Open Chronicles The Village of Greywood

[Sir Eberwolf Kinniger]

Greywood was a rather pathetic village that lay just outside of Kinniger territory. But they didn’t answer to any specific lord or lady of any kind. So he came in with a single unit of soldiers, twenty to be specific, plus himself to speak with the village leaders. But when he arrived he saw something he did not expect, a village surrounded by a trench and earthwork palisade, the trench filled with spikes, and a single bridge leading into it.

The sound of armored feet tramping in unison would alert those inside the walls, and they were met with a wall of various weapons. Mostly pitchforks, but there were a few repurposed scythes and sickle blades attached to hafts in there too. Eberwolf, a knight clad in armor of pure white, and carrying a Maximilian Zweihandr sword. Behind him were uniformly armored men, all carrying poleaxes across their chests. They stopped only a few feet from the men.

“What has happened here?” Eberwolf asks.

“Who are you?” One of the men asked.

“I am Sir Eberwolf Kinniger,” He said. “What happened here?”

“Undead, lots of them.”

“Let us in, we can help you.”

It took some convincing but they were eventually let in, but they weren’t in for long before they heard a bell ring, signaling that the hordes had returned. Eberwolf ordered his men to the earthwork bridge, and he stood out in front of his unit, waiting.

 

[Sathirena]

Outside the Eternal Sanctuary.
The dispatchment has not returned in it's full, in fact, it barely accounted for a single skeletal courier, who stumbled clumsily before the dragoness-stuck-in-shape-of-an-elven-wraith.
»Oh how cumbersome, « snarled Sathirena through human teeth, raising her head from its throne of ghastly hands, »They should have returned in full days ago with their numbers bolstered by fresh meat.« The dragoness in truth, would have obliterated the village with her own feet and frost were she still in her body, but now she must depend on some less than dim skelletal force neath an even dimmer wraith-captain.

Not long after she wrought an army to bolster the numbers of the expansion campaigns, the dragoness said farewells in the council's hall to anounce yet another one of her departures, Though she doubted the council trusted her even as much, for all her recent excursions led in one disaster or another, most notable the one that lost her powerful body.
»I am joining the reinforcements in the northeastern campaign, I'll make sure it will succeed this time.«
If anyone came or not, mattered little to her.

The present.

The Waith-Captain rubbed her necrotic chin, so far, this village was a disaster. A prey that bit back, perhaps a too big load for her margnialised unit to sucessfully overtake. And one of those peasants pitchforked the only necromancer in the unit.
Now they were unable to even raise the few of the dead as new slavethralls to fight in their stead.
In fact she thought they may even be abandoned by Sathirena to have their units depleted one by one untill they were none; guessing by how moody and ruthless the dragoness was.

Her ghastly blue eyes peered at her unit making one more attempt at the village barricades.

 

[Sir Eberwolf Kinniger]

The Waith-Captain rubbed her necrotic chin, so far, this village was a disaster. A prey that bit back, perhaps a too big load for her margnialised unit to sucessfully overtake. And one of those peasants pitchforked the only necromancer in the unit.
Now they were unable to even raise the few of the dead as new slavethralls to fight in their stead.
In fact she thought they may even be abandoned by Sathirena to have their units depleted one by one untill they were none; guessing by how moody and ruthless the dragoness was.

Her ghastly blue eyes peered at her unit making one more attempt at the village barricades.

There was only one place where they could efficiently enter and still be able to fight immediately and that was right down the earthwork bridge into the village, which was now guarded by a unit of twenty veteran soldiers who had faced down vampire hordes since they were eighteen, and a white-clad knight who was bred for war. They stood little chance this single unit of undead.

The undead warband was obliterated very quickly, cut down by the knight’s huge sword or by the soldiers behind him. If the unit were to retreat. They would not give chase, instead, Eberwolf would return to the village, and the unit remain on guard, vigilant. He would speak with the village leaders.

“How many fighting men do you have? What are their weapons and how experienced are they? What are the details of your defenses? And how many healthy people are still alive here?”

He received his answer, and immediately began giving orders. His men would accompany a few others to collect trees and use them to build a better palisade. Meanwhile the blacksmiths were put to work making better weapons and the seamstresses were ordered to make as much gambeson as they could. His air of authority and experience brokered no arguments.

By nightfall, a wooden wall was set up atop the earthwork mound, with the outside moat still in place. Weapons were slow to be made, but gambeson was moving slightly faster. Everyone was inside by the time the sun went down. And they set up watch.

 

[TTamark]

Steve was just chillin like a villain. Things were good. Yup... Really good, just great really. Steve had to admit though he might have been a touch bored. He was not really used to settling himself. Steve had just kind of gone on random adventures, and built farms all across the two continents since he had gotten out of school. As such he had never stayed behind to actually deal with his actions before, he had always passed it off onto someone else. Not like he wasn’t just passing off all his responsibilities in one way or another now, but he couldn’t just leave like he used to.

So the problem arose Steve was essentially stuck here in the Eternal city, with no fun adventures to go on. He could be bored because he passed off his duties, or be bored doing his duties. Well one of these let him play catch with his chickens, and the odd chance to sneak into the kitchens to make some dope @ss stew. Though he would get a talking to because they always seemed to know when he did that last one. Probably because there weren’t many who would make magical potato stew for an everyday meal, nor any who made it quite like Steve... Or the kitchen staff just ratted on him.

When Steve heard about Sathirena's campaign he was more than willing to offer her aid for what could only be a good and righteous battle. So he called his friend who had been with him since he had started his journey Leroy to help her on the field in his stead.

“Leroy I can only guess at what noble cause might motivate Sathirena. Maybe she is going to defend some people from an enemy attack, or save them from a monster, or... or maybe she is going to save some people from a tyrannical ruler, and then show them what living in freedom is like. Either way I want you to support her in her campaign with... uh... let’s say twentyish chicken-orc warriors. Goodluck buddy I know you will make me proud!”

 

[Leroy Jenkers]

Leroy and his twenty chicken-orc men showed up around nightfall. All the chicken-orcs had their thick hides covered only by loincloths, allowing for maximum freedom of movement, and were armed with large oversized two handed spiked clubs, too heavy for any but these eight foot behemoths to wield.

Leroy reported to the Waith-Captain waiting for directions, or at the very least to hear the current battle plan.

“Steve has sent us to aid the Dragon queen.”

 

[Sir Eberwolf Kinniger]

( Sathirena )​

 

[Sathirena]

The Wraith-captain stomped her feet furiously across the ground. That's it, she's done for. Whatever was left of her unit was sent to intercept loggers and even they dwindled down over time.
Her anger would not last forever, »A boon from Steve, for sure that is, many thanks to him. I am not sure if the dragoness herself will come, do you know the news of such?«
»Regardless of it, any frontline attempt has failed us and the fortifications have only grown.«
At sundown, a massive energetic footprint overtook the entire region. The soul of a ghost far larger than Its form.
The village turned noticeably chilled.
No doubt, perhaps somebody would be able to tell that something far grimmer than a band of skeletons has appeared.

The Wraith-captain bowed at the presence. It was the dragoness herself in her vailed form. With her came skeletal thralls, chimeric monstrosities, flesh golems, necromancers, ghouls and Nordenfiir wiedergängers.
For now, they stood within the dark of the trees, with only Sathirena stepping forth to the Wraith-Captain.
The dragoness was displeased with what she saw, though seeing reinforcements from Steve show their ghastly feathers appeased her in a sense.
»You are Pathetic, what a sad sight this is, your soul should have been stripped months ago and recycled into fodder for the thralls, « she went on to chastise the captain, who knew better than to talk over the mightiest dragoness in Eretejva. »What is done, is done, « her empty eyes gazed over the lonesome town, taking in it's many defensive properties.
Ragtag, loose barricades, a ditch and an impromptu wall atop a dirt mound. Must have been recent by its hastly construction, she reckoned.
Nevertheless, that will be their grave.

 

[Vulture]

She stood silently atop a nearby hill beneath the gnarled branches of an ancient oak. Below stood the little town and its hastily erected fort with its wooden walls and deep moat. Sightless eyes took in the men who stood guard against the undead waiting outside. The townsfolk and villagers were safe within the walls, but wood and earth were only so effective against tireless bone and flesh. She idly wondered how long it would take. A few hours, perhaps. A handful of days. A month or more. She knew of the Eternum, of their acceptance and use of the undead. An oddity in the world, yet simultaneously another nameless brick in the foundation of the universe despite how garishly it was painted.

Her face was devoid of emotion and her eyes hollow, yet the blue spots and streaks upon her face and body slowly shifted and melded this way and that. Patterns formed and dissipated only to reappear elsewhere as she thought and observed. Once all was said and done, she would have decisions to make. She only needed a small number of materials and ingredients, possibly a corpse or two for a new project, but who would she need to contest for such things? Should the humans prevail, she knew from experience that mortals didn’t take kindly to her requirements nor did they ever seem eager to volunteer. Should the undead succeed they would declare possession of what she needed.

It was a difficult dilemma and one she happily allowed her ceaseless mind to contemplate from atop the hill, beneath the tree. Ultimately, it would be best if the living survived, but were bled dry. She could handle mages and necromancers and undead beasts, but there was a simplistic ease and efficiency in wounded and exhausted humans. They wouldn’t put up much of a fight in the end. Like taking sweets from infants, if she remembered her human proverbs correctly.

Sathirena Sir Eberwolf Kinniger Leroy Jenkers TTamark

 

[Melusine Flarell]

Melusine still hadn't figured out how she was going to kill a bunch of undead by the time she arrived. The Undead were already dead, right? She didn't know too much about them, and they were probably one of the things she had the least experience with. What was she going to do, make them... not dead with her heal spell? Could her heal spell even do that? How did one know undead were dead? Did they bleed? What did their blood look like? Melusine suddenly really missed college, for more than the fact that it had given her some like-minded friends. She wished she'd been able to learn more. Why had just one little bit of magic been so difficult? Had it been only because she was fully human? Was it too late now, at twenty-four, to learn more?

She was glad she wasn't traveling alone... and she had the now rather pleasant thought that she might never travel alone again. The thought of training under Ser Gavin Halbert forever appealed to her at that moment. She tried not to appear nervous, but in her mouth, she was gently biting the inside of her cheek.

"I wish I'd thought to ask in class if a heal spell could raise the dead," she muttered.

If it did, would it change anything, though? Or would they still be evil?

 

[Ser Gavin Halbert]

Gavin had heard the rumors of the Village of Greywood being attacked undead. He received a tip by his old friend Gea: A former Monster Hunter who was running the Monster Hunter safehouse: The Gilded Vale. There were too few Monster Hunters in The Tundra to handle the threat so Gea turned to the Lion of Oban to handle the horde of undead. Gavin saw the fear sprinkled on Melusine Flarell face, it wasn't a foe that she faced before but Gods willing he hoped it would be the last. Gavin himself had faced undead numerous times in the past and it was hard to unhear their shrieks and howls by those whose souls were supposed to be resting.

There was also the fact that he was undead as well. Or at least Gavin thought, Gavin wasn't walking mindless being. He still had his thoughts, personality and memories with him. Was Gavin cursed with the power of the undead or was he killed and then.....

"Stay calm my squire," Gavin advised really telling himself more than her. "To panic is to lose the major advantage you have over these undead, which is your mind. You can out think them, out maneuver them but you must maintain discipline not just fighting the undead but at as a Knight as well."

The village was overrun by undead, the screams of the living and the dead were drowned in the sea of chaos. "Too many foes," Gavin brooded adjusting his brown hood. "Stick close to me." he said to Melusine drawing his Iron Longsword. "Let's get to the middle of the village and check for survivors."

He'd prayed to the Gods that they did not arrive too late. If there was one thing that Gavin hated about the songs of heroes sung by Bards was that they always arrive late.

 

[Sir Eberwolf Kinniger]

(Holy crap this thread got huge! XD )

The presence was impossible to miss. Something powerful and something sinister was getting closer to them. He had a sinking feeling that this issue was Far from solved. The palisade was hastily constructed, and while not up to the usual standard of his armies it was solid enough to require a battering ram to get through. He was speaking with the village leaders, a council of three representatives, about their defenses, resources and the number of people and their skills.

Very few people in the village had ever had to use a sword before, and very few knew how to fight professionally. There were forty men who were ready to fight. That number rose to fifty six if they included the women. That on top of his twenty veteran soldiers made seventy six fighters in total, so that made for four units of nineteen people, and his twenty professionals would be dispersed into each evenly to provide a professional front and people to look to for guidance in battle.

The blacksmith was busy making spearheads, while the many axe heads he had already made were instructed to be placed on long shafts to make halberds, inferior to the perfected poleaxes of his soldiers, but good enough for the job. Seven gambeson coats had been completed, and were ready to be issued out.

With that in progress Eberwolf wrote a quick letter. Gave it to one of his best soldiers, and sent him out, he would arrive back in his home duchy within a couple of weeks, then in another couple of weeks the armies would arrive. And their victory then would be certain. They just needed to last a month and a half for them to get there.

Eberwolf heard someone call, “people! Outside!”

Jogging over he was able to spy Ser Gaving Halbert and Melusine Flarell. He came out to the middle of the bridge to meet them. “Hail travelers. What brings you here?”

 

[Melusine Flarell]

Melusine nodded to Gavin, and impulsively, she squeezed his free hand. She needed the contact in order to ease the fear creeping down the back of her neck. "I won't move an inch from you unless you say so."

A little farther along the road, they met Sir Eberwolf Kinniger . "These undead... we heard about them. And we do wield swords."

Not that he needed to know how little experience she had- that might make him unsure of her ability to help. She was probably going to have a hard enough time as a female squire without making anyone lose confidence in her. "A friend of Ser Gavin Halbert asked for assistance."

 

[Ser Gavin Halbert]

Melusine was still fearful still squeezing on Gavin's golden grieves like a child clinging onto their mother's arm. Fear was a natural reaction to the unknown but what matters is how a person reacts to it. Melusine was a squire training to be a Knight not a citizen fleeing from terror. "Melusine," Gavin muttered. "I understand you are afraid but you must draw your weapon. You are Squire a student of a Knight not a citizen, draw your sword and defend these innocent people."

As soon as Gavin said that, a voice was heard from afar. A young man cladded in stark white armor ran to them looking relieved to see reinforcements. Melisune explained the situation while Gavin gave a grim nod and a slight smile sheathing his sword away and motioning for Melusine to do the same. "Aye," he answered. "We are here to defend the Village of Greywood from the Undead. What is your name young man? And what is the situation so far? Are there more survivors out there?"

Sir Eberwolf Kinniger Melusine Flarell

 

[Sir Eberwolf Kinniger]

"Aye," he answered. "We are here to defend the Village of Greywood from the Undead. What is your name young man? And what is the situation so far?"

“Sir Eberwolf Kinniger. I have with me a unit of elites with me, and we’ve already begun shoring up the defenses.” He explained.

Once he was closer Gavin would see that he was on the bigger side for humans, and he could easily see the huge sword in Eberwolf’s hand. “You two had better come inside the palisade. The more people we have holding the line the better. I’ve already sent for my armies but it will be more than a month before they get here.”

 

[Melusine Flarell]

Melusine nodded and let go of Gavin's hand before they got there, but upon arriving, she went a little pale at the thought of other armies not arriving for a month. Still, she tried to think of a suitable question that wouldn't sound like she wanted to panic at the thought of facing a foe she never had before.

"How long has this been going on, then? When did these undead arrive in full force?"

Melusine waited for Sir Eberwolf Kinniger to lead them to where the palisade was. She was unsure anyone could keep away undead for a month, but that went without saying, and was why she had avoided asking if they could- it would be a stupid question. To wait and see- with swords in hand- seemed to be the only available option.

"What exactly is our plan of attack until your armies get here?"

 

[Ser Gavin Halbert]

"A month?" Gavin looked over the people mostly the villagers grabbing weapons and looking scared out of their minds. "By the time your people arrive Greywood might as well be a cemetery" If there was one thing that Gavin learned about an undead horade is usually they were summoned by either a powerful necromancer or were attracted by a magical artifact. Based on the simplicity of the village he guessed it was the former.

"When did this attack start Ser Kinniger?" Gavin asked while they crossed the bridge and continued to observe the defenses being set up. "Where are the undead mobilizing now?"

Even if they built stable defenses, Greywood was not a castle it can't hold out a wave of undead for long. If anything the best course of action was to abandon the village and take the survivors to a safe location. "From what I understand," Gavin said to Eberwolf. "Is that the Monster Hunters have a large safehouse not too far from Greywood. My suggestion is to start moving the survivors to there as soon as possible."

The old Knight continued to frown who knows when the undead will attack. It all felt like the they were entering the eye of the Hurricane. Everything was calm before the chaos starts back up again. They approached the palisade which was covered with thick oak wood. "First thing though," Gavin sighed. "Is to look for more survivors we need to rescue as much as possible."

Sir Eberwolf Kinniger Melusine Flarell

 

[Leroy Jenkers]

Leroy spent some time taking in the situation. Luckily most of what he had to say was covered by Sathirena's words. Leroy still couldn't believe that the defences had only gotten better since the attack had begun. How had they gotten out to get the tree's?

Leroy gave a deep bow before addressing Sathirena.

"I am sure my lady has already no doubt thought of this, but allow me to be the one to voice it: at this point we need to look at more options than simply a frontal assault. We should cut them off as best we can, make sure they do not receive more aid, or more resources like tree's."

Leroy pointedly looked at the new fortifications. Then at the captain to show he put no blame upon the dragonesse.

"I will allow my lady to set things right while me and my men have a quick scout, and set up a perimeter, at least until you see fit to relieve us. Can't let any rats come and go as they wish. I will return shortly, until then."

With one last bow Leroy quickly took his flock for a jog around village from a safe distance. He and his troops studied the terrain around the village, and defences. Every tenth of the way he had two of his men take a post.

"Keep them from coming and going as they please, and remember we don't need any heroes, when you see someone; crow, and if you don't think you can win; run!"

 

[Sathirena]

The moon glistened like a silver disc.

The dragoness assessed the location, the dark gave no disability to her vision, nor to her undead kin.
Her ears were tuned for Leroy. On first sight, the chikenman would have made a tasty treat for the dragoness, were she still breathing and alive, but his service seemed, far more valuable on her right side than the wraith-captain's.
Nodding to his plan, she let the chicken to his own device.
»Very well sir Leroy, take your hens with you, I will inform you of further action upon your return .«

The dragoness gazed back at the village, it has one strong entryway, likely only breachable through siegecraft construct. It may take time to construct it, but wildlife and wood was plentiful.
There was enough wood of the woods to build, however... A devilish plan came to her mind.
They didn't come for land, of course, they came for corpses. But now was not the time.

»Surround the village, let no one pass, cut down and bring here whoever you see in the woods, « she hurled at the ghouls, who ravenously scattered themselves into the snowed in foliage like rabid dogs. Lastly, she eyes the colossal flesh golems, sending them off to cut down the oldest, most deceased looking trees.
While they were as dim as a pile of bricks, she sent the wraith-captain to act as their brain.

 

[Melusine Flarell]

Melusine sighed and gave Gavin a look that said, I was going to say we probably couldn't hold them off for long, but I didn't want anyone to lose confidence in us. What did I tell you? We are in big trouble. To Sir Eberwolf Kinniger, she nodded to Gavin's words, and added, "However many of us there are, when looking, when possible we should go in pairs. This way, if something happens to one person, another can make sure they are not left behind. We need all the help it is possible to have. Whomever is left to guard the fort should probably devise a signal to use if the enemy were to barge in. Someone should also make sure there are room and supplies to nurse the wounded, should we find any. And other than that, I suppose we should just pray to the gods and hope everyone is in the best condition possible, considering things." Wounded or starving survivors were a possibility, but neither would be any great help in a fight.

While Melusine was loath to leave the safety of the palisade- in part because she worried she would get lost trying to find it again- she knew very little would likely get done just sitting around.

"Well, then. Survivors could be anywhere, but I suppose the best places might be natural shelters of a sort- caves, holes in trees, or whatever else might work."

That, of course, might only apply if the survivors were used to fending for themselves, but if not, it was possible they would have been dead anyway.

She looked carefully at Ser Gavin Halbert and Sir Eberwolf Kinniger. "Does this sound feasible?"

She hoped she wasn't going to mess this up....

 

[Leroy Jenkers]

Leroy eventually, after placing his men, returned to the dragonesse to give his report. When he returned he saw that she had wasted no time, and that the camp was full of activity. Though in an almost eerie way as there was less talk than one might expect from a camp. Where one might expect the air being filled with the sound of the voices of soldiers talking, instead only the occasional word from a necromancer. In its stead one could hear the rattling of bones, and the footsteps on many doing the dance of puppets tied by unseen strings. Further away yet, if one listened, you could hear the sound of tree's being pounded away at. Every now and again there would be the sudden crash of a tree giving way and falling.

The thought of mindless undead puppets still made Leroy feel uncomfortable, though he wasn't as opposed to them as his master Steve, Leroy at least saw the usefulness in them. 'They are not slaves they are just dead bodies being given new purpose.' He told himself. Still he kept his eyes away from them on his way to Sathirena. When he was finally granted audience he entered with a respectful bow.

"The village is surrounded by a trench with an earthwork palisade, a wooden wall was set up atop the earthwork mound. The trench is filled with spikes, and there appears to be a single bridge leading into the village.

I can not help but suspect that there is a good chance that they might have some other secret way in or out of the city though. This is of course just speculation, but perhaps a possibility to be prepared for.

They might not be the only ones who can attack their opponent from the rump however. If you have a caster capable of passing themselves off as human, or creating a human looking undead we might be able to have an inside ghoul so to speak. HAHA."

That last bit he had learned from Steve, he always had tried his best to minimize the loss of life on both sides of any conflict. Though he usually also insisted on being the one to enter believing that if he was just given the chance to explain everyone would agree with him and just join him peacefully... That fool <3

 

[Vulture]

It seemed the living dead and their allies were determined, at the very least. Rudimentary siege lines began to form, scouts roamed to and fro, and despite the small size of the garrison that opposed them they treated the situation as if it were a siege upon the mightiest fortress conceivable. Whether they were overly cautious to a fault or simply inexperienced was irrelevant. What mattered was time.

Humans either did things halfway or thrice over. A miserly human baker might cut his flour with sawdust to maximize profit while maintaining a high price whereas a fresh, over eager lieutenant might plan even the most unimportant minutia of a military campaign to prove his worth. Though haphazard and over the top, the earth and log fort showed at least some prior planning and forethought, which meant at the very least someone had the idea to send a rider for help. Help might be days away, possibly weeks or a month or two if weather was poor or the relief force was overly large, but again, humans either made it halfway or threefold in most things.

She figured it was only a matter of time before help arrived and made things more… problematic. Much as she would prefer the humans to wipe out the undead so as to make her own cull of the defenders that much easier, it seemed she would need to reassess.

She turned and contemplated the ancient oak she stood beneath for a moment. Thick, twisting branches criss crossed overhead and she could almost sense the deep roots below, woven through the earth like a bird's nest for meters in all directions. She paused but a moment, altering a few steps in her mind on the fly, before reaching a pale hand forward. She laid her fingertips upon the dry bark and focused her will and mind.

Smoke rose from the great trunk and her spell etched itself into the bark and wood of the tree. Noxious fumes rose in green tinted wisps as the magic took hold, the bark turning a sickly black as she focused. Furrows and cracks spread from where her hand rested upon the tree, fetid sap oozing where the wood ruptured. Leaves dried and wilted as branches splintered, gray mold crawling across now-diseased limbs. The soil around the base became slick with moisture as roots and grass both rotted and withered away, the fluids of decay soaking the hilltop where she stood.

Content with her work and the spell she had woven, Vulture turned away from the tree and began walking down the hill. Each step took her closer to the fort and blackened the vegetation around her feet leaving an ever growing stained trail behind. Behind, the spell-twisted oak stood bleakly on the hill, now a disgustingly revolting thing marring a once beautiful landscape. Upon its bark a glowing green handprint still smoldered, the fumes gently billowing away on the breeze.

Leroy Jenkers Melusine Flarell Sir Eberwolf Kinniger Ser Gavin Halbert Sathirena TTamark

 

[Sir Eberwolf Kinniger]

"How long has this been going on, then? When did these undead arrive in full force?"

“I don’t know the answer to either of those, I myself arrived just today.” He explained as he lead them into the village, where people were working in shifts to accomplish the previously set tasks by Eberwolf to keep a 24hour production working, that way they could arm people more fluidly, and in the meantime, they were using hoes and pitchforks to drill the fighting men in basic formations and tactics. His men manned the ladder posts on the palisade and watched as the chicken zombies put out posts, a nuisance to be dealt with, only effective if they were unseen or agains untrained men, they clearly didn’t know that they were against veterans. Who had just come out of a centuries long war with vampires no less. (Is true canonically speaking)

"What exactly is our plan of attack until your armies get here?"

“In the works. As of right now it’s keep them out until we can come up with a better plan.”

"A month?" Gavin looked over the people mostly the villagers grabbing weapons and looking scared out of their minds. "By the time your people arrive Greywood might as well be a cemetery" If there was one thing that Gavin learned about an undead horade is usually they were summoned by either a powerful necromancer or were attracted by a magical artifact. Based on the simplicity of the village he guessed it was the former.

“Not if we play our cards right.” He said to Ser Gavin. “It is true we cannot simply sit here and wait to be starved out, but neither can we go anywhere. There are only twenty professional soldiers here, one of which has already been sent to call for aid, the rest are untrained civilians, many are too elderly or too young to wield a sword.”

"When did this attack start Ser Kinniger?" Gavin asked while they crossed the bridge and continued to observe the defenses being set up. "Where are the undead mobilizing now?"

“I haven’t asked that question yet. I’ve been directing the defenses since I got here. As for where, we only know that it’s somewhere in the forest, which doesn’t exactly narrow it down.”

"From what I understand," Gavin said to Eberwolf. "Is that the Monster Hunters have a large safehouse not too far from Greywood. My suggestion is to start moving the survivors to there as soon as possible."

The old Knight continued to frown who knows when the undead will attack. It all felt like the they were entering the eye of the Hurricane. Everything was calm before the chaos starts back up again. They approached the palisade which was covered with thick oak wood. "First thing though," Gavin sighed. "Is to look for more survivors we need to rescue as much as possible."

“We won’t make it to the safe house as is. If we can send someone to inform those stationed there of our plight it would do just as good. But we cannot move such a large amount of people through hostile territory with so few trained men to defend them. The risks are simply too high.”

"Well, then. Survivors could be anywhere, but I suppose the best places might be natural shelters of a sort- caves, holes in trees, or whatever else might work."

That, of course, might only apply if the survivors were used to fending for themselves, but if not, it was possible they would have been dead anyway.

She looked carefully at @Ser Gavin Halbert and @Sir Eberwolf Kinniger. "Does this sound feasible?"

Eberwolf sighed, “We may not be able to do even that. These undead are just waiting for the first opportunity to strike at us. And going out to look for survivors is going to send too many people away for too long, and there’s still the unknown number of undead to deal with. If we had a ranger or two it might be plausible. But as it stands, not really.”

“Sir!” A soldier called to him. “They’re setting up a perimeter, several posts with two undead each!”

Eberwolf thought. Could be an opportunity or a trap. He looked to Ser Gavin. “What day you and I test the waters. As my man says they’ve a perimeter around us, several posts with two undead each. We take those out, and we can see exactly how tough they are, and probably get at least an idea of how many they have.”

 

[Ser Gavin Halbert]

It turned out Sir Eberwolf had just arrived as well and the situation was grimmer than what Gavin was anticipating. The Undead were pouring somewhere from the forest and taking the citizens would indeed be tantamount to suicide as the path to the Monster Hunter safehouse was wide and open leaving the people vulnerable to Undead attacks and based on what was going on, an evacuation just wasn't feasible. "We can try to funnel them into a chokepoint Ser Eberwolf," Gavin said. "Their numbers will mean naught when thrash against our swords."

Gavin gave Melusine Flarell a calm look "focus my young squire," he said. "Your focus determines your reality." Indeed it did, Melusine probably thought holding hordes of undead would be impossible and indeed she may be right. But a Knight puts the weak and the innocent first before all, Gavin's reality is that the odds may not be in his favor as it was most of his time as a Knight but he charges in none the less for the people he's sworn to protect.

"My recommendation is to quickly build a chokepoint," Gavin advised. "It'll be easier to hold them off there."

Just then one of the soldiers mentioned that the Undead were setting up a perimeter from the North. The old Knight frowned, Undead using tactics? Strange..... "Aye," Gavin drew his sword. "Let us meet them in battle then Sir Ebonwolf! Lead the way!"

He nodded at his squire to do the same and follow him.

Melusine Flarell Sir Eberwolf Kinniger

 

[Melusine Flarell]

Melusine was confused at first. If, as Sir Eberwolf Kinniger said, the situation was too dire to make rescue feasible, then what were they here for? To stand around and do nothing and wait for a month, all the while knowing they might be vulnerable to attacks? To lose before the battle was even fought?

Zombie bait. Wonderful! That would probably be worse than....

Eberwolf thought. Could be an opportunity or a trap. He looked to Ser Gavin. “What day you and I test the waters. As my man says they’ve a perimeter around us, several posts with two undead each. We take those out, and we can see exactly how tough they are, and probably get at least an idea of how many they have.”

Okay, so sitting around would still be worse than this. But not by much, especially considering that she'd never fought undead before. She had to wonder just how much- or how little- help she would be.

And then she was marching. following Gavin, and there was no time to wonder anymore. Maybe if she concentrated on not looking at them except to kill, she'd be able to stop hearing this infernal shrieking....

Perhaps the noise was meant to distract her somehow. She couldn't very well kill them if she was constantly yelling at them to shut up, right?

No wonder she had heard they might be difficult to vanquish.

She winced, but decided to let the noise be her guide for now. She might hear it forever after for years on end, but the closer she was to the shrieks, the closer she was to lopping off zombie heads. Right?

Or so she tried to tell herself as she unsheathed her sword.

 

[Sathirena]

»For now, we need not to focus on the village, « she tilted her head to Leroy.
One of the flesh golems dropped a log beneath Sathirena's feet. »Now that the perimeter is secured, we can dispatch the rest of the army. Separate it in four sections and assign them west, east, north and south.«

The dragoness turned to Leroy after stepping over the log. »The necromancers may bee to rotten to be of any use as subterfuge, alas, I may have an idea, she pointed at some of the ghouls which have returned from the hunt.«

Some dragged corpses of deer, but a few brought in some villagers who have unfortunately ended up on the wrong side of the wall.
The dragoness click her fingers at the necromancers before motioning to Lerory to escord the split up army of skelletons and undead soldiers to reinforce their blockade.
»Raise them, raise the humans, and put the animals near warmth, they'll come useful later.«
One of the necromancers began to raise the few corpses of the dead. They had a deep gnaw bite on their neck and their legs were tattered. Otherwise they appeared still lifelike once they stood up on their own two legs, despite the imperfections. One of the necromancers tugged at the villagers walkagain's clothes to hide the blemishes.

»Beautiful, wretched children of the Eternum,« Sathirena cooed the ghouls. »Return and find more.« The undead humanoids scattered into the woods. Though something odd appeared, the ghouls were quick to intercept Vulture and their abberation of a tree.
The dragoness perked on her feet, and the ghouls began to run around like crazed.