Charlie felt empowered by the armor bestowed upon him and thanked his new ally for the gift.

"Let's pray I don't need it." He said as he walked over to the man on the ground and lifted his head. He sighed a resentful sigh and punched the man in the face effectively breaking his nose. The blood began to gush from the man's face as he let go of his head letting the blood spill onto the ground. He felt dishonorable in doing that deed but it was necessary and honor was something he had little left of anyway.

Tamra grimaced when Charlie hit the man in the nose, but did not try to stop him. Honor meant little if they did not survive their journey deeper into the wizard's ancient tower.

When the man's blood touched the eldritch symbol upon the floor, the obsidian portal below the dragon with the pearl eyes began to shimmer, then swirl with a magical mix of energies and colors...

---

Waiting on the other side:

Three rough and mean looking men with weathered skin and colorful, sprawling tatoos are in a roughly rectangular room with natural stone walls, decorated with carvings depicting some sort of evolving dragon. They are passing the time by throwing dice on the stone floor near the portal, using the sigil carved into the floor as the area of play. To their right, a closed door. Beyond, stone steps leading down.

"Quenn better hurry up and get that thing," complained one, bored already.

"He'll get it alright," assured another.

" Long as we ..." the third broke off as the portal beside them suddenly came to life. Daggers were in hand in a moment as they sprang to their feet and took up positions: One on each side of the portal and the third straight ahead.

As the first person came through, the ruffian on the left slashed with his dagger, hoping to catch the 'competition' by complete surprise.

@AwesomeZero5@DreadPirate@Noodles@Ramzam

Charlie didn't have a good feeling about this. He tried to shake off the act of brutality he just committed as he walked through the portal.

Charlie emerged through the portal and was greeted by blade tearing through his clothing. His torso revealed a minor cut but Charlie didn't focus on that he immediately leapt into the air and brought swung his elbow down at the man's neck area.

The brigand, a bald man with a sharp nose and a ragged scar down his right check, tried to duck away from Charlie's elbow, but wasn't quite fast enough and the blow meant for his neck struck him in the ear. He grunted in pain, the blow making his ears ring. He stubbornly lunged forward again, dagger slashing upward toward the monk's chest. @DreadPirate

Tamra emerged from the portal next and the man to the right, a wide-nosed brute with beady eyes who appeared to have an orc somewhere in his ancestry, hesitated just the briefest moment when he realized his target was a girl. That moment of hesitation bought her enough time to bolt past him as his dagger swiped down behind her. But her lunge brought her straight into the third man, a short and stocky thug who barely seemed affected by the weight of the woman slamming into him. He brought his thick arms around the girl.

The orc-ish looking thug turned back toward the portal just as Ronan was appearing, intent on not letting this one slip past him... @AwesomeZero5

Ronan did indeed appear and did his best to assess the ambush that had occurred. His rapier would long be ready to strike before wandering through the portal. It seemed three opponents, awaited the three of them. He doubted they were waiting for the now subdued crew below, so there must have been another crew or crew member further in he guessed. No point in staying in a place that was bound to sink them. He stood ready by the portal, disappointed that his stealth had done little to gain advantage.

The orc-ish looking thug had brought back a sense of familiarity, even a sense of ritualism of encounters. The orc had a dagger, which meant they were aiming to fight at a closer range to stab into someone. It seemed Ronan himself was pondering deeply, and simply took a defensive stance the rapier moving upward to his eyes. Preparing to move out of the way at a moment's notice. "Seems I will be your opponent. Perhaps even your conversatyr if you are lucky and willing enough. May I ask your name?" Ronan stated aiming to keep things oddly cool and sadly a terrible joke had slipped in from his older days with various other, members. Hopefully it won't end the same.

Charlie growled after the blow landed onto the man's neck, he then turned to face the man and growled. As he was lunged at he quickly swung his leg high in the air with the intent of connecting with the man's hand. Disarming this foe is vital for Charlie's success in this fight and he knew it.

Charlie's bald-headed opponent grunted in frustration as the blade went flying from his hand and straight through the magical portal. Desperately, he balled both his hands into fists and swung at Charlie's head, trying to land a blow to the monk's face.

"Won't matter to you in a moment," the beady-eyed thug spat at Ronan, looking him up and down to size up his opponent. Then, instead of lunging forward, he took a step back and snatched one of the few torches from the wall. He hurled it toward Ronan's torso before stepping back in for an attack with his dagger.

Tamra tried to pull free of the stocky man that held her tightly, but he easily overpowered her. Forcing herself to remain calm, she started casting a spell. "None a that!" the man said, recognizing what the girl was attempting and clamped a grimy, calloused hand over her mouth.

Ronan took in a deep breath and let out a sigh. That line had been fairly familiar as well. Many with bounties or trouble about them had claimed such a line, making the work a bit more irritating from time to time. Ronan was briefly intrigued by the thug whom had chosen a more, interesting an indirect first attack. If he had not forced himself to draw focus to the current battlefield he may have grown worried for the cleric but this specific moment there was no time to be sloppy.

As the thug thew the torch Ronan immediately and easily stepped diagonally back and to his left as to possibly grow closer to the portal exit. While in a defensive movement he would slash down his rapier from the left hand side down to the right to guide a blow away from himself and perhaps land one on the enemy if they were close which was doubtful. The rapier would aim to cut from the shoulder down to the opposing side of the waistline. Like the torch, the dagger would simply fly by and past Ronan although he was shaken up.

Charlie used the thug's own momentum against him and swiped with his hand. He guided the punch just short of his nose and in turn forced the thug to miss and knock himself off balance. Charlie then used this opening to go aid his companion on the ground. He sprinted towards Tamra and planned to deliver the heel of his boot to the man's temple.

While Tamra struggled against the man, she saw the portal's magic fade, leaving a smooth wall of obsidian just like they had encountered in the room before. Panic threatened for a moment as a feeling of being trapped in this under water tomb overtook her. But it was short lived.

Ronan's opponent was just a hair too slow. The blade cut through the man's shirt and left a line of red across his chest. He looked momentarily surprised that the Satyr's attack had managed to draw blood. The blood welled up from the wound and dripped down to the floor onto the sigil etched there. Immediately, the portal opened again.

Desperate now, the man dropped his shoulder and tried to drive it into Ronan's chest, hoping to push him back through the portal.

The man saw the kick coming, but was too slow to avoid it completely and it clipped him in the back of the head. He twisted, moving Tamra between himself and Charlie to use her as a human shield, but the kick caused him to lose his grip on her mouth. She took advantage and bit down hard on the soft flesh between thumb and index finger causing him to curse and then push her away, shoving her straight into the monk.

Charlie rolled back to his feet and readied to jump back into the fray. While his kick didn't connect as well as he intended it was just enough to turn the tide of this encounter. As Tamra pushed the man toward Charlie he stepped back shifting his weight readying to strike with all his force. He pulled his arm tight to his body and readied his elbow to strike. As the man stumbled toward him he swung his elbow up ready to impact the man's chin.

Ronan was rather surprise at the person’s own speed and began focusing on the person’s individual weapon. Whether or not this had been a wise choice only the next few moments could tell. Ronan barely noticed the approaching opponent as much as the dagger that the opponent had to begin with. Ronan’s rapier would be pointed straightforward as the opponent charged directly toward him

As the opponent drew closer, Ronan would quickly deliver a knee to the opponent’s dagger wielding hand to point the weapon away from himself and not get harmed by it. In the process however the opponent’s shoulder would likely ram into Ronan and push him back, maybe even through the portal even. The rapier that was pointed straight forward toward the opponent however, may pierce right through them as they charged.

The brigand staggered backwards when Charlie's fist connected with his chin. He swayed, then toppled over, almost into Tamra, but the magic-user side-stepped in time to let him fall to the floor.

She looked over toward Ronan just as the other man's shoulder rammed into the Satyr's chest, pushing them both toward the re-activated portal and the rapier pierced the man's side, causing him to howl in pain.

Ronan had been rammed as the ruffian’s shoulder made contact with the chest and began pushing them both back toward the portal. The impact of course stung, but it was hardly anything threatening, and seeing as Ronan had only one leg holding his position it was likely the two would proceed toward the portal without much resistant, not that it made much of a particular difference at the time.

Ronan himself was rather more irritated at the situation more than anything else. Wanting to deal with it a bit more quickly, he’d put his foot back down and decide to ram right back at the attacker or rather try to knock them out as the other charged onward. Aiming to bang their horns into the ruffian’s skull to knock them downward and out or perhaps just end up gouging the person’s face as the ruffian charged forward. In the midst of doing so, Ronan would use his hands to try and move the rapier up the man’s side in a vertical manner, as to ‘skin’ them but mostly try to avoid anything vital.

Charlie grimaced as his fist connected hard with the man. The cracking of bones rippled through his forearm. He then immediately turned his back to his foe analyzing the scene. He saw his companion charging another armed man and decided it was best to just stay at the ready rather than get himself impaled.