The beetles looked up from their meal as Kaldalis charged towards them. Almost in sync they turned to face him and put their giant pincers forward.

As he got closer, Kaldalis could see that their oversized mandibles were large enough that if he had been wielding daggers or maybe even a sword, he would have had to put his arm in harm’s way to attack. With the spear, though, reach was on his side.

He swept the glaive around into the nearest beetle’s side.

It chunked into the shell, cracking the thick carapace with a heavy sound.

The strike dealt forty-six physical damage, and Kaldalis was aware that it added a stack of gust to the beetle.

In response, the beetle lunged at him. It forced him to dance back. The pincers snapped shut on air, but only barely. And the fight was on.

The second beetle came in from Kaldalis’ right, too fast for him to respond. Giant pincers snapped shut on his thigh, and while the barbs didn’t penetrate, he could feel the bruises forming from the vicious strike. He took sixty-six physical damage and nineteen water damage.

It was a considerable hit, but after gearing up, it wasn’t a huge chunk of his hit point total.

Although... With two creatures on him, it was going to add up if he let it get out of control.

So he vowed to not let it get there.

Kaldalis took a quick second to evaluate his goals before choosing his next move. He had to establish enmity on the second beetle, and so he brought his glaive to bear, stabbing straight into the creature. Shell cracked and splintered under the strike, and he dealt his forty-six damage, applying a stack of gust to it as well.

He found himself wondering how long the stacks would last. Would it be optimal to keep them active on multiple enemies for maximum uptime, or if it would be better to focus one target at a time to get the most stacks going on the same target?

That was a question for a different time.

His friends were catching up now, and he had two angry beetles lunging at him together.

A pair of pincers closed just in front of his belly, and the other almost caught him on the arm. They were at an odd angle, and he found himself backing up to keep them both in front of himself at the same time.

Haldir reached the fight first, bringing his sword around to strike the left beetle twice in rapid succession. Kaldalis added his third strike to that one to cement his hold on the creature’s attention and bringing it to two stacks of the gust debuff. Myrin arrived shortly after, and moved around the back of the two beetles, standing where she had room to sweep her enormous weapon. She struck the second beetle.

The beetles kept their attention on Kaldalis, though, snapping at him.

It brought an interesting issue to mind. He didn’t want to dance around too much and force Myrin and Haldir to struggle to keep up. So, instead, he stood his ground, trying to dodge left to right rather than backing away.

It worked for the first beetle, as its pincers snapped at the air where his leg was a moment before.

But the other managed to close on his torso, the barbs scraping against the plates of his armor at his stomach and in the middle of his back.

It was like getting punched in the gut and the kidney at the same time. It hurt worse than the earlier attack, even if it only did the same eighty-five total damage.

On cue, a potion crashed into Kaldalis’s shoulder, topping him up instantly with a heal for one-hundred and seventy hit points. A breath later, an arrow dropped out of the sky, thunking into one of the beetles. It struck the shell and didn’t quite stick - just leaving a deep rent in the shell - so Kaldalis wasn’t sure if it had done damage or not.

Ultimately, the damage wasn’t Kaldalis’ or Balrim’s departments, though. As a tank, he was here to just keep laying about with his glaive to hold the monsters’ attention. And as a healer, the talsar was focused on keeping everyone alive.

Setting his mind to the task, he struck the one Myrin was attacking a second time, since he had only landed that initial hit on it and he needed to keep aggro on both targets. He thrust the glaive into it, aiming for the middle of the mass of tiny mandibles and eyes that was its face. The strike didn’t land square, but the blade of the glaive skittering over the surface was enough to count for damage. Kaldalis didn’t get the mental feedback for another stack of gust, though he wasn’t sure if that was because the strike wasn’t a direct hit, or because of random chance.

Kaldalis ended up taking hits from both creature’s pincers this time - one bit down on his shoulder, and the other caught his leg again, almost throwing him to the ground. The two hits for eighty-five damage undid the work Balrim’s heal had done, and Kaldalis struggled for a moment to keep from jumping back to get space between him and the monsters. Balrim had just healed him, so it was going to be a few long seconds before the next potion came in.

Meanwhile, Myrin and Haldir were doing their thing. Myrin’s giant sword came down in huge chopping motions, and bits of shell scattered under every strike. Haldir’s blade set a much faster tempo, with a lot more grace, but each strike didn’t match the raw weight Myrin was swinging around.

Kaldalis readied himself and struck the first one again - the one Haldir was attacking - bringing his weapon straight across in a sideways sweeping motion. The blade bit into the side of the creature’s head, and he felt the damage happen, and then after a brief pause, the third stack of the gust debuff applied to it.

Upon applying the third stack, there was a blast of energy - like a sudden concussive explosion - from the point of impact. The creature staggered sideways from the blow, letting out a chittering keening noise. Kaldalis was aware that the blast had dealt only twelve damage, but the effect of it on the creature was disproportionate to the damage. He wondered if he could use the force of that blast to negotiate a monster right over a cliffside or into another hazard.

Before Kaldalis could appropriately appreciate the tactical options afforded by his new tool, the shrub in the middle of the room stood up.

Apparently awakened by the cry of pain from the beetle, the little plant suddenly went from a two-foot bit of scraggly thornbush to a frightening cross between Jack Skelington and a spined devil. It moved on all fours, bristling with jagged branches, and cruelly hooked thorns covered every available space on the creature.

With a plaintive battlecry, it charged towards Kaldalis with jerky motions that made it look almost like claymation.

Kaldalis broke his own rule and stepped back from the beetles’ next pair of attacks, dancing away while drawing them forward. He did so to reposition them so that the new plant monster wouldn’t be attacking him from the side. The brambly creature sidled up next to the beetles, and swiped at Kaldalis with its spindly forelimb. He ducked, barely avoiding a face full of those hooked thorns.

He was about to strike the creature, but the beetle Myrin was attacking whirled on her, and the leather-clad suyon yelped and leaped back, narrowly avoiding the clap of the pincers again.

Kaldalis had to get it back. And fast.

He brought his glaive down as hard as he could on the creature’s back, damaging it weakly and applying its second stack of gust. The creature turned its attention back to him.

With his focus split, Kaldalis didn’t see the other beetle coming his way. Its pincers caught his leg, dealing eight-five damage. As a tank, he had hit points in spades, and so it was a small price to pay to get aggro back.

Kaldalis whirled his polearm around once before sweeping the head up diagonally into the giant insect again.

In addition to his normal damage, this finally procced the third stack of the gust debuff.

The blast came up from the bottom of the creature’s body, and it was almost flipped over backwards by the burst of wind. As it leaned back, Myrin let out a yell and smashed her greatsword into its side. The weapon didn’t just send chips of shell flying, but cleaved entirely through it, bisecting the beast. Its innards sprayed across in an arc from Myrin’s swing, and Kaldalis turned his head to avoid getting beetle juice in his mouth.

Myrin let out another yell of victory, and Kaldalis shared in the moment of triumph. The creature’s death - his awareness of its death told him it was called a Lesser Leviabeetle and was worth twenty-five experience points - represented the fight becoming significantly easier. It seemed a little sketchy for a moment there, but that-

A potion crashed into Kaldalis, restoring one-hundred and seventy-one hit points. It didn’t undo all the damage, but it was a huge chunk of his missing health.

The bramble monster immediately forgot all about Kaldalis, turning to skitter its way around the melee towards the talsar healer who threw the potion.