Taking at look at the dungeon system to look for these so called natural spawn points I go digging around this weird mental map I have projected, this would be much simpler with some sort of flat map display. While this is relatively detailed I do not need so much detail until I find the spot specifically, still now that I actually arrived I can see things that scouts would not allow and plan accordingly. The rather apparent first spawn I found is a large pile of what appears to be bones enough to see that the dead of a small scale army clash are heaped here, some of which are moving around. Eventually some manage to dig themselves out and I see a new skeleton(by my standards between peon and worker) emerge and start wandering. The surprising thing is however that from what I can see the pile does not actually change in terms of bone quantity, though if this thing has been constantly releasing skeletons then it would have run out long ago.

I see several ways to go about this using my military forces, one is to use this interesting list that appears to allow me to create either the already pre-recorded undead which are cheap and weak or go about it with my undead which are taken from the grimoire. The one I am considering however is something I call a corpse gatherer or in this case a bone gatherer, I can just create the giant bone crab creature which is a conglomerate of many different bones made to expand itself and release undead when I wish it to. I just let this thing wander around or perhaps.... actually this sounds interesting have it take over the entire pile of bones. Should be rather massive if it does but I do not want to break up the pile so easily in case that stops the creation of new undead from it. Hmm I want this thing to be more mobile but can’t risk breaking it completely, wait I have an idea.

I know of a creature called a dung beetle that is known as a symbol of life, it gathers a ball of dung and rolls it around till it finds a good place to bury it and use it for living. This also nourishes the ground around it, the key part however is the gathering and rolling. I obviously cannot get a giant dung beetle but I can start working on it, meanwhile I can look at the other spots. There are two more spots that are creating undead, one appears to be a generic graveyard where once again despite only having so many graves undead still crawl out. The important part here though is the presence of mass graves, from the inspection some appear to be pestilence dead and the other is a military massgrave holding bones from two different armies. Both produce undead, low quality but numerous undead with the implements of their former life hanging from limp arms.

The few crypts appear to hold the noble families of the area and these occasionally rise from their places of rest to gather the rest in a semi-organized mob. The other is a tomb that appears to spawn better units in the form of warriors and weakling knights at a slower rate. These troops are more organized and drilled in appearance and movement, I see captains and troop leaders moving in better fashion as patrolling groups though there is no higher command so far. I will be able to send a basic force with a mage to handle the graveyard however the tomb will require a more coordinated force. I feel that my elites and the acolytes can handle things here so it is time to go in person, since I am the one carrying all the important bits I can be safe in avoiding a coup d'etat while away. They actually try anything then I will be alerted and send in the surrogate except I suspect the knights and mages are going to be able to handle anything, I dare them to try to take control of my undead then they will know my imperial wrath....

I need to more properly be able to stretch my legs, not much amenities in this place. I am more used to getting dragged to some function or party as part of my position back home, I may like to research alot but that does not mean I cannot appreciate the good food at banquets along with other amenities. However garrison duty at a fortress is not my thing, most of the time anyone who tried that I had squashed politically and the high nobles were too busy trying to arrange to get bone golem corps to try it. The event that prompte me to go on that ill fated trip was a special exemption due to the need to gather more material for expansion of the shock companies.

Here it is an actual lack of such amenities to be used, perhaps the new intakes once more arrive can create them but for now not an option. Ahh speaking of bone golems if I can manage to gather enough resources I could start trying, however I would want this to be rather large scale to be worth the effort. Now that I can just barely get swords I would rather not waste my efforts on only a few solitary models instead of just getting more equipment for my minions. I can make scarier skeletons instead if I wanted the fear factor, not to mention I need wyrm bones for those template golems and dragon for the best quality work.

Now then what would I need to bring along to make this work. Hmm a few shields obviously and with undead I will need the blunt object wargear, do I wish to steal the undead after knocking them down or not waste time. Hmm I think a squad of veterans with a knight will do, hmm I should probably bring along a priest and mage. Well time to see if I can still do good work, taking the bones of the head priest from the failed adventurer attack I begin creating the needed arrays for conversion. I once again gathered the group to watch both as a learning experience with what can be done with necromancy and of course to ensure they know that I am not to be trifled with.

Placing it’s corrupted regalia on it’s frame I activate the array and as miasma and necromantic energy flow in streams towards the empty frame it changes. Bones creak and groan as they undergo change, the very air shrieks at what is happening in seeming outrage of the perversions of the established ways. As the physical changes finish I decide to add my finishing touch, the eyes of the dragon so to speak as the pseudo soul is placed into the frame. Seemingly archaic words echo in the air and fires ignite in the eye pits of the skull and bone hands grasp the provided sceptre staff, behold my first Skeletal Priest in this land Alberack(not that I will admit to doing this back in the empire).

All the observers are suitably impressed and I see that some are taking note of how this occurred, perhaps they can create something similar but it will not be my array work for that is must more intricate then they can realize now. One needs many components and items for this which I of course never revealed to them what is needed nor can they make even cheap substitutes, there is no way around this much as I tried. It is all or bust so to speak when using arrays as I repeat the process except with less flair on the rest of the priests.

Now I just need a few crossbows for contingencies along with dire wolves for cleanup and some soul containers. If they have spirit undead then I can have the mages go at it or the priest enchant the weapons. Hmm I think this is against the spirit of dungeon diving using about 25 undead total as the clearers but I rarely play fair. This should be a good first line of defense against them if I do this right and bring them along, letting the points be curbstomped one by one is a poor way of buying time. If I want proper coordination to make it worthwhile I would need to send developed elites and that would be a waste to not have them with me. Let us see the required harassing units of skirmishing light troops and a few dire wolf packs along with their supervisors for contingency purposes. Any mortal army has to eat and sleep, they can sustain themselves to some degree here in the fifth zone but the fourth zone will be much harder with scarcer living things both plant and animal.

Actually a good thing we are moving, my spectres are hitting a bottleneck with absorbing more miasma and my elites are now too many to sustain themselves without recharge for much longer. It is not like they get fatigued in battle but the control runes can only last so long without additional recharge since I do not feel that adding mana crystals will be economical enough. I am the only one able to make them naturally and diverting too many resources from expansion for the facilities is troublesome. Thanks to the eternally overcast weather of this land I do not have as much issue with sunlight’s draining effect on the undead but this poses questions on how dark will it get deeper in.

Here while slightly dim it is no issue moving around and things can grow but deeper in.... looks like more equipment will be needed. Honestly if we ever enter too deeply into the third zone I think that only small parties will be able to actually be able to survive with the proper equipment and spells. Necromancers have some more resistance but most of the acolytes are not old enough and experienced to do too much better than normal people. Still lets actually worry about that when we reach that point, for now we need to trailblaze a new location in the fourth zone. I hope those search parties I assigned are actually able to find what we need.