All your dreams are down below

the gravedigger

Tumbling straight into the tank knocking both of them off-balance and perhaps it expected the crab-thing to have to take a moment to recover, it was surprised by the sudden, brutal attack at its midsection. It was quite heavily armored, at least, which took the brunt of the attack. Still, there was a loud crack in the air as the keratinous plates cracked and broke under the force of Juggernaut's kick. All the air was knocked out of the Gravedigger as even the bones beneath cracked despite their protection. it hadn't shattered any ribs, but many of the protective plates were destroyed and some of the ribs had most certainly been fractured.

It roared in pain and reached for the leg to grab at it, to retaliate with its own brutal rip, but claws merely scraped at the already retreating leg and finding no purchase as its momentum carried it back, landing heavily on its side in front of the Juggernaut.

buried under broken bones

ROUND 2/?

84%

ATTEMPT: rip at the leg you just hit me with
DEFENSE: none
INJURIES: broken plating, fractured ribs

@Juggernaut

Juggernaut noted the disappearance and current absence of the other combatant, and he tried to keep the anxiety from wearing him down faster than this toddler nipping at his heels. Using his own opponent as a stepping stool, he'd began the process of balancing his own momentous weight, recalibrating further with a few back-steps.

It'd discovered the Gravediggers own armoured defense the messy, tactile way, by feeling his leg do nothing but scrape the surface of its vulnerable meat. Perhaps the source of this one's overconfidence - Juggernaut knew it well, having been humbled one too many times. A strong carapace cannot compensate for poor strategy.

Though Azrael's absence unnerved him, he'd been given precious time to deal with the other. Aiming for what he assumed to be the Gravedigger's underside (even with the glow, it was hard to make heads or tails out of anything), All four tendrils shot forth to further disable him, inflicting horrible, paralysing pain.

And, y'know. Anaphylactic shock and/or heart failure, if Juggernaut was really lucky.

However, fortune did not take his side. All stingers either sunk uselessly into the earth or scraped off of the Valkhound's armour.

ROUND 1/?

81%

ATTEMPT: trying to sting Gravedigger and failing
DEFENSE: natural defenses, no more spell :(
INJURIES: Bruised, sore legs

@Vindicator

With the deer in place and no attacks flying at them for the moment, the Vindicator sensed for the others, sensing heat to its right, not far from its Lesser pawn. The demon was most likely there - it broadcast that location to Juggernaut through the link, briefly sharing that sense of heat in the darkness. He is there, be careful, it whispered along with it.

Its magic pressed forward against the mind of the jungle deer, which edged closer to the Juggernaut, shaking out its neck aggressively, yet it stood careful and ready to leap in front of him as soon as an attack came their way. Vindicator kept their link open and strong - as soon as it sensed something coming, so would the deer and the hit would be for it instead of Juggernaut.

ROUND 2/?

100%

ATTEMPT: preemptive guard - the next attack against Juggernaut will hit the Jungle Deer instead
DEFENSE: none
INJURIES: none

He braced for the deer to do something, perhaps to charge him or the Gravedigger, but it merely took up a stance near the tank-drone, swinging its head blindly. He grinned. The darkness was their advantage.

For a moment, it would be bright, though, as he sucked his breath in again to start the spell anew and this time, there was no distraction, nothing to stop him from opening his jaws and jetting a burst of flame straight towards his enemy.

But just as the flames emerged, there was a scuffling sound and a squeal and he realized it wasn't the Juggernaut that had been hit, but the deer. It had jumped in the way of his attack right as it had gone off and had fallen to the jungle floor, scorched and writhing in pain.

He snapped his jaws shut, snarling as he stalked away from his now exposed hiding spot. He'd take up another shot elsewhere.

ROUND 3/?

100%

ATTEMPT: flamethrower at Juggernaut (its hitting the deer)
DEFENSE: none
INJURIES: none

All your dreams are down below

the gravedigger

The Gravedigger grunted with pain as it fought its way back to its feet, glowing blood beginning to drip out from between the shattered plates of its chest and stomach, a fiery pain spreading out from the fractures under the skin. Its teeth clamped hard against the pain and it all only served to fuel the eruption that still continued. It had never experienced pain like this before.

It was exhilarating.

It felt the movement through the air before the stingers struck, one vibrating in the earth in front of it, another bouncing uselessly off its back plates, and it didn't hesitate this time, striking forward at the closest stinger in reach. It snarled as its jaws made to clamp down on the unarmored part of the tentacle, acidic saliva dripping from its gullet.

buried under broken bones

ROUND 3/?

84%

ATTEMPT: disable one of the stingers
DEFENSE: none
INJURIES: broken plating, fractured ribs

@Juggernaut

Juggernaut's attention was split in several direction, flashes of light appearing and disappearing in the pitch black. It saw a great plume of fire shoot towards it, only to engulf the tiny shape of a deer, the smell of burning hair and meat wafting from the smoldering lesser. Vindicator's doing. It shot a flash of wordless gratitude to its ever talented sibling.

But closer, more urgent, was the gnashing teeth of the Gravedigger. Glowing jaws clamped around the stinger it found first. Panic, pain and frustration swirled inside the Juggernaut in an instant. He knew how this ended. (Was this the same stinger as last time?)

Leveraging this unfortunate situation, The other tentacles lashes out toward the offending face, targeting the largest and closest of Gravedigger's eyes. Only one of the three seemed to on target, though.

ROUND 3/?

62%

ATTEMPT: Using tentacles to stab one of his eyeballs
DEFENSE: natural defenses
INJURIES: Bruised, sore legs, 1/4 tentacles mangled

@Vindicator

The poor jungle deer that had briefly been a part of Them, of the Hive, of the whole, was quickly consumed by flame, its short-lived purpose completed and Vindicator dropped the spell. Unfortunate that its life would be coming to an end so brutally, so quickly, and that it could no longer help their purposes anymore, but it could not linger on that. Perhaps if they were not in the middle of a fight, Vindicator would lament the loss, but with Juggernaut's pain echoed in its mind and battle still raging, it forced itself to move on.

It re-positioned itself, acknowledging Gravedigger as the greater threat for the time being. He was biting and ripping at its sibling's stingers and it was going to be overwhelming quickly. So it found a spot where it thought it had a line of sight, raise an arm and spread its fingers, and released a spray of magic intended to hinder the beast.

Unfortunately, Vindicator couldn't see. It could sense their heat and vibrations, but the trees might as well have been invisible to it. The spot where it could see them ended up being, well, right behind a tree. And so the spray of glassy material only ended up spraying on the bark in front of it. It heard the light crackling of the material setting much too close then it should be and grew confused. That wasn't supposed to happen.

ROUND 3/?

100%

ATTEMPT: hinder Gravedigger. or not
DEFENSE: none
INJURIES: none

With both of his flame blasts foiled, with all the confusion that came along with that happening, Azrael decided to switch his tactics. Besides, Gravedigger was getting all the close hits and taking all the heat and while he could continue to stay back and blast flame through the darkness, it felt cowardly. And he desired the taste of blood...if this thing even had blood.

With a quiet snarl of excitement, he lunged forward, throwing himself from the darkness at one of the Juggernaut's wings. One of the smaller ones ones its legs, trying to dig his caws in to rip it free, even though the thickness of the feathers wasn't quite accounted for, so the claws didn't reach in deep enough to do the level of damage he desired.

ROUND 4/?

100%

ATTEMPT: rip off a wing
DEFENSE: none
INJURIES: none

All your dreams are down below

the gravedigger

Perhaps it was because Gravedigger had been in a state of chaos for a while now that it was beginning to remember its training through the haze of black and green, and when it saw the stingers flying towards its very vulnerable eyes, it had the reaction to attempt to stop that, moving its head so that it would bounce harmlessly off its armored skull instead of stab into the soft flesh of its eyes.

Unfortunately, it kind of forgot there were more then one stinger racing towards it. By moving its head out of the way of the first, it just invited another one to hit its mark, stabbing deep into one of its eyes on the other side of the head. The valkhound roared with pain and jerked back, but the stinger was stuck.

buried under broken bones

ROUND 4/?

76%

ATTEMPT: not the eyes!
DEFENSE: none
INJURIES: broken plating, fractured ribs, stung eye :(

@Juggernaut

The wings of the Juggernaut were not part of its original design, an unplanned addition by a different creator entirely (one that seemed content in gently pulling her strings to a far uglier fate than Dontaceal had in mind...) Its nervous system had been created for efficiency, to alert but not to interfere. More fragile limbs, such as its tentacles, were more sensitive. But they were also of use - thus their loss or damage was something the Juggernaut should feel.

The wings were a largely aesthetic addition, but in contradiction, they were easily the most sensitive part of the drone's body. Despite the shallow wounds (or shallower than originally intended), The pain and surprise of Azrael's claws ripped through the Juggernaut like nothing it had felt before. The Gravedigger was forgotten in an instant, the stinger that'd plunged into his eye socket flexing, ripping itself out as the Juggernaut lunged to knock its new attacker off kilter.

It couldn't free itself completely, yanking the Gravedigger's massive head along with it, and thus reducing its momentum. But the Juggernaut was still a thick, heavy wall of an animal, and Azrael would either have to back off or muscle through.

That was the plan, at least.

ROUND 4/?

57%

ATTEMPT: Shove azrael away (with its stinger still stuck in Gravedigger's eyebawl. unfortunately for everyone.
DEFENSE: natural defenses
INJURIES: Bruised, sore legs, 1/4 tentacles mangled, deep lacerations on leg wing

@Vindicator