"Yeah, figure it rains like this two to three times a week." Said the dwarf, because apparently the short stout dwarven looking guys were indeed dwarves. There were two of them in the boat. Tamron and Kelik, if he was remembering the names correctly. The other human was Kaleb and the group of Tel'ani, the purple skinned and horned people, hadn't been introduced. He was quickly coming to understand that they were a lower class of people and his gut feeling was that they were slaves of some sort. They kept silent, obeyed orders, and each one had a metal band attached to one of their horns. No one had outright said it and Alex hadn't yet asked.

"How much farther?"

"Another two hours or so I think." Replied the other dwarf. "It took longer to row upstream."

The village down river had been attacked by an overwhelming number of goblins according to Kelik. They had sent a messenger north to Oxbow as well as south, but they hadn't expected the southern village to send help due to some political bullshit. Oxbow didn't really have many people to spare. Tamron and Kaleb had family or friends, the half dozen Tel'ani had been volun-told, and Alex, against his better judgement, agreed to come with. Liam had outfitted him with a gambeson which was warm, but the constant drizzle was starting to soak through his cloak and into the layered linen armor. Alex’s ass hurt from the day long journey, he was wet, bored, and hungry, but finally the rain stopped and they arrived at their destination.

The village was utterly devastated. Most of the buildings were half burnt, the rains having saved them from complete destruction. There were no people or animals milling about and the only real sound was a rhythmic schuk sort of sound, like metal being pushed into wet dirt or sand.

“Creepy.” Mumbled Kaleb.

Tamron got the Tel'ani armed with axes and out searching the village. Kelik and Kaleb were armed with crossbows and along with Alex, the three made their way toward the sole unnatural sound. The air was acrid with the soaked scent of burnt buildings, worldly possessions, and flesh. Bloodstains and the occasional chunk of viscera lay smeared across the streets, walls, and doorways. Alex had the ominous sense of walking onto the set of a medieval horror movie. The rhythmic schuk sound growing ever louder. An unnatural heartbeat for the dead village.

"There are no bodies." Kaleb whispered.

He was right. Plenty of places where someone had very clearly met their end, but not a single corpse. Entering the graveyard at the far edge revealed the source of the noise. Alex let his guard drop, feeling the tension that had built up begin to fade. Three people digging graves was a normal enough sight. A sad, morbid one, but normal. His two companions seemed even more nervous however. Looking the three figures over, along with the pile of bodies waiting for burial, did give Alex a sense of wrongness he couldn't place.

"What's wrong?" He asked Kelik.

One of the figures must have heard him as they stopped digging and turned to look the trio over.

"Her skin." Kelik replied.

Alex looked the petite black woman over and sighed. Reincarnated into a fantasy world with dwarves and some purple skinned race, and people were still racist.

"If you are going to shoot me, then do it. Otherwise, find a shovel and help." Said the woman with a far younger sounding voice than Alex had expected from someone with hair that had already gone white.

The two kept their crossbows pointed at her. "How abouts you put those two to rest first?"

"Ok that was weird." Thought Alex.

"And you will dig?"

"Two of us will. The other one keeps their eye on you darkling."

Alex eyed the dwarf. He might have been last in line for the politically correct train, but that was an overt slur. The woman was short and thin with stark white hair that was braided along both sides of her head until it combined at the back into a larger braid. She wore a dark grey outfit that blurred the line between robes and a dress, boots that, like his own, seemed a bit anachronistic for the assumed period, and a black collar that had a silver pendant at the throat. Her skin was… dark grey. Oddly not a normal human color. With the exception of her emerald green eyes, she looked as if she was in greyscale. Perhaps she was this world's version of a drow.

"Fine." She said, turning her attention to her two helpers.

The two simultaneously ceased digging, leaving the shoves standing upright, they stiffly walked over to the pile of yet to be buried bodies, and laid down. It was a bit creepy and Alex slowly came to grips with what had caused the foreboding sense of wrongness he had felt when he first saw the trio of gravediggers. The woman's two helpers were dead. That made the tension in his two companions make more sense.

"Does that make you feel better?" The woman asked Kaleb.

"Aye. No funny hocus pocus then ok darkling... Okay, you boys start digging, I'll keep an eye on the necrophyte."

"Seriously?" Kalik protested.

"Why'd you make her put them away just to have us dig? I did this shit yesterday." Alex complained.

"Cause it ain't natural, that's why."

Alex was first to walk up and take a shovel. Yes, the situation was a bit creepy. Yes, the woman was clearly a necromancer, which brought up a whole slew of questions about magic that Alex wasn't ready for. But she was digging graves for the dead. She wasn't exactly cackling like a mad woman over the burning bodies of her defeated foes. He'd give her the benefit of the doubt until she did something other than exist. Kelik joined in a moment later. One thing of note was the woman's shovel. The blade shined like polished steel and steel or possibly silver inlays worked their way up the handle. It was rather ornate for a tool.

"What's with the dirt elf?" Tamron asked once he and the Tel'ani joined them in the graveyard.

"Found her and some thralls here digging graves. Fucking necrophyte."

Tamron nodded in understanding. Alex looked at the woman, she did have pointed ears. It wasn't obvious. Apart from the skin color, she looked completely human. Alex and Kelik were quickly rotated out for a couple of Tel'ani who, as always, said nothing. The others were ordered to find more shovels and the two dwarves and Kaleb discussed what to do with the girl, killing her was considered. She shot them a look that said "I'm taking someone with me if you try." Tying her up and leaving her for the wolves was next.

"Why are we treating her like she's a goblin?" Alex asked, finally breaking in on the conversation.

"We're not." Kelik replied. "Goblins are to be killed on sight."

"Okay. Then why are we treating her like three goblins in a trenchcoat?"

The three men stared at him like he had bugs crawling out of his ears.

"We're treating her like the darkling necrophyte she is." Said Tamron a bit angrily.

"Darkling refers to her skin color, yes? And nec-ro-phyte," Alex considered for a moment. "Is a decomposer?"

"Darkling is any of the uncivilized evil monsters. Goblins are also darlings, but aye, it fits for her skin as well. I don't know the actual definition of necrophyte, but we generally call anyone from Olivium. It's a terrible place full of undead and run by bloodsucking darklings." Kaleb explained.

Alex pondered the words and tone of the explanation. He nodded and turned. Walking up to the woman he held a hand out. "Hi. I'm Alex."

He thought he might have actually heard one of the Tel'ani snort with laughter, but couldn't exactly tell where the sound had come from. The woman stopped her digging and considered him for a moment. Then she reached out and grasped his forearm. What was with the forearm thing?

"Abigail." She said with a bemused smirk.

"Nice to meet you."

"Likewise."

"What in the Hells are you doing lad? She can kill you with a touch!" Shouted one of the dwarves.

Alex cocked an eyebrow. "Can you kill me with a touch?"

"Maybe, maybe not." With another smirk, she let go of his arm and returned to digging.

Alex turned back to the others. He seriously considered clutching his chest and dropping to the ground, but they might actually shoot her if he did. "I'm still alive."

Kaleb glared at him as he joined their group again. "You shouldn't trust a drow."

"Oh, so she is a drow?"

"Aye. Bad news those dirt elves." Said Tamron.

"Okay, but currently, she's burying the dead, and you're talking about killing her."

"She's a drow! And a necrophyte!"

"And we came here to help people, actually, if everyone is dead, that's not a lot of bodies."

"The goblins captured most of the town and dragged them to the northwest." Said Tamron.

"We need to go after them!" Kelik yelled as he started running.

"Wait!" Yelled Kaleb.

And just like that, they seemed to have completely forgotten Abigail and her evil, gravedigging ways.

"Following the gobins now would be suicide. They are nocturnal." Said Abigail.

"You could run off now. They're a bit distracted."

"No. I can not leave the dead lay without being put to rest."

Alex took a shovel from one of the Tel'ani and asked the man to go check on the others. The purple skinned humanoid tilted his head slightly, but ran off to do as asked.