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-----Suddenly, it hits them! A slight uneasiness, that slowly grows. A rising feeling of dread seems to prevail over this place and as the six adventurers look at each other, they realize they all have the same feeling.
-----Swallowing deeply in an attempt to calm him himself, Sol speaks quietly while still watching the hill in front, "Raven, I think we're being watched. Twice now, I saw movement but nothing seems to be there. If no one comes up with an idea soon, I swear I'm just going to charge up that hill regardless on what's on the other side."
-----Sarah looks around nervously. She moves closer to Sol, like someone seeking shelter from the wind. Suddenly she is looking around all over the place, looking for something that she just can't find.
-----Raven draws his bow and notches an arrow. He says in a low voice, "The trail leads right up to this hill. Let's pay them a visit." Raven's eyes show great anger. He starts toward the hill looking for cover as he moves forward. Raven scans the area for any movement as he moves.
-----Rand stares up the hill ahead of him, "Something is very wrong here... everything isn't as it seems." Rand looks around at his companions, "We've come this far, shall we continue up the hill?"
-----"Let's," Sol replies to Rand. He casts a glance at Sarah, giving an encouraging smile, then begins to quickly move up the hill.
-----Raven and Sol begin leading the others up the hill. All around the trees stand like silent sentinels in the grayish gloom of the cloudy day. The underbrush here seems thick and in spots they pass the occasional bush or vine-covered deadfall. Even though the silence continues, the feeling of strangeness never leaves the minds of the group.
-----As Raven carefully moves past a bush, he almost stumbles. Turning to see what he tripped on, his eyes widen as he sees a hand reach out from beneath the bush. As his sight follows up the arm of the hand, he sees the figure of a man grabbing toward him.
-----The skin of the man’s face looks scarred . . . and then shocking realization comes to Raven! The man’s skin is not so much scarred as it is rotted. Flesh hangs from the body in places and the skin tone has a very unhealthy gray cast to it. The clothes the ‘man’ wears are torn and spoiled with grime. The hair on the head is sparse and what remains is matted to its head. The yellowish eyes Raven looks into are rolled back.
-----Sol turns to see the thing at Raven’s feet and hears a noise behind him. Ducking quickly, he looks up and sees another rotted man’s form standing over him. The thing missed Sol with a swipe of its clumsy arms.
-----A few feet from where Sol ducks from the dead man, two other corpses ‘sit up’ from the soil that was covering them. They begin to slowly struggle to their feet.
-----Raven yells out, "Son of ..." and leaps back from the monster. Raven drops his bow and draws his swords. Raven then snarls, "Back to hell you came from!" and leaps at the nearest monster hacking at its head and neck.
-----Within three fiercely quick moves, both swords completely rend and destroy the crawling thing at Raven’s feet. He withdraws from it, slightly repulsed by the stench and sight of it.
-----"Damn it, I hate the dead!" swears Zentil once more. Zentil draws his longsword and attacks the nearest vile beast. He runs at one of the corpses just beyond Sol. Hefting his weapon, he brings it across the grotesque thing’s neck, severing its head. The corpse falls and lays still.
-----Sol quickly draws and lashes back at the creature with his blade, while muttering to himself. His weapon cuts across the middle of the dead thing and its entails begin to spill out. The stink of the thing bothers Sol and he misses the corpse as he draws his sword back. The animated body then reaches for the young man, but Sol rises to his feet and avoids the dead opponent.
-----Raven says to Zentil, "Let's put this thing down. Ready?" He then advances with Zentil to finish off the walking dead.
-----The two stand on each side of the walking thing and it begins to swing from side to side as if making up its mind who to face. Raven slices across the thing’s back with both swords severing its spine in two places while Zentil slashes across its mid section disemboweling it. Effectively destroyed the undead corpse falls to the ground and rises no more.
-----Sol, measuring the dead thing before him, weighs in bringing his sword across ripping through the collarbone and into the chest area. As he forces the thing off his blade, it falls limply to the ground. As the group looks around, they see nothing else moving in their direction.
-----Raven nods to Zentil, picks up his bow and then advances slowly up the hill. He scans the ground for any more "surprises."
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