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Cassander wordlessly rushes to the aid of his allies. He swings his sword at the nearest snake.
Xion charges as well, laughing along with the monk's howl, as she moves up between The Penitent and Treszia and taking a swipe at the nearest snake with her halberd.
The Penitent, Cassander and Xion move in to attack the snakes, but their writhing movement makes attacking them difficult.
Vitalia moves forward toward the light, with her charges behind her, and Tasnim guarding against attacks from the darkness.
Trézsia welcomes the others into the fight with a feral grin, taking a cut at the snake between her and the Pentinent:
Trezsia swings at the creatures, but her blow misses.
Snake 2:
The snakes attack Trezsia again, seemingly unaware of the additional dangers that have come upon them.
Both are foiled in their attacks by Trezsia's armor.
"You only delay your time of redemption, demons," the Penitent howls, "You cannot hide from the Light of Truth!"
The Penitent side-steps behind them as the creatures continue to attack Trézsia, his movements oddly similar to the martial training the woman displays.
Setting his feet, he drives a fist toward the head of the unwounded demon...
Cassander swings his sword at the slippery snakes, to no avail.
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Xion sidesteps so she's flanking as well and takes a swing, bringing her halberd down in an overhead chop.
"Strike down these creatures of darkness," Trézsia calls, "Our cause is just; the gods love us."
While the others distract the writhing snakes with their attempts to hit them, Xion deals a truly gruesome blow to the already injured snake in front of her, and it stops moving.
The others move forward cautiously into the light. Anevia holds her drawn bow centered on the remaining snake, the arrow's tip moving infinitesimally back and forth as she tries to track it movement. Horgus stays carefully behind Vitalia. "Kill it! Don't let it bite you! It might be poisonous! Oh! I think it's coming in this direction!"
"Not if I can help it, gentle sir," Trezia grunts, dancing into position to flank with the Red Pentinent and trying to slice the remaining snake in half.
She wonders if the whiny man will get the insult she meant to imply in gentle sir. Somehow, she doubts it.
Trezsia hits the creature, wounding it deeply, but it strikes back at her with an angry hiss.
Snake 2 attack:
Dancing forward to attack, the Penitent howls in glee at the blow struck to the creature by Trézsia.
"We will pull the Truth from you, Demon, you will confront your lies and you will see how awful your countenance truly is!
Leaping at the demon, he swings wildly with a scarred, gnarled fist...
Xion likewise steps up into position to attack, this time dropping her halberd and taking swipes at the remaining serpent with her claws instead.
One blow goes wide but the other comes much closer, and the changeling's claws rake into scales.
Xion's second claw digs into the remaining large snake, and it stops moving in a burst of blood.
There doesn't appear to be any other movement in the cave. The now unmoving bodies are quite large for snakes, about 10 feet long.
"These caverns have truly been given over to all manner of foul creatures," Cassander says. "I do not believe I have seen such serpents before."
"After the attack above, I'm not surprised," Xion mutters, flinging the blood off her claws to the ground, then retrieving her dropped weapon. She pokes and prods the dead snakes with the butt of the polearm, making sure there's nothing further hiding inside them; after the bout with the roaches she's not looking forward to being further surprised by unexpected parasites or hiding opponents.
"If everyone's still in one piece, we should keep moving," she continues. "Did anyone get bit?"
"Demons can take many guises and even possess the unwary or weak-minded," Trézsia intones solemnly, "Fortunately, we are strong. I am unwounded, thank you."
"Shall we continue?" She keeps her weapon handy as they prepare to proceed.
The Penitent grins, dropping into a restful crouch at the conclusion of the conflict.
His eyes settle on Xion's claws, his grin widening as he springs to his feet.
"Strong minds, strong strong strong," he calls out to no one in particular before springing forward, his steps light and agile.
"Let us continue in one piece until there is no peace once again!"
With that, he is already making his way further down the passageway.
Cassander proceeds with the others, sword at the ready.
Anevia, Aravashnial and Horgus follow as best they can. Horgus obviously stays close to Cassander. Anevia winces occasionally as she guides the wounded, blind elf down the corridor.
The party moves slowly down the tunnel, and it continues uninterupted for quite some distance. After about half an hour of slow moving in order to allow the wounded to keep up, Cassander, Xion and Tasnim all notice there is an opening, about 5 feet wide, in the tunnel 60' ahead.
The opening ahead seems to be too regular to be a completely natural formation. The tunnel continues on ahead of you as well, wider than the 5 foot tall opening that branches off.
"Sounds sounds sounds, ahead," the Penitent murmurs, loud enough for those around him to hear. He goes still, dropping into a crouch, grinning and looking to the others in the group in turn.
"What kind of sounds?" Trézsia asks very quietly, stopping near the Penitent.
The Penitent cocks his head to the side as if listening, though he does not look up at Trézsia. After a moment, he begins to hum, low in his chest and in random intervals. Finally, he goes quiet, looking up and smiling.
"Is it demons?" he asks, his voice taking a note of excitement, "Shall we show them Truth?"
His gnarled hands curl into fists, his grin becoming one of pure joyous anticipation.
Cassander stands by the Red Penitent, his wariness turning to resolve. His fingers tighten around the hilt of his sword. "I do not expect to find friends in this place. Be on your guard."
Horgus sidles up to Cassander nervously. "Maybe," he whispers shakily, "we should just sneak by then? I don't want to face demons."
Aravashnial tilts his head to one side, obviously trying to hear whatever it is the Penitent has heard, as Anevia's grip tightens on her bow.
"Remember, though, that friends may have fallen when we did," Trézsia points out to Cassander. After a pause, she hefts her weapon and remarks, "I hope not."
"A lot of nearly half a score, sneaking by demons? Some injured, no less?" Cassander says plainly to Horgus. "I do not suspect we will sneak by much of anything."
He progresses onward with the others.
Looking up at Trézsia from his crouch, the Penitent grins, his eyes fever-bright.
"I already fell," he says, his voice sing-song, "you all have not and this is joyous!"
With that, he is off in a heartbeat down the narrow off-shoot tunnel where he heard the sounds, his laughter echoing.
Trézsia sighs and follows the Pentinent as fast as armor allows.
Xion follows as well, weapon at hand, squinting into the darkness trying to find whatever has the strange man's attentions.
Cassander, too, heads in the direction of the sound.
The Penitent makes his way ahead, barely within the light of Tezsia's torch and Cassander's symbol. As his laugher echoes off the worked stone walls, the buzzing he hears ahead stops for a moment. His companions' light is dim, but he can see that there is a wall ahead, with a symbol of a hammer, head down, carved into the stone. The ceiling extends above the light available to him, and there appears to be some rubble off to the side.
Cassander proceeds warily and looks with some interest at the symbol of the hammer.
Xion squints into the darkness, halberd held at the ready, expecting trouble at any moment.
The hammer is a representation of the holy symbol of Torag
Despite the humming sound the Penitent heard earlier, there appears to be nothing moving in the cave.