Their hopes of a peaceful night are entirely in vain. No more than two hours pass before the first Ogre patrol finds sign of their passage and comes looking for them. Then another, and another.
The first few are no more than a scout patrol, ten strong with a fast runner to report back and an Ogre mage for support. The guards on duty take care of them in seconds, but that just adds the smell of dead Ogre to the area, attracting more attention. What the Guilds didn't realize when they picked this spot was that they were already well behind the Ogre front lines, having inadvertently slipped through a gap in their border patrols.
"Mork, wake up the Summoner, we could use some backup on this one." One of the Orcs calls out as a fresh group of Ogres come crashing through the trees. These ones are over level 80, much stronger than most of the Ogre patrols they've faced.
"Don't worry, we've got a solution." The Cleric Alina calls back. Her and Lickity are both on duty right now, so they decided to form a two person group. The idea being that if they get in trouble, they can simply Summon some demons with the Guild's [Demon Army] Skill.
Alina calls forth the Lesser Blighted Paladins and the eighteen heavily armored, pustulent demons form ranks in front of her.
"That Guild Skill has to be the greatest thing ever." She laughs, Calling the demons takes much of the stress off of the few tanks that are on duty right now.
"Wait, anyone in the Guild can Summon up a dozen Demons? What sort of insanity is that?" Morgan calls out, casting a barrage of Flaming Orbs into the Ogres.
"We were all together doing a group quest and things got out of hand. The Quest gave the Guild this skill as a reward for perfect completion. What's even better is they last until they're killed. We don't even have to worry about being left alone with the skill on cool down as long as I keep up the healing." Alina explains.
With the Blighted Paladins on the front lines, Lickity is able to go all out with her extra strength basic attack. She might not have much variety in her skills, but that one particular Arc of energy is completely Maxed out, with every possible enhancement added. Even her gear has all been carefully tailored to compliment her single minded style.
By morning it is clear that they've attracted the attention of a full sized Ogre raiding force. They've killed nearly a hundred scouts already, and they're still seeing signs of more.
"We should get to a more defensible spot. Hiding isn't working, and we need to clean up the Ogre infestation anyhow." Cain suggests, and Ghaz Senior takes out a hand drawn map.
"How about here by the river? It leaves us on a plateau with a vertical cliff behind us, so they won't be coming that way, and the easiest route for them to move a large force will be through the river valley, where we can attack down at them." Ghaz points to the various locations indicated and the group nods along.
"Sounds like the best plan we have. Let's get up on to the plateau and I'll call out the main force of the Summons. That should be enough to hold them in the valley while the rest of us attack from the high ground." Cain agrees.
They've only just finished packing up to move when Elmira sounds the alarm "Incoming, roughly 200 Ogres in a detachment, they'll be here in five minutes from the west." At least that all lets them retreat in the direction they want, but the Summons aren't going to be able to wait until they get to the plateau.
"Everyone start moving, the summons will surround our group with a heavy tank presence in the West side. When they catch us, we can fight the moving battle towards the river." Cain calls out, and everyone begins to get themselves into combat formations based on the expected fight.
Moving quickly, they manage to get a good distance away from their camp, and the bodies that are luring in more Ogres, before the patrol catches up to them.
"Darklight Host, pair off. If the Ogre numbers start getting too high, start summoning the Demon Army with the Guild Skill." He calls out. That skill definitely wasn't balanced with open world fighting in mind. Or maybe it was and armies of transfers and system users are supposed to be ridiculously overpowered.
The groups are formed mostly based on everyone's day to day interaction and combat roles. This leaves Cain and Kone together, as would be customary if they were running a dungeon today. It works though, in combat they have so much experience fighting side by side that is almost impossible to tell who is commanding what. She understands all his battle tactics and his way of thinking so well that it just flows naturally.
The incoming Ogres are met with a field of Ice Fog spreading through the trees, before a wave of Demons and Snapping Turtles crashes into them. It's a fighting retreat, keeping the Ogres from forming up to defend themselves unless they're willing to risk letting their target get away. The melee fighters hit and run the Ogre flanks, while the tanks, both Summoned and Living, give way every chance they get.
The technique has the dim witted monsters in disarray and they're easily dispatched in only a few minutes.
"Laura, Elmira, scout up ahead and try not to be noticed. Let us know if they're going to intercept us along the way. One of the Lauras can head to our final destination too, make sure there's no Ogres on the plateau, and find us a good way up. If it's occupied we might need to find a new spot unless we can ambush whatever Ogres are there." Cain sends out a string of instructions and the group keeps moving, the Dragons flying away in Pixie form for stealth.
Elmira is the first to return, turning them north away from the river, as an Ogre force is stationed there with what looks like a longer term camp. Laura returns next, giving them the all clear to keep going northeast, as no patrols were found in that direction. So it goes most of the morning, a few unavoidable fights on the move, heading for the plateau.
An hour after the first battle, Laura returned from her advance scouting of the destination and reported back that there's an ongoing battle between Ogres in the river bottom and a force of Elves and Trolls holding the high ground. There's a secondary route up, but it's a steep natural staircase in the cliff face, suicide for the Ogres to attack up. That will be their access to the plateau, so they can join the defenders.
Nothing is ever that easy though. While they're not going up the cliff, the Ogre General didn't leave it unattended. A supply camp with a thousand ready fighters and at least twice that many in wounded and goblin servants is stationed out of archer range near the cliff.
"What's the plan, Guild Master?" Ghaz asks, having been chosen as the message runner between the spread out groups. Anything that doesn't require elaboration is being sent by him in Guild Chat.
"We will color code the battle, Yellow Tusk can take the looping route and attack the supplies and goblins from the back while Darklight Host draws out the Ogres. With our numbers it's only ten to one in healthy Ogres, and we've got a lot of area effects available." Cain instructs and the Orc takes off running.
They're spread through the woods to not create too much noise in one spot, so it takes a moment to inform everyone and get the routes planned, but the Orcs soon start breaking off in groups of five to meet up at their chosen locations.
"We're up everyone. We need to draw all the Ogres, including the wounded, before they start attacking the teams that are going for the supplies." Cain calls, before instructing Laura to fog up the flanks so the Ogres don't try to scout for ways to surround them and run into Mork and her team who are perilously close.
The response is predictable, the main force of the Ogres are funneled forward to meet the Guild by the deadly fog, and none try to spread out. That leaves only a few defensive guards and some of the more heavily wounded around the camp, along with the camp followers. Not that goblins can't be dangerous, they're just less individually powerful than Ogres are. These ones also happen to be very low level, likely to better keep them in line and prevent them from running off. The Ogres don't exactly treat them well.
Cain switches the Wrath Bringers for Trolls just before the main force comes into sight, the appearance of their long term enemy driving the Ogres into a frenzy and making them forget about the camp they were guarding. Laura reports that the defenders on the plateau above them have seen the Trolls too and are celebrating the prospect of reinforcements while they fight the Ogres coming up from the River valley.
"Take Dragon form, and both of you go assist our new allies after refreshing the fog around our targets." Cain calls and two happy Dragons appear, giving him puppy eyes.
"I'll collect the roast sheep I can smell cooking at the Ogre camp so you can have it later."
