Pitt walked around the new fort. He suggested some fixes to the walls. Some he did himself, moving trees and bigger rocks away from the new defenses. Gumm blessed as much as he could, but he was only one cleric. He couldn't bless all of it by himself. The wanderer carved the symbol of Pantalus on the front of the walls as he moved around.

He inspected everything. He doubted it would hold five minutes against a determined vampire, much less a pack of them. He wished he could move these people out of the combat zone without alerting the monsters their prey was on the move.

He wasn't afraid to take on any number of vampires by himself, but the town could become hostages to stop him from inflicting as much damage as possible.

They had to get through one more night, then they could spend the next day looking for the burial areas the vampires needed. They couldn't be that far from the town. Where could the walking dead hide?

They had a rough idea of how many farmers had been swept up. If they had been instantly changed, the town was looking at about a hundred people spread out over eight different families.

There was a slim chance that the farmers were being held as food instead of being converted. Pitt discounted the idea as it formed. The vampire seemed intent on building his power base in the town. They would have to hurt him bad before he gave it up and looked somewhere else.

And Pantalus would expect him to hunt down every last one of the monsters and make sure they couldn't spread anywhere. Clerics would be put on notice. The Knights of the Circle would be given quests to find the monsters and destroy them if they could. Independents could be sucked into the vortex as things ramped up.

He could see the clerics for Avrii Noll rub their hands in joy and anticipation. This was the sort of thing they lived for with their mastery of the blade and deific sponsorship.

He didn't look forward to traveling the countryside, turning over every rock. He could see his Highlands slipping away under the prospect of years of hunting at the behest of the gods.

He had to find the core where they hid and destroy them all. That was the only way he was getting out of this mess with his independence intact. Once the town was gone, either the vampires would move in, or move on to some other intact town.

Pitt made sure arrows and swords were with everyone who could use them. He marked the symbol of Pantalus on the swords with his thumbnail. If one of the town touched the marked blade to the undead, it would burn from the mark.

Vampires were faster than humans. He felt it was a chancy thing, but they needed to be ready for anything.

One touch would cause Pantalus's anger to extend his aura just a bit into the main world. That would be something worth seeing in his opinion.

It also meant bad news to whomever was holding the blade, but that was something he couldn't do anything about while waiting to fight.

He walked the town as the sun started down. The townspeople lit lanterns and hung them on the buildings wherever they could. Windows were boarded over and shuttered to try to keep the vampire out when he arrived. Animals had been cleared from the street and housed near the smithy to prevent a stampede through town at the worst possible moment.

He hoped the town had rested for the coming night. If the things rushed the wall, it could go either way. They might be able to get through the blessings. That would let them into the town where they had to deal with townspeople who might not be able to match their speed and strength. If it went the other way, the town had bought one more day to find the source of the threat and cut it off.

The vampire had to be somewhere around the farms. There just no way he was inside the town with them. He would have had to come in while Pitt was deflecting arrows and hide on the grounds without being detected.

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Could a vampire do that with so many holy symbols in place? He would have to say no. So many eyes from above would center on a menace rapidly. Then Gumm would get the word where to go, and then he would too.

Pitt climbed to the top of the Temple with a borrowed bow and a quiver of arrows. His vision wasn't really that much better than a normal man's, but he could shoot just as blind as anyone else.

He thought if there was a rush to the wall, he could put a stop to that pretty quick.

Gumm set up on a roof overlooking a part of the wall facing the farmland. He wore his mask and mufti, sword in his hand. If anything came over the wall, he was prepared to fight it out.

Full dark came on outside the ring of lanterns. Stars danced overhead. This could be the time getting ready for a town party except for all the men and some of the women keeping watch.

Something moved beyond the light. Then a beast hit one of the sections of the wall. A cry went up from the militia. Orders were given as more of the things came out of the dark.

Pitt pulled an arrow from his quiver and notched it. He frowned at what was going on. The vampire had turned his victims into ghouls in the short amount of time he had possessed them. That made them strong and fast and hungry for human flesh.

He knew that it could be like this. He just didn't like putting victims down because they were being used as pawns against their neighbors.

He released the arrow, watching as it caught silver fire. It struck one of the twisted creatures trying to beat through the wooden wall with its fists. The ghoul exploded from the blow as the arrow kept going.

Pitt drew another arrow. How many more would die before they gave up and tried something else? They were a sacrifice to wear the town down by expending reources. And they weren't affected by holy symbols. That made them the almost perfect cat's paw.

He saw Gumm calling on the blessings he had been granted on his own roof top. A circle of clouds formed in the sky, spinning above the battlefield. Then sunlight blasted down to reveal the scene to everyone. The ghouls looked up at the hole in the air with confusion. That made them easy targets for any archer who wanted to take a shot at them. They started back to the trees. They couldn't stay out in the open with this going on.

Pitt spotted something in the trees, reflecting the sun back at the town. He didn't know what it was, but felt that shooting it was the best course of action at the moment. He took aim and fired at that small movement.

He didn't see the result, but noted the arrow had gone out. He fired another one in the same general direction with his target down, or under cover. It might have been anything, but he couldn't chance it not being innocent with things on the loose in the dark.

He would look for it in the morning. If it was one of the townspeople moving around out there when they knew what was going on, he would take responsibility and hope his explanation was enough. He might have got lucky and dealt with their problem with one shot.

It wouldn't be the first time he had killed someone by mistake in the middle of an action.

The defenders kept watch on the wall, taking naps where they could. Nothing else disturbed them after the ghouls ran off. It would be a job rooting them out, but that was tomorrow.

The rest of the night they waited for the next move. Their cleric kept watch, ready to ask for another miracle on their behalf.

The sun came up. Some of the ghouls hadn't made it to the trees with the arrows raining down on them. Their bodies would have to be burned because of the rot they spread when they died.

Pitt descended from his vantage point. He left his borrowed weapons at the Temple door. He scaled the wall and dropped down to the other side. He walked toward where he shot the second arrow in the night. A scorch mark against a tree pointed him in the right direction.

He found his target in pieces around a tree. The sun had come up and started burning anything under it. He looked through the mess until he found something that could have been a heart. He wrote the symbol of Pantalus on it. It burst into flames. He dropped it on the ground and let it burn against the base of a tree.

Should he stay and make sure there wasn't any more problem causers in the neighborhood, or should he go on? He needed to tell Gumm that he was moving on at the least. Anything else would have to work itself out without him.

He decided the best thing he could do was stay one more night. Then he could make his excuses and start marching home. If there were any more vampires, he was sure Gumm could handle it.

The ghouls would be a pain for a bit until they were wiped out, but the town could handle that. They had already killed a few. They could kill the rest easy enough.

Staying one more night might be enough to deal with the ghouls if they took another run at the wall.

But he needed to take nap before he did anything else.

The rest would take care of itself until he woke up.