98 Chapter 26 - Cannibal Gnomes (1/2)
”This place gives me the creeps,” Armen said as the Raid group entered a dark world filled with dim blue light.
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Everywhere gnomish buildings spiralled up into the sky, their crimson roofs and hearty songs filling the land. And yet the gnomes themselves remained unseen, even as the Raid team trudged down cobblestone streets after the slithering Blake.
”Just this way!” she said encouragingly, ”they keep all the Grade [A] meat in a big vault - and don't think of them as 'people', better you just imagine this as taking honey from a beehive, ay?”
”Sure,” Ellie murmured, both her rat knife out and a new one procured from the dungeon. It had a soft purple glow and has the chance to poison a target on each hit, useful if they were fighting a big enemy.
A swarm of gnomes less so.
”Gnomish loiterers ahead,” Black hissed, the Raid team finding their first enemy. Having come at night time the gnomes were mostly indoors, while the higher levelled gnomes patrolled the streets in lesser numbers. And the target of those high-levelled gnomes were the loiterers, those gnomes who stayed outdoors after dark and were now free game for the gnomish 'Gnomehunters', 'Butchers' and 'Grinners'.
Indicating with her tail, Blake had them go around. Soon that distant street was filled with screaming, cut short and replaced with malevolent cackling.
Arriving at the butchery, Kenji discovered tall walls with small windows constantly flittering with the dark shadows of the guards within. So caught up with the sight of the huge stone building designed for creatures no taller than his knee, Kenji tripped.
”Oi, watch it wise guy,” muttered a gnomish loiterer, a whole pack of the scrabby bearded and old clothes wearing creatures marching through. Their shabby red hats had certainly seen better days, and their thin frames were making the pointy-toothed gnomes peer at the heavily armoured adventurers with a look of possibility in their eyes.
”Get ready to fight!” Ellie ordered, no sooner than shields were raised had the arrows come. Long as a finger, yet deadly fast with far too much impact for their size. Dwargon staggered as several arrows hit with the force of large rocks, Fial unleashing a rapid-fire volley of arrows to pick off the Gnomehunters cloaked in darkness on the surrounding roofs.
”Get 'em boys!” called a bright grin from an alleyway, a series of plump gnomes with bandits leathers and pointy teeth bursting after him. Just like the Gnomehunters, they were small yet deadly. Their blows caused disproportionate damage to the adventurer's iron, their little feet moving lightning fast as they came upon the Raid party in a flash.
A blast of the Sundrakes's spells set the Grinners aflame, froze them in place and blasted them against walls with gusts of wind. From there the Bloodhorn cut them to chunks and crushed their little skulls like eggs.
”To the butchery, we have little time,” Blake hissed, loiterers by the dozen becoming drawn by the blood. They feasted on the corpses were they lay, the Raid party barely having snatched off the most valuable trinkets from the dead before they were pressed on as the loiterers in turn pulled in a greater number of Gnomehunters.
”Dwargon, if you would,” Ellie said.
Grunting, the heavily armoured dwarf surged forward to use [Smash] to cave in the butcheries walls.
”Sundrakes!”
A blast of magic and targeted arrow fire ended those Butchers who had waited beyond in white smocks.
”Rams, Bloodhorn!”
Charging through, the Satyr fighters and the single Minotaur butchered those crimson eyed butchers who rushed through every door. Fanatical and in great number, the tide of butchers was a problem even before they started appearing with armour and halberds.
”Grand Guildmaster Kenji, could you hive us a hand?” Ellie said as she decapitated a pair of wide-eyed gnomes, who had started to chatter in their grating tones.
”Blood! Muscle! Flesh! Bones! Eat it up, make it moans!” they giggled as they rushed to their deaths, each splash of blood seemingly drawing in even more of the insane gnomes.
Turning into Dana, Kenji began to raise the dead gnomes as tiny Ghouls. So small they were easy to control, and after a single [Mass Summon] a whole host of the skittering creatures had burst to life all around to start gnawing at the living's faces. Pretty pleased with the effect, Kenji was glad he had bought that [Mass Summon] spell, even at the Far King's outrageous prices.
”The meat!” Blake reminded them, each blur of her tail sending several gnome's heads to explode. Her power alone seemed well enough to take care of everything they had faced thus far, and Kenji began to properly understand just how powerful the friends of Bazza were.
Entering a vast storeroom filled with chunks of flesh on meathooks, Kenji heard humming deep within.
”I'll slow down the reinforcements, you get the snags,” Blake said, and slithered into a hallway filled with assaulting gnomes of all types. The two human parties along with Kenji's ghouls sealed off the other passage, leaving Ellie's crew, Bloodhorn and the Sundrakes to walk within.
”Disgusting,” muttered the Sun Elf leader as he found the ground was slick with crimson blood. A shallow pool coated the entire floor, and stretched out of sight.
”It has heard us,” said the ebony horned leader of Bloodhorn.