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Sophie would like it on the record that, when she accepted the job, she didn't know that the Librarian had to do so much bloody politics. She could be out healing the sick, like Natan in his day. She would love to be out healing the sick. Instead, she's in one of the innumerable studies of Hush House, searching for a book for Hokobald, even though she wishes dearly that she could toss him out on his shiny arse. She doesn't mind helping out Yvette, or Arun, or really most of the others. It's just Hokobald in particular who should really go fuck himself. But it is her duty to remain strictly neutral, and she takes that duty seriously. So she'll find his damned book, and watch like a hawk while he reads it. And should he happen to violate that neutrality himself, well, she might have a few things in her pockets to introduce him to. (Swaddled Thunder isn't casual to make, nor the Rubywise Ruin in case of violence. But she's made them enough to feel they're replaceable, at least.)
Luto, sword still drawn, starts stepping backward, making sure Sophie is retreating behind her.
(She visibly relaxes, actually, as the skeletons appear. She glances up at Ridaya.)
Ridaya sighs. It's never fun to see a scene like this.
Mindless undead aren't people, but they were, once. Now they're just - souls being tortured, fuel for the sick (and lazy!) desires of whoever created them.
But at least those souls go to rest when the undead are destroyed, the magic that binds them left anchorless.
And it's not hard to destroy skeletons, really, even if there's a lot of them and they have fancy armor.
Black Tentacles.
Sophie's seen Ridaya cast spells before, and some of them have done some quite impressive things, but none of them have really been anything like this.
Large, rubbery, jet-black tentacles emerge from the ground in a massive area, filling the entire corridor in front of them, so dense that each of the skeletons is surrounded by them.
They don't have eyes. They don't appear to have any sensory organisms at all. They don't need to.
Every single skeleton is engulfed, restrained, and slammed into the ground, over, and over again.
The slamming sounds of the bodies hitting the ground are muffled by the sand. The horrible snapping and cracking of shattered bones, however, are very audible.
It's an overwhelming wall of noise, and a horrific sight to see.
But it doesn't last long.