I had finished searching the body for valuables. I assumed the person was a bandit, so I didn't feel too bad about robbing the dead. They were probably ill gotten gains anyways. That's what I'm telling myself at least.
Unfortunately, there wasn't much on him. In the end I was only able to retrieve 5 bronze, 1 silver, and a small dagger. I guess any money is good at this point, plus I had wanted a dagger anyways. After finishing my looting of the body, I ordered the rabbits.
"Rabbits, split up, go around and see if you can find anyone else. Immediately come back and go to my right side if you find anything. If you cannot find anything in five minutes, come back to my left side. Go now...wait...do they know what five minutes is?"
I had sent the two rabbits off to see if there was anyone else around. I'm really hoping that the magic that drives [𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞] allows them to use my understanding of time. Oh wait, wasn't I able to summon the zombie remotely during the wagon attack? Since it was ingrained in me to need to speak to someone to communicate, I had forgotten I could command them remotely with my mind. I guess worst case I'll just recall them if they were gone too long.
Wait if they can interpret my thoughts.... then can't I interpret theirs? I looked over at Tarman, well I guess I should keep busy until they come back anyways.
𝘛𝘢𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘯, 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘦.
The zombie turned what remained of its head toward me. Good, it wasn't just a fluke the first time. Looks like remote commands with my thoughts still work.
𝘛𝘢𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘯, 𝘥𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘢𝘣𝘣𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦?
I concentrated my mind while looking at Tarman. It was as if I was trying to pull something intangible from the air.
𝘏𝘶𝘩? 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴?
I didn't get words, but instead I got a..... feeling? It was hard to describe, maybe I should say it is like a sixth sense? However, instead of seeing dead people, I can "feel" that the zombie was trying to convey a "no". It was an odd sensation. Honestly I felt a little violated..... is this how they feel? Have I been violating the zombies this entire time? Wait, no, that isn't right! I'm not a necrophiliac you know?!? Even if I was I'd need a female zombie! All I have right now is a dude and some rabbits so...
While I was conducting my experiment and having another moral crisis I saw one of the rabbits coming back. It made its way to my right side. 𝘓𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨.
I focused my thoughts towards the direction where I "felt" the other rabbit and recalled it. Soon enough it had returned to me. This is pretty useful, but I wonder how it will scale if I have hundreds of minions. Will I be able to differentiate between? Well, I can only have three right now anyways, so that sounds like another future me problem. Yup.
After throwing more problems to my future self, I focused again to the rabbit that had found something.
𝘊𝘢𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥?
Again I tried to grasp what was essentially air with my thoughts and then I felt that it had said "yes".
𝘓𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦. 𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘦𝘭𝘴𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘮𝘦.
**********
We had arrived in what seemed like an empty corner of the back area. I looked around, but couldn't see anything.
"There isn't anything here. Are you sure this is the place?"
While the telepathic conversation was convenient I had decided to talk to them if I could. Dead silence with a bunch of undead felt a bit..... sad. Talking with a bunch of undead since they were your only company.... is a little less sad.....probably.
While I was having my deep thoughts, I noticed that the rabbit had vanished. I looked around me, but couldn't see it anywhere.
𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘦.
It was only a few moments before I saw movement in a dark corner of the wall. The rabbit had popped out of a small hole at the bottom of it. 𝘈 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘵 𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘮 𝘩𝘶𝘩?
I didn't have the firepower to tear through a rock wall, so I started looking around. I groped the wall, hoping to find the secret spot that would have it open. I finally felt an area that had a slight compression in the otherwise smooth stone. I pressed down.
I had expected the wall to slide open, but instead it literally turned into sand. The sand fell towards the floor and vanished before landing. The room behind the wall was dimly lit, but it was more than enough to allow me to immediately take in the sight. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴...𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘶𝘯𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘢𝘯𝘵.