Cruallassar

Yami and Doc vs Cruallassar and Lunar

Sorry about the grey, Neo. I'm flattered though...

Blarg...

Yami and Doc vs Cruallassar and Lunar

I'm tired of coming up with more and more good arguments and nitpicking words and whatnot, so I'm just going to say that in most of those first points there, you obviously didn't read my posts well enough to tell what I did...(for example, he didn't actually dodge the shadow attack, he used your wing as a shield, then no one bothered to pay any additional attention to it after that)...or are trying to make points that are ridiculous in some of them, (such as that arrow detonation if the shafts are struck hard enough...the shafts would break before that happened.) or aren't paying attention to reality, (That blink reflex is in fact a reflex unless your reflexes aren't very good. That is why I suddenly put my hand up to someone's face and they blink. So the fact that everyone can do it makes perfect sense.) or on certain points, might actually have a point. I find your accusation that Cruallassar is overpowered because he can just blink in and out of reality shooting his prenocked and drawn bow ludicrous, because I SPECIFICALLY said, "I've been trying to keep him from using his ethereal shift as a "stay in ethereal form releasing arrows from wherever faster than you can possibly do anything to him". Otherwise there is no way this attack would hit, with a 10X speed boost he would only need to be there for the bare minimum amount of time to release the arrow, and he can be gone before it even finishes leaving the bow...way out of even Shashous's ability to hit him in, prediction or not. But as I said...he isn't doing that." It's YOU who wanted me to materialize fully ready to fire.

But beyond that, this is basically a battle of I find your character's stated abilities to be insufficient for the utterly super....well, I can't really say superhuman, because neither of us are human, and I can't say supernatural because both of us are, but super something...feat of predicting to the very inch the precise location and position of a person he can barely see, which in and of itself is an illogical position made reality only by the fact that YOU get to say where I am because I failed to specify with sufficient clarity. Now of course I can't say what you can or can't do, because he is your character, so I haven't been. But it seems to me to be one HELL of a stretch, even farther beyond that of your being able to "see" me without eyes because your senses are good enough to pick up the difference in the ambient temperature of the air due to the darkness of the shadows around me in ethereal form...at night. Not to mention the impossibility of a small shard of rock being able to knock a person unconscious by hitting them on the chin, just because the person who snapped the whip to which the rock is attached happens to be very strong.

You will have noted by now that I haven't addressed most of your points directly. You will also note that I have finally devolved my posts into something vaguely resembling the aggression inherent in your last three or four posts, as opposed to trying to maintain my critically professional approach. This is because I would have to agree that this does seem to be am impasse. I can't do basically what you did because you will say that I am godmodding your character, and yet it appears to me that that is exactly what you are doing. Therefore, I would ask for a few neutral and independent observers to please give their two cents worth here. I'll see if I can find any of my own.

I would also ask if someone could PLEASE either give me or come up with SOME kind of CONCRETE definition of the power levels of characters? If there isn't one then I would be more than happy to just come up with it myself, because the need is definitely there.

Yami and Doc vs Cruallassar and Lunar

...ok, now I just don't know what you are talking about here. I am well aware that your monster is a genius fighter, you've said so repeatedly. But it would take a supercomputer to be able to accurately predict exactly where Cruallassar was going to appear before he is detectable. I've been going with it though, because you've shown yourself able to "see" the shadows he is when in ethereal form, so that gives you time to react and make your predictions more accurate.

And it is pretty easy to say that, though the terminology is changeable. As I said, the only reason your plan is working is because I failed to specify that Cruallassar appeared at a logical and reasonable distance. Though perhaps it would be more fair to say the only reason that Shashous is getting away with it...since what you are doing makes sense. Ish.

You assume Cruallassar has only fought physical enemies at Shashous's level before. That escape power doesn't work against magic. Unless you refer to this battle alone, in which case it seems to me that when you hit those all-seeing eyes with poison it was a risky situation.

In my favor? Unreal way? You forget, Cruallassar was planning this encounter as well, not all the circumstances are in your favor. Even if he was playing into your trap, a trap Cruallassar easily saw and went into anyway because that is what he would do, then it still stands to reason that not every circumstance is in your favor. Which it isn't...the fact that you are in a tunnel inhibits you far more than me, though it gives you the weapon you need. There is no unreal way about how his arm is protecting his chin if he is in the process of drawing the bow, the only point at which it is fully exposed from the bottom...bottom, not front...is when the bow is fully pulled back. The arrows aren't in danger of exploding unless he drops them, because the heads aren't in the path of the rocks that are flying at his chin. My vision of an absolute clobbering is malleable, since an absolute clobbering is not a concrete term...clobber just means to hit hard, and everything I've said fits that definition perfectly. I can't manipulate your character's might, it just doesn't play a factor here.

Now of course, you are correct in what I hope him to get away with...I was hoping to be fighting miss shadows a while ago, yet I'm still fighting the monster that refuses to just die already. However, you are mistaken to assume that injuries sustained here will have no bearing on the rest of the fight, if it lasts as long as it has without his giving himself some medical attention he is likely to bleed out, cracked ribs will throw him off and impair his speed, etc.

As soon as your character has enough strength to overcome resistance, strength becomes a nonissue. Your character is strong enough. Any excess in strength is irrelevant. His speed is the factor. And yes, I've already acknowledged that he is insanely fast, which is why he is able to hit me before I release the arrows...even though according to you, he is shooting the arrows at the exact same time as he gets hit by your whip, which STILL means you basically die. I don't doubt his tail is strong. I don't say he swings like a little girl. I say he is swinging a very deadly weapon in confined space and doing as much damage as that weapon can do under the circumstances. Which isn't deadly. You seem to expect that getting clocked on the chin with one of your golf-ball sized rocks will knock Cruallassar out. I find that ridiculous. Even it if can reach his chin...which I still doubt, but I can't argue with until I have a picture of him to show WHY I doubt it...a hit on the chin isn't likely to knock him out. Daze him perhaps, but despite what movies say, punches on the jaw don't generally knock out people. That is, again, something entirely out of Shashous's control.

And again, you use strength to say he can do something that requires speed. And yet, you fail to realize that if indeed Shashous hit Cruallassar in the manner and at the moment you say, Cruallassar is just that fast and able to shoot the arrows, either before or as he is getting hit. In fact, even if he does somehow knock the shafts, they will still get propelled forwards in some manner, and since Shashous is only fifteen feet away he is certain to get hit...especially since the other two arrows will still activate and do damage to something in front of them whether they are shot very well or not.

To basically say how what you think should happen would turn out...

Cruallassar: Swooshing in. | Gets to point he is materializing.| Materializes behind rock.| Releases pre-drawn arrows.
Shashous: Throws rock and lunges with tail.| Still lunging. | Flicks tail and net up. | Hits him with rocknet.

Instead of as I had envisioned it...which gives you the better chance, AND you are altering my definition as much as I'm altering yours, but I can deal with that for the more positive result...that is adding the action of drawing the arrows between materialization and release, which means you would hit me as they are being drawn.
But instead, the events occur at the same time, which mean they both happen. Your target was the man, not the bow to throw off his aim. You were hoping that getting hit would throw him off, but that only matters if there is time between getting hit and shooting. But if the arrows are predrawn, Cruallassar's shot takes literally no time...he just has to release the shot, which he can do the instant he is physical. Which ABSOLUTELY MUST BE before he can get hit by the rock net, since that can only happen AFTER he already is physical, and after the arrows have been fired. You say your character is just that strong...which I acknowledge, and say that he is also just that fast and smart and whatnot, since that is what matters more...but my character is just that fast as well. You are absolutely right in saying I hope to get off with a kill and non-major injuries...what else would I hope for, and how else is this supposed to end?

Yami and Doc vs Cruallassar and Lunar

Then everywhere I said face, substitute chin. I predicted an equal chance of hitting the face as hitting the chin, but no matter.

Technically I said he had the arrows nocked, which basically is ready to fire...just not with the bow drawn. I've been trying to keep him from using his ethereal shift as a "stay in ethereal form releasing arrows from wherever faster than you can possibly do anything to him". Otherwise there is no way this attack would hit, with a 10X speed boost he would only need to be there for the bare minimum amount of time to release the arrow, and he can be gone before it even finishes leaving the bow...way out of even Shashous's ability to hit him in, prediction or not. But as I said...he isn't doing that. He materialized with the arrows nocked, but not yet drawn, meaning that his fa...chin would be protected, though his bow would be hit harder. But I'm not real worried about the bow getting stolen or damaged here. And yes, I acknowledge that Shashous rigged it...though when Cruallassar is acting on the spur-of-the-moment, he tends to charge into these sorts of things anyway if he thinks he can get away with it, and due to his speed and other abilities, he generally succeeds. You will note that I'm not pointing out the amazing improbability that Shashous would be able to predict precisely when and where Cruallassar would materialize, and that the only reason you are actually getting away with this much is because I failed to specify where Cruallassar was in relation to him...a very faint thread to rest a plan on. And really...there are other ways a melee fighter could do it, but Shashous has the advantage of not being humanoid...which brings in a high factor of uncertainty. With another person, Cruallassar would have long since closed to melee range and would be easily capable of predicting his every move.

And actually...once again, if a person much bigger than me tied a golf ball to a string and slung it around and whacked me in the head with it, it would do exactly the same amount of damage as if a smaller person did the exact same thing, if he could swing it at the same speed. F=MA, remember? The ball is tied to a string, which means that the mass of the person swinging it is completely irrelevant, only the mass of the golf ball matters, plus the speed to which the person can swing it. That, plus the amount of area and string they have to swing it with, because that directly affects being able to swing it without it being impeded by the environment, and how fast it swings. Now, in this case you are not swinging it in a circle, you are snapping it like a whip, which yes, would indeed be quite painful. It would also be able to be done in a long passageway, and it would matter far less the length of the rope and tail snapping it, only the momentum it can reach. Your strength ensures that it can reach the maximum momentum your speed will allow, and your speed allows that to be fairly high. And that would produce precisely the effect I stated. Painful, maiming...but not lethal, and probably not able to seriously impede his fighting ability as long as he can fight through the pain and stop the blood loss before it is critical.

And yes, I know you were trying to make a point, and not say my character sucked at archery. I just saw that point as inaccurate in that particular instance. And no, I actually didn't contradict myself. Both of what I said were very situational, and must be taken in context. If Cruallassar were to try to perform the same feats with a kiddy bow, the bow would snap in half. That would be a failing of the weapon. However if the bow is sufficient for the purpose, then all that matters is the wielder...Cruallassar's bow is strong and durable, able to be drawn to a full length, and able to withstand its own draw weight. Therefore, the only limit on how fast that can happen is the wielder, Cruallassar's, strength and speed. In this case, I have no doubt that Shashous can do it...but he is using the equivalent of Cruallassar wielding a stick instead of a sword. Cruallassar can hurt you with a stick, no doubt and he could probably kill people with the upmost of proficiency with that stick...but he can't stab you with it. Just the same, you can't crush my bones or eviscerate my internals with your upgraded cat-o-eight-tails. What you can do is cause me some serious pain.

Yami and Doc vs Cruallassar and Lunar

Hmm...
After some very careful reading of your posts...all of which occur within the timespan of any single one of mine, making it difficult...and once again trying to model the relative movements of your little rock web and the action of firing a bow...I'm still not quite sure what to think about the first two points, though I will concede their validity. What an uppercut is is irrelevant regarding whether or not it hits my face, and if in fact it reaches me in the instant after I finish materializing, my face would in fact be mostly protected due to the act of drawing the bow, which means my right arm is in fact in the way of your rocks and protecting my face. And since it would be the part of my right arm that does in fact have armor that would be blocking that, it would still have the same effect as what I posted...cuts and abrasions along the left...I repeat, LEFT, because despite your attack not coming from the left in regard to the tunnel, MY left side is the side facing you and exposed to danger...side of my body. However if your attack hits in the last moments of my pulling the arrows back, the moments in which my face is in fact exposed, then not only are you microseconds away from me firing the bow and it is a pretty good chance that I'll get the shot off before you hit, but it doesn't actually matter because your rocks do not hit my aiming arm first to knock off his aim until after he is likely to have already released the shot from the fact that he is being hit by a number of rocks and is suddenly surprised and in pain, rather than planning. However, no scenario there includes the possibility of the explosive head of the explosive arrow, which is a yard in front of my face, getting hit or impeded in any way. I would guess you are going to go for the probability that doesn't bear the near certainty of your death, though it has less effect on me, but I will leave that up to you...or some neutral party, since as I said, I am not sure what to think.

Now, as for the last point, there I don't see where you have a case. Yes, you described the rocks as chunks, and yes, you said clobbered. Both of these are vague descriptions, and both are met with the most I made. Clobbered certainly includes cuts, scrapes, bruises, abrasions, and pain from being hit very hard. And no, I am not denying Shashous's ability to throw them at me very fast. However the only factor really here that does matter is how large those chunks of rock are. If I permanently stuck a rope to a wall, then pulled with infinite strength, the paint would come off the wall...not the sheetrock underneath. Basalt is a very hard rock to be sure...but this also means it is very brittle, and the way it is formed means that it comes up in layers. (I did the research) Fractured shards and jagged chunks of rock would certainly come off a basalt wall...but they would be no bigger than a softball, the minimum size required to do any more damage than I stated. The most you could hope for is some lacerations thrown in there with the rest of the descriptive terms I used, or maybe a fractured rib or two, which again, certainly coincides with your word "clobber". But it is physically impossible for more without substantial size to the projectile, or far more significant mass...like lead or gold, not stone. The maximum effect you could achieve is depriving me of my use of my left arm for the most part due to sliced and shredded muscle, or slicing my face, however by the time it hits my arm I doubt it will carry enough force to do that after having already expended its initial impact on my torso, and something similar goes for my face, though I have no doubt it would still be painful. I don't question your monster's physical ability...I question that of the tool it uses, which is an adapted one from my character, with pieces of the neutral environment thrown in.

Also, really your creature's speed matters more than his strength in this case...I can spin a knotted rope around my head as fast as I can, and someone ten times stronger can do the same, but it won't matter because as long as we can swing it then it is the speed of the swinging that has an effect.

And finally...you also wouldn't have a case in saying he sucks at archery, because there is no such thing as a bow that requires a certain amount of time to draw. Again, what matters is the person wielding it.

Yami and Doc vs Cruallassar and Lunar

Um...I'm not certain most of that last post applies, Doc. I say left side because Cruallassar, preferring to shoot right handed, would turn his left side forward towards his target. His bow hand, head, and draw hand would form a direct line between him and the target, and since your attack is coming from that intended target, his arm would indeed shield his face.
Furthermore, after my earlier post...the first time I tried to shoot these arrows, since I've done that in three posts now...you said that your tail, with the net to make your whip attack, was still snaking across the ground in preparation for the attack, not actually making it. In fact, in your own words, "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." There is too much time between you throwing the rock and my making the attack, unless you're trying to retcon your own posts, to strike in such a manner that you can disrupt my shot, made nearly instantaneously after appearing, which is as your thrown rock passes through the space of my head. Especially since doing so is basically akin to me making a counter post that says that Cruallassar is not so foolish a Ranger as to come within striking distance of you needlessly...which is true...and thus being far enough away to avoid your attack without even knowing it was there.
Finally, with regard to the damage you believe should be done, it doesn't matter what kind of monster is at the other end of the rope/tail. The fact that there is a lot of muscle is the only relevant fact, and the absolute most damage I can see it doing is crushing a few ribs, and that is only if A: there is a substantial, massy, and solid enough block of rock on the other end to have such an effect, which I doubt, and B: assuming they are on a direct enough path straight towards my center of mass, otherwise they would glance off the sides of my body doing lesser damage, if not missing entirely. The entire target of that is about four inches across. Now, I assume that Shashous has a great enough control of his body to be able to accomplish B except that due to the imprecise nature of Cruallassar's ethereal shifting and the change made from the rock's appearance, it is entirely possible that his location could be displaced by four inches horizontally in either direction, throwing off any aim you make before he actually appears. In addition, since you did not specify A, which would require chunks of rock at least as big as a softball-probably bigger-then I make the most realistic assumption, which happens to be in my favor. Specifically, that since my net was in fact only glued to the rock and not embedded into it, that only shards and smaller chunks of rock that were attached to it would come away, and not the massive hunks of rock that you would find if you pulled out something embedded six inches into the solid rock. This leads to the conclusion that I reached in my post.

Yami and Doc vs Cruallassar and Lunar

The Ranger materialized. The Ranger loosed the three arrows at his enemy. The Ranger got hit with a net full of rock shards that he barely saw before they hit him.
Nothing could have stopped him from firing the arrows. He came out of materialization with them already most of the way to firing, and since he could draw and loose an arrow accurately within the blink of an eye...literally...even without the speed enchantment he had never quite relaxed all the way, due to the constant unexpected needs of it, not even the monster's cunning attack could have prevented the shot in time, nor impeded it from the low angle from which the attack came from.
But without his speed enchantment at at least half strength, or his regular keen sight to spot the creature's attack before it hit, he could not react to the whip-crack net in time. It was to his good fortune that it was not a more deadly strike. The stone-encrusted strands of the net flicked up and at him, though luckily the armor plates on his forearms and lower legs protected those parts of his body from the assault. His arm also protected his face, being as it was outstretched to fire the shot from the bow, upon which his grip is maintained...losing one's grip on their weapon merely from a surprise impact is a short road to a grave. However, his unprotected left thigh, torso, and upper arm are hit hard, the chunks and shards of rock stinging, scraping, and at some points tearing through the light, though sturdy, cloth and into the vulnerable skin below, eliciting a grunt of surprise and pain from the elf. Scarcely had a drop of blood hit the ground though, before the Ranger turned ethereal once again, the shadows of his form swishing into the wall as he had previously planned. His left side is wounded, with bruises, cuts and scratches lining it...but other than the pain, he is largely unimpaired, though he will be slower and have less use of that side.

Might and Magic, Cruallassar vs Laach

Jacos allows himself just a tiny fragment of his mind to recognize the humor in his opponent spinning aside with a rocket-propelled hand. But just a tiny fragment. The mighty runeblade comes down and slices empty space, before sending chips of ice flying as it gouges a cut in the frozen stone. He keeps his eyes to his opponent as he prepares to follow up on his offense, only to receive a heavy strike on the helmet, knocking his head down and aside for a moment. But he was not impaired, the strike wasn't anything to really brag about beyond the fact that it landed, and his armor was unharmed. Only a moment after the strike landed, with speed that belied the warrior's size, he rebounded back, swinging his body around back towards his foe, and one hand releasing it's useless grip on his sword to fly around at the challenger. His sword wasn't his only weapon, he was just as capable of throwing unarmed punches as his attacker. As it swung, his gauntlet glows white as he triggers a concussive strike, ready to hit her with with a backhand strike possessing the force of a battering ram.

Might and Magic, Cruallassar vs Laach

The Warrior had expected the bomb to go off behind him, and was unphased. The only thing that remained of that maneuver was now to regain his shield, but that could easily wait. For now, all that remained was to carry out his attack. To his surprise, his new enemy didn't make an attempt to dodge...she didn't look paralyzed in fear either. She was holding out a single hand to block his strike. That spoke of significant nerve...and unless there was something about her he didn't know about, which was almost certain, significant foolishness. He descended upon her like a bolt of crimson and silver from the heavens, swinging his blade downward in a two-handed grasp, his feet impacting the stone and ice in front of the enemy just before the sword came down to bring the full might of his slash onto this enemy. Can she block this? He would find out.

Yami and Doc vs Cruallassar and Lunar

I did however mention that he had set the distance to precisely time the arrow effects going off though, and it has previously taken at least a few feet for them to activate. In addition, since Cruallassar has tried on most previous occasions to stay out of Shashous's reach, there is no reason to believe he would get that close now, even with the extra few feet provided by the net.

However, that is a secondary point. I still need clarification on exactly what happened, within reach or not.