Kori looks around, trying to find a good place in the building to call it a night, "Hey, Short-legs, do what you can to get Lizard-friend in fighting shape. Otherwise, he's gonna drop again too soon. If you have anything left over, I think we could all use a little."
Walking into the room, Dmitri scowls at the face of the man who is so unkempt in his weakness. Fragility was a trait for women and women only, and boy, did this man happen to be so. It bothered him, but age was a fickle mistress indeed.
As he ventured about the dusty old mansion he trailed his fingers across various bits of furniture, or walls, drawing clean lines across the cloudy decor. "We killed quite a few of the vermin just now. Enjoyable as it was, we took injury. My companions will be resting here for the night, I believe. Plenty of time for you to acquaint yourself." he said to the old, wooden man.
The thought of joining the harpy for another night excites him, in a bad way. Truly it was an awful habit, his debauchery, but such was his faith. He accepts any healing primarily offered, and bids the group of you ado, then ventures carefully towards Undrella's homestead to inform her of what happened.
"I shall return in the morning, tomorrow. If anyone requires my assistance, you'll know where to find me." He says as he opens the door on the other end carefully. Thinking back, he's still rather upset with Apollo's foolishness. He lacked the build and the wit to enter combat safely. It was in Dmitri's nature to take injury, but at the very least he knew his limits, and knew which blows to not take.
As he walked to Undrella's his hand touched his forehead, scythe on his back, and thought back to the gash that had so recently been inflicted. Aloud, he spoke to himself. "They're getting better..." The statement is followed by a low, excited giggle. Dmitri had yet to truly lose himself in a situation, but he more than just looked a little forward to it.
The little man scurries back and forth, trying to accommodate his rescuers as much as he can. He doesn't have any food, obviously, but it appears that he's spend most of his time cleaning the place up and re-arranging/fixing furniture. He eagerly listens to the heroes, and accepts a smaller bedroom so that the others can have the space for their own.
"Did you see anything interesting out there? I mean, gnolls, I'm sure, but...anything else?" he asks.
Dmitri is anticipated, approaching Undrella's. She opens the door just as he gets close, biting her lip and waggling her eyebrows. Her voice scratchy and rough, she murmurs, "I knew you'd be back."
Dmitri's romp lasts much of the night, and the rest of the group battens down for the night in the much more comfortable, undespoiled, manor house. The sun rises with no accompanying rooster crow, but rather an intensely loud and piercing howl.
Rubbing the back of his head, Apollo mumbles; Yea. Something big and black. Dmitri seemed to know more about it than me. Why d'ya ask? Know more than you're letting on?
The man just raises an eyebrow at the civilian, awaiting an answer.
Kori has another glorious dream of violent raging battles, the power of increased size, spiked armor bristling as she threw around the enemy like rag dolls. This time it was a little different, though, her command of the forces on her side allowed her to turn them back to fighting the most fearsome of enemies, commanding them to put aside their cowardice. She bolstered their fighting power by granting them the life gift that Short-legs often uses on her. She grants them protection with just a wave of her hand. She recognizes the power of magic when she sees it, and here it is helping almost as much as the force of her arms.
The large figure that had loomed before peers down at her with approval. She looks back at him, accepting the offer of assistance he has given her, concedes to twisting this magic to continue to fight like a storm of sword and fist. He looks past her changing the direction of his gaze. In kind, she turns just in time to see a large serpent like the one she almost beheaded. Narrowly avoiding a deadly bite, it hits her directly where the last one had, and the burn of poison returns. She once again drops the snake with an angry slash, but the burn of the poison does not abate, it grows instead. The pain is all-consuming and it begins to spread, driving down to her knee, burning in her toes. When it begins to climb she sees no recourse than to cut it out. She takes her two swords, and in a scissor-like move removes the leg above the thigh.
She shoots up from her temporary bed, a scream growled loudly through clenched teeth. She rips the blankets off of her, at least somewhat comforted to see the leg is still there. The burn, though, is as well. It no longer spreads through the limb, stopping right where she had dreamed of removing it, but the pain is constant. She rubs the offending limb in an attempt to ease the pain, asking where the great godly warrior was now, recognizing him finally as the one she had been taught was called Gorum. Luckily her ministrations actually eased the pain, somewhat, but it still remained preventing her from standing at first.
Amazed by this new power, she looks at her hands in surprise. She is oddly aware, and even somewhat understands, the new power within her. This god of war has blessed her with his power, a power that allows her to fight on as an even more fearsome warrior. She is granted a little more understanding of how this strange world really works. Getting up, she prepares herself, but recognozes that the pain in her leg remains. It is not the pain of injury, it is the pain of sacrifice. This violent god of war, this Gorum, wants her to know that to recieve his gifts she must be willing to face pain every day of her life.
Angmar gets up in the morning. Despite have been bruised and battered by some Gnolls yesterday the Dwarf is feeling good, actually better than ever.
Wit age comes wisdom is what they always tolds ya... the Dwarf thinks to himself as he speaks his morning prayers to Angradd and get his work out done.
Dmitri's dream was quick as it was cruel. Having fallen asleep in the arms of Undrella, he felt right at home. He'd found an outlet for the time being for his diabolical urges. In his dream he'd found himself bound to the ground, still in his armor. A pathetic, small creature, a Dretch, from the yawn of the abyss. It stood there, a key in it's hand.
Moving around, Dmitri could get to his knees but his arm was jammed into some awful bit of coal-black tar, an uncomely concoction. It was the same bathory as always, really. The same-tinted windows, the same pool, the allure of the smell, but this time it was different, if only a little. This foul liquid that clang to him like glue was everywhere, even on the dretch. And it was spreading.
The Dretch was... odd. It slurked in the corner and stayed away from him for the most part. It was a lesser creature with poor intelligence, he knew this. "Lowly creature of the abyss, I serve Lilith, and I demand you give me that key." he said stoutly. The creature giggled, licking it's awful teeth and shaking its head. It was dumb, for sure, and far gone on ignorance. It teased the key against the black tar, much to Dmitri's dismay.
"Foul Dretch!" he yelled, as the tar clang to the back of his hair. and pulled him down. "Give me that key!" he shouted again. The room began to melt around him, but he knew he needed that item the creature had. It teasily came closer to him but stopped at a certain point just a few feet away as Dmitri felt the ground give way and he, himself, begin to sink.
Cursing in Abyssal, his eyes flared a mighty, dark, fearful red. Reaching out, the evil form of his insatiability clawed the ground as well as it took form on his hands. The Dretch kept snickering, but Dmitri's arm grew further and took a sickly, evil form so unlike him. Finally the Tendrils grew too long and reached it as the tar began to encompass his face.
Whatever it was that became visible in that moment, it must have been ghastly enough to force the dretch to throw the ring, because it fleed as far and as fast as it could, toppling out of the window as Dmitri raised quickly in his bed.
Looking at his forearm, he felt a giggle build up. A subtle, black rune decorated his palm, a cruelty, granted by his dark mistress. Clenching his fist, he stood up from the bed. He had ignored the culling howl of the morning, far too lost in his new blessings. They were quick, really. Undrella would satiate his urges for a while, but he needed more.
He needed to please Lilith more.
With that, he bid the well-satisfied harpy goodbye, and walked to the group once again. A dark aura following him.
After a harrowing night for some, and quite a restful night for others, the mercenaries group up yet again in the manor house, ready for another day.
The weaselly Pathfinder that they rescued stands on the edge of their awareness, wringing his hands and clenching his teeth. "Were...were you ever planning on taking me someplace safe? Or...or at least rescuing my friends?" He nervously chews on a nail before checking that, yes, he still has a bit of scrounged food in his bag.
Kori is in an already bad mood, the constant pain in her leg souring her attitude. She turns on the sniveling man with a snap, "I told you when we found you. We will leave when we are done. If we find your friends while we work, we will send them to you. If you want something more done about it, you should stand up for your damn self and help us clear out this place."
With that cleared up, she gathers her things and prepares to move out as soon as the others are ready. As she nears the door, she points out the front window, "Is that one of your friends?"
The little man squints out of the window. "Hm." He rubs at the window, clearing it of a little bit of grime. "Hm." He puts his hands around his eyes, raccoon-style, to shield them from a few rays of light. "Yes! Yes, it must be. That's Oxvard! He was our cleric."
Angmar studies the movement outdoors. Hmm a cleric ye says? Maybe we should go and save em! Or are ye all not ready for another fight?
As everyone balks at the sudden sight of something outside, Dmitri can't help but unsheathe his scythe in cruel anticipation. However, before he continues on to look out the window at the sudden mention of a cleric, everyone seems rather roused to him. Without much concern for the matter he places the shaft of Tempest against Apollo's chest, giving him a knowing look. "If he's being escorted, it doesn't take much to realize what by. I would personally not enjoy seeing your foolish entrails sprawled across the floor a second time this week." he says sternly.
Putting the scythe on his shoulder, Dmitri's hand surges with dark energy and coils with tendrils of black and strange, yet tantalizing forms. "With every blow I took yesterday, I grew stronger, it would seem." Looking to Koritylija, he smiles. "Dearest Koritylija, if I may, I would lead us into combat should you wish?"
Despite Dmitri's best efforts, he has not yet lead the group into combat. Were Kori not around, however, he would care little of the fact and be content with going in last, if only to get the most out of down-beaten enemies.
As Apollo watches the man, he grows tired of the silence and waves his right arm forwards as he searches the Manor for a sleeping chamber.
No answer....either he's too afraid to speak or he knows more than he's letting on. Whatever the case, I'm done for the night.
Preparing himself for a good nights rest, the bloodied man retires his hammer for the night, slinging it to his left, moments later placing his bow and arrow filled quiver to his right.
Either way he thought to himself, if something breaks into their place of rest overnight, he'd be able to reach one of his weapons.
As the night goes on, Apollo falls fast asleep yet it would seem his dreams would be as harsh to him as the weapon that fell him the previous day.
Apollo. said a voice quietly.
The man looked around, but nothing could be seen but darkness.
Apollo. said a voice, only slightly louder this time.
Looking into the distance, the brave but slightly foolish man squinted his eyes. Flowing in a non-existent wind were white glowing robes in the distance, but no matter how hard the man tried, he just couldn't look up or figure out who it was.
Apollo. the voice said much louder this time.
A woman? But who, and why can I not see her.
Apollo. Wake up. the voice said this time.
Apollo. Wake up. Wake up Apollo, you've got work to do.
Huh? But I am awake.
Apollo, wake up. You're not done here. You have work to do. Work to do for me. Wake up.........Wake up.......WAKE UP APOLLO! the voice finally shouted, as the man eventually worked out a smile on the woman's face, though he could only make out the bottom of her nose down to the chin in the blackness surrounding him.
Before he knew it, he was awake once more, sweating from what was most likely an anxiety dream, and shouting out loud I'M AWAKE! as he sprung fourth and upright from the position he originally lay in.
As the man regained his senses and decided that what he had experienced was just a bad dream, he swiveled around and climbed to his feet, preparing for the day ahead of him as he heard familiar voices echoing from the hallway outside his room.
Time to get a move on it would seem.
Stepping out from his chambers, the man could see everyone gathered around and looking out of the window. No sooner had he walked forward however, he was stopped by Dmitri.
What now? he thought to himself, as he listened to what pain-lover had to say.
GNOLLS!? the man questioned aloud.
Then what would you have me do? Stand by?....STAND BY AND WATCH AS THEY KILL YET ANOTHER INNOCENT PERSON?
Looking down at his wounds, it was clear to him that even with his indomitable will, going up alone against the group would be suicide.
Grunting, Apollo shrugged and sighed somewhat.
Going out there now would likely give our position away....and as much as it pains me to say, you're right. In my state currently I'd be able to offer very little help. If we ventured out together though, we may be able to save that man. I just hope you guys make the right choice.
As I hope not going out there alone is also the right decision to make...
Kori sneers with derision, not at the comments of her allies, but as her form of excitement over killing an enemy that deserves her derision. "Oh, Short-legs, I'm always ready for a fight." She turns to Dmitri with confusion, "Pain-lover, you don't need to ask me if you can lead, you just need to be faster. I ain't running the show here. You just may get there before me." she adds angrily as she punches her right leg for some reason, though not as hard as she hits others.
As she draws her blade, her eyes alight with the excitement she gets during battle, "We ain't standing by Lizard-friend. They are in our part of the town, seperated from their others, this is the best time to strike." With that she opens the door, and makes ready to rush at the things.
Angmar scolds Apollo once more. Ye know boy that these beasts is dangerous. So take it slow and stick to us. Don't think Angradd is in any mood to brings ye back again from the brink o' death today!
With that the Dwarf sets out behind Kori.
Leaving the manor house at a limping jog, Kori is quickly followed by Angmar and then the other members of her party. The gnolls don't notice the four's approach, at least for a time, because they push into the pesh fields with their prisoner, and then, strangely, begin to beat the ground with their large staffs. It takes until the group is just within attacking range for the gnolls to look up, but when they are noticed, the gnolls are quick to throw down their staffs and grab their axes.
Initiative:
Angmar - 25
Kori - 21
Dust Digger - 18
Dmitri - 6
Gnolls - 6
Apollo - 5
Kori is pleased with the idea of the fight to follow, and moves toward the closest pair or more amongst the group. As soon as she gets within range she swings her weapon.
Angmar swinging his newly acquired magical mace moves into position to take down the nearest Gnoll and hits it as hard as he can.
The gnolls are obviously not yet prepared for the assault that Kori and Angmar present to them, as they keep casting glances out and away, towards the center of the pesh fields and to the ground beneath them.
It's safe to say that their attention is re-directed when Angmar delivers a solid chest whallop to one gnoll and Kori guts the next with her sword. Dripping blood and entrails, one of the gnolls hits the ground.
Initiative:
Dmitri - 6
Gnolls - 6
Apollo - 5
Angmar - 25
Kori - 21
Dust Digger - 18
Gnoll 2 - 11/11 (in melee with Kori)
Gnoll 3 - 1/11 (in melee with Angmar)
Gnoll 4 - 11/11
Gnoll 5 - 11/11
Gnoll 6 - 11/11
Oxvard, the cleric - 5/22
As Dmitri walks out of the building, a wicked grin on his face, his scythe gently lays across his shoulders, arced high and menacingly. It was somewhat tragic, really. A weapon so very pleasant to look at with fanciful cloud-like engravings and a soft, blue finish... so twisted into a weapon of ecstasy and bloodletting.
Swinging wide, Dmitri follows Angmar, his hand glinting in the early morning sun. Trailing behind him, the dark energies follow his fingertips, aiming for the vulnerable gnoll that the dwarf has just firmly landed a blow upon.
His nails extending and twisting as per usual, he lunges his fingers deep towards the creature's heart. Grinning from ear to ear, he looks the whelp deep in the eyes as his own begin to tear up.
Moving up to support Angmar and threaten a gnoll, Dmitri flashes with unholy light and glee before he lunges at the hyena-like beast. Tearing up, however, causes his eyes to blur, and where he thinks the gnoll is just isn't quite on the mark, and he misses.
Teeth gnashing, the gnolls turn their axes on the interlopers. The two around Kori are too intimidated by her scarred visage and the savage look on her face to approach closely enough, and the others simply cannot penetrate the armor of their opponents.
Initiative:
Apollo - 5
Angmar - 25
Kori - 21
Dust Digger - 18
Dmitri - 6
Gnolls - 6
Strangely quiet, where those he travels with march forward, Apollo instead stands still and glances at those around him.
If Kori continues like that, she could get herself in a similar situation to what I faced yesterday. The injured man is over there and my comrades are all in the fray, outnumbered but not yet overwhelmed.
If I could just take the one on the left side out, I'd be able to use the cover of my team-mates to my advantage, be out of reach of the other dog curr's and have a good chance of retrieving that man.
Looking down at the ground briefly, Apollo nods as he charges the single Gnoll on the left, eyeing the man in the pesh field, checking to see if he's still alive.
HEY! FLEABAG! I'M COMING FOR YOU! he shouts, as he spins his hammer around, charges the Gnoll and clubs it around the side of the head.
The man in the pesh field is still alive, but he's bound, blindfolded, injured, and on his knees.
The ground begins to tremble softly as Apollo charges forward to meet the gnoll threat, and the rumbling slowly increases in strength. Apollo's hammer flies in an arc and strikes true, creating a massive hole in the chest of a gnoll engaged with Kori.
Gnoll 2 - 11/11 (in melee with Kori)
Gnoll 3 - 1/11 (in melee with Angmar)
Gnoll 4 - 11/11 (in melee with Angmar)
Gnoll 5 - 11/11 (in melee with Dmitri)
Gnoll 6 - DEAD
Oxvard, the cleric - 5/22
Dust Digger - 34/34
Kori turns on the other one attacking her, and tries to shift so as to be near another so she is ready to attack again as soon as possible. Her eagerness to move up puts her off her swing, and it doesn't have near the effect she was hoping for.
Angmar's job isn't quite finished just yet. Angrodd's fearless follower strikes out with his mace once more whacking the Gnoll in the face.
Attack
Angmar raises his mace high, and strikes the gnoll in front of him with a downstroke to the face. The gnoll hits the ground forcefully, face-first, unconscious and bleeding.
Kori slides thicker into the fray before delivering a glancing blow to a gnoll beside her.
Below them, the rumbling grows in magnitude, and just as Kori delivers the blow, it stops immediately. Then, the area around Angmar and Dmitri, with one gnoll caught in there as well, swells up momentarily before it sinks down, rapidly. The area they stand on slopes down into a sinkhole, and at the bottom, a pulsating mouth surrounded by a round, fleshy body. All three combatants slide down the shifting sands, right onto the creature as tentacles begin to wriggle out of the sands.
Initiative:
Dmitri - 6
Gnolls - 6
Apollo - 5
Angmar - 25
Kori - 21
Dust Digger - 18
Gnoll 2 - 5/11 (in melee with Kori)
Gnoll 3 - DEAD
Gnoll 4 - 11/11
Gnoll 5 - 11/11 (grappled)
Gnoll 6 - DEAD
Oxvard, the cleric - 5/22
Dust Digger - 34/34
Angmar curses as he is sucked down by whatever this is. The stout Dwarf restles and kicks not to be drawn underground and into the creatures maw a fate that might very well prove fatal.
Dmitri wriggles and pushes with surprising strength and he climbs out of the mysterious creature's belly, crawling up onto the sand beside the creature.
The gnoll, however, despite all his efforts, finds significant trouble with lifting himself out of the digger's maw, and finds himself pulled ever inward.
The gnoll Kori just injured turns its axe on her, swinging with the might of a desperate foe, but she proves too agile for it, and it clumsily trips without even getting close to hitting her. The other standing gnoll approaches Apollo and swings with wild abandon at him, but his axe is loose in his hand and he flails for a moment, trying to catch it as it nearly flies free.
Initiative:
Apollo - 5
Angmar - 25
Kori - 21
Dust Digger - 18
Dmitri - 6
Gnolls - 6
Gnoll 2 - 5/11 (in melee with Kori)
Gnoll 3 - DEAD
Gnoll 4 - 11/11 (in melee with Apollo)
Gnoll 5 - 11/11 (grappled)
Gnoll 6 - DEAD
Oxvard, the cleric - 5/22
Dust Digger - 34/34
With the bound man now in sight, his comrades engaged in Battle and having fell one Gnoll swiftly already, Apollo steps back slightly, ducking under the careless swing of his opponent, and jumps up high into the air, delivering a swift uppercut to his opponent but unfortunately swings just shy of his target.
Get out of my way! he says with irritation.
As the large thing begins to emerge from the sand, Kori's eyes grow wide, not in fear but in excitement. Whatever the heck it is, it looks like something she wants to fight. She tries to finish off the plain boring gnoll she's fighting, and have a go at this new thing. Her anticipation shows as she nearly splits the gnoll in two from shoulder to hip. Then she moves closer to the thing.
Apollo turns to his opponent, attempting to deliver a powerful hammer blow, but unluck strikes him for the second time in a melee with these creatures. His foot catches on the tiniest of stones below, and the resulting trip throws his strike off so that he strikes the ground adjacent to the creature.
Angmar follows the antipaladin straight out of the digger's maw like a swimmer, with powerful arm strokes. He crawls up onto the sand beside the creature and beside Dmitri.
Kori gets excited about the appearance of such a powerful-seeming foe, and in moments finishes her opponent with a powerful downward strike, cleaving the thing nearly in two.
The creature below flails, swallowing the gnoll in its maw with ease before a tangle of tentacles erupt from the sand, striking at everyone nearby. Even with their protections, Angmar and Kori each take at least one strike from the creature.
Gnoll 2 - DEAD
Gnoll 3 - DEAD
Gnoll 4 - 11/11 (in melee with Apollo)
Gnoll 5 - 11/11 (swallowed)
Gnoll 6 - DEAD
Oxvard, the cleric - 5/22
Dust Digger - 34/34
Bursting forth from the sand, Dmitri's hand shook with unholy fervor. Such a large creature this thing was. As his hand shook with dark energies of malice he grinned wide.
Sickly, long tendrils of black energy fell from his right hand as it grew with anticipation. The creature wasn't quick, and it was certainly large. Quickly taking a knee as one of it's vile appendages swooped over his head, he plunged his nails deep into it, raking it's skin as his eyes turned a deep black. "That was almost the second time I'd been eaten today, vile creature..." he said with a giggle.
With that, he plunged his fist deep within the flap of skin on the ground with a cackle.
Dmitri glows with unholy power as he thrusts a burning hand at the digger, making contact and causing a section of its skin and flesh to wither and dry up. Seeing the strange wound (the like of which its likely never seen before), the things eyes dilate and it begins to tremble ever so slightly.
Inside the thing's mouth, a pair of hairy hands emerge and pull the mouth open just long enough to reveal a screaming, crushed and dissolving gnoll before the thing forcefully closes its mouth and swallows. Above, the gnoll continues its battle with Apollo by swinging its axe again, but Apollo manages to turn aside the blade with his hammer's shaft.
Initiative:
Apollo - 5
Angmar - 25
Kori - 21
Dust Digger - 18
Dmitri - 6
Gnolls - 6
Gnoll 2 - DEAD
Gnoll 3 - DEAD
Gnoll 4 - 11/11 (in melee with Apollo)
Gnoll 5 - 6/11 (swallowed)
Gnoll 6 - DEAD
Oxvard, the cleric - 5/22
Dust Digger - 28/34
No sooner had the Gnoll attacked, the axe ricochet'd forcefully from Apollo's Hammer shaft, showing to him a hole in the overgrown pit bull's defense.
Now, with an opportunity there before him, Apollo swiftly swung around his huge hammer and smashed it upward into the Gnoll's chin, dislodging the creature's lower jaw as it ripped away from the muscles holding it in place, disappearing upward and into the back of the creatures skull, along with most of its face.
Letting out a huge savage raw, Apollo laughed aloud and made his way abruptly towards the bound man, as the now very dead Gnoll fell to the ground beside him.
Two dogs down. Now to free this man!
Hold on, I'm here to free you, friend. he said as he approached the bound and injured man.
Angmar scampers to his feet glad he escaped the fate of the Gnoll inside the dust biter then he swings at what is exposed of the creature with his mace in an attempt to bring it down swiftly.
Kori steps up to a space beside the tentacled sinkhole and somewhat close to the gnoll that is fighting to get out, before she works herself into a frenzy to attack this new challenge. Her swing is mostly tentative and exploratory, as she doesn't know what or where to hit just yet.
Apollo spins, bringing his hammer right up into the bottom of his opponent's head, crushing the bottom pieces into the top pieces ad sending brains, bone, and flesh flying out backwards onto the rest of the battlefield before moving to attend to the bound man. He mutters incoherently, as he's gagged.
Angmar shakily gets to his feet after his near-being-swallowed adventure and brings his mace to bear on the creature. Unfortunately, he's still to shaky to strike accurately.
Kori, worked up into a frenzy in the heat of battle, swings her longsword at the creature and draws a long, red line in its flesh, quite deep but still not anywhere near as wounding as it could have been.
The creature flails about, tentacles flying every which way, but fails to strike everything in its overstimulated frenzy. Angmar deflects a blow with his shield and his breastplate, Dmitri simply ignores the paltry slaps he's delivered, and Kori agilely dodges out of the way.
Initiative:
Dmitri - 6
Gnolls - 6
Apollo - 5
Angmar - 25
Kori - 21
Dust Digger - 18
Gnoll 2 - DEAD
Gnoll 3 - DEAD
Gnoll 4 - DEAD
Gnoll 5 - DEAD
Gnoll 6 - DEAD
Oxvard, the cleric - 5/22
Dust Digger - 19/34
The sight of the creatures many, strange eyes shrinking put Dmitri over the egde of happiness. It could feel fear, and that was all he needed to press the advance. He could feel the faltering of it's blows as it gently slapped him. It was as if he were facing a man who'd fallen onto his back and had been crawling, sword drawn and flailing, far and away.
With his hand still gripped in the creature's rotting flesh, he gave a mighty tug tearing away muscle and sinew, gripping his blade as he span wide and tore the meat completely out of the fleshy mound.
Striking an artery in the alien anatomy, a delight he was surely surprised about, the blood jutted out and struck him in the eyes. This was not the first time, of course, and it certainly stained his hair once again, but he reveled in the sudden debauchery of the situation. He'd certainly got lost in his newfound powers, and it was this same revelry that would cause them to grow.
"Rend, you abomination! Spurt and glisten! Share the fun! Be anything but Pitiful, beast!" he said with a sudden roar, laughing all the while.
Dmitri cruelly rips the flesh of the digger creature and slashes it with Tempest, drawing a spray of blood that splashes him across his body and face.
Dmitri smiles a twisted smile of glee.
Already kneeling by the man, Apollo pulls a dangerously sharp arrow from his quiver, ripping through the thick hemp as he free's and ungags the man before him.
Looks like we got here just in time, huh? he says with a smile on his face.
We rescued one of your friends earlier and he's currently in the manor not far from here. We came from there not long ago, so your path should be free of any trouble. If you want me to accompany you, I will, though I'm still not in top shape myself yet, and those I travel with may yet need my aid.
If there's one thing Angmar has learned is that thode who give up have already lost. Not dishearted the least bit by his poor aim the stout follower of Angradd gets at the Dustdigger again and hacks at it with the magical mace.
Now that Kori's got a better handle on how and where to strike the thing, she finds just the right place to drive her blade and finish the thing off. It turns out the thing wasn't as tough as she had hoped.
Kori and Angmar mercilessly pound and stab the creature, and it shrieks a pitiful, fearful animal shriek as it dies. Exposed to the air, its body deflates slowly, the sound of rushing air escaping from it as it shrinks.
As Apollo frees the man on the other side of the battlefield, taking away the blindfold and the gag reveals a strong-jawed and beefy young man, with hair cut short and a pair of small, brown eyes. Looking quickly around the battlefield, wide-eyed, to find the entire pack of gnolls dead and fellow humanoids all around, his face goes from surprised to impassive as it surveys the scene. "Hm.", he says. "It would appear that yes, you arrived at precisely the right time. And you must be referring to Felliped. I believe I saw him escape as the dogs fell upon us."
As the combat is over, and the Dust digger slowly deflates through it's open wounds, Dmitri stands tall with his scythe draped across his shoulders as the small tendrils of red pour down from his eyes. A relaxed sigh leaves his chest as he looks casually over to Apollo, a funny glint in his eyes.
Walking over toward them, Dmitri doesn't waste any time in poking his way into the newfound man's way of being. He found himself enjoying the newfangled ability to confirm the good intentions of others. It just made the nicer fools that much easier to predict in a pinch.
Wrenching his hand he danced his fingers through the auras present.
As his hand wafted through the air he couldn't help but feel a sharp, strange pain surge through his brow. Strange, of course, but it subsided almost immediately.
Apollo gives off the aura that betrays a Good-aligned individual, but the newcomer does not.
Well that was easier than I thunk... Angmar remarks unscathed as he searches their victims for any valuables before pushing the group to move back to their safe house quickly.
Each gnoll carries little of value - a rusty battleaxe or spear, and each carries a wooden shield and wears leather armor. Among the gnolls there are a few crude humanskin bags of personal belongings - bits of jerky, shiny pieces of metal, etc.