A few years ago, I wrote this story without much of a plan. A lot of you seemed to like it, and I left the epilogue with a very open cliffhanger: Skip is missing. 

I had planned to edit this book and try to get it published. But I eventually gave up on that project, in part because it's difficult to get something published when it's already all online for free. And part of it is also that I've had some personal issues that have been weighing on me and I have fallen out of the habit of writing regularly. It's terrible and I really wish that wasn't the case, but it is what it is.

Anyway: The Necromancer II will probably never be written. Not sure if anyone still cares about this, given how long it's been since I finished the first story. But, to give you some closure, I thought I would outline what the sequel would have been about. 

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Winston receives the message from Darion that Skip is missing. He, and his entourage (Mog, Bess, Lamneras, Magdat, and undead Amcerlizar) travel to Skip's little cottage to investigate. All of her belongings are still there, no sign of a struggle, etc. Darion tells them that everything was fine and then she just up and disappeared. He thinks she was kidnapped. Skip had made a few enemies during her time before meeting Winston, and it seems the past has caught up with her. 

Bess begins to track Skip using the same tracking spell she used to find Winston. There would be some difficulty (maybe because Skip has been gone for about a few months) but eventually they'd make their way to a port city where they pick up the trail once again. This is one of the few kingdoms still hostile to Winston and his empire, so they travel in disguise thanks to some of Magdat's magic.

As this is happening, Winston and Magdat are growing closer. Sure, she's a 700-year-old blood magic sorceress, but she's in the body of a hot 18-year-old woman and she's very impressed with Winston. He's built his own empire peacefully, overthrew Amcerlizar, and had the emotional maturity to bring Skip's husband back to life even with his own feelings about Skip. And, given that she can enchant jewels to change someone's appearance at will, she's not too concerned about Winston being balding and slightly overweight. So she's definitely interested. And Winston is slowly but surely getting over his crush on Skip, so he's finally ready to put himself back out there. They take a break from the search for a night and have a date, and it goes well. Winston, now more confident than he was in the first book, can actually be pretty charming. Bess and Lamneras are both cheering them on so that they can all double date. 

The tracking spell leads Winston and the group to the docks, and shows that Skip is somewhere out on the ocean (either a boat or some of the islands off the coast). They learn that there is a pirate king plaguing the coast. He has recently taken over disparate groups of pirates and is now a serious threat to the kingdom. At some point before meeting Winston, Skip had convinced a pirate captain's crew to mutiny against him and left him stranded on an island, just so that she could get a ride from one city to another. Darion believes that the pirates are the ones who kidnapped Skip. So, after finding a boat large enough to accommodate Mog, they set sail. 

On the boat, Winston and Magdat get more serious and enter into a new relationship. I'm not good at writing romance, so this would be awkward. There's also some tension along the journey with Darion, because he and Winston aren't really fond of each other but have to work together to find Skip.

The search continues. They sail around various islands, trying to find witnesses or other information about Skip. The tracking spell leads them to a tavern, where the bartender remembers meeting Skip (and is not happy that she used the Voice to get free food and drinks). But most importantly, the group learns that Skip was traveling of her own free will, and was NOT kidnapped. Darion then confesses that he and Skip had been having relationship difficulties. Before Darion's death, she'd been a normal housewife, and Darion had expected her to go back to that. He gave no consideration to the fact that she'd been adventuring around independently for years since then, and wanted to continue doing that. They'd had a big fight, and she'd left. 

 The tracking spell leads them to a shop where they learn that Skip, realizing that Darion would try to follow her, purchased an item that blocks the tracking spell. End of trail. Lamneras, Bess, and Magdat advise that they turn around and go back home. Clearly Skip doesn't want to be followed, and doesn't want to go home. Darion, of course, wants to keep looking. And Mog does too, though he really just wants to see his friend again, not necessarily bring her back home. Winston, still harboring some feelings for Skip despite his new relationship with Magdat, decides to keep looking for her just to make sure that she isn't in any danger.

They sail around some more, trying to figure out where she might have gone. As they rest in a little harbor town one night, the pirates attack. The group tries to help the defense of the town as much as possible (I'd need to come up with some way to limit Winston's abilities here; the ruby makes him able to kill pretty much anything. I think maybe the pirates would be invisible, and Winston doesn't have a good way of detecting stealthy enemies).  There's lot of chaos, fighting, fire, etc. The pirates are able to steal the Ruby from Winston by breaking the chain without him knowing they're there.A group of pirates corner the now-fairly-helpless Winston. And they tell him to stop looking for Skip. Then they leave the town. Winston regroups with everyone else and learns that Mog is now missing as well; big drag marks in the ground indicate that the pirates took him onto their ships. 

They go after the pirates, vowing to rescue Mog and then continue searching for Skip later. Bess starts up her tracking spell on Mog, and they're off. As they sail, Winston and Magdat sleep together for the first time. Both are pretty happy about the new relationship. 

About this time, Darion comes to Magdat and confesses: he and Skip didn't just have a fight; they had a fight about Winston. Skip wanted to leave the cottage and go join Winston's kingdom administration just like the rest of them. Darion accused her of having feelings for Winston. She claimed that that wasn't why she wanted to go, but didn't explicitly deny whether she had feelings for Winston. Darion tries to forbid her from going, and she left. 

Magdat, despite 700 years of wisdom, is jealous. She confronts Winston and tells him that she doesn't want to go find Skip, and that he shouldn't try to find her either. Winston, looking to reassure his new girlfriend, eventually agrees. They will go rescue Mog, and then go home. Darion can go look for Skip on his own if he wants. 

Bess's tracking spell leads them to the pirate king's stronghold. They break in, dealing with magic traps, pirate guards, whatever. Eventually they make it to the center, and find the pirate king. It is, as you probably expected, Skip! Mog is by her side, decked out in pirate gear and looking happy as a clam now that he and Skip are reunited. Darion tries to convince her to come back home. She basically tells him to go to hell, and that following her is exactly the opposite of what he should have done. She makes it clear that she's changed since they were married, while he was dead. And because he isn't OK with who she is now, their marriage is over.

Then she speaks to Winston. She becomes aware of his relationship with Magdat. Without explicitly saying it, it's clear that she does have a thing for Winston but that she isn't particularly good at expressing her feelings, and is guilty about having feelings for another man while she is still married. And she says that while she wants to keep doing her pirate thing for now, she wants to rejoin Winston at some point in the near future. 

Winston tells her to come to the castle any time, and he's always happy to see her. Magdat takes that as showing romantic interest, furthering her jealousy. She feels that she's pretty much just a placeholder until Skip is ready to come back to Winston. And, even trying to deny it to himself, Winston really does still have feelings for Skip. 

The group returns home (minus Mog and Skip). Winston tries to reassure Magdat that he really doesn't think of Skip that way, and that they're just good friends. She eventually believes him and they reconcile. 

The story would end with just Winston and Lamneras, heading out to the tavern for a pint. They eventually get to the topic of relationships. Winston tells Lamneras how happy he is with Magdat, etc. Lamneras isn't buying it. He knows his friend, and he's seen how Winston is around Skip. Basically, he forces Winston to confront his own feelings and make a decision about which one he really wants to be with. 

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Anyway, that would be the gist of the story. Of course some parts of it would be changed as I wrote it, but this was my overall plan. What I like here is the opportunity to develop Darien more. It kind of frames him as a bad guy who is confining Skip, but is he? I mean, he just wants his old life back. He's been dead for years and wants to catch up with his wife, only to learn that she's become a bad-ass adventurer who is now in love with another man. I also like having Skip become the pirate king (queen), because she's definitely not the damsel-in-distress type.