Mana Soul: Chapter 32 - The Dead - Aela

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“Are we ready to head out?” Hilda barked anxiously to no one in particular. Her earnestness in defeating the dungeon made a great deal of sense now that Aela knew it was within her family's territory and was, therefore, their responsibility.

Tina shook her head and waved her hand dismissively, “Markus had the chimaera head off to prepare some palisades to bring into the dungeon. And before you ask why, remember that there is a reported horde of undead on the other side of the gate!” she replied snippily.

Hilda looked as if she had a few choice words to say in response, but just pursed her lips and nodded. “Alright. Is everything else prepared?"

Phillipe nodded, “Everyone is armed and armoured. Once those palisades are ready we can head over to the dungeon."

“Okay,” Hilda agreed tersely, quickly turning her attention to Phillipe instead. She busied herself by fastidiously rechecking and adjusting the straps of his armour.

As Aela had expected, it did not take long for the twins to lash together a pair of sturdy palisades. With the emphasis on arresting the enemies movement by impalement rather than an obstructive wall. Although undoubtedly quite heavy, the twins expressed no discomfort as they each dragged one of the palisades behind them.

With everyone now ready to head out, Hilda wasted no time in quickly leading their march towards the dungeon. Located in a copse of trees near the village, it might have been difficult for the humans in their group to find it were it not for the pair of large guild golems flanking the entrance and the veritable carnival of tents in the nearby clearing.

As they approached the guild golems, a small crowd of adventurers and their retainers had begun to gather and observe them. Although most were only curious, the faces of some of the more hot-blooded adventurers were noticeably contorted in anger and frustration.

“Make way, MAKE WAY I SAID!” An elderly man wearing expensive yet practical clothing called out as he shoved his way through the crowd. Although quite old, the man still looked to be in fighting shape and was not afraid of treading on the nobles' toes, both figuratively and literally if they did not move fast enough.

Upon seeing their party, the old man scowled, “By order of his majesty Prince Regar, none are perm-'' he suddenly stopped as he recognized someone in their party, “AH! Lady Hilda! Your party’s arrival has been expected for some time now!" The old man hurriedly made his way over to Hilda and greeted her with a firm handshake, “I shall not keep you overlong, I promise. However, his highness did require that I remind you of your families responsibilities in this endeavour."

Hilda stiffened a little, but nodded to show she understood, “My mother has made sure I am aware of the situation,” she replied quietly, “Should it be required, I will not shirk my responsibilities."

The old man stared intensely into her eyes a short while longer before releasing her hand and nodding, apparently satisfied with her answer. Turning his attention to the rest of the party, the old man’s gaze soon locked upon Markus. Wearing a smile only veteran diplomats and merchants could master, he bowed humbly before Markus before introducing himself, “Well met my lord Farus. I am Jarl Sindre of Jorvunberg. On behalf of his highness, prince Regar, it is my pleasure to facilitate your conquest of this dungeon.” Jarl Sindre bowed low again and half raised himself before continuing, “In accordance with our agreement through your proxy, entry into the dungeon by other parties has been rigorously prohibited. Also, any attempts at hostilities against chimaera’s in this territory have been both strongly discouraged and ruthlessly punished."

Aela missed Markus’s reply as her attention was drawn to a half dozen adventurers in matching livery taking up an aggressive posture behind Jarl Sindre. Suspecting the worst, Aela was surprised when the Jarl’s men and women instead turned their ire on the now somewhat belligerent crowd. Although they were unarmoured, the Jarl’s men were armed with swords, axes and even magic.

In the face of such willful aggression, the posturing nobles had little choice but to grudgingly back down. Without even having had the opportunity to vent their frustration and grievances, they had thoroughly lost face.

”-understand,” Jarl Sindre smiled avariciously. “We shall await your return with bated breath! Good hunting Lord Farus!"

Markus smiled in return, although he was noticeably uncomfortable. Clearing his throat, he turned to Hilda and gave her a somewhat pleading look.

Presumably understanding his intent, Hilda nodded. “ALL RIGHT!” She roared commandingly, “LET US SHOW THEM HOW IT IS DONE!” Shield raised and handaxe at the ready, Hilda rushed through the entrance to the dungeon and disappeared.

“Fuck..” Phillipe cursed quietly and rushed after her, his sister following closely behind with a double-handed grip on her longsword and Tina following shortly after with her crossbow at the ready.

Markus took a deep breath, “Are you ready?” He asked.

Ulf and Bjorn both growled and nodded enthusiastically, fingers twitching in anticipation.

Aela gave Markus’s shoulder a reassuring pat with her free hand, “We are ready,” she replied, injecting as much confidence as she could muster to better set him at ease.

Markus gave her an appreciative look, then made his way toward the dungeon.

The twins quickly rushed ahead of them, while Aela and Markus crossed over, side by side.

They were now standing at the edge of an expansive clearing within a twisted forest blanketed in snow. Far ahead of them, a dilapidated noble’s mansion loomed ominously atop the summit of a large hill. The remnants of crumbling stone walls were barely visible beneath the fresh layers of snow.

If the position of the sun in the sky could be trusted, the time of day emulated by the dungeon was late evening. The receding sun cast long eerie shadows from the forest and would soon give way to darkness altogether.

Hilda, Tina, Phillipe and his sister were only a short ways away from the dungeon entrance, carefully taking in the lay of the land and trying to find signs of the currently absent undead horde.

The twins were on high alert, their tails stiff and hackles raised. “Something is watching us!” Ulf growled, his ears twitching irritably.

Aela experimentally tasted the air but found only what she had expected, old blood, decay and frigid vegetation.

As one, the twin’s suddenly stiffened, their ears shifting this way and that as they lowered their stance and snarled in warning. “They are in the trees!” Bjorn growled.

Looking to the forest around them, Aela could see the hint of movement in the distance, only capable of the otherwise impossible feat because of her reptilian eyes. Still wearing the artifice provided by Markus, she could barely make out the hint of a faint red glow slowly growing stronger within the forest.

“Monsters in the forest!” Hilda called out a couple of moments later.

“Fuck! Where are they?” Kassandra snapped nervously, “I can’t see anything!”

“There’s so many...” Tina gasped breathlessly.

Contrary to the shock and nerves demonstrated by the other humans, Markus was remarkably calm. Turning his attention away from the forest to face the twins, he motioned to two nearby locations, “I want you to secure the palisades, there and there. Try to angle them in such a way that nothing can easily slip past behind us."

The twins readily obeyed, hurriedly shovelling snow aside and entrenching the palisades on either side of the dungeon entrance. Since the dungeon entrance occupied roughly the same width as the broken road, that meant that the rearmost facing of the protected area was twenty feet wide. Deliberately angling the palisades to leave only a small space ahead, the twins secured a rather sizable defensive staging ground for the group. Taking it a step further, they hammered anchoring stakes into the ground to better brace the palisades.

Satisfied with their work, Markus smiled, “Perfect." Eyes turning black and silver, he gave the palisades a quick looking over before turning his attention slightly further afield. “Do you know how to set steel bear traps?” He asked.

The twins fidgeted in a somewhat telling manner. To be fair, Aela didn’t either and she was somewhat certain Markus didn’t.

Walking over and pulling one of the impressively large and dangerous traps from the sack at Bjorn's side, Markus set it down on the ground rather unceremoniously and edged a dagger between its teeth. “Pull the jaws apart and press them down until you hear a click...” He grunted, straining himself but failing to open the teeth more than a half inch. A little embarrassed, he carried on with the description while Aela finished setting it for him. “Once it is armed, any weight or pressure put on that raised mechanism in the middle will trigger it! So don’t touch it!” Markus wadded up a snowball and once Aela was clear, pelted it at the trigger causing the trap to jump slightly as the jaws snapped shut with a loud crash. “Set them up a short distance from the defensive line out front,” he handed Ulf the trap he had used for the demonstration and pointed in the direction he wanted to set the traps.

The twins nodded and quickly set to their task.

“They are getting closer!” Tina called out nervously.

Shifting her attention back to the forest, Aela confirmed that the horde of undead was indeed growing closer. Their bodies stiffened by the cold, the draugr were making slow but nonetheless steady progress towards the group. Taking a minute to get a firm estimate of their numbers, Aela figured that there had to be at least a few hundred draugr, perhaps even a thousand. Thankfully the majority of the draugr lacked even the most primitive of weaponry, armed only with their rotten fingers and broken teeth.

It was the exceptions to her previous observation that worried Aela. Here and there amongst the shambling forms of the undead, Aela could make out the shambling remains of the hapless adventurers who had come before them. Caked with frozen blood and bearing the savage injuries few besides the undead could manage, they were a gruesome sight to behold. They were also the only draugr carrying weapons, although some were in just as poor a state as themselves. Strangely, so far as she could tell, Markus had been right. There were no female adventures amongst the shambling corpses of the draugr.

“Maybe we should try and fortify ourselves in the manor instead? The dungeon core is probably in there anyway. If we smash it-” Kassandra insisted, clearly unnerved by the approaching horde.

Phillipe shook his head, “-You think none of the others would have tried that?"

“We would be ambushed as we attempted it anyway,” Markus added grimly.

This comment caused everyone except the twins to shift their attention to Markus in expectation of an explanation.

“Well, we haven't seen any of those ghul’s yet, have we?” He explained slowly. Looking out to the open expanse of snow between themselves and the manor atop the hill, Markus’s upper body and face reflexively flinched, “When I look out there-” His eyes turned black and silver in reaction to channelling mana, “-I can just feel them waiting..."

Aela trusted Markus’s instincts regarding hidden dangers. How could she not? Aela had witnessed Markus on numerous occasions unerringly locate and react to danger while everyone, including herself, was otherwise unaware.

Scanning the open field of snow, Aela swore she could now make out faint disturbances that quite possibly marked ghul’s hiding places. The longer she searched the clearing, the more certain she became that Markus was right. With no sign of any ghul’s amongst the draugr slowly shambling towards them, the only logical places for them to be hiding was beneath the snow or in the manor itself. In either case, pressing recklessly forward to avoid the horde was very likely what the other adventurers had attempted, and they had all failed.

“Holding our position here is definitely the safer approach.” Markus's eyes slowly changed back to their regular appearance. “In addition to the mana draining beads attached to everyone's armour and weapons, I also brought two mana collection crystals, currently carried by Ulf and Bjorn,” he waved in the twin’s direction briefly before continuing, “So, as long as we can hold the draugr back, the mana collection crystals will redirect the collected and processed mana into everyone’s equipment. It is also entirely possible that the bear traps, crossbow bolts and with any luck the palisades as well, will constantly drain the dungeon’s mana as it attempts to regenerate the draugr’s injured bodies."

No doubt unwilling to only take Markus’s word for it, the humans turned to Tina with questioning and expectant stares.

“Is that true?” Phillipe asked with somewhat nervous excitement.

After taking a few moments to think it through, Tina nodded. “Depending on the current-” She glanced at the others, sighed and rubbed at her temples in frustration. “Assuming the dungeon spends more mana trying to heal its wounded than enchantment can steal away, It is entirely possible that defeating the horde or even the dungeon itself will be many times easier than expected."

Now quite visibly relieved, Hilda, Phillipe, Kassandra and even Tina were looking at Markus with a newfound respect and even awe.

The twins promptly finished laying the traps and returned to their flanking positions by Markus’s side. They each made sure to give him some space, so it was quite possible Markus hadn’t even noticed what they were doing, but to Aela it was clear as day. To the three of them, Markus’s safety was the highest priority.

“Here they come...” Kassandra called out nervously.

The first of the draugr were now shambling stiffly out of the treeline and into the clearing.

Hilda readied her defensive stance at the entrance to the palisade, while Phillipe and his sister stood back a short way, flanking her on the left and right respectively.

Tina took an open position behind Ulf and the palisade on the left, while Aela took up a firing position by Bjorn behind the right palisade.

“Try to make every shot count!” Markus reminded them sternly, driving home just how much importance the outcome of the battle may rely upon making every shot count.

Aela nodded and braced her enchanted pollaxe against the palisade and within easy reach of both herself and Bjorn. When the ghul’s decided to act, it would be better to have the advantage of the reach afforded by the polearm.

Markus had similarly handed his spear off to Ulf, who in turn followed Aela’s example and braced the crystal headed spear in the midst of the sharpened wooden shafts of the palisade. With his shield currently drawn but holding no weapon, Markus surveyed the closest members of the horde.

Afforded the ability to see the mana of monsters through the enchanted lens, although somewhat restricted by the visor of her new helmet, Aela quite quickly noticed something odd. The mana circulating inside of the dead adventurer’s appeared quite different. The mana inside the draugr was a deep crimson, the mana within Aela and her brothers was bright amber, the mana inside the reanimated adventures...was deep violet.

“Markus...” Aela half-turned while still pointing her crossbow at the closest of the reanimated adventurers. She needn't have bothered.

Markus expressed no sign of having heard Aela, his attention was already fixated on another adventurer.

The focus of Markus’s attention was dressed in tattered robes and vestments atop highly decorated and bloodily stained armour. Unlike the adventurer Aela had been looking at, the mana circulating within this adventurer was much faster, although it was unclear why.

No doubt understanding something Aela did not, Markus suddenly tensed and pointed to the adventurer with his free hand, “SHOOT IT NOW!” He shouted desperately.

Ulf immediately hurled one of his readied javelins at the target. There was the audible screech of metal and a split second later, a near-deafening thunderclap accompanied by a cold blast of foul-smelling wind.

Before anyone could understand what had happened, Markus was already pointing and shouting again, “THAT ONE!"

Ulf threw a second javelin, this time there was a bright flash of golden light and the sound of shattering glass.

“SHOOT THE DEAD ADVENTURERS!” Markus shouted, already pointing to his next target.

Trusting her brother to keep Markus safe, Aela turned back around in time to see Bjorn heaving a javelin at the nearest adventure’s reanimated corpse.

Just as the javelin was about to strike the adventurer, the same golden flash of light appeared. A near-transparent golden barrier intercepted the javelin a few feet from its intended target. Striking the barrier, the javelin bore straight through and into the adventurer behind, the barrier shattering like glass and disintegrating in the javelin’s wake.

Afforded a clear look at that adventurer, Aela now understood what was happening. The dungeon had not just reanimated their bodies, it had somehow gained access to their special abilities as well.

“SHOOT THE DEAD ADVENTURERS!” Markus shouted again, the strain in his voice suggesting that the other members of their group had not yet overcome their shock.

Thankfully, the reanimated Priest Bjorn had just impaled with a javelin, was now lying still as the truly dead. Unfortunately, its comrades were now behaving quite differently than before. As if their earlier behaviour had only been an act, the reanimated adventurers howled with torn and bloodied throats, initiating a ragged charge across the open ground.

“Take the Priest’s and Mage’s first,” Aela told Bjorn. The sheer brute strength of chimaeras made the javelins comparable to siege weapons in both damage and range. While she really liked her new crossbow, there was no guarantee it would be sufficient to even pierce armour over the fifty or so feet to even the closest of the straggling spell casters. So it was far better to prioritize Bjorn’s remaining javelins where they would do the most good. “That goes for you too Ulf!” She added loudly. Although he was easily the smartest of her siblings, it was far better to not take any chances.

A couple of seconds later there was another explosive blast of air from the left flank, “Five left on my side!” Ulf roared, the shifting strained tone of his voice suggesting he was throwing another javelin.

“Four this side!” Bjorn growled as he heaved another javelin.

The closest of the reanimated avengers were now less than thirty feet and closing fast, the deep snow proving no impediment to their advance whatsoever. As if driven to a berserk-like state, even those bearing shields made no attempt to cover their bodies, just charging headlong across the open ground.

Aela now understood how so many adventurers had died. After the first group had fallen to the horde, the ghul’s or whatever lay in wait inside the manor, the difficulty faced by the second group had only increased. The process had then repeated over and over again.

Phillipe had been right. Without Markus, there was now no way the dungeon could be defeated without committing an army of high-level adventurers to face the already dead and reanimated army within.

Hearing the twang of a bowstring behind her, Aela was aware that at least Tina had overcome her shock. Unsure whether the draw weight and therefore strength and range of the Artificer's personal crossbow was greater than the one she now held, or whether the reanimated Warriors on her side were simply closer, Aela fervently hoped for the former.

Lining up her first shot with care, Aela deliberately took aim at the closest warrior’s waist. Although wearing a suit of plate and mail, the warrior had a thick trail of crusted blood running from a dented puncture at the bottom of the breastplate. No doubt originally caused by the weapon of another reanimated adventurer, Aela fully intended to take advantage of the opening it provided. So long as she struck close to the mark, the indentation would guide the bolt into the frigid flesh beneath.

Firing her first shot, Aela watched the bolt strike the armour of the reanimated Warrior. Despite her best efforts, she had been off the mark, the stiff movements of her target causing the bolt to strike a little off to the side. However, what should have been a glancing blow tore through the steel breastplate and buried itself halfway into what lay beneath.

Perhaps just as surprised as she was, the reanimated Warrior stumbled and fell.

Had the dungeon somehow weakened the adventurer's armour? How else could the bolt have penetrated it so easily? Aela was aware of the draw-strength in the crossbow she held, and it was in no way sufficient to penetrate a steel breastplate at this range, let alone the accompanying mail and most likely gambeson beneath. What was going on?

Drawing the hand-slide back for another shot, Aela took aim at the next closest target, deliberately aiming centre-mass, where the armour was almost certainly at its thickest and strongest. Firing the bolt, she watched it slam into the chest of the breastplate and split the steel like it was leather. “They aren't even armour piercing heads...” Aela muttered in a mixture of admiration and confusion.

Just the same as the first, the second reanimated warrior toppled headfirst into the snow and remained motionless.

With no time left to figure it out, Aela knocked and fired another bolt.

Although the reanimated Warrior had a shield strapped to its arm, it made no attempt to deflect her attack. Instead, Aela’s crossbow bolt impacted and buried deep into its abdomen.

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Expecting the draugr to collapse as the others had done, Aela was surprised to find that the bolt had barely even slowed the reanimated Warrior at all.

Releasing a hoarse roar, the reanimated Warrior redoubled its effort and pulled ahead of all but one of its fellows, a thin lanky Warrior who was missing its right arm and its lower jaw.

Aela pulled and fired again, this time aiming for the wounded Warrior’s legs. Her aim was true and the bolt anchored deep into its right thigh.

Besides slowing somewhat, the reanimated Warrior was still determinedly charging towards her.

While readying her third shot, Aela noticed that the bolts had not penetrated the warrior nearly so deeply as it had the others. What made this Warrior more resilient than the others? She thought ruefully. Then she remembered, these were not just draugr. The dungeon had somehow maintained the adventurer’s special abilities. Which meant that the Warrior almost certainly held the endurance specialization. Although somewhat unclear on what the specialization was capable of, as first-hand accounts were almost unheard of amongst her people, rumours held that adventurers with the endurance specialization could harden their skin to be tougher than tempered steel.

Cursing under her breath, Aela prepared to fire. “Bjorn! Cover me!” She growled, staring down the Warrior as it prepared to charge the palisade.

Bjorn had just thrown another javelin and snarled in acknowledgement, snatching up Aela’s pollaxe and holding it ready while waiting just off centre and to her left in order to give Aela a clear line of fire. If she missed the shot, Bjorn would make sure it didn’t breach the palisade.

Aela became aware of someone now standing to her right. Because she was unable to take her eyes off the warrior for fear of missing her opportunity, she could only assume it was Markus. Aela found his presence both comforting and aggravating at the same time. Touched that he would stand alongside her amidst the danger, yet frustrated that he wouldn’t stay out of harm's way. As invaluable as his timely interventions had proven themselves to be, they had also made it abundantly clear just how fragile Markus truly was.

With a clear reminder of just what was at stake bearing down towards them at that very moment, Aela steadied her breathing, took careful aim at the reanimated Warrior’s helmet visor and fired.

Only a few feet from the palisade, Aela’s bolt sheared through the Warrior’s visor and caused the draug’s head to whip backwards from the impact. Stumbling and slipping from its original momentum, half-blinded from the bolt in its face, the reanimated warrior was not prepared to catch the rim of Bjorn’s shield smashing it back into the snow.

As if sensing its opportunity, the agility Warrior suddenly vaulted up and over the palisade, its bloody fingers reaching desperately towards Bjorn’s throat. However, just as it began its descent, the draugr was suddenly halted, the spike of Aela’s pollaxe now firmly buried in the reanimated agility Warrior’s neck. Kicking feebly, the draugr had almost immediately lost its ability to fight.

“ALL DOWN!” Ulf roared excitedly, the thrill of battle evident in the tone of his voice as he shared the news.

“ONE MORE!” Bjorn replied with equal excitement, although perhaps somewhat reproachfully as he gave the draugr impaled on the pollaxe spike an angry jostle.

Seeing more reanimated warriors barreling across the field towards them, Aela had to assume they were referring to the reanimated Priests and Mages.

“Aela, quickly shoot it twice more for good measure, alright?” Markus asked hurriedly while pointing at the draug dangling off her pollaxe. “Then I want you to dump it over here Bjorn so I can see what in the abyss is going on!” He gestured to the middle of their open space indicating where he wanted the disabled draugr to be deposited.

Aela did as Markus asked, no longer having the time to continue asking questions, burying two bolts in the draug’s chest in as many seconds.

Bjorn then unceremoniously smacked the reanimated warrior into the allocated space, freeing the pollaxe in the same motion.

Just as Aela was readying to take her next shot, Bjorn knocked her aside and braced his shield, a half-second later Ulf had joined his twin and had similarly braced his own. For a second, nothing happened, all she could hear was the sounds of the oncoming draugr and their vanguard of reanimated adventurers. Then Aela heard it, a strange whistling sound.

A second later, the twins' shields came under assault, the incoming projectiles crashing against the enchanted wood and steel with enough force that the twins were struggling to keep their footing.

Looking down at the twin’s feet, Aela didn’t understand. All she could see were streams of water running down from the rims of their shields. Looking to Markus to see if he had a better explanation and to make sure he was alright, Aela found that he was staring at the water running off the shields just as she had been. However, as she was about to ask what was going on, Markus suddenly shifted his attention to the front of their defensive position.

“PHILLIPE! ICE MAGE!” Markus cried out, although he was barely audible above the battering against the twin’s shields.

Hilda, Phillipe and his Kassandra had yet to participate in the actual battle. All of the reanimated adventurers had been approaching from the left and right flanks of their defensive position, almost unerringly drawn towards the palisades. So no doubt seeing an opportunity to contribute, Phillipe shifted to a sidelong stance, stretched his free hand out in the direction of the alleged ice Mage, and released a torrent of blue fire.

Almost immediately, the assault against the twin’s came to a halt. Whatever Phillipe was doing was working. “I can't hold this for long!” Phillipe grunted, his expression both strained and determined, the torrent of flames growing noticeably thinner with every passing moment.

.

The twins glanced at one another briefly. Having come to a decision, it was Bjorn who broke from their shield wall and threw another javelin, shortly followed by a second, third and fourth.

Stepping out from behind Ulf’s shield, Aela was just in time to see Phillipe extinguish his magical flames and reveal the impaled corpse of what she assumed must have been the reanimated Mage. Although only pierced by one javelin, the remaining three javelins were embedded in what was now a rapidly melting wall of fractured ice.

“Is it dead?” Phillipe asked, his voice trembling slightly.

Aela shook her head, firmly believing that it would take far more to grant true death to the reanimated adventurers. “The Mage is down,” she announced, hoping Phillipe would understand the need for such a distinction. After all, a dead man was unable to stand back up and tear your throat out.

With no time to waste, Aela aimed her crossbow at the closest reanimated Warrior and fired. Thirteen warriors still remained on this side alone, and from the sounds behind her, Aela could only assume that there were still more approaching the other flank. Reloading and firing again, Aela vaguely recalled that Markus had mentioned more than forty adventurers were presumed dead inside the dungeon.

Ulf quickly returned to his post and Markus retreated to the centre, leaving only Bjorn and Aela on the right flank.

Taking aim and letting loose another bolt, Aela could barely believe her eyes as the reanimated warrior hopped to the side at the last second, narrowly avoiding the bolt. Quickly reloading a fresh case of bolts and taking aim again, Aela almost panicked as the reanimated Warrior managed to dodge her attack for a second time. Tall and powerfully built, the Warrior simply should not have been capable of such maneuverability.

As Aela prepared her third shot, she was reminded that appearances could be deceiving and that defeating their first agility specialized Warrior had caused her to grossly underestimate their capabilities. There was also the distinct possibility that one of the reanimated adventurers had divergent specialization, encompassing two or more abilities, like Markus. It was incredibly unlikely, but not impossible.

Although it stung her pride, Aela knew she could not waste time against such an opponent, “Bjorn, I’ll leave that one to you!” She snarled angrily, shifting her aim to the next closest Warrior instead.

Much to her aggravation, her next target appeared to be another endurance Warrior, the draug simply ignoring the bolt now protruding from its chest and barrelling on ahead. Glancing down in front of the palisade at the fallen form of the first endurance Warrior, Aela growled and shifted her focus yet again. She would have to wait until that Warrior drew closer before risking such a precise target as its eye socket.

Thankfully her next target proved neither noble nor durable, crashing inert into the snow shortly after the crossbow bolt buried in its hip.

With her confidence buoyed somewhat, Aela tried a new tactic, deliberately targeting the Agility warrior again, she took careful aim then fired.

As expected, the draug nimbly leapt out of the way, however its companion only a short distance behind caught the bolt in its stomach, pitching stiffly into the snow.

Unable to contain her excitement, Aela cackled with glee. She had honestly not expected to hit the second reanimated Warrior, even after assigning it as her primary target. Taking aim at another and repositioning herself to line up the shot, she fired again.

As if realizing what she was doing, the agility reanimated Warrior shifted side on to avoid the bolt, its helmet moving as if watching its flight before burying deep in the stomach of its victim. Head snapping back to face Aela, a muffled roar reverberated as it sprinted headlong towards her.

Seriously doubting that it would stop dodging in its now fixated state, Aela instead fired at another approaching reanimated Warrior. Although the target turned out to be a third endurance Warrior and was only slightly slowed by the attack, the enraged agility Warrior apparently didn't understand the difference. Howling and charging headlong towards her, the draug was no longer paying attention to its surroundings.

Trying to suppress another grin, Aela aimed for the right side of its chest and fired.

As she had expected, the reanimated Warrior dodged to its left, the bolt narrowly missed and struck another less prepared draug in the leg, causing it to immediately topple into the snow.

Preparing to leap at Aela directly, the agility Warrior took another step forward, slipping slightly on unsure footing. The harsh shriek of metal on metal sounded and was shortly followed by a somewhat muted crunch. The reanimated agility Warrior flailed feebly and unable to arrest its momentum, stiffly pitched forward into the ground.

Aela grinned. The other Warriors had either the piece of mind to avoid the bear traps, narrowly avoided them by chance, or been taken out before reaching them. Aela was aware of how lucky she was to manage to trick the draug into triggering the trap. There had always been the distinct possibility that the agility specialization would allow it to retract its foot after triggering the trap, so Aela was thankful it had turned out as well as it had in the end.

Bjorn had been throwing javelins this whole time, picking and choosing targets most likely to succumb to his attacks while ignoring others. With no more javelins remaining, Bjorn had taken up Aela's pollaxe in preparation to fight the endurance Warriors that remained.

“Aela!” Markus called out.

Assuming the worst, Aela turned suddenly, crossbow at the ready.

Markus was hurrying over to her position with the spare case of ammunition in his outstretched hand. “Two per defensive type!” He quickly handed over the case of bolts. Markus then took a step back, clearly having no intention of moving further towards the relative safety afforded in the middle of their formation.

Releasing the current case of ammunition from the crossbow, Aela let it fall to the ground as she fired what would probably be considered a wasted shot. As expected, the bolt pierced the armour of her target, but barely slowed it down.

Slamming the new case of ammunition into the crossbow, Aela reloaded and took more careful aim. She was unsure of what Markus had done to these bolts specifically and didn't know if he could make more of them. After pulling the trigger, instead of reloading right away, Aela took care to watch the bolt as it flew towards its intended target.

Just as the others had done, the bolt sheared through the steel plate like it was nothing. However, unlike the bolt she had just fired previously, this one bit noticeably deeper. As if suddenly winded, the reanimated warrior staggered, its movement slowing to the point where it was barely making any forward progress at all.

With three of the endurance Warriors nearly upon them, this was good news! Pumping the handle of the crossbow Aela fired twice more in rapid succession, aiming one bolt for each of the remaining Warriors. Just like their companion, the seemingly unstoppable brutes immediately slowed to the point where the shambling horde of draugr was moving faster than them.

Following through with what Markus had said, Aela fired a second bolt into each of them. It was child's play now that they were barely ambulatory and so close.

“ALL DOWN!” Aela called out, unable and frankly unwilling to keep the triumphant sense of satisfaction from her voice.

“US TOO!” Ulf howled happily.

So far as Aela knew, this was the first actual battle the twin’s had participated in. Factoring in scale, it was certainly the largest Aela had participated in, that was for sure. With how quickly things had escalated, it was understandable to be excited. All the more so considering a few hundred shambling corpses were still headed towards them and drawing closer with every breath.

“What did you do?!” Tina exclaimed, currently examining the contents of an ammunition case. “What did you change to make it so much more effective?!"

Whatever Markus had done for Aela to make her bolts more effective, he had obviously done it for Tina as well.

“Do we really have time for this?!” Phillipe cut in, his tone strained.

Tina rounded on Phillipe immediately, stared with what was probably a scathing expression beneath her helmet, before turning back to Markus. “So?!” She asked excitedly, blatantly ignoring Phillipe’s suggestion.

Markus brusquely cleared his throat and glanced away, “I-I’ll tell you later...” He replied noncommittally.

Tina just stared at him, holding her cross at her side with one hand and the other on her hip in what was probably intended to be an expression of her dissatisfaction.

Perhaps pretending not to notice, Markus quickly made his way over to Aela again. “You are pretty good with the crossbow,” he commented and despite his expression being hidden by his helmet, Aela could still hear the admiration in his voice. “I don't think I saw you miss a single shot!"

Basking in his praise, Aela was debating whether to make the correction or not, since the agility Warriors had caused her to miss more than a few times.

“I think it would be best to save the remaining bolts for the ghuls,” Markus continued.

Remembering that the hidden ghuls had yet to act, Aela agreed with his proposition in principle but had some reservations regarding the practicality of the suggestion. “I don’t think it will be possible,” she countered, “Unless they attack before the horde closes in, I don't think I would be able to hit them with so many lesser draugr giving them cover."

Markus nodded, seemingly unfazed, “That’s what I mean. I want you to change weapons once the horde closes in. If the ghul’s hold out until after the horde fully surrounds us, in the hopes of laying an ambush, I think we might be able to turn it on them provided we still have the ammunition at hand for it.” He then shrugged a little and let out a sigh, “If not, then taking the horde and the ghul’s down at the same time will more or less happen just the same anyway. What do you think?"

Quite aware of the horde drawing closer with every passing moment, Aela nodded. Theoretically, there was nothing really wrong with Markus’s plan that she could see at the moment. However, whether the dungeon still had any more tricks squirrelled away was yet to be seen.

After lingering in her company a moment longer, Markus sighed and went over to the others to explain his plan.

This was why Aela had such confidence in Markus, he was always thinking, always seemed to have a plan up his sleeves. Propping the crossbow up against the palisade, she picked up her pollaxe and took up a defensive posture near Bjorn.

Bjorn had retired his shield, for the time being, holding only his battle-axe in his right hand.

“You don't think the shield is necessary?” Aela asked, a little puzzled given the approaching horde of draugr.

Bjorn shrugged, “Might have to throw the draugr out,” he replied glibly, going through the motion of grabbing and throwing with his left hand.

Aela blinked, startled. She hadn’t thought of that. Looking at the palisade the twin’s had put together, Aela was sceptical that any of the draugr had the motor skills necessary to maneuver past the chest height spikes and climb the bracing bar. After glancing briefly at the oncoming horde, she reconsidered. They might just climb each other, she thought worriedly. Bjorn’s idea of keeping a hand free to eject such invaders was not a bad one at all. But something still didn't feel right.

“It was Markus’s idea,” Ulf called out,

Turning to look at her other brother, Aela could see Ulf was similarly bereft of his shield, armed only with Markus’s spear.

Looking to the front, Aela could see Phillipe was experimentally strapping the near comically large shield to his left arm. Bizarrely, he was waving it about as if it weighed close to nothing at all. Were it not for Markus standing beside him and no doubt altering the enchantments, it would have made no sense at all.

After what looked like a short conversation, Markus and Phillipe appeared to have convinced Phillipe’s sister Kassandra to do the same and equip Bjorn’s shield. Combined with Hilda’s own northern roundshield, the trio formed a more than serviceable shield wall at the opening of the two palisades.

Curious regarding what Tina would be doing, Aela was somewhat surprised to see that she was still armed with her crossbow. Aela just had to assume Markus had allowed it as some form of self-defence since Tina was so small and likely incapable of otherwise contributing without it. Somewhat worried that it left their leftmost flank considerably weaker than the right, it was small consolation when Markus drew his longsword and took up a defensive position a few steps back from Ulf and to his left.

Aware that there was no way of personally protecting Markus without compromising their defence or exposing him to even more danger, Aela growled in frustration and willed the enemy to hurry up and die already. Didn't the dungeon know it couldn't win? Hadn’t it already deployed its most elite monsters and failed already?

Watching the first draugr stagger into the palisade and immediately grow still after impaling itself on the spikes did little to dissuade Aela from her thinking.

The reckless abandon with which the draugr just lurched into the spikes was beyond suicidal, it was downright comical. Aela truly wondered if the dungeon was actually directing these monsters at all. Just the same as the events in the troll cave dungeon, it wasn't just the draugr making direct contact with the palisades and shield wall that froze. Every member of the draugr horde was soon standing in a frozen mass of bodies.

“Ah, Markus?” Phillipe called out nervously, “Not that I am complaining, but...how long do you think this will take exactly?"

While it was true that all the fire Mage currently had to do was press his borrowed shield against the missed draugr. Aela could sympathize that standing so close to that many monsters for a protracted period of time, so it was not an unreasonable question.

Markus was quiet for a short while as if considering the question. “Maybe a half-hour,” he replied vaguely while glancing at one of the closest draug. “It is hard to tell. I think it could be forced to proceed faster if injuries are inflicted on the draugr, but honestly, I can't be certain."

Phillipe groaned, “A half-hour?!” He cried incredulously.

Markus shrugged, “Hey, I have no way of knowing just how much mana this dungeon has. It could even take longer, you know? You could always try damaging the monsters to make it happen faster,” he suggested snippily.

Cowed, Phillipe renewed a muted conversation with Hilda.

Markus squatted back down beside the one-armed agility Warrior and gave it a tentative poke with his longsword. It made no reaction, as Aela had expected.

Capable of seeing the flow of mana thanks to the enchanted lens, Aela could see that the draug’s mana was very nearly depleted entirely. Unlike the monsters, the reanimated body showed no signs of collapse, instead, remaining just as it was before.

Just as Aela was about to ask what Markus was doing, she was interrupted by a blood-curdling shriek. A moment later it was followed by another, and another.

The shrieking had come from the direction of the mansion. Looking over the heads of the massed draugr horde, Aela could see patches of open snow erupting as a dozen ghuls sprang out from hiding. Clearly a sign the dungeon was becoming desperate, the monsters had abandoned their ambush site and were now sprinting headlong towards the throng of draugr.

“What was that?!” Hilda demanded, her axe now firmly at the ready.

“Ghuls!” Aela replied quickly, handing off her pollaxe to Bjorn and taking up the crossbow again. While they had managed to deal with the ghuls within the village easily enough, Aela strongly suspected they were already somewhat weakened by their absence from the dungeon. With so many mouths to feed, it was incredibly unlikely that they had managed to maintain peak fighting strength while keeping their assumed identities above suspicion.

Even though she was now armed with the crossbow, Aela couldn't really do much more than wait. Although tall enough to see past the amassed draugr, she was not nearly tall enough by far to have a clear line of fire. Unsure what to do, Aela looked to Markus for ideas.

In direct contradiction to the nervous energy displayed by the other humans in their group and the barely restrained aggression of her siblings, Markus appeared somewhat pensive. He had sheathed his sword and had his hand held up to his helmet in a pose reminiscent of being in deep thought. Nodding slightly, he lowered his hand and walked over towards her.

“Alright. I think one of two things is going to happen,” he stated matter of factly, “Either the ghuls will try and force their way through the lesser draugr, returning a certain level of mobility to the draugr in the process. Or, they will become just as incapacitated as the others. Assuming they can't jump over...” Markus very nearly became lost in thought again, “They can't jump that high and far, right?” He asked a little nervously.

Aela shook her head, “I don't think so, climb, definitely, but not jump."

“Good,” Markus replied, nodding his head. “If the lesser draugr begin to move again, just shoot them. But try not to put too many bolts into one monster,” he advised.

“Why not just shoot them now?” Aela asked, a little confused as to why she should wait.

Markus was still for a moment before making his reply. “Think of it as a trap. At the moment, the level of mana being drained is mostly determined by the number of enchantments on the shields and palisades. If that is insufficient to stop the ghuls, they will probably push forward rather quickly through the crowd, or as you suggested, climb over...” He shifted uncomfortably mentioning that, “But we have a way of defeating them without hitting them directly, so once they are committed, just start shooting bolts into the horde until all the draugr stop moving again."

Aela could tell by the tone of Markus’s voice that he was quite confident in the strategy so she decided to trust him.

Markus then quickly repeated the main points he had discussed with Aela with the rest of the group, putting heavy emphasis on the ‘wait and see’ element of the plan. There was some obvious dissatisfaction expressed by Phillipe and his sister, the twins weren't overly thrilled about it either. However, no one really had much of a choice, since shortly afterwards, the pack of ghuls had reached the outermost ranks of the lesser draugr.

As Markus had suspected, the ghuls presence had stimulated the lesser draugr into lethargic movement. Aela could see the ghuls were currently attempting to force their way through the horde. However, they were making painfully slow progress, succumbing to the same lethargy as the lesser draugr around them.

Unable to suppress her bloodlust any longer, Aela began firing bolts into the surrounding horde of draugr. Not needing to aim due to the sheer number that surrounded them, Aela quickly found a rhythm, drawing back the grip, sliding it forward again and firing, repeating the motion in rapid succession and pausing only to replace the expended ammunition case with a new one as necessary.

Truthfully, Aela was not sure if the draugr had been rendered motionless before or after expending her last case of ammunition. She had not paused to check and honestly hadn't considered it important at the time.

Looking at her handiwork, Aela felt a little embarrassed. Firing around thirty bolts into the frontmost draugr of the horde, she had somehow managed to shoot seven bolts into one particularly unlucky draug. Its body was so perforated by bolts that it was practically pinned to the draugr behind it.

Sheepishly taking a look around, Aela was all the more embarrassed when she realized that Tina had managed to more or less spread her own bolts evenly amongst the draugr pressed against the left palisade.

By the way Tina was scanning the horde, it seemed like she was having similar thoughts as Aela, yet thankfully Tina stayed silent.

“Steady!” Hilda called out, her sudden cry attracting the attention of the group.

Aela turned just in time to see Phillipe somewhat awkwardly getting back to his feet, snow clinging to the backside of his gambeson.

“Shield must have slipped and lost my footing...” Phillipe sputtered defensively.

“Pfft, sure it di-woah!” Kassandra was interrupted mid taunt as her shield suddenly slipped forward, nearly causing her to lose her own footing.

“Well, you should be happy about this Phillipe,” Markus chuckled.

“About what?” Phillipe grumbled, “That was quite a nasty fall you know! Half scared me out of my wits!"

Markus laughed a little, “It seems like it won’t take an hour after all,” he replied.

“Huh?” Phillipe grunted, clearly not understanding his meaning.

Taking a closer look at the draugr by the right palisade, Aela was momentarily taken aback. Their mana was very nearly depleted! Even as she watched, two of the draugr impaled on the palisade had begun to collapse. Running out of the mana required to sustain their form, the draugr were being hollowed from the inside out.

“The monsters have very nearly been fully drained of mana,” Markus pointed out somewhat smugly. “Although-” His tone of voice became more serious, “-the whole horde may not disintegrate entirely. We should be prepared to finish off any stragglers near the back.” Markus suggested sombrely.

“Already? Fantastic!” Phillipe cheered, seemingly content to ignore Markus’s warning.

His sister Kassandra was little better, grumbling just loud enough to be heard, “Finally."

“Stay ready!” Hilda rebuked sternly, clearly unwilling to take the warning for granted.

“Ah, Ulf, Bjorn, could you come here for a moment?” Markus asked.

The twins readily obeyed, quickly making their way over to see what Markus wanted. Curious Aela moved somewhat closer as well, but made sure to keep an eye on the horde. There was no way she would take Markus’s warning for granted, after all, the ghuls had joined the horde much later, so it was definitely possible that they were still in better condition.

“After all of the horde is dealt with, I would like the both of you to move together and collect the bodies of all the dead adventurers. It would definitely be a good idea for us to remove them from the dungeon to stop it from reanimating them again,” Markus explained warily, “Besides, I think demonstrating how capable we are to the nobles outside should convince some of the more hotblooded nobles to think twice before trying something. I was honestly pretty worried some of them might try something earlier."

Ulf and Bjorn gave affirmative grunts before moving back to their original positions.

“I’ll assume you heard all of that?” Markus asked, an amused tone in his voice as he walked over to stand next to Aela.

Aela blushed. Thankful that he couldn't see her face, she nodded tersely.

“Well that saves some time,” Markus sighed, “I was thinking about sending Hilda back through to explain things while the twin’s gather the bodies. Since her family is well connected and all, it should really help to convince the nobles to back off."

Markus had sounded more than a little tired and angry as he spoke the last part, reminding Aela that Markus did not have a particularly favourable impression of nobles at the best of times. However, she suspected there was more to it than that. The movement of his helmet made it easy to tell where Markus was looking at any given moment, and right now Markus was staring at the horde of draugr.

“I just want this to be over with,” Markus muttered quietly. “I want to go home..."

Aware that he had been thinking out loud, Aela wasn’t’ sure what to say. As Markus’s words repeated in her mind, Aela was forced to reconsider their current situation from his point of view. A long way from his home, surrounded by the dead, it was no real surprise that Markus was keen to leave. Even assuming they successfully destroyed the dungeon heart, they would still have to contend with the gathered nobles afterwards.

Unsure of what else she could really do, Aela took hold of Markus’s right hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. Perhaps here amongst the dead, this would be enough to remind him of the living, Aela thought hopefully.