The end of the last days of Arhem
Late that night, the main body of the army that had set out a couple of days earlier returned, with Colonel Praanz da Kaelve himself leading the retreat. They were a sorry sight, dusty, many of the wounded, and exhausted, having walked without sleep. While the wounded were sent to the Shagulite hospital, Colonel da Kaelve made it known that he brought serious tidings and wanted everyone to attend a town meeting at the fort right away. There, he explained that their army had been badly beaten by the Undead, because the Undead numbered in the thousands, not hundreds as they initially thought. The Trakorian wizard Trodax Traconicus could confirm his words when he said that these had probably been raised by powerful necromancers, so the original plan to destroy the Iron Tower was still a good one. Only it had changed somewhat - a strike team was on its way towards the tower now. They would take it out and when that happened, the Undead army would disintegrate. It would take that team about a week to reach the tower, so that's how long Arhem had to hold against the enemy. He would do everything in his power to prepare for that.
Steinner was no longer in Arhem - Bodvil Skoffer had sent him away to Clusta Noba with an early fishing boat to guard the goods - but the other three were and heard da Kaelve's speech with some trepidation. As they listened, they were each approached by people who wanted things from them. Hildur Boartooth had returned with da Kaelve and approached Karo to take the opportunity to ask some things he did not want her master Sulidon to hear. He wanted to know if she had heard anything about the Marjurans who had been in the hospital. They had been gone for weeks now, and he was sure Sulidon knew what had happened to them. The matter was pressing now with the rumours the Kmorda temple in the mountains had been destroyed.
Hildur also approached Gobbin. At first, the dwarf though that he would get a serious beating from Rurik's father, but the large man seemed oblivious to Gobbin's role in the son's arrest, and instead pressed him to help build defenses for the North side of Arhem. Gobbin was skeptical and argued that there were larger issues at stakes than the homes of Marjurans, such as the lives of everyone, but he could not change Hildur's mind. The leader explained that the Trakorians were only here for the sulphur. That carrack anchored in the harbour was being loaded with the stuff, taking up cargo space that could have been used for the belongings of Marjurans. Ricol, standing nearby, listened intently and was not happy with what he heard.
Ricol didn't get much time to think on that when he was summoned by Colonel da Kaelve himself. The colonel said that Kyrias, the fencing master, spoke well of his student. As da Kaelve also was a disciple of the Bansikan, he felt that he could depend on Kyrias: could he consider leading some of the local villagers - just a small group - when the Undead attacked? The locals needed an unwavering soldier as an example in the fighting that was about to come. Ricol shrugged and accepted, though he didn't know how much good he could do, and his suspicions seemed justified when he met his little troop. They glanced sideways at him as an outsider.
While Ricol went to the tavern with his eight reluctant peasant militia troops, Gobbin went to the dwarven smithy. He found that both Gwelmyn and Bydlo were leaving town to return to the dwarf hold in Bethra Zur. Bydlo, as one of the Taken, was far too important to leave in a city in danger, and Gwellmyn was too old for this sort of thing. But they did leave the smithy open for Gobbin's use at any time.
Karo was coming with Sulidon back to the swamp. On the way there, Shulaban Snaketongue caught her attention. He offered a quite impressive sum for a sleeping potion, but would not say what he wanted to use it for. Then he skulked away in the night.
Ricol saw him come into the tavern. An idea had slowly been forming itself in Ricol's mind, and when he saw Shulaban, it ripened into something of a plan. He grabbed his drink and joined the thief, and then asked him if he might be know anyone around who might be interested in helping to burn down the carrack in the harbour. Shulaban's eyes widened, but for some reason, the thief decided to help him and referred him...for a price...to the Marjuran freedom fighters - Rurik in particular, who had just been released from the stockade, as da Kaelve needed as many men as he could find to defend the city.
Rurik was very, very enthusiastic about the idea. Just as his hopes for a rebellion had been dashed, suddenly this stranger comes along and re-ignites them! He quickly went to find a couple of his comrades in arms and joined with Ricol late at night. All four of them had bows, and covered lanterns, and slowly made their way to the harbour through the shadowy alleys.
One of them was spotted, and ran off, a couple of guards close behind, but the other three, including Ricol and Rurik got into position on a roof top within range of the Carrack. Quickly, they lit their fire arrows on the lanterns and let loose. Three arrows shot like stars through the night. Ricol didn't think his arrow hit the mark, but the other two seemed to hit squarely where the sulphur barrels should be stored on deck. He didn't have time to look over the effect, though - the guards had spotted the attack immediately and now he just ran, leaving the bow behind. It seemed the guards when after Rurik and the other Marjuran first, because he found himself making a clean get away.
When he finally looked back, the main sails were on fire, but all hands were on deck and the city alarm was sounding. He didn't stick around, and a few minutes later, he tucked himself in bed content with his handiwork.. Thus, he remained oblivious to what happened next.
Gobbin had worked some in the smithy into late night, but instead of turning Ricol's brass knuckles into metal gauntlets, he managed to ruin them completely, which made him grumpy. The rest of the night, he slept, to clear his mind. Dawn was fast approaching when he got up at started making his way to the fort. He could see that the Carrack had been damaged by fire during the night. He was worried that it might have been Ricol's work, as the Morêlvidynian had mentioned something about this last night, but didn't want to poke around in it too much. That's when he suddenly tripped over something. It was not a log, or a stone...it was a hand protruding from the ground. A very dead hand, but it moved still, and there was a body underneath the soil, too, trying to dig itself out. Karo's vision had come true!
Terrified, Gobbin realized that the dead were rising all around Arhem, judging by the screams, and the alarm bell going off. This had to be the end, he was sure, and fled, in panic onto a roof top.
Karo was coming to town from the marshes. She, too, had spend some time during the night making potions - an elixir to give the drinker courage back - but she had used it herself to calm her nerves and so she was going to buy some more ingredients. That's when she had her first run-in with one of the risen dead. She, too, panicked and soon found herself on another roof-top.
That's where Ricol found them much later. He had woken up amid the screams of the locals, but, perhaps through his Bansikan training, maintained his calm and noticed that these undead did not attack anyone if they were not attacked first. Gobbin and Karo refused to believe him, however, and he found himself escorting the two to the fort, where they believed they would be safer. Then he went to find a corner where he could go backto sleep.
In their new safety, Karo and Gobbin went back to what they were good at - smithing and potion-making. They had not been long at work, however, when some soldiers grabbed Ricol from his bed and dragged him to Praanz da Kaelve. The Colonel was very angry with him and simply explained that the two Marjuran rebels had squealed. He wanted a full confession before trial. Ricol pretended he knew nothing, but da Kaelve wasn't falling for it and had the guards drag him down to the torture chamber. There was nothing Gobbin and Karo could do. But Ricol's Bansikan training served him well, and while the torturer did his worst to scare him to submission, and terror tore at his heart, he used the art to keep composed and stubbornly refused to admit to any wrongdoing.
As the afternoon grew late, everyone in Arhem got something besides rebels and saboteurs to think about. The rear guard of the army arrived, consisting of fencing master Kyrias, some Marjurans and the remaining half dozen white berets. Word spread fast: the Undead army was approaching fast. Alarm bells rang out for the third time that day, and every able-bodied resident armed themselves for what promised to be desperate battle.
In the ensuing chaos, Ricol was taken from the chamber and thrown in an old and rarely used jail cell, close to Rurik and the other Marjuran. Gobbin used the commotion to help Ricol escape, and Ricol, badly taken by the treatment, but still able to function, albeit barely, helped Rurik and the Marjuran out.
Meanwhile, Karo joined the frontline troops on the hill opposite the fort. From there, she could see the oncoming enemy clearly. Too clearly. The Undead bog people lacked the skills, equipment and organization that the Trakorian regulars had, standing neatly formed with a shieldwall and the most modern armour, but they were so many. The entire valley was a crawling chaos of walking dead, relentlessly moving towards them like the tide.
The line held fine initially, as only a trickle of corpses assaulted the line at a time, but each one had to be dismembered and chopped to pieces to be rendered harmless, and that took time, and meanwhile, more and more moved up to the line. Soon enough, an arm would get a lucky hit at a Trakorian, who had to withdraw from the line, and then someone got killed...only to rise a while later to fight their former comrades. Karo worked hard and saved many lives, which at least help buy some time and avoid replenishing enemy numbers faster than necessary, but the battle was lost when it started, and before long, the line had to back up to avoid a complete rout.
Eventually, the troops were forced to take up a new position, using the outer limits of Arhem as a choke point and improvised defensive line. That bought them some more time again. The short lull allowed both Gobbin and Karo to note an interesting detail about the enemy: the bog people refused to take even one step into the water. Not one of them tried just walking through the river and up to the other side. Instead, they followed the river bank.
By this time, Da Kalve was busy running back and forth between different positions, giving out orders frantically. When Karo and Gobbin told him about what they saw, he quickly ordered that they had to fetch some statues from the fort. These were hastily arranged around the bridge by Gobbin, as they contained Cruta, and would be used to blow that bridge.
The Undead broke through the outer city defenses, and da Kaelve ordered a retreat from the north side, but also a general evacuation of Arhem, with children, seniors and wounded who could not make the long trek across the island towards Clusta Noba sent to the Carrack and any available fishing vessel with all possible speed. As every second counted, the fencing master Kyrias volunteered to hold the bridge for as long as possible before it had to be blown. Thus it was that Ricol had to see his teacher of the last few weeks walk to his final battle.
'
The three helped the evacuation as best as they could, and as they did, they could see a walking dead who towered above all others, about a head taller, and on that head rested a crown. Next to him, a human man walked, bald and dressed in black robes, and curiously enough, he had a purple eye. They all guessed that he was the necromancer controlling this army and tried their best to hit him with the ballistas at the fort, but could not land a hit at such a long distance.
Thus it was that they finally left Arhem to its destiny, packed together on a completely filled Carrack, slowly floating down the fjord towards open sea. Many others fled across land from the unstoppable army, and not one human being left in the city was spared by the bog people who now ruled there.