Jeanne peered her head up and saw a human woman, dressed in a maid’s outfit and walking along the path. Her skin had been long decomposing and began falling off, her left arm hanging from a few remaining sinews still attached to the body. Her jaw dislocated and hanging from her mouth as she groaned and tried to breath with each labored step.

“How do you want to handle her?” Jeanne asked Cid.

“We need her down if we’re going to move in quietly,” Cid said.

Jeanne turned to Maeryn and said, “You think you can make the shot?”

Maeryn looked above the wall and after notching her bow, said, “We’re about to find out.”

Maeryn stood up and loosed an arrow into the woman’s torso. The force of the strike threw the woman off balance for a moment before she recovered. Maeryn pulled her head back for a stunned moment before she began notching another arrow. Before she could loose it, a cross bolt struck the undead woman in the head, Jeanne and Maeryn turned to see Silvius had fired the bolt, he turned to the women and nervously gave them a thumbs up.

Jeanne nodded as she and Maeryn returned the gesture before they all got back down. Cid bobbed his head back and forth. “That could’ve gotten worse,” he said before moving into the large courtyard. The crunch of the grass beneath his and Jeanne’s feet. Kveldulf, Silvius and Leonidas came in on their side as they moved to the fortified home.

Halfway down they heard the moaning of another undead moving down the entrance of the manor. Cid and Jeanne huddled the wall, both hitting the wall with a pronounced thump. Kveldulf and Silvius had no better luck when he hit the wall. Leonidas, when he was a few feet from the building, tripped over something and landed hard against the building.

Jeanne winced, saying, “That’ll leave a mark,” to Cid.

“He may need some tender, love and care, if we make it out of this.”

“Well, he’ll need to look elsewhere for that,” she said moving towards the opening.

From the entrance she and Cid saw a figure of a Felidan guard slowly march forward through and begin slowly surveying the grassy area around them. It turned towards where Kel, Sil and Leonidas were at and began moving there. Jeanne felt her heartbeat pick up fiercely as Kveldulf rushed towards the guard, and in one swift motion, decapitated the undead. As it fell to the earth, Cid and Jeanne moved toward them, she heard Leonidas growl as he rose to his feet.

“How are you feeling, doctor?” Cid asked.

Leonidas rubbed his head as he winced in pain. “I’ve felt better, but I’ll live.”

“Couldn’t tell from the growling,” Jeanne said.

“What do you mean?” Leonidas asked.

“I could hear you growling all the way back there,” Jeanne replied.

“That wasn’t me,” Leonidas insisted.

“I heard you, too, Doc,” said Kveldulf.

“Same here,” followed Silvius.

“I’m telling you all it wasn’t me,” Leonidas replied.

They all stopped as they heard a growling near them. From the grass they saw an undead dog rise from the earth, growling back at them. “No no no!” Leonidas said as he threw a firebolt towards the dog, engulfing the creature in flames.

They all exchanged glances for a moment before Leonidas said, “I told you it wasn’t me.”

“All right,” Cid said, “let’s not get too distracted.”

Two sharp whooshes flew past them as another undead dwarven guard came out of the entrance. The guard hardly had time to recover before Jeanne launched a fireball at the dwarf before it succumbed to the flames. “Where are all these bastards coming from?” she asked.

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“Probably was a rich person whoever they were before this all happened,” said Cid as he gestured the others to follow. “But I think we should get a foothold in here before we’re met with another guest.”

Kveldulf was given point, moving down the hall and slowly making his way down. Nearing the middle part of the first hallway, he gestured the others to follow as another undead guard began moving across the exit to the passage. Kveldulf immediately pressed himself against he wall. Jeanne could hear Maeryn and Silvius ready their weapons to fire. The undead stopped, looked around itself for a moment, and continued down its pathway.

Jeanne could see Kveldulf let out a sigh of relief as she did the same. The others moved up the hall and as they arrived to the other side, Kveldulf gingerly peered his head out, looking both ways before ducking his head back quickly.

What did you see? Cid gestured.

Another undead guard, female, elven, perturbed, Kveldulf gestured back.

How can you tell she’s perturbed? Silvius asked.

A loud angry growl filled the room as everyone head sunk back slightly.

Call it hunch, Kveldulf replied with a concerned look.

As the undead passed the hall’s entrance, The Wolves could see the figure clad in plate armor over much of her body. Jeanne could hear Hypatia groan softly as she spotted the figure. “That could your next paramour,” Jeanne said to Hypatia. Hypatia simply turned to her and mouthed, ‘no.’

After the figure passed them, Kveldulf swung his halberd’s blade into the knight’s shoulder and as he thrust its point towards her torso the knight dodged and unsheathed her great sword to engage him. “Yes!” he said as he put his halberd back and unsheathed his own great sword.

Benkin rushed to the front swinging his sword towards the knight, the undead warrior tilted their head down, letting Benkin’s blade hit and slide off her plated helm as he dodged out of the way of her own strike. Benkin then swung his weapon one more time, causing the two combatants to jump back and make some distance for themselves.

Maeryn loosed two arrows towards the knight, one barely missing the enemy, and the other landing in her torso. Gabriel rushed past the warrior, yelling as the undead knight slashed her back and dark blood stained the floor. Gabriel lunged at the warrior with her spear, both times the foe avoided being struck.

Cid lunged at the foe, sinking his blade deep into the knight’s torso and tried slashing the undead’s face with his claws, but she dodged and shoved him away from her readying herself for another attack. Kveldulf rushed her and after missing the first slash sunk his blade deep into her shoulder. She roared out in pain as she swung at him with her clenched fist, barely missing him. Jeanne could hear Hypatia, both her blades swinging and weaving an rousing song which filled Jeanne with a spirit of combat.

The knight swung at Kveldulf with her sword and he jumped back, missing the strike as it whooshed past him. As she rushed to engage the knight, Jeanne heard Gabriel shout out, “We’ve got more company!” as the cries of another undead man and dog joined the fight. From behind a nearby door, another undead began pounding away trying to break through and join the struggle themselves.

Jeanne loosed two firebolts at the knights, the woman skillful avoiding both attacks before hitting a readied stance. “Are you kidding me!” Jeanne shouted as Leonidas loosed his own attack which the warrior deflected with her armor.

“Oh, this is could be better,” Leonidas said.

Silvius released a cross bolt at the knight and struck it in the torso as Benkin slashed the knight with his blade. Maeryn landed another arrow into the knight as Gabriel sunk her spear into the torso of the zombie charging her. Cid, with all his strength, cried out in his native tongue as his slammed his blade deep into the skull of the knight, killing her instantly. Kveldulf turned to a zombie dog rushing towards him from the other side of the illuminated hall, felling the hound in one flurry of attacks.

Hypatia emerged from the hallway and with her blades emitted a terrific shriek which shuddered the zombie attacking Benkin, keeping him from hitting Ben with its blackened fingers. Jeanne fired a fire bolt strike the hound near Gabriel and cinder it to ash and dust. No sooner had the dog’s remains landed that the zombie from behind the door crashed through and rushed into the hall. Flailing its arms as it tried to hit Benkin.

“These, bastards are getting to friendly,” Benkin said as he pushed the two zombies back.

“Let them enjoy this gift,” Silvius said as he landed a bolt into on the of zombies’ head, killing them instantly.

Benkin turned to give Silvius a brief thumbs up before slashing the last zombie. Maeryn loosed two arrows, killing the zombie before it hit the floor. Cid steadying himself and looking around at the carnage, said, “Well … that happened.”

“I would prefer not going through that again for a while,” said Benkin. “They were coming out of every nook and cranny it seemed.”

“Let’s go in where that last one popped out from and get our bearings,” said Cid. “Maybe catch our breath before we have anymore scraps.”

“If there’s a bottle in there, it’s mine,” Gabriel said.

“Anything in particular?” Leonidas asked.

“Right now, I do not give a damn.”

Once they finished barricading the room, Cid slumped down in a chair as he squeezed the sweat from the fur on his hands before taking a long swing from his water pouch. “All right, what’s how is everyone?” he asked.