Duty Session 520: No Game Gnoll Life

    The scene: noon. Hyuga has decided that it's time to participate in some extracurricular activities. Farming is great, socializing is great, but it's time to be a Shielder. Or... whatever they call themselves. He'd always been partial to Mashu...
    Anywho, the siren call is put out: it's time to stomp some serious gnoll at-sign dollar-sign dollar-sign. Of course, he's not 100% Attack, and so he definitely needs some physical or magical backup. He stands here, fully armored, with that massive greatshield he is known for at his left hand, and the hammer on his left hip ready for drawing. Hyuga waits.

Gnolls. Gnolls never change. It was the demonic influence that drove the monsters deep into the forest. Fights wage against the Red Light protection that are offered. The violence was different. But Gnolls? Gnolls never change. Behind the Vault Doors within the forest? More gnolls, perhaps. Haru ponders this ponderance when responding to Hyuga's request. He is back from his Palace Land adventure and ready to provide Enchantment. Basically debuffs. Debuffs and enough fire to burn the forest down. Look, if Schneider hasn't done it yet, Haru figures he is safe from doing lasting environmental damage.

"Organizing a challenging run," Haru says too far away to be heard. Know when two people are far away but can see each other? Walking closer towards them. That 'ok, do I wave or talk or what' moment that lasts forever. Then Haru repeats it again once closer. "And you have my orbs," he says in a Lord of the Rings reference that... well its good Fuka or Shiruba are not here to hear it. Orb jokes for days.

Goldenblade has a few grudges to settle with the gnolls, and she's always up for a rumble and fighting bad guys. It's not clear what role she fills in a party - she's tough as hell, and can at least off-tank, but her DPS isn't bad, either, and she's got some big attacks, so she can hit hard, too. She's kind of a position-player, able to fall into whichever role needs more support at the moment.

"hey," she calls out to Hyuga. "You organizing this run? A proper tank, I see, not too many of those." She nods thoughtfully. It's a tough job to do well.

"Gnolls are the ones that look like humanoid hyenas, yes?" Darn those dark sneaky types, because there is now a four tailed fox next to the gathering with no indication of when she had stepped up, a parasol resting against one shoulder. Daiyu had taken up doing Duties in her effort to earn more favor with the Yamatoans and prove she really is reforming, so here she is to help.

She's here...

She's there...

She's everywhere!

Kotono the acrobatic Spriggan is making her way into the area, eager to take on some Gnolls it seems. While Miyako is most likely taking the standard path, Kotono is zipping from one spot to another almost like the ninjas she's trying to emulate. "I make this look easy sometimes!"

        There's no business like gnoll business, it's no business you know....

    Miyako seems to find the entire idea amusing. Will she still find it so when they're knee-deep in gnoll blood? Hopefully.

    "Yes, dear, you do," she assures Kotono as the two Spriggans approach the rest. "HaruHaru, Goldie, Fox-chan. Good to see you all."

    She looks over at Hyuga briefly and adds, "Don't think I remember you...."

    Hyuga is definitely the newbie. How often would someone forget a hulking monstrosity being held by an armored Crusader? "I don't know any of you, sadly, but that's another reason I made this duty request. I've kept to my farm for far too long. The name is Hyuga. Akizuki Hyuga. I'm not sure if I'll be good enough in this to be your primary Tank, but I will do my best." Hyuga bows, then re-grips his greatshield. His other hand reaches into his Inventory for a fresh apple to gnosh on while waiting for the party to be ready... and that... is one fine damn apple.

Ah, more familiar faces besides Haru. Daiyu gives a quick bow to Miyako and Kotono. "It is good to see you both as well." Then turns to Hyuga as she shifts her parasol. "Ready when you are to begin."

Goldenblade nods to Hyuga, says, "Good to meet you, Akizuki-san. I'm Goldenblade. If you need help tanking, I can back you up." With two swords and no shield, but she definitely has the attitude of a tank. "Not super long term, but I'm pretty tough. I just finished some special training. You might like one of my tanking techniques, which I can teach you later if you like?"

Haru goes over what he knows about gnolls for Daiyu, "Hyena-like, yes. Depending on the lore that is followed, touched by infernal taint. Animal humanoid hybrids." He looks upwards to consider that there is a lot more lore about these guys but ultimately, "They are a problem and this particular crop are preying on lower level Adventurers in a way that has to be a violation of the Laws."

    Hyuga leads the way, offering fresh produce for all to indulge in. The items are Farmed by Hyuga personally and are of high quality. He takes to munching on that apple as they move to the gnoll land... but Hyuga only has a general idea of where the location is. "Uh... I have never hunted gnolls before. Is anyone else able to Search for the entrance to their hideout?" Hyuga's face goes a bit pink with embarassment.

Haru is all too familiar with the trials of entering the forest. It is not always the same entrance and/or the gnolls reset their traps/patrols with the game logic of Elder Tales. That is to say 'did and can not memorize the shenanigans'. Haru is not a front liner, though. He is an Enchanter subclassed to Summoner. If it gets any more 'put that guy in the back rows' he would need to be wearing no armor. He has cloth armor, similar yet different. Cloth armor has /fashion/. "Negative on searching," Haru lets the lead tank know, "but Enchanting will be a bridge to cross if we come across it." General statement: They dont come across it.

"It goes without saying," Haru says as he tilts the monocle side of his face towards Daiyu, "but it is good to have you among us." He doesn't elaborate on if that is in context to this duty or, in general, without a Crown on. He does not, of course, take notice of the tripwires that are too fine for him to see during the advance.

Fast on her feet, Kotono definitely is. But what about her fingers?

"I think I could handle this," Kotono says as she attempts to disarm one of the traps. "Elementary if you ask me..."

SNAP!

A mousetrap-like device nearly takes off several of the Spriggan's fingers. Had she not pulled away in time, who knows what could've happened?

"OK, maybe it's not so elementary," Kotono says with a scowl.

Goldenblade has hunted gnolls plenty of times, tells Hyuga, "They're pretty clever and crafty, and lately they've been upping their game with magic. This was supposed to be a new player area and it's tough for /us/." Who are definitely above new player levels. But the forest is tricksy and full of traps and it looks like it's getting the better of our party to a worrying degree. "Uh, guys," Goldenblade says hesitantly.

Which is why she's facing the wrong way and is suddenly zooming past everyone streaight upwards, by a rope around her ankle.

"Dangit."

A swordslash later and she's landing hard on the ground, rolling on her shoulder and tumbling back to her feet, but now rubbing her shoulder. "Stupid gnolls. Stupid traps."

    Hyuga watches Golden go, and suppresses a chuckle. "Uh... sorry... hammer, not sword." He moves after Goldenblade lands, taking up position on her now-injured side to provide just that much more protection. "Maybe I should lead with my shield? I mean, for rope traps, I might be too heavy for them. Springing needle traps is fun with this, because they shatter sometimes." He wields that thing one handed as if born with the darn thing.

Daiyu tilts her head a little at Haru. Either way that is meant, she is not going to complain. "I need to earn my keep, same as anyone else. Mayhaps moreso to prove my worthiness." Then pauses for a moment. The hulijing's tails flit back and forth thoughtfully. She takes a few steps after, then stops. Collapses her parasol... and reachs forward with it to poke the grass and cause a beartrap hidden under forest debris to snap shut as she jerks it away. "Monsters using traps, and aren't Goblins. How peculiar."

She takes a few more steps, and again uses the parasol this time to snap a tripwire. Then to reach up and slap a branch to break loose, disabling a snare. It's a minature montage of disarming attempts before she finally joins her less successful peers on the other side of the field.

"This just goes to prove there's more than Threat Levels that make some monsters dangerous, I guess." The parasol is reopened and returned to her shoulder.

    Miyako grumbles as she makes her way slowly through the field. "Trap, after trap, after trap," she mutters. "These idiots are getting smart. Not following pre-programmed patterns." Some traps she can simply duck around. Others she can disarm easily enough. And some...

    "Grah!" she snarls, plucking a dart from her shoulder. "Bloody hell...."

Having just come off the previous situation feeling a bit grumpy, Kotono is not looking forward to whatever is coming up next.

Unfortunately, what's coming up next is beyond what she's expecting.

"That's one giant enemy!" Kotono exclaims in disbelief. "My blades won't work against it."

Gathering her spellrunes, Kotono chants a spell of fire, intending to cast a fireball at the Gnoll. And she succeeds in launching a fireball...

One that's the size of the ones Mario threw in the original Super Mario Brothers game. (Yes, THAT small.)

"Why me?!" Kotono says as she stomps her foot.

    Hyuga spies the Gnoll firing arrows at the party before most others might have. At least, most other Players, not necessarily those in this party. "Incoming!" Hyuga leaps out to the forefront, massive greatshield coming down like a meteor and embedding itself in the ground, just in time to shatter a gnoll arrow that had been aimed at his own head. Out comes the hammer, though what good it might do here... oh, that's right, he loves to taunt the enemy, making a lot of noise out forward by slamming the hammer into the shield as if a gong.
    

Goldenblade nods to Hyuga, and some time later is lucky he's leading with the shield because the sniper is sniping. It's a JFK joke, though she's not sure if it's deliberate of if the young people get it. But when the arrows start flying, she puts up both blades in full defense mode. No shield, but blades parrying fast and furiously as she sprints through the vulnerable area to the next piece of hard cover. It's a wonder, but her defense is tight and she is safe from the arrows, flicking each one out of the air as it comes close. "Stupid communists," she grumbles.

"These Gnolls do not follow the 'game'... and that is troubling," Daiyu agrees with several others. Monsters acting outside of the parameters, if even one considers this as more than 'just' a game, is a bit worrisome.

But worrying about it isn't enough to distract her from being suddenly fired on, jerking to the side to avoid what could of been a vicious hit otherwise. "... That is farther than most of my techniques can reach," she grouses mostly to herself. But as things are getting serious she again collapses the parasol, this time storing it across her back.

Then pulls several throwing knives out of seemingly thin air. She did previously serve as a stage magician's assistant after all, no one should be surprised at her drawing things from nothing. They are flung in the sniper's direction, but even enchantments for speed and distance aren't quite enough to reach his high ground effectively.

Haru is in good company in getting burned, stabbed, slashed, and bludgeoned on the way in. "Win some, lose some," he offers in a steely consideration for the state of the health bars. The silver haired man with a monocle waits for the 'reuse' timer on potions to wear off before kicking another one back. "Potion check," he puts out over the party chimlink. Most adventurers stock up, especially if they do not have Light or Pharma means of patching themselves up in prolonged dungeon fights. "I have a couple spares if you ran short or out," he adds in. Going against the Gnolls is a difficult event and he doesn't want to see anyone heading to the Church out of hastiness.

"Goldenblade, Hyuga: Keep pressure on the Sniper. Starting a long cast." Which is to say that getting hit while doing a Wave Arte can interupt it not to mention how much a stationary target getting hit with sniper fire is bad.

The Artificer has four small orbs that float around him as a casting focus. They turn a lava-like red color as he begins his chant. Words are formed into the air in a Tolkien-esque burning script as they float, taking his words and giving them perminance. When the final word is said, they disappear like ash blown by the wind. A finger points to where the Gnoll is stationed. He has the high ground, Haru. Solution: Get higher ground.

One of Daiyu's throwing knives rattles to life, floating up as if finding ascension in its purpose. A metallic gleam upwards in the forest. It points down at the sniper, one lone dagger. What could that do? What Chuuni level of shenanigans is Haru up to?

The knife drops, anticlimatically, and the sniper's gaze moves just enough to be cautious. Enough to miss the Flash Summon of a creature as large of a house coming out in an eruption of flame and turning his area into a pillar of raw fire as if someone yelled Dracarys onto him. A bird of fire, a phoenix, is summoned and its one hot birb. "Clear," Haru says as the health melts off the miniboss.

    Miyako is still grumbling about the traps, but she has to nod to Daiyu. "Yeah, the 'game' is becoming less and less relevant as time goes on, I think. Landers and monsters alike are growing beyond it."

    And then there's a sniper, and she's cursing again. Producing a familiar set of war-fans, the blades already sheathed in shadow as they expand. She hurls a set of dark bolts at the sniper, keeping up a fast but not terribly accurate barrage o suppress him so the more potent spell can bring him down.

    And so it's onwards to another trap....

    Hyuga presses the group forward, communicating via chimlink the whole while. "I'm new to this, what do you all mean they aren't reacting like the game?" He does not seem to be too concerned with the 'pressure' of the battle itself. "I mean, this isn't stressing me out..." Six pings of arrows before the miniboss is obliterated, and he rises up to confirm. Moving forward, he sets up his shield as the dark magic circle raises up. "...but this... is out of my league."

Goldenblade has gotten past the grassy gnoll on the grassy knoll, but it seems like we're out of the frying pan and into the fire. She will step up and attempt to batter her way through the magical barrier, but it does no good. She tries it anyhow, grumbling sourly the entire time. "Stupid game designers, dumb kids' games, never did a real day's work in their lives." It degenerates into more grousing as she seems to have a whole bunch of sour grapes with the people who make games instead of doing a /real/ job, like bricklaying. Kids today.

Daiyu's tails writh about in frustration as the group survives one challenge, only to walk right into another trap. "... I am starting to understand why many of the posts about this Duty at the Hunter's Guild had a context of annoyance to them." She crouchs down, adjusting her spectacles with one hand. The Glasses of Orth let her read 'the writing on the wall' even when it's no longer visible. Or in this case, what was scribed into the ground to create the arcane circle that forms boundries of the barrier trap.

Which does little good when it's written in some arcane script she can't decipher. "... These gnolls proceed to worry me more and more." Why are they accessing things outside of their proper scope of the game setting?! Now she's a bit worried... and starting to see why, having to deal with problems like this, the Yamatoan Adventurers have gotten to be so resourceful.

Haru progresses on with a sense of 'That took a chunk of my mana out' and 'health potion or mana potion' when the cooldown releases. He is like a 20-something with a coffee addiction and not enough stomach space to down it all. Mana potion it is. In doing so he raises a hand and says goodbye to is elemental summon. Hot work there, big birb. He is keeping an eye on the next cooldown when the party ends up in the magical trap. "They are crafty," Haru informs Daiyu about the gnolls, "more than they should be. Higher level than they should be for the area. Its an outside influence and by pressing them, we seek to know what this influence is. Pull the veil back, so to speak." His relic activates and the purple lens begins to scrawl white text on it. Its like a scouter and this trap's power level is over 9000.

"The world is a vampire," Haru says, a pop culture reference for sure as it tees up what he is doing next. A four meter tall earth golem is summoned from the ground, body made of rocks local to the area and thus looking a touch obsidian in nature. The Enchanter starts connecting the Enchantment circuits on the ground to Terra, his summon's, feet. "Setting to drain," the Artificer informs the party as he climbs up the magi-mech's back, settling into a 'standing' cockpit near the top and directing his summon to pull the raw arcane from the trap like a sponge to weaken the effects.

    "She means, they're not following their pre-programmed behavior patterns. More than that, they're not just making their own decisions, they're /learning/," Miyako answers Hyuga. "Now, give me a moment, this is delicate."

    She focuses in on disrupting the traps, now, picking each one apart with bits of spell energy. "Once upon a midnight dreary, as I pondered weak and weary," she muses as she hits a particularly difficult one. "Many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore... well now isn't /that/ interesting." She plucks an ethereal line, and the trap collapses to let the party by.

    "You know," she says to Haru, "I used to think vampires were cool...." With a shrug, she adds, "At least foxes are still cool. Right, Ko-chan?"

Kotono thinks she can handle this. She thinks she can.

She thought she could.

Kotono fails miserably. How bad?

Don't ask.

"Will this ever end?" Kotono grumbles as she rejoins the others.

    Hyuga sees the enemy and has very little faith in himself. He doesn't know the others, and so he does not know their skillsets, and so this causes him to hate himself ever so slightly. "Hard to be a damn Tank if you can't strategize. We need options." Grabbing his hammer and lifting the shield, Hyuga looks around... and spots an exit, of sorts. He makes for it, casting a basic spell to put Light on his hammer as a beacon, and makes it to a safe spot. Planting the shield, he swings his hammer around, and calls over the chimlink. "Possible exit here!"

"... And now unorthadox design of the gnolls themselves," Daiyu murmurs as they're faced with the giant gnoll of darkness. She's really getting her perception of things shaken by this venture. Her offensive Light magic is limited, and what she does cast against the monster does little against it's sheer magnitude of darkness. "... I concure, seems we would be best to avoid this foe rather than fight it."

Haru considers. Does he like vampires, "Thoughts on Pumpkins and the smashing of them," he asks Miyako. It takes a moment for him to connect: Rich young man with white hair and fair features. Maybe Haru is part vampire! Nope. Just nope. Put all that Nope into a large volley of dakka dakka dakka to the feral gnoll. Less damage and more 'force push back' and 'stagger'. Both /real hard/ sells given the nature of the Gnoll. He manages, though, such is the Noxly Nox. "Hyuga, you are doing a fine job as a tank. Case in point: None of us are dead. None of us are going to be dead if we keep it up," he says as he dakkas out bolts of raw arcane magic from his four orbs as if they were semi automatic magicslingers. He dakkas toward the exit. Yes, the party takes damage along the way, but can't make diamonds without pressure. "Solid option," he observes, opting the health potion this time around.

    "Pumpkins, ravens, writing desks." Miyako shrugs. At least they're out of the trap-zone, now.

    She reaches over for a moment to pull Kotono close and give her a quick, warm squeeze. "Hey. We're not far from the end. And when we get back to down... lunch." She grins, though the smile fades when she sees the massive, feral gnoll. "Right, no."

    She launches her best attempt at a binding spell at it, hoping to slow it down while the party takes another path.

Goldenblade follows Hyuga our, hustling along before she's beaten up too badly. It's a poor performance for her as well, and she feels bad, but this was supposed to be an adventure game, and when she was a child, adventures meant fighting. All this magic and skill use confuses her, and .... well, she can't do most of it.

But she hasn't given up, she's got grit and determination. She's used to things not working out at the start. She says to Hyuga, "We don't /have/ options. We just have our swords, or hammers, or whatever, and the strength to use them. That'll /have/ to do, because that's what we've got."

So, the monocle-wearing gnoll has knives? She charges in, regardless, though she's got no shields against his knives. What she does have is grit and determination, and she shouts, "It's not over yet, you bastard," and fends off his blows with a flurry of parries that clang off her blades, probably damaging them badly, but she doesn't have time to inspect or repair them, they're her last line of defense. She stands tall, though, determined and stalwart in this frantic melee. "Kill him," she shouts, "kill him hard!"

Emboldened by his allies, Hyuga also charges alongside Goldenblade. But where Golden throws attacks, Hyuga throws his shield. The massive slab of metal and forged bliss favors Golden's injured side, taking hits that would have otherwise likely hit, and Hyuga grips his hammer tightly. He tries to call forth a little bit of a helper, a certain tattoo on his right arm glowing, but the fire dies out quickly. He's just too rattled, and he cannot focus on much other than protecting the party. His party. Fine, more slams on the shield. "Try to break this you fat bastard!"

This gnoll has a monocle?! Absurd! Haru's notable accessory is a monocle he wears over his right eye. Uta has the Nurse Hat. Mikage has Rama. Gwen has... well, fashion. "Unacceptable!" Haru declares against the mad scientist gnoll. Now a reasonable person may consider that to be about the crude experimentation. Not wrong. But the monocle? Insult to injury. The Artificer erupts in a series of quick-cast shells amongst himself and the party. They are temp hit point shield and also evasion boosts. More movement. Gotta go fast! Mana reserves don't fail me now.

Did you know a pair of blades can be used defensively as well as offensively?

Kotono knows that and she thinks she can help defensively by using her blades in a defensive stance.

Unfortunately, did you also know that blades aren't exactly defensive against smaller objects, especially thrown knives?

"Ahhh!" Kotono says, going down briefly before getting back up. "Will this ever end?!"

    Miyako pauses at the cave entrance, frowning at the obvious dark magic that flows from it. "Not good," she muses. "I really don't like this." But this seems to be the only place to go to finish the quest, so in the party goes.

    And... oh dear. She stumbles back from the vivisection lab, trying to swallow back bile and worse, and she has no more time for games. Mad Scientist Gnoll is going -down-.

    She holds up her fans to deflect a blow that throws her to the floor, but she kips up to her feet quick enough and the fight is on.

    Hyuga is thrown into a tree, slamming against it, but never losing grip on his weapon and shield. He falls to the ground, outside of the forest, and the shield embeds itself into the ground with the young Crusader/Heavy Blade tank hanging from one handle. Using the hammer, he tries to steady himself... grunting with the effort. "Damn... it all..." Pulling himself up to a standing position, he puts his hammer back onto his belt with a shaky hand, the Blood Curse debuff showing itself all over his face.

This has not been the best of ventures for Daiyu, but she still tries. She draws energy into her warfans, trying to cripple the mad scientist gnolls ability to heal himself... but his blood magic is just too strong for her to completely stall with her own hexing and magic. "Monsters of this magnitude of capability should not even be possible to exist!" she protests while doing so... Before eventually collapsing from exhausting as they're overpowered.

Haru's defensive tactics isn't enough and the mana is running low. Timer is running out. He is kicked out of the forest along with the rest of the party with a nice debuff on his face to show for it. "Any fight you can walk away from," he says as he stands up. Then sits back down after a reality check with the woobly legs. "In a minute," as he takes a look at the Blood Curse status effect. He would say 'We didnt end up in a Church' but they do need to go there anyway.

Goldenblade is thrown out of the dungeon by the boss mechanic, and now she knows to be better prepared. "I'll admit," she says, then hurls. "Ugh, that maybe I approached this a bit casually. Lesson learned." She spits out as much of the hurl as she can. "Next time, I'll definitely prepare specifically for the duty," she says. "And not half-ass it."

She nods at what Haru says, the same debuff effecting her. "I guess I'll see you all in church on Sunday," she quips, luching back towards down unsteadily.