[center][b]At the Church:[/b][/center]

The unfortunate thing about zombies, and indeed most all undead, was that they didn't actually see using their eyes. Sure, some higher level cretins, like Vampires or Ghouls might, but low-level minions with rotted eyeballs, or empty eye sockets, didn't have much use for the whole 'sight'-thing. Naturally then, as sight was the primary sense that was effected by illusions, it stood to reason that such magic wasn't very effective against them... Which the high elf angel-summoner would quickly realize.

Outright ignoring her duplicates, and shambling straight for her, it wasn't long efore two of the  gentleman in dire need of a dentist, and gravedigger, would pass into her range. Of course, her spell that caused holy damage was effective at harming the creatures of the night, but without any ability to feel pain, such an aura didn't really [i]stop[/i] them, and it was hardly powerful enough to evaporate the meandering corpses as soon as they entered the field. What's worse, even though the spell set them ablaze, the walking corpses didn't seem to noitce that either, gurgling and hissing as their already stanky bodies began to emit foul-smelling smoke and the stench of singed hair and flesh. But perhaps the worst part was that the one of the creatures clutched onto the high elf's arm... While on fire... And gripped around it as if trying to wring out a wet rag.

Meanwhile, the male elf's attack on the archer had proven successful! ... Too successful. After having slammed a full metal shield into the woman's head, and added lightning to it, not only had he managed to fracture her forehead, but also crack her neck [i]and[/i] caused electrocution. After flying backwards and crashing onto the dusty floor, the woman lay mostly motioneless on the ground, with the occassional muscle-spasm in her limbs. Her bow was dropped though, and from the looks of it, she wasn't going to get back up, so at least that threaty was averted! ... Though, the possiblity also existed that she wouldnt get back up, ever, from here on out...

The lizardman's fancy footwork and increased speed seemed to catch the deranged priest off-guard. The continued flicking aside of his onslaughts and the pararying of his swift, manic blows kept the madman focused and growing ever more and more agitated with his opponent. Spilling out insults mixed with his lunatic ramblings and preachings of nonsensical gibberish, the cleric was cleverly caught in the trap that the berbarian-monk had laid. And when the counter-attack came, it seemed all waas over! ... Except, it wasn't. As soon as the blow came racing towards him, Maxwell somehow unnaturally shifted his decripit-looking form, taking the blow, but having both adjusted himself and rolling with the punch, it didn't quite have the effext Kaze had aimed for.

Sure, the cleric was flung backwards and skittered across the floor like a wooden toy soldier thrown away by a child in a tantrum. But within moments, the priest threw his legs up onto the air, arched his back and flipped onto his legs once more, like he was some kind of monkey-man-acrobat or something. He craned his neck from side to side, made weird, wavy motions with both arms and flexed his struck shoulder, an unpleasnt, crackling, cartirdgey-noise resounding from it. His twitchy eyes flickered over to the beaten-down archer, before returning to look at Kaze. A look that was some kind of mix between  disgust, mortification and fury was plastered all across it. Basically, he was looking like even more of a psycho than before.

"In-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n.... [b]INCONCEIVABLE![/b]" The man shouted, slashing around himself with his bony blades, before stopping suddenly, as if freeze-framed. His neck twisted almost 90 degrees as he stared at the lizard. "Enough games. There's no more to see. Heretic. Heathen. [i][b]Ffffffffffffffffffffrog![/b][/i]" He sputtered, a very annoying sneer spreading across his lips.

And then, he muttered some of his strange, pseduo-latin-sounding words again.


And that was it, for Kaze.

The lizardman could see nothing. He could hear the madman cackling like.... Well, a [i]madman[/i]. But he couldn't see. And it wasn't like in those comic books or fantasy-novels you read, where when you lose one sense, your other senses get stronger. Kaze's hearing and sense of smell were no better than before, but he was now blind. Completely blind. Of course, neither the Paladin nor the Mage could actually see any difference, since his eyes looked fine from an onlookers outside perspective, but Kaze had been robbed his sight, struck by a Blind-spell. And as this was neither an affliction caused by physical interference, nor some kind of injury, no matter what abilities the lizardman had to recover from naturally inflicted status-ailments, unless he knew how to dispel magic, or pray for a cure to blindness, he would not be seeing anyhing anytime soon - at least not until he found someone who could remove the effect.

Vani's taunt, meanwhile, did manage to draw one of the zombies towards him. But apart from the one lying a ways away - that had been used as a human(?) shield - and the one that the angel mage's summon had cleaved, the majority of the remaining corpses were still heading for the busty spellcaster, rather than the ragged, worn-down knight.

[center][i]Meanwhile....[/i][/center]

"General!"
"Report."
"Yes, sir! Our forces have managed to push forward and claim the northern gate! We're still having trouble in the south, but it doesn't look like there's much resistance further east. Once we claim the east gate, our forces will be able to pincer the south and-"
"Enough. I know how things will work out, son. You don't need to explain simple tactics to [i]me[/i]."
"Y-Yes, General, forgive me."
"Let's just hope whatever's in there is worth all this extra work... "
"Should I relay orders to begin heading for the center of the ruins then?"'
"No, not yet. Capture all the gates first. Make sure there's nowhere anyone can escape outside. By now, I'm willing to bet someone's already found whatever this [i]prize[/i] is supposed to be. We'll simply have them hand it over to us when we find them."
"... What if they don't want to relinquish it, sir?"
"..."
".... S- Sir?"
"Then we attain it the way the Empire always obtains what it wants."
"Oh... O-of course, sir."