Making sure to step only on stone tiles and not on the loose sand, Myron moves along the inner edge of the courtyard. He takes up position next to the doorway leading north, ready to shoot if the strange sand creature proves hostile.
"You must forgive our cautions reactions, Heshsharu. But so far, everything we have encountered in this house have tried to kill us. If you truly wish to talk, show yourself again. We will not harm you unless you give us reason," Myron calls out in Osiriani, as he scans the courtyard and doorways for signs of danger.
Hmmph, who said I didn't want to talk...stupid sand monster.
If Kheled is in the back he will just delay. If he is somewhere closer to the sand thing he will move behind the fighters and ready an actio to shoot his crossbow.
damage
Mus'ad waits for the strange creature to re-surface before deciding upon a course of action.
Myron moves into the room and readies his sling as Mus'ad waits for the creature to reappear and Kheled points his crossbow over the dwarf's shoulder and into the room.
Elrisiel likewise tenses and waits for the creature to reappear, words to a spell on her lips.
The professor waits to see what happens next...
The remaining trio assume various levels of readiness to act when and if the mysterious "statue" returns.
A disturbance in the sand closer to the group signals its return. Before anything is actually visible you feel waves of sleepiness try to take hold of you.
A moment later just its head surfaces at first. It's beautiful female face melts away into a medusa-like horror with tentacles and an enormous
jaw that widens into a mouth full of fangs almost as large as its head. The time for talk has passed! Now we fight!
Myron swiftly shakes off the felings of drowsiness and snaps off a shot.
Will:
El flicks a wrist and sends a glob of acid flying at the sand-face.
Kheled drops to the floor snooring quietly.
While most of the party is able to resist the urge, Kheled and Ahkenaten slump to the floor. Myron and Elrisiel manage to land sling stone and a blob of acid upon the creature respectively.
The monster finishes its movement in front of Myron and swings a fist at him...
...but the nimble and diminutive fighter ducks the incoming blow.
Engaging with the reappeared creature, Mus'ad seeks to break and smash and pound...
Mus'ad circles and catches the creature with a solid blow as Pherenike tries to wake the Professor from his stupor.
Keeping his guard up against another blow, Myron smacks the living statue with his sling staff.
Elrisiel flings more acid.
Myron smacks the sandman with his staff but Elrisiel's acid misses as she is careful not to hit one of her allies.
Growling in anger the sandman swings another fist at Myron...
...but fails to connect again. It howls its displeasure.
Mus'ad's hammer rises and falls with the metronomic efficiency of a Dwarvish work song...
Mus'ad and Pherenike team up to bring the sandman low, smashing apart his form with blows from hammer and flail. Before the last particles even hit the floor, the sound of bone clicking upon the floor tiles announces the arrival of others. Turning around, the group sees a half dozen skeletons moving into the courtyard and hallway from the direction of the front foyer.
The professor reaches over to shake Kheled awake before getting to his feet.
Mus'ad looks to Pherenike "Go help Professor." before taking guard against the skeletons approaching towards him in the courtyard. He then takes guard against the three boned marauders, lashing out with a jabbing blow...
"Never a dull moment!" Myron mutters as he reloads his sling staff, steps around Pherenike to get a clear shot, then flings the bullet at the advancing undead.
Kheled speaks out of turn, Is anyone badly hurt?
If not he stands, grabbing his crossbow as he does.
"Everyone's fine, Kheled. Whatever kind of creature Heshsharu was, she didn't manage to hit any of us."
Taking a step backward, Elrisiel incants her familiar cantrip and flicks her wrist, sending a glob of acid at the nearest skeleton.
Tis true. If we draw them back to us I should probably be able to destroy all of them in short order with one blast of my power. Of course they are just skeletons...
"If it's all the same to you, I'd rather see you wield Pharasma's power to dispense of those bony boys before the get a chance to hurt us, rather than to patch us up afterwards."
Not with my leg...had Pharasma not seen fit to make me lame maybe I would have followed the path of a battle priest...best I let the people with real fighting skills handle those duties.
Myron zips a stone into one of the skeletons in the doorway shattering its skull and causing it to collapse into a pile of bones. Elrisiel steps out the door while lobbing another bit of acid at the lead skeleton in the hallway. It is badly burnt, but remains standing. Mus'ad then moves closer to the doorway and swings at the next in line, but misses.
Meanwhile, Pherenike repositions awaiting the skeleton's inevitable approach. Ahkenaten, positioned towards the back, bides his time. Kheled gets to his feet and grabs his crossbow.
The skeletons surge towards the party, claws outstretched...
...with Mus'ad able to parry and dodge the blows.
Pherenike's own strike is a poor one...
...but she also avoids being hit in return.
One skeleton crashes into the midst of the party and claws at Elrisiel...
...catching the wizard on the arm.
Mus'ad nods at Pherenike's words, lashing out with his hammer before withdrawing.
Warhammer at M,16: for
With Mus'ad out of the way, Myron swiftly reloads and fires again. The bullet flies true and shatters another skull, causing the rest of the bones to collapse in a disjointed pile.
Just as the one skeleton is about to rake Elrisiel, Pherenike batters it apart from behind.
Mus'ad smashes one of the skeletons in the foyer entrance before moving to join the others in the hallway. The last skeleton in the doorway swipes at his backside...
...but misses completely. A split second later Myron's bullet flies in and destroys the skeleton.
The professor continues to see how things play out...
El flings more acid at the nearest skeleton.
Elrisiel's acid destroys the damaged skeleton just before Pherenike interposes herself and pummels the last skeleton into bone fragments.
No respite is forthcoming though as a blood curdling scream announces the arrival of a swarm of floating heads rushing in from the northern dining room.
Two flaming skulls race towards Kheled trying to ram him...
...with both crashing into him and threatening to set him alight.
Another skull, this one dripping acid from its mouth, belches a sizzling glob at Pherenike...
...but the spittle misses, hitting the wall behind her and hissing angrily as it etches the plaster.
Two more skulls arrive through the archway behind Mus'ad and Myron. One is rimed in frost while the others buzzes with electricity. A blast of cold is directed at Myron...
...catching him full on with icy particles.
...while an arch of lightning is sent Mus'ad's way...
...blasting him squarely in the face, rattling his teeth within his own noggin'.
Taking the sizzling bolt dwarf-fully, Mus'ad grits his teeth and moves to support Kheled - stepping between him and floating skulls before trying to destroy one of the ones wreathed in flame upon him...
Will:
Hammer: for
The professor does not recognize the foe...