Author Notes: Right, so this is my first story, and I'm happy to accept reviews! This first chapter is based off of a game I played, but it will be the exception to the rule, though the character does have a specific set of spells based on a deck. The character is an original character, and is set to a scavenge deck of mine.
I smiled with cruel satisfaction as I looked over the forests of the plane of Innistrad. The black mana here was abundant- I could feel it in the air, the stench of decay met me and refreshed me. The green mana was excellent, too, as the forests here were wild, full of power, they would not be tamed easily. I looked forward to leading the Swarm to more prosperity here. Surely Innistrad would make an excellent undercity plane, once I figured out how to bring the Swarm between planes… But that was simply a very surmountable obstacle, to the Golgari. All obstacles were surmountable, to the Golgari.
So with such thoughts I simply continued to scout this plane, seeing its viability for conquering. It seemed I was in the middle of some woods, with graves sporadically placed here and there- a shame the bodies had likely rotted away to nothing now. None of the graves looked close to fresh. Nevertheless, it stood as a testament to the power this plane had, the danger… Yes, perfect for the swarm. I recalled the mission I had allowed myself to assume, as I stroked the once dead plant that was wrapped around my arm. I was scouting for territory that I could summon the Golgari to, to conquer, and maybe to eliminate a few threats.
I hadn't spotted a threat yet, until my plant on my arm curled up my arm to alert me of something, and it almost did so too late in the low visibility of this strange untamed forest. A native of this plane, I was sure, came out from behind a tree, and judging by what I could make out of the bond, took a stream of green mana from some forest a while away, with a flash bringing forth a wolfling. It looked vicious, but honestly not too deadly.
"Human… you shouldn't have strayed into my territory. You'll be my dinner now." He sniffed, and set his eyes upon my plant, seeming to get angrier. "Ghoulcaller. You especially shall die. I would eat you, but ghoulcallers taste foul." I couldn't help but arch an eyebrow and laugh.
"Is this what passes for a taunt for you? You're hardly worth my time, not worth the time of a Golgari mage like me. I am Sedrick, and I am death. I doubt you could comprehend my power, or the power that backs me." I focused on the slums of my home plane, and a fine stream of black mana came to me. With it, I brought forth a shaman from my guild.
"A battle. Slay that if it attacks." I pointed to his wolf. The shaman nodded at me, slightly clumsy with the sickness that came with summoning. It was amazing how pathetic nearly everyone was compared to a planeswalker.
The wolf-summoner eyed it, and casted a disgusted look upon it. "Weakling, simply a weak human, just like you," he spat out. He connected a bond with another forest, and called upon the mana to bring forth a twisted, screaming ghost, which rushed at me uninhibited by slowness or sickness. Unwilling to lose my shaman, I grunted angrily as I received a swipe from the geist that rocked me slightly backwards.
Spitting a slight amount of blood out, I reached out for the wooded cities of my plane, taking the green mana and the black mana from the slums to bring forth a troll of the Golgari, a powerful thing. Then, with the power lent to me by it, I tossed one of the plant manglers of the Golgari onto the ground dead, summoned without protection from the Eternities. The troll consumed it, and grew stronger, prompting a small smile from me.
My enemy was considerably less pleased, as it looked, and he briefly infused the ghost with a burst of green mana, causing it to leap at my troll. Annoyed by this turn of events, I summoned a dead criminal knight from Alara, and allowed the troll to quickly absorb it. Strengthened by this, in the ensuing fight, the troll destroyed the geist- but it rose from the ground, angered, and more strong. It charged at me. This being unacceptable, I threw it one of the Swarm's beetles- which made it stronger, and it proceeded to tear the ghost to shreds. I smirked, and stroked the plant on my arm. Yes, simply a native summoner, barely a threat.
I snapped an order to my shaman, who went to the shreds remaining of the geist, and performed a rite, returning the strength that the geist had removed from me. I then ordered the troll to attack him- and he must have been strong, to survive that. He returned fire- summoning a new ghost, and charging with it and the wolf. It was painful, but a discomfort I must take for the swarm. Now furious, I snapped off a new set of orders to the shaman, as I reached upon the tomb shrouds of the Golgari graves for mana, and he snatched a bit of the magic essence in the air from his green magic burst earlier- and the shaman sent it off at him, sucking out some of his lifeforce.
This sent him into a rage, and he drew mana from… a mountain-tree, from another plane. He was a planeswalker, too! That explains how he was strong enough to hit me… sent the younger wolf and the geist to attack me. I sent the troll to destroy the geist- little did I know he would draw from the mountain once the geist had been destroyed, and cast a shower of fiery brimstone at the troll, killing it instantly. The wolf then clawed me. It merely served to make me further indignant, but that it did do.
I called upon my knowledge of strength, and nature granted the shaman much strength in a sudden flash of luck, containing within his formerly wiry frame much power. He charged at wolf-summoner, and nearly rocked him backwards.
The wolf-summoner sensed danger in this fight, so he put a rage-inducing aura on the already rabid spirit. Fighting the inevitable, He brought forth an older looking wolf, and once again sent the wolfling and the ghost out to strike me. It hurt, I gave him that, but it wouldn't prevent his fate- I called upon nature once more, in a flash of strength making the shaman immense, powerful, and attracting all of his summoned beings to prevent it from killing him. It was no use, and it struck the deathblow, after which I sent it away.
This was what Innistrad had to offer? Surely, an easy conquest. I continued along the woods. Innistrad of the Swarm. I liked the thought.