Garth's shield tosses the zombie below, but more are standing up right in front of him, even as the remaining zombie on the stairs moves behind the big fighter. The zombie clasps his hands in front of it and spins in a circle, bashing the fighter in the back of the head with the combined fists while he's distracted by the ascending horde. (crit. again.) Garth takes 11 damage. 

The zombie at the windowsill grabbed the half-elf's hand that had shocked him and then punched him in the face for 2 damage. The zombie then ran straight for the necromancer. (rolling opportunity attack for Rad but not Cor, since even if he were to land a hit, it would do 0 damage with his fists.) Rad slams his hammer into his shield to create a dolorous tone in the zombie's head as it ran by, dealing 10 damage. 

Just as the party was getting the hang of things, two zombies climbed through the window and three made it on the stairs, completely surrounding Garth.

 Initiative Tracker Round 10:

Players(All)<<<<<

Zombies

Cor rushes at the zombie that's nearing the necromancer and casts Shocking Grasp again.

Shocking Grasp:20

Damage: 3

The zombie spasms and falls to the ground, but then gets back up. It's barely standing, but it is focused on its objective.

Twig fires another bolt at the zombie she shot only moments before. 

Attack: 25   Damage: 15

The zombie's head explodes onto the wall behind it and it falls to the ground. Miraculously, the monster rises to its feet once more - this time without a head. 

Rad shouts out "I'm out of healing, try not to go down again!" Before casting Toll the Dead on the zombie closest to the Necromancer.  Damage 7

"Crap, I'm down to 2 HP! I'm surrounded and don't think I can get away without getting hit. If the two minute estimate that Prozhar gave us is accurate for his ritual, he should be done any moment. Hopefully the zombies trip over me on their way up the stairs!" Garth swings his long sword at the zombie to the left of him on the stairs.

[action]Attack[/attack] 14

Damage 8

The zombie grabs its head and screams, as much as a zombie is capable of screaming, before collapsing to the floor in an unmoving heap.

(OOC: My bad on the action tagging.)

Garth's swing catches the zombie in the midsection, but it is far from out of the fight. 

All four zombies on the stairs converge on Garth, knocking him to the ground before laying into him with their fists as he covers himself with his shield. Twig watches on in horror from her position at the railing as the zombies block her view of the armored fighter.

The two zombies at the window each go for different targets, one leaping through the air at the big Cleric while the other lunges for the half-elf. 

A bright flash of violet light illuminates the room, spreading outward like a wave from the orb and continuing outward past the walls and blanketing the city. All the zombies are immediately cut off from whatever power was animating them and drop where they are, lifeless. 

Prozhar sighs and flops to a seated position on the floor, cradling the orb in his lap. The orb still glows, but it is much more subdued than before. The necromancer lets out a long breath between his lips and leans back against the table but doesn't say anything more; he just closes his eyes and tilts his head back to rest against the table.

Garth is laying on the ground, in the same state he was in when he last attacked with his longsword except covered by four corpses. Rad caught the zombie leaping for him on his shield, but was still brought to a knee while he held the creature above him. Cor had flinched and covered his face with his arms before being hit by the recent zombie, remembering how badly it hurt to get punched in the face. Twig is still standing at the railing, no zombies too close.

You are now out of combat.

(OOC: Congratulations. You survived the potentially-endless horde of zombies and protected Prozhar. You also defeated nine zombies in that time. You're also all alive. So for that, a whopping 200 experience has been added to your character sheets.)

Momentarily distracted by the flash of light eminating from the orb, Twig turns to the sorcerer. “So,” Twig says to an unmoving Prozhar, eyeing the dim sphere “can I touch it now?”

With great embarrassment she looks around and realizes the state of her companions. 

“Gentlecats, erm, gentlemen, please help me move these corpses off of Garth.” Twig says to Cor & Rad. “After you’ve taken care of your own, of course” she added once she notices their situation. Twig then jogs over to Garth to unbury him from the pile. She halts at the sight of the corpses, shudders, looks around for any tools, and upon finding none, somewhat hesitantly begins to remove the zombies from Garth.

“ Ick! Yuck. Ugh. This is awful. This is why I use a bow! Nasty. My fur!!...” Twig mutters in disgust. Twig then raises her voice so everyone can hear. “I say we all take a rest, as soon as possible. Ideally before returning to Lord Dorsalor. Who knows what we could run into on the way back? Any objections or suggestions? Otherwise, we can rest here. I call dibs on the least-smelly corner” 

Prozhar cracked an eye at Twig's question. "You are definitely a Tabaxi. Well, I suppose you have earned that much. Perhaps even more. Come." The necromancer sighs as he straightens his back and holds the orb out in two hands for Twig to touch. Just before she does, his brow furrows in concentration and the orb momentarily brightens. 

(Time of day is about 5pm.)

In an awed whisper Twig asks “What is it?” 

She reaches out and gingerly touches the orb with one digit. 

For Twig: 

"It is the Orb of Macrozian. Recently recovered by Prozhar The Soulkeeper." He says, putting every ounce of pride that he can into his voice - a quite considerable amount. "All of you. Come. Touch."

“How wonderful,” Twig breathes, in awe of what has occurred ”What do you know about it? Where is it from? Its history? This is what you planned to use to stop the blight, isn’t it?” Twig asks earnestly.

"It is ancient. I haven't quite been able to determine who created it, but it was used for thousands of years before being lost. It was how I had planned to begin to stop the blight, yes. My efforts were... not as fruitful as I had hoped they would be." Prozhar says, looking pointedly at the corpses around them.

Garth grunts as he stands up, and picks his way through the carnage at the bottom of the remaining steps.  Upon reaching Prozhar and Twig by the orb, he hesitated before reaching out to touch the glowing orb.  Well, Twig didn't melt or turn into a mindless zombie when she touched it.  Shrugging, Garth touches the orb.

"So, I get that your plan didn't work out the way you planned, but what now?  Are you any closer to the cure? And what about the rest of the zombies outside?" Garth said, his nose wrinkling just a bit at the end.

Rad also goes up to touch the orb. "Yes, what now that we no longer have zombies breathing down our necks." 

Garth and Rad both feel rejuvenated upon touching the orb. 

Garth is healed for 8 and Rad is healed for  10.

"Zombies outside? They have all become inert like these. As for what you do now, that's none of my concern. I need to determine another method of retrieving the necessary reagents for the cure. Undead are... Unreliable." Prozhar said, voice disappointed near the end. 

Cor walks over to the orb and touches it as well. "We were asked by Master Arbane to  come and discover why he was unable to see into this part of the city. Now we have to thank you for stopping those things, but we did helped you not get killed by them while you tried to correct your own mistakes. I'm not trying to accuse you. I'm just showing that it would be a great service in return to us if you could accompany us to see him and explain this first-hand. And perhaps he can help you with what you need." Cor says in his most calm but serious voice.