She comes rushing back in at him, a blur of motion, shouting obscenities as she comes. Her spear comes surging for him once again. He feels weak, he feels the pain that wracks his body. He moves to defend, but somehow, the blade slips past his defense and slices towards his gut once more. It strikes his armour, and blue sparks as the magic protections woven by Danth somehow combine with his armour to repel the attack.
She curses.
"I will kill you like the others. I will enjoy carving HIS rune in your flesh!"
The second attack swings high, but once again seems to deflect off the magical protections that Danth has provided. Jokad grunts in relief. Now it was his time.
A wave of nausea hit as he feels the wash of warm blood flowing down his legs. 'This could be the end', he thinks to himself, then he sees Jovik frozen in stone and his rage bubbles anew. He gathers himself for one last swing....
His axe, an axe that has been with him since he hit his majority, and has the notches and scratches to prove it, comes in low. Her last attack was high and left her long, snake-like midrift exposed. He swung sideways at it, but she saw the attack coming and move her terrible spear down to block.
Jokad did what Jokad does best. He improvised. He kicked her hard where it would hurt a man to get kicked, and at the same time allowed himself to fall slightly off balance, knowing this would tip the swing of his axe upwards somewhat. The kick hit. Xanesha lurched forward a little in pain. This tipped her defence down just enough. His axe swing continued through, and above the tilted spear, and smashed her in the side.
She fell.
Xanesha hit the ground, writhing and hissing as a large wave of blood coursed from the ragged wound in her side. She screamed, a scream so loud that it seemed to cause the air to ring.
Jokad stamped down on her face. Her mask came loose. Blood came up from her throat, out of her mouth. Her eyes, now visible again, looked scared.
And then she exploded.
Flesh flew everywhere. There was a horrid wet tearing noise and chunks of human flesh slapped against the stone, the cogs, the frozen form of Jovik, and of course the standing Danth and Jokad. Her lower half, the snake half, lay loose and ragged now. Blood was seemingly dripping from every surface in the room.
Something uncoiled from her lower half, a skeletal thing, covered in flesh pulled tight to its frame. It was a shrunken woman, old, older than anything living could be. She looks dessicated, her bones jutting at odd angles from the thin, almost transulcent skin that stretched barely across her body. She was wet with blood and gristle, and flecks of more solid matter.
She stood slowly, as a newborn foal stands, as if learning her legs.
Jokad and Danth tensed. The thing before them was short, perhaps four and a half foot tall, bent over, a humped back, her face so drawn the skull was clearly visible. Its mouth cracked open, and needle fine black teeth filled the mouth. It spoke in a cracked, rasping voice.
"You will pay for this! HE will rise, and HE will strike you down for doing this to me. I would have stood at HIS side!"
She lurches forward, teeth bared, her eyes all grey and lifeless, arms rising as if seeking you in the dark. Her short, sniffing approach makes you think that perhaps she is trying to sense you in the dark, despite the light that pours in from above.
OOC: Danth's actions please. Xanesha, as she was, is dead. The thing before you however is definitely moving ...
