Charge of the Gnoll Brigade

After our attempt to be diplomatic towards the gnolls failed last session, we left things in the middle of a fight in the tower of the gnoll slaver Biting Lash. We need to continue into the tower and up to where Biting Lash is probably located, in order to try and obtain information from her about the whereabouts of the Count. Costian’s account of our Strange Aeons campaign for Pathfinder continues.

Save for the whirring of my etheric shards, the open floor of the tower was cleared of any threats, so we quickly headed in through the inner door, into an area of animal holding pens were camels were running around in terror, and a green furred tiger was quietly munching on a screaming gnoll. Somewhere in the distance, there is the crash of what sounds like stones falling over and breaking.

I paused at the doorway to allow Catiana to go through first, which turned out to be a mistake since as I stopped, several gnoll heads appeared over the balcony up above – one of which apparently belonged to a sorcerer or wizard of some kind since he sent several burning bolts of fire down at me. To add to it, there was also the sound of thunder – and several musket balls embedded themselves in my shoulder. I quickly ran through the door to get into cover.

From Ray, somewhere around the corner, there is the cry of “Basilisk!”, so as I find a corner to hide in and try and heal myself, Catiana becomes furious and grows in size, trying to push her way past the tiger and several newly-minted statues of camels. Not being composed of flesh, she doesn’t seem too bothered by the thought of a Basilisk’s stare. The tiger itself doesn’t seem to be bothered by the rest of us, and drags its dinner off into a corner to continue its feeding.

Catiana draws more power from me, growing to an even larger side, and pushing the statues over. Reaching the basilisk, she punches it between the eyes, killing it. Behind it are several more basilisks, trying to make their way up the corridor towards us. Ray throws a snowball at one, then as myself and Sheena block the path, he chucks down a fireball which toasts several of them. We push our way down, stomping and cutting at basilisks under they are know more.

At the far end of the corridor is a spiral ramp heading up to higher levels in the tower, and from it can be the sound of large creatures moving. As we gather together and heal ourselves, several giant hyenas being ridden by gnolls come charging down the ramp straight towards us. The gnolls are armed with muskets, and they let loose a volley of shot towards us.

As Sheena and Catiana block the advance of the hyenas, Gregor shoots the gnolls of their backs, and then Ray throws another fireball into the mix, managing to get all of them. We are left with the smell of burnt gnoll, hyena and basilisk, as well as the crumbled remains of several stone camels. It looks like there were cells here previously full of slaves, but they are now empty, suggesting that they’ve recently been sold on.

From up above, we can here the sound of things being moved around – possibly a barricade being made. I know that there’s a spell caster up there, and possibly more musketeers. I’ve heard of firearms such as these back when I was in Ustalav, but have never encountered them before. I wonder whether they require much training to use?