Sentinel's roar of pain did not give Effluvium pause. It was nothing, if not a stubborn beast. Effluvium was still enraged, still in pain itself. It saw the world in a haze of red and black. All that mattered to it was that its' claws met flesh, the fact that it was causing something else pain. It would not let up the offensive. Not intentionally.

With the Sentinel at it's mercy, It switched its assault. Its' eyes focused on the Sentinel's arm, the one it saw grasping the sharp thing. It reminded it of Attikias' spear. And had Effluvium on edge. Effluvium growled, the noise wet. Effluvium it opened its jaws, and attempted to grasp the limb in its jaws, tearing at it.

"When I speak."

When I think.

Round: 4/?
Attempt: Bite dominant arm?
Defense: N/A
Injuries: half its limbs broken, took a big ol halberd bite

@The Sentinel

He saw the bite coming, and instinctively, reflexively, thrust his forearm up to meet it. He had arm-spines, not unlike Vargas's; unless Effluvium actually deliberately continued to bite at them they would not harm it, but at the very least perhaps they would protect him from the bite.

At last his rasping voice called out, hoarse but carrying enough; "Master Vargas-..." But undoubtedly it would take a moment or two for even the Leviathan to arrive.

He felt the tearing of the fleshbeast, and reflected that he ought to have simply banished it to the void-realm while he'd had the chance. Still, he thought he'd done some damage--Effluvium would not race off at high speed, and consume the growing children within Draco. He had delayed it, and that was his task: to stop an incursion.

"It will... be destroyed..." he said, aloud, though to whom he was speaking was unclear, let alone why. Was he referring to himself--to Effluvium? "It will... be consumed..."

Round: 5
Attempt: Block bite with spined arm
Defense:
Injuries: Knocked down and getting bit up!

@Effluvium

Effluvium would not, could not, analyze The Sentinel's words. But even if it had the wherwithal to understand, with half its limbs disabled, there would be no escape from what happened next. But Effluvium wasn't thinking of any of that. The only blip of consciousness in it, the only thought, was its absolute feral rage. It did not question the offered arm. It was simply another opportunity to bite, to tear. And it attacked the spines eagerly. It did not have either time or the mind to process the newfound pain that bloomed across its jaws, nor the feel of spilled blood.

"When I speak."

When I think.

Round: 5/?
Attempt: Bite those crunchy arm spikes
Defense: N/A
Injuries: half its limbs broken, took a big ol halberd bite, currently gnawing on organic knives

@The Sentinel ((Its short but i managed to write something. pog. hope it doesnt come across as powerplay ey?))

The Sentinel grunted, struggled, fought--he felt the teeth clamp down, scraping across his arm-blades. They left marks--deep gouges, divots, and dents--that would likely never heal; marks and scars of this battle. In a half-feral fury he snapped his own jaws at Effluvium's flesh, but he could not quite reach.

He hoped that his call for the Master was answered soon, because he knew that he could not hold out much longer against this assault.

Jaws clamped on nothing, he glanced around at Draco's loose rubble--magicka lashing out blindly--and an instant later, he was... gone.

A flash of dim light, and Effluvium would be left with a large stone beneath its jaws, rather than the flesh-and-glowing-blood beast it'd been tearing into mere moments before. The Sentinel was left rising weakly to one knee, confused, glancing around as though quite unsure how he'd gotten here--and he was; what had just happened..?

- THE LEVIATHAN -

He'd come at a swift and lurching run upon hearing the strangled call, and the scent of blood on the air only quickened his pace into a gallop.

Vargas was swift to pinpoint the struggle, and veered toward it, muscles surging and head dropping lower. He didn't know what was happening, exactly, but he could see the flesh-beast Effluvium that had menaced here before, and beneath it the Sent-... No, a rock? What-

He launched himself for Effluvium, hoping he could be midair before it registered the slaps of his rapidly-approaching footfalls, hoping to impact it with his own immense frame before it had fully turned toward him, hoping to sink sweeping arms and rending claws and limb-blades and shearing jaws into that hulking mass of threatening flesh.

He would never be sure if Effluvium moved at just the right instant, or if something else had happened entirely, but the next thing he knew he hit the Sentinel--no, the rock where it had been-? Seriously, what--with his forelimbs, and his momentum carried him forward, hind limbs flipping skyward, head slamming down face-first into the rock. His body tumbled and skidded along the stone, and he felt himself blinking, dazed, with the struggle of trying to figure out what had just happened.

Where had that boulder come from-?

Pray Lord Dhracia didn't see that.

@Effluvium

as a headsup, Vargas's entry is by request, this is not me metagaming with my own chars I promise...

Character: The Sentinel Age: +5 (5 Cycles) Magic Level: +3 (Brawler)* ROUND 1 Attempt: +16 Penalties: -0 ROUND 2 Attempt: +12 Penalties: -0 ROUND 3 Attempt: +13 Penalties: -0 ROUND 4 Attempt: +8 Penalties: -0 ROUND 5 Attempt: +7 Penalties: -0 Total: 64

Character: Effluvium Age: +9 (9 Cycles) Magic Level: +1 (Fledgling) ROUND 1 Attempt: +4 Penalties: -0 ROUND 2 Attempt: +19 Penalties: -0 ROUND 3 Attempt: +20 Penalties: -0 ROUND 4 Attempt: +13 Penalties: -0 ROUND 5 Attempt: +11 Penalties: -0 Total: 77

WINNER: Effluvium

* At the time of thread start

@The Sentinel @Effluvium

Effluvium was briefly stunned. It had spent a few moments eyeing the stone, trying to figure out if Sentinel had somehow become the stone. But before he could think more on that, Vargas appeared. And subsequently tripped over said stone. Effluvium's eyes blinked, trying to process everything that happened. The smart part of Effluvium's brain was on high alert, danger repeating like a broken alarm. But the smart part was small. Too small. The bigger, stupider, angrier part of Effluvium saw one thing.

A beast downed. One who it had the advantage on. The memory of the previous events came back. It realized, thats right, I'm angry, and it moved back into action. With a snarl, Effluvium launched forwards. And overshot Vargas. By a huge margin.

"When I speak."

When I think.

@Vargas

- THE LEVIATHAN -

Vargas was up again, shaking himself out of his brief daze, and skittering spiderlike on his long limbs to one side. He saw the meat-pile half-shoot past, and launched himself for it at once. He went in at speed, and came in swinging, with massive backhands of his six-foot forearm-spikes intended to shred the fleshbeast. He wasn't using weight--he wasn't even sure he outweighed this thing and he had no need to risk it shambling up on him or suctioning to his body or something terrible like that. (Idea: giant fast leech-beast that can rapidly suck out body fluids? Sideline for later creation.)

Even as he drove in for a kill, he was thinking. If he managed to badly wound it, perhaps he could make use of it. Drag it back to the Black Spire if he could, or simply take it here if it chrysalized too quickly, and reshape it. Make it better. It was a good design, but it was too bestial for the caves--oh, perhaps Lord Dhracia could have tossed it somewhere and laughed at the chaos it sowed, but for these caves, such mindless brutality was a threat to his own creations. Oh, yes, strength above all else--survival of the fittest. But this was not the strongest, nor the fittest, and so its fate was rightfully in his hands.

@Effluvium

violence

gore

Effluvium was already badly wounded. There was little resistance to Vargas' attack. It was simply the final blow. The blow shredded It remained where it was, standing upright. IAs far as it knew, it was to be consumed again. It was dangerously low on energy. It shifted, a half drag towards Vargas. And then, a deep, choking sound left it. It's jaws dropped to release a stream of blood and torn teeth. Effluvium collapsed, jaw agape.

Limbs still twitched and shifted as if they wanted to still fight, to haphazardly tear and assault an enemy. It's body had given out. But the mind was still active. The bloodloss had that dulling as well. But Effluvium wasn't anything, if not stubborn. With the only option left being the mental kind, Effluvium tried to trigger something to happen. Magic fired randomly, in a panicked attempt to save itself. It's magick complied, but just barely.

A muffled snapping sound could be head from it. Shards of bone pricked Effluvium's flesh from inside out, forming small spines along it's form. doing nothing but adding to the bloodloss. With its mind, too, now flickering out, Effluvium let out a half-formed warning snarl. Before it lost itself to the realm of unconsciousness.

;Exit efflu

- THE LEVIATHAN -

Vargas flinched back from the sudden spread of spikes erupting from flesh--and if he had been capable of scowling, he would have, as he watched bone pierce through Effluvium and blood begin to pour out. The whole ground was covered in it, spreading, and he paced back a few steps--ahh, but the chrysalis was taking it.

Time to make it useful.

Vargas strode forward rather hastily, reaching the fleshbeast as it returned to its stone--and he pushed his own magic into it. His own will. He did his best to reshape it, as he could.

It was a fucking idiot--that was its main flaw, here. So he strove to grant it a better brain, something that would give it at least basic reasoning past "eat." Perhaps some more useful limbs, too...

When he had finished--when the stone sat silent in its pool of blood--he paced back to the Sentinel. "What happened?" he demanded, and looked him over. "Will you survive?"