EA Chapter 41 - Descent of the Gargoyle

Luna flew back swiftly through the air as the gargoyle took chase toward her, heating its massive wings. Each movement was like a clap of thunder, and the beast trailed black fog from its jaws. All three eyes were fixed briefly on Luna, and then steadily shifted to take in the expanse of Vyrham below.

She looked beyond the winged beast, to the distant blip that was Iudex Kabal. Ash swirled around the Iudex in a great grey whirlwind, and in a flash both she and the darkened whirlwind vanished from the heart of the storm. Indeed Luna knew she was gone, her qi vanished without a trace.

No doubt she felt the gargoyle would be enough to deliver whatever divine punishment she chose to dole out onto Elthreme. And letting a human see her face was clearly some sort of taboo that had spooked her. More than that, however, that storm and all the beasts she had summoned had taken more energy than the woman would care to admit. To join the fray herself would have been risky.

The airships were able to move in closer, those that hadn’t been grounded or greatly damaged in the prior storm at least. Soon their on board weapons were unleashing lances of vibrant blue quartz-light through the air, making for the airborn bulk of the gargoyle.

A few of the shots went wide, the beast deceptively fast and nimble for its bulk. And, naturally, the crews on the craft had to be mindful where they aimed for fear of hitting any part of the city below. Yet, of the shots that made contact, they only scarred the outermost shell of the ashen beast, and the injuries regenerated as quickly as it appeared.

The gargoyle swept past the bell tower of the temple, his great clawed arm cleaving through it and shattering the top as if it were made of wet tissue paper. The bell was flung from its moorings, landed atop a nearby house, and smashed it flat.

Luna took aim and, as a test, fired a disintegrating bolt of white light from her fingertips. It struck the gargoyle head on, and only grazed a small chunk of rocky armour away in the process. That injury regenerated swiftly, as if Luna hadn’t hit it at all.

She narrowed her eyes. Well, this was going to be tricky.

Undaunted, she moved higher and the gargoyle beat its mighty wings to follow after her. She could glimpse other soldiers watching from below, many of them too dumbstruck to do anything but stare. The average Elthremian soldier was trained and equipped to handle smaller ashborn and Mire-based creatures. A beast like a gargoyle was simply beyond them.

Even so, a few men on ballistas did their best to take aim and open fire, their bolts exploding against the gargoyle’s shell when they made contact.

Luna breathed in deep, her qi surging with renewed intensity until her muscles burned from the exertion. The energy coalesced in her fingertips, making them vibrate from the scarcely-contained power. It unfurled from her palms in a great and invisible wave, a projection of power that struck the gargoyle with enhanced gravity.

The sudden increase in weight jerked the gargoyle downward mid-flight, the beast snarling in protest. It fought against the continuous drag of gravity, leaving its massive bulk almost suspended in mid-air. She’d slowed it significantly, giving Luna enough time to contemplate her next course of action.

“Look up and watch me, you worthless hicks,” Luna growled. “Watch as I save your worthless lives, and learn to venerate me.”

Her mind reached out, trying to find the gargoyle’s own. She found nothing, just raw animus and instinct that guided the beast, a pure sense of malevolence that was nigh-omnidirectional. Trying to shut the beast’s mind down, or direct it elsewhere wouldn’t work.

Still, if a form of magic had forged this creature from ash, it stood to reason that it could be disassembled the same way. She examined it intently as it continued its slow approach, as if it were actively pulling itself through a pool of molasses. An aura of some kind suffused every particle, a magic that was entirely alien to Luna’s experience.

But she understood the principle, at least. Back in her old world the ancient dwarven smiths of the Crode Mountains had mastered the art of golem construction, animating metal and clay humanoids with cores of mystical energy. And while attempts to replicate their secretive art had never really worked, it was not hard to gasp the basics of the prospect.

In the case of the Ashborn, that aura was coming from the crystalline core. It should have been possible, in theory, to disrupt that connection and make the ash fall apart. If she could find the right frequency to use to distort the aura, at least.

The gargoyle snapped its head toward her, heaving its massive chest to suck in a breath. A great black cloud belched from its maw, cleaving toward her. Luna swerved to avoid it, snapping the field of gravity she had inflicted on the beast. She had no idea what the smoke was. But, as a stray puff brusher her barrier and made it crackle red hot on contact, she knew she had no interest in being hit with it dead on.

Her opponent whirled toward her in passing, swinging a massive bat-like wing her way. A boom of wind swirled toward her and stuck like a titanic fist, the impact launching Luna back through the air. She smashed through the chimney of a factory, smashing the bricks into powder in passing. She recovered quickly, summoning a whirlwind behind herself to slow her descent.

Luna looked up, watching as the gargoyle turned in the air and banked toward her. She landed on the rooftop of a long row of tenement houses, watching it approach.

A sudden thud at her side snapped her to attention, and she looked over to see Old Scratch standing only a few paces away from her. “The stones on you, girl,” he said, fighting an urge to laugh. “Most veterans would shit themselves if they saw a gargoyle up close. But you rushed it head on. You continue to impress me.”

A few other soldiers landed atop the nearby rooftops, Arcanists and Rangers mostly. The latter took aim, loosing hails of luminous arrows at the gargoyle. The beast banked away, grazed by only a few explosive bolts that only barely scuffed the armour.

“I might have a way to beat it, sir,” Luna said.

“Aye?”

She nodded. “It’s a hunch, but it should work. But that creature needs to be held in place so I can pull my plan off.”

The old man clicked his tongue, staring intently at he flying figure. Great gouts of ebony smoke flew from its maw, striking soldiers down below as they tried to flee. Even from afar Luna could see what became of those who could not dodge in time, their armour rusting and shattering, their flesh sloughing off their bones in a molten tide.

“Well,” Old Scratch eventually said, “why not? I like to encourage my students.”

“Just... like that?” Luna asked, staring incredulously at him.

He shrugged his broad shoulders. “You’re a capable girl, Alcett. And besides... Well, I don’t know how to explain it, but you’ve got a glint in your eye that reminds me of my old commanders. It’s the look of someone who knows what they’re doing.”

Gallow Cade had flown through the air astride a luminous shaft of light, intercepting the gargoyle and striking it with an exploding wall of hardlight. More and more walls of energy collided with the scaly beast, each explosion knocking it further and further back until it crashed into a central plaza and flattened the fountain at the heart of it.

Others moved in, striking at it from above with arrows and bolts of magical force, retreating whenever the gargoyle hurled shrapnel or black smoke their way. Even with the advantage of numbers, and a sustained assault, the beast was recovering faster than the soldiers could do damage to it.

Still, so long as the snarling creature was pinned down, it would give Luna the opening she needed.

Old Scratch cracked his knuckles. “Now, let’s put this bastard down.”