Princes of the Apocalypse Recap 6
Our session picks up again with figures slinking down the sides of the hills surrounding our party’s campsite. Bingo has just woken up the group with a power cord on his lute in response to the hyena cackling in the dark. Now that he has warned the others Bingo turns himself invisible, choosing the element of surprise and temporary protection over panicking in the middle of the camp.
With Bingo’s warning Gil jumps up from spooning, preparing himself for action. He throws out the drift globe to light up the camp just as one of the figures dashes in closer. Roland is close behind Gil leaving the tent and launches into action summoning a spiritual fist to donkey Kong bonk the approaching Gnoll on top of its head. He also tries to swing his mace at the figure but mistakes the distance between them blinded for a moment by the sudden light of the drift globe.
From behind the Gnoll hit by Roland’s holy fist another raises up firing its bow hitting him in the thigh. The largest of the figures surges forward its bow in hand, but the shot goes wide of Roland. As the shining beacon of danger in the night-time Roland is targeted again by the archers but they miss, their arrows clanging uselessly against his armour.
Cybin rouses from his sleep enough to run towards the growing sounds of combat. With a burst of adrenaline, he imbues his weapon and the invisible spores around his body with magic. At this point, Forge has scrambled to his feet and takes careful aim at the Gnoll close to Roland before loosing a bolt, knocking it to the ground unmoving. He commands his tin can companion to attack the larger more intimidating figure of the Pack Lord and it obeys almost eagerly. It leaps into the fray sinking its teeth into the leg of the larger figure.
From behind the Pack Lord another Gnoll emerges running up to the tin can thrusting its spear into the side of it in an attempt to release the grip on his leader. More Gnolls from another group reach the camp. The first shooting uselessly at Roland, its arrow clanging off his armour into the darkness. Čadas gets up groggily shuffling out of his tent before tossing a chromatic orb lazily in the direction of the left-hand group. The shot flys way off base but is enough to catch their attention pulling it away from the shining Dragonborn. Confusion comes over their faces, which no one sees in the dark, because all they saw was a hat moving across the camp and a beam of magical energy flying towards them.
Bingo moves closer, now stood almost flanking the rightmost group of Gnolls and unleashes three charges of his wand of magic missiles against the Gnoll trying to protect its leader from the jaws of the mechanical beast. With his cry of Wingardium Leviosa he catches the figure off guard, the blasts almost killing it outright sending it careening into the tin can with a high-pitched yelp of pain. Gil charges the Gnolls closest to then drawing Boris and Doris. He expertly trips the Gnoll Bingo blasted and brings Doris down onto his head. With a surge of energy, he cuts the head clean off. Fore! and so the game of golf was invented. Roland charges up to the Pack lord and swings his mace using the momentum of the Lord dodging the spiritual fist to deal a crushing blow with his mace.
Another Gnoll plunges his spear towards Gil only to have it parried with a twist of Boris. The attention of this group is firmly locked onto Gil after his gory display. The Pack Lord swings his great glaive at him only for it to miss due to Bingo distracting him. Bingo called out "if unenthusiastic handjob had a face it would be yours!" at just the right time to make the Lord pause in his attack. He lets out a furious howl inciting the Gnoll next to him into rampage hitting the tin can companion, again attempting to dislodge it from the Lord. Another Gnoll launches forward with its spear encouraged by their leaders call but again Gil manages to step out of the way.
Cybin looks upon the group in front of him, there are only a couple of enemies left and he determines that the group is adept enough to dispatch of them without his help. With a shrug he lowers his quarterstaff and strolls back over to the wagon where he proceeds to stroke and comfort Cinnamon the bun. With the returning figure of Cybin blocking his view Forge heads around to the other side of the wagon to gain a better vantage point again. Coming around the side he spots a viable target and steadies his crossbow before loosing the bolt with deadly accuracy. The bolt flies through the air and finds its target travelling through the exposed eye and into the skull of the Gnoll to the left of the party.
His previous cover blown Čadas hurries to a better spot. In his rush his spell barely finds its mark. The loud gong of a church bell sounds and the Gnoll who had just thrusted his spear at Gil winces in pain. The area seamed even quieter after the loud gong of the bell from Čadas’ spell and so Bingo’s voice rings out seeming louder than usual. “Your head is as empty as a eunuch’s underpants" he declares looking intently at the Gnoll Pack Leader. Unsure of what a eunuch is he seems almost unphased by the statement yet somehow, he knows that what was said was a deep insult to his pride.
With three Gnolls closing in on him Gil decides that focussing his might on one at a time would leave him exposed to the others. With a deep breath he grips his axes tightly and spins on the spot cleaving his axes across the three Gnolls nearby to him. The recoiling of the enemies from Gil’s vicious attack makes Roland’s otherwise well aimed swing of his mace miss the mark. Yet, he still manages to land a devastating blow as he swings it back to steady himself. It isn’t enough to protect Gildon’halt from the weapons that advanced together. One of those he had cleaved returned the favour its spear plunging deep into his stomach. Blood begins to trickle from the wound seeping out of the armour dripping steadily onto the ground. Roland has no time to react before receiving a vicious blow from the Pack Lord himself. Luckily the plate took the brunt of the damage, but it still hurt like hell, the sheer force of it making one of his arms practically useless.
Stumbling backwards, axe raised, Gil manages to dodge two more attacks. The last thing he wants is to become a pin cushion for these beasts. Unaware of the injuries his friends are sustaining Cybin happily settles in next to Cinnamon the Bun, his focus undivided he continues to pet and care for his newest friend. Forge throws a scathing look at Cybin before launching himself deeper into the battle. He had aimed for Gildon’halt but the man remained out of his reach. Instead, he healed Roland with a bright glow at his fingertips. His tin can companion tugs on the Pack Lord’s leg trying to throw it off balance seeing its master closer to the combat than usual.
The final remaining Gnolls are set upon by the group. First Čadas launches a bead of pulsating energy which explodes across the shoulder and arm of the Gnoll which had impaled Gil causing it to fall to the ground writing in pain as his flesh melted under the flames of the spell. Roland tries to swing his mace, but his arm is still uncooperative from the Pack Lord’s attack. Despite this, he manages to land a vicious uppercut with his glowing spiritual fist. To help the others land more decisive blows Forge casts faerie fire covering the Pack Lord and its companion in a bright pink glittery haze. The tin can forces the Pack Lord to divert his attention again and received another piercing hit from the Gnoll beside it.
Once again with a flick of his wrist Čadas causes the sound of a church bell to dong in the night. This time the spell is much more effective and the Gnoll which had been trying to pry the companion off of its lord has its eyes roll into the back of its skull as it drops to the floor dead. Seeing that its friends are all dead the Pack Lord takes off running back up the hillside. Before anyone else can react, Bingo calls out “You forgot this… Wingardium Leviosa!” The Pack Lord was indeed lifted from the ground but not in the way one might expect from that incantation. Instead, he received five bolts of force energy to the rear throwing him forward into a somersault. Čadas didn’t have the heart to tell Bingo that the wand did not require an incantation and as such tried to hide their amusement. There was more enjoyment to be had of this yet.
With this the session came to a close. Thank you for reading I hope you enjoyed reading this as we did playing it out and I did writing it up afterwards.