The concentrated mass of unearthly power the voidhangers and tarrhaidim gathered around the reanimating dead immediately began turning heads, literally and figuratively. The two shovel-skulled worms turned and their bodies undulated in the current of an unseen wind. The cadaver's limbs crackled in the low-oxygen conditions, spraying up flecks of solidified fluid and loose dust. Hands rose at first and a sloughing mess of a torso, legs, head, raising to a stagger. Miasmatic power had pooled into the air around itself - ether and filth alike, blinding whatever primitive perception it had.
Even before the first one darted towards the blind cadaver, they had stopped caring about the uncertain fluctuations of the Envenomed. As one of them vanished into the ceiling above, another two darted through and sliced past the cadaver. The skeletal frame staggered as condensed light coalesced around the paddle-legs of the worms, sheathing them like blades and splattering fluids out into low gravity. Globules of visceral black splatter flew out and splashed against Echo and Kleo - on-board systems immediately began warning of qillatu readings sharply rising.
The door teared open as a pinkish stream of light flickered between the dripping puppet and the entity controlling it. Spherical in shape, bubble-like membrane of oily glass-transparency caging a sloshing mixture of bright oblong organelles, roughly the size of a beach ball. It pushed and stretched against its stretchy container as spaghetti-like masses of intestine-shape worms and semi-cylindrical masses slid and pushed against one another. A faint haze of pinkish smoke followed it in condensing streams of fluctuating density and brightness, triggering the Envenomed's various scanners and electronic warning systems.
Its body was soft but the entity was a living battery of etheric power; power that coursed into the corpse as the worming infestation colonizing its cranium began to quiver. As more of the worms made their passes, ramming into its body and suckling out the inky blackness, its head strained against whatever was left of its neckbones. Splinters shot out as it turned towards where a few hovered in the air, just a few feet away from the Envenomed yet further still from the now wide open door.
Like an explosion, the skeletal mask of the cadaver erupted as streams of pinkish, jagged light lashed outwards. Lightning flashes of power whipped around the room, their very presence causing the electronics behind the pillar to go haywire and spark. One worm caught the brunt; the first impact caused the air around itself to light up in the shape of a sphere before enough lightning-tendril shattered the barrier, scorching its body and sending it sliding across the ground, right in front of King.
The creature twitched and a sound, one heard in the low-air and felt across the psycho-somatic spectrum, rattled out like a thousand grains rattling in a container.
A sound like pouring rains hammering sheet metal answered distantly, rose, crescendo'd, echoing amidst the carnage unfolding before them.
Another flash of lightining, this one striking right above the heads of the group and showering them with sparks. Etheric backlash caused the field of camouflage to fluctuate as the sphere-organism hesitated... just long enough for one of the worms to dodge another whipping tendril and slam into it, smashing it into the root-ramp leading upstairs. Mandibles dug into it as the energy field around itself failed to activate - intended for etheric offences rather than physical ones.
The door's hinges creaked and sputtered, threatening to close as emergency lights activated along its sides. More sounds echoed out from the chamber - a dull, throbbing pulse growing in volume as the violence in the room intensifies. The worm was tossed off by a shockwave of force, sending debris flying, clattering against ceiling, floor, wall... and the Envenomed itself. Whether or not the sphere was interested in them or the predatory swarm was hard to tell.
Even before the first one darted towards the blind cadaver, they had stopped caring about the uncertain fluctuations of the Envenomed. As one of them vanished into the ceiling above, another two darted through and sliced past the cadaver. The skeletal frame staggered as condensed light coalesced around the paddle-legs of the worms, sheathing them like blades and splattering fluids out into low gravity. Globules of visceral black splatter flew out and splashed against Echo and Kleo - on-board systems immediately began warning of qillatu readings sharply rising.
The door teared open as a pinkish stream of light flickered between the dripping puppet and the entity controlling it. Spherical in shape, bubble-like membrane of oily glass-transparency caging a sloshing mixture of bright oblong organelles, roughly the size of a beach ball. It pushed and stretched against its stretchy container as spaghetti-like masses of intestine-shape worms and semi-cylindrical masses slid and pushed against one another. A faint haze of pinkish smoke followed it in condensing streams of fluctuating density and brightness, triggering the Envenomed's various scanners and electronic warning systems.
Its body was soft but the entity was a living battery of etheric power; power that coursed into the corpse as the worming infestation colonizing its cranium began to quiver. As more of the worms made their passes, ramming into its body and suckling out the inky blackness, its head strained against whatever was left of its neckbones. Splinters shot out as it turned towards where a few hovered in the air, just a few feet away from the Envenomed yet further still from the now wide open door.
Like an explosion, the skeletal mask of the cadaver erupted as streams of pinkish, jagged light lashed outwards. Lightning flashes of power whipped around the room, their very presence causing the electronics behind the pillar to go haywire and spark. One worm caught the brunt; the first impact caused the air around itself to light up in the shape of a sphere before enough lightning-tendril shattered the barrier, scorching its body and sending it sliding across the ground, right in front of King.
The creature twitched and a sound, one heard in the low-air and felt across the psycho-somatic spectrum, rattled out like a thousand grains rattling in a container.
A sound like pouring rains hammering sheet metal answered distantly, rose, crescendo'd, echoing amidst the carnage unfolding before them.
Another flash of lightining, this one striking right above the heads of the group and showering them with sparks. Etheric backlash caused the field of camouflage to fluctuate as the sphere-organism hesitated... just long enough for one of the worms to dodge another whipping tendril and slam into it, smashing it into the root-ramp leading upstairs. Mandibles dug into it as the energy field around itself failed to activate - intended for etheric offences rather than physical ones.
The door's hinges creaked and sputtered, threatening to close as emergency lights activated along its sides. More sounds echoed out from the chamber - a dull, throbbing pulse growing in volume as the violence in the room intensifies. The worm was tossed off by a shockwave of force, sending debris flying, clattering against ceiling, floor, wall... and the Envenomed itself. Whether or not the sphere was interested in them or the predatory swarm was hard to tell.