There are a lot of points to this discussion. Many people want a dynamic
game with more 'real' feel to it. The undead invasion definitely accomplish
both those goals.
I'd even like to see a war over the commonlands where dark elf and freeport
soldiers of various levels started spawning and fighting both each other and
the players in the area. Very realistic, a pain if you want to travel
freely but so what that's the way it would be if this were real.

Q Hills may be a newbie zone but Kithicor really isn't. Most of the people
who hunt in Kithicor (never more than 12 at a time on E'ci before now) hunt
the orcs along the west wall and are levels 15-20. The ranger guild there
is new and besieged already according to the storyline so even that part
makes sense. All the ghoul messenger stuff was a foreshadowing of this
eventuality so it should not have been much of a surprise that something was
going to happen in Kithicor.

Why of all people would bards complain about this? I can tell from comments
on this list that I may not be a master tactician or combat fighter, but
apparently I am a master traveler. I found Kithicor exciting in the heart
of the event with red undead all around. I did corpse recoveries for plays
twice my level who were going to wait for daylight until I showed them how
easily I could run thru and avoid getting hurt. I even helped out in a
meager way with a few battles and healing people up in between battles.

It would take extremely bad luck or carelessness for a bard over 15th level
to die in Kithicor even with the undead out and about. I ran thru about 20
times dodging undead and never took more than a bubble of damage at a time.
Yes, I had to keep my eyes open and be really careful, but tension is fun!
Once a zombie commander spawned right beside me, I just hit the Incoming to
Rivervale button and kept on motoring along. The reception committee at
Rivervale made short work of the commander. If they couldn't have they
would have zoned and so would I, no big deal.

I think events like this are good for the game. They create an atmosphere
of excitement and menace. They make the game feel real. Most importantly
of all they give Bards a chance to shine as we can usually deal with events
like this long before other classes can and provide actual meaningful
support to people far beyond our experience.

Pick up your tents, put out your campfires, and go out there and experience
the world! It's an exciting dangerous place, full of adventure.

Kitasi