Waking up Trixie finds a woman in armour already at breakfast. They politely ignore each other. Morlaf on the other hand comes down and provides his normal loud greeting. This woman seems to want privacy but listens in on their conversation as the others join breakfast. They discuss their quest and Oogyflib offers her services which spokesman Morlaf accepts.
They leave town and head north with Makfire easily finding the trail left by Arrun days earlier. They find familiar signs of battle and while discussing this Makfire sees a scarred head poking above the long grass. The man me meets seems in need of healing but doesn’t want to be touched. He doesn’t remember a lot and seems to be fleeing from some experimentation. As they decide what to do with each other a zombie badger moves in on them but the man with no name rips it to shreds before anyone else can react.
With most of them on the cart they follow the trail until they approach the forest they as they get nearer they see a “path” of stunted and twisted trees. Getting nearer they hear branches cracking and then see a skeletal mammoth charge from the trees. Its bones have been warped by earth pressing down on it. As it thunders towards them with tusks levelled a female voice screams from a human mouth on its skull, “I am Dwealeth’s creation, cower at her power, be gone from here!”
Oogyflib charges her horse at it but veers away at the last moment making the mammoth swerve. Am-Nesia charges forward and grabs the huge skull trying to twist it off. Osgoth and Makfire run forward and crack its bones with their swords. It tries to gore them but the man on its head makes it miss completely and they dismantle it quickly.
Unhooking the horses they leave the cart and follow the twisted trees. Before long they come across the body of Arrun. Stripping him of his belongings they head on. The “path” widens out and they accidentally separate. Makfire finds a sign left for them by a fellow ranger. Morlaf shouts for the others and gets attacked by Am-Nesia for making such noise. The others follow the shout and they meet up to find Morlaf drinking healing potion. They head in the direction of the sign and find the body of Jedadiah. He has been killed by lots of tiny creatures by the looks of the wounds they find as they strip this body too.
A zombie squirrel jumps on Oogyflib’s head from above but tumbles of haplessly. She is quick and whacks it with her bastard sword like she was playing polo. Makfire turns round to see the tiny zombie flying at his face and deftly splits it in half with his long sword.
They continue to a 150’ wide “clearing” where everything is dead and is obviously blighted. In the centre of this area is a crude alter made of bones which is adorned with black feathers. Draped over it is a semi clad blond woman. She is pale and veined with sunken eyes and is wearing a ragged long skirted summer dress made of a sheer material and hide armour in strategic places. Stepping into the clearing they are affected by Magic Circle Against Good and Bane as Unhallow has been cast on the alter. Zombie guards rise up and lurch towards them. Am-Nesia races across the clearing and rakes at the woman who was expecting some sort of preamble her skeletal dire bear companions turn towards him but their claws swing much too slowly. Morlaf fries several zombies with a well placed lightning bolt. Oogyflib tramps another with her horse. It attacks the horse’s underbelly so she leaps off and runs it through. Makfire and Osgoth quickly finish off the nearby zombies still upright. Hydrix casts several Sever Tie spells in a row as Dwealeth changes form into a skeletal dire bear herself. The battle is quickly over; Dwealeth having been scrying on the party for weeks wasn’t expecting such ferocity. Between Hydrix and Am-Nesia all three skeletal dire bears get broken and the remaining zombies are quickly sent to rest.
As always Makfire rushes to the corpse and loots her gear as she returns to her natural form.