When Rijana and I exited the church building, I looked around for a Watchman. Fortunately, there were two of them guarding the entrance to the church. I walked over to the guard on the right side because he appeared to be more attentive than the other guard.

The middle-aged man, wearing a full suit of plate mail armor but missing the helmet, tracked my approach with his light blue eyes. "Yes, Brother?" he asked with a deep sounding voice.

"Greetings, Watchman. Can you direct me to the cemetery? The mayor has assigned me a quest at that location," I explained.

The guard nodded. "Just head due north until you reach the wall. Then turn left. You will see the graveyard before you reach the guard tower on the northwest corner," he instructed.

"Thank you," I nodded politely.

"Good luck with your quest, Brother Mulligan."

By this time, my non-human companions were waiting for me across the street. The trio had noticed that I came out of the church building.

I walked over to them and explained, "I was asking the guard for directions to the cemetery."

My companions nodded in acceptance of this explanation. After all, none of them knew where Bristol's cemetery was located.

I took the lead again and followed the Watchman's instructions. I walked straight north for a good half hour and then turned left at the wall. I noticed that the further north I walked, the thinner the crowd of pedestrians became. In fact, by the time we reached the northern wall, the streets were empty. After another quarter hour or so walking in a westerly direction, we finally reached the cemetery.

The church bell tolled three times.

When we arrived at the cemetery, I saw a grassy area enclosed by an iron fence some eight feet high. The iron bars ended with sharp spikes on top. Unlike the rest of the city, the cemetery had trees; however, none of the tree branches were remotely close to the fence for someone to climb over. The ground was dotted with headstones over grass and flowers. Frankly, I was surprised to see a bit of nature within the confines of this city. Additionally, the land was uneven. There was a house to the south; it stood on a small hill. Further south was a gate. "We need to go there to get inside," I said as I pointed at the gate.

Apparently, the cemetery took up several city blocks because it took another twenty minutes or so to reach the gate. And the sun was steadily dropping toward the western horizon, with perhaps another three hours of sunlight remaining for this day.

When we reached the gate, I received a pop-up notification which read, "Location ACQUIRED: Cemetery. +50 XP." Dismissing the message, I saw a set of metal doors left wide open. I turned to my companions and said, "Let's go inside and head for the house." I had no idea where the caretaker was but the house on the hill was a good starting point to locate him. Furthermore, if Soiretu happened to be out at the moment, we could simply wait at the house for his return.

Fortunately, there was a cobblestone road over the grass leading from the gate to the house on the hill. The road was only three feet wide and appeared to be in poor shape. However, walking on the road was still better than walking in the grass and risk stepping on a snake. After another ten minutes or so, we finally reached the hilltop. It was a plateau with a simple, one-story wooden building with a chimney at the center of the hilltop. There were trees on either side of the house but none of the branches were close enough to use to climb on top of the house. Additionally, there were no shrubs for people or animals to hide behind. In other words, there was no place to ambush the entrance of the house.

When we approached the house, there was suddenly a "bzzz" sound.

"Ow!" Kalistra cried out in pain and immediately backed away from the house. "The house is enchanted with magic to prevent non-humans from entering," the cat girl said aloud. Her tail whiplashed back and forth in anger.

The door opened and a middle-aged man stepped out of the house. His eyes quickly focused on Kalistra. "I'm sorry, young one, but the church had decided to take precautions and turned the area surrounding this residence into holy ground," he said apologetically and bowed deeply.

"We'll just wait out here then," Bjoukin said nonchalantly. While the elf was unhappy with the discovery, Bjoukin realized that he could still climb on the trees and take refuge above ground should the need arise.

"Okay," I quickly nodded in agreement. I didn't want to give the fickle cat girl an opportunity to berate the newcomer when he obviously had nothing to do with barring non-humans from entering the house.

I turned my attention to the man. He was dressed in a simple brown tunic, green breeches, and black boots. He had a large physique and looked strong. His brown hair was shortly cropped and he had a small beard under his wide chin. I looked up at the man's caption and confirmed that he was Head Caretaker Soiretu. I opened my sack and pulled out a blue colored tube. I opened the tube and pulled out a rolled up parchment. "I have been commissioned by the mayor to investigate a report of missing bodies in this cemetery," I announced as I passed the parchment over to the caretaker.

Soiretu took the parchment and read it aloud, "Writ of Authority. I, Mayor William Wilshire, Hereby Vests Lord Lawrence Eugene Mulligan with the General Authority to act on my behalf. All Citizens of Bristol are subject to his authority as if the requests were my own. Signed, Mayor William Wilshire." The man's brown eyes widened in surprise and fear. He quickly returned my Writ of Authority.

"Wow," Rijana gasped.

"Title ACQUIRED: Commissioned Agent of Bristol. +250 Reputation, +500 XP." I was surprised to get a title out of this commission from the mayor. But then again, I did expect to receive more assignments from Mayor Wilshire once I completed this current assignment. I carefully rolled up the valuable parchment and returned it to the blue tube. "What's wrong?" I asked when I finally noticed the look of disbelief on Rijana's face.

"You received an unlimited commission from the mayor," the mage said quietly.

"So?" I shrugged. I couldn't understand her reaction. Was the commission such a big deal around here?

"Milord, most commissions are limited in nature and duration. That means the Writ of Authority will specify the tasks involved and the limits of authority granted by the commission," Soiretu interrupted. "Very rarely does the mayor choose to execute an unlimited commission. It reflects the tremendous faith and trust that Mayor Wilshire has placed in you," he explained.

"Does this mean that I can flash this writ of authority and make demands of people in this city?" I asked. With this writ, I could order the commoners and even the nobility to do things for me! Talk about a power trip! Muahahaha!

The caretaker held up his right hand. Soiretu saw the maniacal look on my face and it filled his heart with dread. "The mayor can withdraw your writ at any time," he warned. "Furthermore, he may ask for an accounting of your actions under your Writ of Authority. If Mayor Wilshire determines that you have abused your commission, he may order your imprisonment or even your execution in the Public Square."

My ego immediately deflated upon hearing his warning. In other words, this Writ of Authority was similar to a company credit card. I could use it for business purchases, but my use was subject to auditing and reporting to my boss. In any event, I needed to focus on my immediate task at hand before sunset. I looked at Soiretu and made a request. "Can you show me the locations where the bodies were missing or disturbed?"

"Yes, milord," the caretaker bowed deeply. "I need to get some equipment first." He went back inside the house and came back out with a shovel in hand. He also had a lantern. A mace was hooked on a loop at his belt and a two-handed warhammer was fastened to a harness across his back.

If I didn't know any better, our guide was expecting to stay out until after dark. And he was armed with non-edge weapons, which were particularly effective against skeletal monsters.

The large man started walking down the cobblestone road at a fast pace.

The five of us struggled to keep up with him because the road was tilted at a steep decline and some of the stones on the ground were cracked and broken. None of us wanted to take the risk of tripping and rolling down the road.

About halfway down, Soiretu stepped off the road and veered right. He paused for a moment to see where he was and then continued walking.

We walked past a number of gravesites. Some of the headstones were arranged neatly. Others were arranged in a circle. There was no real pattern in how the graves were organized.

After ten minutes of walking, our guide finally stopped in front of a hole in the ground. "Here's the first one I noticed. Happened three days ago," the caretaker said.

I looked at the hole in the ground. It was maybe the size of a bar stool but at least six feet deep. Apparently, the deceased body was originally placed upright and somehow became animated and crawled out of the ground. "You haven't seen any skeletons walking around?" I asked.

"Not recently, milord," the caretaker replied.

My brows rose at his answer but Soiretu chose to remain silent. I tried using my Spirit Sense and then my Magic Sense on the gravesite. As I expected, there was no reaction to either one. Without a body, I couldn't see the lingering spirit. Furthermore, any magic used here would have dissipated by now. I looked up at Soiretu. "Can you take me to the next site?"

"Yes, milord," the man replied and started walking.

This time, we headed north and then eastward. We walked around the hilltop and finally stopped at a location in the shadow of the small hill.

"It's getting dark. I'll light my lantern," Soiretu offered.

Rijana quickly held up her hand. "Milord, perhaps this is a good time to practice casting your Light spell," she suggested.

I closed my eyes as I tried to remember the instructions to cast the spell. It was really simple. "Chi rak," I said while snapping my fingers. In an instant, a small ball of light hovered above my head. "Light SUCCESSFUL. +25 XP." With better lighting now, I looked at the ground. This time, the hole in the ground was the size of an adult body laid flat on his back. However, the hole was shallow, perhaps only four feet deep. Again, my Spirit Sense and Magic Sense detected nothing.

I looked at Soiretu. "Did you discover the missing bodies yourself?" The grounds of the cemetery was a big area to cover; I couldn't imagine the caretaker covering it on his own.

"No, milord. I have assistants to help me. It was Lelaja, a gardener, who discovered this hole," Soiretu admitted.

"Where are your assistants?" I pressed. "I may have questions for them."

The caretaker shook his head. "I asked them to stay out of the cemetery for their own safety. I was concerned that there may be undead roaming about."

"Why are you staying here, then?" I pointed out.

Soiretu grinned. "The house on the hilltop has been blessed by the Church and it is considered holy ground. The undead can't get inside. Additionally, I am the Head Caretaker and I cannot abandon my post," he explained.

"Are you a fighter?" Kalistra asked.

"What gave you the idea that I'm a warrior?" the large man grinned again.

"You're armed with blunt weapons and they look well maintained," the cat girl pointed out.

"On occasion, some bodies do rise out of their final resting places," Soiretu admitted. "Unusually skeletons and zombies. I would ask my assistants to stay in the Caretaker's House while I go down the hill to eliminate the undead."

"Why didn't you do that this time around?" Bjoukin asked.

"Something about these incidents feels different to me. Call it an old warrior's intuition," Soiretu shrugged.

"We're going to have to wait until after dark to find the undead," Bjoukia said.

The caretaker looked at the two elves. "While I admire your courage, I must point out that you would not be able to hide in my house if a powerful undead monster appears. I suggest you leave the cemetery by sunset."

"We're not going to run from undead," Bjoukia snorted.

"We have some experience fighting undead," Bjoukin added. "We will stay with Lord Mulligan and help him complete his quest."

"We'll head back up the hill now and come back down after nightfall," I decided. "If there are undead roaming the cemetery, they will come out after dark. We need to destroy every single one of them." Left unsaid, though, was my concern that there may be something more powerful than mere zombies and skeletons lurking in this area. However, between Rijana and myself, we should have enough magic to defeat any undead that we encounter.

"If that is your decision, milord," Soiretu bowed deeply and started walking toward the hill.