With a battle cry that much larger than he looks capable of, the brave Camris steps forward to engage the nearest filthy foe,...
Araxus begins the ritual to summon an ally to the fight.
Leaving Damien's prone body, the muck-wading skeletons turn their attention to Araxus, one unwittingly blocking its fellow from attacking the conjurer.
Odhran's opponents press their attack, but only weakly, creaking as they claw away.
Skeletons
Odhran
?
Damien
Araxus
Amadeo
Slidell
Camris
Odhran attacks the skeleton in front of him (A3) once more.
Odhran swings away wildly.
Behind his opponents, something else bony thrashes in the sewage.
Skeletons
Odhran
?
Damien
Araxus
Amadeo
Slidell
Camris
Camris gives the sling another try, aiming with great care and bouncing a stone off a skull. A wide crack opens in the slimy surface.
A splurt of blood proves Damien is still alive...but for how much longer?
The bleeding seems to have subsided. Looking closely, any survivors of the attack will be able to see that the way Damien fell caused the strap of his spell component pouch, which the bard has strapped to his thigh, to tighten helping to staunch the blood loss. Now he just lied there dreaming of success, ironically envisioning himself and his sister at the top of the Westcrown society while his body is lying in its lowest depths.
Araxus lies on the grimy floor, bleeding heavily.
Slidell recoils in a combination of fear and revulsion as the slimy skellies press their attack. Then he returns the favor, using his magic to cause his cane to fly at it's target, and return to his hand.
The doughty halfling takes aim with his trusty sling again, calling upon his righteous fervor to aid his cause:
The muck-wading skeleton near Odhran explodes into a shower of glowing bone fragments which drift slowly down to sink below the surface.
Ignorant of their impact on their trailing fellows, the lead skeletons move only far enough to reach the next victim before attempting to batter them. Flailing weakly, they fail to make contact.
Skeleton 1, at Amadeo:
Skeleton 3, at Odhran:
Skeleton 4, at Odhran:
Round 3:
Skeletons
Odhran
Skeletal dog
Damien (down but stable)
Araxus (Con check only)
Amadeo
Slidell
Camris
"All right, that's enough o' that, bonehead," Odhran mutters as he lazily dodges the skeleton's strikes. He quickly retaliates with an overhand chop.
The impertinent undead shatters into soaring shrapnel as Odhran finally gets his bearings and delivers an outrageous blow, the likes of which are seldom seen in genteel Westcrown.
Odhran doesn't have long to savor his victory as an assemblage of canine calcium scrambles from the much onto the walkway and lunges in his direction, bony paws slipping on the wet stones.
Camris gives a yip of triumph at Odhran's feat and wings another rock at the skellie in the sewer. The missile whistles past Odhran and bashes the undead square in the cranium.
The creature drops back into the sewage, dead again.
Round 3:
Skeletons
Odhran
Skeletal dog
Damien (down but stable)
Araxus (Con check only)
Amadeo
Slidell
Camris
"No no Amadeo, like THIS!" Slidell cries encouragingly, once more tossing his heavy cane with a mystic word,...
"YES!" Slidell cried in triumph, raising his left fist into the air and pumping his elbow into his side. His right hand reaches up and effortlessly catches the magically returning cane.
"And THAT sir, is how you do it!" he says with an infectious grin.
Araxus demonstrates his unquestionable skill at bleeding out.
Slidell's cane finally strikes home, dropping its victim back into the sludge!
Skeletons
Odhran
Skeletal dog
Damien (down but stable)
Araxus (Con check only)
Amadeo
Slidell
Camris
The remaining human remains shamble over to Amadeo, clawing at the tiefling.
As the skeletal canine steps forward, Odhran doesn't lose the momentum, following up with another ferocious swing.
Again, Odhran splinters his opponent into unrecognizable shards. Bad dog!
Heartened, Camris tries another slingstone, which skips off the ledge and down the sewer past Amadeo's attacker. "Consarn it!"
Skeletons
Odhran
Skeletal dog
Damien (down but stable)
Araxus (Con check only)
Amadeo
Slidell
Camris
"What did you think of THAT one Araxus? Araxus?? Oh, right. Bother!" Slidell mutters, pulling back his cane once more.
"Excuse me, Bernie? I do believe that your making my friend uncomfortable. I'm going to have to ask you to BACK OFF!"
Even in his unconscious state, Araxus is unimpressed by Slidell's maneuvers.
Round 4:
Skeletons
Odhran
Skeletal dog
Damien (down but stable)
Araxus (Con check only)
Amadeo (Con check only
Slidell
Camris
The remaining skeleton continues its inexorable shamble through the much, its hollow eye sockets turning towards the unfortunate Slidell.
Slidell leans left, then he lens right. He glances at himself, as if surprised to find a lack of bleeding slashes on his torso.
"Huh. I always knew that Tengu technique would come in handy one day." He says happily, then looks back up to see the skeleton still standing there, drawing back for another swipe.
"AAH! I mean, Ah-HAH!"
Slidell flails with his club, his panicked swings coming nowhere near hitting the thing.
"I really should have practiced those Shoanti attack styles as well,..." The mage mutters as he braces for the inevitable,...
Continuing his mind-blowing and gasp-inducing contribution to the battle so far, Damien gurgles and coughs as his body shudders from the involuntary muscle shakes his body creates trying to regain heat at the loss of blood he has already sustained. Is it shock? He would say shock and awe if he was awake.
Sadly, he remains on the filthy sewer floor as useless as the muck staining his clothes.
Odhran looks over his shoulder at the skeleton terrorizing the rear half of the party. He eyes the muck briefly before snorting. "Gonna need another magical bath after this," he remarks as he drops into the raw sewage.
He wades toward the last skeleton before swinging at it with his falchion.
Ohdran is saved from the mockery that would have been sure to follow the realization the warrior had been pulling his punches on their bony foes all this time. Mostly due to the fact the one who would mock him is currently dreaming of electric sheep.
Sadly, he is human, and thus cannot provide an answer to the much debated question.
Slidell is rescued from the skeleton (or from his own internal P.R. man) by the burly Odhran, who literally wades into battle, destroying the threatening heap of bones with a single, mighty arc of his falchion. As the last of the osseous shrapnel clatters off the walls and plunks into the trickling ooze, a sort of silence falls in the sewers of Westcrown, broken only by the ragged breathing of the injured.
"YES!" Slidell cries into the sudden silence, raising his (worthless) cane in triumph.
"NO!" he cries moment later, realizing there are THREE of his would-be companions lying on the filthy floor. The wizard drops to his knees to assist the nearest one, heedless of the muck he kneels in, giving the battle cry of the adventurer as he does so,...
"CLERIC!"
Araxus continues slipping away...
Odhran glances side to side, searching for more adversaries. When he finds none, he lowers his blade and exhales deeply, allowing his rage to subside. Fatigue sets in, threatening to knock him on his ass. Unfortunately, given their present circumstances, he did not have the luxury of taking a break. The barbarian wades over toward Araxus, attempting to lend Slidell a hand.
"Uh, 'ey, little guy, think you can lend us a hand?" he says to Camris between grit teeth, trying and failing to be useful without getting blood and sewer muck into the conjurer's open wounds.
"Oh, fudgeaboutit!" Slidell grumbles. And pulsl out a scroll case, carefully removing the valuable scroll from it's case, he looks at each of the injured, trying to determine which one is closer to death.
"I've only got the one scroll,..." He mutters as if apologizing to the unconscious forms before him.
Damien remains unconscious and oblivious to the imminent demise of his comrades. In his dreams a giant goblin bride looms over a scene of death and cackles mercilessly as the Once and Future Cabal of which Damien had just now become a member is picked of one by one in a sewer. In his detached dream state, the bard doesn't remember that this is in fact not a dream and is his reality. How strange that the man does not even recognize his own face in the shadows of the grimy light, and instead the spectral form that hovers over it all is really his own spirit, just this close to leaving his body forever but somehow still tethered to the physical form.
Damien looks up at the grinning monster leering down at the scene. He smiles back.
"Well? What new death do you have for these poor souls? The anticipation is killing me," Damien says with his usual evil chuckle. The irony is staggering to any outsider or demi-god that has any reason to watch these proceedings.
"Whatever you're gonna do, better do it quick," Odhran mutters to Slidell grimly, as he tries in vain to plug a bleeding wound.
Araxus regains consciousness and surveys the carnage around him. "You lot sure know how to party," he says weakly.
"We have to get out of this accursed place," Araxus says, stating the obvious. He administers healing potions, first to Amadeo, then to Damien.