The plan was fairly simple.
Clair would have Sally, the Small Winged Wyrm, draw away the skeletons at the entrance to the town and Raven and I would kill them. Then I would cast invisibility on Clair, Harold and Taylor while Raven and I would use all of our stealth skills to hide our presence. Then we would all walk down the road into the ruins, once inside we would stay off the main road and move through the side roads or buildings if we needed to. The buildings were 3 deep each side of the main road so there was potentially a lot of cover if we needed it. When we came across any undead the plan was to avoid any fighting at all costs, any attacks would nullify the invisibility spell. With the necromancer being nearby, according to the bag, they would notice something was happening. Of course, if we had to, we would fight but I really hoped that it didn't come to that.
We crunched the numbers for spell consumption and mana regeneration and I grimaced. With our estimations for distance and travel time, it would be possible to make it to the cave entrance before the spell wore out. Just. We would be cutting it very close and I wouldn't have enough mana to recast the Invisibility 3 more times if it ran out. The damn spell cost 500 mana per cast and I would be about 175.2 mana short with my own mana consumption. We might end up having to dash the last 50 yards into the mine and hope that the Wyrms wouldn't be able to follow.
I, like everyone else, was understandably worried about the possibility of having to dash past the undead Sand Wyrms. They were large enough that only a short range teleport would let you dodge an attack, a simple roll would still end up being squashed under its sheer bulk. We all agreed that it would be a full retreat if they attacked and we would regroup at the Traveller's Rest should we get separated.
And so, we put the plan into action.
Thankfully, the first part went off without a hitch, Sally fired 2 globs of spit at the skeletons and they chased Sally up the road. None of the other undead paid any attention to them as the two abandoned their post. They chased the Wyrm up the road, their swords swinging wildly as they chased it. Neither of them noticed the shadows that appeared behind them. Raven and I took them out in 1 hit each, their bones falling to the ground in small piles. After a few quick Invisibility spells and a minute of psyching ourselves up, we slowly walked down the road into the forgotten town of Spring Falls.
It was quite surreal. The wind dropped off closer to the town however it didn't completely disappear, it now felt more like a gusty evening rather than a sand blasting. The buildings that made up Spring Fall appeared to have been made of wood and stone that was still visible even in the fading light. Some of the closer buildings had sections of roofs or walls that had collapsed and I could hear the undead shuffling around. We caught a glimpse of the first group of undead swordsmen as they patrolled for enemies, their swords held at the ready should they see anything.
We had to wait by the town entrance as the undead swordsmen passed by, they shambled past at the speed of a group of grannies unleashed on a cold winter market after their pension checks came in. Thankfully none of them looked our way and I heard a few sighs of relief from behind me when they moved on. I held my breath hoping that the skeletons hadn't heard it.
We had formed a chain with me at the front, I held Taylor's hand so they wouldn't get lost, Taylor held Clair's hand and in turn she held Harold hand. Raven had a skill that allowed to see shimmers from the invisibility spell, so she was able to keep track without having to hold a hand. I had Right Clothes for the Job and Man on the Job active but I'd restrained the aura so as not to spook my party. We slowly walked down the main road, while we were invisible to the skeletons, they would hear us if we moved too fast and would see anything we kicked up if we ran.
The main road was too busy with patrolling skeletons for us to be able to have a straight shot through the ruins, even though we would have been able to get to the mine before the invisibility spell ended. I saw that the undead looked to be creating barricades for some reason, almost like they were expecting to fight off an army in the streets. I wanted to stay and figure out why they were doing it but we didn't have the time. We had originally planned to take the first right but there was a skeletal wolf tugging on something caught under the rubble. My Identify spell went off as a reflex.
Name: Skeletal Wolf
Level 10
Type: Common
Description: A monster turned undead. This once proud monster has been brought back to life with some of their skills and abilities.
Health: 800/800
Mana: 300/300
Effects: None
*Note, as this creature is recognised by your Soul Reaper class as an adversary, all combat restrictions are removed from all class abilities (excluding disabled abilities or skills) and you will be able to gain xp from defeating this monster.
I stopped for a second and looked around quickly. I didn’t have time to come up with a way to move the skeletal wolf as there was a group of 6 skeletal pikemen who would be upon us in seconds. Instead I carried on walking to the next alley over, thankfully it was empty, we turned into it and walked past the next road as well. I looked down the road and saw 2 undead wolves fighting each other in the distance. We turned onto the last street at the outskirts of the ruins, I instantly froze as an undead bear sat in the middle of the road just a few feet from us.
Name: Undead Bear
Level 50
Type: Rare
Description: A monster turned undead. This once proud monster has been brought back to life with some of their skills and abilities.
Health: 18000/18000
Mana: 600/600
Effects: Immune to intimidation, Immune to fear.
*Note, as this creature is recognised by your Soul Reaper class as an adversary, all combat restrictions are removed from all class abilities (excluding disabled abilities or skills) and you will be able to gain xp from defeating this monster.
The bear was 8 feet tall while sitting down, it had black fur that was torn away in places revealing rotting insides, the beast was gripping a large bone and gnawing on one end. I got a good look at the inside of its head as it lifted the bone up to shake it, the wound had obviously been the fatal one. The creature stank as well, like the toilet in a pub on a Sunday morning, before the cleaners had arrived, after a busy night. Luckily no one wretched as we stared at it, else it would have found us. I was half worried that Raven would attempt to kill it since it was a high level and completely unaware, but with 18,000 hp I didn't think any of her assassination skills would instantly kill it.
I contemplated going back up the alley and trying a different road but I was weary of the invisibility spell timer, if we backtracked too much we would lose precious time. I looked back to see a group of skeleton warriors enter the alley all the way up by the main road and begin heading this way.
Fuck.
I gave Taylor's hand a little squeeze and began calmly walking on the side of the road. I say calmly but in reality I had enough sweat pouring off of me I was surprised the bear didn't smell it. I picked the right side of the road since we would pass behind its back and, hopefully, would be less likely to be discovered. I gulped as we neared the monster, it shouldn't be able to detect us but senses for the undead were always different. I couldn't tell how this one sensed but I hoped they weren't overly sharp senses.
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After a tense minute we made it past the bear and continued down the street, breathing a little bit easier, from both passing the monster and the cleaner air now that it didn't smell. By my calculation, from the distance the sun had dropped, we had about 7 more minutes before the invisibility spells ran out. We were, surprisingly, making good time but that didn't mean we had time to spare and lengthened my strides to gain back time.
Suddenly a Wind Wyrm landed in the middle of the road, dust and sand flew out revealing us for a brief second before it cleared and we were fully invisible again. The Wind Wyrm was 6 feet tall while crouched down on its 2 legs, it had green and blue scales that were missing in places, some were covered in dried blood. Its wings looked a bit like the Small Winged Wyrm but a lot larger with visible vessels running through them. Half of its head was missing, which made me wonder how it was still a viable undead, but as my identification spell triggered, I decided that now was not the time to find out.
Name: Undead Wind Wyrm
Level 30
Type: Rare
Description: A monster turned undead by a powerful necromancer that is able to understand complex commands. This once proud monster has been brought back to life with some of their skills and abilities.
Health: 7000/7000
Mana: 2000/2000
Effects: Immune to wind attacks.
*Note, as this creature is recognised by your Soul Reaper class as an adversary, all combat restrictions are removed from all class abilities (excluding disabled abilities or skills) and you will be able to gain xp from defeating this monster.
This was not my proudest moment but I did yelp in fright, I was so focused on the undead bear I hadn't even seen the Wind Wyrm flying around. Acting on instinct rather than conscious thought, I pulled on Taylor's hand and quickly led the party into the closest building on the right. I hurried through the rotted doorway and through a short corridor into a large room. The Wing Wyrm roared loudly claiming its supremacy over the world, I heard a few other roars answer the Wind Wyrm before I felt wind rush through the building. I looked up at the ceiling as sand fell from the bricks that made the building's roof, after a few seconds I shined in relief as it didn't look like it would collapse on us just yet. There were a few more wind blasts that went down the road towards the undead bear but, thankfully, while inside we were out of immediate danger.
The building looked like it used to be someone's home, it would have been quite a nice place and the room we stood in probably would have been a sitting room or lounge. Time and the elements had not been kind to the poor house. The mantle over the fireplace and the fireplace itself had been cracked but the chimney was still mostly intact. There was rubble on the floor from where one of the inner walls had crumbled away and I could hear the roof creak ominously. Having had a better look around, I was now acutely aware how close the building was to collapsing and how big and careless the undead Wind Wyrm was. I moved over to the front of the building and peered through the broken windows, the road was clear. We still waited a minute to make sure the Wind Wyrm had lost interest, there were some more roars moving away from us.
I decided that we had waited long enough and I stepped out onto the road heading towards our goal. We made it all of 10 feet when a blast of wind flew up the alley in front of us. Instantly, I headed for the building next in line, we needed to get off the street again. I walked through the building's doorway, the floorboard creaked as I moved into a familiar style lounge. The same floorboard creaked 4 more times as everyone filled in after me, a growl echoed down the road as the Wind Wyrm moved towards the entrance to the building. A glowing green eye appeared at the door and stared into the room.
I felt like I had my own personal shower running as I began to sweat profusely, my body clenched so tight that I could have pooped diamonds or crushed mithril ingots. In a bit of a panic I checked that my abilities were still active, Man on the Job was working perfectly fine, making the undead's gaze slide off of me as if I didn't exist. Panic turned into fear as I began to worry that it would be able to see through the Invisibility spell, or even worse, it could detect magic. Blood began to drain from my face as I gripped my scythe in my right hand, ready to break stealth and lunge at the giant eye, I felt my muscles tense as I prepared to launch myself. Instead the Wing Wyrm roared into the building as its tail lashed out and smashed into the building opposite us, there was a loud bang as it punched a giant hole through the wall. The building stood there for a seconds groaning in pain before it gave up the will to live and completely collapsed.
We stood perfectly still as the wind from the collapsing building rushed through the building we were in, dust and rock sand obscured the entire area for a few seconds before the Wind Wyrm huffed and cleared the air. I resisted coughing drop all the dust and sand that had been hanging around. The large eye disappeared from the doorway and there was another loud roar as the Wyrm turned to look at the building it had destroyed. We waited there for a minute or two letting the undead monster move further away, there was another loud crash further down the road before I decided to start to move again.
Instead of going out onto the road the Wind Wyrm was on, I decided to walk through the and exit out the back door. I stopped at the door to check the path was clear, I was prepared for something else to stop us but thankfully the way ahead was clear. The undead bear was still further back down the road, in the dying light I watched as it looked up the road towards us seconds before the Wind Wyrm barreled into it. They both crashed into a building which then collapsed on them, they both roared and began a very loud fight. I had never been more thankful to see two undead monsters battle it out. I walked out of the house still holding hands with Taylor and the rest of the party followed.
I thought of what we must have looked like, a person looking like a Grim Reaper leading 3 people by the hand through a ruined city filled with undead. The sight would have been a true stereotype and I chuckled inwardly at my thoughts. The next few buildings we passed were all large piles of rubble, either time and the relentless wind had caused the roofs to collapse or 2 fighting monsters had destroyed sections of the building causing it to collapse, just like what was happening down the road.
Not for the first time I wondered why Spring Falls had actually been abandoned, there were lots of rumours but no one really knew. I hoped that the people of the town had managed to leave safely, I couldn't imagine having your Soul stuck in this place. I was snapped out of my thoughts when two skeletal wolves charged out of the alley, I felt Taylor bump into me and everyone bump into them one by one. The blood drained from my face yet again, I swear my blood vessels were getting a true workout today. The wolves stopped in the middle of the road and looked around, one of the undead wolves began to sniff the air and my knuckles turned white as I gripped my scythe harder.
Name: Undead Wolf
Level 10
Type: Common
Description: A monster turned undead by a powerful necromancer. This pack monster has been brought back to life with some of their skills and abilities.
Health: 800/800
Mana: 300/300
Effects: None.
*Note, as this creature is recognised by your Soul Reaper class as an adversary, all combat restrictions are removed from all class abilities (excluding disabled abilities or skills) and you will be able to gain xp from defeating this monster.
The wolf sniffing the air was completely taken by surprise as the other as it attacked, the jaws clamped onto an ear and tore it off completely. From there, tufts of rotting flesh flew everywhere as they rolled around, like a pair of shoppers fighting to the death over a cuddly toy they accidentally ripped in their struggle. The fight was fast and frantic with the wolves moving around the road erratically, instead of trying to pass them, I turned around and walked up the alley behind us. The sounds of the fighting slowly died down behind us and I sighed in relief as I spotted the last house in the row, it was still standing.
I wanted to move faster as I was more than aware that the invisibility spell was going to wear out any minute now. I almost screamed in frustration as we had to stop and push ourselves right up against the side of a building, a group of 6 armoured skeletons turned the corner in front of us and took us so much of the room, they would have bumped into us if we didn’t. I came to the corner that the skeletons had appeared from and I looked at the house across from me, it was a rest stop we needed to take and give my frazzled nerves a break. I looked up and down the road and saw nothing was heading our way but I felt that the invisibility spells were seconds away from ending. I rushed over the road and through the doorway of the building, just as Harold passed through the doorway the spells ended and Harold, Taylor and Clair appeared.
The building we were in looked like it could have been an office or shop of some sort. The main room took up most of the building space, I could see the remains of a set of wooden stairs but whatever they led to was now unreachable. There were only 2 windows that showed the main road but they were small and blown out. I re-evaluated my thoughts on the building and maybe thought this was a jail or a bank. Any furniture had either been taken away by the owner or decayed into nothing from neglect after all these years so it was impossible to properly tell what the building had been.
"Shit." I gestured. “Spell ended.”
"It okay." Talyor gestured, they held up the bag and it still pointed towards the mine entrance. “We in right place.”
"Do we have mana potion?" I asked, "I can recast if we have."
"No, I used them." Taylor answered while shaking their head.
Damn. I had totally forgotten about how much mana Taylor had used creating all the ice barriers when they had thrown the skeletons into the ravine. I began thinking of ways to get back my mana. I tried to meditate but I couldn't get myself into the correct mindset, the large green eye of Wind Wyrm had rattled me too much for me to relax. I checked my mana to see that I only needed another 175.5 points before I could cast the spell a third time, however without being able to meditate it would take at least 2 hours to regenerate that much mana.
"Something happening, you need see." Raven gestured, her hand movements were excitedly fast.