— Minira —

As much as Minira wanted to just accept that her loved ones returned to the realm of the living, she knew she couldn’t ignore the more likely possibilities. Certainly an entire village dying at the same time could saturate the area in death mana and cause a few undead to raise naturally over time before it dissipated or was absorbed. If that had happened it wouldn’t be many and it was nearly impossible that any would retain more memories than their regrets and the moment of their death.

The more likely scenario was a group of necromancers, or a single high tier necromancer, had eliminated the snakes and raised what remained of the villagers to use as slave labor and troops. The fact this group consisted of her family and the son of an influential general and potentially others related to important individuals in Stoneshield ment it was likely they were sent as some combination of diplomacy and blackmail.

While Minira was thinking over the implications of the situation, Marsaili had made it clear the rest of the undead were to remain in their makeshift fortification until the situation was cleared up. The troops stayed on guard and Marsaili rode a bit closer to start questioning the undead, including the one claiming to be her son.

Minira turned her attention back to the excitedly squirming spectral form of her daughter she was still holding. She really hated to do it but she needed to see if she could get some answers. She also didn’t want to traumatize her daughter if the spectral entity she held was truly her.

Doing her best to keep a reassuring smile on her face, Minira held her daughters form at arms length and looked her over. As she did she felt an especially strong spike of regret in her gut. The semitransparent greenish blue opalescent material that made up the figure of her daughter and the clothes she wore was not the only thing that had changed since she’d last seen her daughter. Between getting ready to retire and move and issues she’d been deployed to solve she hadn’t seen Aina or Eshtan in over half a year before their deaths. For adult dwarves that wasn’t much time at all but at her daughters age they still developed fairly quickly. This image of Aina was almost a full inch taller and had a very different hair style.

After a few seconds the spectral little girl tipped her head looking slightly confused and Minira felt a hint of amusement well up alongside the sadness at the familiar gesture.

While she was often called away by her duties when she was present she mostly felt like she was a pretty good mother. She was also a fairly well trained interrogator since she so often dealt with problems with little to no support. Combining those skills was something she was not at all familiar with. How much should she treat the creature in her arms as her beloved daughter and how much should she treat it as the puppet or infiltrator it most likely was.

After a moment of thought she decided the best option was to treat the being like her daughter but not actually let down her guard or afford it much real trust. If it was an enemy making it feel like it tricked her could make it let down its guard and if she was actually her daughter Minira didn’t want to hurt her.

She spent some time on the sort of conversation she typically had with her daughter when she’d returned from a long deployment. It was simple and light things and she focused mostly on the time before the snakes when Aina had been with her father in the village.

Minira was careful to keep the same casual happy tone when she shifted from innocuous conversation saying “Is yer father getting along with the ones tha’ raised ye both from the dead?”

Either the ghostly version of her daughter was a very good actress or it was genuinely confused as it said “Who’dya mean Mommy? Oh are you talkin’ ‘bout the robbed lady made of stars, Lady Mortis? I don’t think daddy met ‘er.”

That certainly gave Minira pause. Was there really a necromancer dumb enough to claim the name of the goddess of death. Minira didn’t know if Mortis would be like Syliantha the goddess of Magic and Scholars who allowed mortals to use parts of her name or like The Emerald Grove who took offense to mortals even alluding to them in their names. Regardless she knew no deity would welcome anyone fully claiming their name or identity.

Minira set aside that thought and said “Oh, does tha’ mean Lady Mortis stayed behind in the village then?”

The ghost girl giggled a little before she answered “No silly, She stayed in the sky.” She tilted her head clearly trying to think of something before continuing “No wait, She said it wasn’t the sky it was the, um oh yeah, she stayed in the veil.”

Minira had to make a conscious effort to keep a frown off of her face. Surely no one capable of doing what she suspected would also be foolish enough to fully pretend to be the goddess of death. She also wasn’t sure she could really believe that Mortis herself had decided to reanimate her daughter and at least some if not all of the village.

Some gentle questioning was enough to get Aina’s ghost to explain how the possibly divine figure approached her in a featureless gray void. The figure that apparently identified themselves as Mortis had explained that she could remain on the other side of the veil but it could be centuries before she met her parents again.

As the minutes of explanations went on Minira barely noticed as she went from questioning to simply catching up on what had happened in her daughter's life and unlife in equal measure.

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— Keira —

After the little ghostly dwarf girl flew over the powerful mage riding a drake, the clear leader of calvary group rode close to their wall. Keira already suspected the heavily armored dwarf was a woman from Alasdair's comment that seemed directed towards them. When they spoke up she was even more certain. The dwarf’s voice was husky and deep with a smokey edge but it was obviously feminine. If the armor and mount didn’t make it clear the steel and commanding tone in her voice made it clear the dwarf was a high ranking officer used to being obeyed when she ordered them all to remain in their defenses and called out for the leader of their little convoy.

Keir was already almost directly in front of the dwarven officer so she took a breath and said “I’m not sure what we did to elicit such a response but I’m the village leader and there are two counselors here as well.” Before the dwarf could respond Alasdair stepped up beside Keir followed shortly by Antheia.

Alasdair cleared his throat with a sound like a clatter of small stones and said “Hey Mum, I hoped I’d see ya in the city. What’r ya doin way out ‘ere?”

When the armored woman didn’t immediately respond Antheia said “They must be here to escort us to the city as an honor guard of our allies, Is what i’d like to say. To be honest however you all seem to be on more of a war footing than that of concerned or relieved allies. Is that correct General Stonefury?”

The woman finally reacted, letting out a frustrated huff and removing her helmet. Underneath was the fierce face of a middle aged dwarven woman with several scars visible against her dark gray tanned skin. Her thick mahogany hair was cut short and messy from what must have been at least most of the day under her heavy helm. The steel core was still in her voice but so was a healthy dose of annoyance when she said “Well the pair’ev ya dinna act much like thralls. Regardless, tis still my duty ta make sure’n i know who’s pulling your corpse strings.”

Antheia and Alasdair looked offended but before they could reply Keir said “I understand you can’t simply take our word for it as this is a somewhat unprecedented situation. Regardless, no one here is acting under will but their own.”

General Stonefury shifted the grip on her weapon to a casual ready stance and said “yer right ‘bout tha’, But go ahead an’ try me. Explain wha’s been goin’ on, if you nay a necromaner’s puppet.”

Surprisingly she didn’t interrupt as the trio explained what happened. Keir went over her, taking the task from the adventurer’s guild and perishing before the other two went over the viper attacking the town. When they finished Keir explained how she’d returned to life and decided to finish her final job and consequently being awarded the village by the system and the prompt that came with it. Finally they all told her the general state of the village and their discovery that they were allowed to return from the veil by Mortis herself.

When they finally finished General Stonefury looked more exasperated than annoyed as she said “I can’t believe anyone’d be dumb enough to make up tha stupid an explanation. Tha’ lot a’ ya sound like bards who indulged in to much’a tha Deep Crag Whiskey. With nay logic in yer words ta test I can only test yer character, an there’s only one good way ta do tha’.” She turned to look towards her troops and said “Alright, clear a space off’a the path.”

When the general looked back at her with a savage grin Keir returned it and said “I agree General, let's put this to the test.” and casually leapt over the wall.

No more words were spoken as the pair moved over to a large cleared spot after the general dismounted. When they were both squared up they each recited the traditional pre duel oath to Karrielle and stood ready.

Both women’s weapons were already drawn but Keir could have sworn she heard the sound of a vast blade slipping clear of its scabbard as the air in the clearing thrummed and they both launched forward.

Keir was almost certain that her opponent was at least one tier higher so she needed to be all in from the start. As she swung Keir called on “Crushing Current Strike” and as her blade carved through the air it left a gash that called forth a torrent of bloody sea water.

The water smashed into the general and while she kept her feet she was pushed back several feet before smashing her ax into the stone at her feet. Keir cut off her skill and leapt to the side as a jagged chasm opened a path towards where she’d been standing. Even before Keir landed, thin sharp crystal spikes ranging from three to five feet long jutted from the crack.

As Keir rose to her feet and met the general’s eyes they both activated their Aura skills. The air trembled as the scent of bloody seas grew stronger and the weight of the sea pressed down on their bodies and souls. Simultaneously the stone beneath their feet trembled and the sound of steel clashing and carving through foes echoed around them like a battle raged below and around them.

General Stonefury launched forward clearly speed along by a skill as each step covered at least the distance of five steps. Keir was surprised but she was just able to get her blade up and call on the “immovable blade” aspect of “Tide Carver’s Stance” in time to catch the general’s blow.

That clash confirmed two things instantly. The first was that General Stonefury was at least a tier four. The force of her blow would have shattered Keir’s sword before it was improved within the skull of the serpent. It also confirmed that the ax was also an artifact grade weapon as Keir’s sword hadn’t even scratched it.

As the clash ended Keir saw the grin on the generals face grow and could feel her own match it.

For what could have been minutes or an hour they clashed, Keir’s sword dented plate mail and splintered chainmail. General Stonefury’s ax ripped through leather armor and cut deep into undead flesh.

Eventually they both looked into each other’s eyes and gave a slight nod. They both knew it was the final moment of the battle as they charged a final time. Keir's blade smashed into the general’s left shoulder with a crunch of bone and metal even as her ax carved into Keir’s side, crunching through ribs and embedding itself in her lung.

The pair of combatants didn’t quite collapse but they did settle onto a knee and after they dropped their weapons they gripped each other's weapon hand with their own. Keir ginned and with a bit of frothy dark blood dripping from the corner of her mouth she said “Well fought General Stonefury. Have you taken my measure?”

General Stonefury chuckled with a wince as her shattered shoulder was jolted and replied “Aye, Tha’ I have, An’ please call me Marsaili.”