When it became apparent to Geh`hen that many of its fleeing prey would escape, the wolf spirit exhaled a dense, shin-deep mist which covered all escape routes in an instant. Those who ran into the new mist, terrified of the great predator behind them, found their feet stuck to the ground by a sturdy, magical frost.
The wolf spirit appeared pleased by its own effectiveness. Dakkon and the others who were unaffected by the fear attacked the beast ferociously, but to little effect. The rare attack which managed to connect with the spirit’s one, invisible and constantly moving, vulnerable point amounted to a very small amount of damage. Dakkon had yet to land a blow and no one seemed to have a clue what exactly they were supposed to aim for.
“I hit it in the foot!” yelled a warrior.
“I struck it in the throat!” exclaimed an archer.
“It’s shifting around too rapidly for us to call out,” remarked Saden.
“Bind its weak point with your barriers, then tell us where it is!” yelled Damak.
“We’ll give it a shot,” said Saden with a firm nod.
The exorcists focused on the spirit’s moving weak point. The beast hopped away defensively and let out another icy exhalation at the still-mobile expeditionary force members. Despite their attempts to dodge the snare, only a few who were at the edges of its area of effect managed to avoid having their feet frozen to the ground.
The wolf spirit let out an other-worldly noise akin to sniggering, then expectantly looked to the bodies of the slain. The mangled, fallen corpses of the spirit’s victims—and the three killed because of the scheme in the rear—snapped bolt upright and began to sway and twist smoothly, as if to a melody which no living thing could hear.
The corpses floated above the ground and frosty mist, moving fluidly but in inhuman sweeps as if they were marionettes serving an aspiring puppeteer. The lively dead surrounded a member of the expeditionary force on four sides, twirled and struck out at her simultaneously. The force member’s body sagged then shot bolt upright into the air, joining in on the phantasmal waltz.
Dakkon warmed the area around his feet and shins with thermomancy until the ice no-longer claimed his feet. Others were wildly chipping away at the frost with whatever they had, to little effect. A fire wizard who had fled earlier regained his senses thanks to a new cast of Zelle’s ‘Daring’ spell and began to thaw the frost in great swaths.
The ancient spirit took offense to the meddling of the pyromancer and shot forward to claim the wizard’s life, but was repelled by another barrier of white light. The wolf shook itself after its unexpected collision and growled as it looked from side to side. The animated corpses began to move and dance at double their previous speed.
The wolf spirit exhaled more frost toward the pyromancer, but Saden’s barrier held back the spiritual magic. A small barrier of white encircled something within the great, translucent, crimson wolf for an instant—just enough time for Cline’s arrow to pierce the orb directly in its center.
The boss howled in anguish as a large chunk of its hit points fell away. The wolf’s puppet corpses moved faster still, striking at any still-stuck force members and resurrecting each as their own. By the time the force members had fully escaped the ice, there were as many corpses fighting them as there were living allies—including the bodies of Sift’s opponents.
The monk cut through the hovering corpses that darted around him as he moved. Each of their coordinated assaults was met with a dodge and counterattack. While the expeditionary force attempted to regroup and hold off the bodies which threatened to surround them, Sift had returned eight back to the earth.
Exorcists worked quickly to consecrate Sift’s struck-down dead, but their numbers were spread too thin and half of the lifeless marionettes returned to their dance as the wolf spirit let out more of its inhuman sniggering.
“All right,” said Saden. “We’re gonna bind this bastard’s weak point again. If you have any sort of ranged attack, use it when you see the bubble.”
The wolf spirit lunged towards Sift. Each corpse under thrall of the wolf broke away and assaulted the remainder of the expeditionary force. Saden and his fellow exorcists managed to form a barrier around the wolf’s weak point right as the boss landed a powerful swipe to Sift’s shoulder—throwing the monk back across the room and tumbling into a still-lingering cloud of mist. The expeditionary force’s ranged attack was far from concerted, as the boss’s corpse puppets threatened and harassed indiscriminately. Only a few attacks, including another dead-center arrow from Cline, found their way into the boss’s weak point. Still, the damage was great and accumulating.
“Damn it!” yelled Saden, breaking his usual cool after his friend’s fall. “We’ve got to get him out of that frost!”
Dakkon had felt mostly useless in the battle. Sift had come to his aid early on and it was everyone with ranged attacks or binding magic at their disposal who were carrying the team forward. Melting the frost which claimed the monk was something Dakkon knew he could do. He dashed off into the obscuring low-hanging mists where Sift had been swatted to.
Damak stepped to the forefront of the expeditionary force, attempting to draw the wolf’s attention. The wolf spirit hopped backwards, wary of any surprises now that it had been properly struck a few times. Damak pressed forward to intimidate the spirit boss while the other members of the force took down and consecrated corpses as they fell.
Dakkon used his thermal sight to quickly locate the monk and thawed him from the coffin of ice which had temporarily entombed him. Dakkon could see that Sift was in bad shape. The spirit’s claws had completely mangled the monk’s right arm and the top of his leg—a glaringly obvious downside to wearing no real armor in a fight. When Dakkon looked back at the spirit beast—he could see it. The spirit’s orb-like tether to the other world appeared as a dark ball which darted around the inside of its body erratically.
“Sift,” said Dakkon. “I can see it’s weak point.” Dakkon looked down at the mangled monk. Sift replied with a smile.
After the remaining corpse puppets were laid to their rest once again, the other two surviving warriors joined Damak as bait. If the wolf attacked one of them, perhaps the spirit would be close enough for the exorcists to bind its weak point for another strike or two. Including the enshrouded Dakkon and Sift, the force was down to 14 remaining members, only one of whom could still heal—Zelle. There were three tanks, three exorcists, and enough ranged firepower to potentially get the job done if everything lined up just right.
The ancient wolf ran and leapt around the body of the expeditionary force, exhaling freezing mist from every angle in a way where blocking the outpour of phantom snare with spiritual barriers was impossible for the few remaining exorcists. Half of the force found itself frozen, including the three tanks who were stuck away from the squishier casters which they aimed to protect. The boss tore through the ranks of the expeditionary force, striking at the exorcists first—killing Saden and his two classmates in a single swipe each.
The fire mage raised a thick cloud of mist which enveloped everyone, from his application of flame magic to the dense, magical frost on the floor which bound them. Amongst the mist prowled the ancient predator—appearing again and again before a member of the force drew its final breath. Zelle, the fire mage, and two more mages were hunted through the mists and eviscerated. The cries of each force member’s end could be heard nearby, though the others could not see it.
The fire mage had managed to free everyone, save for the three warriors at the front, and the wolf left them for last.