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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Rel" data-source="post: 19948" data-attributes="member: 99">Blood and FireRhys took a moment to absorb the ramifications of Speaks' message and began to crank the windlass furiously.  There were 30 Gnolls outside, Krase was dead and if he didn't get the drawbridge shut soon, he and Speaks were going to wind up the same way.Speaks cast an Entangle spell that caught almost the entire Gnollish force within its grasp (I never cease to be amazed at how big that spell is.  Krase's player recently made us some templates for spell effects out of heavy Mylar and the one for Entangle is Sixteen Inches Across!.  It utterly dominates the battlemat.).A second later, another trio of the magical bolts shot from dog-lizards some 120 feet away and this time Speaks was their target.  They sailed into him causing considerable pain.The majority of the Gnolls were now trapped within the grasping roots and vines that had proved their bane the previous day.  Roughly a third of them, including the priests and Urrgol managed to scurry out of the area before they were caught.  Most of the rest struggled in vain at their bonds.  The few who thought to hurl their javelins at the Druid had their aim foiled by the vines that grabbed them and their weapons clattered harmlessly off the wall of the tower.Rhys continued to crank the windlass with every ounce of his strength.  Through one of the arrow slits that looked out onto the top of the stairs, he could see the gnolls who had escaped the entanglement already angling towards the bottom of the stairs.  The drawbridge was not nearly high enough to prevent the Gnolls from leaping across to it.  And if just one Gnoll managed to get on the bridge, the weight would be entirely too much for Rhys to crank up by himself.Speaks saw this too and decided that he needed to buy time for Rhys.  He called upon the forces of Nature for an Ally and summoned a flaming Salamander at the base of the stairs.  The creature immediately slithered forth and attacked at Urrgol but missed.Just as Speaks completed his spell, a pair of crossbow bolts shot from where the dog-lizards were and struck him with frightening accuracy.  He recoiled back from the edge of the parapet in pain.Urrgol struck back at the Salamander and dealt it a wound that bled magma, spreading fire among the weeds at its feet.  The Gnoll priest hurried to the side of Urrgol, calling out to the other Gnolls, "Free yourselves and come to me!"Rhys could hear the cry of the priest just outside near the base of the stairs.  He was unaware that the Salamander was keeping the Gnolls occupied for the moment.  He continued to haul at the spokes on the windlass, a profuse sweat starting to break out on his brow.Speaks could see the dog-lizards dancing with glee just outside the clearing.  Their missile fire was starting to take a severe toll on him but the group of Gnolls who had made it clear of the Entangle were threatening to overwhelm the stairs if he didn't do something.  He cast another Entangle directly adjacent to the first, giving the Gnolls a larger obstacle to run around and catching another of the shamans inside the area.  Then he ducked low so that only his head and shoulders were visible between the crenellations.As he had predicted, the dog-lizards shot another cluster of their "force bolts" at him.  But he hadn't anticipated that their fire would be so accurate and he staggered under the assault.  He simply couldn't take another such attack.Urrgol swung again at the Salamander but missed this time, the damage he had taken from Krase beginning to take its toll.  The Gnoll priest swung his flail at the fiery creature and wounded it further.  The group of Gnolls who were free of the entangled area stopped abruptly when they found their path blocked by more grasping weeds.  The changed direction and kept running, seeking a way around the entanglement to the stairs at the base of the tower.Rhys glanced out the arrow slit and saw that the drawbridge was halfway up now.  It would be very difficult for a Gnoll to leap far enough to catch the edge of it.  It was time for him to take the battle to the enemy.  He hooked the windlass in place with a rope attached to the wall for that purpose.  Then he ran into the entryway and stopped at the edge of the steeply slanting drawbridge.Speaks dropped down, completely out of sight of the dog-lizards and used some healing magic on himself.  He knew that Rhys would need more of his help to hold the door, but the attacks of the dog-lizards had wounded him badly.Below, his Salamander ally struck with its whip-like tail and spear and finally connected with Urrgol.  The flaming spear caught the giant Gnoll under the armpit as he hauled back to swing his greatsword again.  The spear drove deep into his chest and blood flowed from his mouth before he fell to the ground lifeless.The priest called out the other Gnolls, "Come quickly!  We must strike them now!", hoping to inspire the trapped Gnolls to break free.  But they were hopelessly stuck in the vines.  In frustration, the priest swung his flail at the Salamander but missed this time.Rhys took a moment to cast Spider Climb before he scurried to the top of the partially raised drawbridge.  Taking a quick look around, he could see the priest facing off with the Salamander in front of him, just behind the staircase.  Off to his left, he could see a crowd of nearly a dozen Gnolls running towards the stairs.  An evil grin parted his lips.Speaks used a second healing spell on himself.  He knew that if he was going to be any use to Rhys, he was going to need to be able to withstand more of the punishing attacks of the dog-lizards.The Samander struck at the priest this time and his flaming tail lashed the creature, singeing away a swath of fur on its leg.  The priest howled in fury and struck again with his flail but his aim failed again.Seeing the priest in danger, the cluster of Gnolls who had just rounded the second Entangle rushed to his aid.  A pair of them crowded into the narrow space between the entangled area and the staircase to attempt a flank of their flaming foe.  The rest climbed the broad stairs hoping to use the height advantage to strike down at the Salamander or perhaps use an axe to hook the top of the drawbridge to bring it down again.Rhys had his evil grin interrupted when a crossbow bolt buried itself in the door of the drawbridge, just under his chin.  Another bolt shot above his head and he heard it shatter on the back wall of the room behind him.  Whoever those dog-lizards were, their shooting was horribly accurate.But there was no time to worry about that now.  His hand hovered above his magical scrollcase and summoned a scroll into it.  A very precious scroll that he had paid dearly for but was ideal for this circumstance.  He read the scroll and waved his hand.  A small red pellet flew from his fingers to land halfway down the staircase before detonating in a tremendous Fireball 40 feet across!With the exception of the Gnollish priest, every one of the gnolls fell dead where they stood, their flesh charred to the bone.  The priest stood agape at the raw power his foes were capable of.  He knew in that moment that he would not live to see another day.As the smoke from the fireball swirled skyward, Speaks leaned forward over the parapet to see what had happened.  He saw the death throes of a couple of the Gnolls as well as the shocked stillness of the Gnoll cleric.  Opposite the priest stood his Salamander who was as happy and at home as could be among the flames.  Off in the edge of the treeline he saw the dog-lizards.  With the deaths of virtually all of the unentangled Gnolls, they were his primary concern.  He unleashed a third Entangle in their area and was pleased to see them scrambling to escape the reach of the roots.  Glancing below again, he saw the Salamander wink out of existence as it returned to its fiery home plane.The priest, barely clinging to consciousness, staggered away in the only direction that offered escape.  But his attempted escape was to be short lived.  Rhys raised his crossbow and shot him in the back as he fled, knocking him to the ground, never to rise.Rhys' triumph was cut short when a pair of the force bolts flung by the dog-lizards hit him in the face.  He shook off the effects but decided that he quickly needed to take cover.The dog-lizards who had escaped being entangled in the first few moments of the spell escaped from the area and fled back into the woods.  Those who had been caught rapidly began slipping free from their bonds with surprising agility.  They too fled back into the safety of the dense woods further up the ridge.Speaks conjured another Flaming Sphere and began to assault the Gnolls who remained entangled outside the tower.  Rhys used his Spider Climb spell to climb across and down the wall of the tower to the area between the stairs and the base of the tower.  From there, he could see a trio of Gnolls trapped within the initial Entangle that Speaks had cast.  He began to shoot at them.Apparently inspired by the sheer terror of watching half a score of their comrades roasted alive, the remaining Gnolls began to break free of the vines and weeds that held them.  As quickly as they could, they escaped the from the area affected by the spell and fled the area of the tower.Rhys fired at the retreating Gnolls to assure that they entertained no thoughts of turning back for another try at the tower.  As they ran, yelping into the forest, he stood up from his position and smiled at having successfully defended the tower from their attack.But then his gaze wandered skyward and came to rest upon the lifeless body of Krase, hanging in mid-air 40 feet above the scorched and bloodied battlefield.  His smile disappeared and he knew for certain that he had lost a friend.NEXT:  Revenge!</blockquote>

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