“No no no NO! You are supposed to be an Ar’Tuel!†It’s rage was distorting the spider-thing’s voice even more than it had been before, and just listening to the thing speak was making my head throb in pain. “You reek of their light! It clings to you!†That… I narrowed my eyes. That breath attack had been meant to make an Ar’Tuel weak then? Suffer, or possibly easy prey? Well - it seemed my game was up, this thing now realized that I wasn't what it sought.
“ I HUNGER. I will feed on your dregs then find the Ar’Tuel that has touched you so, and consume them!†The thing launched itself at me then, springing from the beams that it had been perched on. It was fast - faster than it had been up to this point. I had only a heartbeat or two before it hit me - too fast, this time, too fast for me to react to it was on me -
I shifted. Between one heartbeat and the next, as it shot through the air towards me, my body changed. It alteration started at my heart, rushing out through my body carried by my blood. My skin turned lighter, no longer coal black but a dusky gray.
The spider-abomination crashed into me, sending me sprawling. I bounced off the ground with a painful, dull ‘whump’. One of the tendril arms shot at me, trying to stab my stomach. I didn't have the reflexes to avoid the attack, not now changed like I was. But what I did have was defence.
The stinger slammed into my skin. Pain blossomed across my gut, a throbbing ache. But - the stinger bounced off, skittered across my skin, tearing a hole in my clothes. Bared to the night air and the light of the moon, my stomach was a pebbly gray. The monster stared down at me in confusion, it's hideous face twisted as it tried to understand what it had failed to stab me. I snarled, and punched.
The spider reared back, letting out a twisted, shrieking cry as a purplish ichor flew from its mouth. My fist had crumpled in its chin and shattered teeth. I rise back to my feet, wincing as the ache in my stomach told me that even with my stone skin, I would be bruising. I flipped myself up to my feet, landing heavily. My feet crunched into the soil below before I kicked my dropped weapon back up into my hand. It must have flown when I was knocked to the ground, but with the spider recovering I had a chance to breathe.
Breathing heavily, blood dripping from its face, the abomination snarled at me. I snarled back, letting the stone recede from my skin slowly. While the added defense was useful, what I really needed was the speed and reflexes to hit this thing. I couldn’t rely on letting myself get hurt to give me openings to hurt it back. I let the Saw-Spear swing back to its locked position, and readied myself as the abomination snarled at me again. It seemed that its anger and fury were robbing it of its ability to speak.
