The Battle Below the Broken Tower

Sergeant "Stubbs" Brawnanvil lay in the brush, looking out over the plain in front of him. He could see the Gnolls were up to something, and it looked like they were about to leave the site they had used last night. He looked back at the rest of his squad, and saw that the Corporal they were all waiting for was still in his trance about 30 feet back in the thicket. "Damnit. he had better hurry up" muttered Stubbs. The taxbaxi Corporal was in the middle of seeing through his animal companion, a large Hawk. The rest of the squads had always found it funny that Sylvester had a bird for an animal companion. Stubbs thought of his companion, Bristle McTuskface, a wild boar he had traveled with for many years, but who had been killed by the hyenas several days back. Stubbs wanted nothing but to run out and avenge his friend, but now was not the time. The Goliath and his large cat were off to one side, and the werewolf and his direwolf were over on the other. The werewolf was nearly a godsend, but he never said anything. The rest of the company had started to call him quiet, as he only said what was absolutely necessary, and even then went without sometimes. And he always stayed is his hybrid form. No one had seen him in his regular form, whatever that may be.
 
Stubbs was pulled out of his thoughts as Sylvester unwound from his position. Looking up, Stubbs could see the hawk coming back to them so he made his way back to the Tabaxi. Sylvester opened his eyes, and told his sergeant, "The Boss was right sarge. they did summon some friends. And made new ones. Seems they killed the cultists to summon some demons, and turn the remaining hyenas into new gnolls. And now they are moving towards us." "Shit" stubbs replied. "Just what we need, more things to swing weapons at us" "There was something else", added the Cat-man, and when he told the sergeant what else he had seen, Stubbs promptly told him to keep quiet about it, he would tell the Captain.
 
Captain Quarion Silverfrond looked at his makeshift camp, and sighed. This was not going to end well. 2 weeks ago they were out on routine patrols, far out in the plains, and had almost literally tripped over a Gnoll warband nearly 400 strong. He had 38 people in his small company, and some of them weren't normal fighters. Sure, they had offensive spells, but one squad of 7 was a unit of the Black Maces, who specialized in healing. He had them along in case one of the small villages they would come across needed aid. Well, they had certainly provided aid. He had started with 60 of the best the Black Company could have offered, and through running skirmishes, laid traps and tireless effort of his magic prowess and his unit's abilities they had lead and killed some of the warband across nearly 250 miles. His men were worn out, and running low on supplies, he had been forced to leave some of the spare armor and weapons to keep the extra weight from slowing him down, much to the vehement protest of the unit armorer. He had tried to avoid all the known villages he could on his route, so not to bring innocent people into the warbands murderous path. And through that march, he had killed probably 150 Gnolls, countless hyenas, and a troll. He had lost 18 men and women, and 5 more had taken damage to the point were even the healers couldn't afford to get them back into fighting shape. Now, he was up against a High cliff, where the only visible land mark through the trees was a tall, broken tower near the top of a mountain, probably a relic from the caster wars where some mighty wizard has sat and read his books. His pauldrons were off, and in the care of the armorer, who was fixing them after that Troll had gotten a bit too close. If not for the superb craftsmanship and upkeep from the young Smith, the captain would have suffered a great deal more than a bruise on his shoulder. Still, he better get them back soon, as the Gnolls probably were not going to wait much longer, and Sergeant Stubbs will bring the word.
 
As if his thoughts had materialized the dwarf, Sergeant Stubbs came out of the brush into the makeshift clearing they were using as a camp. Calling to the rest of his Squad leaders, Captain Silverfrond started walking over to see what Stubbs had to report. Just as he had thought, Stubbs confirmed that Demon ritual that had stopped the Gnolls for the night, and learned that the Gnolls had found the weapons the Black Company had left behind, and were now using them. "Damn. nothing to do about that now, Don't let Druss hear, he won't be happy. When will the gnolls be here?" Stubbs looked around and replied, "about 20 minutes sir". Many of the men around were sharpening Weapons that didn't need sharpening, or faking sleep. No one was eating, or laughing, everyone pretending that a battle wasn't about to happen, but not even fooling themselves. One of the Druids appeared to be in deep conversation with a tree.... but hey that is a druid for you. Kooky bastards.
 
The Captain opened his mouth, "OK, get the men ready. Paladins and clerics of Zitz, if you could have some prayers for those that want them, you have ten minutes. Remember Folks, Area of denial. Those who can grow spikes, wait until the bastards are within 50 feet, then Hit them on the spot. it will slow them down, maybe even kill some. I want the spikes on the sides of our clearing. Make them come in a column in front of us. Clerics, us your guardians. Stay behind the Swords if you can, but we need your spells in the front. Ranger squads, use your area of effect arrows on groups. Make your abilities Count. Stubbs, Get Quiet on that other troll. Both of them are going to be Damn well impervious, but we need someone to occupy the troll. The trees are too thick for a mass arrow volley from them, and their leader knows that, but watch out for closer bow work. If we can do it, so can they. Use whatever spells you can, and we will get through this. It will be a fantastic story to tell to everyone else when we get back to base. now go get everyone ready, and Someone find that blasted Armorer!" "-you mean me Boss?" a voice spoke up from behind him.
 
The captain spun on the spot, and looked at Corporal Panathalax, who was holding his pauldrons. "Yes, Corporal, you." the captain replied. "I need my pauldrons as the enemy is coming, and my shoulders are cold. They need to be covered." "Well Boss, maybe if you learned that you could Dodge, I wouldn't have to fix your armor all the time. You would think all these years in the Company would have taught you something." Suppressing an urge to shout at the Dragonborn, he took a deep breath. Through gritted teeth he replied,"Thank you Druss, fine work as always. I want you near the back using your bow. Ah- I know you would prefer to be up front, but we need you to keep up the equipment, and Mythic Max isn't here to watch your back anymore. He is, Finally, Retiring, and until we find you a replacement, I need you away from danger. I also need everyone I can get killing these bastards, so you get to use a bow. Go find one, and be quick about it. maybe take Quiet's, as He will not need one this fight." The captain turned, and gathered his own weapons up, getting ready for the fight ahead. The Armorer, who had gotten only a couple sentences out, opened his mouth, closed it, opened it again, and simply said, "Great. good talk"
 
5 minutes later, the sound of the Gnolls could be heard over the now constant chanting of the Paladins, who were thanking their various gods for the coming battle. The gnolls were clearly making as much noise as possible to try to intimidate the Company, and as the sound came closer and closer, the various spells that were to be cast were prepared. Without any further preamble, the gnolls came crashing out of the trees, and with the Battle cry of the Black axes, "Up axes and raise the field!" arrows flew, Holy Chants were Yelled at foes, Demons Bellowed, and the final incantations of spells were thrown into the general Bedlam that was the Heart of a fight. Large Vicious Spikes suddenly grew under foot of the closest Gnolls, tearing and ripping at vulnerable flesh, small winged creatures, rings of celestial toads, spectral cats, and what appeared to be happy little mushroom men surrounded the clerics, and attacked the evil creatures, slowing them down. The captain could see Gnolls were starting to fall, but not fast enough. seeing it was the proper time for his job, he drew back the string of his Greatbow, given to him by his father before he left the caves where his Drow brethren lived, and thinking of the very furry of The God Kubo, fired his arrow into a group of gnolls, putting effort into the shot, and a Bolt of Lightning flew from his bow, striking what must have been a gnoll officer, and electrical energy flared to other gnolls nearby. Drawing another arrow, he planned his next shot, and saw that the spikes were working, making the gnolls come from the front. one whole side of the clearing had grown massively, probably the work of one of the druids. Thunder could be heard over head, and two of the druids, brother and sister, were laughing and pointing, where lighting would strike, obviously taking turns bring the Wrath of Nature itself down upon the creatures. Small fairies were zipping around, causing tiny havoc to the gnolls, who, distracted, were easy targets for the Swords. But members of the company were falling too, and the gnolls were gaining ground. Javelins and arrows were starting to come in, and while some were stopped by gusts of wind, others found their marks. Company bodies began to fall. Quarion sent out a hail of thorns from his bow, but was then forced to draw his melee weapons. Axe and sword in hand, he gutted the first gnoll that got to him, and started the grim task of staying alive. Soon, The Avenging yells to the Gods could no longer be heard, meaning the Paladins had probably fallen, and only a ring of spectral toads remained, protecting the cleric owner, although both a spectral hammer and mace could be seen, meaning at least two of his clerics were alive. Quiet was wading through the enemy, slashing with his claws and taking no heed to any attacks he was hit by. The Troll he was supposed to have occupied lay in a charred mass near a large flaming sphere, which was lighting nearby things on fire, and randomly nudging into gnolls going in various directions. Suddenly, a javelin flew past the captain's arm, and the Sphere went out as a gasp came from behind, and the person controlling it was killed. The Flind came out from behind his troops, and simply flowed through the fight. Quarion stepped us to stop the leader of the gnolls, and lost all seance of time as his men fought, and died around him. Chaos Roared in the clearing, and the fighters, concentrating on the battle, heard silence. Suddenly, from the back of the fight, a different commotion could be heard. A great Bellowing beast, "Those are mine you great furry Bastards! Give them back!!" and a gout of flame caused some to stop and look. The Captain, being too occupied on staying alive, hadn't noticed at first until The Flind he was fighting got an odd expression on his face, which gave the Captain just the opening he needed.
 
Unbeknownst to most of the company, the Gnolls that had been transformed the previous night were going to try to get ahead in the ranks quickly. They had the bright idea of trying to sneak in, and steal the supplies, which would bring food to the warband, and take food from the enemy, thus making the group look good. They had been provided by the warband with some weapons they had happened to find, and sent on their merry way. So, while everyone was fighting, the group of brand new, still wet behind the ears, Gnolls waited until the scary spikes were gone, and the thunder had stopped coming, to sneak into the back of the fight. they had not counted on the Armorer, of all people, seeing them.
 
Druss was too busy to be scared, but had he been less occupied, he would have been pretty angry too. The captain had left a whole bunch of weapons that he had worked on, plus some perfectly good armor, in the ground, where no one was supposed to find them. Druss had wanted to make sure no one would find them, and use them for nefarious purposes. Better to break them or melt them, than let anyone else find them. But, the Captain had said there wasn't enough time for that. so in a hole they went. Now, he was fighting for his life, killing every gnoll that came up to him with his Battle axe, custom made to his liking, and he just wasn't having a good day. Then to make matters worse some of those furry puss-gobblers were trying to sneak in the back of the fight and get the supplies. Ohhh Nooo. Not today. And... wait a minute. were those his weapons they were holding....
 
The extra food, weapons, armor, tents, blankets, and everything else the Company had needed to traverse across hundreds of miles, had been placed in a very small cutout of the cliff. Too large to be a nook, but not nearly large enough to be a box canyon, the gnolls had found it, and Druss had followed them in. The Gnolls, too greedy to notice the lone fighter coming after them, were surprised by the incoherent screaming of this Large Lizard like man. None of them had heard of a dragonborn, let alone seen one, but had ideas of what lizards were. So when this Large, angry, axe wielding Lizard-person started to breath fire, that was enough new stuff for the day, and dropped their weapons as they started to flee.
 
The Flind, an unnatural Leader, Blessed by the God of the gnolls to lead his kin in warbands, had heard of a dragon, although one had not been seen by his kind for a very long time. So when his cohort started running in all directions, yelling about an angry, Fire Breathing Lizard, a few things went through his head. First. That must be a Dragon. Second. There are some areas on fire around him, maybe the dragon is fighting for these vile beings he has been chasing, maybe they happened upon the dragon, and chose this spot to reveal it's presence. Third. Well, he didn't get to a third thought, because that is when Captain Quarion Silverfrond slashed the blade of his shortsword through the Flinds skull.
 
With the death of the Flind, the rest of the gnolls fell into a mix of confusion, shock and terror, and either ran, or were cut down where they stood. The captain looked around, when the gnolls were gone, and saw only 7 other figures standing in the clearing, with many of the company moaning, or motionless on the ground. One of the figures was a small female gnome, sitting astride a Direwolf. With the past twenty minutes feeling like a whole day has gone by, the captain blinked a few times before realizing that the direwolf was suppoed to belong to Quiet, and Only Quiet had been able to even touch it before. So who was this... Gnome? The small figure raised a finger, and pointed at the Armorer, who was still raving about "His Weapons". "That guy is a fucking Legend, Yo." Quiet said in her tiny voice, and lowered her hand, and went to see who she could help.