Chapter 18: A new challenger.

Daybreak soared over the peaks of Manda, its sunny light brightening the darkness veiled over the humble city. The party had left earlier to the ruins of Azawe, a spot that had become much too familiar to the group already. In the past few weeks, they have equipped themselves with newer arms and armor.

Kadungon attained a new sword, a thick, and large warblade, forged with Zanziyin steel which was reputed to be the best quality steel in the republic, and perhaps all over the empire itself. It was a new acquisition, he bought it yesterday from a Zanziyin blacksmith, who's name is Kurikos, whom the group has been well acquainted with for quite a while.. Alongside the purchase, he received an Attic helmet for free, which it was passed to Diacrao, who badly needed some helmet after a few close encounters made it clear that he clearly needed a helmet.

It too was forged with the aforementioned steel, and its crafty aesthetic bears unique reliefs, inscribed with foreign and local inscriptions that he was unsure of. Kurikos told that it was a personal request from a foreign noble, hailing from the distant lands of Magrakeia. The duo wasn't too sure about the land in question, and when prompted about this distant land, Kurikos only mentioned that it was a distant land in the north, it had a giant Basicila, and his client was a rich merchant who hailed from the coasts of Magrakeia. Unfortunately, the client who commissioned the craft had not returned as promised. Whatever the reason was, the client has yet to return after two years, in which Kurikos had consistently maintained the helmet. Seeing as he won't be returning anytime soon, he gave the helmet, for free, to the swordsman. 

Despite its steel exterior, it was fitted with padding to ensure comfort for the wearer. The young swordsman tried on the helmet. Sure it needed some adjustment, but it fit his head quite well, and it was comfortable. He needed the padding considering that the heat could make the helmet a dreadful item to wear.

As for the others, such as Aitana, she spent her coin on new spells and mana recovery. She didn't find the need to invest in any new equipment yet. Maybe she would need to change her battle fashion, but as someone who does not take on the frontline role, she found armor to be redundant and decided to focus on support spells to help improve her support ability.

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The group left early. Light shone around the darkened ruins, distant howls heard from the city, signaling that the gnolls were changing their posts and rotated their guard shifts while others rested. The activities and schedules of the gnolls has been noted by the party. While it wasn't constant and always was a subject to arbitrary changes, the current schedule has remained consistent for a period of time.

Months of constant warfare and information gathering have made them experienced soldiers in the ruins of Azawe, capable of adapting and developing guerilla and "dirty" tactics against the city gnolls, who utilised similar tactics. In the past, the group always held on their morality and often fought in an organized manner, never stooping low to dirty tactics. But to survive the ruins of Azawe, the group did not forego their morality entirely, but did not hesitate to stoop low and resort to dirty fighting and guerilla tactics against the enemies. It was after all, the advice of veterans who trudge through the city and their personal experience that led them to thrive through the city, with these tactics.

From what they could gather, the ruined city was split into three separate districts. The Ruined district, where the party usually hunt in, and it covers a considerably sizable part of the city, is a place where warlike gnolls often dwell. In this part of the district, the gnoll's often work in independent war parties and take no order from any central authority, with the exception of higher ranked gnoll's who resided in the other districts. Often times, the gnoll's are arbitrarily equipped with patchwork of armors, though their weapons are often of high quality, being reused and looted equipments from the old armories of the defunct Azawe guard. This part of the district is heavily militarized, as evident from the traps, patrolling war parties and constant skirmishes with outside adventurers and the Mkasi Expeditionary Forces, which means there is little to no civilians present in this areas. The few that do exist, are gnoll scrap traders and blacksmiths, often independent and neutral, who offer their services to adventurers and gnolls alike, as long as they have the coin.

The commoner's district was the second district within their administrative division, and as it's name states, is an area where common gnoll's live as encompass quite a decent portion of the city. In comparison to the militarized ruins, the common area, while still in ruins, was fairly decent. The gnoll's were more organized and better equipped in this area, though smaller in numbers. Meanwhile, there exist a class of merchants and farmers in this district that dominates both trade and social aspects, and unlike their warlike brethren, are more open to trade with Humans who reach in these parts, but the result may vary, and it may not end very well in some cases. It is said that the gnoll's in these region have begun a few small projects, such as restorations of old public works or the renovation of homesteads, to name a few. The party has managed to cover a small section of the district, however, they retreated from the interior upon the sight of the better armored gnolls.

The last district was the Noble's district. It is indicated by it's pristine architecture, beautiful garden and functioning public works, as if it was still intact, a stark view from it's ruins that jot it's view. It's a small district, but as the name states, it is the home to the Gnoll Nobility of this city. The party has not been there, but word from a gnoll blacksmith who has been there mentioned that the culture of the nobles is a far cry from their subjects. Adopting the customs of the former occupants, they shower themselves with philosophies and materials of the Zanziyin people's, fluent in the tongue of their former enemy. They are disconnected from the rest of their subjects, confined in their own bubble while they innovate new ideas in their cultural renaissance, but their ignorance and confinement lead to the rise of regional warlords in the Ruined district who might be occupied by the Zanziyin and adventurer warbands, but it would be a matter of time before they turn their eyes to the Nobility and seize their power.

In recent times, adventurer and local war parties have made daring incursions into the ruins of Azawe, leading to increased skirmishes and battles across the various sectors of the city. This didn't necessarily meant a good thing, for the veterans, as this led to the increased presence of security among the ranks, implementation of newer defensive tactics, and more traps being placed around the city. To say the group wasn't having a hard time would be an understatement. Just as they thought they were trudging on calm waves, a gust of change shook the seas.

Our group treaded carefully into the city's interior, crossing through the ruins with much caution, their eyes darting around every corners, especially the floors, hoping to not stumble on the dreaded bear traps. As they walked, they made it to a town square. It was deserted, but only a fool would walk into the quiet, open square, surrounded by ruined buildings. Choosing the alternative, they crossed through the ruins, as the sun risen, it's rays piercing through the opened windows and the cracks of the ruined structures.

As per their usual formation, Conrad took the front lead, while Kadungon covered the back. The rogue cleared the path and along the way, disabled a few simple, crude traps, preferring to keep them instead of disposing them. It was calm, and quiet, up until when the rogue was ambushed by a lurking gnoll who broke through the door from a room. 

The gnoll threw itself as it attempted to slash the rogue with his saber, but the rogue was quick to dodge the slash, leading the beast to clash it's blade with the wooden ground, it's blade now stuck with the surface. The Swordsman was quick to react by kicking the gnoll away from it's blade, and the rouge, brandishing his new, black iron dagger, grappled the gnoll from the back, and stabbed it's vital point on it's neck, ending the life of the beast as it's body dropped onto the ground when the rouge released it.

"Close one. That rusty saber don't seem like it's worth much anyways." Diacrao remarked at the fallen blade, inspecting rust on the saber, clearly a neglect on the owner's part.

"Uhh hello? I was almost gnoll grub and all you care is that stupid blade! Where's your emotions man??" Conrad called out the swordman's cold hearted response out.

"Relax, you handled it pretty well, and you're still here, standing and nagging, so I don't need to worry about your ass much." Diacrao replied with a tone of jest.

The rogue just scoffed at the response, meanwhile the rest of the group scanned and checked around the corridors, luckily, the gnoll was acting alone, and it seemed like there was nothing worth to loot from the beast anyways. Seeing as the coast is clear, they got back into formation and crossed through the ruins, up until they reached a street. There was no where else to creep into or cross, so the best way was to head through the streets.

From the distance, they saw a warband of gnolls crossing through the streets, they seem to be in a hurry and had not notice the Human war party that was opened on the street. It was a good thing for Aitana and the rest of the party though, it saved them the trouble of fighting a numerically superior force. The sound of battle could be heard in the distance, perhaps, it was a human war party that needs help. 

With caution, the group advanced through the empty streets, their eyes focused on the opened ruins and windows that harkened over them. As they proceeded through the street, the encountered no gnolls who camped within the upper stories. As they made it through a street junction, they encountered no enemies in the open.

It was quite odd that they have not clashed their steel with any gnoll parties, aside from the earlier gnoll that had attempted to ambush them. With the news of a new militarized force occupying the ruined district, it was empty for sure.

Conrad was disappointed, and let out a sigh of disappointment to let his party know that he was expecting some conflict, but Chiasoka, the mage, mentioned that she sensed an odd, foreign energy that lurks within the ruins ahead.

Chiasoka had spent her money to learn a new passive ability known as spiritual energy. The ability is in it's infancy, but it provides mages with an ability to sense a spiritual pressure of any magic casters within a radius of 250 m. However, as she isn't experienced yet, she could not determine the where, and how strong this spiritual pressure is, but she knows, that it's close.

"I feel.....an entity nearby us, but I can't tell where." She informed the party. In their experience, they had not faced an opponent who was capable of conjuring magic, so this was their first opponent. Due to her inability to judge, they assumed that it could be a Gnoll Caster, hiding in the ruins.

Had the beast seen them? No, perhaps it could be sleeping, it could have not sensed the group at all, especially with their discreet movement. Aitana assessed the situation and believed, it was best they left the unknown caster alone. It would be more dangerous to hunt this caster and possibly encounter a deadly situation that might not be ideal for everyone in question.

Diacrao and Conrad personally felt the otherway, but they did not object. Agreeing to the statement, they moved on, slowly as they maintained stealth in their movement.

"It's not nice to leave without saying Hello." An unknown voice echoed through the streets, speaking in the Zanziyin tongue, startling the group as they drawed out their weapons, arranging themselves with a battle ready stance as they scanned around their surroundings.

A figure jumped out from nowhere, and stomped on the ground as it landed, seizing the attention of the party. It was an armored individual, from head to toe, donning an Arab styled-armor as it's face was covered with an iron plate, perhaps for the better or the worse. It's armor wasn't the only thing that stood out from the unknown foreigner, but rather, it's blue fiery eyes that shone brightly, followed by a emission of light blue smoke that sipped out of it's armor.

"I have been waiting to meet a human party. Did I say I ? I mean, We have been waiting to meet you." The unknown armored individual spoke with a weird, visceral and ethereal presence in it's tone in the Zanziyin tongue, but it's words was articulate. What followed by was two humanoid figures appeared, one was covered in full Bedouin clothing, while the other donned a Light armored Arab-Styled equipment, both of their faces, were covered too, as their eyes glowed in bright blue. 

"What....are you." The horrified priestess asked.

"The last face your eyes will lay on this world." The armored figure taunted, as it charged with it's comrades towards the group formation.

"Quick, split into a pair of two before we become diced meat!" Aitana hurled her orders, as the group broke up into a pair of two. The priestess and the swordsman evaded the swift attack and found themselves behind of the armored leader. The swordsman braced his blade, as the priestess unleashed her staff. 

The humanoid creature turned its attention to the duo, and grunted. It was armed with a mace, finely crafted in dark steel and decorated with golden runes etched on it's hammer. It bore no shield, but it's armor served as a compensation for it's absence of shield.

The creature and the Swordsman charged against each other as they were about to clash their weapons, the swordsman's eyes focused on the beast, while Aitana stood back. Just as his blade was about to clash with the mace of his enemy, the maceman tilted it's body and maneuvered behind of the swordsman, much to his shock which disrupted his composure. It was a cheap move, but it worked to the maceman's favor, attempting to strike Diacrao's back with it's mace.

Diacrao dodged the strike, but he was kicked on the stomach, followed by a slap, then a strike on the helmet by the mace, finished by another kick that sent him back to Aitana.

"Dia!!" the priestess yelled as she rushed to the swordsman's aid, but much to both of their surprise, Diacrao's head was still in one piece, and the helmet did not suffer from a dent. The swordsman was not afflicted by the bludgeoning strike from the maceman on his head, though, his stomach still hurts from the kick.

"I am okay. Huh, that blacksmith wasn't weaseling about this helmet, I'd be smashed potatoes If I didn't have a helmet of this quality." He said to Aitana, who assisted him to get on his feet, as he struggled to manage through the pain surging from his abdomen.

"Let me heal you-"

"No, It's nothing serious, let's teach this walking scrap a lesson first." He said as he got up on his feet, bracing his sword as he stood in front of Aitana, facing their opponent, once again.

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A lance scraped off Kadungon's leather armguard, forcing him back as he parried off the lance from his sight, only to be met with the same strike, with a different direction each time. This foe may be lightly armored with just white Bedouin cloth, but it was the biggest among them, standing a feet taller than Kadungon himself, and carried a long, Quntariya lance that gave a safe distance to attack between itself and the warrior, much to the warrior's annoyance.

"Awa Zane Heiro!" A few bright energy balls was shot from the direction of the mage as it striked the lancer, pushing it as it fell on it's back. Kadungon, having been liberated from the exhausting attacks, took some time to take a breather.

"Is he dead?" The mage, curious, asked.

"Not quite." The lancer replied, getting back up on it's feat, rubbing the dust at it's shoulders as a sign of mockery to the mage. "You need to do better than than, whelp." It said as it kicked it's lance back up from the ground, striking once again in it's renewed attack, this time it was filled with much vigour and rage as it attempted to attack the mage, instead of the warrior this time. 

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Conrad and Zemfina was having a rather easy time with their foe. The lightly armored enemy was not the most agile nor were they quite a threat against the Huntress and the Rogue who was able to use their speed to much of their advantage. It was clumsily swinging it's blade, and had no sense of coordination at all, to which the duo was able to exploit.

Zemfina employed a hit-and-run tactic against the foe, shooting towards it's least armored spots, chiefly it's legs, to cripple it's movements, meanwhile, Conrad distract the humanoid creature and dodge it's sloppy strike, which wasn't much of a stressful situation for a person like himself.

The attack was effective in slowing down the creature's movements, becoming sloppier to each moment's passing. Seeing that there was an opportunity to end this, Conrad was quick to take the opportunity.

"Let's wrap this up, scallywag." He grappled the creature from behind, locking it's hands movement, as Zemfina shot it's ankle, forcing it to its knees, as the rogue plunged his dagger into the neck of the creature. It's blue eyes faded, and it's now lifeless body slumped on the ground upon it's release by the rogue. 

"And you'reeee out!!" He yelled with much joy.

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Diacrao smashed the butt of his sword on the face of his oppenent as Aitana followed it with a bash on it's back, shoving the creature back, dazed from the strikes. It grunted with rage, but still somehow retained it's composure. All of a sudden, the unknown creature was afflicted with a fit, it's blue eyes grew brightly as it's body shook violently.

The sight of the incident terrified the priestess and the swordsman, who took a few steps back from the scene. However, it lasted only a short while, and a blue smoke released from it's body. It's blue eyes have been bright, but this time, it was brighter. It's head turned to the direction of Conrad and Zemfina, and quickly it charged towards the rogue first.

The rogue was able to anticipate the charge and dodge it's mace swing, but he was grabbed on the neck and tossed to a wooden table, where he crashed and had his leg penetrated by a sharp wooden stick. Zemfina shot the creature, but it wasn't able to faze it's attention, as it walked towards the wounded rogue. As her arrows had no use, she switched to melee by pulling out her short machete knife and charged towards the creature.

"I'll have fun trying to break your bones." The armored maceman said as it approached the wounded rogue, but it's back was stabbed by the swordsman, followed by a slash on it's armor by Zemfina.

"I hate being annoyed." It said as it gave a hard kick to Diacrao from behind and swinged it's mace at the huntress' direction, prompting her to dodge to a safer distance. "Kids these days have no manners, hmph." It said as it grabbed the rogue by the neck.

It's hands was bashed by Aitana's staff, followed by another bash on it's head, but again, it did little to hurt or faze the maceman, who tightened its grip on the rogue's neck. The slow asphyxiation had stirred a face of horror and pain for the rogue, his face slowly becoming blue as energies from the unknown creature slowly sipped into his skin.

Kadungon and Chiasoka was occupied by the lancer's agile and unrelenting attacks, both of them had suffered a few scars and wounds as the tiredness was starting to creep into their body and movements, while their opponent was still full of vigor and morale. Diacrao crashed on the street, spitting out blood as he felt his inner body was smashed by a hard heap of iron.

Just as hope seemed bleak, an arrow bolt penetrated through the hand of the maceman. It screamed in pain as it let go of Conrad. "OUUUUUUUUCHHHHHHH", it yelled in agony as it held it's arm. It startled everyone in the group, including it's comrade who abandoned the fight and rushed to it's aid.

"Is that...a Bronze arrow bolt!?!?!" It's comrade commented with much fear in it's tone. A distance howl was heard and from the rubbles appeared a few gnolls, perhaps a dozen, armed with an assortment of arms and armor, charging in the direction of the combatants.

"Forget the Human whelps! I want those gnolls dead!!!!!" The maceman ordered his comrade with much rage as it grabbed it's mace and charged towards the direction of the gnoll's with it's living comrade, leaving the exhausted party by themselves. 

"Quick, we should get out of here before we become the next target in mind!" (Zemfina).

"But Conrad is wounded, we can't just leave him over here." (Chiasoka).

"I can heal him-" (Aitana).

"No time for that, he's too tired to move, we need to carry him." (Diacrao).

"Carry him? Who's gonna do that???" (Aitana).

"Um, I will do it..." (Kadungon).

"Are you sure you will be alright?" (Aitana).

"Yes I will, well hopefully.."(Kadungon).

"Thanks, I'll treat you some nice beer once we're back, Kadu." ( Diacrao).

Kadungon carried the semi-concious rogue on his back, and the party, despite their exhaustion, were motivated to get out from the area before the situation becomes less than ideal for them. The unknown blue eyed creatures are occupied with the gnoll war party, and seeing that this was the perfect opportunity, the dash away from the conflict, and later, made their way to the exit as they trudged through the same path they had taken.