“Yik? Are you, uh, in there somehow?”

The mist inside the vial swirled and vibrated as it spoke. “Kind of. Not important! Do you see the goblin at the head of the pack?”

Topher looked. There were more than twenty goblins riding atop of the wolf-like, almost humanoid-faced wargs. One goblin was left on foot, talking to another goblin at the front and center of the riders.

“We need to stop him, any way we can,” said Yik.

The unmounted goblin turned towards Topher, seething with contempt before curling its wide lips into a sinister, smug smirk. A small gap in the wargs opened for him to move to the back.

Topher reapplied his grip to his glaive and the vial. “Easier said than done, little buddy,” he said. He stopped focusing on individual goblins and allowed his vision to take in the sight of them all. They were a mass of twitching, flexing bodies. The goblins brandished spears and the wargs dug claws into the ground and gnashed with long, sharp teeth. Over forty sets of black eyes reflected the bits of flame still burning just outside the fog.

Kevin surreptitiously gathered a few goblin arrows. “Don’t suppose anyone’s got a Fireball?” he asked. Then his ears twitched. Something was wrong.

“Dude. Insensitive. Yik is right here,” said Topher.

“I don’t know what you’ve got going on,” said Linore, “but I’m thinking we retreat and hide. We’ve given the civilians as much time as we can.”

Kevin turned his head. There was movement.

“Or we try to hit-and-run from the fog,” said Jenn.

“Either way, fog’s sounding good,” said Topher.

Kevin couldn’t bring his conscious mind to identify the problem, but some part of his instincts screamed at him. The movement was uneven. Stumbling, perhaps. “Wait…” he breathed.

Kryx nodded. “Seems like the right time,” he said, backing from the barricade. “Any tactics can be discussed—“

He was cut short.

From the fog, a hand appeared. It was a feminine hand, though the color and moisture had drained away, leaving it a tough, dense clump of flesh. It fumbled out of the fog, along with its arm, and then a face.

The face, half burned and also drained of color, stared out with lifeless, unblinking eyes. Its mouth hung slack. Its tongue lolled out. Without any semblance of emotion, it brought its hand up, then hammered it down onto Kryx’s head.

The other four turned to see why Kryx stopped only to find him reeling into the barricade. Blood ran in rivulets down his face. The Fog Cloud shimmered, but held.

Many things happened at once. Linore, seeing her partner injured, cried out his name. Jenn screamed “Zombie!” and moved to Turn Undead, only to realize she was unable to, having channeled Iamai to heal the dying earlier. Kevin swore and reached for his bow, but was stopped by Topher, who said, “Don’t you fucking dare.”

Lastly, sensing the momentary panic, the wargs charged.

Mounts and riders howled in blood-frenzied unison, the entirety of their existence both being fulfilled, and on the line. The space between the riders and the party was closed by just a few sod-scraping bounds.

The goblins’ tactics were for organized confusion. One wave fell upon the group, goblin spears thrusting at them while the wargs snarled and, just before attacking, leapt away to allow in another group. Separated as three waves, the goblins had the party crushed under constant attacks.

“Jesus! What a bunch of bastards!” yelled Topher, parrying a spear. “And what’s up with the zombie?”

Kevin, hand firmly on his rapier, dodged two spears. “It’s one of the fire victims; someone must have just made it,” he said, scoring a hit on a warg before it disengaged. “We gotta risk the zom and retreat into the cloud, and we gotta do it all together or whoever’s last will be screwed.”

“If we get out, think the zombie will go for the goblins?” asked Jenn. Between the heavy armor and her shield, she was faring well against the onslaught. She allowed for a brief flicker of gratitude toward Jack for his assistance in her character creation before focusing again on the fight. “Or am I just being hopeful?” she added. “Kryx, how are you holding up?”

She glanced at the teens. Linore had summoned a small, invisible barrier that blocked most, but not all, of the goblins’ attacks. Kryx had been trying to fend off the zombie when the goblins charged. The zombie was at the end of the greatsword, though it didn’t seem disturbed or deterred by that fact. The goblins used his distraction to score a number of hits on his back, and Jenn watched as his large form fell to its knees.

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In an instant, the Fog Cloud was gone.

What its disappearance should've revealed was a number of bodies strewn about the former circus ground. Instead, to everyone's horror, not one corpse seemed content to stay lying down. Suddenly aware of the presence of the living, the throng of zombies began shambling toward them.

“What the—did all of them turn?” yelled Kevin.

“Don’t you dare touch that bow!” roared Topher. “Jenn! Turn Undead?”

“I can’t! Sanare!”

“Well, shit.”

Mercifully, the sudden appearance of so many undead gave the goblins pause. Topher took a second to behead the zombie on Kryx and look out over the others.

“Don’t know what’s causing this, but we’ve got to think fast,” he said. “We might get the two to—“

Then he saw it.

He swore. “The beacon! The fire’s gone purple like at that crypt!”

Linore barely heard any of this. To her, there were just vague murmurs and dull thuds. She looked at Kryx, his face bloody and in agony. A flash of him looking back at her with a smile—that smile—superimposed upon his wincing grimace. She was injured. They were surrounded. He was going to die. Even as a bit of light found its way to him and closed some of his wounds, it wasn’t enough.

Deep down, in the darkest recesses of her soul, a long caged beast roared. She no longer had the will or strength to keep it contained; she only had both of those thanks to Kryx. After years of confinement, the beast finally broke free.

“What? Seriously, look how far away that is,” said Kevin. “If this is the beacon, then it’s covering the whole freaking town! Why would they do this? If they’re attacking Kryx, then they’re not trying to save anyone.”

“I think Topher’s right,” said Jenn. “And if the town’s affected, the goblins we missed will be creating more zombies, and if the guard’s called in there’ll just be more casualties and even more zombies.”

For the smallest sliver of a second, everything went still. Everything went silent. It was as if the world held its breath in tension, and then snapped.

It started as a whirlwind. A stiff, strong breeze flared up in intensity until the adventurers had to stabilize their stances to keep upright.

“Great. What now?” groaned Kevin. The wind whipped his hair and scattered his words. “Is this Gust of Wind? Linore! Why are you pointing it at us?” He looked to her. “Linore?”

She was hovering in the air at the center of the vortex. Her head hung low, her eyes staring blankly at Kryx. Her mouth opened and closed as if she were speaking, but all that came from her lips were pink bubbles.

“Holy—!” Jenn stopped herself before calling out Iamai’s name. “What spell is this?” A goblin was taken off his warg and flew helplessly around.

“I don’t think it’s a spell!” yelled Kevin. “I think it’s a wild magic surge!” Three bolts of lightning fell from the open sky, incinerating two zombies and a goblin along with his mount. Seven balls of light flew from Linore, striking seemingly random zombies and goblins along with Topher. “Shit! I think it’s a lot of wild magic surges!”

Topher shrugged off the pain. “It’s not safe here!” he said, grabbing Kryx and dragging him away. “C’mon, man, your girlfriend’s gone psycho.”

Kryx stared at Linore. “I…I see,” he said. She was scared. In pain. A hundred butterflies materialized in the air only to be immediately ripped apart by wind and a flying goblin.

One of the less percipient riders threw a spear at Linore, only to have it picked up by the wind and added to the chaos. The lead rider, Voeg, assessed the situation, decided he didn’t like the unknowns, and ordered a retreat. The rest of his platoon parroted his order, breaking for the nearest line of trees. They only left one warg, who was desperately trying to pick his rider out of the whirlwind without being taken by it himself.

“The goblins are pissing off,” said Kevin. “That’s something.”

"What?" cried Yik's voice. "If they escape, they'll—"

"One problem at a time, Yik," said Topher.

Jenn made it to the boys. “Kryx! Do you know what’s going on? She doesn’t look good. I tried a Healing Word, but it didn’t help.”

Kryx stayed on the ground, eyes on Linore. “I don’t…. How long has she..."

The zombies kept moving forward. Without the sense to brace against the wind, they fell over as they neared. Standing back up, most could only manage to move a few feet before either falling from the wind or being clobbered by a loose spear of screaming goblin.

Topher smacked Kryx upside the head. “Wake up, Teenage Wasteland! Your Sally needs you!”

It did the trick. “You’re right,” said Kryx, blinking. “At least, I think I get what you’re saying.” He stood. "She could have at least told me, though." He steadied his gaze on Linore, who was still looking at the ground where he fell. Tears fell from her eyes, only to burn her cheeks and turn to steam. She was dead to the world. “I’m going to need your sword for a bit longer. I’ll do what I can to help Lin and keep the zombies off her. You three run for whatever’s causing this and stop it.”

The three shared a look. “Are you sure…” began Kevin.

“Get out of here,” Kryx ordered. “The undead have to be stopped. The logic of the situation says I should help you with it, but I’m not going to leave her like this. I’m being selfish. I get that. But fuck everything if I don’t care right now. Get going. I’ll try to get through to her. Even if I can’t, I’ll keep the zombies off her. All goes well, we’ll be behind you.” He switched his gaze to Kevin. “Leave.”

The conviction in his eyes gave Kevin a slight chill up the spine. With a nod, Kevin led the charge back into Colme.

“Good luck, dude,” called Topher back to him.

Kryx straightened his back, raised his chin. “You’ll need it more than I will,” he said, too quiet to be heard.

He stepped into the whirlwind.