There wasn't much time to think. In an instant, the creature lunged as soon as his spear was out of the way, and all three mouths opened to the dropping of Hunter's stomach and the leaping of his heart into his throat. He ducked, practically dropping to the floor, and threw his arms forward. He needed to scramble, and he certainly looked the part of a weird mustelid as he hit the sand and tried to dart underneath the rows and rows of teeth.

Unfortunately, he wasn't fast enough. Dozens of teeth sank into his flesh and his body reacted with a massive volt of electricity from his mutated glands. The jaws locked over his shoulder and down his back, and even though he had wriggly skin that he could practically slip out of or through anything with, there was no escaping the maw that now held him hostage via a nasty electrical surge paralyzing the muscles of the monster.

Despite that, his arm reached forward, hand outstretched toward his spear. It was too far away, and now, he was in a horrible position.

On the bright side, he didn't immediately feel the pain! Shock and adrenaline and, well, he had some thick hide, but uh. Yeah, it was going to set in in a moment and it wasn't going to be pleasant. For right now, at least, he didn't scream. Not, um, not yet.

@Faceless

ROUND 3/5

ATTEMPT: Slip outta the way towards his spear!
DEFENSE: having a FULL CHARGE of electricity stored in his zappy glands
INJURIES: Looking alright!

Faceless, on the other hand, was in pain. And it did scream--or tried to, at least. A keening whine slipped from its throat as its limbs spasmed at its side and electricity seared its mouth and tongues, burning tissue and organs as it ripped through the monster's body. It would have loved nothing more than to let go and run--surely Bestie's lightning wasn't worse than this--but its muscles refused to listen. They only knew to contract contract contract as the shock flowed through Faceless.

The smell of burning hair filled the arena, by now probably a familiar scent to everyone watching. (Thanks, again, to Bestie.) As many teeth as Faceless had, it didn't seem like it'd managed to hit anything vital. It was up to Hunter, now, to keep the fight interesting.

@Hunter

ROUND 4/?

80%

ATTEMPT: keep... biting?
DEFENSE: no
INJURIES: electrocution

A moment later, and the pain receptors were kicking in, and Hunter felt his pelt being stabbed in a hundred places all at once. Faceless was whining from the nasty zap that he gave off, but Hunter? The girl's mouth was free to part in a sharp yelp as-- delayed as it was-- he realized the multi-mouthed beast was latched on to him.

It was a good thing Hunter was half-mustelid, because otherwise, he might have had to just lay down and pray that the Faceless monster let go of him. Instead, he could twist, practically writhing through his own skin, and he reached with his hands and turned his head as far as he could. Half-blind from the positioning, and full of panic, he went fully feral in an instant.

Teeth snapped, trying to bite down on anything they could, and hands reached to grab and scratch and dig into whatever flesh or limb or-- mouth they could find. He rolled on the ground, trying anything to get Faceless to let go, thrashing his back legs and all together squirming, squirming, squirming.

@Faceless

ROUND 4/5

ATTEMPT: twist around to bite n scratch
DEFENSE: AAAAAAAAAA
INJURIES: several very nasty puncture/bite wounds along shoulder and back

(apologies i forgot to put hunters injuries in the last post oopsie--)

With the spear gone, Faceless and Hunter were basically using the same battle strategy. If it could be even called that. Even as the shock left its body--after what felt like an eternity, but had only lasted a brief moment--Hunter was twisting and writhing, scoring myriad shallow wounds down its body. A scratch scored down its cheek dripped with a shifting, green-grey blood, several more ripped out tufts of its coarse black fur, and a kick to the face left it reeling, releasing Hunter with that mouth as it screeched in pain.

Faceless responded in kind, lashing out at Hunter's flailing kicks with its arm-blades in an attempt to hit them away from its main head. Its chest-mouth, meanwhile, tightened its grip. It threw its body from side to side as it bit down, trying to knock its opponent off balance or aid in tearing at his flesh. The snake-tail's mouth, too, tore open completely, and it lashed it like a whip, hissing and snapping at whatever it could reach.

@Hunter Round 5/? gm tag after your post?
Attempt: keep biting/scratching
Defense: pointy bits
Injuries: burns from electrocution, bites and scratches, 'black' eye

Hunter managed to get the beast to let go partially, freeing some of his wounds to gush bright, crimson blood and add to the splash of layers built up in the arena after cycles and cycles of fighting in the ring. He had managed to claw into the Faceless, coming back with sickly ichor under his claws and tufts of fur flying.

Adrenaline was rushing at full speed through his veins as Hunter gulped down breaths between grunts and hisses. He belatedly, again, processed what had happened: he had struck the front end of the Faceless, and it had let go-- but with a sharp agony flaring through his back, he could feel another maw only tightening down on his torso.

He struggled to find sense or balance, flailing in much the same way as Faceless, made worse when one of the wicked arm-blades of the beast came flying up toward his face, slashing a nasty gash across his cheekbone.

It was all he could do to formulate a plan, simplistic as it was. He needed to hit the Faceless harder, hard enough to stun it, to make it let go more. He tried to grab another clump of fur with one hand, to stabilize himself and process better where the Faceless began and ended without necessarily processing what he was seeing.

He threw his other fist toward the mass, hoping desperately to hit a brain or stomach or something, just to get it to stagger. If he could get away, get his spear--... He had no idea that he had run out of time for that.

tagging a GM!

ROUND 5/5

ATTEMPT: punch punch punch
DEFENSE: AAAAAAAAAA
INJURIES: several very nasty puncture/bite wounds along shoulder and back, gash across face

Funny as it was to watch the weasel-thing try over and over to try and get his spear back and stab his new, very pointy (and kind of nasty-shaggy, like a moldy old carpet) friend, Nemean was getting boooooooored! "SOME HUNTER YOU ARE!" Her tittering laughter resounded with the clattering boo-boo-boom! of fireworks.

"ATTEN—" her fingers snapped in the direction of Draconua, face-deep in a carcass she'd hauled up to the stands, "—SHUN!" Pink wings buzzed her toward the unholy beastie. "You're up, Draccy, and for the COMBATANTS... !" Nemean's smile was audible, if her picture-perfect grin could be missed. "YOU'D BETTER GET OFF THE FLOOR AND BOOK IT! OR THROW EACH OTHER. OR SOMETHING EQUALLY AS FUN! WELCOME TO THE DEATH-HORROR-LIGHT ZONE!"

________

Draconua has been called upon to present an arena hazard! The magic attempt will be considered a success, and the roll will indicate the severity of the hazard. Faceless and Hunter must now double-post each round: one roll to continue the fight and then a second roll to avoid the hazard. The first to be struck by the hazard before fight's end will be returned to their chrysalis or killed by it, and loses. (Should both fail to dodge, the lower roll will be struck and eliminated.)

Please wait for Draconua to post.

The mask that came out of the carcass was not sanguine, painted over in black.

Oil followed the contours of her skull, pilling at the edges and steadily coalescing into steaming droplets ready to fall. A puff of overly-hot air blared from her mouth as she meticulously licked her chops; then, with no further preamble, she zipped the whole affair back up with a crooked, flat-toothed grin.

Just in time to grab the mangled remains of her meal—some poor mangled and rotten deer—and lob it straight into the pit. Draconua's sights aimed for the carcass sailing through the air; just before it made a bone-cracking splat! of an impact, a writhing tentacle tore free of its flesh, grasping for anything in its path to thrash it around wildly.

Could be one of the combatants. Could be both of the combatants. Could be none of the combatants.

The Sleepless Chaos did not care for the particulars past her own cravings for another snack.

@Faceless

Hunter's fist struck squarely on its flank, in just the the right place to knock it off balance and wind it without hitting the painful obstacle that was its teeth. "ptttoooubihhhhhh," the monster wheezed, three mouths opening as it gasped instinctively to refill its lungs. It was enough for Hunter to wriggle free from its grasp like an overly slimy fish. And just like that, its advantage was gone.

Faceless gave a wordless growl, scrambling to its feet and shaking itself like a wet dog. I mean, maybe it was a little wet, considering the droplets of green-grey ichor that went flying from its myriad cuts and scrapes? It certainly looked ragged enough. There was the briefest of pauses as it tilted its head, struggling to gauge the distance between them when one eye was swollen shut. Then it lunged for its opponent once again, with the barest of modifications to its strategy. It would snatch for the hybrid arms-first this time, and try to immobilize at least one of those limbs before it let its comparatively vulnerable torso come anywhere near him. Let him punch the chitin, if he wanted.

Attempt: grab hunter again, with its arms this time
Defense: a good passable offense
Injuries: momentarily winded, burnt, bitten and scratched up, black eye

Regardless of the success of its attack, Faceless's head would snap up toward the stands as Nemean shrieked for Draconua, a look of sheer terror crossing its half-split face. It threw its body to the side as the carcass came crashing into the ring, rolling and scrambling to maneuver itself so it would be a safe distance away when the oilslicked limb came tearing out.

If it'd managed to get ahold of Hunter at all, it would make a halfhearted attempt to roll so that Hunter ended up as a sacrificial shield between it and the carcass. But it did not devote much thought to that maneuver; the important thing was that it was not being shaken and slammed to death by the flailing tentacle.

@Hunter

Hunter had no intentions of getting caught in the Faceless's grip once more. He scrambled on all fours, a terrified, feral little creature with a singular drive toward the one facet of safety he knew. Faceless came close to grabbing him by an ankle, but he managed to dart out of the way just in time to grab a hold of his spear.

He swung back, twisting on his heels as he went upright, brandishing his spear. Each breath came as ragged, desperate gulps of air, but he wasn't giving up. Not yet, not--

Nemean's voice pierced his ears, and beneath his fur his knuckles went white as he braced for impact.

ROUND 6/6

ATTEMPT: run to his spear without getting caught
DEFENSE: AAAAAAAAAA
INJURIES: several very nasty puncture/bite wounds along shoulder and back, gash across face