Despite another horrible night's sleep I was somehow able to concoct a scenario for the party to encounter. In spoiler below.
The party is heading to one of the elven clans' hometowns (either Shadow or Wood Elf, haven't decided yet). They run into a paladin hired by said elven clan to investigate a problem: the local well has died up, some people have gone missing, and some strange monsters have been seen scuttling around late at night. The monsters in question are the Scuttzle family of monsters, a supposedly extinct breed of insectoid monsters that come in various elements. The last sighting of them was back after the Great War and they haven't been seen since.
The paladin "hires" the party to assist him, as they're strong enough to fight such powerful beasts. Not to mention each version of the Scuttzle monsters have a protective elemental aura not unlike what certain Beast Claws can produce, coming in flavors of Fire, Water, Ice, Lightning, Wood, and Light, with the Light version being the strongest of the batch. They're being commanded by a Scylla, which is the queen of the species, also supposedly extinct. She's capable of brainwashing any enemies (though only one at a time), can call upon all the "special" attacks of her spawn, can use some elemental magic (most notably Earth and Dark), can breathe fire by igniting sacs of gas in her cheeks and throat, and can cast Death. Her Achille's Heel, however, is that she can't leave pools of water for too long, as her body would overheat (this is because they used to be desert-dwelling monsters, with the Scylla residing in the oasis to keep cool).
The party fights the various Scuttzles and makes their way to where the Scylla is residing, as she's blocked the waterflow from the well to better suit her needs. The resulting battle is rough, with the Scylla using her brainwashing ability to try to turn the party against themselves (though all it takes is a sharp jolt to the head to restore the victim to normal). They soon find out that the Scylla is actually a zombified version of itself yet can still produce genuine Scuttzle eggs via Undead magic, indicating the species' unwanted return is because of Muu.
During the battle Nova is forced to bait the Scylla into using her brainwashing ability on him with the Dare spell, as she can only hold one person at a time, giving the party a chance to strike her down. Despite being under the brainwashing effect Nova is somehow able to keep himself from attacking the party, though he's struggling badly. As a last ditch attempt to turn the tide Nova is able to resist the effects and summons Celestial Judgment Arrow again and destroys her, also damaging the blockage that she created to stop the water.
However, Nova is very badly shaken, as the brainwashing spell had the unfortunate effect of unlocking several traumatic memories and emotions that are now haunting him. But the party needs to find the missing villagers first before figuring out a way to break the blockade without drowning immediately afterward. They find the villagers under the control of some remaining baby Scuttzles, forcing them to kill the babies in order to free the villagers.
Nova, despite still being extremely shaken, gets an idea: he summons his mana bow, conjures up three mana arrows, sets the Demon King Ring to Ifrit Mode, and fires the arrows at the blockade all the way from the entrance to the well, as the arrows have a homing ability. He just needs to focus hard enough and envision the blockade so the arrows will strike it, which isn't easy because of how scrambled his head is right now. Everyone else evacuates while they can so Nova can get his shots off.
He succeeds in the task and makes his escape but soon has a mental breakdown from the whirlwind of memories and emotions, collapsing and becoming bedridden. The paladin is able to reseal those memories and emotions with holy magic so Nova can recover in peace but tells the party that if Muu is capable of reviving and zombifying extinct monster breeds then they need to be extra careful, as some of the ancient monsters were extremely tough and near-impossible to kill without special powers like Shaman magic. And many of them had properties similar to the Scylla and her Scuttzle minions, such as brainwashing, protective auras, and stronger elemental manipulation than most modern monsters. This would ultimately prove true as when the party gets into the next kingdom sometime later a handful of extinct monster breeds are now roaming the land, having been revived by Undead magic as Muu's last attempt to hold onto what little territory he has left on Edyn.
What do you think? Sounds interesting? Let me know what anyone thinks of this idea. Now, time to see if I can regain some lost sleep.
