[IC] Yami and Doc vs Cruallassar and Lunar

[Doc Doctor]

The ranger must not have accounted for how his appearance was always foretold by an accumulation of shadows and a rushing sound. Disregarding the obvious noise, it was true that Shashous-Throth could not see shadows as other creatures did, but... The ranger's shadows were were multidimensional silhouettes that displaced light. Light, according to the law of thermodynamic equilibrium, contains a temperature. A cold spot, however so insignificant, the monster could detect. Normally it ignored so small a thing, but the last two times the elf had used the technique it had indeed sensed the strange phenomenon.

And so it decided to give its coilful of bombs an almost playful toss in that direction right before he popped in to see what would happen. The results might be... Explosive?

[Cruallassar]

As the Ranger's hailstorm arrows spread 200 red bolts of energy across the tree, at least one of them met a bomb in flight. Explosions would still strip the leaves and weaker branches from the nearby trees...but at this range, the explosions would be far enough away not to affect the monster, and the Ranger was away in a stream of shadows before the detonation. The bombs are now taken care of...uselessly, to the chagrin of the elf...but the vamp still has at least 192 glowing projectiles streaking into and around the tree.

[Doc Doctor]

The monster had tried to time its toss so that when the ranger appeared he'd be quite close to the explosives. Regardless of what happened there, the shockwave would have probably stopped quite a few of the arrows from reaching the tree, and by the time the ones that hadn't been effected did...

Shashous_throth would have ditched that spot. It hadn't expected a big boom, and when there was one it would have lunged to the ground and zipped right off at full speed, startled halfway to hell. Several energy arrows pecked through the ground near where it darted along, but it had managed not to get hit this time. The energy arrows were vast in quantity, but more easy than normal arrows for the monster to notice due to their, well, energy.

A new trick had already slid into the devious beast's head. How could a physical being harm something that could vanish at will? The answer came naturally, though not in any form of thought comprehensible to a sane man. It had seen the obvious solution first hand, as its prey had dove into the solid tree. The Magna Pater launched itself full steam in the direction of its lair.

[Cruallassar]

The Ranger re-materializes on the ground, somewhat surprised at the beast's sudden retreat. Trying to escape? Trying to lure him into a trap?
Both. Many monsters, intelligent and animalistic, tend to go to ground when threatened or cornered. Their lairs are where they are strongest, where they are in home territory and anyone foolish enough to go in after them with anything less than a really huge shield and a huger fireball spell would die, either very quickly or very painfully...but equally hopelessly. Which means that if the thing got to its lair...it might be possible for him to take him out even so, but it would be easier if he could keep him out of it. Ideally, it would be a good thing if the monster were confined...but in its lair, the Ranger would be equally confined, and it would be a tough job to root it out. He turns ethereal again and blasts along close over the monster, a few more arrows close to hand and scanning the ground ahead for anything that looked remotely like...well...a monster-hole. Or a hole period along their path that was large enough to accommodate the thing.

[Doc Doctor]

Shashous-throth cascaded through bushes and weaved through trees, trying to lose the ranger. It would likely be a futile effort, but in fights like these all options had to be tried and exhausted. Poking and prodding at all the little joints until a chink was found. Soon enough it would come upon its lair, but it wouldn't likely be what the elf had been looking for. A rocky, man-sized hole in the ground at the base of a large hill, overgrown with vegetation and trees. It was a hideout, a sanctuary of imagination. The sort of place young boys would hang around when exploring vacant lots in Northern states. Crual might easily miss it, his impeded sight and expectations making him not notice until it was too late. As the Magna Pater neared its dwelling, it would discretely snatch up a stone as it clawed its way forth. At first glance the hole would be too small for the monster to enter, if it were able to reach the opening, however, it would be able to contort its body and squeeze through in a sickening fashion, slipping into the winding little passage with ease. It wouldn't be practical to try and fire an arrow after it, unless the ranger's arrows could curve sharply mid-flight, and attempting to collapse it with explosives would be equally improbable. It was no feeble mineshaft held up by wooden support beams, but a cave system of solid basalt and dolomite. Even a bunker busting missile wouldn't be able to bring the entire place down.

The ranger would be damn right about the importance of preventing his foe from entering. Wise is the man that follows not a mother bear into its abode, and very, very much worse than a bear was the thing that stalked these woods.

[YamiNoNeko2341]

Jazmyne watched the fight intently, waiting for her chance to strike, as the Ranger and beast began to run away from the fire she seized her oppurtunity. Four pools of shadow took up formation around Cruallassar, keeping pace with him as he ran.

[Cruallassar]

The creature was very right about its thoughts that no wise man would follow a bear into its lair...but no mere wise man was this Ranger, and no bear had ever survived an encounter. The four pools of shadow that kept pace would not escape the Ranger's sight, and yet he could do little about them for now. Unfortunately, the creature had gone to ground...and though he could possibly follow the beast, Cruallassar had no intention of taking that risk. But his Ethereal sight could and had mapped the cavern, seeing through the ground to make out the faint outlines of the tunnel the beast had entered. His sight would be...inhibited underground, as far as the environment was concerned, due to it's non-magical nature...however not impossible, and his ability to map and memorize the environment beforehand would serve in good stead. He dives into the ground, his ethereal nature allowing him to phase directly through the solid rock, until he materialized at a slightly wider part of the tunnel, facing the direction the monster must of necessity pass through. At that point, he takes two arrows and fires them, one after the other, down the tunnel. They could not turn corners...but what they could and did do, was spread a fine and very strong netting across the narrow passage. By coming down this way, though it was inconvenient to himself as well, the monster had constricted its maneuvering ability. Cutting the net would never work, it would only further enmesh it...and two nets would double the problem. After that, it would all be over but the cleanup...and the shadow-wielder he was certain wasn't far behind.

[Lunarlord34]

It had been some time since James had last been seen, so Magna Pater would be long into his lair and thus couldn't attack him. He now crawled out somehow from the pool of shadows, severely weakened and his shirt now stained with blood, and panted heavily.
He leans against a tree and continues to pant but doesn't do much else.

[Doc Doctor]

(Thread that contains descriptions of the lair)
http://www.roleplayerguild.com/topics/88749-ghosts-in-the-darkness-ruby-vs-shashous-throth/ic

The cave amplified the monster's already incredible hearing. It had spent much of its thousand years of life in that hole and had learned to discern the location of anything out of place. It could tell which tunnel a man was sneaking through, even if they were on opposite ends of the vast network. Centuries of experience in sifting through the echoes had given it a home advantage in spatial awareness that in comparison made its topsoil senses look like those of the Pinball Wizard.
Long story short, down here it was "all-seeing".

The ranger was up ahead and had set up a trap. The tunnel it was in had no branches. It was a singular route. Certainly the beast knew that it could easily bypass whatever trap was ahead, but it wouldn't try to do so as long as its opponent was waiting for it to come into view. And so it kept still and silent. Patience.

[YamiNoNeko2341]

A shadow pool opened underneath James beginning to drag his beaten body back into its depths. Another pool of shadow slithered into the lair.

[Lunarlord34]

James struggled against the shadows but was eventually dragged back into the pool. He hadn't the strength to waste fighting against the shadows, plus he could use this to his advantage.

[Cruallassar]

The Ranger could quite clearly see the monster stop...apparently aware of his presence...and wait, evidently planning on letting the Ranger come to him. A clever action, considering the circumstances...and the elf doubted that the creature would have done the same if he was not utterly aware of Cruallassar's actions. It had already shown itself as having an uncanny awareness of its surroundings before, without apparently the need for sight considering that its eyes were practically nonexistant. Some kind of ethereal sense like his own? Sonar, like the bats it seemed to somewhat reassemble? Probably not a ground vibration sense, considering it was equally aware of himself and arrows in flight as on the ground, or if it did then it wasn't it's only asset. It had no magical aspect to its aura, so nothing in that way.

Whatever it's senses, it was obviously willing to wait for the time being. Normally, Cruallassar would do the same...he was in better shape than his opponent, the wound to his eyes notwithstanding, and could probably wait longer. But the creature was not trapped, and could easily escape, and the part of the tunnel he was blocking was not a seemingly vital part of the underground network. Cruallassar himself could engage the creature in any tunnel it fled to...but trying to ambush him anywhere was a likely losing proposition. Much better to strengthen his web now, while the creature was halted. He shifts into ethereal shadows, diving through the rock and emerging into the tunnel leading from the monster to the surface, and fires two more of his net-trap arrows, erecting a similar web to the one he already left behind, before repeating the process.

[Doc Doctor]

Sensing that the opening to the chamber leading to the main cavern was unguarded, the monster approached the net. It reached out with its long middle claw to try and cut through. Not only did it not cut, but the claw stuck! With an immense jerk it tore free, grinding its thick teeth.

Ah, but it had already established itself as something of an Einstein among horrors, had it not? It began producing more mucous upon its body, a layer of congealed slime soon coating the beast. It rubbed itself against the net, suffocating the adhesive properties in goo. Now without having to worry about getting stuck, it siezed the net with both claws and wrenched it with such strength that small chunks of rock were torn free from the tunnel. It couldn't break the net, but it could break what the net was stuck to.

The Magna Pater would repeat this process to get through the second web before darting into the mazelike chambers which stretched on for miles to come. If one knew the right path, they could walk to the main cavern in a half hour. It would take the one whom lurked in the depths but a minute or two.

[YamiNoNeko2341]

Jasmine moved towards the sound of crumbling stone her enhanced senses telling her that it was the Magna Pater and not the Ranger that was responsible for the noise. As she ran, silently and shrouded in shadow, she realised it was becoming more difficult to contain the Wretch she had caught within her shadows.

[Cruallassar]

The Ranger had not been sitting idle while the monster broke through his web trap. As he began to encircle the creature, he saw it begin to tear through his net, and he watched from his ethereal position how he did so closely. When the thing had finished with the first net and moved onto the second, he moved once more, shifting to a position farther down the tunnel. The thing had followed the path into an area with no immediate branching tunnels, he would have to backtrack to his former position or go through the Ranger to reach a location with more maneuverability. Two more nets stretch themselves across the expanse of the tunnel...perhaps they were ineffective at keeping it contained for long, but they did delay him. They were all that was needed. The Ranger shifts back into ethereal form and steps into the tunnel wall next to him. It had come towards his trap before only when it was unguarded...perhaps the same will happen this time. Or if not, then it would find it's options behind it far more severely limited than before.

[Doc Doctor]

The leading tunnel has been winding but simple, however the chambers following it were expansive and many. Trying to sift through them all would be like trying to decipher an especially nasty grade school maze puzzle. One that weaved into the far distance, intermingling ethereal free standing shadows together into a mish-mash of confusion. Chances are the ranger would be unable to see much further than the length of a football field once the battle went deeper. The monster had noticed the telltale disruptions of Crual's passing as he hid. It was fine with that and went on to do its business. It slithered towards the tunnel it wanted to go through, only to find more nets. It began rubbing up against them in preparation to break through again.

[Cruallassar]

Cruallassar certainly was having his vision impaired by the maze of tunnels...solid objects were one thing, but alternating objects and empty space did make it difficult. Though, Shashous himself stood out like a beacon among them, so he would likely be unable to effectively hide...it is only his surroundings that will be difficult to decipher, and that would be a tactical problem.

Which is why he made his move now. Shashous was making his way through the first net...all well and good, but the net still impeded his way until he could. And the second further impeded it, a few feet beyond that...the second backing up the first as yet another barrier for the next few seconds. For that time, the creature was backed up against a wall. There is no escape for him.

Ethereal shadows swished into the tunnel behind the creature, twisting themselves into the form of the Ranger. Three arrows were nocked and ready, an assortment of one explosive arrow, one HV arrow, and one hailstorm arrow. All three were let fly at once, forming a tight triad. The distance was carefully timed, the hailstorm arrow would burst into it's hundred projectiles just a few feet beyond the elf, then the HV arrow would accelerate, the shockwave detonating the explosive arrow in the passage just before reaching the creature, and the HV arrow proving the first line of offense as it accelerated only an instant before reaching the creature himself, and an instant in front of the hundred energy shots that would pepper the whole length of the tunnel for the next length. This was Cruallassar's vengeance.

[Doc Doctor]

The situation had been planned out by the horror. It had set a trap.

The monster was well used to how Crual moved now. It had needed only to see it a few times to get the hang of figuring out where he'd pop up and when. It chucked the stone it had been holding right into the spot where the ranger's head was to appear, disguising the throw as being a part its turning around to face the elf. At the same time its tail darted along the ground towards Crual, though judging by the distance it wouldn't reach its target in fast enough to get close before the arrows came. Such was its formidable timing that the rock would be set to connect just before the arrows were loosed. Even if his transportation wasn't the kind that could get one transmuted to death with solid objects, there would still be the matter of getting physically creamed by a rock hurled from a beast that could tear a major league pitcher clean in two.

But...

The creature knew as well as any general that even the best laid strategies can go awry. That would be why, likely unnoticed by the ranger, that the web the Magna Pater had just torn free was no longer on the ground where it had been tossed. The ground which was littered with the countless, innumerable shadows of rocks, bones, and who knew what else.

[Cruallassar]

The creature's wiles served it in good stead. The rock would indeed intersect the shadows that Cruallassar is preparing to form from. However, in this case the nature of the Ranger's power would work against it. He could not reform within another object...either the object would be displaced, or Cruallassar would be, in the instant before he materializes. Not only this, but the power was very difficult to keep precise. Cruallassar had mastered it to a point where he could be precise within millimeters, however he rarely did on a normal basis, since his physical abilities were nearly always enough to keep the effect the same however he appeared, and precision to that degree was almost never needed. Thus, he would usually be content to appearing within a few inches of where he needed to be. And his reflexes were easily enough to react at least in part to the blur of motion of the rock flying at him, thus to affect in part how he materialized. This lead to the Ranger appearing a few centimeters in to the space the rock had just vacated, loosing his arrows unhindered.

This is not to say his plan was not partially disrupted. The fact that the beast had the cunning to hurl a stone at where he was appearing before he did showed a level of planning and analysis he had not been planning on...one that in hindsight had not been the first sign, his having caught and thrown his grenades showing similar signs. The thing had managed to predict his moves with great accuracy for a monster. However, not even that prediction would save him from the arrows he still lets fly, before twisting into ethereal shadows again to observe the effect of his efforts from a safe environment.

The first net's presence...or lack thereof...is entirely unnoticed, due to his visual limitations.

[Doc Doctor]

The creature's wiles were far from limited to tossing shit like an ape. It hadn't really expected the rock to hit. That would be too easy. Not to say the rock wasn't important in the overall plan. Afterall, the only way to hit someone that can vanish at will is to hit them before they have the will to vanish. To do that a distraction was needed, hence the rock.

At about roughly the same time Crual moved to avoid the rock, when his attention was on the blur of the stone, the Magna Pater's prehensile tail flicked upwards like an inverted scourge. The very tip, muscular and flexible, was curled about the middle threads of the net which it had been pulling along beneath the tail. The tail couldn't reach its target, but what it was subtly holding could. There is an old torture weapon known as a cat o' nine tails. A whip with multiple heads, and small stones or glass tied into each strip of leather. Such a thing would be only partially comparable to what now was sent lashing up from beneath Crual, for it was twice as long as any nine tails whip and the jagged chunks of basalt glued to each strand, still very sticky on the edges and underside which the monster had cleverly not slimed, were of vastly greater size and heft than the paltry bits of debris found in the impromptu weapon's namesake.

It could very well take a miracle for the elf not to get absolutely clobbered by the big mess of stone laden strings, uppercutted hard enough to put him out of his senses and redirect his fire up at the roof of the tunnel above his head, perhaps making him even blow himself up. Even if the elf didn't get exploded, it would take but a second or two for the monster to jerk his stuck and stunned personage in close for the kill. And even if that didn't occur, of all things, there was always the consolation prize which the beast had set its mind on attaining. The ranger's bow. It hoped to at least tear it from the elf's hands with the suddeness of the sticky, entangling strings before the one holding the black bow had a chance to phase away with it, soiling the aim and taking away the most important tool in its foe's arsenal. Certainly it would be an improbable feat to keep a straight aim when getting ragged by a giant flail.

It was a tricky beastie that relied as much on smarts as strength, that had been obvious from the beginning. But perhaps now it would be clear just why in over a thousand years, not even the utmost efforts of the wisest hunters and boldest heroes had bested it.