Chapter 4: Gnoll Your Enemy

Summary
After returning with Memoria safely, the Deputies decided that the gnoll problem was getting too large to ignore. Thus, they accepted the gnoll suppression bounty, with strict yet extremely vague instructions to "Handle it".

Of course, one does not simply siege an occupied fort without any sort of planning, which the party set out to do in earnest. They came to the city of Little Los Angeles, where they soon learned of mysterious crystals appearing in the surrounding countryside. Hoping to learn more about this and hinder the local gnolls at the same time, the Deputies raided a gnoll mining operation, killing the leader and seizing a cache of crystals seemingly infused with elemental ice.

During the days of preparation that followed, many new friends were made. A zombie girl named Kit who led a horde of passive undead came to town, recruiting blue individuals for her new faction, including a swamp witch named Narra, as well as the blue mage Azure Belle. In addition, Marta's brother Zeek joined the party to facilitate his search for some missing artifacts. With new allies made and all the information they could gather, they eventually set out to the fortress to launch a nighttime attack, although they ended up using an oncoming zombie siege as cover to slip through a secret entrance instead. Finding themselves in a large storeroom filled with fire crystals, they fought many gnolls and even a hill giant. As the battle raged outside, and with many potential threats before them, they decided to take a more pragmatic option instead. By detonating the fire crystals in the storeroom, they levelled the entire fortress; zombies, gnolls, and most of the bluff the fortress was built into were incinerated in an instant.

Satisfied with the completion of their mission and tired from the journey, the deputies headed back to Stanshome.