Whew, I can still sense them, and even give them orders! I can only sense what they sense, though. Colors are pretty washed out, but Tiny gives a pretty good view with his various eyes. Fluffle’s heat sensing is great, and with him constantly tasting the air, I have a pretty good idea of what all’s going on.

The townspeople are giving us curious looks, but they don’t look very concerned. I feel like I’m in an impromptu parade: something interesting to look at, but nothing to really get excited over. I can at least fill in my map with some good details while I’m here. I should see if the delvers are interested in more field trips some time.

Speaking of, they all look… well, not relaxed, but pretty at ease. I guess this is kinda their job, so they’re used to it. They’re not used to getting to ride a huge tarantula with ants clustering on their backs, but the calm before a battle is definitely something they’ve gotten used to.

And I haven’t. I keep thinking of what else I could have done or could do. In fact, I have a second part of the plan that I’m supposed to do. I tell my stuff in the tunnel to press forward, make Neverrest think I’m attempting to counter down there. He’s gotta have most of his forces down there already, but I want to make him get everything else he can.

The undead get quickly overrun, at least at first. I definitely have the numbers advantage, but his zombies are much tougher than my spiders, rats, and snakes. I manage a good few dozen yards before his lines seem to solidify, and we’re back to a mostly stalemate, if one much less organized. I fight carefully, doing my best to retreat wounded forces and get the ants to triage, not wanting to give him more mana than he’s spending on undead.

I think it’s still pretty even, though, which is less than optimal. I just hope he thinks that’s all my strength, and so tries to push through to crush me. I mean… he might be able to, I’m not sure how much other stuff he has to throw at me. From here, though, I get the feeling he’s not too concerned about what I can do to him. I kinda want him to bring one of his scions down here… but I also kinda don’t. Jello could probably stand up to the skeleton for at least a bit, but she’s my last real combat scion that’s still at home.

I still prefer her chances against him than the party, though. The scions with them could probably team up and take it down, but I don’t want to risk the party. My guys respawn, I don’t think delvers do. Either way, though, we’re approaching the gate. Teemo seems to have some good stealth options, so I send him off ahead to do his things once the cemetery comes into view. With him scurrying off, the party seems to accept that this is go time.

Ragnar readies his shield and hammer, giving the approaching gates a wary eye. “Me’n th’ spider’ll keep their attention as we make our way t’ th’ crypt. We cannae get bogged down or we’ll be overrun, so keep movin’. The scions’ll do… wha’ever they’re gonna do once there, an’ we’ll need t’ make sure they c’n do it.”

Aelara and Yvone both nod, and I have Fluffles nod as well. It’s more an outline than a full plan, but simple is good. Simple means more room to adjust on the fly. No plan survives first contact with the enemy, but I don’t know any sayings about how outlines fare.

Meanwhile, Teemo has slipped inside, and it looks like he’s not been spotted yet. At least he can’t sense anything that indicates it. The main yard is looking much less populated, which is a good sign. I’m probably going to have a serious counter-push in the tunnels soon, which is exactly where I want all those undead to be.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like the skeleton scion has taken the bait. Teemo can see him at what seems to be his post: standing in the doorway of the crypt. He also has a cape, which he didn’t have last time. That lich must have made something new for him, and I have no idea what it’ll do. Well, it’s not like we can back down right now.

I have Tiny stop right in front of the gate, to the suspicious looks of the guards there, but the party disembarking the spider seems to calm them. Aelara holds up a scroll for them to inspect.

“We’re here on official business of the Dungeoneer’s Guild. Let us pass.” The guards look at the scroll for a few moments, then nod and step aside. Strangeness aside, nobody would be able to fake that seal. Fluffles slithers up Aelara’s staff and settles himself on her shoulders, his tail pointing towards the crypt.

“Looks like things are mostly going well, for now,” says Yvone, nocking an arrow. I can see electricity arcing along the shaft, which is really cool. I want some kind of storm thing. The party braces themselves for a moment, before we all charge the gate. Tiny bangs the gates wide open and hurries through, Ragnar right beside him. The huge spider could go a lot faster, but I don’t want him leaving the dwarf in the dust.

A small group of zombies notices the party and moves to intercept, but Teemo darts from cover to nip at all three. I can feel he’s done something, and the smile on Yvone’s beak confirms something has happened.

“The rat scion can mark,” she says simply before loosing her arrow. It’s not quite a lightning bolt, but it definitely does arc. It hits the first zombie and seems to turn in mid air to pierce the other two, dropping the small group without anyone needing to slow down.

We sure have his attention now, though. The rest of the undead on the surface start shambling towards the crypt, and they’ll get there before we will. I redouble my efforts in the tunnels as well, sending in the ratlings now, and starting to steadily push the hordes down there further back. Can’t let him think he can ignore the tunnels, even with the assault on his core.

Ragnar is the first to hit the crowd of zombies and skeletons, and he does so like a meteor. I wonder if that armor of his is designed and enchanted along those lines. Either way, he bowls a lot of them over, and Tiny helps ensure few are able to get back up.

Aelara is confirmed as an earth mage as she does her best to give the corpses a burial they won’t be able to escape from this time. Fluffles does his best to push away any that manage to get too close. A few actually get into range to swipe or bite at her, but the mythril seems to do its job. Thankfully, Ragnar and Tiny are keeping most of the crowd away from the squishies.

Yvone is shooting arrows as quickly as she can draw them, and Teemo is darting and marking as many as he can. Unfortunately, it seems the skeleton scion isn’t going to sit there and wait for us to get to him. He clashes his swords together before charging. I guess he can’t exactly roar without lungs. He makes a bee-line for Ragnar, and the dwarf simply laughs maniacally. I’m pretty sure that’s his thing to put off damage. I just hope that family shield of his fares better than the tombstone did.

Yvone and Teemo try to focus some fire on the scion, but he dodges Teemo’s teeth and maneuvers his billowing cloak to intercept the arrow. Looks like it’s specifically enchanted against ranged stuff. That’s gonna be annoying. I try to get Teemo to mark as many of the other undead as possible, hoping Yvone will get the hint and shift her focus to the horde. I also have Fluffles point out the scion to Aelara, and the two try to shift from crowd control to single-target.

“Meteor!” shouts Aelara, and I can feel Fluffles helping as the elf pulls a large rock from the earth and launches it at the skeleton. I can actually hear it break the sound barrier when Fluffles contributes his telekinesis. Block that with your cloak, jerk!

The apparent enchantment interposes the cloak between the rock and the skeleton, and his armor rings like a gong from the impact. Unfortunately, while the dent would have collapsed the rib cage of anything else… well, it probably did the same for him, come to think of it. He just doesn’t have lungs to be inconvenienced by something like that.

He does seem a bit hampered by the simple physical shift in his structure, though. It drops two of its swords to wrap those arms around itself, while the other two arms swing at the laughing dwarf. Ragnar is able to catch both swords on his shield and grins like a maddwarf. With a wild laugh, he counters with his hammer, but the foe is still nimble enough to dodge out of the way. He’s not able to dodge the upward swipe from Tiny, though, which sends the monster flying almost straight up.

Being in the air like that seems to give everyone ideas. Teemo and Fluffles team up for a kind of fastball special, launching the rodent at the scion to mark it. Aelara opens a yawning pit underneath it, which definitely won’t be good for it once it lands. Ragnar and Tiny seem to refocus on the zombies, which are much less of a horde already. The dwarf charges once more, and Tiny tosses a large web over a lot of them. Yvone takes her time nocking and drawing her bow.

“True Strike!” she shouts, and this time it does look a lot more like a bolt of lightning, if a lot slower. I think the scion knows that’s not going to be good for it, and it cocks an arm back to throw one of its swords. Teemo, gnawing on one of his legs, spots the action, and jumps, putting himself in the line of the sword as it leaves the skeleton’s grip. A moment later, the lightning strikes the scion, and the same thing happens to it as what happens to frogs that get struck by lightning.

Unfortunately, the sword is still in the air, sailing quickly towards Yvone! Fortunately, Teemo is in the way! More unfortunately… impaling him doesn’t seem to have slowed it by much. It does seem to have thrown the arc off slightly. Even with Yvone doing her best to dodge, it probably would have taken her in the throat, or maybe in the heart. Her turning, though, and Teemo weighing it down, it takes her just above the floating rib. It can’t go all the way through her, once again thanks to Teemo, but… judging by the look on Aelara’s face, that’s still not good.