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The gnomes quickly reorganize, and upon seeing Erastin and Karathos approaching, leap into action. Many take cover behind trees and shrubs, but all draw out weapons of various designs.

"Wewillnotbegoingdownwithoutatremendousbattleofepicproportionsthatwillberetoldthroughouthistoryforgeneratationstocome!" one shouts.

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Gnomes' morale check (2d10): 7, pass.

Galenye stays back for the time being considering her wounds. "We aren't here to fight you!"

Karathos stops, looking at Erastin. He wants the future knight to decide what the tone of the encounter will be.

Jinali is more for going on and leave these gnomes alone with they're machine, but the boys don't seem to ask for her opinion , so she stays. In her mind she replays the spell she'd learn the morning, ready to made a shield if it would be necessary.

"We have no intention of fighting you." Erastin stands firm, hands loosely at his sides. "I am Erastin Rivenguard, a Knight Aspirant, there has been a longstanding relationship between our two people."

He glances to the others behind him. "I am loth to attack them."

"Whatdidhesaydidhesayhewasaknightaspirant?"

"Thebosssaidtogetridofallknightaspirantsthatiswhathetoldus!"

"Buttheknightsquishermarkoneisscrapmetalwhatshouldwedo?"

The gnomes fire off a number of statements to each other rapidly, reaching a consensus of their own. Several open fire on the knight aspirant, apparently not so loathed themselves to fight. They could really work on their aim, though, because nothing hits. One of them chucks something that lands a few feet away and then promptly explodes! Before Erastin can register what it was, a second object lands much closer to him. Instead of blowing up, it bursts into bright light, blinding the Solamnic.

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Gnome 01 goes into full defense (AC improves by 1).
Gnome 02 goes into full defense (AC improves by 1).
Gnome 03 goes into full defense (AC improves by 1).
Gnome 04 fires his blunderbuss rifle at Erastin (1d20): 9, miss.
Gnome 05 fires his blunderbuss pistol at Erastin (1d20): 7, miss.
Gnome 06 fires his blunderbuss pistol at Erastin (1d20): 15, miss.
Gnome 07 throws a fire grenade at Erastin (1d20): 6, miss.
----The grenade lands (1d10): 3, right of target by (1d6): 5 feet. No damage.
Gnome 08 throws a flash grenade at Erastin (1d20): 4, miss.
----The grenade lands (1d10): 5, to the right and in front of target by (1d6): 4 feet.
--------Erastin saves vs. spell (1d20): 1, fail. Erastin is blinded.

(OOC: Actions for Round 1?)

"By Paladine!" He shouts, "Stop them." He moves as best he can, trying to think of where cover might be found.

"Don't kill them!" Galenye calls out to everyone. "I don't think I caught all of that as they talk too fast, but I want to know who their boss is." Knowing that she isn't going to be of any use at this battle, she continues to stay back.

Targin notches an arrow at let's it fly.

"You mean don't kill ALL of them."

to hit silly gnomes (1d20+2=18)

damage gnome#7 (1d8+1=5)

Not having a ranged weapon, Karathos instead goes into "charging bull mode" and runs to the left, his aim is to do a wide circle and attack the gnome flank, starting with No. 4. He will run over gnome 1 if the midget is foolish enough to run into his path to try to stop him. The idea is not to kill them, but to wrestle or run them down so they can't attack Erastin any longer.

INIT 10, Hit roll 13, hits AC 2 with all bonuses (+3 STR, +1 Wrestling)

Jinali remains in full defence and regret that she hasn't learned gnollish when she had the chance to.

"What did they say? She asks Glayene

Galenye shrugs to Jinali in answer to her question. "Who knows. They never slow down when they talk...ever, but when Erastin approached they seem to have some sort of debate before they finally decided to attack. It makes me curious as to why they are attacking us anyway."

As Erastin blindly stumbles about, he hears another small explosion a few feet away to the right and front of him. The gnome who threw the grenade curses at his poor aim.

This is nothing compared to his fellow grenader, however. He prepares to chuck another flash grenade, this time at that dwarf. But he drops it instead, blinding himself in the process.

While Jinali squats down to make herself a smaller target, Selowen hides behind Erastin's steed instead, providing much more protection. "What are those weapons they're using?" she cries. "They're making enough noise to wake the dead!"

Karathos charges forward while the gnomes are busy reloading. The first gnome does not try and stop him, just swings at him with his pick as the minotaur passes. Karathos takes a nasty puncture wound in his right thigh as a result. When he reaches the rifle wielding gnome, he hits him with such force that the gnome tumbles off his feet and lands on his back, knocking himself out in the process.

Targin nocks his arrow and waits. When the gnome he is targeting is foolish enough to peek his head out from behind the tree he is hiding behind, the dwarf losses the arrow. It flies true, catching the gnome in the neck, and dropping him at once.

Just as the remaining gunmen finish reloading, Erastin's sight returns to him, allowing him to see again.

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Initiative
Targin (1d10+7): 15
Karathos (1d10+3): 13
Jinali (1d10): 9
Selowen (1d10): 9
Gnome 07 (1d10+3): 5
Gnome 08 (1d10+3): 6

Round 1!

Gnome 01 remains in full defense.
Gnome 02 remains in full defense.
Gnome 03 remains in full defense.
Gnome 07 throws a fire grenade at Erastin (1d20+4): 13, miss.
----The grenade lands (1d10): 5, to the right and in front of target by (1d6): 2 feet. No damage.
Gnome 08 throws a flash grenade at Targin (1d20): 1, critical fumble! The gnome drops the grenade (1d6): 2 feet away from him.
----Gnome 08 makes a saving throw vs. spells (1d20): 6, fail. Gnome 08 is blinded.
Jinali goes into full defense (her AC improves by 1 point).
Selowen takes cover behind Gallen, goes into full defense (her AC improves by 1 point and the horse grants a cover of another 4 points of AC).
Karathos charges (loses DEX bonus to AC) toward Gnome 04, and runs past Gnome 01.
----Gnome 01 gets a free attack against Karathos with his gnome pick (1d20): 15, hit for (1d6+1): 4 damage.
--------Karathos makes a charging (+2) wrestling attack in chain mail (-2 to hit) against Gnome 04 (1d20+4): 17, trip for 8 damage. Gnome 04 is rendered unconscious.
Targin fires a sheaf arrow +1 from his short bow at Gnome 07 who has cover from a nearby tree (1d20): 16, hit for (1d8+1): 5 damage. Gnome 07 dies.
Gnome 05 reloads his weapon.
Gnome 06 reloads his weapon.
Erastin's sight returns.

(OOC: Actions for Round 2?)

(OOC: OK, the idea was to run around gnome 1 far enough away so he would need to move out of his way to attack (hence: a wide arc to attack the flank), but what is done is done)

Karatos slows down, due in part to the injury, but continues towards gnomes 5 and 6. His plan would be to pick up gnome 5 and throw him into gnome 6.

1d10, 1d20, 1d20=[8], [5], [18] (I'll leave it to Jaded to make sense of this roll)

(OOC: My mistake. But if that was the case, Gnome 01 would have moved in to attack anyway. Hmm, now to calculate how much damage a thrown gnome might do...)