Elsbeth was shaking in fear. Her day had gone from bad to terrifying in the time it took for her to cast repel undead. Old Gerd the human hermit living on the edge of the dwarven village that lay between the Dwarven Kingdom of Khaz'Banadur and the Human dominated Kingdom of Durisham had come sprinting into the village only the last time anyone had seen Gerd moving at any speed faster than a mild amble was beyond living memory.

The fact he was also missing most of one arm and his lower jaw was hanging strangely to the side with drool and blood running down his chin over his clothes only added to the confusion as he rushed into the village common ground and immediately charged Bill who was on guard duty. Bill managed to subdue Gerd with the help of several of his fellow dwarves but due to his longer reach Gerd manage to scratch and bite not just Bill but also half a dozen others before he was tied down.

"Of course the first thing everyone thought to do was call me" demurred Esbeth to noone in particular. After all she was the village Priestess of Runko God of Earth and if anyone knew how to deal with someone so clearly Undead but also not behaving like the undead normally do would be her area of expertise.

Only it's not Elsbeth had neglected her studies on the undead in favour of drinking with her fellow initiates back during her training and could only cast the most basic spells related to them.

Which she had just Cast.

"So what's the verdict El" Bill mumbled.

"I don't know Bill but I suggest we burn Gerd straight away, my spell was completely ineffective and I don't know if I can stop him easily if he gets out and I am already at my limit for casting today so if you lot of incompetents get injured again you will have to wait for it heal naturally"

Bill looked at Elsbeth confused. "What do you mean failed. I thought Holy magic didn't have a fail risk".

Elsbeth shrugged her shoulders "No bloody idea I didn't pay much attention to this, all I know is that..." Elsbeth takes another look at what used to be Gerd then points her index finger firmly at the disheveled and bloody old man "Yer that ain't even close to normal!".

All the farmer edge away from the thoroughly bound Gerd at this proclamation unsure what to do.

Bill turns around and yells out "alright you lazy sods go get some firewood and the flint and well give ol' Gerd a send off". As Bill turns to stomp off he suddenly stops and turns back and yells out "don't you lot forget to bring up a keg of his finest Brandy he sold us last Autumn neither so we can toast to his life we'll do it at sundown" clearly ignoring Elsbeth’s advice.

As Bill continues to walk off Elsbeth is left standing staring at the unblinking eyes of the still struggling zombie and can't decide what's more terrifying the fact that it could move at a speed not described as an amble or that her holy magic had no effect.

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Elsbeth spins around suddenly and starts making her way back to her chapel somehow she can't remember what is causing this feeling of foreboding in the pits of her stomach talking to herself yet again she mumbles "Either way I am planning on drinking as much as possible later".

Four hours pass with Elsbeth getting more and more restless while waiting for sundown but the time is finally here so she has made her way to the western edge of the village where the pyre has been built ready to be lit. She decided to dress in her formal garments with her trappings of office forgetting that the average villager doesn't understand why the funny looking hat and robe matter.

As she walks up she notices that of the villagers that helped subdue Gerd only two have shown up. Even Bill isn't there yet. No matter she thinks more beer for me.

"Alright everyone gather around" calls out Elsbeth as she looks at the sorry group she has been assigned to administer over. "Old Gerd was ..." Suddenly she hears moaning as one of the men from earlier collapses and starts shaking and foaming at the mouth as Elsbeth runs to look after him she realises that the moaning isn't just coming from him but rather it is mostly coming from the village proper. She turns to look and sees Bill and several other villagers sprinting at them. Elsbeth starts to back away just as they hit the edge of the crowd and start biting and clawing at the townsfolk in front of her.

Panicking Elsbeth does the first thing that comes to her head and casts repel undead once more however it completely ineffective.

Where Gerd had been old and worn out Bill and the other villagers were young and tough. They were behaving the same as him but had even further enhanced strength and agility tearing apart the other villagers so Elsbeth does the only thing she can and turns tail to run. She makes it into the fields with several other villages fast behind her however as the night drags on her fellows are all brought down one by one by the monsters following behind her.

Elsbeth's dwarven fortitude and ability to refresh herself with healing allowed her to keep ahead of them for what feels like hours running for her life her hat is lost her robes torn until she stumbled across a merchant camp near to a river.

As Elsbeth stumbles into their camp bruised and bleeding from running through branches as fast as she can the guard looks at her in shock taking in her haunted and bloodied visage he recoils slightly while grabbing at his horn ready to sound the alarm.

Elsbeth takes one look at the scrawny looking guard realises he has no hope using what little breath she can spare to yell just one word "Run!". With that stated she takes her own advice and runs straight through their camp and jumps into the river. She swims out for all her worth and when she reaches the other bank she looks back to see the merchants being torn apart by the things she once knew that would now haunt her dreams until her dying day.

Falling to her knees Elsbeth starts weeping but is startled almost immediately as someone start climbing the bank she just did.

Muddy with water falling off it the person looms over her as she fall backward and starts to crabwalk away.

However before she can get up and run it lunges forward and grabs hold of her!

Elsbeth closes her eyes waiting for the inevitable rending and tearing however it doesn’t come. Instead she hears someone sobbing thank you over and over.

She opens her eyes and looks at the mud cloaked person again and realises it is the scrawny guard from before. Looking back at the merchant camp she realises the zombies are still busy.

With that she grabs the young man by the collar and starts dragging him off into the wilderness with no more thought than this direction is away from them.