Encounter Complete
All Party Members gain 2000 XP
All Party Members gain 1500 Gold
Level Up!
GlassAngel and Cieth: Level 6
GlassAngel: +5 DEX
Cieth: +50 HP
“That was far longer than necessary,” Patrick said, kicking the corpse of the final zombie over the bannister in frustration. The group had climbed up the spiral staircase and through several more rooms of zombies. They had now reached a massive door, near the top of the tower.
Grey walked up to it and looked around. “Everyone ready?”
The group nodded and together they pushed the door open. The room they entered was surprisingly bright, a blinding white compared to the cold greens of the city outside. The walls and floors were all painted like the stained glass windows they’d seen throughout the tower. Massive stone pillars around the room’s edge held aloft the delicately carved ceiling. In the centre of the circular room was a throne made of black bark, wood tendrils creeping onto the floor like a parasite. Kiula Web sat there, her legs folded, stroking an oversized spider that was resting on her lap.
“Well, you’ve done quite a good job, haven’t you?” Kiula said, “You were tearing through my forces so quickly that I’ve decided to deal with you myself.”
Amelia raised her sword and prepared to stab her, but Grey held up their hand, telling her to stop.
“What’s this all about?” Grey asked. “Why are you working with the Dark Lord?”
“This Kingdom deserves to fall. Steeped in corruption, ruined by a king who cares little for it. And heroes like you are a symptom of the descent.”
“Nolan Pagan said something very similar. I’d Understood why he’d say it, but it surprises me that someone in the upper class would say that Corinth is corrupt. You benefit from the corruption.”
“I think she just wants power,” Patrick interjected. “Hiding her own selfish desire behind a seemingly selfless cause. That’s what people like Kable do, and it’s no different here.”
“I assure you, this is nothing of the sort,” she snarled.
“What do you stand to gain from this, huh? The Tower’s magic all to yourself? Favour with the Dark Lord?”
“What would fools like you understand about me?” She let the spider scuttle off and stood up. “You’re detached from this world, and neither you nor the people who summoned you care about what happens to the people who die in the oncoming storm. You are hubris personified, and I will not stop until you are buried.”
The ground next to her rippled like water and a staff rose out of it, plated in white and gold with a purple crystal orb on top. She took the staff and pointed it at the party.
“Now, face the full wrath of an archmage, and a servant of Valzekt!”
Kiula Web
Level 7
600/600 HP
She pointed her staff forward, which flashed white for a second.
“Kalvados.”
A sound of hissing static was followed by a blinding white light. The party dived behind the pillars, Grey and Amelia to the left, James and Patrick to the right. White flames covered the room, licking around the columns.
“You know how bosses never start with their strongest attacks?” Patrick said. James nodded. “I really hope this boss is an exception.”
The flames died down, leaving the room charred. Amelia rushed forward and tried to stab Kiula, but she vanished and reappeared behind the group. A jet of white flame was sent towards James and Patrick. James slammed his shield down to defend them both, but the force of magic still sent them careening back, slamming into another pillar.
Cieth
250/350 HP
----
Trident743
50/100 HP
Amelia tried to stab Kiula from behind, but Kiula blocked with her staff, not keeping her eyes off James and Patrick. Grey ran over to the two party members and swiftly healed them.
Skibabylon
Area Heal
----
Cieth
280/350 HP
----
Trident743
80/100 HP
----
Skibabylon
Healing Pool
360/600
Amelia and Kiula separated. Amelia swung her sword at Kiula’s neck like a baseball bat, but Kiula ducked under the attack and swept Amelia’s legs with her staff, sending her tumbling to the ground. Kiula stepped on her chest, aimed at her face, and fired a laser beam point blank.
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GlassAngel
0/200 HP
Available Revive Time: 3 minutes.
Patrick threw a firebolt at her, but an energy field appeared from the archmage’s staff and blocked the attack. She teleported to Patrick and tried to shoot him with the same energy beam, but James stood between them, blocking the attack with his shield. He swung his shield to the side, opening her up, and stabbed her in the chest.
Cieth
Rending Strike
----
Kiula Web
570/600 HP
Break
“You landed a single blow,” Kiula smirked as she pulled the sword out of her abdomen. Not a single drop of blood spilled. “Congratulations.”
Ice spikes formed above Jame’s head and he moved back to dodge them falling to the floor. As the two were fighting, Grey had run over to Amelia and given her a revive.
Skibabylon
Revive
----
GlassAngel
5/200 HP
----
Skibabylon
Healing Beam
Amelia planted her sword into the ground and stood up.
“I think the heels dealt most of the damage,” she said, wincing. “How the hell does she walk in those things?”
"Actually, it's not as hard as it lo-get down!"
Grey grabbed Amelia and pushed her to the ground as another searing bolt of white flame flew past her head and burnt itself into the wall. Kiula was focused entirely on James, annoyed that none of her magic was blasting his shield. Patrick was behind him, trying to find an opening, but every time he or James tried to strike, Kiula created a barrier that blocked them.
“We need to get that staff off her somehow,” Grey said.
“I’ll try to slice her hand off,” Amelia replied.
“I don’t think that’s going to work, especially in your sta-”
Amelia had already ran off. As Kiula swung her staff to strike James’ shield, she came in from behind and stabbed her in the back.
“Petulant child!” she shouted, teleporting away even though Amelia’s blade had still run her through. Amelia pulled her blade back and noticed a spider crawling along the flat of the blade.
“The hell…” she muttered. James blocked another laser bolt that was aimed at her from the other side of the room. Grey took cover behind another pillar when they realised she had moved closer to them.
“Even with half defence, she’s pretty hard to hit,” James said. He looked over at Patrick. “You think your Break would stack with mine?”
“I don’t think status effects have ever worked that way,” He replied, slinging another firebolt at Kiula as soon as he saw him. The shield came up, but with her reduced defence, the flames finally broke through.
Patrick smirked. “Finally.”
Kiula hunched over in pain from the attack, but soon rose to her full height, flames dancing across her skin.
“You really think that just because one energy blast broke my shield that you are victorious?” Kiula snarled, “You really are children.”
Amelia and Grey both ran around the side of the room and tried to attack Kiula in a pincer formation, but a blue light enveloped them and they both ended up on the opposite side of her. A gold ring of energy surrounded Kiula that cut into both of them like a sword.
Skibabylon
20/150 HP
----
GlassAngel
0/200 HP
Available Revive Time: 3 minutes.
Grey staggered and fell to their knees. Kiula snickered and pointed the staff at Grey.
“Pathetic. Is running in blindly all you ca-”
Grey grabbed the staff, pulled it forward, and stood up to knee her in the gut. Kiula tried to yank the staff back.
“Move!” James shouted. Grey dodged to the side as James ran in and smashed into Kiula’s chest with his shield, pushing her back and allowing Grey to hold on to the staff. They pointed it at her as she struggled to get up.
“Kalvados!”
Nothing happened. Kiula smiled with glee. “Do you really know nothing about magic? Only someone aligned to arcane magic, a follow of Cybrex, can wield the Staff of the Hollow. In the hands of a Cleric like you it is worthless.”
Patrick walked past Grey and they nonchalantly handed it to him. Patrick smiled and aimed the staff at her.
“Kalvados.”
White flames enveloped the area in front of them, completely incinerating Kiula.
Kiula Web
0/600 HP
The flames flickered and faded. Kiula’s corpse was still standing there, burnt and charred.
“Well she was all bark and no bite,” Patrick said, throwing the staff away. It despawned upon contact with the ground. “Let’s ge-”
“We’re not done yet.”
Kiula’s charred corpse seemed to force a smile. Her broken skin broke apart like a crumbling stone. As the holes opened, spiders gushed out, far more than there should have been. They began to shape themselves into a copy of Kiula, but spider legs started to crawl out of her back and mandibles were carved onto her face. The number of spiders began to build, and soon this Kiula was twice the size of the other party members.
“Well,” James said, “I suppose it wouldn’t be an RPG if the bosses didn’t have multiple phases.”
James Stats: Level: 6 VIT: 280/350 STR: 15 DEF: 25 DEX: 10 SPL: 15 INT: 1
Amelia Stats: Level: 6 VIT: 0/200 STR: 25 DEF: 15 DEX: 15 SPL: 5 INT: 0
Grey stats: Level: 5 VIT: 20/150 STR: 10 DEF: 15 DEX: 10 SPL: 30 INT: 0 Healing Pool: 280/600
Patrick stats: Level: 5 VIT: 80/100 STR: 30 DEF: 10 DEX: 15 SPL: 25 INT: 0 Mana: 50/250
