Turn 77 -- From the Frying Pan...

Held in place by the dark power of the evil priestess Ortho, Gnore and Garth watch in horror as Shilak slowly moves toward them. Unable to move a muscle or speak, Gnore defies the evil priestess with a venomous glare, his eyes saying the numerous, dark curses that his mouth would be screaming if possible. Ortho quickly gives a fervent prayer to Moraddin to speed and strengthen the mobile members of the Red Feather Company as well as deliverance from the spell that binds them. Garth's mind races with the possibilities of escape for he and his companions, a calm fear slowly rising as the priestess draws closer; he quietly wills himself to fall over onto her...

Druckner moves to make sure she never gets to Ortho, Gnore and Garth. He rushes at her with his axe held high, intent on protecting the others. "You guys, get the other priest," Druckner says through clenched teeth as he squares off to face Shilak.

As Shilak slowly moves toward the held companions her second, Imrin, moves to block Druckner's advance. He brings his footman's mace around to crash into the side of the fiery dwarf. Druckner cringes as he feels the ribs in his side crack under the force of the blow. Grinding his teeth and fighting off the intense pain, he brings his axe around to attempt to block a second blow from the priest but if once again unsuccessfull. Imrin's mace lands another hard blow to the left shoulder of Druckner, pain shoots down Druck's left arm as he feels the joint explode with fire.

Circling one another, the intricate steps of the combat between Kersath and Ramor has carried them once again to the front of the old shack. Ramor attempts twice more to penetrate the defenses of the dark elf but again his efforts are in vain as Kersath easily steps around the blows. Ramor is just as astute his opponent however as he dodges the return blows from Kersath. The two eye one another with a heightened admiration for each other as they try in vain to dispatch the other. Kersath can see the frustration grow on the face of the villian before him as Ramor becomes aware of the skill of the dark elf. Knowing that under normal circumstances he could defend himself from the attack of Ramor for quite some time, the loss of blood and subsequent loss of strength makes Kersath realize that he must dispatch of his foe soon or he won't have the strength to defend himself. Fear slowly creeps into the back of his mind as he sees a relatively fresh opponent before him.

Off to the southwest of the battling dark elf and bandit, Ras and Causwell join again in a somewhat smaller engagement of their respective comrades. Ras lunges at Causwell, an easily parried strike with his dagger but one that leaves the left side of the rogue halfling exposed to a blow from Ras' second dagger that slides in an instant after the first. Causwell flinches from the pain in his side and brings his own dagger around in an attempt to strike Ras. The blow sails high but it does force Ras back on the defensive for a second, freeing Causwell to recover and avoid a killing blow from Ras for the moment.

Randor disengages himself from hand to hand combat with the priest, Imrin, who has engaged Druckner and begins a slow chant. He then points at each of the priests in turn before shouting, "Feel the fire of Tyr's judgement!" As the words are spoken and the energy released to complete the spell, the armor of the two begins to glow softly beneath their cloaks as it heats up.

Seeing the halt in the advance of Shilak before them, Garth congratulates Randor on his choice of spells for just before he was held he was silently forming the words himself. "I wonder what would have happened had we both cast that spell," he wonders silently to himself.

Unable to see what is happening around him, Talimar drops his bow and draws his sword. The elf holds it out in a guard position and concentrates on any nearby sounds, trying to divine the presence of any opponents. The echoes of the battle and clang of swords make this almost impossible though as the cave is filled with noise. The gray elf turns about sporadically as sounds reach his ears and others move near him. On his knees beside the elf, Bob tries to avoid the blind elf and his sharp sword as Talimar moves around him. Feeling that it would be safer to help the blind elf than have him accidently skewer him with his blade, Bob tries to calm Talimar and begins to talk to him telling him where he is. Not trusting the captive, Talimar nonetheless is gratefull that the man speaks as he uses his voice as a marker and moves to a more defensive position, his back to the southern cave wall, sword in front of him and Bob to his left. Talimar tries to avoid thinking about his blindness, hoping that the spell effect is not permanent and will restore his sight shortly.

In what started out as the companions center of their battle formation, Dain makes a quick judgement. Knowing that it is very probable that the evil priestess will murder his companions in cold blood, Dain will try to make the best use of his predicament. He moves forward and pulls his twin daggers from the corpse's chest and tries to circle around using the rest of the battle to draw attention away from him. He chuckles to himself at the irony of the situation as he hopes his foes will assume he's hopeless without the ability to cast spells. He keeps the daggers hidden within the sleeves of his robe as he takes the long way around to flank the priestess.

Dain speeds up his approach as he sees Shilak becoming uncomfortable from the heat of the armor she wears. She stops her advance on the held dwarves and quickly becomes engaged in cutting the straps of her armor, hoping to get the magically heated metal away from her body before she is burned.

Kre, having dispatched of his foe races off to see what the commotion is about with the main party. Upon reaching the front lines of the battle, he immediately steps back into the shadows, assessing the situation before acting. Seeing that both priests are momentarily occupied with removing their armor, Kre slowly draws ColdHeart from it's sheath and waits for a chance to engage the priestess unaware.

Now becoming desperate and bleeding from numerous wounds inflicted by Ras, Causwell throws all caution to the wind and launches a lightning quick attack at Ras. Ras is momentarily taken aback with the attack, unaware that the halfling had as much strength in him but he quickly regains himself and avoids the blows launched at him. He uses the momentum of the desperate attack to carry Causwell past him, sinking both his daggers into the belly of the rogue who takes one step before falling to his knees and finally flat onto his face, lifeless. Ras sinks to one knee himself as he sees his opponent dead before him.

"Just need to catch my breath," he thinks to himself as he looks around the cave, hoping his companions are faring as well.

Looking to the north of the cave, he sees Ramor and Kersath engaged in a vicious battle, twin longswords from Kersath moving at blinding speed only to be blocked and parried by the large bastard sword of Ramor. Ras looks on in wonder at the skill of the two fighters, fear for Kersath creeping into his mind as he looks on at his equal in Ramor. The brigand dodges another series of blows from Kersath, sidestepping one blowing while blocking the other with his sword. Ramor is unable to strike Kersath either though as the dark elf's strength is holding for the moment.

Having circled the priestess Shilak, Dain takes the momentary advantage of her removing her armor to attack from the rear. He lands his first blow, opening a deep gash to her right shoulder as the dagger easily cuts through the undershirt she is wearing now, armor removed. She is able to avoid the second, expected strike from the mage however.

Kre takes the advantage of the diversion to step from the shadows himself. He strikes twice to the exposed back of the priestess, ColdHeart driving deep just before his second dagger strikes as well. Shilak screams in pain from the attack to her rear, weakly bringing her sickle around to sail over the head of the now ducking Kre.

Not one to lose the advantage of an open attack, Brother Randor steps forward in an effort to finish the priestess. He brings his warhammer crashing down onto the head of Shilak. A sickening crack greets the ears of those near as the hammer strikes. Shilak's eyes roll into the back of her head as she falls to the ground like a ragdoll.

Renewed by the success of his companions, Druckner draws the strength to attempt to finish off Imrin. He swings his battle axe at the priest, ignoring the pain that the action brings but is unable to hit Imrin, even though the priest is more concerned with vacating his heated armor. The effort is too much for the severly wounded dwarf though and he falls to the ground unconscious.

Imrin is unable to take advantage of the fallen dwarf though as he has now removed his armor as Dain and Brother Randor move forward to engage the priest. Dain lands a minor cut to the arm of the priest who sidesteps the mages second dagger. Randor also is unable to strike the priest who has recovered and is now better able to defend himself from the two.

Back in the cave, Ras rises to his feet and rolls over the dead body of Causwell, retrieving his daggers. He then turns to slowly move toward the fighting forms of Ramor and Kersath. Ramor sees that the battle is going badly for he and his companions and decides that he'd better do something quick. Kersath misses with another series of strikes and the dark elf's luck finally runs out. Following his second strike, he slips on a pool of his own blood and momentarily looses his balance. The dark elf recovers surprisingly fast but not fast enough that Ramor is unable to take advantage. Ramor sidesteps the teetering elf and brings his blade across the back of the left thigh of Kersath. The blow causes him to fall to his knees as Ramor moves forward and brings the sword down burying it deep into the back of Kersath.

"NO!" yells Ras in fury as he sees the elf fall forward off Ramor's blade. Ramor looks up at the now rapidly approaching halfing and decides that now is the time for him to leave. Not even thinking twice about his fallen comrades, Ramor takes off running south through the cave and out the passageway, past the fighting Imrin and the others. The man moves at a surprising speed and Ras quickly realizes that he must have been aided by some means magical. The halfling doesn't think twice about it as he continues forward to reach Kersath. Slowly turning the dark elf over onto his back, Ras sees that his friend is not breathing!!

Imrin sees his former comrade speed by him and realizes that he is now the lone combatant on the field. He takes a couple of glancing blows from the surprisingly accurate Dain while avoiding the deadly hammer of Randor. He then begins to make a quick retreat, turning his back on the others and running with all haste east and out of the passageway.