Immersive Ink

sulldawga wrote:
"Son of a... where is my oil?"

Dorgan is about to give up the search and hoist his pack back on his shoulders but he sees the dagger he "acquired" upstairs sitting on top of his things. He instinctively grabs it.

Re-armed, he turns his attention back to the walking dead.

"Any other ideas, people?"

doctorx wrote:
"Courage, all," says Josiane, her own resolve strengthened by her belief there is an innocent in need of rescue; " We have our wits and our speed. Fall back to the intersection - we don't want them coming from behind as well."

To Percy: "And you, my brave marksman - be so good as to use your crossbow to send one of these fiends back to Hell!"

If the party can put enough distance between themselves and the enemy to allow her the time to do so, Josiane will dig out her flask of holy water.

sulldawga wrote:
Dorgan will commence a (measured) retreat as Josiane instructed.

waysoftheearth wrote:
A rush of adrenaline and revulsion make the foursome anxious and awkward in the confined passage. The horrible figures only stagger, but somehow still close the distance to Dorgan in surprisingly little time.

Dorgan fusses half a minute with his pack before realising he has no oil to fire, while Josiane formulate her plan to back-track to the intersection.

The passage is barely even 6ft wide, and there is a moment of confusion as Percy makes to get infront of Josiane so that he can make use of his missile weapon. By the time he is in position the monstrosities are scarcely 20ft away; point blank range!

The passage seems filled with them and their awful stench, and their number defies counting.

Percy swallows his fear and fires over Dorgan's head (1d20=11). With trembling hands it is hardly his most elegant shot, but (3dd=6,6,5) the bolt dives deeply into the center of the leading thing's chest and blows a gout of ghastly black bile and withered flesh out its back for 12 hit points.

The first monster collapses backward in a tangled heap. But others continue forward without any pause...

sulldawga wrote:
"We runnin' or fightin'? Just let me know."

Dorgan steels himself for combat, regardless of the answer, knowing they are only moments away from being in melee range.

He will again attack with his axe and defend with his dagger as soon as he can reach one.

OOC: Can I assume they also can only attack one at a time?

waysoftheearth wrote:
It's too late for any thinkin' now.

The monstrous cadavers are all of a sudden slugging at Dorgan with heavy limbs, and heads.

Dorgan tries to back-peddle to restrict 'em to one at a time in the passage, but it ain't too easy as they come on in a great gaggle; no sense of working together at all.

(initiative 1d6; Dorgan=4, Foe=1)

Fortunately they have no sense of timing either, and Dorgan easily gets himself a good swing at the first for (1d20=18), and it's a good one! (2dd=4,3) he hews into its shoulder for 5 hit points, dashing the withered limb off! But even this mortal wound does hardly more than upset its balance before it lunges with a mad head-butt in reply (1d20=10), but only cracks its head against the wall nearby.

"Back, back!" yells Dorgan, fending off further blows with axe and blade.

doctorx wrote:
"Fall back!" Josiane echoes, striving to regain the intersection.

If she succeeds in this she will look quickly to make sure no more walking dead are advancing from the other passages. Assuming these are still clear she will slip to the right hand side of the tunnel entrance as she exits it and search out her vial of holy water.

sulldawga wrote:
"More crossbow!" Dorgan pleads, as he strains to hold off the pell-mell rush of the zombies.

He'll grind his boots into the floor and hold steady against the enemy, giving as good as he gets, while the rest sort things out behind him.

waysoftheearth wrote:
"More crossbow indeed!" curses Percy, struggling to crank the powerful weapon back to fire again as he retreats.

Josiane and Mads have already retraced their steps behind him, back to the intersection... where the hooded warlock quickly passes the sputtering torch about him in a wide circle, briefly illuminating each dark route in turn.

Alas! It is as Josiane feared! Dark figures are already lumbering awkwardly toward them from the passage directly ahead, not 50ft distant. If they had stayed in the passage with Dorgan, they would soon have been cut off for freedom.

They still might be.

waysoftheearth wrote:
Dorgan knows none of this.

He has his hands well and truly full as he attempts to hold the tide of walking dead back where he stands.

(initiative 1d6; Dorgan=6, Foe=6).

Wretched paws, horrible snapping teeth, and the befouled weight of the undead shove and slash and heave and tear at him in a ghastly onslaught (1d20=17) rending him with scratches for (1dd=3) 3 hit points.

Dorgan (1d20=13) gives at least as good as he gets, however, doing neat dark work with his axe and dagger, fending, stabbing, and hewing at every opportunity, and doing no small harm upon the enemy (2dd=2,4) at 5 hit points.

The fiend whose arm he severed collapses beneath the mass of hissing enemy, its skull split down to the jaw.