To Rich's surprise when he offered to heal Sue's lower legs Sue declined. Sue decided that he wanted to force himself to deal with the disability for the day to reinforce his bad decisions and distill in his mind the "need for caution and listening to more experienced people". This seemed excessive to Rich but Robert reminded Rich that it was Sue's choice before Rich made an ass out of himself. Wolf and Sally had left at this point and Sue was getting stiff in the tall high back bar stool. It was apparently not made for goblins comfort in mind. Sue hoped down from the chair that would be taller than him even with legs and collapsed in a heap. It was apparently painful in multiple ways as Sue seemed to think he would be able to land on his stumps without pain. There was pain. Sue then fell forward and slammed his long nose on the the chair to the other side. The nose broke with an audible pop. When the goblin pushed himself up off the ground the nose was bent at a wrong angle and Sue had tears in his eyes. Rich said nothing and didn't offer help again. He figured Sue wanted to do this on his own and if the small goblin needed something he would have asked. Bear had another idea though. Bear got up off his rug, came over, picked up sue by the back of his shirt, and walked Sue over to Bear's bear rug and plopped the goblin down. Sue made quite the scene until Bear put him down gently then circled around and laid down against Sue. Apparently expecting Sue to use him as a pillow while scratching Bear. Sue didn't really have any defense to the over grown golden retriever colored Dire Wolf. Sue sat back into Bear and pulled a book out from his inventory. It looked quite peaceful with the fire keeping the pair toasty.
Rich assumed the two would be like that for a while so he got up and went upstairs to put on his armor and prepare his spells. Rich prepared Calm emotion and prayer of healing from his common spell list. He tried to prepare his basic spells but couldn't. Asking Robert Robert replied "You just gain access to lvl 1 spells from now on. You still have the same limit but needing to prepare every basic spell you need for the day isn't a concern. You eventually will gain this benefit with other spell levels but it takes a lot longer. For now thought just worry about your common spells". That seemed like a huge bonus to becoming lvl 3. Not having to guess what basic spells he would need through out the day was a nice blessing. He did ask Robert if Robert could remind him of the applicable spells if the need arise. He remembered the list Robert gave him the day before "detect magic, command water, command person, magic shield, ceremony, and produce antidote" and thought those would still be the best spells but this meant he could also use Tracking bolt, shield, or purify food if needed. Not really that big of a deal considering Rich's main goal was to save the basic spells for healing members of the town. He tried yesterday but failed when he used extra healing spells during and after the lich fight. Robert piped up "Yet another reason to listen... Hmmmmm" and Rich tried to not be pissed off at the constant "I told you so" reminders.
Dawning the same mismatched and ugly armor he had yesterday Rich walked back down stairs and out the front door. Charles had understood Rich's intentions and the pair walked towards the north of town for a calm walk. It lasted exactly 12 seconds before kids started running in front of them and trying to get Charles to play with them. Charles said "Sir, I believe I have errored. I gave a few of the kids rides yesterday after we got back and now they won't let me rest". The kids couldn't understand Rich's familiar but one spry boy jumped on Charles back with a wooden sword and shield and began swinging it about and eventually smacking another boy in the head. The much younger boy cried and Rich kicked the offending boy off Charles to let the offended kid have a turn. Continuing north the pair turned mob eventually walked into the path of the small town mayor. The mayor finally saw the new Cleric and rushed over to introduce herself.
"Mr.... Cleric my name is Amanda Glasscock. I go by Mayor Glasscock, Mayor, Amanda or really anything you wish to call me. We're quite a humble little town. My wife and I live in that house a little up on the hill to the North East of the town. Please feel free to stop by any time but in the time being could you please do this town a small favor? We would be willing to pay a fair bit over your generous healing rate". Rich had to replay the conversation in his head after he heard the unfortunate name.
In this world Rich felt pretty sure no one would think twice about the "Glasscock" family name but back on earth he was sure she would have had a hell of a time in high school and she had said wife. It would have been constant mockery. He couldn't help but laugh. The Mayor sighed and said "Yes I have heard the joke from travelers before don't worry, but Rich if I could move past that unfortunate translation please the town really needs a Ceremony of Rest preformed on our cemetery to the North". Rich got a hold of himself and felt like an ass. He immediately agreed without asking what they would pay. Remerging his deity he said "How much are you willing to pay for this quest?". The Mayor responded with "We are willing to pay 20g for the clearing of the existing low level undead and casting the spell" Rich countered with "That would suffice for the ceremony but for clearing the undead he would need an extra 10g" and apparently he was bad at haggling because she immediately agreed without a second thought. She tanked him profusely and helped gather the kids who were beginning to climb all over Charles and running around. At the last moment she remembered an important detail "Oh Cleric, incase you don't know the Cemeteries near towns are magically warded. The undead can't get out so they often do get crowded with spawned undead. There shouldn't be any high level monsters here but if you get in a bad spot just run out or climb the fence. You'll be able to exit but the undead should be stuck inside. Unless you damage the wards that is. Please avoid damaging any of the wards. They should glow golden and white and are on the outside of the cemetery wall". Rich replied thanks and began walking off to the north.
He started musing on terrible names he knew of. Eventually settling on Richard Dickson and Jihad. Both kids he grew up with who ended up moving away before middle school finished. At least the Mayor was not named Jihad during the early 2000s in the United States of America. That poor kid wasn't even middle eastern but during the time of "The great surge" post 9/11 it seemed like every other family from his small town had a father or older brother who were going off to war and the young members of their family were relentless in bullying poor Jihad. Rich couldn't even remember how it was spelled but the pronunciation completely spelled doom for the kid. Rich remembered a general assembly that the principal of his elementary school had to tell all the young kids that Jihad had changed his name to Jared and continued bullying was not acceptable and would be dealt with harshly. The unfortunate things that happen in small town schools aside Rich was done with his musings and they were at the main gate of the Cemetery.
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Rich was expecting a small cemetery. This cemetery was a small slice of land just outside the town that was a 10' by 30' area with a few benches and a memorial angle statue playing a flute. There was not gate but there was an arching entrance that looked like it should have a massive gate. The statue was really reminiscence of statues he saw on earth. It was beautifully carved but took up almost a third of the area in the "cemetery". Then rich saw the faint dark swirl on the other end of the area and realized this was not a cemetery but a portal area that carried people to the cemetery and in fact the area was heavily warded. The fence surrounding the portal area was a thick dark wrought iron. From where Rich was standing he couldn't even make out the details on the small gold sigils inlay into the metal but he could see that over the fence the protection extended up as every so often one of the thousands of tiny sigils glowed faintly and a light based copy of the sigil slowly floated up or sink down slowly and continued the protection. It was really breathtaking and beautiful even considering the dark menacing portal he was going to have to go through.
Going through the main gateless gate and steading himself Rich walked through the portal. He ended up on the top of a lightly sloping hill next to a waste high obsidian obelisk. Robert spoke up "Most towns have a cemetery like this. If you put your hands on the obelisk and think of a name it will tell you the location of the grave for that person and also if there are any active undead in the area. You really just need to kill the undead in the immediate area, preform the ceremony of rest, and that should be all". Rich placed his hands on the obelisk and thought "Please mark the undead in this area". To his relief only 4 red dots popped up on his mini map. 3 slowly walking zombies and a skeletal warrior. The zombies were lvl 1 and the skeletal warrior was lvl 2. Robert spoke in his mind and said "don't worry too much about the collateral damage. your ritual fixes the cemetery and repairs everything including the gravestones and wards. That repair is what keeps the undead from appearing for a time after the ceremony. You can easily just kite the zombies. They seem so damaged and falling apart that even your sacred flame spell should be able to set them ablaze and kill them with minimal effort. The skeleton on the other hand will probably be a little smarter. He might rush up on you so prepare your war hammer and shield for that fight". Charles spoke up and said "Sir, with your permission I will just go eat the zombies. You can have the skeleton but I should be able to just charge up on the zombies and devour them in a few bites". To Rich's surprise Robert thought it was a fair plan. Rich was worried about the pig being bitten and turned to a zombie but apparently that was not a thing with such weak zombies.
Charles charged off the portal hill to the south and Rich headed towards the bigger crypts where the skeletal warrior was located. Walking at a calm pace it was a few minutes later then Robert screamed "Duck!" Rich immediately hit the ground and an arrow came flying over his head and shattering on a near by tombstone. Rich jumped back to his feet and ran as fast as he could to take cover behind a monument that looked like a raised stone casket. He heard another *twang* and an arrow flew by right behind his head. He might have even felt the wind on the back of his neck but he could have imagined that. He hunched down behind the monument, safe for the moment. Robert spoke up "I think the skeleton is trying to circle around you to the east. Ready a sacred flame and pop up and hurl it straight in front of you. Immediately collapse back down. Just throw the ball of fire and don't aim. I'll see where the skeleton is". Jeff did exactly that. His fireball was way wide of the skeleton and the skeletons arrow thumped into the monument moments after he dropped back down. Robert said "alright the skeleton is about 30' away to your 2 o'clock. he has no cover. If you can ready a sacred flame and hit him it should provoke the skeleton into charging. Get ready for a melee brawl. The skeleton has no shield but a short sword at his hip. Instead of popping up again move to your right and lean out from the edge of the monument. The skeleton is certainly ready for a pop up attack".
Rich moved to the right and leaned over quickly chucking his mini fireball as quick as he could. The skeleton released an arrow but it skittered off the top of the monument and went wide. It tried to dodge Rich's sacred flame and was just too slow. The ball of fire splashed across the skeletons chest and managed to catch the bowstring of the skeleton aflame. A second later Rich hears a loud crack as the string gave way and the skeleton's bow became useless. Knowing his was his moment Rich got up and launched another sacred flame as the skeleton dropped the useless bow and pulled his sword. The fire didn't really have any visible effect on the skeleton other than the skeleton starting to smoke faintly. Robert was saying something in his ear but Rich was a little freaked out so he cast a spell he hadn't before. Tracking bolt. It slammed into the chest of the skeleton and sent the bones flying apart in various directions. Some of the bones flew comically far away and the head seemed to launch up 200' into the air and landing back down with a faint snap. The skeletal warrior was defeated. Even if it was at range and not a melee fight Rich felt like they handled the situation well.
Robert chimed in and said "The skeleton was about dead. Another sacred flame would have had the same result. It wouldn't have been as dramatic but that was quick thinking. Good job". Rich felt slightly bad about using a spell erroneously but he was still getting the hang of things. He started walking back up the hill and saw Charles laying down in front of the faintly dark portal. Charles didn't even get up as Rich started casting the spell Ceremony and choosing the "Ceremony of Rest" option on the pop-up. When Rich selected the spell he sat down, pulled out his blank holy book, and began reading the incantations that appeared on the page he opened too. He intuitively knew that was what the book was for now. Rich began a short chant:
> In this cemetery lies good honorable beings. Their lives were lived to the fullest and their rest shall be absolute. The God of Death may have domain over the dead but he does not over the souls of the resting. May this Cemetery be fixed and the dead rest well knowing their remains are of no use to the Evil. This Cemetery is under the protection of the God of Life, master of all things good and the shepherd of souls in the after life. In her name all here will rest.
When Rich finished the spell a bright all encompassing light erupted from the book and surrounded everything. Weeds that had grown over graves shrank back into the earth and cracked monuments moved back together and the cracks smoothed over. Common grave stones that had been knocked over by the undead and chipped were righted and made whole. A dead tree deep in the Cemetery to the west came back to life and started to grow leaves. The remaining skeletal bones burned up instantly and nothing even as common as ash remained. The faint blackness on the portal became a deep bright golden hue. Rich felt a major overwhelming feeling of justice and good. He felt whole as a cleric protecting the dead.
Charles didn't move but even he was clean when Rich got up and started to the portal. He examined the portal and saw "This Cemetery was blessed by the God of Life on behest of Rich, the Cleric. It will be protected from evil for 90 days. All who enter will be protected". Rich got Charles roused and they headed back to find Mayor Glasscock for their reward.