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+--- Thread: The Scorpion of Shan'Gai Chah [closed] (/showthread.php?tid=10463)
RE: The Scorpion of Shan'Gai Chah [closed] - Naunet - 03-06-2015
Thal tried to dodge away from the arm, to use his size to his advantage in close quarters, but the Amal'jaa was both powerful and fast. Though his weapon struck home, dragging across the beastman's side and gouging a gap along his scales, the massive, black arm caught Thal broadly across the chest. He let out a silent "oof", bouncing against the arm as though it were a wall of solid bricks. He tried to go limp and slip beneath it - if he could get behind his opponent, he might have a better chance.
RE: The Scorpion of Shan'Gai Chah [closed] - Twinflame - 03-06-2015
The man was small. Baoht Zuqqa Roh had felt what seemed like a firm enough hit to send the man skittering across the water like a thrown stone, but did not see a flailing body beset by hungry drakes. He turned, seeking with his claws, the water frothing about him and turning brown with stirred-up silt.
RE: The Scorpion of Shan'Gai Chah [closed] - Naunet - 03-06-2015
As soon as he hit the ground, Thal tucked himself into a ball and rolled forward, around the Amal'jaa's back legs. One hand grabbed for the spear on his way, and he brought it around as the beastman was turning to jab it deep against his side again, aiming for the gap of scales he'd knocked off with his first blow.
RE: The Scorpion of Shan'Gai Chah [closed] - Twinflame - 03-06-2015
The pain told him both where his quarry was and what his quarry was doing. It was useful for that. Baoht Zuqqa Roh would think about the injury later. He turned fast, to pull his wound away from his quarry and try to take the arrow as well, lifting his large arms over the man. "You bite like a fly!" He slammed his arms down in an attempt to catch his prey. "Let me show you how a scorpion stings!"
RE: The Scorpion of Shan'Gai Chah [closed] - Naunet - 03-06-2015
The response was expected, but came far quicker than Thal would have liked, as though the beastman had barely even felt the jab of his weapon. Even more frustratingly, the arrow-spear tore from his hands when the beastman whirled about, leaving Thal with nothing but his body as a weapon.
There was no time to think about it. As the Amal'jaa brought down his mighty arms, Thal ducked forward, putting himself right up against his opponent's body and thus too close for those powerful fists to properly land their blow. Grunting with the effort, he grasped scale and armor and tried to whip himself around to where he could just see the arrow sticking out of the beastman's side.
RE: The Scorpion of Shan'Gai Chah [closed] - Twinflame - 03-06-2015
The action Baoht Zuqqa Roh took next was so obvious a stone could have taken it. As the child of man pressed itself forward against him, Baoht Zuqqa Roh dropped his chest and pulled his arms inward, trying to crush the man.
RE: The Scorpion of Shan'Gai Chah [closed] - Naunet - 03-06-2015
Thal grunted as his straining was brought up short abruptly. He'd nearly managed to stretch far enough to get purchase on the arrow when the Amal'jaa's arms closed in around him. He felt the pressure strangely, not as pain but still aware of the bruising of muscle and cracking of ribs. He could feel the curve of the mask Megiddo had given him digging at his hip. Kicking his feet against the Amal'jaa, he tried to ignore the pressure and strained his arm as far as he could reach towards the arrow.
RE: The Scorpion of Shan'Gai Chah [closed] - Twinflame - 03-06-2015
Feeling the satisfying crunch of bone, Baoht Zuqq Roh did not hear the satisfying howls of pain he had hoped for. "You writhe like a captured beetle!" Seeking those cries he desired to hear, Baoht Zuqq Roh curled his head down to bite into his prey's body. The flesh tasted rotten. Men were not worth eating.
RE: The Scorpion of Shan'Gai Chah [closed] - Naunet - 03-06-2015
"Hey! Stop that - I'm not for eating!" The hand that had been straining for the arrow changed course and delivered a solid punch to the Amal'jaa's jaw. He kicked again at the beastman's gut.
RE: The Scorpion of Shan'Gai Chah [closed] - Twinflame - 03-06-2015
Children of men always squirm pathetically when faced with their ends. Not once had Baoht Zuqqa Roh seen one greet death with dignity, and this man was no exception. Writhing and pounding, leaving bruises beneath his scales and beating at his muscular head, not once did the small man succeed in inflicting a pain which Baoht Zuqqa Roh could not ignore. Instead, the Amal'jaa's teeth pierced through the man's chest and body. he felt his teeth pierce past muscles and through tendon, and when ripped his maw free of the man, blood was everywhere. Triumphant, Baoht Zuqqa Roh opened his arms, grabbing the man with one to cast him away. To let him bleed out and die as meat for his sand drakes.
RE: The Scorpion of Shan'Gai Chah [closed] - Naunet - 03-06-2015
Thal hit the ground with a grunt and rolled for several more malms across the mud. He came to rest halfway in the shallow water of the stream, and the water stained almost instantly with blood. For several seconds he just blinked at reflections of rocks above him in the ripples and the weird, wet, empty sensation across his chest. Then he grimaced, rolling onto his back and pushing himself up in the mud. The first thing he noticed was his mask lay a good malm away from him, face up in the mud, apparently having been jostled free in the combat. Then he looked down and immediately regretted it.
"... okay, we're just gonna pretend that isn't there," he muttered to himself, shoving the gory image into one corner of his mind. "I guess maybe I should be thankful." With another grunt, he pushed himself to his feet. His left arm felt weaker than the other but impossibly functioning, and as he stood he called out to the Amal'jaa, "How about we call this a truce?"
RE: The Scorpion of Shan'Gai Chah [closed] - Twinflame - 03-06-2015
Baoht Zuqqa Roh watched the child of man moving, acting as though he did not feel pain. The bloodless did not bother him. The man did not even seem to pale. He spoke without wheezing. He did not plead. Baoht Zuqqa Roh watched through the torn skin as the man's muscled twitched helplessly, and yet the limb that required those muscles moved undeterred. Flexing his claws and eying the bow he cast aside, Baoht Zuqqa Roh growled, "There is an honor in being the prey of the Amal'jaa. An honor which you mock by resorting to unspeakable magic. You should have allowed yourself to die."
RE: The Scorpion of Shan'Gai Chah [closed] - Naunet - 03-06-2015
Lifting his gaze to the hunter, Thal winced, though not out of any pain. "Believe me, if I'd had a choice... I probably would've preferred to long before this." He rolled his still intact shoulder, a bit weirded out by the sensations his other arm was sending him. Letting out a sigh, he tried to ignore the way he could feel air pushing through one side of his chest and lifted both arms to either side of him. "So, I can respect your honor, but... sorry. Can't we just go our merry ways? There's plenty of other stuff to hunt out here... though you chased away the orobon."
RE: The Scorpion of Shan'Gai Chah [closed] - Twinflame - 03-06-2015
Baoht Zuqqa Roh paced over to his discarded bow, pulling it out of the water and eying the bowstring. Then he cast a glare at the child of Man. "Shan'Gai Chah has commissioned your death. It appears that you are dead, so my mandate is fulfilled. There is no honor in hunting that which has already been caught and killed. However." The Amal'jaa snapped his teeth. "You slew one of my drakes, a thing which I do not think that you can repay."
RE: The Scorpion of Shan'Gai Chah [closed] - Naunet - 03-06-2015
As the Amal'jaa spoke, Thal felt himself relaxing little by little, enough at least that he felt comfortable enough to chance a glance towards where he'd seen K'aijeen run. His jaw tightened at the sight of her, and he quickly shifted his gaze back to the giant, black, lizard-man. He tensed at the hunter's last sentence. "Okay... well. They did kind of attack me - you can't really blame me for defending myself. I don't think that counts as a debt?"