"I don't like this," Serna whispered to no one in particular, "It's a village but there is no one about. This looks like a trap to me."

"Could be," Lazheros told the Shield Maiden as he scanned the surroundings the closer they came to the village.

The elementalist stopped moving and knelt down touching the ground with the palm of her hand against the earth. "Movement near the center of the village."

"Oh-kay!" The Shield Maiden turned towards the Fairy, "Um, Caliaphy, would you like to turn invisble, fly ahead and see what's happening in the center of the village and come back and tell us?"

Caliaphy gave her a wink and faded from view. The fairy flew into the center of town and saw movement out of the corner of her eye. She stopped and looked in the direction of what she believed to be a dog. The canine started barking loudly in her direction as it could hear the sound of her wings fluttering. It jumped towards the fairy and missed. Growling it snapped in her direction again.

All the commotion attracted more canines but something was off about them. Caliaphy panicked and reappeared suddenly. "AHHHHHHH! N..nice doggie. Nice...ulp...doggie. Serna....ahhhhhhhh!"

"I'm coming, Caliaphy, I'm coming!" Serna charged forward before anyone could stop her. Activating her shield, the Shield Maiden created a protective dome around herself that allowed her to careen through the gathering villagers without them touching her.

Alyson just looked at Lazheros for a moment and then at Serna charging into danger. She sighed closing her eyes. ~ Ugh! She's just like me when I was her age. ~

A single figure lumbered out into view, then another, and another. Their eyes devoid of any life, and their limbs withered, crusty, lifeless but with claws and gnashing teeth. Behind the lifeless villagers, a wicked laughter echoed in the distance.

Serna was able to make it towards Caliaphy and deactivated her shield only long enough so that the Fairy could get under it. Reactivating it once more, the Shield Maiden stood her ground and created another magical dome to keep the undead from overwhelming her and her friend. "Are you okay, Caliaphy? Are you alright? What happened? And what are these things?"

The fairy was absolutely terrified now clinging to the shield maiden with a death grip. "D.d..dead people!"

"Just hold onto me, Caliaphy, they won't get you!" Serna boldly declared as she maintained her shield.

The Bronze Man reached for his holy symbol and his shield and war hammer materialized right before everyone. "Undead!"

"Serna lies within the heart of them!" Willow pointed to the Shield Maiden's position, "Focus your magic against her shield and use your combined magic to reverberate off of her shield and throughout the village. It will allow you to conserve both your magic and your endurance."

The elementalist opened her eyes again, "If it is what I think it is, I will level the village," Pausing only to glance briefly at the Bronze Man, who turned to her with a 'no' look. "Okay! Okay! Fine, I won't level the village. How about a Sunburst, then."

A beam of brilliant light appeared over Serna's shield reflecting right into the nearest undead. Those hit exploded in a flash of light and ash. The dogs yelped in pain and took off between the houses.

The Bronze Man turned to his left and saw the dogs coming up and around in an attempt to flank Willow and Alyson. Instead of using magic, he took his warhammer and slammed it down on his shield. The noise caused the canines to slam into each other leaving them daze for the moment. Lazheros could now see the dogs had been dead for a short time before becoming undead. The dogs shook off the confusion and continued their attack. One jumped at him but Lazheros countered with his warhammer and delivered a blow to the head reducing it to ash. "Ranger! To your left!"

As two of the dogs closed on him, the Prince took a deep breath and waited timing their attack. When the dogs leapt at him, Willow drew forth his sword and decapitated both of the undead animals in a single swing."Thank you, Lazheros!"

The Bronze Man nodded to the ranger, "Staying here is a bad idea. Whoever, or whatever is controlling these poor souls is somewhere on the other end of the village. We must get to Serna and Caliaphy before they are overwhelmed."

Alyson cast Firebrand at Serna's shield which amplified the magical attack as each fire arrow ricocheted off the barrier taking out the next two rows of undead.

"Agreed!" Willow conceded, "Lazheros, can you blaze a trail for me so I can reach them unmolested? Alyson, can you lay down some covering fire so I can go down there and retrieve them?"

********

Before they could fully process what was happening to them, the Dark Elf did a move-by maneuver with his sword that gutted the nearest Orc to him.

Danvald and his kin charged into three orcs like the defensive tackles on a football team. The only difference was, they pummeled the orcs into the ground. Broken knee caps and bashed in heads made quick work of them.

Dragolem stepped out the shadow of a tree and seized the last orc and snapped its neck. "Hmph!"

"Nice work, everybody," Irzen grinned from ear to ear, "We hit them so hard and so fast that they did not have time to either escape or raise an alarm. Nice work indeed!"

Danvald and his kin went through the bodies of the orcs and found some gold, a couple of maces, and a short sword. "The bodies stay as they are. There's a few natural predators that prowl throughout the valley. They just happened to be in the cross hairs of a couple of owlbears. Let's keeping moving."

"Agreed!" Irzen took up his previous position on the left flank of the Dwarves and largely remained silent as they moved onward.

Dragolem took up the right flank position as Danvald and his kin continued to their destination through the valley floor. They passed a large stream along the way and managed to avoid another scouting group of orc riders. Then the ground shook suddenly beneath them and stopped. Danvald and his kin halted for a moment looking in all directions and saw nothing. In fact it was quiet, no wildlife, no birds, nothing. The ground shook again but this time it was further ahead of Irzen and Dragolem. Whatever it was it was large and heavy.

Gimim, Thinbar, and Gruo nodded in unison, "Giant."

"Well, that can't be good," Irzen surmised in a whisper, "Let's go see what we are dealing with but do it quietly."

The dwarves continued onward but a slightly slower pace northeast of their original destination to avoid the giant. After a few hours of running, they slowed down and stopped for a short rest. Danvald pulled out his canteen and took a drink and so did his kin. Dragolem kept watch while they rested for a bit and was about to join them when he stopped in his tracks and looked way up. There standing behind them was another giant, and it hadn't seen them yet. Moving forward silently, he motioned for everyone to be quiet and turn around slowly.

Irzen did not make a sound as she slowly moved his hand to the pommel of his sword.

The dwarves gasped with Gimin clamping his hand over Gruo's mouth, and tugging Thinbar's arm to back away.

Danvald gripped his hammer tightly and picked up a rock with the other. Taking aim, he threw the stone back down the way they came tumbling down the rocky ground creating phantom images to distract the giant long enough for them to get out of striking distance.