Rebecca fired at the gremlin archer, but it hid behind the doorway and the magical homing projectile hit the wall. Some growling came from outside. It sounded like taunting to Sean, but maybe he was reading into it. He wanted to chase the creatures, but the arrow in his leg would pose a problem. He tried to hide behind his shield, but it wasn't large enough to protect both his legs and torso – he chose the latter.
"Emma, can you quickly pull that arrow out and heal me?" he suggested.
"Why don't you just do it yourself," she replied, very unhelpfully.
He exhaled tiredly and pointed out, "I can't heal– Come on, didn't you want to be a surgeon?"
There was a moment of silence, and Sean didn't need to look back to picture the scorn on Emma's face. She calmly commented, "F**k you."
He glanced at the Arcanist. She was standing right next to him, staring at the open back door. He started, "Rebecca, could you–"
"One moment – I'll hit it with another spell," she interrupted, her tone completely serious.
Sean looked ahead: the doorway was still empty, but gremlins chittered outside. He couldn't tell how many of them there were, but it couldn't be more than three or four – otherwise they would've charged… presumably? But he was growing frustrated, so he put the shield aside and leaned down. He clenched his teeth and pulled the arrow out. It hurt… way more than the previous two times.
He threw the arrow away and picked up his shield. The door was clear, so he glanced back to ask for healing again – but Emma had seemingly done it unprompted: the pain was gone, and his leg felt fine… other than the stickiness from minor bleeding. He nodded to her and she rolled her eyes.
But he was ready and advanced to the exit. Rebecca stayed right behind him and reached forward with her wand when the gremlin archer peered in again. This time a lightning bolt erupted from the elaborate wooden stick and hit the creature in an instant with a loud crackle. That was different. Sean stopped abruptly, and the Arcanist rested her hand on his shoulder.
"New spell, got it on level seven!" she chirped.
He began, "Next time, a little warning would be–"
"Sorry! Wasn't sure if it would work!" she broke in.
He nodded and leaped ahead to catch the gremlins. The archer had already hidden behind the wall, but it was badly burnt from the spell. Another aimed a short bow at Sean as he peered out – he swung at it first. Blunt Blow made quick work of the beast before it was even able to draw. He glanced around, but the courtyard was otherwise clear of gremlins, so he followed with a quick strike to finish the electrocuted enemy off… and another swing to make sure the other one was dead.
Sean then focused on a problem he saw to the side: blood, red, and a lot of it. And splattered across the ground and the wall in two places. He was used to the black ooze, but this came from humans – players? He had lost quite a bit himself in the gargoyle fight, and the first encounter with gremlins was rather tough. But not like this! And the bodies were nowhere to be found… There were some viscera left, so he assumed there might've been player deaths recently – had their comrades carried the bodies back to safety?
"Just these two? All done then!" Rebecca chirped from the doorway, standing next to him and leaning out to take a look.
"Not so fast, let's head back for a bit," Sean instructed.
"What?" the Arcanist started. "But what about the gargoyles? We just got here, so why would we–"
"Inside, now!" he insisted, realizing that maybe she was a ditz after all. Rebecca opened her eyes wide, but promptly turned around. He took one last look at all the blood, and it occurred to him that gremlins probably couldn't make that sort of mess: not without going out of their way to dismember the bodies. But a stone gargoyle might easily cause that during a fight.
They stopped just inside and Sean closed the door behind him. The Healer was scrolling, so he suggested, "Let's focus for a moment. Emma – put your phone away, please. Actually, could you take a quick look outside and tell us if that amount of blood loss is at all survivable?"
"What am I, some kind of forensic expert?" she complained. "And I don't know gremlin physiology, so how would I know anything about–"
"That was red blood," Rebecca cut in.
He nodded and explained, "Exactly, presumably human – and a lot of it. Try to reason from what you learned. They still taught that in college, didn't they? The reasoning skills?"
Emma sighed, then approached the door without a word and peered outside. Sean climbed the stairs to make sure it was clear – and it seemed so. Deeper in the hallway, there was another staircase leading up one flight, which he didn't check – but everything was quiet. He walked downstairs and sheathed his sword.
The Healer closed the door and remarked, "No way anybody could survive– Unless healing was involved, but no idea how any of this works."
For a second, Sean wanted to tease her about how a Healer should know these things… Instead, he chose to focus on their situation. "Well, fair." He speculated, "But I'm thinking a gargoyle might've ambushed somebody, or a party. So there might be something waiting outside. One or more… but hopefully just one."
"Are they that tough?" Rebecca asked.
"Yes, very much so," he insisted. "Not instakill-level, but very tough – so let's not screw anything up, and retreat back here if there's too much trouble. I'll try to kite it around the courtyard, so just keep nuking it from the doorway and we'll see how it goes. Questions?"
"But it doesn't make sense – ambushed who?" Emma objected.
Sean wanted to say that it didn't matter who it had been, but suddenly realized: "I think it might've been the Swedes."
Emma frowned, but Rebecca was clearly confused – the Arcanist asked, "But what do you mean– What Swedes, how did they get ambushed in a wide open–"
"I don't know how, but we met them earlier," Sean cut her off. "Nobody else knew about this place, and they weren't the strongest bunch. I don't think they would risk an impossible encounter – so I'm guessing some kind of ambush or a chase. The gargoyles can probably fly pretty fast."
"But if they died, then where are the bodies?" Emma argued.
He nodded and commented, "Also no idea, but do you have a better explanation?" A short pause. "Maybe they just got wounded and retreated, or maybe somebody else stumbled in here… Who knows – gremlins might've caught somebody too, but there weren't any of them in the courtyard, so…"
"Other than the two archers," Rebecca added after a moment of silence.
"Yes, but arrows don't make corpses disappear," Sean remarked and shrugged. "I guess there's not much we can figure out in here. But what's the relationship between gremlins and gargoyles? Wait, actually…" Sean paused to consider it and asked, "Rebecca, you've been doing this event for a while now: did you learn what's going on? What's that docked ship – have gremlins sailed on it to pillage like some monster version of Vikings? They sure are scavenging a lot! Or even where did they come from – have you heard anything?"
The Arcanist glanced at Emma, then admitted, "Right, not really, no. We talked about general game stuff mostly, and the entrance was already being camped by the time we got there, so–"
"Didn't the queue folks mention storming the ship?" Emma interjected.
"No, that was about the players trying it… I think?" Sean countered.
"But they said the gremlins are spawning on the ship," Emma reminded.
He nodded and speculated, "Well, good point." He turned to Rebecca and added, "But you mentioned they were summoning the gargoyles – so do these things cooperate with gremlins or– The one in the warehouse seemed to be waiting to ambush any intruders, but I don't know…" Sean trailed off and remembered the gremlin chanting in the warehouse – then the second gargoyle following the gremlins into the room… Could they be waiting in the courtyard for an ambush?
He looked at the door and considered their situation. There was no way to be sure without going out there, and it would be risky regardless – for all he knew, more archers could be camping the rooftop above them! But he didn't want to back out either…
Neither caster had anything else to add, so he finally decided: "Questions for another time, I suppose. I'll take a quick look outside, but be ready to bail. If there's really a gargoyle waiting for an ambush, and it's able to fly – then it may chase us into the alley, so don't run away too far yet, okay?"
Both Rebecca and Emma nodded at this – the latter finally pocketed her phone.
Sean ventured a few steps outside, holding the shield and sword at the ready. It was quiet, almost like when they got ambushed in that storeroom. He looked around: the ground level was all clear, but when he checked the facades and finally the rooftops – there it was: an ugly stone monstrosity pretending to be a statue in the corner of the courtyard and neatly blending into the architecture. Not far from where the blood was, so clearly connected.
He glanced at the doorway, and the casters were watching him. Sean pointed at the beast but then realized they wouldn't be able to see the gargoyle from that angle – the buildings were blocking the view. So he headed back inside and explained the situation and the battle plan: if this specimen behaved anything like the first one, then it would aggro on whoever attacked it last – so they should time their spells with his strikes, and the creature would stay focused on him. He asked Emma to prioritize healing him whenever he might get hurt, and the Arcanist to give him time to recover for the next strike. Common sense stuff.
Rebecca suggested luring the gargoyle into the hallway, but Sean reiterated his earlier plan: better to fight in an open area for more flexibility, and retreat inside as a fallback option – should anything go wrong.
They agreed on it, and he went outside again. Quick check first: no new gremlins, stone statue in the old spot. Its skin glistened even more outdoors – despite the dim daylight: the cloud cover and the late afternoon hour. He figured the sword wouldn't be much use against the stone, and he didn't want to ruin the blade, so he swapped it for an axe – but not dual-wielding, as the shield might also come in handy, and he only needed one weapon for aggro.
The gargoyle was stubbornly pretending to be decoration, so he threw a stone at it, missed, then another one – ample supply of debris in the abandoned courtyard – and the monster finally moved. It actually leaped off the edge of a roof and glided toward him, but Sean was ready for pretty much anything by then, or so he thought – and he dodged its landing strike. This specimen was much better-formed than the one in the warehouse – the latter must've been a prototype. A magic attack struck at the monstrosity's side, then two more in quick succession.
The gargoyle turned to the casters, and Sean wasted no time: he struck at it with the axe to keep its attention on him – and it worked. Except the swipes of its heavy paws weren't very pleasant. He blocked with his shield, but the sharp claws cracked the wood and even hurt his arm. Splinters flew off, so he backed away and the beast followed. More spells came from the side, and another axe strike just to keep its focus on him.
The fight continued in an orderly manner for a while. Evading its attacks meant less wear on the shield, though it was very useful as a backup. It took a lot of running around, and he still took a couple of hits: one on his shoulder, when the monstrosity lurched at him faster than he had assumed it would, and another across his torso – when it went for a charge with a follow-up strike. His armor held the first one, and Emma healed the second.
But after six or seven rounds of this – he lost count – he was fairly proficient at this loop: casters sending spells to deal damage, axe swing to keep the gargoyle on him, then dodging and kiting around until cooldowns cleared. Suddenly the monster started charging at him like a bull. Sean tried to jump aside, but tripped on some debris – and the beast hit him on the helmet, hard. He got dizzy and collapsed on the ground, then the monstrosity turned away. He got up and collected himself – he spotted the gargoyle was now charging at the doorway, so they must've distracted it away from him.
But that meant they'd be defenseless against it… He grabbed the other axe from his waist and threw it after the gargoyle without thinking – it struck with the handle, but it worked and attracted the beast to him again.
Sean had a moment to examine the monster from a few steps away: it was already crumbling from the relentless magic assault. The barrage of ranged attacks made kiting it easy as the gargoyle kept getting distracted, but he had to be completely focused on the process. From a distance, it was clear that the beast was badly hurt: large chunks of its torso missing, a back leg cracked in places, and one of its folded wings damaged from a spell.
A couple of magic projectiles landed, and the gargoyle stopped in its tracks, then turned away. Sean noticed that it wasn't going for the casters this time, but deeper into the courtyard. He realized it was trying to flee! He had dropped his axe and shield after getting hit on the head, and no time now to pick them up – so he jumped on its back and ripped off a big chunk of the damaged wing with his gloved hands instead.
The monster reared wildly and threw him off its back, but the wounded hind leg broke with a loud crack. Sean jumped to his feet, ready to dodge or charge – whatever was needed. The gargoyle tried to take flight. It leaped off on the three remaining legs and lost its balance mid-air, falling down clumsily.
Two more projectiles hit it on the ground, and Sean used the moment to pick up his gear. His shield was cracked all over, but it would have to hold for now. The stone monstrosity recovered quickly and turned to the casters. Sean moved to aggro it again – but another Arcanist spell finished it off.
Sean took a few deep breaths and looked around: no new threats to be seen. He was tired – but he had paced himself with his attacks, and hadn't even used any skills throughout the gargoyle fight. Just regular strikes seemed to aggro the dumb foe. He finally turned to face his party at the doorway.
"Wow, that was amazing!" Rebecca exclaimed.
Emma rolled her eyes, already reaching for her phone.