Kaldalis gave a wordless yell. It was fear and terror and panic and anguish. All rolled into one.

He felt himself thoughtlessly slamming his awareness across the theoretical keyboard of his mind, popping his Jump cooldown and his newly-refreshed Sweeping Strikes. He didn’t know what he was going to do until he was already in the air.

But he was going to do something.

He came down roughly where the man in black armor had fallen. The corpse was a few feet to the left of him, but more pressing was the overwhelming force of Infernal Horde now focused intently on him as the new arrival. Surrounded by foes, his Sweeping Strikes took over on his behalf, guiding his hands and feet to lay about with the weapon wildly. He slammed every syncoresi for ninety-six damage, and dealt an even one hundred and two to the few malum still there.

They lunged in, but Kaldalis leaped up into the air, using his Jump cooldown to dodge everything effortlessly.

He came down in between two bodies. A suyon and a Bhogad. It was too late to help them - they were already dead as well. Kaldalis swept his weapon around again, getting aggro on everything within reach of his spear before hurling himself into the air again. Claws and fists swept the empty air below him.

This time he landed where he was hoping to.

At his feet was Haldir.

Correction. The corpse of Haldir.

Kaldalis had been too slow. He knew that before he’d taken that first leap, but it still felt like a physical blow to see the confirmation of it.

Sheer numbers had ripped the man apart. His leather armor was scored and scratched, blood pouring down from the wounds, pooling on the dirt beneath him. On his face was a final expression of determination and distress.

A war of emotions whirled through Kaldalis’s chest.

A mad thought that he had to protect the body until Haldir respawned crashed through his head. On its tails, the crushing reality bludgeoned him with an incomparable sense of loss.

Haldir was an NPC.

He wasn’t coming back.

Kaldalis would never be able to apologize. Never be able to make things right. Never be able to talk through what was bothering him. He didn’t even get a dramatic moment to hold the man in his arms and exchange tearful - but manly - goodbyes.

The last words Haldir had ever said to him had been - and would always be - a scornful “how heroic.”

Kaldalis would say later that he wasn’t sure who he was most angry at. Haldir - along with the black knight and the rest of the reckless party - had charged forward heedless of Garyung’s orders. The Infernal Horde had actually done the deed of killing him.

But Kaldalis knew he was angry with no one as much as himself, for leaving things as he had.

What if Haldir had joined his party instead? What if he had been more willing to heed Kaldalis’s final warning instead of turning back with a glare? What if Kaldalis hadn’t pushed Garyung to hit the button today, and had waited just barely long enough for him to talk to Haldir first?

Kaldalis knew, logically, that he hadn’t killed Haldir. No one else would blame him.

But he blamed himself.

He lashed out at the foes that approached, sweeping his spear through them in a smooth, elegant movement guided by the Sweeping Strikes cooldown. He wanted to stand and protect Haldir’s body, but he couldn’t.

If he stood here, he was going to be overwhelmed just as fast as Haldir’s party had been, and he could already see how that would unfold. His party would crumble without their tank, leaving Garyung alone to hold the line. There was no way even the big alpha player could keep up with the entire infernal horde at once.

He kicked off into the air again, returning to his party’s side. Despite having to abandon his position, he couldn’t bear to leave Haldir’s body to be trampled under the horde arrayed against them. They had to make progress here.

“We have to push them out!” Kaldalis yelled as he landed between Myrin and Bangen. “We need to retake the killbox!”

“Do it,” Garyung bellowed. “We need the breathing room! If you have potions, this is the event you’ve been saving them for! Hold nothing back!”

A literal forest of monsters surged towards Kaldalis.

In addition to the dozen he’d left behind when he’d leaped forward, he’d swept his spear through three separate groups of monsters in the center of the killbox. The upside was that it meant even without the middle group holding the line, there were too many monsters focused on him for the army to push past into the camp.

Of course, the downside was that he was basically reduced to hopping in place for the duration of his Jump cooldown. Their numbers would overrun him in seconds if he didn’t make the most of the time he could spend out of their physical reach, effectively abusing invulnerability frames.

The entire mob of adventurers behind him was chugging potions, and when the empty vials hit the ground, their attacks redoubled with new ferocity.

When his Jump cooldown ran out, Kaldalis rotated right into his freshly-recharged Endure cooldown, using it to help him stay ahead of the incoming damage. With the potion-augmented attacks of his allies, though, the groups started to make headway.

The malum started to fall. And the syncoresi started to run.

Instead of letting the Infernal Horde step up into the gaps left by those they defeated, Kaldalis and Garyung moved in.

All around him, the parties stepped forward. The adventurers advanced.

Kaldalis and Garyung, together, pushed back to the outer gate.

“Hold!” Garyung called. “Hold them here! Thin them out! As soon as we have a breath, we strike!”

Kaldalis was sweating bullets, and he imagined Balrim and Yosini were as well. He had their undivided attention to keep his health bar above empty.

Outside the killbox was a grim sight. The field of Infernal Horde looked endless before them. There were two hundred of them easily just visible from here, along with a dozen captains now, hanging back and waiting for their ocean of cannon fodder to expend the adventurers’ resources.

“Now!” Garyung yelled. “The gates! Close them!”

Kaldalis didn’t even realize that the horde held back for a second. It didn’t matter why. He lunged for the gate, grabbing a hold of it and yanking it in. Aurigeant was right beside him, adding his strength.

The horde surged forward too late, and their weight only pushed the giant doors closed faster. Dozens of huge fists hammered against the far side of the gate, filling the air with their angry beat.

Bangen and Myrin worked in tandem with the damage dealers from Garyung’s group to heft the long wooden bar into the brackets - though Myrin wasn’t able to help much once the bar was off the ground.

With the gates sealed - for now - the surviving adventurers all but collapsed, gasping for breath.

But Kaldalis didn’t have time for that. He rushed back towards the fallen adventurers in the killbox, dropping to his knees beside Haldir’s body.

Kaldalis didn’t know what he wanted to do. All the options were pretty hopeless. It wasn’t like his dramatically yelling was going to bring Haldir part way back to life. And this wasn’t an appropriate time to start eulogizing.

Haldir was dead. If any of the others in his party were NPCs, they shared the same fate. The PCs would be able to get back up in thirty minutes - supposing the Adventurers League forces kept the location of their death safe and clear of threats so that they could respawn safely - but the NPCs were gone forever.

“Kaldalis,” Garyung said, putting a big hand on his shoulder. “We don’t have time to mourn. We need to hold this camp. It’s our duty to make sure their lives weren’t for nothing.”

Kaldalis wanted to snap that it had been for nothing even if the camp held. Their bullheaded attitude had been to the camp’s detriment. The group that died hadn’t committed to some intentional sacrifice for the good of the camp. They’d pushed too far ahead for anyone to support them, and paid for the mistake with their lives.

Their deaths were pointless.

Nothing had been gained.

But all his anger was still directed inwards. He had never - and would never - make things right with Haldir. All he was doing was trying to open the valve and let the pressure escape at the easiest target, even if that target was a pile of corpses.

How heroic.

“What do we do?” Garyung asked, lowering his voice. “I’m kind of at a loss here.”

“Fuck,” Myrin said with a gasp, interrupting whatever Kaldalis was going to say. She reached Kaldalis’s other side and reached out towards Haldir. “Fuck, he’s-”

“We don’t have time for this,” Kaldalis said, struggling to his feet. His words felt cold and hard in his mouth. “Garyung is right. We’ll mourn later. We have to make sure we’re all still here to mourn at all.”

Balrim ran up from the other side, staring down at the body with the same empty expression Kaldalis felt in the pit of his stomach. The Talsar said nothing, though, and so Kaldalis pushed on.

“We’re thinning the Horde’s numbers,” Kaldalis said, “but not fast enough. It’ll take weeks to chew through them all like this. And every moment half the camp is one misstep away from catastrophe.”

“We need to man the walls,” Garyung said quickly. “I mean, we have to push out to keep the walls safe. Or, we need to get the archers in position to attack the captains. But we need the walls to stay safe, though, to protect the camp, so we-” He was rambling, the words starting to break down into a stammer.

“Garyung,” Kaldalis said quickly, stopping him from spiraling. “Can I speak with you privately for a moment? I have information you might need before you make your decision.”

“Of course,” Garyung said, looking obviously relieved to be interrupted.

Kaldalis grabbed Garyung by the elbow and led him away from the group gathered around the fallen. He wasn’t the only one with fallen friends there. It meant they had a few moments.

“You can’t spiral like that,” Kaldalis said quickly. “Take deep breaths. Stay calm. You need to stay in control, especially of yourself. If you panic, it’s game over, man.”

“Right, right.” Garyung sighed and rubbed his giant hands across his face. “Sorry. I’m trying.”

“If you feel yourself start to lose it, just shut up and keep it in your head. That’s not the safest long-term solution, but we need a strong leader here.” He winced, realizing he was getting a little snippy. “You were great in the fight,” he added. “Don’t ruin that now.”

Garyung straightened a little and dropped his hands to his sides. While his eyes didn’t look clear, they at least looked like they belonged to a humanoid and not a frightened rabbit. “Right. Alright. So. What the everloving fuck are we going to do?”

“We strike at the heart,” Kaldalis said, tapping his temple. “Simple geography. Listen. I have a plan.”