Showdown With The Cursed General

There was little time to prepare as the monster raised the pew above its head before slamming it down at Moze who managed to sidestep it to the right. The impact quaked the ground, sending tremors through the walls and causing the ceiling to begin to crumble. Moments large chunks of the ceiling began to give way, crashing down toward Ember who barely evaded in time. That was it, the fight had begun.

Moze took point, throwing his shield across the room at the beast, the metal plate clanging off of the monster’s armor dealing an astonishingly meager amount of damage. Focusing on his hit points, Ember could see the name of the monster, Corrupted Kailos. The name rang a bell as he recalled Clarissa mentioning this name a couple days ago. It looked like this was somehow what became of that presumably beloved character.

Closing in, Moze proceeded to catch his shield before calling out a fierce smite against the beast, an explosive blow that barely staggered it and once more reduced only a tiny portion of its hit points. Unbothered by the attack, the beast suddenly reared back its free hand and delivered a swat against moze. Bracing himself with his shield, he was prepared neither for the speed of the attack, nor the impact it had, and despite his shield, he still took a noticeable hit to his health pool.

Ember meanwhile gripped his maul tightly before gritting his teeth and letting out a roar. Rage triggered, he Charged forward, ducking beneath the beast’s arm and delivering a hefty overhead strike to its right side. Once more, the creature staggered only slightly before giving Ember a boot and knocking him to the ground. Ember’s hit points dropped by a sixth before the creature performed a sweeping strike with the pew. Hit once more, Ember rolled across the ground, his hit points now roughly at two thirds, but at the very least, the pain was numbed thanks to his enraged state. Standing right back up again, he dashed forward once more, shooting off a Fire Spit that ignited but still failed to bother the corrupted general.

Lian meanwhile kept her distance, firing arrows at the monster and watching them frustratingly plink off his steel shell, dealing only meager damage in the process. She then looked to Koumei who was also running into the fray, shouting commands like Roar and Takedown. Following her commands, Koumei immediately obliged, rearing his head back and letting out an invigorating roar that provided a small barrier on everybody before she dashed forwards and tried to sink her teeth into the beast’s ankles. Though the bite dealt a bit of damage, the knockdown effect Lian was hoping for never occurred.

With the people around her being injured, Maggie hurried towards Ember, trying to get him in range of her healing magic. However, chaotic and unfamiliar as things were, she was so focused on trying to heal that she failed to notice the rubble from above as it crashed atop her. Seeing this, Lian hurried to her side, attempting to remove the stones that were covering her. She definitely took a good chunk of damage from that, dropping her hit points by more than a fourth. As she cleared enough rubble for Maggie to try squeezing out however, she was completely blindsided as a chunk of stone as large as herself came flying at her, dropping her health similarly to Maggie’s as well as knocking her back by several meters.

“Hey, eyes on me!” Moze shouted before hucking his shield at the beast once more.

Turning to face him, the former general Kailos swung at him with the pew, forcing him to block once more before leaping aside to dodge some more falling rubble. As this occurred, Maggie finally managed to pull herself free before hurrying over to Lian who was also just getting back on her feet. With a touch, Maggie channeled her healing power into the axolti, topping off her hit points before she turned her attention back to Ember who was Charging in to deliver another attack.

With the creature’s focus on Moze, Ember landed an easy hit on Kailos’s back but he was met with a donkey kick that knocked him back towards Lian and Maggie. Holding up his shield and getting ready for another smite, Moze noticed a sudden increase in the amount of smoke pouring out from beneath Kailos’s helm. It then proceeded to turn around causing Moze to panic, fearing the creature had lost interest in him again. He struck with a smite, hurting the beast but unable to stop what happened next.

With a deep inhale, the beast began to blow out a massive cone of dark miasma, sweeping over Ember, Maggie, and Koumei while Lian barely managed to take cover behind one of the rubble piles. Immediately, the three of them took a fourth to a third of their hit points in damage and found themselves inflicted with a condition called Ulkturos Toxin. This effect not only inflicted even more damage through a DOT, but also reduced their movement speed.

As the cloud cleared, the three of them were bent over, coughing as the feeling of overwhelming sickness came over them. That feeling slowly began to subside, but by the time they regained focus, Kailos was already on the move. Leaping into the air, out of Moze’s range, the creature launched itself towards Lian’s position. Lian looked up only moments before the beast landed on the mound of rubble she was taking cover behind. The impact immediately destroyed that cover while scattering fragments of it everywhere and piling on even more damage to Ember, Koumei, Lian, and especially Maggie who’s hit points had now dropped to only an eighth.

Ember staggered to his feet, his rage on the verge of wearing off as he fought through the pain to see the others. Lian was rising back up, still holding on to most of her hit points. Koumei was doing a bit worse at around half. Maggie however, she staggered to her feet, the pain of the toxin and rubble forcing her to move agonizingly slowly. Ember could see tears in her eyes. The pain and terror of her current situation painted plainly on her face. She slowly turned to Kailos who was now looking down upon her. She couldn’t move, she wanted to, but fear and agony rooted her in place. Ember could see this and attempted to run over to her, but the effects of the toxin kept his movements to a crawl. Koumei was closer however, and though the toxin slowed him as well, he tried with all he had to reach her, to maybe yank her out of the way. By now however, the creature had already begun to raise the pew over its head. Lian stumbled as she too staggered to her feet, hoping to reach Maggie in time as well.

“Maggie, Move!” Lian shouted, but it was all too late.

In an instant, the beast slammed the pew down upon Maggie, finally shattering the heavy wooden bench and knocking Koumei off of her paws. The party could only look on in horror as the poppit golem lay there, unmoving, rendered unconscious as her hit points struck zero.

“D-damnit! We need to finish this guy off, fast!” Moze shouted as their healer had now been taken out of commission.

Lian and Ember meanwhile were stunned, having witnessed their friend, a young girl at that, being mercilessly pummeled until she could no longer move. Still, their shock meant nothing to Kailos who was already lining up his next target. Setting his sights on Ember, he was distracted when Moze’s shield collided with him once more. Turning his attention back to the paladin, he let out that familiar ear splitting roar, now close enough to practically stun the entire party. He then proceeded to charge across the arena, making a fierce dash at Moze. By now, its health had only been reduced by a quarter. Progress for sure, but they were already getting weak and their healer had been taken down. Ember raised his maul for another charge but suddenly froze up again. He had taken too long to get a hit in, and the damage he had taken was not enough. His rage had finally subsided, and with it came all the pain it was holding back.

Vision blurred, Ember staggered forward, Lian making her way over to him as she fired arrows at Kailos. With all he had, Ember had readied his weapon again. Moze was in trouble, doing everything he could to withstand Kailos’s onslaught. He needed to get over to him, no matter what it took. Moze would not be able to fend him off forever. Readying his charge, Ember raised his weapon, however he wouldn’t get to use it as the sound of a crumbling ceiling reached his ears, followed by a sudden and intense impact, and then… nothing…