A narrow escapegoat!

The villagers are fleeing back towards the party and the cells as they cry out of an attack by flaming skeletons. The group tires to prepare, but is spread out, separated by hundreds of feet in some cases and hindered by the panicky tide of humanity. Bud Feaster is the first man to see the attackers, a dozen or more of the skeletal soldiers are moving rapidly towards him. He shouts for the villagers to get back in the cells to make room for the party. He readies his +4 staff and waits for combat. Humbar is on his way to reinforce Bud’s position when the front four attackers teleport past Bud and into Humbar’s path. Simultaneously, six shoot magic missiles into Bud as 2 attacks him. A pair of savage blows and Feaster is dead, sliced from collarbone to liver, forearm half removed from body.

Humbar engages and is attacked from behind as more skeletons use their power of teleportation to menace Dalliance. Dalliance responds with an Undeath to Death and clears some space. Humbar battles on grimly, but is nearly slain before he uses his Silveryfire to restore health.
Reza moves past Dalliance to try and stem the flow of the attackers and Humbar manages to turn several before being wounded. The part watches as Bud is run through several times by passing attackers.
Then the ‘leader of the pack’ appears. A sumo wrestler sized lizard shaped like Andre the Giant (with a tail) and sheathed in shimmering scales. It exchanges magic missiles with Dalliance, and several skeletons try to shoot her as well. Her Brooch of Shielding turns out to be a handy thing to have. She tries another Undeath to death with mixed results. More attackers teleport between Reza and Dalliance and Lubbitch steps into the breach.

The battle presses on, and a pair of lizard induced fireballs roasts the hapless villagers in their cells and slays the berserk Humbar.
There appear to be reinforcements on the way and Dalliance falls back.
She focuses on the imposing figure and finally manages to land a successful Disintegrate spell as Lubbitch takes a flurry of blows that culminate with having the side of her head bashed in and she dies…again. Dalliance summons a quintet of zombies to intercept the attackers and Barada readies his spear…which he lofts about ten feet down the hallway…oops!

Once the leader is slain, a few more rounds of combat brings the rest of the skeletons to hell. the nobility is released and escorted back tot he surface. The fallen are returned to the living, and Barada removes his hat of disguises at an opportune time so the real Lord Mourngrym can retake the helm – though he is deeply troubled by having to take credit (and blame) for things he did not do. The party remains on hand for about a month, to see that things are operating smoothly and that no real threats remain. They spend time identifying magic items and so forth. Feaster needs to return for training and so forth. The group discusses options.

Before they depart there is a great celebration where they are treated as guests of honor. Many speeches are made and proclamations are read.
The final proclamation of the evening is the most interesting. As the page reads from the scroll his voice changes rapidly to a guttural growl, ending with the words “Tomorast sends you to your doom” – and everything vanishes.

The party comes to their senses falling down a seemingly endless hole…