Chapter 1

The following morning, the group proceeded north to hill haven. it was mid day when they arrived. Glendir looked at the walls. fairly high, and finely made of stone. One of the guards overhead aimed his crossbow. "halt strangers! identify yourselves!"

Glendir spoke. "Glendir Nules, Huldrar Voglemar, Odias Verimon, and Eroden Veldarm!" Glendir spoke. the guard took a quick profile of the travellers. "aye, people Ive heard of. welcome to hill haven." the gates began to be pulled open. "but! Despite his reputation across the land, Glendir nules, you must be kept under careful observation! if you resist, it will be safe to presume you are not who you say you are!" Glendir nodded.

"and i shall not resist." Two guards came out of the city. dressed in the regulation, chain mail, with a sturdy helmet, and a halberd and shield. the symbol of hill haven (a range of hills with a dragon emblem over it), on the front of there cloth. Glendir led his group into the town, with the guards following.

--

the party proceeded directly to the Sirens song tavern, for a quick drink, and a bite to eat. Huldrar took a large gulp from his ale. "i find we have a poor money situation." Odias said as he placed his money pouch on the table. "it grows increasingly bleak. i just accumulated our count. we have only 12 gold coins, and a number of silver and copper." he pulled the small pouch off the table.

"well, we could look at the local job board. theres bound to be something there." Eroden said, taking a small sip of his wine.

"it is possible." glendir said. he took a sip of his glass of water. he drank no Alcoholic drinks. Huldrar put his mug down. "i do suppose. Of course, it has to follow a moral line. as well as give us a fairly substantial pay." He ate himself a bit of mutton as he said this.

"i agree. once we finish our meal, we shall head there to see what we can find out." Glendir said. there was a general nodding of heads. they finished there meals and proceeded out of the tavern.

--

the city was of a fairly sturdy design. homey houses, two stories each, with plenty of townsfolk milling about. the town square was where the job board was. glendir hardly payed attention as people cast him scared looks. "tis a fine city. reminds me almost of gray forge." huldrar said.

"pray tell, what is it like?" Odias asked. Huldrar laughed.

"plenty of taverns. a good chapel. mostly dwarf's and there relatives. it was founded by them you know." He explained. glendir came to a stop at the center of the square. the job board showed a number of jobs. none really seemed worth while, 45 copper here, 8 silver there. then something caught his eye. "whats this?" he said. he designated a job.

it read:

By the high priest of seldroll, Vierra, any able bodied adventurers, and any who are able, must do there part in curing the cursed rain which has been over this land for so long. the grand church of seldroll in Da lorea, is where all who will help, must go.

reward -- 300 gold.

glendir looked with interest a she looked at more details. "oh? what have you found there glendir?" Eroden asked.

"our winning ticket." Glendir said. It was then that he felt a cold tingle running up and down his spine. He turned his eyes, and saw red storm clouds approaching. as people began to look, they began to scream and run for there houses. "THE CURSE!!!" someone shouted. Glendir began rushing for the nearest building. a blacksmiths shop. his friends quickly followed. "damn! now of all times!" huldrar shouted as they burst in. the blacksmith looked up. "aye? whats the rush?" he asked. glendir turned. the clouds had come quickly, they were over the city. red rain began to fall. "oh selldroll...." the blacksnmith said slowly in terror. glendir grabbed his bow. there coming. he thought. it was true. guards with magical barriers began running to the graveyards. Glendir turned to Eroden. "shield me." he said. eroden gave a quick chant and glendir was surrounded in a magical shield. he rushed out and for one of the graveyards.

--

glendir came around the corner. the curse was having its effect. the graves were bulging. the gathered guards readied there weapons. glendir aimed an arrow at the first grave. it burst and a Ghoul came out of it, Screaming as it jumped on a guard. Glendir let his arrow fly. it struck the ghoul in the top of the head. the ghoul snarled as More undead lifted out of their Graves. the guards charged, weapons flailing. glendir notched another arrow. He focused. he chose his target, and fired. an unarmed skeleton turned and lost its Head to the arrow. A ghoul charged through the guards and at glendir. the same one with the arrow in its head. glendir had no time to fire, he dropped his bow and pulled out his short sword and decapitated the ghoul!

then the rest of his group came around the corner, also with magical barriers. huldrar brought his mace up and slammed it into a zombie. electricity ran out of the mace, and flung the zombie back. and a flurry of magic missiles from eroden leveled a skeleton. Odias ran forwards and swung his sword through the Head of a ghoul. Two of the guards fell, and the shields faded. the blood rain began to fall over there bodies. "DESTROY THE FALLEN QUICKLY!" One of the guards shouted. One of the dead guards opened his eyes! they were red, the Guard lifted and jabbed his spear though the Head of one of his former companions. blood covered the ground now. eroden quickly reinforced the shields around his friends and fired a spray of colors, taking down another few zombies. their were only four guards Left.

"hold your ground!" the commander said, shortly before getting grabbed form behind by a ghoul. Glendir turned and slashed through a ghoul. he lifted his sword and stabbed through the face of another one. there weren't many enemies left, but they slashed there way through the guards, and out into the streets! glendir grabbed his bow and fired down on of them. huldrar pulledd out a throwing axe and took down another one with a toss. "get to cover quickly! i cant keep the barrier up any longer!" eroden said as he quickly ducked into a house. the others quickly followed him. Glendir entered just as his barrier faded. He checked his arrow supply. "forty seven left" he figured quickly. He heard screams outside."now what!?' huldrar asked as he thumped his foot into the wall.

"we wait out the storm." Glendir said, sitting down. the building they were in was an empty home. Glendir watched the rain outside, and the sounds of battle outside. Odias sat down. "how? how did this rain even start?"

"very few know the answer." Glendir said. He sighed. he immediately remembered the great danger as he heard a ghoul screaming a ways off. "barricade the entrance. and we sleep through the storm. keep up a steady watch." glendir said.

odias volunteered. "ill be first." he stood up and began to move crates for the entrance. Everyone helped. and the storm raged, all the way until they all fell asleep...