Diary of Death: Flower Knight

The four survivors struggled to find their way through the forest. They were determined to find the nimble, birdlike Flower Knight to learn, or take, whatever they could from him.

Even though the old crone had shown them the way before, they constantly lost their bearings. They ran into trouble while they searched, but that was to be expected, and they persevered. Finally, they came upon the Forest Gate.

The gate refused to open for them. One by one the reached out and pricked their fingers upon the barbed thorns of the gate, which were cast in a strange, unfamiliar metal. Begrudgingly, the Gate opened for them, but only wide enough for them to squeeze through. Even though they'd already paid in blood, the Gate demanded more, and the bars cut bleeding gashes in their skin as they squirmed between them.

They quickly lost sight of the Gate as they moved deeper into the woods to an area where all of the trees seemed to lean in the same direction. A silent sucking wind seemed to tear at them, pulling them faster and faster into the inky blackness of some strange Event Horizon. The four survivors locked arms, and clawed from tree to tree until they finally managed to be free of the relentless pull.

Exhausted and bloody, they stumbled into a clearing filled with a ring of thorny flowers. At its center stood the knight they came to find.

They spread out, skirting the edge of the ring of flowers, thorns, and loam. The Flower Knight turned to face Erza, cocking his head to the side as if curious. The Knight's gaze came to rest on the spear that she held and, without warning, an enormous bloom unfurled at her feet. In a fraction of a heartbeat, she found herself standing just inside the Fairy Ring, yet she somehow felt invigorated.

The Flower Knight stepped toward her with impossible grace. His sword blurred through the air, touching Erza on the head, then the leg before somehow finding leverage against the haft of her spear. With a flick of its wrist, the Knight sent Erza's weapon spinning out of her grasp to clatter across the ground.

Even though the Knight's actions felt more like a gentle prod than a full on attack, Erza dove for her weapon and rolled out of the Fairy Ring. As Erza rolled to her feet, spear in hand, Lucy fired her Claw Headed Arrow at the Knight, who cut the projectile out of the air as if swatting at a fly.

Even though her feet had been firmly planted outside the ring, Lucy found herself inside its border, face to face with the knight who flicked cuts across her head and torso.

Zachary sprinted into the ring, hoping to take advantage of the knight's blind spot. Without even turning to face him, the Flower Knight simply took 3 quick steps to its left. One of the vines that trailed from its bustle wrapped around Zachary's leg and yanked him to the ground.

Intimidated by their foe's martial prowess, Allister pressed his Rawhide Headband to his forehead in an attempt to glean what the knight's next move might be. Moments before it actually played out in front of his eyes, he saw it take a step towards the supine Zachary. It waved its arm above the downed survivor and covered him in a green pollen that seemed to sap the strength from his body.

Before dashing back out of the Fairy Ring, Lucy quickly strung and loosed two shots from her bow. The first struck the hilt at the knight's side, but the man-beast deftly stepped into the center of the ring and cut the other missile out of the air.

Zachary followed the Flower Knight. Vines and flower petals swirled through the air, obscuring his vision, but Zachary pressed through the distraction and slammed his weapon home. Even though the attack appeared to leave him uninjured, the Flower Knight's head jerked back in surprise. Zachary aimed another swing directly at his foe's eyes, but the wary knight easily avoided the attack.

Erza followed with an attack of her own but, even fully focused on Zachary, the monster deftly avoided her spear. Allister had better luck, moving in to land blows on the monster's delicate knee joint and sabatons. Even as his sword hit home, the Flower Knight shifted its weight and backhanded Allister through the air, knocking him entirely out of the Fairy Ring.

Sensing that their presence inside the ring somehow strengthened the knight, Erza dashed out of the ring as their foe slammed a kick into Zachary's waist, cutting him deeply and sending him flying out of the ring to land flat on his back on the cold stone-faced ground.

Lucy took careful aim, but he was ready for her. Writhing roots grabbed Lucy's arms and legs, dragging her into the ring, holding her still in front of the knight. The roots reached for the others as well, but they each managed to resist the pull, cutting and slapping away the grasping tendrils.

The Flower Knight cut across Lucy's arm and sliced across her torso before stabbing deeply into her chest, collapsing her lung.

After the assault, she staggered away and just managed to make it out of the ring as Allister moved in to attack ineffectively, followed by a swift strike by Erza that found purchase on the knight's breastplate.

In retaliation, Wrathful Vines shot out towards Zachary, Allister and Erza, easily grasping Zachary, dragging him back into the ring. Allister and Erza both managed to wriggle away from the creepers as the knight struck Zachary across the legs. A second cut slammed into Zachary's head, throwing him back out of the ring to collide with a still shaken Lucy, knocking both of them to the ground.

Allister and Erza pressed the attack. First Allister cut the beast across the legs before Erza thrust her spear. The Flower Knight attempted to parry her blow, but Erza managed to break through its well honed defenses, and the being let out a high-pitched chirp of surprise before stumbling slightly. The hue of its armor seemed to shift, subtly changing colors.

Recovering instantly, the knight cut at Allister, wounding his head and legs, again shoving him completely out of the ring, before easily evading shots from Lucy's bow and an attack by Zachary from its blind spot.

Emboldened by her success, Erza sunk her spear into the Flowering Bustle on the knight's back. Despite her successful strike, she couldn't avoid getting her legs entangled in the twisting foliage surrounding her target.

Both attackers tried to dash out of the ring, but the vines pulled them back in. The Flower Knight viciously cut at Erza, wounding her arm, head, and torso before breaking her back with a powerful blow. Moving like the wind, the knight continued the attack, flowing from Erza to Zachary, slicing him across the waist and head before throwing both of the survivors through the air.

Allister shouted his encouragement to Zachary who bolted back into the ring, repaying his wounds in kind by damaging the knight's helm and knee. As Zachary pressed his attack, Lucy sent an arrow speeding through the air. The Flower Knight's sword whistled away from Zachary, but it was too slow to stop the arrow before it hit home, eliciting another chirp from the knight.

Allister tried to take advantage of the change in momentum, but just as suddenly as it had stumbled, the Flower Knight regained its composure, using the writhing vines and Allister's own momentum to slam him to the ground before pulling Lucy close and launching an attack against all four survivors.

Zachary was the first hit, taking three cuts to his body and waist. He landed belly up on the ground outside the ring. Allister just managed to get his arms up as the Flower Knight cut at him. He too found himself knocked down outside the ring. The knight swiftly disemboweled Lucy, who only just managed to escape death.

Erza wasn't so lucky. The knight attacked with incredible ferocity, cutting, chopping, and stabbing at Erza, shattering her jaw and collapsing her lung before severing her aorta. The knight whipped its sword through the air, sending drops of Erza's blood across roots and vines of its Fairy Ring as her heart beat its last.

The three remaining survivors couldn't even take their feet before the knight struck again. It dragged Zachary back into the ring, mauled him, and kicked him right back out of the ring just as quickly.

Lucy again managed to fire an arrow past the knight's parry attempt. As the shaft sank into her target, understanding of its movements dawned on her. She began to sense the patterns and flow of its Fencing style.

Zachary and Allister regained their feet but were not quick nor skilled enough to land wounds on the knight, who turned the attack back on Allister, nearly killing him.

Even as her intestines hung from the gaping cut in her abdomen, Lucy took aim, easily sinking her arrow into the Flower Knight's Delicate Shoulder Joint, ruining its sword arm before taking its life.

Zachary and Allister gathered up armloads of delicate, perishable flowers before wrapping Lucy's abdomen tightly. The Gate let them pass unmolested as they headed for home.

Kingdom Death: Monster's Knight expansions are very interesting. They straddle the line between quarry monsters and nemesis monsters, and each has unique mechanics that have to be considered while fighting them.

The Flower Knight is a huntable quarry, but the rewards that it provides, and the way that its craftable gear is made, mean that players will probably only hunt it once or twice per campaign. Even though you won't fight it as often as some others, the Flower Knight is still an awesome expansion and a worthy purchase.

Like all of the released Knight expansions, defeating the Flower Knight rewards you with a badge. On top of giving a bonus during showdowns, the badges give access to Tactics cards, which can be incredibly powerful if the survivors manage to make use of them properly. Even though the Tactics that you will use are drawn randomly, the added layer of tactical depth that they add to the game is awesome, and if you can position yourself properly, and use the Tactics at the right moments, they can completely swing the outcome of fights in your favor.

The Flower Knight expansion also comes with a custom campaign. While it isn't an entirely new timeline, like the ones found in the Sunstalker and Dragon King expansions, it does introduce some very interesting options for the settlement and changes things just enough to add some spice to the game. Even if you don't ever play the Bloom People campaign, the Flower Knight is well worth the money and an expansion that I add to every campaign that doesn't specifically say not to add expansions.

The Flower Knight sculpt is amazing. The expansion doesn't come with any full armor kits, but it does come with quite a few weapons and other odds and ends for you to use in concert with existing armor kits.

The copy of the Flower Knight expansion used for this article was purchased by the author.

Have you picked up any of the Kingdom Death: Monster expansions yet? If so, let us know what you think the must-haves are in the comments below.