Ludo looked at Hasan and whispered, “Maybe a stealthy approach would work best here.” Let’s find out who is in this hut. He crawled out of the tunnel hole and crawled through the brush to the side of the hut.
“Psst, wait! Ah!” Hasan grimaced as he saw Ludo sink into the mists ahead. “I don’t like this,” the elf muttered, shaking his head, as he moved forward himself to join the human. The elf stowed his bow and drew the light scimitar he carried at his side. His mail clinked in the dark, but the elf found the noise more reassuring than troubling.
“If that hut is occupied you can bet they know we are here, ” Maruc said, “what with all that fighting in the tunnels. If I was the occupier I’d have left with all my gear.” He shifted his shield round and released his mace. “If I was was powerful enough I’d still be here.”
Miklos looked at the rude hut. “Who’d live here anyway? Right by a…what did you say? A burial site?”
“Priests,” said Maruc darkly.
“Oh well that’s fine.” said Miklos, “We’ve just about done everything to desecrate it so we’re going to be popular. I’d get that silence incantation ready if I was you.”
Miklos made his way over to Stephan. Somehow the woodsman made him feel less like an unarmoured man.
Maruc nodded, he kept alert for the whisperings of spells and prepared his silence spell for swift casting.
Stephan also readied his shield and made sure he had his favorite grip on his hilt.
“Halav…,” he whispered to whomever could hear, “This hut….it’s a fright. Just like the old hag’s house we were told to avoid growing up in the wood. Mark my words, there might be an old had witch in there!”
Stephan took a side step when Miklos sidled up to him. He’s going to cramp my sword arm, he thought to himself.
Out of the tunnels now, and with Ludo sneaking up to the hut, Feldard remained by the tunnel entrance and covered Ludo’s approach with his crossbow.
Ludo made his way to the hut. When he was nearly there, an ear-splitting shriek came from the misty wood behind the hut. Then, the sound of metal armor and weaponry clanking as the outline of large humanoids emerged into view.
A war party of hyena-faced gnolls charged toward the hut.
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3:45pm, Nytdain, the 9th of Flaurmont, 1001AC
Cloudy, cool.
Maruc: 10xp+10xp
Miklos: 10xp+10xp
Feldard: 10xp+5xp
Hasan: 10xp
Stephan: 10xp+5xp
Ludo: 10xp+10xp+10xp
TOTAL:
Maruc: 27,540/48000
Miklos: 27,450/40000
Feldard: 27,935/34000
Hasan: 26,990/32000
Stephan: 27,025/32000
Ludo: 26,670/40,000
Reflexes took over, Ludo sprung up from his prone position and darted off into the mist to give himself concealment from the maruading Gnolls – he moved away from the where the rest of the party was gathered, as he ran; he paused momentarily to release a throwing dagger at the closest Gnoll but didn’t stop to see if it had found its target. Once he was concealed within the mist, he slowed down and stealthily started to move around behind the Gnolls; to make his way back to the hut.
Through the mist it was difficult to make out details about the approaching humanoids but for their large size; that and the sound of weaponry was all that Feldard needed however. He took aim at the lead figure and released his bolt. Then moving forward several steps, making a buffer of space between him and the mage behind, he reloaded his crossbow and fired again. At the speed the war party was approaching he wouldn’t get another shot.
As they got closer, it was apparent what they faced. Gnolls. He’d heard of gnolls but this was his first time in battle against them. He suspected they might provide a good challenge. The dwarf grinned, as he switched over to his battle axe and made ready to meet their charge.
Stephan cursed himself for being so daft. “Morndu! Plalusha! My bow should have been ready!” Taking a position on Feldard’s right–but not too close!–he took on the first gnoll that reached him.
“Morndu, what a stench,” the woodsman muttered as the first creature foolishly tried a frontal assault. To add to the beast’s error, it seemed to have over-looked shorter demi-human on his left. Feldard’s axe seemed hungry but held back–not wanting to sever a limb from its fighting companion on the dwarf’s right.
Stephan side-stepped raising his shield. The gnoll collided in a jarring arrest that staggered the monster unknowingly into Feldard’s melee realm. As if with a life of its own, the axe in Feldard’s sinewy arms heaved mightily onto the startled gnoll. A sticky splattering of dark red life blood painted Stephan’s shield.
He turned to face the next beast…
Maruc watched his friends charge into the fray. He was half tempted to follow them in but there were quite a few of them and the small party could be easily outflanked. He decided to go the other side of the hut and went looking for the leader. he hadn’t forgotten the conversation earlier and the chances that there were some spell casters about had not left him. He picked up a stone chip from the ground and made his way around as quietly as he could. The mist swirled and clung damply to his cloak, ahead it parted an gave him a glimpse of the gnollish warband. Their concentration caught by the rush of the warriors. Maruc looked for any that were especially large or had what would pass for priestly vestments in these parts. He was not familiar with gnollish culture it was hard to tell but he could take the gamble that there weren’t any. His silence incantation would easily encompass the warband but not for long if they split into a general melee. He crouched behind a giant mossy slab.
A stone bounced behind him and he spun mace in hand. He pulled the blow as he recognised Miklos.
“Easy Maruc.” Miklos flinched away. “I was just thinking of casting off my last web to even the odds. He noticed the stone in Marucs hand. “Start your silence prayer in a second.” Miklos judged the distance. It was pretty much at maximum range of the spell. Worth the risk to balance the fight.
Summoning the power with a few confident gestures he thrust the web into the centre of the warband. Sticky threads sprouted and danced among the gnoll’s causing cries of consternation. “Now Mar…….” silence engulfed him momentarily.
Maruc’s silence empowered stone chip skipped to the feet of the warband. The screeching thankfully cut off. He picked up his shield, winked at Miklos and dived into the flank. Swinging and breaking heads and shields.
Miklos, his last memorised spell spent ducked back around the hut and slipped through the door away from the fight… allowing his eyes to become accustomed to the gloom.
“Go Ludo, Godspeed,” the elf whispered, as he crouched in a fighter’s stance. The shrieks and yelps frightened Hasan, but less than the outsized clubs and knives the great creatures swung. Hasan’s own first strike was faster, and he sliced through the arm of the first creature to reach him. But the great mass of the charging attackers was too great for the elf to withstand. A snarling animal pushed him back from the hut, just as Miklos tried the door.