by Charles Dean
“What are you-- Oh.” Miller stopped. He could see the same death notices as Lee, and he knew what it meant. But Lee didn’t get the chance to shoot a second one before Brigid grabbed his arms and tried to pin them behind his back. Lee struggled against her, trying to keep hold of the bow, but there was little he could do. Even Ling was assisting Brigid.
“You have to stop! Those are children!” Brigid yelled, squeeze Lee’s arms together. “Do you not understand the importance of life!”
Lee was going to answer her, but as soon as she finished, he was stopped by a series of loud yelps and gargled roars.
The kids had stopped crying. When Lee looked back to them, they were already changing into the most grotesque abominations that he had ever seen. Their tiny frames crackled and popped, and their skin stretched in inhuman ways as they grew from four to thirteen feet in moments. Their bodies wrenched and twisted horribly, and their screams changed from soft cries of desperation to ear-splitting screams of pain.
“Mister, you were supposed to help!” one of them roared. His face split open, and a giant, long-snouted bear face appeared, hair almost bursting through his skin.
“Mister, the God-Mother told us you would save us,” one of the little girls shouted. Her legs were no longer thin pole-shaped twigs, but were now large, mountainous shafts of muscle and fur.
“What . . . in the world . . .?” Brigid seemed to be at a loss for words, but that didn’t last long. She let go of Lee and his weapons as she backed up and drew her own, and then she started barking out orders. “They’re Phouka children! They’re the PHOUKA!” she shouted. “Men! Get a lance line front and center now! Archers, heavy-tip those arrows! These are the big ones! We need to do as much damage as we can!”
Miller also barked out something, but it wasn't orders. He just picked up his spear, slammed it to the ground, and yelled “FOR AUGUSTUS!” before charging forward. The rippling wave of his Drunken Shout coursed through everyone around them. It knocked Brigid and her men off-kilter as they tried to process the alcohol, but it didn’t faze the beasts at all. The Phoukas didn’t even so much as wobble when Miller’s wave of inebriation hit them full force, which meant that they were either immune to it or in a phase where it couldn’t affect their mental state.
The big ones, the term Brigid had used for them--and even in its vagueness, it fit them perfectly--were monstrous. They had the demeanor of a bear, but without the usual flab that it grew as it meandered through nature. Instead, they had the tight-muscled exterior of a gym rat who had been juicing for a decade. Their muzzles were larger, with long and wicked-looking teeth, their front legs were much longer than a four-legged creature’s should have been, like a gorilla’s arms were in proportion to its legs, and their heavy-footed paws ended in sharp-tipped claws that reinforced Lee’s fears that their speed would be a concern and that they clearly were capable of charging on all fours.
Lee didn’t waste any time. He charged forward the moment he saw Miller’s own crazed attack, following after the blood-thirsty Firbolg as quickly as he could. He stowed away his bow as he ran and quickly withdrew his trusty sword and shield instead. Time was of the essence, and they needed to kill these things as fast as possible. He had been hoping that the Drunken Shout would have had an impact, but he had never really been counting on it to begin with.
“Let’s get that one in front first,” Lee shouted to Miller as they ran. “Ling, have our troops circle around and pick off the sides. Have the shielded paladins hold the wall. Spears are our best bet.” He kept barking orders, although it was a habit of discipline more than necessity. If the last day and a half of fighting side by side with the paladins as the group hunted down and slaughtered every creature that looked like it was worth experience had taught him, it was that Ling could handle the commander's chair without him.
Miller and Lee both slammed into the still-shifting beast in front of them weapons-first as hard as they could. It was like running straight into the side of a car, except a car would have rebounded off the shocks and had more give to it. Rather than pushing the monstrosity back, Lee bounced off the monster’s thigh and was then thrown back when it lashed out with its leg, pushing him even further away.
“Duck!” Miller shouted. Lee obeyed the warning without so much as a second thought, and he felt the wind on his back as one of the monstrous claws swung past him, missing him by inches. Given how powerful the creature must have been in order to not have been even affected even in the slightest by their combined weight and power, he had absolutely no faith that he’d be able to heal if he were hit by one of those claws.
He looked over at Miller, who appeared as if he were barely able to get his spear more than a few inches into the beast’s tough hide, and then up at the giant towering over him. “Back up,” Lee said, pushing himself back and away as quickly as he could before two more swipes swept through the space he and Miller had just occupied. “He’s . . . He’s blind,” Lee said. “Even in this form, they can’t see.” Lee pushed himself to his feet and then to the side in order to dodge another attack. He was feeling rather cocky with that realization, only to have that bravado shattered a moment later as the paw bearing down on him reversed course the moment it hit the ground and pummeled straight into him. He was able to raise his shield in time, but it did little to stop the pain or force of the blow. The backhanded attack sent him flying through the air a solid ten feet before he crashed down on his rear, receiving 204 points of damage. The massive impact reverberated up his spine, and it felt like his ribcage and arms had been shattered. Even with all of the foes he fought in this new world, this was the most powerful attack he had been struck with.
“Roll!” Miller shouted.
Lee reacted without thinking. One of the other massive, ursine creatures crashed down a moment later in an axe-handled, double-fisted jump attack. It had apparently decided that going after the giant army behind Lee was less enticing than killing the small human in front of him, and it wasted no time before taking action.
“Hamstring!” Lee shouted back as he rolled into an upright position. He scrambled to his feet and then ran around in front of the first beast, shouting as loudly as he could to draw its attention. It worked well. The giant bear-like creature wildly swung back and forth, allowing Miller to move around behind it. The towering Firbolg’s spear swung past in a tight arc as he took a slash at its tendon, but his attack didn’t seem to do much. His spear cut through the creature’s flesh, but he must have missed since the target remained upright.
“It’s like a metal pole back there,” Miller shouted as he dodged a backward kick attack from the monster. “I can’t get it.”
“We need something,” Lee replied with a grimace. He was doing his best to stay out of the way of the attacks, but the Phouka was much faster than even something half its size should have been. It was only a little slower than a person using a weapon, and each time it pounded the ground, debris and dust flew up, obscuring his vision and filling his eyes and nostrils, making it even harder for Lee to dodge.
Lee turned to see what he could use against the monster, but the only thing he ended up seeing was bright-blue streaks whizzing through the sky as Ling’s arrows soared across the battleground and buried themselves into the beast in front of him while the other groups still desperately tried to control their own monsters.
“We need its throat!” Lee decided to gamble on the last option. If hamstringing the creature didn’t work, going straight for its throat or eyes was the next logical approach. The beast struck downward once again, its gorilla-like, eight-foot-long arms pounding the ground right in front of Lee, and an attack from the second Phouka arrived a moment later as the massive creature pounced forward. The two gargantuan ursine creatures collided with one another, and they briefly lashed out at the other’s chest with quick, impulsive movements.
Unlike his and Miller’s attacks, their claws dug in deep. There was a loud crack as one of the creature’s ribs was shattered under th
e forceful impacts, and rivulets of blood gushed out from the freshly-opened wounds that quickly covered their fur. The great, wounded beast threw its head back and howled a horrible cry of fury and pain that was quickly choked off by the gargled sound of blood as it filled his throat.
“Well . . .” Lee and Miller both quickly exchanged glances as they watched the unexpected happen. “That . . . kind of worked?” Lee shrugged it off as good luck and then immediately regretted opening his mouth when the shapeshifted monstrosities turned their attention back to him once again.
What am I doing? This is giant monster versus giant monster 101 from every movie. Lee had finally healed his own wounds sufficiently enough to risk a second attack, and he quickly leapt to the side, dodging around the two brutes as he attempted to get into a solid position to launch his attack from.
He narrowly escaped several blows thanks to Ethan, but then his luck ran out. A sweeping arm was a little too quick for him to duck under, and it caught him directly in the chest. The air was knocked out of him with a loud grunt, and he went flying back and to the side once again. The hit ticked away 245 hit points in a single stroke, but, even in his failure, there was a little success. Lee wasn’t the only thing struck by the attack: the brute also caught the other’s paw with its own. Once again, just like before, the opposite bear lashed out and clawed his companion’s chest, further deepening the wounds that had already been inflicted there. The bear completely collapsed to the ground, crumbling in on itself.
“Miller! Now!” Lee shouted, urging his friend to take advantage of the opportunity.
Miller rushed forward and jabbed his pike upward and into the wounded Phouka’s throat. The creature went from clutching at its chest to holding its throat as if trying to hold back the surge of blood issuing out. It let out a gargled groan as it fell down, and before it even hit the ground, Lee was already on top of it. The other beast made a crying sound, as if it understood what it had done, but Lee didn’t care. There was no way he was going to sympathize with the deadly creatures so intent on killing him and his friends. He brought his sword around in as hard a sword swing as he could muster, going straight for the arteries that led to its brain.
Just as Lee cut into the bear’s throat, he heard a loud shout from Miller. The Firbolg warrior had finally been caught by one of the other Phouka’s gigantic paws, and he had been sent flying to the side, screaming in horror. The giant Firbolg landed in a heap, and Lee knew that the gashes left behind by the creature’s long claws were critical at a single glance.
Lee flung himself off the Phouka he had straddled and instantly worked to create some distance. The monster flailed about, trying to hit Lee, but it was too little too late. There was nothing it could do to either save or avenge itself at this point.
You have killed Saoirse. Your party has been awarded 2340 Experience. Your share of this is 780 Experience.
“Miller, circle around its back!” Lee shouted as he approached Miller’s attacker.
“You know that won’t do any good. My spear can’t deliver the power needed to bring this beast to justice and make him face his maker!” Miller pushed himself to his feet with an angry growl and circled around anyway, holding his side with one hand and dragging his leg with a slight limp.
At that moment, the next buff option for True Patriot, Rising Poll Numbers, became available, and it gave Lee an idea. It had two red circles, and Lee was quick to bestow it on Miller when it appeared.
Lee hated having to use Miller in this fashion, but he needed to. He had found the only weaknesses these creatures had, and he was going to have to risk everything to pull this off. Miller finally circled around and waved a spear silently to let Lee know that he was ready.
“Run toward me!” Lee shouted. “I’m going to need a boost!”
Miller looked confused, but he followed the order anyway, pushing himself into a shambling run despite his obvious injuries.
The Phouka twisted its head back and forth between the two as if trying to discern the conversation. Lee started stamping his feet and shouting, making sure the creature knew where he was, and then loudly clomped to the left before silently ducking back to the right with a little help from his Sneak skill. He then dashed at Miller full speed. The monster blindly rushed forward at the sound of Lee’s voice, confident that it now knew exactly where he was since he had spoken up to let Miller know where he wanted him. Its thick arms swung from side to side as it came, tearing up huge clumps of dirt from the road with every swipe and sending them flying. It was terrifying to watch, and Lee was tempted to break out in a full sprint in the opposite direction. Unfortunately, he knew that he’d likely be a dead man the second he turned away. There was no way it would miss him if he made that much noise. So, instead, he forced himself to back away quickly to the right, hoping that it didn’t notice him.
“Drop to all fours!” Lee shouted.
Miller was clearly more confused by this fight and Lee’s orders than any he had ever been in, but he still obeyed. The Firbolg dove forward, instantly dropping onto his hands and knees and allowing Lee to springboard off of his back. Lee felt bad about putting so much pressure onto his injured friend’s back, but he had no faith that he’d be able to hit the beast where it mattered without the extra height, and he was surprised to find that Miller was as sturdy as a rock, his body glowing red as soon as Lee’s foot landed square on his spine. Lee thrust above his head as he flew through the air, and the point of his blade pierced into the Phouka’s thick neck, finally penetrating into its jugular.
Its claws raked into the flesh of Lee’s unprotected shoulder as its paws came around in another attack, and Lee was sent flying like a swatted mosquito. The combination of the damage from the blow and his rather ungraceful landing as he skidded over the rough ground and rocks knocked him down to less than 41 hit points, and a notification let him know that he was now bleeding at a rate of 10 hit points per second.
Lee was thankful for the fact that he was able to heal himself faster than he was taking damage as he stood up and looked over at the creature. It had collapsed onto its knees, and even stabbed and bleeding out, the creature was still threatening to hurt anything that was near it.
“Miller, can I please use one of your spears to kill this thing?” Lee asked.
Miller pushed himself back to his feet and glanced in Lee’s direction, warily circling around the wounded creature. “Make it quick. The beast fought well.”
Lee nodded, grabbing the spear and running toward it once more. The spear had a much longer reach that his sword, and the monster was already downed, so Lee was confident that he’d be able to land a killing blow this time. Just before he reached it, however, the creature lashed out at him in one final desperate attack. Lee ducked under the eight-foot arm, lowering his body as much as he could, and then pushed off with all of his might, launching the spear at the beast’s throat.
The spear struck home right next to its throat, and the beast stopped all of its attacks just before Lee ricocheted off the beast’s chest. The Phouka grasped the spear between its gigantic paws, pulled it out, and then looked down at where Lee’s body had struck. Then, like liquid flowing into a smaller container, the gargantuan monster transformed back into the little child. Tears fell from its red, bloodshot eyes, and it clutched at the injury in its chest with two tiny, childlike hands.
“Mister . . .” it sniffled. “I don’t . . . I don’t want to die,” the now-kid-shaped boy cried before sniffling once more and collapsing to the ground.
You have killed Liam. Your party has been awarded 2423 Experience. Your share of this 808 Experience.
“That was . . .” Miller seemed to be at a loss for words as he stared at the now-dead child.
“A little twisted? Uncomfortable? Messed up?” Lee cycled through possible finishes to Miller’s sentence as the two of them stared at the dead ten-year-old-looking kid before glancing over the rest of the battle site. While Lee and Miller had managed to fight two of the six re
maining beasts without dying, the same couldn’t be said about the others. There were four large carcasses, but there were over a dozen bodies strewn about on the ground between the paladins and Brigid’s men, the death ratios seeming pretty even between the two groups.
Brigid was still alive. She was actually one of the few soldiers who appeared to be relatively unharmed, standing to the side and looking down on one of the enemy bodies. She pulled her sword from its eye socket where it had been buried and shook the blade to free it of the loose blood before wiping it across the creature’s fur to clean the blade. The dead Phouka was riddled with arrows, some of them still growing blue, lying on a bed of broken arrow shafts from those that either didn’t land or didn’t dig in enough to stick.
“No.” Miller shook his head as he looked around at the rest of the fight. “I wouldn’t say any of those. I would say . . . crazy. Exhilarating. Intense. That was the toughest fight of man versus beast we’ve had since those things in the mine tunnels outside of Satterfield. How amazing was that battle?”
Lee grimaced at Miller’s excitement. “You do realize we lost people, right?”
“All that died will dine in the halls of Augustus,” Miller proclaimed. “They shall drink the finest beer and eat the best bacon. But now, while we mourn, we can also celebrate the glorious battle that just occurred. We lament only that we doubted Augustus’s wisdom and that we failed to kill more of them before they changed shape.”
“I did try,” Lee grumbled, pointedly looking over at Brigid. “You guys stopped me.”
“A mistake!” Miller lamented, although somewhat dismissively. “A mistake I regret deeply upon the soul of every dead paladin. But the battle after . . . It was glorious.”
“It was . . . intense.” Lee patted his buddy on the shoulder, and then something else caught his attention. There, in the center of the circle where the kids had been huddled up, was another one of the cryptic letters that had more or less served the purpose of a sort of calling card. He had found one after each encounter with anything related to this crazy Meadhbh, The Mad Herald of Creepiness, and this fight was apparently no exception.
