Battling The Beast

JP with Lucian and Omni

Tarmen gritted his teeth as he tried fast to think of where to hit this thing. He was sure it could see movement, if barely. The damn thing was clearly some freakish kind of bug, but the only visible gaps in its armor were towards its head. Of course.
He doubted he had much time, charging to swing at its sides. He needed to get the Arbiter out of there.

The scales on its sides, while not the thickest on the beast, were uniformly aligned with others that made striking it jar his muscles and occasionally his blade would slip. Moving with the creature in his growing fury, Tarmen was too distracted to see a few of the ribs fling open to throw him to the wall.

The creature started maneuvering toward the walls and climbing partially upward and its rib claw things began chittering and extruding something sticky. This could be bad. The chitinous scales overlapped, making it hard to find a gap but from Voah’s angle underneath, it would be easier if she could JUST... get her ARM… to wedge the SPEAR… between two of the SCALES… AND THRUST!

She got it somewhere under its neck and it sprayed a gout of brownish blood right in her face that smelled like hard spirits and stung her eyes. Before she knew it, it was in her mouth too, nearly forcing her to wretch.

The creature’s cage went suddenly slack as it flung itself backward. She hung in the air for a split second as if the world had been yanked out from under her, then she fell backward into the lake.

The monster lunged under the water for a moment before resurfacing. It hissed and clacked it’s mandibles and claws in fury.

Tarmen shook himself from the brink of passing out. Fatigue, pain, and smacking rock was a hell of a trio to fight off though.
His death grip on his blade had held true though, so he immediately moved back into combat.

Finding the Arbiter in the water, he helped her to her feet. He noticed a sheen on the water and a stench of booze, but before he could question it the creature lunged. He felt bad for shoving the Arbiter, but the sickening thwack of those jaws snapping shut made him feel better about it.

He found himself behind it now, though no sight of the Arbiter just yet. From this side he was able to see where a wound had appeared and made his move. He charged and leapt onto its slick hide, heaving his blade into the weak spot. It didn’t go as deep as he hoped, but it caused more of the fermented liquid to spray out, Tarmen realizing it was similar to what he had seen on the water.

In agony the creature began to real, legs flailing to apprehend its assailant and the head swiveling dangerously close to Tarmen’s head as the jaws snapped madly.

Voah splashed and sputtered to the surface, flinging her wet hair back and trying to get her bearings. It was best to get out of the water so she trudged through, with her spear raised overhead. The supplies would probably be waterlogged but she kept the pack in case something was salvageable.

She watched from the lake as Tarmen slashed the creature. Her mouth tasted of brandy or some kind of alcohol, and very potent. She was going to have to get around the creature to get back to the path.

Fighting to hold on, Tarmen was too busy swatting limbs and keeping away from the guillotine jaws to notice his blade beginning to free itself. One claw gripped his arm, hooking under his shoulder and immediately began pulling him. In his frenzy to survive, he twisted himself to grip it in his own jaws, searching for any weakness to injure the limb.

Straining to hold his blade, his teeth at last discovered a joint in the armor and with a savage drive it frayed and ripped apart.
The loss of this anchor, the continued flailing of the beast and his own weight swung Tarmen around in an arc, pulling his machete free and sensing him once again air borne to the closest wall. Spitting the alcohol flavored mess onto the floor with a groan, he cursed every muscle that protested moving him to see where his target was now.

Rounding the bucking creature, Voah waded through waist deep water toward the ledge when Tarmen flew back onto the dry path. As she fended off its tail with her spear, the Arbiter saw that if Tarmen got up, he had the perfect opportunity.

“The torch!” she shouted.

The creature turned its attention back to Voah and she stabbed outward at its body, but her spear was deflected by its skittering limbs. The beast dipped low and bucked upward, throwing her to the ceiling with its head. She took the impact with her back and fell into the water again, this time further back where they came from but closer to the path. She inched her way closer to the wall.

“Light it up!