Rematch With The Beast Of Fort Constance

They stood there once more at the entrance to the keep’s chapel. The smell of dust and hints of decay defiling their senses once more. They braced themselves, eyes up as the familiar sound of the floors above being smashed through one by one entered their ears. Once more, that massive figure from atop the castle crashed down before them, its monstrous form towering over them. It gazed at them through the darkened slits of its rusted steel helm, black smoke billowing out with each breath.

“You… should not have returned… If I must place yet another corpse amongst the pile, then I will.” Kailos growled.

Rearing his head back, Kailos released a deafening roar leaving the party reeling, but unharmed. As the ringing in their ears began to subside, they could see as once more, Kailos had taken hold of one of the old wooden pews. Shaking the ringing from their ears and taking hold of their weapons, the battle was officially on.

Ember took a moment to get his blood pumping. Thoughts of the reaper taking the life of his first friend in this world and a valuable ally, this beast that stood before him and his answers, and the masked man who he knew had to be behind all of this in some way flooded his mind. He gritted his teeth and growled as his anger flared. All of the things that have infuriated him up until this point fueling his rage. With a roaring battle cry, he felt his body tense up, ready for anything. Focusing on his legs and the weapon in his hand, he immediately Charged forward, a pair of arrows and a couple throwing knives soaring past and striking the target upon his approach. Kailos reared back the pew for a strike, but Ember sidestepped it at the last moment, his additional speed from his Charge helping him narrowly escape what would have been a painful slam. Leaning forward into his charge, he approached the monster center mass, swinging upward with just enough reach to strike its gut.

The creature stumbled back from the impact, and though not staggered, gave Ember an opportunity to try out a new technique. Coiling his long tail behind him, he pressed it against the floor before, lifting his feet so that his entire body was now supported only by his tail. Then, pushing it against the ground like an uncoiling spring, he launched himself upward, high into the air and over the monster’s head. Its gaze followed Ember, almost seeming taken off guard by the sudden maneuver. With its free left hand, it reared back in an attempt to swat Ember out of the air, however, a few rapid jabs to the hip and a sudden proc of poison seemed to slow it just enough for Ember to swing down with his maul. With a reverberating clang Ember’s weapon collided with Kailos’s steel helm. Then, using the extra air time and leverage his maul swing offered him, he swung himself to the opposite side of the beast as it finally staggered for real. As Ember landed however, he couldn’t help but notice dust and minute chunks of the ceiling beginning to drop to the floor with a clatter.

“Don’t forget the ceiling! Keep an eye out for it when it starts to crumble and don’t get caught under it!” Ember shouted, the fury of his Rage coming through even when issuing directions.

Fortunately, it appeared that everyone recalled their own troubles with the crumbling tower and steered clear of anywhere that small stones had begun to fall. Fortunately, Ruori seemed to catch on to this as well, though it seemed it would hardly matter regardless as she was constantly on the move. Kailos then turned around, his attention focusing on Ember. Ruori capitalized on this as she dashed forward and stuck a dagger into its back and gave it a fierce slash with another. Seemingly irritated, Kailos attempted to deliver a donkey kick to the rogue, but unlike when Ember was met with the same move, she was swift enough to avoid it.

Still, the beast’s attention was now turned towards the others in the back. Reaching down, it grabbed whatever bits of stone it could before throwing it directly at Lian who quickly ducked behind a rubble mound and avoided it. The maneuver wasn’t solely to avoid the attack however as Lian used her moment of cover to dip an arrow into a leather satchel at her hip. Popping back out from behind her cover, her arrow radiated a curious purple aura. Lining her shot up with a faint red glow that only her eyes could see, she fired the shot, striking her target dead on and not only delivering additional damage, but applying an additional stack of poison on it as well.

“Got it! That should weaken it if it manages to hit you with anything. Now Koumei, Roar!” Lian shouted.

Dashing out in an effort to cover as much area as possible, Koumei reared his head back and roared, applying a small barrier on everybody. It was then however that the thick black smoke pouring out of its helm began to do so with ever more intensity, something Ember also recalled from last time.

“It’s using that gas attack again!” He shouted, this time having the fortune of not being within its threat range, but was at a loss for how to stop it.

Rearing his maul back, he threw it with all his might, hoping that a solid impact could somehow stagger the beast out of its move. Realizing this, Ruori swiftly circled behind the creature with Koumei following right behind her. Lian and Maggie meanwhile were unfortunately directly in the blast range once more. It was then however that they could all hear Lian shout.

“Maggie, get behind some rubble! It will blow around it and dissipate before it can hurt you!” She yelled, recalling how she evaded this attack last time.

Maggie dashed back, doing her best to do as Lian instructed and keep herself safe. As a result, she had just enough time to sprint behind some rubble before the cloud attack went off. Ember watched as his maul collided the beast but did nothing to dissuade it’s attacks. He could only hope that Lian’s warnings reached Maggie. Koumei and Ruori meanwhile took the opportunity to get in a few more hits as Koumei did her best to maul the beast while Ruori managed a few solid stabs between gaps in Kailos’s armor. Unfortunately for Ruori, the smoke billowing from the creature’s mouth began to taper off before it suddenly lashed out with surprising speed towards the elf, catching her in a powerful swat with his left hand and sending her careening against another of the many ruined pews in the building. With dust in the air, Ruori groaned before holding her head and shaking it off. Rising back to her feet, she was quick to return to the battle with one fourth of her hit points missing.

Ember meanwhile hurried forward towards his maul in an effort to retrieve it. Just as his arm extended out to grab it though, the creature suddenly reared back, twisting itself around before delivering a sudden slam upon Ember with the pew. The impact splintered the makeshift weapon and crushed Ember between it and the floor. However, just as quickly as he’d been pancaked against the stone, he was pushing himself back up again. The attack removed a sixth of his hit points, but he pressed on as if he hadn’t felt a thing. Reaching down again, he snatched up his maul before blasting Kailos with a fire spit.

An attack from his front was not the only assault Kailos suffered however as another pair of arrows and a fan of knives stuck into him followed by a sudden blast of entropic energy from Maggie’s wand. The poppet stood proudly after having finally delivered her first ever successful damaging attack, now leaving the creature standing at nearly half health thanks to their combined assault.

Once more, the beast turned to face Ember who had already begun initiating another Charge. Speed and bonus power at the ready, Ember dashed forward. After sidestepping a stomp from Kailos’s left boot, he brought the maul around once again and struck the abdomen of the beast with a shockingly reverberating clang. Despite that, the beast had finally been brought down to half of its hit points, practically double that of the damage they managed to inflict the first time around. Seeing this, a sudden surge of renewed hope washed over the party. They entered this arena confident that they could defeat Kailos this time around, but seeing it was far different than hoping for it. The beast responsible for the loss of Moze, the creature holding the key to answers they so craved was beatable, and so long as they kept up the assault, the victory they so desperately sought would finally be theirs.

As Ember pulled his maul back for another swing, the rest of the party couldn’t help but notice as Kailos had suddenly gone completely still. Though their attacks did not let up, a curious concern began to creep into their minds, and just as Ember was about to bring the maul down upon his foe once more, the armor on Kailos’s belly suddenly imploded. With a horrible creak and sound of shredding metal, it was as if something had just taken a bite out of Kailos’s platemail. What Ember saw next seen him suddenly leaping backwards, moments before a surge of lethargy overcame him as his rage died out. Still, his eyes remained focused on the armor, or rather the thing behind the armor. Kailos’s body jolted as he suddenly reached over his stomach, staggering backwards with thunderous footfalls.

“N-No, you fools. You’ve allowed it to awaken!” Kailos shouted moments before another ear splitting roar emanated from the massive warrior.

In the center of Kailos, where his stomach should have been was a massive, toothy maw with a long, whip-like tongue not unlike the many mutated beasts of these lands.

“U-umm. This some kinda phase two!?” Ruori asked, taken completely off guard.

“I-I don’t know! We never got this far!” Ember shouted back.

Suddenly, before he could properly prepare, the beast’s tongue lashed out, constricting tightly around Ember’s waist before lifting him into the air and yanking him towards it. As he neared the mouth, Ember could only act on impulse, taking hold of a couple of the large teeth on the upper row while wrapping his tail around one on the bottom. Meanwhile, the ceiling once more began to crumble before dropping several new mounds of rubble into the arena.

“Ember, what’s happening!?” Lian shouted frantically.

Ember grunted as he held himself in place, his hit points slowly draining away as the tongue crushed him. Meanwhile, he struggled to keep those teeth from chomping down on him, using every bit of strength his little body could muster.

“I-I dunno, just kill it! It’s trying to eat me or something!” Ember shouted as he stared into that abyssal mouth before him.

Just as he finished speaking, the beast turned. Picking up another solid chunk of crumbled stonework. Despite the agitation with his sudden transformation, Kailos still seemed as intent as ever on destroying the party. As Ember struggled against the stomach maw, Kailos hurled that chunk of rubble at Lian who once again, barely managed to take cover in time.

“Wh-what are we supposed to do about this!?” Lian shouted before the creature suddenly leaped towards her.

“L-Lian, watch out!” Maggie shouted.

Lian’s spine tingled at those words, she turned just in time to see the beast careening towards her. Her eyes narrowed as she recalled what happened last time, mentally kicking herself for forgetting it. Unfortunately, she failed to maneuver out of the way in time, taking roughly a quarter of her hit points in damage from the impact and being slammed against the wall from the force. Maggie however had taken cover from the shrapnel and Ruori was too far away for it to reach. Despite that, the Rogue rushed forward as fast as she could, throwing a couple of knives before suddenly manifesting a handful of them which she immediately threw out like a fan. Each knife struck the large target, catching his attention enough to turn it away from Lian.

“That’s right, eyes on me ya freak!” Ruori shouted.

Taking advantage of the distraction, Lian quickly reached to her belt and removed a potion. Popping off the top, she began to gulp it down as Maggie peeked out from behind her cover. She looked first to Lian, then to Ember. The imp wasn’t doing particularly well there. His hit points had been reduced to half and were still declining. Holding out her hand, Maggie focused her sorcerous power into her innate healing potential and fired off a ball of restorative energy.

Though he couldn’t see the spell, he could certainly feel it as the pain of his injuries faded away. Though still trapped, fighting against the teeth attempting to rip him to pieces, Ember could feel the fatigue of his previous rage finally subside. Though he was uncertain of what good it would do him here, Ember focused once more on firing himself up, and with another roaring battle cry, he was back in business. Angry and in danger, he found himself throwing caution to the wind, letting go of one of the teeth, relying solely on the strength of one arm to keep that mouth open so that he could begin to pummel away at it with his other hand. Meager as the damage his fist was inflicting was, it was working. Still, the rest of the party knew that time was of the essence and they needed to do something about this creature, fast.

Kailos stomped towards Ruori, attempting to strike her with his fists which she focused on evading and sneaking in a few throwing knives whenever she got the chance. Koumei meanwhile was joining her in the brawl, gnawing and slashing its ankles and chipping away at its hit points. With nobody in need of health currently, Maggie was also free to fire off some offensive spells, shooting bolt after bolt of light blue entropic energy at the beast while Lian peppered it with arrows. Koumei then let out an invigorating roar at Lian’s command, just in time to stave off some of the damage Ruori had taken from a spread of rubble coming her way.

Before long, their onslaught brought the creature down to merely one eighth of its hit points, and within the maw, something had finally begun to change. Ember was once more at about half of his hit points, but finally, he could feel it. The grip of the tongue and pressure of the jaws weakening. With a fierce tug, he pulled himself free, landing to the ground and getting to his feet as fast as he could while Kailos fell to his knees. Just as Ember managed to rise up however, he looked to the monster to see that both the slits of the helmet and the maw on his stomach had suddenly began leaking an intense black smoke. Looking to Ruori, he looked back to the monster as it began to quake.

“G-Guys… T-take cover, now!” Ember ordered.

With that, everyone scrambled to find a rubble mound to hide behind as the smoke from the beast began spewing all across the arena. Before long, every inch of the room had been covered by it, ensuring that anybody outside of cover would be completely engulfed by it. The attack seemed to drag on forever, but eventually, it began to subside and the room had begun to clear. Stepping out from safety, they were met with the kneeling form of Kailos, motionless and silent. Above its head however still remained an eighth of its hit points.

Looking at one another, Ruori smirked. It was clear what she was thinking. With a scowl, Ember raised his maul and began to Charge. Quickly, Ruori joined in, throwing knives as fast as she could to chip down what remained of its hit points. Ember however was still faster than her while charging and quickly began to close the distance. Maul at the ready, just as he was about to deliver the finishing blow, an arrow struck the beast in the back of the head, shimmering with a critical hit. What remained of its hit points had been reduced to nothing by that arrow, and with nothing but a ground quaking thud, the creature slumped to the ground, defeated. Ember and Ruori looked to Lian incredulously as she proudly held her bow out, almost freezing in time after firing that shot. She then looked to the others and fired off a cheeky smirk.

“Kill steal~” She teased.