Duty Session 182: For Whom the Bell Gnolls

Something is happening amongst the monsters of the Isle of Beginnings. Particularly the Gnolls, who have started becoming more active in the daytime hours in addition to their original nocturnal raids. This has made them a greater threat to the Landers and less combat savvy Adventurers that typically populate what was the starting area when it was only a game. The rising risk level is enough to get the Hunters Guild to put out a new bounty on the fiends to thin their numbers and see if it restablizes their behavoir.

A bounty is a nice bonus to be sure. But some suspect there is something more going on here. After what was found in posession of the Goblins in other parts of Yamato, as well as previous experiences with one 'breaking' patterns after being captured, that bore investigating as well.

Thus far Kauchemar was just standing at the edge of a forest an active pack had been reported retreating into after causing their terror. Her specteral Binder weapons hovered at her side, but she wasn't about the venture in there alone. She's seen too much of what these 'learning' monsters do to be so reckless. Waiting for a party of adventurers likely more interested in the prize and the 'doing good' was all the better for her as well.

It has been a while since Mikage has participated in a gnoll hunt. Not since the first days after the Apocalypse, but while traveling between locales, she has once again found herself on the Isle of Beginnings with time on her hands while waiting for the others to be ready to head out. So, she picked up the quest and followed the information to join the hunting party.

The pale Were Fang appears at the edge of the forest, Rama trailing at her side. "Looks like they might be a bit more trouble than last time." The young woman comments, giving a nod to Kauchemar, "Got some good tunes queued up?" Afterall, the Nightmare did have a tendency to have the best musical accompaniment.

Goldenblade has only recently added some new skills to her repertoire, which she hopes will make her quite useful in the various missions and tasks we do here in the game. She's also sporting upgraded armor, her mail burnished, gleaming softly in the ambient light. Her blades, when she draws them, will be of a similar goldish hue. It comes of forging fire directly into the steel, or something. She figures.

She will head to the meeting place, joining the others with a smooth stride, and bows her head as she draws close. "Good afternoon to you all," she says.

Any disruption to Adventurer or Lander activity in and around Alne merits immediate investigation by the Scale Emblem Alliance. After all, such things are a distraction and potential threat to the tower climb, so it is of no surprise that they have a vested interest in ensuring that it's nipped in the bud.

Prophylaxis appears near the forest entrance in his usual gear, looking about as tired as he usually is these days. This time though, he's accompanied by a fragrant miasma of ultra-concentrated, super-caffienated coffee. Sleep, in recent weeks, has been an elusive, tortuous experience that he wishes to repeat as little as possible. The ability to evaluate the effects of overcaffienation amidst a relative dearth of rest is a happy bonus.

"Indeed," he says, sipping at a flask of that delicious brew. "I assume we're all here for the same reason? The Gnolls are acting up again, gno?"

Of course Tenko would want to help out with the gnolls. She's fought them at night before, but now that they're coming out during the day, she feels the need to ensure that she needs to take them down as well.

Spotting Kauchemar as she approaches the edge of the forest, she frowns, ever so faintly, behind her mask. Great, more fun times with the bard that loves to tease and torment her. If Kauchemar wasn't so good at what she does, Tenko would be a lot more annoyed at her presence.

So there's something else up which has caught Gwen's attention from modeling or hawking swimware. She would be one of the first to jump on this it zeemed as somehing could disturbe her summer time fun?

"These Gnolls don't know when to give up do they?" She seems ready for a fight but she's looking more than a little cooked in her armor at the moment...

"It's been specifically noted their behavoir is changing," Kauchemar replies to Mikage's inquiry. "So it is not likely to be the same as previous encounters. Maybe similar. I'll just.. *soft chuckle* .. have to play it by ear." Goldenblade and Gwen get a nod as well. Then a tilt of her head. "Something seems... different about you two..."

But before she can put a finger on the vibe she's getting Prophylaxis strides into the gathering, and for a moment her mood sombers a bit. "The good country doctor joins us. You will, ah, have to forgive my hasty departure the other day," the Nightmare murmurs, tail twitching. "If I had stayed in the vicinity of that instrument for much longer it may of driven me into adding to the rampage rather than stopping it, putting everyone else at danger."

It probably sounds weird to the arriving Tenko to hear the mischevious equine -apologizing- for something, even if in a somewhat roundabout way.

"But that is neither here nor now, is it?" Like a switch she's back to her usual demeanor, turning and heading into the woods. The dark, off-putting woods. Well off-putting to most people. "Well, I would feel right at home here... but somehow that is -not- a reassuring thing..." At least her naturally dark coloration should help her with blending it.

Goldenblade slips easily through the forest. It's a bit disturbing, and distracting, and she nods to Kauchemar as we proceed deeper into the woods. "Not reassuring," she agrees. "Something's definitely off." She will creep through the woods as she advances, but she's not as good at sneaking as she would like to be, and it shows. Or sounds, anyhow. She'd never intended to make a sneaky character, and it turns out she's not particularly good at it. Or, rather, that there's a lot of dry branches and leaves here, and stealth is difficult. Too difficult, for her.

"Not the first time we've seen that." Mikage confirms, pulling lightly on her fur-lined hood as she looks to the forest. "Guess we'll have to see if it's just a natural increase in difficulty, or if something is spurring on the change."

Uncertain what they are talking about in regards to an instrument, she just rests her hand on her sword, checking her supply of arrows. "Ready to go, Rama?"

The dark feeling that seems to linger as they head into the forest is unsettling to someone usually attuned with their natural environment. Even the lynx seems to stand with his fur on-end, ears swiveling as if he were listening to distant sounds. "Let's try to keep quiet, alright?"

That lasts for all of a few seconds before one of Rama's paws steps down on what had looked like a root, but is actually a hollow branch of wood. It cracks beneath the little cat's weight, a loud snap sounding and causing Mikage to freeze in place.

Gwen nods to the dark bard for a moment thinking about this.

"Oh that pun was terrible I love it. Better not be a simple country doctor or he would be in on why we're stuck here."

She's clearly making a joke of some kind it seems and then she looks at what's ahead and sh thinks for a moment she'll pause bring up an equip menu. There's a faint flash as her armour changes out for a swimsuit of some sort? The same combat one she wore vs the floor four boss it looks like.

WIth that and a lack of clanking metal. She is somehow shockingly stealthy in this as she'll not give herself away even with her towering size.

Tenko is the opposite of stealth. And she hates sneaking around. She's a Samurai, damnit. She would rather challenge these gnolls to face her in honorable combat than sneak around like a thief. Still if it's going to make the others in this team happy, she'll /try/ to sneak, but she's about as loud at sneaking as you can get.

"It's fine, don't worry about it," Prophylaxis answers with a genial shrug. "It all worked out in the end. We learned something about what happened in the clearing that day, and we destroyed one of the undead legion's stronger lieutenants. Had I known that it'd cause issues among Were Fangs, I would have mentioned something. I apologize for the discomfort."

But that's neither here nor there.

This section of forest is... Disquieting. "It reminds me too much of the goblins," Prophylaxis murmurs as he brushes his fingertips against a set of enormous gashes carved into one of the tree trunks. "The forest is... dying. If we find an underground lair or monster nest or something, I wouldn't be surprised. Keep your eyes out for red crystals."

Still, it'd be best if they had a bit more cover.

Prophylaxis' lips whisper a quiet, still unfamiliar incantation as a small amulet dangling around his neck begins to spin. The white crystal within casts long shadows from the whirling metal cage as the enchantment activates... And a multitude of duplicate images of the party appear suddenly in various nearby clearings. They all mirror the party's own motions, so a keen eye would be able to spot the fakes for what they are, but it's still a useful distraction for the time being. "Let's hurry along," the Doctor advises, "The sooner we find these gnolls, the better."

It would seem that the forest no longer being a standard wooded area trips a few of the adventurers up. Unusually brittle branches and leaves give away footsteps. Somehow the two with Amazonian builds manage to be stealthier (though one does have an advantage of coloration), while the wizard of course uses wizard trickery to slip along.

The weird state of the woods seem to suggest there is something more than the escalation of levels that opened up the sections of other dungeons though.

Eventually Kauchemar pauses, ears flicking up from somewhere in the shadows. The yowling, barking laughter of gnolls rumbles through the forest, though it's unclear just what direction its coming from yet, or of its in response to the fumbling attempts at stealth.

Now would be a good time to find them before they find you!

Goldenblade blinks as the sound of laughter becomes audible. Nasty, disurbing laughter, at that. She looks left, looks right, sees nothing. "Not encouraging," she grumbles to herself. She will poke around and look for clues as quietly as she can, though it's not particularly quiet, nor is she ultimately successful in working out where the gnolls might be hiding. She will look to Kauchemar and the others for eventually leading us to the right location, following those who seem to have an idea of which way to go along with a frown of frustration.

"It would seem that we are getting closer to where they're hiding." Tenko muses, as indeed it does seem like more and more signs of Gnoll activity are visible.

At the sound of the laughing, one of her ears twitches, and she turns her head a little bit, "They may know we're here, despite our best efforts.."

While Rama might not be the quietest of cats, Mikage manages to pick up the small lynx and carry him for a time, his forepaws looped over her arms. Not exactly the most stealthy approach, but at least it would draw less direct attention to them.

However, that eerie sound of gnollish laughter has her crouching, allowing her companion access to the ground once more. "They must be close. See if you can sniff them out, buddy." Miki gives his head a ruffle, then touches his nose.

Rama turns then, sniffing at the air, then lowers his nose to the ground. The little cat turns a circle, trying to find any sign of the gnolls. Eventually, he seems to settle on one direction, taking a few steps forward, and then begins to wag his little nub tail.

"I think it might be this way." Mikage offers in a quiet tone, motioning to the others, even as Rama starts to head in that direction.

"I don't like this," Prophylaxis mutters, feeling the proverbial chill run down his spine. They're being watched, and he knows it. That instinctive prey-animal impulse rooted in the depths of the Lizard Brain has put him on high alert. And yet...

Aside from the laughter, he can't see any of them at all.

He's a doctor, not a hunter...!

So things contiune on as by some miracle Gwn is sitll going pretty well and she'll pause for a moment, she's looking around her ears are twitching as she l;ook about and will make a hand signal that she's found them.

The adventuring party is a little out of their element, but thanks to the Ranger and the Ronin and Knight being on the ball they aren't completely blindsided. The cackling, chanting warcry gets easier to disconcern from the rest of the howling laughter as it's source approaches and the armored brute emerges from the trees. He sees the brave lot at about the same time they see him, slamming his mace against his shield in tune with the chants before charging the group.

He's sporting better armor than the previous gnoll encounters to be sure, but it is mostly hide over thin metal, and that shield is wood rather than something sturdier. Maybe they can turn that to their advantage?

For her part Kauchemar does as one would expect a Bard to do. She starts playing her instrument and singing, both to encourage her crew along, and to try and drown out those chants so they can't continue to bolster the frantic beast-man bearing down on the party!

o/~ A dream world right before our eyes~... But who knows what is truth or the lies~...
Somebody told me that this is a dream... trapped in a world no body has seen...
And all we can do is play along... to the NightMare's Song! o/~"

Goldenblade starts as the armored gnoll appears, still grumbling at how lost she is in these woods. On the other hand, with a fight in the offing, she seems to have recentered herself quickly. The wooden shield draws a smirk because she likes wood, as a target. She draws both blades with a wooden hiss, the gold-colored steel giving a whoosh as flames leap up to engulf them. "Okay," she says. "This part, I can handle."

Handle it, in this case, means a whirling attack, her blades glowing almost white with heat, and leaving smouldering lines across the wood. Her next strikes leave two more lines, and then two more. As the fight continues, though, it becomes clear that she can't channel enough fire to light that shield aflame, which had apparently been her goal.

Rama stops short when he spots the huge hulking form of the armored gnoll. "To me." Mikage calls him back, causing the little cat to scurry back towards her, hiding behind her legs. The Ranger gets into a defensive stance, drawing her sword out.

The loud, banging sound that acts as rhythm is enough to have Rama's ears tucked back, but Mikage doesn't seem to be phased by it. "Stay behind me." She doesn't have any musical prowess to call upon, nor can she fan the flames, but one thing that she can do is make sure it is occupied while the others call upon their own skills.

So, Mikage takes a forward position, striking out at the beast with her sword, "Come on, tall dark and ugly. Focus on me." She calls out, moving to try to turn it away from the others.

And there's the gnoll that was having a laugh at the party's expense. Fortunately, it makes itself an obvious target long before it gets into striking range. Maybe cackling with laughter while you're trying to sneak up on your enemies isn't the best tactic? Neither is bringing a wooden shield and metal armor to a wizard fight. Prophylaxis doesn't complain. As it turns out, 'setting things on fire' is something he picked up while acquiring his doctorate.

"Out of our way," the wizard orders, gesturing at the gnoll with the head of his staff. Flame erupts from the arcane implement, blasting at the gnoll's beleaguered bulwark like a welding torch to steel. And then it goes further, reaching in to superheat the metal plates pressed up gainst the beastman's body. "I don't like the idea of setting the forest on fire, but if it must be risked to get through to your masters, then that's what we'll have to do!"

Finally something that's up her alley. Tenko takes a moment to study the gnoll, as he's quite the big guy, but the bigger they are the harder they fall, as it were. She grabs the sheath of her katana, and turns it ever so slightly, "You there, gnoll!" She calls out, moving away from the group and towards the chanting armored one, "Face me, if you dare!"

She moves forward towards the creature, and once she's in range, slashes the katana from its sheath in one swift motion, aiming to cut the beast in twain with one single stroke.

things seem to be going pretty well as the party is in thri enemey the Gnolls seem to be so far not an issue for the group as a whole. However she knows it far form over as Kauchemar so9nmgs she's going to star chanting softly and then just bring the fire. It seems Gwen was more than ready to bring the flames.

The Claw-Fighter picked the wrong group to bear hide and wood against. He does seem to realize what is going on to a degree, swinging his mace at Goldenblade to disrupt her from focusing on his shield to catch it aflame.

Though Goldenblade does distract him long enough for the rest of the group to light up. Several versions of flame are cast at him, followed by Tenko charging in to engage with her own weapon. It's noticable that, unlike his swing at Goldenblade, his movements are starting to slow down. Possibly because of the warchants being counter-songed by the Nightmare Bard. Eventually his armor goes up in flame, hot metal burning into his skin as the kitsune's blows slam it down, and he gets out one last howl before evaporating as defeated monsters do.

Other gnolls lurk in the woods, but they seem to realize they're outmatched by these Adventurers, a rare show of intelligence, and keeping their distance.
Also because one of their own champions, this one bearing a vicious scythe and adorned in horrific glowing runes like some manner of tribal tattoos, matches onto the scene. The elderitch glow is hard to miss even as he starts chopping his way towards the group with the horrid weapon!

Which claims its first victim with the crunch of splintering bones!.... Because Kauchemar has brought her reinforcements onto the field, and several skeletons impose themselves between the raging Abyssal gnoll and the party. "Quickly, they won't keep him at bay for long!"

Goldenblade breathes a sigh of relief as the other party members are able to defeat the gnoll without her contributing much. But that's only the first of the deadly gnolls that come out to threaten the party. She holds her ground as it roars and she ducks the massive swipe, stomping down with her foot and causing the ground to tremble beneath it.

The trembling earth spoils its balance as she attacks it, and she ducks each swing of the massive scythe, laying in with her golden blades, leeching a bit more of its health with each strike, the unstable ground at its feet making its counterattacks unsteady.

Where one gnoll falls, another takes its place. Mikage just has enough time to catch her breath before the gruesome looking gnoll roars spittle across her face. "Eww." She takes one sleeve and wipes off the drool. "You really should take care of that bad breath. It could kill small animals." Rama doesn't seem impressed, either.

Already in far too close confines, Miki begins to channel energy into her sword. It is power that seems to radiate from the weapon back into her limbs, giving her a faintly glowing aura as she wades back in. "Rama, get at his ankles. Let's see if we can't trip him up." Then, she begins to swipe out with her weapon while the gnoll ends up harried by the lynx.

Well. That certainly is not something that you see every day. Who the heck is turning the gnolls into weirdo demonhosts? Prophylaxis does not like the looks of this, not one bit.

The only good news about this... Whatever this is, is that it is most definitely higher up on the Gnollish hierarchy. By taking it out, they'll be delivering a telling blow to the ability of the Gnolls to continue disrupting activities in the area. Or, that's Prophylaxis' thinking, anyway.

"It's no wonder the forest is dying," the doctor's expression twists into a disgusted grimace, "That kind of magic... It's not right. We need to put a stop to this, immediately." To drain the forest further by calling on roots and trees is probably not in the cards. Instead the magus slams his staff into the earth, bidding it to yawn wide open under the gnoll's feet. The moment he falls in waist-deep, the doctor reverses the motion and taps the back end of his staff against the ground. On his command, the land itself snaps shut like a set of vicious jaws around the gnoll's grotesque, bewitched body.

It'd bite the creature in two if it's unlucky. If not, it'll at least hold the thing in place while the rest of the team does their thing.

So the fitht coes on ang Gwen is in swimwear still. While she has her sword and shield with her dstill and then comes the green wind and a burst o bright light there can only be one thing done here as she will keep their attention focuse on her.

"ANCHOR HOWL!"

She cries out as she will pull the attention of as many of them as she csan on her as she moves to endage. Some part of her says this is insane but it's ... working...

This is not something that Tenko expected. As she spots the gnoll, she also spots the writing on it. She is a bit surprised that she can read it, but not only can she read it, she realizes that she knows how to counter it. So the Samurai does something unexpected. She sheathes her blade, and reaches into her pouch to pull out a brush with black ink on the tip. While all the others are attacking the gnoll or trying to draw its ire, she moves in, brush in hand, and begins to slash at the writing on the gnoll. Each strike with her brush leaves a new mark on the gnoll's form, a counter to the writing.

Her movement to evade the slashes with the scythe are quite impressive, as she moves, dodges and strikes with each chance she gets. Eventually she'll have marked off each of the letters on the beast, and should render the enchantment void.

Saying the skeletons wouldn't last long was an understatement. They are unsurprisingly chopped down fast. Even Kauchemar doesn't look that surprised, as she raised them on a reactionary whim to buy some time rather than focus on making them dangerous.        They do bother the Abyssal Gnoll long enough for the rest of the party to get organized though. Goldenblade shakes the very ground the fiend stands on, causing him to stagger and slow his pace in order to keep his footing. It gives Gwen time to position herself between the gnoll and her allies, and do a better job at it that the boneheads. The Abyssal Gnoll swings at her... but something in her Light infused stance sucks the oomph out of his swing, making it easier to deflect. The runes scarring his form flicker noticably in her presence...

Mikage and Rana move in together, as Ranger and Companion should, lynx nipping at the foul creature's shins while Mikage also finds it easy to knock aside his weapon, thanks to her spiritual charge and the weakening effect of Gwen's dominating presence. Proph adds to the mix with his own twisting of the earthly element, keeping the Gnoll vexed from multiple sides by attack from an oft overlooked direction -- directly below to entrap his legs. Looks like despite the boost in intelligence and strength the gnolls still aren't the best at splitting their attention.

There is likely so much going on that no one has noticed Kauchemar taking several steps -away- from Tenko. She knows what the kitsune is about to do, she's been on the receiving end of it herself when using her Dark Artes. Sure enough Tenko draws upon her divine nature, and moves in to strike not only the gnoll, but the runes giving him power. Each one she scratches out, his power flicks and fades faster. When the final one is gone, he just... stops. Dead still.... and then crumbles away, in equal amounts dust to the ground and motes in the air, like the power of the runes was the very thing that kept him a real form. The pathway onward is bared, as most of the lesser gnolls just GTFO.

Though it may not be the Adventurers that they are fleeing, as our brave crew soon finds out. Is anyone surprised it is a bigger, beefier version of Haggar? No?
How about the fact that not only did he got super swole, but there's something... wrong. His form is glitching, occasionally crackling with a bit of what can only be described as static, something in the very code of his being has been corrupted.

That is definitely not right at all.

This isn't the first time that Mikage has encountered the beast that is Haggar, but this one is very different from the last one she had encountered. Those strange colorful pixels at the edge of his form are enough for her to hold a hand out, warding Rama from getting any closer. "Something isn't right." Motioning her hand across the screen, she casts an inspect, then curses quietly under her breath.

"We need to be careful, this isn't an ordinary boss monster." She sheaths her sword, not intending on going toe to toe with a monster that has quite that amount of reach and power. If it is glitched, getting hit by that axe sounds like a trip to terror town.

So, instead, she draws out her bow, grabbing an arrow and nocking it into place. "Let's hope that this thing isn't immune to attacks like the Ezzo monsters." Glowing white energy begins to focus at the end of her arrow as she draws it back, lightly touching fingertips along her cheek as she takes aim. The arrow rushes forward, sweeping the air behind it, thankfully sinking in to the enemy with a resounding thud.

Goldenblade settles herself down after the fight, looking around the strange forest for danger, glancing questioningly at Gwen in her tanking bikini, giving a start at each little noise in the ambiance, though those noises fade. But, before long, there is an impromptu arena, which seems quite odd given the woods. The quiet of the other gnolls seems strange, and then a roar, and a crash as Hagger, who she vaguely recalls, seems to have returned. Although not, it seeems, fully programmed. Or something strange, anyhow.

"Well," she says. "Lets see how the new move works..." And with that said, she raises both swords over her head, blades crossed, and brings them down on Hagger with a shout of challenge. "This is going to leave a mark," she quips as the massive, fiery assault erupts, both swords blazing like the sun as she hacks into the glitched gnoll with everything she has. It's effective, but the gnoll is deadly and tough. But the team is there, and she's a part of it, striking the glitched boss like a wrecking ball with each blazing sword.

The Skeletons are wiped out in short order by the party, she looking a bit haughty right now. Maybe this job was just under her level at this point? She does not think too much on that as they push on. They can't hang around forever and they have other things to worry about.

Wait they are running from wait is that Haggar? Wait what's happened to him.

"Oh so not good I didn't intent to use this yet but time foir a show..."

Gwen woill dart in as wind fdorms about her sword and she lets lose a punnishing combo of attacks with it, four in number she's also pushing her foe back enough it might mess up any plans he has for fighting.

"DIVINE WIND!"

The kitsune is honestly surprised that it worked, as she carves the runes off of the gnoll's body with her brush. Once the last one is gone and the gnoll stops dead, she puts the brush away. Just in time, it seems, for the big boss to show up, "He's quite a bit bigger than the last one." She muses, before she draws her blade again. This time she's going to go to work the old fashioned way, as it's unlikely this one will respond negatively to paint.

She rushes in, keeping low to the ground in order to avoid that massive axe, and then goes in full beast mode, lashing out with her blade repeatedly as she dances around the creature, evading strikes and making sure she doesn't draw his ire too much, leave that to folks like Gwen.

She's moving faster and striking harder, using her rage to focus her attacks. Being a were fang still leaves you with a lot of pent up instincts, but being able to focus those instincts into attacks will allow her to rend the beast apart with her blade, along with the help of the others.

Haggar was a pain in the ass the last time Prophylaxis ran into the boss gnoll, but this... This is something else entirely. The way its body seems to twitch and flicker like it was being rendered by an overheating and underspecc graphics card does little to make it any less intimidating. The gnoll is... huge. And strong. Strong and huge. But more importantly...

"The way it's acting... The massively inflated stats and the glitchy VFX-- they remind me of the White Whale on the Fourth Floor...!" Ezzo, too. Does that mean that the chaotic code is spreading? Or is this the result of some other factor? Ezzo had to have been corrupted by /something/ after all, so... Maybe that something is responsible for Haggar as well...?

Flame crackles again from atop the magus' staff. "If it is... Don't let it touch you! If it kills you-- the last time we ran into anything like this, people started /forgetting/ the ones it killed. Like it was making it so they had never even existed!"

Fortunately, Prophylaxis is able to play keepaway relatively well. He /is/ a wizard of sorts, after all. The fire gathering around his staff fuses together into a singular sphere of prodigious power. With a grunt of exertion, he hurls the fireball at the mutant gnoll. The projectile bursts a moment later, erupting in a catastrophic unfolding of heat and flame and light.

But it's still standing in the aftermath.

"...Immune, no," he says, carefully watching the creature's healthbar. "But definitely resistant. Keep up the pressure- we can burn it down if we don't let up!"

"This just hit the top of the weird-shit-o-meter even by -my- standards." Very astute, Kauchemar, very astute.

Haggar does the thing his underlings did not, clear his vicinity with a massive swing of his axe in a wide and threatening arc. He, or whatever is glitching him, seem to know letting too many adventurers close to him at once is a bad situation.

However it's only a brief repose, as both Gwen and Goldenblade are quick to get back in his face. Gwen's fury of blows force even the huge fluke of a gnoll back, followed by a single massive blow from Goldenblade's blazing sword. Hey now she can really live up to her name in that regard! You go girl.

Kauchemar takes the moment to recompose herself, and unleashs one of her hellish screams to disrupt Haggar's attack patterns. He turns to cleave his axe at her, but that exposes his back to the blistering blaze that is Prophylaxis' now well-known Fireball spell and the beast-fueled flurry of blows from Tenko's blade. His howl of rage is only worsened by Mikage taking that axe as a reason to blast him from afar with an enchanted arrow instead.

Haggar continues to unleash a few frenzied attacks, but the group can afford it, they've already wore him down considerably, and a few more well placed attacks bring the creature to his knees. He snarls something that is between a gnoll's laughter, elderich babble, and the atrocious screech some older players might find similar to the original dial-up modem due to the glitches before he finally dies.

Though does Haggar ever truely die? Especially now that he is hopped up on some manner of corrupt code.

"So.. that happened..." The sheer strange circumstances of the encounter has even the normally chatty Nightmare at a lack of more witty remarks. "... Though I guess now he really is one mean son of a glitch." Okay that's passable.

Gwen is now finishes with the fight over she'll boot up her menu and swap back to her armour with a bit of a grin on her face. "So how about we go get something to ear and hopefully we won't have to worry about Haggar again..."

"You don't need to be a Summoner to tell that was not a typical Boss Monster," Kauchemar snorts softly. "Something is very wrong with the gnolls, and it's probably going to take more attempts to get to the bottom of it..."

Goldenblade nods slowly to Kauchemar, though she says, "I guess we already knew the game was kinda broken. That glitched out whale on the one bossfight, and now this. And who knows what else we'll find. I don't know what to make of it, though," she admits. "But it can't be good."

"It almost looked like someone was tampering with the creature's data," Prophylaxis says as he collects his share of the loot. "...I don't know if there's anything we can do to something like that other than finding one of those weird monster relics. Might give us the power we need to put Hogger down for good."

"I'm just glad we made it." Tenko says, sheathing her blade and then looking back towards the rest of the group, "Well done." She says, even to Kauchemar. The Nightmare has really shown that she cares about the Adventurers. Plus as far as Tenko knows she hasn't eaten any Landers.