The Battle Begins

As the majority of the Gnolls rushed forward to meet the Bravos head on, the shaman lurked back, looming near the mouth of the cave as he muttered some words under his breath. Slowly, a black fog started to pour from the cave, wandering up the nearby trees and etching arcane tribal symbols into a number of tree trunks.

Meanwhile, the Gnoll chieftain clashed with Fuu, swinging his ax down in a mighty blow. Fuu nimbly dodged the attack, dancing forward and to the side of the Gnoll chieftain to take a slash at him with her glaive. The blade of her weapon glowed with holy light as it struck the chieftain, leaving a searing wound running up his side. The chieftain gave a furious roar, swinging again at Fuu, only to miss once more, smashing a hole in the dirt where she had been standing.

Emmaline and Liv worked in tandem, doing their best to lay down a suppressing fire to keep the main party of Gnolls from advancing, but their limited weaponry wasn't exactly suited to the task. Emmaline drew circles of fire in the grass, creating short walls that the Gnolls needed to work around, while Liv focused on taking out any of the creatures that got to close, dropping three of the unarmored Gnolls in a matter of seconds.

Even with the other two party members running interference, it wasn't long before the main Gnoll horde crashed down on Becky. She did her best to hold them back, dodging and weaving to the best of her ability while slashing wildly with a poisoned blade, but there were far too many of them for her to handle. The common Gnolls were able to keep their distance from her fairly safely, occasionally landing a clawed attack that glanced off of her stone skin. With Becky distracted, the elite guard Gnolls made their way past her, toward the trees where Emmaline and Liv had taken cover.