Finishing The Ratmen

Bennett looks briefly with concern in Fae's direction, but seeing her well taken care of, he turns toward the explosion. With axe drawn, he prods his way through the remains.

"I wanna see the carnage too," says Yaz eagerly. "I'll help heal you in a sec."

He steps carefully up the stairs alongside Winnacer, Gronk and Bennett and the four of them peer around the corner.

The four of them see one of the most awesome displays of carnage that any of them can remember, with Gronk walking amidst it, checking upon the situation. With the inflammable material causing Winnacer and Faewen'il such harm when only being splashed by a little of the flaming liquid, it is hardly surprising that the effect of the barrel of the liquid being ignited by the web, which was ignited by the weapon itself, is absolutely devastating.

Will too, concern writ large upon his face, sees that others are tending to Fae. He knows that danger could leap from any corner of this forsaken place, but realizes that it is most likely to come from ahead. Seeing Gronk and the others investigating the explosion, Will tries to stay within communicating distance of them and the rest of the group in case help is needed.

The four above him can see that the whole length of the 30' corridor to the west of the stairs is littered with burning flesh and that the resinous substance continues to burn fiercely in many places in the corridor. The majority of the ratmen have been burned so badly that none of their flesh remains, leaving just bloody charred skeletons, upon which flames still flicker as they continue to die down. Towards the center of the explosion, as far as they can tell, the effects of the fire was so intense that even the bones of the ratman have melted as a result of the heat, forming pools of molten white liquid which have run into the cracks of the paving slabs upon the floor of the corridor. The stench from the incinerated bodies is absolutely nauseating.

Winnacer cannot help but let out a low whistle.

Bennett takes little notice of the stench. He seems to have withdrawn from all this horror mentally. He casually takes note of the effects, seemingly uncaring.

Gronk turns towards the druid and the Winnacer as he sees their approach:

"There sure as 'ell ain't none of 'em that survived this," he says as he surveys the area once again.

Winnacer nods as he sees the grisly sight:

"That's what I expected," he replies, "but I just wanted to check, just to be totally sure."

He looks around once again and speaks to the others:

"Let us return to see how Faewen'il is faring now."

With that the four of them turn and head for the staircase down once again.

As they do so, they get a glimpse of another ratman peering around the corner of the eastern corridor, 30' from their current position. They can see that this particular ratman is dressed in dark green robes and has some type of brass apparatus strapped to his back. Even more curiously, however, the ratman is wearing some kind of brass mask covering his face, its red glowing eyes visible beneath glass eyeholes.

Showing the same lightning fast reflexes as all the other ratmen that the party has encountered to date, the ratman hurls a small object towards the four of them, disappearing back behind the corner of the corridor immediately that the object is airborne.

Immediately, the three of them hurl themselves towards the stairs, expecting an explosion. Luckily, however, the ratman's shot was very much short of the mark and lands some 15' away from your position. They can just see out of the corner of their eyes that the object that the ratman threw was a small fist-sized glass sphere.

The glass sphere smashes against the side of the corridor. Upon impact, it immediately breaks, releasing a cloud of yellowish-green vapor, which billows out into the air. Luckily the ratman's aim was so far off target that the three of them are well outside the area of the cloud.

Winnacer watches the bilious cloud of gas creep towards their position and starts to quickly back away, with Gronk, Yaz and Bennett all coming along with him. They head back down the staircase towards the main group, the LawBringer's eyes betraying the unsettled feeling he feels in his gut.

"Uh...guys," the young Lord starts as he meets back up with Xavier, Jihan, Aneira and the still prone form of Faewen'il at the bottom of the stairs, "it may be best for us to move our position back a bit. They have some type of grenadier caste who just lobbed some gaseous globe at us before skittering off. It may be prudent to move the group away from an area where they could snipe at us from around corners or from the tops of the stairs."

Xavier, his face etched with concern, continues to kneel beside Faewen'il as his lord approaches. Only at the last minute does his head turn:

"Vhat did you say, mein lord? Vhat foul act can compare to the hurt of seeing ones beloved dying at one's feet. This war has entered a personal phase for me. I swore an oath that if any hurt came to her they would pay. Rest shall I not until every single whoreson in this foul place is dead."

Xavier turns back to face the still form of Faewen'il, his shoulders hunched with despair.

Winnacer then leans heavily on his sword as he shares his opinion on how to proceed:

"Our injuries are really starting to catch up to us and our resources for fighting our enemies are dwindling. While I am willing to keep on our offensive, I worry that with the extent of my burns that I'll be a step slower and less dependable when it again comes down to bare steel. We know that they still have a contingent of guards and a cadre of priests in reserve, along with many unknowns considering the threat these rats have shown themselves to be."

"It may be prudent to retreat back to more safe confines, or at least consult with the Padre and allow him to soothe some of our wounds. But sometimes what is prudent cannot be followed, as time is the biggest issue for us now."

Xavier head nods in response:

"Such actions are necessary, ve must regroup. Then, by Rodengast, shall this place flow vith blood!"

Winnacer pauses:

"Perhaps it would be best to consult with the Padre and see if his ministrations can tilt the scales one way or the other."

With more than half of the party injured now, some such as Faewen'il and Winnacer quite seriously so, the rest of them nod, knowing that the magess, if no one else, is not going to be going anywhere unless she receives some more healing. Xavier and Jihan both carefully lift up the charred lass between them and start to drag her through the water back to the entry room in order to ask the Padre to attend to her wounds.

As the party starts to slosh through the water on their way back to the room containing the magickal staircase, Yaz bends close to the surface of the fetid water, holy ganja in hand. After a few unintelligible words and gestures, three mosquitoes seem to rise from his open hands and grow into the largest such creatures the party has ever seen. The beat of their wings is loud and fast, the air being buffeted as they hover in place.

Bennett looks with distaste at the blood-suckers:

"Yaz, are you sure that's a good idea....?"

"Uh-huh," Yaz replies.

Gronk is startled as he sees the insects grow to giant proportions. If they are big enough to carry a man then they probably eat dwarves, he thinks to himself. He moves to put the closest member of the party between himself and the mosquitoes.

He then turns to speak with the whole group:

"Whaddaya say we go get that weird priest with the mask when you get back from getting your healing? I can put a ward on the brass door, which will tell me if someone comes by. That way we won't be surprised by guys from behind. We can leave one bug to guard, and take two with us. They could be immune to the gas. I'll bet they are. They'll make good scouts, hey, Winn?"

Winnacer gives Yaz an approving smile:

"I think they'll work out just fine."

He looks closely at them, obviously quite amazed at what the insects actually look like:

"I certainly would not want to be on the other end of that proboscus. How are you communicating with them, Yaz?"

Yaz replies with a simple shrug.

The young Lord starts to reach out to touch one of them and catches himself before even getting close.

He then suggests the following:

"It seems that we have forayed deep into this temple now. There may not be much more to cover and in our state we probably can use every able bodied man we have."

"It may be best to have the Padre rejoin us again, as he is unwounded and his morningstar is not helping us at all up above. Perhaps we can figure out a better way to keep ringing the gong. We could ask the charmed guards above to help us out here instead of tying up the Padre."

Yaz nods in agreement and turns to see that the insects are getting impatient:

"You guys go on, " he says to the others who are about to depart, clearly not wanting to face Kokal if he doesn't have to.

Bennett shakes his head:

"Nah, not alone. I think I'll stay with you and make sure none of the rat-men or priests manage to set up any more nastiness for us up here. After all, I haven't taken any injury from these guys so far, so I'm in a pretty good position to take care of business."

Looking toward the others, Bennett gestures back toward the entryway:

"You all head back and see what the Padre can do for you. Yaz and I and his bugs will hold the fort."

Will also refuses to head back with the others:

"I will stay here with you two. It is not good for one to be alone in this place. Everyone else please do go back and get healing. I can wait for my turn."

Seeing Will volunteer to stay as well, Bennett shrugs:

"I think you might need a bit of healing as well, but whatever you think is best."

Will offers a hand of thanks to Bennett:

"As long as no one stays alone at the front. I will go back for healing. Thank you."

Bennett nods:

"No problem. You all get back here in a hurry and let's get this foul place done with. I tire of smelling death and disease and ratshit."

Will tips his hat to Bennett:

"We will attempt to be quick."

With a grim, businesslike determination, the druid says "follow," and returns to the stairs leading up to the bronze doors, with Bennett following behind, keeping a safe distance from the mosquitoes. The giant insects, each large enough to carry a man-sized creature on its own, obey and fly erratically behind him.

Bennett keeps a very safe distance from the mosquitoes. He is amazed by Yaz's newfound powers, and isn't sure that the creatures will feel the same about him as they do about their master.

As they do so, the rest of the group starts wade through the filthy water once more on their way to meet up with Padre Kokal.

Yaz and Bennett, accompanied by the bugs, climb the stairs and peer cautiously around the corners to the east and west. Once assured there are no grenade-lobbing nasties about, Yaz leads one to the east corner, telling it to "land" and "guard", out of sight from where the bronze-masked priest came from. Yaz' trip to escort the mosquito down the eastern corridor goes without incident. As he positions the mosquito around he corner, he takes a look around it. He sees that the 20' corridor continues northwards for around 70'. He sees that there are three doors in the eastern wall of the corridor and just one in the west wall. The corridor turns west at its end. Leaving the mosquito hovering around the corner, Yaz then escorts the other two back down the corridor in order to leave another one of them around the corner of the western corridor, the one that the masked grenadier was hiding behind.

Bennett sighs that there is still so much of the nasty place remaining to investigate. He stays with Yaz, watching him place the bugs with distaste, then backs off, warily watching every avenue.

As they get to within 15' of the corner, the masked grenadier peers around the corner once more, alerted by the mosquitoes' buzzing. Immediately that he sees the druid and his insectoid companions, the masked ratman hurls another glass globe towards them before disappearing out of sight once more. Once again, the ratman's aim is pretty lousy and Yaz and his insectoid companions are able to avoid the greenish-yellow vapors that pour from the sphere by backing up sharpish.

Bennett dodges quickly, minding Yaz but not the bugs, shaking his head as the foul fumes rise up.

Meanwhile, the rest of the party get back to the room containing the magickal staircase, with Jihan and Xavier having to drag the semi-conscious form of Faewen'il back with them. The distance is not far, however, and they are soon back in the room.

Here they find Kokal sat upon the stairs looking both bored and anxious at the same time:

"So ye finally remember'd I was still 'ere, did ye?" the Padre says with a little irritation.

He then sees the badly scorched forms of Winnacer and Faewen'il, and sees a few of the others looking a little worse for wear as well.

"So that's why ye came back to me is it?" he asks. "Ye jus' got a bit more beat up than ye could 'andle an' now wan' me to fix ye up?"

Xavier looks with pleading eyes at the Padre.

"Save her, Padre, I beg thee."

Kokal shakes his head and lets out a deep sigh:

"Very well then, let's see which o' ye needs m' healin' the most."

He looks each of them over:

"The magess seems to be the worse off, so let me see t'er first."

Xavier and Jihan bring her close to the Padre's position and Kokal begins to utter the familiar words of the healing ensorcellment. His hand begins to glow and he places it upon the lass' wounds. The effects of the spell are weak, but they help her a little.

He shakes his head:

"Looks like ye be needin' a bit more help, but let me see to t'others first."

He next summons Winnacer over and repeats the exercise upon Winnacer. The effects of the spell are better than on Faewen'il, but still leave the LawBringer far away from full health. He then calls Will over and repeats the exercise once more upon the bard. This time, the effects of the Padre's healing ritual is highly effective, leaving the half-elf close to full health.

He then looks back to Winnacer and Faewen'il:

"I jus' be 'avin' one minor 'ealin' spell left. Which of ye shall I be usin' it upon?"

Upon hearing the Padre's words, Winnacer refuses to take it and Faewen'il is in no condition to really refuse it, and so, once again, the Padre starts to cast upon the magess. This time, the effects are much more dramatic, and the char marks upon Faewen'il's flesh disappear to a large extent. Physically she appears to be not far from full health now, but the others can see from her demeanor that the mental scars are going to take longer to heal.

"Right, that's all the 'ealin' I be 'avin' today, so I can't be doin' anythin' else to 'elp ye, so be careful," the Padre warns.

"I suppose that I better go back to bein' a doorstop again now," he mutters. "'Ealing an' a doorstop. At least I'm glad to be useful for SOMETHIN'."

"Actually," Winnacer responds, "I wanted to ask if you wouldn't mind accompanying us for the remainder of the trip. Your skill with your morningstar will be invaluable, we believe, now that are spellcasters are low on spells and our fighters are weakened by their injuries."

Kokal seems to cheer up a little at this request:

"Aye, I'd be glad to, but 'oo's goin' t'look after the stairs?"

"I was thinking that we could get Mirek and Marek to take over the chore for us," the LawBringer responds, "if they can be persuaded to perform the task."

Winnacer looks over at Aneira as he says this.

The ice priestess lets out a sigh and then, without saying a word, starts to mount the stairs before she disappears from view into the darkness.

They all wait for five minutes until they hear footsteps descending the stairs. As the footsteps get closer, they see that Aneira is returning along with Marek.

"Mirek is up above with instructions to bang the gong if anything should go wrong," the ice priestess explains as she steps down back into the water. "Marek is going to remain upon the stair so that shouldn't be necessary."

The Padre happily gets up from the stair as Marek cheerfully takes his place, the staircase not moving in the process.

With the staircase now secure, the eight of them head back to the staircase at the opposite end of the corridor once more.

Winnacer painfully limps up the stairs, still far from true fighting shape. As the party starts to form up its lines, Winnacer starts to move to the point position. Bleary with disease, he barely catches himself as his boot toe catches some uneven flooring. He looks towards his three warrior comrades.

Bennett looks back at Winnacer with a faint smile, realizing what he's about to say.

"I'm in no shape to hold the point right now," the LawBringer admits. "These burns are slowing up my step and I just feel hazy and feverish. I'm worried that I could not hold up my end right now. Would someone care to rotate up into my position? It looks like I'll have to play a more active support role this time out."

Bennett steps forward before Winn even finishes the statement:

"I thought you were immune to all this stuff or I'd have moved in earlier. I guess Spravedelna doesn't save you from everything, huh?"

Winnacer shakes his head, obviously not comfortable with Bennett's implication:

"What pestilence lingers in these waters is unnatural as the contagion of the werewolf. It is no common disease but more like Nemotz' personal curse against the living."

Bennett's slight mockery fades:

"I'll take point. Xavier, you want to accompany me?"

Xavier looks at his young lord.

"Yah, Winnacer, mein lord, you look a mess. Ve have journeyed together so long it vould be a waste to see you fall before our Great Task is done upon this earth. Take it easy, lad. "

Xavier then turns to Bennett, his eyes blazing with vengeance:

"Yah comrade, I shall join you. I have a bit of business to do with these bastards. Others may talk, but your axe and my Justifier shall be more convincing than any glib tongue ever was. They shall depart this earth in full knowledge of the sins they have committed and the condemnation of their souls in the afterlife. Come, I am as ready as you are".

Bennett nods, his eyes burning with a more muted, but just as severe, vengeance.

Winnacer then clears his throat as he speaks to both Bennett and Xavier. His voice is obviously raw and scratchy:

"Thanks for holding down my end. Just be careful. We still need to take the high human priests alive, or our vengeance will lead to their victory."

Bennett glares back at Winnacer:

"Better have someone a little better for the job do it, then. If I meet one of those bastards, he's not long for this world. One of you magic using types is better suited for that crap than I am."

Will eagerly steps up, but Xavier puts a hand upon the bard's shoulders:

"Nein, Sir Willheim," the Saxon says to him. "You have already shown your bravery today, but without armor, you vould be putting yourself in grave danger. Let me take the front vith Bennett this time."

Will nods his head in agreement, and falls into line right behind Bennett, with Gronk at his side, together making up the second rank.

Bennett calls over his shoulder to Yaz:

"Hey, can you send those bugs of yours ahead to nail that ratbastard before he tries to gas us again?"

"Sure," the druid replies, and urges the two giant mosquitoes ahead.

Bennett then looks toward Xavier:

"What say we finish this thing, huh?"

"Absolutely. We will all be better off the sooner this place is done with," replies the bard.

The Saxon's eyes are blazing with fury:

"Yah, Herr Bennett. It is time to take our vengeance upon these vile whoresons."

With the mosquitoes leading away, the rest of the column starts to cautiously march down the eastern corridor at a safe distance from them.

Once again, the buzzing of the mosquitoes attracts the attention of the grenadier, which pokes its masked head round the corner once more and hurls another globe towards the insects as it sees them heading towards them.

For once, the grenadier throws his globe right on target, as it explodes between the two mosquitoes. However, Yaz' thoughts that the giant insects would probably be immune to the effects of the poisonous vapors prove to be true and the two mosquitoes start buzzing angrily and fly around the corner of the corridor in order to exact their revenge upon the masked grenadier.

Unfortunately, the noxious vapors produced from the globe block any further advance along the corridor and so the party is forced to wait until the vapors disperse, or else run the risk of them striking them down.

All they can do as they are forced to wait impatiently is listen to the sound of the angry buzzing of the mosquitoes and some frantic ratmen squeaking as the bugs and the rats combat each other out of the party's view. Almost immediately, the frantic buzzing is added to by a disgusting slurping noise and even more frantic rat squealing, presumably as one or both of the mosquitoes start to suck the blood from the grenadier. It takes less than two minutes before the squealing of the grenadier stops.

They can then hear the sound of more rat squealing and buzzing as further combat is joined. From the corner of the corridor, they can see more vapors wafting around it. As the second combat is joined, they can hear more squeaking, more buzzing and the sound of chains being rattled and then another disgusting slurping noise.

After three minutes, during which time many of them are frantic with impatience at wanting to pile in and give the mosquitoes a hand, the noxious greenish-yellow vapors before them disperse to a level where they think it would be safe to pass through. With swords in hand, Bennett and Xavier lead the way as they all charge around the corner.

Bennett raises his axe, not anticipating the nastiness sure to be in front of them. With a fatalistic tight-lipped smile, he leads the charge into whatever lies beyond.

As they round the corner, the first thing they see is the body of the grenadier lying on the ground, quite dead. Its body seems to be emaciated and they can see two large puncture marks in its head, obviously as a result of the mosquitoes having bled it to death. Further along the corridor, they can see that the mosquitoes are locked in combat with two more adversaries. These two ratman are carrying over-sized flails, which are smoking from another noxious substance that seems to be burning from within the flail. They can see that both of the mosquitoes have been injured by the flails, and are looking to be close to expiring quite soon. One of the mosquitoes has managed to pierce one of the ratmen with its proboscis and is starting to suck blood from the verman, while the other ratman is trying to keep the other mosquito at bay with its flail.

Some 20' further down the corridor, they can see that there are two more ratmen armed with the smoking flails. Another 20' behind them are another mass of ratmen, around 10 of them in total, armed with shortswords. All of the ratmen are wearing dark green robes over their chainmail and are keeping a fair distance from those with the smoking flails.

The corridor itself is similar to the one on the western side of the level, being some 70' in length before it curves to the west. There is one door in the western wall of the corridor and two in the eastern wall.

At seeing the fight before them, both Bennett and Xavier charge forwards in order to help the mosquitoes out. In the narrow confines of the corridor, Will and Gronk in the second rank are unable to get into combat, as the two warriors and the mosquitoes fill the corridor.

As Bennett and Xavier rush forwards, they enter the slightly smoky area caused by the vapors exuded by the ratmen's flails. Bennett starts to cough as he inhales the vapors and then starts vomiting as he is overcome from the vapors. His charge is immediately halted by the vapor and he falls to his knees, coughing his guts out as a result of the vapors. Xavier has no such problem, however and rushes forwards between the mosquitoes.

Bennett falls in anger, as he so often does to such spellcraft. Aimless streams of curses fly from his lips like the buzzing of the mosquitoes' wings between coughs and vomiting.

Seeing Bennett fall, Gronk rushes forwards to take his place. However, Gronk too is also effected by the vapors and also comes to a crashing halt as he falls to the ground coughing heartily.

"SHIT!" is all that the others can hear coming from Gronk between the coughs that are racking his body.

Will tries his luck and steps between the two of them. As was the case with Xavier, the vapors have no effect upon him and he rushes into the breech in order to combat the flailing ratmen.

"Aha! So it seems that I shall indeed get the honor of front ranks skirmisher!" shouts the bard as he leaps up beside Xavier.

The ratmen are whipping their flails around frantically, sending the vapors flying all around them, making it difficult to get a blow upon them. The first of the ratmen, who is slowly being sucked of its blood from the mosquito, concentrates upon trying to rid himself of the insect and manages to hit it with the flail, but is not able to dislodge it. Will is able to get through the ratman's defense as a result, managing to land good blows upon the ratman with both The Educator and Teacher's Pet. The result of being wounded by both blades in addition to the bloodloss from the mosquito is more than the ratman can bear and it falls to the ground, dead.

Next to him, Xavier's eyes burn bright as he charges towards the ratman, anxious for vengeance. He brings the bulk of The Justifier down hard upon the other ratman and hacks into its side. The ratman squeals in agony from the wound, but seems to be as frenzied as the Saxon is and smashes the mosquito into the wall with its flail, splattering the insect. Xavier sees his chance and brings The Justifier crashing down upon the verman once again. This time the ratman cannot withstand the blow and falls to the ground, hacked to pieces.

The surviving mosquito continues to suck up the blood of the deceased verman. After another 20 seconds, the mosquito belches contentedly and buzzes away from the battlefield.

The death of the first two ratmen with the smoking flails does little to panic the other two, who charge towards the party, spewing out vapor as they run forward. With Bennett and Gronk still coughing from the vapors, the next rank of the Padre and Winnacer run forwards in order to help Will and Xavier despatch the next two. The Padre has no problems in coping with the vapors, but Winnacer has the same problems as Bennett and Gronk, falling to the floor as he chokes on the fumes.

Will, Xavier and Kokal manage to pass through the whirling, fuming flails of the ratmen unscathed in order to make their attacks. Will is very much on form in the combat and once again manages to pierce the ratman with both of his blades.

The ratman squeals in pain, but does not fall and smashes his flail into the bard's side in response. Xavier's wrath is still making him fight like a man possessed and he brings The Justifier down upon other ratman, inflicting another terrible wound upon the verman. The Padre, who is obviously delighted at getting involved in combat after acting as a doorstop for the past few hours, makes both of his blows with his morningstar count, crushing first one of the flailbearers and then the other beneath the mighty head of the weapon, killing them both.

With the grenadier and the smoking flailbearers all dead now, the remaining ten ratmen in the robes all start to advance with their shortswords raised. The eyes of the vermen blaze with fury and they seem to be hellbent on destruction. As they surge forwards, the party sees that there is one more ratman behind the others, dressed in purple rather than green robes. The party can see that he is casting something. As the ratpriest finishes casting, both Xavier and the Padre start to sweat as they feel their armor starting to heat up.

Xavier's eyes glare with fury. Tearing open the leather stopper of his water bottle, he pours it over himself, setting the armor hissing and steaming, before tossing it aside:

"TIME TO DIE, WHORESONS, TIME TO FEEL RODENGAST'S WRATH FOR YOUR CRIMES!"

Gritting his teeth with the growing pain of his heating armor, he charges forward, his mind focussed on the task of taking out the cause of his pain - the foul sorcerer.

Seeing the majority of the other fighters temporarily disabled by gas and heating metal, Will presses forward with his attack, attempting to take out as many of the ratmen as possible.

Seeing that Will, Xavier, and Kokal have the group of ratmen stopped in the hallway, and having no idea about their armor heating up, Yaz turns and sprints as quickly as he can to the east. As he rounds the corner turning north, swinging his arms like Indiana Jones, scimitar in hand, he yells: "Attack!!" to the hovering mosquito and points north ahead of him. The mosquito obeys and, in moments, overtakes the druid and buzzes around the northeast corner out of sight. Yaz follows, still running.

Winnacer, already sick, finds he cannot muster enough breath even to yell directions. He attempts to straighten himself out and calm down his furious lungs for he can advance and help out, stamping out the braziers to prevent others from being touched with this new taint. As he attempts the task, however, he sees that, with all flailbearers now down on the ground, the fumes, which are heavier than air, are no longer a threat.

Seeing that the vapors are no longer going to be a problem, Jihan dashes forward in order to stand beside Xavier, Will and Kokal so that the four of them stand abreast, blocking the passageway so that the ratmen are unable to get at those choking behind them.

Xavier and one of the ratmen face off against each other. In the whirl of steel between the two frenzied opponents, sparks fly as the swords connect, but neither Saxon nor ratman are able to strike blows upon one another. There is no escape for the ratmen from Will, however, as he hurls himself into the furry mass before him. Seemingly caring little for his own safety, he uses The Educator to deadly effect as he manages to decapitate no less than two of the ratmen with one almighty blow of the TruthSeeker's blade before planting Teacher's Pet through the eye and into the minuscule brain of a third. Will's slaughter of the ratmen seems to have little adverse effect upon their morale, however, as three more come forward to take their places.

Padre Kokal smashes his morningstar into another of the ratmen, but his blow is not sufficient to down the beast. The Padre's now glowing armor easily manages to protect him from any retaliatory damage, however. Jihan is on similar form to Will, however, and manages to bring down another of the ratmen with a mighty blow from Pistos. Despite the ferocity of the ratmen, the party seems to be having no problem in cutting them down. However, Xavier and the Padre are having other more serious problems than the ratmen, as they start to grimace as their armor starts to sear their flesh.

Xavier tries to concentrate upon the ratman before him and ignore the intense heat from his chainmail, but it is impossible, and his shot upon the vermin falls short. The ratman immediately takes advantage of the Saxon's predicament by finding a chink in Xavier's mail and cutting into him with his shortsword. Will's luck is holding up as he manages to avoid the serrated edges of the ratman's blades, knowing that, without armor, he cannot afford to take as much as a glancing blow from the swords. He does not manage to connect with The Educator this time, but Teacher's Pet strikes true as he gores it into the ratman's neck, sending the creature squeaking out in pain. Anxious to rid himself of the ratmen as quickly as possible so as to remove his armor and avoid being singed even further, the Padre lashes out wildly with his weapon. The one that he injured a moment earlier is clubbed down immediately, while another of the ratman, which surges forwards to take its place also receives a mighty bludgeoning from the weapon. Jihan lashes out once again and manages to hit another of the ratmen with his shortsword. As the verman squeals with the pain, its shortsword goes flying from its hand, clattering a few feet away from where the ratman is standing.

Unseen by the ratmen, the party can just see that Yaz and his insectoid companion have now appeared right behind the ratmen's position, with their sights firmly set upon the ratpriest who is oblivious to their presence, as he urges the last remaining ratmen to fight for their lives.

The mosquito gets to the ratpriest first. The verman manages to turn just in time as he hears the buzzing of the giant mosquito behind him, but that doesn't stop it from getting punctured by the insect's proboscis. Squeaking in terror and surprise, the priest cannot think about casting, but rather lashes out at the mosquito with its shortsword, but is unable to reach the insect. With a grin on his face, Yaz piles into the fight. The druid slashes into the ratpriest, which he sees is a particularly scrawny looking creature, with all of his might, and his 'lucky' scimitar does not let him down for once, as it hacks deep into the ratman's flesh and the priest promptly falls to the ground. The mosquito does not stop slurping up the priest's blood, however, and proceeds to drain the priest's body until it is little more than a dried husk.

Back at the front of the combat, Xavier and the Padre are starting to scream out from the pain of the heat searing through their bodies. The Padre, in particular, seems to be in a pretty bad way now. The pair of them lash out with fury as they attempt to despatch the foes as quickly as possible.

Xavier finally manages to get a good blow upon his opponent, but the ratman is large and does not fall. The Saxon is, however, able to avoid getting hit by the ratman's sword again. Will continues to rain down blow upon blow upon his opponent and the ratman before him finally drops as both The Educator and Teacher's Pet sink into its flesh. The bard does, however, take a bad wound from the beast before it falls. Grimacing from the pain of his searing armor, the Padre strikes out at the injured rat before him, and manages to down it. Jihan continues to rain down death with his twin shortswords, killing the disarmed one with both of his swords to leave just one ratman remaining, the one that Xavier has been locked in combat with. Yaz, leaving the mosquito to feast upon the corpse of the priest, sees that Xavier is having problems and hurls himself into the back of the ratman he is faced with. Surprising even himself with the accuracy of his blow, Yaz takes the ratman's head right off with another almighty blow from the scimitar and the ratmen are vanquished.

The victory couldn't have come quick enough for Xavier and the Padre. Immediately that the last of the opponents has dropped to the ground, they both begin tearing at their mail, dragging it off them while shouting out in agony. In less than a minute, both of them have their armor off them and have dropped their weapons revealing their smoldering gambesons. As they remove the armor, the effects of the heat subside, although both of the followers of Radegast got quite badly burned in the interim, particularly the Padre.

A couple of minutes later and Bennett, Gronk and Winnacer's coughing dies down and they are able to stand up and survey the scene of ratcarnage before them.