Chapter 9: Chapter 9: Game Of Bones

N’ratha and Fuan joined Gragya in the fray. Steel and magic collided with bone in a somewhat unpleasant cacophony. Thankfully, Pin began to play a war song to cover over the noise of the fight. A song imbued with bardic magic to fill the hearts of the adorable Halflet’s allies.

Fuan’s felt filled with energy by the music. It was as if an entire Elven choir were behind him, lending him their spirits. It was clear Pin was a more powerful bard than he’d realised. What wasn’t clear, though, was where the fire support from their main battle mage was.

Ignoring that for the moment, out of necessity, Fuan sliced through the skull of a dwarven skeleton, only to find it still attacking him. It took several more slashes to the limbs before the thing crumpled to the ground. By that point, however, another three were on him. A blast of magic dealt with one, but he could feel he only had so much of that left in him right now. He was already running at half capacity at best with being stuck human. Trying to fight on only a few hours sleep, and without morning magic rituals, was an added complication he didn’t need.

Thankfully a swift slice to the leg bones gave him some space away from both skeletons. Though that was only a drop in the bucket compared to the army they were facing. An army of skeletons that had gotten creative with how they’d pulled their bones together.

Dodging a massive fist from one of the multi-skeletoned abominations, Fuan caught a glimpse of the tiny goblin. She was reading. Flipping through a tome of some sort or another. 

“We’re in the middle of a battle here!” he shouted. “We could use help!”

“I’m looking for a spell!” Illyxa shouted back.

He gritted his teeth, wondering what in the world she could be looking for. Illyxa’s usual explosion magic seemed like it would be plenty useful right now. 

He scrambled around the legs of the massive skeleton construct, hacking at the numerous bones that formed the trunks of its legs. Unfortunately, even with his blade of magic energy,  he could only cut through a few bones with any one swing. While the monstrosity was lumbering it was still fast enough to keep him from managing more than a hack or two at any one time.

At the other side of the group, N’ratha was filled with her own fury from Pin’s music. Her sword was metal, but enchanted to swing with greater force than a normal human could wield. At the same time, her electric breath was crackling through the bones it hit.

She was keeping as near as she could to Hyi’s bubble of magical protection, however. She had to protect Pin because he was Pin. He was her love. She also had to protect Illyxa, however, as she’d learned the diminutive sorceress was surely the greatest weapon in the battle. Just as soon as she figured out whatever it was that she was looking for. She struck N’ratha as seeming like a student at one of the academies attempting last minute studies before an exam.

The skeletons kept coming, however. They stretched out into the darkness, a seemingly unending sea of undead looking to drag the party to join them. 

A number had flowed together, broken and incomplete skeletons banding together to form a great behemoth of bone before her. Large as a giant.

N’ratha blasted at them with her breath, but the bones shattered by her lightning seemed of little consequence to the grand construct. She wondered what else she could do when Gragya burst from another portion of the fray.

The Gorcish woman bounded along the skulls of other foes before landing on one of the arms of the great behemoth. The thing seemed surprised, as much as a mindless automaton could, and attempted to bat her off with its other hand.

Gragya, however, lept up, slamming into the ‘wrist’ of the bone giant with her heel. It did not break through the limb, but it clearly did some damage. Other bones shifted to replace what had broken away, but Gragya was already rushing up the arm. She reached the shoulder before launching herself at the head. Her fists crashed into the bones as she let out a joyous shout.

She was filled with the sounds of orcish war drums, and felt ready to take on the world. As if she’d returned to the great coliseum. To her mind there was no fear, only glory of battle ahead. The roar of the crowds where even a mad strategy and impossible ending in death would be celebrated and remembered.

The passion guided Gragya to continue attacking the head of the behemoth. The great thing seemed unsteadied by the assault. It attempted to swat her like a mosquito, however its slow motions gave her time to bound off the side of the head. She leapt over the hand, instead watching as it collided with the side of the head. Doing as much damage in a single blow as she’d done in a dozen.

She launched forward from the shoulder again, smashing into the back of the hand before its inertia had ceased. Increasing the force of the collision with the head.

Pushing from her depths, she called upon the spirit of Glorz to reinforce her blows. An honour she had gained through blood and battle, yet rarely called upon. A final kick proved enough to knock the whole behemoth off balance.

It tumbled over, bones shattering under the weight of its bulk. Both the bones of other skeletons around and those that had made up the left side of the construct. 

Gragya leapt from the crumbling form to land beside Hyi’s bubble. She shot a grin towards the Eleven woman, who looked amazed but… that was it. Clearly she really was straight. A shame.

“I’ve got it!” Illyxa shouted, pointing to the tome she’d had her nose in.

She put the book down and began a chant in a language that definitely was not goblin. Gragya joined the other two in protecting Hyi’s shield bubble during the incantation. Until, at last, Illyxa released the power of the spell with the final word.

The effects were not what anyone else had been expecting. Rather than blasting a hole in the enemy army, or simply causing the bones to crumble, instead the air was filled with what seemed like an endless number of half invisible strings. Strings connected to the skeletons that all lead to a single point.

“The necromancer is that way!” Illyxa shouted, pointing.

Not that the pointing was really needed. Gragya could figure it out. She launched herself forwards, bounding off skeletons until she was high enough to leap from pillar-face to pillar-face. All the while moving too fast for the pull of the ground to reach her. 

A vast wall of bones formed in her path, but a blast from what must have been Fuan’s magic cracked it and Gragya smashed through the weakened point.

Reaching the other side, she found a single cloaked figure. Before the necromancer had a chance to respond, she’d launched herself forward, to slam a fist into their chest.

She heard a crack with the collision, the necromancer flying back to slam into the wall. 

Behind her came the noise of the vast numbers of bones collapsing into a great heap of rubble.

Satisfied with her work, Gragya wiped her hands and turned to grin at the others as they rushed over. The necromancer, who looked to be a male human under his skull mask, now that she’d stopped to look, seemed to be lying unconscious and the day was saved. Always a nice feeling.

“Is—is he dead?” Hyi asked, worry in her voice.

“Ehh… probably not,” Gragya replied.

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“Do you think we have to kill him?” Pin asked. “Who knows how long it’ll take us to find the way out of here. He might be back on his feet by then.”

“We’re not killing him,” Illyxa said.

“Oh. Thank goodness,” Hyi said. “It felt very much in cold blood like this. Though I’m—”

“We’re not killing him because Necromancers are a headache to kill. Have you ever tried? They always have, like, five or more self-resurrecting artifacts around,” Illyxa said, waving her arms up. “It’s obnoxious!”

“So then what are we going to do?” Fuan asked.

“Die…”

The group looked at one another, trying to figure out who had said that. Only to then all turn to see the necromancer back on his feet. His cloak had dropped away, revealing he was wearing a loose black tunic and black pants. A very simple outfit, really. Only slightly less shapeless than the cloak had been.

“I am a master of bones. Did you think a few broken ones would stop me?” he asked, before extending a hand and letting out a hiss in whatever dark tongue necromantic magic used.

A stream of bones flooded their way, soon wrapping the necromancer in a skeletal armour from head to toe. Loose ribs covered his chest, limb bones the matching segments of his arms and legs. Cranial fragments reinforced his head protection. Assorted bones formed a sort of skirt around his hips. While, lastly, his hands became wrapped in fragments.

“The closer the bones are to me the stronger my magic binds them!” he shouted, before charging.

The small folks scattered to safety. Hyi barely stopped his blow with a magic wall. The three fighters charged in, swords and fists colliding with skeletal armour. However, it was clear his magic was powerful. Their blows bounced off the now reinforced bones with little effect. 

Gragya turned to Illyxa, to ask her for assistance. Only to find her fending off an army of approaching skeletons. They were shuffling and mindless, but still a threat by pure numbers. 

Turning back to the necromancer, Gragya had to admit his form was still sloppy. He wasn’t a fighter. He was merely invulnerable right now. Everywhere was covered in impenetrable bones…

Or was it?

That armoured skirt protected from strikes while providing mobility, but it didn’t protect in every direction.

Gragya slipped around behind him, before dropping on her back and slamming a kick up into the necromancer’s one undefended point.

He let out a high pitched ‘urk’ before crumpling once more. The bones fell from his body in a heap as he writhed on the ground, letting out squeaks of pain.

Gragya hopped to her feet and let out a grin. “Yeah, no bones in there for you to heal…”

She trailed off, however, when a look of deep and genuine concern spread across her face. “Or are there? I… it is called a ‘boner’ and ‘boning’… so…”

Gragya’s eyes went to Fuan, Pin, and Illyxa for help. The adorable halflet man just stared back at her like a deer staring down the open and glowing maw of a dragon. 

Fuan, however, had a reply. “In a human? No. There’s no bones there.”

“Ah. Good. Good,” Gragya said, letting out a breath of relief.

Illyxa decided to ignore her cousin’s foolishness. Instead she pulled out some silver sticky wrap and noisily pulled out a strip to wrap around the necromancer’s mouth before he stopped writhing.

“Alright, get him on the wall now,” Illyxa said.

Gragya nodded, lifting the man up and pressing him against the ancient stone. Illyxa got to work pulling out more sticky wrap to cover the man as high as she could reach. She then handed the last roll to N’ratha before setting to work summoning more.

Staring in horror, Fuan could only imagine what being covered from head to toe in that horrible substance was like. He’d lost enough of his eyebrows to hate the stuff. Yet they’d wrapped the necromancer in more rolls of the stuff than he cared to count. 

“That should hold him for… well, a while,” Illyxa said, wiping her hands in satisfaction.

The elves nodded slowly, only vaguely making out the necromancer’s form under all the silver. There were angry groaning noises coming from under it all, but the man was too tightly stuck to move.

“Can he breathe?” Hyi asked.

“Pretty sure he’s a lich or something, so it doesn’t matter,” Illyxa replied. “Now, let’s get going. I want out of this place.”

Hyi’s concern for others lost out to her fear of the crypt and she hurried after Illyxa. The others followed after. All hunting for signs of an exit.

Thankfully it did not prove too hard to find. The dwarves who’d built the place hadn’t wanted to get trapped, after all. It was more a matter of picking their way through the sea of bones littering the ground.

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