Dead in the darkness of the woods with only a few lanterns adorned- a wagon sat with the surroundings lit up. Guards aplenty stood around the wagon, some with swords drawn and others- particularly those atop the wagon, with rifles drawn. Some held crossbows but for the most part it was either rifle, rifle with a bayonet, or the sword. Around twenty-five men total and all in different attires. Figures blitzed all around this group of people, completely encircling the lot of them.

“What the hell are they?!” one man yelled out.

All around them, many many figures masked in darkness swirled around, dancing. Yes they danced. Several doing a fast Waltz, a couple hopping about with the Foxtrot, a little Swing here and some Halay there. A little skipping and a little hopping as these shrouded figures broke off from their individual dances and began to twirl with one another. Enter the violin players, four figures with glowing eyes and bodies drenched in black with hoods up masking their faces ever so.

As those big dark figures began to play those very many around them began to group into pairs. A clap clap clap clap clap and the round about with arms locked together, step step twirl. The level of play of the hooded figures, it was rapid and certainly without even the slightest of flaw. Their performance, rapid, far beyond that of a human with speeds almost blurring to the eye. All the while those around them continued to dance, soon entering into a Barn Dance around the entire carriage and the guardsmen.

A big round circle skipping around, hand in hand only to be broken up into pairs or trios that would continue to circle whilst twirling themselves. The guards were left fear plastered. Rifles pointed out and swords held at the ready to be swung. Three men came rushing out of the back of the carriage that the guards and this dancing. In hand several lanterns now beginning to glow with flames kicking right off.

The diameter of the light bubble quickly intensified and revealed… more.

“ZOMBIES!” one of the guardsmen immediately spat out.

The fear on one guard’s face peaked with a flash fire, his entire expression practically popping off of his face. Corpses in various states of decomp- some very fresh with throats still stained with blood, others rotted or rotting or dried, a few mostly skeletons in the mix. Bones rattled and feet shuffled.

And it was at that moment when the lights caught yet another sight, high up in a massive tree branch overlooking the area. A lone zombie dressed in clothes almost identical to that of the soldiers, aside from the rot, all with a face that was completely dried and easily to be considered mummified. Its eyes were black with only a little glimmer offered back after the fire’s light struck.

Gray patches of long hair and a jaw stuck in open hang with the teeth completely visible, some of those also rotted out. The figure in the trees danced, their arms flailing up and then down, then up and back down again. A little shift and skip on one side of the body, then a hop to the other side. As the corpse kept doing its little dance, something else came into focus. The Guard Captain froze up firmly.

Something was dancing right behind that mummy, a figure in black much like the violin players with eyes aglow with a haze of orange. Their face was visibly pale and peaking out from behind the corpse’s head, their mouth curled back into a massive malevolent grin. More of that individual came into view in the form of their pale hands having hold of the wrists of the corpse, and shoes underneath the feet of it as well. The man was puppeteering the mummified corpse, making it dance using his own body.

“Look!” a man beside the captain shouted out, pointing up above the man and his dead doll.

In the next branch higher up was another all black figure, this one though with their arms held out right in front of them. They were dancing a little as well; though their fingers were twitching like mad and their arms were regularly bobbing up and down. A slight glimmer occurred with the shifting lanterns, silver strings, strings that whirled and wrapped all around the area- leading straight to all of the dancing undead.

Looking back down a few more figures in black had joined the fest of the undead corpses, now actually dancing with said corpses doing a little Swing. Spun right round and round while the rest of the corpses began to do their own individual dances. The Guard Captain shot forward and raised his sword swiftly-

“Ain’t no undead, they’re using the corpses as a distraction! FIRE! FIRE FIRE FIRE!!”

The guards wasted no time with all of the rifle and bow users aiming their weapons out. A rapid fire of bangs and bams rang out, puffs of smoke popping up around the group. The figures in black all zoomed into the air, darts of blur with even those with their violins evading. Shots flew into the corpses. Pockets of dust blew out with the shots hitting, different things transpiring after that first wave of gun fire.

A hand blew off of one corpse, falling right to the ground. Legs blew off, heads even rolled. The dancing figure up above swung his corpse partner round and twirled out of the way of some arrows which struck the bark of the branch. In one swift movement the figure then twirled the corpse right off the side and let it fall straight to the forest floor.

“WOOO HOO HOO HOO!! These guys are fired up now boys! Let’em have it!” the man then shouted aloud.

Green energy surged from the fingertips of the puppeteer high above and flew through those silver wires leading straight to the corpses. Flashes of green then engulfed the bodies, resulting in them all beginning to twitch and shake on their own. The Guards all looked around as empty casings flew from their rifles, as the bowmen reloaded. Collective gasps and groans were heard, and all at once the bodies began to stand on their own. Blazing eyes of pure green fire swelled within the sockets of those bodies which continued to shake.

The flesh of some began to grow and spread, becoming more moist than it was just seconds ago. Drool dripped from several of the corpses, now all beginning to stand.

“The fuck is this?”

“What the hell are they!?”

“Fuckin undead! FIRE ALL!!”

Another barrage of gunfire and arrows screaming through the air, with only a few shots taking off any limbs. For the most part those undead stood unphased. Up in the trees the four violinists and six figures in black stared down, some smug and others blank. The puppeteer landed beside the one who had danced with the corpse in the tree branch, both of whom were looking down now with smiles of their own.

Screams rang out as the undead began to move in on the guardsmen, followed by more shots sounding off and more grunts and groans.

As both Elise and Blake bolted from the residency and made it outside, the sound of metal clashing against metal could be heard followed by a variety of shouts and wails. And it took little to no time for both to sprint full speed ahead. Up ahead the convoy was well in distress. Guardsmen all running around with weapons drawn, with there being quite the collection from three carriage groups now together.

Still the clangs and clashes of metal were ongoing, followed now by shots of rifles. Both came skidding to a halt, staring out at a significant sight. Multiple knights bound in bright green metal armor, armed with swords and crossbows themselves though not a rifle in sight. In addition were several hulking trolls more than five times the size of a human, wearing not more than loin clothes.

“WOOOHOOO HOO HOO!! HELL YEAH- LET IT ALL OUT!!” came a very loud, extraordinary shout from behind.

Behind where the green knights and the guardsmen were fighting, a decent distance away in its own battlefield, four figures clashed two on two, with two more in reserve behind the fighting. Three knights who stood out for not wearing full sets of armor at all, instead wrapped with black garments with some dark purple armor pieces such as shoulder guards, knee guards, gauntlets, and chest plates, green capes flowing behind the three. Their eyes glowing, the fangs of the two clashing more than visible.

“Tch- those are the Warlord’s Guard!” Blake barked beside Elise.

Three knights, the Knights of Galahan. The first in reserve- an old man of graying hair and brown eyes, a slightly wrinkled face, relatively buff: Fen Rao. Another knight- a young lad with brown hair around the neck and over his ears, green eyes, not nearly as buff as the old man though certainly not scrawny or average: Yeager Carloff. And finally the last knight- a young woman with brown hair cut above the neck, wine red eyes that appeared very pleasant, and a very fine figure despite the bulky armor around her: Shree Vampa.

The three previously hooded, now unhooded yet cloaked. The first, a small girl of short dark hair- cropped bangs, kept off of the shoulder- her eyes a sapphire blue, long pointed elf ears: Andi Dazzleton. The second being another woman, mid-back length hair with eye length bangs and a color of which shifted from light brown to orangish around the mid and finally turned to a reddish pink at the ends, her eyes somewhat a blend of emerald and lime green, horns curving out of the sides of her head and arching straight up: Roxanne Trebish. The final individual a man in what appeared to be his early thirties, short brown hair parted and somewhat a mess, golden brown eyes, square glasses, a little chin hair, and tremendously plain: Dante Thompson.

In the hands of the two fighting knights, a dual ended halberd for the girl and for the guy a large scythe, whilst the elder in the rear held a plain battle ax. In the hands of the two cloaked fellows fighting, the man held a large broadsword and in the hands of the woman were two pink crystal daggers, while the short girl in reserve held a rather plain bow and arrow. The halberd swung down and slammed upon the crossed daggers, the holder of both in turn struggling to beat back the force of the knight. As for the scythe and the broadsword, the back of the scythe’s blade was currently blocking a downward strike from the sword.

“YEAAAAAAAAAAH!!” the knight lad, Yeager, shouted out.

Yeager’s scythe slammed down and in no more than a second he flipped right over the top of Dante, using the scythe as a means to pole vault. The knight’s armor clanged as he dropped down onto the ground, and one brief turn and a swing of the scythe brought broadsword and snath together. Yeager held his weapon with both hands spaced rather far apart, the broadsword held with both hands clammed up in the center. A smug grin crossed Yeag’s face whilst Dante’s was one of contortion and strain, the latter trembling ever so with the former stiff as a board damn well unphased.

A flurry of swipes and strikes went down right next to this show of acrobatics and strength, this one being a show of speed and precision. The halberd jabbed forward at what seemed to be half a dozen or better strikes per second, spattered all over the place. The sound of whipping air from the barrage, whilst on the flip side Roxanne was swiftly dodging a third of the strikes and blocking the rest with her daggers- even taking a few opportunities to counter strike. The two twirled around and jumped in a mystifying display of twirls, flips, and strikes, both girls appearing dead set on striking the other.

And then in the back lots of these fights, the old man watching unmoved with his hands resting on the butt of the handle of his ax which was presently pressed into the ground. He leaned upon his weapon, everything about him stationary as he gazed ahead at the combat. The only thing Fen Rao truly did was shift his eyes every few seconds. The elf girl did much the same, standing with her weapon in hand though with her own eyes set straight ahead, her expression completely serious.

As the two trios did battle, or rather the two duos, the fight was raging on all around them. Shots fired off from the rifles of the guards into the armor of the knights- even a few head shots landing. Arrows plunged in through the eye holes and swords swung for the vulnerable locations not covered by armor, solid thrusts able to make it through. Holes in the armor opened up for certain but not a drop of blood came from them. All the while a few guards were taking meaty hits and downed easily from fists and swords alike.

Shots rang out from a position near Magistrate Garvin, at least eight guards with rifles in hand firing out. All of the rifles- single shot rifles with bolt action reloading and black powder cartridges. As the first wave of guards fired off, the next wave covered and fired their own, alternating back and forth. Though despite the heavy fire and the landed hits the assailing knights did not fall.

Echoing groans roared out of them, the head shots and heart shots not making a bit of difference. Elise’s focus shifted to one group of guards well in distress, rifles lying on the ground smashed, now defending with clubs and daggers.

“Bakuuva!” Blake’s voice rang out.

“I’m on it!” she called back, breaking from her position into a dash at the group.

One guard swung his bat hard against the head of one of the knights, the weapon crackling apart raining out splinters. A jolt back and a look of shock came over as the knight before him raised their own club, a spiked club.

CLANG!!

The guard fell to his rear and slumped back, gazing at the sight of Elise’s back. She stood before the guard now with both of her hands on the hilt of her own katana, a katana which now had blocked the spiked swing of the knight. She grunted a little, the blade quivering from the force of the impact backed by continued pressure; though such a struggle was ever so short lived. Shifting right out of the way, her blade slid along the club until-

SHIIIIIING

The knight stumbled back, two steps back to be precise. There came a thud on the ground right behind, a rather hefty one, followed by the club then hitting the ground. Said knight then dropped to its knees, followed by the body slumping over and collapsing upon the ground- headless. Literal brown sludge pooled out of the point of decapitation, followed soon by the body beginning to deflate as more sludge poured out of the various fabric components of the armor.

Elise glanced down at the disappearing form for a brief stint before locking sight of the next enemy before her, swinging at that as well, “Blake, Mud Dolls!”

“I’m on it I’m on it!” he called back, his cloak flying off to reveal his attire.

A dark blue dress shirt under a red-wine vest, adorned by a large ash-gray n blue dustrer coat, dark gray jeans, and black boots with spurs. Holsters at his sides with revolvers in place, slightly larger than standard sized revolvers. It took him no time to whip both out and aim ahead, twin shots ringing out. A couple of the knights struck, sky blue light pouring out of the wounds, followed then by the subsequent melting of the bodies with an outpouring of mud.

“Back up the guards, leave the Vampires to those two,” Blake called back to Elise.

“I know!” she then yelled back, raising her weapon again ready to strike, “Melee combatants, decapitate these guys to put them down for good. Riflemen and Archers lay down cover fire with your ranged weapons. We can win this!”