Jameena dances gracefully sideways around the two-headed giant, her scimitar moving faster than the eye can follow.
"Time to die, both of you." she taunts, trying to draw the attention of both heads so Eli can slip around and attack from the opposite side.
Pausing for just a second, she allows herself time to heal some of her injuries with a brief touch.
Round 8:
Jameena's dance of death kills the ettin without Eli's help, as both its heads look at each other in horror, as the four eyes go lifeless and the body topples to the sand!
Even though her face is stained with smears of blood and blackened sand, and her hair is tangled and singed by fire, Jameena looks as beautiful and proud as any Keleshite princess as she stands besides her vanquished foe, bathed in the soft glow of her goddess' blessed light.
Her doe-like brown eyes look straight into Eli's blue ones as she sends the bard warrior a radiant smile. "Go!" she says, her voice light and soft as the desert wind. "Go, and show that rancorous mongrel bi*ch what it means to face the Sand Stalkers."
Dumah blinks in astonishment that he is still alive. Seeing the ettin fall, he realizes he may yet survive this.
He casts Magic Missile on the gnoll. Damage
"They never learn, even with two brains this lug should have known that all who dare attack the Sand Stalkers will fail!
Eli leaps over the fallen giant and rushes over the sand towards the gnoll caster. Tempest flashes in the sun as Eli drives the blade towards her.
Dumah's energy missiles streak toward Sheraza but just as they about to strike her, they seemingly crash into an invisible barrier and dissipate, leaving the gnoll caster unharmed!
Eli reaches the gnoll caster in a flash and correctly guesses who the true image is, but his blow is deflected harmlessly to the side by her arcane protections.
Gnoll's Turn:
A look of desperation comes over Sheraza when her giant falls dead to the sand. However, her zeal compels her to believe she will triumph where her father failed and she steps back 5', intoning magic and saying, "I have a few tricks of my own!"
Suddenly, a fog bank of greenish-yellow vapors appears from nowhere, covering the four of you, including Jameena!
Quzman and Jameena resist the nausea but find themselves disoriented in the fog.
Quzman gags at the of the disgusting odor, and slowly moves forward to try and find the gnoll witch in the fog. "You can't hide from redemption, hag. No matter how hard you try, the Dawnflower will find you."
Spellcraft
Spellcraft 1d20+14
"The witch is straight out of the cloud from you good Eli. Follow my voice and you can see again!.", as Quzman takes a slash at one of the beasts.
Alerted by Quzman's call, Jameena moves toward his voice and the location where she last saw the gnoll witch.
Eli bends over and empties the contents of his stomach out onto the sand. Wiping the bile from his lips, he stumbles out of the foul putrid cloud.
Dumah will cast Shield on himself and run to Y15.
Quzman's blow targets the real caster but is deflected by the gnoll's magical protections.
Round 9:
Eli continues to throw up, as he moves out of the cloud.
Dumah casts Shield on himself
Jameena steps through the fog, following Quzman's voice. She sees Sheraza and decides to smite evil but manages to hit an image, reducing the total to 4.
Sheraza's turn:
The gnoll caster sees her images being depleted and casts defensively, trying to ignore the threats around her. She sees the paladin as the main threat and says, "Let's see your god save you from this!"
Suddenly, a 10' wide pit opens up beneath Jameena's feet, and before she can react, she falls 50 feet down, screaming in pain as jagged spikes rip through her thigh when she lands! She could swear she hears laughter from up above. The pit walls are covered in spikes that make escape a painful option.
"Guess she wasn't fast enough!" says Sheraza, as she looks at Quzman and moves inside the cloud at AC 13, provoking an AoO from Quzman, but the ranger guesses incorrectly, and strikes an image reducing the total to 3, and disappearing from sight within the cloud.
Dumah will cast Shield on himself and run to Y15.
Quzman swears at the cagey gnoll, and rushes around the outside of the fog to stand beside the young mage, in case she targets him next.
Dumah will cast See Invisibility and scan for her.
Round 10:
Sheraza steps out of the cloud at AC13 and walks to AD15, seemingly unaffected by its poisonous fumes, and quite visible to all with two images left. She looks at Dumah and Quzman and says, "Thank you for grouping up, makes my job so much easier!" She casts a spell and another pit opens up in the sand under the wizard and the ranger! Dumah reacts quickly and leaps out of the way, but Quzman's fingers slip off the edge and he plummets 30' down! Luckily for him, this pit is not spiked. The mage, severly wounded, with the hot sun's glare on him, looks around and sees no allies, hears the bard puking his guts out in the distance, and three images of a smiling Sheraza licking her lips and baring her teeth in anticipation!
With no way to escape the pit, Jameena lets out a short, wordless cry of frustration, then calls upon her goddess to heal some of her injuries.
Quzman curses himself for making it so easy for the gnoll, and slams his weapons back into their sheathes. He quickly tries to start to scramble up the slope, knowing that the wounded mage is now effectively alone with the dangerous witch.
With his head flush from the dehydration, and the taste of sand grit and bile filling the back of his throat, Eli stumbles to the edge of the pit Jameena fell into and falls on his knees beside it.
Dumah will move to AC16 and use his bonded object ability to cast Elemental Aura with the acid effect. DC 17 reflex save for half damage.
Damage acid. Also takes 1 acid damage and is sickened for each of three rounds.
He’ll cast defensively, DC 21. Concentration
Round 11:
The gnoll caster is surprised by the mage's boldness to approach her and fails to move out of the way of his acid aura, which burns her and causes her intense body pains!
Sheraza's Turn:
"Feeling bold are we, human? Who needs an ettin? I am the Carrion King's daughter! Feel my wrath!" She intones magic defensively and her hand crackles with energy and electricity. "Come here, my pet, let me show you the might of my master!" Fortunately, for Dumah, her swing is awkward and he fights her off with his club.
At the edge of the pit, Eli removes his slippers struggling to get the second one off his foot as another wave of retching contorts his body.
Eli tosses his slippers down to Jameena, "Here...urp....use these....BARF!"
Jameena applies another round of divine healing and sheathes her scimitar.
Catching the slippers Eli drops, the still hasted paladin pauses a moment to further heal her injures, then pulls the enchanted slippers on her feet and sprints up the side of the pit, ignoring the pointy spikes that slice into her feet.
Jameena races the last of the distance up the spiked pit, then sprints across the sand towards Dumah and the gnoll sorcerer, drawing her scimitar and healing more of her wounds along the way.
Round 12.
Acid Damage for her starting her turn in my elemental aura: .
Dumah will cast Glitterdust, DC 16 will save for reduced effect. I believe if I center it at the intersection of ab-ac 13-14, it won't hit anyone but her, though I'm not sure how far Jameena was able to get toward us.
Sheraza again fails to avoid the acid and screams in pain, as her fur is burned off! To make matters worse, she fails to resist the dust in the air and goes blind!
Round 12: Sheraza's turn:
She lashes out blindly, trying to touch the wizard, the crackling energy still in her hands! Rovagug is watching and guides the hand of his servant, as miraculously, she grasps the wizard's arm, pumping electricity through his body! Dumah screams, as his body goes limp, and he falls to the sand, his body smoking. She then focuses on removing the glitter from her eyes till she can see.
As Sheraza regains her sight, she sees the fallen wizard and looks around to see the bard finally stop vomiting. She steps 5' to AE16.
Seeing the Glitterdust take effect, Dumah makes the mistake of scanning around for his allies. When his gaze returns to the foe before him, his clawed hand clamps down on him and sends a jolt through him. He remembers nothing else.
Eli stands up and wipes the bile from his lips, then he sees Dumah fall, NOOOOOOOOO! He grips Tempest tight and rushes at the gnoll fiend, the hot sand scorching his soles of his feet.
Round 13: Sheraza's turn:
Sheraza sees Dumah's corpse and looks content, "One down, three to go father!"
She then looks up to see Jameena race up to her, scimitar in hand. "Too late to save your friend, I am afraid! But you will share his same fate!" The gnoll caster's hand crackles with electricity once more and she smiles. She tries to touch Jameena but the might of her god runs through the paladin and deflects her blow away! Realizing with two images left that she cannot take on the paladin in her powered state and the bard, she risks moving away, leaving herself vulnerable. Unfortunately for her, the paladin guesses correctly and slashes her across the back, spraying blood on the sand. In her wounded state, she prays that the bard does not end her life, and thankfully, he strikes an image, leaving two. She proceeds into what she believes is the safety of the cloud and disappears from sight!
Round 14 is up!
"Run, you cowardly cur - it won't help you! Your life will still end at the edge of our blades, like your father's did."
As she hisses the challenge at the fleeing gnoll, Jameena rushes to the pit where Quzman is trapped, pulls off the slippers and drops them over the edge.
Furiously Eli shouts at the cloud, "Daughter like father, a coward! The carrion cur fled and hid when he saw the end coming too, I expected no less from the offspring of a creature so weak. You should have seen the way he begged for mercy at our hands, the whimpering and pleading. The sobbing was so pitiful it was better to end his poor excuse for a life than to let such a impotent thing walk the earth!"
Eli shouts his taunts with Tempest at the ready.
Round 14: Sheraza's turn:
The cloud dissipates and you see the gnoll caster standing at Z11. She cracks a laugh. As she spits up blood, she says, "I have taken the life of the wizard, stupid bard! You will remember my vengeance always!" With that she charges Jameena, her hand still crackling with electricity, but alas, luck is not on her side and she misses the agile paladin! Resigned to her fate, she awaits her certain death. However, before the paladin strikes, she does smile, as she sees the charred and still remains of Dumah at her feet.
Round 15 is up!
Eli sees the gnoll charge Jameena and rushes to squeeze her between himself and the paladin, his foot prints leaving an arcing line behind him. His eyes are filled with fury as he stabs at her with Tempest.
Weary to the point of exhaustion of pointless boasts and threats, Jameena simply lifts her scimitar in silence and let's the razor sharp edge dance it's dance of death with the female gnoll.
With Eli's blow dispelling the last image and Sheraza resigned to death, Jameena's blows hit the gnoll caster in the neck, first right then left, and then in a swift move, decapitates her, silencing her forever! Quzman runs out of the pit just in time to see the body fall.
With the smoke from the burned palm trees still fresh in the air, you look around to see much blood spilled on the sands this day: numerous gnolls, hyenadons, and even a large 2-headed giant! The Carrion King and his kin are no more but the price of victory was high, as you see the still corpse of your friend, Dumah.