Gnoll Corpse Mound

​

Off in a random field out in Pormont lies an eerie sight bound to send a shiver down your spine. From off in the distance it appears to be a crudely shaped hill but upon moving closer it seems to be a man-made mound built out of the remains left by the deceased. Surrounding the hill are various patrols. For one reason or another, the grass gnolls seem to be defending their foul creation. The sun beams down relentlessly upon a shiny metal crate of some sorts that has been conveniently to be situated atop the mound...

Hidden: The Sprint

Based on the patrols, there seems to be a five second window where you can make a straight dash for the chest. It's risky and dangerous... but it seems viable.

Hidden: The Bush

There's an uprooted bush nearby that seems large enough to conceal a person. Perhaps it can be used to deceive the gnolls.

The Chest: The steel chest is large and heavily weighted. There appear to be some blood stains splattered across it and a few flies buzzing about due to the nearby carnage. The chest itself is unlocked, however upon opening a ticking timer appears. You seem to only have enough time to grab 1 item before it's magically resealed for the next person.

Note: This is an event for people who have yet to open a treasure chest this week (timer reset's on Sunday).
Last reset - 6/18.

Briefly tell a story about what were you doing up until this point, then, describe how you would retrieve this chest. (400 words minimum)

3/4 Reward Claimed​

 

Cue Music
​

“You’ve gotta be shitting me…” When his friend, Astor, had shot him a blip indicating there was some easy loot nearby, Jack was more than happy to drop his aimless exploration of the plains to meet up at the aforementioned coordinates. It wasn’t as though he was doing anything especially pressing. His expectations however were quickly shattered though as he looked over at the hill next to him. Between the gruesome pile of corpses stacked literally as high as the hill he was currently on, the endless patrolling gnolls and his hopes and dreams being shattered by the heavy hammer of betrayal, the man simply stared on with a devastated look. “Nope, nope, nope. Definitely didn’t bargain for this.”

A hand flipped through the in game communication interface as he’d send a somewhat irate message towards the detective for severely downplaying the situation. “You sure this is the spot?... This is bs man, there’s literally more gnolls on this hill than ants on a melted ice-cream bar.” His query was met with silence however. Perhaps his companion was too preoccupied currently to send a proper response.

“Well, I suppose there’s only one real thing to do. I already came this far…” At this point the man was stretching his arms while surveying his surroundings for the best method to approach retrieving the chest. Though a pure dash and grab seemed feasible, the man had little confidence in his ability to actually enact such precise timing. His vision had instead snagged upon an uprooted bush nearby as strange thoughts entered his mind. “What if…”

The next moment, there was a moving shrub that cautiously forged onwards into enemy territory. Pausing every so often as a gnoll would patrol by, he’d let out a slow exhale after holding his breath before taking a few more steps deeper into the now deemed “No Man’s Land.” Eventually he’d make his way atop the hill. The realism of the game at this point was perhaps unnecessary as the foul smell and irritating insects began to irk his senses more than he’d like. He had already committed to the deed however which only forced him to plow on even more relentlessly.

Finally reaching the top of the rotting pile of corpses, he’d slowly inspect the chest before him. Thankfully enough it seemed as though the game had deemed reaching this point more than enough of a challenge as the storage unit appeared to be unlocked. Opening it swiftly to swipe the first object insight, he’d carefully retrace his steps. Once free of the patrolling paths, he’d let out a disgusted cough to clear his lungs while stepping back to look at the object he had gained.

 

The entire time Jack was figuring out how to sneak past the patrolling Gnoll, Astor was sitting idly with his back leaning against a large tree as his hands were tucked behind his head. He observed how his friend would retrieve such a tightly guarded treasure chest, because it amused him.

Jack was sneaky and ballsy when he got himself into a shrub like that and tiptoed his way up the hill. Astor was confused as to how the patrolling Gnolls were not seeing this guy. Well, certainly not because he wrote their action himself, did he not? In any case, Astor nonchalantly stood up from where he was sitting a distance away and reached for the sky with one arm.

“Ashza la ven sha’a atuh!” With a brief incantation, Astor gathered a swirling ball of fire that he launched into the sky. The ball arced from gravity and quickly descend from its peaked height, heading right for a tree at least half a mile away. Some of the Gnolls immediately straightened their body in alert. They grunted among themselves in the ugly language Gnolls speak in, most likely figuring out what they should do at the sight of the burning tree.

With his other hand, Astor put it straight over his head and angled it slightly before he repeated the same process of launching yet another fireball, only this time, it was much bigger in scale.

“Ashza la ven sha’a atuh alhoarte!”

The gassy ball of energy left his palm and came down on another tree standing in the exact opposite direction from the first one with fury. A thunderous sound could be heard as the tree exploded. This one got all of the Gnolls’ attention, to which the leader sent separate troops to investigate. The leader Gnoll immediately returned to his post to look around, finally noticing a moving shrub, which it believed was the culprit. Roaring in anger, it dashed toward Jack with its club drawn, ready to bash the guy’s head in.

Fortunately, Astor had spent all of that time conjuring up a massive fireball, intending on hitting the Gnoll with everything he’s got. The explosive energy roared as Astor sent it through the air. The Gnoll’s fur burst into flame the moment the fire touched him, its powerful force throwing him over Jack and past the mountain of bodies. The Gnoll didn’t seem to have been hurt a lot, but being on fire means it needed to seek out water to put itself out. With its tail between its legs, the Gnoll ran for the nearest lake it saw, desperate for water.

“Yo,” Astor said as he bent down and got himself into the treasure chest before Jack and took his share of the loot. “Nice bush cosplay, man. Maybe you should enter PAX's cosplay contest with that.”

 

@Astor Balthas

You quickly swipe at the chest before it slams shut with a resounding clang. Your in-game interface indicates the following item now rests in your palm:

Smouldering Torch (1H Focus) Though the flames seem weak and have begun to putter out, they continue to flicker with a gentle heat regardless of the surrounding environment.

 

That’s… that’s messed up, Tyris thought as he peeked over a bush at the pile of bodies. He’d heard a lot of stories about the grass gnolls, but this put things into perspective for him. They were disgusting creatures indeed. And yet… he was still going to go for it. He was going to get up that mound of corpses and get some of that treasure. Why? For the same reason that all the greatest adventures are taken: because it was there. The problem was, of course, the gnolls themselves guarding the place. The security seemed tight, with all the openings covered; which just made Tyris even surer that there had to be something good in that chest. Or, maybe, they’re worried that their victims will rise as zombies and take ‘em all out, Tyris thought.

Tyris knew that if the gnolls caught him, he’d end up part of the pile. But he also knew he was fast- and the gnolls weren’t too smart. Somewhere, there had to be a weak point in their patrols. He was at a safe enough distance to watch them carefully for a while, and he soon realized there might be a point at which he could make a run for it. It’d be a short opportunity- only a few seconds, but he could do it. He crouched down, tensing himself up, ready to burst forward when the gap in the patrols came. On your mark… get set… GO!

Tyris took off across the plain, before taking a deep breath and diving straight forward into the pile. The smell was overpowering- but that might work to his advantage, he thought. If he kept quiet as he climbed, the gnolls might not be able to notice him- it’d have to be hard for them to sniff him out under these circumstances! Slowly but surely, Tyris made his way up the mound, pushing past the smell and the horrible sights and trying to avoid the notice of the gnolls amongst the bodies. At last he arrived at the top- now, he had to work quickly once again. He pushed the lid open, reached over the box’s edge and grabbed the first thing he could get a hand on, before hiding in the pile once again. He wouldn’t even have the luxury of examining his find until he’d made it out. But at least the hard part was over… wasn’t it?

 

@Tyris Ferrell

You quickly swipe at the chest before it slams shut with a resounding clang. Your in-game interface indicates the following item now rests in your palm:

Padded Treads (Medium)

 

Once again the magical girl Magi Heart would travel the plains of Pormont. Wendy was not going to go hide in the bushes this time! She did not want to experience having someone try to slash her to pieces again! Having been to a few towns and villages now and after talking to a few friendly players. Magi Heart had learned that some very, very, powerful dog guys were up to no good on the plains. The stories were pretty scary and Wendy was not sure she could, scratch that, she was sure she could not handle them. Wendy did not want to fight anything too scary. She was a magical girl but she preferred to fight cutesy monsters or just regular animals, nothing nightmarish. Maybe later, yeah, a lot later...

So she wandered around again, shooting at cute monster doggies and bunnies. Having a adventure, After about a hour of this small expedition. Magi Heart's arms hurt so she took a short break by a weird looking bush. Yawning she felt her eyes grow heavy... zzzzzz.

Suddenly she awoke to a odd grunting noise. Oh no, was she still in the game?! The grunting turned into a slight growl and then more grunts. Poking her head out from behind the bush. Magi's eyes widened at the sight of four extremely scary dog guys! Oh no! Magi ducked down as she heard them sniffing around. Had she wandered into a bad place by accident? Did Magi Heart wander into a Grass Gnoll camp? Of all the players for this to happen to. Gosh she must have been so caught up in her hunting game that... oh boy.

What to do? Maybe just run, yeah. Magi pushed back against the bush while thinking and it suddenly came straight out of the ground! Magi fell back on her back and hit her head on something... looking quickly, she saw a chest. Ew, a nasty looking one. It had sticky red stuff, hopefully not blood, on it. Then it suddenly creaked open and a timer appeared. Magi looked inside and saw goodies! Grabbing one she heard a large amount of growls approaching. Grass Gnolls! They saw her and were coming!

Magi Heart jumped into the air and ran out of there as fast as her short legs could take her! There was no way she was going to stick around here with a bunch of nasty things like this wanting to eat her for lunch!

 

@Magi Heart Sorry! You claimed a chest on 6/19 (last reset 6/18) on @Merkaba Click me!
Request denied for the sake of sharing!

 

Alpha coughed down the vomit and bile that wanted to crawl out of her throat and splatter itself onto the skeletal remains of a finger than had fallen away from the mound of corpses. She reminded herself that it was all a game and that the Gnoll Corpse Mound she found in Pormont was just another aspect (albeit messed up) part of an enjoyable gaming experience. Despite her reluctance to do so, she knew she had to get whatever was in that chest. Her curiosity was insatiable and the gruesome sight did little to dissuade her from her natural-born instinct of exploration.

She had ventured to Pormont after her bad experience at the Prickly Fields of Dunnstads, where she had came across a large civilization of hedgehogs and porcupines. She looked at Corn, the hedgehog, who still nuzzled itself in her arms. The poor thing was traumatized by the mass genocide of his species by that green-garbed woman and the armored knight. She tried to burn the two women's names into her memory, dedicated to avenging (somehow) the deaths of Corn's family to the hands of those psychopathic women. Sera Phim and Felicitas Hellewege, she reminded herself as Terry sensed her displeasure and snarled beside her, nearly getting themselves caught by the patrolling gnolls.

She shook her head, trying to forget the memories in order to successfully get that treasure chest. Her previous rewards hadn't been too bad and the gold pouch had actually helped her immensely in obtaining suitable garb for her rogue activities. She calmed, stilling her nerves as she remembered her skill. There was a five-second window where she could rush in and grab whatever was in that chest and, with her skillset, that should be in the realm of possibility.

Alpha groaned. She was becoming an old lady. When had she ever planned anything? Recent events had made her a bit too wrinkly and elderly for her liking. Soon, she might as well be yelling at kids with a cane in her hand to get out of her backyard! Dimly, she gave Terry and Corn a pat as she shivered at the thought of Mrs. Collins, her neighbor in real life. That woman was definitely scarier than this pile of corpses and she found herself regretting the thought.

The deceased bodies stacked atop her deserved some level of respect and, quietly, she steeled her nerves and gave a small thought in respect for them. They may just be a part of the game, but Alpha couldn't help but feel empathetic (as dumb as it sounds). She couldn't let misplaced empathy for NPCs lead to any danger for Terry and Corn. She stared at the two with determined eyes. She had to fight tooth and nail for whatever she could get her hands on to make sure that they would be safe.

After a few deep breaths and some false starts, she gave her legs and stretched with her eyes on the prize. Then, she leaped out from her hiding place (leaving Corn in Terry's care until she came back) and rushed for the gleaming, tantalizing prize. Her eyes locked in like an eagle on its prey and she felt her legs ache from the speed she was going at. She'd get the prize no matter what.