As always, you're quick on the draw... but you're not the only one this time. Even before the dead gnoll hits the ground, you've got another arrow loaded and drawn. Unfortunately, that's also about all the time it takes for the world to go a bit insane. And it all starts with a roar...<br/><br/>Well, perhaps roar isn't the best way to put it. The sound that the mutilated Gnoll Aberration makes is part rage, part pain, part fear, and part lust... a chaotic blend of emotions that sends shivers down your spine (shaken 4 rounds) and seems to send the Oracle into a panic (failed save vs. Fear)...<br/><br/>Luckily, your aim doesn't falter despite the nervousness itching its way beneath your skin, and your arrow takes the second minion gnoll in the stomach as it steps into the light. Even as it drops, though, its companion charges over it,<strong>charging</strong>at you with a cackle of bloodlust. Of course, blood lust does not necessarily a good fighter make... the creature's thrust goes<em>way</em>wide, leaving the monster overextended and vulnerable.<br/><br/>Not<em>quite</em>as vulnerable as the oracle, though. The poor thing seems to have been badly frightened by the monstrous gnoll's unearthly roar, and actually flees around a nearby corner to avoid the creature's sewn and tormented eyes.<br/><br/>------------End of first round------------------<br/><br/>She needn't worry much, though... the over-sized Gnoll's attention seems to be squarely on you as it tosses aside its flenser and hefts up its massive scythe. It doesn't charge like its copmpanion, though... if anything, the creature's approach is the calm, sadistic walk of a torturer approaching a prisoner on the rack... as if it has all the time in the world. All too soon, you're in its reach... and the wicked curve of its scythe comes whistling through the air to slice at  your exposed torso, leaving a nasty gash in its wake (-18 HP).