The MMRPG Apocalypse

Despite facing no further encounters with gnolls, it still took over an hour of steady travel to reach our destination. We were just west and slightly south of the main gnoll camp and carefully embedded in a small meadow between the two roads caravans would most likely travel.

I was well aware there were probably going to be multiple caravans passing us at different times throughout the morning and early day, but without insider knowledge all we could do was wait, and wait we did.

We waited for what felt like an eternity before the sun began to rise. My undead soldiers were summonable now, but due to their size and glaring lack of stealth, I could only wait for battle. Jessica patrolled back and forth between the roads and was able to scout any incoming enemies. While Alan and Richard waited, one on each side of the meadow just in case she needed immediate assistance.

The temperature quickly rose and I found myself sweating from the heat and perhaps too from anticipation of the ambush to come. The hours dragged past though and just as I began to feel impatient, and to wonder whether there would even be any cargo moving through here, Jessica rushed back to us with Alan and Richard in tow. “A group of enemies incoming.” She pointed to the northern road. “At least twenty. They are so tightly knit it is hard to get an exact reading.”

“Follow them and we’ll make a move when they are in the open, half-way across the field,” Lucas said. “Can you get a better look?”

Jessica nodded and then ran along a hedge row, ducked down, looking for the best place to watch while the rest of us moved into the long grass nearer the northern road. Not only did we need to win the fight, we would have to do it in a timely manner, and then dispose of any evidence in time to move to the next ambush. Intercepting one caravan would hinder the enemy, but not enough to put a halt to the siege due to lack of supplies.

We had only moved about fifty yards when Jessica came racing back towards us. “They’re coming! They have a tracker as well!” She yelled.

Alan and Richard didn’t wait for orders as they rushed to Jessica. A moment later, the sounds of incoming troops entered my ears and one towering gnoll came into view, no doubt the elite of the bunch.

“Looks like you were right.” Alan yelled back. We had been wagering whether the caravans would be well protected or not. The twenty gnolls weren’t an issue at all, it was the gnoll elite that could bring us trouble: he was ‘elite’ but honestly felt more like a mini-boss.

“Shouldn’t be any harder than the first!” Lucas yelled. Alan and Richard changed directions to meet the gnoll group. Jessica had already laid two Quagmire traps as she ran, and Maria shot Entangling Arrow before the fight even started. Everyone knew what to do without being told.

My undead troops came out in a rush from behind me and charged forward with reckless abandon, crashing into the wave of melee gnolls attempting to swarm us. Alan and Richard expertly tied down the gnoll elite while the remainder of us picked off the weaker gnolls. We had ample experience fighting them now, and twenty gnolls wasn’t going to be enough to hinder us for long.

Lucas moved like a phantom through to the back of the group, arriving upon the two shamans who were casting from behind their melee. With every swing a head, arm, or leg flew off. Maria was careful to assist him, sending several gnolls surrounding Lucas flying with a single explosive arrow.

Anna had cast a Blizzard on the elite and then sent pulses of ice out at any gnoll unlucky enough to make it past the wall of my undead and towards Thomas and our casters. “Careful!” Jessica yelled towards Anna, and this alerted me to move in front of her and hold out my arm. An arrow deflected off my bone armor and the ricochet sliced across my calf, drawing a line of blood.

I groaned and regretted not using Bone Armor to its full potential. I could choose at will what to cover, and had assumed my upper body was enough. Fortunately, there was no second shot from that gnoll archer, as its head flew off immediately after releasing. “Back is clear!” Lucas yelled towards us. The teamwork of him and Maria had dispatched the three archers and two shamans in under thirty seconds; the shamans hadn’t even had the chance to cast a spell.

“Three or four more left!” I yelled. With no healing and no ranged support, the melee gnolls crumbled fast. My skeleton general rammed his zweihander through the back of a mace-wielding gnoll before raising him in the air and ripping the torso in half. Blood rained down over his white frame giving him a gruesome but ferocious look.

The remaining two gnolls were swiftly surrounded and devoured by my horde of summoned undead, leaving just the elite there on his lonesome. There was no fear on its face, though. Just a rabid desire to rip us to shreds.

The monster wielded a gigantic two-handed sword as long as a man is tall. A human skull was inlayed into the hilt with the blade coming out the top of the skull. It wasn’t leather, but instead human flesh that made up the grip. The sword itself was more like a paddle than a conventional weapon, as the tip was not sharp, and neither was the blade.

An unlucky gnoll warrior that came too close to his own leader had been hit by a full powered swing aimed at Richard. There was no cut, just a bone-crunching sound before the gnoll body was folded like paper around the dull blade and then went flying in a bloody mist.

Bangs rang out constantly as Alan and Richard took turns deflecting the frenzy of attacks. Every missed swing sent dirt flying through the air. Alan and Richard were covered in grit and sweat from each blocked or dodged attack. Their legs bent at the knee to disperse as much force from each swing as possible.

“This one is very strong!” Alan yelled between the clangs of metal on metal. It was good news he had the ability to speak. The elite wasn’t so overbearing that the two couldn’t retaliate or handle it, and both Richard and Alan backed off momentarily to regain their footing and regroup with us. The gnoll elite was already isolated, and running would not be an option for it any longer.

There were clear differences between this gnoll and the first elite we had battled, mainly the age. It was clear to see a much more youthful appearance for this one. The fur was lighter, the eyes brighter, even the muscles of its arm and shoulders were more defined. It cackled with excitement before dragging the paddle-like blade through the ground towards our two tanks.

There was no honor in war, and Jessica didn’t wait for the fight to start up again before sending Godless Arrow through the air. Maria joined her with an Explosive Arrow while Alan cast Charge and Richard assisted.

The cheekbone of the gnoll exploded in gore and the eye almost fell out of its socket. Surprisingly though, this wasn’t enough to blind the gnoll elite. It howled in agony and jumped back a dozen feet, evading Alans and Richard’s forward charge while grasping at its face. The eye that was moments from dangling out was held firmly in place between an open hand, the eye fiercely gazing through its fingers.

“Humans, you die.” The gnoll elite grasped the sword more firmly and then rushed forward with a sweeping motion. Alan and Richard both raised their shields to their chest and planted their legs, but that alone wasn’t enough. The two couldn’t block the full sprint momentum and were sent flying back onto their asses six or seven feet in front of us.

My undead soldiers rushed forward with reckless abandon, trying to buy time for the two to regain their footing and keep the elite off our vulnerable members. Jessica aided with another Godless Arrow, this time dispatching the right eye completely.

Even with its hand firmly covering his wounded eye, there was no stopping the Godless Arrow, which left the gnoll elite perplexed. It howled again; this time louder. Loud enough to hear half a mile at the very least, which left us potentially exposed.

“Human will die here,” it said again, “your skull will be new weapon.” It pointed at Jessica and hoisted the blade over its shoulder, caressing the skull that acted as a decoration piece. Red blood from its missing eye poured down its face. All around me I saw frowns and concern. This gnoll was too intelligent, and too insane.

“It might’ve called for backup.” Lucas said. Which I was thinking too. The problem was, the elite was faster than us. While we could easily keep it here if it wanted to run, we couldn’t just run away from it. It would slow us just enough to bring us to our graves.

“Let’s go all out,” I said. It was our only option, and there was no hesitation from anyone. Jessica and Anna both popped an MP potion immediately, as did Thomas. Blizzard came down and another Godless Arrow exploded on the face of the gnoll elite. It only cackled, not seeming to care about the wound that was inflicted, or if it would die here or not.

Instead, it came forward like a storm, the paddle-like sword sending a wave of air that blew our hair back. Alan met it head on and didn’t take a step back this time. He drank a strength potion and seemed to let go of some of the reserve he was feeling, his muscles bulged behind the shield as his face turned red. He was boiling for battle and blood—he wanted to fight.

Lucas was the same. His reserve had disappeared completely as there was no time to wait. He rushed from behind during Alan and Richard’s onslaught and stabbed his blade directly through the back of the gnoll elite, so deep he couldn’t even pull it out with all his strength.

Like lightning a huge hand flew back and smacked into him, sending him flying through the air and hurdling into a tree a dozen feet away. His HP plummeted from 90 percent down to just twenty with one attack. Thomas threw him a heal-over-time and Lucas chugged a HP potion before waddling forward.

The gnoll elite was essentially blind, but that fact didn’t matter at all. It only needed to swing its blade in a circle to hear the clash of a shield being smacked. No one but the ranged could attack, and Lucas couldn’t recover his blade. Eventually, Richard made a bold move and rolled forward during one of its attacks, narrowly dodging the blade and causing the gnoll elite to trip face first over his body.

Alan jumped onto the gnoll elite's back and plunged his blade into the spine several inches deep. The serrated edge left blood gushing, but similar to Lucas, he couldn’t remove the weapon when he pulled back. “More enemies coming!” Jessica said suddenly. “No, it’s the second caravan!”she added.

The gnoll elite below was on death's door but building one last burst of strength. Just before it could fling Alan and Lucas off its back, Mark came forward and jammed his spear straight through the neck and into the other side. Blood poured out like a faucet and the elite collapsed to its knees, scrabbling at the weapon before falling over. Mark was a big guy like Richard and clearly gifted in strength, “The neck is the weak spot,” he said confidently.