Kadorm heard this and shivered even has he continued to hack at the reanimated corpse in front of him.

"Buradis, how are you doing?", he shouted over the din of the melee.

"I've still got a couple heals left in me!", Buradis, the dwarven cleric, exclaimed as he smashed in the skull of a ghoul who had gotten too close.

It had seemed like a good idea at the time. Forath the human rogue had first suggested they explore the ruins of Befallen. Kadorm, Buradis, Forath and Illeorn, erudite wizard, were all somewhat experienced and strong in their particular fields. After some brief discussion, they had all agreed it would be worth their time to venture into the dungeon.

They purchased all the supplies they believed they would need and had headed out from the city of Freeport. The journey there had been rather uneventful. There had been a few skeletons who had attacked them, but they were easily dispatched, and served to bolster the teams confidence.

Soon they located the entrance and ventured inside. As soon as they stepped into the dimly lit interior of the first hallway they were beset by a handful of undead. They had all adventured together before and knew how the others fought; thusly this battle was no harder than any other they had been through. After the last undead minion had been defeated and their inanimate corpses looted, the group paused to gather themselves together again.

Their confidence thusly bolstered, they ventured further inside, vanquishing the denizens of the ruins with ever increasing ease. After some time, the group find an easily defensible position and set up camp. One of them would venture out, locate a new target and bring it back to the ambush set up by the rest of the party. They continued in this manner for some time, until one slip sent the whole thing crashing down.

Forath had ventured out and found their next victim. He pulled out a throwing knife, cocked his arm and let fly, smiling at the solid *THUNK* it made as it embedded itself into the dried flesh of a reanimated mummy. The mummy immediately located him and gave chase. Forath ran back to the camp, careful not to let the mummy lose track of him. As soon as he arrived at the camp he turned around, dagger and rapier springing to his hands. He waited, but still no mummy.

"I don't like this", Illeorn said, as he stood up from behind the rock he had been crouched behind. "If that mummy gets help, there's no telling what could happen."

"Oh, calm down, you scaredy gnoll! The stupid thing probably tripped on a rock and snapped it's leg in half. You know they pickle their brains when they mummify them.", commented Buradis as he around the corner of a nearby wall.

Furathis sighed and said, "Alright, let me head back out and see if I can find it."

He walked around the corner and immediately gasped in pain and dropped to one knee. He clutched his stomach and looked up.

"Oh no...", he whispered as his eyes grew large with fear. He staggered back onto his feet and ran back to the camp. "Get ready, guys. The mummy found some serious back up."

Kadorm ran to the bottleneck created by the two broken sections of wall that was the entrance to their camp. He gripped his bloodstained sword in both hands and set himself for battle, glancing around nervously.

Suddenly, the dam broke. A veritable horde of ghouls, skeletons and mummies burst from the door at the end of the hallway the party was in and rushed towards them. The sound of bones rattling, ghouls hissing hatefully and mummies shambling filled the narrow hallway.

Kudorm felled several as he swung his sword in broad arcs, but the tide of undead was simply too much and he slowly had to give up ground. Forath had managed to sneak behind the mob and began to slowly whittle away at their numbers with well placed thrusts, severing the spinal cords of the ghouls and skeletons and severely damaging the decaying mummies. The air began to feel greasy with the residual magic from the spells Illeorn and Buradis were casting.

The battle had begun to turn in their favor, improbable as it seemed, when Forath informed them of the back up that was arriving.

Soon the party noticed the coming group was decidedly different. Instead of skeletons and ghouls it was comprised of dark elves and other races with strangely blank expressions. Those among the approaching group who could heal began to undo the damage the party had done on the undead.

Forath was the first to fall. The undead had caught onto his strategy of slow but well-placed thrusts and had turned on him, forcing him to take them face on. As he was at the back he became caught between the two groups and soon fell under the tide of death.

Buradis saw what was happening to his long time friend, but was entirely unable to assist. As soon as he began to cast a healing spell on Kudorm or Forath a new undead fiend would land a blow on him, disrupting his concentration and thusly his spell. When he saw Forath fall, he became so totally enraged that he slew the nearest dark elf with one swing of his mace. His dwarven nature took over and he was taken by the bloodlust and lunged into the fray right next to Kudorm.

Illeorn had been working this whole time to thin the crowd, but as with all mages, he had limits. Soon his mana was entirely drained and it was only a matter of time before his staff failed him and he was overrun.

Kudorm and Burathis fought as well as they could, but it was, and apparently had been the entire time, an impossible battle. They both were slain by that vile horde in due time.

After everyone in the party had fallen, the denizens of the ruins dispersed. After a time, Forath's corpse began to show signs of movement. Soon, all their corpses did. After a time, Forath sat up, his eyes blank and lifeless. He managed to get on his feet and stood there, swaying. He waited until Kudorm, Burathis and Illeorn also staggered to their feet. As a group they shambled to thier respective weapons, picked them up and took their places according to the ambush they had set up earlier.

This is the true evil of Befallen. Not the undead or the dark elves. The enchantment of the place that demands all who fall there return to an unlife of guarding it.

/ooc Ok. I was bored and wrote a little story. Lemme know what you think of it. First one