Creepy Things in the Sewers, Part 4 (gnomes!)

After clearing out a bunch of rats and parleying with their leader, the group poked their heads out of the rat room and were immediately fired upon by three gnome skulks and charged by a guard drake. They backed into the room to more easily deal with the drake, but the skulks kept firing at them through the open doorway. Once the drake was defeated, they closed the door and regrouped.

After taking a round to catch their breath, they charged back out and stormed down the passage. The ranger and the warlord quickly ran down two gnomes in their hiding places, but the third kept making his Stealth checks and sniping the warlord from hiding. Finally, when one gnome had been defeated and things looked grim for the second one, the final gnome came running in with his lightning longsword, hoping to zap the whole party with its daily power. Of course, he missed. The warlord and paladin unloaded high-damage encounter powers and took him out immediately.

Analysis:
This running battle went pretty well. The gnomes kept fading out and lurking around to keep things interesting. The guard drake was fairly useless, though, since he had no one to guard while the gnomes fired from a distance. I probably should have switched him with the spitting drake in the next room.

Since the wererat had told them where the gnomes' arcanist leader was, the group burst into the last room with guns blazing. The wizard unloaded area-effect encounter and daily powers with an action point, which softened up the opposition pretty well. The spitting drake never got to act, the two gnome skulks fired a shot apiece before being destroyed, and the leader's iron defender didn't fare much better (though it was the last enemy to fall). As for the leader, the warlord fey stepped next to him and used Lead the Attack, which the paladin followed up with On Pain of Death. Between those dailies and the damage the wizard laid down, he dropped after only getting to act once.

Analysis:
When this group wins initiative and goes in blasting with the daily powers, they lay waste. Between the two encounters, everyone in the party got to shine, which was nice. The paladin marked the guard drake and kept it from eating the squishier members of the party. The ranger hunted down sneaky invisible gnomes in the passages. The wizard laid waste to the final room, and the warlord got the drop on the leader past his iron defender and finished him with just a little help from the paladin.