Beloc does a double take as Glut disappears, but when he reappears twenty feet away, the lithe elf leaps into action. He grips the makeshift club with both hands, charges forward, and makes an aerial attack. In an overhead smash, he brings the heavy wooden plank down on the Commander [43 DMG].

Splinters erupt from the impact and shards of wood are send in all directions. The makeshift weapon that was once in Beloc's hand is now in tatters.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:15, Sat 05 May 2018.

Apache runs up to nip at his heels [7 DMG].

Glut makes no sound as Beloc and Apache assault him. He instead rapidly hovers himself away from Beloc and Apache, withdrawing. He slides up the aisle and to the left, along the northern wall, and out of the sight from Beloc. In his haste rounding the corner, he enters melee range of Shiaran.

Glut moves from V-5 to U-1
Glut uses Dodge on Beloc: +1 to AC vs attacks from Beloc
Glut uses Mobility: +4 to AC on AoO when moving
Glut uses Withdraw - Full round action to leave threatened squares. Does not provoke AoO

Still being as quiet as possible, Shiaran waits while the undead commander moves toward her position.  He does not act as if he has seen her and his focus still seems to be on Beloc and Apache.  Of course, she has no weapons but her magic, but that she may need for something else.

An idea hits her then, a crazy idea, but one that has a big payoff if it works.  Instead of wasting time working through all the calculations of risk, she just leaps.  Her hand comes down on the commander's head at the same time she utters the word, "Astrapei!" which sends a lightning bolt down into his head and through the rest of his body to the ground.

[Shiaran casts Lightning Bolt on Glut's head.  DMG = 18.]

As Shiaran comes out of seemingly nowhere, Glut it taken by complete surprise. He notices Shiaran entirely too late and the surge of electricity through him settles his resolve to escape. He leans away from Shiaran and the air around him thickens, but for a scant second, before he slips out of view completely. An ever so feint voice that sounds dozens of feet away gives a final taunt.

"This isn't over" he chuckles. "No, this is only the beginning. I've wanted to gauge you, and I'm not disappointed in the slightest. When next we meet, I'll have the proper setting in order. Until then.. try not to die. I'd rather like to recruit the two of you to the Black Fangs".
This message was last updated by the player at 01:06, Sun 06 May 2018.

Beloc and Apache come charging around the corner just in time to see him disapparate away with his ominous warning. He walks over to Shiaran, whom clearly looks unharmed. "I guess you ran him off. Nice job."

The incessant banging on the warehouse door pulls his attention. "We should let them know everything is alright. Perhaps we just tell them it was the wind."

As if on cue, the doors swing open again with Sarge barking orders. "What in the 9 hells is going on?! Status report!".

"Thanks. "  She wipes her hands on the wall.

When the door flies open and the seargent starts barking orders, she raises an eyebrow but says nothing since Beloc is in charge.

Beloc walks over to where Apache's crate of oil was deposited and picks it up. He calmly hands it over to the sergeant. "The last crate was trickier than expected but is all ready to go if you would kindly do the honors. We don't have much time to waste."

Sarge doesn't buy Beloc's story one bit and opens his mouth to say something. He stops and thinks a moment before deciding it isn't worth it. The group gathers the remaining crates of oil and begins the short trek back to the wall.

The fighting on top of the wall has reached a fever pitch. When the four make it back to the point behind cover that they started on, they count 3 dead ghouls atop the walls and twice as many dead soldiers with even more wounded. They desperately clinging for cover while blind firing rifles over the edge and down into the mob only a few feet below..

"It's escalating faster than expected." He addresses Shiaran and the other two soldiers and instructs them to start laying down a layer of oil on the mounting pile of zombies.

"Try for as much cover as possible, but keep your heads down. Shiaran and I have a little surprise for them. Apache, any hostile that comes over that wall, bring them down."

He quickly grabs a pint of oil, leans over the edge of the wall, and tosses it down onto the pile with enough force that breaks open covering the nearby undead in oil.

Beloc issues the guard command to Apache.

Shiaran will allow the men to do the heavy lifting while she focuses on keeping the wall clear of intruders.  She carries the SMP-12 from Glut on her, more to keep stray hands from getting hold of it, in case it's cursed, than to use.  She finds another SMP to use in close combat, but relies on her pistols mostly.  The objective is to not let anything get close enough to need the SMP.

If anything looks like it might be getting that close, she will drop the pistols and swing the shotgun up to the ready instead.

She also grabs any melee weapons she can find up to and including short swords.

At the moment, she is waiting for Beloc's order to drop the crystal, irritated that she had to use her lightning bolt on Glut.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:49, Mon 07 May 2018.

Over the next several minutes, Beloc and two others continue to lob pints of oil over the wall on to the pile of undead. "Come at them from as many angles as possible." He instructs them to attack from the left and right while he goes center.

When the last crate is emptied, he reaches into his pack and removes the red gem collected several "days" back, and looks over to Shiaran. "It's time."

Shiaran nods and pulls out her own shard.  She aims for the pile about a quarter of the way up from the ground on one side.  "Don't aim for the top, aim for the base.  It will have more effect.  Opposite side from me."  When Beloc nods his understanding she rares back and throws hard.

[Ranged attack - base of 18 rolled + any mods for hitting a large pile of bodies directly below]

Beloc nods and takes up position on the other side. He aims for a point similar to Shiaran, about a quarter the way up from the bottom.

[Ranged attack - base of 27 rolled + any mods for hitting a large pile of bodies directly below]

The crystals impact in near unison, creating two massive gouts of flame and destruction. The bulk of the pile erupts in a fiery torrent of shrieks and black smoke. The smell of charred flesh is overpowering as a dark cloud billows up, completely obscuring the troops on the wall from the hidden sharpshooters out at range on the ground below.

It isn't apparent exactly what's going on just outside the wall, but the sounds that can be heard over the crackling fire and dying screams of ghouls suggests the unliving ladder has toppled and the what is left of the enemy has been scattered.

Sarge barks orders left and right at the troops closest to the edge, sending them away from the noxious fumes and "smoke screen", to better positioins along the wall with full cover. He looks back at Shiaran and Beloc just before moving himself, gives a quick two finger salute on the side of his brow, then dashes off to join the men under his command. With renewed vigor the fighting men of Fildegarne launch a counter attack from their new position. The last thing the pair hears out of Sarge before the sounds of gunfire drown out any yelling is "The enemy suffers from acute lead deficiency boys! Fix that!".

Dunnegan remains behind at the cover where he first spoke to Shiaran and Beloc.

Shiaran grins at the Sarge then sits down with her back against the wall for a moment to catch her breath and think.  She looks over at Beloc.  "Well, that was a good thirty minutes.  We have, what, a little less than hours left before Sypher and all get here?  What do you want to do now, boss?"

Beloc squats down beside Shiaran and nods. "An hour, maybe two." He scoops up a spare rifle from the ground and does a quick ammo check.

"We did a good job here. Let's clean up here and make sure this will buy us a few hours to finish our job uninterrupted. Take out a few stragglers and head off to meet the others before we get more questions."

"If I had the right gun I might be able to take out some of their snipers.  You and Leukos could be my spotters."  She shrugs.  Without a sniper rifle of her own, the point is moot.  "If not, we just stay on the walls and help keep it clear?"

"Their snipers will have a hard enough time shooting through the smoke screen we just created. That should protect the wall from long range attacks well enough. We can take out the closest threats, and while the rest scatter, we can slip away to meet the others. Five, ten minutes, tops."

"Roger that."  She closes her eyes and leans her head back for a second.  "Hey, Beloc?"

Beloc pops up over the wall, cracks a few shots off, and quickly hunkers back down beside Shiaran. He looks over at her while reloading a few more rounds. "Everything alright?"

"Yup.  Just wanted to say you did a great job as c/o and that I'm sorry for being such a...well, pain in your backside early on.  Truce?"  She opens her eyes and gives him a winning smile.

The loading mechanism slips from Beloc's fingers and clangs back into place. He returns a pleasant smile back to Shiaran. "Thank you, that means a lot. It was a first for me as well. I've never had to work with others from so many different cultures. I'm sure I made mistakes as well."

He places his rifle back down on the ground. "The past has already been forgotten." Beloc stands up and extends a hand. "Shall we go meet the others?"

Shiaran grabs the hand and allows the muscular elf pull her own slight frame to its feet.  A random ghoul makes it to the top of the wall, but she pops off a shot that hits it square between the eyes, forcing it off the wall from the momentum and to it's second death.

"Let's," she says wiggling her eyebrows.