Khayal lifts his kukri, charging one of the shadows on the edge of Hajar's light.
His kukri thirsts for the blood of gnolls as he brings it down on the closest one.
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Paige shreaks in proper Owl fashion. How fearsome she sounds.
Hajar's weapon hit the gnoll before it could bring up its' battleaxe, and Khayal's kukris finished the job. There was nothing left for Yazi, so she hit the nearby gnoll , and it fell, as well.
ROUND FOUR
Init:
Hajar continues his assault on the nearest Gnoll
Bartan moves forward, drawing the second-to-last card from his original harrow deck.
=> The Rakshasa (Lawful Evil, Intelligence)
He then charges it up with arcane energy and releases it at the closest gnoll (marked with an orange arrow for clarity).
plus negative energy
Khayal moves to one of the remaining gnolls
fail so entangled. Thankfully, right next to an enemy.
Khayal went in amongst the roots Paige-the-owl had raised. The gnoll tried to block with its' battleaxe, but it was still entangled, the fighter cut him down with ease. Bartan's playing card hit a corpse as it fell. Hajar also swiftly dealt with the gnoll coming off of the rocky ridge to the north, leaving nothing for Yazi's greatsword.
The last gnoll standing saw all this, and turned away, running as fast up the ridge as its' legs could take it. The gnoll still on its' back tried to crawl away, trailing blood.
Paige comes down in the center of the ring of entangled roots, changed shape to human form and dispelling the druid-ish magic. Obviously we are back in Gnoll country. We must be getting close.
ROUND FIVE
Init:
Bartan moves around the circle of entanglement, then pulls out the last harrow card from his original deck, imbues it with another touch attack from his chill touch spell, and tosses it.
The Vision (Chaotic Neutral, Intelligence)
plus negative energy
With the roots dismissed Khayal charges the fleeing gnoll.
If any of the creatures remains alive during Hajar's turn, he will spare its life in order to question it.
Khayal and Bartan manage to kill the fleeing gnoll outright. The gnoll on the ground trying to crawl away almost expired from loss of blood, but Hajar's Lay on Hands saved it.
Hajar sheathes Tempest and speaks in the Gnollish tongue I am Hajar nar Jundi, Abbot Protector of Kelmerane and Blessed Servant of Sarenrae. You will tell me your name, and how you came to attack us this night.
"Bah!" the gnoll barked back. "There is nothing you can do that the Carrion Guard would not do, once they learned of my failure! We should have gotten closer before we attacked - we did not know you had spells!"
Hajar responds in Gnollish The mercy of Sarenrae shines upon you Gnoll. Did you know of our coming? Or did you happen upon us?
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In Gnollish "You follow the Rough Beast also? " Hajar says, an edge to his voice.
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"Who, me? I just go with whoever's bringing the meat."
The gnoll's a coward, his loyalty shifting with the wind. But he's telling the truth - for now.
"Don't listen to a single thing that beast says. He's full of lies."
Hajar says, in the Common Tongue All beings are capable of redemption and reflection. This one will have that chance too.
In Gnollish Hajar says Go with the Light of Sarenrae, go far from the Carrion King and his worship of the Rough Beast. Kelmerane will take you, if you prove you are not a threat. Do not cross paths with us again unless you come in peace.
And Hajar lets the Gnoll go.
Khayal shakes his head, I give him a 1 in 5 chance of reforming at best.
So the morning breaks on the 13th day you've been going up this river looking at the Pale Mountain in the distance getting slowly larger. But now you've run into at least one patrol. What do you want to do now?
Continue on...What other choice is there?
Agreed, let's continue ahead now that we've rested up.
Underway as before.
Hopefully next time Khayal is wearing his armor. Although Hajar did a pretty good job of not being hit.
That gnoll may indeed reform, but only until the next good deal comes along. You cannot expect any creature to act other than it's nature. Paige continues on with her friends, helping wherever she can. She carves spiral shapes in the dust with a stick as they travel along. The balance of the labyrinths will protect us. As in, so out. As up so down. As wide so deep.
Traveling along, the Pale River finally comes to a split at the foot of Pale Mountain. You've been going uphill all this time. Now you have a choice: left or right?
Pale Mountain Region map updated.
Faint gnoll tracks lead left, clock-wise around the mountain. The other way is blank.
The close ridges and smaller mountains to the left are perfect ambush kill-boxes. To the right, or counter-clockwise, the river is wider, and more open. Of course, more open means spotted more easily, too.
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Panting that she was, mind you, attributing to lack of traveling over the past year and the change in terrain rather than Bartan due to principle she nontheless manages to, or perhaps because of her need to rest more every so often, to spot a few things about their surroundings. "Okay, so we got Fuzzy tracks going to our left into the ridges, definitely trapped all to Gormuz and back. The right looks okay though... Though it's open and a rise in the river could have easily covered any tracks, or they might even have barges."
Good eye Yazi, I prefer to fight in the open anyway. What do you guys think.
I wish i had brought a thicker cloak! And my wool undies.
"If there are traps in the left direction, I agree we should go right. Yazi my dear, lead the way."
Hajar shakes his head at the two, but the flat and open plain sounds like the best idea to him also.
As you stare at the fork in the river, you realize you're going to have to ford across, mules and all.