Our tale begins ingloriously, during an infamous quest entitled, “The Gate of Bellthor,” the midpoint in “The Return of the Witch Lord” expansion pack. Of all the sixty-six quests in the original HeroQuest canon, “The Gate of Bellthor” is unique in that it guarantees absolutely the Heroes’ defeat. Even if the Barbarian, Dwarf, Elf, and Wizard are successful in felling the most imposing of Zargon’s Gargoyles, its death triggers an explosion of poisonous gas, rendering the room’s inhabitants unconscious. This event sets the stage for what is probably the most iconic and memorable moment from “The Return of the Witch Lord,” that moment depicted in glorious color on the cover of the Quest Booklet itself: the Barbarian and Elf in chains amid the Witch Lord’s amassed forces of Chaos (see the featured image above).
With the exception of the Dwarf, our Heroes met exactly this fate when we tackled 
“The Gate of Bellthor” over a year ago; I can remember their baffled, glowering stares as I described the unavoidable explosion at Quest’s end, as I imparted to them their cruel, collective fate: “I would say that you’ve all been captured by the Witch Lord—only you wouldn’t hear me.” As for that aforementioned Dwarf, he met his fate at the claws of a band of marauding Skaven, interlopers in Bellthor’s dungeon against whom Mentor had warned the Heroes. I had, by this time, been toying with the idea of replacing one of the Heroes with a Skaven character, perhaps even adding a fifth Hero, a Skaven, to the party. For this reason, I had begun adding small clans of Skaven enemies to the quests, foes loyal neither to Zargon nor the Empire, and eager to engage in battle with all comers.
So. By the time we began “The Halls of the Dead” the following week, I’d not only decided to bring back a Dwarf, but to add a fifth Skaven character, over which the Heroes themselves could exert some role-playing force.
As “The Halls of the Dead” exists in its original form, the Dwarf and Wizard start together in a prison cell, the door of which Mentor has just magically opened (in keeping with the theme of unique quests, I believe this marks the only time Mentor ever actively intervenes with the miniatures on the game board). In my altered version, only the Wizard escapes from the small cell. The new Dwarf—like the temporarily enslaved Barbarian and Elf—does not even begin on the board, making the Skaven the only other active Hero at quest’s start.
This Skaven is the Hero that would soon become the Necromancer, Shale.
My altered Quest plays out along dueling plotlines: in one thread, Trakix the Wizard searches for his comrades; in the second, this unnamed Skaven searches, almost unwittingly, for his brother.
Here is the prologue for this second thread:
“You’ve awakened in the middle of the night to find your older brother’s nest empty, his thrall—the skeleton of a beloved ancestor—mindlessly circling a sewer grate in the bottom-most tunnel of your family’s burrow. When you remove the grate, your ancestor’s skeleton suddenly vanishes below, impelling you to follow through a labyrinth of tunnels the likes of which you never would have guessed existed beneath your childhood home. Through darkness you travel, through darkness. Your brother is a crafty mage—and power-hungry. But you are determined to find him, to retrieve, at least, the velveteen cloak willed to him by the same dead ancestor you now pursue. More darkness, hours of it. When this skeleton, helplessly drawn to your brother’s aura, finally makes its way toward a glimmer of daylight, you follow warily, finding yourself face-to-face with a crude rope ladder. “I must retrieve the cloak,” you think once more. You scale the ladder; cautiously you open the trap door.”
Luckily, the Quest played out more or less how I planned: the Wizard finds a dead Skaven in the cell next to him and takes his cloak and daggers to use or sell another day; the new Skaven finds the new Dwarf being tortured, frees him, and joins him. When the Wizard, Skaven, and Dwarf meet up before tackling the dungeon’s central room, the plotlines converge. The new Skaven, recognizing his brother’s ancestral garb in the Wizard’s inventory, finds himself hopelessly drawn to the corpse of his brother and must make a party-altering decision. Here is the flavor text:
“The cloak calls to you. When you don it, you are compelled to the dead body of your brother. When you locate him, you—for the first time—see the tattoos on his wrists glowing. It is as if the cloak brings you—and irresistibly—face to face with the inked runes. Somewhere inside you a voice—your own?—pleas with you to leave the body, leave the cloak; another voice begs you to read the words of the tattoo, speaks to you of power.”
And there’s the decision: speak the words or don’t. That’s all the Heroes have to go on, but basically the choice is between playing a beefy Skaven warrior or a crafty Skaven sorcerer. When this new Skaven’s owner opted to speak the tattoo aloud, he chose the path of the Necromancer:
“As soon as you read the words of the tattoo, all is darkness. The once-cold corpse on the floor of the cell stirs, rises, removes the cloak from its now dead younger brother. You are now the Skaven Necromancer. You may not wear armor or wield weapons beyond slings, staves, and daggers. Your body and mind points reverse. Yours and yours alone are the Spells of Darkness. You begin each quest with your ancestor thrall, an undead Skaven who possesses a Sling, Shortsword, and a Fire of Wrath spell. If he is killed you may summon another thrall to your side from fallen Skeletons or Zombies provided you are at full health. This ancestor thrall is brought back to un-life between quests. You may sacrifice a thrall at the cost of a turn to reclaim the spell, “Arrows of the Night.” You must search for treasure whenever you are able.”
Had the Skaven’s owner resisted the lure of the tattoo, I’d have read this: “You resist the words of the tattoo and throw the cloak from your back. You feel the spirit of the enthralled ancestor enter your very being. You gain a body point.” Only he didn’t. And Shale was born, or reborn as the case may be.
Over the next thirty-six Quests—yes thirty-six, second only to Trakix—Shale evolved into a tremendous Hero, versatile both offensively and defensively. The above spiel gives you a pretty good idea of his starting point. But let’s take a look at the heights he’d attained on the evening of his demise.
After a while, the Heroes began rubbing off of on Shale, and he lost his lust for treasure. His first perk, then, allowed him to search for treasure as normal. Before this, the Heroes were always having to worry about Shale inhabiting a room without monsters, springing a Wandering Monster or Hazard trap at just the wrong time. Next, Shale was able to learn the Chaos Sorcerer Spells—Mind Lock, Dominate, and Mind Blast—as a reward for completing the “Against the Ogre Horde” expansion pack; followed by the Spells of Detection—Clairvoyance, Future Sight, and Treasure Horde—for “The Wizards of Morcar” expansion. 
As his successes continued to stockpile, Shale gained the Voldemort-like ability of reanimating in the body of his current thrall but at a quest-long reduction of one body point; he could, therefore, potentially reanimate three times in such a fashion. Soon he was not only wielding the Spirit Blade and the Bone Wand, but raising fallen Orcs as well as Skeletons and Zombies to join him in battle—one at a time, of course. His final perk was not for him but for this starting Thrall, who received a one-point bump across the board in addition to a full complement of Fire Spells.
His Possessions: Spirit Blade, Bone Wand,
His Spells: Cloak of Shadows, Chains of Darkness, Arrows of the Night (Darkness) / Future Sight, Clairvoyance, Treasure Horde (Detection) / Mind Lock, Dominate, Mind Blast (Chaos Sorcerer Tokens)
His Perks: Arcane Sight, Necromancer
In Review: Honestly, Shale was my favorite Hero. When I dealt him his deathblow, I was actually stunned that he hadn’t stashed a thrall somewhere to reanimate. At the end of that quest pack—“The Mage of the Mirror”—I worked in a wrinkle whereby the Heroes would be able to raise from the dead one of their comrades killed whilst in the realm of the Elves:
“Days after the final battle, after the last of the celebrations, as you each pack your things for the long journey home, Terrelia calls you all aside. 
She regrets to inform you that her Champion the Hexblade will not be leaving the Realm at such a trying time. She does, however, offer something of a consolation. The Realm of the Elves, it seems, does not abide by the same metaphysical rules by which the realms of men and Skaven, Ogre and Dwarf abide. Perhaps you all sensed it when the Magic Mirror saved more than one native Elf from certain death. There is an opportunity, she explains, to probe the depths of the Realm of Reflection for a glimmer, a remnant of one of your fallen comrades, and from that remnant, a chance to make that Hero whole again. 
It is powerful but dangerous magic, Terrelia concedes, and she laments that she cannot return to you all of your friends-in-arms. Trace his name in this magic mirror, she says, and he will meet you in the morning for your journey home. You have my undying gratitude, she says. Safe travels, she says. And now the horrible, wonderful decision is yours. Choose wisely, my friends. And until we meet again, Maker guide ye.”
I hoped against hope they would choose Shale. Alas, they chose Norwyn, a run-of-the-mill Elf.
And yet, perhaps they thought that because of Shale’s unique talents he might find a way back to the land of the living on his own.
They’ll just have to wait and see.
EVIL WIZARD CHARACTER 