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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 3572638" data-attributes="member: 143">It's my understanding that rebuked undead remain passive unless the rebuker approaches them. Ah, the best laid plans of men and dragons...   <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f631.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":eek:" title="Eek!    :eek:"  data-smilie="9"data-shortname=":eek:" /> * * * * * Chapter 183DESPERATE TIMESDar tried again to get up, and again failed.  But then a roaring wave of power exploded through his body, blasting his weakness away with it.  It only lasted a second, and in that time it felt like his flesh was being scoured clean from within, but when it was done, he was more or less whole.  He looked up, and was not surprised to see Varo looking down at him.  Allera’s healing was more gentle, but there was no denying the efficacy of the dark cleric’s magic. “I don’t suppose you have a spell that can deal with that damned wizard and his freaking energy bolts?” he asked, as he pulled himself back up to his feet. “I have no more spells that can harm him directly,” Varo replied, “Unless I can get close enough to touch him.” “Swell,” Dar said, picking up Valor before starting down the tunnel toward the bridge once more. Shay had taken out her bow, hoping to injure the warlock enough to stop the barrage of eldritch blasts.  But before she could load and shoot she was forced to defend herself from a trio of zombies that swept forward off the bridge.  The first staggered forward and nearly fell as she ducked smoothly aside, but the other two were right on its heels, and she had to give ground, taking her further away from her shot at the warlock.  She was momentarily distracted by a flutter of wings overhead, but could pay it no heed as a fourth zombie appeared and grabbed her leg.  She got away before it could get a good grip on her, but its fingers had clutched her hard enough to bruise the flesh. There was a flare of light, then all four zombies crumbled into ash.  Shay turned and nodded in thanks at Serah, who’d been brought back around by Allera, both of them kneeling by the tunnel wall. Then she turned back to the warlock; she had business with him.  Unfortunately, the warlock, apparently, had spent the last few seconds mustering his power; now his fingers extended toward Shay with a surety that spoke, This time, I will not miss, woman.But even as Shay tensed to take the blast, there was a sudden sharp rumble, the only warning any of them got before a massive chunk of the cavern ceiling over the bridge gave way and collapsed onto the revenant.  Shay stood there and stared in surprise through the miasma of dust that hung in the air around the collapse.  Most of the earth that had fallen from the ceiling had gone into the river, but the rest formed a rampart several feet high on the far bank.  Snaggletooth became visible as the little dragon floated down and landed on Allera’s shoulder.  The faerie dragon opened its jaws wide, and issued a derisive hiss toward where the warlock had been standing.  Navev had been on the very edge of the river near the far pylon of the bridge.  He’d been completely buried, or he’d gone over into the river; either way there was no sign of him now.  Dar came rushing up; he’d seen the whole thing.  One of the remaining zombies lunged at him; the fighter almost casually took the thing’s head off its shoulders. “Is he dead?  Well, for good?”“I don’t know,” Shay said. “Well, might as well take care of this one again,” Dar said, stepping forward to face the still-immobile ghast.  The creature remained where it had been stopped by Varo’s rebuke, although the bridge under it sagged until the center of it dipped into the water; the far side was covered in heaped earth that had been dislodged from the ceiling by the dragon’s magic. Dar lifted his sword, but before he could strike the entire bridge gave way under the strain.  The ghast toppled back over into the river, along with the piled earth and the wooden planks; the moorings on their side trailed the remnants of the broken ropes down the current.  Forty feet of open river, deep and swift, now separated them from the tunnel on the far side.  The light of Beatus Incendia washed over them as Talen staggered up to join them.  “The undead, they’re right behind me!” he yelled, the words a cold dagger that sent a sinister chill through each of them.  Even as they turned, they could see the leading edge of the rush, as dozens of skeletons charged into the radius of the light shed by the knight’s sword.</blockquote>

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