POV change

Me and my party have recently been ranked gold and were looking for work to help us save up money to move to places with more work. The undead around here pay a bit but we felt we had more opportunity elsewhere. That is why when the guild put out a commission for adventurers to join an expedition into the badlands I considered it seriously. I knew all the scare stories out there about swirling miasma and ravenous undead but felt it over bloated. Most of those who had gone were bronze rankers wanting a challenge and it looks like they got it. Most gold parties knew that the place was indeed dangerous but could be traversed if you had money to waste. Those parties that came back spoke of shit conditions and lack of loot from anywhere which meant that few bothered going there anymore.

But now we are getting paid quite a good sum of gold along with the promise of this being a special guild mission so more credit. What truly made me want to take this mission was that whoever the sponsor was they had stated that they would be providing the necessary supplies free of charge along with priests and even a strong leader. As it turned out said leader was a steel rank magic swordsman known as Yaoric, a lot of us saw him practicing at the guild training area and saw that his rank was no lie. After discussing this amongst ourselves my party along with several others consisting of fellow golds and some bronzes agreed to take this.

We felt that either we ran into nothing much and got what we needed with the guild or we got lucky and got some good loot. With the fact that the promised priests actually came and turned out to be Priests of the Holy Light along with wagons of supplies we felt confident. One sour note was that the baggage would be carried by slaves but we were told that they were criminals here to serve their sentence out, a few looked like just down on their luck poor people who ran into something at the wrong place and time but nothing we could do.

Nobody wanted to rock the boat on an otherwise good job so we kept our mouths shut. Im guessing that the church of Holy Light was the one to put this together since the priests and Yaoric have been speaking together alot. Still I have a good feeling about this mission and as long as everyone does their job we should get out of this with heavier pockets. With this much cash and the promise of loot it is enough for  anyone here to get that equipment they want or to be able to go where they want.

Along the journey here we ran into a few more undead than usual though nothing too special just a mix of the random skeletons and animals. No wolves though but I don’t know how undead work, usually they don’t resurrect but these cursed lands seem to cause it at times. We dealt with the undead rather easily and any scratches were healed by the priests, the priests keep muttering about unholy and abomination but nothing too special then usual. A few of the younger ones have been getting spooked by the feeling out here but that is the miasma. It gets heavier in but with the priests we should be fine, this stuff can sap your strength over time but you can power through it to a degree.

Our first destination is an old broken down castle that was often used as a base camp before further exploration, we plan to head deeper in along the road that connects the fort. There should hopefully be a town of some sort deeper in that could hold something useful but the previous groups only got as far as the castle villages before turning back. They left due to the miasma getting too strong or were never heard from again, with this many priests however we should be fine.

Those gathered were no stranger to fighting so we would rotate around patrols and watch duty, I felt that this was a bit too excessive but still better safe than sorry. The priests have worked to shield us from the effects of the miasma here so they are certainly better than the normal priests I deal with even with their attitude. Even more than normal priests these guys are rather zealous about things, I mean the discussions on how to purge this place are continuously going on. I do not truly understand what they are saying about erecting markers and shrines but I assume it will keep the miasma off us.

At least these guys are actually out doing things instead of staying in some church and giving platitudes only even if they are rather full of zeal, actually maybe I prefer the church bound ones if these ones drag us into trouble of some kind. Not like I can do much about this shit now that I signed on, all I can do is try to make sure my party and friends survive.

Some more days have passed and we are finally at the castle itself, the place certainly matches what we know of it. The parties here today have never gone this far into the cursed lands but I doubt there are too many ruined castles in the path of our travel. The walls are somewhat intact though the breaches with rubble are what we are using to get in. The actual castle itself is pretty damaged in it’s upper levels for some reason but we can’t see the grounds till we get past the next set of walls. Everyone is heading in surrounding the supplies, records show that this place was cleared out several times so there should not be anything here. Even if there is there were only ever some skeletal warriors at most which we can deal with so to speed things up we all went in.

There is a bit of broken down wall that we are going to be using to enter to the castle ground itself and while we were heading to it we heard movement and crashes of something being put in place. I turned around and see that the breach we just finished getting through not has some skeletons who just pushed what looks like a bunch of large bones and wood bound together into a spiky mass in the breach and are now holding spears to block us. Looking to the entrance we were heading to and we see something similar happening, as we milled in confusion I start hearing screams of pain and the twangs of bows. I quickly raise my shield with my party back to back and I can see skeletons with bows on both sets of walls who just shot down most of the priests and mages. Those who survived are either hurt or hiding in the middle of one of the parties as the wagons are ditched to the side to narrow lines of approach, thoughts about the slaves are minimal to our survival.

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Vaoric starts yelling to clear back the way we came and to suppress the archers. Some of the surviving priests are casting heal spells or shields of light while the mages and archers start firing back at the skeletons. Vaoric himself taps to some of those with heavy weapons to start hitting the barricade. After sending some shots of earth at the barricade and the skeletons behind it they start trying to take it apart. I myself am helping organize some sort of shieldwall to keep us safe, the baggage is getting left behind while the slaves are cowering in the wagons. I feel bad for them but we are too busy worrying about ourselves to extend anything further.

The archers seem to be keeping themselves in cover, I am not sure how many are down but there are less arrows heading our way. Instead as it turns out while we were getting into formation more undead have poured in from other places, I see large skeletons armed with a variety of blunt weapons and heavy armour start gathering. These things look very tough and if that was not bad enough I see behind them what looks like an even bigger one with a giant sword swirling with black fog. The armour it wears seems to be all bone and covers everything from head to toe, the armour also has faint swirls of black fog flowing around it. Next to the big one are things of more immediate concern, I see skeletons in robe and staffs start pointing at us with them.

I scream out “SKELETAL MAGES!” and those who were taking shots at the archers switch targets. I also see the priests start casting holy spells to launch at the incoming undead, Yaoric himself and those near him have almost taken down the barricade but are pushed back by new undead. These ones look like what happens when you cross a big human with some wolf or lion as they have massive clawed hands that must be over a meter long and big heads with fangs and large shoulders.

They just charged over the almost broken barricade and pushed by those trying to break out. If this was not bad enough it turns out we did not kill that many archers or more came as I see them pop up on the walls to start shooting again. I grunt back a cry of pain as I feel an arrow or two hit my shield and I am alarmed at both how hard it hit and the fact that part of the arrow is actually through my shield. Others are not so lucky as I hear screams from those who got hit by a lucky arrow, as if to mock us the arrows go straight through chain mail like nothing was actually there. The priests and mages who were busy trying to cast spells were especially targeted and they hastily change to shield spells.

As some start trying to tear out the arrow or get back into formation we are given no more time as the ones who were in front of us are now charging. Unlike normal undead these ones are moving in an ordered needle to strike us. I hear screams from those in front as a black fog appears and it is hard to see, I feel fear turning my heart cold and the urge to just run regardless of what happens. I see some panic just to get brained by a mace or hit with an arrow, I manage to muster myself and strike out at the one closest to me. I manage to strike with what I thought would be a good hit with my silvered sword only for it to slide on its shield to the side and I take a mace head to the chest. I fall over but manage to get back to my feet, we have been pushed back and some of us are never getting back up unless as undead. Screaming a battle cry to cover my fear I manage to stab the undead through a chink in it’s armour and it collapses with wisps of white fog from my silver sword leaving the wound. As the surviving priests manage to get a shield of holy light in front of us I take a chance to look behind me, Yaoric has been hit with a few arrows and slash marks but still stands, those around him are not looking too good either and there are still those weird clawed ones scrambling to get to us, I thought that they would be charging but it looks like they are massing up first to finish us.

Looking back to the front I see that the skeletal mages have raised their hands and lifted up whatever undead we knocked down and I am shocked to see bones start moving and rejoining. Even the ones which had taken slashes or stabs from silvered swords and fallen are starting to move again. We had at the cost of much blood managed to slay the first few of the armoured ones only to be mocked as they rejoin their fellows, the only mercy is that our fallen have not moved so far but that must be because these strange armoured ones are better. The big knight looking one has stepped back and I see what must be a lich step forward. It is larger than the mages but not quite as big as the knight, it is dressed in tattered robes with many talismans hanging on it. It has the biggest swirling mass of what must be miasma around it and it’s eyes seem to stare at us as if we were simply prey to be killed. I can feel the malevolence flowing from it as it raises it’s staff which looks like a claw to point at us.

Suddenly I hear screams of pure horror and terror from the priests and mages that are left. I look over and see that something black and shapeless has just grabbed ahold of them and they are shriveling up as I watch. It looks like they are ignoring the wagons for now in order to kill us and I hear a triumphant yell, Yaoric has just struck down several clawed one and is sending spells at the rest with his sword on fire. Others see a chance and try to push through the rest of them, others that were with me are also starting to run over and I join them. We are desperately trying to get through the breach with only a few of the clawed ones when I hear a derisive snort. I see that the mages have joined with the lich and are raising their hands in the air and chanting. I see a mass of black fog and green fire start gathering in front of them. I yell to push further as we are trapped in a narrow space with some eldritch fireball about to strike us.

With Yaoric at the head we are trying to strike down as many of the clawed ones as possible to rush forward when suddenly I hear the sound of heavy footsteps in front of us. One of the large bone knights has appeared in front of us behind the bone claws and with him are a bunch of skeletons with crossbows. The last thing I hear are the screams of those around me before I feel a burning sensation in my back and the coldest burning flame ever. Please god of light save us are my final thoughts lying on the ground before I hear footsteps, no no please no.....