Duty Session 570: Hungry Like a Wolfgarm

At the edge of Rovia, a simple gathering spot has been designated with a sign and everything. This sign says the following :

     "By the request of the mayor, all adventurers are asked to slay the wolfgarms in the nearby forest. If you die while slaying said wolfgarms, we in Rovia are in no way responsible and ask that you do not come to us seeking recompense for your death. We are also not responsible for any maiming, broken bones, or discomfort you may experience. By attempting to slay any wolfgarm your agreement to this disclaimer is acknowledged. The people of Rovia thank you for your valiant effort.

P.S. Do not feed the whale!"

Underneath the adventurer agreement is a wooden arrow with the word 'FOREST' written on it in freshly dried paint and is clearly pointing towards a nearby forest.

"So," says Schneider when everyone has gathered up, "I suppose we follow the way into the forest. I hope this works out OK. I have prepared some new magic that hopefully won'r burn down the woods." Though knowing him, it's almost certain that burning down the woods would be less awful. "These Landers don't half know about disclaimers, though. Do they have a bunch of lawyers here? Maybe we ought to burn Rovia down after all, if they've got Lawyers?" He makes it sound like a plague.

The last time a wolfgarm emerged near Rovia, it was almost /very/ bad. There is something of a vested interest, then, in making sure that their numbers remain thoroughly culled. After all, it's bad for business /and/ politics. And so, as custodians of the tower, it's only right for the Scale Emblem to show their faces here.

"No burning down Rovia," Prophylaxis says with a huff. "They've been very helpful allies. And setting the forest ablaze would probably not be conducive to maintaining a good long-term relationship."

    Miyako hasn't seen a wolfgarm in quite a while, but she vaguely recalls them being quite bad news. So clearing them out of the forest is Not a Bad Idea. "Alright, count me in," she comments casually as she walks up to the gathering party. "I needed to get out of town for a while anyways."

    She smiles lazily and saunters along, humming a tune under her breath. She's not much for hunting or sneaking around in the woods, though, and it shows.

Schneider nods to Prophylaxes about not burning down Rovia, and he says, "It's OK, I've got a new spell that doesn't use fire." This should trigger everyone's panic reflex. If it doesn't use fire, what horrific thing could it be?

Schneider leads the way into the forest east of Rovia. The forest is dense and rather large; the den of the wolfgarms could be anywhere. The adventurers will have to figure out where they are going or else they could be wandering the forest for hours. Schneider nods at Miyako's comment, and says, "Well, no signs. We might be out for a longer stroll than originally planned."

Fortunately, the wolfgarms don't take time to clean up their droppings or their footprints. Someone who spends enough time looking might find signs of the monsters, if they knew their way around the woods or could tell an elm from a rock, which Schnider could do if you spot him one guess. One could also try to negotiate with Landers living in one of the nearby farmhouses (or a passerby) for directions through the forest, because of course Landers live in a forest full of Wolfgarm. Schneider signs.

    Miyako hmms to herself, nodding. So Schneider doesn't want to burn the city down. Then... a Schneider spell that isn't fire? "Who are you and what have you done with Schneider, pod-person?" she half-jokingly demands.

    Once the party leader-ish-type-person has proven his identity to everyone's satisfaction, however, the search for the wolfgarms begins in earnest. Miyako paces about the woods, peering at the ground, looking for tracks. She finds several signs of animals in the area -- mostly harmless forest herbivores like deer, and low-level predators like foxes. She passes right over several actual wolfgarm tracks without recognizing them for what they are.

Prophylaxis knows better than to handle strange wolfgarm droppings. He has no idea where they've been! It's terribly unsanitary! So instead he elects to visit some of the neighborhood Landers.

...Unfortuantely, he soon returns with a couple of holes in his robe. "Not interested in solicitors," the doctor grumbles. Really it's more that they're not interested in non-human solicitors. Apparently the people out here in the wilderness are even more insular than the ones back in the city. Who'd have thought!

Schneider will, indeed, head to one of the houses in the woods and rap on the door. An old lander woodsman answers, and there's a brief conversation. It goes something like, "You here to hunt them wolfgarms. Good, they're a pain. They're over that-a-way." And then, seeing Proph returning from a neighbor's house, the Lander slams the door before Schneider can ask for clarification. So, with 'over that a way' as direction, he will proceed on, hoping that this-a-way will soon show signs even he can't miss. Huuge wolfgarm would be a clue.

Miyako, whose search through the woods meets with as much success as Proph, is treated to a wide grin, and says, "I have completed one of my /iconic/ spells. Heheheheh." From his source material, though not many remember that he's a tribute character, or what he's a tribute character from. It's so old. His dad loved it, though, and his dad controlled the TV when he was nine.

But whether by intention or just dumb luck, a pair of wolfgarms happen to be in the area where the old fellow pointed them. They may be scouts looking for food. Either way, they haven't noticed the group just yet. At first, they sniff around and nip at each other for attention. When a branch falls nearby, it startles them and they move more warily. It appears the scouts are a bit skittish. With large enough theatrics it seems possible that the adventurers could send these two home with their tails between their legs. Or with their tails on fire, of course.

A couple of wolfish scouts are really not /too/ much of a concern. Certainly not as long as they can be prevented from returning home in one piece. That is, as the kids say, the trick. Fire would certainly do the job, but the good doctor has another method in mind.

"Freeze," he orders, gesturing with an open palm. The wolfgarm does not stop moving-- not immediately, anyway. Instead, it shivers and squirms as a block of ice rapidly encases its body, trapping it in a frigid prison.

It's not fire, sure, but fire could have had them run off! And that just would have been counterproductive.

    Miyako actually -did- watch that anime... quite a few years ago. She remembers the naming scheme, but not much more. "Now I'm actually even -more- worried," she comments, grimacing.

    It doesn't take long for the first actual wolfgarms to turn up, at least someone managed to get the party in the right direction. She flicks out a pair of fans, aiming for the second creature as she sees Proph take one out, and a swish of her fan sends a blast of air at the wolf - to impact rather like an overdone punch, a simple blunt blow from a ball of air that dissipates as soon as it hits.

Schneider peers at the Wolfgarm scouts, and says, "I guess this is the right place. GUNZENRO!" And he gestures dramatically, sending waves of fire toward the wolfgarm, who luckily aren't standing by piles of straw or propane tanks or anything, and are injured quite severely by the gout of fire, but the grass and trees behind them aren't exposed to the flame for long enough to catch fire. This time. Sadly, it melts the ice Doc has frozen one of them in, and Schneider gives him a sheepish look. If Miyako is more worried about Schneider's new spell, she might be more worried to know that it's named after a very obscure metal band. That's a short list. Her air punch smacks the injured wolfgarm, and both of them bolt. And that was enough to scare the poor scouts off back to their lairs, saving us the trouble of searching the whole woods, if we can now keep up with them.

What the Wolfgarm lack in courage they more than make up for in speed. It will be a test of endurance and speed to keep up with them through the underbrush of the forest. ""Not everyone needs to keep up," he says, panting as he runs. "As long as someone does, they can lead us to wherever these two go to ground. Otherwise it's back to tracking." Which we do not seem to be good at, collectively.

Schneider melts Prophylaxis' hard work! The doctor makes a face that looks like ':/' because /rude./ But the scouts are scattered, so the result is ultimately the same. "Right, at least we can follow them toward the rest of their pack. Come on," the doctor takes point, his staff blazing with light. Nothing catches fire, though.

...He has more subtle magic in mind.

The brambles and undergrowth seem to squirm out of the cait sith's path as he blazes a trail, keeping pace with the Wolfgarms in a twisted and entirely backwards game of chase. Who ever thought a rabbit(-eared fellow) would pursue wolves, and not the other way around? This is all entirely backwards!!

But it seems to work, so... Maybe it's not so wrong after all?

    Running through the forest! When they actually know where to go, or at least have a guide to follow. Like many Spriggans, Miyako shines here, or rather /doesn't/ shine -- disappearing from one shadow to the next without ever crossing the space between. A useful sort of trick!

Schneider runs like hell. These wolfgarm aren't slow by any means, but Schneider played basketball in high school for years before logging in to the game, and he's used to lots of running. And humans are, or at least were, pursuit predators. The humanoid body structure is suited to distance running the way a lot of animals are not. The Wolfgarm are as well, unfortunately, so the party is hard put. Doc makes things easier by moving the troublesome foliage out of the way, and Miyako has her own supernatural non-human abilities that make it not a problem.

The two scouts finally run into their den, followed by the party, still, which appears to be nothing more than a hole in the ground. No wonder no one else has managed to find it! It's practically invisible. As the group enters the den, they find that it is much deeper then it initially appears. Adventurers are able to stand up and even move around a bit in case combat occurs.

There is one obvious problem though. The moment the group moves away from the entrance, they find themselves in darkness. There's not even glow moss! The wolfgarm must have some ability to see even in the dark to be able to navigate down here. The adventurers will have to figure out how to light their way and navigate through the tunnels beforedanger finds them.

Finally, the party finds their way to the Wolfgarm den. And it is...

It's dark.

Really dark.

Even goblin dens have at least a few fires to serve as distractions or cooking pits. This isn't just darkness, this is /advanced/ darkness. The doctor grimaces, but it's absolutely lost in the impenetrable dark. "This is going to get us nowhere," he concludes, of trying to navigate in this soup. "And we'll only end up ambushed. Hold on a moment."

The doctor's voice rises, lifting into a melodic tone. As he finishes, a wave of crystalline, white flame washes out from him and settles over each member of their little excursion team, surrounding them all in bubbles of protective fire. "That should keep us safe," he says, "And give us a bit of light to see by, besides."

    "Well, of course," Miyako responds to the Doctor's qualms about an ambush. "You know how it goes." She looks around the darkness of the caves - a natural environment for a Spriggan - and has a song for the occasion, like she does for so many.

        It's dark as a dungeon, and damp as the dew
        The dangers are plenty, and the pleasures are few
        The rain never falls, and the sun never shines,
        Yes it's dark as a dungeon deep down in the mine.

    "... or you could just do that," she says, and shrugs, moving on as if she already knows the layout of the place.

Schneider looks around as the light from the entrance fades very close to the entrance, and he frowns. Then he chants, "Roots of shadow, tendrils of light, smoke over water, fire in the sky, DEEP PURPLE." Technically, this is a sort of Hallucinatory terrain spell, but the illusion he's casting is that the area is brightly illuminated. That's a useful illusion! But it growc choppy as he moves. Doc's flames cast a more useful illumination, which winds up being less jarring visually. Miyako uses some sort of Spriggan trick Schneider doesn't understand, but which totally lets her know this place is pretty tiny actually.

The cavern opens up in a spacious room. Inside, the adventurers find a single wolfgarm. This wolfgarm is bigger than others, more savage looking, and has a scar across one of his eyes. This monster has seen a lot of battles and has earned the title of 'Alpha'. In fact, it earned this title so well that the name of the creature is literally 'Alpha Wolfgarm'. The way the Alpha keeps backing up makes it seem that it doesn't feel too confident winning the fight. It could run if the fight goes south. The best thing to do in this situation is to engage the Alpha and burn him down while cutting off any attempt to escape, else who knows what may happen?

The first boss-tier Wolfgarm Prophylaxis encountered was a shaman. This one is... a little different. A little /gigantic./ Prophylaxis frowns, though, at the thing's behavior. It's like it's... leading them on...?

"Eyes a-swivel," the doctor orders, tapping his staff against the ground. "Retreat immediately if it looks like we're in danger of an ambush. Dogs-- and wolves-- are pack hunters. The fact that there's only one here..."

"Is making me /extremely/ concerned," the doctor finishes, tapping his staff against the ground. A prison of ice rushes up to capture the alpha's legs... Only to shatter when the thing twists free. "Damn, too strong for that, huh...?"

If only Setsuna were here...!

    Miyako nods, "Definitely not typical canine behavior. But, I grant you, not typical canines, yes?" She darts in with her fans, going for a flat-of-the-blade strike against the creature, but it's -fast-. Actually knocking one of the weapons from her hand as it breaks free of Proph's ice. "Damnit," she snaps, and with the beast speeding off, she stoops to retrieve her weapon before pursuing.

Schneider casts, "Fiery power blast of the Damned!" at the alpha wolfgarm which is not his most potent spell, Miyako's melee attack is less than successful, and Proph gets off an icy spell, but there seems to be some sort of DPS check, and this tiny party fails the check pretty badly. When the Alpha Wolfgarm hits half life, which takes a while at this pace, the Alpha begins to make an extra effort to get away, and exactly as Proph said, the rest of the pack show up now. Where /were/ they? Maybe this place is bigger than it seemed at first. With a dash here and a juke there, down the tunnel he goes, followed by a few yips and a howl. Moments later, from that same tunnel, regular wolfgarms begin to flood out to ensure the Alpha can't be pursued.

All the tunnels seem to have wolfgarms coming out of them. Before the group knows it, they are surrounded, trapped in a cavern with few ways out. As the snarls and growls get ever closer, it is obvious that at any moment the circle of wolfgarm will descend upon the adventurers. The group is going to have to fight their way out of here without bringing the roof down on their heads, which means Schneider's first plan won't work. Or, well, his second plan, because Plan A is always More Fire, and there's too many wolfgarm for his fire spells to take out.

Welp, that's the other shoe that dropped just there.

"Tch. The alpha...!" Is out of reach. The rest of the pack has flooded in, and doesn't seem inclined to give them the opportunity to pursue their leader. But this is still an opportunity to... /deal/ with some of these creatures. The doctor clicks his tongue and doubles back, his staff scraping across the cave floor. Walls of solid stone rise in his wake, closing off angles of attack and forming a protective barrier between the party and their assailants. He holds the spell for a moment-- long enough for the wolfgarms to leap onto the walls, trying to scramble up and over them...

And then he snaps his fingers and sends the walls of stone flying into the far-off walls, crushing a dozen wolfgarms in an instant.

"Keep thinning them out," Prophylaxis grunts, "Kill as many as you can, don't die yourself. We'll get through this...!"

    Chasing down an Alpha Monster in its own lair. Things that make Miyako shake her head and sigh. But it's what they're here for.

    Except, of course, that suddenly all the -other- wolfgarms that they'd missed on the way in are suddenly showing up to harass and try to get rid of them.

    "Keep moving!" the Spriggan adds to Proph's suggestions. She slashes out with her fans, cutting her way through the creatures as the trio make their way out. "We're almost there!"

After being bit, scratched, and slobbered on, the wolfgarms have been defeated and driven off. Schneider works on extracting us while fighting off the mangy mutts, having summoned a tiny earth golem because, well, we're underground, that's the easiest kind to summon here, plus it pulls aggro off him, so he can flame these mutts hard and fast. Proph's manipulation of the earth is much more spectacular and more effective, buying us time and breathing room, and Miyako's DPS cuts through the regular wolfgarm quickly.

Unfortunately for the party, the Alpha Wolfgarm got away. Pursuing the Alpha at this point would leave the group lost in the tunnels. All the adventurers can do now is take the spoils of victory, broken-off spikes of several of the slain wolfgarm, and head back up to the surface. In the end, the group /has/ succeeded in lowering the wolfgarm population.