Rhune sees the skeletal soldiers pouring in upon the party and utters a gasp, "We can't defend against them all. We should leave.... But we would never make up the ladder..." her eyes wide, not sure at all what to do at the moment...
*thinking this* YES! this is exactly what I need...these undead will kill them all...I just have to make sure that Asif is the only to survive...or perhaps not...we will see.... It must be done and done soon...or they will find me out and kill me.
Asif cries at the skeletons in frustrated anger.
"By Aten's bright light may your bones turn to dust. Foul heka again fouls our destiny. Pull back friends. Smash their leg bones, and save shall we be, for without them they can not attack us."
Utilizing his great speed Asif literally dances around the skeletons, slashing to the left and right, each of his blows aimed at taking out one or more of the legs of the skeletons.
Following, Asif's suggestion, Forte attempts to hack on as many skeleton legs as possible.
Ullar does the same, striking furiously at the evil skeletons and wondering in the meantime how Marika ever passed those foul creatures.
"Perhaps a fighting retreat?" Xania asks, backing toward the ladder.
Seeing her most dreaded enemy backing toward the ladder in retreat, Rhune cries out in her mind, *NO! You mustn't escape them. How to keep you in the fight?*
"Xania, I can't get down to get out of the way...I could go up, but what of everyone else?" she calls out to young mage.
"If you stay there, we all die. It's your choice of course," Xania says rather bitingly. "I know that nothing I can do can hurt these things. But if you wish to block our retreat..." she lets her voice trail off.
Rhune offers a wan smile and starts back up the ladder trying to get out of the way as the rest of the group crowds around it, the warriors forming a circle around the nonwarriors. Inexplicably, Asif rushes out into the middle of them, leaving a gap which Taglio is closest to and forced to fill.
All the warriors edged weapons are rather ill-suited to hewing leg bones, being designed to cleave into flesh to the bone, not through it. Kyo's stone spear is particularly inept at causing them harm, and he is forced to swing it about like a large thin club.
Asif quickly finds himself in quite a lot of danger, as he is completely surrounded by the fiends in short order. His fancy footwork is put to an extreme test as he lunges and dodges. Being forced to concentrate on his defense, he is unable to strike any of his myriad opponents. He does manage to avoid harm himself, though.
Rhune is about to clamber back up the ladder when she sees Asif in trouble.... Stifling a yell she steps down as low as possible to position herself to leap off trying to reach the young man. If she can do so she plans to use the flat of her longsword to strike at skeletons till he has room to back off. "Asif to the ladder!" To herself...*oh this is sssooooooo perfect...the others will all die and then hopefully I can get Asif to safety...that sarcastic mage will be the first to die I hope.*
Kyo lashes out at the first skeleton he sees. "Get out... Too many... Kyo will keep them back."
Kyo manages to send one of the bony things flying away with a hitter's poise, but it does not crumble, rather joining the crowd of those rushing toward the group from the side-chambers. Forte finds his weapon ineffective, as he is only able to mount one behemoth swing before the skeletons close in, giving him nowhere near enough room to wield the thing. The swing is distracting enough to the bony monsters, but does not appear to hit with any force. They begin bringing their own smaller weapons to bear.
On the other side of the ladder, Ullar hews both legs out from his chosen target, which falls to the ground and loses it's unearthly animation. He escapes the rather inept return strokes from their bony limbs. Taglio finds that he is even more ill-suited to combat these things than Kyo, as his rapier can only be used to ward the things attacks off, as there is nothing to pierce. He vainly attempts to bash at them with the hilt, but it's quite futile. Fortunately, his ragged chain mail is able to block the only nasty strike coming at him from his multiple opponents.
Marveling that no one took any harm, the group has no choice but to continue their inefficient combat. Asif, now completely surrounded, lashes out madly, chopping one of his opponent's legs out from under it. One of the things manages to whack him on the foot with a crude club, which stings mightily, but does not impede him from continuing to fight. He sees that at least a dozen skeletons have emerged from the two side-chambers he is facing, several of whom have stayed close to him.
Asif growls in frustration, his hawk like eyes scanning his enemies in turn as he continues to dance around them. Sensing his predicament his mind tells him to try and punch a hole through them and return to the party. Focusing on those skeletons between him and the party he shouts "ATEN IS GREAT!" before throwing his full fury at that wall of bone in front of him and safety.
Kyo keeps swinging his stone staff about and manages to catch one in the side of the head with a backhanded maneuver. The skull is dislodged from it's perch on the neck and the thing collapses into bones in front of him. A short blade from one of the others in front of him manages to scratch his cheek, doing little more than irritate him.
Kyo seeing the effectiveness of his last strike calls out "Knock heads off!" hoping that the others are making their way back up the ladder.
Forte swings about with the hilt of his greatsword, trying to clear some space, but only manages to push one of the skeletons aside, not harming it. His opponents, though, seem completely unable to penetrate his large unarmored hide.
Taglio is able to smash the hilt of his slight weapon into one of the thing's legs, attempting to emulate the larger warriors, but he does not manage to break it and does not fell the thing. He is able to avoid any retaliatory strikes.
"Mama mia, the dead have come to life!."
Tag pushed back towards the ladder by a crush of bone and steel desperately fends off their rain of attacks.
"Asif...the amulet...of the woman...like the statue above...was magic...it might have some power over them...show them the woman, Asif," he shouts above the din.
After this he tries to pull out from around his neck the silver cross recovered from the tomb on its chain about his neck in hope that the sign of his god alone might drive the evil automatons from the battle field.
"Mighty Jerboha, where is that cowardly priest when you need him," he says in exasperation.
Unfortunately, the skeletons appear to be totally unfazed by Taglio's cross. His armor continues to protect against their weapons for the most part, but he feels a stinging sensation on his right ear.
Through the din of battle Asif hears the words of Tag. Ducking beneath a thrust of a skeletons sword he shakes the amulet free from the leather thong around his neck. With the amulet now free and bouncing around his chest as he fights, Asif shouts aloud to the heavens, a prayer to Aten. "Aten show the dead your light, and banish them back into the darkness."
Asif stares at Taglio as he yells at him, seeing that one of the skeletons has hewn nearly half of the bard's ear completely off. The wound does not appear particularly severe, but it's quite disturbing. Ignoring it for the moment, Asif fumbles with the leather thong while hacking away at his opponents with his primary hand. His blow is truly magnificent, as he manages to slice cleanly through the haft of the skeleton's axe and crash through it and on through the thing's spine, severing it in half. The others surround him are still unable to compensate for his dexterity, though he is starting to tire from dodging all the attacks. Maneuvering toward the rest of the group is impossible, as he is surrounded by over a dozen of the foul fiends. The amulet of the woman proves useless.
Ullar, not certain if Forte is using the mace, is shouting out to no one in particular: "Use 'blunt' weapons to inflict as much damage at their legs as possible."
After pausing for a few seconds, he sees another ladder in a side room. "Hey...in the room to the north-west there is another ladder. Let's flee that way!" he shouts, while making room for another strike with his greatsword.
Ullar's bicep armor finally comes in handy, as one of the bone-man's clubs bounces off his left arm without causing him any harm. However, another similarly armed skeleton is more on target, and stings his left thigh with a hard whack. Ullar swings his large blade around once again, but finds that as the crowd of skeletons gets larger, his weapon is more and more ineffective. He has no opportunity to flee in any direction, as the half-dozen skeletons in front of him do not appear interested in moving.
Kyo continues to swing his stone club around wildly, and one of the bony monsters actually manages to duck into the arc of the blow, which sends it flying away. It crumbles into pieces from the force of the hard smash.
Following Ullar's recommendation, Forte drops his greatsword and draws his mace, which pulses in his hand, clearly eager to get involved in the conflict. The large man becomes vulnerable during the maneuver, though, and one of the skeletons manages to bash him in the left shin, not a grievous wound, but a painful one.
Ullar sees from the corner of his eyes that Forte is using the mace now. However, he can't see how the weapon responds, for yet another flow of skeletons is coming his way.
"Dammit, Rhune, get up the ladder or you'll get us all killed!" Xania seems unusually frightened and starts up the ladder. Rhune gets the feeling that Xania will try to pull Rhune off the ladder to get out of the hole, if Rhune does not move.
Just as Xania is coming up the ladder, the indecisive Rhune has finally made up her mind...though it is not the one that Xania would like, as she starts down the ladder looking over at Asif as she does...unaware that Xania is coming up the ladder behind her.
Xania sees Rhune go up the ladder, then begin to jump toward Asif, then start climbing down again. She holds on where she is and draws her dagger. "Rhune, move up the ladder."
"Now."
Rhune looks down at Xania... "Bbbut, Asif...is in danger.... I uhn....yes..." starts to move the up the ladder, obviously reluctant to leave Asif. *this one HAS to die.....she is trying to hurt me by letting my love die...I will get her.*
Once Rhune clears the ladder, Xania climbs up quickly. "Get out of there!" she yells.
Only Amibar and Dakath are in a position to go along with that request, but the women clear the ladder quickly, Xania looking back down anxiously toward Dakath as Rhune does the same toward Asif.
Dakath turns to Amibar, "Well?" he says indicating the ladder. "I'm not going anywhere." As if preventing further discussion on the matter from Xania, Amibar or anyone else, he draws his longsword and waits to support any of the warriors should they need it.
"Dakath, Rhune! Come on! Help the fallen ones and take their positions. We have nearly beaten those skeletons. Use whatever means available to get those creatures down."
Seeing that Xania is about to take off and Amibar standing rather restless in the center of the group Ullar calls out to them. He can't look at them at the same time, for he is attacking another skeleton at that time.
"Xania and Amibar, please take care of our fallen comrades. Pull them to safety!"
Unsure whether or not they take his advise, the warrior continues his fight against the foul creatures.
Meanwhile, the combat rages unabated. It appears that the inept bone warriors are having distinct trouble with the more capable (and a bit more lively) members of the party, but they are still drastically outnumbered, and it is only a matter of time until a blow falls on one doing more than a scratch.
Seeing that his amulet is ineffective, Asif returns to his wanton blade-wielding, slicing low and hitting one of the bonemen in the leg, but not severing it, and the creature keeps attacking. His luck finally runs out, though, as the entire trio in front of him zeroes in, slashing at his abdomen with abandon.
He falls back from the nasty injuries, now quite wearied, and finds that one of the skeletons blades have opened a great rent in his leathers, leaving him quite exposed. He sees that he does not have much more time left and the crowd of opponents has not let up in the slightest. Things look grim for the Arab.
Kyo sees at the last moment a club headed for his temple, and almost manages to avoid it. It is a ringing blow, though, and leaves him dizzy. His great strength sees him through, though, as he knocks the head off another of the living dead.
Ullar manages to avoid his opponents and bisects yet another one of them. The press on his and Kyo's side seems to have lessened considerably, though there are still plenty of opponents for everyone.
Forte sees a thin line of red traced across his belly by a short sword from one of the enemy. He responds by smashing the hip of one of them. It crumbles when the mace contacts it, though the blow was awkward, and Forte feels a brief surge of energy when this happens.
Taglio is able to do little more than defend himself, only pleased that the man alongside him, Forte, has managed to start taking down his share. However, there are still at least ten skeletons on their side of the ladder.
Asif sees that a few of his opponents, seeing openings, have drifted off toward Ullar and Kyo, leaving him with only half a dozen or so. However, he is unable to take advantage of this, as he is hit in the side of the face by the blunt end of a hand axe, and falls to the ground senseless.
Kyo feels his muscles begin to wear as the combat continues. He knows that he could misstep any moment with fatal consequences. Swinging low again, though, he manages to take the leg bone out from one of his opponents, who falls to the ground along with the pile of bones already there. He is not pleased to see several more skeletons moving away from Asif and heading in his direction, though.
Ullar manages to do the same, felling one by smashing his great blade into it's legs. He has kept the things at some distance by his furious swordsmanship, though he notes as well that reinforcements are arriving from Asif's prone body.
Forte feels the energy from the mace renewing that which he has lost from the combat, and smashes through the leg of another, which crumbles almost upon contact. Taglio continues his ineffectual blade work, but manages to avoid being harmed yet again.
The crowd of bony monsters seems to have lessened, but they still create a ring around the warriors with several to spare, and all know their work is not nearly over.
Kyo feels yet another club strike him hard in the right leg, numbing him and almost tripping him up. He feels his head swimming and his prophecy of doom approaching. However, he is not one to go down without a fight, and with a great two-handed stroke, he smashes two of the skeletons down in front of him. There is now a great pile of disconnected bones lying there. However, he is dismayed to see this mighty stroke has finally broken his spear in half, and he is forced to discard half and begin swinging around the heavier end awkwardly like a stick. He feels the pain of his various wounds overcoming him.
Ullar feels an axe blade whiz by his temple, creasing it with blood, but not harming him terribly. In response, he cuts the thing's leg in half, dropping it. Forte whacks the head of another skeleton, which crumbles as he does so. He manages to avoid being harmed in return, which cheers him considerably.
Taglio finally manages to carve away the leg of his opponent, dropping it from the no less than three wounds he dealt it. He is cheered, however, and is not hurt in retaliation.
The group sees that they are now ringed only once by the skeletons, and from now on, no reinforcements will fill the circle when deceased. Kyo manages to swing through his opponents wildly, sensing the delirium of impending death, and his maniacal attacks are quite effective. He breaks through the calf of one and then with another mighty blow he breaks the spine of another. Both drop to the ground. However, it appears this fury was all that Kyo had left, as he falls wearily and heavily to the ground.