Damarys was left without any real introduction as to who these people were, what their skills were, or anything. She supposed it was more than she had expected of her grandfather. At least he’d let her join.

“I’m Emilie,” the other young woman spoke up to break the awkward silence. “I’m an alchemist that dabbles in magic. This is Kasyn and Zeter.”

Kasyn, the man in white robes marking him as a member of the soul tithe, held out a hand in greeting. “I’m an adherent of Akumu and he grants me a portion of his might.”

Damarys had heard of people who gained strange powers when they became sufficiently devoted to the lich, but she’d never met one and wondered how that would even work now that Akumu was gone. Or maybe Kasyn’s powers were proof that Akumu wasn’t destroyed.

The last member of their group, Zeter, nodded to her but made no other gesture of welcome.

“Locksmith.”

The way he said it made Damarys suspect he was hiding other skills but now was not the time to ask such questions.

“Excellent,” Damarys swung her hand back and forth to let out some of her nervous energy. “Where have we been assigned to search?”

“South-eastern quadrant,” Zeter was the first of the group to speak up. “There’s a number of fields that should have been harvested already but not yet taken to market. Do you need anything? We’ve already been to see Jerlinzia. Her stock’s not great but she has some armor and weapons left.”

“I’ve got what I need already,” she pulled back her tunic to reveal a basic chain shirt, as well as a pair of daggers on her hip in addition to her sling and pouch of stones.”

“That’s not much,” Zeter scoffed but Emilie put a hand on his shoulder to quiet him.

“They’re all enchanted,” Emilie pointed out.

“Kept me alive when I was fighting the bear that took my arm,” Damarys added and Zeter ducked his head in apology. “And I might have lost an arm but I killed the bear. If we make it back for dinner tonight you’ll get to eat some of it.”

“Well, shall we?” Emilie suggested before any more animosity could grow between Damarys and Zeter.

“First, do any of you know much about stealth?” Damarys asked. “Hiding from undead isn’t that much different from hiding from the living. Both rely on sight and sound. We’re lucky that the undead can’t smell so we won’t have to worry about wind direction.”

“I heard from the scouts that the undead generally avoid you if you stay at least a hundred feet away from them,” Kasyn said.

“None of us is wearing anything too noisy so as long as we don’t talk too loudly we should be fine there,” Zeter added.

“Alright then,” Damarys sighed, “I’ll take the lead.”

On their way down to the city, she taught them a selection of hand signs they could use to communicate in case they needed to be especially quiet. All basic things like Stop, Look over there, Back up, etc.

The nearer to the city they got, the worse it looked. The walls were battered and scorched. Chunks of masonry were blown out and the gates themselves were twisted and shattered. The little guardhouse beside the gate was still intact and as they reached the gate, a familiar imp flew out to greet them.

“Hello children,” Kamillus said with a wicked grin, “What ill fate brings you to this ruined place?”

The fiend was only a few feet tall but he could fly like a humming bird with excellent control. His small size belied his skill with the short sword he had strapped to his side. The most notable thing about him, however, was the assortment of jewelry he wore. His nickname, that you never used in front of him, was the city crow because of his penchant for collecting anything shiny that he could wear. He didn’t accept bribes, but he might give you a some good advice if you happened to have something nice to offer.

“Kamillus,” Damarys said as she reached into her hip pouch and withdrew a gem-studded bracelet. It wasn’t very valuable but it was well made and caught the light beautifully. She held it out on her finger, teasing him as his eyes locked onto the bangle. “We’re going in to find food and survivors. Know anything that might be helpful? We’ll be looking in the south-east of Autay Wa.”

Kamillus licked his lips as he hovered nearer to the bracelet and examined it with a keen eye.

“The Helft farm was preparing their crops to take to market,” he said. “Could be their carts were in the midst of being loaded when the army arrived. They also have small children, some shorter than me.”

“I know where the Helft farm is,” Zeter muttered.

“Excellent, thank you Kamillus,” Damarys flicked the bracelet to the imp who eagerly caught it and began trying to find the best combination of jewelry to wear with it. “Let’s go,” she told the others and they strode over the fragments of the main gate.

A faint cry reached her ears and Damarys immediately held up her hand for everyone to stop.

“Wha-

She signaled for silence and Zeter stopped his question mid-word.

Slowly, she pointed to the left, towards the section of the city they were intending to search and they all saw what she’d noticed first. A figure, racing along the road as fast as they could with a pair of undead in hot pursuit. The ground was churning behind them as undead hands reached up through the soil to catch the runner’s feet and drag them under.

They were too far away to be of any help, Damarys knew, yet she still readied her sling. If the runner could get close enough, she could take out at least the two undead who were in pursuit. Unfortunately, the runner never made it that far. A skeletal hand caught the runner and they tripped, hitting the ground hard.

“NO!” they screamed as more hands came up and began pulling them into the ground. “Here! Take it back! I’m sorry!”

They tossed a small pouch away from themselves but it did nothing to dissuade the undead. Within moments, the city was quiet again and the ground bore no signs of the struggle that had just taken place.

The other two undead no longer had anyone to pursue so they resumed their wandering and disappeared into a nearby field.

“Well that was terrifying,” Emilie whispered and everyone nodded their agreement.

“There’s someone else there,” Damarys said before any of them could continue onward.

“Where?” Zeter asked.

“There, in the next field over, with the three scarecrows.”

The majority of Autay Wa was farmland so it was hard to pick out exact landmarks but the scarecrows were pretty clear.

They watched a moment before a man on a magic carpet emerged and flew over to the pouch that the unfortunate person had thrown away from themselves. He pulled something out of it, then his body took on a certain rigidity and he held whatever it was that he’d found up to his eye, as if to look through a lens.

“AHHHHH!” he screamed as he clawed at his eye and dark smoke began to rise from his face. He fell off the carpet and lay on the ground motionless and silent. The carpet, no longer being controlled, drifted upwards and away in the breeze which Damarys regretted since having a flying carpet would be ideal for their situation.

“That looked like a compulsion of some kind,” Emilie remarked.

“What do you mean?” Damarys asked.

“Whatever was in that bag, as soon as he took it he looked like he was compelled to look at it and then…well, you all saw what happened.”

“Any idea what it is?” Zeter asked.

“No,” Emilie replied, “and I’m happy in my ignorance.”

“What do you mean by that?” Kasyn asked.

“I mean I don’t want to know what happened and I’m happy not knowing so let’s leave them alone and not investigate.”

Damarys tended to agree, although they would have to walk by the body since it was on the main road.

“Alright, let’s go and keep your eyes open for any movement,” she told them. “You saw how quickly those undead disappeared into the field so try not to talk or make any noise if you can avoid it since we don’t know what might be just out of sight.”

It was a sobering entrance into the city, to be sure. The main road was the safest path for them to take and as they drew nearer the corpse, the sense of death was palpable in the air.

“It’s a rather heavy aura,” Emilie commented. “Thicker than most I’ve studied.”

“Do we need to go around?” Damarys whispered back to her.

“It’s harmless,” Emilie shrugged. “Just makes casting death magic easier.”

As they walked by, Zeter put a toe beneath the corpse and rolled him over onto his back. Where his right eye should have been was instead a dark, glassy stone, slowly burning away the flesh around the eye socket.

“What are you doing?” Emile hissed and Damarys looked all around them to make sure there were no unpleasant surprises about to come out of the nearby fields.

Zeter held his hand out, though still several feet from the body, and a shimmering copy of his hand appeared near the head of the corpse. It took hold of the stone and he pulled it free.

“Never know when something like this might come in handy,” Zeter muttered as he placed the stone back in the pouch. He then stooped down and picked up the pouch and hooked it onto his belt.

“Oh my,” Emilie gasped.

“What?” Damarys looked around, worried that the undead were returning.

“I know him,” Emilie whispered. “He’s a member of the Sages of the Mercurial Robe.”

“Does he have family we need to tell back in the camp?” Damarys asked.

“No, I don’t think so. He’s originally from Shinrai.”

“Let’s move, then,” Damarys said. “Where’s this Helft farm?”

“It’s just south of the river,” Zeter replied. “The barn and silos will be on the right of the main road in a few miles.”

Every hint of motion made Damarys nervous and the silence of the city was unnerving on its own. Even in Autay Wa there was almost always people and animals about. Now there was nothing but the occasional, distant scream.

“This is certainly good fuel for nightmares,” Zeter remarked after they’d been walking for some time.

“As long as nightmares are as bad as it gets, I’ll take it,” Emilie replied.

“Don’t worry,” Kasyn assured them, “Akumu is watching over us, I can tell. He won’t let us fail.”

“That’s enough chatting,” Damarys hushed them. “Akumu or not, we need to be quiet.”

With how her three companions were behaving, she wondered how the other groups were faring. Did they have hunters or similar experts with them? How many were already dead?

By the time they came within sight of the Helft farm it was nearing midday. Although Damarys had seen numerous undead on their way here, they’d been able to avoid any direct confrontations so far. In addition to the undead, however, Damarys kept catching glimpses of other things moving about that she couldn’t identify. They were moving about almost as stealthily as Damarys was and it made it tricky to get a good look at whatever or whoever they were. There were more than one of them, she was certain, but whether they were following her and her companions or not she couldn’t tell.

“I can see the farmhouse,” Kasyn whispered.

Damarys didn’t reply. She wanted to point out that they could all see the farmhouse and that there was no need for him to speak but that might invite more discussion. This way, she hoped to let the conversation begin and end with his one comment. Once they were back in camp she would have a long talking to with each of them about what it means to be stealthy.

“Are those bodies?” Emilie asked a moment later.

“Yes,” Damarys replied. “Looks like Tower of Light.”

She held up a hand and signaled for silence.

The bodies were heavily armored but had clearly been thoroughly beaten to death. Helmets and shields were dented in and breastplates were split. Some had been torn to pieces while others looked like they’d been killed in a single blow.

“Shouldn’t they have risen as undead by now?” Kasyn asked.

Under normal circumstances, any dead body in the city would rise as undead within a few hours of dying, if not sooner.

“Might be related to why the city’s not acting right,” Zeter replied.

“Let’s check the house first,” Emilie suggested. “If there’s anyone home, they could tell us –

Damarys’ hand shot up for them to all be quiet and the get down. She ducked behind a bush and the others belatedly followed suit. Emilie opened her mouth to speak but this time Damarys clamped her hand over the other woman’s mouth and held it shut, shaking her head.

Look over there, she signaled.

The three of them looked, and finally saw what she had seen. There were a good dozen or so undead prowling around the barn and the far side of the house. They were large, fleshy undead and didn’t seem to have noticed Damarys and her companions yet, but they were dangerously close by. Well within the one hundred foot radius the scouts had reported.

Back up, she signaled and they all crept away until they were a safer distance away.

“Those aren’t standard undead,” Damarys began. “Those undead have meat on their bones and are probably the ones who killed those Tower of Light soldiers. I doubt we’d fare any better against them.”

“I did notice a strong aura of anti-death surrounding the house,” Emile put in but Damarys didn’t know what the significance of that was. “The house might be warded against undead,” Emilie added when everyone gave her blank looks. “If we can get to the house, we should be safe.”

“Won’t that just trap us in the house, though?” Zeter pointed out.

“If the house is safe,” Damarys replied, “then we can take down the undead at range.”

“Ooh,” Kasyn nodded with relief.

“Let’s sneak up slowly, then, when I give the signal, we sprint for the house.”

“Just getting within ten or fifteen feet of the house ought to be enough,” Emilie added.

“Alright, then, let’s go.”

Damarys slipped back onto the road and, staying low to keep as hidden as possible, made her way back towards the house. She was almost to the spot she’d decided would be their sprint position when Kasyn stumbled and tripped over his robe, striking the ground and letting out a brief cry of pain and surprise.

There was no time to hesitate as the undead all turned towards them and began charging forwards.

“RUN!” Damarys shouted as she heaved Kasyn back up and pushed him along to get him moving.

The other two were already bolting down the road and Damarys was both relieved to see how fast they were and concerned to realize she was the slowest runner of the group. Being one armed meant her weight was distributed unevenly when she ran and wasn’t used to that imbalance yet so she couldn’t move as fast as she used to. Thankfully, she wasn’t alone. Emilie pointed at the nearest undead and its body locked up, freezing it in place. Kasyn similarly pointed at the next closest undead but instead of paralyzing it, a burst of light struck the undead and knocked it sprawling onto its back. Even Zeter threw out a few spells although his were less effective than either of Emilie’s and Kasyn’s. Still, every bit helped.

As they reached the house, they saw a white line of powder surrounding the house.

“Don’t break the ward circle,” Emilie called out as she hopped over it, followed closely by Zeter and Kasyn.

Damarys was the last across, saved by the other three continuing to cast their spells and slowing down the undead. Without them, the undead would have caught her for sure. They took a minute to catch their breath, safe from the undead, and then resumed firing upon them. It took an uncomfortably long time to sufficiently damage the undead to destroy them but eventually the last of them collapsed and crumbled to dust.

“Let’s hope that’s the only time we’ll need to fight them,” Emile sighed, looking as though she could use another breather even though she’d been casting magic rather than running.

“Let’s hope the city doesn’t realize we attacked and destroyed some of its defenders,” Zeter said darkly, “otherwise, the moment we step out of this protected zone we’ll be attacked again. From below as well as from around us.”

That was a sobering thought, and not one Damarys wanted to find out the hard way so she carefully put one foot outside of the protected area and tapped the ground with it. Nothing happened. She put her foot more firmly on the ground. Still nothing. She hopped out and then right back in. Nothing again. Finally, she stepped out and stood on the ground for a solid minute with nothing happening.

“I guess that answers that question,” she sighed in relief. “Now let’s check the house and see if anyone’s home.”