Naomi may not be absolutely keyed in to her weapon hunt, seeing as there's a lot to absorb right now. Fortunately, she's not looking for anything complicated. She grabs the baker's old-fashioned rolling pin (...this kind, a fearsome improv weapon, you know if you've ever hefted one!) and has herself a club.
As the party wades upstream, they see a squad of the guard battling skeletons. The skellies seem to be fighting with bare claws, and the guard is walloping away with swords that don't seem to be doing much. A few brave commoners are throwing stuff at the skeletons, too.
Walking with furious purpose, the Janitor begins to absently flex his bulging muscles as he approaches the throng!
Oswald Copperpot grins at Dominic's preparedness.
Good idea, since you will be providing me Flank.
The street brawl unfolds as the foolhardy, but heroic town guards try to fight five skeletons. A pair of farmers have been chucking handy objects at the skeletons.
Two skeletons break from the guard and rush the farmers, slashing them badly. The guards manage to scratch one of the other skeletons, but their swords aren't... hacking it. Two of them are already wounded. There are two melees now with about 20 feet of space between them. The farmer battle is closer to you.
We'll drop you into initiative when you're 30 feet away from the farmer fight.
26 Skeleton (v Guards) 2/4
23 Naomi
21 Skeleton (v Guards)
20 Oswald
20 Skeleton (v Farmers)
19 Guard Theena 18/21
17 Guard Hengist 15/21
14 Dominic
14 Skeleton (v Farmers)
10 Farmer Arder 4/10
10 Skeleton (v Guards)
9 Farmer Jorgina 4/10
8 Utuk
One of the skeletons slashes its claws at the closest guard:
The skeleton backhands the guard with bitter bones.
One of the guards, Theena, hollers a war-whoop in response to Naomi's speech! Some townsfolk who had cleared the street move into the road, inspired to help, both by the speech and by their acquaintance with Naomi from Chadwick's.
Hemingway stumbles into the road, grumbling aggressively, swinging a bottle of booze. Normally, everyone hates it when he gets this way, but this time, it's kind of helpful. Laurel, the barmaid, wields a cast-iron skillet. They will enter combat soon...
...but first:
A skeleton takes swipes at a guard:
Theena is whapped twice. She stumbles to a knee and coughs before hauling herself back to her feet, wiping blood from her split lip. "C'mon, granny, is that the best you've got!?" she asks the skeleton. But she's not looking very good right now.
26 Skeleton (v Guards) 2/4
23 Naomi
21 Skeleton (v Guards)
20 Oswald
20 Skeleton (v Farmers)
19 Guard Theena 5/21
17 Guard Hengist 15/21
14 Dominic
14 Barmaid Laurel
14 Skeleton (v Farmers)
10 Farmer Arder 4/10
10 Skeleton (v Guards)
9 Farmer Jorgina 4/10
8 Utuk
1 Fisherman Hemingway
Oswald Copperpot cleaned toilets for a living. The completely competent janitor knew how to get gum off under a desk. He knew how to remove those stains found in every sink. He knew that bleach and new black pants are not friends. The 1/2 Orc also knew that most of those particular skills may not exactly be useful here and now.
Witnessing the brutal assault of Theena, the Janitor recalls that he is also an Orc!
Striding through the sparse crowd, the Brawler Tumbles through the raking skeleton's boney legs, stand opposite Theena and brings his crowbar across it's skull!
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Oswald's tumble is surprisingly graceful, but his offensive efforts are more enthusiastic than coordinated. For once, he isn't as offensive as he'd like to be.
The next skeleton attacks one of the guards:
It can't get through the guard's armor. Thanks goodness.
The guards gang up on the nearest skeleton, using Oswald for a flank:
Theena lashes her sword through the skeleton's ribs, seeking its heart. It's a beautiful stroke. Unfortunately, the skeleton doesn't have a heart.
Hengist cranks his strength into a chop that does as much damage through sheer momentum as cutting power. The skeleton discorporates into a pile of bones!
26 Skeleton (v Guards) (0/4/dead)
23 Naomi
21 Skeleton (v Guards)
20 Oswald
20 Skeleton (v Farmers)
19 Guard Theena 5/21
17 Guard Hengist 15/21
14 Dominic
14 Barmaid Laurel
14 Skeleton (v Farmers)
10 Farmer Arder 4/10
10 Skeleton (v Guards)
9 Farmer Jorgina 4/10
8 Utuk
1 Fisherman Hemingway
Dominic follows on the heels of Oswald, keeping the janitor between himself and the skeletons. He whispers an incantation, touches his deck pouch, and then touches Oswald, casting Guidance upon him.
Laurel the barmaid charges in with her frying pan at the ready:
She's brave, but not a warrior.
The next skeleton rakes at the nearest farmer:
Farmer Arder goes down hard, falling into unconsciousness.
Farmer Arder bleeds.
One of the other skeletons, who had been fighting the guards, goes for Oswald:
Oswald dodges the attacks, no doubt grumpily.
Jorgina takes a swing with a sturdy stick, screaming in mild panic at Arder's unconscious form:
The commoners are doing uncommonly badly.
Finally catching up with the group, Utuk barely slows his stride and leaps through the air at the skeleton going for Jorgina, pitting his own-claws against its bone-claws.
There's a horrid hollow clacking sound as he drives his spiney fists into the back of its bare skull twice in rapid succession. Definitely an illegal move in most civilized boxing circuits, but he's not nearly as worried about the skeleton's long term health as he is about Jorgina's.
Utuk feels the old bones crumple under his fist...
Hemingway mutters something concise and indistinct about fascists and smashes his bottle down on the last skeleton attacking Jorgina:
He grumbles "death is not comic" at the collapsing bones and pulls out another bottle...
26 Skeleton (v Guards) (0/4/dead)
23 Naomi
21 Skeleton (v Guards)
20 Oswald
20 Skeleton (v Farmers) (0/4/dead)
19 Guard Theena 5/21
17 Guard Hengist 15/21
14 Dominic
14 Barmaid Laurel
14 Skeleton (v Farmers) (0/4/dead)
10 Farmer Arder -3/10 (dying, unstable)
10 Skeleton (v Guards)
9 Farmer Jorgina 4/10
8 Utuk
1 Fisherman Hemingway
Naomi may act!
Naomi stabilizes the farmer with some timely first aid.
A skeleton lashes out at Oswald:
It can't seem to scratch the janitorc.
The Brawler decides to up the ante!
Oswald Copperpot continues to Flank with a Guard while swinging his crowbar at the elusive skeleton!
Another one bits the dust again.
The guards get ready to pummel the last skeleton, cheered by Naomi's encouragement...
...yeah, despite all their advantages, they are still super not-used-to-this.
Seeing that Oswald seems more than capable, and the commoners seem to be struggling, Dominic decides to spread the advantages their way. He moves to the Barmaid and with an arcane utterance and wiggle of his fingers, touches her with Guidance. "Men anpil chay pa lou."
Laurel comes in with some inspired swingin':
...she's just not cut out for hunter-of-the-dead.
The last skeleton tears into the town guard:
Theena goes down, and Hengist gets hit pretty hard!
Oswald Copperpot rushes the final (in this immediate area anyways) skeleton!
The 1/2 Orc waves.
Oswald bashes the last skeleton into a pile of fragments.
Good work everyone!
I'm heading back into the mountains for a few nights (to the Dosewallips valley, which is one of the very best valley names).
We'll pick up on Monday!
Naomi takes a deep breath and takes her time--with the help of her fellow townsfolk, she soon stabilizes the wounded and steps out of the way when people with even more healing knowledge arrive.
Depending on how long they have, Utuk's going to take advantage of the lack of immediate danger to get a lay of the land. Where are the edges of this strange new island? How much of the surrounding country made it, etc?
The big green janitor smiles at the mentioning of exploring the Necromancer Tower....
Dominic quickly looks around the street as the last of the skeletons falls. Feeling otherwise helpless in the fight, he tries to help with tending to the wounded.
Feeling pretty confident in his application of bandages, he rejoins the others.
Dominic agrees to follow up on the Necromancer's tower, "My grandmother would always say, Dèyè mòn gen mòn. I don't believe our worries are behind us, zanmi m yo. This is but the tip of the iceberg, as they say."
But first, a pit stop at Naomi's house, "We will need supplies. If I had my sling, I would have been more useful."
The party continues to Naomi's house, which is as it always has been--except that it is now perched on top of a floating island. There's a lot more wind than usual, for one thing. There are many more people, too, and the crowd has gotten quite chaotic. Fortunately, most of them got Naomi's message to clear the streets--and once the skeletons had passed, they tumbled back out again, clamoring for answers, ideas, their inalienable rights, and lots of other things they weren't likely to receive in a timely fashion.
Oswald Copperpot only shrugs. The janitor follows along to supply at Naomi's house.
Probably be a good time to eat one last home cooked meal before we pledge the heights and depths of that Tower.
Dominic nods meekfully at Naomi's mother as she offers a spare sling and bullets. He also suggests, "If we are to survey what remains of the land beyond the city walls, we should also pack rations. I've some cheese, but I don't know how long it'll last us."
He seems to almost immediately regret offering up his wheel of cheese for everyone to share.
The party rallies at Naomi's place, grabbing a snack, some supplies, and at least a sling.
Then, you head into the eight-pointed star of the city to see what you can see. The crowd is doing the same, actually: the press has shifted from the core of the city to its periphery as people climb the walls to look out over open sea.
You've collectively decided to check on the Necromancy Department first before exploring town. As locals and semi-locals, your feet find their own way towards the center of the city, pausing among the almost-abandoned town square (a few folk are tending to the dead). You then turn up Whitestone Street, the avenue dividing the School of Abjuration from Necromancy.
Whitestone thus separates two districts with very different personalities. The formerly-West end of the road was the territory of the necromancers, while the north/eastish side was home to the abjurers.
Abjuration was always a more popular subject and its professors tend to be concerned with security and quality of life, so the buildings on that side, while maybe a bit sober (some might say soulless) in comparison to the typical architecture of Morgen, at least look sturdy and somewhat orderly. Built to code. Lots of walls, lots of little courtyards, balconies, square angles, fences, and railings. The guard have their post here, and the jail (such as it is) has always been in the abjuration district.
Across the way, the necromancer's district, your real goal, raises its chaotic head from a mass of living spaces (and unliving spaces). There are far, far fewer necromancy students, and they always tended to be a little strange. Think the difference between engineering majors (abjuration) and pure math majors (necromancers (with apologies)). Like, the one side is learning things to do things, but the other is learning things to learn things. At least usually they don't do things, because necromancy is often bad, right? Still, the dirty black robes of the necromancy students (about all four of them) tend to be very rare outside the district. And where the abjurers have been careful to arrange their architecture and tenants, the necromancers mostly stay inside their main academic building, a combination dorm, lab, and mortuary. Living here is as easy as claiming a spot (which, to be fair, isn't all that easy).
So, most of the people living in the necromancy district aren't necromancers. They are instead the working and unworking poor of Morgen. That hasn't kept the buildings low or simple, though. A kind of ramshackle gothic architecture prevails, with narrow, mazelike alleys cutting between buildings that are often wider at the top than the bottom. Some of them are relics of more prosperous days--chapels, halls, dorms, etc. that have been sliced into cheap apartments. The rest of them cling to the older structures like fungi: lean-tos, repurposed old carriages, a flying buttress that has been walled in with scavenged lumber and driftwood, even the hulk of a boat that someone dragged up here as a ready-made cabin (not seaworthy, but still more watertight than many local options).
As you move deeper into the district, which is smaller than it feels, you head to the oldest structure in the place. A squat pyramid of black and white marble broods among the seething life of the city around it, but nobody has ever built a shack leaning on it (maybe because a pyramid is about the most useless starter for a lean-to imaginable, maybe because of its reputation, maybe because something else).
While the area is often quite busy, there's almost nobody here now--just a few old folks who can't move very quickly. One of them hollers that the skeletons have mostly gone inside. However, you see that two of them stand as eerie guards at the door of the pyramid. Somehow, they've found weapons and armor, making them a bit more threatening than the street-fighters you've already encountered.
As odd as the situation is, the skellies betray no interest in anyone or anything.
You can probably safely keep exploring, or you can keep pushing here.
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Dominic scratches his chin, "It seems we have a choice, leave the necromancer be and instead survey the land, or bother the wizard in his tower."
"Let's consult the cards..."
Dominic pulls a card from his deck, "Hmm, The Tangled Briar. I should say we find ourselves in a thorny situation. The card speaks to some historical place or creature from the past that may hold some insight into our situation."
He looks quizzically around to his companions, "Ring any bells?"
Dominic seems hesitant, "Mayhaps we make a note of it, continue our survey and decide from there."
Utuk glances around with feigned comprehension, nodding at the Bard's reasoning and the ratfolk's cards. If there's some way to solve the skeleton problem with cards, he's all for it, but he has a sneaking suspicion it's going to come down to swift application of concussive force. Again.
"I mean..." Utuk waves his hand noncommitally. "Just the two still outside, right? Then we could just, uh. Close the door. Pile something heavy on it. Classic tomb, not a bother." He looks from his companions to the pair of skeletons.
The pyramid appears to be windowless stone.
So maybe we just clear these last two and seal it up, is what Utuk's suggesting with a shrug.
Dominic matches the shrug, "May be wise to keep the neighborhood safe." He looks around, "Can't be having any kids put themselves in danger on a dare. We take out the guards and seal up the tomb," He nods.
The Janitor seems to be looking at the doors with nothing but contempt that contemplates culling the cavity out of consciousness!
Oswald Copperpot surprisingly rushes right at both skeletons screaming bloody murder!