Duty Session 423: For Whom the Bell Gnolls

What is the point in policing when the world is aflame? Who does duties when there is a war on?

And yet it's not like life stops simply because factions have decided to take a few swings at each other. Cellars still need de-ratting. Dogs still need to be walked. And, in this case, an overgrowth of aggressive gnolls needs to be pruned.

Sunlight filters through near-overcast skies, the greyness overhead revealing only the briefest windows of blue. Grasslands, yellow, withered, dotted with adventurer gravestones, stream down towards the darkened, distant forests.

Robert has taken up a position at the periphery. Not that he's distinguishable as himself from behind, instead coming across as a grey, medium-sized rocky outcropping. Clad in his usual adventuring armor and a long cloak, he has dropped to one knee to survey what appear to be gnoll tracks. Or maybe the pawprints of a pet dog. Hm.

Ayame had unslung her shield from her back, though the little suitcase was still fastened below the Sylph's wings. Her wand still was stuck into her hairbun, glowing faintly, as she looked around and let Robert pick things out, her eyes up and alert, her posture stiff and nervous.

"Frankly" She says quietly "I'm just hoping it doesn't rain. Traipsing through grasslands is bad enough without them turning to marshes" She gives a weak chuckle

The servers going to war doesn't mean all the other problems in the world have stopped. Problems that might turn into big ones if ignored by people focusing on the worldly threats.

Hearing a pack of gnolls having gotten close to out of hand is enough to get Shiruba to come investigate as well. The wolven cait sith crouchs down next to Robert by the tracks, while her falcon perchs on a branch to help watch for trouble. "Rain will be the least of our concerns if these are like some of the gnoll packs we've cleared out before. They keep finding things to give them power they shouldn't have."

SpritesHero's expression twists into an unpleasant grimace as he runs his tongue over his molars. There's a moment's pause, a breath of consideration, and he pushes himself to his feet. A trio of quick slaps knock dirt off his leggings.

"All the same, I'm thinking we get this over with before the weather turns," he comments. "The thought of getting nailed by magical artifacts while slipping and sliding through mud puddles does not appeal."

A second pause as his right eye glows crimson, blue-edged lenses briefly sliding into position before the whole apparatus snaps out of existance once more. "The place is a mess. Tracks everywhere, but no gnolls that I can see. Yet. Ayame, you're okay with taking fire, yes? Shiruba, what's our best bet for getting through this without walking headlong into an ambush? "

"Of course I am" Ayame smiles faintly, adjusting the large, round shield and drawing it across herself. High boots. Elbow-length gloves. For all there's the prissy secretarial style, once the shield is readied - there's her head, the stiffened leathers, and the shield exposed. "Stay behind me as much as you can, and I'll use barriers as we need" She offers.

"It's more I don't want to complicate things more than we need to" She tells Shiruba "I mean, if the weather turns, ambushes will be easier, and our fresh tracks will be easier, too. Harder to run." She chuckles "But let's see if we can find a fun toy to take off them, then"

Shiruba doesn't get up so quickly, she's studying the tracks a bit more closely. "These are definitely gnoll, but they're old. We're probably on the far end of whatever route they patrol. So a good reason to keep moving before they catch up to us at a bad time." Tail swishes to keep her balance as she gets back to her feet, and being the outdoorsy type she is, doesn't bother too much with brushing herself off. It's natural camoflague. "But being quick doesn't mean we shouldn't be methodical about it. These gnolls may be strong, but they're unruly and brutish usually. Keeping our heads straight and working together is our best advantages."

"Agreed," Robert affirms crisply as he sets off through the grasses. "Alright. I'll set a fast pace. Shiruba, I'll trust your nose to keep us out of trouble. You think we're going too quickly or taking too many risks, you let me know."

Only a few short minutes later, the forest looms before the small party with a menacing, perfectly and utterly still silence. Where it once made for a lovely stroll, the picturesque trees have been mutilated, their bark slashed to splinters and ribbons by sharp claws. And where once flowers lent a drowsy, warm scent to the air now there is only the smell of rotting vegetation. The plants themselves are laced with black veins, as though the very water that gives them life had been corrupted.

"Not a good luck for the place" Ayame mutters, keeping a fast little trot despite the tightness of the skirt. Quick little steps. She keeps the shield raised and finally brings her wand from her bun, holding it tightly and looking around thoughtfully, quietly, before she speaks again in a low tone.

"I really don't like the look" She says warily "I mean, not the obvious. If things are dying, there's every chance of dried out things to make noise when we step on them"

The tracks aren't the freshest but they're easy enough to follow. The light rustling of feathers can be heard as Windburn take wing from her perch, rising to circle overhead the forest when she can keep an eye on her master and allies as well as possible threats.

Once they make way into the woods though Shiruba's attention shifts from the trail to the plant life, cusping her hand under one of the large vein riddled fronds. A short inspection and she frowns. "Damn. This is the same corruption we've seen before. These golls are meddling in dark forces they likely don't completely understand."

SpritesHero is not a tracker. Nor is he a botanist. All he knows is this place is Eerie, and he has team-mates who are plenty competent. So he simply stands back with his arms folded over his chest, keeping up a neurotic surveillance of their surroundings as he lets them do their thing. It's only after a minute or so has passed that he breaks his silence, with a nod in Ayame's direction. "Not much I can do about the noise, but if Shiruba can plot us a darker and relatively gnoll-free path, I can make sure we don't stand out too much." He hazards a quick glance down at the foliage before resuming his scrutiny of the surroundings. "You think we're dealing with a supplier?" he asks of Shiruba.

"I can probably shade the path for us" Ayame offers quietly, twirling the wand between her fingers "It's just a shade and shield against light, after all. It'll deaden our steps a bit and make us harder to spot."

She nods to Shiruba, reluctantly "Don't understand or do, all too well, and don't care?" She asks with a faint smile "I'm seeing enough to make me think it might be the latter"

"The last time we came across a gnoll insurgence like this, one had become bolstered with infernal powers," Shiruba explained. "And 'normal' animals have a natural avoidance of such 'evil'. Though that would explain the lack of wildlife in the vicinity, there's no sure garuntee that's what we're dealing with again." She glances up a moment, her falcon is still circling though and hasn't seen anything. "That is also possible, Ayame. We need to investigate farther."

She's doing her best to be cautious and subtle, but the withered landscape and muddy ground don't make it easy. Just merely brushing against the wrong plant causes it to crackle and crumble into ash, while the deep mud makes slick sloppy glops out of steps every so often.

Who knows who's out there that might here it, despite their efforts to go unnoticed.

Nonetheless, the party's progress appears to be charmed. Both metaphorically and literally. With Shiruba plotting their course, and Ayame and Robert cloaking their passage in cunningly shifting shadows, their passage goes unnoticed even in spite of a few minor mis-steps here and there.

Unnoticed by gnolls, at least. There's not much that can be done to avert the attentions of dozens of carrion birds--once part of the native fauna--that have apparently turned traitor. As the party approaches a clearing, the silence is broken by a single cry, which sounds from above and to the right. It echoes, shrill, prompting Robert to pause. Suddenly the air is rent with screams. The clearing fills with flurry wingbeats and feathers, forming a tornado of furious scavengers that dive, as one, towards the adventurers.

"Oh, fo - birds?!" Ayame yelps, pulling back close to the group and pushing her wand against the back of her shield as she pulls it up, panting as barriers flicker either side of her, letting the flock start to swarm past them

"I hate swarms!" She calls back through the 'caws' and fluttering feathers cascading down "It's just a case of pushing through!" She edges forward, swinging the shield and extended barrier to deflect the worst of the flock

The swarming of the carrion birds upon the trio does not go without notice. "Kee Kee Kee Kee!" is the shrill cry of the peregrin circling overhead. Ears snap up, Shiruba having learned to recognize that sound as a warning.

Her response is much the same as Ayame in a way. She slams a foot to the ground, drawing her storm magic into forming a whirlwind that whips into life around the trio. Nothing makes it worse for birds that winds stronger than they can fly through, after all.

"KEEEEE" followed by one of the carrion birds bouncing off the combined defensive maneuvers to get tackled by Windburn diving into, slamming the larger bird into the ground -hard-. Even not at full speed peregins have one of the most potent dives in the avian world, capable of smashing larger and stronger birds out of flight with ease.

"Cover's blown, prepare for incoming," Robert announces. Well, their passage was really way, way too easy anyhow. At least they got deeper into the forest before attracting attention than they otherwise would have.

Whipping his arm upwards and at a diagonal, Robert clears a path forward, his blade of air scything through a few birds immobilized by Shiruba's whirlwind. He follows immediately after, bumrushing the center of the clearing and leaving the birds proper to Shiruba, Ayame, and Windburn. Any remaining threat is quickly neutralized, judging by the carnage of birds being smacked this way and that, slamming into trees, pinging off shields, or being crushed into the ground.

Once Robert has reached the pile of belongings at the center of the clearing, he immediately sets about forming a network of very crude barricades. It's not much, but at least they'll have some support from the terrain in case gnolls respond to their early-warning-system. Which they do, and more quickly than might be hoped.

It is not long before the distinct sound, however faint, of barks and yips can be heard in the distance.

Ayame ducked behind the cover as soon as it was constructed, taking a moment to recover, those shimmering barriers fading out as she pants "That wasn't incoming?" She asks with a little, desperate laugh, shaking her head to recover. A rub of her shield shoulder and a groan "Birds should know better than to slam into something. Might be light, but it was like a buzzsaw, just constant little jerks all the way up my arm"

She lets out a breath, leaning back and sighing before peeking out carefully "Quiet enough" Before a small grin to Shiruba "Cute bird. Had her long?" She asks with a cocked eyebrow "Never had much luck with animals, but that one's pretty enough to make me reconsider" With a quick, easy flattery

Shiruba watchs the last of the carrion birds crumble into pixels. "With the other wildlife vacating the area they were probably too starving to realize they bit off more than they could chew," she notes to Ayame's complaint about the birds being stupid. A piece of jerky is flicked to Windburn as she perches on one of the hastily made barricades. "I've had her for a while since I took up working with animals. Falconeering goes together with hunting really well."

No time to rest on success though. Yipping in the distance proves Robert's summaration correct. "Yeah, no going back to stealth now. We best prepare to hit them as fast and hard as we can as soon as they're in sight." Shiruba draws her magic longbow and readies it. "We still have an advantage in they don't know -what- they're coming to see yet."

"Afraid not," Robert informs Ayame with a regretful little smile and a clap on the shoulder. "But whatever's coming will go down just as easily, eh?"

Hoisting himself up so his head pokes out atop the baricades, Robert snaps his crimson-and-azure lenses back into place, turning his gaze in the direction of the incoming yips. He says nothing for quite some time. The yips get louder, more rhythmic. War-drums for those without, confident rather than disorganized. "Maybe two dozen, and a big one," he announces at last. "Some kind of bard-buff. At the clearing in 10." Certainly, the crashing of approaching gnoll would seem to suggest they're nearly here.

Ayame nods, groaning as she hefts and readies the shield "Alright" She murmurs "I'll see about going in hard. Give me cover. If they're using drums and coming in ordered, I might be able to call out their leader" She gives the two a pained grin

"Of course, if they refuse, then hey, their focus is on me and you two and blast them down. Sound good?"

Shiruba crouchs down behind one of the barricades with a nod. "At least it's not a skeleton with a trumpet," she mutters under her breath. Then at normal volume. "We've come too far to back down now, let's make them regret responding to their alarm."

"Sounds good. Ayame and Shiruba, you deal with the leader. I'll cut off the rest to buy time." In spite of the seriousness of the situation, Robert can't help himself. "A skeleton with a trumpet? How's that supposed to work?" he wonders. And then he's off, vaulting over the barricades with the devil-may-care ease of far, far too much practice. Presumably he expects Ayame to outpace him.

Shortly thereafter the first of the gnolls makes its appearance. It is indeed a big one, though whether it is ugly or not is hard to tell judging by the horned set of thick armor plates it is covered from head to toe in.

Ayame emerges. Her step is sure, smooth, short and swift, shield slipping to shoulder as the sylph sashays squadwards. A mutter, and a beam of light erupts from the wand; not as a blast, no, but a lance. She points the spear at the leader; an obvious challenge.

Etiquette is about far more than curtsying and meal arrangements, after all. Here, it's focused, challenging, as she calls that leader out, challenging him forward.

What follows is swift, precise, fastidious, as the sylph darts back from the first of the gnoll's savage thrusts; deflects the second with her shield as she brushes it aside, and then, holding the spear underhand, plants the tip of it precisely between gaps in those thick armor plates; then twists the wandspear, ripping out its throat as she steps back daintily, letting him fall, collapsing, that vicious and deep blow a glowing mark at the throat

Shiruba nocks an flame-imbued arrow in her bow. When the other two move out she partially rises, aiming from behind the barricades to fire. The arrow bursts into flames mid-flight, but the gnoll sees that fast enough to jerk out of the way with surprising agility for the amount of armor he's wearing. "Dammit," Shiruba cusses under her breath as she ducks back down and readies a second arrow. She's just going to have to wait for a proper opening... and by that point Ayame has ripped his neck open.

Yeah definitely glad that fae is on their side.

Elegantly and classily done, Ayame. Less classily done by Robert who, upon having the leader pointed out, immediately bee-lined for the rest of the gnoll troop. There is a sudden burst of speed an flames blaze in Robert's wake, forming a persistent semi-circle around the reinforcing gnoll-squad, which abruptly finds itself cut off from the armored gnoll. Thus isolated, the leader avoids Shiruba's shot but is quickly taken down by Ayame's spearwork.

And for a brief flicker-flash of a moment, covered in soot as he is, Robert actually looks a bit proud. His hand goes to his waist, just as he disappears from view amidst a fetid cloud of billowing, green smoke. For the "leader" was not the leader at all. That honor belongs to the robed figure which steps out of the shadows. Another vial is tossed towards where Robert was, followed by another hurled in Ayame's direction. This misses, but it spatters where it lands, then ignites. Shiruba is still too distant for targeting--for now.

Ayame lets out a little hiss as she dips back behind the shield, the runes on the rim flashing to life as she falls back to the others, refusing to let them be separated as she calls out "Don't let them split us!" With a worried edge to the Sylph's voice. Fire is one thing, but they have numbers, after all!

She twists warily, once that first vial clatters from the shield, looking around to provide what covers she can to Robert and Shiruba

Shiruba may be out of his range, but it won't stay that way, as the wolfgirl has got a plan. She ducks down, mutters an instruction to Windburn, and then gets back up. Starts running towards the robed figure. Naturally he reacts to lobbing one of his flasks in her direction once she steps into range. Which gets her to smirk. "Now. Return to Sender!"

That flask is swiftly snatched out of the air in Windburn's talons as she swoops past, banks a sharp turn, and once she's redirected towards the death-gnoll pulls up and uses the momentum to let go again. Essentially bomber dropping the alchemical projectile right back at it's source!

The whole no-split thing is going to have to apply to Ayame and Shiruba. Robert is already split off. Still alive, judging by the bursts of air that do a not-so-great job of dispersing the poisonous cloud that surrounds him, but not making much progress on fixing his situation.

As for the gnoll alchemist, it does not react at all well to Shiruba and Windburn tossing its own potion back at it. And, incidentally, setting it on fire. True, its hp dips by almost half, then slowly begins bleeding away towards the red zone. On the other hand, it whips off its flaming robes and hurls them away. Coincidentally in the direction of Ayame and Shiruba. Not-so-coincidentally, those robes are filled with -all- of its potions, and the entire alchemical disaster is now arcing through the air towards the pair.

Ayame just scowls, the spear vanishing, and replacing the metal with sprays of water from her wand. She meets the oncoming robes with enough of a jet to stall it, even as she hurries back and brings her shield up again, calling out in panic "give it space, give it space!" In the tones of one expecting an explosion

The gnoll's robe is on fire. Which he rips off and throws at them.

In turn Shiruba pulls out a throwing glaive, and as Ayame uses a water blast to stall the robe mid-air, throws it. The spinning weapon, propelled by an extra surge of wind magic, will hopefully catch the robe with it's sharp arms and enough force to whip it in another direction away from them. So even if it does explode it'll do so with them outside it's major blast radius.

Not only do the robes explode with them outside its major blast radius. Knocked away by Ayame's water-jet, then propelled by Shiruba's glaive, it explodes with the gnolls inside. Flaming, caustic debris rains over a wide area and health bars plummet, tinkling away into polygons within those choking clouds.

Then silence, save for the crackling of ebbing flames, the occasional cough from Robert. There is a single 'clunk' followed by a hiss as a metal helmet bursts through smoke, soot, and gas, flashing past Ayame and Shiruba. Dozens of feet behind them it sticks, quivering, in a bit of wood that had been part of their barricade.

That is all the warning either of them get. One moment, they stand alone in a field of victory. The next, they are dwarfed by a huge, horned gnoll, its draconic tale whipping towards Shiruba in a decapitating strike at the same time as its fist slams down towards Ayame.

Ayame barely thinks; stepping aside, lifting her shield to brace against the blow as she brings up her wand. Again, the magical circle of runes around the shield of the Sentinel blaze, but this time, with a bright, pure light, starting at the top and zipping around as she chants; a spell of binding and containing as the demon's fist impacts to the shield, driving her down to one knee

"There's your supplier," Shiruba remarks to Ayame while gesturing at the pixilating remains of gnoll and robes. "Probably juicing up the other gnolls we've scene. Though where he's learned how is another question. Don't know if he's the cause of this dying foliage tho--"

The moment of victory is short-lived though, as they're abruptly accousted by the demonically infused big boy of a gnoll. "Shit!" Shiruba barely has a chance to duck and roll under the huge tail, while her falcon takes to the sky to stay clear of the thrashing about. When she's back on her hands and knees Shiruba looks around. Demons don't just appear out of nowhere... There. She makes a break off to the side, having spotted summoning circle partially hidden in the dying overgrowth. That's the only way something that big and loud could of appeared so quickly.

Shiruba scuffles to a stop. "Just keep him occupied!" Then kneels, closes her eyes and thrusts her hands down on the ritual circle. She mutters some obscure phrase under her breath and grits her teeth, still not entirely use to this power, but trying to use it to better understand what's behind this infernal infused gnoll by analyzing the ritual site used to spawn him.

The earth beneath Ayame's feet spiderwebs then craters under the onslaught, followed by a rush of brimstone-scented air in its wake. The gnoll--far stronger than it is bright--zeroes in on the sylph in front of it. Shiruba, for all that she's actively working on its demise, is ignored since she is not here. Robert's lenses, which even now distort its vision, are attributed to Ayame. It bellows in rage, eyes glowing a deeper red as its muscles begin to swell, veins springing into sharp relief along its forearms and biceps, then sets about pounding away at Ayame as though to drive her into the ground like a railroad spike.

Congrats, Ayame. You get that one-on-one you always wanted, even if you never wanted it.

Ayame groans; bracing the shield with her other hand, chanting again as a the runes flash again, passing from white to a deep violet in a second flutter around the shield, continuing to trap that one arm as she's pounded against the ground "I'd appreciate it if you'd hurry!" She yells at Shiruba, as her shield just about holds. Just. About.

Ayame might be the main target but she doesn't have to deal with it alone. Windburn sees that one of her master's allies is in trouble, and divebombs for the demon-gnoll's face! He's too big for her to slam away, but she slashes at his face with her sharp talons and beak to try and disrupt him from turning Ayame into fae paste. Maybe making little chips in his health but mostly trying to get him distracted from focusing on one target.

Shiruba grunts as she pulls her hands away and flops down on her fluffy butt, head woozy. That is still an experience that leaves her a little off-put first. "Hff.. you gotta weaken him! Break the connection between him and the occult magic that sustains him!"

Windburn, oddly, does considerably more damage than he has any right to be doing. The gnoll-demon screams as its face is slashed to ribbons and turns away from Ayame. It flails and punches at the air, sending gusts of wind hurtling across the clearing with each haymaker that it throws. But they are remarkably ineffective against the far more nimble bird. More importantly, it makes the cardinal mistake of turning its back on a certain stabby little sylph.

Enough of a break to complete the casting, Ayame takes advantage of the break and confusion for the final circle of light to flash around the shield, before it erupts into a full binding, the runes and intricate calligraphy of the spell hanging in the air around the frozen demon. Ayame stands, wincing, holding her arm "... you have no idea" She mutters, staring up, and nodding to the two "Go for it. Quickly"

What the... he must have elemental damage resistance but not unaspected damage resistance. Shiruba shakes her head, forcing it to clear a bit faster than she'd like. She'll sort through what she learned later when she has time to focus on thinking about it.

Windburn is smaller, faster, and more agile... but isn't about to risk it when the demon-gnoll starts throwing wild punches and wingbeats it back from the sky and out of reach. Her painful distraction was long enough for Ayame to act on the small tidbit given and put a binding spell in place. "Yeah. That will work."

Shiruba actually -has- plain arrows, believe it or not, pulling one of the non-magical ones back in her bow and firing it.

Whatever it is that Shiruba did to the summoning circle, coupled with the connection weakening from Ayame's binding spell, means that Shiruba's arrow has devastating effects. Trapped as it is the demon roars, strains, its muscles bulging under the effort. But that single arrow is enough to end its exertions. It blows clean through the demon's head, obliterating the demon's tattered features into a film of red light. The rest of the demon follows shortly thereafter, exploding into shards of pixels and leaving behind a sickly black smoke-cloud. Which soon dissipates to reveal the no-doubt expected treasure chest.

Robert, cosmetically singed and still coughing, makes his way up from the lingering alchemical clouds. "Sorry about that," he states to Ayame, though he's rather vague about what that apology is for.

"Mmm" Ayame murmurs to them both, sliding the shield to her back and rubbing her shoulder, making a face as her wings flutter fitfully "That was an experience" She groans a touch, breathing out "You both alright?" She asks them, looking around and trying to get her bearings

"Yeah." Shiruba holds out her arm for Windburn to glide down and perch on. "Using that ability to examine the ritual circle was just.. dizzying for a bit." She reachs over to pat Ayame's arm. "Good thing you were here to keep him at bay."

"I'm fine." Robert's assessment of everyone else's health is...regrettably literal. He checks out the health bars. And that's about it.

Lifting his foot he knocks the treasure chest open to reveal a set of demon horns. "So somebody's been teaching them to summon demons, then" he remarks, gaze lifting once more. It notably lingers on Shiruba.

"Don't ask me" Ayame says with a little shake of her head, stepping off to the edge of the clearing, still working her shoulder "I only really work with elementals. But that was an interesting time of it, certainly" She flashes a short smile, giving Shiruba and Robert a small smile each "But thanks. It was a good show."

"Like I said, they've been finding abilities gnolls normally wouldn't understand." Shiruba takes a moment to rub her temple. "Maybe once I get a chance to sort through my thoughts we'll have a bit more on how they're summoning demons and learning alchemy and what not."

Plink. Plink. Two drops of warning before the plinks turn into a patter. Ten seconds before the skies open up into a downpour. "I'd like to hear about it when you've gathered your thoughts," Robert proposes, lifting his hand to shield his eyes. "But perhaps another time. I don't think the rain -does- anything, but..." He shrugs, his smile a bit self-deprecating. Old habits die hard. "Pleasure working with you both, as always."

"The rain does enough" Ayame says with a little grin, readying her shield and lifting it above her head with a groan, her white shirt still rather clean despite the grime of the area "Do let me know what you found, as well" She asks Shiruba "But yes. Another time. For now, let's move?" She suggests, already heading on, out, stepping quickly and gingerly keeping herself out of the rain

Shiruba reachs back with her free hand to pull the hood of her cloak up over her head. Said hood even has small sheaths for her ears to tuck into so they don't have to be folded back and uncomfortable. It's probably Gwen's handywork. "Yeah, the rain doesn't seem to be corrupted, but best we don't tempt some other trouble to show up before we can rest from that experience."

"....I just don't like being wet," is Robert's comment to that. His hood too is flipped up, though there's only so much his cloak can do by way of shedding water. So he simply lifts his hand in farewell and moves off, presumably assuming that the gnomes are all dead, or scooted off when their demon went poof.