10th Aniversary Necromancy!

[[NPC] Lewis]

Sam!

Y-Yes?

This elevator goes down at least half a dozen floors, so Diana will be gone for a while. What I need you to do is get Jim's attention and have him chase you around. Make sure you keep him away from Diana and me.

B-But didn't Diana say we should hide?

And what if we do and Jim decides to look down this mysterious elevator shaft? Diana wants to avoid Jim more than anything, and if you can distract him long enough so that doesn't happen, she'll have you to thank for it!

Wh-What if he catches me?!

Iunno. Maybe he'll experiment on you?

WH-WH-WHAT!?!?

Relax! If you find yourself cornered, just find a mirror and jump back into your mirror world!

But I don't know the layout of this building very well!

Well now's as good a time as any! Trust me, you'll think better under pressure.

EEEYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

Was that Diana?!

You okay down there?!

LEWIS! LEWIS! GET ME OUT OF HERE!

THROW ME THE ESCAPE ROPE! HURRY!!!!!!

Lewis searches through his inventory and finds something.

Escape Rope

An essential for any Adventurer who's up for a little potholing. Use this to instantly escape from any underground dungeon. Don't ask how it works.

Diana is screaming in terror. Gunshots can be heard echoing from the elevator shaft.

[[NPC] Lewis]

Not understanding how Escape Ropes work, Lewis throws the entire rope down to Diana. Diana fails to catch it and it falls down the elevator shaft.

DID I MISS? SHOULD I THROW YOU ANOTHER ONE?

YOU ****ING **** I'LL ****ING KILLYOU

Lewis can hear more gunshots down the elevator shaft. Diana keeps screaming. At this point Lewis is also worried of the intruders hearing the commotion and finding them.

W-W-WE'VE GOT TO DO SOMETHING!!!

LEWIS!!!!!

LEWIS!!!!!

What would Lewis like to do?

[[NPC] Lewis]

Change of plans, Sam. Go hide in one of those rooms down the hall. If they capture you this whole plan will fall through and we'll have to give up the mansion.

I'll be right back.

Lewis grabs onto the service ladder, and slides down the elevator shaft to get Diana.

Lewis makes it about three floors down before running into Diana. There's not a lot of light coming in this far down the shaft, but as far as Lewis can tell Diana is fine. She's clinging to the ladder as hard as she can, petrified with fear. Lewis almost has to ask her what the hell happened, but before he has a chance he notices something is... off...

Lewis isn't sure when or how it happened, but Diana's face is bleeding.

H-Hey, did they get you? Lemme see. I need to know how bad it is.

NO! NO DON'T LOOK!

For the last time I don't care if your face gets messed up we can always sew it back together when we get to the-

Graphic Content Warning:

The left side of Diana's face is melting off. She looks like she spent a week in the dirt and was only recently dug up, even though she looked perfectly fine a second ago. The same thing is slowly happening to her left hand. Her right hand is nothing but bones at this point and her left leg is straight up gone.Lewis realizes the same thing is happening to him. Both of them are decomposing at a rate that should not be possible.

Hundreds of ghostly hands emerge from the bottom of the shaft, reaching to grab both Diana and Lewis and pull them down with them. The flesh on their bodies starts to rapidly decay and melt off their bones. Lewis is terrified, but he knows if they don't do anything they'll both die down here.

Lewis takes something out of his coat pocket.

Hand Grenade

A vintage grenade from the 1950s. Lewis believes grenades to be like fine wine: the older they are, the bigger the explosion... for some reason.

You still got one of these on you?

THAT'S NOT GOING TO DO ANYTHING! THEY'RE GHOSTS!

You got any better ideas?! I know we're both walking corpses and all, but to be honest I know jack shit about ghosts and the undead. What I do know is, if they're anything like us then they should follow the same universal laws that everything else does.

• Cows don't rotate.
• Nothing is faster than a dog.
• And nothing can survive a hand grenade!

Now are you blowing these mother****ers to kingdom come with me or not?!

OKAY! FINE! WE'RE GOING TO DIE ANYWAY! WHY THE HELL NOT?!

Haha! That's more like it!
Here. I don't need to tell you how to use one of these things. We pull the pins at the same time, got it?

IS THIS SUPPOSE TO BE HELL?! HUH, YOU BASTARDS?! THIS AIN'T HELL! WE KNOW WHAT HELL IS, AND IT'S NAME IS THE ZOMBIE GANG!!!

...FADBURY...

Diana and Lewis pull the grenade pins out with their teeth and chuck them down the elevator shaft.

Seconds later, the building shakes as the grenades detonate. The ghostly hands vanish. Lewis and Diana's skin is somehow back on their bodies. After they collect themselves, they quickly climb back out of the elevator shaft.

[[NPC] Diana]

Holy ****ing shit what the hell was that?!

Forget about that thing for a second. I might have blown our cover with those grenades.

Diana looks around the hall for a few seconds. It is dead silent, but that might just be the rugs on the floors cushioning any footsteps or the intruders are sneaking around the corner quietly. Diana is not entirely sure of either possibility, but she knows if the two of them don't hide as soon as possible the risk of being found will increase.

Damnit you're right... We need to hide. Where's Sam?

Sam is hiding out in Room 68 right down the hall, beckoning the two of them to hide with her.

Diana and Lewis retreat to the room as quickly and quietly as possible, and jump into the mirror along with Sam the second they make it inside.

You okay Diana?

I'll... be fine...

Do not go down there!

There's something downstairs. I don't know what, but it wasn't friendly. The hell does it want and- and why did it know all their faces? What the hell was that thing?

Whatever it was I think I killed it.

Yeah, you killed a ghost with a damn hand grenade! That- That's sounds like something that could happen!

This means that entire elevator shaft is haunted, isn't it?

You mean actual actual haunted?!

Of course it's haunted, dumbass! We're the ones haunting it! I don't know what the hell that thing was or if there are more of them, but it's invading our hideout just like Jim and his friends are. If we can't leave, then we'll just have to get rid of them both.

[[NPC] Samantha]

We're going after that thing?!

We're going to ****ing destroy it!

HOW?!?! Guns don't work on that thing! I've got an empty magazine to prove it!

Those grenades did something.

That couldn't have-

Ugh, look, both of us are fine even though we were melting a minute ago. Whatever happened down there was all in our heads. That thing must get inside your mind and **** with your cognition or something. Why else would it know the faces of all of Jim's former companions that died? It knew because I knew.

The explosion just, I don't know, broke its concentration long enough for us to get away.

Well good thing we got Sam with us. Let's head back down there while we're still in Sam's mirror world! It can't possibly follow us in here!

Diana punches Lewis in the face.

OW WTF?!?!?

I AM NOT GOING BACK DOWN THERE! I DON'T CARE IF IT'S SAFE IN SAM'S MIRROR WORLD! I'M NOT GAMBLING ON IT!

You didn't have to hit me.

Alright, if we can't go down there... then we'll let somebody else go down there instead.
Jim likes spooky shit, and he already thinks this place is haunted. Let's give him what he wants. We'll lay the bread crumbs for Jim to follow, and once he gets there the monster can eat him or something. Then we come in and kill the thing ourselves. Two birds, one stone.

......

Alright... I can work with that.

Kick-ass! Let's mo-

Diana punches Lewis even harder.

OW WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!

THAT'S FOR TOSSING THE WHOLE ROPE DOWN TO ME YOU ****ING DUMBASS!!!

Ow! Damn! I was just trying to help!

One last thing. If and when Jim gets eaten by that thing down, I want the last thing he sees to be me.

I'll try and pull some strings then... Augh. Shit.

Let's just go already. Damn.

Lewis opens the door to the hallway.

[[NPC] Blue Spirit]

Hello.

AH SHIT!

YOU MOTHER ****

Lewis and Diana point their guns at Alex.

Ah, brilliant. You didn't kill my friend. That makes things easier.

So, how long have you three been camping out in here?

HOW DID HE GET INSIDE THE MIRROR WORLD?!

I DON'T KNOW! I DIDN'T SEE HIM GO THROUGH!

DAMNIT SAM WHY DID YOU PICK THIS ROOM?!

IT WAS THE ONLY ONE THAT WASN'T LOCKED!!!

......

You son of a bitch...

Whoa, easy now! We're all friends, aren't we? I don't see why the four of us can't work together to help track down my friend's murderer.

What makes you think we didn't kill your friend?!

Well, you both use guns, don't you? If the killer had a gun on them, why go through the trouble of making a mess of the room next door, especially when Risky claims the killer got out of the shower? It would save them the trouble of getting messy again, and be far quicker to use a firearm.

I HAVE SO MANY QUESTIONS!

Your questions will have to wait. I need to ask you about what you saw. Is there some kind of ghost haunting this building?

Give me one good reason why I shouldn't blow your head off right now.

Well aside from the fact that I'm unarmed and it would be very unsportsmanlike of you... Don't you want my help dealing with that monster, or whatever it is you saw?

We can take care of ourselves just fine. You, bucko, are another story. What the hell made you think coming in here unarmed was a good idea?! We're the mother****in' Zombie Gang!

...who?

Wh- THE **** DID YOU JUST SAY?!

Sorry, I've never been to the states too often. I'm guessing Little City is your stomping grounds then?

Yeah, and these abandoned undergrounds are our base of operation. Also, you're our hostage now!

I suppose that's fine. Can you tell me about what you saw now?

[[NPC] Lewis]

Lewis fires a shot at Alex. It nicks him in the shoulder. Alex clutches his shoulder in pain, but quickly regains his composure.

Want another?! Bullets are free in The Republic of Zombgangia.

Woooow that sounds... just... so dumb...

Babe. Hey. I'm trying to be intimidating. Why you gotta ruin that for me?

You missed and you know it, moron.

If I'm to be perfectly honest... hrrnnnggg... this really hurts!...

...but I need to know what it is you saw.

Yeah? Why do you care so much?

If whatever is down here gets out it could harm innocent civilians. If you help me I'll ignore the fact that you're using this building as your headquarters. I'm sure the rest of your gang would consider this a "good deal."

Jokes on you. We are the rest of the gang. It's just the two of us right now.

DIANA WHAT THE HELL!? DON'T TELL HIM THAT!

Just the two of you?
Wait. You mean to say you're a gang of only two people? How is that a gang?

WE'RE WORKING ON IT, OKAY?! YOU WANT ANOTHER BULLET?! I'LL PUT ONE RIGHT BETWEEN YOUR TEETH!

Hold on. I have another idea.

Let me join your gang.

Oh hell no! You're with Jim! You'll sell us out to him when you don't need us anymore!

I have no attachment to Fadbury whatsoever. We only just met a couple of hours ago. As polite as I try to be to a new face, I hold no loyalty to him.

So you'll turn on your friend if it comes down to it huh?

I wouldn't call us friends. Acquaintances maybe, but not friends. I came down here due to curiosity, nothing more. I'm helping Jim only because it furthers my investigation. If that were to change, then I suppose things would be very different right now.

So how about it? Want to add another member to your rankings? If you kill me now I cannot help you.

[[NPC] Diana]

I hate it admit it Lewis, but this guy is waaaaay more clever than the two of us combined. We still don't know how he got into Sam's mirror world. Therefore, I believe our friend here is better off dead than alive.

I was afraid of this. Dying right now would be very inconvenient for me.

Aaawwwww sowwy, but life doesn't always work that way.

Indeed. Life can be... awfully unfair sometimes. I'm sure you would agree.

He's got a point.

[[NPC] Lewis]

Lewis fires at Alex a second time, but his aim is off again and hits Alex in the right shoulder.

I knew this was a terrible decision. Oh well.

It's your own fault, thinking you could outsmart us one minute and then be all buddy-buddy with us the next. Here's a life lesson for you Sam: Never go to school. You can get as smart as you want, but you'll never outsmart a bullet. Our boy in blue over here had to learn that the hard way, and it cost him his life.

Hey, I got a crazy idea! What say we kill this dork and then re-animated him! You know, make him one of us?

Hahahahaha, now there's an idea.

Oho, eager to join the undead, are we? I'll make this quick then. I'm thinking that stupid looking badge on his hat will be worth... Mmmmmmm 100 points! The eyes will be worth 50, the rest of the head can be 25, and anywhere else on the body that kills him will be 10. Oh! Except for the heart. That can be 100 as well.

Diana, wanna say some dear departing words to our soon-to-be dearly departed?

[[NPC] Diana]

How come you're not running?

......

UUUUUUGHHHH.... Diana noooooo!

We still don't know how you got in here. But being here at all means it must have been a pretty clever plan. You wouldn't have come in here without some way to escape, would you?

Ah, now there's an excellent question.

Hey... babe... here's an idea...

...We kill him... and not worry about it! Okay?!

Lewis, shut it and listen.

Something is off about this guy. I've been watching him. He doesn't flinch when you point a gun at him like normal people do. In fact, the first time you shot him... I don't think he was even paying attention to your gun. He didn't try to dodge either. Why?

Because he has a death wish?

omfg you're such a ****.

How afraid are you of getting shot?

Not a whole lot.

Okay. How come?

......Because we're undead?... And we're only kill from headshots?

Very good.

Wanna take a guess at why he's not afraid of getting shot?

Oh shit! I remember! Some of you mother****ers are undead like us! So you wouldn't be afraid of dying, would you?

Death is my girlfriend, actually.

......

Ahahahahahaha! Get a load of the balls on this guy! I think I'm starting to like him!

Our bodies are undead. We're not afraid of getting shot to pieces, but sunlight can still do a number on our regenerative abilities if we're not careful. You're different. You don't have any survival instincts. If we killed you, what exactly would happen?

I suppose my spirit would wander aimlessly through this dimension until another portal opened up. I could always follow you until you went through the mirror again, hiding in the walls and zip through the other side. After that I guess I would need to get another body from my superiors.

Holy shit this guy's unkillable!... Like some kind of super zombie!

That's a colourful way of putting it, but I suppose you're right. My connections with death give me a plethora of privileges. I can even survive in daylight. If you're interested, I could pull a few strings to give you two the same benefits.

For reals?!

Well well well, maybe I judged too quickly. Sounds like this guy's useful enough that he outweighs the risks!
Alright then! Welcome to the Zombie Gang, new recruit!

Now so fast. Let me make this clear: we still don't trust you. That's why we're keeping you in Sam's mirror world as our hostage.

Y-Yeah, what she said!

We'll also need to know how you got in here without us noticing. Wouldn't want you trying the same trick twice. Also, you need a mask to be part of our gang.

Diana puts on her mask.

Like this.

Oh yeah...

Yeah, you're gonna need a mask.

Lewis puts on his mask.

We're kinda going for a theme here, but if you had a mask with you I guess we could let you join...

But if you don't have one you'll just have to be our hostage.

A mask is it? Well, why didn't you say so?

Alex reaches under his hat for something.

How about this?