"Right-o," Elsa replied to Jhen, choosing to ignore the fact that she had just been demoted to the role of packmule. Zombies were coming and the white mage was leaving. Time to make an escape with whatever dignity she could muster while running away from a fight with a Tarut on her shoulder.

Breaking into a run, Elsa went for the elevator.

-------------

Escape!

Kole, deeply upset that he completely missed the zombie, had little time to mull over that fact. So he only had a bit of time to worry about it. How the team may now die because of it, regardless of the black mage rendering the zombie attack useless. And if it was obvious he missed to everyone else, he may become ridiculed or kicked off the team. Worse yet, that may have been a spell he could have absorbed, despite it's mechanical nature.

Regardless, Kole grabbed the little bard and ran.

---

Pick up Bello and escape.

"Hey! Wait! What-!" was all Bello could spit out as Kole grabbed him like a sack of potatoes. "Ok, I can roll with this. Time for a change of pace, anyway," he thought before taking a breath and reversing his song.

------

Bello plays Reversed Herculean Etude.

Dashing down the hall way, the small group of of adventurers struggles through swathes of zombies, and near misses. Only two of the creatures manage to lay hands upon them, despite their numbers. One upon Kole, leaving little more than a bruise, and one upon Jhennek, the weakened zombie's pawing hardly noticeable through her thick robes--though the lightning that traveled back through them was certainly noticeable to it, as it fell to the ground burnt and twitching.

As they ran, they quickly came into sight of their Android and Red Mage companions, who were busy attempting to thin the numbers of the horde, and they had succeeded admirably, surrounded by corpses. The android seemed to have fared with almost no wounds, and Raltz was nearly as healthy, bearing only a few bruises.

Seeing the rest of the small group coming, however, they quickly retreated into the elevator, and soon the small box was carrying them up stairs. The doors opened back onto the research lab on the third floor, and nothing seemed out of place.

There are, thankfully, no zombies here.
-------------

Rolled five athletics rolls for everyone (35 rolls altogether), added together, added combined--and multipled by five--athletics score of the group, compared to target numbers to see how many rounds it would take to get to the elevator (315, meaning an average of 9 on every roll, would have gotten you there in 5 rounds, you rolled 296, so 10), I had you get hit for each critical failure (two), and subtracted a round for each crit success (1, so 9 rounds). I then, because I was rolling them as batches of 14 die at a time, used a random number generator to decide who would be hit.

Then I took the number of rounds and used that to guesstimate how many times Raltz and Ark would be open to attack in that time. I assumed all mook zombies, because I'm nice like that. I then rolled the attacks, divied them up evenly (Ark got hit once more than Raltz thanks to losing the coin toss), and applied damage.

All damage was applied after the effects of Phil's song.

Thank Phil, everyone, but especially Raltz. Who was saved from 9 extra damage.

ALSO: I will be considering it 'end of combat' once you get out of this city in so far as effects and what not go. That means that Jhen still has her lightning shield.

EDIT: I GUESS I SHOULD POST HOW MUCH DAMAGE WAS TAKEN:

Kole- 3 damage
Jhen- 0 Damage (zombie who did this is dead)
Ark- 0 Damage
Raltz- 7 damage (May have tossed himself a cure or something during that if he likes and reduce damage taken to 0 in exchange for 5 mp

Still under Kole's arm, Bello looked around the elevator and asked with a smirk, "So, did you guys find anything interesting?"

------

I guess the song ended for now. We don't need extra elevator music.

The Elevator doors closed behind them, their heavy metal effectively cutting the - miraculously alive still - group off from the undead filled basement. Leaning against one of the elevator's walls, Arden breathed a relieved sigh, slumping slightly. I never, ever, what to do that again. She was quiet for a few moments, while the Elevator rose, as she allowed her breathing to calm.

Soon after, she nodded to herself, and straightened, surveying the worst of the damage from the run. Elsa was okay, the Dark Knight might have a bruise or two through her armor, but nothing worth expending magic on. Jhennek on the other hand looked a little fatigued; not so much to be a problem yet, but she'd need to monitor her. If Jhennek ran out of magical strength before this was over, it would be a problem.

Meanwhile, the Mage's eyes moved to her other companions. Ark's mechanical arm looked a little off, but her Cure Spell wouldn't work on machines. Raltz looked pretty beat up, but he was supposed to know Healing Magic, so he'd be able to take care of his own wounds. Bello...the little Bard had taken a pretty nasty hit back before they'd run off, but would probably be alright as long as he stayed near the back of the group. With a town likely full of undead to contend with, she'd have to be conservative with her spells.

Which left Kole. The Blue Mage was pretty bruised and had a few cuts. She didn't really like him, but they were still a fair distance from the town's exit, and with the threat of Death Magic still present, a Blue Mage might be useful. The profile said he was resistant to lethal magic, Arden considered, nodding slowly.

Bello asked if any one had anything to report - Elsa could answer for her.

"Kole," Arden stated, "I'm going to heal you, don't move." She began to chant softly...

* * * * * *

"Cure." Sparkling motes of pale blue-green glittered around Kole, as the Blue's wounds vanished. By then, the Elevator's doors had opened. Nothing seemed to have changed, but...

"Ark," The White Mage stated, "please take point. Elsa, Kole, I'd like you both to follow him a pace or so behind him. Watch out for casting monsters - the amount of Shadow Energy around us means Death spells remain a possibility. Raltz, I realize you use a sword, but please try to stay back from the fighting, you're a stronger healer than I am. Bello, if you'd stay at the back near me? Jhennek, you as well."

"I'd just like to remind everyone that we're definitely in hostile territory, so our first priority is to get out." Arden continued, "But please be cautious, we found an Orderly on the third floor that had been torn up by claws of some kind. None of the undead below had them, so its a fair assumption that there are varieties of enemies we haven't come across yet." She paused, a thought occurring to her, "Oh, and watch out for the Hospital Administrator. His corpse had a Mana Cannon graft - I suspect we'll encounter him before we escape."

Orders - and advice - imparted, Arden nodded to herself, gesturing toward the still-open-doors. "We should get moving. Unless you think its vital, please save further discussion until we're safe."

* * * * * *

> Arden casts Cure on Kole. Current MP: 15/25 - three spells left.

> She exits the elevator at the back of the group.

Fortunately, before anything else could find Raltz and Ark in the elevator, the party came across them. He had been wounded a bit, but he wasn't in critical condition. "Welcome aboard the party train friends, no going back for quite a while," he said, hitting the up button. Once inside, it seemed they were all safe, several started up chatter and Arden began healing Kole and gave out orders. He had several means of healing at the moment, but he could rough it a bit until it got worse.

"Raltz, I realize you use a sword, but please try to stay back from the fighting, you're a stronger healer than I am."

"Believe me friend," the hume responded, "I have no problems hanging back for the time being. Also, Ark and I did find something neat," he said, retrieving the tentacle graft from the floor and showing it for all to see. "It isn't your typical graft as you can tell. I'm not really an expert, but I'm pretty sure most hospitals don't normally have these in stock. Do you guys think I should keep keep lugging it around? The boys paying us might have something to say about it."

After his little explanation, he took his position behind Kole in the line, still waiting for a verdict on the graft in hand.

---

exits elevator behind Kole, towards the back.

"It isn't your typical graft as you can tell. I'm not really an expert, but I'm pretty sure most hospitals don't normally have these in stock. Do you guys think I should keep keep lugging it around? The boys paying us might have something to say about it."

Ark then presented the other graft, a hand cannon like Arden was probably thinking of, which he also took from that room.

SUPPLEMENTARY EVIDENCE!
ACCORDING TO SCANS AND PERSONAL EXPERIENCE FROM DEALING WITH GRAFTS, THESE PARTICULAR ONES ARE DANGEROUSLY MODIFIED.
AFOREMENTIONED MODIFICATIONS DRAW UPON EXCESS POWER WHICH CANNOT BE PROVIDED BY NORMAL TECHNOLOGY OR BASIC LIFE FUNCTION. PROBABILITY HIGH THAT SUCH GRAFTS ARE POWERED BY MORE ILLICIT MEANS AS DEMOSTRATED BY THE HOSTILES WE ENCOUNTERED WITH ALTERATIONS.
SUCH EVIDENCE IS RELEVANT TO CLIENT, REGARDING POSSIBLE ORGANIZATIONS OR OTHERWISE DANGEROUS AND ILLEGAL CONDUCTS.

Ark meanwhile took the vanguard position as normal, Jugan riding on his shoulder feeling much more at ease now that everyone was together again.

-------------
Ark leading the way, awareness check as always, weapon and shield drawn.
Keeping the two unusable grafts as presentable evidence.

"Believe me friend," Raltz replied as the group exited the elevator, causing Arden's eyebrow to arc in slight surprise. She hadn't been aware the Red Mage liked her. "I have no problems hanging back for the time being." He knelt, "Also, Ark and I did find something neat," then returned to his feet, holding something that looked like a mechanical tendril of some kind.

"It isn't your typical graft as you can tell. I'm not really an expert, but I'm pretty sure most hospitals don't normally have these in stock." That sort of graft was probably illegal, Arden nodded minutely. "Do you guys think I should keep lugging it around? The boys paying us might have something to say about it." Raltz had started walking by this time.

Slipping from the elevator, a few paces behind the red, Arden opened her mouth to respond. But, at the front of their group, Ark paused and withdrew something from his...Arden suddenly wondered where he'd been keeping that Hand-Cannon, especially while fighting undead hordes. Ask him after we get out of Zombie-Land. She chided herself, now was not the time to wonder about Androids with strange pockets!

"Supplementary Evidence!" The Android boomed in his usual emotionless and tone. "According to Scans and personal experience from dealing with grafts, these particular ones are dangerously modified." He really did sound more like a read-out than a person sometimes. "Aforementioned modifications drawn upon excess power which cannot be provided by normal technology. Probability high that-"

He sounded more robotic than usual! Maybe Arden just hadn't paid any attention to the mandroid before? She suddenly found herself wondering if Androids really had genders, it wasn't as though they slept around. Could they do it even if they wanted to?

"-evidence is relevant to client, regarding possible organizations or otherwise dangerous and illegal conducts."

And then he was done talking!

"Ah," Arden blinked in surprise. "well, I think the Council of Four already had suspicions of illegal grafting procedures," The White Mage offered, trying to cover up her own momentary zone-out with an opinion, "so I don't think that bringing them the grafts for the sake of evidence would be worth it. However," she shrugged, "if they're unusual, it can't hurt to give them samples. We'd likely get a bigger bonus for finding out how everyone died, and a means to avoid it in the future, though."

"But Ark?" Arden added, "In the future, I would like you to better endeavor to emulate our patterns of speech." She absently drew her gun, flicking open the chamber to check that it was still loaded. "Just because you are an android doesn't mean you need to sound like one." She explained, shrugging. "I'm sure our employers would appreciate the effort, at least."

And so the group keep walking through the starkly lit corridors. Small talk did ease the nerves!

As the small group exited the research area they were quickly disappointed to find that there were, indeed, more animatronic corpses about, as the administrator's secretary hobbled out of the room, her back twisted at an odd angle, and her arms hanging limp at her sides with her hair obscuring her face.

Behind her came the administrator himself, standing tall, almost normal, if not for large cannon that replaced his left arm. However, surprisingly it is not that arm which he holds up, but rather his normal one, black tendrils of energy crackling along it like black lightning, gathering into a ball in the palm of his hand.

---------------
New Combat, Round 1

Secretary and Administrator are medium distance from Kole, Ark, and Raltz Elsa. Long from everyone else.