"Ha! Got em! Just a Mana Grenade, Cleo. The only reason it took that form is cause I shaped it like that." Ludwig explained but then winced as he saw that Tana had also been hit by his own area of effect attack. "Sorry, Tana. My bad. I can only do that once per combat though." He watched as the rai-neko glared away another of the skeletons, leaving two to be taken down by Kaori, Rhyme and the chib raider. But then the bones began moving back towards the skulls and one was removed from the fight thanks to Mercurius' quick hands. The sage simply raised his pistol as Biscuit failed her attempt at catching a skull. "I just had to put a negative on my Deftness. Thank god shooting works differently. I cast gun." He aimed the pistol at one of the skulls and pulled the trigger, firing a shot that flew straight towards his target. Ludwig hoped the bullet hit and took out the skull, and thereby, also take out another of the skeletons. Action: Attack with pistol at one of the skulls on the ground that the bones are moving towards to.

ImpBiscuit A Chib woman with platinum blonde hair, dressed in an elegant, white bell-sleeved romper with lavish copper-colored cuffs and details. She wears boots in a similar style, a white stocking only on her right leg, and a three-tailed dark blue cloak. For jewelery she has a four-pointed obsidian star pinned to her hair and a copper circlet floating above her head. Biscuit also spots what the bones are up to, and follows Mercurius' lead in pouncing on the nearest skull and trying to grab it. "Hey, get back here!" she hollers at it as it manages to hop out of her limited reach.

The skull tries to hop away but Mercurius manages to snatch it off the ground. She stuffs it into her bag where it sulks.

<> "No!" Mercurius dives for one of the skulls with the intent to keep it away from the rest of its body, then look for a bag to jam it into. "No you don't!" OOC: Deftness to palm one of the skulls and stuff it in a bag somewhere! Going after the one that was the target of Focus to gain Edge if allowed. Deftness 11

Both Skelemen go down in a shower of bones. There is quiet for a bit. Then the party notices that the bones are slowly crawling toward the skulls.

"I suppose it's just better to attack as much as we can, right, Myrrh?" Rhyme mused, as their tactics had not earned a hit against the skeletons before. "Yeah, let's just bring the fight to them!" The cat cheerily agreed, switching from merely hissing and harrying to revealing their wicked claws, as prince and companion attacked as one, chain lashing through the air and claws seeking the ankles of the skelemen.

<> Mercurius recovers from a frazzled state and looks up at his hearts. After feeling the pain from the mana explosion and now the sword slash, he didn't want to find out what would happen if his hearts went down to zero. "Hey, no more bombs, ok? Let's end this quickly!" He looks for the skeleman he spat a retort at earlier and tries to take him out with a swift strike, before backing away slowly. OOC: If the target I put Focus on is still "alive", I'm going for him. The second roll for Edge if that applies. I will also move to the back row away from the enemies, if I can move without risking attack. Katana, if Focus active on target

The two remaining skelemen giggle in glee at seemingly even the demise of their compatriots. One slashes at Mercurius while the other slashes at Kaori since both are within easy reach. Mercurius loses one heart as she is slashed while Kaori only barely dodges aside! Everyone may go! Kaori will go last.

Kaori, jumps forward with her family Katana and slashes down at a Skeleman. The thing topples into a pile of bones and the skull goes rolling around in circles.

ImpBiscuit A Chib woman with platinum blonde hair, dressed in an elegant, white bell-sleeved romper with lavish copper-colored cuffs and details. She wears boots in a similar style, a white stocking only on her right leg, and a three-tailed dark blue cloak. For jewelery she has a four-pointed obsidian star pinned to her hair and a copper circlet floating above her head. The pressure wave from the mana grenade is but a gentle breeze by the time it reaches Biscuit, making her hair and cloak and the mist around her dance gently. She looks down at a skull that rolls to a stop not that far away, with the spiral icon floating above it. "Oh dear. We could have avoided this, you know?" The Chib lifts her face to look across the battlefield at the remaining Skelemen. "It's not too late to reconsider!" she hollers.

Rhyme was a bit bemused by the actions of the skeletons; again, they were rather lifelike, and considering that at least partially the situation wasn't as gamelike as it was before, and considering the strange depth of certain NPCs, he thought it would be more appropriate to resort to diplomacy rather than violence--- although, to be fair, it didn't seem like these creatures of bone could be reasoned with. Well, the decision was also taken away from his hands as his comrades began their assault, to mixed results, although it seemed they were quickly winning. Myrrh the cat quickly made his way towards the remaining skeleton on the field, harrying and distracting it with a hiss and the promise of claws. It probably would have been more effective if he was a dog, but in any case it was enough. Rhyme took advantage of his companion's interference to lash with his chain against the skeleman.

Cleo Cleopatra "Ludwig, is that a bloody-" Cleo just manages to kneel down on their strong side behind a weathered gravestone, barely shielding her from the burst of magical flames. A couple of flying bones come to a clacking halt against the stone surface. "Okay, that works too." With practiced hands, Cleo loads black shells into their rifle, takes in a deep breath and trains it at one of the Skelemans peeking out of cover. What they don't notice is the searing, bright red glare from their eyes, landing their baneful gaze onto to their boney forehead, like a red laser marking a target for death. OOC: A Withering Glare would be enough to take the remaining skeleman out the fight, no?

<> Mercurius tries to swipe at the third skeleman as he runs away, then his eyes follow the glow of a bouncing orb of light. He turns too late, and he lets out an anime scream as he is engulfed in burning mana. "Oww!! Hey!" OOC: Dodging eldritch bomb

The little glowing orb bounces along the grass into the group of Skelemen... and Mercurius. All must make a deftness check to avoid damage and being toppled! Two of the Skelemen manage to take cover behind gravestones but two others are blown to bits as individual bones as strewn around the area. The skulls bounce and roll to a stop. A spiral symbol appears above their heads as their lone hearts are wiped clear.

Ludwig simply stared at the skeletons, surprised that whatever advantage and serious atmosphere they had was ruined by their comedic banter. "Wow. We've got here. So I wonder which one of you is Yorick." He stopped as he heard Biscuit's answer and the bonemen's response to her answer. But as Mercurius launched an attack that missed, the sage took the chance to chant a spell. Magical energy gathered in his hand, converging into a rounded, spherical shape and he focused more to give it a very familiar before throwing it at the group of skeletons. "Have dibs on this, skellies!" Action: Eldritch Explosives: Conjure and throw a Mana Grenade, which works like an actual Grenade but does Twilight Magic Damage, and targets reduced to 0 or less hearts are knocked unconscious, unless they're mechanical or undead, in which case, they fall inert. Targets must make a Deftness Check. Failure: They are Toppled and take 1 Heart of Damage Success: They are only Toppled. Fumble: If you get a 1 on your Attack roll, you drop the Grenade. Now everyone in the same Area as you is a target of the Grenade.

The Skelemen all cackle at Biscuit's plea, "Oh, that one's cute! I like her! I call dibs on her meaty bits," says one. Mercurius's swing goes wide as the nimble skeleman sidesteps the awkward blow.

<> The skeletons' bickering and threats dispel Mercurius's tension and fear of getting grabbed and eaten to death in the first fight. He moves and slashes his katana at the third skeleman. "I don't talk to dead things." OOC: Hunter's Focus on my target. Sidestep ready. Attack

ImpBiscuit A Chib woman with platinum blonde hair, dressed in an elegant, white bell-sleeved romper with lavish copper-colored cuffs and details. She wears boots in a similar style, a white stocking only on her right leg, and a three-tailed dark blue cloak. For jewelery she has a four-pointed obsidian star pinned to her hair and a copper circlet floating above her head. Prior to the appearance of the skelemen... Biscuit looks surprised by the presence of guns in what she had understood to be a medieval-style video game. The fanciful way in which some of the weapons appear makes her take a careful look at the piddly sword just hanging from her belt. The Chib subtly adjusts her cloak so as not to draw attention to an implement that clearly doesn't measure up to everyone else's. "The back of the group sounds good to me. Let's get those flowers delivered!" Out come the skelemen... Biscuit regards the animated skeletons from the back of the group, initially taken back by their sudden appearance but soon more focused on their amusing conversation. "I'm rather attached to mine!" she quips, the obvious answer to their plans. "Terribly sorry! Now may we pass please?"

The party groups up in a forward and rear rank and moves through the graveyard. Suddenly, there is a rattling sound and several (4) figures burst from the ground in front of you. They are skeletal collections of bones, each with a sword. One says, "Oy, we came out too early. We're supposed to jump out when they get over our position so they start surrounded." Another says, "Well, I don't know! I can't hear anything down there. What, it's like I have a periscope?" A third shouts to the party, "We want your eyes! Give up now and you won't be harmed!" The fourth says to the third, "Won't be harmed? We're cutting their eyes and tongues out, mate. That's a tad harmful." The third says back, "Well, I mean aside from that. Geezit, now they're going to fight for sure. Thanks a lot." Skelemen Attack The party gets to act first. Their Defense is 11 and they each have one heart.

"That seems appropriate, yes." he easily agreed. "And indeed, we should probably be cautious with our knowledge, since some things might have been interpreted differently in our... current state." As he assented with his words, he brought up the front along with Myrrh the cat, casually summoning in a mesmerizing flash a length of azure chain that seemed to interact strangely with gravity. "A lot of things can be fit into a fluffy JRPG setting, you'd be surprised."

Cleo Cleopatra "You know, Ludwig, I always thought it was a bit of a meme to have firearms in my fluffy JRPG setting? But?" Cleo closes their eyes, takes in a deep breath. A great, gradual intake of air fills her lungs, and a deep, deep sigh heaves back out with a rough grunt, a kind of calm anger starting to take over their general resign-edness towards the whole situation. As they exhale, a jet of sooty air from their lips turns into a small, dark cloud that covers their hands. For a moment, they imagine. They think about the one thing they get to bring into this world from the last one. ".. You said it, boss. We get ambushed?" Something large disturbs the sooty fog, dispelling the miasma gathering around their hands. A rifle from an ancient, realmwide war, with a tongue-in-cheek-ly faithful form, made entirely from a black, ominous metal. "I cast gun." OOC: I'm fine with following the order suggested by Ludwig & Tana. I'll have any position in the back.

<> Mercurius gets his weapon out. "Sounds good. I'm looking forward to testing the combat. Although, the way the villagers spoke to us in town has me worried about how the mobs in this zone will attack us. My gut's telling me to careful not to get grabbed by anything in here. And if anyone does get grabbed, we should help them right away." OOC: If DM wants a single-file line, Kaori can go in front of me and Rhyme.

Ludwig let out a whistle of deep impression as he looked over the graveyard standing before them. "Now this is a foreboding atmosphere. I don't see a mausoleum nor a temple nor such structure that suggests a hideout for the necromancer. I'm thinking we should find the Donners grave first and place the flowers there. Then search for signs of the necromancer." He said as he walked through the iron gateway and stopped once he was inside the cemetery. The sage looked back at the others, waiting for the rest of the party to walk into the graveyard themselves. While they were doing so, the young man took out an old machine pistol and grinned to the others. "We get ambushed by any undead, I just have to cast gun." He joked and shook his head. "But seriously, we need to decide positions. I'm thinking Tana, Kaori and Rhyme on the front, while Biscuit, Cleo and me cover the backside. That work for you guys?"

Having finished in the town, the party groups up and heads toward the graveyard. The cheery atmosphere of the town washes away and is replaced with a looming sense of foreboding. The area is surrounded by a wrought iron fence and an iron gateway stands as the entrance to the zone. The eternal sunrise does it's best to shine through but is muted by the presence of ancient trees and a cloying mist that hugs the ground and makes it difficult to see very far. No threats are visible from the outside, only the trees and the headstones carved in varying styles. Though there are no clear religious symbols, some of them are vaguely cross shaped in a general parochial sense. It's more of an interpretation of what a graveyard should look like than a realistic one. There are no flowers visible and it looks like it's been a long time since anyone has come this way. The iron gateway lies open to you.

ImpBiscuit A Chib woman with platinum blonde hair, dressed in an elegant, white bell-sleeved romper with lavish copper-colored cuffs and details. She wears boots in a similar style, a white stocking only on her right leg, and a three-tailed dark blue cloak. For jewelery she has a four-pointed obsidian star pinned to her hair and a copper circlet floating above her head. Biscuit smiles at Perdwin when the man accepts her strange offer. She listens to the smith's answer to Ludwig's question before waving bye and following the others beyond the man's ears. "It sounds like the spear was created for someone for whom strength is not a concern. Either because they are very strong, or because they don't even have to lift the spear themselves," she notes on Perdwin's commentary on the spear Ludwig described. "...assuming it was even created in the traditional sense. Isn't this some kind of fantasy game with magic and stuff? Maybe the spear was just... poofed into existence?" Biscuit gestures poof with her hands as she walks, then shrugs. So many possibilities. "Oh, and that deal I made with him... I want to see if he forgets about it and goes right back to horseshoes. Amnesia, you know?" The line of thinking going on in Ludwig's head, regarding this being a beta that just started, possibly with a fresh reset of everything, is just way outside her limited understanding of how games work. She reaches up to rub her arm unconsciously as her mind turns to their next destination. "So... the graveyard, then?"