Spectral tales

The mission

Timeline:4 years ago from the present time
2 years after the birth of the undead snake

Undead city-Altraud

After being kicked out of the library, Ervin dragged the snake named Noodles and searched for Maya.

She was in the inner city, in a grave dedicated to creating skill scrolls and was meticulously drawing the magic circles on the scrolls so that the kids could use them as a means of protection.

Peter was also with her and was learning how to create skill scrolls from her.
Ervin smiled at them and knocked on the gravestone like a gentleman before entering the grave along with Noodles the undead snake.
His arrival disturbed Maya's drawing and almost caused the scroll to explode, annoying her to no end.

"What do you want?" she asked and Ervin just gave her a letter.
"An emergency mission from the chief" he informed her causing Maya to stiffen, emergency missions were never a good thing. She hurriedly opened it and read aloud.

< mission: guard the inner city walls

Team leader: Anne
Teammates: Ervin, Maya, Noodles and Peter

Humans from the great city of Mammon are coming to our city on the day of the newborn ceremony, 7 days from now. On paper, this visit is for a diplomatic reason but the people of Mammon City are known for their greed, the chances of them attacking the undead.
It's believed that their main aim is to use a hypnotic spell on weak undeads and enslave them.

Mission details: protect the newborn and kill any human that tries to approach them without exception>

An uncomfortable silence descended in the grave as each of the undead tried to process the information that they just obtained.

Newborn undead were always weak-willed and extremely vulnerable to any hypnotic attacks.
An attack during the ceremony could lead to the death and enslavement of almost all the newborns. If they fail in the mission then an entire batch of undead could become mindless puppets forced to dance under the human's palms, it was a lot of pressure and Peter the young undead couldn't handle it.

"I...don't want to be a part of this " he announced while shaking his head and running away.

"Hahh, I will take care of him and meet you in the outer city library. Let's discuss the mission details after that" Maya proposed with a conflicted look and chased after him, if she had the choice then she wanted to exclude Peter from such a dangerous mission.
He was just 2 years old and was very weak to hypnotic attacks but Arthur's orders were absolute and she knew that.

Ervin agreed to her proposal and moved towards the library along with Noodles. While travelling he felt that the snake was acting a bit moody.

"What happened, still angry about the name that I gave you? Noodles isn't too bad, cheer up"
The snake hissed in irritation at that and coiled around him, breaking a few bones in the process.
"Bring up the topic of my name again and I will strangle you to death, hiss"
"Alright, alright, now let go of me you clingy snake. Ouch, did you break my bones? I swear I heard a few cracking sounds"
"Hiss, It's your imagination"

They both bickered and taunted each other all along the way until reaching the outer city library. Anne was already done talking with Arthur and was waiting for their arrival.
She waved at Ervin and Noodles but after not finding the other two she asked for the details. Ervin informed her about everything that happened and waited for her instructions.

"Let's wait for them. Do whatever you want until they arrive...except entering the restricted section" she said while sending a piercing glare towards the snake. They both nodded but the snake still had something to ask.

"Um, if Peter insists on not taking part in the mission, will you allow it?"
"Do you want me to exclude him from the mission?" Anne asked back but the snake shook its head.
"No, it's the opposite. I want you to force him to participate in the mission" the snake requested, confusing the other two in the room.
Ervin especially couldn't comprehend why the little snake was saying that. As far as he knew, the snake hated getting ordered around and wished to be free, so its request of forcing Peter to participate in the mission was...odd.

"Why?" he asked wanting to know more, Anne too looked interested in his answer.
"Because I want him to develop a backbone. I studied a lot of books in this library and one day when I am strong enough I will visit all the places in those books. That's my dream and just like me Peter will develop a dream of his own but if he remains a coward then he will never try to achieve his dream and will suffer in this safe place for the rest of his life. He will become a caged bird of this city, he will get food shelter and even love but will lose his freedom and happiness. So please Anne will you force him to participate?" it asked again and this time Anne nodded with a huge smile on her face.

That was exactly the reason that Arthur gave her when she asked why he assigned Peter and Noodles to this mission and she was happy that someone was able to think like Arthur.
Ervin too nodded, finally understanding the little snake's reasoning.

They all waited for Maya to arrive and an hour later she entered the library together with a still-reluctant Peter.
"Phew, I managed to convince him somehow but he won't fight in close quarters, only long distances" she informed them as soon as she entered the library and the others nodded causing a sigh of relief to escape Peter's mouth.

With the team fully gathered Anne pulled out a map from a nearby rack and opened it for the others to see.
It was a map of Altraud city and had a diagrammatic representation of the inner city, inner city walls, outer city, outer city walls and many important landmarks of the city.

Anne pointed at a large grave at the centre of the inner city and spoke,
"The meeting with the humans will take place in this grave, Arthur's right-hand man Paul and the city blacksmith Jack are going to guard that grave"

She then moved her finger towards the inner city wall,
"This is where we will be guarding. Maya, Ervin and Peter will stay on the top of the wall and attack the human that tries to cross it. Ervin will use arrows to injure the humans, while Maya and Peter use <speed drain> and <health drain> skills to tire them out, any doubts?" she asked and Ervin immediately raised his hand,

"My aim is not good against a moving target, it takes multiple shots to even connect one hit so killing will be very difficult"
Anne had already guessed that he would ask that question and gave him a prompt reply,
"I don't want you to kill them, just injuring them will be enough. As for the difficulty in hitting a moving target, Maya and Peter's <speed drain> skills will slow them down significantly so it won't be very difficult to hit them" she explained and then turned towards noodles.

"Noodles, you and I will be in the most danger during the mission. I will attack them from the shadows and you from under the ground. Feel their movements from under the ground and once they become slow enough, swoop in and kill them with a single bite and then return back underground to hide. Am I clear?" she asked and received a nod from the snake.

Ervin still had a lot of worries, especially about the snake's safety but knew that his worries wouldn't solve anything so rather than brooding over them he asked the question that actually mattered.
"How many humans are going to visit? And who should we avoid fighting?"
"20 humans in total, avoid the captain and vice-captain of the group. The captain has a winged sabertooth pet, avoid it at all costs and attack the others. Arthur and the others will take care of those three"

Maya nodded at that explanation and asked a question of her own,
"What if the humans split up?"
"Then some other squad will take care of them, we are not the only squad that is guarding the walls" she said and after a few more questions and fine-tuning the strategies, the group dispersed to prepare for the battle.

Maya went back into the inner city to create more skill scrolls along with Peter. Ervin went to Jack's grave to get a bow and arrows, and after getting them he returned to the outer city training ground to practice his aim. Noodles went underground and followed him.
A week quickly passed by and the day of the newborn ceremony finally arrived.