Quest failed, that's what that notification said. WHAT DO YOU MEAN QUEST FAILED? Sure, we haven't killed all the gnolls yet, and we haven't saved all those captured, but why did it fail? Looking around in frustration while grabbing my hair, I don't notice anything else happening around me. Xelyphe is standing, ready to battle the rest of the gnolls, and my mother is being... well, scary from what I can tell right now. But what could have possibly happened that caused us to fail the quest?

My frantic searching leads me back to what I noticed right before the quest failed—the blood. Carefully looking at where the blood is now, I can see it slowly drying in the summoning pattern. As it gets closer to the altar, the blood is still wet and, from what I can tell, flowing into it. On the altar is one body of the only captive we were unable to save; the remaining are behind us, either chained up still or running as the only other captive is doing currently.

But how could the quest have failed still? Only one of the captives was killed; the only other thing that died...

At that moment, I tried to remember how many gnolls we had killed during the summoning. There were the 12 normal gnolls and then one of the two warriors. So, there were only 13, but adding the sacrificed captive would have put the number up to 14. And how many captives did we need to save? 14...

The mana around us swirls, and a blood-red vortex appears. It starts small but then snowballs as it absorbs more and more blood into it.

"We need to stop this ritual," Xelyphe shouts over the increasing wind.

"How?" I call back.

"I don't know that is supposed to be your thing. You do all of the magic and stuff!" Is the response.

Thinking on my feet, I can only think of one thing currently. "We need to free the captives; they won't help us right now and only become a hindrance. You do that while I work on figuring out this ritual."

Sprinting off, Xelyphe starts to free the captives.

"What would you like me to do, son?" That same whisper I heard as my mother grabbed the warrior before she slew him.

"I... I don't know. Find dad?" I ask almost pleadingly.

"Oh, I know where he is. That dragon can't escape from me." And off she sprints into the forest.

"Damn," Looking over, I can see the warrior and shaman are still staying in their positions, waiting for whatever the result of this ritual is. That is when I see it: the chieftain is slowly growing. And as he grows, he starts shunting off mana. Feeling a similarity to one of my mana affinities, I try to feel it out more. Slowly, I can tell it is growing closer to one of them, and it couldn't be any worse...

Corruption. This summoning ritual feeds blood energy into the chieftain and converts it into corruption mana. I inspected the other two gnolls and noticed they were also slowly corrupted by the mana shunted off the chieftain.

The shaman grows bark-like skin all over its body, replacing its fur. Meanwhile, the other has all of its fur fall off, and its appendages start to form blisters that pop and ooze down its arms and legs.\

I try casting a spell at one of the gnolls, only for a barrier to block my spell. I try one of each type, from neutral mana to life to death. The only man with any difference was the corrupting bolt that merged with the barrier, and nothing else happened.

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Trying to think while all of this is happening, I can only think of one other option that might be able to help the situation, so I quickly fall to my knees inside the ritual circle and, without thinking, start to destroy parts of the circle that still have wet blood in them as best I can.

The first thirty seconds go by with nothing happening, and the process all three of the gnolls go through continues to progress more and more. Now, howling comes from the warrior as its hands split open and turn into eyes. It isn't until a minute passes that I finally hit a spot on the circle that something different happens.

When I destroy a specific sigil, a more permanent barrier forms around them, swearing under my breath and breathing fast. I continue with my endeavor, and as time passes, I have to slowly get closer and closer to the altar because the blood is drying up. The next minute, I found another two sigils that caused different things to happen. One of the sigils starts to create a suction that slowly pulls the different gnolls inside it.

While this isn't a bad thing per se, the second sigil that is destroyed by the suction becomes more hazardous for the three gnolls inside. The warrior, unable to grasp anything in time, was slowly brought into the vortex and shredded by the powerful magics. Not long after, the shaman suffers the same fate. The only one left is the chieftain, who could grab hold of the altar and use its weight to prevent himself from being brought into the vortex.

I continue to destroy sigil after sigil, and it isn't until the third minute that I have managed to destroy enough sigils for the chieftain to be absorbed into the expanding vortex of blood and mana. Not even 10 seconds after I have finished with that task, Xelyphe walks up behind me, looking at my dirt and blood-covered hands; they ask, "Is that safe?" Pointing to the increasing blood vortex.

"Probably?" I shrugged and looked for other things that might help us in this situation. And what I think is my imagination, a subtle thumping sound starts to come from the barrier. Returning my gaze to the barrier, my mood plummets even further. An abomination has begun to take form and is slowly pounding on the barrier. The entire vortex of blood and mana flows into the being, and this time, it isn't shunting any of the mana off; it is collecting inside its body.

"What is that thing?" Xelyphe cries out.

When I try to analyze it, the description changes every couple of seconds; at first, it is a gnoll, then an abyssal creature, and then a tree of some kind; this change keeps happening repeatedly.

"What did we miss?" I hear from behind us, and I am glad to see both of our parents standing there, though it looks like my father is being dragged by his horn and not gently.

"Ummm," Unable to answer the question, we both point at the abomination inside the barrier.

"Is it trapped in there?"

"For now? I don't know how long the barrier will last, considering that I have been destroying parts of the ritual to prevent something from happening, but it appears that my efforts were in vain, and I managed to make a more fearsome creature."

After pulling our father in front of us, she lets go and then puts her claws on her hips, "Maybe this is exactly what we need, honey," she says while licking her lips, her abyssal eyes never leaving the abomination.

A guttural, growling voice enters our ears, "I think you are right, darling. When he comes out, why don't you take the first punch? You know what they say. Ladies first."

While discussing who will do what, a new notification appears before all of us.

- Party Quest: Black Thumb

Your party has failed to stop the summoning ritual from starting. While you managed to prevent any more captives from being sacrificed, the death of the gnolls inside of the circle was just the ritual to start. With the final sacrifices completed, the ritual began to empower those who remained inside the fort and were part of the gnolls faction.

Due to some tampering with the ritual, the three remaining members of the gnolls faction were sucked inside the vortex causing the three of them to fuse into a brand new monster! Congratulations, you have created something that should never exist on this plane of existence. It is up to you to destroy this abomination.

Tasks:

Slay the abomination: 0/1

Rewards: ???

Failure: The abomination will run rampant in the settlement until it has been slain. -