The first gnoll falls forward with a cry of pain as Sheer darts away from its legs, blood trailing off her dagger as the tendons on the gnolls legs bleed profusely. Mog rushes forward and jabs his spear staff repeatedly into the gnolls body as it begins gurgling and whimpering in pain while a large pool of blood begins spreading from beneath it. The other two gnolls flounder to get their weapons up before the second gnoll goes flying forward and smacks into a tree, a large crack resounding through the nearby area as a large dent appears on its head as it slides to the ground. Wug turns toward the last gnoll as it lunges toward him with a rusted cutlass, the weapon missing by inches as my cane comes into contact with the gnolls lower back pushing him forward several inches. I motion for everyone to let me take of this one as Pearl leaps onto the gnolls back and grips the back of its neck with her jaws exerting pressure. Before she can finish the job the gnoll releases its weapon and begins whimpering, the smell of urine and fear floating around the area as I dismount and crouch down to eye level with the gnoll.
"Can you understand me asshole?" I ask grimly as the gnoll nods its head slowly before I continue.
"You have two choices as I see it, First choice is we have a nice peaceful talk and then you get tied up and left here until we come back. Second is we kill your flea ridden ass right here and move forward. You get to choose which one to take big guy but just for a perspective check you have a beast at your back and an ogre in front of you. I recommend door number one." I say in my most menacing voice trying to convince this creature to surrender. Getting intel that's fresh would be fantastic in my mind and honestly we didn't come here to kill these creatures but to rob them and maybe liberate their captives.
"Swear...to...let...me...live...." the gnoll struggles to get out as Pearl pushes his face into the dirt roughly, her eyes showing deadly concentration as she keeps constant pressure on her jaws. I nod once before swearing in the name of Toma to allow the gnoll to live as long as it stays here and doesn't interfere with our operations. As the gnoll accepts with a grunt we're both illuminated briefly with a white light before a message appears before both our eyes.
{You have sworn an oath in the name of Toma, God of Inventiveness and Creativity, that has been witnessed by others. If either of you break your vow the god Toma has the right to enact divine retribution on both parties. You have been warned.}
As i finish reading the prompt a cold chill runs down my back as I realize using the gods names will have to be used in only the worst positions if it turns into a threat. I motion for Pearl to release the gnoll and as she climbs off its back the gnoll quickly shuffles backwards in fear as its fur turns a pale shade of white. It finally hits a tree before realizing it has nowhere left to run and begins shaking in fear as it pleads for its life while tears flow from its widened eyes.
"Please let me live I swear I didn't know one of the Old Ones were angry at us. Let me leave and I'll spread your great masters name or be your servant or whatever you want just don't kill me!" the gnoll cackles out as everyone glances at the both of us in curiosity.
"What do you mean the Old Ones. Relax it obviously said that we can't hurt each other so your safe." I say as I watch the gnoll begin hyperventilating before passing out in fear. When I look up everyone is still looking at me in curiosity except for Mog who's gazing at me in worship.
"Master the Old Ones were beings so powerful that they transcend age and time. The civilized races call them gods but for our kind they were beings both sentient and beast that grew powerful enough to find divinity. But the Old Ones rarely if ever speak to our kind and its even very common for them to order their servants to kill us in droves to fulfill their goals of obtaining more power. The fact that one has decided to give you not only their name but to deign to oversee an oath using their divine power means that you are not only extremly lucky but that you've been chosen by a higher power! But who is this Toma that you swore to and how did you gain it's attention?" Mog gushes before I slowly reveal that Toma asked me to do a quest for him but that I'm not allowed to tell anything about it. After i say that Mog nods in understanding and asks a barrage of questions about Toma before finally relenting as the sounds of the gnoll waking up reaches us.
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"Welcome back to the land of the living princess! Now before you freak again remember we swore an oath so I can't hurt you so you're perfectly safe." I say as the gnoll starts to shake again before gulping on air loudly before taking deep breaths trying to calm itself down. Finally it nods before answering all of our questions. Once we're done we leave the gnoll tied up and gagged in a large bush telling it that as long as its quiet we will come back and let it go after we're done. After we distance ourselves from the gnoll we reach the perimeter of the camp and watch as several larger gnolls with much better gear pace through the camp growling at each other between cackling. A large metal building surrounded with spikes sits in the center of the camp, bleached skulls of several different beasts placed along its walls as a large picture of a key mixed with shackles pulses dimly with black light. As we all watch the door to the building opens and an extremly rotund, lanky blue creature with an oversized jaw and beady black eyes is shoved out of the door by two gnolls on either side of it. Inspecting the creature doesn't give me a lot of hope on our chances but we've come to far to give up now.
(River Troll Level 8)
Trolls are extremly powerful opponents in any circumstance but are valued as guardians. Although they seem to be dimwitted and lazy most trolls have a savage intellect allowing them to act as protectors of various important areas. Trolls possess extremly strong regenerative qualities that allow them to regrow limbs as well as organs so most who hunt them prefer to attempt a single beheading due to the fact of only usually getting one chance to do so.
As the troll is lead away I notice the same picture of the key and shackles tattooed on the trolls back shoulder, it's legs moving stiffly and its eyes showing a vacant mix of sadness and fury. I look towards Sheer and she nods to the unasked question of if this is what she meant when she explained the hobgoblins situation. We continue watching for a few more minutes as we take note of a large area of pits off to the side of the settlement that's filled with various cages that house several dozen humanoid monsters as well as a few more civilized looking creatures. Sheer starts to make her way in that direction with the directions to release any who are willing to fight if need be but to leave the hostile and the already tattooed behind. Wug swings his arms to loosen up before taking his club and swinging it with all his might, the bronzewood smashing through a large tree causing it to crash as he runs past it drawing several of the gnolls in the direction of the crash. I wince at the sound of the crash but we decided beforehand that even though Wug would be fantastic to have in the team of stealing the stone he was just to big to hide so his role would be to draw a majority of the forces into the forest and do his best to silence those that he could.
"Okay Moggy boy lets do this thing." I say gently as Mog nods nervously and the three of us do our best to sneak towards the building with the glowing picture. From what Mog explained on the way the settlement stone will always be found within the special building of the settlement and usually heavily guarded but we're hoping that Wug has lured most of the guards away making the theft a little simpler. As we reach the door to the building a loud roar is heard from a distance away followed by a chorus of cackles, dread hits my heart as a prompt appears in front of me.
{In order to claim a settlement stone it's claimant must first be defeated or made to step down. Claimant has been alerted to your challenge prepare yourself challenger!}
I tell Mog and Pearl to retreat as we move towards the tree line but before we can make it a cackle is heard behind us. As i turn and use inspect I pull out my weapons and prepare myself.
(Cackle Lord Vargo Boss Level 11)
Cackle Lords are the leading chiefs of various gnoll clans that have been subjugated by a single leader. Quick witted, viscous, and opportunistic these alpha's of the gnoll race have risen through the struggles of gnoll society and come out on top. Vargo himself is but a starting cackle lord but with his superior intellect as well as his rare grasp of shamanistic magic he has murdered his way through several clans before claiming their cackles and becoming a feared slaver. Vargo has survived this long mostly due to his supplying the adventurers with fresh creatures for arena use but his latest movements have caused his strength to become known and hated.
Behind the 10 foot tall pure white hyena there stands no less than thirty other gnolls of various levels, all of them glaring in glee at our party of three as the leader of the cackle glares in hatred before screaming a charge. As the wave of gnolls run towards us I grimace as a prompt appears before my eyes and i grimace in fear.
{New Quest received: Battle Royale-You've wandered into a hostile groups territory and have succeeded in angering them. There will be no mercy. Survive!}