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Message: <blockquote data-quote="the Jester" data-source="post: 2291969" data-attributes="member: 1210">A Bad Situation Gets Better, Then Much Much WorseDesperately, Lundey casts a mending spell to try to stave off the burst of the small dyke in the back of the cave; then she blinks through the door.  She finds herself on a rising stairway, with the two snake-folk above her.  They whip out scimitars and start slashing at her.  She squeals in fear, blinking in and out, and her spell saves her from a terrible wound.  She tries to shatter the door, and it shivers with the force of her spell, but it survives.  With a gulp, she ducks another blow and casts a spell of enervation at the spellcaster, who gasps and glares angrily at her as he feels the negative energy ripple through him.    Behind her, Lundey hears a crashing against the door.  Her allies are coming!  Then there’s a loud roar as Chief Jawbreaker smashes through the door in bear from, knocking it completely down.  The flood has rushed past outside, though water is still ankle deep.  Taking heart from the fact that she has someone else at her side, Lundey fights on.  Outside, in the hallway, Naomi peers through the ruined doorway and hits the enemy spellcaster with a recall agony.  She glances to the left, at the back of the cave; the dyke is going to burst at any-With a loud roar, it gives way, and water floods into the cave, flushing her back into the web.  Several of the others are still caught in them as well, and the rush of water pushes them about as it tears the webbing.On the stairway, Jawbreaker and Lundey fight their way forward and up, the bear warrior finishing off both of his enemies with massive swats.  The two snake-folk are knocked to the ground and die as Jawbreaker tramples over both of them.  Below, the rushing water receeds.  Jawbreaker gives a great roar and rumbles, then turns back into a halfling.  The party assembles at the base of the stairway, except for Lundey, who remains at the top, where a small landing ends in a door.  “While I’ve got my blink up, I’m going to check this door,” she calls, and blinks through to the other side.On the other side, she finds a room dominated by some kind of huge carved snake head.  She doesn’t have time to notice anything else.  “Go to sleep,” a hissing voice suggests from the side of the room.  Lundey collapses like a rag doll.Meanwhile, the others take stock of their resources.  They aren’t in very good shape; the snake-folk did significant damage in their assault. They elect to go make camp.  Sandy and Beau wait for Lundey in the hallway below the stairs while the others retreat.  Sandy pulls out his wand of cure moderate wounds and proceeds to try to ‘trick’ it into working for him, struggling with it for a few moments before getting it to work.  He taps it on Beau, and though some of the worst of his wounds start to close, poor Beau’s face is still broken, however, and he’s in considerable pain.  His head throbs.“Hey,” says Beau painfully, “do you hear that?”Sandy cocks his head.  From the direction of the top of the stairs, there comes a sound- almost like chanting.  Nervously, he keeps at the wand until he finally manages to heal both himself and Beau several times.  Then the two of them creep up the steps to the door.  “It’s not locked,” whispers Beau.  He pulls out his sword; Sandy pulls his spear, staying several steps below.  His dog, Rider, he keeps in front of him.Beau hurls open the door and gives a choked, horrified gasp.  Sandy can’t see into the room from his perspective, but he hears a laughing hiss, and then, suddenly, Beau shrinks and changes, turning into a wee little garter snake.Oh no, Sandy thinks desperately, and tumbles back down the stairs.  Rider starts barking viciously and charges forward as a human-looking snake-man dressed in loose monk’s robes leaps to the attack.  There is a brief melee, and then, even as Sandy is retreating down the steps, a large snake with a pair of muscular, burly arms slithers forward into view at the top of the stairs.  In its hands it holds a clay jug.  It hisses at the dog and the animal whines in fear and runs hurriedly out of the cave.  Then the snake turns its yellow gaze on Sandy.“There’s no need to fight.  Come have a drink with us,” the snake suggests.“I sure could use a drink about now,” Sandy admits.  Warily, he lowers his spear and walks up to the armed serpent, who gloatingly hands him the jug.  Glancing within it, Sandy grimaces.  There is some sort of viscous, yellow fluid with streaks of red in it.  It smells awful.  “No offense,” Sandy says, “but I’ve got something a little nicer.”  He pulls out a bottle of fine wine and takes a big drink, then hands it over to the snake-thing.“Ah, I see,” the snake murmurs, taking the wine.  It leads Sandy into the room at the end.  As they walk in, the more human-looking serpent man grasps Beau’s new tiny form and picks the snake up, wearing him like a necklace.Sandy gasps with horror.  At the far end of the oval chamber, dominating the scene, a huge carved serpent’s head gaps open.  Blood is all over Lundey, who lies pale in its mouth.“Drink the fluid in the jug,” the abomination suggests again, and Sandy takes a long, thick pull from the jug.Next Time: ...uh oh.</blockquote>

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