The noise and dust were enormous and Delphine threw an arm up to shield her mouth and nose. Her sinuses flared and her eyes burned with the grit that swirled around her like a whirlpool.  Rocks ground together and tumbled in an avalanche, eating away the floor of the cavern like water on a sandcastle. Delphine scrambled backwards putting her back to the wall of the cavern and bracing herself to fall. Nothing happened and as the dust began to clear she could see the jagged edge of the rock had left a ledge of about three feet. Cursing, she made a circular gesture with her hand and conjured water into the air. The dust fell from the air in a shower of muddy rain that spattered across the cavern below. Her eyes widened as she saw the ogre and her bladder tightened in yet another unnecessary suggestion that she relieve herself. The creature lumbered forward roaring out a cone shaped spray of spittle as it swiped at the thief. Amal ducked under the blow and gashed it with his knife, skittering away to the side. Delphine was momentarily frozen as she tried to decide how she could help. It seemed unlikely that her bow would pierce the hide of such a beast, or reach anything vital if it did. Perhaps throw her sword down to the Redguard? Chancy if he didn’t catch it, or if he went for it and it gave the ogre the opening to smash him to jelly.


“Julianos if you are in your Heaven…” she muttered, then lifted her left hand and chanted. A fist sized rock lifted from the pile and flew across the chamber to smash into the ogre’s back, then another, then another. With her free hand Delphine pulled a bottle from her satchel, uncorked it with her teeth and drained the contents. It tasted like pine tar and seaweed, neither of which was an ingredient, but she choked it down with the practiced skill of an alchemist. Energy surged and dozens of rocks volleyed into the ogre's back, some bigger than her head. The brute howled and turned to swat at this unseen assailant only to be struck in the face and neck by the torrent of flying stones. One stuck it on the nose was a crack that was audible even over the cacophony of crashing rock and splattered blood on the cavern wall. One hit the things knee with a splintering of bone and the beast howled so loudly Delphine worried it might start a second cave in. Triumph surged in Delphine even though the spell was rapidly draining her reserves of power. She fumbled for another potion but before she could unstopper it, the ogre lifted one hand to shield its face, a gesture reminiscent of someone shading their eyes against a bright light. One of its eyes was leaking jelly where a rock had shattered the orbit, but that didn't stop the ogre from plucking a boulder the size of an ale barrel from the air and then hurling it at Delphine. The mage’s eyes widened and she lifted her hand changing the spell to form a shield in front of herself, if she could just… The rock hit her with the strength of a charging horse and smashed her from her feet, her shield disintegrating under the impact. The cavern wall smashed into her back and she fell on her stomach gasping in lungfuls of dust which was less than helpful. Another rock shattered above her but she was out of the line of sight. Something was broken in her chest and everything tasted of blood but she managed to mouth the words of a restorative spell. She screamed as something snapped back into place inside of her then spewed blood all over the wall to clear it from her lungs. Very ladylike, very demure. Unsteadily she forced herself to her feet and peeked down. Amazingly, Amal was still worrying the thing with his dagger, darting in to strike at hamstrings and groin before leaping back before the brute could backhand him into oblivion. It was clear that the knife, pun very much intended, was not cutting it, the thick hide turning most of the blows aside. Amal could probably have stabbed it with the point, but risked losing his knife and only doing superficial damage. 


“The sword!” Delphine shouted, the effort hurting her lungs despite the restorative spells best efforts. She pointed to where the sabre lay, its hilt uncovered by her impromptu rockstorm. Amal’s eyes flicked to it and he tried to circle, but the ogre must have seen it too and smashed a fist down to prevent the redguard from running for it. Great, they had to run into the only genius level ogre in High Rock. A distraction was needed, but Delphine’s reserve of magicka was spent. Perhaps she could throw lantern oil down on it, but then how would she light it? Burning cloth in the bottle neck? There was no time for arts and crafts. There was no time for anything. Before fear could freeze her up Delphine reversed her grip on her sword, took a deep breath, and leaped into the hole.  There was a moment of buyers remorse and then she was plunging downwards, her lips screaming what she hoped was an impressive warcry and not a screech of abject terror. The point of the blade hit the ogre just left of the spine and Delphine triggered the enchantment. With her entire weight behind it, the steel plunged into the things back, burying itself crossguard deep. Delphine slapped against the warty back of the thing, holding onto the sword for dear life. The creature reared back, swatting and grabbing but unable to quite reach her as it shook its shoulders like a dog trying to dislodge a tick. Pain exploded in her shoulders as she was wrenched this way and that and her hands went white with the force of her grip as she desperately held on, hoping that Amal was making the most of her insane distraction.