There were a lot of monsters in this battle. Alejandra closed her eyes, taking a deep breath to keep her panic away. “We need to reach level four.”

She rolled a nine. Not a large number, but at least Hraktar now had a weapon and could do something this battle.

Time resumed, and Ezekiel clutched his medallion, muttering something as he moved his other hand around. His spiritual book appeared, and he slammed it into the wight. The jaw became disconnected, and it let out a shriek. The creature moved his jaw around before it snapped back into place. One thing was certain: Ezekiel was not making friends with that wight.

Clarissa began chanting in her native elvish as she walked forward, holding out her hand with a leaf in her palm. The wind picked up as the leaf burst into flame. The light grew until a full scimitar blade made of fire appeared in her hand. She glared at the mummy before slamming the flame blade down. Some bandages lit up with fire, and the creature shrieked as it backed away.

Derek nodded. “Nice.” Milo pulled something out, and in the light of magic and Clarissa’s flame scimitar, he got to work making his cannon.

The mummy patted the fire out of its wrappings, but his head bobbed around before finding the druid, snarling. Clarissa held her sword out, her eyes narrow. The mummy then slammed his fist into Clarissa’s stomach, and she screamed in pain. Alejandra winced as a few ribs crack, and blood pumped out of a fist size hole in her stomach.

“Princess!” Milo shouted in alarm.

Alejandra gasped as Clarissa’s hit points zoomed from twenty-four to three.

Derek grabbed his hair, eyes widening. “Holy shit. Stay away from that mummy’s fist.”

Alejandra was now relieved Hraktar had a silver weapon, because they couldn’t have their tank sitting on the sidelines for this one. She could almost sense the same realization hit Hraktar. Whatever hesitancy he had with using a great axe disappeared. They needed these monsters dead.

A ghoul shrieked as it sprinted toward Milo. The mana fusor barely had time to glance up before the ghoul slammed into him, its teeth sinking down into the flesh. Milo let out a scream of surprise, then of pain as his hit points dove before stabilizing at sixteen.

The wight, who never took his eyes off Ezekiel, pulled out his sword and sliced it across Ezekiel’s gut. He gasped, stumbling back, but then the wight grabbed his throat, snarling as the cleric let out a garbled scream. Alejandra watched, wincing, as Ezekiel’s hit points plummeted to sixteen. Then, to her absolute horror, she watched the base number of his hit points go down.

16/28

15/27

14/26

All the way to 9/21. That wight sucked away Ezekiel’s hit points.

“Tyler?” Rafael patted Tyler’s arm, staring at the numbers above Ezekiel’s head. “Tyler, Tyler, Tyler?”

“It will come back to your original full health after a long rest.” Their game master sounded exhausted.

“As long as they make it out of there,” Mr. Anderson whispered.

The wight dropped Ezekiel. The cleric gasped for air, his breathing ragged. He rubbed his throat, blood dripping from his mouth as he shivered.

Alejandra had her hands in her hair as time slowed. Her fighter pushed aside his worry about the great axe, and since that was the only option they had, she mentally chose it. Everyone was a concern, and Hraktar needed to do as much damage to these creatures as possible.

There was another ghoul near the mummy, so she targeted the mummy with her great axe, as well as a sweeping attack to hit the ghoul.

She rolled, worrying she deliberated far too long on a roll that might miss. The tension left her body as it landed on nineteen. It hit. It had to hit. From looking at the barely hanging on cloth holding the mummy together, it couldn’t have a strong armor class.

This time, a d12 floated above her, and she relaxed. Until it landed on a one. She frowned, but remembered her options. Because of Hraktar’s great weapon fighting, the great axe was two handed, so she could re-roll anything that landed on a one or a two. She definitely was re-rolling this one.

On a stroke of luck she almost couldn’t believe, it landed on a twelve. She used time standing still to give a huge whoop of excitement as the +4 bumped it up to sixteen. They needed this.

She then rolled the d8 to hit the ghoul with the same attack, and it landed on a six. She was breathing deeply, glancing up to watch it unfold.

Hraktar took two steps toward the mummy, bringing his great axe up like it was a baseball bat before slamming it into the mummy’s chest. It shrieked in surprise as part of its rib cage broke open. With the momentum, Hraktar let it slam into the arm of the ghoul next to it. Black ichor dribbled from the cut on the ghoul’s arm, and it spun to Hraktar, furious.

“Hraktar, I love you,” Milo said.

“Right back at you, friend.” Hraktar tightened his grip on the great axe. “Thanks for the shiny weapon.”

Grizzizzik tried to stab the ghoul, but it dodged the attack, snarling.

“Does Nick know we’re fighting undead, and weapons might not work?” Derek asked.

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Evelyn shrugged.

“Ghouls can get hurt with regular weapons.” Tyler was checking something on his phone. “So as long as he keeps targeting the ghouls, we should be fine.”

The ghoul tried to bite Grizzizzik’s hand, but the rogue brought it back fast. At least Clarissa was protected behind Hraktar and Grizzizzik.

Ezekiel grasped his medallion and started muttering a prayer, his voice starting out quiet, then got louder as a golden glow emanated from his palm that clasped the medallion.

“I should’ve done this sooner,” Rafael said.

“We all forget sometimes.” Alejandra wasn’t even sure what she was comforting him about.

The golden glow slammed into each of the four undead, and they gave a shriek of complete fear.

“Sick! You turned all of them!” Derek punched the air.

Ezekiel was panting. “That should keep them all busy for a minute! Let the mummy and the wight run while we take care of the ghouls. I don’t know how long this will last, but it will distract the more powerful ones as we kill the smaller minions.”

“That saved all our asses. Thank you, Rafael,” Evelyn said.

He didn’t look at her. “I should’ve done it sooner.”

“It’s done now. That’s all that matters,” she said.

Clarissa stumbled to her feet, her blue dress covered in red blood. She let out a cry as she tried to hit a ghoul running away, but she missed. She curled into herself before she let out a shout, the spirit of the bear coming out of her and running around the group.

Grizzizzik and Hraktar got an added eight health points. Milo, Clarissa, and Ezekiel got the healing they needed to not look so ragged.

“Alright. Payback.” Milo stood up with his newly formed cannon. A white blast smacked the ghoul that bit him. The ghoul who was in the process of running away shuddered before turning toward Milo with a look of hatred. “And… we can all focus on this ghoul now.”

The mummy and the wight both, thankfully, started shrieking as they did their best to move away from Ezekiel. Everyone else let them move away as they turned toward the ghoul that had awoken from the fear.

The ghoul shrieked, running straight at Milo with its claws out. It slammed down hard, and three claw marks appeared on Milo’s chest, oozing blood. He shouted, stumbling back.

“Ooh.” Derek rubbed his arm. “Something tells me he barely saved that constitution saving throw.”

Milo was panting, ready for another fight.

Time slowed down, and Alejandra chose the great axe again. It landed on a seven, which she wasn’t sure would hit, but felt pleasantly surprised when the d12 showed up again. She rolled it, and it landed on a one. Again. She sighed, rolling it again and deflating as it landed on a two. Her luck couldn’t last every time.

The +4 made it a six total. Hraktar ran over and gave a large swipe with the axe. The back of the creature sliced open. It turned around, shrieking with hatred. Grizzizzik tried to follow suit, but missed completely.

Ezekiel brought his spiritual weapon down hard on the top of the ghoul’s head. The spinal cord snapped, and the light from its eyes dimmed as he collapsed to the ground, dead. The cleric picked up the book and dusted it off. “Knowledge will set you free.” He then chucked it at the other ghoul. It smacked the creature in the back and it threw out its arms, shrieking. It was only a moment’s pause before it whipped around, snarling.

It didn’t snarl for long. Clarissa ran forward, and with a shout drove the fire scimitar into the chest of the ghoul. It squealed like a slaughtered pig before dropping to the ground, dead.

“Let’s destroy dear ol’ mummy, shall we?” Milo pointed his cannon at the mummy. White energy smacked the decayed and split open chest, and it stopped in its tracks. No one could see the mummy’s eyes, since it was covered with bandages, but the rotten teeth were still nothing to mess with.

The mummy turned toward Hraktar, and something underneath the bandages glowed.

“Shit. Look away, Hraktar!” Milo said.

But it was too late. Everything froze, and Alejandra saw the d20 hanging in front of her.

Make a wisdom saving throw.

Hraktar’s wisdom modifier was sitting at a big fat zero. Nothing about this comforted her.

“Come on. Big number, big number,” Alejandra said, shaking the d20 before letting it drop. It landed on a six. She grimaced. That couldn’t be good.

Fail. Hraktar now paralyzed.

“No!”

Everything on her character sheet was locked.

The mummy let out a grunt before shoving his fist into Hraktar’s gut. It broke the skin, half of its fist in the fighter’s innards. Alejandra let out a cry of sympathy pain. Hraktar grunted, incapable of stumbling, but the pain was clear. The eight bonus hit points from Clarissa disappeared in a flash. The numbers kept dropping until they landed at twenty.

Enemy rolled a natural twenty. Hraktar infected with mummy rot.

Alejandra gave Tyler a wide, terrified look. “What’s mummy rot?”

“Shit.” Tyler rubbed his hand across his jaw. “No healing potion or cure wounds will have any effect on him until we cure mummy rot. Try not to get knocked out.”

Rafael jerked his head toward Tyler. “How do we cure it?”

“Calawit. We must kill these creatures first and get back to her,” Tyler said.

The wight kept scrambling from Ezekiel, which was fine. They needed to be ignored by a creature who could drain the life out of someone.

Hraktar paralyzed. Incapable of taking a turn.

Alejandra assumed that meant she wouldn’t roll the dice for anything. She watched her fighter, saw how frozen he was, the wound in his gut trailing black marks toward his heart.

Grizzizzik started chanting something, and a dark aura filled his palm before he shot it in the mummy’s direction. The creature grunted, then used a bandaged hand to touch its head, moaning.

Ezekiel slammed the book against the mummy’s head, and it grunted. Ezekiel then grabbed Milo’s shoulder, giving a quick prayer.

“What’s that for?” Hazel asked.

“Milo’s closest to him, and Ezekiel doesn’t want his best friend to end up like Hraktar.” Rafael glanced at Derek. “Milo rarely survives what Hraktar can.”

“You are the best. Thanks Rafael,” Derek said.

Milo lifted his cannon, aimed directly at the mummy’s chest, and another white ball of energy burst out of the cannon.

Many of its rotten wrappings started to unravel as the mummy looked at Milo; the gaze glowing under the wraps. Milo held firm, and Derek lifted his two hands to give a thumbs up to Rafael. “Thanks.” The mummy slammed his fist toward Milo, who leapt out of the way, and Derek nodded. “Double thanks.”

Hraktar gasped as the wight cowered in the background. Alejandra didn’t even want to think about how this would go if they had to fight both a mummy and a wight at the same time. Hraktar grunted, holding his stomach as the paralyses wore off.

Once prompted, Alejandra picked the silvered great axe and rolled the dice. Sixteen. That was even before the boost from the modifier.

She got a two on the first roll, which she decided to re-roll. She groaned in frustration as it landed on a three. The +4 made it a seven.

Time resumed, and Hraktar lifted his great axe, glaring at the mummy. He brought it down hard; the axe cutting the mummy right down the middle.

“Yes!” Derek shouted, fists in the air.

Good. It was enough to kill it. Alejandra heard something snapping in the bushes dangerously close to them. She turned, curious.

Grizzizzik shot a black spell at the wight, who lifted a hand to stop it. To actually stop the black mass from hitting it.

“Wait, I thought it was turned,” Derek said.

Tyler took a small step back. “Not anymore.”

“Guys,” Alejandra said, almost breathless.

Two deer stumbled into the light behind them, right up to their group. At least, they seemed like deer. There was black blood coming from their glowing eyes, and some of the flesh melted from their bones. Alejandra’s breath caught in her throat. She thought the battle was almost over. But now these zombie deer were staring right at her, once a part of this planet, and there was an excellent chance they could hurt her worse than a creature from the Shrouded Domain.