The assault begins just before dawn, Pkuma sneaks into the camp
and releases the slaves tethered to posts buried in the ground. He escapes
unseen and the slaves quietly. Meanwhile, Lion-Sails-the-Sea, Poma, and the
gnoll troop burrow beneath the camp and prepare to ambush a tipi of sleeping
Neanderthals from below. Grey Bear and the human shaman, Siqua, skirt the edges
of the camp making ready to attack from the cover of the tall grass. Melvi,
Broken Clay, and Jenga all wait in the tall grass south of the camp waiting for
the roar of the battle to start before joining the fray.
 |
| Nothing bad about to happen here. No ma'am. |
With a mighty trumpet, Tanka storms into the camp and immediately
tramples a tipi full of warriors. The shaking earth signals the gnolls to
burrow out of the ground and swiftly cut the throats of the dozen sleeping
warriors around them. Siqua chants to the great spirit for protection and the
tall grass in the center of the camp, cut to bits and trampled flat comes to
life, grasping out at anything it can in revenge for the humiliation. The grass
anchors the majority of the camp in place rooted to the ground they slept on
while the mammoth tramples tent over tent. On the outskirts of the camp,
patrols come running into the fray and are caught short by the gnoll pack, protecting
the pachyderm while it does its grizzly dance across the screaming
Neanderthals, now awake in horror as they hear the bones and drying shrieks of
their comrades. Most of the slaves bolt into the grass, but a few remain to
mete out justice on their captors.
The spellcasters join the fray and Melvi and Jenga provide ranged
support as a few surviving stragglers crawl from beneath the ruined masses of
their huts and take arms against the even-browed attackers. Jenga wears her
attackers down with acid summoned from the ether and Melvi struggles in hand to
hand combat with an assailant. With some quick thinking and no small amount of
magic and charm, Melvi convinces his attacker to flee or die. The Neanderthal
takes the opportunity and sprints into the tall grass.
A mighty blast erupts from the center of the camp. A large, ornate
tipi shudders yet nothing emerges. A ripple of fear erupts through the hearts
of our warrior band and many of their number turn to flee as the echoes of the
sound sink into their hearts chilling the blood and stilling the fervor of
their attack. The wave of panic passes quickly though, and many of the
afflicted regain their composure and rejoin the fray quickly.
The mammoth begins a second pass at the camp bowling through the
patrol harrying the movements of the gnoll pack. Bodies go flying and the
gnolls find themselves suddenly outnumbering the remaining Neanderthals. They
make short work of the thugs and charge toward the field of flailing grass.
A furious, bestial shout comes from the center of camp and a
massive Neanderthal emerges from the central tipi, soon thereafter he is joined
by a comrade. They struggle against the grasping plants and pull entire plants
– roots and all – along with them as they move towards the attackers. Soon,
however, the grass gets the upper hand and entangles them fast to the ground.
Grey Bear, Siqua, Jenga, and Melvi begin to pelt the enraged
Neanderthal leader with spears, stones, and magic while he’s strapped to the
ground. With a mighty roar, the evolutionary dead-end tears himself from the ground,
great clumps of sod clinging to the plants still constricting his arms and
legs.
Poma stands to his challenge, slavering in his fury and meets the
leader head to head. The neanderthal’s great ivory sword slices the air with a
slight whistle wounding Poma but providing the perfect opportunity for the
gnoll barbarian’s axe to bite into the proto-human’s neck.
The blow cleanly takes the head from the shoulders of the
Neanderthal leader and his body slumps to the ground. The camp, like the body
of its fallen leader, crumples into a heap as the mammoth continues to trample
the tipis until shouts can no longer be heard.
| F@ck the hip-POLICE. Not really related, but I had to say that. |
Like all momentous things in life, the battle only lasted a few
heartbeats, and in the span of those several breaths, so many things would
change forever after.
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