limb, pinning it to the ground. The City Lord gestured and the swords rose back into the air and flew back to him before disappearing.

That was some impressively flashy magic. A Metal affinity perhaps?

Serenity retrieved his naginata and checked the necromancer. Definitely dead; there was some Death energy seeping from his body. It was a normal amount for someone who’d just been killed.

The encounter was enough to knock the plans to improve the place out of Serenity’s head. He just wanted to get home, where killing someone for getting in his way was less likely. He’d have to deal with the invasions, but maybe once that was done he could set down and lead a quiet life?

It was a nice dream, even though he knew it would never happen.

A couple hours after the encounter with the necromancer and his abominations, Serenity noticed that the population had changed; very few people wore the pitiful, torn scraps many of the zombies had worn. Instead, there were far fewer obvious undead and most people, undead and living, wore robes. The buildings were also more likely to be intact. They still looked rickety, but most hadn’t actually fallen.

Serenity was hungry. “Stojan Tasi? Did you happen to plan a lunch break into our trip?”

“I didn’t think about it,” the City Lord admitted. “Seeing the way you eat, I should have. We’ll need to find a restaurant to keep up appearances, but I’m not sure what’s nearby.”

Serenity turned to look for a passerby. “We can always ask.” He’d only taken a single step towards the man when Stojan Tasi grabbed his arm.

“You shouldn’t. Hale, can you?”

Serenity turned back to face the City Lord. “More of the stuff about who should do what? Why does someone else have to ask, if I’m supposed to lead?”

“The leader is supposed to know, not to question. If you have to ask, it’s a weakness. Weaknesses are noticed.”

Serenity was sure his expression was amusing. These rules almost made sense, but they were taken past the point of reasonable into ridiculous.

Hale walked back to them with directions to a restaurant. It was a bit out of their way, but would cost less than half an hour; the time they spent eating would likely dwarf that.

The restaurant was nicer than Serenity expected. It looked worn but clean. The server recited the menu rather than having a written menu; there were only four options, and Serenity knew that they might change from day to day, so that made sense.

All of the staff and patrons were living; this surprised Serenity for a moment, given how many undead were outside, but once he heard the menu he knew that it was the problem. Everything listed was fully cooked, which was not preferred by most undead. There were likely restaurants specifically for the few undead who could both eat and afford to eat.

He wondered for a moment if some of them specifically catered to vampires. Some vampires could take stored blood, after all; some could even eat, though food wasn’t enough on its own.

Serenity ordered a direbeast steak. It wasn’t the best steak he’d ever had, but it was certainly acceptable.