The MMRPG Apocalypse

“Incoming.” Jessica warned everyone. We were so low to the ground our knowledge of what was happening was entirely dependent on Jessica. Branches cracked and bushes rustled as the gnolls moved towards us, “Eight of them are in range. Let’s go!” Jessica shouted and stood up, pulling back the cord of her bow.

I sprang to my feet and ordered my undead squad to come out of the shadows and flank the incoming gnolls from the shadows to cut off all paths of retreat. Even as I did that, Alan and Richard sprinted forward like track and field runners before plowing into the closest gnoll warrior.

Entangling Arrow, Blizzard and Wind Slash flew out in quick succession, immediately dispersing the first and closest enemy. Alan jumped over the falling body and slashed his sword against the shoulder of a mace-wielding gnoll while blocking the strike of another with his shield.

That second gnoll was immediately rammed by Richard and let out a horrible and excruciating sound as the white-hot shield singed the fur completely off its skin. “They’re non-elite!” Jessica yelled at everyone, which gave me a bit of reassurance and relief.

There were eight enemies in front of us, and after just two or three seconds, two had already been dispatched. I channeled Decay on an archer in the back and instructed my undead squad to dogpile it.

The skin of the archer gnoll’s face ‘melted’ as it aged rapidly. Its eyes turned grey and even the skin on its face pocked with wrinkles and moles reminiscent of the passing of decades. It had no chance to retaliate while fully blind, and my zweihander-wielding general lopped its body cleanly in two.

Anna swapped from casting single target abilities and instead opted for a Blizzard directly in the middle of the pack. Maria also shot out two Explosive Arrows back to back, one to herd them into the blizzard and the other directly into the clump of enemies.

It was an absolute slaughter, and merely thirty seconds passed before all eight foes were dead. I had personally dispatched two, and opted to reincarnate them as part of my undead squad. I picked the first gnoll archer and then a mace-wielding tank—unfortunately there were no gnoll shamans in the pack. For now, this was the best I could do.

We each looted a corpse and I reminded everyone to focus on the mission. Our goal was loot, but we could distribute the loot after this mission, right now we needed full attention on the camp. The loot from these would probably not be nearly as good as the loot we could purchase, not until we were fighting elite or boss-type gnolls.

The gnoll archer I had reincarnated slowly stood off the floor as its body reformed. The gash across its chest slowly vanished and even the signs of age on its face disappeared. Instead, its originally brownish body had become a dull grey. Its eyes were fully cloudy as if nothing existed behind them, but from a distance it was not easy to distinguish the undead gnoll from a living one.

“Can I try something?” I asked everyone. It was the idea I had originally—using my own reincarnated mobs to infiltrate and coax other gnolls to leave the camp.

My question got a few curious stares, which wasn’t surprising to me. There was almost no hesitation though, as a resounding ‘yes’ came from the group. I wasn’t risk averse, but I was calculated. I could feel the trust my group had in me.

I grouped the gnoll archer and mace wielder together and slowly walked them into camp. There was a special connection between us—a feeling that was there at the moment I chose to feel it. I could see through their eyes even though they were both clearly blind, this bond with my undead was something that had developed over time.

Once I attracted the attention of a few gnolls, I made a mad dash with my reincarnations to the northern edge of the camp where we were waiting patiently. I was relieved that no alarms had been sounded, but the gnolls who had seen my squad members couldn’t help but chase in expectancy and curiosity. Although intelligent, they were still dogs in the end.

Just four gnolls came chasing through the low brush and into our ambush. Still no gnoll shaman, though. We couldn’t go back empty handed, no matter what. “Is anyone low on rations?” I asked after looting a corpse. I felt it important to keep the group talking and moving.

Morale was good, but if we continued to fight without a sign of a shaman, I could tell it would decline fast. The EXP was only so-so, merely a percent per gnoll kill. While not bad, it couldn’t compare to the gains elites would give, nor the loot.

“I have only two rations left,” Glenn said. Both him and Mark had the least supplies of all of us, which made sense. Glenn still hadn’t taken a class and had no skills. He was currently satisfied stabbing a longsword into the unsuspecting gnolls while Mark wielded a spear.

There was almost no difference between the two of them currently, so no one took any issue in it. Glenn was non-combat, and all of his skills had no effect on our battle plans as of yet. They didn’t get in the way

“That seemed to work well,” Thomas said, “Let’s just do that again.” He cut off any negotiation before it could take off.

“Agreed,” Maria added. Anything to keep her from being bait was a good choice, and my expendable undead were the obvious candidates to lure more gnolls our way. No one had any qualms and we moved slightly closer to the larger clump of this gnoll village.

In between battles, I kept a close eye on our guard the entire time. His facial expression had gone from weary, to surprised, and now to a contemplative one. He hadn’t done anything to warrant my unease, but I couldn’t trust him, not fully.

“Stay close,” I told him under the guise of care. Seeing how strong we were could have easily changed Lazemus’ plan, and whatever his plan was, it was unknown to us.

“This one has an armor on it.” Alan said while looting a corpse we were about to step over.

He hadn’t had a chance to read it out before Anna was nearly on top of him, eyes sparkling gold. “Well, let’s see it then!”

Barbaric Vest: STR +5, VIT +2

A vest made of some sort of animal hide. Wearing it makes you feel more feral.

The only people really lacking in gear right now were Mark and Glenn, as everyone else was wearing somewhat decent gear in most slots, albeit some of this was jewelry. I looked towards them first, and it was Mark who spoke up. “Give it to Glenn. I may end up being a caster.”

While Glenn was non-combat, he was able to wield a weapon in melee, and, if he wanted, he could potentially learn to use a bow, but he would never be able to cast magical damaging abilities without learning a new skill for it.

Alan handed the vest over without hesitation and immediately took to the front again with Jessica right behind. Her tracking allowed us to find the best openings in the camp in which to infiltrate my undead without much suspicion.

It was a huge boon that the gnolls had some level of intelligence, but not enough to realize things were going awry. Even more so was their lack of comradery. I witnessed more than three or four nasty scuffles between them in just a short fifteen-minute window, and each drew blood.

They didn’t kill each other, but maiming wasn’t out of the question. They thought nothing of their fell gnolls disappearing, which was a boon to us. Was this a rogue tribe of gnolls completely separate from the hordes that had laid siege on the Rigar empire? I couldn’t be sure.

“There’s a shaman ahead.” Jessica told everyone.

“Is everyone clear on the plan?” Lucas asked. We had planned on how to capture a gnoll shaman alive—whether it worked or not would now be tested.

Anna, Lucas, and Thomas all gave a nod. They would be the main players in accomplishing that feat.

“I’m going,” I said then sent my gnoll infiltrators forward.

Jessica gave a glance, “Try to make it small.” The smaller the pull, the easier controlling the shaman would be.

My undead gnolls tiptoed forward and crossed the threshold between our hiding places and the pathways through the tents of the main camp. I spotted the shaman just a dozen feet in the distance and waited for it to notice the presence of my squad members. Once it did, I allowed one to pull back and the other gave a nasty snarl and a low cackle.

This was something I had been fortunate enough to witness: the gnoll battle challenge. That nasty snarl followed by a low cackle always preceded those fights that left fingers or limbs dangling from half-mangled flesh.

The shaman was confused, and then immediately infuriated. It reciprocated and then rushed after my gnoll archer without the slightest indications of fear. I hadn’t seen a gnoll shaman challenged before now, and I realized only then that maybe their status was much higher than these fodder.

It wasn’t my intention, but somehow only the gnoll shaman came running, and I realized at that moment we might have found the goose that laid the golden egg. “Just one shaman coming,” I annouced to everyone.

There was a bit of surprise followed by bubbling excitement. This was the best case scenario, and the only way to truly test the effectiveness of our strategy. “Are you good, Alan, Richard?” Lucas double checked.

“We can handle it.” Alan said, which got a stern nod from Richard.

The shaman came racing through the brush and faced off against my gnoll archer. The moment my undead soldier turned around to face the shaman would be our best chance. While they seemed stupid, they respected this little ritual.

I led the shaman as far away as possible without causing suspicion, which was around twenty meters or so. Too much commotion might alert other gnolls, but if we were fast it wouldn’t be seen as too much of a concern. Cackles and yelps sounded out inside the camp almost constantly, and this would be drowned out or ignored like the rest.

Once my archer stopped and made eye contact with the shaman, Alan and Richard burst from the brush on either side of it. Their hands held no weapons, and instead they each grabbed a shoulder and shoved the shaman body to the ground.

The shaman, while gifted in magic, put up little resistance to their physical assault. It was on the ground in a mere moment. Alan didn’t hesitate to shove his arm guard into the mouth of the gnoll as hard as he could. Only one simple yelp escaped before it was muffled growling that traveled only a few feet.

“Ready,” Alan and Richard spoke within seconds of each other, and Anna came forward in a moment. She pressed her hands against the base of each limb and channeled her frost magic. An ice crystal that encased the flesh inside and out appeared and the growls of our prisoner turned into whimpering.

Lucas didn’t hesitate to Wind Slash through the ice, cleaning bisecting the limbs off that had already been frozen solid. The blood flow was almost nonexistent, and Thomas was up next.

He quickly channeled heal several times, until the frozen openings had closed completely and become smooth stumps. After that, Alan carefully grasped the snout of the shaman and removed his hand before wrapping twine around it to keep it shut.

“Did it work?” I asked excitedly. It was a plan we came up after careful deliberation, and only after going through the scenarios did we come to this sequence of events.

Originally the plan was to simply secure its mouth and then drag it back—but in the case of some unfortunate incident, we would have had a fully able shaman against us. With that out of the question, we decided removing its limbs would be the next option.

Thomas assured us he could heal the wounds, but the amount of blood loss in just a single moment after Lucas’s clean cut would be tremendous, and the possibility of the gnoll dying while being transported was high.

It was actually Maria who suggested freezing the limbs. That would completely stop any blood flow while Thomas healed the wound, and it would allow for the cleanest cut. The gnoll would definitely be very ill, but it shouldn’t die, not with Thomas administering a heal when needed.

“I think it worked,” Richard said. He was the closest to the shaman, and was getting nasty stares only second in intensity to Alan. “Job well done everyone.” The fact it hadn’t passed out and was still conscious was a good sign.

Everyone let out a breath of relief, and even the guard couldn’t help but mumble, “What in the world…” under his breath. I barely heard it, but I knew Jessica would have caught it as well. Somehow that put a smile on my face. We’d done it! We had our shaman prisoner and if we got the reward as promised, that would mean being able to purchase a magic item from the shops.