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Message: <blockquote data-quote="arwink" data-source="post: 1166558" data-attributes="member: 2292">The irregular thump of something hitting the tower door suddenly changes tone, switching from the meaty thwack of fists and shoulders to the heavy thunk of an axe hitting wood.  Halgo swears loudly, firing his crossbow at one of the gnolls on ground level.  Already half their number have taken to the ropes, the rest either sniping at the group from behind the cover of ruined walls or waiting around the side of the tower where the arrow slit offers no vision.  Yip is doing his best to pin down the gnollish archers, but the kobolds skill at archery work best at close range.  There's little Halgo can do from his position beyond shooting a crossbow, and there is no sign of someone coming down to hold the door.He swears quietly.  With a great deal of reluctance, Halgo climbs the ladder and looks at what’s happening on the tower top above.His head emerges into the chaos of a close-quarter melee. Blarth and Geoffrey are fighting on two fronts, trying to prevent the initial surge of the first gnollish wave from climbing over the battlement, while fending off the attacks of the spear-wielding human.  Gunnar is cramped up in the corner of the tower, one of the few places he can stand and still shoot without opening himself to an attack.  It’s a cramped place to fire from, however, and it leaves him open to attack by the archers below.  Already Halgo can see an open gash on Gunnar’s cheek, and an arrow puncturing the mans shoulder.  Blarth and Geoffrey have fared slightly better, but blood is visible through the torn rents in Blarth’s armor and Geoffrey bears a few cuts that stain the crisp white and blue of his tabard.Halgo quickly realizes three things in rapid succession: that none of them are in position to guard the door, that climbing out of the trap door is inordinately dangerous, and that the iron bathtub is still at the ready over the doorway.  He offers a brief prayer to whatever gods are listening that his arcane defenses will hold and sprints across the tower to the bathtub.  Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Blarth cut down a pair of gnolls, but two more take positions on the battlements in their wake.  He can sense Geoffrey moving, closing with the spear wielder as best he can to provide Halgo some cover.  It’s barely enough, the spear point flashing skittering Halgo’s shoulder with a shower of arcane sparks.  Offering a silent prayer of thanks, Halgo digs his fingers under the bathtub and heaves.  The iron weight moves slowly, and Gunnar is quick to leap in to help the dwarven wizard.  With a grunt they tip the bathtub over the battlements, and are rewarded by the frightened shrieks of the creatures below.  Halgo looks over to see one of the creatures dead, crushed by the falling metal, while the axe-wielder and the doorway is knocked off the battlement and laying stunned on the courtyard below.  It’s not as effective as he’d hoped, but the gnolls that remain before the doorway are only armed with swords and spears so he comforts himself with the knowledge that he’s bought a momentary respite.  Gunnar has only paused for a moment before retreating to his corner, notching another arrow and firing at the confused targets below.Yip comes flying up the ladder from below, his kobold paws seeming to dance on the thin rungs.  “No arrows left,” he yells, ducking under the blow of the gnoll warrior standing over the trapdoor.  The kobold gives the gnoll an irritated glance, carefully spinning on the balls of his feet and hammering an iron paw into the creature’s stomach.  The blow is more stunning than painful, but as it wheezes and attempts to catch its breath Blarth solves the problem by opening the gnolls chest with a sword blow. Halgo uses one of his last spells to do the same to the spear-wielder, hitting him with an extended daze that leaves him staring at Geoffrey with a glazed expression.  Geoffrey summons the destructive power of St Cuthbert and smites him with a morning star, staggering the spearman and sending him back towards the battlements.  Even as the spear-wielders eyes starts to clear from the effects of Halgo’s spell, Yip dances forward and launches a stunning fist at his privates.  The spear drops to the ground as the human’s eyes bulge, and he is quickly thrown from the tower by a second strike by Geoffrey’s mace.With the spearman gone, the momentum of the battle on the tower top changes.  Blarth and Geoffrey both leap towards the gnolls, their attention now focused entirely on a single front.   Blarth has done a good job of thinning out the gnollish advance on his own, but there are still nearly a half-dozen alive and pressed up against the corner of the battlement.  The cleric and the psi-warrior start cutting through them, and the happily yipping Yip dances along the foot-wide dwarven battlements to attack from the far side.  Gnollish archers target him as he tumbles over the crenulations, but Yip catches one arrow and neatly ducks the other.  Gunnar, out of arrows, snatches up the enchanted spear and joins the fight, making clumsy strikes over Geoffrey’s shoulder.  Only Halgo avoids the melee, taking a position where he can snipe with his crossbow on the gnolls below.  There are still nearly a dozen of them, including the large one wielding battle-axes, and Halgo curses as he sees the axe-wielder make his way back to the doorway.  A crossbow bolt is fired straight down, catching the gnoll in the shoulder, but it isn’t enough.  Both axes lash out at the doorway, and the sound of splintering wood is heard by everyone.“They’re through,” Halgo says needlessly.  Blarth barely misses a beat.  His swings his sword in a wide arc, forcing the gnolls back a step.  It’s a flashy blow, unlikely to hit anything, but it buys him the time to manifest Biofeedback and step into the trapdoor.  He doesn’t even bother with the ladder, simply dropping down and using a rush of blood to his feet to cushion the landing.  The giant gnoll in the doorway glares at him, but before it can charge Blarth has crossed the floor to fill the doorway.“Blarth make door,” he yells, and firmly sets his shield at the ready.  Luckringer swings easily in his hands, it’s glowing point making wary circles in the space between Blarth and the axe-wielder.Three more gnolls find their way onto the battlements in the half-orcs absence."I bloody hope he's right," Geoffrey grunts, and prepares to repell the invaders.</blockquote>

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