There were several efficient courses of action to take from here.  Unfortunately, Matt doesn't think of them due to a lack of practice in a lethal mindset.  So instead, Matt settles for silently rushing the gathering.  Intending to brace himself against the ground (wall crawling is handy that way) for a punch at one of them if he gets close enough.  Set phasers to fractured ribs Mr. Sulu.

OOC: Benefits of Matt's influence.  Somebody with him can kill dracula with a brick.  Downsides, Matt himself is incapable of killing anything without a conscious decision to, as it puts a cap on what he can dish out.

The spellcaster attempted to concentrate, then it was broken by the punch from Matt. Glaring at Matt, he spouted "You will suffer a thousandfold for your insolence."

Another of the dark mages turned to regard Matt as his comrade was punched out of the circle interrupting the spell. He was an older man perhaps in his fifties or sixties he was dressed in black robes with the hood pulled up shadowing his eyes. In his hand was a bone white staff with a long wicked looking blade at the end. He gripped the staff in both hands and swung it through the air a portal apearing along the blades trail. Out of the portal stepped four skeletons armed with various archaic weapons.

  Matt defaults to literal, "You're going to punch me a thousand times?"  He faces the skeletons, as he draws his favorite staff length of steel pipe.  "Could you guys wait a bit?  Punching me a thousand times could take a while, and he might be sad if you cut in front of him."

Ozzy grinned as he approached, using a flying kick aimed at one of the skeletons to try and help stop his charge. As he did, he interrupted, "Actually, I think that rib-punching appointment is going to have to be put on hold indefinitely. Our friends in black have an appointment with the Order that kind of takes precedence. You good with rescheduling, Matt?"

  Clarissa came down, but she stayed back, although somewhere along the line, she'd switched from human to catgirl, and had acquired a set of mixed plate and chainmail, enameled in sky blue and forest green, and with a crystalline looking TWIG thing for a wand.  But she wasn't diving into the battle.

The skeleton stumbled at Ozzy's kick but did not fall. Instead he turned on Ozzy with its pair of maces. The Holy warriors rushed down the stairs and the oldman smiled. "Joshua, How good to see you again and you brought your pretty little friend. I haven't seen the two of you since that gusiness in Syria.

  Sister Janice whipped out her oversized warhammers, and held them at the ready as he greeted them, then said "This time, I'm going to break your arms."

"After I give him some new holes. Who are your Friends Geoffrey?" Joshua stood at the middle of the stairs a dagger in each hand.

Ozzy parried the skeleton's mace attacks with a conjured paint sword, chuckling, "Hey, not bad, your skeletons hold up better than the ones conjured up by Konnish's poncy flunkie. They're not too terrible at fighting, either!"

He then shoved against the skeleton, before bringing the sword around in a horizontal slash, aiming to sever the spine.

  "Yeah, I'm pretty sure I can delay that show." Matt looks over to the thus far quiet creepy evil person.  "Okay, we've had threats and banter with the other two.  Anything you'd like to add that might disqualify you from a vicious pipe beating?" This question asked as Matt made a less graceful home run swing blunt end first at the closest skeleton.

  She smiled, and dipped, touching one finger to the design of blood on the floor.  Just before it rose up, forming something like a cage around him!  She said "You'll have to get to me first."

Ozzy smiled and said, "Huh... blood mage, eh? Looks like this might actually get interesting. Good! I like a little challenge. Looks like I'll get to bring out my gifts from Odin after all."

With that, he brought in his armor, messing with the transformation magic that turned it into a tattoo a bit to make the armor smaller, so it would fit his human form. The hammer's haft he shifted to make it longer and thinner, so he could use the massive weapon with two hands. Otherwise the handle would have been too big and thick for his smaller hands.

He then grinned and said, "Now, then, we'll see how your skeletons like the taste of Asgardian craftsmanship."

  She smiled, and as he moved to hit one of the skeletons, she threw a bolt . . . at Clarissa!  The scarlet energy whistled past him, and hit Clarissa like a punch, eliciting a very feline sounding snarl from her, as well as a very DEFINITE jolt of PAIN through their link.  It also spun her off the steps, but she landed on both hands and feet on the floor below the stairs.  Fur all fluffed and wings mantled.

  Clarissa swiped one hand along her mouth, wiping blood away, and told him silently {{Okay, you get that bitch, or *I* will.}}  She was PISSED.

The old man swiped his staff again summoning two more skeletons to replace the ones Matt and Ozzy dispatched.

 Brother Joshua flipped over the others on the stairs landing in a crouch and tossing two daggers at the necromancer.

  Sister Janice was beating the holy hells out of one of the other skeletons with her hammers, slowly reducing it to powder instead of bones.

Ozzy growled and charged at the blood mage, ducking past a clumsy blow from one of the skeletons as he did. As he approached the blood mage, he raised his hammer high for a mighty blow aimed at the blood mage's shoulder, aiming to incapacitate the mage rather than kill. After all, she might know something useful.

  She smiled up at him, then blasted at him with another bolt, daring a different direction than he was.  And PAIN lashed into him through Clarissa, another yowl escaping her.

  "Cage huh, I knew I was forgetting something."  That said, one of Death Cleave's minions likely had a run in the necromancer's namesake as the portal snapped shut before if had passed all the way through.  A metaphysical cage match now in play through his Influence.  "If you want to run, you'll have to do it the old fashioned way."

  Matt's extending head tail lashed out through the bloody cage bars, intent on dragging Bokor over for a talk about that whole thousandfold thing face to face as it were.

Ozzy cried out as her pain came through their link, causing him to stumble at the last moment and miss his swing. He growled as he got back to his feet, saying, "Oh, you tricky little witch... you're using my wife and I's link to keep me from doing much. But let's see how you like THIS!"

With that, he raised his arm and unleashed a small barrage of paint-arrows, hoping to at least distract the blood mage long enough for Clarissa to get up and get out of the line of fire.

  Clarissa told him {{You get her, I'll get the hell outside, so hopefully she STOPS using me against you.  There's no problem with distance, you know that.  And the bloody nose I've got needs a rag or something.}}  She hissed at the blood mage as she bounced up the stairs, intending to do precisely as she'd said, get out of range (and out of sight) so that the blood mage couldn't still hurt Ozzy THROUGH her.

The necromancer growled as Matt cut off his ability to raise more undead. One skeleton armed with a scimitar rushed Matt while the other two went after Sister Janice and Brother Joshua. The necromancer came at Matt on the opposite side as his skeleton and slashed at him with his bladed staff.

  Matt ignored the scimitar wielding skeleton, as the bars of the Scarlet's blood cage he had yet to bother doing anything about blocked it's slash with a.... what sound does a sword hitting solid blood make again?  Death Cleave on the other hand, had a proper pointy stick to jab through with.

  No Matt, getting stabbed in the chest is the opposite of dodging.  "Okay, I guess I'll deal with Mr. thousandfold later."  He gripped the staff with one hand, going to pull it out as he swung his extended headtail back to try and wrap around Mr. Cleave.