The MMRPG Apocalypse

We moved north and east for about an hour, so that if we had been directly south of the entrance to the gnoll city before, we were off to the side now. Our hope was that this would be far enough away that no large forces would come our way, ideally we’d come across small patrols which were complacent and unaware.

Our goal was to look for easy fights while we could. No doubt, once the gnolls came to terms with our existence we would be facing serious challenges and probably would have to retreat. But in the meantime we were on the lookout for low hanging fruit.

Thanks to Jessica’s tracking, we discovered that there were a lot of small gnoll groups moving around the forest that we could ambush. She reported that their standard patrol was just three gnolls in size, or at least that’s mostly what we ran into at the start. These groups consisted of one tanky melee – which was almost always a mace-wielding gnoll – and two ranged units. More often than not these would be two archers. Very rarely it was an archer and a shaman. Of the ten patrols Jessica spotted, only one of them contained a single shaman Gnoll.

Although we were confident of victory over such groups, we didn’t rush. We spent a long time scouting the patrolling gnolls. Only after we had a decent lay of the land, and a basic understanding on how they moved and crisscrossed with each other, did we dare engage any. The point was to work out a place for our ambush where we wouldn’t get unwanted adds. Even then, there were still some unknowns.

The gnolls we had fought before were more like vanguard units than these patrols: these small groups seemed to be scouts rather than fighters. There was a good chance that once we pulled them they would make the biggest ruckus they could to alert everything around, and try to flee rather than stand for a confrontation.

“All we can do is try it and find out,” I said. There was no real way to know how these gnolls would behave until we pulled the trigger. No one took much convincing, and in the worst case, we had planned an escape plan and it seemed to me that everyone was on the same page.

I was mentally prepared for battle, and now it was just about timing. Taking a position downwind of an approaching group of gnolls, we tucked ourselves away as a group in the bushes between two trees. Although we’d done our best to get the advantage of surprise, I was anxious: it was likely that these canines had an exceptional sense of smell.

With every step and grunt as they grew closer and closer though, that anxiety changed to anticipation. An unsuspecting patrol group were just feet from us when Jessica released a hellish blow to the gnoll brute at the front. To my great relief, none of the gnolls howled or called for help at all. Instead, they each let out a menacing cackle and rushed in Jessica’s direction.

The rest of us we still hidden. I was well aware the intelligence of these enemies made it likely they would flee the moment they saw our numbers. Standing alone, however, Jessica seemed like easy prey, and they took the bait flawlessly. Their charge was halted the moment they stepped over her Quagmire trap.

By the time they realized they were slowed, vines encased them and a Glacial Storm sent ice ripping across their flesh. The slows from each ability stacked, which meant it was nearly impossible for them to get out of the devastating AoE. The three abilities combined had managed to fell every foe we used them against so far.

The battle ended so swiftly that my summoned undead squad hadn’t even time to reach the enemy. Our ranged DPS was a scary force to be reckoned with.

Despite feeling somewhat useless, I wasn’t dejected. Fast engagements like this were not my forte anyway. Large scale, drawn out battles was where I performed best. In those situations my undead troops could continue to deliver damage as long as they were alive, regardless of my MP.

We quickly repositioned and prepared for another patrol group. In just a matter of a few minutes, another pack was cleaned out just like that. Only after we had taken out five gnoll patrols did we hear the sound of horns blaring in the forest and howls in the distance. The remaining patrols must have noticed something was amiss and sounded the alarm.

Immediately, we retreated east for a good half hour, before pausing and waiting to detect just what we were now up against. Their response was quick, and it wasn’t long before Jessica reported that squads of ten gnolls were moving around in the distance.

“Let their urgency cool off for a bit,” Lucas said, “we should pull back further.” I felt Jessica’s hand land on my shoulder as she urged me to turn away and follow. Ten was probably too many, although the experience and loot might be good.

This reminded me to use the downtime to distribute the recent drops. From the five patrol groups we had dispatched, we had gotten another two pieces of gear.

Blessed Light: A holy hammer imbued with the power of god.

STR +5, WIS +5, Holy Damage +15%

“I’m not a man of god, but I do deal holy damage.” Richard couldn’t help but chuckle as he snatched the one-handed mace away. It was a perfect fit in his hands.

Maiden’s Veil: A beautiful veil that specializes in blocking unwanted attention.

WIS +6, STAM +2, Sense does not work on you.

I handed a veil made of a deep blue, see-through fabric to Anna and it waterfalled over her face as she put it on. Her eyes remained fully uncovered, and somehow the veil seemed to enhance their beauty. The draping sides connected via a single cloth that clipped across the mouth.

“Can you sense me?” Anna looked at Jessica. She did have the skill, and had leveled it enough to get a basic reading on players.

“Skill has failed,” Jessica responded.

“What about blocking unwanted attention?” Lucas asked.

“I’m not sure,” Anna said, “It seems pretty see-through to me.” And she wasn’t wrong. Just looking her, it was obvious the thin material obstructed very little in terms of unwanted gazes. Anna continued to play with the item until something happened.

She fully fitted the veil, even going so far as covering her mouth. Her only visible feature was her two piercing eyes. I could still see her face behind the veil, but something miraculous happened: my image of her was completely obscured in my head.

It felt to me as if nothing had changed, and yet the facial features I was expecting were not there. The eyes seemed almost blurry but at the same time completely clear. There was an imaginary fog that covered her face, and even from one second to the next, I could not confidently say it was Anna standing in front of me.

“That is terrifying,” Maria said. So it wasn’t just me having this experience. Even though my brain knew it was Anna standing there, a strange power seemed to interfere with that information. I felt that the veil was similar to my mask and inflicting fear upon those who stared at it.

“Is it that bad?” Anna asked. Those words sent me for a loop as well. Even her voice, while probably completely normal, warped in some extraordinary way. I was listening to a stranger, and for a second, I fully believed someone had replaced Anna.

“It’s not bad per se…” Alan said, “But it’s really, really confusing my brain.”

“How could it be doing that? Last I recalled you didn’t have a brain.” Maria didn’t forget to throw in her jabs. Alan would usually retort, but the fact he didn’t made wonder did he feel he deserved the attack. The two had been spending more time together as of late, and I wondered if a growing relationship between them was affecting their public banter.

“Let’s keep going.” I tried to steer the group back on track. Nothing else needed to be said. Alan and Richard led the front as we got away from the gnoll city for the time being. Now it had gotten too hot to ambush gnolls and was a good time to explore for dungeons.

My eyes constantly scanned my map as we made our way north. By now we were at least three hours east of the gnoll empire. Nothing new was revealed on the map as we moved, and our search for a dungeon remained fruitless.

We settled for a break after walking for nearly an hour. There were still gnoll groups here but perhaps they had not been recently sent from the city in response to our ambushes, because they were roaming around in packs of five. Our hit-and-run tactics continued to prove incredibly effective against these gnoll groups. In fact, the majority of the work was being done by Jessica, Maria, and Anna. They set up the pulls and basically spoon-fed mobs to us.

The EXP was plentiful as well. Mark and Glenn were receiving a penalty, but even they had both climbed to level 18. Somehow Mark still hadn’t chosen a class. He was on the fence, and since he wasn’t fighting right now anyway, it wasn’t an issue.

The rest were all closing in on me and Jessica, and we were both steadily closing in on level 27.

Name: Mike Reynolds Class: Necromancer Level: 26 EXP: 72%

HP: 1290/1290 MP: 485/485

STR: 5 Fear Resistance: 5

AGI: 2

DEX: 5

VIT: 29 +14

WIS: 27 +26

Available: 15

Skills: [A] Summon Skeleton LV. 10 | [A] Summon Skeleton Mage LV. 4 | [A] Decay LV. 3| [A] Reanimate Dead LV. 3 | [A] Bone Armor LV. 2 | [A] Vast Shadows | [A] Temporary Grave LV. 1 | [P] Sixth Sense | [P] Bravery LV. 2 | [P] Mutated | [P] Pain Resistance LV. 2 | [P] Skeletal Mastery LV. 4| [P] Intimidate Living | [P] Inner Calm LV. 2 | [P] Necrotic Vision | [P] Blood Thirsty LV. 1 | [P] Cold Hearted LV. 1 | [P] Poison Immunity

Since we had started grinding gnolls I had gained a total of thirty percent of the EXP I needed to level, which was impressive considering it hadn’t even been a full day of fighting yet. We were also taking it easy. If we went all out, I felt confident we could fight up to ten gnolls at a time. Even these groups of five weren’t an issue and I hadn’t cast a single ability yet.

My fifteen stat points were still sitting there waiting to be used. Unfortunately, or fortunately, I didn’t have any need for them just yet. With my extra skill slot, I definitely had a lot more leeway on how to build myself. I wasn’t sure if I should take a support skill for my summons, some form of CC so I could lockdown enemies better, or just take some long-range damaging nuke.

All I knew in the moment was that if my undead warriors weren’t dying, I had a whole lot of MP just sitting around. Bone armor also provided me with a lot more tanking ability than other casters. There was a good amount of freedom to either get WIS or VIT as well.