<div class="floatleft">(https://i.pinimg.com/564x/a4/6e/84/a46e8406ac412eec0aecd01bb7cfd727.jpg)</div>As Valna scrambles for her weapon, a soft flicker of breath comes from the wide eyed lizard staring up at her. He then lets out a vague coughing sound and settles again. Ahead, down the stone hallway, there is mostly darkness, the lizard apparently content to maintain their guard with only minimal light. Grendelle rushes past Valna and makes a quick slash, cutting off the light snoring of the lizard with a thunk. This sound rousts the other lizard guard, who quickly skitters a couple paces away from the adventurers before hoisting his enormous form up onto back legs. The guard flexes and hisses toward Grendelle as serpentine eyes take in her and Valna.  Then, without another word, he turns and begins to sprint down the hallway. Despite his massive frame, he's quick as he begins to let out hissing sounds.<br/><br/>That's a blessing, at least, the hisses will be tougher to catch than a proper shout would.<br/><br/><hr/><div class="floatright">(https://i.pinimg.com/564x/ee/43/30/ee4330ff84e84cf9d5b7679e58b30641.jpg)</div>Back outside the mountain, Nin sets up to look out over the wastes with her blade in hand. As the raiders draw nearer, the sound of woops and howls cuts through the night, the deadly hungry desire of the gnoll bandit party screeching through. Their massive war-wargs pound the dusty plane, sending up thick black dust clouds that mask their number.  One thing is for certain, their party is large. Easily a dozen fighters. The shouting from the mountain reaches Nin's ears as she stands prepared to fight as they draw closer.<br/><br/>Even with the cloud, it's not hard to make out the leader of the pack, a gnoll of absolute incredible size riding a beastly warg with two heads. The leader is resplendent in heavy armor with a massive blade held in one hand as though it was a child's plaything. He howls in rage as his vision narrows in on Nin. However the gnolls found the adventurers, they are hungry to catch them now. His whoop is followed by another howl from his compatriots, confirming again to Nin the extent to which the adventurers are outnumbered.<br/><br/>Sidika, floating above the ground slightly to cast her spell, has a similar view, the raiding party looks vicious and show no signs of slowing or turning their attack. She performs the sigils, the thrum of magic heavy in the air and like a flailing beast this exposed to the sky. No matter, her spellcraft is good. The ground in front of the head gnoll suddenly freezes, flicks and shards of ice coming up from it as it does so. His mount's footing is lost immediately, the warg sliding as the gnoll is hurled off of it. He slams into the ground, a terrible crunching sound heard even from this distance. His party splits around his fallen body, moving quickly into two groups before reforming with another gnoll at the head. He holds up a fist and suddenly slings are let loose, a hail of stones falling all around Nin and Sidika alike. The missiles fall short or are off aim, but they've got a good read on distance now, and it will be less than a minute before the raiding party is on the camp.<br/><br/><hr/>Inside the hallway, Valna is searching, peeking, looking for a way to close the door. There are runes in some ancient language, looking vaguely dwarvish but certainly not text that Valna has had a chance to research. With Grendelle by her side and Sidika on her way to the doorway, Valna finds a bit of machinery. The pullies and levers look complicated, but there's one sure thing, a thick rope that holds the door up separate from any mechanisms. She realizes she has a choice...<br/>If she activates the device, the door will close, but it will be slow and it is likely the gnolls could be to the door before it is fully shut. If she cuts the rope, the door will drop shut, leaving Nin outside and forcing Sidika to<em>defy danger</em>to get inside in time.<br/><br/><strong>Adventurers... What do you do?</strong>