Through the magic of the bracelet his new friend gave him, Flynnvas becomes aware that she is trying to tell him something. He doesn't catch all of it, in fact he is out of range for most, but he gathers enough to know they have made contact with others, maybe even Violet.
He leans forward and whispers into Skyfall's ear and with his knees guides the bird around in a circle to the south.
He appears a few moments later, a dark cross against the bright sky and immediately sees the gathering hordes below.
With a snarl he unloosens his lance from its harness and raises it to the sky, the bird below him screeching in agitation.
There's someone with these Walkers, someone living! For now, at least! he cries from the back of his mount some 80feet up. You there! he points to the gnome and the woman. If you aren't with these rotting bastards, you're with us and together we'll put them back in the ground.
The bird swoops around and lines herself and her master up for a charge at the leading group of zombies.
Euron looks up at the on coming horde. "The way their coming from we should have passed this group! On our way here." Then seeing Lennith and Lillith slowing them down he moves in closer to the tent. "We have to get you up, I can heal you but I'm not sure of the extent of your injuries. He then carefully places his hands on her and the channels divine energy to heal some of her burns and injuries.
"Beware a breather behind groaners!"
Just as Flynn is lining up for his charge, Lenneth's spell explodes in to existence, coating most of that side of the clearing in sticky strands of webbing looping from ground to branch across a massive swath of forest, tangling up every zombie you can see. The white of the magical substance eclipses what you could see of the other group of zombies though, they have now disappeared from sight.
Lilith's casting causes an onalsught of rocks and pebbles to rain down upon the trapped undead, but they seem to do little to no damage to the rubbery animated shells, though the ground of the clearing is now covered in uneven mounds of rock.
Jendra calls out to the boy still up in the tree
Edric! Move down if it's safe, otherwise stay put!
Inside the tent Euron's magic infuses the burned woman and she sighs with relief as the worst of her wounds are healed.
I think... I think I can walk if someone helps me...
she half sits up and Ben moves to her side to offer support.
Ben pipes up in answer to Lenneth's question
Nowt but trees around, 'cept the river north a ways, too far though. We;ll run with you as far as we can to get away from this, but we'll not accept the false safety of Solace's walls!
Both he and Jandra look grim and serious in their intent.
"Now is not the time to run, you two pinned them down we need to take them out from ranged and see who this living person is in the back. Take them alive if we can, we need anwsers." He shouts back, as he desperately attempts to help this injured woman.
Flynn needs no second invitation to engage the hordes. They have taken everything from him and he spurs Skyfall into a rocketing charge.
The bird tucks her wings back and narrows her eyes as Flynn's knees hold tightly to her flanks. Flynn takes his lance and in the manner of his ancestors grips it with both hands in an overhand grip, holding on to his mount only with his knees. The image of him bent low over the bird's head, hair streaming in the tearing wind and heart leaping with the joy of flight and battle is stark and unforgettable.
The ground streaks past and the world around fades into a blur of grey - all but the walking corpse at the head of the horde, it is as if it were surrounded by a nimbus of red.
His target, his nemesis.
His voice screams out long and loud with a battle cry that is both the name of his weapon, his greatest hero and speaks to his intent to dispatch these creatures into whatever Hell awaits them. It rises in a symphony with the screech of Skyfall -
His lance drives down and home, smashing through the ribs of the zombie and out again, spraying it's mates with coagulated gore and with a backbreaking climb Skyfall is away again swooping past the horde and around to line up another deadly charge.
Euron's healing hands work their magic a second time, and the woman straightens up completely, her blackened skin fading to healthy pink. Looking him in the eyes she speaks quickly
Thank you warrior, I'm Asha and I'm in your debt.
she glances around and moves to a scorched pile of underbrush, scrabbling around and finally finding a singed looking polearm with a broken haft.
Ben shoulders his pickaxe
Your friend up there's done a nice job on that one, but if he misses and ends up snagged on the spider silk, he's gonna be sorry!
Jandra hushes him
We need to move quickly before the rest of them get here. Safer north-east or north-west do you know?
she grabs a satchel as she speaks
Waving his hands, indicating the others should hurry, Azmerai prepares to be rear guard.
We can take them! Flynn shouts down with the heat of battle upon him as he sees the others start to move away.
Drawing a heavy fighting knife, Lives steps up beside Azmeri, giving him a terse nod.
He nods at Asha. "I'm Euron, there will be time to talk later." Then standing up from the tent he looks out at the horde the adrenaline takes over he can't fight it anymore he know if he shouts out now their new friends might not take kindly to it. So he begins to step back away from the horde, while attempting to signal the others.
With a sudden burst of magical energy that rings in the ears of Lilith and Lenneth, the witch's web has simply vanished like it was never there. The zombies surge forward over ground that was until moments ago covered in Lilith's conjured stones, but is now frustratingly just scorched grass again.
Damn and blast! shouts Jandra, summoning arcane energy in to her hands where it burns with a green-tinged flame
Ware cultists! warns Ben as he makes a move southwards trying to drag Jandra and Asha along
There's too many for open ground... he warns we should move under the canopy, let the trees funnel them!
He knows little and less about magic, but Flynn spent enough time with the druids of his community to know that an effect like the Web wouldn't just disappear of its own accord after so short a time.
He desperately scans the tree line for signs of a magic user.
Show yourself to me... Just for a moment and I'll send you on to meet that bastard you worship... he hisses through gritted teeth
Spotting the gangly adolescent boy, Euron stands his ground hoping to continue to draw the undead towards him.
Holding his ground he then casts a protective ward on himself.
Flynn is able to catch sight of the live humanoid hanging out at the back of the second group of zombies currently under the trees, but the cultist is under the canopy, it would take incredible flying to charge in there under the branches, weave around the trees, avoid the clutching zombie hands and reach the magic user to strike them...
Succumbing to the magical might of Lenneth, the ground under the groaner's feet turns to swamp, and they laboriously slog through it as they gnash their teeth and continue trying to reach you.
The boy stays up in the tree, apparently paralysed with indecision about what to do, though for the moment he is passing unnoticed by the horde.
Jandra, Asha and Ben are moving Eastwards, seemingly more due to it being an easier path to retreat using rather than any specific reason.
Ben shouts
If we get in to the trees we can stop them surrounding us, fight them a couple at a time maybe?
Jandra chimes in
It's that or just make a break for it, but that would risk Edric...
Asha looks to Euron
What should we do?
The shoanti, never taking his eyes from the shambling horde in front of them, talks to Azmeri out of the side of his mouth.
"Shall we both try to hit their right flank? Draw them away from our path, and try to whittle them away a bit at a time?"
Cursing under his breath that he cannot line up a charge on the person causing all this mess, he opts instead to descend on the western-most zombie in the cluster like a fury.
Again his bird darts down and his lance, with needle-like precision, punctures the head of the Groaner beneath him. Wheeling away he shouts down:
I can keep picking them off but they are going to swarm on you soon if you don't get under cover! Fall back to the treeline, funnel them into you and I'll take out the stragglers!
Seeing the little boy charge Azmerai allows himself the faintest of a smile before conjuring the pain of his fathers belt, loosing himself in the rage and joining in the charge with foam around his mouth.
The corner of Lives's mouth gives the slightest twitch as Azmeri rushes their dead opponents. Heavy knife in hand, he follows.
Martial flexibility: power attack for 10 rounds.
charge:
using the dagger for slashing damage:
I took my best guess for Azmeri, guessing that the last zombie to the west would not survive Flynn's charge. Azmeri, please correct me if I had this wrong.
Euron bangs his breast plate and points to the ground looking at the others attempting to tell them to wait, as he follows along with the others decision of taking out the horde.
Flynn's attack decimates the most westwards zombie, tearing it in half as his lance makes the top half literally explode with the force of the blow, scattering zombie bits over a wide radius.
Azmerai's charge ends in a massive overhand blow that chops through the enemy's head and leaves half way through the torso, causing the two halfs to collapse on each other.
Lives' blow, whilst lacking hte half-orc's raw power, slides right in to the side of the undead's skull, dropping it to the floor instantly.
Lilith's magic causes the ground to open up and both zombies lose their footing, falling in to the magical pit with sickening crunching noises, though you can still hear their moans.
Euron's attack strikes the groaner square in the chest, it snaps at him a couple of times, before the magic animating it fails and it slides off the weapon and collapses in a heap.
The other undead simply keep coming, those on the edge of the clearing move forward, one falling straight in to Lilith's pit, but the other two converge on Lives. Despite the brawler's numble dodging, one manages to catch him a glancing blow
HP 34/40, Martial flex 7/8
Lives tries to roll with the blow, but still catches a rotting forarm across the top of his head, hard enough to make his ears ring. The slight smile just broadens, though, and he hacks with his knife with abandon.
The first blow is directed at the groaner to the east. If it finishes that one, the second will go against the one to the north, if not, the eastern one again.
Flynn swoops around in time to see a magical barrage of conjured stones rain from the sky and pummel the zombies. He knows the broken bones will do nothing to deter them but he can see how effective the spell will be at slowing their advance.
Excellent Lillith, that'll grind them to a crawl! We can take them all, just keep an eye out for that Cultist!
Once again he charges down across the ranks of the zombies, reducing one to a mess of mulched flesh and bone with his devastating lance.
Hearing Flyns shout about to cultist Euron moves forward trying to pick him out, as he moves up and strike out at another undead.
Lilith's magic again summons chunks of rock to rain from the sky, this time smashing down with the force of the heavens and leaving some of the undead looking the worse for wear. They struggle over the ground towards you, between the chunks of rock and Lenneth's swampy ground they are slowed enough that the second group doesn't reach the party this round.
Lives ducks and doges around the two zombies next to him, his knife flashing and making short work of both as they slide to the ground at his feet, teeth still mindlessly chewing as the unholy magic flees the corpses.
Flynn's swooping continues to whittle down the numbers of the undead group as Euron moves to the next creature, blade whirling through the air and decapitating it where it stands.
Lenneth's slingstone bounces ineffectively off the rubbery decayed hide of the closest zombie.
Euron spots a cloaked and hooded figure under the forest canopy, perhaps 30 feet from the edge of the clearing, the figure has raised arms but then whips them down to point at the party.
Suddenly, Flynn feels unfriendly magic in a haze around his head, as his vision grows dim...
Hacking at the next Azmerai feels the thrill of battle race through him.
If none are within reach, he will charge, if possible.