85. Aman meets the Lord of Northengard

The office of the Lord of Northengard is a simple, but clearly well used place. It was filled with documents, maps, and various tools that has seen time from long ago. There were multiple ancient swords and shields on display on the walls, each from his predecessors. "Welcome, hero Aman. It's a pleasure to meet you. I am Julius Northengard, and my family has ruled Northengard since it's founding."

They shook hands, and Julius clearly took note of the three beauties that came with the hero.

"And these are your companions?"

"Yes. Hannah, Kiara and Wynn." The Hero Aman answered.

Julius nodded. He may be a fairly serious, proper man, but he could recognize beauty when he saw them.  It took some willpower to not look at the too long. "I can see why the temple is skeptical about your reputation and sent someone to correct it. You have quite the collection of beauties by your side."

Aman paled at the statement. Hannah looked thoroughly embarrassed when she understood what the Lord of Northengard implied, while Kiara merely sighed. Somehow, someone has been slandering the hero party.

"It's nothing much. At least, now that I've seen you, you look like a decent, good man, so I'm not worried. But that reputation of yours is going to cause trouble." Julius laughed. "Now, onto more serious stuff, are you going to march on the undead armies of the Demon Lord Silber?"

Aman nodded. "Yes. We would like to fight the next demon lord, but unfortunately we don't know much about our opponent. Can you let us know more?"

"Well, to be fair, my information is fairly limited as well. My scouts tried to find the home of the demon lord, but most of them didn't return. Those that did couldn't find it, they claim there is a dense magical fog in the mountainous woods and forests. So, all we could do until now is defend ourselves from the regular skeleton and zombie armies, but our conventional weapons are not very effective against these magical creatures."

"Holy magic." Aman answered. "That should work against the undead and zombies."

"I know. We do have few priests at our employ, but both our priests and our mages are so precious that we focus them on defending our city and the main trade routes." Lord Julius said.

"You could bless your weapons." Aman suggested. "That should last enough to spread it out to the rest of your army."

"We are aware, but they fade after a few days, and we never really know when the undead armies will strike. If you worked with priests and mages, you'll know that they can be quite a handful to manage. We do know that each of the undead armies are led by a few liches and necromancers, and these leaders are well protected." Lord Julius said. "We like to think that like all magical creations, the destruction of the necromancers should cause the undead armies to collapse, but we have not been able to test it."

Aman touched his chin. "Where did they last attack?"

"During the battle near Errama, we also had a smaller strike by these undead demons against the smaller villages. Our forces managed to protect two of the villages, but we lost one other village. Our scout claims everyone was killed, but no bodies were found. As we are dealing with necromancers, it's likely they have taken the corpses and bones for their own further work."

"Oh dear." Hannah exclaimed. "We should save them."

Wynn frowned, and although she understood Hannah's intention, she was just naturally more cautious. "We need to find out how strong the enemies are. We can't just blindly rush in there without knowing who our opponents are."

Hannah nodded. "Ah. That's right, of course. We should scout it out?"

"Scouting is hard. The place near to the woods are magically enchanted by some kind of illusion." Julius Northengard quickly clarified. "Mages and priests would be needed to peer through the illusion, but again, it's a dangerous place to go to for everyone else."

Julius then called them over to a table where there was a large map of the area. Aman studied the matter seriously. "That means mages and priests will be strongest against these zombies."

Hannah looked at the map too. The magical forests and mountains were a fairly large place, and it was hard to really tell where to even begin searching. Hannah turned to her teammate and asked. "Wynn, if you were a demon lord, where would you put your keep?"

Wynn rolled her eyes. "If I were a demon lord, it'll be right at the center."

Aman nodded and agreed with her. "She's right. Magic is strongest at it's center, so the illusion magic's weakest points should be furthest away from the demon lord's keep."

"Couldn't they just change the strength of the illusion and let us think otherwise?" Kiara wondered, but she too realized she was unlikely to have a role in the coming attack on the demon lord. As a knight, illusions and undead were not her strong points. She would constantly need a priest to enchant her sword to destroy the undeads permanently, else it would just be a temporary death.

In a way, that would a good thing, as she suddenly remembered the communication crystals in her pocket. If Aman and the other hero party members were busy with scouting, she could fulfill her duties to the Count. Her face reddened at the lewd thought, as the memories of her mother's debauchery entered her mind.

"Kiara? You alright?" Hannah asked, as the first heroine noticed the knight's slight, reddish face.

"Ah." Kiara didn't realize she was thinking lewd things at a serious meeting, but, it was a rare opportunity for things to align for her. "Sorry, I was just thinking about some things. Aman, if I may, I think I'll stay back in Northengard to help the defenders. If this is a magically inclined opponent, my value against the enemies will be better here."

Aman looked into Kiara's eyes, and surprisingly, Wynn nodded. "She is right. A knight, or a fighter like Hannah will be less useful when dealing with the illusions."

Hannah didn't agree. "But what if there are zombie abominations? Monsters? A party can't be all magic and healers!"

Aman frowned, and the Lord of Northengard said. "From what we know, this is the general area of the magic fog. It's a big area to explore, but if you have multiple mages or healers in your party, it might be a good idea to split up."

"I see. Do you have any mages that can help us, if we split up?" Aman asked.

"I'll check with my mage corps, but the city possessed fifteen mages and they are mostly pretty average. The illusions of the magical fog are quite strange and strong, and my mages were not willing to explore it previously. I'll see if they would change their minds if they have you as an escort." Julius Northengard answered.

"Please." Aman said. "I think I'll need to discuss the details with my team."

"Alright. I should have an answer tomorrow. Let's meet again tomorrow night." Lord Northengard suggested.