Ark scooped Jugan in his arm and ran with the group into the Research lab as the tiny wyvern clenched on desperately tight to the small gaps in his armor's joints.

WARNING: STRUCTURE STABILITY FAILURE.
WARNING: UNSECURED OBJECTS TO SLIDE TOWARD DESCENDING SIDE.

Ark placed himself near Arden and Jhen and braced his shield in front of himself and thus themselves as well. Whether tables or chairs or falling bottles would fall in their direction, he'd take the brunt of the blow with his own barrier.

----
"Is everyone here?"

Ark stabbed his blade into the floor and pushed himself up, Jugan still attached to his chest with a low fearful growl that slowly started to die down. Ark self examined his armor and framework, and otherwise said nothing as he looked at their immediate surroundings.

One minute they were fighting zombies and the next the floor was moving beneath them. Elsa had just enough time to let out a suitable curse before a trio of displaced supply crates and a handful of shattered ceiling tiles chose to introduce themselves to her.

Then everything went sideways and upside down for a few minutes.

Finally, the room stopped dancing around and hurling things at them. That was good. That meant Elsa was no longer at risk of losing her lunch.

"Is everyone alright?"

"Close enough," Elsa grumbled, freeing herself from the small pile of rubble she found herself in. She yanked off her helmet, letting it fall to the ground with a dull clank. She still felt a bit motion-sick.

"Let's not do that again. Ever." She retrieved the helmet and pulled her scythe from where it had been lodged in a pile of rubble and followed after the others.

Kole remained in the back, waiting for some one to fix his zombie problem. That magic really did a number on the blue mage's innards, and the undead affliction wouldn't even let him drink a potion.

Then the building caught on fire and crumbled. Paranoid thought 192. Despite his poor health, Kole's mental preparation made avoiding the fire, rubble, and staying upright despite the floor tumbling a breeze for him.

As everyone else got the rubble and fire off of them, they explained their health situations. Kole didn't want to be rude so he waited for his turn.

"I could use something to get the zombie off me."

If one listened closely, one could hear several bumps and thuds as Bello tried to dramatically burst out from the rubble. Failing this, he opted to crawl weakly from where he lay. "Man, the last thing I'd expect from a ghost story is for the building to burn down with the good guys inside," he muttered to no one in particular. Patting the ash and rubble from his clothes, he limped to rejoin the group. "So, I guess we can go now, right? Er, once someone more White Magic-inclined helps our Blue Mage, I mean."

"Is everyone alright?"

Jhen patted herself down, checking for any injuries. Everything seemed okay! Arden had done a swell job protecting her. As she gingerly touched her hair, she frowned.

Her hair was frazzled, sure, but it always was from the lightning. Even the singed edges were acceptable. But this! This! She looked around frantically, pushing aside loose rubble.

Misery dripped from her voice as she reported in. "I... can't find my hat."

"I could use something to get the zombie off me."

"There you are!" Raltz responded, Pulling out the vial, "I got just the thing. Now hold still while the doctor works." Moving forward with just a bit of caution and a sleeve covering his hand, Raltz lifted the vial and handed it to Kole with his arm outstretched as far as he could.

"Just take it and drink up like a good boy," he said, "once you get the death out of your system and I can loan you a potion."

---

Gives Revify and potion to Kole.

A relieved smile appeared on Arden's lips, slowly growing wider as more of her crew turned up. Raltz, Elsa, Kole - The Red was already heading toward the aforementioned, mostly dead, Blue Mage. He'd apparently found a Revivify while searching the hospital, which was good, because that meant they still had her's for emergencies. - Jhennek, Ark and Bel-

"Bello!" Arden suddenly remembered that he'd been hurt before the hospital collapsed.

Hurrying over, the White Mage knelt in front of the dust coated Tarut. "Sorry, I'll heal you now -" She raised her hands, eyes closing in concentration, "- don't move." Light blue sparkles began to appear over the small man's body.

"We're not out of the woods yet everyone," Arden continued, speaking louder than before, "we still have a body to find and nearly every house we checked on the way over had a corpse in it. So, stay sharp everyone!" She paused momentarily, "And make sure to kill the casters first!"

Back to finishing the spell.

* * * * * *

> Arden casts Cure on Bello (5/25 Remaining)

Kole took the vial offered by the red mage. And after a quick inspection to make sure it was actually a Revivify, and not poison, he downed it. Once he could tell his body was back to acting like it was alive, the blue mage pulled out one of his potions and drank that. He had to fix the damage that zombie spell did to his organs as well.

---

Use Revivify and then Potion

Bello's wounds faded, and Arden pushed herself to her full height. Not much magic left. She noted, with a pang of concern. Her Ether could restore her, but for the moment, it made more sense to save it for Raltz or Jhennek - both were more powerful than she was. Shaking her head to dispel her growing concerns, she cleared her throat.

"Right then! We better get moving." Arden turned toward the exit, starting forward, "Ark, you and Elsa take point as usual. Elsa, please be careful - Raltz or myself will need to heal you if your wounds get worse, and I don't know about him, but I'm nearly dry." She glanced at the others, "Like I said, the city was full of corpses, and if the Administrator and his Secretary were any indication, they're all up and coming for us."

"So! Our first priority is speed. Jhennek, that means you'll need to hold back on those Thunder Spells of your's. We'll need to avoid combat unless it's absolutely necessary - like frying our secondary objective's corpse enough that it'll stay down long enough to let us loot him."

Pausing near the exit to the lab, Arden continued, "Raltz, Kole, Bello, I'd prefer if the three of you would support us from the rear, and guard our backs. I'll stay Jhennek in the middle - and carry her if we need to run." She surveyed the group, "If any of you would like to object to those arrangements, please do so while we're moving."

"Let's go." Arden concluded, waving them forward, and stepping out into the necropolis that passed for Maris.

The research lab really was pretty beat up. After falling two stories, they were pretty lucky that it hadn't collapsed on them already. Arden figured they'd pressed their luck enough – at least as far as abandoned buildings were concerned – for one day.

Elsa passed Kole on her way out of the crumbling ruins. She paused, a thought coming to her. She picked up the empty Revivify vial from where the blue mage had dropped it, pretending to give it a careful inspection.

"Oh, no." she said. "Well, we can only hope you're not one of THOSE people... You know... after all the stories you hear about these things." She rolled the vial between her fingers and gave Kole a sympathetic look.

"I mean, you seem okay right now, so I guess we can assume you're not the type who suffers from those horrible side effects from these things. But you really won't know for, oh, I'd say a good twenty-four hours. That's when the really awful stuff starts up. You know, the internal bleeding and the slow decomposition of the brain tissues. But I'm sure you'll be fine. It only happens to a small fraction of the population. The really unlucky ones, you know? You'll be fine."

She patted him on the shoulder and continued on, leaving him behind. She made one last comment over her shoulder;

"I wouldn't make any long-term plans though."

Following after Arden and Company, Elsa pulled a Potion from her pack and downed it in a gulp. No use rushing into Zombie Town with open wounds, minor as they may be.

---------
Harass Kole, use Potion

Elsa and Bello's wounds both heal fully under the effects of Arden's magic and alchemical compounds, respectively, and the small group makes its way through some broken windows and out into the lot next to the hospital. Behind them, some rubble crumbles off the research center, and what is left of the hospital burns, the occasional shifting piece of concrete causing more of the building to collapse into itself.

The City below them stretches out much as it had before, but it is no longer so quiet. The corpses move. Nearly all of them have taken to their feet, and are moving toward the hospital. Behind them there is a crash, and on turning, they see a few living corpses stumbling out, their bodies on fire, yet still moving.

They weren't out of this yet.

Snatching up Jhennek, Arden threw a cheerful glance toward her allies.

"Looks like we're running again!"

And they were off!

* * * * * *

> Escape Roll. Arden is willing to jostle Jhennek - if it means evading enemies, if it matters.

Bello fumbled through his sleeves and pulled out his (thankfully unbroken) harmonica again. "Hey, Blue Mage, remember that time we ran away from zombies and you carried me? Let's do that again." Bello started up a jazzy tune that went well with running from zombies. "Otherwise, I'll have to catch up."

------

Reverse Herculean Etude again.

The android put the tiny wyvern down from his chest while he listened to their unofficial leader giving instructions as the pet grew calmer and wandered around for a while. It seemed quite sound so the robot really had nothing to say, not even a voice of affirmation.

Ark merely took point as it was starting to be customary for him to lead the group, his blade and shield held at ready as he started his dash. From his peripheral vision, Ark looked to the side and analyzed the curious sight. A hat skimming along the ground, with tiny little dragon feets. Jugan apparently located Jhen's misplaced hat and tried to run alongside its master carrying the loot over its head as much as its small arms could manage, proud of its new toy. Ark merely ignored what might have been mildly cute or amusing sight and led the way without comment.

-----------------------
Escape roll, leading the vanguard as normal.

Feeling like a worn-out teddy bear, Jhen hung limply in the arms of the White Mage. Despite the occasional jostle, she felt secure - her friend wouldn't drop her! She spread her arms out like she was flying, the bangles on her wrists jingling with every step Arden took.

"I don't think there's anywhere really safe in the city to take a rest, do you? And we should probably take one, we're not quite dry but another tough enemy and we will be. And really, we only destroyed one building! There's no excuse for this kind of inefficiency."

The Tarut pulled her arms back in, holding her hand to her chin in a pantomime of heavy thought. Whether anyone could hear her over the running and jingling was a tertiary concern.

"Shall we see if the zombies will follow us outside the city? We should discover that anyway, it would be a horrible tragedy if we led them to an innocent town!"

The zombie-to-living-people ratio had once again jumped to alarming proportions. Undeads were practically - and literally - coming out of the woodwork on every side. It was, as Arden so accurately noted, a good time to leave.

"Go," Elsa said bluntly, shoving Raltz, Kole and Bello in the direction Ark and Arden had gone. "I'll bring up the rear."

-------

Runnin.'

Moving through the streets, the small group finds it relatively easy to avoid the corpses. There are many of them, innumerable, and of all shapes, sizes, and living ages... including the children who had been in the park before, now up and walking, but the streets were wider, more easily navigable, and the living dead somewhat slow.

Though even so, it all seemed a little too easy, perhaps, until they came within sight of the city limits. A wall of undead flesh stood before them, with one more creature standing a few feet before it. Its flesh was a hodge podge of elvaan, hume, and viera stitched together like some sort of Frankenstein's monster, and one of its arms was replaced by a large blade like some of the other creatures.

But, what was truly interesting was only noticeable once the group got a bit closer... and two fold. Firstly, was the pendant it wore about its neck, the ring they were seeking, and bits of blond hair on its scalp and chin. Second, was the fact that it spoke.

"Why do you resist?" it asked, its voice devoid of human emotion, sounding almost robotic in its calm. "You could be one with us. Never lonely. Never dying. Why do you resist?"

It seemed genuinely confused, and did not move to attack, but behind the small group more of the undead were coming.

-------
OOC: Battle hasn't started yet. Front liners (probably Ark and Kole) are medium distance from the talking zombie, long from the ones behind him (he is medium from them). Everyone else is long distance from everyone. There's the talking zombie and he has five zombies behind him. Behind you is an entire city full of undead heading your way.

"Shall we see if the zombies will follow us outside the city?" Jhennek asked, shortly after they'd left the ruins of the Research Lab. "We should discover that anyway, it would be a horrible tragedy if we led them to an innocent town!"

"We should be safe passed the city limits." Arden replied, keeping a firm hold on her hatless Taru passenger. "The only body outside Maris looked like it had run away - with luck, it's the Shadow Element suffusing the area that keeps them going. They may not be able to function outside its reach." It was a faint hope, but given the situation, it was also all they had.

"Besides," Arden added, "Altair's guards should be capable of handling these things." Certainly, the seven of them had survived on their own; a city full of trained soldiers would be more than a match for these undead wimps!

She hoped they wouldn't need to find out, just the same.

* * *

Arden's steps slowed as they neared the final blockage of Undead Flesh between them and, what the White Mage hoped, was safety. Arms tightening on Jhennek, Arden continued to press forward, undaunted, toward her more melee inclined counterparts. Her expression grew hard as her eyes fell on the talking creature's necklace. Frustratingly good, she reflected, or bad, luck. The amalgamation’s movements were more coordinated than most of the Undead she'd seen, but at least they'd found their secondary objective.

"Jhennek," Arden murmured softly, fingers digging into one of her outfit's hidden pockets, "I want you to be careful with your Thunder Spells - we don't need to accidentally destroy the ring." Withdrawing the Ether she'd saved for such an eventually, she offered it to the Black Mage, "Test your magic on the others, then take this when you're dry."

Arriving a pace or so behind the front-liners of her team, she carefully set Jhennek down. "Ark," she stated, voice still low, "scan the talking one. We need to immobilize him quickly and break through." Her now-free hand gripped her pistol's hilt, the weapon's holster still mostly hidden by her cotton half-skirt.

She wondered if any one would try to talk their way out of this.

* * *

> Move a Medium Distance toward the Enemy.

> Transfer Ether to Jhennek's Inventory.

> Set Jhennek down.

> Disguise check to hide Arden's intent.

Bello took the harmonica out of his mouth and started tap-tapping the beat of his song on his tiny chest, keeping the music alive but allowing him to talk.

Stepping up to Arden, he spoke. "Let me try to talk to him. I just need a second to think of what to say." He took another step forward to the front of the group and added, "Though, it's a little embarrassing to admit that I need a moment." He cleared his throat and tried to come up with a few good words.

------

Move medium distance towards Ark and Kole (since Kole apparently didn't pick Bello up). I'll either edit in some talky-talk towards Adam or I'll post it within this turn if someone posts after this in such a way that talking is still on the table.

Kole was clearly ready to just slice at something. Walking through a city filled with enemies he could clearly see did not bode well for him. For every enemy Kole seems he assume there are three he can't. On top of that, they were surrounded by zombies the entire time. Despite the easy time they had avoiding the zombies, the blue mage was expecting something to happen the entire time.

The talking franken zombie is not what he expected. He recognized the pendant on the lead zombie as the one the stable owner had asked the group to find. How much of that zombie was his lover was questionable., but the ring was still usable.

For now, Kole stood still, as the group seemed to be making plans for how to handle this. The blue mage only planned to make sure no zombies got past him. Except all those zombies filling the city behind them, but he tried (and failed) to not think about that.

---

Do nothing.

Jhen took the Ether with slightly numb hands, nodding in acceptance of the plan. It was so disappointing, though! All the hope symbolized by the ring, dashed with a few spoken sentences. Destroyed. Putting the Ether in a pocket, she sighed.

She was willing to let Bello talk - so long as it got them the other half of the ring! But being hemmed in by zombies was making her lightning finger itchy.

---

Accept Ether.

No combat actions.

"I guess this is nice," Raltz said to the others rather quietly, "we can at least claim we've seen him. Or part of him" It took no genius to realize they found the stable runners special friend.

It seemed the Tarut was on his way to make negotiations. Just as well. The monstrosity wanted to talk, who was he to deny that last wish? For the moment, the Red Mage stood down. Idly, he cast cure upon himself in case anything happened. For a brief moment, he was covered in a light shower of cleansing sparkles as some of his wounds slowly closed.

--

Raltz casts cure on self. No combat actions.

Bello nodded sagely, satisfied with what he would say. Throwing his arms out at his sides, he addressed the magic talking zombie and the horde surrounding them as a seasoned actor would address a packed theater. "Esteemed representative of the Once-again Living, you ask a difficult question. Sages since before the first stones of Cornelia were laid have struggled with the concept of the individual self. Aren't we all, in the end, truly alone, irreversibly separated in a vast ocean from all others by the sad accident of being born with individual consciousness? And yet you offer a solution to this impossible problem. We could even say that you offer us a miracle; a chance to truly know another living being and not just the concept of that being. A chance to be something, rather than live on the endless path of becoming. A chance at knowing that which even the espers cannot ken.

"Yet we have rejected your offer from the start, and we will continue to reject your offer. We may not be as wise as the ancient Foo Soo Ya, or as strong of spirit as Ahnas the Holy, but we can all see an obvious truth." Bello thumped his chest with his fist. "A truth, resonating in our souls, that draws us together just as much as your abominable miracle. My truth! And my comrades' truth!" Bello's hand shot from his heart, cutting the air with one outstretched finger. The following words came out like the blast of a trumpet, carrying all the conviction that could fit into his tiny frame.

"Zombies are gross!"

------

Speech roll to- yeah, not enough dice in the world.

"Yes, I imagine that'll go over well with the current audience." Elsa said, rocking back on her heels. "Your line of reasoning, however, is flawless."

Elsa was pleased, all things considering. Sure, they were surrounded by horrible mutated cyborg-undead and would possibly be torn limb from limb. But she was alive, and she intended to raise as much hell as possible as long as she still fit that descriptor. And thanks to Bello, it seemed diplomatic negotiations were completely out of the question now. Elsa was so proud of him!

The Dark Knight let out a chuckle and strode to the front of the group. She gripped the haft of scythe, holding it aloft before her.

"Well now, that's a lovely necklace you're got there!" she said brightly to the zombie. "I don't suppose you'll be missing it much once you've been torn limb from limb..." She paused, eyeing the zigzagging stitches that ran across the zombie's body "....again."

She crouched slightly, grinning beneath her helmet, silently daring him to do his worst.

--------

Move to short range, defend.

"Scan the talking one. We need to immobilize him quickly and break through."

SCANNING!

Ark obediently analyzed the unusual zombie, the results coming swiftly from the combined effort of his robotic eye and the instincts of a dragoon. Jugan watched curiously as the android's android eye buzzed with a constantly darting red hue and the other eye seemed to shimmered naturally.


SCAN COMPLETE!
HOSTILE TARGET POSSESS ALL AROUND HIGH PHYSICAL AND MENTAL ATTRIBUTES INCLUDING SPELLCASTING POTENTIAL. STANDARD WEAKNESS TO HOLY AND FIRE TYPE ELEMENTS. HIGH STAMINA BUT VULNERABLE EXTERIOR TO BOTH PHYSICAL TRAUMA AND MAGICAL FORCE!
ALERT! IMMUNITY TO EXTERNAL HEALING EFFECTS! TRACE AMOUNT OF TOXIN ON ITS SKIN AND BLADE. HIGH STAMINA REINFORCED BY POWERFUL REGENERATION PROPERTY!


Ark held his blade cautiously, trying to keep a little distance from his poisonous touch, his shield and blade held like a ward.

-----------------
Scanned the Ring Possessing Zombie, move short distance toward target and defend.

"Zombies are gross!" Bello concluded, small voice echoing strangely in afternoon air.

Arden's composure was shattered for an instant, as she stared down at the most adorable of the group's adorable mana cannons. Eyes wide, expression blank and mouth slightly agape - revealing a smile on the edge of laughter - Arden's head lolled to side. He did not just say... In her moment of mute shock, she'd forgotten she was trying to hide her gun - the firearm baring hand had slipped into the open, and was hanging at her side.

Elsa strode forward, seemingly unaffected. Ark offered his scan read-out - Poison, immune to healing and self regenerating! How wonderful - then darted forward, charging at the zombie.

Jolted out of her shock by the Android's sudden movement, Arden growled softly. "Alright." She took a firing stance, leveling her weapon at the Overlord Zombie, "Let's make this quick!" Careful to keep her shot well wide of the ring, she pulled the trigger.

Gunfire echoed!

* * *

> Shoot the Overlord Zombie.

Diplomacy seemed to be falling apart, and Arden raised her gun to fire, just as the creature began to speak. "I don't un--" it was cut off by the sound of gunfire, and a bullet entered its shoulder, 'causing it to look down at the wound impassively, and then raise an arm toward the white mage. "We will be one, and then we will understand." Black energy crackled up his arm collasing into a black ball in his palm, just the administrator had done before firing on Kole.

As he prepared, the undead who had stood behind him moved up to defend the talking abomination. A closer inspection would reveal that all of them had flesh writhing with something just beneath the surface.
---------------
PC Round 1

Jhen- Ether Get

Arden- 10 Damage, Zombie Lord.

Raltz- Cure Self to Full

Mauve/Ark- Advance

-

Everyone is medium distance from Zombie other than MAYBE Mauve/Ark, depending on whether they are still moving short distances and defending (still at medium) or moving a full medium distance. I will assume the latter if I don't hear from them).

-

Zomblord- 128/138

Arden- 14/20
Raltz- 22/22 17(?)/27mp
Elsa- 26/26 23/25mp
Ark- 24/29
Jhennek- 18/20 11/31mp


---------------
NPC Round 1

Zomblord- Cast begin.

All five zombies behind Zomblord- Advance medium distance. Now occupy same space as Zomblord.

-

Zomblord- 128/138

Arden- 14/20
Raltz- 22/22 17(?)/27mp
Elsa- 26/26 23/25mp
Ark- 24/29
Jhennek- 18/20 11/31mp

"We will be one," The Zombie Overlord raised his hand toward the silver haired white mage, "and then we will understand." Black Lightning began to crackle around the creature's arm; he was casting Necrotic Beam - the spell that had nearly killed Kole in a single cast, when he'd been fully healed. With Arden's possessing less stamina than the Blue, and also less powerful Wards - it meant there was only one sensible course of action!

"Be right back sorry!" Arden ran away! She did remember to offer a cheerful wave, just before sprinting in the direction they'd come like her life depended on it.

Coincidentally, it did!

At the moment when Arden sensed the Shadow Magic Surge behind her, the White Mage threw herself forward, skidding a short distance on the street. A small cloud of dust was flung up around her, and she suddenly became very familiar with one truth, streets were not soft.

With luck, it would be the last unpleasant truth she found herself exposed to.

* * * * * *

> Run. Run to Long Range! Fleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

> Be cheerful.

"Belllloooo," Jhennek gave the Performer a sad expression. "That wasn't very nice! Why, you never know when you might meet a perfectly nice, agreeable zombie to be your friend!"

She leveled her arm at one of the zombies coming up to support their leader, eyes taking on the golden glow of a Black Mage mid-cast.

"But I suppose these zombies didn't want to be friends, anyway."


----
Thunder a mook, one that isn't standing next to the 'lord.

Raltz took the chance to cast cure once more and leave himself at top condition once more, seeing as how Bello declared war on the mutant zombie. Once his act of self-preservation was complete he looked around to gauge actions of the others. It seemed Arden was moving back to shoot from a distance, and the Black Mage was picking off the little zombies from a distance. The two big fighters, Elsa and the android, were moving in to fight the big guy up close. They would likely be able to do a lot of damage to him, but they would still have to focus on the zombie lord alone. Someone had to take down the little zombies!

Deciding he was among those meant for the role, the silver haired mage raised his sword and started to close some distance between himself and some of the lesser beasts.

---

Moves medium distance towards mook zombies. Defends.

VISUAL CONFIRMATION OF RING ACQUIRED!
SEIZE ANCILLARY OBJECTIVE!
DELIVER TO SECONDARY CLIENT: STABLEMASTER OF ALTAIR!

Ark continued his charge toward the Zombie Lord, his shield held in front as per his signature style. He then leapt as high as he could manage with sheer force, blade raised up high only to be swung viciously down, attempting to sever the bladed arm from the undead leader.

-------------
Attack Zombie Lord. Athlethic bonus to jumping for increased power?

Swinging their weapons powerfully, Ark and Elsa each slash deep into the talking corpse's flesh, but the creature seems unimpressed by their attacks as his flesh stitches itself back together almost as quickly as they can damage him, and his attack is fired without incident. Thankfully without incident to Arden either, who dives to the ground as the shadow energy dissipates over her head, unable to reach any further. Of course, she could hardly fire accurately from this distance as well.

Meanwhile, the lord's vanguard reacts, the two closest to their master lashing out at Ark and Elsa, though with Bello's music weakening their arms, they barely manage to scuff the armor of the warriors. Their allies, however, seem to be preparing something more dangerous, their flesh bubbling and squirming, just as those in the basement had done, their hands aimed one each toward Elsa, Ark, and Raltz.

At the sight, Jhennek released her built up power, the energy surging through the zombie aiming toward Raltz, but when the smoke cleared, the creature stood still, though obviously much worse for wear.
---------------
PC Round 2

Arden- Run, Forrest, Run!

Jhen- Begin castin'

Raltz- Move into short range of enemy combatants.

Ark- 11 Damage Zomblord

Elsa- 13 Damage Zomblord

Kole- Defend

Bello- Defend while playin' that thar weakenin' tune.

-

Zomblord- 114/138

Arden- 14/20
Raltz- 22/22 17(?)/27mp
Elsa- 26/26 23/25mp
Ark- 24/29
Jhennek- 18/20 11/31mp


---------------
NPC Round 2

Zomblord- Cast Finish. Miss. Regen.

Zombies 1-3, Prepare to spawn wires.

Zombie 4- 1 Damage, Ark

Zombie 5- 0 Damage, Elsa

-

Zomblord- 134/138

Arden- 14/20
Raltz- 22/22 17(?)/27mp
Elsa- 26/26 23/25mp
Ark- 23/29
Jhennek- 18/20 11/31mp

------------------
PC Round 3

Jhen- 40 Damage, Zombie 1

-

Zomblord- 134/138

Zombie 1- 23/63

Arden- 14/20
Raltz- 22/22 17(?)/27mp
Elsa- 24/26 23/25mp
Ark- 20/29
Jhennek- 18/20 8/31mp

Bello finished sizing up the situation and decided that he should never try a morality speech on a zombie ever again. With his best effort shot and the rotten horde advancing, Bello mentally scratched through Plan A, and went with Plan B: Get the Evidence and Get Out.

Bello charged the talking zombie with a sword arm. The trick to Plan B was that it only looked suicidal. Mascot characters never die, after all.

------
Bello makes his (medium) move to the Zomblord. Next turn: snatch & grab.

Or, if you wanna move things along and be dramatic, may I suggest treating the combination of running and ring-snatching as a slow action?

"Well this is a fine kettle of fish," Raltz muttered to himself at the sight of a undead about to do to him presumably what they had done to Kole earlier. Maybe worse. He was about to retaliate when suddenly a blast of light arrived and capped that bitch.

"Much appreciated!" He shouted to Jhennek offhandedly as he lifted his blade. As he moved for the kill, he registered a few things: aiming at him with hands, energy coming out of hands, must mean hands form energy. With this hastily drawn conclusion, he swinged the blade and dropped it right across the zombie's arm.

---

Raltz attempts to disarm zombie 1

Now at a long distance from the enemy, Arden pushed herself to her feet. Miraculously, she was no more injured than when the hospital had collapsed on her! Her finely tuned business sense told her that this was clearly an oversight of the laws of physics, but, it was also the sort of oversight that a White Mage like herself was happy to encourage! Dusting herself off, the silver haired woman turned toward the zombie road block.

"Well," she muttered, flicking another bronze bullet into her weapon's chamber, "can only live once."

She began to run back in the direction she had just come!

* * *

Move to Medium Range from the enemy.

Ark spied the tiny Tarut rushing toward the zombie leader in what looked like a suicide dash. Running the mental simulations of the viable reasons why the Tarut would behave this way, and tentatively ruling out fits of insanity, the android came to the conclusion that he was going to attempt to snatch the ring off, given that it was the only reason why the group was taking a risk being swarmed to fight with this extraordinarily powerful individual. However, the risks seemed just as suicidal as the act would appear to be.

Ark charged head on into extreme close range with the zombie-lord, accepting the risks of a blow or two to somehow grapple or pin the target down under his own weight, attempting to shove his shield down at its shoulder to prevent it from getting up or swinging its weapon effectively.

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

Attempt to support Bello in attempting to snatch the ring off by trying to reduce/prevent the target's ability to defend against the stealing by limiting his mobility/strength (Leave him flat-footed?)! I'd assume a strength check is what is required or something.

"Much appreciated!"

Jhen squeaked and clapped her hands together, the bangles on each clattering in her enthusiasm. Even that light praise was enough to bolster her spirits. Horde of zombies? What did it matter! She could blast through them all day, every da- MP was a problem.

She felt she had another cast or two in her before she needed to take Arden's ether - best not to waste any of it!

Pointing a finger at the next zombie in line, Jhennek prepared to weaken another combatant for her team to take down. It was unlikely she could stop any of them by herself - and it was unlikely they felt intimidated by pain - but a weak enemy was one easily dispatched with a sword.

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Cast Thunder at Zombie 2