Round 1 - Partial
OOC: This is going to be tricky...
With Artemis already a few steps out onto the canted bridge, and Tal blocking the doorway as he describes the room beyond it, Tuggle darts down the corridor and peers around the aasimar. As the sphere of torchlight expands, the gnome's dark-adapted eyes see the whole chamber -- and he focuses in on the largest thing in it: the vast six-sided slimepile that's creeping up towards the gap in the bridge.
Wrinkling his nose with distaste, Tuggle fires off three magical tattoo needles. They home in unerringly and strike the cube along its top surface, having almost no effect.
From the doorway, Tal shouts a warning to Artemis about the cube, and also about whatever is hiding in the rubble on the far side of the room. Then he clasps his holy symbol and calls forth a spirit weapon: Torm's fearsome greatsword.
Shining with the pure light of faith, it streaks across the room to strike the creature lurking in the debris. Artemis and Tuggle catch a glimpse of a ferret-like head with large insectile eyes and overlapping mandibles, and then the sword is upon it.
Unfortunately, Torm's judgment is a bit less effective than usual: the creature's head darts out, it's snapping mandibles yawn open, and it
inhales Tal's
spiritual weapon. Like smoke, the sword dissipates and is drawn into the beast's greedy mouth. Its fur ruffles and the whole creature actually
grows slightly as it absorbs the magical energy.
Tal is already in motion, brushing past Artemis as he heads out onto the bridge. He draws his crossbow as he moves into a firing position -- and then things start to get messy.
Two long, sleek shapes emerge from the large pile of rubble. Their bodies are nearly four feet long, and they immediately remind you of weasels. They have bulging, insect-like eyes that shimmer with swirls of color, and pronged mandibles that quiver around their mouths. From midway down their backs to their haunches, they have no fur -- instead, a noisome, scabrous patch of something that looks very much like a brain covers that part of their bodies. The one Tal had already seen has a lighter pelt than the other, and is slightly smaller.
The small one scampers nimbly out of the rubble and darts a bit closer to the bridge. It posts up on its hind legs and weaves its front paws in a complex series of motions -- and a patch of thick, viscous grease appears on the bridge, right under Tal and Artemis.
Simultaneously, the larger creature scampers over to the base of the stairs and circles around until it's facing the bridge. It too stands up and casts a spell, and a gleaming wedge of blue energy darts from its paws and streaks towards Talishmere.
He tries to duck out of the way, but too late: the triangle slams into him, lifts him up, and carries him off the bridge at high speed -- tossing him to the floor about ten feet away. Tal hits the ground with a tremendous clangor, narrowly missing landing
in the gelatinous cube, and somehow manages to hold onto his crossbow.
Where before his feet were firmly planted on the pink stone of the bridge, now Artemis is standing on a slippery layer of grease -- and then, in an instant, he's flat on his arse in it. He slides around, but manages to keep himself on the bridge.
Bellowing in confusion, Marduke rushes up to the doorway and stops next to Tuggle. Hefting his urgrosh, he peers into the room with his darkvision. He sees the two ferretlike creatures off to the left, Artemis sliding around in front of him, and Tal flat on his back off to the right, on the floor of the chamber -- not far from the gelatinous cube.
OOC: I stopped just before Artemis's action because a lot has changed since the start of the round -- two new combatants, Tal's fall, and the fact that Art himself is prone and in a puddle of grease.
Artemis, here's your chance to revise your action, if you want to. You don't think standing up in the slime will cause you to fall down again -- but moving likely will. As soon as you've made your decision, I'll finish the round. Cupric, based on what you posted it seems like your course would stay the same (let me know if I'm wrong), and the same goes for Marduke, glin.
Here's the map as it stands just before Artemis's action: updated map, round 1.
In-game background for the narrative above, in order of occurrence:
- When Tal's spiritual weapon attacked the bug-eyed creature, he needed to make a caster level check, and got a 19 ([15]+4). It failed. This was not a check to overcome spell resistance.
- When the weasel-things moved, that was because they delayed their action until a specific circumstance came about. Their new initiative is 17.
- Tal got a Reflex save against the delta of energy: 3 ([1]+2). He got knocked back 11 feet (3d6 roll), and then fell the 30 feet to the ground, taking 3d6 damage for the fall: 15 points. Ouch.
- Artemis then got a Reflex save to avoid slipping in the grease: 9 ([2]+7), which failed. It was followed up with a DC 10 Reflex save to see if he stayed on the bridge: 13 ([6]+7), which succeeded.
Let me know what you think about my combat description, and how effectively I'm conveying cues about the environment and your foes, over in the OOC thread. 
I'll add it in on his init this round!
