This is my entry for Weekly Wattpad Contest #40. Prompt 7

The adventurers arrive at the city of 'Impeccable Green' entirely by accident. The city is besieged by the undead, and the party does everything in their power to help the helpless citizens, but somehow became outlaws. Bonus points if they cross the law because of something Ever Underhill does.

As the mismatched group continued their journey, they stumbled upon a city.

"Where are we?" Tarin asked.

"Are we lost again?" Vicarious muttered in confusion.

If it was possible, Ever's grin grew wider. "This is Impeccable Green!" He exclaimed.

"It's a mysterious conservative city." He explained. "They have many jewels and gold! A wealthy, small city."

"Not a lot of scholars have written about the city since the citizens dislike outsiders." He added. He turned to his team. "We need to visit just for a while."

"We can't get distracted." Tarin replied.

"A city of wealth... I wouldn't mind taking a look." Ndawapeka commented.

"You want to go into a city that hates outsiders? You sound like you have a death wish." Hershel commented.

Suddenly a scream interrupted them. Vicarious rushed into the city and saw a woman running for her life. Behind her, an undead was chasing after her. She noticed that the woman was limping from her wound.

"Tarin, help her!" Vicarious called out. Hershel used his magic to burn the undead as Tarin went to the woman's aid and carried her.

"In here!"

They turned to see a man beckoning them to come inside his house. The group rushed inside. They found that survivors were hiding inside. Some were wearing armor and had weapons which they assumed were the soldiers.

"The undead has overrun our city!" A citizen exclaimed.

"Any longer and they'll kill us all!" Another shrieked. Tarin helped the woman lay on an empty bed.

"Not if we can help it." Tarin exclaimed. "We are the heroes you need. We will drive those horrid undead out of the city!"

"By burning them to dust and crushing their skulls one by one!" Hershel agreed with a wolfish grin as he stood by his friend. Tarin grimaced at Hershel's plan.

"I was thinking we should do it diplomatically but your idea will be our second plan." Tarin corrected.

"I'll help heal the injured and the soldiers." Grey stated. She looked pointedly at Ndawapeka and Ever.

"You two should go distract them and gather the undead together." She instructed.

The songstress agreed while the scholar sighs. The sword captain and mage hid as Ndawapeka started to sing. Her powerful voice caught the undead's attention as they limped towards her with malicious intent. Ndawapeka looked around for Ever but he was nowhere to be found. She continued to sing despite his absence.

"Where is Ever?" Hershel asked. Tarin shook his head.

When one of the undead got too close to Ndawapeka, Hershel flung a fire ball at them. The undead recoiled and the fire slowly spread to the rest. Tarin went to Ndawapeka's defense. With her dagger, Ndawapeka stabbed and sliced at the undead.  Tarin, despite the undead technically being dead, continued to immobilized them instead of killing them. Hershel charged in to the crowd. He burned them before they got too close. However, one managed to grab him. Hershel struggled against it as he was caught by surprise.

"A little help!" Hershel yelled out. Tarin rushed to his aid. He held out his sword but hesitated.

"Do not hurt my friend or I will not hesitate to hurt you!" Tarin warned. The undead ignored the swords captain despite his warning. It bared its teeth at the mage.

"Just kill it!" Hershel screamed. Ndawapeka stabbed the undead through its skull and Hershel pushed the body off of him.

Due to Vicarious's healing, the soldiers joined them to battle the undead. The undead was defeated quickly as they had grown weak from the fire. Once the last of the undead was gone, the citizens left from their houses and swarmed the heroes.

Ndawapeka soaked up all the glory as she waved at the cheering citizens.

"They're so friendly." Vicarious whispered to the songstress. Ndawapeka helped the healer stand as she was weak from healing the city's soldiers. The healer smiled gratefully at her friend. As Vicarious looked at the citizens, she whispered a thank you to Asha.

"Guess Ever was wrong about them disliking outsiders." Ndawapeka joked.

"You saved us!" A citizen exclaimed. "How can we ever repay you?"

"Depends on how much you'll give us." Hershel answered.

"Your city's safety is enough for us." Tarin interjected.

"Did you get rid of them all?" Ever asked as he finally joined them.

"No thanks to you." Hershel glowered.

"Sorry but I just found an interesting jewel." Ever said. He pulled out a green jewel from his satchel and held it out so they could see it. "I just wanted to take a closer look at the city's jewels."

The citizens gasped as they stared at the skeleton.

"He has the royal stone!" One of them exclaimed. "He's going to ruin us all."

The soldiers held up their swords at the 'heroes'. As the soldiers inched closer to them, the team huddled closer together.

"Ever, what did you do?" Vicarious asked.

"I did nothing but pick up a rock! How is that a crime?" Ever snapped, glaring at his team.

"It might be if it was a prized artifact." Tarin replied.

"It was on the ground." Ever defended.

"Just put it back where you found it." Ndawapeka hissed.

Ever scoffed and let go of the rock, letting it fall to the ground. However, once it touched the ground, it shattered into shards. Everyone stood in silence as they stared at the destroyed artifact.

Immediately, Hershel flung fireballs to the ground. The fire erupted and blocked the soldiers from the team.

They quickly rushed into a sprint.

"If you didn't want to help us, you should have just stayed still and not touch anything!" Tarin yelled.

"Not a single scholar has once written a detailed story of the Impeccable Green. I'll be the first one to write how violent the villagers are to outsiders." Ever defended. Despite running for his life, he was excited to write about his experience in the conservative village.

"I'll break your hands before you could even write in your stupid journal!" Hershel yelled.

They ran faster when they heard barking. Ever began to sweat as he realized that the citizens unleashed their hunting dogs. They finally escape from the hounds and continued their journey. The adventurers knew one thing. They'll never be welcomed back to Impeccable Green ever again.