Furrae Chronicles: Webs of Destiny (IC) [M] {2}

[Gabi]

Gabi was surprised by Jakob's gesture. She hadn't been able to see what he did when they buried corpses before, and she hadn't expected him to be religious. Even if it was not her religion, the thought of him having faith in something bigger than himself seemed to bring him a bit closer. But that thought lasted only for a moment. There was something much more important and worthy of concern.

Gabi didn't know any better than the others whether the guards' deaths were connected to Gareeku's kidnapping, or even the other kidnappings they were investigating. She feared the group might have got into something too big for them to handle. She examined the bodies, but couldn't find any signs of who the murderer had been. There was a smell, but it didn't match anyone she could remember.

She turned to the group, hoping to find reassurance and, if possible, some ideas.

"What do we do now?"

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Once assured that she had found Ignatz, and not just anyone the ram demon might have offended, Mel reverted to her normal disguise of a wingless snow leopard. "No trouble. But the young man who gave me the invitation to this party was a bit abrupt. I had to give him a lesson in manners. How was your afternoon?"

[Aisha deCabre]

Aisha had been silent on the ride to Pathrim as well, not even engaging in what little conversation there was, and instead peering through the window at the changing scenery.  She watched the daylight start, and the sun rise well into the sky by the time they made it to the port city.

Walking through it, the panthress was kept in slight awe by the appearance and size of the place, though she ignored the looks that the group was given for the vehicle they had arrived in and the overall tension following them.  Frustration rose and fell at intervals during the day; rising when no person could match Gareeku's description, and falling when they were led down to the right path.

Coming to the large mansion however, Aisha wasn't too surprised when Blaze's efforts to ask the guards about the wolf were shoved away.  Her ears were pinned to her head, and she said nothing until the group crossed into the back alley.  The panthress had pulled the cowl over her head, just in case they might have been seen.

Observing the guards there, however, the look on the the hunter's face was one of only slight disgust, for she was used to death...just not in such a way that it was presented here.  "Descansan en paz..." she muttered.  Watching the others give their condolences or observation at least, their determination hadn't been halted much from this turn of events, but perhaps only strengthened.

Aisha was one to see it that way.  Glancing at Gabi, she replied, "I'd go with Blaze's idea."  She had a hunter's smirk.  "We ended up here, and so we might as well take the back door."

[Stygian]

"Eventful, at the very least," Ignatz chuckled back. "But the people he sent to attend on me were hardly schooled well. Sure, they danced smoothly and silently as anyone. But they could have used a few more hours with a good hexmaster." The cat grinned and opened the door into the main corridor, making a bit of a bow and admitting Mel through.
   "After you, my lady. Even if you don't quite look the occasion," he smiled.
   Once they moved out into the main corridor it was a quite simple task of 'incapacitating' some of the wandering guards of the place and stealing their clothes and faces, and then beginning to search. However, to Mel's confusion, Ignatz did not head for the entrance to the main part of the mansion first.
   "There's a lot to win here. And a lot for him to lose. Just trust me," he commented, as he slid off further down the corridor, flexing his fingers a bit.
   It didn't take much time to find the main basement, nor the provisoric cells that had been made from storage rooms there, locked and chained shut. Two guards were already posted there, but Mel's mind-invasive powers proved very convenient there in keeping those away as well, without the risk of killing anyone or drawing much attention. The only problem proved to be a more than competent mythos guard officer who had wisely warded himself against such intrusions, and who had to be dispatched by means of a swift breaking of the neck by Ignatz. Then, the feline propped up the blue-furred man in his chair, and slowly walked off to watch through the cells.
   "He's here," Ignatz finally said, placing his palm on an iron-armored and heavy wooden door, reinforced with some steel bars. "I can feel it." Then, he turned to Mel. "Get over here, please. I'll need you to act a bit," he said, starting to shapeshift...

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Mel couldn't figure out what might be kept in the storage levels of the mansion until she started seeing the guards and realized that the wolf hadn't been dispatched immediately. Well, fair was fair. The demon didn't want to pay for his prisoner he didn't deserve to keep one. She found he also economized on guards. Except for the guard captain they hardly had any mental resources. She snorted, probably the ram erased their minds every payday. Ignatz quickly separated out which door the wolf was behind and evidently had a plan to get him out.

[Gareeku]

From Ignatz's senses, the feline could most likely sense there were a number of guards on the other side of the door; two standing just behind it, and two more were patrolling the space beyond. Were they to open the door, they would see that the large room beyond was like a jail house; 5 cells on each side of the corridor in the middle with brick walls separating them, and the wolf was being held in the cell on the right at the other end of the corridor.

However, they would soon find themselves with other company. The group that Gareeku had been with was fast approaching their location; in fact, they were now practically at the other end of the corridor that Ignatz and Mel had just walked down. It was safe to say that they would shortly find themselves face to face with the wolf's allies and friends.

[Stygian]

There was a quick opening and slam of the door into the jailhouse, and a man's scream that was quickly silenced, followed by a hard crunch and the clatter of armor. The two guards on patrol turned and shouted out, and then ran over against that side of the big room, hefting their weapons. More than that, Gareeku couldn't see as he was chained up against a wall with his hands over his head against the back wall of the cell, and had a very sparse view of the place.
   "Get her!" one shouted as he sprinted. No weapons clatter or rummaging around was heard though, just a quick, sharp stabbing sound, and then the cry of one of the guards; "Oh g... Nnnggh!" followed by a hard thud.
   Then, the place fell silent, before running steps approached Gareeku's cell. And then, dashing into the place while sheathing her sword and quickly getting out some clinking keys on a chain, Aisha came into view.
   "Gracias Dios...! Just wait a second, amigo..." she said, looking at him worriedly before unlocking his cell and then turning the bars open, practically throwing herself at him and looking him in the eyes. "Are you hurt? Did they do something to you?" Her dark red eyes scanned him over, taking in the horrendous injuries to the wolf's form. His skin was covered in bruises, his nose reddened as if it had been broken, his ribs and stomach looked mangled, as did his legs, and one of his arms was positively broken. Carefully she took the keys and pressed against him, reaching up and unlocking the chains that held his wrists. Once the wolf was free of his fetters, she grabbed and hugged him tightly but cautiously, pulling him up and laying her head on his shoulder.
   "I thought I'd never see you again..." she said, almost tearing at the eyes. It was no lie.

[Paladin Sheppard]

Padding around the corner in a crouch, and into the room Eph spotted Mel. Bringing her bow up she called out to her. "Don't move! I don't want to hurt you but I will!"

Although her voice was of a nervous tone her hands were rocksteady. She waited for either Mel to make a move or the others to catch up.

[Mel Dragonkitty]

The ewe in the plain rust-colored maid's uniform had been coming out of an open cell when Eph's voice stopped her. "Who... who are you? Where are the guards? What did you do to the guards?" The sheep's ears waggled nervously, "If you don't leave right now I'll scream for the guards. There are guards everywhere."

Mel knew there weren't any guards left in shouting distance from the guard's minds she had tampered with, but she just wanted to distract the archer long enough for the man behind her to collect himself. A prisoner she had just set free, a turtle who had already been maddened enough that it hadn't even taken a mental suggestion to convince him to go on a destructive rampage through the mansion.  The distraction she intended for the demon-ram's guards would be handy for the wolf's rescuers. At least she assumed they were here for the wolf. She recognized this girl as one that she'd given directions to at the temple, although the girl would only remember a winged grey feline. When she heard the sound of lumbering footsteps behind her Mel made a quick move towards the next cell, leaving the turtle to charge at Eph.

[Tapewolf]

"Eph, wait..." Jakob trailed off as she took the corner.  Damn it, she's too impulsive... he thought to himself.

During the course of their enquiries as to Gareeku's whereabouts they had heard of someone found frozen to death, and given the local climate and weather that could only have meant a magical death.  And now that they had found several guards killed by some unconventional means, Jakob's didn't believe it was a coincidence.  To his mind there was a strong chance they were done by the same person or persons.

Long ago he'd seen someone killed by an ice mage, and the memory of it still made him squirm.  Their foes may have appeared to be inept housebreakers but they certainly knew how to kill people and they didn't seem to have much in the way of a conscience.  He suddenly felt very afraid for Ephrael.

He snapped back to the present as a demented cry and a rush of footsteps sounded from where the Tasmanian Devil had just gone.

[Thanks to Llearch for proof-reading ]

[Paladin Sheppard]

As the turtle ran at her Eph cringed. "STOP!" please stop she cried out to no avail. Switching targets she aimed at the turtle.

As soon as he saw the bow aimed at him the turtle had pulled his head in and charged at Ephrael. Seeing that that her shot wouldn't do any damage to him she placed her shot carefully.

Bowstring humming the arrow flew true, the head and shaft piercing the turtle's knee and casing him to trip.

Too close now, Eph realised that she had no chance to dodge. "EEEEEP!" Sounded back down the corridor as Eph draped over the shell of the turtle slid back around the corner.

[Stygian]

There came a yelp, and for a moment Aisha tensed with Gareeku in her grip. Then, she gingerly lifted him up and steadied him.
   "That would be the others. We have to get out of here soon..." she murmured, and then said in a reassuring tone. "Don't worry. Everyone came." For a second she seemed a bit distraught. Then, she looked him in the eyes intensely.
   "Listen, Gareeku... Why did they take you? We have to know. Who was it that wanted you here? Why?" she asked, holding him up and stroking his neck a bit while keeping his head steady and focusing hard on him. "Before we leave we have to know."
   It might have seemed strange, but if that commotion meant that someone was coming then they had no time.

[Tapewolf]

Ephrael and the turtle slid around the corner to where the others were approaching.  Jakob stared for a moment before a pair of wings burst out of the back of his trenchcoat, complete with tentacles.
"Quick, help me restrain the tortoise," he called and moved to wrap his tentacles around the demented reptile's struggling legs.

[Aisha deCabre]

She had entered the mansion alongside the others, following a not-so silent path down into its depths, having easily found the jailhouse.  Her boomerang had been drawn, and she was eager to sink the blade deep into the skin of anyone who would try to stop them.  Normally she would have abided by patience and stealth.  But this could have been a matter of life or death for their comrade.

If I ever see those beasts again, then it will be their heads, Aisha--the true Aisha--thought with a determined snarl, leaping down into the dark of the prison.  But it seemed already that some of the guards had either been taken care of, or there was a lapse in the watch.  The party was barely hindered, and she was thankful.

She shook her head in a sigh upon noticing Ephrael dashing ahead of the party, probably all the more eager to find a fight as well as to find the wolf.  But she came back around the corner soon enough, in a tangle with a crazed turtle.  By the look of the reptilian's demeanor, he looked to also be a prisoner.  The hell...? she wondered, coming up behind him as he was restrained before using the back of her fist to put a significant blow to his head, whence it reappeared.  Hopefully, she thought that it would slow him down some.

"I'm going ahead," she announced then, looking down the corner and hallway to where Eph and her attacker had just come from, only just noticing a blur of someone running.  At least she could tell the species from just that glance; a ewe.

She held the boomerang tight in her grip and stepped around, following after the figure with quick steps.  Anyone walking through the dungeon without a guard's uniform was certainly another kind of suspicious.  "You!  Halt!"

[Gareeku]

Slowly looking up as he heard the door to his cell being opened, Gareeku looked up with an almost drunken expression as he saw the form of what appeared to be Aisha enter the room. Grunting in pain as she lifted him up, the injured warrior listened as the pantheress asked him what had happened.
"Two of them...looking for the bounty on my head..." the wolf replied, his voice weak and quiet as he spoke. The beatings he had received at the hands of the guards earlier had certainly taken their toll. He hadn't been able to defend himself due to be chained up, and so had been forced to take the injuries fully. Using his good arm to rest slightly against the wall of the cell, the wolf looked back at isha with the same weak expression. "I think they wanted something from me...besides the money...but I have no idea what..."

It was then however, that the wolf heard another voice nearby, coming from down the corridor. The voice almost sounded like...Aisha's.
"What the hell..." Gareeku growled weakly, before turning to the Aisha next to him. "What is going on?"

[Stygian]

The Aisha by Gareeku's side tightened her grip just a bit, but her voice was pleading, with the right blend of fear, desperation, determination and passion that should have overcome the wolf's caution. Time was running short.
   "Listen, please... Gareeku... no tenemos el tiempo! We have to get out of here, but before we can, we have to know. What did they want from you?" she asked.
   There was something wrong though. Gareeku wasn't as perceptive to lies as he was to faint sounds or smells, but he thought he could sense a sort of... frustration in the panthress' voice. And added with the other voice and sounds behind the door... She tensed, he could feel. And why had they stopped? She sounded and felt like the Aisha he knew, yet somehow she seemed much stronger, and her smell was oddly... muted.

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Stopped just short of her goal Mel turned to face the feline while trying to calculate the odds that the weapon had a vorpal blade. She decided that her odds were better now than when the others managed to enter the cellblock. Mel dashed through the door and slammed it shut.

Inside the cell the bogus ewe looked at the counterfeit feline. "We have a bit of a traffic jam out there."

[Gareeku]

Not taking his eyes off of Aisha, who had now tightened her grip as she spoke, Gareeku's weary-looking eyes narrowed. He may have been severely injured, but he was no fool. Something was definitely wrong. The way Aisha's voice sounded so...frustrated...and the fact that he found her smell to be muted somewhat; he couldn't ignore it, and then there was the other he had heard. It was definitely Aisha's, that much was certain.

"I don't know what they wanted from me, but whatever they wanted, I don't have it. And now I am going to check out whatever the hell is going on." the wolf said with a tone of finality, releasing himself from the pantheress' grip as he limped towards the cell door. As mentioned before, Gareeku knew something was up, and he was determined to get to the bottom of it.

[Sunblink]

Around their entry into the mansion's lower levels, Keaton had segregated herself from the rest of the group, prefering to slink back into the shadows. The moment her foot passed through the darkness, the yellow of her body faded away into pitch black, her fur shifting to match the texture of the walls layered beneath the darkness. Properly camoflagued, the jackal proceeded to travel soundlessly through the halls, hoping that she would locate wherever the villains were keeping Gareeku before her body automatically returned to its former state and was ejected from its concealment.

Sure enough, following the enraged Aisha was the key. She led her right to the door, where a suspicious-looking ewe was stationed outside of it. Only the slightest bit of antagonizing sent the sheep scurrying into the cell, and with the door shut behind it. Making sure that Aisha wouldn't see her, Keaton steadily leapt from the shadows, her body returning to normal.

"Hey, wait a minute," Keaton said, tapping Aisha on the shoulder. "I'll take care of this."

With no permission, Keaton approached the door and examined it. It was securely slammed shut. A tap of the knuckles against its hide and a slight jostle of the door's handle confirmed it.

Well piss, that made things a little harder.

Or did it?

Surreptitiously glancing back and forth and disregarding Aisha for the moment, Keaton concentrated briefly, feeling her body twist and shape to fit her mind's whims. The flesh of her back extended through the hole provided in the back of her top, stretching and shaping until it resembled something akin to draconic, leathery wings; the same vivid yellow color as her fur, complete with identical spiraling, sable markings. Tentacles began to elongate from the tips of her wings' membrane, shaping into large, groping claws, similar to the ones which adorned her wings' joints. It took only a minimal effort for their razor-sharp nails to sink into the door's surface, perforating it like knife through butter.

It took a greater deal of effort to pull back, the hinges of the doors squealing and screaming in agony as they started to unravel from the wall. With a loud grunt, Keaton yanked the door right out of the frame in a flurry of splintered wood and mutilated metal, screws and bolts popping out of their holes and clattering noisly along the floor. In order not to garner any more attention than she already had, Keaton started to gingerly lower the thoroughly crushed door to the ground.

Halfway through it, she noticed who was in the cell: the sheep, a very bruised and battered Gareeku, and another Aisha.

"...what the hell?" Keaton asked, a look of utter befuddlement on her face as her gaze passed between the Aisha beside her and the Aisha within the cell.

~Keaton the Black Jackal

[Aisha deCabre]

"Dammit, I said halt!"  Aisha snarled after the fleeing sheep, running at full tilt to catch up with her.  Boomerang in her grip, she only tried to corner the ewe...not to hurt her, and so therefore she couldn't throw the boomerang...and who knew how many of the others weren't far behind, having heard her shouting.  But her efforts seemed to be for naught, the instant that her quarry slammed the heavy metal door to another cell.

Aisha kicked it hard in frustration, ignoring the pain that shot through her foot upon doing so.  Is there anything ELSE that can go wrong today?  She wondered, staring to the indent of the door.  Hearing the faint voices from within, she knew that it had to be Gareeku's cell.  She just knew.

The panthress jumped however upon hearing Keaton's voice, turning to the jackal with the same angered, frustrated expression that she had carried ever since the wolf was kidnapped.  There was going to be a stand, here and now, if there was anything that she or the others were to say about it.  Aisha nodded to the succubus and stepped out of her way, letting her to the reinforced door curiously.  "Be my guest."

Settling her temper down somewhat, Aisha watched as she observed the door, and then transformed her wings.  Focused as the panthress was, and no matter how many good friends of hers were 'Cubi, she still wouldn't get used to that.  She even backed up slightly as Keaton reduced the door to nothing, all too easily.  Nice that she's on our side, Aisha cringed, but held tightly to her goal.  No sooner than Keaton had stepped in, she did as well, pushing a little past to confront whomever was inside.

The huntress didn't expect this.

The ewe she had been chasing was standing within the cell, the other two individuals standing in front.  Her eyes fell first upon the doppelganger, expression more shocked and confused than anything.  A perfect mirror version of herself...shapeshifter, she immediately dictated.

Then her gaze quickly passed to Gareeku and the mess he had become, though he was trying hard to stand.  Her gaze softened, with worry and fear for what had happened.  Relief that they had found him, alive.  And now...

The true Aisha held her blade menacingly in front of her, blood-tinged eyes turning into venom as they fell upon the failed carbon copy.  She pointed the tip of her boomerang at it like a dagger, and her tail ring even glowed slightly.  Her voice was a dangerous hiss.

"Get.  Away.  From.  Him.  NOW."

[Stygian]

There was a moment's pause, an eyeblink of silence uninterrupted, and then suddenly Gareeku felt something grab him around the neck from behind. He was jerked back roughly, realizing from the texture and feeling that his head was locked in the elbow of the 'panthress' behind him, who swiftly proceeded to grab his left arm and bend it as she pressed him against her with a strength that was something wholly different from that of the real Aisha. She snarled over his shoulder, glaring at the cubi and the huntress and using the wolf for a shield.
   "Just keep still, and I won't hurt him," she murred as she met their stares. "The others too, Mel?" the fake Aisha asked, harrumphing and narrowing her eyes in comprehension as the ewe nodded silently even though her eyes never left the other feline and the jackal. "Well... that is unfortunate. But it doesn't exclude a peaceful exit. Now..." Slowly, a sinister smirk spread across the imposter's face, and her eyes locked with the real Aisha's. "Back up nice and slowly, and don't try anything drastic. The wolf is badly hurt as it is..." She was practically purring as she felt Gareeku's fierce but futile struggles against her grip. But she didn't take her focus off the pair at the door.
   "We don't want to have to kill you."

[Gareeku]

Not knowing what to think, Gareeku was about to hobble his way to the door to look out of the small hole in it, when the metal frame was suddenly wrenched free of it's hinges, and standing there was the jackal succubus he had met in the temple the night before, along with..."Aisha?"

Before he could say or do anything else, however, he was suddenly grabbed by the other Aisha. It was then that, hearing "her" talk, he finally knew; the Aisha who had first found him was not the real one; "she" was in fact a shapshifter. The situation then became even more apparent when the person now holding him hostage spoke to the ewe. Saying nothing, Gareeku growled angrily, wincing at the pain shooting up and down his injured arm as the imposter held it. Thinking of ways to try and remove himself from this predicament, the wolf focussed, before his arm that was being held was suddenly enveloped in a bright white flame; soul energy. Concentrating more, the wolf could feel the energy quickly building up within him arm, although it was taking more effort than normal due to his injured state. In a matter of seconds, the flame had increased in size dramatically...

[Aisha deCabre]

Aisha was frozen, her jaw clenched and her lip drawn in a harsh snarl as she kept her weapon hard-trained on the false panther.  However she was greatly tempted to lower it as the imposter grabbed Gareeku in a tight armlock.  In his state, she wouldn't have thought that he could fight back.

But the huntress didn't take a step back.  Instead she took one forward, the blade gleaming as hard as her eyes were in determination to free her comrade.  "You dare order us to...?"

She stopped speaking again, noticing a change in Gareeku's demeanor.  The imposter suddenly snarled and hissed as her arm seemed to start to burn black, and jerked, releasing Gareeku and spinning a bit in the process.  The smell of burned flesh, fur, and clothing permeated.

Aisha smirked.  She knew that the wolf wasn't completely helpless.  In the second that it took for the imposter to let go of Gareeku, her arm snapped and the boomerang lanced through the air, most likely catching her in the side of the head, or neck.  In the confined space, and with Aisha controlling its flight, it would have little chance at all of missing.

"Run!" she shouted, helping Gareeku back up as gently as she could while rushing, waiting for her weapon to return to her grip.  She hoped that Keaton was still there for backup.  It was hard to know as well what the "ewe" was capable of.

[Stygian]

The imposter was quick, but against Aisha and that close, there really was nothing she could do. She stretched her right arm out again, but then the boomerang took her in the neck, slicing through it and wedging itself with a stabbing sound. She let out a wet gurgle, and then fell to the side, her legs tumbling under her and her torso following, still staring at the panthress as she did.
   Another pause, as the ewe backed up and the doppelganger fell still. Her crimson eyes and her surprised face frozen, she lay like that, while blood so deep red that it was black flowed from the part-sealed wound. The sight was quite disturbing, especially with the real panthress in the room.

   With the fake down and just the afraid sheep to go, who was being intensely watched by Keaton, there was no danger. Gareeku was obviously capable of moving well enough despite his injuries, and the situation was still again. Aisha tried recalling her boomerang, but with it stuck through the others' throat it didn't do much more than twitch. So she stepped over and grabbed it, placing a foot on the shapeshifter's chest and tugging. It didn't occur to her until the last second; don't shapeshifters return to their normal form when killed?
   She was heaved through the air and hit the wall hard, as the shape under her rose up with a bestial roar and stood. The fake panthress' eyes had darkened, specks that glowed fiercely within blackness glaring at the wolf and the jackal. Hunched over, the figure's form began to writhe, its skin crawling as it changed shape. In a brutal motion, its growing hand darted to its neck, and with a spatter of acrid blood it ripped the boomerang from it, dropping it to the floor.
   "I told you..." 'she' gurgled in an entirely different voice, the wound in 'her' neck beginning to seal itself up before their very eyes. The cloak around 'her' neck darkened, spreading down and out, and something moved under it. "...KEEP STILL!"
   A tentacle, thick as two of Gareeku's arms and made of some writhing, crawling dark material shot out and against Keaton with phenomenal speed from under the creature's black cloak, which began looking more and more leathery. Its face, now a whole lot more male than female and not very feline anymore, twisted as it roared out, black fangs contrasting against paling fur.

[Sunblink]

Keaton continued to glance between both the real and imposter Aisha until the false pantheress seized Gareeku and took him hostage, only to be dispatched swiftly and efficiently by a swing of Aisha's boomerang and a surge of flame from Gareeku. The bladed weapon sung through the air, sweeping 'round toward the distracted foe, until it planted itself right in the side of the imposter's neck. She, unsurprisingly, collapsed, crumpling in a heap on the ground.

"Ew," Keaton muttered, eyeing the boomerang jutting out of the other Aisha's neck. Unconsciously, her eyes traced the path of the gouts of blood that dribbled down the black fur of her neck. As inured to the shock of death as Keaton was, whenever she wasn't in one of her manic-bloodthirsty moments, she found the sight of blood rather disgusting. "Well, that takes care of that, I guess..."

Muttering something inaudible (likely a curse) under her breath, Keaton briefly looked over to the crumpled door still clutched in the claws of her wing-tentacles while Aisha went to retrieve her boomerang. Her mace was safely grasped in an idly stationed one--an easy feat, as its weightlessness was bestowed upon it with a number of magical charms. After inspecting her load, she returned her gaze to the ewe.

That was when Aisha went flying. Keaton let out a slight yelp of surprise as the pantheress sailed toward the wall, colliding with it with a force which made her inadvertently wince. Dropping the door with a loud thud on the ground, Keaton drew the tentacle holding her mace closer to her, snatching the weapon up from its claw just as soon as the doppelganger rose to its feet, the wound in its neck already beginning to seal itself off once it extricated the boomerang from it. Suddenly, the other Aisha--which was gradually becoming less and less like the pantheress and more and more like something nightmarish--conjured up a thick tendril and lanced it in Keaton's direction with electrifying speed.

Releasing another yelp, Keaton flung herself to the side with as much force as she could muster, the tentacle sailing past her. The clawed tendril slashed against her hip, tearing open a sizeable wound through the fabric of her jeans and belt. Keaton cursed loudly as the pain lanced up her body, her hand reaching to cover up the wound and to stop the blood flow. Unfortunately, she didn't think she would have any opportunities to cope with the injury--the imposter Aisha would probably attack again. Gathering up her mace, she climbed to her feet, at first unsteadily, but braced herself, ignoring the damp feeling of blood trickling down her hip.

Once more, Keaton's wings started to sink into her back, soon disappearing from sight. Less obstacles to deal with. Less parts to be injured.

This was going to get messy.

~Keaton the Black Jackal

[Gareeku]

No sooner had Gareeku summoned the soul energy into his arm had his captor let go. Attempting to get away from the fake Aisha, however, the impact of the injuries the wolf had suffered earlier quickly came back to make themselves known. Crying out slightly as shots of pain surged through his body, Gareeku buckled from his injuries and landed on the floor, coughing up blood as he hit the ground. Quietly cursing the fact that his injurires were preventing him from being any use, Gareeku rolled over and looked on at the ensuing battle, attempting to get up, gritting his teeth and the shots of pain surged through his body as he tried to get up.

[Stygian]

As expected, the creature lashed out again, two other tentacles and a number of other crawling things creeping out from under his cloak, now an ankle-length black coat. He moved to the side, turning his back against Gareeku and placing himself between him and Keaton on purpose, as the two barbed tentacles of darkness, each sporting a three-fingered hand-like appendage with horrendous claws, struck out against the cubi. As if he were motioning them forward, the creature, by the looks of his muzzle and his ears a male bat of some kind but a much larger one than one should have thought, clawed a large, long-fingered hand and swept it forward, and then under his coat. Metal glinted as he whipped out a huge revolver, his tentacles missing the dodging cubi but keeping her busy.
   "Pesky little...!" he snarled between his fangs, his black tongue wriggling around the words. "Mel! Get out! Just get out and we'll kill him on the way!" he growled, raising his gun.

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Mel glanced out the smashed doorway. There were more members of this rescue party, presumably about to rush in. Sending a spray of ice daggers ahead to keep their heads down she started the dash down the hallway, shedding the bulky sheep disguise as she went until she was in her normal disguise of a snow leopard.

[Sunblink]

Knowing that she was likely incapable of countering the frenzied attacks that the creature continued to send her way, Keaton opted to dodge and leap out of the way of every swipe, stab, or slash. At first her movements were clumsy, encumbered by the pain of the injury cleaving her side, but like many wounds she had endured in the past she grew to ignore them. While not particularly durable, Keaton could still tolerate a great deal of pain and work her way through it--sometimes not by her own choice.

Whirling her mace around, Keaton started to gather energy into it, wreathing veins of violent red electricity bending and twisting around the melanoid globe of the club. The glint of metal alerted Keaton to the gun the creature brandished in her direction, no doubt intending to fire it at her. Narrowing her eyes and neglecting the glasses which hung heavily off of the chains connected to her ears, she attempted to remain on the move so to make his aiming difficult, a single tentacle emerging from her back.

As the ewe escaped, Keaton lashed the tentacle toward the hand holding the gun, hoping to knock the weapon from the creature-turned-bat's grip.

~Keaton the Black Jackal

[Aisha deCabre]

Aisha had a satisfied look on her face as her weapon struck true, the imposter's eyes glazing over as blood poured forth from the wound upon an instant.  The image indeed was a horrifying one, but the panthress in her days had seen things just as horrendous.  She grinned darkly, hoping that the ewe too would be dealt with.  She could hear Keaton entering the cell to make sure.

But in the next instant, things happened all too quickly.  Before the panthress knew it, she was flung against the wall, the wind knocked completely out of her lungs as she collapsed before she could even try to pull the boomerang from the creature's windpipe.  Her voice came out as a wheeze as she tried to get up, only to be kept frozen where she was...not by force, but by fear.

As the beast arose again, the form turning in species and in gender right before her eyes, Aisha winced and held her back firm against the wall.  Her ring was glowing like mad, literally crackling with light magic and pulsating against her tail.  She couldn't very well see what else was happening...it had gone after the jackal instead of herself.  When in the panther's mind she already thought that she was going to die, for just the instant she was disarmed.

She had heard Gareeku's cries of pain, somewhere up ahead, and Keaton was wounded yet fighting with vigor.  While the beast was distracted, she called her boomerang back to her from its position on the floor and started up, the expression on her features turning quickly from caution to outright frustrated rage.  So this creature couldn't be killed by conventional means...

Aisha rushed around towards the exit of the cell as fast as she could, avoiding the battle that Keaton was fighting along with the bat-like creature, only hoping that the noise would bring the others into the fray to help.  She did however find Gareeku, trying to get up despite his wounds.  The panthress rushed to his side, hoping to help him up.  "You shouldn't be moving, amigo," she said in a half-soft, half-agitated voice.  If she couldn't fight, then by all and every means, she was going to keep him shielded.