Alara deftly avoids any further violence as she seeks help from Ash, whose healing skills quickly put much of her pain to right.
The muscular troglodyte taunts her retreat. "Run! Run from the mighty Orbakhag, little warmskin. It will do you no good."
Closer to the door, Rawnie quickly casts a shocking grasp, reaching out to successfully touch her adversary. His back stiffens, his eyes open wide, then he collapses on the floor, his nerves twitching with residual energy as the life departs his body.
Masamune steps forward to block Orbakhag's approach to Alara. His wakizashi slashes out and cuts against some of the troglodyte's scales.
Orbakhag grunts in pain and tries to return the favor but Masamune's superior defenses keep the attack at bay.
Piper continues to play his tune, providing his allies with greater strength.
A somewhat incensed Alara gives a quick nod to Ash before leaping back across the dungeon floor...
...or rather, stumbling at one point, before striking at the troglodyte.
Orbakhag lashes out at a faltering Alara and gives her a sharp rebuke for her trouble. He hits her for 10 points of damage.
Seeing the wound on Alara, Jacen blocked out any and all of the lizardmen from his channel...then he channeled.
With the tides turned, Rawnie picks her crossbow up off the floor.
The wave of divine energy that flows over everyone (except Orbakhag) eases the pains of combat away - at least to a certain degree.
With Orbakhag flanked between himself and Alara, the young samurai presses his attack. Orbakhag barely manages to turn the blow aside. Masamune's luck continues to run weak, however, as his blade failed to penetrate the scaly troglodyte's hide.
The doughty reptilian laughs as he avoids the attacks of his adversaries. "HAH HA! Orgakhag will kill you and soon your warm flesh will heat his belly! Following through his swing at Alara, he lets the momentum carry his weapon to Masamune. He need not have bothered, though, since his swing goes wide.
He then takes a few steps laterally to get out of direct flank by Masamune and Alara.
Piper narrows his eyes and decides to take a more offensive approach. He stops playing the tune and draws his rapier. He then moves into the room, ready to back everyone up.
"Get him! Pile it on!"
Alara keeps quiet and circles around the nearby pillar, keeping it between her and the trog before leaping out from behind it, her nunchaku flashing!
Hit hard by Alara's nunchaku, Orbakhag's eyes cross and he slumps to the floor. The great Orbakhag, champion of this band of troglodytes, has been vanquished. The dungeon chamber once again returns to quiet save for the heavy breathing of the victorious heroes.
Orbakhag carries very little of value... except for his morningstar. That is clearly a masterwork quality weapon.
Looking over the pile of horrible remains and then his eyes fall on the morningstar. "I wonder..." and then he casts a quick Detect Magic
And magic it is! It gives off a fairly weak magical aura.
Piper breathes a sigh in relief. He sheathes his rapier and signs to the others, 'Is everyone okay?' He then uses detect magic and his perception to look around the area.
"Indeed..." After the use of magic to detect the weapon, he then goes to checking each of his companions wounds, trying to ensure everyone is well.
"Well, I'm glad that's over now." Rawnie adds, putting her crossbow away.
Alara wobbles a bit. "Ow..."
Looks to Masamune and sees a few injuries, and then those on Alara...And lets a wave of healing permeate the area.
"There, that should help a bit..."
Piper looks at the others as they heal. He signs: 'Looks like everything's going to be okay. For now at least. I'll step into a more combat focused role for now to aid in ending the fights quicker.' He looks at the door. 'Should we go through or hang back and rest?'
There is little sound in the large chamber other than the sounds of your own voices and their slight echoes off the walls. The remains of benches and tables in the room, plus its proximity to the kitchens, suggest this was once a mess hall.
Piper will wait and follow the lead of the others.
"It has taken us so much effort to get this far, I hate to retreat so soon. We know the troglodytes came from the one direction. Whatever is there will be more lightly occupied now. But there is a door right there," he gestures to the one across the room. "I'd prefer to not leave that one unchecked so close at our back."
Alara moves to check the door Masamune indicated.
"...I think my ears are still ringing from that last hit..."
Piper moves with Alara to the door to check it out.
The area around the door is silent and no sign of any boobytrap can be found. In fact, the door seems in relatively good shape as if it's used with moderate frequency. And a quick exploration later, Alara and Piper can confirm that the door leads to stairs back to the ground level of the castle - right in the room with the large conference table and scattered papers.
The carnage in there from the previous day's foray into the castle still remains, though flies now buzz about the dead troglodytes.
Where to now? More exploration of the dungeon level or exploring up the stairs?
Piper looks up the stairs and signs to the others, 'There are stairs here. Looks like it leads to the room with the large conference room and scattered papers. Should we continue exploring this level or head up?'
"There's much more to explore on this floor then there is on the one above, however that could be a reason to secure the floor above us rather then finishing this one." Rawnie notes.
"I'm fine with exploring this level a bit more."
Piper nods and signs: 'Then, I'll follow your lead.'