Malthazir sets the devil ooze on his shoulder, which promptly begins to secrets a clear liquid that makes Malzahar invisible in a matter of seconds.
Niyut points her wand into the air, a globe of snow comes together a few inches from the tip of her wand and shoots out to a distance 15 feet off the ground in the midst of the gnolls. It keeps expanding until it explodes into shards of ice shredding into the gnolls and hill giant.
"Quistaine! Step back towards your horse."
The hobgoblin had located his trap and pulled it from his sack, the bag falling to the ground.
Truk'tosh hones in on the fallen giant's favored leg. He lunges forward hoping to hobble it before it gets to its feet.
As the gnolls begin to swarm the camp, Malthazir quickly calls forth the ether and vanishes from sight. Niyut takes a less subtle approach to the situation and launchees a devistating blast off ice and snow killing several gnolls and damaging the hill giant who glares at the oracle. She quickly tries to fade back into the shadow but has drawn too much attention and fails to hide effectively.
"Something flies high above us!" Shouts Quistaine as he glances over his shoulder and nods to Gruskorb. Truk'tosh slashes at the hill giants leg. The strike lands but deflects off his hardened flesh. "It is a gnoll... flying amongst the tree tops... look up... to your left!" responds Ptahh.
As the gnolls, and the ogre as well, close the distance to the besieged party, Garidan looks at his bow regretfully and carefully drops it at his feet against the nearby wall. In its place, he draws his rapier with a motion that is becoming second-hand now, due to repetition. As soon as one of the furred humanoids draws into range, Garidan smoothly flicks his arm forward past the intervening wall to almost delicately drive his rapier into its unprotected face. The result of this action is quite surprising to the both of them, albeit for very different reasons.
With piercing shriek that very nearly causes Garidan to drop his weapon in shock--and causes his target to bleed from both ears due to the force--the rapier sinks into the gnoll's right eye, metal grating against bone after slicing a path through the creature's brain. However, instinct takes hold, and Garidan reflexively tightens his grip instead and pulls the blade free with a slight twist as the now-dead gnoll drops like puppet with the strings cut. The movement shakes droplets of vitreous fluid across the muzzle of the gnoll immediately beside his victim, and Garidan mockingly waves it forward to its dead companion's position. That nerve-wracking noise his weapon made can better be considered later; for the moment, it's time to do or die. Adjusting his stance, Garidan prepares to defend himself as best he can.
Having no wish to make a deeper acquaintance with the hill giant, Niyut will step back.
The gnolls clammer forward striking at the group. One of the gnolls slashes at Ptahh who laughs as the gnoll's blade deflects off his armor. Two gnolls move in on Gruskorb. Neither gnoll make contact as they heave their falchions with one of them now gasping for air, clearly fatigued.
Several gnolls move in on the two humans. Two attack Garidan with vicious, bloodcurling growls. The first would have surely hit its mark had the swashbuckler not parried and riposted it, slicing deep into the gnolls shoulder. But with his attention drawn to the first attacker, the second gnoll penetrates Garidan's defenses slashing across his right thigh. Inspired by their ally's strike, three gnoll's attack Quistaine and seemingly have him in their sights, but quick reflexes by the paladin cause all three of them to miss terribly.
Another round of arrows comes down upon the group from the south. Although protected by the wall and the gnolls in front of him, one arrow slips past a gnoll's ear and strikes Garidan in the upper left arm. In the darkness, you hear a gnoll howl as his hand is caught by his bow string.
The Hill Giant roars and climbs to his feet before taking a swipe at Truk'tosh with his greatclub. Luckily for the half-orc the giant misses.
The Ogre circles around and reaching over the gnolls swings his club at Garidan. The blow sails overhead as Garidan ducks instinctively... or perhaps at his sister's constant warnings of danger about.
In retaliation, Quistaine, drops two gnolls at his feet, then taking a step back, shouts to Gruskorb and Garidan, "Back up, Garidan... Gruskorb lay your trap! Ptahh! Where is the gnoll in the tree?"
Ptahh goes into a rage cutting down one gnoll and severely wounding another. "South of you! He's casting a spell!"
Another smaller ball of icy shards hits the Hill Giant.
Hearing Ptahh, Niyut's keen eyes spy the gnoll caster. She doesn't know what spell he is casting, but she would like to get the drop on him. With a thought she calls for cover from illusory mist, and she abandons the shelter of the tree and begins to sneak to the west.
Surprised by the giant lurching to its feet Truk'tosh's blow comes up short. Eager to knock it down again for good he strikes at its knees.
The hobgoblin hunched forward, dropping his trap in a thrusting motion forward and drawing his whip. He then regained his full height. "Do you think these things are too dumb to understand us?!"
Malthazir hisses. "Lightning bolt, from the south! Don't be in a line!" Malthazir begins summoning.
The slash across his leg draws a hiss of pain from Garidan, which changes to a loud yelp as an arrow buries itself in the meat of his arm a moment later. Fortunately, the ogre fails to connect with what Garidan is sure would have been a killing blow had it landed, and the nearness of his death makes him jitter with nervous tension. Quistaine's shouted instructions, while heard, get little beyond a frustrated snort from the swashbuckler; there aren't a wealth of choices available to him right now as far as safe places to stand, and keeping the gnolls--or the ogre, mustn't forget that--from killing him is sort of occupying all of his attention at the moment.
Hearing Ptahh's warning about a flying gnoll, followed by Malthazir's identification of the spell the creature is preparing to unleash, Garidan manages a few hasty glances in the indicated direction while trying to avoid giving his assorted threats any further openings. He manages to spot the gnoll in question, but there's not a thing he can do with that knowledge beyond anxiously hoping that he's not about to have an abrupt end to his day.
An icy globe slams into the hill giant's head spraying snow and ice all about him. He turns to look for the culprit but only sees the oracle slip into a ghostly mist. Taking advantage of the distraction, Truk'tosh buries his axe into the giant's left leg. The cracking of bone is loud enough to drawn the attention of several of the gnolls who respond with a frightful howl.
Crackling, blue streaks of lighting form on the flying gnoll's finger tips, then burst outward enveloping Ptahh. Clearly disappointed that two others that were in his line of sight moved, the gnoll begins to cast another spell. No sooner had the flaring bolt of lighting struck Ptahh, the gnoll sorcerer flew down to 5' off the ground and fires another bolt that strikes Gruskorb and Ptahh with its full force. Luckily, both Garidan and Truk'tosh managed to instinctively react to avoid some of the lightning bolt's destructive power. A gnoll, previously wounded by Garidan, was not so fortunate. The lightning bolt struck it in the head sending a deadly charge through its body.
When the gnoll's first spell is unleashed in his direction, Garidan flinches and ducks away reflexively, only to straighten up with a sympathetic wince as he hears spell's actual target roaring in pain. Before he can do anything else, however, another spell is hurled toward the camp, and Garidan finds himself right in its path.
Seeing a crackling line of blue-white death heading his way, Garidan's reflexes already have him ducking out of its path before his conscious mind can fully process what's happening. Even so, he still catches the edge of the lightning stream as it roars past him, and he screams and spasms violently as ribbons of energy reach out to strike him. Overcome by pain as his skin blisters and cracks, Garidan instinctively falls back, away from the enemies preparing to take advantage of his injured state. And from somewhere deep within, a rush of energy responds to his overwhelming desire to move.
In the blink of an eye, he's hopped back a short distance, away from the reaching weapons of the gnolls and ogre at his front. But before the gnolls at the wall behind him can react, Garidan darts away from them as well, swinging around Gruskorb--and he notes in passing that the hobgoblin apparently wasn't as quick and nimble in avoiding that lightning, if his severe injuries are any indication--then rolling underneath Tacal to come up on his feet with his back pressed against the cart.
The gnolls continue to pour into the camp. One gnolls howls as he fails to climb over the low wall to attack Gruskorb, while another wails as he steps forward into the bear trap he failed to see amidst the confusion of battle.
A third time the archers fire into the camp. Five arrows stick harmlessly into the ground, but a single arrow lodges into Quistaines arm. Meanwhile, most of the gnolls in camp attack with a hint of trepidation as several of their fellow gnolls lay slain about the camp. However, one strikes a nasty blow to Gruskorb, sending the hobgoblin down in a heap. Also slashed in the back with a viscous swing, Quistaine hollars "Ptahh, keep them alive... I'm going after the sorcerer."
Tumbling forward past the gnolls, the paladin rushes forward. The ogre takes advantage of the situation and swipes at as he runs past. Hoever, Quistaine is too quick and ducks under the blow. Coming to a stop short of the sorcerer, Quistaine leans forward, bracing himself as he opens his mouth and breathes a cone of fire and flame engulfing the sorcerer and two of the archers. One of the archers manages to avoid most of the blast but the other archer and the sorcerer are fully engulfed.
On the other side of camp, Ptahh takes a step back and reaches down to touch Gruskorb sending a healing surge through the hobgoblin. With a cough, Gruskorb comes conscious.
Niyut tries to discern what kind of creatures the two silent watchers are.
With feet speed by the unknown spirit of flame that reached out to her the last night in Eastgate, Niyut speeds across the battle field in silence.
She hunkers down in the foliage preparing to make her strike at the archers and, hopefully, sorcerer.
However, she tries to aid her allies as best she can. Drawing on the shadows bounded to her soul ever since she had absorbed part of a cloaker in to herself, she "causes" the camp fire to belch up unnatural green "smoke to block the sight lines of the sorcerer and bedevil the ogre.
In the "smoke," facing her allies, silver letters appear in elven and orc.
Caw! Caw! Two silver-blue eagles rip free of the ether, showing up on opposite sides of the spellcasting gnoll and begin tearing into him!
Malthazir goes right into summoning the next creature.
Knocked unconscious briefly, it took Gruskorb what seemed like a while, yet was only a moment, to recover his train of thought. Lightning, giants, gnolls...
Unable to take the opportunity to celebrate his trap working, he needed to get the gnoll nearby off Malthazir. Hoping he was focused elsewhere after Gruskorb fell, the rogue rolled to his feet, drawing his dagger in the process and jamming it into the back of the humanoid's spine.
Over 50% hits
The two eagles tear into the sorcerer shredding his face and upper torso.
On his feet Truk'tosh finds the giant too challenging an opponent. Instead he retreats behind the ruined wall adjacent and chants a spell asking the spirits of flame to bring the giant down.
Big Creatures and Cover: Any creature with a space larger than 5 feet (1 square) determines cover against melee attacks slightly differently than smaller creatures do. Such a creature can choose any square that it occupies to determine if an opponent has cover against its melee attacks. Similarly, when making a melee attack against such a creature, you can pick any of the squares it occupies to determine if it has cover against you.
Choosing the giant's NE corner, a line to any of your corners doesn't pass through the wall... so, no cover. Sorry.
However, you can take a 5' step to the NW. This puts you 15' from the giant, and your casting will not provoke an AOO.
Gruskorb, still in a fog, scurries between Ptahh's legs to safety. Bewildered as to his recovery, the gnolls howl with anger. The half-orc druid stumbles away and conjures a massive ball of flame under the hill giant who, quite nimbly, avoids most of the fire. Still, he flails violent at the flame and seems close to unconsciousness, collapsing to one knee.
The sorcerer barks loudly at the nearby archers and flies back away from the eagles before sending a lightning bolt through one of them and Quistaine. While the paladin manages to avoid most of the electricity, the selestial eagle is sent back to its origin in a brilliant flash.
As the battle rages, with clouds of smoke popping up to obscure various areas--and isn't that message in the smoke an interesting tidbit, Garidan muses in a mental aside--while casters on either side unleash balls of clinging fire or searing bolts of lightning, Garidan digs into the cart's contents with a pained whimper. Fortunately, his mania for organization pays off, and he soon finds exactly what he's looking for; three little vials filled with precious restorative fluid. He wastes no time at all in tipping the contents of one vial down his throat, and as the magic goes to work, Garidan prepares to head back into the fray to deliver the remaining two to those in need.
Before he can do anything, however, he notes out of the corner of his eye Gruskorb doing a pretty impressive crawl out of immediate danger, and looking somewhat better than he had only moments earlier. Speaking up to be heard over the yapping and screaming of the gnolls, Garidan calls out to his companion while making the vials in his hand visible. "Do you need one for yourself?"
As Garidan guzzles down a potion, a gnoll leaps on top of the cart and flails uselessly at the swashbuckler. The ogre and several other gnolls advance on Ptahh, striking him several times. Yet, the barbarian, in his rage, does not succumb to his wounds.
The hill giant stumbles north out of the fire and brings his greatclub down upon Truk'tosh, knocking the wind out of him. But clearly the giant's strength is failing as his blow was much weaker than normal.
The archers to the southwest turn their attention to the last eagle who squaks loudly before vanishing from this plane. Having sent the bird away, the remaining archers draw their falchions and rush Quistaine striking him on twice with blows that could have been nastier than they were had it not been for his defenses.
The sound of bones breaking echos through the air and Truk'tosh reels from the giant's blow but the orc somehow manages to stay on his feet.
Knowing he was cornered, the hobgoblin quickly ran through his options. Wall behind me, one sword to each side ... damn! His injuries' pain was kept at bay only by adrenaline, and he had no safe exit.
I should have saved the both of us, he thought to the horse.
He reached for his whip, but it leapt to his hand before he could reach down. So quick was the flight, his neighbor of a foe didn't have time to react. The lash itself was another matter, however.
"Garidan!"
He couldn't give the gnoll high ground against his partner, though the cart put his legs at just the right height to be felled, not even angling of the whip was necessary. Hopefully, Garidan could react appropriately. And just as hopefully, his threatening opponent would not...
Seeing the wounded giant succumb to the flames, Truk'tosh breathes easier until a lance of pain shoots through his side - a broken rib jabbing his lung no doubt. He takes a moment to clutch Morgrym's holy symbol and speaks a prayer for a god he hardly knew and then moves around to join the grand melee between his companions and the pack of howling gnolls. Finding Ptahh surrounded, Truk spins briefly sending the weighted tail of his bonded armor around to catch one of the gnolls in the ankle.
From her hiding place, Niyut activates her mother's wand. A tiny, but rapidly expanding, sphere of ice and cold shoots out to explode amongst the gnolls. Niyut desperately hopes her wand empowered sorcery kills the enemy sorcerer. He is clearly her superior in etheric might. Her best hope is to strike him from the shadows.
With her hiding place compromised, Niyut blankets the area around her in "darkness" before sneaking further towards the west.
Let them attack the darkness.
The hill giant is once again engulfed in flames and perishes. Moving quickly into the fray Truk'tosh trips an opponent just as Gruskorb trips another gnoll attacking Garidan. Beyond the magical smoke, the group hears a tremendous explosion and feels the reverberations of cold. With an echoing howl, the sorcerer slumps over and lays still upon the ground. The nearby gnolls also take damage from the icy shards.
The eagles return almost instantly, this time flanking one of the archers who shot one of them down.
Malthazir begins another summoning spell. He will drown them in outsiders if he must.
Two more celestial eagles materialize by one of the archers, shredding him in mere moments. Ptahh slices another gnoll spilling the contents of its torso upon the cold, dusty ground. Turning his greatsword upon another gnoll, his aim is off, clearly still affected by the first lightning strike, and misses. Quistaine also dispatches another gnoll but with more style and grace.
Garidan panics for a moment when he feels a small globe hit his head. He looks down and sees a small pebble settling down upon the ground. It isn't his sister, and he relaxes. Then another pebble falls and bounces off his boot. Then another and another. He looks to the sky just as the deluge of rocks and gravel come cascading down from above pelting himself, Gruskorb, Ptahh Truk'tosh and several gnolls.
The gnoll sorcerer looks toward the darkened mass of shadows to his east. "I know you're out there! Sulking in the shadows like a cat! Expose yourself and succumb to the will of Rgulblux, Ruler of the Wastelands or your friends shall perish. They are close to death now..." he howls loudly into the night. A distant echo is heard in response.