Aftari walks over to the northern door. "Heroically departed? Sure, why not stop by the war memorial first." She looks around atthe others to see what they think, seeing a lot of studying going on, so she sighS and leans against the door frame while she waits. "That mural sure is creepy."  

Ha'liday walks up to join Aftari at the door. "I rekkon one is as good as the othah...as soon as our dear studious minds are ready to go"

     “No bother, I shall ge right behind you,” Dr. Buddie assured them as he begins gathering up his things.  “And by right behind I mean at least ten feet back and off to the side, if possible…”

Morrow will follow after Aftari and the others, "I actually like the mural. But I get the implication that we might have to deal with more undead than we initially thought."

 "Let's get this door opened up then." Aftari will look to see if there is any obvious way of opening the door and try that. Otherwise she will attempt to push the door open, like they did to get into this room.  

Hadar leaves the mural, muttering. "Something's odd about this" He'll join the group near the door, filing away the new information for future use.

As you push against the door, it swings open and allows you passage into a vast hall lined with pillars, each decorated with parallel lines of femurs. The spaces between these bones are filled with skulls, all leering emptily as you approach. A stone door stands at the east end of the room, and several funerary alcoves filled with glinting metal line the west wall.

Morrow, Ekaterina and Hadar, as you step through the door you can make out the sound of bones clattering to the floor and as you turn to face West, you see several mounds of bones form up into skeletons and grab weapons off the walls.

Buddie and Morrow, what would you like to do?

On Deck: Haliday, Aftari, Ekaterina

     Dr. Buddie definitely steps no further in, perhaps maybe retreating a touch to optimize the cover he has…

     “We are here to pay respects to the honored dead!” He announces in his most pompous tone.  It’s worth a shot, right?

Persuasion? 14
     Shelley, the owl familiar, stays in the previous room, in relative safety.

Buddie, you realise at the same time as you start to speak, that trying to convince the ancient animated dead might be tricky. If you wanted to convince them that you had honourable intentions, some form of ritual might be more suited. At current, it doesn't seem like the skeletons can understand you, either because it lacks the intelligence, or because it doesn't speak common.

"Hey Doc, don't think they speak tongue considering they don't have one." Morrow quickly draws back his bow that he had prepared, and let loose the arrow at one of the skeletons.

Attack: 10 Damage: 7

Morrow's arrow flies off to the side and shatters a femur that decorates one of the pillars, showering the skeleton below with podered bits of bone. They don't seem too impressed though, and any potential chance for understanding seems to have disappeared, as two of the skeletons draw back ancient bows that they collected off the walls and let fly at Morrow. Two more get into position as well, one of whom lets fly at Buddie, and the fourth taking a shot at Aftari. Only the first arrow fired at Morrow strikes true, the other shots breaking up against the columns and walls, showering you all with sharp bits of brittle bone that bursts under the barrage.

The skeleton that is furthest away has also grabbed a bow, but still seems to survey the small chamber.

Haliday, Aftari and Ekaterina, what do you want to do?

Hadar, you're on deck!

Haliday takes aim at the closest skeleton

Attack: 17 Damage: 8

     "Mr. Morrow, you are away that skeletons do not possess ligaments or a musculature system, are you not?  If you are unawares, I invite you to look at them.  These things are necessities for movement - to propel bones into action.  It is not a leap of insurmountable logic to presume that if magic of some kind can animate bones which all natural laws dictate should fall to the ground due to gravity, that it is also possible for said magic to allow them to respond to verbal cues..." Dr. Buddie explains even as he ducks behind the doorway for more cover.  Not having previously realized battle was imminent, Dr. Buddie is not convinced and starts looking through his bag of supplies...

Hal'iday, your shot strikes true and you see a shower of splinters erupt from what was previously the skull of one of the animated skeletons. Before you can exclaim triumphantly however, the skeleton adjusts, turning the broken remnants of its skull in your direction and uttering a bonechilling howl.

Ekaterina rapidly bobs and weaves between the pillars and gets within striking distance of one of the skeletons. In a quick barrage of blows, she strikes at the skeleton with her short sword and quickly follows up with an elbow strike to its sternum. While the sword leaves a gash across the dry rib bones, the damage seems superficial, and before the blow to the sternum connects, the skeleton dodges out of the way.

Aftari, you're next!

(I'm going to bot Ekaterina for the time being, until I know that Rforrest is back)

Aftari pulls out her light crossbow, she loads a bolt and fires it at the one right out in the open between the pillars. She steps up to the pillar close to her and takes cover behind it for the moment, lowering the crossbow and preparing for the fight.

Attack: 20 Damage: 7

Movement: 5 ft diagonally northwest to the pillar

Aftari, you're not used to fight in catacombs, and though you quickly dive into cover, the adrenaline makes it hard to distinguish the skeletons before you from the skulls and femurs leering at you from the walls and pillars, and unfortunately your bolt misses your intended target, instead turning a skull behind it into a shower of bone splinters.

With that, the last of the five skeletons lets fly their arrow,  but strikes the pillar serving as cover for Aftari.

 Hadar, you're up! Buddy and Morrow, you're on deck!

Hadar will move into the square of the fourth pillar from the top left, taking cover behind it. He'll reach out a hand and cast Bane on any uninjured skeletons in range (if there aren't three uninjured skeletons in range then he'll just cast on the closest).  

     Dr. William Buddie steps into the room, takes a brief moment to take in the position of the skeletons and select his target (whichever is closest to someone) then forcefully shouts "Känn gravens isiga beröring!" while make some specific intricate hand gestures and casts Chill Touch at his target.

Chill Touch Attack: 24 Damage: 3 

If hits:

1. Necrotic Damage
2. Target cannot regain HP til my next turn
3. Spectral Skeletal hand clutches them til my next turn
4. IF target is undead, it had disadvantage on attack rolls until my next turn.

     Dr. Buddie then withdraws from the room, stepping fully back into the previous room and out of sight.

Morrow, taking a step back to keep some distance between himself and the skeletons, will draw another arrow and fire at the skeleton that targeted Aftari, before trying to take cover.

Attack: 18 Damage: Unable to parse dice roll.

Buddie, as the spectral hand clings to one of the skeletons, you see the magic that sustains its life drain from it, and the bones clattering to the ground, lifeless. Morrow, your arrow strikes true, punching through the right eye socket and piercing the back of the skull. WHile chipping away at its magic, whatever necromantic powers suffuse this crypt still keeps the skeleton standing.

Three of the remaining skeletons scatter to the sides and start to let fly their arrows at Ekaterina and Haliday. As Ekaterina dodges the first arrow, she exposes her calf for a moment too long and the second arrow carves a bloody furrow into her right leg.

Skeletons with Circles mark the skeletons that are affected by Bane.

Aftari, Haliday and Ekaterina, you're up!