[Soldier]

“Gunther… The little Pygmy is being held in a cell right now. I can arrange for him to be brought in.” He nodded to one of the Warriors standing beside the door, who turned and walked off. As the Warrior went to collect the Gnome, Colin sighed and leaned back, rubbing tired eyes. “We already collected the silver of the city. Unfortunately, our blacksmith is missing, and we can’t find him. As such, the silver is under guard in a warehouse we commandeered until we could find someone to melt it for us. We were thinking of melting it to tip our weapons and arrows, but none of us are willing to try it without knowing what we’re doing.”

He pulled out a map of the city, the charred areas marked in red. The red area was depressingly large, and as he rolled out the parchment, the General spotted several green marks. “This is the charred area. The marks are sightings of Undead that were seen by witnesses that got back safely. As you can see, they are depressingly close to the livable areas. We constructed outposts here, here and here. These are the only areas the Undead can get through into the city. The residential area is surrounded by a stockade. Hastily built, of course, but quite sturdy. We patrol it regularly. The outposts are the only areas that will permit access to the ruins and vice versa.”

There was a brief pause as the Barbarian studied his new allies. They looked quite competant, and it was well known that in a time of trouble, the Guard could be counted on. So he pushed ahead. “I have ten men at each outpost, stout Warriors all. But these men aren’t nearly enough to stem the flow of a good push. Unfortunately, my Warriors and the remnants of the Lions and Northern Cross are stretched too thin.” He jabbed a finger into the center of the charred out area. “This general area here… Our scouts tell us that a lot of the Undead are concentrated here. While they don’t mass for an obvious assault, they seem to be guarding something. The Undead range from your basic Skeletons and Zombies to more powerful creatures, such as Ghouls and Ghosts. This is the area holding the remains of the Crimson Keep. I, for one, would like to know what’s in there.”