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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Richards" data-source="post: 8518880" data-attributes="member: 508">ADVENTURE 24: HYENA ARENAPC Roster: Alewyth Putterpye, dwarf priestess of Aerik 5             Thurloe Pulver, human fighter 3/wizard 2             Wakuren, half-orc cleric of Cal 2/paladin 3             Xandro Silverstrings, human bard 4/rogue 1             Zander Quilson, elf sorcerer 5Game Session Date: 15 January 2022 - - -"I'm just saying," Thurloe Pulver continued.  He was sitting in the front of the wagon beside Wakuren, who held the reins to the mules.  Thurloe's horse, Horse, was tethered to the back of the vehicle by a rope and was plodding along, while the others rode their own mounts behind the wagon.  The road was little more than a mere suggestion by this point; Wakuren steered the mules over a shallow creek to stick to the smoothest section of land in a small gorge.  On either side of them, some distance away, the rocks rose up ten feet or so.  Scrub brush was everywhere, as well as a few stunted trees here and there.Thurloe pressed on with his argument.  "Lots of adventurers have a name for their groups.  I just think we need a name for ourselves.""I'm not inherently opposed to the idea," Wakuren said.  "I just don't know if I want us to be known by that particular name.""Why not?  'The Pulverizers' is a great name!""For one thing, it makes it sound like you're our leader," piped up Alewyth from her dire goat mount.  "And I'm not sure if you realize it, but you're not.""It also sounds inherently violent," Wakuren added."We are!" countered Thurloe."Some of us try not to be.  I don't even carry a weapon for that very reason."Fortunately for the half-orc, their conversation was interrupted by the sound of a little girl calling from behind a clump of heavy scrub ahead and to the right.  "Hey, come over here and take a look at what I found!" the voice said.  "Leave your animals and weapons behind, you won't need them - it's safe!"  Along with the little girl's words, the heroes could feel a distinct twinge in their minds, trying to compel them to obey the implanted suggestion.But the minds of the five dreamwalkers were tougher than that.  "Well, that's not at all suspicious!" scoffed Thurloe, pulling the bastard sword from the scabbard on his back.  Xandro notched a bolt into his crossbow and steered his horse White over to the right, since there was no room to pass it on the left.  Off to his right was another clump of thick scrub brush and it was from behind there that the first wave of ambushers made their presence known.  A humanoid hyena-man rode astride a dire hyena the size of a draft horse while behind him ran a hyena of a more standard size.  Xandro got a shot off at the gnoll as the dire hyena bit at White, catching the upper part of the horse's right front leg in its jaws.  Its bite prevented White from bucking but the dire hyena was unable to bring the horse to the ground.  At the same time, the gnoll was busy making hand gestures and barking out gruff syllables that the bard recognized as some sort of spellcasting; sure enough, a dire badger suddenly appeared before the mules and bit at Mica's legs.And that was apparently the signal for the rest of the ambushers to make themselves known.  Up on a ledge to the right, eight gnolls popped up from behind a ring of boulders and scrambled to the tops of the rocks, pointing their shortbows down at the adventurers and their mounts.  Four arrows went flying down at the wagon, narrowly missing both Wakuren and Thurloe.  Two more gnolls dropped the clumps of brush they'd been holding up to shield themselves from view up on the ledge to the left and brought their own shortbows to bear.  Another arrow went whizzing past Thurloe's ear while one more actually hit Wakuren, only to be deflected by the half-orc's metal armor.Zander pulled the jade cooshee from his pocket and dropped it to the ground, activating it with a command word.  The elven dog sprang to life, took in the situation in a moment, and raced for the dire hyena.  His master brought his horse Eddy around to the right of the wagon to get himself into a better position.  Thurloe, in the meantime, leaped down from the wagon - which Wakuren had brought to a halt given the dire badger in the way of their progress - and raced into battle, bringing his blade down on the summoned creature clawing at Mica.  He activated his magical torc of the titans to increase the power of his swing.  The dire badger hissed in pain at the blow and foamed at the mouth in outrage.Alewyth jumped down from Pyrite and slapped her dire goat on his hindquarters to get him to flee back the way they'd come - she wanted him out of danger, especially given the presence of several carnivorous predators.  Then she made a quick prayer to Aerik, God of Protection, for a bless spell to guide her friends' attacks against these gnolls and their animal companions.It was at this point the "little girl" made an appearance: dashing out from behind the camouflaging bushes came a hideous creature with the head of a badger, the body of a hyena, and the legs of a stag, the whole thing as big as a riding horse.  "None of you came to see what I found!" it pouted in its eerie, little-girl voice.  Then its voice changed to sound more like that of one of its gnoll companions.  "So I guess we'll have to do this the hard way!"  It pranced forward, making a bee-line for Thurloe, still in combat with the summoned dire badger.Wakuren cast a spiritual weapon spell and sent the heavy mace of force energy flying up to harass the gnoll archers up on the left ledge.  Mica kicked out at the dire badger as the hyena bit at White, just as the horse had extricated himself from the jaws of the larger beast while the dire hyena fended off the attacks from the cooshee.  Xandro, fearing his mount was soon to be wrestled to the ground and not wanting to be thrown prone as well, leaped from the saddle onto the back of the wagon.  White panicked and fled, joining Pyrite out of harm's way - and Xandro breathed a sigh of relief.  But then the gnoll druid leaped from his dire hyena mount and followed the bard into scampering up onto the back of the wagon, foregoing any spellcasting to bring his battleaxe swinging into the bard.  Xandro just barely ducked in time, while Zander cast a magic missile spell at the gnoll druid.The dire hyena bit the elven dog and grappled him down to the ground, tearing at the cooshee's throat, while behind them the dire badger took another bite at Mica's leg.  Thurloe, Wakuren, and Xandro all found themselves targeted by the gnoll archers on the ledge to the right, some of them coming a bit too close for comfort.  With a mighty struggle, the cooshee regained his footing - only to have his throat ripped out by the dire hyena's powerful jaws.  But if the massive beast had been looking for a meal he was out of luck, for the cooshee merely reverted back to its statuette form and fell to the hard-packed earth.  It didn't get long to mourn its lost meal, however, for Alewyth was upon it, striking with her dwarven warhammer Sjondra.Tapping into the power of his magical torc again, Thurloe slew the dire badger with his bastard sword; as a summoned creature, it disappeared back to wherever it had been called from by the gnoll druid.  It was no longer blocking the path of the mules but neither of them was eager to move forward and close the distance with the approaching leucrotta; on top of that, Mica's right front leg was bleeding heavily where it had been savaged by the badger's teeth and he hobbled awkwardly in place.Thurloe and Wakuren were each hit by an arrow shot by the archers on the the ledge to the left (one of them fleeing to the side to avoid the half-orc's spiritual heavy mace); Wakuren managed to deflect the arrow off his shield.  But by then the leucrotta had crossed the span and was snapping its wicked teeth at Thurloe, who was hard-pressed to keep it at bay.  Wakuren turned his attention to the eight gnoll archers over on the far ledge and cast a wind wall spell across the front edge of the embankment, just in front of the boulders upon which the gnolls were perched.Alewyth now found herself in the unenviable position of being the primary target for both the hyena and his larger cousin; she wisely focused her attention on the greater threat, making sure those wicked jaws didn't get a hold on her.  Over on the wagon, Xandro spun about and stabbed the druid through the midsection with his frost short sword, killing him instantly; he pitched off the side of the wagon to fall dead in the dirt.Another volley of arrows came streaming from the eight gnolls to the right, only to have them suddenly swerve upwards as a result of the wind wall spell Wakuren had cast.  The gnolls grumbled at the unseen effect; unable to determine how far the spell extended they stowed their shortbows and grabbed up their battleaxes, snarling in anger all the while.  Then they leaped down from their boulders and started lowering themselves down the steep slope of the gorge, those passing through the wind wall effect yelping in startlement as their fur was ruffled in the passing.Zander cast a scorching ray spell at the dire hyena and it fell over to the ground, its fur aflame as it died.  Alewyth took the opportunity to focus her attacks on the druid's hyena companion and crushed its skull with Sjondra.  Thurloe used his magic torc for the last time that day to put every iota of power he could into his swing, sending his blade deep into the side of the leucrotta, who spit blood and cried out in what the fighter had to assume was its natural voice, for it was no longer attempting to sound like a little girl or one of its gnoll compatriots.  It snapped its jaws at Thurloe and lashed out at him with his front hooves, but the attacks were slow and sluggish as the creature's life-blood poured out of its side.  But then another volley of arrows came flying down at Wakuren and Thurloe from the left.  "Can't you do something about them?" groused the fighter as an arrow struck him in the arm and veered off, leaving a trail of blood along his bicep."I did all I could," Wakuren replied as his spiritual heavy mace took a final swing at one of the gnoll archers, killing him, and then winked out of existence.  "I don't have another wind wall spell prepared!"  But the half-orc ran around to the back of the leucrotta, hoping to catch it in a pincer maneuver while its focus was on Thurloe and his deadly bastard sword.  Xandro wasn't particularly overeager to leave the relative safety of the wagon so he pulled out his Dardolian lute and began strumming his song of courageous inspiration, allowing the magic of his song to guide his friends' weapon-strikes.  It looked like they'd be needing it soon, too, for the gnolls had scrambled down from the rise and were now racing over towards those of the heroes on foot in front of and to the side of the wagon.Zander was still astride his horse Eddy and sent a magic missile at one of the approaching gnolls; it hit him straight on but the gnoll kept coming.  Thurloe finished off the leucrotta in time to whirl about and face the approaching gnolls, each wielding a battleaxe and wearing a look of battle lust on its muzzled face.  Then Thurloe took another arrow to the shoulder, cursed, and plucked it from his arm.  Alewyth saw the glare Thurloe passed Wakuren's way and cast a spiritual weapon spell of her own, the force-weapon taking the shape of a dwarven war axe.  She sent it flying up at the remaining gnoll archer on the left ridge that was sniping at Thurloe.Wakuren faced the charging gnolls and cast a sound burst in their midst, causing three of them to slow and stumble to a dazed halt, stunned into inaction.  Xandro set his lute aside in the back of the wagon and leaped back down from it, running up to the gnoll Zander had just hit with a magic missile.  His lateral sword-slice almost decapitated the gnoll at the neck and it fell to the ground in an unmoving heap.  But then the other gnolls struck, three of them surrounding Wakuren, the sound of their axe-heads crashing against the half-orc's shield causing a cacophony that echoed throughout the gorge.  Two more gnolls took on Thurloe, but his bastard sword's extra reach managed to keep them at bay.  Zander cast another magic missile at one of the ones fighting Thurloe, merely because he was the closest.  Thurloe's blade wheeled on the other one attacking him, bringing him crashing to the ground in a dead heap.Another arrow came flying down from the left ledge as the archer there got a shot off between dodging Alewyth's spiritual weapon spell.  It missed Thurloe by no more than a hair's breadth and he swore again.  But then the dwarven priestess charged into battle with Sjondra gripped tightly in her hand, slaying the gnoll Zander had just shot.  Thurloe nodded his appreciation at the assist and turned to help Wakuren take down the three he was fighting.It took a little longer - especially after the trio Wakuren had momentarily stunned snapped out of it and showed up as a sort of reserve force - but between a scorching ray spell from Zander, Alewyth's warhammer, Thurloe's bastard sword, Xandro's short sword, and Wakuren's shield, the last remaining gnoll ended up being the second sniper up on the ledge to the left.  Seeing the one-sided pile of dead on the ground below him, he opted to high-tail it as fast as he could, fleeing along the ledge in the direction the mule-wagon had been going.  Alewyth's spiritual war axe followed him for as far as the priestess could see him, then returned to her side once the fleeing gnoll was out of sight.Alewyth went after her dire goat and Xandro fetched White.  Healing spells were applied not only to the heroes in need of them, but also to Mica and White, both of whom had incurred serious wounds during the ambush.  "So now what?" asked Zander."What?" asked Thurloe."Do we just go on the way we were going, or do we track down that remaining gnoll, the one who escaped?""What's one gnoll going to do?" countered Thurloe."We don't know there's just the one of them," pointed out Alewyth.  "This might have just been a raiding party from a larger group, and if they're ambushing travelers....""Plus, there's those elven slavers," Xandro added.  "They were selling human slaves to other races in the general area.  Could be the gnolls were customers.""...Fine," grumbled Thurloe.  He was eager to get on with their original goal, to head over to the next dream victim, but he supposed checking out the remaining gnoll wasn't going to take too long.  For one thing, he'd been bleeding from the spiritual weapon strikes from Alewyth's spell; for another, none of the gnolls had been particularly interested in covering their tracks and it wasn't difficult at all to backtrack the way they'd come.  Their trail led inexorably to the mountains in the distance, trailing the main road.  Wakuren was pleased for the mules' sakes that their trail paralleled the road, making pulling their wagon no greater of a burden than necessary.Eventually, a stone structure came into view at the base of the Shieldwall Mountains.  It was mostly oval in shape, with two main entrances the group could see: a standard-sized one along the long edge of the oval and a much larger set of doors off to the south end.  "It's an arena," Alewyth said.  As they got closer to it and could make out more details, she added, "Dwarven construction, several centuries old.  And consecrated to Thunderwolf, it looks like - makes sense."  Thunderwolf was the God of War, so it was perfectly logical a combat arena would be built in His honor."I don't see any guards," said Zander, shielding his eyes from the sun and scanning the arena from one end to the other."Gnolls tend to be lazy," Thurloe pointed out.  "Probably think nobody'd dare attack them in their lair."That turned out to be the case.  The group abandoned their wagon and animals down the road from the arena and cautiously made their way to the dwarven structure.  On the way, Wakuren removed his ring of invisibility and handed it to Xandro.  "Here," he said.  "You've been practicing being sneaky - you ought to wear this."  It was true; Xandro had been expanding his repertoire beyond just singing and playing the lute and the boots and cloak of elvenkind he'd taken from Randalvael the elven slaver were certain to aid him in his sneaking about.  But doing so while invisible was an even better deal, so the bard took the proffered ring and slipped it onto his finger, activating it and slipping from the visible spectrum.After a brief discussion, the group decided against the larger set of doors to the south, figuring that was the entrance the dire hyena and leucrotta probably used; if there were any more of those beasts around they'd rather not deal with them right away.  The front entrance was flanked by what the group assumed were ticket booths: small rooms jutting out with barred open windows where presumably, when the arena had been active, one could purchase a seat to watch the gladiatorial combats inside.  The doors were stone and neither locked nor barred; Wakuren was able to pull them open without any fuss.  Then the group split up, with Thurloe and Alewyth heading south and the other three heading north.  They ended up on opposite ends of a long hallway and decided to check out the doors accessible along that corridor, discovering a storage area; a sealed treasure vault with mostly empty lockboxes stored along the back wall (although Xandro found one whose contents, for whatever reason, hadn't been emptied after he managed to pick the lock to the vault's door); and an armory where the gladiator weapons were stored.  It was obvious from the empty slots in the weapon racks that the gnolls had raided the armory and were using the dwarven-crafter weapons for their own.But then the group decided to stick together and went back north.  They found the baths, filled with brackish water, and then, around the corner, a room that had been modified since the dwarves had built the arena long ago: it now had a crude bar preventing the door from being opened from the inside.  Thurloe pulled the bar away and Wakuren opened the door, only to find three human women who were shocked to see someone other than their gnoll captors opening the door.  They explained they were from Baron's Haven and had been captured by the manticores in league with the elven slavers, then sold to the gnolls.  There were three men in a similar room just down the hallway, on the other side of the northern door to the arena.All of this explanation was given in hushed voices, for the entire southern wall of the women's slave chamber was open to the arena and covered in metal bars to prevent actual access there.  But from the vantage point the group could see another eight gnolls on the arena sands, six of them curled up in sleep along the curved wall of the arena, with the other two talking to each other at the far side of the sands.  Another dire hyena sat near them, while at least two gnoll archers patrolled the stadium seating.  "There's also the Pack Leader," whispered one of the slaves, "but we haven't actually seen her for days now.  She's made the royal box her personal lair."  The royal box jutted out on the west side of the arena, providing the best view of the combats that would have occurred below."So what do the gnolls have you do?" asked Zander."We prepare their food for them, when they let us out to do so," whispered one of the slaves."And when they've been successful in their hunting," another added.  "When the food gets low, they...just take one of us as their next meal."  She shuddered at the memory of the few times she'd seen that occur since her own captivity."Well, we're getting you all out of here, and that's a promise," said Alewyth."Yeah, eventually," chimed in Thurloe.  "For right now, though, you ladies stay put right where you are.  It's safer here until we deal with the rest of the pack.""What's the plan?" Xandro asked."I think Alewyth and I are going back to the south entrance, ready to pop through the south gate there when we hear the fighting begin.  Zander, you stay here with the women - I assume you can cast your spells through the bars here?"  Zander assured him he could.  "Then Wakuren, you wait here at the door, and Zander'll warn you when he sees the first of the archers go down.""And me?" asked Xandro."You're going to find your way up to the stadium seats there, invisible, and kill the archer.  That'll be the signal for the rest of us to attack."  Alewyth cast protection from evil spells on herself and Thurloe as the two made their way back down the corridor they'd explored earlier and found their way to the south gate.  "And now we wait," whispered Thurloe.Xandro backtracked the way they'd come, for there was a set of stairs leading up that he was pretty sure led up to the rows of stadium seating.  Sure enough they did, and a quick perusal showed there were just the two gnoll archers among the stone bleachers, the only show of defensive force the gnolls had even bothered with.  He slowly made his way around the stadium counterclockwise, with his frost short sword in his hand and ready for action, counting on his boots of elvenkind and Wakuren's ring of invisibility to keep him from being noticed.The gnoll archers weren't particularly attentive to their duties; they had their bows out and a quiver of arrows at their backs but neither one had an arrow ready for firing, apparently under the mistaken belief that no one would dare try to infiltrate an entire pack of gnolls and their allied beasts.  The one Xandro was sneaking up on sighed impatiently, hoping the raiding party would be back soon with some food for the larder, because he was getting hungry again and they'd just about finished the last horse they'd been eating.  But then he cried out in pain as a blade pierced his torso, twisted, and was pulled back out again.  The gnoll dropped his bow and staggered forward, fumbling to grab up his battleaxe, as the human who'd stabbed him went in for another sword-strike.Zander saw the attack from between the bars of the women's cell and whispered to Wakuren that the attack had started.  The half-orc dashed away from the doorway where he'd been waiting and pushed open the doors of the north gate to the arena.  Then the elf took aim and cast a magic missile spell at the other archer over by the south gate.  His sudden cry of pain alerted the two awake gnolls on the arena sands and the dire hyena that something was up; more importantly, Alewyth and Thurloe heard it from behind the south gate arena entrance and pushed the heavy doors open, spilling onto the sands themselves.There was a sleeping gnoll huddled along the arena wall to Alewyth's right as she entered, and she took the opportunity thus presented to bash his head with Sjondra.  But then the dire hyena was on her, snapping with its slavering jaws.  Thurloe had moved to the left when he entered and slew another gnoll who had been sleeping on the warm sands.  Then he too was under attack, in his case by the gnoll archer in the stands above him.  The arrow came close but missed its mark.The other archer was making a feeble attempt at fighting back against Xandro but the bard's initial attack had all but drained the fight out of him.  Xandro killed him quickly with another stroke of his blade, then looked down to the arena below.  Most of the other sleeping gnolls were awake and grabbing up their weapons (all but one, who was apparently a very sound sleeper), and Alewyth finished off the gnoll she had originally attacked as he tried to rise to a standing position.  Then she had to divert her full attention to the dire hyena.  But Wakuren had made his entrance and three of the gnolls were headed in his direction, battleaxes ready for combat.Zander fired off another magic missile at the gnoll archer, deeming his ranged attacks made him the bigger threat at the moment.  Alewyth struck the dire hyena with Sjondra, causing it to shake its head in an effort to stop the world form spinning around so much.  Then it was back to snapping at the dwarven priestess with its wicked teeth.  But in its fierce concentration on bringing down the dwarf it failed to see Thurloe stepping up behind it, and the fighter's bastard sword cut deeply into its back, severing its spine and killing it.The gnoll archer couldn't see who was shooting at it with those accursed spells, so he continued focusing his attention on trying to kill Thurloe, who had just slain their beloved animal compatriot.  A pair of gnolls pressed their attacks on Alewyth and another on Thurloe, while over on the other side of the ring Wakuren was fending off three rushing gnolls.  The deep sleeper gnoll had by this time finally awakened and was scrambling to find where he had put his weapons before his nap.Xandro leaped over the side of the arena wall and landed safely in the sands, then ran over to help Wakuren - who, admittedly, had been doing fine on his own, dodging the incoming axe-strikes or deflecting them off his shield, only  to turn his shield into a weapon as needed, either striking with the flat surface in a bludgeoning blow or hitting with the pointed bottom edge.  But the half-orc wasn't at all displeased to receive assistance and Xandro quickly flanked a gnoll and slew him with one blow from his sword.Zander continued lobbing magic missile spells at the sole remaining archer, while Alewyth and Thurloe each dispatched one of the gnolls focused on them.  By now the sands of the arena were stained with blood, very possibly the first blood spilled in combat the arena had seen since its disuse many decades ago.  The remaining gnolls gave it their all but it was apparent they didn't have the combat experience of the five intruders.  Those on the sands were soon taken out by hammer, shield, and blades, while Zander finally slew the archer with a scorching ray spell.  And just that quickly, combat seemed to be over.  Zander told the female slaves to remain there just to be safe and ran onto the arena to join his friends."What about the pack leader?" he asked them.  "She's supposed to be up there in the royal box.  Anybody seen her?"Nobody had.  But the reason for this became readily apparent once they had found the way to the royal box and there found a larger, female gnoll fast asleep.  Thurloe, bastard sword in hand and pointed at the pack leader's throat, kicked her in the shoulder to wake her up, but she continued to sleep on.  He tried again, with no better luck.  "Oh, you've got to be kidding me," he said.  "She's caught in the dream plague?""So now what?" asked Wakuren.  "We can't just kill her.""And why not?" demanded Thurloe.  "One: she's the head of a bunch of gnolls who attack travelers and buy slaves.  Two: we don't know why the Nightmare King is trapping people in their dreams, but if we kill her we deprive him of whatever he's getting out of the deal.""By that logic," argued Alewyth, "we should just kill everyone caught in the dream plague.  Surely you're not suggesting that?"Thurloe actually gave it a moment's thought; it would actually be somewhat easier....  But finally common sense won over and he admitted, "Okay, no.  But I'm not gonna free her from her dreams just so she can beat us awake and kill us!""We'll take precautions," promised Wakuren, pulling out his rope of climbing and binding the pack leader's hands behind her back, before doing likewise with her feet, leaving her hog-tied in the center of the royal box."We'll probably want someone guarding us, in case we missed any gnolls," Zander pointed out, and he went to go fetch the slaves.  There were three men and three women, all very pleased to have been freed from servitude and more than happy to guard the dreamwalkers while they performed their ritual, especially after they had been armed with dwarven weapons from the arena's armory."Now no attacking the gnoll while we're performing the ritual," Wakuren warned the newly-freed slaves.  "We're hoping to get some answers from her, so we need her alive.""For now," added Thurloe.  Then the five took their places around the sleeping gnoll, the dreamstones centered on their foreheads and kept in place by the leather headbands Thurloe's Uncle Marten had crafted for them.  Another dreamstone was held in place at the gnoll's forehead with a bandana.  After that, it was a simple matter of slowing one's breathing, one's thoughts, and entering a state of slumber, where the dreamwalkers' minds left their bodies and drifted into the Dreamlands...."Hey, kupo!" greeted their moogle guides upon their arrival.  They each escorted their respective dreamwalker to the Corridor of Dreams, where Mogo was waiting for them.  "In you go, kupo!" he said, ushering them through the doorway.At first, they worried that something had gone wrong, for they were right back on the sands of the arena.  But now the seats were all filled with bloodthirsty dwarves, yelling and screaming at the combat being played out in the middle of the arena.  There, bloody battleaxe in hand, stood the pack leader, surrounded by a dozen hyenas who kept dodging in and biting her.  Already, she had bloody patches on her fur where previous bite attacks had succeeded.And then they noticed something unusual: the pack leader swung her axe and cleaved the skull of a hyena, slaying it instantly.  It fell to the ground, dead, and was they absorbed into the arena sands.  At the same time, another hyena manifested on the outskirts of the battle and darted in to join the pack in worrying their prey."When she kills one, a replacement just pops back up," pointed out Alewyth.  "At this rate, she'll never finish fighting!""We'd better go help her!" said Wakuren as he ran into battle, slamming his shield into the nearest hyena and sending it flying off to the side.  It yelped in pain but then rejoined the attack against the pack leader.  Some of the closer ones diverted their attacks to the half-orc now in their midst, however.  Thurloe was in no mood to go risk his life to save some stupid bloody gnoll, but now that Wakuren was equally in danger....  "Fine!" the fighter sighed, swinging his bastard sword into the side of the nearest hyena.  He was pleased to see it cut nearly in twain, and even more pleased to see no new hyena showed up as an automatic replacement.  "Looks like when we kill them, they stay dead!" Thurloe called to the others."But not when I!" cried the gnoll in frustration as she killed another hyena, just for a new one to arrive at the outskirts of the combat.  They were a bit surprised to hear the pack leader capable of speaking the Common tongue, but whether this was just part of the dream or if she could speak it in the real world was still a matter of conjecture.  "Why they attacking me?""Guess they're probably a good judge of character!" Thurloe answered, but he continued aiding the pack leader by swinging his bastard sword into as many of the hyenas as he could, one after the next.  The gnoll continued slaying hyenas as well, but hers kept coming back; only those slain by the adventurers were permanently removed from the arena.  Eventually, all of the hyenas had been slain and the dream started to fade away, first with the cheering dwarves dissipating, then the stadium itself, until the group was standing on an ever-shrinking piece of sand....When they all awoke, the pack leader was still tied up and still, but her former slaves had resisted the impulse to kill her.  The five dreamwalkers snapped back awake, one at a time, and Thurloe went to examine their prisoner.  "You able to speak our language?" he asked her."Yes, some."  She looked up at the fighter and a look of recognition was caught in her eyes.  "You were there.  In dream.  Fighting.""Yeah, you're welcome for that, by the way.""Was there ever a big snake in the arena, in your dream?" asked Wakuren.  He was eager to find out if the dreamers actually ever saw the hypnalis viper the Nightmare King apparently slipped into people's dreams to put them into the dream coma."No, no snake - only hyenas," replied the pack leader.  Then, muttering to herself, she said, "Is a sign.  Hyenas shouldn't attack.  Should be allies.  Something very wrong.""You think there was no viper, or she just didn't see it?" asked Zander."No way to tell," replied Xandro.  "It could have attacked her from her blind side, or it might not have even looked like a viper at the time.  Maybe it took the form of one of the hyenas.""Well, what are we going to do with her now?" Alewyth asked.  "I won't kill a bound enemy."  And then, as Thurloe opened his mouth to offer his services, the dwarf cut him off with "And I won't let you, either.""Fine," replied Thurloe.  "So we let her loose in the arena and cut her down there.""I don't think that will be necessary," Wakuren said, reaching over to untie the ropes binding their captive.  "I sense a crisis of faith occurring."  As the others steeled their weapons for the inevitable attack once the half-orc released the pack leader from her bonds, Wakuren just smiled and said, "I don't think we have anything to worry about from her."He turned to face the gnoll leader.  "If we let you go free, I don't expect to hear you've taken up your old ways," he informed her."No," agreed the gnoll.  "Dream say to me: you on wrong path.  We return to the old ways: hunt for our food, follow the game."  She looked around the royal box.  "No arena.  No slaves.  No...lazy ways.""And no tribe, either," Thurloe pointed out.  "We killed all of your pack.  You're on your own, sweetheart."  The gnoll flinched at that, but getting to her feet and looking down over the arena sands to the signs of the carnage below gave her ample evidence the human wasn't kidding."Then I go," she said, and Wakuren made the others allow her to leave."You're just too soft-hearted," Thurloe chided him.  "She hooks up with another pack of gnolls, she'll be right back to her old ways.""I don't think so," countered Wakuren.  "With any luck, she'll convert them to her new way of thinking."  Then he turned to the slaves they'd freed.  "Where are you from?" he asked them.  The majority of them were from Baron's Haven, or heading in that direction.  The adventurers took them with them when they exited the arena, then showed them which way to go when they came up to the main road leading to Baron's Haven."Our way leads in the other direction," Wakuren told them as they headed east.  The six thanked the group again for their rescue (and their dwarven weapons), and then the two groups went their separate ways."So," Thurloe said to Wakuren as the mules pulled the wagon to the east.  "Where were we?""What do you mean?" asked the half-orc, incomprehension on his puzzled face."'The Pulverizers' as our adventuring name!" Thurloe gushed.  "It's great!  It shows we mean business, that we're not to be trifled with!""That one of us has an entirely too high opinion of himself," added Alewyth from her dire goat."I'm not using it in any of my ballads," Xandro pointed out."You guys have no sense of taste," grumbled Thurloe, and was thankfully silent for the next hour or so. - - -I used two separate Paizo Flip-Maps for this adventure: one of the "Ambush Sites Multi-Pack" and an old arena map I'd never used before.  Of course, I had to design the ground-level support rooms that led to the arena itself, but that was kind of fun.  The adventure was just "okay," though, in my mind, in no small part because of the very limited monster palette I used.  In hindsight, I probably should have figured a way to incorporate a few different other monsters so they weren't fighting the same stuff all session, but the group seemed to like it okay. - - -T-shirt worn: My "Chaotic evil means never having to say you're sorry" T-shirt, which represented the chaotic evil gnolls.</blockquote>

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