Ludovic’s heart pounded as he watched Deluge charge forward, her antlers plunging deep into the monster’s grotesque body. When Nimue joined her, tearing into the creature’s disgusting flesh, his surprise mixed with a rising sense of duty. He wasn’t as strong as Deluge or as swift as Nimue, but he wasn’t about to stand idle. That wasn’t in his blood, and standing back and being protected felt wrong. God was that thing fucking creepy though. Was Xina fighting one too? Shit, with her luck she’d come back covered in that nasty looking blood. Ugh.

Steeling himself, he took a careful step out from behind Mortis’s shielding wings. “I can fight.” he murmured to them both, voice low but steady as he could make it. I am not a coward. He kept his mismatched eyes trained on the worm’s movements, watching the sluggish recoil as it prepared its next attack. He noticed the spiked petals aim toward Mortis. The sight made his pulse quicken. But it was an opening, to which the boy attempts a flank on the creature—aiming to rend its flesh with his metal talons.

"Ludovic Praetor-Inferos"

Antlers broke through the fragile armour of the worm and a spray of clear viscous fluid sprayed from the open wound. It trickled down her antlers and when her paws found purchase, she took a moment to shake it from her head. She wasn't so keen on getting that shit in her eye. Speaking of eyes, the worms had turned on Mortis and as it struck, both Ludovik and she took the opening.

Using feline paws, she scaled the worm like a tree, aiming to scale it's body and drive an antler into its eye. She wasn't sure if it was the cave that was spinning or the flailing of the worm, but a sudden wave of nausea washed over her. Maybe throwing up would serve almost as well to blind it.

"speech"

Mortis hesitated, and then nodded at Ludovic. He’d protect the pup, but he wouldn’t stifle him. As much as the thought of a child fighting this creature made him fear for his own children. As Ludovic moved out from under his protection, the strange creature struck. The odd spikes struck him like a missile, locked in and unavoidable. They struck him across the nose, and he let out a yelp of pain that quickly turned into a growl. They were right, defensive meant nothing here. He moved suddenly, injured leg raised, pushing through the pain, as he had once pushed through the pain of broken wings, and he attempted to hit the creature head on. Flaring out his wings in an effort to confuse (and shield those fighting with him a little. He couldn’t help it. It was bound deep into his soul, the need to protect) as he aimed for what he hoped was a weaker point inside the almost flower-like bud. "Speech"

The worm lashes out, and the adventurers react accordingly. Ludovic finds the bravery to step out and initiate an attack of his own. The worm hardly seems to react to the boy's sharp talons though, its flesh soft and giving way easily under his attack, but it does little to disrupt the massive monstrosity.

Mortis seems do do more damage to the beast though; aiming for the center of what seems to be its head, it abruptly draws its head back and its flower-like fleshy structures draw inward, acting like a defensive shield. The beast stills for a moment, though suddenly lashes out again, body extending forward like a whip. Its spiked petals lash out toward Deluge, catching her off-guard and sending her tumbling sideways through the tunnel, her ribs scraping roughly along jagged rocks. The impact is sharp, leaving her with a dripping wound that will later scar. The fluid mingles with the clear, viscous fluid that she released from the worm, which continued to trickle in larger amounts now around its base.

The worm reels back and then rushes forward again toward the group, attempting to charge through them- the massive creature's movements scatter the group slightly and disrupts their focus.

(Mortis finds 250 gems in the process; they've been added to your OOC account.)

Nimue’s aim was true- she’d landed on the writhing worm's back, sinking her claws into its slimy skin to keep herself anchored against it. Her jaws tore into it next- teeth snapping at exposed flesh, revealing a rubbery layer just beneath its hardened exterior. Foul-tasting fluid filled her maw, and she gagged- the stench of rot and sulfur wafting in waves, but Nimue didn’t flinch.

The worm shifted beneath her, sluggishly leaning over, the fleshy petals around its face striking at Mortis. His pained yelp filled the cavern, and Nimue braced herself, expecting the worm to try to throw her off of its back next.

While the others formed their own methods of assault, Nimue saw hers through. The worm was whipping around beneath her, and suddenly surged forward, slamming into Deluge and trying to disrupt the group's focus. Leaning into the worm, Nimue struggled to hold on- every movement was a battle against the creature's slick, repulsive surface. Again she splayed her jaws and bit into its flesh, tearing into the wound she created, as her snout rooted its way through sinew and viscous fluid.

"Nimue Vasanti"

Well fuck, The worm threw Deluge off and the impact of the rocks ripped open her skin and left her winded, trying to suck in air and grimacing at the mixing of her blood with that of the worms. Well, wasn't Sakana gonna have a fuckin' field day with that one? Getting her feet back beneath her, still struggling to inhale, she swayed momentarily before her breath came back to her, stars dancing across the edges of her vision.

She tried to take stock of where the others had ended up, and tried to take in the battlefield as a whole with the distance. She looked at where the body protruded from the ground, took note of the fissures that ran from where it had broken free. Was there something under there that could be used to their advantage? Maybe for a smaller wolf...

Still, she couldn't help but feel that maybe attacking the eye would bring them the best results. She unslung one of her (not quite empty) bottles and took aim, hoping the glass would shatter on impact and blind the bastard thing. If only she had something with her to light the alcohol within on fire...

"speech"

coded by NachoMumma

Ludovic’s heart thundered as his talons cut into the worm’s flesh, but his strike felt… useless. The creature hardly reacted, its grotesque bulk simply absorbing the attack without even a flinch. Frustration simmered in his chest, but he couldn’t back down now, not with Mortis and Deluge giving their all beside him.

Just as he shifted to try another angle, he saw Mortis’s attack land, forcing the beast to recoil and shield its vulnerable parts. But it wasn’t over. The worm twisted, its petals snapping outward, and Ludovic's stomach twisted as he saw Deluge thrown back. Damn it.

When the worm lunged forward, charging with a force that sent them scattering, he barely managed to keep his footing, his claws scrambling against the slick tunnel floor. Stay focused, he told himself, lungs heaving. He darted a glance at Mortis, then back at Deluge, even the small vulgar woman, weighing his options quickly.

“I’ll distract it, someone get the center!” he called out, keeping his tone low but urgent.

Ludo took a steadying breath, gathering his nerve again. If he could draw its attention—just for a few moments—it might give one of the other’s the opening to strike with full force. It couldn’t attack and defend at the same time, right? With a fierce, determined snarl, he lunged at the creature again, aiming for another weak spot along its body, hoping to provoke it enough to keep its defenses focused on him.

"speech"

coded by NachoMumma

He felt his strike hit true, and he felt himself break into its odd flesh for a moment, before its head drew back and it seemed to protect itself, drawing in its petals. Protecting what must be vital, and more frail, perhaps? The creature's next strike struck Deluge, and he wasted precious moments glancing her way to see if she was okay. She was a fighter, and back on her paws in moments. When the worm charged, the group was forced to scatter, and took a second to refocus. But when they did, they did so with a vengeance. Deluge was throwing something, and Ludovic was racing in, calling out for someone to use his distraction. He would not leave the boy hanging. He dove in again, throwing out his wings in a bid to distract it, to turn its attention from his head, even as he attempted to strike forward in the hope that he could plunge his teeth into its eye. "Speech"

The worm showed no mercy as it lunged toward the wolves, but they were equally as merciless, attacking once again with a vengeance.

Nimue tore into slick, putrid flesh; Deluge sent a bottle flying forward, though the worm's fleshy head appendages suddenly retract, grabbing hold of the object. It abruptly sends it flying forward, bouncing off the cave's floor and flying toward Nimue, jagged glass slicing into the flesh of her inner front left leg, leaving a long gash.

Ludovic and Mortis seem to temporarily distract the monstrous thing- it seems confused on who to focus on, reeling from side to side, giving the wolves an opportunity to strike. Mortis' attack lands, and it lets out an ear-piercing shriek. It attempts to draw in its petaled head, trying to protect itself.

The strange putrid fluid begins to leak from its wounds in even larger amounts, coating its body with a thick, sticky substance, making it even harder to grasp onto the worm.

(Ludovic finds an item, Pup Mutation Pass, it has been added to your OOC account.)

A low, guttural growl resonated from Nimue, her snout rooting through mucus-covered flesh, filling her maw as she dug deeper, and deeper, and deeper. Wanting to find some type of skeletal structure inside the beast. But suddenly, she was forced to let go- her claws losing their grip against its slimy body, as pain erupted across her inner left leg. It was a hot, searing sensation- one that amplified as the worm's slime mixed into the fresh wound, earning a sharp yelp from the nymph. She slid off its back, rolling several feet in a blur of motion.

She tried to spring to her paws, just as an ear-piercing shriek filled the space around them, resonating from the beast. Mortis and Ludovic were attacking it, forcing it to recoil inside of itself, to protect its eye.

Holding her injured leg against her chest, Nimue limped forward, her need to fight and win insatiable. Behind her, a trail of blood is left in her wake- hot and sticky, as it spilled onto the cold floor.

She’s beside Mortis and Ludo now, lunging forward to try and bite into the worm again. A strange, putrid fluid is leaking from its wounds, coating its body in a sticky substance. It’s difficult, but Nimue’s not trying to mount it this time- she’s just trying to bite the damn thing, to tear it apart, piece by bloody piece.

"Nimue Vasanti"

Ludovic was doing a good job dodging the creature thus far, but for the other’s he couldn’t say the same. He watched as Nimue was struck with shattered glass, a hiss escaping him as the injury left her staggering. The thing recoiled as Mortis attacked its eye, its disgusting fluids pouring freely now, turning the cave floor into a sticky, slick mess. The smell clung to the back of Ludovic’s throat, but he couldn’t falter. Not now. The sight of its writhing, confused form was both a stroke of luck and an omen. What more could it take?

“We have to keep at it!” he called out, darting in to slash at the beast's side. His talons met resistance, slickened by the ooze, but his attack wasn’t meant to wound. Again he was working distraction duty. It was defending more than attacking now. And in Ludovic’s mind that meant they were winning. He lunged again, claws striking fast and hard in quick, controlled bursts as he zipped in and out of range.

"speech"

coded by NachoMumma

With all that ear piercing shrieking and fucking goop going everywhere y'd think they'd catch a break? Yeahnah.

It wasn't even entrails, but something unholy was raining down on them from the gouges that lined the worm from their attacks. Mortis managed to land a hit on the eye thing, and as suspected, it really didn't like that at all. Deluge took another run at it, keeping Ludovic in her periphery, if any of them was getting out of here, it'd want to be the kid.

Launching with her feline claws extended, she aimed for the eye once more. If she missed, well she could always pivot and tear at it with her antlers instead.

"speech"

CW: Gore, innards, death, vore


The worm thrashes against the wolves' attacks. It screeches and rolls its body, trying to knock itself free. The beast and the surrounding ground are slicked with bitter fluids, coating most of the wolves in the vicinity in the tacky substance.

Nimue is knocked back, landing awkwardly with her off-balance footing. Her legs splay awkwardly, earning a sharp pop from her left hip and sending bolts of icy pain and numbness in cycles as her nerves pinch and fire rapidly.

Ludovic dodges again, his claws digging into the wetted flesh of the creature before him. Deluge moved similarly, her claws and horns felling near the slimy sphere and down the petals of defense. They pained the worm, but the bigger prize was the one with the wings. A moth to a flame, a bug to be devoured. The worm lashes out, folding in its petals quickly. One long, pronged hook slashes across Mortis's underbelly before they close with a wet thud, sending Mortis to the ground with his new injury.

Mortis struggles to get up, to right himself, to fight back, but the ground is slick with his blood in an instant. His legs shake as he pushes upwards, his vision shaking as he tries to focus on the worm again. In the edges of his tunneling vision, little dots glow and dance. Below him, entrails spill out onto the floor between his paws. The worm rears its head, but Mortis can barely see it, even as he tries to move out of the way. He sees the darkness of the mouth, the small lights flying, pulling his attention somewhere past the worm.

The beast seizes the large wolf by his wings, throwing its body backwards as viscera splatters across the room. The wings crack jut at wrong angles as the creature slams the wolf into a wall, then the floor, another wall. Each crack against the wall sends blood spattering, Mortis disfiguring as his skull and ribcage are crushed inwards in an instance. Mortis is unaware of his body, his vision gone except for the lights that guide him. In the back of the darkness, there is a light. Did he make it out of the cave? Two figures stand, waiting- One cloaked, and one a wolf with a set of renewed kudu horns.

The worm thrashes the man around until his wings break free, sending his battered body crashing to the floor. Discarding the inedible wings, the worm goes back for the limp, crushed body of a once great warrior. It snatches the body into its mouth with the pronged petals, closing them completely as if it were a venus fly trap. From inside, a squelching, grinding noise can be heard as Mortis is devoured.

The worm takes the defensive, coiling its body close and aiming to thrash those around it with its closed petaled head.

Mortis is no more.

Well fuck. Stupid fucking Fatalis's with their honour and self-sacrificing bullshit, now she'd have to haul ass all the way to Armada to pass on the news. She doubted if she told Dread that he'd talk the long walk for her. Selfish fucker that he was. Just like the winged one that went and got himself eaten. How. Fucking. Inconsiderate.

It wasn't that Deluge was merciless, it was a coping mechanism in the moment. The worm thing curled around itself protectively and flailed about, catching her with a glancing blow as she tried to gather her wits enough to be done with this fucking thing so she could get the kid home and ream out his father for letting him wander into such fucking peril unsupervised. She supposed she could pass along that they were keeping Scald's kids while she was at it.

Inhaling deeply, trying to catch a second wind, Deluge looked to the cracked and shattered floor, careful where she placed her paws. While it was distracted, eating what was left of the big guy... Way to take one for the team... "One more push guys!" She gave it everything she had left in reserve, attacking whatever she could reach of the worm with horns, claws and teeth.

"speech"