The sudden presence of birds threw the swarm into disarray and while Orila picked up a few stings in the process it wasn't a coordinated attack and she was able to scoop up Arthua from the swarm and drag him back to the hallway. The others were able to retreat and pull the lever, sealing the bugs and the dragon's chambers from the the injured and wounded.

There wasn't time for a rest, however, as the grinding of the stone secret door was interrupted by the cracking of wood as the zombies finally made their way through the barricade. It seemed the party had one last fight on their hands...



*Rage: Advantage on STR rolls, +2 Damage, Resistant to physical damage
*Inspired: +1d6 to a single d20 roll

Gritting her teeth, Talia saw taht her work was not done. Her skills were still needed. She looked sadly at Arthua and then gripped her halberd and charged forward.

---

Move + Dash: AQ96

"Ugh," Glynnelis groaned. "I'm so sick of these guys." With a sigh, he summoned a sacred flame to burn one of the persistent nuisances.

DC 13 Dex save or 3 radiant damage.
Glynnelis Huntinghawk rolled 3 using 1d8 ((3)).

Yry is glad to see everyone make it out of the swarm and back into safety just in time for the zombies to break through. "Everyone is doing great, just a little more." She moves up in the room, her crystal ring cracking with cold magic as a long blade of ice forms in the middle of it. She fires it at the zombies, it smashing against the wall and releasing a mist of freezing motes to float down among the two undead.

_ _❆ Yry Sweetwater ❆ the sorcerer ii______ ___ _ __ _
 hp ███████░░░ hd ♡♡
 ac {15} [13 d. resilience + 2 dex] p.per {13} p.inv {10} p.ins {13}
 sorcery points ❆❆ spell slots ❆❆❆
 {move to AN.96}
 {ice knife on zombie 1, miss, dex save dc 13 from both zombies to avoid 6 cold damage}
 {15:17, Today: Yry Sweetwater rolled 10,8,6 using 1d20+5,1d10,2d6 with rolls of 5,8,3,3.  ice knife on zomboy 1, atk vs ac 13, pierc damage, cold damage (dex dc 13 to avoid).}

"Well Hells' bells!" Orila swore, drawing one of her axes as she stepped over Arthua's prone form and moved toward the zombies... keeping pace with Talia. If her maul wouldn't to the trick to stop these walking corpses from rising again, then she'd just have to hack them to pieces and see if that worked.

OOC: Object Interaction - draw axe
     Move - (as needed to reach the zombies, don't see an updated map)
     Action - attack zombie with axe

20:48, Today: Orila rolled 15 using 1d20+5 with rolls of 10.  Handaxe attack (AC 13) . (Hit!)
20:49, Today: Orila rolled 7 using 1d6+3 with rolls of 4.  Handaxe damage.
     (7 pts slashing damage to zombie... and alignment is LN if you need that too. ;)  )

OOC: (revised actions)
  Object Interaction - draw handaxe
  Move + Dash: AQ97
This message was last edited by the player at 14:38, Wed 09 Sept 2020.

Shalimar spends his time trying to stabilize Arthua, but without training in medicine or magic, he doesn't really find any progress (8).

Alyssa had only just begun to catch her breath and to let the tension ease out of her body when the zombies broke through the barricaded door. With a sharp intake of breath the handling moved back into the alter room and motioned to the freed prisoners, "Quick! Get behind me!" as she positioned herself between them and the latest threat.

---

OOC:
Move from hallway to AL,95

Yry moves south and detonates another ice knife at one of the zombies. It lurches into the path of the shards completely sheltering the other one even as it is perforated and it falls to the ground.

Arthua continues to bleed out, he's not looking too good. It looks like he's right at death's door and any second he could slip away...

The rest of the party moves forward even as the remaining zombie lurches at them.

The sacred flames from Glynnelis singe the zombie but it continues to march forward even as the holy fires continue to burn it.


*Rage: Advantage on STR rolls, +2 Damage, Resistant to physical damage
*Inspired: +1d6 to a single d20 roll

Shalimar continues to try and stop the bleeding, but continues to come up short in skill. He is starting to panic but tries to stay calm and calls to the nearest ally, "Glynnelis, can you help me out here? He's going to bleed out and I can't stop it!"

Bonus Action to Grant Inspire to Glynnelis
Action to try to stabilize Arthua which fails.

The corpse of Arthua laid where it was dropped. His face frozen in terror from the insects that ravaged him before death.

Shalimar freezes, "He's dead... oh god, he's dead! I couldn't save him! I didn't have any more spells! I didn't have any more spells!"

Actions remain the same regardless of his death, going to just go with he died mid attempt to get him help and Shalimar just freaks out.
This message was undeleted by the player at 19:14, Wed 09 Sept 2020.

The idea that Arthua might have died felt like acid in her heart, but Talia knew it was her duty to prevent any more such death. Focusing, she saw the path to take that allowed it and stepped in to swing her halberd in a powerful vertical strike. The rotting thing's body was unpredictable though and her strike, mortal to any other man, sliced through just more meat.

---

Move: AR96
Bonus: none
Attack: Attack with halberd


23:15, Today: Talia Alden rolled 4 using 1d10+3 with rolls of 1.  damage.
23:15, Today: Talia Alden rolled 15 using 1d20+5 with rolls of 10.  attack.

Yry spins around upon hearing Shalimar call out for help. She hadn't realized Arthua had sustained so much damage from the insects and she rushes back, falling to a kneel and quickly looking over the body, the numerous, flesh tearing bites and the cumulative effect. She tries to hold some of the wounds closed but is quickly overwhelmed and cries out in frustration. "He- he's gone."

:<
12:40, Today: Yry Sweetwater rolled 5 using 1d20+1 with rolls of 4.  medicine check to stabilize Arthua before his turn.

Down the hallway Talia cuts down the last zombie. It collapses to the ground just like the other one had done. The other one was still on the ground, unmoving.

Back in the tunnel the rest of the group tries desperately to save their fallen comrade but nothing seems to do the trick. Between the severe wounds he had suffered and the hundreds of venomous bites and stings he had suffered it seemed that it was his fate to shed the mortal coil and enter the afterlife.

OOC: Calling it here. Arthua has died.

Shalimar attempts to revive him, and fails.

"I ran out of spells."

He tries again. Fails.

"I ran out of spells!"

This keeps repeating. Looking at his face, Shalimar isn't home right now. He's obviously in shock.

The threat ended, Orila returned to the others and noted that despite her efforts to rescue him Arthua had died... though Shalimar was still frantically trying to revive him. The goliath put a hand on the bard's shoulder. "He's gone," she said, her deep voice a gentle rumble of thunder. "He fought bravely and has surely earned a place among his honored ancestors. We'll bring his body with us to give him a proper burial." 

Yry sort of goes slack, her bloody hands between equally bloody knees. She exhales and closes her eyes, head drooped for a long moment before she shakily stands up. It was a sad loss, but the thought that comes back to her mind is that really it's a miracle that herself and any of the party survived.

She pushes the hair clinging to the cold sweat on her pale forehead away, not really noticing as she adds a red smear to it. "Okay. Let's keep it together. That was unfortunate but could have been so much worse." She seems to be saying that to herself as much as anyone else, but for her at least it does work. Her eyes snap back to the here and now and she looks around for anything that needs to be done.

"We can probably blast the swarm and have someone manning the door lever so they don't get close, right?"

"Unfortunate?!" Glynnelis snapped. "It was sloppy! I warned you not to pull the lever..." He was glowering at Orila. "...and you charged right past me and pulled it anyway. And now he's dead!"

With the last of the zombies down, again, Alyssa watched the out pouring of emotions over their fallen companion. Stepping forward the little halfling raised her voice to be heard, "Blame and fighting won't bring Arthua back! We need to keep our heads here. We need to pay our respects to the fallen and make sure these two," she gestured at the zombies, "stay down this time. I'm thinking fire."

Though she grieved for her fallen friend, and she would tip more than a few tankards in his honor the next time she sat in a tavern, now was not the time for grief and her trance-like state kept it at bay. Thus, she held on to it for a few seconds more as she set about the grisly work of dismembering the zombies and moving bodies parts away from one another to prevent them animating again. "Is it probably that the swarm will dissipate of its own accord in time? Perhaps, just checking periodically? Are we in immediate danger now?"

The pain was distant, beyond the veil, but she knew it would come crashing in soon. Her mind could not keep it at bay much longer. Eventually, when the corpses were spread out over an area, she walked to a corner, relaxed, collapsed, and cried.

Orila had remained quiet while the others vented their emotions about Arthua's death. Even when Glynnelis directed his emotional outburst at her, the goliath took it in stride... stoic as ever. "Let's focus on getting out of here first. We can lay blame later."



"Just from those things coming back," Orila replied, gesturing to the various zombie body parts strew about the other chamber from where the continually-reanimating corpses had been hacked apart and scattered. "I say we take a breather and see if the bugs are still there after an hour or so."

OOC: Short Rest?

Pounding away at the bodies, the zombies don't show any signs of reanimation. Granted they gave no warning the last couple of times they did so but before they reanimated almost immediately while this time several seconds go by without them stirring. Perhaps whatever was keeping them going has been destroyed once and for all?

OOC: Let me know what you guys are doing next.

Shalimar doesn't say anything for the duration of the short rest. He just stares off at nothing. You're not even totally he's blinked.

The prisoners looked like they could use a rest as well. They were very badly neglected and gobble down any spare food and water.

A few minutes later it feels like the party has recovered their breath and refocused after the death of their companion.

OOC: Short rest completed. Where to next?

"Right. Of course. Nothing to do for him now," Glynnelis said flatly. "Let's go back for the other prisoners and then get everyone back to Ashford."