His powerful booming but smooth voice continues to increase his presence in the hall, "The Pactmasters acknowledge no such thing and have thus sent us to reclaim the land rightfully The Dawnflowers and theirs. You twist words to try and confuse the subject. You cavort with demons and their ilk. Repent your ways and see her light or be scorched by her fury."
As the dialog continues between Bahir and Kardswann, Daumari begins eye'ing up the gnoll to the chieftain's left and checks the readiness of his weapons. The gnoll appears as an eager spectator for some upcoming event. Efreat begins scanning the meager crowd, but doesn't notice anything abnormal about these creatures, except Kardswann of course. They all seem rather eager for something, except the three humans sitting at the table. The two men at the table have a look of concern on their faces as if something bad is going to happen. The woman just looks stoned and in her happy place.
Bahir continues speaking with a booming voice, "The Pactmasters acknowledge no such thing and have thus sent us to reclaim the land rightfully The Dawnflowers and theirs. You twist words to try and confuse the subject. You cavort with demons and their ilk. Repent your ways and see her light or be scorched by her fury."
As Bahir speaks his last word, Kardswann pounds the butt of his greataxe into the floor, causing a large amount of dust to begin falling from the balcony. "Enough!" he yells as Undrella moves slightly away from the agitated man. "I tire of your disruption. You have caused me enough headaches already. It is time that this battle stage be put to use." Kardswann raises both of his arms up into the air. "Honored guests," he roars, "I offer you 500 pieces of gold for each of these strangers corpses!" Before you can even process what was just said, the orge at the bar leaps to his feet and in an amazing feat of agility, jumps up onto the stage next to Bahir. The three bugbears at the bar turn around, grab their mugs, and all three start chugging their drinks.
Seeing the ogre suddenly leap onto the stage, Mah'ysa immediately takes a defensive stance and starts singing an inspirational song to inspire courage in her fellow comrades. Bahir immediately draws his scimitar and takes a defensive stance as well in response to the ogre's appearance.
Not appearing threatened by the Paladin, the ogre pulls back his arm, steps forward, and takes a swing at Bahir with his fist , but the Paladin is successfully able to block his punch. The three bugbears at the bar finish chugging their drinks, slam them down onto the bar, pick up their shields and morningstars, and turn towards you. One of the men at the table takes a sip of his drink, then sets it back down casually. Up above, the three on the balcony step back from the edge and out of sight.
Initiative order:
- Mah'ysa
- Bahir
- Foes
- Paellat
- Daumari
- Hazreem
- Efreat
ROUND 1
Pae on his turn will move to bypass the ogre tumbling through the brutes legs to gain a flanking position.
Acrobatics including armour check penalty
Move through an enemy's space DC 5 + opponent's Combat Maneuver Defense
(as movement is halved when tumbling this will probably be a full round action for Pae)
Paellat runs up onto the stage, maneuvers past Bahir, and successfully tumbles unscathed between the creatures legs leaving himself in a flanking position with Bahir. Daumari, seeing that Bahir and Paellat appear to have this ogre under control, draws his bow and moves to face the new threat coming from the bar. Gaining line of sight, he fires off an arrow at the nearest bugbear. His shot would have just missed, but the inspiration he is getting from Mah'ysa's song was enough to cause him to hit with a grazing wound dealing 3 points of damage.
Hazreem begins calling upon Gozreh, asking for assistance and begins summoning animal spirits to the north end of the stage. Efreat quickly moves along edge of the stage towards the southern section to try and keep hidden while keeping the orge in spell range. Firing off a ray of fire, he hits the ogre and deals 8 points of damage.
Mah'ysa, while continuing her inspiration song, casts a protective spell on herself. Bahir, blocking the ogre's blow, returns in kind with a blow of his own. Slashing his scimitar into the ogre's torso, he deals 9 points of damage to the beast.
The ogre, clearly not happy with these quick sword fighters, tries an upper-cut which lands cleanly under Bahir's jaw, causing his head to be jerked back forcefully .
All three of the bugbears begin advancing on your position. The closest two come around the north end of the bleachers and make their way next to Daumari, weapons raised ready to attack. One of them is not too happy at being shot by the Ranger. The third bugbear, who was the farthest away at the bar, works his way around the west end of the bleachers and heads towards Daumari along the northern edge of the stage.
Upstairs, the trio have returned. Kardswann reappears and sits down in his throne, apparently satisfied at watching the show below. The large gnoll sits down, but leans over the railing. In his right hand you notice a small blade reflecting in the sunlight. He appears to have more held in his left hand. Undrella reappears as well, but she jumps up onto the railing, her taloned feet gripping the edge, peering down wings spread at the combat below. She is holding a wicked looking morningstar in her taloned hands.
Suddenly, a door to the west of the stage swings open and four gnolls armed with battle axes and wooden shields emerge ready to join the fray. Up on the second floor, Jank upper body can be seen running past the railing of the balcony heading to the southern end of the building. Behind the bar, the gnoll bartender just watches.
You're in my way.
An eagerness can be heard in Daumari's voice, and he can't help but follow the movement of the four gnolls out of the corner of his eye. The ranger drops his bow to the ground and starts swinging his hammers, bring one of the weighted ends up in defense while the second arcs around at the injured bugbear.
Wiping blood from the corner of his mouth with the back of his sword hand he glares up at the ogre as the bruises and bleeding heal before everyones eyes and he growls, "That hurt but you don't have Sarenrae and a vicious halfling on your side." He spins bringing the flashing blade across the ogres opposite leg.
After tumbling between the ogre's legs, Paellat quickly turns and drives his rapier deep into the ogre's vital organs, causing the beast to cry out in pain. Blood begins spilling out of this open wound. Daumari, seeing two of the bugbear take up a position next to him, drops his long bow and draws his meteor hammers already spinning in a defensive posture. One of his hammers lash out at the already injured creature but fails to score.
Suddenly, three dogs appear out of nowhere on the north edge of the stage. They immediately spot a bugbear moving just below where they appeared. All three jump down off the stage and ferociously attack the creature. . One of the dogs latches its fierce jaw onto the leg of the beast and bites down hard drawing blood. After completing his summoning, Hazreem moves north around the bleachers to try and cut off the bugbears escape route. Efreat, seeing that the ogre on the stage hasn't fallen, blasts it again with another ray of fire. The smell of scorched flesh fills the air.
Mah'ysa pulls out her sling while continuing to sing her inspirational song. She aims her sling at the bugbear that Daumari is attacking. Even though the shot is more difficult with Daumari being in melee with the creature, she manages to score a direct hit and deal 6 points of damage. Meanwhile back up on the stage, Bahir taunts the ogre as the blood and bruises on his jaw suddenly heal. But the ogre doesn't get a chance to respond to the taunt as the Paladin's scimitar flashes across the lower half of its body causing more blood to begin spilling down its right leg and onto the already stained stage floor. After being skewered, slashed, and burned, the ogre collapses with a loud thud like a giant tree falling over. A pool of blood begins to form around him.
The two bugbears next to Daumari attempt to slam him with their morningstars. Both creatures strike Daumari, one of which smashes his morningstar directly on the top of Daumari's head causing the Ranger to fall immediately unconscious, his body collapsing limply on the floor, blood running out of a wound on his head. The remaining bugbear tries to smack the dog that latched onto its leg smacking the dog hard across the snout
The four gnolls that rushed into the chamber last round begin joining the battle. The first two gnolls out the door make their way onto the stage and come right up behind Paellat, slashing at him with their battle axes but neither is able to make contact against the quick Halfling. The other two gnolls start moving around the stage on the southern side towards Efreat's position.
Up on the balcony, Undrella leaps off the ledge and glides down with amazing speed. She sails right past Efreat, swinging at him with her morningstar as she flies by , but the attack is deflected harmlessly by his magical armor. The gnoll sitting next to Kardswann tosses a dagger down onto the stage, but it misses its target and instead embeds into the wooden stage next to Bahir. He moves another dagger into his right hand, ready to throw another. On the second floor, Jank moves away the from edge and is no longer visible.
Paellat, witnessing 2 gnolls approaching from behind, tumbles again to end up behind the gnoll and then waits for Bahir to get into position for a flank. The three dogs continue their attack on the lone bugbear but none are able to get ahold of the creature with their jaws. Hazreem seeing the Ranger fall, quickly moves toward the beast that hit him and slashes him with his scimitar and dealing the fatal blow. The beast falls lifelessly to the ground next to Daumari.
Viewing gnolls coming for him, Efreat draws his dagger and moves to engage them first. Getting within 10 feet of the nearest gnoll, he yells "Flear'zish!!" and a cone of vivid colors bursts from his free hand. The multi-colored spray engulfs both of the gnolls coming at him as well as one of the gnolls standing at the edge of the stage, but comes up short from hitting the Halfling Rogue. Two of the gnolls, the two further away from Efreat including the one on the stage, grab their eyes before collapsing onto the ground. The gnoll in front of Efreat simply eyes him up and growls.
Mah'ysa, seeing that Daumari has fallen from a severe blow, quickly moves to his aid while maintaining her inspirational song. Laying her hand on him and saying a quick prayer, she is confident that he'll live to fight another battle. With the ogre down, Bahir climbs over the beast's bleeding body to engage the new foe on the battle stage. When he moves into position flanking with the Rogue, Pae immediately lunges at the suddenly distracted gnoll and sinks with rapier deep into the creature. Bahir follows up with his scimitar, cutting deep into the hyena-like creature from the other side. As the two remove their weapons, the gnoll falls limp onto the battle stage.
Trying to keep the dogs off him, the bugbear being assulted by the canines swings at the one he hit last round. and smacks the dog across the shoulder, the spikes on the morningstar digging deep into the dog's flesh. The dog collapses onto the ground, blood seeping from his jaw and shoulder. The other bugbear, witnessing Hazreem take down his buddy, steps over his comrade's still bleeding body and attacks Hazreem with his battle axe but the Druid easily sees it coming and effortlessly blocks it with his shield. The remaining gnoll standing moves to bury his axe in the Sorcerer but Efreat is easily able to move out of the way.
Suddenly, four more gnolls appear on the southern part of the 2nd floor balcony armed with short bows. Four arrows come flying down towards the battle stage, one heading towards Paellat, two at Bahir, and one towards Mah'ysa. Clearly these gnolls are more experienced with shooting those on the stage than off of it as the arrows coming towards Bahir are near their mark. One of these arrows hits and manages to make its way under his chainmail and digs deep into his gut. The other deflects harmlessly off his armor.
Undrella, having flown back upward from making a fly-by attack on Efreat, swoops back down. This time she flies down past Mah'ysa, swinging her morningstar as she goes past and pounding the Cleric hard in the back while she is kneeling over Daumari The gnoll on the third floor lobs yet another dagger down onto the battle stage, but doesn't even come close to hitting anyone. The bartender and the three humans sitting at the bar table just continue to watch intently.
The two remaining dogs continue their attack on the bugbear but are unable to sink their teeth in before they suddenly vanish into thin air just as they had appeared. Hazreem takes a step around to the side and tries to deliver a mighty blow with his scimitar to finish this beast off, but his extra effort only causes him to miss the beast completely.
Efreat takes a step back from the gnoll swinging an axe at him and yells "Shiz'nar!". Searing flames erupt from the fingers of his free hand, covering the both the gnoll in front of him and the unconscious gnoll behind. As the flames clear, the front gnoll is screaming and patting down the flames on his now bare skin. The back gnoll is still lying motionless on the ground, smoke rising from where hair used to reside.
Standing back up after being hit from behind in a fly-by attack, Mah'ysa pulls out her sling glove and fires at the harpy flying above. But Undrella is maneuvering too quickly and the shot goes wide. Pulling the arrow out of his side, Bahir's wounds appear to heal on its own. Jumping off of the stage towards the smoking gnoll near Efreat, he slashes the creature with his scimitar dealing the fatal blow that drops the gnoll. Paellat moves over to the next unconscious gnoll on the stage and performs a coup-de-grace.
Now free of the canine assault, the freed bugbear steps forward into a flanking position with his bugbear comrade against Hazreem. The both attack but only one of them makes contact and only for minimal damage . On the second floor balcony, the four gnolls fire off another volley of arrows but they clearly need some practice against people not on the battle stage.
Undrella swoops back around and dives towards Mah'ysa once again. "Keep singing darling, its time for your final performance!" she squauks and she swings her morningstar as she flies past. Mah'ysa gets a full view this time as she is hit in the chest . Another dagger lodges itself in the battle stage with a thud near where Efreat is standing.
Hazreem steps closer to the fallen Ranger and swings his scimitar for another mighty blow, but this time he makes contact with the bugbear and deals 6 points of damage. Efreat, seeing that the last gnoll has fallen, looks up at the flying harpy. Drawing upon his inner fire, he launches a ray of fire in the air scoring a direct hit for 5 points of damage. Meanwhile Mah'ysa fires a shot herself at the harpy and also strikes the flying creature for 5 points.
The duo of death, Paellat and Bahir, move north to engage the remaining bugbears. But Bahir's greater speed allows him to reach one of them this round and attack. Slashing the bugbear already with a severe bite mark on its leg, Bahir is easily able to put this creature down in a single swing of his blade.
Knowing that there is no retreat in the presence of the master above, the sole remaining bugbear continues to fight. Swinging his moringstar at Hazreem with everything he's got left, he manages to score another head hit similar to what his comrade just did to the Ranger but Hazreem is able to shake it off and stay conscious.
The four gnolls on the second floor fire off a third volley of arrows. One of the arrows strikes Efreat and another arrow strikes Mah'ysa Undrella flying above makes another dive attack against Mah'ysa , striking her again. The sound of another dagger clanking against the stone flooring near Efreat's feet is heard.
Moving north to keep the flying harpy within spell range, Efreat yells "Burn!" and another ray of fire emanates from his free hand striking the strange woman and causing her to fumble a little in flight. The death duo moves again, this time to the northeast to get into a flanking position with Hazreem to try and finish off the last remaining bugbear. While yelling, "Mah'ysa get Daumari back on his feet!", Bahir's scimitar moves with lightning fast speed, impaling the last creature standing. At the same time, Paellat's Rapier punctures it from the other side. As they remove their weapons, the beast falls next to his fellow drinking buddy.
Seeing the Rogue and Paladin finish off the last bugbear, Hazreem leans down to tend to Daumari. Drawing on the healing energy of Gozreh, he heals the near fatal wounds of Daumari. Mah'ysa, seeing her whole party nearby, moves 5 feet to be over Daumari's position and within 30 feet of the whole party while keeping that thing in air just out of range. She draws upon the blessing of Sarenrae causing a wave of healing energy to flow through everyone. With a soft moan, Daumari begins stirring on the ground beneath Mah'ysa. He holds his head and complains of a splitting headache.
Up in the air, the Harpy seems to have taken enough of this beating and retreats back to the third floor balcony, flying out of sight. Kardswann stands and begins clapping his hands together in applause. In a booming voice he says, "You have proven yourselves quite worthy. Come. Join me upstairs as we have much to discuss." The four gnolls on the second floor move away from the edge of the balcony and disappear out of sight. Without waiting for a response, Kardswann and the other gnoll both turn away as well and disappear from view.
Down by the bar, the three humans begin applauding and stand up, continuing their applause. Off in the shadows by the far south closed main entrance door, you think you make out the outline of another humanoid figure who is cautiously watching the events that just took place.