It took nearly two hours to speak with every one of my targets. The apprentice mages held little insight into the nature of the tome they had stolen.

On the bright side I could find out myself. It was like seeing your christmas gifts under the tree and trying to guess what they were based on the general shape.

The goblins were greedy little shits from the moment they stepped into my door, without exception. They were not original Defias members, practically mercenaries taking advantage of the incredible wealth the bandits had managed to acquire.

Considering what they were asking me to pay before I had them drink it had to be.

With my new servants added to my collection I decided it was time to handle the rest of the chaff. It was time to test an idea Antheol had given me.

I grabbed the now headless carcass of the man I had possessed, dragging him with me as I readied for my plan.

I stepped outside and onto the deck of my ship before I walked to the edge, kicking the body over and letting it crash down into the work space of the lower section. It struck the wood with a loud crack, interupting the workers as they went about their business.

"Theres been an attempt on my life. Everyone is to gather in the cove in exactly two hours."

I waited for a moment, looking them all over. before snarling "Get back to work!"

They scattered, setting back to whatever their respective jobs where.

I stomped to a nervous but well dressed looking goblin, the only boss I remembered the name of. "Captain Greenskin?"

The reply was something I'd expect from a smoker over a small green man. "Yes boss?" Scratchy and relatively deep.

I grinned at him. "The guards in Moonbrook let an an assassin disguise himself and make an attempt at my life, meaning they're either incompetent, or traitors."

His hand fell on his sword. "I'll take some boys up there and get rid of em."

He motioned to a couple of men with swords nearby, taking them with him as he made for the surface.

"Make sure to bring whats left to me."

I need supplies to put this together, and the forward guard had been incompetent. Poor them.

While Greenskin readied my reagents I moved to one of the Bloodmages, pushing him towards the rest of the people in his circle. "Get me the book, and any ink you have."

He stumbled off hastily, running to see my will done.

I had two hours to prep the cove before the Defias gathered nearly in their entirety.

With that in mind I scoped out a couple of locations for focal points to the ritual I was planning.

The primary focal point would be the center island, the largest of the cluster of small islands leading to my ships and the one I would have them gather on.

The other points would be on the other islands, the ship and near the entrance.

When the mages returned with the book and the ink I set them to drawing the lines I had in mind. When they where finished the lines would make several interconnected ritual circles.

I stuffed the tome into my shirt for safekeeping.

By the time Captain Greenskin returned, his men lugging two dozen bodies belonging to members of the forward guard, the mages had nearly finished the circles.

They were used to taking orders regarding rituals, and quickly followed my commands to the letter. At a glance it was done perfectly.

"The examples, sir."

I clapped him on the back. "Very good captain, very good."

I pulled VanCleef's sword from my hip, looking to the confused men around me. "I'm a man who likes to do his own work. Anyone who betrays us deserves their head on a spike.

With that, i chopped the head off one of the corpses. I looked to one of the men whos face was beginning to turn a little green at my actions. "Go get me some of the harpoons."

I would have asked for spears, but I could see a Harpoon rack a couple yards behind us. He stumbled off, hurling into the cove for a bit.

I shook my head as I got back to work. He would get them.

I was a little late on my timeframe, wrapping my work up about five minutes after everyone had arrived. Giving them plenty of time to awkwardly stare at me holding a human head and carving symbols into it.

Everyone except those I had dosed with the Amani mixture stood within the circles I had created, gathered around several heads mounted on the harpoons.

I carved each head with several arcane symbols, each dedicated to the storage of arcane energy, and a couple of voodoo symbols alongside them expanded their horizons a bit.

Fear of what I would do held them back for a while, before one of them finally mustered the courage to speak.

"S-sir, I understand the need to make an example of traitors and all-" He gestured to the ritual circle around him and his friends. "-but why all this."

I shushed him. "You'll understand soon enough, boy. Just step back in line, I'm about to start."

I stood up from the ground, before I mounted the final head on a harpoon impaled into the ground, just over the final focal point.

The other heads stared at the one in the center from their places in the cove.

When I turned around I had what I hoped was a welcoming smile on my face.

"Some of you are probably wondering why you're all gathered here today. Why I went through all this effort just to make an example."

Smoke poured from VanCleef's mouth, and the markings on the floor lit up with a harrowing bright green glow as I sent a spark of necrotic magic into the center circle.

I emerged to the sound of screams and pain as the ritual began.

"Its because there's been a change in management."

I watched as ominous chanting filled the room, seemingly from no-where. The light produced from the symbols grew brighter and brighter as the life force, and souls of every man and woman inside the circles began to drain away into the makeshift totems.

I watched as the people desperately tried to claw away at the invisible barrier between them and freedom, their bodies wasting away in mere moments.

I watched as the their howls reached a crescendo, before falling into the echoing moans of the undead.

By the time dawn broke, and my ships waited just outside the cove, Hundreds of zombies waited inside the ritual circles, their eyes glowing the same shade of bright green.

They all surrounded several glowing totems, each containing the power I had just stolen.

Perfect.