Afternoon, Kelehess 4th
(6 total days survived)
The Lift
Passing from the hyena den into the tower proper, the group entered the ground floor. They discovered a large main door, shut for the time being, a ramp leading up, and a broken-down lift. Portia did some preliminary examinations on it, deciding she could fix it, but it would take a few hours.
Three Gnolls
Before the group could decide exactly how to proceed, three gnolls moved down the ramp, each of them dragging a headless, disemboweled child. Portia and Isabella were able to hide in time, but the rest were caught. The hyena-men left no room for diplomacy or tricks, attacking outright, though the rogue and wizard managed to get a drop on them first.
The gnolls proved frighteningly quick in combat, and terribly strong, raking with their sharpened claws and ravaging the wizard in retaliation for her first strike. Before long they overwhelmed her. Kaylan and Giers came to Isabella's aid, but she nearly died a second time in the struggle. To say the princess was humbled by the experience was an understatement.
However others fared surprisingly well against the mangy monsters, Portia especially, who felled the first with an impressive series of wrench work. Hulda finished the second with a brutal hammer strike through the chest. And even when the third gnoll ran for reinforcements, making its way through the great doors leading out into The Savanna, Portia came through again with a deadly throw of a wrench.
Hulda dragged the body off the doorstep and shut the door. A tense minute followed, waiting to see if anyone upstairs heard the struggle, or any outside saw the fleeing gnoll. They did not. For the moment, all was well.
A Short Rest
Kaylan tended Isabella's wounds, the rest patching themselves as needed.
Visions of destruction dancing in Portia's head, she designed the preliminaries on a grand schematic out of the broken lift parts to create what she called "The Death Engine". However that too would take far too much time in this hostile and heavily-traveled portion of the tower. Filing her ideas for later, she resigned herself to using the spare parts in jamming the front door. With five minutes work, every hinge was sufficiently broken, stops placed beneath the door's slide, and the passageway generally plugged. No one was coming in through that way (though there was always the hyena den route).
Giers examined the bodies, especially the spear-like object wrapped in hides and dropped by one of the gnolls when the battle began. From what the scions had seen of gnolls, many preferred the spear over other weapons. And lo and behold, this wrapped object was a spear. Not just any spear, either, but magic, a Snakefang Spear. The paladin happily claimed it, waiting by the bottom of the ramp in anticipation of testing it out.
Splat
Just as the group was moving for the ramp, a deep and menacing roar echoed over even the hum of Blight and then a shriek. In a few seconds time, a screaming gnoll crashed onto the ground floor, having been hurled from one of the upper tiers. He exploded in a rain of limbs and gore. And with that the group headed up...
Guard Room
Giers in the lead, loud as ever in his plate, the group made its way to the first chamber of the second floor. From the looks of it, this was a guard room. Among the items found were three maps, which Portia quickly took. However they were written in a language she could not read, prompting Isabella to offer her services (thanks to the power of her magic glasses). And later on they would indeed examine these three maps, one of a village, one of The Savanna, and one of a green mountain.
Given the unusual nature of the tower floors, and former use of a lift, each level lacked an interior wall. Thus every room could see something of the next room. Giving a look see, the scions found large contingents of gnoll guardians and hyena pets. However the guards in the next room over looked to all be asleep, aside from the occasionally antsy hyenas.
Portia, Assassin
Quiet work was deemed best and Portia drew The Dominatrix's magic dagger and slipped into the room. She slit the throats of the three hyenas before any of them happened to wake. During that time, she also noticed an identical contingent of gnolls and hyenas in the next chamber, guarding the ramp up to the third floor. It seemed this tower wasn't any sort of place to live, but more of a military outpost, a building with a very specific purpose. From the looks of the guards and guard rooms, it likely had something to do with protecting Blight and Al'kek'uma.
Portia slipped over to the largest of the sleeping gnolls, took a deep breath, and plunged her dagger into his throat. However the monster survived the jugular sever, leaping up and waking the others with his wet bark.
Scions vs. The Second Floor
The resulting fight pitted the scions against the entire second floor, a mass that first encompassed the gushing marauder, his identical brother-in-arms and their hunt mistress. The hunt mistress, which one of the group might have heard called Seetha amidst the barking and Abyssal, looked heartbroken over the death of her pets, and more so the first marauder when he was finally taken down. It seemed there was something going on there, perhaps hunt mistresses doubling as pack mothers.
The scions held their own against the remainder of the room, but the other chamber's guardians soon spilled in after them. Huge, spear-and-shield wielding marauders, deadly-aim hunt mistresses, and a trio of ravenous hyenas tear into the group even now, their resources dwindling along with their health.
Truly dire straights...
Experience: 245 each (2813 total)
Magic: Snakefang Spear (Giers)
Loot: Gears, wrench and a hyena head (Portia), 3 Maps in Abyssal (Isabella)
Money: None
NPCs:
Hunt Mistress Seetha (the broken-hearted lover)
Hunt Mistress Nelisha (the archer across the drop)
Monsters: Gnoll Claw Fighters, Gnoll Marauders, Gnoll Huntmasters, Hyenas
Places: Ground Floor, Second Floor
Snakefang Spear
This wicked-looking spear has a bluish tint, with a snake's head blade and a coiled shaft. Its bite delivers debilitating poison that saps vitality and strength.
Level: 5
Price: 1000 gp
Weapon: Spear
Enhancement: +1 attack rolls and damage rolls
Critical: +1d6 poison damage
Power (Daily • Poison): Free Action. Use this power when you hit with the weapon. The target takes ongoing 5 poison damage and is weakened (save ends both).
Weakened: Attacks deal half damage.
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