Click to view original image source
Vargul Ashnazai, the necromancer featured in the early Nightrunner books, would kick a Predator’s ass. He’s a weasel and a sycophant to Duke Mardus, his liege, but that would only work in his favor. He would hang back and let Mardus and his fierce Plenimaran marines take the brunt of the attack, thus luring the Predator into range. All he would need is a single glowing green drop of a Predator’s blood to create a charm that would allow him to see exactly where the creature is, camouflaged or not. (“If it bleeds, we can kill it!”) Once that was established, he would reanimate the bodies of the massacred (headless, spineless, no doubt) marines by summoning his shadow demons, the dra’gorgos. He would use these animated corpses to distract the Predator, then send in more, disembodied dra’gorgos to finish the critter off. Since the dra’gorgos have no body to wound, they would make quick work of the fleshy monster. Piece of cake. Actually, if possible, Ashnazai would probably prefer to capture the Predator and torture it to death. More fun that way. Yeah.
–Lynn Flewelling, October 27, 2010
LYNN FLEWELLING is the author of eight novels. She received is a graduate of the University of Maine at Presque Isle, where she majored in English and minored in History. Since then, she has studied literature, veterinary medicine, and ancient Greek, and has worked as a variety of jobs, including necropsy technician, house painter, and freelance journalist–plus has taught a variety of workshops on creativity and fiction writing.
You can follow her on LiveJournal, Twitter, and Facebook. You can also check out her web-site, http://www.sff.net/people/lynn.flewelling/
I agree that, on such terms (Vargul having the cannon-fodder backup of Mardus and the plenimaran soldiers), the necromancer would win by overkill… but the premise of the challenge is that both villains are caged ALONE.
That said, without anyone to act as a shield for him, Vargul would need a big strike of luck to survive (or the cage to be conveniently placed on a cementery, or to have brought a backpack full of necromancing supplies, including a corpse or two XD). Otherwise, he would end up running like any other epic fantasy wizard who sees an orc arround the corner and has no magic left to stop it. Except this orc is instead a skilled hunter from the space, with a brain that works and a nice collection of weapons. And the wizard is a necromancer, whose line of work calls for very specific ingredients to be able to cast anything useful.
The only way out of the conflict Vargul would have left then is trying to talk himself out and manage to offer a better hunting target to the Predator. With Predator being the proud hunter he is and Vargul offering so little challenge in this conditions, it could work… maybe…
That said, allow me to keep the image of Vargul running in circles the wizard way (holding his dark robe’s hem up pathetically and nicely showing his legs) with a psycho alien waving some nasty weapon just a step behind…
*laughts madly*
(PS: I don’t remember if Vargul wore robes, but the image is hilarious this way… anyways, time to re-read my copy of Stalking Darkness again
)
Couldn’t Vargul use a bit of his own blood to create something nasty? He does have power, as a wizard, and even a necromancer must learn some basic spells before he gets into the advanced stuff like raising the dead. I wouldn’t put it past him to have a few tricks up his sleeve (and pockets, etc.!) A few good strong fire spells could boil him from the inside out!