I'm stuck here. Should they fight, or should they take flight? The monster is hard (in my head), and they have a different goal that they need to fulfill. Thus, my reason says that they should avoid conflict, but my author-voice says that they should fight and create some action in my novel. What do you think? --- Excerpt from the chapter. WIP, so there may be some grammar/spelling issues --- “W-wait! Monster below us!” Lucian shrieked in panic. Sudden chaos ensued. A massive fire column exploded from below, like a red dragon rising out of the ground. The explosion caused devastation with rocks and clouds of dust flying everywhere. Lucian’s ears whirred with a ringing sound drowning everything around him. As Lucian stood back up, he could hear the muffled shouting coming over the ringing tinnitus, but he couldn’t identify who or where they were shouting from due to the dust that obscured his vision. Suddenly, he saw a figure hurdling towards him. Almost instinctively, Lucian reached for his sword and unsheathed it, readying it in front of him. The figure, however, effortless sidestepped his attempts, and with a yank, it grabbed his collar a dragged him backward out of the smoke. Confused, Lucian looked back up at the figure. It was Emerick. Dust covered his face, clothes, and hair that made him look like a flour powdered gray man. The dust cloud spread slowly through the derelict street, and moments later, dust-covered Alestair and Éisgamh also ran out of the dust cloud, joining the pair outside as they stood on guard. The whirring in Lucian’s eyes had begun to subside, so he could feebly hear Alestair ask, “Lacertinis?” Emerick nodded as he stared with vigilance at the dust cloud. “Lacertinis?” Lucian repeated with an enquiring look at Alestair. “Yea, nasty sons of bitches. Think of your normal lizard, now imagine six legs, two pairs of eyes, and it’s three meters long and one meter tall. Spews fire from below ground, hoping to trap unsuspecting prey when they fall from the cave-in. Luckily, it’s slow, so if we bait it up, then we can flank it from behind while avoiding its fire breath.” Éisgamh had joined Alestair and made a defensive line in front of the dust cloud that was beginning to disperse. Emerick moved back with Lucian and knocked an arrow into his bow as he waited with bated breath.
Let your character decide. In the past, has he been hotheaded? Even keel? What developments might make him foolhardy? Is he drunk? On drugs?
If you can bombard that shit from the sky till death then why not? Never reject a chance to gain easy EXP.
It depends on your characters personality. Are they type who face their problems head on? They'd probably fight. Are they awkward and an introvert, probably flight. You could also mix both of them, your character could injure the monster and then run away.
*Ba dum tss* The part that you're imagining, of course. . . . . . No, the armor you troll. It's not that kind of a novel!
If beating the monster isn't adding to the plot or distracts from it I'd say flight. Besides if your character is weak it's unnatural for them to suddenly get op and beat a monster that's obviously (if it is) too strong. Keeping to the narrative story that you created is more important and they can fight plenty of monsters later.
From another perspective, my question is still valid. Which part is hard and which part is soft. Them be weak spots! The underbelly is soft and velvety on some animals... GUT IT LIKE A FISH!
Has your character killed other monsters successfully beforehand? Or have you made him lose to or avoided the monsters until this point? If he hasn't killed them, then it's pretty unlikely that he would be able to take something like that and even if he has, you've mentioned that he's weak. Analyze the situation, if you were weak and you came arcossed the monster that you've made him encounter, would you think you could kill It?
Is your mc the leader? Is he logical or emotional? Are there any character deaths? Go accordingly for what you believe is important for character development and the development of the plot?
Do what a normal person do, flight, monster can chase them and in a way they can have to fight, so BOTH
Good suggestions. The mercenary captain would definitely run, as the commotion would have attracted other monsters. In a place, surrounded by monsters, the worst thing would be to engage in a drawn-out conflict. True. Like I said in a previous post. MC is weak as shit. He got picked up by these mercenaries, and now he's basically a tag along. I'll add it to my notebook of monsters; underbellies are weak spots Maybe MC can come back and kill it one day! MC couldn't kill it, but the mercenary team could. It doesn't add to the plot if they kill it, however, the fact that he (MC, Lucian), discovered it before anyone else, drives the plot mechanism, where the mercenary team begins to question; "Who the hell did they pick up as a tag-along?"
Thanks for all the suggestions. I've made them run. No point in fighting. Word count is limited, and it's better to drive the plot forward. Oh, and on a side note, I'm looking for beta readers for the first couple of chapters, if anyone should be interested?
Fight + Flight for MC's character development, I think. Hmmm, make it so that it's impossible for them to defeat the monster so the only option is to escape, yet even escaping will not exactly leave them unscathed. MC will realize just how weak he is, that he could have died. Make him remember the terror of facing a really strong opponent as well as the possibility of him dying when facing one. Maybe MC will have to face this monster again in the future, and defeat it alone to show to himself how much he has gotten stronger or something.