Matilda successfully grabs the cage. Edgardo clings to the side of tower. Ben drops the ropes connected to the basket and lunges for Matilda, just catching her before she, too, goes down.

The basket (and its dead pilot) falls twenty feet to its original position, its frayed lines again taut against the ancient stones. Balloon Strength Save: 7

...but this time, the lines snap. The basket and the bullywug crash into the muddy, brambly swamp in front of Cad and Horatio.

Two massive snakes - 15 or 20 feet long with the girth of a mature tree - slither out of the black brambles in alarm, rearing up on their coils at the sight of Cad and Horatio.

Everybody should roll initiative.

Cadwallader:

Cad leaps backward with a yelp as the basket smashes itself to pieces mere feet from Horatio and him. And then they found the snakes...
Initiative: 17

Initiative for Ben:  12

Matilda still had her hands full upstairs but was surprised to see two giant snakes appear.

initiative: 8

Horatio: 

While scanning the swampy world around them, Horatio is also completely caught off guard by the crash. His first impulse is to run to it to see if anyone was injured badly, and he starts to, when two giant snakes rear up! He falters only a heartbeat, his concern becoming alarm. He holds up his fists, readying to attack, when he thinks of the rock he threw through Mrs. Tsu's window. 

Initiative 16

(( If he isn't attacked immediately he will try dialog, but he is prepared to fight! ))

Titaani stands with her hands empty, gaping at the snakes. 

"Oh no.." she murmurs, realising she left Tiny at the bottom of the tower. 

Initiative: 6

Initiative:
Cad: 17 (at bottom, near snake)
Horatio: 16 (at bottom, near snake)
Ben: 12 (at top, helping Matilda back on tower)
Matilda: 8 (at top, scrambling to get back on tower)
Titaani: 4 (at top)
Edgardo: 17 (at top, scrambling to get back on tower)
Sir Talavar: 20 (in cage held by Matilda)
Giant snakes: 18

Those on top can see the snakes from 50' above, but it will take 110' of movement to get within melee range of them.

... 

"Ohhhh! Oh!" cries Sir Talavar as he is snatched from the falling basket as his rescuer also begins to fall. "Thank you, my friends! Your kindness will not be forgotten! I would stand beside you and valiantly battle the snakes, but alas I cannot escape this blasted cage!"  (That's his turn.)

Cad may act next. The snakes are aggressively approaching. They are 10' away from Cad and the doorway to the tower.

Cadwallader:

The snakes barreling toward him, Cad raises his staff and tries to pronounce the incantation to a spell he’s barely practiced, believing he’d probably never really need it. His dry mouth and numb lips don’t help, but he manages to summon forth a lightning tether, aiming for the nearer of the snakes (21 for 12 lightning damage). He quickly shuffles back to try to block the entrance to the tower, though it’s unlikely the snakes will be greatly inconvenienced by his bravado. 

A beam of crackling, blue energy lances out from Cad toward the snake, forming a sustained arc of lightning between them. It sears the nearer snake, causing it to tremor with electric convulsions, but Cad can see that this massive snake will take a lot more punishment than this.

It lurches forward and snaps back at Cad with huge fangs:
Bite Attack: 21  Hit: 9 piercing damage (and make a concentration check if needed)

The other snake flicks its long tongue at the dead bullywug before swallowing the deceased pilot whole.

Everyone else may act.

√ Sir Talavar: 21 (in cage held by Matilda)
√ Giant snakes: 17
√ Cad: 17 (at bottom, near snake)
   Horatio: 16 (at bottom, near snake)
   Ben: 12 (at top, helping Matilda back on tower)
   Edgardo: 9 (at top, scrambling to get back on tower)
   Matilda: 8 (at top, scrambling to get back on tower)
   Titaani: 4 (at top)
  (Bob and Alyeira may also join in the fray if they wish!)

Cadwallader:

Cad reels backward from the bite, severely injured. ((Concentration check: 22))

Ben:

Carefully holding Matilda, hoping to help her get back up to safety with the cage, Ben reels her in the best he can while looking worriedly down at the snakes.  “Retreat up the steps towards us!” he calls, “Hopefully they won’t follow!”

If he is successful in helping Matilda up, Ben looks around for something on top of the tower he can throw down at a snake to hopefully drive it off—maybe debris or a loose stone?

OOC:  Will this be a HELP action for Ben, or should he roll himself?

Athletics roll if needed: 

Ben is able to finish pulling Matilda back up without difficulty. (This occurred just prior to the balloon crashing and the subsequent appearance of the snakes, so Ben and Matilda and Edgardo may have their full action and movement this turn.)

Ben pulls a loose brick from the crumbling tower and throws it at the snake. (This is not intended as an attack roll, correct? Perhaps an intimidation check would be warranted?)

√ Sir Talavar: 21 (in cage held by Matilda)
√ Giant snakes: 17
√ Cad: 17 (at bottom, near snake)
   Horatio: 16 (at bottom, near snake)
...Ben: 12 (at top, helping Matilda back on tower)
   Edgardo: 9 (at top, scrambling to get back on tower)
   Matilda: 8 (at top, scrambling to get back on tower)
   Titaani: 4 (at top)
  (Bob and Alyeira may also join in the fray if they wish!)

Horatio:

Seeing Cad injured, all doubt leaves Horatio's mind. He socks a snake in the snoot. 

Right cross: 15 for 4 

Left uppercut: 10 for 7

Ben:

Concerned about his friends, especially after Cadwallader gets nearly bitten in half and nobody seems to come up the stairs to get away from the snakes, Ben hurls a rock down at the snake that just bit his ally, saying, “Go away, snake!  Leave us alone or we’ll pelt you to death!”

Intimidation:  18

Ben:

”Come on, join in!” Ben exhorts the others up top with him, pointing towards a few loose rocks at the tower’s top.

(Writing Titaani's action now so you can keep it in mind after Matilda has taken hers (Chances are I won't be online then))

"Aww, Ben, I can do a lot better than just throwing rocks!" the little gnome says, glaring at the reptiles. "I'll show them what happens when they hurt my new friends..."

Standing on top of the tower's wall, that is, the edge of the tallest part, Titaani whispers an incantation into her crystal, which starts to glow with bright purple light. This light travels up to her eyes, which begin to glow with otherworldly power, her hair blowing behind her as she shoots out a sweeping beam of energy, (using the spell: cause fear, which means a wisdom saving throw for the closest snake)

"Take not one step closer, foul creature!" she bellows, in a voice not quite her own. 

Edgardo  

With Matilda back on solid ground, Ed watches as Ben hurls a rock followed by a string of insults over the side of the tower. "What in the Realms are you on a.....OHHH!" The shock of seeing the massive serpents awakens a thought in him. He stares over the towers crenellations straight at the two snakes and whispers "Sssayatha hathehh sssssss aaah". A shimmer leaves his lips and descends to what would be considered the ears of the two serpents. 

HP 16

Matilda carefully places the cage down and then peers over the edge.....she is not going down there.

Horatio steps forward and socks the electrified snake attacking Cad, doing minor damage. (His second swing glances off the beast's scale hide.)

From above, Ben shouts at the second snake, pelting it with loose stones. His efforts succeed. The massive serpent glides back into the brambles, a contended, bullywug-shaped lump in its midsection.

Edgardo, safely back atop the tower, casts his spell. But unfortunately, both snakes shrug it off - they are simply too powerful to succumb to Edgardo's magic.

Matilda, recovering from a near-fatal fall, places the cage down and watches safely from above. (She still has an action, if you choose.)

Titaani casts her own spell from above, targeting the remaining snake. DC 13 WIS Save: 14

... and succeeds. Still bound to Cad with an electric tether, it turns and retreats into the brambles. (Horatio may have an opportunity attack if he chooses; Cad is too far away.)

√ Sir Talavar: 21 (in cage held by Matilda)
√ Giant snakes: 17
√ Cad: 17 (at bottom, 10' from snake 1)
√ Horatio: 16 (at bottom, 5' from snake 1)
√ Ben: 12 (at top of tower)
√ Edgardo: 9 (at top)
... Matilda: 8 (at top)
√ Titaani: 4 (at top)
(Bob and Alyeira may also join in the fray if they wish!)