Unbound

"Beef has them fully engaged. Proceed to the Overlord's Manor," the sharp-winged matriarch said as she landed beside him.

Kevin, on Harn’s left, shuddered. "God, that's creepy. A voice like yours shouldn't be coming out of a giant skink."

"Hmm," Hallow mused. Then the water bubbled just feet away, and a shambling corpse rose from the muck. Their body was half-decayed and mostly bones until it welled with a blackened green light and was clad in chitinous armor. "Would you rather this form?" she asked from within.

Kevin jerked in surprise, and Archie grimaced. "Necromancy's gross."

Harn grunted in agreement before gesturing ahead. "Hallow, pave the way."

The armored corpse inclined its head before turning to the old Chanter at the sidelines. "Mauvim, your assistance, please."

"Of course, Hallow." The old lady lifted her hand, and a welling of multicolored light poured from it, along with the hands of all the Chanters at her back.

"Entropic Paradigm," Hallow intoned, and her voice echoed as if it were down a long, empty tunnel. Power rolled through the Risen, striking at the shoreline and manifesting into a chitinous pathway that stabbed deep into the poisoned waters. It rose above the muck, shedding water by the bucketful, and didn’t stop until it extended a solid twenty feet ahead of them. The Chanters’ power sparked off of the construction, giving it a strange, ethereal quality that Harn wasn't sure the purpose of, but was a benefit, no doubt.

Harn lifted a cloth mask over his lower face and pointed his axe toward the rocky island and the Overlord’s little headquarters atop it.