After gathering all of the berries into a small wooden box that should not be able to hold that many, they slowly approach the entrance to the next room. As soon as they're in the room properly the skeleton fighter lunges at Cole with a vertical sword slash. Meanwhile the rogue, which was against the wall so it couldn't be seen from the hallway, attempts a sneak attack on Darrel. Darrel and Clyde, both notice it but not in time to prevent Darrel from receiving a massive cut. Fortunately, Darrel was able to move just enough for the rogue skeletons daggers to miss their intended target.
Clyde engages the rogue immediately. At the same time Lily rushes over to start healing Darrel. None of them notice the archer that has appeared and taken aim at Lily. This is exactly why I didn't give it skills to increase accuracy. It wouldn't be fair if the first archer they encountered had perfect aim. As it is they do eventually notice the archer when Lily hits the ground a moment later screaming in agony. An arrow sticking through her leg.
Darrel throws up a water wall. It can't stop the arrows. It can however slow them down and send them off course. To be fair though it probably could stop them if he made it thicker but then it wouldn't be wide enough to protect the whole party. He can't however do anything about the other rogue that is now running towards them. Not while maintaining the water wall anyway. As luck would have it Cole was already done with his opponent and was able to use his taunt skill to redirect the rogues attack onto himself. I was a little surprised by how fast Cole was able to win. He is three levels higher than the skeletons in this room though so it kind of made sense. Clyde took a bit longer to deal with his opponent simply because of the increased agility and speed of the rogue class.
As all that was going on Lily, in a truly impressive display, pull the arrow out of her own leg and began healing the wound. Fortunately, although there is a lot of blood, I can see that the arrow didn't hit anything vital. She has no idea how lucky she is as the arrow was millimeters away from one of the major arteries. I have no idea what the official name for it is but it's the second largest artery in her left leg. Either way she manages to stop the bleeding and turn her attention to treating Darrel. She won't be running any marathons any time soon, but she limps over to Darrel and begins casting a basic healing spell.
With Clyde's help Cole soon dispatches the other rogue. Now they just have the archer to deal with. Not that they know that. They start to make their way to the archer using Coles large shield as cover. All the while Clyde is scanning all around for anything they might have missed. Not having to maintain the water wall any more Darrell begins lobbing water spears at the archer to keep her from being able to nock another arrow. It is surprisingly successful as Darrel can send out water spears almost faster than the archer was able to react. This left the archer no time to return fire. Soon enough the pair reached the archer and ended the fight. Archers aren't exactly known for close quarters fighting after all.
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To their surprise the archer's bow gets left behind when it vanishes. Clyde as the party leader picks it up to examine it. It turns out to be a mid-tier wood rank bow. They don't have any archers in their party, so Clyde decides to sell it in the newly built equipment shop. After that they look around for any other loot. Not finding any they soon return to just resting. While resting Lily manages to finish healing both her and Darrel. Now they have a decision to make. Do they continue onward facing who knows what from a dungeon that's had who knows how long to plan, or do they stop here barely past the entrance to the second floor.
Sometime later they decide to press on after several assurances from both Lily and Darrel that they are fine. They're not fine but they will be in a day or two. They aren't going to spontaneously die though. Because of this I decide not to tell Clyde how they're actually doing. This time though they've learned their lesson and Cole goes in first with his shield up. Clyde and Darrel go in immediately after checking the wall along both sides of the entrance. Not seeing anything they turn towards the front just in time for Clyde to block the attack from the second fighter in this room. Darrel then notices the archers on the other side of the room. He doesn't quite get the water wall up in time. Due to his slow reaction time, he is rewarded with an arrow in the shoulder. A second arrow embeds itself in Cole's shield. While a third arrow just barely manages to miss Clyde completely due to him moving at the last minute to counter the fighter's attack.
He does manage to get the water wall up a few minutes later though leaving Cole and Clyde free to focus on the fighters in front of them. At the same time Lily runs up and begins healing Darrel. Well, it's more like a fast limp than a run but the intention is there. She manages to pull the arrow the rest of the way out and stop the bleeding rather quickly. The injury isn't life threatening but like with her leg it will take a few days to recover completely.
As for Cole and Clyde, well Clyde fakes a vertical slash causing his opponent to prepare to defend against it only to thrust it straight ahead just before their swords touch. Doing this he succeeds in stabbing the skeletons skull and ending the fight. Cole on the other hand just brute forced his way through the fight using his size and his shield to keep his opponent of balance. This time the fighter drops a piece of chest armor. It's not as good as what he has on so Clyde puts it with the rest of the loot he intends to sale.
Now though they have a problem. How do they move forward safely? There are still three archers to deal with after all.