Cyrus would be in the guild eating breakfast, having wasted the entire day yesterday fiddling with spells to reduce his strength as Angela and Ezra made preparations. Not long after Cyrus finished his small breakfast, the girls would enter the guild. "Morning, did you finish your preparations?"
"Yea, and here you go," Angela threw a white tunic, a sword, and a leather armour set onto the table, "this should help."
"This looks nice, so how much will I be forced to pay you back?" Cyrus asked jokingly. He looked through the items as his eyes stared at the tunic. "Why did you get a white tunic? wouldn't it stain with blood and dirt, or did you want me to match you?"
"Because I think it will look good on you," Angela corrected.
"And if you ask nicely, I could use a cleanse spell on it when we finish the quest," Ezra snorted.
"How does a cleanse spell work on clothes? I thought it removed minor diseases from the body?" Cyrus questioned, surprised by how much innovation magic has, as he only used it for destruction.
"All you need is ingenuity. Magic can have secondary purposes if you apply it correctly," Ezra explained.
Cyrus thought over Ezra's words as he looked at the sword, then glanced at Angela, "this is your sword, right?" Cyrus pointed out.
"Yea, after you broke mine, I decided to get something different. This time, I chose a claymore for bigger targets and a rapier for swift strikes. So you can have my old spare as a freebie," Angela replied.
"Why wouldn't you stick with the swords you were using? With the claymore, you'll have to readjust to its weight, and the rapier uses a different swordplay style," Cyrus questioned.
"You were better than me, but if I had different weapons to switch things up, perhaps the results could've been different," Angela replies. She holds the shrink bag and pulls out the claymore from it.
"It seems we have everything, so once you get changed from those filthy rags, we will go to the gnolls," Ezra told Cyrus.
Cyrus led the party to his small house at the edge of town, "such a small place compared to the one Angela and I are in," Ezra bragged.
"Yea, but some of us don't get the benefit of the church," Cyrus retorted as he went inside to change. Walking out moments later wearing the leather armour, which to his surprise included the shoulder pads, wrist guards and greaves, with the white tunic underneath. "The armour is a bit big, but it will do."
"You look pretty good. Your white hair matches the tunic nicely," Angela complimented.
"Do you know where we're going?" Angela asked Ezra as they made their way to the forest.
"Of course, I asked a bunch of fellow adventurers who made their valley in the eastern part of the forests for directions. We should also find lots of clues when we're getting close," Ezra explained.
As the group entered the forest, Ezra stopped and looked around. Having a confused look on her face. "I can't find the path the adventurers made."
"Maybe you misheard them?" Angela pointed out.
Ezra shook her head, prompting Cyrus to speak, "it's already overgrown. The plants regrow rapidly, even if you cut them down. It's how the forest survived multiple demon wars."
"The forest can do that?" Angela asked.
"The forest is affected by the red moon, same as animals. Some plants will attack and devour anything." Cyrus explained.
"It's an enchanted forest of death," Ezra added.
"Don't worry, if I lead the way, we'll surely find the gnolls," Angela stated proudly and marched into the forest.
Cyrus was about to protest, but Ezra stopped him. "don't bother. She has some innate gift of never getting lost, so she'll get us there somehow," Ezra sighed.
"She must have insanely good luck," Cyrus joked.
"Ezra's face scrunched up as she followed Angela. "Try saying that if we survive this quest." Cyrus gave a bewildered look before remembering how they met in an ogre cave.
With Angela leading the way, she cut through the plants in her way with the claymore until coming upon a couple of goblin carcasses. The vines had already grown over parts of them as if the roots were drinking the blood like water. Their bodies were ripped to pieces as the remains were already rotting away.
"Something is off about the bodies. Gnolls are scavengers and would eat a creature, bones and all." Cyrus noted.
"So something prevented them from eating these goblins?" Ezra asked.
Cyrus nodded and looked over to Angela. "Any thoughts?"
"Maybe these goblins weren't food? I mean, it looks like some of them had a bite taken out but, what if the gnolls weren't hungry," Angela stated.
"So the goblins stepped into their territory, if that's true, then we're nearing their den," Ezra spoke.
Angela led the group further, coming upon a desolate clearing. With no vegetation in the way, the sun shone down on the dirt as small white spikes littered across the ground. The group slowly stepped into the clearing glancing down, careful not to step on the white protruding objects.
"What are those?" Angela questioned, starring at one of the white things poking up from the ground.
Cyrus bent down to get a closer look, "I think their bones," He answered, rubbing his finger along it.
"Bones, what kind of creature died here to make this part of the forest so desolate?" Angela asked, and as the group analyzed the bones, a high-pitched cry echoed through the forest.
Stepping out from the other side of the clearing was a herd of gnolls wielding old and discarded weapons. The gnolls had brown fur with scarps of leather covering various parts of their bodies. Some weren't lucky enough to scavenge any equipment, relying on their claws and fangs, while others had slings to hurl rocks. Each one had bared their fangs at the party, growling at the trespassers.
The leader of the gnolls stepped out from the forest, being a head taller than the other gnolls and dragged a bone larger than its own body. It had dark gray fur and wore metal overtop the leather armour, letting out the loud cry from earlier.
"If we kill the leader, I bet the rest will scatter. You two cover me, I'll handle it," Angela declared, unsheathing her rapier.
"You sure? I could deal with it a lot quicker," Cyrus pointed out.
"I know you beat me in a duel and could easily handle it, but I'm the party leader, and I want to fight it," Angela grinned eagerly.