22 Nobody gnolls the trouble...

I traveled back through the town portal and arrived at the beginner village I was originally assigned. I used the 50 silver I still had at the general store to buy supplies I would need.

10xbasic healing potions(recovers 60 hp) 15 second cooldown.

10xLoaf of bread(Recovers 3hp/3 stamina every second for 10 seconds, must be out of combat. ).

I had decided to forgo doing quests from the village entirely. I would lose out on a little bonus experience but I would get to fight who I wanted and not waste time going back and forth.

I exited the village and set off towards the woodland area to the southeast. The village was surrounded by a flat plain, used for farmland. New players of every sort imaginable were in this farmland area fighting rats and another level 0 pest like monsters. The mayor gives out quests to clear the farmland of such creatures. This was where most players began, but I had a different plan. The rats only gave 1 experience, so I would have to kill thousands just to level up once. No thank you.

I entered the edge of the treeline and felt exhilarated. I was finally able to venture out and fully explore to my heart's content. I had been looking forward to this moment for so long that I almost didn't know what to do with myself.

The trees were sparse and plenty of light still shone through the branches. I needed to avoid the coyotes in this area, for my target location was on the other side. I heard the yapping of a group of coyotes about 50ft in front of me, though I couldn't see them. They were hard to kill because they traveled in large groups of ten to twelve.

I made a detour and circled them. Thankfully I slipped by without being detected.

Over the next ten minutes, I ran into two more groups of coyotes which I had to avoid. I succeeded and a minute later I had reached the edge of the forest.

I peered out of the forest and saw that I was indeed in the right place. Before me was a large Gnoll encampment. These humanoids were slightly taller than a human with gray skin, a furry body, and a head like a hyena's. . Most of them had dirty yellow or reddish-brown fur and brown manes. Gnolls are selfish, evil creatures that typically think with their stomachs.

This encampment was made up of around 40-50 gnolls, each spread out in groups of 4-5. They had primitive tents set up, and each group had a campfire going. The camps all looked identical, with bones lying all over the floor and a few logs for the gnolls to sit on. They each gathered around a big pot that was placed over the fire for cooking.

I saw a group of three players nearby, right outside of the forest. They were arguing about how to proceed. They were loud, and it was easy to understand what was going on.

This place is a nightmare to level at if you don't know what you're doing.

The group had a decent composition, a mage, a warrior, and a cleric.

I smiled and laughed to myself.

I had watched a ton of videos about this place. The major problem is that when you pull one camp, the entire encampment will get pulled and wipe the team. Most people at this level, either don't know how to pull or have no ranged properties to pull correctly.

There was one man I had watched, who soloed here for a while and I learned the trick. Thankfully his video wasn't that popular or else this place would be swarming with players. I only saw the group of three players at the moment so I pretty much had the place to myself.

In this particular circumstance, timing and location was everything. I scanned the treeline for the spot, and after a moment I found it. On the edge of the encampment was a stack of three boulders, each 5 ft tall. I climbed on top of the rocks and looked down on the gnoll camp. Waiting, I watched for a certain gnoll to pass within my range. This gnoll was the true reason why this place was an impossible place to level.

The only thing different about him is his mane, which is silvery red instead of reddish-brown. He is known as a gnoll scout and will wander between the different camps. There are five of them, each with an hour-long re-spawn time. The rest of the encampment has a 15 minute respawn. You have to take out the five scouts, or they will run and gather the entire encampment.

I grabbed a rock and prepared my attack as I saw the scout appear.