With all of the footman soldiers having been wiped out in the subsequent attacks, the two archers make for safer havens while lining up another set of shots which bounce off of Solomon's armor and Cho'kobo's barding respectively. The black skeletons engaged with Kuldar, Kilgur, and Temnir move strategically, playing off one another in order to get an advantage on the pair, temporarily separating them and flanking the dwarf and his mount. Luckily, it seems that Kuldar had been expecting something like this and brandishes his weapon to parry one attack and kicks the other away as he attempts to hop out of Kuldar's saddle, causing the maneuver to take on a completely unexpected degree of complexity.
"Kilgur, attack them!" Not hesitating, the boar lunges out with its tusks and hooks one of the skeleton's ribcage with a tuck, pulling until its sternum popped and the entire skeleton began to crumble. The skeleton that had been trampled and knocked prone by Raznik's summoned auroch looks like it's going to attack the beast until it suddenly poofs out of existence at which point the undead looks to Renard though his feeble attempt at an attack cannot breach the holy warrior's defenses.
The one recovering from the vicious attacks from both Solomon and Cho'kobo recovers enough to give its attack another go though with it's vertebrae nearly severed, it is a feeble attempt and a swing from Solomon's tetsubo, fiery-blue serpentine aura trailing behind it, smashes the blade out of the way as well as puts a mighty crack in its skull. Cho'kobo reaches out with its beak once again and clamps on to the skeleton's spinal cord, the second swing from Solomon's battering-ram-of-a-weapon connecting again with the top of the skeleton's head, sending shards of blackened bone clattering to the floor in several directions. His immediate foes slain, he turns his attention to the cultists and those more fit to deal with them immediately.
"Don't let them finish their spell! Someone cut the devil's tongue from the heads!" Seeing Skraag free from opponents and scanning for a target, the paladin attempts to fixate the small spitfire on them.
"Skraag, use that dragon's breath you keep bragging about! Worry not if I'm in the way!" "I will try as well," Raznik says as he moves forward to get in range for an attack though is slower than Skraag at taking initiative.
With skeletons in between him and his target, the kobold dashes through the flurry of bones and steel unscathed and quickly spits out a stream of flame from his mouth, once again engulfing the back half of the room in flames. The skeletal archer unlucky enough to remain in the trajectory is immediately turned into a conflagration and falls apart into a charred pile of what once resembled bones and armor; it's bow completely consumed in the blast. The blue eyed man takes the brunt of the attack on top of the already burning sphere at his feet that flares up at the contact with the new source of fire, damaging him and his attire further. As for the cultists, arguably the main aim of the attack, the one closest to the kobold ignites and begins screaming in excruciating pain, dropping to the ground and rolling around frantically. The action is futile though and soon enough he succumbs to the flames and turns into a burning pile, unmoving. The other caster, however, takes the full force of the attack but still manages to keep her feet. While unable to dodge out of the way, she was close enough to the fringe of the attack to keep from igniting. Her flesh seared and peeling off in multiple places, her spell lost, and her will broken, she drops to her knees, places her head in her hands, and begins wailing in pain and hopelessness.
"I suspect our draconic friend would appreciate some of your healing magic," the summoner suggests to Renard as he moves closer. Seeming to agree with the prognosis, the oracle moves back from the skeleton slightly and releases a burst of holy energy that envelops his allies, stitching wounds and staunching bleeding. Hearing Raznik, Kuldar turns to Temnir and quickly, a spell leaves his lips and a green light encompasses his hands before administering aid to the robed man.
"Alright lad, this oughta fix ya up." Nodding in thanks, Temnir runs a wide arc around the nearby skeleton out of reach of its blades and tries to get a line on the nobleman though currently the flames obscure his vision of the man so casts a spell on himself instead.
Surveying the battle and seeing that Skraag made short work of the cultist duo Raznik frowns to himself as his earth elemental had already moved in position to make the final blow. The opportunity is taken from him regardless though as a roiling black and purple sword suddenly thrusts through the woman's neck before ripping out sideways and leaving her half-decapitated in a puddle of her own blood on the floor.
"Must I do every trifling thing myself?" The Blue Eyed Devil muses aloud with an almost melancholy tone, bringing his hand to his head in an exasperated manner. Pointing to the ground where the cultists had been directing their magic, he calls out suddenly in an aggressive manner,
"And shade! Stop lingering around and fulfill your bond!" The roiling sword seems to then extend and enter the ground, causing the stirring bones to immediately burst forth in what looks like the death motions of an extremely large creature, the purple ectoplasm from Blaith's demise wrapping around the bones and being absorbed by them, discoloring them to that of a bad bruise.
What raises itself from the ground is a terror the likes that the group has yet to encounter thus far. The sheer enormity of the skeletal construct is terrifying to behold, it's two hands ending in massive claws black as night, it's skull contorted in an image of rage. As it lifts itself out of the ground fully, it stands near fifteen feet tall though it hunches itself over slightly, it's arms bent slightly with its claws outstretched, looking for its first prey. To make matters worse, the farther out of the ground it makes it, the more it's body begins to flicker in and out of reality and distort. The worst part, however, occurs when it opens its mouth full of razor sharp teeth and a familiar, yet slightly distorted voice emerges,
"Yes, yes, bring to zero now. All shall die. All shall die. ALL SHALL DIE."
Initiative Order
25 Skeletons
22 Skraag
20 Cultists
20 Solomon & Cho'kobo
19 Raznik
15 Renard
13 Giant Skeleton / Blaith's Allip
11 Kuldar
10 The Blue Eyed Devil
6 Temnir
2 Kilgur
Overall Party Status (Cumulative)
Cho'kobo: Full HP
Kilgur: Full HP
Kuldar: Full HP + -6 STR
Raznik: Full HP
- Medium Earth Elemental: Full HP
Renard: Full HP + -3 STR
Skraag: -14 HP
Solomon: -6 HP + -4 STR
Temnir: Full HP
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:37, Sun 04 Nov 2012.
Seeing the skeleton coming up behind Renard who seemed to be unaware of it, Raznik casts quickly, summoning a gleaming white auroch whose horns spiraled out from its body in quite the offensive manner and sent it charging at the offender. It never stood a chance. Lowering its horns, the impact sends shards of bones flying everywhere and even gets the shortsword it had been wielding stuck in the cavern wall. Renard, surprised at the noise behind him, he nods in thanks to the summoner and moved forward to better support the group should the need arise.
In a stunning display of mastery over extra planar creatures, the ground behind the Blue Eyed Devil shakes for a moment before an earth elemental, stony fists already moving in for the attack, erupts from the floor and in a flurry of stone pummels the noble's head with one hand and causes the archer skeleton's ribcage to explode in every direction as it's head rolls down the incline; the only thing left relatively intact. The nobleman whirls around but by then, the elemental has already disappeared from sight, becoming one with the ground once again which prompts a loud curse from the man. Simultaneously, the previously summoned auroch charges headlong with a loud cry, and although it successfully tramples the skeleton underfoot and knocks it prone, the undead scores a hit on its underside with one of its short swords.
