Night Siege

We gained so much good will among the villagers that when the evening came, the local librarian hospitably invited us to stay the night in his house. We gladly accepted the invitation.

Walking through the door, numerous rows of bookshelves along the walls drew our eyes. Steve immediately went over and grabbed a book, only to put it back in disappointment after turning a few pages – it was written in a language he did not know.

I walked around the small house looking at things.

A pair of tables, a crafting table in the corner and a long bench by the window. A very humble dwelling.

Darkness already fell outside, but for some reason I did not want to sleep, so I sat down on the bench while Steve continued to sort through the books.

Finally, he made a joyful exclaim. "I found it! There are older editions here."

Steve sunk into reading and I came over to look at the book he chose. I saw diagrams and schemes, accompanied by mysterious squiggles. Steve may have understood this writing, but to me it seemed entirely incomprehensible.

Footsteps outside drew my attention.

"Who could be out roaming the streets at this time of the night?" I thought idly and startled as understanding came to me of who it might be. Cautiously, I peeked out of the window to check. My guess proved right. The undead were stumbling about along the street.

There were many of them, more than I expected. And they didn't just roam around in search of random victim, but purposefully gathered to... the librarian's house? They were all drawing here!

They started scraping the door, followed by full-on blows. The scribe jumped up and fled to the far corner of his house, muttering something under his nose.

My friend continued to study his book as if nothing was going on.

"Steve, we got problems," I drew my sword. I wondered whether or not I should open the door. No weapon or a set of armor would be good enough to withstand the horde that gathered outside, besieging the house.

The blows against the door grew louder and stronger. Cracks began to appear, spidering in a web across the surface. How much longer would it hold before they break through?

"... A layer of obsidian, diamonds, and the book right on top," Steve finished and closed his book with satisfaction. "I've learnt how to make the weapons and armor even stronger. Friend, today is a great day!" He declared.

"What day? It is already night." I joked.

"Yes, well, all right." Steve stood up, also baring his sword. "So, who is it that's causing you a problem?"

Prepared and holding our swords ready, at Steve's nod I swung open the door. Immediately, a swarming mass of rotting flesh poured through the doorway. They crowded, pushing, getting in each other's way. We would not have stood a chance against them in an open field, but here, they could only come a few at a time and right away met our diamond swords. Some still managed to rake us with their clawed hands, but our hardy armor protected us from any serious wounds.

The last of our enemies fell just as the sun began the rise over the plain.

Panting with the finished effort, we stepped outside. We could still see the occasional shadowy form wandering from place to place, but they were far and did not pose any danger.

Soon, the doors of houses started opening and the local residents peeked out and then ran out into the street, excitedly crowding around us. Loudly, they discussed what happened and listened to our scribe as he solemnly told them something. Judging by their amazed expressions, it was probably about us and our courage.

"Um, could we buy some of those books from you?" Steve decided to ask of our hospitable host.

The librarian did not mind, even when Steve enthusiastically raided a couple of bookshelves worth of his books.

Just when we got ready to leave, the village priest approached and pulled out an unusual glass vial. Tiny green sparkles flickered inside the bottle, similar to those that appeared after the slain night creatures disappeared.

"That's an interesting keepsake." I agreed and reached for the gift, only for the priest to pull it away. He rose up three fingers.

"Another ripoff! Even after all this?" I commented with disappointment, but still counted out the said number of emeralds which we earned the previous day so I could obtain the interesting trinket.

"All right. Farewell! We will come back here again." We waved our goodbyes to the villagers we saved.

Jumping up on our pigs, we headed home, feeling like true heroes.