The destination of the quest wasn't far, so we decided to walk - it was at a farm about 25 minutes out of town by foot. According the the posting, the Giant Ants had been burrowing under the fields and had burst out in an ant-hill on the property.
"Have any of you dealt with Giant Ants before?"
"Once," said Jane, their archer.
It was a, "No," from everyone else.
"Well, they're not a super dangerous enemy, but they are tricky to deal with when there's a lot of them. Fortunately there shouldn't be more than twenty, else this would be a higher ranked quest, but sometimes rankings aren't always accurate depending on who did the reporting, so proceed with caution. Giant Ants have armored bodies which are hard to damage - the best place to aim your arrows and magic is at the joints connecting the sections of their body. Their legs are also thin - if you break those they can't run for reinforcements. They also tunnel - going into ant tunnels is dangerous, since they can collapse pretty easily. Best way is to smoke them out, the collapse the entrance. A Class B Earth Mage will be dispatched as follow-up to fill in the holes under the fields and revitalize the crops as a separate quest."
The deluge of information had some of the party looking a little bit dazed... maybe too much all at once?
"Don't worry too much about it," I decided to reassure them. "You have a solid party composition so the quest should run fairly smoothly."
It was true. While all rookies, they had all their bases covered and would probably be fine on future quests of this level after getting some practical experience in.
There was Lukas - a human fire mage. He had two spells - 'Flame Burst', a small area of affect attack, and 'Ember Barrier', a malleable wall of super-heated smoke and embers. As backup he also carried a medium-weighted mace to smack anything that got too close. He was a decent leader according to the others, capable at keeping the other members on task and had a good sense of the battlefield for a beginner.
Jane, a human archer. In her late teens, she was small and fast, carrying both a short bow and a heavy crossbow with multiple types of ammunition. Since projectiles were not too effective against the Giant Ants' natural armor, her job would be to pull the enemies in, aiming for their eyes and antennae to grab their attention.
Morden, a wolf-kin defender. His hair and fur were both a mottled gray, and his tail swished back and forth in happiness and excitement. He was the youngest of the group and the most keen, practically bouncing up and down as he walked and rattling his heavier armor and large shield. He carried a sturdy halberd to stab and slash with greater reach than another weapon. We would be counting on him to keep the ants away from Jane and Lukas.
Lastly, there were two fighters - Petros, an elf specializing in dexterity with a bladed chain and an assortment of knives; and a bear-kin appropriately named Braun, who fought with a sword and buckler similar to myself.
"Question," started Petros. "If the ants are new to the area, is there a chance of bigger tunnels leading back to where they came from?"
"Smart of you to ask," I nodded. "Giant Ants are 'Mana Monsters' not natural beasts. They can spawn in when a high concentration of magic energy builds up over time. If the client has been using a magic-based or alchemy based fertilizer on their fields, that can cause monsters to spawn in the area if they don't rotate it out with mundane material every few years. So there shouldn't be tunnels branching out over a large area, just a small nest. Most ants will be Class E - around level 5-10, with maybe a few level 15 drones if it's a larger nest. You're all Class D - your levels should be high enough to damage them without any issues."
"Makes sense," Petros agreed, Morden and Lukas nodding along.
"Mister Tor - what level are you? ...I mean... is it okay to ask?" Jane directed her question towards me, biting her lip slightly.
...'Mister'. I'm still young, you know!
"I don't mind people asking - it's no secret around the Guild that I've been at level 30 for over a year."
"That's the upper level for Class C, isn't it? Are you planning to rank up to 'B'?"
I frowned. "I'm happy with what I'm doing now - Class B starts getting political and I want to avoid the headache. My friend says I have no ambition. But you guys don't need to worry about that, yet. Progress at your own pace - a lot of rookies end up retiring early because of burn-out."
And with that, we arrived at the farm.
----
The ants had burst in through a hay-field in the midst of harvesting - we could see the protruding ant hill from more than one hundred paces away. There were no ants out and about on the field itself, but the evidence of their trespass was strewn all about the area. Wrecked hay-bales, toppled fence posts, smears of insect mucus, and chew-marks from giant mandibles scratching every surface. The sun was high in the sky - it was still mid-morning - and the brisk air was giving way to a warmer and more humid heat.
"...There-!" Morden whispered, pointing ahead with his halberd. His ears were pricked forward, and nostrils flared. As a wolf-kin, his senses were much stronger than the rest of the party.
Sure enough, clambering up from the center of the ant-hill and around from the blind spot behind it were three of the giant ants. They were about the size of a draft horse each with dull black and brown mottled carapaces. One was slightly larger than the other two with green markings on its thorax - a drone.
"The big one first," I indicated. "It can summon reinforcements, and we don't want that." Advice given, I stepped back to let Lukas take the leadership role - I would only take over if things started going awry.
Careful to stay quiet, everyone readied their weapons. Lukas nodded towards Jane, and the archer let a heavy arrow fly - it struck true, stabbing deep into the drone's eye. Chittering angrily it rallied the other two ants to its side, waving its feelers around to sense for enemies. That's when Lukas set forth a spell.
'Flame Burst' bloomed right beneath the middle of the cluster of insects, propelling them towards us where Morden and the other fighters were already waiting.The fire spell had scorched their legs, making the already thin limbs brittle. It was quick work to chop the front legs and pin the insects down before severing their heads.
"Good work everyone," said Lukas with a smile. I nodded towards him in respect - despite their rookie status the party worked well together, communicating non-verbally for most of the altercation. I could see them becoming a strong team in the future.
"We've dealt with the door-guard... now things will get a bit chaotic," I warned.
We all took some distance, and then Lukas cast the 'Ember Barrier' spell, and used the malleable nature to direct the scorching smoke into the ant hill and the tunnels below. The young man was pale and sweating with the effort to spread the spell over the space beneath the field without seeing it, but from the sudden cacophony of monstrous screeching and the sounds of a stumbling stampede rumbling beneath us, it was highly effective.
And then the first ant broke through the top of the ant-hill onto the surface. Thrashing in the jaws of a Giant Centipede.
"Fall back!" I shouted. "Run! Centipedes are Class 'A'!!!"