Dawn. What an awful time to be up. As a group we were haggard. The six of us had been up all night fighting, surviving. And now dawn had finally risen, perhaps now we would get a break from the dead that littered the lawn in the Estate of Unrest. I lowered my sword as the first rays peeked over the house, the dark blade was heavy and stained with the blood of the accursed death Beatles, "you think thatıs it Madren?" I murmured, almost afraid to speak to loud, that I would disturb our temporary reprieve. A few feet to my left, close enough for me to see the pain in his human eyes, stood Madren, my fellow paladin. He towered over my five and a half feet, at six feet four inches he was the tallest of us all. His dark skin absorbed the light of the dawn, and his deep resonate voice rolled over us like a storm. He lade his own blade down on the grass, sitting beside it on tired legs. "I think, we can take a breather," his head sank to his chest with exhaustion. "I hope anyway." A chuckle from behind me split the silent air, while nobody had died this night, we were plenty hurt. And Sylvos was always one to laugh at anything, death include. "You guys are tired?" He said between gulps of air, "we could take a dozen more ghouls, easy!" He held both swords, tip down, at his side. Exhaustion was obvious in the half-elves stance, but he would never admit it. His short brown hair was matted with sweat, his light skin and pointed ears were covered in the gore of the dead.
"I think our resident mages would disagree with you Sylvos," spoke Tagad, our elder cleric, and somewhat leader. He to was of the human persuasion, as was his brother, Dantrin. Nobody would ever mistake them for brothers however. Dantrin was terribly scared on the right side of his face, a eye patch covered the remains of an eye no healing on Norath could fix. Tagad looked like a warrior to me when I first met him. His Blackened Iron armor was polished to a dull shine, he wore matching breaches as well. True to his philosophy that clerics shouldn't fight, he wore little else in the way of armor. Some magic bracers, rings, and boots fleshed him out. His black hair was slicked back with sweat and blood, his brown eyes searched the fields between us and the house. Him and his brother were seated against the stone wall that encircled Unrest, a deadly barrier to all who attempted to flee. I slung my oversized two-handed sword on its special sheaf on my back. I hated the damn thing but I had no choice but to carry it, she was a cursed blade. My muscles protested as the weight they had carried for so long was lifted, my shoulders were stiff, and my back was num. I know not how long we had fought constantly, at least two hours. Even with all the magical assistance we were given, wounds still hurt, the bodies systems broke down with out rest, and we were all hurt. I moved back to the wall, gesturing for Sylvos and Madren to do the same. Unrest was a dangerous place, many unfortunate people had met a grizzly end in this cursed place. If you weren't careful, a fellow adventurer running for his life could easily bring down a mob of monsters on you.
I eased my battered body down beside the last member of our tortured group, Casandra, a high elven Enchantress, with bold blonde hair, and the sharp regal features of our elven heritage. We had known each other along time, fought beside each other in the battles of the desert. And risked life and limb in high adventure. Her infectous grin reached out to , greeted me as I sat down. "Well," her musical voice had a calming affect on me, "that was cirtanly intresting." Sylvos chuckled in the backgrounf. "You know guys, we did well, but we need to get more organized-" As Tagd began the first of his lecture I leaned my head back against the wall and closed my eyes. Letting the warm breeze wash over my body, I felt a light touch cover my hand, I smiled and squeezed her hand back. "Uh guys?" Dantrin spoke, Dantrin hardly ever spoke unless it was important. All of us were up in an instant, swords, shields, and spell at the ready!
(to be continued...)