The survivors inside Defender's Heart can see that the magic circle that kept out - whoever that evil person was - is not going to stop the undead. They're just mindless zombies!
But that also means they're slow. You have a chance to bite into their numbers, cast spells, set fires, move barricades - do whatever you need to do to slow them down.
You can also see other survivors have arrived from the southern reaches of the city and are on the other side of the wall of dead flesh!
ROUND 1 - FIGHT!
Heeding Luci's warning, Darya keeps her distance at first, firing a crossbow bolt at the nearest zombie.
Kelly draws her knife and stands ready, if shakily, for the assault.
"So much for going unnoticed," she muttered to herself as Darya fired off a bolt, "Let's move!" She quickly put her words into action, hustling towards the back of the tavern and hoping that nobody had nailed it shut while securing it.
Merlin brings up the rear guard as they push forward.
Iomenna looks to the new comrade standing beside her as a slight smirk rises on the edge of her lips. "About time we had something real to do, eh, Ik-Ha-Thruun?" With those words, a heavenly light begins to radiate from her eyes as she throws open the door and steps into the yard, pulling the massive hammer upon her back into a ready position.
Drawing his two sickles Bahram takes Iomenna's place beside the doorway
"none pass while I hold this steel"
Following along behind the group, Merlin warily watches the walking dead.
This is a nightmare!
The morale-draining moans coming from the burnt and bashed bodies bound for the tavern causes the hairs on his goosed-bump flesh to stand. An irresistible urge to stop, strip off his armor and scratch the dirt and ash from his skin assaults his senses.
I need more protection!, Merlin whispers in earnest.
Suddenly, a faint glow surrounds him. It fades quickly, but the feeling of being...shielded? comes over him.
Sario moves back a few steps letting those who are better trained for front line combat to take the lead. She readies her short spear in both hands, she keeps and eye out for other survivors attempting to come in.
ROUND 1
Ik-Ha-Thruun moves back into the common room and calls for help getting some of his armor on!
Sario prepares her shortspear in case she needs to defend survivors, but the zombies seem fixed on moving up toward the entrance.
Zombies close in...
@Iomenna bet-Melkiel swings her earthbreaker down on one of the zombies as it shambles forward.
...and she crushes the zombie as it comes close, smashing its head, though it still somehow manages to stay on its feet.
@Dragz also lashes out as a zombie approaches.
Dragz's greataxe shears through the first zombie to arrive, leaving one of its arms hanging off crazily by a thin strip of flesh!
The two zombies that lurched forward take swings at the respective front-line warriors.
Their moans and flails are unable to find purchase!
The other zombies also let out low, uncanny moans and move closer to the front of the building!
ROUND 2
As the throng of undead in front of her grows, so does Iomenna's fury. With angelic light emanating from her eyes, she brings her hammer crashing down upon the zombie in front of her again.
Merlin looks to the two ladies.
We aren't going unnoticed for much longer.
Merlin warily watches the undead as the sudden violence erupts at the tavern's door.
Guide me!
Iomenna's strike goes awry as the earthbreaker catches on the doorjamb and spins unintentionally in her hand.
With the zombies distracted with the defenders at the front door, Luci quickly moved around the side of the building while hoping that it was clear of undead.
Moving forward as the zombies engage the front line of the gates, Darya swings at one of the zombies at the back of their procession, hoping to whittle down their forces a bit and keep them occupied.
Darya's swing connects easily and nips at the heels of the undead.
Merlin suddenly remembers some advanced defensive moves from his captain while in the army.
At 1st level, a warsighted can use a move action to gain the benefit of a combat feat she doesn't possess. This effect lasts for 1 minute. The warsighted must otherwise meet all the feat's prerequisites.
He steps forward 5'; scimitar and shield held ready.
Sario looks around We need to get above them, knowing the building is tall she moves towards the stairs.
"Is there any windows above this door? Can we drop items on the undead to help with destroying them?"
The innkeeper says, "You can get up on to the roof - you could maybe drop some tables or something offa there."
Sario looks around for anyone that can help, signaling to the two children that she brought here for safety. She kneels down beside them
"I need you two to be very brave for me, but I need a bigger favour. I am going upstairs to drop some heavy furniture and such onto of the bad people outside, I need you two to help me carry stuff into the room. I don't need you to get close to the door or window just push some heavy items to me, I will do the rest." I know I am asking them a lot but I need their help and maybe it will help them feel braver.
The little boy clings to Sario's sleeve and says, "But I'm scared!"
The girl says, "What if there are monsters up there already?"
"Come little ones. Up stairs to safety. I can help more upstairs anyways."
Bahram breaks from the front, looking at his sickles and knowing in his heart that they are no use against this foe.
He helps Sario lead the children upstairs.
Sario follows Bahram up the stairs, holding a hand from each child to give them strength. She looks around as they get to the top of the stairs, finding an empty room for the children to hide.
"Stay here little ones, I won't be far, if you need us call out and Bahram and I will be here right away. We are going to help stop some of the bad people. After this I will make sure we find the bad man who was trying to get you."
Sario leaves the little boy with a knife and the girl with her doll, she then clothes the door and orients herself to the second floor. She look around for anything of substance to drop on the heads of those attacking below.
Kelly watches Iomenna and Dragz at the doorway. They don't quite fill the door, there is a gap in the line. A small gap. Kelly finds herself hurtling the barricade to take her place at the door, swinging her cooking knife like a sword.
Controlled rage: +4 Dex, 4 rounds left
Crowd control(urban barbarian): +1 Attack and dodge
| Dex 21 | AC 19 |
Kelly starts lashing out at the zombies, though she doesn't seem to be effective - yet!
Bahram and Sario rush upstairs to see if they can find some heavy furniture to throw down on the horde. They decide to grab a heavy divan from one of the southern upstairs rooms and lift it in preparation to shove it out the window!
Zombies on the front lash out at the defenders!
One of the zombies manages to maul Iomenna!
Merlin grits his teeth, as he moves up to help defend the porch.
+1 guidance
Merlin swings his scimitar at the zombie, a desperate look on his face.
As the fight at the front continued; Luci kept moving to the back of the Heart, wanting to make sure Azura was safe before she joined the fray herself. Ideally; Merlin would be with her as well in order to heal Azura as soon as they were inside, but he clearly had other ideas. Still, she shouldn't complain since he was keeping the zombies from coming after her.
Iomenna reels at the heavy blow, but quickly recovers her stance and squares up against the zombie ahead of her. "HOLD THE LINE," she yells as she brings her hammer to her side, holding it parallel to the ground, almost like a battering ram. She heaves the weapon back before swinging toward the undead.
Focusing her worry about Azura, her fear of what had happen to their beloved city and her anger at the plight of those inside being under siege, Darya channels all her emotions into a burning rage that drives her devastating two handed strike.
Sario Helps Bahram get Divan ready to push, Sario gives a quick glance down making sure no living person is in the way. She quickly looks over at Bahram. "Can you manage for a moment while I try to draw the attackers away from the door and more to here?"
Without waiting for an answer Sario begins to summon a creature. Her eyes closing with concentration a few mumbled words in Druidic and a moment later a Fire Beetle appears in the middle of the horde right below the balcony.
Sario quickly helps Bahram again and prepares to shove the Divan over the edge.
Kelly keeps swinging, blood pounding in her ears. It all seems to be happening in slow motion.
Controlled rage: +4 Dex, 3 rounds left
Crowd control(urban barbarian): +1 Attack and dodge
| Dex 21 | AC 19 |
As Bahram holds the divan ready to drop a large beetle appears bellow
" Sario, you have brought the suns shine to a dark day. Let us now ruin this fine funiture. On your word."
When Sario gives the word Bahram will try his best to guide the furniture as it falls to cause the most damage
Sario and Bahram muscle the divan out the window and onto a zombie, which is smashed beneath it. The zombie continues to moan and flail ineffectually while pinned under a hundred pounds of mangled, once-fine furniture.
Darya finishes off a damaged zombie, while Merlin backs her up; Luci, carrying her injured cargo, heads for the stables. Iomenna and Kelly continue lashing out at the zombies, as does Dragz.
* whissh *
The hordes keep flailing, the zombies in back pushing and shoving to try to get closer, but the press of dead bodies is too great for them to get through!
Both Kelly and Dragz take a nasty blow, almost at the same instant; Kelly is smacked across the head with a bony fist, while Dragz is bitten on the shoulder!
Dragz isn't looking too good!
Dismayed and enraged by the complete failure of her previous two strikes, Imogene lashes out with her hammer one more time. As she swings her hammer in a wide arc around her body, she berates herself for the failure of her strikes thus far. Iomenna you weakling, what kind of crusader can't hit a blasted zombie standing right in front of her. Now's not the time to miss. You have to hit them for them to die!
At last, Iomenna's hammer finds its mark and smashes into the zombie in front of her with a sickening crunch of bone and sinew. "Ha! Now that's the way! Dragz... Kelly... you two alright?"
Merlin steps up to the next zombie. He hesitates a bit, waiting for Darya to join him.
I will protect your blindside!
The horror of the situation must be getting to him....
Iomenna obliterates one of the zombies. Her heavy-handed smash shatters its skull, sending fragments of bone and brain all over. The body is driven straight onto the ground in a heap.
The acolyte in the common room steps up behind the table barricade and unleashes a burst of positive energy to ward off the undead.
The zombie before Dragz immolates, its damaged flesh disintegrating into golden motes that flake away into ash!
One of the zombies advances and climbs onto the divan that Bahram and Sario pushed out the window. A heavy chair lands on it and tangles it up in the furniture.
Kelly staggers a bit, but steps back into the fray. "I'm ok!"
Controlled rage: +4 Dex, 2 rounds left
Crowd control(urban barbarian): +1 Attack and dodge
| Dex 21 | AC 19 (T17 FF13) | Reflex +6 |
Undure of exactly what Merlin is doing, Darya finds herself distracted as she steps forward to attack the next zombie.
Sario looks at Bahram, then back down at the carnage below, "Do we get more or go help? I cannot offer them any healing and I don't know if dropping more furniture is going to help or not."
She moves quickly to check on the children, looking for other heavy stuff as well.
She yells back to Bahram "Maybe if we start a fire wall down there it will help?"
Looking into the stables to make sure it was a way in, Luci had to fight down a wave of nausea as she saw the carnage.
Guess we won't be riding anywhere anytime soon, she noted to herself.
"Move through the stables quickly, it's not pretty in there but it's a quick way into the tavern." she said to any of the refugees who'd followed her.
Hoping that the urgency for safety would keep them from being caught up staring at the mutilated horses, she led the way through the stables, once more praying that there was someone inside who could heal Azura.
Luci hustles through the carnage of the stables. One of the refugees behind her retches, but the group moves quickly to get inside at her orders.
Sario glances back and sees that the children are huddled in the back corner of the room, obviously still very scared. If you had some oil you could easily set the zombies alight; they aren't smart enough to get out of the fire...
Kelly hacks a disgusting lump of gray flesh out of the zombie in front of her, but it still doesn't fall!
The acolyte launches another blast of positive energy.
Dragz keeps swinging!
He utterly crushes the zombie that stepped up toward him!
The zombie sandwiched between Darya and Merlin slowly turns and flails a limp hand at Darya.
Fortunately, it is unable to get through her defenses.
One of the guards behind the table switches to a crossbow and fires on the zombie attacking Iomenna, using a flaming bolt!
The fiery bolt slams into the zombie near Dragz, and fells it!
Zombies attack the front line!
The press of undead flesh fails to get past the barricade of divine determination!
Merlin, inspired by the courage of his new companions, takes a daring step, flanking the zombie with Darya.
He raises his shield and swings his scimitar at it.
Sario looks around the room, looking for extra lamps to steal the oil from. She turns to Bahram, "Maybe some of the lap oil to dump on them and then light them on fire?"