The ghouls all charged in at me with lances set. I managed to deflect a few but as more and more appeared out of the mist I realised I may be out of my depth.  One lance knocked me onto my knees and another almost dislodged my arm. My lights dimmed and I crashed to the ground. I could still sense movement around me and hear the sounds of savage battle. The lead ghoul tried to make an escape to alert its superiors but Wrendell and Tangrisnir chased him down before he could escape while Samba and Lea held the line with support from the rogues dashing about snipping from the shadows.  Samba was magnificent and Lea was heroic but both ultimately were overwhelmed by the onslaught of the ghouls. Wrendell finally got back to the main battle and roared with authority. "Get up you lazy hunk of junk!".  I jumped back to attention, helped up some of my other fallen comrades, and pulled out the Robes of Sister Adelind releasing a blast of daylight that temporarily shocked the undead. We all took advantage of this moment to strike and soon we had the undead beaten. We hadn't come this close to defeat before and the combination of cold, death, and despair almost turned us around though after a group huddle and inspirational talk about no struggle being worth it without having to work hard for it. Samba's light began to brighten, My metal shell began to warm up, and Wrendell uttered a stoic quip that had us smiling. We would not lose hope. As we settled down for a much needed rest a strange sound began to be heard. A low moaning from the depths of the forest. I had a feeling that the presence of the Holy Robes may have had other effects on the area. While the others slept I noticed that something was moving out at the edges of our camp. Not hostile as such but dark and curious all the same and as the dim light of dawn began to light the camp we could see that we were completely surrounded by a large group of ancient dwarvish zombies. As I moved forward to make our way North the dwarves stepped aside, cautious of my presence. We tried to move quickly away from them but it soon became evident that the wood was full of these creatures and by the end of the next day the number of zombies had grown to a massive crowd. Again they stayed at a distance and the following morning we could see that hundreds were around us all mumbling strange words. We spent another unsettling day accompanied by the zombie dwarfs that were now getting bolder, and as one came close enough to touch me other began to follow suit. Their odd muttering became clear to me eventually. They seemed to be trying to tell me their tales from long ago. The tone of their stories had a plaintive quality as if they were seeking redemption for long forgotten crimes that had burdened them with the Allfather's curse. Their moaning seemed to wear into our psyche and put each of us into a strange contemplative fugue as we wandered North. As the day neared its end we emerged from the forest as the sun was dipping over the horizon. Ahead of us was the ruined city you sought, but we had spent longer than you had hoped to in the forest. The new moon was tonight.  When we left the close confines of the trees the dwarves stayed behind, hiding in the gloom. Before the city was a huge pit that had been excavated and we made our way through the gathering darkness to the edge of it. Down in the pit is an ancient temple, surrounded by standing stones and guarded by cultists and undead.