The problem with flesh golems.

[G]

Thursday. The night remained relatively quiet for the district of Dockside. There were only the sounds of a few brawling sailors and workers, a few curses, and the steady beating of raindrops on the Dockside Baronial Manor warehouse. The current Baron was seated in the office of the warehouse going over the books of recently acquired goods and luxuries from a few recent seafaring expeditions.

The expansion of his naval fleet always brought a smile to his face. This time was no different. The last few months have caused his nation of Urnst to now have a sizable navy which would no doubt stand up to any water-bound invasions that might ever occur. Checking his notes revealed just how many ships the nation had, and how many able seamen would be needed to crew them. Fair enough, for he had recently opened a naval academy in Trigole for just such a purpose in mind. In fairly short time, Urnst would have no fear of the surrounding waters, not to mention the profits involved.

He was pondering the last when one of the Manor/Warehouse servants knocked on his door and looked in. Raising a brow in slight irritation, after all, he was still thinking in the business terms, he flicked his fingers in a motion to indicate entering and looked back to his papers.

When the servant came to the desk, he stood silently and waited for the Baron to acknowledge him in order to deliver a message.

"I ordered that I was not to be disturbed unless it was a matter of national security. Yet here you are." G'nort stated without looking up.

"Yes, sir. You are correct in that." the servant stated somewhat nervously. "You have a visitor who claims that a matter must be brought to your attention."

"Did his claim say that it was of National Security?" came the uninterested reply.

"The implication seems to be just that. He is a Gnome, sir. And presented credible documents of his importance. It seemed appropriate to bring it to your attention."

At the mention of the guest being a Gnome, G'nort then looked up and raised a brow, now in curiosity. If a Gnome would bother him here instead of sending a message through proper channels, it could only mean that GnomCorp has done something again.

"Send him in."

[G]

When the servant opened the door and stepped inside to show the guest in, G'nort was standing and facing the windows, gazing out over the landscape and watching as the downpour continued.

"Mister Oglethorpe to see you Sir." announced the servant, gesturing with his arms to a pair of seats in front of the desk.

"That would be Doctor Oglethorpe young man, I'm a scientist, you know." squeaked the gnome indignantly, which elicited the tiniest of smiles from the Baron.

"Apologies Doctor Oglethorpe, I was unaware." Which of course meant that the servant was aware but knew how to treat these Gnomes.

"Thank you." Replied the good doctor, unaware of any insinuations to the contrary.

The servant closed the door behind him as the Gnome found a seat and made himself as comfortable as possible. Several minutes of silence passed as the Baron continued to stare out into the night, the Gnome patiently waiting to be acknowledged.

"So, I'm told you have a matter of importance to discuss?" Stated G'nort calmly, not turning around.

"Yes sir. Very important. Knew I had to come to you straight away. No one else would do. Not at all." the doctor was quick to speak, another indication that he was nervous.

With a sigh, the Baron turned around and moved out his chair, taking a seat and pulling himself against the desk. He placed his elbows on the surface and laced his fingers together, staring over them at the poor Gnome.

"Tell me what you have done this time."

[G]

"Ahh, yes, well sir. You know us at GnomCorp hold you in the highest regards. Your sizable contributions and personal discoveries have helped us advance our countries technology a considerable amount in the years since you've taken over rule of the land. It goes without saying that if it hadn't been for you, most of the companies success would not have been possible..."

"Which is to say that whatever disaster you've created this time is going to be blamed on me?" G'nort interrupted.

"Oh, no, sir. Not at all. Wouldn't dream of it in the least. What I mean to say is that you may be willing to consider lending some assistance in this matter of the utmost importance of National Security, being that you're the leader of our respectable nation and that.."

"We're going to be here all night listening to you prattle on aimlessly about this "Matter of National Security" without you telling me what it is. Why don't you just stop attempting to butter me up, and say what your visit is about." Spoke the Baron evenly, a hint of irritation creeping into his tone.

"Oh, yes, well.. That is.." the poor Gnome took a deep breath, steeling himself for the revelation and to give himself courage to say it.

"Sir, the Creature has escaped." Following the statement, Oglethorpe quickly covered his face with his hands in exasperation.

G'nort, however, was not fooled. In fact, he had no clue to what creature this Gnome was referring to.

"What Creature? What are you talking about?"

The Gnome looked up between his fingers, this time he was the one looking surprised.

"What Creature? What Creature?? THE Creature. The one we were building and bringing to life? You said to build one!" Oglethorpe exclaimed.

Now G'nort was highly skeptical. Apparently he had ordered a creature to be built AND brought to life, but without his knowledge.

"This you must explain."

[G]

The Gnome was only too happy to do so, especially since he was under the impression that the Baron gave the order.

"Well Sir. Do you remember all those years ago when we experimented on the specimen Charlotte Jericho?" Oglethorpe stared at him quizzically, seeing if he remembered.

"Ah, yes. The reanimation of a top model, operated by remote control to not only duel, but to duel for a team that was not affiliated with HDT Enterprises in any way. Not to mention said experiment was performed without my permission or knowledge and remains to this day a project which I find revolting in numerous aspects. Let's hope she never realizes you did this."

A sudden thought occurred to the Baron after making his statement.

"Have you put another dead duelist under remote control?" he said with an angered expression.

"Oh no sir. Not at all, we would never do that. That's why this is a matter of national security."

"I'm not following you, Ogie." G'nort said with a tired sigh, rubbing his temple in exhaustion, knowing he wasn't going to like the upcoming explanation.

"Well you see. You expressly forbid us to experiment on the dead bodies of former duelists. It was only logical that this meant that we should experiment on the dead bodies of those who were Not duelists." the Gnome replied excitedly.

"Which means that you reanimated another body and it's running loose without the remote controlling it." Groaned the Baron.

"Well, yes and no, sir."

"Explain."

[G]

"Okay this is the situation. Since we couldn't use a duelist in the experiment we had to improvise. we also took it as an assumption that you didn't want us using any person as an experiment. Well, this left us realizing that you meant it as a challenge. If we couldn't use one intact body as an automaton, then we'd have to find a way to create. The obvious answer was parts of several bodies and create a single being from that. Then we begin the animation process and control it remotely."

"Good lord. Why not just be a necromancer like the one up North and just raise the dead with magic?"

"There's no science involved in that, sir. Anyway, those aren't easy to control technologically."

"Of course. So, explain the problem."

"Well, you see, Adam became self aware."

"Adam?"

"Well, it had to have a name, Sir. We couldn't keep calling it "it." Besides, He asked who he was."

"Brilliant. I sense so many lawsuits coming from this one."

"I don't know, Sir. While I don't think he knows how your laws work, I think he was more interested in, umm.. causing damage." the Gnome replied cautiously, sounding as if he was hiding something more.

G'nort leaned back in his chair, placing his hands over his stomach and staring across the desk at the Gnome. "Damage? How much damage?"

"Well, the experiment had unforeseen side effects. Adam exhibited extraordinary strength, incredible stamina, above average intelligence, not to mention he was quite nimble on his feet. So when he broke free of his restraints, he, well, broke free. Eliminated the scientists working on him, broke through the wall, then left the facilities rather explosively, through the nearby town before we lost him in the woods..."

G'nort groaned. "So what you're telling me, is that a hulking brute of a jigsaw puzzle with abnormally violent tendencies is running through the country unchecked, with the ability to cause a great deal of death and destruction, with no idea where he is?"

"No, no. Of course not." Pause. "Well, yes, actually. But we know he was heading South-East"

With that, all that was heard in the ensuing silence was the sound of the Barons head thunking lightly on the wooden desktop.

[G]

Urnst, late that same day.

As he tore through the dense foliage and into the tiny village near a small river, in his path all things were destroyed with little thought. He had already killed small and large creatures with the misfortune to be in his way, and now the village would be next to pay. Images began to take shape in his mind. Images of small people. Poking, prodding, stabbing, cutting and stitching. Then a bright light, not once or twice, but several times.

These memories of his creation caused the anger to intensify. So he began to stride forward, into the playground of a school for gifted youngsters.

It was during this rampage that the cloudy mist began to form here, starting around the school house and extending in an almost oval shape around the path of the uncontrolled monster. Adam knew precisely what he was doing but simply did not care about consequences. He felt his power, his intellect and used that knowledge to destroy. Now was the time for retribution. The dark forces at work this Thursday had found its next victim, its next lord, and slowly began imprisoning this evil creature within a large section of land which encompassed not only this town, but several others.

It was Adams dark deeds that caused the dark forces to select him as a Domain Lord in Urnst, sealing him completely from the outside world and leaving those within the borders at the whim of the creature. Perhaps the foolhardy gnomes who were responsible for this monsters creation will eventually come up with a permanent solution.

There were still stories spread about this creature, for although Adam could not leave, all others still found it possible to cross borders to other domains in the land of Urnst. And everyone had some hope that there would be some heroes who were available to finally send the creature to his final resting place.