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Death Has Joined the Party
(2026)(The first book in the Mana Runners series)
A novel by Rachel Aaron and Travis Bach
The lich is a nice guy. The mimic wants to eat other monsters. The Paladin’s an atheist. The floating skull... Okay, that guy's a legitimate force of evil and we should all tremble at the mere thought of him returning to power. It’s a good thing he''s trapped inside Tavin’s head. For now.
Tavin Sorrel was born allergic to magic, a mysterious condition for which there is no cure. He expected to die alone in his lead-lined apartment... until the day he gets possessed by the legendary lich, Zavrak the Malevolent
The possession failed, mostly, but now Tavin is both alive and undead with the stolen powers of history’s most infamous evil overlord. That’s still a massive upgrade from his old life, except Zavrak's ghost is still alive inside his head, providing scathing commentary on Tavin’s use of his necromantic powers and his deplorable lack of evil monologues.
But all this fantastic new power comes at a cost. As a level-one version of the greatest lich who ever unlived, Tavin has only 24 hours to sacrifice his first victim or lose his humanity forever. Zavrak suggests becoming a serial killer. Tavin has a better idea: cover up his uncomfortably evil-looking new lich powers by pretending to be a normal necromancer so he can compete on Mana Runners, the world’s most popular dungeon-running reality show.
With the non-stop flow of monsters provided by the Endless Dungeon, Tavin should be able to get all the kills he needs to prevent Zavrak's resurrection (and his own unfortunate demise). But when you're the only one getting XP and leveling up from kills, it's hard not to draw the wrong sort of attention. Fortunately for Tavin, he's not the only irregular participant in this year’s deadly spectacle of ad-supported monster slaying. There's plenty of other overpowered weirdos in the Endless Dungeon who need a strong party with an understanding leader who won't ask uncomfortable questions like "Did you eat that halfling?"
The result is an unbalanced, unhinged, but surprisingly effective party that instantly rises to the top of the Mana Runners' rankings. But fame is a terrible place to hide a secret. The more attention Tavin attracts, the harder it gets to cover up his rapidly rising levels and incredibly suspect party members. That wouldn’t be a problem if he’d listened to Zavrak and become a dark lord like he was supposed to, but when you're the surprise break-out star of the deadliest year in the Endless Dungeon's history, "Trust me, we're all totally normal and completely legal" has never been a tougher sell.
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If you like TTRPG humor and action-packed fantasy that isn’t afraid to throw someone into a mimic, this is the dungeon comedy for you! Perfect for fans of Dungeon Crawler Carl, Dungeons & Dragons, Terry Pratchett, and Orconomics
Featuring a kind underdog protagonist shoved into the brutal life of celebrity dungeon crawling, DEATH HAS JOINED THE PARTY contains weak-to-strong progression, no harem stuff, a found-family party of monsters, detailed boss battles, an OP hero with a unique/hidden class, and a hard dungeon with real stakes. Now available in audio with 5-star narration by Nicholas Cain!
DEATH HAS JOINED THE PARTY is a LitRPG novel based on the SRD 5.1—a public ruleset for the world's most popular roleplaying game. Book 1 of the Mana Runners series.
Genre: Fantasy
Tavin Sorrel was born allergic to magic, a mysterious condition for which there is no cure. He expected to die alone in his lead-lined apartment... until the day he gets possessed by the legendary lich, Zavrak the Malevolent
The possession failed, mostly, but now Tavin is both alive and undead with the stolen powers of history’s most infamous evil overlord. That’s still a massive upgrade from his old life, except Zavrak's ghost is still alive inside his head, providing scathing commentary on Tavin’s use of his necromantic powers and his deplorable lack of evil monologues.
But all this fantastic new power comes at a cost. As a level-one version of the greatest lich who ever unlived, Tavin has only 24 hours to sacrifice his first victim or lose his humanity forever. Zavrak suggests becoming a serial killer. Tavin has a better idea: cover up his uncomfortably evil-looking new lich powers by pretending to be a normal necromancer so he can compete on Mana Runners, the world’s most popular dungeon-running reality show.
With the non-stop flow of monsters provided by the Endless Dungeon, Tavin should be able to get all the kills he needs to prevent Zavrak's resurrection (and his own unfortunate demise). But when you're the only one getting XP and leveling up from kills, it's hard not to draw the wrong sort of attention. Fortunately for Tavin, he's not the only irregular participant in this year’s deadly spectacle of ad-supported monster slaying. There's plenty of other overpowered weirdos in the Endless Dungeon who need a strong party with an understanding leader who won't ask uncomfortable questions like "Did you eat that halfling?"
The result is an unbalanced, unhinged, but surprisingly effective party that instantly rises to the top of the Mana Runners' rankings. But fame is a terrible place to hide a secret. The more attention Tavin attracts, the harder it gets to cover up his rapidly rising levels and incredibly suspect party members. That wouldn’t be a problem if he’d listened to Zavrak and become a dark lord like he was supposed to, but when you're the surprise break-out star of the deadliest year in the Endless Dungeon's history, "Trust me, we're all totally normal and completely legal" has never been a tougher sell.
--------
If you like TTRPG humor and action-packed fantasy that isn’t afraid to throw someone into a mimic, this is the dungeon comedy for you! Perfect for fans of Dungeon Crawler Carl, Dungeons & Dragons, Terry Pratchett, and Orconomics
Featuring a kind underdog protagonist shoved into the brutal life of celebrity dungeon crawling, DEATH HAS JOINED THE PARTY contains weak-to-strong progression, no harem stuff, a found-family party of monsters, detailed boss battles, an OP hero with a unique/hidden class, and a hard dungeon with real stakes. Now available in audio with 5-star narration by Nicholas Cain!
DEATH HAS JOINED THE PARTY is a LitRPG novel based on the SRD 5.1—a public ruleset for the world's most popular roleplaying game. Book 1 of the Mana Runners series.
Genre: Fantasy
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Used availability for Rachel Aaron's Death Has Joined the Party