Rel
Liquid Awesome
The first part of the first 3E campaign I ever ran had the PC's having to cross a big valley infested with Gnolls. The were making their way to very big river, the other side of which was controlled by the barbarian tribes they were hoping to aid. So the first few nights of the campaign were them having skirmishes with Gnoll hunting parties who were pursuing them.
The tension was great as I had the hunting parties communicating by horns. The PC's could tell as the web of hunters got closer and closer by the blasts of horns echoing through the valley. They finally made it to the river's edge to find a canoe that had been stashed there by their barbarian guide. The problem of course was that the canoe only held two people. So they had to make multiple trips as the Gnolls finally closed the distance. The last pair of PC's were just pulling away from shore when some thirty Gnolls came charging out of the woods from various directions, hurling javelins as the PC's made their getaway.
Later on, at the end of that campaign, the PC's returned and routed out the Gnolls from the town they occupied in the middle of that valley. During one of the battles the PC's killed the High Shaman of the Gnolls who had a magic flail that their legends said had been gifted to their tribe by Yeenoghu. The PC's took the flail and retreated to the ruined tower they were using as a base of operations.
Every able bodied warrior in the tribe turned out and the Gnolls surrounded the tower and demanded the flail be returned. The PC's decided to bargain and said, "We'll have our best warrior fight your best warrior. If you win, we give back the flail. If we win, your tribe must leave the valley never to return!" The Gnolls agreed.
The next day, the Gnolls' Ranger Champion turned up to fight the party's champion (who also happened to be a Ranger). They squared off and the Gnoll got a couple lucky shots in on the party Ranger and wound up mortally wounding him. The party refused to hand over the flail at first and instead turned on the assembled Gnolls using Fireballs and such. It was a big melee and at the end the party Druid gave them back the flail to get the remaining Gnolls to take it and go away. They left and the Ranger was dead.
What I found so utterly hilarious about the situation was that the Ranger's favored enemy was GNOLLS and he went on and on about what "honorless, untrustworthy DOGS" they were. And yet the party was striking up a bargain with them and expected the Gnolls to keep their word. But when the dust settled, the Gnolls HAD kept their word and the PC's had broken theirs! Damn, that was funny!
Course, the next thing that happened was the Druid went into Wild Shape form as a hawk and sent Flaming Spheres rolling all through their village and burned the whole place to the ground. Good times.
The players always detested Gnolls after that. But it was nothing compared to the hate-on they had for kobolds after they had to clear them from the mines underneath the village the Gnolls had occupied....
The tension was great as I had the hunting parties communicating by horns. The PC's could tell as the web of hunters got closer and closer by the blasts of horns echoing through the valley. They finally made it to the river's edge to find a canoe that had been stashed there by their barbarian guide. The problem of course was that the canoe only held two people. So they had to make multiple trips as the Gnolls finally closed the distance. The last pair of PC's were just pulling away from shore when some thirty Gnolls came charging out of the woods from various directions, hurling javelins as the PC's made their getaway.
Later on, at the end of that campaign, the PC's returned and routed out the Gnolls from the town they occupied in the middle of that valley. During one of the battles the PC's killed the High Shaman of the Gnolls who had a magic flail that their legends said had been gifted to their tribe by Yeenoghu. The PC's took the flail and retreated to the ruined tower they were using as a base of operations.
Every able bodied warrior in the tribe turned out and the Gnolls surrounded the tower and demanded the flail be returned. The PC's decided to bargain and said, "We'll have our best warrior fight your best warrior. If you win, we give back the flail. If we win, your tribe must leave the valley never to return!" The Gnolls agreed.
The next day, the Gnolls' Ranger Champion turned up to fight the party's champion (who also happened to be a Ranger). They squared off and the Gnoll got a couple lucky shots in on the party Ranger and wound up mortally wounding him. The party refused to hand over the flail at first and instead turned on the assembled Gnolls using Fireballs and such. It was a big melee and at the end the party Druid gave them back the flail to get the remaining Gnolls to take it and go away. They left and the Ranger was dead.
What I found so utterly hilarious about the situation was that the Ranger's favored enemy was GNOLLS and he went on and on about what "honorless, untrustworthy DOGS" they were. And yet the party was striking up a bargain with them and expected the Gnolls to keep their word. But when the dust settled, the Gnolls HAD kept their word and the PC's had broken theirs! Damn, that was funny!
Course, the next thing that happened was the Druid went into Wild Shape form as a hawk and sent Flaming Spheres rolling all through their village and burned the whole place to the ground. Good times.
The players always detested Gnolls after that. But it was nothing compared to the hate-on they had for kobolds after they had to clear them from the mines underneath the village the Gnolls had occupied....
