Dwal

Dwal will cast Spare the Dying on the other dying human, then move closer to where Gerrard is standing. 

As Dwal tends to Stonehorn, the strange man – torn, bloodied and bruised – walks through the rocky surf and across the top of the rolling sea as if it were earth, still muttering and shouting in an angry, but now inaudible, tirade.

You spy a single warship, anchored in the haze offshore, fire a ballista at the man from several hundred feet away. 
Balilista attack (disadvantage due to range):  24   Piercing damage: 22 

 A remarkable shot, the heavy bolt hits it mark, knocking the man into the water. In the distance, you see an Elven figure dive gracefully off the ship into the water. Neither surface.

Combat is over. 

Gerrard:

Resisting the urge to fall to his knees, Gerrard digs out his healer's kit an quickly looks to see if anyone needs first aid immediately.  When it seems that everyone who can be made stable is stable, Gerrard does sink to his knees, asking Dwal, "Who or what in all the hells is a Xolor?"

Dwal

After witnessing these events Dwal will focus on helping those in need. He will cast Spare the Dying as needed then bind wounds and treat the others as needed. 
Medicine: 7

He will make sure Peri and Kei are comfortable and stable. "Daft halfling's gonna get himself killed if he don't watch out," Dwal mutters to himself. 

Dwal will call Bjorn to him. "Come laddie, let's make sure yer alright," he says in Draconic as he gives the Psuedo-Dragon a visual inspection.

He will give Gerrard the once over to make sure no injuries are life-threatening. As Gerrard sinks to his knees Dwal will say:

"Lad, we're gonna find out. Right now we got friends who need a safe place and dry beds to recover. An' ye need to recover as well lad." Dwal pats Gerrard on the shoulder.

With that being said Dwal will start to organize the survivors. The ones that can help he will direct them to make litters to bear those that can't and will send a runner or two back to town to relay what has happened and ask for help. "Tell 'em the Dwarven Wizard of Saltmarsh requires their aid pronto!" he says the runners. Dwal will chuckle to himself a little "That will make 'em wonder a bit.", liking his little joke. 

Gerrard:

As Dwal takes charge of the situation, Gerrard gets to his feet and looks at Peri, the ghost of a smile gracing his lips as he recalled pushing the enemy away from his friend.  Falling into line with the instructions, Gerrard says, “Thank you, Brother Fiercehammer, I will help pitch in wherever needed,” and he moves to help prepare the wounded for the trip back to town.

Looking out to sea, Gerrard wonders if their friend Oceanus was responsible for the death blow to the emissary of Xolor.

Peri and Kei awaken, although they are too weak to stand yet. The frightened guards return from the scrub and resume their duties. Lankus works alongside Dwal in locating the dead and organizing the construction of litters. As you are only a few miles from the city, one of the guards is appointed a runner and sent back to town to notify Farbern and recruit help. Stonehorn is still unconscious. 

Oceanus emerges from the ocean onto the shore, wielding his trident. He catches Gerrard's eye, and shrugs.

Gerrard:

Looking over at Oceanus, Gerrard asks, "Was that you with the ballista, Oceanus?  Did you take down our attacker?  He nearly killed the lot of us while ranting about someone or something called 'Xolor.'"

Oceanus responds in Elvish,

Kei 

"...but it wasn't me that time. I left it where it was..." Incoherent mumbles escape his lips as he regains consciousness. "Wha....what happened? Did we win? Is there treasure? " The near death experience didn't seem to change him very much.

((By waking, I gather he is back to at least 1 hit point? Or is more of a hazy state whereby he can interact bit not really do anything?))

(Kei and Peri remain at 0 hp for the next 1-4 hours unless they receive additional healing, and are unable to stand or walk in the meantime; but they are awake and conscious and may listen and speak.)

The guards are ready to carry Peri, Kei, Stonehorn, and the teenager back to the city; others will come back for the dead and the dismembered. Oceanus will return to Saltmarsh via the bay.

Unless you have other business, you slowly make your way through the cold, dead scrub back to the city gates.

Gerrard:

OOC:  Assuming we looted the nice glaive and whatever other mundane weapons--especially the bows--can be useful to the defenders of the town, Gerrard is ready to shoulder his portion of the load and help people back to town.

"I shudder to think what would have happened to the people of Saltmarsh if we had left early this morning to go to the lizardfolk, Brother Fiercehammer--I don't know they would have survived this assault," murmurs Gerrard to Dwal as they slowly work their way back to town.

Kei 

"Gerrard, what happened? Last I remember was talking with a weird old man about something called Xolor. Then black tentacles, then....then nothing. Did we win? Did this Xolor come down and smite us?" His questions asked between shallow gasps of air. Never has he felt such helplessness. And the pain. He succumbs to the pain and passes out once the group begins to move off.

Gerrard:

"Well, Master Kei, when the old man cast the tentacle spell, you were..." begins Gerrard, stopping when he sees that Kei has lost consciousness again.  Grunting, he shoulders his load and continues to do his part helping move the injured back to the town.

Dwal

Dwal does the best he can at helping BEAR (got another one in :P) the burden of getting the injured safely back to town.

"Aye lad," he says to Gerrard "There would be greater losses if'n we had not been here, I agree. Let's focus on getting these folk back safe then we can take a look at this fellow and Xolor character." I think we have more than Lizardfolk to deal with I wager."

Dwal will plod on with the rest, checking on those he stumble or are injured but can walk. As he goes he also reviews what has happened and how it happened, trying to put it into any discernible perspective.
Investigations: 17
History: 9

Peri:

Peri's eyes open on the too-bright morning sky, then close again. Some unknown time later he wakes to find himself being carried by someone -- Captured! he thinks, but then sees Gerrard and Dwal walking freely. Must've beaten the old goat after he walloped me. Wonder if they got to ask him who Xolor was before the killed him? He begins taking stock of his condition. His head is pounding, and his right ear has a persistent ringing. The rocking, swaying motion starts to make his head spin. "Down," he mutters to his carrier, then louder and more insistent, "Need to get down now! Let go before I-" He just manages to miss spraying his breakfast down the guard's back. The guard drops him in disgust, and the world goes dark again.

The march back to town is a somber one, as you carry the four wounded back through the thick, dead scrub, and abandon the dead for later. "Thank you for helping today," says Lankus to the party, quietly. "I've gotten too old for this sort of work. We're going to need to replenish the city guard with good folks like you."  He ruminates quietly for a bit. "Is that madman dead? Did the elf see what happened to him?" 

Gerrard carries the gnoll leader's glaive.

You enter the city through the front gates rather than over the wall. Farbern greets the war party – reduced to half the size of the one that left the city earlier this morning – and is brought up to speed by Lankus. He looks very old in the dull morning light. Another party of guards is just now leaving town to collect the remains, led by the runner Lankus sent back.

Stonehorn, still unconscious, is carried into the barracks, and the wounded girl carried to her home. Peri and Kei are lowered to the cold sand on the side of the road. Farbern and Lankus come over. Farbern thanks you for your assistance. "It's a dark morning. We lost a lot of good people today. What's your take on this?"

Dwal reviews what has happened and how it happened, trying to put it into any discernible perspective.
Investigations: 7
History: 19

Dwal comes up empty. Gnolls are demonic in origin, and are feral and chaotic. They are generally nobody's army, unless perhaps Yeenoghu himself, or one of his powerful minions from the Abyss. Who that man was, or his relationship, if any, to the gnoll pack, is not clear.

((I might have missed it, but did the one survivor of the main attack party ever tell us how many gnolls' there were, or if any ran the other way from our "Anvil" group? Peri would be keen to know if there were gnoll survivors lurking outside of town. I'm sure this would have been covered during Farbern's debriefing.))

(In posts 2746 and 2749, Stonehorn was a little vague with Gerrard on that topic. He is unconscious now and unable to answer any new questions.)

Gerrard replies to the jailer's words, saying, "Master Stonehorn, are these all of the gnolls, or are there others left that attacked your group?" Glancing to the west with concern, he scans the brush for any more approaching gnolls.

Stonehorn is unsure if you got all of them, but he expects this is most of them. "I didn't count 'em..." he mutters.

Gerrard:

”Master Lankus, my friend Oceanus said that Captain Stoutly hit the mad mage with a ballista bolt and he apparently fell beneath the waves.  When the sea elf went to find the body in the waters below, it had disappeared,” answers Gerrard, adding, “The enemy claimed the Gnolls were just a first wave of attackers sent by Xolor, with others to follow if we don’t bow to this mysterious entity.”

Farbern thinks for a minute, and then addresses the party.

"Your friends need rest and care," referring to Peri and Kei. "It's clear you will not be departing for the lizardfolk lair today. Nevertheless, we still need your assistance as soon as possible in scouting their base, or we'll have to find another scouting team. We just received another report up the coast of lizardfolk soliciting weapons. We need to know their intentions, and soon."

"But this Xolor is a new concern. I'm left a bit baffled as to its identity, or whether this is a threat we should take seriously. Something tells me its not connected with the lizardfolk. But there's an island up the coast, on the other side of the head, that's been inhabited by an evil cult, for years. The island is guarded by the dead, they say. I don't know if it's at all related to this Xolor, but a couple of months ago a whole lot of smoke was seen coming from the island. Bad folks there."

"Also - Vertheg was looking for you, not thirty minutes ago, at the inn. Aubreck, his boss, probably wants to hire you for a job, is my guess. I dunno if you know Aubreck - old merchant. Used to be the richest fellow in town. Not so much, these days."

"But for right now, we can get you some help in getting your friends into the inn. I have a lot of good folks to bury today. And we're going to need eyes on our walls again today, if any of you are able to help."