Duty Session 188: For Whom the Bell Gnolls

The presence of gnolls in the newbie areas of Elder Tale Online is common enough. However, since the Apocalypse, they are no longer just low level mobs with the occassional boss-spawn to make it more challenging. Even worse, they no longer simply spawn during the evening hours. The monsters seem to almost have started reacting to the presence of Adventurers, changing their tactics and their ways of hunting.

As of late, reports that new, more difficult shades of gnoll have appeared are circulating through the Isle of Beginnings. Since this is largely Kita's own home territory, the young woman has decided to gather up a party to try to deal with the menace. The witch leans against a tree, her witch's hat lightly tipped forward to block the daylight from her eyes.

"We'll wait a little bit longer and see who else shows up before jumping in." She comments, lightly paging through her sketchbook in a hot-librarian sort of way, pushing her glasses up along her nose.

    Merek wants to assist in making things safer for folk, which means taking the time to adjust his longcoat about him while he draws the twin blades, beginning to check the weapons. There's a nod while he follows along to Kita, "Alright, I am willing to assist, we need to keep working to make things safer."

That Gnolls are a hassle to the lower levels and Landers is usually enough to get some of the New World members involved. When the Gnolls start acting outside their usual parameters, that's definitely going to spur some interest to investigate. Even if it means venturing into the Tower to do so, because that's an odd place for Gnolls to be wandering into. Then again, with there now being a town here, full of Landers and Refugess, maybe they're looking for potential easy raiding grounds? Whatever the reason, it's enough of a problem, and a dangerous enough location, for Shiruba to come out herself as a Guild Leader to help investigate the matter. "Out during the day -and- up the Tower. These Gnolls are getting bolder than ever."

The first floor of the Tower. The youth had once made a promise not to return to his old stomping grounds. Even now, it felt weird, almost alien to be this close to the old town of Tolbana. He's managed to go all the way up to Floor 4 to get the things done he needed to get done. But the youth has been a bit of a nervous wreck ever since entering the tower.

Yet, when the opportunity came up to join a party to hunt a monster, he couldn't miss the opportunity. "I remember some of the old Gnolls in this area." Cyrus remarks as he joins the rest of the party, gripping his cane rather hard, while pulling along cart with the other. It looks a bit different than before.

"Support is here to make sure none of you die." He declares. "Oh hey, it's you. The girl from the ship." He remembers Kita. She has a very specific style to her. "Are you feeling a bit better?" He remembers her being rather out of sorts at the time.

He also spots Merek. "Hey you. I heard you finally got rid of the sword. Congratulations." Before noting Shiruba is here as well. "Captain." He notes, standing up straight a bit better, regarding the woman.

    Setsuna comes up the now beaten path to the gathering point, he had been near by gathering some supplies from Tolbana when he had spotted one of those hunter guild notices about the gnolls. It is rather odd considering this is the first duty done on one of the tower floors. The doc would get mad if something happened and Tolbana got caught in some monster raid, and so here he was. Looking from one to another he spots a couple of familliar faces and then some that he would have to strain to remember if he met or not, " So Gnolls are up here huh?"

Schneider scrambles in as he, as usual, shows up late. A more elderly and composed wizard might say that a wizard is never early or late, but arrives when he means to arrive. A more conceited wizard would say, I am here, you may begin. Schneider's player is neither of these things, and says, "Sorry I'm late!" as he pants to catch his breath.

There were Gnolls again also the monsters seem to be adapting? That's worrying Miho, it wasn't to hard to get her out of the forge today. So this is her first time in the tower as well and she would be looking about.

"Welcome to it not being a game Shiruba."

Is what Miho has to say and then she wonders.

"We to find a way to solve the monster issue long term. If we can get the ones that tan think to stand down that's great for the rest...."

She shakes her head and her tail droops.

"I don't like thinking like this..."

Merek would alkso be spoted by Muho who attempt to sneak up and ... hug him.

Kita's stormy blue eyes look over to Shiruba as the woman comments about the boldness of the monsters, "A little too close to Tolbana for comfort. I'd rather make sure they are well cleared out of this area, since we have a lot of refugees that live and work near here." The witch folds her arms across her chest, then blows a few strands of white hair out of her face.

Merek is given his usual wary look, though when Cyrus says he got rid of the sword, her eyebrow quirks. Then, she looks over to the cat, giving a slight nod. "A little. Fighting isn't my strong point, but I've got a protective streak when it comes to this part of the tower."

For the others, she gives a nod to each of them, "Seems like we've got a decent group gathered, lets get going." The Imp's tail flicks once as she motions the into the forest.

It is a forest that has very  much changed in recent days. The gnolls have left their mark. There is none of the usual ambient animal noises, and many of the trees show signs of clawmarks. Everything in the area seems to have taken a dark, ominious feel to it, and within it all is the ever-present sensation of being watched.

"We should try to be quiet through this part, if we can. Not draw as much attention." Kita whispers.

    "Thank you," Merek offers then to Cyrus, while he nods a bit. The man nods to Kita while he takes a moment to think about it, "I will keep that in mind," he notes, while he begins to shift the darkness about him, to assist the man in sneaking. When Miho hugs the man, he seems a bit perplexed while he nods, permitting that of the woman. "Thank you, I imagine that is for the coffea. You're welcome. I need to pick up farming."

"I'll try to make sure your protective streak is assisted upon." Cyrus offers Kita as he moves with the crew to the edge of the forest, chains it up on a tree, and grabs a series of bottles for it. He takes some time putting them into his leather pouches, and then catches up to the rest of the team.

Sneaking is surprisingly not the easiest thing for the cat. He does manage some magic however, to hide his present. Opening the cork on one of this potions and wreathing himself in an arcane shimmer that makes him harder to spot, and proceeds in forward slowly. Keeping his eye out on his team who...

Well, he's managing to spot them. At least this means he won't lose them on their entry inwards. "It's quiet." He mutters to himself.

Schneider peers at Kita, and nods about being quiet, but though he wraps a cloak around him, he stands out far too much to be truly quiet. The Dark he wraps around him is stylish and elegant rather than being concealing, and while it highlights what he feels to be his defining features and notable characteristics, it does not, in fact, conceal him.

He nevertheless proceeds through the forest, confident that no gnoll will accost him, based on absolutely nothing. Well, at least he's got confidence. Now if he only had something to be confident about.

Shiruba lets out a soft huff of annoyance. She is not the sneaking sort of hunter. The lupin cait sith tries, but the unnatural state the woods are in are throwing off her efforts. She does her best to creep along, but the lack of any other ambient noise gives her nothing to hide her steps behind and just leaning behind a tree to hide briefly causes it to creak ominously.

Something is definitely up with this place, and it's making her hackles raise.

    With te suggestion given Setsuna locks his lips from flappin and all. He even gets this wonderful idea as he tries to craft a quick spell of darkness on the fly, not his usual expertise but the shadows have been willing before. As he lets the spell start to take a life of his own, any magical person could tell Setsuna doesn't have a full grasp on the spell. The spell fizzles in the most magnificent ways, not by going silently in the good night, but rather with a rather audible *POP* as if someone blew up a balloon till it did the same. Setsuna really wishes he was half way decent at hiding right now, and wonders if the party would believe him if he said Shiruba did it.

Miho lets go after a moment.

"Gods yes it is!"

The tiny Slamander lets go after this and grins again her tail siwhsin h owever it's time to try to sneak. Miho isn't so good at this she tries but she just ends up tripping. Not over her tail but on something on the ground and is forced to peel herself off the ground. As she attempts to go after the party before something else goes wrong.

There are certain groups of adventurers who excel in matters of stealth. Then there are others who simply can't quite grasp exactly how to stay unseen and unheard. In this case, it's hard to point at any one person a being the source of the sound. It's simply a matter of there being too much underbrush of fallen leaves, despite the early season, along with the backdrop being just too quiet to make for proper stealth.

Even so, Kita winces at the subtle noises, knowing that if she can hear them, so can the gnolls. The tension in the air grows that much more thick as they pass deeper into the forest. Enough so that it may very well start feeling like they are walking into a trap.

A feeling that only seems to grow that much more ominous as laughter begins to sound around them. It almost seems as if it is coming from all directions. It would be easy to make the mistake and assume that the group is surrounded. However, there are subtle signs that suggest this is just some kind of tactic of the gnolls. Now if only they could find out where the maniacal laughter is coming from...

Schneider looks puzzled at the laughter he hears, and eyes the spiked defenses warily. Trying to work out the direction it's coming from is not as easy, however, and after a few confused moments, he elects to follow the party and let the figure it out. The trick, it seems, will be to figure out which party member is best to follow.

Cyrus isn't that on the ball to realize that they aren't surrounded. He grabs a series of bottles, ready for battle, and keeps looking all around himself, trying to find the Gnolls. But because of the way those laughs echo, he just can't seem to pick up on their position. Constantly turning, moving in towards the rest of the party so that he can help protect them when they do come. "I can't see them. Are you guys seeing them?"

    Merek looks about the place, and nods along to the party. "I don't think that I am seeing anything that's of note," he mentions, while he takes a moment to adjust that scarf which he wears.

Somehow the group manages to work farther into the woods. But Shiruba's ears prick up at the sound of gnoll... sounds reach them. It's cackling and howling like usual, but there's something... off about it. Just like the rest of this goddesses forsaken forest. She shakes her head. "I don't like this, but..."

She starts following that sound. If it is a trap, well, sometimes the only way to deal with a trap is to find it yourself. Though as they more different in the woods the different gnoll cries start to stand out, giving her something more substantial to try and focus on. It's not making her nerves any less anxious though, the way her tail is all frizzled up like a nervous animal's is a dead giveaway to how she really feels.

    Setsuna could at least recover from his guffaw with some dignity and as the laughter comes well he has to remind himself that they are laughing with him, not at him. Following behind the ranger his hand goes to a small flint sharpened knife shape rock as he seems to at least be able to mimic the rangers movements as they hunt down the source of the laughter. Its not every day that an entire forest laughs at him so this is a new experience.

Miho is not stealthy for as small as Miho is? She's got quite the presence in the end, but the party moves on. Miho knows a few thing and something isn't right about how this laughing is gone. She looks around also tracking sounds and has an idea of what's going on she starts to suspect it's a trick of hearing and they are not actually surrrounded however she can't quite pin point where they are.

Despite the open area, it almost sounds as if the laughter is echoing somehow, making it more difficult to discern the direction that it might be coming from. Enough so that even Kita starts too turn in place, obviously trying to hone in on just where the sound might be coming from. "I... don't see them either." She admits, a hitch of fear in her voice. Unseen enemies are enough to raise her anxiety levels.

It seems as if this was very well an intimidation tactic. Even as some members of the group are able to lead the way, that laughter just continues to sound, louder than ever. It is joined scratching sounds, shifting movement, and many more subtle signs that they are no longer alone in the forest. Something is lurking in the shadows where the daylight doesn't reach.

That is when the sound begins to shift. It becomes more rhythmic, with a 'hoo-hoo-ha' and stomping of feet. With a crash of branches, a large gnoll wearing armor made from metal, bone, and animal parts comes stomping in his direction. There is almost a feeling as if he had been chosen as a champion, sent to face the Adventurers and supported by the chanting gnolls still hiding in the trees.

The noises are still continueing from all sides. So when the massive Gnoll champion that had been chosen starts coming forward, Cyrus' nerves are still on edge. "I've got you covered with my healing." Though his emotional state is fraying a bit. "I hate the tower." He grunts under his own breath. "I hate the tower... hate it... hate it." He repeats, barely audible.

He then grabs four potions and throws them wide in a fan towards the back of their lines, creating a massive firewall that surrounds them, and the Champion that enters! Creating a fiery ring around them.

"This way they can't rush us from all sides easily." Cyrus remarks to the others. "Focus on the champion. I will keep any adds off of us!"

Schneider is unable to figure out the best path through the dark and foreboding woods, but some of the others do, and he winds up following the ones who do seem to have figured this out. The mystery doesn't remain mysterious for too long, luckily, though the scratching sounds add to the weird. Then, as we get closer it ... doesn't resolve into We Will Rock You. He was beginning to think it might, though that's the sort of thing his dad listened to in any event. And he guesses it'd be out of theme. Still, he quietly whispers 'We, will, we will, rock you...' to the Hoo-hoo-ha chanting.

Then the large gnoll appears, and -then- there's an obvious solution. "GUNZENRO!" he shouts, a quick, but intense, burst of magical FIRE from his hands, and the gnoll fighter finds himself with fewer hit points than he had before.

    "Oh thank the deities , something to kill." Setsuna says upon seeing the champion gnoll, and yet almost pitied it. He could already for see what would happen as if he had used an oracle item. The forest turned to cinder, the gnoll champion being nothing but ash, and the adventurers walking out in one piece.
     As if a prophecy comes to pass flames begin to launch toward the Gnoll, and Setsuna can only join in launching magical javelins made of fire at the creature. All this realization has led him to one thought that he vocalizes, " One day we should really learn to handle such problems without fire."

    Merek looks to the gnoll while he nods a bit, "Alright," the man notes, then he begins to swing into the creature, "Ragnarok's Wisdom!" The man punches along into the creature then follows that up.

Shiruba lets out a curse under her breath as the huge armored gnoll comes storming through the branches and brush towards them. "The chanting was a diversion!" Not quite accurate, but it is effectively what it had done.

She barely has time to leap out of the way of the rampage, rolling on the ground a few more times than intended as she didn't have long enough to be graceful about it. After the tumble she comes up onto one knee, quickly drawing an arrow and nocking it in her bow. "At least it's not that freaky undead one..." And fires. The arrow sparks a few embers in the air... and then plinks harmlessly off one of the metal panels slapdashed between the bone and hides, failing to ignite anything.

Miho does not see them but she can hear them and miho agets an idea as she looks over to Kita for a moment. As takes a moment as she looks at the newly arrived Gnoll she look them over for a moment there's a faint glow from the liminal rings about her eyes and then she gts a very mean grin on her face. She steps forwards takes a deep breah and then breath a massive gout of fire at the Gnoll Champion.

The champion seems to have the support of the surrounding gnolls, but where the party might lack much in the way of stealth and investigation abilities, they make up for it in spades when it comes to the ability to deal with enemies head-on.

The entire group seems to hone in on the one weakness that the gnoll has, which is his armor. Soon enough, the snarling gnoll is surrounded by fire on all sides. At first, he simply roars a challenge against the flames, but then the metal of his armor begins to heat and that sound turns into a yelp.

In quick order, the gnoll starts to toss off piece sof metal armor, throwing them into the bushes, leaving behind huge patches of burned flesh that glow red from the damage indication. Without his armor, he looks distinctly more scrawny. Some of the chanting dies away as the final blasts of fire magic launch him back against a tree, where he just about explodes into light.

That is when the sounds of the surrounding gnolls shift into yipes, making them easier to pick out. These all seem to be lower level enemies, just the sort you'd usually expect here, but they are smart enough not to face the Adventurers directly. Instead, it is another larger gnoll who steps forth, flanked by two others. They both appear to be dressed in robes, making them look as if they were priests of some sort of strange, gnollish religion.

Then, with a cry from the larger of the gnolls, the trio begin to pluck potions out, throwing them towards the Adventurers. The green, glowing nature of them is probably familiar to the likes of the alchemists of the group... Acid! Noxious smoke hangs in the air, the ground sizzles, and green flames seem to linger up onto nearby branches.

    Setsuna did not stand in the fire, he was just distracted by it. Truthfully he had never seen alchemic attacks before, he knew they were a thing but it was well 'shiny' to him. So while everything else was doing what they do best and going to war with the gnolls, he was examining the acid on the ground and maybe channeling Uta and poking it some. The ideas were percolating , even ones on what he could of done before to get around this problem, however he was completely lost in the moment and was unhelpful to the group.

Schneider had meant to be an exploder wizard, but the chargen here gave him a bunch of other capabilities, too, and the emergency procedures in science class were not that long ago, for him. With the noxious clouds rising due to the causting potions thrown at them, Schneider quickly counters with an improvised, "Chemical Washdown!" spell, which is just a heavy spray of water designed to wash the chemicals away from the party, the force of the water physically shoving the goop back and away. Let the fumes be generated someplace else.

    Merek looks to the green flame with that smoke, then he takes a moment to check his potion belt. He picks up one while he nods, "This will neutralize the poison," he notes, then he throws that potion while it begins to shimmer. The man then will begin to swing along into that gnoll.

"Nice! You got him!" Cyrus calls out when the final strike reaches the champion, and it bursts agaisnt the tree. "Okay. This is going better now. I bet that was their only champ..." Nope, he's wrong.

The trio steps into the flaming ring, and the youth is about to do something about that when he spots the acid coming down from the sides.

"I'll take care of the Crowd Control!" He declares, grabbing another series of potions. "I will not be beat in a battle of Alchemy!" And he quickly begins throwing potions at the incoming bottles - shattering them in mid-air with small ice-clouds being left in their wake.

The bottles that do hit the ground, Cyrus throws heavy 'base' potions at, cancelling out the acid to make sure they don't end up becoming dangerous for the team.

That.. could of gone better. It could of gone worse too, but it didn't, and the party manages to put the guy down.

Only for another even weirder and creepier gnoll to shadow stride into the clearing. "Heads up!" Gnolly Robepants starts chucking potions, but the party happens to be full of Alchemists to deal with that! So Shiruba will focus on the source of the contaminated conflagerations of chemical chaos. She draws one of her special arrows, loads it in her bow, and takes aim. As she pulls back sparks crackling along the strings, the entire arrow starting to glow. "LORD OF VERMILLION!" And fires.

There's a thunderous boom as the arrow shoots from the bow and turns into a large bolt of lightning itself, hurtling towards the robed gnoll in a strike that will electrocute him several times over.

So the Champion was dangerous but well the pary had a lot of fire and it is forced to rapidly ditch it's armour. good and soon the Gnolls seem to be not be so bold now. It doesn't take long for the rest of the assault to cut down the champion and that is that. However some Gnolls seem to be ready to figh and Miho just looks at them she tries to channel a new attack, it doesn't go so well. She's just too slow and the Salamander gets smashed pretty hard....

It is an alchemist vs alchemist fight, and it quickly becomes clear that the Adventurers have the upper hand when it comes to skill in that regard. Some of the flames and acid are neutralized, others washed away with the influx of water magic. Soon enough, more magical potions are thrown into the mix, driving the gnolls back.

First one poofs from the damage, then the second, leaving only the larger, hooded figure remaining as he growls his frustration towards them. Turning, the creature seems to attempt to flee, but it isn't long before the damage over time catches up to him, causing him to shatter mid-step.

However, his path does lead the party further into the depths of the forest, where a summoning circle seems to have been burned into the ground. The symbol, itself, seems to give off heat, as if it had some connection to a hellscape of some sort. As they draw closer, that is when a truly demonic looking creature seems to almost materialize out of thin air.

It is a gnoll, but with huge, curling demon horns and an aura of fire that lingers around him. The eyes of the beast glow red, huge claws swept forward, nearly touching the ground. Along the creature's arms are strange symbols. These, along with the markings on the ground, might be recognizable, but only to someone who is deeply connected to the lore of the land.

    Merek looks to the demon and nods a bit, while he begins to swing magic into the gnoll. The Frost Shock does not do what it should be doing, that's probably because it begins to take from that mana. The man takes a moment to defend.

Schneider blinks as we face the demon gnoll, which is not something he was expecting. "Did they get a powerup somehow?" he wonders. But there's not much time to worry as the fight is joined, and Schneider finds himself doing the melee wizard thing, due to some sort of poor planning on his part. Apparently all he's got off cooldown are melee attacks. Interestingly, or of possible interest, is that his healing factor is entirely online, and he heals as fast as the gnoll can damage him (luckily, he's not tanking, so he's not taking the worst of the damage) while he fights on with almost no attempt at actual defense beyond the basic shield spell, when he can remember to refresh it.

"Wait what, Lord of Vermillion at this level?!" Cyrus exclaims as Shiruba fires that arrow and chain-electrifies the enemy. He whistles, impressed. "That's a guild leader for you." He declares, looking fine for the most part as all of this happens...

Only for him to spot the demonic gnoll to approach. Aura of fire, no problem. Evil red eyes, no problem. But it's those strange symbols that suddenly make Cyrus' blood run cold. Where once was a Cyrus, people will notice that the normally steadfast supporter has ducked away.

The youth is standing behind one of the trees, practically having a heartattack. Hyperventilating well out of sight of others, holding his chest. <Run>, he wants to shout out at the others, but all that comes out his a dry heave amidst his attempts to get another breath. His entire body running cold, he can feel the sweat coming down his back, his legs won't carry him further than hiding behind that tree.

Shiruba manages a small chuckle at Cryus' praise. "I have a strong affinity for Air and Storm magic." But the moment of amusement is short-lived amongst the dire stait of the venture. Shiruba's usually cheerful expression has turned into a scrutinizing grimace, because this woods and the gnolls inhabinating it are ever less like the normal variety than expected. "Whatever made a Gnoll like that, it needs to be dealt with." It's weird, it's creepy, and it's...

A demonic gnoll. They find their way to the center of this mess, only to find a demonically empowered monster of monsterous gnoll-men. "This is getting obsurd, even for the Tower!" She fires a few quick shots to try and hold the fiend back, but he just swats the arrows aside with his claws, grabs the Hunter and flings her across the clearing, knocking over a couple of the lights when she crashes into them. "Yow!"

There's no more attacks at the moment as Shiruba scrambles to snuff out the lamps before they set her on fire.

    So last fight it was an alchemist battle, this time it would be a summoner battle. " You're big." It is the one comment the necromancer makes on the demon gnoll while holding his ground. The magic circle appears under him as he begins to call the no longer living. Two smaller summoning circles pixilate in front of him as skeleton warriors rise up from the ground. " Ok you two, don't let me down on this one." He sends his skeleton warriors forward to take on the demon gnoll.

So it's an alchemist showdown and it's going to be pretty interesing thankfully Cyrus is the better one os so she thinks. It's over fairly quickly and now as she's moing on a new foe appears a big Gnoll with horns? Ths isn't good. She doesn't think using fire would be a good idea, so she draws her bow lines up a shot and waits for a moment before she lets her arrow fly.

"BURST SHOT!"

The one saving grace for Kita, is that she isn't up close and personal with the demonic gnoll that seems to show itself. Having that distance is enough of a comfort that it keeps her anxiety from rearing up and forcing her into fleeing outright.

Instead, she turns in her spellbook, looking for some equally dark magic which has only unlocked with her recent level-ups. "Powers of darkness, heed my call. Show this demon the true power of nightmares." A strange sphere of darkness forms in the air around the monster, obviously causing him to see and hear things as his head tosses and turns, leaving him open for the others to attack.

In the end, multiple attacks whitle down the enemy's health, though slowly. In the end, the monter rears back, hands clenched, roaring to the sky before it explodes into pinpoints of light. The strange summoning circle still remains, seeming to flicker with light, however.

An ominous sign for things to come.

But... at least they have treasure, right?

Shiruba watchs the demonic gnoll explode. "Well -that- was a horrible expreience." She pinches the tip of her tail between two licked fingers to smother a final ember, then looks to the party. "... Honestly, now I kinda miss just boring angry Haggar." At least destroying the leader seems to get the other Gnolls to scatter for the time being. Hopefully. "Let's get our prize and scram before anything -worse- shows up."

She doesn't trust that circle still flickering in the corner.