Turn 47 -- Death Dogs!!

Seeing the approaching dogs, Talimar cries out, "Defend yourselves!" The elf swiftly pulls out his newly acquired bow, strings it and nocks an arrow, sighting in the nearest death dog.

Beleg draws his sword, sets his shield and lowers the face guard on his helm. He takes a few steps forward, placing himself between Dain and the on-rushing beasts. "Form a tight circle with everyone facing out and the spell casters in the middle! Whatever you do, don't expose your back to the beasts!" He then sends a quick prayer to Forseti as he awaits the onset of combat.

Randor begins grumbling and that turns into quiet chanting. He then waves his hand around where the group is and shouts, "May you all be filled with the power of Tyr." The entire party then feels the initial fear at first seeing the dogs disappear and a new confidence grow within them.

Swearing under his breath, Druckner drops his backpack and takes out his trusty axe. He then moves to the right of Beleg, putting himself between the dogs and Dain and Talimar. With a quick prayer for Moradin's blessing he sets his feet and waits for the beasts to get close enough. Bracing himself for the attack, Gnore steps to the left flank of Beleg to protect the mages from attack from the side. He draws his bastard sword and as the bloodlust grows within him, the curses start to fly as the beasts draw closer.

With a smile, Kre grabs a handful of his daggers and with a nod to Ras, moves to the middle of the group. Not seeing a tree to climb for a better vantage point, Kre opts to climb to the top of one of the nearby boulders in the clearing. He readies his daggers in the hopes of picking some of them off as they draw close. Taking the lead from his friend, Ras climbs onto the top of another boulder on the right flank of the party and readies his daggers as well.

Upon noticing the strange dogs, Kersath moves to the front of Dain to protect him. He takes a position next to Beleg and Gnore. He then draws both his longswords and prepares to face the closing beasts.

Pondering the effectiveness of a sleep spell in this situation, Dain decides to prepare a chill touch spell instead, just in case any of the beasts break through the party's line of defence and gets near him. Feeling secure in the circle of warriors, he watches as the dogs approach.

Working quickly to unfurl his sling, Garth fumbles in his belt for a lead slug. Placing it in his sling he begins to twirl it above his head until it sets up a whirling sound. With a grunt, he lets it fly in the hopes of deterring the ill-begotten spawn of the moors. The first stone from Garth's sling misses the lead beast but his second stone is truer and brings a yelp of pain as it strikes the side of one of the beasts. Undeterred, the dogs rush on.

After testing the draw of his bow, Talimar lets fly a couple of arrows into the inrushing dogs. His aim is true as both arrows strike the lead dog in each of its foul heads. The dog falls in a crumbled heap and rolls a few more yards before finally coming to a stop.

"Yea, Tal!" shouts Ras enthusiastically at the sight of the downed animal. Without a look back at their fallen companion, the other beasts rush on, snarling and howling the entire way. As the beasts get ever closer, two more arrows from Talimar miss their mark as well as a few stones from Garth's sling. Seeing that they will be unable to get off another volley before the beasts are too close, both elf and dwarf drop their weapons and draw their sword and mace respectively.

With a deep growl, the first dog to reach the party leaps at the powerful figure of Beleg. Set to receive the charge, the beast slams into the shield of the great warrior and falls back for a moment. Beleg is only able to concentrate on the beast before him as the others slam into the party's line of defence and battle is joined. Gnore is the first to draw blood as a mighty swing from his bastard sword crashes into the skull of one of the heads on the beast in front of him. That head falls limp to the side but the other attempts a bite at Gnore who easily sidesteps the attack. Garth misses the agile beast in front of him with his mace but the animal is unable to bite him either. Yelling a curse to send the foul beast to the farthest pit of Hell, Brother Randor brings a mighty blow from his warhammer crashing down onto the back of the dog snapping at him. A sickening crunch sounds the breaking of the beast's back as it falls to the ground dead.

To his left, Druckner narrowly misses a bite from one of the beasts heads and brings his axe down to barely draw blood from the flank of the creature.

With a yelp, the dog leaps to the side and its left head comes snapping shut, biting Druckner deep in his thigh (7hp). Ortho is much more successful as his axe comes crashing down between the two heads of the dog in front of him, splitting the animal almost in two.

Seeing the dazed look in the eyes of the beast that slammed into his shield, Beleg brings his great bastard sword down in a vicious arc, slamming into the back of the dog and opening up its side. The dog falls to the ground dead. Gnore dodges a bite from the dog in front of him, as two daggers thrown from Kre go thudding into the dirt next to the animal. Ras hits the dog that bit Druckner with a dagger as Kersath brings both his swords slicing across each of the necks of the beast in front of him. He then turns his attention to the beast fighting Gnore and with both its heads turned, he easily dispatches of the fell beast. The two remaining dogs each renew their attacks on the party. One missing Druckner this time while the other leaps into the air and landing full on Garth's chest, knocks him to the ground biting his forearm at the same time (6hp). Beleg turns to his right and with a mighty blow sends the beast attacking Druckner back to the fiery pits of Hell. Gnore turns to his left and seeing the dog gnawing on Garth's forearm, brings his mighty sword downward to sever the beasts spine.

The creature falls lifeless onto Garth's chest. Cursing loudly, Gnore kicks the beast off of Garth's chest and helps his friend rise to his feet.

The battlefield is now silent as all the death dogs are now lying lifeless on the cold dirt.