[Bungleau]

The cleric had led him down to where his sister was, and the sight of her dead body was too much. Gone was the youthful gray skin, replaced by rough leather marred by bubbles where some ghastly poison had eaten away. The twinkle he remembered in her eyes had left, replaced by a blank stare as her eyeballs slowly faded like overripe grapes. All that was missing was a coating of fuzzy mold.

How could he bring her back to their home? How could he ever go home?

Tears welling, he stood up, the chilly air of the temple crypt carrying the stench of death to his nostrils.

Malakai, the temple cleric, looked at him kindly. He'd seen this many times before, always with the same result. People in search of their loved ones, finding the empty husks left behind. Few were those who could afford the complicated rituals that could bring one back from the dead, and fewer still were those willing to risk what damage that time without life could do.

"There is always a chance, my son," said Malakai. "We do have the ability to heal, but it is not cheap."

"How- how much?" asked Forest, trying to hold back a sniffle. He was pretty sure he had 10 gold coins left.

When the cleric gave him the number, his heart sank. His ten coins couldn't raise a rat from the dead, let alone a full-grown Oomphaz. Perhaps they'd at least be enough to bury her.

Sadly, he turned around to the empty husk that was once his sister. He reached down to take her dessicated hand in his to bid farewell. To tell her he hadn't really meant what he'd said and done.

As he looked at her corpse, he saw for the first time the pouch on her side. reaching a hand, he gently opened it... and out spilled a river of gold coins! He didn't know where she'd gotten it from, but there was easily enough there to pay the temple's fees! And she *was* his sister... it's not like he was really stealing from the dead.

His hands trembling, he turned around to the cleric. "Will this be enough?"