The battle begins with the sprites. Puck weaves an image of a monstrosity, resembling the hound, darting through the crowd, past the skeletal guards and at one of the necromancers. His fellows provide the appropriate sounds, a hungering growl, the rustle of clothes as it darts past the crowd. Then it lunges at one of the skull-masks, who barely manages to dodge the frenzied swipe, which is of course part of the plan. Illusions can’t cause damage, but as the beast nimbly darts away to hide in the crowd once again, all eyes are on it…

And not on Athea and the Doppelgangers, when they strike. Athea emerges from the same direction the illusion first came from, rolling underneath one of the skeletons’ tall frames, and coming to a stand mid strike, bringing up the dagger alongside her body in a fluid motion aimed at the cultists neck.

When it connects, however, there is no spray of blood, no wet squelch of metal sliding into flesh, as the hood rips away partially to reveal what amounts to an armor of bone encasing the figure's neck. They stagger and cry out, but they do not fall, which would have been the ideal outcome.

Simultaneously to this, the doppelgangers managed to close in from behind, darting around the huge flesh-construct at the rear and lunging at the two distracted mages with humanoid masks in the back. The one jumping at the mage throwing radiance is repelled by a flash of light as he makes contact with an unseen barrier and sent tumbling back into the crowd, but the other one connects with his target, his gangly arm wrapping around their front from the back while the other arm holding a dagger plunges into the side of their neck.

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Here, the expected result is achieved, as metal sunders skin and flesh, and a bloody gash across the throat turns the scream of pain the victim was about to make into a rattling wheeze that is lost in the general turmoil of the crowd, even as the doppelganger fades back into it, dragging the resisting individual along.

Larissa manages to also capitalize on the opening provided, tumbling underneath one of the bone beasts and slashing at its front legs mid movement, causing it to collapse just as she comes to stand on its opposite side, where she engages the snarl-mask responsible for the bone beasts, and it is an engagement because unlike the other members of their party, she responds in time to bring up her weapon, a handaxe, and slash at the approaching rogue, then ducks under the stab aimed at her face while elbowing away Larissa’s left arm that was going to make introductions between her second dagger and the cultists stomach.

“Ambush!” the lead cultist shouts, and immediately the figures scramble as the seven, now six, figures step even closer together and turn towards their attackers.

Their attackers, meanwhile, don’t stick around and retreat into the crowd, though not before some retaliatory attacks are thrown their way. Athea is caught in the shoulder by a spike of bone the leader of this group conjured and shot from his outstretched palm. Meanwhile Larissa takes a swipe from the second beast that is largely deflected by her leather armor as she leaps backwards, flipping over the downed bone construct and disappearing smoothly into the crowd.

The first strike has been dealt, the curtain raised on these coming scenes of violence. The actors are introduced and the stage is set, so now it’s time to see how the audience reacts. The first act… has begun!