With a soundless cry of violence
Zuan fired, missing his target. Funny thing, he actually shot the missile through the tiny window on the opposite wall, and the bolt sailed out into the night. A good shot if he had been aiming for the window.
This was not the trade-priest's milieu, yet he found himself without panic. Perhaps he was cut out for a life of danger, along with his profits. That thought perished quickly, as Zuan was suddenly lashed by a whip of viscera, the guts wrapping themselves around his throat like many animated serpents. The disgusting head of the creature was reeling itself toward him, following its own entrails, as Zuan struggled, his hands at his own throat, dropping the crossbow, eyes bulging. In moments the head would be upon him.
Came Saano...
His first strike missed the oncoming creature, possessed as it was of surprising celerity, and it was this miss which caused the penanggalan to swerve, and suddenly lash out at Zuan instead. Saano shouted silently, as the trade-priest was being strangled, then with a well-timed leap struck with his second Yatok, bashing the creature (which had its eyes on Zuan for a moment) squarely on the back of its filthy skull. Surely, if this chamber allowed sound, the sickening plop of a melon popping would be heard now. The penanggalan's head opened up, but no blood shot forth. For a moment thought Saano, he could see the brain inside the skull, as a huge gash opened up.
"Well done!" Sana cheered "But do not tarry, again, again!" she insisted, as they both watched the penanggalan release its slimy hold on Zuan's neck, and veer off, as if drunk, or like a wounded shark. The creature suddenly shot upward, toward the darkness of the rafters, seeking escape.
The djinn raged and sought to grapple the hideous thing coming at him. It hissed, Like a spitting cobra and a spray of poisonous saliva, mixed with blood, pus and bile shot from its mouth in a jet at Inan. Despite his size, the djinn dove sideways, and avoided the spray. As it reared, Inan grabbed it by its skull with one meaty, taloned hand, while grabbing the spine and dangling viscera in one clutch with the other. Every muscle rippled green along his torso, and he opened his mouth to scream again, but nothing came. The Penanggalan then bit into his shoulder with its many fish-sharp teeth. Inan ignored the pain, and what was no doubt some sort of venom, now coursing through him. Instead, another sickening sound was saved them, by the chamber's spell of silence. In one fierce pull, Inan tore the creature in two, sending viscera and spine to smash into one wall, and the grotesque skull itself against another, likewise smashed into fragments.
Inan roared again. No sound came.
Sister Voichita still sat motionless in the center of the room. Head still down.
The Wounded Penanggalan was escaping into the darkness, high into the rafters, where even the djinn could not reach.
Zuan massaged his neck.
(ooc: Zuan took 3 points of damage from gut-choke. Inan took 3 from bite, and will lose 1 hp an hour until he dies, unless healed magically or by a priest/cleric/sister/monk/etc. Regular rest won't help. Saano rolled a nat. 20 attack, Inan rolled two hits to tear the other asunder. The remaining Penanggalan is very fast, and sought escape with its round. You each can get a missile attack of some sort i suppose, but otherwise, its in the darkness of the cathedral ceiling and gone.)
