Elifain walked into the village, strangely different from what it had been when he had been hired, 3 days ago. when he had gone by, it was full of people, running about their dayly lives, but now, there was not a soul to be seen.
He turned to his companion, zilfer the elf, and said," here we are, but it is not how it used to be.... i wonder what happened after we left..."
he walked over to a nearby building, the door hanging on hinges, barely, and noticed that this village was indeed the same village he had been in, but nobody had been there for generations.
"Crud..." he said, sensing the trap.

Zilfer had his black hood up onto his black hair, hiding his appearance from any on lookers, however this village looked deserted. He looked at the village, it seemed almost run down, and abandoned. He seemed to catch onto this sence quickly when there where no children or market sellers out trying to get them to buy things as they usually would in any other time. "Here we are, but it is not how it used to be.... i wonder what happened after we left..." said Elifain as zilfer looked into the darkness of a house seeing no one inside, and then contiuned past the door onwards to where Elifain was headed. Looking off into the distance zilfer muttered his first line since entering the village. "Are you sure you were hired here..... i dont think anyone's been here for a good time...." He had heard of ghost towns like this before, and didn't like the sound of most of these ghost stories. When they where told to zilfer they had the habit of mentioning zombies, ghosts, and ghouls in them. He wasn't one to be afraid of such things however they presented a threat he would much rather not run into. This place has an evil aura to it..... it's like death lingers here. The air is stale.... why would someone want to live here...? raced zilfer's mind as a voice startled him. "Crud..." said Elifain as zilfer turned to face where he was quickly, as his hand instinctively fell unto the hilt of his katana blade. "What is it Elifain?" he asked fearing an ambush from the two parties Elifain and Zilfer had left behind, seeking the connection to zilfer's brother.

Elifains blue eyes flashed red, into the realm of thermal vision, then flashed back, but that did nothing to dispel his fears. Elifain drew his blade, and walked carefully towards the market center, hoping his guess was wrong. hoping to the gods that he had went into the wrong direction.
"Stay sharp", he whispered, as he scouted the nearest house, expecting to find nothing, and was granted that by whatever god was watching down on them.
he made it to the town center without incident, and thats where it turned sour on him and zilfer.
in the town center 2 skeletons, aparently lifeless, stood at attention, similar to what a gaurd would had he been on duty, but the moment elifain crossed into the threashold, the closest snapped into motion, scratching with its bony, skinless fingers, and scraping elifains arm. its second attack was not as harming as the first, but it still hit elifains sword out wide.
" Sorry man, i guess I found out why this town looked so wierd to me," elifain hollered to zilfer," This is indeed the town I was hired in, but it seems that i had a spell about me at the time!" he said pointing to a tower, he had seen in the distance, from the outer edge of the town.

Zilfer watched as Elifain scouted the area, apparently he senced something wrong as well. Great.... who knows what we'll run into. The sun in the distance was just coming over the horizon lighting up the town, with a gloomy mist lingering in the air as they contiuned to search. "Stay sharp." came Elifain's warning as they approached a town square. Zilfer nodded at the comment, as they came upon 2 skeleton's standing up. Upon expecting these skeleton's they snapped into action, one attacking his drow companion. The other came at zilfer who drew his blade after obtaining a claw scratch from the skeleton's sharp bony hands. "Great, you got fooled into thinking THIS was a town?!?"

Zilfer dodged another swiped from the skeleton and slashed at the skeleton, who dodged using the natural emptiness of body parts to it's advantage as it dodged the katana blade where a normal human's stomack would have been. Grabbing zilfer it reared it's head up to get a good thrust as it tried to come down and take a chunk out of zilfer's neck. However, Zilfer did a straight up head butt to the skeleton's head, and sent it flying off in a dirrection as the body still held him, it held him tightly trying to break his bones. With limited moverablity he pushed up off his feet and forward to tackle the skeleton and as the impact of the ground with the weight of his body, the skeleton scattered. Getting up he noticed the head was still nearby. "Dumb, elf's and drows!" said the skull in a deep voice that didn't seem natural at all. Zilfer came up to the skull, and looked down at it. "Wrong move, bonehead." He kicked the skull like one would a football off into the distance of the town.

one more skeleton came out from the side of a building and walked towards them. foot steps ran acrossed the roof tops and then from the building behind the skelenton, River jumped. the skeleton turned just as she grabbed its head and with her dagger in hand, she broke through the bones and cut its head off. she landing on her feet standing ofer the skeletons body. with a smile, River held up the skull. "We are glad to see you again zilfer." she put the dagger on her side in it's sheath. then began walking towards them playing with the skull a lil. "Who would this be?" she asked turning her attention to elfain.

elifain threw his sword up to block a skeletons arm, but hit it a little to hard. the limb flew off at the elbow, with what seemed like no blocking force. behind him he heard zilfer yell, "Great, you got fooled into thinking THIS was a town?!?"
"First opening I've had all day!" elifain exclaimed,and seaming to take notice of zilfers comment, replied,"they must have had me under a spell!" He brought the sword down the other way, aiming for the skeletons chest. he hit it with a massive ammount of momentum behind the blow, and the skeletons litterally exploded into dust.
Elifain brushes some of the dust off his shoulder, accidentally hitting the area that the skeletons claw had torn, and he nearly colapsed in pain blinded by a darkness that had engulfed his eyes.
the darkness left his eyes a few seconds later, leaving him in a squating pose, and he quickly looked around, making sure there was no more enemies.
suddenly, from behind him came a sing-song voice of an elf, "We are glad to see you again zilfer." a pause for a few seconds, and then "Who would this be?"
Elifain, still worried on what befell the town, turned with his blade drawn, but stopped any attack he had planned to see the elf, not moving threateningly, but standing calmly.

Zilfer turned to watch elifain do his battle, and as he completely destoryed the skeleton he was fighting. Show off... thought zilfer as he shook his head slightly. His dark hood hide his scowl, as he turned towards a noise nearby. It was an elven girl, swiftly dispatching a skeleton, flawlessly. "We are glad to see you again zilfer." came her sweet voice amoungst the silent gloom of their current situation. Zilfer had recognized her almost instantly, he hadn't forgoten anything about the night he had been exiled from the elves forest village. Him and her had met that very day, and she had helped him in that affair, however he was curious as to what her current situation was after almost 50 years, and why was she here of all places? Still wondering most likely. Though zilfer as crossed his arms. "Didn't anyone ever teach you not to play with your enemies?" Zilfer asked with mock consern, and not adressing her question dirrectly.

"Who would this be?" Chimed in her voice almost imediately after his own comment. Zilfer put his hood down finally and looked at Elifain square in the eye grining for a moment. "You could say he's my..... partner in crime." said zilfer speaking in a half truth, since the only thing he had done was help zilfer escape from his punishment, from town officals in Lomedor, however he hadn't done very much to earn his reputation in Lomedor, since when he had arrived he had imediately been a wanted man becuase of his brothers doings. As unfair as the crimes against him where, he except he was a wanted man and he acted like it. Sooner or later i will clear my name thought zilfer, however not intill i meet my brother once again. he thought in the back of his mind. "So what brings you to this undead village.... seeking a new companion? I'm afraid we're the best company for miles....." he contiuned with a smirk on his elven face as he brushed some of his hair out of his face, off behind his pointed ears.

she smiled and looked at the skeleton. "What are you lookin at?" the skeleton spoke in her hand. River laughed a lil. "We would like company. Our dagger is getting a lil dull. It is not much use for fighting if it is dull." smiling happily, River put the skeleton on the ground holding it there with one finger. "What are you doing!" the skull yelled. "Anyone?" River asked looking to the boys. She was glad to see zilfer was alright. To see a drow that was kind hearted was a change, but a good one she liked. the skull began complaining any curseing at the 3 angerly.

Elifain walked up by zilfer, and said," you really should watch out. those things have a real large use of tallents, including not dying when headless. his point was emphisized when the headless body of the skeleton ambled by between the three, arms flailing in random directions.
Elifains sword arm shot out, and hit the skeletons spine, dropping it in half.
"Now for who i am, you need not know, but how I live, be more important i think..." elifain smirked, attempting to ammuse the elf.
he let out a sigh, and said," I thought this would be a nice, easy mission, but it looks like this is going to get really complicated.
he quickly shiethed his sword, and pulled his piwafwi close to him, to ward the cold, and his body heat.
"Now who, might i ask, are you?" he said politely, in the elf tounge.

OOC I'm inviting a Dungeon Master for the heck of it by the way Elifain. Just a second heads up like the one I sent you before.

Zilfer looked at the obnoxious skull River was holding down with a finger like a football. She probably wanted Zilfer or Elifain to kick it, however neither of them seemed to be moving to kick the skull however he found that it was a rather unpleasant annoyance. Hmpf..... figures.... people can't shut up when they are alive. Why would they when there dead? thought zilfer as he scanned the area. He wanted to keep alert for any ambushes by any sort of creatures that might lurk in abandoned towns. Mist continued to gather in the village from the morning dew that was slowly evaporating in the sun, and zilfer was getting an eerie feeling about this place. It just didn't seem right, as if something had been disturbed here by their presence. The air was chilly even for the morning this time a year, as they stood there a slight wind was picking up, making whispy noises as it passed a cloths line of shirts and sheets.

For the most part zilfer, ignored Elifain's and River's conversation, and instead focused on a house that seemed to draw his attention all of a sudden. Out of all the buildings in the town, this one looked like it was new, or had at least been cleaned recently. "We should start where you where hired at in this town..." zilfer trailed off as he walked towards this building curiously. His katana blade was still drawn and ready for anything. Time seemed to slow down as he approached the buildings front door which was the only thing letting light into the building except for really dusty windows which shed almost no light at all. Upon getting in the door way of the room, zilfer smelt something foul. He activated his infravision to try and get a better view of the inside of the building as he slowly walked into the darkness in a defensive stance. Why do i get a bad feeling about this..... zilfer asked himself as he let his curiosity get the better of him.

River listened as elifain explained to zilfer, then when he had turned his attention to her explaining the need of how over know, she simple rolled her eyes. after asking who she was, River simply said, standing with the skull in hand, "It is rude to ask anothers name without stating you own name." she glanced around a bit seeing a large stick that may have been about 4 feet long. the skull still yelling at them. River walked over and picked it up off the ground and tapped it agenst the ground a lil around the area finding a soft spot in the earth.

just as zilfer spoke and began to walk, river thrusted the large stick into the ground. she fixed it so it wasn't tilted. then walking around it and put the skull on the top on the stick facing the direction they where heading. it's complained more and more as she began to follow zilfer.

Elifain watched with blank amusement as the skull was mounted on the stick, and as zilfer walked to a house. he quickly bandiged his cut arm.
"We have already checked the direction I was hired from, and that was the way we came," he said boredly, and followed the two elves towards the house.
who knows, he mused to himself, I might find a reason to stay on the surface yet. He thought back to his past few weeks on the surface. so far, zilfer had been one of his only traveling companions, since the drow didn't yet consider the elf a good friend yet, mainly because he had only met him twice before
Elifain tucked locked his fingers behind his head, and looked up at the sky, still following the elves and for the first time that day, noticed the sun. something he had grown up fearing and now lived to cherish.
He brought his attention down in time to said jokingly, "Shall i stay watch, or do you want us all walking into a trap?", but at the same time, his face was in all seriousness, knowing full well that it just might be a trap, or just a trick of the light.
He did not wait for a response though, and as he neared the door, he took a leaning post to the left of it, and stayed in a passive stance, waiting for his companions to finish their investigation.

Zilfer's eyes flashed crimson red, as everything appeared in nightvision with infravision, he could see the inside of the building that it was probably a pawn shop from the random items scattered everywhere. As he walked through the darkness, River followed silently behind him, and Elifain waited at the door, commenting about it perhaps being a trap. He would have commented just then, but something caught his eye sharply from the very edges of his vision. A sign on a door at the back glowed red rythemically. He approached the door slowly, and sheathed his katana blade so he could fit around all the junk scattered around the room. He put his hand up to the text sliding his hand over it, while reading it out loud to the others.

"Here lies those who have turned to bone and dust;
We lie in wait for those who come in lust;
Where the undead keep gold, it's riches or bust."

- The keeper, Urik.

He read it over mentally for a second time trying to decipher some meaning from what appeared to be a riddle, or a warning of some sorts. The meaning of the first line was quite obvious to zilfer. Of bones and dust pointed to that of the undead, which they had encountered. They lie in wait for those who come in lust..... zilfer could only guess that this meant those seeking something here would most likely encounter the Undead. The last line though seemed a bit vague, except for the gold part. "I wonder what that means...." said zilfer allowed after working out the riddle for himself. He put his hand up to the door and slowly opened it as a rush of wind flew out from a stairwell leading downwards. Torches seemed to light the way down, as zilfer turned off his infravision he could be seen in the doorway leading down. His sense of smell was overwhelmed by the stench of what zilfer could only describe as the smell of 100 corpses rotting out in the sun. He leaned in a bit looking around the corner to see if the end was close, however it just continued to spiral down. "Elifain, River. You can stay here if you want. I'm going to check and see where this leads." Zilfer said as he started down the spiral staircase heading downwards. He grabbed a torch so that he wouldn't have to rely on his infravision the whole time.

The stone steps clattered as zilfer descended deeper underground, with his torch lightning the way. The air seemed dead here, as the smell seemed to get worse, almost making him want to turn back so that he may know what fresh air smelt like once again, however he pushed on. This could be connected to Elifain's pardicument, or it could be totally unrelated, however he wanted to explore this place. As he came to the bottom the stone pathway expanded into a cave like structure, that leaked water drops from the ceiling and had green lights floating about the cave, that seemed to head straight on to somewhere. The light from the floating green lights however did not give off enough to be a deceit source of light, so he kept his torch and headed forward. His footsteps now where muffled with the slight dirt layer he walked on. He found the ground was uneven in alot of parts, and bones where scattered everywhere. A few times he swore he could hear some moaning, and soon he came upon a circular place that had designs all along the floor, he walked out into the middle looking at it to try and figure out if it symbolized anything, and suddenly he heard a thumping noise as three bony hands shot out of the ground around him, followed by even more hands. Crap.... figures there'd be more undead waiting underground. thought zilfer.

(ooc i think I'll have this cave connect to the bottom of that tower you mentioned Elifain.)

elifain had heard Zilfers coment, and decided to follow. as he passed river, he gave a salute, and walked down the stairs, hands still locked behind head.
He made it to the cavern only a few seconds after zil, but stopped when he saw the green lights, and stayed in the shadows, expecting anything at all.
He was glad he did a few minutes later when a couple of skeleton hands grabbed zilfer.
"CRUD!" elifain yelled as he burst into a rush that brought him coliding into zilfer, and breaking the skeletons grips on him."You should have thought this through..." he said as he landed hard, but came up in a roll that had him, blade in hand, ready for any skeleton who came on.
He was greeted by 2 skeletons, both wielding rusty looking swords, and both coming on with arcing slashes.
He threw his sword up, solidly blocking the two swords on different parts of the blade, and he kicked out with his left foot, thoroughly smashing 1 of the skeletons.
The other came on fearlessly, pushing its sword down with one arm, but the other went for a devestating rake for the eyes. he threw his head back in time to only get nicked on the cheel, and the skeleton tried to bring its claws back around, to take another piece of him, this time aiming for the chest.
"So much for non thinking creatures, eh zilfer!" elifain yelled back, as he jumped backwards, and quickly kicking his foot out to try to trip up the skeleton.
It dind't go down, but instead used his clumsy footing to score another hit on his wounded arm, but left itself open for a counter, which elifain obliged with in the form of a spinning left chop, cutting it down, but more were there to take its place soon enough.

river stood about 10 yards from them and as zilfer spoke taking off she glanced around. as soon as elifain darted off, she saw what looked to be an old weapon shop. River took off too it and as she stepped on the mat in front of the door, she turned the handle seeing that it was locked. pulling out a piece of wire that was hidden in a small pocked in her dress, she took a minute to pick the lock. easily doing so, she opened the door putting the wire back. looking in with a hand on the door way, she listened for sounds in case of something being inside. No noise... she thought staying near the light of the window.

Just as she thought it was all clear, outside on the other side of the dirt rode was the sound of foot steps. river turned hiding still to see a ghoul walking onto the same building that zilfer and elifain where in. a small blue ball rolled up barley touching her foot. River looked down at it and small foot steps walked up. the ball was in the moon light coming through the window, and 2 small hands picked it up. River gasped seeing a small boy with a missing eye, part of his cheek missing exposing his teeth. there was blood on his clothing and she realize she was missing a finger or 2.

"Are you my mommy?" the boy asked with a grin looking her in the eyes. River stayed quite and frozen. the boy put a hand on her leg and only there on her leg started to burn like he'd out a fire on her leg. she jumped from the shock of the flame sinsation and darted out the door turning to the building. lifting her dress some she looked at the spot where the child had touched her. a hand print was left on her skin. the mark was red and purple like a bruse but still burned a lil. River clinched her teeth together from the pain it was starting to send through her leg. Zilfer... Elifain... please be ok...

River let go of her dress seeing that it covered the mark. it still stung but, she would live on. she had no idea what just happend, but she turned her attention to the ghoul that must be heading to the guyz.

Elifain slammed into the side of him as the hands tried to grab his legs and probably pull him under the ground. More hands popped up and a few skeletons came out, however there was worse now as the undead began to pull themselves up from invisible graves. "Heh, anyone order anything unholy?" asked zilfer as he drew his katana slashing a undead in half, as a rotting undead hand landed upon his shoulder he took a step back while moving his katana between his arm and chest pointing backwards so as he came in contact with the undead's chest it stabbed him. Twirling he ripped the side out of the undead and with that same twirling motion he delivered a spinning jump kick forcing the undead away. Zilfer looked over to see how Elifain was faring on his own. As he did, he noticed that they where now surrounded by the undead. He quickly moved to Elifain putting them back to back. "Well from what i've seen of this town so far I would think you where under an illusion....... or completely drunk. Haven't been to any drawven tavern's recently have we?" asked zilfer smirking as the undead began so swarm forward. "Here they come!"

The undead corpses where rather easy to take out with his extended reach. He cut through 3 of them rather quickly, however their body parts kept moving, as he stepped over their bodies moving for some skeletons wielding a staff with double spear tips on either side, a hand grabbed him tripping him. He landed on the floor next to a corpse head and it began tring to wiggle to get close enough him to bite. That's not what Zilfer was worried about. As he looked up he saw a spear arcing downwards forcing him roll aside to dodge and came back up to his feet kicking the hand off his leg as the spear skeletons came forward. The first skeleton lunged his spear tip forward and Zilfer slammed it to the ground using his blade and as the other came in form the side using his free hand he grabbed the spear forced to the ground and used gravity to swing around and underneath it dodging the second spear and as he came around he slashed the head off of the second skeleton. As he let go of the first spear it came shooting up and plunged at him. He was barely able to parry as he jumped backwards to try and dodge, but the reach was to long to escape with a single backwards jump.

The green orbs where beginning to gather around the battle field as Elifain and Zilfer fought the ghoulish foes, and then as he killed the first spear men who had tried a rapid spin of his staff only to meet the blade of Zilfer's sliding down the shaft straight to the belly, there came a bright light as the green orbs combined into one figure. He turned towards the bright light seeing a woman for a moment before a voice spoke and a large red Phoenix was summoned and all the undead where revived as it soared straight towards Zilfer who tried to dodge to the side but ended up taking a hit to the side of his shoulder, turning it scoldering black. He cried out in pain from the burnning sensation that was sent through his body. "We need to get out of here... NOW!" He knew he was no match for whatever the green orbs had created, or if it was just a resonating spirit from long ago. Zilfer took off towards the darkness activating infravision so he wouldn't run into anything, as he headed deeper into this place. After running a good distance he stopped looking around.... there where no enemies here, and it would be a good place to rest for now.... He looked over to his shoulder which he was trying not to move much becuase of the wound he had obtained from the summon Phoenix spell that woman spirit had unleashed. "Note to self..... learn magic in the near future." said Zilfer bitterly.

Elifain fought through the battle with lightning quick slashes, and devestating lunges, but he had taken scratches and scrapes in doing so. The whole time, he thought, This is fun, but that all changed the instant the pheonix arived. As it dived at zilfer, elifains excitement turned to glee, and as it dove at zilfer, he threw his sword up in an attempt to score a hit on the wing.
The creature apparently wasn't made of flesh and bone though, and elifains sword went right through without a scratch, and elifain was forced to roll away as a few skeletons wielding swords barreled towards him.
As he stood, he slashed and kicked at two of the closest skeletons, knocking one in half, and the other into a pile of bones, but then he saw Zilfer running, and he took up after the elf.
He quickly stopped though, at a fork in the road, and waited for the skeletons to aproach, in which he demolished the first few with his sword and then took off down the fork in an attempt to give Zilfer a time to recover from his wound.
"Have fun," he yelled as he ran down the corridor, and activated infra-vision.
He quickly ran into another fork in the trail, and stopped only to guess which direction would bring him back into the first cave.
He was met only with one option, and so using his drow agility, he climbed the wall, as fast as he could, and held position in the stalagtites on the sealing.
A few minutes later, a group of about 10 skeletons passed by beneath him, and stopped.
"Dam," elifain thought as he realized his perilous position. one properly thrown spear could end him, if they saw him.
Suddenly Elifain had an idea that sent a smirk to his face, and he whistled as loud as he could, before letting go of the stalagtite, and dropping in their mist, his feet spinning in a whirlwind, and his sword smashing a skeleton on the fall...
A few minutes later, he was running free, the skeletons nothing but a pile of bones, and he headed back to zilfer.

River Recalled the tower the guys where talking about before, when she was just watching them. she looked to the tower knowing she would have to head there on foot. with a sigh she darted into the shadow of the buildings making sure not to stay in one spot for too long. She moved quietly seeing ghouls push skeletons around in a harsh manor. they where like big bullies but it there was anything to eat on the skeletons, they where prey. the ghouls didn't seem to act friendly to one another either. River had never seen such behavior, but nor does she remember ever in countering the dead before.

Well this is a mess. Thought zilfer who was now resting against a rock that was able to hide him from plain view. He sat in the darkness thinking things over about what he should do next. He didn't plan on going back the way he had came so that only left a few options, and not all of them where pretty. The most obvious one was to do nothing and die here, but he didn't like the sound of that. Zilfer choise to head deeper in hoping there was another exit towards the back end of this underground cave, if not he would be forced to turn around.

The darkness was absolute here in this underground cave, and zilfer was forced to rely heavily on his infravision to guide him through the dark abyss. As always the cave's surface was wet, and slick. He moved on carefully manuvering through stilamites, and stilagtites that got in his way obscuring the path towards the back of the cave. He could hear some thing catching up with him and when he looked back he was relieved to see that it was only the drow Elifain. He could tell becuase of the body build of Elifain. He must have tracked him some how, probably by the heat signature his feet left on the ground as he walked.

"The back of the cave is nearby, though whether there is a way out or not is another story." Said zilfer whispering to Elifain as he approached. Zilfer was currently scanning what was up ahead, it appeared there was a wall ahead, with glowing text again, but zilfer wasn't sure if he should approach, it could end up like the circle further back in the cave, and wake up something particularly nasty. However it would be the only way out. "What do you think, should we proceed? Or fall back?" Zilfer asked Elifain.

He himself was of the vote to push on through, for better or worse, however he knew his drow friend here was a little more carefull with his life. A odd thought struck Zilfer at this very moment when he was looking at Elifain. He was at home in this dark place wasn't he.... after all, he did come from the underdark, where the sun did not exist, and they where taught to free such a thing..... wasn't he? He came to realize that he had never asked the drow of his past.... something he would surely have to change soon.

elifain took a quick scan around, and almost laughed.
"Unless you want to have to go through more of the undead, I would suggest not going that way. And besides, I still want to find out what it was that tricked me in the first place!" Elifain said, and started walking forward, in no way conserned about what was ahead.
The only thing that really worried him at that point, was where did the other elf go. She had been in the house that they had found the tunnel in, and had subsequently stayed back, but what if the undead found the exit, with only a lone oponent to go through.
He quickly put that thought to the back of his mind, knowing full well that all elves, even the youngest, were tought in the art of warfare, and could probably hold their own against the likes of a mindless skeleton or a few zombies, hands down.
He had completely forgotten about the pheonix-Ghost that had attacked them.