Rion fired a blast of water at the Riamo's face, which it dodged with a swing of its neck before baring its teeth and striking at Ezra.
Before it could connect, Maria started strumming her harp, playing a rushed melody. The music echoed through the cavern, and as the Riamo came down, it missed Ezra completely, biting into the stone path, sending shards of rock flying.
"Nice job, Maria!" Ezra shouted as he tossed three nails into the air and hit each of them in quick succession. One! Two! Three! Each nail expanded, then drove into the side of the Riamo's face, spilling bright red blood.
The Riamo let out a howl, then reared back and spun, sweeping its tail across the stone path.
Ezra's eyes widened as he quickly turned back to Rion and Maria. "Watch out—!!" he paused, then grinned and channeled force into his legs, leaping up.
—
Had Rion fought this thing before the climb, that would've been the end, but thankfully he'd gotten a crash course in using force from Ezra and found it easy to leap over the tail, even with Maria in his arms.
"Thanks," Maria said.
Rion grinned. "Of course!" he landed on the floor. "Couldn't have you dying."
He then glanced down at her. "Yo, Maria, if we get you closer, will that disorienting song work better?"
Maria nodded. "Naturally."
"In that case..."
—
Ezra leaped back, dodging another bite from the Riamo. It came from the side this time, almost ripping him in two. That was close...
"Ezra" Rion shouted, "get her closer! I'll keep the Riamo distracted!"
A second later he heard a scream. When he turned back, he saw Maria barreling in the air towards him.
Ezra blinked "Huh-?" He caught her stumbeling a step, then looked at her, confused.
Maria exhaled. "Just do it."
Ezra shrugged and ran for the Riamo.
—
"Over here!" Rion shouted as he charged up a fireball in his hand. Then he shot it in an arc. The Riamo weaved its head, letting the fireball pass but the flame stopped in midair.
Rion grinned. "Ever heard of control?" he spat.
He flicked his fingers. The fireball snapped sideways alongside them and slammed into the Riamo's head, bursting into an explosion of flames and scorching its coat.
The creature recoiled with a groan and readied to attack again, but from the curling smoke came Ezra and Maria.
Maria then started to play the same tune as before, but faster and sharper this time. Her fingers so fast they seemed to blur. The song drove into the Riamo's ears, causing it stagger then slowly sway from side to side as if drunk.
Ezra landed and set down Maria before circling around and leaping on the back of the Riamo's tail. Then he threw up a nail and slammed it down on the tip of the tail. The nail grew, pinning the Riamo down. Then he started running up the tail until reaching its head, where he threw up another nail. "RAHHH!" With all his strength, he slammed it down. The nail pierced the skin but didn't go all the way. Ezra lifted his hammer to finish the job, but before he could do it, he found himself… upside down?
The Riamo did a full 360 spin, sending Ezra crashing to the ground. Then, still upside down, it let out a low growl or moan—it was hard to say—but slowly, the hair on its head started falling like rain. At first it was a trickle, but before long, brown tufts were falling like tender meat off a bone. Finally, once all the hair had gone, it revealed the moose-like head was covered in scales like the rest of its body.
The scales started to swell, causing the nails Ezra planted to pop out like corals from a boat's hull. The three nails on the side of its face fell out, clanking on the stone path. Then the nail lodged into its head fell, landing into the stone right side up.
Finally, the Riamo turned back around and let out one last horrible screech. It seemed the battle was just beginning.
(And thus, Lost Keep's adventure continues…)