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Message: <blockquote data-quote="arwink" data-source="post: 1165267" data-attributes="member: 2292">The gnolls swarm the fort in two groups, one charging each of the breaches in the wall leading into the courtyard.  Even with the archers, there is little subtlety to their approach.  The air fills with wolfish howls and the sound of armor jingling as they sprint, sunlight reflecting off the raised battle-axes, swords and spears that are distinctly of Reldenfolk make.  Gunnar and Yip are both firing as the creatures come into range, their arrows striking one of the gnollish attackers in the ribs and dropping him to the ground.  His companions swarm over the body and continue on, covering the space between the stone ridges that lead towards the fort and the courtyard faster than anyone could have thought.Geoffrey’s blessing echoes out over the din of the charging gnolls, a pale blue light washing over everyone.  Ragged nerves are instantly calmed as the clear, focused energy of St Cuthbert the Lawgiver fills everyone mind.  The first group comes through the eastern wall of the courtyard, lead by a giant of a gnoll that has two battleaxes in hand as he runs.  They move without pause to the stairs leading onto the battlements, obviously intending to charge the door to the tower.  The second group is larger, over a dozen gnolls in total, and they swarm towards the base of the tower and begin to ready ropes and grapples as three of their number ready bows to cover them.Blarth leans over the edge of the tower, the sound of his whistle cutting through the air.  There are only a small cluster of the gnolls is within range of the weapon, the best he's likely to get from his vantage point, and although they reel in pain as the sound burst hits but only a few of them fall.  Further across the courtyard, a smaller number of gnolls suddenly slumps to the ground in a deep slumber, victims of Halgo’s sleep.  Yip readies a second arrow, targeting one of the stunned gnolls trying to shake Blarth’s sonic blast from their ears, dropping him to the ground.  Gunnar and Geoffrey do the same, but by then nearly half a dozen gnollish grapples have looped over the tower battlements and the armored forms have slowly started to climb.Halgo loads his crossbow and looks for a suitable target, then hears the loud thump of something heavy and strong hitting the doorway.  His attention is distracted for a moment, looking over his shoulder to ensure the door holds, before he fires at one of the gnollish creatures.“Door!” He yells to the top, but it seems no-one hears him.  “Blarth, rope-cutting,” Geoffrey orders, and the half-orc immediately draws his blade and starts hacking at the thick ropes attached to the grapples.  Two solid blows cuts one of the grapples free, but looking over the battlement he can see the frantic forms of gnolls struggling against the weight of their armor.  It's a long climb for the gnolls, nearly thirty-five feet with the weight of the unfamiliar chainmail, but the beast-men have great strength to aid them.  He knows he has little chance of cutting them all free before one of the reaches the top.Then Blarth spots a heavily armored form wearing a helm, too short to be a gnoll, drinking from a potion vial.  Blarth swats at a second rope as he watches the armored form, permitting only the briefest grin of joy when he notices a gnoll falling onto the small swarm of his comrades waiting below.  The armored figure throws the vial aside, looks up and offers Blarth a very human smile, and begins to scale the walls of the tower as though he were a spider.“Human,” he calls, grabbing Geoffrey’s attention as the justicar spears one of the gnolls swarming towards the tower door.  Geoffrey looks and notices the human scaling the wall, a longspear on his back.  There’s a howl of approval as he passes the gnolls on ropes, and the creatures seem to redouble their efforts to follow their comrade.“Crap,” Geoffrey yells.  “Gunnar, watch over the door.  Blarth, with me.”The armored human reaches the edge of the tower, longspear in hand.  Blarth and Geoffrey are waiting for him, shields held at the ready to block the arrows of gnollish archers, sword and morning star held in a defensive stance.The human just smiles, pale teeth visible behind the bristling red beard that juts out of his helm.  Even as the two Copperheads swing at him, he circles around the side of the tower and reappears on the opposite edge.  The tower is only fifteen feet wide, and as he appears on the horizontal surface he has the longspwear readied.  Letting loose with a gutteral war cry, he surges forward.  As if in response to his actions, the point of the longspear suddenly blazes with magical light...</blockquote>

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