Shadow Hijinx

     Looking, Oolah still didn't see anything, and the Erlokas didn't seem to know where to place their Ire, either. "It's not surprising," Explained Van, It's still far, and it's something dark in A shadowy glade.

     Making a sweeping 'get behind me' gesture with his off hand, and summoning the black liquid fire with the other, he prepared for action, then stopped. "What if it's not an enemy?" He said. "I'd be the bad guy. Maybe I should call out to it. It's humanoid, by the way."

     "Maybe we could take a closer look," suggested Oolah, quietly.

     "Well..." considered Van, "If it looks like we're sneaking up on it, It'll definitely feel threatened, we'd totally be getting off on the wrong foot."

     "I don't think it's friendly," Said Oolah, doubtful, "Look how the Arlokas are reacting." 

     "I say we call out to it, and walk slowly up in a kind of friendly way." Van concluded.

     "What if it attacks us by surprise, all sudden like?" Asked Oolah.

     "Well then," said Van, I'll just use my all time favorite, water repellent, completely original,  spinny shadowed slicerizers, Patent pending."

     "I don't understand what you just said." Oolah complained. Van held out a finger as though he were about to explain something, then realized they were being attacked from a completely different direction! He put up a hard shield and blocked it.

     "Let'er rip," said Van to Oolah, summoning multiple shields to defend against the attacks of familiar black darts as they came raining in. Glancing down at them, he noticed they had venom dripping off of them, and weren't disappearing. He continued blocking attacks, but they slowed as Oolah laid waste to the surrounding forest. Tree falling in wrong direction? NP, she was charging multiple bullets and could rapidfire whenever she had too. She could turn a tree into sawdust before it hit the ground. She started at medium range, then worked her way outward in a sort of alternating non-pattern.

     There were less attacks, but with all the dust and smoke filling the area the few that came were a challenge to spot in time. As a positive side effect, once all the aerial debris cleared, the area should be much better lit. "I think I saw something!" called Oolah over the din.

     "The one I saw was a black or dark gray humanoid!" called Van.

     "You already said!" answered Oolah. shortly the slowing attacks stopped completely. "Think we got them all?" she asked, everything settling. The only trees left were those in the 'close' range she didn't target.

     "I don't know how many they started with," answered Van, "but I'm seeing 3." A better look at them revealed their appearances. They looked very similar to Vans negative energy, only maybe a tiny bit lighter.

     "I see 4." whispered oolah, and a second later the base of a close range tree exploded sending the rest straight up. It landed and fell away. Van generated a spinning blade and went after two that weren't too far apart from each other. He was almost stunned into inaction, when the first moved it's midsection, and only its midsection, out of the way, while the next, cartoon like hiked up its bottom half to allow the blade to pass between the legs. But with a thought the blade changed course, tearing into it's back, sending black ichor all over as it came out its front. The third Van had spotted held it's hands out vertically and shot it's fingers out, as venom dripping darts, regrowing them instantly. Van blocked them with another shield reflexively, as his first target charged him. Oolah was chasing the fourth with explosions, managing to drive it further away. Van began preparing to move the shield when he spotted more darts and kept it blocking the spray of darts from that direction. Meanwhile, he brought a giant lumbermill sized saw blade coming up from the ground right in front of the one that was charging in, cutting it clean in half. He turned his attention to the finger shooter, who was now half its size.

     Van shouted to Oolah, who was facing the fourth one. "They get smaller when they shoot the darts!"

     Oolah just nodded at first, intent on her foe, but still letting the new information sink it. A moment later, she yelled back, "Double check if you've killed any!"

     Looking back at the first one he had supposedly killed, it was back up and, and had somehow gotten bigger, while the one he'd cut in half was quickly drawing back together, already getting up. He had to think while fighting, and right now he wanted distance between him and it. He made a hard coffin to catch it before it could get completely up, and hurled it into another. Looking around he noted the finger shooter was eating pieces of wood and leaves, and was growing its size back. Van wondered how big they could get while summoning another black coffin to trap it. If he couldn't kill them outright, he would trap them until he could figure out how. However it dodged the coffin, which was too big and unwieldy to manipulate it like his blades and darts. It had thick sides and lid. the creature hid partially behind a tree trunk and started spraying Vans area with poison darts, which Van expertly defended with some difficulty. It was easy when they all targeted the same person, but these had to block Oolah and both of the Erlokas. Oolah had had the presence of mind to command the erlokas to cover, and they were in a crater laying down.

      Meanwhile, Oolahs sling bullets had been narrowly missing, small explosions blowing sections of it off.  Once a leg got taken out, and almost before it landed, another leg was shooting out, resulting in a smaller enemy. It made it to cover and as Oolah destroyed that cover, it looked up, momentarily surprised, from eating wood and leaves. A bullet had already been launched, and, hitting it square on the forehead, blew it apart. Almost comically, dozens of tiny shadow men ran for cover, some bumping into each other, others merging together on the way, making slightly larger shadow men. However, she noted, some parts of it still lay there, inert, just as most of the body parts blown off had simply lay there, singed and smoking. That's when it hit her. Fire!

     Van was still blocking darts, as the darter had grown himself an extra arm to shovel debris in its mouth while still shooting. Checking on the two others, one was safely sealed in the coffin which shook violently, while other was turning itself into a living wheel and began rolling toward him to attack, spikes starting to sprout from it.