What makes a lich so intimidating is the difficulty in killing one. Most would assume that a crystalized soul would be quite fragile; they are wrong. Something like that can take the full force of a cannon shot, point blank. Everyone already knows about a lich’s endlessly regenerating bones, so it is less of a talking point.

Apart from their tenacity, they are also deadly. Every bone, every scrap of flesh, and every drop of blood is fair game for them. The only caveat is that they cannot use something like cooked beef or tanned leather as parts of their undead.

Finally, make sure that the lich you are facing is truly one that lacks sanity. There have been many hunters who have died by ignoring a lich’s Variant. A Phylactery Lich is very different from a Rage Lich or a Fear Lich. A team of hunters expecting a few zombies and skeletons will quickly die in the face of a Death Knight.

-Hunter’s Guide to Liches, By an Unknown Author

*=====*

The rest of Mori’s night in the Notchings residence was more ordinary than she thought possible as a lich. After the two women ate dinner they talked about general knowledge of Granulous and Earth, during which the two women learned that Mori used to be a man. They were not, however, put off by the idea; those willing to spend the Trait slot and with the prerequisite medical knowledge could change their gender to what they preferred. It was not offered to those who did not want to change their gender, which gave Mori the sense that the system was reactive to what the person in question wanted.

Mori also learned that, apparently, level 3 was not very impressive. By contrast, Fara, at 18 years old, was level 15. What was impressive was the fact that Mori did something that gave her over a level of experience; a feat with such a great gain was usually restricted to something that went down in legend. Mori also got the sense that, even though her Trait selections were nearly endless already, that she had barely scratched the surface of what the Sa’rk system was capable of.

Discovering more about the system came later; she was having fun simply talking with Fara and Molly. Eventually, they went off to bed and Fara gave Mori permission to read whatever she wanted and tinker with any of the unfinished devices in the shed. The lich hummed to herself as she entered the room, excited.

The sea of parts and half-finished devices greeted her strewn about in the same places she had seen them last. Deciding to leave the finished items well enough alone, she moved around the parts and sent a wave of mana into them. After waiting for a few moments, nothing happened. Waiting a few more, nothing happened still. She sighed and began to sort the parts; she had no confidence in her mechanical abilities and she would rather learn from Fara. 

*=====*

With a groan, Fara opened her eyes to the small closet she called her room. By contrast to her mother’s room which was also the house’s study, her room seemed bare. She would have rather slept in the shed where all of her materials were but Molly insisted that she have at least a normal room, even if it came with the compromise that it was much smaller than Molly’s room. Grumbling about having to sleep beyond her shed Fara got up and quickly dressed, banishing the dirt with a blast of cleansing mana.

She quickly left her room and went straight to her shed, where she had let Mori be for the night. She had expected some sort of odd contraption to be waiting for her, but she had never expected many piles of sorted scrap waiting for her. On a poorly-welded metal chair, Mori sat, reading a book. Specifically, it was Sigil Basics, written by Molly herself. 

Fara raised an eyebrow at Mori as she looked up from her book and waved, “So you’re going to learn about sigil magic?” Fara asked. 

The lich nodded, conjuring a basic triangular sigil with a foreboding circle of mana in the center, “I am. This, for example, is able to seek out corpses and raise one. Should, anyway. There’s plenty wrong with it but it’ll be good for finding good places to get bodies, should it work,” she replied, “Anyway, what’re we gonna build?” Her tone showed her excitement, as did the slowly rising flames in her eyes, but it put Fara off a bit.

‘Aren’t liches supposed to be all grim and solemn?’ she thought, ‘Whatever, she’s a bit different from other liches.’ Her thoughts flashed through her head quickly due to the Trait [Enhanced Mind III], her second favorite Trait behind [Mechanical Affinity X]. “Well, I thought we may as well take a look at your arm. How did you get it on there, by the way? It looks like it was built around the arm, come to think of it…” she idly said.

Fara got the sense that if a skull could grin, then Mori would be doing just that. The rings that connected her arm to the device grew to the point that she could slide her hand out. Once her arm was removed from the contraption, she placed it on the table in front of them. Once finished, she unhooked the power cell from her ribcage and placed it on the table as well. Holding up her bony arm, Mori let the bone shift and change shape in subtle ways. “[Minute Skeletal Manipulation],” she said, “Right now, however, it’s [Mechanical Skeletal Manipulation]. All it does is let me mess with anything that’s a part of my body a tiny bit. But that’s old news, how can we make this even better?” she asked, excited once more.

“Well,” Fara began, “Do you-” Her words were interrupted as Molly burst through the door that led to the house.

“Fara, Volku is having a town meeting. It’s important. You should come too Mori.” Molly guided the two out of their house and down into the town, passing fields of the thorny bushes and sandstone houses along the way. The fields were devoid of people, Mori only hearing noise from the center of the town. 

After a short walk the three arrived at the town hall, a large building made of clocksteel struts and sandstone walls. Inside the main hall over a hundred people were standing, speaking to each other in concerned voices. The variety of their forms was the most striking thing to Mori, as some of them had large heads, some had a second pair of arms, some of them had scaly skin, and some even had horns. Few took notice of the new arrivals at first, but the fact that a lich was among them did not go unnoticed for long. Word spread like wildfire, and soon most of the crowd were stealing glances at Mori. 

Before anything could come of the attention, an older man, with an extra pair of eyes that sat on his forehead, entered the room from a side door and drew the crowd’s attention. He looked around, taking note of everyone present, but paused when he saw Mori standing next to Molly. The lich waved to the older man, who chuckled and waved back. “Calm down, everyone,” he said, “I know you are all concerned about why I have called you here, but we must not waste time. Yilnic found something in the mesas north of here that is important. Yilnic?”

From the crowd, a tall man with pale skin and slender fingers took center stage, “Thank ya, Elder. I was up ‘n the Gill’s Mouth Mesa yesterday an’ I found somethin’ strange. There’n was a pile a’ bones, lyin’ ‘n the ground. ‘Round it were these claw marks that looked like ‘t came from a- a wolf or somethin’. Then I saw ‘t. ‘T was skulkin’ over the tops a’ the- the mesas. An’ I ran as fast as I could. All I saw was a flash a’ pale white an’ a couple a’ horns before I got outta there. I did shoot a couple’a arrows at ‘t, but I dunno ‘f they did anything. Mrs. Molly, what coulda that been?”

The crowd’s attention moved to Molly as she gave a thoughtful expression. After a few moments, she shrugged, “Well, I couldn’t tell you. Something with claws, horns, and pale skin that drops the bones of its prey in a pile could be anything from a wildman with odd Traits to a Manabeast,” she admitted. Her words caused a ripple of whispers to pass through the crowd. People spoke in hushed, terrified voices. 

After a while, the Elder raised a single hand that silenced the crowd, “We must be calm, everyone,” he urged, “Molly, what should we do in this case?”

She thought for a moment, but shrugged once again, “I couldn’t tell you. The safest idea would be to hire a team of hunters to take care of it, but it will drain the town’s wallet.”

The crowd erupted into discussion, with arguments for and against hiring a hunter team flying back and forth. During the discussion, Molly stood near the door barely paying attention. At some point Fara leaned over and whispered something in her ear, which began a hushed discussion between the two women. Eventually, Molly leaned over to Mori and whispered to her, “Hey, can I ask you a favor?” Mori lightly nodded, “Thanks. Do you mind if you… well, help Fara figure out whatever that thing is?”

Mori thought for a moment and nodded happily, “Sure, sounds like fun.” 

Molly nodded and thanked her with a smile. The Elder seemed to have been keeping an eye on the three and raised his hand, silencing the crowd once more. Fara took the chance to grab everyone’s attention, “If we can’t afford a hunter team, then I’ll go and see what we’re dealing with,” she said, stunning the crowd a bit, “And I’m taking Mori here.” She pointed to Mori with her last statement, who waved once more.

Murmurs of agreement slowly became louder as more and more people thought it was the best idea they had. Eventually, the Elder spoke, “Are you sure about this, Fara? It would pain me to see you die out there…” he asked, silencing the crowds once again.

Fara paused for a moment, thinking, but looked upon the crowd with a determined gaze, “I am ready. I can’t do anything if I’m not willing to brave a bit of danger.” Her words struck a chord with the townspeople, who soon gave their approval to her plan. After a bit longer the meeting was concluded, and the people went their separate ways. Mori followed Fara and Molly to their house in silence until they reached Fara’s shed. 

Molly sighed and hugged her daughter tight, “Are you sure you want to do this?” she asked with tears in her eyes.

“I have to,” she replied, her head buried in her mothers shoulder, “I can’t become any better than I have if I don’t go out there and make a name for myself.”

Molly hugged Fara tighter, more tears streaming down her face, “You were always like your father,” she muttered, “Be safe out there. And Mori, keep her safe. Please…” She reluctantly moved out of the hug and moved into the house, keeping tears in as much as possible. 

Mori and Fara were left in the room alone, with Fara tearing up as well. Unsure of what to do, Mori gave the woman a hug as well. Fara gave a surprised peep that Mori did not expect from the normally serious woman, “Mori, what are you doing!?” she asked in a panic.

“Hugging you,” she responded with a giggled, “Come on, you seemed sad. I want you to feel better. Besides, I have no idea why you two are acting like you’re going off to war, so can you fill me in?”

Fara paused for a moment and gave a chuckle, “Oh yeah, you have no idea what’s going on. The best way to explain is to tell you that I’ve always wanted to build a moving fortress. I grew up on my dad’s stories about legendary scavengers creating massive works of mechanical and engineering genius and I’ve always wanted to do the same… And I can’t build a fortress from a scrapyard… That’s why this is so big… because once I leave once, she has to let me go… I love Ma, but she always doted on me and didn’t let me go off into the world until now. I think the only reason she’s letting me go now is because a lich is following me. Thanks for that, by the way…”

Mori chuckled, hugging Fara tighter, “Don’t worry about it. I honestly need a plan, and helping you fulfil your dreams seems like a good place to start, don’t you think?”

Pausing for a moment, Fara smiled and wiped her eyes of tears, “Thanks, really. Do you want to hear what I think our plan should be for now?” Mori nodded and let go of the woman, “Okay, basically, we hunt that thing —whatever it is— and come back to report it. Then, I pack up and we head to Green Oasis. That sound good?” she asked.

Mori nodded, “Sounds good to me! Do you have a gun or something?” she asked. In response, Fara walked to one of the tables tucked into the corner of the room. Flicking a switch somewhere on the wall, the wall behind the table opened up to a small cubby with a few weapons behind it. A scoped lever action rifle, stubby revolver, and hatchet hung from pegs in the walls of the compartment. The two guns were loaded in the same caliber of Mori’s clockwork gatling gun and likely packed a good punch. 

While Fara loaded and readied her guns, Mori placed her unwieldy contraption back onto her arm. Once the two were properly equipped, they got onto Fara’s skiff and readied themselves to leave. Before they could, Molly walked through the door and went up to Fara. With a final hug and a motherly gaze, she handed Fara a small pouch. Recognition flared across her face as she gave her mother a tight hug. Molly returned the hug and backed away, waving. Hooking the pouch onto her waist, Fara waved back and started her skiff. The world momentarily blurred for Mori as they sped away from the house; she noticed Fara’s eyes leaking tears, but left the topic alone. Soon, they flew through the town and out into the open desert. Soon, the course dirt turned to sand and the two women flew north towards Gill’s Mouth Mesa.