“You want the good news or the bad news?” Matt muttered to the group as he came back, the party having managed to make their way up the staircase with little enough issues. One big fight, and then things had settled down as the group climbed the stairs, the team not even needing to pull out any additional tricks to deal with the gnolls.

“Good news. I could use some,” Neil said, cracking his neck by twisting it from side-to-side.

“Bows are back in play, with a vengeance,” Matt said. “The portals set in the foyer of what I can only guess to be a fashion house or something. They took two full floors, removed the ceiling between them and made for a giant foyer. It stretches half the building and we come out three quarters of the way down one side, opposite the portal.”

“That is good news,” Lance said. “Lots of distance to fire from. Cover?”

“Pillars. Lots,” Matt said.

“So what’s the bad news?” Keeley said. “Because I know that face, and it’s the one you showed just before you told my dad you crashed into his Mustang.”

“Corvette.” Matt corrected idly. “And the entire place is filled with gnolls. It looks like they decided to make the place their camp. There’s at least two dozen of them, camping and umm… making the place their home.”

Lance frowned, turning to the group. “Anyone buy any AOE attacks?”

“AOE?” Neil muttered.

“Area-of-effect. Fireballs, high explosive attacks. Sort of like your Thorns but, you know, ranged,” Yanesh supplied. “And no. Been saving up, but you would not believe how expensive AOE spells are.”

“I can,” Keeley muttered. Then she spoke up, supplying further information. “I’ve got an upgrade for my Entangling Roots so I can lock down more people and actually hurt them when they’re caught, but it’s still only a couple of feet across.”

“Upgraded my Elemental Bolt so it should work like a mini-taser with lightning effects. If I overcharge the spell, it might work like a Lightning Bolt from D&D, but…” Yanesh shrugged. “That’s just a guess. It might just ground itself too.”

Everyone looked at Lance who shook his head.

“Well, crap,” Matt said. “I just got an increased stealth ability.”

The group fell silent till Sarah spoke up, growling a little. “No one’s going to ask me?”

After a shared look with the others, Lance chose to jump on that grenade. “Did you get any AOEs the last time?”

“Of course not!” Sarah said. “Horrible build deviation. But it’s nice to be asked.”

“Uh huh.” Lance snorted, rubbing the back of his neck. “Alright, we best just get going. We know what we need to do, right? Sarah, Neil, - front and center. Keeley, I want you to anchor our flanks with your Entangling Roots. Don’t worry about catching anyone immediately, that can come later.” She nodded, while he glanced at Yanesh. “Ranged will try to take down the bigger fellas. Sound good?”

Nods from all around and he waved his team on. They were too close to hang out and make plans, so best get moving. Anyway, the team had grown stronger and they could do this. They had a good plan after all.

***

It started going wrong almost right away. What they had not realized was that the gnolls were similar to the dogs they so resembled with significantly expanded senses. From hearing the noisy Adventurers to smelling them in the stairwell. Worse – the gnolls were smart. Smart enough to lay a trap.

Throwing the door open, Neil and then Sarah stormed in. Within seconds, the pair were engaged and dragged away by a quartet of gnolls, a pair each tearing into the surprised front line fighters. Matt, following right behind and Lance barely had time before a single gnoll fell on them too, causing the team to split as Lance was forced to stand right beside the door and defend himself.

Sarah took injuries quickly, the low-grade armour she wore insufficient to protect all of her, even as she stabbed one of the gnolls in the leg. Neil on the other hand broke free almost immediately, the swirling Blood Thorns an unwelcome surprise for the gnolls as the thorns tore into tender flesh on muzzles and hands, even if their hardened fur helped protect against some of the attacks.

Surging to his feet, Neil wielded his shield to bash the gnoll on his left away, stepping forwards into the clear area before swinging his mace in the other direction. That cracked across a reaching hand, causing the gnoll to howl in anger. Then, he Shield Rushed the monster, sending it bouncing off into others as he retook his position at the front of the beleaguered group.

Matt had a gnoll’s mouth clamped around one arm, the man flailing around as he used a broken arrow to stab it in the side. Lance was better off, having managed to loose his Splitting Arrow into the monster’s leg, forcing his own opponent to stumble. Given the time, he had conjured a lawn seeder, the triple-tipped, circular Mana Object shortened and heavy enough for him to stab the entire thing into his opponent and shove forwards, the crossbase at the bottom giving him a good base.

Putting his feet into it, he kept shoving to the right as he neared Sarah. Around him, snarls and growls from other gnolls, unable to close in the small area around the door echoed through the room, as they searched for an opening.

Entangling Roots exploded down one side of the doorway as Keeley managed to spot the location she needed. It grabbed at gnolls on their left flank, just beside where Neil was holding the line and trapped them from coming in further.

It also meant that there was no space for the group to expand that way, though Matt’s continued screaming as Yanesh hit him with a heal meant they weren’t going in that direction anyway.

“Stop moving! I can’t hit him if you keep moving,” Yanesh said, a Lighting Elemental Bolt in his hand. Realising that Matt had panicked and was not listening, he threw more power into his spell and then cast it forth.

The attack clipped the head of the gnoll, forcing it to reflexively clamp down tighter as the lightning ran through its body. Connected as they were, Matt was shocked too, the pair falling to the ground and thrashing. When the lightning had finished its run, the monster’s mouth lolled open, allowing Yanesh to push the pair apart.

Seconds later, Keeley’s own heal washed over the stunned Matt even as Yanesh used his belt dagger to stab the monster in the throat repeatedly.

Meanwhile, Lance had managed to create just enough space for Keeley and Yanesh to help Matt, putting him close to where Sarah and the trio of gnolls surrounding her were fighting. Blood was splashing everywhere and a low keening wail was rising from that region, but he had his own troubles as the injured gnoll clambered to its feet and one of Sarah’s turned around.

Inside the ring, Sarah was fighting with her shortneed spear, swinging it around with one hand. One hand, because her arm on the other side was gone. The gnolls were choosing to taunt her, darting in and out to attack her from behind as she spun about, the keening coming from her throat, panic dancing in her eyes.

“Shit! Help here!” Lance cried out. He drew and nocked an arrow, loosing it into mouth of the wounded monster charging him and managing to put it down as it exploded. He started ducking to the left then, a touch too slow as the other gnoll’s claws tore into his arm, leaving him bleeding and in pain.

A second later, an Ice Bolt slammed into the side of the gnoll’s head and another Fire Bolt struck one of the monster’s lunging for Sarah. It staggered the monster, flames licking across its oily fur; leaving it distracted long enough for the woman to swing her long-bladed spear across its body, lopping off the bottom of one foot.

Barely managing to turn around before her other opponent jumped her, she was bowled over, the wounds across her body slowing down the pumping stump of her arm, even as a green light of Keeley’s Second Wind spell hit her, boosting her stamina and endurance.

Lance, forming a Mana Arrow in hand fired it right into his own attacker’s face from a short-distance, half-drawing as he fought against the pain of his damaged muscles. Something tore in his arm, forcing him to release his arrow faster than he expected and landing the shot in the monster’s chest rather than face.

A second later, another arrow blasted in, expanding in size and shredding the monster’s calf where it had sunk. Driven to its feet, Lance kicked the monster away to give himself more room, as the pair of mages fired on the gnoll holding Sarah down.

Seconds later, she rolled the dead body off her with her free hand, using her spear as leverage and staggered back into line as the Entangling Vines from Keeley blocked off another group.

“That could have gone better…” Lance muttered, even as he conjured another Mana Object – Arrow.