With a few arcane words, the young woman vanishes from sight and follows her thrall into the barracks to enjoy the spectacle. Once the soldiers are slain, she takes a moment to search the room for anything of value, especially magical in nature. When satisfied with the yield of her search, she will march Thomas back to his quarters, and dispel her invisibility before addressing the group.
"I know what he is", she muses as her eyes run over Karactus. "And he has a point, it is by Mitra's will we were enslaved, him more than any of us. The gods meddle in our affairs far too much, and it's time to make them falter as us mortals do. Anything to tarnish her name and reputation, I am for. Any effort to denigrate and humiliate these plebs that dared lay their hands on me, I will assist in. Let the Knights of Alerion come, so I may watch them kill their closest friends and most trusted allies. No cruelty would suffice for them."
Turning her attention to Thomas, she issues another command. "Upstairs there is a guard waiting for me, find him and kill him. Leave your weapons here, I want you to do it with your bare hands."
Karactus smiled warmly. "So rare to find such understanding in one so young."
Not relishing much on the sentiment, she turns back to Bognus. "I think our business in the keep has concluded. Thomas said some honorable magician or another lives in the back tower. We've denied your wanton slaughter of sleeping guards, will popping the head off a Mitran mage make you feel better?"
Karactus walked into the guard room and began dragging the corpses into the barracks. Soon he had quite the pile.
He raised his hands gently, letting the shadows deepen and crawl, throwing silhouettes of gnarled trees which were not there up onto the walls. Moss grew in the cracks between stones and black lichen clustered in the corners. The smell of loam and damp earth filled the room.
Then the corpses began to twitch and smolder. In moments every slain soldier had risen again in a mockery of their former selves. The whole barracks smelled like charred meat and the Forsaken Brand glowed on their chests.
Karactus instructed them to arm and armor themselves with their equipment and sent them to join the others under Ulmah's command.
Bognus eyed Nuandis for a moment, then spoke, his tone that of fatherly advice. "Tha killin' ain't tha interestin' part, lass. It's th' fightin'. Throwin' yer power against tha o' a foe tha's worth th' time, seein' who comes out on top. Ain't nothin' like a true contest."
He grinned. "A'course," he added, "Tha look on their faces ain't a bad second."
A quiet, nearly inaudible giggle caught her lips before she hastily squelched it. It had just occurred to her that she had never actually been in a physical fight before.
"If it were only as easy as 'throwing power!' It's a different kind of fight, dear Bognus. One hopefully given your current condition you'll never have to understand. But..." she continues, eyeing the Dwarf's muscular figure, "...there are some merits watching you put that form of yours to use."
Ulmah takes over control of several more skeletons. "Ah, I can't wait until I can do that myself. Thank you."
"I think our business here is concluded...shall be press on to the outside?"
"Yes." Karactus said, moving toward the large entrance door.
Still wearing Blackerly's face, he opened the door.
The doors swing open, leaving the unprepared villains standing before a miniature army. A small retinue of Knights of Alerion, over a dozen soldiers, and a grizzled old man in the back of it all who calls out to them,
"Foolish criminals, did you not think I would keep status of my men?? The time to tell you to return to your cells has past. It's time now to feel the might of Mitra! Prepare yourselves, evildoers, your last breath is near!
"Warden!" Karactus said in Sergeant Blackerly's voice. "Have you met Bognus?"
Bognus planted his fists on his hips as he surveyed the soon-to-be battlefield. He growled.
"This all ye brought? We gave ye all th' time ye could ever want tae and tha's it?"
He spat on the ground and jerked a thumb towards Karactus. "I cannae e'en give this 'un a proper told ye so if'n tha's the best ye can do."
He unslung the broad waraxe from his back and started to advance. "Come on, then, ye milk-drinkin' sons o' whores! Show ol' Bognus yer best!"
COMBAT INITIATIVE (I'll put this in the campaign info since this is such a massive fight)
Matthias Richter
Nuandis
Archers
Karactus, Bognus, Ulmah
Leon, Knights, Gunslingers
"None have ever escaped Branderscar!" The Warden retorts, "YOU will not be the first!. The Warden begins chanting in the arcane language.
"The Warden has created a wall to try to stop us. How quaint."
"Escape!?," she laughs, "When we're finished, there won't be anything to escape from!"
Fearlessly stepping out into the open, her gaze sweeps over her victims as she begins weaving her enchantments.
"Be still, children, and maybe your end will come swiftly."
Bognus squinted across the courtyard at the armed elf on the other end of it. "Wait a tick...Is tha' Leolathinus?!"
He barked a pleased laugh. "Now tha's more like it! Always wanted tae see how long th' Lionhardt could stand up tae th' Bluebeard. Come get some, ye pointy-eared bloodsack!"