The scorpion grabbed at the sleeping toad with its pincer, but the claw splashed uselessly in the water. The stinger followed but was deflected by the toad’s tough hide. Somehow the toad slept on.
Bancroft stepped in to swing at the scorpion but missed as the magical light from the last of Helfa’s stones faded. Lacking other options he moved toward the barrow entrance.
Druidly cast Sleep blindly at the scorpion but it had no effect. A sudden splash suggested he had also caught Torhu and her duck; they slipped beneath the surface.
Jaenelle took blows from the scorpion and fell, her dying thrashes lit by a fresh lightstone from Helfa. Her last words were, “I have 33 gold in my purse…” Helfa grabbed Jaenelle and dragged her toward the stairs; Bruzra carried her the rest of the way, but she did not survive. Druidly’s magic missile stung the scorpion, fresh ichor leaking from the wound.
A sputtering gasp and hacking cough came from Torhu’s direction, followed by an indignant quack. Drowning in the fetid swamp water had woken the pair and they began to make their way toward the door, even as Helfen somehow bounced off the scorpion’s back to head for the exit.
Druidly and Bruzra shot missiles at the scorpion again; one hit and one missed. The scorpion grabbed at Bancroft with its claw and missed; at the last minute Bancroft twisted his sword to block the stinger’s strike and his riposte slew the beast. The party regrouped in the light near the entrance to consider their options.
Bancroft and Bruzra cautiously reentered to guard Irulan while she retrieved her friend’s body and distributed her equipment among the group. They mourned silently, careful not to attract more attention. Helfa left the group, disturbed by the deaths, but her friend Delpha joined soon afterward.
The next order of business was to drag the giant scorpion corpse out and try to butcher it. The stomach might contain the remains of adventurers the creature had previously devoured — a potential source of wealth and equipment. The poison sac in the stinger might be used to poison rats in a nearby barrow. Neither possibility panned out; the butchery was more enthusiastic revenge than careful economics.
Eventually several party members went back in to search. Druidly tried to put the frogs back to sleep but his spell failed, and the frogs attacked while the group searched. They bit and chomped at Bancroft, who somehow stayed on his feet and called out to Sylvanus for aid; his patron healed his wounds.
A frantic combination of spells, slings, swords, and a frog mating call drove one frog back under the water, but the second remained hostile. A second missile from Druidly convinced it to back off.
The risk was not entirely without gain. During his search Bancroft stumbled across something long and cylindrical under the water. Bruzra volunteered to sneak back in and retrieve the objects while the rest of the party defended her; she made it back without incident. The two objects turned out to be brass candlesticks worth a dozen gp each — a small prize, but better than nothing.
Between that small reward and a generous loan from Druidly, Irulan was able to afford chain mail for the next trip out.
