The priest bellows in triumph as the ground collapses, shouts further insults at Bowbe in his native tongue, rendering them incomprehensible as well as inarticulate ... and then throws himself into the fray, leaping down without hesitation into the midst of the scaly foes, waving his sword with careless intent.

Aarnr descends in a rush of soil, gravel and pebbles.  He finds himself standing in a dimly lit space, filled with screeches and growls, and an odd musty smell.

Rushing to the edge of the pit, Velanya checks where she will land, before she jumps down too.  Her cry of pain as her ankle twists and gives way just adds to the general air of chaos in the cavern.

Eilieen calls for Zadastha's blessing, and notes that Arkan's wound is soon reduced to an angry looking scar.

Aarnr swings his blade, but the reptile creatures are already scattering in a panic, and the wildly swung weapon hits nothing.  That nothing, fortunately, includes Velanya and the terrified child...

More cautious than the paladin, Colwyn drops prone and crawls forward to look into the abyss.  After a couple of heartbeats he rolls over the edge, grabbing a root to steady himself, and lands nimbly on his feet.

One of the reptiles immediately attacks him, swinging a heavy wooden club at his head, and forcing him to step back, raising his sword.

Two more of the creatures stalk Velanya, jabbing at her with crude spears which the paladin desperately tries to parry. 

Another of the reptiles goes down, overwhelmed by a tide of badgers.  The only things that survive the attack do not have scales...

The last two, meanwhile, attack Aarnr, one with a heavy tree branch that it uses as a club, and the other with a spear with a fire-hardened tip.  The priest manages to deflect the spear, but the club strikes him on the shoulder...

OOC:  To battle!

Combatant         Init
Velanya            20
Eilieen            16
Erista             12
Aarnr Foultongue   11
Colwyn Akbar       11
Arkan              10
Reptile creatures   5

Characters' Apparent Health
Aarnr Foultongue: Good
Arkan :           Good
Colwyn Akbar:     Good
Eilieen:          Good
Erista:           Good
Velanya:          Hurt

Aarnr roars, even louder though none would have thought that possible or at least prayed to every god they knew that it were not, incensed at the effrontery of the creatures in daring to challenge him !

Swinging his honourable and venerable blade with no more care than before but still with exceedingly deadly intent, the priest does his froggin' best to maim and kill the foe.

Arkan pushes himself to his feet, carefully testing his weight on his recently wounded leg.  Satisfied, he thanks Eilieen, and gives her a shallow bow, before walking slowly toward the pit.

As he walks, he murmurs something under his breath, and the air around him seems to shimmer.  "Sᚺᛁᛖᛚᛞ!"

Colwyn defends himself, constantly moving.  And then he sees an opening, and leaps forward, flicking his blade through a blinding series of cuts and feints.

"Yer a ugly bugger, ain't yer." he snarls, and jabs the weapon at the creature's gut.

Velanya decides to press an attack against her two opponents.  Unfortunately shifting her weight sends pain shooting through her ankle, causing her to stumble and miss her chance to strike a telling blow against either of them.

Through clenched teeth, she mutters a prayer, "Thyr, hear my words!  Aid your servant in her time of need."

With Arkan now rejoining the fray, Eilieen feels a trifle more sanguine about doing so herself.  At least this way she can offer assistance to him if he falls on his face, overcome by lingering venom.  Moving to his side, she attempts to peer down into the pit, on the hunt for her friends.

It's chaos down there.

Loathe to leave Arkan until certain he is well enough - and will not, for example, keel over dead - Elieen prepares a prayer, whispering under her breath.

OOC - Okay, will hold action, but if I get a good look at Colwyn or Aarnr, I'll cast Magic Weapon on them.  Rather, their weapon. 

Velanya grunts in pain as her ankle gives way, and causes her to stumble.  The two reptiles facing her hiss and spread out, trying to flank her.

Eilieen and Arkan stand up above, watching the progress of the battle below...

With a roar, Aarnr hacks at one of his foes, smashing his weapon down through the thing's shoulder and into its chest.  The creature drops its club, and falls dead in a spray of blood and gore.  And for a moment the priests weapon is lodged firmly among the broken bones, forcing him to plant one foot on the body and wrench the weapon loose.

Nearby, Colwyn plunges his weapon into the belly of his foe.  The creature screeches in pain, but doesn't fall.  Instead it staggers back, flailng clumsily at the rogue with its club.  Colwyn dodges the blow easily.

Two of the reptiles still stalk Velanya.  Desperately the paladin parries one of the spears, but the other rips into her arm! 

Aarnr's remaining opponent hisses, and jabs at him with its spear.  The priest simply bats the weapon aside, and barely seems to notice it.

In a chorus of snarls, the badgers fade away, leaving the cavern a deal less crowded. 

Out of nowhere Erista suddenly appears in the hole, standing between the terrified child and the ongoing battle, knife in hand...

OOC: Those badgers were terrifying.  I'm glad they're gone.

Combatant         Init
Velanya            20
Eilieen            16
Erista             12
Aarnr Foultongue   11
Colwyn Akbar       11
Arkan              10
Reptile creatures   5

Characters' Apparent Health
Aarnr Foultongue: Good
Arkan :           Good
Colwyn Akbar:     Good
Eilieen:          Good
Erista:           Good
Velanya:          Hurt

Erista stands protectively over - or at least, beside - the child, and gives her a reassuring smile.  "Hi!  You must be Rosie.  Don't worry, it's almost over.  You'll be back with your family soon," she promises.  "My name's Erista," she adds.  "Oh, and, 魔術 鎧."  She says the mystic words almost conversationally, reaching out to touch her hand comfortingly.

Cursing his foe's apparent toughness, Colwyn starts to step back, then suddenly dances forward, thrusting his blade at the thing's throat with all the force he can muster...

Arkan pulls a coin from his purse, a copper penny, as it turns out, and holds it in his outspread palm.  With the other hand he makes a couple of passes over it, as he says, "ᛚᛁᚷᚺᛏ".  The coin begins to glow, bright as a torch.

The mage tosses it into the pit, where it makes everything much clearer...

"Guide my friend's weapon, Zadastha," whispers Eilieen, "to defend the innocent from harm."  That said, a rosy glow erupts around Colwyn's blade.  Even as she looses the prayer, the spiritual badgers disappear; the priestess purses her lips in annoyance, frustration which clears as the cave below lights up.  "Well done, Arkan - let us join the others in the hole!"  With his assistance, surely they will be victorious...and if he falls from the poison, Eilieen will be within easy reach.

For she has no plans to remain up here, herself.

The priestess immediately plunges into the hole, seeking a way down that will not involve breaking her own neck.

OOC - Heading into the hole - if I can make it down with a standard action and Velanya is in reach, it's CLW time!  If not, Eilieen will merely climb down and awaits her next turn. 

Presence of lack of badgers, light, sense, due care and attention ... none of these things trouble Aarnr who is consumed by the fury of the God that rides upon his back, laying about himself with the ancient blade with ever increasing abandon.

Gritting her teeth against the pain in her ankle and her arm, Velanya shifts her weight to the leg that doesn't feel like it's full of broken pottery, and her blade into a one-handed grip.

The gleaming metal sweeps out in a horizontal arc as the paladin lashes out at the nearest foe...

Vwlanya's blade lashs out, and one of her foes drops at her feet, though its head disappears into the gloom beyond the circle of light.  Her remaining foe hisses at her and starts to back away...

There is a spray of dirt and pebbles as Eilieen slides down into the hole, clutching at roots to slow her descent into the pit which is rapidly starting to fill with the coppery stench of reptile blood. 

Protecting the child is clearly Erista's priority, as she stands guard and casts a, presumably, defensive charm on Rosie.

Aarnr swings his blade at his remaining enemy (or possibly at random).  The weapon fails to hit the target. who starts to back away, snarling.

Colwyn leaps to the attack, thrusting his sword into the lizard creature's neck.  The thing goes down, clutching futilely at its throat, and is dead before it hits the ground.  The rogue looks down at the corpse.  "Ain't bein' so 'ard now, is yer?"

Arkan remains above, satisfied with he result of his effort at illumination, and looking for any more chances to influence the battle from his place of comparative safety.

The two remaining reptiles start to back out of the chamber, into the tunnel that apparently leads to the tree.  They keep threatening anybody who gets too close, but don't make any real effort to injure the intruders...

OOC: Hah!  The lizards are chickens.

Combatant         Init
Velanya            20
Eilieen            16
Erista             12
Aarnr Foultongue   11
Colwyn Akbar       11
Arkan              10
Reptile creatures   5

Characters' Apparent Health
Aarnr Foultongue: Good
Arkan :           Good
Colwyn Akbar:     Good
Eilieen:          Good
Erista:           Good
Velanya:          Hurt

Having disposed of at least one invisible (or possibly imaginary opponent) Aarnr charges after the two that seek to avoid a right and proper (and definitely bloody) death, repeatedly thrusting his blade at them in an attempt to slay them before they can gain the safety of the hole.

His yells and screams are as much to belittle Bowbe as to cower the lizards ...

Aarnr doesn't waste any time, and the last two reptiles are slain before they realise what hit them.  Everybody else, meanwhile, can clearly see what hit them, as well as the all-too-gruesome results of that brief, but brutal, contact.

Silence fills the cavern, except for the sound of laboured breathing, and of shifting dirt, and of a crying child...

The priest looks about him, still bellow at a painfully loud volume, eyes glazed as the point of his blade sweeps around the chamber seeking its next victim ...

... and then he slumps as the god lifts from his shoulders, the light of his more usual bloody-minded and cheerful belligerence shining forth as a beacon atop clashing rocks.

As he recovers, Aarnr admires the carnage, spotting the noisily weeping child looming over Erista.

"We froggin' found her then," he remarks, smugly.

Eilieen winces, keeping far back from the fray to better avoid sprays of ichor.  In short order, it is finished, leaving only the victors, the dead, and the child.  Her first task stands a short distance away, and she hurries to it.  "Velanya, are you badly injured?  Colwyn, might you see to the child?"

Better Colwyn than Aarnr, for example.

Reaching the injured woman, she immediately assesses the wound to see if it, too, has been poisoned.

OOC.  Healing Check: only an 18.

Colwyn looks from Eilieen, to Rosie, and then back again.  "I's reckonin' as 'ow Erista's 'avin' 'er well in 'and." he assures the priestess.  Then he starts around the chamber, poking at the reptile creatures with his sword, ensuring that they're dead.

Velany shakes her head, "Not too badly, and now that the battle is over I have time to deal with my injuries.  Thank you for asking though."

Aarnr is unconcerned about the young girl.  His old childhood was littered with such 'learning experiences' as this and it made him what he is today.

"Ye reckon they were going to eat her or raise her as one of their froggin' own ?" he asks Colwyn, standing by as the rogue checks for any signs of life, his blade at the ready to extinguish it if needs be.

"They's 'avin' teef like as bleedin' corkindrills, so I's reckonin' as 'ow she were bein' on the menu.  May'ap after they was fattenin' 'er up a bit." Colwin says, quietly, after checking where he stands in relation to the child.

"Doesn't matter now," Erista says, smiling up at the girl.  "See?  It's over.  You're safe and loved and your family is waiting for you.  Are you hurt at all?  Eileen can help, if you are.  Come on," she takes her hand and gives a gentle tug towards the new opening.  "Let's get you back into the sun."

Erista leads Rosie back up to the surface, while the rest of the group tends to injuries or confirms the kills.  Once he knows the reptile men are dead, Colwyn takes a few moments to examine their jewellery and ornamentation.  Disappointingly, it turns out to be mostly wooden beads and feathers strung on rawhide thongs.

Their weapons, too, are primitive designs, constructed of wood or flint.

Velanya holds her holy symbol of Thyr in one hand, and presses the open palm of the other against her injuries as she whispers a prayer to her god.  Her wounds heal, and she takes one last look around before starting to climb out of the charnel pit...

While he has only a hazy recollection of the battle (a consequence of having Bowbe ride upon his shoulders is that the god has all the froggin' fun), Aarnr is somewhat concerned that nobody shows any concern regarding the fate of the badgers (the priest might not remember much, but he's fairly certain they fought bravely and well alongside him).

Much as Velanya does, Aarnr casts a last look around the lizard-creatures' graveyard, looking for signs of his four-pawed comrades-in-arms.