Sunday Night Teaser

I was going to give a review and comment about X-COM 2, but I am just too damn busy this weekend to finish the game. ARG.

So instead, enjoy a little teaser from the Seeds of Ruin.

Disclaimer: this is very raw text and will change in some form.

Hullripper rose into the arena, black-shelled and enormous. Towering over Hummingblade like a giant, the monstrous crustacean’s scything arm was more than twice the length of her body. A smaller pincer and six legs rounded out its arsenal. This beasts eye stalks were closer to the body and better protected than those that Hummingblade had encountered. Spines like small blades lined Hullrippers back and sides, and the Gladiatrix could see few obvious weak-spots on its body.

Visibly it was a formidable foe, but it was what she could not see that concerned Hummingblade. Scythclaws were feared because of their agility and speed as much as the weapon that gave them their name. Hullripper would lack those qualities, trading speed for size. A swift fighter against a lumbering monstrosity might make for a decent fight in some minor league arena, but not here. The creature must have some mutation or alchemically induced power that would make this fight a true spectacle.

After scanning the crowd, Hullrippers stalks fixed on her, its mandibles working excitedly.

The trumpets sounded, and the chains dropped. Hummingblade wasted no time in casting a mind blast spell. She half expected the beast to resist her magic, as was often the case with more formidable beasts. Instead the spell overcame Hullripper’s resistance. The damage was minimal, but she found it reassuring that her spells could harm the beast. If nothing else, her spells could wear it down.

Hullripper scuttled toward her. Hummingblade trotted toward the beast, watchful. She thought that she might be able to do some damage from beneath the beast, but first she had to deal with the claw. She darted closer, provoking an attack, Hullripper raised its massive claw and swung.

The attack was well aimed, skillful for such a brute, but the Gladiatrix had little trouble dodging the attack. As the blade gouged the sand, Hummingblade shot underneath of the beast, swinging Nib at the softer plates of the joints where its legs met the main shell. The keen blade bit through where the shell was soft and blood splashed down. Before she could attack again, however, Hullripper slammed its bulk down. She skipped out from underneath, swaying aside as the smaller pincer claw snapped at her, then running around the beast as it stood up once more.

The crowd cheered at the sight of blood on the sand.