The screams of terror coming from Mahla's home in Nimick woke not only their neighbours, but also the curiosity of adventurers from all over Sapience.

Swiftly, Archaeon was first to arrive at Mahla's home, finding her cradling her twins to her side and fretting over their panicked, frightened words as they recounted what had happened to them to wake them in the dead of night. Soon, he was joined by Aeowynn, Grandue, Irimon, Brynn, Taelle, Doromath, and Dunui, who persuaded the children to speak of what they had seen, and the reason for their frightened cries.

It took some coaxing, but eventually the children recounted their tale.

They had shared a dream, one taking place in a nondescript locale, but featuring the very same figure: their father, long-dead, had come to them to warn them of a great impending danger. He spoke to them of the need to look after one another, and their mother; of the necessity of courage, in these dark times; of a threat that stalked them, threatening to bring them to join him in death.

He reminded them that he loved them, and that he was proud of them, and then he was ripped away. They awoke, alone, and afraid, the last image lingering in their minds' eyes the sight of their beloved and long-lost parent being torn away from them once more.

This retelling left the twins unable to contain their tears by the time they had finished. Mahla turned to the gathered adventurers and asked for their help in soothing them. In an outpouring of generosity, gifts of toys and dolls and flowers were given to the children in an attempt to calm their troubled hearts.

How much the offer to pet a chaos hound helped, one can only speculate.

These gifts, wondrous as they were to the youths, did not still their nerves. Mahla requested the assembled helpers seek out Autem, the village preacher, to see if he could lend a hand.

Archaeon and Aeowynn swiftly sought Autem out and brought him to Mahla's home where he asked for ink, for a gem, and for some flowers, in order to create a charm to help the children sleep peacefully at night. This he quickly assembled and hung over the door in a bid to ensure Mahla's home would be troubled no more that day.

With the children braving sleep under the auspices of Autem's charm, the preacher went outside to speak of the goings-on affecting his village with the adventurers. Taelle, Giddieon, Grandue, and Aeowyn recounted the encroachment of the Undead upon the world of the living, and Archaeon took it upon himself to let experience do the convincing words might not be able to.

He took the preacher on a quick trip to the Dakhota Hills, territory held by the conquest of Slith's forces. The preacher witnessed the brutality of the Death Knights' assault firsthand when Commander Ananna cut Archaeon down before his very eyes with the help of an ethereal swordsman, an undead assassin, and a gargantuan gore-spattered zombie.

Autem fled for his life, returning to Nimick as fast as his legs could carry him.

Safe in his village once more, he tried to make sense of what he had just witnessed. Of the threat his people could potentially face one day.

Several options for Nimick's fortification were suggested, from barricading the townsfolk in the monastery if they should come under siege to having the village miners dig escape tunnels for its inhabitants to flee through.

Clearly worried by the day's developments, Autem promised the town would at the very least decide on some precautions to take, for it was clear Nimick could not survive the coming of the Undead if they should focus their wrath upon that little hamlet. Just like the other lesser villages of Sapience, they would be utterly powerless to stop such violence and such malice if it turned its eye upon them.

What path the village will take next is unclear. But what has been made evident by these goings-on is the immediacy and reality of the Undead threat, and of its ability to torment even the most out-of-the-way village on any given day.

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Summary: The twins Joydi and Jimmi screamed for help in the night, drawing the attention of adventurers from all over Sapience. They recounted a shared dream in which their deceased father came to warn them of a grave danger, and Mahla, their mother, asked the adventurers gathered in her home to help calm them. After soothing the children, the adventurers warned Nimick of the danger the Undead pose, leaving the village to carefully consider its next move.

Penned by My hand on the 22nd of Lupar, in the year 913 AF.