Shadanigans.

     He rotated a hand over his head, just to help him concentrate. The dangerous liquid stream he disliked using near other people began flowing around his head as he stepped further from Oolah. He enlarged the shield he'd been blocking the darts with, so it could continue to protect his companions without so much attention and effort. From behind him Oolah shouted, "Fire!!" So that's what did the trick. He didn't have any, but if only he could keep these things at bay, he knew Oolah had plenty of fire for them. Still, a dose of negative energy poisoning might do the trick as well. Forming the tip into a hard spear he hurled it into the wheel. For a second it faltered, then the black ichor sort of sank into it. The whole thing grew darker, the spikes growing thinner and more sinister. Van barely had the time to erect another shield blocking it and shoving it back. Then as an after thought began extending the sides. Just as he turned the sides inward to entrap it, it lept back, humanoid shaped, once more. 

     "Well," he thought, "That just made things worse." With a glance he shot several hundred darts out of the shield, taking the finger flinger out for a while. Then he produced the glowing ebon blade and charged the one he'd been fighting. It charged back. all the black collected into it's hands, then formed into a jagged mockery of Vans sword, similar to some of his early attempts. 

     "Fire!!" Oolah shouted, hoping Van would figure something out. Due to her overly aggressive starting moves, she was almost out of energy. She wouldn't be able to make large explosions anymore, which had been the only way she'd managed to actually hit this thing. However, she just had to keep it busy until Van was finished with his and could help. Before it could recover she acted quickly. Charging a handful for a small incendiary effect, she loaded three into the sling and flung them out spreading them equally, one behind it and one to either side. With so much dust and pieces of timber, all three went off, starting their respective fires. That, at least, might hamper it's movement enough to improve her odds of hitting. She knew she could only charge a couple more handfuls of sling stones, so had to pick her shots carefully. She was correct, however in it's preference to avoid the flames. Most of her shots were defensive, breaking it's attempt to charge her, and small fires were starting between the two. She even managed to land a few hits, making it smaller.

     Van clashed with the creature, their swords making sounds like rams when they slammed together, or like whispering granite when sliding across one another. Van managed to maneuver to the side of it, keeping finger flinger in view, just incase it tried to attack the others. It didn't. Rather then uselessly trying to pierce through the giant shield, it turned its attention purely back to Van, and rather then just fire as many as it could hoping one would hit, fired strategically. This made things even harder for Van, already suffering shallow cuts. 

      Van was outclassed, physically speaking. Not only was it stronger and faster, but was able to manipulate its body to move away from attacks that would have otherwise hit. The first of the finger darts almost hit him, and after that he tried his best to keep his immediate opponent in between. To his dismay, when a cluster of darts occasionally did hit his dueling partner, it absorbed them and seemed to get stronger. His only one comfort was this. It was doing everything it could to dodge his attacks despite being practically immune to them. What was different?

     Trying to figure it out, fighting this thing with all his skill and barely able to avoid killing attacks, he chanced a glance to see how Oolah was doing. Her hands were on her knees and her breathing was labored. Her faceless opponent stood watching her. wait, did he see blood? She made a quick move, and he saw a bloody dart hit the ground, and she took a knee. Stepping forward and taking a gash to his side, Van smashed the hilt into its midsection, which smoked and sizzled. As it stumbled backwards, he raised a hollow tube beneath it, sealing the ends and trapping it. Without hesitation he threw his sword. It arced across the battlefield, over 50 feet, slightly swerving in midair to impale Oolahs fire trapped opponent from neck to thigh. As it sizzled and burned from the light emitting blade, he slammed the giant shield, still hovering uselessly in the air, into the Finger flinger, wrapping it around it and sealing the ends. He cast light on them all, and unholy wailing came from within. As for the last one, still impaled and trying to extricate itself from the sword, Van cast light on it, turning it to a pile of sludge.

      He rushed to Oolahs side, helping her sit, propped up by a tree. She said, "poison.", then, "anti...spider..." He ran to the Erlokas and retrieved the med pack, Opening it and readying it for her use. Oolah injected antivenom into her stomach muscle, then cleaned and bandaged the wound. She looked to Van who was white and terrified. She smiled weakly, "You're not going to get rid of me that easy." With the wound cleaned and bandaged, and some antivenom injected to start treatment, she finished it off by an intravenous injection. "I'm going to sleep... make me comfortable, ok? ....and food ready." She closed her eyes and fell into a deathlike unconsciousness.

     Van set up the camp, trying to make her sleeping surface extra comfortable. Maffy and Coffy sensing there was something wrong took protective positions laying on either side of the tent. Van did the best he could, making a sort of meat and mushroom soup with some assorted vegetables Oolah had gathered and had previously used herself. Then he stowed spikenuts around the campfire. Oolah had described how to prepare them.