Don't Blink or you might miss the Dogs...

I've met some Blink Dogs. I can honestly hope that I made some friends here with them. Jess told me many stories about them. Their intelligence first and foremost. And it's clear that they are very intelligent indeed.  They led me to a hidden cave, which is leading all of us, I hope, into a back way to the House of the Beast.

It isn't unoccupied, this cave. Or caves.We've engaged a couple of these creatures now, and it's clear that my blade, Tempest, is especially harmful to them. My style of hard hitting, constantly moving combat combined with Tempest, well, they didn't have much of a chance to do more than die. If I must fight, and its quite clear that with these beings, I must, I much prefer to get them out of our way as quickly as possible. Of course that does beg the question of just how many more there are. The first two went down quickly, but I suspect that that was more of a fluke do to their surprise upon seeing us. Will it remain so? While I can hope so, I certainly won't plan on it. No, that is to invite disaster.And this place is disbelievingly hot.Who knew that I would long for the coolness of the cloudless desert at high noon?

But the Earth Mephit and Salamanders we come across as we gp deeper into the mountain clearly aren't Gnolls. They may be allies, but I somehow doubt it. I just don't see hairy humanoid hyena's being any use to fire loving Salamanders except as short lived flaming entertainment.

 o0o

Messy, messy messy...

Forgive me, my notes are a frightful mess - I've somehow managed to dump a vessel of oil on top of them. I've tried to recreate what was left...

We step right into it. (I'm not sure what we stepped into I don't remember anyone with particularly dirty sandals.)

As we wake and start our day, Connie pulls that ridiculously expensive contraption called a spy glass. I guess it's not so darned ridiculous at that, as she spotted two winged creatures flying our way.

They landed with a terrible clatter of rolling rocks and mini-sandstorm.

"Get out. You do not belong here." (I think, or something to that effect.)

My beloved, not fearing, (or if he was he didn't show it), stepped forward and actually made friends with the two ferocious HUGE eagles. They may come in handy later. They left us and we noticed a band of Gnolls headed our way.

Dang that was fun, even if I did have to be reminded to put on my Mage Armour, again; I really am not a forgetful person... Sure was fun spinning into four. Don't think it fazed the Gnolls at all, but ooOOoooo the night under the tent flaps? Anyway, after taking care of the stinky Gnolls, we sauntered up and heard some yips and yaps of these dog-like creatures.

Blaze, flying high, spied them on the other side of the mountain, and he did detect a creature rambling toward us. Our original idea was to ambush the creature, but after fifteen minutes of inactivity in the warming heat we quickly abandoned that thought and another formed.

Asking Blaze to fly in a path we could walk, could he tell us how far away the creature was? Calculations and thought concluded the creature was yet an hour along, we continued, hoping to catch it unawares.

It caught US unaware! Dropping a large boulder from a good ten feet or more above us, Connie and Kiril barely flattened against the wall, Kiril's hand missing mine as the bolder tore along my arm. Connie, too, missed yanking Val back; the boulder bruising his body as well.

The odd-Gnoll then leaped down, its enormous size nearly dwarfing the canyon it stood in. Roaring, like some prey-stalking lioness, it faced us, the toothless grin green and foul.

Val got much too close and couldn't retreat I panicked and threw a web on top of them hoping to protect Val and slow the creature (which worked), while Connie and Kiril jabbed, parried, thrust and countered until the beast went down heavily.

A thorough search of the body gave up no clues except the collar and chain he wore, and they were not clues, or were they? Kiril pushed the creature to the side, frying his corpse crispy...

From here my notes fade as the oil has soaked too deeply into the parchment, mixing with the pigment and making some rather lovely single colour paintings; they make useless notes. I shall have to ask my beloved if I may borrow his notes to keep my journals complete...

o0o

Flight of the Eagles...

Wow, Giant Eagles! A pair of them dropped out of the sky to check us out. I was able to convince them that we weren't a threat to them. These noble creatures shouldn't be our enemies, ever.

It turns out that the Gnolls are hunting their eggs. If I can ever be of assistance to them, my sword is at their service.

Jess had told me many tales of these intelligent Lords of the skies. I have the utmost respect for them. One of the pair showed naught but disdain at the hint that our assistance was needed. Pride. I can understand I suppose, but aid is aid. And mine is freely offered. The other didn't brush off my offer, but neither did it acknowledge it. As I understand from my teachings in the lore of them, that is actually a positive sign. 

I wonder if they are watching us from beyond our sight? Well if they did, they saw us slay a roaming band of five Gnolls that very same day. And then on the following day, we came across some aberrant form of one. A veritable giant of a Gnoll. It stank of foulness, and fought with talons instead of weapons. It's prodigious strength made it very dangerous indeed. But my verne' (wife) thought quickly and ensnared it in a vast web, trapping it in place. Then She, Connie and I attacked it out of its range of a counterattack. Val was attacked by it from the outset and was also caught in the grasp of the sticky tendrils of the web. Though he took a wound, the creature was unable to do further damage to him while embraced by the web. It was dispatched soon thereafter.

Not liking the look of the abomination, fearing that whatever unnatural magics that were used to transform this creature into its present form may be able to cause further mischief, I poured oil over it and burned the carcass.

We also heard the yips of at least one Gnoll clear across the mountain. Melamin (My love) asked her familiar, Blaze, to scout out the source of the sound, and that's what he discovered. Is that what we heard clear back to our town. I know that sound can carry far in the desert, but that is far from normal if that is the case. 

And we have yet to meet the gathering Gnoll forces. Our travails are just beginning.

o0o