Ignoring his own grievous wounds, Reason goes to Whiteclaw's aid. Calling on all his skill, he pulls his companion back from the arms of death. She will live to fight again.
Reason circles around the ex-drum, to go to the aid of Whiteclaw.
Reason circles around the ex-drum, to go to the aid of Whiteclaw.
Orb flashing, Vel unleashes her greenish ray on the remaining scourge ,weakening it.
Vel's orb focusses the sickly green light of her enfeebling ray and it strikes the gnoll scourge in the back. She raises her muzzle and howls as the marks on her chest glow demonic red. The Rogue Knight and Reason have already seen this on the other scourge and realise that the creature is at last bloodied. The baleful flame in her eyes warns that that she may have become more dangerous yet and hope that Vel's spell is enough to control the worst of her powers.
Desperate times call for desperate measures. Sensing that getting rid of the scourge is the most important thing to do, Kia decides to risk all (well a lot) on a direct attack.
"Will you gnolls never learn when you are defeated? This fight is over! Understand?"
Kia moves to E9 and lashes out at the gnoll with her longsword.
Lead the attack vs S1 (1d20+7=22, 3d8+3=21)
"Well, that was unexpected...."
The scourge roars as Kia's blade bites home, but she risks taking more damage from the eladrin to reform around The Rogue Knight with her remaining Clawfighter.
Abyssal
"The throne must remain inviolate."
Evil words tumble from the scourge's lips.
The dreadful flail rises in the air and lands on nothing. Guarded by his god, The Rogue Knight brushes the attack aside contemptuously. The last clawfighter musters all his resources and lashes out at the paladin, wounding him, but not subduing him. It looks the scourge in the eye, as though reaching agreement on something.
Clawfighter 4 v TRK (1d20 12=31, 1d6 9=13)
OA on nasty Gnoll (1d20+7=16, 1d8+3=11)
A little taken aback at the scourge ignoring her (and somewhat affronted) she fails to notice the attack opportunity in time and, though she strikes boldly, she misses.
"Come back and fight me, coward!"
Whiteclaw rises to her feet once more, snarling at the last two gnolls.
Abyssal:
Then her own flail is lashing out at the clawfighter nearest her.
Total damage to S1 is 28.
"Kord! We dedicate this battle in Your Name!"
Calling on all the resources of her heritage, Whiteclaw rises. Brutally shoving the Clawfighter aside, she bloodies him at last and raises her muzzle to the sky as she realises that at last the tide of battle may be turning in the party's favour.
The Rogue Knight fights on, his deity seemingly at his side. The demonic scourge is clearly hanging by a thread, hacked by savage wounds that would surely have killed any other creature. Whatever drives these gnolls, there is no denying either their fighting ability or their fervent belief in their duty.
Channelling his god, the paladin brings blessing and hope to his comrades.
Arianwyn directs dark energies to ferret out any weakness in the gnoll, but the gnoll's tenacity overmatches him.
Arianwyn's dark energies melt a section of the floor but have no effect on the gnoll.
Vel unleashes her old favorite, the golden flames shooting from the floor, scorching the floor itself, but not the gnolls.
Scorching burst on S1, C4 vs Ref (1d20+6=16, 1d20+6=9, 1d6+5=9)
Reason calls on Ioun for luck as he unleashes a bolt of light at the remaining scourge.
He then circles the fight to flank the clawfighter.
Despite their best efforts and the mental support of The Rogue Knight, neither Reason nor Vel can inflict any further damage on the gnolls.
"Oh, for heaven's sake!"
Kia dances round behind Reason to H6 where she flanks S1 (she can get there with no OAs).
"Now, Whiteclaw, we are relying on you..."
Commander's strike (via Whiteclaw) against S1. (1d20+11=22, 1d10+7=11)
She looks at the scourge expectently...
At Kia's urging, Whiteclaw raises her flail and looks the scourge in the eye. Seeing her death stroke approaching, the priestess gestures to the last Clawfighter and roars aloud
Abyssal
"Obitu Que! Defend the skull!"
She falls between Kia and Whiteclaw, defiant to the last.
The Clawfighter looks at his fallen leader and growls. Brushing past his foes, he heads for Vel, both sets of claws extended ...
Reason swings with his mace as the gnoll goes past.
As the final gnoll races towards Vel, Whiteclaw's flail smashes into it hard as she growls once more and then sets off in pursuit.
Closing on the creature once more, her flail rises and falls, the blow powered by her own fury.
OA against Final gnoll. (1d20+7=9, 1d8+3=4)
Kia, her mind full of alternative strategies and ways to win this battle, was a little distracted when the gnoll made a dash for it. Makes note to herself: When in melee concentrate on your opponent a bit.
Evading all but Whiteclaw's blow, the Clawfighter launches himself at Vel, desperation making his attack all the more potent.
Clawfighter 4 charge at Vel (1d20 11=31, 1d6 6=12, 1d20 11=31, 1d6 6=8).
Raging, Whiteclaw is behind the Clawfighter almost before its claws leave Vel's body and she strikes true one last time. Her flail wraps itself around the gnoll's neck and you all hear the clear hard sound of the spine snapping.
Kia pauses for breath and to count her hit points.
"Ye gods," Vel says, seemingly stunned by the ferocity of the gnoll's attack and hardly aware of her grievous wounds.
"Ye gods indeed." Arianwyn laughs, "Sir Knight, 'twas as if the God of Battles himself was upon you. Most impressive."
"You know...", Reason speaks up, "my map shows a narrow tunnel leading away to a cave from this room, but I don't immediately see the entrance. It may be a defensible place to catch our breath."
He begins examining the east wall, as well as the floor and ceiling in the east part of the room for any hidden openings. EDIT: starting in the north-east corner.
Having rested sufficiently to get her breath (and her encounter powers) back, Kia takes a look around the room for anything that might be of interest.
Reason scours the wall and eventually discovers a small hole above his eye level, just discernable within the fabric of the rock.
It might admit a small bird, but there is no possible way a humanoid creature could climb into it.
Reason gathers up some of the rubble from the broken statues to stand on, so he can peer into the crevice he has found. When he sees only darkness, he uses one of his javelins to try to determine the dimensions of the hole, and also if it follows the path indicated on his map.
Arianwyn searches the corpses of their foes.
Reason's probing assures him that the although the hole does seem to follow the direction on the map. It is entirely dark.
Arianwyn finds nothing of interest on the late gnolls. The bodies are curiously marked, but he knows too little of gnoll culture to guess if these are especially unusual.
"Mayhap one of you can identify the markings on these beasts." the eladrin remarks casually before joining Reason.
"What have we here?" he asks as of a child.
Whiteclaw will rest a few moments and then examine the gnolls to see if she can figure out anything about them. She also remarks "They kept talking about protecting a skull. I'm not sure what they meant by it, but it probably important."
"A skull? Probably an important item of faith or symbol."
"Would that not be the skull that we came here for?", Reason asks Whiteclaw and the Rogue Knight.
He shares a look with Arianwyn before answering him, "My map indicates that there should be some passage leading to a nearby cave, but this hardly seems serviceable."
Kia's examination of the room reveals that this chamber has the same dual decorative scheme of the other areas of the tomb. The ancient home of the savage kings has been overlaid by more recent amendments. A five eyed skull sending beams of light towards gnoll worshippers is the most common image. The door to the south is decorated with the familiar animal spirt totems. Compared to the images of the skull they seem very benign.
Whiteclaw discovers that the marks on the bodies of the two demonic scourges are etched into the flesh. Both of the enormous gnolls are marked as priestesses in a recognisable way. The sigils on their chests are far from normal however. Remembering how they glowed when the gnolls were bloodied, she can only conclude that they were marked in this way to bind them to their master. Whoever, or whatever that might be.