I threw my staff into my Inventory before drawing my dagger, while the staff had better stats than the two knives I had, the knives were better for sneaking around and attacking from Stealth. I kept the blade hidden, just to make sure none of the torchlights would reflect off the edge of the blade as I followed in Robs' wake. 

The two sentries were either Paladins or Clerics based on the mix of the plate and chainmail armor. I hoped they were Clerics since Paladins were almost always tanks and I doubted I could one-shot them even with Surprise Attack and a Critical Hit. 

Rob glanced back and I flashed the knife at him earning a smile as he moved towards his target. Both men were practically ignoring their surroundings, this was just a normal routine for them. I gave a mental thanks to any Dark God that was listening as I drew closer to my target. Mine wasn't wearing a helm, I burst forward and grabbed his head as I saw Rob move shadowing my movements. 

My dagger slammed into his throat as I triggered Surprise Attack, Stealth Attack, and Critical Hit flashed across my HUD before fading away as my enemies Health dropped to about 50%. I ripped the blade out sending a gout of blood to spray the area before driving the dagger into the back of the man's skull.

I did my best to ease the body to the ground as his Health Gauge disappeared. "Drag them to the tree line!" I hissed to Rob as I sent a mental command to my Undead. While they might be at a lower Character Level than me, they still had a higher Strength Attribute. Two of the Skeletal Warriors came sprinting from the tree line and grabbed the bodies underneath their arms while Rob and I grabbed their feet. 

I just hoped the sentries within the small shrine didn't hear the Undeads' jingling armor as they ran and moved the bodies. I looked at my Stamina Gauge, it was down to 75% and falling from the physical effort...fuck I needed to invest some point in Endurance or do some Endurance training. 

Both Ruby and Penny were chuckling as we came huffing and puffing to the tree line, I glared at my cousin earning a giggle. "I am a caster, I don't have the Stamina for this," I told them as I dropped the dead man's feet and ordered the Undead back into the line. I quickly looted the body earning some silver, uncut gems, and my first Gold Mark from a kill. 

A part of me was proud as I looked at it before shoving it into my Inventory with the rest of my money. The money I would need sooner rather than later. "Really? I heard from Aunt Candice you got plenty of stamina." Ruby quipped and the siblings glanced at me, surprise evident on both their faces.

I rolled my eyes and shook my head, "Aunt by marriage, not blood. So only a little pervy." I told them as they looked at Ruby who nodded. 

"Our family tree is extensive, and we are cousins in only the loosest sense of the word. As far as our aunt goes, she is married to a guy who is gone away on business all the time, he also fucks anything that sits still long enough for him to get his dick in it." I agreed with her but didn't voice my opinion, time to get back on target.

"Enough, we can discuss our fucked-up family later, we got a shrine to sack," I told them as the Undead formed up, the archers quickly fell in line around Ruby and me while the warriors moved around Penny. Rob nodded his head and disappeared into Stealth as he headed for the shrine. 

Penny and the warriors took point, forming a slight wedge while we trailed behind them. I was going to have to play controller and DPS in this fight since the Minions only followed my orders at this point. Thankfully no one challenged us, and I didn't hear any alarm bells going off, so we were undetected at the moment. 

Of course, one should always do their best not to jinx these things because as we approached the entrance of the shrine, the doors opened, and two armored figures emerged early. "SILENCE!" I hissed at Ruby as my archers went to work. I raised my hands and six needle-like darts shot out and slammed into the man and women. She tried to scream, but Ruby had gotten her spell off. 

Penny and the Skeletal Warriors charged them. While the Undead did minimal damage at this point, combined with my Shadow Corruption, the two Humans Health Gauges appeared and were rapidly falling. Swords cleaved through flesh and the living desperately tried to disengage. I considered hitting them with Pestilence or Bog of Darkness but decided to hold the two spells in reserve.

The woman went down, a wordless scream marring her features as the man turned and limped back into the shrine. Penny relieved the coward of his head as the doors slammed open. "We go in, clear the shrine room by room. Kill everyone, no survivors!" I snapped as the warriors filled in, flanking Penny while we followed along a few feet behind. The Skeletal Archers would be hindered by the confines of the building, but they could still prove crucial in the coming fight. 

Groggy figures, half-clothed emerged from rooms, probably woken by the short clash or the doors opening. They quickly woke when they spotted my Undead, shouts, and screams soon filled the building as the followers of Pelor charged the advancing Undead. 

I gritted my teeth as I started to cast Pestilence for the first time, my body moved automatically. I twirled my forefinger, then splayed my right hand causing sickly green energy to start coalescing around my outstretched hand before clenching into a fist causing the energy to form a small compact bolt of energy as the three-second cast finished.

I focused on one of the charging acolytes, he wielded a large warhammer that could prove to be troublesome to my Undead. The bolt slammed into the man's chest, the acolyte missed a step, and nearly fell as green lines of energy raced across his body as the DoT went to work. 

My archers started to fill the air with arrows while the warriors made a line of battle to hold back the tide. Then three green tendrils shot out from my target and slammed into some of the other charging Humans and Elves. 

Ruby finished casting a spell, a black opaque shield formed around Penny as she triggered a taunt as she met the defenders head-on. Between the Sword Warden and my Skeletal Warriors, their charge was blunted. I sent a mental command to the archers to focus their fire on a few support casters I could see hanging back from the melee. 

"The other patrol is down, moving to support you guys!" I smiled as Robert reported the 'all clear' outside.

"Try to find a way in from behind if possible." I quickly snapped back as I turned my focus back to the fight in front of me as I finished my second casting, Bog of Darkness quickly enveloped the whole group of melee fighters. 

I heard a faint 'ting' in my ear as Rob acknowledged the order as the defenders were enveloped in thick shadowy tendrils. I had been afraid that the spell wouldn't differentiate between the Undead and enemies, but thankfully the spell ignored them. Happily, I could not say the same about the defenders.

Shouts of surprise quickly drowned out the clash of weapons as the defender's movement was nearly crippled. Penny and the Undead took full advantage of the situation, swords and shields soon were crushing and puncturing flesh as the shouts of surprise turned to screams of pain. The casters tried to help, but my archers had already downed two of them and the remaining three were casting spells from covered positions further in the shrine. 

I glanced at my HUD, the timer on the bog spell was winding down and they had managed to down only six of the defenders to four of my Undead. I quickly raised my hands and started casting Shadow Touch as rapidly as I could. While we still had superior numbers, this was their home turf and, in a shrine, dedicated to their god, victory was only assured once the last of the defenders was dead in my mind. 

The Shadow Corruption quickly spread as the Pestilence spell ran its course claiming two more defenders. I looked over to see Ruby sent a wave of darkness that enveloped half of my Undead warriors, healing them as Penny managed to cleave another defender in half. Then I spotted another defender emerge from one of the hallways, unlike the others he was fully clothed and was already casting spells to heal the other defenders. I tried Shadow Touch, but a prompt appeared.

<<<Battle Alert>>>

Shadow Touch is Resisted by Aura of Holy Light

<<<Battle Alert>>>

Fuck! So minor spells like my Shadow Corruption were resisted, I conjured and launched a Bolt of Darkness as I studied the man. [Head Priest Robert Cline] appeared above his head, the man was seasoned, older than the others, and based on his gear a higher Level. Then he thrust his hand towards my Undead and a blast swept over them, when I could see again half of the remaining Skeletal Warriors were gone and the remainder were in critical condition. 

"ENOUGH! Leave this place of die initiates of Darkness!" the man shouted. Fuck that!

I looked at Penny, while the Undead might have been crippled the Warden was left untouched. I spotted some movement down the hall and suppressed the inclination to smile, I stepped forward as the archers continued to pelt the defenders with arrows while Ruby did her best to keep the warriors in the fight. 

My Bolt of Darkness slammed into Roberts' chest sending him skidding back as his Health dropped by 10%. The Priest glared at me while I turned my focus to the bodies and started to cast Raise Skeletal Minion. 

The flesh sloshed off the bodies as they jerked and started to rise among the defenders' ranks. More importantly, it distracted them buying us time.

I downed a Spirit Potion to help with my recovery as the defender's attention was now split as they were sandwiched between the two forces. I looked at the Priest, thankfully whatever Talent he had used to destroy the other Undead was still on Cooldown as Rob killed the last of the other casters. 

I needed the man alive, with a thought and a slight tugging twist I suddenly appeared behind the head Priest, my dagger easily pierced his robes and spine. 

I twisted the blade as he screamed in agony and collapsed at less than 50% health, thanks to Blink through Darkness! Without their magical support the remaining defenders were quickly cut down but not without cost. Of the original twenty-one Skeletal Warriors, I was down to ten after I raised the second group. Yet there was some good news, all the original warriors and archers that survived were now Level eight while the second group was Level six now. 

"Finish it!" the man wheezed as I loomed over the body.

I kicked his staff away and threw away a dagger at his belt, "Rob, loot then start the search!" I called over my shoulder while keeping my eye on the priest as the Undead and Penny started searching the shrine for any survivors. "Tell me, Priest, where is she?" I asked the man as Ruby approached.

The man paled and looked away, "I don't know what you are talking about." I grabbed his hand and pulled out my dagger before slicing a finger off.

His screams filled the shrine, "You have nine more fingers and presumably ten toes before I start cutting off other things. You tell me when you are ready to start talking." I told him as I started cutting.