<span style="font-style: italic">Garhu didn't move very much, but he did shoot wolf1, albeit not for very much damage. He hasn't taken an action yet this turn. I'm going to assume that anyone who is badly injured in combat isn't going to neglect to use a healing surge if given the chance.</span><br/><br/><span style="font-weight: bold">Marrok regains 11 hit points. Belle delays until after Kelso. Garhu moves to F-1 and shoots at Marutok to take advantage of his 'pack attack' ability (Marutok is adjacent to two of Garhu's allies). Remember, in 4E, you can freely shoot into melee, even through an ally's space. Unfortunately, he flubs the roll.</span><br/><br/>Most gnolls tend to be excitable types, and this one is is no exception. He's cackling gleefully as he makes a fleet-footed advance to the fighting area nearer the inn, lining up a shot at the lizardman even as he moves. Unfortunately, he isn't as good at shooting on the run as he likes to think, and the arrow buries itself in the ground.<br/><br/>Tolren, meanwhile, frantically tries to pull away from the wounded but still-hungry wolf. Even after it's blasted with hellish energies, it keeps slobbering all over his arm and sucking him in. It isn't until he jabs the animal in the ribs with his small but sharp spear that it pulls away, turning to the tiefling woman who hurt it. It has a feral rage in its eyes that marks it as more than a mere trained animal: it's clearly been charmed and enraged with magic. It turns towards Saraphina and bristles. Tolren, meanwhile, turns to Marrok and concentrates a moment in prayer, washing away the effects of Belle's trick and combining with Salana's magic to replenish his strength.<br/><br/><span style="font-weight: bold"><br/>Tolren attempts to escape from the grapple. Oddly enough, he has a better Str check than Dex, so his attempt will be opposed by the wolf's fortitude. Which is... the same as its reflex. Oh well. Anyway, Tolren's first attempt fails. Instead of blowing his standard action trying again, he makes a melee attack with his cute little halfling-sized spear... which he is surprisingly deadly with. Wolf is hit and takes 8 more damage. Uses a minor action for 'emergency healing' on Marrok. Marrok regains 5 hit points and makes a free saving throw, on which he rolls an 18. Success! The wolf delays.<br/><br/>Kelso moves to H-6, drawing an attack of opportunity from Salana. D20 + 11 = 19, hit, for 9 damage. Readies an action to attack after the wolf. Belle shifts to D-9 to make it harder to flank her. Unfortunately, that nasty Unraveling Strike of hers recharged when she was bloodied, and she decides to give it to Marrok again, since she's marked and all. And... Oh dear. Natural 20. It's a good thing Marrok is getting that healing because he takes 24 damage, more than canceling out all this round's healing. I'm sorry you're getting beaten on so much, Akiada, but she was marked! You also have the -2 to all defenses condition once again. At least she's dealing nonlethal this time. She also regenerates 2 hp.</span><br/><br/>The muscular human warrior is no longer as confident as he was a minute ago. After seeing his ferocious shifter paramour being beaten down by a whirlwind of blows, his reaction is less than chivalrous. Rather than take on the wolf at the center of that whirlwind of steel himself, Kelso turns and rushes past Salana, getting a rib-bruising thump from her warhammer for his trouble. He grits his teeth but keeps going, rounding about the thornbrush and charging towards Salana with his axe held high, bellowing at the top of his lungs, but when he closes in upon her, he doesn't strike immediately. Instead, he waits for the wolf to strike now that he's drawn her attention.<br/><br/>The beast does its best to go for Saraphina's ankles, but it's already getting clumsy due to the terrible pain of her magical attack, and it stumbles and misses. Kelso gets a pained expression on his face. "Worthless mutt!" he snarls as he swings his greatsword in a broad horizontal arc at Saraphina. She is able to partially parry the strike, but there's so much power behind it that her arm is badly bruised.<br/><br/>Her voice cracking in rage and her axe held in a deathgrip, Belle looks after the retreating Kelso and growls viciously. "You cowardly limp-dicked human!" she spits. Turning back towards Marrok, she bares her teeth. They aren't really that much longer or sharper than a humans, even now. If she weren't holding the axe, it would almost look cute. But she is, and she swings the huge runed weapon wildly at Marrok. He ducks the first swing easily, but in his crouched posture, he can't block effectively with his own weapon. "RAAAAGH!" the female shifter cries, bringing her axe up and slamming the flat end of the heavy blade down on the top of Marrok's head with a *KLANG*. Once again, the blow is accompanied by a flare of chaotic energy, giving Marrok what is possibly the worst headache of his life. "YOU. ARE. MY. FOOD!" she shouts zealously as she tries to strike again... and in the process, neglects to see the tiefling coming up behind her.<br/><span style="font-weight: bold"><br/>It's finally the wolf's turn. It shifts to L-8, putting Saraphina in the flank. Fortunately, the concealment penalty cancels out the wolf's flanking bonus, causing it to barely miss. Unfortunately, that means Kelso still has combat advantage against her too when he attacks. He hits and rolls well, doing 12 damage. This triggers Saraphina's hellfire thingy, striking the wolf dead and giving her 4 HP back.</span><br/><br/><img alt="Image" src="http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/4647/enc1round3.png"/><br/><span style="font-style: italic"><br/>Status scroll:<br/>Mirelle - HP: 65/70. AC: 20 Fortitude: 18 Reflex: 19 Will: 17<br/><br/>Belle - HP: 29/63. AC: 16 Fortitude: 15 Reflex: 17 Will: 15 (bloodied, shifting. All defenses -2 vs. grappling and vore.)<br/><br/>Marutok: HP: 36/36. AC: 17 Fortitude: 14 Reflex: 15 Will: 13<br/><br/>Kelso: HP: 37/54. AC: 18 Fortitude: 17 Reflex: 16 Will: 16<br/><br/>Wolf 1: Defeated.<br/>Wolf 2: Defeated.<br/><br/>Players and Allies<br/><br/>Saraphina: 36/45. AC: 16 Fort, Ref and Will: 15<br/><br/>Salana: 42/42. AC: 21 Fort: 19 Ref: 15 Will: 16<br/><br/>Marrok: 23/46. AC: 21 Fort: 19 Ref: 16 Will: 16 (-2 to all defenses, save ends. bloodied)<br/><br/>Gahru: 34/38. AC: 17 Fort: 14 Ref: 15 Will: 12<br/><br/>Sophia: 38/45. AC: 17 Fort: 15 Ref: 16 Will: 15<br/><br/>Tolren: 31/39. AC: 17 Fort: 16 Ref: 16 Will: 18 (grabbed) (Note: HP adjusted due to my mistake).<br/><br/><br/>Saraphina: 21<br/>Mirelle: 19<br/>Sophia: 14<br/>Marutok: 11<br/>Marrok: 10+<br/>Salana: 10-<br/>Gahru: 9+<br/>Tolren: 9-<br/>Kelso: 7<br/>Belle: 6<br/><br/>It is again Saraphina's turn. Round 3.</span><br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">Edit: Whoops, I forgot to mark wolf1 as dead, there. Imagine a red 'x' over it.<br/><br/>Double Edit: <span style="font-weight: bold"><span style="text-decoration: underline">New Rule</span></span>. Now that I see how much 'firepower' the player characters are able to bring to bear just with encounter powers, never mind daily powers, I'm realizing that mid-combat vore is still difficult to justify tactically. 1 round is a long time, especially at heroic tier. So, I'm making a minor addition: A character who has grappled an opponent and is willing to relinquish them can 'feed' the opponent to an ally. In other words, <span style="font-weight: bold">if one of your allies has an enemy grappled and agrees to assist you, you can make a swallow attack without having grappled them yourself first.</span> Beware, though, as this means it will be easier for NPCs to try and swallow the PCs as well. Marrok and Salana's players should take note, because Sophia is probably going to grapple Belle when her turn comes around.<br/><br/>If this new addition proves to be overpowering, I might remove it, but I doubt it will unbalance things too much. </span>