Duty Session 494: No Game Gnoll Life

Since the Apocalypse, a specific section of forest in the Isle of Beginnings has become known as the Gnoll Forest. Though many monsters close to the central island of Yamato are lower level, and perfect for lower level parties, this location has become an anomaly. Even approaching the location, there are obvious signs that this place has been overrun.

The trees are largely barren, with anemic branches reaching up towards the skyline in densely packed clusters. From these trees, a variety of warnings have been hung to ward off further trespassing from Adventurers. There are human and monster skulls with rope run through the hollow eye cavities. Bloodied and twisted Adventurer equipment is stabbed through on pikes. All around the area, the refuse of so many dead has been left here, making the location eerie and ominous.

Schneider has somehow found himself in the role of cat herder today and so he's attempting to get all the people together on the mission who are going. It was easier in sports, everyone on the team wanted to be there and wanted to play. You'd think that'd be the case in the game, but sometimes getting everyone on task and on track is like pulling teeth. "OK, this is last minute because you left me to do it," he complains. "But OK, everyone get your spells prepped and get ready to move out."

Dealing with the gnolls is pretty much an open contract from the Hunters Guild right now. Syx heard some folks were gonna go try to take on the task again, and had wandered his way oout to the meeting area. Gnoll Forest? Come on guys you can come up with a better name than that. 'Dark Forest of No Return' or 'Forest of Doom' or something, right?

At the gathering area, Syx has managed to climb a tree and is currently doing shirtless pull-ups from one of the branches, though he dangles from one arm for a second to look down at Schneider, "It's fine man, it's just the gnolls. We'll just do what we always do and blast the shit out of them."

Gnolls! More gnolls. Always gnolls. Always more gnolls.

Hopefully, if they do this a few more times, there will be gno more gnolls. Gno home for gnolled men around this Isle of Beginnings...!

Prophylaxis is present, and for once seems not entirely exhausted to be here. It seems like he's finished... something or other, and actually has most of his energy back. Weird!

Maybe it has something to do with the fact he's recently gotten back from an entirely different island...?

"Ready to go," he says, shrugging. "Be careful, everyone. These things are not to be underestimated."

    Setsuna looks up from the tree he was leaning on, "Yeah yeah what Syx says, just gnolls. " Looking back down he goes back to trying to shuffle a deck of cards in weird ways that , well it is sad to watch but in a funny way. Sighing as he tries once again and glares at his hand as he drops the cards and then sighs heavier as he picks them up. Finally he returns them to his inventory in frustration, "So right gnolls, what gnolls are we fighting again?"

Klein examines his katana for a few moments, making sure that it's all good for what lies ahead. Can't be too careful when it comes to these gnolls, at least from what he heard. "I wouldn't be so sure. Someone I knew went in here by themselves and needed backup before they got overwhelmed." Nodding to himself, the samurai sheathes the blade and gives off a quick to everyone here. "But hey, that's why so many of us are here, yeah? Let's show these gnolls who's boss!"

    In truth Fuka was just waiting for quests, for a group to be organized. She flashes Schneider a grin, then sticks her arm behind her own back and twists, her grin turning into a mock agonized grimace. "Oooooh no, my arm's been twisted SO HARD!" she complains. "How am I ever going to wield Frank with my arm so twisted?!" she wails.

    Fuka grins abruptly up at Proph. "Well, fortunately we have the Prof here. He can untwist my arm right?" she claims, cheered to have the mighty (?) cait sith present. The others... well, she's not unhappy. It looks like a strong group! And speaking of strong .... "Man, that tires me out just watching." she complains to Syx. "Training up your strength, are ya? I mean, not a bad idea, just kind of weird way of doing it..."

Kauchemar is here, because you want a Dark specialist when dealing with monsters messing with Dark magics they shouldn't be.

She's also here because it involves caves and some sort of gemstone keys, and those are all high in her attention list as well. Might have something to do with the large, stocky mole-like monster trudging along with the equine Were Fang. The main difference is that it's tromping on it's back legs instead of all fours, in a sort of forward stoop, showing off it's unusually big claws. And that it's nose ends in almost a conical piledriver shape. "Is this the spot?" There's a lot of people here. "Must be a spot." She reachs over a shoulder to withdraw her Grindcore Staff from her back. Which she reachs over with to grab the rock mole with the head of to keep him from wandering off. "Stay close, behave, and maybe I'll give you a name."

Her mane is a bit unkempt from usual, might be a slightly stronger odor than typical, but her normally dark monster complexion makes it difficult to see if she's got any of the other telltale signs of a peculiar mood. Yet.

Schneider says to Syx, "These are /special/ gnolls, they have a lot more shit that needs blasting. A -lot- more. You need to be on top of your shit-blasting game." He nods at what Klein and Proph say, adding, "This is a Special High-Intensity Gnolling," and eyes Setsuna to include him in the warning. Fuka gets a puzzled look, but a slow nod, Kauchemar and her ... monster get a nervous look, buy he nods, "This is the spot." And with that all said and done, he leads the way deeper into the forest.

| The Adventurers travel deeper into the forest, ignoring the warnings that the Gnolls have hung in the trees. They soon find themselves on what looks to be a perfectly normal stretch of woodland path. It is eerily quiet, with no bird sounds or hints of other animal life within the trees or underbrush. Everything seems a little too still, a little too perfect.

That is when light glints onto a bit of fine thread in one of the tree branches. Once the first trap is spotted, it becomes more obvious that there are others all along the forest path. Some are easier to spot, while others are well hidden.

It will take a keen eye, skilled hands, and quick feet to spot, disarm, or avoid the traps and get through this area of forest without drawing undue attention.

Kauchemar has to work a bit to herd the Rock Mole along, but he eventually climbs over her staff and hustles forward on his own. "Hey, get back here yo--"

CRUNCH.

"--Oh." Fortunately that wasn't the mole getting crunched, it was him taking a bite out of a metal trap that he had sniffed out. "Well, I guess you being attracted to metal is useful for that, too." Kauchemar walks up, grabs the mole by the scruff with one hand, and then like that she's gone.

It's not technically a teleport, but she moves so quickly through the thin shadows of the area that it almost seems like it when she steps back into view at the far end of the trap laiden field.

    Setsuna does not notice t he fine cord, in fact somehow that damn deck of cards is back in his hand as he tries the shuffle that Shenmi showed him. It is only dumb luck that he avoids the first trap as he trips and the arrows whistle over his head. Blinking he shouts, "Why didn't someone mention the traps." Standing up Setsuna takes a mad dash through the traps, avoiding most of them, ending up with a couple of darts stuck in his shirt but not piercing skin. "Well that was fun."

"I just said not to underestimate the gnolls," Prophylaxis says with a sigh. "These things are worse than the goblins that had set up shop around Eastal that one time. If you don't want to end up my next experimental medical test subject, then stay sharp and don't die."

Of course, that's easier said than done. The gnolls have quite thoroughly trapped this leg of the approach, and who knows what kinds of lookouts they might have going? Prophylaxis does his best to set up a protective illusion and...

Actually does a pretty good job of it. In that he makes it so the trees look like they've tripled in number to anyone looking from the outside in. But only for a short time.

    Fuka's just goofing around, but she nods in agreement with Schneider. "Actually there's a giant gnoll here somewhere too. REALLY giant. Like, absolutely huge. Bigger than him." she gestures vaguely with one hand. Could mean anyone really... Syx, Klein, Schneider, Prophylaxis, Setsuna. Probably not meaning Kauchemar. "It won't be as easy as just killing ordinary noobzone gnolls. Kinda the point of sending us!" she grins.

    Fortunately, as much as she appears to be goofing around, Fuka's quite attentive and alert to the traps that follow, spotting several easily and making her way through them with a minimum of trouble and effort. "Oh?" she pauses, glancing back. "Are you doing experimental medicine too? Songbird was doing that recently and it was a lot of fun! I hear the pink ones are nice. If I get my legs blown off, give me the good stuff!" she smiles sunnily.

You know the movie Kung Fu Panda? You know the scene where Po stumbles into the training area and sets it off? That's pretty much what happens to Syx. He trips over a trip wire that he didn't see, and falls forward, a pair of scythes barely missing him as he rolls into another trap, which flings him through the air on a rope. He tumbles down through the trees and into several more traps, but it's Syx, so he sort of just face tanks all of it, eventually winding up on the other side, beaten up and possibly on fire, but still kicking. A couple of health potions later and he's back up and running, and probably paying better attention this time.

The scruffy samurai laughs a little upon hearing the catagory of gnolling they'll be in for. He's in a good mood, but that doesn't make the creepy forest any less creepy. Turning his full attention to the forest itself, a gloved hand rests on the hilt of his sheathed weapon before he nods once. "Alright, let's do this!"

After all the dead trees and warning signs out front, seeing how the forest seems to almost become normal once more as they travel inside does makes it feel even odder. "There's something a little off about all of thi-" The sounds of a string snapping as Klein steps right on top of it could be heard, then several arrows go flying towards him. Yelping in surprise, he charges forward to evade the arrows and only sets off a few more traps. "Me and my big mouth!"

Schneider hsd neither a keeb eyem a skilled hand, or quick feet, and winds up shooting upward through the trees upside down, much to his chagrin. "Gah." He watches, upside down, as Kauch's mole eats a trap. That seems like a good plan. Setsuna proves it's better to be lucky than good. And that's good. Proph's illusions make the forest look very different to prying eyes. Fuka is indeed attentive and alert, and avoids the sort of trap Schneider is hanging from. Klein and Syx take Schneider's route, setting off all the traps to see what they do.

After so many traps, the party of Adventurers is bound to be keeping an eye out for anything unusual as they delve deeper towards the heart of the Gnoll Woods. In the past, there had been many lower level Gnolls in this area, but they seem to have vacated, leaving behind only remnants of their passing.

Then, seemingly out of nowhere, an arrow flies down towards them from a small grassy hill nearby. A large Gnoll stands up, a pelt of grass across his back and his fur a distinct shade of green that had allowed him to blend in with his surroundings. A wicked looking bow is held in one hand, firing arrow after arrow towards the Adventurers.

*ZING* there's suddenly an arrow through the air. *ZING* Another imbeds in Kauchemar's shoulder before she even finishes turning around to see what's going on. A third hits the ground but sends the Rock Mole bolting off. "Augh! Get back here!" Kauchemar summons her Binder Shield to use as protection against more arrows, but for the moment she's distracted by having to retrieve her startled monster that's not use to having to deal with projectile attacks. "Your hide is so thick from the rock you eat I bet an arrow wouldn't even tickle!"

    Fuka winces as several of the party members find traps the hard way. She ... probably didn't need to search so hard. She just had to wait for people to clear the way by facetanking it. Oh well, in a group like this there are several capable healers and potioneers. They probably have little to worry about so long as they don't deplete their resources too early.

    The ambush by the grassy gnoll shooter catches Fuka momentarily off guard, but she quickly rushes at the sniper with a howl of rage! "I'm going to skewer you and THEY'LL roast you!" she cries, making herself a big looming threat. Well, not big nor looming really, but definitely a threat. As arrows come in at her she blocks them, her heavily-armoured forearms deflecting the arrows and leaving her with little more than scratches. It should also help give others time to cast their big kill spells, naturally. And that's all the tanks Fuka will need for her role.

Klein is a bit more on point now that he already set off a few traps. Like he said earlier, he said that no one should underestimate these gnolls, but he didn't expect it to actually be this bad. Shows how bad the gnoll problem is getting lately! "That...could have gone better."

Arrows start to pepper the landscape as a gnoll sniper could just be seen on top of a hill, having used camoflague to hide until he attacked. Narrowing his eyes as he leaps out of the way of an arrow that would have striked his head, Klein draws his katana. "Keep him busy, i'll rush him down!" Without anything else said, Klein charges headlong towards the gnoll, hoping the others would be willing to go with his simple plan.

Charging an archer that has you in his sights isn't the easiest task, but the samurai does his best to evade every arrow possible that he could. Helps that he made himself the obvious threat with his katana burning hot enough to start tree branches he's passing to smolder. Jumping forward, Klein attacks with an overhead swing downwards, planning on cutting that bow and making it useless.

    Setsuna watches the arrow whistle by him as he blinks and checks to make sure all his face is still present. "Well that was ..."Another hair over his shoulder, "I AM TRYING TO TALK HERE!" Setsuna shouts at the gnoll shooting at him. Turning back he raises a barrage of sharp rocks above his head, and fires them in a spray of attack attempting to turn the gnoll into a pincushion. Even if he misses it will still help narrow it's position down.

Syx is paying way more attention to where he's going after the trap fiesta, so he manages to spot an arrow coming for him and turn to the side so it misses, "Oh man, that was a bit closer than I would have liked!" Well now they really need to take this big gnoll down, "I've got him!"

Syx rushes forward, figuring that the others will be able to keep its attention at range while he closes the gap. His Buster Gauntlets light up as he runs, bearing down on the gnoll. As soon as he's close enough, he leaps, jumping over the gnoll, and then pushing forward into its back, his strength kicking in to lift the gnoll up onto his shoulders, the flames from his gauntlets lighting the both of them on fire as Syx jumps into the air and then brings the gnoll back down to the ground with enough force to cause a small explosion!

He naturally aims it away from the rest of the group, not wanting them to get caught in the blast.

"Oh yes, I've already spoken with Uta extensively," Prophylaxis says. "Not that kind of experimental medicine. I've been through that song and dance enough already. No, this is plain old ordinary experimental medicine. The kind that /isn't/ compelled by some kind of bizarre system requirement that mandates absolute self-destructive focus." In other words, even without being in the throes of Moonlight, he's... Still a medical researcher.

Also, there is a gnollish sniper. It tries to shoot him in the face! Prophylaxis deflects the bolt with a mighty barrier.

Plink!

Of course Scale proceeds with fire, Schneider and Syx incinerating the target, who absolutely feels the heat. Klein and Fuka provide cover so the artillery can fire unmolested, and it seems like Proph can keep himself safe while monologuing. Lucky he has no cape. Kauchemar seems to be having a problem with her mole, she should call Avogadro. His number is 602-1023. That's the one thing Schneider remembers about moles. Not the area code, though, ten-digit dialing spoiled that mnemonic. Setsuna's return fire is quite accurate even without the area code.

Where there once were hundreds of lower level Gnolls who roved these woods, there seem to be far fewer now. Those that remain are seen almost as shadows in the distance, watching the Adventurers and then leaving behind eerie laughter as they dart away into the forest. They seem... wary.

Passing from the edge of the trees in a rough, circular clearing, the group soon finds that a group of these Gnolls have gathered on the outskirts, watching them. As soon as the last of them have stepped forward, it seems to activate some kind of trap. Dark magic looms up from an arcane circle on the ground, trapping the Adventurers within.

    As the sniper falls, burning, Fuka grins up at Klein, holding out a clenched fist to rap knuckles, or at least gauntlets. Howling mad Tanks represent!

    Riding a high mood, Fuka looks suddenly crestfallen as the group steps into a trap! "Okay this is kind of bullshit!" she cries out, drawing her lightning blade. "This should have a weak point right... THERE!" she bellows, lunging to stab her blade into the arcane trap.

    Yeah, no. That didn't do anything. Hopefully someone else has a better idea.

Normally Kauchemar would of forseen something like a magic trap. But she's a bit distracted with her monster training, having finally cohered her Rock Mole into not fleeing, and then catching up with the rest of the group.

Just in time for the magic field to form around them. She blinks twice, staring at the barrier.

"Should of seen that coming...." Literally.

Syx hmmms a little bit as the group approaches the strange clearing. He can hear the echoing laughs in the distance, "Yeah you wanna see something really funny? Come on out here and fight me you cowards!" Syx isn't much for wandering around in the dark. That's when the trap is sprung and the magic wall springs up around them, "That is literally the opposite of what I said to do!" He yells, before punching the barrier as hard as he can. The punch sends a shimmer through the shield, and in that moment Syx thinks he can actually make something out in the runes.

In order to test this he punches it again, "I think I got something. But we just need to figure out how to disrupt that rune.."

He has an idea of how to disrupt the rune, as he takes a few steps back, and then does a flying dropkick at one of the runes at the edge of the circle, figuring that'll disrupt it. But he figures even if it doesn't, maybe it'll inspire one of the magic users on how to break it.

Klein raps his knuckles against Fuka's, grinning as he makes his way back to everyone else. "Everyone okay? Gnoll-body got hurt?" Chuckling a little at his own bad pun, he rejoins the others as they progress deeper into the forest.

Blinking in surprise as the magical field springs up around the entire party, Klein groans as he slowly realizes what they got themselves into. "A magical trap? Ugh, I didn't know they could do this sort of thing." Picking up a hunk of rock, Klein chucks it at the barrier, more to see how far they can go before they run into the trap. What he didn't except was for a part of the magical circle to fizzle out after destroying the earthen missile, a clear sign of shoddy craftgnollship. "...I knew that was going to happen."

    Setsuna is surprised by magical trap as he tries to step out of it and gets zapped, "How did this happen?! We are smarter then this?" Then he looks at Fukaziroh and almost looks like he is about to follow up before he keeps his mouth shut. Turning to look at the magical circle his eyes begin to glow as he traces the magic circle in the ground and starts to try to drain the magic away from the circle to weaken the shield. "Anytime anyone wants to do something crazy that will likely kill us all, go right ahead."

"Oh, it's this thing again," Prophylaxis observes, poking at the magic circle with the tip of his staff. "Hm. No, I don't think I'm sufficiently evil enough to wrest control of this spell." Contrary to popular belief, that is. "But you know what? I think we should be just fine anyway."

Probably.

What's the worst that could happen? THey get backwards-summoned to HELL!?!?

Fuka is, alas, not as capable with the wildly complicated magical traps, and Kauchemar is distracted by her mole. Syx actually manages to dropkick one rune, so maybe Fuka /was/ on the right path? Setsuna applies foot firmly to mouth, as his claim that we are smarter than this is made abundantly false. Klein is also learning about the magical capabilities of these gnolls. Luckily, Proph's Prophecy does not come true and we are not summoned to hell. That's probably a new duty next year. Schneider manages to dig up the correct lore, though, to help unlock the trap that holds the party in place. The fight itself is anticlimactic, the party facerolls these gnolls hard.

Further into the forest, the true effect of the Gnoll presence becomes more obvious. Trees are knocked, the roots turned up towards the sky. Dirt and rocks are flung in multiple directions. Something has gone very wrong here and the forest is taking the brunt of the damage.

It does not take long to see the source of the destruction. An absolutely massive Gnoll looms higher than the tallest trees in this part of the forest. The creature is stark black, tree branches sticking out from portions of the monster's fur. The red eyes of the beast are frenzied, and it seems to be attacking anything and everything that comes anywhere close.

By this point Kauchemar has just tucked the Rock Mole up under her arm. "I really need to bind you to a summoning spell," she mutters under her breath. But at least she's got less immeadiate distractions with him as the group gets out of the magic trap and continue on their way.

Until they reach the forest that's been smashed, crushed, crunched, and utterly obliterated. By a truely gigantic dark colored gnoll. "Wow. That is a really big gnoll. You think you can bind that one in place, Sets?" They may both be summoners, but the necromancer has higher proficiency in the capturing part. As if her running about trying to keep one mole monster in check wasn't enough of an indicator.

Kauchemar for her part, points Grindcore Staff towards the giant black gnoll. Wait, is that racist? Probably not, it's a gnoll after all. She points her staff, activates one of its features, and with a shout of "Time to DROP THE BASS!" unleashes a screaming sonic blast at the monstrousity.

Klein starts to feel like they went the wrong way off the trail when they start to go through a section of forest heavily overtaken by rampant destruction. Feeling a little uneased by the unearthed tree roots, the samurai keeps glancing around and with one hand on his katana's hilt. "Did the gnolls have a tornado come through at some point?"

It's only when he notices the hulking brute of a gnoll does he realize that his katana might not exactly be of much help here. "Uh...yeah, i'm not getting close to that guy. He makes my sword looks like a toothpick." Instead, Klein starts to circle around the massive pitch black gnoll, hurling fireballs from his bare hands. With all those broken branches in the giant beast's fur, several of them caught fire and burns the gnoll even better than his own fireballs did.

    Setsuna follows along with the rest as they move forward and looks over at Kauchemar, "That is so not the way to go. Summoning spells strip them of so much, they just become spirits and magic and no longer have there own personality. " Then the giant gnoll appears before him and he looks at Kauchemar, "On the other hand sometimes a little binding helps to teach a monster boundaries and limits. " Stepping forward he draws his knife across the hand, gaining the bleed status as he squeezes a few drops of blood onto the ground. A few magical words later and from the ground rises bones of the fallen , attaching themselves to the massive gnoll and locking its movements into place as the bones encase it into a single massive gnoll statue.

    Fortunately for Fuka, others with more brainpower than her exist. Not that she's utterly hopeless with magical circles, but ... well, she's only studied the runic kinds. Not the sort of reverse-demonology these gnolls use. She looks skeptical at Setsuna's comment and for a moment their eyes meet. "Hey, you said it, not me!" Fuka finally shrugs. "I'm all for doing something crazy. Hopefully we don't die!"

    Spoilers, they don't die.

    "Oooooh." the little Sylph murmurs, seeing the devastation as the group finally proceeds. "I've been here before." she says, glancing around. Maybe. MAAAAAYBE. "This could be kind of fun, you know?" she muses, listening to the sound of the mighty gnoll heading their way. "And, like I said, this one's kind of big! But that just means he'll fall hardeeeewww. Okay, I need brain bleach now!"

    Shaking her head, Fuka gets set to do her part. "D'you think this guy carries one of the runestones? I sure hope he does!" she grins. Then she begins her chant, setting up a trick. Not an attack spell though, not this time. Instead she sets up a flare, howling out loud the last phrase for a combined flashbang-style attack, hoping to daze the great beast so as to help the group take it down.

"Hmn, this guy again too...? Are we on the same path as we were before?" Prophylaxis murmurs up at the gigantic gnoll. The gnoll, predictably, does not reply. It is a ginormous gnoll! It does not /do/ 'coherent replies.' The doctor shakes his head at Fuka's inquiry, "No, this one's just one of their doormen. We'll need to get around it if we want to proceed. Unless..."

Unless they can beat the thing, of course. Which... with this many adventurers, is not /impossible./ The doctor lifts his staff high, a vast number of arcane bolts materializing in a glowing nimbus of prismatic light above him. With a gesture, he sends them hurtling into the gnoll...

...'s eyes.

...Magic missile! It never fails to hit! And the gnoll's eyes are big enough to be considered independent targets, it seems...!

There's a new move Syx had been practicing, out at the safety of his farm away from everybody. He hadn't quite perfected it yet, but he wanted to try it out anyway. It was gonna be risky, he'd have to get in close, but he'd have to do that anyway in order to attack the gnoll. So he goes for it.

He gets in close with the gnoll that's attacking the team, and once he's in range, he smashes his gauntlets together, the impact creating a flash of light as the two fire artes connect. It's not as good as he knows he can make it, but he's still perfecting the move. He figures now's a good a time as any to practice!

Once the flash has happened, he starts to pummel at the gnoll, landing multiple blows while its disoriented.

Kauchemar's Grindcore Staff drops all kinds of bass, which the huge gnoll does not seem to care for. He secretly prefers ELO, but this is a super secret Easter Egg. Or possibly not. He hasn't been asked. Klein chooses well to go with fireballs, melee with this gnoll would be bad news. Setsuna proves his worth once again by binding the huge gnoll to his will ... at least partly. It seems tohave a -lot- of will. Fuka's flare stuns the gnoll, though, which is pretty useful, compounded by Proph shooting it in the eyes, and Syx's flash adds to the stun duration, giving him time to pound it hard.

After a long time of traveling through the dangers of the Gnoll Woods, the party eventually stumbles upon a massive cave structure that was previously discovered by an intrepid Adventurer. This seems to be the heart of the Gnoll problem, as it radiates a feeling of dark magic and there are web-like black lines that emerge from the mouth of the cave and snake through the ground, stretching off into the rest of the forest. The entire area is strewn with blood and gore. Claws have dug deep into stone and bones are littered everywhere.

Upon entering the cave, they discover what appears to be a locked door which seems to contain notches set into it. This does not seem to be able to be picked or forced open, held tight shut by some sort of magical force.

So, they are left to explore one of the side passages, eventually stumbling on what looks to be some sort of laboratory. That is, what a Gnoll might think of one. There are slabs stained with blood where something was clearly tied down and studied. There are diagrams on the wall showing the anatomy of various creatures... including several Lander and Adventurer races. There are sharp instruments strewn throughout the cavern with little care.

At the heart of it all, however, is a hunched gnoll wearing a monocle. Half of his face seems to have been burned by something. Turning, the creature sneers at them. It puts down a bit of ink and quill that it had been using to document some new finds. Turning, the monster grabs for one of those massive knives. They have clearly been identified as possible new test subjects...

Something that the Doctor says catches Klein's attention. "Wait, you been here dealing with these gnolls before, doc? Persistant pains in the posteriors." Looks like he might have to deal with these gnolls multiple times, then.

Klein gives the magically sealed door one last shove before following after the others, though he wasn't really expecting any change in the results the last two times he did it. He's played enough video games to know what a door without a key item looks like. And considering all the slots he saw...well, they might be at this for a while.

Doing his best to block out everything else in this room, the scruffy samurai charges headfirst into the room. Drawing his katana from his sheathe, Klein tries to go for a Iai quickdraw to catch the gnoll scientist off guard. Either it knew exactly what he was trying to do or was just attacking an unarmed opponent, but Klein had to drive out of the way to avoid a split second swing.

A deep red gash on his left arm shows he almost lost the limb, but it wasn't enough to disarm him, just take a huge chunk off his HP. "Whao! This guy's no pushover. Talk about cutting straight to the point..." Drawing his weapon free, Klein sticks with the more traditional methods of attacking and leaves the fancy moves for another time. There's a boss to slay!

Ah, there's the locked door people were talking about. Sure enough, it has spots for some manner of keystone to be inserted. Okay, Kauchemar has verified that. So she tucks her staff under one arm, and holds her Rock Mole up to the indentations in the door. Presumably, as it's been locked like it is, keys must of existed. Which would of hopefully left just enough residue, if it's true they have to be made of a certain crystal type...

Sure enough after a bit of sniffing and a bit of gnawing at the recess, the Rock Mole starts to squirm. "Okay then. But be careful." Kauchemar hunches down to set him on the cave floor, and almost immeadiately the Rock Mole takes off down one of the side passages, with the Were Fang Nightmare quick on his heels.

There's a crash, and whail, as the Rock Mole runs right into some of the lab equipment. Then runs back to Kauchemar after it fell over. Presumably to also escape the angry mad doctor Gnoll abomination having a tantrum over the wreckage "Dammit. This would of made a great time for a Reanimator revival. Oh well." She takes a step back, mostly to give the meleers and tanks a chance to get into bruising position, and raising her staff as she activates it's elemental channeling this time.

"o/~ Can you here the sound?
The ice is coming down.
Crashing to the ground o/~"
Her voice drops into a low ominous pitch, almost like a haunting whisper. "Avalanche Crescendo"

At which several large chunks of frozen rock manifest in the air and come crashing down, smashing against mad doctor gnoll and the disturbing lab equipment in equal measure. Breaking his work seems to piss him off, but also drop his guard against other attackers, so she is very much going to exploit that mechanic.

"I've been dealing with them for a while now, yeah," he says to Klein. "Ever since the first Haggar. But now they've gotten a little more dangerous than they should be. Glitched monsters, using powers that should not exist in this World. We need to eliminate them for the safety of everyone on the Isle of Beginnings."

"Mmn?" Prophylaxis asks... the world? The universe? The gnoll they happen to encounter, leering at them? No, he's asking... the diagrams behind it. "Those are... anatomical diagrams? You're a beast of science too, I see." The doctor... does not adjust his glasses, because he doesn't wear any. Not in this form, anyway. As the gnoll brandishes its meat cleaver, though, the doctor strides fearlessly forth.

A mage... walking directly into aggro range!?

"That weapon is made for cutting through flesh and bone," he says, all too familiar with meat cleavers and hacksaws. "But not through ice." His staff taps the earth, a veil of gelid power gathering over him. His skin seems to frost over, turning blue beneath the caress of infinite cold. The doctor takes another step forward, stomping his foot into the earth and sending a wave of flesh-tearing ice into the gnoll.

"I'll distract it," the doctor grunts. "Take it down!"

    Fuka had been really kind of hoping that killing the giant gnoll would get equally massive results, and she's rather disappointed that didn't work out. Oh well. Still, she continues on with the group with reasonable good cheer and determination.

    Seeing the mad scientist, Fuka looks over at Proph. "THIS is what you look like when you get your freak on!" she complains, readying her defensive spells. Not honestly sure which of her powers might help best, she channels fire mana into her own personal shell, making her skin begin to glow a faint radiant red. Or more like pink, or possibly orange. Really not bold enough to be called red.

    Perhaps surprisingly it's a help. Perhaps unsurprisingly, as the fight progresses, Fuka lashes out indiscriminately with her massive greatsword and its occasional blasts of lightning. And also unsurprisingly, things get smashed, enraging the gnoll researcher. Sucks to be him.

    As they get into the heart of the laboratory Setsuna nods his head and looks around, " You know if I was going to buy a hidden lair, this would definately be in the top 10 list. Creepy, out of the way, monsters in ...oh it's occupied." Setsuna frowns at seeing the blood weaver. Unfortunately the air is to damp fore fire, the magiccal frequencies are all off for really much of any magic. So all he can do is try to raise a shield to block a barrage of medical instruments. This does not go so well as he takes a scalpel to his shoulder. "Well that hurts."

No way through the door, that doesn't stop Syx from trying. He'd heard about this keystone door already, but he tries his best to punch the lock a few times anyway. Just for good measure. It doesn't work of course, and he didn't expect it to, but he has to stay on brand. Once they reach the monacle wearing gnoll, Syx does what Syx does best, and tries to fight it head on. He swings wildly, and tries his best to block incoming blows when he can, but it seems that the other fights may have worn him down a bit.

Still when the time comes, he pushes through with the rest of the team in order to bring that big beast's final health bar down. Once the fight's over, he can be found with his hands on his knees, taking a few deep breaths, "Wow that one was...Way tougher than I expected it to be." Maybe next time he comes through here, he'll have a bit more respect for the gnolls.

Schneider is unable to shield himself effectively from the mad attacks of Roarschach the Gnoll Bloodweaver, taking much more damage than he'd like. Hopefully the others can cover him! Klein's taking more damage than he'd like in this fight, too, though, Kauchemar seems to have found a way to fight him effectively with mole power. Plus the elemental channeling, of course. Proph's defenses are solid against the mad cleaver attacks as he explains the backstory of the gnolls in this region while distracting the gnoll, who's now concentrating on himm, leaving Fuka free to smack him as hard as she can. Setsuna's contributions are not as effective as he considers the real estate before the fight is over. Syx also finds the fight harder than expected, but Schneider is too beaten up to give him an 'I told you so'.

The party is unable to avoid taking substantial damage, but they eventually manage to drop Roarschach to the end of his final health bar. He seems to start casting some sort of final, party-wipe technique called 'Roar of Blood', and they are /barely/ able to beat out that enrage timer and wipe his health before the spell goes off.

Dropping to one knee, the creature gives a grunt, then topples forward, bursting into pixels and leaving behind a handful of strange, red gemstones.

Kauchemar pants a few times as they -barely- outlast the party wipe timer to finish off the mad gnoll doctor. "Cutting it waaaay closer than I would like." Looks down at the mole. At the destruction he caused in addition to her spell. "Maybe I'll call you Wreckloose." ... Well, if it wasn't going to be a musical name, it was going to be a pun name.

Not that the Rock Mole is paying attention as he scuffles from behind her legs to grab one of the rubys dropped by the Boss. "Is that what you smelled down here? The gemstones he was hold--" She stops a beat as Wreckloose grabs a Ruby in his mouth, and turns to bolt out of the cavern. "--Hey! You're suppose to give those to me, not... oh for dark's sake."

Kauchemar runs back up the passage after the Rock Mole. She'll retrieve the ruby and add it to the compiling for the key. Eventually.

That enrage timer on the boss was far too close for comfort for Klein's liking. He certainly didn't want to die after they have all come so far, so he was trying every sort of reliable trick he had in the book. With one final forward cut, the gnoll doctor kneels down before shattering, leaving behind their prize.

Panting and resting his hands on his knees, Klein takes one look at his HP before going noticably pale. Quickly pulling out a health potion, the redhead chugs his crimson liquid down and drinks a second one for good measure. First things first, though. "Everyone alright?" It's only after he visibally makes sure everyone is fine and well that Klein goes for the keystones. Lifting one up and holding it to the light, he twists the gem around before nodding. "Whew! Looks like we got what we came for, at least!"

    Setsuna watches the boss pixelate as he rips the scalpel from his shoulder and tosses it aside. "Damn thing." Taking a moment he looks around as he pours a healing potion directly into the wound and he shakes his head. "Damn that burns like hell." As he approaches the loot pile he grabs one of the keystones and looks at it for a moment. "Another one for the pile it seems. " Looking at the others then to where the boss stood, "So just need more puzzle pieces then?"