Spectral tales

The quiet before the storm

Undead city-Altraud

Five days had passed since Arya's return from the dungeon.
The city bustled with activity as every undead worked tirelessly to prepare for the upcoming ceremony. Undead of all shapes and sizes dove into the dungeon repeatedly, fetching meat, crystals, and healing rose flowers to be used throughout the city.

Deer and rodent-like undead carried the meat towards the north of the dungeon, where a bunch of graves with roofs decorated with vegetable and meat symbols were present.

The rodents dropped the meat in front of the grave and ran back to fetch some more, while the undead deer entered the graves to help in the cooking process. Steam constantly flowed out from the chimneys attached to the graves, spreading the sweet smell of the food all around the city.

On the other hand, tiny undead birds and skeletons carried the crystals towards the south of the dungeon and deposited them in front of red-roofed graves decorated with symbols of scrolls and weapons.

A few other skeleton wolves and boars took the healing rose flowers towards the east of the dungeon and deposited them on graves with a plus symbol on them. The undead inside the graves collected the flowers and began concocting potions for the undead to use.

While all that was happening, Arya was busy sprinkling powdered crystals on the graves of the outer city. "Why are we doing this?" Arya asked Peter, who was directing her to sprinkle the powder on a few specific graves in the outer city. "Because it makes activating the magic circle in the grave a lot easier. Now, let's go to the next grave," he hopped towards a nearby granite grave, and Arya followed diligently, doing the work to help the undead as much as she could. 'Will doing this reduce Maya's anger towards me?' she thought internally but shook her head. She wasn't doing this for her forgiveness. It was just her way of expressing gratitude to the undead for letting her live in the city.

They worked for the entire day, sprinkling the powder on almost a hundred graves by the time they were done. "Finally done," Arya cheered, picked Peter up, and then moved towards a large grave made of marble near the inner city wall.

It was Arthur's grave. Taking a deep breath, she entered the grave and saw Arthur and Kyouka looking at a map and discussing possible locations where the new undead would spawn.

"What's that?" she asked while pointing at the map, startling Arthur in the process.

"Didn't anyone tell you to knock before you enter?"

"There wasn't a door."

"You entered through a roof and so you need to knock the roof before you enter," Arthur snarled while holding his forehead in frustration.
"Alright, calm down; we don't have time for this," Kyouka interjected and explained the details of the map to Arya.

"This is the Altraud city map and its surroundings," she informed while pointing at the map.
The map displayed a detailed layout of Altraud city, enclosed by a large wall called the Outer City Wall, with its sole entrance towards the east. Inside the city was another circular wall known as the Inner City Wall. It was constructed around the Western corner of the city and had the city's minor dungeon inside it. The inner city also had four major blocks:

-The food production block towards the North of the dungeon.

-The scroll and weapon production block towards the South of the dungeon.

-The medicine block towards the west of the dungeon.

-Finally, the residential and guest area towards the east of the dungeon.

They were all connected by stone pavement and a well-designed transport network, which gave a beautiful aesthetic to the city.

On the other hand, the outer city had only a few important areas like the city chief's residence, the city library, and training grounds.