Tales from Toril- The Underdark Escapees: Book One, Chapter Fourteen

Bahamutsville Part 3:
The Battle for Bahamutsville

Dramatis Personae:

Fidget Stonegear, the Deep Gnome Inventor who thinks he's a myconid and everyone is out to get him, and thinks like a kobold

Miarielle, the Lythari Priestess of Corellon
Hans, Elle's Basalt Wolf Figurine from Bahamut

Thecker Powdercraft, the Deep Gnome Gunslinger and Inquisitor of Bahamut
Lady Claire Thundersword, the Human Swordcaptain of the Purple Dragon Knights and wielder of Dawnbringer, who compulsively collects trophies from slain foes
Kazul, the Copper Dragonborn Shadow Monk of Bahamut

Topsy and Turvy, the Deep Gnome Wererat Rogue Twins

Stool, the Myconid Child

Glabbagool, the Gelatinous Cube and a great warrior
Rumpadump, the Myconid Child
Ol' Sparky, the "blind" Derro Beggar, as Jacky Quicksilver, the surface gnome

The residents of Bahamutsville:
Kibbik, the Kobold Paladin of Bahamut and leader of the kobolds
Sillis, the Kobold Bard
Vevvev, the Kobold Gunslinger
Cyrryc, the Kobold Gunslinger
Renner, the Kobold Rogue
Xiccix, the Kobold Weapon Master
Mezzem, the Kobold Priestess of Bahamut
Gabtar, the Goblin Inquisitor and Kibbik's squire

Comrades we have lost:

Ront, the Orc Fighter- turned into hamburger by Pwent

Buppido, the Derro- smashed by Orvald

Eldeth Feldrun, the Shield Dwarf- killed during escape

Hera Adaar, the Abyssal Tiefling Wild Sorceress- swept away

Luna Trelawny, the Human Divination Wizard- skull caved in by rock thrown by Fidget, then finished off by black pudding

Sarith Zekarit, the Drow Scout- drowned

Phillip Johnson, the Human Cleric- in a seemingly irreversible coma, left in Hemeth's care

Jim Jar, the Deep Gnome- eaten by grell

Prince Derendil, the Quaggoth- killed by sea troll

Shuushar, the "Awakened" Kuo-toa- turned into shuushi by sea troll

Hemeth, the Duergar Arms Dealer- parted with group in Gracklstugh
Thimblepwent Battlehammer, the Dwarven Battlerager Barbarian- turned into dog food
Orvald Abershaw, the Mousefolk Barbarian- became a squeaky toy
Lythana Belmyr, the Half-Drow Blood Hunter of Eilistraee- sacrificed to Demogorgon
Zenit 'Dracon, the Drow Fighter and Orvald's wife- abandoned the party because Orvald died
Codsworth, the polite Flumph- shredded by crossbow
Zarrus, the Tiefling Favored Soul Sorcerer of Mephisto- vanished during gnoll fight
Aura, the Air Genasi Storm Sorceress who injures the party almost as much as the enemies- accidental self-vaporization (bitch blew herself up)
Kyri, the Minotaur Scout and former slave of the duergar who thinks she's the greatest at everything- vaporized by a jackass

Friendly fire overall: 79

Party members killed: 15

Overall party members lost: 19

NOTE: Things will be mostly from Claire's perspective, anything with italics is from a third party, since the knight can't be everywhere at once.

***** Flamerule 2, 1489 DR (The Year of the Warrior Princess)

       Before we set out the next day to finish cleansing Bahamutsville, and hopefully saving the hatchlings, some of us were given gifts to aid us in the battle. Elle received a basalt wolf figurine that transformed into an actual wolf named Hans. Vevvev and Renner gave Thecker a gun they called a Daring Sir, something Sillis had gotten them the schematics for while on the surface. There was a book for my chérie labeled as from Bahamut, that gave her some sort of boon.

       As we gathered ourselves to leave, the able-bodied kobolds approached Kibbik and told him they wanted to help in the fight. It was clear Kibbik didn't want them to, but they insisted, so eventually he relented; we really didn't have time to fight about it. They were set to come in behind myself, my chérie, Fidget, Thecker, Elle, and the twins to mop up any stragglers we left in our wake.

       Our goal was to get in the hatchery as quickly as possible. Kibbik's team would be storming the front gates to attempt to be distracting to help drawn fire from us as we went for the hatchery. Getting the babies was our main objective, though we all really wanted to take down all the gnolls and get the city back for the kobolds.

       We reached the gates without seeing any sign of the gnolls, and spread out, creeping into the city. It was eerily quiet, and as we moved into the city, and once we reached a large crater, that had apparently been created from Fidget's bombs, we discovered it was halfway full of the bones of kobolds, and egg shells. I felt sick as I thought of the poor hatchlings. As we reached the crater, a mad cackling came from all around us, it was completely impossible to tell where it was coming from.

       Everyone began looking for where it was coming from, while moving as silently as we could toward the hatchery. The hatchery was glowing- which I assume is not normal- and waves of heat were oozing from it. There was still no sign of the gnolls. I felt like I was walking through one of the horror story Chapbooks. We were almost to the hatchery when everything fell silent. In the span of a heartbeat, we went from eerie silence to howls of glee, and gnolls began pouring out of buildings and the mushroom grove.

       Thecker opened fire on the first one she saw, killing it instantly while a translucent 3-headed flail appeared in front of me and began bashing me- it fucked me up right quick. I saw my chérie kill two more of them, as Topsy dropped one; then Fidget threw a rock at one, and hit Elle and Hans instead. I felt another blow hit me- the next thing I knew was the feeling of warmth as my flesh knit back together, Elle had healed me.

       We fought a grueling battle, I thought I would die several times during it, the gnolls swarmed toward the beacon of radiance. When we finally got down all of the gnolls that were around us, I whirled around to see the kobolds engaged in a huge fight of their own, and I wanted to help, but we had innocents to save- I only hoped we weren't too late.

       My chérie and I kicked in the door of the hatchery together, and were greeted to an angry red glow emanating from within, and heat poured out in waves. Before us were stairs that went down for about 20 or so feet, but I couldn't see much more, the heat had given the air a haze- like that of a desert on a hot day. In the center of the room- at least I think it was the center- was a huge effigy of a maleish demon, that had been constructed from bones, hide, and trophies. There were crushed egg shells all around the base of the effigy, and looking at it all, I felt like something was a little off. At the sight of the effigy of Yeenoghu, the Demon Lord of Savagery that gnolls follow, Claire's mind cracked, and she was filled with the compulsion to collect trophies from enemies she slays. I heard laughter echoing from inside as my chérie ran into the building.

       Arrows flew at Kazul, and she caught one and threw it back; she saw a platform with rows of broken eggs, and some gnolls, she shadow-stepped over to it and saw hyenas were feasting upon the eggs. Just beyond her was a 15x15 foot room that had been risen from the floor, that contained about 12 hatchlings with hyenas all around them, and a glabrezu. Right after my chérie stepped into shadows and vanished, a voice rang out, calling for us to join it and "talk this out." I replied that "we do not parley with demons." The moment the words left my mouth, a portal opened, inside appeared to be a fiery wasteland- the Abyss. A hideous thing that looked like a bipedal, swollen frog covered in spikes walked out (a hezrou), flanked by two vrocks... fuck.

       I saw the twins begin climbing the effigy, as my chérie bludgeoned one of the gnolls, killing it and sealing that we were to fight instead of talk. The glabrezu loosed a nasty assault on my chérie, since she was right next to him- she looked horribly wounded, I needed to get to her fast. An ear-piercing screech came from one of the vrocks, and both of the twins and Fidget looked dazed from it- I hoped they wouldn't fall off the effigy. The hezrou went for Elle, so I unleashed a cloud of daggers on it.

       Thecker, seeing that Fidget was stunned, took the bomb from his hands and hurled it at the platform opposite the one Kazul and the glabrezu were on; the blast killed two of them. I saw my chérie unleash her acid breath at the glabrezu, and it responded with a strike so hard she went down. As rage filled me, I suddenly felt puzzled by my surroundings. Claire, the twins, and Fidget were made confused by one of the demon's abilities. One of the vrocks then released toxic spores on the group, poisoning Elle, the twins, and Fidget. The hezrou grabbed the poisoned lythari and shoved her into the cloud of daggers that Claire had made- the priestess fell unconscious and began bleeding to death; she died in seconds. Something compelled Fidget to run off the platform he was on, hurting him, but not terribly.

       I was so puzzled by my surroundings that I found myself unable to move; then it felt like a fog had been removed from my brain, and I remembered why I was here. Suddenly a deep gnome with hair appeared at the portal, he reached down and plucked Elle's necklace of fireballs from her neck, hurling it at the hideous effigy. As the effigy crumbled, I felt my wounds heal, and watched everyone- including Elle- heal too. Sparky's healing couldn't reach Kazul, and she was already very nearly dead. 

       The glabrezu turned to the gnome and announced he would make a great trophy. He hurled my chérie at me, and I fell over when the sudden weight hit me. As my dagger cloud stopped, it began flinging gnolls aside, and rushing the gnome; who suddenly turned into a purple dragon. What. The. Fuck. Screams erupted from the area the hatchlings were in, and my attention turned to something more important than the dragon, the innocents. I saw a vrock land on one of the twins as I rolled Kazul off of me and dumped a health potion down her throat.

       Elle had been blessed by Corellon with the ability to strike fear into the hearts of demons, so the lythari rose and made the glabrezu and one of the vrocks back away in terror. I saw the dragon rushing toward the platform the hatchlings were on- I hoped to rescue them; he killed every gnoll that was on the stairs, though I also was hurt by his assault- if he helped the babies, it was worth the pain. Kazul of course ran right back up the platform to help the babes, and I heard screams of pain coming from hyenas. Kazul killed six of the hyenas that were trying to eat the hatchlings, though she also accidentally killed two of them in the process.

       I saw the hezrou shove Elle into the portal behind her; Elle's mind fractured during the quick trip through the Abyss, and she turned savage, making her resist laws and customs, trying to return to a more primitive time. Elle found herself back in the sanctuary, and decided to re-enter the portal to return to the fight; demons blocked her path, and she was forced to stay in sanctuary. The priestess slammed the portal shut, shifted, and began running back to the city. 

       I saw the glabrezu lift Fidget, and the area around them went black; Fidget was knocked unconscious by the glabrezu, and started bleeding out. One of the vrocks began buzzing around the darkness, it looked like it was fighting with the demon inside. The vrock wanted to eat the dying svirfneblin, but it missed, and the glabrezu wouldn't let it have him. The dragon muttered something and pointed at one vrock, it turned to attack the other one. Somehow Fidget stabilized himself and began stabbing at the vrock that wanted to eat him; his mind cleared a little and the confusion was gone- he still thought he was a mushroom though. 

       All the walls around the portal to the Abyss vanished, and the glabrezu hurled Fidget at my chérie, then went charging past me, knocking me over. As Claire hit the ground she began bleeding out, the glabrezu continued its charge and slammed into Sparky, its momentum threw both of them into the Abyss; the portal slammed shut. The spell Sparky had laid on the vrocks broke the moment he passed the threshold of the portal, and they stopped trying to kill one another.

       Kazul was still on the platform, locked in battle with the hezrou, who succeeded in knocking the dragonborn out. The twins rushed to Claire and Fidget's sides, each pouring a health potion down their friend's throats. I came to with Topsy leaning over me, just as a vrock swooped to attack her; the other vrock went for Turvy. Before Claire and Fidget could do anything, the vrocks dropped them again. On the platform, the hezrou advanced on the hatchlings now that Kazul was out of the way.

       Topsy killed the vrock on her, while her brother healed Fidget again. Fidget rose and threw rocks at the dead vrock, hitting Claire and killing Kazul instead. With the vrock that was plaguing her dispatched, Topsy healed Claire again. Thecker threw a grappling hook at the remaining vrock, and it sunk in deep. The twins finished off that vrock, leaving only the hezrou to contend with.

       I saw the hezrou advancing on the hatchlings, so I hurled my Javelin at it, hoping that would help me save the babies- I fucking missed. A loud bang went off behind me, as Thecker shot the hezrou. It grabbed one of the hatchlings, and held one of its razor sharp claws to its throat. I attacked it anyways, in hopes of killing it before it could hurt the baby; while I did strike it, I also hit the baby, killing the poor soul. The twins began stabbing it, while Thecker continue pumping bullets into it; we had the demon surrounded. It swiped at one of the twins, and hit itself instead, just as Fidget launched a rock while I simultaneously stabbed into it with Dawnbringer. The hezrou was dead.

       With the immediate threat gone, I went to my chérie's side, and discovered she was not breathing. I had to find Elle, she might be able to save Kazul. I could not lose her.

       Elle had finally reached the city, to see that while few gnolls remained, drow had joined the fray. A dark figure was locked in combat with Kibbik, and it didn't look like the paladin was winning. Elle ran in to back the kobold up, and realized the figure was Zenit. As the lythari watched, Zenit hacked Kibbik's blade- the one he'd gotten from the planar- in twain and he fell to the ground, mortally wounded.

       With the kobold down, Zenit strode toward Elle, intent on killing the party as revenge for Orvald's death- even though none of them had caused it. The drow began using her dark powers to raise the gnolls, but the magic of Corellon stopped that. Renner crept to Kibbik's side and took his leader away, invisible. 

       Thecker rushed out of the hatchery to find out what the situation was on the streets- we all followed, though I was behind them by a little bit, reluctant to leave my dear friend's side.

       Orvald charged Thecker and bludgeoned her, then realizing how dire the situation yelled for retreat; she was going to sacrifice herself  so the others could escape. I emerged to Thecker holding up bombs, prepared to light them, in hopes of killing the creatures before us. I backed up to stay clear of the blast, as the daft gnome set off a massive explosion- my head felt a little woozy and my ears rang. Somehow Thecker survived the blast, as did Elle- but Fidget wasn't so lucky, and as soon as he caught flame, another explosion went off. Fidget was carrying a lot of explosives on him at that moment, and when Thecker's hit him, everything around them went up. Somehow Thecker and the twins escaped the blast, but Elle died in it. Claire was mortally wounded, but alive- Thecker stabilized her. They don't know if Orvald and Zenit survived.

       I came to, covered with burns and completely miserable. My agony was amplified when I learned Elle had died in the blast, and with her, my chance to save my chérie. My heart was broken, and I realized how deeply I loved her- beyond the bounds of friendship.

       We began hearing explosions in the distance- the traps we'd set in the tunnels. Since Kibbik had told us there was a secret section of the hatchery that was unlikely to be found by the gnolls, Thecker and the twins searched that, while I gathered some of Kazul's belongings. Her holy symbol of Bahamut went around my neck, and her prayer book tucked into my breastplate.

       They found the hidden area, and there was a gold kobold with wings inside, along with a large group of hatchlings and eggs. The kobold was called Mezzem, and she had been in the hatchery when the gnolls attacked, so she gathered what eggs she could and hid in the secret area. Her magic was the only thing that kept the babies fed as they hatched. We took her, all the babies, and the eggs back to the sanctuary with us.

       There were several drow patrols we had to sneak around on our way back, but we made it there safely. Inside the sanctuary was utter chaos, and Sillis greeted us, relieved to see that some of us had survived, and that we had saved the hatchlings. She told us Kibbik was alive, but had been badly injured and would be resting for the rest of the day. Apparently they had been doing very well in the battle until the drow showed up and overpowered them.

       We knew it was only a matter of time before the drow found the sanctuary, so we planned to evacuate in the morning. A group of the kobolds set up bunks in the thingy Glabbagool called Orvald's Barrel for the hatchlings; the cube would carry them inside him. Now we had over 100 kobolds to get to safety. 

Tales from Toril- The Underdark Escapees: Book One, Chapter Twelve

Bahamutsville Part 1:
The Holy Quest

Dramatis Personae:
Aura, the Air Genasi Storm Sorceress who injures the party almost as much as the enemies (the blue one)

Fidget Stonegear, the Deep Gnome Inventor who thinks he's a myconid and everyone is out to get him, and thinks like a kobold (the foolish one)

Miarielle, the Lythari Priestess of Corellon (the fuzzy one)

Kyri, the Minotaur Scout and former slave of the duergar who thinks she's the greatest at everything
Thecker Powdercraft, the Deep Gnome Gunslinger (the mouthy one)

Topsy and Turvy, the Deep Gnome Wererat Rogue Twins (the matching ones)

Stool, the Myconid Child

Glabbagool, the Gelatinous Cube and a great warrior
Rumpadump, the Myconid Child

The residents of Bahamutsville:
Kibbik, the Kobold Paladin of Bahamut and leader of the kobolds (the winged one)
Sillis, the Kobold Bard (the singing one)
Vevvev, the Kobold Gunslinger (the booming one)
Cyrryc, the Kobold Gunslinger (the other booming one)
Renner, the Kobold Rogue (the sneaking one)
Xiccix, the Kobold Weapon Master (the fighting one)
Gabtar, the Goblin Inquisitor and Kibbik's squire (the different one)

Comrades we have lost:

Ront, the Orc Fighter- turned into hamburger by Pwent

Buppido, the Derro- smashed by Orvald

Eldeth Feldrun, the Shield Dwarf- killed during escape

Hera Adaar, the Abyssal Tiefling Wild Sorceress- swept away

Luna Trelawny, the Human Divination Wizard- skull caved in by rock thrown by Fidget, then finished off by black pudding

Sarith Zekarit, the Drow Scout- drowned

Phillip Johnson, the Human Cleric- in a seemingly irreversible coma, left in Hemeth's care

Jim Jar, the Deep Gnome- eaten by grell

Prince Derendil, the Quaggoth- killed by sea troll

Shuushar, the "Awakened" Kuo-toa- turned into shuushi by sea troll

Hemeth, the Duergar Arms Dealer- parted with group in Gracklstugh
Thimblepwent Battlehammer, the Dwarven Battlerager Barbarian- turned into dog food
Orvald Abershaw, the Mousefolk Barbarian- became a squeaky toy
Lythana Belmyr, the Half-Drow Blood Hunter of Eilistraee- sacrificed to Demogorgon
Zenit 'Dracon, the Drow Fighter and Orvald's wife- abandoned the party because Orvald died
Codsworth, the polite Flumph- shredded by crossbow
Zarrus, the Tiefling Favored Soul Sorcerer of Mephisto (the red one)- vanished during gnoll fight
Ol' Sparky, the "blind" Derro Beggar with a magic cane (former master)- vanished after cave-in

Friendly fire overall: 69
Friendly fire dealt by Aura: 24
Party members killed: 13
Overall party members lost: 18

NOTE: Things will be mostly from Kyri's perspective, anything with italics is from a third party, since the scout can't be everywhere at once.
Also, Kyri doesn't refer to many people by their names, but instead gives them designations. The terms in parenthesis next to the character's names are what the minotaur calls them. She also doesn't understand gender, frequently getting the pronouns backwards, and calling people "it."

***** Kythorn 22, 1489 DR (The Year of the Warrior Princess)

       We ran from the gnolls right into a dead end that had scratch marks on the walls. The fuzzy one said she smelled a trail of others that went straight to the wall- as if there was a secret passage. I pushed on the wall, since I should have been able to break it open with ease, and it was loose, but wouldn't budge. The mouthy one said it was on some sort of mechanism and we needed to find the catch to operate it- the matching ones found it and the wall lifted up.

       The tunnel was only five feet tall, I was way too big to fit in it, so the mouthy one gave me a shrinking mushroom so I could fit comfortably- I was still able to carry Master Stool and Master Rumpadump with ease. Glabbagool couldn't fit through the tunnel with the foolish one's stupid barrel thingy, so he ordered him to take a different route and meet up with us. Glabbagool was much more important than his stupid hidey-hole, but not to the idiot. I need to eat her.

       As we moved through the tunnel, we could hear the echoes of gnolls cackling, but I don't think they found the way in. The mouthy one stepped on a pressure plate and two crossbow bolts flew at us, though luckily they missed. Whoever had this tunnel didn't seem to want anyone to find them. After a time we came up to another hidden door disguised as a dead end.

       When the door opened, a bunch of torches lit up on the other side, and we were face to face with a huge dragon statue made from silver-like metal, and had red sapphires for eyes; smoke billowed from its nose. Thecker and Fidget both believed the statue to be a real dragon, and Thecker poised to fire at the statue. As the mouthy one raised his boom stick at the statue someone yelled "stop" from behind it. The mouthy one tried to move closer to it to see who had called out, but it saw her and he stopped in its tracks.

       The fuzzy one told us the statue was of Bahamut, some dragon god I'd never heard of. It spoke to us, telling everyone except the fuzzy one to lay down our arms. She explained to it that we had been caught in a cave-in, and were escaping some gnolls, but that didn't seem to satisfy the god. We were instructed to bind our hands, and confess our sins; even after she told it that the foolish one was the only evil-doer with us. I was confused. I'd never had dealings with gods, and had only heard of them in passing; I also wasn't really sure what sins were.

       The foolish one began nervously rambling off petty things he had done from childhood on, and it actually listened for the whole half-hour it took for it to go through them all. The mouthy one said someone was in prison for a crime she had committed, but that the person had been a tyrant, so it was framed to free the people; she wasn't sure if that was a sin. Apparently, sins were things like killing people- I had done a lot of that, though almost all was done by the orders of my master; I think it would have been satisfied with that if the foolish one hadn't piped up that I tried to kill it yesterday. It skipped over the matching ones, Master Stool, and Master Rumpadump- it said my masters were innocents.

       It passed judgement on all of us. The blue one lost her pinky finger, the mouthy one lost her ring finger, it gave the foolish one mercy to change its ways, the fuzzy one was told to confer with her patron, and then it turned to me. I told it if it took my hands I could not protect Master Stool and Master Rumpadump, so it instead took both of my thumbs and melted my collar off, telling me that I was free and to change my ways.

       After it was finished shearing off fingers, the statue told us that the gnolls had invaded their holy city, Bahamutsville, and that they needed to be removed. We were given the divine quest to help them cleanse the city, which I told it we were completely capable of doing, and readily accepted the mission. A group of kobolds emerged from around the statue, with the leader having wings. The winged one healed all of us and we went to prepare to take back their city.

       Meanwhile, Glabbagool was making his way through the tunnels when he got attacked by six gnolls. The cube managed to trap all of them inside him long enough to kill them, then continued on his way, planning to relax for a nice meal after finding the rest of the group.

       The winged one led us through the tunnels to his camp, and introduced us to the rest of his helpers. He told there were about 100 kobold refugees in the camp, that was all that survived the initial attack from the gnolls. A different one- who wasn't the same type as them- came up to the winged one and reported how low they were on supplies. Me, being the kindest and most generous person in our little group, handed the different one my pack full of fresh food and dried rations, along with several healer kits to help them.

       We decided that we needed to hit the knight's building inside the city for supplies. I would go to the main gate with the mouthy one, the foolish one, the winged one, and the singing one. Another team, comprised of the fuzzy one, both booming ones, and the fighting one, would create a distraction at the back gate, by blowing it up; they would have to leave tomorrow to reach the back gate, it was a little over a day's journey to get there. The final team would have the blue one, the matching ones, the sneaking one, and Glabbagool; they would go in the barrel thingy inside Glabbagool and swim in to sneak up to the knight's building to claim the supplies while the gnolls were distracted by the rest of us.

       First we had to find Glabbagool, so the foolish one and I went off to search for him with the booming one. We found an area that looked as if it had been scrubbed, like stone usually appears when Glabbagool has gone through them. There were discarded weapons everywhere, but no bodies; we called for the cube and found him lounging in a hut, eating gnolls. We told him the plan and he agreed to help, even though that meant he'd have to leave his feast behind to carry the barrel thing- he called it Orvald's Barrel. On the way back, Glabbagool told us he had been attacked by the gnolls, and of his heroics in slaying them. He is a great warrior.

       We spent the rest of the night preparing for the siege, The foolish one gave me a shoulder ballista that shoots spears and javelins- like a really big crossbow; it was awesome. That night Kibbik had a talk with Glabbagool about the light of Bahamut, and the cube readily converted to the faith. 

***** Kythorn 23

       Elle's group left the next morning to travel to the back gate of Bahamutsville. On their way they were attacked by a group of goblins, who turned most of their focus to the priestess. They made short work of the goblins, and found their camp a little further down the way; it was around the point they planned to stop for the night anyways, so they took it over. 

***** Kythorn 24- the main gate

       When we got to the gate, the winged one and the foolish one crept up to the gates to lay the traps and explosives. The singing one wasn't not as quiet as he was supposed to be, blowing her hiding spot, and drawing the attention of the gnolls stationed on the gate. I jumped out and speared one with my shoulder ballista, hurting it badly; perhaps the foolish one is more useful than I originally thought. The mouthy one knocked one of them out with her boom stick, and the one I speared threw my javelin back, and missed me completely. One leapt off the gate and ran at me, hitting me, but getting its mouth caught on my horn. Before I could kill it, the winged one shot it in the back of the head- its brains exploded all over my face, some of them getting in my mouth. The fuzzy one was right, gnolls taste terrible- I vomited all over the corpse.

       The bomb the others set on the gate went off with a massive explosion, the gate and walls went tumbling down, and the archers went flying. The mouthy one began firing her boom stick into the space where the gate had been, while I charged in and speared a hyena with my horns; the winged one finished it off. We all worked methodically to take out the gnolls and their hyenas, and I was taking a lot of damage. Kyri and Fidget were both knocked unconscious by the gnolls, but Sillis healed them quickly, allowing them to rejoin the fray. 

       As I rose, freshly healed by the singing one, I saw a few of the gnolls hitting each other- it was amusing watching them kill each other for us. The foolish one was speared by gnolls again and fell- if they killed her, at least I'd get to eat his flesh; but the singing one revived him again. I slaughtered another gnoll while the mouthy one knocked another unconscious, and killed a second one.

       Kibbik killed another one while Fidget was dropped again. Since there weren't any others to kill, I mutilated the hyena attacking the foolish one; the gnoll that was attacking him looked terrified by the mess I made of its pet. The mouthy one knocked it out while it stared at me, jaw slacked in terror. The revived foolish one stabbed the one who had been stabbing him, and I finished it off. There were no more gnolls in sight, so I headed to the knight's building, there were a bunch of them in there, so I charged in.

       A huge, burly gnoll emerged from the hatchery flanked by hyenas dragging the corpses of kobolds in their maws. It told the hyenas to feast, and they began turning into gnolls while they devoured the fallen kobolds.

       Fidget hurled a bomb at the gnoll- a Fang of Yeenoghu- but it didn't do much to him. He then harassed Kibbik into chucking his bag of bombs at the group that was moving toward them. The gnolls caught the bag and tossed it back at Kibbik- they didn't know the bombs had to be lit to go off. Thecker took the bag, set it ablaze and threw it back. It didn't hurt the fang, but the other four around ti were blown to smithereens. Fidget shot one and took it down. Kibbik struck down the fang, and the rest of the main force retreated, heading back to the refuge.

***** The back gate

       Elle's team made it to the back gate in time, and waited for the signal to begin their assault.As soon as they heard the explosion of the main gates, they began working on the charges. While Elle and Vevvev set up the charges and traps the gnolls stationed on top of that gate peppered them with crossbow bolts. They fled as soon as they finished their task. 

***** The knight's building force

       Glabbagool and Aura's team made it to the water and swam up to the grove where they would hide until they got their signal to go. Once the explosion went off, Aura's team began moving toward the knight's building. Two gnolls and a hyena went after Aura's team, but the twins and Renner killed them instantly. They snuck through the city to the knight's building, as the sounds of battle raged all around them. 

       They made it to the knight's building, and found a gnoll and a hyena inside. Aura tossed an ice knife into the room. The twins teamed up on the hyena and dropped it instantly- then turned to finish off the gnoll. As they gathered their gunpowder, the team heard noises from upstairs- Kyri. 

       I was surrounded by gnolls, but I wasn't worried, I was an amazing fighter, and could easily slaughter them all. I began by slaying the one that was directly in front of me. The twins and Renner made it out the the knight's building with their bags, Aura was supposed to be right behind them. Aura went upstairs, arms full of gunpowder, and saw the gnolls. She couldn't see Kyri in the middle of them... The genasi gave a squeak of alarm, threw the bags of gunpowder at the gnolls, and then used her fire breath spell...

       I heard an odd squeaking noise before flames erupted around me. I felt my flesh being burned away as I tumbled into darkness. Aura vaporized herself, Kyri, and every gnoll in the building. Lythana predicted that the genasi would get herself or someone else killed, and her lack of wits indeed caused the untimely death of herself and Kyri. 

       The twins and Renner made it back to Glabbagool safely, and began their escape. Shortly after emerging into the tunnel, Glabbagool announced that there were people "like Orvald's friend" up ahead of them, moving toward them. The rogues got out of the apparatus, and found a group of moving toward them.

*****
45 gnolls, 6 pack lords, 15 giant hyenas, and 1 fang of Yeenoghu were slain in this battle.  

Photo from Out of the Abyss Adventure Module by Wizards of the Coast

Aura's dice being shamed for the deaths of Kyri and Aura