Aloysius moved from behind the tree, intent on casting his spell on the two men approaching Azrun, Arachne, and Torro but they closed in too quickly for him to have a chance without enspelling his companions as well. Instead, he turned his attention to the man bearing down on him with a long sword in his hand. The man raised his sword to the mage, but without a second to spare, Aloysius' spell went off, sending the bandit into a deep slumber.
Azrun managed to hold the men off Arachne, who continued to kneel over Torro. He parried a blow with his staff before being joined by Jana. She and the man in leather armor exchanged ineffectual blows.
Gala moved forward into the fog to face the oncoming menace, holy symbol in hand. The party could hear her spoken words, but they could no longer see her clearly in the fog.
Blacky and another short sword wielding bandit faced off. Lasiar, unable to determine whether or not Gala was successful, turned to aid Blacky. The short sword whistled by his head, but failed to make contact. Blacky struck with his two-handed axe and the man fell to the ground.
As Kaileer took aim with his bow at the archers, one of their arrows, a very lucky shot, hit him in the shoulder. It did not prevent the elf from loosing his own arrows, and a cry of pain from the fog answered that at least one had found its mark.
Dark words filtered through the evening air, even the sound of them enough to fill the group with dread. The words seemed to bring a heavy pall with them, a feeling of hopelessness and fear. Even as the words ceased, five walking corpses shambled into clear view. Sweetie nickered and whinnied from his place tied to the tree. A third shadowy figure took its place outside of the melee with the two archers....
Jana gripped her sword with both hands and swung the blade at the man twice more.
Kaileer reflexivly grabbed his shoulder then shuddered as the new figure arrived. "This not good," he muttered as he took aim at the archers again, careful to avoid Gala shooting at allies, and fired an arrow at each of them, leaving the third figure to the charging Blacky.
One of the archers choose the charging Blacky for a target, pelting him with two arrows. Two more arrows flew in Kaileer's direction, but they hit the rock he was behind rather than him. The elven ranger loosed arrows of his own into the fog, and another exclaimation of pain told him that at least one had found its mark.
Arachne still knelt over Torro even as one of the bandits came after her. He smacked her with the flat of his short sword.
Jana engaged the chainmail clad man that she had swung at earlier. She gave the man two new wounds, but he still stood, although badly hurt.
More dark chanting filled the air from the dark figure in the fog. This time, however, there was no effect, feeling or otherwise. Blacky and Gala attacked the man, but neither was able to hit him.
Even more chaos erupted onto the scene as the zombies entered the melee. Aloysius darted to and fro in front of one of them, trying to lead it away from the group. The undead creature followed him, almost getting close enough to claw him, but he dodged the foul creature's hand.
One of the zombies followed Blacky back into the fog as the large man had charged the mysterious figure. Another zombie went after Azrun, who stepped back from the fight between Jana and the chain-mail clad man. The zombie after Azrun missed as well. The movement of Kaileer behind the rock caught the attention of yet another, and he went after the ranger. The final zombie moved to Lasiar. It clawed him across the face, but as Lasiar attacked with his moon's hand in retaliation, he misjudged his swing and lost his grip on his weapon. The mace fell to the ground.
"You've dodged my axe twice now dark one, no one yet living has has dodged it a third time. Prepare to meet your dark god." Blacky says with confidence as he firms up his two-handed grip and swings at the dark priest.
The priest gave Blacky an evil look and, even as the large man started the swing of his axe, spoke a single word, "Die!" The axe-wielding warrior slumped helplessly to the ground and the zombie set upon him. Gala swung her flail at the priest again, but he proved a difficult man to harm.
Two arrows from an archer flew towards Azrun and the zombie after him. One of the arrows hit the zombie; the other fell harmlessly to the ground.
One of the archers cursed loudly and disappeared from view. A moment later, the second one fell to the ground.
The heavy pall that had come with the dark man's earlier words still lingered in the air. Lasiar moved to pick up his fallen moon's hand. The zombie took that opportunity to claw the man again.
Aloysius continued to dance in front of the zombie chasing him before stopping to sling his daggers at the undead being. Both daggers hit the monster, but it still came forward. It did not, however, hit the mage.
Jana and the bandit continued to face off. She missed with her two-handed swing, but the bandit scored a hit against her with his long sword.
Azrun dropped to one knee, swinging his staff at the zombie's knees. The zombie gave no sign that this attack had affected it at all and clawed the bard.
The ranger dropped his bow and whipped his knife from it's sheath, launching it at the undead creature. While trying to keep it between the archers and himself, Kaileer then quickly readied his shield and brandished his club, then approached the zombie so it would be a second shield from the archers. After doing all that, he swung his club at the zombie, but missed.
The bandit that had gone after Arachne swung the flat of his blade at her again. The little gnome tried to move out of his way, but he caught her with it again. He failed to render her unconscious, however.
