This was always going to happen; they were about to have their first casualties. Evelyn knew it was a necessity, but it brought her no joy to slay the defenders of the home she grew up in. Still, she would not look away, that would be disrespectful.
Ivy’s engineering was truly spectacular, they never saw the pivot in the floor coming. The whole floor was on a fulcrum about a third of the way in and once someone stepped far enough past that to push down the far side, a weight on metal runners would slide down to that end beneath their feet, accelerating the spin and preventing them from bringing the balance back. It was like standing on a giant seesaw, except they wouldn’t know that until it was too late and it crashed down like a giant ramp into a fight they couldn’t win. It was a pity Lydia had jumped in as it was closing, otherwise Ivy might have been able to enjoy it.
The cocky [novice ranger] took a tumble as the floor sharply tilted and crashed into the bloody swamp below, his torch quenched with a hiss. The [crusader] and [guard] managed to keep their feet on the slick metal by holding onto the altar, though the latter dropped his axe in the process and Lydia’s last-minute dive sent her careening past them, managing to just control her speed before dropping off one side of the ramp to splash into the blood below.
The group’s attention was immediately drawn to the approaching cacophony of splashes. A pale light spluttered into existence on Lydia’s belt as she clambered to her feet just in time for the group to faintly see Twrch trample the drenched [ranger] which barely slowed it as Twrch veered up the ramp towards the two by the altar, a limp and crumpled form left in his wake. The [crusader] immediately abandoned the ramp, jumping down to beside Lydia while the [guard] shifted around the altar to get it between him and Twrch. Twrch crashed into the altar, the speed lost from the sharp ramp enough that the brass dented and bent but didn’t break. The [guard] wasn’t safe however as vines shot out from Twrch’s rotting form and grasped the guard pulling him round the altar and closer to the menacing tusks.
Lydia hadn’t been idle however, and as her blue/white hair swirled with fury a wave of water shot out from her hands towards Twrch, breaking around him to little effect, but then the tide receded back towards her pulling the undead boar with an unnatural grip. As Lydia panted with exertion two of the boar’s feet slid from the ramp but the [guard] remained in its grasping vines despite clinging to the altar. The [crusader], to his credit, drew his sword and tried to slash at the boar as he ran into the darkness towards where the [ranger] fell. Before the sword made contact a vine whipped out and sliced his forehead. The crusader’s cut on the boar was shallow as blood from his own wound began dripping into his eyes.
Twrch scrabbled round trying to get off the ramp and Lidia took the opportunity to pierce it repeatedly with lances of pressurised water. The [guard] finally had the presence of mind to draw his knife and start trying to frantically saw at the vine reeling him in towards Twrch. A green glow came from the end of the ramp as the [crusader] desperately tried to stabilise the [ranger] as Twrch finally made it off the ramp. Immediately Lidia shot a jet of water the width of her forearm at its face. It would be plenty to knock down most people but, in this instance, seemed to mostly be to blind the creature as she zigzagged to try and kite it.
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“I’ll keep it busy, get up past the altar and see if you can’t rotate that thing back”
“I’m barely keeping him alive as is, I can’t move him”
“Then he’s already dead, either drag him up or clear him off, I can’t keep this up forever.”
“By The Three! Are these fingers?!”
The [guard] seemed to have finally cut himself free and noticed a grisly sight rolling down the ramp. While Evelyn doubted Ivy had intended such a thing, it once again proved the worth of her design.
“I need you all to focus or we’re all dead. Is your affinity DAMN!” Twrch’s tusk burst through the water and as she twisted it was inches from her side. “This isn’t working, if that’s life magic you’ve got, throw it at it!”
She managed to spin and hurl another lance of water, seeming to decide to do what damage she could. It scored a hole through the rotten flesh of Twrch’s side but more importantly now that she wasn’t using the wide blast to blind it she saw Twrch more clearly.
“Three above! It's healing somehow.”
There were a pair of splashes.
“I’ve got to get close for my life skill.”
“I don’t know how to get that thing to spin back.” The [guard] reported with grim resolve.
“The [ranger]?”
“Dead.”
“Three.” Lydia cursed.
Before they could prepare any further, they were diving to avoid Twrch’s charge. Lydia managed to throw a javelin of water towards his front knee mid dive. The [crusader] barely dodged but reached out, hand glowing green. The [guard] stumbled as one foot was held by the sucking mud and seeing his death approaching tried to aim his blade towards the snout of the incoming beast. Twrch lurched as Lydia's water javelin hit. There was a loud squelch as the knife sank deep into soft, decaying meat while a tusk crumpled the [guard]’s chest and ground him against the floor below. The glowing hand touched the rotten flesh and the flesh shrank back like polystyrene from hot iron. Then the vines exploded outward.
Lydia was lashed with vines, more cuts covering her form than Evelyn could count as she was flung across the room from their explosive growth. Meanwhile the [crusader] was cocooned by the vines. A horrible, muted symphony of cracking echoed from inside as limbs bent in ways they simply shouldn’t as each vine pulled in a different direction. Swiftly a reddish paste oozed from between the tendrils as they constricted and pulled apart. The blood level of the marsh dropped noticeably and Twrch stood tall once more, now with hundreds of vines as long as it was tall bursting from its body.
Lydia levered herself up coughing blood, from the marsh or her own Evelyn could no longer tell. Her hair now stained a bloody red rather than swirling with the power of her affinity. The light on her belt flickered and died as she got one last glimpse of Twrch.
“What kind of monster are you?”