The deck is burning. On the shore, visible in the light of the fire, are four human-sized figures, including the person in the cloak who was just on the ship. Two of them have harnesses covered in bottles and bags and bundles. One drinks from a bottle and spits at Elias.

The fourth person shoots a longbow at Elias.

Inside the boat, a human with metallic skin dashes around a corner and flops down to touch the customers. Animate Dead. The customers stagger up, chunks of burnt flesh slipping off their bones.

"Defend me and the ship!"

Formerly-Braids and Formerly-Blond creep towards the ladder.

Healing Alieta using her own spell would be better than using the wand. They've tested it on prisoners before. Wands don't take into account the strength of the user.

Cure Light Wounds.

Her hand becomes wreathed with golden light, which she presses on Alieta's shoulder. The glow from her hand seems to flow into her, and now it's Alieta's burns that glow before healing, closing over with regular skin.

"Do you need another one, or is that fine for now?" She'll probably use the wand if she needs another one.

He manages to dodge both the spittle and the arrow. It's difficult with how heavy his armor is, but his antipaladin boons are really coming through.

Right. Two alchemists, an archer, and the wizard. Let's take care of the wizard first. He lets out a roar and Charges, holding his greatsword like a lance, tip straight forward.

Power Attack.

Interesting. The wizard doesn't seem to have Mage Armor on. You get a feel for that once you've fought enough combat arcane casters. Better for him. The sword pierces the wizard's robes cleanly.

Cleric healing is so much prettier than Infernal Healing. She wonders if using her dagger was pretty; she wasn't looking. "Mmmmm." She can feel her body again! "Another would just about bring me to perfect shape." Which Alieta wants her to do, but that's Tos's decision, or Felicia's, if she has something better in mind to do this round...

Formerly-Blond climbs up the ladder without any apparent issue with acid.

The wizard was expecting this fight to be more one-sided! "Block the hatch - !" Elias hit hard, but not hard enough to kill immediately. The wizard steps back, to be no longer enveloping Elias's blade, and hurls two bulbs of rock at him with Stone Discus.

Alieta's Detect Thoughts now reports that the invisible woman is:

* Startled by the undead skeletons around her clattering out of their seats.

* Relieved that the skeletons aren't attacking her, just running by her and up to the level where the chest is.

* Desperate to get to the chest before it's burnt any more, in order to rescue the person inside, who she - respects? Some kind of Good feeling.

"She's below us! And a bunch of skele-"

"The undead are all mine!" shouts the person by the chest, behind Formerly-Belt and Formerly-Ring. "Cleric! I have desecrated this area - use your channeling!"

The person with the bow shoots Elias again.

Another swig and spit.

The fourth person leaps onto the boat and throws a bottle down the hatch, right into Formerly-Blond's face, which burns, melting his head and shoulders into sludge.

He successfully dodges both the spittle and the arrow. He's having a very good day today.

Something must have gone wrong with the wizard's casting, because the discuses go veering off to the side. 

Channeling energy would hit all the enemies, but that's a Will save. Touch of Corruption is irresistible, and he can add a Cruelty with a Fortitude save. It would be difficult for the wizard would be able to resist it. He can make the wizard Fatigued, and hence less able to dodge his attacks, despite it dealing much less damage.

His hand becomes wreathed in a sickly dark sea-green glow, and he lunges. The negative energy flows through his hand and into the wizard's torso.

Right. The undead person has their face melting off. She Channels Negative Energy again, this time tuning it to heal only undead and not affect the living. Formerly-Blond's head and shoulders reform into something more akin to their former shape.

"The invisible woman's below, got it. Can you pinpoint her location? If you can spot her for me, I can Channel Negative Energy in her vicinity, even if you can't tell her exact location."

She seems like a caster, with how she cast Invisibility and teleported in here. She might use Touch of Idiocy.

The wizard staggers back, flings a handful of mud at Elias's face, misses again.

The person who was spitting at him splashes a beaker of glittery blue liquid right into his chest, where it spreads over his armor and freezes.

The bowman fires again and misses, then turns and fires at Formerly-Blond, and misses him too.

Another fire attack on Formerly-Blond melts his upper half again.

Alieta gestures vaguely downward.

Is that person's cloak covered in maggots?

There's no way out at this end. She turns back and follows the skeletons back up, hoping the noise will cover her steps on the rickety ladder. She'll just have to sneak by all the guards.

Or maybe she could talk to them? If they're willing to let Abram go, she's not their enemy. Before going up, she casts Aspect of the Nightingale to boost her diplomatic ability.

"She's coming back up, with a charm effect!"

Tos addresses the person with the zombies. "Are you the recipient of this cargo?" They recognized Felicia and knew she was an Evil cleric...

They kick the burning chest and scoff. "What cargo?"

A charm effect on herself? Strange. She goes with her original plan and casts Touch of Idiocy. The spell settles on her fingertips, and she can feel the energy of it in her hand. So long as she concentrates on it, the spell won't discharge. Unlike the spells involving positive and negative energy, there's only a very faint shimmering at the very edge of her right hand's fingers. She readies herself to lunge at the invisible caster once she figures out where she is, staying close to the ladder.

She addresses the cleric. "Our original task was to defend that box. We were supposed to bring the cargo here and protect it. Is it yours?" She sounds a little snappish.

Elias is having an excellent day. He gets paid to fight, and his enemies are incompetent. That archer needs training. He gasps and grimaces as the cold liquid settles on his skin and freezes. Feels awful with armor on. He's mildly resistant to the cold, but that doesn't nullify all the damage. 

No time to get distracted with the alchemist. Time to attack again. He swings his greatsword at the wizard one more time, and it makes a nasty gash across their chest. He almost misses, but the wizard's reaction was a touch too slow, and they receive the brunt of the attack.

In this moment, he really understands why people follow Gorum. "Die!"

The cleric shrugs and casts Protection from Good on themself. "Nice job defending it."

A bunch of skeletons run up... and stand around the ladder waiting for the zombies to get out of the way.

"Alieta, did that wizard Teleport out of here? I think a fifth-circle wizard is beyond what we agreed to fight."