Looking somewhat intimidated by the group Naki climbs down. "If you want it dead that bad just drop the vial in Tue boiling water. That's how I killed the last one." The superior smugness enters his tone again as he glares somewhat annoyed. He eyes the sample longingly but makes no move to interfere.
"Yeah! Then it splattered when poked and you ended up with a spider's rear end! Let's do it a second time; what could possibly go wrong?"
Adrien again slaps his hand against his mouth, horrified about the cruel sarcasm he just blurted out.
"I'm sorry! I wasn't thinking and it just came out!" He stumbles over himself apologetically.
Jazzai moved over to Adrien and pulled him into a big hug, just holding him there. "Adrien, relax."
Pulling away she smiled at him and he could smell the hit of alcohol. "Now, let us destroy this box before any more time passes. Sir Kane, can you do that. This is transmitting a message of where it is and it has been acknowledged. That means if they chose they are coming here. This town will be in danger. I say we take this out of town and get rid of it. This gave us no time to get supplies but we should see what we can do about this."
It starts as a mere increase in static electricity. Faint hairs on arms and legs standing up gently and maybe a slight scent of ozone in the air. Then a dissonant whine, low at first, begins to build. The air quickly becomes charged with energy and tiny dust particles ignite, flare, and dissipate. The noise reaches a crescendo, becoming just short of painful, and the entire manor rumbles and shakes.
In a spherical burst of crackling energy, tables, chairs, and bubbling experiments are disintegrated where they once stood in the center of the room. As the discharging energy vanishes, three figures stand in the smoking spot.
The two figures on either side of the center one are unclothed, hunched and have long muscled limbs ending in clawed hands. Their faces are feral with distended jaws hanging open showing a mouth full of familiar fangs. Furthermore, their eyes are similarly recognizable, alien and soulless.
The center figure is robed and hooded, shrouding its features. It is holding aloft a fruit-sized metal sphere with several lights blinking in odd patterns. In the silence after the release of energy, you can hear a regular clink of glass and metal from beneath the robes. The hooded figure turns its head about to appraise each one of you as it lowers its device.
Kane didn't hesitate. He could feel the wrongness of those that came even before they arrived. He burst forward to meet the incoming threat, wings unfurling wide from beneath his Cassock to block out the view of his allies behind him. His polearm thrust forward, crackling with purple light. The might of his goddess was with him.
Naki takes a swig from an odd green flask on his hip. The effects are immediate and obvious. His form becomes sleeker and more chitinous. Some of the arrogance leaves his eyes to be replaced with what can only be described as some madness.
"M-more of those things?" Adrien hesitates for a moment, stepping back cautiously.
Suddenly, his wings flare out as the markings on his body give a glowing pusle. He chuckles under his breath and smirks.
"We can take 'em." Peacock nods, looking at his allies.
His wings begin buzzing, bringing him just off the ground as they flutter like a hummingbird's. Adrien brings two fingers to his mouth, and begins whistling a strange noise, not unlike that of a mourning dove; peaceful, gentle, and relaxing...
The round before she would have dropped the box and would have frozen for the moment hearing the familiar clink of glass and metal.
Her hair stood on end as she growled as she felt the familiar sensation filter through her. Hearing Kane strike she was surprise. Fear and a strange thrill came through her. She moved into a guard stance next to Adrien and if anyone came close she would strike at them her first reaction still to bite despite the claws.
Jazzai's bite falls short -- what would have been a devastating wound ends up being nothing because she misjudged the creature's stance. It swipes once at her in retaliation with its claws.
While the first claw just misses Jazzai, the second drives deep into her gut, twists, and withdraws dripping in blood.
The other drops to all fours and sprints across the room and attacks Naki with its bite.
It clamps down hard on Naki's new chitinous abdomen. With the bite, it seems to slurp down eagerly the blood and fluids welling up. The Collector also tries to upend the mutant, but is unable to knock him down because of his enhanced stability with all those extra legs.
Seeing Kane preparing for a charge, the robed figure sends a rapid staccato of multihued light from deep within the cowl, striking the paladin's face.
Despite the confusing cascade of lights, Kane's focus is solid, and he charges, driving his polearm into the robed figure, the holy power of Pharasma augmenting his damage. The robed figure reels, but remains standing.
Wild eyes flashing in rage the Alchemist twists, and sinks his own teeth into his attacker.
After completing his spell, Peacock draws his bow, judging best to have at least his weapon on hand.
The wolf....animal, beast inside her howled in pain and anger and she struck out using her own bite and new claws on the one who struck her so.
Peacock's soporific spell cascades around the hooded figure and its minion. While the leader seems entirely unaffected, the one threatening Naki drops into a fitful sleep.
Meanwhile, Jazzai taps into a feral savagery that overmatches her enemy, and she rips out its throat with her teeth, and follows up with a claw attack that leaves its lifeblood pouring out onto the floor. Just as she'd sensed with the Collectors they'd faced in the grove, whatever special essence might have existed has been used up in these, and there is nothing satisfying in its blood.
The hooded figure steps forward to close with Kane as it reaches out a hand that is covered with strange wires that seem to go directly into its skin. The wires course with energy, and the hooded figure tries to drive them against Kane's body to discharge whatever strange energy it is pulsing with. However, its hand is repulsed by the holy nimbus surrounding the accursed paladin, though the energy remains potent.
Naki skitters over the fallen foe and lunges at the last figure, hissing, it almost sounds like he's trying to form words but the spittle flying from his fangs is foaming in his madness.
Naki's mouth opens unnaturally wide and spiderlike fangs jut out, sinking deep into the hooded figure. It staggers in pain, but still stands.
Peacock takes a shaky aim at what seems to be the creatures' leader, wary of hitting an ally. In the end, his aim is way off, and the arrow winds up embedded in a wall of the estate.
Jazzai takes a 5ft step and attacks
The enemy easily evades Jazzai's attacks with such a practiced ease, it was as if it knew what she was going to do before she does it.
Kane flaps once with his wings, not really stepping or jumping, but rather simply pulling himself backwards a few feet to give himself the room he needed to employ his polearm.
Kane's attack is vicious and bypasses all the mysterious figure's defenses. However, it continues the fight, pressing forward and attempting to discharge the unnatural energies upon the paladin.
It presses its hand against Kane's stony flesh and he feels a sudden connection as not only the strange energy, but the wires themselves leap out and attach. The discordant energy spreads across Kane's form, and for a moment he feels a horrifying tearing at his divine connection. But his will and faith are strong and he shakes it off, both figuratively and literally as he pulls away from the wires unharmed.
That made him mad. He snarled like the beast he had become and Grabbed the collector.
As it turns out, the robed figures' disfigured hands double nicely as claws, so it does manage to swipe at Kane before he attempts the grapple.
Kane ducks easily under the attack, the enemy clearly not used to hand-to-hand combat, but it manages to avoid Kane's grasping arms.
Wary that his magic would end up hitting his allies as well as his enemies, Peacock lines up another arrow, but it too misses its target, planting itself into the floor.
"No!"
Naki chomps at the interloper, incensed that such a thing would invade HIS sanctum and necessitate the destruction of such precious samples!
But clearly having more trouble with the altered form, ends up looking more comical than dangerous.
Snarling at the creature the beast inside her sniffed the air and stepped forward striking, using the other's attacks to help mark where it was. As it move avoiding and trying to attack her ears focused on it. She may be blind but that clink of metal and glass was loud to her ears. The smell of metal and something ionized possibly.
Jazzai's claws manage to score superficial wounds and shreds the cloak, exposing what lies beneath the concealing fabric. Flesh, wires, clear vials half-filled with liquid, glowing glass lenses and metal components are stitched together in a horrifying amalgamation.
The figure turns to Jazzai, the remains of its hood still shrouding whatever it is using to see. It touches a node on its torso in a complex pattern while staying on the defensive.
Fortunately for Jazzai, it is unable to bring whatever device to life in its effort to not leave any openings to attack.
Kane lunged again, but continued to miss.
Seeing that his bow isn't doing him any good, and seeing Sir Kane trying to seize their foe, Peacock seizes the first hard object he can get his hands on, being a laboratory stool, and attempts to strike the foe from behind, to distract it and give the paladin a better shot at his target.
He just barely connects, dealing no real damage, but hopefully distracting the foe.
Naki throws himself into the creature, trying to bite it again.
But the madness is simply too much for him to land a blow.
The being steps away from most of its assailants. It then sends a beam of coruscating lights from its hooded face directly into Naki's eyes.
Naki shakes it off with a couple of blinks, and is unaffected.
Noting that the creature isn't paying attention to him at all, Peacock decides to try again, swinging with the stool once more to help Sir Kane. This time, however, he doesn't managed a useful swing.
Kane tries again to grapple, opening himself up to attack for a moment.
Kane again easily evades the clumsy claw, but is unable to grasp the wily enemy.
The thing again turns its gaze against Kane, striking him in a riot of pulsing lights.
He effortlessly withstands the attack and continues fighting.
This time, despite the creature's attack which scores deep lines in Kane's tough hide drawing blood, the paladin wraps his arms around in a huge bear hug.
Jazzai hears the strike upon Kane and would move closer to Kane taking a 5 ft step and heals him using her magic.
Seeing the foe held Naki hisses and tries to bite it again
Peacock hesitates, finding little use for what magic he knows at the time. He decides to keep the foe distracted for Kane's benefit.
After Naki takes another sizable bite out of the thrashing figure in Kane's arms, its demeanor changes. Rather than coldly striking out at the group, it now seems to move more urgently.
Despite Peacock's assistance in helping Kane hold on, the writhing figure slips from the hold. It raises up the metallic orb again that it was holding aloft when it first arrived.
As he sees the orb, which appears to be of significant importance, Peacock hovers off the floor and backs away from the creature. Now flashing a devilish grin, he utters a few magic words and thrusts an open palm towards the sphere.
Thick, slippery oil splashes from his hand and coats the orb, making it slippery beyond all logic.