The portcullis came crashing down behind them, causing stone dust to billow from the workings. As the group got their coughing under control, Will shouted.
“Duck!” as they all threw themselves to the ground. Pikes stabbed from holes in the ceiling of the inner gatehouse before retracting. they all crawled out from under the holes and stood up just beyond in the open air. Emerys gestured for everyone to huddle up, absently crushing the skull of a skeleton who jumped at the group from out of nowhere.
“Looks like we're dealing with undead.” Emerys said. “Switch to your blunt weapons for now, I doubt we will be seeing anything fleshy enough for your normal weapons.” Everyone did as he suggested, even the archers switched to odd arrows with a cross shaped head that were three inches across. Will pulled out the mace Emerys had given him after finding one better in the Alchemist’s hoard. Will adjusted his spirit inscription to accommodate the mace. After fitting a shield to his left arm, he was ready to go. He looked around to find the group waiting on him.
“Loose triangle formation. Fighters on the outside, archers and mage on the inside. Will, you will be in front just behind me.” Emerys looked around to make sure everyone had gotten what he was saying and nodded. Everyone scrambled to their new positions and they turned forward. They found themselves at the edge of a large field swarming with skeletons. Most ignored them, except for the few that drew near.
“Are they acting out normal lives?” Will asked. The whole thing looked quite morbid. Skeletal soldiers could be seen moving around and performing drills, but around the edges were a number of buildings that seemed to serve as businesses or workshops. In each, a number of skeletons could be seen going through the motions of conversing with one another. In one blacksmith shop, a skeleton worked a set of rotted out bellows trying to heat a cold forge while another skeleton smashed a piece of cold steel with a rusty hammer. Similar sights could be seen all over. Skeletons preparing nonexistent food with decrepit pots and utensils. A skeletal tanner fussing over a broken down tanners rack. Upon seeing this, the entire group muttered to one another in unease.
“It seems this dungeon is a little more intentional than we thought.” Amalise said. When she saw that she had everyone’s attention, she went on. “If this were a natural dungeon, it would have raised all kinds of undead, including the monsters. Moreover they would be walking around more or less randomly. This shows a certain level of messed up sentiment, which means we are probably dealing with an intelligent undead. He will likely be serving as both boss and dungeon master.”
“Do you think we are dealing with a lich?” Emerys asked. “If so, we need to get out of here as soon as possible.” Amalise thought for a moment.
“I find it unlikely. Liches are rare and take quite a bit of preparation to create. I would guess that the dungeon master only became undead as a last resort when the castle was being overrun. I can’t be sure, but I would guess that we have either a revenant or a draugr commander. I just need to see how the undead react in groups. The fact that we haven’t been mobbed yet could mean that we are dealing with a commander, but it could just as easily be due to the dungeon’s restrictions on mob placement.”
“Well, there is only one way to find out.” Emerys said. “We have one hundred infantry skeletons drilling, as well as another fifty worker skeletons that I can see. Could be more in the buildings. We will wait until the drilling formation is faced away from us, and then charge. Archers and Amalise will keep pressure on any skeletons that try to flank us. Remember, these are dungeon skeletons without the support of a necromancer. They will be strong but brittle. Keep their spears away and knock their skulls off. We go in three, two, one, go.”
The whole group burst into a charge, yelling out war cries as they ran. The skeletons immediately turned to face them, but they were clumsy and slow, and failed to get their spears leveled in time to keep the group of adventurers from drilling in deep into their formation. Twenty skeletons were smashed in the first second and a dozen more followed them in the next. But the skeletons reformed faster than any could have expected. Suddenly arrows flew from the center group, and spells flashed out to incinerate worker skeletons that were mobbing them from behind.
Will noted that in passing, but had to keep his full attention on the enemies before him. He had a shield and a mace, but they were faced with a shield wall with stabbing spears. Will jumped forward, bringing his mace down in a swing empowered by both his enhanced strength as well as the mace’s own enchantments which made it heavier on command. His mace tore through the shield before him, sending the skeleton holding it flying back into its fellows. In the next moment, a hand grabbed the back of Will’s armor, pulling him back into formation before a half dozen spears could reach around his shield. The skeletons moved to close the gap, but a shout from Emerys had the group charging forward into the gap.
And that was enough. They killed a dozen more skeletons in the charge, and the enemy’s formation was broken. Will was surprised to see how many skeletons were killed in the time they struggled against the shield wall, leaving only a handful of soldiers left once they completed their second charge. There were still about two score workers remaining, but as they were armed with simple cleavers and hammers, they were of little threat. The mop up only took a few minutes as the suicidal skeletons threw themselves upon the group. When the last was dead, Will threw himself upon a pile of bones to rest. The rest of the company did the same, doing their best to avoid the rusty spears mingled alongside the remains. Emerys sat down beside Will and sighed.
“You realize you nearly died when you left formation right?” Emerys said, looking at Will.
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“Yeah.” Will said. He rubbed the back of his neck and wouldn’t make eye contact.
“Look, I’m not some drill sergeant to come laying into you, and skeletons are pretty easy to deal with. But when we are dealing with that many enemies, a break in formation can mean a quick death.”
“Yeah, I get it.” Will said. “I let the battle get to me. This isn’t like facing a single strong enemy. With a single strong enemy, you can track all their movements, predict all their actions. This was just chaos.” Emerys nodded sagely.
“You have to be able to trust the guy next to you to do their job.” Emerys said. “If they don’t, it could mean a fatal breach in the line. Which is partially why jumping out like that was such a problem. You could have been killed, sure, but your death means a hole in the line which we have to fill. Filling that hole could mean more deaths before we restabilize.” Will blushed in shame.
“Hey, all’s well that ends well. I was just making sure you know so that nothing happens against tougher opponents. If those were people, you would have been dead taking a half step out of line.” Will nodded and tried to change the subject.
“We should have Amalise and the archers soften up the enemies before we hit them next time. They knew we were there the moment we started running, so we wouldn’t have given up the element of surprise.” Emerys stared at Will long enough to make Will feel awkward before planting his face into his palm.
“Damn, you're right. That would have stopped them from reforming their lines and made it an easy mop up.” He leaned back against a broken barrel which creaked in response. “Lucky for me, I don’t think we are going to have too many more large engagements. I know small squad tactics pretty well, but I just don’t have experience with this larger scale stuff, and I really don’t want to gain any.”
After a few more minutes, they all started to scour the buildings. They found more skeletons, but little more of value, until someone realized that all of the tools were in surprisingly good condition. The same went for the spears and shields. All exposed metal had a layer of rust, but nothing that couldn’t be polished up. The buildings too were solid and without leaks, though mold and must were pervasive throughout everything. They took anything that looked salvageable, which was more than they expected. Only the hammer the blacksmith skeleton had been using was too chipped to be worth anything. After that, they set back out.
The clearing was surrounded by buildings that all butted up against a castle wall, except for one road that curved out to the left at a steep incline, curving around the castle. It was a narrow road crowded by houses and led up to another gatehouse at the top which would lead into the inner castle courtyard. The road was swarming with worker skeletons, which avoided a small squad of skeletal knights mounted on horses. The squad seemed to be on a patrol up and down the road and made a slow pace. There were four knights armed with greatswords each on their own charger. Each of them wore plate armor, and an ominous red light shone out from between the plates. Instead of hanging loosely like the armor on the other skeletons, this armor hung like it would on a normal person.
“Damn, knight revenants.” One of the followers said. That led to mutters and whispering.
“What do you mean? What is so bad about these ones?” Will asked.
“Revenants are intelligent, skeletons are not. It means that they will use complex tactics, and will use magical abilities. In this case, they likely don’t have any overt magical abilities except for their ectoplasmic bodies. Those bodies will absorb blunt damage like a slime, and the armor will make it difficult to pierce. Good news is that we can rule out having a lich in charge. Liches rarely like having intelligent followers. However, we are either dealing with a Lord revenant, or a draugr commander, though I am leaning toward a draugr commander.” Amalise concluded.
“In that case,” Emerys said, “bring out your short blades, but don’t stow your blunt weapons. Once we puncture the ectoplasmic shell, we will be free to beat them apart.”
“What if we have Amalise and the archers focus on puncturing the ectoplasmic shell?” Will asked. “They could post up on a rooftop where they can get a good view while we break up the horses. Once the ectoplasmic shells are gone, we go after knights themselves.” Emerys and Amalise looked at each other before nodding.
“Archers, on a roof! Me, Will, as well as you two will keep the knights busy while the rest of you break their horses. I will call target on each knight as their shells go down. Everyone understand?” Once everyone nodded, he turned and yelled, “Arrow formation!” Everyone got into formation, and started up the street. It wasn’t long before the knight revenants noticed them. They immediately started to charge, completely disregarding the oblivious worker skeletons they trampled under their hooves. Greatswords were drawn from sheaths tied to the horses, and they came on in a double line.
“Split!” Emerys shouted, and Will found himself dragged away from the large man and off to one side. He raised his shield like the melee followers and deflected the strikes of the greatsword. He lashed out at the legs of the horses as they flashed by, and the mace was nearly ripped from his hands, but his gamble worked, and a haunting whinny cried out. Once the knights were past, Will jumped up and rushed after them. This time, he was surrounded by the followers as they made their own charge. Two of the knights seemed deflated and bore arrows sticking from the joints of the armor. Will charged one of the knights that still had their shell, screaming for its attention. The greatsword came around, and Will blocked it with his shield. In retaliation, he landed a savage blow to the skull of the skeletal horse, which immediately collapsed, depositing the knight on the ground.
Will and the knight traded blows. Every time the greatsword hit Will’s shield, Will staggered, but his mace hit with just as much force. The problem was the Ectoplasmic shell absorbing all of Will’s hits. Will dismissed his mace and summoned a plain shortsword. If he was lucky, he could stick it between the plates and puncture the shell. They traded several more blows before the Knight revenant overextended itself, and Will darted in. He stabbed right into the armpit, and was satisfied to see the knight deflate, its armor hanging loosely on the skeleton.
But the fight wasn’t over. Will was caught in a gauntleted fist and thrown ten feet where he rolled to a stop. He barely got to his feet in time to block the greatsword as the knight charged, and he was nearly thrown from his feet. But he held his ground as he summoned his mace again. He needed to get close a second time, but the knight wasn’t giving him the opportunity. Finally, a crack resounded as a mace took the knight from behind. Will rushed forward and clobbered the knight on its helmet, knocking his skull off his body. Will looked around to find the battlefield empty of skeletons, and the entire group cheered.
“Good fighting!” Emerys said. “Your lessons really seem to be paying off.”
Will grinned in response.
“I can’t say it felt good. That skeleton hit like a truck.” he saw Emerys’ confused expression. “Hit like a runaway carriage.”
Emerys nodded.