Boland stumbles back from his attacker, half wanting to run from this cavern, but not wanting to leave his companions here to fight on alone. Mind racing, he quickly incants and spell and lets fly 2 magic missiles at his assailant.
Boland’s magic missile reduce another of the armoured skeletons to a pile of bones and armour pieces.
Harrigan can see the archer looking about the targets, but Boland and Brashen are still obscured by the smoke and he can’t see Harrigan. He waits.
At the top of the lift shaft, a head peers over the edge to observe the handywork of the dropped rocks. Seeing Damion preparing to climb out of the lift platform, one the of men above hurls a spear down, but his aim is off and it sticks, quivering into the timber base of the platform instead.
Bell adorned armoured skeletons continue to limp into the smoke cloud, attacking Brashen and Boland with their maces. Each man is attacked by two of the skeletons, but remain unharmed, thanks to armour, defensive spells and the obscuring smoke – however it is beginning to dissipate with all the action.
With Andolphas already on his way down, the inquisitor joins the priest in the descent.
Brash lashes out with his axe again, letting his mounting anger be released through the simple act of swinging a weapon.
Presuming I could and he got off his readied action to shoot me, am I able to complete the charge? Just checking that being preempted and hit doesn't negate the attempt.
Brashen’s powerful attack manages to penetrate the rusty armour and destroys another skeleton.
Andolphas continues his cautious descent down the shaft, clinging to the rope for dear life and awkwardly feeling his way along the structure with his feet. It seems the priest must have done little climbing in his childhood, and even less as an adult... the priest is nervous, his progress slow but steady.
Harrigan breaks from cover and comes barreling towards the sniper's position. As he closes he lifts the silver morningstar up over his shoulder and growls, "I've had about enough of that!" as he brings it down like a hammer.
Finding himself in the middle of a melee and without the space required to cast his spells, Boland brings his quarterstaff to bear, swinging the thing a little awkwardly, but hoping to do some damage none-the-less.
Andolphas and Damion climb down the outside of the elevator structure.
Boland strikes at the skeleton before him with his staff, but the wooden weapon bounces harmlessly off the undead monster’s rusty plate mail.
Harrigan charges at the chain-masked archer, who is caught unawares by the sudden charge. He tries to dodge the somewhat awkward blow but is too slow. The morning star smashes into his face, and although the impact is dulled somewhat by the chain-link mask, it still hits with a satisfying thud, eliciting a cry of pain from the man.
There is no immediate action from the top of the shaft.
The skeletons continue to clank and jingle noisily about, all the action dispersing the last of the smoke. Three skeletons attack Brashen, who manages to block most of them from reaching Boland, although one has. A fifth armoured skeleton clanks slowly in Harrigan’s direction.
The three skeletons attacking Brashen make no real attempt at tactics – there is no co-ordination or attempts to flank, and Brash is able to dodge or deflect all their strikes. A little more desperately, Boland manages to dodge the attack aimed at him.
Brash growls and swings his axe to intercept a clumsy strike, thankful that these undead don't seem to be the powerful zombies he was expecting. He then swings his axe hard at the nearest enemy.
Another skeleton clatters apart under the blade of Brashen’s axe, the undead creature’s resistance to slashing weapons counting for little against the warrior’s powerful swings.
Andolphas continues to make his way down the scaffolding nervously, as quickly as caution and the flickering light on his helmet will allow. "I don't like this one bit," he mutters to himself, conscious that his companions are fighting for their lives nearby... and worried that he might arrive too late.
Harrigan takes another swipe at the sniper before the skeleton can close in.
Boland's triumph at striking the skeleton quickly fades when he realises his blow has failed to penetrate the creature's armour. Seeing Brashen knocking the skeletons about, he decides to continue to fight on, but concentrates on trying to block it's attacks until help arrive rather than knock it down himself.
Harrigan’s morningstar smashes through the masked defender’s defences, bearing him to the ground where he lies still. His chain mask falls aside to reveal a human-ish face with red skin, a flat nose and a fanged mouth to Harrigan’s dark-vision.
He has little time to look though before the armoured skeleton jangles up behind him, the nimble dwarf managing to duck under its clumsy strike.
Skeleton’s continue to attack Boland and Brashen, and this time neither man is able to completely fend off the blows, both being struck by the skeletons’ maces
Up above, there is a clanking and jangling noise as the lift begins to move – up.
"Almost there," mutters Andolphas to himself, "almost there. Praise the Green Lady."
Damion continues down the rope as hastily as he can manage.
Brash growls in pain and anger at the impact of mace as it hits his right shoulder. His own attack is thrown of and he stumbles a step before regaining his balance.
Andolphas and Damion finally reach the bottom of the lift shaft. Two humanoid corpses, their features obscured by mail, masked helms and tabards bearing a militant looking symbol lie hacked apart in pools of blood near the base of the lift. To the east come the sounds of battle. In a small pool of light some forty feet away Boland and Brashen are locked in battle with several slow moving, armoured figures. There is no immediate sign of Harrigan.
The space you are in is a vast one – your light source does not reveal its limits, all you can make out is a smooth stone floor and several massive stone columns stretching up into the darkness.
Brash growls in pain and anger at the impact of mace as it hits his right shoulder. His own attack is thrown of and he stumbles a step before regaining his balance.
There was no time to examine the unexpectedly fanged, red skinned sniper with a skeleton on his back. Harrigan shattered the skull with a powerful backhanded strike then stopped to assess the situation as the bones clattered to the floor.
Harrigan expertly finishes off the skeleton before him.
"Strange. These two are Hextorians," says Andolphas to Damion as he points out the slain warriors and the the gauntleted fist clutching three barbed arrows on their tabards. "Are the Hextorians after the Kyuss worms, as well? And they evidently weren't killed by my falling armour... it seems we've landed in the middle of a conflict that had erupted prior to our arrival... unless they were killed by Brashen and Harrigan? But let's hurry to the others... I'll retrieve my armour and take a closer look at these two once our companions are out of danger."
Andolphas shifts his wooden shield from his back to his right arm, then takes hold of the ruby skull around his neck. "Lady, I pray thee, keep me safe from harm," he whispers as he starts heading towards the sound of battle, his miner's lamp illuminating the way.
"You think too much, cleric, now is a time for action!" the inquisitor growls to Andolphas as he clutches his own holy symbol and invokes a spell to aid his allies.
"Blinding Light! Grant us victory over this darkness!"
Boland steps back away from the skeleton pressing him and points at the skeleton in front of him, firing of a beam of positive energy at it.
His triumph at hitting the skeleton turns to a cry of pain as he is to slow to retract his arm and the skeleton's blade opens a nast gash along his forearm.
Gasping in pain and gripping his arm briefly to quell the blood, Boland stumbles back another step. He points at the skeleton again, sending another beam of positive energy shooting towards it.
Boland strikes the skeleton attacking him twice with a beam of white energy, but it is not enough to fell the relentless walking corpse.