I looked around at the tombstones, there were over two dozen in the small cemetery that dotted the hill. I closed my eyes as I raised my hand and started to cast Raise Skeletal Minion. The world around me lurched to a halt as a prompt appeared.

I quickly thought, front-line fighters were critical, but fire support could decide a battle. The shrine was guarded by a small garrison of Paladins, Clerics, and Priests of Pelor so we would need every hand we could get. I went back and forth before settling on twenty-one warriors and ten archers, dark tendrils of thick Shadow Magic shot out from my hands and body and slammed into the ground as my Spirit Gauge dropped like a frat boy who had to much to drink.

I groaned as the spell finished and the headache hit me, I tried to keep my feet, but I dropped to my knees as it felt like I got punched in the gut and had a brain freeze at the same time. I looked at my Spirit Gauge, the spell had dropped me to fifty Spirit, but the way the earth around me was shaking caused me to smile despite the pain as the first of the Undead Minions started to rise.

"Fuck, that's intense and intimidating." Penny quietly commented as she studied the dead rising and tearing themselves free of the ground.

Ruby nodded her head, but I could see a little worry on her face, but I waved her back. "I am fine, just give me a second to recover. Raising them all at once cost almost all of my Spirit, next time I will do it in waves." I told them as I concentrated on the Skeletons and brought up their information.

I studied the Undead, their skulls and bodies were animated by Shadow Magic and their eye sockets were filled with glowing black and purple orbs of energy. They all looked at me waiting for my command, which was kind of creepy, but something I had to get used to. A prompt was waiting for me, and I concentrated on it bringing it up as the Undead followed my mental command and started to form up around us in a ring facing outwards.

I dismissed the information, if it continued to grow the Skills could greatly augment my Minions but like my current Skeletons, it was weak. "Ok, my Undead are ready are you guys?" I asked Penny and Ruby.

Ruby nodded her head as Penny continued to study the Undead around us. The Archers took up station around me while the Warriors made a loose circle around our position. "Yeah, let's get this done." Penny replies as she studied the Undead. "How strong are they?" the Warden asked as she started walking.

I snorted as I shook my head, "They are squishier than me currently, but like us, they can grow stronger if they survive." I told them as the Undead quickly followed us. "What has your brother said about the shrine?" Penny grimaced and shook her head.

"He is scouting out their sentries but is waiting for us to take them out." I looked over at Ruby who was looking around and studying our surroundings as we pushed through the trees and the underbrush towards where the shrine was located. She had gone the path of the Dark Priestess so she could use her magic to heal the Undead if she chose to since she used Shadow magic and not Light.

I activated Spirit Sight as we walked, the world became awash in silver-grey hues with the occasional other odd colors. My two living companions glowed blue while my Minions were light-sucking black, each was connected to me by bands of black and green energy. Like Ruby, the Undead constantly scanned our surroundings, and other than taking note of a few wild animals that shied away, while as individuals they were stronger than any one of the Undead, facing thirty-one with three Travelers they knew they were beaten.

When we crested the next hill, I squinted against the white light that originated from the building and surrounding walls between the two hills. I could see all sorts of magic etched into the building and emanating from the people around it. I quickly shut off Spirit Sight and blinked the white spots away as Ruby put a steadying hand on my shoulder, "What is it?" the Dark Priestess asked.

I shook my head as I pointed to it through the darkness of night, only a few torches inside and outside the shrine illuminated the surrounding area in my normal sight. "Do you have an Ability that allows you to see magic?" she nodded her head in response. "Be careful because it's bright to my Spirit Sight but look at that when you do," I told her as I scanned our surroundings for Rob.

Penny smiled as she pointed as the Ranger came trotting up to us as he dropped out of Stealth. "I have seen at least twenty different people in there, at least five are Paladins. There are two patrols of two walking the grounds either in or outside the walls. They go in opposite directions and every thirty minutes the patrol on the outside checks in with the inside patrol from what I have seen. The sentries switch out every two hours." the Ranger reported as I studied the shrine and cast Shadow Sight on our group.

I saw a huge hole though, "Where are the sentries on the walls?" Rob snorted as he pointed to the shrine.

"There are no walkways on the battlements, it's just a ten-foot wall with no towers either." I smiled at how stupid a mistake they made.

While they had a fortified position, an elevated position would have stalled or even destroyed an assault by a superior force. "Ok, does anyone have a Silence or silence like Talent?" I asked and Ruby nodded her head.

"Yeah, I have Silence spell. It's an instant Cast, five-second debuff with a forty-five-second cooldown though." This might work I thought as I looked at Rob.

"Ok, we take out the sentries outside the wall first before pushing into the shrine. Penny, my warriors will go for the main building once we are past the outer wall. Rob will go for the other patrol, while my archers and I provide fire support and Ruby plays support and heals." I laid out the plan and they liked it so far. "When we take the patrol out, Silence the one Rob does not get first," I told her.

She frowned, "Who is going to take out the second sentry?" I pointed to me, and all looked like they were going to voice an objection, but I held up my hand.

"My cloak boosts my Stealth and my ability to blend in with my surroundings, I can probably give Rob a run for his money if I am not moving." I pointed out as I gestured to my cloak. "If worse comes to worst the archers can mop up." while I could tell they didn't like it, none of them disagreed with my plan.

"Good, if you have any Buffs you want to cast, now is the time," I told the others as I quickly trigged Aura of Darkness and Void Shield and made a mental note to increase the defensive Buffs Level the next time I got a Talent Point. While it only protected against magical attacks, it had already proven invaluable time and time again. I pulled up my Character Sheet to review the information there.

A part of me wanted to dump everything into Intelligence, but with the number of Minions, I had now I had less than a thousand Spirit to spend during a fight. Most of my spells had a low cost and long duration, but I knew there had to be some burst spells coming at some point to complement my DoTs. Only my Bolt of Darkness could deal instant damage and it only dealt about three hundred Damage if I didn't land a critical hit.

"Ready?" I looked over at Rob and could see the two sentries drawing closer. I closed out my Character Sheet and activated Stealth, the darkness around me easily enveloped my body as the cloak helped me immensely. The +20% to Stealth was nothing to sneeze at and while I was no Rogue, Stealth was a boon to any Class.

"Let's go, you got the one on the right, I will take the one on the left. If I tell you to get down, it's because we got incoming fire from the Skeletal Archers." Rob chuckled as he activated his Stealth as he laughed at my comment, thankfully he was still outlined in blue as we moved off.