The Writing Is On The Gnoll

With it's location in Alne making it close to where the main Gnoll infested forest was, the Hunter's Guild had been Shiruba's main base of operations for her investigation. At least when she wasn't spending days on end in the wilderness stalking her quarry. Watching their movements. Learning to tell the difference between Yeenagi's demonic cult and the other Gnoll clans. To track them better. To find where they were coming from, or drawing their dark arcane strength from. Gnolls typically didn't use magic, so that should of not been hard to find.

Right now Shiruba was indeed in the HQ. Specifically, she was in the library section, hunched over a table working on her map while some of the other Guild members stood around it. She looked better than she has the last few weeks, so she's at least gotten some sleep and been eating recently. "This is the area you want to avoid. It is no place for lower level parties, and it will take some time to put together a proper expedition to fully investigate it. Best to keep the lower questers away from those sections."

With the little meeting completed the other Guild members depart, to get the information spread so no one is accidentally given a quest in the area they're not prepared for.

A pair of brown eyes narrow, a head tilts ever so slightly to the side. The bustle near that solitary, darkly-clad figure--whispers, rustled papers, movements both panicked and deliberate--flows around him as water does a rock shamelessly plunked down mid-stream. But with no source, only a destination, the bustle quiets, the flow drops to a trickle. And then it is gone, leaving only Robert and Shiruba in the room.

Well, that and the standard Hunter's Guild staff. But they've cleared off to their customary positions.

At length he approaches. Though he makes no special effort to mask his movements, his tread is nonetheless a quiet one, subdued. "You're back," he observes, having no compunctions whatsoever about stating the blindingly obvious. Though the quick up-down-up of his gaze (somewhat rude as it may be) suggests that the observation may be about more than physical preference. He bows, courteously. "Shiruba."

Shiruba lets out a sigh as she settles back in her seat, most of her obligations on the matter done for the time being. No inexperienced Adventurers would get sent off into that forest of demon gnoll infestations now that the Hunter's Guild had a full account of how altered the situation there had become.

It's in the moment she's taken to her own thoughts that she gets another visitor, startling a bit as she's pulled back to the here and now. "Robert!" A brief bristling of tail and ears with the momentary surprise, but then she calms back down again. "Oh, hello, you startled me a little."

For a moment Robert is very far away indeed, the faintest of smiles lingering on his lips, his gaze glazing over. The smile is, in point of fact, very close to being silly. But it lasts little more than a dozen seconds, and with a sudden effort Robert yanks himself back to the hear and now.

His features school themselves into something more disciplined, more appropriate. "I apologize. I should have announced myself," he apologizes, quietly. "You mentioned you need to put a proper party together." Snagging a chair and flipping it around so it's in the wrong direction entirely, he plunks himself down in it. "How bad is it?"

Shiruba tilts her head. "How bad is.. Oh!" It takes a moment for realization to settle in. "You caught the end of that conversation did you? Just as well, you would of been one of the first people I called once I made sure the Hunter's Guild was properly informed so we don't have any ... incidents with less experienced Adventurers getting assigned quests in that area."

Shiruba reached for the map she made of the area around the forest, and slid it over to were Robert could also see it. It was clean and professional. Which means it was likely crafted from her information after she was back in her right mind.

If one looked around it wouldn't be hard to spot the 'string theory' board still sitting in a corner of the room yet. Shiruba hasn't entirely cleaned up the odds and ends of her recent obsession.

She taps a spot deep within the forest the demonic gnolls had been operating in. "I found a cave, surrouned in blood and bones from ritual offerings. I could hear the gnolls chanting within, and just the vicinity stank of infernal influence. I couldn't get closer than that without risking my tail, but I'm almost positive it's the location they've been performing whatever horrid ceremonies they've made to draw power from Yeenagi's influence."

Robert is not the best with maps. It's quite an adjustment since he -used- to be excellent with maps. He places one finger upon Shiruba's handiwork, notes its quality, leans in, and....sigh. It's a barely audible sound, and whatever annoyance he has is pushed past quickly in favor of an analytical frown.

The frown deepens. He glances up at her once more, glances down. The frown warps into an outright grimace. "Caves," he echoes at last, lips twisting. "Caves full of demon cultists. Demon cultists that..." There's a pause as he glances towards Shiruba, evidently deciding the last bit of his sentence is best left unvoiced. "Sorry. Who was Yeenagi again?"

"A gnoll that's taken upon enough demonic power somehow that this offshoot venerates him as a god like entity." It is not the first time nor the last that Shiruba will have to explain who and what Yeenagi is, until the information she's gathered can be spread farther. "Much more powerful than the demonic gnoll we originally faught when we uncovered this mess. This influence encouraging gnolls to take up dark magics and demonology is making them much more dangerous and prolific than gnolls are intended to be." Once Robert is done she slides the map back to herself. "But it will take time to chart a route through the forest that can get us to the location without having to fight through all his followers to do so. A full raiding party wouldn't be able to just keep their distance and cover like I did tracking them."

A gnoll-god? Even better. No wonder Robert is suddenly very silent, nose crinkling as he neurotically chews on his lip, rolling it between his teeth. Clearly the thought of this place is not one that he regards with anything in the way of excitement. But at least he's not packing up and marching out of here immediately. That's got to be something, right? "Glad we've got you handling that for us," he opines. "Looks like a bit of a mess to have to navigate. I assume we can't just hack our way through and reserve the final cave for the higher-level adventurers." Beat. "And what of Yeenagi? What do we know about him? Do we know if he's actually a god, or? It'll be like playing whack-a-mole if we just keep cleaning up whatever he's up to."

"Exactly why I was trying to track down where his followers have been getting their power from." They are of similar trains of thought in that regard. Ponytail sways as Shiruba shakes her head a few times. "No, they only worship him as if he was.... but you know what some mythologies say about how godhood is determined by the strength of one's followers. Which may be why Yeenagi is trying to spread his influence and their developement in dark arcanum. He certainly -wants- to be a god."

Robert scrunches up his nose. Stands, flips around, plunks his butt down on it in a...well, it's not exactly -proper-. But it's at least a more proper seat than he had before. One leg folds over the other, booted foot twisting this way and that. A bit of nerves, perhaps. "Is there anything to your hypothesis?" he asks at length, interlacing his fingers. "Is it pure supposition, or have you found anything to confirm your beliefs? Because as I see it there's a very obvious solution, if you are correct. Maybe not one we want to take. But." Another pause. "And I suppose any measures we take on that front would make the other gods highly nervous."

Shiruba steeples her fingers together. Sighs slightly. "It can't be 100% confirmed until we actually get into that cavern.... but everything points to our best chance being dealing with this before it becomes a bigger problem. A lot of people are focused on the war with the Palace Lands... But isn't that why we originally took up this venture? To keep it from slipping under the radar until it's too late?"

She unfolds her hands to pick up the map and tuck it into her inventory for safe keeping. "Hopefully it won't take long to find a path to the cave that will avoid unnecessary confrontations."

"Aye, that's why we took up this venture," Robert confirms. For a moment his thumbs seem to steeple in an unconscious mirroring of Shiruba's own posture. "But here's my thing. I don't play defense well, Shiruba. Frankly? I'm not sure anyone plays defense well. I don't particularly relish the thought of..." He trails off, then pursing his lips. "If you're right, then the would-be-god's power derives from every single one of those cultists. Will it hurt to take out the...whatever it is that they're doing? Absolutely. But there's an awful lot of loose ends in that case, and I'm having trouble understanding why we're going for a decapitation strike. Are there just too many? Do we not have the manpower? Is there a good reason to not simply lay waste to everything there? I don't imagine there's innocent pockets of gnolls."

"Those are all very good questions, Robert." Shiruba sighs softly, but it may be more at herself than anyone else. If anything she doesn't seem all that upset at having such questions postured towards her. "Maybe ones more people, myself included, should be asking.... Except that last one. That one is pretty easy to confirm, even the non-demonworshipers are still out to terrorized Adventurers and Landers." She pauses a moment. It had started as a tongue-in-cheek response to lighten the mood back up. But then something else occured to her and she frowns. Looks back to Robert. "Has anyone been investigating that glitched version of Haggar? I.. well, you know," she rubs the back of her head with one hand awkwardly, "my focus as been entirely on the other side of this matter."

"Haggar?" Robert's expression goes utterly blank. His eyes roll back, flicker for a moment before stilling. It's not enough to suggest he's having a seizure, but it's certainly an unfortunate expression. And then the eyes are back, and he sets about accessing something on his interface. Not that he answers her question, not immediately.

"Well, you never know," he states casually. "I think the Doctor has some idea that monsters are forced into certain patterns of activity by their classification. A bit like having crowns. Which, I suppose, complicates the issue from a moral standpoint, though not from a practical standpoint. I suppose circumstance doesn't matter much when your kid is being dragged away by a..."

The frown deepens, then suddenly brightens. "Ah, here we are. I don't suppose the name "Lupusregina Beta" means anything to you?"

Shiruba frowns. "Now that's a mouthful. And kinda pretentious sounding." Then shakes her head. "But I can't say that it does. A name like that would stand out pretty vividly." Then again, she just got out of a major tunnel vision. She may of heard a lot of things she doesn't immeadiately recall. "Is it related to the Gnolls?" Maybe a silly question in the context it's brought up, but she's trying to make sure she confirms things so they don't have any future misunderstandings.

"According to this report here," Robert notes, making air-quotes with his fingers, "Haggar the Deathcleaver used to be an elite gnoll warrior, until he was corrupted by a known trouble source believed to be Lupusregina Beta." If he had glasses, no doubt he'd be looking over them at Shiruba now. "I assume that would suggest that this known trouble source is not known to you. And is not, say, the long-lost queen of your people."

"Long lost queen? What is that suppose to --" Stop. Blink. Blink again. Lupus. Regina... Shiruba groans softly to herself. Words for wolves and queens, respectively. It took her a moment to catch up to that... but now her attention is taken by the rest of Robert's statements. "-- Wait are you telling me someone has been -intentionally- glitching the Gnolls? To have that sort of power in alter the Monster races..." She puts a hand over her brow, rubbing the temples with her fingertips. "That means this is two very similar yet different problems involving the Gnolls.... But I know there have been disputes and distrust between the 'normal' Gnolls and those that follow Yeenagi. Enough that someone could use that to convince one to being altered if it would help resist the demon worshipers' influence from spreading..."

With a huff she sits back up. "Why is it every answer here just unravels more questions underneath it?"

Ha. Robert silently snickers to himself, but isn't too subtle about hiding the twinkle in his eye. It takes him a moment to compose himself. "It would certainly seem that is the case," he confirms with a sideways inclination of his head. "I'll ask around to see what's already known about this Lupusregina Beta. At any rate, if the concern is corruption of what is already occurring by mysterious outsiders, there's at least one. No, two. Possibly three additional cases. Third is weak though." Holding up three fingers, he ticks the scenarios off, one by one. "First is the undead problem on the ninth tower of the floor. Second is our vampire problem up in Ninetails. And third...well, third's a stretch, but I've been wondering where the Palace folks got their crowns from. And knowledge of how to use them."

"I still fear there is someone or someones hiding behind the Palace Land leaders that gave them this power. Which isn't really very reassuring either." Shiruba sighs softly over the matter, then scoots her seat so she can get up from the table. "I will keep in touch, and hopefully before too long have more concrete information on this fel cave so we can properly approach dealing with the problem. But I should check in with the rest of the Alliance on matters while I was.... focused elsewhere." She shakes her head a bit, muttering "I had thought the state of mind only happened to crafting professions..." under her breath.

Shiruba stands, and bows briefly. "Take care Robert, until we speak again."

"You take care too, Shiruba," Robert responds. Rising to his feet, he executes a mirror-bow in return, turns about, and exits at a brisk pace. It lacks its normal cool deliberation, and is half-way to a jog. No, he does not skip. He may have to murder anyone who characterizes it as such, though...well, the resemblance is occasionally there.