Contact (II)

Taylor gave his bulwark, and Iraj, Farsight so they could watch the melee properly. It wasn't the kind of enhancement you normally ran around with: it changed one's vision so drastically that most people would end up tripping over themselves. But for situations like the present, it was essential. Four small figures accosted the dining monster, whose first response was to shoot poison at them from its tail. Then, it tried to smash them with its oversized pincers. When that didn't move the annoying humans, it snapped at them with its pincers. Two of Khali's bulwarks wedged their shields into the monster's claws. They were dragged back and forth along the ground but refused to let go of their shields.

"That's some pretty poor lift strength," noticed Otavio.

The stinger struck at them several times, but Khali never called for help. Instead she and her smallest bulwark "Sparrow" stabbed at it repeatedly with spears. The scorpion decided it was done with the shields and let them go, then grabbed at Khali instead. Sparrow jumped in front of her, arms spread wide, and found himself suspended in the air by its claws. The monster shook him violently back and forth, and then it tried to tear him apart.

Iraj gasped. "I do not think this is going well for your people."

"It's fine," Taylor told him. Having seen the scorpions in action he no longer feared for his disciple or her bulwarks. "They're pretty weak for cursed monsters. At this point, we're just verifying a few things."

The scorpion tried to bury its stinger into Sparrow about a dozen times, while the rest of Khali's team did nothing. It looked horrible from a distance, but Taylor couldn't wait to examine the small bulwark's armor to find out how well it held up. She must have given an order, because one of the bulwarks threw down his spear and drew his sword. With a single swing, he chopped off the creature's stingered tail. The monster dropped the man it was holding and spun around in circles, bleeding blue ichor everywhere. Most of it seemed to end up on Sparrow, who scampered away and tried to brush off the foreign juices.

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"And it's still not dead." Taylor could see a slight glow of spirit around the monster. Khali must have sensed it too, because she set her people to hewing it with swords, in the cephalothorax right behind the huge eye. Only once their swords had cleaved deep into the central nerve bundle and diced it into several parts, did the cursed monster finally die.

Khali took several minutes to check her people, heal them where necessary, and bring them back.

Taylor spoke into the link. "Mahzad, you're up. We should have a specimen for study, so I want that last one captured. Come up with a plan and let me know what you need."

"You're joking! I mean, Eldest Brother are you sure?"

"Quite sure. Take your time, we're having a pleasant rest up here."

Khali and her guard arrived flushed and happy. She had cleaned them up well enough that Sparrow wasn't blue anymore, but their clothes all needed mending. Her fragment's housing had broken under all the abuse, and one of their spears needed a new shaft. Their armor and shields had held up perfectly, but the chassis on their goggles was partially eaten away by digestive fluids that the monster spit at the front liners.

"They're so disgusting," complained Khali, "they spray, sting, and salivate."

"What would you say is the best way to kill them?"

"Massive damage, without a doubt," she said, "and let them bleed out. Cutting off limbs works well, too. If you have more scorpions, getting them to fight each other seems very effective."

"How would you describe their behavior?"

"You saw them, didn't you? Stupidly aggressive. I doubt we know everything yet. If Saluja's situation is like this, we should sit back and watch them for a few days. Maybe we'll learn something useful. Sister Hypha would love that job."

"You should start drafting your report while everything is fresh. I'm glad that you're okay." Taylor hadn't meant to say that last part. But there it was, hanging out in the open.

"Awwww. Don't tell me you were worried! We're Nexus disciples. It takes more than dark monster scorpion babies to scare us!"

"Hey," he called to her back as she moved to unpack writing tools from her appalon, "what makes you say they're babies?"

"The size of their claws, relative to their bodies." She held up her hands and made snapping motions with them. "Juvenile, at best!"

"I think your spear is right, little maul," Iraj added. "For this kind of scorpion, the claws grow very large for their bodies. But only when they reach mating age."

Mahzad's voice was suddenly in his ear. "Eldest brother, we have a scorpion in a pit. What now?"

"Already?"

"They are very aggressive."

"Make sure it can't dig itself out. These might be the burrowing kind."

"Oh. Oh crap. I'll get back to you!"