The oncoming horde was an intimidating sight, and Kaldalis had some serious hindsight regrets about applying the name “kill box” to the very space where he now found himself standing.

Why had he come out here again?

Why wasn’t he safely behind the door that had just closed behind him?

He only had to ask himself that question once before his mind returned to him Onirioago’s scowl. Haldir had warned them that she might deem the power they’d discovered too dangerous to have, turning them into pariahs for possessing it.

But this was an opportunity. An opportunity to change the narrative before it began.

He looked up over his shoulder and saw that there were almost two dozen people on the walls around the killbox with bows and/or healing robes. If he could show these people the power of Kaia’s Flicker, and really impress them, then that was a decent portion of the camp who would be hungry for the ability no matter what Onirioago said.

And this was too many people for them to all keep quiet about what they’d seen.

As much as Kaldalis knew this was insanely suicidal, it was in service to a larger goal.

In hindsight, though, he probably shouldn’t have brought Haldir with him. Knowing he was an NPC meant that failure here would mean his permanent death.

He supposed that meant that failure was not an option.

The horde of shimmering monsters rushed into the first gate. Kaldalis braced himself for the attack, but as soon as they were within range the archers on the wall opened up. A hail of arrows slammed into the gelatinous bodies. The first row of malum were pushed into the killbox not by their own power as they staggered with three or four arrows sticking out of each one, but by the force of the charge of the number behind them.

This staggered the first wave, buying Kaldalis a few moments to hastily cobble together a plan of attack.

Kaldalis wanted to set his glaive against the charge to impale a bunch of them at once, but all that would do was leave him open from the sides, and bind up his weapon in the meantime. Instead, he waited until they got within reach and lashed out, driving his weapon forward and slashing instead of stabbing. It landed across the front of the first malum to get within reach, leaving a slash in its gelatinous flesh that passed right between two arrows sticking out of its chest. He also left it with sixteen damage and a stack of Gust, and established aggro on it, meaning that it wouldn’t be pushing past him to menace his friends or the gate behind them.

He didn’t have much time after that before the wave of infernal horde crashed against him. He had thought he could set his feet and stand his ground, like a paladin facing an undead army, but this charge wasn’t as civil as an army of ravenous zombies. He felt more like a retail employee facing a Black Friday mob. It was all he could do to be carried away with the wall of bodies instead of being stomped under it.

The next wave of arrows flew into the crowd before him, but the shots were scattered and unfocused. They were peppering damage throughout the crowd, not picking off individuals. He wanted to yell directions up at them, but the wind was knocked out of him when his back hit the gate.

For a long moment, all he knew was the tortured groan of wood under the raw pressure of the bodies arrayed against them. He was caught between the wall of wood and the wall of gelatinous flesh. Fortunately, the enemies seemed too crushed together to bring their fists to bear against him. He wasn’t taking damage from the press, but he was afraid he might just be stuck.

The pressure grew until he was afraid the door wasn’t going to hold.

A rising yell joined the sound of the creaking door, and Kaldalis knew that people were holding the door closed from the other side. He tried to picture them right behind him, holding him up, pushing him forwards. They had to repel this assault or all was lost. Everyone was depending on him.

“This is fine,” Myrin grunted from closer at hand. “I am okay with the events that are unfolding currently.”

Kaldalis looked over to see Myrin and Balrim pressed to the wall about six feet away. Myrin was wrestling with her sword, now pinned between her body and the wall. Balrim was right next to her, and he seemed to be handling things slightly worse, slapping at the wall of malum with his clawed hands, as if trying to push them away.

“There we go,” Myrin said as she finally freed her blade. She cackled as she lifted the giant weapon over her head and smashed it down clumsily at the enemies around her. “Things are going to be okay!”

Kaldalis had to help. Myrin was actually damaging them, and this was Kaldalis’s best chance to establish aggro on as many of them as possible. He wiggled his glaive out from beneath the press of bodies and tried to mimic Myrin’s flailing.

He was met with minimal success.

Many of his swings didn’t deal any damage, and those that did didn’t reach the ones Myrin was swiping at. But he spread his attacks out, building threat on a number of targets. Arrows continued to rain from above, as the adventurers capitalized on the killbox, but they remained spread out.

Kaldalis took a deep breath, trying to shout the order he had wanted to before. “Focus fire!” he yelled up at the archers. “We’ve got to thin the crowd! Spreading damage around isn’t getting you anything but aggro!”

“From the middle,” a voice called out. “Thin out the middle to relieve the pressure!”

The next volley of arrows was not a laser-focused burst blasting through a single target, but was still a narrower spread than the attacks that had been flung wildly into the mob. Kaldalis finally started to see a few of the monsters start to reverse direction.

This wasn’t like before. They had fled previously because they’d defeated the four-fingered syncoresi. Now their health was reduced below whatever threshold was required for having them flee again.

Only this time, thanks to the killbox and their reckless charge, they were stuck in the press of bodies.

They were trying to push back against their fellows, and Kaldalis couldn’t help but imagine that their strength was actually reducing the pressure that was forcing him and his friends against the door.

Unfortunately, this coincided with a number of the malum getting their hands free.

Whether because of the change in pressure caused by the successful volley, or simply by spending time wiggling in place to free them, large gelatinous hands raised here and there out of the mass. None of them were close enough to strike Kaldalis, but where they could reach, they smashed against the door and walls. And anything else. Flashes of fire broke out from the blows, blackening the wood. It didn’t seem to be ready to ignite anything, but the scorch marks left behind smoked lightly. Kaldalis could see where the walls had already been burned, and wondered how much damage the structures could actually take.

He also wondered how long it would take before the tight quarters were filled with smoke. Suffocation might kill them before the malum did, if things went on as they were.

Another volley of arrows came down.

It wasn’t Kaldalis’s imagination. The pressure pinning him to the wall did ease up a little more. The focus fire was working.

Just not exactly fast enough.

A gelatinous fist shook free of the mass and swept out at Kaldalis. Almost on instinct he shifted to the left, slipping just barely to the side of the attack. A flash of fire came from the strike as it hit the door behind him instead and the heat washed over his face, neck, and shoulder. It reared back again and Kaldalis wrenched his glaive into place to jab at that malum’s face. He managed to get a stack of Gust onto it along with his sixteen damage, and it raised its hand to defend rather than attack. In the gelatinous featureless chaos, he wasn’t surprised to learn that it was the second stack on that particular monster.

“This doesn’t seem sustainable,” Kaldalis grunted. “But I’m not sure how to make it better without making it way worse first.”

“I’m with you,” Haldir said from his right. Kaldalis looked over to see the other vathon with his shield arm free instead of his weapon, carefully positioning it to protect himself from the freed fists around himself. “But then again, I’m not the asshole who said he had a plan.”

Another volley of arrows hit the middle of the pack, and suddenly the press of bodies receded by about a foot. It wasn’t enough space to maneuver, but Kaldalis took the first deep breath he’d had in what felt like several minutes.

The release of pressure led to a shout of triumph from through the door. They had no doubt felt the press breaking.

Unfortunately, the real fight had only just begun. He still had more room to make.

Kaldalis artfully reached his glaive through the crowd for the malum that had punched at him earlier. The bladed head of his polearm thrust into the creature’s shoulder, and he earned his third stack of Gust.

It only did six damage, but that disproportionate blast of energy sent it blasting backwards into the enemies behind it. It cleared a little bit of space, and Kaldalis used it to bring his glaive to bear properly, sweeping it side to side wildly to protect his personal bubble.

“To me,” he yelled. “I have some space!”

Kaldalis felt Balrim behind him a moment later, with Myrin was using her sword the same way he was sweeping his glaive to defend the precious breathing room he’d stolen. Haldir wiggled out of the crowd after a moment, looking a little bit battered, but Balrim had a potion for him, restoring the NPCs hit points.

“So, what next?” Myrin asked. “It looks like we might have made a terrible mistake!”

“Don’t worry, it’s all going according to plan.”

“What’s your plan?” Balrim asked.

“Um… Let’s not die?”

“I like that plan,” Myrin said.

“This is it,” Haldir said. “Today was the last day of my life. It’s true what they say. You never know when your time is coming until it gets here.”

“We’re going to be fine,” Kaldalis said with a grin. “We’re going to do this!”

No one seemed convinced, but this was not the time for witty remarks.

Instead of surging forwards, the mass of malum shuffled back. For a moment, Kaldalis believed that they were afraid of the wildly sweeping weapons between the adventurers and the monsters.

Then, instead, they started to shudder and undulate.

The dark blast attack was coming, and it was coming from dozens of monsters all at the same time.

“Good news, everyone!” Kaldalis announced, “I do have a plan for this part!”