Quickly dropping her sword and moving to stand before Tove in the middle of the intersection, Rhiannon draws her warhammer in a blur of motion.
"If anyone has a powerful spell or some other magic to hit either of these groups at once, now would be a good time!" she says tensely, taking up a defensive stance.
"CVelebeth, how long do we have until that black mist stuff happens again?"
"Dunno, but I suggest we back away!"
Grabbing the gift of the departed warrior, Garethane casts Greensight and transforms back into a Giant Falcon. He heads back along the river to the Southwest until he reaches the point where the rest of the group departed their vessel. He hopes the combination of the keen eyesight of the bird along with his canopy penetrating magic will assist him finding evidence of the groups passage to the southeast and allow him to rapidly catch up.
Tove raises her holy symbol at the shambling undead and unleashes a Burst of Radiance at the group in the southern chamber before staggering back behind her companions.
Rhiannon waits at the ready for the skeletons from the northern passage.
The exertion of casting the spell makes Tove realize just how draining the trap was, but none-the-less crumbles the southern skeletons to dust.
Kalaman approaches the chamber, stopping short of entering and casts a spell in anticipation of the coming fight.
The single figure from the eastern chamber brandishes a blade not so dissimilar to Rhiannon's enters the chamber center setting off the trap again.
Rhiannon braces herself as before, gritting her teeth as the black vapors wrap around her, resisting the fell power as best she can, though her sword begins to feel heavier in her hands.
Celebeth tries a risky move and casts grease on the blade of the threatening solo skeleton.
(fail)
Azen pulls out a blunt arrow to shoot a skeleton with, and then strangely falls over, unconscious.
Grease coats the blade in the hand of the lone skeleton, and oozes down on the skeleton's hands, but it maintains its grip.
The skeletons from the northern passage flood the room, swinging their rusty blades at Rhiannon. Prepared for the onslaught, Rhiannon parries away most of the strikes, despite her exhaustion, before the final strike sinks deep into her shoulder.
With all of the remaining undead gathered within the chamber of the four winds, Tove summons all her strength and unleashes a wave of positive energy against them.
"Kalaman....get...her...out of ...here." Rhiannon hisses in pain and exhaustion as she holds the line, protecting Azen's unconscious form, and keeping the undead from advancing on the Baroness.
Switching her sword to the other hand, she manages to quickly draw her warhammer, striking the blade-wielding skeleton with a strike worthy of a kitten.
Tove's wave of energy from the positive material plane washes over the collected undead, destroying four of them just before Rhiannon's normally mighty blow lands the faintest of strikes on one of the skeletons.
Kalaman casts a spell to increase his strength, and then goes into the chamber briefly to bring Azen's unconscious form to relative safety.
The lonely warrior raises his blade to strike at Rhiannon, but the greased blade slips from his boney hands before the strike can come down. Reflexively, the warrior reaches down to retrieve his blade.
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Celebeth flings a magic missile at the skeletal leader, figuring it won't stop him but it might help Rhiannon to wear him down.
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Rhiannon puts everything she has into her swing, taking advantage of the moment.
(fail)
Subconsciously, Azen fights for awareness of the outside world. Unfortunately, her Everwake amulet fails to rouse her, and she remains in an exhausted slumber.
Magical bolts of force slam into the lone skeletal warrior while Rhinannon slams the same with her hammer.
One of the remaining red clad skeletons steps into the center of the room, next to Rhiannon, bringing the shadowy tendrils from the four mouths again.
The pair of red clad skeletons strike at the exhausted warrior, one landing a glancing blow.
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Tove once again lets forth a wave of positive energy against the remaining skeletons.
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The sound that escapes Rhiannon's throat is both an expression of anguish, and a testament to her resilience, as the fighter valiantly resists the cloying tendrils of dark, life-draining energy.
Her muscles flagging, her body continuing powered more by will than anything else, she holds the line, attacking both the powerful undead warrior and the skeleton that managed to get through her defenses.
The lone warrior seems to shrug off the most of Tove's positive energy burst, the burst does destroy the two remaining red clad skeletons.
Rhiannon, fighting for her life against the warrior and exhaustion, swings her hammer twice, but fails to make contact.
Kalaman shoots a blast of magic at the skeleton, then yells to rhiannon to back up into the room
The lone warrior draws back his blade intent on striking down Rhiannon, but at the end of his draw, the blade slips from his boney grasp again.
Emotionlessly, the warrior turns and grabs his blade again.
In her exhausted state, the slip of the warrior's blade happens too quickly for her to respond with anything close to an accurate strike. Instead, she puts everything she has left into another strike, determined to take the undead abomination down before she falls.
Raising an open palm toward the lone warrior, and doing her best to keep her hand steady, Tove projects a ray of divine power that splits the gloom of the barrow like a brilliant beam of sunlight.
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(fail)
Azen falls deeper into her nightmare... unable to move as an unseen doom draws ever closer.
"This is gonna suck."
Celebeth dances forward to dart in with her thornblade, even knowing that it likely won't do much.
Both Rhiannon and Celebeth land strikes on the Lonely Warrior, chipping away small amounts of desiccated flesh while Tove searing beam of light goes far wide of her intended target.
Azen continues to lay motionless, still suffering the effects of the black tendrils.
Kalaman will move forward and cast acid splash on the still standing skeleton, avoiding stepping too close to where the trap has been going off.
Kalaman's cantrip lands solidly, burning away a portion the lonely warrior's withered flesh.
The lonely warrior steps away from half-elf and draws back his blade again, this time holding on the weapon long enough to swing the blade at Rhiannon with a strike that the warrior woman would normally be quick enough to dodge, but her exhaustion prevents her from doing so.
Tove grimaces as her spell goes wide and the undead warrior, still standing, strikes again at her companion.
Tove changes tack, moving in behind Rhiannon and placing her hand on the other ulfen’s back. Calling on the healing power of Erastil, she directs the flow of positive energy to mend the flesh of the living this time rather than rending that of the undead.
Celebeth slides into position behind the skeleton warrior and does her best to stab at it again.
Kalaman, seeing where does and doesn't set off the trap goes and attacks the skeleton with his sword, using the sentient blades abilities to deal acid damage,
Unable to avoid the skeleton's strike in her exhausted state, the stalwart warrior emits a cry of agony, as the blade bites deep, it's necromantic energy, further siphoning off her vitality.
Her retaliatory strikes attest to her body's depletion, the first connecting with barely enough force to chip bode, the second nowhere near striking her enemy.
Nevertheless, she breathes a sigh of relief and mutters a word of thanks under her breath as she feels the warmth of Tove's hand on her back, swiftly followed by the flow of healing energy restoring her wounded flesh.
Celebeth gets into an advantageous position, but fails to land a meaningful strike on the warrior. Rhiannon swings her hammer again, but the blow glances off of the warrior's armor, just after the Baroness of Elkmark did her very best to heal the wounded Rhiannon.
Kalaman, seeing that things were going quite poorly for Rhiannon, carefully entered the chamber - avoiding the center of room and gets in position to strike at the warrior, landing a very solid strike that staggers the skeletal monster.
Recognizing Kalaman as the most dangerous threat to him at the moment, the lonely warrior raises his blade to strike the magus, but again the greasy blade slips from his boney grip. The warrior again reaches down to retrieve his blade.
(fail)
Azen remains unconscious and motionless.
Rhiannon swings again, the task feeling infinitely larger than it should, hoping to take advantage of the opening.
As the skeleton reaches for his blade, kalaman lands another staggering blow to it.
Kalaman's strike comes down, cleaving the head from the skeletal warrior - seemingly sending it to its final rest.
"Quick! Out of the way of the trap!" says Celebeth as she moves away from the middle of the room.
At the most inappropriate moment possible, Garethane swoops in and resumes his normal shape. "Hey everyone, what's going on? Anyone need a trident-thingy?"
"Is anyone else hurt?" Tove speaks softly, her weary eyes taking in the rest of the group as she backs away from the centre chamber. "Azen, are you okay?"
Celebeth steps away from the trigger location of the trap, sheathes her thornblade, then kneels down next to her sister and tries to wake her. Failing that, she puts her hands under Azen's arms and tries to drag her out of the room.