As the carnage turned the world red before him, Logan's hand flew for his sword. Gaston's boasting devolved into screams as his flabby right arm was torn from his body and his beer gut was ripped open by a set of rotting yellow fangs.

The sellswords all dropped to the floor, but their attackers remained standing – four hunchbacked figures, towering almost as tall as Technus even with their bent and twisted forms. They were covered in lithe, rippling muscles and grey-green skin that bristled with scraps of brown fur and fat red ticks suckling at their skin. Each figure had a crest of dirty yellow hair that reached from the back of their long necks up to their animalistic heads that had the long snouts, large ears and dripping, tooth-filled maws of hyenas.

Gnolls!

For the briefest of moments, the beasts stood and looked right at Logan and the others. But then they suddenly broke into gleeful, shrieking laughter as their mouths frothed and they hefted their own weapons – clawed fingers, rusted battleaxes, chipped falchions and morningstars, all orange with rust and dripping with blood.

Screams then filled the tavern as the merchants, now without their bodyguards, scrambled in panic away from the gnolls and towards the other side of the inn, shoving past each other and tripping over benches as they desperately scrabbled to get away.

One merchant fell to the floor, his palms slamming into the floorboards, though splinters were the last of worries when one of the gnolls forward, locked one of its clawed hands around his throat, and pulled back its lips to reveal a mass of yellow bone daggers, glistening with drool from a long, lashing tongue...

Logan's hand flew to his longsword, the blade flashing in the light streaming in from the smashed door. "Everybody move!" he roared at the top of his voice before charging right in. After a few shoves of his armoured shoulders, the sea of coloured cloth parted before him and he hurtled right for the gnolls. All their heads looked in his direction, and the one who had pounced on the merchant suddenly rose, releasing its previous quarry while its right hand hurled straight forward, driving the tip of a rusted blade right for Logan's face.

Steel screamed on steel as Logan brought his longsword up in both hands, shoving the gnoll's weapon aside. The creature staggered sideways in that moment, shoulders and neck bulging, and with the half-second he had, Logan's eyes found his target and he swung his blade downwards, every muscle in his arm burning as he strove to strike fast and hard.

The gnoll's massive neck twisted back towards him just in time for the paladin's sword to come down upon it, parting flesh and sinew like paper as the blade bit into the spine. The wound gushed crimson as the gnoll moaned in agony, and as Logan tore the blade free, ichor sprayed across the eyes of its bestial comrades.

"Run!" Logan yelled to the merchant before he looked up to see the gnoll he'd struck collapse to the floor and three more hyena heads speed in close. The remaining gnolls were now upon him, hacking and hewing wildly with their falchions and axes. Logan whirled his longsword around as he backed up, battering their weapons aside before he brandished his own right at them, breathing heavily.

Thankfully, his chainmail hadn't been broken or scratched, so he knew he was unharmed. But all the gnolls now had their beady eyes on him, cackling and snickering as if mocking his chances while they ran their gazes over him.

But then, Logan heard a whistling rush past his ear, followed by a squelch and one of the gnoll's laughter turned to a yelp of pain as an arrow plunged into its chest, caking its fur in blood. Sparing a small bit of his attention, Logan quickly twisted around to see Stalk standing centre-stage, holding his crossbow up to his eye with the trigger pulled tight before he let go and reached down to pull another bolt from his belt and load it.

Not only that, but Finnan suddenly ran charging towards the gnolls, swung his stick over his head and slammed it into the ground. "Thunderwave!" he squeaked, and a deafening boom crashed through the air, followed by a wave of energy that smashed earthenware jugs to shards and sent the hyena-headed monsters crashing back into the doorway, the crunching of both wood and bone thumping through the room in a way that made Logan grit his teeth.

Any amazement the paladin had that Finnan could cast magic vanished almost instantly as Logan saw a figure stand up within the tail of his eye. Turning back towards the door, he saw the three sprawled gnolls getting back on their feet... and a new one bounding towards the doorway.

Looking outside, Logan saw about eight more of the creatures skulking through the bodies of those who had left the inn much earlier, along with all their horses. The beastfolk tore into the ravaged, blood-caked remains around them like there was no tomorrow, wolfing the meat from the bones before biting them in half and feverishly suckling for marrow, swallowing chunks of cloth and hair with every bite they took. They also squabbled noisily over the choicest morsels... until one brute, big enough that he looked as if he could outwrestle a bull with his bare hands, with one eye socket completely empty and so much scar tissue that one of his globed shoulders jutted much higher than the other, approached.

The other gnolls all instantly cowed and backed down even as they felt his presence, which made Logan take him for the pack lord... and as Logan's two golden eyes met his one, he bared his teeth and roared.

That was enough to goad the other gnolls into a howling, shrieking frenzy, pawing at the earth as their claws gouged up great tufts of grass and earth. Then, cackling like madmen, they charged.

"Shit!" Logan barked aloud as he backed a good few feet away from the gnolls Finnan had blasted and turned to those crowded around the counter. "There's more of them!"

The merchants all shrieked as they cowered in the corners, whilst Ren had his back to the wall, pallid and silent as a corpse as he breathed heavily. Arabella moved to calm him and the others, Stalk was taking aim once more, and Technus reached for his belt and hefted his massive bronze axe with its cog-tooth edge.

"Elsa!" Logan called. "Is there any other way out of here?"

Elsa turned to him and shook her head fervently. "No, sir! That's the only door!"

Logan nodded and grimaced. "Then we fight our way out!" he declared. Marching across the room, he went to where he had set down his pack and grabbed his heater shield, sliding it into his arm and gripping one of the straps. "Elsa, you, Arabella and merchants stay here! The rest of us will have to drive these things back!"

He then turned about to see that the fallen gnolls had recovered and climbed back to their feet, and not too far away, Finnan was stood on one of the inn's tables dancing!

"Ha ha ha!" he taunted, cocking a snook at the gnolls and sticking out his tongue. "Come and get me!"

To his right, Logan heard Arabella gasp "Finnan! What are you doing?!"

One of the gnolls twisted towards Finnan, bared its clawed hands and bolted forward to grab the halfling.

"This!" Finnan yelled before, as the beast pounced, he leapt into the air with hands reaching for the ceiling... where his fingertips stuck in place and Finnan pulled himself up to cling upside-down like a spider! The gnoll sailed under the halfling, looking confused as everyone else just before his chin slammed into the upturned table. Yowling, its pain only grew worse when Finnan extended one of his hands downwards and sent a line of electricity down which sharply yanked the gnoll up into the air, only to release and drop him back down again.

Logan was amazed by the halfling's audacity and, brandishing his longsword at the gnolls, he bellowed "Galehaut!" at the top of his lungs before he charged forwards.

~~~

Technus watched what happened with a measure of bemusement – this man of flesh named Logan seemed to believe it was in command over him from the way it behaved.

However, Technus mild distaste for this was overruled by the mere existence of the gnolls. In the annals of Erathis' faith, they were described some of the most despicable creatures in all of Faerun, no better than the beasts they resembled.

They were chaos incarnate, just like the demons they were known to worship. And chaos must be tamed or destroyed.

His axe gripped in his right hand, Technus lifted his left arm and focused his will upon his forelimb. 'Activate', he thought, and instantly, several panels of armour, tightly stacked together, extended upwards and revolved around each other, the telescopic panels instantly forming a shield in the shape of a cog.

'Lady Erathis, shield me from evil...' he intoned inside his head before turning to look at the gnolls.

Sir Logan was engaging one of them head-on, parrying and slashing with his own blade and shield while the halfling called Finnan sent out further jolts of power from his palms to torment one of the others.

However, the last of the three beasts that had entered bounded over its comrades in a great leap and landed on all fours, a shortsword gripped in each hand, before rising to look at Technus and snarling.

That snarl made Technus remember when he had faced the snow leopard in the mountains, a plan forming instantly. Slamming his axe against his shield to create a great clang, he then stood ready, his telescopic eye analysing the gnoll's every move.

Within seconds, the beast was lunging at him and brandishing both of its blades, driving them right for Technus' chest, and Technus responded by charging right back at it. As he did so, he felt his internal couplings release, and his entire body above the waist spun around on its vertical axis, his limbs whirling about as his torso cycled around his metallic spine with the speed of a falling star.

The gnoll's face twisted in confusion just in time for Technus' shield-arm to smash right into that face, knocking the beast to the ground in a crumpled heap. Then, before it could get up, Technus lifted his foot and slammed it down onto the gnoll's hunched back, crushing the brute's twisted spine as cracking and squelching filled his auditory receptors and his face twisted in satisfaction. He struck with so much force that he felt the trembling of the floorboards pass up the pistons in his legs, as if the ground might give way beneath him.

But as ever, civilization's works stood strong. While the gnoll did not.

However, there were more of them to contend with. Looking up, he saw the ones Sir Logan had mentioned outside, loping towards the inn. The kenku beside him was loosing arrows at them through the open door... but he would need more firepower than that.

Sheathing his axe at his side as he pressed it to its magnetic clip, Technus reached over his own shoulder with his right hand while he willed the plates of his own body to open up. When his metal fingers closed around a handle, he pulled the object of his desire free and brandished it.

A boxy invention with a handle and trigger, not dissimilar to that of a hand crossbow, with a long, hollow cylinder protruding from the front. Leading from in front of Technus' hand to inside his shoulder was a chain of round-tipped ammunition, each one large as a human thumb.

His pistol.

In Technus' gaze, a white crosshair appeared over the head of one of the gnolls outside, and as he squeezed the trigger, there was a deafening 'BOOM!' that shook even his own circuitry, a blur of motion that sped through the door, and the beast's head burst like a ripe fruit, pulp and blood spraying everywhere.

'Unthinking filth...' Technus thought, full of contempt and disgust as he moved his aim to another target as his ammo belt clicked along one round. Like all flesh, these wretches were ruled by nothing but impulse, incapable of logic even as they ran into his line of fire, and to their deaths.

~~~

Stalk's ears almost burst as the noise blasted through the inn, his loaded crossbow clattering to the floor as his hands flew to the sides of his head. Flicking his gaze towards the sound, he saw Technus brandishing some kind of strange invention he'd never seen before – a boxy weapon that seemed to explode whenever he pulled its trigger.

'Nice toy, asshat...' he thought, wincing and feeling his heart hit his wishbone as the weapon fired again.

This Technus guy was a real prat. Possibly enough to rival Sir Logan, and that was saying something!

Still, that wasn't important for now. Taking up his crossbow again and feeling relief the drop hadn't set the thing off, he looked towards the door and prepared to loose another bolt at any gnolls coming this way, lifting the sights to his cheek as he ran his eyes over his targets

A few more were clustering around the door, where Sir Logan and the crazy little halfling Finnan were holding them off. However, the movements of her erstwhile allies made it near-impossible for Stalk to get a clear shot, and as tempting as it would be to put one of her shafts in the back of the paladin's head, he decided against it.

Annoying as he might be, he was keeping the gnolls away from Stalk, and the civilians behind him as well.

Besides, a more pressing thought was lurking in the kenku's mind right now – where did the shadows lurking outside the shutters go? He had noticed them earlier – possibly the only one to do so – and where they went concerned him greatly.

Just then, over the sound Technus' damned weapon, he caught the sound of smashing glass splintering wood to his right. And as he glanced that way, Stalk saw one of the closed shutters over the windows beginning to break, parting as a rusted blade could be seen slashing into the wood.

Heart pounding, he thought quickly. Rushing to the patch of stone wall just beside that window, Stalk sheathed his crossbow on his back and pulled the two curved shortswords from his belt, holding one in each hand.

There he waited, and as the shutter continued to be hacked apart and the people behind him screamed in terror, she waited and waited more, the blades growing heavier in his grip...

Then, right as the drooling, gnashing head of another gnoll burst into the tavern, followed by its globed shoulders and a jagged axe gripped in its claws, he was ready. That gnashing quickly turned to a gurgling as he plunged one of his blades into the gnoll's chest, then drew the other across its throat.

The brute struggled in his grip, writhing back and forth as he strived to hold it in place, but before long, its strength bled away and it slumped forward, toppling through the window and landing motionless on its back. Daggers coated in crimson, Stalk barely had time to think before heard the breaking of more boards to his right - another shutter being smashed open. In response, he shifted along the wall to just beside it, hoping to pull off another ambush.

A wet black nose shoved through the window as the shutter gave way, twitching as the teeth below it ground together with a horrible scratching noise. However, that was all that came through the opening – not enough for Stalk to do anything more than piss it off and give away his position if he attacked now.

The nose and mouth withdrew, leaving nothing as Stalk waited for it to climb through... but then suddenly, there was a crash, screams and a mad cackling behind him!

Twisting around, he only had time to see a flash of blood-red eyes, wet pink gums and dull white points before a horrific pain punctured his shoulder as the gnoll lunged in and locked its jaws into his flesh, fangs slicing clean through his armour and stabbing so deep that he felt the tip of one tooth grind into his shoulder blade. The stench of blood filled his beak, along with the foul, mangy reek of the gnoll's hide, before the agony surged again as the gnoll reared up, neck pulsing with effort, and swung him to one side.

Stalk's head was next to explode with agony as he crashed into the floorboards, his skull slamming against the legs of a table. Wincing, he looked up to see nothing but a blurred mass of faded colour and shapeless masses... one of them dripping white froth from mass of crimson red that giggled in glee and amusement.

However, just then, all was consumed by blinding explosion of light, but instead of the boom of Technus firing another shot heralding the glow, there was a long, melodic note of what might have been the song of a siren... or an angel.

~~~

"Guiding Bolt!"

Arabella thrust both her hands towards the gnoll that had attacked Stalk, her palms burning gold with magic. As the beast turned towards her, the sound of divine fury breached the air and a great beam of white and yellow energy blasted from her fingertips, streaked through the air like a star and slammed into the gnoll's bare chest. The creature staggered backwards and collapsed to all fours, almost on its knees as it howled in agony.

As the blast faded away, Arabella then saw Stalk struggling to rise and rushed to his side. Taking a knee beside him, Arabella saw the bloodstained leather around the kenku's torn shoulder, the jet feathers clustered around the holes punched into his flesh dripping crimson and flecked with pale globules of diseased spittle.

Taking a breath in, Arabella gently rested her hand on the wound, fingers still tingling as she went right from casting one spell to another.

"Goddess, if it be your will, cure the wounds and soothe the pain of this one who stands before you," she intoned softly.

Stalk's confused and scornful look vanished in an instant as the sound of holy melody surrounded the two of them once again, a golden light shimmering over his injury. Then, before their eyes, the flesh ripped by the gnoll's teeth began to regrow, knitting itself back together layer by layer and new feather growing to replace the missing ones until it was only the leather armour that remained damaged.

Sadly, Arabella couldn't heal that.

Meeting the noblewoman's turquoise eyes with his red ones, all Stalk seemed able to say was "Thanks, love."

Arabella nodded and gave her a bright grin. "It was nothing," she said before turning to the gnoll she had blasted back. "Now finish it, Stalk. My goddess will guide your blow."
Rolling away from Arabella and taking up his shortswords once again, Stalk's beak clattered in a chuckle and said "Appreciate the help, love, but I can take this guy myself!" before giving a toothless grin and charging forward.

He didn't seem to notice was, even as the gnoll clambered to stand up, there was a field of dim, glittering energy still lingering around the creature, the motes of light glowing the same colour as the flecks now forming in Arabella's eyes. As Stalk surged closer, the brute turned and raised a clawed hand to swipe at him, either to block his attacks or swat him aside.

Arabella stayed back, but as she saw Stalk drive one of his blades forward, she focused her will and the motes of light clamped inwards, locking around the blade and easing it upwards towards a new target and pulling it in faster and faster.

The movement was slight, but even as the gnoll tried to avoid the knife, Stalk suddenly found himself striking true as him blade blurred into their enemy's eyes, not stopping until the hilt of the blade struck his face.

The gnoll howled in pain, and as her stomach almost turned, Arabella looked away. However, her elven ears still heard the horrible squelching sound of the wound she caused and Stalk pulling his blade free, and the cackling of even more gnolls swarming in as the fight wore on.