Clearly Finn is a depressed man.  Not the kind of crippling depression that keeps a person bedridden often found in cripples, scorned lovers and unemployed bards, no recent events have just made the man sour and cross.  Despite his best guess work the long await capture of Mika'il has led to nothing.  Absolutely fucking nothing.  No spell book.  No hidden treasure trove.  No secrets of magical lore to be devoured by himself and Judoc like blueberry pie.

But as is his nature by the time the group is rested and ready Razzel is back to his old plucky upbeat self.  Not long after they stumble into the room described by Mika'il and while his explanation lacked detail, he captured the general sense of danger.   When he feels the elbow of the swordsman Finn happily slides to the side.


OOC:
Move to the side so that Gustav can get to the front.  Once Magnus and Gustav have formed a front row move behind them leaving 1 hex for them to retreat.  Try to spot Sadda.

Though Magnus sees a small room of horrors ahead of him - he knows there are but two simple options: charge forward to beat his foe back towards a corner, or yield ground in the hopes of stretching them thin...  Though the implications of each choice seem to form long lists of pros and cons in his head, he seems to stick on the fact that there are six other men behind him who likely can't even see the fight ahead.  Magnus knows if he were to start his retreat, there is almost no chance he would make it more than a few feet before he bumped into Finn, who would be blocked off by Bjorn...  Besides, they could always retreat later.

Lunging forward on his hooves, Magnus swats out with his mace, flinging the weapon towards the etherial skull that floats just ahead of him, it's jaw agape as it trails a phantasmic stream of blue.  But the thing is small, and the strike flies wide, cleaving instead a small gulley through the dripping trail of energy where the thing's neck should be attached, leaving the skull itself unharmed

Gustav charges forward as well, pushing his way past Finn, his broadsword flashing in hand, his small shield readied in the other.  Finn makes ready to push ahead as well, though as he moves behind the others, Bjorn pushes him aside, knocking him back against the wall as the Northman joins the front lines with the Minotaur and the Araterrean.  Finn pushes himself forward again, stepping up on his toes to see over the defensive line ahead, though he cannot make anything out apart from the several lines of bones beyond.

Ahead of him, Magnus flashes his shield upwards, swatting away one of the skulls that float in his direction, though another darts in to the side, spraying Magnus with a horrid spray, making the minotaur double back in pain as he retreats towards the side wall.  One of the things whizzes by, charging Finn who evades backwards as the skull spews forwards its horrid breath, barely missing the thief as he retreats backwards.

"Duck!"  Terri shouts from behind him, the sound of her taught bowstring singing beneath the din of clashing weapons and shields ahead.

Meanwhile, the skeletons lumber onwards, their weapons held ahead of them, readied for a fight.  One swings it's axe at Gustav, who deftly parries the blow and returns the cut, slashing the monster neatly through the spinal column, before he collapses towards the floor, unmoving...

OOC:  Ok, obviously a lot has been left unsaid here.  Those who have said they have waited, or done something other than move ahead, have staid in place (Judoc and Rondald) though now they should be well aware of the battle raging ahead.  Magnus made a few defenses, though missed one against one of the little skull heads, and took a bit of damage as the thing sprayed him in the face with some sort of toxic gas.  All of the front line (Gustav, Bjorn, Magnus) are facing down, as is Finn.  The skull behind the front line is facing towards Finn, its mouth agape and smoking.  The three skeletons south of the front lines all have weapons.  A has an axe (although he was cut in twain by Gustav and is down, sorry for missing that), S has a rusted Broadsword, and C has a length of chain with shortstaffs on either end.  The other skeletons seem to have weapons as well, though it is hard to focus on anything other than the immediate threat.

Lets do two more rounds of action.


The Floating Skull
This message was last edited by the GM at 06:20, Sun 24 Nov 2019.

Seeing nothing behind them, Rondald moves forward, looking for a chance to help...
This message was last edited by the GM at 06:29, Sun 24 Nov 2019.

Judoc steps forward, staff at the ready. The tight confines of the tunnel constrict his options, but from the sounds ahead, the caves are simply filled with the undead. Mika’il has said even he could not get through, though the necromancer may have been lying in order to trick the group into doing his heavy lifting for him.

OOC: Move forward, although do not push or crowd the people in front of him. Attack when possible.

With his opponent down, Gustav swings at the floating head, keeping his shield handy to block any miasma it might project his way.

True to his persona Finn is more mesmerized by the weird and strange sights before him.  People slaved to manual labor, too afraid to risk danger for fame and fortune, rob themselves of the hidden splendors that this world has to offer.  For years to come Razzel can regale common rooms full of half drunk patrons with this story and a handful of others from this adventure alone.

Finn dances around dodging this way and that, trying to craft his spell work to aid in fighting this glowing menace.  But the distraction proves too great and the happy go lucky thief mage only finds frustration.

The fur along Magnus's left shoulder sizzled and withered under whatever the skull had sprayed upon Magnus, and the Minotaur grimaced hard as it ate away at the flesh beneath with a vomit inducing smell.

More frantically now he swung overhand again and again in an attempt to cave in the ominous animated deaths head, all too conscious of the unthinking corpses steadily hemming them in.

Hemmed in near the entrance of the room and fighting shoulder to shoulder, Magnus, Bjorn, and Gustav hack away at their foes, though they seem to make little progress, at least at first.  Magnus swings his massive mace at the bobbing skull though the quick movement and the small size of the foe makes the target exceedingly hard to hit.  Gustav too, swings his sword and cannot connect, finding himself immediately on the defensive and pulling his shield in front of his face to protect against the toxic spray of the undead.

Bjorn is the first one to make a hit, smashing through the chain-wielding skeleton in a single blow and stepping forward, his shield raised against the onslaught of raised weapons.  Magnus too, manages to hit his opponent finally, a blow that shatters the thing mid-air and sends it tumbling to the ground below, the blue etherial flicker snuffed out.

The other blue skulls however, seem ill content to stay on the front lines and float on, one over Magnus's shoulder, and another over Gustav as they make their way back towards Finn, who seems to be having a terrible time of casting his spells.  Barely conscious of anything but the floating bit of undeath before him, Finn cannot seem to keep his concentration together, failing on both his first spell and on his attempt to get out of the way of the blast as the thing shoots out its smog of horror, hitting Finn about the facemask and causing him to bluster and cough as the poison sets into his face.

Twang!  "Shit!"  Terri squeaks as her arrow fires off, giving Finn a small moment of panic (for he never did duck as she asked) though luckily the arrow buzzes just over his left shoulder, missing the floating skull and Gustav behind before it chips off a bit of shoulder on one of the skeletons standing near the end of the line on it's way downhill.  The sound is masked however, by Bjorn slashing through yet another of the skeletons, rending off both an arm and a leg with the same swing and leaving the thing useless.

Judoc and Rondald run up behind, seeing the skull jump over Finn's shoulder and move beyond.  Judoc takes a swing with his staff though he proves to have much the same problems of the two at the front of the room...

With all of the din of the combat and the necklace lights flying willy-nilly, at first it is difficult to make out the change standing at the back of the room ahead.  After all, there is bone everywhere both dead and undead, not to mention the horrid, floating skulls dancing from floor to ceiling.  But never the less, the change comes.  Only after a moment, do the three at the front become aware of it, the nine foot tall conglomeration of bone wielding an onyx black sword and a tower shield.  It is no skeleton, but the amalgamation of them, with twenty or more skulls glaring out at them from shoulder blades, kneecaps, between ribs, not to mention the four or five which seem to combine to make a massive collarbone on which the real skull sits upon.  It glares through hollow eyes for a moment before starting forward to the fray...



OOC:  Ok, edits to the map again.  Apologies, I didn't realize until after saving it that Magnus's last blow was in fact a hit and shattered his blue skull, so that one is dead and that sort of half-space is vacant.  Weapons in the front lines are as follows: Spear, Axe, Mace, Staff.  Please note that the blue skulls are the size of a skull, and are thusly privy to a SM that is less than 0.  Bjorn has taken out the Chain and Sword wielders, though two more with swords and shields have come in through the back room in front of the Bone Sovereign.

Let's do another two rounds of action.

Gustav swings at S, planning to dispatch it and then go for A.
He keeps his Shield ready to block any attacks.

           Made by 3

As a teen Finn Razzel spent copious amounts of free time in tavern rooms and beer halls swapping stories with all manner of folk.  Woodsmen, caravan guards, adventurers, merchants and anyone else with a reasonable tale from some far off and remote place.  Finn has an eye for spotting bullshit and he's heard some tall tales over the years.  Good bullshitters have a knack for finding the right balance.  For instance, tell a story about fighting a dragon and people instantly know you're full of it.  Tell a tale about fighting a lone rampaging barbarian and you'll bore you're crowd.  But tell a tale about you saw a dragon and hid from it to live and tell the tale, now that has the right balance between impossible and believable.  Very very unlikely, but believable.

When the monstrosity appears a cold chill runs up and down his spine.  Certainly the man is afraid.  He's faced some tough odds in his time but nothing like this.  An actual daemon.  He's heard stories spun over a nights worth of drinking and lying, but he's never once believed the tales.  And now in this moment mixed in with real fear for his own life and that of his friends, is the thought that, when he tells this tale in the coming years, who will believe him?


OOC:
Round 1:  Shit my pants
Round 2:  Cry like a little girl

Kidding.  Real actions are in PM

From the sounds of battle ahead, Judoc wonders just how many undead are arrayed against them. It sounds like a miniature army. Perdition is aptly named if it holds so many of the dead within its catacombs.

Grunting as his swipe misses the skull, Judoc reminds himself to spend more time training with his staff. Thus far, he has focused primarily on his magical studies, and he has observed numerous times how handy it is to have some martial prowess as well. He knows he will need to prioritize this training, as enamored as he usually is in his spellbooks.

"I ain't afraid of no skull," Judoc says as he cockily steps forward, pointing his staff out in front of him at the skull and concentrating.

OOC: Concentrate.

Magnus worked to keep should to shoulder with Bjorn as they steadily pressed the assault. The man could fight, that much was clear, and as Magnus cocked back the mace and lumbered forward  he could make out the dim outlines of something larger and more menacing at the back of the line.

"Something's coming!" He yelled above din of armor and the clacking of their ossified opponents. Technically they were surrounded  by somethings, things that should not be, the remains of those long passed on brought into desecrated service to their enemies. Any one of them could kill with the thrust of a rusty spear.

But this something, this raised Magnus's hackles with the mere shifting of a distant outline.

Though the chamber of the dead is small, the many moving denizens of the undead compound the problem.  Their vacant eye sockets gaping wide as their jaws hang akimbo, reveling in the chaos and bedlam.

Still, our heroes press the fight forward, especially Magnus, who steps up to fill the gap next to Bjorn.  Immediately, the minotaur finds himself squaring off against one of the monsters, equipped with a quarterstaff that is already swinging his direction!  Without missing a beat however, Magnus catches the blow across the rim of his shield, returning the hit with one of his own mace which is quickly batted to the side...  In another moment however, the two are attacking the other again, this time with each scoring a hit, Magnus taking a bruising blow across his chain armor on his chest.  However, it is the skeleton that seems to get the far worse end of the deal, the studded shattering ribs and vertebrae, silencing the unlife in a moment as the staff and the bone both fall to the ground, unmoving.

Bjorn too, manages to get in a hit, cutting off the mace arm of the skeleton to his left before diverting his attention to the axe wielder who neatly dodges the Northman's axe.  Bjorn's shield flashes this way and that, catching blow after blow off the rim, though it splinters and nearly buckles as the axe wielder makes an attack of its own.

Gustav too, seems to be getting in his own licks, slashing a neat gash across the shoulder of the spear wielding skeleton.  The monster's return attack is sloppy, easily batted aside, though perhaps the attack makes the swordsman overconfident...  for he had forgotten entirely about the small little floating skull which had just previously danced past and above him without retort.  It is therefore somewhat of a surprise as Gustav feels the spray of toxic foulness spreading over the back of his head and neck.  It almost enough to take the swordsman's head out of the fight, though the flash of steel brings him quickly back...  He swats his shield out from the side, barely catching the blade of a two-handed axe off the face, his own head spinning from the quick succession.  He does not stay stunned for long however, slashing out his own sword again and severing neatly the leg of the spear-wielder in front of him which crashes to the floor though still holds onto its weapon...

Meanwhile, Finn finally makes good with his spellwork, casting his protective enchantment as he simultaneously dips below the toxic blast of the skull ahead of him.  Smirking with his own luck, Finn lashes out with his longknife, though his aim is bad, missing the skull badly though it seems to be enough to force the foe off his own attack, sending its spray high and off the mark.

Judoc meanwhile with a whispered word has cast his own spell, which spouts a jet of flame as long as a man's body from the tip of his staff.  Judoc cuts the weapon through the air neatly, bisecting the skull which explodes in flames for the moment as it stops midiar just long enough for Judoc to cut his weapon back, deliberately jabbing the jet of flame straight through the undead and bursting the skull in fragments as the floating undead simply ceases to exist...

"Shit!"  Rondald shouts from just behind, his aim on the floating skull foiled.  Instead of firing he charges forward and around the corner, searching for a better shot for his weapon.

Towards the back of the fight, the two lieutenants of bone press towards the edges of the fight, flanking their master who follows from behind.  The last and greatest of them though, the menagerie of bone standing 9 feet high, is a wonder that even the most experienced of men must stop to behold.

As the thing approaches the front, its massive size crowding out the other, smaller skeletons it seems not to shove it's way through, but to actually absorb those undead that are in it's way.  In a moment, two skeletons, bone, sinew, club and all are merely no longer there, their pieces and parts sucked up against the stack of moving bone with it's dozens of heads...  Now a mere step from the front, it raises its shield, the black sword borne back for attack...

OOC:  Map posted below.  Judoc killed a skull, Magnus killed a skeleton, Gustav crippled (and it'll probably soon fail an HT roll) a skeleton, and Bjorn crippled a skeleton as well.  No significant damage to the good guys yet...  Please remember through that retreating can help your defenses (if you have room to retreat) as can feverish defenses (which add +2 but cost 1 fatigue).  We are cutting the defense rolls pretty fine in a few cases.

Let's do another two seconds of action.

For the Map, S is the spear wielder (prone), A is axe, M is mace (crippled), MS is morning-star (no attacks yet), SS is sword and shield, BA is battle axe (two handed axe).

Rondald is frustrated by being out of the action. His crossbow is unlikely to be effective against bone, so he changes it out for his axe and  moves past Terri, and past Finn as well if he can, getting to a position to swat one of these skulls out of the air...
This message was last edited by the player at 07:17, Tue 03 Dec 2019.

Gustav swings to remove the spear as a threat, then steps back as he seeks to disarm (literally) the Battle Axe wielding skeleton. He notes the large monster coming but has to finish this business first.

Finn remembers a favorite saying of one of his mentors.  A teacher when the man was young and learning the ropes of being a mercenary and street thug.  'A hero bends but he does not break'.  Finn has always taken this to mean that men who stand up, who courageously fight against all odds, they will miss the mark from time to time but they always defeat their foe.  Military strategists prefer the expression 'Lose the battle but win the war'.  And so it goes for the plucky mage-thief, just when he needs it most his spell craft works like the flawlessness of a...thing that is perfect.  Some might say its down to luck.  Random chance.  But they are just sore losers.  Razzel understands it is grit.  It is gumption.  Some fire inside a man swells and pushes back against tyranny, and wins out.  Finns own magnificent skill and talent have once again carried him onward to victory.

He moves to dance back and is surprised to himself bumping into a body.  Had they not listened to him?  Had they not been paying attention when he repeatedly drilled them on the merits of leaving space?  In any fight a person needs room to duck and weave.  With a growl Finn barks, ”Back up damn you!!”
This message was last edited by the player at 20:43, Tue 03 Dec 2019.

Finally, Judoc has an opportunity to do what he does best, roasting the undead with a burst of flame. Once the skull has been eliminated, he swivels his head to identify the next target, but everything else seems to be down the tunnel. He can hear sounds of battle around the corner, but as yet, he has no line of sight on the action. With Rondad and Terri ahead, Judoc has no choice but to wait for his chance to strike.

When Finn yells out his command, Judoc takes a step backward.

OOC: Take a step back. Wait.

Magnus's big black eyes went wide as the towering bone assemblage moved steadily forward. Whatever it was doing, it was not a good thing, and Magnus circled in an effort to keep the thing squarely in front of him while he engaged the skeletons between them.

The mace in many ways was an ideal weapon against these things, with no blood or organs or spill, the blunt force of the ancient weapon was brought to bear in the hands of the Minotaur once more.

"Well then MOVE!"  Terri barks from behind Finn, a response that the thief had not been expecting after his quite clear command...  Still the woman whizzes by his left shoulder, leaving the way behind him open - which was enough for the thief who dips out of the way of another small blast of toxic blue before slashing out his own weapon, scoring a neat slash across the skull's forehead, causing the thing to spin away off course...

Towards the front, the three fighters hack and slash their way through the skeletons, downing the foes one at a time as their foes continue to press the fight.

Gustav slashes his sword down on his closest foe, the spear wielder, who still lays upon the ground, it's leg severed wholly from it's body.  The sword smashes into bone, shattering bits of pelvis and femur, and the thing lays still where it was struck completely still, though Gustav begins to doubt that it was moving even before the thing was struck.

Behind the other, the battle axe slashes out again, this time narrowly missing the swordsman as he pulls himself back to the en guard position.

Towards the other side of the fight, Magnus takes the mass of the morning star off the face of his shield, the wood splintering and buckling beneath the weight of the blow.  Still, the wood holds and Magnus returns the blow, whipping his mace wildly towards his skeletal foe.  But the abomination moves too quickly taking the minotaur off balance, and Magnus's mace goes far too long, smashing into the wall behind and sending painful reverberations up his arm.

Bjorn too slashes his axe towards the fray, cracking deeply into the axe wielder, rebounding the return blow off the face of his shield.

From behind, the monstrous skeleton steps ahead again, walking into the axe wielder as this one too seems to be absorbed into the mass of bone, ceasing to exist on its own but becoming part of the whole, giant monster.  The thing slashes outward towards the Northman with its savage black sword, cutting a savage rent in Bjorn's shield, though he steps forward again, cracking his own axe into one armed skeleton who had held the mace, cutting through vertebrae and ribs and sending the thing clattering to the floor.

Magnus too, recovering from his misstep swings his mace again, this time connecting with a solid hit that shatters his closest foe into a thousand pieces!    Stepping forward into the empty space, Magnus finds himself confronted again with another of the things, this one with a thick roundshield and broadsword.

"Shit!"  Terri shrieks from behind the others, the toxic spray of the tiny blue skull blasted into her face as she throws her arms in front of her in defense...

OOC:  Something like 49 dice rolls on those last two turns...  I probably didn't describe it all well enough, but it's good enough to get the drift.  Everything is properly noted on everyone's character sheet.  Spear, Mace, Morningstar, and Axe are no longer (axe being absorbed into the giant skeleton), though there is still the battle axe, and the two sword and shield skeletons to deal with.  For now, Bjorn seems to be facing off with the behemoth...  Finn scored a moderate hit against his skull, then missed on the next attack, Terri also scored a light hit against hers, though it seems like she now has her hands full.  Bjorn was caught up next to Finn and attacked the blue skull there on the previous turn (which was defended against).  So far, so good.

Lets do another two rounds of action.

Rondald swats at the skull now in front of him, taking care not to risk hitting Terri. Perhaps too much...
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:39, Fri 06 Dec 2019.

Gustav steps to his Right Front and engages the Battle Axe armed skeleton, Then finishes him [or attacks SS facing Bjorn if BA falls away] backing a step to the right on defense the last time.
This message was lightly edited by the GM at 04:02, Mon 09 Dec 2019.

It really was like a nightmare.

Magnus felt the a throbbing ache in his arm through the adrenaline haze, and although he was not tired physically despite his exertions, mentally he was being taxed dearly. Even the subtle thrum of success as he and Bjorn pushed on through the desecrated bodies could not keep doubt form his mind. They were so close, so very close to going home, and now what if this is where they starting losing people? Losing friends?

With two foes before him, Magnus fell back a step to focus his attention upon the one with the shield. The last thing he needed was to be run through the back while he was attempting to tackle the gigantic monstrosity dominating the center of the chamber.

There he swung, again and again trying to batter through the defenses of the corpse so that he could in theory turn on the remaining construct in a flanking maneuver.

In the mean streets of Azer where Finn grew up and cut his teeth there seemed little use for a huge behemoth of a weapon.  Great broad swords as long as a man or enormous double headed battle axes as large as a small tree were frowned upon generally by the local constabulary.  Not to mention hiding such an instrument of destruction under ones cloak or down ones trousers wasn't practical.

But here in the field his favorite weapon, the long knife, seems as impotent as a drunkened grandfather sleeping 'it' off.  Still Razzel is rarely taken over by doubt.  He is just too damned good to wallow in self pity for very long.  So hacking and slashing with all his might he lashes out for all he's worth.

Now that Judoc has advanced around the bend a bit, he can see the massive undead creature on the far side of the sea of skeletons, and the sight makes him gasp. No wonder Mika'il's courage failed in trying to move beyond this cavern. What twisted philosophy had made the elves leave such a monstrosity here?

But Judoc has little time for considering the wardens' reasoning for such a terror. Instead, he concentrates on another spell casting.

OOC: Concentrate.

The battle rages on with steel flashing in all directions, sweat flies from foreheads, though so far no blood has been spilt or damage done apart from the floating blue horrors which still seem to wreak havoc behind the lines of the other fighters.

One flashes its own blue toxins towards Rondald, the sailor finally making his presence known in the fight as he trades out his crossbow, letting it sling back towards his side, for his axe.  The blue gas goes high however as the sailor ducks, lashing back with his own weapon, though the hit is wide.  Finn too takes makes an attempt with his knife, though the thing moves too quickly to get in a reasonable hit...

Back and forth the skull and men fight, Judoc flashing another fiery spell from his staff which misses the floating skull, instead splitting the two men, singing their beards which begin to stink with pungent burn.  The skull seems unperturbed, spraying out again at the sailor who just barely manages to get out of the way as Finn lashes his knife again...  The skull spirals upwards, neatly avoiding the blow.  Rondald retaliates as well, though his axe nearly slips from his hand...luckily though Rondald redoubles his grip, curbing the weapon straight into the center mass of the skull, which shatters upon impact, spraying skull fragments through the air and against the wall...

Terri, meanwhile ducks and dives this way and that, the blue toxic spray flying everywhere around her as she can't seem to make a blow land with her own weapon...

towards the far end of the room though, things seem to be going better, Gustav steps forward, placing the skeleton with the shield between himself and the monstrous undead, his sword licking outward in an impressive blow that cuts the skeleton with the two-handed axe viciously across the rib cage, sending the thing's blow wide as it collapses into a heap of bone.

Magnus squares off with one of the skeletons, stepping neatly to his right as he turns himself, smashing his mace outward, though the blow catches off the thing's shield even as Magnus catches the return sword hit off his own.

It is Bjorn however, who seems to be having the worst time of things.  Now toe to toe with the massive column of bone, the Northman swats outwards with his axe, which is neatly caught and blown aside by the massive tower shield.  The thing returns the blow, it's black sword smashing through the edge boards of Bjorn's shield, melting through the steel rim and cauterizing the planks where the section is cut away.  Again the thing swings out towards the Northman, who this time manages to catch the blow and knock it aside, his eyes burning as he flings his axe in a wide sidearm, not at the Bone King but at the other skeleton who is still squaring off with Gustav!

His axe bites deeply into the thing's back, catching it off balance and making it stumble forward...  Gustav watches as the skeleton's shield drops and cuts in with his own blade, slashing deeply through it's shoulder and collarbone, but the thing stumbles on!

Magnus too, his body turned against his skeletal foe catches a blade off his shield, which makes a shallow cut across the face.  The minotaur returns the blow, this one going just underneath the monster's guard and smashing through bone, shattering pelvis and backbone!  The abomination flails as it clatters to the ground, bits of shattered bone splashing back against the cave wall.

OOC:  Everyone please make a roll vs. HT (plus normal Fit/Very fit bonuses) or lose 1 FP.

Lots of good luck on your side that time, Rondald killing the skull spirit as Gustav and Magnus both smashed up a skeleton.  The last one also seems to be heavily damaged, though still fighting.  Other notes:  Magnus is facing NE, Terri Facing SE, Bjorn facing S.

One round of action this time.