This thread is free for chaos forge characters to show up in!

Effluvium had been gone from Draco for quite some time. The threat of Vargas, a much larger predator, enough to disuade them. At least, for a while. That time had ended. Now the stench of it had filled Tunnel G, and the dull rhythm of Effluvium's steps echoed through tunnel. A thud, slide, thud, melody. Then, silence. A glistening head was the first to emerge into the Apeture. Effluvium's sides heaved and its breath wheezed through fused tracheae. It still felt a remnant of fear, its basal brain working as it tried to recollect the previous events.

It stayed at the Entrace for a while. There was no one there. Nothing it could see. Just the dull rumble of Draco itself breathing. Effluvium wheezed, its tentacles flexing. It blinked with slow, wet eyes. Then, satisfied no one was around to interrupt its hunt, Effluvium began to move further in. The previous attempt to search the cave for food had proven unsuccessful. Maybe this time would be different.

Effluvium sniffed at the ground, the earth beneath its feet warm and clammy like a sickly animal. It licked it, curious. No taste. No scent. No prey. Yet the cave reminded it in every way of flesh. Effluvium knew prey was here, somewhere. It gurgled, annoyed, and its lumbering gait began again.

"When I speak."

When I think.

@The Sentinel
((Feel free to post in here whenever sentinel IC would show up!))

The shadows that shrouded him were twofold: the voidblack of his corrupted Light, and the darkness of his void. He was standing just beyond and beside the inner mouth of the Aperture, alongside the wall and perhaps difficult to see; his odor might reach Effluvium if it had the ability to scent, a dim but oily, canine odor.

He observed, at first, unaware if it had spotted him as yet; he saw it lick the ground and begin to squelch its way inside.

The Sentinel stepped out, raising the halberd vertically alongside him. He was an adult now, or very near: some nine feet tall, lean and lithe, trained now though by no means perfect at his task. He had learning yet to do, but there was one lesson he had taken in: that an enemy far larger or stronger than he was best struck quickly, and with surprise.

But it wasn't showing itself to be an enemy, as yet. So the Sentinel moved away from the wall, and a few steps toward Effluvium: but he kept his distance as he called out his formal challenge.

"The Sentinel guards the Forge. What is its purpose here?" he rasped, his voice carrying but hollow, empty.

His many blue eyes fixed on Effluvium, their glow dim beneath the shadow, but unblinking. He was tensed, ready, because this meat-beast was an enormous one, and like nothing he had fought before. Was it enemy? Or was it one of the Master's allies, come to speak with him? Or was it mindless, a monstrous Lesser incapable of speech?

He could not ambush a thing if he was unsure if it were enemy, and so he gestured: and the area plunged into pitch darkness. A darkness through which he could see; but could Effluvium? He didn't know, but it was, he hoped, a preemptive advantage should it come to combat. To control the battlefield was another lesson he had learned, in his travels through the caves.

@Effluvium

Effluvium's head bolted up at the Sentinel's rasping voice. It had expected others here, but not so close. It had not expected one so soon. It blinked at Sentinel's form. The glowing blue eyes of the Sentinel stood out starkly. But Effluvium recognize that it wasn't the towering form of Vargas, and that put it at ease. For but a second. Its eyes found the Sentinel's Halberd. It wasn't the same weapon that Attikias wielded. But it was close enough to have it on edge.

It did not know what the Forge was, nor did it really have any association with the words 'Sentinel', 'forge', or 'guard'. But it wasn't keen to listen to The Sentinel, when it could be seaching for food. This cave reeked of life. Effluvium was bound to find it somwhere. Effluvium turned its attention from the Sentinel. And then the world went dark around it. A strange sound left it.

Had it not been for the encompassing darkness, Sentinel and Effluvium might've had a pleasant chat over tea. Or, more likely, Effluvium would've attempted to ignore it. Go about its business in the cave. But the sudden darkness had it startled, and immediately on the offense.

It growled in anger, before it broke into a charge. To no ones surprise, its charge hit nothing. It was, quite literally, a shot in the dark. A disoriented beast trying to lash out. Effluvium bayed in rage, and rose onto its haunches, attempting to find the black and blue form of the Sentinel in pitch black.

"When I speak."

When I think.

@The Sentinel ((idk if i should count this as combat start?? but herei replied B) ))

His own gaze--shrouded by shadow--tracked Effluvium as it rushed blindly past. He studied it, for a moment.

There were no immediate weaknesses that he could see. And his vision, in the black, was perfect, honed by the corruption that ran rife through his blood. There were no major limbs supporting it--instead, a tangled, haphazard mess of them. He was unsure where a heart, a brain, or even a major artery might be.

The twinned lessons of James and Dewberry were flickering through his mind; that in order to keep an upper hand, against a foe that seemed as though it might be dangerous, he would need to strike hard and decisively. To cripple or seriously maim, even kill, it before it could kill him. And a mass of writhing muscle as tall as he was presented something of a problem in that regard. He did not second-guess himself as to whether this were a threat, or not. It had lunged blindly in a clear attempt to attack. It was refusing speech.

It was a threat.

He would call for Master Vargas once calling out would no longer give away his location--once he had made his strike.

The moment the meat-beast paused, pushing back onto its hind end and blinking (blindly? he hoped so) around, the Sentinel burst into motion. In that instant, the chaos that had been held so tightly-controlled within him abruptly burst free. Savagery, violence, a heated bloodlust, poured up as if to consume him, so that his strike was aimed with sadistic exhilaration.

Rend. Destroy. Consume. The whispers of his magic--of his halberd--became his own mind: three swift strides forward, as quiet as he could make them, as the halberd came hurtling around in a massive swing. The aim was not a bruise, as his practice sparring had offered: the aim was a sleek black blade-head hacking toward meat and bone, aiming to find, to damage, even to sever, the area near Effluvium's many limbs.

Could he cut off a leg? Break the bone? Destroy more than one, perhaps?

Effluvium had a great many of them; he was unsure how much this would even damage it but in the moment, it didn't matter.

He had been created to sow chaos. To destroy. That is what sang through his veins; it's what resonated with a roaring thump from the Black Spire not so far away.

Round: 1?
Attempt: Cripple... a leg? some... leg?? to slow Effluvium down
Defense: hiding in the dark
Injuries: --

@Effluvium

Effluvium snarled. It did not know where the creature with glowing eyes had gone. Its survey had proved useless. As it was deciding to lower, it felt pain rip through its lower legs. Effluvium had felt pain before, but this one was different. Its limbs. A pair of them went from its awareness, with a strange wet sound. A pair of its lower limbs holding it up buckled. It staggered, then toppled. Its front legs kept it from falling completely to the ground. But it was extra weight. And now the creature was enraged.

It turned towards the patch of darkness where the Halberd had come from. It lunged forward. Or, it tried to at least. It collapsed. Effluvium blinked, momentarily stunned. Then, it screamed. Too impatient to rise once more, it put a clawed limb forward. Then it dragged its flesh forward. Repeat. Towards the area where the attack had come from. Or, at least where it thought it'd come from. There was nothing but murder on its mind.


"When I speak."

When I think.

Round: 1/?
Attempt: bite back?
Defense: N/A
Injuries: Two of its lower limbs broken
@The Sentinel

The Sentinel stared, for a moment. His darkness might not last much longer--a few moments, perhaps, without concentration--but the meat-pile was now dragging itself in an inexorable, bloodthirsty rush that might have been horrifying if he had the sensibilities for such things.

He did not, but he did find himself briefly at a loss; how could he put a stop to something that simply refused to be stopped..?

The Sentinel defaulted back to plan one, and stepped forward, bringing the halberd down to smash at the dragging-leg. Maybe if the fleshbeast could not drag itself, then it would be unable to move..?

His eyes scanned over Effluvium, and he found that there were, in fact, quite a few limbs that he'd have to chop through. And that required getting close--halberd-length, to be sure, but he had a feeling that the fleshbeast's lurches could cover that distance in a heartbeat.

He was on dangerous ground, but he took that slam for the limb, and prepared to quickly step aside. Instead, the halberd clanged loudly onto rock, just missing the shuffling limb--and likely (and unfortunately) giving away his location.

Round: 2
Attempt: Get that leg too??
Defense: hiding in the dark
Injuries: --

@Effluvium

Effluvium's mind was on one track. Hatred. Had Effluvium the ability to do so, were it not currently dragging itself along the ground, It would've tried to kill the Sentinel. But, as things were, it was all it could do to drag itself. The halberd hit again, striking its limb. It gave out, with another sickly sounding pop. Effluvium screamed. Not fear, but rage. It was left to crawl with the other three of its limbs. And it'd do so, if only to kill its attacker.

The sound of the halberd striking ground had Effluvium's attention immediately. Effluvium's head snapped to Sentinel. The other side of it. A growl bubbled up. It knew where he was, now. With its three remaining limbs, Effluvium pushed itself hard, launch itself forward for The Sentinel, jaws spread.


"When I speak."

When I think.

@The Sentinel
Round: 2/?
Attempt: bite back?
Defense: N/A
Injuries: half its limbs broken

The sudden shambling sweep and lunge was monstrously fast. He hadn't expected this meat-creature to move so terrifyingly quickly. It launched itself for him, and in the waiting dark it was a vision of horror gleaming red and fleshy.

The Sentinel took a sharp step back despite himself. Fear was unfamiliar, but-... this was as close as he had come. Horror, perhaps. Disgust? -No, but then, he hardly had time to analyze his emotions in this moment.

He would later, if he survived this encounter, come to realize that it was best-called 'alarm.' ...Deep, thrumming alarm.

He brought the halberd up, more by mindless instinct than trained experience, though certainly he had practiced this sort of maneuver before--with Vargas, for example--and attempted to jam it between himself and the meat-beast.

It still threw him back, and down; he still wound up on the rock, face-up, with Effluvium likely crashing down above him and the wind knocked wholly out of him. But if he were lucky, Effluvium would bite halberd-blade, the metal axe head--and its foot-long spike--and not his own flesh.

Round: 3
Attempt: Feed efflu some metal instead-
Defense: hiding in the dark
Injuries: --

@Effluvium

Effluvium did not think on Sentinel falling. It was not thinking on much. It was singleminded, in its attempt to kill its attacker. Effluvium's bore down on the Sentinel. And its teeth met halberd. It sliced through one half of its upper jaws. A stream of blood poured from it, staining its mismatched teeth red. The pain was felt, the sensation was there, but it passed its mind as a brief blip.

Effluvium winced, but was too enraged to give it much thought. The pain was kindling, feeding the flames. Like a bear, the pain would only serve to spur it onward. To bite harder. And bite harder it did. With Sentinel at a disadavantage, Effluvium was quick on the assault. And it attacked much like a rabid dog might. Sloppy and random, but undoubtedly dangerous. There was no rhyme or reason to its attacks, all of its working limbs and jaws straining to rip and tear at any part of the Sentinel it could reach.

"When I speak."

When I think.

Round: 3/?
Attempt: maul?
Defense: N/A
Injuries: half its limbs broken, took a big ol halberd bite
((OOC: im sorry my characters are so mean to sentinel :sadcat2: EDIT: VERY SORRY ))

@The Sentinel

This--this was bad.

The creature's much greater bulk was atop him, and though the Sentinel was large, his pure mass nowhere approached Effluvium's own. The weight was impossible to wriggle out from under; the only saving grace was the halberd thrust point-first toward the fleshbeast's maw.

It was tearing at him, and he felt claws rip at his limbs, his torso--pain that spilled bluish blood to leak across the rock. But could he prevent the jaws from closing on him; from tearing out chunks of his body-? The Sentinel is to guard the gateway. The Sentinel must not fail its purpose, he thought, and attempted to thrust the halberd deeper into Effluvium's jaws and throat--both to keep it at bay, and to do further damage to its rending maw.

It skidded to one side, clanging down to the rock, and he felt the jaws close on shoulder, on (thankfully scaled) neck; teeth punched through flesh and gristle, and a choked roar of pain and anger escaped him. But there was nothing he could do, for now: he was utterly helpless beneath the flesh-beast's onslaught.

Round: 4
Attempt: Keep pushing that halberd into Effluvium's jaws
Defense:
Injuries: Knocked down and getting bit up!

@Effluvium