Shambles of the Forgotten Stand

The party picks through the churned earth and splintered wood of a small skirmish site where a squad of undead shamblers—the remains of a hastily routed militia—rose from shallow graves. The ground is trampled, smeared with old blood and dried mud. Most of the usable gear is corroded or broken, but a few intact items and valuables remain: a handful of coins and a soldier's map case, a dull but serviceable blade, a small gem pried from a dead captain's pouch, and the occasional useful scrap for a tinkerer or ritualist. The eerie thing is a single sealed vial of clear liquid that glints like hope amid the rot—a simple healing potion likely scavenged from a medic's kit before the dead rose.