Crossed Paths, Part II

[Thomas Hobbes]

Hah! Octar and Tullius are on a roll!

Grinning with his success, Octar turns to face the new Gnolls. Seeing Tullius deal with the spear-bearer, he courageously charges the leader, a wordless, fearless cry trailing behind him.

Tullius goes before Octar, so I'm assuming the spear-bearing gnoll will be mostly taken care of.

 

[Manzanita]

Round 5 (con't) and 6

Almost before Ehldannis and Mendicus perceive the new threat, Marcus charges out of the darkness to their defense, the great wolf at his heels. A cry of victory on his lips, and the comforting presense of the smoothly muscled beast on his heel, not to mention the blessings of Clannagan, makes Marcus feel he could singlehandedly turn away this threat. Unfortunately, his blade is turned away by the gnoll's shield. The wolf leaps after him, imbedding its teeth in a gnoll's thigh, but doesn't pull him down.

Mendicus, confronted with a gaggle of charging gnolls, does what any sensible Gaelic farmer would, and starts running. Ascending the stairs to the relative safety of Octar's viscinity, he turns and releases a bolt from his loaded crossbow at the lead gnoll. Despite the poor light and his rapid motion, this bolt lodges in the gnoll's chest. (crit 11 pts).

Dhormium transfers his glowing waraxe to the new threat, and the weapon flies across the room and slices at the leader, missing. He seems uneffected by Dhormium's other spell as well.

Round 6
Ehldannis retreats after Mendicus and casts Mirror Image, producing 5 duplicate Ehldannises. His wolf twirls gracefully, and charges the robed gnoll. It sinks its teeth into the gnoll's arm, and pulls him to the ground, amidst great barking, growling and shreiking.

Tullius would be vunerable to the two remaining gnoll's halberts, if he tried to charge past to get the robed one, so he focuses his attentions on these final guards. He takes a step forward and, chopping down with his axe, splits the skull of Octar's opponent. (crit, 17 pts)

Octar, assuming the Eastern battle is going well, turns and charges at the new gnolls, but is unable to reach them yet. (The distance to g12 is slightly more than 40 feet, meaning Octar could not charge and attack this round. He double moves over there, but could not have precisely estimated the distance.)

The blackrobed gnoll rolls flicks his wrist, which seems to stun the wolf, then he rolls to his feet. From the darkness behind him, another gnoll charges forth, and slashes the wolf with his halbert. The final Eastern gnoll swings his halbert at Tullius, but the legionaire, deflects it deftly with his short sword.

To the west, the stampede of gnolls keeps coming, flowing around the knot of defenders. Octar is hit by a greatsword and a morningstar (19 pts total - bringing him to 5). Brioc's wolf is his with a battle axe. Marcus dodges the morningstar aimed at his head. An arrow whizzes from the darkness towards Ehldannis. It passes through one of the images, causing it to disapear.

Next to Brioc, the rubble on the floor suddenly flies together, forming a short humanoid figure. It steps forward at the onrushing gnolls, and plants a powerful fist into the one aproaching its master, crushing its skull. Stepping over the dead form, Brioc enters combat with his scimitar, cuttin deeply at the first gnoll he meets (9 pts to g19)

Mendicus drops his crossbow, and, still holding aloft is torch, draws his sword.

(Marcus and Dhormium still have round 6 actions)

 

[Despaxas]

"Dhormium help Octar! Reform on the stairs! Casters and archers in the Middle! Brioc, hold the bottom of the stairs together with Dhormium, I'll hold the top of the stairs. And remember: forti et fideli nihil difficile*" Tullius shouts out commands as if he was born to do so. He grins at Dhormium "Perhaps I should have stayed in the Legion, I seem to enjoy this."

*Nothing is difficult to the brave and faithful

OOC: I'll hold the top of the stairs and will try to position myself so nothing can get by me.

 

[Thomas Hobbes]

Well, how's that for a reversal...

Octar eyes widen as he sees the Gnoll's numbers, and he feels the first flash of fear. He takes Tullius' advice to heart, and retreats in an orderly manner as possible back next to Dhormium, although he waits to make sure Marcus is following him.

Here's how I would reccomend it work out, rules wise: Dhormium readies an action to cast heal, Octar disengages to be next to Dhormium (avoiding any AoO) followed by Marcus and Wolf pulling similar maneuvers.

 

[Krilith]

~Dhormium curses at the arriving gnolls and the fact that his spell did not have any affect. When he sees Octar getting hit badly by two gnolls his mind can almost feel his wounds as if they where his own.~

“Octar to me!!”

~After calling out for Octar the dwarf immediately starts to call forth the healing power of Clangeddin so that he can close Octar’s wounds~

“Your battle is not over yet, Clangeddin wishes you to fight on!”



Ooc: readies an action to cast Cure Moderate wounds on Octar when he can, he uses the stored energy from his Bull Strength spell

 

[Inez Hull]

Ehldannis retreats to the relative safety of the stairs next to Dhormium.

This battle is far from over, now is not the time to hold back on any of your magic.

Feeling more secure away from the front lines of the battle the elf wizard begins the lullaby like whisperings of a Sleep spell, invoking a sparkling cloud on Gnolls g16 and g18 to try and prevent them outflanking his companions.

 

[doghead]

Marcus just hears the dwarfs words over the roaring of blood in his ears. Out of the corner of his eye he sees Octar take blows from the greatsword and then the morningstar. Blood and ashes! The man is like an Oak!

Marcus switches to the defensive, until Octar has had the chance to break away and fall back. Once Octar is clear, he also withdraws back towards the others. If we can just form a circle ...

ooc: what I was hoping to do was use the 5' step to move backwards slowly, perhaps combined with fighting defensively. A 5' step doesn't provoke an AoO, but moving out of a threatened area does. So is it possible to use the 5' step to make a fighting withdrawl and avoid AoOs? No? How about a Feint to make them flat footed first, then move out of their threatened area without a AoO? No?

Oh well, what TH said then Full action, withdraw and form up around the base of the stairs so we can cover each others backs, hopefully.

 

[Manzanita]

Gnoll Smackdown!

Looks like Brioc needs to be NPCed for awhile. I'd rather not do this, given his leadership status. Perhaps someone else would volunteer...

Round 6 (con't)
Marcus feints, then steps back, withdrawing and husseling back to the stairs. Dhormium descends to the bottom, and readies himself to heal Octar. His waraxe hacks one last time at the dwarf's enemies. The glowing axe imbeds itself into the gnoll leader's skull, then fades out, having done well for its god. Brioc's wolf, unable to understand the words flying around, continues to attack his master's foes. He tries, but fails to get his fangs into a gnoll through their sheilds.

Round 7
Ehldanis begins incantations once more, with his lantern and gaze pointing WSW. Behind him, his wolf seems stunned, and does not attack.

Atop the stairs, Tullius now stands alone, with only one gnoll opposing him, and this one already wounded by Brioc's scimitar. Tullius leaps at him. The gnoll attemps to block the axe, and the soldier's sword penetrates his heart.

Octar smacks a morningstar aside with his shield, and turns to dash back towards the stairs. He turns as he reaches Dhormium, and is comforted by the divine touch of the dwarf (heals 15 points)

On the Eastern front, the black-robed gnoll steps back behind his halbert wielding comrade and begins moving his hands in an intricate pattern, as his companion swings his halbert at the wolf. The wolf has now recovered its senses and dodges aside. Suddenly, a mauve dart flashes through the darkness from the black-robed gnoll towards Tullius. It misses the wily soldier and lands, hissing, at his feet.

From the rear of the Western Gnolls flies another arrow. The archer is barely visible, as it hugs the wall and seems to be wearing black. This arrow flies at Marcus, but deflects off his mail shirt. The other two rear gnolls slash at Brioc's wolf, who largely seems to avoid the blows. The rest of the gnolls continue their attack. One reaches Mendicus, and strikes him with its morningstar. Mendicus slashes back with is sword, but seems to be getting the worst of the exchange. Two attack brioc, who dodges and uses his sheild effectively to evade harm. Another charges at Octar, exposing himself to Brioc's scimitar, although the druid is unable to capitalize. Others strike at Octar and the earth elemental ineffectively.

Brioc slashes at his tormentors, but his blade deflects off their armor. Likewise, his elemental's attacks come to naught.

Marcus can still act in Round 7.

 

[Despaxas]

Tullius looks worriedly at the wild melee going on. "This is not going well." He mutters. Tullius glares at the strangely robed gnoll. "Well, here goes nothing, sicut patribus, sit Deus nobis *"
Tullius charges at the magic wielding Gnoll swinging his Battleaxe wildly. "I'll clear this side of the stairway. Casters and Archers start retreating towards the top of the stairs and provide cover for the meleers!"

*May God be with us, as he was with our fathers

 

[doghead]

Tullius is right, if we can hold the stairs and clear the higher ground ...

"Watch your left Ehldannis." He's about to bound up the stairs when he catches sight of Mendicus being driven back. He leaps across the front of the stairs to help his quiet companion. With a low growl he drives his shortsword at the gnoll (g21)*.

ooc: * hopefully he can get a sneak attack in here. Shortsword +7 (not including any moral bonuses from spells cast) melee (1d6, 19-20x2).

Intentions at this point - Marcus will continue fighting g21 til its dispatched, then move on to help Tullius deal with the spellcaster if it hasn't already been done.