The flash of light from the fireball was blinding, the ingvarr being at the front of the line catching the full first sight of it. An annoyed scowl spread across his face as he was now left to do nothing but wild swinging before him in case their adversaries were still animated. The main sensation he knew he could feel was bone, so he was at least still on target. Whether he was hitting an important spot or not was another question.. regardless, he'd been fulfilling his duty fairly well in keeping the foul creatures away from their less defended members hanging in the back, and took pride in knowing he had succeeded so far in his position. The frustration of being blinded momentarily fading as he reflected on that fact.

---

After the first brief engagement, Neffy would hang towards the back of the group, keeping herself mostly out of harms way. She didn't see any particular reason to get involved in such a direct confrontation. She would, however, make an attempt at stealth. While the skeletons would have been focused on them, she would use the opportunity to sneak around the group if she could. A narrow space such as this wasn't particularly foreign to a Nem - what, with most of their cities being underground.

that idea was quickly dashed though, the moment she noticed one of the other mages channeling a fireball that could have rivaled Yrrah in how offensively hot it was. Argh, her poor little eyes. Good thing she was wearing this cloak or she'd have burned to a pile of ash...hopefully the problem was over with now, though.

Needless to say, the crushing blows and the ensuing fireball were enough. The skeletons that had been struck fell to pieces, only be be consumed in flames. Their bones singed and blew apart, whatever flesh remained on them burning away leaving a particularly unpleasant odor behind.

All that remained was smoldering shards of bone, plus one disembodied skull rolling helplessly about, still animated by whatever foul magic had raised them in the first place, its jaw opening and shutting with a clicking sound.

Given it had no ability to harm anyone unless they were incredibly stupid, it was unlikely to pose a threat.

Within the chamber was pitch black, making it clear that the excavators had left rather quickly. Likely after encountering the skeletons themselves.

However, Neffy would be able to discern great stone pillars and a long hall with what remained of long wooden benches, and a faded and rotten red and gold carpet.

There did not appear to be any further obstacles in the chamber.

@Rune_Alchemist@Zoey Boey@Raineh Daze@Crimson Paladin@Darner

The remaining skeletons were dispatched by the party's mage, consumed in a fiery blast. The battle finished, Léon pulled his hammer close and took a moment to assess himself. Nothing appeared singed or burned, and he wasn't bleeding, so it looked like things were good. It was good that they had a mage on hand, but he felt that was a little too close for comfort.

I'd like a bit of a warning beforehand next time someone does that. It's risky to use magic like that in enclosed spaces, and I can't protect against something that I don't know is coming.

He turned to the group's paladin, who appeared to be uninjured. No surprise there, considering her equipment and training for dealing with these sorts of foes.

Thanks for the assist, sister," he thanked Nuri, bowing his head. "I wouldn't have fared too well without your aid." Indeed, it was clear that the cleric had gotten in over his head, putting himself in a situation that his fighting reflexes were not quite developed enough to handle. He would need to be more careful in the future, because if something happened to him, the others might not be able to heal him, and he would not be able to heal them. Speaking of which, this would be a good time to do his job as a healer and check up on the rest of the group.

"Is anybody injured?" he asked, turning to the rest of the group. "Anyone bleeding or burned?"

@Raineh Daze@Zoey Boey@VitaVitaAR@Darner@Pyromania99@Rune_Alchemist

Nuri shielded her eyes from the explosion, wincing. At least all the skellies were blown up!

"They were already dead. But yes. Perfectly well done, though I think we all would appreciate a headsup next time." Nuri shot a thumbs up into the air, blinking beneath her helmet. She flipped up the visor so everyone could see her handsome face and confident smile.

"See?" Nuri turned in a circle, arms wide. Her plume trailed behind her head as she glanced around. "Easy." She sheathed her longsword back in it's place, the sheath hovering next to her armored legs. On her armor where there wasn't steel, there was chain mail. And where there could be no armor at all, like at the back of her knees, there was red fabric.

Leon came up to her and Nuri clasped him on the shoulder. "You would have been fine, brother. Don't be so hard on yourself! Can't block every hit- that's why they invented this stuff." She donked the side of her helm with her fist, grinning.

As Leon went to attend the wounded (there wasn't any) Nuri travelled over to the decapitated skull. For a moment Nuri regarded it sadly. Once, it was a person. Now, however, it had been overtaken by a malevolent force. An evil, descrating force. Best give the corpse a modicum of rest. "To dust." Nuri raised her boot and stomped down on the skull, crushing it to pieces. She ground her heel into it. For a brief moment, one could see the mad zealotry that posessed all paladins flash across her features in the dim chamber. It passed quickly and the bold smirk returned.

Guided by the wizard's light now, Nuri followed Neffy into the dark chamber. "Beautiful." Nuri looked up at the ceiligs and traced the pattern of the carpet with her eyes. The colors matched her outfit. Red, with gold highlights.

"Look for a way further in. Let me know if you see anything particularly shiny or well-crafted." She poked at the carpet. "Or, y'know. Undead."

---

"Mhm...we're fine." Neffy would reply, slowly following the group into the old ruin. The inside showed no signs of light. The darkness that permeated the air was stifling, and as her eyes made out the large pillars and the rotten red carpet she couldn't help but to feel on edge. Nothing new with that, but this place gave her the creeps. She wasn't scared of the dark or anything - in fact she was more likely to say she was scared of the daylight. Random thoughts aside, though...Neffy would cautiously take a few steps away from the group. She didn't see anything, but that didn't mean there wasn't anything else here. Where there was five undead, there was likely to be more.

That left the question of what were they doing here, and in this place of worship? Something had to have made them. Maybe she was being paranoid.

"...No undead. Not any I can see...this place is creepy..." It was, however, seemingly fairly quiet, if not for the conversation of her companions. She couldn't say she didn't like that. Neffy would quickly scan the area, seeing if she could see anything that may be of particular value that she could sell-er, bring back to the church to its rightful place, yes. "...Carpet. Stone pillars...almost reminds me of home..." Perhaps it was just the general feeling all religious places made her feel. Extremely stuffy, like she was constantly being watched or judged. "...should I scout further in?"

When the combat was over, Trina popped out of Neffy's pocket and her feet pittered against the floor. "Good job everyone. I knew you all could take care of these weaklings! It wasn't even worth me doing anything, of course!" With the, the little fairy walked over to something nearby, though she held her nose a little bit to remove the stench of charred flesh from it. Soon, she arrived at the skull that still seemed to be animated by some foul magic. Despite everything though, the fairy calmly picked the skull up and held it by the top so it's still rattling teeth wouldn't take a bite out of her.

"To the victors go the spoils. You're gonna' be called Chatters." Trina seemed rather proud of her naming sense as she flew up into the air with the skull in her hands. After she was in the air, she turned to Leon. "I'm fine and I don't think we want to put Chatters together again." After that though, she started to threaten the skull. "Alright you! Where's your treasure! Where are you hiding it!" She started. It might be halfway intimidating if she were about 6 times her size. "Come on you! Spill the beans! Tell me or I'll burn your fing..." Well, there were no fingers to burn or break.... The fairy squinted her eyes... "Or I'll force you to eat a centipede. You wouldn't like that... It's not the first time I've done it damnit!"

With the skeletons now out of the picture, Corinne recovered adroitly, although seemingly puzzled over something. "Was zis not a monastery? Zen... why are zese skeletons here?"

After all, one would think that the place most resistant to the intrusion of the undead would be a former holy site; even buried, the goddesses weren't known to be totally disconnected from their places of worship. For mindless undead to be attacking anything that came into their domain suggested that something had gone quite seriously wrong in the intervening centuries.

"Put that down. And go see if there's more skeletons ahead." Liliane, meanwhile, had approached the fairy. And gently tapped her head. If she was going to come along, the least she could do was take advantage of few things reacting to fairies and see if the path was clear...

While the surroundings looked distinctly holy, it was likely that anyone with any sensitivity to the matter would realize something else about the former holy site: It felt distinctly empty. There was none of the warmth, no familiar sensation of entering a temple to the goddess. Such a feeling was nearly completely lacking.

There was nothing.

Further exploration inside the buried temple would reveal carved bones, and that many of the old benches had been broken down and hacked apart as if to use for wood.

It became quite likely there were not only undead dwelling down here. The carved bones, as well, would seem somewhat familiar to anyone with any experience tangling with goblins.

If the creatures were still present could not currently be confirmed, but the damage to the benches seemed rather fresh, and the discarded carved bone at least indicated they were almost certainly present at some point or another.

The only way to be certain was to keep searching.

@Raineh Daze@Pyromania99@Rune_Alchemist@Zoey Boey@Crimson Paladin

This does not feel like a holy place, Léon thought as a chill ran down his spine. There was none of the feeling he knew when he stepped into a church of the Twin Goddesses or his order's shrine. Just...nothing. This wasn't a holy place, it was the desecrated corpse of one- similar in some ways, but wrong in all the important ways in a way that made it far more disturbing to behold than it should be. And this was before factoring in the undead, the eeriness of a ruined temple, and the wrongness of the structure being buried underground.

The skeletons may have been vanquished, but Léon's heart was still pounding. The cleric nervously paced through the temple, tightly gripping his hammer as if expecting a fight- if one could fight an oppressive presence such as this. He hoped that he could find something holy, or something once holy, that could be rescued from this desecrated temple.

It was clear that something other than undead had been here. Many of the benches appear to have been violently destroyed, and there were strange carved bones that had no place in a temple of the twin godddesses. He did not recognize where they were from, but his first guess would be that they were from some sort of primitive culture, one with no regard for mortal remains or the twin goddesses.

"Liliane, Nuri, have either of you seen bones like this before?" Léon asked the paladin and Hundi. "The undead couldn't have made these, and they're not suppose to be in a place like this, but I don't know what made them. Any ideas?"

If something or someone was living down here, that might suggest that they were responsible for here desecrating this temple and raising the skeletons. The prospect of the terrible state of this temple could be attributed to a mortal being, something that can be felled with a hammer, seemed a much less dreadful idea than the alternative.

On the other hand, it'd also mean that there was was some very tangible danger ahead.

@Raineh Daze@Zoey Boey

Nuri traced an armored gauntlet along the enscriptions on the wall.

"The skeletons are here because the place is abandoned." Nuri said, an edge of 'duh' in her voice. "This place was lost to war. Without the people inside, it's not a church. Just a ruin." Nuri said.

"Speaking of people. Destroy that skull at once, Trina. It's disrespectful to allow that foul magic to remain on someone's body." Nuri demanded coolly, but firm, her voice for once without it's usual amiable manner.

Nuri turned and looked at the eager fairy who wanted to scout so badly. Frowning under her helmet, Nuri sighed. "If you really think it's a good idea, sure, go ahead. Personally I think you're better off sticking with the group, but, let's give your way a shot, see if you prove me wrong."

The Paladin walked over to her Cleric brother, kneeling down next to him and picking up a bone. Carved bones and charms, cultural works of a different species. "Looks like...goblins, to me, brother." She surmised. "Our relics often appeal to their greedy sensibilities."

She lifted the visor of her helmet and rubbed her chin, glancing at Leon. "Goblins are cruel, crafty beasts. I've never known one to negotiate. If they win, they'll kill us and eat us for dinner. Not necessarily in that order, either."

Chuckling ruefully, she shrugged and glanced over at their only useful Coin, Neffy. "Sorry. Just be careful not to end up in a soup, okay?"

Liliane also inspected the bones curiously, turning them over in her hands, "The work is goblin, but the bones include human ones. Not enough to be sure how much is possibly from the skeletons roaming all over the place and how much is anything they went and snagged on the way."

On the other hand, Corinne was frowning. Yes, it wasn't a monastery now but that wasn't the point, surely...? Hm, maybe she wasn't conveying herself properly? The mage started a brief back-and-forth with Liliane in Hundi and the more experienced adventurer wound up sighing and rephrasing the question.

"She meant, aren't temples and anything buried on consecrated grounds protected against necromancy? Simple abandonment shouldn't give us a skeleton problem to deal with."

Which was something the religious types should know.

"Ooooh, scary. The Knight Lady is telling me to destroy Chatters." Trina mentioned off-handedly. Obviously, the fairy didn't care much for the cultural norms of other peoples. "There's one big damn difference between Chatters and me. He's been dead, and I'm not. Hmph." She threw Chatters away. "Now I'm bored of this. Damnit. Let's go pilfer some shit, Neffy." The little fairy mentioned, intentionally trying to piss off her very religious counter parts. "Not sure if a place like this even has anything good in it." With or without Neffy, she'd fly off and start looking around for things to pilfer and things to avoid. Like skeletons.

Neffy

---

"E-eep?" Goblins? Well, they were certainly scary, weren't they? They had a hard to pronounce name, and looked the part too. The Nem would glance back at her companions. Someone made a joke about her ending up in a soup. "...I'm not...very tasty." Neffy would rebutte, not seeming to understand that it was probably just a playful jab. Briefly, she'd imagine a large pot of Neffy stew. "Oh dear...I miss the desert...a-ah! Trina wait...!"

The Nem ran off after the fairy, making sure to keep her wits about her. She didn't want the fairy (or herself) To actually end up in a goblin stew of some sort. Still...goblins hm? Well, really, they shouldn't be too much of a problem, should they? As long as she could...sneak up on them, of course.

Unfortunately for Neffy and Trina, running ahead was not the best idea when there were so many unknowns.

No sooner then they had begun to do so then a distinctive scraping sound was heard, then the sound of many sets of feet running.

Given her excellent vision in the darkness, the Nem would see them first(something they hadn't accounted for).

Goblins. Rushing up from old passageways at the back of the church, there were at least a dozen of them emerging, drawing crude swords and spears and clad in armor of leather and bone. There was no mistaking their beady red eyes, large ears, and green skin for anything else. In size, they were larger then Neffy, but smaller then even the shortest adult dwarf.

The ramshackle nature of their weaponry and armor made it clear that they were not under the thumb of any orcs, who would at least give at least some of their cannon fodder weapons made of metal. But their numbers still made them a threat.

Harsh words were spoken low and fast by the goblins in their tongue, as they attempted to spread out and surround the adventurers.

@Raineh Daze@Pyromania99@Rune_Alchemist@Zoey Boey@Crimson Paladin

Neffy

---

If it was possible for her to spare a moment to berate Trina for flying off, she would have. Instead though, she'd have to contend with the goblins running towards them! She'd briefly wonder why they seemingly had been running this way. Were they running from something? Or had it just been happenstance that they were leaving when they were entering? She hadn't seen any scouts or the like that would have alerted them...

"Trina! Careful! Go-Go...Green skins!" She'd shout to her fairy friend and the others present. Neffy would immediately draw her sword. "Surrounding us!" Oh dear oh dear oh dear she wasn't suited to fighting directly like this. Why was she in the front again? Oh right, that Fairy. She was really going to scold her after this.

The Nem would make a movement to channel magic through her blade, lining the edge of it with a fast current of water before doing as she had done before and launching a watery blade at the goblins, not wanting to get too close. If she could find a way to slip through while the others were engaged, though...she'd just have to look for an opening.

At the sound of advancing feet... and not bones, feet, Liliane's ears perked up, both daggers being drawn effortlessly in one hand as the other went to the satchel. Goblins, goblins... ah, there, one of the more painful necrotising toxins. Goblins weren't exactly the bravest, and extra agonising wounds were sure to send them scurrying even if she missed some sort of lethal blow. With their medical skill, there was a good chance infection would catch up too, even if they fled the entire area. The dark oil seeped lethargically onto the blades and then, as if caught in a rush, seemed to be sucked out of the vial and into a thin film.

Of course, she couldn't just recklessly dance through them, administering injuries left and right. That would leave Corinne exposed. But one of the encircling goblins, getting too close for the Hundi's liking, found just how fast the short girl could dart forwards and backwards, a long, burning slice down one of its arms. Predictably, chattering in its horrible tongue, that one scarpered--whether to the back of the crowd or entirely, she didn't care.

Goblins elicited none of the fear in the mage that undead did. Nervous apprehension, certainly, but already she was levelling the staff right towards their myst, scintillating light gathering as her chant built up...

Léon took a step back as the goblins poured into view. He was slightly relieved that they were facing a mundane foe rather than something unnatural or supernatural, but goblins could still pose a serious threat in large numbers and in confined spaces. This wouldn't be the time he had fought their kind, but he had never done it on their own turf before.

On the other hand, this was his turf as well. And he wasn't going to let these monsters desecrate this place any further.

From their movements, it looked like the goblins wanted to swarm them and make use of their superior numbers. Léon wasn't going to let that happen, and was determined to disrupt these little fiends before they could get into position. The cleric drew his scepter and began to channel Mayon's power.

Mayon, Goddess of the Moon, lend me the power to strike down those that desecrate your holy place, he silently prayed before unleashing his spell. A torrent of water shot out from the front of the cleric's scepter, aimed at the goblins emerging from the darkness. It wouldn't kill the goblins, but it would likely strike with enough force to knock them off their feet and prevent them from supporting their fellows in the battle, thus keeping the group from having to fight too many of them at once. It might make fire magic a bit less effective on them, but surely neither Nuri nor Corrine would risk setting this place on fire.

Nuri caught 'Chatters' in her hand and destroyed him, finally putting the poor skeleton to rest. It was important to not let evil sentience like that fester. Nuri regarded Lilliane. "Mmm. No such thing as consecrated ground, though it is a helpful myth. A place is only as holy as the worship that goes with in. Without people, churches are just empty boxes." She gestured around. "Thus, a skeleton problem." The paladin said. At least, this was her belief. Nuri wasn't sure how much she bought into 'holy ground' and 'holy relics', not really. Absolutely, she could appreciate the artisanship, but she doubted the Goddesses really cared about mortal trinkets. That wasn't what mattered.

The short people went ahead to scout, and, from what she heard, were immediately discovered by goblins. Or at least, they discovered each other at the same time. Now the squishier members of the group were upfront. Nuri still wasn't sure exactly what the point of his strategy was. Coins were supposed to go around the flanks, or at least report back with numbers. So far they only wanted to simply walk forward until they encounter enemies. Nuri could do that. Anyone could do that.

"Goblins." Nuri held the handle of her sword in one hand, and the blade of it in the other as she jogged quickly forward to meet the borderline sapient life-forms in combat. Goblins were more like a dangerous pest than a race of people. Though sometimes Nuri wondered if one could be raised as a pet, or even a companion. The thought was both amusing and heart warming. Unfortunately, no such peace-makings would be avaliable today, the goblins were hungry.

Nuri advanced past her teammates. They were either light or slower than she was. Casting or preparing to cast ranged water spells. Corinne began to dance in and out of their range. This meant it was Nuri's time to step up and be the frontline her teammates could operate around. All of their support would be for nought if the goblins simply swarmed them all at once.

"All right, let's dance, you little bastards." The knight approached them all, levelling her sword at the nearest goblins defensively. When one neared too close, she sliced off its arm with a swift strike. At the same time, she took a step forward, reversing her grip and forcing yet more of the goblings back. Sweeping her sword at their neck height, she intended to ward them off and attact their attention, focusing on parrying their strikes and letting hampered blows glance off her armor.

Indeed, the initial retaliation against the swarm of orc-kin left them reluctant to advance further. Several of their number had been taken off their feet, and a few had even been killed or maimed, one shrieking as its arm was severed, stumbling back and clutching at the stump as it spewed dark red blood, the other goblins looking rather startled as several took cautious steps away. Another had its head nearly removed entirely by Neffy's watery blade, toppling over with a thump.

The uncertainty of the goblins would not last, however. From beyond the crowd of chattering orc-kin, there was a distinct chant in the goblin language. Few people had ever come to understand it, largely due to finding goblins who would cooperate and allow someone to try and speak with them was an extreme rarity. But the rhythmic nature of the speaker's words made it clear that this was a spell, of a sort.

Indeed, with a hazy, greenish glow, the goblin that had been killed was slowly rising back to its feet, head lolling backwards. The severed hand, too, was twitching to life, though there was not much it could manage on its own.

This was met with much cheering from the orc-kin crowd, who began to press their advance once again.

At least it was now clear where the skeletons had come from.

@Rune_Alchemist@Raineh Daze@Crimson Paladin@Zoey Boey