Fire spreads through the city, and soldiers evacuated women and children under a cloud of black smoke that reeks of foulness and the worst aspects of the swamp. And amid this panic, the Necro Party moves like the image of the grim reaper, an impression helped by acquiring cloaks by raiding a nearby house of its bed sheets.

Greg doesn’t know why he insisted on scavenging for something that looked like a cloak, but in the darkness of the rising smog and falling sun, the skeletons stoke a terrifying figure, and for most people, the last thing they see before they get butchered.

For Greg looks like a demon from the bowels of hell, sent up to torment the Kapa for their sins! He wears the skull of an Orc as a helmet, laden in furs blackened by the smoke while moving with an impromptu cape that billows with the rising heat.

Doug cuts a simpler image, the cloak hanging tight around his body. His blue Mana-fueled eyes glow with menace and cruelty; for some reason, Greg’s fashioning of the hood doesn’t help. In fact, it intensifies the evil the undead warrior emits, along with the glow of the Kapa’s own totem, partially activated by spilled Kapa blood.

The soldiers are even more helpless amongst the winding streets of their home, as the fire blocks most attempts to corral the skeletons, and dumb luck seems to guide Greg as he appears and reappears from out of buildings and down alleys. Always leaving screams when he runs into soldiers trying to line up for an ambush. And Doug’s own instincts are becoming increasingly more fine-tuned, picking opportune times to split from Greg to perform pincer attacks that surprise the Kapa, who thought they had home field advantage.

The Kapa Commanders and Generals lose track of their men faster than they can give orders. Some want to flee into the swamp, while others want to find the Kapa Chief to take charge. Others warn of the Necromancer who must be behind this and want to send Kapa soldiers to the surrounding swamp to look for him. They argue and argue inside an impromptu building they commandeered for command purposes, fearing that falling back to where the Chief hid will result in the immediate collapse of the war effort as the city attempts to fight the fire and the skeletons.

Only when they heard screams outside do they regret their decision against finding a more secure location.

“How many soldiers we have outside!” one commander shouts, his hands reaching for his sidearm, a flat steel sword given to Kapa of the 2nd Lt rank. The Kapa’s name is Mackie Vex, and his hands tremble as he realizes they are trapped.

“Enough!” the Kapa General shouts, glaring at 2nd Lt Vex. He is a seasoned soldier nearly two feet taller than the surrounding Kapa officers. His voice doesn’t calm their fear but prevents them from speaking up.

Well, at least until a second scream is heard. And a third. And a fourth.

The Kapa General swears and marches out to berate the common soldiers for being unable to fight two skeleton warriors. Unfortunately, there are no common soldiers left for him to shout at.

Greg sizes up the Kapa General, who stands almost as tall as he does. He wears armor that protects his chest, which reminds him of a guy named “the Shredder” from his childhood watching Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and he carries not one but two swords on each side. They aren’t the simple steel instruments of the last few officers Greg killed but wide and broad.

Greg points at Doug and motions for him to stay put. The soldier looks confused, but he obeys, eyes glowing in intense focus. Greg wants to fight this turtle monster himself.

“Come bastards!” the General shouts, instantly feeling stupid for screaming at something little more than a machine. Instead, he rushes forward, a scream echoing from his chest in a war-cry that boosts his stats.

Greg nearly realizes that fighting the General alone was a mistake almost too late. The dual heavy blades come out in a blaze as the General swings them in unison across the skeleton’s neck and rib cage, only barely blocked by Greg’s last-minute materialization of a basic shield. It shatters on impact, taking Greg’s arm with it, sending the skeleton sprawling to the ground.

Greg has received Great Blunt Force and Piercing Trauma

“HELP!” Greg screams, almost too late, as the swords are brought down on his skull and meet the Kapa Shell Shield given to Doug by Greg.

Thank god he held onto that, Greg thinks as he rolls away from danger. Not waiting for his limb to materialize, he uses his one good arm to stab at the giant Kapa, who twists away at the last second as he dances around both skellies.

Fuck! Greg thinks but doesn’t shout. He needs to focus on killing this Kapa, especially before more show up.

More do show up. The sound of fighting draws the other Kapa officers out of their shelter/command tent, and seeing the skeletons not ripping the General apart gives them resolve.

Mackie Vex’s voice rallies the other officers, “Let’s kill them!”

And Greg realizes they need to run.

So they do.