The skeleton army stood in a semi-circle with us at its centroid. There was no way we would be able to flee so fighting was our only option. Shamus was the first to attack as the angry calcium slowly took a step toward us menacingly. He shot an arrow at a skeleton directly in front of us. The arrow slipped through the front of its ribcage and embedded itself in the rear of its ribcage near the creature's spine.

He looked down and dramatically flailed his arms like a bad actor who had been shot. Then he grabbed at where the entry wound would have been and continued the act.

"Woe is me! I've taken a fatal shot to one of my many vital organs! Verily I say to ye that I will never physically recover from this injury." As he spoke he acted out dying and falling to the ground. As the scene ended a cacophony of laughter came from the skeletons. It was made creepier by the erratic clicking of teeth as the jawbones of the skulls shook with the laughter.

"I don't think arrows will work," I said to Shamus as I held out a club for him to utilize instead. He only had a bow, arrows, and a small hunting knife on him for the fishing trip.

"Do you have another club?" He asked as he took the club.

"Yeah, I have another one. I'll probably bring out the big boy for these clowns though," I answered.

"I meant for me," he said holding out his other hand. I did have another and I handed it to him with a sheepish grin. I saw an opportunity to also do some acting.

"That was pretty funny. Can I try?" I said as I pulled my bow and arrow out and instantly started imbuing.

Many of them nodded and none of them moved. Apparently, they were bored and wanted to get another good laugh before killing us. I kept imbuing and pretended like I was choosing which one to shoot. I ended up going for the one right next to the one that Shamus shot who was also fairly close to the center of the half-circle of foes.

It had been a good twenty seconds by the time I fired my arrow. It struck the skeleton's collarbone and fell to the ground harmlessly in front of him. They all started laughing again but after a couple of seconds, the time delay ended. A huge ball of water formed throwing five of the skeletons backward from the power of surface tension around the quickly forming sphere. A couple of the skeletons on either side fell over but were otherwise unharmed.

Now it was our chance to laugh. Instead, we strategized.

"Shamus, you go right. Barry, you go left. I'll take the middle. Break!" I yelled the last word as if it was time for our team to score the winning touchdown. We all yelled and ran in the direction we were meant to go. I pulled out my comically large ogre club, Barry had his twin axes and had them with the blunt side forward, and Shamus had two clubs I had confiscated from the thugs in Wolfhill. We all went on a bone-crushing rampage.

I was able to swing the ogre club with enough force to break apart the skeletons in one or two strikes. One if I hit skull, two if I hit anywhere else. Shamus had to be a little more tactful with his swings to be effective but he seemed to be holding them off well enough. When he was able to get a solid headshot the skeletons would crumple to the ground and usually didn't get up.

Barry was windmilling with his axes sending chips of bone flying with every rotation. I wasn't too worried about him but Nina would kill me if I let anything happen to Shamus. I finished off the last of my skeletons and went to assist Shamus. He had gotten grabbed by a half skeleton who was currently trying to trip him up while another was pulling back for a mighty haymaker. We were lucky that none of these skeletons had weaponry or else Shamus may have taken more damage than he did from the punch.

We all had taken a couple of good shots but Shamus was the one who had taken the most damage so I healed him up first. The quest to defeat to skeleton army hadn't popped up as completed so I told the others that there was a good chance there were more of the skeletons inside of the mausoleum. We were able to heal up to full health before we went back to the metal gate.

I could see through the bars and into the darkness beyond. A staircase descended and faded to black so I knew it went down at least twenty-five feet or so and saw no skeletons that far in.

I pulled on the gate and it didn't budge. Whoever laughed from inside there must've locked it before going down the stairs.

I used a Spell of Unfastening on where I thought the lock mechanism would've been but I ended up having to cast it at a few different areas before the gate released for us to enter. I pulled open the old gate with a squeak that sounded like a cry for help that only some three in one oil could resolve. The sound echoed through the stairway that led down and I was sure that whoever was down there had to know we were coming at this point anyway.

I led the way down the stairs with my ability to see in the dark coming in handy once again. Barry was the last person in the line and about halfway down he asked for a torch. I lit one and gave it to him.

We made it to the bottom of the stairs and saw a single stone coffin with no lid sitting in the middle of the room that was about a forty-foot square. There were a couple of unlit torches on either side of the room which Barry walked over and lit with his torch.

He had kept to the outside edge of the room but kept an eye on the stone coffin in the center. As soon as he had lit the last torch and made it back to Shamus and me, two skeletal arms popped up out of the coffin followed by a head and shoulders.

"You guys are a pretty dramatic bunch, huh?" I said toward the skeleton who was still acting his way out of the coffin. He deflated a little bit with my comment.

"We don't get many visitors and we like to put on a show before adding people to our cast," he said with a flourish.

"I have so many questions. First of all, why? Why not just be laid to rest or whatever skeletons are supposed to do?" I asked.

"We can't leave this place under our own power and to be laid to rest we'd have to be buried in the place where we died. Not many people come through here and ask how to bring us peace. Most of them just start fighting us so I guess I had just given up hope. I'd like this time to be different though. Will you help me escape this cursed place and be laid to rest?" He seemed to be trying to give me the skull equivalent of puppy-dog eyes, but it didn't really translate without eyeballs.

"Let me discuss it with my team," I said turning toward Barry and Shamus.

Before I could say a word, Barry brought an axe down right next to my face. I turned and it had split the skull of the skeleton in two. He crumpled to the ground. I heard a dagger hit the ground at the same time. I turned to look and realized that he had still been acting. His plan was to stab me in the lower back and try to kill me with a sneak attack.

"Thank you, Barry. You saved me," I said giving the large man a hug. I wasn't sure what was the appropriate response when someone saves your life but I thought a hug was a good start.

"Skeletons sure are good actors. If he wouldn't have attacked we probably would have let him join our crew," Barry said. As he finished speaking a lightning bolt of an idea struck my brain.

"You're a genius, Barry!" I said. "I figured out how we can deal with the pirates."

"If it involves us becoming skeletons then I am out," he said.

"No, no. Barry, we're going to act our way onto a pirate ship then we can destroy them from the inside," I said as dramatically as possible.

Barry's eyes lit up like it was going to be a fun adventure. Shamus's eyes lit up like it was the dumbest thing he had ever heard.

"I don't think you will last long on a pirate ship," said Shamus. "No offense, but you just don't seem cut-throat enough."

"Arrr, offense be taken, ye bilge rat!" I said in the most pirate-like accent I could muster.

Shamus raised an eyebrow unimpressed by my dead-on pirate impersonation.

Barry clapped unironically. He seemed to genuinely enjoy the impression.

There was no loot in the mausoleum besides the common quality dagger which I picked up and added to my inventory so we exited back out into the cemetery. As we walked back over to where the animals were and as we approached we heard a voice yell, "Boo!"

The three of us jumped and looked around for the source of the noise. A burst of chattering laughter directed us to a skull that was laying on its side behind one of the gravestones.

I leaned down and looked at the skull.

"I have you now, mortals. Bow down to the all-powerful, Hubert!" The skull continued to lay there on its side, teeth chattering as it impotently threatened us.