It was just a normal day for Juuh. He and his good friends Nall and Rirbo went hunting to feed their families and support the tribe. If they were lucky they might even bring back a small trophy if they met bigger game. They were part of the better hunters in their tribe, so they would constantly brag about their hunting achievements.
They were part of a small tribe of hunters that wandered the forests while hunting and collecting magic resources they would sell on their yearly trip to the city which they were currently stoking up on food for so they wouldn't have to spent all their time while travelling hunting.
Juuh gave Nall and Rirbo a sign so that they knew that he spotted a small group of deer and that they should be quiet. They slowly spread out with Rirbo going right and Nall going left while Juuh slowly advanced in a straight line. After they arrived at good positions Juuh prepared to throw his spear with his right hand while lifting his left hand to prepare to give Nall and Rirbo a signal.
He dropped his left hand giving them the sign and threw their spear nearly at the same time. Juuh and Rirbo managed to hit the same dear while Nall managed to hit a younger one. Getting spooked the deer began to run away. The two that were hit keeled over shortly after trying to get away because they lost too much blood.
„Ha. We got it. If the other groups also have a lucky day we will be able to to set out in a few days and cross the mountains before the pass gets closed by the snow. I seriously can't wait any longer." said Juuh while collecting the spear and preparing to pick up the deer for the way back to their camp.
„Yeah, I also can't wait. But I still have my wife with me. I can't imagine how you feel since you left your wife in our village with the kids and the elderly since she was pregnant. You probably just want to see you kid." said Rirbo while winking at Juuh.
„You would also miss your wife if she were as beautiful as Juuhs." Joked Rirbo.
Laughing Juuh said „ Come on guys hurry up, we won't be able to even start or journey back if we don't even get back to camp."
They started to carry the deer back to camp while joking lightly and talking about their journey to the city when suddenly they heard a small whooshing sound and an explosion before Rirbo suddenly flew through the air and hit a nearby tree.
„Shit, what happened. Hey Rirbo are you okay?" said Juuh while dropping his deer and hurrying to help him up „Why won't you get up? Hey!"
„Run!! There is an undead! He is already dead, so leave him and run!" screamed Nall while already beginning to run.
Juuh yelped and scrambled up while looking back and seeing a skeleton with slightly red eyes in a tattered and slightly burnt black robe that was flying towards them. Seeing this he sped up again and overtook Nall.
He could already hear Nall panting as they have already been carrying the deer for quiet some time and hadn't eaten anything since they set out to hunt. Shortly after he heard two whooshing sounds and a scream from Nall that was cut short by an explosion. Juuh stopped himself from looking back and focused on the way in the direction of the camp in hopes that their druid and the other hunters would be able to take the skeleton down.
You may think that he was being selfish since a small part of him was hoping that they at least would buy him enough time so that he could get away, but you can't forget that he still has a child in his village he hadn't seen yet.
He just kept running not daring to look back or question why there were no more explosions. After running for quiet some time and just as he was about to collapse from exhaustion he saw the outskirts of the camp.
„Undead!! There is an undead in the forest!" screamed Juuh as he fought against the urge to just collapse. The other hunters quickly came with their weapons at the ready while someone went to get Jomgod the druid.
It was at this moment that the skeleton flew out of the trees into the clearing while throwing fireballs and striking out with lightning at the hunters directly killing most of them. Breaking out of their shock after seeing their friends and family being killed in front of them the remaining hunters threw their spears at the undead.
Just as the spears were about to hit the skeleton there was a flash in the air and the hunters could see a barrier covered in runes around the skeleton which blocked the spears and made them fall harmlessly to the ground.
The skeleton was throwing out a few more fireballs and lightning strikes, when a stone wall rose from the ground blocking them. „The druid has come!" called one of the remaining hunters as he and the other used the cover of the stone wall to run away. The wall didn't hold as long as they hoped though as it crumbled under the unrelenting bombardment of the. The skeleton threw out a few more lightning strikes as he neared the corpses. They feared that he was going to turn them into undead to help him in battle, but he just flew over them while touching them shortly with his right hand that seemed to be glowing. Meanwhile he continued to throw out lighting bolt with his left hand and also threw a few in the direction of the advancing druid.
The only people that still were alive were the two hunters that went to get the druid, the druid and Juuh that somehow didn't get hit by any spell.
The skeleton kept flying over the corpses while shortly touching each one and keeping up the suppression against the druid by throwing out multiple fireballs and lightning strikes which forced the druid to be on the defensive and block the spells using another two stone walls since he couldn't dodge them as he was already advanced in age.
It seemed to be a stalemate when the skeleton suddenly flew up and spoke something incomprehensible while raising his staff to the sky. This caused oppressive thunderclouds to quickly gather above the clearing in which you could already see lightning bolts flashing.