4. The First Expedition

"Walking bones!" Thrudmarr exclaims in shock. Seeing Zach charge forward, he will follow up right behind him, swinging his axe at whatever skeletons remain. "Chop! Chop! Chop!"

So, let me try and stitch all this together …

Skirmishing With Skeletons - Surprise Segment 1
Grim brandishes his holy symbol and invokes the divine might of Lucreon. That is enough to turn the skeletons (they will all flee at the next opportunity they get to move).

Ella lets loose two arrows, but only one finds its mark. The sharp projectile only manages to chip a bone of one of the lead skeletons (2 damage).

Zach and Thrud charge along the corridor towards the skeletons, barrelling past Grim and Ella as they do so. Zach hits one skeleton twice with his bastard sword for a total of 6 damage, severely damaging but not dropping it. Thrud knocks the skull clean off another skeleton with his battle axe; the undead falls, useless, to the ground.

@Akoslan - I’m going to be strict here. The inventory of your character sheet is still empty, and I apply a simple rule: if an item of equipment is not on your character sheet, then you don’t have it. Therefore, currently, you have neither a bow nor any arrows and so are unable to attack. If you need any assistance with completing your character sheet, let’s pick that up in the Character Creation thread. But please prioritise this before any further in-game posts.

Skirmishing With Skeletons - Surprise Segment 2
Zach and Thrud continue their onslaught. Zach finally despatches the skeleton before him, whilst Thrud’s axe misses one of the two remaining skeletons.

Grim, Ella, Jacky and Akoslan (when his character sheet is complete) - are you going to take any actions in this second surprise segment? Note that you would now be firing into melee with a risk of hitting Zach and Thrud.



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11:00 am, Basilsday 2nd Lucreon (April) 2993 AEP
Akoslan, Khumus Fighter 1: 9/8, ?’
Ellagel, Elven Fighter/Magic User 1/1: 6/6, 90’
Grimidek, Dwarven Cleric 1: 9/9, 60’
Jacky, Halfling Fighter/Thief 1/1: 6/6, 60’
Thrudmarr, Wiskin Fighter 1: 5/5, 90’ (Lantern)
Zacharias, Archontean Fighter 1: 10/10, 60’

Link to Jacky’s maps …

Ella is not going to fire into melee. She will take her second surprise segment to step back 10 or so feet and keep an eye out for any trouble from the skeletons or elsewhere.

Grim takes a step farther forth. Keeping his amulet brandished in calloused stubby fingers!
Keep behind n’ wid meh, people! We can keep dese skeletons fallin’ back as far as we wanna go!

Jacky claps his hands softly. "Well done," he praises the warriors and the dwarven cleric. "I'm not sure we want to follow those things. Who knows if they'll draw more unfriendly attention?" He points. "There's more than enough other passages to explore."

Don’t worry, I did halve the damage. It’s just that the skeleton Thrud was facing happened to have fewer hit points than the one Zach was tackling.

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It’s clear you’re going to win the combat. The only question remaining is whether you can destroy all the skeletons before they escape and potentially cause trouble for you further down the line.

Assuming that nobody is going to declare any spells (let me know if this isn’t the case), please can someone, anyone, roll for initiative …

Skirmishing with Skeletons - Round 1
Both sides act on segment 2. The two remaining skeletons turn and flee. Thrud and Zach may each attack once with a +4 bonus to hit.

And, of course, the others may also take any actions.

"No escape from Thrudmarr axe!"

As skeletons flee away, Grim takes hand off his holy symbol, and brandishes his warhammer. And takes a swing at the nearest remaining skeleton!

Ella stays where she stands, joyfully observing Thrudmar’s elation with his axe-wielding and Zacharias’ more methodical approach to cutting bones.

As the skeletons turned to flee, Zach lets loose one last mighty swing with his bastard sword.

With a mighty crunch, the sword hits the fleeing unholy pile of bones, and hits for 5 damage.

Skirmishing with Skeletons - Round 1
Zach fells the skeleton in front of him.

Whilst it’s another mighty blow from Thrud, it’s not quite enough to down the remaining skeleton. It runs away west, back in the direction it came from.
Grim won’t be able to do this. Because the initiative scores were tied, Grim would start to move towards the last skeleton at the same time that it turns and flees from Thrud and Zach. So by the time Grim arrived, it would be long gone. It moves twice as quickly as Grim, so there’s no hope of him catching it on foot.

The remaining skeleton moves more quickly than all of you and will get away unless you have a cunning plan to stop it.

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11:00 am, Basilsday 2nd Lucreon (April) 2993 AEP
Akoslan, Khumus Fighter 1: 9/8, ?’
Ellagel, Elven Fighter/Magic User 1/1: 6/6, 90’
Grimidek, Dwarven Cleric 1: 9/9, 60’
Jacky, Halfling Fighter/Thief 1/1: 6/6, 60’
Thrudmarr, Wiskin Fighter 1: 5/5, 90’ (Lantern)
Zacharias, Archontean Fighter 1: 10/10, 60’

Link to Jacky’s maps …

"HAHA! We make bones run! Good fighting with friends!" Thurdmarr gives Zach a hearty slap on the back.

Zach feels the friendly lovetap reverberate through his now decade older body. Coughing, he responds Indeed, friend Thistlenose, we gave them a what for! Feeling better at having exercised his martial skills successfully for a change, he turns back to the rest of the party and asks what now, Lady Escalator?

Grim stows his hammer and checks the nearest wall for interesting stone markings or secret doors.

"Perhaps examine these bones, see if any valuables can be found?" Ella responds to Zacharias’ question. For her part, she seeks out the two arrows used in the opening of the fight. If they can be re-utilized, she will put them back in her quiver.