"Oh don't be such a baby, I won't kill you unless I mean to. You'll heal. Now what does your game screen say?" She puts her knife away and checks the sprayer, slotting in one of the half empty bottles of ethanol.

They're halfway to a horde, arms reaching through. Amaryllis and Fenn are standing on the opposite side to the broken part of the portcullis and targeting undead whose movement might block or take them through that passage. The courtyard is littered with bodies shot through the heart.

"It did work," he grudgingly admits. "One-handed weapons 7, Parry 3, Dodge 4."

Tanya calmly walks up to where Amaryllis and Fenn are keeping the undead at bay. She waits for the zombies to get a little more horde shaped without risking a combiner. She dumps whats left of one of the ethanol bottles onto the zombies and Ignites them.

Fwooooosh! And then the crackle of popping fats as the zombies burn. The magical feedback is such a rush.

Just a quarter bottle left now.

Once the lead bodies burn out, the party advances, Joon and Amaryllis clearing a path through any of the undead that survived the flames with stabs to the heart. Amaryllis has some proficiency with the sword, but it looks like Joon is overtaking her in skill already. 

Once they're through to the reception at the base of the tower, Fenn fires a few more arrows down the corridors to buy them a moment to breathe. 

"I got a bad feeling the moment we crossed the threshold into the castle. Leonold, he's got a few of those, what are they called?"

"Pseudo perimeters?" Amaryllis supplies. Fenn nods.

"Then they're likely on their way, an elf or half-elf's luck sense can pick up on all sorts of things like that," she exposits for the benefit of the dream-skewered. "We need to reach the facility on the twenty-first floor, what are our options?"

"The central stairs, unless you feel like a long climb up an elevator shaft, but I have another proposal first. A castle like this, the courtyard is designed as a killing field. Why don't we use it for its intended purpose and ambush them?"

"One problem, there's more undead inside here, aren't there? If we don't reveal ourselves keeping them off our backs, we'll have a fight on two fronts when the sound of the ambush draws them in."

Tanya lifts the last bit of ethanol left in the bottle. “If we are ambushing. Traps?”

"Three void bombs left. I'd need at minimum some wire to detonate them from afar instead of throwing them."

Joon turns to Tanya. "The issue with the last time we let the greater undead form deliberately was the risk that we'd have to cross paths with them without a good counter, right? If we did draw a horde into the courtyard, that wouldn't be a problem for us."

"You'd have to spend one void bomb on destroying the portcullis so that enough undead could be drawn in through the gap from the outside, and the fireteam could get here before we gather the numbers to impede them."

Amaryllis makes a note to mention the popular aversion to exploiting exclusion zones after the necrolaborem reveal, the same story can serve double-duty for explaining the z-word taboo in their lessons on hiding their dream-skewered status. 

"We should climb to the fourth floor while we plan, we'll use the windows there for an ambush or want a head-start on ascending whatever we decide."

The old walk and talk.

“Do we… have to do that? If they bunch up near the gap isn’t that already impeding them? Do they have a way past the wall that isn’t the gap? All we need to do is slow them enough to beat them to the key right?”

It would be satisfying to set explosive traps and ambush an enemy force, but the keeping the plan to achieve your tactical goals simple is something she drilled into her men repeatedly.

And Juniper is an idiot, she didn’t tell Amaryllis about the mega zombie incident and yet here Joon spills it. Now Tanya seems like she was hiding something! That is the last time she does him a favour for his reputation, if he just spills all his mistakes later.

"A bladebound's bonded weapon becomes pseudomagically sharp, cutting through lesser threats will be Quills' purpose in the fireteam."

Whereas she has to half-sword to line up a stab at the heart, drive it in with enough force to succeed even if it glances off a rib, and then boot the undead in the chest to withdraw the weapon for the next one. As she demonstrates, with the undead they encounter climbing the stairs.

"You're right that it would provide some impediment. Feel free to create an appropriate noise to attract them to the entrance if you can figure out how."

"Fenn... would you be willing to use your enchanted bow on them?"

Asking her if she'll shoot her old comrades feels risky, not exactly an auspicious start to joining a new party. To his surprise, it's rewarded with a loyalty increase.

"It would be my pleasure. Quills can parry arrows, Carter can tank them, but I can think of no better way to tender my resignation."

“A noise is easy enough.” She finds a broken window. Pops the lid on the ethanol bottle so it is spraying pressurised alcohol mist, chucks it down near the gap, and shoots it with her rifle. Too far away to control the explosion or enjoy the fire magic feedback but it does make a pretty loud bang.

“Might even draw some undead from inside the building outwards toward the gap.”

Well, she is officially out of fuel, and her rifle would draw zombies away from the explosion. So she draws her knife. She can disable zombie limbs to make heart kills easier for Amaryllis and Joon. 

It works on the undead outside, drawing them in like ants from the surrounding city. They cluster up outside the gatehouse, only a couple managing to squeeze through to the courtyard with their uncoordinated movements.

With Joon and Amaryllis piercing hearts and Tanya harrying, they manage almost ten floors. Ten stories of stairs climbed, with at least a few undead to cut through every other landing. 

The effect on Joon's skills is apparent, this constant combat driving him up to his caps at the performance of a professional swordsman. The effect on their fatigue is also apparent, sweat dripping and muscles burning.

Then there's a bang from outside.

A humanoid porcupine can be seen on the interior side of the gatehouse, having sliced through the clot of undead there, followed by three more figures as they start to cross the courtyard.

“Do I start shooting? Or are they too far behind for it to matter?” Tanya turns to Amaryllis.

"Now." Voice clipped, short statements between inhales. "Best opportunity. Stairs cleared below."

She smashes the nearest window with a rifle butt. 

"Joon. Cover our rear."